When Percy woke, he wasn't sure when, he saw Annabeth standing above him looking at him emotionlessly. Like last time. Percy hoped things didn't go like last time. He didn't like having his supply of whatever was being pumped into him cut off. What was it again? Morpheus? Morphism?

"Hello, Percy. Apologies for your last conversation with Annabeth."

Percy looked around and saw a man sitting down next to Annabeth. Percy couldn't lift his head to see anything below the man's head, but he liked the look of the scruffy brown beard that seemed to merge with his hair and cover up his glasses.

It had been a while since Percy had seen glasses. They were so rare nowadays, especially since no one made them anymore. It also helped that not many people admitted to having eye problems because that would only mean they were weak.

"Our body is a temple, and a temple must be maintained." The teachers had said as they had made the students run laps or do other bits of exercises. "Our body is a temple, and we must pay tribute to Olympus. Never let it grow weak or untended." The teachers themselves seemed huge and imperious, looking down upon the students a lot like how Annabeth was looking down at him now.

"I'm Chiron," the man continued, "and we would like to explain your current situation to you."

Chiron fiddled with some buttons on the side of Percy's bed, and suddenly the restrainers that were holding Percy loosened and undid themselves. Letting out a breath, Percy sat upright and tried to get out of bed but Annabeth pushed him back down.

"Don't try walking yet." Annabeth said, "You have to adjust to your new body."

What was Annabeth talking about? Was this like when he had gone through puberty and tripped over things even more than usual. He was usually clumsy because he never looked down, which meant he tripped over things or accidentally knocked things off tables.

"Percy, you're growing quickly," his mom had said, "You have to get used to it first. Take things a little slowly."

"But it's boring." Percy had said, dragging the last word out. "Besides, it's not like I knock anything important over."

"I think that's just because your teachers and I know not to put anything valuable near you." His mom's smile was always comforting. It made him relax. Her eyes always seemed bright, regardless of whether the lights in their apartment were working.

"My teachers say it's because I have ADD," Percy said, "Is that another word for stupid?"

His mom had frowned, and for a moment Percy was actually scared. Not because his mom's frown itself was scary, but just because it happened so rarely.

"No, Percy. You're not stupid." his mom had said, "ADD is what they call being distracted a lot. In a couple of ways, they're right. It's because you're distracted that you forget where a lot of things are, including your limbs. But that doesn't make you stupid, okay?"

Percy nodded slowly. "Thanks, mom. Did you make more blue cookies?"

He guessed his mom must have smiled or laughed, because that was what she always did. But no one was smiling or laughing now, especially now that Percy was looking at his own arms and legs.

His left leg was the same, only very red because of the flesh being burnt off. But his arms and right leg were different. They were black and hard, and made of metal. His eyes widened as he looked at Annabeth. "What is this? What've you done?"

"Saved your life." Annabeth said. Percy found it weird how her expression never changed. Well, there was the time before where she had frowned, but Percy hadn't seen her do anything else with her expression.

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but Chiron gently cut him off. "You were severely injured by the explosion. You had burns all over your skin, and three of your four limbs were unusable."

"But why did you stick metal plating around my arms?" Percy said, "And why do you even need me?"

"Yes, Chiron," Annabeth said pointedly, "Why do we need him?"

Chiron looked at her sternly, like the way Percy's teachers had looked at him whenever they prepared themselves for talking with Percy.

"Let's have a little talk," they'd say, and they'd drag him out of the classroom, telling him to ignore the jeers of Percy's classmates. Oh, I see Percy's messed up his essay he was supposed to write, so let's have a little talk. Was Percy late again because he was distracted by the cracks on the walls? Let's have little talk.

"We have discussed this, Annabeth," Chiron said, "Let's not prolong a futile argument." Turning back to Percy, he said, "We have not put metal plating over your limbs. When we arrived at the scene, there wasn't much left of them. You have metal limbs now. Cyborg replacements, they are called."

Percy lifted his arms and looked at them. They didn't feel any different. Maybe a bit lighter, but Percy's limbs were always flying all over the place, even when he was fifteen, so that wouldn't make a difference. Percy then realized that Chiron was talking again, and he did his best to pay attention, although it was extremely hard to do so, what with all the interesting grooves his new arm had.

"You might be wondering why we chose you to recruit." Chiron was saying, "The reason for this is not as altruistic as you might imagine. You see, your father wished it so."

Percy instantly looked up. That got his attention quickly. His father. Wasn't he at work? What was he doing in this place?

"Now he pays attention," Annabeth muttered.

Chiron looked at her again, as if he was going to talk to her. Then he turned to face Percy. "Yes, you see, you have no doubt heard about the war between Olympus and Orthus, and there are still multitudes of soldiers that fight conventionally. However, as our technology has improved, we have made inroads into physically enhanced soldiers."

It was a long speech, and Percy only listened to the first few words. He was more interested in the fact that Chiron was in a wheelchair. He hadn't been able to see it from his position when he was lying down, but now he realized Chiron was paralyzed from the waist down. He must have done terribly in school. First these glasses, now legs that didn't work. Olympian teachings dictated that he was practically useless, yet he was apparently in charge. This was definitely an unpredictable place.

"Where am I?" Percy suddenly asked, cutting off whatever Chiron was saying. Chiron smiled and said, "You are in a facility where we house cyborgs such as yourself."

Percy blinked. "But why did my dad want me alive? How did he even know I was almost dying?"

Chiron stole a glance at Annabeth before saying, "He needs you."

For a moment, a small moment, Percy focused on that one statement. Focused would be what most people would call it, but for Percy it was going into a state where he didn't think. No random tune in his head. No little details that travelled through his brain. He just concentrated on that one statement. And then it was over. He unpaused and he was thinking again, noticing things.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, "How do you even know my dad?" Was this where he went to work? Was this what sucked up so much of his time?

"Your father was made part of the war cabinet because of one of his inventions." Chiron said, "Cybernetic technology has been part of our arsenal for almost two decades, but he was the pioneer behind a type of cyborg that had been previously thought impossible to build."

Percy's thoughts started to drift again. This place was for cyborgs to be trained and to fight on the front lines. But why did his dad need him? What kind of dad sent his own son into war?

"I hope I can see you again, my son," Poseidon had said, "I do care for you."

It didn't seem that way. Was this Poseidon's own way of showing love? Percy suddenly gasped as Annabeth pulled at his hair. Percy quickly slapped her hand away as she said, "Your dad invented cyborg installations that allow you to breathe, see and swim underwater." Turning to Chiron, she said, "You have to talk to him in sound bites that he can digest or he'll just go off somewhere. You really want someone like him with all that power?"

Chiron looked at her and said, "Perhaps you are bringing something else into this. Go and show Percy around, will you? Get him used to his new limbs."

Annabeth's eyes flashed, but the rest of her face stayed the same. Percy wondered if it was a mask that she would peel off everyday in her room. Percy would like a mask like that. Maybe have an eternal smile on his face. That would be nice, wouldn't it?

Percy was suddenly pulled to his feet by Annabeth's grip, and Percy was surprised to find that he could feel Annabeth's tight grip on his arm, even though it was made of metal. It was warm, a lot warmer than her gaze gave her credit for. It was a good thing she was holding onto him, because the moment he put weight on his mechanical leg he started to fall. It was like the time he had gotten pins and needles in his leg, and his entire leg turned numb, as if it wasn't a part of him. He could jerk it and it would move, but it was like only his hip would jerk, and the rest of his leg wasn't part of him.

"It's because there isn't any blood in your leg anymore," his mom reassured him, when Percy had first come to her with that particular ailment, "Just wait a bit, and the blood will come back."

And it had, although it had hurt. He felt the warm blood trickled down his shin and into his foot. It had tickled when he put weight on it, and he had limped for another ten minutes. Percy felt the same thing now. The stabbing of the cockroaches that always crawled through the cracks of abandoned buildings now attacked his new leg and arms. They crawled through his neck and up into his head where they stabbed him over and over.

Percy doubled over and Annabeth was somehow still holding him up, even though she was a foot shorter than he was. He didn't have headaches often, but there was this one time where he had decided to jump down some flights of stairs and hit his head on the wall. Blood had come running out, and Percy had remembered it tasted cool.

His mom had taken him inside their house and quickly patched him up, given him medicine for the pain. He had forgotten what it was called. But this time Sally wasn't there to help him, to patch up his wounds for him. His mom was gone. Gone, and there was no one to patch up his wounds. Why was she gone? It just didn't make sense? Where was she?

And then tears were running down his face. Not because of the cockroaches in his head, but because of the BANG! that took his mom away. Just one BANG! and the best woman in the world was gone. It wasn't fair, it wasn't. Why did the BANG! have to take her? Why not his dad who was away at work or his teachers who had little talks with him? Why her?

Percy realized he was lying back down on his bed with Annabeth leaning over him, fiddling with something on his arm. It was strange, but Percy noticed she didn't have an adam's apple. Her neck was hanging over him, so he could see the sinews of her throat. They clenched and twisted as she said, "Giving him some extra valium. Do we want to give him some morphine as well?"

Percy heard Chiron say, "No, it's best to start weaning him off it now. Don't give him too much valium either."

Annabeth nodded and pulled away from Percy. He looked over and saw something sticking out of a hole in his new arm. Percy looked at it more closely and saw that there were some more holes in his arms. He wondered what they were for. They looked like plugs that were in a few of the more advanced buildings, the ones that were well shielded enough to use electricity. They didn't have those in his current school, but when he was younger he remembered poking one with a fork and experiencing sudden and abrupt pain. He had poked at it a few more times until he had cried, causing his mom to quickly come and tell him not to poke those things with forks. In fact, he should never go near those things until he was older.

Well, he was older now. He guessed that made him more qualified to be around those sockets. His fingers were longer than they he was used to as well. Longer and skinner, but probably a lot harder. He flexed them, and turned his wrist, and was amazed to see that it could rotate the whole way.

He looked up at Annabeth questioningly, and she said, "That's one of your modifications. A lot harder to break wrists when they can rotate like that.

Percy nodded and asked, "Do you have holes like those as well?"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows in surprise despite herself and stood up. "I really hope you mean it in the most innocent of ways possible." Her hand had drifted down to her pockets, and Percy wondered if she had a gun or a knife concealed there.

Chiron cleared his throat and said, "Annabeth doesn't. Her arms never needed to be modified." He cocked his head, and his eyes behind the fascinating spectacles looked concernedly at Percy. "I'm sorry for your loss. Do you wish to lie here another day or two?"

Percy shook his head. He needed distractions. He needed them to stay active, to not think about his mom (BANG!) and his dad (I'll be at work) and everything else that just didn't make sense. He tried to get out of bed again, and almost fell a second time. His arms didn't seem to belong to him either. He needed to push more than usual to get them moving, and afterwards they kept on moving a lot more than he'd intended. He caught himself with his good leg while his arms windmilled about frantically. Chiron wheeled back which Percy was glad for. He'd feel bad hitting an old man who was disabled in the face with a metal arm.

He slowly steadied himself and started to walk again. This time he was ready and only limped. His knee buckled, but he was still able to keep going. His fingers fumbled at the door handle, and Percy wasn't able to get his fingers around the doorknob properly. They were scrabbling like the spiders Percy found in the shower did when he grabbed them and threw them out. There was one time he had tried to give one to his mom but she had drawn back quickly and told him, very calmly, to throw the thing out the window. Any other parent would have screamed at him, would have gotten angry, maybe even hit him (BANG!), but Sally never had. His mother never had hit him, raised her voice, and she was dead. BANGBANGBANGBA-

"Stop." Annabeth said calmly. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Stop. You're not getting any closer."

Percy ignored her, or maybe her voice just didn't register in Percy's thoughts of his mom and thoughts of things that went BANG!.

Annabeth grabbed his face and looked at him intensely. Percy focused on those grey eyes, and he saw, now that he looked closer, that Annabeth's eyes didn't have any whites in her eyes. They were grey all over, with grey pupils and grey irises. "Stop it now."

Percy relaxed his grip on the doorknob and Annabeth turned it for him. She looked back at Chiron and raised an eyebrow, like she was asking why she was being stuck with someone like Percy, then walked out without looking at Percy saying, "You'll have to work on your dexterity. Don't stress out either."

Percy started to follow her and found that Chiron was wheeling his chair alongside him as well. "You'll have to get used to Annabeth. She's been like this for a while."

"Oh. How long have you known her?" Percy asked. He was finding the spokes on Chiron's wheelchair fascinating. They seemed to move so quickly even though Chiron himself wasn't moving faster than Percy was walking. The rhythmic motion of his hands pushing down the wheels again and again, Percy felt like he could stare at that for a long time, almost a minute or two.

"I've known her since she came here five years ago," Chiron said. "I was here when this facility was first set up and I've acted as a sort of administrator of this place."

"Why don't you get new legs?" Percy asked. Chiron looked up at him and said, "Cybernetic limbs need the original nerve endings to work. The damage was done in my spine, and unless I get my spine replaced, there is no hope of regaining use of my limbs."

Percy nodded, already thinking of how interesting Chiron's beard was. He remembered his dad having one, but all the other adults he'd seen were well-shaven. Just another one of Olympus' rules. Well, not the types of rules that were written out clearly on a blackboard, but the type of rule that needed no voicing or articulation. The most dangerous type of rule that needed no reason or sense to exist. The unwritten one.

Chiron was talking about something else now, something about how Percy's nerves were burnt but not dead. But Percy was more interested in the corridors they were walking through. THey branched off everywhere, and there were pipes on the top of all the walls that followed the corridors and went down into various rooms. There were a lot of rooms, or at least, a lot of doors. Percy supposed a door didn't have to lead into a room.

But when Annabeth opened a door and stepped inside, Percy found that this one did indeed, lead to a room. It was a huge one with walls higher than many buildings Percy would pass through on his way home with the familiar cockroaches running through the walls, and wide enough to fit the entire body of students that went to Percy's school. There were bars and ropes dangling from the ceiling, and also several rings that had people sparring in them. Percy looked about in amazement, never able to stop at one marvel. There were the ways the ropes swung like a pendulum ever so rhythmically in time to the grunts of exertion coming from below. And then there were the people themselves jumping a lot higher than should normally be possible over flames, bars, and swinging poles.

He saw a small stall in one corner of this huge room that sold food, where a couple of people were getting bread from. He felt his gaze get drawn to one of the sparring ring where two people were engaging in hand to hand combat. It was fast, but Percy could keep up easily. There was a rhythm to it, like there was rhythm to the ropes that hung from the (high, high) ceiling, or the clock on his school wall that always ticked and tocked in the exact same progression.

Tick, tock, tick,, tock. And just like this clock, Percy saw where each strike would land right as it did. It seemed remarkable to him how much the fight flowed.

And then his attention was grabbed by people shooting arrows down one length of the room. They hit with perfect accuracy always landing within the bullseyes. He found the swords shining on racks fun to look at, like how they shimmered and danced in the harsh lights on the ceiling alongside the axes, shadows of the people training, and Percy's thoughts.

None of the other children, yes, most of them were children, paid Percy any attention. He turned and asked Chiron, "Why are they practicing fighting with swords? Don't Orthians have guns?"

Chiron nodded. "While it's true that most wars are conducted on a more technologically advanced scale," Percy wondered if Chiron always talked in long sentences. He wondered how anyone managed to concentrate when Chiron took ages to say whatever he wanted to. Even though Annabeth was rude and scary and didn't want to talk to him (and was also nice to look at) she talked shortly and concisely. He walked up to Annabeth and asked, "Do you fight Orthians with swords now?"

She looked at him with a slight frown on her face. Again. She seemed to have two masks, an expressionless one and a frowning one that clearly said I don't want to talk to you. "There are times where we have to do things without guns. There's a firing range next door, but firing heavy duty missiles aren't our job."

That was the kind of answer Percy wanted. He had drifted off near the end, but had still gotten a good idea of what was said. He wondered how he was ever going to fight or climb or run like that. His attention was drawn by some shouting from one of the sparring rings where two people were yelling at each other. Chiron made to go forward, but Annabeth shook her head and walked towards them purposefully.

"That was totally my win, Stoll!" A girl was yelling. Her arms were thick and red along with her hair that fell down to her shoulders. Were her arms modified as well? Maybe that was why the spear in her hand was sparking with electricity. Percy looked at the spear more closely. There didn't seem to be any wires on the surface, but maybe there was something underneath.

The boy she was talking to shrugged and said, "Says the one who would've gotten a knife in the back." Percy found this boy interesting as well, but not because of his brown hair or blue eyes, or because of his casual reply despite having a huge electrifying spear pointed at him. He was relaxed and had a huge smile on his face. It was funny considering all the weapons in this place.

"You cheated and you know it." The girl pointed the spear at Stoll's face, but Stoll still didn't make a move to defend himself. By now, the others in the room had stopped practicing and were waiting to see what would happen. Maybe something would have, but Annabeth said, "Clarrise, Travis, stop."

Clarrise whirled around to glare at Annabeth, but Annabeth's I don't care mask was on, full with unnaturally grey eyes and devoid of expression.

"That sneaking bastard cheated!" Clarrise started to say, but Annabeth cut her off. "Of course he did. You don't think you should cheat when you're out there? You should've expected it. Now get out and cool off."

Growling, Clarrise thrust her spear towards Annabeth which had red lightning fork out of the tip, and Percy heard several people hold their breath. But Percy saw that the spear would go off course as Clarrise had planned it. She wasn't seriously going to stab Annabeth in the head. Annabeth knew that as well, because she didn't flinch or move, and her expressionless mask stayed on as she looked at Clarrise. "Get out and cool off."

Clarrise huffed and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her as she did so. Annabeth turned to Travis, or Stoll, Percy wasn't sure what he was called, and said, "This is Percy. Show him around."

Without even waiting for a reply, she left. Chiron started to say something to her, but she didn't listen and went out the door.

Percy jumped as Travis put an arm around him and said, "Wow, that's Annabeth Chase for you. Damn, she's scary."

"Uh, yeah." Percy said, "Who are you?"

Travis' smile had never left his face, but it seemed to broaden further as he said, "Travis Stoll. A fellow cyborg. Come meet the rest of us."

Without waiting for a reply, he half pushed Percy along to an obstacle course in the middle of the huge room where people were jumping over and under bars. "Hey guys," he said, "Meet Percy."

Those who were doing the obstacle course still kept at it, but Percy received a few nods. A short kid came up to him and said, "So, how was your quality time with Annabeth? I'm Michael, by the way, Michael Yew."

Percy thought he was young because he was short, almost two feet shorter than Percy. Of course, he could be genetically short, but then he wouldn't be walking around with such confidence. Olympus never discriminated against its own, but it had still made it clear, by the all-powerful unwritten law, that height was generally preferred. Michael had swagger in his stride, he had confidence, and Percy just couldn't imagine a proud and short Olympian.

He had forgotten Michael's question, who turned to Travis laughing, "He got a couple of screws loose or something?"

"Nah, just thinking." Percy smiled, "So what do you normally do around here?"

Michael shrugged. "When we're not out on missions or in here, we mostly hang out in our rooms or go to the movies."

"You have movies in here?" Percy asked incredulously. There hadn't been movies in decades. No one produced them anymore, and no one had the time to watch them. Even then, Percy remembered the few movies he did watch were more propaganda than anything. Muscular Olympians fighting against sneaky and scrawny Orthians. Michael smiled and said, "Yup. It helps that we've got a couple of technological geniuses here."

"I wouldn't call Leo a genius," another boy said with a slight scowl. He had grey eyes like Annabeth, exactly like Annabeth's. Percy noticed the size of the iris and the shape of the pupil were the same. "He's lucky he didn't end up blowing the whole thing up."

"Malcom, how long are you going to stay sore at Leo for?" Michael asked, "It's not like he meant to blow up your hand. It wasn't even attached." He turned to look up at Malcom, needing to step back a little since his head was directly level with Malcom's chest.

"I got banned from missions for a month," Malcom said, his frown deepening. Maybe Annabeth was the only one who had the expressionless kind of mask. Malcom seemed to have the frowny-face mask on a lot of the time, though. "I'm just saying that the kid shouldn't be able to run loose like that. What about that seeker drone he hooked up to the TV remote? He crashed it into a city."

"Well, it was an Orthian city," Michael said with a raised eyebrow, "So I don't see why you're complaining."

"When was the last time Beckendorf or Jake blew something up?" Malcom asked, "Leo's unpredictable."

Michael was starting to get stressed. His fists were clenched and he was frowning too. Percy wondered if everyone was good at frowning. Clarrise seemed to have stolen the frowny-face mask directly from Annabeth. In fact, the only kid he hadn't seen frown was Travis, who was standing next to him watching the argument with another smile.

"Beckendorf and Jake blow plenty of stuff up," Michael said, "you just don't see it because they're not as eager to test things in the real world." Malcom opened his mouth to speak but Michael cut him off. "We're supposed to be unpredictable. We're supposed to be irregular so Orthians don't cut off our heads like-" Michael cut himself off. His voice had risen to a shout, and Percy was amazed to see someone so short stand up to Malcom. It would be like a student standing up to a teacher.

Malcom's eyes were glinting dangerously and had stepped forward. Thankfully, Travis stepped between them, still smiling. "Come on, now, you guys are scaring Percy. You want to help me show Percy around?"

Michael shrugged and said, "Maybe next time. Not in the mood." He glared up at Malcom before stalking out the door. Malcom glared back at Michael, or rather, Malcom glared at Michael's back, and said, "Get Grover to do it if he needs more friends. Wasn't Grover supposed to look out for him in the first place?"

Travis smiled again, but stepped forward. "I'm taking that as a no, then."

Malcom raised an eyebrow at Travis, like he wanted to say you think? and then left in the opposite direction. It was only now that Percy realized there were several doors leading out of the room, more than seven. He supposed he should have been worried or put off by the unfriendliness of what he guessed were his teammates, but Percy was more interested in the monkey bars that were hanging over a pit of sludge and the climbing wall in another corner that leaked hot oil and was trying to shake a wiry looking girl off.

"Sorry about all that," Travis said, "We're all a little stressed."

"What happened?" Percy asked, "Is everyone always so stressed?"

"Not really," Travis said, "But there was just this mission that went wrong a week ago, and people are still trying to get over it."

Percy didn't know what to say for a moment, but he didn't have to. Another boy that looked to be around twenty came walking over. His eyes darted all over the place, but what drew Percy's attention was his unshaven beard and scruffy hair. Like Chiron's it was brown, but at least Chiron's had been well kept. This boy's hair looked completely chaotic and wild. If one of Percy's teachers saw it she'd have a fit.

"Hey, Grover." Travis said, waving the boy over. Grover came shuffling up to Percy. For some reason he wouldn't like Percy or Travis in the eye. "Hey. What is it?" His jerked his legs rhythmically, and he was either nervous or had ADD like Percy.

Travis nodded. "I've got some stuff to do for Chiron. I'll see you at dinner, okay?"

Grover nodded and seemed relieved for some reason. "Yeah, sure. Course I can." He beckoned to Percy to follow him. Percy wondered what modifications Grover had and asked, "Do you have metal arms and stuff?"

Grover looked up quickly and said, "Uh, you mean modifications and all that? Well, I was an early model, and my job doesn't really need me to have all those upgrades. I've got a tracker inside me, so you'll never be lost when you're with me." He looked away as if he was ashamed of something. Percy wondered why Grover seemed so scared of him.

Grover took him to what was obviously a firing range with stacks of guns lined up neatly on a rack that stretched along the whole side of one wall. "Not many people train here unless they're teaching," Grove said. "They like to test it out in more real life conditions."

"What do you mean?" Percy said, "Do they go out and shoot people?"

Grover shook his head vigourously. "No, no, no. They'd never do that. Well, they might do it in Orthian cities, but those are usually the jobs of the strikeforce."

Percy wondered who the strikeforce was, but was more interested in the fact that Orthus had cities. It was something the teachers had never really touched upon while they were teaching children.

"Orthians live in squalour and filth," they had said, "choosing to prey upon our superior nation out of jealousy and greed."

Percy had raised his hand and asked why the Olympians hadn't beat the Orthians if they were that outmatched, but the teacher had merely glared at him and said, "Orthians are treacherous and cunning. They have no shame and honour."

And with that, the teacher had gone onto talk about the value of honour and integrity while living one's life. It had let quite well into how soldiers lived, and how even if (they refrained from saying when) they died on the frontlines, they should do it with dignity and showing respect to Olympus.

"So," Percy said, trying to concentrate on what Grover was saying, "Orthians have cities?"

Grover nodded. "Of course they do. They're a lot like the cities here, actually."

Percy was stunned for a bit, almost a few seconds, and he mulled that thought over. "So are there cyborgs like us on the Orthians' side?"

Grover flinched and again, he wouldn't look at Percy. "Um, no. They rely on genetic transformation and mutations. They're different."

Percy might have asked about something else, but Grover pulled him into a room with maps. Some were laid out on the table with figurines on them, while others were projected up onto a wall. There were two people sitting on either side of a large table, and one of them was Annabeth.

"They're playing tabletop games." Grover whispered, "War simulations. The strategists do it a lot to keep sharp." He turned to leave and Percy went along, asking, "Don't you want to watch?"

"Nah, why would we?" Grover asked, "It's not like we need to understand them. Besides, Annabeth will win."

"Does she always win?" Percy asked, "Is that what they changed about her?"

Grover frowned and looked away. "They changed her, yeah. We used to be good friends, but they changed that as well."

Percy was confused but didn't think about it too much. This whole place was larger than any other building Percy had been in before, but Percy still felt slightly suffocated. He liked being free, seeing the sky and being outside. "Can we go outside of this building?" Percy asked. Grover looked at him and said, "There isn't much upstairs. Just admin work that needs to be done, vehicles, and a forest we sometimes play games in. Nothing much."

Percy nodded, then wondered why Grover was so sad. It wasn't anger like Michael had, but Grover kept on glancing at Percy and then back to the floor again. One of those little details and distractions that kept Percy busy. Some might think about ways to coax the answer out of Grover, or to ask someone else. But Percy wasn't one of those people. "Hey, Grover, are you scared of me or something?"

Grover jumped so hard Percy thought he was going to hit the pipes that ran through the ceiling. Maybe they would be flooded in water. Percy liked the sound of that. Blue was his favourite colour after all. Blue, like the cookies his mom had made for him before she went BANG! Percy quickly made the effort to think of something else. At the moment, Grover seemed easiest to focus on. Her was looking at the pipes, at the floor, at Percy's feet and at his own, but not Percy's face.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Percy said quickly. Grover looked like the kids that the teachers called on and embarrassed in front of the whole class when they didn't know the answer.

"What's wrong?", they would say, "The answer can't be so hard. Tell us."

Well, Percy wouldn't stand there above Grover and say "Oh, the answer can't be so hard." He wouldn't go, "tell us, tell us." because that would be mean.

"Oh, thanks man," Grover said, sagging with relief. Percy thought he might dissolve into water and run down the smooth and seamless corridor forever. Instead, he just stood straighter and said, "Come on, I'll take you to your room."

Percy nodded and followed Grover again. They went down a few floors and ended up inside another room. It was big, almost as big as Percy's kitchen and bedroom combined. There was a large bed, an adjoining bathroom, drawers, and even a TV. Percy hadn't seen one in ages.

"It's pretty basic," Grover said, "But you can add more stuff to it as time goes on."

Percy's eyes widened. This was basic? It seemed unfair that they got all these luxuries when there were people on the streets who would kill, and probably had killed, for less. Like that man he had seen lying on the ground right outside his house yesterday. He had been wearing surprisingly nice shoes that were intact and seemed to be of good quality. His trousers hadn't been ripped or torn at all. Funny.

He turned around when Grover tapped him on the shoulder and held out a pamphlet. "I've got to go and do some stuff, but here's a map. I've circled the dining hall where we'll be gathering at seven and your room, so try and get there on time, okay?"

Percy nodded and Grover went out the door. Percy flopped down on his bed and thought about what had happened. He seemed disconnected from his old life, and he still didn't know what he was going to be doing.

"Oh, the answer can't be so hard,"

What was going to happen? Percy didn't know, but he didn't really think about it. He tried to find distractions like he always did. How was he going to occupy himself in his own room for two hours? Suddenly, agreeing to let Grover leave him in his room seemed like a mistake.

So, here's the next chapter. I just want to say thank you to the people who reviewed, it was more than my KH fic got on its first chapter. I really appreciate them.