Alright, so this is the first chapter of my sequel to The Arena. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do or be content with not understanding some references. If you did read my other story, thank you very much and this sequel is for all of you. I asked you all for your opinions at the end of my last story and I would like to inform you that this story will be written in Percy's and Annabeth's point of view alternately, starting with Percy.

As this is the beginning of a new story I remind you that all criticism is expected harsh or polite and I do not own anything. Credit goes to Rick Riordan for the characters.

I hope you all enjoy this story, (although the first chapter isn't much.)

Chapter 1

The sky resembled the color of ash. It was hard to say if it was because of the weather or all of the actual ash in the air that swirled around in the wind. The refugees were some of the last people in the dead city. Hiding out in the Arena, they were safe and could wait for the fires to die down and the streets to become silent. Percy wished they hadn't. He coughed on ash as he strained himself to lift a heavy crate of camping supplies onto a wagon. His body was still weak after the fight and the wound on his side had improved little. It didn't help that Will refused to treat him more than handing him fresh bandages, even that much was a challenge barely completed. The past few days were like torture to Percy.

After the night that Percy first woke up on after the fighting, reality crashed back down on everyone. The elated high that carried their spirits for a short time dissipated and they were reminded of the hardships they still faced. However, for the refugees there was one thing that overshadowed all others; Percy was present among them. Although they accepted the fact that he wasn't their enemy, they couldn't bring themselves to forgive him for abandoning them when they needed to stay together more than anything. Most of the refugees, like Will, treated Percy with scorn. They would give him dirty looks, go out of their way to avoid him, or make things difficult for him like withholding medical treatment, or food, or getting in his way as he tried to help with loading supplies onto their wagon. A few people even refused to travel with his group because he was in it. For Percy it was worse than when he first joined them. Earlier they could at least identify him as the enemy if problems arose, now he was nothing and they made that clear to him. Earlier he didn't care either, but now it made him frustrated. There were people like Annabeth, Connor, and Travis who forgave him. What was holding the others back?

Percy pushed the crate as far back as it would go and made sure it was secure before he turned around to survey the people around him. The question of what he had to do to earn their forgiveness was sounding through his head. Of course he didn't have to appease everyone. Of the forty or so refugees that remained Percy would only be traveling with about half of them. The remainder had broken into two smaller groups, one that would follow Artemis back to the forest where they would live as they did before the entire mess started, and the other was going to travel back to Delphi with the guards and Rachel's parents. Percy's group was going to set out to find a new home somewhere else. Everyone was mingling about either loading up the wagons or trying to prolong goodbyes as much as possible.

"Hey, Percy, could you help me with this?" Percy turned his head and saw Rachel struggling with another heavy crate. It was almost humorous to watch her waddle towards the wagon since the crate was too heavy for her to walk normally.

"Sure," Percy answered and took the crate from Rachel's arms. He loaded it onto the wagon the same way he had the first and then turned back to Rachel. "You're not very useful. Why are we letting you tag along again?"

Rachel scowled at him and countered, "Hey, I'm the one who secured these very fine wagons from my parents. Or would you rather carry all of this stuff?"

"Alright, fair enough. I just can't really believe your parents aren't requiring you to return home with them."

"They're upset with me, so they don't really want to have anything to do with me right now. And Argus somehow convinced them that traveling the world would give me a good education on foreign policy, which, who knows, might be true," Rachel shrugged. Percy nodded and looked over at Rachel's parents. It was almost ridiculous how smug her father looked, like he was the one who defeated Kronos. Granted they were his guards, but he wasn't even willing to help the refugees with their attack or have the courage to attack the Arena himself instead of marrying off his only daughter.

"Right. So who is the big guy coming with you?" Percy looked over at large Delphi guard that was fumbling around with the straps on his armor. His messy brown hair stuck up at random angles on top of his round, childish face. Percy doubted if the guard was even the same age as him.

"That's Tyson. He's supposed to protect me on the journey," Rachel explained.

"And your parents assigned the most incompetent guard?"

"He's not incompetent," Rachel scolded Percy. "He's actually very good at his job. He's just young. He may not be up to Arena standards, but that doesn't mean he's not valuable." Percy stared at the ground in an annoyed fashion. He knew the Arena was a part of him he could never get rid of, but he hated still being compared to it. If people could just see that he was capable of more, then maybe they could forgive him. Percy didn't think it was too much to ask for, after all, he had been able to change a little. When Percy picked his head back up he noticed Thalia was walking over to his wagon, away from the wagon that Artemis was taking.

"Is there room for one more box?" Thalia asked as she walked up to Percy and Rachel. There was a note of hostility in her voice, but Percy could tell she was trying to be civil.

"Uh, yeah," Percy said as he looked over his shoulder into the wagon. "Are you coming with us?"

"You have a problem with that?"

"No," Percy answered quickly. He did have a problem though. He really didn't want another person who hated him to travel with him. "I just thought you were going with Artemis."

"Artemis wants at least one of us to travel with each group until they reach their destination. She still feels protective over all the refugees. I volunteered to join you guys so I could stay with Annabeth for a little while longer."

"Great," Percy gave Thalia a half-hearted smile. She returned it with a threatening look. No matter what Percy said he couldn't convince Thalia that he wasn't going to kill Annabeth. Percy asked Annabeth to talk to her for him and it helped slightly. Thalia wasn't as outright mean to Percy, but earning her trust would take more than a few words. It looked like she was about to comment on Percy's attitude when Connor jumped down from the top of the wagon and almost landed on top of them.

"Well, everything is all ready to go." Connor wiped his hands together like he was cleaning them of any dirt. He seemed not to care that he almost hit someone. He even looked a little proud to pull a surprised expression to Thalia's face.

"Will you stop acting like an idiot?" Thalia hissed.

"What?" Connor asked with mock innocence. "I had to get on top to secure the tarp and I needed to get down somehow." Thalia just rolled he eyes and stalked off to join Annabeth who was busy harnessing the horses. Percy tried to stifle his laugh so Thalia wouldn't hear him.

"You better watch it, man, or she might gut you," Percy grinned at Connor.

"Oh, I think you're first on her list." Percy let out a defeated sigh. Connor chuckled and gave him a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry. She'll come around in no time once we get on the road."

"Yeah, thanks," Percy said sarcastically.

"No problem, man." Connor let his hand dropped and he turned as two Delphi guards approached. "Can we help you with something?" The lead guard eyed Connor suspiciously. Connor and his twin brother found themselves on bad terms with the guards after they ended up on the wrong side of one of the brother's games. Percy didn't think the twins actually cheated, but he couldn't really deny it either.

"Nothing from you. I just came over to inform the princess that we're leaving."

"Argus, please do not call me a princess," Rachel spoke up before Connor could say anything more.

"As you wish. Would you like to say goodbye to your parents?"

"No, that's alright. I believe everything was said last night." The captain of the guard gave a sympathetic frown. He was more aware than anyone of the small fight Rachel had with her parents the night before. He was only asking out of formality.

"Very well. You will be heading over the mountains, correct?" Argus asked for his own comfort. He already knew the answer.

"Yes, don't worry she will be safe," Percy assured.

"Then I will leave Tyson with you." The young guard standing behind Argus' shoulder picked up his head at the mention of his name. He gave his captain stiff nod of the head as he turned to leave. Then he turned to Rachel with an expecting look.

"What would you like me to do, milady?" Rachel looked around unsure. Everything that needed to be done was already finished or near completion.

"First of all, I'd rather you just call me Rachel. Secondly, uh, Percy do you have anything for Tyson to do?"

"Nope. We shoulder be leaving so though. I'll go check with Annabeth," Percy excused himself and headed toward the front of the wagon. Annabeth had finished harnessing the horses and was busy giving them some feed before the journey. Thalia stood off to the side discussing the plan for their journey. Everyone had agreed on a general direction, but their destination was unknown. No matter where they decided to make their home they had to either get over the mountains before the nearing winter snows or stop at their base and wait for spring. Percy didn't want to wait for spring and Thalia was expressing a similar sympathy when Percy walked up. Thalia hushed herself after noticing Percy's presence.

"Yes?" Thalia prompted.

"I just came over to ask when we were leaving. All the gear is loaded up and everyone is ready to go." Annabeth and Thalia scanned the area to confirm Percy's words. Everyone was just standing around, having finished their preparations, and all shared a nervous anticipation. It didn't help that those going to Delphi were already leaving. It added to the feeling that they should get going and not stop until the city walls were out of sight. The city was no longer truly dangerous, but the hollowness of its streets was ominous.

"Well, if everything is ready, then we can go now. Probably would be better to travel as much distance as possible the first day since we can be sure of our supplies now," Annabeth reasoned. She closed up the feed bag and the horse let out a whine in protest. It took no time at all to gather everyone around the wagon and begin their journey. Most of the people walked behind the wagon while Percy and his few friends walk in front. Percy couldn't silence the little voice in his head that told him it was his fault. Most likely he would have mentally griped more about it if it wasn't for his mother walking on his arm. She helped to keep his mood light as he guided her through the streets. Percy glance back once and noticed Tyson guiding Rachel in a similar fashion. Rachel looked humored by the gesture more than anything else.

As they made their way through the city they occasionally had to stop and clear the road of debris so that the wagon could get through. Some of the housing had collapsed or old furniture had been thrown in the streets. Every time Percy tried to lift something that weighed more than him, his side would scream in pain and his face flushed. Percy was worried that he might reopen the wound, but he didn't say anything to anyone. He hid his pain well and forced through it. He didn't want to draw any attention to his injury considering the way Will was treating him. That would cause unnecessary problems and the journey was long.

Percy didn't see any other living people in the city as they walked. There were plenty of corpses along the sides of the streets and down narrow alleys. Some of them were burnt in the fires, others caught under collapsed walls, and a few showed signs of being beaten to death. They were the grim signs from the riots that couldn't be witnessed from the high walls of the Arena. Percy tried his best to hide the bodies from the views of others, especially from the younger children that were traveling with them. The sight was not foreign to him and it still unsettled his stomach. He couldn't imagine what it might do to a younger mind might handle it. Then again, all of Percy's traveling companions were not innocent to such things. It was how they all came to meet after all.

"Hey, what's that?" Travis stopped walking after they had left the city behind them and was squinting into the distance. In the opposite direction that the Delphi caravan was headed there was the silhouette of an oblong, square shape on the horizon. It looked like it was ringed by torch fire and there was a small column of smoke rising from the dark structure.

"I have no idea," Annabeth admitted. "That definitely was not there before."

"Do you think it's dangerous?" Travis asked, not taking his eyes off the object. The travelers behind the wagon had caught on that something was wrong. Percy noticed their nervous expressions and spoke quietly so only the people near him could hear.

"Whatever it is, it's in the direction we're headed and it's a long way off. I suggest we keep moving and assess it as we get closer. Standing around isn't doing any good." Percy tilted his head to indicate the nervous people in the traveling band. Annabeth caught on to what Percy wasn't saying.

"Percy's right. Besides we can't be afraid of every new thing we come across. Who knows what the world has to offer us now?" Annabeth said in a determined voice. She steeled her expression and resumed the march. The earlier nervousness was no longer apparent, but Percy could still feel it around him. Or maybe it was inside him. Annabeth had made a very good point. Nothing was as it was before and Percy was going to have to find a way to adjust. Starting with this new mysterious obstacle.