"I need your help."

Percy raised his head slowly towards the voice, to meet the steely eyes of non-other than Annabeth Chase. The boy then did a very dramatic motion of looking left and right in a very exaggerated manner, before he finally fixed his gaze on the girl in front of him, and raising both of his eyebrows he said.

"Me ?"

"No, I was obviously talking to that shelf behind you. Of course I was talking to you dummy!"

You see, Percy couldn't exactly say that he and Annabeth were close. Sure, they faced a three headed dog together, beated the Minotaur and spent Christmas day with each other, but that was about it. So now, when the blonde girl apparently needed him, Percy couldn't help being derogatory.

"Wow! Her majesty of Annoyance herself is asking me for help, oh let us mark this date to remember it forever-"

"Percy..." she started, already annoyed.

"How is it that the Queen is asking for a favor from a mere peasant such as myself-"

"Percy..."

"What an incredible feat! A wonderful prowess ! Look at me, using big words..."

"PERSEUS JACKSON!"

Percy finally stopped his rant when she screamed his full name. He usually knew he was in trouble when people called him that.

The sound seemed to echo in the empty library, but it didn't stop Ms Calliope, the librarian, from giving them a nasty look. It was really surprising, knowing that she was usually sweet and gentle. Maybe she just didn't like Annabeth. Percy could surely relate...

"How do you know my real name ?" he asked in an irritated tone.

"I read it in a book."

"I don't know what is more surprising; the fact that they are books about me or the fact that you read them, knowing full well that you hate my guts."

"I don't hate your guts, I spent Christmas day with you, and it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. Now, I only consider it to be a very deep dislike."

"Could've fooled me..."

"Wouldn't be the first thing to fool you, now would it ?"

"Can you stop being you for two seconds and tell me what the Hades do you want from me ?"

Annabeth regained her composure, straightening her back and squaring her shoulders. She then grabbed a chair from the table Percy was sitting in and sat down herself. Her golden locks were still in an organized ponytail and her robes were still perfect, not a single wrinkle in sight. Percy couldn't say the same about himself. He had given up on his Gryffindor tie long ago, his jet black hair was messy as ever and black ink stained his long fingers.

"You remember the thing that we saw in the place-" she whispered, making sure that nobody was close enough to hear them, which was really unnecessary. After all, who would be in the library in the middle of the holidays?

"How could I forget about that Devil's spawn?" Said Percy through gritted teeth.

"You're only saying that because he scared the Hades out of you."

"Did you just call that thing, a he?!"

"Well, it kinda looked like you so definitely a he." She said smiling smugly.

Percy glared at her." What do you want?"

"Well, your mother is a magizoologist-"

"And?" Asked Percy raising one eyebrows.

"Maybe you could ask your mom about it." suggested Annabeth.

"Yeah of course, why didn't I think of this before! I will just casually write a letter to my mom telling her about how I broke fifty rules and ended up in a forbidden corridor, facing a three headed dog that could've easily shredded me to pieces. What a wonderful idea!" said Percy, his voice, sarcastic as ever.

"Well I'm sorry for trying to find a solution to this problem!"

"There is no problem, you are the one trying to find the answer to this mystery when we don't need to. Come on, I just want peaceful holidays. I mean the corridor was forbidden for a reason, which is not finding out about the damn dog."

"Yes, exactly! They don't want us searching about what the dog is protecting, whatever that is."

"What do you mean?" Percy narrowed his eyes.

"Didn't you see? His paws-"

"Its paws? Sorry, but I was too focused on its heads, if you didn't notice it had three!"

"Argh, it was on a hatch! It is guarding something, I know it." Annabeth then averted her eyes towards the table, noticing a particular notebook sitting on the oak desk.

"Learned anything interesting?" She said.

"Apart from blank pages, not really."

"You mean that it's blank? Completely?"

"Not completly," started Percy, grabbing the notebook and flipping it open to the first page. "There is this title, and then a sentence at the end, but I have no idea what it means so..."

"Why would someone give you a blank notebook?" Frustration was definitely not a good look on Annabeth. "What if it's not blank, can you hand it to me?-"

She turned the pages until she arrived at the end. The words 'Non aperte revelatus sum in tempore visitationis' were registered on the dusty parchment in black ink, and the blonde couldn't help but wonder what it meant...

"Why are you wearing your uniform?" Asked Percy, cutting short Annabeth's thoughts.

She narrowed her eyes at him before answering, "Why are you?"

"I thought that by tricking my brain into thinking this was homework, it would work properly-"

"Because your brain works properly when you're doing your homework?"

"Hardi Hardi Har, very funny Chase."

The girl couldn't help but cackle at his glare, "You really need to work on that death glare, Jackson, even a bowtruckle wouldn't get fazed by that."

"Yes because bowtruckles are freaking scary. Did you ever get chased by a bowtruckle? Believe me, if you did you'd know what I'm talking about."

"How did you even make a bowtruckle angry?"

"I think you underestimate my ability to get on people's nerves..."

*

"Why don't you check this book?"

"Because we already checked that one!"

Actually, they hadn't. But Percy was already getting tired of searching in dusty, confusing, old books for different translations of the sentence inscribed in B.C's notebook. Annabeth was adamant on the fact that the language used was Latin, but after checking five Latin translation books already, and getting very unsettling translations, Percy told himself that she was probably wrong.

However, Annabeth was both prideful and stubborn. She sighed harshly, before taking the huge book from the shelf and bringing it to their now 'shared' table. The young girl flipped the pages at incredible speed, and the green-eyed boy was wondering how in Hades she could read the words that fast. But after only around a minute, or more (Percy didn't exactly have a good notion of time...), Annabeth dropped the quill she was holding in her right hand, and checked the words she had written on the yellow parchment. And with furrowed brows, she handed the paper to Percy.

"I let myself in due time? I let myself what in due time?"

Annabeth took a second before answering. "What if we need to understand the rest by ourselves? What if there's a hidden meaning behind this phrase?"

She stands up and starts pacing. "Let's be logical about this. Someone gave you a notebook, that's supposedly blank. But," she turns to stare at Percy in the eyes. "There is 'I let myself in due time's written at the end. What can you understand from this?"

"I don't know, that there is something that will appear in due tim- Oh."

"Exactly, Oh! The person who gave you this notebook wanted you to know about something."

"But why didn't she give me directly what she wanted me to know? And who would want me to know something, that we suppose is important."

"Maybe it will only reveal itself when you need it." Whispered Annabeth.

"Then the person could've given me the notebook later on. Why must we complicate things this way?"

"Maybe the messenger, himself didn't know when you'll need it." She said, her eyes shifting between Percy's.

When they left the library that night, both in their uniforms, and a notebook under Percy's arm, a strange feeling was settling in the atmosphere.

Something big was happening.

*

Days passed, and nothing ever appeared on the notebook. Percy was starting to think that someone was simply playing him, giving him a riddle to solve, for the sake of seeing his frustrated face.

But on the last day of the vacation, Percy opened the notebook, ready to see a blank paper, when he was met with something different. Bolting out of the comfortable chair in Gryffindor' common room, he ran as fast as he could towards the Great Hall, where he knew, the other students were gathered, eating their lunch.

Pushing open the big oak doors, he headed without a second thought to the Ravenclaw table, feeling hundreds of questioning looks on him, but he couldn't care less. He found the person he was looking for, and sprinted.

Annabeth Chase had been talking to Silena Beauregard, a beautiful second-year that was also Ravenclaw's Quidditch Keeper. But as soon as she had perceived him, she cut her conversation short.

"Hello, Silena. Mind if I borrow Annabeth? Thank you." Percy said before the dark haired girl could mutter a word. He grabbed Annabeth's hand and holed her up of her seat, before starting running again, this time towards the Gryffindor tower. And the poor girl didn't have a choice but to follow...

Soon enough, they found themselves in front of the Fat Lady, and before she could open her mouth, Percy exclaimed, "Apollo's cows!"

The portrait let them enter, but not before whispering to herself about children, and how they got impatient and stuck up over the course of time.

Walking towards the coffee table, where the notebook was still flat open, Annabeth couldn't keep it in anymore. "Are you finally going to tell me the reason of this premeditated kidnapping?"

"The only word I understood in that sentence is kidnapping, and since you came here on your own will, I don't think it counts as one."

Annabeth suppressed a smirk before answering, "If you think I came here voluntarily, then why are you still holding my hand, Jackson? Scared I might run off?"

A horrified look in his eyes, Percy glanced at his right hand, noticing that it was still firmly clasped in Annabeth's. He dropped her wrist hurriedly, his face redder than Apollo's sacred cows.

"Um- look at this." He pointed awkwardly to the notebook.

Annabeth's expression changed really quickly- one second she was smirking, the other she was frowning, making the crease between her eyebrows visible.

"The text appeared! What does it talk about?"

"Um, actually I didn't read it yet." Percy started scratching his neck, "I went to get you immediately."

And there it was again, a smirk on Annabeth's face showing a dimpled right cheek.

"I'll read it out loud," started Annabeth. "One of the most gruesome myths of the magical wold is certainly the Helm of Darkness, one of the- . The Helm, which projects an aura of fear, allows its wearer to perfectly blend into shadows and disappear. While wearing it, the user cannot be seen, touched or heard.

The myth brings us back to ancient times, when people worshiped multiple entities. The Helm of Darkness would've been the property of Pluto, god of riches and the underworld. Being protected by Cerberus, the Helm of Darkness was as unobtainable as immortality, and only the immensely brave ir immensely stupid would quest to search for it. Despite its remarkable protection, the myth says that after a fight with his brothers, the Helm would've been stolen from Pluto and brought out to the wizarding world. This theory, being far-fetched, only served to scare disobedient children, telling them that a dark man was staring at them from a corner if they refused to eat their vegetables or stole their parents' wands.

It is also stated that the Helm of Darkness could be much more destructive and powerful if associated with-

However the existence of this object has never been proved. 'It is proved!' "

"You just said that it wasn't proved-" began Percy.

"Yeah, but the author crossed out that line and wrote the other sentence above it. Apparently he or she is sure about the existence of such an object." Frowned Annabeth.

"You also didn't say associated with what-"

"Because there is a big blob of ink in that area!"

Percy was silent for a moment, and after a while of listening to the crackling of the fire, and their steady breaths, the young boy finally spoke. "I'd definitely eat my vegetables. "

"What? "

"If my parents told me that a man will stare at me creepily from a corner, if I didn't eat my vegetables, I'd definitely eat them."

"That's the only thing you retained from the whole story?!"

"What? Tell me you wouldn't eat them in my place." Exclaimed Percy, noticing nothing wrong in his lack of attention.

"You're insufferable." Annabeth never looked so exasperated in her life, and believe him, Percy had seen her being annoyed before. "What do we do now?"

"Well this must be important isn't it?"

"Of course it is important! I was asking about the plan of action."

The green-eyed boy didn't even answer, he simply lifted his eyes from the ground and stared at Annabeth a weird look in his eyes.

"Argh- the plan of action! What are we going to do now that we know what the dog is protecting?" The blonde explained hurriedly .

"Wait what?"

"Weren't you following?"

"Would you be offended if I said no?"

Annabeth narrowed his eyes at him before speaking, "It is stated in the myth that Cerberus used to guard the Helm."

"Okayyy..." answer Percy not understanding the relation.

"Oh come on Percy! Cerberus is a three-headed dog! Cerberus is the three-headed dog!"

"Yeah but that's a myth."

"The existence of a three-headed dog was clearly proved that night. So why couldn't the second part of the myth be true? What if the school tried to reconstruct the story? It would be completely logical for it to be this way. Think about it."

"So you're telling me, that the school is hiding the Helm of Darkness, which is a very creepy and dangerous weapon, and the only thing protecting it is a three-headed dog?"

"As if it wasn't scary enough, I know you almost pissed your pants that day-"

"Whatever. Assuming this was true, what would be the next step of this?"

Annabeth smiled before answering, "Why don't we find more about our dear, hairy friend?

Hello guys, how are you doing?

I just finished writing this chapter and I hope you liked it even if there's not a lot of action (but there's surely a lot to come...)

With schoolwork, exams and everything in between I didn't really have time to take and write this chapter properly or think it through (so I absolutely hate it :) ).

I constantly modify my plan for the story with each idea that comes into my head, so it's really hard to write something I am satisfied with, I hope that at least you are...

I'll try to update soon, but until then,

Peace out!