#HDYSG

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 2: The Ties that Bind

The Athena cabin was the most brightly lit in Camp.

Not Apollo's, whose kids spent to much of their time outdoors or they'd all kill each other. Their music got the best volume and audience down in the amphitheater anyways, and the others dispersed in the archery range or med bay or anywhere else they pleased, like flirting down at the lake. No, the sun god's cabin got the most warmth through the beautifully constructed windows, but the lights inside were rarely on.

The large gray cabin had every light in the house on, often times bright as the crack of dawn in the dead of night. Currently, with one lone occupant in its center. Her curly blonde hair was a tangled mess, her orange shirt was more wrinkled than her bloodshot eyes as she stared down at a test with a B- on it as if it held the answer to all her prayers.

The name at the top said Percy Jackson.

He'd kissed her goodnight with one of the proudest smiles she'd ever seen on his face. He'd been going on about mailing this to his mother and threatening Hermes himself if it didn't arrive, he didn't want to wait for winter break to end to show his mom.

It was just a mock test, they'd come to camp together that winter holiday teasing and laughing each other they wouldn't get anything done, but he'd sat dutifully beside her every day after training. She gave him the test verbally, and it turned out she'd found a very helpful way to encourage him to focus on his studies involving gummy worms.

She'd never seen him smile so bright when she swore on the Styx she hadn't curved the grade for him, that had been his work on that paper, and he'd looked at her and said, "maybe I should go back to slacking off," teasing and squeezing her hand. "I'm worried if this becomes a thing Wise Girl, you'll stop calling me Seaweed Brain."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she'd kissed him gently and promised they'd drive to New York to hand deliver it to his mother. They'd spend the whole drive bickering where they'd spend Christmas. With Sally and Paul, or here at Camp, or maybe even risk finally introducing Percy to her dad as her boyfriend...

There was a corkboard, books, maps, a full plate of food, and more books piled around her than even her mothers temples could imagine holding as she sat in the center. Her siblings must have been staying at the Big House or something after the last time she'd chucked her earrings like throwing stars at the door for Malcolm opening it with worried eyes on her. They were still embedded. Her gray eyes fractured as the fluttering of pages went unnoticed by her from where she'd hurled her last attempt to find an answer against the wall.

He hadn't shown up at breakfast, a worrying thing all its own...

Annabeth felt the presence of someone arriving, but she didn't take notice. If it was one of her siblings crawling through the window for their toothbrush or Chiron again to exchange plates of food and no new answers, they held nothing important for her.

His cabin had been spotless. His bed made, not a speck of dust in sight, the wrappers stacked in the bin rather than ringing it. Somebody had cleaned up.

She was alone again.

Don't do this to me, she wanted to scream in Zeus's face or the universe itself. Haven't I suffered enough?! Please, do not do this to me! I can't take anymore!

The best outcome was a quest, one so time sensitive he had to go before he could tell her, to save someone. The logical answer.

But she was only mortal. It had been to long. There was another solution to this.

He was dead.

Or he had abandoned her too.

When exactly panic had turned into reality he was just, gone, vanished into thin air had been no set point in time. She kept expecting the terror to fade, dull slightly, but it never did. It was always there, like she'd grown a second heartbeat, pulsing away no matter what little sleep her mind claimed from her brain's frantic searches before she snapped awake again in full panic.

Calling Sally had been the worst of it. The dead feeling she knew she could never resuscitate in herself no matter the outcome. Her last desperate chance he'd just taken off to see her alone, and the choking words to explain when his mother was as lost as she was.

Will Solace had threatened to carry her over his shoulder to the med bay and strap her down if he heard of this continuing, and she'd chucked her backpack at him, dislocating his shoulder last she heard.

She'd prayed to every single God, sobbed until she passed out for air into Grover's shoulder as he held her tight, but they were the wrong arms. Pleaded with her mother to give her another clue and she wouldn't fail her again. Demanded of Hera to take her instead if this was some punishment. Waded into the frigid December Long Island Sound up to her chest and begged for Poseidon's help, sacrificing her hat strung onto her beaded necklace into the still water.

There was just a moment. A warm flash. It had felt like a promise her sacrifice had been seen, but dismissed.

She'd stood there waiting until she was blue for more, Chiron had dragged her out kicking and screaming because it didn't vanish. Her most precious object only stayed floating on the surface. He put it on her nightstand for her where it stayed.

The clock on the wall kept ticking. Over seven days. In mere hours it would be one hundred and ninty-two hours. Every second was another moment for her world to fall apart beyond the scope of her putting any of it back together.

Chiron had been beside himself trying to comfort her, trying to get her to sleep and eat. Will had apparently gone missing too, but all she'd heard was that the wisest person at Camp didn't have an answer for her if more were on the way. She hoped she was next.

All she'd found at the Grand Canyon were angry storm spirits as lost as her, empty and chasing their own tails...

Her dreams were a worse torment than being awake. She never knew if the awful pain she kept seeing Percy in was real or her imagination. The whispers of her mother's voice that things were wrong and out of place, like missing chess pieces on a board. She'd felt a presence snatch her away, she'd felt the distaste in that flying sensation and knew it must be Hera, showing her a vision, that a boy with one shoe would be her answer- there had been a fraction of a second, where she'd stopped in a room and looked right at Percy before it all went black.

"Annabeth Chase."

The use of her last name speared something in her, the last dregs of her sanity she'd been clinging to. She was on her feet with her dagger drawn to sever ties with anyone on this mortal world who dared imply she had anywhere to go back to.

"Artemis!"

She sat delicately on a stack of discarded books over Tartarus's many entrances, the number of which people could accidentally fall into much larger than Annabeth had anticipated.

The goddess of the moon and hunt had the same sad, soulful silver eyes as when she'd taken the burden of the sky away from her.

"Thalia," Annabeth's voice came up as her last breath, her knees trembled. "Is, is she..." of course. Of course this had happened. She'd begged for her sister's help that first day and Thalia had sworn she'd find him, slashing the Mist connection with vengeful eyes practically before Annabeth had finished explaining to get started. Now her patron goddess was here to tell her Thalia was dead in the search too-

"My Lueatinent is safe," Artemis said evenly, but there was a tick to her mouth. The kind of anger that a goddess could use to level natural disasters if she didn't smooth out her features again. "I can take you to her, and the one you seek, Percy Jackson."

There was no sense of movement. Annabeth's knife was embedded into the floor point first, she was on her knees in front of her savior once more as she spoke without hesitation, "I swear on the Styx, I'll do anything to help. What do you need?"

No god did anything without wanting something in return. She would pay that price.

There was a rumble of thunder in the distance, and her cold eyes turned warm as she smiled and stroked her hair. Artemis reached for her hand and Annabeth blindly took it without care of what came next. "That answer will suffice."

...

They interrupted the Titan of the Ocean and the Titan of Fresh Water and Nourishment having dinner.

Annabeth landed on the kale chips and heard the disturbing crunch under her rump while Artemis delicately plucked a shrimp out of her loose, brown hair.

The canyon like room was so dark Annabeth couldn't see the walls, the mosaic tiles were grimy and the floor had more tread it in than her favorite book. There was an empty chandelier hanging on by a single bolt above her head threatening to give out any moment with empty candle holders and dripping diamonds. The ceiling's white marble was so structurally unsound not even the best job involving duct tape would fix it. The one decoration that stood the test of time was an enormous, lovely stained glass window above the arched door. The happy couple gazing into each other's eyes in every shade of blue and green. It glowed as the only source of light.

Oceanus's bursting sigh caused it to quiver in its frame and one of the mottled chairs to collapse out of sight from her perch on the center of the long table. "Listening to Kronos really was the worst decision of my existence," he said as he stabbed at his salad. "Those kids don't go five minutes without disrupting my peace, now we can't get through dinner without gods popping in on us?"

"Artemis, it is lovely to see you again," but Tethy's smile was strained even as she pulled out a clipboard and flipped to a new page. "Something we can help you with? Why have you brought this mortal."

Oceanus stared blearily at her like he was seeing her for the first time through the mirky swill. There were cobwebs swaying around on his bullhorns.

"I cannot stay long, my lady," she tipped her head respectfully, but there was still a tightness about her Annabeth wasn't used to seeing in how the gods carried themselves. It seemed as if she was concentrating on her every word. "Poseidon played a dangerous move interrupting Hera's plan," Artemis kept her childlike appearance, sitting smaller than Annabeth in her chair, her forehead only just visible from where Annabeth sat. Her voice carried power in the room. "I do not follow Zues's wishes, and I do not appreciate being kept out of the loop."

A silver fork leapt off the table and flew across the room into the darkness. There was an ominous blue glow of a fish Annabeth couldn't hope to identify coming to life and eating it before the light faded back away.

"My second greatest regret," one of Oceanus's crab claws jutting from his ear started tapping his temple. "Harboring these children has been nothing but a miserable headache! If we didn't share a domain I wouldn't even care to make peace, but the fight isn't worth another pain in my-"

"You have not just dishonored Poseidon," Artemis's voice stayed calm, but Annabeth was starting to wonder if she had better luck against the fish too at the danger in the air. Some of the other silverware was starting to gravitate towards the goddess, and she didn't want to know what Artemis would do with a butter knife. "Typhoon nearly destroyed Olympus, you did us all a disservice by attacking Poseidon's home and keeping his attention from the true battle."

"Poseidon's choice-" Tethys came to her husband's defense.

"Now listen here young godling," Oceanus's flower robes began swirling dangerously around him and Annabeth really wished she hadn't left her knife in her cabin.

"I have come to offer a solution," Artemis smoothly kept talking as if Annabeth's hair wasn't standing on end from the danger crackling in the room. Perhaps the goddess could meld all of the silver to her in defense. Annabeth didn't like her chances as much.

Silence, and then the two Titans finally seemed to remember to look at her.

"Me?" Annabeth squeaked.

"She is a natural leader, she will keep your charges calm. She should have been there in the beginning," Artemis's voice was laced with mercury, it was plain as her forehead she was still angry Thalia had been taken without her knowledge, but the slight rift of movement in her auburn hair meant she probably just crossed her ankles and smoothed her shirt before continuing. "I am offering her to be in your court now to keep the god's children in a more quiet peace."

Silence was her answer, Annabeth felt sweat break out on the back of her neck, but she jumped to her feet with confidence. Crumbs fell from the seat of her pants. Her empty hands wished to readjust the straps of her bag and twist up her cap, but she had nothing but her wits about her. The same she'd always had.

"I will not only do this," she promised, wishing she knew what in the god's grand scheming was going on she was promising to do, "but I will do you one better Lord Oceanus. I will design you a new home, an even better retirement home. With soundproof walls."

That got his attention. He finally stared directly at her, his fractured eyes like a tempest.

The Titan was unfathomably old, and tired. Whatever Kronos had promised him for his services, Annabeth had a feeling it had not come to pass.

"I thought you were already in that room," he finally said.

"No dear," Tethy's voice was still patient and calm, if just as strained as her husband's. "The two that are giving me insurance hell are still in there. I'm still on hold, and haven't gotten a single call back from my representative of claims!"

"Ah," he tapped his chin, or tried to, as he tapped one of the crab claws that tapped back like a strange miniature version of paddy cake. "On one condition Artemis. You must take one of them with you. If you're down here interrupting my dinner, than we may have even less time before the rest of the gods such as Hera herself figure out our ploy and I have been assured I will not be involved in that business. My hands are free of this mess once those kids finish their homework and are gone. Any extra soul is already pushing the boundaries."

"A fair trade I will see to myself," Artemis assured. "I have permission to enter your bathhouse?"

"Yes, yes," he waved, eyes still on Annabeth who mouthed bathhouse with dread. "I have your word mortal? On the River Styx? Soundproof walls?"

"With luxury recliners and the best earmuffs in immortal existence," Annabeth assured.

There was no other explanation before Armies jumped on the table and took her hand again, and the last glimpse she had of one of the first immortal beings was the couple exchanging hopeful smiles again like the picture behind them.

...

They were standing in an empty hallway on the cracked floor right in front of a door that had a massive hole through the middle. Inside was a circular room that gave her heart failure, it was in more disrepair than the room she'd just left, its structure hanging on by divine intervention.

There were people inside sitting on green couches and cushions. Strangely only one of them seemed to be talking, their voice coming to her a bit forced as if they were reading something rather than just speaking. She'd practiced enough speeches in the mirror from her many botched and rewritten battle plans to hear the difference in someone's voice.

That voice, she knew that voice...she'd heard it so many times in her life. Exhausted, strained, about to crack with stress, but forcing a smile like nothing was wrong. Happy, laughing, saying her name in every way possible-

Without another glance at the goddess, she pushed the door open as Percy said;

"So," Beckendorf said, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."

"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Don't even think about it."

"Tell Annabeth what?" Annabeth said from the doorway.

[halothenthehorns]

Interrupting on main with some self-promotion, I have one too! I'm halfway through the fifth book and I post every Monday!!

How Do You Say Gods - bookhater95

Children of the gods do not often get a say in their fortune, now Poseidon has tried to give Percy exactly that, hiding away a powerful group from even himself so that they may read their fate.

Percy Jackson Reading the Books

The Last Great Prophecy- This takes place right after "The Son of Neptune", when the kids from Camp Half-Blood land. The Romans want to know more about the Titan War from the Greeks' perspective, so they read "The Last Olympian".- Fanfiction.net

Goode High School Reads House of Hades- Fanfiction.net

don't feel bad cause i'm usually about to die (bring on the monsters)-It was supposed to be a normal day. Goode High and Brooklyn Academy of the Gifted, sister schools despite being in two different New York boroughs, were meeting at Goode High. It wasn't a normal day. The gods intervened. To read. "This'll be fun," said no one ever when in this situation.- Archive of our Own

Character is Destiny- A group of heroes, renowned by all, mortal or immortal, are learning to live as a group of kids, not powerful half-immortals built for destruction. When an unprecedented power of the highest order pays this group a visit, a stack of books in hand, a warning in mind, and a quest of sorts for our heroes, they will take a trip back in time to prevent the future and re-learn what has immortalized their names for centuries.- Archive of our Own

Fate's Intervention- Following the fulfillment of the Great Prophecy, the Fates decide that the Olympians' stubbornness is going to be the end of everything, and there won't always be a demigod around to help. So they force some quality family bonding time in the hopes that things might change. Percy just wants to know why it's always him. Time travel.- Fanfiction.net

[pain-is-too-tired]

Thinking about sizeshifter Jason, chat.

Just-

Jason raised to only be a weapon. To be the son of Rome, Juno's Champion, no room for weakness-

But he still has his smaller form. He can't change that or bury it, and it's a toll on his body to do so.

But he still forces himself to stay in his common form/size. Even when he's alone in his cabin. He doesn't know any different.

But it wears him out, and if he strains himself too much he loses control of his shifting and ends up in his small form.

First time it happens he's in the Zeus cabin. He panics,but he's on his own anyway so he doesn't really have to worry as much about being spotted.

Next time it happen is on the Argo. He ends up having a panic attack. Leo(who's sleep schedule in non-existent-) goes to his cabin to check on him when he hears something only to find him few inches tall.

Now he's also slightly panicking,because wth, but manages to try calm Jason down.

Jason is don't his best to pull himself together. He's supposed to be a leader, stronger than this.

But,oh. Leo carefully picks him up and he just melts.

Leo's hands are warm, callused but gentle, safe. Jason can't help but curl up in his hands. He never felt this safe before. He was taught that anything when he was at this size was dangerous, but being in Leo's hands felt anything but.

Leo doesn't rush Jason, he let's him calm down on his own before asking any questions. When Jason gets better enough to explain,it's filled with him mumbling apologies in which Leo immediately brushes off.

"Dude, not like you could control it. Plus, pretty cool being taller than you."

Leo, of course doing his best to keep up the mood. Jason responds with nervous laughs. It helps though. Leo ends up staying with Jason the rest of the night until he can turn back. They fall asleep close to eachother, Jason listening to the steady sounds of Leo's breathing and heart beat as he falls asleep.

The next morning they're found still close together. Leo manages to make an excuse that Jason forced him to get some sleep and they ended up like that accidentally. Jason's relieved Leo didn't say anything about his shifting.

And just- something about Jason struggling with not only trying withhold the image of a strong leader by how he acts and appears normally, but also having a part of himself he never got to really control. Adding to the pressure of having to be the perfect soldier and leader. Not being able to find people he feels safe in his smaller form to be around until after his memory is taken and he finds his first real friends with Leo and Piper.

Just- one things I love playing around with with g/t. Vulnerability of being at a smaller size. And Jason being able to feel safe being himself around Leo just

I love them.

Also. Smol! Jason with Leo for y'all.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 21: MY BIRTHDAY PARTY TAKES A DARK TURN

Thank you so much to:

@ary-cm

on Tumblr for the awesome cover image!

I can't believe I'm already almost done with one of the three series?!

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Will read what he was sure to be the last chapter title with heavy concern. What on earth could be left to happen to Percy that couldn't have waited until the next disaster of an adventure to start with?

Nico's heart sunk that's how his appearance was described. Apparently whatever respect he'd gained from Percy was already twisted into fear so early. He couldn't blame him, after what he'd talked him into. A lifelong curse he now had no clue about...

"Please involve something cool and fun for once," Thalia sighed, imagining him having one last fight to the death and passing out on his birthday or something. "Like blacklights! You don't enjoy the effects of those enough!"

"To see all the blood in my room? No thank you," Percy scoffed.

The rest of the summer seemed strange because it was so normal.

Will's tone was happy, hyper even, he seemed genuinely excited he was finally getting to share Percy having a normal time at their camp for actual weeks on end for once.

The daily activities continued: archery, rock climbing, Pegasus riding. We played capture the flag (though we all avoided Zeus's Fist).

"Clarisse actually sat out of most of them," Percy recalled in surprise. "Her whole cabin didn't, but she and Chris helped be the medics for a few fights. It was sooo weird, but it made a lot of the campers who were clearly uneasy about him warm up a bit. Especially when Mrs. O'Leary cuddled up to him too."

"He caught on pretty quick," Will agreed, "he still helps out in the infirmary too when he doesn't really need to anymore," he finished with a significant look at Nico. Most kids didn't seem to care who was helping them as long as the pain was going away, his parentage or whatever he'd done in the past usually wasn't on their mind when it hurt like that.

"Are you sure it wasn't changed to Kampe's fist?" Alex asked when Nico didn't seem to be answering in any way. "The first never even seemed to fit."

"Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to try and get everybody to agree on a new name for something?" Will asked. "Even if we did a poll it would be chaos."

Which was no bother at all to Alex of course, so she looked at him like he was the one who was nuts for pretending that was a good excuse not to.

We sang at the campfire and raced chariots and played practical jokes on the other cabins. 

Will hid well how hard the adjustment had been for him that time marched on. Kids had come and gone from the camp, his siblings hadn't been immune to shocking deaths from a random monster attack in the forest or even defecting, it wasn't even the first time he'd been witness to such a thing, if only a handful of times before; but it was usually the ones who'd been there a few weeks. The kids who he'd barely gotten to know.

Lee had been there from day one. Had shown Will the ropes and been his Luke, his best friend, his go to for advice on everything there. It was strange for so long to not wake up every day and have him rousing them for breakfast. Micheal had never tried to emulate him either, he'd done it his own way, which had been all right, but a part of Will had wished someone in there would keep making Loony Tunes references, would keep challenging them to archery target practice instead of just letting the memory of him slowly fade away. Hearing him in Percy's life had been the most he'd been able to think of him in a few years now, and it felt nice.

I spent a lot of time with Tyson, playing with Mrs. O'Leary, but she would still howl at night when she got lonely for her old master. Annabeth and I pretty much skirted around each other. I was glad to be with her, but it also kind of hurt, and it hurt when I wasn't with her, too.

Percy expected the laughing at the teasing, probably a few snarky comments about Rachel.

None came, and as he looked around in surprise he just saw sympathy. Because he didn't have that option now with her nowhere to be seen. He had friends down here, but he still didn't have someone very important to be going through all of this with him.

I wanted to talk to her about Kronos, but I couldn't do that anymore without bringing up Luke. And that was one subject I couldn't raise. She would shut me out every time I tried.

Jason couldn't let that one go without a good laugh though. "I'm now imagining you following her around and she actually darts into random cabins or bathrooms or anywhere she can to slam a door in your face. Maybe even a window if you agitate her enough."

"You're right Jason," Percy sighed with indulgent exhaustion. "I should have cornered her in the woods, maybe used Grover and Tyson to triangle her in so she couldn't escape."

"You say that like she doesn't need an intervention," Thalia grumbled.

July passed, with fireworks on the beach on the Fourth. August turned so hot the strawberries started baking in the fields. Finally, the last day of camp arrived. The standard form letter appeared on my bed after breakfast, warning me that the cleaning harpies would devour me if I stayed past noon.

Magnus opened and closed his mouth several times like he couldn't decide if he wanted to ask how real that threat was. If he stayed and killed the harpies would he be punished or rewarded for yet another fight for his life? Would they devour him if he stayed until 12:01 or if he managed to avoid them until next summer would the ban be lifted?

He ultimately closed his mouth and decided it wasn't worth the headache.

At ten o'clock I stood on the top of Half-Blood Hill, waiting for the camp van that would take me into the city. I'd made arrangements to leave Mrs. O'Leary at camp, where Chiron promised she'd be looked after.

"Tell me you at least intend on riding her down the streets of New York once Percy," Alex looked rather betrayed such a glorious hound was being confined to one camp.

"She deserves to be on a farm where she can stretch and be happy, um, without the death metaphor," Percy shrugged.

"You can still have her for the weekend," she sighed but didn't argue the point further.

Tyson and I would take turns visiting her during the year.

I hoped Annabeth would be riding into Manhattan with me, but she only came to see me off. She said she'd arranged to stay at camp a little longer.

"I can't decide how the bus should feel about that," Jason told him with an almost straight face. "You now range from blowing them up to awkward silence when she's around."

"He's blown up more on his own in his younger years without her, I think the bus should be worried," Thalia offered.

Percy sighed and muttered something about normal friends, whatever that meant.

She would tend to Chiron until his leg was fully recovered, and keep studying Deadalus's laptop, which had engrossed her for the last two months.

"I think you should be thanking some god out there for making sure she stepped away from it," Will agreed.

"She slept with it, Malcolm has proof," Thalia agreed.

Then she would head back to her father's place in San Francisco.

"There's a private school out there that I'll be going to," she said. "I'll probably hate it, but..." she shrugged.

"Yeah, that but," Percy agreed with the same feelings of awkwardness swimming through him now. A feeling that apparently wasn't as good of a swimmer as him, as it kept coasting up and down his throat like vomit!

"Truancy, something even a child of a wisdom goddess would never break the rules for," Alex agreed tragically.

"Yeah, well, call me, okay?"

"Sure," she said half-heartedly. "I'll keep my eyes open for..."

There it was again. Luke. She couldn't even say his name without opening up a huge box of hurt and worry and anger.

"I'll get the key," Nico promised through gritted teeth.

"Maybe you could lose a few while you're at it," Will muttered. Nico seemed to have been better as of late about not keeping everything so close to the chest, but it was still something he found himself worrying about.

"Annabeth," I said. "What was the rest of the prophecy?"

She fixed her eyes on the woods in the distance, but she didn't say anything.

"You would nag Zeus himself about not finishing destroying you," Alex told him with a hint of awe in her voice.

"Seriously Perce, learn to let it go," Jason couldn't help but agree with a troubled frown. Annabeth had been through enough.

Percy didn't feel particularly ashamed though. His stubbornness paid off, and if Annabeth didn't resent him he wasn't going to let these guys make him feel guilty for getting the full picture. It had happened so rarely before meeting her.

"You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze," I remembered. "The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise. We raised a lot of the dead.

Magnus had a cheeky remark on his tongue for, 'who's this we,' before he paused and realized. Bianca might never have revealed herself to Nico if Percy hadn't been there. His coming along on Annabeth's quest was likely essential for that to happen. It hurt his head, a lot, to realize all over again how powerful those fates were to be able to weave together such immensely different and important things.

We saved Ethan Nakamura, who turned out to be a traitor.

A line that Annabeth had probably hoped referred to Luke all this time, Thalia thought miserably. The girl had been a hopeless optimist when it came to him, but that would imply she'd ever fully admit to Luke being a full blown traitor.

We raised the spirit of Pan, the lost one."

"Raised, and or released," Will agreed.

Jason pursed his lips rather than putting in. He kind of regretted his comment to Percy because he loved that they went over these at the end to analyze them, but he felt like he'd only be encouraging Percy.

Annabeth shook her head like she wanted me to stop.

"You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand," I pressed on. "That wasn't Minos, like I'd thought. It was Nico. By choosing to be on our side, he saved us.

Nico still smiled at how casually Percy acknowledged the good he'd done on this quest instead of that unfortunate period of threatening his death. Seems Will had been right, Percy really didn't go around saying a bad thing about him.

And the child of Athena's final stand—that was Daedalus."

"I'm sure Malcolm is so relieved," Percy snorted.

"Percy—"

"Destroy with a hero's final breath. That makes sense now. Daedalus died to destroy the Labyrinth.

"Which is very awesome," Alex couldn't deny. "Though I'm still mildly disappointed Annabeth didn't discover some kind of sonic blast breath or something along the way."

"She uses words as a weapon, isn't that enough?" Percy sighed.

"Whoever said words don't hurt never got hit by a dictionary," Thalia nodded in agreement. She'd gotten quite angry in her youth trying to memorize all the homonyms once and thrown it across the room where Thalia's head happened to be.

But what was the last—"

"And lose a love to worse than death." Annabeth had tears in her eyes. "That was the last line, Percy. Are you happy now?"

"No," Percy whispered, shivering for the first time in the cold depths of the ocean. He'd always known she liked him, but it didn't really hit him until now she liked liked him. Not just admired and was impressed, as Percy once was. It left a very dead feeling inside him, wondering what had stopped her from running away with Luke back when he'd tried to kill Percy. If Luke had gone to Annabeth and taken her away then, how different his life could have been without her.

The sun seemed colder than it had a moment ago. "Oh," I said. "So Luke—"

"Percy, I didn't know who the prophecy was talking about. I—I didn't know if..." She faltered helplessly.

If it meant him, Percy clearly understood that context! She'd thought him dead, she might have even thought kissing him was some final breath that had been all her fault!

He found himself scrunched up in his seat to stop himself beating at the walls. He wanted her in here! He wanted Annabeth to look him in the eyes and say she was okay with how this had all gone and mean it! It was probably selfish of him to want her to relieve this nightmare with him, but he ached for her in a new way he couldn't even begin to describe to himself. Annabeth meant so much to him, couldn't her prophecy have mentioned that!

"Luke and I—for years, he was the only one who really cared about me. I thought..."

Before she could continue, a sparkle of light appeared next to us, like someone had opened a gold curtain in the air.

Magnus finally released a breath he'd been holding for getting to jump off the topic of the creepy idea of his cousin hoping some guy twice her age would be in love with her too and instead blanched in horror if that was Kronos/ Luke about to appear from thin air and murder them all. How was it possible her life was so much more miserable and complicated than his?

"You have nothing to apologize for, my dear." Standing on the hill was a tall woman in a white dress, her dark hair braided over her shoulder.

"Oh hey," Alex said with a hint of violence already on the horizon. "She owes you an explanation!"

Percy grinned a scary sight, tapping his fingers impatiently on his leg and glowering at the book. She'd scarred the piss out of Annabeth, her advice had been in no way helpful, and he had a bad feeling already he could blame more on her soon for how miserable this quest had gone.

Jason sighed. Just what they needed, another god for Percy to piss off.

Thalia was glancing uneasily between Percy and Jason though as her own guilty thoughts got an unpleasant jumpstart. Their reaction to her showing up only reinforced in her she was doing the right thing for now, keeping her suspicions to herself. Percy was already unhappy at Hera for his own and Annabeth's past, if he found out what Thalia was considering he'd rip apart the ocean in a heartbeat just to get rid of his growing tension.

Jason, Jason just looked like he would want no part in this. He was too cautious, to content to let things slide. She enjoyed that about her little brother, it would make picking on him much easier and made him nothing like their dad, but for this it felt right to keep him where he felt safe.

"Hera," Annabeth said.

The goddess smiled. "You found the answers, as I knew you would. Your quest was a success."

"A success?" Annabeth said. "Luke is gone. Daedalus is dead. Pan is dead. How is that—"

"Our family is safe," Hera insisted.

Will couldn't help but read that in agreement. He couldn't help but share the sentiment, that the good had outweighed the bad this time. His brother had died, his camp had felt vulnerable and left him scared to sleep at night like nothing before...and yet he still had a bed. Siblings he could lean on. Not all was lost as it could have easily been. There were better paths out there, like if Hera had actually stepped in and banished all the monsters before any of her 'family' had to die, but Will honestly read that with a sense of joy in his tone that, to Percy's ears, had somehow been lacking. Hera had been stating a fact with pride, Will made Percy smile in some sense of agreement of the word family, even if not the whole pie.

"Those others are better gone, my dear. I am proud of you."

I balled my fists. I couldn't believe she was saying this. "You're the one who paid Geryon to let us through the ranch, weren't you?"

Hera shrugged. Her dress shimmered in rainbow colors.

"Taking a rainbow in vain," Alex scowled hotly for such a beautiful representation of inclusiveness being taken hostage by someone so selective.

"I wanted to speed you on your way."

Will's voice cracked, like someone had stabbed his bubble with a knife. He knew Annabeth had a beef with Hera, the whole camp knew she blamed the goddess for Percy missing. His heart broke though that Nico's journey hadn't even been considered in her wisdom? That she'd only paid for just Annabeth's group to get through and any other half-blood could suffer the consequences? That had been Hera!

"But you didn't care about Nico. You were happy to see him turned over to the Titans."

"Oh, please." Hera waved her hand dismissively. "The son of Hades said it himself. No one wants him around. He does not belong."

The pain of hearing that surprised Nico more than the actual words. His dad said it all the time, he assumed it frequently from the few interactions he'd had with these major gods, but for Hera herself to just come outright and say it made him flinch.

Which quickly morphed into admiration when he heard Will cuss. He hadn't seen that before. Sure he'd been angry in the past, but never full-blown swearing like he was doing now. His southern accent really came through too, he was twanging bad on all his i's and drawing them out to a noticeable level.

"It's, erm, not a big deal Will," Nico patted his hand again. Not one person in here looked like they even sort of agreed with Hera, instead they all looked varying levels of anxious at Will and a tad angry too and his behalf. For some reason that didn't surprise him anymore, which surprised him. "We all know that's how the gods feel about-"

"It is a big deal Nico, because she's being a mother fu-"

"Will," Alex sighed, rubbing her temples. "I agree with every word you're saying, but maybe use some other language, oh child of a poetry god."*

Will finally shut his mouth with a restrained grimace. He didn't feel nearly the amount of better as he'd have liked after venting, but Alex looked as discomforted as Nico for once, who was looking equal parts uncomfortable as usual at being so focused on, everybody watching him for his reaction, and just a tad flattered at Will so vehementily defending him; all while looking rather anxiously at the book clearly wondering how Percy had reacted to that.

So Will conceded he'd made himself plain enough while wondering what the opposite of an offering was as he muttered and searched for his place.

Thalia looked on, mildly impressed and perhaps recruiting Will on her kill Hera crusade, while Percy just felt bad the guy was finally at his level of outrage. He hadn't wanted to drag anyone else down with him.

Magnus and Jason were to busy glancing at every speck to make sure Hera wasn't going to appear and blast them all to smithereens to react properly in time.

"Hephaestus was right," I growled. "You only care about your perfect family, not real people."

Will's voice still shook with fury at just how right the god of the forge was about that apparently. When the gods were born, how much understanding did they have? Had this newborn child looked up at his mother and seen the look of disgust on her face before being pitched off a mountain?

It was an ugly truth Will had never really been confronted with until this moment. It made him sick to realize if Luke had been telling kids this kind of stuff all along and how it wasn't that unbelievable to him anymore. He'd never considered the gods perfect, but growing up in camp had always given him a sense they'd at least grown from their first depictions as the very worst they could be called today. They'd laid out a safe space for their kids to practice and grow, they had to have been evolving with the times, if slower, right?

His breath shook loose, a calming feeling as he remembered his dad helping Percy find Artemis and how awkwardly yet fervently Posideon continued to help Percy. None of them were perfect. They were distant and often harsh and more often unhelpful if they did try and tended to make their lives worse, but Hera was just a horrible exception.

Ares and Hephestus, Zeus and Posideon, he'd never really had much firsthand experience with any god except Mr. D and flip-flopped between pitty and heavy annoyance with him with minimal grudging appreciation he didn't just incinerate them all and call it a job done. Percy's adventure in detail didn't really change anything, it just gave him a heavier feeling of what he'd been fighting for than he'd gone to Manhatten with.

It sort of scared him for a moment, actually, as he frowned at the rest of the page and his skin twitched with displeasure at what he'd really just been doing. He never would have considered thinking all that before being thrown in here, let alone saying it out loud, verbosely, and only having to be stopped because someone asked him to. He'd been noting Nico's slow change with enthusiasm, but hadn't really stopped to consider his own until this moment, and it left an uncomfortable knot in him as he continued.

Her eyes turned dangerously bright. "Watch yourself, son of Poseidon. I guided you more than you know in the maze. I was at your side when you faced Geryon. I let your arrow fly straight. I sent you to Calypso's island. I opened the way to the Titan's mountain.

Nico felt his mouth open for several moments before he realized he should close it. Not since the stories of old had he heard such blatant interference, and it kind of impressed him. That Hera had gone so out of her way, unprompted, to help them every step of the way. He'd never have believed such a thing from Percy's own mouth, but to hear it from an Olympian herself was amazing. Like a real flip of the cards to reveal what her plan had been all along and strike down all foes come to life.

It was, of course, possible she'd done all that just to gloat and change history a bit in making her seem like the caring mother her title suggested she could be, Thalia's painful looking sneer proved this wasn't a popular thought, but Nico still found it extremely fascinating. He'd have never wanted such help from a god before all this, every interaction he'd had with them was laced with tension and she herself proved they wanted nothing to do with him in return...but that didn't make this less interesting to hear by a mile.

Annabeth, my dear, surely you see how I've helped. I would welcome a sacrifice for my efforts."

"Do you think anybody sacrifices to her?" Magnus had very mixed feelings about hearing this, Percy was a tad disgusted to hear a touch of pity in his voice. "I think she really did do this, like a kind of adoption?" He didn't sound that sure though. Like a theory he expected to get trashed. He even mouthed 'sorry' to Nico, not trying to disconnect from the fact she didn't do it well! Yet Annabeth's own mother didn't seem to have stepped in here, maybe Hera had really wanted to help and was just out of practice.

Percy strived to keep his voice even and not too harsh in return. "I, um, think it's a tad more selfish. It sounds like she was willing to win by any means necessary, it just happened to align with our means."

Annabeth stood still as a statue. She could've said thank you. She could've promised to throw some barbecue on the brazier for Hera and forget the whole thing.

Jason looked very queasy at all of this, for once instead of being the arguing party he understood both sides well. Juno probably did feel undervalued, with no direct link to those kids at Camp. Her temple dusty, her history rarely spoken of and if so negatively.

Yet, he had a feeling what Annabeth was about do. The same thing Percy would have done. He had almost grown used to the level of disrespect these guys so often showed to the gods, and it froze some inner part of him with dread at the mere bubble of thought, let alone what his ears were about to hear worse than anything Will could have called her.

But she clenched her jaw stubbornly. She looked just the way she had when she'd faced the Sphinx—like she wasn't going to accept an easy answer, even if it got her in serious trouble. I realized that was one of the things I liked best about Annabeth.

"Name a thing you don't like about Annabeth," Thalia rolled her eyes.

Percy opened his mouth, closed it, thought about it for a moment, and then said with confidence, "her love of olives. I tolerate them at best, but she puts them on everything!"

"Ah, the olive theory, a classic," Alex snickered while Thalia just looked at him with complete pity. Gods, boys.

"Percy is right." she turned her back on the goddess. "You're the one who doesn't belong, Queen Hera. So next time, thanks...but no thanks."

"Not really as harsh as I was expecting," Magnus admitted even as his heart tried to jump around his chest like a jackrabbit on crack no matter what he said.

"I guess that was her restrained dismissal," Alex agreed with a tad more disappointment. She'd probably wanted at least one jump scare at minimum to impress her.

"And this was the girl who warned you to be polite to Ares," Jason mumbled through numb lips, expecting her to drop dead any second honestly.

Hera's sneer was worse than an empousa's. Her form began to glow.

"That, is not great," Magnus said with a very dry mouth. Somehow Percy constantly pissing off gods felt like second nature by now, it really wasn't that great of a concern at this point since he was alive.

Where the heck was Annabeth?! Was this curse to be forced to live at the bottom of the ocean meant for her? If so, the digs seemed way to nice, though perhaps by their standards this was poverty?

"You will regret this insult, Annabeth. You will regret this very much."

I averted my eyes as the goddess turned into her true divine form and disappeared in a blaze of light.

Most of the others flinched and instinctively wanted to close their eyes, imagining a mushroom cloud in her wake after that.

Except Jason, who sat frozen in place without the good sense to do anything other than mutter, "uhoh."

Percy sighed, already knowing he'd probably have to tackle this idiot to the ground at least once in his life if he saw something cool enough to kill them all.

The hilltop was peaceful again. Over at the pine tree, Peleus the dragon dozed under the Golden Fleece as if nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth told me.

"She's sorry?" Percy asked meekly, a very strange expression on his face. "Where's my apology?" His tone implied none was needed though, his lips were twitching to much and he kept rubbing his thumb across them. They all figured out what that tone was and collectively decided they didn't want to hear it again.

"I—I should get back. I'll keep in touch."

"Listen, Annabeth—" I thought about Mount St. Helens, Calypso's Island, Luke and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and how suddenly everything had gotten so complicated. I wanted to tell Annabeth that I didn't really want to be so distant from her.

Then Argus honked his horn down at the road, and I lost my chance.

"Remind me to smack an eyeball onto Argus's sense of timing," Thalia groaned. She would have personally handcuffed the two together if it would have resolved their problems already.

"Duly noted," Percy and Jason both promised, causing the others to snicker hard.

"You'd better get going," Annabeth said. "Take care, Seaweed Brain."

She jogged down the hill. I watched her until she reached the cabins. She didn't look back once.

Percy had never felt so much at once seeing her take off like a blond comet across the green fields. Her confidence in every stride, how happy he was for her she'd finally made peace with her dad and felt no need to look back.

The longing he wished she'd at least slow down, that she'd shove that tenacity of hers in his face and kiss him again when he wasn't about to die. That she'd tell him he was a Seaweed Brain and that her feelings for him were just as complicated as they were for Luke's at minimum.

Will's voice startled him out of his memory, to be dragged back here as lost and confused as ever what Annabeth would ultimately decide was best for her with no clue how to show her it could be him.

He didn't even know who to ask for advice about this. His dad was kind of out of touch at the dating thing, he'd probably just suggest Percy snap his fingers and offer to split the ocean for her or something, or ban him from talking to Annabeth if he didn't already know who she was. His mom was just way to embarrassing to even consider every time her name came up. Chiron, maybe...nope. Still to awkward. He was starting to become more convinced by the hour that lone memory he'd awoken in here with was a dream and a fortune teller was probably his best bet. Gods he was hopeless.

Two days later it was my birthday. I never advertised the date, because it always fell right after camp, so none of my camp friends could usually come, and I didn't have that many mortal friends.

"Do you, have any?" Thalia honestly tried to ask without sarcasm, but it sounded that way anyways.

"Um, I used to cat sit for this really old lady before we moved and she'd give me jelly beans when I walked her dog," Percy shrugged.

"A true bestie I'm sorry we never got to meet," Thalia chuckled.

Besides, getting older didn't seem like anything to celebrate since I'd gotten the big prophecy about me destroying or saving the world when I turned sixteen.

"There are so many themes you could do around that though!" Alex sighed. "I can think of three off the top of my head!"

"Alex can and will make a volcano explode in your apartment," Magnus sighed with full confidence.

"But I'll leave the surprise of who jumps out," she winked.

"Pass," Percy could only say hesitantly though. It sounded fun, he'd never even had a bounce house before...but hadn't it already happened? Retroactive birthday party? Maybe? If he survived another year?

Now I was turning fifteen. I was running out of time.

My mom threw me a small party at our apartment. Paul Blofis came over, but that was okay because Chiron had manipulated the Mist to convince everyone at Goode High School that I had nothing to do with the band room explosion.

"Yes!" Percy fist bumped the air with such exuberance there was yet another new crack in the ceiling. "I thought of that before but didn't know if I'd remember to tell Chiron before I left!"

"Now remember this plan for the next time," Nico chuckled.

Percy sighed at the already assured knowledge there was going to be a next time, but it had been a nice five seconds while it lasted.

Now Paul and the other witnesses were convinced that Kelli had been a crazy, firebomb-throwing cheerleader, while I had simply been an innocent bystander who'd panicked and ran from the scene. I would still be allowed to start as a freshman at Goode next month. If I wanted to keep my record of getting kicked out of school every year, I'd have to try harder.

"You say that like it was your fault," Magnus told him bracingly. "Until someone invents monster repellent, you can try all you like and get nowhere."

He meant it in a positive way, but Percy nodded as glumly as before. It was something he'd heard all his life being ADHD. He'd have to try ten times harder than the 'normal' kids and still never be on their level, which to him sounded like he really shouldn't bother trying that hard at all.

Tyson came to my party, too, and my mother baked two extra blue cakes just for him.

Percy bounced in his seat for a moment with one of the happier grins they'd seen on his face today. Annabeth couldn't or wouldn't be there, Percy didn't feel like his own birth should be celebrated, but his little brother was there. His mom had opened the door and greeted him with a Tyson worthy hug and had extra cake just for him and that was pretty much the greatest birthday present he'd want anyways.

While Tyson helped my mom blow up party balloons, Paul Blofis asked me to help him in the kitchen.

As we were pouring punch, he said, "I hear your mom signed you up for driver's ed this fall."

"Would Percy's bus explosion problem translate to cars?" Alex asked eagerly.

"Gods I hope not," Percy sighed.

"I'm not sure I get the stereotype about New Yorkers and driving," Magnus admitted. "You have to walk everywhere because the streets are horrible, but if everybody walks or takes the subway why are the streets so bad?"

"We're fearless about any obstacle but are to impatient," Percy grinned.

Magnus might as well have asked him to spell out those Canadian monsters names again for all the light that provided on the subject.

"Yeah. It's cool. I can't wait."

Seriously, I'd been excited about getting my license forever,

"Pretty sure that's something we look forward to from the time we're born," Will said wistfully. He'd spent the whole day of his sixteenth birthday on the chariot track, imagining it as his dad's sun-mobile. He'd spent the previous week painting it bright red and everything and, according to his own imagination, won every Indie 500 Race that day.

Only to have several of his siblings show up and hog the races the rest of the day from the rest of camp to make that a reality. Kayla had even painted brands and logos on some of them for authenticity while Micheal and Lee somehow always had the dastardly bad luck of fumbling the finish so Will could sail through.

It really had been a good day, and only a tad bittersweet at the end as he sat on the roof of his cabin watching the sun go down, his prayer unanswered of hoping his dad would just make an appearance, let alone let him touch the sun. Austin had assured him that night as he flopped into bed they'd all made that wish and Apollo hadn't answered in centries for any of his kids, just another day.

but I guess my heart wasn't in it anymore, and Paul could tell. In a weird way he reminded me of Chiron sometimes, how he could look at you and actually see your thoughts.

Will realized his thoughts had drifted him into a melancholy mood, and trying to jump right back out, he offered, "hey, did you know Chiron will help kids at camp get their license if they want to. He does something with the mist, gives them papers if they need it, but they still have to pass on their own merit," he finished with a grin at remembering Connor nearly drove his practice car into a jewelry store and still insisted it was an accident. It probably was an accident, but it was still funny too.

"I was actually wondering about that for a second," Magnus told him gratefully. He knew he was out of luck on that front and would likely remain homeless forever because of it, but for once this Camp finally had a solid, irrefutably good thing he might be able to look into.

 I guess it was that teacher aura.

"Is the dark turn Paul's been a secret FBI agent all along infiltrating the school," she paused with a wild gasp, "or your family! And he reveals the secret conspiracy of hauling you all away to Area 51!"

"Alex," Percy sighed with a good-hearted grin. "You are going to be excellent at whatever you decide your life is."

"Living that dream," she smirked.

"You've had a rough summer," he said. "I'm guessing you lost someone important. And...girl trouble?"

"I guess we know who the problem child is, the ones the parents gossip about," Thalia did a pretty good impression of an ornery older sister to Percy's ears while he flushed and muttered a bit about how he wasn't surprised this had come up with his mom.

I stared at him. "How do you know that? Did my mom—"

He held up his hands. "Your mom hasn't said a thing.

"Oh," Thalia sounded as stunned as anybody while Percy went from shocked to pleased the fastest. Percy had never really missed his life as a mortal, he'd spent to much of his younger years being the odd kid out to even know what that felt like but at this moment he knew that if Paul was the dad in his life that he didn't have to be, things would have still turned out all right for him.

And I won't pry. I just know there's something unusual about you, Percy. You've got a lot going on that I can't figure. But I was also fifteen once, and I'm just guessing from your expression...Well, you've had a rough time."

I nodded. I'd promised my mom I would tell Paul the truth about me, but now didn't seem the time. Not yet.

"Save that for his birthday," Jason chuckled, "see how long he thinks you're pranking him and asking for his real present before it sinks in."

"Well I know who I'm scratching off my next guest list," Percy rolled his eyes.

"I was on the list?" Jason looked surprised, which Percy hoped was a joke. Obviously everybody in here was.

"I lost a couple of friends at this camp I go to," I said. "I mean, not close friends, but still—"

Will looked touched all the same Percy didn't go back to his home and try to forget it even happened. Maybe the next time there was a war council meeting and Lee wasn't at the table Percy wouldn't just blink and breeze right past it like it had entirely left his mind.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah. And, uh, I guess the girl stuff..."

Percy had never been the greatest with his words. He had no more clue what to say to Paul than to Annabeth herself, how to get started on her and Rachel and Luke and the constant question mark bouncing around in his head. It wasn't because of Paul though. He'd stood there waiting patiently the entire time as he'd gathered his useless thoughts and then scraped them at least five times.

"Here." Paul handed me some punch. "To your fifteenth birthday. And to a better year to come."

We tapped our paper cups together and drank.

Percy couldn't have asked for a better toast. Any year had to be better than the one he'd just had. Right?

"Percy, I kind of feel bad giving you one more thing to think about," Paul said. "But I wanted to ask you something."

"He asks you if you're a half-blood?" Thalia asked, because really, it had to be something with Paul. Maybe he could see through the Mist too and never knew how to say it before he saw Kelli.

"Is he going to ask what he should have gotten you for your birthday?" Will asked, imagining he'd gotten Percy, like, a black puppy that turned out to be a hellhound too or something and that was the 'dark turn.'

"Is he going to ask to move in already?" Magnus asked, no clue how fast these things were supposed to go, but it felt like 'a step,' worthy of including Percy.

"What is the capital of Bulgaria?" Alex chuckled.

"Yeah?"

"Girl stuff."

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh gods," Jason's mind started spinning like a guinea pig. "He's not going to ask you what he should get your mom for her birthday?" 

"Sounds, um, kind of nice?" Nico offered. Percy obviously got along with Paul, maybe Paul was looking for a way to spend more time with him.

"Your mom," Paul said. "I'm thinking about proposing to her."

"Oooh," all seven of them said with the same blank look. That was, so beyond the scope of their understanding honestly, they barely knew how to react to that other than nonplussed, maybe a little mild pleasure. None of the others really had a great enough relationship with their own mortal parent to process entirely what was being said.

I almost dropped my cup. "You mean...marrying her? You and her?"

"Sally and Paul, sitting in a tree," Thalia burst out singing with surprised laughter.

Percy came out of his dumbfounded state enough to react to that and give her a shove. He was happy for them, a hundred percent. Really, it wouldn't even be that weird, the guy was over all the time anyways. He just didn't even know how to process something like this because it didn't involve stabbing something.

"Well, that was the genera idea. Would that be okay with you?"

"You're asking my permission?"

Paul scratched his beard. "I don't know if it's permission, so much, but she's your mother. And I know you're going through a lot. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't talk to you about it first, man to man."

"Man to man," I repeated.

Percy had never been called anything more than his mom's little man before. He found himself sitting up straight in his beanbag chair, smiling with a new kind of pride.

It sounded strange, saying that. I thought about Paul and my mom, how she smiled and laughed more whenever he was around, and how Paul had gone out of his way to get me into high school. I found myself saying, "I think that's a great idea, Paul. Go for it."

It had felt like the obvious answer the moment he'd said it. Paul had looked him right in the eye while asking, despite their height difference. He was always there for his mom, he'd never made her cry. Percy didn't even know what else people needed to be in a marriage, but he already knew it would be better than what she'd had before.

He smiled really wide then. "Cheers, Percy. Let's join the party."

Percy had followed him with a strut in his step he'd never had before. His imagination had already been going wild, asking Paul to help him put on those weird monkey suits he'd only seen on TV. Would Paul ask Percy to call him dad? How upset would he be if Percy never wanted to?

But his mom...those seemed like minor problems when he could already feel the happiness through a kind of faith alone he'd never had for the gods that she was never going to stop smiling after this day.

I was just getting ready to blow out the candles when the doorbell rang.

"Did you make a wish?" Thalia asked with interest. The only time she'd ever managed to sit down for one of her birthdays was over a trashcan fire with Luke and Annabeth. They'd found some lumpy, frozen chocolate that had clearly all once melted together and were chipping it away, the two teasing her not to blow out their 'candle' that was keeping them warm, and she'd only promised her wish would be it never did. Other than that experience, she had no clue what someone would wish for.

"Yeah," Percy grinned without elaborating. It had just been a feeling really, of hope, that everything would be okay. He'd bottled it up tight and been about to exhale it onto that candle as a kind of offering all its own to the cosmos when that knock had interrupted him. He tried not to frown at that being some kind of bad omen.

My mom frowned. "Who could that be?"

It was weird, because our new building had a doorman, but he hadn't called up or anything. My mom opened the door and gasped.

It was my dad.

Percy had instantly felt zapped, shrunk back down to twelve years old again and seeing him for the first time on Olympus. He'd wanted to load him into a taxi and have some fairy tale ending. Instead, he'd told Percy he regretted him being born.

He was wearing Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt and Birkenstocks, like he usually does. His black beard was neatly trimmed and his sea-green eyes twinkled. He wore a battered cap decorated with fishing lures. It said NEPTUNE'S LUCKY FISHING HAT.

"Pos—" My mother stopped herself.

"What kind of fake name could she have even given?" Alex asked in amusement. "Pos, pause, pus," she kept trying to enunciate that into something and looked increasingly frustrated coming up with nothing. "Posterior? Pustrami? Pussudinym? Postumus? Possible? Positive, Pustual, Potter, Pos-"

"Posey?" Percy offered. That was a flower, and a girl's name, right? Then he went crosseyed as he realized what he just suggested his dad should go by for any length of time.

"Yes! Great one Percy!" Alex cackled in delight.

"I think we could go through every religion to find his alter ego and he'd still rather just go by his own name," Will finally interrupted the madness with a laugh.

She was blushing right to the roots of her hair. "Um, hello."

"Hello, Sally," Poseidon said. "You look as beautiful as ever. May I come in?"

"Can you say no to that?" Magnus stage whispered.

"I wouldn't want to try," Percy shrugged though because it was his dad, not in general.

My mother made a squeaking sound that might've been either a "Yes" or "Help." Poseidon took it as a yes and came in.

Percy shook his head at the six of them getting a good laugh out of that, Thalia of course escalating it by giving him a hearty clap on the shoulder and saying, "well, now we know where you got that from too."

"I don't squeak," he finished with a long, exhausted sigh knowing he couldn't really deny any such thing.

Paul was looking back and forth between us, trying to read our expressions.

Jason nodded in understanding. Some random guy showing up probably had Paul instinctively worried about Gabe showing up, if Sally had shared anything about him at all.

Finally he stepped forward. "Hi, I'm Paul Blofis."

Magnus crinkled up his nose in disgust at the idea of a creepy, three-eyed monkey coming to mind who always introduced himself like that at the end of those old cartoons. He'd really hated that thing. It had nothing to do with Paul, it was just a bad name association.

Poseidon raised his eyebrows as they shook hands. "Blowfish, did you say?"

"Ah, no. Blofis, actually."

"Oh, I see," Poseidon said. "A shame. I quite like blowfish.

"Poseidon's favorite son confirmed," Will snorted.

"At least it's not Antaeus," Percy shrugged.

I am Poseidon."

"I kind of like that better," Alex said. "Just come right out with it, why hide?"

"I think we just heard Alex's life motto," Nico grinned.

"Poseidon? That's an interesting name."

"Yes, I like it. I've gone by other names, but I do prefer Poseidon."

"Like the god of the sea."

"Very much like that, yes."

"Well!" my mom interrupted.

"I have never thought of your mom as a killjoy before this moment," Thalia admitted. "Even when she's being boring and safe and loving, telling you not to die and be careful and all that nonsense. This, this I would have paid to see how long your dad would go on like this."

"She's a little stressed," Percy shrugged, "and she gets a free pass."

"She gets all the free passes," Thalia nodded in agreement.

"Um, we're so glad you could drop by. Paul, this is Percy's father."

"Ah." Paul nodded, though he didn't look real pleased. "I see."

"Oooh, jealousy," Alex snickered in surprise.

"I'm guessing Paul's not his biggest fan," Percy agreed, confusion mixed into every syllable of how he felt about this. "My mom always made sure I knew my dad didn't abandon me, but you know, I was a little kid. I don't think Pual would have taken to that lost at sea thing. He probably wants to speak to him man to man too," he finished with an awkward smile he'd definitely have to be a part of that conversation to make sure nobody got turned into blowfishes.

Poseidon smiled at me. "There you are, my boy. And Tyson, hello, son!"

"Daddy!" Tyson bounded across the room and gave Poseidon a big hug, which almost knocked off his fishing hat.

"Naww," Magnus smiled in surprise.

"It was that or Tyson was going to burst into tears of joy or something," Percy grinned in relief at this choice.

Paul's jaw dropped. He stared at my mom. "Tyson is..."

"Not mine," she promised.

"Legally," Percy mock whispered, using air quotes and everything.

"It's a long story."

"I couldn't miss Percy's fifteenth birthday," Poseidon said. "Why, if this were Sparta, Percy would be a man today!"

"That's true," Paul said. "I used to teach ancient history."

Poseidon's eyes twinkled. "That's me. Ancient history.

"Have the gods written a memoir?" Jason asked with a false amusement meant to hide his instant need for such a thing. "An autobiography? A manuscript? A rough draft I could steal?"

"Jason, that last one could count as high treason, worse than stealing the bolt," Percy told him with wide-eyed concern that wasn't really mocking.

Jason laughed like he was kidding, but even to his own ears he knew he didn't convince anyone.

Sally, Paul, Tyson...would you mind if I borrowed Percy for a moment?"

He put his arm around me and steered me into the kitchen.

Once we were alone, his smile faded.

Percy sighed as that chapter title came true, again. He wished they wouldn't even be there to kill his blue skies, always looming over whatever nice moment he'd been having. Like storm clouds rolling in and chasing everyone off the beach. His dad hadn't done it on purpose he was sure, it had just instantly killed his mood.

"Are you all right, my boy?"

That immediately felt like the storm running out of rain though as Percy smiled. Chiron had called him that many times, but it had never hit as hard as that did.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I guess."

"I guess," Thalia nodded without surprise. "You know Percy, you don't have to guess every question you're given."

"I'm right like, fifty percent of the time," Percy shrugged.

"I call bullsit on that number," Jason scoffed.

"And I'm to bad at math to do the actual percentage," Percy scoffed right back.

"I heard stories," Poseidon said. "But I wanted to hear it directly from you. Tell me everything."

"See, this is why they invented cellphones though, to avoid awkward moments like this," Magnus said with a twitchy feeling in his gut. The gods popped up at any old place now, yeah been there done that, but something about Poseidon being in Percy's apartment was giving him a feeling of anxiety. Ever since Gabe had left, Percy had always felt safe there, and though his dad was clearly no threat to him, it felt invasive. Like he could hear howls in the distance...

So I did. It was kind of disconcerting, because Poseidon listened so intently. His eyes never left my face. His expression didn't change the whole time I talked. When I was done, he nodded slowly.

"I cannot say I've ever had a god's undivided attention before," Will said with a touch of awe. When Annabeth had done it, he'd been infuriated beyond words. Now his mind felt overflown with jealousy at Percy getting the same from his dad. It really did feel like all or nothing for the Olympians sometimes.

"So Kronos is indeed back. It will not be long before full war is upon us."

"As opposed to the minor battles you've been dealing with," Nico sighed.

"What is war if not just for a bunch of little battles," Thalia agreed.

"Violent," Alex offered.

"Profitable," Percy raised his hand for something he actually remembered from a class.

"You two think you're so clever," Thalia scoffed.

"What about Luke?" I asked. "Is he really gone?"

"I don't know, Percy. It is most disturbing."

"But his body is mortal. Couldn't you just destroy him?"

"We've been asking that since he summoned a scorpion and tore a rip in the air with a sword," Magnus said, and by we he clearly meant himself.

"Mortal, perhaps, but there is something different about Luke, my boy. I don't know how he was prepared to host the Titan's soul, but he will not be easily killed. And yet, I fear he must be killed if we are to send Kronos back to the pit. I will have to think on this. Unfortunately, I have other problems of my own."

"That, was the best summary of the gods, and I didn't even have to Sparknotes it," Nico sighed. Yeah, your problem sucked, but I'm busy with other things!

I remembered what Tyson had told me at the beginning of the summer. "The old sea gods?"

"I wonder if Oceanus is listening in on us and muttering about how his strategies still would have worked," Thalia said with interest. She wished he wasn't such a reclusive old nut, she'd have liked the chance to hear the perspective of an old Titan.

"More likely he'd forget our names every other minute and be whining about how the Olympians run things," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Back in my day we squashed puny mortals on their birthday!" Alex even gave a helpful old man impression again to prove Percy's point, earning a grin from said child of the sea.

"Tethy's didn't seem that bad," Jason was clearly on Thalia's side with a hopeful smile at the door.

"So long as she keeps that thermometer away from me," Percy insisted.

"Indeed. The battle came first to me, Percy. In fact, I cannot stay long. Even now the ocean is at war with itself. It is all I can do to keep hurricanes and typhoons from destroying your surface world, the fighting is so intense."

His dad had been stroking his beard the whole time, a nervous tick Percy had never seen him do before. He didn't have his triton on him, also a first. Poseidon had seemed more human in that kitchen than Percy realized he even could be. Like that delirious moment of him just waltzing back into his mom's life and snapping his fingers to make everything perfect was possible for just this second.

And then what he'd said really sunk in. That his dad, in all his godly power, was already exhausted and torn in half by a war long before Zeus even admitted one was happening. His father, like any of the gods, was far from perfect.

"Let me come down there," I said. "Let me help."

"The summer camp I'm honestly surprised you haven't attended yet," Alex agreed.

"Not for lack of trying!" Percy groaned.

Poseidon's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "Not yet, my boy.

"Yet," Percy sighed, though when he did try and search through his mind to get a glimpse for that feeling, it hurt. A trace of pain lancing through him he had no wish to play connect the dots with in the slightest.

I sense you will be needed here. Which reminds me..." He brought out a sand dollar and pressed it into my hand. "Your birthday present. Spend it wisely."

"Is, that a joke?" Jason asked slowly.

"Um, spoiler, I didn't laugh," Percy promised if it was.

"Uh, spend a sand dollar?"

"Oh, yes. In my day, you could buy quite a lot with a sand dollar.

"Could probably buy a whole sand mansion or something back in his day," Nico snorted.

"Wasn't he kind of born owning the ocean?" Magnus asked. "How rich is he from just all the treasure in the seas?"

"More immeasurable than his already infinite power I'm sure," Percy sighed at them missing the point, as usual.

I think you will find it still buys a lot, if used in the right situation."

"What situation?"

"When the time comes," Poseidon said, "I think you'll know."

Percy sighed at the strange feeling that gave him. Like he knew his dad was right, and it wasn't even particularly painful like the last time he'd just tried to understand this cryptic advice, but it was still as exhausting as wondering whose string those old ladies had cut. Better than sending him another card though.

I closed my hand around the sand dollar, but something was really bothering me.

"Only one something?" Jason sighed. "Because I'm over here losing track of all my somethings."

"I prioritize better," Percy smirked.

"You forget more," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Dad," I said, "when I was in the maze, I met Antaeus. He said...well, he said he was your favorite son. He decorated his arena with skulls and—"

It had been a really horrible moment in a vast, never-ending sequence of horrible moments down in that maze. Nobody was surprised this one had stuck with Percy.

It was nice he got the chance to air it for once. That Poseidon had a chance to answer for why he'd never stepped in and told Antaeus to knock it off with the murdery entertainment.

"He dedicated them to me," Poseidon supplied. "And you are wondering how someone could do something so horrible in my name."

I nodded uncomfortably.

Poseidon put his weathered hand on my shoulder. "Percy, lesser beings do many horrible things in the name of the gods. That does not mean we gods approve. The way our sons and daughters act in our names...well, it usually says more about them than it does about us. And you, Percy, are my favorite son."

Percy smiled to bright for them to do anything other than smile along, the answer had clearly meant a lot to him that they weren't going to badger for more.

Yet it felt more like a redirect than an answer.

He smiled, and at that moment, just being in the kitchen with him was the best birthday present I ever got. Then my mom called from the living room.

"Percy? The candles are melting!"

"You'd better go," Poseidon said. "But, Percy, one last thing you should know. That incident at Mount St. Helens..."

For a second I thought he was talking about Annabeth kissing me, and I blushed, but then I realized he was talking about something a lot bigger.

"There was something bigger that happened?" Alex said in an oh so innocent impression of Percy's voice.

Percy gave her an eye roll for that, a blush on his cheeks but sinking lower in his seat all the same for what he'd done.

"The eruptions are continuing," he said. "Typhon is stirring. It is very likely that soon, in a few months, perhaps a year at best, he will escape his bonds."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean—"

Poseidon raised his hand. "It is not your fault, Percy. It would've happened sooner or later, with Kronos awakening the ancient monsters.

Percy couldn't believe the weight that was lifted off of him, like taking a much needed breath of air. He did still feel the responsibility of that on his shoulders, but for his own dad to assure him it wasn't his fault was unbelievable when he knew best the gods would try and blame this kind of mistake on the easiest target available.

But be aware, if Typhon stirs...it will be unlike anything you have faced before. The first time he appeared, all the forces of Olympus were barely enough to battle him. And when he stirs again, he will come here, to New York. He will make straight for Olympus."

"Oh, so it's not just my birthday that took a dark turn," Percy sighed. "It's the whole stinking continent that's soon going to be covered in ash and blotting out the sun getting a dark turn."

Thalia gave his shoulder a gentle shake and her usual spiel about not freaking out to early while Nico batted his eyes at Percy in surprise. He'd been so sure that stupid thing related to him, that he'd hear Percy's uncomfortable thoughts about inviting him inside to darken his apartment. Percy's wasn't exactly a great interpretation, but it certainly was different than his.

That was just the kind of wonderful news I wanted to get on my birthday, but Poseidon patted me on the back like everything was fine. "I should go. Enjoy your cake."

And just like that he turned to mist and was swept out the window on a warm ocean breeze.

Alex chuckled for a moment before telling Nico, "you still have the best calling card in this one by the way, but Poseidon does get points for spirit on that."

Nico swelled with pride he was being compared to some god other than his dad to care what those points were worth.

It took a little work to convince Paul that Poseidon had left via the fire escape, but since people can't vanish into thin air, he had no choice but to believe it.

"I feel so bad for Paul," Magnus chuckled as he rubbed his temple. "Knowing the answer you're given isn't the truth but feeling crazy there's no other answer."

"Yeah," Percy agreed with a sorrowful nod. He'd felt awful lying to Paul after the awesome talk they'd just had and resolved in himself to tell him the truth sooner rather than later. He hoped he'd managed to do that before this whole disappearing off the face of the earth thing he'd apparently done so his mom had someone to really confide in about her worries.

We ate blue cake and ice cream until we couldn't eat anymore. Then we played a bunch of cheesy party games like charades and Monopoly. Tyson didn't get charades. He kept shouting out the answer he was trying to mime,

"Which is lucky for you because he would have kicked all of your butts being such an awesome artist," Alex grinned.

"I call him on my team!" Jason instantly yelped.

"Hey, no dibs before we even set up our own game night," Alex narrowed her eyes with a menace none of them were sure was entirely playful.

"Got to be faster Alex, sorry," Jason just shrugged smugly.

Thalia loudly cleared her throat to move that on before she had to restrain the two.

but it turned out he was really good at Monopoly. He knocked me out of the game in the first five rounds and started bankrupting my mom and Paul.

"I see Tyson really got all of Poseidon's good traits," Magnus laughed in surprise.

"I call him on my Monopoly team," Alex said swiftly.

Jason sighed in defeat they would switch it up between games and gave in.

"How do you play Monopoly in teams?" Percy asked.

"By making shit up I'm sure," Thalia shrugged at the amount of chaos that was going to happen when this night happened.

I left them playing and went into my bedroom.

"Aw Perce, don't tell me you're a sore loser," Will frowned.

"More like I was getting a headache watching their money move hands so fast," Percy grinned.

I set an uneaten slice of blue cake on my dresser.

Nico smiled in surprise that finally explained why, when he'd materialized, he'd heard shouting in the background like there had been a gameshow on when the TV was off as he'd come in. He'd thought he had shut it off or something crazy when he'd come in with his weird powers and aura and they'd fallen silent upon seeing him. Turned out it was a much more fun, and mundane reason.

Then I took off my Camp Half-Blood necklace and laid it on the windowsill. There were three beads now, representing my three summers at camp—a trident, the Golden Fleece, and the latest: an intricate maze, symbolizing the Battle of the Labyrinth, as the campers had started to call it. I wondered what next year's bead would be, if I was still around to get it. If the camp survived until next summer.

Percy did have another bead on there, of course, and he clasped his fist around the lot now, his throat as tight with worry as ever what had happened between all that. He felt like the best-case scenario was he'd come out alive, but the more realistic possibility was he'd just gone nuts and molded one for himself in a mock victory from his grave or something before being plopped in here.

I looked at the phone by my bedside. I thought about calling Rachel Elizabeth Dare. My mom had asked me if there was anyone else I wanted to have over tonight, and I'd thought about Rachel. But I didn't call. I don't know why. The idea made me almost as nervous as a door into the Labyrinth.

Thalia sighed with guilty relief he hadn't. It would have just been awkward if Annabeth found out about that...and yet she knew from Annabeth Percy had spent a large chunk of time coming up hanging out with Rachel so she was a tad surprised that hadn't started here.

I patted my pockets and emptied out my stuff—Riptide, a Kleenex, my apartment key.

"You kept up with that this whole time," Will asked in complete disbelief. "I need the brightest rainbow lanyard I can find to keep up with my key to my cabin because I keep losing the dang thing and my siblings started locking me out after the seventh time."

"I never lock my cabin door," Percy said blankly.

"You scare kids to much to sneak in there," Thalia scoffed.

"I want to know how and why you got a kleenex," Alex snorted. "And, more importantly, why you didn't offer that to Annabeth when she was sobbing her nose out."

Percy's heart froze and his mind scrambled as he suddenly found himself asking the same thing before Magnus jumped in saying, "probably pocketed it from that meal with Hera, I wouldn't trust that thing not to be poisoned anymore. Grover's probably just immune to such things."

Which didn't make Percy feel better, but did make him laugh for a moment along with the others.

Then I patted my shirt pocket and felt a small lump. I hadn't even realized it, but I was wearing the white cotton shirt Calypso had given me on Ogygia.

"I bet Annabeth loved that," Jason muttered, imagining she'd hardly looked at him the entire time because of the reminder.

Percy had been amazed it held up so well, covered in dirt, mud, and other unmentionable things he was sure. She was probably more amazing with a loom than Circe for giving him clothes he hadn't lost and or torn to shreds.

I brought out a little piece of cloth, unwrapped it, and found the clipping of moonlace. It was a tiny sprig, shriveled up after two months, but I could still smell the faint scent of the enchanted garden. It made me sad.

Percy touched where the little pocket had been over his heart, of course no longer there on his camp shirt. He had done the impossible, he had forgotten about Calypso even for a brief time in all the other madness that went on when he came home. Now it was Annabeth, Rachel, and Calypso all bouncing around in his head like a screen saver all fighting for his attention as his fingers tightened in his shirt before he dropped his hand back to his lap and sighed.

What the hell had Hera meant by it, sending him to her island? Had it been a warning, that all the Titans had faced punishment and Percy had better remember which side he belonged on? Had it been her deranged way of helping, giving him a chance to heal there, a place she knew he'd never stay on?

All he did know was that, like all help with the gods, it felt more harmful than good really. From now on, only his dad was allowed to send him off on vacations, and that was a spotty vow considering he wasn't sure what the outcome of this place was going to be yet.

I remembered Calypso's last request of me: Plant a garden in Manhattan for me, will you? I opened the window and stepped onto the fire escape.

My mom kept a planter box out there. In the spring she usually filled it with flowers, but now it was all dirt, waiting for something new. It was a clear night. The moon was full over Eighty-second Street. I planted the dried sprig of moonlace carefully in the dirt and sprinkled a little nectar on it from my camp canteen.

Nothing happened at first.

Then, as I watched, a tiny silver plant sprang out of the soil—a baby moonlace, growing in the warm summer night.

"I'm surprised Grover didn't sniff that out and eat it," Alex broke the heavy tension falling around them. "I honestly expected this to be mentioned back at camp as an invasive species and D would rip it up and threaten to strangle you with it."

"My brain works in mysterious ways," Percy grinned, a sad but meaningful one to help take his mind off all the bad. "That's probably why it waited until just now, weeks later, for me to ever think of cleaning out my pockets."

"Mmm, yes, mysterious," Alex laughed, because she said mysterious like one would their least favorite kind of cheese.

"Nice plant," a voice said.

I jumped. Nico di Angelo was standing on the fire escape right next to me.

"Nico's back!" Will yelped in surprise. For once he hadn't been tensing up beside him, fidgeting and internally freaking out about this happening, so Will had not a hint of warning any more than anybody else.

"I've been here the whole time you nit," Nico rolled his eyes with a smile.

Will's arm pulled him just another tiny little bit closer as he just laughed in surprise and kept going like the whole room was a bit brighter all of a sudden, making Nico blush and for the first time think of pushing him away making this 'a thing.' It was just a fleeting thought though, one he didn't act on.

Will didn't find it hard to explain to himself why he was so jazzed for this news. It was the very first instance of Nico reaching out to anybody, especially the most perfect person on the planet being Percy with his mom right on the other side of that door. For Nico to get a glimpse of how he should be greeted any time he entered a room.

"Is anybody going to ask how?" Percy yelped loudly, rudely interrupting Will's joyful reading as he stared strangely at Nico. "You appeared out of nowhere dude!"

"Practice," Nico said with pride in his voice, which of course, was no answer.

Percy groaned, Chiron and Thalia were known to do that too so it wasn't just the gods being cryptic and annoying, they were passing it on!

Nico really did give him a sorrowful smile though and pressed his finger to his lips, his skull ring gleaming. They had shadow-traveled a lot in the coming time, and he didn't want to upset Percy now when he saw the last page in Will's hand. They were nearly done with another, no need to go pushing Percy's mind to its limit when he'd get his answer without Nico forcing it on him soon enough.

He'd just appeared there.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"That's—that's okay. I mean...what are you doing here?"

Nico inhaled carefully, letting his mind think of that with interest now rather than the little happy dance he'd been doing in his head Percy's first reaction back then hadn't been pushing him off the fire escape in surprise. Now he really heard this for what it was. Not the blatant acceptance he so craved, just Percy reacting to him somehow even better than he had Rachel popping up in his mortal life. It was surprisingly a nicer, warmer feeling than his old feeling he had to keep off any part of his face.

He'd grown about an inch taller over the last couple of months. His hair was a shaggy black mess. He wore a black T-shirt, black jeans, and a new silver ring shaped like a skull. His Stygian iron sword hung at his side.

"An outfit you apparently never changed out of," Jason chuckled in surprise.

"I bet he has a closet full of the same outfit," Alex sighed tragically.

"I like this color," he kept the childish note out of his voice almost well enough. He should get used to defending his odd choices now if he was going to go to camp and hear this over and over...then he was surprised how easily that thought had come to mind. Tartarus had gone to far from his plans, he realized as a cold feeling swept him.

Will's hand curled gently around his arm, a warm pulse radiating from his palm that gave Nico a chance to exhale and focus on this.

"I've done some exploring," he said.

"A common day pirate," Will smiled in delight. "A vassst yee, I shall be tied down to no land!"

"See, now you're getting it," Nico's eyes shimmered with delight at the goofy impression.

"Even pirates need a secret cove to bury all their treasure," Will reminded hopefully. If that's all camp could be to him, a way station of safety, it would feel like enough so long as he'd always feel free to use it.

"Hmm, I'm not much of an artist Will, I'll have to work on getting a map together," Nico couldn't help the glib comment, the wishy-washy response. Despite how comfortable he felt under Will's arm, it was the longest, most permanent feeling he'd ever had in his life up to this point. Something so solid, even more permanent like Will kept wanting still sounded like to much for him to wrap his mind around right now.

"That's okay, I know a good one. X marks the spot and all that," he grinned all the same. He'd still carve that on Thalia's old tree when he got back and knew Nico at least would get the reference.

 "Thought you'd like to know, Daedalus got his punishment."

Will's voice somehow sparked with even more joy getting to read this so soon. He really had wanted to know his fate, and Alex was right there with him, leaning forward eagerly in her seat, her teeth sunk into her lip as she wavered back in forth in her head how harsh she wanted to hear this being.

"You saw him?"

Nico nodded. "Minos wanted to boil him in cheese fondue for an eternity, but my father had other ideas.

Nico had been surprised when he'd showed up in his courtroom he hadn't even needed to step in and offer anything for this. Daedalus had been such a notoriously lost soul for so long Hades had already taken an interest, and swift execution before Nico had even woken up.

Hades had laughed to himself about the cheese fondue idea and even filed it away for later though. As far as Nico knew, Minos was still on his seat at the judge's table, so he hadn't exactly been as punished as Nico would have liked, but hey, you win some you lose some.

Daedalus will be building overpasses and exit ramps in Asphodel for all time. It'll help ease the traffic congestion. Truthfully, I think the old guy is pretty happy with that. He's still building. Still creating. And he gets to see his son and Perdix on the weekends."

It was just the perfect kind of Greek ending really. Quintus, Daeadlus the fifth's body, had had a very long road, and his punishment was to continue making them. It was no reward, but really, it was no great punishment. Hades seemed to have found a stroke of balance in his domain that all wished for really, a kind of medium eternal life after his grand adventure that rocked to many boats.

"That's good."

Nico tapped at his silver ring. "But that's not the real reason I've come. I've found out some things. I want to make you an offer."

"What?"

Percy hadn't squinted suspiciously at him or anything, he hadn't gone for his sword or jumped back in and slammed the window in his face. He hadn't exactly jumped to his feet with delight either and hugged him for finding all this out, so, that had been the highlight of Nico's month.

"The way to beat Luke," he said. "If I'm right, it's the only way you'll stand a chance."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm listening."

Will's voice was so happy as he read that, his pupils kept wanting to jump away from the text to glance at the two with such bright eyes. This, this had been what he'd been hoping for Nico for so long, ever since he'd vanished after the Titan War. He already knew Percy and Nico made an awesome team, the two working together had been the saving strategy and the reason they were probably all alive today. Why did Nico constantly think he wasn't accepted again when Percy had been open and amenable from the start to his plan?!

Nico glanced inside my room. His eyebrows furrowed. "Is that...is that blue birthday cake?"

It had been the strangest feeling, Nico shook his head at himself. He'd been glancing around for an enemy, someone eavesdropping. Instead he'd seen the brightest splash of color, a blue swirl patterned cake with sprinkles. The exact kind of thing Bianca would have smacked his hand for reaching for, telling him he'd get a cavity just looking at that thing.

He sounded hungry, maybe a little wistful. I wondered if the poor kid had ever had a birthday party, or if he'd ever even been invited to one.

No, and no, Nico pursed his lips together rather than answer. Will, thankfully, read right over the moment without waiting for an answer, bless him. Nico still considered himself a no on both too, because he hadn't been 'invited' to this party. He'd gate crashed.

"Come inside for some cake and ice cream," I said. "It sounds like we've got a lot to talk about."

"Everything Percy brags about his mom's cooking is true by the way," Nico said swiftly before anybody could ask questions they weren't going to get an answer to. "It was, the best cake, I've ever had." He smacked his lips in appreciation at just the thought. It had been the most solid food he'd had in months and he was pretty sure his ambrosia had switched to tasting like that for a while.

"We'll get her her own cookbook, or a TV network show or something," Jason laughed.

Percy had a lot more questions buzzing around his mind about how that night would have continued. He opened his mouth with at least three trying to all bunch together, but all that came out was a very rude yawn.

"The question now is, do we take a break or just start the next one?" Thalia asked, stretching and jumping to her feet all the same.

"A break, definitely," Percy pleaded at once. "Hell, can I take a nap, since the days all out of whack anyways and we start the next one tomorrow."

"Nap yes," Thalia told him not unkindly, "but I am waking you back up to at least start on the next one! We'll be in here for twenty years if you sleep to your heart's content Rip Van Winkle!"

Percy nodded and then, actually just slumped over, right there in his chair. It would have been a tad concerning if he hadn't started drooling only moments later.

Nico expected Will to jump up and join the others as they all started talking quietly, stretching and going off to eat, but instead he stayed in place, hugging the black book tight to his chest and smiling at it still. Nico still thought him nuts, but a very charming kind. Nuts and berries.

Something had been nagging at the back of his mind though. A pessimistic idea that wouldn't leave him, an observation about Will always being so happy and optimistic at the idea of Nico being at camp. "Did you kiss me because you want me to stay at Camp?" Nico asked, his stomach in painful knots that the answer was going to be yes and how much he should care about that and how much it would make a difference. Maybe Will did just want something from him-

"No!" Will's startled blue eyes were pure honesty. "I kissed you because I wanted to, no other reason." Nico still seemed confused though, so he offered, "look, I, I feel like I should apologize, for kissing you right then," Will confessed. "That, um, wasn't exactly, 'friendly,' and if that's what you need right now-" his arm started to pull away even.

"I like it," Nico interrupted, the surprise on his own face for admitting that causing him to sheepishly avert his eyes, but his hand darting up to hold his fingers in place, nearly pining them to his black shirt. "L-liked. Um, it was, it feels- felt, good, but if you regret it-" his hand spasmed as he told himself to let go.

"Woah, I never said that," Will interpreted right back. "I've been trying to get to know you since we met. I just, um, was trying to make sure-" he was blushing himself and stammering and going very blank in the mind to find words to describe anything.

"Right, well," Nico took a shaky breath but looked back at him with a hesitant smile. He interlocked their fingers, and Will easily mimicked him. "That's, established. Neither of us, regret it, and we both like talking, so let's just, keep doing, that."

"Sounds perfect," Will grinned.

PJOPJOPJO

I am not promising that this will be the last book to end with Solangelo, I don't want to be a liar like that, but I do already have the ending to the next book planned out and it's not focused on them, so there's that?

So I'm taking a short break and then posting Demigod Files next month for sure, and then I'm going to start Last Olympian in May! I'm so excited guys, I'm looking forward to it all as much as anybody!

*I know most people probably imagine Alex using the f' word like a bestie, but I'm more familiar with people who grew up in verbally abusive households disliking strong language because it's been used on them to much. Also I do my best to keep these PG, T at most, so it's going to stay at least in the level of clean you've seen so far in the tone of the original books, so this is what I'm going with.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 15: RACHEL MAKES A BAD DEAL

Will snapped out of his daze like a bad dream, right into the familiar feeling of someone needing his attention.

It was Nico, but to his surprise, the son of Hades had concerned eyes on him. A question in the tilt of his head.

Will used the back of his hand to brush Nico's cheek in thanks as he shook his head.

"If you need out," Nico whispered, trying to make him hear the urgency in his quiet voice-

He shook his head more forcefully and whispered back, "I'm, just, I don't want to dwell on this. I'm not proud of the fact that I, kind of still have some anger at Percy lodged somewhere in here about nobody telling me I was suddenly head of my cabin as I rushed off to save someone else," he gestured with his other hand to the back of his head with an uncommon frown.

Reaching over to take the book, he'd thought the matter was settled. He wasn't expecting the distance to be closed and Nico to take the moment to place a quick kiss on his cheek, right on the edge of his lip.

Nico looked as surprised as he did for the impulse, and both blushed as Nico hastily put the book in his hand.

"You two are dating?!"

Percy's blurted shout was just loud enough they all winced at the noise and he only felt a bit sorry as he tried to modulate his voice back down, "I've been here the whole time, when did you two..." he trailed off in maximum confusion and great relief Nico's crush really had apparently full blown faded. Either that or Nico's Italian roots had flared up at a strange time?! Or was that a French thing to kiss someone on both cheeks? But Nico hadn't kissed the other one-

"Oh, Percy," Annabeth sighed.

Will's voice was now squeaking as he flipped to his spot to start without responding and the chapter title came out like someone was plucking on his vocal cords. "Rachel Makes a Bad Deal."

"Get this girl a lawyer, stat!" Alex said as if nothing had happened.

Percy was still ogling the pair and then looking at his assortment of books, then to Annabeth; but was clearly going to be ignored by everyone else.

I grabbed Will Solace from the Apollo cabin and told the rest of his siblings to keep searching for Michael Yew.

The first time Will's name had even been mentioned on Percy's radar, and it was him he turned to for help, Nico noted with interest. It was no surprise to him, Will was the most helpful guy he'd ever met.

We borrowed a Yamaha FZI from a sleeping biker and drove to the Plaza Hotel at speeds that would've given my mom a heart attack.

Nico couldn't help a flinch of distaste at the mental picture of Will clinging to Percy's back for no other reason than fear for his safety. Percy might be able to walk off crashing that bike and keep running to get to Annabeth, but Will wouldn't.

Of course, Percy was more likely to fling Will over his shoulder and keep going, engine or not, but it was still a bad stint to envision.

 I'd never driven a motorcycle before, but it wasn't any harder than riding a pegasus.*

"It is nothing like riding a pegasus," Annabeth looked at him in her usual concern for his mental faculties. "The skill set is completely different seaweed brain, how you even think one relates to the other- no, how you're not dead is-"

She shut up as Percy gently kissed the back of her hand, looked her in the eyes, and said, "Quite time wise girl." The strain in his voice was unmistakable. He might have her here, warm and alive beside him now, but he still needed that security from his past like a blanket to feel like she'd stay that way in his memory too.

She nodded dumbly and squeezed his hand in understanding of that.

Along the way, I noticed a lot of empty pedestals that usually held statues. Plan twenty-three seemed to be working. I didn't know if that was good or bad.

"Why is that so accurate to every part of your life?" Magnus sighed.

Percy would honestly like an answer to that too.

It only took us five minutes to reach the Plaza—an old-fashioned white stone hotel with a gabled blue roof, sitting at the southeast corner of Central Park.

"Whoever picked that spot was trying to get in your good graces," Jason rolled his eyes, wishing he knew New York better to instead glean if that was a strategic place.

"I don't like something just because it has a blue roof," but Percy's protest sounded half-hearted at best. He had smiled at the building on more than one occasion as he passed for the color.**

Tactically speaking, the Plaza wasn't the best place for a headquarters. It wasn't the tallest building in town, or the most centrally located. But it had old-school style and had attracted a lot of famous demigods over the years, like the Beatles and Alfred Hitchcock, so I figured we were in good company.

"It's not the worst reason to pick it," Nico nodded along. Taking a moment to remember its historical importance and why other demigods had been drawn there was a motive he'd consider.

I gunned the Yamaha over the curb and swerved to a stop at the fountain outside the hotel.

Will and I hopped off.

Nico was a little surprised at the jealousy that flitted through him. Had Will once had a crush on Percy like he did? It wouldn't surprise him. He'd once had a mild panic attack at the idea of getting on the back of Mrs. O'Leary with Percy and him being that close, so he knew he had no right to begrudge Will if he'd had a bit of a thrill for this chance.

The statue at the top of the fountain called down, "Oh, fine. I suppose you want me to watch your bike too!"

She was a life-size bronze standing in the middle of a granite bowl. She wore only a bronze sheet around her legs, and she was holding a basket of metal fruit. I'd never paid her too much attention before.

Then again, she'd never talked to me before.

"That is the best way to get your attention," Thalia nodded. "Gods forbid you try giving the boy a silent signal."

Percy ignored her as he continued holding Annabeth close and watching the book intently. Or he really hadn't registered she was talking to him. They'd believe both.

"Are you supposed to be Demeter?" I asked.

A bronze apple sailed over my head.

"Great guess Percy," Alex gave him a thumbs up. "Hope you try again."

"Why do you want to hear her throw more apples at me?" Percy gave her an exaggerated hurt face.

"Your thick head can take it and I crave violence through physical comedy you don't get enough of," she shrugged.

"Yeah, no, I get that," Precy nodded in understanding while Magnus and Annabeth looked between the two in ever-growing concern.

"Everyone thinks I'm Demeter.'" she complained. "I'm Pompona, the Roman Goddess of Plenty, but why should you care?

"No, yeah, why should I care about a Roman goddess?" Percy looked around at Jason. "I have enough of my own to deal with!"

Jason held up a finger for each point he made. "They overlap frequently, you should be more respectful, and so she might actually care about you."

Percy didn't seem to hear a good reason yet as he kept watching him before shrugging and turning back towards the book while Jason studied his fingers with a stubborn frown of how he could do better next time.

Nobody cares about the minor gods. If you cared about the minor gods, you wouldn't be losing this war! Three cheers for Morpheus and Hecate, I say!"

"Watch the bike," I told her.

Pompona cursed in Latin and threw more fruit as Will and I ran toward the hotel.

At least Alex got a laugh out of that while Percy grinned along at least it was easy to please somebody around here.

"An apple a day keeps the Percy away, got to make note of that one," Jason huffed.

"It took two apples, gods Jason, thought you were the smart one," Percy smirked.

"I'm just glad he didn't decide to catch one," Thalia said saintly, "that's a marriage proposal in Greek culture."

Percy looked at her and spluttered in concern, but for once he didn't drop Annabeth's hand and act like a scared little kid embarrassed of the future. Just an average boyfriend put on the spot of such words being spoken in his presence.

Will didn't try to fight off a small smile for these guys, and gave Jason a silent nod when he threw him a look, having obviously dodged the real stupid quote that he was mocking.

I'd never actually been inside the Plaza. The lobby was impressive, with the crystal chandeliers and the passed-out rich people, but I didn't pay much attention. A couple of Hunters gave us directions to the elevators, and we rode up to the penthouse suites.

"You might not have paid it much mind, but somebody made sure you got the best view," Magnus's skin crawled at the idea of how much a carpet in that place would cost while his shoes went across.

Of course, Annabeth was in there, and he'd shove his way past any security guards to get to her side too, it just bothered his brain a little that somebody had taken the time to make a keycard for the top of the building instead of just utilizing the lobby that could fit two or three entire homeless shelters more conveniently.

Demigods had completely taken over the top floors. Campers and Hunters were crashed out on sofas, washing up in the bathrooms, ripping silk draperies to bandage their wounds, and helping themselves to snacks and sodas from the minibars. A couple of timber wolves were drinking out of the toilets. I was relieved to see that so many of my friends had made it through the night alive, but everybody looked beat up.

"Percy!" Jake Mason clapped me on the shoulder. "We're getting reports—"

"Later," I said. "Where's Annabeth?"

"So that she can be there for the sweet revenge of you dumping those in Chiron's lap and tell him to figure out the alphabet," Will nodded.

Percy laughed, a cautious noise of hope that if Will could joke at a time like this Annabeth's injury hadn't been to bad at all.

"The terrace. She's alive, man, but . . ."

I pushed past him.

"I would too," Thalia scowled. That boy was lucky he'd still had all his limbs attached, or hadn't gone through a wall while being in Percy's way.

Under different circumstances I would've loved the view from the terrace. It looked straight down onto Central Park.

It was the perfect height too, Will hadn't really the chance to look on with the kind of awe he'd wanted to. High enough that the people below were indistinguishable, just little specks of life around, but not to tall he felt above them like a god would, easily able to overpass the sight of them and just see around what they were there to do.

The morning was clear and bright—perfect for a picnic or a hike, or pretty much anything except fighting monsters.

'But that's what he and Annabeth did best,' the thought flitted through Percy's mind strangely. Not joyful, exactly, a bit of pride sure because that kind of skill was what kept them alive and what made them friends in the first place, working so well together.

It was more of longing. Not quite sadness, just that he wanted them to be able to do more than just be good at that.

He glanced down at her now comfortably melded into his side as if she'd never leave again, and gods he hoped she wouldn't even as his imagination ran wild in the world above of everything they could do together. Picnics and hiking and more, finally without a single bad thing happening to one of them.

It sounded like a pipe dream, and he should just settle for being happy his girlfriend was here with him too.

Thankfully for Percy, such similar thoughts were floating through her head, but she had more plans and schemes afoot to make sure they'd come true before the next problem.

Annabeth lay on a lounge chair. Her face was pale and beaded with sweat. Even though she was covered in blankets, she shivered. Silena Beauregard was wiping her forehead with a cool cloth.

Percy's hands ached for a moment like he needed to pop his knuckles. What he wanted was to shove them all away from her like he had on the bridge, scoop her safe into his arms and never put her down until she was at the feet of a god who could, and would heal her without a single hesitation. No deals, no posturing, no tit for tat. Just godly healing out of the goodness of their heart so she'd be okay again.

That kind of alternate reality just didn't exist.

Will and I pushed through a crowd of Athena kids. Will unwrapped Annabeth's bandages to examine the wound, and I wanted to faint. The bleeding had stopped but the gash looked deep. The skin around the cut was a horrible shade of green.

Nico vividly remembered Will once promising to show him a wound every color of the rainbow, and his mind wandered for a moment wondering what it would take for a wound to turn blue...no that was probably oxygen deprivation and bad. Or purple...maybe a rare kind of poison?... Percy's wound had once been green when Annabeth nearly died, what an interesting comparison...

"Annabeth . . ." I choked up. She'd taken that knife for me. How could I have let that happen?

"You didn't let it happen Percy," Annabeth looked up at him with her eyes solid steel gray. "I did it, and I don't regret it."

Because she'd lived to not regret it, Percy still felt compelled to call Blackjack over and stampede him for this happening. What good was that curse if he couldn't protect what mattered most?

"Poison on the dagger," she mumbled. "Pretty stupid of me, huh?"

"Loving the correlation here that your hubris has no effect on you claiming idiocy on cleaning your own bunk for inspection, and saving Percy's life," Jason grinned.

"It's a very short and top-secret list my enemies would kill to get their hands on," Annabeth nodded seriously.

Will Solace exhaled with relief. "It's not so bad, Annabeth. A few more minutes and we would've been in trouble, but the venom hasn't gotten past the shoulder yet.

"You could almost die really isn't 'so bad' as you are about to die," Nico mock agreed that sounded like a great thing.

"See, this is why you'll do great work in the infirmary, making sure they hear the important details," Will nodded.

Just lie still. Somebody hand me some nectar."

I grabbed a canteen. Will cleaned out the wound with the godly drink while I held Annabeth's hand.

"She doesn't have to, drink it?" Magnus wasn't trying to correct Will, but up until this point that's how he understood it.

"No," Will kindly agreed, "it's preferable to ingest it orally to make sure it breaks down fully in the body, but in situations where they're unconscious, or worse some sort of poison is involved, better to pour it on the wound directly to let the healing kick in as fast as possible. Both are dangerous of course, we're always afraid of using to much, so you have to make that kind of choice on the fly."

Magnus and Jason both nodded in understanding, low levels of anxiety still circling the room despite Annabeth obviously being okay.

"Ow," she said. "Ow, ow!" She gripped my fingers so tight they turned purple, but she stayed still, like Will asked. Silena muttered words of encouragement. Will put some silver paste over the wound and hummed words in Ancient Greek—a hymn to Apollo. Then he applied fresh bandages and stood up shakily.

The healing must've taken a lot of his energy. He looked almost as pale as Annabeth.

His anger he'd been helping her instead of looking for Micheal had been well buried. He'd been professional and done all he could for her like any kid who passed through the infirmary any other day of the year.

After though, as he'd fallen slowly down the tacky patterned wall and sat alone in the hallway, he'd let himself cry softly for a while, letting it all have him before he made himself get up and go find his siblings. Memories of Micheal teaching him that hymn following him, trying to ask himself what Lee would say to them, to him as the oldest now.

It was a petty feeling he wasn't proud of as he'd glanced back at the door without a last prayer for Annabeth before turning away.

Nico rested his head gently on Will, causing Will's breath to catch softly as he stayed like that for several moments after Will kept reading, only pulling slightly back away again when his voice managed to get back to steady.

"That should do it," he said. "But we're going to need some mortal supplies."

He grabbed a piece of hotel stationery, jotted down some notes, and handed it to one of the Athena guys. "There's a Duane Reade on Fifth. Normally I would never steal—"

"I would," Travis volunteered.

Will glared at him. "Leave cash or drachmas to pay, whatever you've got, but this is an emergency. I've got a feeling we're going to have a lot more people to treat."

Will had known Travis was just trying to lighten the mood, but Will had found it far from endearing or funny. He'd felt five times his age. He'd felt very alone and frustrated beyond words to shout at even his dad, only a vague hope even he'd understand a fraction of what he was feeling and not even that was enough to bother trying to ask for a summons that would only be ignored. Obviously he was doing the most important thing in trying to quell Typhoon right now.

But having Nico here now really was like a missing puzzle piece he hadn't realized was needed in that picture back there. He fit so easily into the moment in Will's imagination, like he'd been standing silently off to the side and followed him out and just been a quiet acceptance for everything he'd been feeling. It really did make the memory retroactively bearable instead of a painful new twisting he'd been expecting.

Nobody disagreed. There was hardly a single demigod who hadn't already been wounded . . . except me.

'The obvious solution here was to throw everybody in the river Styx so nobody could ever get hurt again,' Alex shook her head as she bit her lip. She couldn't make herself say that even in jest. Even if they all knew she wasn't an actual idiot and nobody tried to explain why that was a bad idea, it just wasn't for anybody else but her.

"Come on, guys," Travis Stoll said. "Let's give Annabeth some space. We've got a drugstore to raid . . . I mean, visit."

"Really wasn't any funnier the second time," Nico grumbled too, giving Will another small moment to smile he wasn't the one to say it even if he'd been feeling it. It would have just sounded scathing coming from him right now.

The demigods shuffled back inside. Jake Mason grabbed my shoulder as he was leaving. "We'll talk later, but it's under control. I'm using Annabeth's shield to keep an eye on things. The enemy withdrew at sunrise; not sure why. We've got a lookout at each bridge and tunnel."

"Thanks, man," I said.

He nodded. "Just take your time."

He closed the terrace doors behind him, leaving Silena, Annabeth, and me alone.

She hadn't heard that, and a part of Annabeth wanted to smack Percy for not sharing such a thing with her while part of her mind had been running calculations and numbers and more plans of what needed to be done. Not that she didn't trust the rest of the campers to get it done without her, she just needed to be involved, she had been practically since she set foot in camp.

Silena pressed a cool cloth to Annabeth's forehead. "This is all my fault."

"No," Annabeth said weakly. "Silena, how is it your fault?"

"I've never been any good at camp," she murmured. "Not like you or Percy. If I was a better fighter . . ."

Her mouth trembled.

Thalia's fist formed tight, wanting to punch this girl in the face and then hold her tight and promise she understood. Gods did she understand what Silena had fallen into. She wished she could scream in her face for being pulled under Luke's charms, and she wanted to promise everybody who'd ever met him had been fooled too.

She'd never had the chance to act on any of it, and a part of her was selfishly glad for it. Silena had been drowning long before Thalia had known to help pull her out and maybe splash her a few more times to make sure she stayed awake the rest of her time at Camp.

Ever since Beckendorf died she'd been getting worse, and every time I looked at her, it made me angry about his death all over again. Her expression reminded me of glass—like she might break any minute.

Jason understood that feeling all to well, it's how he looked at himself every time in the mirror. Like even if all the pieces were found and glued back together, you'd always see the cracks.

I swore to myself that if I ever found the spy who'd cost her boyfriend his life, I would give him to Mrs. O'Leary as a chew toy.

Will was just to emotionally exhausted to read that as he should, the same tempo as his usual reading like he had not a single insight into how he should feel about that, the same way most of them had been getting along so as not to agitate Percy about the truth.

He was just a little off this time, and it made Percy flinch. His hand to his temple, his core shaken by the mixed emotions that were poured in from the truth creeping a little closer than it needed to right now. His stomach rolled violently, the only thing grounding him was Annabeth wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing close as she whispered, "it's okay Percy."

It wasn't okay, he felt feverish all of a sudden, then cold flashes before the world was forced to settle back and he looked down at her still swallowing convulsively.

"You're a great camper," I told Silena. "You're the best pegasus rider we have. And you get along with people. Believe me, anyone who can make friends with Clarisse has talent."

Annabeth had been hard-pressed not to lean forward and hug him tight, and judging by the look on Silena's face she'd felt the same. If it hadn't felt like someone had ripped her arm off and sewn it on backward she absolutely would have.

She stared at me like I'd just given her an idea. "That's it! We need the Ares cabin. I can talk to Clarisse. I know I can convince her to help us."

"I guess if anyone could, my money would be on her," Magnus agreed hesitantly, not that he had any money to be betting, so, what did that say?

Percy agreed, yet something about all this still set him on edge. Like if he could go back in time or give himself a dream he'd shut this down.

"Whoa, Silena. Even if you could get off the island, Clarisse is pretty stubborn. Once she gets angry—"

"She turns into a raging green monster?" Alex asked hopefully.

"Nah, that would be useful," Percy huffed.

"Please," Silena said. "I can take a pegasus. I know I can make it back to camp. Let me try."

I exchanged looks with Annabeth. She nodded slightly.

Percy exchanged a look with Annabeth now, still reeling just a bit from Chiron basically saying he was in charge, still wrapping his head around the fact that he and Annabeth were basically defacto leaders here. When did Silena need his say-so to do this? Gods, nobody was going to start trying to get him to do supplies counts next were they?! Camp didn't have the math budget for his attempts!

I didn't like the idea. I didn't think Silena stood a chance of convincing Clarisse to fight. On the other hand, Silena was so distracted right now that she would just get herself hurt in battle. Maybe sending her back to camp would give her something else to focus on.

Jason listened with an intense fascination at hearing Percy handle this situation. He had a sense in the back of his mind like he could have weighed in on a similar situation if he could ever unlock his own head, but for now he found himself nodding and feeling Percy was leaning in the right direction even if nobody had asked him.

"All right," I told her. "I can't think of anybody better to try."

Silena threw her arms around me. Then she pushed back awkwardly, glancing at Annabeth. "Um, sorry. Thank you, Percy! I won't let you down!"

Percy glanced from Annabeth to the book with a smile much less awkward this time. "Does everyone need to apologize to you when they hug me now?"

"I'll give you a list later," she chuckled.

Once she was gone, I knelt next to Annabeth and felt her forehead. She was still burning up.

Magnus shivered at how much necter she must have been given to be feeling so warm, how close she'd come to dying and he never would have known. He knew their magic healing wasn't instantaneous either, like with Percy's scorpion sting, or when they taxed themselves to much. She just needed rest. The question was if she'd let herself do that.

"You're cute when you're worried," she muttered. "Your eyebrows get all scrunched together."

"You two are the worst," Thalia rolled her eyes in pain. "You only admit you like each other in life or death situations and I'm the one who has to hear about everything in between."

"Not anymore," Annabeth tried to protest from under Percy's arm.

"Percy was about to kill us all, again!, when he decided to kiss you instead! My statement stands," Thalia huffed.

"You are not going to die while I owe you a favor," I said.

"The important things in life," Will nodded.

"Duly noted," Nico chuckled.

"Why did you take that knife?"

"You would've done the same for me."

It was true. I guess we both knew it. Still, I felt like somebody was poking my heart with a cold metal rod.

Alex looked a little to interested in that analogy, which gave Magnus the conclusion that she'd either A, done that personally before, or B, felt that personally. Neither conclusion was giving him the best feeling.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?"

I looked around to make sure we were alone. Then I leaned in close and whispered: "My Achilles spot. If you hadn't taken that knife, I would've died."

She got a faraway look in her eyes. Her breath smelled of grapes, maybe from the nectar.

"Mmm," Annabeth agreed fondly. "It had tasted like those jam tarts your mom mailed me last weekend."

For some reason Percy wasn't the slightest bit surprised his mom had done something like that and he hadn't known about it.

"I don't know, Percy. I just had this feeling you were in danger. Where . . . where is the spot?"

"More like why was the spot," Jason shook his head, he still couldn't get over that.

"Nobody ever asks how is the spot," Alex said seriously. "Let me know if you need a massage Percy."

"Alex is over there planning to kill me," Percy decided, only mildly kidding.

Annabeth nodded, like the thought had crossed her mind at least once too.

I wasn't supposed to tell anyone. But this was Annabeth. If I couldn't trust her, I couldn't trust anyone.

"The small of my back."

She lifted her hand. "Where? Here?"

She put her hand on my spine, and my skin tingled. I moved her fingers to the one spot that grounded me to my mortal life. A thousand volts of electricity seemed to arc through my body.

This felt private in an awkward way, when they already knew such a thing. Magnus blushed and Jason averted his eyes to everywhere in the room while Will kept reading with only a slight change in expression of sweetness like he was reciting a poem.

"You saved me," I said. "Thanks."

She removed her hand, but I kept holding it.

"So you owe me," she said weakly. "What else is new?"

We watched the sun come up over the city.

Annabeth finally felt the urge to lean away from Percy and rub her cheeks from smiling so much. She didn't act on it, but the thought still crossed her mind that she'd finally managed a time to sit around, holding hands with Percy in the most romantic place possible for them.

Of course it finally happened after one of them nearly died, again, Thalia hadn't been wrong about that, but she'd take what she could get.

The traffic should've been heavy by now, but there were no cars honking, no crowds bustling along the sidewalks.

Percy had once tried to read this weird book of poems from a big white book, mostly for the cool art on every page. This morning felt like it would have fit right in, it had that other world vibe to it.

Everything was normal, the world was about to end as usual. Everything felt disconnected, his city at a screeching halt and holding its breath for what he'd do next.

He and Annabeth, at the center. Not talking, but finally, not a world apart.

Far away, I could hear a car alarm echo through the streets. A plume of black smoke curled into the sky somewhere over Harlem. I wondered how many ovens had been left on when the Morpheus spell hit; how many people had fallen asleep in the middle of cooking dinner. Pretty soon there would be more fires. Everyone in New York was in danger—and all those lives depended on us.

His mom was somewhere down there, Percy leaned forward anxiously in his seat to no one's surprise. Anybody in danger and of course his first instinct was to lean into it.

He hoped she'd stayed in, knowing the invasion was on the way. That she and Paul were anxiously watching the news and had ordered takeout that would be forever until it got there at this rate. They'd have the usual friendly argument about which pizza joint was better, but Percy couldn't be there this time to decide which sounded better, Famous Sal's with the crust or Original Sal's sauce, or both. Usually they never went for both.

"You asked me why Hermes was mad at me," Annabeth said.

"Hey, you need to rest—"

"No, I want to tell you.

"Don't ever tell Annabeth she needs to rest," Thalia sighed from experience. "She thinks that's the perfect time to find the end of pi or something."

"I'd be happy to help her with that one at least," Percy said with his trademark smirk, just to hear Annabeth call him a seaweed brain when she knew he knew which kind of pi Thalia meant.

It's been bothering me for a long time." She moved her shoulder and winced. "Last year, Luke came to see me in San Francisco."

Thalia startled, her bow appearing in hand with an arrow loaded on pure instinct as she looked around at Annabeth who didn't even blink as she watched with an apologetic frown.

No, she never had told anybody but Percy about this. She'd wanted to, after she'd slammed that door shut. Thalia had been the first person she wanted to call, then Percy, but she'd sat on her bed alone and done neither because nobody would have understood.

She'd heard her brothers playing outside, they'd been having a watermelon fight or something without inviting her as usual, and she'd wished she still had her cousin around. To be six again playing blocks with Magnus.

It had never strayed past the thought, fear had trumped the idea to quickly about getting yet another person in her life hurt and killed just by her proximity.

Annabeth watched him now, sitting across the room from her, watching her back with true concern in their shared eyes. The fact that he was down here and seemed to be mildly enjoying himself most of the time was not something she'd ever mentally prepared for in her life and was still cautiously trying to figure out how to approach.

But she flashed him a hopeful smile now, weary, and tired, but really looking at him in a 'yeah, this happened,' way just for him, and he instantly returned it.

Thalia had already tucked her weapons back away but still seemed shaken. Annabeth finally leaned out from under Percy's arm, her heart fluttering at his little throat protest but storing that away for later as she put a questioning hand on hers.

Her sister didn't push her away, but she didn't look happy either as she studied her silently while listening.

"In person?"

"Well, I'd hope if he sent her an Iris Message she'd just hang up on him. I assume this conversation was needed in person anyways," Will instantly started babbling unwieldy with his words at the sudden tension of Thalia's piercing look, more deadly to some than anything she could shoot.

Percy started cutting his hand across his throat and giving him an obvious look, and yeah, Will agreed, forced laughter never improved a situation no matter what Percy's impulsive mouth tried to say otherwise.

I felt like she'd just hit me with a hammer.

"Don't be ridiculous Percy, hammers are for children," Alex rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, use a better example, like mule, maul, muah, shit how do you pronounce that thing?" Will went crosseyed as he tried to remember the strange name of Thor's hammer.

"No, you got it man, mewmew," Jason chuckled, "deadliest weapon in the universe."

"Mjolnir," Magnus offered anyways. "Like, mule, near."

"We're never getting out of here," Percy sighed. They couldn't even shut up about which hammer to hit him with.

"Yeah," Annabeth nodded like she'd already accepted that. She seemed pretty comfortable though, all things considered, so he couldn't find it a bad thing in that moment either.

"He came to your house?"

"This was before we went into the Labyrinth, before . . ." She faltered, but I knew what she meant: before be turned into Kronos. "He came under a flag of truce. He said he only wanted five minutes to talk. He looked scared, Percy. He told me Kronos was going to use him to take over the world. He said he wanted to run away, like the old days. He wanted me to come with him."

Thalia felt an immediate sense of pride as she heard that. Her little sister finally learned her lesson, would finally stop running to him right into death's arms, but the feeling was rotten just under the surface. Just like a gift from her own dad. Of course Thalia finally got her wish, and the pain on Annabeth's face was her reward.

"But you didn't trust him."

"Of course not.

Percy had wanted to scoff right back at her scoff, but she'd looked to weak to take it. Having to be propped up in that chair, having her arm be supported by bandages, it made this moment of her finally calling him the idiot for the obvious in Luke have zero satisfaction.

I thought it was a trick. Plus . . . well, a lot of things had changed since the old days.

She hadn't changed as much as she thought she did, Magnus hid a wince well. Honestly, if he'd been hearing this any time other than past tense, he would have been just as convinced she'd have dropped everything to do what Luke asked too.

This sounded like it should have been a victory, he could have been hopping around with joy and wanting to go get ice cream with her to celebrate she was finally seeing this creep clearly. She might shove that ice cream up his nose, and he'd probably deserve it.

I told Luke there was no way. He got mad. He said . . . he said I might as well fight him right there, because it was the last chance I'd get."

Oh how the temptation had been there too. Annabeth had been to exhausted to cry in front of Percy, finally saying all of this out loud. The memories of her time with him from that first day had gone through her mind faster than even a god could beam them in. For one breath she'd been about to say yes. To run away with him again and make new memories. She'd take him somewhere safe, she'd do what the gods couldn't and help him, cure him of Kronos and all the wicked that had taken him over and he'd be there for her again just like he always was when she'd needed him-

But her thoughts had stopped cold right there as more recent times had come to mind. Percy holding her tight at the bottom of the ocean as the sirens played in her ear. Percy rushing to her side on top of Mt. Othry's. Percy following her into that Labyrnth without hesitation.

That's when she'd told him no. Because Percy wasn't perfect, but he was the one she truly needed more than Luke would ever be, even if he'd started her on this path.

Her forehead broke out in sweat again. The story was taking too much of her energy.

"It's okay," I said. "Try to get some rest."

"Not the bedtime story I'd use before naptime, but, it might work for some," Will muttered, jiggling his leg anxiously. He should have stuck around, made sure she wasn't over-taxing herself, or that Percy wasn't instigating anything. She was his patient at the time, he should have kept a better watch on this.

Percy whispered something in her ear. She shook her head, keeping her eyes on Thalia. He shrugged and turned back to the book, to Will, with an obvious 'get with it' look.

Will smiled and agreed. He'd left her in the best hands possible.

"You don't understand, Percy. Hermes was right. Maybe if I'd gone with him, I could've changed his mind. Or—or I had a knife. Luke was unarmed. I could've—"

Thalia swallowed the nasty comment she would've without hesitation. She also knew Annabeth never could have done it.

"Killed him?" I said. "You know that wouldn't have been right."

"Coming from a guy who actually did not just stab the guy in the face for stabbing you, I guess Percy does have some authority on this," Nico nodded casually.

"The only authority I should ever be given," Percy groaned as he sagged in his seat. He was already tired of being in charge of Camp, and it had only been one night!

She squeezed her eyes shut. "Luke said Kronos would use him like a stepping stone. Those were his exact words. Kronos would use Luke, and become even more powerful."

"He did that," I said. "He possessed Luke's body."

"But what if Luke's body is only a transition? What if Kronos has a plan to become even more powerful? I could've stopped him. The war is my fault."

Jason couldn't help biting at his lip, probably stretching his scar out another few inches. 'My fault,' left a hollow echo in his mind, words he knew had come from his own mouth. That part of him wanted to agree Annabeth should have done something about this instead of doing nothing, a choice in itself.

He watched though as Thalia gave a look of such anger it would have sent any other person running but Annabeth as she watched back, clearly bracing herself for impact as his sister told his would-be-sister, "You're still doing it! You're still putting everything he does on yourself! His actions and going through with it are not your fault!"

"You can't pretend I'm not at least partially responsible when I had the chance-"

"It's not pretend! It's not make believe! We've never played that because we don't need to make up monsters in our life to fight! I swear I'm going to kill your stepmom one of these days, what other people do isn't your fault!"

Percy, nor anybody was obviously going to intervene here, nobody was foolish enough to think these two couldn't handle their own fights. Jason couldn't stand to watch anymore. "Guys!" Both girls stopped and looked at him, them, like they'd forgotten anybody else was in the room. "Can you not put a pin in this like you've clearly been doing for years." Clearly not a long-term answer for a long overdue conversation, but even now neither would give ground that both were sort of right. He didn't know how long ago all this had really been, but probably not that long! He didn't know how much time or what it would take to make them feel at peace, but arguing about it now didn't seem to be bringing them much good.

Her story made me feel like I was back in the Styx, slowly dissolving.

Annabeth sighed she'd ever made Percy feel like that. She really only brought misery to everyone in her life. Gods knew why she fell back into Percy's side and he put his arm back around her at once, but she wasn't going to deny the comfort she needed right now as she willingly sank back into him.

I remembered last summer, when the two-headed god, Janus, had warned Annabeth she would have to make a major choice—and that had happened after she saw Luke. Pan had also said something to her: You will play a great role, though it may not be the role you imagined.

She repressed the urge to slam the book shut as she once again realized everybody in this room had seen that moment and she hadn't been able to shut it down then either.

I wanted to ask her about the vision Hestia had shown me, about her early days with Luke and Thalia. I knew it had something to do with my prophecy, but I didn't understand what.

Percy couldn't take his eyes off her head resting on his chest. He gently stroked her hair out of her face a bit, the feel of her gray bangs had no different texture than the rest of the golden locks though his brian half expected them too.

To his surprise, she somehow relaxed a tad, sinking more of her weight into him. So he kept doing that.

Before I could get up my nerve, the terrace door opened. Connor Stoll stepped through.

Thalia was admittedly disappointed a change of subject was coming as she chewed on the rest of her long overdue words to Annabthe. Luke had already accepted Kronos into his mind years before she or Annabeth could have done anything to make a difference, the Titan's influence ran to deep for him to change, there were any number of things she still wanted to shout in her face to make her drop this once and for all about this being anyone but Luke's fault.

"Percy." He glanced at Annabeth like he didn't want to say anything bad in front of her, but I could tell he wasn't bringing good news.

"Pretty sure if a poisoned knife couldn't finish her off, another hour of that day going as expected won't either," Alex said with way to much confidence over somebody's mortality who wasn't Percy.

"I think I'd rather have the poisoned knife than hear it though," she was mostly kidding as she rotated her shoulder exaggeratedly, but she had been pretty grateful at the time for the brief interruption of Percy's intense look on her being distracted. Maybe she should leave a few jars of shaving cream unattended when she got back in retroactive thanks.

"Mrs. O'Leary just came back with Grover. I think you should talk to him."

"I still hope she gets rewarded with more hotdogs," Magnus never would have thought he'd say such a nice thing about a dog in his life, but she really had earned it after doing so much for Percy.

"I'll find a way to hire a hotdog guy to follow her around as long as I can," Percy nodded.

Grover was having a snack in the living room.

"You mean he was snacking on the living room," Nico corrected mildly.

"Mmm, got to love that oak finish," Jason nodded with a fond smile.

"I always wonder if he likes the aftertaste of sawdust or if that's a drawback," Percy said. "Like, that shiny stuff they put on wood, does it make it taste smoother going down? Does he get the runs and doesn't care?"

"So this is why Grover started hanging out with Juniper over you," Annabeth finally nodded in understanding.

"Hey, he does not," Percy huffed.

She sat up from him with a teasing smile and would have happily weaved together the past months in a delicate half-truth to prove her point before Will decided to keep reading loudly before another of their arguments could get started.

He was dressed for battle in an armored shirt made from tree bark and twist ties, with his wooden cudgel and his reed pipes hanging from his belt.

The Demeter cabin had whipped up a whole buffet in the hotel kitchens—everything from pizza to pineapple ice cream.

"Why do I feel like that was some kind of peace treaty regarding Hawaiian pizza?" Annabeth chuckled.

"Katie's a great mediator like that," Will agreed.

 Unfortunately, Grover was eating the furniture. He'd already chewed the stuffing off a fancy chair and was now gnawing the armrest.

"Dude," I said, "we're only borrowing this place."

"I had no previous assumptions that would stop him," Thalia rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm just hoping nobody tried to book the room under my name," Percy sighed. It would be just his luck for the desk clerk to wake up and find Percy Jackson attached to the mini-fridge bill.

"Blah-ha-ha!" He had stuffing all over his face. "Sorry, Percy. It's just . . . Louis the Sixteenth furniture.

"Is he a furniture conisure?" Alex asked with interest. "Or does he gain knowledge of the chair from nibbling on it?"

"You mean like, if he ate a book he'd know it back to front?" Jason grinned.

"Yeah!" Alex smirked.

"No!" Jason's grin didn't dim anymore than Alex's as they snickered anyway.

Delicious. Plus I always eat furniture when I get—"

"When you get nervous," I said. "Yeah, I know. So what's up?"

He clopped on his hooves. "I heard about Annabeth. Is she . . .?"

"She's going to be fine. She's resting."

The fact that she hadn't barged past Percy to see what this was, and in fact had barely tried to sit up before practically nodding her agreement to sit this one out spoke volumes of just how worn out she was.

Grover took a deep breath. "That's good. I've mobilized most of the nature spirits in the city—well, the ones that will listen to me, anyway." He rubbed his forehead. "I had no idea acorns could hurt so much.

"What kind of wildlife has Grover been living in?" Magnus rubbed the side of his head with a little to much experience. "I've known that for months."

"Coins, apples, branches, squirrels, phones, honestly anything with enough gravety will hurt," Alex agreed.

"Alex, only one of those things is normal to fall on your head, and that's a bad day in itself," Percy frowned at her.

"You right, who stands around and waits for an apple to fall without their mouth open," Alex mock agreed, "must be why doctors are so afraid of them."

"Nope, we're moving on from this," Will sighed as Percy opened his mouth wearily.

Anyway, we're helping out as much as we can."

He told me about the skirmishes they'd seen. Mostly they'd been covering uptown, where we didn't have enough demigods. Hellhounds had appeared in all sorts of places, shadow-traveling inside our lines, and the dryads and satyrs had been fighting them off. A young dragon had appeared in Harlem, and a dozen wood nymphs died before the monster was finally defeated.

It wasn't mentioned how the dragon was killed, and Nico was very hard pressed not to ask for personal interest of how a bunch of nature spirits managed that. Did one of them manage to throw some belladonna down its throat?

Magnus went pale like somebody had just tried to get him with a poison dagger next. He was not pleased dragon's were just casually showing up in these armies still! He tried to take some comfort that they hadn't needed Percy around to get rid of it at least. Maybe they weren't as deadly as he kept imagining... yeah, and maybe Alex had a crush on him back. Time to get out of delusional land Magnus, he scolded himself.

As Grover talked, Thalia entered the room with two of her lieutenants. She nodded to me grimly, went outside to check on Annabeth, and came back in.

Annabeth had always been a side sleeper, so to see her lying prone on her back, her body trying to twist onto her side to get comfortable but then murmuring in pain and shivering to stay still had caused her to pull out her own vial of nectar and trickle a little more on just to help ease her a few moments more. Thalia had snagged a few extra pillows off more chairs and finally, hopefully gotten her comfortable by giving her legs some elevation and giving her just enough cushion to be partially in her natural way.

She listened while Grover completed his report— the details getting worse and worse.

"We lost twenty satyrs against some giants at Fort Washington," he said, his voice trembling. "Almost half my kinsmen.

Percy hadn't needed an empathy link with Grover to understand the pain in his voice for that. His entire Camp had been out risking their life last night and he hadn't even gotten reports back from all the cabins on how many kids died. He could already feel in his bones the long-reaching repercussions this battle was going to have on Camp if they even survived this, how huge the place was going to feel without so many satyrs running across the field, how quiet the cabins were going to be.

River spirits drowned the giants in the end, but . . ."

Thalia shouldered her bow. "Percy, Kronos's forces are still gathering at every bridge and tunnel. And Kronos isn't the only Titan. One of my Hunters spotted a huge man in golden armor mustering an army on the Jersey shore. I'm not sure who he is, but he radiates power like only a Titan or god."

I remembered the golden Titan from my dream—the one on Mount Othrys who erupted into flames.

Annabeth's eyes flickered to Jason, watching with his usual intent interest in all things, and deeply wondered herself at the other Titan that they'd never come across. She'd always theorized the rest must have gone into hiding, like Oceanus, crawled back to the shadows to scheme again; hopefully waiting another thousand years or so. Now she wondered what exactly other kids out there had been dealing with in all this.

"Great," I said. "Any good news?"

"Always get the bad news first, makes the good news linger," Will tried to say in his usual chipper tone of voice.

"Or just emphasizes there was no good news," Magnus frowned.

"Okay Debbie Downer, we're going to go around the room after every chapter now and say what the best and worst part of this was," Will mock threatened.

The fact that he got unanimous horrified faces from everyone else quickly destroyed that idea, but Will got a genuine moment to smile again at everyone agreeing on that.

Thalia shrugged. "We've sealed off the subway tunnels into Manhattan. My best trappers took care of it. Also, it seems like the enemy is waiting for tonight to attack. I think Luke"—she caught herself-

Annabeth made a small sigh of relief. The feeling of being understood came rarely to her. Whether Thalia wanted it or not, she couldn't stop her little sister from putting her arm through hers and leaning comfortably like that. Thalia's tense jaw clearly showed she wanted to snap at her again.

The fact that she didn't push her away meant she really appreciated the support.

Gods, Percy was getting a headache just looking at Thalia, he had no idea how she played jump rope with that line when he still had no clue how to deal with it either.

"I mean Kronos needs time to regenerate after each fight. He's still not comfortable with his new form. It's taking a lot of his power to slow time around the city."

It hurt Magnus's brain a lot to imagine how exactly he was doing that. Did he just, concentrate really hard on a clock taking an hour to move a second? Did he clench all his muscles and make some gross noises before brushing off his hands in triumph? Was there a magic potion with the blood of his enemies involved? And all in a borrowed body?!

Grover nodded. "Most of his forces are more powerful at night, too. But they'll be back after sundown."

I tried to think clearly.

"A tough act on any other day," Jason nodded seriously.

"One I usually don't manage unless I'm about to die," Percy sighed.

"Okay. Any word from the gods?"

"Which is really showing how desperate you are," Alex said, "you get annoyed when they do that."

"Special circumstances and all that," Percy groaned. He'd take Mr. D showing up to save their butts compaling the whole time. He'd take Ares showing up and yapping nonstop!

Thalia shook her head. "I know Lady Artemis would be here if she could. Athena, too. But Zeus has ordered them to stay at his side. The last I heard, Typhon was destroying the Ohio River valley. He should reach the Appalachian Mountains by midday."

"So at best," I said, "we've got another two days before he arrives."

Jake Mason cleared his throat. He'd been standing there so silently I'd almost forgotten he was in the room.

Nico mock jumped in his seat. "He's stealing my gig."

"Honestly though," Percy chuckled. "I'm so used to it being just my friends dealing with all this, not half the camp just hanging around for the end of the world with me this time."

"Percy, something else," he said. "The way Kronos showed up at the Williamsburg Bridge, like he knew you were going there. And he shifted his forces to our weakest points. As soon as we deployed, he changed tactics. He barely touched the Lincoln Tunnel, where the Hunters were strong. He went for our weakest spots, like he knew."

"Like he had inside information," I said. "The spy."

Will's voice shook with unease of how he was supposed to keep casually saying that. He'd never asked his dad to place a curse upon anyone like he had the person who ratted them out, but then when he'd found it was Silena...to put a name to the faceless person in his mind...the idea still made him sick what he'd wanted done to her. Obviousy his dad had been to busy to pay attention to do it anyways...

"I'm really starting to hope this whole spy thing is just a conspiracy gone way out of hand," Magnus grumbled, "and Deadlus just made Kronos one of those crazy shield vision things. Maybe Kronos just has a prototype not as good as yours he doesn't want to brag about."

"Yeah man, let's hope," Percy knew it was a joke, and yet some part of him hoped it was true. Especially after the horrible results of that bridge, he still didn't want to believe anybody inside Camp would conspire to kill the rest of them.

"What spy?" Thalia demanded.

I told her about the silver charm Kronos had shown me, the communication device.

"That's bad," she said. "Very bad."

"Thalia, with the most potent quote of my life," Percy waved grandly at her.

"Sounds like she's been taking lessons from Tyson," Jason agreed, Percy had beat him to saying that by one breath.

Thalia waved grandly from her seat with the hand that wasn't being held in a vice-like hold by Annabeth.

"It could be anyone," Jake said. "We were all standing there when Percy gave the orders."

"But what can we do?" Grover asked. "Frisk every demigod until we find a scythe charm?"

"And that comes with its own problems, not the least of which is how good the frisk will be," Alex tried to say snidely like the most innocent interpretation of that was someone keeping the charm in their mouth while Percy went through their bag, but they all twitched unpleasantly at how quickly that could turn into a shit show of distrust.

They all looked at me, waiting for a decision. I couldn't afford to show how panicked I felt, even if things seemed hopeless.

The thing was, Thalia smiled to herself, she was sure that Grover and Jake had felt the exact same way. She knew she had.

"We keep fighting," I said. "We can't obsess about this spy. If we're suspicious of each other, we'll just tear ourselves apart. You guys were awesome last night. I couldn't ask for a braver army. Let's set up a rotation for the watches. Rest up while you can. We've got a long night ahead of us."

The demigods mumbled agreement. They went their separate ways to sleep or eat or repair their weapons.

It wasn't the rousing comfort Percy would have liked to have given them, but it was the truth he'd needed to hear out loud. Just something to get them through another few hours.

"Percy, you too," Thalia said. "We'll keep an eye on things. Go lie down. We need you in good shape for tonight."

I didn't argue too hard.

"You called me a nanny and threatened to throw a baby bottle at me," Thalia accused. "I don't even know where you planned on getting one! You call that, not too hard?"

"I don't even remember that," Percy said with an apologetic smile. "I think I was just hangry."

"Fair, you did actually go to bed after some food," she chuckled.

I found the nearest bedroom and crashed on the canopied bed. I thought I was too wired to sleep, but my eyes closed almost immediately.

In my dream, I saw Nico di Angelo alone in the gardens of Hades.

"Nico's back," Will said with as much enthusiasm as ever.

Nico gave him the least begrudging smile humanly possible. "Of course I am you McNugget, I'm stuck in Percy's life apparently."

"And nobody said that was a bad thing," Percy shrugged.

Nico gave him a grateful smile as his dull surprise faded quickly. Of course Percy had dreamed about this moment, it made sense with the hindsight he'd been dreaming of the coming Oracle so frequently and this was tied in. It just bothered him a bit that the one time he'd been hesitantly willing to offer a part of his life voluntarily, that had been snatched away from him too. He was still half convinced his life was a cosmic joke to some god out there.

He'd just dug a hole in one of Persephone's flower beds, which I didn't figure would make the queen very happy.

"I could cure cancer and it wouldn't make her happy," Nico clearly said what he thought about that concern.

"Well yeah, more people, more people destroying plant walkers out there, I can see how she wouldn't appreciate that," Percy nodded like Nico had just agreed with him.

He poured a goblet of wine into the hole and began to chant. "Let the dead taste again. Let them rise and take this offering. Maria di Angelo, show yourself!"

"No McDonald's sacrifice this time?" Alex asked in surprise.

"I tried, multiple times," Nico sighed. "Nothing. I was starting to wonder if my dad was blocking me, so even though I didn't like it, I tried ditching the ceremonial aspect and just using my raw power."

"And how did that work out?" Will asked, still trying to get a handle on how much of Nico's powers he used casually and how much was pushing some limit.

Nico just grinned at his interest and pointed at the book. Will grinned back and turned away, but one of these days he wasn't going to get to use that excuse anymore. Will was looking forward to that.

White smoke gathered. A human figure formed, but it wasn't Nico's mother. It was a girl with dark hair, olive skin, and the silvery clothes of a Hunter.

"The one time you didn't try to summon her and now she pops in," Jason agreed with Nico's put-out look. "She's your sister all right."

"Hey-" Thalia muttered, narrowing her eyes at the pair and trying to figure out what was being implied here.

"Yeah, really miss conspiring with her to steal extra cookies from the cafeteria and tag teaming our dad for another hour to stay up," Nico's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but it didn't hide the hurt nearly as well as he thought it did.

"Bianca," Nico said. "But—"

Don't summon our mother, Nico, she warned. She is the one spirit you are forbidden to see.

"Why?" Magnus, Jason, Alex, and Will all said at the same time, Will admittedly because he was reading it and thinking it.

"I get a half-baked answer," Nico groused. He wasn't pleased at the idea it was his dad blocking her from him specifically, or perhaps her soul was being kept somewhere safe so vengeful gods or step-mom's couldn't do anything to his mother's spirit. Either way, he'd still never had a proper face-to-transparent-face with her, and it was a deep wound to him he didn't know what to do with any better than his crush on Percy. He was surprised he didn't resemble Swiss cheese more and more lately.

"Why?" he demanded. "What's our father hiding?"

Pain, Bianca said. Hatred. A curse that stretches back to the Great Prophecy.

Alex and Magnus exchanged interested looks. They hadn't been expecting that tid bit.

And more, how the heck did Bianca know that? What ghost gossip was she getting, and how reliable were her sources? Magnus couldn't help but think of an infinite line of whispers with ghosts and what got lost in translation there.

"What do you mean?" Nico said. "I have to know!"

The knowledge will only hurt you. Remember what I said: holding grudges is a fatal flaw for children of Hades.

"I know that," Nico said. "But I'm not the same as I used to be, Bianca. Stop trying to protect me!"

Brother, you don't understand—

Nico swiped his hand through the mist, and Bianca's image dissipated.

Will was shocked at the cold dismissal. All he'd wanted for so long was to talk to her, to get just a piece of his family back, and Will had understood every bit of that. This was starting to feel more like revenge. Like Nico was slipping back down the slope holding onto something to tight, only now it wasn't so much a person as just an idea of how to make sense of something not even the Lord of the Underworld had full control over.

"Maria di Angelo," he said again. "Speak to me!"

A different image formed. It was a scene rather than a single ghost. In the mist, I saw Nico and Bianca as little children, playing in the lobby of an elegant hotel, chasing each other around marble columns.

A woman sat on a nearby sofa. She wore a black dress, gloves, and a black veiled hat like a star from an old 1940s movie.

"Maybe that's because she was," Thalia rolled her eyes at Percy managing to get a timeline from that of all things.

"My mom and Paul dressed up for a Halloween event one time in a getup like that," Percy shrugged why he even recognized it.

She had Bianca's smile and Nico's eyes.

On a chair next to her sat a large oily man in a black pinstripe suit. With a shock, I realized it was Hades. He was leaning toward the woman, using his hands as he talked, like he was agitated.

Jason couldn't help a mental mark of interest that was also a trait passed down to his kids. Like with Sally and Posideon, he found it deeply fascinating to note such things...only to glance at Thalia and think of the few things Zeus had done when present. He'd never really felt a connection like that to either parent mentioned, and while he understood why in theory, it still left something lacking in him he didn't understand why everyone got that except him.

"Please, my dear," he said. "You must come to the Underworld. I don't care what Persephone thinks! I can keep you safe there."

"Ooo, can I get that one in writing?" Alex demanded. Most likely only to wave it under the Queen of the Underwold's nose, but for a delusional moment, Will thought she also meant as proof the gods cared for their mortal lovers.

"You do," Percy sighed, "for a limited time now, and this offer expires until we get out of here, so act fast," he said in a false sponsorship voice.

"Deal of a lifetime I won't pass, no downpayment required, no interest," Alex chuckled.

"No, my love." She spoke with an Italian accent. "Raise our children in the land of the dead? I will not do this."

"Maria, listen to me. The war in Europe has turned the other gods against me. A prophecy has been made. My children are no longer safe. Poseidon and Zeus have forced me into an agreement. None of us are to have demigod children ever again."

"But you already have Nico and Bianca. Surely—"

"No! The prophecy warns of a child who turns sixteen. Zeus has decreed that the children I currently have must be turned over to Camp Half-Blood for proper training, but I know what he means. At best they'll be watched, imprisoned, turned against their father. Even more likely, he will not take a chance. He won't allow my demigod children to reach sixteen. He'll find a way to destroy them, and I won't risk that!"

"Certamente," Maria said. "We will stay together. Zeus is un imbecile."

"Okay, Nico's mom was kind of awesome too!" Jason threw his hands up in exasperation. He was mostly kidding, but it was ingrained a little to deeply to entirely just be a joke. "Thalia, how did we luck out of this!"

"Dad does not know how to pick um," Thalia reminded in exhaustion.

The others gave a soft laugh for their antics, Nico's sticking out the most for being able to look back on this moment with anything but a sob.

I couldn't help admiring her courage, but Hades glanced nervously at the ceiling.

"Percy's braver than a god confirmed," Annabeth managed a light joke about this, nobody in here had even glanced nervously at the ceiling. They'd really grown far to comfortable down here. They'd probably all be blasted to ashes the second they got top side again just for Zeus's pent-up anger with no obvious target.

Percy just grinned at the compliment without a care in the world.

"Maria, please. I told you, Zeus gave me a deadline of last week to turn over the children. His wrath will be horrible, and I cannot hide you forever. As long as you are with the children, you are in danger too."

The phrasing of that kind of bothered Will, and the way Nico flinched made him confident he'd gotten the same understanding from that. Hades seemed to care more about Maria than the kids. Gods, had anybody besides his own mother ever put him first?

Maria smiled, and again it was creepy how much she looked like her daughter.

Which Nico heard as, apparently he'd inherited more from his dad.

"You are a god, my love. You will protect us. But I will not take Nico and Bianca to the Underworld."

It really was just the greatest thing Nico had found a way to disappoint both of his parents at once, Nico mentally congratulated himself. That was obviously something all aspiring teenagers long to do in their lives!

Hades wrung his hands. "Then, there is another option. I know a place in the desert where time stands still. I could send the children there, just for a while, for their own safety, and we could be together. I will build you a golden palace by the Styx."

"Was it, of any comfort it wasn't just some random act that landed you in there?" Magnus asked in sympathy. "Got to mean something your dad wanted you there to be safe and out of the way."

"Yeah, I guess," Nico said lackluster. It didn't sound like there were any great options, but still, the fact that his dad had basically cast him aside would never feel great. He glanced around and wondered just how long Posideon expected them to be in here.

Maria di Angelo laughed gently. "You are a kind man, my love. A generous man. The other gods should see you as I do, and they would not fear you so. But Nico and Bianca need their mother. Besides, they are only children. The gods wouldn't really hurt them."

"Oh such sweet naivety I've never been blessed with," Alex genuinely tried to say without disdain but wasn't quite sure she hit it right.

"Can we rewind back to kind and generous?" Percy scratched at his ear. "Because I'm not entirely sure which god she thinks she's making googoo eyes at."

"Guys," Nico groaned, more tempted at every growing mocking comment to cast them into a black hole.

They actually shut their mouths, a rarity nobody was used to seeing.

"You don't know my family," Hades said darkly. "Please, Maria, I can't lose you."

She touched his lips with her fingers. "You will not lose me. Wait for me while I get my purse. Watch the children."

She kissed the lord of the dead and rose from the sofa. Hades watched her walk upstairs as if her every step away caused him pain.

Despite his jokes and his irrevocable grudge on Hades for taking his mom as leverage, there was a small part of him that felt bad for the Lord of the Underworld as he touched his lips for a moment and looked at Annabeth, knowing what was coming in a way he couldn't explain.

A moment later, he tensed. The children stopped playing as if they sensed something too.

Like a low buzzing in his ears, a feeling that started in the base of his skull and with practice he'd even learned to hone in on. Death had been approaching.

"No!" Hades said. But even his godly powers were too slow. He only had time to erect a wall of black energy around the children before the hotel exploded.

Will instinctively shifted closer to Nico at the display of power going on there. Nico had managed to hide him from a Titan with only a fraction of that energy. He couldn't help but wonder where in the continental US that explosion had taken place and what the Mist had manipulated the rest of the world to see, like if Zeus had just bombed Pearl Harbor or something.

The force was so violent, the entire mist image dissolved.

It probably had felt like the entire world had blacked out there for a second, Thalia shook her head in misery for what those mortals had just been caught in the middle of. They hadn't even the chance to catch their breath before her father locked in on his target, and of course, hadn't even managed to hit his target. She felt the need to apologize to Nico for what her father had done, but she tightened her grip on Annabeth's arm with no other idea how to convey to her that she didn't need to. Her father's actions weren't her choice.

When it came into focus again, I saw Hades kneeling in the ruins, holding the broken form of Maria di Angelo. Fires still burned all around him. Lightning flashed across the sky, and thunder rumbled.

Little Nico and Bianca stared at their mother uncomprehendingly. The Fury Alecto appeared behind them, hissing and flapping her leathery wings. The children didn't seem to notice her.

They had no reason to, she might as well have been a noisy cloud to them for all the threat she was.

"Zeus!" Hades shook his fist at the sky. "I will crush you for this! I will bring her back!"

"My lord, you cannot," Alecto warned. "You of all immortals must respect the laws of death."

Hades glowed with rage. I thought he would show his true form and vaporize his own children, but at the last moment he seemed to regain control.

"More than some gods can say," Annabeth gave her own soft, begrudging compliment amid the quiet of the room and Nico's set-in-stone face. There didn't seem to be any 'right words' any of them could have given right now, acknowledging what his mother had died wanting. Hades wasn't the boogyman of their lives like some believed.

"Take them," he told Alecto, choking back a sob. "Wash their memories clean in the Lethe and bring them to the Lotus Hotel. Zeus will not harm them there."

"Why?" Magnus asked hesitantly. He didn't want someone to think he was wishing Zeus had blown up that hotel next, but, you know, weird.

"That place is, outside of time," Annabeth grasped at old texts swimming in her head to explain. "Out of bounds for the gods, like entering one another's domains, except in this case no one has dominion over that place."

"Of course, once we came out, we're kind of free game again, so I'm not sure what's stopped Zeus in the meantime," Nico said acidly.

Jason and Percy were much more caught on the part where Hades had ordered his own children's memory erased of such events. Even Percy couldn't totally write off Posideon doing such a thing to him if he'd done something to far above his place as a half-blood.

Perhaps his guilt had led him into changing his mind and their current whereabouts? Reagrdless, the clear betrayal in Nico's hidden face as he sat far back in his seat, the shadows pulsing around him again as if itching to pull him in once more said all he wouldn't. Despite what he'd previously claimed, they both knew in that moment he hadn't fully gotten his own life back, and he'd been living with bits and pieces of his past for years now.

It left a discouraging feeling in the pair of them what they had to look forward to if they made it out of here.

"As you wish, my lord," Alecto said. "And the woman's body?

"Take her as well," he said bitterly. "Give her the ancient rites."

Alecto, the children, and Maria's body dissolved into shadows, leaving Hades alone in the ruins.

"I warned you," a new voice said.

"Well that person's dead," Percy shivered. Even he might not have walked up to a god and said 'I told you so,' after a thing like this happened.

Hades turned. A girl in a multicolored dress stood by the smoldering remains of the sofa. She had short black hair and sad eyes. She was no more than twelve. I didn't know her, but she looked strangely familiar.

"Errr," Alex cast her mind around trying to guess which god this could be, but she just didn't know the Greek pantheon well enough to make any wild guesses. This could be Hera, Persephone, Athena, or anyone else not even mentioned yet for all she knew.

"You dare come here?" Hades growled. "I should blast you to dust!"

"You cannot," the girl said. "The power of Delphi protects me."

Magnus shivered as that made a wicked kind of sense. The propchyes that tormented everyone who heard them were somehow 'gifts' from Delphi, weren't they? Somehow more powerful than even the gods could shut down, hence the stupid law that caused all this.

With a chill, I realized I was looking at the Oracle of Delphi, back when she was alive and young.

"Nope, don't like that," Jason shook his head, mildly considering curling into the fetal position for a second. This whole Oracle business had always sat with a weird taste in his mouth he'd never properly known how to define because the idea of Oracles didn't phase him, just the way they were delivered in Percy's life.

This started with that same feeling it was going to end badly, and he didn't think Percy's luck was going to be anything to do with it this time.

Somehow, seeing her like this was even spookier than seeing her as a mummy.

"I disagree," Magnus groaned as he raised his hand. "Mummies are ten times scarier than ghosts. Only powerful bad ghosts can hurt you, from what I've heard. This mummy has been sitting in her shell for how long?! Alive and, and- just stuck!" Percy had once said she wasn't malevolent, just present, but that didn't make him feel better.

"I'm going to have so much fun later just jotting down what Magnus's scale of top 100 scariest monsters are," Jason said absently.

"As long as you get his reasoning in why on each," Alex agreed.

"You've killed the woman I loved!" Hades roared. "Your prophecy brought us to this.'"

He loomed over the girl, but she didn't flinch.

His mom would have liked her, Nico had remembered absently thinking as he'd watched this the first time alone. She had guts, she'd looked Hades in the eye without fear and spoken to him with a calm sense of respect where most trembled in fear. It hadn't done her much good in the end.

"Zeus ordained the explosion to destroy the children," she said, "because you defied his will. I had nothing to do with it. And I did warn you to hide them sooner."

"I couldn't! Maria would not let me! Besides, they were innocent."

"Nevertheless, they are your children, which makes them dangerous. Even if you put them away in the Lotus Hotel, you only delay the problem. Nico and Bianca will never be able to rejoin the world lest they turn sixteen."

"Because of your so-called Great Prophecy. And you have forced me into an oath to have no other children. You have left me with nothing!"

An oath that he'd kept, the only one to do so, Thalia couldn't help some grudging admiration for Hades in that moment. As much as he resented his lot in life, he seemed to make the best of it, something she still struggled to do herself under Artemis's tutelage.

"I foresee the future," the girl said. "I cannot change it."

Black fire lit the god's eyes, and I knew something bad was coming. I wanted to yell at the girl to hide or run.

"Then, Oracle, hear the words of Hades," he growled. "Perhaps I cannot bring back Maria. Nor can I bring yon an early death. But your soul is still mortal, and I can curse you."

The girl's eyes widened. "You would not—"

"Oh, but he would," Will couldn't help but say in a smaller voice. Honestly, before he'd gotten to know Nico this was most of what he knew about Hades. His unique curses, his wrath more wild than Zeus's.

Around camp, children of Zeus were spoken of as good omens, many great heroes to come following in their footsteps. Children of Posideon were wild cards, causing the good and the bad. But children of Hades were rarely even acknowledged they existed at all, more a myth than the surrounding stories of why the Oracle was trapped in her fleshy prison.

He felt humbled by moments like this, getting to hear a piece of history through the greatest heroes of his time. This poor girl who deserved to have her story told through the children of the gods who had wronged her, the facts; not Travis's old joke she'd slept with the wrong ancient priest.

"I swear," Hades said, "as long as my children remain outcasts, as long as I labor under the curse of your Great Prophecy, the Oracle of Delphi will never have another mortal host. You will never rest in peace. No other will take your place. Your body will wither and die, and still the Oracle's spirit will be locked inside you. You will speak your bitter prophecies until you crumble to nothing. The Oracle will die with you!"

"That was a, surprisingly elegant curse," Alex said in fascination.

"Hades really said I'm sick of being singled out and somebody's going to remember it," Magnus agreed.

Percy shivered down to his core at what he'd heard, a sense of danger that always seemed to follow him he felt sickened over. The worst kind of pain. This wasn't a danger he was afraid of, but knew it meant something to someone else.

The girl screamed, and the misty image was blasted to shreds. Nico fell to his knees in Persephone's garden, his face white with shock. Standing in front of him was the real Hades, towering in his black robes and scowling down at his son.

"And just what," he asked Nico, "do you think you're doing?"

A black explosion filled my dreams. Then the scene changed.

"What, did Hades do to you for that?" Annabeth asked him quietly as Will caught his breath.

"Turned me into a goat for a while, sent me to my room, the usual," Nico shrugged to hide how his hands still shook slightly having that memory forcibly revisited. The empty echo of the emotions he'd felt back then, tied into the crazy mix of feeling it all again with an audience. Gods, was this how Percy felt all the time?

Will bit back the rather important question of how long he'd spent as a goat and how he'd gotten changed back. Pesky details that Nico obviously didn't want to get into right now.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare was walking along a white sand beach.

Percy's eyes burned like she'd kicked sand in his face. His skin twitched uncomfortably, that urge to get up and do something but he had no clue what. Sometimes his dreams were connected and wanted to show him something, but what exactly he was supposed to be putting together here he was fumbling as much as he did every quiz he'd ever been subjected to.

She wore a swimsuit with a T-shirt wrapped around her waist. Her shoulders and face were sunburned.

She knelt and began writing in the surf with her finger. I tried to make out the letters. I thought my dyslexia was acting up until I realized she was writing in Ancient Greek.

That was impossible. The dream had to be false.

Annabeth made a face that very clearly said she'd rather Percy be having a dream that was meant to lead him somewhere rather than an average old night seeing Rachel in swimwear.

Rachel finished writing a few words and muttered, "What in the world?"

I can read Greek, but I only recognized one word before the sea washed it away: Περσεύς. My name: Perseus.

Will hadn't quite realized he'd read over Percy's name the first time because they read through this so naturally. He only realized it when he noticed Jason was trying to crane his neck around Nico to get a look at the book so he could see the Greek on the page for himself.

Percy sighed indulgently as Will showed the book to him, and then Alex and Magnus so they could see some more Greek letters. He'd never been patient enough to sit through his writing class on getting a lowercase Q right, he didn't get the big deal personally.

Rachel stood abruptly and backed away from the surf.

"Oh, gods," she said. "That's what it means."

He didn't get the big deal of what that meant either!

"Has she been, plagued by dreams of what the original Perseaus got up to?" Jason asked hesitantly.

"She said she needed to talk to Percy about something, hopefully she literally meant you and not hoping you could summon ghosts of your name," Alex agreed.

"I feel bad for Percy that even in his native language he still can't read all the material before it's snatched away," Magnus said. Percy actually seemed to enjoy reading sometimes, he might get into it more if other books were magically geared for his brain.

She turned and ran, kicking up sand as she raced back to her family's villa.

She pounded up the porch steps, breathing hard. Her father looked up from his Wall Street Journal.

"Dad." Rachel marched up to him. "We have to go back."

Her dad's mouth twitched, like he was trying to remember how to smile. "Back? We just got here."

"There's trouble in New York. Percy's in danger."

"Did he call you?"

"No . . . not exactly. But I know. It's a feeling."

Mr. Dare folded his newspaper. "Your mother and I have been looking forward to this vacation for a long time."

"No you haven't! You both hate the beach! You're just too stubborn to admit it."

"Now, Rachel—"

"I'm telling you something is wrong in New York! The whole city . . . I don't know what exactly, but it's under attack."

Her father sighed. "I think we would've heard something like that on the news."

"I like that that's his protest," Thalia frowned. "Not, hey, if it's under attack, we're safe here my only child."

"Yeah, don't think anybody's safety has ever been this guy's concern," Percy rolled his eyes.

"No," Rachel insisted. "Not this kind of attack. Have you had any calls since we got here?"

Her father frowned. "No . . . but it is the weekend, in the middle of the summer."

"You always get calls," Rachel said. "You've got to admit that's strange."

Her father hesitated. "We can't just leave. We've spent a lot of money."

"Can not convince me this man doesn't know when to cut his losses," Alex said scathingly. She had a feeling Rachel was going to be one of them someday.

"Depends on the brand of stubborn asshole he is," Magnus scowled.

"Look," Rachel said. "Daddy . . . Percy needs me. I have to deliver a message. It's life or death."

"Can she though?" Jason asked with a raised brow. "Will she be slowed by the magic keeping everyone else out? Is Percy's mom and a handful of others actually awake in the city watching all this?"

"We'll have to put a pin in that one too Jason," Thalia reminded him in a tone only an older sibling can have, one part revenge, one part sympathy, as Percy shivered with distress for that jumble of questions and thoughts now in his head.

"What message? What are you talking about?"

"I can't tell you.

"Then you can't go."

Rachel closed her eyes like she was getting up her courage. "Dad . . . let me go, and I'll make a deal with you."

"Oh, no," Percy said at once, his gut in such painful knots with his stomach even his mom couldn't untie them.

Mr. Dare sat forward. Deals were something he understood. "I'm listening."

"Clarion Ladies Academy. I'll—I'll go there in the fall. I won't even complain. But you have to get me back to New York right now."

"Rachel, no," Percy said again, knowing full well she couldn't hear him, but still having half a mind to somehow storm out of here right now and convince her she was being nuts! He would know, he was an expert on impulsive plans!

He was silent for a long time. Then he opened his phone and made a call.

"Douglas? Prep the plane. We're leaving for New York. Yes . . . immediately."

"That moment where he finally accepts his daughter's brand of crazy and it's still with a string attached," Annabeth said in sympathy Percy heard clear as day in her voice. He licked his lips nervously as his sense of nausea increased like someone was trying to flush his system the wrong way.

Rachel flung her arms around him, and her father seemed surprised, like she'd never hugged him before.

"Oh, gods," Magnus frowned. Why was that easily in the top ten depressing things he'd heard in here?

"I'll make it up to you, Dad!"

He smiled, but his expression was chilly. He studied her like he wasn't seeing his daughter—just the young lady he wanted her to be, once Clarion Academy got through with her.

"Yes, Rachel," he agreed. "You most certainly will."

Rachel wasn't the kind of person to back out of that either, Percy knew without question. Assuming the world still existed up there and wasn't some wasteland of destruction.

Heck, even if it was! And Rachel had somehow been one of the few survivors on earth! She would have honored her promise and still gone to see the stupid building to at least throw a brick at it.

The scene faded. I mumbled in my sleep: "Rachel, no!"

I was still tossing and turning when Thalia shook me awake.

"Something I will always be happy to do for you Perce," Thalia said way to casually, but Percy couldn't even deny he'd like to be awoken from his nightmares more often. Even if it was by her worried expression.

"Hey, if you throw water at Percy to wake him up, does it work?" Jason asked in delight.

"No," Thalia sighed, "I tried that first."

"Of course you did," Percy scowled, he knew he didn't drool on his pillow that much!

"Percy," she said. "Come on. It's late afternoon. We've got visitors."

I sat up, disoriented. The bed was too comfortable, and I hated sleeping in the middle of the day.

"Visitors?" I said.

Thalia nodded grimly. "A Titan wants to see you, under a flag of truce. He has a message from Kronos."

"I need you to tell him very specifically," Alex took a breath, then released a wild raspberry.

She held it too, as long as she could, while Will passed the book to Jason.

"Hang on, stop going to fast," Percy was mock digging through his pockets, "I got to jot this all down!"

She finally ran out of breath and they both started laughing. Annabeth smiled at their antics, she'd been desperately wanting to shake Percy out of his rut of usual pain in knowing something important with Rachel was coming but still unsure what to do without hurting him more by bringing something else up. Alex seemed to have the magic touch for that.

Thalia squeezed her arm again in mutual understanding of that feeling too.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*I have in fact ridden horses (not pegasi sadly) and motorcycles and they do feel and move completely differently, proving to me that RR has likely not ridden at least one, likely either.

**I would be totally guilty of picking a building for nothing more than the aesthetic. There's a rainbow building in downtown Dallas I've already decided will be my headquarters during the zombie apocalypse. My brother thinks I'm nuts, but he'll regret not thinking ahead like me when he's scrambling for a cool building to stake a claim in.

[halothenthehorns]

Magnus didn't even pretend like he wasn't going to stop and hear this story as he looked as wildly around at Percy as everybody else, only Annabeth didn't look surprised.

Percy relaxed back in his seat, kicking his feet out and crossing his ankles without a care in the world. "Rachel had been asking me about how that dog appeared to get us out of the arena, so I explained some of the details she didn't get and about how she was at camp now. Rachel was so upset she couldn't see her again that I IM'd Beckendorf to bring her to the city, we were going to meet up at the zoo. I hoped the Mist would blend her in as an elephant or something. So he flies in on Guido with Mrs. O'Leary right behind him, but he can't stick around because he's got some project that might explode the whole camp if he's not there to watch it and he runs off and, well-"

"You didn't exactly think that one through," Annabeth helpfully added.

"I did not think that one through," he sighed, "Mrs. O'Leary took no interest in Rachel and she started running around the place like crazy to sniff everything. So we're chasing her, I'm still half trying to explain what the heck a stygian ice whistle even is and why I don't have one, and she," he paused and sighed, truly sorry for what had happened, "she tried to jump headfirst into the elephant exhibit. The problem was, there's this platform thing she tried to leap off, and I guess she'd never done that trick before because she didn't go over them, she tried to go through them. Her head went in and didn't come out of some bars. So, she's crying, Rachel's promising her lawyers will sort out any damage this rogue delivery truck has apparently caused, and I'm standing there feeling like the worst person in the entire world."

"Time to call mom," Annabeth nodded without surprise.

"I panicked, it was the only thing I could think to do," Percy agreed, "I didn't know how to get her out without hurting her and I didn't think Beckendorf would answer a second IM, or have time to make a rainbow to call anyone anyways!"

He'd wanted Annabeth so bad in that moment, but she'd still been on the other side of the country not exactly speaking to him if it wasn't a war update. He was grateful Rachel must have brought it up at some point though he couldn't remember, since none of this was news to her now. It felt great, the perfect kind of normal to have her telling this story with him even when she hadn't been there. They might as well have been sitting around a fire at camp with the audience talking about their latest quest.

"Rachel has my mom's number and calls her to come down. She gets there and puts her hands on my shoulder and just tells me, Percy, cut her loose."

He still face palmed like he had then, though thankfully not one of them had suggested that obvious answer as they all watched in various levels of concern even knowing everybody had made it out of this okay.

"I jump over and use Riptide to cut through the bars like nothing while my mom starts scratching the spot above her tail, she could only reach because she'd come down there in her heels," he added sheepishly, only finding out later she'd been late to a meeting with a publisher for his non-emergency like the hectic child he always was. "Mrs. O'Leary knocked over a few concrete pillars and trees, I think her tail got hurt more than anything," he finished affectionately. "She gets out and spins around, and even though I'm the one who got her out, I think she realized who it was to thank, cause she starts giving my mom a whole bath and nuzzling her. It's probably a miracle she let my mom out of her sight again. My mom talked the zoo people into letting us take home like twenty pounds of raw meat and tack it to our bill and we took her back to our place. Mom went upstairs and cooked it up real quick and threw it out the window for her while Rachel and I checked her all over to make sure there was nothing really wrong with her from what we googled." He finished in relief.

"So what I got out of all that is, you should just stay far away from zoo's," Thalia nodded without surprise.

"My takeaway is, Percy literally can't go on a quest without a girl saving his ass," Alex snickered.

"Both life lessons I willingly accept," Percy chuckled.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 1: THE STOLEN CHARIOT

Percy felt the slight shake to his arm, the swirling heavy warmth of sleep leaving him with a sense of happiness. He didn't dream here, which he suspected was the only reason he hadn't been driven nuts yet by getting full rest, but he missed it a lot too. Even if they were horrible visions, just to see where everybody he yearned to be with so much was.

His heavy eyes fluttered, he saw the blonde hair and smiled, thinking it was Annabeth there to call him a drool swamp and they had activities to get to as he tried to slur something together.

"Don't worry Magnus, he'll learn his genders eventually," a surprising female voice instead said close by, and he blinked the last of the fog away to see it was Magnus's exasperated face leaning back. Percy wiped at his sticky chin and muttered an apology to Annabeth's cousin to hide his longing and confusion and mild anger at her hadn't vanished with a nice nap.

"Want some soup?" Magnus offered in a clear offer to change the subject, a steaming mug of something very good smelling in his other hand.

"Yeah," Percy croaked, taking it and sipping the warmth at once to keep that feeling in place all the same.

Time had passed, though he couldn't guess how much as always as he fumbled for the spoons handle and really dug in. He looked around to see Thalia and Jason by the door, laughing and teasing each other about something he was sure, though he couldn't tell from this far away. They were mirroring each other in an odd way, the more energized they got into their topic the more they both kept snapping their fingers before they spoke in an almost eureka moment. It was odd, Thalia's close proximity must be affecting Jason when he did it too.

Will and Nico were right where they'd been, still whispering and sitting very close together like Paul and his Mom on the couch while Percy's eyes were glued to the TV ignoring them.

Magnus and Alex were still hovering in front of him, like they weren't sure if it was safe to leave and he was eating in his sleep or something, but they were signing to each other. It was pretty entertaining to watch, they made large exaggerated faces and were using the gestures slow enough Percy amused himself for quite a few minutes trying to guess what a few could mean before Thalia finally smacked Jason and announced they needed to move on before she started burying bodies with only affection for it in her tone.

As Jason made to pick up the dark red book with an orange five on the spine, it looked a little misshapen, which explained why another book fell out of its pages like someone had tried to cram them together.

It was the brightest book of the bunch being daisy yellow, as well as the smallest. The thin amount of pages was almost as disconcerting as the whole set. What happened in this one that was so important it was included but not attached to any of the others? On the spine was just three symbols instead of any numbers. A chariot, a dragon, and a sword, none of which needed much translation for how this was going to go.

"Err," Jason said loudly, holding it up for the others inspection.

"I say we go for it?" Thalia offered when Nico swallowed but didn't duck his head or start screaming. It felt odd to get a say in if they wanted what they were sure this was about to be revealed, for once. It wasn't even vital to Percy's last adventure that they knew of. It was just the fact that, this wasn't horrible. She liked sharing her life with her brother, even if Jason didn't know that's what was happening. It was far easier to have this explained for her than trying to put all this together herself.

Nico felt the exact same way. He shrugged and gestured for them all to get comfortable with no feeling of fear for once. He found himself looking forward to what Will and Alex were going to say about the Underworld more and more, and what had been going through Percy's mind with a clear head instead of his old fantasies which were fading from his mind more every day.

"Okay," Jason grinned, clearly just happy to be involved at all as he flopped back into his beanbag and read, "The Stolen Chariot."

"Uh," Thalia and Nico said together, exchanging startled looks. There had been no chariot when they were kidnapped by Persephone.

"Who is Percy stealing a chariot from?" Magnus asked in instant concern who he pissed off this time.

"What kind of chariot?" Alex asked with devilish delight, instantly hoping it was Apollo's.

"Why is Percy stealing a chariot?" Will sighed.

"All questions and more that shall be answered in the following order," Percy said while raising two fingers. "Shut, up." Percy said as casually as ever, sitting comfortably in his seat and knocking back the last of his soup, as unbothered as ever at his life on full display. Whether it was a side adventure with his friends or an odd, out of context day shopping with his mom, it was another day of his life he was getting back. If he didn't show an ounce of unease for this mystery, Jason didn't bother to hesitate a second more.

"Pfft," Thalia scoffed, "none of us could go a sentence living like that."

I was in fifth-period science class when-

"Hey, wait a second," Jason spluttered, unable to even get through a whole sentence before he looked around at Percy and Nico. "Does this take place before or after your birthday?"

Percy could feel his mind scrambling for the answer like a pop quiz at his intensity, he panicked and blurted the first thing that came to mind, "Tuesday!"

Thalia sighed and rubbed her temple while Will gave Percy an understanding smile and Jason looked mollified.

"Sorry," Percy shook himself as he vaguely realized that wasn't the right answer, "um, what was that?"

Jason started to repeat himself before Percy nodded and said, "yeah, after." Then he shivered at the suggestion of what Nico thought was the way to win...then he tapped his mind in frustration at feeling like he was missing something. He'd spent some good times at camp, but there was like a glitch in his mind. Ants? Bronze? Odd smell? Was he having a seizure?

"Are you going to share with the class?" Alex tried her hardest not to demand, but it was a struggle.

Percy and Nico exchanged looks, then Percy felt a sharp stabbing pain in his temple anew, making him hiss and causing the room to tremble as his mind tried to race around every avenue of that connected memory without assistance.

"Percy said he'd think about it," Nico offered. "Nothing was decided that night. Ms. Jackson was delightful and Mr. Blowfis shoved all of the left overs into my hands without taking no for an answer when I tried to leave, while Tyson spent the evening asking what every appliance in the kitchen did. A typical night there I'm sure."

Percy was smiling and relaxed again by the end, very unlike that evening, but a soothing balm on his conscience to have the rest of the night restored in such detail that it didn't take any part of him to offer. He was suddenly very grateful for whatever these other days were going to be, all the better to not think about that for a few moments more.

He also failed to mention as well as Nico had how resistant he'd initially been to the idea. He'd eaten that cake in three bites on Percy's windowsill and tried to just dish out the information and depart like some demon carrier pigeon, but Percy had insisted he wanted more explanation and there was more cake.

Nico's resistance had crumbled, but it was a reluctant kid who shuffled in the doorway and stayed in the shadows. Percy remembered wondering when was the last time he'd been around other people, if it was because they were mortals or so much older or just had flesh.

His mom had of course brought him right into the light and fawned over him so much Nico had been smiling like Percy hadn't seen in a long time.

Percy really hoped to push past all that...unless they were going to be focused on that topic before he had to start the war in this mini book? And this was him and Nico doing research into-

"They told you to call them Sally and Paul at least five times Nico," Percy instead went back to teasing and talking to him like normal. Far more normal even than ever before, just a casual friend.

"And it sounds rude and I can't make myself do it when she hugs me like that," Nico shrugged with his arms crossed. He wasn't sure he'd ever want to go back there, it was the warmest place he'd ever been to. It had given him whiplash that night from so long without anything like that and he was sure if he ever went there again he'd burrow into the hall closet and refuse to ever leave.

Nico noticed the hints of jealousy on all of their faces except Thalia, who was nodding in understanding, which was also very strange. Of the myriad of emotions he kept expecting to be on the receiving end of, that was never one of them, but he got it simply for meeting the famous Sally Jackson.

Jason sighed and muttered about getting through this as he went back to the tiny book, visions of blue cake he could have easily pulled from the fridge just not enough.

I heard these noises... SCREECH! "HIYA!"

"A ninja is fighting a bird?" Magnus tried to say with confidence, but it still sounded like a question.

"Heeya is almost yeehaw backwards, maybe it's a cowboy trapped in a mirror verse," Alex said with her usual full confidence of putting the strangest words of man into the world.

Like somebody was getting attacked by possessed poultry, and, believe me, that's a situation I've been in before.

Will sighed and rubbed at his ear again. He really hated those stupid stymphalian birds.

Nobody else seemed to notice the commotion. We were in the lab, so everybody was talking, and it wasn't hard for me to go look out the window while I pretended to wash out my beaker.

Sure enough, there was a girl in the alley with her sword drawn. She was tall and muscular like a basketball player, with stringy brown hair and jeans, combat boots and a denim jacket.

"Clarisse?" Percy demanded along with everybody else around him.

"I did not make up a description of a random person," Jason promised as he composed himself past his shock quick enough. Just because the last time he'd heard of Clarisse leaving camp she'd blown a cannon at a hydra and then had her own ship blown up and was then almost eaten by a cyclops over a firey pit didn't mean explosions followed her everywhere...it was just a really bad combination with Percy's also steller ability to cause explosions and fires wherever he went!

She was hacking at a flock of black birds the size of ravens.

Alex smiled with interest if any Norse myths were going to crossover like last time when a Roman god had been in that Labyrinth. Surely their excursion in this place at the bottom of the ocean couldn't be the first instance of their worlds overlapping.

Feathers stuck out of her clothes in several places. A cut was bleeding over her left eye. As I watched, one of the birds shot a feather like an arrow, and it lodged in her shoulder. She cursed and sliced at the bird, but it flew away.

"Should I feel bad that's kind of cool," Nico grinned.

"Clarisse would either body slam you to the floor or nod her approval depending on where her pride sat," Thalia shrugged in agreement; so the answer was he didn't really feel that bad at all anyways.

Unfortunately, I recognized the girl. It was Clarisse, my old enemy from demigod camp.

Causing the others to laugh in surprise and Jason to even lean behind Thalia to pat him on the shoulder as he said, "look at you finally learning to use that phrase right! She actually is your very first enemy, and you are old enough to have an old enemy now!"

"It really does just take a few years for any lesson to sink into his brain," Thalia rolled her eyes in agreement.

"I will throw feathers at all of you if you don't stop mocking my poor, innocent younger self," Percy sighed, causing even more laughter at the poor, innocent, pathetic threat instead while Percy joined in.

Clarisse usually lived at Camp Half-Blood year-round. I had no idea what she was doing on the Upper East Side in the middle of a school day, but she was obviously in trouble. She wouldn't last much longer.

I did the only the thing I could.

"Mrs. White," I said, "can I go to the restroom? I feel like I'm going to puke."

You know how teachers tell you the magic word is please? That's not true. The magic word is puke. It will get you out of class faster than anything else.

"Write that down, write that down!" Alex mock hissed at Jason like she was getting the secret to life.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Jason laughed in agreement.

"I bet she's worse than others too," Will grinned. "Mrs. White, let me guess, she's a huge germaphobe too."

"Yep," Percy agreed, which was kind of strange for a science teacher to freak out any time a kid so much as sneezed.

"I want to know if that's universal," Will said saintly. "I haven't tried that on Chiron."

"You slacker, I had more faith in you," Percy told him in mild disappointment.

"Go!" Mrs. White said.

I ran out the door, stripping off my safety goggles, gloves and lab apron. I got out my weapon – a ballpoint pen called Riptide.

"And here I was just thinking you should probably live in that getup," Thalia snorted. "You cause enough messes you might as well run around in safety gear!"

"I looked like a discount mad scientist," Percy sighed. "And all we were doing was learning how to burn water, I wasn't exactly at risk of my life."

There was an odd moment of concerned silence before Thalia said, "um, Percy, only you could burn water, the rest of us boil it."

"Yeah, I thought so to," he grinned. He couldn't remember every detail of the lecture they'd gotten before hand, something about hydrogen and energy and junk, but it was cool to see and he was glad he had before Clairsse showed up.

Nobody stopped me in the halls. I exited by the gym. I got to the alley just in time to see Clarisse smack a devil bird with the flat of her sword like she was hitting a home run. The bird squawked and spiralled away, slamming against the brick wall and sliding into a trashcan. That still left a dozen more swarming around her.

"Clarisse!" I yelled.

"Didn't you learn your lesson about that," Will sighed, looking as close to strangling Percy as he ever did. "Last time she got bowled over by Bad Cow Number One crashing into her and you broke your ankle, nearly setting our camp on fire!"

"You need to pay more attention Will," Percy said with a smirk. "We've just established I've only now started using the word old right, you think I'm going to remember something that happened years ago? About Clarisse!"

"He's got you there Will," Nico chuckled while Will sighed in defeat.

She glared at me in disbelief. "Percy? What are you doing –"

She was cut short by a volley of feather arrows that zipped over her head and impaled themselves in the wall.

"This is my school," I told her.

"Just my luck," Clarisse grumbled, but she was too busy fighting to complain much.

"To much," Alex noted with interest. "So she did complain a little and you just blocked it out."

"Something I've always been very good at no matter my age," Percy assured.

I uncapped my pen, which grew into a metre-long bronze sword, and joined the battle, slashing at the birds and deflecting their feathers off my blade. Together, Clarisse and I sliced and hacked until all the birds were reduced to piles of feathers on the ground.

"Teamwork!" Jason cried cheerfully. He was all about that any time it came up, and he always seemed weirdly fond of Clarisse to the others confusion.

"Yeah, yeah, we didn't all die again," Percy patiently agreed.

We were both breathing hard. I had a few scratches, but nothing major. I pulled a feather arrow out of my arm. It hadn't gone in very deep. As long as it wasn't tipped with poison, I'd be okay. I took a bag of ambrosia out of my jacket, where I always kept it for emergencies, broke a piece in half and offered some to Clarisse.

"If it isn't that bad then why are you risking that?" Magnus asked, vividly remembering he'd burst into flames or something as bad if he ate to much.

"Wouldn't you indulge every chance you got?" Percy asked with a grin, just to get a hint of that taste.

"Fair," Magnus muttered, even if it did sound weirdly risky, and they were only on the first page of Percy's latest stunts. It could only go downhill from here.

"I don't need your help," she muttered, but she took the ambrosia.

We swallowed a few bites – not too much, since the food of the gods can burn you to ashes if you overindulge. I guess that's why you don't see many fat gods.

"Or it's because they can change their shape at will," Thalia rolled her eyes at him.

"Why would they only change their shape at me?" Will asked innocently.

Nico snickered and Thalia looked more likely to chuck part of her seaweed beanbag at him than keep mocking Percy for a moment before Jason moved on.

Anyway, in a few seconds our cuts and bruises had disappeared.

Clarisse sheathed her sword and brushed off her denim jacket. "Well... see you."

"Hold up!" I said. "You can't just run off."

"Sure she can," Nico said blankly. "We all have lives that don't involve you Percy. You were her side quest for once."

Percy very much exaggerated his hurt expression, pressing his hand to his heart and everything, but Jason was to busy snickering at the next line of the book to let him play it up to much.

"Sure I can."

Causing the others to laugh in surprise and Nico sigh and decide there were worse people he could have mimicked.

"What's going on? What are you doing away from camp? Why were those birds after you?"

Clarisse pushed me, or tried to. I was too accustomed to her tricks. I just sidestepped and let her stumble past me.

"Clarisse and I perfect bullfighting, if anybody's trying to come up with alternate chapter titles," Alex offered.

"We were not," Percy sighed.

"Come on," I said. "You just about got killed at my school. That makes it my business."

"You got here there Perce," Thalia chuckled. "I always blame anything on you if it happens in your radius, and sometimes when it isn't."

"Yes! Minor victory," Percy cheered all the same.

"It does not!"

"Let me help."

She took a shaky breath. I got the feeling she really wanted to punch me out, but at the same time there was a desperate look in her eyes, like she was in serious trouble.

Their mild humor at this situation suddenly went sharp with concern. Clarisse was nobody's favorite person, but she wasn't the mindless bully anymore who just dumped people's heads into toilets. Was Chris okay? Was her dad doing worse than just verbally castrating her? Not even Will, Thalia, and Nico knew what was going on because this had never been on their radar.

"It's my brothers," she said. "They're playing a prank on me."

"Oh," I said, not really surprised. Clarisse had lots of siblings at Camp Half-Blood. All of them picked on each other. I guess that was to be expected since they were sons and daughters of the war god, Ares. "Which brothers? Sherman? Mark?"

Percy's assumption didn't feel unreasonable, some of the tension eased back out, but this answer didn't track with Clarisse doing anything other than walking away from Percy's help.

"No," she said, sounding more afraid than I'd ever heard her. "My immortal brothers. Phobos and Deimos."

Magnus looked traumatized anew. He even clapped a hand to his mouth, as if fearing anything else he ever asked about next was going to make an appearance at Percy's life.

"Chill Magnus," Percy sighed, "I can't say I'm surprised more children of Ares are making my life miserable."

He didn't move, and Alex reached over to begin trying to pry his fingers away.

"I can't say I'm pleased," Will sighed. "The major gods messing with your life causes me enough heart failure, now the minor gods are joining in."

"They weren't messing with Percy's life," Alex corrected, foot now firmly planted on the ground and actually tugging while Magnus kept his hand locked in place and glared at her. "They were messing, with, Clarisse!" They were kind of concerned what she was fixing to do if he didn't comply and a little more scared to get between them.

"That's, not better Alex," Will sighed just as much at her comment as he did in relief when she sat back anyways and signed something to him.

He stared at her a moment longer before lowering his hand and saying, "no," with a weary groan. He signed it as he said it, putting his pointer and middle finger together to tap against his thumb with his other fingers curled up.

"Thank you," she signed back with a smirk.

They were fascinated what she'd said, and Percy was blunt and curious enough to hope he'd get an answer. "What'd you say to him?"

"I asked if he wanted to be the next Oracle," she said proudly. "I just made that sign up too and he still knew what I meant."

"She mixed the signs for magic and mummy, it was very effective," Magnus admitted with a reluctant smile.

"He can't be a magic mummy prophecy thing if he keeps talking without guessing right," she concluded proudly.

We sat on a bench at the park while Clarisse told me the story. I wasn't too worried about getting back to school. Mrs. White would just assume the nurse had sent me home, and sixth period was woodwork class. Mr. Bell never took attendance.

Percy was smiling at the fact that he'd just been at school long enough to know that kind of teacher observation. He so rarely was anywhere that long.

"So let me get this straight," I said. "You took your dad's car for a joyride and now it's missing."

Magnus made a spluttering of laughter and Alex nodded in agreement. "The book needs to skip over what was actually said more and straight to your understanding of the situation."

"It would be bike jacking too, so I don't know what Percy heard," Jason offered with a bit less laughter, though not to much.

"Ares has a war chariot," Nico reminded with a grin of excitement if they were fixing to get a description of that sometime soon. "Apollo isn't the only one with a fancy ride, all of them have one. It might be what's going on, if Ares sent her to get that back when it was stolen."

"Mmm, I hope that's what's going on, karma," Thalia cackled at his comeuppance finally for his part in Zues's bolt being stolen.

"It's never occurred to me that's what his bike was," Will admitted looking back, "I just thought he created a bike made of human skin and darkness for funsies that one time."

"Why would gods even have chariots if they can just materialize wherever they want?" Magnus asked, his humor subsiding at yet another strange Greek thing.

"It would take twenty years to list all their insane things they do and have and said and did with no rhyme or reason," Thalia sighed.

"It's not a car," Clarisse growled. "It's a war chariot! And he told me to take it out. It's like... a test.

"Oh," Will blinked finally in understanding. He'd heard in passing of this cabin's right of passage, though Ares did it sparingly only to his children he thought were worthy. It was a great honor from what he understood, and yet he couldn't remember her bragging about this coming up one bit.

I'm supposed to bring it back at sunset. But –"

"Your brothers carjacked you."

"Chariot-jacked me," she corrected.

"Percy, you've won chariot races," Jason rolled his eyes at him. "Why are you acting like this is a new concept."

"Keeping Clarisse angry at me is my default," Percy said with an odd twist to his mouth. If he didn't keep her agitation on display, her voice started cracking, and that scared him more.

"They're his regular charioteers, see. And they don't like anybody else getting to drive. So they stole the chariot from me and chased me off with those stupid arrow-throwing birds."

"Your dad's pets?"

She nodded miserably. "They guard his temple. Anyway, if I don't find the chariot..."

She looked like she was about to lose it. I didn't blame her. I'd seen her dad, Ares, get mad before, and it was not a pretty sight. If Clarisse failed him, he would come down hard on her. Real hard.

And Percy would never let that happen to anyone, they all collectively understood without further explanation where this was headed. They still weren't sure why this memory of all things was being shown when the Titan's army was still amassing and Percy might be about to die any page now with his sixteenth birthday on the horizon, but it didn't seem to matter to him.

He was sitting up straight in his seat, a look of concentration on his face only there when he was settling in to help on the next deadly quest. Percy was going to take this seriously and help Clairesse, that's all they needed to know.

"I'll help you," I said.

Jason read past that as casually as if Percy were blushing around Annabeth again. It was just par for the course.

She scowled. "Why would you? I'm not your friend."

I couldn't argue with that. Clarisse had been mean to me a million times, but still, I didn't like the idea of her or anybody else getting beaten up by Ares. I was trying to figure out how to explain that to her when a guy's voice said, "Aw, look. I think she's been crying!"

"Bite him," Alex said at once in such a robust tone they thought she'd said fight for a hot second, but she was scowling so much it was kind of a coin toss.

Magnus couldn't shake the idea out of his head for a moment of Alex going around biting random people on the street if they laughed at people crying, and it did not disturb him as much as it probably should have.

A teenage dude was leaning against a telephone pole. He was dressed in ratty jeans, a black T-shirt and a leather jacket, with a bandanna over his hair. A knife was stuck in his belt. He had eyes the colour of flames.

In another life, that could have been Nico, Percy thought with distaste. This guy had a much stronger aura that instantly put Percy off though, the kind that made his fist ball up to try and hide the shaking like he'd just thrown Nancy Bobofit into that fountain all over again and Mrs. Dodds locked eyes with him. It was anger and fear all bundled up into one tight emotion he would happily lash out with as readily as Clarisse would on any person.

"Phobos." Clarisse balled her fists. "Where's the chariot, you jerk?"

"Whatever happened to corpse breath and Prissy?" Alex sighed. "She hasn't thrown out a good insult in ages."

"The angrier she gets the less imaginative," Percy shrugged. "If she ever calls you one syllable, run for your life."

"You lost it," he teased. "Don't ask me."

"You little –"

Clarisse drew her sword and charged, but Phobos disappeared as she swung, and her blade bit into the telephone pole.

Phobos appeared on the bench next to me. He was laughing, but he stopped when I stuck Riptide's point against his throat.

"Ha!" Will cried in triumph, before he blushed and looked around like he'd done something embarrassing cheering for Percy threatening to stab another god.

"That does tend to silence most people," Thalia said in agreement.

"You guys are lucky I've never tried it on any of you blabber mouths," Percy chuckled.

"You'd better return that chariot," I told him, "before I get mad."

He sneered and tried to look tough, or as tough as you can with a sword under your chin.

An expression Nico had once imagined on Percy's face, clawing his way towards a swimming pool as Luke followed him with his bloody sword point on that deck. Percy had still looked plenty intimidating in his mind, a deep angry scowl on his face ready to taunt to his last breath Luke would never win.

This guy had nothing on Percy even if he had managed it.

"Who's your little boyfriend, Clarisse? You have to get help fighting your battles now?"

"Chris isn't a violent guy is he?" Thalia chuckled. "I hope he doesn't challenge Percy to a duel to the death for this rumor getting a start."

"I will concede that fight, I don't take up every challenge I'm given," Percy promised with an amused dismissal.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Clarisse tugged her sword, pulling it out of the telephone pole. "He's not even my friend. That's Percy Jackson."

Something changed in Phobos's expression. He looked surprised, maybe even nervous. "The son of Poseidon? The one who made Dad angry? Oh, this is too good, Clarisse. You're hanging out with a sworn enemy?"

"The whole cabin kind of lives with him," Magnus rubbed at the back of his neck. "Is it really such high treason?" He wasn't naive enough to think Ares and his kin had forgiven him exactly, but Ares's curse had come and gone in Zoe's death, it hadn't been mentioned in a while, so he'd sort of hoped at least his kids weren't crouched in the shadows anticipating revenge.

"It's certainly not encouraged," Percy said from personal experience of none of his favorite people ever coming from there.

"I'm not hanging out with him!"

"True too," Jason chuckled, "Percy invited himself along, again. She could get a restraining order against you."

"I bet her criminal record is longer than mine," Percy scoffed.

Phobos's eyes glowed bright red.

Clarisse screamed. She swatted the air as if she were being attacked by invisible bugs. "Please, no!"

"Are all of Ares kids just, like this?" Alex asked in disgust. He was worse than Clarisse, a high feat considering she'd started out pretty bad but only gotten better. She had a feeling this guy wasn't going to get the same humanizing treatment his half-blood children did.

"I guess it's one of those things they can't help but inherit, like Zues's kids being all spark and no bite," Percy smirked, not even flinching as Thalia smacked him.

"What are you doing to her?" I demanded.

Clarisse backed up into the street, swinging her sword wildly.

"Stop it!" I told Phobos. I dug my sword a little deeper against his throat, but he simply vanished, reappearing back at the telephone pole.

"Don't get so excited, Jackson," Phobos said. "I'm just showing her what she fears."

The glow faded from his eyes.

Clarisse collapsed, breathing hard. "You creep," she gasped. "I'll... I'll get you."

Jason squirmed in his seat as he realized just how bad he felt for her. This minor god was everything wrong with Clarisse when she'd met Percy, and he wished Percy had lopped off his neck just so they could laugh as he grew it back. The idea felt like an invasion of his mind, something he'd never have dared to think before this he was positive, but he felt it to be true all the same.

Phobos turned towards me. "How about you, Percy Jackson? What do you fear? I'll find out, you know. I always do."

"Give the chariot back." I tried to keep my voice even.

"How strange for you to be scared of such a weirdly specific thing," Thalia smirked, laughing as Percy rolled his eyes at her.

"I took on your dad once. You don't scare me."

Phobos laughed. "Nothing to fear but fear itself. Isn't that what they say? Well, let me tell you a little secret, half-blood. I am fear. If you want to find the chariot, come and get it. It's across the water. You'll find it where the little wild animals live – just the sort of place you belong."

Magnus tried very hard not to cringe at the idea of Percy facing off against wild animals. He might be fond of the idea of Mrs. O'Leary now, but that didn't mean he wouldn't piss his pants and run for his life from her in person, and who knew what other monstrous wolf like creatures this guy had guarding the place.

"Are you going to the zoo!" Alex gasped with such child like delight it made it hard for Magnus to focus on anything else all of a sudden.

"I hope he puts it in the meerkat home if so," Percy chuckled along.

He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of yellow vapour.

"I always knew yellow could be an evil color if it just tried hard enough," Alex said seriously.

"Well that is certainly a topic for another day," Thalia said with interest.

Now, I've got to tell you, I've met a lot of godlings and monsters I didn't like, but Phobos took the prize.

"Is the prize being personally thrown into that pit?" Magnus asked with only mild sarcasm.

"If I could tie some flying shoes to his feet I would," Percy agreed.

I don't like bullies. I'd never been in the "A" crowd at school, so I'd spent most of my life standing up to punks who tried to frighten me and my friends. The way Phobos laughed at me and made Clarisse collapse just by looking at her... I wanted to teach this guy a lesson.

I helped Clarisse up. Her face was still beaded with sweat.

"Now are you ready for help?" I asked.

We took the subway, keeping a lookout for more attacks, but no one bothered us. As we rode, Clarisse told me about Phobos and Deimos.

"They're minor gods," she said. "Phobos is fear. Deimos is terror."

"What's the difference?" Magnus asked.

Jason chuckled without surprise as he read how Magnus had mimicked the book. Magnus just sighed while Percy gave him a nod. At least he wasn't the only one in the room.

"What's the difference?"

She frowned. "Deimos is bigger and uglier, I guess. He's good at freaking out entire crowds. Phobos is more, like, personal. He can get inside your head."

"That's where they get the word phobia?"

Percy cleared his throat with a significant smirk.

"Do you want a cookie Percy?" Thalia cooed.

"Yes," he sniffed, deciding if nobody else was going to take back their snark he'd indulge himself. Jason waited patiently as he went and came back munching on a handful before continuing.

"Yeah," she grumbled. "He's so proud of that. All those phobias named after him. The jerk."

"You know," Alex sighed, "I bet if he was an actual decent half-sibling, Clairesse would be bragging about this constantly instead. It's kind of almost cool in a way."

"So why don't they want you driving the chariot?"

"It's usually a ritual just for Ares's sons when they turn fifteen. I'm the first daughter to get a shot in a long time."

"That is so cool," Jason grinned with enough delight to make up for her rotten dad and horrible half-siblings, immortal and otherwise who apparently hadn't given her enough credit for this.

"Can't say she didn't earn it," Percy agreed, his voice more reluctant, but no less meaningful.

"Good for you."

"Tell that to Phobos and Deimos. They hate me. I've got to get the chariot back to the temple."

"Where is the temple?"

"Pier 86. The Intrepid."

"Did those words mean something to you?" Magnus asked Percy.

"About as much as clam chowder does to you," Percy shrugged. "I know what it is, but I'm not all up in arms about it."

How was it possible he kept managing to answer questions without actually answering them? Percy seriously needed to stop hanging out with Chiron. Magnus didn't harass him for more though, he was sure they'd find out when Percy and Clairesse got that chariot there.

"Oh." It made sense, now that I thought about it. I'd never actually been on board the old aircraft carrier, but I knew they used it as some kind of military museum. It probably had a bunch of guns and bombs and other dangerous toys. Just the kind of place a war god would want to hang out.

"Huh," Magnus said without a drop of interest. Turns out an answer was just as useless as no answer too.

"We've got maybe four hours before sunset," I guessed. "That should be enough time if we can find the chariot."

"But what did Phobos mean, "over the water"? We're on an island, for Zeus's sake. That could be any direction!"

"Did she not hear the part about the animals?" Alex looked a little pouty cute wild critters that could probably murder them all without the monsterus upgrade weren't everyones top priority.

"She was a little distracted," Will reminded. "Oh," he snapped his fingers in thought. "I bet it's in the boar exhibit!"

"Sweet! Pumba and hula skirts for everyone," Alex cheered. Even when they got the reference, they were all still pretty concerned by her.

"He said something about wild animals," I remembered. "Little wild animals."

"A zoo?"

I nodded. A zoo over the water could be the one in Brooklyn, or maybe... someplace harder to get to, with little wild animals. Someplace nobody would ever think to look for a war chariot.

"Staten Island," I said. "They've got a small zoo."

"Maybe," Clarisse said. "That sounds like the kind of out-of-the-way place Phobos and Deimos would stash something. But if we're wrong –"

"We don't have time to be wrong."

"Couldn't you two split up?" Nico frowned. "Whistle for Blackjack and a buddy, they fly faster and you could check both."

"I don't think Clairesse could handle these guys on her own, best to stick together," Percy shook his head, wishing instead he had time to get in contact with Grover or Annabeth for support.

He didn't say it with any kind of cockiness in his voice, he didn't think she'd make or break this all on her own without his help. It was more of a statement that he wanted to help her through this in whatever way he could.

We hopped off the train at Times Square and caught the Number 1 line downtown, towards the ferry terminal.

We boarded the Staten Island Ferry at three thirty, 

It was getting on in the afternoon, school would be letting out soon, time was not on their side. What time did the zoo close? "I wish the zoo was open at night," Percy said sporadically.

"It is if you're not a coward," Alex sniffed.

along with a bunch of tourists, who crowded the railings of the top deck, snapping pictures as we passed the Statue of Liberty.

"He modeled that on his mom," I said, looking up at the statue.

"One of the many things I like about you Perce," Magnus chuckled in surprise. "Don't ever let someone tell you you don't listen."

"Huh?" Percy said distractedly, his mind to busy smiling back at when she'd told him this over fixing his straps before their last capture the flag game that summer. Spouting random architecture facts always helped her relax and he'd asked her about something to do with the Eiffel Tower and she'd gone off. They'd won the game.

Clarisse frowned at me. "Who?"

"Bartholdi," I said. "The dude who made the Statue of Liberty. He was a son of Athena, and he designed it to look like his mom. That's what Annabeth told me, anyway."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. Annabeth was my best friend and a huge nut when it came to architecture and monuments. I guess her egghead facts rubbed off on me sometimes.

Percy chuckled along with the others at that rather undersold summary of her. Annabeth was all that and so much more to him and he rarely if ever knew how to say any of it any better.

"Useless," Clarisse said. "If it doesn't help you fight, it's useless information."

"You're friends names aren't useless," Jason said back in a very weary kind of voice. He sounded almost scared. "Getting to laugh isn't useless. I doubt she thinks Chris is useless if he can't hold his own."

It was clearly a touchy subject to him, and with good reason, as Percy rubbed his own temple. Nobody who had their every thought and emotion stripped away would ever think of something they learned again as useless.

It was a harsh view, and one none of them bought Clairesse herself believed. Not after everything she'd been through to help Chris last summer, not after everything she'd done in the battle that followed to help tend the wounded.

I could've argued with her, but just then the ferry lurched like it had hit a rock. Tourists spilled forward, tumbling into each other. Clarisse and I ran to the front of the boat. The water below us started to boil. Then the head of a sea serpent erupted from the bay.

"We've been surprisingly lacking on sea monsters in your life," Magnus sighed as if this had been inevitable.

"A fact I didn't know to savor until it was gone," Percy nodded.

The monster was at least as big as the boat. It was grey and green with a head like a crocodile and razor-sharp teeth. It smelled... well, like something that had just come up from the bottom of New York Harbor. Riding on its neck was a bulky guy in black Greek armour. His face was covered with ugly scars, and he held a javelin in his hand.

"Deimos!" Clarisse yelled.

"At least it's him instead of some other minor Greek god deciding to have a day with you," Jason tried to offer something nice.

"I think I'd rather just have one worse day of my life where they all get it out of the way at once," Percy shook his head. "I'll find a way to have them all fight each other to the death while I eat my snacks and watch and then have to fight the winner."

"I think that would be Zues," Will said with only a slight whimper to his voice.

Percy shrugged and looked more interested in going back to the fridge.

"Hello, sister!" His smile was almost as horrible as the serpent's. "Care to play?"

"Do we get to pick the game?" Percy sighed.

"No," Nico frowned at the idea of this guy warping a thumb war into a deadly tournament anyways.

The monster roared. Tourists screamed and scattered. I don't know exactly what they saw. The Mist usually prevents mortals from seeing monsters in their true form, but whatever they saw, they were terrified.

"Loch ness monster," Alex grinned.

"Mega shark," Magnus sighed.

"Garbage barge getting to close," Thalia wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Percy dreaded the day any of them started manipulating the Mist, he had a feeling all of those options were still more terrifying than anything the god of terror could manage.

"Leave them alone!" I yelled.

"Or what, son of the sea god?" Deimos sneered. "My brother tells me you're a wimp!

"He shouldn't believe everything he hears," Jason rolled his eyes, "it leads to stupid rumors. Would he also believe Phobos if he said he saw Percy hooking up with Clarisse?"

Percy looked traumatized enough at the continued joke like all of them were actively trying to summon the brothers in here now to laugh along.

Besides, I love terror. I live on terror!"

He spurred the sea serpent into head-butting the ferry, which sloshed backwards. Alarms blared. Passengers fell over each other trying to get away. Deimos laughed with delight.

"That's it," I grumbled. "Clarisse, grab on."

"What?"

"Grab onto my neck. We're going for a ride."

She didn't protest.

Will smiled in surprise at the amount of trust Clairsse was showing in that moment. He knew the bully of a girl who had once made Magnolia Cresnt cry by ripping up her flowers would never have done such a thing.

She grabbed onto me, and I said, "One, two, three – JUMP!"

We leaped off the top deck and straight into the bay, but we were only underwater for a moment. I felt the power of the ocean surging through me. I willed the water to swirl around me, building force until we burst out of the bay on top of a ten-metre-high waterspout.*30 feet I steered us straight towards the monster.

Alex grinned with jealousy at Clarisse getting to experience that. She just knew the child of a war god was having an adrenaline rush right then and probably liked Percy plenty now for this awesome tactic. Clarisse might even stop threatening to kill him or something crazy.

"You think you can tackle Deimos?" I yelled to Clarisse.

"I'm on it!" she said. "Just get me within three metres."*ten feet

We barrelled towards the serpent. Just as it bared its fangs, I swerved the waterspout to one side, and Clarisse jumped. She crashed into Deimos, and both of them toppled into the sea.

The sea serpent came after me. I quickly turned the waterspout to face him, then summoned all my power and willed the water to even greater heights.

WHOOOOM!

Fifty thousand litres of salt water crashed into the monster. I leaped over its head, uncapped Riptide, and slashed with all my might at the creature's neck. The monster roared. Green blood spouted from the wound, and the serpent sank beneath the waves.

The forced environmentalist in Percy from all his time around Grover actually felt kind of bad for the animal...and also wondered how safe that blood was for the already deplorable water.

I dived underwater and watched as it retreated to the open sea. That's one good thing about sea serpents: they're big babies when it comes to getting hurt.

That got a good laugh from everyone in here, though the confused question from Nico, "when did you fight any of them to know this?"

"The fish talk," Percy chuckled. "Whenever I pop into the ocean, some of them even like to brag about witnessing fearsome fights that shook the ocean, and the retreating monster always has like, five missing scales."

Clarisse surfaced near me, spluttering and coughing. I swam over and grabbed her.

"Did you get Deimos?" I asked.

Clarisse shook her head. "The coward disappeared as we were wrestling. But I'm sure we'll see him again. Phobos, too."

Tourists were still running around the ferry in a panic, but it didn't look like anybody was hurt. The boat didn"t seem damaged. I decided we shouldn't stick around. I held onto Clarisse's arm and willed the waves to carry us towards Staten Island.

"Or next thing you know, the local paper's going to be calling you a boat terrorist," Thalia agreed.

"I'd get Tyson to try and clear my name," Percy tried to disagree, but knew she was more than likely right.

In the west, the sun was going down over the Jersey shore. We were running out of time.

I'd never spent much time on Staten Island, and I found it was a lot bigger than I thought and not much fun to walk. The streets curved around confusingly, and everything seemed to be uphill. I was dry (I never got wet in the ocean unless I wanted to) but Clarisse's clothes were still sopping wet, so she left mucky footprints all over the sidewalk,

"You can't dry other people's clothes?" Magnus asked in surprise.

"Apparently not through thought, though I was afraid Clairsse would break my fingers if I tried to pat her shoulder and find out," Percy admitted.

and the bus driver wouldn't let us on the bus.

"Did the guy come away from that with all of his face still attached?" Jason asked in mild concern.

"Yeah," Percy whispered, his heart sinking faster than the sun. Rather than getting angry, she'd watched it drive off with a concerningly red face and gasping breath that seemed closer to tears than Percy had ever wanted anyone to be, let alone her.

"We'll never make it in time," she sighed.

"Stop thinking that way." I tried to sound upbeat, but I was starting to have doubts too. I wished we had reinforcements. Two demigods against two minor gods was not an even match, and when we met Phobos and Deimos together, I wasn't sure what we were going to do. I kept remembering what Phobos had said: How about you, Percy Jackson? What do you fear? I'll find out, you know.

After dragging ourselves halfway down the island, past a lot of suburban houses, a couple of churches and a McDonald's,

Causing a smattering of giggles and some side eyed looks at Nico, who held his head with dignity and retorted before anyone could ask, "no, I was not hiding in the playpen keeping an eye on them."

"I just hope you try other fast food chains and some home cooked styles," Will didn't sound the least bit sarcastic at least. "Maybe the dead like tofu burgers too, you don't have to be brand loyal," he didn't manage to finish in the same way and fell off snickering too while Nico sighed but grinned at what they were mocking. Not his creepy death summons, just the food he'd used.

we finally saw a sign that said ZOO.

"Real subtle with that imagery," Percy chuckled.

"A blink and you'll miss it sign," Thalia agreed in confusion. The giant honking statue was the obvious tourist attraction, but surely this was on somebody's list to go to instead.

"I hope they label everything like that in there, keep it a theme," Jason grinned. "I don't want fancy plaques under each animal with their Latin name and their biome details, I just want it to say eagle. That's it, that's all you get..." He trailed off laughing as hard as everyone else.

We turned a corner and followed this curvy street with some woods on one side until we came to the entrance.

The lady at the ticket booth looked at us suspiciously, but thank the gods I had enough cash to get us inside.

We walked around the reptile house,

Magnus and Alex burst out laughing hard, quickly exchanging smiles and trying to stutter something about Percy releasing a boa, but it made no sense to anybody else and Percy thought them nuts anyways.

and Clarisse stopped in her tracks.

"There it is."

It was sitting at a crossroads between the petting zoo and the sea otter pond: a large golden and red chariot tethered to four black horses. The chariot was decorated with amazing detail. It would've been beautiful if all the pictures hadn't shown people dying painful deaths.

"Really is a mystery how she doesn't get along with you better Nico," Percy sighed. He'd only seen details like that on Hades's palace.

"We spend to much time arguing which is better," Nico said deadpan. "Causing death or being death."

The horses were breathing fire out of their nostrils.

Families with buggies walked right past the chariot like it didn't exist. I guess the Mist must've been really strong around it, because the chariot's only camouflage was a handwritten note taped to one of the horses' chests that said OFFICIAL ZOO VEHICLE.

"I bet Ares is really kicking himself right now he never thought to turn his ride into that," Jason said with full exaggeration.

"Must wear khakis to ride," Alex nodded seriously.

"Yes, I'll drive!" Will cheered.

"None of us have a license, I wouldn't get in a vehicle with any of you whackjobs," Nico lied through his teeth as he smiled along.

"Where are Phobos and Deimos?" Clarisse muttered, drawing her sword.

I couldn't see them anywhere, but this had to be a trap.

I concentrated on the horses. Usually I could talk to horses, since my dad had created them. I said, Hey. Nice fire-breathing horses. Come here!

One of horses whinnied disdainfully. I could understand his thoughts, all right. He called me some names I can't repeat.

"I bet Will could repeat them," Alex smirked.

Will sighed, mildly embarrassed for what he'd called Hera.

Percy couldn't even look that offended as he tried to say, "hey, I could say them! It's just, my moms got a thing against strong language too-"

Alex winced and nodded quickly in understanding that didn't need further elaboration.

"I'll try to get the reins," Clarisse said. "The horses know me. Cover me."

"Right." I wasn't sure how I was supposed to cover her with a sword, but I kept my eyes peeled as Clarisse approached the chariot. She walked around the horses, almost tiptoeing.

She froze as a lady with a three-year-old girl passed by. The girl said, "Pony on fire!"

It was a cute moment for five seconds, before they all sighed and remembered how Rachel had described how horrifying the world could be and nobody believed her. There went another child inbound for the same fate, unless she herself just happened to be a half-blood and was likely to deal with even worse. Percy might have just witnessed the first of many memories where she would try to believe the lies her mom told her.

"Don't be silly, Jessie," the mother said in a dazed voice. "That's an official zoo vehicle."

The little girl tried to protest, but the mother grabbed her hand and they kept walking. Clarisse got closer to the chariot. Her hand had almost reached the rail when the horses reared up, whinnying and breathing flames. Phobos and Deimos appeared in the chariot, both of them now dressed in pitch-black battle armour. Phobos grinned, his red eyes glowing. Deimos's scarred face looked even more horrible up close.

"The hunt is on!" Phobos yelled. Clarisse stumbled back as he lashed the horses and charged the chariot straight towards me.

Now, I'd like to tell you that I did something heroic, like stand up against a raging team of fire-breathing horses with only my sword.

"Uhhu, and that Chimera was really a chihuahua all along," Jason shook his head at Percy's internal thought still thinking them fools...which was a weird sentence the longer he thought about it.

The truth is, I ran. I jumped over a trashcan and an exhibit fence, but there was no way I could outrun the chariot. It crashed through the fence right behind me, ploughing down everything in its path.

"Percy, look out!" Clarisse yelled, like I needed somebody to tell me that.

"At least she's doing her due diligence and not, not helping," Nico snickered.

"Can't say she doesn't give clear and precise orders," Will agreed a tad more honestly.

"Revenge," Alex told a lot more seriously for all the times Percy did that to her.

I jumped and landed on a rock island in the middle of the otter exhibit. I willed a column of water out of the pond and doused the horses, temporarily extinguishing their flames and sending them into confusion. The otters weren't happy with me. They chattered and barked, and I figured I'd better get off their island quick, before I had crazed sea mammals after me too.

"I bet they swear more than the horses," Thalia chuckled.

"You're lucky they didn't start throwing their pups at you, trashing their home," Jason snorted.

I ran as Phobos cursed and tried to get his horses under control. Clarisse took the opportunity to jump on Deimos's back just as he was lifting his javelin. Both of them went tumbling out of the chariot as it lurched forward.

I could hear Deimos and Clarisse starting to fight, sword on sword, but I didn't have time to worry about it because Phobos was riding after me again. I sprinted towards the aquarium with the chariot right behind me.

"Hey, Percy!" Phobos taunted. "I've got something for you!"

"A white flag?" Magnus said without a hint of hope.

"Magnus, if you don't want to play anymore, just say so," Alex rolled her eyes. "He throws one of those otters at you in revenge!"

"I like Magnus's better," Percy sighed.

I glanced back and saw the chariot melting, the horses turning to steel and folding into each other like clay figures being crumpled. The chariot refashioned itself into a black metal box with caterpillar tracks, a turret and a long gun barrel. A tank. I recognized it from this research report I'd had to do for history class. Phobos was grinning at me from the top of a World War II panzer.

"Say cheese!" he said.

"Whatever happened to the easy monsters, like the math teacher just slicing me to ribbons?" Percy sighed.

"You need constant experience and new environments to learn to grow Percy," Thalia said in a pretty good imitation of Chiron's voice.

"You need a swift kick to the head and your turn at this," Percy scoffed. The annoying part was Thalia probably could take down a tank with just her bow without even pulling out her shield.

I rolled to one side as the gun fired.

KA-BOOOOM! A souvenir kiosk exploded, sending fuzzy animals and plastic cups and disposable cameras in every direction.

"I bet somewhere in those rocks Kampe' is cheering for him," Alex snorted.

"How do you keep managing to make this universe crazier Alex?" Percy groaned, now the vivid idea in his head of Phobos riding on her in mind.

"I'm just special that way," she grinned.

As Phobos re-aimed his gun, I got to my feet and dived into the aquarium.

I wanted to surround myself with water. That always increased my power. Besides, it was possible Phobos couldn't fit the chariot through the doorway. Of course, if he blasted through it, that wouldn't help...

"What do you need us for anyways Percy," Jason chuckled in surprise he'd been about to say the same thing. "You think all the good comments for yourself."

"Can I get that in writing Jason?" Percy smirked.

"Get what in writing?" He asked swiftly, turning back to the book like the smart kid he was.

I ran through the rooms washed in weird blue light from the fish tank exhibits. Cuttlefish, clown fish and eels all stared at me as I raced past. I could hear their little minds whispering, Son of the sea god! Son of the sea god! It's great when you're a celebrity to squids.

"I bet it is," Will snorted. "I can't imagine much impresses them!"

He spoke in that unique way where Percy wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not, so he just let that one slide.

I stopped at the back of the aquarium and listened. I heard nothing. And then... Vroom, Vroom. A different kind of engine.

I watched in disbelief as Phobos came riding through the aquarium on a Harley-Davidson. I'd seen this motorcycle before: its black flame-decorated engine, its shotgun holsters, its leather seat that looked like human skin. This was the same motorcycle Ares had ridden when I'd first met him, but it had never occurred to me that it was just another form of his war chariot.

"It really wouldn't have made any less sense for him to have just created that out of thin air or this," Magnus sighed.

"I'm surprised he didn't use the tank!" Alex yelped.

"Hello, loser," Phobos said, pulling a huge sword out of its sheath. "Time to be scared."

"I did not set my alarm for this!" Percy groaned.

"You don't set your alarm for anything," Thalia rolled her eyes.

I raised my own sword, determined to face him, but then Phobos's eyes glowed brighter, and I made the mistake of looking into them.

Jason hesitated at once, watching Percy intently.

It took him a moment to realize he was silently asking permission. Like this would finally be the thing so embarrassing and so private he'd yank the baby yellow book away and declare them all off limit to his thoughts. These guys had read every dumb, stupid, Annabeth related, illegal, and illogical thing he'd ever done, and they still checked in with him to make sure they weren't crossing a line as nobody tried to rush Jason.

Percy just shrugged and waved him on.

Suddenly I was in a different place. I was at Camp Half-Blood, my favourite place in the world, and it was in flames. The woods were on fire. The cabins were smoking. The dining pavilion's Greek columns had crumbled and the Big House was a smouldering ruin. My friends were on their knees pleading with me. Annabeth, Grover, all the other campers.

Save us, Percy! they wailed. Make the choice!

Percy shivered, his stomach a painful twisted fire all its own he wished he could wrap in a nonflammable lab coat and goggles.

The interesting thing was though, as he wrapped his arm around himself and curled in tight for the vivid memory of that paralyzing, painful idea, was where it was hurting. Not his head, not tormenting his memory. Just the idea of this still sickened him, and that was its own host of problems he didn't know how to dissect.

I stood paralysed. This was the moment I had always dreaded: the prophecy that was supposed to come about when I was sixteen. I would make a choice that would save or destroy Mount Olympus.

Now the moment was here, and I had no idea what to do. The camp was burning. My friends looked at me, begging for help. My heart pounded. I couldn't move. What if I did the wrong thing?

Thalia's heart truly went out for him. She wasn't surprised in the slightest to hear all that, it had once been her greatest fear too. She'd passed this on to him, and he'd stepped up and accepted it so Nico wouldn't know this burden.

She could have never stepped out of this fear like she already knew he would.

Then I heard the voices of the aquarium fish: Son of the sea god! Wake!

Suddenly I felt the power of the ocean all around me again, hundreds of litres of salt water, thousands of fish trying to get my attention. I wasn't at camp. This was an illusion. Phobos was showing me my deepest fear.

I blinked and saw Phobos's blade coming down towards my head. I raised Riptide and blocked the blow just before it cut me in two.

"Saved by the fish," Thalia snorted in surprise. "Oh, I hope you liberate them all by dumping that place into the ocean so they don't turn into fish sticks!"

"This probably is the greatest thing to ever happen in their little lives, we have cuddle fish to thank for your existence," Will agreed way to excitedly, like he was fixing to demand a cuddle and it kind of scared Percy.

"One of these days, I'm going to do something so awesome and epic, none of you chuckleheads will come up with some smart-ass response," Percy said with no amount of confidence.

"Please," Alex smirked in a way as if taking on a bet, and Percy swallowed in horror, immediately scolding himself of five seconds ago and whatever other memory he'd just provoked into Alex's line of sight.

I counterattacked and stabbed Phobos in the arm. Golden ichor, the blood of the gods, soaked through his shirt.

"Does that do anything?" Magnus couldn't help but ask with disgust in his tone, Thalia had just mentioned eating fish sticks. "In Christian myth they like, symbolically eat their god through bread and wine. Does that stuff help make your ambrosia?"

Percy felt a sudden need to vomit violently at the suggestion. He really felt the need to get Magnus tested for ADHD or a psycho-analysis, definitely one of those.

"Certainly in some myths their blood is referenced," Will said without even batting an eye. "A few monsters were said to be powered by it," he didn't say which out loud, as one theory was Talos. "It's not actually as common as Percy makes it seem for the gods to bleed though, so nothing that specific, I think."

"Only Will's allowed to answer my questions now," Magnus decided, since that answer hadn't scared the piss out of him.

Will pursed his lips and felt instantly bad he'd kind of been lying. Magnus's question was in fact one interpretation of their godly food, none of the kids at camp just liked to acknowledge it...so it was more a lie of omission.

Phobos growled and slashed at me. I parried easily. Without his power of fear, Phobos was nothing. He wasn't even a decent fighter. I pressed him back, swiped at his face, and gave him a cut across the cheek. The angrier he was, the clumsier he got.

"He didn't just flee?" Alex quirked a brow in surprise. "Ares did when you finally got a stab in, so this guy's just a smidge better than his dad."

"I will not be dishing out compliments to any of them," Percy scoffed.

I couldn't kill him. He was immortal. But you wouldn't have known that from his expression. The fear god looked afraid.

Thalia threw her head back laughing in delight. It was quite an evil laugh and there really should have been lightning crackling behind her, but Percy merely gave her a high five of delight as he smirked along.

Finally I kicked him backwards against the water fountain. His sword skittered into the ladies room.

"Using your own curse against him, you are something to strive for Perce," Jason snickered along.

"Enough, with the bathroom guys!" Percy groaned.

"Not a chance," Alex scoffed.

I grabbed the straps of his armour and pulled him up to face me.

"You're going to disappear now," I told him. "You're going to stay out of Clarisse's way. And if I see you again, I'm going to give you a bigger scar in a much more painful place!"

Nico couldn't help the breath that escaped him, the stab of heat that washed through him. Yeah, that was hot.

He ducked his head and ran a very embarrassed hand through his hair to hide such a thing in hopes Will wouldn't notice. That was still okay to think with Will's arm around him...right?

He gulped. "There will be a next time, Jackson!"

And he dissolved into yellow vapour.

I turned towards the fish exhibits. "Thanks, guys."

Then Nico felt all the more embarrassed at how kind he found that act. Percy thanking the fish felt very much in the same way he thanked his skeletons. Apparently that crush was still in there, or at least parts of Percy he still greatly admired.

Then Will called in delight, "aw, Percy! Your mom would be so proud! You didn't even need a Nereid to remind you that time!"

He sounded so sincere, he really wasn't mocking Percy but just happy he was over there showing gratitude. Maybe it was all the mystery surrounding a Big Three Kid Nico would never get, maybe it was just Will, but Nico still found it plenty charming too...and leaving him just as confused.

Then I looked at Ares's motorcycle. I'd never ridden an all-powerful Harley-Davidson war chariot before, but how hard could it be? I hopped on, started the ignition, and rode out of the aquarium to help Clarisse.

"That gave me seven more kinds of terror than that God ever could," Jason shivered at the idea of Percy with that kind of power.

"Annabeth would be drooling right now if she heard that," Thalia rolled her eyes, causing Percy to turn a whole new color of red as he blushed and stammered at her like his tongue had been decompressed.

I had no trouble finding her. I just followed the path of destruction.

"How we always find Clarisse at camp too when we need to go looking for her," Will chuckled.

"You do it the hard way," Thalia scoffed, "I just shout as loud as I can about how Ares's sacred animal should have been a chicken and she comes running."

"Yeah, but Thalia, I don't wish to die," Will groaned.

"Your loss," she shrugged, "she's great practice, better than half the monsters you'll find in that forest."

Fences were knocked down. Animals were running free. Badgers and lemurs were checking out the popcorn machine. A fat-looking leopard was lounging on a park bench with a bunch of pigeon feathers around him.

Alex hummed with pleasure at the mention of some of her favorite animals. She loved sneaking into zoo's to get more ideas of what to turn into. The mayhem at every corner and Percy once again putting gods in their place somehow just made this trip sound even better.

I parked the motorcycle next to the petting zoo, and there were Deimos and Clarisse in the goat area. Clarisse was on her knees. I ran forward but stopped suddenly when I saw how Deimos had changed form. He was Ares now – the tall god of war, dressed in black leather and sunglasses, his whole body smoking with anger as he raised his fist over Clarisse.

"You failed me again!" the war god bellowed. "I told you what would happen!"

He tried to strike her, but Clarisse scrambled away, shrieking, "No! Please!"

There was no room for shock or denial in them, it's not as if this had been subtle at any point in time. Just more than enough anger that Ares should come sniffing around hoping for a fight so Percy could stab him somewhere even better this time. Will would have even been happy to cuss up a storm if that would have attracted him faster.

If this were a true memory or just a nightmare becoming reality, the fact was, Percy wasn't going to let it go any farther.

"Foolish girl!"

"Clarisse!" I yelled. "It's an illusion. Stand up to him!"

Deimos's form flickered. "I am Ares!" he insisted. "And you are a worthless girl! I knew you would fail me. Now you will suffer my wrath."

I wanted to charge in and fight Deimos, but somehow I knew it wouldn't help. Clarisse had to do it. This was her worst fear. She had to overcome it for herself.

You could only help someone so much, Magnus well knew from seeing it time and again. If someone didn't want to be helped, they never would change. Clarisse was strong, he wanted her to fight back, but even if she didn't have it in her, Percy would never just stand there and let the worst happen if she couldn't and lived with this forever.

"Clarisse!" I said. She glanced over, and I tried to hold her eyes. "Stand up to him!" I said. "He's all talk. Get up!"

"Unlike his daughter," Thalia agreed savagely. Clarisse was her word. That girl did not postulate and pretend to be the toughest girl at came. She strived for it. A worthy huntress if she'd ever consider it.

"I... I can't."

"Yes, you can. You're a warrior. Get up!"

She hesitated. Then she began to stand.

An old chant came to Nico's mind, one he found himself uttering now. Not quite a summons, more like an empowerment to help the spirits stay longer if you had a need for them or had to wrestle for control. The shadows on the wall danced. They seemed angry, and vengeful, but it didn't scare anyone this time as they swirled about. They wanted to be free of here, not come closer.

"What are you doing?" Ares bellowed. "Grovel for mercy, girl!"

Clarisse took a shaky breath. Very quietly, she said, "No."

"WHAT?"

She raised her sword. "I'm tired of being scared of you."

Deimos struck, but Clarisse deflected the blow. She staggered but didn't fall.

Will felt a burn pass through him, the kind that made the world turn red. Clarisse had earned her father's respect and gotten his blessing, but she should have been granted it here too. How Ares had restrained himself he didn't know, she should have been burning as bright for this as he felt.

"You're not Ares," Clarisse said. "You're not even a good fighter."

"Can Clarisse get disowned for that?" Jason asked with a bit of worry amongst his pride though. He didn't want her to get in even more trouble for making Ares's immortal kids look bad. Percy was one thing, Clairsse could receive his actual wrath.

"I don't care," Percy's grin was too infectious, the kind of bright eyed energy that could take on every Olympian without batting an eye. He'd get his dad to adopt her or something.

Deimos growled in frustration. When he struck again, Clarisse was ready. She disarmed him and stabbed him in the shoulder – not deep, but enough to hurt even a godling.

He yowled in pain and began to glow.

"Look away!" I told Clarisse.

We averted our eyes as Deimos exploded into golden light – his true godly form – and disappeared.

We were alone except for the petting zoo goats, which were tugging at our clothes, looking for snacks.

"Dang it, nobody told me Grover was there in spirit too!" Alex snickered.

"I'm going to throw pellets at you," Jason sighed at her.

"Clarisse would be thanking me for taking those sappy looks off your faces," Alex sniffed with confidence.

The motorcycle had turned back into a horse-drawn chariot.

Clarisse looked at me cautiously. She wiped the straw and sweat off her face. "You didn't see that. You didn't see any of that."

I grinned. "You were great."

"The correct answer, Percy, was 'see what? I didn't see anything!'" Thalia told him in exasperation.

"Didn't get that memo," Percy shrugged. They hadn't seen the surprised smile on her face, and he was used to ignoring what Clarisse said anyways.

She glanced at the sky, which was turning red behind the trees.

"Get in the chariot," Clarisse said. "We've still got a long ride to make."

A few minutes later we reached the Staten Island Ferry and remembered something obvious: we were on an island. The ferry didn't take cars. Or chariots. Or motorcycles.

"Um, it's a godly vehicle," Magnus said blankly. "Are you telling me it obeys the laws of physics and needs a road?"

"I, didn't think to test that theory," Percy admitted. He and Clriasse had definitely been in panic mode by the color of the sky.

...and boy was that new for Magnus pointing this out for once! Alex found herself beaming. Their little boy was growing up!

"Great," Clarisse mumbled. "What do we do now? Ride this thing across the Verrazano Bridge?"

We both knew there wasn't time. There were bridges to Brooklyn and New Jersey, but either way it would take hours to drive the chariot back to Manhattan, even if we could fool people into thinking it was a regular car.

Then I got an idea. "We'll take the direct route."

Clarisse frowned. "What do you mean?"

I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. "Drive straight ahead. Go!"

Clarisse was so desperate she didn't hesitate.

Jason looked so jazzed in his seat, laughing up a storm he tried to read through. "I always knew she'd do great on your quests! She's actually trusted you all day and this is going to be so cool in your next fight when you two team up with Annabeth and the monsters won't know what hit them!"

"Yeah Jace, really looking forward to that," Percy said in exasperation, mostly for his entirely correct and yet way to much enthusiasm for their next deadly adventure on the horizon.

She yelled, "Hiya!" and lashed the horses. They charged straight towards the water. I imagined the sea turning solid, the waves becoming a firm surface all the way to Manhattan. The war chariot hit the surf, the horses' fiery breath smoking all around us, and we rode the tops of the waves straight across New York Harbor.

Magnus missed the days when that would have been the weirdest thing he'd hear in his life. After a moment of consideration though, he found himself instead realizing what he really still missed was Hearth and Blitz. This, this was just something he was indeed used to.

We arrived at Pier 86 just as the sunset was fading to purple. The USS Intrepid, temple of Ares, was a huge wall of grey metal in front of us, the flight deck dotted with fighter aircraft and helicopters. We parked the chariot on the ramp and I jumped out. For once I was glad to be on dry land. Concentrating on keeping the chariot above the waves had been one of the hardest things I'd ever done. I was exhausted.

"I'd better get out of here before Ares arrives," I said.

Clarisse nodded. "He'd probably kill you on sight."

"Pfft, let him try," Alex scoffed with complete confidence.

"Let him not," Percy's tone was a surprise; soft, a tad concerned. The last time he'd pissed that guy off, Zoe had died for it. His sons might not have enacted some curse on his blade before they'd vanished, but for all he knew, Clarisse was going to suffer next for their win this day.

"Congratulations," I said. "I guess you passed your driving test."

"Bet we can't make illegal copies out of that license," Percy sighed in disappointment.

"Bet I know some people who still try," Will groaned, Alex and the Stolls at the top of his list.

She wrapped the reins around her hand. "About what you saw, Percy. What I was afraid of, I mean –"

"I won't tell anybody."

Percy winced, muttering an apology into the universe and still wishing to curse out whatever god had done this to him. Not for his sake, but because Clarisse had no more say in her life being exposed than Annabeth and Grover.

"We promise not to speak of word of this to Clarisse," Thalia offered in return.

"Speak for yourself," Jason still had that crazy smile in place like he was going to demand of her as soon as possible what it had felt like to stab a god and then be in their godly glow. He had Percy's account, but more perspectives could only be better!

Thalia elbowed him, hard, and he yelped in surprise then pouted and muttered a promise along with everyone else they'd take this secret to the grave to stave off embarrassing the poor girl. She'd been through enough.

She looked at me uncomfortably. "Did Phobos scare you?"

"Yeah. I saw the camp in flames. I saw my friends all pleading for my help and I didn't know what to do. For a second, I couldn't move. I was paralyzed. I know how you felt."

Jason looked around at Percy with even higher regards than before in his eyes. Percy could have just said yeah and left it at that making Clriasse feel he was lying considering he'd come to her rescue.

Instead, Percy had somehow given the perfect answer. She could have known he'd needed help to snap out of it too, but Percy had a little to much pride of his own to share that, and if he had Clarisse probably would have thought he was still a liar. He really knew everyone in camp so well, it made him jealous and all the more respectful towards him.

She lowered her eyes. "I, uh... I guess I should say..." The words seemed to stick in her throat. I wasn't sure Clarisse had ever said thank you in her life.

"Don't mention it," I told her.

I started to walk away, but she called out, "Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"When you, uh, had that vision about your friends..."

"You were one of them," I promised. "Just don't tell anybody, okay? Or I'd have to kill you."

A faint smile flickered across her face. "See you later."

"See you."

I headed off towards the subway. It had been a long day, and I was ready to go home.

"All done," Jason said in surprise when he flipped the page and saw a new chapter title.

"Not that this wasn't as thrilling as any other thing we've heard about your life," Magnus said as he got up to get the book, "but why were we shown that again, like this? Aside from getting a day in the life of Clarisse's miserable side of the family, this wasn't anything I'd think we wouldn't have found out about from some passing comment of yours." Then again the books, his memories, whatever, weren't prone to glossing over to much, so perhaps this was just significant for a reason they weren't seeing.

"Don't look at me, I have no idea what order this is going in," Percy shrugged. It would have been nice if that had instead been from Clarisse's perspective to give him a real break. Ah well, he wasn't going to be complaining about one more memory back.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 11: I TAKE THE WORST BATH EVER

Percy took the book from Alex with a significant look at Annabeth. "Hopefully I can get through this one without someone snatching it away from me."

"I was doing your head a favor seaweed brain, don't want it to overheat," she grinned.

"Oh, you think I can't finish a chapter without you," he crossed his arms, crushing his finger in the pages of the book without care. "I've probably read more than you have owl breath."

"Ha," Alex cheered softly under her breath Percy had remembered that one. Magnus tapped her  on the shoulder and whispered softly, "are we supposed to let them keep going?" He only managed to remember the sign for supposed to off the top of his head.

"Eh, I don't see why not," she shrugged.

"You've probably been skipping whole paragraphs and summarizing from memory, it doesn't count!" Annabeth lobbed back.

"Ehhem," Thalia did clear her throat though with an amused smile and ruin their fun. "Percy, if you don't want to read, I'm sure Annabeth will for you."

"Hey, no, what," Percy stammered as he held the book. "I can read fine Thalia!"

"I question it too though," she smirked.

Percy strolled casually back to his seat between the two girls and read the chapter title, enunciating every syllable as if practicing for the first time. It did not help his situation all it caused was a chorus of snickers around the room, Alex even adding in a baby voice, "Forget your rubber duckie there?"

It was kind of nice, Percy shook his head, that no matter what shit he went through, at least someone got a kick out of his misery.

As he tried to properly get started, Annabeth covered his hand with hers. Just there, leaving her overlapping fingers on his while he held the book comfortably. She was so warm he wondered if she had a sunburn or had been carrying around lumps of coal. The truth was he didn't care why she was, he just smiled as he read.

My sword reappeared in my pocket.

Yeah, great timing. Now I could attack the walls all I wanted. My cell had no bars, no windows, not even a door. The skeletal guards shoved me straight through a wall, and it became solid behind me.

"Kinda cool?" Jason offered. "How many solid walls have you gone through without breaking them."

"You're about to find out," Percy rolled his eyes. He hoped Jason was as resistant as the Kool-Aid jar guy, he'd be a little sorry if it actually hurt him.

I wasn't sure if the room was airtight. Probably. Hades's dungeon was meant for dead people, and they don't breathe.

"Why would Hades endungeon dead people?" Magnus looked at him strangely. "He's got the fields of punishment specifically for that."

"Hades special punishment for certain ones to keep them right under his feet," Thalia shivered. "I'm over here praying we don't hear who Percy's neighbors are."

So forget fifty or sixty years. I'd be dead in fifty or sixty minutes.

Nico winced at Percy once again thinking he was going to die any minute, and now it was all his fault. "I'm sorry," he said again, hoping Percy knew he really never meant it to come to this.

'I'm sorry for trusting you,' was still the first thought that crossed Percy's mind, but he sighed. Nico really hadn't done anything unforgivable, and to be fair, he'd been sitting through far worse torture to scrape together his past too with bubblegum and blonde hair. 'It's not the first thought that matters in the end, it's the one you act on,' his mother had once told him kindly as she dabbed at his bleeding lip one to many days after school. 'That's what matters Percy. I'm happy you told him to shut up first, that's who I want you to be next time.' He'd never quite managed to live up to that advice, but he kept trying. "I'm sorry too, I was pretty harsh."

"Well one of you should definitely be sorryier," Thalia kept to herself who she thought that should be, she was trying to be mature and not reignite an argument that wouldn't lead anywhere good; even if she did understand Percy's anger all to well. "But if we just let you two go on like this all day I'll die of boredom."

"Tempting," Percy nodded. "Nico, I'm sorrier- ouch," Thalia had jabbed him in his liver. Or his pancreas. One of those organs that hurt a lot when her fingers hit it!

Annabeth looked rather impressed about it too, wondering to herself if it was some combination of him letting his guard down around someone he trusted to feel it so much and Thalia's stronger than average strength as he looked at her gray eyes in betrayal before moving on.

Meanwhile, if Hades wasn't lying, some big trap was going to be sprung in New York by the end of the day, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

I sat on the cold stone floor, feeling miserable.

I don't remember dozing off. Then again, it must've been about seven in the morning, mortal time, and I'd been through a lot.

"Understatement," Thalia mock whispered.

Nobody even had the heart to play that off with her. It was just to true.

I dreamed I was on the porch of Rachel's beach house in St. Thomas.

"Just for that extra kick in the rear of the life you could have been having," Magnus said in sympathy.

"I feel like if I ever tried to skip out on such a luxury as being trapped in Hades dungeon I'd be hit by a car or something for divine retribution," Percy scowled.

Annabeth shivered in revulsion of such an idea that really could happen to him any day. She'd have to hose him down just to hope to save his life for starters before this curse kept him safe.

The sun was rising over the Caribbean. Dozens of wooded islands dotted the sea, and white sails cut across the water. The smell of salt air made me wonder if I would ever see the ocean again.

Alex was now imagining some convoluted way of Percy getting out of his current predicament by just pulling the ocean water right through the Underworld and flooding his cell along with Hades's entire kingdom in a fit of rage. It was probably a tad delusional, but pretty satisfying all things considered imagining the god of death dripping wet and calling Percy the worst plumber ever.

Rachel's parents sat at the patio table while a personal chef fixed them omelets. Mr. Dare was dressed in a white linen suit. He was reading The Wall Street Journal. The lady across the table was probably Mrs. Dare, though all I could see of her were hot pink fingernails and the cover of Condé Nast Traveler.

Why she'd be reading about vacations while she was on vacation, I wasn't sure.

"She's got to make sure she's listed somewhere as being on the hottest vacation," Thalia said scathingly. "Oh, no, she's already planning the next one, or, or, she's looking to buy another island."

"I feel like if I had that much money I'd do something stupid, like try to buy all the soda companies out and install free drink machines in schools," Percy grinned.

"Yeah!" Thalia said in delight. "Atomic Bomb's for the masses!" They high-fived over their insane drink where they mixed all the fountain sodas together while the other couldn't watch and then dared each other to taste what all had been mixed.

"At least you'd be bringing happiness to children of the world," Annabeth chuckled.

Rachel stood at the porch railing and sighed. She wore Bermuda shorts and her Van Gogh T-shirt.

"Isn't that the guy that cut his ear off?" Will asked.

Percy laughed in delight and told him, "she gets so mad that's the only thing most people know him for. Don't get her started on Prisoner's Round, she'll chew your ear off."

(Yeah, Rachel was trying to teach me about art, but don't get too impressed. I only remembered the dude's name because he cut his ear off.)

Will laughed right along with him now, hoping to bring it up next time he saw her at Camp...assuming he ever saw her again.

I wondered if she was thinking about me, and how much it sucked that I wasn't with them on vacation. I know that's what I was thinking.

Then the scene changed. I was in St. Louis, standing downtown under the Arch.

Annabeth sighed, squeezing Percy's hand in hers. She wanted to ask if he'd ever been tempted to hold Rachle's hand while she'd been in here. She wanted to demand why Percy could dream of her in her swimming suit in a better life when he was at his lowest.

She stubbornly brushed it aside though, her worry for where Rachel actually was outweighing those small details. She'd rather have her in here, where they knew she was actually safe, jealousy and all.

I'd been there before.

In fact, I'd almost fallen to my death there before.

"We really need to take you on a cross-country trip and stop to commemorate all the places you've nearly died. We can bring stickers," Jason said with a painful sounding laugh.

"Sounds like the perfect thing to do the second I get my license," Percy chuckled.

Over the city, a thunderstorm boiled—a wall of absolute black with lightning streaking across the sky.

A few blocks away, swarms of emergency vehicles gathered with their lights flashing. A column of dust rose from a mound of rubble, which I realized was a collapsed skyscraper.

A nearby reporter was yelling into her microphone: "Officials are describing this as a structural failure, Dan, though no one seems to know if it is related to the storm conditions."

Wind whipped her hair. The temperature was dropping rapidly, like ten degrees just since I'd been standing there.

"Thankfully, the building had been abandoned for demolition," she said. "But police have evacuated all nearby buildings for fear the collapse might trigger—"

She faltered as a mighty groan cut through the sky. A blast of lightning hit the center of the darkness. The entire city shook. The air glowed, and every hair on my body stood up. The blast was so powerful I knew it could only be one thing: Zeus's master bolt. It should have vaporized its target, but the dark cloud only staggered backward. A smoky fist appeared out of the clouds. It smashed another tower, and the whole thing collapsed like children's blocks.

The reporter screamed. People ran through the streets. Emergency lights flashed. I saw a streak of silver in the sky—a chariot pulled by reindeer, but it wasn't Santa Claus driving. It was Artemis, riding the storm, shooting shafts of moonlight into the darkness. A fiery golden comet crossed her path . . . maybe her brother Apollo.

One thing was clear: Typhon had made it to the Mississippi River. He was halfway across the U.S., leaving destruction in his wake, and the gods were barely slowing him down.

The mountain of darkness loomed above me. A foot the size of Yankee Stadium was about to smash me when a voice hissed, "Percy!"

Percy was shivering nonstop in his seat by then, like he should have a cold and be sniffling, and they couldn't blame him. Jason had always imagined these dreams as just Percy observing these events, but to suddenly imagine him just standing there, helpless to watch, was the worst thing he could do to him.

I lunged out blindly. Before I was fully awake, I had Nico pinned to the floor of the cell with the edge of my sword at his throat.

Magnus couldn't help but wince at the sheer violence of that action. That kind of stuff probably happened all the time at camp. When kids grew up with their first instinct being to draw a weapon, to see everyone you passed on the street as a threat, this was the inevitable outcome.

Percy pressed his hand to his mouth in horror at what he'd done to him. He looked at his own hands and really hated what he was capable of. What he'd need more of to take out Kronos. Not the kind of take out Nico had apparently wanted to do with him at one point.

Will was squeezing and releasing Nico's shoulder like he was a new pressure cuff as he closed his eyes and clearly swallowed hard against anything he wanted to say about that. Percy was supposed to protect Nico. He wished that had prevailed, but he'd be happy to pick up where his distracted ass left off when he ran into the sunset saving the world.

"Want . . . to . . . rescue," he choked.

Anger woke me up fast. "Oh, yeah? And why should I trust you?"

"No . . . choice?" he gagged.

I wished he hadn't said something logical like that. I let him go.

"Nico's now two for two, winning those logical arguments," Alex said calmly enough, honestly hoping to avoid another fight starting. She liked Nico and Percy to much to pick sides, even if it was pretty tempting to call Oceanus back in here on his terms and strangle him, he'd have to stop and take time to fill them in on the plan. It was just to much to do when right now they all needed a breather.

Nico curled into a ball and made retching sounds while his throat recovered. Finally he got to his feet, eyeing my sword warily. His own blade was sheathed. I suppose if he'd wanted to kill me, he could've done it while I slept. Still, I didn't trust him.

"And why the hell not?" Will tried not to ask through gritted teeth. He forced a smile and really tried to shake off his wavering anger and annoyance. "I get you woke up on the wrong side of the cell Percy, but you're being a tad dramatic."

"Only a tad?" Percy raised an unamused brow. "I've never been a tad anything, maybe I should up my game?"

"Percy, stop instigating Will," Thalia still felt like an over exhausted babysitter as she looked at Annabeth, who was being no help as she sat frowning at the book like nothing else was happening.

"Relax man," Percy rolled his eyes, clearly ignoring Thalia. "I didn't feel any bad sense when I met Nico in here, I obviously forgave him." He said while watching Nico, who was sitting in uncomfortable silence. Percy hadn't actually felt anything to intense upon meeting Nico other than a sense of knowing him, just like Thalia. He honestly wished he had, he'd obviously screwed up in his past by never growing any closer with Nico than he had Thalia, who was off roaming the world half the year. At least she was with friends, her own family. It seemed Nico likely hadn't found that before this catastrophe, and Percy still felt personally responsible he hadn't managed to integrate Nico into camp better, considering his disastrous attempts to go it alone had gone.

"We have to get out of here," he said.

"Why?" I said. "Does your dad want to talk to me again?"

"I'd really hope he would just use Nico to summon you if he wanted to talk though," Annabeth said in exhaustion. "Better than the furies who would just rip you limb from limb and deliver you that way."

"Hades might be a little upset if they did that," Percy mock agreed, "he'd have to talk to each piece of me, and you know none of me would be listening, he'd have to repeat himself a million times. This is better."

Nico managed a laugh, a subdued one, but it rattled loose whatever tension had been left in the room from this ordeal.

He winced. "Percy, I swear on the River Styx, I didn't know what he was planning."

"You know what your dad is like!"

Apparently not as well as he thought he did, Nico winced. That was three consecutive times in Percy's life he'd been duped by someone obviously not with him in mind, granted one of which Percy and Thalia also helped, just far more reluctantly. He really didn't know what he was supposed to do to stop being such a useless idiot.

Percy was still watching him beat himself up over there, and couldn't just sit there. "Look, you obviously knew what you were doing was wrong by not telling me!" He still couldn't help the anger bleeding into his tone. "Just, next time, tell me what's going on Nico, please!"

"I promise," Nico nodded, really meeting his eyes. "I'm sick of always being a problem to you."

"You're not a problem to me Nico," Percy sighed. "You're, just, really naive or something, or trusting, I don't know. Stop hanging around people who get you in trouble." He groaned he sounded like a school counselor.

Nico frowned, because he wasn't going to stop. He still wanted a connection with his dad, he'd still keep visiting gods and that ranch and places Percy probably wouldn't approve of for his own fascination of the world and hopes the places he'd visited in the past weren't just the death and decay he'd left them in.

He glanced at Will. Percy clearly wouldn't want to come and still wouldn't approve, but he wasn't sure he cared anymore, even if a part of him would always crave Percy's approval. Will was already smiling right back.

"He tricked me. He promised—" Nico held up his hands. "Look . . . right now, we need to leave. I put the guards to sleep, but it won't last."

I wanted to strangle him again. Unfortunately, he was right.

"Is this how you feel all the time?" Nico asked Annabeth like every word was sapping more strength from him as this dragged on.

"Pretty similar, yeah," Annabeth grudgingly nodded. "Some days I'd rather build a temple out of spaghetti than try getting him to agree I'm right."

Percy did not like the sudden implication being offered of how similar Nico and Annabeth were and decided he needed to move on from this conversation very loudly.

We didn't have time to argue, and I couldn't escape on my own. He pointed at the wall. A whole section vanished, revealing a corridor.

"Come on." Nico led the way.

I wished I had Annabeth's invisibility hat, but as it turned out, I didn't need it. Every time we came to a skeleton guard, Nico just pointed at it, and its glowing eyes dimmed. Unfortunately, the more Nico did it, the more tired he seemed. We walked through a maze of corridors filled with guards. By the time we reached a kitchen staffed by skeletal cooks and servants, I was practically carrying Nico. He managed to put all the dead to sleep but nearly passed out himself. I dragged him out of the servants' entrance and into the Fields of Asphodel.

Will's heart softened like a gooey marshmallow at a campfire. It didn't matter how angry Percy really had been. He'd just stepped in and helped support him no matter how many times he'd called him a creep. Nex person who complained Percy shouldn't sing along to 'Friendship Saved Pythias', he'd duck tape their mouth shut.

I almost felt relieved until I heard the sound of bronze gongs high in the castle.

"Alarms," Nico murmured sleepily.

"What do we do?"

"What were you hoping he was going to say?" Magnus looked around at Percy in concern. "We should just chill here with a cup of tea, my dad will totally understand."

"Maybe with a little less sarcasm, but yeah Magnus, I would like that," Percy groaned.

He yawned then frowned like he was trying to remember. "How about . . . run?"

"Nico, with the best life advice over here," Jason snorted.

"He could replace Chiron if we're not careful," Thalia chuckled.

"You guys are so hilarious," Nico rolled his eyes affectionately, a very new feeling he hadn't grown tired of.

Running with a drowsy child of Hades was more like doing a three-legged race with a life-size rag doll.

"I could've renamed you Scrump right then," Percy groused, mock rubbing his shoulder as if he was heavier than the actual literal weight of the sky. "I'm pretty sure bugs have laid eggs in your ear at least once!"*

He got a lot of blank stares, and he felt only a tad guilty once again realizing his childhood was still leagues better than half these guys as he'd spent afternoons watching movies with his mom at least sparingly, so he read slightly louder than was necessary.

I lugged him along, holding my sword in front of me. The spirits of the dead made way like the Celestial bronze was a blazing fire.

Will really wanted to suggest next time they just start with that, but even Percy might not have been able to defeat every minion of Hades before they regrew and Nico would have had to do his thing anyways. He just sighed, again, at realizing Nico's powers affected him so badly.

"Could you do that shadow trick now, if we wanted to sneak in and out of somewhere?" Alex asked.

Nico grinned. He really, probably shouldn't have answered like that, but it was sub-par compared to the chaos Alex would wrought with it, so he did anyways. "Not to do anything to crazy. I can only hold my breath so long, and I haven't been able to practice as much as I'd like."

"We'll work on it," Alex chuckled, though Nico got the disturbing idea of Alex telling Percy to drown him until he could indefinitely before he shook it off with the mild comfort he did need slightly less oxygen intake than the average demigod thanks to his dad.

The sound of gongs rolled across the fields. Ahead loomed the walls of Erebos, but the longer we walked, the farther away they seemed. I was about to collapse from exhaustion when I heard a familiar "WOOOOOF!"

Mrs. O'Leary bounded out of nowhere and ran circles around us, ready to play.

The eight shouts of delight for her always popping up when Percy needed her should have caused more alarm than it did, but if that Ocean Titan had anything to say about it, he could to Mrs. O'Leary himself.

"Good girl.'" I said. "Can you give us a ride to the Styx?"

The word Styx got her excited. She probably thought I meant sticks.

"You still owe her and Cerberus so much playtime," Alex nodded. Percy had a feeling Alex was going to follow him around and remind him of that for the rest of his life, possibly engrave it on his tombstone. Unless he committed at least twelve hours a day to this apparent overlap, or invented a stick throwing machine.

She jumped a few times, chased her tail just to teach it who was boss, and then calmed down enough for me to push Nico onto her back. I climb aboard, and she raced toward the gates. She leaped straight over the EZ-DEATH line, sending guards sprawling and causing more alarms to blare. Cerberus barked, but he sounded more excited than angry, like: Can I play too?

Alex would have been the perfect person to be reading this part, Magnus grinned. The enthusiasm and chaos she put into every word that never left anyone in doubt Percy was having the time of his life running away on an adrenaline rush and would probably be back for seconds next week given his luck Percy was sort of lacking as he tried to stay upbeat, but mostly sounded very done.

Fortunately, he didn't follow us, and Mrs. O'Leary kept running. She didn't stop until we were far upriver and the fires of Erebos had disappeared in the murk.

Nico slid off Mrs. O'Leary's back and crumpled in a heap on the black sand.

Nico mock rung out his jacket. "You think your sand gets everywhere? I was finding that stuff literally still clinging to my skin for weeks."

"We all know not to have a beach day in the Underworld Nico, I promise," Percy shrugged.

"Besides, the umbrella's would clash," Alex nodded seriously.

I took out a square of ambrosia—part of the emergency god-food I always kept with me. It was a little bashed up, but Nico chewed it.

"Uh," he mumbled. "Better."

"Your powers drain you too much," I noted.

"Thanks for the update," Nico said with a mild frown. He loved being reminded as many times as possible he was so much weaker and bad at this than Percy. He sighed and let the grumpy thought go. "I honestly don't know why. I feel like I was cursed by some other god, since it's not that bad with you two."

"It's possible, I wouldn't put it past Persephone," Percy agreed in concern. "Or just the way you learned might have screwed you over in the long run."

Nico rolled his eyes. Percy would never let go of the fact that he'd never gone to camp.

"Minos probably wasn't the best teacher, I doubt he really wanted to help," Thalia nodded at Percy.

Nico froze, his mind itching uncomfortably for a moment before he retorted in anger, "he didn't teach me everything I can do!"

"He probably didn't teach you everything you shouldn't do either," Annabeth said simply. "From what I've heard, you always seem to go all out, and passing out isn't all the rest you might need."

Nico tried not to glower at them, none of that sounded like useful advice, but the annoying truth was they weren't wrong either. He'd managed to figure everything out for himself or at the beginning with that ghost. It's not like Percy and Thalia had guides for their powers, they'd figured out their own limits and pushed from there. Maybe it hadn't helped by Minos telling him he didn't have any.

He nodded sleepily. "With great power . . . comes great need to take a nap. Wake me up later."

"Was that a Spider-Man reference?" Will yelped in delight.

"Yeah," Nico grinned. "I like sneaking into those, those ones with cars all over."

"Drive-ins?" Will said in surprise, he'd only heard about those as old-school dates.

"Yeah," Nico nodded, "I hid underneath this minivan that had a whole group of kids to watch. They kept the volume decent, not ear ringing like those huge theaters, and one kid dropped a box of chocolate out the window he didn't want to get out for." Nico's smile was far to happy for describing something so sad. "Anyways, the kids kept talking over the movie telling fun facts, but they got real quiet during that quote and I could tell why, I got shivers," he held up his jacket coated arm with a fond smile like he'd known he was hearing a piece of history. "Did you know he was the first teenage superhero who wasn't a sidekick? And, and that those webs coming out of his wrists he makes himself in the comics? I want to find out what happened and how he lost one of his abilities if I can."

Percy wasn't sure if he should keep reading or get the kid a blanket if that was the highlight of his summer while he'd been having the best times of his life with Rachel having milk-snorting competitions and she kept trying to buy him singing fish that wouldn't shut up about hound dogs as gag gifts.

Nico seemed done talking though. He seemed to have realized they'd gotten completely off topic and was blushing slightly, looking from the book to the floor.

"Whoa, zombie dude." I caught him before he could pass out again.

Not his favorite nickname, Nico internally groaned, but also Percy's warm hands catching him woke him up faster than any godly food ever could. He'd felt more goosebumps all over than a hundred movies could do to him, he'd become suddenly hyper-aware of everything as Percy's green eyes studied him, the way his mouth still ticked in anger, the sudden overpowering scent of the salty ocean, the very distant sounds of that alarm in tune with his heart.

"We're at the river. You need to tell me what to do."

I fed him the last of my ambrosia, which was a little dangerous. The stuff can heal demigods, but it can also burn us to ashes if we eat too much. Fortunately, it seemed to do the trick. Nico shook his head a few times and struggled to his feet.

He'd have told his father to shove it to get out of those warm, steady hands and be able to calm his racing heart, Nico shook his head at his past self. Now Percy probably couldn't stand the idea of touching him without fearing it would somehow attract more feelings.

"My father will be coming soon," he said. "We should hurry."

The River Styx's current swirled with strange objects—broken toys, ripped-up college diplomas, wilted homecoming corsages—all the dreams people had thrown away as they'd passed from life into death. Looking at the black water, I could think of about three million places I'd rather swim.

"Active volcano has to be one of them," Alex said with confidence. 

"It was in the lower thousands," Percy nodded, "right beside quicksand."

"So . . . I just jump in?"

Annabeth looked very much like someone who wanted to swat him in the face with a rolled-up newspaper. "No Percy, you do not just jump in, leap in!, to the River Styx with a cannonball!"

"Not even a swan dive?" He asked with an amused grin. "I bet Nico would give me a fair score since there's no diving board."

"He would not," Nico frowned.

"You're lucky Nico's there to explain to your insane, impulsive, ideas about preparation," she finished in a long exhausted sigh he was actually still alive against all odds.

"You have to prepare yourself first," Nico said, "or the river will destroy you. It will burn away your body and soul."

"Sounds fun," I muttered.

"This is no joke," Nico warned.

One of the many, many times Nico had a love hate relationship with Percy's ability to laugh in the face of death. He could probably rank about three million of his own.

"There is only one way to stay anchored to your mortal life. You have to . . ."

He glanced behind me and his eyes widened. I turned and found myself face-to-face with a Greek warrior.

For a second I thought he was Ares, because this guy looked exactly like the god of war—tall and buff, with a cruel scarred face and closely shaved black hair. He wore a white tunic and bronze armor. He held a plumed war helm under his arm. But his eyes were human—pale green like a shallow sea—and a bloody arrow stuck out of his left calf, just above the ankle.

Even Magnus had heard of this guy, his name was a common enough phrase, but the description still managed to freak him out plenty. "Who is Achilles a child of? Do all demigods get stuck in the way they die?" Nico had said Beckendorf was happy somewhere around there waiting on someone, but now all he could imagine was his body in flames aboard the next cruise ship Percy would try to invade.

"I presume he only appears there in spirit, like a recorded message," Annabeth shook her head, "he's most likely happy somewhere in Elysium, or if he tried for rebirth, the myths don't say. His parentage is just Percy's perception of him, he's actually the child of Peleus and Thetis-"

"He's the child of a dragon?" Magnus yelped, going paler as he expected the guy to be hiding some minotaur hybridization going on if he got angry.

"We named our guardian after the king of Phthia, he was a hero who-"

Percy probably would have let her keep going back five generations and then gone into the guy's mother before he snapped out of his love daze of just staring at her. Thalia probably would have let her too, just because she was not looking forward to another word of this as she slouched more in her seat and pulled out an arrow to start jabbing her ripped jeans. Jason definitely would have let her too because he was having the time of his life, the little nerd. Magnus wasn't exactly engrossed, but he wasn't going to shut her down either as she told an epic story she clearly enjoyed. Will had probably only ever told one person to shut up in his life, and the consequences hadn't been great.

Alex exchanged a look with Nico. Guess they'd have to be the mature ones. How lame. "And then he turned into an invisible cat and started terrorizing neighboring kingdoms!" Alex bluntly interrupted. She felt a little bad for it, but it had to be done.

"That's not-" Annabeth looked around in confusion.

"One story at a time guys," Nico calmly reminded.

"And if there's not at least one talking cat in every story I get bored," Alex shrugged.

"I haven't had a talking cat show up in my life yet," Percy tempted fate, now of all times.

"Don't underestimate the power of my imagination," was Alex's only ominous answer to that.

I stunk at Greek names, but even I knew the greatest warrior of all time, who had died from a wounded heel.

"Achilles," I said.

The ghost nodded. "I warned the other one not to follow my path. Now I will warn you."

"Luke? You spoke with Luke?"

"Do not do this," he said. "It will make you powerful. But it will also make you weak. Your prowess in combat will be beyond any mortal's, but your weaknesses, your failings will increase as well."

Thalia resisted the urge to pull her hood over her head and sink even farther back into her poof. What had Luke's response been to being warned away? Had he claimed he was doing this for victory and glory against the gods? Had he still been insisting he was doing it for them? Either justification made her to sick to care, and yet she still desperately wanted to know.

"You mean I'll have a bad heel?" I said. "Couldn't I just, like, wear something besides sandals? No offense."

Thalia took it out on Percy. "What makes you think if you encased your foot in concrete it still wouldn't be easy for the most basic of monsters to break!"

Percy was unphased. "I like to think I keep them distracted enough it'll just be a mild work around."

"How about when I rip your face off?" She tried to fight off a smile with a scowl.

"Come at me you darned dirty Huntress," Percy chuckled.

Nico understood it was a reference more from Percy's tone than getting why he'd call her that, but he was happy to see he also wasn't the only one who didn't get it as Percy loudly kept reading past any more depressing faces to get to that awful bath with way to much enthusiasm.

He stared down at his bloody foot. "The heel is only my physical weakness, demigod. My mother, Thetis, held me there when she dipped me in the Styx.

"How old was he when his mom did that?" Alex asked in disgust.

"An infant," Annabeth frowned in agreement, "there was a whole prophecy around this that I would have gotten to."

"You would have gotten to the point when Percy gets his shit together," Nico scoffed.

"I have a book with you in it mister, and I'm not afraid to use misquotes," Percy rolled his eyes.

Nico swallowed in horror what Percy could say had come out of his mouth and quickly sat back in his seat.

What really killed me was my own arrogance.

"Well I at least don't have that," Percy mock brushed sweat off his brow. "Crisis averted guys, I think I'm safe!"

He got some mild laughter, but it wasn't really funny. It was slowly becoming apparent to the three not in the know just what exactly Percy was capable of, what he'd done to himself back then in order to be on the same playing field as a Titan. What he'd committed himself to being, just shy of a god.

Beware! Turn back!"

He meant it. I could hear the regret and bitterness in his voice. He was honestly trying to save me from a terrible fate.

And not a lot of people did that for him, Annabeth bit back a sigh. There were just to many gods, to many monsters, to many people who needed something from him, even she wasn't guiltless of needing him as a partner. He could have walked away from this feat of daring, and nobody could have called him selfish for it.

Then again, Luke had been here, and he hadn't turned back.

"That wasn't as motivating as you might think Perce," Jason grimaced as he studied his hands, his tattoo. The things he could have done and would never know about haunted him every other fleeting feeling that came and went from a life he couldn't remember, but apparently shared quite a bit with Percy.

That's why Luke had been able to host the spirit of Kronos without his body disintegrating. This is how he'd prepared himself, and why he seemed impossible to kill. He had bathed in the River Styx and taken on the powers of the greatest mortal hero, Achilles. He was invincible.

Annabeth shivered like ice had just been dumped into her veins. The idea of what he'd gone through by himself had to make her the most worthless hero to ever pretend to be as such. Nico might not be her first pick, but at least Percy had somebody to go through this with! Luke had asked her to, begged her to...and she'd slammed the door in his face.

She wondered if Janus had been laughing at her.

The prophecy couldn't have worked out any other way, she still kept trying to soothe herself months later, but it still sounded like she was lying to herself.

"I have to," I said. "Otherwise I don't stand a chance."

Achilles lowered his head. "Let the gods witness I tried. Hero, if you must do this, concentrate on your mortal point. Imagine one spot of your body that will remain vulnerable. This is the point where your soul will anchor your body to the world. It will be your greatest weakness, but also your only hope. No man may be completely invulnerable. Lose sight of what keeps you mortal, and the River Styx will burn you to ashes. You will cease to exist."

Percy felt like he had a pretty good idea of which spot he'd chosen, as he rubbed the side of his head for the twinge of pain and ignored how his back felt like it had fire ants all along his spine. Particularly the part where Annaebth's nails had recently dug in. The amount of times he'd slammed himself into his seat and felt, an odd sensation, just there. Like a bean shifted around and pinged him in just that spot. It was never something he'd really paid much attention to.

"I don't suppose you could tell me Luke's mortal point?"

"What, I had to ask?" Percy grinned to Annabeth's face.

"Yeah, but, Percy," she sighed in exhaustion at still wondering how he was alive. How on earth had he managed to focus on one thing down in that river to still be alive?! She was about to find out and still found it hard to believe.

He scowled. "Prepare yourself, foolish boy. Whether you survive this or not, you have sealed your doom!"

"Nice chap," Thalia nodded to herself. "Hope he gets lots of tributes and thanks from others he warned away."

"I'll get started on a campfire song for him when we get back," Will chuckled.

With that happy thought, he vanished.

"Percy," Nico said, "maybe he's right."

"This was your idea."

"Which makes it every bit okay for him to admit this was a bad idea, as opposed to other nosy parties," Will grinned.

"I swear he's huffing laughing gas," Percy told Annabeth in mild concern.

"Nah, he's been like that since he got to camp," Annabeth shrugged. "The Stolls had a bet going if he was dropped on his head or something."

Will kept smiling like he hadn't heard a word. Percy wasn't entirely ruling out the Stolls joke. They might have been the one to do it and never admitted it.

"I know, but now that we're here—"

"Just wait on the shore. If anything happens to me . . . Well, maybe Hades will get his wish, and you'll be the child of the prophecy after all."

He didn't look pleased about that, but I didn't care.

Nico shook his head slowly. He could have spent a year trying to describe how much he hadn't been pleased about that! He'd felt like he was watching Bianca abandon him again without a care as Percy hadn't looked back. He'd felt like this was one entire huge mistake on his part and he'd only done it to try and spend time with Percy, expecting him to never go through with it. He'd felt so proud and in awe of this hero he'd never be, always stepping up to every challenge just like Nico knew he would.

And that was just the first few annoyingly contradictory thoughts. He hadn't even begun to think back then what kind of reception he'd get at camp if Juniper had happened to mention the last person Percy was ever seen with.

Before I could change my mind,

Percy barely took a breath before he decided to share one of the most intimate parts of himself, like he had been all along without much care. The truth was, he'd felt like any of them could have killed him and never known the difference until the weapon wouldn't work. No matter what feeling he'd had sitting along side them, he'd never felt like he was more than them.

I concentrated on the small of my back—a tiny point just opposite my navel. It was well defended when I wore my armor. It would be hard to hit by accident, and few enemies would aim for it on purpose. No place was perfect, but this seemed right to me, and a lot more dignified than, like, my armpit or something.

"Okay, wait, just," Alex finally managed to say while waving her hand through her muffled laughter. "There's a lot to process there, just, give me a second"

"No," Percy rolled his eyes, entirely joking. He just knew Alex would have something to say about that part.

"I'm still kind of stuck on the, hard to hit when wearing armor part," Jason admitted while Alex was still trying to collect herself. "I can count on one hand the amount of times you've worn armor, and they were all playing capture the flag. Otherwise, you never seem to get the chance." Why he never brought it on quests was sort of understandable, it would just slow him down in most cases when Percy fought so all over the place and he healed relatively quickly with water available, but still. During the greatest battle of his life didn't seem the best place to suddenly be trying to work around unpracticed techniques.

The spot was news to Thalia, and it of course spurred her into suggesting, "we should get you, like, one of those orange traffic cones and strap it to your left arm, that way people will aim there first."

"Okay, okay, I'm good now," Alex finally managed to catch her breath from laughing at imagining Percy getting stabbed in the armpit as his one vulnerable mortal spot left...which Percy couldn't find as funny for some reason. It made his head hurt. Alex still had to get one last breath before she could say, "you picked a great spot Percy!"

"Thanks," Percy said in surprise. He didn't think he'd ever heard Alex compliment someone before.

Alex sounded sincere too, but she still had an odd smirk on her face that made Percy feel like he was missing something as Magnus and Alex exchanged a look.

Did Percy really not see the irony? Magnus thought for himself as he shrugged and looked away. Achilles had just warned it would not only make him more powerful, but his weaknesses too. Percy's major weakness was his trust in others and his willingness to do anything for them...and now his literal one weak spot was getting stabbed in the back which he only exposed to those he trusted. This could possibly end very badly if he'd ever shared word of this with anyone before them.

Annabeth shook her head at these guys getting a laugh out of this while her hand twitched to cover that spot on him, possibly sew her hand there permanently.

I pictured a string, a bungee cord connecting me to the world from the small of my back. And I stepped into the river.

Imagine jumping into a pit of boiling acid. Now multiply that pain times fifty. You still won't be close to understanding what it felt like to swim in the Styx.

"Better or worse than the lava?" Jason asked clincially.

"On a scale of one to ten doc? It hurt! Don't recommend!" Percy scoffed.

I planned to walk in slow and courageous like a real hero.

"Percy, taking his dramatics all the way to the bank," Alex snorted.

Will at least laughed at the pun, and the callback.

As soon as the water touched my legs, my muscles turned to jelly and I fell face-first into the current.

I submerged completely. For the first time in my life, I couldn't breathe underwater. I finally understood the panic of drowning.

Thalia winced, and then turned a glare on Percy. It really was too common to him he didn't even blink, because that was a scary face. "I feel like you're mocking me! What is it with you nearly dying in liquid lately?"

"Trust me Thalia, when I'm mocking you, I make sure you know," Percy said. It wasn't an experience he'd ever wish for again, he swallowed hard and rubbed at his throat. The burning hadn't just been on every woven inch of his skin like Athena herself was practicing her newest weave on his entire body, it had gone deeper, to a burning in his lungs. Worse than choking, worse than fear holding his breath, it was a kind of inescapable menace that would not let him breathe he'd never known he was capable of being afraid of until it was to late.

Every nerve in my body burned. I was dissolving in the water. I saw faces—Rachel, Grover, Tyson, my mother—but they faded as soon as they appeared.

"Percy," my mom said. "I give you my blessing."

"Be safe, brother!" Tyson pleaded.

"Enchiladas!" Grover said. I wasn't sure where that came from, but it didn't seem to help much.

I was losing the fight.

"You are so lucky I wasn't there to kick your ass the second you got out of there," Annabeth's voice was tense, cracking with stress. She didn't care she was holding his hand so tight she was getting a cramp, because he was holding right back as he studied every press of their skin together to keep the air coming in. To remind his brain and eyes he wasn't stuck in there now.

The pain was too much. My hands and feet were melting into the water, my soul was being ripped from my body. I couldn't remember who I was. The pain of Kronos's scythe had been nothing compared to this.

The cord, a familiar voice said. Remember your lifeline, dummy!

"I was wondering when you were going to show up!" Thalia nodded, her face a little to pale to really be joking, but smiling at Annabeth all the same like a proud big sister. "No wonder he asked about you before we even cracked open his first memory." She wasn't surprised in the slightest it was Annabeth who had pulled him free of that death. The question still haunted her; who had Luke seen? What had pulled him out of that river of unforgiving loss? Her? Annabeth? Kronos?

"What?" Annabeth blinked fuzzily at her, then Percy, interrupting Thalia's train of thought as well as she always had.

Percy wasn't even blushing, he just smiled casually at her. "Yeah, I uh, you were the only memory I had when I woke up in here. Everything else only came back because, well," he gestured to the multicolored books.

Now Annabeth was blushing. Her mouth fell open in an adorable O shape, Percy grinned as he watched her. The red in her cheeks made the plump skin pink, it was creeping all the way down her neck. He didn't see why she was so surprised. It wasn't his mom or Rachel he'd longed to have on this hectic mess of his life this whole time.

Suddenly there was a tug in my lower back. The current pulled at me, but it wasn't carrying me away anymore. I imagined the string in my back keeping me tied to the shore.

"Hold on, Seaweed Brain." It was Annabeth's voice, much clearer now. "You're not getting away from me that easily."

The cord strengthened.

I could see Annabeth now—standing barefoot above me on the canoe lake pier. I'd fallen out of my canoe. That was it. She was reaching out her hand to haul me up, and she was trying not to laugh. She wore her orange camp T-shirt and jeans. Her hair was tucked up in her Yankees cap, which was strange because that should have made her invisible.

"You are such an idiot sometimes." She smiled. "Come on. Take my hand."

Memories came flooding back to me—sharper and more colorful. I stopped dissolving. My name was Percy Jackson. I reached up and took Annabeth's hand.

It wasn't even a 'real memory' Percy was getting back, as he touched his belly button in stunned silence as he took it all in. He read that passage again, three times in a row, as he felt such a headrush like she'd kissed him again for the first time. It might not have ever happened, that specific thing his mind had made up, but it was the most real memory he'd ever get back now. The rest didn't matter. What Kronos had tried and failed to do was an unimportant side note now.

He looked over at Annabth's stunned face and grinned.

Percy had grown up so much from that drooling little twelve year old. It was the only thing her mind would grasp on, like someone had just sprung a test on her and demanded the right answer. All she could think was sneaking into that nursing room in her cap as Chiron stepped out to have a word with Argus. Seeing the dried drool on his chin and picking up the bowl of pudding as he began to awaken.

All she'd wanted from him was answers. A way to get out of camp. A child of Zeus was there to get her out on her quest like the very one who had led her in. She'd been planning their victory and how to get that bolt back before she even met him.

Then she met him.

Reading against his memories the other night had felt like trying to see double, like reading with a concussion (which she had plenty of experience trying.) There was no set moment for him where he'd decided that she was tolerable and trustworthy and the best friend he'd ever had and his lifeline!

They were still holding hands, of course. For a moment, she let herself believe they'd never have to stop.

Suddenly I burst out of the river. I collapsed on the sand, and Nico scrambled back in surprise.

'Fylgja,' Alex wasn't too surprised at the word that came to mind as she kept watching Percy read and Annabeth stare at him with the most loving face no artist could ever perfectly capture, it was to deep to fully engrave into a still life, no matter how hard they tried. Soulmates. There was a Greek myth too she'd come across while trying to learn about her own, how all people had been a kind of two-for-one before Zeus split them in jealousy. It wasn't anything she'd ever put much stock in before she flipped the page, to hokey for her worldview.

She found herself glancing at Magnus. She wanted to share another look at these two, this room they'd got stuck in, being a literal whole other world apart from their personal Ragnarok in the making.

Instead she felt like a wrecking ball had been flung into her at the usual sweet, dopy smile on his face she'd been growing to enjoy amped up to twenty. Magnus was genuinely happy for his cousin, over there blushing and wringing her hands, then running them through her hair as she tried to stammer to Percy he meant that much to her too.

Alex turned sharply away before that wrecking ball could swing back around like a possessed boomerang, but her heart thudding painfully in her chest wasn't adrenaline. She knew it was to late. She just wouldn't go through this again.

"Are you okay?" he stammered. "Your skin. Oh, gods. You're hurt!"

My arms were bright red. I felt like every inch of my body had been broiled over a slow flame.

I looked around for Annabeth, though I knew she wasn't here. It had seemed so real.

He'd come shooting out of there like he had a bad sunburn and the most adorably bewildered look on his face like a lost puppy, only emphasized when his dog had come over and gave him a gentle lick. Percy's thoughts finally explained away why he'd had been squinting around as if he'd never seen the place before, why he'd looked right through Nico as usual while he'd been beating himself up over the fact that he'd just killed Percy.

Nico turned away without interest to linger on that, for once, as he turned to Will and whispered, "so, did you see that Spiderman movie?" It was still so weird and an odd rush to have a conversation that didn't involve Percy, or saving the world, or his creepy death powers.

"That one and the sequel, we have them on a VHS in the Big House," Will nodded. "Chiron's got a box of about a dozen. The Star Wars ones are my favorite. I think Chiron likes those super hero movies that have schlocky happy endings. I'd love to figure out how to hunt down some comics too though to see what else could be out there, but I've never even braved going into the city, um, again after all, well this."

He waved awkwardly at the book with a shy smile, expecting Nico to roll his eyes and proclaim himself an expert on street travel. He could probably brag about having tried every style of pizza right from the source or something equally cool.

"I get that," Nico nodded as Percy finally shook himself out of his stooper and tried to keep going. Simple as that. Will still felt a bit like a coward and meant to make a hasty promise he'd like to try...but honestly he wasn't sure if he was ready for that himself. He didn't know how close he'd get to the Williamsburg Bridge before he'd have a panic attack. Being down here was as far as he'd traveled from Camp since then, and it had long since started wearing on him.

"I'm fine . . . I think." The color of my skin turned back to normal. The pain subsided. Mrs. O'Leary came up and sniffed me with concern. Apparently I smelled really interesting.

She'd wined in the back of her throat as her enormous nose nudged him, Percy frowned in remembrance. He'd tried to tell her it was okay, but the words had sounded garbled on his throat as he looked up at her big confused black eyes, her tail low beneath her legs. He wondered if he just smelled interesting, or strange, or different. He wondered if he'd smelled something like Deadelus in his foreign body and she thought she was about to lose another friend.

"Do you feel stronger?" Nico asked.

Before I could decide what I felt, a voice boomed, "THERE!"

An army of the dead marched toward us.

At least he said us, Nico noticed with interest. Percy didn't distrust him and hate him so much he didn't still count him as some kind of backup.

"I'm going to kill your dad," Annabeth sighed, with nobody in doubt who she meant. She said that way to casually too. She really was way to much like Percy, Jason shivered at the idea of saying something as wily as that.

Nico just nodded like this didn't surprise him. He knew she didn't mean it...probably, but she still wasn't happy about this either.

A hundred skeletal Roman legionnaires led the way with shields and spears. Behind them came an equal number of British redcoats with bayonets fixed. In the middle of the host, Hades himself rode a black-and-gold chariot pulled by nightmare horses, their eyes and manes smoldering with fire.

"Impressive," Alex tugged on his her with mild disinterest though. "Is that what he plans on holding Kronos back with though? Bunch of things that only have a spine but no guts?"

"Haha," Will chuckled.

"Like I said, Kronos would have crushed him, delusional, godly, idiot he was," Percy fell off into grumbles of annoyance, which wasn't leading to great listing material for them until he fixed himself in vaguely more detailed enunciation.

"You will not escape me this time, Percy Jackson!" Hades bellowed. "Destroy him!"

"Father, no!" Nico shouted, but it was too late.

"You get credit for trying," Thalia sighed.

"Thanks," Nico still said in surprise. He wouldn't have thought someone who cared so much about Percy would even give him that again so soon.

The front line of Roman zombies lowered their spears and advanced.

Mrs. O'Leary growled and got ready to pounce. Maybe that's what set me off. I didn't want them hurting my dog.

Nico had rarely seen her eyes burn red like they had. She'd looked so much like the kind of hellhound he'd seen all over the place in the labyrinth it had stunned him into silence for a moment, remembering what she really was capable of, much like her owner.

Of course it was that, Will nodded without a drop of surprise. The slightest thing could cause Percy to go into attack mode, just like Achilles had warned, just like they'd been living through in here. If Percy felt like anybody he cared about was in danger, there wouldn't be a trace left.

Plus, I was tired of Hades being a big bully. If I was going to die, I might as well go down fighting.

"That's one hell of a way to test if, 'it worked,'" Magnus went from rubbing his temples at the CGI army playing in his head of all those weapons of the dead facing Percy, sitting casually in front of him and probably not dead, to lifting his fingers and using quotation marks on Percy with a deadpan stare.

Percy spread his arms wide in triumph, but his smile seemed plenty confused like he had no more clue how he'd managed to pull it off.

I yelled, and the River Styx exploded. A black tidal wave smashed into the legionnaires. Spears and shields flew everywhere. Roman zombies began to dissolve, smoke coming off their bronze helmets.

The redcoats lowered their bayonets, but I didn't wait for them. I charged.

It was the stupidest thing I've ever done.

"In a long, long, long, long line of stupid," Alex agreed with nothing but pride and confidence. Lucky for him, Percy was sitting right there. Percy was rubbing his heart and didn't feel that great about his never ending near deadly stunts. With any luck, this would be the last. Wait. Never mind. Kronos. That was the whole point of dealing with this.

A hundred muskets fired at me, point blank. All of them missed.

"Missed," Jason said with a hungry look in his eyes on the book. "No, Percy, you've deflected bullets before. I don't think missed, is the right word there."

Percy took Riptide in his hand, the first time he'd done so since that disastrous war council when Annabeth had convinced him it wasn't needed, the longest he'd ever gone in here without having it in his grasp honestly. He studied the plain black pen and shrugged as he pocketed it again, his thumb to busy stroking Annabeth's to care much; meanwhile Annabeth was mouthing the word 'deflected' with a concerned look around nobody felt up to explaining in detail lest it cause her to go into another rampage on long dead ghosts.

I crashed into their line and started hacking with Riptide. Bayonets jabbed. Swords slashed. Guns reloaded and fired. Nothing touched me.

I whirled through the ranks, slashing redcoats to dust, one after the other. My mind went on autopilot: stab, dodge, cut, deflect, roll. Riptide was no longer a sword. It was an arc of pure destruction.

Nico's own imagination and wildest dreams couldn't have conjured up such a feat as Percy had performed down there. He'd fought like a demon, he'd been a blur of movement and Nico had never felt such a powerful surge of mingled longing and fear upon watching him. This nutjob had nearly killed him. This guy called him a traitor, when he had moves like that all along and his sister had still died? All the river had done was amplify what had always been inside him. This guy was a god-slayer who had swept Nico off his feet before he even knew what all that entailed.

He wondered how his dad would feel if he put a stained glass image of this up somewhere in his castle.

I broke through the enemy line and leaped into the black chariot. Hades raised his staff. A bolt of dark energy shot toward me, but I deflected it off my blade and slammed into him. The god and I both tumbled out of the chariot.

"What is it with you and chariot jacking?" Will had such a torn look on his face, like he was fighting the urge not to throw offerings at Percy's feet and laugh at the level of insanity he'd just heard. He'd seen it briefly in action, he'd heard mightly tales. This was probably as close as he'd get to living the experience, and he was entirely okay with that.

"Making them get off their high horse," Percy nodded like Will had said something perfectly normal other than Percy's second instance of dethroning gods.

The next thing I knew, my knee was planted on Hades's chest. I was holding the collar of his royal robes in one fist, and the tip of my sword was poised right over his face.

Percy tried to ignore the squirming of his stomach as his body still remembered holding Nico down and nearly choking him, gods knew how many other kids he'd scared senseless in camp over the years just by kicking butt in the arena or capture the flag.

He kept trying to tell himself he'd had to do this, he'd had to make himself like this where defeating one of the eldest gods was now practically easy and something he could do as mindlessly as eat. A necessary evil. Like his mom having Gabe in their lives, or his dad avoiding him until he needed something.

It wasn't making him feel better, it was just a fact.

Silence. The army did nothing to defend their master. I glanced back and realized why. There was nothing left of them but weapons in the sand and piles of smoking, empty uniforms. I had destroyed them all.

That was the kind of power now in Kronos's hands, Jason grimly understood. Why he hadn't marched out of the sea and demolished camp the moment he'd come out of the Styx Jason didn't know, but it made a fear clamp so tight in him he expected to be constipated for weeks.

This? This really was just another in a long list of insane things Percy had done. Like Annabeth still hadn't stopped yammering about her favorite Greek hero, except he was right here muttering something about getting a snack in between sentences like they hadn't just had a break while the book of his life sat casually on his knee and he held hands with his girlfriend. The real question was, what was waiting for them above when Percy got all caught up.

Hades swallowed. "Now, Jackson, listen here. . . ."

He was immortal. There was no way I could kill him, but gods can be wounded. I knew that firsthand, and I figured a sword in the face wouldn't feel too good.

"Just because I'm a nice person," I snarled, "I'll let you go. But first, tell me about that trap!"

Hades melted into nothing, leaving me holding empty black robes.

"Ares didn't leave you a spoil of war," Magnus stammered like his brain was processing the idea of getting one of those from a god! Like, that was an actual, thing, Percy had just done. The guy across the room!

"Ares is a sore loser, Hades is a little above him I guess," Percy shrugged without much care why.

I cursed and got to my feet, breathing heavily. Now that the danger was over, I realized how tired I was. Every muscle in my body ached. I looked down at my clothes. They were slashed to pieces and full of bullet holes, but I was fine. Not a mark on me.

Nico's mouth hung open. "You just . . . with a sword . . . you just—"

"I think the river thing worked," I said.

"Thanks for the update man, really needed that," Jason snorted.

"Just want to make sure you're all keeping up, since my reading skills are so poor apparently," Percy said with 'A Look' at Annabeth.

She batted her eyes innocently, and said in a sugary sweet voice, "You're doing great sweetie, almost done with your part!"

His stomach swooped with joy at the mock encouragement. He squeezed her hand and smirked at her sarcasm before moving on casually.

"Oh gee," he said sarcastically. "You think?"

Mrs. O'Leary barked happily and wagged her tail. She bounded around, sniffing empty uniforms and hunting for bones. I lifted Hades's robe. I could still see the tormented faces shimmering in the fabric.

I walked to the edge of the river. "Be free."

I dropped the robe in the water and watched as it swirled away, dissolving in the current.

That was somehow an even bigger sacrifice than the Nemean Lion's coat had been, Thalia smiled at Percy, and he hadn't even made it as one. Just Percy, casually helping even damned souls without a second thought instead of pausing for even a second to wonder what powers he might also have with that godly bit of robe.

"Go back to your father," I told Nico. "Tell him he owes me for letting him go.

"Because that'll go great I'm sure!" Alex chuckled in excitement which fury was going to get a one way trip to the surface world through a new geyser when Hades ever heard Percy's name again.

"Not so much," Nico muttered quietly enough only she heard, causing her grin to somehow flicker with extra excitement for a moment, and then fade in dread as she frowned at Nico intensely why he'd know that in such a way. Gods, Hades hadn't imprisoned Nico for his part in all this had he? Percy was going to be the least of that Underdoof's problems if so.

Find out what's going to happen to Mount Olympus and convince him to help."

Percy stared intensely at Nico for a long time. Nico braced himself and felt the need to throw Will to the ground and cover him if Percy got too zealous struggling to not remember that this had worked, against all odds he and his father had actually managed the impossible and done just this to help-

Percy glanced at Annabeth and shook his head like a fly was annoying him before he kept reading. Nico silently cussed out that old Titan in his head they'd been dealing with this crap all along when she was all it had taken for them to get through this without nearly dying!

Nico stared at me. "I . . . I can't. He'll hate me now. I mean . . . even more."

Will looked to Nico with nothing but concern and sadness in his eyes. He clearly wanted to ask how that was going now a days.

Nico bit down on his lip hard to stop himself flinging his whole heart into Will's shoulder and admitting it had its ups and downs. His dad still compared him to Bianca, but now that he'd managed to get his own Cabin in camp there were some days where he even smiled at Nico and complimented him on his mild in comparison successes before he went back to pretending he didn't exist, lest he see the ghost of Maria Di Angelo in him.

"You have to," I said. "You owe me too."

His ears turned red. "Percy, I told you I was sorry. Please . . . let me come with you. I want to fight."

"Oh, we know you can fight," Annabeth's tone was light enough, still a bit guarded. "The true measure of a king is how well you can negotiate though," she said with a thinly veiled smile. She wasn't really mocking him, but his ghost king title was all she really knew of him too aside from what Percy told her.

"You'll be more help down here."

"You mean you don't trust me anymore," he said miserably.

Percy wanted to deny that, but the truth was he wasn't one hundred percent sure about what Nico would be willing to do anymore, not enough to bring him back to camp. If Hades promised him ghost time with his mom or his sister, who would he sell out next?

Nico still looked sad, under Will's arm. His brown eyes on the ground, not bothering to look at him like he was hoping that had changed. Percy wanted it to though.

"Hey, when this is over," Percy tried to say like he wasn't forcing out every word okay-ish. "I'd like to hear if you found out more." He really meant that too. He did still want to help.

"Thanks," Nico looked around at him, smiling in surprise. Truthfully he didn't know if there was anything left to learn, but he had no problems telling Percy what there was. He might like a little more closure on Bianca's story. Thalia too. Return the gift he'd had forced upon him at any rate.

I didn't answer. I didn't know what I meant. I was too stunned by what I'd just done in battle to think clearly.

"Just go back to your father," I said, trying not to sound too harsh. "Work on him. You're the only person who might be able to get him to listen."

"That's a depressing thought." Nico sighed.

"Well nobody else is clearly even going to bother trying," Magnus rolled his eyes hard. "Not the Goddess of Cereal, and certainly not his grumpy wife. You might be all that's left Nico, but that just means you're also the only hope for it, which tends to get the job done."

Nico chuckled. He didn't want to give anything away about Magnus being right, but he worried at times like this a little of his father's madness had rubbed off on him when he agreed with stuff like that.

"All right. I'll do my best. Besides, he's still hiding something from me about my mom. Maybe I can find out what."

Nico bit back a sigh it still hadn't been as much as he would have liked. He knew her name now, her face, how and why she'd died, but it never felt like enough. Why couldn't he have a book with all of his memories back? One's with a life before that first hotel got turned into smithereens, with happy memories he didn't have to wake up from, or taunting dreams he never knew were real.

He felt trapped in his own Greek myth. Far from being the hero of course, but a life lesson somewhere in his tale about asking for more than he deserved. He'd walked away from his tidbits of knowledge with his sanity intact and left free to roam to his heart's content. Maybe it was time to put it all away, stop chasing more leads in the ghost's whispers of Tartarus and Jason's camp and try to find something new to be happy with. Maybe he could break the cycle of tragedy like Percy managed if he just found someone to be happy with without looking for more trouble.

Though it didn't seem to be getting Percy out of much trouble lately.

"Good luck. Now Mrs. O'Leary and I have to go."

"Where?" Nico said.

I looked at the cave entrance and thought about the long climb back to the world of the living. "To get this war started. It's time I found Luke."

Annabeth had been leaning on Percy's shoulder at the last paragraph, mock mouthing the words along with him with a mischievous smile, but he only got a heartbeat to smile with her when he looked up at the last word to see it all vanish from her face like someone was snatching her away all over again.

She looked like she was about to call him a coward, or worse as she grabbed the book out of his hands hastily. Her thick blonde hair fell across her face, hiding it from sight as she held the red object in both hands securely.

Percy didn't understand what in Tartarus he was supposed to do as he threw his hands up and would have rather been trapped on a merry-go-round than this.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*You cannot convince me Lilo and Stich isn't Percy's favorite childhood movie. He would've empathized with her so much with their imaginations leaving them as outsiders, and then she gets the coolest best friend ever. Stitch is blue, destructive, and with a heart of gold. There is a secret fanfiction story hidden in Percy's head of Stitch's ship landing in New York and konking Gabe on the head and then the two being best friends forever and I will not be writing it.

But do let me know what movie you imagine Percy sitting around watching. Which would he want to watch with Annabeth first?

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 7: WE MEET THE GOD WITH TWO FACES

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it! For everyone else, here is an extra chapter this week to celebrate this mundane Thursday!

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Will was whistling cheerfully to himself as he flipped to the next chapter like he wasn't about to read of the most evil place right beneath his camp. Nico had spent immeasurable hours down there feeling so alone and wishing for Percy's company and the stupid jokes he'd crack and the great, protective warrior he was to help him.

Looking back on the running, terror, broken bones and constant isolation left him unsurprised how different he was from those around him in retrospect. His first friend had been a ghost who deceived him.

It was a nice thought for a moment as Will read the chapter title, that at least as he remembered the stenches and adrenaline rushes of his own in to vivid detail to come right along with Percy, at least he'd come out with friends now.

Alex's eyes were alight at once with whom Percy was set to meet next. "If I could vote for you to kill a god, it'll be this one!"

"Alex, no," Magnus said in vain once more.

"Where's the downside?" He demanded. "Nobody would ever get stabbed in the back again, the worst of cowardly moves!"

"That's not how that works, in the slightest," Thalia sadly corrected. "Just because you killed Zeus doesn't mean lightning wouldn't flash through the sky and storms wouldn't come." Though she suspected it was happening above at just the hypothesis being put in the world.

Percy got an amused look in place as he imagined Zeus in his chair spitting out his drink and glancing around suspiciously.

"Poo," Alex huffed. It was actually a bit worrisome a two-face god was going to get one over on Percy instead, as nice as he was. He swore right then if this god resembled Quintus for one second he'd have to face facts on that answer.

We made it a hundred feet before we were hopelessly lost.

"Life goals. I can't make it down the block half the time without forgetting where I'm going some days," Jason said sardonically.

"It's a maze," Thalia rolled her eyes, "and Percy! It's a miracle he didn't get lost turning around."

"Your faith in me is instilling," but Percy's voice was nothing but accepting facts.

The tunnel looked nothing like the one Annabeth and I had stumbled into before. Now it was round like a sewer,

"If you actually run into a ninja turtle, I will take back every crack I ever said about you," Alex promised.

"Eh, depends on which one," Magnus mock agreed.

I shined a light through one of the portholes out of curiosity,

"Your soul animal is officially a cat Percy," Will chuckled.

"I still say it's seaweed," Thalia scoffed.

but I couldn't see anything. It opened into infinite darkness.

I thought I heard voices on the other side, but it may have been just the cold wind.

"Already understanding why Chris lost his mind down there," Jason muttered.

Annabeth tried her best to guide us. She had this idea that we should stick to the left wall.

"If we keep one hand on the left wall and follow it," she said, "we should be able to find our way out again by reversing course."

"Good in theory," Nico was already shaking his head though, "not an execution that can be followed." Which she already knew from her studying, mildly annoying him why she thought she was smarter than this place already.

Unfortunately, as soon as she said that, the left wall disappeared. We found ourselves in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out, and no idea how we'd gotten there.

Magnus made a very loud, awkward laugh that died quickly at this place literally mocking them in the face. It wasn't funny, but he wasn't screaming in terror, so this was better, right?

"Um, which way did we come in?" Grover said nervously.

"Just turn around," Annabeth said.

"If there is a brick wall behind you I will have no choice but to really laugh," Alex promised.

We each turned toward a different tunnel. It was ridiculous. None of us could decide which way led back to camp.

"Trippy, I actually like that answer better," Alex still laughed any ways.

"At least somebody does," Percy sighed.

"Left walls are mean," Tyson said.

"Tyson, still holding strong with the best lines in these," Jason applauded, and they couldn't decide how much sarcasm was in that.

"Which way now?"

Annabeth swept her flashlight beam over the archways of the eight tunnels. As far as I could tell, they were identical. "That way," she said.

"No consensus huh?" Thalia chuckled. "No voting, not even a flip of a coin?"

"Annabeth was our compass," Percy shrugged without surprise.

"I'm going to encase you in a magnet one of these days so you have to figure something out for yourself," Thalia mock threatened.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Deductive reasoning."

"So...you're guessing."

"Just come on," she said.

"See, exactly the plan I would have had. Bring the magnet on!" Percy laughed.

"Only you," Thalia shook her head at these two.

The tunnel she'd chosen narrowed quickly. The walls turned to gray cement, and the ceiling got so low that pretty soon we were hunching over. Tyson was forced to crawl.

"Poor guy," Will frowned, "I bet he was carrying all the heavy stuff too."

"If he could have smashed his way to the surface I wouldn't blame him," Percy agreed.

Grover's hyperventilating was the loudest noise in the maze. "I can't stand it anymore," he whispered. "Are we there yet?"

"Thalia, your kid wants you," Percy smirked.

"On the weekends he's still yours," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"We started this quest on a Thursday!"

"I'm taking an extended vacation," she said with an unamused air, this joke had officially gone to a level that wasn't funny as images of her mom came to mind.

"We've been down here maybe five minutes," Annabeth told him.

"It's been longer than that," Grover insisted.

"I actually believe him on that, considering it was a few minutes to you but hours last time," Will nodded.

"And time means very little down there," Nico needlessly reminded.

"And a magical satyr thing that knows the time of the day too probably," Magnus rolled his eyes.

"And why would Pan be down here? This is the opposite of the wild!"

"I bet he got lost too," Percy said in something close to sympathy.

We kept shuffling forward. Just when I was sure the tunnel would get so narrow it would squish us, it opened into a huge room. I shined my light around the walls and said, "Whoa."

"The good kind or the bad kind?" Magnus already had a pit in his stomach no matter the answer, with Percy one could easily mean the other.

"The mildly impressive kind," Percy shrugged with a small grin.

The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures were grimy and faded, but I could still make out the colors—red, blue, green, gold. The frieze showed the Olympian gods at a feast. There was my dad, Poseidon, with his trident, holding out grapes for Dionysus to turn into wine. Zeus was partying with satyrs, and Hermes was flying through the air on his winged sandals. The pictures were beautiful, but they weren't very accurate. I'd seen the gods. Dionysus was not that handsome, and Hermes's nose wasn't that big.

"Yeah, but like," Will was shaking with suppressed laughter, "if you knew the gods were real, you wouldn't question how they wanted to be painted."

"I can't draw, I wouldn't know," Percy rolled his eyes. Even if he tried doodling stick figures, he wouldn't exactly be doing his best to care.

Jason didn't hear them, there was a low buzzing in his ears. Something about the way that was described, something he'd been absently wondering but didn't know how to put into words until this moment. That sounded Roman. Should he know this labyrinth existed? He was certain he'd never been in, but finally, at this moment, he had the tiniest bit of a guess wondering if he'd ever tried to find this place.

In the middle of the room was a three-tiered fountain. It looked like it hadn't held water in a long time.

"That was the part you said whoa too, another fountain," Alex smirked.

"Guilty, I still felt bad about mine," Percy grinned.

"What is this place?" I muttered. "It looks—"

"Roman," Annabeth said. "Those mosaics area about two thousand years old."

"It must be exhausting knowing everything," Nico huffed.

"Probably," Will said innocently. The Athena cabin was the worst about asking for help, but when he saw one to many sleepless nights on them, he was a tad guilty about slipping something into their meals and blaming it on Travis and Connor's pranks.

"But how can they be Roman?" I wasn't that great on ancient history, but I was pretty sure the Roman Empire never made it as far as Long Island.

"And you think the Greeks did?" Magnus asked in concern. The whole point of these odd books was their never ending migration here and how that mingled in.

"I didn't think they brought souvenirs from the Roman Empire that toppled them," Percy rolled his eyes while Jason looked like he was swallowing his teeth one by one in consternation.

Thalia cleared her throat sharply to keep them moving fast when she saw.

"The Labyrinth is a patchwork," Annabeth said. "I told you, it's always expanding, adding pieces. It's the only work of architecture that grows by itself."

"I wish those words to never be spoken in that order again," Magnus groaned.

"That is so cool!" Alex yelped.

"Or those," Magnus huffed, it never meant anything good in this lot.

"Like, like Daedalus really built a second layer into the earth that's as alive as this planet!"

"Man was a mad genius," Percy agreed with a kind of awesome dread as he pictured someone in a white lab coat with lightning crackling screaming about it being alive over the whole planet.

"You make it sound like it's alive."

A groaning noise echoed from the tunnel in front of us.

"Does anybody speak labyrinth?" Will asked with mildly less cheer than usual, he didn't at all like the idea of being underground. "Maybe it's trying to tell you which way to go."

"I wish we could ask the labyrinth if they prefer he or she pronouns," Alex tapped his chin in thought. "I know most people depict the earth as feminine, but that gets into a long line of stereotypical depictions of nurturing and-"

Alex was only one part taking the mickey and one part serious, so he laughed it off and shelved that for later as Will politely cleared his throat to keep going over an answer they couldn't get anyways.

"Let's not talk about it being alive," Grover whimpered. "Please?"

"All right," Annabeth said. "Forward."

"Down the hall with the bad sounds?" Tyson said. Even he looked nervous.

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "The architecture is getting older. That's a good sign. Daedalus's workshop would be in the oldest part."

"And because she said that, I'm guessing it's going to remodel itself in twenty feet to look like a stainless steel lab." Jason frowned.

"I just hope there's not a monkey in there playing on the computer, I do not want to walk into an alternate dimension by accident," Percy wasn't sure he'd have the heart to fight cute animals if they were the dominant species.

That made sense. 

"I'm glad it did to you," Magnus muttered, now personally trying not to imagine Daedalus packing up a phone booth and carrying his workshop around to never be found no matter what logic was used.

But soon the maze was toying with us—we went fifty feet and the tunnel turned back to cement, with brass pipes running down the sides. The walls were spray-painted with graffiti. A neon tagger sign read MOZ RULZ.

"I'm thinking this is not Roman," I said helpfully.

"You never know, I bet some ancient Roman could have gone by the name of Moz and been way ahead of time on, um, pipework," Will snickered.

Nico couldn't really find the humor in it, Will would have to really try to make him laugh about anything to do with this place, but it was a tad amusing to see Thalia roll her eyes at someone other than Percy.

Annabeth took a deep breath, then forged ahead.

"I've found the best way is to ignore him too," Thalia mock agreed as if Annabeth were her to commiserate with.

Her cousin was, and he didn't bother to muffle a snort.

Every few feet the tunnels twisted and turned and branched off. The floor beneath us changed from cement to mud to bricks and back again. There was no sense to any of it. We stumbled into a wine cellar—a bunch of dusty bottles in wooden racks—like we were walking through somebody's basement, only there was no exit above us, just more tunnels leading on.

"Jeez, I'm getting claustrophobic just hearing about this," Alex tugged at the collar of his shirt.

"Can't exactly go outside and stretch our legs in the sun too," Magnus agreed with an uneasy twitch. This room was by no means unbearable or small, but he'd never thought he'd have to associate constant common amenities with entrapment. And that group had it even worse down there.

Alex clearly wasn't going to let that keep him down though as he bounced back and asked, "please tell me you nabbed one of those! I can't even imagine the vintage on a long-lost bottle of wine!"

"I bet it was a cellar only Dionysus uses," Percy shook his head quickly. "Do you want to find out what would happen if we disturbed one of those cobwebs?"

Alex looked very much like he was contemplating that answer, and Thalia sighed once again at what a bad influence all of these idiots were on each other.

Later the ceiling turned to wooden planks, and I could hear voices above us and the creaking of footsteps, as if we were walking under some kind of bar. It was reassuring to hear people, but then again, we couldn't get to them. We were stuck down here with no way out.

"You're telling me if Tyson really wanted to he couldn't smash a house down?" Alex scoffed.

"Not a hundred percent sure," Percy admitted, "the labyrinth might fight him, turn into something even he couldn't break and shrink on us. Do you want to make the sentient maze mad?"

Alex didn't seem as concerned at the implications of that as Percy would have hoped, but then, he really should have known better by now.

Then we found our first skeleton.

It was the first dead body Percy had ever seen, and it didn't look like those fake skeletons for a Halloween decoration. He'd been killing monsters for years now, and yet he never thought of the mess they left behind as their form of a soulless husk. He rubbed his fingers together thoughtfully, his mind flickering to his mother and her clear sight. What she saw through the dust. She probably would have shielded his eyes from this, but it made his head and stomach groan in symbiotic pain to imagine her down there.

He was dressed in white clothes, like some kind of uniform. A wooden crate of glass bottles sat next to him.

"A milkman," Annabeth said.

"Those guys actually existed?" Nico asked in surprise. "I thought that was a weird gag in cartoons."

"It was a real job," Thalia nodded.

"When the fridge was invented, they went out of business," Magnus added helpfully.

"Huh, learn something new every day," Nico said with a surprised smile.

"What?" I asked.

"They used to deliver milk."

"Yeah, I know what they are,

"Which kind of concerns me how much Annabeth thinks of you," Thalia told him with sympathy.

"She never knew with me after I told her I thought my TV just wasn't big enough to see some old cartoon character's faces," Percy shrugged.

but...that was when my mom was little, like a million years ago. What's he doing here?"

"Some people wander in by mistake," Annabeth said.

"Those poor mortals," Magnus said with sorrow. He couldn't imagine how many little kids had fallen down there and never made it out. Maybe a few horror novels of things beneath the surface of the earth had been inspired by getting a peak down there, like the Labyrinth itself had enticed a kid with a clown and red balloon.

"Some come exploring on purpose and never make it back. A long time ago, the Cretans sent people in here as human sacrifices."

"And yet sadly, we've let cretin fall off the insult radar," Alex shook his head as if taking personal responsibility for this.

"Something I hope you won't bring back with historic accuracy," Magnus muttered.

Grover gulped. "He's been down here a long time." He pointed to the skeleton's bottles, which were coated with white dust. The skeleton's fingers were clawing at the brick wall, like he had died trying to get out.

"Well I hardly thought he was casually walking around chugging milk," Jason winced in disgust for getting details.

"Only bones," Tyson said. "Don't worry, goat boy. The milkman is dead."

"The milkman doesn't bother me," Grover said.

"Dead bodies still bother me," Magnus offered in case anybody had been in doubt about this.

"I guess this is one of the side effects to falling asleep every night singing Circle of Life," Percy shrugged.

"It's the smell. Monsters. Can't you smell it?"

Tyson nodded. "Lots of monsters. But underground smells like that. Monsters and dead milk people."

"Oh, good," Grover whimpered. "I thought maybe I was wrong."

"I can't think of a good instance of being happy to be wrong about smelling something," Alex nodded. "Usually it's food and I'm entirely upset I was wrong my senses lied to me."

"You smell smoke and think your house is on fire but your mom's just a bad cook," Thalia said with a way to twisted smile for that to just be a joke.

"Point to Thalia!" Alex chuckled all the same.

"We have to get deeper into the maze," Annabeth said. "There has to be a way to the center."

"I'm guessing taking a shovel and just digging won't work?" Nico rolled his eyes at her still trying to apply logic to any of this.

"The shovel would melt eventually," Will helpfully reminded.

"We could give her a spare shovel, gosh Will, be more creative," Percy snickered.

"I'm going to dump you in a volcano head first," Thalia sighed at them.

She led us to the right, then the left, through a corridor of stainless steel like some kind of air shaft, and we arrived back in the Roman tile room with the fountain.

"Oh, so it even circles around! That's much worse than being lost forever in a maze of endless rooms!" Magnus's voice was choking up by the end as he tried not to sound hysterical.

"It had added some decoration," Percy didn't soothe him one bit with the uneasy frown he spoke with.

This time, we weren't alone.

What I noticed first were his faces. Both of them.

Nico tried his hardest to swallow the lump of jealousy and hurt in his throat. Percy hadn't been in there but a few hours and he got a visit from a god already? He'd been in there for weeks before he'd found Minos and gotten any handle on what to do. Afraid to sleep, starving, only surviving on water that bled from the walls from gods knew where as the ghosts whispered which way to go to get further down...

He told himself he should be grateful instead. He wasn't the child of the prophecy, nobody had cared what happened to him. He'd made his own way out eventually without anybody's help, not even Minos had been there every step of the way.

They jutted out from either side of his head, staring over his shoulders, so his head was much wider than it should've been, kind of like a hammerhead shark's looking straight at him, all I saw were two overlapping ears and mirror-image sideburns.

Magnus was poking the middle of his forehead to make sure his head hadn't actually fallen apart at that newly brain-melting image.

"Not going to lie, when it said god of two faces, I didn't think it was going to be literal," Alex sounded grudgingly admirable of choosing to look like that. "I was picturing, like, two totally different faces melted together. Like the Batman villain."

"I have a feeling the two would still get along," Percy already had that now familiar look on his face like they should brace themselves for him to make a life long enemy.

He was dressed like a New York City doorman: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes, and a black top-hat that somehow managed to stay on his double-wide head.

"Classy," Will said in admiration.

"Never trust a man in a top hat," Alex scoffed.

"Now there's a story I'm sure," Magnus grinned.

"Don't get me started on Abe Lincoln," he agreed with distant eyes and a scowl at the ceiling.

"Well, Annabeth?" said his left face. "Hurry up!"

"Don't mind him," said the right face. "He's terribly rude. Right this way, miss."

Annabeth's jaw dropped. "Uh...I don't..."

Tyson frowned. "That funny man has two faces."

Jason scratched awkwardly at his nose before stage whispering, "has anybody ever come up with a polite way to scold kids for doing that?"

"Um, let them be curious but make sure they're polite questions?" Thalia offered.

"I'm not putting Tyson in time out if he offends this guy," Percy rolled his eyes.

"The funny man has ears, you know!" the left face scolded. "Now come along, miss."

"No, no," the right face said. "This way, miss. Talk to me, please."

"I need to know real quick if you can sign a different conversation than you say out loud?" Percy asked Magnus.

"I suppose if you can have two conversations at once it's possible, but not typical," he shook his head.

"Yeah, good to know, I got no better answer than chopping this guy in half to shut him up," Percy scowled, already wishing to uncap his sword to stop this guy focusing solely on Annabeth.

The two-faced man regarded Annabeth as best he could out of the corners of his eyes. It was impossible to look at him straight on without focusing on one side or the other. And suddenly I realized that's what he was asking—he wanted Annabeth to choose.

Behind him were two exits, blocked by wooden doors with huge iron locks. They hadn't been there our first time through the room. The two-faced doorman held a silver key, which he kept passing from his left hand to his right hand. I wondered if this was a different room completely, but the frieze of the gods looked exactly the same.

Behind us, the doorway we'd come through had disappeared, replaced by more mosaics. We wouldn't be going back the way we came.

"The exits are closed," Annabeth said.

"Duh!" the man's left face said.

"Where do they lead?" she asked.

"One probably leads the way you wish to go," the right face said encouragingly. "The other leads to certain death."

"I—I know who you are," Annabeth said.

"Oh, you're a smart one!" The left face sneered. "But do you know which way to choose? I don't have all day."

"Why are you trying to confuse me?" Annabeth asked.

"He's, um, not," Nico looked from the book to the others in concern if he was missing something. "He's pointing out the obvious as of right now. Does Annabeth find that confusing?"

Percy gave him the very exasperated sigh of a teacher explaining the obvious. "Just because she accepted the responsibility of something didn't mean she was okay with every layer of it." He knew that feeling all to well from all this big bad prophecy talk.

Nico looked at Percy with interest for how he'd unintentionally put that. He doubted Percy knew that's how he felt about what he'd said the other night, but it was another kind of relief to hear it put into words.

The right face smiled. "You're in charge now, my dear. All the decisions are on your shoulders. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I—"

"We know you, Annabeth," the left face said. "We know what you wrestle with every day. We know your indecision. You will have to make your choice sooner or later. And the choice may kill you."

I didn't know what they were talking about, but it sounded like it was about more than a choice between doors.

The color drained out of Annabeth's face. "No...I don't—"

"Leave her alone," I said.

"That honestly took a page more than I thought it would," Will told him.

"I'm not fool enough to think Annabeth can't handle her own fights," but Percy looked plenty agitated enough to try right then with or without her approval.

"Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm your best friend," the right face said.

"I'm your worst enemy," the left face said.

"I'm Janus," both faces said in harmony. "God of Doorways.

"There's a god of doorways now?" Magnus asked, making the sign for door just to be sure. "What, did the Greeks have to stop and ask his permission and the owner before they entered?"

"He's not Greek!" Jason shouted at the top of his lungs like somebody had finally called on his name in class. He was more jazzed than if somebody had pumped him full of ambrosia...and yet so confused they might have put a Greek puzzle book in front of him for all the sense this made. "What the heck is a Roman god doing down there?"

"He's, ah, more symbolic than literal," Thalia was still watching Jason with mild concern as she tried to go on. "Let Will finish."

Beginnings. Endings. Choices."

"I guess that makes sense," Magnus agreed, though he still knew next time he walked down the block he'd get a twitch wondering about blood sacrifices and a crazy two-faced god throwing a key around following him. Gods forbid what someone was expected to do when a tree was cut down to make a door. Were you supposed to be making nice with Pan or the god you were using the wood for in that case?!

"I'll see you soon enough, Perseus Jackson," said the right face. "But for now it's Annabeth's turn." He laughed giddily. "Such fun!"

"We complete each other like two sides of a door," Percy grumbled, not looking remotely impressed that, for once, a god had the same reaction to seeing both of them.

"Shut up!" his left face said. "This is serious. One bad choice can ruin your whole life. It can kill you and all of your friends. But no pressure, Annabeth. Choose!"

Jason had a bad feeling he'd had his own reunion with this God too, maybe not so literal and in person, but the intense feeling circling the room of nobody disagreeing with that felt personal.

With a sudden chill, I remembered the words of the prophecy: the child of Athena's final stand.

"Don't do it," I said.

"I'm afraid she has to," the right face said cheerfully.

Annabeth moistened her lips. "I—I chose—"

Before she could point to a door, a brilliant light flooded the room.

Magnus instinctively didn't like that. He worried Hearth would get hurt and freak out, the light being too bright and temporarily blinding him, and he only usually saw Blitz at night, so he might have to step up real quick with no clue how if whatever this was ever found them.

Janus raised his hands to either side of his head to cover his eyes. When the light died, a woman was standing at the fountain.

She was tall and graceful with long hair the color of chocolate, braided in plaits with gold ribbons. She wore a simple white dress, but when she moved, the fabric shimmered with colors like oil on water.

"Are we meeting Iris?" Alex asked with immediate interest. He really hoped the rainbow goddess was cool. One of them had to be, right?

The disappointed sigh Thalia gave was an answer before she even said, "not even close."

"Janus," she said, "are we causing trouble again?"

"N-no, milady!" Janus's right face stammered.

"Yes!" the left face said.

"At least now I know which face I like better," Jason said as if this had been a serious concern.

"I still don't like any part of him," Percy huffed, he'd never like anyone who had hassled Annabeth.

"Shut up!" the right face said.

"Excuse me?" the woman asked.

"Not you, milady! I was talking to myself."

"I see," the lady said. "You know very well your visit is premature. The girl's time has not yet come. So I give you a choice: leave these heroes to me, or I shall turn you into a door and break you down."

"What kind of door?" the left face asked.

Alex gave an involuntary laugh like he'd been punched. And he was so sure he'd hate this god, yet that had been the first question to come to his mind too.

"Shut up!" the right face said.

"Because French doors are nice," the left face mused. "Lots of natural light."

"Shut up!" the right face wailed. "Not you, milady! Of course I'll leave. I was just having a bit of fun. Doing my job. Offering choices."

"Causing indecision," the woman corrected. "Now be gone!"

The left face muttered, "Party pooper," then he raised his silver key, inserted it into the air, and disappeared.

"Do I have to begrudgingly thank a god now?" Percy groaned. Apollo and Artemis had proved they weren't all bad, but he wasn't getting a good feeling from this one.

It wasn't very comforting Thalia didn't answer, but her scowl only grew.

The woman turned toward us, and fear closed around my heart. Her eyes shined with power. Leave these heroes to me. That didn't sound good. For a second, I almost wished we could've taken our chances with Janus. But then the woman smiled.

There had been something in that smile that reminded him of his mother. The kind of smile she'd given Gabe when she promised him meatloaf.

"You must be hungry," she said. "Sit with me and talk."

She waved her hand, and the old Roman fountain began to flow. Jets of clear water sprayed into the air. A marble table appeared, laden with platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade.

"Who...who are you?" I asked.

"I am Hera." The woman smiled. "Queen of Heaven."

"I didn't know God was married," Magnus rolled his eyes. "No, wait, is she the goddess of nuns?"

"Stop trying to mix religions, it's more of a headache then we're already hearing," Nico groaned.

"Wrong heaven," Percy snorted, knowing full well Magnus had known that, but revenge was sweet.

"She obviously uses that title because she doesn't think much of herself," Alex agreed casually, while the others all twitched uneasily once more. They'd never quite get used to these guys being so flippant about how they addressed the gods, whether they were in the room or not.

I'd seen Hera once before at a Council of the Gods, but I hadn't paid much attention to her. At the time I'd been surrounded by a bunch of other gods who were debating whether or not to kill me.

"The real question is, do you remember if she was one of those to vote yes or no?" Nico asked with all the presumption in his voice of the answer.

Percy had to really think about it for a moment, and then shrugged and gave in, "no, not really. I remember who abstained though, so she fell into a lumpy category."

"She was lumped into a-" Magnus began, but he stopped with his own exasperated sigh as he realized Percy wasn't listening and back to humming a song that sounded suspiciously like something Jesse McCartney would sing.

I didn't remember her looking so normal. Of course, gods are usually twenty feet tall when they're on Olympus, so that makes them look a lot less normal. But now, Hera looked like a regular mom.

"Plus that whole they can change their appearance at whim thing," Will shrugged, he still wasn't over his dad, the homeless god Fred.

She served us sandwiches and poured lemonade.

"Grover, dear," she said, "use your napkin. Don't eat it."

"Excuse her, I live for that multi-purpose life," Alex scoffed.

"Yes, ma'am," Grover said.

"Tyson, you're wasting away. Would you like another peanut butter sandwich?"

Tyson stifled a belch. "Yes, nice lady."

"Queen Hera," Annabeth said. "I can't believe it. What are you doing in the Labyrinth?"

Hera smiled. She flicked one finger and Annabeth's hair combed itself. All the dirt and grime disappeared from her face.

"Gods, does she tuck your pockets in too and fuss about your weight?" Will's laugh was indulgent while Thalia looked like she was sucking on a lemon. More grateful by the moment this goddess would never give her faux motherly affection any more than her bio mom had.

"I came to see you, naturally," the goddess said.

Grover and I exchanged nervous looks. Usually when the gods come looking for you, it's not out of the goodness of their hearts. It's because they want something.

"I hope Athena has a little gold star waiting for you somewhere out there," Magnus told him cheerfully. "You do deserve it for moments like this."

"Stating the obvious?" Percy snorted.

"Not saying that out loud," Thalia scoffed.

Still, that didn't keep me from chowing down on turkey-and-Swiss sandwiches and chips and lemonade. I hadn't realized how hungry I was.

"And, now I'm hungry," Will huffed.

"I can usually tell how long when we've been at this when my butts gone numb," Magnus nodded.

"Food has been mentioned pretty frequently in the last few chapters," Percy agreed as he eyed the door to the rooms.

"We might as well take a snack break before anything to horrible in this Labyrinth does show up," Thalia agreed, and there was no more argument after that as they all took five. Before Hera could announce what she was there for, before the first monster showed up, before they realized how lost they were.

Will and Nico stepped back into the room where they'd set up their card game that indeed had not been disturbed one bit. They sat carefully on the bed, as far apart as normal on that couch, and split a plate of multiple different sandwiches with fruit-loops sprinkled on top, because the power of subliminal messaging had honestly left them craving exactly that.

Nico was clearly eating with reluctance, but he also didn't protest his half of the meal while Will found a way to talk about anything other than the Labyrinth for those moments. He talked about silly songs he wrote sporadically and his favorite color being orange and that time his sister Kayla had set the stables on fire while Nico watched with ever growing fondness for just being around him.

When they settled back down now prepared for the worst, Nico took the extra goofy minute Alex used to stretch and flex around like he was about to embark on the quest himself to share one last smile with Will when he opened the book up again whistling to find his place once more.

Tyson was inhaling one peanut butter sandwich after another, and Grover was loving the lemonade, crunching the Styrofoam cup like an ice-cream cone.

"All you're missing from that meal is bananas," Magnus grinned, he'd just housed five. He'd been taking full advantage of fresh fruit without a bruise on it here.

"I didn't think—" Annabeth faltered. "Well, I didn't think you liked heroes."

Hera smiled indulgently. "Because of that little spat I had with Hercules? Honestly, I got so much bad press because of one disagreement."

"A very large disagreement that caused multiple murders and is the most popular myth for a few reasons," Thalia muttered, not exactly Hera's biggest fan herself. It was a miracle she wasn't in the same boat as Hercules...and this goddess was definitely in her top five contenders of who might take Jason away to do gods knew what with all these years before Oceanus plopped him in here.

"Didn't you try to kill him, like, a lot of times?" Annabeth asked.

Hera waved her hand dismissively. "Water under the bridge, my dear.

"Is that bridge also on fire and broken in several places?" Thalia asked wearily.

"I didn't think to ask," Percy admitted, but he also didn't doubt it. He'd have to hear it from Hercules before he believed it, and even then, he'd still suspect something was up. Those stories were Not Pleasant, and even if they'd gotten lost in translation over time and they'd heard the wrong side of them, somebody had done something to make it all infamous.

His mind flickered to Zoe, and that snack of his tried to make a comeback. His instincts were still to distrust Hera, and Zoe had made him never wish to take Hercules's side without hearing every fact about what really happened, so this felt like a war he hoped to all the gods he'd never be in the middle of.

Besides, he was one of my loving husband's children by another woman. My patience wore thin, I'll admit it. But Zeus and I have had some excellent marriage counseling sessions since then. We've aired our feelings and come to an understanding

"I'm kind of wishing in this instance they'd taken the twenty-first-century approach and gotten a divorce though," Will sighed even if he knew that would never happen. Goddess of marriage and all that, gods forbid she ever admit she was wrong and should be in a real long term loving relationship, but man would it save a lot of demigods a lot of grief.

—especially after that last little incident."

"You mean when he sired Thalia?"

"Sired?" Thalia snorted fantastically. "What am I, a horse?"

"Just be grateful you came to mind at all," Percy chuckled, "I'm sure there are other much more famous kids of Zeus I could name instead. Like me!"

"How dare you," she sniffed, pressing her hand against her heart with wide blue eyes.

I guessed, but immediately wished I hadn't. As soon as I said the name of our friend, the half-blood daughter of Zeus, Hera's eyes turned toward me frostily.

"Percy Jackson, isn't it? One of Poseidon's...children." I got the feeling she was thinking of another word besides children.

"Sires," Magnus chuckled.

"Abominations?" Alex snorted.

"Minions," Thalia smirked.

"Disasters," Jason grinned.

Percy considered for a moment before shrugging and not denying any of those.

"As I recall, I voted to let you live at the winter solstice. I hope I voted correctly."

"Which does show some proof to her claim she doesn't hate all of us on principle," Will happily agreed.

"I'm sure she's still plenty selective about it," Nico said sullenly. He doubted if he'd been up for vote any god would have voted to let him live.

Will heard that in his voice, the reluctance, the edge of fear. He wanted to protest no god would dare vote against Nico after he'd helped save Olympus, but he could hardly argue that now. He stubbornly kept reading with the knowledge that he would.

She turned back to Annabeth with a sunny smile. "At any rate, I certainly bear you no ill will, my girl.

"I'm glad she sees that," Magnus said with a hint of relief, here finally was a god none of them were going to start on bad terms for merely existing. "A virgin goddess didn't technically have kids so she has no reason to dislike them."

"Loopholes for the win," but Percy only gave a halfhearted cheer. He had a bad feeling technicalities hadn't made his life easier much longer.

I appreciate the difficulty of your quest. Especially when you have troublemakers like Janus to deal with."

Annabeth lowered her gaze. "Why was he here? He was driving me crazy."

"Trying to," Hera agreed.

"Isn't Dionysus the god of the crazy people?" Magnus asked with a quiver of unease. "Does he have a deal with Janus to add to his list?" He clearly hadn't grasped from Jason's ever increasing gasping there was a significant difference at all, they wouldn't be making deals like that about anything.

"Just because he can turn people crazy doesn't mean he's responsible for all of them," but Will didn't sound so sure. Mr. D was supposed to be out here keeping an eye on these minor gods, and it seemed strange it hadn't been him to pop in and intervene...but would he even know this god existed? He knew the myths where his dad accepted the sun from Helios, the existence of other gods wasn't too world shattering in that regards, but not exactly at the same time like this was so casually being shown.

Alex, Magnus, and Jason sat right there though. So plainly Not Greek even before Rachel had confirmed it. A Roman god casually popping up wasn't the wildest thing he'd heard over the past few days.

"You must understand, the minor gods like Janus have always been frustrated by the small parts they play in the universe. Some, I fear, have little love for Olympus, and could easily be swayed to support the rise of my father."

"Your father?" I said. "Oh, right."

I'd forgotten that Kronos was Hera's dad, too, along with being the father to Zeus, Poseidon, and all the eldest Olympians. I guess that made Kronos my grandfather, but that thought was so weird I put it out of my mind.

"And I wish it would stop coming back!" Percy groaned, looking likely to rip his ear off if people didn't quit trying to name every branch of his family tree!

"We must watch the minor gods," Hera said. "Janus. Hecate. Morpheus. They give lip service to Olympus, and yet—"

"That's where Dionysus went," I remembered. "He was checking on the minor gods."

"Indeed." Hera stared at the fading mosaics of the Olympians.

"I will never get over the sheer audacity of you interrupting them," Will admitted.

"And yet here I sit, audaciting away," Percy shrugged. Magnus looked in physical pain that's not how that word worked.

"You see, in times of trouble, even gods can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish. But I'm the goddess of marriage, you see. I'm used to perseverance. You have to rise above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing. You have to always keep your goals in mind."

"What are your goals?" Annabeth asked.

"The perfect question at this time," Jason nodded without surprise.

"It's like she should be leading this quest or something," Percy nodded very seriously in agreement.

She smiled. "To keep my family, the Olympians, together, of course.

"Sounds like, the right answer," Alex said suspiciously, but then, he seemed automatically suspicious of everything.

At the moment, the best way I can do that is by helping you. Zeus does not allow me to interfere much, I am afraid. But once every century or so, for a quest I care deeply about, he allows me to grant a wish."

"A wish?"

"If you don't say world peace I'm going to have to revoke my friendship card with you," Magnus said. "That's like, The obvious answer!" He pulled out an imaginary card from his pocket and waved it around threateningly.

"Um, I'm pretty sure it has to be a wish she could do?" Percy said with a nervous smile like he thought he was serious. "I don't think the gods can actually do that without taking away free will, or something."

"Hmph, passable," Magnus agreed, stuffing the imaginary card back in his pocket.

"Besides, it would be Annabeth to ask," Alex reminded him in exasperation. "I have high hopes she'll come up with something good." His tone was almost threatening, like Annabeth better live up to those expectations. They weren't sure what would happen if she didn't.

"Before you ask it, let me give you some advice, which I can do for free.

"The day we can't give free advice is the day I lose faith in everything," Will said with an awkward smile.

"I'll make a mental list of how not to start the apocalypse," Nico grinned.

I know you seek Daedalus. His Labyrinth is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.

"Well that's, the opposite of encouraging," Magnus frowned.

"I'm sure it wouldn't help if she cheered and promised she wouldn't be any real help," Percy huffed.

But if you want to know his fate, I would visit my son Hephaestus at his forge. Daedalus was a great inventor, a mortal after Hephaestus's heart. There has never been a mortal Hephaestus admired more. If anyone would have kept up with Daedalus and could tell you his fate, it is Hephaestus."

Magnus blushed neon red as an awkward question came to mind.

Alex had no such reserves as she spat out an imaginary drink and shouted, "Wait, did Hephaestus and Daedalus do it? Or does she mean Daedalus is a child of Hephaestus? Or both?"

"A male god can have a child with a male mortal in the same way as Athena has brain children," Thalia agreed, grateful her answer surprised Magnus enough his gray eyes looked likely to never stop blinking at the implication. Alex was still staring at her for the other part of that question, weirdly as unphased by the answer as he was by everything that went on in here, but gratefully didn't pursue Thalia for more except for a strange smile.

"But how do we get there?" Annabeth asked. "That's my wish. I want a way to navigate the Labyrinth."

Alex and Jason both groaned at Annabeth.

"She did something I'd tell you was to impulsive," Jason huffed. "She could have asked a lot more questions!"

"And she should have been a lot more specific! Like asking for that string thing in her hand!" Alex huffed.

Percy didn't much like them criticizing her when she wasn't here, and he was still far more worried about Janus trying to terrify her than whatever Hera had done to let himself be distracted arguing with them.

"Cut her some slack guys, she's stressed up to her ears and won't always make the most rational decision every moment," Thalia did anyways with plenty of robustness.

Hera looked disappointed.

"Because she should have asked for world peace," Alex muttered under his breath to agree with Magnus, which he at least snickered in surprise over.

"So be it. You wish for something, however, that you have already been given."

"Oh come on," all seven of them yelped in surprise at that. In what world had that answer been laid out?! Now this goddess was just messing with them and calling it help!

"I don't understand."

"The means is already within your grasp." She looked at me. "Percy knows the answer."

"I do?" Percy managed to say at the same time as the book.

"He does?" The others all asked dubiously.

"You wouldn't hold out on that kind of information on Annabeth though," Magnus scoffed at once. "Let alone heard it and not, um, mentally, reported it?" Why was it suddenly so weird to describe what they were listening to?

"Glad you don't all think I'm keeping a hidden secret copy up here," Percy said with only a touch of relief as he tapped his temple. He kind of wished someone would call him an idiot again and get to the answer faster. Even Thalia looked dubious though why Hera thought he'd already been given the answer. The only link she could draw was their brief conversation that Rachel could see through the mist last winter, and even then, Percy yet had knowledge that was Ariadne's true ability, so she called bull on Hera's 'help' too.

"But that's not fair," Annabeth said. "You're not telling me what it is!"

"There is nothing stopping her from just, saying it! Make it clear as freaking day down there," Will agreed, looking personally hurt Hera seemed to be going out of her way to make this difficult after she'd just offered endless help.

Nico's touch of jealousy vanished at least. Turns out even if a god had cared enough to try helping him out of there, it probably wouldn't have done him any more good.

Hera shook her head. "Getting something and having the wits to use it...those are two different things. I'm sure your mother Athena would agree."

"Oh great, so the best advice we got out of this is be cryptic, thanks," Jason groaned with his hand pressed against his stomach like he was going to be sick.

He was sick. Of these Greek gods never making any sense. Why would Juno act like she'd done anything of value right now?!

The room rumbled like distant thunder. Hera stood. "That would be my cue. Zeus grows impatient. Think on what I have said, Annabeth. Seek out Hephaestus. You will have to pass through the ranch, I imagine.

Alex's mind flashed back to that Triple G Ranch that had been mentioned that apparently supplied scorpions Quintus had seemed so fond of. He didn't really believe in coincidences.

But keep going. 

Nico's heart quivered at that possibility. If Percy had never shown up, gods knew what could have happened. Maybe he would have murdered Daedalus, who knew what Geryon would have done to him.

But then, why had Percy shown up there? This seemed like actual useful advice he couldn't imagine them ignoring for any reason.

And use all the means at your disposal, however common they may seem."

"Is a toothbrush going to come in handy on this quest?" Percy grouched. "Is she saying we should start tossing our extra pair of socks around to get results!"

"Not exactly advice I thought a motherly goddess would give," Magnus agreed with his disdain. He'd hoped a godly symbolic representation of marriage would have been a little more, loving. Aphrodite hadn't fit the right bill either. How was it possible none of these gods seemed more maternal with all the kids and family they had running around?

She pointed toward the two doors and they melted away, revealing twin corridors, open and dark. "One last thing, Annabeth. I have postponed your day of choice, I have not prevented it. Soon, as Janus said, you will have to make a decision. Farewell!"

She waved a hand and turned into white smoke.

Percy scowled and fought the urge to kick his chair in frustration. He'd probably kick it through the wall and cause all of his friend's death. That thought was the only thing restraining him, but he still cussed a few choice words he knew Hera would at least want to escape from.

So did the food, just as Tyson chomped down on a sandwich that turned to mist in his mouth.

"Now that was just rude," Alex looked ready to go and personally make him another sandwich just to make up for that.

"I bet you guys are under Detroit or something, can't have anything there unless it's nailed down," Thalia said in something of a mild mannered tone just because she didn't like seeing everybody stressed out and scowling under her care.

Percy gave her a begrudging laugh and a reluctant smile. "At least I didn't come away from this one with another immortal enemy?"

"There's the bright side!" Will agreed cheerfully.

The fountain trickled to a stop. The mosaic walls dimmed and turned grungy and faded again. The room was no longer any place you'd want to have a picnic.

Annabeth stamped her foot. "What sort of help was that? 'Here, have a sandwich. Make a wish. Oops, I can't help you!' Poof!"

"Poof," Tyson agreed sadly, looking at his empty plate.

"Sounds like you made a wish with a genie," Magnus frowned.

"And it was just one wish! You guys need a contract or a lawyer or something next time you run into one of them," Jason agreed.

"Now if she'd offered us three wishes, I bet at least you'd stop complaining," Percy laughed at him.

"I'm withholding judgment," Jason shrugged.

"Well," Grover sighed, "she said Percy knows the answer. That's something."

They all looked at me.

"But I don't," I said. "I don't know what she was talking about."

Annabeth sighed. "All right. Then we'll just keep going."

"Which way?" I asked. I really wanted to ask what Hera had meant about the choice Annabeth needed to make. But then Grove and Tyson both tensed. They stood up together like they'd rehearsed it. "Left," they both said.

Alex looked very torn now if he wanted to go down the right side just to get a peak of what had made Grover and Tyson agree on something. Magnus gripped his hands together, trying not to imagine Alex's hand in his as they ran for their life.

Annabeth frowned. "How can you be sure?"

"Because something is coming from the right," Grover said.

"Something big," Tyson agreed. "In a hurry."

"Left is sounding pretty good," I decided. Together we plunged into the dark corridor.

"Finished," Will said in a sing-song voice like they weren't about to start running for their life. Good for him, he knew they were all alive.

Jason exchanged an uneasy look with Thalia and Percy before he could get up and get the book. There really weren't enough breaks in the world from this to cover how much time they felt like they needed to process before the next awful thing leapt out of the shadows.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 9: WE VISIT THE DEMON DUDE RANCH

Magnus looked personally offended at what he'd just read as the new chapter title. "I take it back, I don't want to know what the Triple G stands for anymore."

"Ugh, I'm with you on this one," Alex huffed. "Manly dudes strutting around being all macho with cowboy boots sounds as appealing as going shopping with Karen. Unless some Brokeback Mountain shit goes on, I'm out."

Magnus felt a very debilitating sense of hope as he realized Alex might not think muscular dudes like Hugh Jackman were his type...but wait, what did that say about himself?

"I'm sensing a lot of denim in this upcoming chapter and I am not going to like it," Thalia grumbled.

"Wearing a cowboy hat to cover up horns should be no one's idea of a good time," Jason agreed, though he would totally call in an I told you so to Percy if he guessed it right.

"But, but, cute animals!" Will protested. He enjoyed the south, thank you very much, and missed it quite a lot in the winter especially. It was really charming in the right places.

Nico was huddled up in his seat deep into his jacket. He'd been loathing this oncoming chapter and more of his crappy life on display. Will sighed, but all of the cute farm animals in the world and a merciful dry cold in the dead of winter had nothing on Nico's miserable brown eyes that just wanted to get through this.

We finally stopped in a room full of waterfalls. The floor was one big pit, ringed by a slippery stone walkway. Around us, on all four walls, water tumbled from huge pipes. The water spilled down into the pit, and even when I shined a light, I couldn't see the bottom.

"Now that would have been a badass Poseidon cabin," Jason said.

"I could do my own laundry without getting out of bed," Percy chuckled.

Briares slumped against the wall. He scooped up water in a dozen hands and washed his face. "This pit goes straight to Tartarus," he murmured. "I should jump in and save you trouble."

Percy winced uneasily at that. "I could never have a slumber party in my room though, I just know somebody's bound to fall in."

"Still think it's appropriate," Jason muttered. This area summed up his feelings about Neptune pretty well.

"Don't talk that way," Annabeth told him. "You can come back to camp with us. You can help us prepare. You know more about fighting Titans than anybody."

"You really did just stumble into a game changer of a friend in prison," Jason agreed.

"I will not be putting that in the summary, my mother would kill me!" Percy yelped.

"I have nothing to offer," Briares said. "I have lost everything."

"That's when you should build something," Alex said in one of his most serious tones of voice.

"Tyson would help," Magnus agreed with a gentleness to his voice that didn't surprise anyone.

"What about your brothers?" Tyson asked. "The other two must stand tall as mountains! We can take you to them."

"Oh, so he just needs a growth spurt, explains a lot," Percy chuckled, but it fell flat. Annabeth wasn't here to elbow him to shut up about still making jokes on that.

Briares's expression morphed to something even sadder: his grieving face. "They are no more. They faded."

The waterfalls thundered. Tyson stared into the pit and blinked tears out of his eye.

"What exactly do you mean, they faded?" I asked. "I thought monsters were immortal, like the gods."

Yet Percy looked as somber as anyone else for that question being said out loud. There had already been evidence enough immortal didn't mean one would live forever, Zoe had been more than enough of an experience for them to learn that; having been erased from history even before her death.

"Percy," Grover said weakly, "even immortality has limits. Sometimes...sometimes monsters get forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal."

Looking at Grover's face, I wondered if he was thinking of Pan. I remembered something Medusa had told us once: how her sisters, the other two gorgons, had passed on and left her alone.

Something of that still nagged at Percy's mind, those two Bargain Mart Ladies that had chased him non-stop no matter how convinced he was they should have died from that bowling ball accident.

Then last year Apollo said something about the old god Helios disappearing and leaving him with the duties of the sun god. I'd never thought about it too much, but now, looking at Briares, I realized how terrible it would be to be so old—thousands and thousands of years old—and totally alone.

"Makes Mr. D a tad more relatable, huh?" Will asked sadly. "Stuck alone at that camp."

"He's not alone," Percy scowled, "he's got us ants there to torture!" He didn't really shout though. It did make a kind of sense put that way, even if he'd still forever wish they weren't Dionysus's punishment.

"I must go," Briares said.

"Kronos's army will invade camp," Tyson said. "We need help."

Briares hung his head. "I cannot, Cyclops."

"You are strong."

"Not anymore." Briares rose.

"Hey," I grabbed one of his arms and pulled him aside, where the roar of the water would hide our words. "Briares, we need you. In case you haven't noticed, Tyson believes in you. He risked his life for you."

I told him about everything—Luke's invasion plan, the Labyrinth entrance at camp, Daedalus's workshop, Kronos's golden coffin.

Briares just shook his head. "I cannot, demigod. I do not have a finger gun to win this game." To prove his point, he made one hundred finger guns.

Percy's heart flinched in his chest like it was trying to flee him. Looking at that given him a shot of pure fear, like looking down a military execution aimed right at him.

But it was just a game. A silly trick he'd done to help Briares escape, but like Magnus had said, it was a lesson the hundred-handed one was turning back on him now to leave.

"Maybe that's why monsters fade," I said. "Maybe it's not about what the mortals believe. Maybe it's because you give up on yourself."

"Wise words for a seaweed brain," Thalia shook her head affectionately. "Is that why you pulled him away, so Annabeth wouldn't punch you for mocking her?"

Percy grinned and mock wiped his brow in relief. "You caught me, please don't tell?"

"Nah, it can be our secret," she smiled.

His pure brown eyes regarded me. His face morphed into an expression I recognized—shame.

Percy knew even Tyson couldn't have stopped this guy and dragged him along, but he still sat there wishing he could. That he'd done something, anything else.

"I never said you have to reenact his faces Percy," Alex told him in exasperation. "Put the shame face away man, you did all you could."

"Yeah, I guess," Percy wanted to believe that anyways.

Then he turned and trudged off down the corridor until he was lost in the shadows.

Tyson sobbed.

"I lied, bring him back and stab him," Alex scowled, hands twitching for his garrote for anyone making Tyson cry.

"Maybe a tad extreme," Magnus put a cautious hand on his shoulder.

"It also disproves Nico's theory I can win any fight, because I sure didn't win that," Percy groaned. He wanted so badly to offer his brother comfort, but even back then he had no clue how.

"It's okay," Grover hesitantly patted his shoulder, which must've taken all his courage.

"I still say that was hitting Medusa, while blind, and flying," Jason grinned.

"Personal courage and battle courage aren't always the same," Thalia muttered.

Tyson sneezed. "It's not okay, goat boy. He was my hero."

"Grover should offer him a jar of peanut butter," Alex said, "nobody could be upset then."

"People allergic to peanut butter," Percy corrected.

"Have you met somebody with a nut allergy? Half of them live life on the edge and eat anyways for that stuff," Alex scoffed at his naivety.

I wanted to make him feel better, but I wasn't sure what to say.

"Never meet your hero's," Nico said casually.

Percy winced, and looked at him again. Percy had looked at him more today than he possibly had their entire time knowing each other.

Nico met those sea green eyes with a sense of relief he'd finally said it out loud for the first time. Not everything, like The Word, he still felt a cold chill run through him every time he realized he'd said that out loud, but it got slowly better every time he realized he did. Like a tight muscle unclenching itself after years of being knotted. As bad as it was for Tyson to learn, Will and Alex had been right. It was still better to know and feel the disappointment than live in ignorance forever.

Finally Annabeth stood and shouldered her backpack. "Come on, guys. This pit is making me nervous. Let's find a better place to camp for the night."

"Reason number 33 she should lead all quests," Percy nodded in agreement. "I would have just stood there until we all fell asleep trying to think of something to say."

"It's okay Percy, nobody accused you of your great strength being rousing speeches," Thalia promised.

We settled in a corridor made of huge marble blocks. It looked like it could've been part of a Greek tomb, with bronze torch holders fastened to the walls.

"Did you cross over to Egypt?" Magnus asked wearily. "Because it sounds like you're sleeping in a pyramid, and I've had enough nightmares of being chased by mummies without you adding to them." The kids in his class used to laugh at him for thinking that 1999 movie was anything remotely scary like it was his fault!

"Pretty sure the Labyrinth is restricted to America," Percy said with a shrug like that was any help at all, and also, no real confidence in that statement.

It had to be an older part of the maze, and Annabeth decided this was a good sign.

"We must be close to Daedalus's workshop," she said. "Get some rest, everybody. We'll keep going in the morning."

"Which means it's probably going to change to the modern equivalent of an art deco building when you wake up," Jason frowned.

"You and Annabeth can compare architecture tips later," Percy groaned.

"How do we know when it's morning?" Grover asked.

"When you all wake up together and happy," Will said, but the awkward laugh that followed was a little to real considering they'd all been living that problem themselves for the past few days under the ocean.

"Just rest," she insisted.

Grover didn't need to be told twice. He pulled a heap of straw out of his pack, ate some of it, made a pillow out of the rest, and was snoring in no time.

"Have I mentioned how awesome that is," Magnus grinned. "We could eradicate homelessness if more people were part goat."

"You heard it here first folks, genetic experimentation to turn all people into greek myths," Alex spoke into an invisible microphone, then tipped it towards Magnus. "Tell us, who would be your first test subject?"

Magnus hesitated for a moment, he really should have thought about that one first and not said anything, but it would be worse for himself if he didn't. And this wasn't just something he'd want to laugh off. So he looked him in the eyes and said, "anybody who denies there's a homeless problem."

Alex grinned and tipped the 'microphone,' back towards himself. "Great answer. Back to you Jason!"

"What did we say about eradicating news broadcasts?" Percy asked in exasperation.

"Only the nonimportant ones that don't check their facts," Alex grinned.

Tyson took longer getting to sleep. He tinkered with some metal scraps from his building kit for a while, but whatever he was making, he wasn't happy with it. He kept disassembling the pieces. "I'm sorry I lost the shield," I told him. "You worked so hard to repair it."

Tyson looked up. His eye was bloodshot from crying. "Do not worry, brother. You saved me. You wouldn't have had to if Briares had helped."

"He was just scared," I said. "I'm sure he'll get over it."

"He is not strong," Tyson said. "He is not important anymore."

"Note to self, start lifting weights," Thalia mock whispered and doodled on her palm, before smacking said invisible piece of paper on Percy's chest.

He brushed it off with an exasperated look at her, but didn't try to fight off a smile.

He heaved a big sad sigh, then closed his eye. The metal pieces fell out of his hand, still unassembled, and Tyson began to snore.

"Now that is a magical ability I bet plenty of people would volunteer to be willing to undergo experiments to do," Jason said.

"Depends on how optional the snoring is," Percy shrugged.

I tried to fall asleep myself, but I couldn't. Something about getting chased by a large dragon lady with poison swords made it real hard to relax.

Will stroked an imaginary beard as if in deep contemplation before snapping his fingers. "Then maybe don't do that again!"

"It wasn't voluntary!" Percy yelped.

"He says, as if he couldn't have turned right back around when he found himself in a prison cell," Jason rolled his eyes.

"To be fair," Thalia said of herself as much as him, "I don't think it's humanly possible to not be curious and look around when you pop up somewhere."

"It is if you don't want to die and or be chased by a large dragon lady with poison swords," Magnus frowned.

"Well look at you and your cushy life," Percy grinned.

I picked up my bedroll and dragged it over to where Annabeth was sitting, keeping watch.

Magnus fought the urge to cover his ears and start humming very loudly. They weren't old enough to have anything resembling a conversation that should warrant that. Yet.

I sat down next to her.

"You should sleep," she said.

"Can't. You doing all right?"

"Sure. First day leading the quest. Just great."

"We'll get there," I said. "We'll find the workshop before Luke does."

She brushed her hair out of her face. She had a smudge of dirt on her chin, and I imagined what she must've looked like when she was little, wandering around the country with Thalia and Luke. Once she'd saved them from the mansion of the evil Cyclops when she was only seven. Even when she looked scared, like now, I knew she had a lot of guts.

Magnus read that with a sense of longing that seemed strange to the others. He wished he could sit around and talk to Thalia and Percy about that time, hear more about her life outside of what Percy had gleaned.

It didn't feel like his business to ask of others though. He wanted to ask her first if she even wanted some weird kid in her life that was part of a family she clearly was on rocky terms with.

"I just wish the quest was logical," she complained.

"It really does sound like the worst scenario for her," Jason agreed with a pained grimace. "Like a real life greek myth, she finally got her wish and it's just mocking her."

"Jason, all Greek tragedy's were real," Percy reminded a tad smugly.

"I'm going to make your death a mystery," he rolled his eyes.

"I mean, we're traveling but we have no idea where we'll end up. How can you walk from New York to California in a day?"

"And without any bathroom breaks," Will agreed in awe. "That's got to be some kind of record."

"Who says I didn't stop and use the little Poseidon's room in that waterfall?" Percy said way to nonchalantly for that to be a joke. "It went straight down to Tartarus after all, and the automatic flushing was nice."

The others groaned while Thalia told Will, "you walked right into that one. Did you really think he wouldn't follow through on that set up?"

"Lesson learned," he promised.

"Space isn't the same in the maze."

"I know, I know. It's just..." She looked at me hesitantly. "Percy, I was kidding myself. All that planning and reading, I don't have a clue where we're going."

"You guys never know what you're doing and it works out," Thalia cheerfully waved off.

Percy gave her a strange, lingering smile as Jason read.

"You're doing great. Besides, we never know what we're doing. It always works out.

"Dammit," she sighed before they both started snickering.

Remember Circe's island?"

She snorted. "You made a cute guinea pig."

"And Waterland, how you got us thrown off that ride?"

"I got us thrown off? That was totally your fault!"

"It was literally her fault with that maximum height nonsense!" Alex argued. Mostly because they suspected he just liked to argue.

"Percy started it with dumping all that water into the ride to escape the spiders," Magnus cheerfully reminded on behalf of his cousin.

They probably would have gone on like that, like they all needed a live reenactment of Percy and Annabeth bickering. Jason had the good sense to clear his throat and silently remind them now wasn't the time.

"See? It'll be fine."

She smiled, which I was glad to see, but the smile faded quickly.

"Percy, what did Hera mean when she said you knew the way to get through the maze?"

"Lies and hypocrisy I assume," Alex scowled anew.

"Did she really show up to sow dissent between you guys?" Magnus sounded more troubled than Jason did about how these gods worked sometimes.

"I mean, that is a thing she would do," Nico said callously while Percy thumped his pen against his temple in frustration. "This time though, I honestly think it might have been meant as a helpful hint." Certainly more than he'd ever gotten, but if this was the kind of help he would have received he was just slightly grateful none of the gods had tried.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Honestly."

"You'd tell me if you did?"

"You have literally never tried to hide anything from her," Magnus said critically. "I can't imagine you starting now."

"Thanks man," Percy grinned. It felt nice sometimes to always be confident someone so like Annabeth saw the best in him too.

"Sure. Maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe if you told me the last line of the prophecy, it would help."

"And maybe if I told you what a binturong was you'd be able to cure cancer," Will snorted.

"What's a binturong?" Percy asked blankly.

"Don't change the subject," Thalia tisked at him, already knowing that was a lost cause trying to get him to pay attention to one thing at a time.

Annabeth shivered. "Not here. Not in the dark."

"What about the choice Janus mentioned? Hera said—"

"Stop," Annabeth snapped.

Percy sat back in his seat with a troubled sigh. She'd never snapped at him to shut it before. Their first fight? Or did that whole Athena hates Poseidon thing count first-

He was distracted from that as Magnus kept going in the slightly awkward pause.

Then she took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry, Percy. I'm just stressed. But I don't...I've got to think about it."

Nico felt the oddest sensation yet for her since he'd been down here. Sympathy.

Not quite pity, she had Percy to talk to about all of her problems if she wanted. He was still wrapping his head around the fact Alex and Will had bothered to talk to him. No, it was the recent knowledge of how overwhelming the thoughts in your head could be and knowing you needed to sit with them and yet having no where to start, no way to sort them out that didn't leave you in a mess.

He hoped she did talk to Percy about what was bothering her before it overwhelmed her. He wouldn't wish his confusing life on anyone.

We sat in silence, listening to strange creaks and groans in the maze, the echo of stones grinding together as tunnels changed, grew, and expanded.

The dark made me think about the visions I'd seen of Nico di Angelo, and suddenly I realized something.

"Nico is down here somewhere," I said. "That's how he disappeared from camp. He found the Labyrinth. Then he found a path that led down even farther—to the Underworld. But now he's back in the maze. He's coming after me."

"I guess I should have been more worried what kind of take me out he was going to do," Percy said glibly. He'd never realized you could assassinate someone or have them out for dinner with just one word.

Nico looked at him terrified, like Percy was going to snap his fingers and crush all his bones. Percy just gave him the least awkward smile yet, he'd thought a joke would help lighten the mood.

Thalia elbowed him, hard, while Jason and Magnus looked on with pure confusion. "What?" Percy protested.

"Percy, not everybody's so casual about, um, whatever you and Nico talked about," Thalia whispered to him.

"What?" He was more confused than anything, but he still felt a blush coming back. "Why? Will and Alex are both weirdly okay with whatever they say?"

"But not everybody is," she hissed quietly right by his ear. "Just, wait for him to say anything first before you do."

He had no clue what she was getting at, but he shrugged and let it go.

Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "Percy, I hope you're wrong. But if you're right..." she stared at the flashlight beam, casting a dim circle on the stone wall. I had a feeling she was thinking about her prophecy. I'd never seen her look more tired.

Percy knew that feeling intricately. Sitting in the back of a truck with abused animals and gnawing over what could be so much it made everything hopeless while you stumbled into the next catastrophe.

Annabeth had never let him down on his quest though, and he was determined he would do the same for her.

"How about I take first watch?" I said. "I'll wake you if anything happens."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to protest, but she just nodded, slumped into her bedroll, and closed her eyes.

There had been so little light in that tunnel, his brain had been going haywire all night over the smallest noise. He'd flicked a spider off her at one point before she had to wake up and realize that. Her tangled blonde curls kept tickling her neck and she'd moved and brushed at them in her sleep, smudging that dirt on her cheek as she muttered.

He probably wasn't that good at guard duty, looking back.

When it was my turn to sleep, I dreamed I was back in the old man's Labyrinth prison.

"What's a level above a 3D experience?" Magnus looked at him tragically. "Percy's over here living a double life being in this place two times at once and it's depressing."

"You're telling me," Percy agreed with a thankful smile all the same. Anybody else giving him that pitying look would have made him uncomfortable, but Magnus seemed genuinely sorry for him.

It looked more like a workshop now. Tables were littered with measuring instruments. A forge burned red hot in the corner. The boy I'd seen in the last dream was stoking the bellows, except he was taller now, almost my age.

"That awkward moment where I'm not sure if I'd take juvie or this?" Alex grumbled. The freedom to be able to work in a prison was not something he'd tolerate though under any circumstances, so it was a moot point.

A weird funnel device was attached to the forge's chimney, trapping the smoke and heat and channeling it through a pipe into the floor, next to a big bronze manhole cover.

It was daytime. The sky above was blue, but the walls of the maze cast deep shadows across the workshop. After being in tunnels so long, I found it weird that part of the Labyrinth could be open to the sky. Somehow that made the maze seem like even a crueler place.

Magnus had thought much the same the first time he heard it. He lived the feeling every day of seeing everything he'd never have again as he pulled his jacket tighter around him.

The old man looked sickly. He was terribly thin, his hands raw and red from working. White hair covered his eyes, and his tunic was smudged with grease. He was bent over a table, working on some kind of long metal patchwork—like a swath of chain mail. He picked up a delicate curl of bronze and fitted it into place.

"Done," he announced. "It's done."

He picked up his project. It was so beautiful, my heart leaped—metal wings constructed from thousands of interlocking bronze feathers. There were two sets. One still lay on the table. Daedalus stretched the frame, and the wings expanded twenty feet. Part of me knew it could never fly. It was too heavy, and there'd be no way to get off the ground. But the craftsmanship was amazing. Metal feathers caught the light and flashed thirty different shades of gold.

Thalia shuddered at those things being strapped to her back, but Alex's breath caught in his throat at the beautiful imagery. He could turn into a golden bird if he wished, and yet the craftsman ship of somebody making the painstaking effort in those lit a unique fire in him to long and try the same.

The boy left the bellows and ran over to see. He grinned, despite the fact that he was grimy and sweaty. "Father, you're a genius!"

The old man smiled. "Tell me something I don't know, Icarus.

"Why do I know that name?" Magnus frowned. It was one of those moments he swore he'd heard through osmosis, something circled and passed around in word of mouth he'd swear he had no attachment to.

"Not sure," Percy agreed, "but a kid named Ick- anything must be happy to at least have some isolation from other kids."

Jason snorted in surprise while Thalia sighed in exasperation at the idiot.

Now hurry. It will take at least an hour to attach them. Come."

"You first," Icarus said.

The old man protested, but Icarus insisted. "You made them, Father. You should get the honor of wearing them first."

The boy attached a leather harness to his father's chest,

This boy adored his father, which left a strange silence in the room as Magnus read over that. Not one of them knew that feeling. Most of them barely had a relationship with their dad if they talked at all.

like climbing gear, with straps that ran from his shoulders to his wrists. Then he began fastening on the wings, using a metal canister that looked like an enormous hot-glue gun.

"And you said I didn't have any hand to scar knowledge," Percy grinned. "Try helping your mom out with some arts and crafts project and see if you come away without one of these," he prodded his ring finger where a slight discoloration of skin was, right below a sizeable deep scar from one of his early sword practices.

Or, it used to be.

"I would never accuse a kid like you of not knowing about hot-glue Percy," Alex grinned. "Your mom probably banned you from using them too early in life."

"A successful win, glad you know me so well," he chuckled, but it sounded choked up as he kept prodding at the flesh in his fingers that still moved like normal...yet he'd swear they were somebody else's hands for a moment. He knew that scar should have been there, Annabeth had told him to put water on it and he'd deliberately ignored her because a scar had sounded like the coolest thing to have in that moment...Were his memories coming back wrong...

Thalia had to nudge him again, hard, to get him to pay attention. He felt like he should have a bruise on his ribs by this point as often as she did that, but his creepy baby hands rubbed at the spot and somehow knew that wouldn't happen no matter how many times she did.

"The wax compound should hold for several hours," Daedalus said nervously as his son worked. "But we must let it set first. And we would do well to avoid flying too high or too low. The sea would wet the wax seals—"

"And the sun's heat would loosen them," the boy finished.

Magnus's mind nagged at him more stubbornly by the moment. A story about a boy who flew to close to the sun? He'd read an article once on where the idea was based on, and something of greek stories had played a part in it.

His stomach started sinking low as he put two and two together. There had yet been a Greek story that didn't end in tragedy.

"Yes, Father. We've been through this a million times!"

"One cannot be too careful."

"I have complete faith in your inventions, Father! No one has ever been as smart as you."

Thalia's stomach pitched unpleasantly. The gods never liked it when something like that was spoken into the air. The Fates themselves may have just sealed this boys fate before Athena could have concocted a plan.

The old man's eyes shone. It was obvious he loved his son more than anything in the world.

Alex studied the book intently for a few moments, annoyed that was an expression he could never replicate in a sculpture if he'd never actually seen it.

"Now I will do your wings, and give mine a chance to set properly. Come!"

It was slow going. The old man's hands fumbled with the straps. He had a hard time keeping the wings in position while he sealed them. His own metal wings seemed to weigh him down, getting in his way while he tried to work.

"I'm guessing this was a prototype experiment, maybe needs a few test runs before it's marketable," Jason muttered uneasily.

"I don't think his, um, investor is giving him much time to test the safety features," Thalia didn't need to remind him. If this wasn't a blatant escape attempt then there was a cake about to jump out of that bronze manhole cover.

"Too slow," the old man muttered. "I am too slow."

"Take your time, Father," the boy said. "The guards aren't due until—"

BOOM!

"That one wasn't me!" Percy said with a shaky attempt at a laugh that fell flat fast. The silence was starting to settle around them as they all expected his dream to end with the nightmarish image of someone's death.

The workshop doors shuddered. Daedalus had barred them from the inside with a wooden brace, but still they shook on their hinges.

"Hurry!" Icarus said.

BOOM! BOOM!

Something heavy was slamming into the doors. The brace held, but a crack appeared in the left door.

Daedalus worked furiously. A drop of hot wax spilled onto Icarus's shoulder. The boy winced but did not cry out.

Will winced horribly with him, wondering how much pain the poor boy had been through all these years to learn how to do that.

When his left wing was sealed into the straps, Daedalus began working on the right.

"We must have more time," Daedalus murmured. "They are too early! We need more time for the seal to hold."

"It'll be fine," Icarus said, as his father finished the right wing. "Help me with the manhole—"

CRASH! The doors splintered and the head of a bronze battering ram emerged through the breach. Axes cleared the debris, and two armed guards entered the room, followed by the king with the golden crown and the spearshaped beard.

"Well, well," the king said with a cruel smile. "Going somewhere?"

"I'm panicking right now and don't have a witty comeback for that," Percy admitted. He wanted to be in that cell, to hold off this horrible king and those guards while they escaped.

"Brave soul to admit that," Alex told him, just as impressed as if he had spouted some one-liner.

Daedalus and his son froze, their metal wings glimmering on their backs.

"I really hope he made a prayer to Zeus," Magnus muttered uneasily. "He sounds like he's really going to need all the help he can get." He found himself signing it, like he wished he hadn't had to say it out loud and jinx it. He missed Hearth.

He wasn't entirely sure why they were hearing about this either. He would have thought Percy would be dreaming of how Daedalus had created the maze and all its horrors. Why was the mans death so worthy of this nightmare?

"We're leaving, Minos," the old man said.

King Minos chuckled. "I was curious to see how far you'd get on this little project before I dashed your hopes. I must say I'm impressed." The king admired their wings. "You look like metal chickens," he decided. "Perhaps we should pluck you and make a soup."

"Maybe he'd like a pair of his own?" Nico said with a nasty smile. "Chicken's cannibalize each other. Daedalus would probably be more than happy to make a parting pair so he could join."

"Two sentences I'm sure have no relation to each other," Percy said with a strange look at him as usual when this king was brought up. The flash of outrage that always passed over Nico felt really personal and always amped Percy's headache up to eleven.

The guards laughed stupidly.

"Metal chickens," one repeated. "Soup."

"Shut up," the king said. Then he turned again to Daedalus. "You let my daughter escape, old man. You drove my wife to madness. You killed my monster and made me the laughingstock of the Mediterranean. You will never escape me!"

"All crimes I'm so sure this ass hole had no part of the fault in whatsoever," Jason scowled.

"That bad luck stuff really does come in threes," Percy chuckled. "Maybe he'll get lucky and a drought will come along so he can blame all his problems on the weather next."

Icarus grabbed the wax gun and sprayed it at the king, who stepped back in surprise. The guards rushed forward, but each got a stream of hot wax in his face.

Alex made a humming noise of pleasure and Magnus swallowed uneasily at the vivid mental image of him doing that to someone who next annoyed him.

"The vent!" Icarus yelled to his father.

"Get them!" King Minos raged.

Together, the old man and his son pried open the manhole cover, and a column of hot air blasted out of the ground. The king watched, incredulous, as the inventor and son shot into the sky on their bronze wings, carried by the updraft.

"Shoot them!" the king yelled, but his guards had brought no bows. One threw his sword in desperation,

"With hot wax in his face?" Thalia sounded incredulously impressed. "I hope that man got a promotion for dedication."

"Or more likely was beheaded first," Nico grumbled.

but Daedalus and Icarus were already out of reach. They wheeled above the maze and the king's palace, then zoomed across the city of Knossos and out past the rocky shores of Crete.

Icarus laughed. "Free, Father! You did it."

The boy spread his wings to their full limit and soared away on the wind.

"Wait!" Daedalus called. "Be careful!"

But Icarus was already out over the open sea, heading north and delighting in their good luck. He soared up and scared an eagle out of its flight path, then plummeted toward the sea like he was born to fly, pulling out of a nosedive at the last second. His sandals skimmed the waves.

Thalia looked a tad green around the edges of that being described in such vivid detail. Jason looked downright envious, it sounded magical and something he had a funny feeling he'd dreamed about doing in another life he might actually remember.

"Stop that!" Daedalus called. But the wind carried his voice away. His son was drunk on his own freedom.

Will was wincing over every other word though. This story was probably still so popular as a cautionary tale to listen to your parents, look both ways before crossing the streets no matter how sure you were. Will heard it as the boy having to much faith in his father's abilities. Either way you looked at it, this boy had not deserved such a miserable life only to die like that.

The old man struggled to catch up, gliding clumsily after his son.

They were miles from Crete, over deep sea, when Icarus looked back and saw his father's worried expression.

Icarus smiled. "Don't worry, Father! You're a genius! I trust your handiwork—"

The first metal feather shook loose from his wings and fluttered away.

There wasn't much shock, or a bunch of falsities this story was going to end happily ever after. Magnus read somberly, there was a sense of gentleness in the way he read that indicated this wasn't the first tragic story he'd heard and knew the right way to control his voice.

Then another.

Icarus wabbled in midair. Suddenly he was shedding bronze feathers, which twirled away from him like a flock of frightened birds.

"I feel the need to give a hats off one more time to whoever it is describing that, glorious, mental image," Alex said in a very restrained voice holding back awe, and laughter. He felt a little bad, this was a real kid that had really died, but also that was just to vivid an image to be expressed in only words. His hands ached for some clay to somehow memorialize that, as he was sure some Greek had once done.

"Icarus!" his father cried. "Glide! Extend the wings. Stay as still as possible!"

But Icarus flapped his arms, desperately trying to reassert control.

The left wing went first—ripping away from the straps.

"Father!" Icarus cried. And then he fell, the wings stripped away until he was just a boy in a climbing harness and a white tunic, his arms extended in a useless attempt to glide.

I woke with a start, feeling like I was falling.

Percy fought off the urge to startle in his seat now as he rubbed at his thudding heart, that bronze battering ram might as well have been pounding against his ribs. Maybe he'd been wrong before. He should be more grateful about the nightmares where his pants try to eat him.

The corridor was dark. In the constant moaning of the Labyrinth, I thought I could hear the anguished cry of Daedalus calling his son's name, as Icarus, his only joy, plummeted toward the sea, three hundred feet below.

Nico sighed as he studied his boots and imagined the rest of that kids passing. He was probably still in the Fields of Asphodel for all eternity, having lived an unremarkable life, but moments like this made him wish there was another option.

He'd been no hero, so there was no way he'd get into Elysium, but he'd also never been given a chance. He'd just had a miserable life, and it shouldn't just be the hero's who deserved to try for better.

There was no morning in the maze, but once everyone woke up and had a fabulous breakfast of granola bars and juice boxes,

"You guys are way to young to be eating old people food for breakfast," Alex sighed. "Where's the soda and cake because nobody can't tell you not to? Where's the vodka?"

"Alex's potential alcoholic sugar rush aside," Will said with his eyes closed like the idea physically pained him, "I for one am glad to see Annabeth is a smart packer!"

we kept traveling. I didn't mention my dream. Something about it had really freaked me out, and I didn't think the others needed to know that.

"Not seeing how it would have helped much," Jason agreed warily, "but I still think you should have. It might not have shined a light on your path problem, or anything, but it's still better to get off your chest, and maybe Annabeth would have opened up too."

"And you share every thought that comes to your mind huh?" Percy asked glumly. "Between the terrified peeps Grover kept making for every step we took and Annabeth muttering to herself about which way to go, I didn't want to break the awesome symphony they had going."

Jason wasn't going to keep arguing the point, he just wished Percy understood Annabeth might have liked for her troops to know they could confide any little thing in her.

The old stone tunnels changed to dirt with cedar beams, like a gold mine or something. Annabeth started getting agitated.

"This isn't right," she said. "It should still be stone."

"Why?" Magnus asked in ever growing concern why she still thought any of this should make sense.

"Dirt is the oldest thing on the planet, isn't that an even better path to lead to the oldest workshop?" Alex agreed.

Nobody was so much ignoring their questions, they just didn't have a good answer.

We came to a cave where stalactites hung low from the ceiling. In the center of the dirt floor was a rectangular pit, like a grave.

"Frankly I'm surprised you haven't come across more people deciding to just start digging their own graves," Will admitted with itchy skin. He probably would have if he'd been stuck in that Labyrinth.

Grover shivered. "It smells like the Underworld in here."

"I never really thought cemeteries would smell like pleasant mangroves, but thanks for the confirmation," Percy muttered.

Then I saw something glinting at the edge of the pit—a foil wrapper. I shined my flashlight into the hole and saw a half-chewed cheeseburger floating in brown carbonated muck.

"Nico, we have got to work on your signature exit strategy," Alex told him. "You get points for originality, but that must take way to long to orchestrate, and the waste!"

"I like to think of it more as a really fancy calling card," Nico grinned. "I've been here and you should all know and fear me."

"Hey," Alex grinned and even gave him a finger gun. "Good one!"

"Nico," I said. "He was summoning the dead again."

Tyson whimpered. "Ghosts were here. I don't like ghosts."

"We've got to find him." I don't know why, but standing at the edge of that pit gave me a sense of urgency. Nico was close, I could feel it.

Nico looked around at him in mild concern. "If you start tracking me like a bloodhound you will regret it."

"I was hoping you had some fries left over," Percy admitted with a sheepish grin. He was just to relieved the kid was okay rather than the surge of urgency he'd had in that place.

I couldn't let him wander around down here, alone except for the dead. I started to run.

Nico seemed genuinely touched. He even gave Percy a brief smile, the friendliest expression Percy had ever seen on him. Percy immediately smiled back, really hoping all this awkward crush business had just blown over finally.

"Percy!" Annabeth called.

I ducked into a tunnel and saw light up ahead. By the time Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover caught up with me, I was staring at daylight streaming through a set of bars above my head. We were under a steel grate made out of metal pipes. I could see trees and blue sky.

"Are you in another prison underground?" Magnus asked in trepidation. "Is the whole labyrinth just going to lead you to every prison on the planet?"

"I, really hope not," Percy said with a blank stare.

Thalia made an awkward noise as she tried not to agree. It was certainly an imprisonment for those poor animals.

"Where are we?" I wondered.

Then a shadow fell across the grate and a cow stared down at me. It looked like a normal cow except with was a weird color—bright red, like a cherry. I didn't know cows came in that color.

"Where did you think strawberry milk came from Percy?" Jason said with way to much confidence, it actually threw Percy off for a moment before they both chuckled.

"Um, they kind of can," Alex agreed, "but not bright red. More of a deep red color."

"No, I mean like, Rachel's hair red, I am not kidding," Percy promised.

"So our options on the dude ranch are cute cow shows where they die their cattle rainbow colors, or fiery cows that are going to kill you," Magnus sighed.

Will fought hard to stifle a laugh he was pretty close on that second one.

"Maybe Bessie's parents are there," Alex chuckled.

The cow mooed, put one hoof tentatively on the bars, then backed away.

"It's a cattle guard," Grover said.

"A what?" I asked.

"They put them at the gates of ranches so cows can't get out. They can't walk on them."

"How do you know that?"

Grover huffed indignantly. "Believe me, if you had hooves, you'd know about cattle guards. They're annoying!"

"Poor Grover," Magnus agreed. "I wonder if he can walk over any grate, like those giant ones you see in store parking lots."

"I get the feeling Grover doesn't frequent grocery stores very much for that to be a problem," Thalia reminded.

I turned to Annabeth. "Didn't Hera say something about a ranch? We need to check it out. Nico might be there."

"She also said to keep going past the ranch," Nico supplied with perfect clarity and a very confused raised eyebrow. "You're really ignoring the one good bit of advice she gave you?"

"Like I'm going to take some goddess's advice that stressed out Annabeth so much," Percy scoffed, "we still need to have a talk!"

"Right," Nico agreed with another surprised smile.

She hesitated. "All right. But how do we get out?"

Tyson solved that problem by hitting the cattle guard with both hands. It popped off and went flying out of sight. We heard a CLANG! and a startled Moo! Tyson blushed.

"Sorry, cow!" he called.

There was just friendly laughter going around the room for a moment, along with Alex and Magnus sharing some odd signs about finishing an animal book of noises nobody else followed.

Then he gave us a boost out of the tunnel.

We were on a ranch, all right. Rolling hills stretched to the horizon, dotted with oak trees and cactuses and boulders. A barbed wire fence ran from the gate in either direction. Cherry-colored cows roamed around, grazing on clumps of grass.

"Red cattle," Annabeth said. "The cattle of the sun."

"I was joking about them being able to breathe fire too!" Magnus groaned.

"No, no, you were right on the money with that one," Will chuckled.

"What?" I asked.

"They're sacred to Apollo."

"Holy cows?"

"Are the Greeks responsible for every old saying?" Magnus laughed in surprise. "Like if I say the phrase till the cows come home, are you going to tell me it's based on a myth?"

"Um," Thalia gave him an awkward smile rather than admit, yeah, probably.

"Exactly. But what are they doing—"

"Wait," Grover said. "Listen."

At first everything seemed quiet...but then I heard it: the distant baying of dogs.

Alex did a weirdly good reenactment of that like they needed a live performance.

Jason laughed hard in surprise, for some reason he just knew he had a misplaced fondness for hunting dogs Mrs. O'Leary hadn't quite struck in him.

The sound got louder. Then the underbrush rustled, and two dogs broke through. Except it wasn't two dogs. It was one dog with two heads. It looked like a greyhound, long and snaky and sleek brown, but its neck V'd into two heads, both of them snapping and snarling and generally not very glad to see us.

"Cool," Jason grinned wider than ever.

"Not in the slightest," Magnus muttered, fighting off the impulse to make the warding off evil gesture at the idea of this thing anywhere near him.

"Bad Janus dog!" Tyson cried.

Magnus had no choice but to laugh too though.

"Do you think one head sniffs out truth and the other lies?" Thalia tagged in.

Jason gave her a startled look, something of the description of this dog and that tied in well-

but Magnus kept reading quickly, his dislike of canines wasn't subtle, and he obviously didn't want to linger on this.

"Arf!" Grover told it, and raised a hand in greeting.

The two-headed dog bared its teeth. I guess it wasn't impressed that Grover could speak animal.

"It's like speaking to a New Yorker," Will offered. "Just because you learn the lingo doesn't mean you're welcome."

"Fair enough," Percy said with a bright-eyed thanks, nobody had ever explained it like that before.

Then its master lumbered out of the woods, and I realized the dog was the least of our problems.

He was a huge guy with stark white hair, a straw cowboy hat, and a braided white beard— kind of like Father Time, if Father Time went redneck and got totally jacked. He was wearing jeans, a DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS T-shirt, and a denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off so you could see his muscles. On his right bicep was a crossed-swords tattoo. He held a wooden club about the size of a nuclear warhead, with six-inch spikes bristling at the business end.

"That is a very manly dude on this demon animal ranch," Magnus groaned, fighting off the urge to chuck the book away from him at the chapter title once again being way to accurate.

"I bet he makes good barbeque though," Alex said like he was still willing to give the place a chance if someone let him pet the animals.

"Heel, Orthus," he told the dog.

"He named his dog twilight?" Alex asked with a very concerning, twitching smile. "Well, given the pet, I'm sure I can guess which team he was on."

"We all have our secret hobbies," Magnus said with an eye roll, he really hoped that wasn't one Alex secretly liked.

The dog growled at us once more, just to make his feelings clear, then circled back to his master's feet.

"Um, good dog?" Will said meekly. "It's always nice to express your feelings."

"Maybe not the kind that make you want to cover your throat," Nico frowned, he'd been on the receiving end of those fangs getting a little to close.

The man looked us up and down, keeping his club ready.

"What've we got here?" he asked. "Cattle rustlers?"

"Just travelers," Annabeth said. "We're on a quest."

The man's eye twitched. "Half-bloods, eh?"

I started to say, "How did you know—"

"Well you don't look like cow rustlers," Thalia snorted.

Annabeth put her hand on my arm. "I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena. This is Percy, son of Poseidon.

"Why the actual fridge fart did she introduce you with your parents?" Jason demanded. "That tends to cause more problems!"

Percy was to busy repeating a particular part of Jason's question to himself to answer while Thalia shrugged nonchalantly. "Dog might have sniffed it out, most monsters know anyways, no point in lying."

Grover the satyr. Tyson the—"

"Cyclops," the man finished. "Yes, I can see that." He glowered at me. "And I know half-bloods because I am one, sonny. I'm Eurytion, the cowherd for this here ranch. Son of Ares.

"I'm curious if that whole, forever grudging hate thing Ares has against you for beating him is passed on through some kind of psychic link to all his kids, not just the ones at Camp," Alex asked, miming a head explosion to emphasize his point.

"You just want to hear about someone meeting me and beating the tar out of me," Percy frowned in accusation.

"Trying to beat the tar out of you," Alex corrected. "You're not wrong, but that's not entirely why I want to know," Alex agreed.

"Well I couldn't guess," Percy said in exasperation.

You came through the Labyrinth like the other one, I reckon."

"The other one?" I asked. "You mean Nico di Angelo?"

"We get a load of visitors from the Labyrinth," Eurytion said darkly. "Not many ever leave."

Will sat up straight in his seat, no more jokes or tiffs about silly things like being afraid of a two-headed dog as he looked seriously from Nico to the book and back. Nico had last said he'd gotten caught, but no more. He really hadn't been that worried about it since he was right here, but now his Apollo-healer tingle started humming if they had actually hurt him while holding him there for however long until he got out.

"Wow," I said. "I feel welcome."

"They should put a mat out instead of some old cattle guard," Alex agreed.

The cowherd glanced bend him like someone was watching. Then he lowered his voice. "I'm only going to say this once, demigods. Get back in the maze now. Before it's too late."

The short, sharp breath that escaped Nico wasn't his first in this room. He'd almost come to expect it in regards to Percy, the boy he'd actually known nothing about really.

This moment caught him off guard anew. That Percy could have run and come back when the quest was over. That he'd followed his impulsiveness to come find him but still had the chance to turn around.

"We're not leaving," Annabeth insisted. "Not until we see this other demigod. Please."

And they didn't. Neither Percy or Annabeth. With everything else weighing heavier on the line, they actually picked him at that moment.

Eurytion grunted. "Then you leave me no choice, missy. I've got to take you to the boss."

"If this guy's just the grunt, how big is the boss going to be?" Magnus frowned.

"You really want to know that?" Alex asked in surprise.

"No," he sighed, "but we're going to find out anyways."

"Well then you can either cover up your ears and ignore it all or make up a lie for yourself in the meantime," Alex scoffed.

I didn't feel like we were hostages or anything.

"And the amount of exposure you've had to that feeling makes me confident in your verification of that," Jason sighed.

"I always wanted an adventurous life," Percy shrugged.

Eurytion walked alongside us with his club across his shoulder. Orthus the two-headed dog growled a lot and sniffed at Grover's legs and shot into the bushes once in a while to chase animals, but Eurytion kept him more or less under control.

We walked down a dirt path that seemed to go on forever. It must've been close to a hundred degrees, which was a shock after San Francisco. Heat shimmered off the ground. Insects buzzed in the trees. Before we'd gone very far, I was sweating like crazy. Flies swarmed us. Every so often we'd see a pen full of red cows or even stranger animals. Once we passed a corral where the fence was coated in asbestos. Inside, a herd of fire-breathing horses milled around. The hay in their feeding trough was on fire. The ground smoked around their feet, but the horses seemed tame enough. One big stallion looked at me and whinnied, columns of red flame billowing out his nostrils. I wondered if it hurt his sinuses.

"I'm sensing a theme," Alex said with interest.

"If Orthus isn't immune to flames then I don't know how they get the herding done around there," Magnus said curiously, "unless they have a separate fire breathing dog just for that and Orthus is security."

"I just want to know what happens when you milk them," Jason chuckled. "Is that were the lava at camp comes from?"

Percy laughed along with them like he didn't have a care in the world.

"What are they for?" I asked.

Eurytion scowled. "We raise animals for lots of clients. Apollo, Diomedes, and...others."

"Like who?"

"No more questions."

"Are we really surprised?" Thalia scoffed. "If he was going to tell you his entire clientele he'd already be bragging about it."

"He didn't really answer my question," Percy insisted, "you know I'd never let something like that go."

Finally we came out of the woods. Perched on a hill above us was a big ranch house—all white stone and wood and big windows.

"It looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright!" Annabeth said.

"The building looks like a person?" Will squinted suspiciously.

"No, I think the guy is famous for organic architecture or something," Jason grinned. "I'm sure I've come across his name, though I have no clue why."

"The house is, edible?" Percy frowned. "It didn't look made out of candy and gingerbread."

"No, they're like, open, modern, utilize the best space," Jason said, his brow creasing with concentration as he tried to remember why he'd read about this. "Um, I think prairie dogs came up at one point?"

"We seriously need a book on what you've been up to," Thalia said, her selfish reasons aside in this case.

"Well, at least we're sticking with a farm theme," Will nodded like that was all the relief he needed.

I guess she was talking about some architectural thing. To me it just looked like the kind of place where a few demigods could get into serious trouble.

"Percy, that's every building you walk into," Magnus scoffed.

"I could put you in a rubber room and you'd find a way to make it explode," Alex agreed with pride.

No wonder he did so well on this very combustible farm, Nico kept to himself, and Percy didn't even explode anything. He was just in his natural element even out of the water.

We hiked up the hill.

"Don't break the rules," Eurytion warned as we walked up the steps to the front porch.

"He hasn't told us the rules yet!" Will protested like he expected the monsters to play fair.

"I guess he never got numb to the pretty scenery and was distracted," Alex rolled his eyes.

"No fighting. No drawing weapons. And don't make any comments about the boss's appearance."

"Oh," Thalia said in great exhaustion. "Percy's screwed."

Percy didn't bother to deny it, he was already tapping his pen against each knuckle with growing unease. Eurytion hadn't bothered him much, but something of this house was setting his instincts ablaze, and he had a feeling it didn't have anything to do with organic housing.

"Why?" I asked. "What does he look like?"

Before Eurytion could reply, a new voice said, "Welcome to the Triple G Ranch."

"Unless the triple stands for gay I don't think this is going to be any fun," Alex pouted.

"And here I was starting to delude myself the G stood for great," Magnus sighed. "Triple Great Ranch, where nobody almost dies!"

"Focusing on the wrong part of that," Thalia muttered low enough Percy couldn't hear.

The man on the porch had a normal head, which was a relief.

Percy wasn't phased by the smattering of snickers that covered the room. They were lucky they'd only had to hear the weirdness described.

His face was weathered and brown from years in the sun. He had a slick black hair and a black pencil moustache like villains have in old movies.

"What's with the evil mustaches in this book?" Will asked nervously, still watching Nico anxiously. He didn't seem particularly traumatized by this guy showing up again, but was back to fiddling with his ring uneasily. "Why can't someone be described with a friendly mustache like Santa?"

"Because nobody wants Nerus to come back," Percy rolled his eyes.

He smiled at us, but the smile wasn't friendly; more amused, like Oh boy, more people to torture!

"I dislike that you know that smile," Magnus groaned.

"It's the only way I've ever seen Mr. D smile," Percy shrugged.

I didn't ponder that very long, though, because then I noticed his body...or bodies. He had three of them. Now you'd think I would've gotten used to weird anatomy after Janus and Briares, but this guy was three complete people. His neck connected to the middle chest like normal, but he had two more chests, one to either side, connected at the shoulders, with a few inches between. His left arm grew out of his left chest, and the same on the right, so he had two arms, but four armpits, if that makes any sense. The chests all connected into one enormous torso, with two regular but very beefy legs, and he wore the most oversized pair of Levis I'd ever seen. His chests each wore a different color Western shirt—green, yellow, red, like a stoplight. I wondered how he dressed the middle chest, since it had no arms.

"People of different backgrounds don't always like their routines on display Percy," Jason rolled his eyes at him.

"That cannot be comfortable getting through your average doorway," Magnus frowned at this bizarre theme of mismatching body parts Percy had been coming across. "Guess that open floor plan was on purpose."

The cowherd Eurytion nudged me. "Say Hello to Mr. Geryon."

"Oh, triple Geryon, I get it," Alex grinned. Magnus just sighed in defeat and said, "yeah, that tracks."

"I'm done," Thalia raised her hands in exasperation at these boys!

"Hi," I said. "Nice chests—uh, ranch! Nice ranch you have."

"Percy, breaking the rules in one sentence," Will chuckled. "You really are a wonder of your own."

"Thank you," Percy grinned.

Before the three-bodied man could respond, Nico di Angelo came out of the glass doors onto the porch.

Will sighed in relief, he'd already been imagining him trussed up in the basement with fire-breathing feral cats or something.

"Bathroom break," Alex nodded in understanding. "Everybody needs that during a monster chase."

"I got caught by Eurytion who told me I needed to come with him," Nico told them in exasperation. Eurytion had actually offered to just keep on driving, but, well, he'd happily let himself be taken hostage too just like Percy for his own reasons. Huh, he'd never expected to be like Percy in this random way. "I agreed because I'd heard of him and needed to speak about, negotiations," he finished lamely. Nobody pressed him for details, they'd gotten mildly better at suppressing that not to hassle Percy to much, but he could feel their simmering curiosity like milk ready to boil over.

"Geryon, I won't wait for—"

He froze when he saw us. Then he drew his sword.

"See, Nico's breaking the rules too," Percy said with an accusing finger at him like that was the important part of somebody drawing a sword on you.

"It's not a competition Percy," Will sighed, "and Annabeth already started it and won regardless before the quest kicked off."

The blade was just like I'd seen in my dream; short, sharp, and dark as midnight.

Alex gave a very loud, longing sigh and flopped against the side of his couch as he gave Nico a hurt look.

"I don't see why you want to know how I got it so bad," Nico smiled at his theatrics. "You've never tried to find out how Annabeth or Grover got their reed pipes and knife."

"Oh, I will when I meet them," Alex promised. "I'm waiting to ambush Thalia about her shield when I can get a chance that doesn't involve her using it on me."

"If you jump out at me and scream boo, you will get a face full of Aegis," Thalia promised.

"See, bidding my time," Alex said with a very calculating look at Nico, who just chuckled.

Geryon snarled when he saw it. "Put that away, Mr. di Angelo. I ain't gonna have my guests killin' each other."

"But that's—"

"Percy Jackson," Geryon supplied. "Annabeth Chase. And a couple of their monster friends. Yes, I know."

"Monster friends?" Grover said indignantly.

Magnus twiddled his fingers uncomfortably as he wondered how Grover was supposed to be classified.

"That man is wearing three shirts," Tyson said, like he was just realizing this.

"I'd love to meet Tyson just to see what he says about me," Jason chuckled.

"That man is to smart to be this dumb," Percy helpfully supplied.

"I would have told you what he first thought about you, but now you can forget it," Jason huffed.

"No, wait-" Percy began to splutter, but Thalia gave them both sharp smacks to their knees to pay attention.

"They let my sister die!" Nico's voice trembled with rage. "They're here to kill me!"

"One of these things is not like the other," Percy said with a nervous chuckle.

"As opposed to a normal person, who would deny both claims," Alex said, framing his hands around Percy's face as if to capture such ineptitude.

Both Thalia and Percy winced hard, the guilt they felt in Bianca's sacrifice still very raw to be discussed.

"Sorry," Nico whispered again. "I know that was harsh, and not what happened now, and-"

"Nico, I don't blame you," Percy promised at once. If anything he still blamed himself plenty, prophecy be dammed. It was his idea Bianca had run off with. "You were just a kid, haven't you been listening? I really did just want to help!"

Nico gave him an understanding nod, but the dull feeling of pain from still being called a kid by him, the flash of nausea that raced through him when he still remembered what had come out of his mouth the last time he'd talked to Percy about this, and the ensuing pressure he still felt inside every time he heard his sister's name wasn't giving him a very eloquent response.

"Nico, we're not here to kill you." I raised my hands. "What happened to Bianca was—"

"Don't speak her name! You're not worthy to even talk about her!"

"What's the level of worthiness?" Alex was the only one who dared keep talking to him right now in anything resembling a light tone. "Just trying to get a scale on that?"

A flash of anger did burn through him, that this wasn't a joke, but he knew Alex didn't mean it like that. He'd never talked about his sister, he didn't know how.

Silence was his answer, but Alex wasn't deterred. He'd just try another way.

"Wait a minute," Annabeth pointed at Geryon. "How do you know our names?"

"I really stopped questioning that when Medusa did," Magnus shook his head.

The three-bodied man winked. "I make it my business to keep informed, darlin'. Everybody pops into the ranch from time to time. Everyone needs something from ole Geryon. Now, Mr. di Angelo, put that ugly sword away before I have Eurytion take it form you."

"It's not ugly!" Will said with a loud, nervous chuckle, his hands fidgeting around making calming gestures at nobody in here. He kept tickling the hair on the back of Nico's neck, and yet he didn't really have the urge to swat him away.

"Don't worry Will, I don't lose it at every insult," Nico sighed. His need had trumped his grudge for Percy, for the moment. He hoped Bianca had been around watching and smiled at that, he was already trying to live up to her wish without even knowing it.

Eurytion sighed, but he hefted his spiked club.

"I'm getting feelings of discontent," Jason said, sharp eyes clearly wondering if they could play these two against each other.

"What a strange child of Ares," Thalia agreed pleasantly.

At his feet, Orthus growled.

Nico hesitated. He looked thinner and paler than he had in the Irismessages. I wondered if he'd eaten in the last week. His black clothes were dusty from traveling in the Labyrinth, and his dark eyes were full of hate. He was too young to look so angry. I still remembered him as the cheerful little kid who played with Mythomagic cards.

Which hadn't changed much from the moment he'd been flung in here. Percy looked sharply away from him, his mind sucker punching him with guilt and memories he still hadn't tied together on how everything surrounding this kid seemed to have gone wrong.

Nico wanted to deny it. He wanted to summon an army of soldiers and dare anyone to call him weak and sad looking. He didn't want their pity!

But Will sighed, his arm across the back of the couch, his posture open, and exhausted. If Will had been talking to him this whole time out of some kind of pity, he couldn't find it. Alex tweaked his nose and gave him a knowing wink. The idea came across. 'I get it, life sucks.'

Reluctantly, he sheathed his sword. "If you come near me, Percy, I'll summon help. You don't want to meet my helpers, I promise."

"I believe you," I said.

"I really want you to hear what just happened Nico," Thalia chuckled. "This ding-dong has ignored gods, Chiron himself, and his mother every day of his life when she tells him to be safe. You, you he listened to without question."

"You mean putting the fear of death into you wouldn't work?" Percy rolled his eyes at her. He'd listened because he didn't want to try talking to Nico in front of these monsters and they needed to not kill each other until then.

Nico winced with guilt Percy had really believed that of him.

Geryon patted Nico's shoulder. "There, we've all made nice. Now come along, folks. I want to give you a tour of the ranch."

"Is there roasted peanuts involved?" Jason perked up at any mention of a tour.

"Athena set the bar to high," Magnus nodded, "I don't know how this guy is going to compete. I bet he won't even mention a snack bar."

Geryon had a trolley thing—like one of those kiddie trains that take you around zoos. It was painted black and white in a cowhide pattern. The driver's car had a set of longhorns stuck to the hood, and the horn sounded like a cowbell. I figured maybe this was how he tortured people. He embarrassed them to death riding around in the moo-mobile.

"You wouldn't believe how scary that thing can look popping up in the labyrinth," Nico scowled.

Magnus spluttered painfully as he tried to subdue a laugh, shaking his hands and gasping, "sorry! I believe you!" His face was turning red, he was probably signing to stay coherent like Nico actually understood that. "Just imaging that ghost getting freaked out by-" he had to stop and catch his breath.

Nico sighed and chuckled good-naturedly. Will even nodded beside him and said, "well I'm glad, I was worried you were dragged there kicking and screaming. This seems, less, um, bad?"

"I knew who Geryon was and wanted to make a deal," Nico nodded, not enlightening the others Minos had mentioned him as a potential ally. "I can't say I, regret, getting in," he sighed all the same his sister had finally shown up because of this mess. They'd saved a bunch of silly farm animals. There were worse outcomes that could have happened.

Nico sat in the very back, probably so he could keep an eye on us.

"The strategic move," Jason nodded.

"Hey," Percy frowned, "neither of us actually want the other dead!"

"If this wasn't a circular room I'd be staked out in the corner from you nutjobs," Jason smirked.

Eurytion crawled in next to him with his spiked club and pulled his cowboy hat over his eyes like he was going to take a nap. Orthus jumped in the front seat next to Geryon and began barking happily in two-part harmony.

Alex chuckled and very much wondered if he could turn into that dog. Oh the fun he could have.

Annabeth, Tyson, Grover, and I took the middle two cars.

"We have a huge operation!" Geryon boasted as the moo-mobile lurched forward. "Horses and cattle mostly, but all sorts of exotic varieties, too."

"Peacocks?" Magnus asked hopefully.

"Monster peacocks, now we're in business!" Alex agreed. "Oh, x-ray eyes! No, no, they look at you and expose the color of your aura!"

"I immediately regret this," Magnus sighed. For one glorious, childish moment the image of getting in one of those things had made him think of riding that with his mom at the zoo.

We came over a hill, and Annabeth gasped. "Hippalektryons?

"She always says these words with such confidence," Percy grinned. "I want to know where she finds the time to figure out how to say it in the first place while reading about the world."

"I bet she secretly has to practice clapping the syllables for weeks," Magnus offered. "Like dilophosaurus," he said from experience.

"A, dolphin dinosaur?" Percy asked, vaguely recognizing the name.

"It's the dinosaur that could spit poison!" Magnus grinned. "Fun fact, its been proved they actually couldn't do that, let alone had a frill!"

"Oh, how lame," Percy said. He'd loved the t-rex the most, and feared to much saying that out loud in case some god got a wise idea to sick one on his life.

I thought they were extinct!"

"I've only ever heard of them as actual made up animals too," Thalia grinned in surprise. "Like the lock-ness monster back then, used to scare kids into behaving."

"That's adorable," Jason chuckled. Thalia smiled, he probably wouldn't think it was so entertaining if he knew the real monsters that had haunted them as kids.

At the bottom of the hill was a fenced-in pasture with a dozen of the weirdest animals I'd ever seen.

"You have clearly not been at the bottom of the ocean long enough to see a fangtooth fish. They live with dead eyes and you cannot convince me otherwise. Your dads kingdom makes ancient greek monsters look normal," Alex confessed.

Percy's brain flipflopped back and forth between the idea of a fish being scary and Alex knowing a fish he didn't before deciding on moving on.

Each had the front half of a horse and the back half of a rooster. Their rear feet were huge yellow claws. They had feathery tails and red wings. As I watched, two of them got in a fight over a pile of seed. They reared up on their wings at each other until the smaller one galloped away, its rear bird legs putting a little hop in its step.

"That's adorable," Magnus couldn't help but agree with Will's little coo of excitement.

"I wonder if they're strong enough for Tyson to finally get that ride he wants," Percy nodded they weren't the craziest thing.

"Rooster ponies," Tyson said in amazement. "Do they lay eggs?"

"Once a year!" Geryon grinned in the rearview mirror. "Very much in demand for omelettes!"

"That's horrible!" Annabeth said. "They must be an endangered species!"

Geryon waved his hand. "Gold is gold, darling. And you haven't tasted the omelettes."

"Oooh, yeah, I hate him," Alex said in way to calm a voice for someone who was clearly now planning at least one major crime.

Will nibbled on his lip as he tried to offer, "there's clearly some kind of good balance? Ah, he's helping an endangered species stay alive enough to breed at least, that's more than they're getting being extinct? Baby steps?"

"No Will," Alex said in that continued eerie voice. "You don't get to optimistic your way out of this one."

"Right, yeah, I'll get the lighter fluid," Will agreed, and not just because those would be awesome to have around camp.

"That's not right," Grover murmured, but Geryon just kept narrating the tour.

"Now, over here," he said, "we have our fire-breathing horses, which you may have seen on your way in. They're bred for war, naturally."

"What war?" I asked.

"Any war," Jason gave him a strange look. "Sell those to some mortals and they'll just think they have a weirdly awesome murder horse that doesn't get hurt by flamethrowers." He had a funny feeling about this place. He was sure he'd never directly been, but something of this caused an annoying tick in his brain all the same.

"How about we not sit around discussing warfare," Thalia sighed. Considering camp was on the brink of one, it wasn't anyone's favorite subject right now.

Geryon grinned slyly. "Oh, whichever one comes along. And over yonder, of course, are our prize red cows."

Sure enough, hundreds of the cherry-colored cattle were grazing the side of the hill.

"So many," Grover said.

"Yes, well, Apollo is too busy to see them," Geryon explained, "so he subcontracts to us. We breed them vigorously because there's such a demand."

"For what?" I asked.

Geryon raised an eyebrow. "Meat, of course! Armies have to eat."

"Ugh, okay, that's disgusting," Will shivered. That was like eating a piece of his dads car tire. How could someone stomach even the thought of wanting to do that?

"So it's not okay when it's related to your dad?" Alex challenged.

"They're not related to me, that's not what sacred means," Will sighed. "I'm of the opinion you can't stop the world from being evil so you should try to make peace," he defended himself. "I'm also of the opinion this place is lucky it isn't raining plague arrows right now and my dad would not be happy about this so we should absolutely intervene before the whole place is set on fire and all the cute animals suffer. More."

"A compromise I won't ignore," Alex nodded.

"You kill the sacred cows of the sun god for hamburger meat?" Grover said. "That's against ancient laws!"

"And clearly nothing bad has happened to him," Percy muttered, his mind still on Chiron's dire warning about how many people were on this quest.

Jason still looked a little grumpy nobody had dumped an ancient library on his head so he could be studying all of this in depth like a psychopath.

"Oh, don't get so worked up, satyr. They're just animals."

"Anybody who ever says that deserves to be fed to animals," Thalia shook her head in disgust. "You know who never says that! Farmers who actually care and understand the balance and the welfare of what an animal needs in life!"

"How many black market animal traders have you guys shish kabobed?" Alex asked eagerly.

"Quite a few," Thalia said proudly, popping the collar of her silver jacket. "Stories I will proudly share."

Alex actually began rubbing his hands in excitement.

"Just animals!"

"Yes, and if Apollo cared, I'm sure he would tell us."

"If he knew," I muttered.

"The fact that he doesn't know is kind of getting to me right now," Nico admitted.

"Welcome to my world," Jason agreed. He'd lost track of what the gods did and didn't know and he was about to start making a list just to satisfy his peace of mind.

Nico sat forward. "I don't care about any of this, Geryon. We had business to discuss, and this wasn't it!"

"You are now the definition of someone who needs to stop and smell the roses," Magnus told him sympathetically. He'd been living a hard life and needed some fun, like a cute animal ride through a nice farm. Just not this one.

"Hard pass," Nico turned his nose up just because of his stepmother though.

"All in good time, Mr. di Angelo. Look over here; some of my exotic game."

"You were half right last time on the birds," Alex grinned at Magnus. "Going to take another shot?"

"I couldn't guess what was in there in a million years," he reminded.

The next field was ringed in barbed wire. The whole area was crawling with giant scorpions.

Causing the others to burst out laughing hard while Magnus threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Triple G Ranch," I said, suddenly remembering. "Your mark was on the crates at camp. Quintus got his scorpions from you."

"Quintus..." Geryon mused. "Short gray hair, muscular, swordsman?"

"Yeah."

"Never heard of him," Geryon said.

"Uhhu," Jason frowned, "and I'm a child of Neptune."

"We look nothing alike," Percy looked around in confusion. "Thalia could pass that off better."

"Yeah, because that's the weird part of what I said," Jason snorted.

"Could you two stay on one topic for five seconds," Thalia sighed.

"Well it's not like we know any more about Geryon or Quintus from this," Jason sighed. "So he bought some scorpions from a questionable ranch. The guy obviously gets around and wanted to impress the camp with a cool monster, and this is the kind of guy, um, monster who would sell his grandma for a penny. I'm not sold on anything."

"I'm now concerned this is where he got Mrs. O'Leary from though," Alex frowned. "Does he have a puppy mill somewhere in the back I am not going to like?"

"Let's just wait and see how this plays out," Thalia said. She honestly didn't know, though Annabeth had promised this place was being run by Eurytion and it was much better now so she hadn't gone to visit herself when she heard these atrocities. She didn't want Percy thinking to much ahead and remembering that though, let alone any other details, so was more than happy to keep them moving along.

"Now, over here are my prize stables! You must see them."

I didn't need to see them, because as soon as we got within three hundred yards I started to smell them. Near the banks of a green river was a horse corral the size of a football field.

Thalia smacked Percy with a very annoyed eye roll. "That field gets bigger every time this story gets told by the way. Last time I was around Camp, it was the size of Olympus."

Percy rubbed his arm with a confused smile. Hopefully all his friends hadn't died a very manly death on the dude ranch if it was a popular tale.

 Stables lined one side of it. About a hundred horses were milling around in the muck—and when I say muck, I mean horse poop. It was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen, like a poop blizzard had come through and dumped four feet of the stuff overnight. The horses were really gross from wading through it, and the stables were just as bad. It reeked like you would not believe—worse than the garbage boats on the East River.

Jason gagged at just the thought and covered up his nose. Alex, Magnus, and Nico had woken up in the worst of smelling places and still couldn't come close to imagining how the stench of that must have been vomit inducing, eye watering, disgusting beyond all words.

"You haven't been involuntarily shoved into a bathroom in this one yet," Thalia was waving her hand in front of her face like the book was letting out such an odor now. "I hope there's one handy around."

For once Percy couldn't even be annoyed at them for making that joke, if anybody needed a massive toilet it was those poor creatures.

Even Nico gagged. "What is that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" He asked, clearly hurt. "You think I go around sniffing corpses for fun?"

"You'd had this look on your face the whole time like I was about to start hacking pieces off of you," Percy said, a touch guilty, a little defensive. "Sorry to see you have a normal reaction to something."

He huffed and muttered but didn't protest further.

"My stables!" Geryon said. "Well, actually they belong to Aegas,

"Your shield owns horses?" Percy asked blankly.

"Aegas means cloaked, protection, and is most commonly associated with the word Zeus," Thalia shrugged.

"Oh, good, so it's not just Apollo who's prized animals are being mistreated. Equal opportunity and all that," Percy sighed.

but we watch over them for a small monthly fee. Aren't they lovely?"

"They're disgusting!" Annabeth said.

"Lots of poop," Tyson observed.

"The only takeaway we need from this place, as always, is delivered best by Tyson," Will sighed.

"How can you keep animals like that?" Grover cried.

"Y'all getting' on my nerves," Geryon said.

"Did he expect cheers and applause for these animals swimming in their own feces?" Magnus scowled. Horses he did like, and even if this was a pack of wolves, this was the definition of an inhumane environment.

"I hope he still does when I throw him in the nearest portapotty," Alex scowled.

"These are flesh-eating horses, see? They like these conditions."

"I'm not going to believe this guy," Magnus huffed. "Who knew a monster with three chests was heartless!"

Percy winced and gave him a strange look, but his vision went blurry and his headache didn't allow him a second of thought to wonder why.

"Plus, you're too cheap to have them cleaned," Eurytion mumbled from under his hat.

"Quiet!" Geryon snapped.

"Ooo, trouble in the dude paradise," Jason said with interest.

Percy let out a painful gasp and began rubbing at his forehead at that bouncing around his skull next, and Thalia placed a calming hand on his shoulder and a stern look at Magnus to finish.

"All right, perhaps the stables are a bit challenging to clean. Perhaps they do make me nauseous when the wind blows the wrong way. But so what? My clients still pay me well."

"Anything for that bottom line huh?" Percy asked with enough disgust to have his own manure heap packed in.

"What clients?" I demanded.

"Oh, you'd be surprised how many people will pay for a flesh-eating horse. They make great garbage disposals. Wonderful way to terrify your enemies. Great at birthday parties! We rent them out all the time."

"I find that very hard to believe, nobody would go near enough to this thing to be eaten by it, the way they smelled," Nico scoffed.

"Do monsters have birthday parties?" Magnus asked in surprise.

Alex doubled over laughing while Will grinned faintly in surprise. "I thought he meant mortal torture fests with kids mysteriously vanishing, but um, yeah Magnus, maybe." 

"Monsters call in a celebration with beer and flesh-eating horses every time they come back?" Jason said ambiguously, with a very raised brow.

"I bet the invite list is really short notice," Percy chuckled along.

"I'll make it my mission to get on more," Thalia smirked, she and Percy high-fiving at the level of gatecrashing that would soon be involved if this was a thing.

"You're a monster," Annabeth decided.

Geryon stopped the moo-mobile and turned to look at her. "What gave it away? Was it the three bodies?"

"I try to overlook minor things like that," Percy scowled. "It was his shitty personality!"

"You have to let these animals go," Grover said. "It's not right!"

"And the clients you keep talking about," Annabeth said. "You work for Kronos, don't you? You're supplying his army with horses, food, whatever they need."

Geryon shrugged, which was very weird since he had three sets of shoulders. It looked like he was doing the wave all by himself.

Percy watched as those around him gave grudging laughs for that visual while their stomachs sank at finding an answer to a question they didn't have. Magnus had never sat around and assumed monsters needed to eat to stay alive like 'normal' animals and people, they just existed and chose to. Alex had sort of been assuming the Titan of Time could just make money appear at will for whatever he needed.

To hear that there was some kind of financial backer to all of this made it much more real, a new level to a threat they already had plenty of fear in without all of that.

"I work for anyone with gold, young lady. I'm a businessman. And I sell them anything I have to offer."

He climbed out of the moo-mobile and strolled toward the stables as if enjoying the fresh air. It would've been a nice view, with the river and the trees and hills and all,

Jason raised a disbelieving brow at the mention of a river in sight. Percy had once nearly flooded his own camp with one after a tiff with Thalia, where was that temper drowning Geryon now at all of this? He found himself impressed Percy seemed to grow up a little more every book, find a little more self control in him.

except for the quagmire of horse muck.

Nico got out of the back car and stormed over to Geryon. The cowherd Eurytion wasn't as sleepy as he looked. He hefted his club and walked after Nico.

"He could have at least left the club in the moo-machine," Will muttered, "you hadn't drawn your sword again."

Nico gave him a surprised smile, the sense of feeling his arm on the back of the couch had faded to a comfortable presence he was still getting used to.

"I came here for business, Geryon," Nico said. "And you haven't answered me."

"Mmm." Geryon examined a cactus. His left arm reached over and scratched his middle-chest. "Yes, you'll get a deal, all right."

"You haven't even told us how you were paying for the Happy Meals?" Alex asked. "How were you going to pay this guy for anything?"

"I was working on that," Nico said, doing well to keep the childish note out of his voice to hide he had no clue. He'd been basically making this up as he went along from Minos's outline.

"My ghost told me you could help. He said you could guide us to the soul we need."

"Wait a second," I said. "I thought I was the soul you wanted."

Nico looked at me like I was crazy. "You? Why would I want you? Bianca's soul is worth a thousand of yours!

Percy startled in surprise, and then smiled of all things. "That is the best reason I've ever heard for someone not wanting my soul!"

"You're, welcome," Nico muttered in surprise. He still kept expecting Thalia to launch a thousand questions at him over what he was doing, somebody to scold him and be disgusted he'd been willing to do this at all.

For now, it was just Percy touching his chest and smiling, and that was enough to not feel rejected again.

Now, can you help me, Geryon, or not?"

"Oh, I imagine I could," the rancher said. "Your ghost friend, by the way, where is he?"

Nico looked uneasy. "He can't form in broad daylight. It's hard for him. But he's around somewhere."

Geryon smiled. "I'm sure. Minos

"Minos?" Five people yelped so loud it seemed to echo to the walls and back again several times. The only person who hadn't was Thalia, and she looked plenty displeased anyways.

"The evil eyed, pointy beard king who locks people up is your tour guide!" Alex's hands were clearly itching for his garotte. "He needs to be killed properly, stat! Then we'll find the dumbass who didn't kill him properly the first time and do them next!"

Percy had Riptide drawn, the cap of his pen dancing innocently on the floor between his shoes as he sat in place but still looked ready to stab something. "I can't believe you ran away from camp to take advice from-"

There was all that anger Nico had long since been expecting, and his hackles instantly raised. "I didn't ask your opinion on this, or need it thrown in my face! Can you not shut it and just get through this!"

Percy opened his mouth in outrage, he was upset Nico was being manipulated! But the tension of the water was already building around them, and only a gentle clearing of Thalia's throat needed to be heard for now to remind him to clench his jaw shut. This had already happened, and if Nico didn't want to hear his opinion on something, then he should probably accept that lest the kid blurt out any more life confessions as he slowly bent to put the cap of his pen back over his sword.

likes to disappear when things get...difficult."

"Minos?" I remembered the man I'd seen in my dreams, with the golden crown, the pointed beard, and the cruel eyes. "You mean that evil king? That's the ghost who's been giving you advice?"

"It's none of your business, Percy!" Nico turned back to Geryon. "And what do you mean about things getting difficult?"

The three-bodied man sighed. "Well, you see, Nico—can I call you Nico?"

"No."

"You see, Nico,

"He needs to die. Like a lot," Alex scowled. He took nothing more personally than assholes who misgendered, misnamed, or bragged about being a douche.

"In more ways than you know," Nico said with a very satisfied smile for Alex, though neither of them spoke to loudly in case Percy took a hint as he scowled and still held his pen in hand like Minos was still creeping around in here.

Luke Castellan is offering very good money for halfbloods. Especially powerful half-bloods. And I'm sure when he learns your little secret, who you really are, he'll pay very, very well indeed."

Will made such a deep throated noise it actually sounded like a growl. Kids shouldn't be sold around like cattle! And Nico was more than just a powerful bargaining chip!

Nico was already feeling bad for his outburst at Percy, and realizing Will was actually upset on his behalf too made him feel even worse. "Sorry, Percy," he offered, not expecting Percy to accept it. "I, um-"

"It's cool," Percy shrugged with not a chip in sight. "I'm glad you like me better than the creep who would actually sell your soul."

"It's a thin margin," he grinned faintly in surprise while Percy immediately smiled back.

Nico drew his sword, but Eurytion knocked it out of his hand. Before I could get up, Orthus pounced on my chest and growled, his faces an inch away from mine.

Thalia's bow appeared in hand on instinct, no one in doubt she would have shot both of those heads without hesitation, and everyone in the room was starting to feel a little short of breath at all three of these guys finding themselves on edge. Their very presence overlapping each other made the molecules feel more volatile all of a sudden.

"I would stay in the car, all of you," Geryon warned. "Or Orthus will tear Mr. Jackson's throat out. Now, Eurytion, if you would be so kind, secure Nico."

The cowherd spit into the grass. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, you fool!"

Eurytion looked bored, but he wrapped one huge arm around Nico and lifted him up like a wrestler.

Jason's hand clenched into such a tight fist it looked like his veins were spidery arcs trying to pop out of his arm. Like this maniac had no weapon except a weird gold coin and was willing to deck someone anyways. Magnus kept reading in the tense silence and hoped wanting to finish it wasn't a last-minute life goal as he shoved down his fight or flight instinct.

"Pick up the sword, too," Geryon said with distaste. "There's nothing I hate worse than Stygian Iron."

"So does that make it the absolute perfect weapon to kill him with?" Alex asked with could-not-fool a soul innocence. "Or are we supposed to find a way to kill him with money? I'm open to suggestions." The 'whatever it takes to get this guy dead,' went without saying.

"We can always start a list and just play around to see what works," Jason said in a very eerie kind of way, and Thalia's bow vanished as she looked at him in concern. She didn't disagree Geryon needed to die like any monster, but she did not like that cruel edge he got in his tone for it.

Eurytion picked up the sword, careful not to touch the blade.

"Now," Geryon said cheerfully, "we've had the tour. Let's go back to the lodge, have some lunch, and send an Iris-message to our friends in the Titan army."

"You fiend!" Annabeth cried.

Geryon smiled at her. "Don't worry, my dear. Once I've delivered Mr. di Angelo, you and your party can go. I don't interfere with quests. Besides, I've been paid well to give you safe passage, which does not, I'm afraid, include Mr. di Angelo.

"Paid by who?" Magnus yelped in surprise.

"Paid by whom?" Annabeth said.

"It's the correct grammar that really makes that sentence feel off," Magnus admitted, fighting off a grudging laugh.

"It's the fact that he's not going to answer that makes me not care," Percy scoffed.

"Well I sure do," Will's scowl seemed scarier the longer it lingered, all of the light in the room seemed to be sucking right towards him. "Who's paying for just some kids to get through and not all of them? Sorry Percy, you know I care about you, but I'm not okay with that!"

"Neither am I," Percy promised at once. "You really think I'll sit by and let that happen?" He asked casually, like he was asking Will what he had for lunch.

Will seemed mildly soothed by the reminder all the same, though the light went back to normal in the room with a little popping noise. Nico swallowed more shame and anger he'd needed help to get out of this. He'd survived in that labyrinth for months by himself. Percy had come around once, and he was back to being a useless kid.

"What do you mean?"

"Never you mind, darlin'.

Percy decided whatever bits he hacked Geryon into weren't small enough just for calling Annabeth that.

Let's be off, shall we?"

"Wait!" I said, and Orthus growled. I stayed perfectly still so he wouldn't tear my throat out. "Geryon, you said you're a businessman. Make me a deal."

Percy always knew he was doing something right when everybody looked at him in surprise like that. He smiled and fought off the urge to gag at the stench of dog breath still hot in his face.

Geryon narrowed his eyes. "What sort of deal? Do you have gold?"

"I've got something better. Barter."

"But Mr. Jackson, you've got nothing."

"You could have him clean the stables," Eurytion suggested innocently.

"I'll do it!" I said. "If I fail, you get all of us. Trade us all to Luke for gold."

"Assuming the horses don't eat you," Geryon observed.

"Either way, you get my friends," I said. "But if I succeed, you've got to let all of us go, including Nico."

"No!" Nico screamed. "Don't do me any favors, Percy. I don't want your help!"

"You didn't have to do that," Nico said again, more confused than he even had been to Will before. "I, wouldn't have helped Luke. I would have gotten out on my own, I work fine on my own."

"I would have done it for anybody Nico," Percy gave him a bizarre look for saying that at all. "I don't try to help you just because I feel guilty about your sister. You know that, right?"

"Right, yeah, I'm um, getting that," Nico promised awkwardly. He'd spent so long being mad at Percy and then so long avoiding him and then stuck here for what felt like an infernal lifetime now he probably didn't have a choice at this rate but to get used to him.

Geryon chuckled. "Percy Jackson, those stables haven't been cleaned in a thousand years...

"Hercules did it last time I believe," Will offered in some weird semblance of a peace offering and something nice to say while everybody was being held hostage now. "So it's not undoable."

"Great, let's see how I do a remix on that," Percy frowned anew, never pleased to hear his name again.

though it's true I might be able to sell more stable space if all that poop was cleared away."

"So what have you got to lose?"

The rancher hesitated. "All right, I'll accept your offer, but you have to get it done by sunset. If you fail, your friends get sold, and I get rich."

"Deal."

He nodded. "I'm going to take your friends with me, back to the lodge. We'll wait for you there."

"Err," Magnus really hoped he was just missing something in what he'd just read. Was that whole swearing on the Styx thing required to be said out loud? Because he didn't think this hillbilly dude to be a man of his word.

Percy looked so agitated though he decided not to bring it up, considering nobody had lost an eardrum yet to this latest debacle.

Eurytion gave me a funny look. It might have been sympathy.

"If this comes down to a vote, at least he'll be on your side whether the law agrees or not," Jason said.

"Seriously dude, are you like, in pre lawyer school or something?" Percy burst out in surprised laughter.

"I like to consider myself a good judge of character and taking in the terrain," Jason grinned.

He whistled, and the dog jumped off me and onto Annabeth's lap. She yelped. I knew Tyson and Grover would never try anything as long as Annabeth was hostage.

I got out of the car and locked eyes with her.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she said quietly.

"I hope so, too."

"I hope so three," Thalia groaned. Here once again was Percy putting everything on the line in hopes he knew what he was doing. Good thing that always worked out or the world would be doomed.

Geryon got behind the driver's wheel. Eurytion hauled Nico into the backseat.

"Sunset," Geryon reminded me. "No later."

He laughed at me once more, sounded his cowbell horn, and the moo-mobile rumbled off down the trail.

"That is a weirdly menacing sentence," Magnus groaned as he began to hand the book to Alex. "I am sorry for laughing about that earlier Nico, and not just because Annabeth is in it now."

"Circumstances matter," Nico agreed nonchalantly.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 13: I BUY SOME NEW FRIENDS

Annabeth woke up with the crystal clear feeling that something was right.

She felt the back pressed against hers, warm and breathing, and smiled. She wished she could just lay there forever, but she knew. They had to finish this. She had to get her boyfriend back.

The worries and fears still lingered in her like flickering shadows waiting to drag her down. What if Percy came out of this different, or changed? What if this latest interference was what finally pushed him to far? She'd have liked to stay up reading some more, but as soon as Percy had settled asleep she'd been right behind him, even as her mind lingered on Luke. She knew why Percy had seemed quiet, maybe a tad resentful of her yesterday, and it meant the world to her he hadn't pushed her away and slammed the door in her face as she lay on the ocean floor now, replaying her own quest over and over in her head without the aide of his memories.

One too many wrong assumptions on her part had started them off, of course.

The truths at the end of those tunnels still didn't sit right with her some days. Nico finding his sister only for a goodbye. Tyson had found Brairies, only for him to run away. Grover found Pan, but had to let him go. Percy found an incredible power within that almost destroyed him and scared him to abandon everything. She had found Daedalus, only to find he wasn't the savior she needed. They all found truth about the person they admired, known and dreamed most only to find them wrong.

Then it was her turn to accept the truth too. The memories Hestia had given Percy only reinforced that she needed to give her own past a good hard look.

Admitting that she had been wrong about her hero wasn't something she ever thought she could do. It's not easy when one's role model turned out to have a fundamental flaw in their character. It is often worse to lose the idea of them than to lose them to death. She now needed to accept the truth about Luke. She never knew him, only the version of her hero she'd met that first day. She made him her everything without completely knowing him and holding on it for a long time.

She'd held on to the past and lived in the present while planning everything for the future.

And lose a love...to worse than death.

Now that it finally came down to it, the truth that she'd avoided all along didn't hurt as much as she'd feared it would as she rolled over and gently placed her hand on Percy's arm. He slept on, even as he leaned back some and muttered where the sun had gone. She squeezed gently as she began to sit up and his muttering increased while the drool kept his face glued well to the pillow.

She was tempted to let him have his rest and go around to see if the others were awake, she had a feeling she was one of the first ones up, but the second her eyes went to the door, her nails sunk into her boyfriend's arm in protest. She didn't care she told herself it was paranoia, all she felt was the instant fear gripping her tight until she looked back down, and began vigorously shaking him awake.

...

There wasn't much commotion and fanfare as breakfast was had and they all settled in, Percy more eagerly than anyone to hopefully, finally, finish this once and for all. His life at least. He'd feel guilty later they'd have to start all over again when they got to Jason's and it was another long slog of nonsense.

Alex came in last, Magnus noticed as he fiddled with a kabab stick as a very horrible toothpick. She was adjusting a dark pink, full-sleeved popcorn shirt that showed off her midriff, running her hands around in joy over the material as her floor-length green skirt billowed around with a long slit up one side clean up to her hip, showing hints of the pink and green chucks beneath. She yawned her proper pronouns to the others while finishing pulling her hair into a twist on top of her head.

Thalia hadn't let herself be distracted from the important things though. Teasing Percy. "Your mom would be so disappointed in you!" She grinned at him as she read the new title, instantly distracting him and of course causing nothing but interruptions. "You're better than that young man, you can make real friends by sharing common interests."

"How much do I have to pay you to go away?" Percy rolled his eyes.

"You could never afford it," she snorted. "Rachel couldn't afford it!"

"The real friends are the ones you're stuck with along the way," Will snorted.

"Stuck like horse glue," Alex snickered, "do you think Blackjack would be offended by that or love it?"

"Depends entirely on who he's stuck to I'd guess," Percy sighed.

"You, obviously," Alex rolled her eyes while Annabeth swatted at her to get her to start already.

Mrs. O'Leary was the only one happy about the sleeping city.

"Dogs are just like that," Annabeth agreed with joy. "I remember one time I failed my spelling test and I got my dog to jump around with me when I made it a fake A."

Percy grinned at the idea of a five-year-old Annabeth in clothes that fit her, jumping around her furniture with a Doberman twice the size of her barking and bouncing along every step. "What was your dog's name?" He asked, pleased beyond words he could finally ask her something like that casually instead of hoping Magnus would know. Percy had a feeling even if he did, he wouldn't be happy sharing, with his obvious aversion to all dog-shaped things.

"Frostine," Annabeth grinned. "I used to play Candyland with her. She was Queen of the Ice Cream Sea, and my dog's eyes were that shade of blue. Plus, we all know raspberry is the best flavor."

Percy threw his head back and laughed at the painted picture, causing a ripple of the others to join in.

Percy wanted to ask what had happened to her, but Thalia had a sense that's why he leaned forward and seemed eager to continue the conversation, and Thalia started reading loudly to avoid that sad conclusion. Her stepmother had insisted the dog needed to be given up when she became pregnant. It was one of many times Annabeth had sat on her lap and fought back tears she didn't have to anymore as she played with the other homeless teenager's mutts.

We found her pigging out at an overturned hot dog stand while the owner was curled up on the sidewalk, sucking his thumb.

"Argus was clearly doing a great job," Jason snorted.

"I told him to watch her," Percy shrugged without concern. "As long as he was watching her eat, I guess he's technically still doing his job."

Argus was waiting for us with his hundred eyes wide open. He didn't say anything. He never does. I guess that's because he supposedly has an eyeball on his tongue. But his face made it clear he was freaking out.

"I would be too," Jason nodded. It was always a cautious, often stressful feeling to move around when others were asleep. He couldn't imagine fighting a whole war around that.

"What about the airport?" Magnus frowned. "And helicopters? I'm surprised you didn't hear those crashlanding by getting to close to Olympus or the pilots falling asleep at the wheel too."

"Hopefully like the cars they just, sunk to the ground nice and slow," but Percy was guessing at best, more than a few fenderbenders had been in sight. In fact the idea made his head hurt quite a lot what he was missing-

Annabeth gave him a little nudge. Just a gentle pressure and release, enough he looked around at her with the same quiet worry in his eyes she was so sorry to see every time.

He smiled at her though. Taking just that breath to appreciate the silence that spoke for them both of being there together before Thalia hastily read on.

I told him what we'd learned in Olympus, and how the gods would not be riding to the rescue. Argus rolled his eyes in disgust, which looked pretty psychedelic since it made his whole body swirl.

"Cool," Alex grinned. "Hey doc, which drugs do I take to make everyone look like that."

"None," Will frowned at her in concern. "Please do not ingest random things Alex."

"Killjoy," she huffed.

'Better than asking which god would curse her eyes to see that,' Magnus kept the thought to himself lest he set it upon Alex's brain.

"You'd better get back to camp," I told him. "Guard it as best you can."

He pointed at me and raised his eyebrow quizzically.

"I'm staying," I said.

Argus nodded, like this answer satisfied him.

"That was never in question," Thalia rolled her eyes. "He probably wanted to know what you planned on doing."

"Something crazy I'm sure," Percy shrugged.

"Well that went without saying," she snorted.

He looked at Annabeth and drew a circle in the air with his finger.

"To infinite and beyond?" Will scratched at the back of his neck, feeling weird for still being sort of out of the loop even this late in the game, but it's not as if every cabin had run every strategy by him while he'd been doing inventory on how much supplies they had.

"Yes," Annabeth agreed. "I think it's time."

"For what?" I asked.

Argus rummaged around in the back of his van. He brought out a bronze shield and passed it to Annabeth. It looked pretty much standard issue—the same kind of round shield we always used in capture the flag. But when Annabeth set it on the ground, the reflection on the polished metal changed from sky and buildings to the Statue of Liberty—which wasn't anywhere close to us.

"Whoa," I said. "A video shield."

"I was never really joking about you taking over the planet," Alex told Annabeth. "Now it's just one step closer to being true."

"That is a seriously overpowered thing that would have been nice to have all this time," Magnus said, "but I'm guessing the CIA's going to show up here in a second and confiscate it too, so," he trailed off with a deeply concerned look that his cousin might be on a few watch lists right along with Percy.

"I didn't have Deadulus's laptop all this time," Annabeth reminded. "And, um, well, Beckendorf had a few mistakes before he got it working right. That thing that might have exploded camp if he didn't keep an eye on it, yeah, good chance it was a prototype of this."

"One of Daedalus's ideas," Annabeth said. "I had Beckendorf make this before—" She glanced at Silena.

"Um, anyway, the shield bends sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection. You can literally see any target under the sun or moon, as long as natural light is touching it. Look."

"You have a gods eye view," Jason savored the words on his tongue. Words that felt powerful right down to his core, it made him feel lightheaded for a moment.

"I wonder if we can use it to spy on Hollywood, see what the next blockbuster is shooting today," Percy grinned, before he oofed as Annabeth elbowed him. "But yeah, Kronos too, obviously importante'," he finished with a strange, bad Spanish accent at the end.

We crowded around as Annabeth concentrated. The image zoomed and spun at first, so I got motion sickness just watching it.

Thalia turned verdant at the mere idea and knew she'd never be very good at using this thing.

We were in the Central Park Zoo, then zooming down East 60th, past Bloomingdale's, then turning on Third Avenue.

"Whoa," Connor Stoll said. "Back up. Zoom in right there."

"What?" Annabeth said nervously. "You see invaders?"

"No, right there—Dylan's Candy Bar." Connor grinned at his brother. "Dude, it's open. And everyone is asleep. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Percy threw back his head with laughter he'd tried his very hardest to suppress at the time, so they knew at least he was thinking what Connor was thinking.

"Connor!" Katie Gardner scolded. She sounded like her mother, Demeter.

"Isn't it so fascinating and impressive how we can emulate our parents, oftentimes when spending no significant development around them," Jason said in a whistful kind of voice, obviously a thought bubble that had been in his head long before this. It popped quite suddenly as he glanced at Thalia, and then grimaced at the idea of Beryl and Zeus/ Jupiter/ if he thought about it to long it gave him a splitting migraine because all he could pull together was Mrs. O'Leary but he knew that wasn't right!

"Not so much," Alex's tone was mild, but Magnus heard the stony anger layering beneath. He watched her for a few extra moments and saw with her hair pulled up like that, there was something on the back of her neck. He would have leaned in to get a closer look if it wouldn't have been super obvious.

"This is serious. You are not going to loot a candy store in the middle of a war!"

"Both sentences could coexist," Percy told her with a tragic frown. He'd only restrained himself at the time telling her because of responsibility and leadership and whatever.

"Oh I'm sure they did," Nico rolled his eyes. Hermes might have broken out of his murdery/ sad funk over Luke to praise those two for their priorities.

"Sorry," Connor muttered, but he didn't sound very ashamed.

"Yeah, I got that too," Annabeth sighed, making them all chuckle she was as aware as anybody no scolding had stalled many hands.

Annabeth passed her hand in front of the shield, and another scene popped up: FDR Drive, looking across the river at Lighthouse Park.

"This will let us see what's going on across the city," she said. "Thank you, Argus. Hopefully we'll see you back at camp . . . someday."

"Because that's not ominous at all," Thalia frowned at her. Obviously it was a dire situation, but that was just bleak.

"Ominous is what I voted Percy and Annabeth name their firstborn," Will smirked.

Percy choked on air and might have exploded on a blush while Annabeth gave him A Look that kept him silent for a bit as Thalia kept going.

Argus grunted. He gave me a look that clearly meant Good luck; you'll need it, then climbed into his van. He and the two harpy drivers swerved away, weaving around clusters of idle cars that littered the road.

I whistled for Mrs. O'Leary, and she came bounding over.

"Hey, girl," I said. "You remember Grover? The satyr we met in the park?"

"WOOF!"

I hoped that meant Sure I do! And not, Do you have more hot dogs?

"Both?" Alex of course had to play up the previous joke.

"Both," Magnus all to happily agreed.

"Both!" The two cheered before snickering.

"I need you to find him," I said. "Make sure he's still awake. We're going to need his help. You got that? Find Grover!"

Mrs. O'Leary gave me a sloppy wet kiss, which seemed kind of unnecessary.

"Entirely disagree," Will gave Percy a grin. Percy didn't have nearly as strong a look as Annabeth to keep him shut up, but he wished he did as Will continued, "and I'm sure it all depends who the kiss is from too."

"Will," Annabeth sounded more exasperated than stern while Percy tried to strangle his own chagrin. "Stop teasing him."

"Well you're no fun," Will huffed before flashing a grin same as her.

"And it's not going to happen Annabeth, he's been free game this whole time," Thalia shrugged.

"I know," she sighed. Mostly she was just jealous still she wasn't here for it all.

Then she raced off north.

Pollux crouched next to a sleeping policeman. "I don't get it. Why didn't we fall asleep too? Why just the mortals?"

"This is a huge spell," Silena Beauregard said. "The bigger the spell, the easier it is to resist. If you want to sleep millions of mortals, you've got to cast a very thin layer of magic. Sleeping demigods is much harder."

I stared at her. "When did you learn so much about magic?"

Silena blushed. "I don't spend all my time on my wardrobe."

"Only like, fifty percent," Thalia nodded seriously.

"Imagine how dangerous this girl would be if she wore sweatpants one day," Alex snorted.

Magnus was still lagging a few sentences backwards wondering about the intricacies of this magic spell. Would he have fallen asleep? He assumed he wasn't strictly mortal anymore, but he didn't assume he was half Greek either.

"Percy," Annabeth called. She was still looking at the shield. "You'd better see this."

The bronze image showed Long Island Sound near La Guardia. A fleet of a dozen speedboats raced through the dark water toward Manhattan. Each boat was packed with demigods in full Greek armor. At the back of the lead boat, a purple banner emblazoned with a black scythe flapped in the night wind. I'd never seen that design before, but it wasn't hard to figure out: the battle flag of Kronos.

"Scan the perimeter of the island," I said. "Quick."

Annabeth shifted the scene south to the harbor. A Staten Island Ferry was plowing through the waves near Ellis Island. The deck was crowded with dracaenae and a whole pack of hellhounds. Swimming in front of the ship was a pod of marine mammals. At first I thought they were dolphins. Then I saw their doglike faces and the swords strapped to their waists, and I realized they were telkhines—sea demons.

"Who got the short straws of coming via water?" Thalia looked pained at these pawns. It's like Kronos wasn't even trying.

"Or he's trying to make it so Percy can't be everywhere at once," Jason said shrewdly. While Percy went down to deal with two simultaneous attacks, the rest of Camp would have to fight without him.

The scene shifted again: the Jersey shore, right at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. A hundred assorted monsters were marching past the lanes of stopped traffic: giants with clubs, rogue Cyclopes, a few fire-spitting dragons, and just to rub it in, a World War II-era Sherman tank, pushing cars out of its way as it rumbled into the tunnel.

"Why does everyone get a tank besides me?" Percy sighed. "We should at least get something as cool. Like monkeys on horses, or the gargoyles coming to help. I'll take dinosaurs with machine guns!"

"Well now you're just asking for to much Percy," Jason said with a faint smile. "Would have been better off asking for another sand dollar."

"What's happening with the mortals outside Manhattan?" I said. "Is the whole state asleep?"

Annabeth frowned. "I don't think so, but it's strange. As far as I can tell from these pictures, Manhattan is totally asleep. Then there's like a fifty-mile radius around the island where time is running really, really slow. The closer you get to Manhattan, the slower it is."

She showed me another scene—a New Jersey highway. It was Saturday evening, so the traffic wasn't as bad as it might've been on a weekday. The drivers looked awake, but the cars were moving at about one mile per hour. Birds flew overhead in slow motion.

"Wow," Alex murmured. The idea did not sit well with her that the gods could combine their might and do this to the whole world if they ever wished. The kind of power that needed to be reminded every once in a while they could be toppled. Also one of the reasons she liked Percy so much.

"Kronos," I said. "He's slowing time."

"Hecate might be helping," Katie Gardner said. "Look how the cars are all veering away from the Manhattan exits, like they're getting a subconscious message to turn back."

"I don't know." Annabeth sounded really frustrated. She hated not knowing.

"Can you even imagine a time before Google though," Annabeth sounded just as annoyed now. "All those great experts expected to figure everything out because they were the first in untested waters, and half of them probably figured it out without their lives being threatened."

Percy agreed she was one of the greats who had managed that and just nodded he almost understood the idea. Being the only child of the Big Three around camp was as close as he could imagine.

"But somehow they've surrounded Manhattan in layers of magic. The outside world might not even realize something is wrong. Any mortals coming toward Manhattan will slow down so much they won't know what's happening."

"Like flies in amber," Jake Mason murmured.

Magnus was really worried for one second that if one more person even made a vague Jurassic Park reference they really were going to get a T-Rex in this, but he waved that off as just pessimistic thinking.

Annabeth nodded. "We shouldn't expect any help coming in."

Maybe not from the way she expected, but how about up? Nico thought to himself with a faint smile. He really hoped when they got to that part Percy wouldn't start freaking out about the zombie apocalypse and see him as a threat too, even for a second.

I turned to my friends. They looked stunned and scared, and I couldn't blame them. The shield had shown us at least three hundred enemies on the way. There were forty of us. And we were alone.

Percy and his friends had always been alone on nearly every quest they traveled, relying only on themselves and the occasional godly intervention. The weight of that didn't hit as hard on Annabeth as it might have some of the other campers as she'd looked to Percy, addressing them all. She'd been lucky, in one sense, having more experience than some of those guys older than her.

"All right," I said. "We're going to hold Manhattan."

Silena tugged at her armor. "Um, Percy, Manhattan is huge."

Annabeth swallowed the traitorous, painful knot in her throat as she wondered if Silena was pointing that out to discourage them. If she'd wanted them to surrender to Luke's side without a fight.

If Silena had thought they'd consider that for even a second, she'd been more delusional than Annabeth herself in her youth.

"We are going to hold it," I said. "We have to."

"He's right," Annabeth said. "The gods of the wind should keep Kronos's forces away from Olympus by air, so he'll try a ground assault. We have to cut off the entrances to the island."

"They have boats," Michael Yew pointed out.

"You have a Percy," Magnus snorted. He'd been flinging them around in here like plankton without even trying. He had complete confidence Percy could snap his fingers and deal with those boats.

The problem would arise when he looked at the kids on those boats, and how willing he'd be to disarm them. Nobody was going to sit around and tell Percy what the right answer to that was going to be.

Percy grinned in thanks. He did have a pretty good gut feeling that went well enough, which was always a good omen. They probably didn't have many of those left.

An electric tingle went down my back. Suddenly I understood Athena's advice: Remember the rivers.

"She was, warning you to guard from all sides?" Alex raised a brow. It seemed obvious advice to her, not something a wisdom goddess would fill the need to emphasize. She couldn't think Percy was That Dumb, or that her own daughter wouldn't consider such things.

Percy no longer had that sand dollar in place, but he ran his hand curiously over his beaded necklace all the same.

"I'll take care of the boats," I said.

Michael frowned. "How?"

"I can't believe he questioned that," Thalia scoffed.

"I don't think he was around that day I threatened to throw a river at you," Percy grinned as he glanced at Will, who nodded in silent agreement. Percy turned back to Thalia to fast to see his smile slipping away. "I'm sure some of the guys around there think what we can do gets exaggerated," Percy's grin was tinged with an adrenaline rush fueled by the end. His nerves were almost tingling with excitement. He was ready, he was excited to hear about the chaos he'd bring on these monsters who threatened his home.

"Just leave it to me," I said. "We need to guard the bridges and tunnels. Let's assume they'll try a midtown or downtown assault, at least on their first try. That would be the most direct way to the Empire State Building. Michael, take Apollo's cabin to the Williamsburg Bridge.

Will would bet one of his kidneys Micheal had been proud to be the first cabin named. That his older brother had puffed up his chest and grinned that same maniac smile Percy just had at being the first option to come to Percy's mind. He couldn't be mad, he couldn't even hold onto as much sadness as he knew would come soon enough when the results were plastered all over that page in blood. He just managed a proud smile for his siblings too for that moment.

Katie, Demeter's cabin takes the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Grow thorn bushes and poison ivy in the tunnel. Do whatever you have to do, but keep them out of there! Conner, take half of Hermes cabin and cover the Manhattan Bridge. Travis, you take the other half and cover the Brooklyn Bridge. And no stopping for looting or pillaging!"

"Awwww!" the whole Hermes cabin complained.

"Percy just being a complete killjoy aside," Alex chuckled, "can we rewind back to the part where you decided to split that entire cabin in half?" She knew there were more kids in there than the others, but it still surprised her there were enough to split forces like that.

She only remembered as the comment left her mouth though that the unclaimed kids would have been in that category too. Any child that might have gone with any other cabin, or just not known where to go period also would have fallen in line with them. Gods, wouldn't that be a mess of a feeling? Loki had given her exactly two good things, an identity she could choose to ignore, and her shapeshifting. To not have that as she fought for her life was not an idea she easily pondered.

"Silena, take the Aphrodite crew to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel."

"Oh my gods," one of her sisters said. "Fifth Avenue is so on our way! We could accessorize, and monsters, like, totally hate the smell of Givenchy."

"No delays," I said. "Well . . . the perfume thing, if you think it'll work."

"I'm impressed you knew that was a perfume," Annabeth admitted, the brand hadn't rung any of her bells.

"Well I didn't assume they were sniffing purses," Percy shrugged.

Six Aphrodite girls kissed me on the cheek in excitement.

"Like, all at once in a flash mob, or did they form a line?" Thalia asked in mild concern if Annabeth had started stabbing her own troops before Silena got the chance.

"They formed a line," Percy frowned, "I should have charged them, one of them got way to close to my mouth."

"Drew's always wanted her chance," Annabeth grumbled.

"I'm over here offended for the Hermes kids!" Alex was still snickering. "You just gave this lot permission to go raiding their favorite store, but a few innocent water balloons filled with greek fire go missing and you're going to disaprove?"

"Depends how relevant that thieving is," Percy rolled his eyes. "No monsters going to blink at having a nice watch chucked in their face unless Tyson made it."

"I'm sure Rollex will get right on that design flaw," Alex chuckled.

"All right, enough!" I closed my eyes, trying to think of what I'd forgotten. "The Holland Tunnel. Jake, take the Hephaestus cabin there. Use Greek fire, set traps. Whatever you've got."

He grinned. "Gladly. We've got a score to settle. For Beckendorf!"

The whole cabin roared in approval.

Percy was flooded with the same sense of admiration as when he first saw that, those boys and girls who hadn't even hesitated to dive into what had gotten his friend killed by following his lead. He wondered if Nico were there, would he be so cavalier about following one of Percy's plans? Or would he be frowning in disapproval and trying to come up with his own ideas that would get him thrown in another cell under Hades's palace. He almost couldn't blame him as Bianca's ghost shimmered to mind right alongside Beckendorf's. How many more were going to join after today?

"The 59th Street Bridge," I said. "Clarisse—"

I faltered. Clarisse wasn't here. The whole Ares cabin, curse them, was sitting back at camp.

"She's not even there and she's out here ruining your day," Nico nodded.

"Girl strives for perfection at everything I guess," Percy scowled. He wasn't even sure how she would have responded upon being there. While she'd handed over the reigns to Annabeth without question during that quest, and she'd mellowed out quite a lot since dating Chris who also wasn't there, he just had that feeling like she would not have gone along quietly with wherever he assigned her cabin without some remark.

"We'll take that," Annabeth stepped in, saving me from an embarrassing silence.

"Woman's great at many a things, but that's definitely what she's best at," Magnus snorted.

Annabeth grinned with pride and gave her cousin a grateful nod while Percy didn't bother arguing the point. He'd just assumed Annabeth would be by his side during the battle, delegating her siblings hadn't even crossed his mind.

She turned to her siblings. "Malcolm, take the Athena cabin, activate plan twenty-three along the way, just like I showed you. Hold that position."

"You got it."

"I'll go with Percy," she said.

"You really shouldn't be wasting your breath right now guys, there's going to be enough trees torn down over in the battery tunnel in a second," Jason snorted.

Annabeth gave him a little smirk and promised, "I'll plant a few extra seeds when we get home to make up for it."

"Then we'll join you, or we'll go wherever we're needed."

Somebody in the back of the group said, "No detours, you two."

There were some giggles, but I decided to let it pass.

"Somebody get this guy a safety vest, he'll make a great crosswalk guard one day," Will nodded at him.

"That was you, wasn't it?" Percy frowned in vague recognition of the voice before puberty made it crack.

"No," Will blinked innocently, a look that Percy couldn't quite decide how much he believed.

"All right," I said. "Keep in touch with cell phones."

"We don't have cell phones," Silena protested.

Annabeth's brain still couldn't seem to stop itself overanalyzing everything she'd said and done. Had she not wanted to keep communication open? Why would she draw attention to herself at the idea? Silena was one of the few at camp that did have a cell phone and everyone knew it, she and Beckendorf had gotten a plan together for her birthday.

Though now that she thought about it, Annabeth hadn't seen it recently. She wondered if she'd tried to flush the thing away after the explosion.

I reached down, picked up some snoring lady's BlackBerry, and tossed it to Silena. "You do now. You all know Annabeth's number, right? If you need us, pick up a random phone and call us. Use it once, drop it, then borrow another one if you have to. That should make it harder for the monsters to zero in on you."

Everyone grinned as though they liked this idea.

Jason didn't, considering monsters were going to be crawling literally all over the city in moments, but he wasn't going to argue the point. He held his tongue and would not be the one to take away a second of hope.

Travis cleared his throat. "Uh, if we find a really nice phone—"

"No, you can't keep it," I said.

"Aw, man."

"You might as well go over and stomp on him already Percy, ruining this boy's day," Alex chuckled.

"I'm sure you and the Stolls will make me regret my morals someday," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Hold it, Percy," Jake Mason said. "You forgot the Lincoln Tunnel."

I bit back a curse. He was right. A Sherman tank and a hundred monsters were marching through that tunnel right now, and I'd positioned our forces everywhere else.

"The obvious strategic move, they'll never see that coming," Thalia laughed. She'd clearly gotten there at the perfect time to also save his butt. She and Annabeth could make matching shirts out of that one day.

Then a girl's voice called from across the street: "How about you leave that to us?"

I'd never been happier to hear anyone in my life.

"Yes!" Thalia cheered by doing an actual fist pump before jabbing a finger at Annabeth. "Take that you little nerd! I'd never get him to admit that out loud!"

"Yeah, yeah," Percy twirled his wrist around in mock agreement. "Thalia saves the day again, another story at eleven about gas prices going up, change the channel already."

"Well it's no fun if you agree Percy," Thalia huffed while Percy smirked that had not only been the point, but Annabeth could stop muttering about her sister calling her a nerd again.

A band of thirty adolescent girls crossed Fifth Avenue. They wore white shirts, silvery camouflage pants, and combat boots. They all had swords at their sides, quivers on their backs, and bows at the ready. A pack of white timber wolves milled around their feet, and many of the girls had hunting falcons on their arms.

"Thalia's back," Alex said pointedly in case anybody missed that. Though if somebody was actually sleeping in here it really was on them.

"And she didn't even threaten to shoot any of us, it was a great day," Will rolled his eyes.

The girl in the lead had spiky black hair and a black leather jacket. She wore a silver circlet on her head like a princess's tiara, which didn't match her skull earrings or her Death to Barbie T-shirt showing a little Barbie doll with an arrow through its head.

"No, no, now Thalia's back," Percy snorted.

"Yes, thank you for picking me out of the crowd I was in front of, your genius levels of perception go unmatched once again," Thalia scoffed.

"Thalia!" Annabeth cried.

The daughter of Zeus grinned. "The Hunters of Artemis, reporting for duty."

Jason grinned. He was still kind of, sort of hurt Thalia had never told him what she suspected the truth to be about even a sliver of where he came from, but that didn't stop his glow of pride that this was his sister. A badass with a title like that she didn't even need to back it up, rallying in for the backup Percy had always needed in times like this.

Thalia saw that grin and smiled hesitantly back. Even knowing she'd messed up, she didn't know how she'd go back and fix it, but it was a nice feeling for a second that they could still move forward.

There were hugs and greetings all around . . . or at least Thalia was friendly. The other Hunters didn't like being around campers, especially boys, but they didn't shoot any of us, which for them was a pretty warm welcome.

"We were even invited back to Camp for showing such restraint," Thalia grinned in agreement.

"Spoiler alert Camp still exists I guess," Percy rubbed at his temple but still smiled anyways as he repressed a shiver. Gods he wished this day was over with already, he was so sick of having a constant headache over things that should have felt as natural as the rainfall.

"Where have you been the last year?" I asked Thalia. "You've got like twice as many Hunters now!"

She laughed. "Long, long story. I bet my adventures were more dangerous than yours, Jackson."

"Still willing to hedge that bet?" Percy smirked.

"You spent a few weeks in the Labyrinth, don't get me started on my months," Thalia nodded. "What exactly are you willing to cough up?"

Percy opened his mouth, the two absolutely would have started sitting around gambling money neither of them probably even had until Annabeth got their attention in fond exasperation.

"Complete lie," I said.

"We'll see," she promised. "After this is over, you, Annabeth, and me: cheeseburgers and fries at that hotel on West 57th."

"What is it with you two and cheeseburgers?" Jason chuckled, still sounding a little awkward, but also leaning forward eagerly in his seat to be included. "Other food groups exist you know."

"And they can all go on a good cheeseburger," Percy nodded as if he'd agreed.

"Putting two things between a bun doesn't make a cheeseburger Percy," Thalia rolled her eyes. "I crave meat and cheese!"

"Sure it does," Percy was winding up for another fight already and Annabeth looked ready to pull her hair out. "Had this chicken parmesan leftovers the other night I put between two brioche buns," he paused and gave a chef's kiss. "Master Italian Burger."

"Can I disagree?" Nico frowned.

"Chicken makes it a chicken sandwich not a burger you bottom feeder! And if you put marinara anywhere near me without cheese sticks I'll smother you," Thalia huffed.

"Okay food police," Magnus laughed, "you two are making me hungry already and we've just started."

Jason and Nico exchanged exasperated looks they'd been accidentally ignored in those two over there, but had a quick muttered conversation to resolve this by making them give a cook off later. They could argue over a grill all they liked as long as they got to reap the rewards.

"Le Parker Meridien," I said. "You're on. And Thalia, thanks."

She shrugged. "Those monsters won't know what hit them. Hunters, move out!"

She slapped her silver bracelet, and the shield Aegis spiraled into full form. The golden head of Medusa molded in the center was so horrible, the campers all backed away. The Hunters took off down the avenue, followed by their wolves and falcons, and I had a feeling the Lincoln Tunnel would be safe for now.

"Just a feeling, a hunch really, a barely flickering lightbulb," Thalia nodded sagely as she tapped the side of Percy's head.

He swatted her away and called her a few things that would have made Aegis cringe.

"Thank the gods," Annabeth said. "But if we don't blockade the rivers from those boats, guarding the bridges and tunnels will be pointless."

"You're right," I said.

I looked at the campers, all of them grim and determined. I tried not to feel like this was the last time I'd ever see them all together.

"Well thanks Percy, now we're all thinking that," Alex said with an awkward smile. She'd never even met those kids and she knew they weren't all going to make it to the next camp bonfire.

Her tone wasn't light, exactly, she wasn't making fun of Percy, she was just being a smartass. Like she would have been had she actually been there and knew same as him that would be the last thing they'd hear from her.

"You're the greatest heroes of this millennium," I told them. "It doesn't matter how many monsters come at you. Fight bravely, and we will win." I raised Riptide and shouted, "FOR OLYMPUS!"

"Nice speech," Annabeth placed her hand on his shoulder.

He waited for her to follow that up with, 'for a seaweed brain' or something, but when she didn't he sat up straight in his seat. He put his hand over hers and wondered if this was how Zeus felt all the time being on top of the world.

They shouted in response, and our forty voices echoed off the buildings of Midtown. For a moment it sounded brave, but it died quickly in the silence of ten million sleeping New Yorkers.

Percy had never been a fan of silence. Sitting around waiting in hard plastic chairs for the teacher or principal to come yell at him. The disappointed silence when even his mother couldn't say a nice thing about why he'd been expelled this time. The long, absent silences when Annabeth either couldn't, or wouldn't talk to him.

This silence felt deeper. He already knew a predator was waiting in the next shadow for them all. The cheer from his friends followed by the deep, ear piercing night was like something right out of a horror film, and he was walking right into the final act. He glanced at Annabeth and worried with a deep fear he couldn't wait to shake how they made it out of this.

Annabeth and I would've had our pick of cars, but they were all wedged in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Annabeth frowned that felt like some kind of metaphor in there for her past if she'd ever had the whim to draw one. This section of Percy's life had started with him and Rachel cruising down an open stretch of beach without a care in the world. Her? She got to pass her dream car of a 1967 Chevy Impala, it's fender in ruins, she hadn't even gotten a chance to look at the hood! While she and Percy were racing to end another world ending disaster. Again.

None of the engines were running, which was weird. It seemed the drivers had had time to turn off the ignition before they got too sleepy. Or maybe Morpheus had the power to put engines to sleep as well.

"That, hurts my brain," Magnus said, each word clearly a pain.

"We really haven't had any major instances of the gods toying with our machinery," Alex agreed, tapping her chin in fascination. "Hephaestus obviously benefits from it, but hasn't interfered with it has he?"

"I imagine they all have mixed feelings about each new thing invented," Annabeth grinned. Hermes was probably offended at the idea of ATM's because it made thieving just a bit harder. Zeus had probably made global warming increase by accident he'd be so happy about a lightbulb being invented. She'd tried asking her mom on an Olympus field trip once how she felt about the sowing machine and she'd given her a look of such mixed emotions she'd felt the need to hide under her cap before waiting around for an answer.

Most of the drivers had apparently tried to pull to the curb when they felt themselves passing out, but still the streets were too clogged to navigate.

Finally we found an unconscious courier leaning against a brick wall, still straddling his red Vespa.

We dragged him off the scooter and laid him on the sidewalk.

"Sorry, dude," I said. With any luck, I'd be able to bring his scooter back. If I didn't, it would hardly matter, because the city would be destroyed.

"You get credit for the consideration though," Will still said in delight the thought even crossed his mind. Connor and Travis probably would have tried to smuggle that into their backpack in parts.

"Where did you even learn to ride a Vespa?" Magnus asked rather than imagining his cousin clinging to Percy's back on it. "I didn't question you on Ares's motorcycle-"

"What? When?!"- Annabeth tried to interrupt.

"- because, godly machine, whatever, intuitive, but this?"

"Same deal as a motorcycle man, like you said. Just, hold down the lever thingy, twist the twisty part, and it goes," Percy shrugged.

"Lever thingy?" Annabeth groaned, for now distracted from her cousin not able to shut his trap about a mission Clarisse wouldn't want her to know about. "It's called a clutch Percy! Gods seaweed brain, how did you not get us killed?"

"I don't need to know the names of all the parts to get from A to Z Wise Girl," Percy rolled his eyes.

"It's A to B, gods," she groaned.

Percy had never struggled to see the family resemblance here and was actually amused it seemed to be growing more pronounced the longer they were around each other again.

I drove with Annabeth behind me holding on to my waist.

Alex could not let that one pass without a wolf whistle, of course, but Percy didn't care. Everybody in the room might as well have fallen asleep around him as he smiled at the memory of how warm she'd been as she'd held on without hesitation and put the helmet on while glaring at him as she buckled it up. He'd heard her grumbling about this model's gas intake and how she wished she had time to make modifications all the way down the street.

We zigzagged down Broadway with our engine buzzing through the eerie calm. The only sounds were occasional cell phones ringing—like they were calling out to each other, as if New York had turned into a giant electronic aviary.

"Never get tired of your visuals Perce," Nico said with a grin.

"I'd say any time, but I'm not going to lie, I'm looking forward to every one of you getting out of my head," Percy shrugged.

Our progress was slow. Every so often we'd come across pedestrians who'd fallen asleep right in front of a car, and we'd move them just to be safe. Once we stopped to extinguish a pretzel vendor's cart that had caught on fire. A few minutes later we had to rescue a baby carriage that was rolling aimlessly down the street. It turned out there was no baby in it—just somebody's sleeping poodle. Go figure. We parked it safely in a doorway and kept riding.

The acts of general kindness did surprise them. Will felt like hugging the pair. They were in the middle of bracing for a war and still taking the time to show why they'd won, how everybody had come together at the end without even realizing they were doing it.

We were passing Madison Square Park when Annabeth said, "Pull over."

I stopped in the middle of East 23rd. Annabeth jumped off and ran toward the park. By the time I caught up with her, she was staring at a bronze statue on a red marble pedestal. I'd probably passed it a million times but never really looked at it.

The dude was sitting in a chair with his legs crossed. He wore an old-fashioned suit—Abraham Lincoln style—with a bow tie and long coattails and stuff. A bunch of bronze books were piled under his chair. He held a writing quill in one hand and a big metal sheet of parchment in the other.

Alex narrowed her eyes and had a nice long rant about Abraham Lincoln ready to go if anybody gave her half a chance. The president that made her believe in politics and voting and how a good deed could still be layered with bad history.

"Why do we care about . . ." I squinted at the name on the pedestal. "William H. Steward?"

"That's why Mr. D called me that one time," Will popped the side of his head. "I never knew he was calling me someone famous!"

"Will, I worry about you," Nico looked at him strangely for somehow managing to remember all the variations of his name the god had called him.

"That's nice," he chuckled.

"Seward," Annabeth corrected. "He was a New York governor. Minor demigod—son of Hebe, I think. But that's not important.

"Bet it was important to him," Jason frowned. That was probably the most notoriety a child of Hebe had ever gotten. Percy probably didn't even know who Juventas was.

It's the statue I care about."

She climbed on a park bench and examined the base of the statue.

"Don't tell me he's an automaton," I said.

"Where did you get that idea from?" Magnus asked in instant dread while Nico swallowed a new pit of disgust. He probably had his own collection of kidney stones by now from the heavy feeling in him every time they were mentioned around here.

"The way she looked at it, you'll learn that expression quick," Percy sighed. Her gray eyes lit with excitement to examine something, the weariness and way she angled herself to draw her knife at a moment's notice. Like approaching a wild animal raised by people. She might have a good idea what she was doing, but didn't assume it was harmless.

Annabeth smiled. "Turns out most of the statues in the city are automatons. Daedalus planted them here just in case he needed an army."

"Why?" Magnus's voice cracked with pain as he said that right from his soul.

"I was thinking the same thing," Percy agreed way to casually after a statement like that.

"To attack Olympus or defend it?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Either one.

"That's not a shrugging kind of statement Annabeth!" Magnus yelped.

"I'm sorry Magnus," Annabeth said it like she actually meant it too.

"Don't feel to bad," Thalia shook her head as she grinned at Magnus's familiar look of constipation. "He freaks out like that over everything."

"I think hearing the smartest guy alive ever made an army for an ambiguous reason is worthy of some freaking out!" He protested.

"Yeah, but like, also, eh," Percy shrugged. "We have bigger things to worry about."

"No! No eh!" Magnus couldn't hold a scowl, he was to tired of dealing with this.

"Our little fruit cake, always keeping us in perspective of what normal people should freak out over," Alex helpfully added while Magnus looked at her in tragic betrayal because he couldn't deny a word of that while his cousin was still smiling a happier look than he'd ever dreamed she'd have with the miserable life he'd been hearing of her; so he decided to let it go too.

That was plan twenty-three. He could activate one statue and it would start activating its brethren all over the city, until there was an army. It's dangerous, though. You know how unpredictable automatons are."

"Uh-huh," I said. We'd had our share of bad experiences with them.

"I'd like it on record I'm on Magnus's side here with the particular shrugging off of what you're doing," Nico raised his hand.

"Duly noted," Thalia nodded her head fairly like the good child of a leader she sometimes acknowledged she was. "Any other objections before we move on to what happened, opinions be damned?"

Silence was her answer, and Nico and Magnus exchanged looks at being trapped in here with this group of nut jobs.

"You're seriously thinking about activating it?"

"I never question if Annabeth is seriously thinking about anything," Will admitted. "If the idea crosses her mind I just assume she's willing to do it."

"That's terrifying," Percy finally said like the situation called for, and all because he could now never again assume Annabeth didn't have a plan rolled up her sleeve to over-analyze the menu in food section groups.

"I have Daedalus's notes," she said. "I think I can . . . Ah, here we go."

She pressed the tip of Seward's boot, and the statue stood up, its quill and paper ready.

"What's he going to do?" I muttered. "Take a memo?"

"Shh," Annabeth. "Hello, William."

"Bill," I suggested.

"Bill . . . Oh, shut up," Annabeth told me.

"See if I ever try to help you again," Percy grinned.

"Yes, I'll wait with bated breath in fear of that day," she nodded.

 The statue tilted its head, looking at us with blank metal eyes.

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Hello, er, Governor Seward. Command sequence: Daedalus Twentythree. Defend Manhattan. Begin Activation."

Seward jumped off his pedestal. He hit the ground so hard his shoes cracked the sidewalk. Then he went clanking off toward the east.

"He's probably going to wake up Confucius," Annabeth guessed.

"What?" I said.

"Another statue, on Division. The point is, they'll keep waking each other up until they're all activated."

"And then?"

"Hopefully, they defend Manhattan."

"Do they know that we're not the enemy?"

"I think so."

"That's reassuring." I thought about all the bronze statues in the parks, plazas, and buildings of New York. There had to be hundreds, maybe thousands.

"No, no, no, no," Magnus seemed stuck on a loop like that until Alex patted his shoulder, breaking him out enough to splutter, "this is how apocalypses get started!"

"Kind of already in one," Percy shrugged. "End of days, reaping of souls on the horizon, etc."

Magnus looked mildly apologetic, but not enough to actually say he was sorry his cousin was creating one while the other was in progress. Was he the only one who noticed she'd yet to mention how to turn them back off?!

Then a ball of green light exploded in the evening sky. Greek fire, somewhere over the East River.

"We have to hurry," I said. And we ran for the Vespa.

We parked outside Battery Park, at the lower tip of Manhattan where the Hudson and East Rivers came together and emptied into the bay.

"Wait here," I told Annabeth.

"As opposed to waiting in some other cliche location for her lost lover to return that isn't a beach?" Alex shook her head at Percy. "For shame, why would you ruin such banality?"

"Alex," Percy spluttered in pain.

Annabeth tossed her hair over her shoulder and sniffed, "I'm no one's damsel, thank you."

"Fair enough," Alex bobbed her head in agreement while Percy was glad to skip past whatever the heck had just happened.

"Percy, you shouldn't go alone."

"Well, unless you can breathe underwater . . ."

She sighed. "You are so annoying sometimes."

"Only sometimes?" Percy asked with mild hope in his voice. That sounded better than her thinking him a coward at all times.

"Like the times he doesn't offer to make water cacoons for you?" Jason agreed it felt like Percy wasn't trying his hardest here, he'd throw a fit too.

"Yes, like those," Annabeth gestured impatiently at him while frowning at Percy. He knew she hated to be left out.

Percy gave Jason a dislikeable look. He had enough to concentrate on without splitting his attention.

"Like when I'm right?

"Yes, every damn time you're right," Annabeth sighed.

Thalia snorted, hard, as she tried to keep reading around the joke she had no idea she'd just made. More like every dam time.

Trust me, I'll be fine. I've got the curse of Achilles now. I'm all invincible and stuff."

Annabeth didn't look convinced.

Percy tried not to feel to hurt. He'd feel the same way if she walked off and left him behind to handle something. He knew they worked better together.

"Just be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you. I mean, because we need you for the battle."

"You are strictly used as a weapon only, no other traits applicable," Alex said in a crappy robot voice.

"Yes, creator," Percy almost managed to say with a blank face and monotone voice before they broke out laughing.

I grinned. "Back in a flash."

I clambered down the shoreline and waded into the water.

Just for you non-sea-god types out there, don't go swimming in New York Harbor. It may not be as filthy as it was in my mom's day, but that water will still probably make you grow a third eye or have mutant children when you grow up.

Thalia made a few grumbling complaints about human pollution Percy couldn't blame her for. He didn't have to be attached to some nature god to feel the same. Being immune to the water was probably the only thing that saved him from floating in a pool of muck and trash. It was disgusting, and just kind of sad to see something connected to Pan that was barely visible for what it should be.

I dove into the murk and sank to the bottom. I tried to find the spot where the two rivers' currents seemed equal—where they met to form the bay. I figured that was the best place to get their attention.

"HEY!" I shouted in my best underwater voice. The sound echoed in the darkness. "I heard you guys are so polluted you're embarrassed to show your faces. Is that true?"

"I just heard it live," Jason sighed, making sure the others didn't miss it. "It didn't even cross his mind to say hey, mind having a chat guys? Nope, just straight to the insults!"

Percy mock-cleaned out his ears and looked around. "Sorry sparky, you say something?"

"Don't waste insults you were clearly saving up for Thalia, that's just lazy Percy," Jason rolled his eyes.

"Thank you for answering your own interruption," Percy nodded like nothing had happened as he watched Thalia.

A cold current rippled through the bay, churning up plumes of garbage and silt.

"I heard the East River is more toxic," I continued, "but the Hudson smells worse. Or is it the other way around?"

"Definitely the other way around," Alex added in helpfully as if she had a clue what she was talking about. "In some meanings, Hudson means Son of Hudd, and that just sounds like a gross profession." Percy had already known full well who his second pick would be next time he needed to tick off a god, but it was still nice to have it confirmed in moments like this as he nodded his thanks.

The water shimmered. Something powerful and angry was watching me now. I could sense its presence . . . or maybe two presences.

I was afraid I'd miscalculated with the insults. What if they just blasted me without showing themselves? But these were New York river gods. I figured their instinct would be to get in my face.

"It always fascinates me how Percy knows so perfectly well everything about New York but generally doesn't act anything like I think they would," Will said.

"Don't stereotype my civilians," Percy said in a posh kind of voice like he was ruler of New York. Possibly including the gods? Will knew he was overthinking a goofy joke, but he couldn't help it.

Sure enough, two giant forms appeared in front of me. At first they were just dark brown columns of silt, denser than the water around them. Then they grew legs, arms, and scowling faces.

The creature on the left looked disturbingly like a telkhine. His face was wolfish. His body was vaguely like a seal's—sleek black with flipper hands and feet. His eyes glowed radiation green.

The dude on the right was more humanoid. He was dressed in rags and seaweed, with a chain-mail coat made of bottle caps and old plastic six-pack holders. His face was blotchy with algae, and his beard was overgrown. His deep blue eyes burned with anger.

"Nope, nope, nope, nope," Magnus seemed all geared up and ready to get stuck in that loop again. For some reason Percy pissing off nature gods still seemed to surprise him. Or maybe it was just the description of a homeless person at the bottom of a river. Annabeth would assume the latter.

She spoke in a calm, soothing voice, "I always love the variety of how the gods make themselves appear however they want. It's so, unique, like a reflection of mortals and how we all look different."

"I don't think they'd like that take very much," Magnus looked around at his cousin with an amused smile, breaking him out of his funk at least. "Most of them don't seem to like us much, I can't imagine why," he concluded with a significant look at Percy.

Annabeth just gave him a sad smile he seemed to be lumping himself into 'their' category, as if his life were already doomed.

The seal, who had to be the god of the East River, said, "Are you trying to get yourself killed, kid? Or are you just extra stupid?"

"Actually neither, for once," Thalia chuckled.

Percy looked around at her why she couldn't ever give him something that wasn't a backhanded compliment?

The bearded spirit of the Hudson scoffed. "You're the expert on stupid, East."

"Watch it, Hudson," East growled. "Stay on your side of the island and mind your business."

"Or what? You'll throw another garbage barge at me?"

"Another?" Magnus sighed, already knowing he was alone in that and still wondering anyways how many disasters were blamed on gods just having pissing contests with each other.

They floated toward each other, ready to fight.

"Hold it!" I yelled. "We've got a bigger problem."

"The kid's right," East snarled. "Let's both kill him, then we'll fight each other."

"Have I mentioned how glad I am you just think I'm annoying when I'm right?" Percy sighed. He'd been pretty sure this would be their reaction and was still a little put out they'd decided to kill him over just trying to get their attention.

"You should mention it more," Annabeth said helpfully.

"Sounds good," Hudson said.

Before I could protest, a thousand scraps of garbage surged off the bottom and flew straight at me from both directions: broken glass, rocks, cans, tires.

I was expecting it, though. The water in front of me thickened into a shield. The debris bounced off harmlessly. Only one piece got through—a big chunk of glass that hit my chest and probably should've killed me, but it shattered against my skin.

Annabeth rubbed at her chest and glared at Percy. She didn't care that even without that curse he likely would have been fine, healing before he even came back to the surface. She didn't even care that rationally, it was just a joke as Jason made a very obvious checkmark on an imaginary peace of paper and Percy laughed it off.

She still wanted to strangle him for nearly dying on her. Again.

The two river gods stared at me.

"Son of Poseidon?" East asked.

I nodded.

"Did he think you were down there talking to him with a really good snorkel?" Will snorted.

"I don't think that kind of thing occurs to gods much," Jason shrugged. Man did he feel luckier every day Oceanus seemed to have some sense of who was down here.

"Took a dip in the Styx?" Hudson asked.

"Yep."

They both made disgusted sounds.

"Well, that's perfect," East said. "Now how do we kill him?"

"We could electrocute him," Hudson mused. "If I could just find some jumper cables—"

"Always appreciate cultivating that creative side," Alex chuckled.

"Don't worry, jumper cables were already on the list," Thalia promised Percy their growing list of items to be kept away from Alex in all emergencies was steadily growing in pages.

"Listen to me!" I said. "Kronos's army is invading Manhattan.'"

"Don't you think we know that?" East asked. "I can feel his boats right now. They're almost across."

"Yep," Hudson agreed. "I got some filthy monsters crossing my waters too."

"So stop them," I said. "Drown them. Sink their boats."

"Why should we?" Hudson grumbled. "So they invade Olympus. What do we care?"

Nico still remembered Hera's awful words stinging right underneath his skin. She'd claimed her family was safe. Yet her family didn't seem to give much of a ghosts fart about her. He was sure if he shoved this paragraph up her nose she'd just turn him into a butterfly or something next, but the idea was still pretty tempting to make her hear how her words made others feel.

"Because I can pay you." I took out the sand dollar my father had given me for my birthday.

Magnus opened his mouth, raising one finger with a very confused face.

The river gods' eyes widened.

'Answers that question,' he shrugged and dropped his hand. He wouldn't assume other water godly beings would care much, but he listened curiously for the explanation.

"It's mine!" East said. "Give it here, kid, and I promise none of Kronos's scum are getting across the East River."

"Forget that," Hudson said. "That sand dollar's mine, unless you want me to let all those ships cross the Hudson."

"Is that all friendship costs these days?" Will asked with a tragic face. "One whole sand dollar?"

"And what should the common, going rate be? According to you?" Nico grinned. His dad would hopefully loan him the money this time if he said it wasn't helping that Son of Posideon.

Will contemplated it for a second before deciding, "gosh, at least a whole nickel."

Causing a good laugh around the whole room that was sorely needed.

"We'll compromise." I broke the sand dollar in half. A ripple of clean fresh water spread out from the break, as if all the pollution in the bay were being dissolved.

It wasn't a great explanation, Magnus was still internally grumbling. Posideon was more powerful, obviously, got that, but the implication here was still that he might have the power to fix this and just, wasn't? With a measly dollar of sand at his disposal! Magnus's head still kind of hurt, but he felt like he'd already used up his quota for being 'adorably annoying' for the day and they'd only just had breakfast an hour ago.

"You each get half," I said. "In exchange, you keep all of Kronos's forces away from Manhattan."

"Oh, man," Hudson whimpered, reaching out for the sand dollar. "It's been so long since I was clean."

"The power of Poseidon," East River murmured. "He's a jerk, but he sure knows how to sweep pollution away."

They looked at each other, then spoke as one: "It's a deal."

I gave them each a sand-dollar half, which they held reverently.

"Um, the invaders?" I prompted.

East flicked his hand. "They just got sunk."

Hudson snapped his fingers. "Bunch of hellhounds just took a dive."

"Don't love the implication here he can just, murder sea creatures," Magnus couldn't stop himself making a face and saying anyways.

"Same," Nico tucked his coat tighter around himself. "I'm also back wondering what a council of all the sea gods would look like and there just aren't enough Percy's to even make that go well without a war."

Percy sighed and glared at the ceiling. What on earth had possessed his dad and Oceanus and any god to think that putting a bunch of ADHD kids the task of reading these in any sane length of time would go well was not in his frame of understanding.

"Thank you," I said. "Stay clean."

As I rose toward the surface, East called out, "Hey, kid, any time you got a sand dollar to spend, come on back. Assuming you live."

"Curse of Achilles," Hudson snorted. "They always think that'll save them, don't they?"

"If only he knew," East agreed. They both laughed, dissolving into the water.

Back on the shore,

Thalia couldn't finish that without a little wince though as she glanced at Percy too but chose to keep her thoughts to herself. It disturbed her a bit though, that killing those half-bloods hadn't even been a blip on Percy's mind, that he'd had no hesitation in telling the gods to destroy those vessels and they had without mercy. Percy toeing the line of godhood was not something she'd ever wanted to hear about up close, but this was just one of many decisions that he'd have to shirk off as he waged into the worst.

Annabeth was talking on her cell phone, but she hung up as soon as she saw me. She looked pretty shaken.

"Can't have one decent moment of something just plain good happening," Will lamented as he shifted around in his spot in more agitation than Nico had ever felt from him.

Will hoped that Percy had spent time jumping from bridge to bridge, helping out for pages and other side quests and adventures before he circled back to where Micheal was. He'd know, the entire time in the back of his mind what was waiting anyways, but he'd still like to leave his brother alive even in memory as long as he could get away with.

"It worked," I told her. "The rivers are safe."

"Good," she said. "Because we've got other problems. Michael Yew just called. Another army is marching over the Williamsburg Bridge. The Apollo cabin needs help. And Percy, the monster leading the enemy . . . it's the Minotaur."

"Dun, dun, dun?" Alex snorted in surprise.

"Not a cliffhanger I'd ever expect to get much attention," Thalia chuckled too as she got up to hand the book to Nico.

"You slayed that thing when you had no clue what you were doing," Magnus tried to chuckle in levity. "This will be nothing!"

Nico took the book without even looking at Thalia as Will tensed so tight beside him like a good poke would snap him in half.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 18: A FRIEND SAYS GOOD-BYE

Nico took the book with a pinched throat. If the pattern had continued, it would have been Rachel's turn. Some part of him still waited for Percy to turn and blame him for that, his actual friend missing while he was still hanging around in here.

He didn't though, of course, he was never on Percy's mind long enough to even get his anger. Somehow the nothing of it always bothered him more than if Percy would just flat reject his dark wish. Clearing his throat sharply to scram away such feelings, it worked rather in his favor as his voice came out appropriately uneasy to read the chapter title.

Nobody had any quips for that. There was still one line of the prophecy unanswered for.

We landed at Crissy Field after nightfall.

As soon as Dr. Chase stepped out of his Sopwith Camel, Annabeth ran to him and gave him a huge hug. "Dad! You flew... you shot... oh my gods! That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"

"And I didn't even get to see it!" Alex groaned, falling back into her seat as if shot herself.

"I bet if you ask nicely Artemis will beam the image into your head," Thalia grinned, though Percy winced with unease if gods could really do that.

Alex looked ready to drool at the prospects and he was very grateful when Nico kept going before Thalia could expand on the idea.

Her father blushed. "Well, not bad for a middle-aged mortal, I suppose."

"But the celestial bronze bullets! How did you get those?"

"Ah, well. You did leave quite a few half-blood weapons in your room in Virginia, the last time you... left."

Magnus still squirmed uneasily in his seat, never having gotten the story for that. Uncle Fredrick had come to the rescue, but he still didn't even know his own aunt's name. His cousin never talked about them, and love didn't solve every problem of choosing.

Not to mention the ominous question if the wolves would find him if he did dare to haunt any other families doorstep. Even Uncle Randolph didn't deserve that.

Annabeth looked down, embarrassed. I noticed Dr. Chase was very careful not to say ran away.

Percy had never considered running away, leaving his mom to deal with Gabe alone. He wished Annabeth would talk about what she'd be running from when she was at Camp. Was going into the arms of the Hunters her answer?

"I decided to try melting some down to make bullet casings," he continued. "Just a little experiment."

"I imagine a sentence exactly like that is what made Annabeth exist," Jason said, clearly his fascination with Annabeth existing at all still a touch new if he thought about it to long.

He said it like it was no big deal, but he had a gleam in his eye. I could understand all of a sudden why Athena, Goddess of Crafts and Wisdom, had taken a liking to him. He was an excellent mad scientist at heart.

Percy hadn't often imagined a 'dad' replacement for Gabe when he was younger, he spent to much time wishing the waste dead to hope his mom found anyone better, or possibly worst.

This probably would have been a cool contender though. His mom was kind and patient and had the most loving heart. All he'd needed really was someone to help him with his homework.

He couldn't forget the fact Annabeth had run away from this guy, but he hoped if they managed to make peace they could at least build an exploding volcano together or something. It would go a long way towards Percy starting to forgive this guy for making Annabeth feel so unloved.

"Dad..." Annabeth faltered.

"Annabeth, Percy," Thalia interrupted. Her voice was urgent. She and Artemis were kneeling at Zoe's side, binding the huntress's wounds.

Will leaned forward in his seat, his hands fidgeting in place. To assess the damage, to know what tool would be best, or to ascertain if it was beyond mortal help and get her nectar.

He already knew it was to late. The prophecy would not allow otherwise.

Annabeth and I ran over to help, but there wasn't much we could do. We had no ambrosia or nectar. No regular medicine would help. It was dark, but I could see that Zoe didn't look good. She was shivering, and the faint glow that usually hung around her was fading.

Nico was leaning as far back into his seat as he could. He was surprised Percy, or anybody wasn't throwing him accusing glares. Thalia in particular.

Even if they hadn't gotten on well, he'd expect Artemis's lieutenant to be like anybody else back at Camp when death came up and give him a pointed look, like he gave Thanatos a ring every time someone mildly annoyed him.

Instead she sat there in quiet respect and made an odd motion. One he instinctively recognized as a blessing. He could only guess it must be one among the Huntress's, and he mimicked it with a pain that never felt any less as he thought of Bianca.

Had she felt nothing upon her death? Had she laid in Talos's body and known what was coming, watched her own hand lose the grip on her bow as her glow faded?

Even knowing every intricate detail of her death didn't save him from his never ending questions about her.

"Can't you heal her with magic?" I asked Artemis. "I mean... you're a goddess."

Artemis looked troubled. "Life is a fragile thing, Percy. If the Fates will the string to be cut, there is little I can do. But I can try."

Percy's mind felt barred from that kind of answer. A wound even the gods couldn't fix?

His hand crept to his hair, he touched the side of his head and as his mind lingered on his dad again, Poseidon, a place in his life no mortal could ever fill. Was that why he was down here? Had he gotten a wound even the God of the Ocean couldn't fix, and his memory had been the price?

She tried to set her hand on Zoe's side, but Zoe gripped her wrist. She looked into the goddess's eyes, and some kind of understanding passed between them.

Nico licked his lips nervously for a moment. He was worried Bianca was right about him, and he was holding a grudge against Zoe for being even a small part in convincing his sister to join this group that had gotten her killed. If he read Zoe's last moments, he'd just sound like a bitter, resentful jerk when she'd been a brave warrior and grieved his sister just like he had.

He wanted to be better than that. Hades was the God of the Underworld, no matter how the souls came to him, he knew how each should be treated. Nico tried to read with nothing but respect.

"Have I... served thee well?" Zoe whispered.

"With great honor," Artemis said softly. "The finest of my attendants."

Zoe's face relaxed. "Rest. At last."

As much as Nico loathed to be the one to read this, he kept his voice level.

They all heard the words with a sort of grandeur he didn't even seem aware of, like how a bugle could only sound in particular hands.

"I can try to heal the poison, my brave one."

But in that moment, I knew it wasn't just the poison that was killing her. It was her father's final blow. Zoe had known all along that the Oracle's prophecy was about her: she would die by a parent's hand. And yet she'd taken the quest anyway. She had chosen to save me, and Atlas's fury had broken her inside.

Percy rubbed his fingers together, but the blood on his hands was only in his head. First Bianca, now her, he glanced nervously at Thalia and clenched a fist. Their sacrifice for him would never be forgotten again, his guilt wouldn't allow it. He would not allow the same thing to happen a third time to one of his friends.

She saw Thalia, and took her hand.

"I am sorry we argued," Zoe said. "We could have been sisters."

Thalia brushed her hand through the silver circlet in her hair. They were now, if only in spirit, but she remembered whenever she looked at the stars and promised she was doing her best. The only time the open sky didn't bring her dread.

"It's my fault," Thalia said, blinking hard. "You were right about Luke, about heroes, men—everything."

Then of course Percy's hands fell into his lap and he gave her the most tragic of looks like a street performer had robbed him.

"Shush you," Thalia said without looking over, but she was finally fighting off a smile again.

"Perhaps not all men," Zoe murmured. She smiled weakly at me. "Do you still have the sword, Percy?"

"I don't think it leaves him, it's kind of gawking him," Alex offered. She wasn't mocking the dying girl, just trying to bring some levity to those she'd left behind.

I couldn't speak, but I brought out Riptide and put the pen in her hand. She grasped it contentedly. "You spoke the truth, Percy Jackson. You are nothing like... like Hercules. I am honored that you carry this sword."

A shudder ran through her body.

"Zoe—" I said.

"Stars," she whispered. "I can see the stars again, my lady."

A tear trickled down Artemis's cheek. "Yes, my brave one. They are beautiful tonight."

"Stars," Zoe repeated. Her eyes fixed on the night sky. And she did not move again.

Jason gripped the coin in his pocket too tight, like he was trying to leave an impression on his skin. Crissy airfield had no attachment to him, but her wound had happened on Mount Tam. The place reeked of death in his memory, and he moved without thought to place a gentle hand on Thalia's shoulder for her having to feel the same. Not even getting his memories taken away was saving him much from the pain, the weight that mountain always made you feel when you descended.

Thalia covered his hand with hers and gave such a strange smile he didn't know how to place. Another woman came to mind, a woman with elaborate blonde hair, but the same smile.

Thalia lowered her head. Annabeth gulped down a sob, and her father put his hands on her shoulders. I watched as Artemis cupped her hand above Zoe's mouth and spoke a few words in Ancient Greek. A silvery wisp of smoke exhaled from Zoe's lips and was caught in the hand of the goddess. Zoe's body shimmered and disappeared.

Artemis stood, said a kind of blessing, breathed into her cupped hand and released the silver dust to the sky. It flew up, sparkling, and vanished.

For a moment I didn't see anything different. Then Annabeth gasped. Looking up in the sky, I saw that the stars were brighter now. They made a pattern I had never noticed before—a gleaming constellation that looked a lot like a girl's figure—a girl with a bow, running across the sky.

"Let the world honor you, my Huntress," Artemis said. "Live forever in the stars."

Magnus was to busy trying to clear his throat without getting caught to marvel to much at that yet. How completely insane such an ability was to exist didn't matter right now.

His mom deserved that. A quiet, peaceful death with the person she loved most at her side and being honored for all time.

It wasn't easy saying our good-byes. The thunder and lightning were still boiling over Mount Tamalpais in the north. Artemis was so upset she flickered with silver light. This made me nervous, because if she suddenly lost control and appeared in her fully divine form, we would disintegrate by looking at her.

"Now where's that line of warning in the Prophecy?" Alex scoffed.

"Can you imagine coming all that way and finishing your grand quest just to go out like that? I'd be pissed," Jason agreed, but he held it under better control of a passive observation. He had more faith the gods had better control of themselves than to kill their own hero's.

"I must go to Olympus immediately," Artemis said. "I will not be able to take you, but I will send help."

The goddess set her hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "You are brave beyond measure, my girl. You will do what is right."

What was right for her though? Percy swallowed a Titan sized lump in his throat no matter how much he agreed with Artemis about that. Whatever happened, he would not panic and fling himself at her feet, begging her to stay. He was better than that, he wanted what was best for her...

Then she looked quizzically at Thalia, as if she weren't sure what to make of this younger daughter of Zeus. Thalia seemed reluctant to look up, but something made her, and she held the goddess's eyes. I wasn't sure what passed between them, but Artemis's gaze softened with sympathy.

Thalia's camo attire seemed to glow extra bright for a few moments as she fiddled with the zipper of her jacket over her black punk clothing. She'd never regret her time in the Hunt, but she had questions now she wasn't sure Artemis would give willing answers for. She wouldn't trade Jason for Annabeth if given a chance though just to appease anyone.

Then she turned to me.

"You did well," she said. "For a man."

I wanted to protest. But then I realized it was the first time she hadn't called me a boy.

Percy sat up straight in his seat, clearly delighted that had worked out already! She hadn't called him a brave man, but he'd take it!

She mounted her chariot, which began to glow. We averted our eyes. There was a flash of silver, and the goddess was gone.

"Well," Dr. Chase sighed. "She was impressive; though I must say I still prefer Athena."

"He is truly a smart man for waiting until she left to say that," Will snorted.

Annabeth turned toward him. "Dad, I... I'm sorry that—"

"Shh." He hugged her. "Do what you must, my dear. I know this isn't easy for you."

Percy had wanted to hug her so bad. It had been the first chance to breathe, sit around and look about to see her just standing there casually beside him again like she'd never left.

She'd looked so comfortable next to her dad though. Percy had a suspicion this might have been the first time they'd had an alone moment in a long, long time, so he was glad he'd kept his hands to himself, to give Dr. Chase a chance to say what Mrs. Chase had told him to.

His voice was a little shaky, but he gave Annabeth a brave smile.

Then I heard the whoosh of large wings. Three pegasi descended through the fog: two white winged horses and one pure black one.

"Do you punch Percy for getting the cool Pegasus?" Alex grinned Thalia.

"I do not," Thalia said with a strained smile. They were gorgeous creatures of course...and still not ones she wanted anything to do with.

"Blackjack!" I called.

Yo, boss! he called. You manage to stay alive okay without me?

"There were several close calls," Percy said like they weren't there for every single word.

"It was rough," I admitted.

I brought Guido and Porkpie with me.

Nico made such an adorable, annoyed little frown so different from his previous serious expression before as he wondered which Pegasus it was that complained about carrying him Will had to look away before he did something really stupid.

"Who names these guys?" Alex asked in delight.

"Not sure, I think they pick for themselves, or Salina does. I've never asked," Percy shrugged without concern.

How ya doin? The other two pegasi spoke in my mind.

Blackjack looked me over with concern, then checked out Dr. Chase, Thalia, and Annabeth. Any of these goons you want us to stampede?

"I would kill for a Pegasus that would stampede on command," Alex somehow grinned even brighter.

"Hopefully no one we know," Magnus frowned.

"Nah," I said aloud. "These are my friends. We need to get to Olympus pretty fast."

No problem, Blackjack said. Except for the mortal over there. Hope he's not going.

I assured him Dr. Chase was not. The professor was staring openmouthed at the pegasi.

"He can see them?" Jason asked dubiously.

"Told you that Mist stuff is not as reliable as you seem to think it is," Percy seemed much less concerned about the implications of that and more smug his point was finally proven.

"Fascinating," he said. "Such maneuverability! How does the wingspan compensate for the weight of the horse's body, I wonder?"

"I've been wondering much crazier shit than that since the beginning," Magnus was smiling again for, finally, someone else around here questioning the absurdity of this world. Then he frowned to himself even this mortal was reacting better than he had, but he did have a child with a god first, so this wasn't his first interaction.

Blackjack cocked his head. Whaaaat?

Percy went cross-eyed too and looked at his hand, just like he had then. "Wait, our brains don't know how we work automatically?"

Thankfully Annabeth had been distracted talking to her dad to notice.

"Our brains are piles of mush laced with electricity and a drop of ichor, we're lucky we're functional," Thalia shrugged.

"Why, if the British had had these pegasi in the cavalry charges on the Crimea," Dr. Chase said, "the charge of the light brigade—"

"Dad!" Annabeth interrupted.

Dr. Chase blinked. He looked at his daughter and managed a smile. "I'm sorry, my dear, I know you must go."

He gave her one last awkward, well-meaning hug. As she turned to climb aboard the pegasus Guido, Dr. Chase called, "Annabeth. I know... I know San Francisco is a dangerous place for you. But please remember, you always have a home with us. We will keep you safe."

Magnus wasn't sure how much he believed that anymore than Annabeth did. Going there for a job felt like one to many mistakes no matter what Uncle Fredrick said. She had a home and family at camp, she might be able to travel the world safe in a group of sisters with the Hunter's.

Yet this mortal family who clearly loved her at least enough to try even on the smallest level was still waiting in the wings even if she didn't want either of those options. Magnus swallowed jealousy and quickly went to studying his frayed and patched clothing as he asked and answered himself for the thousandth time why his cousin had never seemed to consider finding him all these years. She had more than enough.

Annabeth didn't answer, but her eyes were red as she turned away. Dr. Chase started to say more, then apparently thought better of it. He raised his hand in a sad farewell and trudged away across the dark field.

Thalia sighed as she thought back on that moment, her regret of blaming all of her problems on Percy feeling even more selfish than ever in the darkest part of the night before dawn. Annabeth hadn't glanced at her or Percy, she didn't need anybody to help her make that decision, though they'd spoken about it in the coming weeks with multiple Iris messages. That little seven year old in her mind had long since grown up, and Percy had been more a part of that than she'd been. She never should have resented Percy for that.

She still felt like she'd lost Luke and Annabeth that night. The people who she kept hoping they'd be.

Thalia and Annabeth and I mounted our pegasi. Together we soared over the bay and flew toward the eastern hills. Soon San Francisco was only a glittering crescent behind us, with an occasional flicker of lightning in the north.

Thalia was so exhausted she fell asleep on Porkpie's back. I knew she had to be really tired to sleep in the air,

Thalia tried to deny the blush nobody was laughing at anyways. She'd never told Annabeth about that, but the child of Athena had figured it out after a few weeks together when she always avoided the window whenever they'd hide out on anything higher than the third floor. Her soft blond head would curl up in her lap and whisper they'd keep each other safe from everything, and Thalia's arms had held her tight as she slept peacefully.

Her mind flickered to Percy readjusting the golden fleece onto Annabeth's sleeping form on the back of that Hippocampi as they kept each other safe now.

despite her fear of heights, but she didn't have much to worry about. Her pegasus flew with ease, adjusting himself every once in a while so Thalia stayed safely on his back.

"Maybe I just wanted to close my eyes and pretend I was on a normal horse," Thalia still made a half hearted denial.

"And the snoring was obviously just there to drown out the wind and give Annabeth and I some privacy," Percy nodded seriously.

"I don't snore!" She yelped.

"Must have been thunder, my bad," Percy grinned. It was a miracle she hadn't spooked Porkpie.

Nico quickly kept reading before Thalia got to enthusiastic with reminding Percy of what always came after thunder.

Annabeth and I flew along side by side.

Jason's mind automatically supplied them holding hands before he shook himself and remembered they weren't actually dating yet. It was just the way Percy's face lit up at having her back again and the way his hand always tried to curl around nothing in here that made it seem obvious they would have been.

"Your dad seems cool," I told her.

It was too dark to see her expression. She looked back, even though California was far behind us now.

"I guess so," she said. "We've been arguing for so many years."

"Yeah, you said."

"You think I was lying about that?" It sounded like a challenge, but a pretty halfhearted one, like she was asking it of herself.

"Memories can change and warp with age," Will agreed gently. He didn't think about his mom much, but when he did he mostly remembered the nothingness of their time together. How she'd always been on stage singing as far away from him as she could be while he'd been a lonely kid sitting around at bars with just a glass of water for company. It took effort to remember the littler moments he knew must have happened, her singing the seat belt song as she buckled him in, her always stopping at his favorite restaurant any time they passed no matter what time of day.

Sometimes he wondered if he went back to Texas to see how she was doing if she'd even remember him at all. Probably depended if she hit the big leagues yet or not.

"I didn't say you were lying. It's just... he seems okay. Your stepmom, too. Maybe they've, uh, gotten cooler since you saw them last."

"It definitely had something to do with meeting you Percy," Alex cheerfully mocked. "Everybody always gets ten times cooler just being in your presence." She kept the disparaging tone out well enough how she felt about Percy trying to rekindle a flame that should have been left out when it came to family affairs.

"The cooliest you say?" Percy chuckled while Alex groaned and rolled her eyes at him.

She hesitated. "They're still in San Francisco, Percy. I can't live so far from camp."

I didn't want to ask my next question. I was scared to know the answer. But I asked it anyway. "So what are you going to do now?"

The smile slipped back off his face and he shivered at all the possibilities before her that didn't involve him. The salty ocean water was of little comfort, but he'd swear the longer he thought of that kiss with Annabeth, she'd been underwater too, her blonde hair swaying around them. He'd know when it was coming, whatever the answer.

We flew over a town, an island of lights in the middle of the dark. It whisked by so fast we might've been in an airplane.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But thank you for rescuing me."

"Hey, no big deal. We're friends."

Nico said completely deadpan, "he just defied every god possible and traveled across the continent to take on a Titan and his army. No big deal at all." Percy had been taken by the Gods this time, and he was powerless to help him get out of here. Annabeth would probably bust through that door any minute to fix this, proving once again why they were better for each other. He'd never fit into Percy's life in a way that mattered.

"Isn't that what you do for friends?" Will agreed cheerfully.

Nico wouldn't know. He'd never had any.

"You didn't believe I was dead?"

"Never."

She hesitated. "Neither is Luke, you know. I mean... he isn't dead."

The rainbow of emotions that colored Percy's face would have made Rachel's day as an artist. Alex got a good appreciation out of it too as a way to sculpt about twelve facial expressions at once.

"He what?" Anger, shock, disbelief, and jealousy were definitely the top four that showed as he snapped. Nico quickly kept reading before he had to deal with them or any others. He was rather proud of himself, finally not sitting around longing to see any emotion on Percy just to get a small hint of what it would be like to have them directed onto him.

I stared at her. I didn't know if she was cracking under the stress or what.

"I mean, she spent enough time holding up the sky I expect a few cracks in her bones to be there, but her mind seemed to come away in tact..." Magnus didn't sound so sure himself. This wasn't exactly the first thing he thought he'd hear the two of them talk about their first alone moment together, and his stomach was already starting to clench painfully again at what the next trick was Annabeth was going to fall for from Luke's ghost.

"Annabeth, that fall was pretty bad. There's no way—"

"He isn't dead," she insisted. "I know it. The same way you knew about me."

That comparison didn't make me too happy.

That was now the number one peeved look on his face. He was scowling and muttering all kinds of things Thalia was leaning away with no wish to hear, even if she'd called Luke all of that and then some at one point.

The towns were zipping by faster now, islands of light thicker together, until the whole landscape below was a glittering carpet. Dawn was close. The eastern sky was turning gray.

And up ahead, a huge white-and-yellow glow spread out before us—the lights of New York.

Percy now looked apocalyptic with fury.

The fact that he was frustrated with Annabeth in mind meant that, for once, he wasn't affecting the ocean around him. "Are you telling me Blackjack could have flown us straight to Mount Tam without all that crap that happened down there!"

They wouldn't have lost Bianca! They could have skipped the confusing, exhausting days and barely saved the world with maybe an hour to spare, again!

"We would have never won without the journey," Thalia reminded, and she looked so miserable for having to remind him of all they'd had to go through to get there and everybody they'd lost for this fleeting win it didn't sound like much of a victory at all.

Percy slammed back into his seat and looked pretty annoyed Annabeth had suffered for days longer than she'd had to if just one god had told him where to look! Thalia wasn't wrong though, and that made him more mad than anything.

How's that for speedy, boss? Blackjack bragged. We get extra hay for breakfast or what?

"Hay with no frosting," but the quirk of Percy's lips promised he was just grumpy, he'd still sneak a whole box of donuts in.

"You're the man, Blackjack," I told him. "Er, the horse, I mean."

"You don't believe me about Luke," Annabeth said, "but we'll see him again. He's in trouble, Percy. He's under Kronos's spell."

"That he summoned," Percy said through gritted teeth. Annabeth had never seemed to hear that part, and he'd never liked sitting around arguing with her about it. It still stung though, a lot. She'd saved Luke's life and he'd laughed at her and walked away, leaving her to die under the sky! She'd saved his life and he'd rescued her! They weren't comparable! 

I didn't feel like arguing, though it made me mad. How could she still have any feelings for that creep? How could she possibly make excuses for him? He deserved that fall. He deserved... okay, I'll say it. He deserved to die. Unlike Bianca. Unlike Zoe. Luke couldn't be alive. It wouldn't be fair.

"Fair," Nico echoed with a wet scoff. "What is fair?"

Percy gave him a sad, commiserating smile, and Nico smiled back. He looked away first too. He was tired of waiting for Percy to give him more than that.

"There it is." Thalia's voice; she'd woken up. She was pointing toward Manhattan, which was quickly zooming into view. "It's started."

"What's started?" I asked.

Then I looked where she was pointing. High above the Empire State Building, Olympus was its own island of light, a floating mountain ablaze with torches and braziers, white marble palaces gleaming in the early morning air.

"The winter solstice," Thalia said. "The Council of the Gods."

Nico exhaled in relief and passed the book to Will without a second thought, so he was still surprised to feel a warm brush against his skin when their fingers overlapped for just the briefest second before the purple spine exchanged.

Nico studied his fingers curiously for a moment before trying to catch Will's eye, who was acting like nothing happened as he flipped to the next chapter. Maybe it wasn't Will constantly trying to heal him? Maybe Nico had just forgotten what a human touch felt like after to long and he was still getting used to it?

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 10: I SCOOP POOP

"Whoever said hard work builds character is built out of shit," Alex scowled as he read the new chapter title.

"Thank you," Percy said in surprise. "I was immediately thinking I was going to hear five different cracks about cleaning up my room."

"Your worst smelly socks never got that bad," Thalia said in mock hurt he would say such a thing.

"You're a turd blossom. There, that what you wanted?" Jason grinned.

"And I'm back to loathing these more every minute," Percy sighed.

I lost hope when I saw the horses' teeth.

"It wasn't the smell, it wasn't the time limit," Magnus agreed. "It was canines in the horse mouth, and frankly, I cannot blame you."

"There's some nightmare fuel I'd be willing to make," Alex snickered.

As I got closer to the fence, I held my shirt over my nose to block the smell. One stallion waded through the muck and whinnied angrily at me. He bared his teeth, which were pointed like a bear's.

I tried to talk to him in my mind. I can do that with most horses.

Hi, I told him. I'm going to clean your stables. Won't that be great?

Yes! The horse said. Come inside! Eat you! Tasty half-blood!

But I'm Poseidon's son, I protested. He created horses.

Usually this gets me VIP treatment in the equestrian world, but not this time.

"I'm sure you needed that humbling moment at least," Nico chuckled.

Yes! The horse agreed enthusiastically. Poseidon can come in, too! We will eat you both! Seafood!

"I think you should summon Poseidon there Percy," Thalia agreed sadly. "He'd make everything in a twelve mile radius vanish to the bottom of the ocean just for implying that."

"Not the outcome I'm particularly hoping for," Percy sighed.

Seafood! The other horses chimed in as they waded through the field.

Flies were buzzing everywhere, and the heat of the day didn't make the smell any better. I'd had some idea that I could do this challenge, because I remembered how Hercules had done it. He'd channeled a river into the stables and cleaned them out that way. I figured I could maybe control the water.

"Of course the part where Hercules didn't get eaten by the flesh eating horses is the part you forgot," Jason frowned.

"I just don't think they could have," Percy shrugged. Considering every monster he'd ever faced, he was pretty sure the guy was near invulnerable.

But if I couldn't get close to the horses without getting eaten, that was a problem. And the river was downhill from the stables, a lot farther away than I'd realized, almost half a mile. The problem of the poop looked a lot bigger up close. I picked up a rusted shovel and experimentally scooped some away from the fence line. Great. Only four billion shovelfuls to go.

The sun was already sinking. I had a few hours at best. I decided the river was my only hope. At least it would be easier to think at the riverside than it was here. I set off downhill.

"Can you summon a horse made of water and have it stampede through the place to wash everything?" Alex asked critically.

"I do not think so," Percy said, though not for lack of wanting to.

When I got to the river, I found a girl waiting for me. She was wearing jeans and a green T-shirt and her long brown hair was braided with river grass. She had a stern look on her face. Her arms were crossed.

"You haven't even met her yet and she's pissed at you," Jason began to clap slowly. "That's a new record Percy!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just full of those today," Percy groaned.

"Oh no you don't," she said.

I stared at her. "Are you a naiad?"

"I really didn't think she was the farmers daughter," Will snorted.

"Not chesty enough," Percy smirked. "Ouch!"

"Come on Percy, you should know better," Will shook his head as Thalia pulled out her knife next to smack him with.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course!"

"But you speak English. And you're out of the water."

"What, you don't think we can act human if we want to?"

"Note to self," Magnus promised. It was actually really beautiful, the more he thought about it, something his mother would have been delighted over. That everything in nature had a spirit, a life force, a name. He still remembered their long hikes and taking stops at spots just like this river, and it was an exhilarating moment to know he might go back there someday with a Greek kid to ask a naiad if they remembered Natalie Chase.

I'd never thought about it. I kind of felt stupid, though, because I'd seen plenty of naiads at camp, and they'd never done much more than giggle and wave at me from the bottom of the canoe lake.

"Once again, you're not stupid for not realizing something nobody explained to you," Thalia said robustly. "You never knew better before this point, and frankly, it's not something you figure out until it's bad news." She already had a bad feeling where this was going, and that time limit felt really pressing. Annabeth had told her what Percy had said he'd done, but she still felt anxious until it got to that point.

"Look," I said. "I just came to ask—"

"I know who you are," she said. "And I know what you want. And the answer is no! I'm not going to have my river used again to clean that filthy stable."

"Again?" Magnus asked with a kind of awe that had eluded him up to this point. "Wow," he couldn't imagine time stretching back that far, to when Hercules had done it first. Everything that had changed since, everywhere on the planet that wasn't changed like this river. It really pressed in like nothing before how timeless this world was.

Percy couldn't exactly share in his moment. All he'd heard was the word no, and all his friends were in danger.

"But—"

"Oh, save it, sea boy.

"I really should start calling you Seabiscuit," Thalia chuckled.

"Or Ponyboy," Alex tacked in.

Percy felt like he vaguely recognized both and rolled his eyes without care for whatever they were anyways.

You ocean-god types always think you're soooo much more important than some little river, don't you? Well let me tell you, this naiad is not going to be pushed around just because your daddy is Poseidon.

"Percy's never pushed anyone around," Will frowned, entirely hurt on Percy's behalf. "I'm sorry she's had bad experiences with other kids of Poseidon in the past, and that she's taking it out on you."

"Yeah," Percy agreed in a hollow kind of voice. This was going as bad as it possibly could, and he was starting to get a sick feeling the sea couldn't cure what the results might have been.

This is freshwater territory, mister. The last guy who asked me this favor—oh, he was way better-looking than you, by the way—he convinced me, and that was the worst mistake I've ever made! Do you have any idea what all that horse manure does to my ecosystem? Do I look like a sewage treatment plant to you? My fish will die. I'll never get the much out of my plants. I'll be sick for years. NO THANK YOU!"

"I bet Hercules didn't even apologize," Thalia sneered as she put a gentle hand on Percy's shoulder.

"Yeah," Percy said again, but it wasn't making him feel any better this time to realize that he might not be able to save his friends because he wasn't a jerk.

The way she talked reminded me of my mortal friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare—kind of like she was punching me with words. I couldn't blame the naiad. Now that I thought about it, I'd be pretty mad if somebody dumped four million pounds of manure in my home. But still...

"I'm, um, guessing that much fertilizer isn't good for the environment," Magnus said unhelpfully.

"That is nature taking way to much into its course, which is never a good thing," Thalia agreed.

"My friends are in danger," I told her.

"Well, that's too bad! But it's not my problem. And you're not going to ruin my river."

"What do you even say to that?" Alex asked, answering his own question. There wasn't much Percy could do.

She looked like she was ready for a fight. Her fists were balled, but I thought I heard a little quiver in her voice. Suddenly I realized that despite her angry attitude, she was afraid of me. She probably thought I was going to fight her for control of the river, and she was worried she would lose.

Nico couldn't imagine many other half bloods in the same situation even stopping to realize the same thing. It was moments like this where he could still look at Percy and feel safe in knowing he was a hero, even if he wasn't infallible.

The thought made me sad. I felt like a bully, a son of Poseidon throwing his weight around.

I sat down on a tree stump. "Okay, you win."

"Any other person," Alex shook his head, "and I do mean any, other, person, I would have suspected of setting up some sort of trickery. Hell, maybe even you under other circumstances. I still remember how great of a water bed sales man you are." This naiad wasn't a monster though, and even if it took another four thousand years for her ecosystem to go back to normal with no permanent damage, it was a day longer than Percy was ever going to be willing to put her through.

The naiad looked surprised. "Really?"

"I'm not going to fight you. It's your river."

She relaxed her shoulders. "Oh. Oh, good. I mean—good thing for you!"

"Just admit it, she really had you on the ropes Percy," Jason grinned faintly just because he had faith it all worked out. Percy looked glum now because inspiration of a brilliant new way hadn't struck yet, he was sure of it, as chaotic a mastermind as he could be.

"It's a secret that should never leave this room," Percy managed a laugh, only proving Jason's assumption.

"But my friends and I are going to get sold to the Titans if I don't clean those stables by sunset. And I don't know how."

The river gurgled along cheerfully. A snake slid through the water and ducked its head under.

Will grimaced and was very grateful that wasn't some secret god about to pop up and help, he wouldn't have trusted it.

Finally the naiad sighed.

"I'll tell you a secret, son of the sea god. Scoop up some dirt."

"Is she going to have you build her a sandcastle to make up for this debacle?" Magnus grinned.

"That would be a fair trade," Percy said with a blank look. He hoped she wasn't about to tell him to shove it or something.

"What?"

"You heard me."

I crouched down and scooped up a handful of Texas dirt. It was dry and black and spotted with tiny clumps of white rock...No, something besides rock.

"Those are shells," the naiad said. "Petrified seashells. Millions of years ago, even before the time of the gods, when only Gaea and Ouranos reigned, this land was under the water. It was part of the sea."

"If she's going to punish me with a history lesson I'll take back the sandcastle," Percy's frown intensified where on earth she was going with this.

"Don't underestimate the past Percy, I'd have thought you learned that by now," Nico said with a raised brow. He'd heard through the walls that night, Percy explaining to Annabeth how he'd solved this problem and it was the naiad's idea. He'd been so exhausted by that point it had been like falling asleep listening to Percy telling him a story, what he'd been longing for weeks on end alone in that labyrinth. For the blurriest moment between sleep and nightmares, he'd swear he even felt a warm brush as if Percy had been there next to him.

His crush was gone, more or less, of that he was sure now. He didn't really want Percy's attention or affection anymore. Percy was an awakening of a part of him he still didn't particularly like.

It was so different hearing it played back in an actual memory, no grandiose exclamations and feats of power as he literally pulled the ocean up. Just a small, quiet moment with a little river spirit helping him solve a problem that Nico was beginning to appreciate more and more, to help Percy feel like a grounded, real person.

Suddenly I saw what she meant. There were little pieces of ancient sea urchins in my hand, mollusk shells. Even the limestone rocks had impressions of seashells embedded in them.

"That is very cool," Magnus admitted. When you slept on dirt to much, you began to lose interest in it pretty quickly. Now he might scoop up a handful at the park next time and hope there wasn't just dog crap around.

"Nature is beautiful," Alex agreed with a secretive smile. The way everything blended together to coexist had always fascinated him. His first ever time playing with his future materials had been trying to make a snake.

His dad had of course thrown it away, but he still treasured the memory of that silly putty looking thing, all the messy, bulgy, ill-conceived proportions of it as he rubbed at his tattoo now.

"Okay," I said. "What good does that do me?"

"You're not so different from me, demigod. Even when I'm out of the water, the water is within me. It is my life source." She stepped back, put her feet in the river, and smiled. "I hope you find a way to rescue your friends."

And with that she turned to liquid and melted into the river.

"If she was trying to give you inspiration, I think she needed to hit you with a bigger lightbulb," Will grinned faintly.

"I'm sorry I can't go around and be his generator," Thalia chuckled.

"I'm going to tie you two together and laugh as everybody at Camp pulls sparklers out of your ears," Percy rolled his eyes.

"I bet I could shake some pixie dust out of them too, and I do mean the kind that'll make me achieve flight," Alex tagged in.

The sun was touching the hills when I got back to the stables. Somebody must've come by and fed the horses, because they were tearing into huge animal carcasses.

Percy felt a quiver of anxiety hum through him. If Eurytion had dragged Grover along to do this as some extra form of punishment and he'd seemingly vanished, if Grover had been trying to send him some kind of helpful message through his empathy link and he'd been to anxious to even notice. Grover knew he'd never abandon him, but it still made him even twitcher to not have gotten that chance to see him.

I couldn't tell what kind of animal, and I really didn't want to know. If it was possible for the stables to get more disgusting, fifty horses tearing into raw meat did it.

"I'm pretty confident someone did that just for that extra kick in your ass right now, with spurs," Will agreed to Percy's troubled frown somehow growing the more words were said.

"Well I'm nobody's prized pony," Percy tried to turn it into a scowl, tried to make it seem like he was being challenged and he'd come out on top.

He'd felt the heat simmering down though, the sun felt like it was moving in fast forward to mock him how little time he had left to figure this out. It was nowhere near the beautiful painting of the endless Texas beauty he'd always heard about and would be quite grateful to never see again after this day.

Seafood! one thought when he saw me.

"It's not a bad nickname for you," Alex said fairly. "You are on a seafood diet."

Percy rolled his eyes hard. "That joke is for seven-year-olds Alex, do better!"

Alex nodded seriously, as if taking that to heart.

Come in! We're still hungry!

"This is what happens when half your diet is desserts Percy," Thalia glibly reminded. "People start mistaking you for a cupcake."

"They're horses Thalia, I warned you in the last book they're not all that bright," Percy scoffed.

What was I supposed to do? I couldn't use the river. And the fact that this place had been under water a million years ago didn't exactly help me now. I looked at the little calcified seashell in my palm, then at the huge mountain of dung.

Frustrated, I threw the shell into the poop. I was about to turn my back on the horses when I heard a sound.

PFFFFFFT! Like a balloon with a leak.

"That's what it sounds like when Percy gets an idea," Jason said in surprise, and Percy frowned if his knee-jerk reaction to something happening was mocking him. He'd been spending to much time around Thalia.

I looked down where I had thrown the shell. A tiny spout of water was shooting out of the muck.

"No way," Magnus said in a daze. How many different ways could this one kid continue breaking the laws of the universe?

"No way," I muttered.

"That's two, anyone going for three," Will flashed his fingers around like a hopeful salesman.

"Magnus is the only one still gullible enough to not instantly know better," Alex shrugged.

Hesitantly, I stepped toward the fence. "Get bigger," I told the waterspout.

SPOOOOOOOSH!

"No way! And it's voice command!" Jason burst out laughing, but it also sounded a tad terrified. Maybe he was now worried Percy was going to make a geyser come out of him next time he annoyed Percy.

They were all to busy laughing at Jason to manage anything back.

Water shot three feet into the air and kept bubbling. It was impossible, but there it was. A couple of horses came over to check it out. One put his mouth to the spring and recoiled.

Yuck! he said. Salty!

"You would do so great at kid's parties," Alex was starting to snicker a little to hard to be intelligible. "Charge by the spout, add some rainbow colors to this fountain!"

It was seawater in the middle of a Texas ranch. I scooped up another handful of dirt and picked out the shell fossils. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I ran around the length of the stable, throwing shells into the dung piles. Everywhere a shell hit, a saltwater spring erupted.

Stop! The horses cried. Meat is good! Baths are bad!

There were tears coming out of Will's face, and Magnus was laughing so hard he didn't seem likely to stop any time soon.

"If you can't get to the toilet, bring the toilet to you," Thalia managed through near hysterics.

"I hate you all," but Percy couldn't even pretend to say that like he meant it as he watched Nico hold his sides. He'd wanted that kid to have more fun in his life and was more than happy to deliver it himself. He wasn't denying himself how funny this situation was trying to describe it like this. Ocean front property in Texas wasn't even a strange statement compared to everything else he'd done so far.

Then I noticed the water wasn't running out of the stables or flowing downhill like water normally would. It simply bubbled around each spring and sank into the ground, taking the dung with it. The horse poop dissolved in the saltwater, leaving regular old wet dirt.

"More!" I yelled.

There was a tugging sensation in my gut, and the waterspouts exploded like the world's largest carwash. Salt water shot twenty feet into the air. The horses went crazy, running back and forth as the geysers sprayed them from all directions. Mountains of poop began to melt like ice.

The tugging sensation became more intense, painful even, but there was something exhilarating about seeing all that salt water. I had made this. I had brought the ocean to this hillside.

Stop, lord! a horse cried. Stop, please!

Water was sloshing everywhere now. The horses were drenched, and some were panicking and slipping in the mud. The poop was completely gone, tons of it just dissolved into the earth, and the water was now starting to pool, trickling out of the stable, making a hundred little streams down toward the river.

"Stop," I told the water.

Nothing happened.

Somebody might have slammed on the brakes in a clown car. Some hiccupping and giggles still spurted the room, but the humor died off fast as Percy rubbed low on his stomach, looking a little clammy around the edges. He'd never pushed his powers this far before. Percy had already proved multiple times in this room he didn't have complete control, and none of them wanted to hear about these horses getting hurt the first time he found that out.

The pain in my gut was building. If I didn't shut off the geysers soon, the salt water would run into the river and poison the fish and plants.

"Between Grover and that naiad, we will turn you into an environmentalist yet," Thalia said from her cushy spot beside him without a second of concern he'd manage it.

Percy smiled in surprise at her instant faith he'd get it though. No jokes he'd needed Annabeth to hold his hand, no teasing he'd need someone else to come along to turn off his spout. Despite all their near-constant teasing, Percy never failed to smile along nobody in here actively thought him dumb even in instances where he wouldn't have blamed them thinking the worst.

"Stop!" I concentrated all my might on shutting off the force of the sea.

Suddenly the geysers shut down. I collapsed to my knees, exhausted.

"I'm guessing you don't consider that a rejuvenating bath," Jason offered.

"I didn't get offered a seaweed scrub and hot wax," Percy said like he had any clue what either of those were.

In front of me was a shiny clean horse stable, a field of wet salty mud, and fifty horses that had been scoured so thoroughly their coats gleamed. Even the meat scraps between their teeth had been washed out.

"Now if only you could do that to your room," Will snorted. "You might actually win the cabin inspection one day."

"Is the prize a flesh-eating horse? Because that's the only win I'd care about," Percy chuckled along.

We won't eat you! the horses wailed. Please, lord!, no more salty baths!

"All purpose wash," Alex said with an inspired snap to his fingers. "Put literally anything through there, it comes out clean."

"I bet people who needed to give their cats a bath would pay big," Magnus agreed, "though you should work on the settings."

"I'll get right on that if my high-school education doesn't work out," Percy said not entirely sarcastically. He didn't have a lot of faith in getting a diploma anyways, let alone living that long.

"On one condition," I said. "You only eat the food your handlers give you from now on. Not people. Or I'll be back with more seashells!"

The horses whinnied and made me a whole lot of promises that they would be good flesh-eating horses from now on,

Alex still paused for a moment to appreciate the look on Magnus' face at that sentence existing in any context. He hoped this wouldn't dampen Magnus's enjoyment of feeding them apples in the future.

but I didn't stick around to chat. The sun was going down. I turned and ran full speed toward the ranch house.

Nobody was really surprised he'd gotten up from a new, painful level of power exposure and probably drained himself to the bone pouring out all that energy into this, and then ran flat off into the sunset. And it wasn't even for food. All he was missing was the horse and cowboy hat to be the picturesque hero on that ranch to challenge someone to a draw at sundown.

I smelled barbecue before I reached the house, and that made me madder than ever, because I really love barbecue.

"I hope Geryon can grow his limbs back, because Percy's going to be tearing them off," Alex said with confidence.

"I hope he at least provided a vegetarian option for Grover, for the victory feast," Magnus nodded.

"I, um, wouldn't hold my breath," Will winced. Geryon was the worst example of southern hospitality.

The deck was set up for a party. Streamers and balloons decorated the railing. Geryon was flipping burgers on a huge barbecue cooker made from an oil drum.

"Grover's probably having some awful flashbacks to Polyphemus," Jason frowned.

"I never thought about that," Magnus agreed in horror. "Gods, what did he eat there?"

"Well I sure didn't ask him," Percy winced.

Eurytion lounged at a picnic table, picking his fingernails with a knife. The two-headed dog sniffed the ribs and burgers that were frying on the grill. And then I saw my friends: Tyson, Grover, Annabeth, and Nico all tossed in a corner, tied up like rodeo animals, with their ankles and wrists roped together and their mouths gagged.

Percy, Thalia, and Will blanched a special color in unison at having to experience the thrill of hearing them so vulnerable and uncomfortable and tortured in this particular way.

"What kind of cows do they have on that farm again?" Magnus asked in concern. "Do practicing on cherry red immortal bovines make them strong enough to even truss Tyson up?" He was probably overestimating Tyson's strength, but it still blew his mind there wasn't a dent anywhere in sight. He was now imagining the poor guy running and getting caught in a lasso.

"Orthus stayed on Annabeth's throat while Eurytion came around and tied us all up," Nico reminded. They'd started with him, or he would have run. That thought gave him a sickening feeling to remember what a horrible brat he'd been back then, only caring about himself.

"Let them go!" I yelled, still out of breath from running up the steps. "I cleaned the stables!"

Geryon turned. He wore an apron on each chest, with one word on each, so together they spelled out: KISS—THE—CHEF.

"I will not," Alex said in disgust.

"How do you think he ties the middle one? How weirdly long are his arms?" Percy asked. They'd looked vaguely proportional enough they shouldn't anyways.

"Eurytion came over and tied it for him," Nico shrugged.

"Huh," Percy said in appreciation.

"Did you, now? How'd you manage it?"

I was pretty impatient, but I told him.

He nodded appreciatively. "Very ingenious. It would've been better if you'd poisoned that pesky naiad, but no matter."

"You really told him everything?" Jason looked at him in disappointment. "You should have lied, just told him you came up with the idea to throw the shells in. I don't know if he can do anything to that naiad, but it would have been better to leave her out of it."

"We've all established I'm not an impulsive liar," Percy groaned, "I wouldn't say I'm better under pressure!"

"Well, thankfully he's going to die, so it won't be an immediate problem," Jason shrugged, but he worried what was going to happen to all those animals all of a sudden once these two were dispatched. Maybe a call to the Hunters and Thalia would show up.

"Let my friends go," I said. "We had a deal."

"Ah, I've been thinking about that. The problem is, if I let them go, I don't get paid."

"You promised!"

Geryon made a tsk-tsk noise. "But did you make me swear on the River Styx? No you didn't. So it's not binding. When you're conducting business, sonny, you should always get a binding oath."

"Next time you should shake on it," Alex sighed. "Then he might think twice about double-crossing you."

"Yeah, yeah, lesson learned," Percy's face was twitching into that steady, concentrated look of a fight about to break out. It took effort for him to close his green eyes and open them again, take a breath and remind himself not to start throwing geysers around in here.

I drew my sword. Orthus growled. One head leaned down next to Grover's ear and bared its fangs.

There was a collective flinch around the room, one that helped Percy ease more into relaxing. Like Briares switching faces, he looked like a completely different person as he smiled at all these people who cared if Grover got a scratch on him.

"Eurytion," Geryon said, "the boy is starting to annoy me. Kill him."

Eurytion studied me. I didn't like my odds against him and that huge club.

"And the dog," Magnus added with dread.

Percy braced himself, then tried to scold himself, forcing his hand to loosen around Riptide in preparation.

"Kill him yourself," Eurytion said.

"Yes!" Jason yelped. "I called it!"

"I have no idea how I did that!" Percy shouted just as loud in delirious delight.

Thalia started laughing hard at these two, not least because she knew Percy was serious. He just had that effect on the right kind of people, someone to be followed. She, ironically, had to work for that and wasn't particularly fond of it.

Geryon raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Eurytion grumbled. "You keep sending me out to do your dirty work. You pick fights for no good reason, and I'm getting tired of dying for you. You want to fight the kid, do it yourself."

"His absolute confidence he would die from fighting you though," Will told him in admiration. "I don't know if it's your record proceeding you or he's actually a shit fighter."

"I'm still trying to figure out how Ares claimed him?" Percy said, completely unphased by the blatant flattery. "If a god adopts you, do they go on the birth certificate?"

Thalia flicked his ear and called him an idiot while Alex read on somehow even more eagerly. One of the fighters was out, but that just meant Geryon had to get his hands dirty which apparently didn't happen very often, so this should be, interesting to see how he used that extra body to his advantage.

It was the most un-Ares like thing I'd ever heard son of Ares say.

"He should come back to camp," Will grinned, "or we could have a summer program down there!"

"If you try to put me on a horse, you are responsible for the results," Nico said with a wounded frown, all for this fight dragging out for the next hundred pages. He was not going to be happy with what came after, and considered it a blessing this had already gone on as long as it had.

"I'll patch every bruise," Will promised at once. "It won't even be that bad, I promise!"

For some reason, Nico believed him. Will would have the ability none before had to make an animal like him.

Geryon threw down his spatula. "You dare defy me? I should fire you right now!"

"And who'd take care of your cattle? Orthus, heel."

"This is so much better than the cliché you can't fire me, I quit line," Magnus grinned. "This man's clearly the useful one around there."

Will started humming the lyrics to Friends in Low Places and Magnus laughed hard in surprise, his mom had loved that one.

The dog immediately stopped growling at Grover and came to sit by the cowherd's feet.

"Fine!" Geryon snarled. "I'll deal with you later, after the boy is dead!"

He picked up two carving knives and threw them at me. I deflected one with my sword. The other impaled itself in the picnic table an inch from Eurytion's hand.

"Child's play," Percy scoffed, brushing his hair out of his eyes to keep his twitching hands from drawing his sword.

"Don't get cocky," Thalia said, her voice not shaking, but still meaning every word. This had been a monster he quite possibly couldn't have defeated if things hadn't worked out exactly as they had. Annabeth had been pretty incredulous when she described it days later when all was said and done in the quest.

I went on the attack. Geryon parried my first strike with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at my face with a barbecue fork. I got inside his next thrust and stabbed him right through the middle chest.

"Smart," Alex grinned, letting his eyes fall away with near boredom for how easy that was. If those horses hadn't needed the bath so bad, he'd be complaining Percy should have just done that from the start. "I bet his organs are all weird and spread out, my money would be on the middle one too."

"Aghhh!" He crumpled to his knees. I waited for him to disintegrate, the way monsters usually do. But instead he just grimaced and started to stand up. The wound in his chef's apron started to heal.

"Nice try, sonny," he said. "Thing is, I have three hearts. The perfect backup system."

"Oh!" Alex sounded way to delighted Percy's mind was now racing in circles of how bad that was.

"How did you not bring any of those seashells with you?" Thalia demanded. "I can't imagine how useful those things could have kept being!"

"We really need to work on your strategies with that sword," Jason agreed with a frown. "You're a great dueler, but you need more tricks up your sleeve than the jab and dodge motions you've perfected." He was sure that panic on Percy's face meant that whatever happened next hadn't gone that great.

"That water jetpack idea is starting to sound like a good idea now, isn't it?" Nico chuckled.

Percy was ignoring them, his sole attention on Alex with his friends' lives still on the line. Just because Eurytion had sat out of this fight didn't mean he'd protect them while they were vulnerable, and he wouldn't put it past Geryon to put a sword at their throat to make him yield.

He tipped over the barbecue, and coals spilled everywhere. One landed next to Annabeth's face, and she let out a muffled scream. Tyson strained against his bonds, but even his strength wasn't enough to break them.

Percy's foot was starting to fidget uncontrollably, causing tremors on the floor and little spurts of water to pop up like underwater fountains in between the cracks. Tyson had been through enough already without having to deal with this! How was it fair he'd missed out on Annabeth calling him a seaweed brain twice for not getting to be here?!

I had to end this fight before my friends got hurt.

I jabbed Geryon in the left chest, but he only laughed. I stuck him in the right stomach. No good. I might as well have been sticking a sword in a teddy bear for all the reaction he showed.

"I bet you did stab your toys as a kid though," Alex chuckled.

Percy gave him a strange look, not wanting to admit he hadn't actively had many toys with Gabe around, and he'd cherished the few he had. He didn't blame Alex for thinking it though, he hadn't owned an article of clothing or a piece of paper he hadn't stabbed with a pencil until it was riddled.

Three hearts. The perfect backup system. Stabbing one at a time was no good....

I ran into the house.

"How long is a long sword?" Magnus asked.

"Not that long," Jason shook his head, and Percy was most likely untrained in it to boot.

"You mentioned tossing a javelin around once," Alex reminded. "Get any better practice at that with camp?"

"Not in the slightest," Percy sighed, his feet tapping out a pattern that was causing his little fountains to stop and start in a bizarre pattern like he was trying to send a secret message.

From Thalia's angle, it spelled Help.

"Coward!" he cried. "Come back and die right!"

"So the opposite of a coward is to run away and don't die," Will gave him a thumbs up. "Doing great work Perce!"

"I'm not taking advice from him on this," Percy scoffed, even if he didn't disagree.

The living room walls were decorated with a bunch of gruesome hunting trophies—stuffed deer and dragon heads, a gun case, a sword display, and a bow with a quiver.

"I swear you could point at ten people in Texas and one of them has a gun," Nico rolled his eyes.

"That's a hurtful stereotype," Will pouted. "You don't hear me making jokes about you eating nothing but pasta."

"Okay, okay, I take it back," Nico promised at once with a grin.

Geryon threw his barbecue fork, and it thudded into the wall right next to my head. He drew two swords from the wall display. "Your head's gonna go right there, Jackson! Next to the grizzly bear!"

"There's a compliment somewhere in there," Thalia nodded.

"I'd have preferred the dragon, I'd clash with the fur," Percy sniffed.

I had a crazy idea.

Jason mocked clicked a pen and loudly noted, "that's four for four."

Percy and Nico both winced though, last time that had happened Bianca had paid the price.

 I dropped Riptide and grabbed the bow off the wall.

"We have yet to hear you be in an archery class," Alex noted. "How is this going to go?"

"I clearly haven't shared the infamous story of Percy losing an arrow in the ocean," Will shook his head at his own lapse. "I should remind you all that is nowhere near the archery range by the way! This massive makara  actually came out to spit it back at him and hit the target."

"Thanks Will, here I thought you were nice and had just chosen to gloss over that moment," Percy groaned among the laughter.

I was the worst archery shot in the world. I couldn't hit the targets at camp, much less a bull's eye.

"You threw your sword at that Nemon Lion and hit his hind," Magnus reminded. "You clearly know the weight of that better than anything, couldn't you throw that?"

"I don't think I'd get enough weight behind it to manage this shot," Percy shrugged, though he wished he could have rather than going for a hail merry. He seemed calmer though, now that the solution was in sight, but for some reason the answer still eluded him of why he was even more stressed than when he'd been clueless how this was going to go. The geysers had stopped spelling out SOS anyways.

But I had no choice. I couldn't win this fight with a sword. I prayed to Artemis and Apollo, the twin archers, hoping they might take pity on me for once. Please, guys. Just one shot. Please.

"Artemis definitely owes you one," Alex agreed astutely, "and Apollo seemed to like you enough." He seemed pretty confident anyways this had worked out, and Percy tried to breathe easier it had. His anxious stomach should be settling.

I notched an arrow.

Geryon laughed. "You fool! One arrow is no better than one sword."

He raised his swords and charged. I dove sideways. Before he could turn, I shot my arrow into the side of his right chest. I heard THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, as the arrow passed clean through each of his chests and flew out his left side, embedding itself in the forehead of the grizzly bear trophy.

"Nobody tells me where to get hung," Percy puffed up his chest, only to oof as Thalia smacked him with an arrow. Only a tap, but pointy enough he deflated.

Geryon dropped his swords. He turned and stared at me. "You can't shoot. They told me you couldn't..."

Jason shivered with displeasure Kronos was still so well informed about the quest, and Percy's abilities in particular, when there was unequivocally no doubt any of them were betraying Percy. Juno had said they'd pass through the ranch too, hopefully this was just a unanimous stopping point for anybody in the labyrinth and Kronos and Luke had been banking on this.

His face turned a sickly shade of green. He collapsed to his knees and began crumbling into sand, until all that was left were three cooking aprons and an oversized pair of cowboy boots.

"I'd have preferred the hearts as trophies," Alex sniffed. "Oooh, deck of playing cards with monsters! He's the King of Hearts!"

"I, um, hope you get lots of orders Alex," Percy chuckled.

"Oh don't worry, you'll be in there," Alex promised. "You're the wild card who beats them all obviously."

Percy looked a tad terrified rather than flattered imagining himself in some of the outfits he'd seen on those cards.

I got my friends untied. Eurytion didn't try to stop me. Then I stoked up the barbecue and threw the food into the flames as a burnt offering for Artemis and Apollo.

"Guess it's for the best, I'm not sure I'd trust that monster not to make everything on that grill burnt anyways," Percy sighed for his empty stomach. He couldn't have eaten a single rib right now if he wanted to, he still felt like he was missing something about this experience. For the life of him though couldn't imagine what.

"Or, you know, cursed," Will reminded with a still grumpy frown. It was the only way he could imagine his dad had let this go on, anybody who ate that beef died a horrible death. Which also meant it wasn't the nicest offering.

"Thanks, guys," I said. "I owe you one."

The sky thundered in the distance, so I figured maybe the burgers smelled okay.

Jason side eyed Thalia with unease for that one though. Only Zeus had yet been mentioned to do that, and he didn't think he'd share the button with the two gods in thanks. Hopefully he was just being paranoid, what other reason was there? The gods had shown up plenty of times now for whatever motivation they had. Like Will had said, Apollo had probably been meaning to decimate this place for centuries and just kept forgetting and blew a favor Percy's way now.

"Yay for Percy!" Tyson said.

"Can we tie up this cowherd now?" Nico asked.

"Yeah!" Grover agreed. "And that dog almost killed me!"

"Can't even blame them for wanting revenge," Will sympathized. It took a much bigger person than Geryon to let grudges go after being trussed up, and he certainly wouldn't have minded Eurytion getting a taste of his own medicine, just not permanently for abstaining from the fight.

I looked at Eurytion, who still was sitting relaxed at the picnic table. Orthus had both his heads on the cowherd's knees.

"How long will it take Geryon to re-form?" I asked him.

Eurytion shrugged. "Hundred years? He's not one of those fast re-formers, thank the gods. You've done me a favor."

"Without much help in return," Percy rolled his eyes, but he sounded more exasperated than actually upset. It had all worked out at least. He just wasn't going to lightly forgive somebody sicking their dog on his friends even if they hadn't gone through with it.

"You said you'd died for him before," I remembered. "How?"

"I've worked for that creep for thousands of years. Started as a regular half-blood, but I chose immortality when my dad offered it. Worst mistake I ever made.

"Now there's something we don't hear every day," Magnus yelped. So far all of these gods had seemed more than happy to skip through everybody's life and remind anyone they pleased how powerful they were. Braries wasn't the first example of immortality being so great, but it was nice to hear flat out some people also just regretted it for some reason, like normal 'people' still existed in this godhood pantheon.

Now I'm stuck here at this ranch. I can't leave. I can't quit. I just tend the cows and fight Geryon's fights. We're kinda tied together."

"Urgh, never, ever take a reward from Ares," Jason said in disgust. "Even those somehow sound more awful than his curses!"

"You have learned an important lesson today my friend," Percy nodded along.

"Maybe you can change things," I said.

Eurytion narrowed his eyes. "How?"

"Be nice to the animals. Take care of them. Stop selling them for food. And stop dealing with the Titans."

Eurytion thought about that. "That'd be all right."

"I'm guessing whoever came along to pay made one to many smart ass remarks about his servitude there," Nico said hopefully. It had seemed like a suspicious, quick change to him, and he'd been mentally giving Percy one hell of a tirade in his head about his perfect, stupid way to see the best in everybody, and his stupid, perfect naivety to think this guy would keep his word after one day around him, and his perfect stupid smile.

"Get the animals on your side, and they'll help you. Once Geryon gets back, maybe he'll be working for you this time."

"Mmmm, karma," Alex smacked his lips in appreciation. "Beats the best barbeque."

"Only with the right sauce," Magnus chuckled.

Eurytion grinned. "Now, that I could live with."

"You won't try to stop us leaving?"

"Shoot, no."

Annabeth rubbed her bruised wrists. She was still looking at Eurytion suspiciously. "Your boss said somebody paid for our safe passage. Who?"

The cowherd shrugged. "Maybe he was just saying that to fool you."

"It's possible, but I can't imagine who would bother. I thought he was just flat lying too," Will admitted. Truth be told, Will had no more clue who would only pay for some kids to get through, that seemed to horrible. He glanced to Nico, who had no reaction to this, but didn't pester for details only because he knew it was best not to let Percy's mind simmer on that.

"What about the Titans?" I asked. "Did you Iris-message them about Nico yet?"

"Nope. Geryon was waiting until after the barbecue. They don't know about him."

"Looks like he did have some gentlemen in him," Thalia snickered. "Conducting business after dinner!"

"I don't think I'll be back for seconds," Percy huffed.

Nico was glaring at me. I wasn't sure what to do about him. I doubted he would agree to come with us. On the other hand, I couldn't just let him roam around on his own.

"I'm not your responsibility!" Nico sounded stiff, more like he was arguing with himself than Percy. "You didn't have to care about me any which way!"

"But I did," Percy frowned, trying to keep in mind to choose his words carefully, but it was his first ever go of that. "I do. And it's not just because of Bianca, you know that right?"

"I didn't hear you chasing after Chris Rodrigez to tell him what a bad idea it was to be on Luke's ship," Nico sneered. "You only care about me because you found out I could be the prophecy kid."

"That is not it!" Percy looked legitimately offended. "Okay, so, I got to know your sister and I care about what's best for you slightly more than him!" Percy threw his hands up in exasperation. "I didn't want anything bad to happen to Chris either, it's awful the maze turned him into putty! I'm down there trying to stop Kronos so this doesn't happen to any other kids, including you, who is currently right in front of me and I want to try and help!"

Nico wasn't sure if he was speaking past tense or literally right now, but regardless he found himself cowed. He checked his temper and knew he was still holding a grudge against Percy for Bianca, and he was supposed to be letting that go! He just didn't want to hear what was about to happen.

To hear the last thing Bianca ever said to him again, to have it shoved in his face like a freakshow on display how his sister thought he was a sad, pathetic child who would always need looking after.

The silence lingered, and Nico apparently wasn't going to protest at least that anymore. Percy was looking anxiously between Nico and Thalia, he even poked her shoulder and gestured to him like he wanted her to jump in. Thalia just pursed her lips, she had even less idea about this kids life than him and had no idea what to say to him either, and it would sound even worse coming from a Hunter she was sure.

Alex kept reading in a soft, gentle kind of voice, like he had a little to much practice talking to someone in a vulnerable situation.

"You could stay here until we're done with our quest," I told him. "It would be safe."

"Safe?" Nico said. "What do you care if I'm safe? You got my sister killed!"

Nico spread his hands in silent apology of his own he had nothing else he could say to that, no matter how much he wanted to. Whether Bianca had known going into that statue would be her demise or not, she'd known full well how dangerous it was and done it anyways.

Percy just gave him a silent nod. To keep apologizing back and forth was doing nobody any good.

"Nico," Annabeth said, "that wasn't Percy's fault.

"I'm trying to imagine her blaming anything on Percy anymore," Jason snorted. "The world could end and she'd pat you on the head and tell you it's okay."

"And yet she blames me when her book mysteriously goes missing and tears my cabin apart," Percy chuckled. "I swear someone put it under my bed as a prank!"

"Uhhu," Will rolled his eyes. "Don't ever let either of them have the remote, they'll debrain each other with it fighting who gets to hold it."

The soft laughter that encircled the room gave Nico a chance to breathe for just a moment. He would not make creepy shadow puppets and ghosts appear again. He would not drop the temperature to sub-zero level. He was getting a handle on this!

And Geryon wasn't lying about Kronos wanting to capture you. If he knew who you were, he'd do anything to get you on his side."

"I'm not on anyone's side. And I'm not afraid."

"You should be," Annabeth said. "Your sister wouldn't want—"

"If you cared for my sister, you'd help me bring her back!"

Percy fiddled with his beaded necklace, his stomach in knots. He did understand exactly what Nico wanted, he didn't need to remind Nico every quest he'd been on had been to bring someone back from certain death, just not the whole nine yards of the soul part.

"A soul for a soul?" I said.

"Yes!"

Magnus still wanted to ask about that, about less extreme options Nico had tried first that were just as dangerous to indulge. He couldn't stand the idea of hope being infused into a hopeless journey...but wasn't that exactly what Percy did every summer? What if it worked...

"But if you didn't want my soul—"

"I'm not explaining anything to you!" He blinked tears out of his eyes. "And I will bring her back."

"Bianca wouldn't want to be brought back," I said. "Not like that."

"You didn't know her!" he shouted. "How do you know what she'd want?"

Jason kept the thought to himself he would hope he never knew anyone who would want that. Someone so selfish to take someone else's life to bring their own back. Nico didn't need to hear that though, they all knew he'd just been lashing out, and it was just awkward and painful to listen to as he sat with his head bowed.

I stared at the flames in the barbecue pit. I thought about the line in Annabeth's prophecy: You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand. That had to be Minos, and I had to convince Nico not to listen to him. "Let's ask Bianca."

The sky seemed to grow darker all of a sudden.

"I've tried," Nico said miserably. "She won't answer."

"Try again. I've got a feeling she'll answer with me here."

"Why would she?"

"Because she's been sending me Iris-messages," I said, suddenly sure of it. "She's been trying to warn me what you're up to, so I can protect you."

Nico still felt the impact of that like someone had thrown him in the barbeque pit instead of the burgers. That Percy was right, and he wouldn't have listened to Bianca even if she'd told him to stop. That he had to have his hand held and walked through the idea what he was doing was wrong, or gods, he might have actually gone through with it. That idea haunted him more than Minos ever had.

Nico shook his head. "That's impossible."

"One way to find out. You said you're not afraid." I turned to Eurytion. "We're going to need a pit, like a grave. And food and drinks."

"Percy," Annabeth warned. "I don't think this is a good—"

"All right," Nico said. "I'll try."

Will had no idea how he was supposed to resist the urge to hug Nico and never let go as desperately sad as he must have been to agree to that. Nico blatantly hadn't trusted Percy and Annabeth right then and still went through with it. He'd been watching this whole time, and Nico didn't seem to be pushing his emotions down anymore, but that didn't mean the fact that he was clearly miserable and tired was leagues better because there was just nothing to be done about that as he sat uselessly in place.

Eurytion scratched his beard. "There's a hole dug out back for a septic tank. We could use that. Cyclops boy, fetch my ice chest from the kitchen. I hope the dead like root beer."

"Okay, we're about halfway done and I need lunch," Alex announced as he snapped the book shut.

"Because me messing with manure and the promise of more dead people really got your stomach rumbling huh?" Percy asked even as he stretched and wearily stood up.

"No finer culinary experience than trying something new," he agreed cheerfully, giving them all the worrisome notion of what Alex was going off to his room to try to do with a happy meal.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 8: TYSON LEADS A JAILBREAK

Jason squinted down at the new chapter title like there was Mist obscuring it. The words made less sense the longer he stared. "Tyson leads, Tyson leads a- Percy what the hell did you get him into?"

"Tyson leads a what?" Alex demanded, looking very close to strangling Jason already for even hinting at teasing him.

Thalia leaned over his shoulder to finish, "Tyson Leads a Jailbreak? Yeah, no, I'm on Jason's side, you're a bad influence on that kid. Do we need to have another custody battle?"

"Tyson beat up cows and Canadians just fine without me telling him to do so," Percy crossed his arms, he looked almost proud as he leveled a look at Thalia. "I'm sure whatever this is was a great moment in history, revolutionary, and my little brother is helping, erm, the masses not be oppressed anymore or something. And I will bribe a jury to keep him full-time Thalia!"

"Because that's the right way to win a kid," Will stage whispered while Nico snickered in surprise beside him.

Thalia and Percy began actually bickering who would be a better influence on him though, and Magnus looked on in concern for several moments. "I think I liked it better when Percy kept rolling his eyes and wanted to ignore the chapter titles," he admitted to Alex.

"Are you kidding? This is world class entertainment! If we play our cards right, we might start World War III right here!" Alex was definitely placing bets in his head.

Jason finally had to give an almighty throat clearing and a stern look at the pair. He was pretty good at that when he shut off those questions and actually tried to be serious, like he had experience getting wily kids together. "No offense Thalia, but I think Percy wins by default, Tyson's old enough to get a say and he's going to pick Percy."

Percy not-so-silently cheered. "Now, on with the show?"

"Fine," Thalia huffed, "but I still insist nature spirits don't count and Artemis would consider letting me train him."

"Get your own little brother," Percy smirked before sticking his tongue out at her.

Thalia smiled like a good sport as her secret little brother she hadn't told anybody about finally started reading and she fought back tears for everything she'd done wrong regarding him. She was starting to get worried if she kept this bottled up much longer she'd do something drastic, like try to bathe a cat just to get some kind of battle out of her system.

She knew she should tell Percy at least, he wouldn't bat an eye at the multitude of problems that would arise when he found out she planned on murdering a god for what they'd done, but she wanted to give her friend a chance to breathe first. Get his memories back, actually have a chance at some normalcy back at camp with Annabeth before he got into this while she figured out details, so until then, she'd wait.

The good news: the left tunnel was straight with no side exits, twists, or turns.

"I'd actually prefer it if there were though, if something big is chasing me," Magnus said skittishly. "If you're smaller, you can take the turns that'll slow whatever's chasing you down."

"But we could also look over our shoulder and be vaguely comforted we couldn't see it yet instead of thinking it's just behind that corner," Percy said in his attempt at a wise voice.

"Yeah, man, that's, that's not better than an actual good reason," Magnus frowned in concern how this guy was alive, as usual.

The bad news; it was a dead end.

"The kind of news that trumps any good news anyways," Thalia said in fair compensation, to which neither of them disagreed.

After sprinting a hundred yards, we ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked our path. Behind us, the sounds of dragging footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the corridor. Something—definitely not human—was on our tail.

"Tyson," I said, "can you—"

"Yes!" He slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the whole tunnel shook. Dust trickled from the stone ceiling.

"Hurry!" Grover said. "Don't bring the roof down, but hurry!"

"Grover's sure asking a lot of him right then," Alex pouted, "multitasking ain't that easy."

"And Tyson's not even ADHD," Percy agreed.

The boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. Tyson pushed it into a small room and we dashed through behind it.

"Close the entrance!" Annabeth said.

"Bossy, bossy," Alex huffed one more time.

"Someone's got to give the orders in those kinds of situations or everyone would run around in chaos," Jason reminded.

Alex was more of a deadly, solo, ninja assassin though if he'd ever stop wearing the brightest stinking colors, so nobody was surprised when he rolled his eyes at Jason.

We all got on the other side of the boulder and pushed.

"Teamwork makes the dream work though," Alex laughingly approved. "I knew you guys could move any problem if you just put enough brute force into it."

"If Alex suggests we just throw rocks at the next monster to kill it, I want you all as witnesses to prove it was justified to see I threw a rock at him first to prove why that wouldn't work," Percy chuckled.

Thalia flicked him in the forehead and fought off a laugh. "See, this is why Tyson should hang around me more, he gets all his violent ideas from you!"

"I resemble that remark," Percy agreed casually.

"I'm assuming he doesn't actually mean resent?" Magnus muttered.

"He does not," Alex agreed without concern.

Whatever was chasing us wailed in frustration as we heaved the rock back into placed and sealed the corridor.

"We trapped it," I said.

"Or trapped ourselves," Grover said.

I turned. We were in a twenty-foot-square cement room and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars. We'd tunneled straight into a cell.

Will let out a long, tragic whistle. "What in Hades did that mortal do to deserve getting a cell next to a literal hellish pit? Can you imagine that poor inmate lying awake at night, hearing any number of things through that wall, and yet being so desperate to escape and chance going in?"

"Or, on the flip side, monsters keep getting into just that cell to eat whoever's in there and going back to the labyrinth, so the prison just accepts that as the black hole cell and throws the ones in there they hope will vanish," Alex offered.

"Is it possible? Did Percy finally stumble across a place you're not going to try to vacation to?" Magnus asked him with a smidge of hope.

"Are you nuts? This is easily in the top five places I need to know every detail of!" Alex looked at him in hurt he'd assume otherwise.

"Yeah, should have seen that coming," Magnus sighed in resignation. The real question would be what would Alex get arrested for to get sent there.

"What in Hades?" Annabeth tugged on the bars. They didn't budge.

"Confirmed, Annabeth does not have super strength," Jason nodded to himself like he was compiling a mental list.

"Was that really something you were holding out for?" Percy asked with mild curiosity.

"Can't automatically disqualify it after she held the sky so long. I'm now marking that as strength of character," Jason shrugged.

Through the bars we could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard—at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.

"A prison," I said. "Maybe Tyson can break—"

"Shh," said Grover. "Listen."

"I would almost rather not, though," Magnus admitted. He'd had to imagine all the time what prison sounded like and wasn't looking for any more descriptors.

"It, uh, it wasn't," but Percy didn't know how to answer that, other than just saying it sounded very weird. Like someone was trying to speak with construction equipment.

Somewhere above us, deep sobbing echoed through the building. There was another sound, too—a raspy voice muttering something that I couldn't make out. The words were strange, like rocks in a tumbler.

"What's that language?" I whispered.

Tyson's eye widened. "Can't be."

"I never considered Tyson might know a second language and that's why he's so minimal in English," Alex said in fascination.

"Do monsters get their own language?" Magnus asked awkwardly. What the heck was going on? Were they even in a mortal prison, or had the labyrinth dumped them out in some hellish monster prison?

"As far as I know, it's a pretty universal kill Percy Jackson language," Percy shrugged, but the look of intense surprise on Tyson's face made him nowhere near downplaying something was up.

"What?" I asked.

He grabbed two bars on our cell door and bent them wide enough for even a Cyclops to slip through.

"So is Tyson jailbreaking himself? That's not something anybody can be upset about," Will was only mock confused, but the slight notes of dread in his voice weren't fake. He was not looking forward to Kampê being described in vivid detail. He still had nightmares about her.

"Wait!" Grover called.

But Tyson wasn't about to wait. We ran after him.

"No easy task I imagine," Jason mock saluted him.

"Yeah, he's weirdly fast, must be all that peanut butter," Percy agreed.

The prison was dark, only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.

"I don't think it's an active prison?" Magnus said in surprise. Surely somebody else would have been spotted by now. That just made it creepier though, now he was wondering when the vengeful spirits were going to show up. He still hadn't ruled out monsters were lurking about and the cells were just for show.

"I know this place," Annabeth told me. "This is Alcatraz."

"Fascinating," Alex yelped.

"Growing less surprised by the second the labyrinth dropped you off there," Nico muttered while fiddling with his figurine.

"You mean that island near San Francisco?"

She nodded. "My school took a field trip here. It's like a museum."

"What the hell do they sell in that gift shop?" Magnus spluttered.

"I swear if it's jumpsuits and space food I'll move in," Alex snickered.

It didn't seem possible that we could've popped out of the Labyrinth on the other side of the country,

"Like, seriously, where was this magic path the last two bloody times you needed it," Jason agreed with Percy's very put out look.

"I'm sure if we tried to take the exact same route we'd end up popping out in the South Poll," Percy grumbled at all of his luck.

but Annabeth had been living in San Francisco all year, keeping an eye on Mount Tamalpais just across the bay. She probably knew what she was talking about.

"I just assume that in general," Will nodded. "If she started babbling on about brain surgery or rocket science I'd take her at word."

Nico repressed the urge to gag that literally everybody but him was in love with this girl.

"Freeze," Grover warned.

But Tyson kept going. Grover grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all his strength.

"Did that cause a sequel of the flying shoes?" Thalia asked in concern and admiration at Grover trying so hard. He was all heart, a true protector, even with someone he wasn't fond of.

"He would have fallen if Tyson hadn't actually stopped to catch him," Percy agreed. "I think it would have been easier to pull on the anchor of a cruise ship, but that's Grover for you."

"Stop, Tyson!" he whispered. "Can't you see it?"

I looked where he was pointing, and my stomach did a somersault. On the second-floor balcony, across the courtyard, was a monster more horrible than anything I'd ever seen before.

"Which is really saying a lot when you've met, how many monsters now?" Magnus preemptively put his hand on his stomach to hold it in place for what he might be about to hear.

"Not even a fraction of all of them," Thalia shook her head in sorrow she couldn't promise this would get any better over time.

It was sort of like a centaur, with a woman's body from the waist up. But instead of a horse's lower body, it had the body of a dragon—at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. Her legs looked like they were tangled in vines, but then I realized they were sprouting snakes, hundreds of vipers darting around, constantly looking for something to bite. The woman's hair was also made of snakes, like Medusa's. Weirdest of all, around her waist, where the woman part met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed, occasionally producing the heads of animals—a vicious wolf, a bear, a lion, as if she were wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures. I got the feeling I was looking at something half formed, a monster so old it was from the beginning of time, before shapes had been fully defined.

"That is the coolest stinking thing I've ever heard of," Alex said slowly, clearly savoring each word.

"How, do you kill, that?" Magnus looked sickened such a thing like shapes even existed now.

"She's how I'd have imagined the mother of all monsters if you hadn't described Echidna already," Jason admitted. "A little bit of everything."

"You guys have no idea how lucky you are just to be hearing about this thing," Percy sighed. She was the kind of monster that made him fleetingly wonder if he was going to wet himself and not care if he'd feel that liquid.

Will's breath came out sharp, the sounds of screams and the smell of that poison and the looks of fright and pain still on faces covered in shrouds coming all to easily back to mind as he fought off a shiver. Nico placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, waiting to be shrugged off, or for Will to scream in fright at the death kid touching him right now.

To his surprise, the opposite happened. Will relaxed under his touch, one last shake of his head, and then he smiled at him. It was a small, tired one, but he mouthed thank you like he'd needed that moment to be grounded. Nico slowly drew his hand back all the same, examining it carefully to make sure he hadn't grabbed a skeleton hand by mistake just in case. Nope. There was that scar on the pad of his thumb from the first time he'd handled his sword. It had been real.

"It's her," Tyson whimpered.

"Get down!" Grover said.

We crouched in the shadows, but the monster wasn't paying us any attention. It seemed to be talking to someone inside a cell on the second floor. That's where the sobbing was coming from. The dragon woman said something in her weird rumbling language.

"What's she saying?" I muttered. "What's that language?"

"The tongue of the old times." Tyson shivered. "What Mother Earth spoke to Titans and...her other children. Before the gods."

"You understand it?" I asked. "Can you translate?"

Tyson closed his eyes and began to speak in a horrible, raspy woman's voice. "You will work for the master or suffer."

"Is Tyson a human translator? Cyclops translator?" Jason asked, always pleasantly surprised to find out more things no matter how persistent that nagging voice in his head was still saying all this time later this wasn't normal.

Percy was clearly puzzled by the question, obviously never having asked, so Nico offered, "as far as I know it ties into that whole voice mimicry they can do. If the person whose voice they plucked it from can speak it, so can they."

"That is so stinking cool!" Jason and Percy both cheered.

Annabeth shuddered. "I hate it when he does that."

Percy looked chagrined while Thalia gave him an understanding nod. Annabeth was allowed to be excused from thinking that was cool after what she'd been through, and Percy had a tendency to forget because Tyson was his daily Cyclops reminder instead of her nightmares.

Like all Cyclopes, Tyson had superhuman hearing and an uncanny ability to mimic voices. It was almost like he entered a trance when he spoke in other voices.

"I will not serve," Tyson said in a deep, wounded voice.

He switched to the monster's voice: "Then I shall enjoy your pain, Briares." Tyson faltered when he said that name. I'd never heard him break character when he was mimicking somebody, but he let out a strangled gulp.

Then he continued in the monster's voice. "If you thought your first imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment. Think on this until I return."

"You've only seen him do that once," Thalia gave him a bit of a judgmental eyebrow. "I'm actually quite pleased to know they can be shocked out of doing that trance." Much like Annabeth, she found that distasteful even being used on their side considering it had once been done to her.

"Who's Briares?" Jason cut into the uneasy silence that followed. "I, um, didn't realize Tyson had other friends besides you." A prison isn't the nicest place to have a sleepover, but it was even more awkward to realize Tyson might have been homeless before when there might have been some monster friend with plenty of space he could have been staying.

"I have no idea," Percy didn't sound to thrilled about the idea either. Prison break, the chapter title had promised, like Briares was stuck there and Tyson was going to help get him out. What the heck was a monster so old and powerful going to be like he needed help?

The dragon lady tromped toward the stairwell, vipers hissing around her legs like grass skirts. She spread wings that I hadn't noticed before—huge bat wings she kept folded against her dragon back. She leaped off the catwalk and soared across the courtyard. We crouched lower in the shadows.

A hot sulfurous wind blasted my face as the monster flew over. Then she disappeared around the corner.

"H-h-horrible," Grover said. "I've never smelled any monster that strong."

"Cyclopes' worst nightmare," Tyson murmured. "Kampê."

"Like a canopy?" Magnus was sure he'd heard wrong. "That sounds way to relaxing and nice to be translated right."

"I'm not making it up!" Jason promised.

"Who?" I asked.

Tyson swallowed. "Every Cyclops knows about her. Stories about her scare us when we're babies. She was our jailer in the bad years."

Percy frowned and swallowed a tight throat. He'd never asked about Tyson's mom, how long he'd been homeless before they found each other. Like with Annabeth, Percy worried it wasn't the best circumstances.

That bit also made him a tad grateful his mom never tried to give him bedtime stories, he was to restless a child. He vaguely recalled her singing her favorite songs to him instead, and wondered if he could get a recording sometime so Tyson could fall asleep listening to that instead of stories about the worst jailer of all time.

Annabeth nodded. "I remember now. When the Titans ruled, they imprisoned Gaea and Ouranos's earlier children—the Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires."

"Can they not just be called heck-spawn? That's so much easier to pronounce," Percy sighed.

"Oh come on Percy, it's not that bad after you learned in school how to pronounce deoxyribonucleic acid," Will said bracingly.

"And now you're putting way to much faith in my education," Percy scoffed.

"The Heka-what?" I asked.

"The Hundred-Handed Ones," she said. "They called them that because...well, they had a hundred hands.

"The Greeks really didn't go out of their way to get creative with these names huh?" Alex said tragically.

"I'm, um, not complaining. Better than calling them the toe-to-head devourers or something," Magnus was definitely not wrapping his head around that right though. Were all the hands going to sprout out of his arms? Was he going to be a giant hand made of hands? Did that mean they were all thumbs and clumsy?

They were elder brothers of the Cyclopes."

"Looks like Percy's got some competition!" Magnus chuckled.

"Bet I'll win!" Percy said at once.

"It's okay guys, Tyson can have all the big siblings he wants, no need to fuss," Thalia mock playacted just because she was really tired of this being discussed.

Percy opened his mouth, a challenge on his tongue Thalia was just trying to move on from this because she didn't think she'd win, but he really saw her. The exhaustion in her eyes, the way she held herself like they were discussing Luke. Something about Tyson was really bothering her right now, and like Annabeth, he did forget her bad experience with them. So he quickly waved Jason on, but he kept watching her, and noticed how she didn't quite seem to want to watch Jason either.

"Very powerful," Tyson said. "Wonderful! As tall as the sky. So strong they could break mountains!"

"Cool," I said. "Unless you're a mountain."

"Might be cool for the mountains," Alex grinned. "I quite admire monsters that can break me."

"Only you Alex," Percy told him without surprise.

"Kampê was the jailer," he said. "She worked for Kronos. She kept our brothers locked up in Tartarus, tortured them always, until Zeus came. He killed Kampê and freed Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed Ones to help fight against the Titans in the big war."

"And now Kampê is back," I said.

"Bad," Tyson summed up.

"I swear we could just plaster that as the chapter title and it would always be relevant," Nico muttered.

"So who's in that cell?" I asked. "You said a name—"

"Briares!" Tyson perked up. "He is a Hundred-Handed One. They are as tall as the sky and—"

"Yeah," I said. "They break mountains."

I looked up at the cells above us, wondering how something as tall as the sky could fit in a tiny cell, and why he was crying.

"Hopefully it's just a minor inconvenience, like his warden forgot to put a mint on his pillow," Jason said with an odd look at Percy. It seemed pretty obvious anybody would be crying to be in these circumstances. They were all holding it together by willpower and sarcasm.

"I guess we should check it out," Annabeth said, "before Kampê comes back."

"And that's why the child of wisdom is leading this charge," Alex snorted. "I'd rather wait until Kampê came back to do this properly!"

"You would," Nico said, never entirely sure how much Alex was kidding about that.

As we approached the cell, the weeping got louder.

"Do you expect noises to get quieter the closer you get to them?" Will asked in concern.

"I don't know, I've never tried being quiet at anything," Percy shrugged.

When I first saw the creature inside, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. He was human-size and his skin was very pale, the color of milk. He wore a loincloth like a big diaper. His feet seemed too big for his body, with cracked dirty toenails, eight toes on each foot. But the top half of his body was the weird part. He made Janus look downright normal. His chest sprouted more arms than I could count, in rows, all around his body. The arms looked like normal arms, but there were so many of them, all tangled together, that his chest looked kind of like a forkful of spaghetti somebody had twirled together. Several of his hands were covering his face as he sobbed.

"That guy, is very cool," Alex instantly decided.

"Helps he might not kill you upon first meeting you," Magnus agreed, though he was still reserving a scream for that in case they got double-crossed.

"Either the sky isn't as tall as it used to be," I muttered, "or he's short."

"Mist manipulation?" Jason offered awkwardly.

"Or he didn't get Ouranos's genes," Percy snorted.

Thalia rolled her eyes at the pair of them again, so at least that was still normal.

Tyson didn't pay any attention. He fell to his knees.

"Briares!" he called.

The sobbing stopped.

"Great Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson said. "Help us!"

Briars looked up. His face was long and sad, with a crooked nose and bad teeth. He had deep brown eyes—I mean completely brown with no whites or black pupils, like eyes formed out of clay.

Jason gave an impressed whistle.

"That's what impressed you?" Percy yelped. "You weren't even phased by the arms, but his eyes?"

"Eyes are the window to the soul Percy, and that just sounded cooler than spaghetti arms," he chuckled. His blue eyes flashed a familiar, cocky kind of way when he mocked him that nagged at Percy's mind for a moment.

"Run while you can, Cyclops," Briares said miserably. "I cannot even help myself."

"Yeah, why is that exactly?" Magnus stage whispered. "He doesn't exactly sound pinned down."

"Sometimes your head can be prison enough," Nico murmured sullenly. If Magnus hadn't seen his lips move, he wouldn't have been entirely sure he spoke at all. Magnus swallowed a sharp, bitter feeling on his tongue of understanding and didn't press farther.

"Sounds to me like he just needs a helping hand," Percy said casually and then even laughed at his own pun, so the others just rolled their eyes at him and moved on.

"You are a Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson insisted. "You can do anything!"

Briars wiped his nose with five or six hands. Several others were fidgeting with little pieces of metal and wood from a broken bed, the way Tyson always played with spare parts. It was amazing to watch. The hands seemed to have a mind of their own. They built a toy boat out of wood, then disassembled it just as fast. Other hands were scratching at the cement floor for no apparent reason. Others were playing rock, paper, scissors. A few others were making ducky and doggie shadow puppets against the wall.

"I feel like trying to watch him sign would give me a headache," Magnus seemed fascinated how he was able to function all of those fingers at once. He did good to walk and have a conversation without tripping.

"Like trying to listen to a song at mock ten speed, he'd just bang out everything at once," Alex agreed, but he sounded more impressed. He was probably imagining punching 98 people at once and giving himself a high-five.

"I cannot," Briares moaned. "Kampê is back! The Titans will rise and throw us back into Tartarus."

"Put on your brave face!" Tyson said.

Immediately Briares's face morphed into something else. Same brown eyes, but otherwise totally different features. He had an upturned nose, arched eyebrows, and a weird smile, like he was trying to act brave. But then his face turned back to what it had been before.

"Does every part of his body just go nuts?" Percy half laughed half asked. "Do his ears change out to bionics?"

Thalia smacked him on his ear to shush him.

"No good," he said. "My scared face keeps coming back."

"How did you do that?" I asked.

Annabeth elbowed me. "Don't be rude. The Hundred-Handed Ones all have fifty different faces."

"I don't think ignorance should be called rude," Will said fairly.

"It is if you ask to see all fifty faces at once," Alex said with a very disappointed face of his own he knew he shouldn't and yet very much wanted to.

"Must make it hard to get a yearbook picture," I said.

Thalia laughed against her will and agreed, "a face a mother doesn't have to love, she could just tell him to change it to another!" Then kept snickering at her own joke.

Percy sighed in relief, it was kind of depressing watching her try to be all responsible and lieutenant-y. He was already worried the Hunt was going to make her boring and stiff.

Tyson was still entranced. "It will be okay, Briares! We will help you! Can I have your autograph?"

"Does he have an autograph book?" Alex asked in surprise.

"I think we found his celebrity crush," Magnus grinned.

"My question is, can you get one of those on Alcatraz island? I'm still not sure what to expect in that gift shop," Will chuckled.

Briares sniffled. "Do you have one hundred pens?"

"I only keep up with one because it's magic!" Percy looked traumatized at the idea of collecting all of those.

"His hands move independently of each other though," Nico frowned at the odd question.

"Maybe each would want to write their own autograph," Will said, an odd bit of disappointment in his voice nobody got because he hadn't gotten an autograph when it was available.

"Guys," Grover interrupted. "We have to get out of here. Kampê will be back. She'll sense us sooner or later."

"Break the bars," Annabeth said.

"Yes!" Tyson said, smiling proudly. "Briares can do it. He is very strong. Stronger than Cyclopes, even!

"That's, pretty strong," Magnus agreed, but with a weary kind of frown. How much stronger than Tyson could you be without tipping the terrifying scales?

Alex was no more impressed, because if Briares could break out of there, then surely he would have by now.

Watch!"

Briares whimpered. A dozen of his hands started playing patty-cake, but none of them made any attempt to break the bars.

"This is just sad," Jason frowned. How long had this guy been a prisoner already?

Alex tangled up a few strands of hair in his fingers and gave a painful tug. The memory, the feeling of how hard it was to walk out a door wasn't something he'd had to think about in a few years, but then he'd been kicked out. He hadn't gone back in.

Hopefully, it wouldn't take Briares that to get such a forceful freedom.

"If he's so strong," I said, "why is he stuck in jail?"

Annabeth ribbed me again. "He's terrified," she whispered. "Kampê had imprisoned him in Tartarus for thousands of years. How would you feel?"

Percy couldn't imagine it. Even at his worst moments with smelly Gabe he'd had his mom, or being underground in that Labyrinth, he'd been with his friends. He'd been able to move, have a sense of freedom, know that he could leave if he'd ever wanted to even if it wasn't something he'd ever consider.

The Hundred-Handed One covered his face again.

"Briares?" Tyson asked. "What...what is wrong? Show us your great strength!"

"Tyson," Annabeth said, "I think you'd better break the bars."

Tyson's smile melted slowly.

"I will break the bars," he repeated. He grabbed the cell door and ripped it off its hinges like it was made of wet clay.

Alex made a noise of appreciation. He knew Tyson would enjoy doing that with him.

"Come on, Briares," Annabeth said. "Let's get you out of here."

She held out her hand. For a second, Briares's face morphed to a hopeful expression. Several of his arms reached out, but twice as many slapped them away.

"I've heard of people fighting with themselves, but geez, this is ridiculous," Thalia said with grudging admiration for how much control Briares must have over himself. He could defeat any enemy if she could find him twenty-five bows.

"I cannot," he said. "She will punish me."

"It's all right," Annabeth promised. "You fought the Titans before, and you won, remember?"

"I remember the war." Briares's face morphed again—furrowed brow and a pouting mouth. His brooding face, I guess.

"I think Briares is going to be a great influence on you," Jason said in a very unhelpful tone to Percy. "Maybe seeing someone actively change their face around will help you figure out what an angry face is."

"Fat chance it'll do any good," Percy scoffed.

"Lightning shook the world. We threw many rocks. The Titans and the monsters almost won. Now they are getting strong again. Kampê said so."

"Don't listen to her," I said. "Come on!"

He didn't move. I knew Grover was right. We didn't have much time before Kampê returned. But I couldn't just leave him here. Tyson would cry for weeks.

"Yeah, that's why you shouldn't just abandon someone," Will sighed while rubbing at his forehead.

"I think this is a great, helpful tool to learn," Nico grinned. "All we have to do to win any fight is tell Percy it'll make someone cry if we don't."

"We shall achieve this quest or it'll make us all cry!" Percy said in a triumphant tone, even hefting an invisible sword. Then he lowered it and gave them a spectacular eye roll. "Nah, doesn't have a good ring to it."

"One game of rock, paper, scissors," I blurted out. "If I win, you come with us. If I lose, we'll leave you in jail."

"That should have been the chapter title," Magnus busted out laughing in surprise. "I Win Rock, Paper, Scissors a Hundred Times."

"Thanks for the confidence," Percy grinned, though he suspected they were all going to call him a cheat.

Annabeth looked at me like I was crazy.

"There's a face he could never forget," Jason clearly wasn't going to let that joke go.

"It's my favorite one," Percy agreed fondly.

Briares's face morphed to doubtful. "I always win rock, paper, scissors."

"Why? Can he read hands better than Magnus?" Alex asked suspiciously.

"I'm not a palm reader," Magnus frowned.

"Shush, you know what I meant," Alex waved his fingers concerningly close to his nose, exposing the dried in clay still in the folds of his skin Magnus had shamelessly been watching when he thought he could get away with it.

"Then let's do it!" I pounded my fist in my palm three times.

Briares did the same with all one hundred hands, which sounded like an army marching three steps forward. He came up with a whole avalanche of rocks, a classroom set of scissors, and enough paper to make a fleet of airplanes.

"He cheated!" Will yelped. "He still has to only pick one!"

"Game sounds a tad more interesting though if you used both hands," Nico grinned. "Bit more of a strategy involved."

"This guy could play a whole game of chess by himself and not use half his hands," Will grudgingly agreed. "Somebody's got to make it a challenge."

"Then he came to the right place," Percy cracked his knuckles in delight.

"I told you," he said sadly. "I always—" His face morphed to confusion. "What is that you made?"

"A gun," I told him, showing him my finger gun. It was a trick Paul Blofis had pulled on me, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Percy, you cheated too," Will groaned in disappointment.

"And kids shouldn't play with guns, Paul is a terrible influence," Thalia rolled her eyes at Will to make him hear how ridiculous he was being.

He opened his mouth, then shut it again. What was he supposed to say? He should have used a sword instead?

"A gun beats anything."

"That's not fair."

"I didn't say anything about fair. Kampê's not going to be fair if we hang around. She's going to blame you for ripping off the bars. Now come on!"

"You're being a manipulative little shit," Thalia said approvingly. "You don't get enough credit for being able to do that."

"Annabeth gets all the good credit, I'm just the sidekick," Percy reminded cheerfully.

Briares sniffled. "Demigods are cheaters." But he slowly rose to his feet and followed us out of the cell.

"Not a great lesson I'd want to instill in him," Magnus said uneasily. The last thing Percy needed was this guy as a powerful enemy, and making all future generations of demigods his enemy.

"I saved his life, he can call me a sore loser and a poopoo head too if he and Tyson want to hide under a blanket and laugh about me," Percy shrugged.

I started to feel hopeful.

"And then all hell broke lose," Jason said with such calm confidence, nobody even realized that hadn't been in the book.

All we had to do was get downstairs and find the Labyrinth entrance. But then Tyson froze.

On the ground floor right below, Kampê was snarling at us.

"Is run the right word there?" Magnus tried hard not to whimper.

"Better than freeze?" Alex shrugged.

Percy was making a strangled kind of noise that wasn't a word at all, his eyes large enough he resembled a deep sea fish.

"The other way," I said.

"Unless Tyson wants her autograph too, then you might stop," Thalia shivered.

"Nope, sorry, I'd have to make the tough call on that and tell him no," Percy said only a tad frantically.

We bolted down the catwalk. This time Briares was happy to follow us. In fact he sprinted out front, a hundred arms waving in panic.

"Oh, good to know that's all it took," Jason yelped in something close to betrayal, but he also had half a mind to lash a rope to one of his arms and hang on for the free ride, so he wasn't that offended.

Behind us, I heard the sound of giant wings as Kampê took to the air.

"Is now a good time to discuss how exactly it's possible for dragons to take flight?" Alex asked critically. "Especially the European ones which are all heavy-armored tanky beasts, and you cannot tell me she's gliding in there."

"You know Alex," Percy tried to say as casually as possible, "I think we should shelve that, and save it for a quiet time when we've just dodged our own near death experience, not in the middle of one."

"Duly noted," Alex nodded.

She hissed and growled in her ancient language, but I didn't need a translation to know she was planning to kill us.

"I'm sure Tyson's feelings won't be to hurt," Jason snorted.

We scrambled down the stairs, through a corridor, and past a guard's station—out into another block of prison cells.

"Left," Annabeth said. "I remember this from the tour."

"I'd trust any direction that wasn't backwards," Will promised faintly.

We burst outside and found ourselves in the prison yard, ringed by security towers and barbed wire. After being inside for so long, the daylight almost blinded me.

Magnus winced along with him, because he didn't usually experience that very harshly, or he got over it weirdly quickly. He'd never considered that of any use outside of just hanging around making sure Hearth or Blitz didn't bump into anything, now he realized he might have been able to take in the area a split second faster than someone like Percy or Annabeth.

Tourists were milling around, taking pictures. The wind whipped cold off the bay. In the south, San Francisco gleamed all white and beautiful, but in the north, over Mount Tamalpais, huge storm clouds swirled.

The whole sky seemed like a black top spinning from the mountain where Atlas was imprisoned, and where the Titan palace of Mount Othrys was rising anew. It was hard to believe the tourists couldn't see the supernatural storm brewing, but they didn't give any hint that anything was wrong.

"Still want that picture-perfect moment Will?" Nico asked mildly.

"Ever notice how nobody takes pictures of hard times?" Will asked with a sad smile. "Maybe I would, do a before and after thing."

"You're insane," Nico chuckled with growing affection for his particular insanity.

"It's even worse," Annabeth said, gazing to the north. "The storms have been bad all year, but that—"

"Keep moving," Briares wailed. "She is behind us!"

"And you guys keep telling me I have bad timing," Alex said in exasperation. "At least I didn't want to stop and talk about the scenery!"

"You're trying to tell us you wouldn't stop and smell the roses while a dragon canopy is behind you?" Jason asked in disbelief.

"Roses are so cliché," he scoffed like that was actually an answer before waving him on.

We ran to the far end of the yard, as far from the cellblock as possible.

"Kampê's too big to get through the doors," I said hopefully.

Then the wall exploded.

Thalia's smile looked painful as she tried to smother a laugh, and was failing. "Okay, next, I want you to say, I don't want a million dollars!"

"It doesn't work like that, I've tried," Percy promised through a grit-tooth smile.

Tourists screamed as Kampê appeared from the dust and rubble, her wings spread out as wide as the yard. She was holding two swords—long bronze scimitars that glowed with a weird greenish aura, boiling wisps of vapor that smelled sour and hot even across the yard.

"Poison!" Grover yelped. "Don't let those things touch you or..."

"Or we'll die?" I guessed.

"Well...after you shrivel slowly to dust, yes."

"Because of course the giant every-monster gets poisonous swords! What next, a propeller hat? A backpack full or restores?" Magnus looked exhausted for Percy even hearing of this unstoppable beast.

Percy wondered when the heck his life had turned into something that made a horror movie sound bland. It didn't sound great when he decided always.

"Let's avoid the swords," I decided.

"That is possibly the wisest thing you've ever said," Thalia said, clearly impressed.

"You and Grover putting that one good brain cell to use at the right time," Jason snorted.

"Briares, fight!" Tyson urged. "Grow to full size!"

Instead, Briares looked like he was trying to shrink even smaller. He appeared to be wearing his absolutely terrified face.

"I'm very disappointed you haven't continued describing all these new features," Alex pouted. "Did he have a button nose? A wide forehead? Dimples?"

"You know, I really didn't think about it much," Percy grinned, "like Jason said, it was all in the eyes."

"Ha!" Jason gave a barking laugh before falling off into snickers for a solid minute before he could keep going while Percy stared on, pleased with himself he'd gotten him to laugh so hard. Jason definitely needed to stop thinking and counting so much and have a little more fun.

Kampê thundered toward us on her dragon legs, hundreds of snakes slithering around her body.

For a second I thought about drawing Riptide and facing her,

"And you have two great guys to help you throw rocks at this monster and everything," Alex smirked right at Percy.

He took in a deep breath and raised his hand at the giant white boulder still sitting in the middle of the room from where he'd nearly caved in the roof.

It didn't move, and after several silent moments of everybody watching blankly, Percy shrugged. "See, told you it wouldn't work."

"You weren't really trying at all, were you?" Alex asked tragically, as if actually offended Percy hadn't thrown a rock at him to really nail his point.

"My attention is a little split, try again later," Percy rolled his eyes.

Alex sniffed, he knew a dismissal when he heard one. "I remember what ADHD stands for you know," he grumbled, but Percy was back to staring at the book and chewing on the cap of his pen.

but my heart crawled into my throat. Then Annabeth said what I was thinking: "Run."

That was the end of the debate.

"I want you to remember this moment if you ever think of joining that particular club at Goode High," Nico told him conversationally enough. He hadn't even been in awe this time Percy had run like a sensible person or taken charge. He was just a guy running for his life like anyone.

"Yeah Nico, this is for sure the first thing I want coming to my mind joining any club," Percy gave him a bewildered frown.

There was no fighting this thing. We ran through the jail yard and out the gates of the prison, the monster right behind us. Mortals screamed and ran. Emergency sirens began to blare. We hit the wharf just as a tour boat was unloading. The new group of visitors froze as they saw us charging toward them, followed by a mob of frightened tourists, followed by...I don't know what they saw through the Mist, but it could not have been good.

"Stampeding elephant," Alex offered.

"Raining men?" Magnus asked.

"A very angry woman throwing snakes at people out of a bazooka," Jason said with a little to much confidence, his mind offering a weirdly specific image of seeing someone on the news talk about this...

"The boat?" Grover asked.

"Too slow," Tyson said.

"Not with Percy driving it!" Will yelped.

"I wasn't going to argue with Tyson, who knew if she was just getting started," Percy shook his head sharply. He hadn't exactly sat around and clocked his ability to move a boat faster than every monster.

"Back into the maze. Only chance."

"We need a diversion," Annabeth said.

Tyson ripped a metal lamppost out of the ground. "I will distract Kampê. You run ahead."

"I'll help you," I said.

"No," Tyson said. "You go. Poison will hurt Cyclopes. A lot of pain. But it won't kill."

"Are you sure?"

"Go, brother. I will meet you inside."

"It was never hard to guess who Tyson took the best influence from," Thalia chuckled, handing him a mock stack of documents. "I concede the case, you now have both kids all to yourself."

Percy gave her a tragic look as he mock-hugged them to his chest and pleaded, "you won't even offer child support?"

"Ha, ha, ha," she chuckled as she gave him a light push. Hopefully this would finally get him to let go of that stupid joke, and besides, she'd meant it anyways. How could she not admire the hero he'd been to Tyson the instant they met? It was who he always was.

I hated the idea. I'd almost lost Tyson once before, and I didn't want to ever risk that again. But there was no time to argue, and I had no better idea.

"Sometimes the best idea is blind trust," Jason agreed gently.

Percy wasn't sure he liked it when he heard Jason saying stuff like that, and not because he disagreed. It just sounded exhausting, like how Chiron sometimes sounded so old. Jason was his age, he shouldn't know all that.

Annabeth, Grover, and I each took one of Briares's hands and dragged him toward the concession stands while Tyson bellowed, lowered his pole, and charged Kampê like a jousting knight.

"Getting medieval times up in here," Alex grinned. "I told you to get Tyson a cyclops-sized horse Percy, this would have been perfect!"

"I bet Rainbow would come around if we'd had time to call," Percy agreed.

She'd been glaring at Briares, but Tyson got her attention as soon as he nailed her in the chest with the pole, pushing her back into the wall. She shrieked and slashed with her swords, slicing the pole to shreds. Poison dripped in pools all around her, sizzling into the cement.

Tyson jumped back as Kampê's hair lashed and hissed, and the vipers around her legs darted their tongues in every direction. A lion popped out of the weird half-formed faces around her waist and roared.

As we sprinted for the cellblocks, the last thing I saw was Tyson picking up a Dippin' Dots stand and throwing it at Kampê. Ice cream and poison exploded everywhere, all the little snakes in Kampê's hair dotted with tuttifrutti.

Percy couldn't describe the dread that filled him if he wanted to. He would have learned to run backwards or started a jousting tournament or anything if he'd thought it would help in that moment.

But he trusted Tyson. He said he was going to meet him and so he clenched his fist tight enough he could have held a hundred hands and told himself to get a move on, this is what Tyson needed from him right now. The ocean had been roaring in his ears like a cheer from their dad.

He didn't seem to realize, as usual, he was really causing the ocean to begin stirring around them.

We dashed back into the jail yard.

"Can't make it," Briares huffed.

"Tyson is risking his life to help you!" I yelled at him. "You will make it."

As we reached the door of the cellblock, I heard an angry roar. I glanced back and saw Tyson running toward us at full speed, Kampê right behind him. She was plastered in ice cream and T-shirts. One of the bear heads on her waist was now wearing a pair of crooked plastic Alcatraz sunglasses.

"I cannot believe Rachel isn't here to help me get a visual on this," Alex groaned. "You think Oceanus will let us take souvenirs when we're done, because I will fight someone for that paragraph to exist so I can make a sculpture of it!"

"I'm sure you can just rip out a page and stuff it in your shoe," Percy told him, letting himself be temporarily distracted. People were in his room. Vulnerable friends who he couldn't blast away. "In fact, I'll be starting a fire underwater soon enough to burn all these, so get your picks while you can." Like he wanted anybody else to suffer the nightmare that was his life when this was done.

"Hurry!" Annabeth said, like I needed to be told that.

"She's just a good leader like that, making sure you're all on the same page," Jason snickered.

"I'll shove that page up your nose, see if you can finish it then," but Percy couldn't help but force a laugh. He needed to hear Tyson was okay more than jokes right now.

We finally found the cell where we'd come in, but the back wall was completely smooth—no sign of a boulder or anything.

"Look for the mark!" Annabeth said.

"There!" Grover touched a tiny scratch, and it became a Greek . The mark of Daedalus glowed blue, and the stone wall grinded open.

Too slowly.

Tyson was coming through the cellblock, Kampê's swords lashing out behind him, slicing indiscriminately through cell bars and stone walls.

I pushed Briares inside the maze, then Annabeth and Grover.

"You can do it!" I told Tyson. But immediately I knew he couldn't. Kampê was gaining. She raised her swords.

Percy moved on reflex. He was flinging only in his mind, but the water reacted around him.

CRASH!

There was now a hole punched into the door at least, instead of someone's skull. Perfectly shaped for someone to fit their head through like they wanted to be Janus for Halloween. Percy's arm was still flung out like a follow-through on a hoop until Thalia gently stood up and grabbed him, lowering him back into his seat as he stuttered for unneeded air while Jason calmly finished like a cannon hadn't just gone off.

I need a distraction—something big. I slapped my wristwatch and it spiraled into a bronze shield.

Desperately, I threw it at the monster's face.

SMACK! The shield hit her in the face and she faltered just long enough for Tyson to dive past me into the maze.

Percy rubbed the empty space where that watch used to be with the smallest of regret. Tyson was alive, and he'd make him an even better watch with their new, even more deadly adventures on it when he got back.

I was right behind him. Kampê charged, but she was too late. The stone door closed and its magic sealed us in. I could feel the whole tunnel shake as Kampê pounded against it, roaring furiously. We didn't stick around to play knock, knock with her, though.

"Talk about one of the greatest punchlines of all time," Thalia said faintly. That had been close. Way to close.

"Would anybody begrudge me making one up for that though?" Alex grinned. "I bet nobody will see it coming."

"You go right ahead Alex, like we can stop you," Will chuckled.

We raced into the darkness, and for the first time (and the last) I was glad to be back in the Labyrinth.

"Someone needed to bring a photographer on these trips to commemorate all the happy times you keep glossing over," Jason said as he began to hand the book over. "I can't believe nobody commemorated that first and last time in one moment!"

"That's what we have you for Jason," Magnus smirked as he took the book. "You're our bookkeeper."

"That would have been much funnier if he was about to start his turn," Alex frowned at him. "Work on your timing Magnus."

"I'll get right on that," he agreed. Half of him wanted to sit in a daze and wonder if Alex had some implications of that, but his fingers were already grazing along for the next chapter. Was it to much to hope this quest would go a tad easier now that they had Briares on their side?

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 5: ANNABETH BREAKS THE RULES

Thalia began reading with her usual air of confidence the new chapter title, ignoring the pit of scorpions that felt like they'd taken nest up in her stomach for how much she was not looking forward to hearing details of how many times Percy and Annabeth had almost died in that place.

"Didn't she already do that in the last chapter just by sitting next to you?" Jason grinned at what a rebel this girl probably thought she was. Befriending children of Neptune, switching tables, her mother probably had a heart attack on the regular when she didn't eat her vegetables. He wondered if Annabeth pretended to hate olives as the ultimate act of betrayal.

"And look what came of that, some freaking answers," Alex nodded. "I am all for this continuing."

"Of course you are," Magnus chuckled to no one's surprise.

Percy alone looked a might concerned. It wasn't the unspoken rule of never stealing Mr. D's diet coke was it? Or maybe some horrible metaphor and she was going to break her own mind in the Labyrinth already?

Thalia started reading before he could freak himself out to much.

Chiron had insisted we talk about it in the morning, which was kind of like, Hey, your life's in mortal danger. Sleep tight!

"I thought every day was like that for you guys," Magnus said honestly.

"The Stoll's were almost smothered in their sleep that night for trying to make a lullaby out of it all, those were actual lyrics," Will agreed.

It was hard to fall asleep, but when I finally did, I dreamed of a prison.

A collective shiver passed around the room, not least because that hammered just a little to close to reality right now. Thalia's lasted the longest before she could control herself. Running free in the Hunter's had given her almost a healthy fear of being trapped again.

I saw a guy in a Greek tunic and sandals crouching alone in a massive stone room. The ceiling was open to the night sky, but the walls were twenty feet high and polished marble, completely smooth.

"That's a particular kind of cruel," Magnus shook his head. He lived surrounded by things he could never have.

Will thought it sounded like the best kind of option to have in a bad situation though. He glanced at the cracked ceiling in here, he'd never gone so long without seeing the sun in his life.

Scattered around the room were wooden crates. Some were cracked and tipped over, as if they'd been flung in there. Bronze tools spilled out of one—a compass, a saw, and a bunch of other things I didn't recognize.

"I bet the Hephaestus guys mock your hands for being as smooth as a baby's butt," Alex snorted.

"They weren't regular tools," Percy insisted. "I know most of the basics from all the times a schools punished me to fix something I broke. These tools looked like something you'd find in a museum, really twisty, and not sure they'd work, and did you hear the bronze? Like rusty scraps. I only recognized the compass and saw because you can't mistake that."

Their morbid fear began simmering into odd interest. Percy tried to describe it as something ancient, like this wasn't happening to somebody now. What could that have to do with anything?

The boy huddled in the corner, shivering from cold, or maybe fear. He was spattered in mud. His legs, arms, and face, were scraped up as if he'd been dragged here along with the boxes.

Alex swallowed a dry mouth. He knew the feeling of just being somebody's cargo, overlooked and trapped all at once, all to well.

Then the double oak doors moaned open. Two guards in bronze armor marched in, holding an old man between them. They flung him to the floor in a battered heap.

"Father!" The boy ran to him.

Nico flinched, even as a part of him realized. Ah, leverage, the oldest trick in the book to force cooperation. He glanced wearily at Percy and Jason for a moment before scolding his attention on track.

The man's robes were in tatters. His hair was streaked with gray, and his beard was long and curly. His nose had been broken. His lips were bloody.

The boy took the old man's head in his arms. "What did they do to you?" Then he yelled at the guards. "I'll kill you!"

"The appropriate response," Percy chuckled, but there was an edge to it that defied his lighthearted, usually chill demeanor. It was a feeling he understood all to well, wanting to avenge his mother.

"There will be no killing today," a voice said.

"Oh, just today," Jason echoed with a sour look. "Who knows when this nutjob considers midnight."

"I don't believe him anyways, I assume all prison guards are liars on principle," Alex sniffed.

The guards moved aside. Behind them stood a tall man in white robes. He wore a thin circlet of gold on his head. His beard was pointed like a spear blade. His eyes glittered cruelly.

"And now I agree with Alex," Percy said with a distasteful look at the book as well.

"I was sold at the pointy beard, the cruel glitter eyes just sealed it," Thalia nodded.

Nico's mouth twitched with extreme bitterness he'd been so easily fooled by somebody everybody else obviously knew wasn't a good person from the start. What did that say about him?

"You helped the Athenian kill my Minotaur, Daedalus. You turned my own daughter against me."

"Doesn't sound like a hard task to do," Will frowned.

"I could set Nico on the job to do it," Percy agreed with that ADHD ability of not thinking that one through.

Then it caught up to him, and he glanced guiltily at him. "Um, it's a compliment, because, uh, you're secretly likable?" He assumed anyways.

Because Nico was creepy and weird but Minos gave off the vibe of being creepier and weirder so it was something even he could handle. The Word thing aside?

Nico raised an unimpressed brow and decided no response was best. He probably should have laughed it off like Percy would have, but he just, didn't want to.

"You did that yourself, Your Majesty," the old man croaked.

A guard planted a kick in the old man's ribs. He groaned in agony. The young boy cried, "Stop!"

Whatever tension was bubbling in the room dissipated at once, as every one of them flinched at that.

"You love your maze so much," the king said, "I have decided to let you stay here. This will be your workshop. Make me new wonders. Amuse me. Every maze needs a monster. You will be mine!"

"I don't fear you," the old man groaned.

The king smiled coldly. He locked his eyes on the boy. "But a man cares about his son, eh? Displease me, old man, and the next time my guards inflict a punishment, it will be on him!"

Percy had already lived through Annabeth being taken to manipulate him, his mom had once been taken by Hades as a bargaining chip. He knew intricately well the feeling of powerless, and it really pissed him off this was just a dream. That he couldn't help.

The king swept out of the room with his guards, and the doors slammed shut, leaving the boy and his father alone in the darkness.

"What shall we do?" the boy moaned. "Father, they will kill you!"

The old man swallowed with difficulty. He tried to smile, but it was a gruesome sight with his bloody mouth.

An old memory flashed to Thalia's mind, one of those fuzzy, vague ones that emitted a stronger feeling than actual details because she'd so actively repressed her past. Jason had been throwing a fit, and Beryl had picked him up and put him in his room ignoring his kicking feet and swinging fists. She'd held the door shut as he cried on the other side and told him he couldn't come out until he had a happy face on while Thalia tried with all her little might to push her out of the way.

Finally it had gone quiet, and Thalia had been so scared. She'd thought it was a monster, like the ones that always lurked around the house before the distant sound of thunder would make them slink off.

His tiny little voice had come through, his chocked promise, "happy face!"

Beryl had opened the door to his flushed red, tear-stained, snot covered face, his lips pulled all the way back to show his teeth in a mock, feral looking smile.

She'd patted him on the head and went about her way as Thalia sat down beside him and hugged him. He'd snuffled and fallen asleep in her arms like that, his face relaxing back to normal.

She shook it off as quickly as it had come up, but watching Jason's lip now curl up, distorting that scar and his gruesome smile that seemed to be planning a prison break before his troubled eyes returned to the here and now of this long being done didn't help her press it as far down as before.

"Take heart, my son." He gazed up at the stars. "I—I will find a way."

A bar lowered across the doors with a fatal BOOM, and I woke in a cold sweat.

"Have I mentioned how much I dislike your dreams?" Magnus asked. "They're either terrifying, traumatizing, or some mixture of the two. Now whether you know that person or not!"

Percy wished that he could say he'd give them back if he could, but they'd also given him glimpses into his friends who were in danger to many times to say so.

He'd still like to trade away a few where he'd run around camp without his pants on his head.

I was still feeling shaky the next morning when Chiron called a war council.

"That's new," Jason said in surprise. "Last time you sat around a pingpong table," he still vividly remembered for how particularly strange that was in this odd camp. This arena like setting felt far more natural to him as he traced his tattoo.

We met in the sword arena, which I thought was pretty strange—

"Gods forbid there not be cheez whiz present," Thalia snorted.

trying to discuss the fate of the camp while Mrs. O'Leary chewed on a lifesize squeaky pink rubber yak.

"Aww," Alex cooed. "I don't know what you're talking about Percy, that's the perfect setting. You have in full view what you're fighting for."

"If the dog getting her chew toy is what motivates someone to save our camp, then so be it," Percy didn't look too impressed though.

Chiron and Quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. Clarisse and Annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing. Tyson and Grover sat as far away from each other as possible. Also present around the table:

Juniper the tree nymph, Silena Beauregard, Travis and Connor Stoll, Beckendorf, Lee Fletcher, even Argus, our hundred-eyed security chief.

"Last time he was mentioned he was feeding a dragon," Magnus reminded with only a hint of dread. "I guess I'm just glad Peleus doesn't follow him around and is there too."

"Then we'd all feel too safe to discuss a war council," Percy said as if he'd made an excellent point and ignored Magnus's grimace.

That's how I knew it was serious. Argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. The whole time Annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred blue eyes trained on her so hard his whole body turned bloodshot.

Alex examined his own arm intently for a few moments like he was trying to make that happen. When he turned back to Thalia reading with disappointment, the others were left with more questions about him than Argus.

"Luke must have known about the Labyrinth entrance," Annabeth said. "He knew everything about camp."

Thalia read that a bit strangely, like her tongue got stuck to the roof of her mouth. Percy had the exact same puckered look on his face. Will sighed and kept to himself he was a bit glad Annabeth wasn't here, every bit of this would have hurt her in some way.

I thought I heard a little pride in her voice, like she still respected the guy, evil as he was.

"I think respect is the wrong word," Alex crinkled up his nose in disgust. "At least I'd hope she doesn't respect the guy trying to destroy her home."

Percy and Thalia exchanged a discouraged look.

Will defended, "she's not here to defend the use of Percy's choice of word, and we all have a little grudging respect for the gods with no telling how many people they've killed because of how we know them."

Alex raised an unimpressed brow at him, but didn't stop Thalia rushing to keep going.

Juniper cleared her throat. "That's what I was trying to tell you last night. The cave entrance has been there a long time. Luke used to use it."

"He's already been exploring that place for years?" Jason asked with full unease, the strategist in him balking at how the uneven odds could still be getting worse. "What was he doing sending Chris Rodriguez in there if he has an idea of how this thing works?"

"Nobody in here has jumped inside his mind to ask how the insane plans of Kronos were going," Nico scowled.

Jason looked surprised at the cold snap, he hadn't been demanding that of anyone in particular in here, but he nodded in acceptance they weren't going to get an insider's look into this.

Silena Beauregard frowned. "You knew about the Labyrinth entrance, and you didn't say anything?"

Will frowned with unease, wondering if Silena knew about it. Had Luke been keeping secrets from her? Moments like this made him wonder why she had gone along with it so long . . .

Juniper's face turned green. "I didn't know it was important. Just a cave. I don't like yucky old caves."

Magnus had to give her that, he had seen stranger things than someone dipping in and out of caves, and he didn't much like them either, always having preferred to be sleeping outdoors even in the worst of weather.

"She has good taste," Grover said.

"So what's her excuse about him?" Thalia smirked.

Percy gave her a light punch and an eye roll for mocking his best friend who wasn't here.

"I wouldn't have paid any attention except...well, it was Luke." She blushed a little greener.

Percy put his fist back against Thalia's arm, made a weirdly good rewind sound, and then pulled his fist back away and even rolled his eyes the other way while the others got a mild chuckle out of him.

Grover huffed. "Forget what I said about good taste."

Percy brushed some imaginary sweat aside. "Good thing, I was worried about his taste for a second there!" His joke didn't entirely hide his clear agitation that every girl in camp seemed to have had a crush on this guy, even Silena, the prettiest girl there, had gotten a strange look on her face at the mention of him!

"Interesting," Quintus polished his sword as he spoke. "And you believe this young man, Luke, would dare use the Labyrinth as an invasion route?"

"Definitely," Clarisse said. "If he could get an army of monsters inside Camp Half-Blood, just pop up in the middle of the woods without having to worry about our magical boundaries, we wouldn't stand a chance. He could wipe us out easy. He must've been planning this for months."

"He's been sending scouts into the maze," Annabeth said. "We know because...because we found one."

"Chris Rodriguez," Chiron said. He gave Quintus a meaningful look.

"Ah," Quintus said. "The one in the...Yes, I understand."

"The one in the what?" I asked.

Clarisse glared at me.

"I guess she's gotten a bit attached to him after spending time nursing him back to health," Magnus winced.

You have no idea, Will kept to him self, but couldn't entirely erase the smile.

"The point is, Luke has been looking for a way to navigate the maze. He's searching for Daedalus's workshop."

I remembered my dream the night before—the bloody old man in tattered robes. "The guy who created the maze."

"Yes," Annabeth said. "The greatest architect, the greatest inventor of all time.

Will tried his hardest to stifle his laugh at that though, as he wondered how hard Daedalus had to fight not to blush while Annabeth had been praising his guts.

If the legends are true, his workshop is in the center of the Labyrinth. He's the only one who knew how to navigate the maze perfectly. If Luke managed to find the workshop and convince Daedalus to help him, Luke wouldn't have to fumble around searching for paths, or risk losing his army in the maze's traps. He could navigate anywhere he wanted—quickly and safely. First to Camp Half-Blood to wipe us out. Then...to Olympus."

"Now for the good news!" Alex reminded at that ominous silence. "Everybody's always complaining nobody shares enough of that!"

There was the same silence here as was in the arena.

"No? None?" Alex looked around in mock disappointment.

"Well I guess that's why nobody ever starts with it," Magnus muttered.

The arena was silent except for Mrs. O'Leary's toy yak getting disemboweled: SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

"The perfect noise to get used to hearing, we'd all be their squeaky toys when this is done," Percy sighed.

Finally Beckendorf put his huge hands on the table. "Back up a sec, Annabeth, you said 'convince Daedalus'? Isn't Daedalus dead?"

"I don't assume anybody's dead in this," Jason raised his hand.

"And that's why we're always telling you you're the smart one around here," Percy shivered with unease for whatever his mind was holding over him. At this rate, his best hope was an explicit nightmare about said death.

Quintus grunted. "I would hope so. He lived, what, three thousand years ago? And even if he were alive, don't the old stories say he fled from the Labyrinth?"

"What stories?" Magnus asked as blankly as usual, it was a wonder they didn't have a stop watch on him. "Who is telling stories about this guy still and his wear abouts?"

"The same crazy rumors about where my dad likes to vacation and which celebrity Aphrodite is dating," Percy shrugged. Even if they were rumors he didn't regularly hear, he was sure they were there at camp.

Chiron clopped restlessly on his hooves. "That's the problem, my dear Quintus. No one knows. There are rumors...well, there are many disturbing rumors about Daedalus, but one is that he disappeared back into the Labyrinth toward the end of his life. He might still be there."

I thought about the old man I'd seen in my dreams. He'd looked so frail, it was hard to believe he'd lasted another week, much less three thousand years.

Alex liked that Magnus never grew tired of his questions, she had a tendency to take this all in stride a little to much to pick up on some of this like he tried to verbalize when he asked, "are the people in those stories like the monsters and gods? Are they immortal because they're tied up in all these myths? Is the Greek who invented the chariot still alive?"

"In general no," Nico shook his head, it really was his own fault he worried the others only associated him with death when he was always so willing to answer these particular questions. Because he was comfortable with knowing these answers. "As a rule, no mortal soul is immune from death unless granted eternal life by the gods, like the legend Hercules, he's actually running around somewhere I think. I don't have a roster of who has escaped death, but my dad does, and Daedalus, I'm pretty sure, is on that list from doing, whatever he did with that labyrinth."

"Okay," Magnus felt just a might better for once, that something of normal logic still applied and people were supposed to stay dead no matter how many stories were told about them.

"We need to go in," Annabeth announced.

"I like her use of the word we," Percy grinned a sort of knowing smile that wasn't funny. "Because the whole stadium is going to be a part of this."

"At least she's not trying to leave anybody out," Thalia snorted.

"We have to find the workshop before Luke does. If Daedalus is alive, we convince him to help us, not Luke. If Ariadne's string still exists, we make sure it never falls into Luke's hands."

"Wait a second," I said. "If we're worried about an attack, why not just blow up the entrance? Seal the tunnel?"

"Great idea!" Grover said. "I'll get the dynamite!"

"I am worried where he would get dynamite from," Jason said at once.

"I'm worried how easily he gets addicted to things," Percy muttered.

"It's not so easy, stupid," Clarisse growled. "We tried that at the entrance we found in Phoenix. It didn't go well."

"Freaking, stupid, magic," Magnus's audible grumbling about how nothing was ever easy really was felt by them all.

Annabeth nodded. "The Labyrinth is magical architecture, Percy. It would take huge power to seal even one of its entrances.

"Like, godly power?" Jason asked. "Could you not get one of them down there to do that?"

"Have the gods yet done something like that for us?" Percy reminded with a fowl scowl.

It was uncomfortably true, no god had yet lifted a finger to protect the camp when they were on the verge of collapse back when Thalia's tree was poisoned. Apollo and Athena had assisted on the last quest to rescue Artemis, but it had clearly been done in secret.

"Zeus is acting in the war effort now though," Jason tried to insist even if there was no hope in his voice. "This is actually more helpful than whatever he's got Bacchus off doing." It felt so strange in his very core, to still be questioning what the gods were and weren't doing, but he wasn't going to stop. In a strange way, it felt good to vocalize all this too.

"I don't even think it would be possible with Hecate supporting Kronos anyways," Nico offered. The idea of magical architecture made him pretty confident she was doing her part to help Luke.

"The gods don't interfere," Will reminded. It sounded like a very old, very recited line. There was no other answer.

In Phoenix, Clarisse demolished a whole building with a wrecking ball, and the maze entrance just shifted a few feet.

Alex made a sound like a buzzer while Magnus spluttered over the array of words in that sentence.

"Clarisse stole a wrecking ball?" Thalia repeated for good measure, clearly enjoying the taste of those words a little to much.

"Either that or her mom works construction," Jason blinked owlishly at the book.

"My question is, was the building inhabited?" Percy laughed nervously like he was imagining Clarisse chasing him with a wrecking ball now. "So much what just goes into that one." 

The best we can do is prevent Luke from learning to navigate the Labyrinth."

"Oh, so you're doomed," Alex frowned.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence man," Percy frowned right back.

"I mean, sorry I'm not sorry?" Alex half-heartedly offered. "According to all of this though, he's been twelve steps ahead of you this entire time though. I have, zero clue, how you survived this one."

Percy shivered as the worst outcome came to mind. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe he'd died at that camp and this was some twisted way of his dad trying to keep his soul alive or some crazy godly idea of fatherly affection.

"Well lucky for you we had Annabeth on the case," Thalia promptly reminded, only resisting hitting Percy upside the head with the book for that dower look on his face because she wouldn't kick him while he was down.

"We could fight," Lee Fletcher said. "We know where the entrance is now. We can set up a defensive line and wait for them. If an army tries to come through, they'll find us waiting with our bows."

"The fact that that didn't come from Clarisse is weirder than anything," Jason grinned.

"Lee, is, always up for a challenge," Will caught himself at the last moment from using past tense. It came out shoddy like he was trying to speak with the hiccups. "There's a reason he and Clarisse won," he finished only a tad better.

"We will certainly set up defenses," Chiron agreed. "But I fear Clarisse is right. The magical borders have kept this camp safe for hundreds of years. If Luke manages to get a large army of monsters into the center of camp, bypassing our boundaries...we may not have the strength to defeat them."

"Someone needs to put on Dean Martin for this guy so he can take a chill pill," Magnus frowned at that dower point of view from the trainer of all heroes.

"Just being realistic," Alex shook his head in agreement with Chiron though. Better to be honest about their chances than give them all false hope.

Nobody looked real happy about that news. Chiron usually tried to be upbeat and optimistic. If he was predicting we couldn't hold off an attack, that wasn't good.

"I wouldn't really say his level of chill makes it better," Nico snorted. "Hey, the world's ending again, good luck with that while I go teach archery."

"Chiron gives really good advice before the quests though," Percy looked a little miffed at himself he couldn't come up with a better argument than that.

"We have to get to Daedalus's workshop first," Annabeth insisted. "Find Ariadne's string and prevent Luke from using it."

"What's Ariadne's string made out of?" Alex asked. "Her hair? Her clothes? Did she weave it from a magic item?"

"If you're thinking about somehow trying to replicate it, I wouldn't hope for that outcome being any more helpful," Thalia shook her head without spoiling it was in fact an actual useless myth.

"And as usual, it depends on the myth you read," Percy shrugged. "I think I've heard versions where it's gold, and one where Theseus just tied it to the start of the maze? None of it makes much sense outside of a story."

"But if nobody can navigate in there," I said, "what chance do we have?"

"Please don't threaten me with Dean Martin too," Percy frowned at Magnus.

"Then lighten up!" He rolled his eyes, "or I'll have Thalia shock you again."

"I can and will do it on command," she agreed, letting blue electricity arc between the tips of her fingers to prove her point.

"We can totally do this guys, I'll make non-centaur-blood t-shirts," he nodded quickly.

"I've been studying architecture for years," she said. "I know Daedalus's Labyrinth better than anybody."

"From reading about it."

"Well, yes."

"That's not enough."

"It has to be!"

"It isn't!"

"Are you going to help me or not?"

Percy looked stunned she'd even had to ask. Then he felt the silence in here and looked around and saw Thalia had stopped reading to watch him in amusement along with everybody else.

I realized everyone was watching Annabeth and me like a tennis match.

"You guys are better than a tennis match," Alex assured him in amusement. "I couldn't pay for commentary like this."

"Just what I always wanted," he rolled his eyes.

Mrs. O'Leary's squeaky yak went EEK! As she ripped off its pink rubber head.

"That dog alone will keep pet companies in business for all her lively needs," Will snorted.

Chiron cleared his throat. "First things first. We need a quest. Someone must enter the Labyrinth, find the workshop of Daedalus, and prevent Luke from using the maze to invade this camp."

"We all know who should lead this," Clarisse said. "Annabeth."

"It's great to hear of Clarisse sharing," Will shook his head in exhaustion, "of course she'd finally get the concept with the deadly quest."

"I want to know what's changed from the last time she was proud to do this," Alex looked a little pouty. "Was it the wrecking ball? I think she needs to come down here and share her personal growth over that winter."

"Pretty sure the answer's a little more simple than that," Percy muttered. She'd spent the whole time in there without a single posture or gloat or threat. She'd been sitting in the front of the bleachers by Annabeth, but had seemed withdrawn as she handled this. Whatever she'd gone through in that Labyrinth had changed her.

There was a murmur of agreement. I knew Annabeth had been waiting for her own quest since she was a little kid, but she looked uncomfortable.

Magnus frowned and leaned forward anxiously in his seat. It bothered him that even if he'd had an inkling of what his cousin had been going through right then, he wouldn't have been any help at all. Now here she was, finally getting a full, sanctioned quest of the utmost importance, and she seemed no more confident she'd survive it than he was.

"You've done as much as I have, Clarisse," she said. "You should go, too."

"Too," Alex noticed with interest. "I imagine this quest will go quite smoothly if the three of you manage to work together."

"But Grover has to go," Jason looked actually torn whom he was rooting for. "His Pan quest can't lead him anywhere else."

"Screw the council, Percy will help Grover find Pan down there after they save the camp," Alex insisted.

"What does the Camp do when more than three people are supposed to go?" Magnus asked a little wearily. Hopefully, the solution wouldn't be Percy's answer, and they'd just get a sanctioned tag along.

"Tournament to the death," Nico said with a completely straight face.

Will rolled his eyes affectionately and answered, "a vote. The leader of the quest gets the final say, but if they're impartial, then the vote."

"I think you're all missing an important detail," Percy interrupted. They hadn't seen the look on Clarisse's face when that had been suggested.

Clarisse shook her head. "I'm not going back in there."

"Oh," Jason muttered, "yeah, didn't quite see that coming."

"I never thought of Clarisse in retirement mode," Alex admitted.

Travis Stoll laughed. "Don't tell me you're scared. Clarisse, chicken?"

"Daring her is not going to get good results," Magnus said at once. "Connor might be down a brother rather than up a quest member."

"I think he just considers it his daily duty," Will shrugged.

"To die?" Magnus demanded.

"Clarisse has never killed any fellow camper," Will said that with about as much confidence as he had of the Stolls though.

Clarisse got to her feet, I thought she was going to pulverize Travis, but she said in a shaky voice: "You don't understand anything, punk. I'm never going in there again. Never!"

She stormed out of the arena.

It would have made more sense if Percy had told them she'd been wearing frog footsie pajamas during this meeting than that. "And I'm volunteering for this?" He reminded them in a very dread-like voice. He might rather eat a frog.

"Anything to be the hero," Nico muttered, and he wasn't even being sarcastic.

Travis looked around sheepishly. "I didn't mean to—"

Chiron raised his hand. "The poor girl has had a difficult year. Now, do we have agreement that Annabeth should lead the quest?"

We all nodded except Quintus. He folded his arms and stared at the table, but I wasn't sure anyone else noticed.

"Annabeth has got to stop drawing every eye in the room to her," Alex said with a snap of his fingers.

Magnus gave him a concerned look because he agreed, but probably not in the way Alex meant it.

"Very well," Chiron turned to Annabeth. "My dear, it's your time to visit the Oracle. Assuming you return to us in one piece, we shall discuss what to do next."

"I really do wonder more every day how you guys survive any length of time," Nico said none to quietly. Chiron was a nice enough centaur, but really gave him no faith in any kind of authority figure.

"A plucky attitude," Will answered in a completely serious tone of voice, which caused Nico to chuckle anyways.

Waiting for Annabeth was harder than visiting the Oracle myself.

"And that's saying something," Percy wagged his finger for emphasis.

"You didn't have to tell us that, I promise we know," Thalia assured as she shoved his finger out of her face.

I'd heard it speak prophecies twice before. The first time had been in the dusty attic of the Big House, where the spirit of Delphi slept inside the body of a mummified hippie lady. The second time, the Oracle had come out for a little stroll in the woods. I still had nightmares about that.

"So would I," Magnus easily promised. A therapist could have a field day with his greatest fear of wolves somehow being tied into his very real fear of being eaten alive coupled into how society made it impossible for him to ever think he could make it out of his beanbag in the park.

I'd never felt threatened by the Oracle's presence, but I'd heard stories: campers who'd gone insane, or who'd seen visions so real they died of fear.

"I like to think some of those are exaggerated," but Will had no confidence in his voice. Nobody he knew had gone on a quest before Percy showed up, so it wasn't that common a thing...and honestly, he believed those stories too.

I paced the arena, waiting. Mrs. O'Leary ate her lunch, which consisted of a hundred pounds of ground beef and several dog biscuits the size of trashcan lids. I wondered where Quintus got dog biscuits that size. I didn't figure you could just walk into Pet Zone and put those in your shopping cart.

"Homemade meals," Alex nodded without surprise. "Probably baked with love."

"I bet he posts the recipe online with his entire backstory too," Magnus rolled his eyes.

Chiron was deep in conversation with Quintus and Argus. It looked to me like they were disagreeing about something. Quintus kept shaking his head.

"Please let it be the next war game having something to do with a bake-off," Magnus crossed his fingers.

"Magnus, what practicality would that have?" Jason asked in exasperation. "At least make it some kind of survival guide where they have to forage and eat."

"Fine," he muttered at the compromise, and both knew it was a lost joke anyways.

On the other side of the arena, Tyson and the Stoll brothers were racing miniature bronze chariots that Tyson had made out of armor scraps.

"He's going to put toy companies out of business as a sidequest," Alex said with confidence.

"-and they were so cool, they shot real arrows at the driver if they tried to turn the chariot to hard and one was giving off this awful smell-"

Magnus looked from Alex to Percy explaining this in vivid detail several times before deciding against commenting.

I gave up on pacing and left the arena. I stared across the fields at the Big House's attic window, dark and still. What was taking Annabeth so long? I was pretty sure it hadn't taken me this long to get my quest.

"You spent half the time dreading every step up there and looking for the bathroom," Thalia smirked.

"I'm just hoping she doesn't pitch herself out the window to get away when it's done," Jason muttered.

"Who do you think she sees giving her the prophecy?" Alex asked with a deep hunger to know every aspect of this Oracle.

"My money would be on Athena," but Percy wasn't so sure of that either. It really was just a guess, Percy had no idea what kind of crazy symbolicness went into what you saw in those things.

"Percy," a girl whispered.

Juniper was standing in the bushes. It was weird how she almost turned invisible when she was surrounded by plants.

"Camouflage man, best color there is," Alex snorted as he swooshed his green hair.

"I think that makes you the natural enemy of it," Percy told him.

She gestured me over urgently. "You need to know: Luke wasn't the only one I saw around that cave."

"She doesn't mean me and Annabeth does she?" Percy asked. Nico winced and hoped the same thing.

"The spy?" Jason yelped.

"What do you mean?"

She glanced back at the arena. "I was trying to say something, but he was right there."

"Who?"

"The sword master," she said. "He was poking around the rocks."

"Should have known there was something fishy about that guy when he didn't ask for a paycheck for being there." Alex was disappointed if he was a traitor though, he seemed like a cool guy.

"He hasn't been there long enough to be Luke's established spy," Jason shook his head, "and why would Luke send another there?"

"For a higher level position to be on Chiron's good side," Magnus offered with a queasy stomach.

Percy really didn't like it when they sat around trying to figure out this traitor business, he just couldn't imagine anyone in camp that way. Will didn't much either because Silena had been a friend to many, so he cleared his throat obviously and Thalia gratefully kept going.

My stomach clenched. "Quintus? When?"

"I don't know: I don't pay attention to time. Maybe a week ago, when he first showed up."

"So, you know, not suspicious at all," Alex managed in a fascinating mocking tone. He was mocking himself. "He was just out exploring and oh so happened upon that iconic landmark."

"Right, yeah, totally a coincidence," Magnus wanted to believe it was true anyways.

"What was he doing? Did he go in?"

"I—I'm not sure. He's creepy, Percy. I didn't even see him come into the glade. Suddenly he was just there. You have to tell Grover it's too dangerous—"

"Juniper?" Grover called from inside the arena. "Where'd you go?"

Juniper sighed. "I'd better go in. Just remember what I said. Don't trust that man!"

"Are we sure she's not just insecure Grover's going to get a crush on him next?" Jason's smile was flickering like he really was trying to laugh it off too. "I bet Quinteus would make a delightful blueberry bush." His tone ended a little to harsh to be funny by the end, he wasn't going to let his suspicions be swayed.

"We'll pin that in the maybe category," Thalia patted his shoulder.

She ran into the arena.

I stared at the Big House, feeling more uneasy than ever. If Quintus was up to something...I needed Annabeth's advice.

"Do you cross camp without talking to that girl?" Will burst out laughing. At least laughing about Percy's crush on Annabeth was always a safe bet.

Percy mock considered for a moment before saying, "one time I did, and then I ended up being chased by an owl. Lesson learned."

She might know what to make of Juniper's news. But where the heck was she? Whatever was happening with the Oracle, it shouldn't be taking this long.

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.

It was against the rules, but then again, nobody was watching. I ran down the hill and headed across the fields.

"Are you sure you got that chapter title right," Nico snorted. "Percy's the one over here breaking the rules, as usual."

"Ah, but you said it," Thalia reminded with an impish smirk. "Percy breaking the rules is not noteworthy enough for any of us to do more than laugh at. Annabeth on the other hand," she finished with an ominous shake of her head that made Percy's stomach do an unpleasant swoop. What rule had she broken exactly? Why did the consequences feel like a really bad idea all of a sudden?

The front parlor of the Big House was strangely quiet. I was used to seeing Dionysus by the fireplace, playing cards and eating grapes and griping at satyrs, but Mr. D was still away.

Percy was restless now, squirming in agitation in his seat and unable to sit still. Of course a wish he'd never even thought was possible had been granted and that cranky, miserable old god was gone, and it made the whole place feel empty like a tomb.

I walked down the hallway, floorboards creaking under my feat. When I got to the base of the stairs, I hesitated. Four floors above would be a little trapdoor leading to the attic. Annabeth would be up there somewhere.

"I'm imagining you interrupting her prophecy and her stabbing you," Magnus admitted.

"A fair reaction, but I still had to know," Percy put an arm across his chest for the most vital of organs he'd shield and figured ambrosia and nectar would heal anything else so he could go on the quest in a timely manner.

I stood quietly and listened. But what I heard wasn't what I had expected.

Sobbing.

The jolt around the room came from Thalia's sharp surprise saying that rather than her powers. Percy's feet twitched, he wanted to run to her without a second thought, but he more than anyone knew that hadn't been Annabeth. It hadn't been coming from above him.

And it was coming from below me.

"Why is there always a creepy basement," Magnus whispered. Uncle Randolph probably had one in that creepy mansion of his too.

"Because crying on the porch is a cliché?" But Alex looked just as concerned what the heck was going on in that house. Dionysus hadn't left a satyr down there to be tortured had he?

I crept around the back of the stairs. The basement door was open. I didn't even know the Big House had a basement.

"I bet Luke does," Percy muttered with an upturned nose, like Annabeth was here to mock for that earlier comment.

"Everybody knows where that basement is Percy," Thalia snorted, "it's where we hide the supplies for all of your parties."

"Thanks for clearing that up," he rolled his eyes.

I peered inside and saw two figures in the far corner, sitting amid a bunch of stockpiled cases of ambrosia and strawberry preserves.

Will wrung his hands, still feeling useless these years later nobody had been of any help to Chris. He and Chiron hadn't even been able to get through a whole conversation of what else they could try before they had to stop. They'd tried everything. If Mr. D hadn't come back, Clarisse might have followed him right to the mortal world and whatever facility they might have tried.

One was Clarisse.

Obviously she couldn't escape to the arena, that's where they'd been. Jason had thought she'd go off to her cabin or somewhere in Camp she considered private.

Nobody had expected, this.

The other was a teenage Hispanic guy in tattered camouflage pants and a dirty black T-shirt.

His hair was greasy and matted. He was hugging his shoulders and sobbing.

It was Chris Rodriguez, the half-blood who'd gone to work for Luke.

"If she's there to smother him, are we supposed to stop her?" Alex stage whispered.

"If she was going to kill him, she'd have done it when she found him," Magnus looked very troubled what was going on though. He didn't see how anybody could get any more information out of Chris.

"It's okay," Clarisse was telling him. "Try a little more nectar."

"You're an illusion, Mary!" Chris backed farther into the corner. "G-get away."

"My name's not Mary." Clarisse's voice was gentle but really sad. I never knew Clarisse could sound that way.

"Oh," Percy whispered, then he slapped his hand to his mouth like he'd been caught and leaned far back into his seat.

No, like Clarisse had been caught. He felt so bad for her, sharing even a hint of this with people who didn't even know her except what little he'd said. He'd never been embarrassed, much, about sharing his own past, but moments like this made him wish someone had let him edit out these parts first!

"My name is Clarisse. Remember. Please."

"It's dark!" Chris yelled. "So dark!"

"Come outside," Clarisse coaxed. "The sunlight will help you."

"A...a thousand skulls. The earth keeps healing him."

Percy shivered as a feeling he tried hard not to let run rampant in here began to bubble up. Anger, adrenaline, a memory he did not yet have a connection to, but he knew he wouldn't enjoy getting back. Poseidon, his dad's name whispered in his mind, but it was of no comfort.

"Chris," Clarisse pleaded. It sounded like she was close to tears. "You have to get better. Please. Mr. D will be back soon. He's an expert in madness. Just hang on."

Magnus shook his head like he had flies coming out of his ears. Oh how he'd heard that before, a promise for a cure down every pair of handcuffs while he was just as guilty melting into the crowd. He didn't have any faith Dionysus would do any more good. If he could have been out there helping, why wasn't he?

Chris's eyes were like a cornered rat's—wild and desperate. "There's no way out, Mary. No way out."

Nico couldn't help but wonder who Mary really was. A form Minos had taken to trick Chris's every step? A spirit begging for his help? Perhaps someone from his past his mind conjured up in comfort? He'd seen all three down there, anything was possible.

Then he caught a glimpse of me and made a strangled, terrified sound. "The son of Poseidon! He's horrible!"

Not one of them cracked a smile at the easy mockery. Percy was starting to look a little gray that the guy off his rocker was making more sense than the tree spirit while his headache bounced around in his skill like a rubber ball.

I backed away, hoping Clarisse hadn't seen me. I listened for her to come charging out and yell at me, but instead she just kept talking to Chris in a sad pleading voice, trying to get him to drink the nectar. Maybe she thought it was part of Chris's hallucination, but...son of Poseidon? Chris had been looking at me, and yet why did I get the feeling he hadn't been talking about me at all?

Thalia resisted the urge to wrap Percy in a blanket as hard as he shivered. Annabeth had a hard time describing Antaeus's chamber to her, that gladius style arena fighting for sport where Percy was forced to show off his creative problem solving without her and fight a half-blood, all Annabeth's worst fears bundled up into one.

And Clarisse's tenderness—it had never even occurred to me that she might like someone; but the way she said Chris's name...

"Well I guess those jokes about Annabeth and Clarisse are never going to happen," Alex muttered with all the sympathy in the world for her it worked out. He had a wee bit of an addictive personality and now desperately wanted a backstory book on everything Clarisse had been through up to this point too, so that he could find some hint of knowing it would all work out.

She'd known him before he changed sides. She'd known him a lot better than I realized. And now he was shivering in a dark basement, afraid to come out, and mumbling about someone named Mary. No wonder Clarisse didn't want anything to do with the Labyrinth. What had happened to Chris in there?

"Some stories are better left unanswered," Jason sighed. He didn't even know about his past, and yet the glimpses he'd gotten left him questioning everything about himself. If somebody told him the alternative of knowing everything was being left in a vegetative state, the answer wouldn't make him any happier.

I heard a creak from above—like the attic door opening—and I ran for the front door. I needed to get out of that house.

"You run fleeing from that house more than you ever have a monster," Nico noted in amazement.

"Blah blah metaphor from running away from his real fear of Annabeth returning his love?" Jason chuckled.

Percy waved his hand along exaggeratedly at the laughter that rolled along so they could all get their good mood in now that the trauma was temporarily over.

"My dear," Chiron said. "You made it."

Annabeth looked at me first.

"Those who are surprised, please raise your hand," Thalia snorted.

Percy raised his hand, and Thalia smacked him.

I couldn't tell if she was trying to warn me, or if the look in her eyes was just plain fear. Then she focused on Quintus. "I got the prophecy. I will lead the quest to find Daedalus's workshop."

"And she's telling him specifically this, because?" Will asked, clearly a little wrong-footed why she seemed to be ignoring Chiron.

"Gods, there couldn't have been a line in there about him, right?" Percy asked anxiously.

"Even if there was, it still might not mean whatever she's worried it means," Thalia said with complete confidence. It was a classic at this point for everybody to worry what a prophecy meant until it happened.

She and Nico winced at her own comment though, because Zoe and Bianca certainly hadn't been saved by some double meaning.

Nobody cheered. I mean, we all liked Annabeth, and we wanted her to have a quest, but this one seemed insanely dangerous.

"As opposed to the other quests where the fate of the world and your camp weren't on the line," Magnus actually seemed the most confident and upbeat. "You guys got approval to do this and everything and you have a starting point of where you're going and what you're looking for!"

"Now we just have to figure out those pesky details," Percy tried to agree in the same way, but just because he'd survived didn't make him confident everybody else had come out of this unscathed.

After what I'd seen of Chris Rodriguez, I didn't even want to think about Annabeth descending into that weird maze again.

It was no surprise to anybody Percy wanted to protect her, and down underground, seemingly the opposite of where he'd find any body of water...watching Percy get nervous and twitchy was nothing new.

They were a strong trio, Percy told himself, and they'd already done the impossible once! Bad Percy, bad! A strong inner voice hissed. Stop jinxing yourself!

Chiron scraped a hoof on the dirt floor. "What did the prophecy say exactly, my dear? The wording is important."

"Important doesn't mean clear," Thalia huffed.

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I, ah...well, it said, you shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze..."

"I always love it when the Prophecy confirms you're going to do exactly what you're asking it advice to do," Alex rolled his eyes.

"I'll take an unnecessary, solid line over another confusing one," Magnus shook his head.

We waited.

"The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise."

"Raze like destroy or raise like nurture?" Alex asked. "Because now I'm picturing Nico bottle-feeding baby ghosts."

"More like raise, lifted up out of something," was all Thalia could promise with twitching lips while Nico looked a little sad at the idea of asking his dad what happened to dead baby souls.

"The traitor?" Jason latched on with laser focus. "Are we finally going to get confirmation of who Luke has at camp?"

"Who gets lost?" Percy picked nervously at his lip. He hoped it was Pan and Grover's wish, but he had a bad feeling that might relate to himself somehow. He was currently 'lost' after all.

Grover perked up. "The lost one! That must mean Pan! That's great!"

"With the dead and the traitor," I added. "Not so great."

"My concern is it's all the same person, and man does that sound like a story," Magnus said with a raised brow.

Nico twitched unpleasantly how all three of those did relate to him in some way.

"And?" Chiron asked. "What is the rest?"

"You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand," Annabeth said,

"So Annabeth needs to learn how to make friends fast?" Will said with twitching lips. "Oh, we were doomed."

"Hey," but Percy was chuckling along all the same.

"I would pay to be friends with a ghost king!" Alex raised his hand. "Please tell me she can introduce us whether it worked out or not!"

Nico looked at him like he was nuts...but Alex really had been as good a friend to him as Will, especially after yesterday. He opened his mouth right now to tell him no payment was necessary, before he remembered why Percy was shaking his head not in answer and quickly shut his mouth. Hopefully Alex wouldn't change his mind when he realized the ghost summoning thing wasn't just a cool random trick but something he actively still had to keep control over.

"the child of Athena's final stand."

Magnus and Percy winced in unison at how not stellar of a line that was!

Even if the automatic fallback was to convince themselves that could be some other random child of Athena just sporadically showing up on this quest...that still sounded like a pretty bad death of somebody Annabeth might know and care about?!

Thalia easily swooped in with the comment, "are we finally going to get to hear the smart goddess's ideas go down? We all know her real favorite children are her personal theories."

"Isn't one of those her dislike of me?" Percy played along with a smile. "I can get behind that."

Everyone looked around uncomfortably. Annabeth was a daughter of Athena, and a final stand didn't sound good.

"But the final showdown is always an awesome climactic part of the story," Alex pouted.

"Not when my cousin could nearly die," Magnus huffed.

"Percy didn't even get salty over that line really, I'm positive she's safe," Alex assured he wasn't dismissing anything.

"Hey...we shouldn't jump to conclusions," Silena said.

"The only real demonstration of how often people do jump," Percy grinned.

"Something you should be careful about," Thalia agreed in mock concern. "We still don't know how much air you have to get before you tick Zeus off."

"Note to self, don't join the cheerleading squad and be the flier," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Annabeth isn't the only child of Athena, right?"

Jason still didn't think she'd be thrilled if it was one of her siblings who might take her place, that line really was something to not look forward to.

"But who's this ghost king?" Beckendorf asked.

No one answered. I thought about the Iris-message I'd seen of Nico summoning spirits. I had a bad feeling the prophecy was connected to that.

"Muah?" Nico always looked so surprised Percy even remembered he existed. Of course he would when the creepy bad stuff was all he had to go on.

"Well I didn't think it had anything to do with Mrs. O'Leary," Percy shrugged.

"Are there more lines?" Chiron asked. "The prophecy does not sound complete."

Annabeth hesitated. "I don't remember exactly."

"Liar, liar!" Alex mock started up a cigarette lighter in his hand as if to set Annabeth's pants on fire. He probably really would have if he'd thought it would work underwater.

"I think she's pulling a me," Percy reminded of his first quest, he hadn't exactly been forthcoming with that line about failing to save his mom.

Chiron raised an eyebrow. Annabeth was known for her memory. She never forgot something she heard.

"That sounds exhausting," Thalia looked disturbed she'd even said that even if she knew it to be true.

"I'm over here hoping it's just Percy hyping up his girlfriend more than usual," Magnus said even if he knew it wasn't much of an exaggeration.

"She's not my-" but Percy stopped with a face of brightest red because he still had no idea what Annabeth was to him.

Annabeth shifted on her bench. "Something about...Destroy with a hero's final breath."

"And?" Chiron asked.

She stood. "Look, the point is, I have to go in.

"That sounded cool though!" Alex groaned. "Caterwauling turned into a power! Will, can you do that!"

"Um, no," he looked a little terrified if Alex was going to come over and start prodding him to find out.

"Uff," Alex huffed anyways like he wanted to try.

I'll find the workshop and stop Luke. And...I need help." She turned to me. "Will you come?"

I didn't even hesitate. "I'm in."

"I can't believe she even asked," Jason admitted, "I'm a little concerned about her leadership quality if she's already second guessing the obvious."

"You never know, I might have wanted a nap first and she left me," but Percy couldn't even get through that with a straight face.

She smiled for the first time in days, and that made it all worthwhile.

"Naww," Will cooed like Percy had just told his mother he was meeting Annabeth at the movies and he fought off the very tempting solution of drowning him down here.

"Grover, you too? The wild god is waiting."

Grover seemed to forget how much he hated the underground.

"It's so wholesome how often I can use this book for motivational quotes," Will grinned.

"Right in between the threats to Percy's life, him smarting off to gods, and the monster attacks," Magnus glibly reminded. Will waved off those minor details.

The line about the "lost one" had completely energized him. "I'll pack extra recyclables for snacks!"

"He reminds me of a honeybee, it's like there's no downside to having him around," Jason chuckled.

"I bet the satyrs would love a union from Mr. D.," Percy grinned.

"And Tyson," Annabeth said. "I'll need you too."

"Wait," Magnus frowned, even counting the members again silently on his hand to make sure.

"Hey, I wasn't last pick!" Percy grinned.

"Let alone no pick," Thalia rolled her eyes. "Annabeth isn't crazy enough to think you wouldn't come along anyways, might as well get you over with first."

Her sarcasm didn't dampen his grin by one bit.

"Yay! Blow-things-up time!" Tyson clapped so hard he woke up Mrs. O'Leary, who was dozing in the corner.

"Wait, Annabeth," Chiron said. "This goes against the ancient laws.

"I really want a lawyer to explain these stinking laws to me eventually," Magnus frowned.

"Not a great idea, where Zeus is the judge and I imagine the mix of Latin and Greek would take to long, everybody would just be dead by the end," Nico shook his head.

"I'd be willing to take a crack if anyone would show me a book first," Jason huffed.

"Shush you, nobody needs a showoff," Percy snorted.

A hero is allowed only two companions."

"I bet that one was just invented because of ration supplies or something," Alex scoffed. "Chiron just doesn't want her to cheat and take the whole camp along."

"Ooh, Annabeth is breaking the rules, I get it now," Percy grinned. She was even doing it over him again, making sure he, his brother, and his best friend went!

"Hopefully the consequences of breaking ancient laws isn't cops and jail in this world too," Magnus muttered. Nothing had freaked him out more when he first started learning the ways of the streets than just how trigger-happy people would be with those 911 buttons when they figured out him for what he now was.

"I need them all," she insisted. "Chiron, it's important."

I didn't know why she was so certain,

"I learned already not to question Annabeth about that when she could build actual cities with Legos as toddlers," Magnus snorted at Percy.

"Oh trust me, wasn't questioning it," Percy said.

Nico wondered if he was the only one around here who found the constant praising of Annabeth Chase increasingly annoying.

but I was happy she'd included Tyson. I couldn't imagine leaving him behind. He was huge and strong and great at figuring out mechanical things. Unlike satyrs, Cyclopes had no problem underground.

"Annabeth." Chiron flicked his tail nervously.

"I can't explain why I really love it when he does that," Alex propped his arm on his knee to put his head in his hand as dramatically as possible.

"You would be intrigued with someone twice as deadly as a horse or a human," Magnus frowned.

"Consider well. You would be breaking the ancient laws, and there are always consequences. Last winter, five went on a quest to save Artemis. Only three came back.

None of them had needed that reminder as their hearts sank as fast as Percy's temper did. Annabeth hadn't gotten to know Zoe or Bianca, it was possible that wouldn't have exactly crossed her mind.

Think on that. Three is a sacred number. There are three fates, three furies, three Olympian sons of Kronos. It is a good strong number that stands against many dangers.

Jason hadn't made that joke in a while, but he looked particularly troubled at Annabeth defying ancient laws no matter how many jokes were passed around.

Four...this is risky."

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I know. But we have to. Please."

I could tell Chiron didn't like it. Quintus was studying us, like he was trying to decide which of us would come back alive.

"I swear there's not a single optimist in there except Tyson," Magnus frowned.

"I wouldn't say there's one down here at all, are you volunteering to lose an eyeball for the title?" Alex grinned.

"Um, pass," he promised.

"Will count's as an optimist," Nico offered, causing him to blush.

The two obviously considered for a moment before nodding in agreement, making Will blush all the more and cover his face for a moment.

Chiron sighed. "Very well. Let us adjourn. The members of the quest must prepare themselves. Tomorrow at dawn, we send you into the Labyrinth."

"I do not like the wording of that," Magnus frowned. "Like they're going to shove you in headfirst with spears at your butts."

"We haven't done live sacrifices in weeks," Will insisted. "If anything, it just attracts the monsters."

Nobody else seemed to think that was funny except Nico's chuckle, but Will didn't seem to mind.

"Nobody was going to ask you to not be the optimist Will, chill with the dire jokes," Percy sighed.

Quintus pulled me aside as the council was breaking up.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he told me.

"Oh that's just great, I love hearing the seasoned guy feels just as uneasy about this as I do!" Percy groaned.

Thalia frowned, listening intently to what kind of warning ol' Daedalus would have passed on to Percy.

Mrs. O'Leary came over, wagging her tail happily. She dropped her shield at my feet, and I threw it for her.

"Seriously, I find it hard to believe he's a bad guy," Alex sighed, really wanting to mean it. "He's a dog person! Dog's are great judges of character, and this is like, the dog of all time!"

"Yeah, the one most likely attracted to an evil person," Magnus couldn't help but mutter. He was not a dog person in the slightest. It didn't stop him teaching Alex the sign for dog when he looked at him to try and change the subject.

Quintus watched her romp after it. I remembered what Juniper had said about him scouting out the maze. I didn't trust him, but when he looked at me, I saw real concern in his eyes.

"Concern for what though?" Jason asked shrewdly. Concern Percy would find out Quintus's real plan. Concern whatever Quintus might be up to would be revealed? Concern about Percy and these kids he'd met days ago? It was an endless list of possibilities, and they weren't getting little pop up bubbles of what everyone else was thinking along with Percy to answer.

"I don't like the idea of you going down there," he said. "Any of you. but if you must, I want you to remember something. The Labyrinth exists to fool you. It will distract you. That's dangerous for half-bloods. We are easily distracted."

"That was solid advice," Will grinned. He tried not to put to much cheerfulness in his voice Quintus was trying to be of actual help here in case it tipped Percy off to much, but it was nice he'd even given it a shot rather than writing them off. He'd been trying to help from the start, even in those short times practicing with Percy.

"You've been in there?"

"Long ago." His voice was ragged. "I barely escaped with my life.

"Haven't you guys been going on about history repeating itself a bunch?" Magnus looked to Nico who was most guilty of spouting stats of heroes from Percy's journey. "How short is that cycle exactly? Has Quintus gone and saved a lightning bolt and been in the sea of monsters too?"

"I mean, wouldn't surprise me?" Nico chuckled. "Maybe not that specifically, but you been in the world long enough and you're bound to follow somebody else's footsteps."

Thalia's mouth ticked without humor though. Luke would never find something like that funny, and the fact that this was still her first thought to many years later made her want to pour bleach in her ears.

Most who enter aren't that lucky."

He gripped my shoulder. "Percy, keep your mind on what matters most. If you can do that, you might find the way.

"Well that won't be hard for you," Jason smirked, "do you ever not have Annabeth on your mind."

"I, um," Percy meant to deny it, honestly, but he started blushing and stammering to hard to manage.

And here, I wanted to give you something."

He handed me a little silver tube. It was so cold I almost dropped it.

"Do you use ice as portable water?" Alex smirked.

"They invented cups for that," Percy rolled his eyes.

"A whistle?" I asked.

"A dog whistle," Quintus said. "For Mrs. O'Leary."

"Oooh," Magnus said in understanding. "Throw that thing as far away from you as possible."

"Oh come on, that's seriously cool," Alex insisted.

"You are the last person I need to explain a trap to," Magnus frowned.

"Just because the owner might be evil doesn't mean the dog is!" Alex insisted.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and the whistle will just melt," Jason shivered while waving Thalia to keep going as Percy started looking queasy at once for what the outcome of any of this was.

"Um, thanks, but—"

"How will it work in the maze? I'm not a hundred percent certain it will.

"Is it better or worse he's advertising he's not sure if this will work?" Magnus asked.

"Um, both?" Alex shrugged. "Either he's trying to lull Percy into thinking it won't work or he's being genuine." He looked very annoyed they still didn't have a clear motive for that going in when the journey was going to happen any page now.

But Mrs. O'Leary is a hellhound. She can appear when called, no matter how far away she is. I'd feel better knowing you had this. If you really need help, use it;

"No offense to the cute giant doggy," Percy shifted around uneasily, "but I'm sort of concerned what trouble he think's we're going to get into she'll be able to help." There was an annoying twang going on in his brain trying to give him an answer he didn't like, which was probably why he got no answer, theories or otherwise.

but be careful, the whistle is made of Stygian ice."

"That's a made up word," Jason scoffed.

"All words are made up," Alex grinned.

"It never occurred to me you make things out of ice other than water," Magnus frowned.

"You've clearly never frozen coffee and put it in your coffee," Will shrugged.

"What ice?"

"From the River Styx. Very hard to craft. Very delicate. It cannot melt, but it will shatter when you blow it, so you can only use it once."

"So if you freeze the River Styx it turns into, what did you call it?" Magnus double-checked.

"Stygian ice," Thalia repeated slowly, "and not necessarily. Stygian is a material found in the underworld, and using the River Styx is part of the process to forge it."

She stopped there, that was really all she knew of it. Magnus watched Nico curiously for more, and Alex and Jason both had hungry looks on their faces for the same, but he didn't volunteer it, instead gripping his sword. He wasn't really so convinced anymore they'd all think him a freak the second he started talking in detail about Underworld stuff, but the story of how he'd gotten his sword was still a bit private.

I thought about Luke, my old enemy. Right before I'd gone on my first quest, Luke had given me a gift, too—magic shoes that had been designed to drag me to my death.

"Trust me, we remember," Jason still had half a mind to go around barefoot after that nightmare if he found out his shoes were a gift from someone.

"I hope that doesn't mean you refuse to accept help again though," Will sighed, "Luke was a bad example."

Percy thumped his pen against his forehead rather than answer. He liked to think of himself as a trusting kind of guy until he had a reason not to, but there was something about Quintus he couldn't quite zero in on.

Quintus seemed nice. So concerned. And Mrs. O'Leary liked him, which had to count for something. She dropped the slimy shield at my feet and barked excitedly.

"Dog's aren't the best judge of character when you can bribe them," Magnus huffed.

"And cats judge everybody as assholes or food dispensers, so let's just agree not to use animals for this," Alex chuckled.

"The alternative is obviously pigs, Percy's had great experience with those," Thalia smirked while Percy non-so quietly threatened to summon that boar back on her.

I felt ashamed that I could even think about mistrusting Quintus. But then again, I'd trusted Luke once.

Those kinds of reminders always wiped the smiles right off of everybody's face. Percy had been through far to much already for someone going through puberty while he was at it.

"Thanks," I told Quintus. I slipped the freezing whistle into my pocket, promising myself that I would never use it, and I dashed off to find Annabeth.

"How good are you at keeping promises though?" Percy couldn't tell how much Jason was kidding as he asked.

"I think of myself as a man of my word," but Percy sounded just as unsure of himself. There was already a bad feeling like that whistle had frozen his butt cheeks together he clenched up so tight in pain over what had entailed there.

"He once promised Grover he could walk him home and then ditched him," Alex helpfully reminded.

"He made quite a few promises to Tyson though about being accepted and those worked out," Will grinned.

"We are not having a debate over my impulsive mouth if you guys won't stop laughing at the rest of the results," Percy swiftly cut in before that could escalate.

As long as I'd been at camp, I'd never been inside the Athena cabin.

Alex immediately gave him a wolf whistle while Magnus mock groaned and covered his ears for what that was implying.

Percy chucked a bit of his seaweed beanbag at Alex through his blush quite well.

It was a silvery building, nothing fancy, with plain white curtains and a carved stone owl over the doorway. The owl's onyx eyes seemed to follow me as I walked closer.

"Please don't have Athena place some kind of curse on you over this," Jason wrapped his fingers together in hope.

"Please don't let one of Annabeth's siblings make that final stand against me right now," Percy twitched over the idea of losing somebody's bookmark somehow ending in decapitation.

"Hello?" I called inside.

Nobody answered. I stepped in and caught my breath. The place was a workshop for brainiac kids. The bunks were all pushed against one wall as if sleeping didn't matter very much. Most of the room was filled with workbenches and tables and sets of tools and weapons. The back of the room was a huge library crammed with old scrolls and leather-bound books and paperbacks. There was and architect's drafting table with a bunch of rulers and protractors, and some 3-D models of buildings. Huge old war maps were plastered to the ceiling. Sets of armor hung under the windows, their bronze plates glinting in the sun.

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Magnus grinned in surprise how well it seemed he might fit into that cabin.

"And you were making faces at me while you're over here making dick jokes," Alex smirked, causing them both to laugh none-to-quietly to everybody else's complete confusion.

Annabeth stood in the back of the room, rifling through old scrolls.

"Knock, knock?" I said.

She turned with a start. "Oh...hi. Didn't hear you."

"We should almost be grateful she isn't here sometimes," Will chuckled. "The amount of times she's gotten engrossed in her reading and been snuck up on has landed to many kids to count in the infirmary."

"So she'd be the best at ignoring all of the constant interruptions?" Percy grinned. "I always knew she would have been the best one to be reading these."

"Shush you," Thalia sighed, "nobody needs to hear more of your constant praises on how perfect she is."

"I'm not, I mean I didn't-" Percy tried to stammer some defense while turning a whole new shade of red while Thalia laughed remorselessly and kept going.

"You okay?"

She frowned at the scroll in her hands. "Just trying to do some research. Daedalus's Labyrinth is so huge. None of the stories agree about anything. The maps just lead from nowhere to nowhere."

"Then why would they keep those maps," Jason looked offended at this uselessness.

"Decoration. Some kid in there might be a cartographer and using it as a bad example?" Nico shrugged.

I thought about what Quintus had said, how the maze tries to distract you.

I wondered if Annabeth knew that already.

"My money's on yes," Magnus said with pride.

"You never know, self-proclaimed geniuses are the worst about that whole missing the forest for the trees thing," Alex said. "Best to say it just in case."

"She's not a self-proclaimed anything," Percy rolled his eyes. He'd known that look of doubt on her face the moment he'd walked in. She was no more confident of this quest than he was, and he had proof he lived through it. There was something about that prophecy that had her worried even before they set out on this deadly trek.

"We'll figure it out," I promised.

Her hair had come loose and was hanging in a tangled blond curtain all around her face. Her gray eyes looked almost black.

"I've wanted to lead a quest since I was seven," she said.

"And all I wanted at that age was world peace," Magnus muttered. His cousin had led such a drastically different life from him he worried every other hour if she'd be half as excited to see him.

"You're going to do awesome."

She looked at me gratefully,

Percy wanted nothing more than to etch that moment into stone and never forget it again. His crush and their teasing and his own fear of never getting back to her aside all tied together still couldn't make him regret for a second he'd given her just a moment of peace.

but then stared down at all the books and scrolls she'd pulled from the shelves. "I'm worried, Percy. Maybe I shouldn't have asked you to do this. Or Tyson or Grover."

"Hey, we're your friends. We wouldn't miss it."

"Literally," Thalia snorted. "I'm kind of terrified of the anxiety inducing consequences if she'd dared to tell you not to come."

Alex put on a weirdly good impression of Percy's voice. "I can't let her do this alone, I have to help! But this is Annabeth, she told me not to, but she's perfectly capable and she knows what she's doing!" By the end he had each hand up arguing with each other finger to finger.

"There's a sock puppet competition out there missing their best competitor," Percy said, unimpressed.

"But..." She stopped herself.

"What is it?" I asked. "The prophecy?"

"I'm sure it's fine," she said in a small voice.

It felt like a hole was in Percy's side. A missing piece where Annabeth should be, resting against him, that no cold draft of the ocean could ever compare against now as he took an unsteady breath and tucked his arm around nothing.

"What was the last line?"

Then she did something that really surprised me. She blinked back tears and put out her arms.

I stepped forward and hugged her. Butterflies started turning my stomach into a mosh pit.

"What song were you playing?" Thalia asked with interest.

"Help!" Percy said in the tiniest voice. There had been no hesitation in him though as he'd pulled her in close, his fingers tangled up in her hair on the back of her neck, his arm drawing tight around her back. The only person he'd ever hugged, or been hugged by before was his mom. He'd returned the gesture on Annabeth without a second thought no matter their height difference or what her hair smelled like or how much it tickled as her breath had puffed across his neck where he found his fingers lingering now. 

When he closed his eyes, he could feel it all so vividly. When they snapped open upon Thalia reading, he felt a cold rush as if she'd been snatched away all over again.

"Hey, it's...it's okay." I patted her back.

I was aware of everything in the room. I felt like I could read the tiniest print on any book on the shelves. Annabeth's hair smelled like lemon soap.

She was shivering.

Thalia made her own humming noise of concern in the back of her throat. Moments like this, of not being there for her anymore made her jealousy of Percy a little more potent than usual. She'd once been that shoulder for her sister, now she was off in corners of the world while she was scared and clinging to someone Annabeth could have possibly lost again. The girl had gone through to much of that already in her life to deserve this lingering fear.

"Chiron might be right," she muttered. "I'm breaking the rules.

"And I still wholeheartedly approve of this," Alex said with the defiance of facing down a god. "No ancient rules, customs, or traditions should ever stop her from making the best decision in saving this entire camp's life!"

Will pursed up his lips to hold back how much he might agree otherwise if it wasn't for the state Annabeth had come back to camp in, alone. She'd truly believed this decision had gotten Percy killed, distraught and regret didn't begin to cover it all on her feelings of tempting fate.

But I don't know what else to do. I need you three. It just feels right."

"Then don't worry about it," I managed. "We've had plenty of problems before, and we solved them."

"With a high degree of success," but Jason had an uneasy brow raised. He'd never been a fan of these Greek kids being all willy-nilly about their interactions with the gods, and didn't have any more of a good feeling about how they were now flaunting primordial rules.

"This is different. I don't want anything happening to...any of you."

Behind me, somebody cleared his throat.

It was one of Annabeth's half-brothers, Malcolm. His face was bright red.

"And they were just hugging," Alex snorted. "You've scared that poor teenager from life against so much as getting caught holding hands lest his siblings walk in on that."

The others gave a mild chuckle, but Nico swallowed a dry, dusty throat. Even the idea of imagining hugging Percy sent off warning bells in his head like someone was going to condemn him for the thought. He glanced guiltily at Will and away, it certainly hadn't felt like an evil, bad thing to almost fall asleep next to him, practically on top of him...but gods did his stomach feel likely to explode at the idea of anyone seeing that.

"Um, sorry," he said. "Archery practice is starting, Annabeth. Chiron said to come find you."

"I have a really bad feeling he has a sixth sense about letting any of the campers sneak off," Magnus muttered, though in his cousin's particular case he might be a little grateful for this if Percy ever digested those butterflies.

I stepped away from Annabeth. "We were just looking at maps," I said stupidly.

"It was a special magic map that one could only see after enacting an ancient ritual of-" Jason couldn't finish and broke off laughing. Percy waved his hand indulgently for them all to get in on the laughter now, he'd take it all to feel that warmth linger a bit longer where Annabeth couldn't be.

Malcolm stared at me. "Okay."

"Tell Chiron I'll be right there," Annabeth said, and Malcom left in a hurry.

Annabeth rubbed her eyes. "You go ahead, Percy. I'd better get ready for archery."

I nodded, feeling more confused than I ever had in my life. I wanted to run from the cabin...but then again I didn't.

"Run in circles," Will offered oh so helpfully.

"I keep telling you I'm not a guinea pig anymore!" Percy groaned in exasperation.

"Annabeth?" I said. "About your prophecy. The line about a hero's last breath—"

"You're wondering which hero? I don't know."

"No. Something else. I was thinking the last line usually rhymes with the one before it. Was it something about—did it end in the word death?"

"Look at you, knowing how to rhyme things," Alex applauding him was definitely mocking.

"It could have been any number of things." Magnus nodded in mock agreement. "Meth, maybe somebody has a drug problem, or maybe Macbeth, we already know you might have some problems with ghosts, or maybe it was Annabeth, and the line was, oh but you'll be fine Annabeth!"

"I'll ask my dad if he'll take notes on any of those suggestions for the future," Will snickered while Percy resisted the urge to roll his eyes, they probably would have gone blood shot from trying if he weren't in the ocean.

Annabeth stared down at her scrolls. "You'd better go, Percy. Get ready for the quest. I'll—I'll see you in the morning."

I left her there, staring at maps that led from nowhere to nowhere; but I couldn't shake the feeling that one of us wasn't going to come back from this quest alive.

"I don't like your feelings anymore!" Magnus yelped with such a crack to his voice it sounded painful.

"Thalia? Thalia that one wasn't true, right!" Percy looked seconds away from shaking her to get an answer. His gut reactions had nearly always been right in the past.

Thalia twisted the links on her bracelet up, nearly pinching one of her fingers off as she tried to figure out how to answer him. "Percy, you got to trust me when I say it all works out." She hated giving that answer as much as Percy was tired of hearing it though, and thrust the book towards Nico to keep going so nobody had to linger on that longer than they had to.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 4: WE PLAY TAG WITH SCORPIONS

"Relax Will," Nico finally said casually enough while Percy ungracefully balanced on one foot. "If what they said bothered me, I'd tell them." As much as it still surprised him Will did it at all, Percy would never stop seeing him as a kid if Will kept this up.

Percy cautiously put his foot down instead of pretending he was a flamingo and began his cautious walk to get the book from Alex.

Will wasn't so sure, Nico spent to much time bottling up everything, the guy was like a pincushion for everybody else to put their problems in.

Percy was wandering back over to his seat with the book like the instance had already left his mind, and he shared why as he read the new chapter title with a wince for getting five minute glimpses into the next thing he'd be dealing with. "Haven't I had enough of these things?" He groaned, waving his hand around so the old scar of his last interaction with a scorpion would have been on display if it was still there. "I really hope I'm not it!"

"I bet they're cheaters anyways," Alex sniffed.

"It does seem a little unfair to you, playing against someone with so many extra legs," Magnus agreed, trying his hardest to mind wave away the obvious deadly aspects of this game like a champ. He was almost succeeding. "Hopefully you don't try playing jax with ambidextrous people too."

"His brother played fetch with a hellhound earlier that week," Thalia needlessly reminded. "It's good to see him branching out, trying new games."

"How do you think ISpy with a cyclops would go?" Jason grinned. "Is his vision better than yours because his brain doesn't have to filter twice as much?"

Percy groaned loudly and started reading.

The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast.

"I didn't realize your dreams were such high class news," Thalia snickered.

"Obviously we all got super excited hearing Nico's alive," Will said as dramatically as possible.

"It's probably because they all heard Quintus beat Percy's butt in sword practice and are all a flutter about it," Jason chuckled.

Percy kept reading loudly over them, knowing full well they wouldn't take the hint.

Apparently around three in the morning an Aethiopian drakon had been spotted at the borders of camp. I was so exhausted I slept right through the noise.

"I will never get over dragon or drakon attacks being normal," Magnus sighed.

"And I will never get used to their eyes," Will agreed, those disturbing, yellow, soleless slits.

The magical boundaries had kept the monster out, but it prowled the hills, looking for weak spots in our defenses, and it didn't seem anxious to go away until Lee Fletcher from Apollo's cabin led a couple of his siblings in pursuit. After a few dozen arrows lodged in the chinks of the drakon's armor, it got the message and withdrew.

"It's still out there," Lee warned us during announcements. "Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. It's eyes—" he shuddered.

"You did well, Lee," Chiron patted him on the shoulder. "Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before."

"Exactly how many times have you guys been attacked by dragons?" Alex asked with intrigue.

"Hey, that's my line," Jason smirked.

"More than enough," Will assured them both. "We have one of those, It's Been Blank Days Since Our Last Attack, signs up on the side of the Big House. Last I saw it, I think it was 37, but Gavin forgets to erase those sometimes."

Magnus looked ready to go into a corner and pray for his sanity to stay intact.

"Aye," Quintus said from the head table. "And it will happen again. More and more frequently."

The campers murmured among themselves.

Everyone knew the rumors: Luke and his army of monsters were planning an invasion of the camp. Most of us expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn't help that our attendance was down. We only had about eighty campers. Three years ago, when I'd started, there had been more than a hundred. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared.

Will shifted around restlessly in place. Names didn't always have a face attached anymore, and visa versa. There had just been to many to keep track of, and most hadn't bothered to try. The jumble got confusing, sickening if he tried to think of them all to long.

"You okay?" Nico asked quietly beside him.

"Not really," he admitted restlessly. Percy wasn't a year around camper to know the half of it.

Nico considered for a moment, but absolutely nothing had freaked out Will yet, this probably wouldn't. "There's a list in my dad's realm, of all those who have passed through camp. Would you want to see it?"

"Yeah!" Will grinned. It was an expression Nico was getting used to seeing. He should probably stop that.

"This is a good reason for new war games," Quintus continued, a glint in his eyes. "We'll see how you all do with that tonight."

"Which will involve scorpions, and tagging," Percy needlessly reminded, but they hadn't been there to see how the excitement from Quintus had made them all a bit uneasy.

"I'm imagining you with a can of spray paint and it's going to be disastrous and awesome," Thalia snickered.

"Yes..." Chiron said. "Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat." He raised his goblet. "To the gods."

We all raised our glasses and repeated the blessing.

Tyson and I took our plates to the bronze brazier and scraped a portion of our food into the flames. I hoped the gods liked raisin toast and Froot Loops.

"I bet it's Mr. D's favorite," Nico smirked.

Percy sniffed, "He doesn't get a sacrifice, he's right there."

"Do his kids come up and just dump their portion of food onto his plate?" Magnus asked with interest.

"It's meant to be a general offering to all the gods, we try to avoid playing favorites," Will corrected. "Nobody wants Zeus showing up complaining Dionysus's punishment isn't going well if that happened."

Percy shivered at just the thought.

"Poseidon," I said.

"What?" Percy grinned at all the blank looks as he instantly disregarded what Will said. "It's my sacrifice, and my dad is usually the only god I regularly think about, let alone like."

Will still flinched like he expected to hear a clap of thunder in the distance for Percy's usual insolence.

Then I whispered, "Help me with Nico, and Luke, and Grover's problem..."

There was so much to worry about I could've stood there all morning, but I headed back to the table.

"The last time you were at that brazier, you got what you asked for," Jason reminded confidently. "You asked for help, and I'm not sure I believe in the coincidence you got a baby Cyclops for a brother that same school year."

"Yeah," Percy agreed just a little more hopefully than usual. It was true, his dad might be cryptic and long distance to the extreme, but he'd yet really let Percy down.

Once everyone was eating, Chiron and Grover came over to visit. Grover was bleary-eyed. His shirt was inside out. He slid his plate onto the table and slumped next to me.

"Grover needs a nap," Will said with absolute confidence.

"It doesn't sound like he even woke up first," Magnus said in concern.

"Fingers crossed Percy doesn't greet him by telling him how awful he looks," Jason muttered.

Tyson shifted uncomfortably. "I will go...um...polish my fish ponies."

He lumbered off, leaving his breakfast half-eaten.

Percy not-so-subtly readjusted the book and would later deny to anyone who asked the plate had been clean when it was whisked away.

Chiron tried for a smile. He probably wanted to look reassuring, but in centaur form he towered over me, casting a shadow across the table. "Well, Percy, how did you sleep?"

"Uh, fine." I wondered why he asked that. Was it possible he knew something about the weird Iris-message I'd gotten?

"Chiron doesn't know about every Iris Message in and out of camp does he?" Alex demanded. "That's a weird invasion of privacy."

"Can't blame him for keeping an eye on communications," Will uneasily reminded, though it hadn't stopped the spy by any means. It shut up Alex though, for now.

"I brought Grover over," Chiron said, "because I thought you two might want to, ah, discuss matters. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Irismessages to send. I'll see you later in the day." He gave Grover a meaningful look, then trotted out of the pavilion.

"Subtle as a kick to the face," Thalia snorted.

"What's he talking about?" I asked Grover.

Grover chewed his eggs. I could tell he was distracted, because he bit the tines of his fork and chewed those down, too.

"Mixing dessert and breakfast, that's a new one," Alex snorted.

"Nobody can ever accuse these guys of not getting enough of, anything in their system," Magnus agreed.

"He wants you to convince me," he mumbled.

Percy wasn't the only one who shifted his weight around uncomfortably. Why was this all suddenly so important and everybody was gung-ho to talk about the thing clearly terrifying Grover?!

Somebody else slid next to me on the bench: Annabeth.

Percy gazed blearily down at that sentence like he suddenly needed glasses.

"Sometimes I think Annabeth went out of her way to break the rules for you," Will laughed at his dumbstruck expression. "She couldn't have come to you before breakfast or right after, no, she had to do this now."

"Sounds like our girl, why sit on something that needs doing," Thalia agreed with pride.

"I'll tell you what it's about," she said. "The Labyrinth."

"A fancy maze?" Magnus asked.

"It's not a hedge maze is it?" Alex asked with equal parts concern and intrigue.

It was hard to concentrate on what she was saying, because everybody in the dining pavilion was stealing glances at us and whispering. And Annabeth was right next to me. I mean right next to me.

Thalia slammed their beanbags together, then threw her arm over his shoulder and pressed right into his side like they all needed a demonstration, though Annabeth had never had such a shit-eating grin on her face, and Percy certainly hadn't shoved her back away with a roll of his eyes.

"You're not supposed to be here," I said.

"And a good morning to you too," Will sniffed.

"We need to talk," she insisted.

"But the rules..."

She knew as well as I did that campers weren't allowed to switch tables.

Satyrs were different. They weren't really demigods. But the half-bloods had to sit with their cabins. I wasn't even sure what the punishment was for switching tables. I'd never seen it happen. If Mr. D had been here, he probably would've strangled Annabeth with magical grapevines or something, but Mr. D wasn't here. Chiron had already left the pavilion.

"Now I'm just imagining Athena showing up and lecturing you and her on proper etiquette," Magnus shivered.

"Or Zeus finally having an excuse to throw a thunderbolt at you Poseidon couldn't get mad about," Jason said uneasily.

Quintus looked over and raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything.

"Nice, you got a cool teacher at least," Alex grinned.

"Look," Annabeth said, "Grover is in trouble. There's only one way we can figure to help him. It's the Labyrinth. That's what Clarisse and I have been investigating."

"Cool!" Jason blurted like somebody was waving a new dictionary under his nose. "What is that!" They certainly said Labyrinth like it was 'a thing' in the same way they did Mount Olympus.

"Bet you Percy's going to have to have it explained to him," Thalia smirked.

Percy stuck his tongue out at the pair, even knowing he couldn't argue the point.

I shifted my weight, trying to think clearly.

Her hair had still been damp from a morning shower. It had smelled like lemons, a fresh, crisp scent not to pungent. The ocean breeze always came in heavily and had been wiping her blonde hair into his face, and he kept absently brushing at nothing in here now.

"You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"

"You say that like it's a casual thing people should know about," Magnus reminded.

"I'd offer you my old Latin notes from class, but I think Grover ate them on that bus ride," Percy shrugged. "Basically there was this king, and he pissed off my dad, something to do with a bull I think, and so he cursed his wife to fall in love with a bull, feel free to-"

"Ewww," Magnus was already happily telling him.

"Yeah, that." Percy nodded, "old Greek myths are full of that response. So, he now had a half-bull child as an heir, and he stuck him in the Labyrinth, which was supposed to be the greatest and most complicated maze ever or something and his whole kingdom feared him for it." He finished, feeling rather proud even knowing he'd forgotten plenty of details didn't stop him from giving a very superior look at Thalia and Jason for actually being the one to explain that for a change.

"It's moments like this I really get how you got that C on your test," Thalia shook her head affectionately. He got the highlights anyways.

"C+," he robustly insisted. "Best grade of my life!"

"Exactly," Annabeth said.

"So...it's not under the king's palace in Crete anymore," I guessed. "The Labyrinth is under some building in America."

See? It only took me a few years to figure things out. I knew that important places moved around with Western Civilization, like Mount Olympus being over the Empire State building, and the Underworld entrance being in Los Angeles. I was feeling pretty proud of myself.

"This is the part where Annabeth calls him an idiot?" Jason asked Thalia casually.

"This is the part where Annabeth calls him an idiot," Thalia nodded.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Under a building? Please, Percy. The Labyrinth is huge. It wouldn't fit under a single city, much less a single building."

"Close enough," they snickered together.

I thought about my dream of Nico at the River Styx. "So...is the Labyrinth part of the Underworld?"

"No." Annabeth frowned. "Well, there may be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld. I'm not sure.

Nico's smile was answer enough, and they all had to repress a collective shiver just how many layers were usually under their feet ready to kill them.

But the Underworld is way, way down. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, kind of like a second skin.

"It's a sewer system?" Alex asked in disgust.

"You are not entirely wrong on that assessment, people tend to shit themselves frequently down there," Nico nodded.

It's been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth."

"Technically anybody can walk anywhere, they don't need a maze to do it, just plenty of time," Magnus said uneasily, clearly knowing he was missing something.

"It's a Mist thing," Will shook his head as he cautioned. "You could walk in at New York, take a right, and pop out at Albuquerque in five minutes, or you could wander in one side of North Texas and pop out on the Mexican border and be gone for a month. There is zero rhyme or reason to it unless you have a guide."

"I'm guessing breadcrumbs won't do you much good down there," Alex, as usual, sounded way to intrigued about something so obviously deadly. Thalia contemplated the Norse kids curiously, and then eyed Jason. They were, different. Did the Mist affect them the same way it did them? Would they need Rachel as a guide?

"If you don't get lost," Grover muttered. "And die a horrible death."

"Technically you can do that anywhere," Nico shrugged.

"What's the most boring place you've heard of someone dying in?" Alex asked as if this were a matter of life and death.

Nico hesitated to answer. He was the one who had said something, Alex maybe wasn't just asking this of him because he was the Death kid...hopefully. He had to think about it for a moment before he offered, "pillow factory? I thought the ghost was kidding about that one."

There was no interrogation, no screaming and shivering he spoke to ghosts. Alex threw his head back and laughed, and Nico couldn't help but smile along. It was still so weird he was treated, normally down here. If Percy hadn't kept reading when he subsided into giggles with his own surprised chuckle, Nico was pretty sure he could have just kept talking about all the strange things he'd said to ghosts over the years and nobody would have batted an eye.

"Grover, there has to be a way," Annabeth said. I got the feeling they'd had this conversation before.

Percy grumbled for a moment, trying not to feel left out this had all been going on without him. The alternative was having to give up time with his mom though while listening to an apparently circular argument, so nothing of this sounded like a win.

"Clarisse lived."

"Barely!" Grover said. "And the other guy—"

"He was driven insane. He didn't die."

"And we have Annabeth, for the technicality win," Magnus groaned as he rubbed his eyes. His cousin really needed to work on her encouragement skills.

"I think she's got the right spirit, all societies have their niche place for the crazies," Jason grinned.

Thalia and Percy exchanged equally concerned and curious looks what on Earth was in Jason's past none of them had a clue about.

"Oh, joy." Grover's lower lip quivered. "That makes me feel much better."

"Whoa," I said. "Back up. What's this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?"

"I assume any guy around Clarisse goes crazy in a not to short period of time," Percy said fairly.

Will made a noise of discomfort in the back of his throat only Nico heard. Something in Nico ticked, a dormant idea he hadn't acted on in...years. He watched Will in concern, he wanted to ask what about that had caused something unpleasant in his mind. Like a normal person might do if they noticed their friend was upset.

Annabeth glanced over toward the Ares table. Clarisse was watching us like she knew what we were talking about, but then she fixed her eyes on her breakfast plate.

"Last year," Annabeth said, lowering her voice, "Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron."

"I remember," I said. "It was secret."

"You only remember because it was secret," Jason rolled his eyes.

"If we tried to keep your homework a secret from you, you might ace it," Thalia smacked the side of her head.

"Don't hold your breath," he scoffed at her.

Annabeth nodded. Despite how serious she was acting, I was happy she wasn't mad at me anymore. And I kind of liked the fact that she'd broken the rules to come sit next to me.

"Magnus, I think Percy has a crush on your cousin," Alex informed him in a grand voice of announcing top news.

"I'm not the one you need to break that news to," Magnus snorted as Percy wavered back and forth in front of them of dreamy, smiling dope and a giant question mark for a face as his brain seemed at war with himself over this.

"It was secret," Annabeth agreed, "because she found Chris Rodriguez."

"That guy from Luke's ship?" Jason easily recalled. He wasn't even a camper, but the sting of betrayal and the gut-punching understanding of why there were other half-bloods on Luke's side was still vivid in his mind.

Will flinched like Jason had slapped him. Chris would loathe that's how he'd be remembered by these guys when all was said and done. Clarisse might decapitate Jason if he ever said that around them. None of which came close to how much that hurt him to think about. Had Luke known he was sending his own half-brother off to die and not even cared?

"The guy from the Hermes cabin?" I remembered him from two years ago.

We'd eavesdropped on Chris Rodriguez aboard Luke's ship, the Princess Andromeda. Chris was one of the half-bloods who'd abandoned camp and joined the Titan Army.

Percy wished his own brain would stop giving discount flashbacks. Having to live through it once had been enough, twice was going to cause his head to cave in. The third blips of looking back felt like salt in the wound, a feeling he wasn't sure he'd experienced outside of this.

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "Last summer he just appeared in Phoenix, Arizona, near Clarisse's mom's house."

"I have, so many questions," Jason admitted. Clarisse was a year around Camper, how had her mom contacted her to tell her this? Why did it feel so on point the desert was her home? What the heck were the odds of that?

"You won't be getting many answers," Percy already said in exasperation. If he ever got one answer out of anybody he considered it a success.

"What do you mean he just appeared?"

"He was wandering around the desert, in a hundred and twenty degrees, in full Greek armor, babbling about string."

"None of that makes anybody inherently crazy," Alex sniffed. "People have their own hobbies."

"I think I'll stick to skateboarding," Percy said.

"String," I said.

"He'd been driven completely insane. Clarisse brought him back to her mom's house so the mortals wouldn't institutionalize him. She tried to nurse him back to health. Chiron came out and interviewed him, but it wasn't much good. The only thing they got out of him: Luke's men have been exploring the Labyrinth."

The feeling of sandpaper being rubbed over their face would have hurt less. Wasn't Luke's whole argument the gods didn't care about their kids enough? And then here was this guy, who'd apparently been driven mad and abandoned by whatever Luke was up to.

Percy's anger was trying to shake loose inside him at it all. The last three times he'd faced Luke, he hadn't been able to do a thing to him. He owed Luke a good ass kicking just for the principle of his stupid, defective army all being hypocrites and monsters!

I shivered, though I wasn't exactly sure why.

"The idea of being out of your mind, alone, in a desert, is enough to make anyone shiver," Will assured.

"Let alone the string," Jason added dubiously.

Poor Chris...he hadn't been a bad guy. What could've driven him mad? I looked at Grover, who was chewing up the rest of his fork.

"I can see how that would make someone a little confused about the world," Magnus raised his hand in agreement. He'd never seen it in person and it made his brain hurt a little to imagine it, as well as his jaw.

Percy snickered at the doofus, breaking a bit of the tension.

"Okay," I asked. "Why were they exploring the Labyrinth?"

"We weren't sure," Annabeth said. "That's why Clarisse went on a scouting expedition. Chiron kept things hushed up because he didn't want anyone panicking. He got me involved because...well, the Labyrinth has always been one of my favorite subjects. The architecture involved—" Her expression turned a little dreamy. "The builder, Daedalus, was a genius.

"I think I found Annabeth's role model," Magnus snorted.

The troubled look on Nico's face practically telegraphed the message that wasn't going to stay a great thing.

But the point is, the Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed."

"Except it's a maze, right?"

"Full of horrible traps," Grover agreed. "Dead ends. Illusions. Psychotic goat-killing monsters."

"What was that last one?" Thalia grinned.

"Illusions, very tricky, but some mortals can pull those off," Percy said innocently.

"Surely he meant the dead ends. I guess he's not a fan of cul-de-sacs." Jason smirked, before they burst out laughing.

"But not if you had Ariadne's string," Annabeth said. "In the old days, Ariadne's string guided Theseus out of the maze. It was a navigation instrument of some kind, invented by Daedalus. And Chris Rodriguez was mumbling about string."

"So Luke is trying to find Ariadne's string," I said. "Why? What's he planning?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know. I thought maybe he wanted to invade camp through the maze, but that doesn't make any sense. The closest entrances Clarisse found were in Manhattan, which wouldn't help Luke get past our borders.

"She just said there are entrances all over the place," Jason protested. "My first thought would be this camp having a backdoor."

Percy shivered, and Will tried his best to laugh off, "right, yeah, kids just fall off the face of Camp in one spot and we never noticed." Which did nothing to erase the dubious looks he got as that seemed exactly what was happening around there.

Clarisse explored a little way into the tunnels, but...it was very dangerous. She had some close calls. I researched everything I could find about Daedalus. I'm afraid it didn't help much. I don't understand exactly what Luke's planning, but I do know this: the Labyrinth might be the key to Grover's problem."

It took a second for their brains to rewire back to what had started this conversation.

"How could a god be lost in a maze?" Magnus shook his head. "Let alone a nature god? Mazes are, um, natural. Kind of?"

"But this maze isn't," Alex reminded with interest. "Annabeth said Daedalus made it? Some powerful Greek architect that made his own living, deadly maze. If a nature god got sucked in that, it would explain why nobody ever found him."

"How did the Minotaur get out though?" Jason frowned.

"Monsters don't respawn where they're most popular," Nico shook his head. "He was killed by Theseus in the Labyrinth, when he came back out of Tartarus, he could have wound up anywhere."

Percy was getting a bull sized headache trying to follow along with them like his mind was trapped in its own maze of where one thought ended and another began that wouldn't make any sense.

I blinked. "You think Pan is underground?"

"It would explain why he's been impossible to find."

Grover shuddered. "Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!"

"That just sounds like a regular Tuesday at a the dentists office." Magnus shrugged. Everything there was plastic and fake. Even if he was right, the others still gave him a strange look for it.

"Proving my point," Alex said in exasperation. "Obviously nobody's found him in the place they haven't looked yet!"

"But," Annabeth said, "the Labyrinth can lead you almost anywhere. It reads your thoughts. It was designed to fool you, trick you and kill you; but if you can make the Labyrinth work for you—"

"It could lead you to the wild god," I said.

"I can't do it." Grover hugged his stomach. "Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up my silverware."

"I can't even blame him after his time as a betrothed," Percy said, but his mind was a blank on any other way for him.

"Whatever happened about Cloudcroft?" Jason wheedled. "Maybe there's an entrance there and Grover's just got to get a shovel to help Pan get out?"

"Or he was just passing under there lost and could be in Connecticut by the time that pig showed up," Percy said with only the vaguest of confidence that's how that place worked.

"Grover, it may be your last chance," Annabeth said. "The council is serious. One week or you learn to tap dance!"

"At least he wouldn't have to buy those expensive shoes," Magnus grinned weakly. "His hooves probably pass as those in the Mist more often than not."

"I really hope the Mist works on me just so I can experience that life," Alex chuckled.

Over at the head table, Quintus cleared his throat. I got the feeling he didn't want to make a scene, but Annabeth was really pushing it, sitting at my table so long.

Thalia shook her head affectionately at her little sister. She'd always been doing her own thing no matter what anybody wanted of her, and if she hadn't said her peace, Quintus would have had to use Mrs. O'Leary to drag her away.

"We'll talk later," Annabeth squeezed my arm a little too hard. "Convince him, will you?"

She returned to the Athena table, ignoring all the people who were staring at her.

"The girls a bit of an icon for that," Alex grinned.

Magnus had a troubling moment realizing how well Alex and Annabeth might get along and what chaos that would bring.

Grover buried his head in his hands. "I can't do it, Percy. My searcher's license. Pan. I'm going to lose it all. I'll have to start a puppet theater."

"A tap dancing puppet theater," Will looked pretty interested. "Think he'd still consider that nowadays?"

"I feel like that falls into plan L no matter how this worked out for him," Percy shrugged.

"Don't say that! We'll figure something out."

He looked at me teary-eyed. "Percy, you're my best friend. You've seen me underground. In that Cyclops's cave. Do you really think I could..."

His voice faltered. I remembered the Sea of Monsters, when he'd been stuck in a Cyclops's cave. He'd never liked underground places to begin with, but now Grover really hated them. Cyclopes gave him the creeps, too. Even Tyson...Grover tried to hide it, but Grover and I could sort of read each other's emotions because of this empathy link between us. I knew how he felt. Grover was terrified of the big guy.

"I have to leave," Grover said miserably. "Juniper's waiting for me. It's a good thing she finds cowards attractive."

"See, now was that so hard," Percy at least finally felt a sense of relief even as miserable as he'd been watching Grover abjectly go off. "Finally, an explanation!"

"All it took was Annabeth breaking the rules and Grover nearly throwing up silverware," Will shrugged, "it's no wonder they were putting it off.

After he was gone, I looked over at Quintus. He nodded gravely, like we were sharing some dark secret. Then he went back to cutting his sausage with a dagger.

"I seriously need this guy's backstory," Jason muttered. That really wasn't even in the top one hundred weirdest things they'd yet heard someone doing in these books, but the guy still struck him as odd the more he was mentioned around camp.

In the afternoon, I went down to the Pegasus stables to visit my friend Blackjack.

Yo, boss! He capered around in his stall, his black wings buffeting the air.

Ya bring me some sugar cubes?

"You know those aren't good for you, Blackjack."

Yeah, so you brought me some, huh?

I smiled and fed him a handful.

"Percy, the other pegasus are going to think you have a favorite," Thalia tried and failed at a scold.

"I love all of them equally," Percy said at once, before he blushed and even glanced at his hand like he was hoping their names were written down there before he gave it up and loudly kept reading.

Blackjack and I went back a long way. I sort of helped rescue him from Luke's demon cruise ship a few years ago,

"Your memory sure likes to exaggerate just how little you were involved in that," Nico smirked. "Last time you swore you had practically nothing to do with it, now you're saying you sort of helped."

"I don't know what you're talking about, you said the same thing twice," Percy insisted with a straight face.

Will fought hard to hide a laugh behind his hand and he failed miserably as he said, "he's probably going to go back to camp and tell everybody how he only mildly tried to kill us accidentally a few times."

"You say that like it's a lie," Percy insisted around a guilty wince.

and ever since, he insisted on repaying me with favors.

So we got any quests coming up? Blackjack asked. I'm ready to fly, boss!

I patted his nose. "Not sure, man. Everybody keeps talking about underground mazes."

Blackjack whinnied nervously. Nuh-uh. Not for this horse! You aint gonna be crazy enough to go in no maze, boss. Are ya? You'll end up in the glue factory!

"You may be right, Blackjack. We'll see."

"Such concern for your own life and that of glue factories," Jason shook his head. "Tell me again how you've lived this long?"

"If you want to go back and reread them, more power to you," Percy said in exasperation, only sort of proving Jason's point Percy's own mortality seemed like a blip to him.

Blackjack crunched down his sugar cubes. He shook his mane like he was having a sugar seizure. Whoa! Good stuff! Well, boss, you come to your senses and want to fly somewhere, just give a whistle. Ole Blackjack and his buddies, we'll stampede anybody for ya!

Alex sighed with envy like he was over there imagining what he'd do with a group of pegasi who would stampede anybody on a whistle.

...Actually, they all knew that's exactly what he was doing. The real question was who the first victim would be.

I told him I'd keep it in mind. Then a group of younger campers came into the stables to start their riding lessons, and I decided it was time to leave. I had a bad feeling I wasn't going to see Blackjack for a long time.

"I hate your bad feelings," Jason decided. "They're usually right."

"And they don't even come in handy since they can't be more specific," Percy agreed.

That night after dinner, Quintus had us suit up in combat armor like we were getting ready for capture the flag, but the mood among the campers was a lot more serious. Sometime during the day the crates in the arena had disappeared, and I had a feeling whatever was in them had been emptied into the woods.

"And we missed the glorious details of how that happened," Alex sighed. "Did somebody get a forklift? Did somebody get Mrs. O'Leary into a harness and drag them off? What's a scorpion's natural predator?"

"Um, owls," Magnus said, barely missing a beat.

"Did somebody dress up as a giant owl and chase the scorpions into the forest?" Alex concluded with the ASL gesture for thank you at him.

"I guess we were all distracted in arts and crafts to ask," Percy chuckled.

"The chapter title kind of ruined the big surprise they were scorpions," Will looked a little pouty about spoilers.

"Better than dreading they were something worse, like dragons," Magnus shook his head.

"That's because you haven't seen the scorpions yet," Thalia muttered.

"Right," Quintus said, standing on the head dining table. "Gather 'round."

He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his gray hair made him look like a ghost.

Nico couldn't help a small laugh of surprise at Percy casually mentioning that, and he didn't even make it sound like a bad thing.

Percy gave him a hesitant grin that still screamed of awkwardness.

Mrs. O'Leary bounded happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps.

"How all ghosts should be depicted, with their loving, lifelong companions," Will grinned.

"You will be in teams of two," Quintus announced. When everybody started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled: "Which have already been chosen!"

"And here I thought he was fun," Alex huffed.

"Please tell me he isn't going to be one of those guys to pair up people who hate each other just to work on teamwork," Magnus agreed with distaste.

Jason was bouncing up and down in his seat like he'd partner with a scorpion to kill other scorpions to get the game going.

"AWWWWW!" everybody complained.

"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course...you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."

"You know what would be a better way to stay alive," Magnus said pragmatically. "Not going into a forest with giant scorpions!"

"But then you'd have even less chance of survival if you faced one outside of camp," Will reminded patiently.

Magnus looked stumped, and then very displeased about it.

The crowd started murmuring excitedly. The task sounded pretty straightforward. Hey, we'd all slain monsters before. That's what we trained for.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."

"Aroooof!" Mrs. O'Leary buried her face in a plate of pizza.

"I wish I was attacked by her when I complained," Alex snickered.

"With pizza breath," Nico nodded.

Quintus produced a big scroll and started reading off names. Beckendorf would be with Silena Beauregard, which Beckendorf looked pretty happy about.

"I'm now wondering if this whole Quintus choosing the partner's thing was done just to stop a war from breaking out over that," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"I think he just did it for that weirdly fascinating, brain-melting team up," Percy offered, the oddity that children of Hephaestus and Aphrodite were working together after all the awkwardness of their parent's mere existence easily trumped the ants crawling around in his brain for anything else he should have been thinking of this moment.

The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, would be together. No surprise. They did everything together.

"So they should be split up," Magnus raised a brow like Will had done this himself. "Better real-world practice in case they're not joined at the hip."

"You are not wrong," Will nodded, deciding against mentioning he would have volunteered in a heartbeat. He'd been with Katie though, and that had been a very fun, romantic, deadly trip while it lasted. He'd only been able to delude himself it was intentional on her part until she started regaling him with questions of what Connor might think of this or that and he'd wanted to feed her to a scorpion himself by the end of the night. He'd healed her broken ankle without to much of a fuss though.

Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher from the Apollo cabin—melee and ranged combat combined, they would be a tough combo to beat.

"If they work together and don't kill each other," Nico pointed out with only mild concern.

"Don't underestimate Clarisse's willingness to win partnered with anyone," Will chuckled, he'd had seven teams in the infirmary that night from this pair alone.

Quintus kept rattling off the names until he said, "Percy Jackson with Annabeth Chase."

"Nice." I grinned at Annabeth.

"Your armor is crooked" was her only comment, and she redid my straps for me.

The burst of laughter around the room turned Percy's sigh into a reluctant chuckle of his own. She'd practically sat on his lap at breakfast and was right back to this by nightfall. He touched his face again where her hair had been whipping around and wondered if she'd given him whiplash.

"Grover Underwood," Quintus said, "with Tyson."

"Why are they playing at all?" Magnus asked in surprise. "The satyrs haven't been mentioned doing so before, and Tyson is kind of a guest, right?"

"Camp spirit?" Thalia shrugged, "same reason the Hunters play when we visit."

"Shhh," Jason shushed them and leaned forward eagerly in his seat, his mind full of every detail he'd collected on who had the best chances of winning this.

Grover just about jumped out of his goat fur. "What? B-but—"

"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy—"

"No complaining!" Quintus ordered.

Alex mimicked a hellhound bark to emphasize the point. He did a weirdly good impression of one too. All he was missing was the pizza face.

"Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!"

Tyson and Grover both looked at me pleadingly. I tried to give them an encouraging nod, and gestured that they should move together. Tyson sneezed. Grover started chewing nervously on his wooden club.

"They'll be fine," Annabeth said. "Come on. Let's worry about how we're going to stay alive."

"Are you sure she didn't say win?" Alex mock-cleaned out his ears.

"She could have said how to stay astrive, it was pretty windy," Percy shrugged.

It was still light when we got into the woods, but the shadows from the trees made it feel like midnight. It was cold, too, even in summer. Annabeth and I found tracks almost immediately—scuttling marks made by something with a lot of legs. We began to follow the trail.

Magnus sighed and repressed the urge to wonder if he was the only sane one who thought that was still a bad idea.

We jumped a creek and heard some twigs snapping nearby. We crouched behind a boulder, but it was only the Stoll brothers tripping through the woods and cursing. Their dad was the god of thieves, but they were about as stealthy as buffaloes.

"We all have our strengths," Will said cheerfully. "They have the best sleight of hand and can pick any lock you give them, plus the best traps you can think of."

"They'll just break anything coming in and out of the store they're stealing from," Percy rolled her eyes, "I always thought that was on purpose."

Once the Stolls had passed, we forged deeper into the west woods where the monsters were wilder. We were standing on a ledge overlooking a marshy pond when Annabeth tensed. "This is where we stopped looking."

It took me a second to realize what she meant. Last winter, when we'd given up hope of finding him, Grover, Annabeth, and I had stood on this rock, and I'd convinced them not to tell Chiron the truth: that Nico was a son of Hades. At the time it seemed the right thing to do. I wanted to protect his identity. I wanted to be the one to find him and make things right for what had happened to his sister. Now, six months later, I hadn't even come close to finding him. It left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Nico started tapping his foot uneasily on the ground, like he still expected it to give way beneath him anywhere he stayed to long. The fact that he'd ever crossed Percy's mind had been more than he'd ever thought to ask for at this point.

"I saw him last night," I said.

Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

I told her about the Iris-message. When I was done, she stared into the shadows of the woods. "He's summoning the dead? That's not good."

"What did you expect him to do with his sudden abundance of free time, go to Vegas?" Alex snorted. "He's coming into his own powers just like Percy now rescues sea life."

"He shouldn't have been doing it alone," Percy insisted. "He should have been at camp figuring it all out."

"You kept his secret for a reason Percy, he wouldn't be able to practice all of his strengths there like you can freely do," Alex challenged.

Nico was pressed fully back into his seat and wishing the conversation about him would stop now! He gave Will a pleading look and even a nudge, waving his hand for him to do his thing this time, and he happily obliged. "You guys are trying to distract from who won and I won't let you!"

They broke off while still giving each other grumpy side eyes. Nico gave him a relieved smile and mouthed thanks, while personally thinking it was kind of cool he could activate Will's ability to do that without a word.

"The ghost was giving him bad advice," I said. "Telling him to take revenge."

"Yeah...spirits are never good advisers they've got their own agendas. Old grudges. And they resent the living."

"And she's an expert on this?" Jason asked more for clarification than trying to disagree.

"She's done her research," but there wasn't a lot of confidence in Thalia's answer. The Hunters interacted with spirits sparsely, the dead had a concerning tendency to pop up on ancient ground where the oldest monsters liked to roam. As far as she knew Annabeth had even less hands-on experience.

"He's going to come after me," I said. "The spirit mentioned a maze."

She nodded. "That settles it. We have to figure out the Labyrinth."

"Oh, so that's what settled it?" Will asked with his arm casually over the back of the couch again. "Not the thought of finding Grover's lifelong ambition, the Great God Pan, not the threat of how Luke might use the Labyrinth to get into camp. No, it was figuring out what Nico was doing with spirits in the Labyrinth. I always wondered what the tipping point was."

"We have got to work on your sarcasm Will, it needs more," Nico waved his fingers around for emphasis while trying his hardest not to blush.

Will was just smiling casually as he said, "who said I was being sarcastic?"

Nico seemed struck dumb, and Percy once again felt like a miserable failure as he looked at this guy who always seemed in awe anybody even bothered to talk to him.

"Maybe," I said uncomfortably. "But who sent the Iris-message? If Nico didn't know I was there—"

A branch snapped in the woods.

"Stupid, convenient, branches," Jason huffed. He'd have liked a chance to theorize on that!

Dry leaves rustled. Something large was moving in the trees, just beyond the ridge.

"That's not the Stoll brothers," Annabeth whispered.

Together we drew our swords.

We got to Zeus's Fist, a huge pile of boulders in the middle of the west woods. It was a natural landmark where campers often rendezvoused on hunting expeditions, but now there was nobody around.

"Over there," Annabeth whispered.

"No, wait," I said. "Behind us."

It was weird. Scuttling noises seemed to be coming from several different directions.

"A pack of wolves can change the tones of their howls to give the impression that there are more around than there really are," Jason grinned. "I don't suppose scorpions can do something similar," he finished with a snicker.

"You sound way to excited over there about random facts more than us almost dying," but Percy was shaking his head with a smile all the same for him and his not really useful 'advice.'

We were circling the boulders, our swords drawn, when someone right behind us said, "Hi."

Alex mock startled in his seat, hand waves and all, and then rubbed his chest. "Geez, might as well have shouted boo at us."

"I wouldn't discount a monster being there just because it starts with hello," Percy said, but he was studying the book with slightly less trepidation than before.

We whirled around, and the tree nymph Juniper yelped.

"That's such a pretty name," Magnus grinned. "What's a juniper?"

"A tree," Percy shrugged.

Thalia smacked him and said, "a coniferous tree, the female plants produce berry-like cones-"

"Okay Lieutenant of Greenpeace," Percy groaned.

"Put those down!" she protested. "Dryads don't like sharp blades, okay?"

"Then she should stay away from her own needle leaves," Will shook his head, he'd had one to many instances of kids trying to pluck the berries and realizing to late why that was a bad idea even before the nymph popped out.

"Juniper," Annabeth exhaled. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

I lowered my sword. "In the boulders?"

Percy could feel the strange looks he was getting, and looked around to ask, "what? Wouldn't it be weirder if I knew where her tree was?"

"Fair," Thalia snorted, "but you're still an idiot."

She pointed toward the edge of the clearing. "In the juniper. Duh."

It made sense, and I felt kind of stupid. I'd been hanging around dryads for years, but I never really talked to them much. I knew they couldn't go very far away from their tree, which was the source of life. But I didn't know much else.

"Are you guys busy?" Juniper asked.

"Well," I said, "we're in the middle of this game against a bunch of monsters and we're trying not to die."

"We're not busy," Annabeth said.

"Sums it all up, yeah," Magnus rolled his eyes. He felt like it would take an act of setting Grover on fire for any of these guys to admit what an emergency was.

"What's wrong, Juniper?"

Junper sniffled. She wiped her silky sleeve under her eyes. "It's Grover. He seems so distraught. All year he's been out looking for Pan. And every time he comes back, it's worse. I thought maybe, at first, he was seeing another tree."

"Took this boy how long to get with a lovely girl?" Alex shook his head. "Nah, I'm sure his grandaddy goat had plenty of good advice on how to treat um right."

"No," Annabeth said as Juniper started crying. "I'm sure that's not it."

"He had a crush on a blueberry bush once," Juniper said miserably.

"We've all had that crush," Will said saintly. "It fades when we meet the real apple of our eye."

Nico mock-gagged over the sofa. "Please tell me you came up with that on the spot, because I might really throw up if you've been saving that line for Katie."

"I did just come up with that, yes," he smoothly lied.

"Juniper," Annabeth said, "Grover would never even look at another tree. He's just stressed out about his searcher's license."

"He can't go underground!" she protested. "You can't let him."

Annabeth looked uncomfortable. "It might be the only way to help him; if we just knew where to start."

"Ah." Juniper wiped a green tear off her cheek. "About that..."

Another rustle in the woods, and Juniper yelled, "Hide!"

Jason was tapping his temple like he hoped it was glitching. "Really? Now we're being teased by a tree? Is it really so impossible for anybody to actually say what they showed up to say?"

"I'm kind of on Juniper's side, she clearly had some stress to get out about Grover first, it was just bad timing," Magnus sympathized.

Before I could ask why, she went poof into green mist.

Annabeth and I turned. Coming out of the woods was a glistening amber insect, ten feet long, with jagged pincers, an armored tail, and a stinger as long as my sword. A scorpion.

"Remember Percy, the scorpions are It, and you do not want to get tagged," Alex grinned.

"I'll keep that in mind man," he promised.

 Tied to its back was a red silk package.

"Don't you just love it when the monsters come to you," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Speak for yourself," Will shivered, that stupid scorpion had given him a heart attack and Katie had broken her ankle pushing him out of the way. They would have been toast if Beckendorf and Silena hadn't shown up.

"One of us gets behind it," Annabeth said, as the thing clattered toward us. "Cuts off its tail while the other distracts it in front."

"I'll take point," I said. "You've got the invisibility hat."

She nodded. We'd fought together so many times we knew each other's moves. We could do this, easy.

"Jinxed."

Percy sighed and didn't bother to glare at any of them, but man did he wish his gut would, for once, stop telling him they were right.

But it all went wrong when the other two scorpions appeared from the woods.

"I think we should start splashing holy water at you or something," Magnus was looking him up and down in concern. "How can anyone's luck be this bad?"

"Not until the Pope can turn the whole ocean," Percy rolled his eyes, but he was considering wearing a horseshoe on his head or something for the time being. This really was a new low, even for him.

"Three?" Annabeth said. "That's not possible!

"Not probable," Jason shook his head. "You guys define what's possible."

"Look Jason, it's your favorite number," Percy huffed, resisting the urge to smack him over the head with the book. Why did everybody need to keep reminding him he was lucky to be alive and Annabeth might not be?!

The whole woods, and half the monsters come at us?"

I swallowed. One, we could take. Two, with a little luck. Three? Doubtful.

The scorpions scurried toward us, whipping their barbed tails like they'd come here just to kill us.

"That, or this was their secret meeting place to swap the winning laurels and you rudely interrupted," Alex offered.

"Either way doesn't help," Percy sighed.

Annabeth and I put our backs against the nearest boulder.

"Climb?" I said.

"No time," she said.

She was right. The scorpions were already surrounding us. They were so close I could see their hideous mouths foaming, anticipating a nice juicy meal of demigods.

Nico scratched at his nose, feigning disinterest on Percy and Annabeth saving the day again with another amazing plan to kill the monsters, as he instead wondered if he could find a monster to ask what they'd taste like.

"Look out!" Annabeth parried away a stinger with the flat of her blade. I stabbed with Riptide, but the scorpion backed out of range. We clambered sideways along the boulders, but the scorpions followed us. I slashed at another one, but going on the offensive was too dangerous. If I went for the body, the tail stabbed downward. If I went for the tail, the thing's pincers came from either side and tried to grab me. All we could do was defend, and we wouldn't be able to keep that up for very long.

"Tactical retreat time," Thalia was tapping an arrow on her knee. She knew everything worked out fine, and yet she'd still never like the idea of these two being pinned down against the odds.

"Tactical retreat time," Jason repeated, flipping his coin between his fingers and highly frustrated the win was right in their grasp if they could just have a moment to breathe and plan.

I took another step sideways, and suddenly there was nothing behind me.

It was a crack between two of the largest boulders, something I'd passed by a million times, but...

"In here," I said.

Annabeth sliced at a scorpion then looked at me like I was crazy. "In there? It's too narrow."

"I'll cover you. Go!"

She ducked behind me and started squeezing between the two boulders.

Then she yelped and grabbed my armor straps,

"It's a good thing she straightened those out for me," Percy muttered, adjusting his shoulder like some part of him still expected to feel her weight taking her with him.

and suddenly I was tumbling into a pit that hadn't been there a moment before. I could see the scorpions above us, the purple evening sky and the trees, and then the hole shut like the lens of a camera, and we were in complete darkness.

Nico studied Percy like he was looking for the lie, even knowing he'd never done such a thing through his memories, or probably ever. He'd never realized this is how Percy found the Labyrinth, the same way he had. 

He'd been running back to this stupid moment where he'd first let everyone down and Zoe had come in and taken the flag away, the one landmark he'd known that he should have realized Percy would come looking for him at.

He'd just never thought Percy had bothered until now. He'd sat on cold stone for who knew how long, thinking the rock was hollow somehow and screaming for help with no answer until the whispers had started in his ear.

Percy had gotten out though, of course he had, with the help of Annabeth most likely and they'd come right back to camp as conquering heroes. While he'd fallen right into the ploy of others.

"Nico, you okay?" Will sadly now recognized that look on Nico's face of unfavorable memories cropping up.

He just grunted in answer, because the truth was no, not really. He was already sick of hearing about this place, and Percy had only been in there for a sentence.

Our breathing echoed against stone. It was wet and cold. I was sitting on a bumpy floor that seemed to be made of bricks.

"Bricks, underground?" Magnus repeated. "I don't know what's worse, somebody went and made a fort down there, or this maze is even freakier than I first thought it was."

"I'm sorry if you were just imagining dirt tunnels," Thalia shook her head, and yet wished he could keep that ignorance.

I lifted Riptide. The faint glow of the blade was just enough to illuminate Annabeth's frightened face and the mossy stone walls on either side of us.

"Wh-where are we?" Annabeth said.

"Safe from the scorpions, anyway," I tried to sound calm, but I was freaking out. The crack between the boulders couldn't have led into a cave. I would've known if there was a cave here; I was sure of it.

"Why are you so confident of that?" Will chuckled nervously. "I've lived at camp for years and I don't claim to know every secret there."

"You just need more confidence Will, it'll come to you," Percy shrugged.

"Hopefully it doesn't come with scorpions," Nico muttered, his usual fascination with all things Percy didn't seem to find this moment as intriguing for some reason.

It was like the ground had opened up and swallowed us. All I could think of was the fissure in the dining room pavilion, where those skeletons had been consumed last summer winter. I wondered if the same thing had happened to us.

"No, no, then you would have fallen much, much farther," Nico politely informed. He wasn't sure where he sent them, considering he'd had no control over what he was doing, but he was confident it was Tartarus or oblivion in general.

"Well that's one relief out of the way," Percy grinned, and actually seemed to mean it to Nico's surprise.

I lifted my sword again for light.

"It's a long room," I muttered.

Annabeth gripped my arm. "It's not a room. It's a corridor."

She was right. The darkness felt...emptier in front of us. There was a warm breeze, like in subway tunnels, only it felt older, more dangerous somehow.

Alex breathed in deeply like he was trying to get just a hint of that now. "Cool."

"Speak for yourself," Percy was squirming in his seat again and made the warding off evil gesture even if he knew it would do no good here or down there.

I started forward, but Annabeth stopped me.

"As she should!" Thalia groaned into her hands. "Why would your first response to be go exploring when nobody has any idea where you are!"

She knew the answer to her own question though, she was just as impulsive as him and would have been right beside him. Annabeth would have had to dig her heels in and tell them both to stop. She just didn't want to admit that while Percy grinned sheepishly and without surprise for his own idiocy.

"Don't take another step," she warned. "We need to find the exit."

She sounded really scared now.

"It's okay," I promised. "It's right—"

I looked up and realized I couldn't see where we'd fallen in. The ceiling was solid stone. The corridor seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions.

Magnus's mouth was open in a silent scream now.

"It seals you in? It's a tomb?" Alex confirmed.

"It certainly doesn't seem keen on letting you back out unless you know what you're doing," Jason frowned at this turn of events. "I don't suppose it'll accept shoestrings in the meantime for the unprepared?"

Percy fidgeted with the pages and resisted the urge to tie everybody's shoes together instead of continuing. Annabeth was at the end of this, he had to keep reminding himself. She was trapped in there now, and he sure wanted to find out how at least she got out of this even if his stupid help attracted something worse!

Annabeth's hand slipped into mine.

Percy exhaled in relief, his hand drifted to his side, only to still close over nothing. He glanced over like he still expected her to be there, just like always, it was a reflex he didn't think he'd ever drop as he clasped his hand stubbornly back around the book to finish.

Under different circumstances I would've been embarrassed, but here in the dark I was glad to know where she was. It was about the only thing I was sure of.

"Is this a specific thing with you two?" Jason asked with nothing but affection in his tone. "First Charon's boat, now this, do you two mutually decide to be underground to hold hands?"

"I mean, I wouldn't be that picky, but I can't blame her if that's when she needs it," Percy grinned with only a faint hint of a blush.

"Two steps back," she advised.

We stepped backward together like we were in a minefield.

"Close enough," Thalia muttered. For all they knew, they could be.

"Okay," she said. "Help me examine the walls."

"What for?"

"The mark of Daedalus," she said, as if that was supposed to make sense.

"Uh, okay. What kind of—"

"Got it!" she said with relief. She set her hand on the wall and pressed against a tiny fissure, which began to glow blue. A Greek symbol appeared:

"Um," Percy paused to tell the others, "it looks like a triangle."

Magnus finally figured out how to close his mouth, and he sounded really short of breath like he had been screaming that whole time. "Great, something else I probably need to learn, the Greek alphabet."

"Hopefully it comes with a catchy song too," Alex grinned.

Jason still insisted he wanted to see the symbol in person before Percy could continue like he didn't know what a triangle looked like.

∆,

the Ancient Greek Delta.

The roof slid open and we saw night sky, stars blazing. It was a lot darker than it should've been. Metal ladder rungs appeared in the side of the wall, leading up, and I could hear people yelling our names.

"Percy! Annabeth!" Tyson's voice bellowed the loudest, but others were calling out too.

"Why would they be looking for you guys already, it hasn't been a whole five minutes," Magnus cocked his head to the side.

"Labyrinth logic, better get used to it now," Thalia reminded.

I looked nervously at Annabeth. Then we began to climb.

We made our way around the rocks and ran into Clarisse and a bunch of other campers carrying torches.

"Did they start an angry mob without you?" Alex asked with the usual twitching lips. "Are they on their way to get revenge on some neighbor camp because they TP'd you?"

"I've always been great at inviting myself along on the important things if so," Percy easily grinned at that, though the haunting memory of that place still lingered. He'd been grateful to be out after a whole breath, and he was asking Grover to go in there for untold time? This was going to be one hell of a quest.

"Where have you two been?" Clarisse demanded. "We've been looking forever."

"But we were gone only a few minutes," I said.

Chiron trotted up, followed by Tyson and Grover.

"Percy!" Tyson said. "You are okay?"

"We're fine," I said. "We fell in a hole."

The others looked at me skeptically, then at Annabeth.

"Hey!" Percy yelped.

"I mean, I'd need some context too, and she's the obvious choice," Will chuckled. Those two had no idea how freaked out everybody had been when the conch shell blew for the winner, and Annabeth and Percy didn't show up.

The laughter had died, the camp went deadly silent like they were all waiting for a blood-curdling scream to signal that imminent attack. Clarisse hadn't even taken her laurels off her head before she snatched a tiki-torch out of a brazier and stomped back in. Quintus had gone off promising to find Mrs. O'Leary to help.

Chiron had immediately launched up search parties, and the deja vu of it all when Percy had gone missing a week ago left him feeling ill. Poor Annabeth, still with no clue they'd found him again.

"Honest!" I said. "There were three scorpions after us, so we ran and hid in the rocks. But we were only gone a minute."

"You've been missing for almost an hour," Chiron said. "The game is over."

"Yeah," Grover muttered. "We would've won, but a Cyclops sat on me."

"Was an accident!" Tyson protested, and then he sneezed.

"I need details of that," Alex launched an accusing finger at Will like he was intentionally holding out on them.

"Wasn't around for it," he said regretfully, "from what I understand though, Grover could smell the laurels and knew which scorpion to attack, but then he got caught in one of the Stoll's traps, hoisted into a net. So all his fur started raining down on Tyson, and bless him he still tried to cut him down while sneezing his eye out, and even though he did the scorpion came scampering over with a javelin where its leg used to be and instead of going for the package Tyson fell on Grover and Lee and Clarisse swooped in for the win. It made for a great story." He finished with wistful old regret a story he'd never want to stop telling. It had been Lee's last game at camp, a victory he and Clarisse had only gotten a week to brag about.

There was a communal laugh for a moment at that array of badass misfortune at least.

Jason's eyes were gleaming with interest like he really did want to get a pen and write all of this down. "Hope they team up again, sounds like they'd make a great pair if we can get Tyson some allergy medicine, and maybe a funny hat. Hopefully, it'll lower Grover's fear of him just a bit."

"One of those rainbow hats with the fan on the top, yeah," Percy chuckled in agreement.

Clarisse was wearing the gold laurels, but she didn't even brag about winning them, which wasn't like her. "A hole?" she said suspiciously.

"Looking for something new to shove your head into?" But Nico was purely joking, he knew she took the safety of their camp seriously.

Annabeth took a deep breath. She looked around at the other campers.

"Chiron...maybe we should talk about this at the Big House."

"There were some kids around," Will needlessly answered the unasked, like he wasn't a kid himself. Most of them had been kept up for the search, but he knew at least the youngest shouldn't be around to hear whatever horrors these two had found.

Clarisse gasped. "You found it, didn't you?"

Annabeth bit her lip. "I—Yeah. Yeah, we did."

A bunch of campers started asking questions, looking about as confused as I was,

Percy felt the eye rolls in the room and grumbled he'd still been distracted about Clarisse not doing a victory dance.

but Chiron raised his hand for silence. "Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place." He stared at boulders as if he'd just noticed how dangerous they were. "All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but curfew is past!"

There was a lot of mumbling and complaints, but the campers drifted off, talking among themselves and giving me suspicious looks.

"This explains a lot," Clarisse said. "It explains what Luke is after."

"Wait a second," I said. "What do you mean? What did we find?"

Annabeth turned toward me, her eyes dark with worry. "An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of the camp."

"Did you really need her to spell that out for you?" Jason asked. At least he sounded like a concerned teacher asking why he hadn't studied the material rather than Gabe asking why he was a moron.

Thalia reached for the book to cut off whatever snide remark Percy had for that. "He was still getting used to the Labyrinth existing, cut him some slack."

"Thanks," Percy muttered to her.

She gave him a wink as she flipped to the next chapter. It was nice, even if he didn't have his girlfriend in here to call him an idiot in person, to at least have a friend around to make sure he never felt too much like an idiot no matter how many times she filled in the roll.