Layton / November 30th

I use to think that I had a worst life than most people. In fact, there was a time where I had seriously thought no one had it worse than me.

But I was yet to a certain group of seven demigods whose lives were just as bad, if not worse, then mine. Most demigods would rather not have been one, for the sake of not needing to the gods' dirty work.

Yet, at the same time, someone had to do it. Unluckily for us, we were given the responsibility of defeating the world's largest threat as of now. It was almost crazy to think that almost four months ago I was in a completely different spot than I was now.

I stared at the folded pair of clothes in front of me. Somehow, they always seemed to be repair themselves. Hera had given them to me so that must've been the reason why - some kind of magical trickery.

There was a more complex reason as to why I had requested such a design. First of all, the crescent on my chest symbolized a lot to me. The moon represented rebirth and death, something I had gone through.

And I had always had felt a strong connection to the moon. Additionally, my powers were always kind of amplified during the night. I had no idea why that was it, but it must've been because of the darkness inside.

If I really could get the curse removed - within time - I would make to sure to trash the suit. I wore both a hood and a mask because I wouldn't be able to live with the guilt of me being the last face my target will see.

Currently I was situated in the Argo II's spare room. None of my powers were working and my wristbands were unresponsive, most likely because of the injury to my soul from the failed attempt to remove Kronos's curse.

Still, the concept of a soul and how complex it was still mystified me. Ava had done her best to try and explain, but it clearly wasn't my kind of thing.

When Jason's thunderbolt had electrocuted me, It was the first I had ever come out of my cursed state confused. I was always conscious but unable to do anything when my other half came out. However, this time I had no idea what had happened. I just shook it off as some kind of odd mix between electricity and my damaged soul.

Annabeth

"Ironically, there's a spell in The Hidden Archives that we can use to take out Majin Kai for good" Layton said

"But I don't get why Xander is still able to release him if we trapped him in the lamp" Jason replied

"The storm that encased the lamp helped keep him completely contained. Without it, Xander can release him again within time" Layton explained

"Ok, so about this spell" Hazel said. "How does it work exactly?"

"I don't completely understand it. Well, I half understand it. That's because half of the page is missing in the book" Layton revealed

"A missing page?" Piper asked. "How's that possible?"

"I'm not sure. But without the other half, we can't properly preform the spell" Layton answered

All this talk about a missing page from The Hidden Archives brought one conversation back to my mind from a couple of days ago. Reyna said that the page she found was about some kind of dark spell...

I raised my hand. "Reyna said that she had found a page from the book about some kind of dark spell"

"Then we have to go back to Camp Jupiter immediately" Jason suggested

"So much for visiting Greece" Percy muttered

"We can always come back" I pointed out

"Alright. It's settled. We go back to Camp Jupiter and get that other half of the page from Reyna so we can take out Majin Kai as soon as possible" Frank said

"Hold on, wasn't there some kind of catch?" Hazel reminded

"Yeah" Layton confirmed. "We need Majin Kai to be released from the lamp, and only then we can do the spell. The problem is, we have no idea where Xander is, and if we aren't quick enough, a lot of lives could be lost"

"How do we track an ancient evil wizard?" Leo asked. "Is there some kind of spell for that, or...?"

"Xander doesn't have the kind of energy I need to find someone using Instantaneous Movement, but there's someone I know who could help us find him once we're done mastering the spell"

"I don't want to jinx it or anything" Percy quickly glanced at Leo. "But it seems like things might be going our way for once"

Frank sighed with relief. "Finally, some good news"

"I wouldn't get so cocky knowing our track record" Jason warned

"He's right. There's a reason the spell was written in the archives" Layton added

Late at night I was awoken by someone shaking my shoulder. I was about to yell at them from waking me up at this time, until I saw who it was.

"Percy?"

"Hey. Uh, sorry if in advance for waking you up at this time" He apologized

"No, it's fine" I said. "What's wrong?"

"Well, it's kind of long, but I really don't want Coach Hedge to find out that I'm here so -"

"You're scared of Coach Hedge?" I laughed quietly. "Percy, you're almost seventeen and he's barely five feet"

"Have you seen his baseball bat?" Percy replied

"Yes, I have" I grinned. "Here, I know where we can go and not get caught"

Percy

Somehow, the ship was both huge and cozy, just like many of the boarding schools I had gotten kicked out of.

Annabeth and I crept downstairs to the second deck, where I hadn't explored yet. We went past the engine room - which looked too much like a jungle gym for my liking - and cables that were messily snaked across the floor

We continued on and we reached a set of wooden double doors that opened up into a large stable. The room spelled like fresh hay just like the Pegasi stables back at Camp Half-Blood.

In the center of the room, a twenty-foot-square see-through panel was the floor. Down below, the night landscape whisked past us.

"Really? A glass-bottom boated?" I questioned

"We'll be fine" Annabeth assured

She grabbed a blanket from one of the stable gates and spread it across part of the glass floor. "Come sit with me"

I sat down and it was like we were having a picnic, only without food which I could use right now.

"So what's with the stables?" I inquired

"Well, it was for the Pegasi to come and go, but he didn't realize that they preferred to roam free, so they're always empty"

"Come and go? You mean they would go through two flights of stairs to come here?"

"These are bay doors, just like a bomber" Annabeth explained

"So we're sitting on doors that could open at any second?" I raised my eyebrow

"Basically" Annabeth shrugged. "They won't open though... most likely"

"Very assuring" I chuckled

Annabeth smiled. "Does this place remind you of anywhere?"

I looked around and studied the cages and stables. The Celestial bronze lamp that illuminated the vicinity, the smell of hay, and Annabeth who sat close to me, ever so beautiful in the amber light.

"The zoo truck we took to Las Vegas..."

"Yeah. It was the first time we really talked, just you and me. I told you about my family and you actually listened..." Annabeth said, talking out her camp necklace that had a clay bead for each year at camp, her dad's college ring, and the red coral pendant I had given her that one day Layton made it snow. "It also reminds me of how long we've known each other. We were only twelve Percy, that's kind of hard to believe"

"You're not wrong" I agreed. "Time just kind of flew by, and I'm not talking about Kronos"

Annabeth laughed and leaved over, kissing me - just a good, proper one, where no one could interrupt us.

"I really missed you Percy"

I wanted to tell her the same thing, but I knew that it was too small of a comment. Part of the reason I wanted to survive so bad was because I had just been thinking about seeing Annabeth again. She was my driving force and I miss you didn't really just cut it.

Being with Annabeth again also kind of made all of the event at Camp Jupiter seem unreal. Not that they were bad, but they had opened my eyes to a lot of things.

I exhaled nervously. "Annabeth, in New Rome, demigods can live out their lives in peace away from monsters and stuff:

Annabeth turned guarded. "I know, Reyna told me. But Percy, you belong back at Camp Half-Blood. That other life with the Romans and Camp Jupiter, it-"

"I know" I sighed. "It was just that, when I was there, I saw so many demigods living without any fear, kids going to college, couples getting married and raising nice families. We don't have any of that at Camp Half-Blood, and I couldn't help but think about us... maybe someday, if and when we get past all of us, this we could... uh..."

"Oh" Annabeth blushed

That probably wasn't a good idea now that I thought about it. Even though I had known Annabeth for so long, it still felt like I didn't know that much about her. Even after dating for a whole month, I still felt scared of doing something wrong and hurting our delicate relationship.

"Sorry, forget I mentioned it" I stammered

"It's fine Percy, really. I think it's so sweet, but that seems like something that's so far down the road from now"

"I know, I just wish we didn't have to go through all of this. We could've at least have gotten a break or something..."

"Right, but let's not worry about it until the times comes. We have until morning" Annabeth said

We sat together in the amber moonlight and enjoyed each other's warmth, and listening to the other's heartbeat. Before I knew it, all of the sounds deafened and the lights went out.

December 1st

I woke up when the daylight coming through the glass door hit my eyes with an irritating brightness.

"Oh gods, you're in so much trouble"

I turned and Frank was staring at us with a terrified look on his face. But what I was more concerned about, was the small blue dragon perched on his left shoulder.

"What?" I rubbed my eyes

"Everyone thinks you guys got kidnapped" Frank said

"Oh, we just fell asleep" I replied

"Among other things from the looks of it" The blue dragon spoke

"Hold on, am I still asleep? There's a tiny dragon on your shoulder and it's talking" I said

"I am not tiny" The dragon snorted, blowing steam

The voice of the dragon was somewhat hard to explain, but it sounded like a twenty year old woman with a British accent.

Annabeth stirred next to me and when she opened her eyes, she immediately blushed. "Frank! W-We just came to talk, and we kind of fell asleep"

"I um, is that it?" Frank questioned. "Wait! I don't want to know"

"All we did was talk" Annabeth assured

"And kiss a couple of times" I added

Annabeth swatted my arm. "You're not helping!"

"So this is the mighty Percy Jackson, what an intriguing demigod" The dragon said

"Ok, seriously. What's with the dragon?"

Frank cleared his throat. "Percy, this is Caeruleum, and besides that, I have no idea"

"Ah, me and Rubrum are knowledge dragons that use to belong to Athena. However, after the first Titan war, we were imprisoned until six years ago, Layton freed us"

"You're Layton's pets?" I asked, holding back a smile

"We are not pets, son of Poseidon. I would watch your tongue if I were you" Caeruleum threatened, narrowing her bright blue eyes

"We uh, we should go meet for breakfast. They might want you to explain what you did - or didn't do - gods, I don't want to know but that faun - saytr, will kill me" Frank stammered

"Never in my life!" Coach Hedge exclaimed. "Such irresponsibility! Rules are rules!"

"Coach, it was a simple accident" Annabeth said

"Also, you're sounding like Terminus" I backed up

"Simple? And Is that an insult Jackson?" Hedge narrowed his eyes

"I swear it won't happen again, Coach. Now, we have things to get to" I said

"On the styx!" Hedge ordered

"Oh uh - I don't know about that..."

"Alright, enough" Layton said. "We should be arriving at Camp Jupiter in around ten minutes"

"Grab some food everyone," Jason announced, "let's get started"