Jason knew something was wrong. He could just feel it. It started with the feeling of being stabbed right through his side with a sword.

"Cupcake Grace!" Coach Hedge was immediately next to him. Jason stumbled into his desk, nearly toppling into the guy that sat next him in his health class.

Every two weeks, the Gym classes alternated turns in the torture rooms that were known formally as health classes. This was Coach Hedge's class's second to last week before both the classes joined for Driver's Ed. Jason was already looking forward to that. He would never have admitted it in front of Thalia but he hated when she drove him to school-the way she drove made him feel like he was in the middle of a car chase that only ended with his death.

Jason winced as the feeling intensified. For a second the world semi-blurred and then everything went back to normal.

The the guy who sat next to him, a newer kid who'd moved in a couple weeks into the school year, Percy something-or-other, got up warily as if unsure what to do.

"Grace!" Coach barked again. The entire class was watching, Jason could hear as Castor, a soccer player, snickered to his twin, Pollux.

"You don't look too good, Cupcake. Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine." Jason lied through his gritted teeth, "Just tripped."

Jason scooted around Percy and slid into his desk, with a stiff nod. Coach Hedge turned back to the front of the class.

"Hot Shot Grace is coming down with a flu!" whispered Mark, who's spot on the Baseball team Jason had inadvertently stolen, rather loudly. "I guess he is actually a human!" The kids around him giggled like it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard. Jason rubbed his side, wondering why exactly he was having to deal with this right now. Mark had been spreading rumors all year that Jason was actually a robot incapable of feeling human emotions, for instance Love or Guilt..

"Alright! Cupcakes! Settle down before I knock your heads in with my baseball bat!" Coach Hedge banged his metal bat on the board for emphasis. Everyone quieted long enough to read the board

On it was Bullying written in black Expo marker.

The class simultaneously groaned. Even Jason couldn't keep a moan inside. Every two weeks they went over the same boring three days of presentations and assignments that were meant to keep was Bullying school-wide under control. Jason was pretty sure it just escalated it instead.

"Alright!" Coach boomed, "Yeah, I know! It sucks! But I am required by the school board to keep teaching you pint-sized desserts about the effects of calling someone stupid repeatedly. I expect-"

There was a knock on the classroom door, and Zoë Nightshade poked her head in. Her entire cheek was swollen and Jason just knew it would bloom into a hideous bruise.

"Excuse me, Coach Hedge," Zoë said kindly, despite the pain she must have been in, "Coach Lupa misplaced her key to the Trainers room. I kinda need some ice."

"What happened, Cupcake?" Coach Hedge grumbled shifting through the keys on his lanyard. Zoe had to force her smile to stay on her face, even when it wasn't convincing at all.

"Just a misunderstanding between Thalia and I." She said with a dash of spite. Jason winced internally. He could feel the looks of the other kids as more whispering broke out. The guy in front Jason shifted at the sight of Zoë. Jason frowned watched him. Was his shoulders tensing? Or was it just Jason's imagination.

"Misunderstanding?" Coach asked in disbelief, "I thought you two were friends."

The entire room seemed to sigh with the answer. Jason's eyes flickered to her as Zoë glared at he wall beyond the teacher. "I did, too."

That was a lie. It had to be a lie. Zoë was not stupid. Jason remembered she was actually two maths above the rest of her graduating class. It was impossible for her not to have noticed that Thalia was in love with Luke, that Thalia was dating Luke, and that Thalia was infuriated that Zoë stole her boyfriend.

Jason was kinda glad his sister knocked Zoë in her smug little face.

Coach Hedge huffed and turned around. "I know it's here some where, I just had it yesterday..."

That was about the time when the fire alarm went off. The room swelled with confusion. Coach Hedge even looked surprised.

"There's not suppose to be another drill until Thursday!" He said, "Connor!"

Connor Stoll a con-artist for the school's biggest black Market, threw his hands up in a surrendering motion, "Wasn't me Coach! I swear! Thieves Honor!"

Jason watched the guy in front of him stand up, easily. "They had one job...." He muttered.

Zoë let out a disappointed groan, "Dammit Thalia." She said, "Why do you always have to mess everything up??"

Coach Hedge looked at her strangely, "What are you-ACK!"

Jason yelled out shocked as Zoë grabbed Coach Hedge's arm and spun his slightly out-of-shape body off balance. Before anyone could move she snapped his head against the metal tray of the white board.

"What the Hell!" Will yelled over the shrieking fire alarm. He scrambled backwards over the desks, knocking his to the ground.

Coach Hedge dropped limply to the ground behind the desk.

"What is Wrong with you, Nightshade!" Jason was on his feet, but his brain wasn't working. What should he do? What would anyone do? Charge her? Hide? Fight?

Before he could think any further he came face to face with the barrel a gun.

"Not another move, Grace!"

Jason blinked twice realizing with delayed reaction that there was an actual gun. In his Face. He should've been watching the guy in front of him more closely. How did he get a f*cking gun in the school building?

The guy didn't just have one gun either. He had two. One was pointed at him and another at some kid named Cecil, who was so pale he looked like a ghost. Just when Jason thought it couldn't get any worse, Zoë removed a pair of hand guns from a hidden holster around her waist. They fit naturally in her grip, and it was obvious she'd used them before.

"No one Leaves this room unless I say." She said was a smile that was horrifyingly sadistic.

"What the Hell is going on here!?" Jason yelled, somehow managing not sound as terrified as he felt.

Zoë grinned at him, "Just a little revenge." She assured him like that would make it all better, "We just want Percy Jackson. And the rest of you guys can go free."

Jason glance behind him where Percy sat shaking like a leaf. He was paler than pale, like someone had just walked over his grave, except it was more like they ran it over with a snow plow. Jason was the only thing that stood between them.

"Zoë this is crazy!" Jason said.

"Is it?" She asked like it was suppose to make him change his mind.

"Yes!" Jason snapped, "This isn't you! This was never you! Put the guns away before someone gets hurt!"

Gun in front of Jason clicked as the kid switched off the safety. "That's real funny, Hot Shot, " he laughed humorouslessly, and it melded with the fire alarms ring, "You want everyone to walk out of here okay? you better step aside, otherwise both Zoë and I get to see who can kill more terrified teenagers first."

Jason's mouth went dry. He suddenly found it hard to think or talk. Ethan. He remembered, suddenly. Ethan Nakamura, a guy who'd gotten expelled for bringing a pocket knife to school. It looked like he'd graduated from blades to bullets.

Zoë snorted, "Really Jason? Are you sure you even knew me at all?"

"Zoë-"

"Three seconds, Grace."

"Zoë!"

"One."

"Nightshade please-!"

"Two!"

"Jason get the Hell out of the way!" Mark begged.

Zoë grinned, and clicked the safety lock off her guns, "Thr-"

"WAIT!"

Everyone froze at the sound of his voice. A cruel smile etched onto Zoë's face.

Percy Jackson stood up. he was shaking so badly he almost fell back down. "Jason, step aside."

"What? No-"

"Jason." Percy said, "Now."

Jason couldn't believe it. He was telling him to back down? To let them have him to do who knows what?! Jason stumbled off balanced. Was his own life really worth everyone in the room?

"Why?" Jason croaked, "Why are you doing this Zoë?"

Zoë smirked at him spinning her guns in her hands, "I told you, for revenge. He's going to pay for putting my father in jail."

"He killed my father." Percy spit suddenly "He killed dozens of people. He was a bastard straight from Hell."

Ethan seemed to find that funny and jammed his gun in between Percy's shoulder blades. Percy's back arched in pain and he let out a yelp. "Come on, Hero." Ethan snarled, "We've got people to meet."

Percy sent Jason one last look. Jason couldn't get it out of his head. His eyes were broken, hauntingly, like shattered glass. nervous sweat glistened down his neck, but he tried for a slight smile. It just made everything worse.

Ethan's eyes glittered. In that moment Jason could see that Percy was going to die. They were going to kill him. They were Monsters.

The class stayed backed against the walls even as they left no one dared make a noise. The girls were crying, silently, the most of the guys were hiding or shaking.

No one was prepared for this.

How could they be? They were just kids.

"Well to answer your question," Zoë said twirling her gun as she walked towards the door after Ethan and Percy. She paused slightly grinning Jason proudly. She pointed the gun right at Castor's head who let out a yelp but was frozen with fear.

"I'm doing this because I can."

Zoë fired the gun.