Welcome back! Okay 3-4 reviews was all I'd thought I'd get if I got any reviews at all, but 17?! It's nice to know this story is loved. Thank guys! Please continue to review.

Just to let you guys know, if I do post, I will be posting on weekends. I just thought I should let you know, I figured it would ease a little tension to actually have an idea on when you're going to get the next chapter. Also it works out for me as well, seeing as the weekends are the only days I get inspiration. Thanks for understanding!

Here's chapter 2, Enjoy!

Atlantis

Percy felt the wind brush through his messy hair as he rode off on Blackjack. Most people would probably think him to be a fool for looking for a girl he had never met, whom of which is also the daughter of his father's enemy, and a princess; in fact they may actually call him insane. Walking into enemy territory, as a prince, alone, with nothing but a sword and quiver of arrows on your back, was like handing the enemy free bait and saying "Here, I surrender." It was just…stupid.

But could you blame him? His father had gone into hyperactive-overprotective-father-mode as soon as the squire gave word that the Athens may try to kidnap his beloved son to win the war, which by the way was like three years ago, and no one had even merely succeeded in trying to do this sense then. He was under house-arrest by his guards most of his time, the only time he ever really got any free-time was when he rode his horse, and even then he still wasn't free, they'd thought up the perfect path for Blackjack to run and for Percy to stay safe, with guards at every corner. He was getting tired of it! He needed an adventure, he needed to show his father he wasn't a kid and that he could take care of himself.

And even if he had to ram his own guards, he was going to do it! After he'd left the stables it hadn't been long before the guards tracked him down and pursued. Grover was never one to keep secrets for long, he kind breaks under pressure, and Percy knew it wasn't easy when someone held a sword to your throat, so he didn't blame his cowardly friend. Some of the guards, riding horseback, rode up in front of him to block his path. Percy yanked Blackjack's rains and made a sharp turn to get away. Big mistake.

By doing this he gave the other couple guards a chance to ride up alongside him, close, trapping him easily. "Your highness?" one of them said. "I must insist you stop this foolishness now and return home." Percy glared at him, thinking, No way! Not in a million years!

"Sorry, but no can do." He replied with a sly smile. An idea formed into his head and he gripped Blackjack's rains tighter. Maybe I'm not so trapped after all, he thought with a smile. He grinned ever so evilly at the guards and pulled back on the rains, he then fell back behind the guards and turned Blackjack 180 degrees to the left, riding off in a completely different direction. "Ha!" he cried out in victory.

Now all Percy had to do was get past the castle gates before the guards could catch him. Piece of cake, right? Apparently not. The guards just had to gain on him again. "Your highness! By your father's decree I order you to stop!" he yelled. Percy couldn't believe he had the nerve to pull that trick on him.

"Oh yeah?" he replied. "Well by my decree, I order you to stop!" The guards slowed their pace considerably, obviously they hadn't given his word in all of this much thought. They couldn't seem to make up their minds, Percy liked to imagine his voice and his father's voice in their heads arguing. "I can't believe that worked." He told himself. He spoke too soon because the guards had chosen a side, and it was Poseidon's. "Great!" Percy murmured. But it didn't matter now anyway, seeing as he was almost to the gate. "Yes!" he cried as Blackjack slipped his head through the gates.

Percy looked back to see the guards stop in their tracks and he smiled. "I can assure you, Prince Perseus…" one of them yelled. "…Wherever may you go, your father will find you!" with that the guard pointed at one of his companions and then at Percy saying something like, "Follow him and don't let him leave your sights." So one man followed Percy, well the others headed back to the castle to receive new orders.

Something that guard said puzzled Percy. Wherever I may go? They didn't know where he was going? So Grover kept something secret after all! Thanks man, Percy thought. Now things were starting to get easier, all he had to do was loose one guard. Percy ducked into the trees and gained speed in the forest, the guard fell behind, not able to see the prince through all the soggy growth. Percy smiled and soon the guard could no longer be seen. Percy turned to look ahead.

Now it was off to Athens.

…..o0o…..

Percy eased up on the rains as it had started getting darker in the forest, and Blackjack started growing tired. Percy knew that night hadn't fallen upon him yet, he could see small rays of the sun through the trees. The branches were just thick and piled on top of each other, that's why it was dark. It was actually kind of creepy, with the whistling of the wind, the crumpling of the leaves, the talk of animals.

Percy decided to ignore it and thought about this supposed princess who never smiled. It was actually quite intriguing to think about, does not having a smile mean you're never happy? How does she show her true feelings? What's it like not to smile? Does keeping your mouth in the same position hurt? All these questions and more prickled Percy's mind. He was excited to have them answered.

Then Percy heard something. It was low quiet cooing that slowly turned into loud and violent cooing. Percy jumped a little on Blackjack, startled. The horse expressed his discomfort by letting out a loud snort and Percy rubbed his neck. "Sorry buddy." he whispered. Percy's ears sharpened with the sound of that cooing and he turned up his head to see an owl sitting atop a branch, it extended its wings and stretched its talons as if prepared to attack.

Now Percy had never really like owls. Not just because they were Athens' symbol, but because he'd once had a horrible nightmare about an owl attacking him as a child, since then owls have terrified him. This owl looked as though it was ready to pull that dream into reality. The owl made a dive and Percy ducked his head, but the owl flew past him and snatched up a rodent from the ground. The poor little mouse squeaked in agony as the predator dung its talons in its fragile body, suffocating the rodent in midflight. Poor guy… Percy thought as the owl flew back to its branch to feast on its meal.

Percy turned his head away from that scene just so he wouldn't have to see it. A couple of hours later, night actually had fallen upon him and Blackjack was getting tired and hungry, so Percy stopped to feed him and himself. Percy had had some sense in him to grab a meal before running off into the world. With effort Percy managed to pull a campfire together, he leaned back against a tree and Blackjack lay beside him. It wasn't long before Percy put out the fire and found sleep.

The next morning Percy awoke to the crunching of leaves, on impulse he grabbed his sword and jumped up to face what was coming. Percy realized that if a creature big enough and fast enough was heading towards him, a sword probably wasn't going to cut it (A/N: No pun intended), so he sheathed his sword and picked up his bow and grabbed an arrow from the quiver he had now slung on his back. He really had hoped he wouldn't have to use it, for Percy was a terrible shot. But shooting an arrow would probably slow the beast if not kill it, and a sword was to slow and to long, it could easily have been turned back on him.

There was a rustling in the bushes and the surprised face of a boy appeared in front of him. "Don't shoot!" he cried holding his hands up in defense. Percy examined him, he didn't look armed (yet), or like a threat at all for that matter. The boy had blonde hair and sky blue eyes, by the looks of his muscles he was quite strong, he had that glint of persistence in his eyes and he was further covering his face in defense. He was maybe only a year younger then Percy. Percy was just thinking of putting down his bow when he spotted the knife strapped to the boy's side, the boy was slowly reaching for it, hoping Percy wouldn't notice.

"Who are you?" Percy demanded pulling back his arrow on the bow further. The boy stopped reaching for his weapon instantly, spotting Percy's warning, but despite the boy's determination not to be harmed, he was actually pretty brave.

"I could ask you the same question." He threw back. Percy's eyes shot from the boy's feet to his head, he didn't look like a quitter. Percy lowered his bow and arrow, but kept it armed, in case the boy was to try anything.

"I asked first." He said calmly. The boy looked prepared to answer when a girl appeared.

"Ah, there you are Jason!" she cried. "Why'd you run off like that?! You could have…gotten…yourself-" her speech slowed when she saw Percy, she gave him the quick eye over and her eyes spotted his armed bow, the panic in her eyes increased. She turned to the boy, Jason, with a hesitant look. "Who's your friend?" she asked. Percy took this time to examine her too, she had black hair like his except her had more of a blue tint to it, she had sky blue eyes like the boy's, from the looks of her she was quite alert, and strong, and she gave Percy that chilling feeling. She was probably four-five years older than Percy.

"That's just it," Jason replied, glaring at Percy. "I don't know." The girl turned to Percy and gave him this piercing glare, that sent Percy's heart crawling up his throat to get away, but he showed her no fear. He had this feeling that if he didn't tell her something, he was probably going to suffer for it in the future, so he disarmed his bow and set the arrow back in its quiver. Jason looked almost about ready to laugh, clearly he'd seen plenty of strangers do the same, but Jason held it in.

"I'm Percy." He introduced, carefully. "You are?"

"Thalia." She replied roughly, never ceasing her glare. Clearly, just like Percy, she was careful not to reveal her whole name. Thalia turned to Jason, "How'd you get the pleasure of meeting Percy?" she glared at Percy at his name and the word pleasure.

"I was just coming past the bushes to find him holding an arrow to my face." Jason answered. Thalia shot Percy a glare so deadly that if looks could murder (yeah he meant murder), he'd be a puddle of blood on the ground and no one would ever know who did it.

"I thought he was an animal." Percy defended. Thalia looked between Percy and Jason and did something Percy would have never, ever saw coming, she laughed.

"Jason gets a little riled up sometimes, but animal may be going a bit too far." She said, messing with Jason's hair. Jason pouted like a little boy and frowned. Thalia's smiled faded but at least she wasn't mad anymore. "Tell me Percy, what brings you to our woods?"

"Your woods?" Percy asked. Thalia smiled, like in the evil type way, as two guards appeared.

"I am Princess Thalia of the kingdom of Electris," she fully introduced. "This is my brother Prince Jason," she pointed to Jason. "And you, Percy, are trespassing on Electrogonian territory!" Percy gulped, because those guards gave him death glares to rival Thalia's.

(A/N: Does this feel like a commercial moment to you guys too? Don't worry, it doesn't stop here)

Percy was panicking. Should he tell them who he was and get an easy ticket out of here or get a tour of the dungeon? The Electrogonians may have been allies with Athens but they had no war with Atlantis, they had nothing to fight about, as easy as that, Atlantis and Electris were allies too. Percy mentally smacked himself when he realized how stupid a question that was. He sighed. The guards pointed spears at his chest and his decision was final.

"I am Prince Perseus of the kingdom of Atlantis." He announced. The guards pulled away their spears and kneeled with a quick apology before standing up again. Jason's jaw dropped, he was, quite obviously, not expecting that. Thalia's smile disappeared and her expression remained unreadable. She then punched his arm, hard, but that was only a tip of the iceberg and Percy knew it.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?!" she cried.

"Because I didn't know who you were." Percy pointed out, rubbing his arm. Thalia, despite being humiliated by that obvious fact, did not show embarrassment.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, changing the subject.

"It's complicated." Percy told her. Thalia glared at him, not amused.

"Try me." She dared. Percy gulped again and Jason gave him a look saying, tell her if you want to live! He'd probably had experienced this first hand. Percy sighed, again.

"I've come seeking a princess who's never smiled." Percy answered. "I'm headed for Athens." Jason's jaw dropped again, the guards dropped their spears before quickly picking them up again. Thalia closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Percy had the feeling she was trying hard not to smack him. When she opened her eyes her expression was emotionless.

"If this is true," she said, setting a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Then you are a mad man, Perseus."

How was that? Getting pretty deep huh? Some of this just flew out of me, I hadn't actually seen it coming myself. Hope you enjoyed it! Please Read and Review!

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Samantha's Library.