The Change

Chapter Three

Chiron, Annabeth, Grover, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Piper, and Nico walked into the arena expecting to find Perseus waiting on them or at least practicing. Instead, all they saw was an empty arena. No dummies, swords, or other people coming to watch the spectacle. As a group they stood in the center they looked around. The arena seemed strangely clean without the clutter and people scattered throughout.

"Do any of you know where Percy is?" Everyone turned to Frank.
"He goes by Perseus now," said Annabeth somberly as Hazel gave her a strange look.
"I wish the old... Perseus was with us," Hazel looked at the ground.
"Well, now you get new Perseus!"

As everyone turned to look at the speaker, Jason swore he was going to have a heart attack with Perseus continuously scaring them like this.

"Is this test going to be a written thing or do I get multiple choice?" Chiron didn't even want to know how Perseus got his information. "We want you to demonstrate your new powers. What are they?" said Nico, who appeared undeterred by Perseus.

"I don't know," Perseus laughed.

"What do you mean you don't know? You should know your own powers!"

"I don't know. I just think 'Hmmm.'" He brushed an imaginary beard in thought. "'I wonder if I can kill Nico di Angelo with a snap of my fingers. Then I test it out and I have a new power."

Hazel and Annabeth had to pull Nico back from attacking him.

"You son of a bitch," Nico shadow traveled out of the girl's arms right in front of Perseus and threw his arm in a punch.

His arm froze centimeters from Perseus's nose.  "Hmmm. I wonder if I can kill Nico di Angelo with a snap of my fingers." The others tried to rush forward expecting him to attack Nico but instead all they could do is stand there frozen as a snap rung out.

Nico was flung toward the wall as if pulled by an imaginary rope around his waste and stuck. He started quivering against the wall as shouts rang out, echoing across the arena. Red blood began to pour out of his mouth and his eyes rolled up into his head.

The shouting grew louder and Hazel began to sob. Perseus turned back to the others. His eyes were glowing strangely from using his powers. Nico slumped to the floor, groaning as Frank carried him to the infirmary with Hazel following close behind.

"Was that a good enough demonstration? Because I was unsure if I should do more. No? Okay," Perseus's eyes went back to their dark red and the campers, Grover and Chiron stared at Perseus with wide, scared eyes.

"I-I..." Chiron stopped to gather his words. "I believe that was sufficient. Would you please come with me to the big house?" Chiron forced a smile not wanted to anger the demigod that he now knew held much power. When Perseus followed him to the big house Chiron made sure to keep a reasonable distance between them.

The others made their way to the infirmary to talk to Nico and make sure he was okay. When they got there the first thing they saw was Nico passed out with a pool of red surrounding his upper body and Will hovering over him.

"What happened?" Jason nearly whispered, switching his gaze over to Hazel and Frank by the window.
"Will says that whatever Perseus did caused punctures in Nico's lungs and something called a mini stroke."

"My grandma had one of those. She kept on saying she was Florida and that her keys were still in the Great Lakes. It was quite funny until doctors told us what happened. How did Perseus cause one of those and what was Nico even saying?" Jason mused aloud.

"Nico was saying for you to shut up!" Nico sat up in bed squinting and groaning, obviously irked at their loud conversation. Will ran over to him and kneeled by his bedside. When Will started checking Nico's eyes for dilation, he about slapped the son of Apollo.

"I feel like I've been run over by Blackjack on a donut high," Nico squeezed his eyes tight before opening them again several times trying to get used to the bright infirmary. Jason would have chuckled at how Nico was acting if the situation weren't so severe.

Willed looked at Nico worriedly, "I need you to tell me exactly where you felt pain when Perseus did his voodoo magic. I may have missed something. Can you do that!?" Will grasped Nico's shoulders and looked like he was a split second away from shaking the life out of him.

"It felt strange. Like every molecule in my body was forcing itself to spin around like the teacup ride at Disneyworld." He paused as if struggling to concentrate. "There was also this weird thing. My body felt strangely hot, like my body was boiling from the inside out."

Will looked alarmed and looked down mumbling things that would only make sense to a doctor.

"Come on. Let's go see if Chiron is done with the mental evaluation," Jason walked out of the infirmary with the others following scared at what they might find.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

When the party reached the big house they saw a laughing Perseus, an uneasy, shifting Chiron, and the old, hippie, rotting, Oracle of Delphi slumped in a pile at their feet surround by small splinters of wood.

"What happened?" Grover asked Chiron, slightly alarmed at the sight. Before Chiron could answer Perseus cut them off.
"I am going to go to my cabin. I really do hope no one moved my stuff."

While he walked to the Poseidon cabin laughing at a joke no one else heard, the others crowded around the ping pong table with eyebrows knit and Jason's foot tapping under the table to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

When Chiron clopped into the room all eyes turned to him.

"So what happened?" Frank voiced the other's thoughts. "Why was the old mummy lady outside, because, judging from your worried looks, that doesn't happen often."

"We finished the mental test when...

Perseus looked at Chiron with a face of curiosity, "Do you still have the old, oracle mummy in the attic? I want to pay some respects."

Chiron was confused but didn't say anything, but instead slowly nodded unsure what to expect. Perseus only looked towards the stairs to the attic and snapped his fingers. There was a sound of wood splintering and a thud outside of the big house.

When they ran out Chiron saw a hole in the side of the big house around where the oracle was placed in the attic and the old oracle lying in a heap on the floor. After a few moments it appeared she began to tremble.

Perseus snapped his fingers a few more times impatiently. Chiron looked around to see what would happen due to these new snaps. When he looked back towards Perseus, the oracle was standing in front of him. His eyes widened in surprise, especially when she began to move.

Perseus began to laugh at Chiron, as if he were a joke.

"What time did she die? Around the hippie age? I figured. She dresses as much." The oracle then began to fly up and slam into the ground multiple times with each snap of Perseus's finger before the ones from the infirmary walked up.

"...And here we are. That is all that happened."

"So how did his mental test go? If he is acting like this, I can't imagine it was very good," Grover shifted more in his seat and bleated a few times.

"Well, according to the test, which, might I add, is the nationally accepted one," Chiron took a deep breathe and slightly shook his head. "Perseus Jackson is the most sane person you will ever meet."

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