(Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan does. I only own Nathan Boone.)

Note: I am reworking the chapters via reviews so I can make them better and not at warp-speed where I'm the sloppiest. Reviewing will help me correct my mistakes I usually have a habit of making. Flaming will probably make it worse. I'm also trying to stay in-character and not too much Percabeth where it gets really annoying and clichè. I don't know if you consider this fanfic a clichè, but the storyline is a bit different where no one else would come up with the idea. To make it simple, I prefer constructive critisism (e.g. tips, compliments, ect.) to help improve my writing. Thanks.

By the way, I won't be able to check my e-mail for messages due to the fact that my computer is almost infected by the Conficker virus that almost took out the Pentagon. Sorry for the inconvenience.

December 14, 2009

Percy's POV

It's been a few months after the defeat of Kronos and Typhon, but I still have nightmares about it. I guess I was the prophecy kid after all I've been through to thwart Kronos's plan to dominant the gods. He tried stealing Zeus's master lightning bolt, use the Golden Fleece, possessing Luke, and corrupt Morpheus, god of dreams, by forcing him to create massive hallucinations that almost drove Malcolm, Annabeth's half brother, to insanity. Luckily, Dionysus was there to get his lazy butt off his pinochle chair and help save him.

Speaking of Annabeth, I saved her from being gutted in the back by Kronos's scythe, Backbiter. She kept forgiving me about all the problems we had after that. She even asked me out to the movies one more time to see James Cameron's movie called Avatar. Not the Avatar: The Last Airbender, but something totally different and full of science-fiction.

We never talked about Luke, considering she still had lingering feelings toward him even after he was controlled by Kronos. He was sliced into pieces again while Nico disposed of the contents in the River Styx and Thalia electricuted them to where it floated to the deepest part of the Underworld: Tartarus. Too bad Luke didn't change his ways when Nico informed me that he was being burned, boiled in acid, and frozen in liquid nitrogen.

In other news, Grover married Juniper. It was supposed to be a Greek traditional wedding until a son of Hermes named Jason spiked the punch which almost made everyone drunk. Until Mr. D intervened, the guy (not Travis or Connor, which is weird)from the Hermes cabin had stolen Mr. D's sacred stash of Jack Daniel's and poured it in the punch while everyone else was attending the wedding. At least I wasn't thirsty at the time.

Anyways, back to me. After the victory over the Second Titan War that lasted a miraculously short five days, and the last day was my sixteenth birthday. I turned the tide of the war and prayed to Zeus to snatch the Ophiotaurus's entrails out of my hands and it almost worked until a Laistrygonian notched an arrow and sent the eagle to the fires of the sacrificing brazier. Then a golden light radiated out of the brazier and Kronos/Luke was partially incinerated. I snatched Backbiter out of his hands and beheaded him.

Right now, I was heading back to Camp Half-Blood over Christmas Break. Some people at camp now call me the Prince of the Sea, which was a lot better sounding than Kelp Head and Seaweed Brain, though Annabeth still calls me that when I'm being an idiot... which I am most of the time.

My mom dropped me off at the base of Half-Blood Hill. Camp had an inch of snow on the ground and the temperature was dipping below twenty-two degrees Fahrenheit (don't judge me, I'm American). Luckily I brought my red winter coat to keep me from turning into an icicle.

I'd reached the cabin area where torches were blazing different colors and glanced at the Athena cabin. No sign of Annabeth, I thought. She's probably at archery class. Then I stepped into the Poseidon cabin and started unpacking my suitcase. There was an unexpected knock on the door.

Annabeth's POV

Seaweed Brain must be here by now. Footprints in the snow indicated proof of it, no doubt. Unless that kid from the Hermes cabin that spiked the punch at Grover's wedding was savaging Percy's cabin. I stood shivering in the snow, my gloved hands tucked in my winter coat pockets and my feet shuffled nervously. Adjusting my scarf and earmuffs, the door opened.

"Merry Christmas," I tried to sound upbeat, but right now I wasn't in the mood. A new camper arrived just yesterday and he's been extremely distant from everyone, plus there was a dance this Wednesday. I wasn't too thrilled about it either.

"You too," Percy said, "So what's wrong?"

That's all he says? What's wrong? What's wrong with him?

"Chiron announced a dance this Wednesday," I said.

"I hope Mr. D put a stop to Jason," he said.

"Don't worry. Argus will keep perfect surveillance on the punch and the giant water jug."

"Giant water jug," he repeated.

"That'll be your job, since you can absorb large amounts of water."

"Okay."

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"N-nothing. Just—ah, never mind I don't even know what I'm saying. What about the dance, though?"

"Chiron isn't too sure about it yet," I started walking towards the Big House since I just now remembered something about helping with the Christmas torches. Percy finally caught up with me.

"The Nine Muses have been invited," I finally said, "Clarisse asked Chris out, Silena and Beckendorf, and Grover automatically asked Juniper as soon as he heard of it."

"Any others?" he asked.

"For reasons I don't know, the Aphrodite girls are keeping their annoying mouths shut ever since the new camper came."

"Whoa—wait, a new camper? Who?"

"He's yet to be unclaimed and his name is Nathan," I said, "He was brought here by one of the satyr keepers."

"No signs of his parent?"

"He has a mysterious personality to him and acts almost exactly like Nico."

"Could be another son of—"

I cut him off, "Look, let's not worry about that. Capture the flag is tonight and I have to worry about making the strategy."

He looked like he was going to drop the subject, thank the gods. Arguing with him is really frustrating.

"Okay, then I'll c'ya maybe at the sword fighting arena or tonight I guess," Percy glumly said while sticking hands in his coat pockets.

I was a hundred yards from the Big House when out of the corner of my eye, he waved good-bye. I didn't look at him but I reluctantly waved back.