My Last Day Being Normal

AN: (Greetings, Salutations, and please don't kill me.)

Gods are real. So are monsters. Now when I say that gods are real, I mean gods as in Greek Gods. That's right, I mean Zeus, Athena, Hades, all of them, like that one Disney movie, except they're not colored weirdly...at least I don't think they are. And I'm pretty sure that Hades doesn't have hair on fire, but then again...nah.

But see...that's not the only thing that's real. See, magic is real too.

Ok hold up. I should probably back up. Back way up most likely. Let me start at the point that my normal life ended.

{¥£€}

"Vincent are you doing?" I looked up to see Ronnie looming over me. Ronnie was my roommate at Saint Mary's Orphanage and he was the closest thing I had to a friend. I had been resting under a tree outside the church grounds for a few minutes.

Yes I'm a orphan, it's sad I know but honestly? Ten years without a mom and dad wasn't entirely that bad for me, the caretakers at the orphanages I've lived at always tried their best to take care of me. And yes I said orphanages, plural. See I have a tendency for the unexplainable to happen. For instance, three years ago while I was having a nightmare the lights all broke from electricity.

Another time I was eating lunch near a fountain, it was the first time I tried hot sauce and the water in the fountain started bubbling. And just two weeks ago I swore I closed the tool shed door closed too hard and cracked it. By the time I came back with one of the caretakers to explain, it was repaired.

Thankfully I haven't been taken out of this orphanage yet. Third time's the charm right?

Ronnie was two years older than me, the twelve year old holder his arms over his chest impatiently awaiting my answer. "I was taking a nap." I responded as I sat upright. Standing up I rubbed the sand out of my eyes.

"You know, if you spent half the time you do sitting around doing nothing working on school you may get better grades." Ronnie commented. I rolled my eyes, Ronnie was a good guy but he was a little nosey. He knew I was Dyslexic, but he pushed me to read one more chapter of a book for school.

I love reading, don't get me wrong, but it is a absolute nightmare with the letters getting all jumbled up. ADHD can be a challenge too, but together? I'd rather bash his head in a textbook that I don't want to even look at than try to read it at this point.

"Look, you worry about you. I'll worry about me." I replied curtly.

Ronnie let out a sigh, "Fine. Go fail your classes. See if I care." he responded nonchalantly. Vincent rolled his eyes, as Ronnie walked away, the young boy looked to his backpack at his side. He was just outside the orphanage, it was actually a large compound like church.

The tree I was leaning against was outside the walls near the road. Stared at my bag for a few minutes, "I hate him." I muttered before opening my bag and reaching in and pulling out my English history book. Opening the book, I turned to the page I bookmarked and began reading.

I sat there for about ten minutes, having read about six or seven pages in that time, before I started to get fidgety. Usually when in class I would tap my fingers down, focus on that for a few seconds before getting back to reading. For now all I could do was take a minute to listen for any passing cars or something to momentarily take my mind off the work.

When I heard what sounded like a lion, naturally I looked up to see what in the world could make that sound.

Of course, it wasn't exactly from this world so to speak.

Fifty feet away was easily the biggest, meanest, BIGGEST, dog that he ever seen in his life. Now the biggest dog I had seen was German Shepard, this thing made it look like a Chihuahua. It looked like it could wrestle a bear to the ground and kill it with no problem. It had razor sharp teeth, coal colored fur, and I swear it had glowing red eyes.

And then it charged at me.

I did the only I could think of, I turned around and jumped up to the nested test branch of the tree. Dogs can't climb trees right? My arms loop around a tree branch, I use every ounce of upper body strength j have to hoist myself up onto the branch and started climbing up as fast as I could.

I got up five branches before the dog, bear, whatever the hell that thing is, jumped up and slammed it's paws onto the trunk of the tree, the entire tree shook from the impact, making my footing slip up and fall onto the beast's back with my back.

My hands grabbed onto the fur out of reflex...very stupid mistake.

You know how people go on mechanical bull rides? Well those start out nice and slow and build up to fast, this was fast and violent, plain and simple. It tried to buck me off, causing my ankles to skyward for a second before my gut hit it's snout and causing it to snarl.

It threw it's head back, making me go flying off with puffs of hair in my hands before crashing into the ground and tumbling across the ground to a stop as I let out a pain filled groan. "Uggghhh."

The snarling sounded like a chainsaw, rolling onto my stomach I looked up to see the dog staring me down with hate in its eyes. Looking at my hands I saw that the hair I had pulled had become black as inland dripped out of my grasp. "how-?" I started before I felt the ground shake from the beast closing in.

I looked up and saw it only ten feet away. I lay there frozen with fear holding me down like weights on my back. Just as it's jaws opened, a shadow passed over my head, a pair of boots landed a few inches from my nose. A spear thrust forward into the dog's mouth, the dog liquified into a large back puddle before dissolving out of existence.

I laid there staring at the boot that saved me, it turned around to face me. Looking up, I saw who my savior was. She was a girl, she didn't look that much older than I was, she had black hair that went down to her shoulders, her eyes were blue, electricity and they looked equal parts dangerous and beautiful.

She wore a black leather jacket with s black shirt underneath, her jeans were dark as well with a few years on them. The full on combat boots completed the punk vibe outfit. What killed the image was the spear and shield she had in her hands.

"Are you ok?" she asked, I for the most part was still trying to wrap my mind around what I had just seen. I'll tell you right now, it would not be the last time I did this, not by a long shot. I'll tell you that right now.

I couldn't speak, my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my head, I felt like everything was in a daze. Like my mind was at half power and every thought was slowed down like when you wade through a pool. The girl crouched down onto a knee, her spear pointing up to the sky with her shield dropping to the ground.

"Look, f you saw that thing, that..."

"Beardog? Dog bear? What was that!?" I asked, finally finding my voice. "Wait was that the dog from Sherlock Holmes? You know that one with the hound in it?" I asked, pushing myself up into to a sitting position. "I...I'm crazy aren't I? Oh god I'm crazy. Oh god..." I muttered as I covered my eyes with my hands. My brain was hyperactive before, now it felt like it was going at the speed of light.

The girl reached over and put a hand on my shoulder and shook me, "Hey, your not crazy. Ok, what you just saw? That was real...me and my friends were running away from it, we lost it but it ran after you." she said, there was some guilt in her voice. I looked at her and found her staring right back at me.

I broke eye contact and looked over to where it was a second ago. "Ok...so what was that?" I asked. She seemed apprehensive to speak, "Look, that thing? It just tried to eat me. I'm pretty sure that I'm owed an explanation." I said, somewhat forcefully.

She sighed, "Fine, your not gonna belive me but fine." She pointed her thumb back to where I was looking. "That thing? Hellhound, as in a dog from hell. As in the underworld. As in Greek gods and all that underworld." I shit up and listened to her, probably the smartest decision I made today. "You know gods? Like Zeus? Well...he's my dad. And all those other gods? They have kids too, half bloods, half human, half God, all kinds of suck."

She toon a breath, waiting for me to call her crazy, deluded, or just pulling a prank. "...ok."

It was her turn to look at me with utter surprise. "Ok? Like...ok? Really?" she asked, taken for a loop by my response.

"I just saw doc, the size of a bear, with red eyes, razor teeth, and when you killed it, it turned to ink and evaporated." I stated. "If there is some other explanation, please, I'm all ears." I welcomed.

She stared at me in compete silence for a few seconds before snorting out a laugh. I couldn't help but smile and chuckle too, it was crazy, but you know what? I just survived what could have been a mix between eating mauled by a dog and s bear attack, so yes I was more than a little delirious.

We both say there, laughing to ourselves for a few more seconds before we finally got it under control. "I'm sorry." she said, trying to fight the smile on her face, "I just...usually it takes more convincing you know?" she explained.

I nodded, getting myself to just smile, "Yeah I picked up on that. It's nuts, crazy, I mean I'm kinda messed up. Can't even read a book page normal." I admitted.

"Dyslexic? ADHD?" she asked. I was shaken out of state of delirium by that, I slowly nodded. She stopped smiling as well, "Same here...ADHD is our battle instincts. And our brains are trying to turn English into Ancient Greek." she explained, her thumb tracing the shady of her spear. "Pretty smart huh?"

I shook my head, "Not really. No." I replied as she stood up.

Her spear collapsed in size to that of a mace canister while her shield popped out before spinning around and shrinking into a bracelet. "So look...it's not really safe being out in the world and-"

"Thalia!" We both turned around to see three other people, one of them was a younger blonde girl, with grey eyes and fair skin, she couldn't be any older than eight or nine years old. One of the boys was clearly the oldest of them, with blonde hair and pale skin he had a sword in hand, which again, simply showed more support to this Greek gods idea.

The other boy had bushy brown hair and a slight goatee on his chin. But he was walking somewhat strangely. The blonde boy completely ignored me and approached Thalia, "Are you nuts that hellhound could have...where is it?" He asked, his head suddenly on a swivel before landing on me.

"Hey." I greeted.

"...hey..." the boy said, just now noticing me. We both looked at one another in awkward silence for a few seconds before he looked back at Thalia. "So where is it?" he asked.

She nodded towards me, "He helped distract it...Luke, he's like us." she explained, making him look at me with renewed interest.

The boy, Luke, then looked at the other boy of the group. "We're pushing our luck as it is...Grover?" he asked. The other boy looked unsure of what to say.

"We can't just leave him here. What if another mister shows up?" Grover asked.

"Yes if at all possible, I don't want to see another one of those...hellhounds was it?" I asked, Thalia nodded, "Hellhounds. I don't want to see another hellhound." I reiterated.

Luke scrached the back of his head, "Look man it's nothing personal but...the more of us there are the more attention we attract from monsters." he explained. I nodded in understanding, four of these guys together must be dangerous, five would just turn more monster heads. And I guess they could just send for help afterwords.

"We are not leaving him." I looked back at Thalia, her voice was stone cold, like if you tried to argue with her she would hit you with her shield.

I looked back at Luke, he seemed to be weighing the options, "Look of its dangerous, you guys go on and just send some help after me." I offered.

"Your not." Thalia stated plainly.

I was going to open my mouth when the mental image of her hitting me with her shield came to mind. "Ok." I quietly said. Luke sighed, knowing that this was now pointless since Thalia made up her mind.

"I'm Luke, this is Thalia," he gestured to the young woman that saved my life. He then gestured to the small blonde girl who had stayed quiet during the whole debate. "This here is Annabeth, and this guy is Grover. Our satyr and protector. He's taking us to Camp Half-Blood." he finished, patting the other boy on the shoulder.

"Satyr? Isn't that a plant?" I asked.

Grover shook his head, "No it's...well." he reached down and pulled off his legs. Well they were apparently false because his real ones were like mountain goat legs. Brown in fur like the hair on his head, and at the bottom were hooves.

"...oh like Phil." I said, they all looked at me strangely. "You know...Hercules? The Disney movie?" I asked. Grover pouted at that while Luke a Thalia had to hold back smiles, even the little girl, Annabeth, snickered.

"Grover hates that movie." Luke explained as the satyr put his fake legs back on.

"He was a very inaccurate portrayal of saytrs." Grover said before walking away in a huff.

"Grover! Come on man! He didn't mean it!" Luke called out, still smiling as he went after the protector. Annabeth fallowed behind, still trying not to laugh it failing. I looked up at Thalia, she was still smirking.

"So what's your name. Didn't really get a chance to ask." she questioned, reaching out her hand to me. I grasped it.

"Vincent. Or Vince." I introduced myself. As we fallowed the others towards the the road, where I saw Luke still trying to talk with Grover, I realized something, "Hey where we heading to anyway? Where's this camp at?"

The daughter of Zeus sighed, "Upstate New York or something."

"But...we're in-"

"Yup."

"Oh...and none of you know how to drive." I said.

"Nope." She answered.

We walked in silence for a while after that. This was going to be one long trip.

{¥£€}

The three weeks after that were both the best, and albeit worst at times, I've ever had. Annabeth finally talked to me, and for a seven year old she may have been the smartest girl I ever met. Thalia rven agreed with me on that. Luke was pretty cool too, though it was a little awkward, with him suggesting to leave me behind and all, but he was now one of my best friends.

Grover was what made the trip bare able to be honest, he had to be one of the kindest people...guys...that I ever met. It took me a bit to get over the fact that he had goat legs, and ate grass...and bleated. But he didn't seem to mind.

Thalia though...I honestly couldn't find the right amount of words to describe her. She was kind, but could turn fierce at a moment's notice if need be, and despite what you would think when you first looked at her, she was a huge team player, despite what she's gone though.

One night when I was patrolling around the camp, since everyone had a weapon but me I borrowed Luke's sword, I found Thalia sitting near a tree throwing beer bottles into a cave. I asked what was wrong, after a bitter 'mind your own business' from her, I dropped it.

After that, I gave her space. I'll admit I was a little hurt but when we were getting food for the others, she apologized for being so snappy at me. We sat down and she told me about her mother...

"Met?" I provided. We were sitting outside a Dairy Queens in New Jersey, the bag of food sitting between us on the bench we occupied.

Thalia shrugged, "I was going for hooked up. But that's pretty accurate, yeah." she responded. "She was an drama queen. I mean she did all these stupid stunts, all to try and get my father's attention." she said, resentment clear in her voice.

She lifted one of her legs up onto the bench. "She did the stupidest things. Honestly I can't believe I stayed at home for as long as I did." she said, I looked at her with shock on my face. The thought never crossed my mind that Thalia was a runaway. But it did make sense, why else would they be traveling the way they were of her mother didn't help?

"When did you..." I asked delicately. I didn't want to say something to make her zap me. I'd like to say I was joking but...daughter of Zeus you know?

"Run off? About a year and a half ago now...man. That's kinda weird saying it out loud." she said, realizing how long it's been.

We sat quietly for a while after that, I couldn't leave it like that, on some sad story that would hang over our heads the rest of the day. "You think that's bad? My parents dumped me in a orphanage." I said. Thalia looked at me like I grew a second head.

Ok I really need to rethink my definition of cheering someone else.

"My parents make your mom look like a responsible adult." I said. Thalia snorted at that, I smiled a little, "My dad makes a deadbeat look like parent of the year. At least they know they have a kid."

"Oh gods that's horrible! Stop!" she laughed out, starting to loose it.

"I mean whose's my mom's role model Peter Pan?" I asked, she lost it at that, stompping her foot into the ground as she howled with laughter.

When she finally died down in laughter, wiping a tear away she was finally able to speak. "And people think I'm twisted. Your a psychopath."

"Thank you I try." I responded mockingly as I got up, grabbing the bag. "Come on, we better get the food to Luke and Annabeth. You know how she gets when she's hungry." I said.

"She's not that bad."

"I think she'd eat me if she had the chance." I responded. "Between me and Grover, I'm the one who has more meat on the bones. But then again we could make lamb chops out of him." I said before she slugged me in gnat arm, shutting me up.

{¥£€}

The next few days were the usual, walking for miles, fighting the occasional monster that attacked. Talking to pass the time, we camped out in the forest under the tall pine trees. so this morning when I woke up to an arrow pointed at my nose? Well by now I was strangely used to the unexpected.

Me, Luke, and Grover where taken aside and punt under guard by a group of teenage girls. They were the Hunters of Artemis, and the looks they were giving us was a little unsettling. "So...cool arrows." I said aloud, making them all shoot me a look. "Ok I'll just shut up." I muttered, bowing my head with shame.

Luke bumped his elbow into me, "Hey don't let them get to ya." he said, making a few of the girls turn to scowl at him.

"Yeah they're demigods just like you guys, some Hunters are even mortal." Grover added.

"Wait. The Hunters of Artemis?" I asked, making their attention focus back to me. "Um...why do you call yourselves the hunters?" I asked cautiously.

A few of them rolled their. "We call ourselves the Hunters because we do not need to be labeled as something different from men, we are just as worthy of the title." the girls moved aside, the girl who had taken Annabeth and Thalia away to speak was back, with the pair in tow.

"Oh...ok...um, I'm just ten so..." I said, the girl's glare not letting up. She sure knew how to make a guy feel bad for just being a guy.

Thalia did not look pleased when she and Annabeth came back. "We're leaving." she said bluntly. The leader of the Hunters looked disappointedly at Thalia walked past her.

"Our offer still stands." she said as me, Luke and Grover stood up. Thalia looked back, her blue eyes turning cold and angry. Now since the hunters have been giving us guys the stink eye, I didn't want to say or do anything to offend them. That went for everyone else.

"Um, Thalia I'm pretty sure we need to get going. I mean it'll be daylight soon." I said, trying to draw her attention away from the Hunter's leader, she looked at me and I gulped. I'll tell you right now if I had to choose between getting the glare from a group of of young women or Thalia? I'd go with the group.

After a moment though she visibly calmed down, "Come on. Let's go." she said, sounding like she just lost a fight. We all fallowed her out of the woods and towards the road, when we were all out of range of their ears, and arrows, Thalia spoke. "They wanted to recruit us." she said suddenly.

"What!?" Luke asked disbelievingly. Grover was silent, but he didn't seem so surprised. I suddenly realized that he must have known that they would try to recruit the girls.

Annabeth nodded, "We both said know but...they kept saying how if we went with you guys...we'd end up dead." That made me stop in my tracks. My blood boiled at that.

I turned on a heel and made my way towards the woods, the others noticed a few seconds later, "HeyVincent what are you-!" Luke started as I cupped my hands around my mouth.

"JUST BECAUSE IM A GUY DOESN'T GIVE YOUTHE RIGHT TO TELL THEM THEY'RE GONNA DIE!" I shouted as loudly as I could into the forest. The others must think I'm stupid and crazy for doing this. "YOU DON'T LIKE GUYS? FINE! BUT DON'T BADMOUTH US FOR NO REASON! THATS JUST DISRESPECTFUL!" I called out.

I was honestly surprised I didn't have an arrow in my throat. "AND YOUR NAME IS WRONG! IT SHOULD BE HUNTRESSES NOT HUNTERS!" I yelled before turning around and sprinting away back towards the other. "Hurry before they try and kill us!" I said quickly I ran past them, they ran after me.

Once we all made it well out of range of the tree line, we all stopped to take a breather. As I was hunched over trying to get some air, Luke patted my shoulder, making me look over to his smiling face. "You're awesome. That was awesome." he laughed out, making me smile.

"I didn't want them to have the...last word...especially of it was that." I breathed out before plopping on the ground. Thalia sat down beside me, a huge grin on her face.

She slugged me playfully in the shoulder, "The church mouse roars. And holy crap that was a roar." she said, making us all laugh.

It wasn't until an arrow embedded into the ground a few feet away that we started running again. To this day I'm certain that they did that to scare the living crap out of us.

{¥£€}

It took months, but we were finally here. At the home stretch. Rain was pouring down as thunder snapped through the sky. All of us were running like bats out of hell, Luke and Thalia held up the rear of the group with their weapons while I carried Annabeth in my arms as fast as I could from them.

The monsters.

I couldn't tell what the hell was fallowing us but at this point? I didn't even care because at this rate? I wasn't entirely sure we would make it.

We climbed up the grassy hill, Grover taking the lead. As soon as we reached the top, I put Annabeth down, we all stares at the camp for a second. I didn't know what to expect honestly but it wasn't exactly this. A summer camp.

I risked my life, left my home, and went with four strangers to go to a summer camp?

"Grover. Explain please." I asked, turning to the half goat boy.

"I said it was w camp, what else did you expect?" He asked before the roar of a Hellhound echoed over the side of the hill. We looked back and couldn't belive it.

The darkness made their shapes hard to make out, but there was a lot of them to be sure. More than I've ever seen in my life. That's when I realized something. We led them here, the five of us? Our scent must have led them here right to the camp...and it was night, they were all asleep.

I looked over at the others, Luke, Thalia and Grover all had a look of horror on their faces and I'm pretty sure that I did too. But Thalia...Thalia looked clam. She looked at all of us, and I saw sadness in her eyes. "Grover. Take them all back to camp...in staying here."

"What!?" We all said at once in shock.

"I'm going to stay here and hold them off while you all get help." She said, taking out her spear and shield, readying herself for a fight.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" Annabeth sId stubbornly.

"Same here." I said, I don't care if I have to kill a Cyclops with stick I was now going to leave Thalia.

But before I could say anything else, Luke grabbed me and lifted me up over his shoulders and ran with me, Grover doing the same with Annabeth, with tears in his eyes. "Luke! Put me down we can fight! We can-" I started as o stated at Thalia with horror.

But she smiled. She smiled one of the saddest smiles I ever seen. Because she knew that she wasn't going to survive this. But we were, and that was what mattered to her. She turned back over the hill, "I AM THALIA GRACE DAUGHTER OF ZUSE! AND YOU WILL NOT HURT MY FRIENDS TODAY! YEEEEHHH!" she shouted with a battle cry as she charged forward.

My vision blurred with tears. I cried that night, along with the others.

{¥£€}

That was a month ago. And the wound was still fresh. I was sitting outside the Hermes cabin, I wore a pair of jeans and the orange camp half-blood tee shirt. I had a break between activities, next one was archery which I wasn't half bad at I'm proud to say. I looked up to the hill, I couldn't help but frown. Standing up, I made my way past the center of the cabin grounds. The cabins in place so from above it was shaped into a large omega symbol.

The camp itself was massive, I didn't know how many campers we had here but it had to be well over three dozen. The most populated was the Hermes cabin, it was where I was staying at the moment. See, after you arrive at camp you become 'claimed' by your godly parent, Annabeth was calmed just today, a silver owl hologram appearing over her head.

I was happy for her, Luke already knew his father was Hermes so he was staying in the cabin I was bunking in for now. But see, the thing that bugs me is that it's also the place where the lesser gods' kids stay at. I don't see why they can't just make some cabins for them too...plus the words 'lesser God' sounds weird together.

Making my way up the hill, I stopped in front of the tree. Thalia's tree.

She died...well...ok, let me explain.

Thalia got hurt when she was fighting the monsters. Like...not getting better hurt. So Zeus in his all mighty wisdom, he thought sarcastically, turned her into a tree. So technically speaking she's alive, but...sorta.

The tree also casts a protective barrier around the campgrounds, so that no monster can get into the camp and no one would have to share her fate. "Took you all long enough." I muttered, I heard a rumble in the distance. "Yeah you heard me." I challenged. What was he gonna do smite me?

Then again he did turn his daughter into a tree.

I shook those thoughts Dom my head as I stopped in front of the tree. It was a large pine tree, still in its young years. "Hey Thalia." I greeted, sitting down in front of the base of the tree with my legs crossed. "How are you doing? Good I hope?" I asked. There was nothing but silence obviously, as far as we knew, there was I way to know if Thalia could even hear us, let alone communicate in any way.

"So I don't know if she told you or not, but Annabeth got claimed today. Athena, guess you were right about her being smart for a seven year old." I said, I imagine her laughing at that, and a good old 'told you so' from her but it doesn't come. "Oh yeah, Charion wasn't that surprised either. She seemed way to happy to get out of the Hermes cabin. Gods help the Stoll brothers, they've been on her list since that dumb little spider prank. Should have seen her, me and Luke hand to pry her off one of them." I said, thinking back to how Annabeth went for their necks.

As for Charion, he was in charge of the camp, Charion looked like a middle aged Ma with combed hair and a trimmed bested. Oh and his lower body was a horse. That's right, the head of the camp is a centaur, I'd like to see what any other camp can compete with on that front.

"So...what's it like being a tree?" I asked. Silence...I sighed. "I miss you Thalia...I miss talking to you. I miss seeing your face, your smile, your laugh...everything." I admitted, I never had the guts to tell her these things to her face. It was just a little crush, she saved my life, this beautiful, brace, selfless girl saved my life.

But saying it now just made the heartache return.

I bowed my head, "Thalia I'm sorry...in so sorry I couldn't help you...I'm sorry for being so fricking useless." I spat out, as tears gathered in the corner of my eyes. I wiped the wetness away, I was never going to cry in front of her tree. If she could hear me, see me even, I don't want her to see me like that. "Them again I didn't have a weapon with me...which reminds me, I had sword fighting yesterday. Luke said I did pretty well, I also tried a axe, a mace, a spear, and a dagger. I sucked at the dagger though. It was too small." I admitted.

I smiled at what I said next, "Luke seems to think since I'm kinda well at a bunch of stuff I may be a Hermes kid. It'd be cool to have him as a big step brother...but like you said, we're all family." I said happily. I really took that to heart, Annabeth was like the little know it all sister I never had...and maybe not wanted. Luke was an Awesome brother figure as well, but Thalia...well you kinda know how I feel about her by now I guess.

"Still haven't been claimed by any of them yet...not gonna lie if kinda sucks. The Hermes cabin is super crowded. I would ask if I could have bunked with you in the Zeus cabin but I'm pretty sure your dad would smite me." I admitted.

I folded my legs together and held them close to my chest with my chin resting on my knees. "You know...if I meet my godly parent, I'm not sure what I'll do. I mean part of me would like to just ignore them, see how they like it. But the other part of me says to be better than that...I don't know how you and your dad would have gotten along...but you know I would tell you to cut the guy some slack, and that your not the only one whose been there...but if you hit him I would get it." There was another rumble in the sky.

This coming from the guy who castrated his own father. Ugggh.

I stood up, swiping some grass off my body before speaking. "I better get going. I got the rock climbing wall and I figure this time I'll only get slightly roasted...you see you later Thalia." I said, backing away from the tree before turning down the hill and walking towards the climbing wall.

And when I came out on the other side of the wall with barely any burns and a slightly charred shirt? I couldn't help but muse the idea that Thalia made sure I didn't get burned.

{¥£€}

Ok now I'm pissed.

Two weeks ago I was fine with not being claimed. But a month ago I arrived at camp, nearly having gotten killed in the process, and still nothing! What am I an embarrassment!? For crying out loud everyone here is proof that they've been with a mortal at some point, and that's not counting how many there have been overall.

And the disgusting part is that most of the kids in the same cabin are around the same age...I would really rather not think about that...

I turned over in my bed, I was angry, I've been angry for the past two days. Luke noticed of course, but I can't dump all this on him. It's not like he would get it, he knew who his father was before he even came here. I felt guilty about the jealousy I felt, I was happy that Luke got to be with his step brothers. I really was, but...I didn't have that.

I pulled the covers off me and looked around, everyone was asleep...I reached under my bed and grabbed my bag, looking inside I made sure I had ev everything before I put on my shirt, pants, and socks.

Picking up my shoes, I passed through the isle of beds as quietly as I possibly could. I heard that Hermes kids could just know when someone was planning on doing something, I didn't exactly believe it but I've seen it happen.

When I made it to the door, I slowly opened it up and slipped through the crack before I turned the knob and pulled it back to its original place and turning the knob back into place. I took a cautious look up to the sky, Charion told us that there were harpies that patrolled the grounds after dark and they've attacked campers in the past.

Demigod life is bad when your at risk of being attacked at the one place that's a safe haven. I slipped my shoes on and took off through the grass, occasionally darting my head up to see of the harpies were about to dive bomb me. Thankfully I made it to the top of half blood hill without any bird ladies trying to kill me.

I looked at the tree. I let out a sad sigh. "Hey Thalia...look I'm just going to say it. I'm leaving camp." I said. I imagine of this was her human form she would slap the ever loving crap out of me for just saying that. "Look it's just...back at the church? I didn't feel like I belonged there, and that was find, all demigods have to feel that way, I've talked around, I know they have." I explained.

"But...since I got here? Annabeth and Luke have been there for me, Grover too. But I haven't been claimed, is my godly parent really that ashamed of me that they wouldn't...I felt out of place before. But here...I feel like I'm unwanted...and I think that you of all people know what it's like to feel that." I said sadly.

When I expected silence, I was more than surprised to find it broken. "Yeah she would." I whirled my head around to see Luke, his hands folded in his pockets and a sad look on his face. "You suck at sneaking around you know." he said.

"Luke..."

"Are you seriously going to leave?" He asked. "After everything, after all those risks we took, after what Thalia sacrificed!? Your just going to leave?!" he asked, the bitterness in his voice making me flinch. Luke realized his mistake, his anger faded back into sadness. "Vince you can't go...you got me and Annabeth." he offered.

"And I wish that was enough like, gods, I think about that every day! But...I came with you guys because I thought I could finally find somewhere I feel at home...but with Thalia gone...you two having your brothers and sisters...I feel more alone than ever." I admitted.

I bowed my head, I expected Luke to scream and shout at me. To tell me something that would make my guilt validated and cause me to stay. But he simply sighed. "Ok." I looked up at him, a look of painful admittance, "Look Vince I get it...Thalia would too...just...if you get in trouble? Come back ok?" he asked before pulling me into a hug. I returned it, patting him on the back as o did.

We pulled away, Luke giving me a smirk that he must have picked up from his dad's side. "Annabeth is gonna murder you, you know that right?" he asked. I grimaced, the daughter of Athena would most likely kill me when she saw me again.

"Do me a solid and tell her you drive me out?" I suggested.

"No." He said smirking.

"Crap...but seriously? Don't tell her, she wouldn't get it. I don't think she would anyway. She ran away for different reasons than Thalia did." I said, recalling how Annabeth told them of how her parents were.

Luke nodded, "Take care man."

I nodded before turning around and walking down the hill.

{¥£€}

My back slammed into the brick wall behind me before I fell onto the pavement.

New York City. Always wanted to come here. Just not when there's a Cyclops trying to kill me. Looking up, I rolled out of the way of his club as it hit the ground where I was just at.

This all started when I was walking down the street, looking for a place to eat when I saw him in the middle of the street. Your probably wondering why didn't everyone else on the street see him as well? You see, the gods are smart enough to know that if people see the real monsters? The world's biggest secret would be out.

So they have the Mist.

What it does is alter people's perception of what they see when there's a mister, demigod, or something else that can't be possible. For example, when our group went to eat, Annabeth put her knife down on the table, before I could earn her the sever commented on how nice her phone was.

I couldn't imagine what the mortals must have seen when I was running away from the cyclops, but at a guess? A kid running from an huge overweight basketball player into a dead end alley.

I stood up and grabbed a trash can lid and threw it like a frisbee at his head. "Ugh! Stupid demigod throw pop can at head!" he bellowed out. I looked around for my weapon, I wasn't stupid enough to leave camp with no weapon after all. I looked between the Monster's feet, on the ground was my dagger, around the size of a bayonet.

When the cyclops raised his club again dived forward and grabbed the knife, swinging out to the back of his foot, slicing through the tendon and making him cry out in pain as he collapsed backwards. I quickly stood up and jumped up onto him and ran up his chest before plunging the knife into his chest cavity, unfortunately the blade wasn't long enough to pierce his heart.

"Crap." I muttered as the cyclops grabbed me with both his hands, I only had one hand free and his hands were squeezing the air out of my lungs.

"Squeeze life from you!" The cyclops wheezes out. My mind was racing, the pain of by ribs straining from the pressure he was causing was making me bite back a scream.

Think! What can I do? The blade was in his chest and even if I kicked it in to the hilt it may not hit the heart!

Pulling my foot back I kicked the bottom of the Knicks, making his grip loosen and make me fall to his chest. I reached around, trying to find something to grab and smack him with, I was not going to die here by a stupid cyclops!

Wait...of course!

I reeled my hand back before reaching out and grabbing the cyclops' eye and pulled. With one hard, gross, squishy, gross pull, I yanked the eye out of it's socket. "GEYYYYGHHHH!" he let go of me with a wail as he covered his eye hole with both his hands.

I quickly grabbed the knife and yanked it out before plunging it through his hand through his hands, into his head. The mass of flesh beneath me faded into golden dust. I got the pavement again, gasping for air I rolled over into my back. "That was...so gross...ewwwww." I said, I just grabbed a eyeball.

"That was a fairly gruesome sight." I rolled over onto my knees, my hand reaching for my knife. At the end of the allyway was a middle aged man, he had a shared jaw with s goatee around his mouth. He had neatly combed back black hair with the sides greeting slightly.

He wore a simple dark blue jacket with a few pouches on it with a white shirt underneath and a red scarf with a gold trim on the edge of the scarf. He looked normal enough, but I met Dionysus at camp. He was supposed to keep an eye on the campers as some form of punishment, but he was just a normal looking guy too.

And this guy could see through the Mist, so there couldn't be something normal about this guy. "Yeah...it was." I replied, glancing at the ripped out eye. I heard that some monsters left behind 'trophies' that a demigod can keep. But I did not want to keep that.

"So what are you doing all the way from camp?" he asked. I raised my knife, the man didn't seem intimidated, "Young man, I understand you just killed a Cyclopes, but I assure you I mean you no harm." he said. The logical side of my brain was telling me to keep my guard up.

But being a demigod was about trusting your gut as well as your head. And my gut was telling me he was being truthful. So I put the knife back in the sheath. "I didn't exactly fit in there...decided to try my luck outside camp." I admitted.

He raised an eye at that, "And tell me, how has that worked out for you?" he asked.

"About as good as me killing whatever tried to kill me first." I responded. Before he could respond, my stomach let out a low growl. "...well that just ruined my look." I muttered out.

The man looked at me with some concern, "When was the last time you ate?" he asked curiously.

I was silent for a few seconds before speaking. "Yesterday." I admitted. I had lost a bit of weight since I went with Thalia, and it wasn't exactly by choice.

The man took a step forward, "Tell you what. I have food at home, you come with me, get something to eat, stay the night, and you can head back to camp." he suggested.

"I'm not going back to camp." I said stubbornly.

The man looked at me strangely, "Oh? Why?" he asked curiously. I didn't meet his eyes, either I don't tell him and he drags me back to camp, nevermind that I didn't want to go back, how would that even look? A ten year old being brought back after running away.

"My friend was a demigod. She got turned into a tree by her dad who...could have helped out more." I said choosing my words carefully. Grover always told me that names had power when it came to gods.

The man's eyes widened with surprise briefly before he looked at me with understanding. "Ah...I see...you knew Thalia," He said, I must have looked more surprised than I felt, "I'm not a god, I can understand why you would think that. But Im not."

I somehow felt a bit of relief at that, "So your not a god...demigod?" I asked.

He chuckled, "No, no, I'm mortal." he said as I finally got up onto my feet. Now I was curious, a mortal that could see through the mist? I never heard of anything like that.

"So. You still want that meal?" he asked. I thought for a moment, worst case I could just sneak out of his place before he wakes up.

"Sure...I'm Vincent." I introduced, realizing I didn't say my name before.

The man gave a kind smile, "Stephen Strange." he introduced. I looked at him blankly for a moment, "Yes that is my real name. Now come on, my place is a few blocks away." he said, turning around with me fallowing right behind him.

{¥£€}

Strange led me up to the front gates of a estate type place. It had a low stone wall surrounding the perimeter with metal spikes pointing up from the top of the stones. As soon as I walked into the property though, I felt a strange feeling was over me.

The closest I could come to describing it would be comparing it to the air around Thalia when she got upset. She smelled like ozone when that happened, and a font of electricity in the air. I still felt the power that was behind the electricity, but that spark, the smell, it was absent.

I fallowed him up to the door when I noticed something. "Um...where's the handle?" I asked. The door was made of simple wood. The entire house seemed to be made of stone with the top floor having a slanted roof with a large round window on it facing upwards towards the sky.

Strange simply walked up to the door and knocked, it opened a second later. On the inside was a man around Strange's age, he was asain, had a bald head but a fit build. He wore a traditional Chinese shirt, pants, and karate shoes. It was green with what looked line diamonds stitching. It too had a golden edge to it. "Ah, Doctor, always glad to see you return." he said holding open the door for him. When he noticed me, I felt a slight urge to shrink, "Ah, a guest?" he asked.

Strange nodded, "Yes, Vincent, this is Wong. He's my servant, if you need anything don't be afraid to ask." he said, the servant nodding in agreement.

Entering the house, I turned back as the door closed when I noticed that the door didn't have a handle on the inside either. "What the-how did you open the door?" I asked.

Wong and strange stopped and looked at me. The servant looked at strange with a slight smirk, "He's observant." Wong said.

I turned to face them, my hand drifting to my dagger, only to find it not there. "Ok what's going on? You see through the mist, your not a god, Demigod, or a monster. So what are you?" I asked, did I seriously walk into the same trap they used for Hansel and Gretel?

Strange raised a hand, holding my knife, "Vincent there's no reason to be nervous, I assure you we mean you no harm." he said before tossing my knife at me. The knife flew right time hand, I looked at it with shock, strange didn't even true it that hard.

"You still haven't answered my question." I pointed out. I wasn't about to let him get off not telling me anything just because he knows a few tricks.

Wong and Strange glanced at one another before Stephen talked. "As I said before I'm not a god, or a demigod. I am mortal. In a sense." he explained cryptically. "Vincent, who do you think is the one who made the Mist? The barrier between the works of mortals and the world of the gods?" he asked.

I shrugged, "The gods? I mean I don't know which one but..."

The man rolled his eyes, "I suppose they would have you believe that. In actually it was my master. Decades ago he put up the mystical barrier that shields the gods world from the mortals." he explained as he turned around and walked further into the house.

The parlor was huge, a grand staircase led up to the second level with two hallways to my left and right, and a pair of doors on either side of the wall beneath the raising of the second level. I fallowed him and Wong through one of the doors, "My master, the Ancient One, taught me in the ways of the mystic like him."

To be honest, I wasn't that surprised, I've seen magic before. "Thalia had a bracelet that turned into her shield, and Charion said that my shift should read something different to mortals." I said.

"It says you work at a strawberry patch." Wong said.

I looked down at my orange tee shirt. Really wish I could change that, I mean it's a good cover but...that's kinda lame.

Strange shook his head. "That is a form OF magic, think of it as a subject. The Mist is one of the greatest illusion spells ever cast. Bit there are other types of spells, charms, incantations, and much more." he explained as we entered a living room area, a sofa and a large comfy chair sat across from one another in front of a fireplace, a coffee table between the seats. I sat on the couch as Strange took a seat in the chair.

The fire illuminated the room, casting shadows of the furniture onto the walls when we walked in. "Ok but what about Hecate? She's the Goddess of magic." I asked. A few of the campers in the Hermes cabin were her children, they knew how to pull tricks but there weren't any magical classes or activities at Camp.

Strange nodded, "A good question, she wields it, controls it, but she also produces it." he explained as Wong left the room. I didn't come pelt understand him and he could tell, "Alright, think if it like this, magic is power. And there must be something that produces it. Now, it can't be created, or destroyed, but Hecate, along with many other people things, even places channel it." he explained.

"So...she's like a Powerplant. Providing magic to the world?" I asked.

Strange smiled, "A good analogy."

I ran my hand over my face, this was a little much to wrap my head around. "But why tell me all of this?" I asked.

Strange smirked, "Why do you think I can use magic?" he asked.

I sat there and thought for a minute, I've seen Thalia manipulate the Mist once or twice. I assumed she was capable of doing that because she was the daughter of one of the big three. But Strange was mortal...

"Anyone can do it...including me?" I asked, starting to catch on.

Strange stood from his chair, "If you don't want to go back to the Camp, that is your choice. But if I let you walk out of this house, and you died? That would be on my hands, so if you won't head back to camp? Then I offer you to stay here with me, to learn magic." he offered.

I was stunned to say the least, after a few seconds I managed to find my voice once again. "Why me? I mean I'm a demigod sure but...I can't be the first you met." I pointed out. The way he acted and offered to send me back to camp was proof of that.

"Honestly Vincent?" He asked, I nodded. "I see that you have potential. When I came to my master, I was nothing but a bitter idiot. But he saw the same potential in me that I see in you." he said, the tone of his voice showing honesty. "The choice is yours." he offered up.

I thought, I thought more about this more than anything I ever done in my life. I thought lore about this than going with Thalia, Luke and Annabeth with Grover to camp. I was useless to help Thalia...but if I learned...I could never be useless again.

"Alright...can you teach me?" I asked.

The doctor smiled, "Yes I can. But first, you need something to eat." he said just as Wong entered with a tray of food.

"He said yes?"

"He said yes." Strange replied. Pulling the lid off the tray, my jaw dropped at what Wong brought me, a burger, spices fries, a milkshake, and a Chocolate brownie for desert. All my favorites.

"But...how-?" I started.

"Who do you think made the lunch area for the camp?" Strange asked as Wong Andes him a drink of water that changed from clear to green a second after touching it.

Magic is real, and it's the greatest thing ever to me.

AN: Ok. Before you start.

"Avatarconner-"

Before. You. Start.

"What. The. SHIT?!"

Ok ok, look, I know I got a ton of stories going on right now but I said earlier this year, that I would not be sticking to a schedule. I know I haven't updated how to train your avatars in over a year. I know man of tomorrow volume 1 is unfinished and RWBY V4 is around the corner, and Star Wars sentinel is...well that one is kinda just for me and I'm a little sad no one is reading it.

But! I am not giving up on ANY OF MY STORIES. Ok? Ok.

Now that's out of the way with, I love Percy Jackson. I love every book, every character, this was and still is to me what Harry Potter was to thousands, millions even, of people. Now I'm not dyslexic or have ADHD, I actually do have something but that's not important, but this series showed me it doesn't matter what mental handicap you have or not, you can still be a hero.

I own every book on the series and the sequel series, which I'll admit, I like the first series better.

Also I published this under Percy Jackson only be used I could not find for the life of me a doctor strange tag on the crossovers tab. Sorry.

Now your probably wondering why go with Doctor strange. Honestly I read a bunch of his stuff and I found o could mix it well with Percy Jackson. And with the new movie coming out soon, I thought 'what the Hades'...bad joke I know.

So until next time guys.