I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO HAS REVIEWED, FOLLOWED, OR FAVORITED MY STORY! IT REALLY ENCOURAGED ME TO FINISH AND UPDATE THIS CHAPTER QUICKER. I'M NOT SURE IF THIS IS MY BEST CHAPTER, BUT I THINK THAT IT IS PROBABLY ESSENTIAL TO THE STORY BECAUSE IT PROVIDES MORE UNDERSTANDING OF PERCY'S LIFE AND HINTS ON WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN LATER ON. SO YEAH, ON TO THE STORY!

DISCLAIMER-I AM NOT RICK RIORDAN SO THEREFORE I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THIS, BESIDES THE PLOT.

PERCY'S POV-

After I was out of view of Bianca's car, I sprinted towards the direction of my apartment number. I fumbled with the key, opened the door, and slammed it shut when I was in the semi-safety of my living room. I leaned my back against the door and slid to the floor, burying my head in my arms.

"Percy?" A voice asked tentatively.

I looked up and saw my eight year-old brother, Tyson, standing in the hallway leading to our bedrooms. He was wearing his Finding Nemo pajamas, big brown eyes examining me carefully with worry.

I stood up and knelt in front of him. "Hey buddy, where's mom?"

"She called and said that she would be working late again." Tyson scrunched up his nose. "We have to stay alone with Gabe."

"Where is he?" I asked, looking around. "Usually his lazy butt is on the couch."

Tyson giggled at my use of the word "butt" and shrugged his shoulders. "He said that he would be gone for the night, but to tell you that if you told mom he would-" Tyson thought for a moment "-knock your lights out."

A flash of rage went through me, but I stayed calm for Tyson. He had what the some people called "selective mutism" and I was one of the few Tyson would willingly talk to. I didn't want to ruin that.

"Well then, we've got the house to ourselves for a few hours. What do you want to do?" I asked.

Tyson thought for a minute. "Can we watch Wreck-It-Ralph Again?"

I ruffled Tyson's hair. "Sure thing. You get the popcorn ready, and I'll start the movie. Deal?"

"Deal!" He said and ran off.

I smiled.

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Beep! Beep! Beep!

I rolled over and slammed my hand onto my alarm clock. When that didn't seem to work, I started to smash it with my fist. My alarm clock stopped beeping, but I threw it across the room for good measure. I'm not a good morning person.

I lay in bed for who knows how long, when I heard a knock on my bedroom door.

"Percy, honey, get up. You'll be late for school." Said my mom through the door.

I groaned loudly and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, getting up without looking. Big mistake.

"Ouch!" I yelped as I lifted my foot off the ground.

I had stepped on one of smelly Gabe's broken beer bottles. Great. Now I had something else to add to my list of injuries.

I hopped around the room, trying my best to quickly get ready for school. I put on my shoe and limped into the kitchen after gingerly wrapping some cloth around my bleeding foot, and found my mom making breakfast. She turned around.

"Good morning! How many-" Her eyes narrowed. "Percy why are you walking like that?"

I sat down in the chair next to Tyson. He always wakes up more early than I do. "I stepped on broken glass. It's not a big deal." I shrugged.

"Of course it's a big deal!" My mom put a plate of blue pancakes onto the table in front of me. "Here, you eat while I see how deep in the glass went."

I knew better than to argue with my mom, so I started eating.

My mom took off my shoe and sighed, "Geez Percy, you didn't even take out the glass."

I looked down sheepishly, as my mom went to get the first aid kit from the kitchen cabinet . She walked back and started to treat my injury.

Tyson, who was eating his pancakes quietly up until now, leaned over the table to get a better look.

His eyes widened. "That's a lot of blood."

"Sweetie", said mom gently ", finish your pancakes."

Tyson went back to eating his food, slightly pale, just as my "step-father" walked into the room. I was surprised he fit through the door considering the fact that 99.9 percent of him was probably pure fat. He had his usual three strands of hair gelled back as if he thought it would make him look like Channing Tatum or something. Yeah, right.

He smirked when he saw that I had injured myself. "Did your retard of a son not watch where he was going, Sally?

Before my mom could reply, I glared at Gabe and snapped. "For your information, Gabe, it was your fault for leaving your broken beer bottles lying around in my room."

My mom had finished wrapping up my foot. "Put on your shoe." She seemed angry. "You never told me that it was one of Gabe's bottles. You said it was just glass."

"I didn't think it was something I had to mention." I said, standing up. "Come on Tyson, I'll walk you to school."

Tyson rapidly got up and followed after me. Mom turned to give Gabe a stern look.

"Gabe please don't leave things like that lying around. I-"

When mom wasn't looking, Gabe turned his head to me and mouthed:

You're going to get it, later.

I forgot. Gabe hated it when mom gave him lectures, no matter how small, and I was the cause of this one. Knowing that I had nothing good to look forward to later on, I turned around and led Tyson out the door.

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"Bye Percy!"

"Bye Tyson! I'll pick you up after school!" I yelled back.

"Okay!" Tyson said cheerfully before running off.

When I checked my watch for the time, my grin faded away. It was almost eight! I sprinted towards the direction of my school, glad that it was so close to Tyson's and was almost to the door when someone yanked me from my backpack strap. I fell on my back, the impact knocking the air out of me. The sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see.

"Looks like we've caught ourselves a fish." Someone's foot was pushing down on my chest. I gasped. "Not much of a fighter, are you?"

I gave the speaker a dirty look. He just laughed.

"Lift him up."

I felt rough hands haul me to my feet and I blinked several times to get the colors out of my eyes. The person I saw standing before me was Ethan Nakumara, third in command of Kronos's army.

They aren't really an army, more like a worldwide crime group. Everyone knows who they are, they've been featured on the news various times, but no one really knows much about them. Only the basics; that they are not to be messed with, they will destroy anyone that gets in their way, and they do not care for anyone. Not even each other.

"Have you decided where you stand yet?" Ethan asked me.

"I'm not joining you." I stated firmly.

Ethan grinned and gestured at the group of at least ten people surrounding me. "Hear that? He thinks he has a fair choice!" The group laughed.

Ethan went right up in my face and whispered something so only I could hear. "You do know that if you don't join us we will be forced to kill all your family and friends ,right?"

It must've shown how much that affected me because when Ethan stepped back he sneered. "That's right. Every single one of them will die unless-" He jabbed me in the forehead. "- You join us."

He let that sink in. "You've got a week, and when that week is over you better have an answer." He snapped his fingers. "Let him go."

I fell to the ground like a rag doll.

I stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Even when I heard their footsteps fade away, and even when the bell rang for school.

All I could think was,

I'm screwed.

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THE END...OF THIS CHAPTER.

THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL PROBABLY BE WHERE THINGS START TO REALLY PICK UP SO BUCKLE YOUR SEAT BELTS BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE A BUMBPY RIDE! YEAH I TOTALLY RIPPED THAT OFF FROM SOME MOVIE. PROBABLY FROM A BOOK JACKET.

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