Author's Note: Hey! I updated again so soon to make up for the break I took recently. A lot happens, because I'm trying to speed it up. To me, at least, it seems like some chapters are forced or are fillers. I think the story will have about 35-40 chapters, and now, I'm not sure if or when I'll do the sequel. Thanks for reading! :) Please review and take part in the poll on my profile.

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Guest: Thanks! :) Yeah, I didn't want to stop the story in the beginning right after the real book came out! :) Thanks again for reading and reviewing. It means a lot to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, HOO, the PJO characters, and the HOO characters. Rick Riordan owns all of that.

Enjoy! :)

Chapter 21

PERCY

"Almost there, maybe an hour or so, but it looks like there's a storm coming," he reported.

"Storm?" Leo groaned, "Why?"

"Why?" Percy asked, "How am I supposed to know? Did you expect the weather to be nice and sunny for us? This is probably someone messing with us."

"Still, I don't want to get wet," Leo grumbled.

Percy laughed and sat back down. "Bring an umbrella. I'm sure it won't be too hard, right? Just fighting some giants and monsters with one hand. Hold the umbrella in the other," he suggested.

"Sure, Percy," Leo rolled his eyes. "But, Jason, can't you stop it?" he whined.

"Leo, even if I could, I wouldn't. Suck it up, it's just the rain!" Jason said.

"Are we there yet?" Leo complained.

"Leo, just shut up! You're the one running the ship, shouldn't you know?" Piper said.

"Don't charmspeak me, Beauty Queen!" Leo replied.

"Leo, every time I talk, I'm not charmspeaking you! I can talk normally, you know," Piper defended.

Leo rolled his eyes, "Sure Beauty Queen."

"Leo," Piper warned, "One more word, and I swear, you won't be able to walk out into the storm."

Percy laughed as Leo shrank back into his seat, not making eye contact with the angry daughter of Aphrodite sitting opposite him.

"So, has it started raining yet? Do you know?" Hazel asked, directing the question to no one in particular.

"I'll check," Percy offered.

"And I'll go with you," Annabeth added quietly.

The two demigods softly walked out of the meeting room where everyone else was moping until they arrived at Italy.

Percy shuffled down the hall, Annabeth right beside him. It was cold, and the storm would definitely not help on their quest. The storm would probably only become worse, and the weather would only turn colder as they got closer and closer to Rome.

"Is there something you wanted to talk about?" Percy said, wondering why Annabeth had offered to come with him when they were just walking outside and back.

"Not particularly. Does there have to be something to talk about for me to walk with my boyfriend?" Annabeth asked.

Percy blushed. "No."

She nodded. "The prophecy's not too bad, right?"

"What?" Percy said, confused that she brought up the prophecy. "Um, it kind of is, Wise Girl. There's a huge chunk of it that says straight out that something bad is going to happen to a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena."

Annabeth sighed. "It could be someone else."

He rolled his eyes. "Totally," Percy said sarcastically, "Because Leo is so the son of the sea, and Hazel is the mark of Athena. Absolutely."

Annabeth elbowed him lightly. "Thanks," she said, "for at least lightening the mood."

He nodded and grinned. "What else am I supposed to do, with you all moping, and everything?"

"I am so not moping!" she protested.

Percy laughed. "Fine, but the others are, at least." He followed Annabeth up the stairs to the deck.

He heard Annabeth mutter something on deck and laughed. "What did you say?" he asked, as he got up on deck.

"Oh my gods," he breathed. It was pouring, like pouring really hard. They were getting drenched, and could barely see through the rain five feet in front of them.

"Let's go back inside," Annabeth suggested, pulling Percy back inside.

"You okay?" Percy asked. They were both inside and shivering.

"Can't you just—dry yourself?" Annabeth asked, teeth chattering.

Percy closed his eyes. Usually he could dry himself without even really thinking about it, but it was harder, maybe because they weren't in America.

He opened his eyes, expecting to be dry, but he wasn't—he was still completely soaked.

"Um…what?" Percy asked.

Sensing his confusion, Annabeth suggested, "Why don't you try drying me off? Maybe it'll be easier."

Percy grabbed her hand and squeezed lightly, concentrating hard. He was doing everything he'd done previously to dry someone, and more, but it just wasn't working. There was no tug in his gut, and no rush of power, small or big.

He sighed and let go of her hand. "I just can't do it. It's so annoying."

Annabeth gave him a hug. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Maybe it's not working because it's rain."

He nodded sadly. "You're probably right. We should, uh, go back now. They're probably wondering where we are."

"Yeah," she said.

They trudged back to the meeting room in silence, shivering.

"What happened to you guys?" Piper asked, standing up as they entered.

"It's pouring out there," Percy explained. "You can barely see in front of you."

"Can't you just dry yourself off?" Leo asked. "You know, with all your fancy son of Poseidon powers?"

Percy looked away uncomfortably. "Well, I'm going back to the room to get dry before we get there."

"Bye," Annabeth called. She, too, was leaving to go dry off in her room.

"Bye," he replied, walking quickly back to his room. He'd have to try the rest of his powers out, the sooner the better. It was weird. Even though he hadn't really needed to use his powers in a while, they weren't supposed to leave.

There was no tug of power in his gut, and he hadn't felt re-energized when they'd gone onto the deck in the rain.

It scared Percy that his abilities in water, or at least the ability to keep himself dry wasn't working, because that was something he'd been able to do for a while.

Hopefully, Annabeth was right, and it would only be a temporary thing, because if he went into this next war with Gaea without his powers as the son of Poseidon, well, then he might as well be a mortal with the sight who was pretty good with a sword.

Percy changed and dried himself off with a towel in the boys' room, and before he left to meet up with the others again, he noticed a strange aura of power in the air. One that he didn't really recognize.

It hummed in the air, and glowed a faint green-brown color, resembling the army camouflage colors.

He almost heard a creepy laugh, but shook his head, because there was no one in his room, so why would anyone be laughing?

Percy suddenly felt a little sleepy, like a nap would be the best thing ever right about then.

He yawned and stretched, lying down on the closest bunk. He didn't even register if it was his bunk or maybe Frank's, Leo's or Jason's, but at that point, he really didn't care.

All he wanted was to sleep.

"PERCY!" a voice screamed in his ear.

"WHAT?" he sat straight up in the bed, almost hitting the person who'd woken him up.

"Oh, hey Frank," Percy muttered sleepily. He lied back down, ready to sleep again, and literally fell asleep again before his head hit the pillow.

"Oi, wake up!" the voice said again, yanking the pillow from behind his head and throwing the covers off the bed.

"Go away, mom," Percy grumbled.

"Annabeth," the voice trying to wake him up called.

Someone else entered the room and sighed. "You go back up to deck, Frank. I'll wake him up."

Annabeth was shaking him lightly. "Percy, come on."

"No," he mumbled. "Too sleepy. Wake me up in a week."

He felt a soft pressure on his cheek. "Come on Seaweed Brain, now I'm done being nice. Get out of bed right now or I'll throw you out of the room. And you know I can do that."

"Fine," he sat up and swung himself out of bed, nearly falling back down when he did so.

"Wow," Annabeth noted. "You are really tired. Oh, Hades, it's starting."

"What's starting?" he mumbled sleepily shrugging on a jacket. "Are we here?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "We're here, and um, nothing. Forget I even said anything."

"Deck?" he asked, walking out of the door.

"Yeah. They're all already there."
He nodded and walked up to deck. The rest were already there and seemed to be arguing. The Italian coastline was alarmingly close, and they'd sail over it sometime soon.

"Hey, Percy," Jason called the son of Poseidon over, probably to tell him what was going on.

"What?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes with the back it of his hands.

"First of all, you look really tired," Jason noted.

"I've been told," Percy grumbled. "Oh, and sorry Frank, I'm not the best person to try to wake up," he said, seeing Frank nearby.

Frank grinned. "It's okay. I was warned, but I tried to wake you up, anyway. You were on my bed, after all."

"Oh," Percy said. "Sorry."

Frank smiled back, but Jason interrupted by coughing.

"So," Jason said. "It stopped raining a few minutes ago, by the way, but it looks like it could start raining again any time soon. Anyways, we were just—debating—"

"Arguing," Percy added helpfully.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, we were debating about where to land. We could land and dock by the coast, use the mist to hide the ship, and then walk, or get to Rome some other way. Or, we could land by Rome, but the mist might not hide it as well there, and there might not even be space for the ship there. I think we should dock here."

Percy nodded. "Okay."

Jason looked a little surprised that Percy so readily agreed with him, but Percy shrugged him off.

If Jason still believed that Percy was self-centered and wanted to play leader and whatever, then let him. Honestly, that was really the last thing on his mind. He really didn't need anything more to think about, on top of the quest and his newfound sleepiness and odd lack of powers over water.

"You sure?" Jason asked, still a little uncertain.

"Yeah, Jason, I'm sure," Percy said, almost a little amused. "It's better to be safe than sorry, right? If we don't find area to land near Rome, then we'd have to come back here to land, and that'd just waste time. Plus, if we land here, then we'll be able to scout the area, maybe meet some monsters on the way. And it'll delay whatever's going to happen at Rome, because I don't know about you guys, but I am so totally not ready. Like, at all."

"Wow, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said from behind him. "Was that actual planning? Maybe the Romans really did rub off on you. I should thank them. Oh, yeah, thanks Frank and Hazel. I'd thank you, too, Jason, but you weren't there, so…"

The three Roman demigods laughed, and the others joined in too.

"Leo?" Piper asked quietly.

"Hmm?" the son of Hephaestus looked up from whatever he was tinkering with in his hands.

"We're landing soon, right?" Piper clarified.

Leo looked over the edge of the ship, to the approaching coastline.

"Yeah, Beauty Queen, we're landing soon."

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever, Pipes."

"Don't call me that either."

"Fine."

"So, we're going to land, in like, say, five minutes?" she asked.

"Yes, Piper, we are. You just asked that," Leo said, now sounding a little exasperated. He looked back down to whatever he was making in his lap.

"And you're in charge of this ship, right? You're running it? You're the supreme commander of the Argo II, or whatever you call it, right?" she asked.

"Piper, what are you saying? Is it stupid question day?" Leo asked, now obviously annoyed.

"Shouldn't you be landing this ship?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said slowly, probably now understanding what she was getting at.

"Like, shouldn't you be down in the engine room, landing this ship, like right now? Or we're going to fly over the port," she said.

"So, what?" he asked.

"GET YOUR BUTT DOWN TO THE ENGINE ROOM AND LAND THE SHIP FOR ZEUS'S SAKE!" Piper yelled, obviously losing her patience, now that Leo still wasn't understanding what she was trying to tell him, though everyone else did.

"And, no," she said angrily, "before you ask, I did not charmspeak you. Now, GO!"

Leo scuttled off the deck and down below like a scared child who had been reprimanded by a parent for staying up late and sneaking chocolate in the middle of the night.

Everyone laughed. It started raining again, not pouring, but they all got soaked again.

Percy sighed. They were landing in Italy.

Feel free to correct me on any mistakes or give constructive criticism! Thanks. :)

-smileyface9 :)