Sally fingered the vile in her hand nervously, the liquid churned inside the bottle, as if reflecting how Sally was feeling at that moment. 

Will my plan succeed? 

If she wasn’t mistaken, she was ahead of the enemy at the moment. Sally first planned to feign weakness, getting into the enemy’s lair, try to get information, then escape along with Percy.

But… 

Sally glanced at Percy’s shivering body from the corner of her eye. 

Percy’s state wasn’t well enough to stand on his own, let alone escape with her, so, change of plans, Sally will have to escape alone with the information, find Poseidon, then plan an escape route for Annabeth to save Percy. And that Katie girl… 

Who cares? A voice seemed to be echoing softly from the back of Sally's head. Percy's life is at stake, why bother to save the world by sacrificing the safety of your own child? 

Your son is the hero of Olympus, Sally Jackson. Another voice, coming from the more logical, the more sensible part of her brain spoke softly, attempting to precede the previous voice, pursuing to encourage Sally on her previous, more noble goal. His job, to save the people of Earth, to save Olympus, to save the Olympians and to stop the chaos which is about to erupt any time now is much far higher than the temporary satisfaction you would be able to gain by healing your son now. Don't do it, Sally. Drink it yourself, deliver the information to Poseidon, to the gods, hurry! There's not much time left, Sally!

Are you crazy? The previous voice was back again, this time holding a more deliberate tone that before, your son is dying. And judging by the looks of it, he wouldn’t live long… 

Do you want your son to die as a hero or live as a failure, Sally Jackson? 

That was it. 

Sally bit her lip. This wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought it would be, but it’ll have to do. 

Sally emptied the contents of the vile into her mouth, flinching at the bitter taste that filled her taste buds, she winced slightly but succeeded in swallowing it down before she could spit it back out. 

“Okay… now…” 

At the exact moment, the door slammed open abruptly, and from the corner of Sally’s eye she could she Percy rouse slowly from his slumber, but her eyes were focused on the two persons that were walking towards the mother and son. 

A dark grin was etched on the hooded figure’s face, his female companion laughed shrilly, twisting a bloodstained knife between her fingers. Sally protectively put her arm over Percy’s fragile body, but to her surprise, Percy lightly pushed her hand away. Sally turned her head towards Percy, who was attempting to push himself up into a sitting position, but failing horribly. 

“Oh, excuse me,” the man in the hooded cloak approached the two, his lips curled into a sadistic smile. He left his female companion at the doorway, and made himself comfortable by crouching in front of Percy, who shrank back a little, amusing the man with his withdrawal. 

“Apologies for waking you up, Perseus. Did you have a nice dream?” 

Percy growled in response.

“Oh dear, looks like our little hero needs to learn some manners.” the man smirked maliciously, and the next minute he sent a brutal kick towards Percy’s stomach. Percy yelped in pain , along with Sally’s cry of disapproval. “I said, did you have a nice dream?” 

“N-no…” Percy glared back at the man, who was grinning in satisfaction. 

“That’s better… now…” 

“W…why did you come?” 

“It’s just an interrogation, young man, really.” the hooded man said it like he was just about to have tea with Percy. “I just wanted to ask you what do you know about 'The Plan'?" 

Percy blinked in confusion. 

“What plan?” 

The hooded man narrowed his eyes. 

“You know what it is.” 

Sally glanced at her son, who had a look of confusion clearly written on his face. Not only his face, his eyes. They were clouded with confusion, and showed nothing of deception, no lies, nothing. As a mother, she knew what her son was thinking, and it was clear that Percy had no idea what ‘The Plan’ is.

“I don’t…” Percy cried softly in defence, “I-I really don’t know…” 

“You saw it!” Even the girl was screaming now, walking closer to the bickering males, leaving the door unarmed. “I’m positive! I saw you witness the process!” 

Percy witnessed the process? 

A lightbulb seem to go off in Sally’s head. 

Oh… so that’s the case… 

Sally couldn’t help the smile on her face. She’s solved it. 

She knew what were their objectives. 

Now… to divert their attention from Percy… 

Sally looked at the unguarded door, then back to the man. She bit her lip. 

This isn’t going to be easy.  

Author's note: (for the first time...lol) 

Yes... it's been a while. I must admit. And my deepest regrets that I had been busy with schoolwork *cry* and lots of boring stuff, and... after quite a few of my friends in school told me to update... yes... I've finally decided to post this chapter. I wrote this a while ago, so it may be a little sappy, I must say, and I really am sorry for that. 

Second thing, I'll continue writing this, no doubt, and I'll try posting more often, really, I'll do my best, but... let's just say reality sucks. But nonetheless, I'll try my very best in the job :) and I hope you all will enjoy the story, of course. 

My writing style may have changed over time... my apologies again. You may be able to notice the difference over the next few chapters, but I've tried using different styles to make the story more lively. I'm sorry if you don't like it... but still, if there are any comments you would like to make, good or bad, I'll gladly accept them. I read every single one of them, just that I can't really reply to every one of them, but relaly, I love your comments :) Really. And i don't easily take offense so, offend away... or something. 

Once again, thank you so much for reading this book, and to all my loyal readers, thank you. Really. It's been a long long LONG time and if you're actualy still reading, I'm just really really touched and my deepest gratitude to you all. 

love,

YoungGal