Hey, look, it's my background. I haven't been updating, by hey, it's here now.

Good news though, my basketball season is over so my updates should be getting more frequent.

Percy's POV

Riptide was gone. It's been gone for a week. Two weeks since Annabeth left. One week since everything has been going missing. One week since my only defense against monsters disappeared. Wands were alright, but Riptide has kept me alive all of these years just as much as Annabeth has. So now both of them were gone. Might as well kiss my life goodbye.

Physical Combat has gotten easier to teach, save the archery portion. I usually just get Luna to do it. She was no Thalia, but she was better than me, even with the blessing I got.

Blessing? What blessing? You mean the one I got from the twin archers that doesn't work on me at all? Oh, yeah, that blessing. If anything it made me worse. There was an arrow that bounced off of the walls and impaled a student. Technically that wasn't even possible, but it must have been because it happened.

I watched Harry duel Luna with a wooden sword. He was getting better, but his technique had a lot to be desired. He had quickly climbed the ranks to the top of the class, save Luna. His brow was shining with sweat.

Clack!

"Watch out on your left!" I yelled to him.

Clack!

"Duck!"

Clack!

"Stab!"

Thud!

"Yes!"

Smacl!

"OW!"

Harry had landed a single hit, danced around in pride, and got smacked in the chest with the flat of Luna's blade. "You need to stop doing that," I told him, "It's going to cost you your life one day." Harry groaned. "I know," he admitted, rubbing his chest, "But this is so different from a wizard's duel!"

"You still need to remember that both can cost you your life," I said, "Both are relatively the same. Just one's a little wooden stick and the other's a-" I was cut off from a voice at the door. "The other's a hot spanking death machine!" It was Leo. "Dude," I exclaimed, walking up to him, "What are you doing here?" He strode into the room with Calypso in tow, smiling cockily and eyeing the wizards.

"My goddess of a girlfriend wanted to go to Scotland," he said, smiling cheekily, "Hopped on Festus and hightailed it on over here!" I scratched the back of my head. "What're you doing in Hogwarts?" I asked him, confused.

"Dude!" he said, still grinning, "I needed to visit the only bro I had left who didn't want to pummel me!" Now that I really looked at him, I saw the remnants of a black eye and numerous bruises littering his arms. There were sure to be many more along his torso that were hidden by his shirt.

Calypso nudged him, motioning to his toolbelt. "Oh!" Leo exclaimed, "Almost forgot. I got a sweet new weapon for the daughter of Hermes. Also, Connor sends his regards." I snickered. He tossed me a bronze armband. "Didn't know if she wanted a sword or a dagger, so I just made her a sword. I mean, if she doesn't want a sword we could just cut the dang thing in half and voila! Dagger for the lady."
I nodded, smiling drily. "Yes, because every girl's goal in life is to get a magical weapon." Leo slugged me in the arm playfully, "Now you get me, bro." He winked at the people in the class, mostly the girls, who were watching our conversation instead of practicing. "Join Team Leo!" He yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth, before darting out of the room, presumably to go and wreak havoc in Nico's class. Calypso smiled softly at me before running out after her boyfriend

I shook my head at the retreating figures of Leo and Calypso, who seems as if she resents me. Annabeth had told me she cleared things up with her, and I believe that Calypso is making an effort. I mean, I had used one of my wishes for her only for it to be completely ignored.

I sighed, turning back around and running a hand through my hair. I had more important things to worry about than a distant Titan Girl. I noticed everyone staring at me.

I was tired. I didn't have my sword, my girlfriend, or my owl. I stared back at them until they got uncomfortable and went back to sparring.

I smiled to myself. At least I still had my ability to scare wizards.

<*~*~*~*~*~*>

The Boys' dorm was a mess. Everything had been strewn across the floor and my mattress was overturned. My jar of blue cookies had cracked and left crumbs among the chaos. I rubbed furiously at my eyes. "This cannot be happening."

Harry and Ron walked in together. "What can't... Woah," Ron gasped, staring at the room in horror, "What bloody idiot did this to our room?!?"

I let my shoulders hunch forward and my expression turn defeated. They needed to know. "It was me," I admitted, "Annabeth's hat is gone, so I destroyed the room to find it. Not only is she gonna kill me, but how could I have possibly lost it?" Ron gaped at me. "You?!?" He practically bellowed, "You destroyed your cookies to find Annabeth's hat?"

Harry and I both ignored the furious redhead. I didn't understand why it mattered to him so much. I mean, it's not like he was going to get any Harry looked ready to punch the nearest wall. "It's whatever's been stealing from us already." As I looked at the clutter on the floor, I felt something snap inside of me. Whatever was happening needed to stop. Whoever was doing this needed to be found.

I used one hand to punch my open palm.

"We end this now."

Harry's POV

We waited until everyone else was a sleeping before walking out to the Common Room to meet the girls. Percy was uncharacteristically anxious, which made me wonder if he had ever done spy work like this before. He seemed more of a 'Hey, look at me! Watch me charge straight into the biggest, baddest looking monster!' distraction kind of guy, you know?

I found Hermione and Ginny already waiting for us. "Come on, guys. The later we wait, the more likely Filch is gonna find us." We sat down across from them on the sofa. "How are we going to do this? We don't have Harry's cloak or Annabeth's hat. How do we know they're even going to be out tonight?" Percy raised a good point, but that wouldn't stop us from trying.

I pulled out the Marauder's Map, tapping my wand on it and saying, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." The map of Hogwarts appeared, and the only one in the hall was Professor Di Angelo. Sometimes I call him Nico like Annabeth does, and he just turned a cold stare at me. I wasn't sure if maybe he still held a grudge for my actions toward Percy or if that's just how he looked 24/7, but either way it had unsettled me enough to address him as everyone else did.

"Look, all we have to do is avoid the professors, which shouldn't be a problem with only Professor Di Angelo in the hallways," I said, "And besides, the sooner we get out there and find the stuff, the sooner we can get back to sleep." Percy ran a hand through his hair, his brow creased in worry.

"We'd better do it quick. Filch just got out," Percy told us, heading out the portrait hole. As he disappeared, I looked at the rest of them. "Does Percy seem a little... off to you?" I asked them. They only shrugged. "No, not really," Hermione admitted slowly, "He has every right to be worried for what we're doing."

"Yeah, give the poor bloke a break," Ron scoffed, rolling his eyes, "He's been going through a lot lately, mate." I stared at him. "This coming from the same guy who was convinced he was a death eater a couple of months ago." Ron shrugged, moving to join Percy in the hallways. "Hey, it wasn't only me. It was you, too! Now come on. Percy will be all the way in the dungeons by the time we quit talking about him." He motioned for us to follow him.

True to Ron's statement, Percy was already gone by the time we all got out of the Common Rooms. I saw him in the corridor where the Room of Requirement was. I hadn't gone there since it gone burned to a crisp in the Battle of Hogwarts. Surprisingly, I saw him enter it. I hadn't even known that he knew it was there. He must've discovered it by accident, but knowing Percy, he would've brought it up. What reason would he have not to?

"Percy's in the Room of Requirement," I whispered to Ginny, who was the closest to me, "I'm going to go check it out." She nodded and turned away to explore with Hermione, who was watching us with shining eyes. I glared at her, embarrassed, and continued striding to the Room of Requirement.

I passed the room three times, wanting to see what Percy was doing, and entered. It was empty. I looked down at the map. He wasn't here anymore. Strange. I saw his footsteps moving toward where Nico was, when he suddenly disappeared, reappearing in the Astronomy Tower. I don't have a good feeling about this.

When I got to the Astronomy Tower, I came up with the same results as the Room of Requirement. Nothing. The telescopes and such were strewn about, but it was probably insignificant. I mean, kids are messy. But still, Percy wasn't here, and I needed to check on him. My mission suddenly changed from hunting down all of the missing objects and the thief to finding Percy Jackson.

I glanced down to see where he was again, and his name popped up in the library. Now that was weird. He wasn't the type to go to the library without Annabeth or Hermione. He was more of the spontaneous kind of guy. He disappeared again, suddenly in the same corridor as me. I didn't even have time to turn around before I saw his figure dart around the corner and out of my sight. Something was going on here. And I intended to find out what.

I chased after him, but he was waiting for me. He spread his arms out. "Harry!" he exclaimed, probably a little too loudly to keep our presence a secret. "Look what I found!" It was the book that had gone missing. It was titled, "Weaknesses of the Almighty." I narrowed my eyes, taking the book from Percy and opening it. "Why would the thief want this?" My eyes widened as I realized what the title was for.

It was a detailed description of the flaws of anything with power, from giants to titans to gods. Gods. That was it. I snapped the book shut and looked up, only to find that Percy had disappeared again. I took off my glasses and pressed my palms into my eyes, barely suppressing a groan of frustration. I took a deep breath to steady myself and started off again. Someone needed to keep an eye on Percy.

I turned another corner into a darkened corridor. I didn't recall ever stumbling across this place before. It seemed abandoned, and looking down at my map, it didn't even seem to be part of Hogwarts. I was outside the walls of the school, but that wasn't possible. I had just turned the corner, and it wasn't like I could walk through walls. Suddenly, I heard the clatter of objects.

"Lumos," I whispered, watching the light spread through the hallway. My eyes widened from behind my glasses. Dean's wand and Percy's Sword were together in a clear box. Percy's owl was in a celestial bronze cage, ruffling its feathers indignantly but not making any sounds. I saw my cloak and Annabeth's hat neatly stacked atop each other. I started toward them hesitantly.

I was right to be cautious. As soon as I took a step forward, I had only a second to leap out of the way as a red flash of light was sent flying my way. It exploded against the far wall and I looked at my attacker, who was mere feet away from me, dressed completely in black and with a hood up so that I couldn't see their face in the shadows. Another spell was shot, but this time I was ready.

"Protego!" I yelled, feeling unsure of myself as the shield went up. The spell was deflected, but soon more followed. I dove to the ground, desperate to escape the curses and hexes that were filling the air. As I struggled to regain my footing, my hooded opponent gathered all of the items into their arms, the owl still unbothered by its kidnapper.

"VENTUS!" I screamed in a final attempt to at least find out the identity of the thief. As they disappeared into shadow, I caught their eye and almost screamed. I knew those eyes. They were unmistakable.

The sea green eyes of Percy Jackson.