Author's Note - Surprise! I decided to post another chapter today. I had a ton of inspiration and felt like it'd be a good idea to post while I had it! I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Things are slowly but surely picking up~

Also - a question for you guys. I experimented a bit in this chapter. I want to know if you guys enjoy it being in solely Percy's point of view or would you also enjoy a different perspective to see what the others are thinking about him? Feel free to give me your feedback on this!

Through the Mist

Chapter Three

By the time Bella and Edward joined us in their cottage, Nessie and I were in the middle of an intense coloring session. As promised, she had shown me around her house a bit, and it was a really nice place. Not as big as the main Cullen household, but very cozy. Nessie had picked out a page for me to color – a picture of the ocean – which made me chuckle just a bit. You smell like the ocean and you like the ocean so I picked out that one for you. She had explained when I asked about it. There was that word again. Smell. I guess even humans could smell the ocean on me if they took a close, and good whiff, but in Nessie's case it almost seemed like she could sense it even from a distance.

"Hard at work, I see." The familiar voice of Edward made me pause as he and Bella walked into their living room with us.

"I gave Percy the ocean one 'cause he said he liked the ocean." Nessie grinned – she was hard at work coloring a wolf.

I leaned over to admire it – its fur a russet-brown color. "That looks really nice, Ness."

She smiled, setting down her brown crayon and picking up a blue one as she started coloring in the sky. "Your fishes look cool too!"

I had unconsciously colored one of the fish gold. "Thanks. I used to have a goldfish called Frank so I decided to add him in."

"Frank?" She giggled softly. "That's a weird name for a fish."

I laughed under my breath. Frank would be shaking my shoulders right now if he knew I just claimed him as my pet. "I thought something like Goldie would be too lame."

"By the way, Percy," Bella spoke, diverting my attention back to her and Edward, "wasn't your step-dad and mom coming to visit today too?"

"No. I guess Charlie messaged my mom and they decided to go with him to tour the town."

"Oh," She frowned a bit, "I'm sorry. You said you wanted to look around a bit. If we'd know that my dad was giving a tour, we would have let you go with them."

I simply smiled. "Nah – it's fine. Sides, I got a chance to look around a bit already when I drove here and got somewhat lost."

"There's plenty to show here too!" Nessie added. "I still need to show you grandpa and grandma's house." The coloring session seemed to be temporarily forgotten now as she grasped my hand lightly. "I can show you now if you want."

I rolled up onto my feet, giving a stretch. "Sure. Have admit that I'm a bit curious of how looks like inside."

Bella and Edward tagged along with us and Nessie was chatting excitedly to them about what part of the house she wanted to show me first. It was a bit hard to believe that just the other day I had a bad feeling about this lot. There was still something there and I couldn't really put a finger on it, but it wasn't as in my face as it originally was. It was still making me curious, though. My thoughts were put on hold as we reached the back door of Carlisle's house and when I followed Nessie in, I just found myself staring. It was as beautiful as it was on the outside. The décor was mostly antiques, giving it an old fashioned air, but it still seemed updated and in the times as well – timeless. "Wow." I managed to say, stepping in further, and in the corner of my eye I saw Alice appear around the corner. She was grinning at my awed expression.

"Nice, isn't it? It's been in the family for a long time~"

"It's awesome," I agreed, "And huge. I'm surprised there wasn't enough space for Edward, Bella, and Ness."

"Technically there probably could have been," Alice mused thoughtfully, "Had we made a few changes, but I think the cottage suits them." I couldn't argue with that. The cottage had been just as impressive.

As I started to explore further, I began to smell something that suspiciously smelled like pasta. "Is something cooking?" I wondered, my exploration ending up in the kitchen where Esme was working.

When she spotted me, she gave me a smile. "Hello! I thought you'd eventually be hungry soon, so I've been making some lunch."

"It smells delicious." As if in agreement, my stomach growled loudly, causing me to blush a bit when she chuckled. "Yeah, I might be a bit hungry." I gave a sheepish grin. Leaving her to concentrate on lunch, I wandered back into the room where Nessie and the others were – only to see that Edward had a sour look upon his face. "What's up?" I asked, frowning. So far the guy had seemed pretty chill, but now he seemed almost upset.

"Just an inconvenience." He muttered under his breath.

Nessie huffed. "Jake isn't an inconvenience."

"Who's Jake?" I wondered curiously.

"Nothing," Edward brushed aside the question, "I'll deal with it for now. Nessie, why you show Percy the rest of the house?"

Nessie was pouting, but she complied, taking my hand once more to lead me off into one of the other rooms. As she did so, however, I managed to glance outside the window and caught sight of Edward approaching a figure that was emerging from the woods – it was some guy with no shirt on. His arms were folded and he looked equally irritated as Edward came closer. That was all I was able to see, though, and my attention went back to Nessie's tour.

Jacob Black

As soon as Jake stepped on the Cullens' property, he knew something smelled off. The smell was faint, but it still made him suspicious. He also didn't miss that the Cullens had a strange vehicle in their lot. "Hmph." He grumbled, watching as Edward approached him. "I didn't think you guys were really ones to have too many visitors."

"Bella's cousin is visiting," Edward stated, his tone neutral, "We thought that it might be best if you come by once he leaves."

"He smells strange." Jake turned up his nose a bit. "Not bad like you lot… just off."

"You've notice it too?" Edward frowned at that. "I'm not able to read his thoughts too well – I thought maybe it's just something that runs in Bella's family, but I'm not so sure. When Bella was human she smelled normal."

Jake hummed, the suspicion still gleaming in his eyes. "Is it okay for him to be with Nessie?"

Edward smiled a bit. "I don't think he's dangerous. Even Jasper mentioned to me that he felt as if Percy didn't have an evil bone in his body. As for myself, I'm still wary, but he does seem kind."

The werewolf seemed to relax a bit upon hearing that. I guess it's okay. Besides, even if he was dangerous there would be no way that the rest of the Cullens would let him hurt her. "I guess I'll come back around when he's gone." Jake shrugged a bit. He wasn't really in the mood to introduce himself to a stranger – even if this stranger made him curious. Without waiting for Edward's response, Jake disappeared back into the woods, shifting back into a wolf with ease. He was greeted with a chorus of hellos from his pack mates, and chuffed a soft laugh when Leah's irritation hit him in waves.

Where did you go? I thought we were going on a patrol together. Her voice sounded closer than the others and he rumbled in amusement.

I thought I'd swing by and see Nessie, but someone is visiting right now.

Bella's cousin? Seth questioned, seeming confused, I didn't know she had a cousin nearby.

Maybe they're just visiting. Embry mused – somewhere Quil hummed in agreement. But what's this about him smelling strange? I don't think I've ever smelled something like that.

Yeah, it doesn't make my nose wrinkle like those bloodsuckers, Leah agreed, a bit puzzled, But it still doesn't seem right.

Do you think he's dangerous? Seth whined a bit nervously.

I don't know, Jake admitted, The Cullens don't think he is, but Edward did mention that he can't read the guy's thoughts very well.

Tsch. Why don't we just ask him? Leah huffed, Saves us the trouble of doing the whole Twenty Questions game. Some of the other voices murmured in agreement to her statement. She suddenly appeared at his side, matching his pace easily as the two of them trotted down the narrow trail together. Her eyes met with his. I can be curious too, you know.

Jake gave her a wolf-y grin. I know. I'm curious too. But how about we leave it for now and question the Cullens later.

Leah rolled her eyes, but dipped her head in a nod. Fine. But you still owe me a patrol. Try to keep up, O fearless leader. With that she darted off - Jake hot on her heels as they disappeared further into the forest.

Percy Jackson

Esme was an amazing cook.

None of the others seemed too interesting in eating – they probably already had lunch, but that was fine with me because the food tasted wonderful. It was just spaghetti, but whatever recipe Esme did it made it taste as if it was from some high classed restaurant. "There's some garlic bread too if you'd like some, Percy." Esme set a basket full of garlic bread in front of me.

"Thanks." I quickly plucked one of the slices out of the basket. I glanced at the others. "Are you sure you guys don't want any? No offense, but I'm definitely not going to be able to eat all of this."

"Oh we're fine," Esme smiled at me, "I was actually thinking you could bring back some for your mother and stepfather – if that's okay."

"Yeah! They'd love this." I took another bite.

Once I finished up, I made my way out to their living room, settling down on their couch. The day was really flying by and I was surprised that it was already a little past two in the afternoon. I wonder what Paul and Mom are up to. I kind of had a feeling that Charlie was the type of guy that would show them around and maybe they'd head out to eat and then go back to his place, but I wasn't sure. I just hope they were having a good time – I knew how it was to suddenly find out the existence of a half-brother. Though in this case, at least Charlie wasn't a Cyclops – not that Tyson was bad, but one Cyclops in the family was enough. "Percy?"

"Hmm?" I blinked, looking over to his right. Nessie was sitting next to him with a smile.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

I nearly choked, and I heard Emmett's muffled laughter in one of the other rooms.

"Nessie." Bella tsked, but there was smile upon her face.

"What~? I'm just curious." Nessie shrugged.

"Well uh," I tried not to stutter – I could almost see Annabeth's smug look, for some reason she always enjoyed it when I was caught off guard like this. "Yes I do. Her name is Annabeth."

"That's a pretty name. Do you think I'll be able to meet her?"

"I'm not sure," I replied, rubbing my chin thoughtfully, "She's really busy too – she's going to go to college with me and I don't know if she's wanting to travel across the country right now." I gave her an apologic smile, "Maybe someday, though." As I replied to her question, I realized then that throughout my entire visit so far I haven't really done any investigating myself. Peering around the room, my eyes were drawn in by just how many antiques were surrounding me. "So do you guys collect old stuff? Some of these things look ancient."

Seeming to realize the questioning was falling into their ball park, some of the Cullens were sitting up a bit straighter – Carlisle took the lead. "Yes. I like collecting antiques. Most of the time, I have to restore them so it's evolved into a hobby of mine."

"That's really cool," I found myself wandering over to a display that had a pocket watch on it, I didn't touch it, but it looked very old, "You said the house was in your family for a long time as well. How long is long?"

"Hmm," Carlisle mused, "It's no younger than a century old, if that answers your question."

"Really?" I couldn't help but be a bit surprised. "I didn't think it'd be that old. It looks really modern and nice." Somehow I could see it being an older house, though. There were some parts where Nessie showed me that looked much older than other parts – it was really nice blend in between. Turning my attention back to the antiques, I gazed at them for a few moments longer. There was another thing that was on my mind that was bugging me, but I wasn't sure if I should bring it up or not. It was about the individual that had showed up earlier. Edward had seemed a bit annoyed about his appearance, and I was curious of who it was. After a moment of debate, I finally decided it wouldn't hurt to ask. "So. Who was that guy from earlier?" I asked, trying to sound casual. "I caught a look of him briefly – Jake was it?"

Edward's face turned a bit sour, and Bella frowned a bit. "Just a friend." Edward grumbled.

Yeah right, you looked like you wanted to deck the guy. I wanted to say, but that probably wouldn't be a good idea.

Nessie didn't seem too happy about her father's reaction. Her arms were folded and she clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Jake is a friend. I don't know why you didn't let him come in. He could have met Percy."

"I'm not sure if that would have been a good idea." Edward murmured to her. "Maybe some other time, though." He added, seeing her disappointment. "I just thought Percy would like to get to know everyone here first before introducing him to other people."

When evening hit, I could hardly believe that it was already that late. Talking with the Cullens had been really nice. I liked them all, but Jasper was probably the one I liked most – other than Nessie, and maybe Esme and Carlisle. Whenever I was around the guy, I felt at ease. He seemed a bit quieter than the rest, but when he did talk, it was nice sitting back and listening to him. Emmett seemed like a fun guy as well – he still had the hint of mischief that reminded me of the Stolls, but I don't think anyone could be as bad as them, so I'd probably be okay with letting my guard down a bit. "Do you really have to go?" Nessie frowned, "You could always spend the night! We have a spare room."

I snickered. "It's not like you won't see me again – I think my mom and Paul wanted to spend some time yet tonight."

That seemed to bring her down a bit, but she finally returned the smile. "Okay! Just promise to come back soon!"

"I promise." I waved to her before heading towards the car. As I reached the driver's door, I paused, gazing over towards the woods. I wasn't sure what caught my attention in the first place, but the hairs upon the back of my neck were standing. I felt a bit on edge – almost as if something was gazing at me through the brush. Before I even had a chance to wrap my hand around Riptide, though, the sensation was gone as quickly as it came. Weird. There were no signs of movement, but something had definitely been there. Trying to relax again, I opened the door and started up the car.

Even if the feeling was gone, it still almost felt as if though there was a pair of eyes watching me as I drove away.