Chapter 1: Lukas, Fairfax, Virginia.

"Annabeth! Get Luke out of here!" his father's voice yelled at him and his mother. Lukas watched his father run out the front door of the house as he was flung over his mother's shoulder and carried out the back door. He heard the roaring of monsters coming from the front, he heard the screams of death that came from the camp's cabins as monsters ate demigods.

He cried for his father as he saw the glittering of the sword Riptide among the flames of heat that ate the camp and his home.

"Dad!" He screamed, trying to reach for his dad from his mom's shoulder. His father turned and gave a sorrowful smile, his green eyes that were always filled with laughter and happiness now gleaming with despair and sadness and death. The moment's distraction was what killed him. While he looked at his son a monster had snuck up on him and before Lukas could warn him, the creature bit deeply into his shoulder. His dad twisted desperately out of its grip, but it was too late, the distraction had allowed more monsters to gather and attack when he wasn't looking. Lukas could only watch in horror as his father was surrounded and ripped to shreds.

"Daddy!" He screeched again, in desperation.

"DAD!" he cried as he jolted awake suddenly, he sat up so quickly he didn't realize he was on the edge of his bed, causing him to fall off, and let out a loud umf as he hit the floor, chest first, having rolled as he fell off.

Lukas let out a loud sigh. It had happened again, the recurring memory turned nightmare had happened for the fourth time in a week. He hadn't told his mother yet cause he knew if he did then she would just move them again. They had moved over 15 times in the last 14 years and they had just settled in Fairfax, only having been in the city for 2 months.

His mother had finally gotten a good job at an architecture company close by and his sister had just made the swim team along with him somehow managing to get on varsity even though he had never been on a swim team before this year. His mother had always said that his father loved the water and that was where they got it. Something about fish blood in their veins but not hers. He always pretended to understand what she was talking about when she went off on one of her rants about their father.

"Really? Again Luke?" A voice asked. Luke lifted his head off of the hardwood floor to look up and see his sister leaning against his door frame. Her black curls held in a tight high ponytail, she wore her favorite marvel t-shirt, which was based on the original comic design, and jeans. She walked over to Luke, tilting her head, her ponytail following the action by falling to the side of her head.

"That's the fourth time this week. Are you sure you're okay?" She asked. She'd been born a couple months after the attack, so she didn't completely understand the nightmares that plagued her older brother. Sure she had nightmares herself of a place with a red sky but she never told any of the family, they didn't plague her dreams like the ones her brother had.

"Yeah, I'm fine Zoë. Don't worry about it." Luke stated, giving her a weak grin. He had to be strong for them, just like his dad would've been. He carefully got up and stretched. He didn't want to go to school after the nightmare but it was a Friday, so he had to deal. "Come on, let's get ready for school."

"I'm already ready dead brain, unlike you. You still have to get dressed and brush your teeth and hair, I didn't sleep through my alarm like some people," she remarked smartly smirking at him.

"Hair doesn't matter. Just give me five minutes." He replied, racing around the room, grabbing the clothes he thought were clean. He rushed into the bathroom, changed, tugging the plain navy blue shirt he had grabbed over his head and pulling the black jeans up, putting on a belt to make sure they stayed up. He paused for a second to look in the mirror, taking in his appearance as he ran his hands through his shaggy blond hair. His own green eyes stared back at him as he took himself in, the olive colored skin and the ectomorph build. He sighed and brushed his teeth as fast as he could before running down the hall and stairs into the kitchen where his mother was making eggs with cheese melted on top.

"Morning mom," He stated as he flew into the kitchen. He smiled at her as he sat at the table.

"Don't morning Mom me young man. I saw the grade you got on that history paper!" His mother stated, pointing the spatula she had in her hand at him. Lukas's liking for the day automatically dropped. He had forgotten about that paper on the American Civil war, but then again he had transferred to the school halfway through the unit. He looked down at the table. He hated it when he disappointed his mom, especially when it came to grades. He knew there was no excuse in her mind that could justify doing badly in school. He wasn't like his sister who got perfect grades, he got B's and C+'s usually but it was nothing compared to Zoë's A+'s.

"I'm sorry Mom, I'll try to do better," He muttered, getting up and gathering his things for school. Zoë swept into the room, her things already packed and sat down at the table.

His mother sighed heavily and pushed some loose hair back, before putting the eggs on two separate plates.

Zoë managed to finish hers by the time Lukas came back. He quickly scarfed his down.

"Zoë! Let's go!" He exclaimed as he grabbed his backpack and walked towards the Jeep Wrangler that his mother had gotten for him on his 16th birthday. It was, like most things he owned, a deep sea green and pretty sturdy. They hopped in the car and drove towards the school, which didn't start for another thirty minutes, but they always got there early. Zoë pretty much demanded they get there early, and Luke didn't really have a choice.

He parked the car closest to the school as he could, knowing that if he didn't get a good spot close to the school and the exit then he'd be stuck in parking lot traffic for an extra 30 minutes after school let out. He and Zoë got out and strode towards the school, their bags slung over their shoulders.

Zoë was a freshman while Lukas was a Junior. So the two gave each other a quick sibling hug before splitting ways. Luke headed towards his locker, wanting to grab what he needed for the day and stuff it in his backpack. He headed to Algebra 2, his first and least favorite class of the day. One of the things that pissed him off about the class was that he was a junior in normal Algebra 2 while his know it all sister was a freshman in honors algebra 2. He also hated how much his mom pushed him, especially since Zoë was brilliant, unlike himself.

Luke wasn't good at school like his sister, the only thing he excelled at was eating and swimming, but then again, his sister also had swimming on her side, and on top of everything, she was closer to their mom. Lukas loved his mom but after his father's death his mother wasn't the same, Zoë hadn't ever seen another version of their mother so she didn't understand. The woman who had been his mother for his first 3 years of life wasn't the same one who was raising him now.

The mother he still remembered was more laid back, didn't push as hard and always seemed happy. Now it was like she was a shadow of herself. Maybe that was just wishful thinking, though since she had pushed him harder than even Zoë, and he just didn't do well under pressure. He sighed before pulling out his textbooks, binders, and pencils, preparing himself for another day wasted trying and failing to learn anything. He started doodling on his paper as he waited for class to start.

He was all prepared for a boring class when a girl with shaggy black hair and electric blue eyes sat next to him, dropping her books on the desk before sitting down. She glanced over at him angrily for a moment before she did a double take. She snapped her head and looked at him staring at Luke intensely.

Luke scrunched his eyebrows in confusion of why she was staring at him like that.

"Can I help you?" He asked looking over at her. He tried his best not to come off as rude. She stared at him for a moment before shrugging. Luke shook his head, trying to figure out why she seemed so familiar. He went back to his doodle and checked the clock. Five more minutes until class started. Good. He just wanted this day to start so it would end sooner.

The teacher came in and started to call attendance, "Lukas Jackson!?" she yelled his name when she reached it.

"Here!" Luke replied raising his hand so that she could see it. The teacher nodded in satisfaction and continued to call off names. The girl next to him was staring at him again, and she continued to do so for the entire class. Her cold stare made Luke squirm in his seat under her electric blue eyes. The hour and a half class couldn't seem to end. He just couldn't focus on the lesson, everything was distracting.

Finally the bell rang. He hopped up out of his seat and grabbed onto the hunter green strap of his backpack and swung it over his shoulder and made his way out the door. Less than a second after he stepped through the doorway his arm was grabbed onto and he was jerked back. He snapped his head towards who had grabbed his arm to see the girl who had been staring at him all of math.

"You need to get out of here," she warned, anger and coldness gleaming in her eyes as well as compassion and worry.

"What? Why?" Luke questioned his eyebrows knitting together in confusion. He tugged his arm out of her grip and watched her. He didn't dare try and walk away in the fear that she would body slam him into a locker. The girl did seem like she could handle herself and easily take him down.

"No time to explain but you have to get out of here," she restated.

"I just can't leave. My mom will kill me if I ditch," Luke told her.

"Trust me she won't. It's a family emergency."

"How would you know?" Luke spat, he was starting to get annoyed by her, "You're not family."

"I am. I'm your dad's cousin," she remarked, "Thalia Grace," she stated sticking her hand out for him to shake it.

When she stated her name something clicked. He remembered his mother saying that name when he was younger and told him and Zoë stories about how her, his father, and their camp friends would go on adventures. He also remembered her saying that if he ever ran into them to trust him.

"Alright. I believe you. But I just can't leave," he reported ignoring her hand that was still waiting for him to shake it. , "I have to get my sister."

The news of him having a sister threw Thalia off, he could see it. She had known about him but she didn't know about his sister for some reason. He told himself to ask later on, why that shocked her if she truly was his father's cousin wouldn't she have known that?

"Ok. Let's go get her," Thalia stated. Luke nodded and started to run down the hall, he had his sister's schedule memorized in case anything would ever happen. Biology. She had Biology right now. He ran to the Bio room and slammed the door open once he got there, all the heads of the students turning to look at him like he was crazy.

"Young man!? What gives you the right to interrupt my class?!" the teacher snapped at him angrily, her face filled with anger.

"I'm sorry Ma'am... but I have to get my sister... It's a family emergency," he explained quickly. The teacher's face lightened with worry at the sign of worry that coated Lukas's face. She nodded in understanding.

"Alright," the teacher sighed. Zoë bounced up and quickly threw her backpack over her shoulder and ran out the door, Luke closing the door behind him as they exited the room. He lead Zoë out towards his car where Thalia was waiting, leaning against the car.

"Let go," she stated as Luke unlocked the car and climbed into the driver's seat. He started driving home, not caring for the speed limit. He had a pit in his stomach like something bad had happened like he'd done something wrong. As they came up to his house he knew why.

The lawn was trashed, chunks of grass ripped up out of the ground, and the windows of the house had holes in them, but the biggest thing that set him off was the fact that his mother was fighting off a giant man-bull, with a dagger, and losing.