Ten years ago…

…the mortals discovered the secret world of gods and demigods. The fragile shield of Mist that separated the two worlds was shattered by an unknown force. Terrified by the idea of the supernatural living among them, humans created an organization known as the Hunters to track down and neutralize all threats from the godly world – monsters, creatures, and demigods.

Since the mortals found out about them, the gods have all but disappeared from the world, and have not been seen for the last ten years. Without the gods around, the rest of the magical world had to learn to be self-sufficient, while under constant threat from the Hunters, and from each other.

And now…

The woods outside of Stapleton, Nebraska were beautiful in the afternoon sun. Beams of light shot through the trees, showering the forest floor in patches of gold. Leaves rustled gently in the wind, the crisp air filled with the gentle sounds of nature.

Percy might have enjoyed it, if he hadn't been running for his life.

The monster – because that's what it must have been – had been following him since Stapleton. Percy hadn't been there for long. Just a quick trip to collect supplies for his brief stay. He hadn't come across a monster in days. But he should have known his luck wouldn't hold. As he'd been leaving the store, he'd felt it. He'd never been able to describe exactly what it was. Some sort of inborn sense of danger, a shot of adrenaline, a tightening of nerves. But he'd listened to it, because he knew it was rarely wrong.

So when he'd been leaving the store and that familiar feeling had come over him, Percy knew that whatever else he was doing could wait. He'd left the bags of supplies and taken off running.

And he'd been running since, making his way through the woods. Normally he would stop and fight a monster, if it was one he could fight. But he couldn't have stopped in town, revealing himself as a demigod, and putting everyone else in danger on top of it. And now that he was in the woods, he had very little visibility with the sun quickly sinking, and still no idea exactly what was chasing him.

From somewhere behind him, there was a soft padding noise, the sound that had been following him from the town. It was quiet, but not silent. It didn't seem to be moving particularly fast, but fast enough to keep pace with him. Percy tried to run through his mental inventory of monsters to figure out what he might be up against, but he drew a blank.

He stopped and leaned against a tree, panting. It was risky to chance even this short rest, but Percy felt that if he ran any longer his lungs would burst. He slid to the ground, huffing for breath. The woods were unfamiliar to him, but he knew from town the direction of the cabin where he'd been staying. If he could only figure out which direction to go –

There was the noise again, closer this time. Percy fought the urge to start sprinting again. It wouldn't do any good to keep running until he was completely tired out. Instead, he closed his eyes, imagining the direction he'd run from the town. The grocery store was in the southern part of town, which meant he'd been running south for the past fifteen minutes. His borrowed cabin was to the town's east. Which meant…

He turned left, almost all the way around, hoping his admittedly subpar spatial reasoning skills wouldn't fail him now. Going forward now would mean heading back in the direction of the monster. He couldn't run and risk the creature hearing him, so instead he set out at a slow pace, keeping his every step silent.

It was ten minutes before he stopped hearing the pounding footsteps, and another ten before he was sure enough to speed up his pace again. Within an hour, he had reached the cabin, his temporary shelter. It was made of wood, a single story, set into a small clearing with a dirt road winding up to the front. The sort of place someone might keep for a vacation house, which Percy suspected it had been. He came in through the far side of the clearing, and went up the back porch and into the house.

Finally in (relative) safety, Percy flicked on the lights and took off his jacket, which was damp with sweat, despite the chill in the air. It was exhausting, this life on the run.

Of course, Percy knew he didn't have to be running. He could have stayed at Camp Demigod – he'd been welcomed with open arms. But during the brief times he'd been there, he'd never felt any attachment, any desire to stay...any sense of home.

There was only one home Percy had ever known, way back three years ago before he'd left. He'd been only fourteen years old at the time, when he found out he was a demigod, a son of the sea god, Poseidon. His mother had told him so that he wouldn't have to find out by himself. She'd also told him about Camp Demigod, a safe place he could go. What she hadn't anticipated was that he would just run away from home. He'd left to protect her from the Hunters. Percy knew that if he'd stayed, eventually they would come to take him away, not afraid to hurt his mother in the process.

He hadn't been back home since then. Instead, he'd taken to roaming the country, searching for other demigods he could bring back to camp, one of the only places where they might be able to live safely.

The cabin where he was currently staying was one of the camp's safehouses; mostly old, abandoned family homes offered up by resident demigods. He headed into the front room, where he'd left most of his meager belongings. He didn't bother carrying much around with him anymore – a few changes of clothes, money, first aid supplies. Much easier to travel light.

Percy sank down into the cushions of a couch, a worn floral thing that went surprisingly well with the cabin's décor, and contemplated the evening ahead of him. He regretted now dropping the food he'd bought, not looking forward to scavenging dinner from the week's meager leftovers. He wondered whether it was worth venturing out again, though the light was quickly fading.

It didn't much matter, anyway. If there was a monster trapsing through the woods, it might not be worth spending the night, much less the next few days as he had planned. Maybe it was better to get packing now, figure out where to go next while he still –

Percy's body tensed up. His nerves tingled, the sense of impending danger taking over him again. There were footsteps outside, he realized, which were the source of his worry. That alone wasn't enough to be dangerous. There were plenty of animals out in the woods. No, it was that, through the thin cabin walls, he could hear them perfectly, and they were exactly the same as the ones that had chased him through the woods.

He stood up again and reached behind the chair to where he'd rested his prized possession – Riptide, his sword. It was difficult to keep away from the prying eyes of mortals, but Percy would never consider leaving it behind. He raised the glowing bronze sword, adding a layer of brightness to the dim lighting in the room.

He turned toward the front window, where the footsteps seemed to have stopped. He willed his nerves to calm, settling back into a fighting stance, waiting, waiting…

And then the glass on the window shattered and a figure jumped into the room, pointing a gun at his head.

Percy stared down the barrel of the large machine gun that was currently aimed at him. "Drop your weapon," a feminine voice commanded from behind it, "and put your hands where I can see them!"

Percy did as she said, letting his sword clatter to the ground. Raising his hands, Percy peered around the gun to get a look at the girl who was now standing in his house. She was wearing dark gray, a matched set of loose pants and jacket with a cursive black H across the chest, black gloves, black boots, and a black utility belt with all sorts of dangerous-looking toys. Her head was covered by a dark balaclava hiding her features. Percy recognized the outfit: the uniform of a Hunter.

He had been mistaken, then. It hadn't been a monster chasing him through the woods. A monster, he could have handled. But this was something much more dangerous.

"Woah, hang on," Percy said, hoping he could diffuse some of the Hunter's hostility. "I think there's been a –"

Before he knew what had happened, a shot rang out. On the armrest of the floral couch that sat just to Percy's right, a few inches from his leg, there was a tiny round hole, smoking slightly –a bullet hole, Percy realized. He stepped backward on impulse.

"Consider that a warning," the girl snarled. "Now come peacefully, or I'll show you just how accurate I am. Unless you'd like me to kill you now. It's probably a more merciful fate than the Director will give you."

Percy considered his options. He could try attacking, but the girl was a good ten feet away. He'd be dead if he even tried. There was no way he could run with a gun trained on him.

"Okay," Percy said. "I'll come."

"Good." The girl took one hand off the gun and used it to pull down her balaclava, and Percy got his first look at her face. She had curly blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and large eyes, no longer hidden in shadow, of a strange color – gray. As he stared into her face, Percy felt a distant memory stirring, and suddenly he remembered her.

"Annabeth Chase?" he asked cautiously. "Is that you?

The girl looked back at him, eyes narrowed. "That's my name. So?"

"It's me. Percy Jackson."

Annabeth looked at him closely, recognition blooming in her eyes. But if he'd expected any sort of kindness to come with it, he was mistaken. "Percy Jackson from Lincoln Middle School?" Percy nodded. "Well, well, well. Percy Jackson, the demigod. Who would have thought?"

Percy sighed internally, scared that Annabeth would put a bullet through his brain if he moved at all. He thought she might have been a bit friendlier if she knew who he was, but apparently, this was worse.

Annabeth and Percy had to be good friends, once. They'd lived in the same apartment building in New York as kids. They were so excited to be going to school together. Then, when they were seven the world had discovered demigods. The country went crazy, and to Percy's dismay, Annabeth had gone with it.

Percy had always prided himself on staying fairly level-headed in the six months that had followed the revelation. That time had pretty much been awful for everyone – the Hunters being created and capturing anyone they could to test them for being a demigod, the outbreak of accusations that had followed, the tense air of distrust between once close communities.

Percy tried his best to stay as far removed from all that as he could. He was never really anti-demigod; he hadn't cared one way or another. Honestly, he was too young to really know much. Annabeth, on the other hand, was quite a bit smarter than the average seven-year-old. She'd taken a strongly anti-demigod view. In fact, it had been her fondest wish to be a Hunter. She'd join a training program that taught kids skills that could be used as a Hunter later in life, and when she was ten, she'd gotten accepted as a Junior Hunter.

This was much younger than most Hunters would be, but Annabeth seemed to excel at fighting. By this time, though, Percy had formed his own opinion about the government's portrayal of demigods, and unfortunately, it was opposite his best friend's; he'd declared the whole thing totally bogus. Of course, he never said anything, but he didn't let other people's thoughts sway him. This was probably because of his mother's strong influence. She'd always told Percy not to believe what people said about demigods. Now, he suspected this was because she'd known about his father. After all, she was the one who eventually told him.

But back to Annabeth. She'd quickly risen through the Hunter's ranks, and as she did, they grew apart.

For a while, they were still friends – not best friends, but still good ones. Then Annabeth's family had moved out of their building. By the time they were fourteen and graduating eighth grade, they hardly spoke. They'd gone to different high schools, and Percy hadn't seen her since.

But now, here she was, standing in his makeshift living room, about to kill him.

"Annabeth," Percy started again, though he had no idea where he was going with the sentence.

She didn't give him a chance to continue. She unclipped something from her belt and tossed it across the room, where it clattered to the floor at Percy's feet. He snuck a quick glance downward – it was a pair of handcuffs. "Put them on."

Percy knelt down slowly to the floor. "You're going to arrest me?" he asked.

"You are under arrest, yes," Annabeth said impatiently.

"For what?" Percy lowered his eyes and gingerly plucked the handcuffs off the ground. The metal was cool to the touch in the crisp air.

"For being a demigod. A threat to public safety." Her tone was heavy with irritation. Was that good or bad? Percy wasn't sure, didn't know what course of action might give him a chance out of the situation. Argue back? Fight his way out? Comply?

He snapped a cuff around his left wrist.

"Hurry up!"

He looked back at Annabeth again, and for a moment, he thought he saw...something. A sort of gray glow flickering around her. It was very faint, but definitely there. It was the last thing he ever expected to see on her, but it was unmistakable: the glow of an aura. The mark of a demigod.

"Oh my god! You – your –" Percy stuttered.

"What?" she snapped, wisely not lowering her gun.

"You have an aura," he said in awe.

Annabeth's eyes narrowed over the top of her rifle, filled with malice and hatred. "Do you know who I am?" she whispered in a venomous tone, which was even scarier than her loud commanding voice. "I am a Hunter. Part of the Director's personal taskforce. Do you honestly think that I could be a demigod?" she spat out the last word.

Annabeth's aura was back, still flickering, but a bit stronger now, a dark gray that almost perfectly matched the color of her eyes. "See for yourself," Percy said.

She looked down at her arms, and for the first time seemed to notice that she was glowing gray. She dropped her gun on the floor and stumbled backward in surprise. "What – but –"

Percy seized his chance. Lunging forward, he scooped up Riptide from where he had dropped it and bashed Annabeth over the head. Not hard enough to cause any serious damage, but she did faint, collapsing on the floor. The sword could not affect mortals, he knew, and Percy couldn't help but see it as some final confirmation of what she seemed to fear so much.

Looking down at Annabeth, Percy sighed. Even though it went against every instinct and feeling he was having, he picked her up and started toward the door. It seemed he'd have to visit camp after all.