Disclaimer-I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or any related works by their respective creators. I do own my OCs, and the plot of this story - so please, no copying.

Please read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter 1

In the midst of New York City, there was a boy.

He wasn't an average boy, but there are all sorts of people who make the Big Apple their home. There are the Broadway actors and the music directors, the hotel owners and the chefs, the students and the teachers, and many more.

The air wasn't too hard to breath – since it was a surprisingly warmer day than usual – save for the occasional person smoking a cigarette out on the streets.

There was something about this boy that made people want to avoid him. It could be the way he glared at anyone who tried to approach the girl in front of him. It could be the way he held himself. His appearance could have something to do with it as well.

He was a tall, lanky boy, with dyed scarlet hair. Only one of his ears was pierced, and the earrings that adorned the sides of it were all silver. He wore black skinny jeans with several rips in them, and his shirt was a black tank-top from the Hard Rock Cafe. His shoes were a pair of black boots. Over his t-shirt the boy wore a black leather jacket.

One might have guessed that he was from some sort of gang because the girl he was rushing after had the same strange symbol on the back of her black leather jacket. One might have also guessed that it was a Satanist gang, for the symbol was a pentacle.

As he chased after her, he glanced at the streets around them with a steely gaze. There was a group of teenagers following some adults around. They seemed to have just come back from Broadway, seeing that a majority of them were toting bags that said one of the show's name. He saw someone dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume. Even their face was painted that oxidized copper green color. And there was the occasional veteran patrolling the streets, because, after all, it was Veteran's Day.

Every time the girl in front of him laid her eyes upon one of the veterans, she would salute them and wish them a good day. He just stuffed his hands into his pockets and continued to plow through the crowds.

"Riley, wait up!" he shouted over the loud, chatting tourists and New Yorkers hurrying home before darkness enveloped the bustling city. When she ignored him, he sighed and sped up. "Excuse me, coming through, excuse me."

He finally caught up to her.

"Riley," he said. He rested his hand on her shoulder and immediately received a punch to the jaw. Several people stopped to stare at the two.

"I'm sorry, Geist." she apologized. "It was instinct, I swear."

"That's what I get, I guess." Riley could pack a surprisingly hard punch, and he was a foolish idiot for not remembering how she wouldn't hesitate to punch someone if she thought they were a threat. He gave a lopsided grin at her. "I called your name at least a hundred times. Did I offend you or something last night?"

"By offending me do you mean sitting on me and barely allowing me to breath?"
"Blame your dad. He was the one that decided to check in on you."

"You could have laid next to me, Geist."
He gave a sheepish grin. "Well, it appears that the student has become wiser than the teacher. I just love getting to annoy you, kid."

She pulled out a white earbud. "Anyways, old geezer, I wasn't trying to ignore you. I had my music on. That's all it was." Riley pulled out her phone and paused the music. Geist peered over her shoulder.

"We need to get home soon, don't we?"

"Of course we do. Daddy is going to kill me if I get home too late." Riley wrapped her earbuds around the phone, returning it to her leather jacket's pocket soon afterwards.

When Abby Bell arrived at her family's small house, it was with the tiredness of someone who has been playing around with friends all day. Since she wasn't related to any veterans, Veteran's Day held no meaning for her. It was simply a day where she was exempt from school.

The only family Abby possessed was her older sister and her father. Her grandparents on his side had died before she was born, and her mother was a mystery.

Abby took off her shoes by the door. Soon afterwards she heard her father come down the hallway. "Hey Dad," she said. Her smile was tired – the thought of her bed was an alluring one.

"Did you have fun, sweetie?" he questioned, embracing her.

"Yeah. Me and Samantha played some Just Dance and watched some YouTube." Abby didn't go into the other details of the day. She didn't tell her father about how she had seen a strange boy watching them from the street, or how she and her best friend had begun to talk about their dream boy afterwards. That was the type of thing you kept between best friends.

The door suddenly opened.

In the doorway stood Abby's older sister, clutching their old and mangy black cat Princess as water dripped off the two of them. "Hi," she said, taking a deep breath. "I feel like I just ran the Olympics."
"How did your day go, Riley?" Abby knew that her older sister and her father didn't share the same deep connection that Abby had with him. Riley spent too much time lurking in her room, or lurking out on the streets with the excuse that she was taking the cat for a walk.

"Pretty awesome," Riley replied. "Lily and I played some video games."

"What type of video games?" their father questioned. It was obvious he wanted to connect more with Riley. Even at her age, Abby understood that. She knew he didn't want to lose lose her like he had their mother. Well, to be exact, Abby's mother. Riley was adopted before Abby's parents had met, but Thomas Bell had always treated Riley like they were blood relatives.

"Fighting ones. We beat up a ton of monsters in them."

"You know, you really should invite Lily over, Riles," her father suggested. "She's invited you over pretty much everyday since you were little, but I still haven't gotten a chance to meet her. Why don't you bring her over for dinner?"

There was an awkward silence

"She's people shy," Riley finally answered.

She's lying, Abby thought. For the past year, she had doubted Lily's existence. There had been one day, one that Riley was supposedly spending with Lily, when Abby had seen her walking around with a boy. The boy was the type of boy their father would have never wanted Riley to associate with. But Abby couldn't bring herself to tell anyone what she had seen.

"That's a shame." Her father began to head back down the hallway. "I'll be working on that animation. Lasagna's in the fridge if either of the two of you are hungry."

Riley and Abby ate their microwaved dinner in a tense silence. The cat jumping onto Riley's lap was the only interruption as the two scrapped their metal forks against the plates. Abby was once again reminded of how different the two of them were as she watched her older sister.

Riley was average height, with muscles from working out in her room – although the last time that Abby had been in Riley's room there had been dust on her weights. Her outfits consisted of the color black, the only splash of color being the silver pendant that she wore around her neck. She had black hair cropped to her shoulders, and throughout her hair was red highlights. She had a pair of intense green eyes. Riley could never be considered hot, sexy, or beautiful with her hawkish nose.

Abby, on the other hand, was tall for her age. She had thin limbs and blond hair cascaded down her back in gentle curls. She watched her sister with a pair of beautiful blue eyes. The current outfit that Abby was wearing was one of her usual ones – a blue tank top with a collar, leggings, and her Ugg boots that were currently residing by the door. Many expected her to be drop-dead gorgeous by the time she reached high school.

Without warning, the cat jumped off of Riley's legs and hissed. Her eyes flattened, and her tail went straight up. "What's wrong, Princess?" Riley questioned. Abby couldn't recall the last time Princess had hissed.

To Abby's surprise, Princess suddenly disappeared. In her place was the boy that Abby had seen walking with Riley several months ago. The two sisters' eyes widened.

"Geist!" Riley exclaimed. "What are-What are you doing?! How am I supposed to explain this to Abby-"

"There's something bad happening, Riley," the boy interrupted her, staring down the hallway that led out of the kitchen. "I can just feel it. And don't you recognize the smell coming from your dad's room?"

Once the boy mentioned the smell, Abby picked up on it as well. It was a metallic smell, one that was unfamiliar to Abby.
Riley closed her eyes and smelled the air. Her eyes shot open in alarm. "Blood." She turned to the boy. "Geist, you don't think-"

He gave a slow nod. Realization struck Abby. She wasn't sure how, or why she knew it, but her father had been hurt. The blood that she was smelling had to be his.

All reason left her as she raced towards his room. "Abby, wait!" Riley shouted, but her efforts were fruitless. Abby didn't stop.

There was a gigantic man towering over the limp and broken form of her father. It took a moment for the scene to register. Once it did, a terrified cry left her lips. "Dad!"

The man turned his attention to her. For some unfathomable reason, he only possessed one eye, and it was placed in the center of his forehead. There was rubble surrounding her father. Rubble painted red by the blood seeping out of his wounds.

She watched with horror as the man raised the blood-stained club that had been resting at his side and swung it at Abby.

Her life didn't flash before her eyes. She didn't start thinking about all that she could have done. All that she knew was that the club would kill her just like it had killed her father, and when Riley and that boy came running into the room they would find two broken bodies instead of one.

The room was filled with a bright green light. It caught the man by surprise as what looked like condensed light hit his side. There was a small explosion. Abby withstood the urge to retch at the sight of the man's now burned skin.

She turned to see her savior behind her.

In the doorway of the room was her sister, her hands raised as she fired another one of the balls of light at the man.

A/N Hey there, all you wonderful Souls! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I don't have much to say for this chapter, nor up to Chapter 5, because this is a slight rewrite of the fanfiction Entwined Worlds. But if you're interested in any of the things I post on other websites, here are my accounts:

Quotev: TheHopefulSoul

DeviantArt: SoulErrorArwitch

Tumblr: soulerrorarwitch, ask-telos-of-minecraftia, ask-geist-of-germany

Please check them out!

That's all I have to say, so have a great day/night! See you in Chapter 2~