CHAPTER 2
PERCY POV
Author's note: Guys, I haven't been having any reviews handed in, and I'm gonna leave this fic in a cliffhanger, and won't continue until you decide to reply.
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE 126 VIEWS AND THAT ONE PERSON WHO HAS GIVEN A REVIEW! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT. I know 126 is a pretty less number as compared to all of you out there, but it's a start. Hope more of you read this story. Do bother to give a review. It only takes abt a minute. Bec it really helps me out if you do.
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I continued fighting as I couldn't afford to let Annabeth fight alone. Even though I'd hurt my eye, I would never let Annabeth be blinded. I was suffering so much pain only for the sake of my fellow demigods, and I wouldn't do anything that may cause them the slightest harm. But, the collective gasps that went around when I got injured were exactly what I wanted.

The half-bloods became defensive on realizing that I was attacked, and the monsters miraculously became weak. They wouldn't realize when an arrow would pierce a chink in their bodies, and they would disintegrate, only to reform if the shooter had not yet understood that he had killed one. As in the case of Clarisse and the entire Ares cabin, the monsters would dissolve rapidly even if nothing touched them. This was because they thought that they killed monsters with every strike, and thus the monsters would start dissolving into thin air rapidly without knowing what hit them.

This gave me confidence and I started thinking about how the monsters would look if I stuffed them with an arrow, and voila! A pair of pegasi floating in front of me vaporized on the spot. I struck Riptide down the middle of one, and thought of how good it would be if it were to stay in Tartarus. So therefore, it vanished. Probably back to its minions and Gaia, it seemed.

In about half-an-hour, we'd dealt with all the monsters, and Blackjack had helped me transport all the wounded campers to the Big House as soon as possible. The Apollo cabin had only about four campers injured, out of which only one was seriously injured, so they were able to treat their fellow campers without falling back on staff.

Annabeth came and hugged me, and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Sorry." I patted her on the back and made her face me. She looked at me and grimaced. One charred female finger traced the outline of the part of my face which was burnt. I scowled, I had forgotten about my face. What was I going to do about it? I grabbed her hand and looked at it. It was badly blackened with soot, and so was her face. But, it wasn't difficult to see that her white skin had been set on flames by the poisonous acid. I looked at her, one eyebrow raised, and frowning disapprovingly.
"So, Wise Girl, you aren't very good at your defence, are you? I made a point to emphasize on the 'your'.
"Yeah, yeah, feel free to ridicule. Do you even know that I got these marks protecting you and our friends?"
"Of course I do, Annabeth. I was only kidding. You're the bravest warrior I've ever met."
"Really? That's a great compliment for me. Thanks."

I put an arm around her, and she put hers around my waist. Together, we walked out of the Big House for a walk on the beach. I calmly strolled to the waves and summoned up a wave to crash on me. Since I am a son of the Sea-God, I don't usually get even close to damp. But, today I really needed some cool after all that burning we'd experienced today. I stirred the wave away from Annabeth, and crashed it onto myself, focusing on getting wet.

It was really soothing, the excruciating pain somewhat lessening. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I whirled around, soaking the poor person too.
Annabeth made a face at me, and tugged at my arm. She pulled me down beside her at the edge of the shore, near the sea. I saw a white box in her burnt hands, and she made me sit still with my hands resting behind my back. One hand of hers poured strange black cream onto her other hand, and she stuffed the tube back inside the box.

She held my face, and warned me not to shriek. After rubbing the cream on her palm between two fingers, she held one hand to my eye, and told me to close it. I did so, and relaxed as a soothing sensation overcame me. My eye felt a lot better. I don't really know what she did, but I am much less agitated now. I could feel her soft fingers tracing the length of my face slowly back and forth, and certain pricks of pain at certain points. But I bit my lip and kept quiet, and it was quite easy as compared to sword-fighting with acid smeared on your face.

I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked. I couldn't see properly. There was this weird blue blur in front of my eyes. I felt my face, and saw that it had become smooth. But my face too left blue-coloured marks on my fingers and thumb. I looked quizzically at this pile of blonde hair in front of me, since my vision was rapidly being obstructed. Turns out, it wasn't Annabeth as I'd assumed to be, but a naiad. Annabeth shushed me from behind, and grabbed my shoulders. She just had time to quickly whisper in my ear that the blue and black pastes make you black out, before I fell backwards, eyes blank, right onto her lap.

When I woke up, Grover was staring me right in the eye, and I thought about that one time when Hades had sabotaged my mom for the lightning bolt, and I'd blacked out after killing the Minotaur. It was exactly like when I woke up my first time at Camp Half-Blood, and I honestly thought it was a dream. That is until Grover started playing on his reed pipes to shake me out of my sleep, as it always works. Well, I'd like to say it had the desired effect, though not because of the music. I didn't remember Grover playing reed pipes in my dream, and that immediately got back my senses.

I tried to get up, and groaned. My whole being hurt terribly. As I propped myself on one elbow and turned to the side, I felt something... or someone soft. I glanced up, and nearly blanched myself, looking into Annabeth's scared, bleach-white face. "Annie girl! You okay?"
"Percy! This is all my fault! All my fault! I shouldn't have taken the risk! I shouldn't have applied it at all! It was banned after all! But I thought that it would heal you!" She mumbled, groaning herself, not paying attention that I had woken up.
"Annabeth! I am awake. And I can see properly!"
"Y-you can?"
"Yes Annabeth. Now calm down, and have some of my Blue Coke."
I pulled out a pair of Coke Zeros from my backpack lying beside me, and handed one to her. As I again unsuccessfully tried to get up, Annabeth made me lie down again with a harsh look that clearly stated- don't you dare!
"Fine!" I grumbled.
I popped the top open and drank half the bottle in one gulp. Gods, I was starved! "Umm, what's the date?" that's because I usually have a tendency of sleeping in the hospital no less than a couple of days.

Annabeth must have guessed, therefore she reassured me, "Don't worry Perce, it is the same day you fainted, only midnight."
I groaned. Dinner must be over. "Now what do I do? I am savage."
Annabeth told me that Chiron had allowed the plates and glasses to be left there in case this happened. So, she led me to the Poseidon table, and I sat down. She, meanwhile, was lighting candles. It was pretty nice to revel in that homely feeling radiating from those flickering candles. Annabeth too looked really beautiful in the silver moonlight. Everything was perfect.

Soon, she took a seat beside me. I scooped up a goblet, and asked her what she would like. She told me that tonight the food would be of my choice.
"One blue cookie milkshake for Madame Annabeth, my saviour!" I toasted.
She followed suit, "Oh, thank you Landlord Percy. And, what shall you have?"
I couldn't take it anymore and I laughed loudly, "Seriously? Annabeth, landlord?"
Annabeth leaned towards me, and whispered, "You still haven't me told me what you'd like, my dearest landlord."
I swiped the goblet from her hand, and noticed that her wounds were not only still there, but also wet."
"I'll have a blue cookie milkshake too!" I rejoiced. Then I took her hand, and led her to the middle.
"Care for a dance, Lady Wise Girl?"
"Of course, Seaweed Brain."
And so I spun her around so fast she felt dizzy and she caught me on the arm to prevent herself from falling. I helped her stand, and said, "So, been crying, huh? What did I do to deserve this?"
And so she slapped my arm, "Why the teasing? Of course you didn't do anything. I was just sad that I'd have to go to my stepmother if I was thrown out."
"Don't lie."
"Yeah, like you are that important. Like you consider me more important than eating."
"I meant that you still haven't treated your own wounds whereas you're sitting and waiting for me to wake up until midnight. Much good daughter of Athena, aren't you?"
"I am sorry I cried, okay? I should have gone and got them treated instead of crying over my wounds and whether you'd wake up or not."
"Come on, then. On that happy note, let's eat!"

We both pigged out on delicacies until two in the morning. Looks like Annabeth had missed lunch and dinner too. So, I handed her a plate, and wished for blue cupcakes with smileys to appear, and so they did. Well, that sure cheered her up. We laughed like mad men...and women, until we fell out of our chairs, shaking. After that, all we'd do is get back up and start laughing again.
Suddenly, I heard something. Looked like Annabeth heard it too. We both crouched behind the table and waited. A sudden gleam caught my eye.
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