Percy's POV

After Piper cut off the connection, I grinned weakly at her, "The Electroclan seems like they're doing okay, right?" Piper sat down next to me, "Yeah, considering their personal demigod super hero is in the infirmary." I rolled my eyes, "They worry about me too much." Piper mimicked my annoyed facial expression, "So do all the rest of your friends." She took my hand, "Even Annabeth, even if she doesn't know it right now." I had been trying to think about what the Hades I had killed, but couldn't. You wouldn't think so, but it was pretty hard to think when there was a high pitched wail screaming in your ears and projectiles being shot into you from every side. Noise and arrows. There was a thought digging at the base of my skull, teasing me with a memory my brain knew I could never reach.

Piper furrowed her eyebrows, "Are you okay?" I nodded, "Yeah. Just thinking." Piper was shaking with a suppressed laugh, "That's what I meant." I nudged her with my shoulder. Piper stopped laughing, "Alright, what were you thinking about?" I shook my head, "I feel like I know what cursed me, but I can't put my finger on it. It's just bothering me." Piper sighed, "Does it really matter right now? It's dead and you're alive and that's all that counts, right?" I put my head in my hands, "I guess. I think we should start heading to Camp Half Blood right now." Her eyes widened, "Right now? Like, right this minute?" I nodded. She stood, looking more worried than before, "C'mon, Percy. You just woke up, and you can barely walk." I looked up indignantly, "I can to walk." She chuckled, "You sound like a five year old right now. And if you can walk, show me." I met her eyes defiantly and jutted out my chin, "Fine, then." I stood up, but dizziness instantly clouded my vision, and I felt myself start to topple. Piper caught me under the elbow before I could tumble to the ground. She helped me sit back down and I groaned, "Maybe I can't walk. But I feel like something terrible's gonna happen to the Electroclan while I'm not there." Piper gave me some ambrosia, which I immediately shoved in my mouth.

Hazel appeared in the doorway, breathless. I shot Piper a pointed look, "See?" She rolled her eyes and went to meet Hazel at the door. "What's up?" she asked her, "Is it the Electroclan?" Hazel took another sentence to collect her breath and shook her head, "Well, kind of. It's Brayden. He tried to take Michael captive. Nico fought him off and he flew to Pasadena, in California.The Elgen Lab. Brayden's a legacy of Aphrodite, and he has charmspeak. That's how he managed to change the camp's ideas of you." I stumbled over to Hazel, using the door frame to hold me up. "Can I borrow Arion?" Hazel raised her eyebrows, "How did you know Arion was here?" I grinned cheekily, "I can hear him cussing from in here." She nodded, "Sure. Take him. But why?" I turned solemn, unable to keep the frown off my face, "Because I feel like something's up." Piper took out a drachma from her pocket, "Alright. You get to Camp Half Blood. Take Arion through the portal, and the journey should only be fifteen minutes. I'll IM Nico and tell him to keep a closer eye on the Electroclan." Hazel whistled and helped me onto her horse. I thanked Piper and Hazel and started riding.

Brayden had tried and failed to kidnap Michael. But why would he even try when he knew that there would be so many fighters, all much better than him, to protect the Electroclan. It was a ploy. Distract and attack. That's the only reasonable solution. It was a classic Annabeth move. She may be under the control of a monstrous spirit, and but her mind was still as sharp as ever. What could they possibly want to accomplish with this, though? Sure, they could kidnap a couple demigods, but that would only lessen our forces by a little. There were still plenty of others with powers, even if they weren't necessarily electric. I needed to see this through Annabeth's eyes. But how could I when she was so much smarter than me? Not to mention it could be completely irrational just to throw me off. I guess I would see when I got there.

We exited from the portal in the woods, and I started toward the Big House, swaying on Arion's back. A scream ripped through the air and I groaned. I just got here. Could I not have time to at least gather the Electroclan? Arion's ears perked up and I nudged him towards the sound. The landscape was a blur, and upon seeing the bright flashes of electricity only yards away, I had only seconds to yell stop and avoid making Michael Vey roadkill. Arion skidded to a stop, driving grooves into the dirt. He was limping worriedly, obviously trying to get somewhere but frustrated at the snail-like pace at which he was moving. "Michael!" I shouted, getting his attention, "What's happening?" Michael shook his head, "I don't know, but that was Taylor's scream." He was ticking really badly, almost looking as if he was spasming. I held out a hand, "Get on." I pulled him up, careful not to hurt his ankle. He dropped his crutches to the ground and wrapped his arms around my waist, "I hope this demon horse doesn't kill me." I smiled reassuringly, "It's not as if he can break the sound barrier. It's very probable that you'll survive the trip." Arion whinnied, annoyed, and uttered a few phrases I'd rather not repeat.

As we arrived, I saw dozens of Arai surrounding the Electroclan, grouping them up near the lake. I saw what Annabeth was doing now. The Electroclan couldn't be healed with regular ambrosia like normal demigods. It would take them time to get better; time we didn't have. Not to mention the morale would completely plummet, seeing as they were our main defense system. And after the Arai incapacitated the Glows, they could all too easily move onto the demigods. Torstyn already had multiple burns covering his arms and face, curses from people that Hatch had ordered him to torture or kill. All of the previous Eagles were injured, and Tara was ready to break down and cry and faint from terror at the same time. "Kill them indirectly!" I yelled, "They're curses! Everytime you kill them, you get cursed for something you had done to another person in the past." Abigail was running among the ranks of Glows, trying to help them all at once, and not being very successful. An idea sparked in my brain. I jumped off Arion without bothering to help Michael down and pulled Abi to the side. "Abi," I whispered, "You're the only one who can help them right now." She looked up, exhausted and defeated, "How?" I tackled her to the ground as an Arai swooped overhead. "You've never killed. You may have seen too many wounds, but you've rarely ever caused them. If no one had ever cursed you, then you wouldn't get affected by the Arai." Abi's eyes widened. She shook her head, "But I thought they were manifested curses. Wouldn't I still get cursed, even if it hadn't intended to be aimed at me?" I shrugged, "I don't exactly know, but this our best chance. Besides, Bob didn't get cursed when he swept them away and killed them." I had faltered for only a second, but Abi heard it and put her hand on my shoulder, sending calming waves resonating through my body. She nodded, "I'll do it." I gave her Riptide and protected her, pushing the Arai away with waves of water as she cut through them fearlessly, golden dust raining down on her narrow frame. By the end of the massacre, she had only a couple of scratches on her arms, whether from new curses set upon her after her mass defeating of Arai or their razor sharp daggers for nails, no one could tell, but she looked exhilarated, if a bit guilty. I bandaged her as Clarisse and Nico came running down the hill, gasping for breath.

For the first time since Silena's death, I saw true emotion through the guarded front Clarisse always had up. Usually, you could only see the occasional sparks of pain, anger, and vengeance behind her eyes, but now there was sorrow. Guilt that was eating her up from the inside. She growled, trying to hide it and ultimately failing and kicked the dirt, "I left them alone for one minute. I ran to check on Michael after that scum Tuckerman supposedly attacked him." Clarisse's eyes scanned the remainder of the Glows, landing on the injuries and brushing over Tara, who was crying. Her powers manipulated people's minds and emotions. Hatch had made her use them so many times over the past decade it was no wonder the amount of curses she'd accumulated before she finally got it in her head to stop. Torstyn, as I had noted before, had burns on his arms. Ostin was leaning backwards and staring at the sky, almost drooling. He looked kind of brain-dead. What kind of idiot curses Ostin with dumbness? It should wear of soon. With every passing second, the far away look in his eyes faded. Michael had taken time to limp over to Taylor, who looked weak, but unharmed. I supposed that she hadn't killed any monsters, especially since her powers weren't exactly aggressive. Nico rushed them all over to the infirmary a little too quickly, considering they could barely walk, let alone run. I smirked to myself. Someone's in a hurry to get to the infirmary.

I slung my arm around Clarisse, who was still attacking the dirt with her toe. "Would a fight make you feel better?" She looked up, her eyes shining, "Only if I get to skewer you with Maimer." I wiggled my eyebrows, "I'll allow you to use Lamer." Her eyes narrowed, the dangerous glint in her eyes the only sign of the bubbling rage ready to explode at any moment. "What did you call it?" I grinned mischievously, a look I picked up from the Stolls and Leo. "I'm sorry, Ms. La Rue. Would you prefer its formal name, Lamer than Riptide?" She unstrapped her spear from her back, its tip already sparking perilously. She thrust at my chest and I barely had time to duck, roll, and uncap Riptide before it was en route to my face. I deflected it with the flat of my blade, feeling my fingers numb as it electricity traveled through the Celestial Bronze, just as it had in our first duel during Capture the Flag.

We were locked in combat, drenched in sweat, neither of us giving an inch before Michael called my name and I turned toward the sound. Clarisse hit me with the butt of her spear and held the point to my neck, demanding my surrender. I smiled lazily, which I knew would infuriate her, "'Sup, Clarisse? You feel better yet?" She grinned devilishly. A split second later, thousands of volts of electricity were running up and down my spine as the cold metal point touched my neck. I jerked, only just avoiding the tip of the spear as I shot to my feet. Clarisse nodded, "Yeah. Now I feel better. You check up on whatever Mikey wants and I'm gonna go find Chris. See ya around, Prissy." I ran up the hill to where Michael was standing. I furrowed my eyebrows and pouted at him, "You made me lose my match, Vey." He shrugged nonchalantly. "You were gonna lose anyway. That was an angry Clarisse you were fighting. I just sped up the process." I looked at his new set of crutches and carefully nudged him, trying to avoid any further injury. "You're going through the infirmary's crutches like I go through blue cookies." Michael laughed as he hobbled back to the infirmary. "And that's saying something. The Apollo cabin is not amused." I opened the door for him and followed him through. "Hey, Electroclan," I greeted, "How are you holding up?" They were all in bandages except Taylor and Tara, but they looked in pretty good shape. Tessa smiled, "Not bad, Perce, considering we were just attacked by winged taloned curses." Ostin was back to his normal self, assessing wounds and helping Will and Austin fix up the Electroclan.

I sat at the foot of one of the beds, gingerly touching one of Quentin's many cuts. "Be grateful you haven't lived the full demigod life yet." Will piped up from across the room, where he was tending to Zeus's burns, not from the Arai, but just being near the spray of the lake. "Percy had Gorgon's Blood running through his veins, invisible projectiles shooting at him from all sides, and he had to protect a blind and lost Annabeth while in Tartarus. Now that is the full demigod experience." Jack smiled, "And he's still standing. You lucky miracle worker." I scratched the back of my neck, embarrassed, "Yeah, well, it's only because of Damaesan and Bob that I'm still here. Before that it was everyone who gave their lives and everyone in this camp. Before that, it was Annabeth. Before that, it was my mom. I get all the credit, but they were the things keeping me going, the people who allowed me to be strong." Leo slow-clapped from the doorway, "Thanks a lot, Aquaman. Tell the girls in the Aphrodite Cabin that I'm the reason you're alive, and I swear they will all go from Team Percy to Team Leo." Calypso slapped her boyfriend upside the head as she walked in, "If Percy goes to the Aphrodite Cabin with all that sentimental junk, you won't stand a chance."

Leo rolled his eyes sarcastically, muttering, "Thanks, Sunshine." I rolled my eyes as well, "Yeah, thanks, Calypso. I'm glad my life is a bunch of sentimental junk to you." Calypso marched farther into the infirmary, thoroughly exasperated with me and Leo. I fistbumped him and grinned, "It's so easy to annoy girls." Leo matched my lopsided smile with one of his own, "Nah, just Calypso. I mean, Annabeth must have ears of steel if she can ignore your stupidity and date you." I shoved him lightly, still enough to send him sprawling. He looked up at me from his place on the floor, "You're putting everyone in the infirmary today, aren't you?" I planted a foot on his bony chest, "The Arai put them in the infirmary. Clarisse almost put me in the infirmary. I'm only putting you in the infirmary, Valdez." I held out a hand to him, pulling him to his feet.
I stood in front of the Electroclan's row of beds, smiling, "Alright, I get that you guys are incapacitated right now, but you're in the care of the children of Apollo. You might not be at full strength in time for the war, but you don't need to be." Jack sat up, despite the many cuts crossing his torso and the agonizing look of pain plastered on his face. "No! We have to be at full strength to have a better chance of winning! Hatch's victory will mean the end of the world." I looked at them solemnly, "He won't win if I can help it. But if you can't, then it's okay. We have each other's backs. Together, even weaker, we are stronger than individually at full health." Ostin smiled as he treated Torstyn's burns. "We should write a book together. I can fill it with information and you can fill it with inspirational speeches." I smirked, "Me? Write a book? Please. That's ridiculous." Taylor jumped onto Ostin's idea, "If you help him write a book, you have to speak at our Meridian Pep Rally." I waved away her suggestion, desperately trying to weasel my way out of this. "Please," I told her, "No one likes pep rallies." Taylor smirked, a mysteriously mirthful glint in her eyes, "They will once you attend them." I pouted at her, returning to our previous topic, "Anyway, if nothing else happens, you guys should be due out of the infirmary shortly. You'll be a little sore, but it is close to the end of March. Michael, you'll be off your crutches in three days, so try not to destroy any more of them. Depending on the severity of your injuries, you guys could be out anywhere from now to mid-April, and then a small recovery time." I refrained from telling them that if anything else did happen, our chances of winning the war would be severely diminished.

I said a hasty good-bye to the Electroclan before marching out of the infirmary, extremely annoyed. Hatch was coming in about two months, and we won't be able to get in the amount of training time needed for everyone to be healed and better than ever. Not to mention Annabeth was still MIA, so the reign of the gods will surely end. I pressed my palms to my temples, a pounding headache messing with my thoughts, the after effect of almost going deaf due to shrieking. I ran through the way the battle would play out. Hatch gets a monster army, the smartest daughter of Athena on the planet, and mortals with weapons. We get a group of electric teens and a war elephant. This seems about even.

A sudden peal squawks and yells broke me from my trance. I sighed, "Of course. Another day, another group of monsters."

I sprinted in the direction of the noise.