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Percy XIII

"Percy XIII," Naomi began. Her upper lip curled in disgust. This is going to be painful, I just know it.

Percy winced.

"As if hearing it the first time wasn't bad enough..." he grumbled. Percy looked at his girlfriend. "How many are there again?"

"Four." she said sympathetically.

"Four..." he repeated with a groan. Annabeth patted his slumped shoulder. "Four whole chapters."

Percy brushed his hair back and ignored the snickering around him.

FORGET THE CHICKEN-NUGGET SMOKE SCREEN. Percy wanted Leo to invent an anti-dream hat.

The demigods grew more serious at that.

"You had a demigod dream?" Poseidon worriedly frowned.

"I guess so..." Percy grimaced. Great, a demigod dream to start off my chapter. Just what I wanted.

That night he had horrible nightmares.

Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand.

The god of the sea gave his son a look of concern.

First he dreamed he was back in Alaska on the quest for the legion's eagle. He was hiking along a mountain road, but as soon as he stepped off the shoulder he was swallowed by the bog—muskeg, Hazel had called it.

Percy frowned in confusion.

He found himself choking in mud, unable to move or see or breathe. For the first time in his life, he understood what it was like to drown.

Percy's eyes widened. His body stiffened.

"What?" he exclaimed, more out of surprise and confusion than anything else. "This has to just be a nightmare, right? There's no way this could've happened. A bog, muskeg, whatever, has water in it, I should have some control over it!"

"Not with Dirt Face in charge." Leo said, remembering Percy talk about their quest. He had mentioned it as briefly as possible, like it didn't matter in the greater scheme of things. But judging by this nightmare, the moment was more traumatic than Percy wanted to admit.

"I don't know the details, but from what you told us about the quest, this dream was from time Gaea trapped you in a muskeg in... Seward? Hazel and Frank managed to get you out."

"Oh." Percy frowned. That's it? I went through Titans, fought a giant, freed Death himself, and this is what I get a nightmare about?

He sighed.

It's just a dream, he told himself. I'll wake up. But that didn't make it any less terrifying. Percy had never been scared of water. It was his father's element. But since the muskeg experience, he'd developed a fear of suffocation. He could never admit this to anyone, but it had even made him nervous about going in the water.

The demigods winced. A few gave him sympathetic glances. 

Thalia, Poseidon, and Annabeth grimaced.

"Really?" Percy groaned. He wasn't sure if he should feel embarrassed or annoyed. He was son of Poseidon, the god of the sea! He could control water and had used it multiple times to save his life! He didn't have a problem with being afraid of suffocation, but it was an issue when it made him scared of his own element! What if it effected his powers?

"This is so stupid." he grumbled. Percy hadn't meant to say it so loudly, but everyone heard him.

"It's not stupid." Annabeth said firmly. "You've never drowned before, something like that must've been a terrible experience for you."