-A quick explanation-

December 24, 2016

The Jackson Residence:
Percy's bedroom

I threw back my covers and sat on the soft mattress, thinking over the day and what the signs could've possibly meant to me. I ran my hands through my hair. The happenings of the past five hours had turned me paranoid, because one thing I had learned over time was that when you see a random shadow or start hearing voices, it's not just your imagination. I dropped my head on the pillow and a burst of air brushed through my lips. I couldn't set myself comfortably.

Just as my mind released the feeling of anxiety and my eyes began to drift closed, an obnoxious thud resounded from downstairs in the living room. I groaned and, without a sudden movement, grabbed Anaklusmos. It extended in my grasp from a ball-point pen to a three-foot long Celestial Bronze sword. The balance of the weapon—which I naturally found reassuring—provided no comfort or acceptance of its disposal at the time. I later learned why.

Everything went deathly quiet and then a silent muffled curse was directly outside my bedroom door. I didn't think much of it at the time. People had followed me before—like my friend Annabeth, for example—so I figured that it was something about camp or just Nico pulling a lame prank. No big deal.

When my feet hit the floor I thought I had stepped on a sheet of ice. The navy blue carpeting looked no different and I was wearing socks. Things were starting to make no sense at all, but I stupidly pushed it off, as always.

I reached out to grab the door handle and quickly pulled away. It was so cold that it burned my skin. I was almost certain that dry ice had wrapped around my room and was determined to blanket me in frost. I waved my hand loosely and stared at my palm. It was a darkening pink, like I had sat on my hands for a few hours without getting up once.

A sinister laugh voiced itself in my mind, sending a shiver up and down my spine. "Percy," the voice breathed. It exhaled slowly and a gust of wind consumed the room. The air swirled and stirred around me, causing my hair to run wild with the wind and whip my forehead constantly. It gasped quickly and my windows shuttered under the pressure. "Percy," it murmured.

I whipped around towards my window as the moonlight suddenly began streaming in and painting the room with liquid silver. The stars began blinking in-and-out of existence until the constellations were a jumble of space dust. A humanoid shadow consumed a corner of my room. It leaned on the wall leisurely and opened its eyes. They were a glowing pure white.

The… thing pushed off of the wall and strolled towards me like this was a normal thing. I realized that it was purely made of shadows. Figures wrapped around a basic outline of a person and strapped on tightly. When it moved, the shadows changed and shimmered. It was as if the thing was made of Hades' clothes. Tortured souls screaming for mercy, sleeping children with a mask of slight terror, other incidents that made people think that it just wasn't their time yet.

That's when I wondered what you had to do to tattoo this things forearm.

"You don't know who I am?" it frowned, seeming disappointed. "That's a shame, because I certainly know your name."

I couldn't resist feeling like an important figure and grinning slightly.

The shadow traveled swiftly to my side, as if it could teleport, and whispered in my ear, "Considering who I am… that's not a good thing."

A lump wrapped up in my throat and shifted uncomfortably as I did. I rifled through all the legends and stories, trying to find something about a shadow-man that came in the middle of the night, but nothing would come. I was drawing a blank. I had faced millions of monsters and creatures from Tartarus, none like this one.

As if reading my mind, he backed away. "I'm not something well known. I'm not one of those under-developed numbskull disasters that you best on a daily basis. I am something more... mature." His breath puffed out as a visible grey smoke with every word he said. "I have haunted mankind since the beginning of my end. I prey on the young. I appear at disasters. I am the accidental death. Death of youth."

My mind went completely blank as his—its—words really sunk in. Death of youth. I'm dead? The question echoed through my head.

"Not dead," he whispered. "Not yet."

His face morphed oddly, bunching together and then expanding. He opened his mouth like he was about to groan or scream but all that rang was silence. A lot of silence. It burned a whole in the atmosphere and tossed a thought around until his face was familiar. Sea green eyes were shaded with unruly black hair.

I was staring at myself.

I backed away until my leg collided with my bed. I somehow knew Riptide wasn't something that could help me at this point. I felt the connection between me and my weapon fading. I stared at my mirroring image. He stretched out a hand and frowned for a moment. I tried to back away from his touch and luck was actually a lady that night. A faint shimmer of gold clustered together, bursting over the horizon slowly. He turned to glare at the sun, instantly dimming back to a shadow.

The last I heard from him, he muttered one word and was gone: "Tomorrow."

All through the next day, I dreaded the following night. I went on with my normal routine, hoping that everything had just been a dream. A horrible, dreadful dream.

I even considered calling Annabeth and talking to her about it.

I hadn't spoken to her for awhile. Ever since she dug deep in work on Olympus, we didn't seem as close as we should've been.

I sat down on a bench that was pointlessly planted on the sidewalk in front of the Empire State Building. I tried to focus and see if I could hear the faint whisper of the gods as they bellowed up on Olympus. My father seemed furious with another immortal.

You send that monster without my permission? His deep voice was rough and on edge about something.

A slick voice returned the harshness. My 'monster' is not under the influence that either of us have control. He takes who he wants.

There was a brief pause as a car tumbled down the road, horn blaring as traffic slowed. I became conscious of the outside world as people strolled down the sidewalk with Starbucks coffee in their hands and Bluetooth phones shoved in their ears. A family ran by and a little girl jumped in a puddle, sending water splashing over her and myself. Her parents scolded her and pulled her away, not paying me much heed. I was used to being ignored by now.

I focused on the familiar, and usually gentle, voice of my father up on Olympus. I cleared my mind and leaned back on the bench.

—and if it does manage to take my son, I'll make you regret it. I knew my dad was calm and didn't threaten often, but his voice even sent a chill down my spine.

How could you harm me? Imbecile. Hades muttered under his breath. Thunder groaned and rumbled over the building and the crowd paused to stare at the clouds. After a moment they continued with their activities.

My dad inhaled deeply. You may not be able to be harmed severely, he paused like he would regret what he was about to say, but Nico—

You think of touching—

Don't force me into action. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I stood up from the bench, knocking into a man with a phone call and little patience.

"Hey, watch it!" he growled, clicking the TALK button on his phone. "He-he-hey, man." He smiled and wandered down the street.

I ignored him and stumbled back towards my apartment. My dad wouldn't seriously harm someone's child because of what another person did, right? I wanted to believe I was right. But I had to remember that he was a god. He did things like that his whole immortal life. There was no doubt that Nico was in danger.

I walked inside the complex and stepped in the elevator. The numbers rose with my thoughts. If I could find Nico before the sun set, then I might be able to warn him. He just had to stay away from the water… forever.

I pushed open my door and fumbled with my key for a moment, not really sure of what I was trying to do. I gave up and threw it onto my dining room table. I sat in front of them and ran my hands threw my hair, completely aggravated. My dad wasn't one for rash actions or harming innocent kids. I knew what the problem was. I knew from the beginning of the conversation. But I didn't want to accept the fact that my friend was going to be punished because of me. I couldn't let it happen.

With my mind racing, time stretched on. The sun dove beneath the hills and buried itself in them, and the moon wallowed behind clouds, snuggling up in the blankets of grey. My room darkened and I still hadn't cleared my mind until my alarm clock randomly went off. A constant beep drummed like a metronome. I looked around and back at the clock.

That was it.

I ran into my bathroom and tossed aside the shower curtain. I twisted the knob fully to the right and steaming water flooded down on my left sleeve. I patted down my pants and dug my hands in my pockets. No drachma.

I searched my apartment, under my bed, through my clothes, behind my desk. Nothing gold caught my eye besides my chocolate gold coin in one of my jacket pockets. I stepped on the peddle to my trash can and almost threw it away, but thought better of it.

That one chocolate gold coin—whether I knew it or not—was to be the last thing I would ever eat for a while.

Almost immediately after the wrapper was in the trash bag, wind whirled and my windows busted open. The curtains flowed flawlessly and the lights flickered. Everything stopped and then I heard him.

"Good to see you again."

I whipped around. It was obvious that I was frantic—it had to be. My movement was rough and tired, but on edge. I felt my eyes starting to drop bags under them from stress and lack of sleep. It was around 1:30 in the morning.

"Hi," I nodded impishly to the empty air.

A vortex of charcoal dust swirled from the window and evaporated, leaving the shadowed man in its place. I rushed out a prayer.

Father, forgive him.

"Ah, don't worry about Nico. His fate's not too bad, I assure you," he grinned wickedly. I glared at him. "Now, onto business." It stepped towards me and I made a point of taking an equal step back, colliding into my trash can. "Did I introduce myself? Hi," he held out a leathery black hand, "I'm the Soul Thief."

My left eye twitched awkwardly and watched his hand. He dropped it and walked back around my apartment.

"Nice place you got," he said. His words were relaxed on his lips as he looked over my pictures.

"Thanks," I stuttered out. He looked at me and let out an irritated sigh.

"Let's get this over with. I'm gonna take your soul real quick and be on my way," he grinned and stepped towards me, holding out his hands.

"Wait," I said, my hands held in defense equally. "I think there's been a misunderstanding."

"Percy Jackson?"

I nodded.

"Son of Poseidon."

I gave him the same response.

He shrugged, "Nope. No misunderstanding. Why don't you make it easy on yourself? Give me your soul willingly," he grinned wickedly, "and I won't take the daughter of Athena for my troubles."

I paused, my breathing hitched in my throat, eyes wild. "W-what?" I stumbled over words and my mind started working a mile every second. A cold shiver ran down my back and my fingers felt numb.

He lifted his head higher and his eyes glowed a hotter orange-yellow shade, "I got a better one. You take my place or I take you and the Athena girl!" He clapped his hands and sent a waved of force through the room. I was unmoved by it, unlike the other objects in my home. I knew what that meant. He had sealed some deal that I couldn't back out of.

To anyone who does read this, I'm having fun writing this so it will be updated when I can fit it in.