THE FACT, THAT HIS POWERS WERE ACTING UP, WAS CAUSING PERCY MORE GRIEF THAN HE'D LIKE TO ADMIT.

He had tried to make small waves in the creek, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing and it frustrated him to no end how they seemed to randomly decide wether to function or not. His skin wasn't waterproof anymore, and if he could still breathe underwater was an unanswered question, one that troubled him the most. His irrational fear of drowning had become exponentially worse, even though it was an absolutely ridiculous one to have.

Or at least it used to be.

He shook with fear, panic shoving its way up his throat every minute or so. And yes, while he was a good sword fighter, he needed his powers nonetheless, especially since this forest was a hive of monsters. Or, at least, that's what he assumed.

After all, he was a son of The Big Three and to add to that, most monsters hated him for... well, killing many, many monsters.

So, yeah he was infamous.

Pushing that troubling thought aside, Percy still couldn't figure out where he was and why. He felt cold, the light glint of Riptide in his hand cutting through the darkness, just like it did many monsters and he tried not to let his mind wander to his moment of weakness earlier.

How could he let himself break down like that?

Whoever was keeping him here, had seen the 'oh-so-amazing' Percy Jackson, 'savior of Olympus' at his breaking point.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, he chided himself.

He took a deep breath, trying and failing to calm himself and decided to wonder about how much time had passed and if anyone had already noticed he was gone, instead.

Annabeth is going to kill me.

Percy winced, guilt weighing on his heart. How could he do this to her? She'd probably already gone into his cabin, seen he wasn't there, searched for him and come to the conclusion he was gone. Again. He'd left her - even if he hadn't done it on purpose.

As long as we're together.

A pang of pain shot through him.

He could imagine her going into complete 'search-for-Percy' mode, one she sadly had.

Annabeth was so strong, so brave and so intelligent, but he was worried about what would happen if no one was there to see through the façade she wore.

One she only took off for him.

Percy was torn out of his thoughts, when he heard a cutting sound. At first, slow, almost non-audible, but then louder and more frequent.

His head shot toward a tree on his left.

An invisible force was carving something into the bark.

An... arrow? One pointing into the direction he had come from.

Great, I've been going in the wrong direction.

Percy wanted to bang his head against the tree.

But, where were these directions going to lead him?

He inwardly hoped to any of his friends. He'd even take Clarisse.

He sighed and decided that he would have to go where the arrows told him to.

I better not regret this.

But, knowing his luck he probably would.

Percy got moving again, following the directions the freshly carved arrows would give him. He seemed to be delving further into the forest as the temperature seemed to drop and it somehow got even darker.

"Damn it."

Percy almost wished for monsters. Then he'd be able to do something he knew how to. But, instead he got something, that was more Annabeth's specialty. (Then again, anything was Annabeth's specialty.)

He'd had arrived at a clearing, at the outskirts of it, rocks. As if they had shot out of the earth, they towered above Percy's head, like a wave about to crash, but frozen in the air. Words were carved into the stone, slightly... glowing?

Forth you shall go
The land of the ethereal awaits
Beware the souls
Beware your fate
The hero must face alone
Wether to seize or destroy the throne

Alright, maybe not as much a prophecy, but a riddle.

Then again, maybe Percy could figure this out. After all, he had had his fair share of the nasty little poems.

The land of the ethereal? Beware the souls, fate? Seize or destroy the throne? What throne? The throne of Olympus?

This is giving me one Hades of a headache, was the only thing Percy concluded after a while. He ran his fingers across the carvings, which had started to glow a hot white.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Percy muttered, ignoring the fact he was pretty much asking a stone to solve all his problems. So, he sat there, leaning back and feeling fatigue wash over him. He wasn't in the mood for whatever game this person was playing with him. He wanted to go home, he wanted to be with Annabeth, with his friends. He wanted to finally have peace.

Like lead his eyelids started to droop, exhaustion taking its toll on him, dragging itself through him. His instincts screamed at him to keep his eyes open, to not let, whatever was happening, happen.

But, he was already out cold.

disclaimer: (do I have to put this in every chapter? I'm just wondering) I do not own this amazing book series (I swear I get so jealous of rick sometimes; he thought of this amazing story line and characters; I want that talent so badly!).

I hate dragging out chapters, so I have to leave it at this.

I suck, I know, but I didn't want to wait forever to update. I mean, that would be worse, right?

feel free to tell me what you thought of this chapter!

'till next time

-flaminia