A/N: What's up guys, coming at you with chapter 17 here. Please enjoy, and if you do then please favorite and follow this story for further updates. All editing credit goes to my beta dorylover, I'd be lost in a sea of messed up grammar and spelling without her lol. Anyway until next time pce out :D

As always anything Percy Jackson related belongs to the original author.

Chapter 17

Percy knew he was dreaming when he saw himself and his friends standing in front of his moms' apartment. But he didn't understand why he was dreaming, he didn't remember falling asleep, last thing he did remember was a big fast coming towards his face.

That was when the memories of the fight started flowing into his brain. He remembered getting trapped by Lycaon and the Minotaur. He remembered how confident he was in his ability to be able to kill the beast, and he remembered how that overconfidence had blinded him to the attack of his enemy. He thought he had died, but considering the fact that he was dreaming now, he felt a little hopeful.

For now he decided to put everything relating to the fight aside as he entered the apartment with his dream self and friends. He didn't want a repeat of the conversation that went on in there between his mom and Ace. But considering the things that were discussed; he wanted to see his mom just one more time, since he wasn't going to see her for a while. He quietly followed as he relived everything that went on in the apartment.

*Dream*

Percy and his friends entered his moms' apartment only to find his step-dad, Gabe Ugliano, and his friends playing poker in the living room. Percy stayed at the doorway and watched as one of Gabe's friends ushered him towards Percy.

Gabe stopped shuffling the deck of cards that were in his hands and turned to face him. He grimaced at the sight of Percy because speaking. "Why are you here now? I thought you were supposed to be back next week. Or did they actually kick you out on the last week of school?" He chuckled at his own joke as he started shuffling the cards again.

Percy ignored his question and replied with one of his own. "Where is my mom?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know? I am not her babysitter. But since you're here, give me twenty dollars." Gabe sneered.

"I don't have any money." Percy said with a stoic look. He tried to avoid any kind of confrontation with Gabe because it never ended well.

"Please, you probably took a cab here from the bus station, should have a decent amount of change left. But I am pretty sure you have more money considering you're out of school a week early." Gabe said turning to glare at Percy. That's when Ace and the others stepped into view.

"Who the fuck are they?" Gabe entirely turned to face them now, putting the cards down.

"They're my friends." Percy replied, a little more with force. Having Ace behind him made him feel more confident.

"No one gave you permission to have friends over." Gabe replied, his voice starting to rise.

"Come on Gabe, leave the kid alone. He just got home." One of Gabe's friends said. Percy recognized the friend as their doorman for the building. Gabe turned to glare at him.

"Fine, they can stay. Each of you, give me twenty bucks." Gabe said turning to face them again after a full minute.

"Can I kill the fat bastard?" Ace said finally speaking up.

Gabe and his friends stared at Ace with wide eyes. Gabe's expression changed from surprise to one of anger.

"The fuck did you say punk?" Gabe growled as he stood from his chair.

"See, he already knows he's the fat bastard." Ace said looking at Percy. This made everyone in the room crack a smile, Gabe's friends included.

"Get the fuck out of my house." Gabe roared as he made to grab Ace. But before he could even get within two feet of Ace, he fell to the floor. Percy had punched him straight in the nose.

"Wow that felt good. I always wanted to do that." Percy said grinning from ear to ear.

Seeing their friend being attack made Gabe's friends stand up. Ace made to attack them when Tal stopped him.

"Stop, they're just mortals. Just put them to sleep and then we can wait for Percy's mom in peace." Tal reasoned. Gabe, who was on his feet now, and his friends were confused as to what the young girl had said, but Ace just let out a sigh and snapped his fingers. An air current passed through the room as the four adults dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

"Percy, call your mom. Tell her to get here as soon as possible, it's an emergency." Ace said turning to face Percy.

The young half-blood nodded and went to the kitchen to make the call. After that they all silently waited in the kitchen for fifteen minutes before Percy's mom came rushing into the apartment.

The first thing she did when she walked in was give Percy a bone crushing hug. Percy, being away for so long, relished in the smell of candy that his mom always smelled like as he returned the hug. When they separated, Percy introduced her to his friends.

"These are my friends Grover, Tal. And this is Ace; he's like the older brother that I never had." Percy explained with a smile.

"Hi, you can call me Sally. It's so nice to meet you all. And thank you for taking caring of Percy; I know he could be a handful." Sally said, giving each of them a hug. Ace seemed to flinch at her touch but covered it up with a smile.

"It's an honor to finally meet you. We heard a lot about you from Percy." Tal said smiling at her. She had always liked Percy's mom; she was such a sweet and caring person.

"Thank you. Let me just put on some coffee and then we can talk. I want to hear everything about your school year." Sally said making her way to the stove.

"Actually we don't have the luxury Sally; we came here to talk about something that's important. And from the way you hesitated when you heard Grover's name, I am assuming you already know what this is about." Ace said finally speaking up.

Sally let go of the coffee pot she was holding as it dropped in the sink. She slowly turned to look at Ace in surprise before taking a seat next to the group of friends.

"Tell me everything. Is Percy in danger?" She rushed out. The calmness that her face held was now replaced with a look of worry.

"We were on a trip for school when monsters found us. But we managed to get and are heading to camp right now." Ace explained.

"Well let's go, I'll drive you. Let me just ask Gabe if I can borrow his car." She said getting up and rushing to the living room. Instead of entering the room, she paused at the door and look at the scene before her with confusion and worry. "What happened?"

"We didn't hurt him, but he was being, well…him so Ace put him to sleep using the mist." Percy quickly explained. Sally let out a sigh of relief hearing that they weren't dead.

"Well at least this will make it easier to borrow his car." She said with a hint of smile before making her way to look for the keys. She returned a minute later with the keys jangling in her hands. "Let's go." She said as she picked up her purse.

Percy was about to get up and follow before Ace spoke up. "This is exactly why we came to see you now instead of later. I don't want to say this but in the interest of you and Percy, from this point on Percy can't have contact with you."

Now everyone was looking at Ace in surprise and confusion. "What're you talking about Ace?" Tal inquired.

"Exactly what I said, Sally, Percy can't be with you anymore. If you want, I can talk to Chiron into sending him to school, and you can come visit him there. But he can't stay with you anymore, it's too dangerous." Ace explained as they all listened in shock.

"Wait a minute Ace, you…" Tal started but stopped when Ace turned to her with a murderous glare. She flinched at the sight and quickly averted her eyes.

"I am not making the same mistake again. If I can prevent this in any way I can then I will try everything." Ace said his glare being replaced with a stoic expression.

"What do you mean Ace?" Sally asked as she retook her seat.

Ace turned to face her and let out a deep sigh before explaining. "As you must have realized by now, I am a demigod just like Percy. And when I was little, I lived with my mom in the mortal world. But my scent was too strong and monsters attacked us. I managed to get away because my mom sacrificed herself to buy me time to escape. Then I found Tal; the same thing had happened to her." A tear slid down his cheeks as everyone quietly listened. Percy was surprised hearing this. In the whole year that he had known Ace, he had never heard him talk about his past, and now he understood why. "I promised myself that I would never let anyone feel the pain we felt if I could do something about it. That's why I want Percy to stop living here; it'll be safer for both of you."

They all stayed silent as they absorbed Ace's story. Percy turned to Tal to see a tear slid down her cheek as well. This was the first time he had ever seen either of his friends cry. He didn't want to leave his mom, but if it was to keep her safe then he'd do anything. "It's okay mom. Like Ace said, it'll be safer plus I can still go to school if you want me to and you can also visit." Percy reasoned.

They all watched silently as they expected Sally's answer. They could tell that she was trying really hard to keep a hold of her emotions. "If it'll keep Percy safe then I'll do anything." She said wiping her eyes to stop any tears from slipping out.

"Great, while you're at it can you give him your blessings for good luck?" Ace said with a small smile.

Sally gave a small smile before nodding her head. "I give you my blessing Percy. Please stay safe."

"Thank you, now we really should be going." Ace said rising to his feet.

"Wait, can't you stay for just a cup of coffee." Sally said rushing to her feet as well.

"We can't. The monster that attacked us is still after us, we just managed to lose it for a little while. We need to get out of here and head to camp. And don't worry about Percy, I promise you that I'll do everything I can do keep him safe. But I don't think he will need protecting, he's quite the fighter himself." Ace said smiling at Percy who returned his smile.

"Thank you Ace for looking out for my little boy, please take care of him." Sally said as Ace nodded in acceptance.

After that, they said their good-byes and once Ace erased the signs of them ever being in that apartment, they headed out.

"Oh, one more thing Sally; you can get rid of Gabe now that Percy won't be living here anymore." Ace said giving Sally an amused wink before leading his friends out of the building and towards camp.

"You've made yourself quite the friend Percy, you boys best care now." Sally muttered to herself before going to take care of Gabe.

Percy smiled hearing his mom say that. He was really grateful for having a friend like Ace. But his smile disappeared when everything around him suddenly started melting. His mom, the apartment, everything around him disappeared to be replaced by darkness. He heard someone call his name but when he looked around, there was no one. Then he watched as the darkness was replaced by light. He was confused as to what was going until he realized that he was waking up.

Percy slowly opened his eyes and looked around as his eyes adjusted to the light. He looked around to see that he was lying down on a bed. He tried to sit up to get a better view of the room but stopped when he felt a stinging sensation around his chest. He didn't know what was going on until he remembered his fight with the monsters. 'I guess I'm still alive.' He thought to himself.

"Well, well, look who finally decided to crawl out of hell." Percy heard someone say to his right. He turned his head to see that Ace was standing by the door with a shoebox in hand. "Welcome to the world of the living." Ace said with a smile as he walked over to Percy.

"Thanks, but I'm surprised I survived that fight. I thought it killed me." Percy said, fully sitting up.

"Well you would have been killed if that lucky toss of yours hadn't found its mark." Ace said helping his friend by adjusting the pillows behind him to get him more comfortable. Percy looked at Ace with wide eyes before he started laughing with Ace joining him.

"Okay, now how bad was the damage?" Percy asked pointing to his chest.

"It wasn't that bad. Some cracked ribs, a bruised sternum, you damaged an organ though but they healed that. A little more nectar and you should be good as new." Ace explained pointing towards the glass of nectar by his side.

Percy gently grabbed the glass and drained it in one sip. The godly food rejuvenated his energy as the pain around his chest slowly faded away.

"Great, now here you go; that is your spoils of war." Ace said placing the shoebox on Percy's lap. He pulled up a chair next to Percy's beside and sat down.

He stared at the box for a minute before turning to look at Ace. "What is it?"

"Open it and see." Ace replied smiling as he leaned back on his seat.

Percy slowly opened the lid to find the Minotaur's horn. "Whoa, it didn't disappear when he died?" Percy asked with a smile.

"No, once you cut it off it became a spoil. It happens like that with most monsters. If you cut off a part of their body, it won't disappear when they turn to dust." Ace explained.

"Awesome. Thanks for picking it up."

"Don't mention it. Now let's go show everyone that you're alive, Grover's been freaking out." Ace said heading towards the door.

"How long have I been out?" Percy asked as he followed Ace out. As soon as he left the room, he had to cover his eyes as they adjusted to the harsh sunlight.

"Not long, about thirty-six hours, I think." Ace said, leading him around the side of the house. As they rounded the corner, Percy saw the whole camp. From Ace's explanation, he had a picture of it in his head, but he was still surprised to see kids running around in armor and fighting with swords. He especially loved the view of the ocean and the flying horses that were roaming the air. He read about a lot of mythical creatures but the Pegasi always stood out to him.

"Where are we going?" Percy asked looking away from the scenery to Ace.

"We need to talk to Chiron and introduce you to the Camp's director." Ace said, leading him to a group of people. Percy noticed that there were three people around a table playing a card game while two girls were standing by the railing. One of them was Tal, while the other was someone Percy didn't know. But he knew that she was a daughter Athena from her intimidating gray eyes; Ace had already explained the features each god passed on to their children. As he got closer, he noticed that two of the three people around the table were Chiron and Grover, and the third one was most likely the Camp's director. Looking at him Percy was reminded of a cherub; a chuddy baby angel.

"I brought him Chiron." Ace said walking over to Tal. Percy thought he saw Ace glare when his eyes passed over the mystery girl.

He didn't know what to say so he just looked at Ace. "Well introduce yourself doofus." Ace said laughing while Tal shook her head with a smile. He heard Grover chuckle as he felt the red covering his cheeks. Even the mystery girl showed a smile.

"Uh…um… My name is Percy Jackson and I guess I'm a demigod." Percy said making Ace face palm.