𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐧 || Percy Jackson

Eleven

Percy's nightmare was a repeat.

He'd dreamed it a million times before.

He was taking a standardized test, while wearing a straight jacket. All the other kids were going out to recess while the teacher kept saying 'come on, Percy. You're not stupid, are you? Pick up your pencil.'

Then the dream strayed from the usual.

He looked over at the next desk, a girl sitting next to him. She was also wearing a straight jacket. She was his age with unruly, black, punk-styled hair, dark eyeliner around her shocking blue eyes, and freckles across her nose. Somehow, he knew exactly who she was.

She was Thalia. The daughter of Zeus.

She struggled against the restraints, glared at him, then snapped 'well, Seaweed Brain? One of us has to get out of here.'

She's right. He thought. I'm going back to that cavern. I'm going to give Hades a piece of my mind.

The straight jacket melted off of him and he fell through the classroom floor. The teacher's voice changed until it was cold and evil, echoing from the hole he now stood in front of.

"Percy Jackson. Yes, the exchange went well, I see." The man in the hole said.

Spirits of the dead drifted around him, the monstrous thing speaking from the pit. Only this time, it wasn't addressing him and he couldn't feel Aurora's presence like before.

"And he suspects nothing?"

"Nothing, my lord." Another voice answered at his shoulder, something familiar about it. "He is as ignorant as the rest."

Percy looked over, but no one stood there. Like the speaker was invisible.

It can't be. Ryland's terrified of Marcie.

"Deception upon deception. Excellent." The thing mused. "And what of Marcellia?"

"...she's locked away her power, my lord. She doesn't realize it yet." The second voice hesitated with answering, but even that couldn't convince Percy that Ryland was speaking. "Truly, my lord, you are well named the Crooked One. But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly-"

"You?" The monster sounded offended, almost angry and close to scoffing in distaste. "You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened."

Vanilla and saffron.

"But, my lord-"

"Peace, little servant. Our six months have bought us much." The thing interrupted, seeming tired of the other person's complaints. "Zeus's anger has grown. Poseidon has played his most desperate card. Now we shall use it against him. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items are delivered into my hands....but wait. He is here."

"What?" The other person sounded tense, like they'd just been put on high alert. "You summoned him, my lord?"

"No." The full force of the monster's attention was pouring over him, freezing Percy in place. "Blast his father's blood-he's too changeable. Too unpredictable. The boy brought himself here."

"Impossible!"

"For a weakling such as you, perhaps." The voice snarled, its cold power turning back onto the frozen boy. "So...you wish to dream of your quest, young half-blood? Then I will oblige."