The sound of a growl brought Percy to his senses. Quickly he opened his eyes and jumped to his feet: Bad idea. Too quickly he had done so and the world around him began to swirl. Nausea flooded his mind, making him stumble into a tree. The bark scraped his cheek and his hands he had put out to prevent him from hitting his head full on. The cuts stung, but barely affected Percy because of the agony he had gone through moments before. Once his body recuperated, things began to look normal. Percy slumped against the tree and slowly slipped to the ground.
"So much for getting up." He muttered and looked at his hands, he frowned. They should have been coated in blood but only in small scrapes and streaks of crimson. Percy looked down at his stomach, his shirt had a nice size hole but the skin underneath was unharmed with no trace of a scar.
"How odd," Percy murmured and studied the hole of his shirt. "A nice side effect maybe? There's not even blood on my shirt . . ."
There may have been no wound, but the area where it was supposed to be greatly pained him. Percy hadn't noticed it before, but now it felt like he had been branded with a white hot rod. He groaned and hugged his stomach, all his senses dulled by the pain.
A growl erupted from one of the bushes near the tree. Percy barely heard it, but had enough sense to plunge is hand in his pocket for Riptide.
"No . . ." He groaned, his beloved weapon was nowhere to be found. "Styx!"
The bush growled louder until it grew into a roar. A black mass jumped from the bush and charged, Percy yelped and barreled out on the way. A sharp pain stabbed into his stomach, forcing him to curl into a ball. The black mass charged him once again, but this time he couldn't move. A massive paw flipped him on his back and planted itself on his chest. Percy held in a scream as he pain in his abdomen grew. He coughed and tried his best to fight against the beast to no avail. He only stopped with a giant tongue licked his face.
"Ack! What the--?"
"WOOF!"
Percy raised his arms, wiping the slobber from his eyes and looked up at his attacker "Mrs. O'Leary?"
"WOOF!"
Percy smiled, he had never been happier to see his dog. Mrs. O'Leary barked happily and withdrew her paw from his chest and bounded in a circle around Percy. He slowly sat and she laid next to him, resting her head on his lap. Percy chuckled and scratched Mrs. O'Leary behind the ear "Its nice to see you!" He said.
She barked in reply and wagged her tail. Percy smiled again, but it soon faded as he doubled over, holding his stomach. He yelped and groaned, causing Mrs. O'Leary to whine and whimper.
A familiar voice called from a distance "Mrs. O'Leary!"
The hellhound stood and howled.
"Mrs. O'Leary?" The voice asked as they walked into the small area where Percy and Mrs. O'Leary were stationed.
A black haired boy stopped in his tracks as he starred at Percy. His see green eyes widened "Oh my gods . . . who in Hades are you?!" He snapped and drew his sword from his pocket "And what are you doing with my dog?"
Percy opened his mouth to answer but all that came out was a growl of pain. Mrs. O'Leary whimpered and gently licked him.
The boy's eyes narrowed but softened some. He slowly walked toward Percy, his sword still in hand as an act of caution "Who are you?"
Percy shakily looked at the boy, his jaw set to keep in a cry of agony. The boy gasped and tensed, Percy bit his lip "Don't freak out." His said in a strangled voice.
"Oh my gods."
"Don't--."
"OH MY GODS! GET AWAY YOU CLONE FREAK!" The black haired boy yelped and threw his sword like a javelin. Percy rolled out of the way.
He looked at his other and growled "Watch where you throw that thing!"
"GET AWAY!"
"Oh come on! This isn't the strangest thing you've ever seen!"
"Well it's up there on the list . . ." The boy muttered.
Perseus growled, clutching his stomach "I can explain, just at the moment I need help."
Percy narrowed his eyes wearily "How do I know that you're not one of Kronos's followers? Trying to infiltrate the camp?"
"Look, all I can give you is my word. I know that doesn't mean a lot but that's the best I can do at the moment. Now I need your help in more ways than one, first I need you to take me to Chiron then I'll fill you in on the rest."
Percy bit his lip "Where did you come from?"
Perseus groaned "Just take me to Chiron!"
"Fine." Percy muttered and walked over to his older clone. He put out his hand to help the other up. Perseus grabbed his hand and struggled to his feet.
"Thank you."
Percy shrugged and hopped on Mrs. O'Leary "Come on then."
Perseus sighed and hauled himself onto the back of the hellhound. Once Percy was sure that Perseus was on . . . and unarmed he leaned over to Mrs. O'Leary's ear "Take us to Chiron."
The hellhound barked and took off toward the Big House.
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I am so sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER! This is my first year of high school so the homework load is like holding the freaking sky! I'll try my best to write more, things are finally settling down a bit but they may kick back up soon. I REALLY hope you like the sequel!
Love,
~ Perseus99
