PERCY

This. This is what I've been missing. The powerpowerpower. How dare Annabeth try to take this away from me? wait, no you love Annabeth.

The feeling of powerpowerpower, of making others feel the pain I feel. no, stop, you're not a monster.

The rush as I push my anger into the Minotaur and make him scream. stop it, Percy, stop it!

The way the elves(they're your friends, Percy) look at me with fear in their eyes. No, Percy, you don't want your friends to be scared of you.

They're scared of me. They're scared of me. They're scared of me?

"Percy, you're scaring me!"

I gasp, and stumble backwards, releasing control of the Minotaur. It charges at me, and I swipe with Riptide. The Minotaur explodes into dust.

I steel myself, then look at my friends. They're staring at me with expressions of shock, disgust, fear. This is my fault. I can't do anything if I can't even control myself.

I crumble.

GRADY

Perseus Jackson is terrifying. He cuts his way through monsters like Edaline cuts through mallowmelt. The manic smile on his face just solidifies my idea that he isn't in control of himself right now. Percy can fight, but he doesn't enjoy it, as I could tell from our training sessions.

So when Percy controls the Minotaur and makes it scream in pain, I know that this isn't him. He's been consumed by the battle, leaving behind… this.

I almost scream when he releases control of the monster. What does he think he's doing? But I relax when he slashes through it easily.

Percy looks towards us, taking in our fear, knowing it's his fault. I know how he feels. I have felt the same way many, many, times. When Percy falls to the ground, looking as if he's shattered, I am not surprised.

He buries his head in his hands, and I can feel the misery pouring off of him as if it's tangible. I move to go to him, but Sophie pulls me back. "Remember, avoid his back." I nod and continue forward.

I kneel next to him. "Shh, Percy. It'll be okay. When we get back, I'll train you better."

He chokes. "No, I-I promised her. No more. 'Some things aren't meant to be controlled.'"

What? I don't understand. "We can talk about this later, okay, Percy? Right now, we need to save Keefe."

Percy straightens. "Yes. Keefe."

I marvel at this boy's loyalty. All he needs is someone to save, and he's back to his strong self.

We all walk into the cave, following Sophie, who is finding Keefe with her thoughts. Finally, we reach the end of the cavern, where Lady Gisela and Vespera are waiting. Keefe is there too, looking terrified. "Sophie! I told you not to come!"

Sophie smiles softly. I scowl. Sophie doesn't have to be single. But she also doesn't need to have a crush on two people at once. Wait. Nope, not focusing on Sophie's love life. We are saving Keefe.

"I know you told us not to come, Keefe. But we are going to win this time."

Lady Gisela scoffs. "You will never win. We knew you were going to come. You are predictable, easy to fool. We know your every move."

Percy steps into the light. "Do you know my every move?"

KEEFE

That stupid, stubborn Sophie Foster! Why is she here? I told her to stay far away. I can't stop the Neverseen from making me make them turn against each other, or kill themselves, or anything. These stupid cuffs.

Sophie smiles at me. "I know you told us not to come, Keefe. But we are going to win this time."

My mom laughs. "You will never win. We knew you were going to come. You are predictable, easy to fool. We know your every move."

A figure moves out of the shadows. As I can see more, I realize it's a man. He has messy black hair and piercing sea-green eyes. He's tall and powerful, but I realize I can feel his emotions like I can Sophie's. This man has felt more pain than anyone should ever have to feel.

"Do you know my every move?"

His voice is deep and forceful. I sincerely hope that he's on Sophie's side. If not, we're all doomed.

My mom looks confused. That's good. If she's confused that means she doesn't know who this guy is. It also means she doesn't know how to control him. "So, Sophie, you managed to get someone I don't know about on your team. Good job. That still doesn't mean you can expect victory against us."

New guy cocks his head. "You don't know me? I expected that the monsters would tell you all about me, seeing as you're working with them. Or you were. Before I killed them all."

My mom inhales sharply. "Perseus Jackson. The Bane of all monsters."

He smiles lopsidedly. "That would be me. But anyone who's a friend calls me Percy. So you don't get to call me that. But the boy with the cuffs does." He turns towards me. "I'm guessing you're Keefe?"

I nod silently. Trust Foster to find an ally that can decimate an army within an hour. This man, Percy. He's going to help Sophie get me out.

He smirks. "I've heard a lot about you. Apparently, you and I are going to get along swell. But Mr. Forkle said that the world would be destroyed if we met. I'm assuming that's a good thing."

Ooooh. I bet he's great at pranking and stuff. We're gonna make everyone laugh, and- No. Back on topic. Getting rescued. Right. Calm down.

Vespera laughs. "How are you going to beat elves? You are but a human."

Percy throws back his head and laughs. "Not quite, stereotypical evil lady. Not quite. I'm pretty sure that I'm half human, at the most."

"And your other half?"

Percy's eyes darken. "None of your business, lady."

Vespera looks exasperated. "How do you not know of me? Surely your friends have told you?"

"I'm sure they have. I just wasn't listening. So what's your name?"

"Vespera."

Percy's face looks carefully set in stone, so as not to show emotions, but as an Empath, I can feel the sheer rage rolling off of him in waves. His eyes hold a plethora of natural disasters that could destroy an entire continent in less than a day. He is furious.

"You are Vespera?"

"Yes, I am."

He smiles ferally, his eyes gleaming menacingly. "You're the one that I get to kill."

Vespera snorts. "I'd like to see you try."

Percy's pinky finger curls in on itself, and Vespera begins to sweat. Well, not exactly sweat. More like water begins to stream from her pores towards Percy. He collects it in a small ball that gets progressively bigger. Vespera begins to shrivel, looking like she swallowed buckets of ruckleberries.

My mom looks slightly scared, but I can feel her overwhelming fear. "Stop!"

Percy's finger uncurls, and Vespera gasps, falling to the ground. "I could have killed you. But I didn't. That enough proof for you?"

Who is Perseus Jackson? A Hydrokinetic who can control water in people's bodies? I have never heard of that kind of ability.

Percy speaks again. "If you move to stop us from taking Keefe and releasing him from his cuffs, I will finish killing you. If you let us free Keefe and take him back with us, I will return the water to your body. Deal?"

My mom nods shakily. "Deal."

My friends rush over to me, and Sophie, Linh, and Dex give me a huge hug. Fitz high-fives me. Grady glares at me. Tam and I grudgingly nod at each other. And Percy inspects my cuffs.

"What did you say this was made out of, Tam?"

"Obsidian and blood. Why?"

Percy takes a deep breath. "I can control the blood and break open the rock."

"Do it."

He grabs the cuffs and closes his eyes. I can see the streaks of blood getting closer to the surface of the rock. He pulls his hand off the cuffs and yanks at the air. The obsidian shatters, and I rub my wrists. Freedom! No more Beguiling people and making them do horrible things for the Neverseen. No more control. I am myself again.

Sophie smiles at me. "We're going home, Keefe. Or at least, to Havenfield."

Percy looks relieved. "I know what Havenfield looks like. No light leaping for me!" He disappears, leaving behind only misty air. I blink.

Sophie sighs. "That's Percy for you. Don't worry, he'll be there when we get there." We light leap away, and sure enough, Percy is standing in the middle of the field.

"Hey."

I show off my infamous smirk. "Hey to you too. See you've met Foster and the gang. Have they managed to get themselves in any life threatening situation yet?"

He smirks right back at me. Oh, we are going to get along. "Actually, I got into a life threatening situation where I almost died, but they brought me back to life."

I nod, impressed. A life threatening situation in the first week. Nice. We will be good friends.

Sophie looks exasperated. "Now, if you're done getting to know each other, then it'd be a good time to work on a cache, since Keefe can mimic voices." She pulls out the box that Oralie's cache is in and takes out the marble-like sphere.

Percy's head jerks up. "Wait, what is that called?"

"A cache."

"And it's important?"

"Um, yes."

He puts his hand in his pocket and slowly pulls out…

Another cache.