Happy Monday, everybody! For now, anyway. Might not be so happy once you read this chapter. It's a bit on the dark side. Heh...

Thanks to all of you who reviewed over the weekend! Love you all! Here's a chapter to show my appreciation :D Enjoy!

XXXVIII
PERCY

If Percy had been hoping to sleep peacefully, he was out of luck—as usual.

Just like his dream a few nights ago, he found himself on the beach at Montauk, standing in the gray sand while black water lapped slowly and lazily at the shore. The sky above was dark and starless, and a dry, stale sort of breeze was blowing. Everything was quiet save for the low sound of the surf brushing against the sand; his own breathing seemed louder than a trumpet chorus.

Something felt wrong—even more so than last time. Nervous, Percy spun around, feeling as though someone or something was standing behind him, breathing down his neck. But all he saw was the great, dark shadow spread over everything in sight. Shivering despite the uncomfortable, dry wind, he turned around slowly to face the water, and his heart almost stopped when he saw a figure.

There was a person—slender and of average height—standing down by the water. He felt a swell of familiarity—he couldn't see who it was, but he knew them, without a doubt. Tentatively he started toward them, hating how loudly the rough sand slid under his feet. He'd made it halfway when the breeze gusted and swept the person's hair from their neck—long, blonde, curly. It was Annabeth.

"Annabeth!" Percy called, picking up speed and sprinting the rest of the way to the water. She was standing with her back to him, the tide washing up around her ankles, staring out to sea.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said quietly without turning around. Her voice sounded misty and distant, like it was part of the wind. "The darkness."

"What?" Percy said anxiously. She wasn't making sense. Besides, they didn't have time to stand around and marvel at nature. He had a horrible feeling that they shouldn't be there—that they needed to leave right away.

"It's okay," Annabeth said in that same dreamy voice, not taking her eyes from the black horizon.

"'Okay', what—? Annabeth, we should leave. Like, now. Something's coming and I don't—"

"Don't you see? The darkness is already here."

Finally, she turned slowly away from the water, twisting toward him. The first thing he saw was the gentle smile on her face, and the second was the bloody gash across her neck.

Percy's breath froze in his throat. A wrenching pain stabbed at his chest and spread through his muscles so he suddenly felt like his skin was on fire. Smile never fading, Annabeth collapsed in what felt like slow motion, and Percy barely had the willpower to force his legs forward those last few steps to catch her before she hit the ground. He sank to his knees in the sand, holding onto her as his eyes blurred with the horrible sight of scarlet staining her orange T-shirt.

"N-No," he stammered in shock. This wasn't real. This wasn't happening. "W-Wait… Annabeth—! What—How—?"

"The darkness, Percy," she whispered, her breath sounding short. She lifted a hand and pressed it weakly against his chest. "It's here."

Percy shook his head, feeling like he was being torn in two. "W-Why… This can't…" He squeezed Annabeth's shoulder unconsciously and swallowed an unpleasant jolt when her skin suddenly felt different—less substantial. Then right before his eyes, her body grew dark as though a light had been switched off, and she turned to dust in his arms.

"ANNABETH!" he screamed, hands shaking as he stared at the black ashes that had seconds ago been the dying form of the girl he loved. He staggered to his feet and stumbled backward, unable to breathe. The wind picked up and blew his hair across his eyes, tore at his clothes and hurled sand into the air all around him. He yelled in frustration and anguish, squeezing his eyes shut and clutching his head in his hands.

"You can try to hide in the light," an all-too-familiar, whispery voice echoed in his mind. "But every light casts a shadow."

"NO!" Percy shouted in defiance. He started to run, not knowing where to and only focused on getting away. He opened his eyes, but instantly a horrible image flashed before them—Jason Grace, on his knees and bleeding from a stab wound in his stomach. Percy yelled again and ducked his head low, shutting his eyes and trying to block out the visions. But they kept coming—Hazel screaming amid a blaze of fire, Frank with a rope around his neck, Nico pulling an arrow from his chest. He couldn't take it anymore. With a strangled scream he stumbled to a stop and collapsed onto the beach, curling his body in on itself and pressing his hands so hard against his pounding head that he could almost feel his skull cracking.

"Light has a way of strengthening darkness," Erebos's voice taunted him. "And the darkness will always find you."

"Stop…" Percy said weakly, his voice hoarse and his throat dry.

"Only you can stop it. While you run, your friends die. If you want it to end… you know what to do."

Another image flashed across his mind—of Erebos standing before his huge, black throne, spreading his arms wide in welcome. He smiled, and with a scream of pain Percy shoved the vision from his head and sat bolt upright in his bed at Camp Half-Blood.

It took him a minute to realize where he was. The cabin was dark, and flashes of blood and swirling shadows kept swimming across his eyes and blurring his vision. He barely heard as someone whispered his name behind him, and it took a loose tug on the back of his shirt to get him to turn around and see Annabeth leaning up on her elbows, watching him with worry in her storm-gray eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," he answered, realizing he was out of breath and his forehead was damp with sweat. His head was aching more insistently than ever. "Just… a nightmare." His gaze dropped to her neck and for a second he thought he saw red. He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head, clasping his hands in his lap in an effort to stop them from shaking. All of that wasn't real. It was just a dream.

He felt her hand rest firmly on his shoulder, a comforting gesture. She could tell how shaken he was—which wasn't surprising. She had her mother's wisdom, and knew him better than anyone else. Swallowing the lump in his throat and trying to forget what he'd seen, Percy turned and wrapped his arms around Annabeth's shoulders, pulling her into a tight embrace and burying his face in her hair. Her arms slid around his back and she breathed out slowly and steadily, almost reassuringly.

Feeling the tension in his body start to fade, he asked carefully, "This is real… right?"

The question sounded stupid and immediately Percy wished he hadn't said it. But Annabeth didn't laugh or scoff. She just tightened her hold on him and whispered, "Yes, it's real. I'm right here. I'll always be right here. With you."

It was like she knew what he'd seen in his dream, knew exactly what it was he wanted to hear. The trouble was that it didn't reassure him as much as either of them could hope. The dream had been exactly that—a dream. But more than that, it had been a message. Erebos was getting impatient. Clearly he'd assumed Percy would turn himself over after watching Drew die. And in truth, he'd wanted to do just that. But he'd delayed at the request of his friends, and Erebos wasn't happy. If the King of Darkness didn't get what he wanted, then those visions in Percy's dream—the horrible images of his friends dying painful deaths—they wouldn't stay visions for long. Erebos would make sure they came true.

And after losing one of his friends—his family—already, Percy was determined not to let it happen again.

Slowly he pulled away from Annabeth, giving her a weak smile. "Thanks," he said a bit sheepishly. "I'm sorry for waking you. It was stupid, the dream. We should… probably get back to sleep."

She smiled back, warmly and reassuringly. "Yeah. If Erebos is coming tonight, we'll need rest to defend ourselves." She squeezed his shoulder and shifted on the bed, straightening the blanket beneath her and preparing to lie back down for hopefully a few more hours of sleep.

"Annabeth," Percy said suddenly, fighting a painful tightening sensation in his chest. She sat straight and looked around at him, raising her eyebrows questioningly, and without hesitation he leaned forward and kissed her. Not a light, brief goodnight kiss, but a real kiss—deep and lingering, so full of emotion that when he slowly pulled back and she opened her eyes they were vaguely dazed and unfocused.

"What was that for?" she asked with a tiny smile, her voice quiet and breathy.

He shook his head. "Nothing, just… You know I love you, right?"

Her eyebrows drew together momentarily at the serious tone in his voice, her smile faltering. "Of course," she answered. "I love you, too."

He smiled, prompting her to relax a bit and smile back. Then he jerked his head toward the pillows and she turned around, lying down on her side and shifting until she was comfortable. He dropped down behind her and slung an arm over her stomach, smile fading as his eyes traced the curls in her hair. Between memories of the dream and the adrenaline now flooding his veins, he was no longer tired in the slightest and knew he wouldn't be falling asleep anytime soon. But for now, that didn't matter. He was content to just lie there with Annabeth, listening to her breathe and taking in the warmth in her body for even just a little while longer.

-ψ-ψ-ψ-

It took barely half an hour for Annabeth to fall asleep and silence to fall in Cabin Three. Tentatively, Percy poked his girlfriend in the back to make sure she was really out. When she didn't react, he gave a short sigh of conviction and sat up slowly, climbing off the bed as carefully as he could. He grabbed Riptide off his bedside table and slid the pen in his pocket. Then he glanced around the cabin and saw no movement, concluding that he was the only one awake, and shot one long, final look at Annabeth before quietly exiting the cabin and snapping the door shut behind him.

His mind was made up. The dream-message from Erebos had reinforced what he already knew—that his friends were in danger and he would do anything to protect them. Defending the camp was all well and good, but as Reyna had said, this was war. And people would die. The only way to stop that was to give Erebos exactly what he wanted and hope he kept his end of the bargain.

One reassuring fact was that technically speaking, Leo, Nico, and Reyna's quest had been a success. Hypnos was freed and at some point soon the rest of the gods would be, too. The problem was that they had no idea when that would happen, and frankly Percy didn't want to take any chances. He had to hope that he would at least be able to keep Erebos busy for long enough until his father and the other gods could take him down. Maybe no one else had to die at all. At the very least, it was worth a try.

Aiming to avoid any awkward questions, Percy crept around behind Cabins One and Two and made his way through the shadows across the camp. The Roman guards around the camp's borders stood a good twenty yards apart, leaving plenty of room to sneak by them. Making sure to keep out of range of the stadium lights set around various points of the camp, he snuck toward the border as quickly and quietly as he could.

He was almost there when, naturally, a voice called out, "Hey! What are you doing?"

Percy flinched and ground to a halt, recognizing the voice. He spun slowly to see a Roman guard dressed in battle armor and holding a strung bow jogging toward him.

"Percy?" Frank said in bewilderment. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, hey, how's it going?" Percy replied with a forced grin.

Frank slowed to a stop beside him. "What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, you know. Just making sure border patrol is tight enough. If Erebos attacks we're gonna need to know straight away."

"Oh," Frank said with a frown. "Right, well… Don't worry, we've got it covered."

Percy's mind was racing. He needed a way to get by Frank, and quickly before anybody else realized where he was. "Good," he replied lamely. "That's good. So, I'm just gonna go make sure the road is clear, and—"

"But nobody's supposed to leave camp alone," Frank interrupted, darting forward as Percy started to edge toward the border. "Is it important? Should I come with you?"

Percy bit his tongue to hide his irritation. "No, you shouldn't leave your post. I'll be fine by myself."

He started to walk away again but this time Frank reached out and grabbed his arm. With a slightly worried and skeptical expression, he asked, "This isn't about Erebos's threat, is it?"

Percy grimaced. Sometimes he hated how perceptive his friends were.

When he didn't answer, Frank's eyes widened. "It is, isn't it? You can't do what he says, Percy, remember we agreed—"

"Hey, what's that?" Percy said suddenly, doing his best to look alarmed as he pointed at something over Frank's shoulder. He must have succeeded in catching the son of Mars off guard because he let go of Percy's arm and turned around. With a mental message of Sorry, Frank, Percy quickly pulled his sword from his pocket, uncapped it, and jammed the hilt against the back of his friend's head. Frank crumpled to the ground, knocked out cold.

Percy cringed in sympathy and looked around to make sure no one else was headed his way. When the coast looked clear, he shot Frank one more apologetic look and turned away, running through the magical border and leaving Camp Half-Blood behind.

Wuh-oh. This can't be good. Not that anyone didn't see it coming, haha.

We finally get some answers next chapter. More reviews = faster updates! Later days, guys!

-oMM