Natasha's POV

Okay, yep. Definitely keeping an eye on that new kid at all times. It's been about three days since he got here. Five days since the funeral. And Eight days since the last day of the war; the day Percy got hurt.

Speaking of Percy, he's doing quite well. He has started to walk around on his own now and I find him working in the sword arena sometimes. I still think he needs to take it easy, but he won't hear anything of it.

There is definitely something wrong with Jaeden. He's all too eager to be around the 'Seven greatest heroes of all time' and won't stop peppering them with questions. He goes from super friendly to cold and socially awkward in about .5 seconds. Definitely strange.

Right now, I am sitting at the Poseidon table with everyone else. Somehow, Jaeden has managed to work his way into the system and is sitting right in between Rachel and I. I'm not sure exactly why Chiron is letting the rules slip, but I do have an idea. He wants us to keep an eye on him and report back if anything strange happens.

"So, I heard you guys went to the Sea of Monsters and retrieved the Golden Fleece!" He said excitedly. Percy didn't even look up and just moved his food around his plate with his fork. "Yes," he grumbled.

"I heard you guys kept it around here!" "Yes," Percy replied. I think I see what he's doing here. "Hey wait a second," I tried, but nobody was listening to me. "Where is it, anyway? I heard you guys moved it before the war started and you didn't put it back on the tree," he said.

Rachel chuckled, "Yeah we did. It's in a top secret location. Only some campers know." Jaeden leaned forward eagerly and for a split second, his smile was replaced by a scowl, but then it was gone.

"It's..." luckily Percy was also very suspicious. He held up a hand silencing Rachel and glared at Jaeden. "I don't believe this is your table," he said coldly.

Jaeden returned the glare and said, "It's not their table either!" "They were invited. You weren't. Go sit at your own table."

There was a collective "oooh" and then Jaeden grumpily headed back to his own table. Percy stabbed at his plate. "There's something off with him, I just don't know what. Rachel, you should move the fleece from the Big House to your cave. The Big House is the first place he'd look if he were really interested. I don't know what he could possibly want with it though."

Rachel nodded in agreement and ran off. Annabeth cocked her head to the side. "Hey, why didn't we think to the use the fleece to heal you?"

Percy opened and closed his mouth, "I-um...I don't know. Well that was pretty stupid."

Annabeth put on her thinking face. "Well, it would be able to heal you, if we still needed it, because it can heal any living thing. I guess there was just so many things going on that we forgot about it(more like I forgot it existed, please forgive me)."

"So," Thor interrupted nervously, "do your gods favor the tarts that pop?"

There was silence for a moment as everyone tried to process Thor's pathetic attempt at changing the subject. Tony was the first one to crack. Then Jason and everyone else.

I remembered the day the demigods were at our tower and Thor arrived and Jason was totally idolizing over him. Ah, those were the days.

I caught sight of Percy staring past me and I turned to look. Jaeden and some other campers who had already started following him around were heading to the sword arena.

I turned back to Percy, caught his eye, and gestured with my head in that direction. He smiled sadly and shook his head.

Jason noticed our silent conversation and gave me a puzzled look. Then he looked behind me and saw Jaeden and his goons and a grin spread across his features.

"C'mon Perce, go kick his ass," Jason said. Percy shook his head again. Now everyone at the table was looking at us. "I'm still too weak. I would make a fool of myself."

Jason scoffed. "Make a fool of yourself, my ass. You could beat anybody in a sword fight blindfolded and dying. The kids annoying and needs to be put in his place. Now I'm going to repeat myself," Jason said, speaking slowly as if to a baby, "go. kick. his. ass."

Piper glanced at her boyfriend approvingly, "Damn," she said. Hazel laughed and got up from the table. She then grabbed Percy's arm and dragged him to his feet.

He looked first at Annabeth and then Will for permission. Both just shrugged and got up as well. This was something they wanted to see.

And for the record? I so wanted to see this. So I got up and followed the entourage.

When we got to the sword arena, Jaeden and his "friends" were hacking away at dummies. I studied Jaeden's technique; the way he stands, the power behind his swing, his defensive abilities. Sloppy. Percy's totally going to crush him.

We all filed in and took seats against the wall and he didn't notice all the new people follow him in. It was amusing and exciting, for everyone was anticipating the big fight but him.

Apparently, on our way in, other campers from the dining pavilion realized what was going on and also followed us. And we were all betting on Percy. I spotted Travis and Conner Stoll, and Clarisse and Chris.

I'm not going to deny that I saw money change hands all around the arena.

Percy made his way into the center of the arena and took Riptide out of his pocket. He uncapped it and it sprang into a sword which he swung around professionally.

Some excited giggles and snickers broke out. How could Jaeden possibly be so dense? He still has not noticed a thing, for he's so absorbed in his unorthodox hacking.

Percy cleared his throat loudly and Jaeden finally turned around. He looked startled at first, taking in the crowd, and then he turned to Percy.

He sized up the son of Poseidon and crossed his arms. He made a sound of disappointment and his features were turned up in a proud and disdainful look.

Oh Percy was so going to put him in his place.

"You on?" Percy asked casually. Jaeden grunted in reply and glanced at his friends who stood off to one side. They nodded encouragement and he turned back to Percy.

Percy, on the other hand, was looking straight at us with a huge cheesy smile and waving over-enthusiastically. He glanced at Jaeden who was getting into a wobbly stance, and winked at us.

He turned to Jaeden and got in an actual stance. But casual. He beckoned Jaeden forward and yawned. He was definitely laying hard on the drama. He wanted the defeat to burn. And boy did we all.

When Jaeden charged Percy, we all leaned forward in our seats. Percy just sighed and sidestepped. He stuck the tip of the sword in Jaeden's hilt and spun it out of his hands.

Jaeden's sword clanged to the floor and his face turned red. Beat in less than thirty seconds. Ouch. But he wasn't ready to give up yet.

He picked up bus sword and tried his hacking move. Percy blocked it and slashed at him. Jaeden barely managed to block the strike and he staggered backward. Ha, serves him right.

I noticed Percy was breathing deeply and clutching at his right side with his left hand. I narrowed my eyes. His hand came away wet with blood. His sword wound must have opened up.

Jason looked really guilty. I suppose because he pretty much pushed Percy into this, but really, it was my fault. I started it. Percy saw us looking and waved us off, signaling he was fine.

Jaeden also noticed his bleeding side and his eyes narrowed. He lunged at Percy again and some people cheered, probably happy there was finally some action.

Percy blocked the first strike, but then Jaeden got in a lucky jab. Right at Percy's side. Percy cried out and fell to his knees. Annabeth jumped up, ready to rush forward at the first sign of danger.

Through a look of pain, Percy winked at us again. Winked? His face went back to that look of pain so fast I thought I'd imagined it. But looking more closely, I could tell the signs of a great actor. He was totally fibbing.

Jaeden brought his sword down for a "final" blow and Percy waited obediently, until the very last second when he lashed out. His sword wen tho to block the blow and he jumped to his feet, swipe Jaeden right off his feet, and then held his sword to Jaeden's neck.

Jaeden, accepting his defeat(though begrudgingly), groaned and tapped out. Percy obliged and let him up. Percy looked right in his eyes, searching for something.

His face softened in sympathy and then hardened again. Finally satisfied, Percy nodded at Jaeden and then turned and walked out of the arena. We all scrambled to keep up. Poor Leo was falling way behind us.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Jason praised, "you had me worried there for a second though." Percy was still holding his side, but he was grinning like crazy. "Come on, you always worry about me."

Jason nodded, "I do, and I don't know why, because it's all for nothing. You're always fine in the end, and I'd like to keep it that way, so I think I'll just keep on worrying. It seems to be a lucky charm or something."

Percy laughed and then his smile fell. "Guys," he said, "I think I've figured out what's off about him. You see, I had this dream a couple nights ago, I think it was when you guys did the whole rivers magic-y powers and stuff. T-Tartarus was talking to some teenager about something—I can't quite remember what—and as when I met Jaeden for the first time, something about his voice..."

"You didn't see him in the dream though, right?" I asked, "you only heard him?" Percy nodded. "That's right Natasha. But I just couldn't seem to place where I knew him until now. And I'm positive of two things. 1) that it was him with Tartarus, and 2) he's up to no good."

I noticed for the first time that the whole time Percy was talking, Will was working on his wounds and they were all bandages up. Wow, I'm losing my edge.

Anyway, just when we started to walk to the beach, the conch horn sounded and Conner Stoll was running towards us from the direction of the Big House.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked, immediately stepping into his leader role. "It's-it's Rachel. And Jaeden. And the Fleece." He said panting.

"What about them?" Annabeth cut in. "Just follow me," Conner said and started running to Rachel's Oracle cave. Thor tried to carry Leo so he could get their faster, but the boy started yelling to be put down. He then took out a remote from his tool belt, yelled something about sitting on the throne(this piece of information could've been avoided) and clicked the bottom. His crutches turned into a high tech wheelchair contraption.

Except it wasn't exactly a wheelchair. Of course not. Leo made it. Cause guess what? It flys. Of course it does. And that, my friends, is how Leo kept up.

So as we entered the cave, many things struck me as wrong. First of all, the cave walls were all painted over with white, but that didn't look new. Also, some canvases were ripped up(definitely recent) and paints were strewn across the floor.

But what really struck me was the blood on the floor. That was absolutely new. The demigods rushes forward to the red headed girl laying unconscious on the bed. Travis and Katie were sitting on the bed, trying to wake her.

"What the hell happened here?" Percy asked. Katie looked up. "We don't know, Percy."

Rachel stirred in the bed. Percy sat down on the bed and talked quietly. "What happened Rachel? Who did this?"

It took a little while for Rachel to be able to focus on Percy and his question, but her answer was unnerving. "Jaeden was here," she mumbled. "What?" Piper asked.

"I saw him take the fleece and then he whacked me in the head with the hilt of his sword." She said.

Percy cursed under his breathe. "How'd he get here so fast? And the fleece? He must've overheard me tell you to bring it here. Dam it! But why would he want the fleece?"

"Don't you see Percy?" Annabeth asked, "It's part of Tartarus's plan. He wants the fleece for some reason and he's sent Jaeden to get it."

"But why?" Percy wondered aloud. All of a sudden Percy doubled over in pain. He was caught so off guard, he let out a scream and fell to the floor. Annabeth rushes forward.

Will came too and tried talking to him. After a moment of conversing with the two, he turned back to the group. "It's the rivers. They're back somehow."

Percy moaned. "I think I know why Tartarus wanted the fleece now. So I couldn't use it. Also, I think I remember what Tartarus said to Jaeden in my dream."

He paused for breathe and we all waited patiently. "He said something about 'false hope'." And with that he cried out again Andre took him back to the Big House.

He was already starting to look pale and sick. How did this happen! It's not fair! I thought he was done with this. I made up my mind then and there.

The only way to really cure Percy and save him is with the Golden Fleece, which is why Tartarus wanted it. It was to keep it away from Percy. And we're going to get it back.

We have to. For Percy.

$&@$&@$&@$&@

Hello there! How are you? Well there's hat chapter. A lot happened. I mostly just made up stuff as I went because I had a very very loose plan for this chapter and I fulfilled it in the first 600 words or so and I had a lot of room to spare.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and make sure to vote and comment! Love you Demigods:)