Ugh, srry for taking so long to update .

The next chapter is the height of the climax (i think O.o) so stick around ;D

The story will hopefully make a lot more sense as it reaches the conclusion, 'cause I know that my story's been realllly confusing so far x.x

Well, uh, enjoy the chapter ;)

Chapter 17: Innocence

Winter POV

A sharp rock of the cave dug into my back. I tried to shift myself into a more comfortable position. It was useless. The sedative the wraths had used on me immobilized my whole body. Even breathing was difficult. At least Idylla had left. Her manipulation made my head feel muddled and my senses weak. I hoped Byron was alright. I hoped all the hunters were alright. Only two wraths hadn't appeared in the cave yet. Hopefully they had been destroyed.

Vaguely, I realized that I was losing consciousness again. I forced myself to stay awake. If I was unconscious, surely Idylla would be able to tap into my mind easily. When I become lethargic, memories plague my head. And this time, it was a recent one that had already replayed in my head many times. The fight with Proteus. Suddenly, the memory came back full force

Coils of snake-like water swept me off the ground. In a blink of an eye, freezing water engulfed me. I struck out, trying to break from the water. Then, I floated still, the orb was just expanding whenever I reached the edge of it. I closed my hands together, muttered a spell, and summoned a magic to destroy Proteus' water orb magic. Suddenly, I heard a muffled scream. Even though the water muddled my hearing, I could tell instantly that it was Josie. Then, the orb splashed to the ground, no longer held together by Proteus' magic.

I fell to the ground and instantly noticed that something was wrong with the air. The water was humid; droplets of water hung in the air. The droplets seemed unnatural…and they reeked of Proteus' magic. I heard the crackle of air; Ash was summoning lightning. In a sudden movement, half of the air's humidity was drawn towards Josie. Proteus was right next to her. It hit me that Proteus was going to multiply the air's water and redirect Ash's lightning to Josie.

I sprang off the ground and tackled Ash. Unexpectedly, he viciously rammed his shoulder into my throat, cutting off my breath. He delivered a punch to my stomach and I collapsed. Ferociously, he heaved me aside and ran off.

Then, just devastation. Josie's death. Ash's angry screams.

Then, a sharp stab.

When I woke up, I was in a cave with the wraths examining me. I leapt up in rage, trying to attack Proteus, but my movements were restricted and sluggish. I just had the strength to fall to the floor.

However, there was another event that flared in my brain. Before I tackled Ash, I had a vague premonition that Josie would die-whether Ash summoned the bolt or not. It must've been the remnants of my death sensing ability. Ever since I had completely drained the water serpent's spirit, I wasn't able to sense life and death anymore. Why had I stopped Ash? If Josie was going to die anyways, I should've taken advantage of that moment to destroy Proteus.

Why had I stopped Ash?

I recalled Ash's livid rage. "Why did you stop me! I could've saved her!" Why couldn't I tell him? I couldn't answer him. I couldn't let him live with the regret that he would've killed Josie. I couldn't let him carry that burden.

My fatigued mind brought back another memory. "In truth, the purpose for any mortal is just to live and die." These were my very own words, yet, in this short period of time, the phrase seemed alien. Had I really said that?

I fell further in my memories-all the way back to camp. For some reason, the new camper Tria came to my mind. I had been suspicious when she first arrived at camp. Her footsteps were careful and graceful, like an experienced traveler. Also, when Queena had summoned that lightning…she couldn't have possibly avoided it. There was the sound of crackling ice, why was…

Suddenly, distant footsteps echoed through the cave. The wraths. Then, I frowned. Achly's weight on Earth was different. She was carrying something. I listened carefully. The soft clanging of the instruments…metal krotala? Then, my eyes widened. Achlys couldn't have…

Frantically, I desperately tried to move my limbs. Summon my magic. Anything! It was useless! The sedative was too strong. Their footsteps grew closer and nervous sweat beaded on my forehead. I controlled my uneasy breathing and tried to calm down. I couldn't let my fear show. The wraths walked into the opening.

"Ah, Winter, how nice of you to wait for us," Achlys said poisonously.

"Achlys…" Obelix said warily.

She ignored him. She tapped the krotala together and a shrill sound resonated through the air. I masked my pained reaction, but difficultly.

"Oh, can you not hear it, Winter?" she asked innocently.

The krotala spun through the air and crashed into the wall. A deafening crash rang in my ears and I couldn't help it-I cried out and twisted away from the sound. The sound was piercing in my ears and a painful pulsation echoed in my head. So earsplitting was the sound, I didn't even notice Achlys' footsteps until she picked up the krotala.

"The greatest strengths…can be one's greatest weakness," Achlys said sinisterly.

Percy POV

Hector frowned, absentmindedly spinning his dagger around his fingers.

"Ladon will be an issue," he mused. "He was decreed by Hera herself to protect the trees. She's a..." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "…moody goddess. I doubt she'll give us leave to pass Ladon."

"Fight our way through?" Queena said.

"Probably," he said, sighing. "Percy?"

"Huh?"

"You fought Ladon before, would you suggest anything?"

"Well, Landon was fast. He had poisonous breath-it burns your eyes. If his teeth even touch you, the poison will eventually kill you. Landon's first priority, though, is to protect the tree. If you get far enough from the tree, Landon won't pursue you."

Annabeth unconsciously touched the gray streak in her hair, the mark from carrying Atlas' burden. Even the daughter of Athena couldn't seem to think of anything. How were you supposed to fight a golden dragon with hundreds of heads, each armed with a nasty set of poisonous teeth? Oh, and not to mention his bad breath.

"Ah!" Queena exclaimed. "I know!"

We all turned to look at her.

"It's simple," she said, looking at our curious expressions. "We sacrifice Percy, since he's practically invincible with Achilles' Curse. After we defeat the wraths, we'll come to save him, if he's not already in pieces and disintegrating from the poison."

I sat up straight. I was not fond of being envisioned in pieces and disintegrating from poison. She noticed my expression and said, "What?"

"Queena, we are not sacrificing Percy," Nicholas said.

She shrugged. "Just a suggestion."

I spoke up. "When I was at Mt. Tam, though, there were only three of us. With all of us, I'm sure we'll find some way to get past Ladon."

"Without killing him," Annabeth said.

Huh?

"If we destroy Ladon," Hector explained, "Hera will get angry and send man-eating cows after us or something and it's a likely probability that we'll die in a long and torturous…"

"What is up with you guys and imagining painful manners of death?" Grover interrupted.

It was Hector's turn to shrug. He seemed to think of something and spoke up again. "What I'm really curious about is the wrath Winter was sent to hunt. You know, the son of Poseidon and Medusa?"

Tria's eyes widened in barely readable shock. I met her gaze with a questionable look. She shook her head, but her panicked expression was now obvious.

"Do any of you know about Pro-?" Annabeth started.

"Hey!" Tria exclaimed loudly.

We all turned towards her with a start. Tria wasn't known to be loud-spoken.

"Um…" she said awkwardly. "I just wanted to say that the sky is getting dark. I'm going to get some firewood."

"But it's only-" Hector started.

"Better early than late!" she said, flashing a nervous smile. She hurried into the thick of the trees.

"Isn't it better never than late?" Tyson said.

"Better late than never, Tyson," Annabeth corrected.

Tyson frowned, contemplating about the contradictory forms of the idiom.

"Uh…" Hector said. "Well, let's hope Tria doesn't run off when we fight the actual Proteus. You said she just came to camp, right, Percy?"

I nodded.

"Well, I was just saying how I was curious about Proteus' abilities. I really wish Winter was here to tell us."

Suddenly, we all silent. Felix had explained to us what had happened with Byron's fight at the mountain. Afterwards, Felix had tried to contact Winter's team several time before but they hadn't answered.

"It's strange," Hector mused. "Even if they were…gone, we should still be able to contact them in the…Underworld. Something must be preventing the Iris messages."

"Maybe Proteus has some special ability," Felix suggested.

"Iris messages are summoned by mist," Annabeth said. "If Proteus' water manipulation was controlled enough, he would be able to dissipate the mist."

Hector made a 'tsk' sound with his mouth. "That must be it, then," he said reluctantly. "I know it's futile, but I wish I knew more."

I glanced over at Queena. She was being oddly quiet and she had a strange expression on her face. It seemed almost like shame.

"What's wrong, Queena?" Nicholas said.

She jerked her head. Guiltily, she cast her gaze down. "I, uh, had a dream about Proteus."

"What!" we all exclaimed.

The guilty look melted off her face and was replaced by scorn. "What? Do you guys want to hear about it or not?"

She rolled her eyes but was sober as she recalled her dream. "I think Proteus has some sort of…curse."

Hector's expression was calm but inside, I bet he was screaming, Hurry on about it,girl!

"It was when he was a kid. When he heard his mom's voice, he was shocked by some black lightning. I think someone said that he wasn't allowed to hear his family, have contact with his family, or say their name."

"Say their name?" Annabeth questioned.

"Yeah, apparently Proteus was cursed so that he could never say or hear his family's names. I think his family wasn't allowed to say or hear his name either."

"Is that all?" Hector asked.

"That's it. I didn't see much."

"How did Proteus get the curse? The lightning…was it…" he didn't continue. Accusing the lord of gods about a curse was almost like breaking the law.

"Maybe he was born with it," Queena said shortly. "As I said, not much of it was revealed."

I took a quick glance at Nicholas. His expression was skeptical and I suspected that Queena's dream was more then she let on.

"Well, I don't have a recording of Medusa's voice," I said, breaking the silence. "What about you guys?"

"Perhaps it has something about his family connections…" Hector muttered. His eyebrows were furrowed together in pure concentration.

"And he…he had a sister," Queena said.

My eyebrows flew up in surprise. A daughter of Medusa and Poseidon?

"Who?" Annabeth exclaimed.

"I'm not sure!" Queena said. "But it doesn't really matter, anyways. She's not one of the wraths, is she?"

"No," Hector answered. "She might've just turned out to be a monster. The wraths have adapted enough of god blood to be as powerful as they are."

It was true. Most monsters had some god blood in them, but didn't possess enough to inherit the god's abilities. The wraths had an abnormal amount of god blood which allowed them to be so powerful.

Hector leaned back on his hands and looked at the seemingly abstract lines that he had sketched in the dirt.

"We go at dusk tomorrow," Annabeth said.

We all nodded. I laid on the ground and shifted into a comfortable position. The sun was setting and the skies caught blaze to the fiery hues of sunset. The shadows had started to stretch across the earth with the darkness of night when Tria came back. Our talk about the wraths and Proteus was over. Queena ignited a small spark to light the firewood, all the while giving Tria a strange look. Tria volunteered to stay on watch. I turned to look at the stars. Sparkling with a gentle radiance was Zoe Nightshade's huntress constellation. I spotted another constellation-an elegant angel spreading her wings. What had Annabeth called it? Oh yeah, Astrea. Innocence.

I watched the flickering fires cast leaping shadows across Tria's contemplative expression as she gazed upwards at the stars. Then, I closed my eyes.

Well, i hope you liked the chapter!

I realize that some of the things didn't make much sense, 'cause I forgot to mention them in the earlier chapters .

But, to specify, Proteus' curse is basically that he isn't allowed any existence with his family.

He isn't allowed to see, touch, hear, or say/hear their names.

So, essentially, to Proteus, he has no family except for in his memories.

It's kind of important :P so just try to remember it xD