DISCLAIMER: All the characters belong to Rick Riordan

Chapter 24: I learned something new.

Percy had never imagined to reunite with his friends in the camp's infirmary.

After handling the missing master bolt fiasco, he returned home. His mom wasn't at home by the time he'd reached but luckily he'd a spare key with him. After a long explanation with obscuring truths and concealing dangers, he relayed his quest to his mom. A hot shower and his mom's cooking were his just rewards for his odyssey.

The next day, after discussing with Annabeth and Piper about the updates regarding their quests, he directed them according to his plan to trap the spies. He didn't believe Luke would return to camp after his conviction. Then for the first time since the theft, he sat down at his table and thought about every little detail he thought he'd missed during his urgency or other causes.

The first thing he did was to call Gwen and ask about the camp in a roundabout way. The camp half-blood had been affected due to the stolen master bolt. Did the camp Jupiter suffered too? From what Gwen said, there was nothing new to mention other than the weird climatic changes in C.A for the last month. She'd said their auguries resulted in a probable disaster to their existence but she'd affirmed that the augur was usually like that and he was a power hungry snake aiming for preatorship for a long time and would do anything to gain influence. Other than that, she'd only informed about increased monster activity near the camp site.

He thought about his quest, the places they'd visited, the monsters they'd fought and the turn of events. The grayhound incident with the furies had been an accident for them. Taking a bus straight to Los Angeles was slightly foolish on their planning. Then visiting Medusa's lair was their own doing to seek shelter and food. There was Echidna and her son, the Chimera at the St. Louis Arch. That was Zeus' interference to make his journey troublesome. What really troubled him was the Lotus Casino and Hotel. He'd been really helpless in the casino, save for his subconscious which was the only thing that saved them from starting the WW-III.

He's faint recollection about the casino rather than the front, but nothing conclusive. So he made some precautions like taser shots with timers and set off to the Vegas. He observed the casino from the outside but couldn't find any difference. He didn't dare to enter it again, even though it was him who woke up first among them trio the last time.

What's the motive behind trapping mortals with entertainment? Who's funding all this?

Unable to find anything concrete even after observing closely for a long time, he went on his way towards Los Angeles. Once he arrived at L. A, five hours later, he observed his surroundings while making his way towards the DOA studio. At the end of street in the block he was in, he sensed a monster's presence, leisurely strolling in the shop front that sold water beds: a monster lair. The monster didn't disguise himself much: bald head, gray leathery skin with thick lidded eyes and a repltalian cold smile. The only disguise he had was a silky paisely suit and silver chains.

The monster's description, the store-front he's using as a lair, the name on the doorframe made Percy remember the first stories he'd read about greek heros after discovering his heritage: his half-brother Theseus.

He remembered the story of the monster who tried to kill Theseus with excessive hospitality on his way to Athens. Then he remembered that Procrustus was also a son of Poseidon. This was the first time he'd come across a half-brother of his and this wasn't what he'd expected it to be. He could kill him easily from a distance, but he doesn't have anything against Procrustus—another son of Poseidon, so he left silently. He didn't find anything useful in his once-over journey. He went back home and relaxed until further updates from camp.

During his second week at home, he got an IM from Bill. The mist shimmered before forming into a rainbow with a familiar face staring back at him.

"Perseus, where in Rico's Trench have you gone to?" I visited Elaine's lake to find it empty. Your house was occupied by some old couple who threatened to call the police on me."

"Oh, well, Hey yourself, Bill. We moved from there few months ago. Where exactly are you now?"

"I'm at our old training ground. Thank Poseidon, it didn't move somewhere too." he sounded annoyed. He ended the call, grabbed his keys and went out to meet up with the merman.

Bill updated Percy about the underwater war currently at bay and wouldn't resume, period. Percy told him his wish to visit his father's kingdom somewhere during his next school year. He asked Bill to convey his request to his father in hope for receiving an approval to visit his domain.

"I'll relay your intention to Lord Poseidon. I believe you'll get approval faster than you think." Bill promised.

When Bill was about to leave with nothing to do, Percy asked him about ancient records or books regarding poisons and their treatments. He'd been lucky to be near a large water source when inflicted with a flaming-type poison. He can't take risks like that all the time. Bill promised to deliver said records to him.

As promised, Bill had sent him the old records of ancient to commonly used poisons in the greek world via Hermes Express three days later. He recieved the records with a note mentioning the importance of the records as they were several centuries old and were last of their work in Atlantis.

So he copied the records from Atlantian dialect to ancient Greek in his personal journal and returned the records back to Atlantis. It took him a week to complete the translation with his Dyslexia and the hard Atlantian dialect. He used most of his time to study the information that was absent in most of the modern libraries. He doubt he'd find records about poisons at camp.

There were several medications to most of the poisons, but there were also poisons with no practical solutions; only therotical assumptions. There were some poisons with no cure at all, even at the lord of healing, Apollo.

Studying poisons, Percy realized they can do a lot worse in mass attack and could become a deciding factor in any war. He shortened his research to poisons with no recurring effects for future usages. The Apollo campers could do a serious damage with arrowheads coated with poison. He drafted the idea for future reference.

After three weeks, he decided it was time to visit camp for a meeting to gather intel on all sides. He'd informed the girls to meet him at lake to meet up with Elaine. He figured it was time for Annabeth to meet Elaine. On the day of meeting, he sported cargos, t-shirt with a zipped sweater for both heat and cold and draped his bag with him.

He directly appeared above the lake, still in foggy form only to find Annabeth staring towards camp, like she was waiting for someone. He didn't see Piper anywhere, but felt a faint trace of his lifestone in the woods. He decided to pick her up to the meeting and drifted towards the woods along the creek. There he saw something he didn't imagine would put him at death's door.

He watched as Piper slowly draw answers from a nearly twenty year old boy. Percy too, recognised the boy as Luke Castellan from the pictures and the other boys as Chris Rodriguez and Ethan Nakamura. Ethan could be considered a friend from the Hermes cabin, aside from the Stoll brothers, as he was one who took up the task when Percy had so many questions regarding the camp. There was Lina from Hermes cabin too with them.

What he couldn't understand was Piper was standing and listening to the nonsensical delusions Luke was uttering without any retorts from her side. On closer observation, he saw Piper's posture was as rigid as a board and found a creature slowly crawling upto her thigh: a black glossy six-legged scorpion with sharp pincers ready to attack at any sudden movement.

A pit scorpion. Poseidon's Trident! That would kill Piper in less than sixty seconds.

His breath caught in his throat. Piper was in serious life threatening situation with four demigods ganging on her. He closed off on the conversation and overworked his brain for possible contingency plans to save her from the pit scorpion. There shall not be any sudden movements. Thinking about the poison in its sting and the after effects it had on a victim made him tremble.

He had to time this correctly and whisk Piper away before the bug attacks her. He glanced at them, a plan forming in his head, only to find the traitors run into the forest. He sighed in relief, all too soon, because the scorpion lunges at Piper at the same time. Panic seized him.

All thoughts about any plans escaped him. Percy's brain went into overdrive with single thought: get Piper out of the bug's attack range. Without thinking, he directly materialized and shoved her out of the way. Only when the stinging pain hit him did he realize that along the way, he'd put himself in the scorpion's line of fire and had gotten stung. He glanced at the bug, still in midair getting away from them. He pulled out a blade and lodged the bug to a tree, it's life unknown.

His ears ringed, black spots appeared in his eyes. His motor nerves ceased function making him sway forward. Piper rushed to his side and was about to lug him to towards Big house when he stopped her. He had to take some precautions to aid the cure and carefully instructed the antidote for pit scorpion venom. To save time, he directly teleported them to the Big house and closed off his senses and entered a death-trance. He left everything upto the immortal teacher.

Percy realised he was dreaming since he sat at a desk in his classroom. The classroom was empty save for the teacher and another student beside him. What surprised him was the student was a girl, because girls usually stay away from him. Anyone approaching him would stutter and blush a lot, which made no sense to him.

The girl beside him never went to his school. She looked like she never went to any school. She was his age, with unruly black, close-cropped spiky hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy blue eyes with freckles splattered across her nose. He'd seen her before, but not in a class or at school. A hellhound incident, his first demigod meeting, another child of big three. He knows her, but she was a lot older than him at that time. Now, she looked his age. He'd known her for sometime. She was Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

Which was impossible. Thalia sacrificed herself at half-blood hill and got herself turned into a pine tree. The girl beside him looked and talked exactly like he remembered in his memory that she couldn't be a look-alike. She threw an irritated glance at him. "Well, Kelp Head? One of us has to clear up this mess." she snapped at him. She even talked like one Annabeth had described her to be.

This is impossible. How could've Thalia known about the mess I was in? Does she know about Luke and his fidelity to Kronos? Am I dead or what?

How can she talk to him like she was aware of the situation and ready to take it head on? This dream felt more like a precogniton to him. But why would Thalia appear in any future related vision to him?

The classroom melted around him and he fell through the classroom floor. His vision blacked out.

He opened his eyes in the infirmary of the big house, his right hand bandaged. His body felt a little burned. Annabeth was in the middle of draping a wash cloth on his forehead. The security guard Argus stood in a corner, eyes on him. Piper was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey" he croaked.

Annabeth was startled at the sound before she tackled him on the bed. He was still weak, but he managed to wrap his uninjured arm around her. She was sniffing into his collar, tears damping his neck but it looked like she wasn't in any urgency to let him go soon. "You idiot! You were turning green and gray when we found you. I've been worried sick since..." she muttered into his neck, tightening her hold.

A clearing of throat made Annabeth immediately let go off him and stand back beet red. Chiron had a twinkle in his eyes.

"My dear, that was quite the welcome. Next time, please consider the patient's condition before you attack them, alright?" he said to her with a small smile. Her ears turned pink at that comment but she refrained from speaking.

"It's fine, Chiron, thank you. I've troubled you this time." he expressed his gratitude to the immortal teacher.

"Now now, Percy. Don't sell yourself short. That was pit scorpion venom. In reality, it ought to kill you, but you survived." his tone held surprise. "The precautions you took without panicking was marvellous. And the recipe you gave Piper was even more accurate than the one I had in hand. If you don't mind me asking, where exactly did you find it?"

Percy gave a brief explanation of borrowing an ancient record of poisons to research Chimera's poison and stumbled across the pit scorpion's venom and was lucky to remember and recite it. Chiron seemed impressed and was about to ask more. Only when he glanced at his injured arm did he refrain from it.

"Now you must tell me, exactly what happened. Piper refused to speak about it. She'd been scouring the woods since you were medicated and has yet to return from her cabin. I doubt any summoned creature survived for the training." He chuckled at that.

Leave it to Piper to vent her frustration on monsters.

He threw a worried glance at Annabeth before speaking in general. "Please call Piper then. She's the one who knows everything. I'll fill in the blanks for everyone." Annabeth nodded at Chiron and went to pick up Piper. Within no time, they both arrived with Piper jumping him in his bed. He had hold her without falling with single arm.

"You idiot. I had everything under control. I thought I had lost you there. What would I tell our parents? What would I tell Sally?" she cried into his shoulder while he simply held her near. She eventually came around and detached from him.

"Let's go to by office, then." Chrion suggested and moved ahead. He pulled over the cover and stood up. A little nausea rolled over him, but he held his ground. Without anyone's help he went to Chiron's office and sat around a round table.

"I had everything recorded here. I didn't think I would capture some valuable information from this." Piper placed a mini recorder on the table and pressed the play for the conversation to play once again. He listened with rapt attention this time. It wasn't any surprise for him that Luke betrayed his friends in his thirst for vengeance.

During the conversation, he tenatively took Annabeth's hand and she squeezed his hand hard for support.

Annabeth can't believe what she was looking at. Percy was in a near death state. Even after the treatment, his face receeded the gray shade but he was not completely out of danger. Only when Chiron assured them it was alright, that she released a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"His constitution helped him survive this. He'd already limited his body functionalities to a barely perceptible respiration and heart action. The antidote worked faster too. He's safe now."

She was brought out of it when she had so many unanswered questions. She turned to Chiron and asked about the poison but the centaur was in marvel at the technique used by Percy to survive. So she went to the next likely candidate for answers who was like a clay on the floor bawling her eyes out. All the answer she'd gotten from the said girl was weak glare full of hurt and loathing. Before she could ask about it again, Piper stormed out of the infirmary. She was about to chase the girl when Chiron called her.

"Annabeth, inform the senior counselors about the monster attacks. They need to double check the woods before someone enters them." he said.

She went around the camp and informed the counselors about the attack on Percy. She gave a brief detail about their plan. The only thing that worried her was the Hermes cabin. The interim counselor, Chris was nowhere to be seen and his bunk was cleared out. The stoll brothers informed her that Luke's bunk was cleared too. His bunk was completely stripped.

Why would Luke's bunk be empty, he's a year rounder. Even if he wanted to go into the mortal world for college, he would tell me, right?

She asked whether he'd come back to pack but Travis shook his head. Whoever cleared his bunk, left the space in pristine condition. She'd think on it a little later as she's pressing issues at hand.

She went back to the infirmary. Percy was still unconscious, but he looked a lot better. His color returned and the greenish tinge receeded back that he looked a little pale now. Chiron informed that he'd fed a little more nectar to burn up the poison. He instructed her to look for Piper in the woods and get some answers. Now that she'd thought about it, Piper looked at her like it was her fault Percy was poisoned and stormed off into the woods. So she went after her to get some answers.

Every now and then, a feral screech would reverberate the woods and the birds in the vicinity would fly away and all she had to do was follow it to the source. And there was the golden dust trail left behind by whatever monsters Piper had finished off in her frustration. She followed the trail deep into the woods. Annabeth reached a spot by the creek, a spot she was all too familiar with. It was the location where she'd assigned Percy and Piper as bait for their first capture the flag and they'd worked together ever since. She found Piper near the creek hunched over on all fours, dry sobs racking her body.

"Piper?" she called before stepping into the open.

Annabeth didn't know how to console the girl over this. She simply sat there and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. She didn't speak, she didn't move. Piper pointed at a tree on which a black scorpion was hanging by a blade.

"Annabeth, what would I do if something were to happen to him? What would I tell Sally? What do I do now?" Piper opened her inner turmoil.

Annabeth relayed Percy condition to her and consoled her. She had to remind herself that those two were a lot closer than they appear to be.

The sky turned dark and she pulled Piper back to her cabin and dinner. She once again checked Percy's condition before returning to her cabin for the night.

She got ready in the shortest time and reached the infirmary to watch Chiron check upon Percy the next morning. He told her that Percy's semi-conscious and would wake anytime. Before either of them moved, Percy shifted in his sleep and his eyes flew open. Her heart swelled up seeing those sea-green eyes filled with life once again.

Half of her wanted to throw her arms around him in relief and another half wanted to whack him senseless with the wash-cloth for putting her through such worry for an entire day. She didn't know why she chose the first option but seeing him alive again made her body move before her brain processed. She didn't even notice the twinkle in Chiron's eyes and his mild reprimand didn't ease her embarrasment either. Her insides clenched when Percy threw her a warning glance and asked for a gathering to talk about the incident.

Somehow, she knew beforehand the recorder had started, what was happening. It wasn't too hard for her to piece things together. She had all the clues. Who the real thief was? Who Kronos's real servant was, why the flying shoes malfunctioned suddenly and had nearly dragged Piper into Tartarus. Why her elder brother figure, the one she'd considered family had disappeared on her only after a few days after the theft.

Every word Luke said, every crime he'd accepted felt like a stab to her chest. She didn't want to believe it. She wanted to scream at others for lying to her and playing a cheap joke on her. She wanted to protest that Luke would never do such a thing.

But everything fit. It all made sense. The little things she'd seen but avoided or wouldn't think twice about.

Luke was present on the winter solistice. He'd borrowed her magic cap for some prank while they were touring. He'd absconded just after a few days. He'd made others gift Percy the pair of treacherous shoes that were cursed. His trial to recruit Piper and the pit scorpion incident.

When it reached where he was angry and hurt about Thalia, a choked sob escaped her. Her eyes stung at that. Not because of the painful memory, but a new fresh one. Luke said he'd followed Kronos to teach a lesson to the gods who'd let Thalia down, but everything he'd done in the process could've gotten her killed.

Did whatever family we'd had was destroyed along with Thalia on the half-blood hill? Had he ever really cared about me after that?

"I can't believe th—" she saw Piper threw her a harsh glare which made her accept her ignorance for once and the words which sounded false even to her. She can see that this was what made Piper keep away from her and react to her like that. She can see that Luke's confident words had affected her and put a strain on their friendship. She knew she can't deny the truth just because she wasn't ready to face and give pleasure to Luke's conviction.

"Yes, yes. I can believe it. He was never the same after Thalia's incident. He changed after his quest even more."

She can't say she didn't see this coming. This was how things happened to her. Everyone leave her at some point or the other. Luke's betrayal left her with bitter, sulphrous anger. Her belief that Luke was incapable of anything other than heroic stiff crumbled away. Percy tenatively took her hand and she was genuinely thankful for the distraction but she couldn't help but hear a nasty voice inside her head and wonder how long it'd be for him to leave her behind.

Piper stood up and announced she was leaving for more training. The scorpion incident left her helpless and had induced a desire for strength in her. Basically, she didn't want to leave any door open.

"Chiron, What's the Great Prophecy? It's about Kronos, right?" Percy asked.

"Percy, prophecies are designed to mislead and they tend to leave more information out. I cannot be certain about the Great Prophecy coming into play, as any of my suspicions about the darkness stirring seemed speculative. There were too many actions have gone into shaping the prophecy and it made a convoluted path for the prophecy lines to bear." Chiron said.

"Like the big three pact and Thalia's incident." Percy blurted out before she could ask about it. But what he'd mentioned perfectly suited for the prophecy. They were the actions that'd taken place to thwart the prophecy.

"Chiron, I thought the prophecies tell the future? Can we really change a prophecy accordingly then?" she asked skeptically.

What was the point of a prophecy then?

"No child. A prophecy will eventually come to pass. The lines of prophecy had already been set. But it is our choices that had been set for us to work brings a prophecy to fruition. Trying to interpret a prophecy, one could set it in motion. There were so many examples that tried to thwart fates they read in an Oracle."

"Is that why you won't tell us about the Great Prophecy?" Percy asked, thinking deep. His hand still clutched hers, which was the only thing that kept her grounded at the moment.

I only know a few lines from it. Should I even tell Percy?

"You're partially aware of it. But I don't want you to live a life what the Prophecy deems of you. I'd rather you find about your true self on your own." Chiron adviced.

Percy looked into her eyes. They came to a silent conclusion. She thought about their journey to the Underworld without the full picture at hand. Then she thought about the evil voice from Percy's dream and how she'd denied or resisted to put them together until she grew strong enough to handle the implications it brought. As much as she craved for knowledge, the truth had to be handled carefully sometimes and sometimes it becomes unbearable.

"You both have parts to play in the Great Prophecy, that much I'm sure of. What, I cannot tell, but I do have confidence in both of you. You have the heart and courage of a hero, and I'm sure you'll guide one another on your paths ahead."

They nodded at that silently agreed to learn about the whole thing one day, but not before understanding the parts that were revealed to them. It was them now. The prophecy started with them and they would be the ones to fulfill it together.

"I have to arrange a counselor's meeting to make a few things clear about the missing campers and the sudden betrayals. This will hard on everyone, I believe." Chiron sighed sadly.

Percy voiced his concern about some remaining spies in the camp, which she had to agree provide a strategical advantage over them. Chiron concurred about Percy's doubts that he'd been thinking about it ever since they've been discovered.

"Chiron, I believe we should hold teaching the masking technique to everyone at camp. I know you don't want to see more deaths, but the camp premises held back the campers a lot than you could imagine. They've become satisfied. They've settled with their lot provided to them. I'll make a few changes to the technique to create lesser variants to not full obscure one's aura from monsters, but to a greater level and lesser ones. You can teach the former to campers going to school year and the later to year rounders. What do you think?"

"I'm not totally inclined to segregate campers based on your standards, but it's the best we can afford to in the midst of spies and an upcoming war. Thank you, Percy." Chiron said in gratitude.

"Run along, you two. You can take the day off. I'll see you tomorrow at the training grounds." he gestured them out. They both walked out, albeit from Chiron's amused eyes, which she didn't quite get it. When they were on their way towards the arena, a lot of campers threw furitive glances and knowing smiles. She furrowed her brows at that.

what's wrong? Is there something on my face or what?

She tried to dab at her face but the tugging sensation made her realize her that she and Percy were holding hands all the way from the infirmary and mentally face-palmed at herself for not thinking about it. But Percy's hand felt so right in hers. He felt like a rock that grounded her from losing herself. And it seems he didn't notice anything.

No wonder. What a Seaweed Brain!

They reached the arena to find a lone Piper destroying the dummies with dual blades with enough agility that she felt like an animal on the hunt. She was facinated with the technique Piper was displaying with dual knives. Before she could ask Percy to teach her the technique, Piper glanced at them and paused. Her knowing look and smile made Annabeth flush hard, but didn't attempt to retrieve her hand.

If he's okay with, surely I would be too, right?

"Woah guys, did something happened while I was away or what?" Piper asked him but her gaze was on their joined hands. Percy followed her gaze at their hands and released her hand and gave her a sheepish smile.

"Don't joke around, Pipes. What is it that you wanted to talk, anyway?" That got her attention. During the recording, Piper was awfully silent rather than being her chipper self. Annabeth thought she was angry at the whole ordeal but it seemed that wasn't totally it.

"Well, thinking about whatever the delusions Luke talked about.." Annabeth jerked her head towards the brunette. She had to try and convince her friends atleast that Luke was just manipulated and he wasn't all evil to begin with. If she couldn't convince her friends, then she's all alone in this mess to bring him back.

"I won't say I'm not angry that he tried to kill us, but talking to him made me think about something entirely different. Why did our parents claimed us early and there were so many undetermined in the Hermes cabin. Our parents said we were important. Is that the only reason they've claimed us. Like pawns at their disposal. Are we on the right side actually?"

"Pipes, I won't say that gods are all without flaws. They tend to be forgetful. I mean, they're immortals and time tend to be non-existent for them. They sometime lose count on their children, if they were too many. The situation at camp had been dragged for too long. No one reminded the gods about their kids, it would be an insult to them otherwise. But we shouldn't include everyone into the mix. They have some weird ways of showing it, but they do care about their kids." That made her think about her claiming by Athena. Piper simply nodded.

"We could be aggrevating and our parents might end up incinerate us in annoyance." she joked to diffuse the situation.

Before she lose her chance, she asked Percy to teach her dual knives technique. Percy simply shook his head and told her that Piper learned the technique from the hunters so she turned to the said girl. Percy took his chance and absconded to who knows where.

"Piper, would you please teach me the technique?" Piper's grin was smug and insufferable.

She'd put aside her pride and asked for guidance in the technique and Piper was grinning like a kid in country fair.

"Listen, my young padawan. Meet me here tomorrow to start your lessons on the dual-dagger technique."

xXx

A/N: Percy knows about the Prophecy from Poseidon, but not the exact lines. Annabeth too knew about a few lines, but not the sinister part.

Well, we're at the penultimate chapter now. One more to finish our journey. Tell me about it. Happy reading.