LIGHTNING STRUCK THE grounds inside the camp, accompanied by heavy rain, which seemed to have startled several campers and satyrs as they scrambled off into the safety of the indoors.

Thalia and Jason were just as puzzled as everyone else. They had been sparring in the arena when the sudden flashes of lightning in the sky caught their attention.

The Roman demigod was considerably new to the customs of the Greek camp, but he was quite sure that Chiron had mentioned something about the weather almost always being stable. Right at that moment, he wasn't so sure the magical boundaries would be able to keep the brewing storm out.

Two teenagers passing by were talking in hushed tones.

"This isn't normal, Katie. We have to tell Chiron about it,"

"Connor, it's just a storm. This isn't the first time that this happened! Zeus is probably just mad at someone. Just leave it, will you?"

"But Katie—"

"Oh, stop worrying too much. It'll clear out in an hour or so,"

Jason gave his sister a questioning look. She only shrugged in dismay, slowly retreating to the direction of their shared cabin. Even though Jason didn't want to admit it, the storm was sending him off the edge. Something definitely wasn't right about it.

"Are you doing this?" he yelled, hoping his voice would carry over the sound of thunder rumbling in the heavens.

"Of course not! But I cant seem to stop it either!" Thalia said, looking frustrated.

The two demigods entered their cabin, dripping wet from the downpour of rain.

Thanks to Annabeth and several of her siblings, they were able to reconstruct the interior of the first cabin. Now, they had a bathroom, newly repainted white and sky blue walls with several scabbards for their weapons, two beds, a closet, a bookshelf, and a gigantic one-way glass window that took up most of the wall facing the beach. Sadly, though, they had left the hippie-looking Zeus statue inside. It was a shame, really, since it only made the atmosphere in the room awkward; just try to imagine having a statue of your dad who was incidentally made to resemble a hippie, glaring down at you and whoever else is inside the cabin, while holding up the most powerful weapon in creation, looking ready to smite anyone in his way—that was how Jason felt, sadly.

"What was all that about?" the older sibling grumbled, hastily grabbing a towel from the rack in the bathroom.

"I don't know," Jason replied honestly, watching the twenty-foot-tall statue of the god from the corner of his eye. He swore that he could feel the cold, marble eyes glowering at him. The ground shook slightly.

"Gods, do you think it has something to do with dad?" Thalia asked, tossing a fresh towel at Jason, who swiftly caught it in midair.

He just shrugged, watching as Thalia sent worried glances out the gigantic glass window. The dryads, satyrs, and demigods seemed to have left to find shelter, and the sound of the raindrops slamming against the roof didn't seem to reassure Jason by one bit.

"Maybe," Jason mumbled. Then the hairs on his arm stood, and he nervously reached for the coin sitting on the plain white sheets of his bed. Something was about to go wrong, and he knew.

A bolt of lightning blasted the ceiling of cabin one, striking the area where Thalia had been standing not too long ago. She now lay sprawled on the floor, looking baffled and confused. Her face was white, and tendrils of black smoke were curling off from her parka. Small holes peppered her dark denim jeans, and the floor was smoking.

"W-what in Hades—?" the lieutenant stammered, struggling to get to her feet. Jason stared, frozen with shock, as he watched his sister stand slowly.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the dark grey skies, but luckily, it was outside the cabin. Thunder rumbled overhead.

A thick sheet of rain was now pouring from the smoldering area where the lightning hit. The edges of the vaguely round hole on the ceiling were charred and jagged, and it smelled of burnt wood and ozone. A thin layer of water began to pool on the wooden floor, and Jason broke free from his trance. He picked up his sword and made his way steadily to Thalia.

"You okay?" he asked, shouting due to the roaring of the wind. It was a stupid question, but he honestly couldn't think of anything else to say.

She nodded, still looking rattled and angry. Her eyes flashed dangerously, and Jason got the message that she seemed to have understood something he didn't, which slightly infuriated him.

"What is it?" he asked, raising his voice slightly, frowning.

"We should leave," she yelled back, jerking her head slightly towards the door.

"In a storm like this? You've got to be kidding! We'll be blasted to bits, regardless our parentage!"

"Unless you want to be blasted into a Jason-kebab in a matter of minutes, I suggest that we should leave now! We have a better chance of surviving if we leave, Jason, trust me." the hunter cried, staggering towards her bed and shoving everything she could reach into a silver backpack that she always carried with her.

"Thalia, what are you talking about?" Jason said weakly, his hands shaking.

"Dad clearly doesn't want us here," he heard her say. "He's just being subtle about delivering the message. He doesn't want to say it himself, the damn coward."

The skies rumbled, and Jason could've sworn that he saw the sky darkening even more. Another rumble shook the earth, but the son of Jupiter had the feeling that it wasn't caused by Zeus or the storm.

"Jason, please. You've got to listen to me. Pack your things, and let's go. Maybe we could head over to your camp to find shelter," Thalia pleaded, sending a disgusted look at the clouds.

He reluctantly obliged, and before he knew it, he was running towards the pine tree that stood on top of a hill, with a bag of all the things he ever owned, running side by side with the only sibling he has, leaving the only other place he could call a home.

The two demigods had left a note stuck on the wall above the bed of the hunter, and the son of Poseidon plucked it off carefully. He had just finished talking to the rest of his friends, and was on his way to speak with his two cousins, only to find their cabin empty, a gigantic hole on the ceiling, and a blue sticky note on the wall.

The words were slanted as if they were on a hurry as they wrote it, making it almost impossible to decipher due to Percy's dyslexia, but he seemed to understand some of the words after much difficulty: leaving, camp, Zeus, don't know, and mad. Their names were signed in Greek on the bottom of the paper.

The demigod stood rooted on the spot, feeling his heart slam painfully against his ribs, before he bolted towards Half-Blood Hill. It was suicide for a demigod to run off, but considering they were two and demigod children of the lord of the sky? That was not good. Mad, the two had written. Zeus was mad.

Percy groaned. That just made things more complicated than they should've been.

The rain, thankfully, didn't seem to be affecting him that much. He could barely catch up with his cousins; his muscles were still quite sore. He spotted two silhouettes heading down the slope, already past the camp boundaries.

Percy tried calling their names several times; he was yelling at the top of his lungs. But every time he did so, thunder intercepted, and his voice was drowned out.

He could only watch as Thalia and Jason became small specks of black in the rain, nothing but death and destruction waiting in their path.

The son of Poseidon whirled around and sprinted towards the Big House - only to be thrown back by the force of lightning that struck the ground in front of him. He landed on his side, momentarily blinded. He let out a cry as searing pain shot up his shoulder, and there was an annoying ringing in his ears. The acrid smell of ozone and burning flesh made him gag. What had that been about?

He struggled to sit up, gingerly cradling his right arm, which was blackened and smoking. Blood oozing from his burnt arm had mixed with the mud, and he grit his teeth together to keep himself from screaming in agony. The rain that made contact with the blistered flesh helped with easing the pain, and was somewhat healing it slowly.

He muttered curses under his breath as he stood, leaning onto the pine tree for support.

The throbbing pain subsided, but flashes of lightning threatened to blast him again.

Percy could feel the water level from the edge of Long Island rising dangerously fast. It could flood the camp within minutes.

The demigod experimentally took a step forward, and the a fifteen-foot wave slammed onto the shore, engulfing several beach chairs planted on the sand dunes.

He took a step back, and he sensed the water retreat gradually.

Another bolt of lightning hit the muddied ground a few feet in front of him.

There was a low rumble from the earth, and Percy heard a small voice whisper into his ear. A chill traveled down his spine, and he looked momentarily stunned as he listened.

Then a look of pain and hurt flashed across the face of the teenager. Tears pooled the brim of his eyes, and he brought out the ballpoint pen from his pocket. He bellowed several nasty curses at the gods before begrudgingly turning his back on the only place of happiness he had ever known.

Several questions were nagging him.

What about Annabeth? Couldn't he keep the waters at bay? What in Hades is going on? What had he done wrong?

He tried to make the water calm, but nothing seemed to work. The last silver of hope he had was gone.

It wasn't just his father's voice that he heard. He felt like a bullet was slowly making its way towards his heard, lodging itself in his chest. He suddenly found it hard to breathe, and his steady breaths eventually turned ragged. He didn't know how much time had passed since he emerged from the beach, but the moon was already out - about three hours or so since he had last seen Annabeth.

A pang of guilt and worry weighed him down, and his shoulders sagged slightly.

Percy had a feeling that the gods had had another meeting, and since those meetings were usually about whether he gets to live or not, they decided the world was better off without him, along with Thalia and Jason.

His father wanted him gone? Fine. Zeus wanted his two only living offspring banished? All right.

All they could do was go along with it.

He took off, heading down the same path he had seen Jason and Thalia take, and for once, he didn't bother to look back.

The rubber soles of his sneakers were covered with mud in no time, and he could feel his heart hardening. Percy didn't bother holding back his tears as they streamed down his face, and silent sobs wracked his body.

"This isn't over, Zeus." he bellowed at the sky. "I'll be back, and when I return, you'll see what you've made of me - of us." The thought of this happening to Hazel and Nico drove him off the edge; he was supposed to be their older brother, regardless them technically being loads of years older than him. He still considered them part of his responsibility, in the same manner as to how Thalia felt towards Jason.

He let out a low growl from the back of his throat.

"I swear it on the River Styx,"