Hey, gang! Guess what? I finally got over the block I was having on the next chapter set! And now that Chapters 16-18 are done, I feel much better about this and am ready to get back to a more regular schedule. About time, right? Still, when you consider how years ago it used to take me months to write a single chapter, you have to admit I'm still doing pretty darn well.

Anyway, thanks as usual to everybody who reviewed last chapter! Glad you're all like me and agree that more added drama equals more added fun! So have a bit of fluff as an apology for my slow updates, and I promise I'll be back early next week with another new chapter :D

Enjoy!

XV
PERCY

Everyone around was in shock. Percy blinked a few times, realizing he was breathing too fast and trying to calm his nerves.

"What… just happened?" someone asked, and Percy became vaguely aware that a host of other people had gathered at the Oracle's sudden movement. And almost all of them were staring at him like he'd just grown a snake for a tail.

"Was that a prophecy?" Will said in disbelief. He was one of the few people who weren't looking at Percy, because his eyes were trained on Rachel's sleeping form.

"I don't…" Annabeth muttered weakly. Then she cleared her throat and said more surely, "I don't think so. Not exactly, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked her, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

"Well, think about it," she replied. Her voice was steady and firm, but her expression was still one of surprise and fear. "Have you ever heard the Oracle say the word 'I' in a prophecy? Plus, the wording was off. She said… 'light must break', instead of 'light will break'. I don't think this was a prophecy. I think… I think it was a warning." Her eyes lifted to meet Percy's and her brow furrowed in an expression of worry. "A warning for you."

"Well, whatever it is, it can't be good," a Roman healer spoke up. "What was that last bit? 'A death through death'. We've kept everyone alive so far, and now we've got, what, two deaths on our hands?"

"Two deaths," Ella repeated in a whispery voice, rocking back and forth on her chair. "The Black Death. Reduced Europe's population by thirty to sixty percent. One hundred thousand deaths. Two deaths. Too many."

Percy had to agree. Two deaths were too many.

"Well, whatever it was," Will said as he pushed forward and began to check Rachel's vitals, "she must have been determined to get it out. Any longer and it might've killed her."

"She'll be okay, right?" someone else asked.

"I think so. Her heart rate's slowing back to normal."

As everyone started discussing the warning at the same time, Percy suddenly decided he wanted to be anywhere else but there. Why did these things always happen to him? Why was he the target of every prophecy and every bad omen the Oracle warned about? What made him so special, anyway? And why did everybody feel the need to talk about it like he wasn't even there—to hash it out and speculate all the horrible things it could mean? And why did everybody seem to be talking about him dying?

Without a word, Percy spun around and shoved his way through the throng of people, putting as much distance between himself and Rachel as he could. Already he could feel a shadowy frustration boiling inside him, and all he wanted to do was get out and be alone. He didn't want to think about the prophecy, and he didn't want to think about the Oracle's interest in him. None of it mattered. He wasn't going to let anything distract him, not now when they were getting closer to an advantage in the war.

But the problem was that no matter how much he didn't want this to be a distraction, he couldn't stop it. The Oracle's words just now hadn't exactly predicted sunshine and rainbows. 'A darkness born', 'the blood-stained bond', 'a death through death'. Absolutely none of that sounded good. The entire verse played over and over in his head on a morbid repeat, reminding him that no matter how hard he tried to make everything work out, his life was constantly doomed anyway.

Once outside, Percy walked around the side of the infirmary tent and slowed to a stop in the shadow it cast on the grass, taking a deep breath and staring hard at the ground. He heard someone approach him from behind and knew immediately who it was.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said quietly. "I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that. I was just… surprised and worried and… I spoke without thinking." Her hand gently touched his shoulder and he felt the tension seep from his muscles like a switch had been flicked.

"No, it's okay," Percy argued with a deep sigh, turning to face her. "You were right. She was speaking right to me, after all—'Ocean's son' and all that." He sat down heavily on the ground, pulling a clump of grass from the dirt as Annabeth lowered herself down beside him.

"What do you think she meant," she said after a long minute "when she said 'in you, I see a darkness born'?"

Thinking about it made Percy remember the strangely hopeless feeling that had been trying to worm its way through him lately. A number of times, he'd compared it to a shadow, taking root in his gut and spreading like a virus to his heart. He got angry easier, lost his will more quickly. It didn't usually last long, and before now he'd attributed it to the Shadow War. After all, it wasn't abnormal for war to have a negative effect on a person's spirit. But what if it was more than that? What if he'd somehow been infected by this darkness—if it was growing inside him like a disease? What if the Oracle could see it, and was trying to warn him before something terrible happened?

"I don't know," he finally said aloud, fighting to get the words out. Part of him wanted to tell Annabeth the truth, but talking about it wouldn't be easy. Plus, the last thing he wanted to do was worry her. Forcing a bit of humor into his voice, he added, "I'm more worried about the 'death through death' thing. Now I'm supposed to fail and die? So much for my 'happily ever after'."

"You're not going to die," Annabeth said firmly. She gripped his left hand in her right and used her other to turn his head toward her, looking him in the eyes. "And if you do, I'll march straight to the Underworld and drag you back myself. Hades can't have you. I'm not done with you yet."

Percy laughed, feeling a huge chunk of his apprehension dissipate and fade. "When you say it like that, I think I might prefer the mercy of the Lord of the Dead."

Her eyebrows shot up and she leaned back a few inches, letting go of his hand and folding her arms. "Oh, really?" she replied indignantly, though he could tell she wasn't serious. "Well, in that case, fine. I was going to kiss you, but if you'd rather wake up Hades and lock lips with him, then be my—"

As though attempting to prove her wrong, he slid a hand under her jaw and leaned forward, fighting a smile as he pressed his lips to hers. She responded at once, leaning into him and raising a hand to loosely touch the front of his shirt. He waited a while before pulling back, all worry and fear momentarily gone from his mind and replaced by a numbing sort of elation.

"You always know what to say to cheer me up," he told her with a light smirk, and even though his voice was wry he meant what he was saying.

Judging by Annabeth's smile, she knew that. "I can read your mind, remember?" she said, a tiny, mischievous glint in her eyes that she seemed to reserve only for him.

As her hands slid up his chest and around his neck, he swallowed hard and asked, "Yeah? What am I thinking now?"

"Same thing as me," she answered, before guiding his mouth back to hers. She pulled him closer to her and tilted herself back until she was lying on the grass with him leaning over her. One of his hands pushed the loose hair from her face while the other held him upright and both of hers tightened in the fabric of his shirt over his chest. Unfortunately, she unknowingly poked hard at the bruises formed by the chimera's hooves, and he broke the kiss to let out a sharp hiss of pain.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked, eyebrows knitting together as her eyes lowered to survey Percy's body for visible wounds.

"Nothing," he insisted, rubbing his chest with the hand that wasn't keeping him from falling on his girlfriend. "Got kicked by a chimera. Freakin' goat hooves hurt like heck."

"A chimera?" she repeated in surprise, pushing herself up on her elbows and forcing him to shift sideways next to her. "You fought a chimera? How?"

"Very carefully."

"And you killed it?" She raised her eyebrows and he nodded with a half-shrug. Then she shook her head, sighed, and said, "I have the world's most skilled idiot for a boyfriend."

"Hey," he said uncertainly, unsure whether or not to be offended.

She gave a light, exasperated sort of laugh at the look on his face and reached out to grip his collar. She pulled him toward her and the instant their lips touched a nearby voice called out, "Percy! Annabeth! You guys out… here…" The voice trailed off. Backing reluctantly away from Annabeth, Percy sighed shortly and looked up to see a blonde girl a year or two younger than him from the Aphrodite cabin—Lacy, he was pretty sure her name was—standing at the corner of the tent. She was watching them with her mouth slightly open and an apologetic look on her face.

"Oh, um," she said lamely, "sorry. I didn't mean to… interrupt. It's just… someone told Chiron about that thing with Rachel, and now he wants to see you. But, I mean, take your time. Really. It's nowhere near as important." She flashed them a bright smile and waved, then turned and hurried around the bend, leaving them alone.

"Great," Percy grumbled, sitting back. Just what he wanted, more talking about his promising future.

"Hey," Annabeth said gently, her fingers reaching out to brush his arm. "We're gonna figure this out, okay? Together, like we always do. We'll get through this."

He looked into her calm, gray eyes and a smile appeared unbidden on his face. "Yeah," he agreed, actually starting to believe it. "I know."

Yes, short and hardly worth the wait. Sorry about that. But hey, at least I'm past my mental wall and my typing fingers are on the move again. That's something to look forward to, I'd say.

How 'bout some reviews? Just want to yell at me? Express your unbridled joy that I'm back in action? Either way, bring it on! See you all again soon!

Later days!

-oMM