(A/N) Sorry about the long update, guys. I just started another PJO fanfiction. It's called Black Feathers and if you like this story you should really check it out! By the way, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope tomorrow you chow down on turkey and stuff yourself silly until you get diabetes. That, my friend, is what true happiness is. I'm sorry if the chapters are getting shorter and shorter but I need to keep you all in suspense. It will get better in the next chapter, I promise.

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

Jason POV

"Nico!" I cried as I saw the teenager's crumpled form on the ground. I dropped my sword and ran to him. Search parties had been sent out all morning, looking for the missing son of Hades. Everyone had expected the worst; there were rumors floating around camp, whispers around the campfire as we gathered to discuss the search teams, campers talking in hushed tones as breakfast dragged on, all of them suspecting that Nico had suffered a similar fate to Travis.

I had refused to believe it. Nico was strong; he could handle any camper that pounced on him. If anything he was probably taking one of his usual strolls in the woods. I had volunteered to go searching on my own, and we had campers scouring every inch of the camp in search of Nico; whether he be alive and breathing or a body just as mangled as Travis'.

"Nico!" I repeated and shook him violently. His eyes fluttered open and he groaned, rubbing his head.

"I'm so tired…" he mumbled, his words so blurred together with exhaustion that I nearly couldn't decipher them.

"You made everyone worried sick. We have search parties looking all over for you." I replied icily. "What were you doing out here? Were you even thinking that a monster just might lumber over and make a meal out of you if you fell asleep right in the middle of the woods?"

"I was getting to that." the son of Hades growled and hauled himself into a sitting position. His clothes were crinkled and tattered in some places, covered in grime from sleeping on the forest floor all night. "I admit that I was going to spy on Percy-"

"Nico!" I hissed. "After what happened to Travis you were going to just put yourself in danger like that? You know that Percy is one of the top suspects-"

Nico cut me off, "But then I saw someone. I chased them through the forest and I swear to the gods that it was Percy. He was so uncharacteristically agile and swift. Then I saw the gaping hole in the back of one of his legs, and I'm talking a huge gash; I could see his fibula. But the thing that was bothering me was the fact that he didn't seem in any sort of pain; he was running faster than I was."

"Are you sure you're alright? You might've bumped your head." I said, the worry evident in my voice. Had my friend gone insane? He knew that nobody with an injury that severe could even stand, let alone run.

"I know what I saw. It was Percy. He was-"

"I was what?" Nico and I whirled around to see Percy, his tinted glasses reflecting the limited sunlight that filtered through the overhead foliage. He tilted his head. "I'm glad to see that you're well, Nico."

"You knew I was well! You were there!" the son of Hades snarled and scrambled to his feet, drawing his Stygian sword. I plucked my sword off the ground, clutching it tightly in my hand to the point where my knuckles were white. Percy put a hand over his heart, feigning hurt.

"What a rude accusation, Mr. di Angelo." he said, faux upset tinging his voice. "I was merely saying that I was glad to see that you were okay."

"The real Percy would never call me Mr. di Angelo, on top of the fact that Percy is too dumb to know what the word 'merely' means." I growled.

"Are you mocking me?" Percy asked, but his voice was no longer amused. It was cold, like a sharp knife that had been left outside overnight.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Percy?" Nico bellowed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." the son of Poseidon snorted, his irritation clearly showing. He pursed his lips and set his jaw stubbornly, which seemed like an all too Percy-like thing to do. But this wasn't Percy; this was some sort of demon wearing Percy's face like a mask. I forced the thought of Shadow out of my mind and my hand instinctively went to my eye patch.

"What is Percy's favorite color?" Nico asked with narrowed eyes.

"Why are you talking about me as if I am not here? I am Percy. Perseus Jackson. My favorite color is blue. I had a rotten stepfather named Gabe Ugliano who I nicknamed 'Smelly Gabe.' My least favorite color is red, my worst fear is muskeg, and I have a loving girlfriend named Annabeth Chase, whose father knows how to fly a Sopwith Camel." he roared. "If you think I am not the real Percy, then fight me. If I am the real Percy I will fight better than you, and you know it. I would launch myself at you right now, Mr. Jason Grace, but I don't fight cripples." And with that, he was gone.

I crumbled to my knees, burying my face into my hands and crying silently. I felt Nico's hand on me, but I shouldered it off. "Why would Percy say that? It's like he doesn't care." My voice was shaking, Nico knelt down beside me and looked me straight in the eyes…well, eye. They were full of hard determination.

"That wasn't Percy. We're going to get to the bottom of this, I promise."

"And how will we do that?" I sniffed and wiped the last of the tears from my eye.

"We're going to interrogate him tomorrow. But right now we have to get back to camp. Mind you the other campers still think I'm dead."