Disclaimer: I don’t own PJO or THG…everything that you don’t recognize belongs to me…J

Percy’s POV

  “ Wake up, you lazy bum!” I felt someone whack me on the head with something hard. I cracked open my eyes and saw that my face is only a couple of inches from Mrs. Woodlum’s, the caretaker of this orphanage. She was holding a rolling pin and her eyes were ablaze. “ I told you,” she whacked me again with the pin, “ that you were to get up early and go to the mines!”

   Mines…explosion…

  “ But I’m only sixteen,” I protested meekly. “ I’m not allowed in there. The Peacekeepers will definitely punish me if I try to sneak in.” As a result, I get hit with the pin. Again.

  “ Nonsense,” she said brusquely. “ You are big enough to pass of as an adult.” I didn’t move, merely stared at her. How did I come to be in her custody again? Oh, yeah. When my unknown father left me, my mother and sister here, in the cold streets of District 12. Mom couldn’t afford to take care of me and Adrastea (Addy for short) on her meager income by setting up a laundry business. So, she took up a job at the mines…

  Mines…explosion…

  And she was gone…just like that…in the mines..

Mines…explosion..KABOOM! Blood and bits of flesh everywhere…

  “ Boy!” Mrs. Woodlum screeched. I was dragged back to reality by another hit on the head. “ What are you waiting for?!” 

  “ Does Percy really have to go, Mrs. Woodlum?” a quiet voice asked from the door of my dorm. We both turned around (well, I peered at the door) and saw my sister there, her eyes bloodshot. Obviously she’s been crying again. “ Wouldn’t it be dangerous for him? He’s only sixteen…”

   “ Do I look like I care, girl?” Mrs. Woodlum screeched, taking long strides and took my sister by her arm, shaking her hard. “ Do I?” Addy shook her head, new tears streaming down her face. “ Now you get to go and join your useless of a brother to the mines!” She pushed her so hard that she tripped over her feet. “ You two have brought me nothing but misfortunes!” she spat at me, as I helped Addy back to her feet. She left us, cursing.

   “ Did we really bring her misfortunes?” Addy asked, her gray eyes, so unlike mine, bore in my green ones. “ Are we what she really said we were? A bunch of useless children of pigs?”

   “ No, Adds,” I said, hugging her close to me. “ It was more like she brought the misfortunes on herself,” I paused, “ by herself.” My sister giggled. “ And we’re not a bunch of useless children of pigs, okay? Mom would be mad if she knew we thought like that.” She nodded. “ Now, wipe away those tears.” She did as told and sniffled a bit.

“ Do you really have to go to the mines?” she asked me. I thought about it for a minute, before nodding. “ But  it will be dangerous! I don’t want to lose you, too! I have no one else in this world! If you’re gone –“

  “ Adrastea,” I said in my most commanding tone, since she seems to have lost her cool, “ what have I told you about thinking negatively?”

  “ It won’t get me anywhere?”

 “ Precisely..,” I let go of her. “ If you knew that, why are you doing exactly what I told you not to do?”

“ That got a little bit jumbled up,” she muttered. I half-smiled – it’s all I can do since my mother’s death and we’re put in the old hag’s custody – and squeezed her hand. “ So, you’re going to go?”

“ If it means I’ll manage to scrape some bread for us and for the old hag to stop banging on my head with her pin, then by all means, I will.” She grimaced and hugged me. Just as the old hag screamed her head off at me. “ I gotta get ready and go to the mines. You go to school, learn all you can…and don’t be like me. You aim at being a doctor…or a baker…or..or even a seamstress. You got that? You won’t be working in the mines like me.” She nodded. And the old hag yelled at me to get my ass down this instant. I sighed. “ See you for supper.”

*********************************************************************************************

  It was still dark when I left the orphanage. It shouldn’t be a surprise to me since it was early January. And the streets were deserted too. What I would give to be under my covers now…to escape the cold. I sighed inwardly, and not watching my steps, I ran into a girl…

  ….and had an arrow pointed straight at my face.

 “ Easy there, Catnip,” a male’s voice said from the cover of darkness. “ That’s just ol’ Jackson you ran into.” The arrow was lowered slightly but still not enough.

  “ Hey there, Gale. Katniss,” I said in an easy tone. “ Going hunting?” I knew them being hunters. I once ran into them while I was in the woods, scraping some berries. It was after Mom died in the same explosion that killed Katniss’ and Gale’s father. Scraping some berries so that Addy won’t die of hunger. Lucky for them, though. They were born as hunters. And me? I’m not good with bows so forget about me being a hunter. But they had taken me out for hunting sometimes. When the old hag wasn’t around, that’s for sure.

  “ Actually, we just got back from it,” Gale said, offering a hand to pull me up. I accepted it. “ Spent the night in the woods since the Peacekeepers had the fence electrified. Only for a few hours, though.”

  “ And you weren’t caught?” I asked, impressed. They could be dead by now, if the authorities in our district weren’t so…I don’t have a word to put it into, actually. Corrupted? Disorganized? Unfit to be one?

 “ As usual,” Gale said proudly. Katniss, as usual, remained quiet. She was always like that. Gale was the talkative one when they met me. Or let me tag along on one of their hunting trips. “ And we shot some extra rabbits and squirrels that Greasy Sae didn’t want. We tried to trade it with her but she said she’s had enough of rabbits and squirrels this week. You interested?”

“ Definitely,” I said. “ Addy’s been wanting rabbit meat for ages,” I told them as I took the rabbit’s carcass from Gale. “ But are you sure about this?”

  “ Yeah…go ahead. We’ve got enough of it to feed our families, anyway.” Surprisingly, this wasn’t said by Gale. I looked at her, eyebrows raised. “ I’m serious. And Prim would want Addy to have the rabbit, too. You know how they adore each other.”

  True. Very true. Addy and Katniss’ sister, Prim have been best friends since they were six. And I’ve known Katniss for a long time too. We’re in the same class, always brushing each other’s shoulders. We probably could have been friends if it wasn’t for her cold demeanor and my terrible ability with words. I wonder how Gale managed to crack through her.

 “ And where are you headed this early in the morning?” Gale asked, eyeing me in my ragged clothes. “ Don’t tell me that hag has forced you to go mining again!” I shrugged. “ Why aren’t you reporting her, Perce? She’s been using all of the boys at your orphanage to go mining, even though you’re not off age yet.”

“ Don’t have a choice, now, do I?” I asked, looking straight into his eyes. “ I tell on her, me and Addy get shipped off to another orphanage. What difference would it make?”

“ You could get a new, kinder caretaker.”

“ I doubt that,” I said. Gale stares hard at me. “ I guess…I guess I better go now. Or I’d be late for supper tonight and Addy will be worried about me.”

“ Yeah, go ahead. Be careful, though,” Katniss said. I nodded. And made my way to the haunting mines.

Mines….explosions…blood….

A/N: Yeah…Percy’s a little bit dark in this one…what do you expect? You live under the Capitol…and all the life is drained out of you..I think..anyways, could you review? Would speed up the process of updating…:)