Chapter VII

Percy looked at Annabeth. He knew he should tell her… but should he? Annabeth sat by the lake she was still gaping at the symbol Mae had been so carefully drawing that day she meet the delightful Jenna Palmer.

"Annabeth?" said a quiet voice. Annabeth turned around to see Lana. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were streaked with tears.

"Can we talk later on tonight?" Lana asked. Annabeth nodded.

"Sure," Annabeth said as Lana left, "and Lana, it will all be ok." Lana nodded and sprinted off to the dorms. Percy's eyes wandered up to the hill. He thought of Jenna; her fun laughs, her pretty eyes. He had thought of her a lot lately. He glanced back to Annabeth. And now he knew why. Annabeth tugged at the sleeves of her leather jacket. Percy stood up and dusted off his jeans from pollen.

"I'm going to go find Jason, he was saying Piper misses you, maybe you should try to hang out," Percy suggested, but he was lying. Annabeth's eyes narrowed.

"Ok, seaweed brain," Annabeth said letting it fly. Percy smiled and walked to the third hallway of student dorms: D3. He heard a giggle or two as he passed a dorm that said Daughters of Aphrodite Dorm.

Wow I can't believe there's a whole cabin of Aphrodite's daughters.

"What is it Piper?!" Jason asked.

"Jason that was my final project!" said Piper's voice. There was a smash.

"Well now it's even more ruined!" Jason said.

"You know what? I'm leaving, for good!" Piper said. Percy almost ran into Piper. Her belly was like a crescent moon. Percy was surprised

"Ugh!" Piper said surprised. Percy walked into the room and Jason sat in the room hands covering his face. He was on his knees.

"Hey bro," he said to Jason.

"Oh," Jason said glancing up at Percy, "he Percy." Percy glanced out the door.

"So… Piper's pregnant?" Percy asked. Jason nodded.

"Hmm, must be stressful," Percy said.

"Yeah," Jason muttered. Percy didn't want to seem heartless but he knew what he had to do.

"Um, Jason do you know where Erica's dorm room is?" Percy asked. Jason looked at Percy with widened blue eyes.

"Um, yeah why do you need to see Erica?" Jason asked about his step-sister.

"You know how um she said if I ever got marked she could help?" Percy asked. Jason nodded.

"D2, dorm #304," Jason said. Percy left his old friend to pick up the pieces of a broken relationship, but Percy didn't care. Percy felt his arm chest throb. That's where the mark was what was attracting him to Jenna. It was dangerous to go to Erica; she was in the same dorm as Jenna, and it was Sunday at 12:40… it was Jenna's lunch break. He knew Erica had had practice with marks created by Apollo's children. He gritted his teeth. He glanced and saw throw up at the side of the hall.

"Damnation," he said feeling the mark burn more painfully as he approached Jenna's dorm. Then he ran into Piper.

"What are you doing here?" Piper asked. Percy stopped.

"Here to talk with Erica," Percy said. Piper eyed him.

"Did the Apollo children get you?" she asked teasingly. He nodded solemnly. Piper laughed ironically.

"You're walking to Jenna's dorm as well," Piper said. He nodded.

"I know, Jenna had someone do it to me, I swear I'm getting Erica's help,"
Percy said.

"Well if you're going to my dorm, would you help me?" Piper asked.

"Huh?" Percy asked.

"I'm pregnant and I'm having a hard time not throwing up in the hallway," Piper said.

"What do you want me to do?" Percy asked.

"Carry me," Piper ordered. Percy huffed and picked up pregnant Piper. He carried her to D2 304 and set her down on the couch. She hissed thanks and headed off to the bathroom to throw up. He saw Jenna but pushed through the pain and knocked on Erica's door.

"Hello Percy Jackson."