Falling Through Portals

"Sweet on America"

Chapter 43

"Tell me your secrets Percy Jackson," Elsa whispered in his ear. Percy's head lolled to the side, his neck unable to hold his own head up. "Tell me what you are," she said. Percy's eyes drifted shut. He couldn't remember what had happened. Where he had been. How he had managed to find himself back in the queen's chambers. Why he was on the floor, his blood staining the rich carpet under him. He still wasn't sure what Elsa was talking about as she pressed her knee against his chest. "Open your eyes!" Elsa commanded, Percy felt her dig her hands into his wound. He let go a groan. Percy opened his eyes into the dark pits that were Elsa's eyes.

"What are you?" Percy asked her. She smiled.

"Your worst nightmare," she promised.

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Percy woke up in a cold sweat. He couldn't remember much of what he had dreamt only moments ago. Elsa had hurt him. She was not right in her mind.

Percy sat up, be ran his hand across his bare torso where he remembered the horrible pain of his wound. He couldn't remember how she had inflicted it, but it had been painful. This dream strayed from the normal horror of the torture table or even loosing Annabeth. No, this felt different, this felt dark, and far too real.

Percy shook his head. He was just having an over active imagination, that's what was happening. He slid off of his bed and went to his bathroom. He turned on the faucet and let the water run. Cupping his hands under it, he splashed the water onto his face. Immediately he felt better. His brain started to clear, and the dream began to fade. It was just a dream, he told himself. Just a dream.

Percy leaned on the sink with his arms braced on it, the water dripped off of his nose and chin back into the skin. The cool night air seemed to make all of the sweat freeze on his skin making him ten times colder. Percy looked into the mirror and saw all of the crisscrossing scars on his chest and abdomen. Most of them had faded because of his regularity in water, but all of the scars that he had received in Tartarus seemed to stand out and have more trouble healing then the rest.

"Lorem?" Percy called into the night. There was no response. Percy had tried all over the palace yesterday afternoon, calling her. She wasn't anywhere to be found. He knew that he had until night fall before the portal would come. But what would that mean? Would the portal even come when she seemed to have disappeared?

He still hadn't found any stone. Because of his distrust of this place he hadn't risked asking someone about the stone. All of the stones had evaporated when Lorem was able to reveal herself to him, but since she disappeared none of them had reappeared.

Percy sighed.

He knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep after that dream. His side ached from the memory of his wound in the dream. Percy put on one of the random shirts that was in a drawer of his room. Then he was off towards who knew where. He wasn't even wearing shoes as he walked down the majestic hallways. There was a cool draft through the castle that made Percy cross his arms across his chest. It was still dark and none of the palace staff were awake it seemed.

He had no plan on where he was walking. But when he saw that the large double doors into the main dining hall was open he couldn't help but peak inside.

The door slid open easily and Percy entered. The room was lit with beautiful colors. He looked up to see jagged and haphazard patterns of all sorts of colored glass pieces that the moon light shone through and fell onto the wooden floors. The tables had all been cleared away leaving a largely empty room. It was breathtaking seeing all of them create these beautiful patterns on the floor. Percy thought he was dreaming.