Ultimate Percy Jackson

Percy looked at Luke's shoes from the corner of his eyes for the fifth time or so. Questions flew around in his head. Did Luke know they were cursed? Did someone curse them? Was someone targeting Luke? If so who? And why?

Percy could only come to two conclusions;

The person who cursed Luke's shoes hated Luke.

The person who cursed Luke's shoes wanted him dead

The person who cursed Luke's shoes did it before he left camp, because they never encountered anyone strong enough in magic to curse a godly artifact like these.

The only person who would want Luke hurt would be the Lightning thief, Luke was on the quest to find the lightning and expose the thief, so it made sense. That or a crazy ex-girlfriend or something.

Percy then spoke up, "hey Luke do you really think it's a good idea to wear those shoes?"

Luke looked up startled, "what do you mean Percy?"

"Well it's just that those things make you fly right? And the air is kind of Zeus's domain. I just don't want you to get zapped or something."

Luke shrugged, "yeah it's cool. I'm the son of Hermes, technically his grandson. He won't really have a problem with me using them. If anything my dad would probably be more pissed off."

Percy nodded, "okay then if you are sure." Percy then spoke about camp and other random topics but all the while his mind was wondering how he should get rid of those damned shoes. He needed them off of Luke before they entered Hades. Maybe he should throw acid on them or something.

Grover eventually spoke up, "so when are we going to reach LA?"

"By mid-night or so," Percy replied.

"Good. Nothing can stop us now," Grover said with a victorious smirk.

Percy smacked his head, "you idiot!"

"W-what?" Grover asked sheepishly.

"You don't say shit like that Grover," Luke exclaimed.

"What? Why not?"

"Because you'll jinx it!" Percy yelled out as suddenly the train started to shake a little, "great, just great. I hope your happy Grover."

The Satyr threw his hands up, "I'm sorry!"

Suddenly a woman's scream was heard from the back of the train, "BEAR!" Percy sighed as he got up and walked to the back of the train with Luke and Grover following them.

"What do you think it is?" Grover asked as he took out the blade he got from the forge of Hephaestus.

"Probably not a bear," Luke replied as he took out his sword, "should be just a monster, probably the Mist made her seen a bear instead."

"So it's something big and scary, yes?" Percy asked as he took out Riptide.

"Yup."

"Good."

Percy and the rest quickly walked to the last compartment from which men and women ran from, "get out of here kids!" Cried out one of the men as he ran out of the room.

"We're good," Percy called out showing Riptide.

"I don't think a baseball bat is going to take care of that thing!" the man yelled.

"Relax, we'll be fine," Luke replied as he put a hand on the man's shoulder, "you should probably leave, we'll make sure somebody isn't trapped in there with the bear."

The man looked into Luke's eyes and then nodded dumbly, "okay," his voice was calmer than before, "I'll do that."

The man then walked away leaving them alone, "Jedi mind trick?" Percy asked.

"Jedi mind trick," Luke nodded.

The three managed to reach the last compartment and there standing between broken seats and fallen bags were three cyclopes. They were all dressed in golden armour and had spears on their side. Luckily they didn't notice Percy and co. so the group of questers quickly hide behind a row of seats.

"You idiot!" cried one of the cyclops. This one was the biggest of the three and was currently scolding the smallest, "if you didn't act so stupid we might have just managed to sneak up on them!"

"But boss we are huge," replied the smallest cyclops, "we can't sneak up on anything."

"I don't care! Lord Hades ordered us to take of these demigods and that's what we are going to do! Got it?!"

"Yes boss," the smallest on replied with a frown.

"I'll take the big one," Luke whispered with a sadistic grin.

"The middle on is mine," Percy said as he took out a water bottle.

"Do I have to fight the smallest one?" Grover asked nervous.

"Why? You want the bigger one?" Luke asked with a smile for which Grover quickly shook his head.

The cyclop's then took up their spears and began to walk to the other compartments. When they walked passed their hiding spot Percy jumped out and swiped Riptide across the middle one's back causing it to fell to his feet in pain.

"Bro!" called the smallest one and then suddenly vines started to creep around his legs and binding him in place.

"What the hell-" the largest one began only to have Luke jump on his back and stick his blade into the cyclops one eye blinding the monster.

"AH!" It roared and fell to it's knees. Percy ran to the big one, used it as a jumping board and launched himself upwards.

The cyclops of average height looked up and saw Percy come down on him, "oh fuc-"

SLASH!

Percy cleaved the monster's head from it's body as it bursted into golden dust leaving behind it's giant spear. Percy then turned and saw Luke slashing away at his cyclops while Grover just managed to bind his by covering him in veins.

So Percy jumped to his friends rescue and took care of the cyclops with ease.

Skill has leveled up!

Sword Mastery, Lv-13 (10%)

Allows user to freely handle swords.

65% more damage when using swords.

Percy closed the box and then checked on Luke. The son of Hermes was finished with his monster and was now panting, but on his face was big grin.

'Do I look like that sometimes?' Percy asked himself as he put away Riptide.

"Well that was easy," Grover said.

BOOM!

"For f.u.c.ks sake grover stop jinxing us!" Luke cried out as he dashed out of the compartment to see what happened outside.

"F.u.c.k!" Luke called out as he slammed the door shut.

"What happened?" Percy asked.

"Someone separated this compartment from the rest. We aren't connected to the train any more."

"Well shit," Percy cursed, "who could do something like that?"

"I don't know, but whoever did this is smart. They used the cyclops attack as a distraction and separated us from the rest. They probably don't want us to reach LA."

Percy's eyes shot up, "the Lightning Thief."

Luke looked surprised, "w-what?"

"I think it was the Lightning Thief that did this. He or she would gain the most from delaying our trip to the Underworld."

"I see," Luke frowned, "well either way we are screwed."

They could feel the carriage slow down to a stop and when it finally did the questers jumped out of the destroyed train carriage and looked around. They found themselves in the middle of nowhere. Surrounding them on both sides was a huge forest, something grover enjoyed immensely.

"So where to now?" Luke asked.

"I'm thinking we need to get to the closest town," Percy replied and then turned to Grover, "any ideas G-man?"

"Huh? Me?" Grover asked stumped.

"Yeah you. The forest is kind of your deal isn't it? Think you can navigate us through this?"

Grover nodded his head quickly and dashed into the forest. Luke chuckled, "I swear he probably jinxed us on purpose just so that we could go through the forest."

Percy chuckled, "wait up Grover!" The two demigods caught up to Grover inside the forest and found their friend talking, or at least he was talking, to a squirrel.

"Really? Really? You don't say? Are you serious? Hmmm sounds like a problem," Grover said stroking his chin.

"Ah Grover….buddy. Are you okay?" Percy asked his friend, "why are you talking to a squirrel?"

"Oh didn't I tell you? I can speak squirrel," Grover replied as he turned back to the squirrel, "that's Percy, my friend. The tall guy is Luke, but be careful he might steal your nuts."

At the the squirrel looked at Luke and started squeaking in an angry tone while holding up a fist. Luke put his hands up, "okay okay I give."

The squirrel then nodded and turned to Grover. It then pointed to the left and ran back up a tree, probably to find more nuts.

"So what did the squirrel say?" asked Percy.

"His name is Fred. And Fred said that there should be a town a few miles that way," Grover pointed to the left.

"Okay then, let's follow the direction given by a squirrel," Percy said walking to the left, "gods I cannot believe I just said that."

Grover then lead them through the forest all the while stopping to ask for directions from the various forest animals. Needless to say this was the strangest thing Percy had done. Not the fact that his life was a video game. Not the fact that he literally fought a demon from hell just yesterday. This.

Grover eventually stopped at a small clearing as the sun started to set finally covering the woods in darkness. "Think we should stop for now?"

Percy nodded, "ya, sounds good."

"Good idea," Luke replied as he started to unpack taking a blanket out of his bag while Percy gathered firewood. He then made a pit and put all he gathered in there. He then looked around and once the coast was clear took out a lighter, the one he nicked from the mafia grunt in the warehouse, from his inventory. He then started the fire and put the lighter in his pocket, don't know when you might need it again.

"That was fast," commented Luke when he saw the fire starting, "sure your are not the son of Hephaestus or something?"

Percy chuckled, "hehe, yeah I'm sure. Anyway where do you think we are?"

Luke shrugged as he sat down next to the fire hugging his blanket, "probably Indiana, maybe Kentucky. I don't know. But we are halfway there, and we would have been there already if someone didn't jinx us!" Luke shouted the last as Grover who nodded sadly.

"Yeah yeah yeah I know I know," Grover waved it off, it was nothing special. Percy and Luke had been shouting at him for the entire time they were hiking through the forest, so he kind of got used to it.

"So what's for dinner?" Percy asked as h pulled out his own blanket from his bag.

"Ah.. I got some berries," Grover said as he held up some white berries which kind of looked like human eyeballs.

"Ah Grover you sure those aren't poisonous?"

"Ah.. I don't think so."

Percy used Observe;

Doll's Eyes,

The entire plant is generally poisonous especially for human beings. The most harmful part is the berry despite its sweet taste. The killer substance is a carcinogenic toxin which causes sudden soothing effects on a person's cardiac muscles and can easily lead to death.

Well shit.

"I think that's Doll's eyes Grover," Percy said, "very sweet and very deadly."

"What?!" Grover shouted as he tossed the berries away.

"Relax I doubt anything that is poisonous to human could kill you," Luke said with a laid back attitude, "how did you know that Percy?"

Percy shrugged, "I read it in a book."

Luke smiled, "you have to much Annabeth in you."

Grover eventually calmed down and smiled sadly, "I remember the last time I was out in the forest camping. Do you Luke."

Luke smiled a sad smile, "yeah. I do."

"When was that?" Percy asked as he felt a story come on.

"It was before we came to camp," Luke said as he looked up at the stars, "we being me, Annabeth….and Thalia."

"I told you about her didn't I Percy?" Grover asked, his voice filled with shame, "I told you how I was assigned to be their protector."

Percy nodded while Luke continued, "I think it was the last night before she… before she died."

"Yeah, it was one of the best nights of my life."

"We sang, danced and lived like there was no tomorrow."

"Remember when Annabeth drew a mustache on your face while you slept? Your were furious about it the next day."

Luke laughed, "haha! God that girl was such a prankster back then!"

"Annabeth?" Percy asked surprised.

"Yeah," Grover nodded, "she once painted my hooves pink and put pompoms on my horns. I didn't notice fore two days!"

Percy laughed out loud, "that's hilarious! I didn't know!"

Luke nodded, "she wasn't the same after Thalia's death. Something in Annabeth died with Thalia."

Grover nodded as he put his head down in shame, "it was all my fault."

"I don't blame you for that you know."

Grover looked up, "what?"

"I don't blame you Grover. You did the best you could, Thalia died on her terms, she died a hero. But she shouldn't have had to be a hero, she shouldn't have had to make that sacrifice. But she was forced to, and why? Because our parents don't give a damn about us."

"Luke that's not true-"

"Bullshit it's not true!" Luke shouted interrupting Grover, "you know it's the truth Grover! You're just to scared to admit it!"

"Luke that's enough," Percy said.

"No Percy it's not! If you weren't there none of the unclaimed would know who their parents were! None of them! They would have died not knowing whether they were loved or hated. You think that's not possible? It is. So many demigods go unclaimed, unprotected, and you know what happens to them? They die. They die. They would have died by the hands of monsters not even knowing why. That Percy is what life our parents condemn us to."

Percy looked at Luke and then sighed, "I know Luke. I know. But I don't care about them. I don't care about revenge, all I care about is my friends and my family. And by that I mean my mom and everyone in camp."

"They deserves to pay Percy!"

"It's not like we can make them feel sorry! It's not like we can make them feel regret! It's like you said Luke, they don't care about us! So you tell me, what the hell can you do to make them feel regret?!"

Luke started at Percy and then spoke in a whisper, "I can destroy Olympus."

"You don't have the power."

"No, no I dont," Luke narrowed his eyes, and then sat down away from the fire. He pulled his blanket up and covered himself up, "good night."

Percy sighed as he pulled out his own blanket from his bag and gave it to Grover, "you sleep first. I'll take first watch."

The Satyr nodded as he slowly pulled the blanket over himself as he slept near the fire.

"Wake me up for the second watch," Luke called out not turning to look at Percy.

Percy sighed, "yeah, okay,"and quickly walked away from the camp site. As soon as he was far away Percy pulled out the gauntlet of Kefka and summoned Alecto and Craig.

"Master," they bowed.

"Protect Luke and Grover from any danger, and make sure they don't see you," Percy ordered his servants as he walked deeper into the forest.

"What are you going to do master?" Alecto asked.

"I need to train," Percy replied as he walked away.

After a few minutes of walking Percy stopped and sat down on a rock structure that looked similar to a bed. Percy then put one hand up and called, "ID create: Empty!" The sky turned red as all the noise of the forest died out.

He then pulled out his skill list and wondered what he should try and level up. Deciding to train the first skill he ever created, Physical endurance, Percy took out the gauntlet of Kefka and summoned Zed.

"Master," Zed bowed

"Zed I need you to hit me," Percy explained.

"W-what?" Zed stammered.

"Hit me," Percy said as he spread his arms out, "but be gentle about it. I know your monstrous strength first hand and I don't want to die."

"Are you sure?" Zed asked as he drew back a fist.

"Yup," Percy replied as channeled mana into his skin thinking out, 'Marble Skin'. He put 100 MP into the spell and felt his skin harden into marble. This along with the jacket he was now wearing should help him survive Zed's attack.

Zed's punch moved slowly, but the moment the fist impacted Percy's body the son of Poseidon flew back and into a tree breaking it's trunk.

"Shit!" Zed cried out as he ran to Percy. "I'm sorry boss!"

"It's okay," Percy grumbled out as he slowly got out of the tree truck patting away the sliders from his jacket, "I'll survive." Percy then pulled up his health bar;

Percy Jackson HP: 128/700

Percy sighed in relief, that was a close one. He closed the box and then;

Ping!

Skill leveled up!

Physical Endurance, Lv-8 (2%)

Your Body's durability increased and you take less damage.

22% less damage from physical attacks.

'Well atleast I know it works now,' Percy then looked at Zed and smiled, "that was perfect Zed. Just let me heal and we can do it again."

Zed nodded dumbly and watched as Percy seemingly pulled food and drinks out of thin air stuffing them all down his throat.

"Woah boss you sure can eat," Zed commented as Percy finished his small feast.

Wiping away pancake crumbs Percy smiled, "thanks. Now, hit me."

This process of training continued for an hour. Percy activated marble skin, got punched, leveled up his Physical Endurance, ate food and then got punched again. Soon he stopped leveling up after just one punch from Zed, it became two punches, and then three. Everytime Zed punched him Percy was courting death, but the reward was well worth the risk.

Physical Endurance, Lv-17 (20%)

Your Body's durability increased and you take less damage.

40% less damage from physical attacks.

Percy smiled at this. If this was how things were going to be he should eventually be able to take no damage at all from physical attacks. But It would be difficult to train in this from now on. Zed was the most physically powerful person he knew and right now he could take two back to back punched from him. That meant eventually he would have be hit by a freaking meteorite or something to gain more training in physical endurance.

Percy closed the box and turned to Zed, "that's enough for now. Dismissed."

"Right boss," Zed nodded as he turned into smoke and evaporated into nothing.

Percy then turned to his skill list again and picked out the next skill ne wanted to train in. Swimming? Can't do it. English language? No books. Teaching? When did I even get that? Og right Nancy, wonder how she's doing.

Finally Percy decided to try out his smoke form, the skill he got from defeating Marchosias. He got to his feet and then called out, "Smoke form!"

Suddenly Percy felt his body loosen up, he felt himself being lost into the air as slowly everything became undone. Percy's eyes didn't exists anymore but he could see his form clearly. He now stood as a bright blue gas with hints of green in the corner. He then tried to move by using his legs only for his entire smoke body to float in the direction he wanted to go.

Percy wished to stop and just like that the cloud stopped, it seemed he could have to think to move, since he didn't have legs anymore. But just as he got a feeling for his new body it became solid again.

Slowly his bones became solid as his heart started to beat again. The pumping of blood pounded in his head, the sound of his breathing was very loud distracting him from anything else. Percy felt his forehead being covered in sweat as he promptly collapsed onto the ground panting.

Becoming formless and then soild was an experience Percy would never forget. The gas body he had was so liberating and free, it was such an addictive feeling to have, almost made Percy understand what it meant to be a god. And when he turned back solid he became painfully aware of just how human he was.

After he stopped panting Percy pulled up his mana bar;

Percy Jackson MP: 250/500

Percy smiled at this, he could go into his smoke form one more time. And so readying himself Percy focused, 'Smoke Form.'

The feeling of formlessness came to him quicker this time, but Percy was ready for it. He quickly began to move across the fields, his body responding to his every command. He was literally gliding across the forest grounds. He moved across the trees seamlessly, he twisted and turned as he explored the forest at a speed only his smokeless form could achieve.

He then saw a tree up ahead and decided to test his limits. He charged ahead at the tree and at the moment of impact his smoke body split in half and met up on the other side. Percy looked back at the tree as he kept glancing forward, it was covered in moisture now, must have come from his smoke form.

He then turned around and saw another tree ahead of him, let's see whether the first time was just luck. Percy charged ahead and as he was about to hit the tree his body transformed back into his solid form. Percy however couldn't stop moving as he crashed into the tree causing it to break in half.

Percy rubbed his head and got up, 'god dammit! F.u.c.k.i.n.g time limit!'

Ping!

Skill has leveled up!

Smoke from, Lv- 2 (23%)

Turns the user's body into smoke, colour depends on person.

Cost- 250 MP

Duration- 30 seconds

Well atleast it leveled up. Percy then opened his inventory to get something to restore his mana and found that his supplies were running low. Deciding to save them Percy closed the inventory and walked back to the stone formation and sat down.

After his mana regenerated at a rate of 20% per minute, that is 100 MP per minute. Note to self improve Wis, for every 10 Wis he had his mana regeneration improved by 5%. Percy understood the implications of this and smiled, he was going to abuse the shit out of this.

After five minutes Percy's mana was fully charged and he got up ready for another round for smoke form training.

Smoke from, Lv- 3 (31%)

Turns the user's body into smoke, colour depends on person.

Cost- 225 MP

Duration- 30 seconds

After three cycles of using up his mana and regenerating it Percy managed to level up the skill once. He would have done more but it was getting late and for the sake of appearances he needed to go wake Luke up for the next shift.

"ID escape!"

The red sky cracked open as Percy walked back to the camp site. As he reached them Alecto and Craig made themselves known appearing in front of Percy and bowing.

"Master."

"Did anything happen?" Percy asked.

"No master," Alecto replied.

"Good. I'm going to bed right now and I will send Luke out to patrol, stay out here and away from him and back him up if anything goes wrong. Then do the same when Grover wakes up for his shift, got it?"

Alecto and Craig nodded and disappeared back into the shadows of the forest. Percy took of the gauntlet of Kefka and put in his inventory and then walked into his camp.

There he walked to Luke's sleeping form and reached out, but just then Luke jumped out and a slash of bronze flew through the air. Percy jumped back just as the blade reached his neck, "stop Luke!"

The son of Hermes looked wide eyed at Percy, his eyes filled with fear as sweat covered his face, "Percy?"

"Yeah, it's me. I came to wake you up, it's your shift Luke."

"Oh, right. Yeah, okay," Luke stammered out as he put his sword away, "sorry about that, it's just-I… bad dream."

Percy bent down, "was it about Thalia?"

"Yes…. it was nothing," Luke then got up and threw his blanket up as he up on his shoes and got ready, "I'll go to patrol, you get some rest."

"If you want I can-"

"-No. No, it's okay. Probably can't get anymore sleep tonight anyway," Luke said as he walked away from camp and into the forest without looking back.

Percy sighed and waited for Luke to be out of sight. The moment he was gone Percy sighed and pulled his blanket closer as he drifted to sleep.

Ping!

You have slept on a very uncomfortable surface; HP and MP have been restored 50% each. All ailments and negative status effects have been cured.

Percy rubbed his eyes awake and on instinct dismissed the box. He then looked around and saw Grover and Luke packing up as the sun was already out.

"Anything interesting happen last night?" Percy asked as he got up and put his own blanket into his bag.

"No, nothing interesting," Luke said with his signature smile.

Percy nodded, "good. That's good." He then looked to the forest and saw one of Alecto's wings, "ah I have to go and 'relieve' myself." And with that Percy quickly walked into the forest and as soon as he was far away from his friends Alecto and Craig revealed themselves to him.

"So did we have any problems during the night?" Percy asked as he pulled the gauntlet of Kefka out to dismiss them.

"There was nothing trying to attack the camp," Alectos said, "but there was something strange."

"Strange? Like what?"

"The blond kid, Luke? He snuck out during his patrol and made an Iris call in the middle of the night to somebody."

"Iris call? In the middle of the night? How did he get the light? Or the water?"

"Squirt bottle for the mist and he used the moonlight to from the rainbow."

"So who did he call?"

"We don't know. We couldn't get close enough to hear. The kid had good instincts. the moment I got 20 feet of him he noticed something was approaching him."

"Did you get anything? Hear anything?"

"All we heard is, 'we are in a forest in the middle of the country somewhere. I will get them to Denver just be ready for us there.'"

Percy frowned and nodded, "okay thanks for that." He then dismissed the two servants and put away the gauntlet. As Percy walked back to camp his head was spinning with idea about what Luke meant when he said those words. And more importantly who.

The moment Percy meet with Grover and Luke he smiled, for now he would need to act normal. Until he found out what Luke was up to.

"Ready?"

The both nodded yes as the three began their trek again. They went across the forest just as a mist started to settle in blocking their view to a degree. An hour or later Percy realised something, Grover was going the wrong way.

"Hey G-man you sure we are going the direction?" Percy asked.

"Yeah Percy, why do you ask?"

"Well it's just that we are now kind of heading in the wrong direction here."

"No we are not," Luke said looking at Percy strangely.

"Yeah we are," Percy then pointed to the sun which was nearly to the center of the sky, "see this is where the sun came from, we were going to the West, now are are going East."

"That….that's impossible," Grover whispered in fear as he realised Percy was right.

"But wait we were heading a straight line! I know we were," Luke exclaimed.

"Not really no," Percy replied, "Grover took a right a few minutes ago without noticing, I just thought he wanted to take a shortcut or something so I didn't really object. But then he took another right and started to head off in the wrong direction."

"Bu-but I don't even remember that! I don't remember taking a turn!"

"Yeah Percy. I don't remember Grover taking a right. I would have said something if I did!" Luke exclaimed.

Percy rubbed his chin….could it be? "Guys… I think someone is trying to trick us from getting out of this forest."

"What?"

"No way!"

"Yeah," Percy replied nodding, " you see where we are right now," Percy said pointing to the two mountains between which they were walking, "this valley probably leads to something that we are not supposed to see. Meaning whatever, whoever, is trying to confuse us is right ahead."

"How are you not effected?" Luke asked curiously.

'Because of Gamer's mind duh,' Percy thought but obviously he didn't say that, "I'm not sure. Maybe it's a son of Poseidon thing."

Ping!

Lie success!

"The mist!" Grover suddenly exclaimed, "maybe it has something to do with all of this! And maybe it doesn't effect Percy because he is a son of Poseidon! You know since mist is basically water."

"Can can you do something about this mist Percy?" Luke asked.

"I'm not really sure," Percy replied, "I haven't really tried."

"Well mist is just water in gas form. You should be able to control it," Grover said.

Percy nodded, "okay, let's see." Percy put his hands up and focused. He pushed his mana out and immediately it caught onto the water in the air. He could feel the moisture around him, moving passed him Luke and Grover. He then willed the mist to move back, it felt like pushing a table with one hand, difficult but possible.

Percy opened his eyes and saw the mist roll back. He allowed himself a smile;

Ping!

A skill of yours has evolved! Steam control has evolved into Moisture control!

· Water Controlling Lv-11 (62%)

Allows you to control any form of water from any source of water. You can reconstruct it in anyway you wish and it will obey your every command.

Cost-10 MP per minute

Special attack- Water Spikes-210 Damage cost 80 MP

Special defence- Water shield-35/35 Durability cost 95 MP

Special control- Blood control-cost 46 MP per minute.

Special control- Moisture control- cost same as water control + 10 MP

Percy blinked at, he didn't know skills could evolve! Does that mean if he learnt beginners karate and he mastered it it would evolve to advance? Hm this demanded research.

"Cool!" Grover shouted, "okay we should be good now."

Luke nodded, "okay but just to be safe Percy take point. I don't like the fact we were being manipulated so easily. Whatever is up ahead in probably what caused this all, we need to be alert."

Ping!

Quest Alert!

Find out who is messing with your head!

Reward,

A way out of this god forsaken place,

Skill book: Mist illusion techniques

Failure,

Death

YES/NO?

Percy pressed yes and the group began to move again, this time in the right direction. The mist became thicker but Percy managed to push it all way. Soon the sunlight started to become dimmer and dimmer and even the sounds of the animals went path between the mountains was clear now with Percy leading the way. Soon it turned dark as the sun slowly set down. Eventually the forest opened up and the mist started to clear revealing a large lake in front of the group.

"Holy shit," Grover said as he looked across the lake, "this thing is huge!"

"Look!" Luke shouted pointing to their right. There near the edge of the lake was a old fashioned log cabin with three cars in front of it, the most important thing however was the fact that the lights inside the cabin were on.

"Is someone in their?" Percy asked curiously.

"I think so," Luke replied, "let's go find out."

The group of questers did just that as they walked along the lake to the cabin. When the finally reached it they noticed a few things. The windows of the cabin were covered with blinds but Percy could see a few shadows inside. The cars all had their doors were wide open with the keys in the ignition. Percy walked up to each car and tried to turn them on, but none of them worked. All of them had dead batteries.

"Think we should go inside and talk to them?" Percy asked Luke.

"Sure why not."

The three approached the cabin door and Percy knocked on the door, "hello?"

Suddenly whispers broke out from inside the cabin and Percy could make out someone, a guy, telling others to hide and keep quiet.

"We can hear you you know," Percy said causing the whispers to go into a state of panic, god these guys are idiots.

"Let me," Luke said as he took out his lock pick set. He then began his work on the lock on the door and soon it clicked open.

"We are coming in," Percy said as he pushed the door open. He stepped inside but didn't have any time to observe the place as a grown man was charging him with a baseball bat. Percy moved to the side, caught the man's collar and slammed him into the cabin wall.

"Who the f.u.c.k are you?!" the man called out as Percy pinned him to the wall.

"Who the f.u.c.k are you?" Percy asked back.

"Jet it's okay their human!" cried a female voice from inside the room. Percy turned and there hidden behind a couch was two women, one blonde, a redhead, the one who spoke, and a man.

The blond looked like a child of Aphrodite, beautiful, with bright brown eyes and a jaw dropping figure covered by a pink tank top and a pair of jeans.

The redhead was beautiful too with green eyes hidden behind her glasses. She wore a pink shirt with a black pair of jeans but the most notable thing about her however was the fact that she was in a wheelchair.

The other man was tall, taller than Luke, with brown hair and dark skin. He wore a red hoodie and a pair of shorts.

Percy then turned to the guy he had pinned up against the wall. The man was average height, a little overweight but Percy could feel his strength as he tried to get out of Percy's grip. He had brown hair and brown eyes and looked pissed.

"Percy let him go," Luke said as he pried Percy off the older boy, Jet.

Percy did and threw the man inside, "alright looks like we got on the wrong foot there. But in my defence you did try to take a swing at me."

Jet rubbed his hands, "shit you are strong. How old are you? 14?"

"12 actually," Percy replied, "Grover get in here and closed the door."

The Satyr did and soon a silence feel upon the room. Luke then spoke up, "I guess introduction are in order. My name is Luke, this ball of strength is Percy and the guy in the beanie is Grover."

Jet looked at them and then to his friends. The red haired girl nodded and Jet sighed. "My name is Jet, that's Nat," the blonde, "Christy," the redhead, "and John."

"Great nice to meet you all," Percy replied, "now can you please explain why tried to take a swing at me?"

"Maybe we should start from the beginning," Cristy said as she rolled forward, "like Jet said, my name is Christina Fouret. Please call me Christy," she extended her hand in friendship which Luke shook.

"Alright then," Luke said, "now I think you guys have a story."

Percy and the other sat down on the couch as Christy began their story.

"We came here for our summer break," she began, "Jet's dad bought the cabin recently and we decided to hang out here away from everything."

"So a bunch of college students decided to take a trip to a cabin in the middle of the woods?" Percy asked.

"Pretty much ya," John replied.

"That is such a horror movie cliche."

"Ha I guess you're right," John chuckled.

"This isn't funny John!"Nat screamed, "this isn't a movie! This is real life!"

"Calm down At, you know how John is. He makes jokes when he is nervous," Jet said as he tried to comfort the blond only to have her walk away, "Nat!"

"Go after her, make sure nothing happens," Christy replied. Jet nodded and ran after the blonde girl.

"So you were saying?" Luke asked.

"Right. When we came here there was nothing different about this place. It was just the same old same old. We went swimming in the lake had a cookout, even fished. But the first night we were here, one of our members went missing."

"What happened?"

"I was awake that night, I have trouble going to sleep. So I watched the lake from my window, the water were still, not a ripple in them. Then I heard someone walk out and down to the living room. I figured they must not have sleeping trouble as well so I didn't bother calling to them. But then I heard the main door open, it locks didn't even click, the door just opened on it's own. I looked out and saw one of my friends walk towards the lake. And the blink of an eye the lake was no longer empty.

"There standing just a few feet above the water was a woman dressed in white. My friend walked into the lake, he didn't stop. He walked deeper and deeper until he was submerged fully. I screamed and woke everyone up. We ran downstairs but as we reached the door, it slammed shut locking us in. We took some time to unlock the door, the locks kept resetting. But by the time we got to the lake there were no bubbles coming from underneath the surface, and the water had gone still once again.

"But the figure in white was still there. And...and she looked like Jena."

"Whose Jena?"

"Josh's dead sister, "John explained taking over for Christy who was tearing up, "Josh is-was, the man that walked into the lake. His sister died two years ago in a car crash. He showed us pictures of her, we know what she looked like. And I swear the thing we saw right above the lake, the figure in white, was Jena. There was no doubt about it."

"So the spirit of a dead girl killed Josh?" Percy asked.

"No," Christy said wiping her tears away, "no. Something else did. Something inside the lake killed Josh."

"That night we all saw Jena, but Christy….well she saw something else," John said turning to the wheelchair bound girl.

"When I looked at the lake the image of Jena flickered, like a projection. What I did see was a face looking up from the lake and right t us. The face was blue and I could see it had green hair like seaweed. But the most disturbing thing about it was...was the fact that it's eyes were red. They were blood red."

Percy looked at Christy again, this time he used Observe;

Christina Fouret, The one with common sense

Lv- 4

HP:200/200

MP:100/100

Race: Human (Clear sighted)

Str-2

Vit-2

Dex-3

Int-9

Wis-12

Luc-6

Crippled due to gang related violence Christy has lived more her life looking at the bright side of life and always being optimism. The reason most her friends like her is because of her will to never give up and never give in.

She hopes Percy will be able to help her friends.

She is scared but wants to remain strong for her friends.

Yup there it was, she was clear sighed. Percy leaned towards Luke and whispered, "she's clear sighted."

"You can tell?" Luke whispered back.

"Yeah. She gives off the same feeling Biggy in Boston gave off."

Luke nodded and then turned to Christy and John, "so what happened next?"

Christy sighed, "everyone began to panic. I tried to tell them about who I saw, but… they didn't listen. I don't blame them though, after all a dead girl had just killed her brother. But eventually one by one people started to die. We tried to get away in the cars but the batteries died. Then we tried to just walk away and back to town but we kept walking in circles. We became desperate as more and more people died by drowning one way or another. Some died in the lake like Josh. Others died while taking a shower or by getting their head bashed in b the sink.

"Now… now there are only four of us left."

"How many of you were there before?" Grover asked s he shook from fear.

"12. There was 12 of us that came to the cabin. We have been here for three days."

Percy's eyes went wide. That was why there were three cars outside. What did this? What killed 8 people in three days time? Percy looked at Luke, "what the hell is going on here?"

"I don't know Percy, but we are going to get to the bottom of this," Luke replied as he turned to Christy, "is there anything else you noticed? Anything strange?"

"No not really I-"

"NAT!" Jet's voice rang out from upstairs as suddenly a shadow flew down outside and a loud crack was heard.

Percy dashed outside and ran to the field, there face first on the ground was Nat broken form. Her neck was twisted all the way around with bones sticking out of her arms. Percy looked up and saw Jet near the open window upstairs. Only he wasn't looking at Nat, he was looking at the lake.

Percy turned and stopped in his tracks. There standing on top of the lake was Nat. Except she still had heck on straight.

"Nat?" Jet called out as he stepped out onto the window sill.

Percy's eyes widened in shock. He knew what Jet was going to do. He quickly turned to the lake to gather water from it, but for some reason he couldn't. The water wasn't obeying him, he strained his man but it was impossible, like breaking diamonds with your fist.

Percy then looked up just as Jet stepped off the window.

'Moisture control!' Percy thought as he quickly moved. He gathered all the moisture in the air and combined it into a layer of water that caught Jet just a few feet above ground. The water acted like jelly, with Percy controlling it of course, and slowly disappeared the moment Jet was safe.

"Nat come back!," Jet called out as he tried to get up and walk to the lake. Percy knew the boy wouldn't stop so he knocked him unconscious with a punch to the head.

With that taken care off Percy turned to the lake and there, just like Christie described, was a head with blue skin, green hair and blood red eyes.

The face started at Percy and Percy started right back. This thing killed 8, now 9 people. It then slowly began to go back into the water but Percy used Observe before it did;

Nokken,

Lv- 21

HP:2,500/2,500

MP:525/525

Str-21

Vit-23

Dex-15

Int-22

Wis-31

Luc-2

The Nokken is an evil lake spirit that kills people by luring them into the water into the lake and drowning them. They are know to be crafty and vicious creature with no remorse or regret. Beware the Nokken as they can take on the form of anything and everything, even what you want the most.

Kill to gain- 8,000 Exp

Percy closed the box, 'Nokken huh?'

"Perc what happened?" Grover called out as the Satyr looked at Nat's broken body.

Percy turned and grabbed Jet's unconscious form and pulled him into the cabin, "I know what's killing them."

Percy put Jet inside under the watchful eyes of Christina and Luke while he, John and Grover went to bury Nat.

It was a difficult process but the girl deserved that much at least. John cried as he dug her grave while Grover and Percy remained silent throughout. Percy was once again painfull reminded that dead bodies to exist, they don't just turn into golden dust. It was a very humbling moment for Percy, one that he hoped he would never have to do for a friend.

Inside with Luke and Christy,

Luke covered Jet with a blanket and sat down on the couch as Christy wiped tears away for her dead friend.

"Crying won't help them," Luke said.

"I know. I know it won't help. But what else can I do? I am so… so-"

"-Powerless," Luke finished for her.

"Yes. All this time stuck in this chair," she hit the handle bar with her fist, "the only thing I am good at is watching my friends get killed in front of him eyes."

Luke looked at the girl and in that moment saw a little bit on him inside of her. "I know the feeling. That feeling of helplessness. That feeling that you can't do anything to help because something is holding you back. I know it very well."

"How?" Christy asked as she dried her eyes.

"I have a huge family, lots of cousins, siblings. But our parents aren't there for us. From a young age we have been forced to take care of ourselves," Luke's eyes then glossed as he remembered how his family was treated by the gods, how unjustly they were punished.

"So you all lived by yourselves?"

"In a way. Our parents were powerful people. They were always busy with something or the other, never even stopping to think about us. Sure they would remember our birthdays, give us toys and presents. But after that it was business as usual. I watched as the younger member of my family crack under this pressure. I saw them turn to drugs, I saw them get into stupid situations just to gain our parents approval. And I lost count of how many times I saw them die."

"You saw them die?" Christy asked horrified.

"There are more dangerous things out there than this thing in the lake Christy," Luke replied, "much more dangerous things. You have seen them before haven't you? the monsters that walk among us."

Christy looked down, deep in thought. All of this was to much for the girl, the pressure added on. The realization that all those things see saw in the corner of her eyes when she was young, all those things were real. The realization that everyday could be her last caught up to her as she felt fear grip her heart, "w-what are they?"

"Monsters," Luke replied, "every monster in existence is real and they hide in plain sight. You are special, you can see past their attempts to hide. You can see the real world."

"Wh-what do I do?"

"Keep your head down. If they don't know you can see them they won't attack you. You will be safe as long as you ignore them."

"That's it?! So is a blood thirsty vampire comes along all I have to do is stich my head in the ground and hope he doesn't see me?!"

Luke raised an eyebrow, "what more do you want?"

"I don't know? A weapon? Some proper advice?! A book on how to kill monsters?!"

Luke laughed, "you remind me of a friend of mine. She and you had basically the same reaction when she learnt of all this. Only there was a lot more cursing and a lot more stabbing." Luke then got up and reached into his bag and pulled out the spare blade he got from the forge, "can you see what this is?"

"Is that a gold sword?"

"Yup. It's made out of a material called celestial bronze, or in this case an alloy of it. It is very rare and is the only thing that can kill monsters," Luke then handed the blade to Christy who held it at an arm's length inspecting it.

"It's beautiful," she waved it around enjoying the feeling of power it gave her.

"Normal human can't see it, if they do if would probably look like a baseball bat or something."

"And you are just giving it to me?"

"Yup," Luke then pulled out his personal blade, "I have my own."

Christy smiled but the a sad look came across her face. She then handled Luke back the sword, "thanks for this. I don't really think I can ever use it though."

Luke looked at her like she just grew an extra head, "why is that?"

"Are you blind," Christy tapped her legs, "I can't walk. By the time I use this blade the thing that is trying to kill me would have ripped my head off!"

"It's okay. People tend to look down on disabled people. Just wait for the monster to turn away and then stab him between the ribs."

"Ah yeah sure. The chances of me actually hurting a monster is the same as me dancing!"

Luke sighed. He was right, she did remind him a lot of Thalia, especially with that temper of hers. Suddenly a thought came to Luke, he knew exactly what to do to calm her down, "okay then." He then put the blade aside and grabbed Christy and pulled her up. He then held her up by the waist and and spun her around the room.

"What are you doing?!" Christy cried as she tried moving away from Luke's grip.

"Helping you dance!" Luke laughed as he spun her all over the cabin living room.

"Stop it Luke!"

"Oh come one live a little!" Luke grinned as he started to hum a tune.

Eventually Christy stopped protesting and hung off Luke's arms. Slowly however a smile formed on her face as she hugged Luke tightly, "thank you."

"Anytime," Luke replied as he hugged her back. She smell good, like lilacs.

Just then the door opened and Percy walked in with mud on his knees, "ah…. am I interrupting something?"

Luke's eyes shot open and started at Percy. He then tried to move in two directions at once and ended up tripping falling into the couch, walking up Jet and causing Christy to fall on top of him.

"What the hell is going on?" Grover asked as he and Jon joined Percy at the door.

"I have no idea. But I think Luke was trying to score with Christy."

After a few minutes,

Jet, now wide awake, looked at Percy with an open mouth, "you know what that thing is?"

Percy nodded, "it;s a Nokken. From what I know it is a shapeshifter that can transform into anything. It probably transforms into whoever you care about the most and then drowns them in the lake."

"How do you know all this?" Christy asked from her wheelchair.

"I'm an expert on water sports," Percy replied. Luke and Grover probably thought it was a son of Poseidon thing, which was exactly what Percy wanted them to think.

"So now that that's settled we should probably get out of here," Grover said rubbing his hands.

"Don't you remember we can't. This thing, this Nokken makes us go around in circles. We tried a lot, not once did we succeed," John said.

"But you didn't have Percy back then," Luke said smiling at the demigod, "he is kind of like Christy, except his powers are stronger. He can get us out of this mist."

"Woah," John said staring at Percy, "who the hell are you kid?"

Percy smiled, "Jackson, Percy Jackson."

"So are you saying we can leave?" Christy asked with hope.

"Yeah," Luke nodded, "we can go right now if you three want. I'll carry Christy on my back and we might reach town by sunrise."

Everyone was quiet as the three questers looked at the college students. But just then Jet spoke up, "no. We aren't leaving."

"Why the hell not?" John asked, "that thing kill everyone Jet! We are the only ones left!"

"Exactly!" Jet screamed as he stood up, "that thing killed everyone we care about! I am not leaving until that thing is dead!"

"Jet you can't be serious!" John shouted, "you want to fight that thing?!"

"Yes," Jet crossed his arms, "I do."

"So do I," Christy said causing everyone to look at her.

"Christy?" John looked at the girl with worry, " but you can't even move Christy what is something happens to you? What is this thing take you into the lake?"

"Then I'll wait for you guys to come and rescue me," Christy replied and then grabbed the blade Luke gave her off the coffee table, "also I'm pretty sure if I cut the thing in half it will die."

John looked at her and then Jet. He sighed, "you two are f.u.c.k.i.n.g crazy. Fine. I'm in."

"Good," Luke said, "now does anyone have a plan?"

Percy smiled, "I do."

A few minutes later the six people in the cabin were split into groups of two and spread throughout the lake. Luke and Christy took the area in front of the cabin while Percy and John took the area to the left and Jet and Grover to the right.

Percy gave Jet and John the spare celestial blades he carried and after insuring the mortal that what they were holding was in fact a sword and not a club, like the Mist made them think, they set out.

Luke looked at Christy, "you were very brave to suggest fighting back," Luke said as they watched the lake for the Nokken.

"Thanks," the wheelchair bound girl replied, "I figured if I could dance I could fight."

Luke chuckled in approval as a silence came down between them.

Percy was currently walking with John in tow as they looked across the large lake. John was alert but Percy's mind was elsewhere. As they were walking along the lake PErcy tried several times to control the water, but for some reason he couldn't. It was like there was something blocking him mana from infusing with the water. Maybe it had something to do with the Nokken?

"Ah Percy," John asked, "are you paying attention?"

"What?" Percy snapped out of his thought, "ah no sorry John. What's up?"

"I was just wondering who are you? Like who are you really? You are far too strong for a normal 12 year old. And the fact that you could identify a monster with a single glance rises more questions than it answers."

Percy smiled, "you wouldn't believe me if I told you John."

"Try me."

"Maybe later. For now-"

"HELP!" Grover's voice cut through and Percy turned back in surprise.

"Shit!" Percy and John then dashed across the forest hoping against hope they could make it in time.

Luke and Christy had heard Grover as well and then went for the Satyr as well. Luckily they were close and managed to reach Grover and Jet just as the Nokken was trying to drown Jet in the waters of the lake.

The Nokken was in the form of Nat as she held Jet down with Grover on the side holding his arm which was bleeding badly.

"Grover!" Luke shouted out as he charged the Nokken. He quickly began to swipe away at the creature, which dodged each and every swing with the grace a creature of water could only posses.

Luke was now knee deep into the lake as the mud on the lake floor slowly began to pull him down. Realising his mistake Luke tried to walk back but found his legs stuck. "Shit!"

The Nokken then transformed again, this time into a tall blond haired woman with bright eyes and a warm smile. Luke's breath caught in his throat as he looked at her, "mom?"

The form of May Castellan smiled at Luke as she opened her arms, "come to your mommy."

Luke dropped his sword and slowly stepped in deeper into the lake. "Luke!" Christy called out as she saw him slowly walk deeper and deeper into the dark waters. The blue skinned face of Nokken could be clearly seen underneath the water as it smiled revealing rotten yellow teeth.

Christy pushed herself off her chair and fell to the ground hard. She pushed pasts the pain and pulled herself up using her hands. She clawed her nails into the soil and dragged herself into the lake. The front of her shirt became messy but she didn't care.

The moment she found herself in the water of the lake Chisty moved faster. She swam to where Luke dropped his sword and picked the thing up. The weight of the metal was nearly too much but Christy managed. She put the blade between her teeth allowing her to use her arms to swim.

She grabbed Luke and pulled herself onto his body. She then took the blade out of her mouth, "Luke! Snap out of it!"

"Mom," Luke replied in a daze. The water was now nearly to his chin. Christy looked at Luke and then at the Nokken which now stood a mere few feet in front of them.

Lifting the sword up Christy swung blindly at the monster, "get away from him!" One of the swings however managed to nick the Nokken on it's nose. The monster growled and slowly the water in the lake started to shit.

The Nokken then lifted itself out of the lake. The rest of it's body was the same as it's face. It's blue skin glowed as it lifted on hand and slashed at Christy. The disabled girl held up Luke's blade and managed to block the Nokken nails from slicing her open.

The Nokken growled and then grabbed the blade and pulled it out of her grip. It threw the weapon onto the lake shore and turned to her. Slowly the monster started to smile. It's yellow teeth became clearly visible as it;s smile grew bigger and bigger until it literally split it's face it half. The Nokken then opened wide revealing several rows of teeth to Christy. It reached for Christy, who closed her eyes in fear, but just then.

"Hey shit head!" Percy's voice called out. The Nokken turned just in time to see a fist collided with it's face, "Earthquake fist!"

The Nokken flew across the lake surface like a skipping stone. Christy opened her eyes and there standing next to them was Percy with an outstretched fist.

Critical Strike! 400% of 550 Attack!= 2,200 Attack!

Percy helped Christy and Luke back onto shore, "are you okay Christy?"

The red haired girl nodded, "yeah, yeah I'm fine. How did you do that?"

"It's a gift," Percy replied just as John arrived.

"Christy are you and Luke okay?" John asked as he helped pull Luke, Grover and Jet further into the land.

"Yesh we are- Percy look out!" Christy screamed and just the the water in the lake exploded outward as the Nokken revealed itself.

It had half its face crushed in and it looked pissed. It grabbed Percy by the head and pulled him deep into the lake.

"Percy!" Christy and John cried out.

Underwater Percy struggled to break free but the monster had too strong a grip on him. Bubbles started to flow out of Percy's mouth and nose and slowly Percy stopped moving altogether. As the last bubbles left his mouth the Nokken smiled in victory.

But just then Percy's eyes shot open and he grinned, "surprise mother f.u.c.ker!" Before the monster could even react Percy had Riptide out and swung the blade cutting off the monster's head.

Ping!

Quest Completed!

Find out who is messing with your head!

Reward,

A way out of this god forsaken place,

Skill book: Mist illusion techniques

The Nokken's body then disappeared into dust leaving behind a skill book and some cash. Percy grabbed both and put them away in his inventory for later. He then began to swim away but just then he noticed something at the very bottom of the lake, something very shiny.

Percy swam down and there buried deeply into the muddy lake surface was a silver disk shaped like a halo with symbols written around it;

Disk of Surge,

A magical tool used by magicainaspeacising in water attacks. The more mana you put into the disk the stronger blast of water is sent out as an attacking force.

Cost- depends on user

Attack- 5 times the amount of Mana put in.

Percy put the disk away and then swam back to the surface. He broke the water surface and saw John and Christy look at him in shock, "w-what? How?!"

Percy just smiled, "I'm special."

Percy then lifted Christy on his back while John helped Grover. Luke woke up soon after that along with Jet and soon the whole group was back in the cabin. Percy feed Grover some Ambrosia which immediately healed his wounds. The human of the group quickly packed up and ran to their vehicles.

The theory of the Nokken stopping them from leaving was proven true when they found all the cars working now. Soon Percy, Luke and Grover took one care while Nat, Jet and John took the other.

But sun rise they had cleared out of the cabin and were driving back to town. On the way there the mist was finally clearing up and the sound of animals returned to the forest. Soon the road hit the main road as the two cars stopped and their occupants got out.

"So I guess this is it," Luke said as he took a breath of fresh air.

"Will we ever see you again?" Asked John.

"Hopefully no," Percy replied.

"Ain't that the truth," Jet said chuckling, "oh god this is going to be such a mess. I have to tell Nat's parents what happened to her."

"We have a lot of people to inform that their loved ones are gone," Christy said with downcast eyes, "but at least we are alive."

"Just tell them a bear killed them," Luke said, "they will never believe you about the Nokken."

"But in case you need help," Percy said s he took out a business card, "call this guy. Tell him Percy sent you and he will help."

Christy took the card and read it, "Edward Neak? Who the hell is this guy?"

Luke smiled, "he is family." He then bent down and hugged Christy, "take care wheels."

"Oh haha very original," Christy said as Luke smiled back. As he broke the hug and stepped back Christy spoke, "that's it? A hug? I save you from a freaking monster and you give me a hug?"

"Well I mean-" Luke stammered. Christy grinned and then pushed herself out of her chair and grabbed Luke's neck, "careful!" Luke shouted but Charity just smiled. She then pulled him closer and pressed her lips against his. Luke looked surprised at first but then gave in as he hugged her tightly.

Finally after Percy coughing on too many times the two decided to stop. "There now you have something to remember me by," Christy replied as Luke helped her back into her chair.

Luke smiled, "I don't think I can ever forget you Christy."

The girl smiled and with that the two groups parted. The questers went West while the humans went East.

Percy sat on the front seat as Luke drive and smiled as he felt the wind role across his face. "So where are we going now?"

Luke looked at Percy and with a look that was a mixture of worry and uncertainty he replied, "Denver, we are going to Denver."

"Right, Denver," Percy repeated as he looked head. He didn't know what Luke was planning, but he knew one thing. The son of Hermes was up to something, and Percy was going to find out what.