I did not expect to wake up to this.

Monsters? Sure, I could handle that.

Gods? A little worse, but I can deal with that.

Angry moms? Pushing it a little, but yeah.

A burning pain in my back with 2 bright red scars running diagonally from my mid-shoulder to mid back? Um, wtf, why?

I stood in front of the mirror, looking over my shoulder at the reflection for the 13th time. The jagged red lines burned their way into my skin, which boiled and peeled away from the wound like bark on a chipped tree.

I tried, once more, to pour water on the wound. Instantly, the bottle was sent flying across the room as another blast of pain rippled through my back. My vision blackened dramatically and I held back a hiss.

A moment passed and my vision cleared. A gentle tap at my door startled me. I grabbed my shirt and pulled it on as Mom opened the door.

"Perce? Is everything okay?" She sounded worried as she walked into the room. Her eyes drifted to the pile of water bottles on the floor and the wall covered in water.

"Uh, yeah… I just sneezed." I lied, pretending to sniffle. She crossed her arms.

"Oh no, she have no time to have cold feet, mister. Your last swim meet is today, and then tomorrow is your competition."

"I know, I know… it was just a sneeze. I'll clean this up…"

I turned and held my breath, hoping that Mom couldn't see through the shirt. I extended my hand and the water obeyed, sucking itself out of the carpet and into a giant bubble of water. I willed it outside, where the water broke and spilled over the fire escape.

"There we go. All better."

Mom sighed. "Pancakes in 3 minutes. I expect you to NOT be late?"

"Well I'm ready right now, so… off to pancakes I go!"


The day didn't last long. My friends waved me goodbye with their college applications to Yale, Harvard, and a dozen other Ivy League schools. The teachers all slapped me on the back (right where the weird wound was) and wished me luck on the competition tomorrow. A few football players gave me thumbs up from across the hall, which gave me the impression that they were going to be at the meet today.

But as the day went by, worry filled my chest. What if I couldn't get in the water? It wasn't like I could hide the hideous red marks on my back. I couldn't manipulate the mist like Thalia or Hazel could. Nor could I will part of my body dry. The water burned me when it touched the wound, and that was only a few drops. I'd hate to see what happens if I jumped into the pool.

With dread on my chest, I walked into the pool-room.

Instantly I was greeted by 3 dozen people. Some of them were cheerleaders (like, actual mortal ones), some of them were football players, some of them were traditional football players (aka soccer), but most of them were the swim team.

"Percy! The star of the pool!" Barry Chris, one of my friends and swimmates, tackled me in a bear hug. His nails dug into my wound, making me bite my tongue in pain.

"Hey… hey." I stammered softly. My vision blurred slightly. Barry pulled away from me, and I recovered.

"Dude, today is gonna be the last day I see you. I mean, other than the competition tomorrow, which you are totally gonna kill!" He smiled, white teeth flashing. "You excited?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah.. About that-"

"Great!" He clapped his hand on my back and guided me towards the locker room. "I can't wait-"

I pulled away, slipping through the crowd and towards Couch Judy.

Yes, laugh all you want, but she looked nothing like Judge Judy. She was a tall woman with coily blonde hair, a perky face, blue eyes, and slender figure.

"Hey, Miss?" I slid beside the mystery man she was talking to, gaining the coach's attention. Her eyes brighten.

"Oh, look! Our star swimmer. Percy, I'd like you to meet Edward Smith. He's the head of Ohio State University. I was just talking to him about getting you a scholarship to Ohio State when you win the competition tomorrow!"

I turned to face the man. He was tall, dark, and oddly handsome. Blue eyes looked down at me like Ouranus looked down at Gaia. (No, bad thought. Never think that again.) He had black hair speckled lightly with grey, though he didn't look a day over 25. His skin reminded me of Hercules', like copper without the shine. I forced myself to look away from him, remembering why I had came over.

"Yeah, about that…"

"Great!" She clapped her hands together, shoving her clipboard under her arm. "Now if you could-"

"Miss, I can't go to the swim competition tomorrow."

She stopped mid-sentence. "Wha… what?"

I took a deep breath in. "I can't go. Something important popped up that I have to go to. I'm… I'm leaving today. I don't know when I'll be back."

I was vaguely aware of the crowd behind me. Coach looked confused for a moment, then laughed.

"Percy, you aren't getting cold feet, are you? Now go get changed, I want to show Ed how fast you can go 10-"

"This isn't a joke!" I demanded, making her take a step back in shock. "Something happened and I have to figure it out. I am sorry, you'll have to pick someone else to represent us."

I took a deeper breath in. "I recommend Rose. She… she's a great swimmer. I'm pretty sure she's going to win tomorrow."

And with that, I turned on my heels and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind me.


The air was much colder than it should have been for late May. However, that didn't stop Percy in his tracks. Zeus watched with intense fascination as his nephew easily navigated the streets of Manhattan like the god use to navigate Greece.

Unfortunately for both of them, they were stuck in an impossible situation. Percy for not being able to do the thing he loved most, and Zeus for causing it.

Your mistake, you fix it!

The words still rang in his eyes. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the ichor-flushed face of his angry older brother. Poseidon was so terrifying that Zeus had been too scared to punish him. No one talks to the king god like that and gets away with it.

But he's right. It's all your fault. Because you got angry.

That little voice in his head made him frown. Yeah sure, he probably shouldn't have cursed the child, but he also was apart of the broken oath. And on a plane with his weapon, one of the greatest insults Zeus could imagine.

Now he was stuck with a possibly unfixable curse with no idea what it did in the first place. When he casted it, he spoke a curse that he'd never used before. How was he supposed to know what it was?

Zeus frowned, looking back down at the demigod of the sea.

Your mistake.

You fix it.