I noticed a man with an arrow sticking out of his ankle standing next to Nico.

"Do not do this, beware, turn back now, before it is too late"

"Achilles?" I asked. The figure only nodded. "I warned the other one, and now I will warn you both. Turn back now, it is not worth it" he said sadly.

I stepped forward, "I am sorry, but we must do this" I said confidently. He only nodded before shimmering away. I swear I heard him whisper "fools" as he disappeared, but it might've just been my imagination.

I gulped, not at all prepared for the swim we were about to take. I looked at Thalia, and she looked just as worried. I grabbed her hand, and after giving Nico a wink, we both jumped in.

When I made contact with the water I immediately dropped Thalia's hand and gasped in shock. The pain was unbelievingly excruciating. The worst I had ever felt in my short life. It felt like I was taking a bath in acid.

I felt like my soul was burning away, and that's when I remembered Nico's words. I thought about everyone that would keep me grounded to the mortal world.

I saw Annabeth and Clarisse go by. My father, Athena, and Artemis all drifted by. My uncle Zeus went by giving me a disapproving glare.

Zoe went by glaring at me, calling me a foolish boy. Reyna drifted by, "Perseus don't die now. You promised we would meet again" she said. A look of hurt flashed across her face and that's when I felt a tug about six inches under my right armpit. "Come on Perseus, grab my hand" she said as she extended her hand to me. I looked at it for a second before grabbing it.

It felt like I was being pulled by a cord from the spot below my armpit, and all of a sudden I was spit out of the river.

I looked up to see Nico with a smile, and Thalia looking at me in worry.

I got up and brushed myself off. "Well that sucked" I said. This cause Nico to laugh and Thalia to chuckle, "you can say that again" she said.

I thought back to it, Reyna grounded me to the mortal world. She pulled me out of the river, and my Achilles spot was about six inches under my right armpit. A spot that is protected well by my armor.

"So, did it work?" Nico asked. I grinned, and pulled on my necklace. My bow appeared in my hand and I fired a quick arrow into Thalia's leg.

"what the hell Percy" Nico shouted at me. I just gestured over to Thalia. He looked over and saw Thalia's leg was fine, and about a foot away lay an arrow with a broken off tip.

"Does that answer your question?" I asked mockingly.

He glared at me, "I'm going to bed, I'll see you guys tomorrow for the quest" he grumbled before shadow traveling away.

Thalia was about to teleport away, but I grabbed her hand stopping her in her tracks. She looked at me questioningly.

I just rolled my eyes, "so, where's your Achilles spot?" I asked in curiosity.

She looked at me dumbfounded, "you know we're not supposed to tell anyone where it is" she said shocked.

"Well, mine is about six inches below my right armpit" I said making her eyes widen. "We're in this together, and if I can't trust you, then all is lost anyway" I said seriously.

She nodded, "Mine is literally opposite of yours, six inches below my left armpit" she said.

That made me chuckle. We would be the ones to choose basically the same spot.

"Let's go, we got a long life to live, and it starts with tomorrow" I said disappearing in a flash of flames.

Line Break

I had been lying awake in bed for the past few hours. I sighed and decided to just get up. There was no point just lying in bed. I decided to go for a run, since my bag was still packed from the first part of the quest.

I ran around the perimeter of the camp a few times. On my third time around I noticed someone was sitting in the stands in the arena, and there were straw dummies littered across the floor.

I decided to see who it was. As I got closer I saw a head of blonde hair and figured I knew who it was.

I cleared my throat and she looked over at me startled, "Not very wise to be up this early" I said to her.

She just shrugged, "you're up" she said smirking, "and you have got to stop with the wisdom quotes" she said chuckling.

I took a seat next to her, and we fell into a comfortable silence. "what's that?" she asked. I was startled for a moment, not sure what she was talking about. I then noticed I had unconsciously started twirling the golden coin around in my fingers.

I flicked it and she caught it, only in her hand was the spear Thalia had made for me. "My dad had Hephaestus make it for me" I said. She looked at it amazed.

She flipped it and I caught the coin. "Hmm, yep, daughter of Athena alright" I said making her smile.

"Soo" I said making her turn to me, "what's on your mind. What brings you out here at this time of morning?" I asked curiously.

She shrugged, "I could ask you the same thing" she retorted.

I just smiled at that, "I couldn't sleep, too anxious for later, so I went for my morning run around camp and noticed you here" I said, "your turn."

She sighed, "I don't know. I just feel so useless. It was all of us on the quest to rescue Thalia and Lady Artemis. I just feel like I can't do anything here" she said sadly.

I wrapped her in a one-armed hug, "hey you're one of the oldest campers here, and one of the most valuable. The quest called for a child of the dead, and a huntress. After that it was easy to choose Thalia. Don't compare yourself to this quest like that, besides, it's probably better you're here. This quest is very dangerous, and sooner than we think we are going to have an army of monsters on our back door" I said trying to sound sincere.

She nodded confidently, "you're right, thanks Perseus" she said happily. She got this look in her eye that I've seen all too often in Athena's. "Wanna spar?" she asked.

Oh dear, I thought. "I'd love to spar, but it's not exactly fair" I said to her, not trying to sound like a dick.

She scoffed at me, "oh, if you think I'm too weak to fight you let's just see about that" she said angrily.

I held my hands up in surrender, "you misunderstand me" I said leaning down to pick up a bronze dagger. I plunged it into my chest, but the tip just completely broke off right as it connected with my chest.

She looked shocked before turning to me, "explain now" she said angrily. I sighed, "Me and Thalia took a dip in the styx late last night. Apparently, Luke has done it as well, and we need every advantage we can get" I explained to her.

She nodded in understanding, "Fine, let's go then, and I don't want you taking it easy on me" she said. When she saw my look of doubt she just smiled, "What? This just means I don't have to worry about hurting you now" she said smirking wickedly at the end.

I gulped. I pulled out my gold coin and flipped it. I caught it and in my hands was my sword. This seemed to throw her off a bit. She must have been expecting my spear. I charged her as she brought out her sword just in time.

Our blades clashed, neither one of us able to land a blow. I never realized how skilled Annabeth was with a sword. I had always seen her use a bow, or a knife.

I feinted a strike to her side and when she went to block, I kicked her back. I charged forward and tried an overhead strike at her head, but she brought her blade up to block just in time.

It had been going back and forth like that for a while, and I could tell she was beginning to get tired. She charged at me and I met her charge head on, only at the last second I did a baseball slide right under her, tripping her up.

I jumped to my feet and turned around, slashing a shallow cut in her thigh, she winced and I slashed a shallow cut in her arm.

She was beginning to get tired now, and was making mistakes. She was trying to use brute force, which is a sign of a child of Ares, not a child of Athena. I ignored it for now, but I figured I would tell her about it later.

All of a sudden she came at me and swung at my head hard. I blocked locking our blades together.

I saw an opening, so I brought my left hand down to her hilt making her eyes widen. I then twisted and pulled with all my might, doing a three-sixty and finishing with her sword tip at her throat and my sword behind her head. I had done that move so quick that when my sword went behind her head it had unintentionally gave her a little haircut. Ooops, I thought.

I backed away handing her sword back to her. All of a sudden the arena erupted in cheers. "What the hell" I said aloud. I had no idea people had been watching, and it was nearly packed. I saw Artemis in the crowd and winked.

I turned to Annabeth, "did you know they were all there?" I asked still in a stupor.

She shook her head, "I didn't realize we had been going for so long either, the sun is starting to rise now" she said.

I looked over and noticed for the first time that it was finally bright. I also noticed that I was extremely tired. During the fight I had unlimited energy and stamina it seemed, but now I felt twice as worn out as I usually do. It must be the curse of Achilles.

"Wanna go for a swim to cool off?" I asked. She shrugged and nodded.

I disappeared in a flash of flames to my cabin. I put on some board shorts, and decided to walk to the lake.

When I got there Annabeth was already there wearing a gray bikini that showed off her curves. She was beautiful, but I didn't think about her like that. We were just friends.

I willed a wave to come up onto the dock and douse her, and the next thing I heard was a loud shriek.

"Ugh Percy you are so dead" she screamed at me. I just shrugged and tackled her off the dock.

When I came up to the surface she glared at me. I just put a hand on her shoulder and she was immediately dry. She looked surprised, then gave me a smile.

"Wanna see something?" I asked. She shrugged so I pulled her down below and let us float down to the bottom. She had her eyes clenched shut, and seemed to be holding her breath. I whispered to her, "just breathe."

This seemed to relax her, and she took a breath. When she noticed she could breathe she opened her eyes and noticed the air bubble around us for the first time. She then looked around and noticed how beautiful it all was.

"Oh my gods Percy, it's so beautiful" she said in awe. I just nodded. We stayed like that for a while, just in a comfortable silence. I got bored so I lit my hand on fire. When she turned over to me her smile fell off her face and she rolled her eyes before flicking me in the head. I extinguished the flame, not wanting to be abused any more.

Eventually I brought us back up to the surface as I knew we would be having to leave on the quest soon. We climbed back onto the deck and I noticed how late it was.

"I'll see you later Annabeth" I said as I mist traveled back to my cabin. I changed quickly and grabbed my pack. I then bid farewell to my cabin and headed towards Zeus' fist.

When I arrived a girl I didn't recognize turned to me with a scowl, "you're late boy" she snapped at me.

Zoe looked at her murderously, and Artemis just said, "Alex stop now, this is Perseus. He is to be treated with just as much respect as Phoebe, Zoe, or myself"

The girl, Alex's eyes widened. She quickly apologized, but I just waved her off. "He has saved both Zoe and myself before, so I expect you to be able to work together on this quest at the very least" she said, although it came out more as an order.

Thalia and Nico arrived after that little skirmish.

Annabeth came to bid us farewell and she thanked me for this morning, saying she really needed it. I just waved her off and told her to stay prepared.

Thalia raised an eyebrow at me, "so what happened this morning?" she asked making kissing faces at me.

I scowled at her, "no, apparently we were sparing for a couple of hours, and had amassed quite the crowd" I said as I bid farewell to everyone. Telling Artemis and Chiron to start preparing as well just in case.

They nodded and I walked in between the rocks, touching the blue delta symbol. I jumped down when the trapdoor appeared.

The three girls all landed beside me, but Nico once again fell to the ground not so gracefully.

I sighed, "come on Nico, you gotta do better than that" I said shaking my head.

He scowled and got up as the huntress, Alex led us down the corridor. After a couple turns Thalia asked, "are you sure you know where we're going?"

Alex turned around with a glare, but it softened as she saw it was Thalia. "Yes, can't you guys see this path?" she asked. We all looked down and shook our heads. I lit my hands on fire and still couldn't see anything, but apparently she could as she said, "that's much better, yes, keep doing that"

I rolled my eyes, but kept my hands aflame anyway. We walked for a while before I felt something, "everybody stop" I said. The huntress turned around and glared, "Why? Can't keep up boy?" she hissed out.

I extinguished my hands and growled out, "unless you want to become the human torch for the rest of the quest huntress, I suggest you keep your mouth shut until I say otherwise" I said in a menacing voice, and clearly everyone got the message, as no one spoke for the next couple of minutes.

I took tidal wave out of my pocket and flipped it catching my sword in my hand. Thalia did the same and caught her sword as well. Everyone followed suit and brought out their weapons.

"Alex and Zoe cover us with aerial support. Me, Nico, and Thalia will take them head on" I said as Nico brought out his stygian iron sword.

"I don't take orders from males" the huntress said huffing.

Zoe turned to her with a glare, "then listen to your co-lieutenant and cover them with damn aerial support" she shouted at her huntress, shocking her. "I'm sorry, but you need to stop questioning everything Alex, Percy is the one male friend I have ever had, and he can be trusted" Zoe said not as threatening this time.

She just nodded and took out her bow. I got an idea. I flipped my sword and caught the coin putting it back in my pocket. I pulled on my necklace and my bow appeared.

I decided to try something that Hephaestus had told me would work. I notched an arrow and willed it on fire, but not just any fire…Greek fire. I launched the arrow and right as a dozen monsters turned the corner the arrow hit, exploding and causing all of the monsters that were in a twenty yard radius to disintegrate.

I heard a wolf whistle and turned to see Zoe grinning. I threw her a wink and willed my bow away before bringing tidal wave back out and flipping it.

I caught my spear and waited as more monsters began coming around the corner. This was a pretty narrow passage so it would work to our advantage.

"Thalia, stay here with Nico and battle from this side with the huntresses" I said calling out to her.

"What are you going to do?" She asked throwing me a glare.

I smirked, "Make sure none can escape, and there are no survivors" I said as I disappeared in a flash of flames and appeared around the corner at the back of the monster lines.

I threw a huge ball of Greek fire at the back of their ranks and the corridor was so small that it engulfed the whole back part of the army disintegrating a good ten to fifteen of them. I charged right through the wall of fire and into the fray.

I jumped over the spear of an empousa and stabbed my spear into a hellhound ending its life. I turned around and swung the spear like a baseball bat catching the empousa in the head and sending it back into a cyclops. This enraged the cyclops and it gave the empousa a beat down with its club.

This enraged a few other monsters around them and they all started fighting with each other.

I turned the corner and gasped. There was a hydra. I threw my spear at it and it embedded in one of the heads making it squeal in outrage. It turned its heads towards me and the middle head spit a ball of poison at me. I dodged it easily enough though.

Great, now I am weaponless. At least it's coming over here now. I turned back around the corner and saw that a cyclops was all that was left. I threw a ball of Greek fire into its face and disappeared in a flash of flames.

I reappeared by Zoe and told her, "hey, there's a hydra that I led over there. I need you guys to handle the rest of these monsters." I ran towards Thalia cursing as I checked my pocket and tidal wave still had yet to return to me.

"Having fun yet?" I asked smirking as I was throwing fireballs into the monsters.

"Nice job throwing that spear" she said smiling, and taunting me.

I shrugged, "do you see the hydra over here?" After I got no response I said, "exactly, oooh and lookie here" I said pulling out tidal wave and flipping it, "time to go kill said hydra" I said catching my sword and disappearing in a flash of flames.

I reappeared around the corner and saw the hydra looking around for me. I ran over to it slashing a deep gash in one of the necks, but not enough to completely decapitate it. I saw the middle head rear back and my eyes widened.

I tugged on my bracelet and my shield spiraled out and was coated in a layer of poison. I got a wicked grin on my face and willed my shield away, I needed one hand to cauterize the neck stumps anyway.

I disappeared and reappeared on the hydra. I swung down with all my might decapitating a head, so I threw a fireball onto the neck, cauterizing it.

This enraged the hydra and it threw me from its back. I crashed into the wall and my vision swam. Thalia looked at me shocked.

My instincts kicked in and I dove away just in time as a ball of poison crashed into the wall that I had just been thrown into.

The hydra was coming back over by everyone else now and that was bad news. I turned to Thalia and grinned as I charged at the hydra.

Two of its heads lunged for me and a third spit a ball of poison. I dove over the poison and came up running. I used the two heads like a step ladder diving off the second head. I flipped in midair and brought my blade down in a powerful overhead strike that decapitated another head.

I fell to the floor and quickly threw a fireball onto the neck. The hydra wailed, now only having three of its five heads. A dozen arrows connected with the hydras leg making it trip.

I grinned taking advantage. I charged forward and lit my sword in Greek fire. I took a huge swing at the hydras leg that still had the arrows in it. I connected and I cut a deep gash in its leg.

The hydra screeched and spit a ball of poison at me, making me dive away quickly to avoid it. I stood quickly and looked over to see Thalia facing the remaining monsters alone with Alex as backup. Zoe was covering me while Nico seemed to have been knocked unconscious. He had a huge welt on his forward which didn't look too good.

The hydra limped over now and I got an idea. "Thalia throw me one of those spears" I said gesturing to a couple of fallen weapons from defeated monsters. She nodded and threw it my way. I caught it and turned towards the hydra. I holstered my sword and charged.

I ran full speed towards it, throwing it off for a second, and at the last second I dug the spear in the ground like a pole vaulter would do and vaulted just out of reach over the front head, which was trying to swallow me in one clean bite.

I flipped and unholstered my sword. I lit it on fire and swiped hard with all my might on my descent. I went into a barrel roll and saw a head fall down next to me. Without wasting any time, I threw a fireball, immediately cauterizing it. That left just two heads, and about a dozen monsters.

I noticed then just how tired I was. I was exhausted and knew I wouldn't last much longer. I figured Thalia was probably the same way. She seemed to be slowing down. I then wondered if the poison would even affect me with the curse of Achilles. I had no idea, but I really had no intention of finding out.

I decided that sometimes flashy isn't always the best and I disappeared in a flash of flames, reappearing on one of the necks. I swung down and saw the head fall, so I threw a fireball quickly to cauterize it. I then screamed in pain as the last head had taken a huge bite out of my shoulder.

Of course it didn't break the skin because of the curse, but it still hurt like a bitch. The hydra threw me off of it, as it tried to figure out how to beat me.

I crashed into the wall hard…again. I looked up dazed as I saw the hydra set its sights on Alex. I saw her stiffen up and her eyes widen. Over my dead body, I thought.

The hydra reared its head back and with the last bit of my energy I flashed over there and knocked her to the floor right as the hydra spit a ball of poison at her.

I let out a guttural scream as the poison hit me in the leg. I guess that answers my question. "Thalia cut off the damn head" I yelled.

I saw black spots in my vision, but I could make out Thalia using the winds to propel her up to the hydras head. She ducked under a ball of poison and slashed her sword across its throat.

With one last effort I threw a fireball at the falling hydras body, hoping that I didn't miss and give my friends more trouble. The only thought in my mind being, "why do I always have to save people."

Line Break (Thalia POV)

I cut off the last head and saw Percy lazily throw a fireball, barely cauterizing the last head. I turned to ask him what the hell he was doing when I saw Zoe kneeling next to him pouring water on his leg, that's when I noticed the poison.

I ran over, "shouldn't the curse prevent that from affecting him?" I asked worriedly. Zoe looked up, "he bathed in the styx?" she asked me. I nodded, "we both did. Luke did as well. We need an even playing field" I explained.

She just nodded. I saw her grab his shoulder and thrust it forward making a sickening crunch. "What did you just do?" I asked. She sighed, "I just reset his shoulder, I should've known something was up when the hydra bit him in the shoulder and he only had a dislocated shoulder" she said.

"Heal him Thalia" Zoe shouted at me when I was just standing there unmoving. I glared at her, but was happy that she shocked me out of my stupor. I knelt by his side and poured more water on his leg. I then put my hands as close to the poison as I could and they began to emit an orange glow.

After ten long minutes, I sat back drenched in sweat. "He'll live, thankfully." I said tiredly. I noticed that Nico was sitting over by us now. Holding his head. I passed him a square of ambrosia and he accepted it gratefully.

"Good work my champion" I heard in my heard. I smiled, thankful for the praise from Hestia.

Alex finally spoke, "he saved me. I've done nothing except question him the whole quest and he sacrificed himself for me" she said feeling guilty.

I laughed, "don't worry about it Alex, Percy is always like that. Always trying to be the hero, and protect and save everyone. I will be having a very stern conversation with him when he wakes up. Anyway, let's just camp here for the night" I said laying down.

"Thalia is right Alex. This is the third time I have seen Percy sacrifice himself for someone to save them, and I have only known him for six months. We have only been on two quests together" I heard Zoe say.

The last thing I heard was Alex say she'll take first watch before drifting into the realm of Morpheus.

Line Break (Percy POV)

"Ughhhh" I groaned, as I opened my eyes and winced. Everything hurts, I thought. I conjured some water and splashed it on my face. It rejuvenated me enough so that I could open my eyes and look around. My shoulder kills and my body feels like it's on fire, I thought to myself.

I saw Alex out of the corner of my eye, "Can you toss me two squares of Ambrosia" I asked. She just nodded and handed them to me.

I ate them both and felt like I could at least sit up against the wall. I pulled myself up and saw my sword next to me so I flipped it and caught the coin. I began studying it as I leaned against the wall. I stuck it in my pocket and looked towards Alex.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, "Any injuries?" She just shook her head. I noticed that she had a pretty big scrape on her elbow from where I pushed her.

I conjured some water and willed it to cover her arm. This startled her at first, but she eventually relaxed into it. It took a few minutes, but it eventually healed up.

I sat back, my forehead beaded with sweat. I laughed a little bit, "Yeah sorry about that" I said gesturing to her elbow.

She looked at me with an incredulous look, "Are you kidding. No, I'm sorry Perseus. I have been belittling you the whole quest and you saved me. Thank you" she said graciously. "I can see how you are Zoe's only male friend" she said giving me a small smile.

I looked at her, "You're important to Zoe, and Artemis, I would never hurt them if I could help it" I said smiling. I shuddered, "Plus Artemis said if anything happened to you she would have my hide" I finished.

She just laughed at that, "you're alright Jackson. Well for a male at least" she said smirking.

I saw her look behind me before locking eyes with me again, "I wouldn't worry too much about Artemis if I was you" she said to me. I looked at her questioningly, but she just shook her head. "Goodluck jackson, you're gonna need it" she said looking at me with sympathy.

I turned around to see the glares of Zoe Nightshade, and Thalia. I gulped, this could be anything but good.

They proceeded to lecture me for a good half hour about how I needed to stop saving people and putting myself in danger. That just because I had the curse of Achilles didn't mean I could be so reckless all the time. They said a bunch of other nonsense that I nodded to and acted like I agreed, before Zoe thanked me for saving her sister.

Thalia then wrapped me in a hug and let a few tears out, telling me she couldn't do this without me, and that she needed me. This one really hit home, and I promised her that I would do my best to stop being so reckless. Seeing her like that broke my heart.

After my little intervention I grabbed a stray spear and used it as a walking stick.

Thalia woke Nico up, and Alex led us back down the path towards Daedalus' workshop.

We walked in silence for a while. The only thing on my mind was that most of us were pretty battered and bruised, and we needed to defend the camp at a moment's notice. It could get ugly.

We came to a door and heard shouting on the other side. "This is it" Alex said.

I nodded and pushed open the door. We saw a ghost like figure chasing around what looked to be an automaton of some kind.

"Minos" Nico growled.

A.N. There's chapter 10. Percy and Annabeth did a little bonding before the quest and I introduced my OC Alex. She's not going to be a big character or anything, but I thought it'd be fun to throw her in. Let me know what you thought of the chapter. I still don't know how I'm doing with the fight scenes, so any tips are welcome.