Man, this chapter took a while to write! I wanted to get it up to you guys today. Please enjoy ;)

Disclaimer, I don't own Percy Jackson, all rights belong to Rick Riordan

Percy woke up buried alive and crushed under the weight of someone sitting on him. When he tried to move, whoever was on top of him only seemed to press down harder on his chest. At first Percy thought he'd been kidnapped in his sleep, but the familiar smell of clean straw told him that he was covered in hay. Why? Was it supposed to be some kind of practical joke? He tried yet again to squirm under whoever was on top of him, but they twisted as if to tell him to stop.

"What do you want?" He heard Annabeth growl. With how close she was, it was clear that she was the one whose butt was crushing him. "Why are you here?"

A familiar voice laughed. Percy didn't know why it was so familiar to him, it was almost like he had heard the voice before, he just couldn't think of where. The memory was fuzzy and distant like a forgotten dream. He heard the second person walk closer to Annabeth, their shoes scuffed heavily along the wood floor of the barn. Percy felt Annabeth press down protectively over him as the person got closer.

"What? Are you not happy to see me again, Annie?" The voice, definitely male, asked. "It's been so long since I last saw you, two years actually. You've grown quite a bit."

Annabeth growled, "And you haven't changed at all, Luke."

"I've missed you." Percy could hear the smile in his voice. "Just tell me where the son of Poseidon is hiding and the three of us can return home together."

"He died." She said matter of factually, she sounded so confident that it would be hard not to believe. Er, if it weren't for the fact Percy knew he was alive. "Just like Thalia, he was hunted down by monsters his uncle sent. He sacrificed himself so Grover and I could get away."

There was a pregnant pause, there was that name again. The one that could quiet down a whole stadium. Thalia. She was Jason's sister, Percy knew that, and she had some kind of connection to Annabeth as well. Percy could faintly here Grover give a nervous bleat. He imagined that the satyr was probably trembling where he stood. Luke chuckled and, by the sound of Grover's bleating, he was who Luke was walking to next.

"Wow, Grover." Luke's voice held a similar condescending tone to Gabe's whenever he spoke to Percy. "Is what Annabeth saying true? Did you really fail to protect yet another powerful demigod with your incompetence?"

Percy didn't know much, if anything, about what happened, but he couldn't believe that it was all Grover's fault. Remembering how Grover was back at Yancy, Percy could only imagine that the poor guy was tearing up. His friend was really sensitive and already had a guilt complex. The son of Poseidon didn't like how Luke was using it as a weapon, especially when Percy was practically the tip of the sword. When Percy squirmed under Annabeth, both out of his compulsive ADHD and his desire to protect his friend, the girl simply hissed at him.

"Stop it, you idiot." It was so quiet that even Percy almost hadn't heard.

Though Luke appeared to have super hearing as he addressed Annabeth again. "What was that? Are you talking to someone?"

"Yeah, you." Annabeth didn't miss a beat. "We both know Grover did the best he could that day. He had three lives depending on him. Or do you choose to forget that. If anyone's to blame, its me. I was slowing us down."

"You were seven. A child." For the first time, Luke's voice became soft and warm. "Annie, you were smart, but way too young to do anything."

For a while, the whole room became quiet. Percy could only hear the shuffling of the horses in their stalls. He wondered where the farm owners were. How had they not noticed a group of kids in their barn? Maybe Luke wasn't alone. He may have someone distracting the farm owners from the barn. Or worse, Percy thought with a grimace. He really wished he wasn't stuck under Annabeth. It was clear she wanted him to remain hidden.

"Listen, Luke, I'm not going anywhere with you." Annabeth told him. "How about you leave before you wind up with another scar?"

Luke sighed, "I told you, I'm bringing the son of Poseidon back to camp with me. You have an option, but I'm afraid he doesn't."

The daughter of Athena tensed up, "I told you. He's dead."

"I not only smell the son of Poseidon, but also a dirty liar." Percy heard Slate's voice echo through the barn. "I might just spare you for killing my partner, if you be a good girl and hand the boy over to us."

Annabeth remained quiet. Percy knew she must have had a million ideas running through her head. He wanted to help her out, after all, they already knew that Percy was in the barn. The teen would be more helpful in a fight than burred under a mound of straw and a demigoddess. Though he couldn't fathom how they'd escape Kronos's minions.

"Annie, please cooperate with us." Luke pleaded, he sounded like he genuinely wanted her to. The daughter of Athena didn't say a word. "Fine, don't say I didn't try. Because I really did. Have at her, Slate."

Percy heard the barn door close. Some friend Luke must have been, leaving Annabeth and Grover to deal with a monster by themselves. At this point Percy really didn't see a point in staying hidden, but as Annabeth stood she pushed down on him, making it clear she didn't want him to show himself. Slate laughed darkly, the son of Poseidon could imagine his lizard eyes were trained on Annabeth hungrily.

Even though Percy knew Annabeth could handle herself, he hated the idea of hiding like a coward. He could hear his friend charge the monster, attacking it with all her might. Percy shifted slowly in the straw so he could see what was going on. Annabeth was amazing, moving almost elegantly to avoid Slate's wild swings. Unfortunately, he was just as fast to avoid her. She occasionally slashed through his clothing. Annabeth was even able to injure the monster.

"Just hand the boy over to us." Slate demanded. "I might allow you to live."

"Not a chance," She snarled as she pushed him back. "Grover, I want you to get Percy out of here."

Grover gave a startled jump, looking wide eyed and unsure. The monster took Annabeth's momentary distraction and used it to pin her to one of the barn's pillars. Annabeth gave a grunt of pain, but the fire in her eyes didn't waver. Percy knew he couldn't stand lying in wait like a invalid. He dug himself free of the straw as Goat Boy galloped his way over. Slate looked over his shoulder with a happy grin.

"Ahh, done hiding, little hero?"

Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out Riptide. "Let her go, Slate!"

"Don't want your little girlfriend to get hurt?" the monster mocked. He squeezed her throat a little tighter as he did. Though Percy was surprised to see that instead of glaring at the monster, Annabeth was glaring at him.

It wasn't hard to see that Slate looked rather pleased with himself. With the demigoddess still in his grasp, Percy wondered if he would try to hold her hostage for Percy's cooperation. The daughter of Athena had other plans, Annabeth used the pillar as leverage to kick Slate in the chest. He flew back a few feet, obviously caught off guard by Annabeth's hit. Slate wheezed and growled as he tried to catch his breath.

Annabeth didn't want to let him, she acted quickly, thrusting her blade at almost inhuman speed. It slit like butter through Slate's eye. He howled in pain, clawing at the wound as if trying to stop it. She went in for a second, and final, strike. And that was the end of Slate. He cursed the daughter of Athena with his dying breath as he crumbled away.

"See, Seaweed Brain." She grinned proudly. "I didn't need you to intervene, I handled him on my own."

She was good, Percy would never deny that. If there was anyone he would want on his team, it was Annabeth Chase. At first, Percy couldn't seem to form words to say. He knew there was some underline meaning to what she had just said, but now wasn't the time to be digging into it. Not when Luke and the rest of Kronos's army was probably waiting outside for them.

Percy eyed the barn doors warily, almost expecting Luke to come back to investigate the noise. The daughter of Athena was thinking the same thing, she crouched down and walked to one of the windows at the front barn. When he tried to join her, Annabeth motioned for her to stay where he was. So he stood next to Grover, waiting for Annabeth to give her verdict. Grover didn't say a word, he sniffled and crossed his arms protectively over his chest.

"Are you okay, man?" Percy asked as he looked at Grover. "You know that you didn't do anything wrong?"

Grover shook his head, "But I have, I failed to protect Thalia, and I failed to protect you."

"Don't say that, you've protected m..."

"We both know that's not true, Percy." Grover's voice held an non-Grover tone. "Don't lie. I'm terrible at my job, I don't know why Annabeth asked me to come."

Percy wanted to console the satyr, let him know he didn't think like Luke, "Grover..."

"Shhh," Annabeth hissed. Her eyes didn't leave the world beyond the window. "Can we save the heartfelt conversation for after we escape?"

It was hard for Percy to not cheer Grover up, he had spent much of their year together in middle school doing so. Annabeth was right, however, they needed to focus on escaping. The horses once again started shuffling in the barn, whinnying loudly. Percy noticed with a start that they were all looking at him. Were the monsters outside riling them up?

"Do you think we can fight our way out?" Percy asked. A horse he was standing particularly close to managed to nip at his shirt sleeve and give it a tug. It curled its lip as if trying to smile at him.

"No," Annabeth told him. "We don't really stand a chance against Luke and all those monsters. I've counted at least fifteen monsters. And Luke is basically the best sword fighter ever. Way better than Clarisse."

Thinking back to his battle with the daughter of Ares, he knew she was strong. For Annabeth to tell him that Luke was stronger, it made Percy wish he had a bit more training. The only reason they had beaten Jason the day before was because of Annabeth's sneak attack. Overall, Percy was starting to feel his victories against the Minotaur and the giant snake were purely luck.

"Does anyone else smell smoke?" Grover bleated out.

The daughter of Athena scowled, "It looks like Luke is tired of waiting."

Sure enough there was a fire growing at the back of the barn. Luke was trying to smoke them out. The fire was spreading unnaturally quick, with all the dry straw and wood in the barn it wasn't going to die out soon. He could hear the crackling of the barn being eaten away. Now the horses were going absolutely crazy in their stalls, their whinnies sounded more like human screams than animal.

Please, my lord, release us! A voice wailed.

Annabeth didn't seem to hear the voice. To Percy they were all overwhelming, enough to make his head hurt as they pled and begged for mercy. Clutching his head, the son of Poseidon tried to keep his skull from splitting open at the sheer volume of them all. Grover was able to keep him on his feet. The satyr looked worried as he covered Percy's face with a piece of cloth torn from his shirt.

"We need to get out of here." Percy told Annabeth. She was looking pale as the smoke slowly began to over take them.

"We'll be walking into a trap." She warned around her sleeve.

With a nod Percy began to unlatch the doors of the stalls. Each horse bowed gratefully as they rushed from their stalls. Grover helped too. The fire was becoming almost overwhelming, Percy hoped there weren't any other animals living in there. One of the horses nudged him towards the door as soon as the last was released. Annabeth was at the barn door waiting for him.

"Ready?" She asked, her face was beaded with sweat and her voice sounded, for lack of better words; horsed.

Percy tightened his hold on Riptide, he almost forgot he had been holding it, "As ready as I'll ever be."

Fresh air rushed into the barn, fueling the raging fire even more. The smoke that bellowed out was enough to blind him. Percy eyes watered heavily from the flying ash. There was no room for hesitation as the large horses forced the trio to flee, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover didn't want to get trampled on. It wasn't a moment too soon, the barn began to crumble behind them.

"There you are." Luke's voice taunted. At first Percy struggled to see him and his team through fuzzy vision. Percy could feel the ground shake as horses rushed from behind him and away from the barn. He coughed, trying to get oxygen back into his lungs. "The son of Poseidon, I thought you were going to let yourself burn alive."

When Percy could finally see, he felt his stomach drop. There were fifteen monsters, all rather big. Standing at the front of the group was a super model. At least the guy could pass as a model with his chiseled features. He had short blond hair and bright blue eyes. He reminded the son of Poseidon of Connor and Travis with that mischievous smile on his face. The only thing that took away from the guys good looks was a scar that stretched from his eye all the way down to his chin.

"So, you're Luke?"

"Luke Castellen, Son of Hermes, traitor to the gods." Luke held his arms wide as if he were expecting Percy to come right to him. "The very thief who stole Zeus's master bolt."

Percy scoffed, the action took what ever little air remained in his lungs, "Big talk for someone who just sacrificed their friend."

"Slate?" Luke looked a bit confused before a manic grin came to his face. "I guess you haven't learned that monster lives are nearly immortal, they always come back. Besides, he was a failure anyhow. I doubt Kronos would grieve his loss."

"So that's what you do with people who are supposed to trust you, betray them?"

Annabeth gave a nod of agreement though she didn't seem to happy to do so, "It seems to be what he's best at."

For a moment, Percy saw a hurt look come into Luke's eyes. It seemed that in spite of everything, he cared about what the daughter of Athena thought of him. The monsters who surrounded Luke, shuffled around restlessly, they looked like they wanted to attack. They reminded Percy of a heeling dog. Were they really waiting for the demigod's order?

The son of Hermes shook his head dejectedly before turning to Percy. "I promise you that won't happen, Percy. In fact, I can offer you anything you could ever dream of. Your mother she's dead right?"

"H...how do you know?" Percy hoped Luke would think the crack in his voice was from the smoke inhalation.

"We make it our business to know everything about our potential recruits." the blonde told him softly, his hand rested on the hilt of the sword sheathed at his side, but Luke made no move to take it out. "Poseidon left you there. You and your mom. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't have had to marry that disgusting mortal. He abandoned you and left you to deal with her death on your own.

But what if I told you, she didn't have to stay dead? There are ways of bringing the dead back to life. Kronos would be more than happy to give her back to you. In return for your pledged loyalty."

Percy wasn't sure if he was dizzy from the smoke or if all Luke told him was making his head spin. Was it really possible for him to bring his mom back to life? To have her with him, giving him hugs and telling him how much she loved him? Percy desperately wanted to tell her how much he loved her. To tell her how thankful he was that she was his mom. A lump formed in his throat and his grip on riptide loosened for a fraction of a moment.

"He has a silver tong. Like most liars and thieves do." The conversation he had with Annabeth the night prior rang in his ears. Percy tightened his grip on Riptide.

Luke smiled, "So what do you say, Percy. Do you want your mother back?"

"Of course I do." Percy felt his voice waver. He heard both Annabeth and Grover make startled noises, almost as if they were afraid he were considering Luke's offer. No...as tempting as it was to, he knew she wouldn't want him to choose a path of evil. Kronos would use him to destroy the world. "But not with what you're offering. You could help me by telling me what you stole from Hades though."

Annabeth and Grover both seemed to sigh in relief, their fears both quelled by Percy's resolve. The traitor looked confused by the teen's response. He really expected Percy's will to break that easily. He expected the son of Poseidon to yield like the monsters waiting at his feet. He really thought it would be as simple as to dangle promises in Percy's face.

The monsters who stood at the villainous demigod's side all grinned eerily, as if they had been hoping for Percy to refuse. They were probably hoping to get a taste of demigod out of the endeavor. When one tried to step out of line, the temptation of eating a demigod being too much for him. Luke scowled and killed the monster without hesitation. The other monsters seemed to rethink their hungry glances.

"Is that really your final answer?" the son of Hermes demanded. When Percy shook his head, Luke's hand tightened on his sword before he gave a bitter laugh. "Didn't you hear what I told Annabeth? You don't have a choice. Capture the son of Poseidon."

Chaos broke out, the monsters charged at Annabeth and Grover. Luke and a few of the others came after him. It'd be almost overwhelming, if it weren't for the horses running back and stampeding some of the monsters to death. The one who had nipped at his shirt bowed before continuing to kill monsters with his friends. With the horses help, Percy only had to face Luke. Though that didn't comfort the novice sword fighter any.

"You may have gotten those stupid horses to take out some of my monsters, but you're still coming with me." Luke sent a wild swing his way.

Percy narrowly dodged the attack. The son of Hermes was really good and really fast. Did he really stand a chance? Weather Percy thought he was ready or not, he had no choice but to fight. His life depended on it. Luke came in for another thrust, Percy parried the attack and attempted to hit Luke with his own. Their swords collided with a sharp clang, sparks flew off of them.

Luke pushed back strong, "You have some skill with a sword, but I'm still better."

That's when it all went bad, Luke used a disarming maneuver, one that was far better than anything the daughter of Ares could use against him. It was all so fast that Percy almost hadn't seen it. Luke then twisted to ram the hilt of his sword into Percy's chest. The son of Poseidon winced and stumbled backwards. He really needed more training. Fighting a skilled demigod was far different than a giant, aimless monster.

Luke smirked before hitting Percy in the face with the hilt of his sword. The son of Poseidon made a desperate attempt to reclaim his sword, but Luke stepped on his hand before he could even touch it. It hurt, especially when Luke dug his heel in. Percy glared at Luke who only seemed to be taunting him. It was rather strange when the older demigod did a taxi whistle.

For a long moment nothing happened, Percy could still hear Annabeth fighting the remaining monsters, the horses also helping by kicking many in the head. Grover was trying to help, but he was rather defenseless. He needed to help them. When Percy tried to wiggle free of Luke he was rewarded by the blonde stomping on his back and holding him down. Percy's attempts to escape didn't matter when he was up against the experienced demigod.

"Where is that Pegasus?" Luke scowled impatiently before giving another whistle. His eyes were trained on the sky looking for it. "Come on, bud. I didn't want to resort to this."

He pulled out a strange looking remote. When he pressed the button, Percy could faintly hear a pained whinny. At first he thought it was one of the barn horses. None of them looked hurt. In the distance a large black shape was flying closer. Was it Jason returning from Olympus for round two? The trio could use the help. It wasn't shaped like a eagle. It was horse like. Obviously, Percy thought as he tried yet again to squirm away from Luke, He said something about a Pegasus.

The creature landed sloppily, looking as if it could hardly stand. In spite of it's lack of grace the Pegasus was amazing. It was large, just a bit bigger than the horses Percy had rescued from the barn. The Pegasus had glossy black fur, obviously it was well cared for, but the large metal collar around its neck looked rather uncomfortable. Luke chuckled and reached forward to pet it.

"Oh, you'll come to respect me, Pegasus." The son of Hermes assured the Pegasus when it yanked its head away .

I'd say when pigs fly, but I've had to carry your sorry butt everywhere. The voice came through Percy's head so smoothly, it was almost as if the Pegasus had actually spoken. And the name's Blackjack.

"I don't think he likes you very much." Percy smirked.

Luke said nothing, instead he hauled Percy to his feet and dragged him to the horses' flank. He expected the Pegasus to shy away when he was at it's side, instead it eyed him curiously. Blackjack sniffed at his hair, his eyes widened in surprise.

Wo, I heard rumors, but I never thought I'd live to meet cha, Boss.

"It seems he likes you, now get on the Pegasus, Jackson." Luke ordered as he gave Percy another push. "Kronos is really eager to meet his grandson."

When Percy tried to pull away, Luke grabbed him tightly, by the back of his neck. The teen grunted and still resisted Luke's attempts to force him on the horse. He wasn't about to do anything the son of Hermes told him to. Percy would fight as long as he could.

We must protect the young lord. Percy could hear one of the horses behind him call.

The horses charged once more rushing at Percy and Luke in a stampede. Luke was so shocked he released Percy and drew his sword. Percy's heart leapt to his throat when the son of Hermes slit the first horse opened. It cried out in pain before it collapsed in a heap on the ground. It's dying cry echoed in his ears. The other horses didn't relent, they were giving their lives to save him.

"Percy!" Annabeth called his name, both she and Grover were on horses. A third horse, the leader of the bunch, stood next to them. "Come on!"

Percy ran towards his friends, Luke tried to grab him, but Blackjack hit the son of Hermes with his head. He called out to Percy, You can thank me later, Boss.

"I can't leave him." The teen tried to go help the Pegasus, but Annabeth grabbed him.

He stumbled slightly when she pushed him towards the waiting horse, "No time, we have to get out of here. "

Luke had regained his wits and ran after Percy. He had no choice. Reluctantly, Percy mounted the horse and the trio took off. Hopefully, they'd get safely away from Luke and the other monsters. Looking behind, the teen could only see smoke and the remains of the battle mocking him. Why was he so weak?

I'll get stronger, and then I'll beat you, Luke Percy promised himself.

I Hoped you guys enjoyed this long chapter! Please tell me what you think.