Yay, we made it to 900! Okay, guys, you have three days-including today-to try and get to 1000 for a double update on May 3. CAN YOU DO IT?

drinkingthestarswithbob: Yeah, it was a dream. Sorry if that wasn't completely clear.

Guest (guest): No promises. Sorry, but I can't tell anyone whether someone will die in the end...that's a major spoiler, right there.

Carrot Seven: Yes, very good that you didn't get sick. I'm glad you got an account!

Blackberry Explosion: Yes, he very much does. And Frank's chapter is next, I promise.

Naomi MK Jackson: Well, here's a Percy chapter, although I'm not sure it's very good...

Hope Garrit (guest): Aww, thanks. Apples are definitely very yummy. And so are cookies and waffles...especially blue ones. :)

Random Person (guest): I'm actually not entirely sure what the date is, although it is sometime in maybe the third week of July. But I don't know the exact day or anything.

Hello (guest): Yes, and Frank is next.

Divergent-R-Us (guest): I, too, have avoided scorpions. Although I haven't really had to try very hard...you don't find too many of them in Indiana.

RMS Titanic (guest): Yes, you are going to find out. But like you guessed, you will definitely have to wait. *malicious grin*

Rajell Cellar (guest): Fluff is supremely epically awesome. And Piper has proved that there is nothing wrong with being a daughter of Aphrodite...although I myself am not one.

Cherries (guest): Yeah, it does, and thanks! It means a lot.

daughterofzeus911: I can't swear, sorry about that, but I love Percy too...so I'll just let you think about that. And Sea of Monsters is a good movie...however, in comparison to the books, the inaccuracies are astounding and I just sit, seething in anger, every time I watch it. And yet I watch it all the time.

YOLO (guest): Possibly, daily, I just went off the first chapter and developed it from there, and PERCABETH ALL THE WAY!

Me (guest): Definitely not impossible. I am astoundingly weird, and I get weirder every single day.

HoOisawesome (guest): I said he might die. That there is a very likely chance he will die. But you all should've already known how likely it is that Percy won't make it to seventeen, so...yeah.

Chapter LXV

Percy

Percy really, really hates owls. He swears they have to be demons from the Underworld, because no other creature has so much bad luck associated with it.

First, Annabeth has to follow the Mark of Athena-which just so happens to be an owl-on an epic solo death quest that ends with them both falling into Tartarus. Then, he and Jason get attacked by giant mutant screech owls, which, by the way, are supposedly an omen of death.

"Hey, birdbrain! Over here!" He shouts at an owl currently trying its best to decapitate Jason with its razor sharp talons. It turns to face him with an angry screech, and as soon as it does, Jason thrusts upward with his sword, causing it to explode into a cloud of dust and feathers.

Owls? Really not all that smart. At least not these ones. Which makes it kind of ironic that they're Athena's sacred animal.

"Nice one!" Percy calls to Jason.

"Thanks!" Jason calls back. "Now duck!"

Percy does as he says without question, and he feels a breeze against his neck as an owl's talons miss him by inches. He dives to his left and comes up standing, his sword already flicking up to decapitate the owl in question.

"I really hate owls." He grumbles. Jason glances at him.

"Don't let Annabeth hear you say that." He says.

"Actually, she'd probably agree with me, after Rome." Percy replies, his eyes scanning the skies for the last owl, who seems to have decided that stealth is a much better option than announcing its attack. Either that, or it flew away. Personally, Percy hopes it's the latter-he really doesn't like fighting mutant owls-but he knows that it's more likely the first.

"Speaking of Rome." Jason starts, his tone cautious and light. "Are you two ever going to tell us what happened?"

Percy's halfway tempted to ask 'What happened where?' but he knows there's only one place Jason could mean. Tartarus. Cold slithers down his spine, and his thoughts darken.

"Eventually. But not today." He says.

Jason nods, and Percy can tell he understands that the conversation's closed. Percy likes that quality about him-he knows when not to pry. Unlike some people he's had experience with, who don't ever know when to shut up.

"You know, this isn't really what I had in mind for my summer." Percy mutters.

"I don't think it's what anyone had in mind." Jason replies without looking at him.

"Oh, no, I'm sure everyone else was just dying to board a warship with six other mentally unstable demigods on an epic death quest to Europe." Percy says sarcastically.

Jason grins. "You never know. But mentally unstable? Really?"

Percy shrugs. "You know it's the truth, man."

Jason nods reluctantly. "As much as I hate to admit it."

"Why would you hate to admit it?" Percy asks incredulously. "Being mentally unstable is fun!"

Jason grins again. "Only sometimes. Fighting mutant owls, for example? Not fun."

"No. Not fun." Percy agrees. "Although sometimes you can make it fun."

Jason glances at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Annabeth and I turned it into a game once. You got a certain amount of points for beheading a monster, stabbing a monster, or using various other ways to send it back to Tartarus. And we gave extra points for using more creative ways to kill them." Percy explains.

Jason smiles a little. "Who won?"

"We decided it was a tie." Percy answers evasively.

"Which means...?" Jason prompts.

"That Annabeth argued with me until I gave up and told her she won, of course." Percy replies.

"Of course." Jason says. "Sounds like something that Piper and I would do...except that she would charmspeak me into losing."

"Always possible. She'd probably distract you and keep you from winning in the first place." Percy replies.

Suddenly, the last owl swoops down at them from above, screeching so loudly Percy feels like it just stuck its talons in his ears. He ducks down, swearing, feeling Jason do the same next to him.

"Looks like Ugly #10 decided to have another go at it." He mutters.

"When is it going to realize that we're really not that easy to kill?" Jason wonders.

"Probably about the same time that it explodes into a pile of dust and feathers." Percy answers, standing up and slashing at the owl as it makes another pass. It veers right, evading his sword, and banks around to come back.

Jason thrusts up at it this time, and it tries to use the same trick and banks left-right into Percy's sword.

"That was exciting." Percy comments, stepping back and shaking the monster dust off his sneakers.

"Very." Jason agrees sarcastically. "What d'you think will happen next?"

"Knowing us? We'll probably get attacked by carnivorous squirrels, or mad rabbits." Percy answers, squinting into the woods.

Jason sighs dramatically. "Well, there goes my dream of getting a pet bunny."

"You could get a hamster." Percy suggests.

"Or a guinea pig." Jason adds.

Percy feels his cheeks redden slightly with embarassment, remembering Circe's island. "You so do not want a guinea pig. Just saying. You're much better off with a hamster."

Jason narrows his eyes suspiciously, apparently sensing there's something more behind Percy's dislike of guinea pigs, but before he can say anything, a gryphon flies drunkenly out of the trees, screeching in pain, before careening into the ground right in front of them and exploding into dust.

Percy coughs, waving his hand in front of his face to try and clear the air. "What was that?"

"I have no idea." Jason answers. "But I have the feeling there's something in those woods a lot more powerful than mutant screech owls and gryphons."

Percy sighs. "Great. And with our luck, it's on our way to eat us."

"I don't get it. How can we taste so good that every monster in the world wants nothing better than to eat us?" Jason asks.

"No idea. I honestly wonder more about how it's so easy for them to smell us." Percy says.

"Seriously, though. Do we really smell that bad?" Jason wonders.

"Not bad, I think. Just strong. A friend once told me that I smell like buttery bread." Percy cracks a smile, but it's tinged with sadness, remembering Bob.

Jason glances at him curiously. "What friend?"

"No one." Percy answers quickly. "Not important."

Just then, a roar shatters the silence, causing a cloud of birds to fly out of the woods from every direction. A burst of flames rises into the air above the trees.

"Do I want to know what that is?" Jason asks warily once the sound of the roar had faded.

"No." Percy has a sneaking suspicion about what it could be, and he's not going to like it if he's right. "Let's hope Frank's back by the time it gets here."

"You know what it is, don't you?" Jason says.

"I really, really hope I'm wrong." Percy replies. "On the bright side, if it is what I think it is, it'll definitely give us some good practice on fighting the giants, particularly Enceladus-at least from what I've heard of him."

"Wonderful." Jason says unenthusiastically.

"In the meantime, let's try to relax." Percy tells him, walking back over to the building Frank had disappeared into and sitting down with his back against it, just to the right of the doorway.

"What about other monsters?" Jason asks, scanning the trees. "We can't exactly relax when they could attack at any second."

Percy looks up at him and grins. "Don't worry; all the other monsters are going far, far away. They don't want to be anywhere near that thing." He gestures vaguely to where they saw the blast of fire appear.

"Which is just another reason not to relax." Jason points out.

Percy cocks his head to the side. "Depends on how you look at it. On one hand, we could stay on our feet without relaxing, tense but alert, thus ensuring that we're ready when the monster gets here. On the other hand, we could sit and relax and gather our strength until the monster actually gets here, which won't be for some time. Plus the fact that we'll know when the monster gets within a mile of us; it's not exactly very stealthy." He looks back up at Jason. "I think I'd rather relax, wouldn't you?"

"If you put it that way, I guess." Jason answers. But he doesn't sit down, still peering warily around them.

"Come on, Superman, sit down. We'll see anything coming from where we are anyway." Percy tells him brightly.

Jason listens to him, albeit reluctantly, and settles down on the opposite side of the doorway from Percy. But his knuckles are still white on the grip of his sword, and his posture is rigid, tense.

Percy throws a pebble at him and hits him in the shoulder. "Come on, man, lighten up. It's all good."

Jason smiles apologetically and makes a more obvious attempt to relax. "I don't know how you do it." He admits after sitting in silence for some time.

"Do what?" Percy asks curiously.

"How you can stay so relaxed. I'm always stressing about something, especially being on this quest. I don't feel like I have time to relax-and when I do, I feel guilty, like I should be doing something else, something productive. But you're always joking, always keeping things light. You're always so relaxed, and I don't understand how you do it." Jason explains, visibly frustrated.

Percy's thoughts darken. If he only knew the half of it. He thinks. But out loud, he keeps his tone light, trying to reassure Jason. "Stressing doesn't accomplish anything. It just builds fear and panic, and gives you a lot of sleepless nights. Besides, I figure that if the world is going to end in less than a month, I'd better make the most of the time I have left, right?"

Jason stares out at the trees. "It makes sense, when you put it that way. But you're so relaxed, so completely carefree, and yet you still manage to do so much for everyone." He looks over at Percy. "You've killed two Primordials and a sea monster already since you got back from Tartarus. And I can't even imagine what you had to do while you were down there. You saved Piper, and Leo-and Annabeth, too. And all I've managed to do is continuously get knocked unconscious."

He rakes his fingers through his hair, and Percy can see how frustrated he is-mostly with himself. He's feeling useless. He realizes. And it's mostly because of the fact that he's felt the same way more times than he can count that he knows exactly what to say.

"You kept things together pretty well while Annabeth and I were gone." Percy tells him. "You got everyone to Epirus, even when you lost Leo for a bit along the way. It was because of you that Hazel and Leo were able to press the button for us, and get us out of Tartarus. That was you."

Jason looks at his hands. "It sounds like a lot more when you say it like that. But I really didn't do that much. I just did what needed to be done."

"I've been trying to tell people that for a long time." Percy replies. "But it is a lot. You really did all that. You kept everyone together-and alive, even when so much happened along the way to Epirus. I can't thank you enough for that."

Jason doesn't respond, so Percy continues. "Hera told me I was supposed to be glue. Her exact words were 'You will be the glue that holds the Seven together.' At first, I wasn't really all that enthusiastic about being called glue. But keeping people together is a good thing to do-and a hard thing. It's difficult to have seven people, some of which are strangers to each other, all together without having some tension between people. But you managed it on your own. You stepped up, and trust me, you are a really good leader."

"I'm really not so sure about that." Jason mutters under his breath.

Percy throws another rock at him. "Just take the compliment, man."

Jason smiles. "Thanks."

"No problem." Percy grins back, and they settle back against the tomb of Frank's long-dead ancestor in companionable silence.

This chapter was one of my worse Percy chapters. Really. I think my sense of POV might have slipped several times as well. But that is mostly because I spent most of my energy on the next chapter, which is Frank. So be excited!

I love you, stay away from cheerleaders named Kelli, love the colors green and blue, and, above all, STAY EPICALLY AWESOME!