"Even if we lock the crown of Ptolemy away –'

'Others might try hybrid magic,' Annabeth said.

'And the more it's tried,' Sadie said, 'the more damage could be done to the Duat, and the mortal world, and our sanity."

~1/4/2017~

Percy Jackson

2

There's Room for Two

Ψ

Annabeth was right that we needed to go to Brady Park. I don't usually go to the park, especially since this is no where close to my house. Plus, it's on the way to camp, and when I'm going to camp, parks are the last thing on my mind. But I've seen it before, a small, grassy park with a couple of trees here and there.

Now, however, it had flaming trees and burnt grass areas. A burst a fire came from the middle of the park, nearly knocking Blackjack out of the air. I could hear the petite voice of Sadie Kane, calling out one of her spells. There was a bright blue blast, followed by an agitated grunt. Blackjack hit some kind of force field, sending Annabeth and I flying off. We sailed through the force field, landing in a small duck pond near the center.

Surfacing, I was able to see what was causing this mess. Standing in the middle of the park was none other then Cacus, the big ugly Roman fire giant, son of Hephaestus. He was no longer in giant underwear with hearts. Instead, they were covered the night-time Care Bear, Bedtime Bear. And I only know that because my baby sister, April, loves the Care Bears. Sadie Kane stood a few yards from us. She pointed her staff at Cacus, blasting his upper thigh with white hot fire.

Carter Kane was no where to be seen.

Annabeth came up front underwater, gasping for air. "C'mon, outta the water and to—Ginger Giant? Him again?"

"You think Sadie knows he's fireproof?" I asked.

"Not yet." Annabeth said. "Where's the other one?"

I shrugged, pulling Riptide outta my pocket. "What's your plan?"

"I'll get Sadie, tell her my actual plan." Annabeth said. "You, do what you do best: be annoying."

"You know me so well," I said with a smirk, pecking her lips.

Don't look at me like that. I have every right to kiss my girlfriend. Only because going into battle, you never know if you might die. Plus, it's a lotta fun. Her lips are just so soft and—

GAH!

You distracted me!

Okay. Back to the story.

I focused on the water in the pond, feeling the it slowly pushing me up. I pushed off the water, causing it to bring me up faster. The water washed over the fire giant, knocking him off balance. I also landed on his head. "Hey Cacus, long time no see!" I yelled, uncapping Riptide. "Love the new boxers! Bedtime Bear your favorite? I'm more of a Share Bear fan."

"Percy Jackson!" Cacus bellowed, shaking me off his head. I plummeted toward the ground, landing in a kiddy playground, on mulch. Mulch hurts, who puts that for kids to fall on?

"I guess you don't like Share Bear," I grumbled, wincing as I slowly got to my feet.

"Go away!" Cacus whined, swiping at me with the back of his hand. I flew nearly a hundred yards away, the only thing stopping me from flying farther being the tree I hit.

"Hey!" A dryad exclaimed as I tumbled to the ground.

"Sorry," I wheezed, spitting out some blood. "Just trying to not…die."

Slowly I got to me feet, looking up at the giant. Cacus, probably thinking I was dead (which I probably should be. I mean, c'mon! I flew and hit a tree! I fell ten feet into wood chips!), was now looking around for Annabeth or Sadie. I spotted a messy blonde ponytail sprinting past. In its path was a thick rope, hanging from tree to tree. I crawled under the rope, entering the clearing again. I could see Sadie tying a knot between two ends of the rope. Annabeth was still no where to be seen.

"Stop trying to die."

Never mind, she was right behind me. Of course, she was invisible.

"Can you tell me the plan?" I whispered, not turning around.

"Your doing great on your part." Annabeth whispered. "Keep it focused on you. I'm looking for Carter, Sadie's casting a spell. Gotta run."

I groaned, straightening my posture and hearing my back crack. "Hey! Ginger!" I yelled loudly, barely catching Cacus' attention.

"You still alive?"

"Am I still alive! No duh! I don't die that easily!" I yelled in the tone Annabeth uses when I ask stupid questions. "You have some nerve, trying to kill me! Just because I wouldn't let you take Hermes' staff, doesn't mean we can't talk it out!"

"This is a fight!"

"Don't you think I know that!" I snapped. "I had to leave dinner for this! I had Chinese rice! You know how rare that is? Huh! Now I'm over here, and you don't even want to cooperate! I feel so disrespected! What'd my friend even do, that made you want to kill them! And me!"

"They freed my dinner! My dinner!" Cacus whined.

"If your dinner was still alive, then they had every right to free it, don't you think?" I asked. "Did you buy it? Probably not. You like to take whatever you want. In America, that is illegal! You can't just take whatever you want! Especially if it's alive! That's called kidnapping!"

"But it was a Pegasus," Cacus said.

"You tried to eat one of my babies!" I exclaimed furiously. "Pegasus are super nice, if you ever tried talking to them! They like donuts, and me!"

"Be quiet, Share Bear lover!" Cacus yelled furiously. He reached down, picking me up and squeezing my middle hard. "Son of Poseidon, annoying dummy, and-and your ugly too."

"Hey!" Cacus and I both turned to look at the voice of the very angry person yelling. Holding a bow and arrow given to her by Kayla Knowles herself, was none other than Annabeth.

"I know he's annoying, and dumb, but nobody, and I mean no body, calls my boyfriend ugly!" Annabeth yelled, releasing the arrow.

The arrow then turned into three arrows, each leaving a bright, golden trail of dust behind them. One arrow hit Cacus in the neck, the other just below the first. The final arrow sunk in his hand (the hand that was holding me), exploding and causing me to fall to my death. Again.

The good thing about being in free fall: I was in free fall.

Cacus was stumbling around, his left arm slowly dissolving into dust. Me, I was plummeting rather quickly towards the pond. Well, I hope it was the pond. It was so small, and I was falling. Spoiler alert: I did not land in the pond. I landed on the bank of the pond, hitting the wet mud face first.

Broken face, check.

Broken everything, check.

My arms hurt like hell, but I was able to move one arm into the water, giving it enough strength to pull myself into the pond.

Sometimes, I just wish I could stay underwater forever.

I could feel my bones slowly mending, my bruises and cuts slowly healing. I felt rejuvenated, springing my head above the surface. Hopefully, Sadie was ready for her spell. I was not going back in as the distraction. Lucky me, I came up just in time to watch the show. Sadie had her wand, writing hieroglyphs in the air. Each stroke left a trail of blue light, burning in the air. There was a stick with a loop on top. Next to it was an 'X' with a curved snake over it. Sadie spoke, calmly, quietly,

"Ha-di."

I knew this one. Annabeth was telling me how Sadie told her it was her favorite. It meant one simple word: "Destroy."

I went back underwater quickly, feeling the explosion shaking the banks of the pond and the water. I waited a few minutes, then broke the surface, climbing out of the water. The clearing of the park was now covered in sand, as well as Sadie, who was dusting off to the side. Aside from the sand, she looked horrible. She had a very nasty looking cut on her face, running from her right temple to and the middle of her cheek. The blood from that was enough to make me gag. There were stray twigs in her hair, which was stringy and also somehow clumpy. She limped over to me, another gash on her left leg just below her knee.

"You look terrible." I stated as soon as she was in range.

"I feel like poop," she muttered, shouldering her bag. "Where's my brother?"

"Where's my girlfriend?" I asked, looking around the park.

Annabeth came into the clearing, dragging Carter's limp body behind her. She was no where near the blast zone. "Found him! He was burning under a pile of leaves and dirt. Not something you should be under, by the way. So, what'd I miss?"

I rolled my eyes. "Let's just, get you wherever you need to be." I said to Sadie.

"I need to talk to you and your leader." Sadie said. I really wanted to make a joke about aliens, and how in movies they say stuff like that. I think Sadie would've punched me if I did.

"You want to come with us to Camp?" I asked, and she nodded. "I though we agreed to keep our sides separate?"

"This is mega important." Sadie said. "So much so that we went west of river. I'm Egypt, the west side of the river is bad luck! That why we live in Brooklyn, east of the river."

"You know your probably west of some river, right?"

"Percy, focus." Annabeth said. "You call us some pegasi. We'll ride them back to camp."

"Three of four?" I asked. "Cause it'll be hard for Carter to ride unconscious."

"Three, there is room for two on Blackjack." Annabeth said with a smirk.

I groaned, whistling for Blackjack and two other pegasi. The three horses, Blackjack, Porkpie and Guido, swooped down in front of us. Donuts! Blackjack exclaimed. Are we getting donuts now?

Later. I replied. Geez, I'm over here looking rough and you want donuts. Glad to see where your priorities lie.

Sorry boss.

Don't be. I was joking. I said. Now, these are my two friends, Sadie and Carter. Carter isn't awake, so someone will have to take on the task of holding two—

Me! Blackjack exclaimed, neighing wildly.

"Woah, what just happened?" Sadie asked.

"Percy's talking to them." Annabeth simply said, like it explained all the problems in the world.

"He just gets weirder and weirder…" Sadie muttered under her breath.

"Blackjack has volunteered to take Carter." I said. "Annabeth, you should take Guido, seeing as he's Reyna's and Reyna likes you and doesn't even know Sadie. Sadie, you'll ride Porkpie."

"So all pegasi have names? How am I supposed to know which is which?" Sadie asked.

"Common sense." Annabeth said, climbing onto Guido's back. "If I'm on this one, and Percy gets on his, then there's only one left."

I hoisted Carter onto Blackjack's back, then climbed on behind him. "Where's the saddle?" Sadie asked.

"You can't tame wild pegasi," Annabeth snorted. "Just jump on."

"How can I do that without the foot thing?" Sadie asked. "I don't know how you Greeks do it, but I like having a saddle."

"Percy, go help her." Annabeth said.

"You help her, I'm busy keeping Carter from falling off." I said.

Hey boss! Porkpie said, turning his head in my direction. I could always bend down so she can climb on.

Thank you, Porkpie. I said. Then, aloud, I said, "Sadie, Porkpie offered to bend so you can climb on."

Just as he said, Porkpie bent his hind legs, allowing his backside to lower to the ground. Sadie swung her legs over, slowly climbing onto his back. Let's go! Blackjack exclaimed, sending the three pegasi off into the air.

Ψ

I had told the pegasi to take it slow, seeing as we were all not in the mood to (1) loose Carter in case he flew off and (2) move extremely fast for a not a real reason. Sadie had a death grip on Porkpie, causing him to continue to whine and complain throughout the trip.

"Sadie, could you maybe not try to kill my pegasus?" I asked.

"I hate horses, and flying horses, and things that shouldn't be flying!"

"This is how people get killed riding pegasi." Annabeth said. "Now, could you maybe tell us what the hell happened back there?"

"But I'm so tired," Sadie whined. "Explanations are Carter's thing."

"Well what happened to him?" I asked. "Will's gonna wanna know—"

"Who's Will?" Sadie asked.

"Head counselor of the Apollo cabin, he's in charge of all the healing." Annabeth explained. "When we get back to Camp, we'll take Carter to the infirmary. Then, you'll come with us to the Big House, where we can talk to Chiron—"

"You leader." Sadie interjected.

"Yes." Annabeth continued. "And Mr. D, hopefully, about what happened."

"Mr. D is?" Sadie asked.

"You remind me of Percy," Annabeth muttered, shaking her head. "Mr. D is Camp Director. The god of wine, Dionysus, on punishment for like, fifty more years, for something that happened forever ago."

"Ah, you've got wine parties from the wine dude," Sadie said, nodding her head.

"No, everyone there is underaged." I said.

"Also, don't call him 'the wine dude.' He doesn't appreciate being disrespected, and will turn you into a dolphin if you do." Annabeth added.

"Okay." Sadie said. "Anything else I should know that might probably be super important?"

"No one can know you're not a demigod." Annabeth said. "Or that you're Egyptian. And don't make those snarky comments that you make. There are some pretty hotheaded campers, who are very powerful."

"Like Clarisse," I pointed out.

"Clarisse isn't at camp anymore, Seaweed Brain."

"But she was hotheaded, and powerful, and a jerk." I said.

"That is true," Annabeth agreed.

"Just, stay away from the Ares Cabin," I said. "And the nerds in the Athena Cabin. They'll talk your ear off."

"I'm about to remove you from the Red Team." Annabeth said. "Then you'll be all alone, on the Blue Team."

"And Zeus Cabin, cause Superman is mine." I added, ignoring Annabeth's comment. "And Aphrodite, because the girls will give you an extreme makeover."

"That's Drew's cabin too," Annabeth added.

"Drew? As in Drew Tanaka?" Sadie asked, and Annabeth nodded.

"You know Drew?" I asked.

"I went to school with the self-centered prick." Sadie said.

"Okay, enough conversation." Annabeth said as we neared camp. "Percy, well have to land on Half-Blood Hill to give access to Carter and Sadie to enter. They might be able to get in, since they are in a pharaoh's bloodline, but just to be safe."

"Is there like a glamour around this camp?" Sadie asked.

"A protective border to keep monsters and mortals out." I explained. "See, I can be smart too!"

Blackjack, could you take us down to Half-Blood Hill?

Sure thing, boss.

Thanks.

We swooped down onto Half-Blood Hill, feet away from our guard dragon, Peleus. We dismounted our pegasi, heading towards the edge of the hill. Peleus, looked up at us, eyeing Sadie and Carter. "You have a dragon?" Sadie asked.

"Yeah, guards our protective tree and all that jazz," I said, hefting Carter onto my shoulders. "You ladies should go first, see if we need to allow them access."

"Where's this protective board—AH!" Once Sadie hit the boarder, a faint blue rippled could be seen fanning out.

"I, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, allow access to Camp Half-Blood by Sadie and Carter Kane." Annabeth said.

"Go again, Sadie." I said.

"You go, I'm not doing that again." Sadie snapped. "It's like running into glass."

"See, I'm a demigod, so I've never had that problem." I said, walking further down the hill. "Now c'mon."

"Percy!"

I turned around, seeing Rachel Elizabeth Dare walking out of her cave, very (slightly) upset. "Hey Rach, what's up?"

"What're you doing?" Rachel asked. "Walking all over my roof, that's rude! And who's that unconscious boy, huh? New camper? Someone you kidnapped?"

"Shut it, you," I said. "I am walking on a hill. A hill, not your roof. A hill. Now go back in your cave and mind your own beeswax."

Rachel threw her hands up, grumbling to herself as she walked back in her cave. Sadie, Annabeth, and I continued walking down the hill, then made our way towards the Big House. A younger camper, Austin Lake, son of Apollo, ran up to us. "Percy, Annabeth, War Council." He painted.

Annabeth and I shared a nervous look, before turning back to Austin. "Austin, take Carter here to the infirmary through the back. Just lay him on the bed, I'll let Will know about how he needs tending too. Then go back to your activities." Annabeth said.

I helped adjust Carter onto Austin, then walked quickly to Annabeth and Sadie, who were now hurrying to the Big House. "What's War Council?" Sadie asked.

"A meeting of the Head Counselors for each cabin." Annabeth said. "It's when there's a big threat, or something along those lines."

"I think it might be why I came here," Sadie said.

We went in through a side door, which lead straight to the rec room. Gathered around our large table that had a map of the world on it were the head counselors, along with Chiron and Mr. D. They all looked up at us, nervous and worry etched on their faces.