A/N: Aww. OKAY. You guys are going to kill me, I know. BUT BEFORE YOU DO. Please read Chapter Five. And tell me if it sucks. But dear mercy, I hope it doesn't. I don't know if you're interested in my excuses (school, first love. HAHA. as if!) but i hope with every fiber in my being that you're still interested in this story. Merry Christmas everyone. :) Enjoy your New Year.

My feet landed on sand as I hopped off Blackjack. Seconds later, Fang and Nudge landed behind me. We had been flying for over three hours and I could tell they were exhausted.

"Why don't you two go ahead and rest. I'm going to check out the island and try to find a place we can stay. Looks like we'll have to spend the night here," I said.

Nudge nodded before collapsing onto the sand. I faced Fang and half-expected him to contradict me but he just shrugged. So I began walking away from the shore.

The rest of the island was separated from the shore. It took me around forty seconds to reach it. The first thing I saw was a coconut tree. And it's not because I was fricken starving (which I was, btw). The tree was bent at an odd angle facing the center of the island. I frowned. Something didn't seem right. Trusting my instincts, I grabbed a stone lying near my feet and threw it at the tree. Immediately after collision, the tree snapped into its proper place. If I hadn't been paying attention, I wouldn't have noticed anything different. But I heard something snap when the stone had hit the trunk of the tree.

Carefully, I moved closer, allowing myself some distance from the tree, just in case. Thank gods I did because as I examined the tree, I saw a rope dangling from the side. If I had just walked forward, I would have been left hanging upside down, tied by my ankle. We were not alone on this island. Quickly, my hand reached into my pocket and I gripped Riptide tightly.

I turned away from the tree and moved on. Before long though, the foliage became too thick for me to pass through. Almost like a wall of flora, keeping something out. Or maybe keeping something in. Either way, now was not the time to check it out. Before I left, I passed by the tree again, and using Riptide, I cut off the rope. "For later," I muttered to myself. Just as I rolled it into a ball, a coconut fell from the top of three and landed on my toe. Crap. Being the paranoid stud that I am, I looked all around me to make sure no one had seen my moment of weakness. Thankfully, I was alone. Or so I thought.

I made my way back to Fang and Nudge and I was surprised to see that they had managed to light a fire. They were smiling when I returned and they seemed much happier than when I had left them.

"Hey, Percy," Nudge called out. "How was the exploration?"

"Uh, not so good," I answered, scratching the back of my neck with the hand that wasn't holding the coconut.

"What's that?" Fang asked.

"Dinner," I smirked, tossing it in his direction.

"Ahh," he said. "Coconut. Mmm. Gourmet for us, eh?"

Nudge giggled and I laughed as well. Who knew he had a sense of humor? Using a rock, he cracked open the coconut and we all took turns sipping the juice and eating the meat. My mind flashed back to a year or two earlier, when I had been stranded on an island as well. I felt a slight pang in my stomach and for a moment I wished we were on the same island. I shook it off quickly and woke from my reverie when I realized that Fang was talking to me.

"What?" I said stupidly, with coconut milk dribbling down my chin.

"What happened?" he repeated.

"Oh," I said. "We're not alone." As soon as the words left my mouth, it hit me, what I had just said.

"What?" Nudge asked, her brown eyes, wide.

"There was a trap. That's how I got the coconut. And this," I pointed at the rope I had tossed to the side.

"Well, crap," Fang said. "Who do you think they are?"

"No idea," I said, shrugging. "But we'd better stay here the night, near the shore and then check out the rest of the island tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess," Fang said. "But do you really think that we should stay here? Out in the open?"

"We don't have a choice," I muttered.

"What was that?"

I looked at them both. They were watching me intently. "That's the other thing," I said. "It's like the island is…sealed in. Like, the plants form this sort of wall around whatever's in the center of the island. I don't know."

"Can't we cut through the plants?" Nudge asked, sucking on a piece of coconut meat.

"I think so but it's better if we wait until morning. We don't want to risk anything," I said.

The air grew thick with tension and I swear I could hear my own heartbeat. I think in that moment, we all realized just how high the stakes were. When we lay down on the sand, it took me an hour before I was able to doze off properly. I just wish I had never even woken up.

His feet kept on walking. Walking. Crunching on sand. Until they weren't on sand anymore. They made a loud, pounding noise as they met cold steel instead of the gravel of the island. He had found something. At first, he was walking, looking into a door. The other side of the door wasn't visible, only his back, facing it. And then suddenly, he was no longer there. It barely made a sound as the little dart hit him in the neck and he fainted. Then everything went black.

Grover woke up, gasping and panting for air. He was sweating and the back of his neck hurt like hell. He felt it and there was nothing different. But dang those dreams could be realistic as heck. That was the tough thing about these empathy links. The thought of the empathy link woke him up.

"Dude, what?" Iggy asked, sitting up next to him. He was yawning. Grover didn't answer at first. He was shaking with fear. For a blind kid, Iggy was impressively attentive and observant. "Grover, what is it?"

"It's Percy. It's almost as though our empathy link has been shut off. I think he's…gone."

A/N: Dude. SO? WAJATHINK THIS TIME? :) Reviews are greatly appreciated, loves. ;)

I apologize for any errors. ALSO! THE EMPATHY LINK. From what I recall reading, if one dies, then the other one dies as well. (I THINK?) anyway. There's no need to worry. Percy shall be fine. Or shall he? :) Nyahaha.

- Dorky out!