Chapter One
I almost Die... Again

I believe the time when my day turned to shit was when I saw the lion in Central Park.

I know what you're thinking, Oh, Magnus, wouldn't anyone have noticed a lion walking around Central Park?

The answer is no. A big, huge, blood-slicked no.

I'd been mulling around in Midgard- Manhattan to be more precise- mostly looking for Annabeth.

See, we'd gone for Falafel after I'd stopped Doomsday, and I was going to tell her what had happened. She'd suddenly stood up, said that she had to go, and ran down the hall.

The first time I'd gotten ditched by a girl, and it was my cousin.

Ugh.

Anyways, I'd been able to tell from her area code that she lived in New York. I'd also asked my talking sword Jack to help me.

Was he helping?

Well, he was loudly singing the opening song to The Lion King at the sight of the lion, so- No.

Now, I've seen lions. But this one... Odin's Left Eye, it was horrifying.

The beast was so much bigger now that I'd gotten closer. It had shimmering golden fur, and huge teeth- perfect for a demigod-sized snack!

"You can't kill him by hitting his hide." Jack said, "Even with me. The Nemian Lion's pelt is literally indestructible."

"You're so helpful..."

"Thanks, boss. 'S what I'm here for."

I debated throwing Jack across the park when screaming erupted on the other side of the clearing.

A group of teenage girls, all dressed in silver clothes, burst from the trees. Arrows, daggers and spears flew. The girl in the front stood the beast down, grinning at it.

"If 14 year old Percy Jackson can defeat you- So can I!"

The monster roared.

This girl was suicidal. If she thought that a shield and spear was enough against this thing, she was going to die.

And dying sucks. Believe me, I speak from experience.

"Jack," I said, "we're gonna save that girl's life."

I threw Jack towards the lion. I wasn't trying to kill it like that, just to distract it.

Jack poing-ed off the hide, and flew back to my hand. The lion turned towards me with a snort, and I shrugged.

ROAR!

It stormed towards me, and I side-stepped, slamming Jack off the monster's hide again.

"OW!" Jack shouted, "Watch it!"

"Sorry..." I grumbled, though I was a little bit more preoccupied with watching myself.

Arrows soared through the air, glowing silver, and slammed into the monster's hide.

It was only a little bit annoyed from that.

The girl slid in beside me, "What the hell are you doing, kid?" She growled, "I was right in front of it- I could have killed it!"

"You were going against this thing with a flimsy spear and a shield- Oh, yeah, I was totally going to watch you be brutally murdered!"

She glared at me, "I'm a Lieutenant of Lady Artemis, you dweeb!"

I almost lost my footing.

"D-did you say Artemis?"

She had no time to respond as the monster leaped on me, biting at me.

I shrieked, stabbing Jack into it's mouth.

It shrieked in response, turning to brown sugar dust around me.

I caught my breath, leaning my head back onto the grass, swearing colourfully in Ancient Norse.

I sunk in the sunlight and the grass around me, letting my father's power heal my wounds. I'd been getting better at that in the past few months, especially since summer was rolling around. I promptly turned Jack back to pendant form, clicking him onto the chain.

The girl from before- the Lieutenant of Artemis- stood over me. She held out her hand, which I took. Stumbling a bit as I stood, the girl studied me.

"You look like someone I know." She said, "Her name's Annabeth."

"Annabeth Chase?" I asked, and the girl blinked.

"Yeah?"

"She's my cousin!" I said excitedly, "I've been in Manhattan looking for her, do you know where I can find her?"

The girl grinned, "Yeah. I do. She's at her boyfriend's. I'll take you there. The name's Thalia, by the way. Thalia Grace."

…

"So how do you know Annabeth?" I asked Thalia as we walked. She pronounced it like "Thalia" as in "thing". It was a cool little touch.

"When she ran away," Thalia explained, "L... Luke and I found her..." -I decided it best not to ask who Luke was- "She was so little, and so scared... We took her in. We were family." She nodded to herself, "... We're still family..."

We came upon an apartment building, and Thalia stopped, "Here's the place." She said, "I'd come in, but if she's your cousin, I'll let you go see her."

"Thanks." I said with a smile, "Oh! My name's Magnus by the way."

Thalia smiled, "I know. Annabeth never stopped talking about you when she was little."

I had no more time to answer, as a horn blared in the distance.

"I gotta go." Thalia said, shouldering her bow, "I'll see ya later."

And with that, she was off.

I nervously made my way, Jack the Pendant tugging me the right way. Eventually, we stopped in front of a door, Jack dropping back onto my collarbone.

I reached up and knocked.

"Hello. Can I help you?"

I immediately realized how homeless I was dressed- in ratty jeans and a t-shirt I'd taken from a clothes donation box upon returning to Midgard. My hair definitely needed cutting, and I was pretty dirty from sleeping in an alley last night.

The man in front of me, however, was dressed nicely in a crisp suit and tie, which he was desperately trying to fix.

I forced the words out of my mouth, "IsAnnabethhere?"

Smooth. Swag-nus Chase indeed.

"Annabeth?" The man asked, "Yeah, come on in."

I nodded, thanks.

He called for Annabeth, who came grumbling out of a hallway in sweat pants, an orange t-shirt and a bed robe. She looked near-death- and then her eyes widened.

"MAGNUS!"

She threw herself towards me, throwing her arms around me. She spluttered things like "where have you been" and "what are you doing here" along with some things in a language I didn't know.

"Good to see you, too, you butt."

She laughed softly.

"What are you doing in Manhattan?" She asked, pulling back, "I thought you were staying with some friends in Boston."

"I am." I said, "I just came looking for you. You ran off, and I couldn't take it anymore."

She leaned forward, sniffing me, "You smell like you slept in an alleyway."

I shrugged, "Yeah, I do that a lot."

"Smell bad or sleep in alleyways?"

"Both."

She smiled, "Let's get you cleaned up."

…

OH RACHEL YOU HAVE OTHER THINGS TO WORK ON

IDFC THIS BOOK WAS BEAUTIFUL AND I HAVE EMOTIONS ABOUT IT AND THIS IS HAPPENING

ALSO MULTI-CHAPTER FUN TIMES