This chapter contains spoilers for Night Broken, the 8th book in the Mercy Thompson series. If you like the series, but haven't read it yet, don't read this story, go by the book. My writing can't compare to Patricia Briggs or Rick Riordan's.

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Note, I'm skipping a lot of flavor text and background info, I figure if you're reading a fan fiction about a book, then chances are you've read the book and know, at least in part, that information.

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Also, I own none of the characters, not even the OC I made as she is part of the PJaO books and anyone is free to duplicate her for their own stories. Writing a story using characters from published books, I certainly can't complain if someone likes my idea enough to run it in a different direction, but please, no slash.

As a side note, I hope everyone was able to figure out that Terry is an OC. I was going to use a minor character from the books, but I couldn't find one that really fit.

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Also note, For Percy and crew, this story takes place after the battle for New York, and before Percy disappears, obviously. I haven't decided yet if the Son of Sobek has taken place yet.

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Intermission

Percy

Things have gone from bad, to way worse than should be possible. When the Oracle overtakes Rachel, just has she's about to shake hands with Mr. Freaky Big and Muscular with the 'I'm going to rip your throat out with my teeth' look to his face, I thought we'd die right there. I quickly grab Rachel and pull her back, along with Nico and Annabeth. She starts spouting out a prophecy, which is rather disturbing. I'm a little distracted by the unusually violent nature of the Oracles take over, so I don't get everything, but I do distinctly hear her say that we need to stop a volcano who is trying to reclaim his runaway bride, something about me inheriting the 'Thrones of Water, War and the World', something about some grey dude who's going to kill everyone in town if we don't give him something or put a stop to him, something about Terry needing to decide to risk destroying the planet to save the human race. She also mentions this tinsey little matter of us being on another world. Oh, it's called Earth, even has the same human governments and languages, but our parents aren't real here, at least not in any sense we would understand, and evidently, everyone in the world knows that there are supernatural creatures living among them.

Oh yeh, she also mentions something about us increasing our power right before the oracle disappears.

Gee, isn't the Oracle a swell lady?

About the time I'm thinking we've avoided the worst of it, I hear a sound and look up. There is an outline of us hanging in midair. I'm just staring at it, us, when Terry touches the outline. The next thing I know, I'm looking at a mirror, and then I'm seeing me from the point of view of the mirror and then I'm in an incredible amount of pain. It's not anywhere close to the worst pain I've ever felt, it's more like pressure. I've actually used my powers to feel what happens inside a tea kettle before. It was a lot like that, except it was pure power, kind of. The closest analogy I can come up with is when someone hacks into a computer game to make his character better. It was like the other me reached into ME and turned the knob on my abilities all the way up. It hurt, and I needed to release the pressure. Nor, evidently was I alone in this.

The mess we made of the kitchen we were in was pretty bad, I'll admit, but I was a little preoccupied by my various abilities trying to vie for my attention. Yes, you heard me; my abilities were competing to get my attention. I'm not sure if they somehow gained intelligence and became separate (though thankfully temporary) entities, or if it was just the way I was coping with the incredible surge of power. Did it really make a difference? After all, if I just thought they gained intelligence, did my power surge make it real?

In any case, the two abilities that gained my attention the most was the 'Curse of Achilles' and the whole thing with horses. My father created horses and all horse like creatures, except evidently Centaurs. For some reason that popped into my head when I suddenly realized I'd never see Blackjack the Pegasus again.

The curse grabbed most of my attention however. I could feel it crawl around me and tighten its grip on me. At once gaining in strength, and trying to overcome its weakness. It was trying to force me to lash out at everyone present and destroy them. Kind of like how someone feels in the presence of Ares, except it was in me. I was trying to get control of this aspect of my powers when I realized that even though the power increase couldn't overcome my weak spot, I could move the spot around my body. I had about a second or two to enjoy this thought when I realized that someone was attacking me. Immediately the curse wanted me to lash out and destroy him, but I didn't want to risk a fight. Even if they couldn't hurt me, my friends weren't so lucky.

I quickly moved my weak spot from my face, which is harder than it sounds. It's like not thinking about horse apples when someone tells you not to. I thought the guy was about to hit me in the face, so the weak spot moves to my face. Thought; reaction. Simple, if somewhat inconvenient at the moment. I do succeed however. The blow is quite powerful, but he ends up crying in pain. When he grabs a chair, I decide to end the fight before it can go further. My intention was to just knock him down, but between the Curse of Achilles and an unexpected increase in strength, I do more damage than expected.

I turn to their leader, to say something, I'm not even sure what I intended to say, but I'm thinking about the strength, and I realize something for the first time. I had supernatural levels of strength in the first place. It makes sense; after all, half-bloods have successfully fought gods and titans after all. It stands to reason that would only be possible if we were stronger then we looked. For some reason, I always thought it was just the training and exercise we did at camp.

In any case, whatever I was going to say is abandoned when I notice everyone about to surge forward. Somewhat anticipating a fight, I pull out my sword; Riptide and my stopwatch shield. The not so tacky pin my brother gave me starts encircling me in sea water, refreshing me (it would have been healing me as well if I'd been injured). My friends gird themselves for battle as well, and the line of potential enemies stalls. I'm not really sure what they're thinking, but I'm left with the impression they were expecting us to be unarmed.

I'm still not sure we want a fight, so I try a little tack. "Look, my name is Percy, I'm sorry about your friend, but I'm not going to allow any of us to be attacked, I'm just not. Can we talk about this?" Ok, maybe not so tactful.

Their big leader dude replies; "Talking is good, it prevents many things, it allows for dangerous situations to not escalate into violent confrontations for instance. But understand this Mr. Percy;" he says adding an increasing growl to his words as they go, "I do not in general allow for my people to be assaulted without leveling serious injury on their attacker!"

In Goode High, there is an elective course on comparative religion. I don't take the course mind you, but several people I'm on friendly terms with do. I remember one time; one of them is talking about the Christian Bible and asks if I've ever noticed that there is only one entity in the entire Bible, who never lies? I can't say I have, for some reason, Mom never thought modern religions were all that important, can't imagine why. In any case, I actually got interested when he said it was the devil, better known as the 'Prince of Lies'. He went on to say that the best lie was one were every word spoken was the truth.

With that thought in mind, and a sudden realization that they could detect lies (my curse was kicking in here, if I was going to try and gain victory by talking, it would help defend me from blunders the way it helped me with my footing in battle), I tried to tell the truth in such a way as to seem more powerful than I felt.

"I understand that sentiment perfectly" I said, and I meant it to. "This is why your man is laying on the floor now. For I will not allow any of my people to be injured either." Both statements true enough, I didn't think he'd allow me to murder one of his people without a fight, so I made sure not to kill him, but I was also telling the truth when I said I would not allow them to injure my friends too. "When he appeared to be ready to assault me, I chose to allow it. The FIRST time! When he tried a second time, I insured he would never consider doing it again." Again, both statements technically true, though there was a little justification after the fact. "Had he tried to assault one of my people, I would have ripped off one of his arms and used it as a club to beat him to death." This one was simply an exaggeration. I really didn't expect them to allow me to do it, but with the curse trying to force my hand, I might very well have tried.

I can see the lady who saved us give a little gasp. She doesn't look like she's that fragile and naive, so maybe she just believed me out right.

I can tell that they're mulling things over, when we start to catch a break. He offers us a truce. I was about to take it. I really needed to get a handle on this new, more powerful curse, when Annabeth chimes in. I'm mad, but she makes some good points.

He responds with a better, if more complicated (therefore likelier to be broken) deal and I accept, mostly to just ease immediate tensions. Everyone is looking for a fight, and I seem to be the only one trying to prevent one. No, that's not really accurate; their leader seems concerned enough with for his people that he's trying to back away without appearing weak.

That, more than anything, is what makes me decide to trust him. Even though he's obviously some sort of monster, he's concerned with his underlings and wants to protect them. Besides, if everyone on this world knows about the monsters, and isn't exterminating them, maybe the monsters of this world are different.

I decide to hear them out and give them a chance.