Chapter 56:
It had been a month since Percy discovered the marks of Kronos. And since then life had been pretty normal for the son of Poseidon. Well as normal as life gets for him anyway.
The Gods had made their first move against Kronos. Thanks to Percy's intel on the marks of Kronos the Gods had made plans to counteract it. That's where the Athena kids came into play.
Athena had arrived early on in the month and taken 5 of her most brilliant children with her, that included Annabeth and Malcolm. Their job was to find out more about the make and how to remove it. So far they hadn't any luck, but Percy knew if anyone could solve this it would be them.
Percy himself helped them out whenever he could. He gave them information on how many people were infected, how they reacted, what might have triggered them to lash out, and why some haven't done anything unusual.
Percy didn't know where Athena had taken her kids, from what he understood it was somewhere down south, away from all the action. Athena was taking a lot of risk, it was kind of a package deal when it came to dealing with Kronos, so the goddess didn't tell anyone where they were. She also forbidden her children from telling. It was strange talking with Annabeth through an Iris message and not knowing where she was, but he knew Athena would keep her safe.
Percy sat on top of the Fist of Zeus in camp thinking over what had happened over the past month. It was Friday night, he is supposed to be in the 12th precinct, but Percy called in sick. He was in camp for a very special reason. Today was the day when the Hermes team assembled and left camp in order to scout for Kronos's army.
Percy missed the Athena kids leaving, he wasn't going to miss this. They weren't scheduled to leave for some time, so Percy had a lot of time to kill, and he already knew just how to spend it.
Percy opened up his stats;
Percy Jackson
Health- 15,400/15,400 (+2000) = 17,400
Mana- 8,325/8,325 (+2000) = 10,325 (+20% more mana, +1,865) = 12,190
The Gamer
Title- Son of Poseidon
(+20 Str,+20 Vit, +20 Dex, while in water)
Level-49 Exp- 122,050/150,000
Race-Demigod
STR-115(+11+20+75 )=221 [Multiseal - 6- 2.89 (+20 + 60)=87.89]
VIT-109(+11+20)=140
DEX-56(+11+20)=87
INT-120
WIS-62
LUC-100
POINTS- 228
Obviously Percy had a lot of points to spare. He was honestly excited about using them all, one could imagine what he could do with them.
The first thing Percy did was improve his Wit, he put 41 point in that raising it to 150;
VIT-150(+11+20)=181
Ping!
You have raised your VIT stats to 150! You have unlocked a new Perk!
You have unlocked an upgrade to your perk, 'Speed Demon'!
Rush - Move your whole body at incredible speeds, this includes your brain. Max speed - 1,000 Miles/hour.
Do you accept this perk?
YES/NO?
Warning! If you accept this perk it will overwrite your 'Speed Demon' perk! Chose wisely.
Percy was surprised at this, this was the first time he ever had to replace his old perk with a new one. But judging based on what the perk featured it seemed they were essentially the same thing, meaning it would be stupid to have both.
Percy liked this new perk, it gave him all the advantages of his old one along with a special bonus, 'this includes your brain' that meant Percy could now think in super speed, which would be invaluable in dangerous situations.
So obviously Percy pressed yes.
The next thing to improve was his strength. Percy put down 35 points into his Str and raised that stat to 150;
STR-150
That was of course without his various strength enhancing bonuses. And in 3...2...1...
Ping!
You have raised your STR stats to 150! You have unlocked n upgrade for an existing perk!
You have unlocked;
Strength seals limiter release- Before you could only apply seals on your strength until the stats rached a single digit number, unable to reduce to fractions. With this upgrade you will be able to apply a seal limit of up to four layers of fractions.
Percy was surprised by the upgrade. It was useful, obviously and something he had been wanting for sometime. Now he could apply seals further reducing his base strength, which meant he had four new layers of strength to exploit.
So Percy looked to his hands and activated his perk. He quickly applied four more seals to his strength, increasing the total number of seals to 10.
Slowly four new chain tattoos appeared on his forearms with the number 7,8,9,10 present on them. Percy now had a total of five tattoos on each arm, which caused his total strength to reduce from this;
STR - 150
To this;
STR- 0.146 (Layers of seals applied- 10)
But if you included all the bonus he got, like the +11 from his demigod status, the +20 from his necklace of poseidon permanent bonus and the +75 from his super strength courtesy of tactile telekinesis, that brought his total strength back up to;
STR- 0.146 (+11+20+75) = 106.146 (Layers of seals applied - 10)
Which still made Percy strong enough to bend iron with his bare hands. It was a shame his strength bonus wouldn't be counted in his seals, that way he could have sealed a lot more of his powers away increasing the bonus he would receive as well. But for now this would be enough.
Then Percy moved on to his Int;
INT-120
He added 30 points to that, and;
Ping!
You have raised your INT stats to 150! You have unlocked a new perk!
Ponder- Store excess mana you generate into different objects allowing for you to draw upon them at any give time.
Percy was amazed at what he now had. It always bugged Percy hw he never had enough mana when it came to a serious fight, but now if what this said was true...
The way Percy saw it he was like a car and the mana was his fuel. He may have a full tank now but that won't always be the case. So this new perk of his will effectively allow him to make container to store fuel for whenever he would need it. Kind of like an extra bottle of gas.
Percy looked around and grabbed a small rock from the ground. He focused on it and tried to do what the perk implied, infuse the rock with mana. He felt all the excess mana his body couldn't store being diverted into the stone causing it to glow blue green, the signature colour of Percy's mana.
Slowly he could feel the stone heating up, the stream of mana was constant and in just two seconds this happened;
Ping!
The mana storing capacity for this item has been reached!
Total mana stored: 20/20 MP
Percy was surprised that the storing capacity for the object was so little. But then again this was just a normal stone, maybe a divine weapon would be better suited for this task?
Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out Riptide. He would have used Waverider, but the trident had many mana manipulating properties already and he did not want to disrupt that in any form. Last thing he needed was to destroy a weapon created by the entities of the universe.
Percy looked at the pen in his hand and uncapped it. It grew to it's full length and Percy quickly began to pour his mana into it.
He waited for the message box telling him he had reached his limit but it never came. He was constantly pouring mana into this thing for five minutes straight, and with a mana regeneration rate of 167 MP's per second that meant this thing was filling up with a lot of mana.
When it finally reached the ten minute mark Percy stopped. He was curious at to how much mana was now stored inside Riptide, he cast Observe on the sword hoping his gamer powers could pick up on it;
Anaklusmos
Anaklusmos or Riptide is made out of celestial bronze. It has two forms one as a pen and one as a sword. To release its sword form simply take off it's cap. And to make it into a pen, tap the cap on the blade.
It is charmed so as to never be lost as it always appears in the owner's pocket few moments later. It is a blade used by Hercules himself given to him by Zoe Nightshade, the original owner. Riptide draws it's power from the sea and hence is every effective when used by a spirit of the sea or by a child of the sea.
Attack-100
+50% when used against monsters.
+100% when used by a child of the sea.
Total Mana stored: 100,200/5,000,000
Percy eyes nearly popped out of his sockets.
'WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!' he yelled in his head. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His weapon had a huge amount of energy storing capabilities. This meant that if he maxed this thing out he would be able to recharge himself 500 times over.
'Okay, I so need to fill this thing up, and fast,' Percy capped the sword turning it back into a weapon and pocketing it. He consciously kept pooling the steady stream of mana into the pen, Riptide was close enough to him that he could fuse mana into it without having to physically hold it.
It was difficult at first, he had to consciously direct his mana to the pen instead of himself. But after a few tries Percy got the skill down.
And with that taken care off Percy looked back to his status box. There was one more thing Percy wanted to improve, his Wis and Dex;
WIS-62
DEX-56(+11+20)=87
He was neglecting these two stats a lot, they had barely crossed the 100 points mark when the rest of his skills, excluding luck, had cross 150. Obviously Percy was going to have to change that.
He poured 44 points into his Dex stat first increasing it 100;
DEX-100(+11+20)=131
Ping!
You have raised your DEX stats to 100! You have unlocked a new perk!
Please choose one perk;
Jointless - For a period of ten seconds all your joints will disappear allowing you to move your body in any direction you please. This will effectively give you great flexibility while preserving your body's wholeness.
Health Regeneration - Bonus of +10% to your HP regeneration per minute. (Total at moment 60% per minute)
Percy didn't really care for the jointless perk, he didn't really need it. But the regeneration thing, well that he most certainly needed. So he pressed on that instead;
Ping!
You have obtained the 'Health Regeneration' perk!
Health Regeneration - Bonus of +5% to your HP regeneration per minute. (Total at moment 55% per minute)
Percy smiled, he closed the boxes and move don to his Wis perk. He put in 38 points and raised it to 100;
WIS-100
Which of course gave him this;
You have raised your WIS stats to 100! You have unlocked a new perk!
Precognition - See ten seconds into the future. Limit of 1 time a day.
Percy grinned, this was probably the best perk he ever got. The time limit was a problem, but Percy figured he could work on it through his perk tree. Plus if he used it just right it could mean the difference between victory and defeat in a battle.
Percy now had 50 points left, he knew he could spend it on something else, probably on his perk tree for his new perks, but the wise thing to do would be to save it for later. And so Percy closed his status box and opened up his inventory, he had something he wanted to look up.
Bottle of Forest essence X 20
Skill Disk Level 10 X 6
Giant Growth Spell Scroll
First thing's first, the bottle of Forest essence. He took them all out and gulped them down one by one. Each bottle gave him an added bonus of +5 to his forest area bonus. And the end result was him gaining a total of +105 as a bonus whenever he entered a forest area. Yeah, he was definitely going to use 'Greed' mode more often. It was way too useful not too.
Percy then took out the scroll and learned the spell;
Ping!
You have obtained a scroll containing 'Giant Growth'!
Do you wish to learn?
YES/NO?
Percy pressed yes and;
Congratulations! You have learnt a new spell!
Giant's Growth, Lv- 1 (0%)
Enlarge parts of your body.
Limit- cannot grow vital organs or other essential parts without also growing surrounding areas.
Cost- 100 MP for every Kg of weight added.
Percy winced, the price was a little step, but it wasn't too bad. This meant he would be able to increase the size of his body parts. One could imagine how much damage he could cause if he increased his hands and then punched someone with his full strength. Sure it wouldn't increase the amount of damage caused, but it would still hurt like a bitch.
Suddenly the idea of smashing Areas with a giant foot came into Percy's head. The demigod giggled as he imagined Areas struggling to get up and avoid smelling Percy's feet. That would be priceless.
Then another idea popped into his head that made Percy go red. If he could imagine any part of his body that meant he could also enlarge his...well maybe he and Thalia weren't ready for something like that just yet.
Percy pushed the spell box to the side and looked at the last few items from his inventory, the 6 level 10 skill disks he obtained from his dungeon adventure with Artemis. Now came the hard part, selecting the skills to use this on.
Percy opened his skill list and once again went through a process of elimination finding out which would be the best skill to use them on. Immediately he had a few choices, he quickly made list.
Healing
Physical endurance
Critical Strike
Sword mastery
Spear mastery
Giant's growth
Mana control
TD creation/escape
Earthquake control
Smoke Form
Tactile telekinesis
Molecular manipulation
Flight
Immediately Percy had to take a few of them off the list. He couldn't upgrade any of his elemental control skills or fighting skills, that would just fuck them all up way too much. In fact if Percy was to guess he would say that it would be better if he leveled them the old fashioned way, pure grinding.
So that meant his sword mastery, spear mastery, mana control, earthquake control, tactile telekinesis and molecular manipulation were out of the picture. Leaving only 7 left.
Percy could level up his healing again, but at this point it just seemed redundant. He could also improve his Physical endurance, but again redundant. At this point even if he leveled that skill up ten times he would only get an added bonus of 2% to his endurance, meaning he would just be wasting away his skills disks.
Critical strike was an amazing skill, plus with his high luck rate that would mean he had a great shot of always hitting criticals. So that stayed on the list. And while Percy may not be using Smoke Form on a regular basis when he does need to use it, he really needs to use it. He can't have it timing out on him, that would be very very bad. So again Smoke Form stayed on the list.
Telekinetic flight was kind of a grey area, as Percy wasn't sure what to do. He did want to become a better flyer, but if it was like any of his combat skill then that meant his flying skills would drastically improve and he wouldn't' have any control over it. So that meant unfortunately he couldn't use a skill disk on it. It sucked but it was okay, Thalia loved it when he came to her for help, if he suddenly improved using skill disks she would know and she would be pissed.
Then came the new skill, Giant's growth. This was a useful skill, but again it had the same problems as flight, Percy wouldn't be able to keep up. It would be best if he grinded the skill and improved on it on a later date. So once again, the skill was kicked out of the list.
And the last, but not the least, came ID creation/escape. Percy had always wanted to spam the shit out of this skill using skill disks, the extra training time the time dilation ID gave him was extremely useful.
But there had always been a problem. If Percy had improved only the creation ID, and not the Escape one that he feared that he might not be able to escape it. He would be stuck there, forever.
So if he ever wanted to level up one of the two, he would have to level up the other one as well. And before now he never really had a chance to level up both skills. So this presented him with a very unique opportunity.
So Percy knew what skills to level up;
Healing
Critical Strikes
Smoke Form
ID Creation
ID Escape
This would mean Percy would have a skill disk left over, but he was sure he could find some use for it.
Percy quickly took out each disk and leveled up his skills;
Ping!
Your skill 'Healing' has leveled up 10 times!
Healing, Lv- 33 (0%)
Allows the user to heal any disease or ailments threatening himself or others.
Limit- 5 aliments per use, 8 targets at a time, restores 35% of MP and HP
Bonus- 5 minutes of +20% regeneration rate!
Cost- 200 MP
Your skill 'Critical Strike!' has leveled up 10 times!
Critical strike! Lv-33 (0%)
A precise strike that can cause 3500% damage to the target.
Chance of success- Luc+Dex
Your skill 'Smoke Form' has leveled up 10 times!
Smoke From, Lv- 15 (0%)
Turns the user's body into smoke, colour depends on person.
Cost- 200 MP per second
Duration- 5 Minutes
Your skill 'ID Create' has leveled up 10 times!
ID Create, Lv-35 (0%)
Used to create Instant Dungeons. Higher the level, stronger the dungeon.
Current list-
Empty Dungeon- no monsters.
Monster Dungeon- Zombies
Monster Dungeon- Goblin Camp
Area Dungeon - Mountain/ Island/ Swamp/ Forest/ Plains
Empty Dungeon - Time dilation (1/15)
Monster Dungeon- Parademon invasion
Monster Dungeon- Hades
Your skill 'ID Escape' has leveled up 10 times!
ID Escape, Lv-35 (0%)
Used to escape from Instant Dungeons.
Percy smiled, he was honestly surprised by how happy he felt. He got exactly what he wanted. The healing skill was amazing, plus the new bonus he got, that improved a person's regeneration abilities for 5 minutes would be a boon in a battle.
The Critical Strike rates were through the roof. Percy could now theoretically cause over 3 million attack points with his trident. That might be on the level of Zeus's lightning bolts, but it was getting there. Plus you know, Percy was trying to compare himself to a God, the fact that he could this much damage was itself amazing, what more did you expect? The ability to destroy whole planets with a flick of his fingers?
The Smoke From skill was alright, Percy didn't really care about it much. It was after all just a skill he would use as a last resort. It was never meant to be his signature move, so the time limit was perfect for him.
And of course came the cherry on top of his perfect leveled up cake. The ID creations/escape skills.
The Time Dilation ID had improved a lot. Now every 15 seconds he spent in there would equate to just a second passing out here. That mean he could spend 15 days in there and only one day would pass out here.
Plus the new Dungeon he got was interesting, but unfortunately Percy hadn't even explored all there was to explore in his other dungeons, he just didn't have the time to do so. But he promised himself to get to it, eventually.
"Percy," Nico walked out of the trees and approached the demigod.
"What is it Nico?" Percy asked as he pushed away all the notification boxes and closing his skill list.
"It's time," Nico stated with a worried look.
Percy smiled sadly, "you nervous?"
Nico shook his head, "no."
Lie detected!
Percy rolled his eyes, 'thank you captain obvious'. Percy got down from atop the fist and walked next to Nico, "you know it's okay to be scared right? Like it's a perfectly natural feeling to have."
"Yeah I know...it's just...why did they ask Bianca?" Nico asked as he and Percy walked back to camp grounds.
"I guessing Hermes has his reasons," Percy said with a shrug, "but one of them would be that he thinks that her powers would be useful. Even for a child of Hades it's very unique. Plus the fact that she can speak to ghosts would help a lot in tracking the Titan army."
"I guess," Nico grumbled, "but why can't I go with her? I mean I would be useful too."
Percy nodded, "I don't doubt that one bit, but we can't risk two children of Hades being out there. If Kronos get's his hands on both of you there's no telling what he could do."
Nico stopped and he snapped at Percy, "so it's okay to risk alone Bianca!?"
"Nico that's not what I meant," Percy spoke calmly, "Bianca is...she's strong, she won't let herself get captured. Plus she's not going alone, remember?"
Nico looked down, "yeah...I remember," he started walking and moved in front of Percy. The son of Poseidon sighed and shook his head.
He kind of understood why Nico was so angry, if Thalia was going to go and track Kronos's forces he would be nervous too. Hades he would probably do something stupid like kidnap her in order to make sure she wouldn't' be in danger. But that was just him.
Percy walked behind Nico as they walked to the Mess Hall where everyone was gathered.
In the center of the mess was Hermes talking with Chiron in front of the Hearth. Around them were various other campers saying goodbye to their siblings and friends who were drafted into the 'Hermes Advanced Scouting And Navigation Unit' or HASANU.
Obviously Hermes had made up the name, Percy and the others didn't care for it though and just took to calling it the Hermes Squad.
Percy walked up to Hermes, "we need to talk."
The god turned to Percy and smiled, "oh hello Percy, sure, give me a second," he turned to Chiron, "we'll speak about the emergency transports later Chiron. Excuse me for a second."
The legendary teacher frowned but moved away. He and Percy shared a look, the demigod could see the worry in the centaur's eyes, guess even he was unsure about this whole thing.
Percy and Hermes walked outside the Mess Hall. They started walking around camp as Percy started, "why are you taking so many demigods with you?"
Hermes sighed, "you're starting to sound just like Chiron."
"If someone like Chiron is worried you know there's cause for concern Hermes," Percy narrowed his eyes, "look I understand the need for such a group, I do. But why are you taking so many important demigods?"
"Really? And explain to me who exactly are these 'important' demigods?"
"Oh don't give me that tone," Percy snapped, "you know exactly who I mean."
Hermes nodded, "yes, I do. You mean the daughter of Hades, yes?"
Percy nodded, "and not just her. You're also taking the son of Pan, I still don't understand how you convinced the Cloven Elders to let you do that by the way."
"I didn't do anything, he volunteered," Hermes replied. Percy looked shocked as the God continued, "and I didn't have to speak to the Elders, he did it for me."
"Why would he do this?" Percy sighed as he rubbed his temples.
"I asked him the same, and do you know what he told me?" Percy shook his head and Hermes continued, "he told me it was because he wanted to be a hero, like you."
Percy sighed, "he isn't ready."
"He's strong enough."
"He's a child."
"You were no older than him when you started your adventures," Hermes argued.
"He's only 11," Percy grumbled.
"And you were 12, big difference," Hermes shrugged.
"But there is a difference," Percy shot back, "when I was 12 I took on Ares and lived to tell the tale. I was born into this life, Decker....Percy...he's far more gentle. He's not a warrior."
Hermes nodded, "yes....he reminds me of him you know." Percy looked confused and Hermes clarified, "Pan. My son."
Realisation dawned on Percy, "right....your Decker's grandfather."
Hermes nodded, "yes, I am. So you know I'll take care of him yes?"
Percy sighed, "yeah, it's just, sigh, I can't help but worry, you know?" He chuckled, "just a few short years ago I was worried about how I was going to graduate school, but now, now I'm worried about matters of life and death."
Hermes nodded, "war makes children grow up fast. And if Decker is to survive the oncoming war he needs to grow up quicker as well."
"I understand.....can I ask you something Lord Hermes?"
The God laughed, "oh dear, you called me lord, now I can't deny anything you ask."
Percy chuckled at the joke but quickly took on a serious look. "I want you to take one more demigod with you on this mission."
"Really? You were just arguing about removing demigods and now-"
"-I know, I know, but....look I understand why this needs to happen. And I may not like it but sacrifices have to be made. But if you're going to take Decker, you need to take Nico along with you."
Hermes stopped, "are you serious right now? Do you understand how dangerous it would be to bring along two children of Hades?"
"And yet it would be best if you took him also."
"And why is that?"
"Because I can promise you that he is planning on running away with you all right now. In fact he probably already has his things packed," Percy smiled. Early that day he spotted Nico in the woods hiding what looked like a large bag packed to the brim with snacks, blankets and clothes. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was planning to do.
Hermes grumbled, "you might be right. But still, the risk of two children of Hades out there is too much."
"And yet you selected the older child to go with you. She's third in line to fulfill the prophecy, at least if you had taken Nico, who is only fourth, you would not be risking much, but you didn't, you picked Bianca."
"Because she's stronger than him."
"True, but like you said, why take the risk? Nico can do what Bianca can, and yours isn't a fighting force, it's a tracking squad. Why exactly would you not need Nico instead of Bianca?"
Hermes sighed, "look the reasons do not matter, I stand by what I said, it's too great a risk."
"And if you don't' let him join you he will run away on his own. So what would you rather have? Nico working for you where you can keep an eye on him? Or somewhere out there in danger of being kidnapped by Kronos?"
Hermes narrowed his eyes, "you could make sure he doesn't do that. Keep him locked up here in camp."
Percy nodded, "I could. But have a life too. I have school, and my job in the police department. I can't watch him 24/7."
Hermes rubbed his eyes, "you are turning out to be a real pain in my side Percy."
"It's not my fault you underestimated the stubbornness of a child of Hades."
"Fine," Hermes snapped, "fine. He can come. But by the Gods Percy if his father asks why he's with us I'll point him to you, understood?"
Percy grinned, "yeah. Understood."
The demigod and the God walked back to the Mess Hall where they split up. Hermes went to talk to Dionysus and Chiron while Percy tracked down Nico who was talking with Decker in one corner of the hall.
"...and that's when I'll meet up with you all," Nico whispered.
"Nico I don't think you should-," Decker spoke up but stopped the moment he spotted Percy walking to them.
The son of Poseidon smiled, "what are you two conspiring about now?"
Nico turned around and put on his best innocent face, "n-nothing. Nothing at all."
Percy raised an eyebrow as he turned to Decker. The son of Pan began to sweat, "N-Nico was just saying goodbye Percy. That's all."
"Ah huh," Percy hummed, "and that wouldn't have anything to do with the bag of supplies I saw him stash away in the Forest, would it?"
Nico and Decker gulped. "I-I don't know what you mean Percy," Nico stammered.
"Really? You don't?" Percy asked.
"No."
Percy chuckled, "fine. Anyway I suggest you go and dig this nonexistent bag up and bring it back here."
"And why should I do that?" Nico asked with a frown.
"Because I just spent the last five minutes convincing Hermes to take you along with him," Percy smiled as he saw the wonder appear on Nico's and Decker's faces, "so I suggest you two hurry up before he changes his mind."
"Please telling your not joking," Decker begged.
"I'm not joking," Percy smiled, "now go. Quickly."
The two took off at full speed. "Thanks for this Percy!" Nico called out, "I owe you one!" Nico and Decker ran out of the Mess Hall and towards the Forest. Percy was honestly surprised at their speeds, even for his eyes they looked like they were going a mile a minute.
"Do you really think that was a good idea?" Percy turned around and saw Bianca staring at him with a worried look on her face.
"He was already getting ready to run away with you lot," Percy admitted, "I caught him packing a bag earlier in the day. So I figured he would get into a lot less trouble if you all could see him."
"Yeah, but....I'm worried. What if he isn't ready for this?"
"And you thought Decker would be ready for this?"
"Decker has always been the more calmer one of the two," Bianca admitted, "he wouldn't get into too much trouble. And despite Nico being able to control the shadows around him he is certainly not the stealthy type."
Percy nodded in agreement, "agreed. But again, it's better to keep an eye on him then let him do whatever the hell he wants. Besides, he might just surprise you," Percy looked at Bianca, "now are you going to tell me what really has you so nervous?"
The daughter of Hades looked away, "I don't' know what you mean."
Lie Detected!
"You do realise you can't lie to me right?"
"I....fine, yeah I'm scared half to death, is that what you want me to say?"
"Quite frankly yes. If you don't think you're going to die, then that's why you die. But if you admit you're scared and address why you're scared you will be able to overcome it."
Bianca frowned, "you think so?"
Percy nodded, "I know so."
The demigoddess sighed, "it's just...I didn't expect the war to arrive so soon. I had always thought we would have a year, maybe more before Kronos attacked. But now here I am, going on a scouting mission with my brother and the god of messengers."
"Relax, Hermes is comeing with you," Percy reassured her, "of all the Gods on Olympus he is the one who cares the most about demigods. And I mean all the demigods. He will protect you all, or die trying."
"I thought Gods couldn't die."
Percy smiled, "then I guess that means you'll all be coming back without a scratch on you."
Bianca smiled, "yeah, I guess," she smiled, but Percy could still tell she was scared. And he quite frankly couldn't blame her, he would be too, you know, if he wasn't Percy Jackson.
'Maybe I could cheer her up,' Percy opened his inventory and quickly looked through it. He smiled 'perfect.'
"Bianca," Percy called out. She turned and gasped as Percy held out a celestial bronze shield for her.
Shield of Ares,
It is the shield of Ares which is charmed to be unbreakable and can withstand godly amounts of force. It is also charmed to give the wielder a + 20% on all attacks.
"It's called the shield of Ares," Percy explained as he gave it to the daughter of Hades, "I got it on my quest to find my mom. Ares gave it to me as a reward, but it was a trick. He had stored the Master bolt in there hoping that I deliver it to your father in order to start a war among the Gods."
Bianca blinked, "what?"
Percy waved the question, "super long story. Short version, I now own it, but haven't used it, ever. Plus I didn't really like it, anything that comes from Ares is like poison in my eyes. It's probably a stupid notion to have, but thems the facts, plus I much rather use the extra arm for magic or even holding an extra sword. Anyway, since I'm not using it, and it's basically just collecting dust in my inventory I figured you would be able to find a use for it."
Bianca looked it over. She ran her fingers down the sharp edge and winced as it gave her a shallow cut. She looked up at Percy, "I don't know what to say."
Percy shrugged, "say nothing, it's the least I can do. Besides, I already gave Decker a sword and Nico a crown, it's only fair you got something as well."
"Wait, you gave my little brother a crown?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, he wanted it, so I figured why not."
"Sheesh, no wonder his ego had gone through the roof," Bianca chuckled and Percy smiled. It was nice hearing her laugh, and the fact that she did it so rarely only made it sweeter to hear.
"Anyway, remember Bianca, I'm just an Iris message away," Percy put his hand on her shoulder, "call me if anything goes wrong, and I mean anything. I will drop everything and be there as soon as I can, I promise."
Bianca nodded, "thanks Percy, I promise." Bianca blushed, and Percy tried his best not to comment on it.
"Everyone!" Hermes called out drawing every demigod's attention, "we are about to leave. Say your goodbyes now."
Percy turned to Bianca, "I guess all that's left to say is goodbye."
The daughter of Hades nodded sadly, "yeah....hey Percy?"
"Yes?"
"Can I just do one thing?"
"And what's the-" Percy stopped midsentence as Bianca pulled him down by the collar and kissed him right on the lips. Percy blanked for a second, pure shock overwhelmed him. Gamer's mind rebooted his brain, but before he did or said anything Bianca pulled away.
"I'm sorry, but I had to do that once before I left," her blush grew bigger. Percy stared slack jawed at the daughter of Hades, he didn't know what to say. She quickly walked away leaving him confused and very, very scared, 'Thalia's going to kill me.'
Soon everyone of the demigods traveling with Hermes gathered in front of the barrier tree. Percy and a few other campers were with them, the rest had already said their goodbyes. Chiron, Dionysus and a few other workers stood to the side, Mera was abset as she was currently in Atlantis finishing off her last few exams in order to become the Sea Enchantress.
Hermes stood straight, "alright everyone this will be my first address to you all as the leader of the HASANU."
"Can we please just call it the Hermes squad instead?" Peter, a son of Ares that Percy was close with asked. He was also drafted into the Hermes squad, he was their battle expert and it was his job to fight off any unwanted threats.
"Yeah, I like Hermes squad better," Nico yelled out with Decker nodding with his best friend.
Hermes sighed, "don't you people like HASANU?"
"Nope," Jaden Crocker, a son of Athena flat out admitted, "it's stupid."
The God of messengers grumbled, "great, just great. We haven't even started yet and you all are already crawling up my ass. Sigh, how does Artemis put up with her Hunters?"
"Simple, she doesn't give them a stupid name," Nico grinned causing everyone to laugh.
Hermes sighed, "fine, we can be the Hermes squad instead. Are you happy now?" No one argued, "good. Now, our mission is simple. We are going to travel around the country looking for and following up on any and all leads we have off Kronos and his army. We will travel together, just the ten of us, and like the Hunters of Artemis I will be with you through every step of the way. Now, any questions?"
"Yes," Bianca spoke up, "where too first?"
Hermes grinned, "Texas, a place called the Triple G Ranch. It's a place where monsters thought long extinct are breed. Olympus didn't much care about it, until we started getting reports that those monsters were being sold to Kronos's army. So now we are going to find these things, track them down and find out where they are going."
Nico then raised his hand, "how are we going there?"
Hermes snapped his finger and suddenly a sharp whistle tore through the air. Percy turned and saw a red streak racing across the land until it stopped right in front of the barrier. A gust of wind blew into them, the back rush from the wind, it pushed most off balance, but Percy was used to it, after all he broke the sound barrier on a regular basis.
Standing in front of them was a red double decker bus with a suited up snake man as its conductor. It walked out and removed it's conductor hat, "the Sceptre Express is at your command my league."
"Wow," Nico said as his eyes winded to the size of saucer pans, "that is so cool."
"Yeah," Decker agreed.
"Right then everyone, it's time to leave," Hermes quickly hurried all the demigods into the red bus. Nico popped his head out of the bus window and waved at Percy.
The son of Poseidon smiled, "take care Nico! Don't get into trouble!"
Nico grinned, "I won't!"
Percy turned to see Bianca staring at him. The moment their eyes meet she blushed and turned away. Percy chuckled, "stay safe you guys! Call if you get into trouble!"
The rest of camp said their goodbyes as well, siblings wished each other luck, Chiron looked like he was going to cry while Dionysus just looked bored.
"Ready for take off!" the snake conductor yelled and suddenly the wheels on the bus exploded into flames. And then in an instant it took off into the night blazing a trail of flaming red hot track behind it.
Percy whistled, "okay, I have got to get me one of those."
The Next Day;
Percy and Thalia walked around Yancy academy courtyard arm in arm. It was early morning on a Monday and class was yet to begin. Percy wore his camp t-shirt along with the leather jacket Thalia had give him. Thalia also wore a leather jacket with a Green Day t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans.
They looked at the sky, the sun had just risen, the birds had begun to sing and they were completely alone as not many students liked to walk in the courtyard so early in the day. The trees were slowly turning brown, autumn was almost upon them, and yet the lively flora filled courtyard was still teeming with life and beauty.
"You see that fountain over there?" Percy pointed at the stone fountain in the center of the courtyard, "that's where I first learnt how to control my water powers."
Thalia chuckled, "really? I would have figured you would have done that some place bigger, like the swimming pool you have in campus, or you know, the ocean right outside your gates?"
Percy smiled, "yeah, now that I think about it that would have probably been a better place to start practising. But hey, in my defence I only had like a hand full of points in my wisdom stat, so I wasn't really the smartest kid in class."
"But now you are," Thalia said as she hugged him tighter. She shivered, "it's pretty cold, can you warm me up?"
Percy grinned, "sure thing sweety," he pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her close and kissed her gently.
Thalia broke the kiss wrapping her arms around his neck, "hm, you're getting better that that. Did you level up recently?"
Percy shook his head, "no, I just know what you like." Percy leaned down and kissed her again. He licked her lower lip and gently bite it. Thalia shuddered in his arms as she tightened her hold on him. She then pushed his head forward and pushed her tongue into his mouth kissing him for all he was worth.
Percy could feel Thalia shudder in his arms as his tongue fought back. His hands went lower as he cupped her ass squeezing them. He pulled her closer and was about to move down her neck when suddenly the sound of sticks breaking broke their trance.
Krack!
Percy and Thalia moved as one. They let go of each other, Percy's hands flew to his pocket feeling Waverider and Riptide while Thalia reached for her bracelet and her can of mace. They looked to where the sound came from and spotted a girl walking out of the bushes looking behind her.
The girl had new pink dyed hair with a punk rock themed shirt on and a pair of pink and black striped leggings. She wore a leather jacket with torn off sleeves and several trinkets lining her arms.
She turned to them and Percy could tell she hadn't gotten much sleep from the huge bags under her chestnut brown eyes. She turned around and looked at Percy and Thalia gasping in shock, "what the fuck?!"
Percy and Thalia shared a look, "ah, are you okay?" Thalia asked.
"Yeah," she looked back searching for...something in the bushes, "I-I'm fine."
"You sure?" Percy asked looking behind her, he focused his eyes and activated his 8.0 Eyesight. He took a quick look around but found nothing, "you seem...troubled."
"I'm fine fucker," the girl snapped. Percy looked at her name;
Monica Williams, Believer of magic
Lv- 8
Percy looked at her, "Monica you look really tensed, are you sure you're okay?"
"How did you know my name?" Monica snapped at Percy, "are you one of them? Are you after me?!" She tried to charge Percy but Thalia stepped in.
"Wow there sister calm down, we aren't with anyone, we just want to talk."
"How did he know my name?!" Monica snapped at Percy as she tried to push past Thalia but the demigoddess was far too strong.
"You're kind of hard to miss," Percy said pointing at her hair, "I remembered hearing about from a couple of people."
"Really?" Monica huffed in disbelief, "yeah sure. You heard about me."
"What does that mean?" Thalia asked a little offended at the tone Monica used.
"He's Percy Jackson, the guy who everyone loves," Monica glared at Percy, "he's the smartest one here, the genius. No one can touch him, not even the teachers. Why would the prince of Yancy academy even know what I sound like?"
"Well that's a little harsh," Percy frowned, "I mean sure I might be a little popular but that doesn't make me an asshole like Tyler."
"Whatever," Monica looked at Thalia, "have fun shoving your tongue down the wannabe's throat."
"What did you say you little bitch?" Thalia glared as she clenched her fists.
"You heard me," Monica glared, "what? You think your punk if you dye you hair and wear a shitty bracelet?"
"You want to talk about being a wannabe?" Thalia looked her over, "you look like you drowned yourself in hot glue and then rolled around in a Hot Topic discount rack."
Monica growled, "whatever, fuckign losers," she threw her head up in disdane, walking out of the courtyard leaving a confused Percy and a very very pissed off Thalia.
"Okay who exactly is that bitch and why does she hate you so much?" Thalia asked once Monica was out of sight.
"I-I think she might be in our homeroom class," Percy admitted as he used his improved memory to recall her face, "she usually sits in the back, very quite. If I recall correctly she also takes Mrs. J's class with us."
Thalia grumbled, "did we do something to piss her off?"
Percy shrugged, "I don't know. A lot of people hate my guts, but usually they do so after we have spoken once or twice. I don't think I ever spoke to her."
Thalia turned to the bush through which Monica popped out, "what do you think she was running from?"
"Let's go find out," Percy and Thalia walked through the bush and into a densely flora covered portion of the courtyard. They were surrounded by trees 20 feet tall, nothing they couldn't walk around.
Soon the path cleared up revealing an oak tree that looked like it was as old as the academy. While Percy was bust staring at the old tree with it's large trunk Thalia spotted something on the ground.
"Think she did that?" Thalia pointed at a small hole in the ground. It was shallow around 2 feet deep, the soil around it looked freshly dug up.
"She must have used her hands," Percy said as he observed the area around the dug up dirt.
"Why do you say that?"
"There are no tool markings in the ground," Percy pointed to small grooves in the mud, "these are way to small to come from a rack, and obviously no one would use a rack to dig up dirt. And if she had used a shovel she would have left single long cuts. If I was to guess she used her hands to dig this up."
Thalia whistled, "those hours that the police department are really paying off huh?"
Percy nodded, "totally," he looked down into the hole and found the bottom flat, like something had been placed there for a long time. "I think there was something in here."
Thalia nodded, "yeah, from the look of things, I would....maybe a book of some kind?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, it looks small, maybe the size of my hand."
"Big enough to hide something in the pocket of one's jacket?" Thalia asked.
"You think she carried whatever she dug up with her?" Percy asked in wonder.
"I think, why else would she look like she didn't want to be followed? Probably trying to sneak something in that she didn't want anyone else to see."
"But why would she try to hide a book?"
"Who says it's a book? For all we know it could be a flask of whiskey. After all unlike you we normal people don't have an inventory to carry our stuff."
Percy rolled his eyes, "Thalia you are not normal. You are literally the daughter of a God."
Thalia shrugged, "and yet I still do not have my own personal storage system."
"Right, anyway might as well get back to the dorms, we need to ready for class," Thalia grumbled but nodded as she and Percy walked away.
"So why do you think she was so pissed at us?" Percy asked.
"Not us sweety, you."
"She called you a wannabe," Percy smirked.
"She was probably drunk," Thalia shrugged, "after all the puffball is so over the top punk she's obviously compensating for her lack of true punkness by covering herself with stereotypes."
Percy shrugged, "maybe. Anyway any plans tonight?"
Thalia shook her head, "no, why?"
Percy smirked as he wrapped his hand around Thalia's hips, "well I was thinking maybe you and I can go into town and catch a movie."
"What's playing?"
"Some movie," Percy shrugged, "does it really matter?"
Thalia shook her head, "no." She leaned forward and kissed him.
Warning! Bloodlust coming from all around you!
Percy broke the kiss and looked around frantically. He couldn't find whatever was giving him this bloodlust.
"What's wrong?" Thalia reached for her can of mace, "is someone watching us?"
"I-I don't know," Percy looked around, he even activated his 8.0 Eyesight, but he couldn't seen anyone, "I don't think so."
"They why did you act like I just blasted you with a lighting bolt?"
"Because I just a message from my Area sense that someone was sending a wave of bloodlust at me."
"Well maybe-," Thalia stopped midway as she spotted Tyler walking in the distance. He glared at Percy and Thalia and huffed walking away quickly, "maybe it was the douchebag over there."
"You think so?" Percy asked.
"Why? Was it serious evil levels of bloodlust?"
"No, it...it didn't feel strong, in fact it remember that time when Leo was still a puppy and I took a piece of his bacon? He had been pissed for hours. It feels similar to that, but more...sinister."
Thalia shrugged, "maybe he really hates you."
"Yeah...maybe," Percy nodded. He pushed the problems to the back of his head as he and Thalia walked back to the dorms. Though as he was getting ready to begin the day Percy couldn't help shake the feeling that something was wrong, very very wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he decided that should be alert just in case.
Later in class;
"And that is why Scotland and Britain don't get along," Mrs. J walked around class with a book in hand explaining the complicated past of Europe.
"So wait they hated each other because they were from different tribes?" Michael asked.
"Well yes and no Michael," Mrs. J explained, "you see....the British were like the jocks and the Scottish were like the....no actually switch that, the Scots were the jocks and the British were the Nerds. The British had advanced war weapons, for their time, but the Scots had numbers. Hence they didn't exactly get along."
The class murdered at her answer. Percy leaned towards Thalia, "she's the best history teacher I have ever had."
"You're just saying that because she has huge tits," Thalia glared.
"Oh admit it, you like her as well."
"Well....she does make interesting examples," Thalia admitted, "but she should really learn to shop for her size."
"She's a size 5 at best."
"She's a size 9."
"Sweetie-"
"She's a size 9 and that's what she should wear."
Percy chuckled but didn't want to argue. As Mrs. J continued her lesson Percy looked to the corner and noticed Monica having her down on her desk. She looked liked she was reading something between her hands but it was too well covered for Percy to tell what it was.
Just then Monica snapped up and caught Percy' line of sight. She glared as she slowly slipped whatever it was she was reading into her desk. Percy narrowed his eyes and tried to get a better look with his advanced eyesight, but the only thing he got was that the book she was reading had a black cover and was about the size of her palm.
Monica glared at him and looked at Mrs. J, pretending, and failing, to be listening to what she was saying.
Percy figured he was the only one who noticed Monica's strange behaviour, but he was wrong. Mrs. J held her book in front of her face as her eyes flashed sulphuric yellow. She looked at Monica and groaned, 'Percy's going to have to deal with that one soon.'
That night;
Percy and Thalia walked out of a movie theater located in the small town outside of Yancy academy's gates. They weren't technically allowed to be here after curfew, but they didn't really care much about that.
"So wait he's a werewolf, and that somehow made him better at basketball?" Percy asked confused about the movie they just watched.
"Well, I guess it's because he's better at coordinating his movement now so that would make him a better basketball player," Thalia shrugged.
"Yeah okay, I get that, but why the hell does no one realise he's a walking fur covered fuzz ball? I mean half the people seem okay with it, one chick even wanted to sleep with him!"
"Percy you know it doesn't matter what a person looks like on the outside," Thalia chuckled, "it's what's on the inside that counts."
Percy rolled his eyes, "yeah, sure. Still doesn't answer my question though."
"Percy it was a movie made in the 80's about a teenager that transforms into a werewolf, just go with it."
Percy shrugged, "yeah yeah." Percy looked at his watch, "holy shit, it's 1 in the night, that movie was long."
Thalia shrugged, "yeah, I guess. Will we have any trouble getting back in?" Percy looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "right, stupid question."
They walked into a deserted corner and at once took off into the sky. Thalia was surrounded by cool ocean winds that lifted her up while Percy used his telekinetic flight. Luckily for Percy he was flying just low enough as to not draw the attention of Zeus, plus any flying Zeus might detect from this area would just be attributed to Thalia.
Percy reached out and held Thalia's hand, "so did you enjoy date night?"
"That was a date?" Thalia chuckled, "compared to our usual ones that seemed pretty tame."
"Well if you want we could always just hope into one of my ID's and get in a good monster workout," Percy chuckled.
"Yeah, no. I'm way too tired for that," Thalia yawned, "damn, it's times like this when I wish I had Gamer's body."
Percy smiled, "yeah, I am pretty lucky." They quickly reached Yancy academy flying right over their walls. As they flew into the school Percy looked down into the thick trees and saw a shadow run through them.
"What's that?" Percy stopped following the mysterious figure moving in the dark.
"What are you looking at?" Thalia asked as she drew up behind him. She looked down and immediately saw the person trying to sneak around the dense trees, "maybe someone got the same idea we had? Coming back from a late night adventure?"
"Then why are they running away from the school?" Percy asked as he saw the figure run closer and closer to the walls bordering the academy grounds.
The figure then leapt up into the air clearing the 20 foot tall walls with a single leap. Percy saw the figure in full view, he or she had a black cloak wrapped around them hiding their body. Percy wasn't able to make anything out as he saw them land on the other side of the wall and run into town.
"Did you see that?!" Thalia said in surprise.
Percy nodded, "yeah. Definitely not a normal human."
"What do you think? Monster?"
"No, I don't think so. Anything powerful enough to disguise itself as a human would be too arrogant to hide itself, it would want the world to see it. No, I don't think we are dealing with a run of the mill monster here."
"Demigod?"
Percy shook his head, "I don't think Michael or Clarisse are very stealth, do you?"
"Then I suppose it's our job to follow it huh?" Thalia sighed.
Percy chuckled, "well you were the one who wanted our date to seem a little more up to our standards."
Thalia rolled her eyes, "so I jinxed it, great."
The two quickly took off following the mysterious figure. From up in the sky Percy and Thalia tracked it easily enough. They followed till the edge of town, but just then the black cloaked figure slipped between two building and when Percy and Thalia rounded the corner they were met with a dead end with no mysterious black figure in sight.
"Where did it go?" Thalia asked.
"It couldn't have gone far, I mean we saw it go in there," Percy looked at the neighboring buildings, "which means....LOOK OUT!"
"GRA!" The black cloaked figures appeared on top of a nearby building above Thalia and Percy. It jumped at Thalia shoving her down.
"Thalia!" Percy roared as he chased after his girlfriends.
The black figure and Thalia crashed into the road below as the demigoddess kicked the monster off of her.
"Get away from her!" Percy channeled the biggest psychic attack he could muster grabbing the thing and throwing it half way across town.
"Fuck that hurt," Thalia grumbled as she pulled herself out of the ground.
"Are you okay?" Percy asked as he landed and helped her up. His hands glowed gold as he began healing her, "looks like the marble skin spell took most of the damage for you."
Thalia grumbled, "yeah...I can't believe I let it get the jump on me."
"It's okay, you weren't prepared. And besides that thing moved fast, like insanely fast. One moment it was on the ground the next it scaled up a, what? 3 story building?"
Percy and Thalia looked at the red brick layered building. It had a boutique in the ground floor with housing on the remaining two.
"Where did you send it?" Thalia asked looking around.
"Halfway across town," Percy cracked his knuckles, "stay here, I'll super speed around and find it. I'll call you once I have."
Thalia nodded, "great, good luck love." Percy nodded and disappeared in a gust of wind leaving Thalia alone.
Curious the daughter of lighting walked to the alleyway where she saw the mysterious figure enter and looked at the red brick layered buildings sides. It was dark, Thalia couldn't see much, but not for long.
Thalia snapped her fingers causing a spark of lighting to jump between them. Then another, and another, before finally the lighting curled in on itself forming a ball of blowing hot plasma that Thalia used as a light source.
Thalia inspected the side of the building and found small impression in the bricks. Something small and sharp pierced the wall and from the way the trail moved up the building. Each were in seats of five, Thalia was willing to bet the thing she and Percy were tracking made this by piercing the wall with it's fingers.
Suddenly a gust of wind rushed into the alley kicking up dirt. "Did you find it?" Thalia asked not taking her eyes of the wall.
"No, I searched entire town, twice. Every alley way, every building. Nothing," Percy grumbled.
"Really? That was fast."
"Got a new speed upgrade. Anyway, found something?"
"Yeah," Thalia narrowed her eyes, "I think so." She reached into one of the hole located at her shoulder height. She then carefully pulled out a small shard that was pink in colour.
"I think our black cloaked friend left this behind for us. What is it?" Thalia asked.
Percy narrowed his eyes and used Observe on the substance;
Human nail (broken with pink nail polish),
It's a broken human nail.
"A human nail."
"Really? Human?" Thalia was surprised, "so we were chasing a human?"
Percy grumbled, "yeah....maybe the thing we chased didn't leave this behind. After all a simple human can't cause," Percy turned to the holes in the wall, "well...this."
Thalia grumbled, "so what in our parent's name are we dealing with here?"
The Next Day;
The next day found Thalia and Percy sitting in Mrs. J's class. They both told Michael what had happened the night before and needless to say the son of Apollo was interested.
"Maybe it was some kind of super human," Michael suggested, "you know like the ones Argo created?"
Percy nodded, "could be, that's possible. But Elsa would have told me if there was someone so close by, she knows I live in this area and would probably ask for my help if it came to that."
"Then maybe it was a human that escaped her notice," Thalia suggested, "maybe when Argo 'died' for the first time this thing jumped at a chance to run away and managed to successfully hide from everyone."
"Yeah, plus I mean why are you guys even looking into this thing in the first place?" Michael asked.
"What do you mean?" Percy asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"I mean what has this thing done to cause us grief?" Micheal supplied, "from what I understand it was just attacking two flying people that were chasing it. If this thing is trying to hide then can you really fault it for wanting to keep it's privacy?"
Percy and Thalia shared a look. "He does have a point. I mean, I would have done the same if I thought Kronos was after me," Thalia spoke.
Percy nodded, "yeah...maybe it's nothing after all."
"Alright class settle down!" Mrs. J waked in silencing the class within seconds, "now today we are going to talk about the impact of religion on history. Since obviously this is a very large and complex subject we will be dealing with this a lot over the term. Now, let's begin...."
As the class went on as Mrs. J explained how religion shaped the world, she kept getting sidetracked however going on and on about how the world could have done without religion, and Percy couldn't help feeling the same way. Which was ironic considering who his dad is.
Eventually Percy started to loose focus. Mrs. J was now talking about the facts of history and Percy already knew a lot about all that, he didn't need a reminder. His eyes drifted from one person to the next.
Tyler was in the front row staring at Mrs. J's very very attractive lady parts. Percy was too, but he made sure not to stare or get caught, because if Thalia found out he was checking out his hot teacher.....well Percy was just glad he had 600,000 in defence points.
Most of the guys were to busy having their eyes glued on Mrs. J's ass while the girls just looked bored. However when Percy looked to the corner he spotted Monica, and that girl did not look normal.
She had her head down with her hands blocking the sunlight from her face. Her eyes bags under them with a little bit of sand near the edges. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably and Percy could see her lips moving under her breath, but she didn't have a book out to read.
Percy was worried, but for all he knew this was how Monica acted normally. Normal humans would probably act like that if they didn't get a full night's rest, which is probably why Monica looked like shit.
If Percy was to guess she probably stayed up all night drinking, which would explain the reason she didn't like the bright sun light. The thing she dug up from the courtyard yesterday morning was probably a flask of alcohol, Monica was probably just suffering from a hangover.
Percy couldn't explain the whispering thing, but then again she wouldn't be the first person who talked to themselves a lot.
Percy was about to move on when suddenly Monica raised her head and made eye contact with him. Green meet chestnut brown and Percy felt a chill run down his spine. Her eyes were almost pleading for help.
And just as quickly as it began it ended. She lowered her head again looking away from him, but Percy couldn't forget how she made him feel. He continued to glance at her, but Monica didn't look back.
"Alright class that's enough for now!" Mrs. J announced much to the cheer of everyone there, "now for the rest of the period I want you all to go to the library and pick out one book on an ancient civilization. I want you to read it and then present it in class. Understood?"
"Yes Mrs. J!" came the resounding response.
Everyone quickly got up and went outside. Percy motioned for Thalia and Michael to wait back while the rest of the class moved forward. Percy noticed Monica looking sideways, she was aiming for the door. She was about to reach it when Mrs. J spotted her.
"Come along Monica, I expect you would be wanting to do something about the Mongolian Empire," Mrs. J patted Monica's back pushing her forward.
"Huh? Why Mongolians?"
"Because they were a very brutal race and judging from you punk like attitude you like brutal things, yes?"
Monica nodded blankly, "ah, yeah."
"Great! Then let's go!" Mrs. J turned to Thalia, Percy and Michael, "come on you three!"
"Be right there Mrs. J!" Percy waved as they walked forward.
"What gives Percy? Why did you want us to stay back?" Michael asked.
"Monica was acting weird," Percy whispered back, "she looked half asleep."
"Maybe she didn't get much sleep last night?" Thalia theorised.
"No, that can't be it. When I saw I felt...something." PErcy shook his head, "I can't put my finger on it, but...but something's wrong."
Ping!
Quest Alert!
Find out what's wrong with Monica and save her!
Rewards,
+5,000 Exp
?
Failure,
Monica dies
Do you Accept?
YES/NO?
Percy blinked in surprise. "What happened?" Thalia asked in a whisper.
"I-I'll tell you later," Percy waved her concern away as he pressed 'yes'
They reached the library in minutes and Percy turned to Michael, "follow Monica, talk to her, find out what's wrong."
"Why me?" Michael asked.
"Because she hates our guts," Thalia grumbled, "she even had the balls to call me a wannabe."
Michael whistled, "damn, either she doesn't know who she insulted or she has the biggest balls out of all of us."
Thalia smirked, "I'm thinking she's just stupid."
"Anyway," Percy spoke up, "talk to her and find out what you can. Got it?"
Michael nodded and quickly went to the furthest shelf of books where he saw Monica go in. Percy and Thalia followed but quickly hide away a few shelves down.
"So are you going to tell me what happened?" Thalia asked.
"I got a quest," Percy explained, "it said I have to save her or else she will die."
Thalia's eyes shot open, "woah, okay, that sounds bad. Did it give us any clues? Was there a way the quest was worded that we might be able to use to figure out what's going on?"
Percy shook his head, "nothing we could use. Although I do have a feeling that it might involve whatever she dug up the day before."
"So what do you think it is?"
"No clue, but I know that it's definitely not a flask of whiskey."
"Oh there you two are," Mrs. J walked up to the two demigods with a smile on her face, "and here I thought you both snuck off to some corner to make out."
Percy and Thalia blushed red. "W-we were just looking for something to talk about," Percy stammered out.
Mrs. J nodded, "right. Well I would recommend this," the busty blond took out a red covered book from the shelf and handed it to Percy. The title read 'They Mysterious of Greek Mythology'. "I really think you two could do well about a project on ancient greek civilization."
Percy blinked, he looked to Thalia and saw that she was trying her best not to burst out in laughter. Percy turned to Mrs. J, "thanks ma'am. We'll get right on this."
"Great! I'll expect great things out of the both of you!" Mrs. J waved at them and walked away, probably to check up on her other students.
Percy and Thalia looked at the book. "She would probably freak out if she knew we were demigods," Thalia chuckled.
"Probably," Percy shrugged, he opened his inventory and put the book inside, he would do his project later, for now his attention was focused on his classmate.
"Screw you freak!" Percy and Thalia heard Tyler's voice loud and clear, and form what they could tell it was coming from where Michael and Monica were.
Percy and Thalia ran towards their friend. They saw Michael on the ground with Monica helping him up. Tyler stood over them with a smug smile, "when your girl hears about how easily I kicked your ass she'll dump you in a second."
"What the hell is wrong with you Tyler?!" Monica roared as she got Michael on his feet, "why are you acting like such an ass?!"
"Me?! What about him?! He already has a girlfriends and now I catch him hitting on you!"
"He wasn't hitting on me Tyler! He was helping me!" Monica roared. Percy felt a wave of mana wash over him. He couldn't believe what he was feeling. The energy, it was coming off in waves, and the strangest part was it was coming off of Monica!
Suddenly the books in the selves around themes started to shake. Percy watched in amazement as the mana rolling off of Monica seeped into the books lifting them into the air.
"I hate you Tyler! It's because of you that I never have any friends!" Monica's brown eyes turned yellow, a wave of mana exploded out of her sending Michael and Tyler flying back. Slowly Monica rose into the air with an air of power surrounding her. Her hair floated around pushed forward by an invisible wind, "I hate you!"
"What's going on?!" Michael yelled as Percy and Thalia helped him up.
Percy looked at Monic and focused his mana sensing powers. He pushed his mana outwards and prodded her, immediately he was hit with a wave of cold fury;
Demon Mana,
The mana you are sensing is from a demon brought forth from the depths of Hell itself.
Percy's eyes shot open, "what the hell?!"
"AHHHHH!" Monica roared out as she sent a shockwave of energy pushing everything away in a good 5 feet distance of her. Shelves broke down, books went flying away. The windows in the library shattered sending glass everywhere.
Percy knew Thalia and Michael could take care of themselves, but Tyler was just a human. He needed to protect him, so without a second though Percy rushed forward standing in front of the human absorbing a majority of the energy being sent out of Monica.
Monica floated in the middle of the destruction. Thalia and Michael were thrown away to one corner. But Percy stood right in front of her protecting Tyler from the onslaught of magic. He lowered his hands covering his face and stared at her with glowing green eyes.
"Who are you?" Percy growled.
"Your doom puny mortal," Monica spoke, but it wasn't her voice that came out. And then suddenly, like someone had cut her strings, Monica collapsed down.
"W-what happened to her?" Tyler asked as he finally got back up.
"Something very, very bad," Percy grumbled as he looked around at all the destruction caused. He was going to have a tough time explaining this one.