The Half-blood tales: The Prophecy of Betrayal

Disclaimer: This story is set in an alt universe where there is no Percy or Annabeth. If this is a problem, I suggest reading a different story. All the characters are originals except the gods (duh) and other important people. Obviously I kept a few concepts, you'll notice similar weapons (some were just too good not to use), but I'd like to think that some of it is my own. Hopefully you'll like it, but if not feel free to let me know on the review boards. You can say nice things there too . I do not, nor have I ever, claim to own Rick Riordan's ideas. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

"Could you describe the man please?" The police officer asked

"The guy was huge," The boy said, "At least seven feet tall. Maybe three hundred pounds." The two officers sitting opposite of the boy looked at each other skeptically.

"Did you see his face?" The other officer asked.

"Yeah, I think he was mutated or something, his teeth were pretty messed up, and he only had one eye."

"Which eye was he missing?"

"I dunno, the eye I saw was smack in the middle of his forehead."

"Right…Mr. Cantor, you have described a Cyclops." The detective said, rising from his chair. "In case you are wondering, those do not exist."

"That's what I saw!" Jesse Cantor shouted at the police officer.

"But this isn't the first 'monster' that you've seen is it?" The other detective asked, opening a file in front of him and putting it in front of the teenager. "Read this to me, will you?"

Jesse looked at his feet, embarrassed, "I can't…I'm dyslexic"

If the officer felt sorry for the young man, he didn't show it. "According to this you saw a twenty foot lion at the age of twelve, a centaur when you were fourteen, and several skeletons marching down Time Square."

Jesse refused to respond.

"Mr. Cantor, I suggest that you go home, get some rest, and find a good psychiatrist." The detective said, "While you do that, we'll do our best to find that Cyclops of yours, right after our dinner party with Dracula."

Two hours later, Jesse was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if he was crazy. There was a soft knock on the door, "Come in Mom." Jesse called. Maria Cantor opened the door and stepped inside the tiny room and sat at the foot of her son's bed.

"Do you want to tell me what you saw this time?" She asked quietly. Jesse couldn't help but smile slightly, he knew for a fact that the police department had already called her and told his mom all about it, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"I saw a Cyclops." He said. "But it wasn't like how I saw the others."

"What happened?" His mom asked, sounding nervous.

"He saw me too." Jesse said, tears welling up in his eyes. "He started talking to me about how he needed to take me somewhere, and when I started running away he started growing taller and he chased me."

"How did you get away from him?" His mother asked, tears forming as well.

"I dove into a dumpster and hid for a while, I think he knew I was there but I heard some shouting and then he was gone." Jesse said. "Mom, what are you doing?"

Maria didn't answer her son's question directly as she pulled clothes out of Jesse's closet and stuffed them into his backpack. "It's time for you to go."

"What? Go where?"

"To Long Island. Your father wanted you to go there sooner, I should have listened to him." She said, still packing his bag and glancing out the window as she did so.

"Why would my father want me to go somewhere? I've never even met him." Jesse exclaimed, jumping out of bed to face his mother. "Mom, tell me what's going on."

Maria smiled sadly and placed her hand on her son's cheek, "I'm sorry, but there's no time to explain. Now take this," She handed him the duffel bag. "Don't ever lose that, do you understand?" Jesse nodded quickly, wondering if he was the only crazy person in the room. "You need to go to this address; 123 Half-Blood hill, Long Island."

"123 Half-Blood hill." Jesse repeated. "Mom, aren't you coming?"

Maria shook her head, tears pouring down her face, "You need to go, now."

Jesse pulled his mother into a long hug before dashing out of the room. As he raced down the hall, he could hear his mother call, "Don't lose that bag!"

As Jesse ran down the hall towards the elevator, Jesse slung the bag over his shoulder, making sure it wouldn't fall off. He reached the elevator and pressed the button, immediately the light flashed and the elevator doors opened.

Jesse let himself relax a bit as he stepped inside. He nodded towards the man also occupying the elevator, a tall man wearing a Mets cap, who nodded in return.

"Well, this saves me some time." The man said, taking off his hat. Jesse looked at him curiously and noticed that a large, bright blue eye was on the mans forehead. "And to think that I was going to break into your home and take you from there. You've made things much easier."

Thinking quickly, Jesse ran his hand down the button panel of the elevator, lighting up all twenty buttons and dashed out of the elevator, the door closing in the angry Cyclops' face. Suppressing a scream, Jesse sprinted down the hallway and kicked open the door leading to the stairs.

He raced down the stairs, tripping many times in his rush. After running down eight flights of stairs, Jesse had to stop to catch his breath. As he tried to regain his energy, two boys his age climbed up the stairs and noticed him.

"Are you ok?" One of them asked. Jesse, unable to speak, nodded a few times.

The other young man looked up the stairs curiously, "Your name isn't Jesse Cantor is it?"

Adrenaline and fourth grade karate lessons took control of Jesse at the realization of the fact that these two were after him as well. Without warning, Jesse jumped forward, placing his shoulder into the stomach of the first boy, pushing him against the wall.

He heard the wind get knocked out of the boy, but his brief moment of victory was cut short when the other boy grabbed Jesse by the back of his shirt and threw him to the ground. "Cut that out." He said, putting a foot on Jesse's chest, keeping him down. "You alright Charlie?" He asked his partner.

The other guy was squatting down, breathing hard, "Yeah, just give me a second to catch my breath."

"Get off of me! I won't let you give me to that Cyclops." Jesse shouted, spitting at his assailant.

"Cyclops?" Charlie asked. "A Cyclops is here?" The two teenagers looked at each other, both terrified.

"Get him out of here, I'll hold off One-Eye." The other teenager said, pulling what appeared to be a can of mace out of his pocket.

"No chance Henry, if you don't make it, how do you expect him to get to camp?" Charlie asked, pulling Jesse to his feet.

"You'll figure it out." Henry said calmly, "Now get out of here." He pressed the button on the can of mace, and to Jesse's amazement the can expanded in length and changed shape until it took the form of a long, golden trident.

"What the hell is going on?" Jesse finally asked.

"No time!" Henry said, a roar sounded from the top floor, followed by footsteps that shook the foundation of the building. "Get him out of here! Now!"

Jesse could tell the Charlie wanted to protest, but finally grabbed Jesse and started running down the stairs, as Henry ran up the stairs, trident in hand, towards the unseen enemy.

Jesse tried his best to keep in pace with Charlie as the older boy dragged him down the many flights of stairs. "Where are you taking me?" He asked after he nearly tripped over a few steps.

"I'm taking you to camp Half-Blood." Charlie said. He looked back up the stairs when a roar of anger echoed through the building. "Lets go."

As they kept running down the stairs, Jesse asked, "Why does everyone want me to go there? And what the hell is a half-blood?"

"Well, I'd tell you now, but we've got company." Charlie said, pointing to the bottom of the stairs. Climbing up the steps towards the two boys were four figures dressed in long white robes, each wielding a sword. As they got closer, Jesse took a step back, seeing that the men were actually skeletons.

"Stay here." Charlie said, reaching into a small backpack he was wearing. "Once they're distracted get outside and wait for me or Henry to come out." Jesse nodded as he watched in awe as Charlie pulled a long sword out of the tiny backpack. But before Jesse could question the magic backpack Charlie jumped down on the four skeletons swinging his sword down on the first monster.

The attack was knocked aside by the skeleton's sword and the other three skeletons closed in around Charlie. Jesse tried to keep track of the fight, but Charlie's sword was moving so quickly that all Jesse could see was a blur. Charlie ducked under a stab, letting the skeleton's sword knock off the head of another monster, "Jesse! Go!"

Snapping back to his senses, Jesse jumped over the railing and started running towards the door. He let out a girlish scream when he felt something grab his leg. He looked down and saw that a disembodied arm was clutching his ankle. Jesse started hopping towards the door while trying to pry the skeleton hand off his leg. When the hand finally relinquished it's grip, Jesse took it by the wrist and smashed it against the wall.

He dropped the hand and gave it a kick for good measure before running out the door, Charlie still fighting the monsters at the stairs. The moment Jesse stepped outside he felt a gust of wind against his face. For a brief moment, all was silent.

That moment was ended by a loud bellow from inside the building. Jesse turned around in time to see something fly from a window from the eighth floor, and crash into a nearby lamppost. With a loud crunching sound, the lamppost broke into pieces, leaving a prone figure lying in the mess of metal and wires. It was Henry.

Shocked, Jesse ran over to the fallen teenager, "Hey! Wake up!" He shouted, feeling Henry's neck for a pulse. It was there, but it wasn't strong.

"Right pocket…" Jesse heard Henry mutter. He kept repeating this until Jesse reached into the pocket and pulled out something tiny, wrapped in tin foil. He unwrapped it and saw what appeared to be a light colored brownie. At Henry's command, Jesse placed the treat in his mouth. While Henry chewed, Jesse heard a loud voice booming from behind him.

"You're dead Half-Blood!" Jesse looked up and saw the Cyclops poking its gigantic head out of the window that Henry flew out of. To Jesse's disbelief, the monster jumped down and landed on the pavement, causing it to crack, but he was unharmed.

"Easy kill for me." The Cyclops laughed stupidly, "The boss said it would be a hard assignment, but he was wrong!" As he spoke, every light on the block suddenly went out. Darkness enveloped the boys and monster. Jesse could barely see the faintest outline of the creature.

"Now to finish the job." The voice echoed all around Jesse, making him jump. Out of nowhere, Jesse felt something smash against his chest, breaking a rib, sending him flying through the air. Flipping through the air Jesse waited to smash into the pavement. But instead of death, he felt someone grab his arm and lift him high into the air.

"What the hell?" Jesse asked, he looked up and saw that his savior was Charlie, who was somehow flying above the Cyclops. But the Cyclops was different, it had grown many times its previous size, and was now dressed in rags

"You hurt?" Charlie asked as he hovered just out of the Cyclops' reach.

"I think I might've broken a rib," Jesse replied, "Oh, and I must be going out of my mind because there's a fucking Cyclops attacking me!"

"Yeah… I'll be happy to explain once we're out of here. Now eat this." Charlie said, and handed Jesse the same kind of brownie that Henry had eaten. Jesse popped it into his mouth, and started screaming in pain as soon as it was swallowed. He felt his rib shift back into place.

"Feeling better?" Charlie asked once Jesse stopped shaking. "Good," Satisfied, Charlie flew a short distance away from the angry Cyclops and lowered Jesse to the ground. "Stay here while we take care of this."

Charlie drew his sword again and flew towards the noise of Henry and the Cyclops fighting fiercely. Jesse leaned on the broken lamppost, clutching his newly-mended rib gingerly. The moment he touched the lamppost, the light flickered on. But when Jesse removed his hand from the cold metal, the light turned off with a pop.

He repeated the action one more time, with the same results. Deciding to question the logic later, Jesse grabbed the head of the street light and pulled it off the post. Once it was off the pole Jesse carried the glowing orb and pointed it in the direction of the fight, letting him see what was happening. All three of them were temporarily blinded by the sudden light, especially the Cyclops who gave a roar of protest, giving Henry a chance to stab him in the leg with his trident.

An idea popped into Jesse's head. He angled the lamp upwards, sending an intense beam of light, somehow stronger than it was before, straight into the Cyclops's eye. The monster screamed in pain.

"He's distracted! Lets get out of here!" Jesse shouted. He kept the light aimed at the monster's eye while Charlie skidded to a stop and Henry retreated.

But before they could escape two unexpected, but related events occurred. The first of which was Jesse's mother sticking her head out of the window to see what the noise was. The second was the Cyclops jumping into the air, grabbing Maria Cantor from the window and holding her in front of him as a hostage.

"Lower the light Half-Blood," The monster commanded over Maria's screams.

"Mom!" Jesse shouted.

"Lower the light!"

As Jesse lowered the beam of light to the monster's chest he heard a whispered conversation behind him.

"Do you have a shot?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, I've got a shot." Henry said.

"Then take it."

"All right Half-Bloods, unless you want this woman to die, you'll lower your-" The Cyclops was interrupted by Henry's trident gouging itself into his eye. The Cyclops screamed in pain, and tightened his grip on Maria Cantor.

The next few seconds were burned into Jesse's mind forever. He watched helplessly as his mother screamed in pain and coughed out blood when her back broke. As she slumped over, Maria's murderer turned into dark black sand and blew away with an unfelt wind, taking Maria with it.

"MOM!" Jesse shouted, running after the sand. "MOM!"

"Henry we have to go!" Jesse heard Charlie say, "There could be more." Henry nodded and let out a loud whistle from between his teeth. The last thing Jesse heard before collapsing in a heap was what sounded like hoofs.

***