Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO

Recap: Some time in the night I fell asleep. I don't know when, but when I woke up he wasn't there. I thought that maybe I dreamt the whole thing, but at breakfast when I looked at him he blushed and looked away, so I figured it was real. I wasn't sure if I was happy that I had a crush on him or not, but there was nothing I could do about it now.

Payton's POV

All of breakfast, I had a lot of time to think. When you sit alone it's not like you have anyone to talk to. I felt bad for Annabeth, and I was sort of mad at Percy for making her feel the way she did. I was deep in thought when Nico came by and tapped on my shoulder. We're not supposed to talk to other cabins during meals, but no one seemed to notice Nico. He had thing for blending in.

"What," I asked.

"Come with me," he whispered back. I followed him deep into the forest. We walked past all the parts of the forest where we can play capture the flag. It took forever to get there, and I had a feeling that it was off limits, but I didn't care when I was following Nico.

"Nico, where are we going?"

"We're almost there," he insisted. We stopped by a little pool of water with a trickling waterfall that made the slightest mist. Nico threw in a coin. "O goddess, accept my offering," he said. I was used to that by now though I'd never done it myself.

"Show me the goddess Ossa!" (A/N I don't know if that is the correct name because they had like five different options on the internet)

The mist shimmered and showed a goddess flipping through some magazine. It was one of those cheep magazines that gives you all the bogus stories that aren't true. Also, she wasn't the prettiest goddess I've seen. She had her reddish blonde hair swept up into a messy bun. She had her brown eyes intensely studying the magazine, and she had those extremely long fake finger nails with a manicure, while she chewed her pink bubble gum insanely loud.

"Who is Ossa?" I'd never heard of her before.

"She is the goddess of gossip. Hopefully she'll be able to tell us what's going on with Poseidon's palace."

"Why'd we have to come all the way out here to IM her?"

"Talking to her isn't allowed at camp. She tends too spread rumors that aren't always one hundred percent true. Well, let's face it, sometimes she even flat out lies."

"Then why are we talking to her!?" Nico didn't seem like the type to go around spreading gossip, so I didn't get why he wanted to see what Ossa knew.

"If she does know something that is true, she'll give us all the details. Plus, she knows all the info before even some of the major gods do. And because we know that Percy's dream is true, hopefully we'll find out what he's not telling us, and maybe even more."

It sounded convincing, but risky. "Well, we're here, so we might as well do it. I just don't think we should rely on everything she says."

"I agree." He flashed a smile. "Ossa!" he yelled at the mist.

"Oh! Ah! Woops!" There was a crash as her whole magazine rack fell to the ground. I guess Nico scared her. I had to hold back a laugh. "Well! Who's callin' my name?" She sort of talked with a southern accent, but she was very bubbly too.

"It's us," Nico replied, "Payton and Nico. We're half-bloods, and we need some information."

"Well y'all came to the right place! I gots all kinds of gossip to share with young half-bloods. What'll it be?"

"We need to know…" I was about to answer when Nico clasped his hand over my mouth.

He whispered in my ear, "If we ask her, she'll make something up to please us! She has to tell us, first." I nodded and let him do the talking.

"What is your newest bit of news?" he asked.

"O well, let's see…" she tapped her overly long nails against her chin. "It's all about Aphrodite and Ares. The other night­…"

"How about not in the relationship department?" he quickly cut her off.

"Oh my, um how about what's going on in Poseidon's realm? Is that what you're looking for?"

Nico quickly gave me a look that said, 'don't sound too interested'

"I don't know. Maybe that'll do," he answered.

"Okay! Well, just about two weeks ago, Oceanus happened to escape from his chains under the sea. You both know that he is the Titan of the sea right? Well, anywho, only a god or half-blood could have let him escape, and nobody knows who it was, not even me! He laid low for awhile, trying to regain energy, but he's planning an attack at Poseidon's castle! He rounded up all the ancient sea monsters that are still loyal to him and feel neglected by Poseidon. They plan to overthrow him and bring Oceanus to power once more!"

Nico and I just stared at her in astonishment. That was horrible! No wonder Percy was worried!

"I know! It's a juicy piece of work isn't it!!??" she asked gleefully. I nodded. "Well, I sure hope it was of assistance to y'all! Goodbye!" And Nico waved his hand through the mist.

"O my gods! Nico, this is horrible!" I panicked.

"Payton, look at yourself. She already has you believing everything she said. What if it's not all true?" He was right, I snapped out of it.

"We should still tell Annabeth," I offered.

"No, she'd be the most horrified at what was going on, not to mention she'd be really pissed that we went to Ossa in the first place!" He was right again.

"Then who do we tell?"

"No one. It's only us and Percy on the quest, and he sort of already knows, so who else needs to?"

"Nobody," I answered.

"Correct," he smiled. Then he gave me an awkward hug which made my heart beat a million miles an hour, and waved goodbye to leave.

I could have stood in that same spot the rest of the day, but then a kid in the Athena cabin yelled my name, "Payton! Come quick!"

I ran to the Athena cabin and found Annabeth sobbing and hitting her head against her pillow.

"Annabeth what is it?" I asked loudly, even though I had a feeling I already knew.

"Percy, he's being so unfair."

"What happened?"

"I can't go on the quest without breaking up with him so I'm going! How can he be so cruel?"

"Annabeth, he's just afraid of loosing you. He's doing this because he loves you."

"How do you know that?"

I couldn't tell her that I'd been listening in to the whole thing! "Um… because. Because he told me himself!"

"Really?" She looked up at me with hopeful eyes. I nodded. "I knew that all along, I just wish that he would let me go anyway. But I can't, can I?"

"Well…" I didn't answer, and I left her think to herself.

I went down to the sword arena to practice before the quest. We were going to leave tomorrow and I needed all the practice I could get. I still sort of wished Annabeth was coming. She would be a huge help, but I knew that Percy was just worried about her. I also couldn't stop thinking about Nico. My mind wasn't really into sword fighting and I lost the majority of the fights. I dropped my sword and decided to take Chiron's advice. I should practice with my fire before the quest. I wondered if Nico would want to help me.

R&R!!! What was your favorite part?? Least favorite??? Answer me!! Luv ya!!