All Four United: The Abductee of Inanis

Chapter 1

POV 1: Percy Jackson

If Percy had known that taking his DSTOMPs in New Rome would mean he would get involved in another Great Prophecy, he would've called in sick.

But alas, he was stuck in a dreary old room with a handful of other demigods hunched over brittle wooden tables, turning pages slowly as Mr. Warhammer (A legacy of Mars, no doubt) surveyed them with a scowl permanently plastered on his face.

Percy was stuck on the poetry section. (Curse you Apollo!) The open windows let in the cool winter air and, as Percy surveyed the room and he could see most of the demigods shivering. It wasn't as if his ADHD was helping him, keeping his thoughts swirling around as he thought about his mom, Sally Jackson and his unborn sister, as well as his girlfriend, Annabeth Chase who was probably in another room taking the same examinations as him. But she would have already completed and would be rechecking for the fourth time. A chuckle escaped Percy's lips at the thought, and he narrowly avoided Mr. Warhammers stern gaze as he quickly looked down at his paper.

But one thought kept troubling him: Something terrible was coming and he was going to be a part of it. (Curse the Fates as well! Actually, scratch that. Don't want them to make any angrier.) Percy was no oracle or anything but he knew that it was coming in his gut which he had learned to trust long ago. And as much as Percy would have liked to blame the gut feeling on his tiredness, he knew well enough that the fates had probably decided to send him on another impossible quest.

Their conversation probably went like this:

Clotho: "Hmmm. Which new demigod should we send to his death next?"

Lachesis: "Oooh! What about that son of Poseidon? His life has been kind of easy the last 5 months right? He has had more than enough time to shed all of his pesky trauma!"

Atropos: "Yup! Let me just pick a few more random strings andddd...... Here we go! Their destinies are entwined now!"

Shaking his head, Percy finally forced himself to focus on the exam and started to painfully fill in the poetry section; which, incidentally, was filled to the brim with the most horrible haikus he had ever read.

As he identified the poetic devices in a haiku on bananas (Good Bananas, Right? / I like Bananas so much! / Tasty Bananas!) when a noise interrupted him: footsteps. Though Percy tried to ignore them, the footsteps kept getting closer and with a horrible feeling in his stomach, Percy realized that the person was jogging.

Suddenly the door on the side opened and in it stood a middle-aged man with an athletic figure slim and fit with salt-and-pepper hair, blue eyes, elfish features, and a sly grin. He was wearing nylon running shorts and New York City Marathon T-shirt. Percy quickly realized who this person was but there were a few differences than the last time Percy had seem him this way. He seemed much disciplined, militaristic, and warlike. Suddenly Percy realized why this god looked different.

"L..Lord Mercury", Mr. Warhammer quickly dropped in a deep bow. "What... Why are you gracing us with the pleasure of seeing your magnificence, my lord?"

Mercury gave a sly smile and his eyes quickly surveyed the room and stopped at Percy, "If you excuse us, I would like to talk to Percy Jackson"

All eyes in the room slowly turned toward Percy, whose face had contorted into a deep frown and a groan escaped from his lips.

"Why of course, Lord Mercury!", Mr. Warhammer turned to look at Percy, "You must be done with your exam by now Percy! Give it to me and go talk to Lord Mercury!"

Percy was about to complain that he was in fact, not done with his exam but when he looked at the paper, it had been magically been completed with Percy's handwriting, though Percy knew that he had only done the paper halfway by now. He looked up to see a twinkle in Mercury's eye who gave him a quick wink.