And also, for anyone who guessed who Percy's opponent was, yes, it's the minotaur. Somebody said Ares :P and I'm thinking they should maybe read that part again...

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

Percy's POV

The massive man swung his axe at me, and I jumped back instinctively. I dodged the axe, but landed too close to the lion behind me, and it attacked. If I hadn't been wearing the breastplate, the lion's claws would've shredded my back to pieces, but they glanced off the metal, and only knocked me to the ground. I fell on my face, and the lion pounced on my back.

I was starting to regret agreeing to this. But for the slim chance at freedom, it was worth it. That thought didn't last long though, as the lion sunk its teeth into my left arm. I cried out and stabbed blindly over my shoulder. The cat let go and snarled painfully, so I guess I hit something important. Scrambling out from under it I got to my feet and faced my opponent. From my experience in combat, larger usually meant slower, and I intended to use that to my advantage.

He swung the axe again, and I stepped calmly out of the way. My plan was to let him tire himself out, and then I could do my thing. It was going great until he backed me up to the edge of the ring. The lions were snapping at me, but I was just out of their reach. If I moved an inch either way except toward the bull horned man, they'd claw me to pieces.

He held the axe like a baseball bat, and got ready to knock me out of the park. His legs looked just wide enough for me to fit through, and when he started to swing, I dove through them. But as I dove, a lion caught my pant leg with its sharp claws, and I stumbled, crashing into the man. My head collided with his knee, and stars exploded in my eyes. Not sure what was above me, I swung my sword wildly, and felt it slice through something. There was an agonized roar, and the bull man hopped away, howling like a wounded animal.

I stood up and tried to clear my head, but it was throbbing, and I could already feel a huge bump rising beneath my hair. The man came at me again, and because I was still dizzy, tried to block his swing instead of dodging it. That was a mistake. The two weapons collided and vibrations shot up my arms. My sword was knocked out of my hands, and it spun away. Before I could react, the man grabbed me by the neck, and picked me up. I hammered at his hands, but he laughed and squeezed tighter. My breathing stopped, and my heart started race. Frantically, I lashed out at his face, trying to hit him in the eyes, but my hands bounced harmlessly off of his helmet. I started seeing black dots, and my head was spinning. My hands found the two bull horns on either side of his helmet, and I pulled as hard as I could. The helmet popped off, and I kicked him between the legs, in a very sensitive spot, with as much force as I could muster. The mans eyes crossed, and he dropped me. On the way down I spun the helmet around and stabbed the sharp horns into his chest. He stumbled backwards, tripped, and fell just within reach of the lions. They pulled him closer, and I turned away, not wanting to see a man eaten alive.

A few minutes later, the man was gone, and the lions were pulled back through the gates. I looked up to the balcony, but the king and princess were gone. A gate rattled open, and they walked over to me, flanked by guards.

"Well that certainly was something! Was it not?" yelled the king, and the crowd roared in approval.

"How do feel son?" asked the king, but I didn't hear him.

My attention was on the princess. I was smiling, despite what I just went through, and I couldn't take my eyes off her. Off her golden hair, and beautiful grey eyes. It might've been creepy, but she was looking back at me the same way, and I sure didn't mind. I could've stared at her all day, but one of the guards nudged me, and I was brought back to reality.

"I said, how are you feeling son?" repeated the king.

"Oh! Uh, never better," I laughed, although that was the exact opposite. "That guy wasn't so tough, but one of the lions got me."

I showed him the deep bite marks on my arm.

"Ooh, that does look painful. Not to worry though, you will be given all the necessary materials to ensure you're right as rain for the next challenge." said the king excitedly.

"Can I go now?" I asked.

I was pretty sure I would start screaming in about five seconds, and I didn't want the princess to think I was weak.

"Ah, yes. But first, what is your name?"

"Um, Percy. Percy Jackson."

The king nodded, and addressed the crowd.

"I give you, Percy Jackson!" he roared, holding up my arm. "I'm sure you are all just as eager as I to see more from this lad."

He let me go, and the guards led me down a different route. We were going in the opposite direction of the slave cells, and soon we came to a small room with several thick wooden doors around the wall. They opened one, pushed me inside, and then locked it behind me.

My new cell wasn't that much better than the old one; it had a bared window that let in sunlight, a low wooden bench, a few boxes, and a big sewer grate in the corner. There was a pipe above the grate, which I guess made it a makeshift shower, which was really nice. I looked all around the room, but couldn't see any way to turn it on, so I decided to forget about it for now.

Opening the boxes, I found towels, bandages and sewing needles. The bite on my arm wasn't really bleeding, but it didn't look deep enough to sew shut, so I just wrapped it in a bandage and left it.

Using a couple towels as pillows, I lay down on the bench and closed my eyes. I was about to roll over when I remembered the knife Travis had given me, and took it from my sleeve. That probably would've come in handy during the fight; I really need to remember things like that.

Closing my eyes, I got some much needed sleep.

I was woken by the sound of rain splashing outside. It was pretty dark out, do I figured the sun was just going down. The rain started to pour down a little harder, and I heard something rattling above me. It got louder and louder, and then water started to pour from the pipe. I laughed, and stepped under it, letting the cold refreshing water wash away the dust and grime I'd accumulated over the past couple weeks.

When I was clean, I went to step off of the grate, and it clunked. Getting down closer I jiggled the grate, and found that it was loose. The bolts that held it in place were old, and the stone they were stuck into was crumbling. I grabbed Travis' knife and gouged at the stone until the bolts were all free. Talking hold of the grate, I lifted, and it came off. I placed it to the side, and before I could second guess myself, jumped into the hole.

My feet hit the bottom before my head was below ground. That was good; I could get out easily. I crouched down and made my way down the drainage tunnel. It was slippery, but the roof started to get higher, and I could stand up straight. I walked for what seemed like hours, but realistically was probably only a few minutes, and saw light up ahead of me. Picking up my pace, I hurried to the end of the tunnel. It opened into a small lake, where the rain water drained. Wading into the water, I swam to the shore and looked around. I was just outside the city, and the nearest buildings were close. Luckily, it was dark and raining, so no one was out as I snuck through the streets.

Every once in a while I'd try a door to see if I could get in somewhere. I was wet, cold, and starving, if I could break into one of these houses, I could dry off and find something to eat. It was difficult though; I found a few houses with unlocked doors, but I could here people inside, and it would be impossible to get in without being seen.

I came to the richer part of the city, and it seemed like no one was there. There were no lights coming from inside the buildings, and the carriages that were usually parked outside were gone. The house nearest to me, which also happened to be the largest, seemed like as good a place to start as any, so I went to try the door, but it was already open.

Taking a few cautious steps inside, I listened carefully, but couldn't hear anything. They must've forgotten to close it, I thought, and continued into the house.

I headed straight for the kitchen, a threw open the pantry.

"On my gods." I muttered, awestruck.

There was more food in this one pantry than I've ever seen in my entire life. Diving in, I stuffed my face, and was soon lying on the floor groaning, my stomach about to burst. I laid there for a long time, perfectly happy, and almost dozed ff, when the pantry door opened behind me, and someone walked in.

"Oh! Uh, sir, I'm so sorry, I didn't think anyone was home, I'm just here to uh...inspect your pantry!" babbled the person quickly.

He put his hands behind his back, and walked around the room, pretending to examine it.

"Yes, everything looks to be in order. A right old pantry if I ever saw one." he said in and English accent.

Wait, English accent? Did he have one a minute ago?

"I do believe everything is fine, I'll just be on my way then. Have a nice eveni... Percy?" the guy said, and I realized who it was.

"Travis?"

"It is you!" he said merrily, hauling me up and giving me a hug. "What are you doing here? How did you get out?"

I explained to him about the triathlon and the drainage pipes, and how I used his knife to break out.

"That's great! I knew that thing would come in handy." he said, clapping me on the back. "Now we can hang out all the time."

"Well, actually no." I said. "See, if I stay out here, they'll come looking for me, and probably kill me when they find me. But if I finish this triathlon thing, they'll let me go, and I'll be a free man."

Travis understood that, although he thought the idea of being a fugitive was pretty cool.

"So why are you here?" I asked. "I'm guessing you're not really a pantry inspector."

"Ha-ha, that was a good one wasn't it? There's a huge party going on tonight, and all the rich people are there. Places like this are easy pickings." he explained. "Plus, we'll need something nice to wear of we're going to this fancy party."

Travis gave me a mischievous smile.

"Wait, what? You want to go to that party? What if someone sees me, they'll know who I am!"

"Don't worry about it," he said, leading me through the house, "it's one of those mask wearing parties, so no one will see your face."

We came into a large bedroom, and Travis threw open a closet filled with clothes.

"And you won't want to miss this thing," he said, throwing some clothes at me, "a party for the princess? This'll be great."

"The princess?" I asked, suddenly very interested.

"Oh, that's right; you're the one with the crush on her. You're coming." he declared. "And we're gonna have a great time."

We rooted around in the closet some more, and found a couple masks to go with our fancy new clothes. They were all black, with little white accents all over. Travis said it made us look mysterious, but I didn't see it; they were just clothes after all.

Turned out there was even a carriage out back that we drive over to the party, so we didn't ruin are new clothes in the rain.

When we got to the party, which was in a huge cathedral a few minutes away, the door was blocked by guards. That didn't bother Travis though; he simply picked the lock on the back door, and we slipped inside.

Travis told me to meet him by the back door at midnight, and then he disappeared into the throng of people, as I went in search of those gorgeous grey eyes.

I looked around for a while, but couldn't find her anywhere, so I decided to get something to drink. There was a huge bowl of something red, and I dipped a glass in to taste it. It was pretty good, so I dipped my cup in again and again, draining each one in a single gulp.

"Someone's thirsty." I heard someone laugh behind me.

I turned and saw a girl in a beautiful silver dress, and an awesome owl mask. She had curly blonde hair, and amazing grey eyes. The princess.

I tried to say something, but my mouth was still full, and it spilled out all over me. The princess laughed even harder than before.

"Here," she said, grabbing a napkin and dabbing at my shirt. "That's better. Wouldn't want to ruin such a nice shirt; I know someone with one just like it. They aren't cheap."

The whole time she was talking, I didn't take my eyes off her. I still didn't. Even behind the mask, she was beautiful.

"I'm Annabeth," she said, and stuck out her hand to shake.

I took her hand and kissed it, and she let out a little surprised breathe.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Annabeth." I said politely, and let her hand go.

"Am I in the presence of a gentlemen?" she asked, smiling. "And what do I call you?"

I took both of her hands an leaned in close.

"Let's dance," I whispered, "then maybe I'll tell you."

Maybe these clothes were making me mysterious, I thought. I led her over to where people were dancing and took her waist in one hand, and her hand in the other. We swayed back and forth, it was a slow song, and I concentrated on not stepping on her feet. I'd never really danced before, but Travis had given me a little instruction on the way over, so I was doing ok. Apparently he was the 'dance king', but this was coming from the guy who called himself the master of thieves, so I wasn't so sure. I'd have to find him so he could show me his moves.

"So? What do I call you?" she asked, but I pretended not to hear her.

"This is a really nice party, and it's all for you?" I asked, dodging her first question.

She groaned.

"Yes. My betrothal party." she said, and she didn't sound at all happy. "There's my fiancé." she said, nodding towards a man across the room.

"You don't sound too happy." I noted.

"I'm not. I don't want to marry him; my father just thinks it's a good idea because his family is rich."

"Why do you need more money? Aren't you royalty already?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. If it were my decision, there would be no royalty; I think the whole idea is stupid. I should have to get a job like everyone else."

We danced in silence for a few minutes.

"What do you do?" she asked me.

I'm a slave, I thought. I don't have a job. But I couldn't tell her that, if she new I was a slave, she wouldn't want to talk to me. Heck, she'd probably call the royal guard and have me locked up.

"I uh, work in the colosseum." I replied, which wasn't a total lie.

"Oh." she said quietly, her eyes dropping to the floor. "And how do you like it there?"

"It's terrible. I can't stand all the killing, how brutal it is. But I don't really have any other choice."

Annabeth's eyes got the happy sparkle they had before, and she smiled again.

The song ended, and we stopped dancing.

"So, my mysterious friend, what is your name?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I don't know if I should say." I said uncertainly.

I had told her and her father my name just this morning, and if I told her now, she'd know I was a slave.

"No, you're going to tell me. I demand you tell me." she said in her best princess's voice.

"Annabeth, I don't think it's a good-" I started, but she reached up and tore my mask away.

For a moment, she examined my face, then her eyes narrowed for a second. Then they widened, and she gasped. I readied myself for her to freak out, slap me, or call security, whichever came first.

R&R