Only the soft breathing of Percy Jackson and the ticking of the clock were audible in the room, everyone silently watching his unconscious body, expecting for a change any moment, no matter bad or good. 

Silent tears were forming in Annabeth’s grey stormy eyes, as she hopelessly looked at her boyfriend. Percy’s features haven’t changed ever since the doctor has given Percy the sedate, and already two or three hours have passed since that. Annabeth saw the fear and panic written evidently on her boyfriend’s face, which made her even more heartbroken. The boys were sitting on chairs or on the ground; Jason was sitting at a stool placed at the end of the bed, with his feet resting on the bed rail. Frank was sitting crisscross on the floor, leaning on the wall behind him. Leo was lying on the ground, occasionally looking at Percy while he was fiddling with some weird tape. Thalia was leaning on the wall near Percy’s bed, her arms crossed, and her eyebrows were creased as if she didn’t care, but her blue electric eyes betrayed her as they were filled with the same worry and desperation as Annabeth. Piper was standing next to Jason with a thinking position, as if she was thinking some way to use her charm-speak to make Percy better. Hazel was knelt next to Frank, as she looked at Percy, eyes brimmed with tears. Nico was standing near Annabeth; looking down at Percy with such an expression that nobody could read through.

“Annabeth, do you still have that letter Percy left?” Jason suddenly asked, breaking the silence. “You never gave any of us to read it.”

Annabeth’s hands trembled, fumbling in her own pockets to find the note that she found on Percy’s table the day before yesterday.

“Ah! Found it… Look…” Everyone huddled close to Annabeth as they read the note together.

“Dear Annabeth…” Annabeth started, choking on her own tears. Thalia patted her back. 

“I’ll read it for you, Annie.” Annabeth nodded and clutched her hands together, hoping nobody noticed her hands shaking in fear.

"Dear Annabeth, 
By the time you read this, I would have been long gone. Please don't get mad at me. If you know too much, Gaia will kill you. Just like what is going to happen to me now. 
Please be safe. And don't miss me. 
In case I don't come back, know that I love you. 
Love,
Percy”

“Why didn’t you show this to us when you first found it?” Jason asked, obviously annoyed to only know the contents of the letter now. 

“So he was gone for about a whole day?" Frank asked, before Annabeth could shout back at Jason. Annabeth sucked in a deep breath and nodded. 

“So he just left, leaving a note, and not telling anyone about it?” Piper asked. “I mean, I’d understand if he didn’t leave a note, but, left a note and not telling anyone about it? Weird.”

“Are you sure this is Percy’s handwriting? It doesn’t look like his…” Hazel has grabbed the note from Annabeth and was scanning through it. “His is more childish and messy, no offense, but this is more mature and elegant.”

“Hey…” Annabeth snatched back the paper. “That makes more sense. What if Percy just left the camp, intending not to let anyone know, but someone else wrote this letter in order to not make us go after him?”

“But why did he leave in the first place?” Leo wondered out loud.

Everyone fell silent as possible thoughts ran through their heads. Annabeth creased her eyebrows in thought. Most probably, Percy met with the man who did this to him. But why did Percy go and find him?

Percy groaned as he blearily opened his eyes, blinking the drowsiness away. Annabeth ran to his side immediately. Percy pushed himself up into a sitting position as leaned his back on the headboard, unconsciously grabbing his wounded shoulder. He looked around. The stares that everyone was giving him gave him an uncomfortable feeling, making him feel self-conscious for a reason.

“Percy?” Annabeth was the first to speak. Percy tilted his head slightly, while looking at her, a guesture for her to continue. “We were just wondering… I really hope you don’t mind us asking. I know it’s hard for you… and…”

“It’s okay.” Percy smiled gently. A small crazy hope fired up in Annabeth’s heart that Percy is now getting better.

“Did you leave that note?”

Percy raised an eyebrow.

“What note?”

“I knew it!” Hazel cried, then covered her mouth quickly as she noticed that she was interrupting Percy and Annabeth’s moment together.

“And, why did you leave us in the first place?” Annabeth continued to question Percy. Percy seemed to tense up at her question. It was scaring him, even though she didn’t mention him directly. Percy left her question hanging there for a moment, and the room fell silent once more and long seconds ticked away, the atmosphere of the room getting tenser by each second.

“I…” Percy started, breaking the silence, but he stopped as he started to clench his shoulder tighter. A few more awkward seconds ticked by.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to…”

“I was told to do so.” Percy cut in, finding his voice. This perked up everyone’s interest to know more. “I was told to go there.”

“Where? And who told you?” Jason asked slowly, trying not to strike Percy’s fear by accident.

“T-To the abandoned house near my mom’s apartment.” Percy’s voice was starting to get shaky with each word.

“You were told to go Manhattan? That takes, like, an hour to get there! Even by cab!” Thalia exclaimed. Percy flinched slightly at Thalia’s sudden commotion. Thalia noticed and lowered her voice. “Sorry.”

“Why? Why did you go there?” Annabeth’s long curly bangs slightly swayed as she moved closer to Percy. “Did he threaten you?”

“He-he said, if I didn’t go… he would... he would…” Percy stopped, his voice and his will to speak gone, as the memories started flooding into his eyes.

“Hello?” Percy asked. It was late at night. The moonlight shone through the window, shining brightly on the crumbling wood and the dusty floorboards. He explored deeper into the abandoned home, putting his hand into his pocket and he wrapped his hand around Riptide, just in case something out of the ordinary jumped out. “Hello?” he asked again, and got a bit impatient for the lack of any response and started to kick an empty can of coke around.

“Hello.” A deep voice behind Percy suddenly appeared, surprising him. Percy spun around and saw a silhouette of a tall sturdy man, but the room was dark. Percy couldn’t see his face, but he could feel the man’s eyes sinking into his skin, and it was an uncomfortable feeling.

“Why did you call me here?” Percy asked, scowling slightly. The man laughed in amusement.

“That’s obvious. It’s because I want something.” Percy blinked at the reply, but was determined to keep his confidence in his own voice.

“What do you want?”

“That, is an interesting question, demigod. What do I want?” the man paused for effect.

“You.”

Percy was taken aback slightly by that answer.

“Me?” he asked, his voice an octave higher than usual. The man laughed and nodded. “Why do you want me?” Percy asked.

“Some things shouldn’t be answered so quickly. I’m sure you’ll find out in time, Percy Jackson. But, would that be too late already?” The man gave such a cold laugh that Percy could feel the hairs at the back of his head standing up. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance.

“Well, why did you call me here?” Percy asked, arms folded in front of him.

“A curious one , aren’t you? Don’t worry. I was going to tell you that sooner or later anyway.” The man crouched down, and although Percy could see his face, he could feel the man's eyes bearing into his own skin. Percy huffed in annoyance. If this man called him out from such a long distance from camp to this old abandoned house, just to prank him, he was definetly going to strangle this man. 

"Stop beating around the bush, just tell me!" Percy yelled in an impatient voice, but only to amuse the man further.

"Impatient too? I never thought I'd have a young man to play with! Definetly a gift in for me today!" The man walked closer to the window, the moonlight shining on the side of the man's face, and that only sight already gave Percy the shivers at what he saw. The man's eyes were darkened with such a strange color, something between black and red. He had jet black hair, like Percy's, but was cropped at the sides, somewhat like Jason's hair. But the thing that frightened Percy the most was the long thick scar that travelled from his right ear to the corner his right eye, and it have Percy the unnerving feeling that this man wasn't human. He was a monster in disguise. 

"Oh, don't worry. This isn't my real face." The man laughed. "My real face could scare the living tartarus out of you. And that isn't half your fear, Percy Jackson." The man started to walk towards Percy, who was starting to back away, an eneasy feeling resting in the pit of his stomach, a shiver running up his spine as he felt the man smile wickedly, his evil aura flooding out of his skin, paralysing Percy at the spot. 

"Let's play a game, Percy Jackson."