Dang it! I forgot the disclaimer last chapter... Does that mean I HAVE to go back and put it in? I'm really too lazy to, but if I have to then meh :\.

Anyway, DISCLAIMER for this chapter and chapter 3 - I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Chapter 4

An Out of This World Experience

I have no clue what happened to me after I closed my eyes. I could feel myself being pulled from my spot, but nothing made sense. I was standing up looking down at my body. It was a bloody mess, but then I thought of how this was happening. I saw my actual body, the bloody mess, on the ground in front of me, but I also knew that what I was seeing was through what I guessed was my body as well. It was like a dream where you can see yourself but not see through your eyes. Capisce?

Then I remembered the person who called my name. I turned to the direction of the voice and it was Percy. He was just wearing shorts which I thought was kind of weird, I mean would a shirt kill him? But he ran over to me and had an expression on his face that I'd never seen before: absolute fear.

He capped Riptide and dropped on his knees next to my body on the floor. He whispered, "Aran" and was about to help me when it looked like he remembered something. He got up quickly and ran to the Athena cabin, my cabin with the cracked wall. Oops. Since I could move around in this state or whatever, I followed him. I really didn't like looking at my bloody body, it depressed me.

Without even knocking or anything he whipped the door open and scanned the room for a bit, like he was looking for something. When he found this something, he ran over to a bunk and woke up whoever was sleeping. I was still standing at the door, and even from there I could hear him telling the person to wake up and help him. Some of the other Athena campers woke up too and they listened to what was being spoken. Then my body went numb when Percy said, "He's on the floor, I think he's dead or dying, you have to hurry!" At this point the whole cabin was awake and staring at the two. The girl jumped out of her bed with the same expression as Percy and tore out of the cabin with him. I realized who that girl was: Annabeth.

They went back outside with a couple campers following them. Percy said something to Annabeth and ran to the Big House while Annabeth ran over to my body. I followed up behind her in my "ghost state," if you could even call it that. She slowed down when she got to me and it looked like she was struggling to walk without falling down. She dropped on my body's right side so I went to the left side. I thought I saw tears in her eyes, but that didn't seem right, I've never seen Annabeth cry before. She knelt over my body and said, "A-a-a-a-Aran? No, n-n-no, w-w-why? W-w-what, w-w-w-w-who?" Then she did start to cry. I decided that I'd go and comfort her I guess, but when I went to put my hand on her shoulder I fell through her. Whoa, not cool! I picked myself up and decided to test out an experiment. I smiled at the thought of it.

After taking a short trip to the Ares cabin to attempt to smack a certain someone (which didn't work, sadly), I came back to find a circle of people around my body. Since I was able to walk through things, I just scooted myself up to the front of the crowd. There were some campers crying, some in disbelief, and some that had no clue what was happening. Percy had come back with Chiron and was trying to help in any way possible. Chiron eventually said after rolling me over onto my back, "Oh dear. We need to get him to the Athena cabin." Percy nodded and picked up my limp form. Even though I wasn't "in" my body I could still feel some of the pain from all the broken bones.

Annabeth followed closely and went ahead to open the door. Percy took me inside and put me down on my bunk. His arms and chest were covered in my blood and my bed would soon be as well. Chiron managed to squeeze through the door in his horse form. Most of the Athena campers stayed outside, still in shock from what they say. Malcolm was the only one to follow us. My bunk was surrounded by the people in the cabin. Percy stood at the head of the bed, Chiron and Annabeth stood next to each other at my side and Malcolm stood and the base. Chiron, for once, actually looked really worried.

Chiron put a hand on my head and chanted something in ancient Greek, what I figured was an ancient hymn to Apollo. Before taking his hand off my head, Chiron said to Malcolm, "Go get Will from the Apollo cabin." Malcolm nodded and sprinted out the door. Percy came around Chiron and took Annabeth away from the scene and hugged her. She was crying and kept trying to see my body. Chiron then put his hand over my heart and chanted another hymn to Apollo. At this point Chiron looked completely out of breath. He took out a jar from his frayed tweed jacket pocket and poured the liquid into my mouth and I swallowed. It was nectar, the food of the gods, and it tasted good even from out of my body. Chiron looked a bit relieved afterwards, maybe even a small smiled played across his lips, and then he turned to Percy and Annabeth.

"He should be fine as long as Will can fix him up alright. He had me worried there for a second. It's a good thing that you found him when you did, Percy. If you hadn't showed up, he would be dead."

I was laughing a bit because Chiron still had his tail curlers in, but I thought it'd be best if I didn't bring that up. Then Annabeth spoke shakily, "W-what was wrong with him?"

"I woke up hearing a bunch of noise outside my cabin. Without thinking I brought out Riptide and went outside. I saw the Minotaur with his back turned to me and I killed him. After wards I saw that Aran was on the floor. He looked pretty bad," said Percy.

Chiron nodded and added, "Every bone in his body was broken. He had a concussion and he will be sore and in pain when he wakes up. I am going to excuse you two from your duties for a week to watch him. You should go back to your cabin, Percy."

Percy nodded and kissed Annabeth on her forehead before he left. Chiron followed and Annabeth pulled a chair up to me. I followed Percy outside to see what was going on.

"… fine, he's gonna be out for at least a week, so Chiron wants me and Annabeth to watch him," I heard Percy finish. Will was coming back with Malcolm now. "He's inside Will. Malcolm, stay out here with everyone until he's done." Percy went back inside to watch Will fix me up.

He basically just wrapped me up and treated my wounds. It was nice to see that the twin holes in my chest were much smaller and I didn't look so bloody. After Will was finished, he left and Percy followed after saying goodnight to Annabeth. She still looked shaken up, but she stayed by my body. The rest of the campers filed in and went back to sleep. I wonder how they do it with the smell of blood….. It was then I realized Will had placed air fresheners all around the room, spreading the smell of lavender. It was too much for me, though, so I took this time to go take a walk. After all the action it felt good to relax for a bit.

Sitting on the beach gave me time to think about some things. How long do I have to stay like this? What about those cracked walls? How did I survive that? How did the Minotaur even get into camp? I was too busy thinking to actually realize that there was a woman standing in front of me. I could feel the power radiating off of her, and then I realized who it was. I kneeled before her and said, "Lady Athena."

She was dressed for battle, spear and shield in hand. Her gray armor matched her stormy gray eyes. "Rise my son. I have grave news to deliver." I never met my mother before, and seeing her for the first time ever was pretty nerve wracking. She had so much power I felt like if I angered her she would turn me into a pile of ashes. She smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't disintegrate you." Whoa, did she read my thoughts? "Yes, it is something we gods do quite often." Oh…..

"So what's this news about?"

"My son, let me start off by saying the Minotaur was not your fault."

"What the nearly dying or getting my butt whooped?"

She thought for a second then said, "Yes. But that relates to the news I have to give you. When you return to your body you must report this to Chiron." I nodded then she continued. "There are still titans fighting. Actually there is only one, but he has regrouped Kronos's army and is threatening Olympus again. And he has brought a new enemy to our attention: Echidna."

I took that in for a second, my mind racing with so many questions I wanted to ask. The only one I could get out was, "But why are you telling me this? Surely Annabeth or Malcolm is better suited than me. They are more experienced and older and-"

"I have told you because you are to go on a quest, a quest to save Olympus. I can only tell you so much now, but I can say that you will need three others to go on this quest with you. One I believe you have met earlier before the, er, incident with the Minotaur." It didn't take me long to think of who this could be.

"Lyra?"

Athena didn't look to happy about what she was going to say, "Yes, you will need her… and two others. I think you know who to choose." She finished then she reached behind her back and brought out a handle of a sword. It had a leather grip and a gold hilt. There was also a finger guard around it that opened at the center, but there was no blade attached. It had one word along the hilt: σοφία. "Sophia?"

"Yes, Wisdom. One of the most powerful forces on this world. I know you are wondering where the blade is. When you want the blade to appear, all you have to do is tap the hilt. Try it out," she finished and stepped back. I looked at the hilt then tapped it. Sure enough three feet of gleaming celestial bronze came out from the hilt. I recognized the sword in its full form.

"A Falcata! It's so amazing. But, why did you give this to me?"

"My son, if you are to go on a quest, you will need a magic weapon. Should you lose this weapon, hold your hand out to the direction you lost it and say its name. It will come back to you no matter what." She finished and I tapped the hilt again and it turned back to a regular grip and hilt. "Now I must return to Olympus. By the way, the statue of Annabeth, Percy, and Grover went up. I know you will do well. Farewell."

I was smart enough to look away before she turned into her true form. I didn't know how long I was out there for afterwards just staring at the hilt, but I went back to my cabin. Then another problem popped up: how do I get back to normal? I thought about it for a second, and decided that I'd just lie over my body. I really had no clue what to do, but I hoped that that would work.

I came back to the cabin and found that the sun had come up. Wow, I was out there for a long time I said to myself. I found Annabeth still up, wiping my forehead with a cold, wet cloth and a bucket of water next to her. It looked like she never even went to sleep. I figured once I got back to normal then I'd tell her she should sleep.

Then came the moment of truth. I laid back down, overlapping my bandaged body perfectly and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew I shot my eyes opened and gasped shakily. Annabeth looked back at me and stood up, holding me down. I was looking at everything at once. My eyes wouldn't stop moving. Then I felt something in my hand: Sophia. I looked up at Annabeth and smiled, "Annabeth, you need to get some rest." She shook her head, but then I looked her in the eye and said again, "I'm fine, get some rest. You've been up all night. Really I'm fine. If you're that worried then go get Percy to watch me, just go to sleep." She looked like she was going to protest, but then she nodded. Then she hugged me, "I'm glad you came back you bonehead." She had tears in her eyes and walked outside.

I looked at my hilt and held it up to the light. I tapped the hilt with my arm in a sling and the blade appeared. The Falcata felt so right in my hand. I smiled at it then tapped the hilt again and put it on the table at the head of the bead. I waited for a bit, moving sections of my body to see if they still worked, and thank the gods they all worked fine. I still had a headache and my body was sore and stiff.

Percy came in followed by Annabeth. This time he had a shirt on. He kissed Annabeth (I guess good night?) and came over to me. She was so tired I think as soon as her head hit the pillow she was out. After he sat down he said, "Why did you do that?"

I chuckled (which hurt incredibly) and said, "It wasn't my fault. I have something to tell you, Annabeth, Chiron, and someone else though." I finished with a serious tone. Everyone was still asleep, but I didn't think it'd be safe to tell him here.

"Ok. There's some nectar right here, so take when you need. I'll come back later. I'm going to go check on the girl." Then without thinking I said, "That's her. She's the last person I need to talk to."

Oh boy! :D

Anyway, just a quick note. I plan on uploading everyday seeing as I already have fourteen chapters written and eleven of them edited. So expect more stuff everyday!

Aaaaaaaaand don't forget to review! Seriously...