[And the answer was...2 weeks! Boy, Annabeth was fuming after he arrived just before burning his shroud.]

I woke up in a dark, cold cell. Amazing, right? Just how I wanted my day to start. (Note the sarcasm.)

"Mr. Jackson?" A raspy voice interrupted my complaining thoughts. A mole-like creature identical to the ones I saw outside of Foxfire appeared. He gave me a flask that was sharply cut. There was fresh water inside, and I gulped it down.

"What am I doing here?" I asked. The mole-like creature shrugged. "The councillors dropped you off here, so I am guessing they would want to probe your mind."

"What should I call you?" I gazed at the hairy creature.

"Sabulum." He rasped. I translated his name from Latin. It meant sand. Interesting name.

"I am a dwarf, working for Queen Nubiti." He went on, securing my wrists and ankles into hard chains. "I hope you do not mind being here for a while. Exile is a terrible place to be, especially one so young like you." I shrugged.

"I've been in worse." I told him. He looked up.

"You must be that human Sophie Foster had caught." He mused. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not human. I was knocked out by some electric shock. Mind you, I can escape easily." The dwarf narrowed his eyes.

"We are underground." He said. "You cannot light leap to the Lost Cities." I shrugged again.

"You don't know the least about what I can do. Also, I sense moisture in the air. That would help for an easy travel." Sabulum raised a brow, or what I thought might be his brow. Dwarves are hairy, let me tell you that.

"You are a hydrokinetic?" He asked. I shook my head. "I'm not even an elf."

"That explains it. I haven't sensed any elven blood in your bloodstreams." He glared at me with those beady eyes.

"Well, nice conversation and all, but I must get going. Annabeth's going to kill me." I muttered. "Nice meeting you, Sabulum." I extended an unchained hand. His eyes widened.

"H-how did you get out of those chains?" His eyes looked frightened. "They are goblin-made, and impossible to get out of!" I settled for a wry smile.

"As I said, Sabulum, you know nothing of me." I stood up. "Wow, I sound British. Better change that." I did a small salute to the confuzzled dwarf and vapor-traveled to the one place I could think of—Elwin's place.

"Alright, that should do it—AHHH!" Elwin screamed as I materialized in front of him. I waved.

"Percy, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Elwin clutched his heart. The student next to him gaped at me.

"Y-you're the one!" He whimpered. "He—"

"Enough of that, it's fine, your arm is better. Uh, I might add that hallucination is a side effect of the balm? Now go. See you. Bye." He pushed the Foxfire student out of the door and slammed it shut. Then he marched over me, fuming.

"Percy, what on earth is—"

"I went to Exile." I stated simply. Elwin looked shocked. "Exile? But then how did you—" I held up my hand to stop him.

"Don't ask." I muttered. "Going through that sand was torture. But I survived. That's all that matters. Now, I need Sophie."

"Well, Percy," Elwin suddenly looked somber. "She—she disappeared. Yesterday. No one knows where she is." Elwin trembled. My mind flashed to the memory of Sophie telling me that she was kidnapped once, when she first arrived in the Lost Cities. Must have been terrible, because I had some unpleasant experiences with kidnapping. One that included Hera, the worst goddess of all time. I did not want to relive that moment, so I changed the subject.

"Where's Annabeth?" I asked. Elwin shook his head.

"I don't know. Somewhere in the Black Swan's headquarters. Oh, and when you find her, be careful. She may want to kill you."

I laughed. Typical Annabeth. But if Sophie was missing, there was only one possibility of who could have kidnapped her.

The Neverseen.

Didn't I tell those idiots to get their sorry butts out of the Lost Cities?

I was going to kill then.

Very painfully.

[Thats all for today :) thank you readers that have sticked with me until this point! i gotta say, i kinda like dark percy. what do you think?

Question of the Chapter:

What is the only thing that can extinguish Everblaze?

bye luv ya'll]