Even after Jason Grace was smacked into the ground on a wave of water, he didn't feel out of his trance. The water's current had washed he and his friends out of the broken window of Dr. Derideo's lab and dropped them spluttering on the muddy grass below, gasping for air. Jason knew there would be bruises on his shoulder and hip from the rough impact, but he was too dazed to feel the pain- although his blurry eyesight was a bit distracting.

The way Percy had commanded the doctor…

"Is everyone okay?" he heard Piper asking, her voice filled with worry as she rushed around the demigods and helped them to their feet. Jason watched her fuzzy figure silently count off how many demigods were there, mouthing each number as she went. Jason always thought that was a cute mannerism of hers, how she quietly mouthed what she was thinking, but right now his mind was elsewhere.

The way Percy had controlled the doctor…

Jason let out a small groan as he twisted his body into an upright position, leaning back on his elbows. Staring back up at the window above, Jason guessed that the fall was only ten feet or so- not too horrible, but still far enough to make him bruise and ache. Even now, a small stream of water continued to pour out of the window and splash in a growing puddle a foot away from Jason.

It didn't take long before Piper was at Jason's side, reaching out and pulling him to his feet. Piper's hair was soaked and plastered to her face, but she still looked beautiful, like a mermaid who had a thing for braids and feathers.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" she questioned as she examined his arms, running her fingers gently down them to check for cuts and bruises.

"I'm fine, really," Jason assured her, taking her shaking hands in his. "Everything's a little blurry right now, but that's most likely a result of hitting my head-"

"Uh, Jason?" Nico interrupted hesitantly, stumbling over to the couple and taking care not to put pressure on his right leg. "I think these might solve your problem." The son of Hades handed Jason a pair of cracked glasses with Imperial gold rims. "I, uh, found them after I stepped on them."

Jason took them and attempted to fit them on his head, but one of the sides was bent too far outwards, and the cracked left lens made seeing even harder than when he wasn't wearing them. He sighed but quickly gave Nico a half-hearted smile. "No worries. This isn't too bad." Jason's eyes flickered down to where Nico was using his sword as a cane. "How's your leg?"

Nico glanced down and softly shifted his leg before grimacing. "I think I sprained my ankle. I didn't land that fall all too well, but it could've been worse. Nobody's-"

"Where's Percy?" Hazel interjected from a few feet away, looking around frantically. "Percy?"

This got everyone's attention. They all called their missing friend's name, to no avail. A thick forest surrounded the demigods on all sides, with the stone building behind them. Percy should've been on the ground with them.

"Did anybody see him leave through the window?" Jason asked the crowd.

Hazel gasped. "Is he still in there?"

"Oh my gods," Piper whispered. "You don't think-"

"He's not dead, if that's what you're thinking," Nico supplied. "However, if Dr. Derideo didn't drown in those tidal waves-"

"Then he got Percy," Jason finished with a gulp. "This wasn't the plan."

"At least we know he'll be able to defend himself pretty well," Piper commented under her breath, gazing up at the shattered window. The sun had just broken over the horizon, and it's fresh light glimmered in reflections on the remaining fragments of glass. The peaceful façade hid a terrible secret inside, and the half bloods didn't have the slightest idea what awaited their powerful friend within.

The others hadn't heard Piper's comment- or if they had, nobody responded- so Piper spoke louder. "Should we go back inside there to get him, or do you think Percy can get out on his own?"

"Of course we need to help hi-" Hazel began, but Piper quickly cut her off.

"Well, after that stunt he just pulled, I'm not so sure he needs saving just yet." Looking around, Piper turned to address the others with a sigh. "Look, I'm just going to come out and say what we're all thinking: Percy has way more power than we originally thought, and honestly, I think he took things too far in there."

"What exactly was he doing?" Jason reflected, the image of Percy's intense expression flashing through his mind. Jason had never seen such a fierce light in those sea green eyes. "Or better yet, how was he doing whatever that was? He's the son of Poseidon, not the son of…well, I don't even know a god that can control people!"

"My guess is that Percy was controlling his blood," Piper explained. "You know, since the human body is 75% water? That would theoretically give him 75% control over the human body." Jason gave her a quizzical look. "What? I took anatomy last year."

"That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?" Jason replied, sliding his cracked glasses off of his face and staring at them in the sunlight. It was a casual gesture, one Jason hoped would convince the others that he wasn't freaking out on the inside- which, of course, he totally was.

Jason liked to give people the benefit of the doubt. He wanted to trust the people he met. He wanted to believe that everyone was good. He wanted to think that people with power like Percy Jackson would only ever use it for helping others.

He didn't want to be afraid of his best friend.

How could he have complete trust in someone who could force him to do anything against his will at any moment? The amount of responsibility that comes with that sort of power could be hard to handle for a kid with a temper. To put it lightly, Percy doesn't exactly have an award for being the most responsible demigod.

"I admit, the initial shock of Percy's…control over the doctor was pretty surprising, but the more I think about it, the more I understand," Nico said, his voice soft as if he was talking to himself. Then, he looked up and straight into each demigod's eyes in turn.

"Tartarus changes people. When you're down there, fighting for your life, you're pushed to the limit. You find yourself doing everything you can to survive, and sometimes…sometimes those things don't coincide with your morals." Nico's dark eyes grew distant and haunted, and the corners of his mouth turned down as he spoke. "I- I did some bad things down there- things I regret. And even after you're rescued from that hellhole, you aren't the same. My self-control sort of, well, shattered down there, and I think that's what happened to Percy. Tartarus unlocked a new level of godly power within him, and we all saw how he reacted after he let Dr. Derideo go. He was just as afraid of himself as we were."

Hazel walked over to Nico's side and wrapped him in a hug of assurance. "You're right. We have to forgive him. He did it to save us, not because he enjoyed it."
Piper, however, still felt dubious about the whole matter. "He hurt Dr. Derideo, Hazel. That man may be a whack job, but he was begging Percy to stop, and he didn't. There's a line when it comes to using one's power, and Percy crossed it. You can't just…you can't just control people like that."

"Isn't that what you do?" Nico retorted, eyes narrowed. Piper looked taken aback.

"That's different."

"Is it? Charmspeak is controlling a person's mind. Percy was controlling a person's body. Essentially, it's the same thing."

"Yeah, but Charmspeak isn't painful." Piper stepped forward. "I don't hurt people when I Charmspeak. Percy controlled someone with such force that he was pleading for him to stop. That's going too far."

"Sometimes people have to get hurt, Piper." Nico was inches away from Piper's face now, standing on his tiptoes to be eye level with her but still leaning on his left side to keep any weight off of his sprained ankle. "Dr. Derideo was the bad guy. If he was a monster, would you still be fighting in his defense?"

"Monsters have a higher pain tolerance," Piper informed Nico, but her voice had a sharp edge to it. "They also regenerate. Dr. Derideo is human. Half-bloods don't hurt mortals- or other half-bloods."

"There are times we have to hurt half-bloods! We are all ultimately fighting for the greater good, and that means sometimes people get hurt." Nico's voice cracked, and he felt Hazel's hand on his shoulder, pulling him away from Piper. The son of Hades shifted his gaze to the ground. "I'm just saying I understand what might've been going on in Percy's head. When Reyna, Coach Hedge, and I were traveling with the statue, we ran into Bryce Lawrence."

Jason's eyes widened at this information, but he was the only one. The name meant nothing to Piper or Hazel, one of whom was Greek and the latter too new to Camp Jupiter to have known the criminal.

"Bryce had come to arrest us and take us as hostages to Octavian. He mocked Reyna, and I lost all control. I unleashed a wave of pain on his soldiers, and I turned him into a ghost and banished him to the Underworld."

Piper, Hazel, and Jason all gaped at Nico. Nobody had bothered mentioning that little detail to them after the war.

"What I did was just as bad as what Percy did, maybe worse. The only reason Dr. Derideo didn't pick me- or Jason, for that matter- is because Percy is more unstable."

The others didn't say anything. They didn't know what to say.

"If Percy is more unstable than me when I attacked Bryce, then I never want to see what that Hyde potion is going to do to him. It'll only worsen his condition, and this time, his morals will be gone. Percy's power made him a huge asset to Camp Half-Blood because he was loyal to us; he would never dream of hurting a friend. With those barriers lifted…" Nico didn't finish. He didn't need to.

"Then we have no time to lose," Jason declared, wringing out his black long-sleeves. "There's nothing we can do about Percy being as powerful as he is, so we might as well embrace it. We need him back on our side."

Piper tucked her hair behind her ear and unsheathed Katroptis. "Nico's right. Percy's actions, although I don't agree with them, were meant to save us. The best we can do is return the favor.

Hazel and Nico both nodded and took their spatha and sword in hand, respectively.

"Friends don't abandon each other," Hazel affirmed.

"Especially in giant, guarded monster HQs," Nico added.

"Di immortales," muttured Jason. "I forgot about that. We need a plan, and fast. I don't know how long we have until Dr. Derideo whips up some more Hyde and poisons Percy."

As everyone pitched in their ideas, ranging from dressing up as a Monster doughnut sales person to invading with a skeleton army, the demigods moved into the cover of the trees, where they couldn't be spotted. As he started for the shade, Jason stepped in a mud puddle and was startled to feel something crack under his foot. Bending down, the son of Zues shuffled his fingers through the sticky mud until they met with a string of beads. He pulled the mud-soaked item out and wiped it off on his pants.

It was a Camp Half-Blood necklace, complete with six beads of varying designs on a frayed leather cord. Jason hadn't worn his beads on the quest, so he knew it wasn't his; he also only had one bead on his leather necklace. Jason was about to ask the others if theirs had dropped when he noticed the middle bead, which was black and had a painted trident in the center. A jagged crack now ran straight across the emblem. Only one demigod on this quest had that bead.

Tucking the necklace in his jean pockets, Jason rejoined his friends. He figured that the Camp Half-Blood memento had been washed out of the HQ along with the demigods; it must've fallen off of Percy during the fight.

Or maybe it was ripped off.

Whatever had happened, Jason knew one thing for sure. Percy was in danger, and if they didn't get to him in time, everyone would be in danger.

A/N: Hello! Firstly, I want to apologize for how incredibly long it took for me to upload this chapter- and you still have yet to see what happened to Percy! Secondly, it was brought to my attention that some readers may be under the impression that the demigods' reactions to Percy promotes a "Change for your friends" message, but I want to let everyone know that a theme in this fanfic is acceptance, and to be yourself. Stay true to you. As always, please review, and thank you for all of your support!