CHAPTER 3

SPIRIT OF ELYSIUM

Disclaimer: All recognizable works do not belong to me.

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PERCY

He wasn't sure how it happened, but Percy found himself in yet another predicament.

After the battle for Olympus he was hoping that everything would calm down and he would get to experience a normal (or as close to normal as a demigod could get) life. Things were good. No monsters were attacking him, camp was kept busy with the new housing going up, and best of all; Annabeth was his girlfriend. Grover had his new responsibilities, but they still managed to hang out and play video games.

It would have been perfect, except for the giant hole that was missing in his life now.

Percy would have given anything to have Bella back again.

The memory of her falling through that floor on Olympus woke him every night for weeks. The nightmares seemed like they would never end. He should have saved her. He should have done more to help. His only sister, and because he was too weak, she was gone. And her spirit now residing in Elysium.

I love you, brother, she had said. Her final words were for him and he just stood there and watched as she went through the floor.

He knew that his constant need to beat himself up for what happened to Bella worried Annabeth. She had tried to tell him that Bella would not approve of Percy blaming himself up for what happened. But that only made him feel worse. Couldn't he do anything right by Bella?

It was his carelessness and self-decimating thoughts that caused his current situation.

If he had been focused (or as focused as a teenager with ADHD could get), then maybe he would have realized that he was being followed. He never would have been captured without a fight. And he never would have been walking the streets of New York alone.

He had made it a whole three months after the battle with no problems; no monsters attacked him, no quests for him were made, and no prophecies were made about him.

But of course, good things never last in the life of a demigod.

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"Wake up!"

Percy groaned. Why was his head throbbing?

Why did his mouth feel like one big cotton ball?

"Up!" Whoever was yelling at him, gave Percy a kick in the ribs, something that was not entirely pleasant as he seemed to already be sore there.

Slowly Percy opened his eyes. Everything was blurry at first, but as his eyes focused, he realized that maybe he didn't want to be awake.

Before him, chained to the wall like a mere mortal, sat the goddess Hecate. He only recognized her immediately because Annabeth had suggested that he study and know the minor gods and goddesses by sight since he was the one who was responsible for their cabins being built. But what the Hades was she doing chained up?

It occurred to him to pull his arms, and sure enough, Percy was chained to the wall as well.

Someone chuckled to his right. "You won't be going anywhere, anytime soon, demigod."

Percy opened his mouth to make a retort, but ended up coughing instead. His mouth was like a desert.

The person laughed again. "Need some water there, son of Poseidon?"

Despite his knowing that he shouldn't fall into a trap, Percy felt his eyes get wide. Still unable to talk, he looked to his right. Immediately he knew something was wrong, besides the fact that he was chained up in a room with a goddess, for the person before him was no human. He may have looked like one, but it was the subtle things that caught Percy's attention. The guy had extremely pale skin, red eyes, and was too beautiful for his own good.

Percy knew what he was almost right away, vampire.

"Who are you?" he coughed out.

"You'll find out soon enough."

Percy struggled against the chains that held his arms and legs. He had the bathed in the River Styx, he wasn't about to be held down by some simple chains.

"You can forget about escaping. We know all about you. All of your strengths," the guy gave Percy a creepy smile, "and all of your weaknesses, Percy Jackson."

"How do you –"

"Know who you are?" the vampire interrupted. His eyes flew to the only other occupant in the room. Hecate held her head high, defiant to both of their stares. "It would seem that not all of the gods and goddesses are on your side, demigod."

Percy knew this of course, but Hecate? He was sure that he had never even met her. He didn't even have any beef with any of her children.

"Enough," Hecate said. Her eyes met Percy's for a second before flashing back to the vampires. "You have what you want, now if you will hold up your end of the bargain and set my empousai free."

Percy had to hold back a sharp retort. She had sold him out for an empousai?

The vampire threw his head back and laughed. "You really believed that we would set that girl free? You are dealing with the Volturi, your highness," he sneered.

Hecate pulled against her chains.

"Oh, by all means, go ahead and break free," the vampire urged. "Just remember that it means a certain slow and agonizing death for that girl."

Hecate stopped, slumping to the floor once again.

Percy couldn't believe it. The goddess of magic, Hecate, was letting herself be controlled by a bunch of vampires? Annabeth would never believe this.

"What do you want with me?" Percy asked. Nothing was making sense to him. If they had a goddess then what did they need him for? He was just a demigod. A demigod who was seriously losing it – everything was starting to get blurry. His strength was failing him. And he was so thirsty.

"You'll find out soon enough." The vampire moved towards the door. "It would seem that not only have we got the most powerful demigod as our prisoner, but that we also got a goddess of importance. It would appear that as you grow weaker, witch, the more mortals are witness to your world."

What was he –?

The mist! Percy suddenly remembered that Hecate was the one in charge of the mist. She must be worse off than he realized if it was failing.

Percy couldn't hold on any longer. He was so tired, but most of all, he was so thirsty.

The last thing Percy heard before he blacked out was the vampire's chuckle.

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Everything was black. He couldn't even see his hand right in front of him.

Percy was sure that he had passed out, so where was he? If he was dreaming, then this was the most peaceful dream that he had had in a long time.

"Percy," someone shouted.

He jumped, dumbly looking around before he remembered that he couldn't see anything.

"Percy," they shouted again.

There was nothing else to do, so he shouted back, "Hello?"

A tiny pinprick of a light appeared in front him. He had to squint at the brightness.

"Percy?"

"I'm over here!"

A bleat came from the light and Percy smiled.

"Grover!" he called. He made a move to run towards the light and found that he couldn't. His arms and legs were chained, much like his body was outside of the dream. His and Grover's link was still there, but he must be weaker than he realized to only be able to talk to him. "Grover, I'm over here!"

"Where are you?"

Grover didn't mean in this dream, he meant in real life. Percy frowned. "I don't know. Some vampires have me captive."

Percy didn't have to see Grover to feel the worry that he was giving off.

"We know."

"You do?"

"Rachel had a vision. But Percy, we finally tracked down the Cullen's and they refuse to help. Our link was the last hope of getting yours and Hecate's location."

Percy frowned, but he couldn't really blame the Cullen's. Bella had told him that they were as close as family at one point. If that were true, then it must have really hurt them to hear from the demigods again. It would only have served as a reminder that Bella wasn't there anymore. He was hurting far more than he showed for his fallen sister, they must be feeling some sort of pain as well.

"What now? I can try and get our location."

Their link was fading. Percy wasn't sure if it was because he was so tired, but he could feel Grover start to get farther away.

"We have one last hope. I'm sorry, but we have to. We can't let it get any worse."

Percy struggled to hear the end. Grover was gone. Their link had faded.

What had he meant? He couldn't have meant her.

They couldn't take Bella from Elysium.

Could they?

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Claps for me, I'm back.

It's been a hot minute, hasn't it?

I didn't want to write in Percy's point of view (it's kind of challenging for me, his humor). Sorry if it's not the Percy that we know and like. But there were some things in my outline that I missed with the last two chapters, so I had to add them in somehow.

Sorry for the break.

Hope you like it!

Leave a review if you're happy that I finally made it back to this story ;]