1 Chapter One

My head spun as I reached for my brush, quickly combing through my dirty blonde hair. I'd just had a dream of when I'd been claimed at Camp Half-Blood and it had really messed up my thoughts. I should've been glad that it wasn't a flashback in the middle of the day, but those barely happened anymore. Every once and a while, sure. But they had just stopped for reasons I couldn't explain. Something about the dream I'd had felt like a warning. The two signs of my greek and roman godly parents hovering over me; Jupiter and Poseidon. Since I was seven and my mom died, I'd been running between the roman and greek camps without anyone to tell me where and when to go somewhere. Now, I'd decided to stay at the roman camp for a while.

My praetor -and friend-, Hazel Zhang had disappeared this morning and I'd become annoyed, seeing how she'd asked me if I could do something for her, then just off the bat left camp. Luckily, our other praetor, Frank, was waiting for me to arrive so I could look over a scroll or something.

Slowly, I reached for my clothes and pulled out some ripped jeans, a dark blue shirt, a leather jacket, and some black combat boots. When I'd put it all on, I pulled my hair into a low ponytail and stretched my back out, grinning in satisfaction when it cracked loudly. My bunkmates were already gone doing their morning chores, so basically, I was all alone.

I slipped on my belt of a huge assortment of double-bladed daggers and made sure my sword-ring was on before I grabbed a piece of bread off my bunk that my mate had obviously left for me and stuffed it in my mouth. Slowly, I made my way to the door and opened it, only to be greeted by lots of demigods heading in all directions, getting their everyday stuff done.

Pushing through the tons of people, I made my way to the praetor's office, my ponytail blowing in the slight breeze.

"August! Hey! Over here!" Frank's huge form began running toward me, but he nearly tripped on his cape, making me smile slightly.

"I'm coming, coming!" I hurried over and helped him back into standing mode.

"Sorry about Hazel. She's getting some demigod of some sort. Not sure where. She didn't give me all the details. Powerful I guess." he shrugged.

"Oh, huh. Interesting," not, "guess we'll see who it is later. What can I help you with?"

"I just need you to write some notes from this scroll. Just so that we don't lose the important information," he handed me a scroll and hurried off calling back, "you can go into my office and work! I have to do something!"

"Wait- Fra-" he was already gone and I shook my head before I got to work, ignoring my still-sleepy brain.

Sighing, I began to work on the scroll.

A Roman Gladius is one of the weapons that every Roman demigod uses in the modern day era. The full length of the weapon is about 60 to 85 centimeters and the blade length is 45 to 68. The width varies between 5 to 7 centimeters and…

I was bored already.

Groaning, I slammed my head on the desk over and over again, until I gave up and shook my head. Obviously I wasn't going to get to this today. Not with the way my mind was exhausted. I pulled one of my double-sided daggers out and flicked it between my fingers over and over again, just staring at the scroll and my pencil. Finally, I wrote down the length of the stupid Gladius.

"Forty five to sixty-" I was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Instinctively, since I wasn't facing the door, I snapped my fingers together and my dagger went spinning quickly right behind me, where surely whoever had opened the door would be.

Suddenly, the paper in front of me caught on fire and I screeched, pushing back my chair and watching as it fell on the ground. As I pushed back, a glass of water spilled and I quickly used my powers to spiral all the water toward me, putting out the fire and drenching myself in the process. Picking up the soaking paper, I turned around, kicking the chair out of my way.

"You. Ruined. My. Paper." I stormed up to the guy next to Hazel and gave him the death eye.

My blue eyes flashed dangerously and the air around me crackled with electricity. The water flew off of me and pushed the cup back up before dumping itself into it.

"Say sorry." I snapped, angrily pulling my blade out of his shirt and stuffing it back into my belt.

He just stared at me.

"Fine. Don't say anything." I threw my hands in the air, a small lightning bolt coming out of my arm and zapping him.

Not sorry, I stalked off, Hazel shaking her head behind me. I could barely make out what she said to him.

"Be careful with that one- She's got fast reflexes."

I grabbed my papers and headed toward the door, stuffing my wet notes into his mouth as I passed. At that moment, I decided I didn't want to deal with the rest of this today. Today would be the day I'd escape for a while. I walked and walked, heading toward the tunnel to the streets.

After crossing the Tiber, I jogged through the tunnel and sighed when I successfully got to the entrance.

"Seriously August? Again?" a boy, Aiden, turned to me, his horrible black cowlick glinting in the sun.

"Morning Aiden." I dug out five denarius from my pocket and tossed it at him.

"I never saw you." he grinned and pocketed it, turning a blind eye as I walked toward the street.

I focused on my powers of Jupiter for a moment, then teleported to a large building, where I stared down into the car-flooded streets. From where I was standing, there were dark storm clouds above me and the wind was blowing hard. I stumbled slightly before I was able to get control of my brain.

Thank the gods for the Mist.

As my ponytail swirled around me, I took a breath. A few steps back and I was nearly on the edge of the building.

'Here goes…' I thought to myself and began to run for the other side of the building.

My feet left the side of the structure and suddenly, I was free falling and flailing through the air. I really only had a couple minutes to be able to fly before I'd die. This was the pressure I'd been wanting. The pressure I needed. The problem? Apparently falling from a skyscraper wasn't working out for me. I screamed. Not out of fear. But because I was angry. Angry that my father wouldn't give me what I needed. As I was screaming, something hit me from underneath, catching me. The pressure from the fall made me pass out.

A moment later I awoke in an unknown place with the boy from earlier in front of me passed out. I climbed away from him and sat next to a wall, shaking violently. When I looked to the side of me, there was a silvery woman. Not any woman though… My dead mother.

Soon enough, the boy had awoken and seemed to be talking to himself for a while. I hung my head, embarrassed of my situation. It would look like I'd committed suicide to everyone else… I'd be stuck.

The ghost flew over to me and my breath froze in my throat.

"Hello love… Been a while, huh? Please don't go jumping off buildings. You're needed for future quests and things I cannot explain right now," she held her hand out toward my face and I began to breathe hard. "I feel your anxiety and depression. Hiding it won't do any good- You're already being affect-"

I pushed the hand away, but it went through my skin, sending shivers down my spine. Mom got the idea though and pulled her hand back.

"I'm. Not. Depressed." I snapped back.

"I've only come here to tell you that you need to be aware… I must go now." Mom took a step back and I began to violently shake again.

"No, no, no, no-" I reached for her, tears flowing down my face, but she floated away, leaving me to crumple against the wall, still shaking and crying.

Anger shook my body soon enough and the tears disappeared when some other people appeared. Not bothering to see who they were, I pulled out one of my daggers and was at the boy's side in a second, my dagger pressed to his neck.

"What. Did. You. Do?!" my breathing was ragged and I could feel the air around me crackling with electricity again since he didn't answer. "STOP NOT TALKING TO ME! YOU WERE TALKING EASILY ENOUGH TO YOURSELF!"

My fingers were digging into the dagger, and I could feel blood dripping down them, but I didn't care. My mind was flashing back to the moments when I watched my mother die. Watched her body get ripped apart piece by piece and then eaten.

"What's your problem?! You don't get even a little scorched by lightning and it's like you can't feel pa-" my angry words were interrupted by Hazel's voice.

"Augusta?! What are you doing?!" I could feel her next to me, so I flinched and pulled the dagger away from his neck.

Last thing I needed was for them to think I was even more psycho.

The rest of the people came over and Hazel's eyes widened when she saw the blood on the dagger and my fingers.

"Um, Augusta- What happened?" Frank asked, stunned.

Suddenly, I realized that two of the boys in front of me were Nico and Will, two of my good friends from camp. Those two already knew all of my problems… They'd think I was crazy for sure.

"August, did you do that?" Will asked, his own eyes wide as he pointed to the boy's neck.

I glared at the boy and pulled myself back on my legs, ready to pounce if any of them tried to tie me back.

"Why August? He did nothing to you-" Hazel stepped forward, her own glare causing me to flinch back again.

"He did plenty." I answered quietly.

He should've just let me die. At this point, I was useless to this world. It was too big and I was too small. I didn't fit correctly in any puzzle piece.

Will muttered something to the boy and then said a little louder, "you cut him really deep. I might have to stitch it."

"Not my fault, he totally deserved it." I answered, glaring at my bleeding fingers, then hiding them behind me.

Frank and Hazel came over to me and began to scold and tell me off for jumping off a building, but I just stared at the wall beside me.

"August- You really shouldn't have done that. Are you okay? You've been off lately ever since you came back from camp half-blood-" Hazel frowned and her hand touched my face, feeling for a fever.

I pushed it off.

"I think she needs to go back to camp. Mr. D and Chiron will watch over her better than us. They've got more time to keep a close eye on her." Frank commented and Hazel nodded.

"Don't hurt people to take your anger out on them. We know you can teleport, so just go… Go pack. Then come back. Orders from your praetor. Consequences will be dire if you don't."

Sighing, I walked over to my friends and the boy, turning and talking to Will.

"I have to go with you guys back to camp, so if you could wait here I'll be back in, like, three minutes."

Will nodded, so I concentrated my powers and disappeared on the spot, teleporting back to my bunk. When I got there, I smacked my fist on my bed, my hands shaking violently.

I hated stupid stuff like this.

Slowly, I brought myself up again and began to collect all my things. It all fit into one small duffle bag, only because I didn't ever live on much. I tried to stop the tears running down my face as I grabbed hold of my last pair of shoes and stuffed it in.

"Stupid life."

Sighing, I took one last look around my room before disappearing out of thin air, back to the group of boys.

"Can we go now?" I grumbled, and laid my hand on Nico's shoulder, scowling.

It was only a moment before we were put into a tree. Everyone somehow ended up in a nice place. Me however, fell back onto a lower branch, hitting my back hard. When I saw that Paxton had fallen off the tree instead of being set nicely, it brought a grin out of me. Snickering, I dropped off my branch and walked right toward him, casually stepping on the taller boy's back as I strolled past.

Ignoring the voices behind me, I jerked to the side, dropping my duffle bag behind me and bolting for the ocean, where I would be able to escape. Their fault for not paying attention if they hadn't been.

The ground flew underneath my feet as I whipped through the trees, disappearing from sight as I headed toward the line of water in the distance.

"Get back here! You do NOT get to leave yet!" Nico cried out from behind me, but I smiled.

I was too far already.

When I reached the water, I dived in, completely clothed and disappeared beneath the surface, breathing hard from my running. I could feel the tears pressuring out of my eyes and mixing into the salt water around me. My hair floated everywhere, and looking up, I could see the sun shining through the surface of the water.

Nico's muffled voice stopped from somewhere and I hugged my knees.

I could've escaped right then.

Left camp forever.

But something was holding me back…

The fact that I had people that thought I was crazy.

I had to prove them wrong.

Slowly I pulled myself to the surface, only to find that Nico was for sure gone. He probably went back to camp to tell Mr. D that I'd run away. I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated. I wasn't sure how I was going to convince everyone that I wasn't a psychopath. Sighing, I searched for my duffle bag. It took a couple minutes for me to realize that Nico had probably grabbed it on his way to catch me. Just more evidence for them…

If they found my letter that I'd gotten from my dad a long time ago...

I'd be in huge trouble.

With that thought I raced back toward camp, my feet quickly flying underneath me. My breathing was rattled and as I ran, I thought about the horrifying moment when I'd realized I wasn't going to be able to fly. As I reached the Big House, I collapsed in front of it, using my elbows to hold me up as I balled up on the ground, gasping for air and tears falling down my face. A frustrated scream came out of my throat and I slammed my fist onto the ground, digging my fingernails into the dirt.

The stuff that was being thrown at me was bringing me down. From my mother's death to my best friend's death, I'd been having plenty of bad luck. It seemed as though everyone I loved at one point in my life was disappearing. Being taken out one by one in front of my face.

Sobs shook my body and I felt my knees begin to burn from when I'd thrown myself onto the ground. Anger coursed through me as I thought of my mother. Just leaving me again to think about how she'd been killed. Suddenly, arms wrapped around me and the dizziness of today tired me out enough that I just clonked.