AN 12/19/15: Revamped this chapter. It was a short one so when I released it it was a few days after the previous chapter, as it is a bit of a slower chapter too. Enjoy!

I woke with a start, jerking upward in bed up to immediately fall back down, one hand holding my aching stomach, the other my head. Who in my father's name was that? What was controlling him? My mind was buzzing. It seemed so old and powerful, what the heck does it want with me? I leaned against the cool wall, I had been sweating in my sleep. I gently lifted up the bottom of my pajama shirt. Underneath was the scar from Chester, but it was an angry red. It felt like a similar case on my back too.

I let out a short sigh, putting back down the shirt and leaned my head back against the wall, panting slightly. Why does this have to happen now? Why didn't it happen earlier, or when I was more "grown up"? I thought I had been done with demigod stuff, at least for a while. Apparently that wasn't the case anymore. Whatever that being was... it was without a doubt related to that world.

It was a couple minutes of me just leaning against the wall, eyes closed, until Sally came in to wake Percy and I up. When she came in she saw my position and came over, looking me over to see what was the matter as usually I didn't get up this early. She sat down on the bed and said. "What's the matter, Ally? You look upset." Sally, Percy, my mother, and Nick are the only people I have ever let all me Ally. Chiron always called me by my full name anyways, even though I wouldn't mind if he did shorten it.

Sally must have seen my hand's position over my stomach because she gently lifted it away, looking at the mark, and turning me slightly to see my back. I bit my lip, still rapidly thinking over my dream. The mark on my arm wasn't as bad like my torso, but it was still sore. Sally's brow creased when she saw the angry redness to the marks.

"Were you scratching at these? It wasn't like this last time I checked. Did something happen Allison?" She asked me, putting down the edge of my shirt and pulling me against her.

I debated for a few seconds what to tell her - she wasn't stupid. She knew something happened to get them like this. I decided just to shake my head and lean into her. Images of Nick on the ground dead, Percy terrified and crying, those golden, haunting eyes, all flashing through my head. I decided that I could use some comfort after that whopper of a dream.

"Alright, well if they start hurting let me one of your teachers know, okay? Come on, let's get you two ready for school." She said as she picked me up to go over to Percy's bed and get him up. He was kind of sprawled out on the bed drooling. I knew Sally didn't buy my response.

The morning went by as if nothing had happened, but I did catch Sally sneak a few glances at me when she thought I wasn't looking. School went fine; Percy had gotten me to enter a game of tag with him and some other kids. Miss. Abby, one of the younger classroom aids, even played. I ended up hanging further back from the group so I didn't get tagged much- I didn't want to run too much, I was still sore.

My head and arm didn't really bug me anymore, but I still couldn't get the images out of my head. I kept seeing the cold, lifeless body of Nick. Feeling his life aura leaving him again sent shivers through me. Those eyes, Percy scared for his life. I could tell that I would remember those for a long time to come.

I didn't get any more dreams like that one, but I wasn't able to forget a dream like that, even if I wanted to. I knew it had to mean something but I just couldn't piece it all together yet. The year was progressing nicely though, despite the rough start. It was a lot better than I had expected. I guess I was just used to my old school days in my expectations. Percy did indeed have trouble like most demigods did with reading and writing. After concluding that, that put me on higher alert whenever we were out - just to be safe, the dream Percy making me never want to see him like that outside of dreams even more so.

When there wasn't anybody nearby or looking, I would even try to practice my powers a bit. In this body I got very tired a lot easier, not as much energy to work with. I could only do the very basics, nothing to the level I had been at. I was determined to keep on top of it though, I didn't want to get out of practice and run into a problem that would require them. They were my only weapon now. I might grow to be even better than I was with this early start, but it was frustratingly dim at this point. I could only do so much, and I didn't dare try shadow traveling yet; in such a small body it would be too dangerous even if I had the energy.

I admit, I did use them for fun at times too. During hide and seek I would be able to pull some shadows around me to help me hid, but not enough to be noticeable. Just enough to give that slight edge. I would teach Percy beginners swordplay as best I could on the playground too. He just thought we were playing pirates. I made sure to keep up with running, to be able to keep a steady pace for longer, and sprint longer - even if I didn't go very fast yet.

We almost made it through the entire school year without incident, and considering my past luck with that type of thing, that was pretty good. Typically by this point some teacher would have been a monster or we would have been called back to camp for something. Back with Nick, as we grew older we would always have at least one incident by the time half the year had passed. I guess that is just what you get from putting two children of the Big Three in the same school. Percy and I made it to the last two months of school, so I was content for the most part, even if it was somewhat disconcerting for something to happen at this age.

The morning it happened had started like any other: breakfast, getting dressed, the cab ride, drop off, school activities they used to have little kids learn skills. Nap time rolled around and we all went to the cots. Percy and I had neighboring cots, close enough to be able to touch the other's had we wanted to. I was pretty tuckered out, I had been practicing with my powers again, so I fell asleep fairly easily.

I woke to a disturbing scene. Percy was sitting upright in his cot, hitting something against the side of it, strangling it. When I looked close I saw it was a brown, scaly snake. It was still writhing around a bit, but after a few seconds and a couple more hits, it went slack. I sighed in relief, then got up to see if Percy was okay. I double checked to make sure the snake was indeed dead too.

"Ally, it was trying to sleep in my bed." Percy explained innocently, holding out the snake to show me. "But it was being funny, his mouth was open and he was sticking his tongue out at me." He giggled a bit, probably finding the memory of what he thought to be an innocent act humorous. Then he frowned. "Got scared though, picked him up and hit him 'few times. He's sleeping now, shhh." He held a finger to his mouth in a kind of shushing gesture. I was busy looking around for any traces of who let the snake in. The area was spotless though, no traces of anything anywhere. My heart was still pounding from the shock of it all.

"You did the right thing, Percy. Good job. If another snake tries to be friends with you again, just hit it a bit, okay?" I told him looking back to him. He nodded just as Mrs. Russell came in with Sally. Both women, upon seeing the scene, let out shocked gasps and rushed over. Sally grabbed the snake away from Percy and quickly threw it away from us. She scooped up the two of us into her arms protectively. Sally looked as if her worst fear had come true.

"Mrs. Russell, I suggest you keep a closer eye on your staff. Dangers can't be around children like that." She said, a fierce look in her eye, not unlike a mama bear.

After a moment Mrs. Russell shook herself out of her daze. "I am so sorry Ms. Jackson, I-I don't know how this happened. I- The last thing I would ever want is to have any of my students get hurt. I will look into this and make sure it will never happen again. I sincerely apologize for this." She stuttered out, clearly baffled herself and not knowing what else to say.

"I think it best if we were to leave now." Sally said, and with that she briskly walked out of Happy K's Preschool, scooping up our backpacks and eyes flitting around to watch for danger. That had been the first clear sign that Percy was a demigod, the snake had been in his cot. He clearly already had a scent to him for that to happen. That meant I needed to keep a closer eye out. Had Percy not woken up when he did, he would be injured, or dead.

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