Percy's POV

It was February 4th, meaning the next challenge was only a day away. Bowtruckles seemed like nasty little creatures, but hey, they can't be any worse than Karpoi, am I right?

I didn't really have a plan. Dumbledore had already gone over the rules with the champions, but was going to remind us again right before the challenge. Here's the gist of it. No summoning or locating spells, no interfering with the other competitors, and we only had an hour to collect our assignments into little bottomless pouches. On the bright side, I only need seven living twigs and seven Bugs to feed the seven twigs. Great.

We were going to be completing our challenges in the Forbidden Forest, where there were so many trees it would be hard for me to locate which trees had bowtruckles in them. It certainly didn't make it any easier that they could camouflage with the many other branches.

After many minutes of extensive research in the library, I desperately needed a break. I really had no other choice. My brain could have exploded. My resources were limited to only books. But then, in a brief moment of pure genius, I remembered I could speak telepathically to my nature enthusiast of a best friend, even when he was all the way in New York.

"Grover," I thought, "I kind of need you to answer me, buddy." It took a while for him to respond, but when he finally did, he sounded just a bit sleepy. "Percy. I'm trying to sleep. Go away." I felt him start to drift off and instantly sent him pictures of enchiladas. A bit comically, I felt a rush of energy as he snapped awake. "Alright, alright," he sniffed, "I'm up. But you owe me some enchiladas, dude." I smiled. It's nice to know some things never change.

"So how do you know which trees are good quality trees?" I asked him innocently. Too innocently. "What'd you get yourself into this time, Percy?" Grover demanded, "Life or death this time? Or just death?" I rolled my eyes. "Why can't it just be life, huh? Why's it always have to be death?" Grover bleated, "Because it's you, Percy? Now seriously, what's going on?" I sighed out loud. Looking around the empty Common Room, I realized that Grover was right. I really had to stop getting myself into these kinds of messes. Just another thing to add to my 'Avoid at all costs list'. Right under making Annabeth angry and continuously jumping off of Blackjack.

"The wizards have some kind of weird tournament thingy, where some magic cup chooses champions to complete challenges," I told him, "And in the second challenge, I need to find a bowtruckle. They have a knack for finding good quality trees to live in. Now, I can't search the whole forest in an hour, so I need you to answer me." I could feel Grover's exasperation, and I couldn't really blame him, either. No matter where I was, trouble just seemed to follow me around.

"Fine, this part will be easy for you. They're usually the ones with the most fertile soil. So nutrients, water, stuff like that. Also, if you really wanted to catch a bowtruckle, why don't you just look for sticks that look the slightest bit out of place." I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see me. "Thanks, G-Man. You're the best," I said. Annabeth walked into the room and I smiled at her.

"Hm," Grover mused, "Dazed, barely listening to me, total infatuation. Annabeth's here, isn't she?" The satyr chuckled and I could feel his amusement in waves. "Go catch some bowtruckles, dude, and while you're at it, a certain daughter of Athena." I blushed and snapped back to attention. "Thanks for the help," I said, ignoring his last statement, "You'd better get back to Juniper before she thinks you're cheating on her with a blueberry bush again." Grover's presence faded from my mind.

Annabeth sat down next to me. "Was that Grover?" I looked at her, dumbfounded. "How could you possibly know that." Annabeth grinned. "Simple reasoning, actually, Seaweed Brain. You smiled at me, then after a moment, started blushing like crazy. That's not normal behavior so I could only assume that you were speaking to someone. Who else can talk to you without being in the same room and still sense your emotions?" I slung an arm around her. "Simple? Remind me to never try to keep a secret from you."

Annabeth could only roll her eyes. She pecked me on the cheek and said, "Time for dinner, Percy. The challenge is tomorrow." I got up and stretched. "Yippee," I muttered sarcastically.

I lied. The challenge is right now. After the Timeskip, of course.

"Alright challengers," Chiron announced, rolling his wheelchair before us, "You remember the rules, do you not?" He didn't wait for us to respond and continued anyways. "It really doesn't matter if you do not, because I will repeat them for the sake of our dear audience."

"There will be no interfering with the other competitors. There will be no locating or summoning spells. Fred will hand out your pouches. Within the hour, you must be back with your objectives. The longer you take, the less points you will have. If you run into any trouble and find that you cannot fight it off, shoot red sparks into the air. Of course, we will be able to watch you via a spell." As soon as Chiron stopped talking, Apollo stepped in front of him and yelled, his voice magically enhanced.

"Our Champions are ready for their second event. Three rival wizards alone in the Forbidden Forest. Alone, if you overlook the menacing spirits and beasts that scour the ground and soar through the trees. With nothing but a wand, who is to say that they will all make it out unharmed? No one can foretell what the future holds, with these talented teens fighting for glory." Apollo turned to the crowds, basking in the adoration and cheers.

"Sophia-Grace Lander, from Beauxbatons. Spunky, fierce, and the winner of our last challenge!" The polite clapping was deafening. No, I'm not serious, guys. "Raydon Jesome, a seeker with black hair and green eyes. Brave and willing to take a hit for a friend. Practically Harry Potter if he ever went to the gym!" This drew laughs from the entire stadium. There was not a single person in the entire school that didn't know who Harry Potter was. And to think, Durmstrang had its own Harry Potter.

"And we can't forget Percy Jackson. I mean, look at him. He's a master swordsman, an elemental powerhouse, and super smooth with the ladies. I taught him everything he knows." I could barely resist rolling on the floor with laughter. Saying his own praises was one thing. Saying praises about me for himself was something else entirely.

"And the timer starts in five... four... three... NOW!" I sprang forward like a startled rabbit. That is to say I was so surprised that I leapt a foot into the air before I actually started moving forward. I stuck my pouch into my pocket beside Riptide and held my wand out in front of me. Over the past couple of months, I had actually gotten used to using the little stick. It wasn't the most efficient thing, but it certainly took a lot less energy than actually controlling a hurricane or shifting into a dragon.

As I trekked deeper into the depths of the forest, conscious of the leaves rustling and twigs snapping under my feet, I spread my senses. In the commotion of the forest, everything was a jumbled mess. Sensing water, I tried to make my way through the endless tangle of undergrowth and around trees. The ones around me were my height, still young, and I gently brushed my fingers against them as I passed, making sure there were no bowtruckles in them.

The darkness seemed to close in on me, consuming the light around me and replacing it with looming shadows. The trees only got taller, and the eyes that seemed to watch me only grew more menacing. There was a reason this forest was called the Forbidden Forest. I muttered, "Lumos," sighing in relief as I could once again see. I hadn't quite reached the water source, but I bumped into a juniper tree, which swayed with movement. I rubbed my forehead, glaring at it as if it had been it's fault. I turned my head to head off in another direction when something slashed my cheek. My head whipped around. There were no branches in the vicinity and my eyes narrowed.

I spun as the bowtruckle struck again. I swatted it away with my wand and could have laughed at my own stupidity. "Of course," I groaned, watching the bowtruckle stumble back to its feet, "Wingardium Leviosa." The bowtruckle writhed and attacked the air as its feet left the ground. I almost felt bad for the poor thing. I held the bag open with one hand and as far away from my body as possible so as to not get cut again. It managed to prick my finger as it dropped and I yelped. I do not like bowtruckles. "One down, six to go," I mumbled, and continued off toward the more fertile soil.

I couldn't have told you how long I spent in the forest if I tried, but as more bowtruckles joined the first one in the bag, I found that the bowtruckles had become much more aggressive. Maybe they had like an underground bowtruckle stream for information or something, because suddenly they became much easier to spot and harder to catch.

I picked up another bowtruckle and placed it in my small leather bag. That's all seven of them.  A peal of terror was sent into the air and I spun toward the sound. This would not end well. I raced through the forest, ignoring the trees that were littered with my objectives. Whoever that scream came from was in danger. And it was probably the only other demigod in the forest. I screeched to a halt when I saw the daughter of Hermes surrounded by hellhounds. Her wand had been knocked away and I already saw monster dust on the floor. As I said, not good.

I uncapped Riptide and swung through them, leaving them in scattering piles of golden dust. I turned to help Sophia off of the ground and saw that her eyes were still staring fearfully at me. I had seen that look once before. In Westover Hall when I was rescuing the di Angelo siblings. On the face of a girl who died. I would not let Sophia join her. I whipped around to face the threat, but it was already too late. A silvery essence sunk into my skin and my world erupted into pitch black flames, quickly followed by nothingness.

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

My vision was blurry and my mind was fuzzy. I could see splotches of light in my face and I knew that whatever the heck I was sitting on was not the floor because it was way too soft for that. Maybe I should just stop thinking now.

Everything crashed back with the force of a giant wielding a sledge hammer. My head ached with the force of my pain and my memories, but I forced myself up into a sitting position nonetheless. "Sophia!" I shouted, still half asleep. My vision cleared, and I saw Sophia, Annabeth, and Harry at the foot of my bed. "Right here, Buckethead," she said, smiling softly.

My temples throbbed again and I groaned, "What happened?" Harry readjusted his glasses, a frown apparent on his face. "You killed some hellhounds and a figure threw itself at you. You glowed like a nightlight for a second and fainted." Annabeth took one of my hands, "It just looked like an anemoi thuellai. It quickly dispersed, though. Sophia got some ambrosia into you and here we are."

"How long was I out?" Harry's frown only deepened. "Four days." My eyes widened in alarm. "What?!?" Hermione, who had just entered the room with Ron, swatted at Harry's arm. "Stop scaring him, Harry. It's only been two hours, Percy." I breathed out. "Good." I tenderly touched the bandage on my cheek. "You got quite the scratch from that bowtruckle, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth commented, "And yes, we all saw you run into that tree."

I rolled my eyes at her. "I should have brought home a spider for you, Wise Girl." Annabeth stuck out her tongue at me. Ron smiled brightly, "Doesn't anyone care that Percy won the challenge? Those bloody bowtruckles won you the challenge, mate." I closed my eyes. "So where does that put the results?"

"You're in first place. The judges let you off for the 'fainted in the forest for no reason a non-demigod would understand' thing because you had all seven objectives before it even happened," Hermione stated. "After you, Sophia's only two points in front of Raydon, who took second place." Sophia plopped herself down on the foot of my bed. "Okay, that wasn't fair! I went five minutes over the time limit because I spent ten trying to get you back to consciousness before the medics arrived." She crossed her arms over her chest and continued muttering about stupid refs.

When Ginny and Raydon walked in hand and hand, I grinned. Apparently, Ron had slightly different ideas about their happiness and slung his arm around Raydon's shoulder, quite awkwardly, since Raydon was quite a bit taller than him, and started to drag him towards me. Ginny stared furiously at her over protective brother and I felt bad for Ron. He might not make it out of their next brother-sister encounter.

"Raydon," I greeted him, "How'd those fairies treat you, man?" The corners of his lips turned up a little. "They bit, Percy, and they bit hard. But it looks like those bowtruckles got you worse."

My hand found its way to the wound on my cheek, and I was about to respond when Madam Pomfrey cam charging out of her office.

"Only six visitors per patient! Shoo!" She waved them off as if they were flies buzzing around her head. Luna poked her head into the infirmary, and in her dreamy voice, said, "Oh, good. Madam Pomfrey is already swatting them away. I was wondering when someone was going to clear out the nargle infestation from the infirmary."

She disappeared into the hallway and I stared, dumbfounded, after her. Luna had told me when she came to camp that she kept up a facade for her classmates. I never expected her to be this much of an oddball though. She had needed to keep her demigod heritage away from her classmates in order to remain incognito, and found that this was the best way to do it.

If anyone decided that she was weird, they wouldn't bother her, well, it wouldn't progress any further than catcalls. When I asked her what would happen if it ever got worse, she merely shrugged, telling me, 'Hey, I'm a demigod, If I can't handle a bully, I might as well put down my knife and let the monsters at me.'

They all left, even Annabeth, who kissed me on the cheek before leaving and I sighed.

Now all I can do is wait until Madam Pomfrey lets me out of the infirmary.