[Percy]

When I woke up, it was pitch black in the room. I couldn't see two inches in front of my nose and, to tell the truth, it was a bit disturbing. I closed my eyes again. Darn room has one, tiny window. It's probably night time.

I didn't want to get up for that reason alone. If I got up now, I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep until morning. There was suddenly a slight breathing noise…and it wasn't coming from me. This immediately strikes panic into the heart of nearly any demigod who wishes to live a nice, long, abnormal life. I glanced around on instinct, even though I couldn't see squat. I stuck my hand in my pocket, pulling out Riptide. As soon as I uncapped the pen, I could see everything in the room because of the glow it gave off. At the end of the bed, sat a snake, which was none too happy to see the blade. It slithered back a bit before hissing a warning at me like a disgruntled teenager saying, "Turn out the lights! I'm trying to sleep in here!"

I whispered, "Sorry buddy. I'll move it away if you don't bite me." The snake didn't look like it wanted to keep any promises. I shrugged and moved the blade, setting it down behind me. The serpent stayed where it was for a moment, as if deciding what to do next, then slid up next to me. I swallowed hard, thinking about what I should do. Eventually, I decided that it was just better to get up and move away from it.

I grasped my sword's hilt in my hand, picked it up and slowly stepped on to the floor. My shadow was cast across the room, eerily. Suddenly, the snake disappeared right before my eyes. I was about to get worried about that, when the moonlight shone through the broken window, illuminating the parts of the room that riptide's glow didn't hit. There was a lifting sensation, like you get in an elevator, which made me feel more and more uncomfortable. Suddenly the door opened wide, revealing the night…sky.

I was floating up very high. That's probably why I was having a hard time. I knew I wasn't afraid of heights, but that didn't mean that they didn't make me nervous. It's that feeling that you get…guilt it's called, when you know you're doing something you shouldn't be. That feeling was weighing me down by the pit of my stomach. I took one peek out the door, and lightning cracked somewhere above my head. The thunder that followed was immensely loud, forcing me back inside the room. The door shut, clicking the lock as it went, and the sensation disappeared. I was standing in the middle of the room which was now back on the ground where it belonged. I glanced out the window. Yes, there were shrubs out there, confirming my safe arrival back on solid earth. Then, I immediately began feeling the shaking sensation of an earthquake. Everything around me rattled and shook. Everything, that it, accept for me. Nothing happened to me, really. I had just a little trouble keeping myself on two feet, but not as much trouble as it seemed I should have had.

It got extremely irritating after a while. I dropped to my hands and knees and felt a tugging sensation in my gut before the earthquake stopped. I rolled over onto my back. There was a long pause this time. It was a good thirty minutes, I'd guess, before the next event happened. I was getting more and more annoyed the longer I waited. What was going on? I was beginning to believe more and more that these were intentional events. Someone was testing me…but who? I had no idea. The last thing I remembered seeing was Lupa and Sally staring down at me, but that was strange mainly because it seemed like a lot had happened between waking up in this room and passing out on the floor of the building Lupa, Theo, Sally, Jordan, and I had been in. While I'd been lost in my thoughts, I had dozed off. I decided against getting back in the bed after having seen the snake, just in case it was still there. What woke me up, however, was a knock on the door. I didn't want to open it in case it was another event waiting to happen.

Instead, I mumbled, "Who's there?"

"It's Jordan!"

I jumped up and headed over to the door, but stopped before I touched the door handle. Something stopped me…that something was an experience I remembered: Cyclopes can imitate voices and, honestly, whether it was a Cyclops I knew or not, I didn't want to take the chance.

"How do I know for sure?"

"Uhm," he said cautiously, "well, you don't really…"

"Right," I replied, putting a hand on Riptide and taking a deep breath in and out before opening the door. The handle didn't scald me this time and, indeed, it was Jordan on the other side. He smiled at me, standing in the doorway wearing a new purple t-shirt and khaki shorts, wielding a celestial bronze sword.

"You okay? You look a bit spooked," he commented as I closed the door behind me. I turned to face him and glared.

"You know perfectly well that I'm not okay." I heard a giggle come from somewhere nearby, then a familiar voice sing quietly, "I'm not okay, you wear me out." I turned towards the voice and saw Sally wearing a similar purple shirt and her less-beaten up pair of skinny jeans, cuffed a bit to show yellow high-tops. She tousled my hair when she got close enough to do so. I was just so out of it that I didn't do much other than smile back at her.

"Am I becoming the predictable one? Sorry you had to go through that. It usually just sorts out the unclaimed demigods immediately, but you had to go through a good chunk of the test. We ought to go get Theo, too." Jordan started off in one direction. I ran after him and Sally ran after me, giving me a confused look as she did so.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Some test to sort out which demigod belongs to which godly parent. Sadly it's not that easy. We've had to pull some kids out before they could finish just one test before. Percy here went through the majority of the tests before he gave us any feedback."

"Feedback?" I exclaimed, "What's that supposed to mean? You mean all that was to get me to stop a bit of shaking?"

"Not the shaking in particular," Jordan replied. "You just happened to give us that sign. There were so many things you could have done if you were someone else, but the few things you did do showed us enough to get an idea of who you are."

"What?"

"Never mind, I'll explain later." We arrived at another small cabin like mine. Jordan opened the door with extreme ease. This seemed to bother him. I looked around and saw a corner of another purple t-shirt sticking out from one side of the hut. I tapped Jordan on the shoulder and pointed in that direction. He nodded and snuck forward, taking to step around the corner. I saw the string too late to warn him. It snapped and a wheel was heard somewhere. A weight was loosened and a bucket…scratch that, a trash can filled with water was set off balance on the corner of the roof, sending it falling towards Jordan.

I jumped forward and said, "Oy! Jordan! Look alive!" He looked up, picking something off of my mind, and widened his eyes. He got out of the way super-fast, not getting a single drop on himself. What I failed to notice was that there was a second string, leading to right above where I was standing. Okay, so who makes a two-part trap better than Theo? Very few people.

The water fell in slow-motion, it seemed. I noticed it last second and felt a sort of tug in my gut. Suddenly, it stopped moving at all. I stood up straight and just stared at it for a second.

"What…" Jordan started.

"I remember," I said, a few more memories trickling back right then, making things seem clearer. "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon…I'm pretty positive now."

Sally and Jordan stared at me for a moment. Theo's head popped around the back of the hut and saw the scene. I could tell by just glancing at him out of the corner of my vision, he was grinning like an idiot.

"Well, that's something, alright."