Chapter 8

Here is another chapter

Clarisse's POV

2 months later

We were all sitting in the meeting room to discuss one thing: Prissy Jackson. After the quest to save him, he had chosen to stay at camp year round and train, which, Personally, I thought he should have been doing sooner. Every year, he did the same thing. At the start of the summer, he went on some world-saving quest and came back and slacked off. Now, ifIwere the hero of some prophecy, I would be training a bit more.

The problem though wasn't him staying to train it was how he was acting. He didn't act like he used to when I tried to bully him like I do. It ended with him pressing a sword to my neck, not like the old Prissy at all. At camp, he only talked to one person and that was Nico, he also spent a lot of time training Nico. None of us really knew why that was but that's what he did. Most days he would spend almost the whole day training and when he showed up to dinner he just sat there too low on energy to even eat so one day Malcolm the new Athena head counselor went over propped him up and spoon-fed him like a child, and Malcolm might be the only reason he is alive at this point.

So, all of us counselors' current priorities was to find out what happened to him on that quest and help him out of whatever slump he was in. I didn't really care. I stayed away from him and bullied the other campers like I normally would, except for him and Nico. But the others insisted that he needed help, so here we are.

"Yall called this meeting, what are you planning to do to help him?" I questioned

"Just talk to him, Chiron asked us to give him space for a bit after the quest brought him back, but after two months he still seems like a shell of who he was. His joking personality, kindness, helpfulness, I feel like it's all been replaced by determination to train which I'm not saying is bad but I think he might need some help" Malcolm said

"And you are gonna talk to him," I asked

"I thought it would be best for Silena to talk to him," he said glancing at Silena "If that's good with you" The daughter of Aphrodite nodded saying "Yeah that works. Probably have a better chance if getting close to him than War girl over there" looking in my direction. The daughter of Aphrodite had changed a lot since the questers came back she seemed calmer almost free of some burden none of us knew she carried.

"Hey, go for it. Personally, I think this change in ole Prissy might be a good one. We are at war, we need a warrior and I hate to admit it but he is a better one than me and right now we need him as a warrior more than we need him as a jokey prankster." I said, returning her look.

"You say we need him as a warrior but after he trains he can hardly sit up. We need to help him find a median between Fun Percy and Warrior Percy" Katie said speaking up for the first time

"Fine, go talk to him Silena we'll all wait outside the arena," I said

We all stood and made our way outside the walk to the arena was a quiet one. Lee Fletcher tried to fill the silence with some whistling but stopped after receiving glares from most of the others in the group.

Once we arrived at the arena we all stepped away from the entrance so we couldn't be seen from the inside.

Silena turned and started to walk into the arena and five steps in she stopped and turned white and hurried back to the group saying "Nope too many scars. You got it war girl"

I sighed before making my way in "can't be that many scars I mused to myself" I stepped into the arena and saw Percy facing a dummy. He was shirtless and his whole back from his shoulders to the top of his pants was covered in scars with a distinctive set of claw marks having the deepest cut on his body.

I made myself known by saying "Care for a spar" When he noticed that someone else was here he moved for his shirt "I've already seen the scars if it makes you feel better to cover them by all means do so but they don't bother me" I said

"Ok," he said while moving away from his shirt. His voice sounded hoarse and dry like he hadn't used it in a while. He uncapped his sword and I took Maimer off my back.

We circled each other for a few seconds before I jumped forward jabbing for his stomach he batted my spear away and darted forward trying to get under my guard i jumped back and we resumed circling each other. This time he moved forward first baiting a jab from my spear which I fell for, he hit my spear up so it wasn't in his way as he got closer I kicked his legs making him lose balance and giving me a moment to create some space. As we circled each other we looked for holes in each other's defense when none were found I took action planting the butt of my spear on the ground and springing into the air like a pole vaulter Percy ducked and slid while kicking my spear off balance making me fall he got up moving quickly and put the tip of his sword to my neck.

"Yield" he questioned "Fine I yield," I said he reached out to help me up. He was already covered in sweat since he had been here for hours. His hair was matted down to his forehead he walked over to one of the benches and opened one of the enchanted coolers and took out a bottle of water, he drank about half of it before dumping the rest on his head. He reached in and handed me one before sitting down.

I spent a second drinking the water and then not one to beat around the bush asked "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean" he questioned

"Don't play dumb with me Jackson I can see all the scars so what happened?" I asked angrily

"It's none of your business" he replied

"It is now because the other counselors sent me to talk to you about how you've been acting and they are worried" I defended

"What are they worried about" he asked

"Hmm I don't know, maybe it's because you haven't talked to anyone but Nico since you woke up from that quest, or maybe it's because Malcolm has to spoon-feed you like a child while propping you up every dinner because you train too hard every day. Those could be just a few of the reasons but really who knows" I answered sarcastically

He sighed "I'll work on it, tell them not to worry," he said before he got up and walked out of the arena.

Over the next month, Percy kept true to his word he became more social joked more he was like his old self in some ways. But he also kept up training.

We spared every day, sometimes switching weapons he helped me use a sword and I helped him use a spear and we both became proficient in the other weapon type.

He also became really close with Malcolm whom he practiced tactics with for capture the flag. Speaking of capturing the flag ever since the Ares, Athena, and Poseidon cabin made a truce we were undefeated. Me, Percy, and Malcolm were found together most of the time either training, doing tactical work around the camp, or just hanging out.

Four months later

Before the quest to rescue Percy happened I had been exploring the labyrinth, a place I swore never to enter ever again. And yet somehow here I was again in this hellish place once again. Percy and Malcolm had pleaded with me that we needed to go back in and do some more recon.

This was my fifth time in the labyrinth, Me, Malcolm and Percy had been in here together three times trying to find a pattern for getting around the labyrinth so far we were not having any luck. This time it was just me and Percy because Malcolm wanted to do some research, so it was just me and Percy in here,

The last time we were in here we found Chris Rodriguez he was a part of the Titan army and similar to us was doing recon of the labyrinth so he wasn't killed like most of the army.

As me and Percy were sitting near our makeshift camp I asked "Are you going to tell me what happened to you now? You already told Malcolm" I said

He sighed and leaned back with his eyes closed before answering "You really wanna know?"

"Yes" I answered

"Fine" He leaned forward before continuing "While I was under the sky they tortured me, which you could already tell from all the scars, every time they would finish water would be dumped on me to heal me but also to keep me alive under the sky because a mortal can't hold it for long their body will fatigue but the water prolonged me. But they tortured me in a lot of different ways and the main was whipping me towards the end. They would dip the end of the whip in lava so it would burn and rip the skin off very painfully. The worst thing they did though was… they gave me this potion, it was one of Aphrodite's love potions and they brought up an empousa and they let her have her fun" he sneered

"Since I was trapped under the sky I couldn't move and even if I was able to, the potion more or less prohibited it. That empousa is where all the claw marks are from" he said, his eyes full of anger.

"At least we know you won't leave us for the Titans," I said

"It was never even a thought, if I joined the Titans who would I embarrass in sparring" he joked with a smile on his face that quickly disappeared as he got punched in the arm.

"I will take the first watch, we'll switch in three hours," I said

"Works for me" he answered, as he went to lay down to rest that's when we heard it… talking and the sound of feet. Percy's head snapped up looking in the direction of the noise. He slowly drew his sword while I drew mine since it was too tight of a space for my spear.

We crouched and slowly walked towards the corner of the room we were in and towards the exit ready for anything. As we got closer it became clear the voices were not human.

Percy looked back towards me and mouthed "Ready" When I nodded in confirmation he slunk through the shadows and when we reached the corridor I looked around there were only about forty monsters, most likely a scouting party. While I was looking around Percy had stopped. I gave him a confused look but he was too focused on one of the monsters. I followed what he was looking at and saw a weird donkey vampire lady. "What had Chiron called those things… oh yeah and empousa" I mused "Oh crap, this is gonna go badly," I thought

As they got closer Percy slashed through the closest monster, while the other monsters were distracted we tried to take advantage and get rid of them as quickly as we could, by the time they figured out what was happening ten of them were gone, and the empousa lunged at Percy only to have a sword impaled in her gut. He removed his sword from her and then chopped her head.

We pressed forward through the horde of monsters until a few archers protected by the larger monsters started to shoot all the arrows missed except for the one that hit Percy right in his leg. Adrenaline overpowered the pain it seemed as it made his way towards them. he was blocked by a cyclops as he was fighting them I made my way to help when a cyclops who had snuck around me brought a club down on my leg, it buckled I turned just in time to block an overhead strike before driving my sword into his heart, causing him to explode into dust.

I looked over at Percy and saw all the monsters were dead, and he looked exhausted which was understandable but when he saw me on the ground he ran over to me and checked my leg before getting some ambrosia out of his pack and handing it to me. I ate it and felt a warm feeling flow through my body.

After my moment of peace, I noticed that yellow puss was oozing from Percy's leg, I grabbed the bag to check our supplies, and guess what… we were out.

The adrenaline was great for Pearcy but when it ran out I could tell his body seemed to sag and his skin was looking really pale in the dark cavern.

"We have to get back to camp, we're out of supplies," I said he nodded before looking around the room in search of the mark of Daedalus. After a minute he let out a sigh of relief as he walked back over to me.

"Does the little baby need help getting up and walking?" Percy jokingly mocked. "Just help me up you idiot" I answered he stuck his hand out and once I grabbed it he lifted me up and leaned me on his shoulder.

The moving arrangement was slow going; it took us an eternity to reach the mark and there was no telling where it would spit us out at. "Ready" he asked. I nodded in confirmation. He pressed the mark and for a moment the whole world spun before it became still again.

We looked around for a minute before Percy smiled and said "This isn't so bad we are only a few miles from camp" "In case you didn't realize it took us ten minutes to go a couple of yards a few miles is going to take a while" I responded. "Then let's get going, and sorry," he said before picking me up and putting me over his shoulder.

"Put me down now," I said "No can do, as you said it will take forever to get back this is quicker," he said

He started walking. It was slow but not nearly as slow as it had been and of course, our bad luck went worse right behind us sniffing the air for their next meal, two cyclops. He was small, probably a young one but still enough to hurt us as injured as we were.

It was only a matter of time before he saw us so Percy ran which was honestly surprising for the state he was in plus he was carrying me.

I looked behind us and saw the Cyclops had seen us and was chasing us and somehow we were faster than the Cyclops

Time skip

Percy's POV

I was huffing and puffing. I only had a few steps left until I reached the barrier and everything was burning. My spine was squished from holding Clarisse on my back for so long and my leg was burning a mixture of blood and the strange yellow stuff was pouring from it in gallons and I was starting to see spots and my vision was tinted with black.

As soon as I stepped across I fell like a sack of potatoes with Clarisse falling on top of me. As I hit the ground everything went fully black.

Here is the new chapter I hope you enjoyed. Also Happy New Year I hope it is going well for you. My school is back in full swing but I will still try to update as much as I can. Thanks for reading

–Toxin1316