A/N: For this story I'm just going to pretend Percy didn't get expelled from Goode High School after Hera kidnapped him, because I'm the writer of this story so I can do that :)

Also, this is probably the first PJO oneshot I've ever written? I'm quite happy with the result, especially since English isn't my native language. So yeah, please review, I'd like to hear your feedback or just your opinion.

Characters and the world belong to Rick Riordan, but the main character is an OC. Enjoy!

Percy Jackson was one strange boy, Aaron Samuels thought to himself while standing in front of his closed locker one day. It wasn't the first time he'd had that particular thought; it actually happened quite a lot.

It wasn't because he disliked him that he thought he was strange, either; in fact, they were close friends who spent a lot of time together. But everyone at school knew it. There were small things, like how he had very strong opinions on mythology, or how sometimes when they were walking past the sea, he'd stay behind, giving some weird excuse like "the fish need my help", and tell them that he'd catch up with them later.

There were bigger things, like how his body was covered in all kinds of scars which he never wanted to talk about, or tried to give strange made-up stories for when someone asked about them. Or how he sometimes just disappeared in the middle of the day or ran out of class, or how random teenagers who didn't go to school here would sometimes wait for him at the school's entrance, kids in orange T-shirts, sometimes with golf clubs or violin cases or other things like that. Percy could never explain why there were always teenagers looking for him.

And there were the really big things, the things that seemed irreal, like they were straight out of a book or movie. Once, when cleaning out the attic, Aaron had found an old newspaper from five years ago. The front page had a story about how a kid named Percy Jackson was kidnapped and eventually fought his capturer in a gun fight and managed to win. When Aaron had taken the paper to school the next day, Percy had simply snickered and said something like "yeah, that was a wild summer".

And if all of that wasn't weird enough, he'd also disappeared last school year. He'd been gone for eight months. No one knew where he was; it was as though he'd simply disappeared off the face of the earth. His mom and stepdad told some strange story about family problems, but what kind of family problems warranted a teenager disappearing for eight months, without even saying bye to his friends? Aaron didn't understand it and Percy didn't explain it.

There had been rumors, of course, every single one weirder and less believable than the last. Someone said he ran away. Someone said he moved to Alaska. Someone said he was kidnapped. Someone said he joined a cult. Someone said his family murdered him and they all covered it, but that rumor was disputed when Percy turned up for the first day of the next school year, alive and well. He'd simply said "hi", nothing else, no matter how many questions were asked. He only ever said he'd been dealing with family problems, which of course did nothing to stop the rumors.

But the reason Aaron once again mulled over Percy's strangeness this particular day, was because Percy had, once again, disappeared, this time before they'd even reached lunch time. He'd simply come up to Aaron while the latter was putting away his dictionary and said: 'Hey, so uh, I have to go, my cousin needs my help. And Ineed youto tell Dr. Boring I went home with a headache. Pretty please?'

He pouted and Aaron sighed. He knew he couldn't say no to Percy. They were friends, and Aaron might also have a small crush on the guy. Maybe. Just a little bit.

'Yeah, sure. Just skip the rest of the school day, I guess.'

'You're the best! I owe you a cheeseburger, okay?' Percy took off without looking back and Aaron was left at his closed locker, completely speechless, reminded of how strange his friend was.

Where was he even going? Why did his cousin desperately need his help in the middle of a school day? Why did people always need his help? Aaron knew Percy was quite stressed about getting into college with his girlfriend, Annabeth. He wanted to go to a small college in the West. He'd said the name a few times, but Aaron had immediately forgotten it. He always forgot it – it was like the name couldn't stick to his memory, it was just impossible for it to stay put. Aaron was used to forgetting stuff sometimes because of his ADHD, but this was different. This was really, really weird.

Within a few seconds, Aaron had made a decision. He wanted to know what his friend was up to. If it was something bad, he could help him. That's what a good friend would do, right? Percy wanted to graduate and get into college, but something was luring him away from school and distracting him from his studies. If Aaron could help him with that, he would help Percy get into college.

'Jasmin!' Aaron yelled, glad to see one of his other friends in the hallway. 'Can you please tell Dr. Boring that Percy has a headache and went home? And, uh, can you tell him I had to go to the dentist or whatever?'

'Why?'

'Because Percy's disappeared again, and I want to see what he's up to.' Aaron took off before Jasmin had had the time to react to his answer, running down the hallway and bolting through the door.

Percy Jackson was nowhere to be seen.

'Come on, Aaron, think!' Aaron told himself. A girl leaving the school gave him a funny look, but he ignored it in favor of looking down the street to see where Percy might have gone. He was starting to regret not wearing a coat; it was December, winter break would start next week, so it was quite cold. He almost decided to go back inside, thinking he wouldn't find Percy anyway, but suddenly he heard a loud roar, somewhere around the corner on his left.

He knew where his trouble-attracting friend had gone.

Aaron thought he'd mentally prepared himself for every possibility, but nothing could've prepared him for what he saw when he turned around the corner.

There was a huge crater in the middle of the street, filled with water. At the sight of the road, an abandoned firefighter's truck was parked. Percy was standing on its roof, with next to him a black-haired boy who seemed about fifteen. Percy was holding the hose and struggling to aim it at something that was trying to jump on the side of the truck to reach the roof. It looked like a lion. Had it escaped from the zoo?

Aaron started running towards the truck, not even sure what he was planning to do or why on earth he thought this was a good idea. It just felt like the right thing to do. He'd come to help his friend, and some random zoo lion wasn't going to stop him from doing that.

The lion jumped again, this time managing to reach the roof, so it was hanging from the side. It tried to hit Percy with one of its claws and Percy only just managed to jump backwards in time, causing him to slip and fall on his back. The lion tried to pull itself up and Aaron was filled with fear for his friend. He grabbed the first thing he saw – a potted plant – and chucked it at the lion.

'Hey pussycat, leave my friend alone, you hear me!' he yelled.

The lion dropped on its feet again and turned to Aaron, roaring threateningly.

'Uh-oh.' Maybe this hadn't been his brightest idea.

Luckily, Percy had gotten on his feet again and aimed the hose at the lion. A jet of water came out and threw the lion backwards into the crater, way further than it should have been able to push him back. It disappeared under water.

Percy and the younger boy, who was probably his cousin, jumped off the roof of the firetruck and quickly ran to Aaron.

'Everything okay?' the younger boy asked.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.'

'And you, Percy? That Hellhound didn't manage to hit you, did it?'

'No, I'm okay,' he said.

'Hellhound?' Aaron asked. 'What the hell is a Hellhound? I thought it was a lion.' He looked at the hole in the street, where the lion had emerged from the water and was now trying to get on street level again. It kept climbing and falling down again. But the strange thing was – it didn't look like a lion again. Instead, it just looked like a really big dog, almost the size of a car. Aaron didn't know much about dogs, but he was pretty sure they didn't get that big. 'Hey,' he said. 'Hey... It looks like a dog now. But I could've sworn it looked like a lion a minute ago!'

Percy and his cousin shared a strange look.

'You brought a mortal?' the cousin whispered, but so loudly Aaron could hear it too. He didn't like the implication that Percy and his cousin were not mortals; but it must be some kind of inside joke, he told himself. What else could it be?

Aaron's attention was drawn towards the lion-that-looked-like-a-huge-dog again. 'P-Percy? What is that thing?' he asked nervously. 'It's not a lion, is it?'

'I... I'll explain it later, when we can sit down somewhere. What are you even doing here?' Percy asked.
Aaron shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant while in reality he just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. 'I thought you might need a hand.'

'Look, I appreciate your help, but this isn't just some game. This is dangerous. You could've gotten yourself killed.'

The big dog-lion-thingy managed to climb out of the huge hole. It shook itself dry like the huge dog it was, causing water to rain down on the street.

'Talk later, run now, Percy!' Percy's cousin said, while grabbing Percy's arm and Aaron's shirt, pulling them with him until they'd started running themselves.

'Nico, do you have a plan?' Percy said. 'I can probably kill it, but...'

'No killing if you can avoid it,' Percy's cousin – Nico – said. 'My dad's very fond of this one.'

'What is it?' Aaron asked again.

'Hellhound,' Percy simply said. 'We'll explain everything eventually, but save your breath for running now. Nico, plan?'

'Well, it will keep following us, so we could lure it back to the palace, but that's a long way.'

'I don't think we can keep running for that long,' Percy said.

'The palace?'

'Later, Aaron.'

'Can you at least tell me what's going on?' Aaron asked.

Nico sighed. 'When I left home this morning, the Hellhound followed me. I have to bring it back before my father notices its absence – he's reminded me hundreds of times to close the door behind me – but that's kind of difficult seeing as, well, it's quite big.'

'We have to catch it somehow, find a way to trap it and transport it back to the palace, but I don't know how,' Percy said.

'Transporting it isn't the issue, I can shadow-travel it back,' Nico said. 'But I need it to be still so it won't run away or try to bite me or anything, so I can focus on getting it back.'

Aaron felt a sharp stab in his side. He wouldn't be able to keep running for much longer. He had no idea how Percy and Nico were able to run and talk at the same time.

'So if we could trap it in a net, you could bring it back to the palace?' Percy suggested.

'A net? Where in my father's name do you want to get a net?'

'There's a shop just around the corner that has all kinds of fishing supplies, we can get a net there.'

'Of course you would know where to find a shop with fishing supplies.'

'Hey, I don't fish! I don't want to hurt the fish!'

'Only you would worry so much about fish.'

'They're my friends!'

'Maybe talk less and run more?' Aaron suggested, almost completely out of breath.

They hung a right and Percy stopped in front of a small shop that seemed to sell fishing supplies indeed.

'Nico, can you just distract him and keep him here for me?' he said before entering the shop.

Nico turned to face the Hellhound when it turned around the corner and pulled a black sword that was hanging from his belt, but instead of pointing it at the Hellhound that was running towards them, he pointed it downwards and stabbed the ground.

'I don't... think... that's how... swords work,' Aaron managed to say while panting heavily, trying to catch his breath.

'Just wait, you'll see.'

The ground started rumbling and ripping and within a few seconds, a huge crack had appeared in the road.

A hand reached out from deep down beneath the cracked road, and grasped a brick, starting to pull the body that was undoubtedly beneath it upwards.

'Don't freak out,' Nico said.

That's when Aaron noticed the hand had no skin or flesh, only bones.

More hands appeared, and then the arms that were attached to them, then heads and shoulders and ribcages. All bones. After less than twenty seconds, six skeletons were facing the Hellhound.

'Yeah, I'm kind of freaked out right now.'

'Don't worry, they're under my command, they won't hurt you.'

Aaron barked out a laugh. 'Percy's life is even stranger than I thought it would be.'

A shadow seemed to pass over the boy's eyes. 'This is nothing, believe me. Percy's life is a lot stranger and a lot more messed up than this.'

'Oh God.'

They watched how the Hellhound mauled the skeletons; it seemed to think they were toys, chewing on them and throwing them in the air.

Finally, Percy came back, a huge net draped over his shoulder, messily folded. They untangled it and then they all stared at it for a moment.

'Now what?' Aaron finally said.

'I honestly don't know,' Percy said. 'Oh, wait! Aaron, grab one side, I'll get the other. Nico, you stand behind the net – no, the other side, our side, not the dog's. You have to lure it – if he sees you, he'll run towards you, straight into our net, right?'

'Yeah, seems like a sound plan. Does any of you have a squeaky toy or something like that?'

'A- what?' Aaron asked.

'Oh, forget about it,' Nico said. He whistled and clapped in his hands. 'Socrates!'

'Socrates?' Aaron was about 90% sure he heard that wrong.

'Yeah, my dad likes to name his dogs after Greek philosophers. Socrates! Socky! Come to uncle Nico!'

The dog looked up, flapping his tail excitedly. It would've been cute if he hadn't just been chewing on some poor skeleton's ribcage. Aaron shuddered after seeing what those teeth could do.

Suddenly, the dog started running towards Nico, and subsequently, towards their net. Nico waved and smiled. 'Good boy!'

The good: Socrates ran straight into their net.

The bad: The net was too small for him.

Percy and Aaron tried to wrap him in the net, but he started whining and shaking his head in an attempt to get rid of the annoying net, knocking Aaron over and sending Percy flying. The boy landed on a parked car's front window. Socrates growled, his tail stiff and low. Then he started barking and again tried to get rid of the net. Aaron had to duck to avoid getting whipped by one of the ends. Nico had already rolled to the side of the road.

'Oh gods, we just made him angry,' he said.

The dog ran towards Percy, who scrambled to get off the car's front window and hid behind the car in question to avoid the jaws of the Hellhound that closed just above his head. The dog, still half stuck in the net, climbed over the car and tried to reach the annoyance who'd gotten him trapped in this mess, but the net and the car didn't make it easier for him.

Aaron jumped up and ran towards the Hellhound, just when it was about to take another attempt at biting Percy's head off. Aaron did the only thing he could think of; he launched himself at the dog, grabbed the net, and held on to it, using his dead weight to pull the dog's head down far enough for him to once again miss Percy's head. He was now dangling in the net, entwined with it, and holding on for dear life while the dog shook his head again and pawed at it with his claws in an attempt to get rid of the net.

'Sssh,' Aaron said in a hopeless attempt to calm the dog down. 'Sssh. Good boy. Uh, skeletons, squeaky toys, balls, meat. Sssh. Good thoughts. Sssh.'

But luck definitely wasn't with Aaron that day, because Socrates finally managed to shake off the net, sending it flying forward with Aaron still stuck in it, so Aaron crashed against the walls of the shop that sold fish supplies. The dog slowly crept nearer and nearer, growling threatening while Aaron checked if all of his limps were still attached and tried to get out of the net that was – he had to agree with Socrates on this matter – very annoying indeed.

The dog was now looming over him while Percy and Nico were shouting at it, throwing things like Aaron had earlier, trying to distract it from him. But the dog had finally settled on a target and was probably already imagining how crunchy his ribcage would be.

'Good boy,' whispered Aaron. 'Good boy.'

'Try to calm him down!' Nico said.

'I'm trying!' he whispered as angrily as he could manage. He'd never been very good with dogs, and he didn't have a squeaky toy, or a net, or a water hose, or a black sword that could summon crunchy skeletons.

In his despair, he did the first thing he could think of.

He sang a song.

'In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.'

Why was he singing this song? Why was he even singing? Had he gone mad? That would explain everything that had happened in the past half hour.

'In the jungle, the quiet jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.'

Maybe because at first, he'd thought the Hellhound to be an escaped lion. Or maybe because he desperately wanted this thing to be asleep so it wasn't thinking about biting his head off, or at least not actively pursuing that wish.

The Hellhound stopped growling and looked at him like he was just as confused as Aaron himself was.

'Keep singing,' Percy whispered.

'Near the village, the peaceful village, the lion sleeps tonight.'

He'd decided to skip the "uyimbube" part for now.

Socrates seemed to relax a bit. Was it actually working? Aaron didn't know what to do, so he just kept singing.

'Near the village, the quiet village, the lion sleeps tonight.'

His own eyelids were becoming heavy to and he yawned. From the corner of his eye, he saw Percy yawning as well.

'Hush my darling, don't fear my darling, the lion sleeps tonight.'

Aaron had never sung much; his stepdad had always told him singing was for girls, and that it would turn him gay. So he didn't sing, even though he loved it; but he'd turned out to be gay anyway.

He should've just sung when he wanted to, he thought. He liked singing.

'Hush my darling, don't fear my darling, the lion sleeps tonight.'

And apparently it wasn't just lions who slept, for the Hellhound had lain his head on the ground and started snoring. He was asleep.

Aaron got up slowly, making sure not to wake the Hellhound before walking to Percy, who was barely hiding a yawn.

'Good job!' Nico said. He rubbed his eyes a few times. 'How did you know that would work?'

'I honestly have no idea,' Aaron laughed. 'Am I going crazy? Have I already gone crazy? I don't understand it – I don't understand anything of what's going on here.'

Percy and Nico shared a look. Percy put his arm around Aaron's shoulder.

'I promise you're not going crazy. I'll explain everything in a minute, okay? Just hold on.'

Nico retrieved his sword and made the remainders of the poor skeletons disappear with a flick of his wrist. They were simply absorbed by the ground and after a few seconds, it was as though they'd never been here.

'All right, I'll take this boy back to the palace before he wakes up. Thank you for your help, both of you. And... Good luck.' He gave them both a pitiful look before putting his hand on the sleeping Hellhound and disappearing in the shadow of the fishing shop.

He was gone, simply absorbed by the shadows, and the worst thing was that it didn't even surprise Aaron. It wasn't the strangest thing to have happened today.

'Let's take a walk, Aaron,' Percy said. They walked through the streets, passed the hole filled with water and their school, and headed towards a small park.

'You don't know your dad, right?' Percy said after a while.

'No, I don't. My mom did marry my stepdad when I was seven, but they divorced last year, after he tried to kick me out because he thought I was a danger to his family or something like that. Like I would infect his children with my gayness! Anyway, my mom was taking none of it and we left.'

'I'm sorry,' Percy said.

'Don't be. I'm more than happy that loser and the two brats I had to call my stepbrothers are out of my life. But what does that have to do with anything?'

'We'll get there. You have ADHD and dyslexia, right? Like me?'

Aaron nodded. 'Yeah, I do.'

Percy sighed. 'How much do you know about Greek mythology and stuff like that?'

'Well, we both have Latin classes, so you know what I know. I know about the gods and some of the myths.'

'Look, Aaron, there is no easy way to break this to you.' They'd stopped walking and were now standing under a big tree, both shivering a bit because of the cold. 'But you know how we said that dog was a Hellhound? Well, that's the truth. Hellhounds are huge dogs from the underworld. They're creatures from Greek mythology, and they're real. You just saw one. And Hellhounds aren't the only mythological creatures that are real.'

'They're real? But... That's impossible. I would've known – the world would've known if there were just random Greek monsters running around! You can't possibly keep that a secret?' He was helplessly looking at Percy, pleading for him to give another explanation, something he could understand and process better than this, something that wouldn't require his whole view of the world to change.

Percy simply sighed again. 'This is never an easy conversation to have – and we haven't even gotten to the real bad part yet! You know how you first thought the Hellhound was a lion? Even though a lion looks completely different? That's what usually happens when normal people – mortals – see a mythological creature like this. We call it the Mist. It shields monsters and stuff like that, the secrets of our world, from the eyes of normal people, so they don't know about all of this. Monsters leave them alone. This way, they can live peacefully next to each other.'

'You... You said "we". Who's "we"?'

'We're getting there now. The thing is... Hellhounds and other monsters aren't the only things from the myths that actually exist. I'm going to say this bluntly because there's really no other way, and I'm going to need you not to freak out, not yet.'

'No.' Aaron knew where this was going. 'No. No, you're not going to tell me-'

Percy simply gave him a sad smile. 'I'm sorry, but it's true. The gods are real too. Poseidon, Apollo, Athena, Hermes, Demeter... They're all real. And sometimes, they get children with normal people – with mortals. Those children are half god, half human. They're called demigods. That's who "we" are. I'm a demigod, and I suspect you're one too, because you could see through the mist, and because you managed to make a Hellhound fall asleep by singing to it.'

'So what you're saying is... What you're saying is that my dad's a god?'

'Yeah. I'm sorry, Aaron.'

'But... That's impossible. My dad's just... He's just some random guy my mother slept with when she was young. She used to be a singer for a horrible band, they did small gigs at bars and she had a lot of dates... She doesn't even know who he was, just some guy she never saw again. He can't be a god. The gods can't be real. Percy, please tell me this is all some kind of sick, way too elaborate joke?'

'I can't. It's the truth. I'm sorry. Here, look...' He pointed at a small puddle and the water started flying and formed a ball in the air. It started spinning until it had formed a very small hurricane, then slowly rained down, back in the puddle. 'My father is Poseidon. That's why I can control water. That's how I used the hose as a weapon. I also made the pipes burst – hence the hole in the street earlier. And Nico is a son of Hades. That's how he summoned those skeletons, and why a Hellhound was following him. I don't know who your father is, but based off the fact that your mother is a singer-'

'Was. She works at a 7/11 now.'

'-was a singer, and the fact that you used a song to lull that Hellhound asleep, I'm guessing there's a pretty big chance it's Apollo. I don't think he told your mom. Your powers probably aren't very strong, if you've managed to go unnoticed for seventeen years, but that's a good thing, you know? It means you can be safe in the real world.'

'Are you- Your powers are strong, right? You made that huge-ass hole in the street. I mean, the huge hole, not a huge asshole – oh, whatever. So does that mean you can't be safe in the real world?'

Percy laughed, but it didn't sound genuine. 'You figured it out. You're right, I'm not safe in the real world. I'm pretty powerful, and I don't say that to boast. It's a curse, honestly. It's why monsters are able to find me so easily. That's why I always disappear, why I have all those scars. Don't pretend you haven't noticed, don't pretend you don't find me strange. I've heard the rumors.'

'So... Your disappearance, the "family problems"… Was that because of all this, too?'

'Yeah. It wasn't technically a lie, seen as the gods are my family – unfortunately.'

Thunder roared.

'Just kidding, I love you, uncle Zeus!' he yelled sarcastically.

'What happened?'

'Oh, Zeus doesn't like it when demigods insult the gods, so he has to show off his cool thunder-y power every time that happens.'

'No, I mean last year, when you were gone for half the school year, remember?'

'Oh, that. Hera decided that it was a great idea to kidnap me and bring me into a magic sleep for eight months. To be fair, she did have a reason – though I still don't understand while the kidnapping was absolutely necessary. It was because the giants, enemies of the gods, were rising again and starting a war. The gods always use demigods to do the dirty work for them.'

'Well, being a demigod sounds absolutely fantastic, I'm glad I signed up for all of this,' Aaron said.

'Well, it isn't all bad. Yeah, you have a sucky family and lazy gods and monsters trying to kill you, but there are also upsides. There's Camp Half-Blood, a safe place for demigods like us, where we can train until we're ready to face the monsters in the real world. There are the other demigods, we're one big family. And, to be honest, the powers are pretty awesome too. You'll see, it'll be okay. I promise.'

Aaron nodded shakily. 'Okay. I'm not crazy, I'm a demigod, and I have a crazy demigod-friend to help me. I trust you.'

'Oh, don't do that, that's a horrible idea,' Percy deadpanned.

'Sometimes I wonder why we're even friends,' Aaron said.

'Because my name is Jackson and yours is Jagger,' Percy helpfully pointed out. 'We've been stuck with each other in every class since freshman year.'

Ah, the alphabet. The best matchmaker there was.

It was the last evening of Christmas break. They were sitting around the campfire, singing the usual songs. Aaron was closely huddled together with his cabin mates, who were also his half-siblings, Kayla and Austin. There was also Will Solace, but he was cuddling with Nico di Angelo. They were all sitting closer to the fire than usual. It was cold, even though all of the snow they'd gotten for Christmas had already disappeared. Aaron was trying not to feel too sad about leaving already. It had been three weeks; his mother had called in sick for him during the last week before break, so he would have more time to train at Camp Half-Blood. He'd considered staying longer, but he wanted to go back to school, even though camp was great.

'Okay, Aaron, time to let us hear your song! Or were you planning to wait until summer?'

Aaron laughed and shook his head. 'I certainly wasn't, no. You're all going to have to suffer through my creation at least once.' He got up and grabbed his piece of notebook paper, even though he'd memorized the text, and even though his dyslexia combined with the darkness made it nearly impossible to read it anyway.

The last weeks, he'd been working on a campfire song, written especially for newer demigods, about not only the dangers but also the great parts of being a demigod, about the family that was waiting for you at camp.

Everyone was silent while he sang, even the Ares kids. When he was done, they all clapped and he felt himself get red.

'That was great!' Austin said. 'Your singing has really improved, too – not that you needed much improvement. C'mon, let's sing it again!'

They sang the song until everyone knew it by heart, and then a bit longer. Aaron couldn't stop smiling. At camp, he'd finally learned what it was like to be loved and accepted.

By the end of the evening, he found himself strolling past the lake with Percy Jackson, who would return to Manhattan with him the next day.

'Are you happy I told you?' Percy asked, looking a bit nervous. 'Or should I have left you in your happy bubble of ignorance?'

'No, no, I'm glad you told me, really. At least now I know that none of us is crazy. I love this place – I already look forward to coming back next summer.'

'I'm glad you like it,' Percy laughed. 'Summer's going to be even better, everyone will be here then. It's going to be crowded and chaotic and you're going to drool at the thought of not having to share a room with anyone, but it's worth it.'

'Do you have to share a room with anyone during summer?' Aaron asked, raising his eyebrows.

'Nope. Only my brother Tyson, when he comes over, but that's not often – although I hope he'll have more time now that there aren't any wars going on for the time being. But I'm not sure I'll come next summer, or at least not the whole time. I might go do something fun with my girlfriend Annabeth and my best friend Grover – you've met them – to celebrate my graduation. That is, if I manage to graduate.'

'You have to. If you don't, Annabeth is going to kill you,' Aaron said. 'But don't worry, I'll help you.'

'Thanks. It's great to have a demigod-friend at the same school,' Percy said, seeming relaxed.

'Shall we go back to the Cabins? I'm tired.'

'Nah, I think I'm going to dive in the lake. Good night though.'

Aaron laughed, then realized who he was talking to. 'Please tell me you're not serious.'

'I am.' Percy took off, running over the beach towards the pier, then swiftly jumping off it. He didn't come up for a few minutes, but then he did, shooting straight up into the air and diving back in, all while happily screaming.

Aaron shook his head. Percy Jackson was one strange boy.