Percy Jackson will perish.

All eyes were on me, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't cry in front of everyone, what good would that do? I gulped down a sob. I stood up and picked up my plate; every pair of eyes in the room on me. I scraped the rest of my food into the flames and left. I had lost my appetite.

As soon as everyone had turned back around and started chatting again, I broke into a sprint. MY vision blurred and I knew tears were coming. I only ran faster.

"Skylar! Skylar wait!" Aidan was running after me. I abruptly stopped at the door to my Cabin. If it had been anyone else I would have kept running and slammed the door shut.

"Skylar," he was standing behind me but I continued to face the door. His voice was gentle, like any son of Apollo. "Skylar are you okay? You ran out of the mess hall."

Oh really? I hadn't noticed.

I stayed silent.

Aidan rubbed the back of his neck. "A-are you okay?"

I collapsed on the floor, crying. No, no I wasn't okay. Chiron had just approved Percy's death. He was even going to let me go after him. I couldn't live with myself knowing that Percy still had a chance at life and not do anything to try and help.

Aidan sighed, "Never mind, I already know."

Aidan sat next to me, not knowing what to do. He awkwardly put his arm around me and patted my shoulder. He wasn't used to seeing me cry. I wasn't use to crying. When I finally stopped, I rested my head on Aidan.

"Thanks."

Aidan raised an eyebrow. "For?"

I sniffled and shrugged. "Being here for me. And, everything else."

Aidan managed a crooked smile. "Hey I'll always be here for you. And besides, I owed you for my epic victory at Capture the Flag today."

"Brandon is the one who crossed the border." I pointed out. "You were too busy getting pinned to the ground to do anything."

Aidan's face went red. "Well, um, yeah but still."

"Whatever you say, Sunflower."

Aidan frowned at me and I couldn't help but laugh. I had been calling him "Sunflower" since we were 7 and not once did he not get annoyed. Six years later and nothing has changed.

My laugh faded as I saw the Athena kids laughing together. All their brothers and sisters safe and sound, right here at camp. I didn't want to think about the dark empty Cabin behind me. I'd been cursed and blessed by Hades; I wasn't scared of the dark. I could shadow travel so obviously I couldn't be scared of the dark. But if there was one thing I was scared about, it was death.

I'd been cursed to see people's deaths since I was born. Hades thought that I would be able to help him with collecting souls. If I could see who was going to die, when and where, Death could be able to go catch the souls. Zeus didn't think it was such a grand idea. Poseidon didn't like it at all. Athena thought it would be unwise and of course she didn't want her legacy stained by Hades.

But it was too late, Hades had already cursed me.
If I see an old man walking down the street one day I can immediately see when and where he'll die. He would get hit by bus at 3:48 p.m. on 1st street on May 24th. But if I try and stop or prevent the death I end up feeling their pain. He got all his ribs broken, an arm too. His legs have been crushed underneath the bus and his head is bleeding. If I try to prevent that I have to deal with that pain up until he dies.

I've been scared of death ever since I learned I had the curse. I'm scared that one day I'll look at Aidan, and I'll see something I don't want to see...

I hadn't noticed that the tears had returned, until Aidan hugged me.

"Hey," he spoke softly to me, like I was an injured animal. "Are you thinking about it again?"

I looked up at him and nodded. Aidan has known about my curse since we were eight. He has been the only person I've told. Not even Chiron knows. Not even Percy...

"I think I'm going to be sick," I cringe and begin to stand up. "I'm going to sleep."

Aidan stands up to and frowns, "But what about the campfire?"

I shake my head and put my hand on the screen door. I feel something warm curl around my other hand. I turn around to find Aidan's hand intertwined with mine. He looks at me, serious and solid as stone. His blonde hair swept perfectly to one side. He stares me down with his gray blue eyes.

"If you see anything, don't tell me what you saw. Just tell me you saw something. I'll be there for you, I promise."

He let's go of my hand. "I will," I tell him. "Goodnight, Sunflower."

He nods and walks to the campfire. I stand there for a moment then push the screen door open.

****

The second I went to sleep, the nightmare began.

I was in an old abandoned warehouse. Boxes and crates where stacked high up to the ceiling, at least fifty feet up. The place smelled like melting rubber and I knew why as soon as I looked down. A forty foot wide hole was in the center of the warehouse, filled to the brim with red hot lava. I took a shaky breath and looked around. That's when I saw Percy.

Percy was out cold in a giant cage. The cage was gold, jewels glimmering around the rim. Percy was bloody and scraped his hair plastered to one side in sweat. It was clear to me that he had a fever.

I tried to run to him, but my feet where glued in place. I opened my mouth to scream to Percy but no sound came out.

The ground shook. If I hadn't been glued in place I would have fallen forward into the lava.

I looked to my left and my heart skipped a beat. In the shadows, coming out of the maze of boxes and crates was a giant. He was thirty feet tall easily. From the waist up he looked semi human, giant muscles, wild green hair with basilisks hanging out his beard and hair. He also wore a breastplate shaped with faces of monsters scary enough to make me want to jump into the lava.

From the waist down he had the body of a green dragon, his scales stained with blood.

"I will kill your brother in one week, Skylar. Unless you come and take his place."

I looked at Percy, he shifted and groaned. He was alive! I had one week to save him. One week...

I woke up with a start. Cold sweat lined my forehead. I had to save Percy.

"One week," I whispered to myself. "Make it count."