Percy was exhausted. All that training, and his nonsensical trek across the country. And then there's Thalia and Nico tackling him to the ground. "AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH! GET OFF ME!"

Though, it didn't matter how hard he yelled. Nico and Thalia were freaking out on him. They weren't sure whether to be mad or relived: (Thalia: top line, Nico: bottom)

"HOW-COULD-YOU-BE-SO-*******-********,-I-THOUGHT-YOU-WERE-DEAD-AND-NOW-YOU'RE-GONNA-BE,-YOU-SACK-OF-********-DOG-****,-AND-HOW-COULD-YOU-LEAVE-ME-WITH-HIM,-AND-"
"I-SHOULD-SEND-YOU-TO-MY-DAD,-YOU-MOTHER-*******-******,-AND-HOW-DARE-YOU-LEAVE-ME-WITH-THALIA,-SHE'S-A-*******-PSYCHOPATH,-SHE-NEARLY-RIPPED-MY-HEAD-OFF,-AND HOW-"

I'll give you three guesses as to which one they chose.

"SHUT UP! I'M FINE!"

"Do you have any ******* idea how worried we were? And what about Annabeth? This is, by far, the most ******** thing you've ever done." Thalia told him pointedly.

"I know, okay, I know," Percy snarled. "but looky what I got. The credit card! I'm completely out of debt, and then some! A whole truck-load of some, really! Annabeth and I-"

"You don't get it, do you, Percy? We thought you were dead! Thalia tried to kill me because of it, and I don't think I've ever been more relieved or furious in my whole entire life! BUT MOSTLY FURIOUS!" Nico screamed.

His point wasn't exactly getting across, though. Percy's eyes were glazed over, he had this dim-witted grin plastered on his face - so wide it almost hurt, and he kept staring at the credit card. Muttering in enraptured chortles, Percy kept saying, "I did it ... it's over ... Annabeth''ll be so happy ..."

Thalia grunted, "Percy, listen to me."

"Wha ...?"

"We're going back to camp now, Nico and I by shadow travel, you, by me kicking you there."

Percy smile didn't falter. "That's nice ..."

"Gods! You're insufferable!" Thalia yelled. Of coarse, to no affect.

"That's nice, Thalia ..."

"Hm. Hey Perce, camp burned to the ground." Nico tested.

"How lovely ..."

Nico turned to Thalia, "I didn't think it was possible, but he got even more stupid."

"Tell me about it." she grumbled. "Percy! Listen to me!"

"Sure. Time-travel is possible ..."

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Thalia complained. "What part of 'listen' do you not understand?"

"Apparently," Nico muttered. "the part that has to do with time-travel. Let's just get him back to camp already. That's why we came here in the first place, right?"

Thalia sighed, "Yeah, go ahead and do your thing, Death Breath, take us home. Besides, it'll be more fun to yell at him when he's not all ... doped up, or whatever you'd call that ******* grin on his face."

So, finally, Nico concentrated on a spot in his mind, and as reality ripped with his ultimate concentration, the stepped through the void, back to camp half-blood. If only they knew how little time they had.

The affects hadn't made themselves evident. The attacks that had been were but warning signs. Nothing more. It liked to work undercover, so to speak. Ulterior, really, to strengthen before the final and permanent take over. A quite labyrinthine plot for a single-cell organism, especially one with no thought. After it's host is aware of it's dwelling inside them, it stimulates the subject's mind into thinking the worst is at hand, with a trivial and ultimately minor attack. As if it could be called that.

Sometimes, it would take years to ready itself to the point of complete being, much like it had been in Nico for just over a year (Remember?). You see, it is not in full existence, really. More than a figmant, but less than living. Quite considerably less, actually. What it is, well, that's complicated. Not a vapor or gas, not a sludge or a slime, not a liquid or a solid, not anything near living, not quite at lifeless. Remarkably coexisting as both nothing and a tangible being all at once. Not unheard of, but most things like this, we dismiss as reasonable. Thoughts, for example. Thoughts are never questioned, just used to question others, but really, the only thing classifying them as real are that we think them. Everyday, and we never stop thinking them, until it comes to a point of not always realizing, and there's the next intangible reality. We deem this to be an instinct, or a gut-feeling. These wouldn't classify to be real if we didn't experience them. Since we do, mortals had to come up with a bare-bones explanation of chemicals being sent by the brain. The truth? There are many things that waver between the thin line of fantasy and reality. Scientists give them a full text-book's worth of explanations, but the truth is, outside of books, mortals will never except the concept of coexistence with living and dead. They think they do, but as close as they come, they just can't comprehand it. The closest they've come is a Limbo, but that's for some one already dead.

So yes, the disease isn't real, but far from fake. Confusing, but fact.

At any rate, since it's nonexistent, it needs to use a host. Once it enters, it feeds off the host - creating odd side-affects- until it comes to a convincing enough state, of actual being. Then, it becomes strong enough to scare it's host. To force it to have an attack. That way the host is caught off-guard when it's true power is released. It grows, and grows still, but all this could happen anywhere from years to days. Depends.

Once flourished completely, it over-powers the host completely. Little to their knowledge, Thalia, Percy, and Nico were soon to be ... basically obliterated.

As the three entered camp, chaos enlisted inside Thalia. It started as a headache. Stepping out of the portal, Thalia told Nico and Percy, "Never again, okay? Nev-er."

"I'm with you there." Percy mumbled, still staring at the shiny new credit card.

"You shut up, you're still in troub- Ack! My head ... it's like, searing!" Thalia said, kneading her forehead.

"Probably just another side affect," Nico shrugged indifferently. "It'll wear off."

"No, i-it's worse than that. Arrrrrrggggghh."

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, coming a little further out of his daze.

"What'd you think?"

"... I'm gonna go with no." Percy muttered. "Let's get nectar and ambrosia, it'll help."

While walking to the Big House, Percy paled considerably. Annabeth did not look too happy."DO-YOU-HAVE-ANY-IDEA-HOW-WORRIED-I-WAS? YOU-ARE-SO-DEAD,-PERSEUS-JACKSON!"

I would like to thank each and every reviewer or person-that-put-me-on-alert-thingy. THANK YOU ALL! I got just over double reviews than I expected! I can die happy. So anyway, I'm thinking the big climax is next chapter, then another one for like an epilogue. I can't wait until I'm done! It'll be great to finally be able to relax every Friday (Friday for me. I don't know what day for some of you) instead of going frantic every second I haven't uploaded. Oh, and sorry that this is kind of a filler-chapter. Trust me, I want to get to the end as much as you, or probably more.

P.S. Raking the leaves is stupid. It leaves you sore if you have a big lawn, and wouldn't the leaves just decompose and make soil for your grass over time?