Intro

Only five minutes left. Five minutes, then school is out and I can get back to Camp. I've been going to Camp Half-Blood practically my entire life. My siblings and I practically grew up at Camp. We're a pretty powerful family so we live close and I often spent my weekends training at Camp. My dad is a camp counselor and basically run it (Although he'd never admit it!) Usually we head up to Camp with our parents at the end of the summer, but Dad left a couple of days ago so he could help Chiron set up for the summer.

I should probably introduce myself now, shouldn't I? Ok then, I'm Jase Valdez Jackson and I'm 16 years old. I've got a little brother, Oscar Underwood Jackson, who's almost a year old, as well as two sisters. My youngest sister is 5 years old, her name is Adora Thalia Jackson. Casey Zoe Jackson is my other sister, she's 13. As you can tell, I'm the oldest of the siblings. I'm also the oldest of all my cousins except Rose (Grover and Juniper's daughter) who's turning 21 this year.

Most kids go to Camp when they're 12, but the Jackson family was one of the big exceptions. The name Jackson was a pretty powerful name in the demigod world, as you'd probably guess. Camp Half-Blood has been our second home since we were born.

*BRIIINNGGG*

The bell finally rang, signifying that school had finally ended. Summer had finally begun. I grabbed my bag from under my seat and bolted out the door, mumbling feeble apologies as I went. I glanced at my watch and ran faster. Oscar's daycare was getting out in three minutes and thankfully Adora's preschool was in the same building.

As soon as I got out the front doors, I bolted. My backpack pounded against my back as I ran, driving me nuts. There wasn't much in my bag, just a couple books and a dagger and some medical supplies and ambrosia and nectar. Ok, maybe I had a little too much in my bag. I cursed the thousand page architecture thesaurus is my backpack and ran a little faster, not wanting to be late.

Finally, I got to the day-care. The pre-school was about three miles from my school, and I made it in a little over nine minutes. I was really getting out of shape. I took a deep breath to recover from the run and opened the door to the daycare and preschool.

"Jasey!" I laughed as a jubilant mop of blonde curls attacked my legs. She was waiting outside the door for me. Adora was the most adorable little girl I'd ever seen. My aunt Thalia said she looked exactly like my mom had when she was younger.

"Hey Dora, how was the last day of school?" I asked. She giggled into my pant sleeve. Her bright gray eyes glimmered as she laughed and I couldn't help but smile

"Fun!" She answered, still giggling. I'd never met somebody who laughed as much as she did. I smiled and unattached her from my legs, opting to hold her small hand instead. She skipped alongside me as I made my way to the daycare. I opened the door, only to be greeted with the shrill cry of upset babies. Although I had three younger siblings, the sound still saddened me. I was a sucker for siblings, as you can probably see.

"Hello, Mr. Jackson!" The cheerful daycare worker greeted me from her spot behind the reception desk. I glanced wistfully at the yoga ball she sat on, longing to sit down for a couple minutes.

"Hi, Ms. Longfellow." I smiled, giving her a small nod before taking the papers needed to sign Oscar out. I quickly filled out the paper, whizzing through it. The paper was done in seconds, thankfully, so Adora hadn't yet begun to complain about how bored she ADHD was like Dad's and she had a hard time staying still for more than three minutes at a time. Once I had handed the secretary back her pen and slid the form across the table, I took my little sister's hand and walked back to where the kids were.

In the playroom, I could see one of the workers wrangling to get Oscar's pajamas changed. I recognised the tuft of black hair as he cried and screamed. Well, somebody's cranky. The daycare lady saw us coming and tilted her head curiously. She must be new. I knew everybody else who worked here.

"Here, I got it." I smiled. She was about to reply, nervously glancing at a nearby worker.

"Jase, you have to in-tro-duce yourself," Adora said, giving me her biggest toothy grin. She only had a few teeth in, so her smile was absolutely adorable. She looked at me expectantly, proud of her use of a bigger word.

"Great vocabulary Dora! And yes, I suppose you're right." I turned to the lady, sticking out my free hand. "Sorry, I'm Jase Jackson, that's my little brother, Oscar." The worker calmed now that she knew I wasn't some freak. Well, I still was a freak but she didn't have to know about my ancestry. She stepped out of the way, letting me get to my little brother.

"I'm so sorry! I'm new here; still, haven't figured the whole thing out," she said.

I shrugged it off. "No problem, have a good day!" I said as she turned to leave. She smiled and offered a small wave. I approached the changing table and ticked Oscar's sides, smiling as he erupted into laughter. He opened his eyes, mirroring mine and Dad's. "Hey, Osi! How are you doing little buddy?" He giggled, chewing on the small teething toy in his hands. I quickly finished putting on his day clothes, sticking the rest of his stuff in my bag. I picked up the small bundle and cradled him in my right arm and still held Adora in my other hand. I lead them to the small cubbies in the corner of the room and grabbed Oscar's stroller from his cubby. I took it out through the back door and set up the stroller, putting Oscar in after giving him a small kiss on the forehead. He gurgled on his teething toy, and I buckled him in. He was just too cute for me.

"How was school Jase?" Adora asked, slowly wording her sentence. I sighed, thinking of the hell mortals call school. Don't get me wrong, I loved learning, but I was already years ahead of my grade and I didn't have many friends at school. All my friends were at the Camps.

"It was pretty good. Here, I got something for you." I said, taking a small baggie from my pocket. She squealed at the sight of the small gummy candies and jumped up and down like a crazed fangirl. I smiled and handed her the , I completely spoiled my siblings, you don't have to remind me. Dad told me about how when our grandma Sally used to bring candy home from her work and it had given me the idea. Adora skipped two blocks on the way to the Junior High but gave up when we got to the third block.

"Jase, I'm tired." She whined, pulling out her signature puppy dog eyes. Mom said she got the look from my dad. It was irresistible. I slowed to a stop and bent down.

"Hop on kiddo." She happily leaped onto my back, suddenly full of energy. She hummed happily, thinking she'd fooled me. I silently shook my head. Oh, the simplicity of being a little kid. The rush of pubescent middle schoolers overcame me as we arrived at Casey's school. I recognized her chaotic head of shoulder length black hair under a large oak in the front yard. Her gray eyes were focused on a book similar to the one I had in my bag. She had the smarts of our mom but still was somehow as clueless as my dad. For example, she could be thinking she was doing her homework and accidently solve one of the millennium prize problems (unsolvable math problems) and not even realize it.

"Found her!" Adora yelled in my ear. I winced at the sudden loud noise and walked over, making sure Casey could see me.

"Hey, Cas! Over here!"

Her head whipped up from her book and she started to laugh. That's never a good sign. She snatched up her stuff and jogged over to us, still laughing.

"What? What's so funny?"

She pointed at my head through her hysteria. I lifted my hand to my messy blonde curls and found that from her perch, Adora had messed up my hair more than it already was. "Ah, man! It actually looked halfway decent today too!"

Adora giggled and Casey shook her head, "Great job, nerd."

"Yea, yea. Take the stroller will you, Brainiac?"

She smiled and took the stroller from me and we finally began heading towards home. "Hey Cas, here." I tossed her a bag similar to the one I had given Adora. She smiled and opened the bag. Did I mention that she also got Dad's appetite?

"Thanks, Jase!"

When we got home, I could see Mom's car in the driveway, signifying that she had gotten home early to go to Camp. I felt an excited anticipation in my chest. Although my favorite place in the world was a certain cafe in New Rome, Camp Half-Blood came in a close second.

"Hey, Mom! We're home!" Casey called after unlocking the door with her house key. Mom didn't answer, which I found a little strange. Usually, if Mom was home in time she would be waiting on the front porch with lemonade and a plate of sandwiches. I could hear her in the kitchen and made my way there with Oscar while Casey packed up the stroller. I got to the kitchen and waited for my mom. I could see her on the phone, which was a rare occurrence. We rarely used phones so I knew it had to be an emergency.

"What do you mean you can't find him? Get him on the phone now!" I could hear the edge of anxiety in her voice and adjusted Oscar in my arms. My mother, being the legendary Annabeth Chase Jackson, was a very powerful person, so whoever she was talking to must be pissing themselves right now. Trust me when I say she can be pretty freaking scary when she wants to be. I wanted to ask her what was wrong but figured now was probably a bad time.

"Jase? What's up?" Casey whispered, coming up behind me.

"I'm not sure, but you might want to take Adora in her room to play or something, I don't think it's anything good." She nodded in understanding, and brought Adora to her room, saying something about a new book, to which the look of disgust on Adora's face was evident. I smirked, then turned my attention back to my mom. She sighed, putting a hand worriedly to her head and shoving her hair out of the way.

"Fine. Call me as soon as you find him. We're on our way as soon as the kids get home." She hung up the phone.

"Hey Mom, what's going on?" She turned quickly, her blonde hair flying as she did.

"Jase! You scared me!"

That's when I really started to was nearly impossible to scare my mom.

"Sorry, it's just," she didn't finish her sentence. A noticed a tear sliding down her cheek. Moving Oscar to one arm, I quickly wrapped the other around her in a hug. "I can't go through this again," she whispered. Oscar began to wine so I bumped him up and down on my hip. Mom was always in control. She was the strongest and most powerful woman I'd ever met. So if she was breaking down like this, then I knew something was seriously wrong.

What did she mean again? I thought about it for a moment as Mom calmed down. Then it clicked.

"It's about Dad isn't it?" I hoped on everything that I was wrong.

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I'm sorry Jase, I just got a call from Chiron." She said softly "Your father is missing, again."