Chapter 1

Percy's POV

I am not really sure what to say right now, but for starters my life is hard. I don't have much fun, no friends, not much family left, and it's getting harder and harder not to give up on life. For someone like me death doesn't seem like such a terrible thing if it means no worries and no responsibility. It's better than remembering certain events of my past, and way better than sitting up at night crying to myself. It would actually be better than a lot of thing in my life, but giving up is still not an option. That would mean leaving my mom alone in this world and destroying whatever sense of hope she still had left. No matter what word I use to describe my feelings whether it's unbelievable, obscene or insane, I could never describe my love for her. Her name is Sally Jackson and she's basically what keeps me from freezing over in this cold world where everything withers and dies. She can do everything. She's my cook, best friend, teacher, therapist and occasional doctor. My name is Perseus Jackson, though I prefer Percy, and I am 14. I am pretty tall have dark black hair and have sea green eyes. I'm extremely loyal to my mom and live in a place called New York.

I have never left New York in my entire life and I still can't think of something good about it. This place is dark cold and in ruins. It's now been 3 months since I have seen another human in the city. My friend Grover told me it wasn't always like this. He said that it used to be a magnificent city with millions of people that were free to do whatever they wanted. He also told me that there was something called the mist that would hide monsters from view.

Every thing he says seems too good to be true, or at least super exaggerated because a world where you can't see monsters and a place where people are free, doesn't even make a good joke. I've read the word freedom in the dictionary but it's not a word that should exist because I've never ever seen it. I used to have crazy dreams like that when I was younger but I'm smarter now. Even though Grover told lies he was a great friend and it was heart breaking when he died three years ago.

There is something for certain though, some fifty years ago there were gods living here in New York, and they ruled the west for thousands of years until Kronos took over. Well a long story short, Kronos rose to power with the help of Luke Castellan and took over. Castellan was the son of the Greek god Hermes, and stole the symbol of power of Hades and Zeus as a part of Kronos' plan. A three way war began and in the confusion Luke brought back Kronos. Who then helped him bring back the rest of the titans. When the idiot gods finally found out what was going on there forces were down to half and they didn't stand a chance against the Titan Army. Now the gods suffer eternally in different prison all over the place. Ares now holds up the sky, Zeus is chained down in a prison of lava and other gods are going through different things. The war completely destroyed New York, so instead of rebuilding it the Titans use it as a massive monument representing order, death, and defeat.

The trees have spread uncontrollably, now they grow in the middle of the streets, and in buildings. Half destroyed buildings litter a once beautiful place. Monsters live everywhere, nights are never safe and there is no longer any law.

Me and my mom live in a canning factory. We used to move around from safe house to safe house but once we found out this place with all its food we decided to stay. We've been here about six months and figure if we stick to our 2 meal per day menu we can stay another 2 years. We re-arranged almost every part of the factory, so that now we have a kitchen, closets, bedrooms and other stuff. Aside from those rooms there is the machinery room which is our over sized, dark, and scary pantry.

Between me and my mom the favorite room is our library, no contest. Even though the entire factory has books lying around, the library is loaded with the coolest books you can imagine. Like a class room, it's where my mom teaches me stuff and she teaches me a lot. She has taught me how to read and write in French, English, Portuguese and Greek. I know, I know, you're probably wondering why she taught me Greek. I'm not sure myself but she insisted and it's really not as hard as it seems.

Anyway, ever since I can remember she's had a large collection of books. On literally any subjects: from math and physics to stuff like martial arts for dummies. Me and her spend hours reading everyday. Out of all her books she has two favorite topics. My mom is an ancient mythology geek. She has about fifty huge books about Greek and Roman mythology. I dig the subject too. My favorite stories are about the legendary heroes who could go anywhere, do anything and challenge anyone. To my mom my education is really important, but she doesn't really teach me normal thing. She teaches me survival techniques, good cooking recipes, about machines and weapons, and only every once in a while do we do math and physics. I read on my own a lot, but my life still isn't relaxed.

One thing that's important to know about survival is that you need water. Every morning I wake up and the first thing I do is get water. Once you find water then you can do whatever else you need to do, but without water you won't get far. My daily chores are finding water, gas, checking on our traps, and scaring off an occasional monster. I used to split the work with Grover and my sister but they're dead. When I remember them I get sad but they are only two of a thousand other people that have died whether down the street or right next to me. My mom offers to help me with my chores all the time, but she's all I got left and it's not worth the risk.

Speaking of risks let me explain the tactical position the factory is in. I'd say the good to bad ratio is, okay. It's not the safest place but it does allow a lot more free time considering it's loaded with canned food, which saves me a lot of trouble. The good thing about the factory is that it's far a way from the city, monsters, and is stacked with food...and, that's about it. The bad things about the factory are that there are a lot of windows, it can be easily surrounded, it is impossible for two people to defend, and there is absolutely no escape rout.

The factory is an old run down two story building. It was probably once white but is now a mixture of gray and green. The front entrance opens up to a forest and the back entrance to the ocean. It looks like a really scary place but makes a good home. There are a number of large rooms inside and each one has a new purpose. We don't have mattresses and there are a few cockroaches.

Well, let's talk about the future. Tomorrow it happens to be my mom's birthday and I'm planning to go to the nearest bookstore or library to get her a birthday present. She loves books and I am pretty sure there some kind of book place 10 miles down south. It will take me a lot longer than normal to get there since I have to be stealthy and watch my back so I'm leaving early tomorrow morning.

Percy's POV

"Whyyyyy?" part of me asked, but I knew why. It was my mom's birthday and it was the first actual adventure since last year. I sat up eagerly and looked at my alarm clock. It was 3:00 a.m. I had to leave now if I didn't want my mom to notice I was gone. I got out of my improvised room and walked into a narrow hallway. The walls were the usual, paint slowly chipping off, faded colors and the smell of rotten moldy wood. I walked inside the maintenance room which was one of our closets. There I found a flash light, some batteries, a rope, some cloth and a first aid kit. I shoved it all in my backpack and walked through the machinery room into the kitchen. I got out a large, insanely sharp cooking knife, just in case, a water bottle and a can of peaches. The kitchen is also our main entrance so I unlocked our door took a deep breath and walked into the open. You might be thinking I am an idiot for walking into a monster-infested forest night, in the dark and alone. First of all this isn't something I do often. Second of all I have a well developed theory; "If your enemy is in sight/range than so are you". Then you say: And how does that prove your point? Well, if I can't see any thing than nor can anyone else. I didn't feel less scared but I set out with my senses at 110%.

I walked at a slow but constant pace erasing my tacks as I went. It took about half an hour to get a mile away until I finally gave up and started walking normally. The library was about 10 miles from where I was, so it would probably take me just over 2 hour to get there. I walked in absolute silence for a while, occasionally crouching and sprinting to different places whenever I felt company. Of course not because I was scared it was just the safe thing to do.

As I walking through the city, I started to think about my life, and what I really wanted. Surely a few books wouldn't be enough to cheer my mom out of our situation. I thought about how we barely survived, always alert, scared and weak. The monsters that attacked our house were never organized or constant. They, whoever that is, probably the greater force were focused on something else, proving that I was insignificant. I was getting frustrated and reckless, making more noise as I walked through the forest. I needed to change this world. I had been reading about a man called Martin Luther King Jr. who said something interesting.

He said "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent." That was going to be an impossible stunt to pull. He got the privilege to say "we", while I was alone, just "me".

The bush on my right shook violently, and it brought me right out of my thoughts.

"Dang" I muttered. I backed up, crouched and raised my arms ready to roll out of the way.

"Screech!¡!" My hand raced onto my ears and the beast flew at me. While I was a little bit off balance I managed to roll out of the way. It did a 180 degree spin and came at me with amazing speed. This time I didn't have enough time to dodge; it closed in and planted its teeth an inch into my right arm. With my left I hit it full force on the head and shock it off. It slid away on the ground a dozen feet while I checked my wounded arm. There was a small oval shaped mouth bite, I panicked and looked at my attacker for the first. It had a body of a bird slightly bigger than a chicken's, long silky wings, and a woman's head. A harpy, I remembered learning with my mom, but something wasn't right harpies were famous for traveling in packs. I looked at my enemy again. It looked dazed, but its eyes were completely black. The eyes mirrored the lust that the harpy must have been feeling. Then I understood the situation. There were no reinforcements; this monster was barley rational and not even sane: wild. I charged but he rose 50 feet in the air. As she hovered, she looked me in the eyes before she dove. Her mouth was wide open and before she impaled herself into me I reached out. We hit the dirt my hand in her mouth and her talons scratching at my chest. We rolled on the floor until I was finally able to trap her in my legs. Blood trickled down my arm and I figured I had forty second before my fingers got completely sawed off. I pulled as hard as I could; I ignored the pain, and saw her jaw stretching a bit too far, then SNAP! Her mouth hung limply on her face as she started disintegrating.

I knelt, gasping for air, while I watched the monster disintegrate. I flung my backpack off my shoulder and pulled out the first aid kit. Right now, you might be thinking "Well, Perce why didn't you pull out that knife you packed" well it turns out that normal steel doesn't work on monsters and I learnt that the hard way. I looked down at my chest and my shirt was torn to pieces. While my shirt once white it was now dark red. I took out an antiseptic ointment and dabbed it all over my chest and hands. The wounds on my chest weren't as bad as I expected, aside from the blood loss it was nothing serious. My fingers though were half sawn off and I could barely move them. I wrapped myself up, did a halfhearted clean up job, packed and headed off towards the library.

As I walked I took out my water bottle and drank about half of it and then screwed the cap back on. I put it away because I knew I would need it for the way back, and that was okay because now I was changed, fresh and full of energy. I don't know why it does that to me, my chest stopped bleeding and my hands no longer hurt as much. I did read somewhere that water was the elixir of life but it doesn't have the same effect on my mom.

It was still dark so I thought about using my flashlight but it might alert more monsters that I was there so I let it go and kept walking. The trees became fewer and soon I was in the surrounded by hundreds of concrete buildings.

"Should be around here somewhere…" I thought aloud. I checked the entrances of the buildings around me, deciphering the dusty names in the dark. Finally I found it. It was a large square, gray, four story building. The door creaked as I opened, adding to the spooky aura of the place. I turned on my flashlight and closed the door behind me. Dust hung in the air making the rays of light visible. I checked my surroundings pointing the flashlight at everything around me, and all I saw were piles of books. Even though this place was scary there was no way I could be happier. This was a reason for a party. I had made it. My mom would be on a happiness high when she saw how great of a son I was. The thought made me smirk.

The place was huge there was a second floor balcony, stairs that were meant for you to sit on and a blockbuster on the third and fourth floor. It probably took me about twenty minutes to find the right books, and I was starting to get tired. I went up to the second floor, sat down and put my back against the banister. I sat there for a minute and sighed before reaching for my backpack. I pulled out the can of peaches and opened it with the cooking knife. I pulled out a peach and ate it a bite at a time. I was licking my fingers when someone next to me spoke.

"Hey. How long are you just going to sit there" A girls voice said.

She didn't say anything offensive but right then my heart stopped, my whole body shook and I bit down on my finger hard.

"Owww. Why you little-" I was lost for words when I saw her. She was probably eighteen or nineteen, had long dark hair, and a perfect body, but that's not what got my attention. She was upside-down, hair falling towards the floor and there was laso her blue eyes. What the? I thought. The ceiling seemed to be holding onto her feet and even though she was a good distance away from me I could see her eyes clearly. Her face was expressionless but her eyes were cold and testing. She was obviously didn't expect me to answer because right then a long silver hunting knife appeared in her hand and she kicked off the ceiling and landed on the floor. Then she charged.

"Hold on" I barely managed but she was not stopping so I changed plan. She swung at me but only hit air. I had found the courage, jumped over the balcony, and was sailing towards the first floor. The seconds took longer than usual and I realized that I was going to fall on a table. I braced myself with my left arm and then-CRASH! Wooden shards flew in every direction, my arm was pierced by a million splinters and I swore I heard my arm snap. I rolled away from the broken table, looked up in time to see the girl shake her head in disbelief and mouth the word crazy. More enemies, I thought, just great. I got up and ran out the door not daring to look back. I jumped over fences and dodged trees that grew in the middle of the streets. My legs hurt but I still ran.

Third Person POV

Well isn't that interesting, the man thought. He had gone unnoticed by the boy who ran out of the building next to him. He had long dirty blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He walked in the library and watched his partner slowly walk down the stairs. She was tall, had black hair and her name was Lalantos: titaness of hunt.

"So what's the plan, are we going to let him get away?" the man asked

She was definitely thinking about something else but answered casualy.

"Let's let him think he's got away so he will go back to wherever he may be staying. Who knows it might be fun."

Disgusted but satisfied the man started walking out the door. Then he thought twice about Lalantos' expression and turned.

"Lal do you think he is the one?" It was a vague question but she understood. She continued walking and then gave an even vaguer answer.

"Maybe" she said anxiously, as she squeezed passed him.