Apollo's Hunt

1: A Drastic Change

"What's up—" he started, only to be interrupted.

"Percy, you do not want to go down to the beach right now," Travis said, grabbing his arm.

Conner grabbed his other arm and began pulling along with Travis. "Yeah," he said. He seemed at loss for words, despite his fury.

"Why?" Percy asked, the confusion not leaving his face.

"Believe me, you don't want to know," Travis assured him.

"You guys are funny," Percy said, shaking them off easily. "I'm going, see ya!"

"Percy wait!" Conner shouted, finally shaking himself out of whatever stupor that he was in.

But it was too late, Percy had already started on a fast walk to the beach, excited to meet with his girlfriend. Along the way, he noticed many give him confused looks, but only a few filled with compassion. Even those he had passed earlier that had compassion in their eyes now looked clueless, like they didn't know him. Some just plain ignored him when he said hi. What had happened in the short amount of time to turn everyone against him?

This soon flew out of his mind when he reached the beach. It always had a calming effect on him and he was about to see his best friend, or so he thought.

Making his way to his and Annabeth's spot, he smiled at all the campers, despite the dirty looks they were giving him. He was in too good a mood to let their attitude affect him. He was almost there when he got a dreadful feeling in his stomach. Like there was going to be incredible danger in the near future. Shaking it off, Percy continued his peppy walk to their spot.

Reaching it, he froze. He wasn't aware that anybody knew about it, or if they did, he didn't see why they would want to go there. It was an out of the way place and was a little difficult to get to if you didn't know the way. He learned that the hard way.

Then he realized who was there. Two people; Annabeth and a boy that Percy did not know. It probably wouldn't have bothered him if it weren't for the fact that they were kissing. This is what they were trying to warn me about. He thought bitterly.

There, sitting on a blanket on the sand, leaning on each other and holding hands, staring out into the sea. He was about to make his presence known when the boy sighed.

"Annabeth, when are you going to tell him?" He asked, kissing the top of her head.

"Probably today when we go on our date, I just don't know how to break it to him gently," she answered, "He'll be heartbroken."

Percy decided to speak before they could say any more. "You're late," he said, in a deceptively calm tone.

Annabeth and the boy turned sharply. "Percy!" Annabeth shouted in surprise.

Percy walked up to the boy, holding out his hand for a hand shake. His face expressionless. "I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon by the way, her ex-boyfriend."

The boy's eyes had a small flash of a triumphant look, so fast that Percy shook it off as his imagination. "Leif Hamilton, son of Demeter," he shook Percy's hand warily.

Percy nodded, still not showing any emotion. Annabeth just stood there, mouth agape, probably not knowing what to say. "Treat her right," he handed Leif the ring he had in his pocket, "You should probably have this." That was all Percy said before walking away. A few steps away, he looked behind him and when he didn't see any one, he started walking again, this time filled with anger.

She didn't even come after me. Something inside him had still held out hope that she would. He had to leave, before the flood gates opened.

Back at the cabin area, he ran into Travis and Conner again. They must have known not to mess with him, because of his brooding and dark look because they backed off, looking at him with the same sympathetic looks he'd seen on other campers. Only now he knew what it was for.

- — - —

Later that day, after Percy had cooled off at the sword arena, the Stolls came up to him again, this time nervously. He was sitting on one of the benches to the side, a water bottle clenched in his hand.

"Hey, Percy," Travis said warily. "I want you to listen very closely to everything we say, okay?"

Percy didn't answer, only listened. He stared down at the water bottle, trying with all his power to hold it in so things wouldn't start exploding.

"Percy," Conner started, "I want you to know that we are always here for you, no matter how we act."

This caused him to perk up, looking at them closely. What could that possibly mean?

Travis looked at Conner and visa versa. He took a deep breath. "The gods believe that you want to take over Olympus," he said, "Even your father. And they want you to come to Olympus under the pretenses of a reward ceremony so they can lure you into a death trap."

Fury made Percy's vision go red, the water in the bottle shaking with the force of his power, yet he held still, waiting for the Stolls to finish.

"Percy," Conner hesitated, "We were tasked with bringing you there. Except we don't want you to die." He started rushing his words, barely making any sense to Percy. "However, we don't have much choice. You just need to trust us that everything will be alright in the end, okay?"

"What if I'm fine with dying?" Percy asked calmly. There was no reason for him to continue. He had no purpose. His girlfriend had been cheating on him and everyone but the Stolls and Chiron were treating him like he didn't exist.

"We're not fine with you dying so you'll just have to deal with it!" Travis exclaimed, getting annoyed.

Percy stayed silent. He wasn't going to admit it any time soon but his response and Conner's supporting nodd warmed his heart a little.

"So you are going to act like we betrayed you like everyone else here has, okay?" Conner continued. "Chiron, Travis and I are going to act all...betraying...like...Okay?" He asked slowly.

Percy took a deep breath in and out. Nodding, he put on a convincing smile and followed the Stolls into the van outside Half-Blood Hill.