I actually wrote about 3 chapters worth but my computer crashed and died on me. So all my work and documents was gone and I was pretty depressed. I really didn't feel like continuing especially after I enlisted into the Army but here I am huh. Don't even know if people still read PJO. Oh well. Hi to the people still here. :)

Percy's POV

There are no words to describe how I feel right now.

I mean, there was this once when I was in 2nd grade and I had won 1st place in my school's sports day. My dad and mum were so proud of me that day… I still remember the joy and jubilation we had shared together that day as I ran towards them with the trophy in 1 hand; and grabbing onto my father's warm embrace with the other with a big smile on my face. It was one of the few moments in my life that I actually felt proud of myself.

This was another of them.

Wow.

It was strange.

A warm surge of emotions and pride swelled and engulfed me as the crowd's applause rained down with the replays of my fight still showing on the huge screens. If you asked me to describe it… it felt like I finally was accepted.

It still baffles me how alive I felt right there and then.

Goosebumps man.

Goosebumps everywhere.

I smiled to myself.

This? ...

I could get used to this.

No one's POV

"Guess you were wrong huh Luke?" a boy with slightly grey-black hair and an eye patch over his left eye snickered happily. "The mighty captain of the Hermes House got it wrong? Who would have thought?"

"Tch." The blonde haired boy replied.

"Pay up. Odds were 1 to 20." The black haired boy smirked. "Must be my lucky day huh?"

"You got lucky this time Ethan." Luke replied angrily, as he tossed a few coins irritably at the one-eyed boy. "I won't forget this Nakamura."

"Yeah, yeah. You never forget right? Just like you never lose huh?" Ethan snickered, as he walked out of the booth. "It's all about balance dude. You can't always bet against the underdog and expect to win. Everyone has his day."

"Whatever dude."

"Hahah, I gotta go and get ready to welcome the fresh bloods! I'll smell ya later bro, heh." He waved and disappeared out the door.

With an annoyed face plastered all over his face, Luke shoved his hands into his pockets. He had lost almost all the drachma that he had saved for a new breastplate on that bet. Guess he wasn't getting an upgrade on his armour anytime soon. Slowly dragging his feet, he went back to the seating area where that chick Annabeth and Thalia were seated.

He had been friends with Thalia since their initiation days, and right from the on start he had tried to hit on her, but she had made it abundantly clear from the very beginning that she wasn't interested. She had lightning blue eyes that seemed to radiate electricity and soft spiky jet-black hair with dyed blue streaks at the tips of her fringe. It wasn't easy to come to terms with a girl blatantly rejecting him, but Thalia rejected everyone. And her boyish punk-goth style didn't really fit his 'type' of girl. So he settled with being her friend, and had set his sights on her hot blonde friend, Annabeth.

She was 5'9, had curly wavy golden blonde hair and a killer body. Her greyish eyes freaked him out a little bit, but he could look past them. What he really wanted wasn't her eyes. But what does the brat do? She ignores him and shames him in front of the entire academy.

He gritted his teeth and shrugged it off with a smile as he made his way back to the seating area. He had quickly recovered from that, and had made extra effort to get back into her good books. Being polite and nice to her friends wasn't exactly easy but he would make Annabeth fall for him, and right when she was head over heels for him, he'd toss her to the side like all the other girls before her. Yeah. That seemed fair to Luke. No one had the right to treat him like that. He was Luke Castellan for goodness sake.

He sat down behind Annabeth and Thalia quietly. They were deep in conversation and he liked to eavesdrop whenever it suited him. No one could keep secrets from Luke Castellan.

Annabeth's POV

It was unbecoming of her. Why couldn't she get those emerald green eyes out of her head? She thought to herself as she watched from above - through the clear reinforced glass as he walked down the stage and exited to the waiting room. Maybe it was something to do with the fact that she was the one who found him lying half dead in the middle of the forest. Before he had passed out he had muttered something under his breath which heard a little bit like, 'car blue ant table?' but she couldn't really make out what he had said.

The next time she had seen him was when he was lying in the hospital bed and had miraculously healed overnight. There were a few cuts and bruises all over his arms, face and neck, but something about him… She couldn't explain it, but when he had awoken and she had gotten a good look at him, there were those sea-green eyes that had drawn her in. He was pretty good looking too. But she would never be caught admitting that. Ever.

The highlight reel on the screen was replaying the fight in slow-motion. It wasn't making it any easier to forget that boy. The slow-motion camera captured everything in clear and crisp HD, as it showed that jet-black haired boy narrowly dodging everything by a hair's breadth. It got some oohs and ahhs from the crowd as they relived the satisfying match all over again.

It was pretty impressive actually…

Wait.

Wait.

Was he smiling?

The punch had come straight for him but he had easily dodged it by shifting his body weight backwards but he had actually brought his head forward stopping just before he made contact with the fist. Did he smile?

The crowd went into another frenzy as they applauded in disbelief.

Why were they applauding his arrogance? He could've been seriously injured if anyone of those hits had landed.

WAIT. Why in the hades am I still thinking about him?!

ARGH.

… This just wasn't me.

I don't get flustered over boys.

"Annie?"

What does being flustered even mean? I. Am. A. Modern. Woman. I don't go crazy over guys or squeal over famous celebrities.

"Helloooo? Olympus to Annie?"

No, this can't be attraction. Can it?

It's just frustration. Or maybe just a interest.

Yes.

It has to be the pent up frustration of school and the pressure from my peers and parents to do well. It just so happened that I saved his life and I just want to make sure that he does ok. Seeing as I saved his life and everything. Besides, he probably won't even make it pass the second round.

Yeah. That settles that then.

"ANNABETH CHASEE?" Thalia shouted.

"Owww. Huh? Yes?" I replied, totally oblivious to Thalia; and wincing while covering my ear. "Oh sorry Thals. I uh didn't hear you. I was just spaced out for a while."

"You sure you're ok? You rarely space out." Thals asked suspiciously. "You've been acting weird ever since the Percy fight."

"Yeah… Yeah! I'm fine!" I smiled. "Don't worry!"

I felt blood rush to my face. How could I have spaced out like that.

"Waiiiitttttt. Waitaminute." Thalia exclaimed, "Hold the phone!"

"Hahahahaa no way is this happening. Why is your face red? Bahaha, are you blushing Annie?"

"Wh-what? No!" I replied, a little caught off guard. "Don't be ridiculous Thals! And shut up will you?" As I pushed her out of my face.

Was I really blushing?

"I'm just teasing you. Relax will ya?" She replied with an even bigger smirk.

Percy's POV

I quietly headed towards the waiting room. The corridor leading up to it was eerily quiet and kind of dim. The sound of my footsteps echoed as the noise of the arena in the back started to fade away. I could start to feel the slight change in temperature as the cool air-conditioning lowered the temperature. My mind was in a flurry, thoughts on what had just happened over the past 20 minutes kept replaying itself in my head. I still couldn't believe what had happened, had just happened. The rush and adrenaline I had experienced from the fight and the life threatening moment I had just been in seemed so surreal. That guy really had grown fur and claws. If he had caught me I would have been killed or severely injured.

I looked down at my hands as I continued walking. The bruises on my knuckles and small cuts on my fingers were still there. It was real.

Arghhhh.

Wait… What was that? Whose voice was that?

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked up. Um where was I? My surroundings had drastically changed. I definitely wasn't in the same corridor I was just in. Immediately I looked back trying to make my way back.

Help… me…

That voice again. It was faint and the person sounded in pain. Where was it coming from?

I slowly stepped closer towards the cry for help. It was coming from a metal door cladded in bronze and strips of black iron. There was a security panel next to the door knob and it felt ice cold on the surface of the door. I placed my hand on the knob and tried to turn it, but it was locked.

What was I to do? I couldn't open it and I didn't know the password on the security panel.

Ugh. My senses tingled as my eyes widened. I immediately ducked forward and spun to my left into a roll. Where my head had once been was a black dagger that had embedded itself into the wall.

"Who are you?" a voice asked from nowhere.

I didn't answer. I squinted my eyes to try and see where the voice was coming from but to no avail.

My senses tingled again. This time it was from the left. I ducked side wards to my right as another black dagger sailed through the air above my head. The sick sound of the dagger clanking onto the floor echoed through the hallway.

"The next one will go directly through your back. I won't ask again." The mysterious and heavy voice said, "Who. Are. You?"

Where was the voice coming from? I was staring ahead into the darkness and there was absolutely no one here. Should I try and run for it? No. He easily threw those knives at me, there's no doubt he would be able to catch up to me. I couldn't even sense his presence.

"My name is… Percy." I replied with a little hesitation, "Percy Jackson."

Was this a ghost? The knives were pretty real. It must be some sort of power. He must have some sort of invisible power.

"Well Percy Percy Jackson. What are you doing here?" the voice asked menacingly.

"I'm here for the freshmen tryouts, but I uh, got lost on my way to the waiting room." I replied steadily.

There was silence for a while as the mysterious figure seemed to think something over.

"Hello?" I asked into the silence. I edged my feet forward slowly back towards the way I came from. My body was on high alert and I was ready to break into my fastest run.

"Yes?" a voice suddenly replied behind me.

Startled; I jumped forward into a somersault and landed a distance away turning immediately to face the ghost.

I was facing an enormous man. He had to be nearly 7 feet tall. He was wearing a jet black suit with blood red stripes running downwards and had on black dress shoes. He was incredibly muscular and had skin as white as snow. Where his eyes should have been were dark and imposing beads that stood out against his pale skin with a thin black goatee that seemed neatly well trimmed. There was a sort of madness to his eyes as he stared directly at me. He broke into a grin and slowly pulled out the steel that had been cut into the wall, all the while maintaining his steady gaze on my persons.

How had he appeared behind me so quickly? How had such a huge man appeared out of nowhere. There was no way he had come from the door behind me. A second ago he had just been somewhere in front of me.

Every fibre of my body screamed run. I had never felt such pressure from anyone before. This man was definitely dangerous. I had to get out of here.

He was the first to speak.

"My… apologies Mr… Percy Jackson, was it?" His voice no longer held the hostile and dangerous tone, but it reminded me of a snake hissing and toying with its prey. "I had thought you were an intruder and well… mistakes were made."

"Mistakes? You nearly killed me." I replied a matter of factly, as I raised my two fingers towards him. "Twice."

"It was a simple mistake and I will appreciate you running along… and forgetting all about it." He said, with absolutely no indifference in his tone. "I will give you 5 seconds to walk away or I will make you go away."

"Wha-?"

"5."

I stepped backwards. Was he for real?

"4."

"Ok, ok. I got it." I said defiantly. "Sheesh."

"3."

I turned around and started walking back the way I came from. After about 2 steps, the counting had stopped and I turned back. The creepy man had disappeared almost as silently as he had appeared. I shook my head and continued walking away.

No one's POV

The empty corridor stood silent as he made sure that the boy had truly left. He closed his eyes and let his power seep further covering the entire area within a 2m radius. Finally he was alone. He opened his eyes and light poured through as he materialized out from the shadows.

Slowly walking towards the door covered in bronze, and strips of black iron, the man pressed on the security panel. 6, 6, 6. The sound of the metal unlocking as the sound of decompression let in air from the outside world into the room. The man walked in, but there was nothing in it. Absolute darkness covered the room, unnaturally shielding it from any light. No one would be able to see anything looking into it, and no one would be able to see anything while in the room. He stepped in and closed the door behind him.

The name on the door read, Dr Hades.