ACTUALLY IMPORTANT A/N: Before we get going here, there is an important announcement. This is only about PJO. This fic will be until he beats Kronos. If it does well there may be a sequel, but this particular fic will only be PJO. That's why magic is totally overhauled and I didn't remember if there were any Hecate kids or anything, so... I just made it all up. You see, Percy really needs to be able to... ~no spoilers~

Disclaimer: Do not own PJO. See previous disclaimers.

There she was.

A girl, alabaster skin, white as porcelain, mostly straight black hair falling to her waist, and striking purple eyes, that looked as if they were on fire. She looked to be Percy's physical age, which is to say, an old 12, maybe young 13. She walked up to Percy, but she tilted her head downwards, causing her nigh-imperceptibly wavy hair to cover her face, and put her hands her hands behind her back.

ADORABLE! SHE'S ADORABLE! SO SHY! I WANT TO PROTECT HER! I WANT MY LITTLE SISTER TO BE LIKE THIS! SO CUUUUTE! MY MANLY INSTINCTS ARE CALLING OUT TO ME TO KEEP HER SAFE! COULD THIS BE WHAT THEY CALL BROTHERLY LOVE!? I THOUGHT THAT WAS JUST A LINE CHICKS USED TO PRETEND THEY WEREN'T CHEATING! (A/N: if yo girl tell you 'he's like a brother to me' you better watch yo ass.)

"Ahem," Percy said, his mind clearly at odds with his words. "What's your name?"

The girl twisted on her feet, the very image of shyness.

Her voice was just as adorable, and to top it off, she spoke like a little kid, too.

"Name... Liliana." She pointed at Percy, then back at herself, and said, "Lily."

Actually... no, she didn't talk like a little kid at all. Even a five year old would have been able to say 'You can call me Lily.' What was going on?

"Your name is Liliana, but you want me to call you Lily instead, is that right?"

Percy couldn't see her face through her hair, but judging by the shudder than rippled through her body, she seemed to be quite surprised. She slowly nodded, like she couldn't believe it.

It wasn't that hard to figure out. What else could she have possibly meant? Well, I guess I'll figure it out if I keep talking to her.

"Okay, Lily. Do you think you can tell me what it is that you really like?"

"...Magic... ...Harry Potter..." Her voice was tiny. If his insane training hadn't sharpened all of his senses, there's no way he would have heard her.

At this time, whenever Percy trained, he didn't stop, even when he felt like his arms were going to come off. He understood that if he pushed himself too far his muscles would be permanently damaged. At least, that's what he had assumed. It should have been true for a human, but demigod physiology was obviously different. Even when he shredded his muscles on a daily basis, he could find no evidence he hurt them. Though, he had been using water to heal his muscles so he could continue his wild pace. It seemed that if he didn't let muscles regrow on their own, they wouldn't get stronger. Of course, Percy was fairly confident his current body couldn't get much more muscular. Even if he was boosted by being a demigod, he was still twelve. All he could do was concentrate on technique. That's what would matter more in the end. Once he had reached the limits of swordsmanship, and made all his other preparations, then when he reset he would focus on training his muscles. At this point, they just weren't important.

"So, you like books about magic, right?"

Percy couldn't believe his luck. Or maybe, misfortune. How would she be able to teach him about magic if she could barely speak?

Lily nodded slowly. What was so amazing?

"Have you... ever used magic before?"

Percy asked quietly. His tone made Lily move closer to him and whisper as well.

She made the hand motion for 'shaky' by rotating her open palm back and forth quickly, in the same way someone might use to accompany 'sorta?' and in a tiny voice, as if she wasn't really sure, said, "Small small..."

She looked up at Percy with a good deal of worry in her eyes. Well, it was the strangest thing she'd said so far. Maybe she was worried he wouldn't understand her? It was pretty obvious to Percy that what she meant was 'Only a tiny bit, I think. I'm not quite sure.'

"So, you're not a hundred percent certain, but you think you can do a little bit. That right?"

Lily closed the little distance between them and hugged Percy with all her might, which seemed to be somewhere between none and almost none.

"Know! Know! All! Good! Love!" (You can understand me, you can really understand me! You understood what I meant to say perfectly! This is amazing! It's the best feeling! Yay! Thank you so much!)

"Yes, yes, Lily. I get it, you're very happy. But if you keep hugging me, people will..."

Huh, I guess no one would call me a cradle robber if I'm the same age as her. It was a joke anyways, though it still feels wrong to be hugging her. But isn't she a bit too excited? I mean, there are charades more complicated than this. Why wouldn't anyone else... Wait, where in Hades is everybody? They were all here a second ago. Were they only staying for the person in front of her? Chiron left in the middle, since it was clear no one was going to get claimed or anything. But, it couldn't be that... am I the only...

"Lily, why are you so excited? Surely there are others who can..."

Lily let go and backed up with a sad, but resigned look on her face. She covered her ears with her hands and said, "No..."

"Lily, do you mean to tell me that other people can't hear you at all?"

Lily nodded sadly.

So that was why they left without her. That would explain why she was at the end of the line, too. No one could hear a word she said, so they didn't bother trying to make friends with her. Maybe there was some reason writing, or charades, or sign language wouldn't work. This girl has been alone her whole life, if her father couldn't understand her...

"Lily... how long have you been here?"

Lily made an 'mmm' noise, then shook her head quickly, like she didn't want to shake it at all. He could tell this was different from the answer 'no.' It was just 'I'm not telling you that.'

Hmmmm. The girl wasn't dumb or anything, but she wasn't old or experienced enough to understand that her refusal to answer made the real one obvious.

"Oh, Lily. I guess you're not used to conversations. That would make sense if you lived your whole life in this camp, being unable to talk to anyone."

Gods, I can't even imagine it. Living alone, surrounded by people for so long... I guess that's why I never noticed her before. She must have left between my first and second summers, before I really knew everybody. I guess someone who can't speak to anyone wouldn't even try to. Hmm, I guess that's why she was so shy when I first asked her name, and why she looked so surprised when I told her I'd understood.

Lily's ears turned red and she bent her head down so her hair would cover her face.

Percy couldn't help himself, and reached out to fix her hair.

"Lily, turn around. I'll be your official translator from now on, but you're never gonna make friends if no one can see your face, got it?"

Lily turned around.

Percy braided her black hair like he'd been doing it for years. He'd only figured out how after seeing a girl do it once a week and a half earlier. He'd found that with stuff like this, just random things, he was starting to be able to just figure it out. Maybe this was why old people were thought of as wise.

Percy finished the braid in a matter of seconds, ignoring Lily's occasional "Owie! No!" It sounded like she meant stop, but he knew instinctively she just meant it hurt. 'No' in this particular case meant 'bad,' or, to be more specific, 'that hurt.'

When she turned around, she smiled and nonchalantly said, "Love."

Percy felt the color drain from his face.

"No, Lily, don't say that! I know you just meant 'thank you very much' but that word has too many meanings, and that's not normally one of them! Just say 'Thanks!'"

Lily tilted her head sideways. "Th... tha... thang... thank... thanks?"

"Yes, yes, that's it! That's what you should say when someone does something nice for you and you're grateful!"

Lily smiled and shouted, "Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!" to no one in particular.

"Oh, good gods."

She looked at Percy and said, "Good! Thanks! Percy!" (I'm happy I learned a new word! Thank you very much, Percy!)

"P, Percy!? When did you learn how to say my name!? It took you a while to sound out thanks, so how come 'Percy' was no problemo!?"

Liliana, with her pale skin, blushed deeply, and hung her head, before she remembered that wouldn't hide her face. She covered it with her hands instead and said, "No! No!" defensively.

"What do you mean, 'That's not true, I don't know what you're talking about!'?"

"N...no!" she shouted, and looked about ready to cry.

Percy gave her a quick hug, and said, "Don't worry about it so much, Lily. I was just teasing you. I guess you might not be familiar with the ins and outs of conversations, though it seems you can understand English perfectly well. Anyway, I was just playing with you, having fun, you know. I'm sorry for not explaining first."

Lily's face looked like it was on fire. "Th...thanks!"

Hmm, she doesn't know any words for forgiveness. That's a bit frightening.

"'Don't sweat it,' right? I guess if I'm the only one who can hear you, then it doesn't matter so much, but so you know, 'thanks' doesn't mean anything like that, normally."

"Thanks!"

"So, Lily... What is the magic can you do?"

That was when Lily said something he didn't understand.

She held out her palm, said some word he'd never heard, not Latin or Greek or English, and a little static shock arced from her thumb to her index finger.

She looked over at Percy, who was staring at her hand.

"G...good?"

"Y-yes, Lily. Very well done. Amazing. That was magic. That was lightning magic, I guess. Something like that. It definitely wasn't an ordinary demigod control ability. There's a whole new world to discover, Lily. You're amazing."

"g...g..good... good... good.."

"Ah, Lily, what you mean is 'Happy.' Happy means when you feel like life is worth living. Do you feel that way? I'm almost certain your mother is Hecate, the goddess of magic. Your speech problem probably has something to do with your magic. Which means, we might be able to fix it. Are you happy?"

Lily was clearly crying because she was happy she finally knew what was wrong with her, sort of. She nodded over and over.

"Here, we say, 'Yes.' That means the same thing as nodding."

"H...ha..happ...happy. Lily... happy... Percy... happy?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Yes, I'm very, very happy. Especially because you are so happy."

"Lily Percy happy!"

"Y...yes! That's right, we're both happy, we're friends now, so it only makes sense we'd be happy when the other person is happy."

Ah, she's just so cute that when she gets all excited and shit, I feel like my kid sister is happy. I can't say no to that, it's impossible.

"Thanks!"

"Hey, Lily... when you cast that spell... what was it? What did that word mean?"

Lily put her hands on her chest, then spread her arms out wide. Then she thought for a bit before saying, "Go!"

"Oh, so it means something like 'Release,' right?"

She nodded, before saying, "Percy know all!"

That sounded much more grandiose than it really was. All she meant was 'You understood perfectly/completely!' However, it sounded like she was saying Percy was omniscient, and Percy blushed in embarrassment before he could stop himself.

"Well, Lily, do you think you could try to explain how you do it?"

"...Percy?" she inquired. (You want to try using magic?)

"Well, I mean, what's the point in not giving it a shot? I doubt I'll actually be able to do it, but why not at least try? Also, explaining things sometimes helps you understand them better yourself."

Lily thought about this for a long time. She held up a finger, indicating she was going to start explaining.

She closed her eyes, and pointed at her temple, then opened her eyes and looked at her palm. She tapped it a few times, then said, "Go!"

"Hmm... Well, I'll see if I can do it. Can you slowly say 'release' in... whatever language it's in?"

"...magic...Harry Potter..."

Lily looked very worried he'd have no idea what she meant, but he understood.

"Ah, it's just the magic language. You just meant language when you said Harry Potter, since it's the only book you can say the name of. Don't worry, I can tell what you're trying to say. Really, I don't know why no one else can hear you."

"Y...Ye...Yes. Yes! All!"

"Don't sweat it, Lily. Just say 'release.'"

Lily slowly said it, and Percy repeated it.

He understood basically what her pantomiming meant. He had to hold the word in his head, then try to visualize it going from his head to his hand.

'Release...' 'Release...'

He opened his eyes, and stared at his hand, trying to visualize power flowing from his head to his hands, and said 'Release!'"

Suddenly, Percy dropped to the ground, and began to pant.

"That was... wow... I feel like I ran a mile all at once... Man, nothing happened except, well, if it was a video game, I feel like I just wasted all my mana doing nothing... All that happened was my hands got sweaty..."

But Lily saw it differently. Percy didn't know this, because she couldn't explain it, and hadn't tried to tell him in the first place, but she could visually see mana, which was an ethereal substance within the body and mind, used to power magic. She could see the mana flowing through everyone's bodies. She'd never been able to ask anyone if this was normal, so she wasn't sure if it was proof of her heritage. Percy had... not very much mana. Way less than normal people. He had about as much as a normal mortal. And when he cast the spell, it took all of his mana, and further required his life-force to cast. That was why he was so tired. She could not explain how she knew, even if she could communicate normally, but she understood that the spell 'release' would expel a set amount of power, using however much energy was necessary. Normally mana was sufficient, because it released next to no power, but in the case it wasn't enough, life-force would be used. The power expelled from the body took on the form the user was most comfortable with. For herself, it was electricity, for no real reason. But for Percy, it was water. He thought his hands got sweaty, but actually, only his right hand got wet. It was because his mana was converted into water, but it had so little power it didn't even come off his hand. Lily couldn't really damage anyone with her magic, but she could still shock them a little. But Percy's magic was very limited.

Lily felt two emotions. The first was shock. She couldn't believe he'd really done it. It wasn't as if Lily hadn't been able to do it the first time she tried, but she was under the impression that males couldn't manipulate their mana. Regardless of how much mana someone had, if they couldn't manipulate it, they would never be able to cast any spell, and their mana would lie dormant. Even among demigod women, it was only about a 1-in-500 chance to be able to manipulate mana. No one at camp had the ability. Or so she thought. She could tell if someone could manipulate their mana, but only if she looked carefully. She'd been here her entire life, and when she was five years old she discovered how to see mana. She checked every girl, and every new girl, but none could do it.

But she didn't bother checking the boys. She knew they wouldn't be able to. It was very much an instinctual thing, but she thought that perhaps a few ultra-powerful spells might be able to cause someone to gain the ability, but it should have killed him. Ultra-powerful spells were all deadly. This was what she felt subconsciously.

But she thought about it more, and realized how it could have been done. It may have been the fact he had next to no mana that gave him the ability. If he was blasted with ridiculous amounts of magic power, it should have stimulated some of the mana in him. That would have been normal. But to manipulate mana, all of it has to be stimulated at some point. People born with the ability just figure out how when they're still a baby, testing everything its body can do. They naturally stimulate it with their own power, a little at a time. This is why it was very common for people with a great deal of natural mana supplies to not learn to manipulate it till they were much older than babies. It had taken Lily until she was five. She had an unbelievable amount of mana, presumably thanks to her mom, she now knew.

So, normally, for boys, who always lack the natural ability to stimulate mana, it was impossible to manipulate it. Even if someone was hit with a super high power spell, it would never stimulate all of their mana at once, and usually kill them. But Percy had such little mana... if he was hit with a supreme amount of magic energy, and managed to survive, it's possible that... no, it's certain that all of it was stimulated at the same time. Could this have something to do with why she felt like he was way older than her?

But the second emotion was fear. Percy had almost no mana, and though it was technically possible to increase one's mana through meditation, Percy had not done so. He used up all his mana and it was necessary to use his life energy to power the spell instead. But that could have killed him! He hadn't passed out, so maybe it was okay, but it could have been very dangerous...

"Hey, Lily, mind if I lie down here for a minute?" Percy said, before immediately collapsing.

"Aaaah! Percy! No! No! No good! No good! Aaaah!"

He did pass out! This was bad! Just what kind of monstrous willpower did he have that let him stay conscious with such little life energy left!? She looked closer and saw that he was practically on death's doorstep. No, it was worse than that! He had more than even a foot in the door, more like he only had one foot out! How in the name of Hecate was he able to cling to consciousness!? He should at least be coughing up copious amounts of blood! Just what kind of monster was this guy!?

But seriously... so little mana... Lily instinctively knew that 'Release' was the weakest spell there was. And it had brought him to the brink of death... Life energy was magnitudes stronger than mana energy, and he possessed a lot of it. Just how bad was his conversion rate from energy to power? If it took so much energy to produce so little power, and he had so little mana... he had to be the absolute worst mage the world had ever known.

"Aah, Percy, no good."

Lily needed to get him to the infirmary. She didn't have any healing spells, or any spells, really, but maybe the Apollo campers could help. Their healing wasn't really... magic. Maybe it could be called divine magic, but not really. It was fundamentally different, in that it manipulated power directly, rather than manipulating energy and converting it into power. They used their divine power directly to heal. It wasn't necessarily stronger than magic, and indeed, certain mages would be far more powerful, but an average mage couldn't compare to a child of the god of healing when it came down to it.

Damn him wearing armor all the time! He was so heavy!

Because a lot of people were doing activities, no one saw her and helped her, but she eventually managed to drag him to the infirmary. He'd started bleeding from his mouth like she had expected him to. He wasn't in mortal danger, but it would take him a long time to recover on his own.

When the Apollo campers saw him, they started laughing.

"Hahaha! He worked himself until he passed out again! That makes every day so far this week, right? What a guy. Hey, Liliana, why'd you bring him here? Oh, I guess you can't answer. Sorry, that was probably rude."

No, it's not rude to talk to someone! But that's not the issue here! How can you be so calm about this!?

"Listen, I assume you can hear me, right?"

Obviously, I'm not deaf, just mute.

"This guy is in here all the time, even though he knows he doesn't need it. Just chuck him in the ocean."

What!? Throw him in the ocean!?

Lily looked horrified.

"He's a son of Poseidon, remember? Salt water heals him faster than we ever could, he doesn't get wet unless he wants to, and he can breathe underwater. I promise you, the best thing for him is to throw him in the ocean. If you're worried, I'll carry him myself, alright?"

Lily looked very skeptical, but nodded.

The camper hurled Percy into the ocean like he was a sack of potatoes.

"Alright, Liliana, talk to... see you later! I guess the commander can understand you, since he can read minds, but don't hog him all to yourself, okay?"

Read minds!? Lily had never heard anything like that about Percy. No one told her anything, except for Nancy, but only because Nancy told everyone in the Hermes cabin how amazing he was. But she'd never mentioned that he was telepathic! Lily felt a bit guilty for just being around Percy while Nancy wasn't here.

Nancy was not with Percy today during the Hermes free slot, and she hadn't been all week. That was because she was... stupid. So she wouldn't flunk out of school next year, Chiron made her go to the Big House during her free period and have Argus teach her, with the rest of the delinquents. Lily wasn't sure how Argus could teach, since he had no mouth, but she respected him a lot for it. Argus couldn't talk, but people still talked to him. Why didn't they do the same with her? It wasn't fair.

If Percy hadn't made that speech about not relying on your parents, she probably would have defected by now. She'd been getting more and more and more lonely. She thought she'd be used to it, but she wasn't. Even after the speech, she'd still been thinking about it. But when Nancy started telling everyone about how amazing Percy Jackson was, and about how he accepted her even though she'd been mean to him, and how he was the most amazing guy on the planet, she felt like she couldn't leave. Not before finding out if it was true. Would Percy accept her?

Not only had he immediately accepted her, he'd understood her! He said he actually heard her talking... but somehow he always knew exactly what she was trying to say, even if she knew her incredibly limited vocabulary wasn't nearly enough to do the job. Was he really reading her mind? Should she ask?

As she was thinking about this, Percy stood up and walked onto the beach, totally dry.

"Woo, that was great. Oh, Lily, did you bring me here? Thanks a million."

She had to ask him.

"P-Percy! Percy know all Lily!?" (Percy! Can you read my mind!?)

"What!? Of course not! Who told you that!?"

Lily pointed at the sun and then back at camp.

"Oh, an Apollo camper? Did you take me to the infirmary, first? Still, why in Hades did they think I could read minds? Maybe it was a joke?"

Lily shook her head and said, "No. No other know, other know Percy yes know Lily. All Percy yes know all Lily." (No, it wasn't a joke. Everyone knows no one can understand me, but they knew you could for sure. They were certain you could understand me by reading my mind.)

"No way, they really thought that without hesitating? So they really truly believe I can read minds... Why isn't that one of the seven mysteries? Oh, maybe it's one of the ones no one tells me about. Yeah, I'd be scared to find out if someone could read my mind, too. I doubt I'd want them to tell me it was true."

"Percy good?"

"Oh, yes, thank you. Much better. Ready for round two!"

"No! No! Percy die!"

"Wait, seriously? That almost killed me? Why is that?"

"Percy small small small magic. Percy bad bad bad magic. Percy magic die no magic." (You have next to no mana, and you're terrible at converting it into power. When you cast a spell it uses your life force if you don't have enough mana.)

"Seriously? That sucks. I must be the worst mage of all time, huh?"

"Yes yes."

"Hey, don't say 'definitely' so seriously! I was joking! If even I can use it, a lot of people probably can, right? And if lots of people can do it, surely there must be at least one person who's worse at it than me, right?"

Lily shook her head. "No Lily, no *points at camp* magic." (Excluding me, no one in camp is a mage.)

"Seriously!? You're the only person at camp who can use magic!? Why am I so special!?"

Percy was thinking to himself that it wouldn't even make him proud of himself at this point. Wasn't it definitely cheating to be so lucky!?

"Percy no other. Percy magic bad bad bad, no magic other." (There's just no one like you. Your magic skill is gods awful, but no one else can use it at all.)

"You keep saying I'm awful at magic. Surely there's more to it than just learning spells, right? Can I increase my mana?"

Lily said, "Magic," then pointed at her head. "Percy no all know, Percy small good magic." (Magic is all about your mind. If you meditate and clear your mind, you'll slowly be able to increase your mana stores.)

"So I just have to meditate, huh?" Percy said while scratching his chin.

Lily squinted at him, and stretched her arms way out, then pointed at herself, and said, "Small."

"Huh? It'll take years for me to even come close to you? Well that makes sense. You're the daughter of the goddess of magic."

Lily smiled, grabbed Percy's hand, and pointed at camp.

"Fine, I'll introduce you to my friends, but you can't hold my hand. People will think we're an item."

Lily stuck out her tongue, as if to say 'yuck,' then said, "Percy good brother."

"What? I'm like your older brother? But we're the same age!"

Lily smiled slyly and said "No."

Percy put his finger to his lips and said 'shhh!' He hoped it seemed like he was joking. If not, well, it's not like she was able to spill the beans.

After Percy went around explaining he could hear Lily, and he'd be translating for her when he could, which everyone received well, saying things like,'she's so adorable I always wanted to be her friend, but I was afraid she wouldn't like me if I kept misunderstanding her,' he decided he was going to try to meditate. It really felt like it was cheating to be able to do so much, but if it would help him beat Kronos, he would take any power he could.

Percy kept trying to meditate, but as soon as he stopped thinking, something else would distract him. This marked the first of many days that Percy failed to meditate.

Every day, Percy would train his sword skills, deal with spies, walk around with Lily, translating for her, and Nancy would follow him around and talk to the new companion of Percy, though for some reason she couldn't bring herself to see the adorable girl who was the same age as Percy and her as a threat.

Percy eventually found out that the reason Lily lived here her whole life was her father had died in an accident during the few days of Hecate's pregnancy. (Goddesses are only pregnant with demigods for about a week.) She'd never been outside camp, so he did his best to explain things like fast food, cell phones, television, video games, school, banks, and all manner of things. She learned quickly, but she expressed no real desire to leave her home. She said that now that people talked to her, she never wanted to leave.

Summer was more than half over when Percy finally managed to meditate successfully. He had often started truly meditating, only to be so excited that he started thinking again. But this night was special. It was as if meditation suddenly clicked. Unfortunately, it made him very sleepy, so he wasn't really sure how long he'd done it for. At least half an hour, he thought. When he woke up, he had a splitting headache.

When Lily saw him she didn't have a reaction, but when he asked her to look closely at his mana, she did see it had grown slightly. Hmm, to rank his mana...

Well, in RPG terms, Lily was like a level 10 mage, where Circe was a level 100 mage. Percy was still a level 0 mage. If Lily had 100 mana, then Circe had 100,000 mana. An ordinary demigod has roughly 1 mana. Percy had started with about 0.1 mana. With the progress he made that night, his mana had risen to approximately...

0.11 mana.

Lily had somehow explained that the headache was kind of like when after you exercise, the next day when your muscles were really sore. If you exercised when your muscles were still aching, you'd destroy the gains of the previous day, so Lily warned him not to meditate while his head hurt at all.

When he went to bed that night, it no longer hurt nearly as bad, but it still hurt, so he went to bed without meditating. The next day however, he meditated until he passed out, and woke up with a headache of similar strength.

Lily evaluated it. About 0.12 mana.

So, if it took him two days to increase his mana by .01, then if he meditated as much as possible, how long would it take for him to reach the mana level he should have been born with? About six months. So then, how long would it take for him to reach Lily's mana level?

Almost fifty years.

Still, he didn't need to be at Lily's level for him to have a slight edge in a fight with Kronos. Maybe he could learn enchantments, or like buffs and stuff? He didn't have to use attack magic.

But then Lily explained something else to him.

His energy to power conversion was abysmal. Ludicrously bad, even. Compared to his conversion rate, his mana deficiency seemed laughably normal. If it stayed at the level it was at, it would take Percy at least 100 mana to cast 'Release,' which was the weakest spell anyone could think of, with no combat potential whatsoever. Its original use was just figuring out which type of power a mage's body was most comfortable with, by making it release a minuscule amount of power. That 'minuscule amount' had very nearly killed Percy.

Percy thought he'd start crying then and there, but apparently there was a way to raise that, as well.

Percy excitedly asked Lily to explain it to him. She indicated it would be very very dangerous for Percy.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't care about stuff like that. What is it?"

"Percy go magic."

"Huh? Just use 'Release?' How will that help?"

Lily explained that it was basically practice makes perfect. Normally, to train your body to convert energy to power more efficiently, you'd cast the most powerful spell you know. The more powerful the spell, the better the practice. No one would even think to consider using a spell like 'Release' to train their efficiency.

Lily said it would take years for him to bring his up to average using 'Release.'

But she also told him that his meditation would have more of an effect once he increased his conversion rate. Percy got excited.

As soon as he had free time, he went to the ocean and dove in. His plan was perfect.

He'd cast 'Release' while underwater, and then the water would heal him and bring his mana back up. As soon as he wasn't tired anymore, he'd cast it again. Though it took him about ten minutes every time, in just two hours he accomplished what would have taken two weeks if he wasn't a son of Poseidon. This was because if he couldn't heal himself immediately, it would probably take him all day to recover. He couldn't think of any other camper with self regeneration powers. Now he really felt like he was cheating. He felt bad. Really bad. But he would do anything to beat Kronos. He would suffer endless pain to save his friends from that monster. Embarrassment over his luck was almost literally nothing compared to what he was willing to do.

But he wasn't really sure if it was working. He still passed out every time he cast the spell, so he couldn't judge how well he was doing, or if he was improving at all.

The spies were very confused when Percy didn't let them in that night. Luckily, Percy had given them instructions on what to do if he didn't open the door for them. It wouldn't affect his counter-espionage program in any way.

Percy didn't open the door because he was still in the ocean. He spent all day and all night trying to improve himself. After 14 hours, the equivalent of three months if he wasn't a son of Poseidon, he finally, finally didn't pass out. He was still tired as all hell, and could barely move until the water healed him, but he was still conscious, without trying to hold on to it.

Soon, people were getting a bit restless because their commander was never around, except during breakfast, dinner, and occasionally going around with Nancy and Lily.

The two girls were starting to get angry at him. They complained that he never spent time with them, but he countered with 'What kind of a commander would I be if I didn't train as hard as I can every day? When you want to hang out with me but I'm not there, train instead. Lily, you can practice magic, and Nancy, you practice archery. Nance, when you get good enough that you can hit the bullseye 10/10 times from 50 yards away(A/N that's like fucking impossible, that's why he said it), you can train with knives. Lily, you're the one teaching me about training for magic, so you know what you can do.' They didn't have the heart to complain too much. He was pushing himself to the absolute limit every day, so they couldn't really complain all that much. Every day, he trained by himself with the sword, by himself with magic, dealt with spies, and helped other people with their training. He looked like a zombie every day at breakfast, and even worse at dinner. But he showed no signs of stopping. His body almost couldn't handle it.

After Percy had trained his conversion rate for about 100 hours, which was the equivalent of nearly two years if he took an entire day to cast it once, he finally decided to try meditating again. Of course, now he could cast it as quickly as every two minutes underwater, but he would have the same growth if he wasn't a son of Poseidon, so the hour to week conversion was still fairly accurate.

When Lily evaluated him, his mana had gone from 0.12 to 0.14.

Percy had started calling Lily 'Sis,' and she called him 'Bro.' He had told her he was indeed older than his body suggested, but never elaborated any further than that.

"Not that much older, mind you," he said.

Lily could tell he wasn't old enough to be her father, but he was more an a couple years older than her. And she also knew that he seemed even older than he really was, even in his head. He must have seen a lot of horrible things.

It was not only Percy who was improving in magic. Lily had started meditating as well. The same way Percy was with knowing things about water intuitively, Lily knew things about magic for no good reason. She found that as she meditated, she was able to find out about different spells. Percy had seen her shoot lightning out of her hands, strong enough to light the straw dummy on fire after blowing a hole through it. She said she'd also figured out how to increase her physical strength, though she didn't have much aptitude for that kind of magic, and other things. Since Percy would probably die if he tried to use any spell other than 'Release,' he figured he didn't need to try to memorize everything she'd learned.

By the end of summer, Percy's mana had increased to 0.30.

The bead for the year was an eye. It represented the new pride the campers had in the intelligence situation. The speech Percy gave during that one fateful lunch had affected everything about camp. How could he have known a certain fishy god had surreptitiously temporarily imbued him with powerful magics that made people more likely to open their hearts to him? Though, immediately after that speech, the magic had worn off.

Percy had originally wanted to stay year round to train. He tried to convince himself Tyson would forgive him for abandoning him, since he would definitely save him in the end, but he just couldn't do it.

When he went back to school, Percy trained. All the time. Not just after school, either. In school, he improved his lie detection skills, and his skill in using stealth, but the training he usually did was something he called 'water detection.' As a son of the ocean, Percy felt a connection to all water. If it wasn't seawater, it was very hard to detect, but not even approaching impossible. First, Percy spent every second in class honing this skill. If he concentrated, he'd be able to find any water, even freshwater. Originally, he had only wanted to do this as a means to procure weapons more easily, no matter the battlefield. However, once he had trained this skill, he realized there were tiny water signatures all over. He originally thought it was moisture in the air, but one day, when everyone else had left class but him, he found out. The tiny water signatrues were gone. It was people. He could sense people. Even though the body is somewhere around 70% water, it was almost always mixed with something else. For the same reason something like grape juice was very hard to detect, people were even harder to detect. Even after spending every day in school honing it, he could still only detect where someone was roughly, within ten feet or so. He must improve.

Every other day, Percy meditated until he passed out, barely even noticing the brutal migraines that someone else might not have had to stay home from school because of. It was his immense willpower that allowed him to do it. Anything that could help him destroy Kronos once and for all, he pursued relentlessly. Every time he wanted to give up, he saw that scene in the throne room, where Kronos had toyed with him. He hadn't stood a chance.

He also cast 'release' but without a source of seawater, that training was limited.

Every single day after school, without fail, he practiced using Anaklusmos and Body Odor at the same time. While was still more skilled with just one of them, he was at a moderate level of skill with two. Of course, moderate for him was along the lines of legendary for an ordinary swordsman. But Percy had seen Kronos's strength. His scale was quite skewed. Luckily, swordsmanship came much more easily to him than magic. He also practiced specific techniques with one and both swords. The one he was most proud of was his instant-draw technique for Body Odor. In order to maximize the effectiveness of surprise attacks, he had practiced drawing Body Odor from its sheath and then immediately either stabbing or slashing. He could do it with either hand. Putting both hands together, he estimated he practiced the technique roughly 500,000 times. This may seem like an exaggeration, but for three months straight, every single day, for 8 hours, he fired the technique off once every five seconds. The math worked out.

The Dodgeball Match of Death with Babycakes and co. was still a tough fight, since Percy decided not to use his swords, but he managed to keep the damage to his body at a tolerable level. When he returned to camp, Tantalus was not there. Looks like the Titans hadn't been informed of the cameras after all. It was clearly shown that Luke was the one who poisoned the camp. As such, there were no chariot races, and morale was kept up. Far fewer demigods had defected this time, that was good. Percy made a mental note of who had not returned this year, so he could keep a closer eye on them next lifetime.

Tyson's reception was... not great. It was better than originally, since Percy vouched for him, as well as reminding everyone of the underwater cyclopes forges. Without Tantalus's egging on, the campers were more afraid than hateful.

Grover had gotten trapped, in the exact same way. Doofus, Percy thought.

His mana level had grown tremendously.

When he left camp it was 0.30, but when he got back, Lily excitedly told him it had risen to 3.50. She remarked it was incredible he had the willpower to have a splitting headache every other day without fail. Normally one would not meditate until they passed out. Percy was crazy. If he'd been a normal mage, he'd have grown an incredible amount. But he was not a normal mage.

Neither was she. Her mana had doubled, and she knew way more spells. Hecate had even claimed her while Percy was away. She was probably around level 15, if one were still using RPG terms. Once Percy learned a spell that could do something, he might be level 1. Maybe. With his gods awful conversion rate, he wasn't able to do much, even with more mana.

The quest went much the same way, with Nancy instead of Annabeth. Everything Annabeth could do with her cap, Nancy could do with her stealth. And anything Annabeth knew, Percy remembered. With Ares influencing Clarisse to regain his honor, though she didn't know that, she made the same mistakes as before. In almost every situation on the quest, Percy's hands were tied somehow. Although, since no one died, it didn't matter all that much. All's well that ends well.

He didn't use magic during the quest. No one at camp knew about it, either. They sort of just assumed he could turn invisible, and when no one can find him(because he's in the ocean practicing magic), it's because he's standing right behind you. He's a demigod among demigods at camp.

Then, Thalia came back to life, and stuff. And he keeps practicing. She doesn't get on his nerves at all. Not much happens that summer, other than everyone getting stronger.

With no reason to go to school, i.e. Tyson, who left for the forges after giving Percy the watch shield, Percy decides to stay year round, at least until he knows that the Di Angelos were found.

Haha, so, sorry it kind of fell apart at the end, there. Seriously, whenever I think of SoM I just lose all enthusiasm. I like reading the book, obviously, it's great, but there's just nothing new in it other than Tyson. I'd just be rehashing the same shit. Percy is great at swords, Percy is smart, Percy knows just what to 'd take me months to write it, and it would be bad. If you were looking forward to that quest, I humbly apologize, but I assure you that if I wrote it, it would have been a travesty. I really want to make this chapter 8000 words, so I'll just keep repeating the same nonsense as right now. Seriously I just want it to be 8000 words, because it's chapter 8. Chapter 7 was 7000 words, so... Did it.

Just... forget about SoM.

Please tell me what you thought of the chapter! Next time it's Titan's Curse!