A/N: Hello, everyone! I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and it kept bugging me until I finally got around to writing it. Because I already have another fic in the works, this one will probably not be updated regularly, but never fear! This will not be shoved into a corner to collect dust, but just expect irregular updates. Anyway, on to the story! It takes places after BoO (more specifically, after the PJ/KC crossover, though you don't have to read those to understand, because I probably won't reverence it often).

DISCLAIMER: I am not a middle-aged man living in Boston who is writing yet another Percy Jackson series. Sorry to disappoint.

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"Time is making fools of us again." ~JK Rowling

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Percy the Younger

Annabeth, Grover, and I had just gotten back from our quest to return Zeus's lightning bolt and save the world. We were the first heroes to return alive to Half-Blood Hill since Luke's failed trip to the Hesperides, so of course everybody was treating us as if we'd won a reality-TV contest.

According to camp tradition, we wore laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared in our honor. Personally, I could have done without the plant crown, because it kept falling in my eyes and made my head itch, but the food was awesome. I stuffed myself with barbeque and blue coke.

We then led a procession down to the bonfire, where we got to burn the burial shrouds our cabins had made for us in our absence. I didn't get this tradition either, because it felt more to me like they had doubted that we'd succeed and were planning our funerals instead of believing that we'd return. But, you know, tradition and all that.

Annabeth's shroud was really beautiful—gray silk with reddish-purple embroidered owls. Flames licked up its length as Annabeth's torch made contact with the fabric, causing smoke to bellow up in our faces.

"It's a shame not to bury you in that." I joked, pushing the wreath out of my eyes again.

"Shut up," she replied before elbowing me in the gut. Her lip was slightly curled up though, so maybe she thought it was a nice shroud too. Her mom was the goddess of weaving after all; it was probably a requirement to be appreciative of all woven crafts, or something like that.

Next, it was my turn to burn my shroud. Being the son of Poseidon, I didn't have any cabinmates, so the Ares cabin had oh so helpfully volunteered to make my shroud. They'd taken an old bed sheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed-out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER was painted really big in the middle.

It was fun to watch that go up in flames.

Once both shrouds had been successfully turned to ash, Apollo's cabin led a sing-along and handed out s'mores. I was surrounded by my old Hermes cabinmates, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring his brand-new searcher's license he'd received from the Council of Cloven Elders. Annabeth bumped my arm, getting my attention. She smiled at me, her normally serious gray eyes bright with happiness and her hair flickering golden in the fire-light. I smiled at her, bumping her back.

I'm not sure I'd ever felt as happy as I did at that moment. I'd finally found a family, people who cared about me and thought I'd done something right. I had friends for the first time in my life, kids who were just like me. I felt accepted, like I had finally found a place where I belonged. For the first time, I was excited for what the future might hold.

Of course, that was when everything went wrong.

I was talking with Grover, who was in the middle of stuffing his face with his umpteenth s'more, when I felt something weird crawling up my neck. I shivered, stopping midsentence.

"Percy, man, everything alright?" Grover asked through a mouthful of melted marshmallow.

I glanced behind me, but there was nothing there except for a couple campers from the other cabins. I shrugged it off. "Nothing, I guess."

Grover didn't look completely convinced. By now, we had gained Annabeth's attention. The daughter of Athena walked over to us, her arms crossed and a suspicious look in her eyes. "What are you two talking about?" She rose in eyebrow in my direction, as if saying, 'What did you do now?'

I held my hands up in surrender. "Nothing, I swear. We were just—" My body stiffened as the same shiver ran up my spine. I turned around fully this time, my hand reaching for Riptide.

"What is it, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked. Her voice was a mix between exasperation and alarm, as if trying to decide if I was playing a joke or truly thought a monster was around.

My eyebrows furrowed. One, I didn't like her calling me that, and two, I was sure I had felt something. I opened my mouth to express this, but suddenly the feeling came back. This time, my entire body was tingling from the strange sensation. I couldn't really describe what it felt like—it was almost as if thousands of bugs were crawling across my skin as I was dipped under ice cold water.

Then, there was a flash of light. It blinded me, causing my eyes to flinch shut on instinct. The next second, I was wrenched back violently, like I had been sucked into a vacuum.

And then, I was falling.

The falling didn't last for long. It was like that feeling you get when you were half asleep and all of the sudden you felt like you were falling off a cliff. One second I was dropping like a stone through empty space, and the next I was jack-knifing up into a sitting position, my legs tangled in something.

I blearily looked around, rubbing my eyes. My mind felt clouded, and a headache pounded into my skull. Maybe I had hit my head when I fell? The ground wasn't very soft, after all. Though, I would've thought Annabeth or Grover would have caught me before I smacked the dirt.

Humph, what great friends they were.

After a few moments, the cobwebs in my mind slowly cleared. When they did, I blinked. Then I blinked again. I was back in my cabin. Maybe they had moved me here after I passed out? Except, no, that wasn't right. There was something different about my cabin. Something was off.

There were more things around the room. A metal hippocampus hung from the ceiling, swimming above the bunk beds. Clothes were strewn across the room, and while that was normal for my cabin, the shirts and pants were all too big to fit me. There was also a fountain in the back corner that gurgled with saltwater. So, maybe Dad had felt like redecorating the cabin to thank me for completing the quest for him and averting World War III? But no, that didn't sound like something the Sea God would do. Plus, it didn't explain the clothes.

A small whimper suddenly drew my attention to one of the bunks. It was the one right next to mine that I had originally passed over. My green eyes widened at what they saw. A girl, about sixteen or seventeen, was lying tangled under the sheets. Her blonde hair created a halo around her head as she tossed in her sleep, and her eyebrows were scrunched together in what looked like pain.

I honestly had no clue what to do. My mind was frozen. Why was there a girl in my cabin? Why was there a girl sleeping in my cabin? It didn't make sense! I wasn't friends with any teenage girls at camp—especially not good enough friends with one to have them come for a sleepover.

So, I did what any rational person would do if they found a stranger sleeping in their room.

I screamed.

A/N: This first chapter is pretty short, sorry. The next ones will be significantly longer, I promise. I only have a rough idea of where this is going, so any ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading; I'd love to hear your thoughts so far.

Until next time,

~Wrendsor