Percy sat and watched as the elder Winchester shut the door gently behind him. When he heard the engine start, Percy couldn't help but tense his shoulders. It was a reflex after his years of being a demigod; you should never, ever let your guard down. And Percy hadn't.

Yet, he felt like he had.

He didn't say anything about it to the brothers, not wanting to sound crazy.

Plus, he had checked the night before, once he was sure the Winchesters were sound asleep before getting out of his bed and checking the windows and doors. He debated about going outside to better scan the perimeter, but Percy had notice a salt line in the doorway and decided against it. He didn't want the hunters to know that he had gone out and make them think that he was kidnapped or something.

Percy shuddered involuntarily. He refused to think about the last time he was kidnapped. That was not fun, whatsoever.

Percy shook his head and hoped Dean kept his promise about being back within minutes. He realized then that last night (early morning, whatever. You guys understand what time it was.) was the first time that he had eaten a proper meal out of the two, three weeks he's been away from camp.

That probably wasn't good.

Percy jerked when a hand was placed cautiously on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Sam standing above him, a hint of worry in his eyes. Percy blinked a couple of times before he registered the fact that Sam was speaking to him.

"Sorry. What?" Percy asked, coming out of his thoughts.

"I asked if you're okay?" Sam repeated, frowning at Percy. "You look a little pale."

Percy squirmed at the intense gaze the young hunter was giving him, but waved away the question. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you, though?"

"What about me?" Sam asked, taking his hand off Percy and crossing his arms.

"Dean told me that you were going through a rough patch," Percy replied. He shrugged in sympathy. "When you were still sleeping, you looked like you were in pain."

Sam flinched at that, but Percy pretended not to notice. The two boys were quiet, until Sam broke it by sitting on his bed and sighed.

"Uh, honestly? I don't know. Just a few days ago, my brother and I had to fight off these...people who weren't in control of themselves."

"Like they were possessed?" Percy inquired.

"Kind of. Not really," Sam replied, thinking. "They started out okay, but when the black veins reached a certain point, those people weren't in control of their actions."

Percy nodded slowly. "What are these black veins?"

Sam slowly exhaled. "That is an equally long story. But the condensed version is, I got the Mark of Cain taken off my brother, which resulted in releasing the Darkness."

Percy ran that information through his head. He didn't really understand what this Mark of Cain was or how it worked, but he figured he could ask later. As for the Darkness, Percy didn't need to ask what that was. The name alone sounded like it was bad. But there was one thing Percy knew the young hunter was leaving out.

"Did you get infected?"

Sam's breathing hitched. He stared at Percy in confusion. "How'd you-"

"Call it a sixth sense." Percy shrugged. "Besides, from getting to know you for about," Percy glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 10:26. "Sixteen hours, give or take a few minutes, you seem like you're hiding something."

Sam studied Percy for a few minutes before scoffing and removed his gaze down to the floor. He shook his head. "I haven't even told Dean yet."

"There a specific reason?" Percy gently pushed, not wanting to make the younger brother shut down.

"Trying to find an appropriate time?" Sam shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "I can't exactly say to my brother, "Hey, by the way, while you were dropping off Jenna and the baby at her grandmother's house, I maybe slipped up and got infected by the crazy people. But don't worry, I found an antidote and cured myself and everyone else.'"

"Fair point." Percy nodded. "But you should still probably let him know," he added. "And not have him find out later."

"Yeah, I know." Sam ran a hand through his hair. "It's just," he paused, biting his lip. "I've messed up pretty bad over the past couple of years, and now with this whole Darkness business..." Sam sighed and stood up. "I don't know," he confessed.

Percy was about to comfort the younger sibling when the hairs on the back of his hair stood up in its end.

He looked over at the front door and narrowed his eyes. He slowly stood up and reached for his pen.

Sam, upon noticing Percy's stance, got into a fighting stance subconsciously. He glanced between Percy and the door. "Percy," he quietly stated. "What's wrong?"

Percy didn't have an answer for him, just brought out Riptide and carefully walked to the door, Sam following close behind him.

Both boys reached the door, and as soon as Percy touched the doorknob, the room exploded.

***********

Percy coughed and shook his head to clear the dust and debris off, but that was proven to be a mistake when a pounding in his head hit him at full force. He groaned and gently dropped his head back on the ground. He closed his eyes to try and get his bearings.

When he felt certain that the room had stopped spinning, he cracked his eyes open to a slit. Percy, very slowly and gingerly this time, picked his head up and pushed himself into a sitting position, only to find that both of his legs were trapped beneath the ruin of the door and part of a wall.

"Awesome." Percy croaked out to himself. "Just great."

"Percy!"

Percy winced when he heard the shout. It sounded vaguely familiar, but Percy couldn't put his finger on where.

He pushed past the pounding drums beating on his head and called back. "Over here!"

He flinched when he heard his voice. It sounded more like a hoarse whisper than a shout. His throat refused to let him swallow the debris down his dry mouth, so he did the next big thing: banging his fist on the wall that was keeping him prisoner.

Which, as he now thought about it, probably wasn't his smartest plan. Each bang that he made sent pain up his legs, making him want to whimper, but he gritted his teeth and kept doing it.

He tried to find water, but his head was hurting too much to actually focus. Then he remembered Sam.

"Sam," Percy croak-whispered. He looked around, careful not to jar his head, trying to find the tall man. Then when his head felt like it was going to explode, Percy closed his eyes and laid back down again.

He must've fallen back asleep because when he returned to his thoughts of Sam and the worse having happened to the younger Winchester, he felt himself being lifted off the ground and someone removing the wall from his legs.

Percy had a moment of panic sweeping over him. He started to kick and punch his way out, but he couldn't really get a hit. But he had to do something.

He wouldn't be able to live with himself if Sam somehow had died and Percy was being kidnapped again. He just couldn't do it.

He felt arms wrap securely around, preventing him from moving. Usually, Percy could get himself out of harm's way while he was injured, but the blast must've given him a concussion from landing on the floor. And his legs felt like they might fall off.

Percy felt someone shaking him and he realized that he was now propped up against the bathroom wall; the only part of the room that hadn't been damaged by the explosion.

He opened his eyes to slits and saw Dean shifting through the first-aid kit. Percy tried pushing himself up so he wouldn't be leaning awkwardly, but when he tried to, he hissed in pain under his breath, his arm now making itself known.

He heard Dean shout and felt himself tipping over to the side, but then hands reached out to stop his descent and move him back to where he was. But one hand had accidently brushed up against a bruise that Percy was just now starting to feel.

He gasped in pain.

"Okay, kiddo. It's okay."

Percy grasped the arm that was holding him up. "S-Sam?" Percy panted, needing to know if the man was alright. "He...good?"

He heard a slight chuckle in front of him. "Yeah, yeah. He's fine."

Percy thought Dean said something else, but his eyes started to close. "Good," he whispered. "Th-that's good."

He felt tapping against his cheek. "Hey, you need to stay awake. Percy?"

But Percy couldn't help himself. He shut his eyes and fell into a dark abyss.