Annabeth felt terrible. She'd never been so sore in her life. She didn't even want to move. Annabeth squinted at the harsh light as she forced her eyes open.

Huh. she thought. That's weird.

The entire room seemed to be glowing in her eyes, as if they were under some sort of a bright filter. Was she in a forcefield?

Percy's eyes widened as he saw her. He hugged her quickly.

"Hey," he said. "How do you feel? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Percy, I'm fine. I'm just... a little sore," Annabeth groaned.

She tried to sit up, but her pained back didn't let her. She gasped.

"Okay, maybe more than a little."

Percy kissed her and grinned ear-to-ear.

"I'm so glad you're okay."

He sat down next to her on the bed. She looked around and noticed she was in the same room as before. She picked up her blue invisibility cap. She put it on, looking at herself in the mirror. Where Annabeth was, there was a large dome of light. It didn't go away, even when Annabeth became invisible. Annabeth took the cap off and laid back on the bed.

"Seaweed Brain," Annabeth started. "Tell me I'm imagining it."

Percy laughed. "What, the ball of light? Nope. I have no idea where it came from."

Annabeth sighed. "Hey, can you ask Elwin into here? Maybe he has some sort of medicine for me."

Percy nodded and walked out the door. He walked back in a few minutes later, with Elwin following close behind. Elwin's goggles were pressed against his forehead, partially covered by his messy brown hair. His eyebrows raised as he noticed Annabeth.

"I think I know what you are, Annabeth," Elwin said.

"Wait, so it worked? I really have elf powers?"

"I believe so. Welcome to the club. You're a Flasher, like me."

Annabeth grinned. Of course, her body had chosen the ability Annabeth had been most interested in when learning about Elvin abilities.

"Oh! And..." Elwin started fishing through his bag. "With every first treatment, comes a new squishy. Here. Her name's Sadie. I read up on some ancient Greek mythology, and I thought you'd want her because of your mom."

He handed Annabeth a grey-and-white feathered owl. Annabeth smiled, knowing she'd always remember Sadie Kane when she looked at it. She could never thank Sadie enough for saving her boyfriend and her, as well as getting Annabeth's dagger back. She'd lost it in Tartarus, and never realized how much she had missed it until she had gotten it back.

"Thanks! I love her!"

Percy looked confused. "Wait, so if Annabeth's a Flasher, and creates light, then how do you explain the shadows?"

"Shadows?" Annabeth asked. "What shadows?"

As if on cue, suddenly, Annabeth's hands spewed dark black. The darkness slowly spread across the entire room. It covered the bed frame, then the dresser, then the walls. Finally, the entire room was black, except Annabeth, Percy, and Elwin. The shadows almost seemed to have a mind of their own as they danced across the room.

"Gah!" Annabeth stumbled back as the shadows continued to pour from her hands. Elwin ran out of the room, probably to get help, but Annabeth barely noticed. She was more focused on the shadows slowly crawling towards Percy.

"Stop!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. She felt a tug in her gut, and, just as suddenly as they had come, the shadows disappeared. Annabeth lay on her bed, gasping for air. Her orb of light was still there, and she was grateful for the extra rays.

"Percy?" Annabeth looked at her boyfriend. "What... just happened?"

"Look! Look! It's right..." Elwin burst into the room, dragging Forkle with him. He stopped as he noticed the darkness was gone. "Well, it was right here." He sighed.

"Is there... you know... any chance you could do it again?" Elwin grinned sheepishly.

Annabeth just shook her head.

Too soon, she thought. Way too soon.

___________________________________________________________

elwin

Elwin wondered why Annabeth had stopped glowing. He hoped she wasn't in any serious danger, since Flashers usually continued walking with a little light forcefield for a week at the least. He still wondered about the shadows, too. The closest guess he could find was that she was a Shade. But shadows were never that dark. And the probability of Annabeth having a second ability was slim to none.

Elwin created an orb of red light and willed it to circle Annabeth's body. Soon after her... shadow thing, she had passed out. He flipped his goggles on and examined Annabeth's cells. They looked a lot different than before her treatment. Percy had the most similar cells since they were both half-bloods, so Elwin wanted to figure out how her cells had changed.

"Percy, can you sit down for a second?" He was starting to worry for the kid. Ever since Annabeth passed out, he refused to leave her side. Elwin was sure Percy hadn't rested in at least 24 hours. Percy continued to stare blankly at Annabeth's sleeping face.

"Percy!" Elwin waved a hand in front of his face. "Elf to Percy. Are you here?"

That seemed to snap him out of his daze. "What?"

"Can you sit down for a second? I need to check something."

Percy paused for a second, and nodded, the dark circles under his eyes more than visible. His normally bright sea-green eyes were faded to a murky green. Jeez, that kid got less rest than Sophie did on a daily basis, and that's saying something. Elwin let Percy sit on the bed next to Annabeth. He switched the light to blue and shined it in Percy's face. Unfortunately, Percy's cells were too tired to tell him anything. Elwin sighed.

"Here. Drink this." Elwin handed Percy a bottle of Youth. Percy took the bottle and then hesitated.

Elwin rolled his eyes. "I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with your girlfriend, here. So drink, and then sleep. It's the only way."

Percy opened the bottle and drank it in one big gulp. Then, he rested his head on Annabeth's shoulder and yawned. Soon, he was asleep.

__________________________________________________

percy

Percy felt like he was betraying Annabeth by sleeping. He should have been by her side. He knew she would have been if their situations were switched. But what was Percy doing? Sleeping. He was resting while his girlfriend was still unconscious.

As soon as Percy passed consciousness, the nightmares started. Honestly, Percy wasn't surprised. For Percy, the amount of time that had gone without nightmares was relatively long, so he had expected them to start again soon.

Percy found himself in a dark cavern, watching a mysterious figure pace back and forth. He was talking to a small flying purple animal. It looked pretty similar to Adrien and Marinette's... what did they call them? Kwamis? It hovered next to the man's face.

"But... Master?" It said in a squeaky voice. "Don't you already know about the Miraculouses?"

"I do?" The man asked. "What do you mean, Nooroo?"

"I... oh. I'm sorry to get your hopes up, Master." It said, its voice obviously holding something back. "I was... thinking about something else."

The man muttered something in annoyance. "Why can't I ever get anything done?!" He bellowed. Moths flew around him in the room, running away from him. "I NEED those Miraculous, Nooroo. I need them to bring Emilie back. And I need them to figure out what she was trying to create that... brought her to this. "

Nooroo winced, and it was obvious to Percy that he had something important to say. But instead, he said, "Don't worry, Master Agreste. I'm positive you'll find them eventually."

Suddenly, the man glanced at Percy, as if he'd sensed his presence. He glared, and dark purple moths engulfed Percy in darkness, waking him up.

___________________________________________________

Percy gasped, drenched in sweat, finding himself next to a still-unconscious Annabeth. Percy knew he couldn't just keep this dream to himself. Not this time. Percy remembered when Adrien and Marinette explained the idea of kwamis. Nooroo was Monarch's kwami. And Nooroo had called Monarch Master Agreste. This couldn't wait until morning, even if the idea of telling them filled him with dread.

Percy rushed through the dark hallway, trying to find his way to Adrien's room. Finally, after a good number of rooms, he found him.

Adrien was wearing the silk black tunic Della had designed to remind him of his human clothing. It had the 3 yellow, green, and purple stripes in the middle. Adrien's usually perfectly tousled blonde hair was messy and bedridden. Percy ran up to Adrien and shook him awake.

Adrien jumped up suddenly, in a cat-like pose. Under different circumstances, Percy would have made fun of him.

"What the hell are you doing, Percy? It's midnight!"

"Adrien! I know who Monarch is!" Percy shook his head, looking seriously at him. "It's not gonna be good."

just letting you guys know, which i'm sure you were wondering about, the language barrier is pretty much non-existent by the time they're in the lost cities. cause percy and the others can't speak french so I'm just gonna act like marinette and adrien are fluent in english. thanks for reading, guys! i'll post chapter 10 soon!