Perseus POV

There was no way I could have been expected to see this coming. In fact, anyone who had seen this coming, I would've suggested a vision check for, or a brief stay at a mental institution. I wasn't a complete suck-up to the Olympians, but I was pretty loyal, so you'd think I'd get some points for effort, but: Nope! As soon as I got powerful, they got scared. They could have left me alone, but NAH! Let's poke it with sticks, or in simpler terms, they tested me. They made me jump through hoops, just to see how high I could jump. Please note, all you stupid people out there, the entire last sentence, was a metaphor. They actually made me fight to survive. They did testing and studied me, they even made up a calendar for me. Mondays, I'd be in the lab of Apollo, getting lab cultures done, and my brain scanned. Tuesdays, I had a date with Athena in the sparring hall, testing reaction to neural stimuli and attempting to detect enhancements in battle capability. Wednesdays, I had off, while Thursdays, I would spend being chased around all over the eastern seaboard by a pack of vicious, prepubescent girls in silver get-ups and wielding silver bows and arrows. Friday was a fun day for me. On Fridays I would get to wander around Olympus, and usually I would spend my day between Apollo, Artemis, Athena, or Aphrodite's palace. I'm not doing anything wrong with Aphrodite, you perv, but she is a bit lonely ever since Ares became a common sight in the infirmary, and I was good company since Hephaestus wasn't much of a companion. Unfortunately for me, or fortunately, today was Tuesday.

I dodged Athena's jab to my chest, jumping back to avoid the side slash that she followed through with. Jumping forward with a move that I had seen in dreams, I swung my scythe sideways from the left, and reached out with my other hand to grab the edge of the scythe and locked her in a stalemate. I brought my knee up to her chest and locked it there, we were at loggerheads, her spear was useless at this close distance and I couldn't move an inch without dropping my knee and leaving myself begging for a crotch-shot.

" I have a question." I said while we were in this position. "Why is it that all of these people that used to be my friend are suddenly acting like they don't know me? I mean, you and I used to be getting along fine…-ish. I mean we weren't BFF's but I genuinely liked you as a person, and now you keep pushing me away! why?" I asked, pleading with her to give me something to work with. I don't know why, but I think I saw her inner shields breaking for just a moment, and then she just put the shields back up and lashed out with a kick to my leg, and knocked me onto the ground. I jumped up and leapt backwards. I was angry now, I was pouring my heart out to her and she just used it as an opening. I leapt forward and slashed quickly at her defended left side and broke through her spear by loosing a kick with the inside of my leg, directly into my scythe, giving a second burst of power, breaking her spear into two halves and reducing her reach. I lashed out again at her spear side and pulled back at the last second, moving my hand up the handle of the scythe. I skimmed my scythe along the handle of Athena's spear and hooked the base of the blade and pulled back even more, ripping her weapon out of her hands. I couldn't attack her like this, it wouldn't be fair, so I gave her a choice.

"Please, Athena, just talk to me." I said pleadingly. She seemed to break down, but only for a second, suddenly she was standing straight up, completely undefended. She tilted her head to the side and reached into her pocket, pulling out what appeared to be a remote. We made eye contact for a few seconds and I raised my eyebrow at her, but she waved me off. She pressed a button on her remote and said out loud, to no one in particular. "Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, in the Key of E flat." And suddenly a song started up, surrounding me in a cocoon of sound, but it was just too somber.

"Pttb! No thank you! How about, Monster by The Automatic Automatic?" I said, the same way that Athena did, interrupting her song midway. I smiled sarcastically at her and stalked forward to her, my smile taking on a more sinister tone. I would never, and I mean, never hurt Athena, but I was going to give her one hell of a scare. She summoned another spear and her shield Aegis which was beginning to lose it's effect on me. Athena met my charge with one of her own, but this time, she wasn't pulling punches. Or slashes, I thought to myself coyly as I pulled myself up from the matrix position, pulling my torso back as she stabbed at me again. I finally saw my opening and I took it. The pattern was slowly becoming more and more in sync with the music, and I caught her at the chorus. I pulled her in close, and just as we were about to be vertically cuddling, she whispered in my ear.

"Meet me after the sparring match, not on Olympus, though. There's a group of us that disagree with Zeus' decision. We'll speak later, for now, we fight." She said, I was so happy that I did something that surprised even me, and I'm the one who did it, I leaned over and kissed Athena's cheek. I'm known for not thinking things through, but this was beyond even me. Then I jumped up and away, blushing horribly, I smiled hesitantly and threw my new sword in its sheath to the ground, it was only weighing me down. Athena's eyes flitted to the sword and back to me. I laughed slightly at the look on her face, she looked so contemplative, like she was staring at a chess board.

"It's a beautiful blade." I stated. She nodded her agreement and proceeded to attack me relentlessly, she jabbed at me, and I jumped back, grabbing her spear on the last drum solo again. I pulled on the shaft and drew her forward, kicking her in the chest, not hard enough to kill her, but enough to knock her breathe out of her. I held on to her arm and pulled her close to me. I brought my scythe around her and made sure that she was in the same position again. I smiled at her and said very quietly, "I win, you can't distract me again."

"You win." Athena said sullenly, I don't know why, but I hated seeing her like this so I let her go and jumped back, and released her. She stared at me flabbergasted, glared hard, and I smiled. "Don't patronize me Perseus."

"I'm not patronizing you, I accidentally dropped your arm." I said, making her raise an eyebrow. "Oops, butterfingers! I guess that means you win." I said. Athena shook her head at me when I mentioned butterfingers and smiled at me like I was just being stupid. She transported away her spear and shield and picked up my sword, throwing it to me. I laughed and caught it. "Now what? Since I'm done with training today, would you like to go somewhere. I would be honored if you were to come with me to somewhere off Olympus." I said, bowing slightly, with a mildly hopeful look on my face.

"Umm, sure, I guess." She said, and I thanked my lucky constellation she remembered about the meeting with my fan club or else she would have killed me for asking her out. "Of course, wherever we go, you're paying." She said straightening up and smirking.

"Great, I'll meet you in five minutes at the elevator, and if you meet anyone on my fan club then if you would bring them along with you too." I said quietly. Athena stared at me strangely, and I realized that she didn't know what I meant by 'fan club'. "I mean, any of my friends, and see if you can get Annabeth, to come with you, eh?"

Athena half flinched, half grimaced when I mentioned Annabeth. "Umm, Annabeth, she, umm, isn't really receptive to the whole, thing with you. Um-" I stopped her here, and interrupted her by saying.

"Just say it, please, I hate it when people mince words." I said, frowning. I was on the verge of a panic attack when she cleared her throat.

"Annabeth doesn't want to see you, she…hates you and, I fears she may be on Zeus' side." Athena said with a quiver in her voice. I was angry, to say the least, but I knew that it wasn't Athena's fault, it was my fault. I was going to talk to her about it later, but I knew that with Zeus watching, now would not be the best time.

"Thank you, thank you for telling me." I said as I started to feel the tears fall down my face. I walked out of the arena and into the area that I was staying at. I didn't feel like walking, so I tried something new, something that I had only done once, hydro-port, or as that's what I like to call it anyway. I walked up to one of the fountains that Olympus seems to have so many of. I didn't know exactly how it worked but Athena said something about wavelengths and mass and stuff like that, I really wasn't paying attention. I jumped in and focused on the water around me and imagined a drain, a drain that all the water in the world was falling into, I then imagined coming out at the fountain in my palace, and suddenly, I was there. I changed out of my armor and noticed something strange in the mirror. I usually wasn't vain, but I looked to be getting leaner, trimming down. I'd seen Jason's change as he practiced with his fighting. He got bigger arms and a broader chest when he really pushed himself, while I seemed to get smaller, like I was all fat before. I shook my head, but the thought lingered, and I was doing way more than Jason did. I trained with gods. I fight Ares on a regular basis, and Athena, and Artemis, so how was I getting smaller? I finally cleared my head and started to get dressed.

I put on a rugged pair of cargo khakis, and a T-shirt that said; The truth is out there, and a picture of an eye on the center. I had gotten the T-shirt from Rachel who had a friend that made T-shirts. I grabbed my London jumper and my tactical weapons, a deadly pen named Anaklusmos, and a switchblade that magically extended into a scythe with the words Amnesia etched in, which translated mean, riptide and oblivion. I don't usually use a shield, so I started my trek down to the elevator.

"Took you long enough, Percy. What, did you decide you had to redo your makeup?" Athena asked me, teasingly. I decided that I would be the mature one and stuck my tongue out at her. She smiled at me, and I smiled back.

"Let's go, I haven't been off Olympus in ages!" I said, putting my arm out. Athena roped her arm through and we stepped into the elevator. When we reached the ground floor I tipped the doorman and walked out the door. I didn't know where we were going so I gestured for Athena to lead the way and she led me down the street to a coffee shop. She stepped up to the door and I opened it for her, shooting her a smile. She stepped by me, nodding slightly, and I stepped in behind her. I started a scan of the room and saw a booth in the back with a motley assortment of people in it, from a giant ginger, to a mousy little girl wearing a skirt. I followed Athena over and sat down beside her. The group I saw blew my mind. Artemis, Hephaestus, Hestia, Hermes, Apollo, and of course, Athena all squeezed into one booth. I was confused as to why Dad wasn't here, and Artemis was, but I shook the thoughts out of my head, I was lucky enough to have the people I did have here.

"Percy." Hestia said as she gave me a hug. She was in her eight year old form, so it looked like I was greeting my little sister. I hugged Hestia as I spun her around and put her down as I sat down. I looked across the table and saw all of their eyes on me, I flinched slightly but reverted to my sarcastic ways as usual when I was uncomfortable.

"I sell eight by ten glossies if you want the picture to last longer, because, I hate to break it to you, but I'm probably going to die soon, anyone want to buy?" I asked nervously, while tapping my foot on the floor. Athena smirked slightly and Artemis rolled her eyes. I laughed at their responses and hugged Hestia closer to me, she symbolized hope for me, and I wanted her as close as possible.

An hour into the meeting, I had gone through two muffins, two cups of espresso, and a brownie, much to the dismay of all of the other residents of the meeting, but instead of feeling over-hyper I felt, settled, calm. I also felt brimming with questions, questions like.

"Why am I getting skinnier if I keep on training? I mean, I'm not usually vain, but I'm shrinking, and I'm wondering if this has to do with the stuff, despite training with Athena, and Ares and Artemis. I- well, it'll be easier if I show you. Is there somewhere we can go to get some privacy?" I asked quietly, while leaning forward, to show urgency. Artemis nodded and started to get up when suddenly everyone in the café got up and left dropping their leftover food and drinks in the trash and saying goodbye to the owner of the shop, who they referred to as Aunty D. At first I was worried, the last 'Aunty' I had met was a gorgon, I shuddered to think what this one would be. I was pleasantly surprised to see Demeter standing behind the counter, smiling at the retreating forms of the customers. She looked over at us I noticed Artemis nod at her and she snapped her fingers, lowering all of the blinds, and went behind, into the kitchen, or I assumed that's what was back there.

"Take your shirt off." A feminine voice said behind me. I was startled, so I obeyed without question, but not without snark

"I work for tips, you know." I smirked, but the heavy atmosphere made me obey. When I turned around I saw Athena with a strange look on her face, it was somewhere in between a studying scowl and a constrained smile. Feeling all these eyes on me made me blush as well. I turned to look at Artemis, she looked mildly curious as well, but she wasn't blushing. Apollo was curious as well, but more as a doctor than anything else, I mean, he was straight. Hestia was smiling too, but she was smiling at Athena's face.

"This is strange. Apollo?" Athena asked quickly. Apollo walked up to me and poked me and prodded me all over my arms and upper chest. I didn't like being treated like a guinea pig, but still, I was looking for answers, so I bit my tongue. I looked over at Apollo and noticed him looking at my arm with glazed over eyes.

"I've never seen something like this before. There is no way this could happen, but it happened. Percy's muscles are, well, they've compounded, I guess." Apollo said, focusing for once. "Muscles are basically strands of cells that have certain elastic properties, but these, these are beyond anything I have ever seen. Percy's cells have ten times the strength that usual muscles should have, he is probably stronger than every god on Olympus. Percy has the ability to gain more and more strength, but he will never get bigger."

"Hunter!" Artemis suddenly exclaimed. "He's built like a hunter," Artemis said, blushing slightly with all the eyes on her. "He's not a gargantuan giant, but he can punch like one, so he can maneuver underbrush, and draw his bow with amazing power." Artemis finished uncertainly, blushing at the smile that she was receiving from me.

I was about to put my shirt on when there was a flash of someone teleporting in. Suddenly something made sense, why there was no interruption. Suddenly Hecate and Nike appeared in the room with us. Hecate was panting heavily and sweating, looking like she was about to pass out. I ran to her side and helped her to a chair, setting her down and hopping the counter to get her some water. Hecate took the water and thanked me. Me and Hecate were close because she had been one of the people that had actually performed the tests that Athena wanted. Nike and me were pretty close, but not as much as Hecate.

"Nike, would you care to explain what is going on?" Athena asked impatiently. "I told you, you need to make sure that no one finds this meeting. Is everything alright?" Athena asked as she saw Hecate's obvious discomfort.

"Tomorrow… Zeus…Hunting…Percy… Deathly Games." Hecate barely managed to say between gasps.

"What she meant to say is that tomorrow the Deathly Games will start. You and your hunters will be hunting Percy, and if you find him you have to kill him. Either that, or you have to give up your seat on the Olympian council." Nike said quickly, she walked up to Percy and hugged him. Percy had grown close to and was respected by many of the minor gods and goddesses.

"Alright then. I'm going to need to see my mother, say goodbye. Then I'll go to camp, say my goodbyes. When they burn my shroud te-" I said before suddenly 'SMACK'

Artemis slapped me, across my face, harder than I had ever been hit before. I turned to look at her and saw tears streaming down her face. She looked at me and I saw the pain in her eyes.

"Don't you dare say that, you are not going to die, we'll find a way. Athena always has a plan, we won't let you die, You really think that we'll just let you give up, you're special, different, and honestly, you're a great friend." Artemis said as she wiped the tears from her face. I frowned, unsure of why she was this sensitive, but I walked over to her and looked her in the eyes. She hit me in the back of the head again and I lurched forward. I was worried about how angry she was, so I didn't look up yet. Artemis looked up at me and grabbed my chin, pushing it up. She was crying again so I reached down to wipe the tear stains from her face.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you upset, but," I said, beginning to put some steel in my voice. "I will not let any of my friends, you included, be harmed if I can help it." I stood up and grabbed her shoulders, she flinched slightly, but I pulled her to me in a hug. Hestia, Athena, Nike and Hecate also pulled into the hug.

"Guys, Athena has a plan." Athena said suddenly, conjuring a table and a set of chairs. I pulled out a chair for Artemis and pushed it back in for her and then sat down beside her, rubbing circles on her back gently. Hestia sat on my other side. "Now, we know where the Deathly Games will most likely take place, because we'd need a large area to even perform a hunt. Now, using that to our advantage, we can set up a safe area where we can keep you, and send Artemis back with a falsified kill-proof. All we need is enough blood to make it look believable, and something you would never part with." Here, Hestia, one of the few who didn't know about hunting asked the question that was nagging me as well, in a form.

"What's kill-proof?" She asked, and I smiled at her naivety. "What would possibly be important enough to Perseus to have to kill him to get it?" I tried to keep the surprise off my face, but I failed, completely. Five hours and three pints later, I was drop dead tired and a little bit worried when I went to bed that night, there had been a lot of work for me and despite my increased strength, I was still tired.

My dreams were scattered and frightening that night, I saw many things that scared me beyond belief, there were my friends, screaming, being slaughtered, their blood was being spilt for me, and their heads rolling as I sat on a throne of bones and watched on, and I hated it. There they were, dying for me.

I woke up in a cold sweat, but despite the terrifying dreams, I wasn't scared, I was angry, determined, and stone set on completing the task ahead of me. I got up and got dressed, pulling on a pair of camouflage pants and a black shirt, I pulled on a pair of combat boots and a pair of combat bowie knives. I grabbed a hat and scarf off of my dresser and grabbed a leather jacket and some small pieces of armor, like a pair of vambrances, a pair of pauldrons and a mail shirt that would defend my chest and wasn't too heavy.

I walked up to the throne room to see the council, despite already knowing what my test for today would be. Or so I thought. Two minutes into the meeting, things were getting strange. The way Zeus was speaking, made it seem like there would be more than just hunters coming after me.

"The campers from Camp Half Blood and from Camp Jupiter have been alerted to this hunting, and some have been chosen for the hunting in this tournament. There are fifteen others who will be joining the fight. Leo Valdez, Jason Grace, Reyna , Rachel Dare, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Nico Di Angelo, Travis and Connor Stoll, Clarisse La Rue, Katie Gardner, Aaron Diaz, Cameron Wiles, Joshua Barrowman, and finally, William Terrace will be joining the hunt." Zeus read off from a list that he had.

"I know most of them, but who are the last four on that list." I asked confused. I looked over at Athena, worry evident in my eyes. I knew this would hamper our plans, but we were going to continue, I knew that, Athena and Artemis wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Aaron Diaz, son of Ares, Cameron Wiles, son of Apollo, Joshua Barrowman, my son, and William Terrance, son of Hermes. I know that you haven't heard of them, but, they are great heroes and loyal to me- I mean Olympus." Zeus said, attempting to cover up his mistake. "They will be part of the group that will be hunting you. There is one thing I almost forgot to mention. Just in case you thought that this would be like the rest of the hunts, the hunters will be forced to use deadly force, or if they attempt to do so, they will be rewarded, with immortality, and if they succeed, they will be granted godhood." Zeus said with a smirk on his face. I knew that this meant that they would be trying extra hard, but I also knew that I had trained harder than anyone in camp. I had fought Ares at full strength, I was sure that these new campers couldn't be any harder.

"Alright. So, where is this 'hunt' going to take place?" I asked. I needed to know my surroundings if I was to survive long enough for our plan to succeed.

"The hunt will take place in Adirondack park, near the blue ridge mountains, you will receive a five minute head start. You will be given a bow and arrow and a spear." Zeus said smugly, he knew that I was no good with a bow or a spear, that's why he gave these to me.

"As you wish, Lord Zeus." I replied barely controlling my rage. "But I have one request. I have to know that you will not kill any hunter that I escape. And also, is there, by any chance, a safe zone?" I asked calmly. I knew that the answer was no, but I just needed him to say that. In case he had any plans of trying to avoid this fate that he had brought on himself.

"You're a funny one, aren't you Percy. I think not, you are going to be hunted, there really is no escape from this." Zeus said with a small smile on his face. I figured he would say that, but I had to ask. "However, no hunter shall be punished if you slip through their hands."

"Very well, your will be done." I said calmly, not taking my eyes off of the hearth. Suddenly, I was teleported away, into an area of woods that I had never seen before. There was low underbrush and some higher canopy trees. I knew that my best bet was to start on my way toward the pre-ordained safe zone, but I had to make the campers think I was being defiant with a last stand. I started cutting down thin trees and bushes, the hunters would know the trick and would be much more careful than the campers. I knew that Thalia, Jason and Leo were my aces. They were friends that I trusted, but that Zeus didn't know about.

A hunting horn rang out through the woods, but thankfully I had finished my 'fortifications' and was now setting off in a line north. Zeus may have thought that I was no good with a bow, but I had been training with Artemis, Apollo and all of the hunters. I drew the bow and without bending, the bow snapped in half. I growled, I was pissed, no I was enraged, but I should have suspected such treachery. Zeus had given me a bend-less bow and probably a dull spear. I pull it off my back and swung it experimentally. SNAP, the tip flies off with the entire front half of the spear, another fake. I pull a couple arrows out of the quiver and a thought hits me. I may not have a bow, but an arrow tip is aerodynamic enough to throw accurately, right? Well, I'll find out' I thought to myself, as he began to pull the tips off of the arrows.

After I finished the arrows I set on my way north, planning for an encounter with the hunters and the campers at any second. There was a rustling in the bushes near me, and I knew that this would be when the shit hit's the fan. The first enemy wasn't visible, but I heard them. I waited for a second footstep, but instead, I got a deadly projectile, skimming the air beside my ear.

I leapt to the side, and rolled a couple times, avoiding the gold blurs that became arrows as they embedded themselves in the ground. I knew who my enemy was, without seeing him. Cameron Wiles, that Apollo camper who Zeus told me was his lapdog. I automatically went on alert. Looking at the angles that the arrows came at, determining my enemy's location. A smart hunter would have already moved after the first miss, so I now knew it had to be him. He fired another arrow, from the same direction, skimming my side and cutting my jacket. I leapt forward, automatically drawing my impromptu knife. I already had a plan of attack, open to improvisations. First I would disarm him by cutting his bowstring, then I would- no, better idea. I would cut the bow itself, and use the string to tie him up. I would then take his arrows and move on to the next guest. Perfect.

Just as I approached him and raised my knife there was another rustle. Instead of the arrow I was expecting, I heard a scream and saw an unarmed figure running for their life. I looked down and saw that Cameron must have dropped his bow and quiver. I hunched over and started laughing. Then I remembered something: I have to follow him, he'll lead me to the rest of his group. I followed him silently until he reached a group of campers, they were obviously waiting for him to come back with good news. He met up with the group of four other campers and without warning my blood boiled, and my world flipped upside down. Annabeth, hanging off of that son of Zeus' arm, Joshua. I was mad enough that Annabeth just ditched me, but she ditched me for another guy. Now I think its about time that I got some revenge, and as a wise man once said, revenge is a dish best served with a side of whoop-ass.

As soon as I jumped out of the tree that I was hiding in, I instantly went into battle mode. I first lunged at the son of Hermes, giving him a swift kick to the kidneys, making him lurch forward and away from me. By now everyone was aware of my presence and was beginning to arm themselves. I drew my one of my 'sorta-knives' and threw one, embedding it into Cameron. Annabeth attacked me with an upward strike from her dagger and I leaned back, like in the matrix and kicked upward with my left foot, knocking the dagger up, out of her hand. After that, I leaned all the way back and planted my hands on the ground and pushed myself up and knocked Annabeth down. Then I leaned forward and used one of my arrowheads to stick her to the ground, effectively disabling her. I grabbed the dagger out of midair and threw it at the son of Zeus, it lodged itself into his shoulder and I jumped up, kicking him with both feet, in midair. He flew backward and I went and grabbed his sword from him. After scavenging all the weapons that I could, I heard a snap near me, like the breaking of a branch. I whirled around, already swinging my newly scavenged sword.

I was surprised to see Leo and Thalia, standing there, looking mildly perturbed. So surprised, in fact, that I kept my arm swinging and tripped forward, but I caught myself and stood up straight. I almost laughed at the face that they were making. Thalia was looking at me as if I had grown a second head, and Leo looked like his eyes were about to go on vacation from his skull. I didn't brush my hair that morning, so I didn't know if that was what they were staring at so I looked up, worried that I might have an ugly cowlick. Soon though, her face changed, and Thalia looked like she was deciding whether or not to laugh at me.

"What?!" I asked, impatiently. "What are you staring at?" I was about to wave my hand in front of their faces, but Leo shook his head and said.

"How did you do this? Three guys and Annabeth in less than ten seconds without allowing them to draw their swords. Dude, you're like a ninja."

"No, no, not a ninja, more like a velociraptor from Jurassic Park." Thalia said with a bit of awe, detectable in her voice. I smiled slightly but soon let the smile seep from my face. There was danger, I could feel it. There was a throbbing in the base of my skull, like a pulse, but not mine. I rose slowly to the balls of my feet, while bending my knees ever so slowly, I brought my arms up with a knife in a down position. I motioned for Leo and Thalia to be silent and listened for breathing from the attacker. I felt a presence, but no breathing, just a hum, like the sound of an engine, a huge engine, like a V-8 Hemi on steroids, on steroids. I sounded deadly, more deadly than anything that I had faced before, and I had faced gods and Titans and even giants. But this, this scared me witless.

Suddenly there was a flash of binding darkness and the hum got louder. I looked around to find the source of the hum and the light. There, it was behind me. I whirled around, ready to embed an arrowhead in whatever it is that's giving off this light and this sound.

The arrowhead flew with perfect accuracy, and embedded itself into someone that would change my life forever, literally, forever.