Perseus

"Perseus Jackson!"

Percy flinched at the use of his real name and turned around. What he found made him immediately slump. It may have been the last day of school, but that wouldn't save him from the beating he was about to get from Mrs. Dodds, the principal of District 4's secondary school. She looked like Percy had singlehandedly ripped her leather jacket and fed it to the wolves.

"Yes, Mrs. Dodds?" He uncertainly put on his best smile. Even if he had done something wrong, surely he could get out of it.

"Mr. Jackson, is it wrong of me to believe that you called Mr. Tantalus an old sot?" Percy's least favorite teacher asked him.

Percy's face gave him away. The 15-year-old, soon to be 16-year-old, could barely keep in his sniggers.

"Mr. Jackson! It is no laughing matter. I am afraid this will be dealt with by the peacekeepers," Mrs. Dodds all but growled.

Any traces of happiness escaped his mind. The peacekeepers would handle it? That was bad. No, that was horrible.

"But – But Mrs. Dodds! It's the last day of school! You can't do this!" Percy's voice was overcome with fear and despair. If he was to be punished by the peacekeepers, it wouldn't be pretty.

"I can and I will, Mr. Jackson. Come with me."

Percy had no choice, Mrs. Dodds took his arm and led him outside. There, in the center of the school yard, was a post. The post where troublemakers at school got punished.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Rachel's eyes were wide when she understood what was happening. She ran to them.

"Percy!" she exclaimed. Mrs. Dodds pursed her lips at the girl. "Mrs. Dodds, please, surely I could talk to my father!"

Rachel's father was the mayor and in charge of the peacekeepers in District 4.

"Get out of the way, girl," a new voice said. Soon, Rachel had been pushed out of the way. Mrs. Dodds handed me to the man who had interrupted.

He was large and meaty. He wasn't wearing his helmet and Percy would've told him to put it on before his looks killed someone if he was in any other situation. The name plaque on his uniform said, Gabriel Ugliano.

He had a firm grip on Percy's arm and pushed him down against the beating stand. Before Percy could do anything idiotic – like run the hell out of there – Gabriel had his hands tied to the post.

"Please," Percy tried, "I won't do it again."

Gabriel ripped the back of Percy's green shirt off.

"Too late for that, punk," the harsh words might have stung somehow if it weren't for the pain that Percy felt the next second.

Again, the whip lashed onto Percy's back.

By some miracle, the boy didn't black out.

Although Percy could mainly only hear the slash of the whip, he tried to focus on something – anything else.

Rachel's screams every time the whip smacked his back. The whispers of everyone Percy knew as he was punished for years of reckless troublemaking.

Percy would never say he deserved what he was getting. But he would admit that he had it coming.

After the 30th strike, Percy lost consciousness.

Rachel

Rachel cried.

It was all her body could really process without bursting into hot angry flames. After she saw her best friend being whipped, it was hard for Rachel do anything at all.

Slowly, she had pushed her way through the crowd and woken Percy up. She wasn't surprised when she saw tears stain his cheeks. He would be an idiot if he hadn't cried.

Steadily, and with a lot of Rachel's help, Percy was able to stand up. The peacekeepers had already left. Mrs. Dodds was gone too. Rachel tried her best to not touch any of Percy's wounds when she walked him outside of the school grounds. She and Percy's school bags hung on her weak shoulders.

When Percy coughed, Rachel could barely bring words of comfort to her lips.

"Rachel," Percy mumbled, hissing when they took another step, "the beach."

Rachel understood and quickly took the two minute path to their favorite sector of the beach. It was quiet and secluded, and Rachel knew there was a sweet water spring where she could clean Percy's wounds.

You must be wondering, this is District 4, yes? Aren't you two careers, sort've rich, and probably really strong? Guess again.

Rachel may have been the mayor's daughter, but the mayor was no father to her. She was welcome to live in the mayor's house of course, but she didn't. Her family had had a huge disagreement when she was thirteen resulting in Rachel abandoning her life as the mayor's daughter and moving in with Percy, her best friend since she was eight years old.

Rachel never became a career because she saw the truth. Training for something that would just get you killed? Not in the list of things Rachel wants to do before she dies.

Percy had the same views. He might not have been a career, and he might not have been the healthiest person weight wise, but Percy was strong. He was the man of his family. His mother worked at the little candy shop in town and his step father was a teacher. None of them made all that much money. And when they decided to house Rachel too? Percy already had a little brother named Tyson. With the size of his family, tesserae was necessary. In fact, he pretty much got tesserae every single year.

His name was in the bowl twenty-two times. Rachel's was in there fifteen times even though she was already sixteen.

"Rachel. . ." Percy's voice startled her out of her thoughts. They were there. Percy detached himself from her and almost passed out again.

"Percy!" she yelled, removing their bags from her shoulders and placing Percy face down on the nearest rock.

Percy whimpered. Rachel wiped her eyes clean of tears and forced herself to think. What would help?

She scurried to where some open coconuts lay and filled one of them with water from the little spring she mentioned earlier.

The string of cuss words that left Percy's mouth almost made Rachel laugh when she poured the cold water on his back. She didn't.

This was her first look at his back and boy did it look bad. The skin was detached in places and Rachel knew it would have to be stitched. The blood washed away revealing red skin, irritated and bruised.

Rachel almost broke down into sobs again.

Instead, she continued the process of cleaning the wound. She told Percy a story while she did it. She did her best to keep him awake and not thinking about the pain.

After a while, she sighed. "Oh, Percy. . . what did you get yourself into?"

Percy smiled at her. A half smile that looked more like a grimace because his face was plastered to a rock.

"You know you love me," Percy mumbled incoherently.

Rachel wished it wasn't true. She didn't just love him, she was in love with him. She wasn't sure if he returned the feeling to the same extent.

Rachel leaned over and kissed him. It didn't last very long, but it gave her a dizzy feeling that she enjoyed very much. When she saw the small smile on Percy's face she was relieved.

They'd kissed before; short little pecks on the lips that left Rachel wanting more. She didn't ask for it though, she didn't want to ruin their friendship any more than Percy did. Percy broke the comfortable silence that had occurred.

"What are we going to do Rachel? Reaping tomorrow and I can barely walk. Even worse, how am I supposed to explain this to my mom or Paul?"

Rachel felt bad. She wished this hadn't happened today of all days. "We'll see, Percy, we'll see."

They shared a look that told them what the other was thinking. Tomorrow was going to be horrible.

Jason

Trying to find his sister among the crowds of people who hung together after school was not easy. His sister was short, skinny, and the only way to locate her was to look for the color black. Sadly, that wasn't as easy as his sister always told him it was.

For example, Thalia Grace always found her brother by looking for tall, blonde, and blue. Jason however had trouble with his mission when his sister always hung with people who wore dark, black, and blue.

He'd even proposed that Thalia dye her hair yellow so that it would be easier to find her. Instead, Thalia had spent their dad's money on dying one piece blue. Their father was outraged.

Finally, Jason spotted her.

"Thals, get your butt over here!" Jason called out. His sister glared at him but he smiled when she listened.

Thalia narrowed her eyes at him. "Hello to you two, little brother."

Jason almost did a face palm. "I am taller than you."

"I am older than you," Thalia sing-songed.

"Same difference," Jason muttered.

Thalia snorted and imitated him, "Same difference."

"Oh, shut up."

"Only if you do too."

"The gods have cursed me," Jason exaggeratedly looked up to the sky and shook his sister's shoulders. "Why?"

"Cause, dimwit. Come on, you're slowing me down."

They walked toward District 5's plaza. Thalia's arm was around her little brother's shoulder, although he didn't want it there.

Jason looked his sister in the eye. She would turn 17 in December. Jason had turned 15 in January.

"Thalia, how many times will your name be in there tomorrow?" he asked. Apparently, he had caught her off guard because she removed her arm from his shoulder and turned stony faced.

"Fifteen. You?"

"Ten."

"Good," she leaned up to kiss his cheek. Jason would you usually brush it off and blush, but something told him it wasn't the time.

"Did you see Dad's new girlfriend?" Jason joked, trying to lighten the mood.

It worked. Thalia's eyes lit up again and she made a face. "She could be from the Capitol, with her looks!" It may sound like a compliment, but it wasn't. Not to the people in the districts.

"And her name! Ceres Weat!" Jason laughed. Capitol names were hilarious.

"She doesn't have an accent though," Thalia pointed out. Jason nudged her.

"Details, details," Jason used the Capitol accent. When they finally got home, no one was there. Thalia went to her room and Jason headed to the kitchen.

They had a good life here in District 5. It wasn't the best District or the richest, but generating all the country's power had to be worth something. Jason opened the fridge.

Strawberries, vegetables, beef, and milk looked back at him. He grabbed the milk and poured himself some.

"Thalia! What do you want to eat?"

"Anything!"

"Come down here!" Jason told her.

After a pause and what sounded like a small crash of something falling, Thalia responded, "No, come up! I want to show you something!"

Jason took the two the two glasses of milk and headed up. When he entered her room, he almost laughed.

Thalia was dressed in a black short sleeved shirt and a navy blue skirt that started at her waist and finished at her knees, flowing outward. She wore her best black flats.

"How do I look?" she asked.

Jason did laugh when his sister twirled. "Like Titan Weekly material."

"Oh, come on! They wish. What are you wearing tomorrow?" She asked.

Thalia and himself took the games sort've in stride. Their names were only in there the amount of times they had to be, why stress?

"Just my beige pants and dad's old blue dress shirt, why?" he replied.

"If it weren't National Death Day tomorrow, you wouldn't be able to keep the girls away."

"Sure, sure," Jason chuckled.

After a while where they both drank their milk and watched Thalia play dress up, the room became quiet.

Thalia spoke out of the blue, "May the odds be ever," she raised both her eyebrows challengingly.

"In your favor," Jason finished it, a new smile forming on his lips.

Thalia

Nightmares, Thalia could handle. Good dreams? They terrified her.

Thalia's dream-self looked around. She sat on her mother's lap in what looked to be their old house. Thalia was three years old again.

"Mommy," she said, "Why is the Capitol such a big meanie?"

Her mother laughed. There was a purple drink in her hand. "Good question sweetheart. Why don't you go find your brother and ask him. Mommy's got to talk to daddy."

"Okeydokey," she smiled and jumped off her mother's lap. Her mom left, drinking her glass until there was no more liquid left.

"Jacy-on, Jacy-on! Where are you?" Thalia's younger self looked for her brother. When she finally found him, he was crying.

"Jacy-on! What did ya do?" her baby voice asked.

When she looked closer, her little brother had bitten a stapler. Now, this was quite funny. But when it actually had happened, the blood sent Thalia running back to her mother.

Once she'd found her mother, the dream changed. She was twelve. Her mom had died in the revolution almost ten years ago.

Hera Hevans was about to pull a name out of the reaping bowl. "Zoe Styar," the woman called out.

The crowd cheered. They were still under the impression that the games were a way to prove themselves. Thalia thought they were idiots, even then.

Thalia's best friend squeezed her hand before getting up there. The crowd stopped cheering when they saw that Zoe was twelve. The dream changed.

It was tomorrow. Thalia's name hadn't been called. Neither had Jason's. So why was there a peacekeeper pointing a gun at her head?

The moment she heard the gunshot she woke up. Her eyes popped open and her breathing sped up.

Thalia hated to feel scared. She didn't want to feel like the victim. Thalia Grace was many things, one of those was a predator. She was never the prey.

She liked to be powerful. Ironic, since their district specialized in power. When they did any team work at the District's stupid school, Thalia was usually elected team captain. If a boy tried to take her title because of the overused "guys are better than girls" argument, Thalia quickly shook that idea out of them.

A small smile spread across her lips. She knew this isn't the life she was supposed to live, she knew it was unjust, unfair, and uncivilized towards her, but since it wasn't going to change anytime soon, she might as well try to control it for her own benefit. She and Jason would live long lives and laugh and have families. They wouldn't let their environment come between what they rightfully deserved.

Curious, she looked at the clock on her bedside.

11:59 PM

The clock blinked.

12:00 AM

It was officially reaping day. Let the Thirteenth Annual Hunger Games begin.

Leo

With a mother who fixed cars and a best friend who liked to help her, Leo usually felt pretty useless. Calypso and his mother hit it off like two old high school besties.

Funny, considering the age difference.

Calypso owned the district flowery since her parents had died and passed it down to her. She was 16 years old. Almost 17. Leo was only 15 but that didn't stop him from completely crushing on the girl who annoyed him to no ends.

"Cali, dear, could you get me that wrench?" Leo's mother asked.

They were at his mother's workshop. Although most of the transportation district worked on trains and buses and air forces, a small portion of District 6 was dedicated to fixing and building cars. Cars weren't used very much in the Capitol. In fact, it was a wonder cars still existed.

To Leo, it was a godsend that cars still existed. Leo was very good at fixing things. If the Capitol ever let the districts mingle with one another, Leo would probably banned of talking to District 3s because of the army of machines he could make. Call them automatons.

Ok, getting off track there.

"Leo, do you know where the wrench is?" Calypso had abandoned looking through the tool box and asked Leo.

Leo pretended to be clueless, "Why-"

Calypso beat him to it. "Because I already have permission from your mother to slap you if you don't."

"Touché, in the cabinet, top right to your left," Leo smiled.

"Thank you," Calypso replied, following his directions.

Leo forced himself not to stare as she leaned over to give the wrench to his mother.

She's way out of your league Leo.

She's almost 2 years older than you.

She's really, really annoying.

She gets along with your mom.

She-

"Leo?" Leo snapped out of it and turned to his mother.

"Yes?" He answered, unsure of why his mom might be mad at him.

"Make a trip into town and buy us dinner, will you?" She asked.

Great, he was errand boy, now.

"Okay, mom," he replied, slouching slightly. "What would you two like to eat?"

Calypso asked for a sandwich and his mother agreed. Wow, Leo was officially the third wheel.

He sighed and walked himself out. On the way to the district square, which was a good 15 minute long walk, he passed by his house to get some money.

His mother and Leo got by pretty well since there were only two of them and Esperanza had a moderate wage job, compared to most of her coworkers. Leo helped out wherever he could.

After stopping at his house, he quickly went to the sandwich place and got the two women their food. Since his mom hasn't specified in what he would be eating for dinner, Leo chose to have ice cream. He'd eat it on the way and tell his mom he had a sandwich too. It was about the same price anyway and he barely got any good treats. Tomorrow all the shops would be closed for the reaping.

Leo entered the Frost family ice cream parlor and looked at the different ice cream flavors.

"Can I help you?" A girl's cold voice asked rudely, as if getting customers was a plague.

Without looking up, Leo replied," uh, yeah, I want a double chocolate cone, please with," Leo paused when he heard a sigh and looked up. "Oh. It's you."

In front of him stood Khione Frost, the frostiest bitch Leo had ever met. She was a couple years older than him and her dark black hair hung loosely across her light blue work top. Her blue eyes shone like the necklace from the Titanic. Not that Leo would know that.

Leo couldn't believe he had had a huge crush on this girl.

"Yeah, me. What did you want?" Khione spit the words at him in disgust.

They glared at each other. "Double chocolate scoop with sprinkles. Thanks."

Khione pursed her lips and turned, her hair slapping Leo in the face. She made her way to the storage room. Leo shrugged, ok?

He looked around and found a jack pot.

The temperature controls for the ice cream were on his side of the counter.

Leo almost told himself not to, but then decided he didn't care. A few seconds later, Khione returned with his ice cream.

"Eight bucks, loser. Pay up. Of course, if you even have that type of money," Khione sneered.

Leo handed her the money. "I am glad to inform you that I do, frosty. Good day."

Khione didn't reply. Leo left and almost burst into laughter. Her ice cream was going to be cream in a few minutes.

Khione

As soon as Leo Valdez left, Khione threw a spoon at the door.

The stupid boy acted like he didn't give two shits about her when last year he had been head over heels in love with her.

Oh, well, she thought, his loss.

No, Khione may have never liked the stupid boy back (he was nowhere near cute enough for her) but he had liked her, and that was something any girl appreciates. Especially when the rest of your family were idiots.

Khione's dad had left her mother during the revolution and soon after her dad had gotten a severe case of short term memory loss. She wasn't the oldest, only 17, but her stupid brothers acted like she was.

Do you know how hard it was to maintain a social life and run a business?

Not easy. Her name was in the reaping bowl 22 times and Khione certainly did not want to know what would happen if she was picked. Her family would probably not last a day.

None of her two brothers were eligible for the hunger games. One was 19 and the other 20. They spent their time working on airplanes for the Capitol. They barely got their family any money. The shop however, made good money.

Who didn't want cold, sweet, frosty ice cream? Especially in the summer, the store was very successful. And Khione liked it that way.

Khione wouldn't say she was very strong, but having a full plate for all your meals and carrying ice cream tubs didn't make you the weakest person. In fact, when she flexed her bicep, she had more than most of the other girls at school. If she was given an option and if District 6 wasn't so lame, she would probably be a career. If she was given the option, she might even volunteer for the games so that if she won, she'd have the rest of her life bought for her. Paid. Cashed. Etc.

If she was a Victor, she never needed to lift another pinky again. She could walk around, wearing extravagant dresses and never giving two damns about people below her, such as Leo Valdez.

She would be like a queen.

Descending from the paradise that was her dreams, Khione noticed something strange about her ice cream.

It was melting.

Khione felt like she would combust into spiky little icicles. That son of a filthy poor mechanic. He had the nerve to break the setting of her freezer.

Uggh. Khione went to work trying to fix it, when she finally finished, her dark hair furled and messy, her hand covered in grime, the doorbell that signaled a new customer rang. She looked up.

The town's Head Peacekeeper came in. He smiled at her. She turned around and cleaned her hands in the sink. He shouldn't be here. Why was he here?

She knew. But she refused to acknowledge it.

"How but some ice cream, sweetheart?" the gruff harsh voice of the man behind the counter asked.

Khione turned around slowly, her lips turned down in a frown. "What flavor?"

He leant over the counter and whispered in her ear. "I think you know."

He was too close.

"Be at my place at 7. . .or else." His breath smelled of alcohol. "Understood?"

Khione shivered, something she barely ever did. She was nearly immune to the cold. "Yes, uncle."

When he left, sending a smile at her, she wrapped her arms around herself.

If it was the last thing she did, Khione would be queen.

Thanks for reading, please review =)