We decided to change things up on the next day of our quest and we almost died in the morning.

Let me back up a little bit. Our second day had been so ridiculously exhausting. Which didn't make sense because I had literally driven a car for ten hours. Then, just as the sun was going down, we got attacked (surprise!) by yet another odd monster. All five of us had been so tired afterwards that we just crashed at some random hotel. The plan was to get up early and continue driving out west. We were making really good time across the country, which of course probably meant things were about to go terribly wrong.

Annabeth set her phone alarm for 6 am. Which was a mistake. I've never seen a group of people so angry over an alarm before in my entire life.

When it went off, Nico was the first one to voice his displeasure, "Shut that damn thing up before I break it in half." He snapped across the room. He grabbed a pillow from the couch and shoved it over his head.

Maleah rolled on to her other side, mumbling "Hit snooze Lover boy."

But the best reaction was Ebony's. At the sound of the alarm, she leapt out of bed, pulling out her knife: that I had retrieved from the river the other night. Her green eyes were wide in shock as she jumped into a ready stance. As soon as she realized it was An alarm, her face morphed into one of pure anger. "Okay, if that thing isn't shut off in the next two seconds..." she glared at Annabeth for a moment. Thankfully, my girlfriend decided to turn it off instead of argue.

"Great." Eddie snapped, "I'm awake now." She jumped to her feet and walked to the bathroom, still grumbling under her breath.

Annabeth winked at me, and got up to get ready. It took some time, but eventually Nico and Mel started to get ready. I could tell they still weren't happy about the early wake up time. Especially Nico. He reminded me more than once that "With great power comes great need to take a nap. And sleep. Let me sleep." I figured we had a long day ahead of us, with Nico complaining the entire time.

Finally we all grabbed a quick breakfast from the motel and piled into the car. Mrs. O'Leary jumped in the back seat next to Ebony, who she had decided was her next favorite person behind me. We drove for a few hours, and then Nico started complaining that he was hungry. Next time, I was definitely not inviting him on a quest. We pulled off the highway towards a city that was called "Great Bend." Naturally, my poor judgment realized too late that the city was a good 25 minutes off the highway. If you've ever driven a car with three hungry children of the underworld, here's a bit of advice for you: Don't. Eddie was so hangry by the time we got to the city, that she was snapping at everyone who asked her a question.

I found a nice place by the edge of the river, again. Thankfully, no one complained about my choice of stops. We all piled out of the car and started to walk along the river towards a fast food restaurant nearby. It was a nice day, sunny and warm. I suggested that we could get our food and eat on the grass by the shore and everyone agreed with me. We didn't make it far though when I heard a strange sound. It sounded like the ocean. I froze and turned towards the water. It had been calm just a few minutes ago. Now large waves were sloshing against the shore.

The water started to boil in the river. That couldn't be good. My dog inched closer, peering into the water. She started to growl, seeing something that I wasn't. Around me, my friends started pulling out their weapons. Two black swords, a black knife, and a drakon knife. I uncapped Riptide. Mrs. O'Leary snarled and scrambled backwards. And then the river exploded.

I was not a fan of the water exploding if it wasn't my own doing. A massive sea serpent exploded out of the water. It was a dark blue, with an orange underbelly. Massive spikes ran the length of it's back, with fins spreading between them. It had two large front legs, with webbed claws. It had the head of a dragon. It turned and roared at us, revealing a forked tongue and teeth that resembled knives. It placed his two legs on the shore, and lashed it's tail out of the water. His tail was a large orange fin, incredibly muscled and powerful.

He lunged towards us, and Mrs. O'Leary snarled and leapt on his head. Nico clapped his hands, and a large rock exploded out of the ground. It was a brilliant move. The serpent got a mouthful of stone, instead of snapping up Mel.

"What the hell is that thing?" Eddie snapped, turning to Annabeth for answers.

"That's the Ethiopian Cetus!"

I dodged the serpents tail as it lashed towards me, rising me by maybe two inches. "Explain please!"

Annabeth and Eddie darted in together, managing to avoid it's snapping head and lashing tail. Eddie threw her knife, hitting it in the leg. Annabeth dove in behind her, driving her knife into his neck. She pulled it out and ducked into a role, just as Eddie darted in to retrieve her knife. It was an amazing move, well coordinated. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything except make the monster mad. The two girls retreated together, breathing heavily. My hellhound continued to snarl and scratch at his head, her favorite attack method.

"Percy, do you remember anything?" Annabeth chided. I was working with Mel and nico now, as she recovered. "This monster was sent to punish Queen Kassiopeia's…."

"History lesson later!" Mel interrupted. "How do we kill it?"

Annabeth didn't answer, never a good thing. The five of us backed up together. "Eddie, any chance you can keep it distracted from the air?" she nodded and backed up. A second later, I heard a whoosh of wings, followed by a sonic boom. Then, things went downhill fast. My poor pet was flung off his head, and she landed hard on the ground with a yelp. Then the creature lashed out with his head, snapping at me and Nico. I dove to the side, and straight into the serpent's tail. I had been so distracted with the toothed end that I had completely forgotten about the boomerang tail. I fell to the ground, clutching my head. I was sure I had a nasty concussion.

Never trust an idea that comes to you when you've just been hit in the head. I saw my three friends, still dodging head and tail. They were managing to avoid getting injured, but nothing more. Eddie was flying around it's head, trying to keep it distracted. But it was fast and deadly. So I did a smart thing. With blurred vision and a drum section pounding away at my head, I ran forward and jumped with all my might. Just as the monster put his head down to lash at me. I managed to jump over the teeth and landed on the creatures neck.

I honestly don't remember much of what happened after that. Except for the obvious: never piggyback a monster. It just doesn't work. My head was already throbbing as I jumped on the sea creatures back. But I had some misguided notion that I could wrestle with a 5 ton serpent. I quickly learned two things. One, there is a huge difference between salt water and fresh water, and the stupid river definitely didn't revive me as much as the ocean. Two, when you get hit in the head a second time within five minutes, odds are that you'll pass out. Which is exactly what I did.

I woke up at the bottom of the river. Thankfully it wasn't nearly as polluted as the New York rivers, that had been disgusting. It still wasn't as nice as being at the bottom of the ocean though. My clothes were dry like normal. For a second I just sat there, casually relaxing at the bottom of a river. Then I remembered. The Ethiopian Cetus. The attack my friends. I jumped to my feet (which is strange to do in water) ready to swim to the surface.

"Don't worry, they're okay." I nearly jumped out of my skin. Without hesitating, I pulled out riptide and twisted in the water.

Standing, or floating I guess, in front of me was... "Dad?" I gasped out. He looked the same as normal, with a tangled black beard, smile creases around his eyes, which were sea green like mine, and holding his trident. For a minute I was too shocked to say anything. The last time I saw Poseidon was... wow it had been shortly after the giant war.

"Percy." He gave me a friendly smile, but I could tell it was slightly forced, "Your friends are safe. Night's children are very... resourceful." I'm guessing he had a different word in mind but I didn't push it.

"Dad." I repeated, "What are you doing here? I thought gods weren't allowed to interact directly with quests?"

"And what god has ever followed that order?"

He had a point there. I'm pretty sure every quest I was ever on had a god involved, in some way or another. I still couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that my father was here, in the middle of Kansas. The bad feelings about the quest all came creeping up. Poseidon was looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to respond. So I told him everything. My dreams, Nico's dreams, ordering the quest, the prophecy, and how Annabeth was convinced that the quest was a setup for some grand plan.

I finally stopped talking and I realized that my dad was frowning down at me, "I agree. There is something fishy," the corners of his lip twitched as he tried not to smile at his own home, then he continued "About this entire quest. But that is not why I'm here. I'm here because I have valuable information on what is to come."

"What is coming?"

"I do not know. None of us do. But there is a battle coming. No sense of who it is between, all we know is that the Match will be perfect across all aspects. It should end in a draw but one will take victory and decide the fate of the gods."

"Great, another bit of very helpful information." I said sarcastically

"Percy, the world is changing. Two powers that have never met before will combine. And there is a price being paid from gifts of long ago."

I wanted to yell at him. He was being so ridiculously vague. What kind of useful information could I possibly get from this talk? But I figured that screaming at an all powerful god wouldn't be good for my health, even if said god was also my father. Finally I got control of myself long enough to nod respectfully to him, "Thank you Dad. I will try to work out the meaning of what you have told me."

He smiled at me again, clearly hearing the sarcasm in my words, "I wish I could stay longer Percy, but I must be going. But I do have gift for you." And on that note he melted into the current and vanished. Don't you just love it when a god makes a special visit to talk to you and then vanishes without helping?

I blinked down in shock. There was a knife laying in the sand, that was definitely not there before. I reached to it and piked it up. Instantly, memories flooded my mind. Images of my girlfriend fighting through hordes of monsters in New York. Her fighting against Luke on Mount Olympus…. With a gasp I picked it up. It was the same knife that been lost in Tartarus. I don't know how my dad had found it, or where, but it was back. Annabeth was going to be so happy. Smiling to myself, I summoned the currents around me and shot to the surface.

When I got to the shore, I saw my friends having a picnic. Mrs. O'Leary was snoring in the sun next to them. Glad to see they were worried about me.

"Hey Percy." Annabeth said casually. She patted the grass next to her. "Come join us?"

"How did you…"

"Oh that?" Eddie said, "Sea Monsters are flammable." Nico gave her a sideways glance, but I didn't ask questions. Instead I walked forward and sat next to Annabeth. I set her knife down next to her and started to chow down on a peanut butter sandwich.

For a few minutes we all snacked in silence. Kind of funny that this was my life. Fight a monster, spend a few hours knocked out at the bottom of a river, have a chat with my dad, the immortal sea-god, then have lunch. Just another day in paradise. Or on a quest. Whichever you prefer.

All of a sudden Annabeth gasped. I tried to hide my smile; she had discovered the knife. "How did? Percy where? You found it? But I thought… it was lost in Tartarus!" She picked up the knife and turned it over in her hands. She grasped it gently, like an old friend. I didn't try to answer her flood of questions. I just watched her, waiting for a response. Finally she turned towards me, her smile fading slightly.

"It was on the bottom of the river?" I nodded, deciding not to tell her about my meeting with Poseidon, "I can't thank you enough for this but…." she turned the knife over in her hands, "But this knife. It has too many bad memories, and things I'm trying to move on from. Things I have already moved on past and." she trailed off. I looked at her for a long moment and a silent understanding passed between us.

"Let's talk about it later then." I said, taking it back from her and putting it in a bag.

"Percy, we've been talking." Mel said, "And we all agree that we should continue on foot for a little bit."

Eddie breathed out deeply, like she was about to breathe fire, "Yeah, we're all just tired of driving in a car. And Annabeth pulled up the GPS and found a park a few miles away. So we could just go on foot there and find a place to camp for the night." Nobody had a better plan. So we finished eating and started traveling on foot.

A few hours later, we arrived at the park. The sun was starting to set and I was definitely ready to get some rest. Then I felt a shudder run up my spine. Nico froze, his eyes narrowing as he glanced through the trees. I heard howling. It seemed to come from all directions. Eddie tensed up, and Mel rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, I saw a wolf come darting out of the woods. Immediately followed by another. Then a whole pack came pouring out into the open field. There were at least twenty of them, probably closer to thirty. The wolves were huge. Much bigger than the one's that ran around with Thalia and the hunters. I took a shaky breath. If it came to a fight…. I didn't think there was any way that we could win this one.

"NUKA!" Ebony cried, and a second later a black blur shot past me. The black wolf, which I knew to be Ebony, skidded to a halt in front of a light grey wolf that had come sprinting forward as well. For a moment, the two young animals looked at each other, tails wagging. Then Eddie crouched down like a dog, her tail in the air. With a playful snarl, the grey one leapt on top of her and they began to wrestle.

Realizing that the wolves weren't a threat, I couldn't help but smile. It was the first time that I had actually seen Eddie act like a child. The two were obviously good friends. They broke apart from their tussle and Nuka came streaking by with Eddie in hot pursuit. Annabeth started laughing next to me.

"There's still some innocence left in her." She remarked, a smile playing on her lips as well.

After a few more minutes of chasing each other around, they finally skidded to a halt. Eddie went up to the large solid grey wolf, who must have been the alpha, and bowed to him. Annabeth elbowed me and I figured we might want to do the same. We all bowed to the wolf as well.

"Forgive me." He spoke out loud in a rough growl, "Human speak is hard to master."

Ebony looked to him, and when he nodded she trotted over to us, turning back into her human form. "This is Grey. He is the leader of a wolf pack that is sacred to Artemis. The Grey pack, which was named after him, (which I thought was pretty obvious) has been around since the time of Ancient Greece. His children and pack are immortal, however they can fall if they get injured from a hunt or a battle. Just like the hunters of Artemis! He has had many children with his alpha female over the years. Nuka was born only 7 years ago, she is his youngest child."

"Grey." I said dipping my head respectfully to the wolf, "I am Percy Jackson, I am traveling with Annabeth Chase, Nico Di'Angelo, and Maleah Stryke. Your friend is our quest leader."

"Great heroes from what we have heard. A privilege." He said, dipping his head back to us.

Ebony looked at us once more, "When I was nine, Nuka found me after school. I followed her into the woods and freed Grey from an illegal snare trap set up in New York. After I freed him, Artemis appeared. She offered to grant me a wish for doing her a great service and that is how I come by my powers."

"She saved my Father's life. And she didn't hesitate to help me." This time it was Nuka who spoke up, she didn't struggle as much as her father when it came to speaking English, "We developed a bond and a link."

Eddie nodded, "Nuka is my best friend, and Grey is the closest thing I have to a father. Lady Artemis granted me the ability to turn into three animals of my choosing. She told me that the unlimited power to 'be anything' was unrealistic."

I nodded, taking it all in, "Are you here to help then?"

Grey shook his head, and I saw Nuka glare at him. "We have come for warning. The path is false. Betrayal is near. All I know is that."

"Well that's jolly." I said under my breath, giving Annabeth a sideways glance. Our suspicions kept getting confirmed. Something was off. And if we couldn't figure it out... it was not going to end well.

Grey continued to look at me, his piercing eyes seemed to be searching my soul. "You are a hero. All of you. But you must trust one another and no one."

"Why is it always riddles?" Nico complained.

"Grey..." Eddie started, "Do you know the prophecy?"

The old wolf blinked in surprise, "Ebony, my friend." I assumed he was the only one who could get away with calling her Ebony and not be yelled at or corrected, "You know we do not deal with prophecy. I deal with fact."

"So you don't want to hear it then?" I asked.

"It's a fun one." Nico said under his breath.

"I came with warning only. In peace my friends. One day I hope tohelp you more."

He nodded to Ebony, and I watched as she turned into a wolf again. She trotted up and pressed her nose to him, before bowing respectfully. Nuka let out a soft whine. Then the two of them tackled each other once more, just for the fun of it. They wrestled for only a moment before Grey let out a loud bark. Instantly, his daughter jumped up and nudged Eddie. She turned to head towards the pack, with her best friend taking a playful snap at her ankles as she trotted away.

Eddie turned back to us, her body morphing instantly back into human. I have to admit, it was pretty cool. Her transformation abilities seemed so easy. Honestly, she was much better than Frank. She seemed to be able to change without thinking, and I hadn't seen her get stuck in any form yet.

We all stood together and watched as the pack faded into the woods. I knew Annabeth was already pondering his warning, trying to figure out his words exactly. But that was kind of at the back of my mind. All I could think about was seeing my father in the river. If he had been troubled enough to journey all the way up through a freshwater river... I knew I should tell everyone about our meeting but it didn't seem right.

"Soooooo." Nico cut into my thoughts, "We gonna stand here and wait for an attack or can we set up camp for the night?"

"Camp sounds like a great plan." Mel agreed

I realized that they both turned to me for confirmation. So I did the right thing, I turned to Eddie "Your call."

She nodded, giving me a grateful look, "Let's just camp here for the night. It's not too bad. The rivers right nearby. And next time..." her voice hardened and she glared in fury at her sister and Nico, "Maybe look to the leader of the quest for answers."

They both looked a bit surprised. I was proud of her though. Annabeth was hiding a smile too. We both knew what it felt like to have our authority undermined. And Eddie may be only twelve, but she had a way better handle on this quest than I did on my first quest. She was doing amazing, and she was ridiculously smart.

When Nico and Mel didn't say anything, except look down at their feet, she rolled her eyes. "Well fine, I'm going to grab us some water and food from a gas station. There's one not too far from here. Annabeth, do you mind coming with me?"

She nodded and the two headed off together. Mel and Nico worked together to set up the camp. Meanwhile, I watched as the sun set through the trees. I could just see the bend of the river from where I sat. The dark orange rays from the sun supplied across the surface. The shadow of the trees grew longer and the sky grew darker as the minutes passed. Poseidon's words kept echoing through my mind. Two powers combined. A price to pay for something long ago. I considered telling Annabeth once again, but then quickly dismissed it. Everything was already confusing enough. We didn't need to add more into it.

"You all right Percy?" I jumped nearly a foot in the air. Annabeth and Ed had returned. It was Annabeth who had spoken. She held out a sandwich to me and a bottle of coke. The last of the dying sun cast a glow on her hair. Gods she was beautiful.

"Thanks." I said, returning her smile. She sat next to me and we ate together. I saw Eddie take a couple bites of her sand which before tossing the leftovers to Nico. I saw Annabeth frowning in her direction, sharing my concerns. But we didn't say anything.

"Eddie said she would take first watch tonight." She said after a few more minutes.

"Good, we can finally get some sleep." I joked.

"Are you as worried as I am?" She asked

"Yes... this quest is dangerous and doesn't make sense. It's not fair to ask a twelve year old..."

"To go on an incredibly dangerous mission to the underworld? Geee I wonder who else decided to go find a nuclear bomb when they were twelve."

She was smirking at me, "Okay, you have a point. But that's different. At least my quest..."

"Didn't warn of betrayal from a friend?"

"Hey that's not

"Or that you would fail?"

"Okay but it was completely different just..."

"Or gave a vague and twisted meaning to what the quest was about?"

I raised my hands in surrender, "Okay, Okay. It's just different when it's happening to someone else."

She laughed and leaned against me. "You aren't called seaweed brain for nothing." She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, "Night Percy." Then she curled up in her sleeping bag. I smiled and shifted closer to her. Then I let myself relax. Unfortunately it didn't last.

My dreams were as terrible as ever.

For the first time, I had no clue where I was. My first thought was that I was stuck in the underworld, but I couldn't be sure. All I could feel was a heavy darkness settling around me. Like when Nyx has tried to kill me and Annabeth in Tartarus. The heavy darkness was the same. The worst was that all my senses seemed to be thrown out of whack. Usually I could feel if there was a cliff, or an opening. I knew when I was in a cave or in the open air. But now? I couldn't tell. The stifling darkness felt like a cave. The air itself was like being on a grassy plane. I couldn't move, for fear I would go tumbling into nothingness.

That was when the voices began. And I could hear them clearly.

"They are on the way."

"Good."

Then the mist started to clear. I couldn't quite grasp what I was seeing. Ghosts, simple bright lights floating in the air. One was plain white, another glowing blue, and the third was brighter than the rest. It glowed gold. Maybe when you died, you're favorite color was what the color your spirit took on. A fun question to ask Nico in the morning.

The voice resonated from the white cloud. "Soon they will be here. Then it begins."

"We will get our revenge." The blue spirit agreed.

The golden spirit spoke again, his voice was freezing with cruelty. I knew without a doubt that this was the spirit I had heard at the edge of Tartarus. "The boss has many plans for us. But I believe some murders are in them. Along with torment and true despair."

For a scary moment, I thought it was Kronos speaking. I had never met anyone else, not even Gaia, who was as cruel and unforgiving as the Titan Lord. Gaia just wanted the earth to be wild again. If it didn't involve wiping out the entire human population along with it, I probably would have been on her side. I could never tell Annabeth this, not since she loved architecture so much. But I always took Grover's side on this regard. No human designed place was as beautiful as the wild.

I shook my head, driving down my riding panic. It couldn't be Kronos. For one, the golden spirit was speaking of another in charge. The Titan Lord would have refused to let anyone control him. And then there was the whole "scattered into a million tiny bits and couldn't even form consciousness anymore" That was a result of my final battle with him.

The voices brought me back to my dream. "How many more days?"

The white mist laughed, "I don't know, but when they get here..."

The blue spirit chimed in, "They will already have failed."

And then the dream shifted. I was standing on a porch. There was a pool with a white crocodile swimming around in it. My homing radar told me that I was right near Manhattan. Which must mean...

Sure enough, two people stepped onto the porch. The one was an African American man, the other was a young girl. She looked white, but I knew she was mixed race. They both looked concerned. The girl, Sadie, kept running her fingers through her long blonde hair. She had blue streaks in it, that perfectly matched her bright eyes. Carter on the other hand, was pacing back and forth. They didn't look terribly dangerous, but I knew better. They were magicians from the house of life. And they were incredibly powerful.

Carter spoke first, "Sadie you can't be serious."

"I felt it rising. I don't think it's him, but it's something. Magic is being thrown out of balance."

"And how do you know you're not just being paranoid?"

Sadie punched him in the arm, "You're forgetting like normal brother dear. Isis is the goddess of magic. Trust me, when magic is disturbed, we know."

"And if you're wrong?"

I thought Sadie was going to push him in the pool with the crocodile. "You really don't believe me?"

"Have you had any visions? Has your Ba took a trip lately?" Carter pressed.

"No, because unlike your stupid self I actually use my headrest."

Now it was Carter's turn to look mad, "You're trying to tell me something is wrong with no evidence at all? Just a gut feeling?"

"Yes." She snapped back.

"Everything has been peaceful since we dealt with Setne. Why do you have to be so neurotic? It's probably nothing."

Sadie frowned, and glanced around the deck. Her eyes stopped moving when they met mine. I wasn't sure if she could see me. After all, I was just a dream self. "Percy..." she muttered softly.

"What?" Carter said, the annoyance clear in his voice.

"Demigods and magicians..." she turned and looked back towards her brother, giving no sign that she had seen me, "Carter, I think something is coming. And I think we'll need some help from Manhattan."