Chapter 2 is here! It took a long time to get finished. Sorry. I'm VERY busy these days.

But, guys, my excitement about this story is through the roof! I can't wait to share! AND I FINALLY HAVE MY OWN COMPUTER NOW! YES!

Reviews:

DDaughterofAthena: Thank you very much. :) And you should check the series out! I haven't read those books in a while so I apologize if things aren't matching up completely. Anyway, about your comment about crossovers... I was wanting to post it as a crossover story, however, this website doesn't have the Firebird trilogy on here. They want both series mentioned so it's not an option. :( If it was, I would have posted this with the crossovers option checked off. *sigh*

Anyway, on with the story! What will happen next?

CHAPTER 2

A WORLD OF IT'S OWN

Percy was alone in the Poseidon cabin. Tyson was off somewhere in Dad's underwater palace doing who knows what, so it was as silent as it could be with only the gentle ocean waves crashing through the night from the beach in the background. It was a calming white noise to fall asleep to, and being the child of the god of the sea, a person could only expect him to enjoy it anyway. He purposely kept his window open a crack for that reason alone, except for cold nights in the cooler seasons. He'd had it open the one autumn night and woke up to a frost-covered room. It wasn't the best morning. Tonight, however, was warm, and he had his window open for the purpose of nature's lullaby. So, having both an empty cabin and a peaceful night, one would think there was absolutely nothing that should be keeping him awake right now. One would usually be right if there hadn't been a strange mortal with a seemingly dangerous item she was trying to hide in their camp which could potentially attract all the wrong things. Was he the only one not sleeping because of her? Maybe bringing the necklace to Camp Half-Blood wasn't a good idea after all. They didn't know the person who gave it to them in the first place. All they knew was that her name was Marguerite Caine, she lived in Manhattan, NY - though she didn't even seem convinced of it herself - and that her parents are scientists. Anything else they asked her about, she somehow avoided the questions by asking her own. Despite how nice he convinced himself that she was, those facts are enough to make anyone suspicious. Is Marguerite Caine even her real name?

Tossing over onto his side, Percy pulled the blanket over his shoulder and stared into the blackness of the room in thought. Chiron had taken the necklace away immediately without saying where he was going to hide it. That obviously indicates that Chiron himself is suspicious of the whole thing. On the other hand though, he still agreed to bring it into camp. Why? Was it because he didn't think the necklace was that dangerous? Or did he just want to have a closer look at the thing? The jewel in the middle was pretty badass. And the fact that there were only two of these necklaces in existence? However, even though the thing looked stupid expensive, Marguerite's boyfriend got kidnapped because of it. What was he supposed to think of that? No piece of jewelry is precious enough for someone to do something so serious without a backstory of some kind. If a robber doesn't get what he wants the first night, chances are he'd move on, not wanting to try his luck. He wouldn't kidnap someone because of it... right?

All the same, the whole necklace situation kept him up wondering. And the longer he laid there, the more curious he became. Dare he say he was even reaching the point where he was tempted to get up and search for the thing. He knew there was something Marguerite was hiding and he wanted to know what, not only for the sake of his curiosity, but for the safety of the camp. However... after learning that Marguerite was a mortal, wouldn't the necklace just be a necklace?

Confused by all these thoughts speeding through his mind, he decided to just let it go. Maybe it wasn't anything. Maybe it really was just a piece of jewelry. And in that case, he shouldn't be lying awake wondering about the stupid thing. The next few days were expected to be a lot of commotion for camp. All of Camp Half-Blood and a few member of the Roman Legion were coming together to celebrate the one year anniversary of both the defeat of Gaea, and the remembrance of all those who died during that battle... which was slightly weird in Leo's case. Percy wasn't really sure how to feel about that... you know, with him dying that day only for him to come back to life. Guess it would be a great opportunity to remember how angry everyone was about that so they could take it out on him. Poor Leo had it coming.

After a few more hours with tomorrow, and that dumb necklace, on his mind, he found himself waking to the morning sun shining through his slightly ajar window. Somehow, during the night, he'd fallen asleep and was now being woken up to the sound of campers arguing directly on the other side of his door it seemed. He groaned and begrudgingly forced himself to sit up. Whoever it was screaming at each other was going to experience the wrath of Percy Jackson, the deadly tired demigod if the yelling didn't stop.

Swapping his pajamas for proper day-time clothes, he opened the door to find most of the camp already up and about. Some were already decorating with banners and balloons while others, like the two he had heard yelling, fought about how to decorate for the party, leaving everyone else doing all the work.

Passing by groups of squabbling campers, he gradually made it to the dining pavilion where he found Annabeth sitting on her own eating a plate of waffles. Due to the preparations being made for today, there was next to no one eating breakfast anymore.

He grabbed himself a plate of blue waffles and slid in next to her on the bench, not caring if he was breaking rules, which he was. She raised an eyebrow at him while he stuffed the first bite into his mouth. "You've been thinking about Marguerite," she announced.

He froze and set his fork back down. Daring to look at her, he muttered with a full mouth, "I don't really know how to answer that without you despising me."

"It's fine because I've been thinking about her too. Chiron hid that stupid necklace from us and won't tell me where it is."

"You've been curious to look at it too?"

"Well obviously," she said looking at him like he should have known that already, and he should have. "There's more to it that meets the eye. Didn't you see the way Chiron looked at it?"

Percy took a moment to think. "He seemed like he was unsure of how to feel."

"Which is all the more reason to be concerned."

He shifted to his side in thought, looking at her quizzically. "How did you know I was thinking about Marguerite?"

Smirking, she reached up and ruffled his hair. "Anyone with that hair hasn't been sleeping very well."

Now feeling semi self-conscious, Percy tried smoothing it down while glancing around to see if anyone else was laughing at him. "To be fair, I wasn't only thinking about her. These next few days have been kinda difficult to forget about. It's hard to believe it's been a whole year already."

"Let's hope there won't be any repeats. If anything else happens, someone else can take my spot. I'm done with prophecies."

"That goes for both of us," he muttered after taking a sip of his orange juice. "Man, if that necklace is the start of a new one, that would royally- "

"Don't...!" she stopped him with her hand, "... Jinx it."

Raising an eyebrow, he shut up and took another bite. "How long do you think she'll take? You know, to save her boyfriend."

"I can only say that I'd like to know." She raked her fork through the syrup like one of those mini Japanese rock gardens. "The sooner she rescues him, the faster we get the necklace off our hands. And the faster we get the necklace off our hands, the better our nights will be."

He knit his eyebrows. "Our nights?" He watched her gaze lift back to his hair. "Oh, right. Because we aren't sleeping."

"Yeah," Annabeth murmured with a small eye-roll, though there was a hidden smirk in there somewhere.

"You maybe think we should've offered to help her? She seemed to be holding a lot on her shoulders."

"Aren't we helping her already by hiding the necklace?"

"Well, yeah, but the whole issue with her boyfriend being kidnapped... that seems like a big job to take care of when you're a mortal. And she even mentioned that asking help from the police would only make it worse."

She sighed and then took a bite. "I don't know, but if she didn't ask for any more help than what we're already giving her, then I'd assume she had it under control."

"Annabeth!" a girl's voice called from behind them. "Can you help us set this up? Seb's doing it all wrong. I could probably put money down that he'll break it."

The two of them turned around to see Brook standing at the entrance of the Dining Pavilion. Beside her, Sebastian was struggling to put together a statue of one of the Greek gods - which was mandatory by rule of the gods with the declaration that their statues be displayed throughout camp during all special festivities. Even from here, Percy could hear him cussing when it wouldn't stand up straight.

"I'll be right back," Annabeth groaned. "Seb's making a mess of Demeter."

Percy laughed. "Don't worry. I'm planning on training in the battle arena right away anyway. And make sure he doesn't mess Poseidon up," he shouted as he watched her leave the Dining Pavilion. "I don't want people thinking I'm the son of a discombobulated god!"

She smiled over her shoulder. "Discombobulated. I taught you that word, didn't I?"

"No you didn't," he lied. "I learned that on my own while... reading..."

"Nice try, seaweed brain!"

For the rest of breakfast, Percy sat pouting as he watched his girlfriend help Brook and Seb. He could learn big words without her. He could probably even sort of figure how to help with the statue of Demeter. Maybe. Sometimes Annabeth didn't give him enough credit. Well, he understood why she didn't, but there were first times for everything. For him, it just might take a few million tries.

Apparently Sebastian really did something to mess up Demeter's statue because Annabeth was still trying to sort out the imbalance issue when Percy was off for the battle arena. Passing by the amusing group, he gave Annabeth a funny look that questioned how Seb put something together so poorly. In response, she shrugged and tried to hide a smile by pretending to scratch an itch on her top lip. He laughed when he saw the guy wipe beads of sweat off his forehead in the heat of the sun. For something that seemed so simple, he truly made it out to be more of a chore than anyone expected, or wanted. Seb was no son of Hephaestus.

Collecting armor on his way, Percy reached the front doors to the battle arena where he stopped at the bleachers to set his helmet down and readjust his chest plate. Because of all the commotion happening with decorating for the next few days, there were very few demigods with training in mind. Naturally, most of those who were training were the children of Ares (no surprise there), however, even they didn't all show up. It was rather nice actually, not having a crowded arena. It didn't happen all the time, but when it did, Percy took advantage of it. An empty arena meant no one was using the holographic army machine the Hephaestus kids made for training. He wasn't sure how they created such a machine, but it surprisingly helped him become more aware of the people around him while in a full-on battle. The difficulty settings offer Beginner all the way up to Mega Demigod Beast, but to be fair, the multiple settings in between were - even in his experience - quite challenging. He and Clarisse had an on-going competition to see how long they could survive on the hardest level without being holographicly cut in half. Admittedly, Percy wasn't winning, but he was getting there.

Seeing how no one was using it, he placed his helmet over his head and pulled the holographic machine out of its hiding place so it was sitting in his corner. Hopping on the spot to warm up, he then pressed ON and proceeded to select his preferred difficulty setting.

"Alright," he muttered to himself after choosing the Advanced-Son-of-a-God mode. "Show me what you got."

Coming to life, the machine counted down. "Three... Two... One... Go!" Immediately, several holographic Greeks appeared in full body armor and scrunched faces, holding their swords ready to attack. Percy didn't quite understand why the Hephaestus kids made them look so angry, but if it was to encourage the battle spirit, he would give them credit for how well it worked.

As the first one dashed forward, he sidestepped and "clashed" swords with him. Seeing how they were holograms, they couldn't physically come into contact with anything, but they were programmed to sense the fighter's movements, and most importantly, the position of their swords. After sensing Percy's block, the angry Greek jumped back and scowled at him. Others behind him began to close in as back up. Seeing that, Percy only smirked. He was gonna kick ass.

Forcing his opponent back, he jumped forward after a few more sword clashes, avoided his opponent's attack with a somersalt, and slashed his ankles, causing the Greek to fall to the ground and flicker out of existence. That signaled the rest of the army to charge forward.

Percy slashed through and fended off a few more advanced holographic Greeks all the while dodging their counter-attacks. It felt good to be in full-combat mode without the fear of actually dying or having his world completely destroyed if he dare fail. He could actually enjoy what he was doing in the moment and zone everything else out. This was one of the ways he was able to realize what he needed work on, or work out certain problems on his mind.

An hour or two passed. He wasn't exactly aware of how long he was fighting for, but he was worked up enough to call it quits and hit the showers. Finishing the last two Greeks, he sliced one in half, and slammed the butt of his sword into the other's forehead and watched both holograms flutter and then disappear.

"Ouch," a voice said from behind him.

Startled, Percy turned around and smiled widely. "Reyna! You guys made it!" He jogged over and gave her a big hug. "When did you get here? You came in good timing."

She stepped back and brushed her hair out of her face. "We wanted to make sure we didn't get here too late, but if it had been just me, I would have preferred coming sooner. Because it is not only me however, we took a bit more time. More of us came than what we had intended. Now we have to find a place for everyone to sleep."

"We got room," he assured. "The Hera and Zeus cabins aren't really being used anyway. How was the trip?"

"Tiring. Thankfully, Chiron has agreed to let us settle down before starting any activities. I've talked with him already."

Percy took his helmet off and began pushing the holographic machine back in it's corner. "Yeah, we all kind of figured the group would be tired. Honestly, I'm glad we've planned it to be a multi-day celebration myself. Part of it will be to celebrate the defeat of Gaea, and the other a memorial and day of respect for the fallen. We thought it would have been a bit disrespectful to have the celebration on the same day we do the memorial."

"That's fair. When will the memorial be?"

"The day after tomorrow." He began walking back to the centre of camp so Reyna followed. "Did Chiron say anything to you about what we will be doing tonight?"

"Not really," she answered, keeping her pace matched with his own. "Only that it wouldn't be as exciting as tomorrow."

Up ahead, Percy could see Sebastian and Annabeth working on the last of the statues, this one being Hypnos. The fact that it had taken them all morning was almost amusing. This time though, Frank and Hazel were with them, talking and catching up with each other. Percy smiled and waved at them from where he was. "Well, I don't exactly know what's being planned for tomorrow, but I do know we're having a party tonight. Sit around and mingle... maybe play a few party games... Stuff like that."

"That sounds fine. Nothing too exhausting."

"We did kind of figure you would all be tired from your trip anyway."

There was silence for a moment, Reyna's face twisting in thought. "Coming in I noticed the Athena Parthenos still sitting on the hill."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What, you thought it would get up and walk away? I know it's got its own spookiness about it, but -"

Reyna gave him a weird face. "No. I meant that it not only radiates power, but her statue is, and probably always will be, a permanent symbol of what we've faced to get here, both the good and the bad. The way we Romans fought against you, then became allies... How that terrifying prophecy forced seven demigods to risk their lives to save our entire world, and succeeded... Having such a monumental item in your camp must be pretty powerful to live beside each day."

"Yeah," he said looking at his feet. "It doesn't always give good memories though." Then he looked up at her with curiosity. "Don't you have something like that at Camp Jupiter?"

She shook her head. "Not like that, and especially nothing so recent. If your talking about the scars of our battle we had at Camp Jupiter though, than I suppose, but even that is different." She stopped and studied the scene around them: the volleyball court, the Dining Pavilion, the Big House, campers laughing and finishing up their decorations. Taking it in, she let a small smile spread across her face. "For as much as we've had to go through, Percy, I feel like we are living a new chapter. I don't know if it's the start of something bigger, or one that won't change drastically, but whatever it is, I feel that we're entering into a better chapter, one where we'll finally find peace."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Fighting against an enemy that powerful, and winning, seems like a war that will settle numerous things for a generous amount of time. This was the goddess of the Earth. Finding a way to put her back in her slumber is a pretty huge deal. Most of her major monsters have been banished to Tartarus and will most likely take a long while to enter the mortal world again. If that's the case, there wouldn't be any need to be sent off on any further adventures."

Percy truly hoped what she said was true. After everything, they needed a break. The stress with Marguerite and her necklace was distracting him from the possibility that there really could be peace in the future, even if it's only a small taste of it. As long as there are monsters, there will always be wars, battles at the least, but maybe this time there really would be more time to settle before they come their way. Both he and Annabeth had been accepted to separate colleges in the fall, which was going to be different experiences for the two of them. More than anything, he wanted to be able to get through as much schooling as he could, not that he was crazy about school, which he wasn't, but merely to have the chance to feel like a normal mortal again doing normal mortal things. Of course, leaving Annabeth would be difficult, but there were ways to get over it. He didn't want to have to worry about another prophecy popping up out of nowhere. Again.

"After the enormous size of that quest, I would hope you're right," he replied with a sigh. "I don't think anyone would be ready for anything else."

"I don't either."

"Speaking of peaceful times," he suddenly said, "how's Hylla and her Amazons doing?"

"Good, I suppose. I saw her a short while ago actually. She and the girls are busy with their packages, but she made time to sit and chat with that Iris messaging system you Greeks use. Now that she is back in power, Hylla has tried to make more of an effort to check up on me and my camp. She's even visited a few times which was something she wasn't able to do so easily before."

"That's good."

"I suppose."

He looked at her again. "No, seriously. That's great. I think you and your sister need time to catch up. You've been apart for a long time and been through some hard things."

"We were able to survive apart before," she countered in a tone showing she was uncomfortable.

"Yeah, but you guys deserve a chance to catch up and spend time together."

Shrugging, she changed the topic, probably feeling like things were getting too personal for her liking. "Do you think Chiron would be opposed if we break for lunch? None of my group has had anything since early this morning."

Getting the hint, he nodded with a smile as the Dining Pavilion came into view. "He wouldn't mind at all," he assured her. "It's almost past lunch anyway. Come on."

Space around the campfire was scarce with the additional crowd joining in that night. They gave up sitting in groups according to godly parents due to the lot of them and to avoid awkwardness or discomfort in whatever form, mainly for the Roman campers. Again, that gave Percy the excuse to sit beside Annabeth and the others he hadn't talked to in a good while. Much to his surprise, Reyna spent the most time visiting with Nico because for some odd reason they actually got along really well. He never understood why, but it was nice to see one-on-one interaction between the two. It still felt a little weird knowing that Octavian was no longer a threat and one to avoid talking to while a group from Camp Jupiter were here as guests. Don't take that the wrong way though, because Percy wasn't hoping he would have been there anyway, even if the way he went was unfortunate.

As with tradition, Chiron had made a special welcome to the Roman Legion members visiting at the early part of the evening, just as they were settling down for the campfire and evening fun. Platters of finger foods and a variety of drinks were handed out and everyone helped themselves. Plates were piling high with servings of pigs in blankets, cheese and crackers, granola cookies, mini muffins, veggies, and so on. Songs were sung and laughter rang out throughout the ring of campers. Nyssa even directed a few party games she had put together for the night that didn't involve moving around. There were too many people for that. However, the games were simple and easy, and actually a lot of fun.

With the night growing older, the warmth of the day went with it. A small breeze started to pick up and campers were beginning to zip up their light jackets or clinging a little tighter to their blankets despite the warmth from the campfire. Beside him, Percy noticed Annabeth didn't have either of those. Goosebumps run up her arms with every breath of the night. Her hands rubbed them to create some kind of warmth from the friction. He would have offered her his own jacket, however he didn't have one either.

"Did you want me to grab you a sweater or something? You look cold," he asked leaning in to her ear. She pulled away from her conversation with Hazel to look at him.

"Oh, sure, actually. If you don't mind," she smiled thankfully. "I left it at the Big House when I was talking with Chiron yesterday. Thanks."

"No problem."

"It might be on the deck, but if it isn't try his office or something."

"I'll find it," he assured her as he hopped up and began climbing down. "Save my seat, will ya?"

In response, she twisted to her side and stretched her legs over the spot he was sitting. She then continued her conversation with Hazel in an awkward position, but it didn't seem to matter to her too much.

Percy trudged through the dark fields towards the Big House. As he neared he could already tell that her sweatshirt wasn't hanging on any part of the railing. The light-reflective zipper and lining would have been visible from a good distance away. Therefore, it was somewhere inside. He wasn't with Annabeth when she had gone to speak with Chiron about Marguerite so he didn't know where she would have been.

He walked through the front door and immediately thought to look in the lost and found box in the main living area. Chiron was always quick to stick items campers left behind in there. Digging through the items, however, made it clear that it wasn't there either. Percy remembered that she said to check his office. That seemed like a logical place for her to have talked with Chiron. Knowing that, he entered through the office door and began his search. Under chairs, under the desk, behind the door, still no sweater. Eventually though, Percy spotted the grey material tucked beside the tall bookshelf just behind Chiron's desk. He bent down and picked it up, double-checking the tag to make sure it was hers. Seeing the brand he was expecting to see, he hung it over his arm and took a few steps towards the door again to leave.

A sudden small glint of light from his left made him stop short. Turning his gaze to the bookshelf, he squinted his eyes and came closer. The light was being reflected off of something hidden in the books and he wasn't sure what. As he neared, a thin golden chain became visible when he stared in between two of the thicker books. He pushed them apart to take a closer look. What he found made him raise his eyebrow with both surprise and excitement. After that restless night wondering if he would ever get a chance to take a closer look at it, he now had the opportunity to learn more about this necklace after all.

Percy reached his hand in and retrieved Marguerite's precious necklace. Holding it, he immediately noticed how heavy it was. If the weight was purely the jewel, the thing hidden inside must have been much bigger than he'd originally thought. Despite the red jewel though, the necklace's design made it seem like there had been a great effort in creating it. Was it pure gold? Was that the reason it was so heavy? Either way, he could understand a little better why someone wanted it so badly. The design imprinted on it was delicate as if everything done to it had been greatly thought out. It was obvious that whoever made this cared very much about every single detail.

Turning it over in his hands, he traced his finger over the intricate work. He wasn't sure if he was simply seeing things, but the thing almost seemed to be put together in pieces. Once again, it showed that the creator had great care where every piece was placed, where every feature was molded. A large cost probably came with the thing. It was rather shocking how fine some of the carvings were on it. In curiosity, Percy brushed the tip of his finger over the front side, just to the right of the jewel. Percy froze and began to panic when he felt a piece slide out of place as he traced his finger over it. Immediately a tick, tick, tick came from inside. When the ticking stopped and nothing seemed broken, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, that could have been bad," he muttered to himself after a couple seconds went by.

Just as he finished forming that sentence, the jewel began to shine a bright red, illuminating his face. The ticking came back and began picking up speed, in turn rebuilding the panic he had just overcome. Worried someone might see the unusual light through the window, he frantically turned the necklace in his hands hoping to find a button or something that would stop whatever the thing was doing. What did he press?

"Turn off, turn off!" he pleaded under his breath. His eyes grew big when the gear circling around the jewel, now making itself known, spun faster and faster until Percy got so dizzy he felt as if he would fall over. He realized very quickly though, that the dizziness didn't come from the spinning gear, but rather the world around him. It was spinning faster than he thought possible, making everything a great blur.

Percy shut his eyes and held his head. What was happening?

Before he knew it, shock enveloped him as he was thrown across the room by some invisible force. Thankfully it didn't hurt, but to explain it well enough, it didn't feel as though his entire body was flung, but rather his spirit - his soul - had somehow escaped and pulled his consciousness with it. He didn't understand how that worked, especially so quickly, but he did know that the world had stopped spinning at this point and his earthly body was now lying on his back. He sat up with a gasp.

Everything around him was now dark and strangely quiet. There was no longer the distant sound of laughter from the campfire, or the voices of random campers visiting away from the crowd. Part of him was scared that he'd died. Was that why this necklace was so dangerous? Marguerite said - if he was remembering right - for them not to play around with it. If this thing could kill someone, he now understood why someone with the wrong intentions would go to such risks to get their hands on it. A great concern though, was how and why Marguerite would possess something so dangerous herself? Didn't she confess stealing the thing or something at the beginning?

Pushing that new found fear to the side for now, he focused on waiting for a minute or two to catch his breath and figure out what had just happened. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness and finally calmed himself down a bit, he suddenly became very confused.

Instead of finding himself dead in the underworld, he found that he was sitting upright in his bed, in his pajamas, at home as if he had just woken up from a bad dream. This he didn't understand because he knew he had been standing in Chiron's office not two minutes ago wearing regular day-time clothing. Annabeth's sweater was no longer hanging over his arm, however the necklace was still tucked in Percy's hand, proof that it hadn't been a dream.

In the lack of light, when he was collected enough to do so, he tried as well as he could to study it once again.

"What did this just do?" he muttered with bewilderment. Turning it over a few times and squinting, try as he might, he couldn't find anything that stood out, at least in this darkness. He needed to wait until the sun came out again.

Okay, so it teleports, he thought to himself. That's pretty cool. But what if it randomly teleported him to a completely new part of the world where he didn't know how to get back? That freaked him out. He's gotta be more careful with this thing from now on. He can't be making any last minute vacations to Australia or something.

After this unexpected experience, Percy found his throat a bit dry. None of what happened made any sense and it wasn't even a dream. This was real. He threw his legs over the side of his bed, placed the necklace on his bedside table, and opened his door. Maybe a cool glass of water would make him feel a bit better. He'd get himself collected again and rest the remainder of the night, then figure it all out tomorrow. Chiron needed to know what this necklace was capable of.

Walking down the hall, still feeling a bit dizzy from whatever the heck happened, he stepped into the living area. He once again froze in complete confusion.

This wasn't his mom's apartment.

Positioned around a TV that was much larger than the one they owned, were two, brown, worn-down couches he hadn't seen before in his life. A throw blanket hung over the side of the longer couch and a few potted plants sat on the coffee table in between the two. Since when did his mom start planting anything? And that rug? He wouldn't catch his mom dead with a hideous orange rug like the one sitting under the table and chairs. She hated that color. What happened to the grey rug? She was so pleased with finding that thing at that street market because it matched the rest of the house. Why would she get rid of it?

And the wall color was completely different. It wasn't white anymore, it was a dusty pink. And the flooring. The floor was still laminate, but a completely different shade, some spots looking as if if had been majorly stained or something. Corners of the room looked cluttered, as if they owned more things than they could fit into the house. Shelves were overflowing. His mom would never leave her place looking like this.

Then it dawned on him. He'd teleported into someone else's apartment.

Officially freaked out now, he ran for the door as quietly as he could. If he was lucky, whoever lived here was fast asleep and wouldn't wake easily to the sound of someone walking through the apartment. He reached the door and closed it behind him with a sigh of relief. The good news was, even if the necklace teleported him to the wrong room, he knew he was in the right building because the halls looked the same throughout all the floors. If he could just find his mom's apartment now, he could tiptoe in and spend the night there, then head back to camp in the morning. He was pretty sure the others were all going to wonder where he'd gone. And what would he say? That he went home? This was too weird. Now he was afraid to touch Marguerite's necklace all together. Next time, she could keep it.

Searching the numbers on the doors around him to learn where he was located in the building, his confusion grew even more. Unless he somehow forgot his own mom's apartment number, the room he was just in was supposedly the right room after all. He even double-checked the number on the door to make sure. Was this a prank or something? Because if it was, it wasn't funny. He supposed maybe his mom got an urge to redecorate the entire place...?

Daring to try again, Percy opened the apartment door, and stuck his head in. As different as it looked, the layout was exactly the same. The kitchen on the far wall with the fire escape, the table to the right, the living room to the left as well as the hallway... New furniture is a possibility, he joked to himself. He'll have to ask what went wrong in the morning. At least his own room seemed untouched, even if he had only seen it in the dark.

Coming back in, he tiptoed back into the living room and crossed into the kitchen. He was still thirsty, so when he found the glasses where they always were, he was relieved something stayed the same. Filling it at the sink, he leaned against the counter and drank, not knowing what to think of any of this. He was still questioning if this was actually him mom's apartment or not, but the number on the door didn't lie.

If this really was his home, he wasn't sure what was up with is mom all of a sudden. He was pretty sure she was happy with how the place looked before all this change. Paul could have been an influence in mixing a few things up, but as far as he was aware, Percy didn't think he cared much about redecorating. The big TV was actually pretty cool, but the rug was horrendous. Orange didn't belong on the floor or on any part of the home. Orange was for fire. They should burn it. And for the rest of the place? Gods, it looked like he'd stepped back into the 1980's. The wall color... Why? He didn't understand, however if by some possible chance his mom actually liked the new changes and had it down for a reason, then each to their own. Percy hated it though.

As he was lost in thought, he found his gaze fixed on the fridge. It was difficult to see in the dark, however the pictures hanging from the magnets were pulling his attention for some reason. Now interested, he leaned closer and looked at each of them. The first thing that came to his mind when studying them, was that this was 100% his mom's apartment no matter how different it looked. These pictures had just confirmed that.

In one of the pictures, he saw himself as an eight-year-old kid standing with his mom and a man dressed as a clown at the entrance of an amusement park. He had no idea what park it was because he never remembered ever standing beside a clown so willingly. He grew being scared of them and to get him close enough to take a picture with one? It wouldn't have happened so easily. However, eight-year-old Percy Jackson didn't seem fazed by it at all. His smile was as true as his excitement about the park, it was clear. Weird. You would think he would've remembered something like that.

The next picture had only him in it. He sat with a party hat in front of a cake with giant 4 candle illuminating his face. Again, he was he was smiling, but there was something about this picture that was off. Percy remembered having a party when he turned four, but the cake had always been blue, for obvious reasons. This one was yellow. Maybe it was because it was dark, but the cake didn't look blue. He supposed maybe that year was different? Why didn't he remember any of this?

Taking the last sip of his water, Percy placed the glass in the sink and sighed, rubbing his temples. "I need to get to bed," he whispered to himself, only now feeling the exhaustion. When his mom and stepdad woke, he'd ask them what was going on then. Right now, he needed to forget about this weird night. He just hoped everything would make more sense in the morning.

Sluggishly walking back to his room, he continued to rub his temples. Teleporting gave him a monster headache. He should have left the necklace in its hiding spot. All the same though, Chiron sucked at hiding things.

Percy slid back into bed and shut his eyes. He wasn't exactly expecting to have such an early night, especially on the anniversary of the defeat of Gaea. It was supposed to be a huge deal and here he was stuck at what was apparently his home, in bed, while everyone else was up having a great time visiting and playing party games. It made him start to regret asking Annabeth if she wanted a sweater. It made him regret having to stick his nose where it didn't belong. Annabeth did tell him he had a hard time leaving things alone. And it was true. This was proof of it. But it was also Marguerite's fault for getting him interested in the necklace.

In the end it didn't matter. He knew not to fuss with it. No unexpected trips anymore. He learned his lesson. He was just grateful Annabeth wasn't here to tease him about it.

Gradually, exhaustion took over and Percy fell asleep. The dreams floating through his head, as difficult as it was to remember them, were just as insane as his entire evening had been. Nothing made sense, however it did involve more teleportation. Strangely, he saw Marguerite. She was trying to tell him something, but he couldn't hear what. Her mouth was moving like she was yelling at him in fear, but no sound came out. It was like her voice was muted. Whether this was a sign that he shouldn't have touched the necklace, he didn't know, but when morning came he kind of wished he had been dreaming about finding the necklace all together. Unfortunately, when he turned to his bedside table and saw it still sitting where he'd left it, he knew it had all been real.

As he lay silently in bed, Percy eventually heard people walking around and conversing with each other in low voices. Mom and Paul were finally up.

Once more, Percy threw his blankets to the side and jumped out of bed. It was question time. He wanted to know what the hell happened to their apartment. Were they planning to surprise him by redecorating the place? If so, the surprise was out and he wasn't exactly sure what he would tell them.

"Yeah, so, Mom," he called out while walking down the hall. "I have a few questions for you and Paul here. Oh, and I guess I should say I'm home now, which I... I don't even know how, but I am and I was wondering why..."

He physically choked and stopped short once again when he reached the living area. This time, however... okay, he didn't even know how to react to this one.

WHAT?!

He stared back and forth between the two people standing in the living room in complete shock. This was literally impossible. There was no possible way this could be real right now. If he'd thought teleporting from camp to his mom's apartment was a shock, than this was... this was...

WHAT?!

"Percy, you're face has gone as white as a ghost," his mom said in a concerned manner. "Are you okay?"

Words literally couldn't escape his mouth. He couldn't move. All he could do was stare with bewilderment at the horror standing before his very eyes. His brain was about to explode.

"Percy?" she asked again taking a few steps closer to him. "Are you alright?"

Stupidly and without a proper way to process any of this, he pointed to Gabe standing very much alive in the living room and shouted, "You're dead!"

Whoo! This was a long chapter! How many months did this take me to write? Let me see... I've lost count. Sorry guys, but as I said above, I now have my own computer! FINALLY! Updates should take shorter now. I don't have to fight for the main computer anymore. Those days are done!

I hope you guys enjoyed this second chapter. The end was a fun twist for me. ;P We'll see how this plays out.

Anyway, I'll write to you guys later,

~supworld~