Author's Note: Hi, people! I'm back, updating this story. I decided to sit in front of my computer for three hours straight because, well…I just wanted to get this out of the way, because I didn't have much to change in it.

But guys…there was a grand total of ONE review last time I updated! So thanks candycrazy12346 for your review! Awww, did the rest of you guys not like that chapter? Then I apologize. I promise this one's more exciting.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I didn't have the genius idea of creating Percy Jackson.

Chapter 8: I Smash a Statue

I wasn't sure how I felt about Nico asking Jessica to the dance. I mean, I didn't have a problem with it, but…I guess it just felt awkward, since Jessica was my little sister. When I asked Jessica why she chose Nico, she just blushed and looked away. I suppose I was a little happy for Nico, though. He never struck me as the type who really wanted a girlfriend, or was looking for one. It was kind of nice to see that he'd found someone that he liked in a romantic way…it was just weird to think that that someone was my sister.

That night when we were getting ready for bed, Jessica looked me over. She frowned when I started coughing again. "Are you sure you can go to the dance, Percy?" she asked me.

I nodded, though honestly, I wasn't one-hundred-percent sure. I could barely stay on my feet for an hour. My training was suffering; anyone could see that I wasn't as fast or strong as I had been before I had gotten sick.

"I'm guessing that you haven't told Chiron yet, have you?"

I shook my head.

"You're not getting better, Percy," she told me. "You're coughing all the time. You wince a lot like you're in pain. You're getting worse, Percy."

"I know," I said hoarsely. "And I'll tell him. Soon."

Jessica gave me one last look of a mix of frustration and concern before going to sleep.

I decided to hang around the beach for a while that night. Usually the sea calms me down, helps me clear my head, and makes me feel safe. I always know that my dad was protecting me with the sea by giving me power to control it, but truthfully, I didn't feel protected. I felt vulnerable, even with the curse of Achilles. I remembered when I fell from my pegasus, and the sea didn't catch me, like it should have. I felt like Poseidon wasn't doing his job. If he were in charge of the sea, he shouldn't have let it freeze over.

"The sea does not like to be restrained," he'd told when I'd first met him. Somehow, someone forced it into restraint by freezing it. For the first time, I felt very worried, not just about myself, but for my father, for the marine life that would freeze in these unnaturally cold temperatures, and for the marine mammals that needed air, but were trapped underwater. And especially for all of the people who would be affected if this went any further.

And what about Price, and those girls who were trying to kill me? What were they doing to me? It was hard to think clearly. The cold air was painful to inhale. My cough was getting worse. It felt like ice was coating my airway. I thought about the other dreams about Annabeth lying in the snow, bleeding to death, telling me not to trust "her." I tried to concentrate on who "she" could possibly be. Maybe the girl who wore the blanket in my dream. She was a camper, as I remember. Which camper, I wasn't sure, though.

Then my mind flashed to a much earlier dream—the blond girl in the forest with the bow and arrow. The blond girl who looked exactly like Jessica…who I was sure was Jessica. Maybe she's whom Annabeth meant…

I groaned in frustration, running my fingers through my hair and letting myself fall backward onto to snowy sand. My mind was so jumbled up with all sorts of morbid thoughts; I wanted to scream. A group of people wanted me dead. I keep dreaming that Annabeth was also going to die, seeing her broken form in front of me in the snow, and watching her burial shroud float in the wind. And my sister is going to shoot someone with an arrow.

Part of me knew that I had to tell Chiron. At this point, I wasn't sure what was keeping me from marching to the Big House and confiding everything in him. He'd know what to do. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

As I walked back to my cabin to get some sleep, I tried to convince myself that I would get better...but I wasn't so sure anymore.

The next evening after dinner, Jessica and I found a surprise in our cabin: new clothes. On my bunk there was a new deep-green dress shirt, dark blue denim jeans, and black Converse sneakers. Jessica had a pretty blue and green dress where the colors faded and shimmered, like the sea.

Jessica held her dress to her face and smiled. "It smells like the ocean," she murmured.

And she was right. I couldn't help shake my head and smile a little bit as well. "Probably from Poseidon," I guessed. I smirked. I found it ironic that I'd be getting new clothes from my father. No offense, but in his Hawaiian T-shirts and Bermuda shorts, he wasn't the best dresser I'd ever met.

The Aphrodite kids insisted on helping the rest of us get ready. Under normal circumstances, I could've cared less abut how I looked, but I was going arm-in-arm with Annabeth, and I didn't feel like getting punched in the gut for being underdressed.

When Jessica came back from being pampered by the Aphrodite girls, she looked pretty cute. Her hair had a new streak of cerulean and was slightly curled, pulled back into a high ponytail. She wore her turquoise bracelet on her arm. When she saw me, she raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Looking good, mon frère."

"How are you so fluent in French, anyway?" I asked, trying to make my hair a little more decent and a little less like a shaggy black mess. "I mean, I can barely read any English, let alone trying to learn another language."

"My mom's from France. She moved to New York, and then to Louisiana a year before I was born. She met my dad there. Our dad, I mean," she added quickly. "And learning a language doesn't always have to involve reading and writing. I learned French at the same time I learned English. My mom likes to switch between the two. So I'm fluent in both. Et le français est une très belle langue."

When she saw my confused face, she translated, "French is a beautiful language." She laughed. "Speaking of beautiful, are you ready to meet your Wise Girl?" she asked teasingly.

"Only if you're ready to meet your Ghost King," I teased back.

She smiled. "I'm definitely ready."

I smirked at her enthusiasm. "The what are we waiting for?" I said.

Nico came over dressed in his usual black jeans and black converse sneakers. The only thing different was that he was wearing a black dress shirt and no aviator jacket. When he saw Jessica, he blushed. "Wow," her muttered.

Jessica smiled coyly. "Hey, Nico," she said, her cheeks reddening as well.

"You look...great," Nico said, smiling. Then he glanced at me. He cleared his throat. "Um...anyway," he said quickly, "let's get going, shall we?"

"Sure," Jessica replied. "That way we can leave Percy to his blond beauty, Annabeth."

I narrowed my eyes at the taunt. "Shut up," I told her.

Jessica laughed. I'll admit—she did look adorable when she laughed. I just wished she would act more adorable sometimes. As she turned around, her hair spinning around her shoulders, I was suddenly reminded of my dream—the little girl sobbing a bow and arrow, and apologizing to someone. I was positive that it was Jessica. Chills ran up my spine. But I was forced to stop thinking about it, because Annabeth showed up.

When I saw her, all I could say was, "Whoa."

Annabeth was wearing a strapless silver dress that stopped just above her knees. Her blond curls had been straightened out, so her hair looked even looked even longer, falling almost to her waist in a honey-blond waterfall. She was wearing a small amount of make-up—just enough to make her gray eyes sparkle.

In a word, she was gorgeous.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," she smiled. She looked me up and down. "You look nice. I just wish it wasn't a one-time thing, though."

I made a face. "I was just about to same the same to you," I replied.

"Are you implying that I'm a bad dresser?"

"Are you implying that I'm a bad dresser?"

Annabeth shrugged. As she moved, her dress shimmered. With another sudden chill, I remembered the silver Athena shroud with the initials A.C.

"Percy?"

I snapped back to reality. Annabeth was staring at me with a concerned expression. "Are you alright?" she asked me.

I looked at her. Right then, with her silver dress, perfect make-up, and blond hair flowing down her back, she looked like an immortal goddess. We'd had a lot of close calls, Annabeth and I. But we've always managed to make it out alive. Especially now, as Annabeth looked so much like a goddess, I could never imagine her dying. Still, my vision of the silver burial shroud...

"Percy, you look pale," Annabeth said.

I turned to her and assured her that I was all right, giving her a brave smile.

Annabeth frowned at me, like she wanted to argue, but he just took my hand. "Just be careful, okay?"

I snorted. "Careful ins my middle name."

She smiled, and we went to the dining pavilion hand-in-hand.

The pavilion was set up for a dance. All of the tables had been moved out of the pavilion. There were banners lining the edge of the pavilion, each with the symbol of a different Olympian god: Zeus's lightning bolt, my father's trident, Athena's silver owl. Small braziers gave off a dim light. What caught my attention, though, were the ice sculptures of the Greek gods all around us. I glanced at the statue of my dad and suddenly felt a sharp pain in my chest, like someone had twisted my heart. Unconsciously I squeezed Annabeth's hand and winced.

"What is it?" she asked urgently.

I took a deep breath, the pain subsiding. "Nothing," I muttered.

As the night wore on, the Apollo kids were the DJ's and played a bunch of songs dedicated to each cabin, like "Fly" for the Zeus cabin, "Glamorous" for the Aphrodite cabin, and believe it or not, "Under the Sea" for my cabin. I even heard "Single Ladies" for the Hunters, which made everyone laugh.

A few dance songs came up, where the lyrics taught you how to dance: the 2-Step, the Cupid Shuffle, and everyone's favorite—the Cha-Cha slide. Jessica was surprisingly good at the 2-Step, but there was no way I was going to make my feet move that fast. The Cupid Shuffle was easy to learn: just four steps to the right, then left, then kick out four times, and walk it out. The Cha-Cha Slide was fun, especially having Annabeth teach me how to cha-cha.

But about two hours in, I wasn't feeling well, didn't want to dance anymore. So the senior counselors, as well as Jessica, Avery, Grover, and Rachel, gathered in a corner and talked.

Suddenly the room grew colder. I shivered and started coughing.

"Here we go again," Jessica sighed.

Thalia frowned at me. "You look awful," she pointed out.

Thanks, I thought, still unable to speak.

I saw her shoot a glance at Avery, who looked back innocently.

Rachel glanced at Avery as well, and I swear I saw her narrow her eyes, like she was either glaring or thinking.

Avery smiled at me. "Do you like my statues, Percy?" she asked. "I made them myself. Took me all week, but I think I finally got them perfect."

My coughing continued, so I couldn't answer her.

Rachel narrowed her eyes even more. "How'd you make them?" she asked warily. I got the feeling she knew the answer before she asked the question. She was the Oracle, after all.

Avery glared at my friend. "Why does it matter, mortal?" she spat.

Rachel looked offended. She inhaled deeply, controlling her temper. "It doesn't," she replied coldly.

A slow song came on. Couples started getting up to dance. Finally, I was able to stop coughing. I turned to Annabeth. "Um..." I started. "Do you want to…?" I wasn't that comfortable asking girls to dance with me, even if said girl was my girlfriend.

"Dance?" Annabeth finished with a smirk. "Sure."

We got up and walked over to an area of the dance floor next to the ice statue of Poseidon. Annabeth put her hands around my neck, and I put my hands on her waist. We swayed slowly back and forth, and it all felt perfect.

Annabeth rested her head on my shoulder. "This is nice," she mumbled.

I nodded. Her hair was very soft, and it smelled nice. Her skin was warm. I found myself holding her closer and tighter. I wanted to stay like this forever.

Too bad I wasn't able to stay that way forever, because just then, Grover grabbed my shoulders from behind me. Annabeth jumped back in surprise.

"Hey!" Grover said, laughing.

I stumbled back in pure shock. Then my back hit something, and I heard a crash. I looked over my shoulder to see that I'd knocked over the statue of my father. Small pieces of ice were everywhere. "Grover," I groaned.

Grover's face was pale. "I'm sorry!" he said quickly. "I was just..."

I'm not sure what he said after that, because Rachel shouted, "Don't breathe in that mist! Whatever you do, keep your mouth and nose covered!"

Then, I felt really, really cold. All of the sounds around me started to blend together. So did everything else. My head was spinning, and my stomach was doing somersaults. I could feel my forehead breaking out in a freezing-cold sweat. My legs buckled underneath me. Someone caught me. I heard a girl's voice: "Percy! What's wrong? Percy, can you hear me?"

Then, I passed out. Again.

So how was that? Hopefully better than last time? Please tell me what you think about this story, you guys. Your feedback is actually helpful, believe it or not. Your reviews are so encouraging! More reviews = faster update, I promise! (And those of you who have author alerted me, this was pretty fast, you have to admit).

I'm still working on the Jason story. I'm just kind of stuck right now on that. And you guys have been wonderful about the Sally one-shots! Please continue your awesomeness and leave a review! Pretty please with a cherry on top? :3

Thanks so much, guys!

~Mandi2341