I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Shadow of a Doubt

We decided that it would be best to try and buy enough supplies to last us until we reached the port closest port to Mt. Everest. This proved easier said than done. We ran out of money and were forced to steal the rest of what we needed. Turns out time slow is really handy when stealing things. My time slow abilities though were very limited though.

I could only slow time for short amounts of time and in very small spaces. The real trick was getting whoever I put under this spell to not notice what was happening. I had to distort their perceptions instead of just their bodies. It took a couple of tries but I finally got the technique down. It still drained me of energy so by the end of the day all I could do was sleep while Brittany and Andrew kept watch and drove the boat.

I hadn't told either of them that my dreams had been getting worse. I often woke several times a night in a cold sweat feeling more exhausted than when I had gone to sleep. The worst part was that my dreams were no longer of Kronos but of my friends surrounded by shadows watching as I struggled against what felt like a hurricane pushing me into an endless white abyss. I would struggle, and fight, and scream for help but they would only laugh and mock me until one would finally give the final push that would send me flying in to empty space at which point I would wake up.

In the days following our run in with the Keres I began isolating myself. I had begun to doubt my friends true intentions. I wanted to believe that they really wanted to help me clear my name and that the dreams were just put in to my mind by my Kronos, but I couldn't be sure. I was slow t trust anyone due to the fact that almost everyone I talked to before camp half blood had turned out to be a monster.

Brittany still tried to talk and laugh with me but things were more forced on my end. Things weren't as easy, and she noticed. She would blast music loudly over the boats speaker system to try and lighten my mood, and it worked but whenever I looked at either Brittany or Andrew all I could see was the tormenting figures that haunted my dreams.

Finally one day while Andrew was below deck on his cooking shift Brittany confronted me. "What's been eating you these past few days?"

"I guess I'm just getting nervous," I lied.

"You were nervous when you were claimed," she said avoiding saying his name. "Right now you look almost afraid and that fear is directed at me and Andrew. Just tell me what's really going on."

I was somewhat surprised that she had read me so well. I decided to see if I could return the favor in a manner of speaking. "I've been having dreams of the two of you killing me."

She appeared shocked, though whether that was because that was their intention or not I couldn't be sure. "And you believe we would?"

"I can't be sure, but it wouldn't be the first time I've been stabbed in the back," I spat my words cold and thick.

"We would never-"

"Not even to save your own lives?" I cut her off.

"No!" I was going to call bullshit until I saw the tears in her eyes.

I was frozen by her glare and the and the distorted reflection of light from the tear. As brief as this argument had been the simple accusation had caused her emotions to run so wildly that it brought tears to her eyes. I simply couldn't comprehend it. All I accused her of was protecting her own life by ending mine. Could it be that she could simply not take mortal life?

As she ran below deck it came to me, it was her fatal flaw. Loyalty. I was her friend and she would do anything to protect her friends. But from the far reaches of my mind came another thought, she's just acting. I turned back to face the vast sea that stretched out beyond the boat hating myself for being so suspicious of the people who had already saved my life a couple of times. But I couldn't shake the dreams from my mind to think clearly enough. The only cure for my distressed mind would be sleep, but only ever brought demigods further distress.

Virtually all life on the boat died. I was too confused to talked to Brittany and from the look on her face she was still to hurt to confront me. Only Andrew remained oblivious to the tension that had settled over the boat. He was social with us individually but could never bring us together. The last two days of the trip I spent completely alone. Brittany must have told Andrew what had happened because no one disturbed me as I sat at the bow of the boat trying to decide what was true.

On the day we were supposed to arrive in Syria I finally rose from my position at the bow and walked to where Brittany were talking at the controls of the boat. They stopped talking when they saw me coming.

"What do you want?" Brittany spat.

"Please stop the boat," I said as calmly as I could manage.

"Why? We'll arrive in an hour or so," said Andrew whom was genuinely confused.

I sucked in a deep breath steeling myself to tell them my decision. "I want to apologize."

"What!" Brittany screamed as the boat stopped suddenly the force of which sent me and Andrew to the ground.

"I want to apologize," I repeated as I stood back up.

"What do you mean?" Brittany snapped.

Walking right up to her I said, "I'm sorry for not trusting the two of you it's just that I've spent most of my life with no one. I've never had a friend that I could actually depend on. It's hard for me to believe that someone wants to help me rather than kill me and while I can't be certain this isn't an elaborate trick I've chosen to believe that I can depend on the two of you."

I wasn't sure that he bare and honest truth had been the best option and I grew fearful as I saw tears begin to form in the corner of Brittany's eyes until she smiled and said, "That has to be the worst apology I've ever heard." She wrapped me up in a hug and whispered in to my ear, "I appreciate your honesty," and giggled ever so slightly.

I released a mighty sigh of relief and returned the hug. I looked up to Andrew winking at me with an enormous grin. I smiled and kind of shook my head. I do not understand that guy.

Free of the tension I had created we made great time to our destination. Surprisingly the man in black was not there with a new welcoming committee. So, we decided to try and sell the boat. This proved and impossible task since very few people would talk to three white teenagers and even if they would we couldn't find effective means of communication between Arabic and English. We then decided the best course of action would be to simply abandon the boat rather than waste any more time.

The next task was finding an efficient method of travel. We wandered aimlessly through the town trying to find supplies, a map, and transport. With no money and no means of communication this also proved difficult. We finally decided on stealing a map and let Brittany do her best to decipher it while Andrew and I tried to steal the necessary provisions. The ability to dodge through crowds was useful for escaping should we be caught.

Our packs now full, we followed Brittany to where there might be a road leading in the general direction we wanted. Suddenly, Brittany's head shot up and she began walking quickly to left of the direction we were going. Her paced quickened as we wove through people in the narrow ally.

"Where are we going?" I shouted to Brittany.

She ignored my question and kept moving. Then, over the noise of the crowd, I began to hear the neigh of horses. We continued to run through the crowd the sound rising with each step until we emerged into what looked like another main road. We stopped in the middle as we watched nearly ten men try to control four horses. The bystanders were sure to give a wide berth to the chaos but Brittany began walking towards them.

I grabbed her shoulder and said, "Wait, what do you plan on doing?"

"Saving the horses of course," she said struggling against my hold.

"No, if you go over there those men will just push you away or worse. Remember Americans aren't exactly praised in this part of the world," I said now wrapping my arms around her to contain her.

"So what we just stand and watch?" she asked angrily, but I had already been forming a plan.

"Just wait a moment. I have an idea," I said already beginning to focus on the men.

She stopped struggling obviously surprised. I began to alter the perception of time for the men. They felt an increasing exhaustion. The men were staggering around as if they had been taming these horses for hours when in reality only a moment had passed. Instead of the men braking the horses the men were soon broken and began to disperse giving up on their task.

Brittany and Andrew gasped when they saw them leaving. They looked over at me to see I was on my hands and knees sweating and panting exhorting myself like that. Brittany knelt beside me and put her hand on my back. I was about ready to pass out. I had never moved someone through hours of time let alone ten people. It had really taken a toll on me, but slowly I began to regain some energy.

"What did you do?" Brittany whispered in to my ear.

I looked up at her to answer when out of the corner of my eye I saw the horses coming towards us. Brittany helped me to my feet and turned so that we were facing the four horses. They knelt at our feet or more specifically Brittany's feet. She smiled at them and they stood again. She helped me to take a seat on the side of the road before returning to the horses.

I didn't understand what was happening until Andrew came over. He explained, while feeding me ambrosia and nectar, that Brittany could talk to horses, a trait of children of Poseidon. She "talked" to the horses without actually saying a word. To normal people it looked like a girl was just standing around with a couple of horses, but if you looked closer you could pick up on the subtle body language that told you they were communicating.

Soon Brittany walked over and asked, "So, how exactly did you get those guys to just leave Jason?"

"I altered time around them," I began. "What was only a few moments to you and the horses was hours to them. Each move they made was like swimming through sand instead of walking through time in the normal manner."

"Incredible," she said grinning. "Oh, by the way Andrew I need you to get us some saddles and horse feed."

I barely registered what she said until Andrew was gone. "You mean we're going to ride to mount Everest on the back of horses?" I asked shocked.

"That's the plan," she said. "That's not a problem is it?"

"No, I guess not," I said. I was not excited for this trip.