Somehow, Percy woke up with a start, the next day. He didn't know if it was just him or if the ocean itself was restless, he couldn't catch anything more than a few hours of sleep there. Looking around, everyone was still sleeping. He got ready and quietly slipped out of the tent. The water felt like it was getting staler with every passing day. He wondered how his father was faring. 

For the first time since he had known the truth about his father, he was truly afraid for his life. He was reminded of all the small helps his father had given him. He was reminded of the first time he had mey him, of his fifteenth birthday and the night after defeating Kronos. Every molecule in his being wanted him to swim towards the palace gates, yet something held him back. He had a nagging feeling that he was needed elsewhere, that him revealing himself would only make matters worse. 

After eating a bit at the mess hall, he went to the practice arena. There weren't many merpeople around, and most of them were just minding their own business. He walked up and down the weopons section, trying different swords, but somehow, none of them felt right. He was tempted to take out riptide, but it would give away his identity instantly. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he nearly jumped when someone spoke next to him. 

"You didn't select a sword yet? What's taking you so long?" "None of them feel right. " he explained, feeling silly. Thankfully, the girl didn't laugh at him. "Hm.." she toughtfully said, studying him. "You are going through the heavier swords, try something lighter!" She said, tossing him a sword, like one would toss a candy. It wasn't reptide, but it was surely better. "Everyone will get their own weapons after the competition, but until then, I think that'll do. Wanna try ? " She said, beconning him to the sword fighting arena. Percy still had nearly an hour to spare, and he considered it a sin to turn down a good practice fight. He grinned, "All right then." He said, grinning a bit. 

Sword-fighting underwater was a lot harder than the normal one. For one doesn't have legs to move around and two, because swinging a sword underwatwr was harder. And on top of that, he actually had to concentrate to not use his powers. But all in all, he thought he was pretty good, given that he had lasted against the girl the whole time. They had called it a draw when it was time for the morning drills to start. A good deal of people had gathered around them, watching him in awe and whispering furiously. It had been a long time since he had had such a goodbmatch in swordplay, sadly remembering Luke."Yoh wanna continue the match sometime? " He asked as they made their way towards the exit. "Tomorrow night okay?." She asked. "Yeah, all right." He replied heading towards his team as she made her way towards the front. 

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They were taught hippocampus riding, obstacle dodging and spear-dighting today, in which he definitely was way way better compared to his archery skills. The boys kept up with their taunting, but even they had to accept that he was a phenomenal rider. It took a lot of telepathy communications to make all of them treat him normally. His head was still buzzing with all the noise in his head. The girls openly talked with him and kept pleading  them as to how he had such control on the sea creatures. He did show them a trick or two.

 All in a ll, the rest of the day passed without much incident. The Water lbrothers kept up a distance after yesterday night's fiasco and the rest of them left to practice. But he wasn't worried much about it, he thought when he went to sleep that night. He was more than confident in his sword-fighting skills and how bad could he be at weilding a Trident when that was his father's signature weapon? 

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Sadly, his dreams weren't as peaceful as his day had been. It was Annabeth staring at him, but she had no love for him in her eyes. "I'm the daughter of the goddess of wisdom, Percy. You were a fool to give up immortality. And for what? The gods aren't going to change their three-thousand year habits for your one, teeny-tiny wish!" 

It was his mother next. "I can't believe you actually gave up immortality, and for what? For Annabeth?! I know that she's a nice girl and you've been through so much together, but you are young. She's your first girlfriend. There's no guarantee that it'll last. I just can't believe that one could be this rash while making the biggest decision of their life. 

Every word from their mouth felt like a bullet piercing his chest. But before he could voice his thoughts, the scene changed. He was at the cave again, the water so polluted with poison that he could hardly stant it. He could see hundreds of small marine creatures dead on the sea bed. 

And before he could take in all his surroundings, a screm broke out from a cave at the edge. "No!" It screamed. The voice was so hoarse from screming that it was difficult to make out the words itself. He ran towards the voice, half-afraid and half curious about what he would find there. It was different cave this time, he didn't know how he knew it, but the prisoners were the same. The old merman in the cave was choking on the polluted water, the poisonn slowly seeping through his skin.

 It was a mermaid this time, yet he knew that the prisoner he had seen the last time, whom he had mistaken for a boy, were the same. She lay prostate on the ground, painfully trying to recreate the bubble of protection around the merman through her shakled wrists. The handcuffs must have been magical, for it was taking a lot of her energy. A loud laughter boomed through the cave suddenly, startling him. Percy couldn't understand how he could have missed the gaint, since he was taking all the space in the cave. Just as she started getting a thin simmering bubble around him, the gaint stepped on her hand, a malicious grin on his face. The sound of shattering bones was just as loud as the girl's scream. 

But the girl hadn't actually given up, she whipped out her other hand and completed the bubble, which looked stronger than ever, right under the gaint's nose. The merman inside took a few shaking breaths, his ashen face gaining a bit of colour. The gaint looked beyond furious as he tried attacking the bubble with his trident, but he couldn't even leave a scratch on it. He ran his hand through his hair, grabbing a few slimy looking deadlocks, only to realise that they were small basilisks.  They crowded around the bubble, attcking with their fangs, spewing acid and breathing Greek fire. But nothing happened.

 Furious with their inability to crack the bubble, they turned towards it's creator. The mermaid had lost consciousness by then, and was barely breathing. They spewed acid on her hair, burning her once beautiful midnight sea green hair. They bit her tail, scroched her scales, but she was beyond caring. But before they could do some actual damage, the gaint called them back. "There's no way you can get out of here without giving me what I seek, commander! I will break every bone in her bone, twist every joint if I have to. Tell me where the treasures I seek are, and you will be beyond rewarded by my master." He boomed, before shutting the cave entranace.

And suddenly, he was back in his tent, being woken up by Jordan. "You were hyperventilating. " Was all the answer he got. His heart was ready to get out of his chest, given how fast it was beating. He made a grab at the pouch of  nectar (not godly nectar, just normal nectar form flowers. That's what mermaids usually drank, if at all they wanted to drink anything), only for it to clatter to the ground. Bufore he could bend down and get it, Jordan picked it and opened it up for him. Only after taking a few gulps did he remember to say thanks, or to feel embarrassed at all. 

"Everyone got up earlier than usual today to practice before the training starts. You were feverish and sweaty and wouldn't wake up when Gilly tried waking you up. We couldn't find any of the healers, since the kingdom has a shortage of them, but Nori brought you some medicines." Now that he noticed, his hands where still shaking. He glanced at the table stand to find the mecines and a cute "Get well soon!" note. "The training starts in fifteen minutes, if you still want to join." he said, placing a package of food in front of him. "I just planed to get you something to eat, not get caught while doing it!" He muttered, looking annoyed, as though it was somehow his fault. Nonetheless, he was glad for the help, but Jordan left before he could properly thank him. 

Now that he was alone, he felt sick. Someone, a young mermaid, was being tortured to death by the gaint, for some kind of treasure. Yet, he felt helpless as he didn't know who the two were, where they were and what they were so badly trying to protect, except the word 'commander'. But he had to get ready for training and couldn't do much for her right then. 

******

He must have really looked bad for when he showed up for the training, the first thing Sabrina said was, "What the hell are you doing here? " She demanded. "Hello there" He said in return. Since the drill had already started and they couldn't talk around, he added, "I'm fine! Honestly girls, just a bit tired and you start crowding around like mama ducks. But don't mind me, I'm enjoying the attention!" he winked, getting himself a playful puch in his side and a spear accidentally hitting his head. But they did leave him after that.

 It was trident fighting first. From the demonstrations, it was a complex weapon to weild, since the were part sword and part spear. Yet, he almost seemed to know what to do with it, even if he hadn't understood a word that had been thought. They were supposed to fight amongst themselves, with real weapons, and select the best fighter from their team. All concern for him vanished when when the girls realised that he was beating them all. Even though he took care to not harm the other person, the same wasn't true for all of them. The final fight had come down to Jordan, Sabrina, Muriel and himself, the ones who had beaten the most people in their team. Jordan and Sabrina had a long drawn out fight, in which Sabrina won at last. His and Muriel's match was relatively quicker, him winning at the end.

The final match was beyond intense. Sabrina didn't hold back, coming at him from left, right and centre. He had lost against her alone at the beginning. He was forsed to play defensive the whole time, hardly getting an opening. Yet, she was tired this time. She had barely defeated Jordan in her previous fight. And then she did the mistake of actually swiping at him. A long, claw like mark, crossed from diagonally across his chest, water turning blue near the wounds. He was deeply wounded, he realised, not like the small nick and sweep and bulge meant to slow down the opponent, but actual battle-worth wound.

He had been expecting such underhanded tricks from the Water brothers, and had been careful with them, but Sabrina...
Sabrina looked just as shocked as him. She obviously hadn't meant to give him such a deep cut. But the damage was done. He could almost feel the loss of blood his body was experiencing. But he took the momentary slip of her guard, twisted her trident with his and disarmed her, winning the battle fair and square. "Are you all right? " She asked, coming closer to him. He tried waving her off "It's all rig-ouch!" He winced when she touched the wound. She quickly tore through his armour. The cuts were deep. "Let's take him to the infirmary " Gilly suggested. "Nah, there's a long line there. I have supplies. I'll take him to our tent itself" Sabrina Said,  gingerly slipping her hand around his waist to support him. 

The wound hurt with every flick of his tail. The salt water only made the wound hurt more. He was reminded of Will Solace explaining to a junior healer about how Auto-immune disorders killed a person from within, either by not letting the body heal itself or by damaging the body himself, while he was patching him up after a small quest. It was a few days before he turned sixteen. That was what it felt like to consciously not allow the healing process to occur. 

"So, how does it feel to being defeated by the best swordsman you have ever fought with? " He asked, trying to ignore his pain. She glanced sideways, trying to make sure he was being serious, before rolling her eyes. "Oh, I'm feeling fantastic at being defeated by a no-body." "Hey! " He protested, only to see her smiling. "You defeated me in trident-fighting idiot, not sword-fighting." "I could easily defeat you in that too!" She didn't bother replying as they had reached the tent by then. Percy went for his bed, slowly laing down. He was reminded of his dream again. He wondered how she was faring now? Had she woken up? Here he was, getting treatment for such small wounds while the young girl in the cave was barely surviving each day.

"Casp..CASPIAN! Sit up for a minute please. I'll wrap the bandages around you." Percy sat up feeling sluggish. "You actually are burning up now. You should have just taken rest!" Percy thought for a minute. "Could being poisoned cause this? " He murmered. "What poison? When were you poisoned? " So, he recounted his tale of being recruited. "You should have been drinking lots and lots of water and nectar to get it all out of your body. No wonder you're burning up. Here, eat these and sleep. We'll tell the coach of your absence." Percy didn't need to be told twice. He was fast asleep the moment he closed his eyes.

 
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A/N: Hey there! Well, I guess everyone's so excited for the upcoming series. So, here's my way of celebrating it! Hope you like it. I think the next update will be sooner, but no promises! Vote, comment and share this story with all your pjo fans! Happy Reading!!