Percy's POV

BOOOOOOOM!

All the demigod's heads turned towards the explosion. Jaws dropped (mine included) at the now gigantic fireball that is Festus the dragon.

"LEEEOOOO!" Piper screamed, her hand immediately going to where she put the cure. Hazel and Frank's eyes widened, their weapons dropping from their hands in disbelief.

"Blackjack, c'mon!" I yelled, doing a taxicab whistle just incase he couldn't hear me. I shouldn't have worried, because he came flying down, dodging a stray fireball from a Cyclops.

Lemme guess boss, you want me to head towards the gigantic fireball in the sky? he snorted, shaking his mane free from the soot that was now flying everywhere. I nodded.

"Yeah, Leo, Piper, and Jason are in there," I paused as I saw 2 comatose figures dropping from the fireball, "make that just Leo." I mounted Blackjack, swinging Riptide through a few monsters that tried to get close. "He might be fireproof, but that fireball," I gestured at the flaming Festus, "is REALLY pushing it."

Got it boss, he huffed, preparing to run. He galloped for a little, then lurched to a stop, almost bucking me off. Huh? Why can't I move?

"PERCY!" I turned to see Annabeth running towards me. "BLACKJACK, GET PERCY OUT OF THERE!" she screamed.

"Annabeth, wha-" I cut myself off when I felt the ground beneath us give away. "AAAAAAAAAH!" I yelled as Blackjack and I plummeted through the ground.

"PERCY!" she screamed. The last thing I was was her tear-stained face before my sight was blocked by dirt.

POP!

Me and Blackjack came out of a swirling portal of dirt. Which was 600 feet in the air.

"Shoot!" I shouted, gripping onto his mane. "Fly Blackjack, fly!"

I'm flying, I'm flying! I don't wanna become a pegasus pancake! he panicked, wings flapping frantically. After a few gut wrenching moments, we started hovering in the air. Safe. At least, for the moment.

"Blackjack, where d'you think we are?" I asked him, turning around in his saddle to look at our surroundings. "This isn't Calypso's island, I've been there before. This place doesn't look like it at all."

It definitely did not look like her island. Even if it did, there was now a large pillar of fire erupting from what looks like the beach.

"D'you think Leo's alive and came through with us?" I asked hopefully. Blackjack shook his mane no.

There's no way he survived, that flaming hunk of metal would've killed him from the lack of air alone. Besides, that thing is a LOT bigger than the flaming hunk of metal, he snorted, the action making him wobble in the air.

"You do have a point," I absentmindedly twirled Riptide in my hands. "Besides, Leo wouldn't be able to create that large of a fire. He's probably still near camp, still burning up." I tightened my grip at the thought. Another friend dead because I wasn't quick enough. Another life lost because I was too late. Would there even be a body to burn at the fire?

As if sensing my gloomy thoughts, Blackjack turned his head around and nuzzled me. Don't worry boss, the others would have gotten him away safely. He snorted. And dunked in the lake to extinguish him.

"Yeah, you're probably right," I sighed. "But we have to find out where we are so we can get back to camp, or at least to America."I looked around again. "Because I'm pretty sure this isn't anywhere in the world."

You mean...

"Yup, we're probably in another world." Blackjack gave me a unimpressed look.

Why the hell do you think we're in a different world? Annabeth, We both twitched at her name, calls you Seaweed Brain for a good reason.

"I dunno," I shrugged. "Probably 'cuz I can sense the ocean from here, and it doesn't exist in the world. It feels..." I racked my brain for the correct word, "more wild, unrestrained. Plus I'm sensing some really big and nasty sea creatures that definitely don't exist." I shudder at the though of the gigantic sea creatures I'm sensing being near camp.

You wanna check it out? I slid Riptide back into my pocket.

"Yeah, lets see what's going on."

We arrived at the beach to see 2 pirate ships, one of them a ridiculous looking whale, the other a much more normal looking ship. Both had Jolly Rogers, the one on the whale having a mustache, the other one having a red spade on the back of the skull, with a smiley and frowny face wreathed in fire on top of it. And there is obviously a fight breaking out, one guy that seemed like the captain of the smaller ship bursting into flames and charging towards...

"Blackjack, am I hallucinating?" I muttered, not believing my eyes on what I was looking at.

Nope, you're not Boss. That's real, he whinnied fearfully, backing up so that we were above the tree line. That's a man with a ginormous mustache, who is also larger than Hyperion.

"Why is that guy on fire?" I hissed, taking out Riptide but not uncapping it, not wanting the sun's glare that would come off of it to give us away. "Better question, is he insane? That guy," I gestured wildly at the enormous man, or rather enormous old man -I just saw that his mustache is white- that is at least 4 times bigger than the dude on fire, "is so much stronger than him!" I could practically SEE the waves of power coming off of him.

Look who's talking, Mr. I-Fight-Giants-And-Titans.

"Oh shush Blackjack," I muttered, eyes glued onto the fight. "I have good reasons for doing that, the dude on fire doesn't look like he has a good one besides the whole 'I want to kill you' thing he probably has." I winced when said fire dude went flying back from a punch to the ribs courtesy of mustache-man, and then promptly collapsed. "Dam, that's gonna leave a mark."

How is he not dead, Boss?

"I dunno, that would've killed any normal human, demigods maybe. He's definitely not a demigod though," I mused. "He wouldn't have survived this long against monsters without a Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold weapon, then again he could just light them on fire."

Shoot! Blackjack suddenly lurched into motion towards the ocean, making me choke on air.

"Blackjack, wha-"

Some dude with a pineapple looking hairdo saw us, Boss! I looked back to see that yes, a guy with a blond pineapple-haired head was looking at us and talking to the old man with a mustache. Pretty soon the majority of the pirates were looking at us. Some of them pulled out weapons.

"OH STYX! FLY BLACKJACK, FLY FASTER!" I yelped, narrowly dodging a bullet that was shot at my head. Thank the gods for ADHD. "Now I remember why I hate pirates!"

What the Hades is that!?

I looked back again to see a frickin' BLUE FLAMING TURKEY headed towards us, fast. "I think I know what it is, but I don't want to find out what it wants!" We neared the shoreline after what felt like hours of dodging bullets, the blue phoenix right on our tail.

"Leave us alone, ya flaming turkey!" I yelled, uncapping Riptide to slice a incoming bullet headed for one of Blackjack's wings. The bird widened it's eyes when he saw Riptide, slowing down enough for Blackjack to pull ahead."Go faster Blackjack, we're almost at the ocean!" Maybe we'll actually make it out of here!

I really should learn a lesson in tempting the Fates, because that was when a wave of something hit us, making me feel like I was standing in front of Tartarus in all his dark glory again. The crushing pressure proved too much for Blackjack, making him pass out and careen towards the shoreline as gravity took hold.

"SCHIST!" I commanded the waves to catch us, the water bending to my will almost excitedly as it rushed up, curling around Blackjack's comatose form gently and setting him down onto the beach while it whirled around my body wildly in a whirlpool that encompassed Blackjack when I ran to him.

"Buddy, you ok? Blackjack? Blackjack, wake up. Blackjack? BLACKJACK!" No response. He was as silent as a stone, not responding even when I splashed ice-cold water on him. Somewhere outside of the whirlpool, I could vaguely see the flaming turkey land onto the beach and... turn into the pineapple headed man.

Now, I'm no genius, but that shouldn't be possible. Hell, even monsters can't do that!

My thoughts were interrupted by more of that pressure, only this time it was much stronger. I felt like it was crushing me, made me feel so insignificant, like I was an ant and it was a boot, coming down to kill me. If before was like standing in front of Tartarus again, this was like if Chaos itself was standing in front of me.

I fell down to my knees, the whirlpool disappearing from my lack of concentration. Through my hazy vision I could see the giant old man approach, the pressure increasing as he got closer.

"Stay...away..."