Percy was mortified. Annabeth was in captivity, Artemis was holding up some weird unsupportable mass that gave him the heebie-jeebies, there was a deep resounding voice on the mountain (which couldn't mean anything good), Luke was still a piece of shi—

Anyway.

That wasn't all, though.

The deep, resounding voice's chuckled echoed through mountain, shaking the ground beneath him and the scene muddled together like wisps of smoke, curling together and like that, the dream changed.

He was kneeling, and the first thing he tried to do was get up. Who deserved his respect this much, huh?

His couldn't move, though. It felt as if someone else were controlling his movements, like he was just a visitor in this body. The body he was in turned it's head up, looking at the figure in front of him.

It was a girl that looked achingly familiar, but Percy couldn't place a name to it. Locks of black hair were flowing around her face, her eyes closed and her mouth parted slightly. A tiny beauty mark rested on the edge of her jaw and her lips were chapped with the breaths she was taking. Her chest rose and fell steadily, telling Percy she was asleep.

She was surrounded by crows, each one's eyes as red as the blood running through his veins. They were flapping their wings and shrouding her visage discordantly but something felt off; it was almost like they were... frozen.

Suddenly, they started moving and pecking out parts of her body. She stayed asleep, completely unaware of anything that was going on to her physical body. The crows pecked and pecked but Percy's eyes caught on one specific crow, almost as if he knew that something was going to happen to it.

Light engulfed the bird from the inside out, the crow disappearing in the golden light with an indignant 'squawk!'

Each of the crows gradually met the same fate and as soon as the last one fizzled out, the girl's eyes shot open. Despite being so far away, Percy could see her eyes; they were a horrendous shade of brown, interwoven with minute specks if darker colours Percy couldn't identify and the grim aura they emitted couldn't go ignored.

For a moment, Percy remembered exactly who the girl was.

Waking up with a start, Percy could feel his body drenched in a cold sweat. His head was throbbing, like it could tell he'd seen much more than he should have. Recalling the events of his dream, he tried to remember who the girl was. Her face had turned blurry in his mind, like furiously changing features and shifting faces. Thinking about it gave the poor boy a headache.

He looked around his cabin, finding nothing out of the ordinary. It was still dark outside, no noise other than the occasional hoot of an owl and the gurgle of the salt water spring. Shining directly under the moonlight, Annabeth's Yankees baseball cap was illuminated, resting on his bedside counter. As he stared at it, he jolted slightly hearing a 'bang, bang!'

Gazing warily at his door, he pulled out Riptide before going to investigate the knock on the door.

"Hello?" he called. Thump, thump!

He uncapped the ballpoint pen, it growing into a magnificent Greek-style bronze sword, a golden glow bouncing off of it. Percy swung open the door, fully expecting a bloody murderer running rampant and someone at his door looking for salvation.

As it turns out, it was Blackjack.

After arguing with a pony with wings, because that definitely wouldn't have been an accurate test to measure his insanity, for a few minutes, Percy irritatedly stomped out of his cabin.

He noticed Kia, the daughter of Morpheus from earlier walking along some beaten up path. Percy hesitated in his steps, debating on whether to follow along before he saw a guy looking like he was reluctantly following along with her, glancing around as if making sure no one could see them.

The sudden urge to protect this girl came over Percy, and he had to dig his nails into his palms to stop himself from tackling both of them and asking if they were out of their goddamn minds. It also frustrated him to a great extent; he didn't even know this girl. He hadn't ever talked to her or at the very least even been within five feet of her when she wasn't unconscious or completely disoriented. Yet despite all this, Percy still felt so drawn to her. It was like she was a magnet and he was some lowly iron; not the greatest analogy but give him a break, would you? He's, like, fourteen and plus, most of his time is preoccupied by by fending off evil little gremlins or something.

Percy hated not knowing stuff and the fact that he couldn't understand something about himself, a body he'd been living in since he was born, made him just a tad chagrined. Okay, understatement. It made him want to pull out his eyeballs and mix up his brains some through the sockets to jog his memory.

Kia didn't seem to be the slightest bit bothered that they shouldn't be outside at this time and that the harpies could think this a great time for a feast of two fresh demigods. The tall figure caught Percy's gaze and his expression turned guarded, as if to say: You better not tell anyone.

Percy was still a little disinclined to let them both trudge off into the woods but he definitely wasn't a snitch, so he nodded back grudgingly. The dude turned back and followed after Kia.

For a second, he stood there, deciding on whether he should go after them, but looking at Blackjack, he decided Kia had enough protection—that dude didn't look like he was in it for shits and giggles; this undersea animal in trouble didn't have help. With that, he got onto Blackjack and they headed off.