Jason was tired. No, scratch that. Jason was exhausted. He hadn't eaten nor slept since Camp Half-Blood, and it didn't look like he'd be doing either any time soon.
Taking in the appearance of his friends, it looked like they too were running on empty. Piper had walked off to retrieve her cast-aside dagger; Nico was sitting on his giant roll of paper, his eyes lost in thought; Hazel was busy helping Percy to his feet and guiding him towards Jason.
"What now?" she asked to no one in particular, eyes glued to the floor as she directed Percy's path. "We killed Callisthenes, but something tells me we aren't even close to being done."
"Our quest is to dismantle the monster army before it can attack Camp," Nico reminded the group as Piper finally returned. Standing up, Nico continued, "Even without Callisthenes, these monsters are still capable of leading a massive attack. Something tells me that Callisthenes wasn't the head of this entire operation. He may have been commander of the armies, but he wasn't king of the castle."
"Nico's right," Jason agreed. "Six giants wouldn't be taking orders from a Cyclops unless they were told to do so by someone of higher position."
"Speaking of giants," Piper broke in, nervously glancing at the large double doors at the end of the room. "Those guys won't be searching for fifty imaginary demigods for long. By now, they must've realized they were tricked."
"Then we've got no time to lose," Percy declared, adjusting his blindfold. "Finding a private place to plan is our top priority. On my way down here, I didn't see an exit out of the headquarters, but there were thousands of rooms. Some of those have got to lead to a closet or an empty room. Or, you know, they could lead to the lair of a manticore." He shrugged, "I guess it's a fifty-fifty chance."
"Well, one thing's for sure," Piper added. "We can't stay here any longer. This'll be the first place they search for us, and there's no way we're leaving through the front doors."
"How about the vents again?" Nico suggested, kicking the broken metal chute behind him and letting it echo for effect.
Jason nodded. "I can fly everyone up there, and we can leave the way we got in."
Everyone murmured in agreement, and as they lined up to get carried up into the sky, Piper approached him and said quietly, "Are you up to this? Your back and shoulder are still bleeding and I don't want-"
"I'm fine, trust me," Jason smiled, putting a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "Besides," he laughed. "I've had much worse." Before Piper could respond, Jason swept her off her feet and into a bridal carry. "See? No problem."
Piper rolled her eyes yet couldn't help but grin. Jason shot up into the air, headed for the ragged opening in the stone ceiling that revealed the vents. Hovering by the opening, Jason hefted Piper up and helped her crawl into the vent.
Jason descended at a leisurely pace but nearly dropped out of the sky when he heard a yell from somewhere outside the double doors at the end of the room.
"They're coming back," Jason gasped, then sped down to the table and grabbed Nico and Hazel around the waist with one arm each.
"We've got to get out of here now," Jason told them, then rushed upwards and let them join Piper in the vents. Percy was the last to be flown up. Jason noticed that Percy, whom he carried like Nico and Hazel, held on to Jason's shirt tightly and his eyebrows were a bit furrowed. It was then that he realized Percy was putting all of his trust in Jason- Percy couldn't see anything. He'd have to allow the other demigods to lead him entirely during their escapade. That took a lot of trust.
The moment that Percy was allowed to crawl into the vent, the doors below began to pound.
"They're here," Percy hissed, reaching out blindly behind him for Jason's hand. Jason took it, and Percy yanked him inside the vents just as the doors blast open.
Aralus stormed into the abandoned meeting room with a roar of frustration.
"Where are those brats?" he growled, clenching his fists angrily. He scanned the room, searching for signs of life. "Where is Callisthenes?"
"Go, go, go," mouthed Jason, and everybody scuffled forward, trying to keep their knees from slamming on the thin metal with each shuffle. Aralus' voice grew quieter the farther they crawled, soon coming across a sharp right turn, then a left. Jason and Percy quickly developed a system that involved Jason tugging on Percy's feet to indicate a direction change- right foot for right turn, left foot for left turn.
Even with the demigods moving as swiftly and softly as possible, they couldn't help but make occasional echoes and bumps. Each time someone's knee landed too hard on the vent floor and rang throughout the ventilation system, Jason prayed to Zeus that no one in the halls below could hear. He felt the vent's dust coating his fingers with every movement, and bits of it were kicked up as everyone shuffled along. He fought down a sneeze.
Percy, who was beginning to feel a little disoriented, whispered, "Do you guys know where we're going?"
From the front of the group, Piper whispered back, "We got in here from the kitchen. They have monsters who bring in truck-loads of raw meat-" She shuddered. "-and so we hid in one of the empty boxes. When they picked it up, they thought the weight was from a bunch of steaks, not four demigods."
"Once we got inside," Hazel continued for Piper, "We hopped out of the boxes and went straight into the vents. We wandered around a bit before coming to the area above the meeting room, and I guess our combined weight brought the vent down."
They made another right.
"And you're telling me you remember the way out?"
"Well…not exactly."
"Oh, great, so we're-"
"Guys," hissed Nico, "be quieter."
They turned left, then right, then left.
"Percy mentioned finding an empty room to hide in," Hazel reminded the group. "At the next grate, we should find a way down into the castle. Leaving will only bring us back to where we were before. We need to-" She paused, rubbing her nose vigorously. "We need to take down the army."
"We should Iris Message Chiron first," Nico suggested quietly. "Warn him about the army's plan and ask how he'd like us to take down the monsters from the inside."
"Let's-" She broke off again to rub her nose and sniff. Nico, who was behind her, caught on to what was happening and stopped in his tracks.
"Hazel, don't."
"Ah-"
"Hazel!"
"ACHOO!"
Everybody froze, listening to the high-pitched sound echo as loud as thunder. A good five seconds of silence passed.
"Sorry," Hazel mumbled, blushing bright red.
All of a sudden, a gleaming wall of silver sliced up from the floor directly in front of Hazel before sliding back down again.
"Holy-" she breathed in shock.
It shot up again in front of Jason, inches from his nose. He saw his frightened, wide-eyed reflection in the blade. Di immortales, Jason thought. Dejá vü; then he immediately made the connection. Hectamedes.
"What the Hades is going on?" Percy demanded, completely clueless, but no one had time to answer before the walls of the vent crumpled inwards as if a giant hand- or rather, a giant's hand- had grabbed the metal shaft. Percy and Nico yelped, since the walls were tightest around them, though Percy was notably louder.
"What the hell is happening?" Percy cried in alarm; then the vent was yanked down, ripping out of the ceiling and bringing down all the surrounding metal and stone with it. The demigods fell, tumbling through the shredded metal and broken stone until they slammed on to the carpeted floor below. Hectamedes dropped the metal, Percy, and Nico and grabbed his axe with both hands. He turned towards Piper with madness shining in his eye, and the blue giant from earlier stood to his right, looking just as angry.
"You made us look like fools!" Hectamedes bellowed, raising his axe. "Now I'll make you look like dust!" He brought down the axe with enough force to crack the marble, but Piper rolled out of the way.
"Get up and run!" she shouted, pulling Hazel to her feet and running off down the hall. Jason followed suit, and Nico grabbed Percy's hand and dragged him along.
"We are not using the vents again!" yelled Nico, scrambling around the corner with Percy in tow.
"The giants must've split up," panted Piper as she continued to sprint down another hall, leading her friends nowhere in particular- just away from Hectamedes and the other giant.
The sound of the Hectamedes' angry howl reverberated through the floor, sparking another burst of energy from the demigods.
"Percy," Nico started, taking the chance to look behind him as he ran. Percy reached up and adjusted his blindfold; his hair was wild from the vent adventure and previous battle, and his new bronze chest plate was already dented. "You've seen these halls before- do you know anything helpful?"
"Not really," he shrugged, looking awkward as he ran. The demigods spun around another corner, and Nico made sure to pull Percy so that he didn't run directly into a wall. "Every hall looked the same. The room they gave me was up a few floors in a tower, and the armory is near the giants' meeting room. Other than that- no, nothing distinguishable."
"Let's just start trying doors, then," Piper announced. She skidded to a stop and yanked on the door handle to her right. It didn't budge. She jumped to the next door- still nothing. She sighed in exasperation, and in the distance Hectamedes' footsteps could be heard booming closer.
"C'mon!" Piper yelled, motioning for everyone to keep running. They followed her lead, and once they reached the next hall, Piper tried the first door on her left. This one opened.
"Inside, now!" she ordered, and all the demigods filed in as fast as possible. Piper slammed the door shut and leaned against it, locking it for extra protection.
Nobody moved; they just stood and panted, trying to catch their breaths.
"Are we safe?" Percy asked, wiping his sweaty palms on his jeans.
A thud behind them answered Percy's question. Each demigod's head slowly turned to face the creature behind them. The room had a short, narrow hall in which the demigods stood, that opened up into a large square room. This one had a large floor-to-ceiling window and a king-sized bed, and standing next to that bed was a large dragon-like creature with a woman's body where the head should've been. Snakes wreathed around the creature's black, scaly legs, and more slithered on the woman's head. Her expression was almost as fearsome as the monsterous heads sprouting around her waist.
"Uh, hello," Nico choked out, slowly taking a step backwards and cautiously reaching for his sword. "We were, uh, just leaving."
The beast snarled at Nico and unfurled two ominous bat wings that spanned the length of the room.
"Who is it?" Percy whispered to Jason, who stood to his right.
"I don't know," Jason whispered back. "She's half-dragon and has snakes everywhere and-"
"Kampê," Percy gulped. Jason watched Percy's complexion pale. Percy had obviously faced this monster before, and it hadn't been a good encounter.
"How'd you beat her?" Jason questioned him as Kampê took a heavy step forward.
"I-I didn't. I hit her in the face with a shield, but I never killed her."
Kampê let out an ear-piercing shriek and dove at the narrow hallway where the demigods currently stood, frightened to the core.
"Out! Out! Out!" Piper screamed, and the hallway became a fit of flailing limbs and scrambling legs, everyone climbing over each other to escape. Kampê's snakes lashed out and nearly bit Hazel's arm, and the lion head on her waist snagged the edge of Percy's chest plate, ripping it off and chucking it behind her.
The demigods piled into the main hall, and in seconds they were all up and running for their lives. Kampê burst out of her room and slammed into the opposite wall, scraping against it as she regained her footing. She was too big to truly fly down the hall, so she settled for haphazardly hops and sprints.
The half bloods soon came upon a steep staircase, leading down Zeus-knows-where. Each demigod bumped into the other as they struggled to stop in time, but Percy, who didn't realize everyone was stopping, sprinted head-on into the crowd, knocking everyone over- just in time.
Kampê came barreling around the bend and shot straight towards the stairwell, too fast to slow. She flew straight over the demigods crumpled on the floor and crashed into the sloping ceiling, roaring in pain and outrage, and continued to fall head over dragon heels down the stairs.
The demigods listened as the monster's yells echoed fainter and fainter as she descended. A final thud indicated that she reached the bottom. All was silent.
"Is she dead?" breathed Hazel, fanning herself as she tended to do when flustered.
"Let's not stick around to find out," Percy replied, roughly standing up and trying his best to help the others. They all eventually got to their feet and had only a few seconds to recuperate before another roar rang through the castle.
"Find the demigods!" Hectamedes boomed, and from the sound of it, he wasn't too far behind. "We need Perseus alive!"
"Man, I love attention," Percy grimaced, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Hazel tried the doors surrounding the demigods, but all were locked tight. They stood at the end of a corridor; one path led down the stairs towards a disgruntled flying dragon hybrid, and the other backtracked towards two angry giants.
"We're trapped," murmured Jason, searching around for any way out. Without his glasses, which he'd hooked on the front collar of his shirt, everything was blurry- but even he could see they were out of escape options. No halls, no windows, no open doors. They had to choose. "We can't successfully fight Hectamedes or the blue giant without a god's help, so I guess Kampê is our better option."
"Then let's get this over with," Nico agreed, yielding his Stygian Iron sword confidently. He took a step forward, but before anyone could follow, the two giants rounded the corner and stood looming over the small group of half bloods, their shadows completely covering the five of them.
"Finally," Hectamedes sighed, brandishing his axe. The blue giant cracked his knuckles for extra effect.
Percy turned blindly towards the sound of the giant's voice. "Hello, Hectamedes. How'd that fight with those other demigods go?"
The giant glared at Percy and, through clenched teeth, answered, "There were no others."
"Really? Oh, what a shame."
"Speaking of fights," Hectamedes added, "how was yours? I see your friends got quite the beating." Percy turned to glance around but, of course, couldn't see the damage. It was true that the demigods had taken some rough hits. Piper was cut up from splinters and had blood smeared on her face from her bloody nose; Jason's shoulders and back stung from Riptide's slices, and he had enough bruises to resemble a Dalmatian; Nico's ankle was still sprained, though he was trying his best to ignore it; Hazel had a black-eye, and her jacket hung open in the back from one large cut. However, Percy didn't need to see their injuries to know that he'd done them harm. He made no reply.
The giant knelt down and reached towards Percy's blindfold. "You don't need that scrap of paper any-"
Hazel grabbed the back of Percy's hoodie and tugged him backwards and out of Hectamedes' reach.
"I don't think so," she responded, eyes narrowing at the giants. "He's on our side."
"No, he's not," growled Hectamedes. He brought his ugly mug so close to Hazel that she snorted and spit in his big eyes. He reared back and yelled in outrage.
"That's it! This ends now!" Hectamedes pointed at the demigods, and his blue accomplice whipped out a dagger and grinned menacingly.
"What do we do?" Hazel whispered sharply into Nico's ear. The son of Hades' expression hardened. He had a plan- most likely one Hazel wouldn't like. As soon as the blue giant moved forward, Nico jumped in front of his friends and grabbed Hazel's and Percy's arms.
"Grab on!" he ordered, and Jason and Piper joined the huddle. With seconds to spare, Nico's eyes squeezed shut and the world went dark.
When light returned to their world, the demigods found themselves in a new hall, complete with the red carpet running down the center and marble tiling. To their right, a metal portcullis-like gate blocked a staircase, but other than that it was no different than the countless other halls they'd run through.
Jason turned to thank Nico, but his friend's eyes were drooping shut, and soon he collapsed onto Percy, who grabbed him around the arms.
"Shadow traveled and now passed out?" Percy summarized, making sure he understood what was going on.
"Yep."
Piper took Nico from Percy, adjusting to carry him in a piggyback position. She figured that he should be carried by someone who could actually see where he was going, you know?
Percy felt for nearest wall, trying to get his whereabouts, and when his hand connected with metal bars, he gasped. "I know where we are. This leads to my bedroom- well, the room they locked me in."
Piper whistled. "Top security for their secret weapon, huh?"
"Only the best for you, Perseus."
The demigods spun to look behind them, and there, at the far end of the hall, stood Forterae. She marched towards her prey, sword clutched firmly in her left hand.
"We just can't catch a break, can we?" complained Percy. Then, in Forterae's general direction, Percy smirked. "Long time no see, Forterae. Well, still 'no see' for me, but you get the idea."
"Shut up, half blood," she growled. "The only reason you're not dead is because my commander wants you alive. I still hate you."
"The feeling's mutual," Percy retorted. Forterae's pace quickened, and her gaze didn't deter from Percy. The other demigods armed themselves in defense, but they knew the fight would be futile. They couldn't kill a giant without the help of a god. Piper slid Nico off of her back and gave the unconscious demigod to Hazel before facing Forterae. She stepped in between Percy and the giant with a look in her eyes fierce enough to strike terror into the heart of Deimos himself.
"We aren't afr-" she began, but before she could finish her threat, Forterae's muscular indigo arm swung out and slammed Piper into the portcullis. The impact echoed down the hall, and Piper yelped in pain. Jason saw red and turned to glare at the giant. Nobody hurts his friends like that- especially Piper.
It was time to attack.
Jason focused on the chilly air around them and imagined it swirling around him. It took mere seconds before he felt the breeze ruffle his clothes, at first soft but rapidly battering harder and harder. Forterae looked surprised at the sudden gusts, pausing in confusion. Percy's eyebrows lifted, and he rushed over to the metal bars for support. He could tell from the sudden shift in the air pressure that Jason was about to use his new attack he'd developed recently- Percy'd experienced it once before, and he know knew that if he didn't grab hold of something, he'd regret it. Hazel and Piper followed his lead.
Jason let the wind's pace grow, billowing around him in an invisible cyclone. He felt the power rushing around him, inside him even. Percy had once described to Jason the feeling he gets when using his water powers- that tug in his gut. Jason never felt that. Instead, he had a headache. The stronger the storm, the harder the headache- sometimes his ears rang after a powerful attack. Jason could already tell that this would be one of those attacks. He thrust his right hand forward, and the wind spiraled down his arm and shot in an explosion of air at Forterae, propelling her far, far down the hall. The giant screamed, roughly rolling down the corridor. At one point, her head collided with the ground with a loud smack, and when the wind died down, she didn't move. Unconscious, reasoned Jason.
He slowly lowered his arm and tried to mentally block out the ringing in his ears. He glanced at the others; their hair was blown violently to one side, and they all still clutched the portcullis as if their lives depended on it.
"It's, uh, it's over now. You guys can let go." They did, albeit hesitantly.
Jason wondered if this was how Percy felt every time he used his powers for something major. I mean, sure, Jason had seen his fair share of reactions at doing things like summoning Tempest or electrocuting entire armadas, but it felt different when his closest friends gave him that look of awe and… fear.
Nico chose this moment to finally crack open his eyes. "Are we safe?" he yawned.
"Almost," Hazel replied, helping him to his feet. The demigods regrouped- all except for Percy, who walked along the wall with his hand running lightly across it. He felt the edge of the first door and pulled at the handle.
"Locked," he told the others, then moved on. His friends turned and followed closely behind. The next two were also locked, but the third opened after a few shakes of the doorknob.
Percy flung the door open, and the others immediately gasped and covered their eyes.
"What?" Percy asked, unaware of what was going on.
"Perseusss Jacksson," hissed none other than Medusa, standing in the doorway inches from Percy. "I was about to come outsside and sssee what all the fusss was about, when my favorite demigod opened the door for me."
Percy didn't waste time. The others heard a shink, rip, thud, followed by silence. Jason dared to peek through his fingers, and he was astonished at what he saw. Medusa's head rolled, decapitated, next to Percy's feet. The gorgon's body stood headless in the doorway for a second more before dissolving into golden dust. Percy still held Riptide tight in his right hand.
"Guys, I found our free room," he remarked casually, sliding Riptide back into its sheath. Then, under his breath, he added, "That's two for two."
Everyone cautiously looked back at Percy and Medusa's head and found themselves speechless. Percy had just beheaded Medusa in five seconds flat- while blindfolded. The whole encounter reminded Jason of a story Annabeth had told him a few months ago; in Tartarus, Percy had killed Arachne when the spider tried to murder Annabeth. However, it happened so fast that Annabeth had had no time to react, and she had no idea how Percy did it. Jason wondered if killing monsters even fazed Percy anymore.
Percy turned as if to look at his friends, confused by their silence. "It's all clear." The others followed him inside, and Jason locked the door behind them.
The bed was still made, and nothing looked touched. In fact, the ambiance reminded Jason of a hotel room. Now that there was no monster to distract him, Jason could really take it all in. The walls were still stone, much like the rest of the castle, but everything else looked fairly modern. The large bed was pushed against the right wall, and next to it was nightstand and lamp. The mortal-looking arrangements put everyone at ease; they felt like they'd finally found a place to relax. In the corner, there was a tiny refrigerator, surprisingly, which Nico made a beeline for and was already checking out.
"There's food in here!" he exclaimed, pulling out piles of candy, beef jerky, and what looked like some packaged raw meat from the kitchen. Nico gingerly pushed that aside but kept the other goodies.
"Don't we have to pay for those?" Piper asked, collapsing onto the bed with arms wide.
"Like I care," Nico scoffed, ripping open a packet of M&Ms. "Shadow-traveling makes me hungry as well as tired."
Hazel headed straight for the tiny bathroom, and Jason opened the closet to his left. Inside were clothes of all different sizes- small, medium, large, extra-large, and monster-large. The monster army must've had recruits of all kinds, varying from human-sized to, well, giant. These guys sure want to keep their guests happy, Jason mused, taking in the luxuries they were lucky enough to have at their fingertips.
The demigods spent the next couple of hours simply relaxing. They ate, showered, and cleaned themselves up. Piper found everyone's sizes in the closet and handed out some fresh, un-cut clothes for everyone to wear.
Percy came out of the bathroom, having showered last, and Jason noticed that instead of the improvised map blindfold, Percy had cut up us black hoodie and tied a strip of that around his eyes. He set his armor in the corner and joined the others on the bed.
"Eyes are still orange," he sighed, pointing at his new blindfold. "Callisthenes said that the Hyde lasts for 12 hours, so it should wear off pretty soon." He was met with silence- something he was tired of hearing- so to lighten the mood, he added, "Until then, I'm ready for any games of Pin the Tail on the Satyr." This got him a few laughs.
Piper, who wore a large camoflauge t-shirt and black sweatpants, stretched out on the end of the bed. "We should make a plan."
"She's right," Jason said. "Should we call up Chiron?"
The demigods only source of water was the bathroom sink and shower, so Jason, Piper, and Percy went into the bathroom to make the call. They let Nico and Hazel sleep.
Percy stood in the shower and turned the silver knob, letting the water fall around him. Now that the water was out of the newly-protected plumbing, he had it back in his control. He waved his hand lightly, and the steady stream of water faded into a cloud of mist.
"Anybody got a drachma?" he asked. "Or an organic gluten-free dessert? I'm pretty sure Iris accepts those too."
Piper pulled a drachma out of her pocket- she always kept a few spares- and flipped it through the mist. "Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood."
Their favorite centaur quickly appeared in the mist. Chiron stood on the porch of the Big House, and he looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"Chiron," Jason began, and the centaur turned to face the message. Immediately, his face lit up in relief.
"Jason! Piper! Thank the gods you're safe. Where are the others?"
"I'm here," Percy stated, waving his hand in front of the message. "I'm behind the mist, and Hazel and Nico are asleep."
"We want to discuss battle plans," Jason explained, and the three demigods relayed everything that had happened: the Hyde, Callisthenes, the monsters' plan.
"We know that they need to be dismantled now," Jason continued, "but we don't know who their leader is, and we can't kill the giants without a god's help."
"Percy," Chiron said, deep in thought. "You said they believe you're on their side, correct?"
"Yep," he confirmed. "However, the giants know I'm with everyone else trying to escape, so no doubt their trust in me is gone."
"If you can convince them that you're still on their side, you can find out more information about their leader and discover faults in their plan."
"The Opening!" Piper gasped, much to everyone else's confusion. "You were supposed to be presented at the Opening. That's what Dr. Derideo said."
Percy caught on. "If I can convince them that I'm on their side, we can ambush them during the Opening. I'll go on stage and do whatever they have planned, and from there I'll ruin everything."
"If we disguise the rest of us as monsters with some help from the Mist," Jason added, "we can get inside and help from the audience."
"Perfect," Chiron said. "Find a way to keep in touch with each other. Percy, the more you find out about this Opening ceremony, the more you can develop your plan. We need more information before the real attack can begin. I know this is a lot to ask of you," Chiron said, his gaze sympathetic, "but I do believe you will succeed."
"What should we do about the giants?" Piper asked.
"Pray for help- literally," Chiron answered. "I'll do the same." Someone called his name from behind, and the centaur nodded to the demigods. "Call me again soon." With that, he waved his hand through the Mist, breaking their connection.
The three demigods returned to the main bedroom and explained the plan to Hazel and Nico, who had just woken up. They spent the rest of the day planning and plotting on how to take down the impossible army.
It wasn't long before they all settled in to sleep for the night. Fortunately, the room had a clock hanging on the wall so that the demigods knew the time even without phones or a window. Jason, Piper, and Nico fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows, and Hazel was grabbing one last bite to eat before settling in. Percy silently crossed the room, dragging his hand along the wall to lead him, and went into the bathroom. He locked the door, flicked on he lights, and turned towards the mirror. Carefully, Percy unraveled his blindfold and set it on the sink's edge. Then, taking a deep breath and sending a silent prayer to Poseidon, he opened his eyes.
Sea green.
His eyes were sea green again.
Percy's fresh eyes watered at the sight, and a large smile broke out across his face. He was no longer a danger, a threat, a killer. His friends were safe at last. Percy chucked the blindfold in to the small trashcan by the toilet with a feeling of satisfaction and finality. He was Percy Jackson, a certified enemy of monsters.
It was then that Kelli's words to him flashed through his mind. Think about why we're doing this in the first place, and maybe you'll come around and see things from our point of view. He shook his head as if to get rid of the words. He couldn't afford to see things from their point of view- not now. They'd decided that in the morning, Percy would turn himself in and act as if he'd been on the monsters' side the whole time. It was all an act. He couldn't feel compassion for monsters right before going off to massacre an army full of them.
Percy left the bathroom and spotted Hazel, who was seated against the wall with a bag of raisins. Percy sat down next to her and tapped her shoulder. She looked up and immediately gasped upon seeing his eyes again. She hugged him so tight he could barely breath, but Percy didn't care. He felt tears of joy slip down his face, but Percy didn't care. He was free.
When Hazel finally pulled away, Percy took in her familiar face. He noticed her black eye and opened his mouth to apologize for hurting her, but she held up a finger.
"Don't you dare apologize, Percy. This isn't your fault."
Percy smiled, but in his heart he didn't agree with her. He should've been able to resist the Hyde, somehow. He should've been stronger. He should've protected his friends instead of being a burden all day long.
"That doesn't mean I'm not sorry," Percy replied. "I hurt you all, and whether or not you think that's my fault, I'm still sorry. It was torture, watching myself do all those things."
"Percy, I admit, sometimes you can get a little intimidating and, quite frankly, scary. But at the end of the day, I know I can trust you. You know why?"
"Why?"
"Because even when your eyes are orange, you have a heart of gold." She kissed him lightly on the forehead and left him to think about what she'd said.
A/N: Hello! So, ah, I guess it's been three weeks...again. Sorry about that. However, my excuse is that this chapter is quite long, so hopefully you enjoy it all! Thank you for all your support, and continue to review!