Two of the siblings ran at me from the left and right. I backed up toward the creek and raised my shield prepared to block the attack but before I could do anything Clarisse came up from behind me and slashed at me with her spear. Electricity raced through my spine making my collapse to the ground.

"No maiming," I managed to sign.

"Oops," the 'smart' guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege." He proceeded to push me into the creek and step on my numb arm to pin me down.

They all laughed.

I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. But then something happened. While in the water a familiar gut feeling starting to shoot through me. I could feel the water as if it was a part of me. It seemed to wake up my senses as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans. (I love Sally Jackson! She's gonna get a major role later because I love her so much and she deserves it! )

I grabbed the guy's leg and yanked it off my arm, making him lose his balance and fall backward into the creek.

Clarisse and her cabin mates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them.

I could tell some of them were surprised by my stamina from the looks on their faces. Any other person who was struck like that would be down for the count already.

After getting over their surprise, three of the guys started running towards me. They probably hoped to catch me off guard but that wasn't the case.

I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water. Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick.

A fourth guy that seemed to be stepping in didn't look really anxious to attack now, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it in half.

"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"

She ran for me again, dodging my attacks, and tackled me to the ground. I tried to get up but she pinned my legs to the ground. I could feel a familiar energy flowing through my system. I couldn't allow this to happen. I tried to buck her off me but I ended up getting a punch to the face for the effort. I got one of my hands free and punched her in the chest. All the energy I felt before released at once making my fist glow with a strange purple and green light. Clarisse's eyes went wide as she flew back into a tree.

"What the hell was that Prissy?" She yelled at me. She slowly got up while picking up the two pieces of her broken spear.

I got to my feet too. It's bad strategy to stay low while your opponent stands tall. They could easily pin you down again.

I ran towards her and slashed my sword towards her hands. She blocked my attack like planned. I brought my sword back around and slammed the flat of my blade onto the top of her head. Her grip on her spears loosened and she fell backward onto the ground.

I won.

Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward me and the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids.

"Come on Percy!" Luke yelled as he snatched my arm to get me to run with him.

We passed the Ares kids as they got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.

"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick." They staggered after us, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as we ran across into friendly territory.

Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and I and started carrying us around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn. The game was over.

We'd won.

"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" a voice asked after I was put down.

I looked around confused until I realized that the voice sounded like Annabeth.

"Annabeth." I signed

The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.

"Holy Hades, That's Awesome. Can I see?" I signed to her. She stared at me with confusion until her eyes gleamed with an inner knowing.

"Oh, are you asking about my hat? Sorry, I'm not that good at silent language yet. I'm still learning some of the basics."

I nodded my head to say yes. Then slowly signed that I understood so that she could decipher it.

"The hat works like an invisibility cloak. My mother gave it to me as a gift back when I was still a newbie in camp."

I gave her a thumbs up to show my understanding and waved to end my conversation with her.

I then set off to find Luke in the crowd of people.

When I found him I tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"Aye, wassup Percy." Then he noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"

"Sword cut," I signed. "What do you think?"

"Not just a sword cut." He said looking at my body with a concerned look on his face.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward the creek.

"Sorry about this." He said before pushing back into the lake.

I looked at him with a pout on my face before getting up. He wasn't looking at my face though. He was staring at my body.

I looked down and noticed that water was slowly trailing up my body. I also noticed that the same water was healing all the battle wounds that I collected throughout the day.

"What the fuck?" I signed to him.

The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar and disappeared.

"I don't get it," I signed.

Luke was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning.

He looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."

"What-"

"Just do it." I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Luke steadied me.

"Oh, Styx," He cursed. "This is not good."

Before I could ask what he meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest. The campers' cheering died instantly.

Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!"

Luke drew his sword. There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers. It was looking straight at me.

Nobody moved except Luke, who yelled, "Percy, run!"

He tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over him-an enormous shadow with teeth-and just as it hit me, I threw my hands up in a defensive manner to block the force of the beast. A purple light flashed in front of me but it didn't help much as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hound's neck sprouted a cluster of arrows.

The monster fell dead at my feet. By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat. Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her. We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

"You're wounded," Luke told me. "Quick, Percy, get back in the water."

"I'm okay." I signed, wincing as I shifted foot-to-foot. I could feel the blood running down my arm. I could feel the stinging as the wind blew against fresh flesh wounds.

"No, you're not," he said, glaring at my stubbornness.

I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me. Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.

"Look, I don't know why," I signed, trying to apologize to anyone that understood. "I'm sorry..."

But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.

Annabeth came to the front of the crowd slowly. Her eyes were wide with shock.

"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing.

"Um ..." By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green and purple light, spinning and gleaming. A trident in between two faint torches with purple flames.

"Your father and..," Annabeth murmured.

"This is really not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced. All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.

"My father...and?" I asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hecate, goddess of magic, sorcery, witchcraft, crossroads, trivial knowledge, and necromancy. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God and the Magician.