Second Chance (Percy Jackson Chaos Theory Fanfic)

Void Doesn't Lie

I would like to dedicate this chapter to JingPolito and jazminski! They're awesome. :) Also, thank you all so much for the one thousand reads!

Percy POV

Somehow having Thalia, Jason, and Nico know who I really was made things easier. Now I could actually talk to someone like I had before I'd... left.

Thalia insisted on getting the four of us together so we could just talk. So that night, the three of us gathered in the woods near the spot where the door of the labyrinth had first been discovered. Thalia was there first, quickly followed by Jason, Nico, and finally me.

"So what are we talking about?" Jason dumbly asked.

Thalia glared at him. "Look at who I brought, and you tell me."

Jason looked. "Oh. Hello, Percy. I suppose this is everybody who knows you, then?"

Instead of answering, I tilted my head, as if asking a rhetorical question.

Nico laughed. "Dude, Jay, nobody's going to give you a straight answer right now. It's pretty obvious what the answer to your question is."

Jason grumbled something about "friends who make me think", after which he asked me, " Why don't you take off your mask, Percy? Everybody here knows so you are."

"I don't want to risk it," I explained. "Not when anybody else from camp could be wandering around out here and spot me."

"Oh. Boo," Nico teased. "What a lame excuse. Who cares if they see you? Plus, I know for a fact that there is no one within two thousand feet of us."

I stared at him, then shook my head. "I still can't get over the fact that you can feel spirits. Like... Ew. Bleh. I bet mine feels like a lobster wrapped in sphagetti noodles."

Covering his mouth, Nico snorted. "Or a pancake."

My evil glare turned on him. "Nobody takes my awesome ideas." Nico and Jason laughed at that. "And what is with you calling Jason 'Jay'? He sounds like a blue bird."

Jason clapped me on the shoulder. "My dear friend, I am a blue jay."

"What....?"

Thalia rolled her eyes. "It's an inside joke with the whole of camp. Jason was wearing all blue one time when he was controlling the winds to fly, and someone shouted 'Hey, look, it's a blue Jay!' That's why we call him Jay now."

"Ironic," I commented. "In that Jay is another word for blue, which is the color of the sky. And 'son' obviously means son. So basically Jason's name means 'Son of the Sky', which is true because Zeus is the Lord of the Sky and Jason is his son."

All three demigods looked as if they'd just been slapped in the face.

"Oh," Thalia said.

"My," Nico stuttered.

"Word," Jason finished, nearly choking. "How did you even.. No. Just no. You're freaky, man. Since when did you actually think more logically than everyone else?"

"Since I became awesome," I sniffed. We all laughed, and it was a good sound to hear. My old life was returning, and I was now wanting it to.

"When was that?" Nico innocently asked.

"Dude, if your face was just a little higher, I'd punch it," I teased, gently shoving Nico into Jason... Sorry, Jay.

Thalia moved away from me. "You've gotten good at this backlash stuff."

I stopped messing with the boys. "Huh?"

She sighed and muttered, "Still as stupidly clueless as ever, though, I see."

"I heard that," I warned, but not in a mean way.

She seemed shocked by that. "What, do you have supersonic hearing now or something?"

"You could say that," I smiled. "I've been rather decked out in the past five years, thanks to Chaos."

Thalia eyed me warily. "What exactly does that mean?"

I waved my arm dismissively. "Eh, you'll find out eventually."

Nico shoved me. "We just did, sonic hearing person."

"What?" I laughed. "Is that going to be my new nickname?"

"You got it right!" Nico exclaimed. "Whoop!"

Jason suddenly interrupted us. "Oops, we gotta go, Perce. Chiron said he wanted to have a meeting without you or the Army. See you later!"

I sighed. Already we didn't have much time to talk to each other. "Okay, see ya, Jay."

Jason smiled. "See ya, sonic hearing person."

I watched my three friends trudge off through the woods, my heart swelling with happiness. They were such amazing friends; with each day, I was becoming more and more grateful that I'd told them who I was.

Heading back to check on the Army was my next goal. I traced the steps Thalia, Jay, and Nico had taken; it was the fastest way out of the woods and to Camp.

But before I had taken even two steps, a chilling laugh echoed through the forest. I had heard that laugh once before, back when we'd had that meeting in the pavilion...

My sword (a new one called Backfire [obviously not named to backfire on me, but to backfire on my enemies]) was in my hands in less than a second, the elongated iron blade reaching a good twenty inches. The iron caused the blade to be a whitish-silver color, since it was Universal Iron, stronger than both Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold.

And that was when I remembered Void's promise.

"When we are alone."

And I was alone.

Unfortunately, Void doesn't lie.

And now I was probably about to die.

Void slowly solidified ten feet to my right. His swirling black eyes held years of experience and skill. He was going to kill me in seconds.

"Hello, Perseus Jackson," Void greeted, rolling my name around as if it was the worst thing in the world. To him, it probably was.

"Void," I spat, throwing as much contempt into the syllable as I could. "Did you think I was alone?" I was hoping I could somehow bluff my way out of this.

Void laughed evilly. "I know you are alone, Perseus Jackson. You cannot get yourself out of this."

"You're wrong!" I shouted, tensing myself to run. "I'm not alone!" And I took off running, Void behind me.

I prayed I could only make it to help in time.

***

Nico POV

The minute we left, I knew something was dreadfully wrong. Percy was in danger.

Not even taking the time to explain, I shouted to Thalia and Jason, "Percy's in trouble! Come on!"

I knew who was chasing him. There was only one person in the universe who had a spirit that strong.

Void.

Never had I sprinted so fast in my entire life.

I just hoped beyond hope that I wasn't going to be too late.