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"Good for nothing little runts," grumbled Percy. It's what he'd been telling himself for the past half hour or so after he gathered what little belongings he had, and a few from the other children, and left the Treehut - for good. The reason he had to remind himself that he'd 'had enough of that lot' was because he was starting to regret leaving what he used to call home. Not because he missed the other kids, hell no, the jungle was just, well, scary. Little did he realise that the noise he made as he hacked and slashed through the foliage wouldn't help him avoid those fears.

Percy stopped dead in his tracks when he heard voices and the sound of rustling trees. What on earth was that? He thought. Did he attract some animals? Or was it ghosts? He would give all his stolen apples for it to be nothing but Feien messing around. What if the animals want to eat me?!

Suddenly, leaving the group to fend on his own didn't seem like such a good idea after all. Crawling close to the ground, Percy tried to make a break for it, but with his eyes squinted close he had no idea where he was heading. When he finally realised his stupidity and opened his eyes he was looking at a most frightening sight. He ran for cover in a nearby bush, his eyes shut again, knowing that it had seen him but praying otherwise. "A gator? Oh dear god it's going to kill me!"

Percy jumped as the gator boy approached, "Lost boy?" He blurted almost incoherently, "No, no, nuuuuu. I'm not one of the 'lost' boys, far from it. You see, well, I actually am lost, but I'm not one of THE lost, if you know what I'm saying."

He looked around nervously as he backed away from the two menacing faces, "What I'm saying is I got lost after I left those Lost. Children." He stopped as he backed into a tree.

Seeing that there was no escape he flailed even worse than before, "I mean what I really came here for was," and he got on his knees, "please don't make me walk the plank. Can't you see how skinny I am? I wouldn't even survive the crash into the water. Please, look into your heart. Your scaley, scaley, but generous, heart."

"You don't...have a heart?" Percy squeaked. He was so scared that his own heart was practically non-existant either.

"Well, anyway, I think we can all agree this was just a little wee tiny bit of a misunderstanding," he said, clearing his throat with all the courage he could muster up.

"I'll, uh, be taking my leave now, you know, going on my merry way." He made two fingers like a man walking. "Have a nice day!"

Percy tried to inch himself around the tree he had his back against. If he was lucky enough he would live to see another day.

Pirates? Thought Percy. He was glad when they had lost interest in him, but as they walked away he knew that this was his chance. Maybe his only chance.

He hadn't seen the pirates before but they were supposedly people like him. Sure the scaley one was scary, but he looked strong, it'd be much better to hang around with them then venture alone into the jungle.

Percy attempted to call out to the two figures in the distance and run up to them, "Maybe not yet," he whispered to himself. And decided to follow them carefully, hiding behind whatever bush or tree he could instead.

The Troll Mountains? Why, oh why couldn't they just go somewhere like the beach like normal pirates shoud?

Percy had been shaking with fear with each step he took in the same direction as the pirates. He had heard nothing but horror tales about the mountains and swore he would never come here even if his life depended on it. To tell the truth his life did depend on it now.

Did he just say 'it's a good day to die'? Okay, maybe his life shouldn't be depending on this too much. Why were they even here?

Percy knew it wouldn't be wise to make his presence known but the fear was overwhelming. He wanted to know why they had to be here.

"So, what exactly are we doing here?" He found himself asking in a rather weak voice, forgettin himself. A grave mistake he thought, not knowing that the rock he was 'hiding' behind was barely sufficient in covering his legs.

Quite surprised that the pirates weren't hunting him down, Percy was further uplifted by the notion that the trolls would be easy to take on.

Thinking nothing could go wrong with the menacing gator boy on his side, Percy enthusiastically dogged them, "What do you need? I'm sure I can go get it for ya! You know, and maybe I can join the group, 'cos you know, I can help. And stuff."

"WHAT?!" came Percy's initial response. His follow-up wasn't much different, "You want me to WHAT?!"

"Me, a distraction? But boss, can I call you boss, BOSS they're TROLLS for crying out loud! You really don't expect me to..."

The skinny little boy seemed to regain his composure, his panic now more of a contained anxiety, although the sweat running off his face indicated that he was far from comfortable.

"You see, this, you and me?" He pointed back and forth between himself and the two boys, "I don't think it's working out. It's not you guys, trust me, it's all me."

The boy faked a cough, "Anyway, I'm feeling kinda feverish. Maybe I've caught a flu or something, what if it's fin rot? You know, something the mermaids might get? I should be in bed right now, with a big bowl of chicken sou-"

It was too late. Something rumbled in the distance and a boulder landed only a few feet from where they stood. The trolls had come.