Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase: Never As Simple As It Seems

Family

"Alright boys," she said walking out of the ally i had walked into. "Lets go."

Thalia, Luke and me have been running for forever. We fought so many scary monsters. But we have a lot of cool hiding places. Theyre fun to fight with, but i still dont like killing the things that attack us. It makes me feel like...

Gabe.

I try not to think about it. They'll come back. Im not killing them like...like Smelly Gabe killed my mommy.

Whenever i think about Gabe and my mommy i cry. It makes me sad. My mommy always told me what to do and now shes gone. My mommy wouldnt have let ms run away. My mommy would have made me blue pancakes.

Blue is my favorite color now. Because it reminds me of Mommy.

Whenever i cry Thalia helps me. She makes me happier. I think she understands losing a mommy. Or maybe she lost a goldfish. I was attached to my goldfish when i was littler. He told me stories and then he died.

But Thalia is like my big sister now. I never had a big sister. Or anybody. Becase my daddy had only had me with Mommy, and Gabe is too Smelly for the stork to deliver to.

Luke makes me want to be cool. He makes me feel better but different from Thalia. He makes me want to do cooler stuff. He taught me to use my dagger and im better now.

Id do anything to impress Luke. Once i cut off a Hydra head because i wanted Luke to think i was cool. It uh... didnt go down too well. But we made it out alive at least.

But all we do is run. I like being their family, its better than being Smelly Gabe's family, but we just run and run. Its been like, a kajillion years since i left Smelly Gabe. And i wanna try to find my real Daddy.

I havent told Thalia and Luke that yet.

Im afraid theyd get mad. That theyd hit me. Smelly Gabe always yelled at me to be tougher. That when he hit me, it was my fault i got hurt. I should be tough. But i still get scared. Im a scaredy cat. A no good, mommy's boy who will never be anything more than a scared piece of

"Schist?" Thalia asks. Its getting dark and Thalia, Luke, and me are looking for a place to sleep. Luke says that our closest hideout is in a cave of some rock called schist.

"Yeah. Its shiny and kinda hard. More between. Like a medium." Luke explains. "Ah, right there!"

Luke points at something. It looks likr an empty turtles shell. But why would a turtle lose its shell? Isnt that like its apartment? Mommy was always complaining about bills on the apartment, if a turtle had a built-in apartment, it should be happy. No bills.

"It was a failed attempt at a wall. Over the years it corroded and caved in. Made this nifty little cove." Luke pointed at the shell.

"So the turtle didnt lose its shell." I whispered to myself. "It still has a home." I thought about a shell-less turtle.

"Luke? Thalia? A shell is like- like a turtles house right?" I look up at them.

"Y-yeah, i suppose. Why, bud?" Thalia asks.

"Well, its just. Sometimes...i think ive lost my shell. L-like i dont have any place to go anymore. Like theres no home." I had gone back to staring at my sneakers. Mommy had bought them for me... "When do we find home?"