Percy's POV

Darkness was all around me, my eyes seeing nothing. After only a moment, my mind began to grow dark as well, overwhelmed by the heat of this intense suffering. It had to have been my imagination, but before I completely lost all sanity and life, I thought I heard someone scream my name.

Annabeth's POV

"Will, that was horrible!" I exclaimed as the Apollo cabin leader and I walked towards the infirmary. "I can't believe you made me go with you to tell everyone. Their reactions..."

Will sighed. "I'm sorry, Annabeth, but it had to happen. They needed to know."

Will had convinced me to leave Percy's side to tell the remainder of Camp Half Blood what was going on. I hadn't wanted to do it at all, but the son of Apollo guilt-tripped me into leaving the safety of the infirmary. It was a horrible choice, really, because all the demigods looked on in fear. I had to tell them that Percy might not get any better, might be stuck as a werewolf forever.

The worst part was when a younger camper, barely thirteen years old, raised his hand and asked a question. "Annabeth, if Percy becomes a werewolf forever, will he be considered a monster?"

I hesitated. The thought honestly hadn't occurred to me, though it should've. Cautiously, I said, "Yes..."

Another camper spoke up, fear evident in her voice. She must've been at least a year older than the first camper. "If he's a monster, will we have to fight and kill him?"

I opened my mouth to shout against it, but then the logistics of it entered my brain. We were demigods, raised and trained to defeat monsters. If Percy stays a werewolf permanently, his entire mentality will change to that of a monstrous pack animal. We would have no choice but to defend ourselves.

Tears spilling from my eyes, I managed to say, "I hope it never comes to that."

More campers began standing up after that announcement, waving hands and shouting questions. Completely overwhelmed, I stepped backwards. Will jumped in front of me, yelling to the crowd, "Go back to your cabins and we'll update you in the morning!"

Grabbing my arm, the son of Apollo hurried me out of the pavilion and back to the infirmary, tears still dripping from my eyes.

Just as I was about to open the door to the infirmary and take my place next to Percy's bed, Will grabbed my arm. "Annabeth," he said softly, "I don't know what's going to happen in these next few hours." He looked at his watch. "It's after ten o'clock. We have to hope that Percy wakes up within the next hour and a half, or else... You know what has to happen."

I nodded, looking at the ground. "I know, Will."

The son of Apollo nodded before reaching out and turning the door knob to the infirmary.

The first thing I noticed, looking past Will's arm, was that the black wolf in the hospital bed was missing. In its place was a man, laying face-down on the thin mattress. His body was twitching and convulsing, even though it appeared that he had either lost consciousness or was at the edge of losing it.

"Percy!" I screamed, pushing past Will and sprinting into the room. I collapsed at the side of his bed, my knees buckling.

Will rushed to the other side and took Percy's pulse. "His pulse is slowing down!" He exclaimed, pulling away to grab a bucket of water. "Annabeth, try to flip him over!"

I stood on legs that wobbled like jelly, wrapping one arm across his back and the other underneath his chest. I was about to rotate his shaking body when I noticed something disturbing.

"Will!" I shouted, horror clear in my voice. "Will, there's a tooth stuck in his back!"

The son of Apollo ran over, bucket of water weighing down his arms until he dropped it on the floor. It splashed a bit, sloshing over my sneakers and drenching my socks, but I didn't pay it any attention.

"A tooth?" Will asked, brow furrowed. "What the hell is a tooth doing in his back?"

I wracked my brain for an answer, unable to come up with anything in my frantic mind. Then, suddenly, it hit me.

I gasped out, "The antidote!"

"What?" Will looked up from Percy's back and at me.

"The antidote! He-he needed a tooth and blood to cure himself, but I didn't know what he had to do with it! He hadn't told me! But the tooth..."

Will swore under his breath. "He shouldn't have taken the antidote alone. Do you know how long that tooth needs to be in before we can safely take it out?"

I shook my head, desperate for a positive answer. Instead, Will swore again and took Percy's pulse. "His pulse is slowing down. We're going to lose him if I don't start to do something, and I can't do anything with him like this. I have to take the tooth out."

Unable to know whether or not this gamble would pay off, as I was never one for taking risks, I nodded mutely. "Ok," I whispered.

"Hold him steady, Annabeth," Will instructed, slipping on a pair of latex gloves and grabbing a pair of industrial-sized tweezers that were normally used for gods know what. Swallowing hard, I obeyed readily, gripping Percy's still jerking body. He was definitely unconscious, but his body didn't seem to get that memo, as it kept moving.

"Ok. On the count of three..." Will cautioned, moving the industrial-sized tweezers closer to the bobbing tooth embedded in my boyfriend's back. I nodded, muscles already straining due to the intense straining needed to keep him nearly motionless.

"One..." I took a deep breath.

"Two..." Will positioned the tweezers just barely above the tooth, ready to grab it.

"Three!" In one switch movement, I clenched my muscles as tightly as I could, waiting for a
massive spasm to attack Percy's body. As I did so, Will swooped in with the mega-tweezers
and plucked the tooth out of Percy's flesh and into a silver tray he had set on the bedside table next to Percy's hospital bed.

I held on tightly, waiting for Percy's body to buck and thrash. Will, collapsed in the chair on the other side of the bed, watched warily, waiting as well.

Instead of convulsing violently like expected, Percy's body fell completely limp and lifeless.
Startled, I let go quickly and stepped back to be able to get a better look at him. Will bolted to his feet as well, staring at the body of his patient.

"Is he...?" I dared whisper.

Will stooped down. The spot on Percy's back where the tooth had been stuck was now a bloody hole about two inches wide. Cautiously, Will took a square of gaze and attached it to the skin around the wound to protect against bacteria. Without answering my question, Will said softly, "Help me flip him over."

I did as instructed without uttering a word in protest. My mind was racing too quickly to process anything at all, except the extreme concern about whether or not the love of my life would live.

Once he was on his back, I got my first full look at Percy's human form. He was half-naked, without a shirt, and drenched in sweat. His green eyes had rolled back in his head and his eyes were still partly open, though he was unconscious.

Or dead, an evil voice in the back of my head whispered. I tried my best to ignore it, but I couldn't help the seed of fear that began to take root in my subconsciousness.

He's not dead... He can't be dead, I murmured back, still feeling doubtful about the truth in my words.

As Will examined Percy's still form, I couldn't help but observe small things that hadn't changed. His fingernails still had the gnarly look that made your mind go immediately to a wild animal. His arms, bare against the cool cabin air, were covered in more hair than that of a normal demigod. I could only assume that his legs told the same story. Even the back of his hands were covered in a fine coating of hair.

Nothing had changed, nothing that would instantly make me believe that Percy was no longer a werewolf. Nothing that would make me believe that the cure had worked.

Nothing that would make me believe that Percy wouldn't be lost to me forever.

Notes

Another chapter! Man, I'm on a roll. Thanks for all the support I've been getting, guys. :)