A New Threat

I.

P. Jackson

I walked through the camp on a bright morning; I just finished sparing with some of the new campers and was looking for Annabeth. I had been having these weird dreams lately and though she might be able to help. Now, these aren't the normal demigod dreams, the ones I've had recently are worse than usual, they've been darker, more vivid.

I walked over to the docks and saw her, she was teaching a canoeing lesson to some new campers. Seeing her reminded me that I must be the luckiest demigod alive to have her as my girlfriend, my wise girl. I started to walk over but then I stopped and thought for a second. Things were just starting to return to normal, or as normal as they can be when you're a demigod, since we put Gaia back to sleep. The camps were getting along, mostly, almost all the campers who got quests came back in one piece, and everyone just seemed so happy. If I told her, she might become distracted trying to figure out what the dreams meant. I couldn't do that, not to my wise girl. So I turned around and decided I just wouldn't bother her with it.

I spent the day doing my regular camp activities. After the sing along I went back to my cabin. When I fell asleep the nightmares started again. In the dream, I saw a white horse, a golden eagle, and a screech owl fighting some sort of giant serpent made from the shadows around them with glowing blue eyes. The eagle dived toward the snake, but went right through it. The snake smacked the eagle with its tail and it plummeted to the ground, it looked like every bone in its body was broken. The snake's eyes flashed white for a moment and the shadows started to engulf the eagle swallowing it and leaving nothing behind. The horse and the screech owl started to back away, but the snake wouldn't let them get away. It sped toward them, ramming strait into the horse. As it toughed the horse, the stallion started to wither away until only charred bones were left. The owl tried to fly away but the snake was too fast. It opened its mouth, reveling dozens of razor sharp teeth that were blacker than stygian iron and swallowed the owl whole. Then, the black serpent turned its gaze toward me. I knew I should run, but I couldn't. It was like my feet were bolted to the ground. The snake slowly slithered toward me, as if it knew I couldn't escape it, and encircled me. Then, it started to change shape. It shrunk to the size of a human then the shadowy creature shifted, until it wasn't a snake in front of me, but the dark form of a woman with long hair that covered one eye. She was just like the snake, completely made of shadows except for her glowing blue eye. She walked toward me and lifted me into the air by my neck. She opened her mouth full of black fangs and started to breathe in, like she was sucking all the air out of the room. I felt my body shake with pain, like my soul was being ripped out of me. Then I realized, that's exactly what was happening, she was stealing my soul. I tried to get out of her grasp, but it was like iron and the more I struggled, the weaker I felt. When all my energy was gone she dropped me on the ground. I hit the floor with a thud, still unable to move. My vision started to go dark as the woman walked away, satisfied with her conquest. As my eye closed the last thing I heard was her wicked laughter.

I woke up in a cold sweat to the sound of someone banging on my door. I got up from my bed and rubbed the back of my neck. When I opened the door, there was Annabeth with an annoyed look on her face. "You've been sleeping all day." She said. Then her expression changed from annoyed to worry. "What's wrong with you seaweed brain? You look like you've seen a ghost." Nothing" I told her "Just a bad dream." She looked at me skeptically, I could tell she didn't believe, but she didn't say anything else. I gave her a peck on the lips. "Nothing's wrong, I promise." She looked like she was about to say something, but decided against it and she left. I hated lying to Annabeth, but I didn't want to worry her so I just got to get dressed. As I walked passed a mirror, I noticed something that terrified me. Around my neck was a burn mark in the shape of a hand. It was so big I was surprised that Annabeth didn't say anything. But that's not possible. I've never had any marks from my dreams before. No demigod dream has ever left visible makes after someone wakes up. I rushed to the sink in my bathroom and tried to will the water to heal me. This is the point at which I nearly lost it. My powers weren't working. No matter how much I concentrated, the burns were still there. This was bad. The dreams were getting worse every night. I couldn't just ignore them anymore. I finished getting dressed and went looking for Chiron. If anyone would know what this dream meant, it was him.

As I walked to the big house I noticed something strange, there was a storm coming, but it wasn't passing around the camp like usual. It started raining lightly; I saw lightning flashing in the distance. I figured Zeus was angry about something again. But then I noticed something strange, the lightning was purple. Right then I knew that something wasn't right; something bad was going to happen. Then I heard a voice in the back of my head "Beware the Serpent Queen godling, beware the goddess of darkness." I ran to the big house as fast as I could, I needed to tell Chiron about this now.

The lightning seemed to get closer as I ran. I ran so fast that I didn't see Grover until I ran straight into him. He shifted under me and gave a pained groan. "Sorry Grover." "It's ok, what's your hurry?" I hesitated to tell him but I knew he would understand, so I told him about the dream, why I didn't tell Annabeth, the mark on my neck, and that I was going to talk to Chiron about it. The storm was directly over the camp now; some of the other campers had worried looks on their faces while they ran back to their cabins. And as rain poured down on the camp I could tell they knew something was wrong. "You'd better find Chiron fast!" Grover told me as he stared at the sky. With that I continued my search, and then I heard the voice in my head again. "She comes for Olympus, she seeks revenge."

When I finally got to The Big House, I saw Chiron sitting in his wheelchair on the porch, staring at the sky with a look of confusion. "Chiron, I need to talk to you." He slowly turned to face me as he said "what is it you nee-"He stopped mid-sentence when he saw my burns. "By the gods Percy! What happened to your neck?" "That's what I wanted to talk to you about" I explained my dream about the woman and how when I woke up the mark was there in the exact place where her hand had been and how I couldn't heal them with water. As I talked, the storm raged harder and harder. Chiron sat their speechless with a grim look on his face. After a few moments, Chiron said "I am sorry Percy, but I have seen nothing like this before and I'm afraid I cannot treat your burns. And as for your dream, I would insist that you take the utmost care. From what you told me it sounds like you are the target of this woman. Whoever she is, I suspect she will be a great danger to you." I was a little disappointed he couldn't tell me more, but I understood. He had nothing else to tell me. I was about to head back to my cabin when I felt Chiron grab my shoulder.

"This storm is far too dangerous for you to head back alone and it's late. Why don't you say here for the night?" He led me inside and I just crashed on the couch. I was so tired, but I didn't know why. I hadn't done anything all day. Still, I was so exhausted that I didn't question it after that and gave in to the sleep that was calling my name. Big mistake. As soon as I fell asleep the nightmares started once again.

This time, I was in the middle of a desert, but it wasn't a normal desert, no, nothing is ever normal in my dreams. Anyway, what made this desert far from normal was that the sand was completely black. And not black sand like a nice Hawaiian beach. No, this sand was just as dark as the woman in my dreams. I looked up at the sky to see an odd mix of dark purple and dark blue. It was clearly nigh because there was a big, full moon in the middle of the cloudless sky. On most of my sides there was nothing for miles, but to my right there was a mountain, relatively close to me, maybe about a mile away. I looked closer at the tall mountain and saw lights and several familiar buildings. Then my dream changed and the scene warped and shifted. Now I was standing at the base of a set of stairs that led up the mountain. Seeing as I had nowhere else to go but up, I started climbing. After what seemed like an hour I finally reached the top, and what I saw made my jaw drop. It was an exact copy of Olympus, except it was dead. Well, undead that is. The gardens were filled with mostly dead flowers and the ones that were alive were things like Poison Ivy, Venus Fly Traps, and other plants that I assumed where poisonous. Many of the buildings were either destroyed or in disrepair. And the thing that made it undead was, well the undead. Patrolling the streets were hundreds of skeletons, walking corpses, and armed zombies. Spirits were selling various items, vampires were playing music, and everyone was having a good time. This place seemed "lively", though I use the word loosely. I guess they couldn't seem me because they would just walk past me without a second thought. When I finally got over the initial shock and made my way to the main palace.

Now on the real Olympus, the streets are lined with statues of heroes, gods, nymphs, and satyrs. Here, any statues that weren't partially broken were of the woman from my dreams or some type of snake. When I got to the palace went to push open the doors, but instead went right through them. Inside, instead of fifteen thrones, there were three. One was made of a blackish blue metal that shined like the ocean on a calm, cloudless day. There was little light here, and so the only details I could make out were, you guessed it, snakes, carved into the side of the throne. It was so dark and I was so focused on the throne that I almost missed the giant, armored stiletto high heel, made from the same metal as the throne, in front of me. The rest of the body was hidden by the darkness, but I would recognize the glowing, blue eye anywhere. It was the woman from my dreams, the so called, Snake Queen. Just like the soldiers outside, she didn't seem to see me either, thank the gods. I freaked out when she turned and looked directly at the spot where I was standing. "You're late" she said. I was about to make a run for it when the air in front of me shimmered and a figure dressed in a black robe appeared.

He stepped forward and bowed slightly. "A thousand pardons mistress." He said in a tone that made it clear he didn't care that he was late. "I was with the others finishing the construction of your new fortress. A project that size does take time, as I'm sure you know" His voice was rough, like he was gargling gravel. "Don't get smart with me Maylen. When will it be ready?" "We are ready to depart mistress, at your command." "Excellent, soon Olympus will fall and I will have my revenge" "Not to mention a, oh what's the word, more lively home. Honestly mistress It's so dreadfully dull here, I don't know how you stand it" "Don't worry Maylen. We'll have the real Olympus to call home soon. Prepare my army to depart. We leave at dawn." "As you command, mistress." And with that he left and my dream began to fade.

I woke up with a sharp pain in my neck. Apparently sleep on a couch with a burned neck is not a good idea. The storm had finally stopped so I went to my cabin to shower and change my clothes. The camp was in pretty bad shape. Tree branches had ripped off, there were craters were lightning had struck, and anything that wasn't nailed down had been blown all over the place. As I made my way back to my cabin, I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and saw a young Apollo camper racing toward me. "Percy-arena-man looking for you." He said between breaths. "Whoa, calm down, take a deep breath, and tell me what's going on. Ok?" The kid stopped for a sec and took a deep breath. "This morning Clarisse was training in the arena when this guy just appeared out of nowhere. When Clarisse demanded to know where he came from and what he was doing here, he just stood there. Didn't say a word. He wouldn't speak to any girls that asked him anything. Then, one of Clarisse's brothers asked him the same question and all he said was '"Are you the one called Perseus Jackson?" 'When Clarisse's brother told him no the guy said '"Then you are not worth my time."' The entire Ares cabin was furious. Clarisse demanded that he fight her, but he just kept standing there. That's when I left to find you. I'm scared of what Clarisse is going to do to him. "Just my luck. I can't just have a normal day, can I? No, I get to have some random stranger, who I'm assuming is god (how else would he have just appeared in camp), looking for me. "Alright" I told the kid. "Take me to this mystery man."

When we got to the arena, there was already a huge crowd gathered there. Not good. That means that someone is fighting, and I bet I know who. The crowd parted as I made my way through and when I got to the front, I saw a guy standing in the middle of the arena with a bunch of Ares kids standing around him, their weapons drawn. The man was about 7 feet tall and bulky. He wore golden armor that shined like the sun. In his left hand he held a black kite shield edged with gold. In his right, a spear with a golden shaft and silver blade. The shield was about half his size with the image of a lion. The spear was as tall as him and had a lion's head at the base of the blade. Down the middle of the blade, there was something written in a language I'd never seen before. He also wore a helmet in the shape of a lion's head with a black plume that covered the top of his face. The lower part of his jaw was tan and his mouth was scowling.

Clarisse looked livid, her fist clenched tight around her electric spear Maimer. "Tell us who you are!" she yelled. The man just stood there silently. Then, Clarisse's scowl turned into a mischievous grin. "Oh, I get it. You're too scared to talk." The man started to chuckle to himself, then it turned into outright laughing. Clarisse was completely red faced. Once he had stopped laughing, he spoke in a cold, deep voice that reminded me of Kronos. "Scared? Of you? Why, a fly wouldn't be scared of you. You weaklings are not even worth my time. I am here for Perseus Jackson, not you, girl. You are not even worthy enough to clean the dirt off my boot. Now, be a good little girl and bring me the Jackson boy. Until he is standing here in front of me, I have nothing more to say."

That was the last straw. Clarisse yelled as she and her siblings charged the man. He effortlessly dodged attack, after attack, after attack, occasionally knocking out an Ares kid with his shield or his spear. Eventually, he'd defeated everyone except Clarisse, who was still charging, and missing, him. Finally, he slammed his shield into her arm, breaking it. She dropped her spear and fell to her knees clutching her arm. She was panting and covered in dirt while the man hadn't even broken a sweat. Chris Rodriguez, Clarisse's boyfriend, rushed to help her. "Now." The man said as he calmly. "Does anyone else want to have a go at me?" everyone was too shocked to answer. "Good. Now bring Perseus Jackson to me!"

"Here I am" I said as I walked up to him. I knelt down beside Chris and told him "Chris, take Clarisse to the infirmary. I'll deal with him." Chris nodded and started to lead Clarisse out when she said. "Jackson, beat his face in." I nodded at her as she left. "Well then, I assume you are Perseus Jackson then?" "Yes I'm Percy, but who are you?" He smirked a little and brushed some dirt off of one of his pauldrons. "Ah yes, where are my manors. My name is Kendaar Yuvonam. It is a pleasure to finally meet you Mr. Jackson." The sudden attitude change was a little creepy, but at least he wasn't bashing my face in, yet. "So what is it that you want from me? It must be important if it made you knockout the entire Ares cabin." "They attacked me first. I was simply defending myself. As for what I want with you, well that is simple. You see, I represent some very powerful people and the have sent me to challenge you to single combat. Do you accept my challenge?" "What will you do if I say no?" "Then I will leave. But, I doubt your friend will be very pleased when she hears you refused my challenge." He was right. Clarisse would kill me if I turned this him down. Not to mention that the camp wouldn't like it if I just let this guy go. "Alright, I accept." "Excellent. Now, allow me to clear our battlefield." He snapped his fingers and all the unconscious campers disappeared. "What did you do with them!?" I yelled. "Do not worry. Your friends are safe in you camp infirmary." With the arena clear, he readied his spear. "Now then. Prepare yourself, mortal. Defeating me will not be an easy task." He said as he took a fighting stance. I pulled Riptide from my pocket, uncapped it, and prepared myself as Yuvonam charged.