A/N: Okay, I want to apologize for not updating for a couple of days. I just wanted to enjoy the holidays and take a break, but now I can reassure you that I'm back on updating every two days - or as often as I can manage. Before you read this, I just want to say something: the poison mentioned in here and everything related there, I just made them up. For the sake of this story, just be with me, please? Thank you. D

Ecila404: Yes, I'm actually planning on doing that. Just wait. :D

CimFan: Thanks! How did your holiday go?

MysticWishes: Thank you for understanding. And I do feel that way too, writing Lester's story.

Juzko Disco: I think SkyTer is cool. Thank you for that. And to answer your question, I have no idea how. As a reader, I despise cliffhangers but as I writer . . . ooh, I just love them! I apologize for that, though. And I prefer saying that I love testing him. :D

Potterjay all the Way: Hey, that's okay if you don't review immediately.I don't know why I always write stuffs like that, probably because I'm projecting what I'd been through into my writing. And that numb thing? Yeah, it was hard to write, like, really hard.

Nickkayy: I'm glad you've grown to like it. And don't worry, you;re not the only one. A couple of readers actually thought I was a girl until I mentioned I have a girlfriend. I'm the guy in the picture, by the way. :D

Kate: Oh, that's okay. I guess we all took a little break during the holidays. And thank you, as always. :D

"Black can appear white when the light is blinding."

-Kalika

(The Last Vampire: Evil Thirst)

WISE GIRL'S SEAWEED BRAIN 2.0:

DARKNESS ARISING
Chapter 6: DISTURBING BEHAVIOR

PERCY

Searing heat and burning cold enveloped my body as I was flung off the ground. I was blasted off my feet and the force of the explosion sent me sprawling on the ground. As my back came contact with the hard-packed dirt, only then did I notice a rather heavy weight on top of me.

I opened my eyes and saw a burly-looking girl glaring at me. "What the hell, Prissy?!" Clarisse yelled. "Weren't you thinking?!"

So, Clarisse tackled me before the explosion did some serious damage on me. I tried to sit up but couldn't. Then I realized Clarisse was still on top of me. "Um, do you mind moving?"

Clarisse continued glaring at me before moving off of me. She was about to sit up when a metal glistening in the moonlight caught my eyes. Without thinking, I pushed Clarisse to the side and brought Riptide up, just in time to block the white monster's attack. I heard Clarisse grunting behind me. I knew how much she hated it when people defended her so I took a step aside and motioned for her to finish off the monster. She eyes me like I was crazy. "What?" I asked her. "Chickening out now, Clarisse?"

"You wish, Jackson," she said and charged the monster. Meanwhile, I felt another force hit me from behind. I almost stumbled and fell face first to the ground. I spun and was about to slash the monster to ribbons when I saw that it wasn't a monster at all. Quite the contrary. It was my girlfriend, Annabeth.

She was looking at me in concern. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"No, you're not," she said, looking at my torso. I remembered that a poisoned dagger had grazed my skin. She then knelt in front of me and touched my right calf. I jumped back in surprise, hissing in pain. "You're burned."

"I'm fine," I insisted stubbornly, not wanting to worry her, but Annabeth saw the gash on my side.

"What's that?" she asked.

I wasn't able to answer because right then, three androk — yeah, you know what it's called — came sauntering to where Annabeth and I were standing. Annabeth glared at me, clearly saying "We're not done yet." I sighed and readied Riptide.

My ears picked up the sound of someone yelling in frustration. I risked a glance and saw that apart from the three white monsters that were circling me and Annabeth, there was not a single monster left. I wondered why not a single camper, or even Chiron was coming to our aid.

Then I saw why.

It was as if a circular barrier had been erected between us, preventing any form of help from coming to us. I wouldn't have worried about the three monsters because I knew that even when injured, Annabeth and I could take them. What horrified me was that Calypso was inside the barrier with us, and after seeing how terrified she had been when she saw the makhai earlier, I knew that having her with us would be a problem.

And I was right.

Annabeth was defending herself and covering my back when one of the three lunged to her, daggers ready. Calypso screamed in terror. I dove forward to her and we fell rolling on the ground, me on top of her.

For a while, we stared at each other's eyes until Annabeth yelled, "Oh, for Hades's sake, save that!"

Then Calypso's eyes widened as she pushed me off of her. I fell on my back and things happened too fast. I heard Calypso yell in pain and a spurt of golden ichor, the blood of immortals. Calypso fell back to me as I saw the white monster raise its dagger to impale her. I swung my legs upward, throwing all my weight into it. The tip of my sneaker hit the white monster's fingers, breaking them. The monster backed away, giving Annabeth the chance to stab it in the chest.

The last one left appeared behind Annabeth, aiming for her neck. I pushed Calypso aside and jumped on my girlfriend, surprising her. The monster's blade met Riptide, pushing me backwards. I used the flat of my blade to sweep the monster off of its feet and it fell on its back, its weapon thrown aside.

I put a foot on its chest and raised Riptide. "Enjoy your trip back to Tartarus," I said and brought my sword down hard. Though before it could impale the white monster's chest, I heard a high-pitched sound like a microphone feedback magnified to maximum volume and was focused solely on my ears.

I fell to my knees, clutching my head and yelling in pain. It felt like my brain was being smashed into a Panini. "Percy?" I heard Annabeth asked. "What's going on?"

Through my half-closed eyelids, I saw the white monster grinning evilly. It then opened its mouth, and in a voice that was obviously wasn't its own, said, "It hurts, doesn't it?" The thing didn't make any move to attack, even seeing that I was weaponless, Calypso was injured, and my girlfriend was too stunned to actually move. "Sadly, young warrior, this is just the beginning of your suffering."

The ringing sound was slowly disappearing at the back of my head but it was like it left my brain in a very weak state. "You think you have experienced the worst things when the last war happened but I'm telling you, Perseus Jackson, you haven't felt pain yet." The white monster sat up and pushed me down on the ground. I was slowly recovering but I was weak from the poison, my wounds, and the recent sound attack. It grabbed my right arm and, before anyone could move, licked my wrist. I thought it was kind of weird until the thing pulled its tongue away and the skin came off with it. The pain was intense and I felt like someone was pressing a white hot metal against my wrist.

I heard Annabeth yelling behind me and the sound of her feet running to me. The white monster didn't even bother to look at the oncoming assault and just raised its hand. I heard and small explosion and threw my girlfriend back. "No!" I screamed, seeing her fall to her back. There was an agonizing second when I thought that she was dead but then I saw her sitting up, looking angrier than ever. She then started running back to help me.

I wanted to fight back, to defend myself so Annabeth wouldn't have to get hurt helping me, but it as if some invisible force was holding me back, leaving me defenseless as the white monster leaned closer until our faces were only inches apart. "It is better for you to die now, Perseus," it said. "The sufferings ahead of you are unlike anything you have experience." It then looked around to the shocked faces of the other campers who were trying in vain penetrating the barrier around us. "For one, you cannot trust any of your friends from this place, hero. One of them will be the death of you."

Another traitor? Who would side with the enemy side? Was the conflict not resolved when Kronos was defeated? And who was this new enemy that had tried to kill me once before? Chiron said that it was older than Gaea herself. If it wasn't her, then who?

The thing leaned closer, staring me in the eyes as its tongue flicked back and forth, as if taunting me. "A friend will deliver you to your final breath," it said. "But not before I have my share of fun." Its tongue moved and touched my right cheekbone. I instantly felt the pain.

"Percy!" Annabeth was yelling somewhere behind me.

When the thing pulled its tongue back, together with my skin, a spurt of light suddenly blinded me. I closed my eyes, feeling the earth shaking beneath me. Then I heard the monster above me shrieking, its weight disappearing against me. I opened my eyes and saw Calypso standing by my feet, holding Riptide against the monster's back, its tip appearing on its chest. The thing crumbled to dust and I was able to move again. I sat up, putting pre4ssure on my bleeding wrist and tasting my blood in my mouth.

"Oh, gods," Annabeth said, grabbing my hand. She took in a deep breath seeing my wounds. "Are you okay?" she asked me.

I knew there was no point in saying that I was okay. "I'll be fine," I said, though everyone knew I wasn't. My friends crowded around me as Annabeth and Calypso knelt on either side of me.

"Thank you for saving me, my hero," Calypso said, holding my hand.

Annabeth didn't pay attention to it. Its either she was too focused on my wounds or she was saving punching my face until I was feeling better. "Can somebody please hand me some nectar and ambrosia?" she asked around. Someone passed her the godly drink and food. Annabeth held an ambrosia square near my mouth and said, "Here, eat this."

I bit into it, chewing as I felt it warming up my body. Annabeth drizzled some nectar on my wrist. I fought hard not to whimper. I swallowed – or at least tried to, as soon as the food passed my throat it came back. I started retching, the foul taste of vile filling my mouth, my hand clutching my side.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked, rubbing my back. "Percy, why are you throwing up the ambrosia?"

I wanted to ask that question, too, but I didn't have any answer. I wiped the stuff from my mouth and saw that it had black goo on it. I looked down and saw that the stuff was coming from my wound. The poisoned one. "Oh, gods," I whispered.

Annabeth looked down and saw it. "Oh, no . . ." She looked up, already panicking. "Chiron!" she screamed. "Chiron, help please!"

My vision was swimming in and out of my focus and I was having trouble breathing. "Annabeth . . ." I murmured.

"Yeah?" she asked, holding my face. I looked at her. At least I could still see her face. "Percy, please, just hold on." She looked up. "Chiron! Hurry!"

I saw a tall shadow kneeling in front of me. "Percy, my boy?" I heard Chiron ask. "How are you feeling?"

"Can't breathe . . ." I said.

"Oh, gods," Annabeth cried, grabbing my hand.

"I need to take a look at it, Percy," Chiron said gently. "Annabeth, take off his shirt." Annabeth obliged and stripped the shirt off of me. Chiron leaned closer, inspecting my wound. His forehead was creased with worry, then in the next second, I saw horror creeping into his face, though he tried to hide it.

"Chiron?" Annabeth asked. "What is it?"

"We'd better take him to the Big House," he said. He picked me up and slung me over his back in one swift move, then started running to the Big House. Annabeth ran alongside us, holding my hand the whole way.

Chiron put me down on a bed and told Annabeth to make sure that no one was going to enter. She nodded and ran to lock the doors, then came back just as easily. She sat down on the bed and held my hand. "Is he going to be okay?" she asked.

Chiron didn't answer immediately. "The poison is old, child," he said in a measured voice. "Very old that I had forgotten about it."

"There's an antidote, is there?" she asked, tears falling down her cheeks. "Chiron, please tell me Percy's going to be okay."

Chiron looked at me sadly. "The only antidote is believed to have disappeared centuries ago, I'm afraid, Annabeth." Annabeth covered her mouth with her hand. "It was made with the same incantation that the poison was made, only reversed. It was a very old incantation that can only had been made by . . ." he trailed off.

I knew he meant that it was the enemy that tried to kill me once. "Who is it, Chiron?" I asked, my voice hoarse. "Tell me. If I'm going to die, the least you can tell me is who it is."

Annabeth squeezed my hand tighter. "Don't say that, Seaweed Brain; you're not going to die. I will find the anti—"

"Chaos," Chiron suddenly said, cutting off Annabeth.

We both looked at her. "What?" Annabeth and I said together.

"Chaos, the spirit of the abyss and gapless void, she's our enemy," said Chiron

Annabeth and I both stared at him, asking questions we couldn't voice out. We were trying to process the information when a voice spoke.

"Who would send those monsters in this Camp?" a voice wondered. I looked at the foot of my bed and saw Calypso standing there, looking at me in concern. On her hand was a small flask of green liquid.

"How did you get in here?" Annabeth asked.

"Why are you here?" I asked. Chiron, whom I thought would be the one to ask the most questions, looked at her, his face showing shock. "What is it, Chiron?" I asked him.

Chiron stood up and walked to where Calypso was standing. He took the flask from her and looked at her in the eyes. "What are you doing with the antidote?" he asked her.

[Next - Chapter 7: THE TURNING POINT]