the friend, the traitor and the broken heart

by athena's favorite son

when jake jackson begins high school he thinks it's going to be boring. he soon finds out he is horribly wrong. set after the battle of the labrynth except luke isn't kronos. alternates P.O.V.'s. first of a series of 4.

I have to admit I was a little freaked out about starting high school, but that was the least of my problems. My name is Jakeup Jackson (people call me Jake), you may know of my cousin Percy Jackson. He's not the only half blood in the family. I am a son of Athena and I was claimed when I was 11 so I was the first half-blood in the family. I do see my sister Annabeth from time to time. I also live in New York, near the empire state building, so I'm going to empire state high. I thought the first day of high school was going to be boring but I was soon going to realize it was not.

Before I even stepped in the door of the school I had a feeling I was being followed. I stepped in and I met the principal, . I ran into him, literally. It was not the best way to meet the principal (I mean I will meet him soon but I was hoping to hold off on that till at least the second day of school). "Sorry" I said "no problem just try to wa-jakeup Jackson" as he said that a tingle went up my spine. The only people that call me that are the people that know my secret. "How do you know my name" as I said that it was almost as if he had come out of a trance. "I'm the principal, my boy, it's my job to know your name." and with that he moved on. The rest of the day was pretty normal, well as normal as my day could be. I went through my classes as usual but when I was heading to my house, I felt a weird sensation that felt like I was being stabbed with a sword (and I knew how that felt.) out of instinct I swung around and nearly knocking down a row of bikes. Behind me stood . (A.N pronounced: rah-tah-nim). I was far from school so I was really surprised. Then all of a sudden an axe appeared in his hand and then swung at me. If I never went to camp I would have had my head served back to me on a silver platter. I duck and rolled then I uncapped my fatal ballpoint pen Jaw Jacker and sliced at the minotaur that was now standing in front of me. He deflected it with his axe and slashed downward and I stabbed him in the chest, then he obliterated into dust under my celestial bronze blade.

Of course my mom was standing right there the whole time I was fighting the Minotaur and she stood there with her mouth open, speechless. She told me to get in the car. "What happened" she said still recovering from seeing me fight. I told her what happened and when I was done she nodded and said "you know what we have to do." When she said that I smiled and my stomach felt all warm. She was talking about going back to camp.

Chapter 2

On the way to camp I was thinking about all the people at camp. Annabeth, Percy, and Grover. I don't know if Percy was there but if he was I am going to give him a friendly beating. When I got to the foot of half-blood hill I got out to go and get my bag to find Argus, the multi-eyed security guard, had already got it out. When I looked up to the hill there stood Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and Tyson. They all were smiling and waving at me. When I got up there they were speechless "hey what's up Percy?" "What are you doing here?" he said astonished "I got in a fight with a Minotaur" I said "and had to come here" "really?" he look surprised "when?" "Just an hour ago" I said thinking it was no big deal. "What!?!" Percy said "you don't have a scratch on you!" "I'm sorry Percy looks like I'm a better fighter than you." I said arrogantly "Annabeth" I said "how's my favorite sister." "I'm doing great. you said you beat a Minotaur?" she said still surprised "yep, dropped him in ten minutes" I said flex my muscles jokingly. She chuckled, it was nice to here her laugh again. "You always were a kidder" she said "well what can I say; I love to lighten the mood." I replied. Then I looked over to Tyson "hey big guy, how's it going in the forges?" "Great!" he said so excitedly his eye nearly popped out of his head. "I made fifty swords in one day." I nodded and said "that's great buddy."

When I went to the big house to sign in, Chiron and Mr. D were playing pinochle as usual.

When I went to the Athena cabin everybody was racing around the cabin preparing for inspection and in the five minutes it took me to unpack they were done. My sleep was fine but I was waked so harshly I uncapped jaw jacker. It was Annabeth, I looked over at the clock and it was 3:23 am "what, it's three in the morning." "Percy is being attacked by a hellhound!" She was so frantic couldn't help but jump out of bed and I ran to his cabin. There stood at least a fifteen foot high and ten feet long hellhound. Percy was in the corner with riptide stuck in his back pocket. Annabeth had her knife and I had my sword. We both charged at the same time but just as we hit the legs an arrow wised past our heads and hit the hellhound straight in the haunches and it exploded into dust. When we turned we saw Chiron standing there with his bow and a quiver of arrows. "Who let this beast in?"

Chapter 3

We were all sitting in a meeting, Beckendorf from Hephaestus cabin, annabeth and I for Athena cabin, Percy for Poseidon, the Stoll brothersfor Hermes cabin, Salena for Aphrodite, and many other represenitives. Mr. D was sitting at the end of the table along with Chiron. Then Chiron started speaking "we have a traitor in the camp!" then Annabeth spoke up "we have asked around the Athena cabin and no one has admitted to doing it." Then everybody turned and looked at the Stoll brothers. Then the Stoll brother threw up there hands in denial and said "no one has confessed in the Hermes cabin." Immediately after they said that Argus came through the doors of the big house and he said "someone has tried to leave the camp!" I was surprised to hear him talk since he normally stays quiet.

When we got to were the kid was we found out it was Richard Ricardez, a kid from Hermes cabin. I knew this kid from my first year in camp. We battled together a little bit. Then Chiron took him in to the big house and in about ten minutes he came to say "we need someone to go on a quest." Then he sat down and told us that Richard told him that he was recruited by Kronos and he was told by Luke to let the hellhound in the camp and then told him to leave and report back to him. He told us that Luke was in Maine recruiting half bloods and we have to go and confront him because he left most of his army in Mt. tam so we had a chance of attacking him. We decided to send me, Annabeth, and Percy. Percy was leading the quest, so he went up in the attic and was gone for about ten minutes. When he got back Chiron asked him what the prophecy was so I left the room. I didn't want to know the prophecy because if it had bad parts (which it usually does.) I would try to prevent them and I might endanger the entire quest. When we were all packing for the quest annabeth asked me why I did not stay to hear the prophecy so I told her my reasons. She just nodded and went back to packing her things.

I packed some ambrosia and some nectar. My sleep was fine but I kept thinking about what the prophecy might have said. When I woke up it was 7:26 am and I was raring to go so I got up, grabbed my sword and went to practice on the dummies. I just slashed through my fourth dummy when annabeth came into the arena and said "why are you up so early, the quest does not start till nine." And I replied "I am just so exited about my first quest, I wanted to get some practice in before we go." "You'll do fine." She said with a reassuring voice "you're the best fighter in camp." That made me feel a little bit better but then she said the ultimate phrase "you want to spar." And with that she grabbed a sword from the hanger and we started sparing.

At 8:00 we had breakfast and then me and Percy went to the dock and talked. "How are you and Annabeth." I asked. "Were fine." He said, sounding a little strange. "Does she still call you seaweed brain?" I said chuckling a little bit. "Yeah." He said smiling "it gets annoying." "Do you like her?" I asked hesitantly. He replied "yah she's Nice." "No." I said a little annoyed "I mean do you like her." With that he sighed and left the dock. Then, talking to my self I said. "I thought so."

We said our good-byes and loaded up on Argus's bus and then we set of on the road. We had a hundred dollars between the three of us and twenty golden drachmas. We were heading to the bus station for a ride to Maine. I sat there thinking what it would be like to meet the Luke everyone was talking about. I heard he had a sword with one side celestial bronze and the other side steel. For this quest I went all out. Of course I brought my celestial bronze sword, jaw jacker; I also brought my stygian iron sword, dark abyss, and a celestial bronze shield that spun on my arm like a saw blade. I call it jig saw. We got to the bus station and we paid twenty dollars each for a bus ticket to Maine. We boarded the bus and set off towards Maine. At first the bus was crowed but then the bus emptied out as the stops went by. Then I heard a screeching off in the distance. A cold chill was sent up my back, I knew it was time to fight.

Chapter 4

I turned toward annabeth, but just as I was about to tell her there were the harpy coming straight for us when a huge man got up and nearly tipped the entire bus. When I turned to see what it was a huge eight foot man started coming towards us. Now we have two problems, a harpy and a Cyclopes. I drew my swords but he just batted me away like I was a rag doll. I smashed strait through the window and landed on the grass. I was lying there, dazed and confused while annabeth and Percy were fending off the harpy while the Cyclopes closed in. I quickly gathered my wits and grabbed jaw jacker and dark abyss and charged at the Cyclopes. I caught it off guard and jabbed dark abyss into his ankle and with a loud bellow the sword drained his life source. Then I turned toward the furies. Percy and Annabeth were having trouble with it. I jumped up on the bus trying to ambush it but I was to far away. So I decided I would jump on it and ride it. Well, just as I was about to jump, the bus exploded.

The good news is: I landed on the harpy. The bad news is: I landed on the harpy! It was so surprised it did a double back flip and knocked one of my swords out of my hand. I still had jaw jacker but she was flailing around and I couldn't steady myself. She finally landed to try to rip me off but then I plunged jaw jacker into her back and she burst into dusk. I got off to go find that a bag of ambrosia and twenty bucks had survived the explosion and was on the ground. I picked them up and broke the ambrosia in half and ate one then gave the other half to annabeth and then broke another piece and gave it to percy. "I guess we're walking." I said, still panting from my rodeo ride. We started down the rode trying to get a ride.

Finally we got a ride from a lady with bright red hair and she had a mini van size escalade. We got in the back and all of a sudden percy and annabeth got really tense. There was a red headed girl sitting there with a surprised expression on her face. Then I felt as if I had to sit as far away from annabeth that I could because she just sat with a big huff and rolled her eyes. Percy sat closer to her and was blushing so bad his cheeks were the color of tomatoes. We sat there in silence until I broke the uncomfortable silence with the question "soooo, you guys know each other?" next to me annabeth shot me daggers. "oh, I'm sorry I didn't introduce my self. My name is Rachel Elizabeth dare." She said a like she had just now noticed me. "my name is jake Jackson." I said shaking her hand. "Jackson?" she said surprised "are you related to percy?" This sounded kind of strange since I hadn't heard that in a while. "Cousins." I said a matter a factly. "percy," I said, a little irritated. "you still haven't answered my question. Do you guys know each other?" "Yeah she helped us in a quest." He said trying not to look at annabeth. "really?" I asked a little happy because I love telling people my parentage. "but she doesn't have the aura of a half blood." "she's a mortal but she can see through the mist." Percy said "you're a half blood too?" she asked me like I was from a different planet. I said "yes I am the son of Athena. Much like annabeth." When I looked over at annabeth and she was giving me a look like did I ask you to tell her that? When I saw her I just slumped back and said. "I'll just shut-up now." "Why don't you do that." She said kind of harshly.

The rest of the car ride was silent except for my stomach. I just now realized that we haven't eaten since breakfast which was five hours ago and fighting the monster really drained me. We got out of the car and we were in boston and still had two-hundred miles to go and we had to walk there. It was five P.M. and we were about to set up camp in the woods and annabeth offered to take the first watch but I said that I was going to stay up any ways so she went to go get us some fire wood leaving me and percy alone. As soon as she was out of ear shot I said "percy what was that about?" he looked up and said "what are you talking about?" "with Rachel, annabeth didn't even make eye contact with you or Rachel." Then a light bulb went off in my head. "she was jealous." I said like I just figured out a really hard math problem. "she likes you." I could sense he was uncomfortable because he got up. Then I went and caught up with him. "tell me the truth." I said firmly "do you like her?" he tried to walk away but I held him were he was. "no!" he said so defensivly a deaf person would have known he was lying. "and even if I did, she's way out of my league." he said that like he was wishing it wasn't true even when he was saying it. "besides, I don't even know if she likes me too." "well if you don't ask her how are you going to know?" I wanted to hear him say he was going to ask her out. Just then annabeth walked back with arms full of sticks. I gestured for him to go over to her. He reluctantly went over and sat down next to her. I went over to a tree and took out one of my swords. I started half-heartedly sharpening it with a stone while watching him talk to her. I saw her eyes widen and her face go completely red and then she got up and jogged away. He came over and said "she said yes." Then I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I found my mind going a million miles per hour. Over flowing with questions but all I could I could say was "when are you guys going to go on a date?" "After the quest." He replied.

Chapter 5

I don't know when she woke up but annabeth found me fighting a tree. When I finally realized she was there she punched me in the shoulder. "Ow!" I turned toward her to say. "what was that for?" "you put percy up to asking me out didn't you?" she asked kind of miffed but embarrassed at the same time. "I don't know what you're talking about." I answered her a little sarcastically. Then she said something I didn't expect. She said "thank you." When I heard that I nearly fell on the floor. And with that I said the only thing I could think of "no problem."

Percy finally woke up and we were on our way. The first mile they were just staring at each other, holding hands, and smiling until percy ran straight into a tree which broke the stare. annabeth and I cracked up and we didn't stop for another mile. We got to the city and we were looking for a restaurant but I wasn't sure how much we would get with twenty dollars. Then we happened upon a little 70's diner. It was seven in the morning and they were open but no one was there so it felt like it was closed. We walked in and there was a fifteen year old girl at the counter wiping it down. As soon as she looked up I saw the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. She wore a flower in her hair. She came to our table and I got a look at her name tag. Her name was Sabrina. I was sitting next to annabeth and when Sabrina came to get my order I couldn't help but stare in her eyes then annabeth slammed me in the ribs. I had to catch my breath and then I ordered a burger and fries. We started talking about the quest and annabeth and percy's plans. When she came back I recognized something, her aura, it was like a… half-blood. I just blurted out "are you a half-blood." (ADHD) she looked so surprised her eyes were wide. She came down to my ear and whispered "how did you know that?" then I whispered in her ear "I can see your aura and it's like a half-blood's." she came back up and said "I am a daughter of Hermes." She sat down and we talked about our quest and the whole time I just stared at her eyes. When we finished our food, paid and when she came back she offered to help us in our quest and as soon as she said that I just said yes. When we all came to a decision we decided to let her come. When she heard the news she took off her apron and followed us outside. I still had one question. "do you have your own weapon?" she reached in her pocket and pulled out a pen and uncapped it and it shimmered into a two and a half foot celestial bronze sword. When she re-capped it annabeth said "am I the only one who doesn't have a pen sword?"

We made our way through the city to the suburbs. It was getting dark so we decided to find a hidden place and camp out for the night. When we were walking down the side walk I smelled a great smell, Bar-b-Q. I could see that percy smelled it too because he had a dreamy look on his face. We finally came to the source. It was a man cooking ribs on a grill. He looked up and had a jolly smile on his face. He came up to the fence and said "you kids look hungry. Do you want some ribs?" percy nearly yelped when he said that. The rest of us were a little hesitant but we sat down at the picnic table. He scooped a rib off the grill and put it on percy's plate. When the food hit his plate he attacked it. He gave the rest of us some ribs and some lemonade. When we were finished I saw percy was drowsy. I looked back at the man and I finally realized his aura was…a…monster. Then I was about to grab my sword but I saw there was already a sword through his back. When he burst into dusk, Sabrina was standing there. We went into the house and found five golden drachmas and forty mortal dollars. We got back on the road and we walked until we found the train station then we bought four tickets to Augusta, maine. With ten dollars each we could not get far.

We got on pretty fast since we didn't have any luggage. Percy and annabeth were three seats in front of us. When we set off I could see Sabrina starring at me through the corner of my eye. When I turned she always looked the other way, her face beat red. finally I turned towards her and said "why do you keep looking at me?" when I spoke, her face got redder. "I'm not." She said, trying to fight back her embarrassment. I looked at her to tell her I know why. She recognized the look and said "I just… like you." When she said that I felt so relived. I looked back at her and said "I like you too. Do you want to…I don't know…go out with me. After the quest of course." She nodded and her face was red from her hair to her chin.

The rest of the train ride was silent except for annabeth's laughter when Percy told her a joke. We got off at the train station. It was 5:00 pm. It was getting dark and we were looking for a place to stay for the night. We saw a motel but we figured it would cost too much. We walked by and all of a sudden Sabrina started walking towards the motel. She was walking as if she was in a trance. I ran over to her and waved my hand over her face. No response. Then I snapped my fingers in front of her face. Still nothing. Then I saw the weirdest thing. Annabeth was walking towards the motel too. In the same trance state Sabrina was in. I figured that there was no way to stop them so I ran into the motel. There I found a beautiful woman in her late twenty's early thirty's. She had a guitar in her hands and was playing a song that sounded like an opera song played on a guitar. When she saw me she smiled but she didn't stop playing. I ran back out of the motel to see Percy trying to wake annabeth up. Then I told him to come with me. We pulled out our swords and ran straight for her we were about to hit her but she was gone. Then we looked all over the motel and we found her behind the desk, still playing her guitar. Then annabeth and Sabrina walked in. her face flickered into a withered hag. She was to busy licking her lips. Percy slashed her head off. She was still playing so I cut the guitar. Then when I did she burst into dust. The girls came out of there trance. Percy and I had a huge smile on our face because we wouldn't let this go.

I searched around her desk. In her cash register I found thirty dollars and three golden drachmas. "what should we spend this on, food or a ride?" we all said in unison "food."

***

We found a McDonalds and sat down there to eat. After we ate, we talked. "You guys sooo owe us." I said with a hint of cockiness in my voice. Annabeth stared at me and said. "We could of handle it." I could tell there was a little bit of doubt in her voice. "oh really." I said sarcastically "would that have been before or after you were digested?" She punched me playfully and Sabrina said "thank you." "I'm a helper." Getting a little more serious "I help, that's what I do."

When we finished eating we headed back to the motel we destroyed the hag in. annabeth told me that she would take the first watch. I told her that I was going to be up anyway. She looked like she was going to protest but then she went to a room.

I was walking around the motel trying to see if there was anymore things we could use when we left. I was looking through the desk when Sabrina came out and ask "what are you doing." My head was in a drawer so when she said that my head smashed against the top of the desk. I came up rubbing my head. When she saw she came to see if I was bleeding. "sorry." She said half chuckling. "it's alright." I said still rubbing my head. "what are you doing up?" "I couldn't sleep." She sounded drowsy. I heard that you convinced Percy to ask annabeth out. Why did you do that for him?" I shrugged "I'm his cousin and her brother. I guess I just wanted them to be happy and I saw that they would be happy together." She had a dreamy look on hear face. Then she asked me something that was scarier than any monster I have ever faced. "why did you ask me out?" when she asked me that I froze. "I just think you're the most beautiful girl I have ever seen." I babbled on. "your really nice and really funny and really talented and really cool and really." She silenced me with a kiss. At first I was shocked but then I started to enjoy it. After fifteen seconds I heard a noise. "achm." We both nearly jumped ten feet. We turned and there stood annabeth. She was standing there with her bed head. "annabeth." I said, fighting back my embarrassment. Then Sabrina left. I was still longing for the kiss to still be happening. "How long have you been there?" I said, hoping my face wasn't as red as it felt. She had a big smile on her face. "I came around the time you were trying to suck her face off." "your just jealous I had my first kiss before you." I said, trying to sound angry. "actually..." She said, her face becoming red too. I stared at her wide eyed, "really? With who?" "Percy." she said it while looking at the floor. "when?" still surprised. "at mount St. Helens." "for how long?" I asked, anxious to know every detail. "how long what?" she asked, confused. "how long did the kiss last?" I asked, a little annoyed now. "A second. It was like a little peck. It was because I thought he was going to die." "Oh." I said relaxing a little. "That's the kind of kiss that you give your grandma. I had a real kiss just now." "Oh whatever." She said as she headed back to her room.

It was morning and the sun was just coming up. Annabeth came out of the hallway hand and hand with Percy. They shared a kiss that lasted five seconds. Then when she past me she stuck her tongue out at me. When we got on the road I cracked open a couple of Dr. Peppers I found in the motel's mini fridge. I passed one to Percy and we started talking. "What happen with you and annabeth?" I said, getting straight to the point. "I saw you guys come out of the hall holding hands." He blushed "nothing." I gave him the look that said don't lie to me. His face got even redder when he said "we made out for a couple of minutes and we fell asleep together." "And then?" I asked. Getting a little angry. He put up his hands in defense "nothing. Nothing else happened." I looked at him cautiously and nodded. Then I walked over to Sabrina. I sipped at my Dr. Pepper for about a quarter-mile till she broke the silence by saying "I'm sorry about last night, I just was waiting for you to do it but I just couldn't wai-." I silenced her with a kiss like the one we shared before. Then I broke the kiss and said "you talk too much." And resumed.

We walked for about an hour and a half until we started to get hungry. We only spent ten dollars at the McDonalds so we had enough money to get some food. We found a small restaurant that looked like it was older than any of us. We stopped in and ordered our food. All of a sudden I felt like taking out my swords and destroying the restaurant. Then I saw a tough looking dodge viper. It was decked out with flames. A woman stepped out of the passenger side and walked to the door. A man that looked like had been scared out of his wits opened the door for her. When I finally got a good look at her I was dumbfounded. She was so beautiful I want to kiss the ground she walked on. She motioned to me to come with her. I got up to follow her. I wanted to protest but for some reason I couldn't. I mean, I've seen the Aphrodite kids at camp but she was a hundred times as beautiful as them. We stepped towards the car and she snapped her fingers. The viper turned into an escalade, and then she said "so we can have more privacy." When I stepped in I could see who Percy had told me about so many times. The presence evened my emotions out. The god of war himself. His buff body was covered with tuxedo and I made a really impulsive (that's ADHD for you) stupid mistake. I said "what are you doing in that monkey suit, going to eat at a really up scale garbage can." He gave me an evil glare and said. "Kid you don't want me as an enemy. Ask your little buddy over there." "Oh, he told me how he kicked your butt." We exchanged evil looks until Aphrodite said "boys, boys there's no need to fight. Jake, I brought you here to talk to you about your little 'match making'. Now, I'm not mad. In fact you helped me. A family member trying to help them, oooh it's so cute I feel like I'm in a book." "W-wait a minute." I asked, aggravated "what does this have to do with me?" then she gave me the most surprising answer "well, I have to ask you to break them up." I looked at her, wide eyed "you want me to break them up? I can't do that." She looked at me indignantly "why not?" I replied with a simple "because I just got them together and there family." "Fine." She said huffing and puffing "Ares, honey, will you escort young Jake back to his friends." Ares nodded and said "let's go kid." He grabbed my arm and started to take me out of the car then Aphrodite turned and said "remember, what you do is better than what I do." Then Ares shut the door and led me back into the diner.

Chapter 6

"We've been walking for hours. We have to find a place to sleep." Percy complained. "My feet are killing me." annabeth and Sabrina said in unison. "Well if the ladies want somewhere to sleep, they get somewhere to sleep."

We found a place near a lake (Percy's idea) he said it was twenty miles from were we need to be. It was starting to get dark so we started setting up camp. I climbed up into a tree and found a curved branch. I used my sleeping bag to make the branch more comfortable. In half an hour I was dreaming. In my dream I was in a museum with a lot of famous things that I recognized but something was off. They were giving off a glow. I realized that they were plated with gold. Then I saw a woman come in that looked like annabeth and I. I automatically knew it was my mother, Athena. She waved her hand and two thrones appeared in the middle of the museum. She sat down and so did I. "son." She said with a slightly angry look in her eyes. "I have observed that you talked Percy into dating your sister. Why did you do that?" I sighed irritatedly. "Because they seemed happy together and I just wanted to make them happy." She lowered her gaze. "Son, do you have any idea how bad this looks?" I looked at her surprised "what do you mean bad. Their in love and if you can't handle that, that's your problem." When I said that she looked like she was thinking very hard "son, you have to break them up." Now I was getting annoyed. She was the second god to ask me to do that. And I was getting angry. "Mom you know you're the second person to tell me that." I was shouting now. "They love each other but if everyone wants them to be broken up they will fight harder to be together." She waved her hand dismissively and my dream faded.

I woke up to Sabrina calling my name. I slid off the tree and was wiping the thick sleep out of my eyes. "What?" I asked, melancholically. She said "I couldn't sleep and I figured you'd be up. Sorry if I woke you." I waved a hand as a gesture that it was no problem "no, it's alright. I usually don't have to sleep." She had a confused look on her face. "Really? Why?" "Well." I said, getting ready to explain "my ADHD is very severe; it can stop me from sleeping." She had a look on her face of true curiosity. "Don't you get tired?" "No, no I trained myself to not have to sleep. I only have to sleep every couple of days. or if I have a really tiring day." She nodded and told me this: "you never told me your parentage." "Oh yeah." I said just now realizing that in the days that we've been together and the things we've done I never even told her my Olympian parent. "I'm a son of Athena." She nodded "so that means your Annabeth half-brother?" "Yep." I said, relaxing. "Alright." She said while standing up stretching. "I better get to bed. Good night." "Yeah good night." I replied.

We got going after the last person got up (which was Sabrina). We headed out a couple minutes after sunrise. When we started everyone was complaining that they were hungry. Luckily I came prepared. I took out the fish I caught and cooked last night. At first Percy resisted, he kept saying "I'm not going to eat that, my dad made that!" but then the hunger must have gotten the better of him and he took it. Every one else took it without hesitate. We walked for about an hour until we came upon what looked like ruins. Bricks were every where and something more unsettling…blood. annabeth and i were about to say something about it when a large hellhound came out of the bushes. It was the size of a very large SUV. Then a giant stepped beside the hell hound. We were out powered but when I thought it couldn't get worst a half-blood stepped beside the giant. He pointed his sword at us and said "come with us."

We got to a very large coliseum looking building. On my left I was flanked by the giant, the hellhound on Percy, and the half-blood in the back. I figured they did this because they must have been watching us and they knew me and Percy were the better fighters (I consider myself better). They pushed us into a dungeon and locked the door. Around us were very buff and well built men. Sabrina, Percy, and Annabeth stayed behind but I went around and gathered information. A giant buff guy told me that we were competing for freedom; a guy sharpening a sword told me that if you beat five people you and three people can leave and they give you five-hundred dollars and one-hundred golden drachmas. Then I found a guy that was adjusting an armor strap that told me to buzz off. I went back to them to tell them every thing (minus the buzz off part) they nodded and said "we need to send our best fighter out there." Percy and I nodded and said in unison "I'll do it." We looked at each other confused. Then we said in unison "no, I will." I looked at him wide eyed and said "I'm the better sword fighter." He shrugged his shoulders "so, I have more power." Then I leaned back on the bench pondering what to do. "We both can't enter or we might fight each other and I have a feeling it's to the death. And as much as I would like to get a chance to kill you. I don't think annabeth would like me to kill her man."

"Okay. You can do it. I don't want to get mutilated." He said, crossing his arms. "Thank you for your concern Percy." I said sarcastically.

* *

Getting ready for a battle where you fight to the death is pretty hard because you don't know what you're up against. It's even harder to get psyched. To know you might just get sliced to bits is really unnerving. Annabeth was trying to get me to wear armor. I kept telling her that I fight with agility and if I can't move fast I'm done for. I heard a loud voice over an intercom "fighters to the arena. First to fight will be Jake Jackson versus Chiriton." (A.N pronounced: keer-i-ton) As he said that I felt something weird in my back pocket. Like something has been taken out of it. I felt my pocket and I realized my swords were gone. Then I looked at my wrist were my watch/shield was gone too. Everyone came up to say good luck and not to get killed. I stepped in front of a very large door. It started to creek open and light flooded into the corridor. I winced at the light. Being in the dark and suddenly going into light can do that to you. When my eyes adjusted I saw a centaur on the other side of the arena. The voice over the intercom said "Chiriton, choose your weapon." "My sword," He said in a booming voice. I was surprised because usually centaurs choose bows. A two pronged sword appeared in his hands. It looked like a giant barbeque fork. And were the two sides met was a sapphire. I knew I had to kill him quick or else he might pull out some super move that would take me out. Then over the intercom I heard the same voice say "Jake Jackson, choose your weapon." I yelled, trying to sound as tough as possible. "My swords and my shield." My swords appeared in my hands and my shield appeared on my arm. At the sight of my stygian iron sword the centaur flinched. I turned my shield back into a watch. The centaur stared me down and the man on the intercom yelled "fight." The centaur charged me. His stance was sloppy. I could tell he was angry. He brought his sword down but I blocked with my swords. I used the disarm attack that the Athenian camp senior taught me. His sword clattered to the sand. He was surprised but got over it quick. He turned around and bucked. I just rolled to one side and stabbed him in the side. A look of pain shot over his face. I whirled around and lopped off his head. He blasted into dust. I yelled at the announcer's booth "is that all you got?" the crowd booed me off the stage. The announcer said "victory goes to Jake Jackson," In a very displeased tone of voice.

"Jake that was great. How did you roll to the side so quickly?" percy asked me while I was walking to my sleeping quarters. "Quick reflexes. Now if you don't mind, I have to rest." I said closing the door on him. I lay down just to get off my feet but then I fell asleep. In my dream I was in a giant hotel room. It was colder than it should've been. There was a man in a chair. He had sandy blonde hair. There was and ominous feeling in the air and the man aura was almost exactly like Sabrina's (people with the same Olympian parent usually have the same aura). He swirled around to show me his face. What he looked like was surprising.

Chapter 6

Looking me straight in the eyes. His face was in an evil and suspicious look. He had a very prominent scar on his face. one line that looked like it was reopened. "Jake, still a pawn of the gods I see." He said with a superior look on his face. "Who are you?" I said while admiring the suite. He suddenly had an astonished look on his face. "You mean your friends haven't told you about me? Oh, I'm so disappointed in them. I thought they told everyone about me. I'm Kronos's right hand man, Luke castellan." I looked at him wide eyed "you mean you're the son of Hermes that betrayed Olympus." He pursed his lips "don't call me that. My father has done nothing for me. The gods have done nothing for me. Kronos is the only one who has helped me. You're a fool if you think that the gods care about you." "You've been brainwashed by Kronos." I said trying to make him realize that. "He doesn't care about you. He would sooner kill you if a stronger half-blood came along." He shook his head and said "no, Kronos is the only one who helps me." "Your wrong, annabeth still cares about you. But if that's how you feel, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you." I said looking at the floor. When I looked up I saw luke getting up with his sword and come after me. I woke with a start. For a second I couldn't remember where I was. Then I realized I was still in my prison. I looked at my watch and it was 6:00 AM. I walked out of my room, into the main corridor, and soaked in the loneliness. With that I walked back into my room to sleep.

Next time I woke up Percy was in my face telling me it was noon. I didn't believe him at first. I never, and I mean never, slept until after 10:00 AM. I pushed him out of the room and got in the shower. It felt so good. I haven't showered in days. I felt grimy and slimy. When I got out I put on my clothes and walked out into the main corridor. Everyone was gathered there. It was three hours until the next match. My swords were gone and so was my shield.

Mean while I talked to annabeth about my dream (exept for the part about her) and she looked like she was fighting back tears. "he wasn't listening to you so you threatened to kill him. Why would he think that Kronos cares about him?" she said. "I don't know." I said trying to reassure her "you do know if he doesn't come quietly we may…have to kill him. But hey, that's last resort. We won't kill him unless absolutely necessary." She looked up from the ground "he's not evil. You know. He's just confused. He's brainwashed into thinking that Olympus is evil. He's not evil." Her gaze went back to the ground. I lifted her gaze to me. "who are you trying to convince, me, or you?" and with that I got up and walked off. I went to go find Sabrina to tell her but percy ran into me first. He asked me what I told annabeth. I told him about my dream and when I was done he looked grim. "and annabeth still thinks that he still has good in him. She's blinded by love." When I said that he punched the wall. "Percy, you have to except that she still likes him, even if he is evil. She's been through so much with him it's hard for her to imagine that he's evil." He clenched his fist. "But after all he's done to us. After all he's said she still likes him. She's suppose to…to." "Love you?" I supplied "Percy that was her first love. It's hard to let that go. Who was your first love?" "Annabeth." He stated. "Okay." I started "would you still love annabeth if she became evil? Would you fight to show that she still was good?" he nodded. "Well, there's your answer." I got up and muttered to myself "why am I the one who has to fix everyone's problems." But then I realized that I was the only level headed person here. Then I looked over to where Sabrina was. Then I muttered to my self "well, not the only one." As I started over to her she smiled to me and the world seemed to get brighter. I sat down next to her. She looked over to me. "What's up?" I sighed. "It's just, it seems like everyone needs my help." She looked at me with a confused look on her face. "What's going on?" I told her my dream and who Luke is and when I was done she shook her head. "Man it's bad to see a fellow child of Hermes go bad." She had an obvious fake expression of despair. I laughed, she was like me, always trying to lighten the mood. But lately there hasn't been much to joke about. I heard the all to familiar voice over the intercom. It said "all fighters on deck. First fight will be tharimi against cerance."(A.N pronounced: thar-i-my and sir-ence)The door opened and a giant scorpion stepped out along with a Scythian dracaena. They walked out to the middle of the field and turned towards each other and took a battling stance. The announcer screamed "fight," and they started after each other. The dracaena had a sword in her hands and the scorpion just had his claws and tail. The dracaena jumped and tried to slash downward but the scorpion grabbed her out of the air and he must have been squeezing hard because she had a look of pain and terror on her face. If she wasn't a monster, I would've felt bad for her. In no time she busted into dust and the battle was over. The announcer shouted "the victory goes to tharimi. He will move to the next round." Five minutes after the last fight the intercom said "the next fight is Jake Jackson versus harpeny. ."(A.N pronounced: har-pen-ee) Fighters on deck." The door opened and light flooded into the corridor. I stepped out into the sandy arena and saw my opponent, A harpy that was bright red. I noticed she had a dagger at her side but that wasn't a very big problem compared to her talons and the fact that she had spikes on her wings. The announcer screamed "fight" and she sprang into action. I just stood my ground and waited until she was close. She started flying lower and was just about to slice me to shreds until I rolled sideways. She slammed into the dirt. After she spit all the sand out she turned towards me and bolted straight for me. I tried to roll sideways but she was to fast and put a scratch down my back about a foot long. I screamed in agony and my vision went blurred. I still had enough strength in me to dig the hilt of my sword into the sand. The harpy was dive bombing me from about 10,000 feet and was coming fast. She was about 100 feet from me when I jumped out of the way. She slammed right into the sword and burst into dust. I lay on my stomach and passed out.

Chapter 7

I woke up to a pain in my back. I looked backwards and I saw a beautiful woman treating my wounds. She had red hair with green eyes. At first she reminded me of that Rachel girl. She looked up and met my eyes. All the pain melted away. She smiled and said "morning sleepy head. You took a beating." She rapped a bandage around me and looked back at me and said "well, looks like we're all finished here." I turned to her. "thank you…" "oh," she suddenly realized she hadn't told me her name. "my name is Jane." "well," I said while turning on my back "thank you, jane." Our eyes locked. She came closer to me and I went closer to her. Our faces were about two inches from each others when I turned back and said "no, I'm sorry but I have a girl friend." She looked down. "oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have." " no," I reassured her "it's my fault. What time is it?" "6:00 o'clock." She stated. "in the morning?!?" I said, astonished "no," she said laughing "six in the afternoon. Their serving diner right now" "okay," I said while getting to my feet "well, thank you Jane. I hope to see you again." "like wise." She stated while I was walking (more limping) out the door. As I limped to the mess hall I was telling myself that it didn't matter if I almost kissed her. And I definitely don't need to tell Sabrina. When I got into the mess hall I got what looked like food and sat down at the table that my friends had saved. I ate the slop, as they called it, and limped back to my room. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.

In my dream I was in the same suite as I was before. I saw luke and waited for him to regard me like in my other dream but he just sat in his chair looking at the door, tapping his fingers nervously on the desk. Then the door opened and a beautiful girl about my age walk in. she stopped right near me as if to see if anyone was watching. Luke interrupted her "kelli, any news on the captives." She stopped trying to find me "yes, they have not sent the son of Poseidon out to fight. They have sent a messily son of Athena." Luke looked at her "do not under estimate children of Athena." Right then I knew he was talking about annabeth. "well then, I guess we'll give him a little obstacle." Luke said in an evil way. "sir." kelli interrupted him "what." He said clearly annoyed. "we have a little eavesdropper." She said while turning towards me. Suddenly she morphed into a flaming headed monster with large fangs that was pale white. She attacked me and ripped through my dream. I woke up with my heart beating at a million miles a minute. "he has an empoisai in his army." I said to myself. I shook off my freight and jumped into the shower. When I came out there was a pair of clean clothes on the bed. I picked them up and checked them for any thing that was out of the ordinary. Every thing checked out so I put them on. I felt something in my front pocket. I thought it was my swords but then I remembered they take it away when you're not fighting. So I reached in and found a ring. It had an owl on it. I automatically knew it was from my mom. I smiled a little then bit it. It was real silver, well what else you expect from a god. There was an inscription on the inside. It read when you need this most, it will help you. Good luck, my wise son. I put it on and went out into the main corridor. Sabrina was sitting at the sharpener watching the sharpener sharpen a sword. I went over to talk to her "what's going on, Sabrina?" she looked over to me. "I'm just I'm just watching him." She said pointing at the sharpener. "There's nothing to do and if I don't do something I'll go crazy." I nodded "I know what you mean. I'm really nervous about the next fight." "Why? You're doing great. Why would you be nervous?" I sighed and told her about my dream. "oh, now I see why your nervous." "Yeah and from what I heard Luke doesn't mess around." She sighed. "Alright see you later." I walked over to where annabeth was sitting. She was just sitting there into blank space. I sat down next to her and asked her "what'cha thinkin'." She looked over to me and then looked back to the floor. "nothing." I looked at her trying to read her emotions. I finally got a glimpse of emotion. Grief. "oh, luke." She glared a me with daggers then looked back at the floor "yeah luke." There was a long silence until I broke it by saying "annabeth, I know we haven't talked much lately but I have to tell you-" I was interrupted by the intercom saying "fighters on deck. The first fight will be Jake Jackson vs. tharimi." I started to walk to the deck. "Sorry annabeth, we'll talk later."

I stood in front of the all too familiar door as it slid open and flooded the room with light. I stepped out into the sandy arena while the door across the arena opened. I saw my opponent. It was the giant scorpion that faced the dracaena yesterday. At the sight of him (I'm not sure it was a him, I'm just guessing) The crowd went nuts. My swords appeared in my hands and my shield in watch form. The fight started and I sprung into action. I ran straight for him. He came after me too and I dodged a couple of the many attacks from his pinchers. He finally grabbed me but not before I lopped off his pincher and he dropped me. I went after the other pincher but he grabbed my sword. When he got a good grip on it he snapped it in half. I thought to myself I'm glad I didn't get caught by a pincher. He tried to get me with his tail but I just side stepped out of the way. While I was doing that I lopped off the other pincher. He said what I thought was a scream of agony. He quickly recovered and came after me with his tail but I just simply parried the attack and rolled toward it's face. But before I could stab him and win the match his tail caught my shoulder and I fell to the ground. It was a searing pain that slowly crept through my body. I suddenly realized I'd been poisoned. I took a piece of my already torn shirt and wrapped it around my shoulder to slow the poison's attack on my body. If my calculations were correct (and they usually are) I had about ten minutes until the poison was so far along in my body there would be no way to stop it. When a got over the initial shock of the poison I lopped off the scorpion's tail and stabbed him in between the eyes. He obliterated into dust and that was the last thing I remembered before I pasted out. Again!

This time I didn't wake up in the infirmary. I just woke up in my bed like it was all some crazy dream but when I turned and I felt the wound tear at me like a knife through paper, I knew it was a living nightmare. I sat there wincing at the pain. There was finally a knock on the door and then it opened. There, in the door stood Percy. He said "hey, how you holding up." I nodded my head "pretty good, it still hurts like heck but that's only when I move." We shared a short laugh. He walked closer to me. I looked up at him and said "man this is weird, you standing over me and me in excruciating pain. I'm used to being the one who helped you." He laughed a little. He said "don't tell me your jealous." I rolled my eyes. "why would I be jealous of you. I had to help you ask out annabeth, when she clearly liked you too. And I have a girl who is crazy for me so don't be talking about jealousy." He rolled his eyes. "Whatever man." Then he had a look on his face that looked like he just realized what I said. "Someone likes you. Who?" I looked at him wide eyed. "You mean you're so oblivious to other people's feelings that you don't know that me and Sabrina are going out." He nodded his head approvingly. "so how are you guys doing." "good." I replied. We stood there in an awkward silence nodding like idiots. He finally looked like he was going to say something when annabeth said "Percy come out here. They're serving dinner." He made a disgusted face and walked out the door. I just sat there recovering from the pain.

Chapter 8

I finally got out of bed at around seven P.M. they were serving food at the mess hall at this time so I headed down. On the walk down there I had to stop a couple of times because my shoulder was still paining me. When I got down there, I grabbed a tray of slop (that was the actual name of it) and sat down near Percy. I asked him where annabeth and Sabrina were and he just told me that they all ready ate.

Percy and I finished around the same time so we were walking down the hallway, talking about the girls, talking about fights, and talking about nothing at all. We reached my room and we said our good nights. I jumped into the shower to sooth my shoulder. When I got out I sat on my bed thinking about the fight. I lay down after about ten minutes of thinking because my back was killing me. I found my self drowsy so I dozed off. I woke at about three A.M for some reason and I just couldn't get back to sleep. At about three fifteen there was a knock on the door. I was about to get up to get it but it opened up and Sabrina was standing in the door way. She had a pink night gown on that fluttered in the breeze. She was so beautiful. "Sabrina," I said surprised "what are you doing here?!?" "Well I just couldn't sleep and I thought we could talk for a while." "yeah, sure." I patted the stop next to me. "why don't you lay down?" she curled up next to me. I put my arm around her and hugged her. "So, what's on your mind?" she cuddled closer to me. She was freezing cold. I tried to warm her up. "Mostly you." I looked down at her and smiled. "Like what?" I asked a little egotistical. "About the kiss," then she looked up to me. "And the future ones." She said that like she was trying to seduce me. I looked deeply into her eyes and I saw her eyes looking deeply into mine. I leaned in closer and put my lips on hers. My tongue wrestled hers. She climbed on top of me and she came up for a breath. I was breathing hard. I smiled and she smiled in turn. Then the kissing ensued. We kept going for about half an hour and she fell to the side of me. I was still breathing hard. She curled up to me. I felt her breath lessen and her heart slowed. I realized she had fallen asleep. I was just a little too aroused to sleep. But after laying there for half an hour listening to Sabrina breathe I fell asleep. My dream wasn't in the same suite as the last one. I was in the woods and it was late at night. The moon was shining so brightly that the trees them selves looked silver. I heard a rustle in the bushes and instinctively I reached for my swords. Then I realized that I don't have my swords in my dreams. There was a quick whoosh by me. When I straightened my self I heard a girl about my age say "hi, you must be Jake."

I turned around and there stood a girl with dark hair, electric blue eyes, freckles splashed all over her face, and a silver broach in her hair. I looked at her skeptically. "Who are you, and how do you know my name?" she smiled at me and said matter-a-factly "I'm your cousin's cousin, Thalia." I stood there wide eyed for a while, speechless. "your Zeus's daughter, the one that joined Artemis and the maidens." I said, finally. She nodded "actually I'm not suppose to be talking to boys but I'm allowed to talk to family members." "oh thank you very much." I said sarcastically. She shrugged "it's not my fault boys are sloppy, moronic, under-handed-" "okay, okay," I said interrupting her "that's enough. Not all guys are like that. So, what did you want to tell me." "I just wanted to warn you to not under estimate luke. He's tough and you can't bait him into a fight." she said. "that's nice to know, but I know how to manipulate people." She put her hands up "fine, don't listen to me." after that there was a long silence. Finally she broke the silence and said "well, I guess you should be getting back to Sabrina." I was about to ask her how she knew that but she waved her hand and I woke up. I opened my eyes and saw Sabrina just walking out the door. Just ten seconds after she left Percy walked in. "what do you want Percy?" I said a little annoyed. He stood there speechless (a first), wide eyed, and pointing out the door towards Sabrina. I shook my head and said "no we didn't." because I already knew what he was going to ask. He nodded his head and said "oh, alright. Good luck today." Just then I remembered that I had to fight again. I really didn't feel like fighting today. I got up and got dressed anyway. I headed down to the mess to get some breakfast. They were serving scrambled eggs (it could've been oatmeal) so I grabbed a plate and sat near Sabrina. When Sabrina and I finished we just talked and before I knew it the loud speaker blared "All fighters on deck. First fight is Drako and Scorpio." I told her I'll be right back and headed for the fighter corridor. I watched as the two fighters came out. One was a scorpion man. half man half scorpion. Like a centaur only the bottom half I a scorpion but that's not what scared me. Facing the scorpion man was a Ethiopian drakon, A baby by the looks of it. He had a bronze breast plate and a tail guard with spikes on it. They stared each other down for a little bit until the announcer screamed "fight!" The scorpion man scurried over to the drakon. The drakon snapped at him but he just moved to the side. When the drakon withdrew his head the scorpion man tried to snap at his head but the drakon just bit the scorpion's hand off. He withdrew his nub and screamed in agony. Just as quick as he bit his hand off he coiled around the scorpion and squeezed. There was a sudden look of pain in his eyes right before he burst into dust. "He made quick work of him." I said to myself. The guy next to me said "he's the greatest, He's unbeatable." I nodded "really," my mind working to try to find out how to beat this guy. After a couple of minutes of pondering this question the announcer said "next fight will be Jake Jackson versus model 3406854. Fighters to the floor." I stepped into the familiar corridor while the door creaked open. Before the light flooded in I closed my eyes. When I opened them again I had to squint to see across the field. There was a man on the other end. Not a serpent man, not a half-man, half-bear thing just a man. But there was something a little off about him. It was as if his skin shined in the sun light. Then I realized he had no skin, it was metal. I looked a little closer and saw a crease in the metal and there were frayed wires coming out of it. He was an automaton. My swords appeared in my hands along with my shield. I turned my shield back into a watch. As soon as the shield was fully put away the announcer screamed fight. The automaton creaked towards me, as slow as an automaton would go if he was left in a dungeon for a couple of years. I figured I had to get to him before he gets to me or we would be here forever. I took a deep breathe and started running to him. First I lopped off his arm and then separated his torso from his legs. I turned around and sighed "that was over quickly, too quickly." I heard some clinking behind me. I turned to see that the automatons torso was back on his legs and now he was working on his arm. "Dang it," I said, because I forgot one very important thing about automatons; they can rebuild themselves. I sighed and charged him again. This time he was ready. He blocked my first couple of blows. Before I knew what was happening I felt my sword loosening from my grip and soon it was sputtering across the arena. I took grip of my other sword with both hands and went jabbing. I made one wrong move and his sword slid under my arm and cut my ribs. I winced and stepped back but he stepped forward and sliced my arm. My adrenaline kicked in and the pain subsided. I cut off both of his arms and stabbed him straight through the head. He short circuited and blew up. I grabbed my sword and walked out of the arena, nearly passing out a few times. I sat down at the table where annabeth and Sabrina helped with my shoulder and ribs. I winced all through it but the ambrosia square helped. With in minutes I felt better. "thanks, that feels better." I said when they finished. I got up and punch the wall. I was so angry at who ever was running this thing. I've been injured three times and I'm not about ready to go for a fourth. Annabeth asked me what's wrong and I told her "I'm just tired of being a punching bag for these monsters. I'm going to escape. Are you guys with me?" they nodded. Sabrina spoke up, "but how are you planning on getting past the guards? We don't have any weapons and the only person who does is the sword sharpener." I hadn't thought about that. We couldn't fight them by our selves without any weapons. They are most likely heavily armed. I finally figured it out. I looked at them and said "who has any drachmas?" they both reached into there pockets and pulled out the godly money. "I have three." Said Sabrina. Then annabeth stopped counting and said "I have three too." Then I reached into my pockets. "I only have one. Does anybody know where Percy is?" "I'm right here." He said walking up to me. "What's going on?" I told him about our plan. When I was done he reached into his pocket and took out four drachmas. That brought us to eleven. I don't know if it would work with eleven drachmas. I figured we had to give it a try. It was our only hope. Then Sabrina broke me out of deep thought. "Jake You still haven't told us what you need the drachmas for." Then I looked at her with my evil genius look and said "I'm going to bribe the sword sharpener."

Chapter 9

My plan was going well enough when I approached the sword sharpener. He was a big muscular guy with a really long gray beard. When he saw me coming he looked up and I got a good look at his face. He had a scar running down his face. It looked like what ever made it hit his eye and made him blind because his eye was white. His voice was gruff. He was probably very old. "what do you want kid?" I breathed heavily. "Swords, I was thinking I could get some swords. Preferably four." He went back to sharpening his sword. "Can't, kid. Now beat it." Well, I didn't "beat it". I stayed and said "I'm sure you don't get paid much." I said stacking three drachmas on the desk next to him. When he heard the pings of the drachmas on each other he looked at them. He arched one eye brow. "I'm sure you're under appreciated." I said while stacking four more drachmas on the desk. He started licking his lips. Then he looked back at me. "kid that will only get you two sword." I smiled a sly smile. I stacked the rest of them on the desk. "how many will that get me?" he licked his lips again. "four you said?" I nodded. He stood up and got some swords off of the rack. He handed them to me and I walked out the door. Before I got out I turned back to him and said "oh and, enjoy those drachmas." With that I walked back to the group.

They were waiting there at my room for me to come back. When they saw the swords in my hands they came running to me. each of them grabbed a sword and tried it out they all fit nicely for each of them (except Percy, who can't work with a sword other than riptide to save his life). We worked it out so that we each would meet up in here in five hours (which would be midnight) and we would start the attack.

***

It was ten till midnight when we all got to my room. We went over the plan again. We would sneak around and only fight when we needed to. We would stick together so we all could get out or none of us could get out. I had an Idea for if we did get caught. I filled a bottle of water and put salt in it that way Percy could pour it over himself so he could get a burst of strength. He told me that that was a good Idea and took it. We all hefted our swords and left the room.

We left the main corridor and we were now in the front hall way. I figured we would meet some guards here and I was right. We saw our first guard not five minutes in to sneaking around. He was a half-blood. He past us and went into a different room. We continued and made it a couple more steps until Percy kicked a pebble. I looked back at him with a murderous look. Then I heard a static sound. Then I whispered "Percy." I said, annoyed. I ran to the noise. Standing there was a dracaena. Just as she turned I sliced at her body. She burst into dust. I found a radio and I realized she had sounded an alarm before I destroyed her. Then I yelled back at them "um guys, I think we'll have some company." Then I heard a reptilian voice say "yesssss you will." Then a dracaena stepped into sight along with three Cyclopes that had annabeth, Percy, and Sabrina with a hand over each of there mouths. The dracaena pointed her sword at me and said "come with me or your friendssssss get it." I swallowed and did a very impulsive thing. I attacked the dracaena. She burst into dust and I turned my sights on the Cyclopes. I sliced through a couple of them but before I could get through the last one something hit me in the back of the head. All of a sudden I felt myself go limp and fall to the ground. The rest went black.

***

I woke up chained vertically to a metal bed. I still had to shake off a daze. Then I heard a voice say "morning, little escapee." I had trouble focusing on the guys face. When I did finally focus I saw he was about twenty five, twenty six. He had brown hair and his eyes were the weirdest color. Yellow. "who are you?" I asked. He chuckled while he said "I'm the person who decides whether you live or die." Then I felt something that felt like a truck running into my stomach. I coughed and hacked because I was out of breathe. It felt like my lungs just wouldn't take in air. The man cracked his neck. "now, your going to compete in the next fight like the good little Idiot you are." That woke me up. Nobody calls me an idiot. "don't-call-me-an-idiot." As I said that, he smiled. It seemed to amuse him that I would dare stand up to him in my position. "no? you tried to take on three Cyclopes and a dracaena by your self when more back up was coming. Sounds pretty idiotic to me." I made a low growling sound deep in my throat. How dare he say that? I took on some of the most dangerous monsters and the best fighters. I could have taken them. Someone just got in a lucky shot. "And if I refuse to fight?" I asked him. I did not expect him to do what he did next. He punched me twice in the face. I spit out blood and said "that's good to know. Can I go now?" he sighed. "fine, bird!" Then the door opened and a big burly guy walked in, who I guess was bird. his teeth were horrid. They were all crooked and black. As he walked in the other guy walked out. Before he walked out he said "don't forget Jake, we know where you live." then the big burly guy undid my chains. I dropped on to the floor but I recovered and walked out the door.

I was walking to the mess hall clutching my stomach and wincing at the pain in my face. When I reached the mess Sabrina asked "what happened to you?" As she saw my face. She got up to get a closer look. I kept walking and said "I'm fine." I sat down at the table. "The mc just beat the crap out of me." "What?" they all said in unison. I told them about the torture and the deal he made me, the deal I couldn't refuse. When I was done annabeth spoke up. "Well, looks like you're going to have to fight the drakon." I nodded my head. "Yeah. Do you know what time it is?" she looked at the clock on the wall. She told me it was about five a.m. I nodded; it was good because the fights usually didn't start until noon. I had some time to get some shut eye. I got up and said to them "wake me up at eleven thirty." They all nodded. I walked back to my room and slumped down on the bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow I fell asleep.

My dream was a whopper. I was sitting in the oh so familiar suite. I heard a familiar voice say "you disappoint me Jake." Then a chair swiveled and there sat the traitor himself. "Are you sure I'm the one doing the disappointing?" I asked him. He smiled a little and said "all ways trying to be funny. Why didn't you just sit there and fight like a good little boy?" I gritted my teeth. "Because I was tired of being a punching bag." He snickered and shook his head. "jake, sometimes in life you have to lay down and take the beatings. Only if you have the power to fight back should you." I smiled ear to ear. "great, that means you'll just take it when I beat the tar out of you." He laughed an amused laugh. "Jake, you don't have the power to beat me." "really?" I asked, trying to bait him into coming and trying to fight me. that would be a battle he would lose. "well then why don't you come and get me? I'm sure you know where we are?" "jake, I can't be baited into a fight. I will destroy you," he clenched his hand "when you get here. You think you can manipulate people but you can't." this surprised me. I can make anybody do what ever I want. So brought out the big guns. "That's a typical child of Hermes," I saw his jaw clench. I knew I got his attention. "Always running, never fighting." His eyes nearly shot out of their sockets. Then he seemed to have controlled his anger. He waved his hand and said "get out of my face." Then I woke up.

Sabrina was shaking my shoulder. "Jake, its eleven thirty." I got out of bed. "Thanks Sabrina." "No problem." She replied. Then she walked out of the room. I shook off the drowsiness. Then I touched my cheek. A wave of pain washed over me. I went over to the mirror and my face was all bruised up. Half of my face was blue. I walked over to my bed and grabbed, from under my pillow, a bag of ambrosia. I broke a piece in half and ate it. It melted in my mouth like my mom's homemade cookies. Then I felt my face become less sore. I ran to the mirror and found that my face was becoming less blue. Soon my face was the picture perfect image it previously was. (I'm not arrogant, Am I?) I nodded approvingly and walked into the main hall.

Annabeth was sitting alone at a table. I sat down next to her. "How you doing?" I asked her. "I'm doing fine, why?" she replied. "Well because," I started, all ready feeling a little uncomfortable. "I still owe you a talk." She sighed. "about what?" she said, refusing to look at me. I had a feeling she all ready knew what about. "About Luke," I saw her almost say something but I cut her off. "Now I know that children of Athena are suppose to be pure logical emotionless drones. But that can't be healthy. Talk to me." she sighed again then looked at the floor. "Luke was just so charming. He was the last person I would've thought would turn bad." I nodded. "it's typical of people who have a secret to act like nothing has happened." "he was never the same after his quest to the Hesperides. He was so distant I had to try to be more close." I thought about that for a moment. I knew he went on a quest. I just never knew he went to the Hesperides tree for the golden apples. It must have been an honor. "Now why did you want to get closer to him?" I asked. She looked up from the floor. "Because he was my friend." "And?" I asked, trying to get her to say what we all knew. "And, what?" she asked me. "And… you loved him?" she smiled a little. "Yah, I did love him. Did being the operative word." I sighed. "well, now didn't that feel good?" she shook her head. "no." I smiled a little. "give it some time. You'll find that letting out your emotions can be relieving." Then I heard the announcer say "fighters to the floor. First fight is drakon and Jake Jackson." He said that so threateningly. I had a feeling he was the guy who beat the tar out of me. I got up and looked annabeth in the face. "think about it annabeth. You'll realize I'm right." Then I ran off to the fighter's corridor. The door opened and the light flooded back in. I stepped into the sand and saw the monster I was fighting. It was the Ethiopian drakon that fought the scorpion man. The announcer said fight and the drakon came so fast towards me he was just a green and bronze blur. I was trying to concentrate on him but he was to fast. When he finally slowed enough so I could see him he slashed upward and raked my face. One claw made contact. I backed up and felt my face. Blood was trickling down it little by little. I clenched my fist and charged the drakon. It rapped around my feet but before it could tighten I kicked it. It sailed through the air about five feet. I walked up to it and jabbed down. It was about to plunge into his back but he move. I instead cut off his tail. I cut off about four inches. He roared and batted away with the nub of his tail. I flew about fifteen feet and landed on my back. I coughed and sat up. Then I saw the drakon coming back. I grabbed my swords off the ground. I forced myself to wait. 1-2-3. I side stepped and stuck my sword out. The sword cut across his face. He whipped around and I saw the damage I did. a huge scar was were his eyes are. I thought he was blind so I walked around to get back to his head. I kicked a rock and he whipped his tail around to me. he hit me again and I hit the ground with a loud ugh! He started running towards me. I realize he responded to sound. I quickly got up without making a sound and tiptoed away from the spot I landed. I saw him slash at the ground. He brought his head back up. His nose twitch along with his ears to try to smell me and hear me. I made the mistake to start backing up. I didn't see where I was going so I kick another pebble. He heard me but was a little hesitant since the last time he charged I wasn't there. I tripped and he was closing in. he was too close that if I tried to get up he would hear me. I was out of options. Then I remembered some thing from what seemed like ages ago. I looked at my hand and… yes I had it on. I took the ring my mom gave me off and read the inscription. When you need this most it will help you, I had a crazy idea. I put it back on and closed my eyes. Mom, please help me. I prayed. Then I heard her voice in my head say aim the ring at him. I opened my eyes and said "okay mom, whatever you say." I aimed my ring at the drakon. I felt a great power surge through it and then a blue stream of energy shot out of the ring. It hit him with such force that he flew the length of the arena and slammed into the wall. He slumped down on the floor seemed to fade. A white light trailed to my ring and I felt a power surge through me. I became less sore and more powerful. My swords felt less heavy in my hands. I walked back into the prison happy because I was out of here but a little sad because I knew when I left this still will be going on. I had to do something about that.

I met my friends in the main hall. They were telling me that that was awesome. How did you do that? Etc, etc. endearing words. When they calmed down I told them my idea to shut this down. Annabeth spoke up. "it's not our problem. We're out now, that's all that matters. Besides, we tried to escape just us and we got our butts handed to us. How do you expect to kill the people that captured us?" "that was just a lucky shot someone got in. I could have taken them." Then Percy chimed in. "Annabeth is right Jake, it's not our problem. We can't run the risk of losing people." I sighed and nodded my head. "your right, we'll just leave. We don't have to worry about this." "good," percy replied. "do you know when we can leave?" "Oh," I said. Just now remembering that we can go. I reached into my pocket and pulled out four yellow passes. The passes looked like backstage passes to a concert. I showed them the passes. "we can leave when we want. We just have to show these passes to the guards and we can go. I'm going to pack." I handed them the passes. We all got up to pack our things.

***

we met back in the main hall. We were leaving the main hall into the main hallway. Halfway down the hallway we were stopped by guards. We showed them our passes and he put up his finger and said "one moment please." So we waited a while and he came back out holding four pens, a watch, and a dagger. We all took our weapons and moved on. I put my watch on and put my swords in my back pockets. Annabeth sheathed her dagger, and percy and Sabrina put their swords in their pockets. Then we kept walking and pretty soon we passed the hallway that had a sign over it that read something like MC SANTTOI. But with my dyslexia it probably was more like MC STATION. I looked at my watch and it was exactly five o'clock. I heard a whistle and swords clattering together. Percy looked around and said "what's going on?" just then guards ran past us from the mc hallway. "My plan." I replied. "what," annabeth asked. Just then I ran down the mc hallway. "where are you going?" annabeth asked but I ignored her. I uncapped my swords and made a sharp turn down a hallway. I burst through a door and stood there two Cyclopes, a dracaena, and the mc who beat the crap out of me. They were busy watching monitors so I could sneak up on them. I stepped behind both of the Cyclopes and stuck one of my swords into each of them. One burst into dust the other was absorbed into my sword. The dracaena and the mc spun around but before the dracaena could react I stuck jaw jacker in her. She burst into dust and I turned my sights on the mc. A double handed sword appeared in his hands and he morphed into a ten foot tall bear man that had three eyes. It was normal two eyes where they were suppose to but another eye was right above the two. They were the same strange yellow color. "y-you didn't look like that before." I said. He smile a black tooth smile. I got ready to attack. Then he smacked one of my swords out of my hand. "that's not good." I said. He was about to bring the sword down on my head but I rolled aside. I activated my shield and charge. He back-handed me and I went flying. I smashed into the wall and made a big crack in it. I got back up dazed. I literally saw stars. I shook it off and said "it'll take more than that to beat me." then I charged. He smashed me aside with the flat of his sword. I smashed against the wall in the same place. It crumbled and just barely missed my head. I got back up. "that might do it." I charged him again and this time he tried to bring the sword down on my head. I learned so I put my shield over my head. The sword hit it so much force I buckled under it. I made it spin and maneuvered it so it sawed off the tip of his sword. When he was in shock I stuck my sword in his stomach. He looked down at it and said "ouch," when he saw it. Then he burst into dust. I took a deep breathe and walked out the door.

I ran to where I left the group and said "let's go," in mid-run. I ran past them and heard someone say "what?" "just come on." I replied. Then I heard footsteps behind me. I burst through the front door and ran as far away from the place as possible.

I ran for what felt like hours but probably was just minutes, hoping the other people made it out too. I caught my breath on a fallen tree. Percy, annabeth, and Sabrina finally caught up. They all were breathing heavily. "don't you ever stop for a breath?" Percy said between gasps. I smiled, "I just did. What's the matter Percy," I got up from the log. "can't keep up?" then he looked up. "oh, I can keep up." I smirked. "really?" "guys," annabeth chimed in. "now's not the time to do this." "your right." I said while nodding. "so, what do we do from here?" I asked. "I don't know." Annabeth replied. "and where did you run off to do back there?" "I-I killed the mc." She went wide eyed. "what, I thought we agreed not to do that? You put your life at risk. What were you thinking? You could have died." She was screaming now. "Well I didn't." I said. It came out a little harsher than I wanted. "You know annabeth, he has a point." Percy spoke up. "Shut up, Percy." Annabeth replied. "okay." Percy obeyed. I chuckled. "dude your whipped." (A.N whipped is when a guy will do what ever his girlfriend/wife says because he thinks he will get something.) "maybe I am." Then Sabrina spoke up. "not to get off subject, but what are we going to do about somewhere to sleep?" that seemed to stop the arguing. We all had to sleep but we didn't want to sleep on the ground again. "oh, yeah," I said, just remembering what I got in the gladiator arena. I took out a pack of money and said "we need to get to the nearest city to get a hotel."

Chapter 10

Turns out we did find a hotel. We didn't want to spend too much money on the hotel because we needed food. We found a small hotel called the leisure inn. We set up in the two rooms. Percy and I got one room and the girls got the other. I dropped my messily possessions on my bed: a bag of clothes, a leather pouch of drachmas, and a baggie of the remaining money. The girls and Percy nearly shrieked at the complimentary buffet. I nearly shrieked at the free gym. I haven't worked out in three weeks. I need to pump some iron. But first I need to catch some zs.

My dream was really weird. I was in the same suite as before but it seemed different some how. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then I figured it out, there was another human presence in the room. I looked around the room expecting to see Luke talking to one of his generals but what I saw startled me even more. Annabeth was talking with Luke.

It was as if I was eavesdropping on her dream. I couldn't hear them from where I was standing but that didn't matter. How did I enter her dream? Did anyone bring me here? And the most important question is: why is annabeth talking to Luke? I walked a little closer. I was about to bump into the coffee table and ruin my chance to hear them but instead my leg just passed right through it. I realized, in this dream, I was completely invisible and intangible. Just to make sure I walked closer and waved my hand in front of Annabeth's face. No response. Then they started talking. "Luke, we're soon going to be here. You must be ready." I couldn't believe it, she was telling Luke our position. "we will be ready, I assure you annabeth. But what of your brother, he may be a threat." He replied. "yes but he is…preoccupied." Annabeth stated. Luke nodded. He moved his hand towards her face. It passed right through her. "I wish I could touch you." He said desperately. There was a slight hesitation from her but then she said "me too." There was a small silence but then Luke said "alright, you must be going." She nodded and her form faded. Soon I was just left alone in the suite with Luke. He sighed but then he had a confused look on his face. Then it turned to anger. He unsheathed his sword and mumbled "Jake, your always eavesdropping. It's so rude." Then he slashed through my dream and I was awake. "Annabeth," I mumbled angrily to myself. I got out of my bed and went to her room. She was just getting finished dressing. She said "hey jake, what are you doing here." "why di-" then I looked over to Sabrina, who was still sleeping. She started to stir and I decided to ask annabeth "can I talk to you outside?" "sure." She replied, a little suspicious. I took her out the door of her room to ask her "why are you telling Luke our position?" she looked at me astonished and caught off guard. "what are you talking about?" "your dream last night. I saw into it." I answered. She swallowed and stuttered. "I-I-I was talking to him so I could learn his secrets." "yeah and in the mean time your giving away our secrets." I replied. "just some of them." She stated. I looked at her suspiciously. I finally decided to trust her. "fine, I'll be in the gym." And I walked to the hotel gym but before I could she grabbed my arm and said "can you not tell anyone? Especially not Percy." I nodded hesitantly and walked off. While I was walking to the gym I was thinking of what I saw. Why would annabeth be talking to Luke? What was she telling him? And the most important question of all: is she a traitor? I decided that I would just have to be a little more suspicious.

I was on the bench press machine when the most beautiful face came into my vision. "how much are you benching there?" she asked. "hundred-thirty." I stated between grunts. She smirked. "is there anything you your not amazing at?" she asked. I put down the weight. "well I can't make a good soufflé. I never could make the cheese sit quite right." We shared a smile. She seemed a little more conservative since the arena. "is everybody up?" I asked. She nodded. "kay, good," I nodded. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a girl walking down the hall way rather fast with an embarrassed look on her face. I ignored it figuring it was nothing. "let me just take a shower and-" I was interrupted by annabeth running down the hall screaming "oh my gods Percy, you are such a seaweed brain." I stared at her run down the opposite hallway that the other girl went down. I turned towards Sabrina. "what's going on?" I asked. She shrugged. I put my finger up as a wait a minute gesture. "wait here, I'm going to go see what happened." Then I got up from the bench and walked down the hall way towards Percy's room. I saw him sitting on his bed. His face was beet red. "what just happened?" he looked up from the floor. "annabeth caught me making out with another girl."

Chapter 11

My eyes went wide. I thought I was going to strangle him. I worked so hard to get them together now he was tearing it up. Why did he even kiss another girl? "WHAT?!?!? Why did you kiss another girl? Who was she?" I was screaming now. "I don't know who she was. And as for why? Well I don't know, I just was attracted to her." I slapped my hand to my forehead. "oh my…gods." I just thought who was responsible for this. And it wasn't Percy or the other girl. I went the way that the other girl went, walking like I had a purpose.

I finally found her after a couple of hallways, backtracking a couple of times and asking a couple of people if they saw her. I ran next to her and waved my hand over her face. She didn't respond. We turned a corner and I finally saw where she was going. And I also felt it. I had a feeling like I didn't have a care in the world. I saw a woman at the end of the hallway and I knew that I was going to fight with her no matter what she makes me feel like. I ran straight up to her and screamed "what are you doing, Aphrodite?" she shrugged. She was sitting on a velvet sofa with a red dress on to match the sofa. Her hair was slung over her shoulders and her (don't tell her I said this) face a little overly processed with lip stick and eye liner. "I told you, what you do to them is better than what I do to them." She quoted our little talk in her car outside the diner what seemed like an eternity ago. "but why are you doing this?" I asked. "I thought you wanted to watch him as a 'soap opera'?" she nodded. "I did, but it was so boring that they just got together without any complications. Ugh! That was so expected." I raised an eye brow in a curious fashion. "so what's going to happen now?" she shrugged again. "I suppose their going to break up." I sighed and shook my head. "looks like you get what you wanted, Aphrodite." I said to her. "as always." I mumbled. "careful what you say, jake." She said, obviously hearing what I said. "because I am the goddess of love and with a snap of my fingers," she held up her hand and snapped her fingers. She evaporated into pink mist that left a smell of roses and chocolate. A slightly odd combination but it intoxicated me. But suddenly it went weird. Her voice rang out like she was still there. "I can break you and Sabrina." I swallowed hard. I don't know why but that threat scared me more than incineration. I sighed and turned back towards the way I came.

I told them about Aphrodite and all that she said (except for the part about Sabrina, that was a little personal). When I finished they all nodded. Annabeth turned toward Percy and said "well it looks like you got lucky. It wasn't your fault." There was a long pause. Finally I broke the silence. "soooooo, what are you guys going to do now? Are you guys going to break up?" annabeth shook her head. "no, we decided to stay together since that wasn't his fault. We consider it a speed bump." Speed bump? Percy made out with another girl. But I guess that since their half-bloods, this could be considered a speed bump. I nodded. "Okay, let's head out." And we all headed out the door into the city.

***

We found the nearest bus station and used some of our money to get a few bus tickets. During the bus ride most of us were quiet. Probably thinking of what we're going to do when we meet Luke. I know what I was going to do: kill all the monsters protecting him, fight him, beat him, and then rip his head off. Quite a game plan, isn't it? But what I was really worried about is what annabeth thought about that plan. Would she turn out to be a traitor? Would she help him out of love? I guess all of the questions will be answered in due time.

We got off the bus and walked until we realized we had no idea where we needed to go. I decided that we should just keep walking around until I see the auras of monsters in a building. The bad thing about that is that we passed some schools and monsters are every where in there. Finally I found a hotel that was crawling with monsters. We went to the elevator but this one was out of service so we took the stairs. We finally saw our first monster. It was a lastrydon giant and he was playing air hockey in the arcade. I ignored the creepiness and we all snuck past him. After a couple more steps we saw about five monsters. One lastrydon giant, three dracaenas, and a regular giant. They were all talking about some thing. I looked around and nobody was there. I took out my swords and every body else got the idea. We all took out our weapons and charged. They didn't realize we were coming after them until we were basically on top of them. I jabbed each of my swords into each one of the giants. They both obliterated and I turned my sight onto the other ones but the others had already taken care of them. I nodded and told them to keep their swords out. They all nodded and kept walking. We walked for a while until we found an elevator that was working. We pressed the button to call the elevator. We waited a while until we heard the ding and the doors opened. I grunted at what was in there. In there was seven dracaena. Not even our luck could be that bad. one of them were about to ring an alarm but I just stuck my sword in her. I cracked my neck and we all charged. Monster dust was flying every where. The sound of sword on metal rang in my ears. We finally finished after a while and just in time too because the doors were just about closing. We all hopped in and rode the elevator to the top. "be ready," I warned. "we're going to meet a lot more monsters." A wave of moans came from all of them. I just shrugged and got ready for the doors to open. When I heard the second ding and the doors open, I jumped out of the elevator ready for a fight. Then I realized there was no one there. Percy walked up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. "oh yeah Jake, the air is really scared." I sighed and kept walking.

We heard more talking and when we got close enough to recognize the voices Percy and annabeth tensed. It was a low-pitched and and the other one was high-pitched. "do you think he would get angry if he knew that some of the guards were destroyed?" the high-pitched voice asked. "No, you dunce. Those monsters are idiots. they probably killed each other. He doesn't need to know." The low-pitched, and obviously in charge, voice replied. Then the high-pitched voice started up again. "but the master said to report-" "shh, did you hear something? It sounded like it was coming from that way." Then we heard large foot steps coming our way. Then annabeth whispered "run," I didn't know why she was suggested that but when the two people rounded the corner with javelins aimed at my chest. They were eight feet easy with shag carpeted with brown fur and paws that were holding the javelins. They had sharp claws instead of fingernails, a nose that looked like a snout, and sharp, pointy teeth to go with the entire deal. "demigods, should we eat them?" the high pitched voice said. "silence, oreius. We need to take these vermin to the master." Then the bear twin called oreius said "awwwww, I'm starving. Come on Argius can't I just have a little." Argius ignored him and took our weapons, drachmas, and money. Then he led us down the hallway. We finally came to a set of double oak wood doors and Argius said to oreius "now don't act up this time unless you want to be punished." Then I felt something appear in my pockets. I looked at the others with a look that said do you? They nodded then I mouthed 1…2…3! We all uncapped our swords and went to work on the bear twins. I swiped upward with my sword and broke the javelin's shaft. Then I swung my sword towards his waist. It connected and his torso was separated from his legs. Then golden dust fell to the ground. I turned to see if the others had finished the other bear twin. I saw that they were having some trouble. I looked around to see if I could find any way to get up to lop off his head. I saw a little corner table and jumped onto it. Then I jumped to try to kill oreius. I brought my sword down on his head and he erupted in golden dust.

We ran to the door and burst through it. When we got in there, there was a very surprised looking Luke stand next to the desk. I put my sword to his throat before he could reach for his sword. "what are you doing here," He asked. "I thought Argius and oreius took care of you." He had an astonished look on his face. He was wearing black jeans with a leather jacket over a white T-shirt. He was wearing sneakers. He looked kind of tough, well as tough as you could look with a sword to your throat. "well, well, well, it's like looking in a mirror." He said while looking at my face. I knit my eyebrows. "what are you…" then I realized that I looked almost exactly like Luke. With my stone hard expression, blond hair, and the Icing on the cake: the scar running down my face in almost the exact same place he does. I looked just like him. Then he regarded Sabrina, "great Sabrina, you made it. How was your little vacation?" then I raised an eyebrow and turned towards Sabrina. "what's he talking about, Sabrina?" she didn't answer, instead she looked down at the floor. Then Luke raised his eyebrows. "you're not going to tell him? Fine I will," then he turned toward me. "she's been working undercover for me. we put her in the diner that we knew you guys would be in and we knew you would see she was a half-blood." "and you knew I would fall in love with her." I said. He shook his head. "no that was just an added perk." Then I turned toward Sabrina and ask "is this true Sabrina?" she just nodded and stepped over next to Luke. "why?" I asked. She just replied "he's my brother. And he's going to pay me. speaking of which," she turned to Luke with her hand out. He reached over to his desk and grabbed a baggie of mortal money. He put it in her hand. She still was holding her hand out and said achm. He sighed and reached over again. This time he picked up a leather pouch which I guess was filled with drachmas. Then she looked at me. "I'm sorry Jake, it's nothing personal." I shook my head. Anger was boiling up inside me. there was one question that was burning inside me. "so all the things that happened between us, was a lie." She shook her head. "not all of it. I really do like you." If she would've said that yesterday I would've been so happy but now, the words were just hollow. then my sadness turned to anger. I dug the sword tip deeper into his throat. Then I heard a voice say "no." I looked behind me and saw that annabeth had a look in her eyes of true worry. I raised an eyebrow and said "I should kill him." She shook her head. "we should bring him to Olympus. So he could get fair justice." I realized annabeth was right. He's evil a voice in head said he doesn't deserve a fair trial. Kill him now. No said another voice just because he's evil, doesn't mean I should be. I have morals. While I was thinking I didn't see Luke's hand creeping towards his sword. He grabbed it and swung at my neck. When I realized this it was too late. Then when his sword was two inches away from my neck he had a surprised look on his face and he went limp. His sword clattered to the floor and I caught his limp body as he fell forward. Behind him I saw something that surprised me. Sabrina was holding a piece of wood in her hand. I knit my eyebrows and said to Sabrina "you saved my life." She nodded. "I was always on your side." We both smiled. Then she held up the baggie and said "anyone need a ride?" I checked my pockets for the money. Then I realized the bear twins took it. Then we all nodded.

Chapter 12

Dragging Luke out of the hotel was not fun. At least no monsters were in the elevators this time. When we walked out of the door I heard what I thought was an alarm. A monster must've seen us when we were dragging him. Monsters rushed out of the hotel in tens and twenties. By the time the hotel was empty, there was five hundred in front of us. I set down Luke and took out my swords. Everyone else followed my example. Then I said to everyone "okay, I'll take the hundred in the middle. Percy, you take the hundred on the middle-left. Annabeth, middle-right. Sabrina, far left." Then annabeth leaned over to me to tell me "um, Jake? That still leaves a hundred." I swallowed hard. Then I heard a twannng from above and an arrow whizzed past my ear and found a chink in a dracaena's armor. I turned around and looked at a building's fire escape. What I saw shocked, amazed, and made my cheeks color. Standing on a fire escape, taking aim with a bow, was Jane. Her green eyes staring down an arrow while her red hair flowed in the wind. Then she screamed down "I've got a car coming to pick you guys up. You can put him in there." As if on cue, a black Cadillac pulled up. I slung Luke over my shoulder and ran over to the car. I laid him down in the back seat. I ran back to where a fight broke out. Metal on metal rang and the sound of a bow going thwanggg. I jumped in and went slashing. Every thing in my path crumbled into dust. When we finished we all jumped in the car and the driver stepped on it. When I caught my breath I said to Jane "wow, Jane, you are great with a bow." She said "thanks, I'm a daughter of Apollo so I'd hope I'm good with a bow." Then I nodded. "so that's why you were the medic in the coliseum. You did a great job on me-" "excuse me, but you know her?" interrupted Sabrina. Then my face colored. "oh sorry, Sabrina , Jane. Jane, Sabrina." I introduced them. They both said hello. "how do you know her?" Sabrina asked. Her face was in an expression of a mix of anger and relief. I think she was relieved because this might help down size what she did. "she fixed me up in the infirmary at the coliseum." She kept staring at me with her arms crossed. Her stare was pulling the secret right out of me. "we almost kissed." I blurted out. "I'm sorry. Could you forgive me?" she just sighed and nodded. The rest of the car ride to the train station was silent.

***

Sabrina bought us each a ticket to New York. On the trip no one talked. I just sat there watching the cities appear and melt away into country.

When we got to the train station, Luke was almost coming to. But I fixed that with an "accidental" whack on a wooden pole. He just went limp again with a slight welt on his head. We got a grey hound bus to camp but the bus driver asked us, as we were getting on, "what's wrong with him?" I replied "he's narcoleptic." He asked "narca-what?"

I sighed and said "means he falls asleep out of no where." Then I just went to where all the others were sitting.

***

When we got to camp, we were greeted warmly, with the occasional bow from satyrs and a pat on the back from fellow campers. Sabrina told us she's going to go and join camp half-blood by signing in at the big house. "I'm tired of always having to look over my shoulder," she said. "I'm going to be a summer camper." I walked with her because I had to take Luke to the big house and, I had to talk with her. "So all those times you couldn't sleep," I said, Getting right to the point. "It was because he was visiting you in your dreams and you didn't want to talk to him?" she nodded. "Yep, he was nagging at me to tell him your plans, I-I just couldn't take it." There was a silence that last a while. Then, she broke the silence by asking "can you forgive me?" I nodded my head and answered "of course, you forgave me. Plus, it turned out you were on my side the entire time." I grinned and she grinned in turn. The rest of the walk to the big house was silent.

I took Luke to the big house basement by orders from Chiron. I chained him up on a vertical metal that was reminiscent of the one I was chained to in the arena dungeon. Just as I finished fastening him to the bed he was coming to. Just as his eyes fluttered open and focused I faked punching him, stopping my fist an inch away from his face. He flinched and I smiled. It was fun making him cower in fear. After he flinched he focused on me. He managed to mutter "Jake." I could tell he was still groggy from his little nap. Then I said "yeah it's me, Luke. And I've got a little surprise for you. Chiron can't get an audience with Zeus till tomorrow. So, as a reward for a very successful quest, annabeth Percy and I get to take turns beating you till we feel like stopping. Won't that just be terr-ific?" he grunted and answered "I'll take what ever you can dish out. And I'll stand in front of the great Zeus, and tell him exactly how I feel about the gods." I grinned evilly then chuckled. "well, unfortunately or fortunately for you, it's my turn first." And with that I sent my fist flying through the air and it contacted with his face with a sickening kahhhaaaaa and his head went jutting to the left. He just turned his head to face me. He had a big blue mark where I punched him. "do you think I can't take a punch? Do you have any idea what Kronos's training made me do? It put me through Hades-" I interrupted his rant with a well placed kick to the stomach. He doubled over as much as he could since he was chained to the bed. "You might want to stop talking," I suggested. "Cause this is going to be a while and I don't think you can talk very well with my fist down your throat." and what I remember from the time I was in there was one of the best times of my life.

When I finished, it was maybe thirty minutes after I went in there. I could've sworn it was less but I guess time flies when you're having fun. When I opened the door and went up the stairs I found annabeth waiting by the stairs. I asked her what she was waiting for. She said she was waiting for her time with Luke. I nodded and told her good luck. I patted her on the shoulder and walked out of the big house.

Annabeth's P.O.V

I was standing at the end of the stairs to the basement, waiting for Jake to get out. I'm not sure what he was doing. My guess would've been slugging the crap out of luke.

Jake has always had anger issues. He could never keep his cool when something got him really steamed. He's been working on his anger but I still think the anger is just boiling under the surface, waiting for a chance to come out.

I was jerked out of my thoughts when the door open and Jake came walking out. His blonde hair-golden honey blonde, like mine and all of our sibling's- was in a matted mess. He must've had a workout beating Luke. I looked at the clock. Five thirty!

He was in there for thirty minutes! What was he doing there? He came up and asked me what I was doing here. What do you think I'm doing here? I thought. Waiting for the up-town express? I told him I was waiting for my time with Luke. He just nodded and told me good luck. Good luck with what? He patted me on the shoulder and walked out of the big house.

I walked into the basement.

I don't know what I was suspecting. Maybe him laying on the floor limp but no, he was laying vertical on a vertical bed. Attached to the bed by chains. When I walked into his view, I saw his expression soften. His face was mostly blue. He had a scratch on his cheek. "annabeth," he said in a very vulnerable tone of voice. "you have to get me out of these chains-" I silenced him with a quick smack to the face. Not so hard to hurt him but hard enough to let him know I didn't want him to talk right now. "you're a monster." When I said that, he had a confused look on his face. "why are you saying that? I love you, and I thought you loved me?" I nodded and replied "I did love you, but I got over it," I shrugged. "Then I saw how much of a monster you are." "so… you were just with me to get my secrets?" he asked. I nodded. "it was a great plan to." Then he asked "so what now?" I just replied "all I have to say to you is goodbye." Then I walked up to him and kissed him. It had no tongue. It was more of a goodbye kiss with feeling. After five seconds I pulled away from him and walked out of the basement. When I got up the stairs I saw Jake. He said "annabeth, I was just coming to get you. It's dinner time." I just nodded and thanked him. I was walking with my head down I accidentally bumped into him.

Jake's P.O.V

It was six o'clock and time for dinner. I was walking through the big house to get annabeth. As I was getting to the room were the stairs to the basement were I saw annabeth coming up them. I walked up to her and said "annabeth, I was just coming to get you. It's dinner time." She just nodded and thanked me. Her head was down so she must not have seen so she bumped into me. She said she was sorry and was on her way. I took one more look at it and walked out of the big house to the dining pavilion.

Chapter 13

The way the shifts with Luke worked was that I went first, then annabeth went until dinner-and after, if she wasn't done before that-and then Percy went after diner. And after diner it was Percy's turn. He got up from his table and walked over in the direction of the big house. I resisted the urge to follow him but when I looked down the Athenian table, I saw someone else couldn't resist. Annabeth was gone from the table.

It took me a while to find annabeth as she was trailing Percy but when I did, the big house was already in sight. I saw Percy walking up the wrap around porch and making his way towards the door. I found annabeth behind a tree staring at Percy as he walked through the door. She was about ready to get out from behind the tree when I came right up next to her ear and asked "what are you doing?" she nearly jumped out of her skin and turned around. "Jake," she whispered. "What are you doing here?" "I saw you following him." I jutted my chin towards the big house. "Oh…um I was-" "its fine," I interrupted her, putting my hand up. "Go ahead." She just nodded and ran off to the big house and opened the door as quietly as she could.

Percy's P.O.V

I was getting ready to leave the Poseidon table and go for my shift with Luke but for some reason, my legs wouldn't move. I guess I was too nervous because I was about to confront the very person who has put this camp in turmoil so many times. Finally I got up the courage to leave the table and head to the big house.

After a while of walking to the big house I got a sneaking feeling that I was being followed. I looked around casually and saw nothing. I figured it was just my over active nerves playing a trick on me. I shrugged it off and walked over a hill and the big house came into sight. I took a deep breath and walked down the hill to the big house.

As I was walking up the wrap around porch of the big house I could've sworn I heard someone say something. I turned behind me and looked the best I could without giving it away that I was looking. I saw nothing and proceed, cautiously, into the big house and down to the basement. I saw Luke chained to a vertical bed and anger boiled inside me. This is it I thought my revenge. I stepped into his vision. I could see that his face was all bruised up. I was guessing from Jake because annabeth-not saying that she isn't strong, she is, believe me-couldn't do that much damage. I crossed my arms and he gave me the slyest smile he could make with his face that bruised up. I gave him a sly smile right back and he spat at me. I just stepped to the side and it landed on the floor. I stepped back into his vision, nodded, and said "I'm going to enjoy this." And started wailing on him.

***

after a few minutes of wailing on Luke I was out of breathe. I stopped to take a breath and so did he. Now he had a few more cuts and bruises on his face. "did you talk to annabeth after she finished with me?" he asked. I just walked up to him and kneed him right in his stomach. "You don't deserve to say her name." I told him. Then I turned away from him. He just grinned and replied "oh, I think I do, seeing as she kissed me." I turned around and asked him "what did you say?" he gave me a cold smile and said "she kissed me, Percy." I shook my head and said "no, I don't believe you." He shrugged the best he could and said "believe me or not, but she did." I gritted my teeth and thought to my self that he was just saying that to get under my skin. It's not true, is it? I punched him in the face one more time as hard as I could and that was the final straw. His body went limp and I waked out of the basement into the big house and then out into the light.

***

I caught up with annabeth as she was walking over to the cabins. I stopped her in the middle of the cabin horse shoe and told her "Luke said something that I thought about and I needed to know if it was true. Did you kiss him in the basement?" she had a surprised look on her face like I completely caught her off guard. She waited a while and nodded. I went wide eyed.

Jake's P.O.V

I was walking a short distance away from annabeth. Far enough so that she couldn't see me but close enough so I could see her. And out of the corner of my eye I saw Percy walking up to Annabeth. I couldn't hear what they were saying but from the looks of it, it looked like Percy asked her a very surprising question. She looked down at the ground after a while and nodded. He shook his head and I think he started to raise his voice. I figured she'd start to raise her voice and, as always, I was right. They started screaming at each other and after a few minutes of their shouting match Percy said something and annabeth agreed. They went their separate ways towards their cabin.

***

I followed annabeth as she trudged over to the Athenian cabin. I caught her right outside the cabin door. This wasn't anybody else's business. I asked her what that was about and she just hissed "I don't want to talk about it!" I recoiled and shook my head. "come on, I'm your brother, you can tell me anything." I heard whispering and shushing behind the door so I kicked it. I heard a yelp and footsteps. She sighed and whispered to me "Percy and I broke-up." And with that she walked into the cabin leaving me at the doorstep with a stunned look on my face. I decided to take a walk into the woods. I know it's risky with all the monsters in there but I had my swords with me and I figured I could take anything in those woods. I started to get pretty far into the woods. I heard a rustling in the bushes. I uncapped my swords and walked towards the bushes. I pushed aside the bushes and raised my sword. There was nothing behind the bushes. Then I heard a familiar woman's voice behind me say "hello Jake." I whipped around and saw who was behind me. it was my mother, Athena. She was wearing a flowing gown. Her gray eyes shimmered in the sunset. I knelt before her and asked "what brings you here mother?" she replied "rise son, I have come because I have been keeping an eye on annabeth and I have seen that her and that son of the sea god are no longer together." I stood up and said "yes they broke up. It seems that you have ultimately gotten what you wanted." She nodded. "yes I realize I did act a bit rash. And I apologize." "Don't apologize to me, apologize to them." I replied. She nodded and said "yes yes, I will. But I am also here to commend you on your successful quest." She then held out her hand and an owl flew down and deposited two leather dagger holders into her hand. She threw them to me and I caught them. I unsheathed the two daggers. Celestial bronze, as usual. I looked up at her and said "thank you, mother." "You deserve it." she replied. "Those belonged to Odysseus." I smiled and said "you had a thing for him, didn't you?" she smiled nostalgically. "It was purely intellectual. He was very smart and very confident. You remind me of him." That was very honoring. She just compared me to one of the most famous and brave heroes ever. "wow mother, thanks. I feel honored." She nodded. "well son, I must be going now…oh and good luck." "good luck with what?" and as I asked that, she disappeared. I sighed, capped my swords and sheathed my daggers, and started walking back to the cabins.

Chapter 13

I woke up to a beautiful morning feeling fresh and renewed. And another plus, for once, I didn't have a dream. I was feeling great. And then, as if it couldn't get any better, one of my cabin mates said that there will be a capture the flag game today. I felt the best I had in weeks. I decided to take a walk. I met up with Chiron who seemed to be looking for something. When he saw me he started galloping up to me. "did you hear the news?" he asked in a frantic tone. "no", I replied, "why, what happened?" "Luke escaped!" he answered. My eyes went wide. "What, how?" he replied "we don't know. All we know is that the chains were not broken. He just seemed to have fazed right through them." An understanding past between us. "You don't think he could be that strong already?" I asked. He shook his head quizatically. "we don't know but it's the only explanation we have." "but could Kronos do that now?" I asked. He shrugged. "he may be that strong by now. I mean, it has been 4 years since he's been reforming." Chiron explained. I nodded. "well I have to go and get some allies for capture the flag." He nodded. "See you tonight." He replied.

***

we gathered at the dining pavilion after dinner. The Athenian and Poseidon flag, a sea green background with a golden trident emblem, were waving in the pavilion. Everybody was getting ready for capture the flag. Tightening armor straps and putting on helmets. The Athena cabin was the blue team along with Ares, Apollo, and Hermes. The red team was Percy, the Hephaestus cabin, the Demeter and Dionysus cabins. The Dionysus cabin was just pollux. He normally doesn't participate but since the death of his brother, castor, in the battle of the labyrinth he's become more outgoing. Suddenly Chiron's hoof thundered on the marble. "heroes!" he announced. "you know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but not bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" he spread his arms and suddenly the tables were filled with bronze sword, shields, and other weapons. I took out my swords, my shield, and my knifes were strapped to my lower back. I reluctantly put on my helmet with a blue horse hair plume on it. I never liked helmets but we had to wear them. The red team's banner was at Zeus's fist. Percy must've thought of that because it was so predictable. Ours was tied up a tree. You could see it but it was as hard to climb as Zeus's fist. "blue team, forward!" I screamed. They all waved their swords in the air and whooped and hollered. We marched forward. Annabeth walked up to me and asked what our strategy was. "well, me and you are going to run in with half of the Hermes cabin on our trail and once we get to the river they will spread out along the perimeter of the river. And once we get the flag we'll run back and if anyone is on our trail we'll meet up with them and they'll take care of the rest." I replied. "good plan." She commented. I nodded. "I'm glad I'm on a different team than Percy." She mumbled to herself. "what happened with you guys?" I asked. "I don't think now is the best time to talk about this." She replied. "fine, but we are talking about this after capture the flag." She groaned, "fine!"

I was sitting there with anxiety welling up inside me. finally I heard the conch horn blow. I looked over at annabeth and nodded. We both sprinted towards the boundary line. I heard the sound of foot steps behind us and knew that the hermes cabin was right behind us. We finally got to the creek and jumped over. We started running towards Zeus's fist. I heard the clang of sword on shield and metal on metal. There was a quick boom followed by green smoke. I knew that a Greek fire bomb had just gone off courtesy of the Hephaestus cabin. Just as I thought that beckendorf stepped in our path. "sorry Jake," he told me. He charged me. I told annabeth to keep going. She ran around beckendorf. He just ignored her and kept charging. I thought why would he let her pass? Unless…not good! I blocked his attack and disarmed him. He was surprised, it happened so quickly. I hilt smashed his helmet on each side then smashed his helmet again with the flat of my sword. It banged like a metal drum. He fell over K.O.'ed. I took his sword and ran the direction annabeth ran. I met her just as we were about to get to Zeus's fist. I threw down beckendorf's sword. "so, you'll climb it, I'll stand guard?" she nodded and began to climb Zeus's fist. I looked around and thought it was weird that there were no guards. I looked back and saw that annabeth was about halfway up. All of a sudden I heard the sound of vines wrapping around me. I looked down and saw vines and weeds wrapping around my feet. I started slashing and cutting them. Then I saw Stacy, from Demeter cabin, and pollux. They were what were making the vines grow. Then I realized that this was the trap set for annabeth. The vines and weeds started to get thicker and it was taking all my might to chop through them. I finally had a chance to get out my knifes and threw them like throwing knifes. One clipped Stacy in the shoulder and the other one cut pollux on his side. I hope Mr. D won't disintegrate me for that. They both clasped their wounds. The vines and weeds receded and just then annabeth dropped from Zeus's fist with the flag. "you see what I get into for you?" I said to annabeth. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. I laughed and she punched me jokingly. We started sprinting towards the creek. When we got in sight of the creek I saw that Percy had found a way past our guards and was heading straight for the creek. I started picking up the pace and jumped over the creek at the same time he did. I stuck my foot out and kicked him straight in the chest. He fell down hard in the creek with the flag still in his hand. Just then annabeth jumped over us and won the game. The sea green flag turned to silver. Our team burst into cheers. I held out my hand to help him up and he took it. I hoisted him up and said "sorry I had to do that man." "it's alright, the water helped me out." I nodded. He patted me on the back and said "hey man, go celebrate with your team." I nodded and ran over to the crowd of people around annabeth praising her. I joined in and I was the one cheering the hardest.

Chapter 14

I was walking n the beach with a six pack of coke looking for Percy and I found him. I sat down next to him and set down the six pack. "how did I know you would be here?" I said sarcastically. "Shut up," he replied. "And hand me a coke." I grabbed one and handed it to him. He popped the cap and took a sip of it. I grabbed one too, popped the top, and took a sip. There was a long silence that was finally broken by me saying "so I talked to annabeth. She feels bad that she kissed Luke but she told me it was just a good-bye kiss." He sighed. "I still don't know if I can forgive her." He took a sip of his drink. I said "she forgave you when you kissed that other girl." "but that wasn't my fault. Aphrodite made me do that." He said defensively. I nodded; "I know, girls are confusing, huh?" he nodded vigorously. "but she's over him. She told me and I could tell she wasn't lying. Perce, she'd take a bullet for you. And I know you would for her. Don't let this ruin that." He nodded, "alright I'll talk to her. And don't call me Perce again." "Alright," I said. "I thought I'd try it out." We both chuckled. A few more minutes passed with us just sipping at our cokes and listening to the ocean. "Hey," I finally broke the silence. "What was the prophecy?" he bit his lip. I could tell he was still freaked out by it.

Three will go north to face the traitor,

One will be found that will not be revealed till later,

Two will realize what all have already known,

The friend, the traitor, and the broken heart be shown.