Prologue

Breathing, it became hard to do on this barren wasteland of what use to be the battlefield. But after drowning out the random explosions all around you it becomes easier to concentrate on. Percy was crouching behind a shell of a car; it looked like an explosion was the cause of its destroyed state. Luckily this gave him cover from the magical arrows and celestial bullets whizzing everywhere. His Armor was totaled, he prayed to whoever was listening that it could just hold up a little while longer

"PERSEUS!" boomed a deep voice

Peeking through a bullet hole through the car Percy saw a figure heavily clad in dark armor "Crap" he whispered. He slid back away from the bullet and pushed a button on the side of his wrist and his helmet slid back onto him. Taking a deep breath he looked up and cursed whoever put him into this position.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in the middle of his chest. Looking down he saw something no one should ever see.

His own heart on the end of his enemies' sword

Intense pain set in and he coughed blood inside of his helmet

"Too late young Perseus, you will soon be with your beloved soon…hahahahahaha!"

The dream ended

Percy gasped hard as he woke up clutching his chest tight. He looked around fearfully if he was back on that battlefield but he was someplace safer he remembered. He was sitting in a chair next to a bed in the big house at camp. Thalia Grace, the newly resurrected daughter of Zeus occupied the bed. The clock on the nightstand on the opposite side of Thalia's bed read "4:30" in the morning, Percy breathed out and relaxed finally. He had been having the same dream over and over again ever since he had returned from his quest (well, not really HIS quest but who cares) from the Sea Of Monsters. It always scarily ended the same, death by being impaled like a corn dog.

He shivered and rubbed his eyes; corn dogs suddenly lost their appeal to him now. Looking at Thalia he couldn't help but wonder what dreams she was having; dreams for Demi-Gods were always so troublesome, they had always showed the dreamer either a bad omen of the future or their fate itself. Obviously always ending badly. Yet as Percy watched Thalia he couldn't help but feel a bit jealous, she never turned in her sleep, her breathing too had been as peaceful as it was when he witnessed her fall asleep hours earlier.

"At least she's getting the sleep she deserves" he said aloud. Remembering the story about her last stand he couldn't understand why she was able to sleep so peacefully. The dreams of his own demise, if that is actually what is to happen, are enough to shake him awake and the dreams are even real (Which is what Percy was reassuring himself). Reaching down below his seat he grabbed his thermos he had been given by Grover and opened it to take a sip. Since coffee was simply a huge no to Percy because he was plenty hyperactive enough with his ADHD, his friend knew to fill it up with simple hot coco. It wouldn't wake up Percy, but it was something to enjoy while being up so early.

He covered the thermos and put it back down underneath his chair and sighed. He got up and stretched his aching legs and walked stiffly to the window. Camp Half-Blood was always a beautiful sight no matter what time of day it was. From the big house you could basically see a good chunk of everything, from the cabins to the lake to the woods and the lava rock wall. Looking towards the lake he couldn't help but wonder about the future; since Thalia was back it would probably mean for him that he was no longer the child of the great prophecy. But this also meant Kronos has some type of control now that she is back. Thinking of it all was simply a hurtful thought. Almost to literally because it gave Percy a huge headache thinking about it all.

"Percy right?" came a soft voice

Turning around quick Percy was looking at Thalia rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she tried to wake up. Something in him clicked and his heart started racing and his cheeks flushed, she may have bed hair and her lazy eyes struggled to open but there was something about the sleepy daughter of Zeus that he thought adorable "um, yes, um, did I wake you up? S-s-sorry" he asked, stuttering over his words. She was very beautiful there was no doubt there.

"Oh no, I …. I don't know, guess I couldn't sleep anymore. Guess that's it" she mumbled loud enough for Percy to hear. "Why are you up though? Isn't it kind of early?" she asked, to which Percy shook his head. "Honestly, I convinced Chiron to let me watch you as you slept-" and her eyes widened with a raised eyebrow. Percy winced ""NO um no not like that ah geez!" he held his head and stuttered.

"I-I-I-I-I simply meant um… guard! To yea, guard you as you slept. Yea" she rolled her eyes and let out a small chuckle, "Boy you must have seaweed for brains huh?" she asked, "Wait, you are a son of Poseidon right?"

Percy closed his mouth and looked downwards and simply nodded to spare himself any more embarrassment. "How long have you been at camp?" she asked, "I will be entering my third year at camp next summer, but from what it seems like I might have to stay the winter as well" he sighed

"From the way things are looking? How do you mean?" she shifted from sitting under the covers and brought herself closer to Percy by sitting at the end of the bed. "Well, I had recently returned from a quest, its like a mission you can seek to do if you ask Chiron." He then reached for the seat he was napping in and placed in front of Thalia "Basically your tree was poisoned and I set it upon myself to see you healed" Percy couldn't help but feel his cheeks heat up "because of your tree being poisoned the magical barriers around the camp were weak and monsters were able to break in and do some damage, we lost a lot of campers that way because either they left or died defending the camp-" Thalia looked a bit guilty that her tree being weakened led to deaths but she shook it off as fast as she let it show "- when we, me Annabeth and my step-brother Tyson. Were out on our quest we met a traitor of the camp. You might know him actually if what Annabeth said is correct"

Her heart dropped. The only other half-blood she knew besides Annabeth was-

"Luke Castellan, he is a traitor to the camp. He is helping the titans to return so they can start a war with the Olympians again. The reason I might have to stay is to recruit either new Half-Bloods or win back the ones Luke has brainwashed" Percy said

The room went silent; Thalia was mad, no sad, no furious, or maybe depressed? Tears swelled up in her eyes, she looked down and gripped the covers hard and stood up fast. "I… need to get out" her voice shaky from all the emotions she held in her.

Percy winced, something in him and told him that it would've been better to hold his tongue. Would've. But by the moment he had uttered the first syllable of Luke's name he had a feeling he was in for an earful. That he could've handled. Not a very angry do-what-I-say-before-I-throw-lightning-at-you daughter of Zeus. "Thalia I don't think it would be a good idea, Chiron insisted you stay here till morning, well uh later this morning"

She just rolled her eyes and started towards the door. As soon as her hand reached for the knob Percy had laid a hand on her shoulder and she froze "if you want to keep hand I really suggest you remove it" she growled, not even looking at Percy, "What's the matter Thals?" he asked

Thalia had it.

ZAAAAP

Percy shot back into the wall above Thalia's bed. Hard. "Ow" he muttered and fell forwards into the mattress. "Don't you ever call me that ever again" she growled. She opened the door and walked off. Percy couldn't help but hate her, but in a sense he felt like he had it coming, he had somewhat hoped it had come in a form of a punch though. Not what felt like 800 volts of electricity. "See I did not know she could do that, why would Annabeth be alright with me watching her if she knew she could do that. Someone should've told me she could do that. I certainly didn't know she could do that" he ranted

Groaning as he tried to move Percy managed to crawl off the bed onto the floor. Standing however deemed itself to be a trickier task. But who could blame him, he doubted most mortals would even be alive after the shock he took. "Alright come on, one..two…. three" and with a huge effort he managed to stand. "Now to find her"

Limping out the door because even though he managed to get up, for some weird reason his left foot was having trouble waking up as the shock made his limbs numb. "Ugh this is going to be hard" as he managed to get down the stairs without tumbling down he walked out the Big House's main door and stepped into the dark early morning. He looked towards the cabins then to the lake then to the sword-fighting arena. In the moonlight it was a little hard to see anything. Sighing in frustration he decided to do a sweep of the camp and jogged towards the sword-fighting arena.

"I shouldn't have said anything, I had a feeling and for some reason I didn't stick to it" he groaned. He opened the gate to the arena as quietly as he could and stuck his head to peek through. Nothing. He closed the gate and hurried it to the pegasi stables. They were all asleep and were the only occupants to their stalls. Turning to leave a voice called to him.

Hey boss!

Percy turned to see a black Pegasus stick his head out of his stall. He remembered him, he had saved him two weeks prior from Luke's ship. Oh hey, its you. Blackjack right? And the Pegasus nodded and neighed softly Geez have I got to thank you from saving me, I thought I would never leave that place. Listen do you have a fear of flying? Well get rid of that sucker pal, you have yourself a royal steed. He then kneeled as much as he could with his head sticking out of his stall. Oh you don't have to do that, it's what I kinda do. Saving people is kinda the job. Percy replied.

The Pegasus shook his head nonsense it would be my honor, you saved my life my friend. I am greatly in your debt. Percy sighed then agreed, not wanting to be offensive to blackjack. But then he wondered something, Hey, blackjack, have you been awake all this time? He shook his head again, Nah boss, I heard a bang like that of a gun go off in the direction of that big blue house, he gestured with his head, I'm kind of a light sleeper if you haven't noticed that these bozos are still in dream land. He gestured again to the stalls around him. Um sorry that kinda was me, Percy replied, I was wondering, did you see a girl about my height with black shoulder length hair? She also has a leather jacket on; she might've looked like she wanted to kill someone?

The Pegasus threw up his head and neighed weirdly, it almost sounded like laughing. Oh boy boss what did you do to piss off your woman to make that big of a sound? He continued laughing, he even stomped one of his hooves he was laughing so hard.

Percy blushed and sighed, She isn't my girl blackjack, and she's just a friend. Look I need to find her fast. Have you seen her? He asked. Still laughing the Pegasus responded well I don't know boss. He was slowly calming down now. oh young love these days. He breathed out, finally done laughing. I didn't see anyone mad boss, but I sure did hear someone walking past the stables after the bang. I don't know if it was your girl because I heard crying too boss. I tried to check to see who it was by the window but they disappeared into the forest before I could see.

Crying and walking into the forest. At night.

Uh oh

Thanks blackjack, I'll go see who it was. Hopefully that was her. Hey listen get some sleep bud, ill try and be back later to see if I can take you out for a ride. Your getting double sugar cubes today. Percy promised. Oh heck yea. The Pegasus neighed happily. With a wave and a smile Percy raced into the direction of the forest.

He stopped at the tree line and looked in from where he was standing as far as he could in. looking he saw a few twigs on the ground stomped on and a few slashes on near by trees, either Thalia had a weapon on her or Percy was going to find some scorpions near by. Either one sounded dangerous.

He dug into his shorts until he found his wristwatch his brother Tyson had given him and put it on. Digging into his other pocket he took out his pen/sword riptide. He took a deep breath and stepped into the forest, "THALIA" he yelled, hoping that she would hear and not some random monster. He should've brought a flashlight; it was getting darker the more he walked in. He uncapped riptide, its celestial bronze glowed bright in the dark morning aiding Percy a little as he went.

"Thalia! It's Percy! Look I need to take you back to the big house, its not safe in here when it's dark!" he yelled, this time a little bit softer. A twig cracked to his left and he swung blindly. He struck a tree and buried Riptide deep into its wood. He sighed in frustration for probably the seventh time that night and gripped the hilt with both hands and pulled. It wouldn't move. "Ah brilliant, smooth move kelp for brains" he muttered to himself. He pulled again to get the same result, "Crap this tree is thick," he observed. If the tree were thinner Percy would've cleaved right through it, sadly this tree wasn't and now Riptide was stuck. He sighed and continued to search for Thalia without it, hoping it'll return to his pocket later.

As he continued on he checked his watch and squinted in the dark to see it was now "5:30" in the morning, a full hour later from when he woke up. He cursed; he needed to find Thalia and return fast before Chiron freaks to see her gone. He walked and stumbled and bumped into trees, rocks, and branches until he tripped and fell.

"ARRGH" was the only thing he could muster as he tumbled down, feeling now what must've been a hill at which he was at the top. Rocks and roots and tree stumps hit him as he tumbled fast. He was tumbling for what felt like forever until there was another drop, this was a short fall onto a hard gravel shore.

"That did not feel good" he groaned, he got up slowly and checked himself. On the way down he managed to bit his own lip badly, a few cuts and bruises covered random areas on his body. Including a big gash on his left cheek and a small cut underneath his right eye. It was slightly brighter where he was than the forest earlier. To left was sand and a path leading up to the forest again, it was the only path, and he looked to see he was in a 'U' shaped cove. The left end of the 'U' though trailed off to what looked like more beach.

"Wow, Sons of Poseidon really aren't meant wander at night" came a voice

Percy turned to see the person he had be looking for sitting on a patch of sand near the water, her arms wrapped around her legs. Funny she seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "Well, I'm going to be completely honest with you, I'm pretty sure I'm the only Son of Poseidon to have the talent to find pitfalls like that. Ugh." He chuckled and groaned. Thalia could only grin at his stupidity but that vanished quickly. "So, how did you manage to find this cove without taking the same shortcut as I did?" he managed.

"Honestly I don't know" she shrugged then turned back to the water, staring down the horizon. The moon was finally going down. "I use some lightning to set a stick on fire and kinda used that to see where I was going, saw a path go down and found the cove." Percy limped towards her "May I" he asked, motioning to the sand beside her. She merely shrugged, looking troubled. Guilt rose in Percy

"Look" he sat "I'm sorry about telling you about Luke. It was…to early for that. I am now starting to think maybe it wasn't my place to tell" he looked at her then to the horizon. "It was hard to accept I can tell, he was one of my best friends when I first got here" she looked at him, "How did you figured out he was working for Kronos?" she asked. Percy sighed then met her gaze; "He tried to kill me" her eyes went wide.

"What?"

Percy looked back to the horizon and gave a sad grin; he wiped the blood from the gash under his eye. He noticed that the moon was gone and it would be soon that the sun would rise. "I got back from a quest. A big one, your father Zeus" he began, looking at Thalia "had his Master Lightning bolt stolen, The Gods thought I was the culprit because they had found out Poseidon had broken a decree about having children" Percy grinned at her, and it was weird, but she couldn't help but grin back. "So they all decided that I should find the Master Bolt before the summer solstice or I and everyone I knew were to die. Oh and before a civil war broke out between the gods." Adding that last part as if were only a minor detail, his small sad grin stayed on his face as he looked away to the horizon. "I found the bolt, and at first I thought it was Ares that had stolen it because that's who we found out had the Master Bolt. But as I had gone to the underworld to save my mom I had found out it was actually originally a ploy by Hades."

"By the gods Percy why do you make that sound so normal?" Thalia chuckled and he faced her, his sad grin went to one of sadness to one of bemusing. Still facing the water she smiled, it contained many emotions but mostly that of humor and the unthinkable nature, "Do you not realize you did almost everything that Theseus and Hercules did combined but the way you talk about it" she let out a small chuckle and shook her head softly " you sound like you do it everyday before breakfast"

Percy couldn't help but smile "well, from what everyone tells me, I'm destined for stuff like that. And doing what I did?" his smile grew small "it isn't really glamorous as you may think it too be." He was remembering about Luke "because of where my alignment was my best friend almost killed me." He sighed "I sometimes wonder if I made a right choice by picking the gods side when I had returned the master bolt to your father. Every god beside my father, Apollo and Hermes treated me like some meat bag. They even tried to decide my fate. But once my father talked to me, I realized not all gods are jerks. I can now say I love my father. I'm probably the only Demigod that can say that sadly" it went silent again. Thalia sighed and silently agreed to him, but then again. Her father saved her from death. Who's to say Zeus didn't love her.

The sun started rising now, it was brighter. The sight of it was actually very beautiful. Percy made a mental note to remember this spot whenever he needed a place to think. He looked towards Thalia; her pale complexion was beautiful in the sunrise. If it weren't for the shoulder length hair and the blue streak in her bangs she could possibly pass as Snow White.

"I'm sorry" she said turning to him. Percy shook his head ad let out a soft chuckle, "You don't have to apologize, and I understand why you did what you did. Again I feel like it wasn't my place to say" he attempted to stand but fell forward while doing so. "Ugh" he moaned, that fall did a good number on him. More than he originally thought.

"Oh gods Percy are you okay?" Thalia asked worryingly. She got up and tried to help him but he held out a hand in a wait a minute gesture. Groaning he successfully stood but was wobbly. She took an arm and put it over her, "We should get you back to camp" but he just shook his head. "Nah just get me too the water and I'll be fine" she raised an eyebrow at him, "okay I know you're a son of Poseidon and all but it's not like the water can instantly heal you? Right?"

He met her eyes and smiled "well not all the way but enough to get me able to walk back to camp without your assistance" she looked surprised and walked him to the water. "All the other Children of the big three get the best powers I swear," she mumbled. Percy chuckled at her.

Once his shoes hit the water he motioned her to let go. She was reluctant, but did so. He limped a few feet in until his entire lower body was underwater "It feels good to be home" he then let his legs go and sank into the water. Within seconds his aches and pains were gone. He then willed the currents to shoot him out of the water so he could land right besides Thalia who jumped when he landed, while he landed on his feet she fell back and landed on her butt.

"What's a matter pinecone face? Never see a kid shoot out of the water before?" Percy laughed as he helped her up. She merely stuck his tongue at him as she rose which made Percy laugh more. Once he had helped her up her eyes caught his, they stayed how they were, his hand holding hers from when he helped her, her looking up slightly while he looked slightly down. He wanted nothing to reach down and to kiss her lips. He then began wondering where that shocking urge came from (Pun intended) all he knew is that it was extremely weird, but it wasn't, but it…. Never mind he thought. He just hoped he wasn't as red in the face as he felt. Little did he know is that Thalia was secretly wishing he had done so, but then she remembered Luke. She forced herself to look away from Percy's magical green orbs as she felt a pang in her chest.

Percy couldn't help but notice her slip into sadness, "You okay?" he asked, moving his hand from hers and laid it on her upper arm. She let a tear drop silently and embraced Percy in a bone-crushing hug, in which he couldn't tell what was more surprising. The hug itself or the strength Thalia had to kinda hurt him. "Thank you for being honest" she muffled into his chest. He managed to wrap his arms around her, "No problem" he then looked at his watch and saw that it was about to be breakfast soon, "We should be getting back to Camp before Chiron goes nuts looking for you" he chuckled. Thalia stepped back and wiped at her face and yawned, (To disguise the fact she had been crying a little) "Sounds like a plan"

Percy made way to the pathway with Thalia following. They walked in the direction Thalia had pointed out she came from, and pretty soon Percy was able to recognize the clearing he had fell from. It was indeed a hill he had fell down from, "Gotta remember to take the path you took and not the one I made," he muttered silently in which Thalia laughed. After a few minutes of walking he noticed he was in the clearing in which he almost cleaved a tree in two but had his sword stuck. He reached into his pocket for Riptide but couldn't find it. He then turned and scanned his surroundings

Uh oh

This was never a good sign

"Thalia follow me be quiet but be quick" he whispered to her, she looked puzzled at first, but then understood and nodded. He then crouched and quickly went to find the tree in which he had left his sword. Hiding behind a boulder he looked around till he spotted the tree. Sure enough there was riptide, the sun bouncing off the celestial bronze making look like it was glowing. Ducking again he looked towards Thalia who was hiding besides him and whispered "Is it safe to assume you have a weapon on you" he asked. "Always" she replied and dug into her leather jackets inside pocket and brought out a mace canister. Percy looked at the mace canister and then worryingly to Thalia, "I, Uh….Not what I meant…" he muttered. She rolled her eyes and scoffed at him "Yea like I have been using mace against monsters, do I look like a mortal to you seaweed brain?!" she whispered angrily

She pressed the spray button and the canister sprang to life, it collapsed in on itself and then grew longer and thinner. What was a mace canister was now a five-foot long celestial spear. Percy breathed out in relief. Thalia responded to that by whacking the back of his head.

"Owie" he muttered

Percy then looked back over the boulder and motioned Thalia to do the same, he turned to her, "how good is your aim?" she smiled "Lets just say it would make Apollo jealous" and he felt somewhat better. "Alright, you see that sword over there? That's mine, I kinda cleaved a tree in response to a bump in the night-" she smirked and held a hand over her mouth "- but that's bad news if it's still where it is" and he slid back down. Thalia managed to lose the laugh and ask "Why, you left it there how is it bad that it's still there?" Percy then motioned her to be quiet and they both listened. Soft footsteps. Or what sounded like footsteps. He crept around the side of the rock to try and see who was there but found no one, he then came back to Thalia and whispered into her ear "It's enchanted to always return to my pocket if I lose it, and it's been there since earlier this morning" he looked at his watch "that was a little more over an hour and a half ago. My sword always returns after a couple minutes, so that means one thing. Someone or something is watching it and keeping it from returning to me." Thalia then got the gist of what was happening, if his enchantment wasn't working it meant they were being watched. This was a trap.

"Look, the plan as of right now, keep watch as I go for my sword. I'll be the bait and you try and impale whatever is out there. Agreed?" he whispered. Thalia nodded and took her position, Percy crept back around the rock, it looked clear but he couldn't be too sure, he looked back at Thalia and mouthed a countdown.

3

2

1

GO!

Percy then ran. Everything felt slow, he could hear his breath and the blood pumping as he raced to his sword. When he was halfway there he saw a figure out the corner of his eye and he heard Thalia yell "Duck"

Percy dropped into a baseball slide and activated his shield wristwatch and turned mid slide and saw an electric spear fly over his head and into the chest of a beast he thought he killed long ago. The Minotaur.

The spear glowed as if it were charging up and Percy silently cursed, still sliding he curled into a ball and hid behind his shield as the spear exploded with raw electricity. It sent him rolling fast like a ball because of his shield; he kept rolling until his back hit a tree hard. He groaned as he tried to get up, but hit his head on something metal. He looked up to see he hit the tree riptide was stuck on, he got up and began trying to yank it out, but it was the same result as last time. He then gripped the handle with both hands and planted both his feet onto the tree and tried to pull with his arms and push with his legs. He only managed to fall back onto the ground after his grip slipped. "PERCY LOOK OUT" Thalia screamed

Percy looked up and saw that the Minotaur had not died in the blast, and was currently swinging his battle-axe downwards to him. Percy swung his shield up to meet the axe half way, the sheer force slammed him down as the earth around him cratered in. "oooooooooooowwwwwwwww" Percy moaned but then rolled quickly out of his Percy shaped hole in the ground. He didn't know what to do, he only had his shield and his sword was stuck in the stupid tree. He ducked at the next swing of the axe that came his way then had an idea. He loosened his grip a bit on the shield and threw it at the Minotaur.

The shield flew fast, it hit the monster straight in the head bouncing off and hurting it. An instinct took over Percy. He jumped up and caught the shield and returned it to his arm and charged at the Minotaur shield first, running at top speed and putting all force behind his hit. The force of the hit knocked the big dolt off of his hooves and he knocked down a couple trees. That didn't last long as the Minotaur found his footing and charged horns first at Percy. But he didn't move at the sight of the charging monster, he stood and waited his moment. When he was close to it, Percy swung with all his might and knocked the Minotaur aside and away from him.

Landing on its face the monster roared. Thalia had just witnessed something she never thought possible. Percy merely knocked the man bull off his course with a swing of his arm like it was nothing; he was fighting with a shield too nonetheless. "STOP TOYING WITH IT SEAWEED BRAIN JUST KILL IT ALREADY" she yelled at him. Even though she was star struck with all he had done she was getting a little annoyed by the fact it was killed already, if it was her getting all up and close it would've been finished by now. She looked to where the explosion took place and found her spear laying there, quickly she ran to it. She was half way there when she heard a metallic clunk and Percy crying in pain. She looked in his direction only to see Percy's backside crashing into her, and for a thin guy Percy actually weighed a lot.

They went flying for a good three feet before crashing down on to the ground

Percy quickly got to his feet and checked Thalia, "Thalia! Are you okay?!" he worried, "Look" she weakly pointed a finger and screamed. Looking back Percy saw the Minotaur charging at them once again, he braced his shield again to deflect him, but then saw something shine in the corner of his eye, it was Thalia's spear. And as the monster got close he had to move fast, at the last possible second he reached out and grabbed it, and held it in front of him as the Minotaur charged its head into the spear's tip. The spear sunk in and he flailed in pain, Percy who was still holding onto the spear's shaft was lifted and landed next to Thalia, they both looked at each other and then looked up as the Minotaur finally stopped flailing and was now leaning towards them. Fast. Percy and Thalia rolled fast to each other, Thalia hugged Percy and he held her as he raised his shield to protect them against the falling body. It landed full force onto Percy and he let out a mighty 'OOF' and then the Minotaur's body disappeared in a poof of golden dust.

Percy let out the breath he had been holding, he hit a button on his shields grip and it collapsed itself back into a watch and then just dropped his arm to the ground. He looked around him to see the damages he had done when fighting with the man bull. Nothing too bad, he then looked to the tree where riptide was stuck, it suddenly, as if the tree itself pushed it out, fell free of the tree and collapsed to the ground and disappeared. He felt the weight of his pen return to his pocket and he groaned. Now it returns he thought.

Looking down to Thalia he said "Well we're in the clear now. Riptide is finally free from the tree" Thalia merely kept hidden into Percy's chest and screamed into it, "Why oh why were you playing with it!" she growled and started climbing on top of him and started hitting him. He tried to fend her off and sputtered random things about what she meant, she soon stopped and looked down at him again. She looked annoyed at him. Percy could only manage a weak smile; his face was red from the position they were in. She moved from laying on him to straddling him as she punched him. They both were in the aftermath of everything; eventually Thalia just lowered herself onto him and breathed out. "You have kelp for brains I swear" and lay there for a while. She could feel his heartbeat, and boy was it going fast. She faced downwards onto his chest and her face heated up, but then another pang in her chest happened. She chose to ignore it for now. She just survived being killed. What she felt didn't matter just as long as she was alive to feel it.

A few minutes later they both raised their heads to the sounds of multiple footsteps and the sound of hooves. Soon a bunch of Campers armed to the teeth lead by Chiron found them. They looked to see Thalia lying on Percy. Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus, lying with Perseus Jackson, Son of Poseidon. Chiron nearly had a heart attack.

"What in the name of Zeus happened to you too!" he said, choosing to focus on their injuries more than their current position. She nonchalantly got up and helped Percy up, then smacked him on the back of the head. "Kelp for brains here was being followed, a Minotaur somehow kept his sword from reappearing back into his pocket" and Percy just rubbed his head and agreed. This news was disturbing to him

"Spread out all of you" he motioned to the camper's "Search only! We have an immortal in the vicinity! And until I see who it is it is too dangerous to engage, just spread out and search, shoot up a flare once you've found anything suspicious" they nodded and spread out to look. Percy watched in confusion. "Wait what do you mean there's an immortal near by? I fought the Minotaur and my sword came free, he somehow trapped my sword. It's all done with"

Chiron shook his head "Percy, the Minotaur may have the ability to resurrect himself from Tartarus, but that is the limit of his magical ability as a monster. The Minotaur shouldn't have been able to magically bind your sword like Ares can. And he can't be here because harming you would mean an act of treason against your father, who Ares fears. He wouldn't be able to just do that." He looked around. He then sensed a great power near by, one so old it felt so much different than the presence his Father Kronos or any of the Olympians can make combined. Chiron turned towards the forest where he sent the Campers and blew on a horn and yelled "Retreat! Now! Back to the Camp at once!" he turned to Thalia and Percy and motioned for them to get on. "Hurry we must get back behind the borders quick."

Percy helped Thalia sit onto Chiron and then she turned to help pull him up, once on Chiron raced to camp with the campers following him. Percy wrapped his arms around Thalia's thin waist, more and more under different circumstances they were getting so close, he liked it, but you wouldn't hear him admitting it anytime soon. As they rode back one of Thalia's hand held his arm that was wrapped around her. She leaned back against him and yawned. The Morning sun made her pale complexion look a shade darker, still stunning. He took his eyes off her and looked around, wondering just how far he actually was into the forest. But it wasn't long till Chiron broke the tree line and made a beeline for the camp infirmary. "You two should check yourselves and get patched up" he ordered.

"Chiron I'm fine" Percy said but then he felt all the pain crash on him, the adrenaline must've kept his body from feeling everything. He was paying for his battle dearly, his back was on fire and the arm his shield was on felt numb. Thalia jumped down and helped Percy from landing on his face as he tried to get down. She hissed in pain and clutched her side, probably a bruised rib from when Percy was thrown into her. "Sorry about being thrown into you" she rolled her eyes but chuckled, "Oh fish boy you got a lot to learn, getting hit by the enemy is bad-" she started walking to the infirmary and paused at the door before she opened it and looked back it him "-try and refrain from being hit okay?" she laughed and winced and let out a small "oooow" and went inside.

Percy had a huge grin "Whatever you say Pinecone face" and he started walking to the door. He reached to open it but he felt a familiar presence. A sort of tickling on the back of his neck. He looked back towards the forest tree line and scanned it.

There, unseen by anyone else. Was a man standing in a suit and a black overcoat. His hair messy and his stubble dirty, in his hand was a steaming blue mug. He nodded to Percy and raised his mug in a toast then took a sip. And even though he was far away Percy could hear him clear as day.

"You passed the test Perseus, with flying colors. Well done," his raspy voice said

Then he vanished. Percy searched the tree line again for him but couldn't find him. How did he know his name he wondered. Something in him told him he shouldn't worry, but he knew that when anyone uses his first full name that they mean business. He couldn't help himself from feeling a tiny bit scared.

"Hey seaweed brain! What are you waiting for?!" Thalia yelled at him from the infirmary door making him jump. "Gah Thalia why must you scare me" he muttered while turning to look at her.

She walked to him with a grin and said, "Well maybe I'm your worst nightmare fish boy" and chuckled. Percy could only think about how she was the exact opposite to that. She grabbed his hand and walked him to the infirmary, "Come on, and let's see what the Apollo boys can do to fix you up, maybe they can fix that brain dead thing you call a head" she laughed

Percy smiled. He never thought he would like Thalia so much after this morning. Especially after shocking him and running away, but then again she was hurt by the news he gave.

He looked back at the tree line quickly and back at the sight of Thalia leading him by hand. He couldn't help but smile and feel excited. Earlier this morning he was so worried about the prophecy and the future, but something about the man in the overcoat and Thalia made it all the more bearable. So for now, he wouldn't worry. He would enjoy all the down time he had. Hopefully with Thalia.