Chapter 10

A/N: I got a tip from a fan to keep going and going, so I decided to continue till the end, which may be a while. Thank you IamKatieDaughterofDemeter

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Me: Oh, I forgot. Everyone is still out, still don't know why though. Annabeth left a note though. Ahem,

Dear readers,

Percy and I have gone out to hunt for Thalia and Nico. We probably won't be back for a while, so we will step in for this one time. Unknown does not own PJO or HoO. Oh, and one more thing, Percy wanted to say this one line from Pirates of the Caribbean. Oi, fish face!

What a Seaweed Brain.

Annabeth Chase 'aka' Wise girl.

Me: Like she said. On with the show!

Percy POV

When dawn broke, I wanted to know more about what happened last night. Annabeth looked shaken up as well, so I'm guessing that she had the same dream. She cried into my shirt, and I had to walk around camp with a big wet spot on it. If anyone asked me if I had an accident, I was going to tie them in a sack full of weasels, and throw them into the river (I'm talking to you, Stoll brothers!)

I walked into the city and bought a new one. Turns out, drachmas were accepted. I have to remind Lucas later.

Lucas? Well, she and Jake were in the same cohort, but she still blushed whenever he was around. I didn't say much to her this morning, but they she waved Joy around, and challenged Frank to a friendly duel. Now, Frank has gotten better with the sword ever since we left to fulfill the Prophecy of Seven. I trained him on the Argo II (Which Leo drove into the Acropolis in Greece), and even when we stayed in Athens. I must say, he is almost as good as me.

Ok, enough with talking about myself, let's continue. I talked to Terminus for a little bit before I left the city, and he was reminiscing the time we slayed Polybotes. He was telling me that he was flexing his muscles, and I almost laughed. As much as I wanted to, I could not remind him that he was nearly destroyed when we defeated him. I was going to talk to Reyna later about adding arms to all of his statues.

I'm going to ask Cody to join me for a duel in the arena later. Let's face it, I'm a bit out of shape since Capture the Flag the other day. I sat down at the cohort's table, and Lucas was smiling next to Frank. "Hey guys, how'd it go?" I asked.

Frank groaned. "Ask Miss Rainbow over here," he said.

I raised an eyebrow. "It took a while, but I beat him hard. Hazel came by in the middle of the duel, and he got so distracted. I disarmed him, and he turned into a mouse and ran away. What color did you turn into?" she asked.

"I'm not talking about it," he muttered.

She smiled. "He turned into a pink mouse."

I'm sorry, but I laughed. We all did, and I think I saw Frank chuckle. I looked around, and Cody was still nowhere to be seen. "Hey, have any of you seen Cody today?"

Frank looked puzzled. "Cody who?"

"Cody. He said he's the son of Lightning. Black hair, black eyes, has a scar on his right eye." I said.

Lucas was staring into space. "I don't know. I found out the other day that I can find people by reading their mind. Right now, he is nowhere near camp. Where ever he is, it must be covered by the Mist," she said.

Ok, that is cool. Locating someone by using their mind, remind me to not play Hide-and-go-Seek with her later. Bummer, I was looking forward to see how he fights. Frank looked up into the sky, and frowned. "Something is wrong on Mt. Tam. I asked Nico to check it out, but something was blocking his power of shadow travel, which I really want to have," he said.

I looked at him like he was the craziest demigod around. "So you don't want to be the animal shape shifter anymore? Can I have it?"

"No."

We laughed. It took a while, but we all decided to go to the arena. When we arrived, there was Nico hacking away at the training dummy. He looked miffed, so we turned tail and left.

"Hey Percy!" he called out.

Hades. I told Frank and Lucas that I would catch up to them later, and I ran up to Nico. "Hey man, what's up?"

He cut off the head of the dummy. "I can't shadow travel. I can't summon skeletons, and someone took my favorite t-shirt. You know, typical stuff," he said.

I shook my head. "Well, I heard that you can't get to Mt. Tam," I said.

"Yeah I know. I was thinking of going up there anyway. Look, as much as I want to join you guys for Cody's master plan, you know I'm not a team player. I feel more at home here, but I can't stay long," he said. "Might as well go up there and give Atlas the Helm and leave with my father."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Dude, you sound like your father. You don't want anything to do with Olympus, but we need you. You are the Ghost King, you convinced Hades to help during the Titan war, and you found the Doors of Death and closed them. You broke Cody's back for Zeus' sake, you have more guts than anyone has," I said.

I could swear that I saw him crack a smile. "Thanks Perce. By the way, I think we should make sure you know how to fight with a trident," he said.

I smiled, and uncapped Riptide. My own trident burst out, and I could smell the sea. "Wait, that's not your father's trident, is it?"

I shook my head. "It turned into Neptune's trident when we entered camp, so I buried it under the Tiber River. It should be safe until we march toward our death," I said.

I must say, it was my most brilliant idea yet. Keep it under water and guarded with some of Athena's greatest undersea traps. Another thing that they worked together on. Camouflage nets and electric charges embedded on the staff. If anyone finds it but me, they would taste a small sample of Zeus' master bolt. Thank Thalia and Jason for that idea.

Nico charged at me with his Stygian Iron sword, but I blocked it easily. His sword got caught in between the prongs, and I quickly threw it away. Nico kept his grip, and flew away with his sword.

He grinned, and charged at me again, and attempted to stab at me. I swung away his blade with the staff, and he punched me in the ribs as he changed course. He swung around, and hit me with the butt of his sword. I stumbled, and covered my eye. The tip of my staff was next to his feet, and swung it. He lost his balance and fell on his podex.

He did a backflip, and took a defensive stance. He swung at me, and I blocked with my staff. His sword grazed it, and slid off as I lunged in. The prongs glowed green, and made contact with Nico's core. The thing I like about this is that I can stun whoever touches it. I got some electric eels to help with that.

He stumbled a little bit, but he swung at me. My trident and his sword clashed, but I saw a flash of silver connect with our weapons. I turned around, and there was Cody with his sword (he told me it was called a rapier sword). He smiled, and we broke away.

"You guys didn't think you would train without me, did you?" he asked.

Nico smiled, and swung at Cody. He blocked, and I swung my trident. The prongs grazed against his face, and nearly exclaimed in pain. He fell over, covering his eye.

Oh gods. I kneeled down to see his eye, but he quickly got up, and tripped me. He jumped up in the air, and landed behind Nico. "First rule of fighting: don't lower your guard, even for a second," he said.

Hades. Annabeth always told me that, why didn't I listen? I quickly got up, and stabbed him with the trident. He groaned, and Nico hit him with the butt of his sword.

I almost thought he was a sword master, but he was barely fighting. I aimed my trident at him, and Nico did the same. "Checkmate," I said.

Cody smiled. He swung his sword, knocking my trident away, kicked Nico's sword away, and jumped to his feet. "Never underestimate your opponent."

Nico swung his sword, but he blocked it like it was no problem. I changed my trident back to my beloved Riptide. I swung at him, and he knocked it away. I went for a stab, and he knocked it away again.

"En guarde!" he announced.

He swung his sword, and it felt like I blocked a steel pipe. He had a strong swing, but I had my Percy moments on my side. I swung, but he knocked it away and returned the favor. There it was again. I aimed for his legs, and he jumped up. He landed in a single hand-stand.

I smirked, and swung for his hand. He jumped up, and disappeared. I don't know why, but my sword felt heavy.

"Hey, this is a nice view of the camp," someone said behind me.

I looked behind me, and Cody was there, standing on my raised sword. He smiled at me, and jumped off. Wait, what just happened? Before I could figure it out, he appeared behind me and tripped me. I fell to the ground, and my sword flew away. He walked in front of me, and aimed his sword at me.

"Checkmate," he said.

I saw Nico sneaking up on him, and he swung his sword at his back. Cody, without turning his attention, raised his sword and blocked Nico's. He looked shocked, but that wasn't the end of it. Cody spun around, and kicked Nico behind the legs. He fell next to me, and Cody smiled at the both of us.

"Good work guys. I have to admit, I was a bit scared when you," he pointed at me, "swung with your trident. And Nico, you're sneaky technique at the end."

We slowly got up, and he shook hands. We all walked away toward the barracks, where Annabeth and Piper were playing a card game. When Piper saw us, she whispered something to Annabeth, who chuckled.

"Hey boys, how was practice?" Piper asked.

I told them what happened, and when I told them that Cody beat me with the sword, Annabeth's eyes widened. "The first person to beat you since, well, when did you get defeated?"

I shrugged. I've held the title of undefeated ever since I first defeated Luke. "That was only practice," Cody said. "If I ever fought against him in battle, he might beat me. He has potential, maybe he could challenge Atlas and win all by himself."

"Oh no," Annabeth said. "At least, he needs an army of demigods behind him. The prophecy said that it was a quest for all, and it all ends tomorrow. We fight as one, like Percy said yesterday."

I smiled. "Oh I know. I've done it before," he said.

I wonder who he defeated in his life. I have a feeling it has something to do with the evil I saw in my dream. I have to talk to Grover later to see if he felt the fear I felt.

"Oh, and before I forget. Percy, what you saw last night, it was one of my biggest mistakes," he said.

"Whoa, wait. You're telling me that you were the skeleton that was in my dream?!"

He nodded. Nico suddenly looked interested when I mentioned skeleton. "What are you guys talking about?" Piper asked.

I told them my dream from last night. The nightmare seemed way too real when I was telling them because I saw the fear in Annabeth's eyes. When I was finished, Nico looked like he won the lottery.

"Red eyes?" Annabeth asked.

Cody shook his head. "In real life, his eyes were gold. I know because I escaped right before everything turned to darkness. After that, the biggest war in history happened. People called it the Dark war," he said.

Annabeth was about to run in the barrack and get her history book, but Cody stopped her. "It's not written in history. People don't want to be reminded of those years. You all should be lucky that you weren't here when that happened," he said.

Annabeth was about to ask something, but the horn blew in the distance. Annabeth and Piper put the cards away, and we all walked away from the porch.

In the pavilion, Chiron and Reyna were standing next to each other in front of the whole camp. "Due to a recent change in the weather, we have canceled the war games. Tomorrow, we march onward to Mt. Tam, so tonight, after evening muster, Camp Half-Blood's Apollo children will lead the sing-along!" Reyna and Chiron said in unison.

Half of Camp Jupiter groaned, especially the Mars and Ares children. Come to think of it, the sky has been cloudy all day, and I bet that there might've been a storm brewing in the distance. Camp Jupiter trains day in and day out, so they deserve a break. After all, we played their Deathball yesterday and that was fun.

"There will be an early morning war meeting tomorrow in the arena. Vulcan campers, make sure that the forges are fully stocked afterward!" Reyna added. "May Fortuna bless us all in battle. Senatus Populusque Romanus!"

Everyone cheered and went to dinner. I will admit, I was kind of glad that we didn't have war games. Sometime this morning, someone had a paintball gun, and ambushed me on my way to the arena. (I didn't mention it because it's embarrassing for the hero of Olympus to be ambushed and attacked by a punk with a paintball gun)

As we ate at our table, Annabeth was telling us a joke that involved a stone cutter and Athena. I didn't think it was funny, but I laughed anyway. Don't tell her I said that. Frank saved us by telling us a joke, and that was a good one.

Nico seemed to be enjoying his time here as well. He still looked pale as a ghost, and I swore that we'd take him to either a tanning salon or the beach in the summer because that was creepy sometimes. You should've seen him when he dressed up as the Grim Reaper last year. Ugh, that was too scary.

Thalia was hanging out with Jason, who was trying to get everyone to sing again. Gods, he isn't an Apollo child, and he might ruin the sing-along later.

Lucas appeared after strangling Travis. I'll tell you this, Lucas won't be using the bathhouse with them around anymore. Jake blushed when she came over. I smiled, remembering the times when Annabeth and I used to hang out, and I'd used to blush if she brushed her shoulder on mine, or hold my hand for comfort. Remember the first Underworld visit? Yeah, you do.

Anyway, dinner ended and it was time for the sing-along. Reyna allowed Chiron to get a fire pit for it. With about 200 pounds of fizz rocks and a torch, we sang to the classics (I call them classics because its 2032 now).

We sang to 'I'll make a man out of you', 'Battle hymn of the Republic' and a few songs from Green Day, which Thalia enjoyed. We also did Beethoven's 9th symphony (I recommend listening to it, it's awesome)

We finished with a song by 'Phantom of the Opera', which I was forced to watch with mom a few biological years ago. We held the high note for so long, Travis fainted. "Drama queen?" I mumbled to myself.

Cody seemed to enjoy the sing-along because he looked and sounded like he was the Phantom. At least he wasn't wearing the mask.

"Campers!" announced Chiron. "Pleasant dreams, remember, tomorrow everything returns to normal!" he announced.

He waved his hand over the fire, and everything went dark. We all walked back to the barracks, and I couldn't help but overhear the critics.

"Greeks and their music," one mumbled.

"Never felt so embarrassed," another one said.

"I'd rather listen to Octavian rant about the Greeks."

At that point, I was about to pummel a Roman, but Annabeth stopped me. "Hey Seaweed Brain, don't let them get to you like that," she told me.

Believe it or not, I nearly ignored her. Well, I did. I picked up a small rock, and chucked it at the guy who said it was embarrassing. He went down hard while some of surrounding Romans chuckled. Eventually, someone helped him up, and they continued to walk.

This time, Annabeth got in front of me, and stopped me from entering the barrack. "Percy, listen!" she demanded. "Just let them talk about whatever they want. They're just tone deaf idiots."

She never said that about anyone. She really saw that I was miffed. "Why not we just sleep, and you can take your anger out on a few monsters tomorrow?"

I smiled, and kissed her forehead. "Alright, this time you're right," I said, jokily.

She slapped me upside the head, and laughed. "As long as I am arguing with you, I'm always right."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"Well, sometimes," I said.

She smiled, and we both entered the barrack. She went off to the girl's side of the house, and wished each other a good night. I jumped in my bunk, and quickly fell asleep. This time, I saw Mt. Tam.

I was hiding under the cover of a boulder. Luckily, Atlas was nowhere to be seen. I looked around, and there was my father, Lord Poseidon, keeping the weight of the sky on his shoulders. He was in his giant form, so it looked easy for him, but I was wrong. I saw beads of sweat on his forehead, and his arms weakening. I looked around, and I saw the other gods standing in line, cuffed with Celestial Bronze chains. Athena seemed to be the next in line.

Poseidon looked down on me, and made a weak smile. "My-my son. The-there you are," he said.

I approached him, and kneeled. "There is no time for formalities, so I must act fast. You need to get us out of here."

"I know father, we are working on a plan to get you all out of here," I said.

"I know, but that is only the half of it. You don't realize how many monsters guard the mountain now. It's triple the amount from the Titan war, so I hope you have a big army," he pleaded.

I smiled. "We are working with our Roman friends. We are here in California, we have the numbers. We will rescue you," I promised.

He struggled with the sky, but held it firm. "There is also a demigod here, keeping an eye on everything. He's very strong, I hope you can best him."

I smiled. "Don't worry, I never lost to anyone."

"Are you sure about that, my old friend?"

I silently turned around, and new worry washed upon me. Standing behind me was a kid around my age. He had dark golden hair, and red eyes. He looked about 6'1 and was tan. In his hand was a 21 inch sword with 12 gems on the hilt. I remember him from Camp Half-Blood, before he left all of a sudden.

"Jace? Jace Night?"

His wicked smile greeted me. "I await you, Percy Jackson. I heard that you've gotten stronger since we first fought. Let's see how much of a man you are," he said.

I was about to pull out Riptide, but with a wave of his hand, I found myself falling into a hole. Darkness enveloped me, and I was met with a bright light.

I woke up staring into Cody's face. "Dude, wake up. It's morning."

I looked around, and everyone was gearing up for battle. "Yeah, um, ok. Give me a minute," I said.

He looked at me with concern, but he walked away. As I controlled my breathing, I knew two things. One: My father and all the Olympians were in danger. Two: Jace Night challenged me, and I wasn't going to back down.

A/N: Well? Please review, and thank IamKatieDaughterofDemeter for Jace and Lucas Night. The gang still isn't back yet, but they might return soon. Please, please review. Thank you!

-Unknown