Wow… 9 months… damn am I mean.

Before you all kill me, let me explain myself.

Yeah, I know I was supposed to continue writing after I came home from my trip. The thing is, once you ditch a habit for like a week and a half it's kind of difficult to get back into it.

I've also been working on A LOT of original work. I have a novel about the Mad Hatter going with a few chapters complete and I have to keep working on that because I have a really complex plot with it and I need to keep it all fresh in my mind. I've been writing a lot of poetry too, if you want to check them out I've posted a few on my tumblr: themangochild

There's also this thing called writer's block that I'm sure you've heard about. When I came home I had SERIOUS writer's block and it got worse over the summer. I had such big plans over the summer full of writing and art, but my creativity seemed to be completely depleted.

I know this is sounding like a lot of excuses and it was completely unacceptable of me to completely ditch you guys for 9 months… that's long enough to grow a baby… ew…

Anyways it's not just these things that have been getting in the way. I'm in my third year of high school, grade 11. This is where marks are insanely important and after last year, I really need to get my butt in gear. If I'm going to try writing updates they'll probably take longer and be shorter. I know, it sucks but it's the best I can do and I can't make any promises but I'll try to keep updating when I can.

This was my last week of school before the winter holidays and it has been the most draining week of my entire existence. Watching probably the most influential person in my life slowly deteriorate in a hospital bed has screwed with both my emotional and mental state and I've had to mature quite a bit. It's strange to think he used to fly a fighter plane, nearly dying on several occasions, and the things that take him down in the end turn out to be pancreatic and prostate cancer. As if things couldn't get worse for him he had a heart attack followed by a stroke a few days ago, leaving him paralyzed in his left side. When I went to visit him it was the most terrifying sight that I'd ever had the horror to lay my eyes upon. It's hard, seeing him like this and until this all plays out to the bitter end that is inevitably coming, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update.

But! It's winter break; I have three weeks to maybe get some writing done. I want to write one for Rise of the Guardians but I know I have to finish the ones I've got going now.

This is all I've managed to write for you guys. I'll see if I can update tomorrow. I'm going to see a play with my family C:

I'm pretty excited, we've never gone to see a play before. In fact we don't get out much in general….

Anyways, enjoy this little snippet and once again, I apologize for keeping you all hanging like this.

...

Dread seeped into the pit of my stomach as I saw Frank and Hazel make their way to my bedside. I sighed, exasperated and my eyelids drooped.

"Dude, what the hell happened?" Frank asked as he studied me, his eyes widening at the sight of all the gauze and bandages that covered me. I looked like a badly wrapped mummy.

"Oh our bus just crashed, no biggie," I replied, looking at them with half opened eyes. I'd tried so hard to keep them out of this, but no. Naturally they just have to come running after me. "You guys shouldn't be here," I breathed, letting my head loll to the right and I closed my tired eyes.

"How did you find us?" Annabeth asked, peering out from behind the map.

"Hera told us where you guys were," Hazel said.

"Dammit Hera," I whispered, too exhausted to talk. I didn't need more distractions like Frank and Hazel. If it weren't for the ambrosia and nectar I'd probably be a corpse by now and these injuries were just slowing us down. Oh, and of course there's the poison that seemed to have disappeared completely. I hadn't felt any of the symptoms since we started this quest which left me suspicious.

I bet this whole dilemma was Hera trying to keep me out of the picture. Annabeth, Jason, and I had become known for nosing about in quests and the fate of the world much to Grover's discomfort. We just wanted to know if we could stop things from getting bad to worse. We wanted to freaking help, but I had a feeling that Hera was up to something that the other gods wouldn't approve of.

"What did she tell you?" Jason asked.

"That you guys needed help and the hospital you were all in," Frank replied.

"I think she sent you guys after us to see if you could make me change my mind in finishing this quest," I said quietly.

"Why? I thought you guys were just going to try and find the camp? Or is there more to this quest that you're not telling us?" Hazel asked. I opened my eyes to be met by her piercing gaze.

"Yes, there's more," I breathed.

"Percy, are you sure we should tell them?" Jason asked, his eyes darted back and forth from me to Hazel and back again.

"They'll find out eventually," I said. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Annabeth biting her lip, her eyes staring off into space and I could practically hear the gears in her brain working on over drive.

Grover was standing in the corner and I noticed he was avoiding eye contact with everyone. This was strange, he had never been this timid around us, his friends, but then the realization hit me.

Grover never came on the quest with us…

…..

It wasn't until I reread the last chapter did I notice I accidentally threw Grover in there. oops…

So I guess I'll have to do something about that. I'm actually surprised you all didn't catch onto that. What do you guys have in mind? Any ideas you want to throw in? Also regular reviews or private messages will help motivate me to keep writing, I sometimes forget until I get a review and I mentally slap myself for not working on it.

I'm also willing (after I finish this of course) to take on requests for oneshots. If you have an idea that you'd like to be turned into a story go ahead and message me and I'll see what I can do C: These will be strictly oneshots so please don't ask for more… because I'll probably end up writing more and then ditching it like I did with this one.

It's 3:01 am and I'm going to go to sleep now. I got 2 hours of sleep the other night, not fun…

-Memento mori and Sweet Nightmares-