Tony Stark' POV

I have to watch my back in here.  Even though I knew Sally would never betray me her son and his friends might be evil.  

I'm currently sitting in the end of the couch near Sally.  Percy: my nephew and his three friends were upstairs so I could talk with Sally.  But, right now we weren't doing much talking.

"So,"  she said trying to break the silence, "how's work going?"

"It's doing fine,"  I replied, "did you know that my company stopped selling weapons?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do," Sally told me, "I also know that your fiance Pepper Potts is now the CEO and you're Iron Man full time."

"Yes, that is correct,"  I told her.  "How's your job going?"  I asked.

"Good, I'm starting to write a series of fantasy books under the name of Rick Riordan.  The characters are named after my son and his friends,"  she told me.

"What's it about?"  I asked, not wanting her to know that it sounded boring.

"It's about greek mythology in the modern day.  Would you like to read it?"  She asked.

"Certainly," I said as Sally went up to grab her laptop that she was working on.

When Sally returned she placed the book on my lap and I started reading. 

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now.Believe what-ever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for beingable to believe that none of this ever happened.  But if you recognize yourself in these pages-if you feel something stirring inside-stop readingimmediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a mat-ter of time before theysense it too, and they'll come for you.Don't say I didn't warn you.My name is Percy Jackson.I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a privateschool for troubled kids in upstate New York.

"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."  My eyes widened. "Montauk?""Three nights-same cabin.""When?"She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolvedbefore my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. Ablinding flash, and she was sim-ply ... gone.

Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're herefor. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-croppedsandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklacewith five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick whitescar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.

"Stay out of it, wise girl."

Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipesshudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over myhead, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behindme.I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hit-ting Clarisse straight in the face so hard itpushed her down onto her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing herbackward into a shower stall.She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded,too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The show-ers acted up, too, and togetherall the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like piecesof garbage being washed away.

"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.

"We got separated from our caravan," I said. "Our cir-cus caravan. The ringmaster told us to meet him atthe gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station.Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"

I'd love to tell you I had some deep revelation on my way down, that I came to terms with my ownmortality, laughed in the face of death, et cetera.The truth? My only thought was: Aaaaggghhhhh!

"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo trans-port?"

I said, "Hey, Darrin?""What?""What year is it?"He frowned at me. "In the game?""No. In real life."He had to think about it. "1977.""No," I said, getting a little scared. "Really.""Hey, man. Bad vibes. I got a game happening."

"There you have it, America." Barbara Walters turned to the camera. "A man torn apart. An adolescentboy with seri-ous issues. Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive,taken a week ago in Denver."

"Oh, yeah." I did remember now. We'd seen him on TV a couple of times at the Yancy Academy dorm.He was this annoying televangelist from upstate New York who'd raised millions of dollars fororphanages and then got caught spending the money on stuff for his mansion, like gold-plated toiletseats, and an indoor putt-putt golf course. He'd died in a police chase when his "Lamborghini for theLord" went off a cliff.

"Charon wants a pay raise," I blurted, just remembering the fact. As soon as I said it, I wished I could sewup my mouth.

"Reconciliation," she said. "Athena and Poseidon together."My face felt a little warm, but I managed a smile. "Thanks."

"I'll be nice to you, punk." Gabe showed me his tobacco-stained teeth. "I'll give you five minutes to getyour stuff and clear out. After that, I call the police.""Gabe!" my mother pleaded."He ran away," Gabe told her. "Let him stay gone."

Luke gave me a twisted smile. "Oh, I'm leaving, all right, Percy. I brought you down here to say goodbye."He snapped his fingers. A small fire burned a hole in the ground at my feet. Out crawled somethingglistening black, about the size of my hand. A scorpion.I started to go for my pen."I wouldn't," Luke cautioned. "Pit scorpions can jump up to fifteen feet. Its stinger can pierce rightthrough your clothes. You'll be dead in sixty seconds."

"Don't speak of Thalia!" he shouted. "The gods let her die! That's one of the many things they will payfor."

"I can't believe that Luke ..." Annabeth's voice faltered. Her expression turned angry and sad. "Yes. Yes, Ican believe it. May the gods curse him.... He was never the same after his quest."

"I'll be back next summer," I promised him. "I'll survive until then. After all, I am your son." I asked Argusto take me down to cabin three, so I could pack my bags for home.

After I finished reading I looked up at Sally  "this is really good," I told her, "it's almost like it real."

Sally slightly cringed in response.  "Thanks," she said, "I'm sending it in to a publisher tomorrow morning."

"Good luck," I replied.

"Well," she said, "I guess it's time to eat dinner.  Is it okay if my son and his friends eat with us?"

"Yes, certainly," I replied, I needed to gather intel for S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Percy, dinner!" Sally yelled.

Hey guys!  So, I finally updated.  I'm so sorry I haven't in a while.  I've been really busy with schools and other things.  I'm probably going to do a part three.  Have a nice day!

~Frances