Hey, guys. I didn't update or write over winter break, but I did occasionally check into my stories, and I have to thank you for reading/commenting/voting while I was inactive.

And guess what? I got tagged. Twice. Again. Isn't it great? (It isn't)

This one was from @thornjinx23905. Yeah, thanks a lot. I know you're reading this.
I had to have a 'lit' title. Yeah, not doing that.
I had to post thirteen things about myself.
I'm not allowed to say no.
I'm not allowed to comment the tag.
I have to do this in one week or else I have to post a video of myself singing. You guys are lucky I got it done. I literally sound like a dying cow.
I have to tag fifteen people.

I'm half Chinese and American. My mom immigrated from China and met my dad.
I'm currently reading 'The Rule of Three'. It's where everything in this sixteen year old kid's region that's even remotely computerized shuts down and doesn't work. *Gasp* So he's got a spy neighbor and a police officer mom as well as younger twin siblings that he has to help survive. Doesn't that sound wonderful?
Band is my favorite subject. Yes, I consider it a subject.
I like fantasy/adventure books. I don't read anything else of my own free will.
I surf in the summer and snowboard in the winter and play basketball in between
I walk home everyday after school
I have three best friends, two boys and a girl. She's so much of a tomboy sometimes other people mistake her for a guy and she's kind of short but if you underestimate her you get your butt whooped. One of the guys is really weird by any standards but he's smart, imaginative and really supportive. The last one is the type that's too nice to say no. Like if you're late to class and you're making groups and he's saving you a spot but someone else wants to be in his group, tough luck. He's not saving you that spot anymore.
I hate taking pictures.
My birthday is in August
My favorite foods are sushi, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, and cookies.
I like to say stupid inspirational quotes like, "Stressed is desserts backwards", plain stupid quotes like, "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle", and stupid stupid quotes like, "People can do great things. However, there are some things they just can't do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a popsicle, despite years of effort"
I really wish this tag would be over, but no, I still have to rack my brain for another fact.
My favorite movie is Pokemon 2000: The Power of One
Tagging
@_justpaige_
@ArtLover60
@canonbuster
@Ticcitobyfan14
@AwesumReader184
@jbthebookworm
@the_unknown_nerd
@DescendantOfChaos21
@PenelopeAkk
@OutcastGirl1318
@Dani16458
@-CatDogG-
@MrsValdezStirlingite
@queenofexcuses1
@KonekoTheRook
This one is from @Percabeth2442

Do you have a crush?
No
Who is your crush?
No one
What's your eye color?
Dark Blue
What size shoes do you wear?
Men's 7
What's your biggest fear?
Small spaces. I'm talking really small. Like me in a box.
What's your height?
5'7
What's your favorite salad dressing?
Caesar Dressing
What's your favorite animal?
Panda
When was the last time you cried?
I fell and skidded on uneven pavement and limped a block home with a gouge in my knee and teared up when my dad put antibiotics on it. So like two months ago.
What's your background?
It's a really cool Pokemon thing where Charizard, Mega Charizard X, and Mega Charizard Y are circling around a baby Charmander that curled into a ball. It kinda looks like something you'd see on the floor of a temple.

Tagging
@nchri123
@wild_whispers
@reader11yr
@CrystalFire1234
@TheDemi-Witch
@bigtimeONCER12
@YukithePureblood
@little_lover132
@yaorbwemal
@tisithecacti

P.S. I'm sorry if I already tagged you once.
To the story!

Percy's POV

Hermione was still glaring at me. By this point, I would've assumed that her face was tired and she would've at least looked at me like I was a normal person, but no. She seemed really ticked off. She demanded an explanation, and we gave it to her. We told her about Steven, about his plan, about how he was based in Malfoy Manor. Her face softened until full comprehension of the threat crashed into her. She grabbed her wand and headed out the door, "Come on," she said, "We have to go and warn Dumbledore." I shook my head, "It's not going to do any good. He already knows there's a threat and is keeping us under high security. But even that won't protect me. Steven can shadow travel past any barriers Dumbledore puts up. Our Ancient Greek magic is stronger than anything you guys could ever have. I'm sorry, but it's true. Plus, Fred is Apollo, the god of the sun among other things. I'm about as well protected as I'll ever be."

Annabeth's eyebrows knit together and she bit her lip, a good sign, because that meant she was thinking. Suddenly her face lit up, "Steven's going to launch an attack on Hogwarts and then the Ministry of Magic, right?" I snickered. She sent me an annoyed look, "What is it now, Seaweed Brain?" I let out my laughter. "Nothing, Wise Girl. I just realized that Defense Against the Dark Arts is DADA and Ministry of Magic is MOM." She pressed two fingers to her forehead, exasperated. "As I was saying," she said fiercely, "Steven has been planning this for nearly a century. He'll attack Hogwarts before the end of the school year, when everyone is lax, and the Ministry of Magic is going to have no clue until it's too late. But before that, he's going to try to capture Percy at least one more time. Not only because he wants Percy on his side, but because he wants us to know his plan. He thinks that we'll never be able to stop him, and that's how we'll take him down. He's going to bring dark wizards and probably a lot of monsters. Most of you guys are mortals with the powers of Hecate, and you'll be able to see through the Mist."

Sophia rested her elbows on her knees, "You guys are overthinking this. We can just deal with this as it happens. The wizards aren't in danger for at least another couple of months, right? We'll be fine." I pulled the Sphinx automaton from my pocket and looked at it scrutinizingly. "That's what we thought about the second Great Prophecy. It won't happen for at least another couple of decades, we said. It probably won't even happen in our lifetime, we said. The joke was on us. Boom! Percy disappears. Boom! Jason disappears. Boom! Percy and Annabeth fall into Tartarus and get out, only to have to fight the Earth Primordial and her entire battalion of monsters and Giants. Boom! Leo and Octavian explode." I made a miniature explosion with my hands, "This is an exact replica of my entire life. This explosion right here." Harry repositioned his glasses on his face. "And here I was thinking my life was hard." Annabeth frowned, "Your life was hard. Your parents were killed, your friends were killed, you were facing an enemy with like, eight lives. We just happen to have immortal parents with a gazillion enemies." None of us could manage a smile. Here we were, all of us just out of a war, and suddenly some lunatic comes back from the Underworld trying to topple Zeus from the throne. Granted, he had good reason, and I might have been fine with it had he taken a diplomatic approach, but he was messing with my friends now. That was his mistake.

An awkward silence spread over our group, no one wanting to acknowledge our problems, but it was inevitable. We can hide, but they will catch up with us eventually. And no one wanted to be there when it did. Annabeth sighed, "We have nothing better to do. We might as well get working on these automatons." I grinned and stood up. "Annabeth, Hermione, Harry, Ron, let's go!" Sophia stood up as well, her hands on her hips, "What about me?" I stared at her blankly, "What about you?" Sophia narrowed her eyes at me, "Don't I get help?" I chuckled, "Oh, that. Sorry, Soph, but you're the competition. You'll figure it out, you're a smart girl." Her glare only intensified, "But they're my friends, too." I grinned cheekily, "They're my classmates." Annabeth rapped on my head with a fist. As I turned toward her, wincing, she raised an eyebrow, "This isn't like you, Percy. What happened to 'Anything for my friends'?" I could only shrug indifferently, "Hey, this is a friendly competition. You don't see me going easy on you in Capture the Flag. I don't run over to the red team and ask for all of their strategies." Annabeth smiled at my logic. "Now that you put it like that, it makes sense. Let's go beat Beauxbatons, Seaweed Brain!"

Ron looked at Sophia pitifully and said thoughtfully, "You know, mates, why don't we help the poor sap a bit?" I turned to the rest of the wizards. "Well then, Ronald," I said nonchalantly, "You can go, and we'll figure mine out on our own." Ron looked completely patronized. Hermione finally sighed out of pity for her boyfriend, "I'll help you, too, Sophia. Come on, Ron." The redhead sighed in relief and so did Sophia. "Thank the gods," she exclaimed, "I don't know how I would make any progress with only Ronald."

Ron burst into cries of protest while I grinned and spoke over him. "Alright, Sophia. We're even. One champion, one genius girl, and one not so bright wizard. Let's get going!" Annabeth rolled her eyes as she followed me up the stairs into the boy's dorm.

I held the small figure in my palm and squinted at it, rolling it between my fingers. "So is there a code or something I need to know?" I asked nobody in particular, "What do you know about sphinxes, Wise Girl?" She smiled, her grey eyes twinkling. I braced myself for the knowledge lecture I knew would come. One of the downsides of dating a daughter of Athena.

"Well, Seaweed Brain, I know quite a lot actually," she began, not even bothering to act humble, "In Ancient Greece, the sphinx was used to guard Thebes with a riddle. The famous one, you know, 'Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at midday on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be'. Not whatever trivia trash that sphinx in the labyrinth used. And then in Egypt, it was said to protect pharaohs and such. Anyways, this one must be protecting some kind of knowledge."
Harry smiled, adjusting his glasses, "Dumbledore likes these kinds of things doesn't he? That water nymph in the egg gave me a riddle to solve, and that helped me prepare for the challenge. All we have to do is get it to speak."

I nodded, "Alright, that shouldn't be too hard. Dumbledore also hinted that it wasn't cheating for me to know some of this information from being a demigod. He winked and told me that these challenges have been in place for years. So I'm guessing it's the Greek Monster Guardian version and not that other one."

Harry's grin widened and he suggested, "Why don't we put it in front of a door and try to get past it? It's a guardian, isn't it?" Annabeth and I looked at him as if he had grown another head. That plan seemed a bit farfetched. It might be worth a shot, though. Most of my plans were farfetched anyway. I listened closely for whatever the other team might be saying. Don't call me a cheater, because I'm not. I'm just using my resources.

I heard the vague ruffling of pages and Hermione repeating basically what Annabeth told us only a minute ago. Then I heard Ron saying stupid things like, 'Oh, guardian, let us pass' and 'We request a riddle, sphinx-lady'. None of those options seemed to be working for them, so I grinned at Harry, "Well that can't be any dumber than what those kids are doing outside. Let's do it!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes at me, extremely annoyed, but moved to place the Sphinx automaton in position anyway. As I tried to step over it to exit the room, it growled and leapt up, it's miniature metal claws slashing. I stumbled backwards, surprised. Harry actually made it work. Not that I was doubting him or anything...

A loud, feminine voice rang through the room, "You may not pass until you have completed my set of riddles!" I sat down in front of it, still towering over its metal form. "Bring it!" I said confidently. The sphinx paid me no mind and said, "I have always been odd, but take away my start and I am even. What am I?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "Why isn't it saying anything?" I shot her a sideways glance, "What do you mean?" Harry rolled his eyes at me, "Only you can hear it, Percy. Tell us the riddle." I repeated it and Annabeth's confidence wavered for a second as she pulled me to the side. "So it's a number," she said slowly, "An odd number." I grinned cheekily, "Good. Because I'm way better with odd numbers than normal letters."

She slapped me upside the head and continued to think. When she looked up to see me waiting expectantly, she glared at me, "I'm not doing all of the work for you, Seaweed Brain. Now use that seaweed and think!" I furrowed my eyebrows. There are infinite numbers, which meant infinite possibilities. Good news, only half of those are odd, so if you divide infinite by two... Never mind that. Guess and check time.

One. Nope, not right. Annabeth smiled at me, breaking me out of my single thought. "It's seven, Seaweed Brain." I gave a sigh of relief, "Thank the gods. I thought we were gonna be trapped in this room all night." Annabeth rolled her eyes, "Do you know why it's seven, Seaweed Brain?" I furrowed my eyebrows until I realized, probably five minutes later. "Because if you take away the 's' it's even." Annabeth smiled, "Maybe you aren't as stupid as I thought." I grinned proudly, then told the Sphinx my answer.

It's metal teeth whirred in dismay as if it was saying, 'Dang it, I don't get to eat this kid'. The booming voice returned and it said, "As thin a twig,
A dweller of trees,
An insect consumer,
Who barely reaches your knees.

A shy little creature,
Who loves to blend,
Won by woodlice,
The wandmaker's friend.

What am I?"

As I repeated it to them and Annabeth and I looked at Harry in unison. "What?" he asked, slightly annoyed, "Why are you two looking at me? I don't know what it is." I rolled my eyes, "You're the wizard, Harry. What's a wandmaker's friend?" Harry racked his brain for an answer and Annabeth moves to walk out the door. The sphinx had other ideas, however. It leapt up with its claws and teeth gnashing together. Annabeth stumbled backwards, startled.

Harry held out his hands in surrender, "Look, guys, I'm not Hermione. I don't know every single magical creature in existence." Annabeth snapped her fingers, "She got us all books for Christmas! Percy, what'd she get you?" I shook my head, "Nothing that will help us. 'Creatures of the Depths'. Sea creatures and stuff don't live in trees." I looked away, "I don't know, maybe some do. I didn't read it."

Harry rummaged through his trunk and came up with nothing. He looked up and bit his lip nervously. "I do have something," he said, averting his eyes, "From year three. But... it's a bit of a handful." Annabeth rolled her eyes, "I have a Percy and he's more like a bucketful. How hard can it be to contain a book?"

Harry brought something out from beneath his bunk. It was caged and writhing in its leather strap, and Harry held it away from his body warily, as if he was afraid of it. He brought it out of the cage and it immediately began to thrash, the cover only barely opening in an attempt to relieve Harry of some of his fingers.

I watched curiously as Harry began to quietly stroke its spine. It immediately calmed down and Harry undid the strap. The book popped open and Annabeth placed it in her lap. "Strangely enough, this isn't the weirdest thing I've ever seen," she said. She flipped through the pages, occasionally muttering things like, 'nope, that's not it' and 'I'll have to read up on these things later'. As I waited for her to finish skimming through the pages, and let's be honest, she had dyslexia so it might take a while, I stared at the miniature version of the Sphinx who was trying to menacingly guard the door. I listened closely and found that the other group wasn't having as much luck as we were. They had positioned the Sphinx but only had Hermione's brain and whatever was in the Common Room concerning resources.

Annabeth suddenly looked up triumphantly and let out a loud, "Eureka!" Harry and I gave her weird looks and she only shrugged, "What? Archimedes said it." I rolled my eyes at her very Seaweed Brain-like comment. She kept the book open on her lap and pointed to a picture of a twig with a face. "Bowtruckle," she told me, "Small and has a great camouflage. It lives in trees and is a great marker for which trees are good for making wands." I nodded, "Alright, so I guess I'm gonna have to hunt or seven bowtruckles. Shouldn't be too hard." Annabeth's finger kept moving along the page and I groaned. "What's the catch, Wise Girl?" Annabeth's eyes were still locked on the page as she spoke, "Well, Seaweed Brain, they're super quick and territorial. They're known for gouging out eyes." Harry smiled, "Oh, right. I think I learned about these things in my fifth year. Mine did not like me much. Good news, though. All you have to do is win it over with woodlice or doxy eggs."

I rubbed my temples with two fingers. "Well, this is great," I said, "I have to hunt for bugs so that I can catch twigs." I turned to the Sphinx and said, "Bowtruckle." It immediately ceased moving and I picked it up, putting it on my dresser. Annabeth and Harry flanked me and I saw Hermione and Sophia deep in conversation while Ron tried to sneak past the ferocious miniature toy guarding the portrait hole. Sophia looked up and smiled, "Moke." Her Sphinx, much like mine, went still, but not before slashing at Ron's robes, leaving it suspended in an attack position.

Ron looked at his torn sleeve disparagingly. "Brilliant," he muttered, "Bloody brilliant. Mum's gonna kill me." Hermione pulled out her wand and rolled her eyes, "And you call yourself a wizard. The strips of fabric seemed to sew themselves back together and Ron smiled sheepishly, "Oh. Right."

Sophia stepped up to me, competitive fire burning in her blue eyes. "So you figured it out, or was it Annabeth?" I smirked, "I told it the answer." Sophia looked up at me, the height difference not decreasing her determination. "And the second challenge?" I smiled at her.

"Game on."