Author's Note - As I mentioned in my last chapter, I've been hit with a wave of inspiration lately and honestly these last few days I've just been feeling the need to write. So here is yet another chapter, and I hope you enjoy it. I'll be taking a short break after this just to collect my notes for this story and my thoughts so I know where I'm going with it, but so far I'm really having fun writing it!

So far Percy is fairly clueless of what's going on - but someone else might have found out something rather shocking~ (My finger might have slipped a bit on this one - oops.)

Through the Mist

Chapter Four

Leah Clearwater.

No, no, no.

This was so not happening to her – it couldn't be. Not for some stranger. Just what exactly was nature thinking – there was no way in hell that it could be true. It has to be some sort of fluke – because no offense to him I don't even know the guy. For all she knew, he might already be engaged and already has future plans. She promised herself that she'd never do it again – not as long as she lived. Not after what happened between her and her last romantic interest. The memory of it made her bare her teeth a bit and shake her head – trying to chase any further thoughts of that ordeal behind her. Stop thinking about that. I need to focus on what's happening right now. She knew that no matter how much she was denying it, the feeling wouldn't just go away.

It all started when he walked out of the Cullens' home.

Jake and her had finished their route a bit earlier than expected so she decided to accompany him as they looped back to the Cullens. She still didn't like to approach their home too closely if she didn't have to, so she made to the choice to hang back as Jake circled towards the back to change and visit Nessie. She was about to head off when she caught sight of their mysterious visitor. She felt her head tilt a bit with curiosity as she watched him. He was facing away, but from the side she could tell that there was a light smile upon his face as he listened to Nessie. She didn't pick up much of the conversation, but she was able to hear what his name was. Percy.

He appeared to be a bit younger than her, and in spite of the strange smell coming off of him, he seemed pretty normal as well. As he turned to make his way towards his vehicle, she dipped further into the brush, watching as he reached for the driver's door – only to hesitate for a moment.

And his eyes rose upon to the very place where she was hiding.

It was all she could do to keep her fur from bristling. It almost felt as if he knew exactly where her eyes were and that's when it happened. They seemed to lock gazes for a moment and before her lip could curl up in a growl, she felt as if the earth was shifting underneath her feet. For a moment she almost felt as if she was weightless – as if gravity itself decided to turn off – and suddenly she was grounded.

But it wasn't gravity that had grounded her again.

It was him.

It felt almost as if though an iron cable had sprung out and attached itself from her to him and she knew exactly what had just happened – even though she still couldn't wrap her mind around just yet.

She, Leah Clearwater, had just imprinted.

God, Jake is going to be laughing his head off when he finds out. She sighed softly.

Percy Jackson.

The following night after my visit with the Cullens had been a bit of a strange one – not when I first arrived back, I just spent most of the night with Paul and my mom. We all decided to go out dinner together and it was really fun and relaxing. The strange part was when I fell asleep that night and my mind decided to take a trip down to dreamland. Normally this wouldn't have really surprised me – I usually counted my lucky stars when I didn't take a trip down that road, but this dream felt a bit different than the ones I normally received. First of all, somehow I was a wolf. I didn't really know how or why I was, just that I was and for some reason I was running along a river. At some point, my dream self halted and gazed out on to the water. Well at least I'm a handsome wolf. I mused as I stared at my reflection – a dark wolf with sea-green eyes stared right back at me. To be honest, I half expected Lupa to suddenly appear from the brush and address me. This seemed like an appropriate setting for her. It's been awhile since I've seen the wolf goddess, but maybe she had something to say to me. Glancing about, though, I didn't catch any sight of her red fur anywhere.

Uttering a soft sigh, I turned, nearly bumping my nose with another wolf in the process. Her fur was gray – I'm not sure how I knew it was her – and appeared to look very smooth and soft. Her gaze seemed to gleam a bit in amusement, and with a playful nip to my ear, she raced past me and darted off. The urge to run after her was overwhelming, so I chased her. For some reason, though, not matter how fast I ran, I couldn't keep up with her, and I lost sight of her through the growing mist. Slowing to a stop, I tried to search around, but it was almost impossible to tell now where she had went.

Percy.

A soft voice whispered, causing my ears to twitch and look around.

Percy wake up.

Something shook me, startling me awake. The smell of mist and pine was still in the air, and I groaned a bit as sunlight hit my eyes. "Ow."

My mom was standing over me and giving me an apologetic smile. "Sorry. It's a bit early, I know, but you were muttering and tossing in your sleep."

I yawned, checking the time briefly as I sat up. Seven thirty in the morning – groan. "I was just having a dream." I stretched, grimacing a bit at the stiffness in my shoulders.

Out of most of the normal people in my life, my mom knew exactly what it meant when demigods had dreams. Normally they weren't just the normal kind of dream where you somehow end up naked in front of your class – that'd be welcomed, actually. Dreams meant prophecies – danger, and possible death – so I could understand a bit when I saw the growing look of concern upon her face. "Is everything okay?"

"I think so," I rubbed a hand slowly over my face, "I don't think it was one of those dreams, but it was definitely weird."

"I wish they would leave you alone, sometimes." My mom muttered, causing me to glance up in surprise. A look of frustration had overcome her expression. "I understand that sometimes it can't be helped, but out of all the times they could bother you – they choose right now."

"Relax," I took her hand gently, giving her a smile, "Like I said, it felt like a different dream to me so I don't know if it even met anything. As for their timing… yeah, I can't disagree with that. They suck."

Mom seemed to settle a bit down after that. I was a bit surprise that her temper had flared a bit, she was usually always calm and collected with all the godly business I dealt with, but I guess she couldn't really help it. She only had two months to go before my sister arrived, and her moods have been affected a bit during the while. "Anyway, I'm going to relax a bit in the hotel today," She told me with a light smile, "I'm a bit tired, but I thought that maybe you and Paul could go out to town for a bit. I know that you've been wanting to look around and now that Charlie gave us a tour, Paul said he'd be fine taking you out for a bit."

It was still a bit strange considering Paul as anyone but, well, Paul.

"Stepfather" was the correct term, but whenever I thought of "father" I thought of tridents and the ocean. Poseidon. I definitely didn't have anything against Paul, though. He was a really cool guy and he was who my mother deserved one hundred percent in comparison of that idiot Smelly Gabe. There were times that I still couldn't believe that Mom went through that just for me and it just made me love her even more. Gabe had been a slob and so awful to her – and in my opinion the dude had gotten off lightly when she had turned him into stone. "Do you want to stop here, Perce?" Paul's question made me blink, and I suddenly realized that we were already in the middle of Forks.

"Oh. Yeah, that's fine." I peered out the window as he parked, taking in all the small shops around us. It definitely had a very "small town-y" feel to it. As I stepped out, I could already feel curious eyes upon us.

"Your Charlie's brother-in-law, right?" One of the guys approached us – he was in a wheelchair and he gave Paul's hand a good firm shake. "I heard you visited the town yesterday, but I hadn't made it up here until today. My name is Billy Black. I'm one of Charlie's best friends."

"Paul Blofis, nice to meet you." Paul seemed a bit surprised that the news of our arrival had traveled quickly, but it wasn't too surprising. Word like this probably burned like a wild fire – not to mention that Charlie was the sheriff of this place. That probably was the source as to why it was going around as quick as it was.

I was gazing through one of the display windows of the town's shops. It was a bakery and a bunch of desserts had been carefully arranged in the window – one of them being a fairly large blue cake. It took me a moment to realize that the conversation behind me had grown quiet, and I glanced over my shoulder. Both Paul's and Billy's eyes were on me – and they both appeared to be a bit amused. "Oh. Did you say something?" I asked, feeling a bit embarrassed that I'd been practically drooling over the cake.

Paul waved me over with a grin. "I just wanted to introduce you too."

I walked over, giving Billy's hand a shake. "Sorry about that," I apologized, grinning myself, "Percy's the name." I've grown accustomed to not tagging my last name along with introductions unless if necessary. There were just too many "people" who'd recognize who I am if they were ever in earshot. It was something that Annabeth had mentioned to me, and I had to agree with her. There had been multiple occasions where I'd introduced myself as such and almost got killed afterwards. I wasn't the most popular amongst monsters.

"It's nice to meet you, Percy," Billy's eyes met with mine, almost as if they were searching for something, "It must be a bit of a shock to suddenly find out that you have relatives here."

I laughed a bit at that. "Yeah, it was. But they all seem nice. It's been fun getting to know everyone so far."

"Bella's girl seems to have definitely taking a liking to you," Paul teased lightly, "She was quick to attach herself to your hip."

"Did you go up and visit the Cullens then?" I couldn't tell if Billy was pleased or not about that fact.

"Only for a bit," I shrugged, "Nessie really wanted me to visit – and to be honest I'm kind of glad I did. They have a really nice place there." Though the forest was a bit creepy around there at night. I wanted to add. I still felt some shivers from the other night from the feeling of being watched. It hadn't felt too menacing, but I knew by experience that things like that could be deceiving. "Anyway, you said you're just visiting town, right? Does that mean you live somewhere else nearby?"

Billy seemed to relax just a bit at the change of subject and offered me a smile. "Yes. I live down on the reservation – La Push. You're welcome to come over sometime if you'd like. We're having a bonfire out near the water soon if you're interested in that sort of thing." I was definitely interested in that sort of thing. Being out near the Pacific would be nice – I'm used to the Atlantic waters, but there haven't been many cases of me being able to visit the Pacific too much. Plus – the thought of bonfires made me think of my home back at Half-Blood.

"Maybe I could," I turned my head towards Paul, "The only thing is I wouldn't really know anyone there – and I'd probably get lost." I chuckled, rubbing the back of my neck.

"It's up to you, so don't feel pressured to go," Billy's eyes crinkled up in amusement, "I think you'll like it though, if you do. There'd be others around your age there."

After a brief farewell, Billy left us to our exploration, and I felt myself briefly troubled by the man's sudden appearance. Something felt off with him too – maybe it was just this whole town. Or maybe I was just remembering the last time I met someone who was in a wheelchair. Somehow I doubted that Billy was going to sprout the back end of a horse, but still – when he had looked at me in that brief moment, it had almost felt like was looking straight through me; confirming something. "This town is weird." I mumbled under my breath, causing Paul to "hmm?" as we walked through a bookstore. I shook my head, "Nothing. Just thinking. How long are we staying, by the way?"

"I'm not sure yet," Paul replied thoughtfully, flipping through a book slowly, "As long as your mother wants, I suppose. You thinking about going out to La Push to that bonfire? If you do want to go, I wouldn't mind taking you. Ah here we go." He plucked out a heavy dictionary and then set it in my hands.

"What's this?"

"A dictionary."

I tried not to roll my eyes. "I know, but why? You have like hundreds these."

"Probably," I found it a bit funny that he didn't even deny it, "But that one's for you. I heard you were still have a bit of trouble with English, so I thought it'd help."

I sighed. "Paul – even if I could read well I don't think flipping through an entire dictionary would help me."

"True – but look at the title." He pointed down and I looked. It was an English to Greek dictionary, causing to blink a bit in surprise when I was actually able to read it clearly. "I heard you mention that you could read Greek plain as day, so I thought maybe it'd help you if you had the Greek definition and English definition together." He seemed so satisfied with his solution that I didn't even want to mention that a dictionary like this wouldn't be of much use in everyday life. There'd still be moments when I walk outside and wouldn't be able to read signs and things like that. However, it was still a nice thought.

"Thanks, Paul." I opened it, turning through some of the pages. "Are you sure, though? It's a bit expensive…" It was also fairly heavy. I could probably use it as a weapon if I wanted to.

He patted me on the back. "A bit of money isn't going to hurt – teaching English is what I do."

By the time we checked out, I was surprised that Paul only had three other books in tow. He was a bookworm at heart, and I wouldn't have been surprised if he would have bought out the whole store. "I've been reading books about Greek mythology lately," He showed me one of the books he had picked out, it had some sort of version of Zeus on its cover and I almost paled a bit when I noticed he was wearing nothing but a loincloth. The title of the book was "Greek Anthology" and honestly just that picture on the cover made me afraid to open it.

"Um."

"And then I got this one," Paul continued on excitedly, putting that book back in his bag to pull out another, "This one is actually fiction and I thought it sounded interesting. It's about the twelve Olympians being reincarnated every thousand years – it's set in modern day and it follows the life of the new Persephone as she discovers that she's a goddess and then she ends up meeting a dark fellow by the name of Cam – I suppose he's Hades. It's a romance. A typical Young Adult fiction, I'll admit, but still intriguing."

I snickered a bit. "Picturing Hades as the bad boy is a bit scary to be honest. Not to mention, I'm not sure how much Persephone would appreciate being the typical ah "heroine in distress" character. Demeter would probably have a fit too if she caught wind of that book. She hates the story of her daughter and Hades with a passion. Even if it's just a retelling."

Paul paled a bit at that. "You don't think she'll come after me for it?"

"Nah." I smirked. "Me? Maybe, but she doesn't really pay attention to humans unless if they annoy her."

He sighed a bit in relief, causing me to chuckle some more. We visited a few more shops after the bookstore – our last stop being a candy shop. My mom was craving chocolate, so I let Paul sweep through the shop in search of her favorites while I sat outside of the store on a bench nearby.

I was flipping through the Greek-English dictionary, when suddenly I was joined by someone else who took the liberty of sitting right next to me on the bench. "Doing some light reading, Jackson?" The figure leaned over a bit to get a better view of the page I was on, and I sighed a bit – instantly recognizing their presence and voice.

"Hermes."

"Don't sound too excited, Jackson," Hermes grinned as I glanced up, "Some people might get the wrong idea."

I almost sighed again. "What do you want? I'm on vacation." I reminded with great emphasis. I assumed by now most of Olympus knew that I was. At some point, my life had become a bit of a reality show to them.

"No worries, I'm not here to interrupt, well not entirely, – I had some business to attend to nearby and decided to check in when I saw you."

"Does he have a rat this time?" The familiar voice of George asked, sounding hopeful as the snake stirred.

"Of course he doesn't, you fool," Martha replied with a hiss, "People don't just carry rats wherever they go, you know."

"Why ever not?"

Martha sighed – or at least I thought she did, she was a snake after all, and she looked up at me. "It's nice seeing you again, Percy."

"You too, Martha – and George." I wasn't lying either – snakes were all right, but I didn't particularly like them. These two were okay, though.

I still wasn't convinced that Hermes was only here to do business, though. It seemed a bit too convenient that he was "just in the area" and that location so happened to be right by the very place I was. Forks was literally a speck on the map, after all. "So why are you really here, Hermes?" I wondered, not masking my suspicion. Hermes was also one of the busiest gods in Olympus I knew, so I really did find it a bit hard to believe that he was just dropping by for a good ole friendly chat.

Hermes rubbed his chin slowly, as if pondering if he should say something or not. "I wasn't lying about having a job to tend to nearby, but I'll admit that you're only part of the reason that I decided to swing by here." He finally mused, "There's something odd about this place." He turned his gaze slowly toward me. "You've probably already noticed, yes?"

I nodded. No point in denying that.

"Good, so that takes care of half the explanation," He gave me a pat on the shoulder, "I know that you're on vacation, Jackson, but I have a job for you—ah, don't make that face," He smirked, "It's a simple job. I'm afraid it's not only me who's curious – otherwise I'd leave you to it, but I was merely sent to you to deliver this message. I do hope you enjoy a bit of sleuthing."

Of course. I rubbed my temples a bit. "Fine. I'll try and check things out. I can't guarantee I'll find anything though. So tell," I made vague gesture with my hand, "Whoever, I guess, that I may or may not get any results."

"Sounds fair enough." He chuckled lightly, standing up from the bench. "Anyways, I'm off. I'll be seeing you later, Perseus." Martha and George echoed his farewell, and almost as abruptly as he came, Hermes was gone and per the usual I was left with yet again another side quest.

Why is it always me? I grumbled up towards the sky. Naturally the only response I received back from it were a few clouds drifting by.