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Chapter 14—Percy's point of view

The only reason I didn't fall asleep right away was that I could hear Peter's mind at work all the way from the other side of the tent. Ten minutes went by and after deciding enough was enough, I got off my hammock and walked over to his. I knelt down by his head and patted his shoulder.

"You're wasting a valuable gift," I whispered to him, hoping not to wake the others. He looked at me in confusion.

"What gift?"

"Sleep," I replied, stopping him before he could protest, "You mortals are so lucky. When you guys sleep, your body gets to take a break, and sure you'll have the occasional nightmare, but the dreams you get are worth it."

"You sound as if demigods are deprived of sleep."

"We are in a way," I confessed, looking at my friends, "When demigods sleep, our dreams can be controlled by other demigods, gods, and sometimes the Fates show us events throughout time and space for us to witness. One time I dreamed about the death of Icarus as Icarus, who was real, by the way." Peter rose to a sitting position and regarded me.

"How did you know I was awake?"

"You're doing the same thing I do when my bro—" I realized I needed to backtrack my story, "Wait, wait, let me start over. My dad, Poseidon, had a son when I was six, and his name is Tyson. Back to where I was getting at, I would stay up sometimes because for most of the year he lives in my dad's palace, and I'm always wondering how he's being treated and if he has any problems that I should be there for. It's what big brothers do, or so my stepdad tells me."

"You mentioned him this morning, Paul was it?" I nodded, and Peter continued, "How does he treat you?" I breathed out a small chuckle.

"Like how any father should. He comes to my swim meets, he nags at me to do my homework, we argue over who gets the car. Basic father-son relationship."

"Did your mum take his name?"

"Yes and no. She goes by—" I blinked as I realized a crucial fact, "I never told you guys my mom's name!" Peter's eyes widen.

"You are not to tell me my niece's name before you tell Susan, do you understand?" I nodded my head in agreement, then snorted when Peter's face scrunched up as he realized what he just said. "Oh, sod off." Then he gave out a sigh, "Best we get some sleep then. Night."

"Night." I got up and walked back to my hammock, climbed onto it and made myself comfortable. I glanced over at Peter, and just like after his knighting, we came to the same conclusion. It's up to us to keep Susan and Lucy safe. I waited five minutes after I was sure that Peter was asleep before I relaxed and let my drowsiness lull me to oblivion.

I probably doomed myself by talking about demigod dreams. I was reliving my official first day at camp when I was playing pinochle with my teacher Chiron, my best friend Grover who I just learned was a satyr, and Mr. D, the god of wine Dionysus. Mr. D had just dropped the bomb that the Greek gods were real.

"Wait," butterflies were raging war in my stomach as I turned to Chiron, "You're actually telling me there's such a thing as a God?"

"Well, now," Chiron sighed, "God-capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether." The butterflies continued their war-dance as the dream changed to my first visit to the underworld. Annabeth had just taken my hand, and I found myself muttering a prayer though I wasn't quite sure who I was praying to. Time fast-forwarded to when Annabeth, Grover and I were witnessing the damned preacher getting escorted by some ghouls.

"But if he's a preacher," I wondered aloud, "and he believes in a different hell... ."

Grover shrugged. "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. You're very stubborn-er, persistent, that way." I never thought much about it, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I always felt that it had to be more complicated than that. Revisiting my memories was making me queasy, and pretty soon my nausea woke me up in a cold sweat. I tried to control myself without waking the others, and I managed to not feel like puking just as I heard the sound of a horse nearby.

Yo, Boss, you in there? A very familiar voice asked in my head. Instinctively I got up and as quickly and quietly as possible made my way to the tent's entrance. I stepped out into the night air and saw my friend Blackjack, a stunning pegasus of powerful stature with a midnight black coat. I breathed out in amazement and ran over to him, giving him a quick hug around his neck.

"How did you get here?" I asked.

"The calvary came to get us," the voice of Will said behind me. I turned and laughed at the sight of Nico and Will, and managed to trap them in a bear hug.

"Alright, enough, enough," Nico protested, squirming himself free. "So, when did you guys get here?"

"This afternoon—" I stopped mid-sentence when I noticed Mike standing a few feet away from us. "Hey there."

"S'up?" he replied back, a hint of hesitance in his voice. I gave him my trademark smirk.

"Welcome back to the good guy's regime." He smiled a little in gratitude, and my own grin got wider. Then it hit me. "Where's Edmund!?"

"Dude, shhh!" Will hissed at me, pointedly looking at the tent. "Ed's with Aslan, so it would be a good idea not to wake up Peter and have him find out just to send him back to bed." I nodded in agreement, then looked over at Blackjack.

"So how did you get here?"

I was circling the building you were in when this powerful blast of icy wind slammed into me and tossed me around. When I finally got control, I was over by the ocean. He pointed his wing to the east. The witch's goons found me and started chasing me all over the place until they caught me earlier this afternoon. I thanked him, then repeated the information to the guys.

"So pretty much what we went through," Nico commented, furrowing his eyebrows and rubbing his chin. It seemed like he was thinking about something else. He noticed my questioning look and cleared his throat. "Have you noticed anything... particular, about Aslan?"

"Other than he's the reason that lions are kings of the jungle and the beasts, no, not really. Though I'm not one to talk." If possible, Nico's frown deepened even more.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, every time I'm in his presence, I freeze. My body won't move, and my nerves get shot with excitement and longing, but also with dread and anxiety. Aslan said it's because I'm Susan's grandson and technically a prince of Narnia and that this heritage of mine is putting my body through overdrive since I also have my demigod heritage going on." Will and Mike nodded their heads like this made sense, but Nico just grunted. "What?" I asked him.

"Nothing, that does make sense, since I know something about Aslan that you don't," he replied. I blinked a total of three times before I processed what he said.

"Come again?"

"I've met Aslan back in Italy," he began to explain, "But I didn't remember the encounter until tonight. Look, it's late, and I was planning on telling you guys—well, our group, anyway—what I know in the morning. Can you wait until then?" I gave my consent and started to head back to the tent, but then I remembered who was sleeping with the girls, and I spread my arm out to stop the guys from going in.

"There is one thing you need to know," I said, "Leo—"

"I told them that Leo's back," Mike interrupted me. I blinked at him.

"Oh, thank you, but that wasn't what I was going to say, I wasn't even thinking about him."

"So what were you talking about that had to start with Leo's name?" Will asked.

"When Leo came back, it wasn't just him and Festus—"

"Who?" Mike blurted out.

"The mechanical dragon he rode on when he defeated Gaia," I elaborated, "Anyway, they weren't alone. They went to the island Ogygia and brought Calypso with them. Now, wait, wait," I whisper-shouted as they reached for their weapons, "she's on our side and, more importantly, she's a friend. So be nice when you meet her. Now we can get some sleep." I lead them into the tent and saw some dryads as they finished assembling three more hammocks. They exited through the open flap, but not before they each kissed my cheek. I rubbed it as the others passed me to their hammocks.

I headed back outside when I heard Nico whisper "Where are you going?" I turned around with a smirk on my lips.

"Midnight ride," was all I said, and just like that, I walked out and over to Blackjack and mounted him. "You ready?"

Let's do this, Boss! And as quick as a bullet he shot into the air, and as soon as we were high enough a gasped out a shriek of delight.

Thank you guys for sticking around! Have some cookies (::)(~)(::)(~)(::)(~)

Big shoutouts to TheAwesomePercyJacksonFangirl, EmpressofEasternCommonwealth, writingmermaid, Penny Lu, silverwolvesaresocool, Guest, Catrina Persephone, and limegreenarcher.

Special shoutouts go to team Percy, aka JelloGirl323, kdp, and crazyreader12 (who technically reviewed twice, you are so awesome). You guys get extra cookies (::)(~)(::)(~)(::)(~)

Okay, you know the drill by now, cast your votes for the next POV, and I'll see whose voice I hear. Also, a quick question, am I taking advantage of you guys by asking your opinions, be serious with me, I want everyone to enjoy the story, and if me asking you ruins the experience, let me know. My story is for you guys, not just for me.

Lot's of Love

~Navy