ch. 1 /

"Wherever the Fates lead us let us follow." -Virgil

Still shaking from his dream, Percy crept to the bathroom next to his room and brushed his teeth quietly. As he spat into the sink, he peered through the door to make sure that his mom and Paul were still in bed. Normally he wouldn't head off without leaving any note, but all he knew now was that he had to get air. He had to sort his dream out and figure out what to do. Then he crept back to his room, lumped a couple of blankets on his bed to look as if he was still sleeping, and hopped out of his window.

Goode High School's gym showers soothed Percy's entire body, the water washing away the lingering tenseness of his shoulders and the raw scrapes on the back of his hands. His hands moving with routine ease, Percy tossed his clothes into his tiny gym locker and pulled on swim trunks. Leaving his goggles, swim cap, and Riptide beside the school pool in case any unwanted visitors came by, Percy held his breath and dove into the water.

How ironic. His new fear of drowning allowed him to be the captain of Goode's swim team, as he was too afraid to breathe in water and could blend in with the mortal swimmers. Well. Not quite-he was still the fastest swimmer Goode had, by far-and even then, he was holding back his speed so he wouldn't arouse suspicion.

As Percy swam laps in the pool, the constant swish-swish of the water and the silent buildings calmed him. In the water, his mind seemed to still, the constant buzzing fading as the pool water rolled off his back and arms. He wished he could Iris-Message Annabeth-she was his go-to person when he had puzzling dreams, but he remembered the fear of him in her eyes when he controlled poison. He had a feeling that she was still unsettled about it, and his nightmare about Gabe was not the kind of dream that he could tell her about right now, especially when she was stressed and overworked from all her AP courses (typical Annabeth) and her task of rebuilding Olympus after the gods opened it again.

"Percy!"

Percy's hand flew to his swim trunks only to realize that he'd left Riptide at the side of the pool. His eyes snapped to a redheaded figure who stood at the poolside, tapping her foot as she tugged at her faded, paint-splattered t-shirt.

"Rachel?" Percy said in disbelief, torn between faint annoyance that she had materialized without warning and pleasant surprise to see his friend. "What are you doing here at 6 am in the morning?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Rachel responded lightly. "And I thought you'd be more careful. Leaving your window open in a New York city? That's tourism-level ignorance, Jackson."

"I left fast," Percy responded, pulling himself up out of the pool with a grunt. "Had to clear my head."

Rachel pursed her lips and sat down, dangling her toes just above the pool water. Percy had seen Rachel with under-eye circles and frizzy hair from nights when she couldn't put her paintbrush down, but today she carried a haggard, almost panicked look.

"I flew here on Dad's private plane as soon as I could leave without arousing suspicion," Rachel said. "I just told my parents that Leo was a great friend of mine from Goode and that he was having a birthday celebration."

Percy nodded. Leo had returned to Camp Half-Blood, just a few days before the first annual Roman-Greek celebration, having successfully gotten Calypso off of Ogygia. Luckily for Percy, Calypso had decided to continue exploring the world alone while Leo returned to Camp Half-Blood. Percy considered this the only stroke of luck he'd had since the Giant War, what with all of his disturbing nightmares, out-of-control abilities, and monsters seeking to avenge their comrades and kill him at every turn. At least he wouldn't have to face Calypso any time soon.

"Anyway," Rachel continued, "I've been having nightmares."

Percy only cocked an eyebrow. "Dude, you're the Oracle," he said when Rachel began wringing her hands in her baggy shirt in a very un-Rachel-like way. "Even if the spirit of Delphi was suspended, you'd probably still have those dreams."

"That's exactly the problem," responded Rachel, "I've been feeling really under-the-weather lately, and I had this awful dream, and I'm afraid all this actually means something. LIke my dream is a snippet of some sort of prophecy that I can't piece together because I don't have the spirit of Delphi."

"Maybe Chiron has some sort of-"

"These dreams have something to do with you," Rachel cut him off, agitated. "Do you remember when I told you that you weren't the hero?"

"And almost died trying to fly a helicopter into a sleeping Manhattan? Yeah, that's sort of hard to forget, thanks."

"I feel the same way now," Rachel said, ignoring his sarcasm, "-that same tightness in my brain-the meaning of these dreams is right in front of me, but I just can't wrap my head around it."

"Well, maybe if you described it…"

"I was standing in some sort of cave," Rachel said, closing her eyes and lifting her hand as if she were recreating the scene on canvas. "It felt very ceremonial, and I remember there were strings everywhere."

"Strings?" A horrible sense of foreboding crept its way into Percy as he remembered the strings of blood in his dream, the way they'd gravitated toward him-

"Yes, and the strings were always criss-crossing and weaving around me. They were these glowing ribbons, and they felt smooth on my skin. It was suffocating, because I couldn't tell who was weaving the string. The strings would tighten just until I couldn't bear it, then they'd loosen and tighten again. I heard footsteps behind me, and just when I turned around there was this burst of fire and then I woke up."

"No one said anything in the dream?" Percy asked, still feeling goosebumps on his skin.

"Nothing. But I could feel it in the air. Something huge is going to happen soon, Percy, I just don't know what."

"It's hard to base things off of one dream, Rach," Percy said, partly to reassure himself because gods, he didn't need another problem to add to his growing pile of issues. "We'll talk to Chiron and the other counselors about it tomorrow, and see if anyone else has any helpful information. In the meantime, you should go help set up for the celebration tonight...I'm sure Mr. D isn't doing anything."

"I will," Rachel said, climbing to her feet and scooping up her hair into a ponytail. "After the celebration we can ask the Romans for anything related to my dream."

"And I'll have to head home now," Percy said, giving Rachel a quick one-armed hug, "so my mom and Paul don't notice I was gone. I'll see you soon, Rach."

Rachel gave him a quizzical look, but she pressed her lips together in an anxious smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and nodded slowly.

"Percy!"

Percy turned, the goggles dangling from his hand and his towel slung over his shoulder.

"You should get more sleep. Wouldn't want you to get all delirious on us, huh?"

"No," Percy said, feeling like a knife was lodged in his throat, "No, we definitely wouldn't want that."

Of course, despite attempting to play off the dream with Rachel, Percy himself was nervous all throughout school. His mind was scattered all over the place, and he couldn't shake the unease he felt when he thought about the strings that Rachel mentioned and the strings of blood in his dream. He'd been hoping to keep that dream to himself, to mull it over until he figured out what was going on with him, but if there was a counselor meeting, he would have to share it with the others.

Halfway through Chemistry class, as Percy rinsed a beaker, he saw a dog-like shadow flit across the window of the classroom. Instantly alert, Percy excused himself to go to the bathroom and hurried around the school.

Sure enough, a telekhine was waiting for him, drool quivering on his mouth as it surveyed Percy with triumphant eyes. It had what looked like a muddied, battered fanny pack around its waist. Needless to say, Percy wasn't particularly scared.

"Where's the rest of you?" Percy asked immediately as he uncapped Riptide. After the Giant War, monsters always came in groups to attack Percy, and attacks happened so often that Percy was pretty sure the rest of his classmates at Goode thought he had a serious bladder issue.

"I'm alone, you stupid demigod," it said, its tail flicking back and forth.

"Right," Percy said skeptically as the telekhine waddled toward him. "Because you're a real threat, aren't you. Now get back, before you become a telekhine shishkabob."

The telekhine didn't even look fazed. "Demigods with their weapons," it sneered, "No, Percy Jackson, I've come to bring a message to you."

"From who?"

"Who else? The Queen of Night. She sends you her regards, and a present."

"Nyx?" Percy's mind froze with pure shock. With all the nightmares and guilt he'd had about Akhlys, he hadn't spared a second thought for Nyx. He fleetingly wished he had Annabeth with him-she could probably have this telekhine spilling out vital information ten times over by now. All he could do was stand disbelievingly, Riptide hovering inches from the telekhine's face as it unzipped its fanny pack. The monster pulled out a string, and Percy's stomach dropped.

He had seen this type of string only twice in his life: once at a bus stop with Grover when he was twelve years old, and once when Luke's body was carried out of Olympus.

"This is your life's string, Percy Jackson." the telekhine said.

Thanks for reading! It will have more action soon, but I have to use these beginning chapters as set-up so it doesn't get confusing and complicated later on.

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