#Percy is just like me for we just come in different flavors

[soaking-wet-cat-punk]

ok but where's my scene in the mark of athena where leo's working on teh ship and he's leaving all his shit around again. and percy's on edge for some reason. and then leo drops his shoes on percy's bed for some reason. maybe it was the closest place. maybe he meant to ask percy to clean them later. whatever it was, it did something. and percy was angry. all the toilets flooded, and the whole ship came running becasue they could hear him yelling at leo to keep his own goddamn belongings in his own goddamn room. and the others stepped in, of course. hey percy, leo's been leaving his shit all over our beds, too, he's working. what's gotten into you?

and percy slams his fist on the table and the kitchen sink bursts at the faucet. and he storms out of the room. annabeth chases him and everyone's sure she's going to reprimand him, but then hazel almost stumbles upon them and hears her saying, it's okay, they won't hate you, they'll understand. he'll keep his things to himself. don't worry, it's okay.

and yeah, a couple days later percy comes out with bags under his eyes and dissheveled hair and says im sorry, i was out of line. please keep your things to yourself but im sorry. i shouldnt have yelled. um leo im sorry can annabeth and i talk to you for a second. sorry. um. yeah.

and that's the day leo learns about smelly gabe.

Where is my scene rick :( pls my crops are dying and my mother was yoinked away to the underworld :(

[actuallyprobablyafaerie]

list of things that made me scream in pjo episode 3

Percy picking grover because he trusts him not to betray him!!! THEY ARE BEST FRIENDS OK

Luke still comes off as so likable and inconspicuous that whole convo he had with percy and the shoes i just

GROVER AND THE CONSENSUS SONG I CANT

annabeth staring at the different flavors of candy in the gas station and not being able to pick and just buying all of them. Thats the annabeth we deserve

ANNABETHS KNIFE APPEARANCE ALERT and a fury is IMMEDIATELY killed

uncle ferdinand foreshadowing……………

When annabeth and percy start arguing in the woods and grover tries to change the subject by talking about his uncle and they both completely ignore him. I LOVE GROVER SO MUCH

the bickering in this episode is ON POINT by the way

like the stuff theyre arguing about makes sense. Yes i would be concerned about those things too

ESPECIALLY since theres such a focus put on trust (esp after percy learns that someone is going to betray him) and percy and annabeth are arguing about stuff theyve lied or havent told each other about???? Sorry that might be skipping ahead a bit but GOD is that the good stuff

i love that they changed how the three of them ended up going into auntie em’s because before it was a little concerning that none of them figured out it was medusa. Plus having a fury outside just adds to the tension a perfect amount i think, because it really traps them in there

all the discussion about the gods and what medusa talks to percy about in the kitchen - YES MAKE ME HATE THEM!! All of this is adding up to lukes motivations making so much sense in the end

ALSO!! Them harkening back to sallys line in the first episode when she tells percy that not all heroes look like heroes and not all monsters look like monsters - they brought it back so perfectly. Percy wanting to trust medusa because of what his mom said, medusa calling Poseidon a monster, ALL OF IT is so good

When theyre down in the basement and grover puts on the shoes and then just fucking. Flies away and disappears into the darkness yelling a little. and annabeth and percy just kind of helplessly watch him go before being like - welp i guess that plans not working. That was peak comedy

them using annabeths hat on medusa and then using it to kill alecto THEY WERE SO SMART FOR THAT!!! Also percy just the invisible severed head was a hilarious concept to me

when percy suggests burying the hat in the ground with the hat on to make sure no one bad finds it and annabeth just!!! Agrees!!! And then grover has to be like no that hats important to her its a gift from her mother!!! And then percys like well we’ll find another solution then. That whole scene was good yes i liked that

also annabeth revealing that grover was her protector too and percy asks about it and grover just changes the subject and doesnt answer. He is the KING of avoidance

also grover finally interrupting annabeth and percy when they start fighting and giving his whole speech about getting along. That wouldve felt a little cheesy and preachy and out of place from anyone else but considering grover tried to get them to sing the consensus song a few hours earlier i fully believe that he would say that

I AM IMPERTINENT

Why the fuck wasnt there a lin manuel maranda jumpscare warning. I couldve used one of those

but actually all the jokes in this episode were so on point. Like percy calling drachmas chuckie cheese tokens. And him arguing about voting on the bus. Anyways

10/10 episode i will be rewatching like eight times before next tuesday.

[charlesswife]

Una Noche En Monaco iv

Una segunda oportunidad (A second chance)

unem masterlist

pairing: charles leclerc x latina! reader

summary: after a one night stand between you and charles, he continues on with his formula one career. until two months later, you come back claiming to be pregnant with his child.

April 2023 

"Are we going for ice cream now?" Fuck, I completely forgot about that. 

"Umm not right now, sweetheart. We need to check on Percy, okay? Get everything ready for this week." I got Mateo in the car seat and took a long look at him. He is an exact copy of Charles. 

"Mami, you're crying" 

I touched my face. "I'm just so happy that you are such a good boy," I smiled at him. "You know, there are some people that are just cruel and evil," Mateo gasped.

"Like in the books?" 

"Exactly like in the books. And those people might want to hurt Mommy, and take you away from me," I don't really know Charles Leclerc, but I do know I'm worth more than him. If he tries to take my little boy away from me, I will kill him. 

"I'll protect you, Mommy," he made a fist, "I'm strong." 

"Yes, you are, mi amor," I closed the door, as I turned around I saw Charles coming out of the bookstore, holding his phone to the side, taking a phone call. He was wearing black pants as well as a black shirt. He had his famous sunglasses on. He didn't look like the twenty-year-old boy I met almost five years ago. He looked different. More mature. 

He stopped walking and as he pulled his sunglasses down he said, "Y/n?" 

"Charles..." I murmured. He hung up the phone and walked towards me. I panicked and ran to the driver's seat. 

"Wait! Y/n!" 

I started the engine and drove off. 

"So he saw you," Steph said. I let out a small “uhuh.”

"And you ran off," I uhuhed again "So what's gonna happen now?" 

"What do you mean?" I asked her. I took a bite of my tiramisu.

"I mean, what are you gonna do? He knows you live here in Monaco and where you work," she leaned closer to me and whisper, "Did he see Mateo?" I looked at my son, who was in the living room playing with Percy. 

"I don't think so, I mean I left so fast. I hope not." I love tiramisu, they are so flavorful.

She looked at me for a second and hesitantly she said, “Do you think… he might want to be involved in you guys' lives?” 

“I don’t know,” I said. 

“I mean,” she continued. “would you let him?” 

“I DON’T KNOW STEPH,” I yelled. Mateo stopped playing with Percy. I looked at him and said, “It’s okay Mate, keep playing.” I turned to Steph, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled but this whole thing me pone nerviosa, like why was he there in the first place?" It makes me nervous.

“Mira” Look “All I’m saying is that maybe… just maybe give him a chance” I was going to interrupt but she held a finger up. “Maybe he changed. Maybe he grew up. Maybe he’s different.”

“No.” I said.

“No?”

“He hurt me the last time I saw him. I won’t give him the satisfaction to see Mateo just because he feels like it.”

“Y/n…”

All of the sudden, my phone started to ring. My eyes widen, and with shaken hands, I flipped the phone.

Pascale is calling... I let out a big sigh and answered the phone.

"Hey, Pascale, how are you?" Steph grabbed a spoon and tried to get a piece of my tiramisu, I gently slapped her hand away.

"Oh, hello, Y/n. I'm at the store today," I completely forgot about that. Every weekend since last month, Pascale and I take coffee together and we talk. She became a good friend of mine, she knows my story.

"Oh yes!" I answered, "Steph told me, she said you came with your kids,"

"Yes, I wanted you to meet them, are you here now?"

"No, I had to leave to do some stuff, but maybe next time!" I told her.

"Yeah, maybe next time," some voice could be heard in the background, "I'll let you go, Y/n, my son is bothering me right now."

I laughed at that comment. "Alright, Pascale. See you soon."

"See you soon, belle." She said last and hang up.

For the first time in four years, I looked up any news recent news about formula one and Charles Leclerc. According to articles, this season hasn't been a good start for him or Ferrari. Last week, he raced in Australia but did not finish the race. His next race is in Baku in about three weeks. So I can either not get out of my house for three weeks, or actually confront him and let him in our life.

"Do you think I can quarantine for three weeks?"

"You wanna quarantine for three weeks? You barely even made it out of the pandemic and now you wanna quarantine for three weeks?" Steph tried to get a piece of my Tiramisu.

"Stop it! It's mine!"

"Oh, grow up Y/n. Why do you even wanna quarantine? Is this some sort of author method that you are doing to get your second book done?" Angelica, my literacy agent, has been quite pushy with the deadline for my second book.

"No..." I finished my Tiramisu and drank some water. "Charles is going to be here in Monaco for three weeks," I murmured.

"Girl... you're kidding me, right?"

I decided to be the bigger person and actually talk to Charles Leclerc.

I realized that it wouldn't be healthy for Mateo to grow up without a father. I don't want to be responsible for any intentional or unintentional trauma that I could cause him. I don't want to be in my late 30s and have Mateo yelling in my face saying I ruined his life just because he didn't have a father. I'm only doing this for Mateo.

Other than that, Charles Leclerc can go to hell.

Let's see how good of a father he can be when he has to spend most of his time traveling.

Charles' POV

What is the first thing you say to the woman you accused of being a gold-digger, manipulator, con artist after she told you she was pregnant with your child after you guys have the craziest and most exotic night of your life?

Sometimes I wish I could kick twenty-year-old me in the face for how stupid I was.

I walked into L'Incantato Restaurant, which was the restaurant Y/n decided to meet me. I was surprised when she sent me the address, as this has been a restaurant I've been wanting to go to since it opened, but there are never available reservations. There are three restaurants in Monaco, I've heard great stuff about the food and the service. The waiter guided me to a private area where only she was sitting. It was very private, and I knew we could have a free conversation here. She was sitting in the red booth side of the table, making it look like she was the center of attention

She was more stunning than the last time I saw her. Her hair is longer than what it was four years ago. Her body... Stop.

As I was getting closer to her, I saw her take a sip of wine as she was scrolling through her phone. Once I got in front of her, she put her phone away.

Once I sat down at the table I said, "Hi, Y/n. Thank you for agreeing to meet me here," I extended my hand towards her but she only started at it. I pulled my hand back. She was more beautiful up close. Her makeup was flawless, her eyeliner made her eyes look sharp and her red lipstick made her lips look luscious.

"I was surprised when you contacted me. I thought you wouldn't remember my name," She said as she swayed her cup of wine. I remember her name, I've been having her name stuck in my head for the past four years, but I know she's referring to the last time we saw each other when she told me she was pregnant and I told her I didn't even remember her name.

"Look, I'm so sorry for the things I have said," I started. "I called you so many horrible things that I regret deeply and I would never call a woman that. I was at the beginning of my career and I thought you were working for someone to mess me up. I am stupid and in my defense I was..."

"In your defense?!" Fuck... Wrong choice of words. I saw the waiter come to us with a bottle of wine. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" Once the waiter heard that, she turned around and walked away. "Don't try to play the victim here, because you are not. I am." She pointed at herself, "I told you the truth, I was a hundred percent honest the whole time, and still you kicked me out. So why, Charles Leclerc, should I give you a second chance?"

My heart was beating like crazy. Y/n was staring at me with her big brown eyes. I forgot what I was supposed to say. I forgot what the question was in the first place.

I was saved by a bell - or the waiter. "Hello, how are we doing tonight? I'll be your waiter for the evening, can I start you with any appetizers?"

Y/n looked at her and smiled. "I'll have my usual, thanks."

The waiter wrote it out in her notepad, "Of course, Miss Y/l/n," and then turned to me. I didn't look at the menu once.

"Ehhh, I'm sorry," I remember the question now! "Eh, I'll just have whatever the chef recommends." I gave her back the menus.

"If you guys need anything, just press the bottom on the side of the table," as soon as she said that, she left.

There was a moment of silence for us. I couldn't look at her again. I passed my hand through the red tablecloth and looked around the place. "I've heard great stuff about this place, how did you get a reservation? I've been trying to get one to come with my mom for months,"

She took a sip of her wine again and murmured, "I know the owner," she leaned her back into the booth and crossed her arms. Don't look at her ti- "So, my question."

"What question?"

"Why should I give you a second chance, Charles Leclerc?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

New Chapter!!

Is there crack in this story or what? The wayyy you guys have been asking for a new chapter is insane! I know how the story goes and what I scenes I want to put in it, I just don't know how to take it there! Idk if that made sense tbh.

Please let me know what you guys thought of this chapter and what are your predictions or theory!!

I was thinking that maybe I should make some sort of group chat so I could send a text when a new chapter is up because Tumblr only lets me tag up to 50 people and the tag list is suuuuper long.

If you guys don't know, I worked for the Miami Grand Prix last weekend and I would really appreciate it if you guys read about my experience there. In which I speak the whole truth of what I went through. Share it with your friends because stuff like this really needs to change.

My Experience Working For The Miami Grand Prix

On another note, have you guys seen Queen Charlotte? I watched it yesterday and I CRIED for 45 minutes, it was insane.

I lowkey wanna do Bridgerton! Charles Leclerc, but also sugar daddy Charles leclerc 👀, what do you guys think?

Taglist is closed!!!

@mac-daddy-210 @infinite-wanders @rbrsavage @itsyogurlkel @bbygrlllllll  @nerdreader @imnotcryingyouare1 @killerangel88 @obx-mylove-things-blog @triorion @daniellarogers @insssanemind @bosinclairsgf @rb-danny @shyshva @booksobsess @ogfangirl @ravenqueen27 @masonspulisic @yunnie-f1 @simxican @ushygushybaby @graceverstappen11 @maximoff-xmen @severenswife @ferraribabe @pjofics @harrysdimple05 @mloyer @teti-menchon0604 @imagineadream @reidsworld @scentedskydreamer @christianpulisic10 @formulas-bitch @topguncultleader @hc-dutch @moonclaine @miureiz @tall-tanned-tattoo @madisontaxarn @bisexualbith @diasnohibng187 @im-just-here-toread @tyskills @rafaaoli @heavengirls111 @lighttsoutlewis @leclerc13 @c4ssi4-luv @livsans @ynbutbetter @marigoldgasly @vita-di-moda @sbrn0905 @yesshewrites1 @AmsOffTrack @fandomxs1 @ludmisorella @japanesekel @leclercsbae @padfootsiriusorionblackthethird @celestialams @dreamcarsound @bhiees @empathypostsf1 @marauderlover22 @zendayabelova @lord_leclerc @itsmesofia @Sebbybucky12 @notleclerc @dicaprio-leo @starkeyellow  @spngi @karina-v20 @mskeisha69 @prrttyposts @vex-et-soleil @dessxoxsworld @thesurielscheesecake @btwimmel  @67-angelofthelordme-67 @buckleyverse @Mickslover @formula1-bichyslut16 @allgaslynobrakess @Rossy1080 @staris23 @CelestialCharles @glitterf1 @f1-futurewag-16-3-4-63 @buckystwilight @Alionova

[theflyingkipper]

a short crappy essay about emily

The writing of girl characters in TTTE genuinely infuriates me. There’s a lot of girl characters who were done absolutely dirty, but it always comes back to Emily for me.

Emily had agency and attitude and purpose in S8-12 and it was erased in favor of a “hi. I’m nice. Im the girl character” nothing one-note personality. What do we know about post HiT era Emily? (And honestly, S7 Emily too. Her introduction is kind of weak in my opinion). She wants to help out. She’s safety oriented. She’s… I don’t know. You could replace her with Rosie or Rebecca or whoever in the cgi episodes where she’s driving the story, and nothing would change. I can’t name any major differences between Emily post-rewrite and Rosie in her entire tenure. Aside from how they’re introduced to Thomas and interact with him, really… which sucks. They don’t have major differences in characterizations outside interacting with a male lead. 

AND the worst part is that there are moments where you can SEE they were crafting bold, interesting girl characters and they were either completely sanitized or forgotten about. Molly has a very particular basis. It's not a flashy type where the engine’s basis is the center of the character’s entire personality/marketing/etc (Mighty Mac and Hank come to mind). It feels clear to me that Molly was going to be more important. And then… she wasn’t. She appeared like 3 times, said nearly nothing and never appeared again. I wish I lived in a world where Emily kept her bossy personality and had this contrasted by Molly’s shyness and timidity. 

In my perfect world, Emily is bossy and important, and has some complexes about not needing help or knowing more than others. She’s intelligent and rambunctious, feeling like she’s made for more than the fast express duties that she was designed for. She wants to be involved and get dirty. (Which is a sentiment that I think a lot of young girls can relate to!) Maybe this causes other engines to view her as childish, but we know it's because even if she’s an old design- she has youthful zeal. I think that's a compelling personality and character to make from a Stirling Single, rather than just making another “old wise sage” character (we’ve got plenty of those and in different flavors!) An old engine that's hard to register as “old” at all, though not like Edward, she reads like this because she’s childish and immature- Someone immature, but in a distinct flavor of immature than Percy or Gordon. This Emily has so much room to bounce off other characters, and she does. The way she acts in Respect for Gordon comes to mind. Emily’s bossiness brings a much needed shakeup to the monotony of seasons 8-12. 

In addition, big, snooty, important characters are a staple of TTTE, but it's an archetype almost exclusively reserved for male characters. You could make an argument that Daisy and Elizabeth support these, but I think they’re different (or underdeveloped) enough not to fit this. Emily is the exception here. I think it's why she’s remembered so well as the female TTTE character that immediately comes to mind. Emily could be great, and she was great. 

[zavbees]

Y'all help. We Happy Few has me in a damn choke hold now. Apparently my list of favorite genres now includes "WDYM there's something wrong? Nuh-uh, take your happy pills" and i-

Idk what that says about me.

Just something about it scratches my brain so good. Like the aesthetic is so fucking good. Genuinely thinking about a society like that is fascinating to me. Like, people being almost forced to forget everything negative. I Utopian Dystopia. I am such a sucker for stories where everyone is happy (like really fluff heavy), and I am a sucker for angst and characters being put in tough situations. So like. Thinking about it I'm not surprised this is as exciting as it is to me.

It is a horror that isn't gore and super dark. Like, don't get me wrong, the game is plenty dark, but not in the way horror usually is. It's dark partially BECAUSE of everyone being "happy". It literally gives me the dark aspects I crave in the fluffy casing I need in order to be able to fully connect with it. And it's so fucking refreshing.

Also, I really want to make something about if Arthur took his Joy in the beginning of the game (so like he isn't a downer, at least not fully. Idk it's just interesting to me) and he and Sally reconnect. Like, it's just and Every Man being just a normal cog in the machine, and then this woman who he used to be closer comes back into his life. Maybe by that point he barely remembers Percy, because of his Joy use, and the moment that he would have remembered him by is denied (since he takes the pill instead). Then, once he has to choose to either turn Sally in or keep her secret, ESPECIALLY with her having a baby, I think that would also be enough to nudge him off of Joy. Even if it's purely becuase of the moral delema of a long lost friend taking a different path, so now he has to examine his own thoughts.

Like I find the world so fricken cool that they built in this game, but I really want to know what it's like as someone who's IN civilization. Downers are outcasts. That's just how they are. But what about the Wellies who take their Joy every hour on the hour and live in relative bliss.

I think it's just I really like angst, and the best way for this particular flavor of angst to hit best imo is to show just HOW good things are as a "normal person" for a decent length of time, then getting hit with the complete opposite of what you've been hearing and realizing you've been lied to for the past,,, 10 or 20 years??

Idk man. I've been hyperfixating hard. I just started playing the game like 3 days ago because I randomly remembered it existed like last week and now it's all I can think about.

And I'm loving it. I'm Snug like a Bug on a Drug.

[blorbologist]

Hi 👋 sorry to bother and I hope it's okay: I have a question about AooD (my brain decided to randomly scream Thoughts at me today)

Will characters fit into classic DND classes or are you planning to step away from that? I was wondering if Vex will still be a ranger/rogue or some other multiclass, like adding some paladin because of her close connection to divinity. Or maybe some other characters would have minor changes because they're living in a different age and society looks much different from what we know from VM campaign.

MORE than okay! I'm always looking to talk about this AU and poke at it more <3

I do want to broadly work with the constraints of the world; in Calamity characters still had classes, so I'll be sticking to that.

Here's where things get a lil interesting:

I'm sure you'll have noticed Trinket was not in that first chapter :)

Vex is a rogue/paladin in this AU! This was mostly inspired by Laura's responses to a question about alternative classes; she noted that she initially wanted Vex to be a rogue (but went with ranger so Liam could be rogue), and that the idea of late-campaign Vex being a paladin was pretty cool. The fact this exactly mirrors Vax's canon multiclass (bar the last level in druid) is also very intentional. ;3 However I'm letting Vex have ranged smite, because though everyone bickers that it'd be OP to allow... she's the twin of a god. Beastmaster was chronically underpowered in C1. She deserves this.

(Trinket is in the fic I repeat the boy is in the fic he's just not Vex's ranger companion!)

I'm a bit indecisive about Percy. Either he's an artificer, flavored that all his abilities are just gadgets and tinkering, or he's straight fighter like canon. He's 100% magic-free though, without any warlock abilities, and that definitely puts a chip on his shoulder in this mageocratic society. I fully intend for him to flatly call himself a diversity hire at some point. In much the same way that Cerrit has a bit of hubris for being a rogue keeping wizards in line, Percy has a lot of pride staked in doing just what these fancy mages can without any arcane abilities of his own, using SCIENCE!! to accomplish what they do. Not many people in Aeor who know him personally like him lmao.

As a hint of what's to come, most of the other characters remain the same class as canon, if potentially a different subclass or with a multiclass/different multiclass level distribution. Ex: Tary is either a pure artificer or artificer/wizard, Grog might be a zealot or giant barbarian instead of berserker... Ripley is still fighter/wizard, if an opposite split ;3

The one other major class change might be Pike, due to the lack of strong religious belief during the Age of Arcanum. Back in the day Vasselheim placed at least some importance in the divine, hence labelling attempts at ascension hearsay; see Calamity episode 1. But I don't think even they would be quite as zealous as they are in the modern day; Vespin was a mage, a titled archmage, within the city, and we don't know if Vasselheim had the amount of space devoted to temples it does now. She might be a Divine Soul Sorcerer with one level dip into Cleric, but I'll see how my Vasselheim arc shakes up.

Oh. I lied. There's one more major class difference, but it's with an NPC, and that I'll keep to myself ;3

[theredengineapologist]

TTTE First Impressions: S6 Eps 2 and 4

Hello Train Fans of the Internet!

Now that I have this blog, I want to try and make it a habit of recording my thoughts about each episode I watch. From what I've observed, I feel like a lot of the TTTE fandom is composed of people who grew up with the show and/or continued to keep up with it until the end. And while I did watch the model series growing up, I actually don't remember anything that happened. 😅 Re-watching it now feels like watching it for the first time. And so I hope that sharing my thoughts here would provide a new perspective (or at least some entertainment).

First Episode for Discussion: Season 6 Episode 2 "Harvey to the Rescue"

This episode introduces Harvey the Crane Engine! And can I just say, I really like how Harvey's prop looks! Like, I look at him and I just want to pick him up like

I also like how they gave him more of a round, chubby face. I think it makes him look cute and distinguishes him from the others (outside of the fact that he has a crane on his boiler, but you know)

I really liked the scene where Harvey rescues Percy in the end. That was also really neat. It was cool to watch the crane move and the chains go down and the gears turning. Like, I just think it's really cool! Practical effects rule!

The one thing I found really odd about this episode is that Edward is... weirdly out of character? They have Edward among the other engines who are judging Harvey for looking weird. And I get that they're going for the whole aesop of "being different makes you special". But like, since when was Edward judgmental? He's one of the nicest engines on this railway! And yet here he's making the comment of "he doesn't even look like an engine". And like, THIS COMING FROM THE GUY WHO RESCUED TREVOR THE TRACTION ENGINE?! WHO DON'T EVEN USE RAILS?

Like I get it that it's a kids' show and you gotta get your aesop in there. But I think you can do it without making characters out-of-character. I think there are ways you could potentially have Edward be suspicious of Harvey without being outright judgy. But that's just my take.

Anyway, we also get another entry for the Jameward Relationship Timeline!

Look at them with their berths in the shed next to each other! They're so married ❤💙

Next Episode for Discussion: Season 6 Episode 4 "A Bad Day for Harold"

You might be asking me, "Why did you skip episode 3?" I didn't. Amazon's just weird about how they published the episodes. So "No Sleep for Cranky" was published as episode 1 when really it's episode 3, and I watched it thinking it was episode 1 and "Salty's Secret" was episode 2 until I looked up the TvTropes recap.

Anyway, I liked this episode. I love Percy and Harold's dynamic and it's always a treat seeing them together. I know Percy and Thomas are the ones remembered as the Iconic Besties(tm). But in my opinion, I actually think Percy, Toby, and Harold have the most fun and interesting dynamic with each other. Particularly with Percy and Harold, I love how they're the kind of friends who will continuously butt heads and tease each other, but you know that when it comes down to it they'll have each other's backs. And that shows here in this episode too.

I like how Harold asked them to load all the mail in his net so he's "not slow like Percy". It's a neat little callback to that one time Harold roasted him and was like "you're so slow, you should give everyone their stamps back" (which, by the way, is one of my favorite roasts in the whole show so far XD).

Also I think this is Harold's first crash? I watched Seasons 1 - 5 kind of fast so if I missed one previously, feel free to correct me.

I like the little detail of Harold hovering in close to Percy to thank him. That was a nice touch.

One last thought, as much as I've been enjoying Alec Baldwin's narration so far, I do REALLY miss the buttery voice George Carlin gave to Harold. Carlin's Harold voice is so needlessly zesty and it adds so much extra flavor to his character. Kinda wish Baldwin kept going in the same direction, but I respect him doing his own thing (at least he gave us Fruity James 💅)

That's all for now! 'Til next time,

CHOO CHOO B*TCHES!

[little-engineer-who-cant]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @amethystunarmed and I am very late in responding, but what else is new? I finally get to do one of these now that I've started posting my writing!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

12 as of writing this.

2. What’s your total word count?

203,764 words which is so very many and 159,923 of those words are in one series that's not even halfway done yet.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The fandoms I have published are Skyrim, Batman, Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Black Sails.

One day though, I will start posting my ASoIaF works, I swear.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

Act 1: Into the Breach - Skyrim

The Water Under the Bridge to Elysium is Still the River Styx - Batman crossover with Percy Jackson

There's a Waystation in Gotham - Batman crossover with Percy Jackson

Act 2: Rising Until Our Souls Shatter in the Sky - Skyrim

Under the Red Hood Lies Jason Todd's Shattered Dreams - Batman crossover with Percy Jackson

5. Do you respond to comments?

I really love getting them and a lot of people who comment on my fics have hit very close to future plot points! I try to respond, but I also know I'm terrible at keeping secrets because I'm so excited about what comes next, so sometimes I do not respond because I don't want to accidentally spoil my own stuff.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This one is a tie, honestly. If you want angst that gets a resolution in a different work? Then it has to be Screaming Past the Limit, Never to Slow Down Again which is another part of the Batman and PJO crossover series.

If you're looking for unresolved angst, then it is Are You Coming to the (Hanging) Tree? which is a Black Sails fic focused on Abigail Ashe. It is one of my favorite pieces I've ever written and I did it in like 20 minutes while I was at work.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

You're the Torch I'll Use to Burn this World Down, another Black Sails fic but this one focuses on Miranda because I love her and I think she deserves good things all the time.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really, but I write in very niche sections of fandoms (crossovers, modded communities, etc) so most of the people that come across my works really want to be there and try not to run creators out. The closest I've gotten was someone nagging on a location in the Damnation Saga because I screwed around with character's perceptions on map locations a bit for worldbuilding flavor.

9. Do you write smut?

To be determined. The Damnation Saga might get some, who knows.

10. Do you write crossovers?

...

That is 98% of my drafts. Literally the only works I have that are not crossovers are the Damnation stories. I have over 20 WIPs that are all crossovers. I love interweaving different stories that have similar themes or lore backgrounds, exploring how they interact and how the myths of one is perceived by the other and vice versa. Butterfly effects and world premise shifts, my beloved.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Fic? No. Original work however, @amethystunarmed and I have never really stopped our nonsense over the last 10 or so years. We still have shared Google Docs that were last modified in 2012.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

What got me into fanfiction, and what I still go back to even after all this time, is Bagginshield. I reread Sansûkh all the time. You should read it too. Everyone should. I aspire to create something that incredible and moving. I cry every time.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?

Sweet Talk Hides Dark Thoughts. It's a massive crossover and I just tried to do too much. The butterfly effect got so out of hand that the story would no longer be anywhere near where I wanted it to be. It is super unwieldy in terms of both size and plot and I can't figure out a way to reel it in or finish it in a way that I'm satisfied with. Instead, I've sectioned out chunks and reskinned the concepts. For example, the entire Sirens Scream series is based on a bit I had in Sweet Talk where Silena Beauregard lives and vanishes into the unknown. Sweet Talk also explored the ramifications of there being survivors from Kronos' army and how the Titan War affected all the CHILD SOLDIERS that were fighting in it, concepts that I brought into Sirens but looked at from a different angle.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Descriptions and interweaving plot beats. I love a good Chekhov's Gun and I will fire it multiple times. I also am good at pacing. If you feel the story moving at breakneck speed with no room for breathing, it's because I want you to feel that way.

I'm also good at inner monologues, especially about a character spiraling into corruption and despair.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Action sequences. Unless there's room for monologues in there, I suck at them and they are a slog to write.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language?

I do it, but I always make sure to add a note asking for correction if I've translated it wrong. I do my best, but I am not a linguist nor do I have time to be. I use a lot of Dovahzul in the Damnation Saga and I am using both Old Norse and High Valyrian in other WIPs right now.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The Hobbit. I wanted to make an OC in Laketown so very badly, but I never got anything I was happy with.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

There's a Waystation in Gotham. Hands down. It's the fic that inspired the entire Sirens Scream series because I couldn't get that line out of my head. I wrote it in one swoop when I was in the middle of machine changes and it needed basically no edits. If asked to recommend my own work, this is the top of the list.

I am tagging @kiir-do-faal-rahhe, @vice-versa-vane, and @septemberskye

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 3: THE UNDERWORLD SENDS ME A PRANK CALL

Happy Halloween! What a perfectly spooky chapter to kickstart this book!

We have been getting so much Disney PJO stuff I have not been able to put this fic down even though I usually read more on my off times than write. I have chapters predone! I am so excited for this!

Which you still don't get to read until every Monday!

PJOPJOPJO

Alex snatched the book away and ignored the slightly sticky feeling of Magnus's jam fingers lingering on there and how he kind of wanted to sniff it to see what flavor it was as he loudly yelled the new title.

"Why does it not surprise me Bart Simpson made it to hell," Percy nodded, chewing thoughtfully on his pen cap and looking at Nico for what could be going on. The splitting headache he immediately got for this effort quickly made that no fun at all.

"My question is does Percy fall for it?" Thalia was already giving him a tragic look of disappointment. "Please don't tell me you cut up a refrigerator because a shadow made you jump."

Alex waited for the snickering to subside before he started reading, it really was something to be patient for.

Nothing caps off the perfect morning like a long taxi ride with an angry girl.

"You didn't summon the blind ladies again did you?" Magnus looked queasy at just the thought.

"We weren't in as big a hurry as last time," Percy promised, rubbing his stomach at the reminder. "Annabeth gave me the same filthy look though like I stole their eyeball and we were speeding half the time while I clutched my seatbelt, so really, it wasn't that different. Made me miss Tyson."

"I'll scream random numbers at you if you like, really dig home that sense of Deja vu," Alex offered.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Percy promised.

I tried to talk to Annabeth, but she was acting like I'd just punched her grandmother.

"Rhea's done nothing to deserve that Percy," Will snorted, "or would it be Hera?" He muttered with his own cross-eyed look for trying to figure out which would get the title in this case.

"In some versions, Athena doesn't even have a mother, so Annabeth can't even be mad at him for punching someone who doesn't exist," Nico agreed.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about this!" Percy clutched at his ears in instant denial of how weird everything they said was.

"You brought it up," Thalia sided with them. "I'm personally more along the lines of laughing at you tracking down Dr. Chase's mom and punching her for not being around her grandkids enough."

"Next time, I'll think to myself where nobody else should hear, she was acting like I'd punched her best friend," Percy said triumphantly.

"Percy," Jason frowned in concern, "that's you. Why would you punch yourself in the face?"

"Argh," Percy bowed his head in defeat and Alex took pity on him and decided to keep going, despite how curious he was to see how deep Percy could keep digging himself.

All I managed to get out of her was that she'd had a monster infested spring in San Francisco; she'd come back to camp twice since Christmas but wouldn't tell me why (which kind of ticked me off, because she hadn't even told me she was in New York);

Magnus tried his best not to look accusingly at Percy, as Percy instantly shifted to his own concern and promised, "I found out about this in front of Sacks, I swear I didn't know. I sort of wanted a sack on my head when she told me."

Nobody bothered to laugh at the stupid joke, their worry for Annabeth clearly having hidden at least some of her hardships from Percy didn't make anyone feel better.

Percy sunk back into his seat bending his pen, his stomach rumbling for popcorn he'd deny himself now. Would she have told him, during the credits of the movie as they laughed about having put to much salt on their snack? Would she have given him details as they went back to his place, tried to stop denying how little she fit into the mortal world? His mom would have invited her in, just like always, and Annabeth would have inhaled blue cookies until Paul came over for dinner.

It was supposed to feel perfect.

and she'd learned nothing about the whereabouts of Nico di Angelo (long story).

"Am I?" Nico asked blankly, his mind to awash with shock that Percy was actually still looking for him at all. Especially six months later! He would have thought his name wouldn't pop up again until Geryon's farm at minimum.

"Took a whole book to explain it to me, and there's still plenty I didn't get," Percy shrugged, still staring at him kind of strangely like he half expected Nico to spontaneously start getting hearts in his eyes or something. "I still don't even know who this is supposed to be narrated to!" He finished in loud exasperation to the ocean in general.

Will bit down on his lip hard to stop himself asking Nico if he was okay. He didn't look it. He still had a dazed kind of expression like something was in his eye. Will certainly hadn't forgotten him, but then, he'd always done his best to never forget any kid that passed through camp. Jay Martin had loved to stitch and embroidered a beautiful flag for the Hermes cabin, Rory Wayler had loved swimming, Nico Di Angelo had loved Mythomagic, the list went on and on...

"Any word on Luke?" I asked.

She shook her head. I knew this was a touchy subject for her. Annabeth had always admired Luke, the former head counselor for Hermes who had betrayed us and joined the evil Titan Lord Kronos. She wouldn't admit it, but I knew she still liked him. When we'd fought Luke on Mount Tamalpais last winter, he'd somehow survived a fifty-foot fall off a cliff. Now, as far as I knew, he was still sailing around on his demon-infested cruise ship while his chopped-up Lord Kronos re-formed, bit by bit, in a golden sarcophagus, biding his time until he had enough power to challenge the Olympian gods.

"And you said I was a long story," Nico said, clearly unimpressed. "I could have summed up my shit twice as fast as that." He held up one finger, "find kids at boarding school," second finger that was suspiciously out of line, "leave one kid at camp," third finger, "Nico's sister went on quest with me and didn't come back," pinky finger, "now I think Nico wants me dead." He looked around at Percy daring him to contradict him. It was weirdly freeing and morbidly funny Percy was gazing back at him with a twitching mouth. He'd always thought he'd want to melt into the shadows permanently if Percy ever laughed at him, now here he was inviting it.

"You got me Nico," Percy chuckled, "Luke was just more worrisome and much more trouble, definitely needed more context for whichever idiot decided to pick up a book with a four on it first."

"I think you're important enough to get a paragraph Nico," Will grinned. "I think you should get a whole book next."

"Don't even joke about that," Nico looked at him in tragic betrayal.

In demigod-speak, we call this a "problem."

"I'm sure mortals would call that a problem too," Magnus assured from his end. "Nine out of ten things you ever come across would be a major problem."

"Your mom's the exception," Alex added helpfully like Percy had missed that.

"Yeah, I accept that," Percy sighed.

"Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters," Annabeth said. "I didn't dare go close, but I don't think Luke is up there. I think I would know if he was."

"Does she have a GPS tracker on him?" Thalia asked mildly. "Is she not sharing that information?" She could never mock her little sister about this to her face, but Annabeth wasn't here and that was a silly thing to say.

"I'm sure she has a wise ass answer for you that involves troops coagulating-"

"Congregating," Magnus sighed.

"-and weather patterns," Percy shrugged, but he didn't look much happier at Annabeth claiming that.

That didn't make me feel much better. "What about Grover?"

"He's at camp," she said. "We'll see him today."

"Why does she know more about what's going on with your best friend than you?" Jason frowned.

"He's not as good having drachma on him for IM'ing," Percy frowned, "he loses his pants to much. At least I'd probably know if he was in real trouble," he tapped the side of his head uneasily. He still got random cravings for cheese enchiladas and smiled delightedly at flowers growing through cracks in the sidewalk like he never had before his empathy link, so he was sure that was still working fine.

"Did he have any luck? I mean, with the search for Pan?"

Annabeth fingered her bead necklace, the way she does when she's worried.

"You'll see," she said. But she didn't explain.

"That's a bad habit of hers," Magnus huffed.

"It doesn't seem very wise to constantly not be telling you everything!" Alex was mostly mocking but also annoyed about it too.

"It's a good thing she has a whole personality outside of her parent then," Percy rolled his eyes at them.

As we headed through Brooklyn, I used Annabeth's phone to call my mom. Half-bloods try not to use cell phones if we can avoid it, because broadcasting our voices is like sending up a flare to the monsters: Here I am! Please eat me now!

"I want to know who pays for that subscription now, her dad or Chiron?" Jason asked with a weird mix of concern for whoever it was. He felt like both meant well and were just inviting trouble.

"I'm going to call crap on this entire gaslighting community if Percy isn't attacked by a monster by the time he gets to camp," Alex said, completely nonplussed. "First Rachel name drops a bunch of monsters in the gym which is a no-no, now this, I think someone somewhere just started lying to make things more complicated to you guys and nobody's gotten to the truth of it yet."

"An investigation I'm sure we can gladly sick Annabeth on," Will snorted.

But I figured this call was important. I left a message on our home voice mail, trying to explain what had happened at Goode. I probably didn't do a very good job. I told my mom I was fine, she shouldn't worry, but I was going to stay at camp until things cooled down. I asked her to tell Paul Blofis I was sorry.

Percy breathed deeply through his nose and let it out slowly through his mouth. He owed his mom so much more than a sorry. If Paul even answered the phone he imagined any number of hurtful things he could say to his mom about her delinquent son and things would end so badly because she defended him. Days like this he wished his mom had abandoned him at camp, she really would have been better off.

"Percy?" Magnus asked in concern. He knew that guilt ridden look the scarce few times he'd been in front of a mirror.

It drew everyone's attention though, and Percy really didn't want to hear a bunch of nice claims like his mom loved him and didn't regret it. He knew that, but it wasn't making him feel better.

"Mmm, yeah," Percy agreed, "just hoping Alex is wrong and we don't attract monsters." He made an impatient movement to keep the reading going.

We rode in silence after that. The city melted away until we were off the expressway and rolling through the countryside of northern Long Island, past orchards and wineries and fresh produce stands.

Will smiled to himself, remembering the first time he'd come through this way on the back of a swan. The sun had just been starting to rise, and he'd been so pleasantly surprised and in awe to see how beautiful this landscape was after his ride had skirted all of those huge never ending buildings of the city.

I stared at the phone number Rachel Elizabeth Dare had scrawled on my hand. I knew it was crazy, but I was tempted to call her. Maybe she could help me understand what the empousa had been talking about—the camp burning, my friends imprisoned. And why had Kelli exploded into flames?

"Annabeth stops talking to you for five minutes and you want to decompress with a mortal?" Jason didn't sound insulting, just very dubious of how helpful that would really be.

"You met her," Percy needlessly reminded, "she's got this, this way of making you think she knows what's going on."

Jason nodded in agreement to that, she had a powerful aura to her.

I knew monsters never truly died. Eventually—maybe weeks, months, or years from now—

"Or in Percy's luck, five minutes later," Will oh so helpfully inserted.

"Thank you Will, we all so needed that reminder," he sighed.

Kelli would re-form out of the primordial nastiness seething in the Underworld. But still, monsters didn't usually let themselves get destroyed so easily. If she really was destroyed.

The taxi exited on Route 25A. We headed through the woods along the North Shore until a low ridge of hills appeared on our left. Annabeth told the driver to pull over on Farm Road 3.141, at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

The driver frowned. "There ain't nothing here, miss. You sure you want out?"

"Yes, please," Annabeth handed him a roll of mortal cash, and the driver decided not to argue.

"I need a book of excuses for when they do argue though," Alex's twitching lips already promised he was making up his own anyway.

"Bad ass scavenger hunt," Magnus said off the top of his head.

"The forest is haunted and I'm out here scrying for attention," Thalia smirked.

"My camp is on the other side, but it's invitation only," Jason said in a very posh voice.

"I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you," Percy snickered.

"This is the only place my mom lets me have band practice," Will chuckled.

Nico almost waited a beat to long. Nobody sat around and watched everybody else to see if someone had something to say before they kept on reading, especially not Alex. But the goofy thought sprung to mind, and he made himself say it before it was just interrupting and out of context. "Secret nerd convention. That sends most people running."

"All highly acceptable answers I will be stealing," Alex nodded his thanks.

Annabeth and I hiked to the crest of the hill. The young guardian dragon was dozing,

"Because that's still just a casual thing," Magnus rolled his eyes. He wondered if Zoe had spent her spare time there up cuddling with Peleus while missing Ladon.

coiled around the pine tree, but he lifted his coppery head as we approached and let Annabeth scratch under his chin. Steam hissed out his nostrils like from a teakettle, and he went cross-eyed with pleasure.

Magnus's heart did melt quite a bit hearing that though. He smiled hopefully this was the only dragon he'd have to hear about from now on. At least he sounded like a cute, friendly one.

"Hey, Peleus," Annabeth said. "Keeping everything safe?"

The last time I'd seen the dragon he'd been six feet long. Now he was at least twice that, and as thick around as the tree itself. Above his head, on the lowest branch of the pine tree, the Golden Fleece shimmered, its magic protecting the camp's borders from invasion. The dragon seemed relaxed, like everything was okay. Below us, Camp Half-Blood looked peaceful— green fields, forest, shiny white Greek buildings. The four-story farmhouse we called the Big House sat proudly in the midst of the strawberry fields. To the north, past the beach, the Long Island Sound glittered in the sunlight.

Still...something felt wrong. There was tension in the air, as if the hill itself were holding its breath, waiting for something bad to happen.

"I've been doing that since we wound up down here," Magnus promised.

"Same," Nico muttered.

"Liars," Alex scoffed, "you two would have passed out by now, nobody can hold their breath that long."

"You got them Alex," Will chuckled while Magnus and Nico exchanged exasperated looks.

We walked down into the valley and found the summer session in full swing. Most of the campers had arrived last Friday, so I already felt out of it.

"You have still yet to get to camp at any normal time," Jason said in fascination. "At this rate I'd believe you not getting expelled before you wound up there first day with nothing bad going on."

Percy wanted to argue the point, and knew he couldn't.

The satyrs were playing their pipes in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow with woodland magic. Campers were having flying horseback lessons, swooping over the woods on their pegasi. Smoke rose from the forges, and hammers rang as kids made their own weapons for Arts & Crafts.

The Athena and Demeter teams were having a chariot race around the track, and over at the canoe lake some kids in a Greek trireme were fighting a large orange sea serpent. A typical day at camp.

"Why is it orange?" Alex squinted suspiciously. "Was it there first and that's why you picked your camp colors?"

"One of my siblings actually put it in there last weekend," Will shrugged. "Lee was betting Michael he couldn't shoot the sucker off a squid for some reason, but they still had to drag it back to the ocean when they were done."

"I need to talk to Clarisse," Annabeth said.

I stared at her as if she'd just said I need to eat a large, smelly boot.

"Finding Clarisse is kind of like that," Will agreed. "You're usually left wondering why she's there, where did she come from, and how do I get her to go back."

"I hope Annabeth at least tried to add hot sauce to it," Alex snorted.

"What for?"

Clarisse from the Ares cabin was one of my least favorite people.

"Like on a scale of one to ten, how does she rank compared to her dad, and Luke, and that smelly old guy you're convinced is dead on the back of a bus?" Alex asked clinically.

Percy honestly deliberated with himself for a moment before saying, "the smelly guy wins with a three, he's at least quiet and doesn't belch, then Clarisse is a four."

"Good to know for future notice," Alex grinned.

She was a mean, ungrateful bully. Her dad, the war god, wanted to kill me. She tried to beat me to a pulp on a regular basis. Other than that, she was just great.

"And she loves toilets," Jason smirked, "why do you never mention that?"

"Because I'd like to forget about it!" Percy groaned.

"Oh, well, that's not happening," Jason scoffed.

"We've been working on something," Annabeth said. "I'll see you later."

"Are you guys installing another deadly game?" Magnus looked very weary of what this team up could cause. "Giant chess that kills people? Monster simulators?"

"Those sound awesome," Percy grinned.

Magnus looked like Will could stitch the word dread into his forehead.

"Working on what?"

Annabeth glanced toward the forest.

"I'll tell Chiron you're here," she said. "He'll want to talk to you before the hearing."

"What hearing?"

But she jogged down the path toward the archery field without looking back.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Great talking with you, too."

Jason looked like he was trying to eat that mangey old boot named Clarisse. "One of these days we're going to have to strap Annabeth to a chair and make her hear what we've been through with all this cryptic nonsense."

Percy looked like he was deeply considering it himself and Thalia swallowed her own horror at how that could possibly go.

As I made my way through camp, I said hi to some of my friends.

Percy waited for the crack from any of them, their mock shock that he even had friends. It didn't come. Of the two most likely to do so, Alex was reading eagerly for details, probably waiting for something to explode, and Jason had that mystified look on his face like someone said a pink elephant was just casually flying around like usual whenever his Camp was first described. Percy couldn't wait for these books to be done so he could just casually see them around camp too.

In the Big House's driveway, Connor and Travis Stoll from the Hermes cabin were hot-wiring the camps SUV. Silena Beauregard, the head counselor for Aphrodite, waved at me from her Pegasus as she flew past. I looked for Grover, but I didn't see him. Finally I wandered into the sword arena, where I usually go when I'm in a bad mood. Practicing always calms me down.

"You only mentioned four friends," Jason snorted, "when are you going to do a roll call of the whole place?"

"I'm not a psychopath who keeps count of these things," Percy sighed.

Maybe that's because swordplay is one thing I can actually understand.

"I'm very disappointed Annabeth apparently hasn't sat you down and taught you the physics and fluid dynamics behind sword fighting now," Magnus grinned.

"I know where you sleep," Percy jabbed at the rooms beyond, "you will not put that idea in her head!"

Magnus didn't think it so funny, since Percy would have to hunt him down in the streets when they got back to follow through on the threat, but he didn't know that.

I walked into the amphitheater and my heart almost stopped. In the middle of the arena floor, with its back to me, was the biggest hellhound I'd ever seen.

Percy's heart bounced around in his chest like a rubber ball ricocheting off each rib. That dog- hellhound!... he knew...her? His hand wasn't even trying to reach for his pocket now, he just sat looking at the book with a strange expression on his face like someone was trying to describe a giraffe to him.

I mean, I've seen some pretty big hellhounds. One the size of a rhino tried to kill me when I was twelve. But this hellhound was bigger than a tank. I had no idea how it had gotten past the camp's magic boundaries.

Will vividly remembered when Quintus had first had her over the property line. She'd been in the shadows of the forest, just glowing red eyes this stranger was promising them all was a harmless girl. Then Quintus had opened a jar of peanut butter, and she'd come bounding out, tail wagging like a fighter engine's propeller. The jar got stuck on her tongue as she tried to lap it all up at once.

The Stoll's had laughed, Katie had squealed and made apples fall on everyone's head, and Clarisse's eyes had gleamed with a challenge as she went for her spear; before Quintus began scratching her ears and promising them all she was a harmless softie and his pet as her tail felled trees around them making dryads pop out and shriek in shock.

Most of the kids scattered and locked their doors that night, one girl who everybody swore was a child of Echidna asked if she could rub Mrs. O'Leary's belly. It hadn't even been a blip in their life by next week honestly.

It looked right at home, lying on its belly, growling contentedly as it chewed the head off a combat dummy. It hadn't noticed me yet, but if I made a sound, I knew it would sense me. There was no time to go for help. I pulled out Riptide and uncapped it.

Nico winced. He knew it was silly and obviously didn't work, but he was fond of Mrs. O'Leary. She was Percy's dog, but still one of the very few animals who actively liked him whether he wanted her to or not, and he really could summon her down here or wherever he wanted and she'd most likely come, if he wasn't worried about her drowning.

"Yaaaaah!" I charged.

"I should not make a noise while attacking this monster or it will kill me," Alex raised one hand, then leveled the other palm up, "I shall scream like a lunatic while lunging to attack it," he began moving both up and down like scales. "Makes perfect sense to me!"

"Battle reflexes," Percy said with almost a straight face.

I brought down the blade on the monster's enormous backside when out of nowhere another sword blocked my strike.

CLANG!

The hellhound pricked up its ears. "WOOF!"

I jumped back and instinctively struck at the swordsman—a gray-haired man in Greek armor. He parried my attack with no problem.

"That's not the guy who trained Luke, is it," Jason shifted around in distress who this new guy was who could also immediately keep up with Percy.

"Luke learned with me on the streets, no finer tutor," Thalia grimly corrected. It was the kind of learn or die technique that Percy still didn't have as much training in as them. "This is someone else." She wasn't looking forward to hear the tale of Daedalus, a story that had made Annabeth flinch through the majority of the retelling with scant details.

"Whoa there!" he said. "Truce!"

"You're a very lucky guy Percy," Magnus promised him, "there's not many people who wouldn't decide to murder you for attacking their dog."

Percy still looked a little to dumbfounded somebody was defending that massive monster to respond, but he had no heart to argue even if he could. He'd still never drawn his pen, let alone his sword in here, he'd instinctively been surprised at his past self wanting to attack her.

"WOOF!" The hellhound's bark shook the arena.

"That's a hellhound!" I shouted.

"Was she having an identity crisis?" Alex asked in mock concern. "Did she think she was a harpy? That's not really for you to decide Percy."

He threw his hands up in exasperation already. There really was no point arguing that one.

"She's harmless," the man said. "That's Mrs. O'Leary."

Alex smacked his lips together a couple times as he thought about that one. "That's an acceptable name," he decided, leaving the rest of them now vaguely concerned what he considered their names.

"Never understood why people name their pet Mrs. or Mr. anything," Magnus admitted, "who are they married to? Why are we being proper to the critter that licks its junk?"

"Gender affirming care," Alex said in that weirdly serious way where you weren't actually sure if he was messing with you or not. Then he kept reading like nothing had happened.

I blinked. "Mrs. O'Leary?"

At the sound of her name, the hellhound barked again. I realized she wasn't angry. She was excited. She nudged the soggy, badly chewed target dummy toward the swordsman.

"Aw, I think she wants to play fetch," Jason looked like he had a very bright light shining in his eyes. How did this camp manage to get weirder every time he heard of it? They now had pet hellhounds running around. Between her and Percy's brother the cyclops this place seemed like an oasis...so why did it always sound so unwelcome to him?

"Good girl," the man said. With his free hand he grabbed the armored manikin by the neck and heaved it toward the bleachers. "Get the Greek! Get the Greek!"

Mrs. O'Leary bounded after her prey and pounced on the dummy, flattening its armor. She began chewing on its helmet.

"That's a very good trick," Will nodded along. "I'm sure it won't come in handy for anything."

"It's a good thing you never wear armor so she can't confuse you," Nico smirked.

"I slip her her favorite treat, nobody else realizes she loves apples," Will grinned, before he made an exaggerated 'oops' face and put his hand against his mouth.

Nico smiled back at this oddball, his sense of humor was so strange and Nico always wanted to keep watching for more.

The swordsman smiled dryly. He was in his fifties, I guess, with short gray hair and a clipped gray beard. He was in good shape for an older guy.

He wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over an orange camp T-shirt. At the base of his neck was a strange mark, a purplish blotch like a birthmark or a tattoo, but before I could make out what it was, he shifted his armor straps and the mark disappeared under his collar.

Percy rubbed uncomfortably at the spot on himself, his brain unpleasantly informing him to remember that. He wished his brain would shut up with its unhelpful advice.

"Mrs. O'Leary is my pet," he explained. "I couldn't let you stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might have scared her."

"I hope she doesn't pee the floor when she gets scared," Thalia said, "because guess who would have to clean it up."

Percy debated for a moment if it was worth getting the oracle so pissed at him again it would go for another midnight stroll to this place instead. He could blame someone getting the piss scared out of them instead and be exempt.

"Who are you?"

"Promise not to kill me if I put my sword away?"

"I guess."

"Still on track with Percy nearly killing every person he's met," Jason muttered.

"And you were surprised he wasn't listing off a dozen friends," Thalia snorted.

He sheathed his sword and held out his hand. "Quintus."

"His name means five?" Jason's lips twitched in amusement. "Most half-bloods are an only child, but I really hope this guys parents got tired of coming up with names after the fourth kid and just went with that."

Alex threw his head back laughing and Percy shook his head as he grinned along.

I shook his hand. It was as rough as a sandpaper.

"Percy Jackson," I said. "Sorry about—How did you, um—"

"Get a hellhound for a pet? Long story, involving many close calls with death and quite a few giant chew toys.

"That was not much of an explanation," Alex looked hurt this guy hadn't launched off into an instruction manual of how to get his own.

"He's not much of a good story teller," Nico said sardonically. "I can find a pup later, if you really want to raise one." He'd spoken without thinking, he'd gone so long in here with no one freaking out over his mere presence being a death sentence, let alone a casual gesture that was meant as no threat.

By the time he braced himself for Alex to scream about strangling him for summoning a monster, he was already smiling in delight like Nico had just offered him his own close shave with death and a few giant chew toys.

I'm the new sword instructor, by the way.

"There was an old sword instructor?" Magnus asked wearily, already knowing he wasn't going to love this insane story.

"Nope," Will shrugged, "unless you counted, um," he stopped and didn't finish, but a name hung oddly in the air that rhymed with fluke. "No official teachers aside from Chiron," he finished all in a rush.

Alex leaned close to Magnus and murmured, "this place can't keep a competent adult anymore than Percy can stay in school. Ten bucks says he's dead by the end of this summer."

Magnus smiled and laughed just because that's what he was supposed to do. It's not like he could honor giving over a measly ten dollars on the silly wager.

Helping out Chiron while Mr. D is away."

"He's gone?" Percy, Alex, Magnus, and Jason all yelped in varying degrees of shock and pleasure.

"Away," Will corrected with a sigh. "Temporary," he emphasized, not looking particularly pleased.

"Last time he left was because of that winter solstice thing though," Magnus looked far from pleased at this temporary great news. "What could be so important Zeus would lift his punishment again?"

Percy leaned forward anxiously in his seat for that answer too, he knew it probably wasn't a good one.

"Oh." I tried not to stare as Mrs. O'Leary ripped off the target dummy's shield with the arm still attached and shook it like a Frisbee. "Wait, Mr. D is away?"

"You know, that's fair Percy," Will said, "anybody would find that distracting no matter the news." It would have been more believable if Will had said that while trying to stifle a laugh, but Percy appreciated the attempt anyways.

"Yes, well...busy times. Even Dionysus must help out. He's gone to visit some old friends. Make sure they're on the right side. I probably shouldn't say more than that."

Magnus didn't seem to find that answer all that cracked up. "Does he get them drunk and promise them free trips to the casino if they stay on his side of the war?" The wine god couldn't get through a conversation without wanting to kill half his charges, what was he out there doing trying to be a liaison?

"Mr. D wasn't born a god," Thalia informed. "He's a younger god, and as such he has pull with quite a few who fit into that category. Others like Artemis were talking with the older gods, each had their own whom they connected with and tried to find out their position. Athena was the one to talk Zeus into using all those at his disposal."

Jason was in awe of her having a goddesses first hand account of even the most brief meeting like that. The instinct kicked in of trying to scold himself, that wasn't information he should be privy to and he should have just reminded Magnus the gods knew what they were doing. The idea lingered less and less the more of this he heard. 

If Dionysus was gone, that was the best news I'd had all day. He was only our camp director because Zeus had sent him here as a punishment for chasing some off-limits wood nymph. He hated the campers and tried to make our lives miserable. With him away, this summer might actually be cool. On the other hand, if Dionysus had gotten off his butt and actually started helping the gods recruit against the Titan threat, things must be looking pretty bad.

"It's good to hear you think of both sides, that's a great skill Percy," Jason sounded pleased, but also just as exhausted as Percy felt about the duality of this situation.

Off to my left, there was a loud BUMP. Six wooden crates the size of picnic tables were stacked nearby, and they were rattling. Mrs. O'Leary cocked her head and bounded toward them.

"Whoa, girl!" Quintus said. "Those aren't for you." He distracted her with the bronze shield Frisbee.

"I really hope those aren't for me either," Percy said like he really hoped somebody would toss the book like a frisbee and he could run around without a care in the world, for once.

The crates thumped and shook. There were words printed on the sides, but with my dyslexia they took me a few minutes to decipher:

TRIPLE G RANCH

"What do the G's stand for?" Magnus asked wearily, already knowing the results could range anywhere from gross to gore.

He got silence.

"Guys, what do the G's stand for?" Magnus repeated a tad more urgently.

"Enjoy your ignorance while it lasts," was all Nico would finally answer.

FRAGILE

THIS END UP

Along the bottom, in smaller letters: OPEN WITH CARE. TRIPLE G RANCH IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE, MAIMING, OR EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL DEATHS.

Magnus slumped into his seat and groaned as if that maiming was happening to him just hearing about it. "I hate this guy," he already decided, "I don't care if there are bunnies in that box, nothing bought from a ranch that big is going to be good!"

"I'm sort of hoping it's chickens," Alex grinned, "I want to see someone get the great idea about Jurassic Park gone wrong."

"Well I know who I'm never going to vote to be the next sword instructor," Percy frowned at the horror Alex would wrought with one second of power.

"Don't be ridiculous Percy, I don't use a sword," he scoffed.

"What's in the boxes?" I asked.

"A little surprise," Quintus said. "Training activity for tomorrow night. You'll love it."

"I don't believe him," Thalia mock whispered.

"We don't have to be best friends to agree with that," Percy groaned.

"Uh, okay," I said, though I wasn't sure about the "excruciatingly painful death" part.

"Is there a way to be okay with that part?" Nico snorted. He could cause it with ease and he wasn't actively 'okay' with it either.

"Healthy coping mechanisms?" Will didn't sound so sure though.

Quintus threw the bronze shield, and Mrs. O'Leary lumbered after it.

"You young ones need more challenges. They didn't have camps like this when I was a boy."

Alex curled his lips around his teeth and imitated a wizened old man voice, "back in my day!" He even mock waved a cane around for a second.

"Yeah," Percy snickered along, "I bet he had to write on stone tablets and walk five miles up hill both ways to go to school in the snow."

"You—you're a half-blood?" I didn't mean to sound surprised, but I'd never seen an old demigod before.

"I think that's more sad than anything," Thalia frowned, even as she tried to imagine it herself. Luke was one of the rare few who didn't get immortality as a teenager and almost got to twenty.

Quintus chuckled. "Some of us do survive into adulthood, you know. Not all of us are the subject of terrible prophecies."

"No, I didn't know that," Percy said grumpily. It certainly exploded his brain for a second before he caught up with the rest of what Quintus had said. "Wait, does everybody know about my prophecy?"

"It's the worst kept secret at camp," Will agreed, "right up there with who smuggles in the good stuff and who's dating who."

"Great," Percy groaned.

"You know about my prophecy?"

"I've heard a few things."

I wanted to ask what few things, but just then Chiron clip-clopped into the arena. "Percy, there you are!"

He must've just come from teaching archery. He had a quiver and bow slung over his #1 CENTAUR T-shirt. He'd trimmed his curly brown hair and beard for the summer, and his lower half, which was a white stallion, was flecked with mud and grass.

"Look at you playing detective over here," Jason grinned.

"He does have good powers of perception," Thalia agreed with an eye roll, she'd still like it if those would stop being used on trivial details like Chiron's activities and more on getting a clue in social situations.

"I see you've met our new instructor." Chiron's tone was light, but there was an uneasy look in his eyes.

"Because of Quintus?" Magnus asked wearily, "or because of what he needs you for?"

"When I find out I'll let you know," Percy squirmed in his seat just as uneasily for whatever the answer was. He hadn't even gotten to hack up a dummy, Mrs. O'Leary had slobbered on all the good ones.

"Quintus, do you mind if I borrow Percy?"

"Not at all, Master Chiron."

"No need to call me 'Master'," Chiron said, though he sounded sort of pleased.

Will looked a little chagrined he'd never thought to call him that, meanwhile Percy raised an unimpressed brow at anyone saying that.

"Come, Percy. We have much to discuss."

I took one more glance at Mrs. O'Leary, who was now chewing off the target dummy's legs.

"Hopefully not foreshadowing," Jason twitched and hoped that hellhound was as well trained as the swordsman.

"If it is, a shadow traveling monster would be the culprit," Percy agreed, but the words sounded all wrong on his tongue. Yet his unease for this introduction somehow all still lingered.

He didn't notice, as usual, Nico wincing at Percy calling his powers weird.

"Well, see you," I told Quintus.

As we were walking away, I whispered to Chiron, "Quintus seemed kind of—"

"Mysterious?" Chiron suggested. "Hard to read?"

"Yeah."

Chiron nodded. "A very qualified half-blood. Excellent swordsman, I just wish I understood..."

"You could feed Chiron this book and he'd spit out less horse shit," Alex scowled.

"At least he seems better than Tantalus," but Magnus knew that bar was pathetically low, and Quintus would probably still trip on it.

Whatever he was going to say, he apparently changed his mind.

"First things first, Percy. Annabeth told me you met some empousai."

"Yeah." I told him about the fight at Goode, and how Kelli had exploded into flames.

"Mm," Chiron said. "The more powerful ones can do that. She did not die, Percy. She simply escaped. It is not good that the she-demons are stirring."

"We were all well aware it's not good anything's stirring," Jason said from all the way back to that talk with Artemis.

"And we still haven't gotten any other kind of recipe," Percy agreed.

"What were they doing there?" I asked. "Waiting for me?"

"Possibly," Chiron frowned. "It is amazing you survived. Their powers of deception...almost any male hero would've fallen under their spell and been devoured."

"Almost any male hero," Alex looked extremely interested to test those limits.

"I didn't stop to ask about attracting the rainbow of it all, sorry Alex," Percy rolled his eyes.

"I would've been," I admitted. "Except for Rachel."

Chiron nodded. "Ironic to be saved by a mortal, yet we owe her a debt.

Thalia bit her lip against smiling. It turned into a pretty mutually beneficial relationship in the end.

What the empousa said about an attack on camp—we must speak of this further. But for now, come, we should get to the woods. Grover will want you there."

"Where?"

"At his formal hearing," Chiron said grimly. "The Council of Cloven Elders is meeting now to decide his fate."

Percy made such a loud groaning noise, the others checked the floor for any new cracks. "I've been back for hours and he's about to die, again! Can my best friend just go one time without almost dying!"

"Maybe they're voting on his fate over something less dramatic than his life," Magnus offered without much hope. "Like his coffee intake."

Percy didn't think he was right, but he gave him a nod of thanks all the same.

Chiron said we needed to hurry, so I let him give me a ride on his back.

"You let him!" Magnus went cross-eyed in wonder. "You just casually rode on the back of a centaur!" He couldn't even answer himself why this was so fascinating when he'd now known Chiron existed for days.

"It wasn't something I was comfortable with," Percy promised. He'd never even gotten a piggy back ride from anyone before, not counting the monster boar, and as far as he knew, nobody at Camp casually rode around on Chiron, so it wasn't something he'd ever wanted to do and stand out more.

As we galloped past the cabins, I glanced at the dining hall—an open-air Greek pavilion on a hill overlooking the sea. It was the first time I'd seen the place since last summer, and it brought back bad memories.

Nico cringed into his seat and gripped his sword.

Alex made a little huff noise and kept reading, just like that.

Percy did look at him this time though, and the expression was mingled pity with still plenty of weary concern. It wasn't the bright, shining acceptance he hated himself for wanting, but it wasn't murdery, 'can't take my eyes off your untrustworthy Underworld coat,' either, so Nico forced himself not to say anything too.

Chiron plunged into the woods. Nymphs peeked out of the trees to watch us pass. Large shapes rustled in the shadows—monsters that were stocked in here as a challenge to the campers.

"You really should just call it the Forbidden Forest, make it the epitome of obvious they want you guys to all vanish in the night," Magnus shook his head.

Percy looked interested in the idea while Will opened his mouth in a silent scream of even more kids going in there!

I thought I knew the forest pretty well after playing capture the flag here for two summers, but Chiron took me a way I didn't recognize, through a tunnel of old willow trees, past a little waterfall, and into a glade blanketed with wildflowers.

"Percy, you haven't seen the half of that place," Thalia promised.

"The correct answer to that is, adventure time," Alex informed him.

Percy had to quickly wipe the smile off his face as his first thought had been, Exploring with Annabeth Time. The place would have made a fun picnic spot.

A bunch of satyrs were sitting in a circle in the grass. Grover stood in the middle, facing three really old, really fat satyrs who sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes. I'd never seen the three old satyrs before, but I guessed they must be the Council of Cloven Elders.

Alex sounded very much like he was getting trampled by a goat. Percy knew he wouldn't have sounded much better, he didn't take well to authority, and now Grover was obviously in trouble for something he didn't do. Grover had an alibi, him!

Grover seemed to be telling them a story. He twisted the bottom of his Tshirt, shifting nervously on his goat hooves. He hadn't changed much since last winter, maybe because satyrs age half as fast as humans. His acne had flared up. His horns had gotten a little bigger so they just stuck out over his curly hair. I realized with a start that I was taller than he was now.

"Poor guy," Nico looked almost concerned, "he's already got enough troubles without taking years for a growth spurt."

"The horns were kind of cool, but yeah, would not want to be a satyr just for that," Percy nodded. 

It was a casual, silly little thing to agree on, but Nico still smiled in surprise there was a first that didn't make everything feel so tragically doomed. He'd already known they both liked Grover though, so he was probably being weird again.

Standing off to one side of the circle were Annabeth, another girl I'd never seen before, and Clarisse. Chiron dropped me next to them.

Clarisse's stringy brown hair was tied back with a camouflage bandanna. If possible, she looked even buffer, like she'd been working out. She glared at me and muttered, "Punk," which must've meant she was in a good mood. Usually she says hello by trying to kill me.

"Happy days!" Jason looked cheered at least. Maybe she was in a good enough mood she'd even tell what she'd been up to last winter and only slightly maim Percy by the end.

Annabeth had her arm around the other girl, who looked like she'd been crying. She was small—petite, I guess you'd call it—with wispy hair the color of amber and a pretty, elfish face. She wore a green chiton and laced sandals, and she was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. "It's going terribly," she sniffled.

"No, no," Annabeth patted her shoulders. "He'll be fine, Juniper."

Annabeth looked at me and mouthed the words Grover's girlfriend.

"I've tried lip reading a couple times," Magnus looked at Percy in surprise. "I was curious how Hearth does it. It's harder than you'd think. That could have been anything from mowers year-land to going golf-fiend."

"I'll stick with my guess," Percy assured, even if the idea boggled his mind just as much as the other two options.

At least I thought that's what she said, but that didn't make any sense.

"Grover can't have a social life outside of you?" Thalia snorted in surprise. "He's been chasing tree nymphs since before you were born, one was bound to take pity on him." She was personally glad, it made his weird admiration of her and her sisters a lot more tame on at least one more satyr.

Grover with a girlfriend? Then I looked at Juniper more closely, and I realized her ears were slightly pointed. Her eyes, instead of being red from crying, were tinged green, the color of chlorophyll. She was a tree nymph— a dryad.

"Is that better or worse than a half-blood dating him?" Magnus asked curiously. "Is that even a thing?"

"Everything's a thing," Alex said with high confidence and great indifference to the answer as he kept reading before anyone could say otherwise.

"Master Underwood!" the council member on the right shouted, cutting off whatever Grover was trying to say. "Do you seriously expect us to believe this?"

"Yes!" Percy said robustly at once. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew his best friend wasn't a liar. Even when he needed to be.

"B-but Silenus," Grover stammered. "It's the truth!"

The Council guy, Silenus, turned to his colleagues and muttered something. Chiron cantered up to the front and stood next to them. I remembered he was an honorary member of the council, but I'd never thought about it much. The elders didn't look very impressive. They reminded me of the goats in a petting zoo—huge bellies, sleepy expressions, and glazed eyes that couldn't see past the next handful of goat chow. I wasn't sure why Grover seemed so nervous.

"You mouth off to gods," Jason reminded him in exasperation, "I feel like if I tried to explain the concept of an authority figure to you, you'd defenestrate me."

"Yes, yes I would, and I'm not even going to ask what that means," Percy nodded.

Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his rosebush throne. "Master Underwood, for six months—six months— we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak."

"Why is that, scandalous?" Magnus asked like he was missing the obvious. "Haven't they been looking for this guy since the dawn of time? Why are they not building him a thrown of orchids?"

"Don't know, but I hope that rosebush was stabbing his tail," Percy scowled.

"But I did!"

"Impudence!" said the elder on the left.

"Now, Maron," Chiron said. "Patience."

"Patience, indeed!" Maron said. "I've had it up to my horns with this nonsense. As if the wild god would speak to...to him."

Percy looked ready to storm up there and drown this guy in the saltiest goat feed he could find, but the bizarre mental image of that old goat eating his way out before he could manage flashed through his mind had him hesitating in here same as in that clearing so much Thalia didn't even have to give him a warning.

Juniper looked like she wanted to charge the old satyr and beat him up, but Annabeth and Clarisse held her back. "Wrong fight, girlie," Clarisse muttered. "Wait."

I don't know what surprised me more: Clarisse holding someone back from a fight, or the fact that she and Annabeth, who despised each other, almost seemed like they were working together.

"I always knew they'd make a badass team up," Jason looked in awe their powers combined were already saving a dryad, they could save the quest from the next disaster too.

"I have so many questions," Percy looked five sentences away from drilling his fingers into his skull in hopes something would make sense.

"For six months," Silenus continued, "we have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you travel. We allowed you to keep your searcher's license. We waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?"

"I just need more time," Grover pleaded.

"Nothing!" the elder in the middle chimed in. "You have found nothing."

"But, Leneus—"

Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs.

The satyrs didn't look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else, and Silenus sighed. He nodded reluctantly.

"Master Underwood," Silenus announced, "we will give you one more chance."

"Is Chiron the voice of reason in every room he's in?" Will looked sort of disappointed he'd had to step in there. It was depressing to think how many satyr's had their dreams shattered before this moment.

Grover brightened. "Thank you!"

"One more week."

"Clearly he wasn't being loud enough!" Percy snapped.

"What? But sir! That's impossible!"

"One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps. Or tap dancing."

"I bet Grover would be great at both of those and still find Pan," Alex sniffed. "Can this Silenus say the same?" His tone very much doubted Silenus could get his hind off that throne.

"But sir, I—I can't lose my searcher's license. My whole life—"

"This meeting of the council is adjourned," Silenus said. "And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!"

Percy's lip was curling disturbingly, he looked about ready to find out what would happen if he fed a Council of Cloven Elders to Peleus.

The old satyr clapped his hands, and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans, and other goat delicacies.

The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food. Grover walked dejectedly toward us. His faded blue T-shirt had a picture of a satyr on it. It read GOT HOOVES?

"Don't get me started on milk propaganda, I will make somebody regret it," Alex huffed.

Magnus, as usual with everything that came out of Alex's mouth, was fascinated and wished he could ask what the hell that meant, but Percy looked like Thalia was holding onto his patience by an actual thread if someone didn't start answering some questions around here, so he filed that away for later.

"Hi, Percy," he said, so depressed he didn't even offer to shake my hand.

"No goat-bear- best friend hug?" Jason looked as dejected as Grover had been. This satyr, not fawn, had been fascinating to hear about from the start. The idea of finally meeting him and Grover being, just, a pest like the rest of those goats seemed gave him double vision.

"That went well, huh?"

"Those old goats!" Juniper said. "Oh, Grover, they don't know how hard you've tried!"

"There is another option," Clarisse said darkly.

"No. No." Juniper shook her head. "Grover, I won't let you."

Percy threw his hands up in frustration, he probably caused a wave to crash a few buildings above surface, and then just didn't have the restraint anymore and began pacing around behind Thalia and Jason. This was so frustrating constantly wondering what the hell was going on with his friends.

His face was ashen. "I—I'll have to think about it. But we don't even know where to look."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

In the distance, a conch horn sounded.

Percy hoped he never met who blew the conch horn or it would be lost at the bottom of the ocean.

Annabeth pursed her lips. "I'll fill you in later, Percy. We'd better get back to our cabins. Inspection is starting."

"If she tells me one more time she'll explain later, I will steal her architecture books," Percy assured.

"How did you two not kill each other," Thalia said in awe, watching him over her shoulder with interest.

"I have no idea, but at least I explain what's going on!"

"Sometimes too much," Nico muttered, he could do without the other constant, his loving adoration of her.

It didn't seem fair that I'd have to do cabin inspection when I just got to camp, but that's the way it worked. Every afternoon, one of the senior counselors came around with a papyrus scroll checklist. Best cabin got first shower hour, which meant hot water guaranteed. Worst cabin got kitchen patrol after dinner.

"What I want to know is how much bribery factors into this?" Alex grinned.

"That's the first thought out of your mouth?" Will tried so hard to look disappointed in him. "You hear of an honor ranking system that keeps all of us accountable to clean up after yourself, and your first thought is-"

"Oh stop Will," Nico rolled his eyes, "Connor learned how to hide stuff in the rafters from you, he told me."

"That wasn't trash, I needed that stuff later, for um, testing," he was fighting a losing battle not to laugh by the end.

Nico's eyes gleamed with a light that made his breath catch when Nico said, "and I will be entirely innocent when I make my trash vanish into the shadows, so we're all innocent aren't we?"

"Yes, ahem, that's the take away here," Will dragged his eyes back to Alex and decided that was enough sharing and joking for now or he'd cave and admit to offering Silena more than one signed addition of Chewbacca, mint condition in the box. For some reason she never accepted them as she went about the cabin, so technically he'd never bribed anyone.

The problem for me: I was usually the only one in the Poseidon cabin, and I'm not exactly what you would call neat. The cleaning harpies only came through on the last day of summer, so my cabin was probably just the way I'd left it on winter break: my candy wrappers and chip bags still on my bunk, my armor for capture the flag lying in pieces all around the cabin.

"I should be exempt from chores for that brief time, I was living through severe trauma," Percy clutched at his shirt and finally fell dramatically back into his seat, upside down.

"Your girlfriend was back in a week Jackson, and you had time to clean up before you went back for school," Jason scoffed as he waved him down.

"She's not my-" Percy tried again, but Alex was already ignoring his halfhearted attempt.

I raced toward the commons area, where the twelve cabins—one for each Olympian god—made a U around the central green. The Demeter kids were sweeping out theirs and making fresh flowers grow in their window boxes.

"Now that definitely feels like cheating," Magnus agreed with Percy's put out look.

"Until someone comes rushing in with fresh mulch," Will waved his hand under his nose, though he'd always thought that was a good look on Katie.

Just by snapping their fingers they could make honeysuckle vines bloom over their doorway and daisies cover their roof, which was totally unfair. I don't think they ever got last place in inspection. The guys in the Hermes cabin were scrambling around in a panic, stashing dirty laundry under their beds and accusing each other of taking stuff.

Will couldn't help a nostalgic chuckle about the time his cabin had received second to last place when he'd let Conner hide his clothes under his bed, only to find out later it wasn't all just Conner's. He'd probably gone overboard by washing them before returning them back, but it had felt like the kind, sanitary thing to do even when he'd scowled at all of Katie's stuff mixed in.

They were slobs, but they still had a head start on me.

Over at the Aphrodite cabin, Silena Beauregard was just coming out, checking items off the inspection scroll.

"That can't be fair," Thalia sided with Percy's tragic groan. "Inspection Barbie shouldn't get to review her own."

"Oh trust me, she's more strict on them than anyone, they hate it when she does," Will defended the bias.

I cursed under my breath. Silena was nice, but she was an absolute neat freak, the worst inspector. She liked things to be pretty. I didn't do "pretty." I could almost feel my arms getting heavy from all the dishes I would have to scrub tonight.

"Anything's good training if you've got enough lava?" Jason offered.

"I'll remember that when you ask me to train with you," Percy promised.

The Poseidon cabin was at the end of the row of "male god" cabins on the right side of the green. It was made of gray shell-encrusted sea rock, long and low like a bunker, but it had windows that faced the sea and it always had a good breeze blowing through it.

I dashed inside, wondering if maybe I could do a quick under-the-bed cleaning job like the Hermes guys, and I found my half-brother Tyson sweeping the floor.

Everybody did a double take at that, especially Percy who got the clashing mental image and fell fresh out of his seat.

"Percy!" he bellowed. He dropped his broom and ran at me. If you've never been charged by an enthusiastic Cyclops wearing a flowered apron and rubber cleaning gloves, I'm telling you, it'll wake you up quick.

"And I wasn't even asleep," Percy was rubbing at his heart doing double time. He wasn't even afraid of his brother, but some base instinct of his lizard brain had chosen flight over fight after seeing that, and he hadn't gotten the chance to act.

"Hey, big guy!" I said. "Ow, watch the ribs. The ribs."

I managed to survive his bear hug. He put me down, grinning like crazy, his single calf-brown eye full of excitement. His teeth were as yellow and crooked as ever, and his hair was a rat's nest. He wore ragged XXXL jeans and a tattered flannel shirt under his flowered apron, but he was still a sight for sore eyes. I hadn't seen him in almost a year, since he'd gone under the sea to work at the Cyclopes' forges.

"I'm hoping they didn't instill to many bad habits in him, like military cleanliness," Alex sniffed.

"What's wrong with that?" Jason frowned.

"I'm sure he just like's having a home for a change and is keeping up with it," Magnus said in a much gentler kind of way.

"You are okay?" he asked. "Not eaten by monsters?"

"Not even a little bit." I showed him that I still had both arms and both legs, and Tyson clapped happily.

"Yay!" he said. "Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!"

I hoped he didn't mean all at the same time,

"And here I was hoping the opposite," Alex sighed.

"I kind of thought that was on a banner for the camp somewhere," Magnus admitted.

but I told him absolutely, we'd have a lot of fun this summer. I couldn't help smiling, he was so enthusiastic about everything.

"But first," I said, "we've gotta worry about inspection. We should..."

Then I looked around and realized Tyson had been busy. The floor was swept.

"Yeah Percy, you walked in on him sweeping and in cleaning gear," Jason looked at him like he was out of his mind for not noticing this before the charging cyclops.

"I swear he wouldn't notice if Tyson were in a dress, big guy's a lot to take in at first," Thalia said in some defense of him.

The bunk beds were made. The saltwater fountain in the corner had been freshly scrubbed so the coral gleamed. On the windowsills, Tyson had set out water-filled vases with sea anemones and strange glowing plants from the bottom of the ocean, more beautiful than any flower bouquets the Demeter kids could whip up.

"Tyson, the cabin looks...amazing!"

He beamed. "See the fish ponies? I put them on the ceiling!"

A herd of miniature bronze hippocampi hung on wires from the ceiling, so it looked like they were swimming through the air. I couldn't believe Tyson, with his huge hands, could make things so delicate.

"One of the many great things about him, though his fascination with fish ponies is still my favorite," Alex assured. He personally still could not wait to meet Tyson to show off some of his pottery to someone with some level of skill.

Then I looked over at my bunk, and I saw my old shield hanging on the wall.

"You fixed it!"

The shield had been badly damaged in a manticore attack last winter. But now it was perfect again—not a scratch. All the bronze pictures of my adventures with Tyson and Annabeth in the Sea of Monsters were polished and gleaming.

I looked at Tyson. I didn't know how to thank him.

"And you're surprised?" Thalia chuckled at the wide smile so bright on his face, the first since he'd been back at camp, all just from his brother. "That look on your face was thanks enough I'm sure."

Percy glanced down at his wrist and saw the watch still wasn't there now, but hopefully it was just waiting for him back at his cabin like his brother.

Then somebody behind me said, "Oh, my."

Silena Beauregard was standing in the doorway with her inspection scroll.

"There's a floor in here!" Alex said in what he clearly thought was an approximation of Silena's voice.

"And it's polished," Percy sniffed in honor of Tyson, "and somehow peanut butter scented," he finished with his own perplexed mutter, hoping it was just his little brother eating a sandwich while taking out the trash and not some new cologne.

She stepped into the cabin, did a quick twirl, then raised her eyebrows at me.

"Well, I had my doubts. But you clean up nicely, Percy. I'll remember that."

She winked at me and left the room.

Alex wolf whistled, Percy blushed, and Thalia muttered, "gods am I glad Annabeth isn't here all of a sudden." The girl got quite jealous, and she didn't need Annabeth cursing over nothing.

Tyson and I spent the afternoon catching up and just hanging out, which was nice after a morning of getting attacked by demon cheerleaders.

Jason began ticking off on his fingers, "and having all my friends being annoyingly vague, and running into a mortal who gave me nightmares, and blowing up another school."

"Yeah, it's no wonder Tyson's the easy guy," Percy agreed with an exhausted sigh.

We went down to the forge and helped Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin with his metalworking. Tyson showed us how he'd learned to craft magic weapons. He fashioned a flaming double-bladed war axe so fast even Beckendorf was impressed.

"Setting aside how terrifying it is there's a whole forge of cyclops that can do that," Magnus began, "can Poseidon not just create all of that into existence if he needed them?"

"You are way overthinking this," Percy told him in exasperation. "They do have some limits, they can't just snap their fingers and reshape the world."

"Huh, good to know," Magnus said honestly.

While he worked, Tyson told us about his year under the sea. His eye lit up when he described the Cyclopes' forges and the palace of Poseidon,

Percy smiled through his jealousy of just how excited Tyson had been. Maybe one day when he did finally get to visit, Tyson would have so much fun showing him around they wouldn't stop smiling the whole day.

but he also told us how tense things were. The old gods of the sea, who'd ruled during Titan times, were starting to make war on our father. When Tyson had left, battles had been raging all over the Atlantic. Hearing that made me feel anxious, like I should be helping out,

"You cannot actually split yourself into multiple people," Thalia reminded him. "You would be down there and just as guilty you weren't back at camp helping with this big attack coming."

Percy looked wounded because she was entirely correct. Not even covering the fact he wasn't certain why he and his friends were currently trapped in the Titan Oceanus's palace.

but Tyson assured me that Dad wanted us both at camp.

"Lots of bad people above the sea, too," Tyson said. "We can make them go boom."

"Percy's number one talent," Jason nodded seriously, "I see he's spreading out his forces to great effect."

Percy knew he was kidding, and he still rolled his eyes.

After the forges, we spent some time at the canoe lake with Annabeth.

Percy took a deep breath, like he was trying to inhale that memory into him now. Traveling through the Sea of Monsters wasn't exactly a great moment in his life, but the memories were something he'd never want to lose again.

She was really glad to see Tyson, but I could tell she was distracted. She kept looking over at the forest, like she was thinking about Grover's problem with the council.

"Or thinking about revenge on those goats," Alex helpfully added. "I'm thinking we start with the fun house of mirrors and work our way up." Alex had made one to many jokes about some guy eating goats in here to ask what came next.

I couldn't blame her. Grover was nowhere to be seen, and I felt really bad for him. Finding the lost god Pan had been his lifelong goal. His father and his uncle had both disappeared following the same dream.

Last winter, Grover had heard a voice in his head: I await you—a voice he was sure belonged to Pan—but apparently his search had led nowhere. If the council took away his searcher's license now, it would crush him.

"I don't understand why he couldn't look without a license," Thalia scowled, "there's no goat police that's going to keep him in the system!"

Jason looked a little queasy at the idea of her blatant disregard of authority, and yet couldn't deny he'd still help Grover no matter how long his license was expired by.

"What's this 'other way'?" I asked Annabeth. "The thing Clarisse mentioned?"

She picked up a stone and skipped it across the lake.

"She's weirdly good at that too," Percy grinned. "She gets so mad when she can't beat me cause I'll get the water to help mine skip farther every time. I don't care it's cheating, do you know how often I beat her at something?"

He always spoke with this hyper, happy kind of way when he started talking about her, then concluded with a forlorn smile when he looked around the room and realized she wasn't here. The others chuckled for the silly little anecdote all the same even if it was a little sad.

"Something Clarisse scouted out. I helped her a little this spring. But it would be dangerous. Especially for Grover."

"Goat boy scares me," Tyson murmured.

I stared at him. Tyson had faced down fire-breathing bulls and sea monsters and cannibal giants. "Why would you be scared of Grover?"

"Hooves and horns," Tyson muttered nervously. "And goat fur makes my nose itchy."

And that pretty much ended our Grover conversation.

"No, no, no, no, no," Alex looked ready to continue the verbal abuse of that one word until Magnus hesitantly began patting his shoulder and Alex finally articulated, "we politely ask Tyson to go to another room and we explain to Percy what the heck has been going on while not traumatizing the innocent cyclops! Both are possible!"

"I didn't want to exclude him," Percy admitted, "so we started talking about my mom, they wanted an update on her."

"Tyson's appropriate fear of the satanic features of goats and his allergies aside," Jason frowned, "I'm on Alex's side, this has been teased since the last one, I don't know how you could stand it back then."

"Being constantly distracted was a forced help," Percy sighed. Being bunted from one situation to another with his friends often left him the last to know about any of them.

Before dinner, Tyson and I went down to the sword arena. Quintus was glad to have company. He still wouldn't tell me what was in the wooden crates, but he did teach me a few sword moves. The guy was good. He fought the way some people play chess—like he was putting all the moves together and you couldn't see the pattern until he made the last stroke and won with a sword at your throat.

"Who did this guy say his godly parent was?" Jason grinned at such strategic battle strategies.

"He didn't," Percy frowned. He might not even know, but there was something strange in that question Percy felt he knew the answer for.

"Good try," he told me. "But your guard is too low."

He lunged and I blocked.

"Have you always been a swordsman?" I asked.

He parried my overhead cut. "I've been many things."

"I'm still impressed he's lived long enough to grow facial hair," Percy muttered.

Thalia fought hard not to laugh at that, Percy might have an inkling of just how old Quintus is and she didn't want to encourage that line of thought.

He jabbed and I sidestepped. His shoulder strap slipped down, and I saw that mark on his neck—the purple blotch. But it wasn't a random mark. It had a definite shape—a bird with folded wings, like a quail or something.

"You went with quail?" Alex asked with interest. "That's the first bird you think of?"

"Well it didn't look like a penguin," Percy said in exasperation. "I don't know, it was bird shaped."

"What's that on your neck?" I asked, which was probably a rude question, but you can blame my ADHD. I tend to just blurt things out.

"I usually just blame you, no ADHD required," Thalia said.

"Hey, I have layers," Percy grinned, "sometimes I just don't give a shit and ask, sometimes I'm trying to throw people off. It all just ties back to the ADHD."

"Uhhu," Thalia sighed, looking very much like she wanted to smother him. "You keep blaming that you little shit."

Quintus lost his rhythm. I hit his sword hilt and knocked the blade out of his hand.

"Percy's entire personality is a secret weapon confirmed," Jason chuckled.

"Don't encourage him!" Thalia yelped while Percy drowned her out laughing and leaned across her to give Jason a high-five.

Alex watched patiently to see if Thalia was going to break his wrist as he pulled back, and then kept reading in disappointment when she restrained herself.

He rubbed his fingers. Then he shifted his armor to hide the mark. It wasn't a tattoo, I realized. It was an old burn...like he'd been branded.

Will flinched at the insinuation, while Jason rubbed his thumb over his. He'd obsessed over the design of it for hours, but the act of getting it had never given him much pause. It had felt natural, he'd always looked upon it with a sense of pride as he tried to understand the mystery those lines were.

"A reminder." He picked up his sword and forced a smile. "Now, shall we go again?"

He pressed me hard, not giving me time for any more questions.

Percy rubbed at his shoulder where the muscles remembered how much time he'd had off a lot more than his stomach had after all that. Quintus had definitely put him through his paces, but he was also smiling at some of the tricks he'd picked up.

While he and I fought, Tyson played with Mrs. O'Leary, who he called the "little doggie."

Magnus's heart skipped a beat at trying to figure out what he'd call Cerberus all of a sudden, while Alex nodded along to this statement. "She sounds like a very sweet puppy," he agreed.

Dogs, especially tank sized monster-hell hound- dogs, were usually a little to close to wolves for Magnus to really like them. The bigger and messier the strays he saw were, the more he avoided them.

They had a great time wrestling for the bronze shield and playing Get the Greek.

"I really hope Quintus stays forever now, just for his dog," Jason chuckled. "Tyson's probably never had a pet."

"Neither have I, and it was surprisingly easy to stop expecting her to lunge at my back hearing him laugh with her," Percy agreed fondly. He'd gotten over his weariness of her that afternoon, and by the time Tyson had been rubbing her belly so much her tail put a hole in the arena wall, Percy had been guilty of promising her peanut butter treats himself they were so cute together.

By sunset, Quintus hadn't even broken a sweat, which seemed kind of strange;

"I know everything in your body's supposed to start going downhill when you get old," Percy said in concern, "but do old people keep their sweat glands?"

"Yes Percy, old people still sweat. A lot," Will told him in exasperation. He was probably the only person who could have answered that without sounding condescending for the supremely ADHD question.

but Tyson and I were hot and sticky, so we hit the showers and got ready for dinner.

I was feeling good. It was almost like a normal day at camp. Then dinner came, and all the campers lined up by cabin and marched into the dining pavilion. Most of them ignored the sealed fissure in the marble floor at the entrance—a ten-foot-long jagged scar that hadn't been there last summer—

"Just another day in this madhouse," Magnus agreed. "If I didn't know why it was there, I really wouldn't bat an eye the place had almost sunk into the ground or something."

"You should have heard the rumors," Will said fondly. "My favorite was Silena's when she said it was Clarisse standing in one place to long," he snorted, and then quickly backtracked, "um, don't tell her I said that."

"Tell who what?" Percy mock cleaned out his ear, though there really was a strange buzzing there for a moment.

but I was careful to step over it.

"Big crack," Tyson said when we were at our table. "Earthquake, maybe?"

"No," I said. "Not an earthquake."

I wasn't sure I should tell him. It was a secret only Annabeth and Grover and I knew. But looking in Tyson's big eye, I knew I couldn't hide it from him.

"We already knew you were terrible at keeping secrets," Jason snorted.

"This," Percy waved around the room in exhaustion, "isn't my fault. I just can't think of a reason to care against sharing my life with strangers."

Jason smiled in exasperation Percy only proved his point.

"Nico di Angelo," I said, lowering my voice. "He's this half-blood kid we brought to camp last winter. He, uh...he asked me to guard his sister on a quest, and I failed. She died. Now he blames me."

Nico, of all people, snorted with laughter, causing Percy to chuckle in relief.

"You did use my summary," Nico looked oddly pleased.

"Wasn't going to leave you out Nico, then Tyson wouldn't get the chance to hug you when he meets you," Percy grinned.

Nico looked horrified at the idea of a cyclops being sicked on him in that way, but more than that, it was so calming to hear Percy just joking with him like he was anyone else. He'd been expecting the pressure of wishing it was more to be smothering him by now, but instead the opposite seemed to keep happening. The more they talked, the less intense it felt.

Tyson frowned. "So he put a crack in the floor?"

"It was a very reasonable response to be honest," Will said fairly.

"It was an awesome crack I want to see in person," Alex reminded.

"With flames, I remember," Nico nodded.

"These skeletons attacked us," I said. "Nico told them to go away, and the ground just opened up and swallowed them. Nico..." I looked around to make sure no one was listening. "Nico is a son of Hades."

Tyson nodded thoughtfully. "The god of dead people."

"Yeah."

"So the Nico boy is gone now?"

"I—I guess. I tried to search for him this spring. So did Annabeth. But we didn't have any luck.

Nico felt the burning eyes on him, everybody in this room wanting to know in detail what had happened to him in the intervening time. He fiddled with his ring and gave none of them an answer. His time in the Labyrinth would send any of them running and screaming.

Alex dragged his eyes away first, not for the obvious reason the book might tell, but because Nico had had more than enough of his life exposed lately.

This is secret, Tyson. Okay? If anyone found out he was a son of Hades, he would be in danger. You can't even tell Chiron."

Will dragged his eyes away next, and put on the corniest smile he could. "Hey, has anyone ever wondered why Chiron always gives a speech at dinner? It's because he loves being the sent-aur of attention."

Percy and Thalia groaned in unison while Jason looked at him as if in physical pain.

Magnus looked at him blandly and said, "if Chiron ever sends you on the next world ending quest, I'm not going to ask why."

Nico was smothering a laugh though. He wasn't doing a very good job of it, and that was all Will wanted to hear anyways.

"The bad prophecy," Tyson said. "Titans might use him if they knew."

I stared at him. Sometimes it was easy to forget that as big and childlike as he was, Tyson was pretty smart.

"I'm not questioning his intelligence," Alex promised, "but was this a secret? Was Tyson really showing some special smarts there by agreeing this is a good secret to keep from all not pertinent?"

"Like I said, I kind of forgot how much Tyson paid attention, more than I gave him credit for," Percy frowned. He wanted his little brother to hear about Nico and ask if the guy was going to be okay and if he could make things go boom on command, not realize he was a potential pawn for an evil Titan and all the horrible ways he could be manipulated. He hadn't had a lot of innocence growing up with all the strange things in his life, not to mention Gabe. He'd just deluded himself for a second Tyson had some.

He knew that the next child of the Big Three gods—Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades—who turned sixteen was prophesied to either save or destroy Mount Olympus. Most people assumed that meant me, but if I died before I turned sixteen, the prophecy could just as easily apply to Nico.

"Exactly," I said. "So—"

"Mouth sealed," Tyson promised. "Like the crack in the ground."

"Hopefully not as permanently, with fire and skeletons stuck in his mouth," Thalia offered.

"I don't want to know what that dentist visit would be like," Percy grinned.

I had trouble falling asleep that night. I lay in bed listening to the waves on the beach, and the owls and monsters in the woods. I was afraid once I drifted off I'd have nightmares.

"A valid fear," Magnus promised. He'd never had dreams even before this place, and he was really worried once he got back he would because of his realization he wasn't mortal.

See, for half-bloods, dreams are hardly ever just dreams. We get messages.

We glimpse things that are happening to our friends or enemies. Sometimes we even glimpse the past or the future. And at camp, my dreams were always more frequent and vivid.

"Gods, I would be pissed," Alex scowled for Percy. His recurring dream of Loki visiting him was awful enough, but at least when he recognized that dripping cavern he could brace himself for what was coming and more tricks of his mother. The unknown of anything disturbing his sleep sounded somehow like a worse punishment than having to listen to a manipulative birth canal.

So I was still awake around midnight, staring at the bunk bed mattress above me, when I realized there was a strange light in the room. The saltwater fountain was glowing.

They'd almost forgotten the chapter title should make an appearance about prank calls, with so much other stuff going on in this one. Now everyone looked on, as confused as Percy for what was about to happen.

I threw off the covers and walked cautiously toward it. Steam rose from the hot salt water. Rainbow colors shimmered through it, though there was no light in the room except for the moon outside. Then a pleasant female voice spoke from the steam: Please deposit one drachma.

"Can the goddess herself send you a prank call?" Jason asked. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing he'd heard of these Greek gods doing, and he knew for a fact not all receiving- iris messages were like this thanks to Sally. She'd never had a drachma on her before to accept a call from Percy, so something strangely specific must be going on here.

"Why am I the one who's going to find out?" Percy sighed in answer.

I looked over at Tyson, but he was still snoring. He sleeps about as heavily as a tranquilized elephant.

"Hopefully his snoring doesn't intercept the signal or something," Magnus muttered.

I didn't know what to think. I'd never gotten a collect Iris-message before.

"At least it didn't start with the message from a state prison," Thalia tried to say with chipper, but she really didn't like she wasn't sure what was going on so early in this one for it to come across right.

"Then we'd know it was from you and I could just hang up," Percy smirked.

"No prison could hold me!" She yelped.

"You were held in a stockade for quite a number of years," Percy's grin widened. The tree wasn't the perfect example of that, but the image flashed to mind of Thalia trapped in that trunk with just her face and hands sticking out now as he fought off a laugh.

"I'm going to put you in a headlock for the rest of your life," she promised.

As fun as that would be to see, Alex was worried it might put a dampening on the rest of their time here if Thalia murdered him. She'd probably regret it eventually or something and be all sad while finishing these.

One golden drachma gleamed at the bottom of the fountain. I scooped it up and tossed it through the mist. The coin vanished.

"O, Iris, Goddess of the rainbow," I whispered. "Show me...Uh, whatever you need to show me."

The mist shimmered. I saw the dark shore of a river. Wisps of fog drifted across black water. The beach was strewn with jagged volcanic rock. A young boy squatted at the riverbank, tending a campfire. The flames burned an unnatural blue color. Then I saw the boy's face. It was Nico di Angelo.

Nico's face scrunched up with pure distaste like somebody had just tried to feed him cat food. He'd known this was a thing, but the reminder that he'd been withering away desperate for a sign from his sister all this time, and she'd chosen to send a message to Percy to spy on him, still left a burn in his mouth he wasn't sure would ever fully heal.

He was throwing pieces of paper into the fire—Mythomagic trading cards, part of the game he'd been obsessed with last winter.

Nico was only ten, or maybe eleven by now, but he looked older. His hair had grown longer. It was shaggy and almost touched his shoulders. His eyes were dark. His olive skin had turned paler. He wore ripped black jeans and a battered aviator's jacket that was several sizes too big, unzipped over a black shirt. His face was grimy, his eyes a little wild. He looked like a kid who'd been living on the streets.

"Dude, that sounds like such a waste, you could have at least sold them," Percy said out of the blue.

Magnus sort of wanted to smack Percy upside the head like Nico obviously wanted to do for that being his comment to all that. They all knew why he did it, a little levity to help ease the uneasy realization of the situation Nico was now in like they all constantly did to Percy, but Thalia didn't have to tug sharply on Percy's ear and hiss at him to shut it before he realized himself the kid hadn't thought that was funny as he shut his mouth back.

I waited for him to look at me. No doubt he'd get crazy angry, start accusing me of letting his sister die. But he didn't seem to notice me.

I stayed quiet, not daring to move. If he hadn't sent this Iris-message, who had?

"You can send an iris message for someone?" Magnus went a little cross-eyed again as he tried to imagine how that worked. "Do you ask the goddess to hook you up like those old phones that had, um, what were they called? Like talking-group messaging?"

"I think I know what you mean," Percy had seen it on a few movies, but he had no more clue. "If so, nobody told me!"

"It's called a conference call, and it's still a thing people do," Thalia said in exasperation. She could excuse their ignorance pretty easily though, neither of them clearly had much time around a phone. The only reason she knew about them was because Beryl had near constantly been on one for work.

Nico kept to himself it actually seemed something Bianca alone had been able to do. He wasn't sure if she was somehow manipulating the Mist, Hades had pulled in a favor through Iris, or what specifically had been going on here. It's not like she'd ever stuck around to explain any of this to him.

Nico tossed another trading card into the blue flames. "Useless," he muttered. "I can't believe I ever liked this stuff."

Nico felt the questioning eyes on him like he'd slipped into Italian without warning. He shrugged indifferently and really didn't feel like explaining himself, he felt like that was an explanation.

Will couldn't blame him, in fact last night made all the more sense now, if he'd hesitated over playing for a multitude of reasons instead of just the one he'd guessed. His sister had died trying to get him a figurine from this game, he was trying to draw distance from his past. There were probably a number of other reasons he wasn't qualified to guess at all mixed in there.

"A childish game, master," another voice agreed. It seemed to come from near the fire, but I couldn't see who was talking.

"Did you pick yourself up a yes man?" Alex asked, and he sounded actually concerned more than mocking.

Nico's face twisted as bad as his stomach did. "Something like that," he felt obligated to answer more because he had a lot of respect for Alex after last night than he really thought this would get him through this faster. Why hadn't he dug his way out with a spoon yet? Gotten on his knees and begged his dad to come pick him up from the sleepover set in hell? He was desperate enough to try after yesterday, sitting through a whole day of this was going to make him start neighing at these guys before he'd want to answer any more questions.

Nico stared across the river. On the far shore was black beach shrouded in haze. I recognized it: the Underworld. Nico was camping at the edge of the river Styx.

"You left the camp with the lava climbing mountain and decided to rough it camping at the edge of the death river," Jason told him. "Did you think you needed more of a challenge, or were you just looking to get away for your health?" It was phrased more as a cheerful joke or a conversational starter depending on how Nico wanted to answer.

Will watched with growing agitation at how much Nico was struggling to figure out how to respond to all this before he said briskly, "no more questions for him, it's not helping anybody." Phrasing it in the vein of not antagonizing Percy's memories was always an easy cover.

"Yeah, what he said," Nico managed that without having a panic attack at least.

"I've failed," he muttered. "There's no way to get her back."

The other voice kept silent.

Nico turned toward it doubtfully. "Is there? Speak."

Something shimmered. I thought it was just firelight. Then I realized it was the form of a man—a wisp of blue smoke, a shadow. If you looked at him head-on, he wasn't there. But if you looked out of the corner of your eye, you could make out his shape. A ghost.

Jason, Alex, and Magnus all looked like they had a lot of questions about that in fact, but Will's arm over the back of the couch had gone from casual to shielding behind Nico's back and they didn't want to pressure the guy to spill anyways. Percy was already at his wits end being the center of attention, Nico obviously didn't want to share the spotlight.

"It has never been done," the ghost said. "But there may be a way."

"Tell me," Nico commanded. His eyes shined with a fierce light.

"An exchange," the ghost said. "A soul for a soul."

"I've offered!"

"We all did," Percy agreed. Any of them would have taken Bianca's place in that junk yard, but his instinct still kicked madly in protest at this kid wishing for the same.

Nico couldn't look at him. He'd already let the worst thing possible come out of his mouth, but he felt like it could still get worse if he let himself so much as nod at Percy.

"Not yours," the ghost said. "You cannot offer your father a soul he will eventually collect anyway. Nor will he be anxious for the death of his son. I mean a soul that should have died already. Someone who has cheated death."

Thalia shifted uncomfortably in place for what that could have meant. There weren't a lot of possibilities that didn't relate back to immortal beings, though she knew in this specific case Daedalus fit the bill, he never would have come to mind before her fellow Hunters. They seemed the obvious choice for his revenge to her.

Nico's face darkened. "Not that again. You're talking about murder."

"Can I give an A+ for that response?" Alex said in the tone he wasn't taking no for an answer. "You've still got a great moral compass Nico."

"Thanks," he managed a real smile at him. Like every other half-blood, he'd never gotten anywhere close to a grade that good before, and nobody had ever even said he had morals before. Like being the child of the Underworld meant he went around not-so-secretly coming up with elaborate deaths.

"I'm talking about justice," the ghost said. "Vengeance."

"Those are not the same thing," Jason scowled.

"Those are not the same thing."

Percy laughed boisterously while Nico and Jason grinned faintly in surprise at each other.

The ghost laughed dryly. "You will learn differently as you get older."

"He could be a few thousand years old and his morals don't have to change," Will scoffed.

"Wow, your formative years are that important huh?" Magnus chuckled.

"Let's not get into the whole nature versus nurture thing," Thalia sighed, "we'll be here all day. I think we would all personally stab this ghost through the eye for trying to corrupt young Nico, can we just agree on that?"

"Maybe if you'd stop calling me young every five minutes," Nico didn't help his situation by looking a little pouty. Alex cleared his throat in agreement anyways to keep going so he didn't have to admit Nico did look a lot younger and more innocent when he made that face.

Nico stared at the flames. "Why can't I at least summon her? I want to talk to her. She would...she would help me."

Magnus felt something very tight in him pull taught like a choke hold. Was that possible? The ghost had said it wasn't, but if Nico could bring people back from the dead...Was Bianca out there now still palling around with the Hunters? Would he feel like he had his mom back if she was a zombie?

"I will help you," the ghost promised. "Have I not saved you many times? Did I not lead you through the maze and teach you to use your powers? Do you want revenge for your sister or not?"

"I don't like this ghost," Will's tone was sharp as a blade. "He has no right to brag about saving your life and then make it feel like your fault if you don't get Bianca back. Revenge," he repeated in a truly dangerous snap.

"Mmmm, he was very manipulative," Nico murmured just for him. He'd been a fool for trusting him, but Minos had been a powerful ghost, and Nico had been grateful to him. His first ever friend who had helped him, with seemingly wanting nothing in return. So far the only other person who fit that was Will, and he was still waiting for that shoe to drop.

I didn't like the ghost's tone of voice. He reminded me of a kid at my old school, a bully who used to convince other kids to do stupid things like steal lab equipment and vandalize the teachers' cars. The bully never got in trouble himself, but he got tons of other kids suspended.

"Ah geez, not another Luke," Percy scowled with his own near instant dislike of this ghost. He preferred the bull-like brain dead ones like Clarisse, punching first and asking questions never. Those he could almost understand when he went toe to toe with, he had anger issues too. These sorts, the ones that never got their hands dirty and were the last to be caught usually made him want to start a few fires just to get someone caught red handed.

Nico turned from the fire so the ghost couldn't see him, but I could. A tear traced its way down his face. "Very well. You have a plan?"

Nico's shoulders hunched. He ran a hand painfully through his hair, so sharp he expected his ring or nails to scratch through his scalp. Maybe he'd start bleeding and use it as a way to escape the looks of pity he refused to look at. Wild plans of how to get out of this cursed room were still offering themselves up like a flame he was forced to snuff out. His worst secret hadn't given him a free exit, his miserable pain for it hadn't attracted their jailer into thinking he'd suffered enough. What the hell was it going to take?

The moment of silence passed, and Nico had no new answers. He tried to comfort himself maybe the worst had come to fruition, having to hear Bianca's death in detail and Percy knowing the worst of him.

He didn't believe himself.

"Oh, yes," the ghost said, sounding quite pleased. "We have many dark roads to travel. We must start—"

The image shimmered. Nico vanished. The woman's voice from the mist said, Please deposit one drachma for another five minutes.

"What a tease," Alex frowned. "It's a good promo though, showing just enough of the goods I'd want to see the rest."

"So glad the trailer of my life would make a hit," Nico grumbled.

There were no other coins in the fountain. I grabbed for my pockets, but I was wearing pajamas. I lunged for the nightstand to check for spare change, but the Iris-message had already blinked out, and the room went dark again.

The connection was broken.

"Could you have used a quarter?" Magnus was pretty sure Will wouldn't scowl at him like that if the question didn't pertain directly to Nico. "Do people throw pennies at her and get a few seconds more time?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure that's where that mortal idea came from," Thalia grinned.

I stood in the middle of the cabin, listening to the gurgle of the saltwater fountain and the ocean waves outside.

Nico was alive. He was trying to bring his sister back from the dead. And I had a feeling I knew what soul he wanted to exchange—someone who had cheated death. Vengeance.

Nico di Angelo would come looking for me.

"So self-important," Will sniffed, "you think everybody wants you Percy?"

"I've made crazier leaps," Percy gestured at the past books. "If I wasn't sitting here now with the guy obviously not about to kill me, it would still make plenty of sense."

"Now I'm super curious to know who his target is though," Alex didn't look happy about having to give the book up to Percy. "Does Nico take down a god and cause a power imbalance?" He sounded way to hungry about those prospects considering they'd just eaten breakfast.

Nico took a shaky breath and wondered how long he was supposed to sit here and hear them chat about what a little psychopath he was.

"Would you guys cool it! He obviously doesn't want to talk about this!" Will knew he couldn't make them shut up permanently, but he was so frustrated watching Nico clearly loathing every second of this with no way to help.

Percy froze getting out of his seat as he looked awkwardly at them. He didn't exactly know how to avoid it when Nico was tangled up in his life on page.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Not going to lie, after reading Chalice of the Gods a good dozen times and all the cute percabeth fluff, it was incredibly hard not to put Annabeth into this already. I have a set point where that happens though and I promise you all will love it if you can just hold out for me like I'm making myself do.

[monstercollection]

Finally back to making progress on the Literary Tarot Deck Challenge.

For anyone new to my tumblr, the Brink Literacy Project created a tarot deck with cards based on works of classic literature. Each card was selected by a contemporary author or comics/graphic novel illustrator who also helped write the guide to interpreting that card.

The challenge I’ve set for myself is to read each classic work and one thing by every author/illustrator. Including the fan-picked alternative cards, that comes out to 162 books.

I just finished The Witch King by H. E. Edgmon. It’s a queer YA urban fantasy novel about a trans witch named Wyatt who is pulled back into the magical world he tried to escape. As a child, he was betrothed to the crown prince of the Fae who wants the marriage to go forward for the sake of the kingdom and his own heart.

The book deals with some pretty heavy content and Edgmon who is himself transmasc admits in the forward that it’s very much a vehicle for processing his trauma. But it’s also a love letter to queer identities in every combination.

The book’s cast also includes a bisexual ace Indigenous teen who identifies with womanhood and matriarchy but rejects European society’s construction of those two things. There is a non-binary lesbian freedom fighter witch. I also think there is also a solid case to be made that Prince Emyr’s soulmate bond with Wyatt is a a flavor of demisexuality but it’s not ever explicitly described as such.

Wyatt’s experience as a trans man is also different from the most commonly pushed narrative of a person “born in the wrong body.” I think it’s extremely important to have the representation of a variety of trans experiences, especially when drawn from the personal experience of that author.

Style wise, the writing reminds me of the Percy Jackson books, but with a more chaotic stream-of-consciousness, lots of memes, Gay Culture and teenage horniness.

I don’t think Edgmon always manages to pull off first-person present tense style well. The plot is rushed and we are constantly bombarded with one chaotic situation after another, and many times they don’t feel linked by cause and effect in a way that would be natural.

At the same time, this is Edgmon’s first book, and it’s level of dedication to portraying queerness in all it’s messiness and beauty is something you just don’t find in other books. He treats each character’s experience of identity and sexuality and something unique to them. He’s committed to the idea that there is no one way to construct gender and no boxes to limit sexuality. This is a book I desperately wish I’d had 15 years ago.

Edgmon does begin the book with a pretty thorough content warning and I want to include it here so people are aware without buying the book. There are instances of sexual harassment of a minor and one assault scene that is not graphic but it’s there. There is also a character who attempts to use his psychic powers to groom a minor. Bodily autonomy is a major theme and especially with the state of things in the US being what they are, this may hit close to home for some folks.

Again, Edgmon says right up front some of this book is rooted in his personal trauma but there is also a strong sense of the empowerment of that comes from reclaiming your pain. There is also an element of revenge fantasy that feels satisfying. If you’re the type of person who finds yourself joking about your own trauma as a way of coping, you’re going to relate to Wyatt.

I do plan to eventually read the sequel— The Fae Keeper— at some point. For all it’s flaws, I liked The Witch King enough that I’m willing to see if Edgmon grew as a writer between the two. If he didn’t, it’s a fast enough read that I won’t mind. I still want to know what happens next and spend more time with these supernatural disaster queers and their world.

If you like the “fated soulmate” trope and are down for a friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers-again romance, I honestly think it’s worth the read. If you’ve got an LGBTQAI+ teen in your life that could use a book that they can see themselves in, I recommend it for them too.

This puts me at 46/162 books. I’m not sure what I’m doing next. I know I was supposed to tackle Whitman but am trying to keep up with my book club, Dracula Daily, and finish the Daevabad Trilogy so I may just try to knock some easy reads and short stories off the list.

[spinelikericekrispy]

for the ask game, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 19, 23 , and 25

5 - biggest plot bunny - a four year old surprisingly well thought out pjo fic with oc main characters, and i just really havent gotten around to it. if i was gonna post it anywhere its be Quotev [PJO fandom (OC flavored) still sticking around there] but you have to Know People for it to get around on there so I just…havent.

6 - fic playlists - i used to make them all the time! deleted them with their fics a while ago, though.

10 - schedule - hoping for the best. i have no schedule at all and it drives me up the wall but uh. that just straight not feasible

11 - first fic - oh lord…it was (and anyone seeing this in the PJO fandom around 2015 will know exactly what i wrote because they were all the same) a shitty PJO Percy’s Sister fic. I believe the title was the classic Daughter of Poseidon. Did you choose all the most embarrassing questions on purpose, Ava?

16 - would you ever want to see your fics as a movie - probably not. i mean, if Rick wants to watch over a Road-Trip pernico movie I wouldn’t object but no thank you. I would write (or rather do special effects on) a horror script though! Might be fun.

19 - fic research - I really want to go to Calypso’s Bar and Grill and have their wings because they look fucking delicious. Most of my research is done on fandom wiki, but I like to get graphic with my injury imagery and very rarely do I need to search something up for that (I have a vivid imagination and take healthcare-related classes for fun).

However, I’m more concerned for my social life, because I am constantly asked why I know about things like how long it takes to suffocate a person and statistics about suicide rates in Japan (mha). People look at me different.

23 - worst writing habit - I do not beta my stuff ever. I beta for other people, for fun and as a favor, but I have an inflated sense of ego when it comes to my grammar. The most I do beta-wise is click on autocorrect, and half the time I ignore it because I don’t believe autocorrect. but fuck you I’ve gotten 95%+ in all my english classes since before we used letters for grading (and yes i know i just started two sentences with “but” and “and”).

25 - wips - ummm, ive been ghosting that one pernico road trip fic for the last month, my Risky Ship fic readers have been begging me for a sequel for two months that im trying to plan out (i say plan like i do more than write two sentences and think about it), and an essay thats due in 10 days that i really fucking need to finish.

[captainsspnanon]

C3E15 - reaction

A quick write up of my thoughts the day after I watched it

I’m surprised that there wasn’t more of a RP moment playing off of Dorian not being there any more, but I’m also not complaining? Robbie was great and I, like everyone else in the world, really enjoyed him being there, but with it just being the main crew now, it just feels GOOD.  Hard to explain.

Cuddle piles are becoming even more canonized.  I love this with my whole heart.

WOODEN HAND!!!  I feel like it’s one of the things that artists get for reference poses?  But this just makes me love this group of friends so much.

OH SHIT the Green Seekers.  And yes, a description of a lanky half-orc did 100% make me wonder if they were running in to Fjord, which would have been SUCH a surprise!

A druid and a ranger??  Coooool.

This whole scene did not go ANYWHERE that I thought it was going to go!  I fully felt like the Green Seekers were antagonists!  Silly me for forgetting that Essek was supposed to be an antagonist and how the crew doesn’t care about that XD. Now I’m fully on board with the Green Seekers becoming allies.  In that vein though, it’s actually really nice how the party is confronted by people that are designed to not be trustworthy, and rather quickly ends up trusting them, at least to some level.  It’s a very big change from the M9, and I really am enjoying it.  It also feels very natural for the party, very in character, and doesn’t feel like the players are thinking ‘oh we have to act differently from the last campaign’

Speaking of, this episode is once again just full on silly and chaotic out of character.  Matt mentioned in his interview and I 100% agree, the players just feel like they are full on shaking off the M9’s darkness and grasping the goofs with both hands.  I really am loving it!  As much as I love the M9 (and I DO), it’s delightful to see everyone just completely giddy CONSTANTLY.  Even though it’s the same group actually sitting down and playing, it almost feels like a new one, just from the out of character tone that they have.

Bell’s Hells has grown on me.  It didn’t take anywhere near as long as I expected for that to happen XD

Gus and Ogdes, OMG. (no crew, don’t try and force them back together, let exes be exes) this is actual couples therapy happening right now and I CAN’T. SAM.  Massive kudos to Matt, which they even give him ooc, for RPing that entire scene so incredibly well!  Though I will say!  First introduction to Ogdes and that’s one of the very very rare time that Matt introduces an accent and then falls out of it very quickly. Got it fixed over the break though, and then Ogdes stayed in his accent.

The way they ‘interrogate’ Shotan makes it very clear that while VM, M9, and BH are all levels of fuckery, it’s very different FLAVORS of fuckery and fucking up.

Combat!   Not much to say, it’s combat.  Gus feels a little more wizard and less druid, but I think that’s just because I equate fireball and fire bolt so heavily to Caleb.

Aura of Vitality is fucking AMAZING, and holy shit Laura is living her best life ragging on Sam.  She’s been holding in these cleric comments for aaages and finally has the chance to dish them out and I love it!

CLIFFHANGER with what will probably be a 2 to 3 hour combat next week.

Controversial stuff below, stop now to not read wank/discourse

Taliesin, stop being fucking ‘coy’ and just come out with what the rages are already. I’ve lost my patience with him keeping them so secret.

Ashton is also losing me again.  They’re falling into Taliesin’s comfort genre-aware characters.  Which wouldn’t be a problem except he’s always playing his PCs as genre-aware.  This is SUPER controversial to say, I know, but I feel like Taliesin’s PCs are pretty consistently style over substance.  And I’m starting to wonder if it’s just an RPing weakness on Taliesin’s side.  Even though I adore Caduceus, I’m really starting to feel that most of his PCs are very ‘samey’.  Percy, Molly,  Ashton, The Owlbear, Mallory, his teenage asshole elf from the Critmas oneshot, they are different flavors of like, one to two types of characters.

I always thought that Ashley was the weakest for the RP (and that’s not a dig at her by any means!  The table is filled with fucking AMAZING Rpers!) because she tends to ‘stutter’ on her thoughts, lots of ums and ers, but Pike, Yasha, and Fearne are very different PCs with very different feels!  I’m now wondering if Taliesin is actually the weakest because it’s hard for him to step outside of his comfort zone of RPing.  He’s good at what he does!  But he doesn’t change it up.  Cad was the biggest change, and there’s definitely aspects of Cad that are similar to Percy and Molly.

I still love Tal, I just want him to bring in something new, something that really feels new.

Granted, we’re only 15 episodes in.  We’ve got a full campaign for Ashton to grow, but this is just my feelings for now.

@suicidallyreckless

[phykios]

honesty and promise me, co-written with @darkmagyk [read on ao3]

Update: Annabeth has not done what needs to be done. 

August moves over into September, hot and sweltering days giving way to the first few hints of the coming autumn chill. One unseasonably cold night, Annabeth had gone to bed wrapped in one of Percy’s old Paris Opera sweaters, waking up with it and wearing it home to ward off the chill of the morning drizzle, like some a normal girlfriend would. 

It’s a problem, she knows, but she just cannot quit this man. 

And boy did she try, about a hundred different times. 

One time, she spent an entire Tuesday before seeing him googling around until she found a picture. It was three years old, and it showed Mittie--oh, sorry, Her Royal Highness Margherita--at a soccer game in Moscow. Next to her is the handsomest man in the world. Percy’s hair is shorter, and something about his windbreaker reminds her of some of the crew boys she knew at Harvard. They aren’t touching, but they are both smiling. This is the kind of girl Percy deserves. This is the kind of girl he should want. His type. She reminds herself of it for hours before meeting him at a show. But the smile he gives her is nothing like the one in the pictures with the princess. And when he whispers what he wants to do to her that evening, she just can’t do it. 

She even took him to his favorite pizza place once to soften the blow. But then she thought about how her dumping him would forever taint the magic of Antonio’s for the both of them, and she just couldn’t abide that.

So she kept putting it off. And putting it off. And putting it off.

And then he asked her to dinner with his parents again, on his one night off in three weeks.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to bring you something?” he asks for the fourth time, concern making his connection thin and tinny.

“It’s just a little stomach thing,” she lies, shaking out a ramen flavor packet. “I’ll be fine. You go have fun with your mom.”

“Okay. I’ll call later to check up on you.”

She rolls her eyes. “I’m just going to be asleep.”

“Talk to you later.”

“Yeah.”

He clicks off. Her apartment is very quiet. For lack of anything else to do, she decides to check her mail.

Who even mails anything anymore, she thinks.

Rifling through the pile of wasted paper, she sighs at the banality of it all. Junk, junk, junk, NYCB brochure she needs to cancel, junk… Harvard?

She peers at it.

The red seal is unmistakable, as is her name, printed in neat, black ink. “Ms. Annabeth Chase.” Why are they contacting her? And more importantly, who the fuck gave them her address?

Hands shaking, she unfolds it. “Dear Ms. Chase,” it reads, “Thank you for your generous contribution to the Harvard Graduate School of Design. As one of our most promising graduates, we are so pleased and thrilled to receive your encouragement. With your gift, we were able to reach our fundraising goal of $2.5million, which will go to support the various operations of the school, so that we can continue to provide a top-notch education for your fellow students. You do make a difference for us, and we are immensely thankful for you!” And then it goes on. “As a thank you for your generous gift of $15,000, we would like to invite you to the Alistair Moore dinner for distinguished graduates and faculty. We would be delighted to receive you at...” 

She can’t finish, dyslexia scrambling the words in front of her. Or maybe that’s just her, trembling so hard she has to sit down. Fifteen thousand. The Alistair Moore dinner. She knows it well, yet another fancy networking event, like the Eta Industries party. Bile rises in her throat. Who would…

The answer hits her like a freight train. Only one person would be so bold. 

Crumpling the letter in her fist, she pulls out her phone, dialing the number she still stubbornly has memorized, despite deleting it off her contacts list. 

She isn’t sure if she’s upset that she gets his voicemail, or relieved. “Hey, dad. It’s me,” she says, grimacing as she starts off like he wouldn’t recognize her voice. Like it’s any other phone call. “I got your message. The Alistair Moore dinner? I’m not going. I told you, I don’t want your help. I don’t need your help. What I need,” she sneers, “is for you to butt out and leave me the hell alone.”

Then she hangs up, before she can chicken out and delete it.

She shoves the letter into her recycling bin, down to the very bottom. Out of sight and out of mind. 

Well, her night is pretty much ruined. 

Ramen growing colder, she lies on her couch, her head hanging over the edge, studiously not looking at her phone. She shouldn’t have left that message. She shouldn’t have opened that letter. She shouldn’t have rebuffed Percy’s invitation. Or maybe she was right, in all those situations. Who the fuck knows. Who the fuck cares. Her leg bounces, frantic, stomach roiling.

Like a gunshot, her phone vibrates on her coffee table. Annabeth catapults herself up, reaching for it, nearly dropping it, even as her eyes begin to blur. Please let it be her dad. Please let it be anyone else but her dad. Please. Please. Please. 

checking in, writes Percy. feeling any better?

With a sob, she hits call. He picks up after the second ring.

“Hey,” he says, softly. “Everything okay?”

“Can,” she hiccups. God damn it. God damn her. “Can you please come over?”

She can feel his demeanor change over the phone. “I’ll be right there,” he says, calm and collected. “What’s your address?”

Her address is supposed to be a secret. No one is supposed to know where she lives. She doesn’t even like Luke knowing where she lives, and he might be the closest thing she has to family right now. But she tells Percy, and he promises to be there within thirty minutes. Throwing her arms over her face, she lies back down, breathing through her nose so she doesn’t vomit.

He makes it in twenty. here is the simple text, devoid of any hearts or emojis, and she buzzes him up. Less than a minute later, he knocks on her door. “It’s open,” she calls, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. 

Softly, the door clicks open, someone smoothly and quietly stepping inside. “Annabeth?” 

“Here,” she moans. She should get up to greet him. She can’t feel her legs. She can’t feel anything at all. 

The couch dips as someone sits next to her, a warm, large hand on her shoulder, and she can’t help but open her eyes. Percy is there in his blue sweater that she returned the last time she had slept over at Nico’s apartment, his brow furrowed in worry, but he’s smiling a little, too, just happy to see her, to see that she’s safe. In his other hand, he holds up a plastic bag. “I brought you a cookie,” he says, gently. “Chocolate chip.”

Annabeth blinks. “It’s… blue.”

He nods. “It is.”

Blue cookies. His mom’s special recipe, he had told her, for bad days of aching feet, harsh dance instructors, and school bullies.

The dam breaks. 

She launches herself into Percy’s embrace, sobbing. He tucks her head into his neck, his arms coming up around her. “It’s okay,” he murmurs. “It’s okay.”

“I’m--I’m so sorry,” she gets out, in between heaving breaths. “I just--I didn’t want to be alone and--”

He shakes his head against hers, his nose in her hair. “I’m here. It’s okay.”

They sit there for a long, long time, him holding her as she cries, pathetic. She can only imagine what it must be like from Percy’s end: here he was, having a lovely dinner with his mother uptown on his night off, only to get a frantic call from his hookup, demanding that he drop everything and rush to her side. And he did. He even fucking brought her one of his mom’s special cookies. 

She does not deserve this perfect, amazing man.

It’s that thought more than anything else that pulls her out of her spiral, her sobs abating somewhat. “There we go,” he says, sweetly. “I’m going to get you some water, okay? Be right back.”

Resisting the urge to hold onto his sleeve like some kind of child, she lets him pull away, stepping into her kitchen. Head aching and eyes puffy, she can’t even really register the fact that he is in her apartment right now. Her secret hideaway. Her sanctum sanctorum. He can see her tasteful couches and her expensive coffee maker and her giant TV screen. 

But honestly? She doesn’t care about any of that right now. All she cares about is the long, solid line of Percy’s body next to hers as he sits back down next to her, handing her a glass of water. She drinks it down, greedily, falling back against him, his hand automatically coming up to her shoulder, and she turns into his side, drinking him in, just as desperate.

They don’t speak, just holding onto each other. 

As she drifts off, there on her couch, her arm around Percy’s midsection, she only has one real thought in her head. 

Forget the apartment--this is her sanctum sanctorum. This is her safe space.

***

Annabeth wakes up in a bed that isn’t her own, in an apartment that isn’t her own. 

It reminds her, weirdly enough of her mom’s apartment, she thinks as she sits up in the soft, cream sheets, here in New York. She had only ever been a handful of times, whenever her mother deigned to claim her for their allotted family time. She doesn’t remember much about that place--mostly the skyline through the window, the low, uncomfortable furniture, the spotless, empty kitchen. 

Across from the bed is a mirror, squat and wide. Annabeth has her hair back, her face devoid of metal. She looks tired, she thinks, and maybe a little older, dark, heavy bags beneath her eyes. She’s wearing a real, actual set of pajamas, rather than a sweater or an oversized shirt, pale pink silk tight around her body. 

Shaking her head, she looks down, and spies a thin band of gold on her left hand, which rests on her stomach, sporting a slight, but noticeable curve. 

Only then does she realize it’s a dream. She lets out a grateful sigh. Just a dream.

It seems like a pretty boring one, too. She’s older, a little fatter, and has a nicer apartment. Somewhere in the distance is the indistinct sound of a person singing. And beyond that the even more indistinct sound of the city. 

Stumbling out of bed, her feet falling into a pair of soft, pink slippers, perfectly positioned next to her bed, she makes her way out into the apartment. The walls are cream, decorated with generic seaside landscapes, a nondescript sailboat in the background against an unchanging, cornflower blue sky. 

The kitchen is empty. Breakfast is cooked, laid out on a placemat at the kitchen island, but no one is there eating it. No one is there cleaning up, or making coffee. The food looks delicious, like a magazine spread: a perfectly made bowl of granola and yogurt, a lemon poppyseed muffin, a glass of orange juice on the side. Nutritious. Small. 

It’s weird. It’s really weird.

Moving on, she enters the living room. There’s a little girl on her knees, maybe three or four, she’s wearing a red pinafore over a white polo shirt and Mary Janes shined like the top of the Chrysler building. The preschool version of a prep-school uniform. She’s hunched over the glass coffee table, frizzy blonde curls bouncing as she moves her hand back and forth, scribbling with a colored pencil on a piece of paper. 

All of a sudden, she notices Annabeth standing there. 

“Mommy!” She jumps up, holding the pencil behind her back, her green eyes wide with apprehension. “I--I was--”

She hears whistling, and turns to see… well, it's Percy, but he looks nothing like her Percy. His hair is cropped shorter, parted and moussed perfectly flat. He’s in a three piece suit. He’s in trousers. Not a pair of sweatpants or a muscle tee in sight.

He stops when he sees her. “Sorry, didn’t know you were awake, wouldn’t have been singing.” Which makes no sense, Because Annabeth loves Percy’s ambient music. He looks around her, speaking to his--to the girl, “I told you you’d have to stop when mommy got up.” 

Annabeth glances at the little girl, who nods too solemnly. 

“Don’t worry,” this stranger wearing Percy’s face says, “She’s ready for school. She is ready for her Math qualification. I only said she could draw for a little, to calm herself down.” He glances at the girl again. “Put your things back in the art box, and we’ll go to school. I have an 8:30 meeting with the board.” 

The little girl runs off. Holding her paper and her pencils close to her chest, like she’s afraid someone is going to take them away from her. Maybe someone is. 

Percy turns to her. “I confirmed our reservations at 7 tonight at Sarabeth’s with your mother’s assistant this morning. And the nanny is going to stay late, so we don’t have to bring her.”

The her in question reappears just then. She’s so small. And she’s carrying a backpack. She looks like that breakfast, out of a magazine. But normally kids in magazines smile. 

“Are you ready?” Annabeth’s voice finally says.

A beat, then she nods again. “Yes, mommy.”

“Good,” she says. Outside, the sunlight through the windows isn’t so bright anymore, but dark and cold, like a solar eclipse. “Make me proud.”

And she turns to go back to bed, but the floor has disappeared, and she steps on nothing, tumbling down into the void.

With a start, she wakes up again in her bed, to the smell of breakfast in the air. Which is confusing, because she’s pretty sure she fell asleep on the couch, and she usually doesn’t wake up in time for breakfast, let alone actually make it herself: she has Percy for that, now. 

Right. Percy. 

It comes back to her in flashes: the donation, the voicemail, calling Percy out of desperation. Inviting him into her room, her bed. Falling asleep in his arms. 

She physically shakes her head, roughly scrubbing her face, forcing herself further into consciousness. The light coming through her window is grey and weak, doing absolutely nothing to help her out. The morning feels muted, for some reason, like it’s very far away. Maybe it was her nightmare.

She can’t hear Percy, Annabeth realizes. That’s what’s wrong. She can smell breakfast, but she can’t hear him puttering away. She doesn’t hear the clanking of pans as he tries to be quiet, or his off-key humming, or the dull thump of footfalls on her floor as he practices his steps. 

God, how late did she sleep? If he has to leave for a morning class he usually makes sure to wake her up, first. For a kiss if nothing else.

But when she pads out to her kitchen, she’s stunned to find Percy still there, sitting at her warped kitchen table. There are two plates in front of him, eggs and bacon untouched and cooling. He’s fully dressed, too, in his dark jeans and stupid dance pun t-shirt: “Girls Just Wanna Have Buns,” his sweater on the empty chair. Annabeth had been weirdly looking forward to wearing that this morning; he likes seeing her in his clothes, and she likes seeing him without them. It’s a system that works for them, typically leading to a lot of smiles, a couple giggles, and maybe another round or two before he has to leave.

He’s not smiling now. His gaze is fixed on his plate, hands in his lap. “Morning,” she croaks, softly.

Percy lifts his eyes to her, unfathomable like the sea. “Morning.”

Something in her stops her from sliding into the seat across from him. Standing gives her strength, gives her power that she doesn’t want to give up. She may not be able to tell what Percy is thinking right now, but she knows when someone is gearing up for a fight. “What is it?”

“What is what?”

“What’s the matter?”

He is uncharacteristically still. Annabeth has gotten so used to him expressing himself via his body, the stillness is unsettling. Percy holds her gaze for a moment, then sucks in a breath, sitting up a little bit straighter. “I kicked over your recycling by mistake, and when I was cleaning up, I…” He bites his lip, a little ashamed. “I accidentally read some of your mail.”

“Okay.” He can’t be that broken up about her junk mail, can he?

It’s only then that she sees it, laid out neatly next to the breakfast plate. The letter has been carefully uncrumpled, but the red Harvard seal is as obnoxiously bright as ever. “I don’t mean to pry, but…” Percy licks his lips, gathering his words together. “I thought you didn’t get into Harvard?”

She doesn’t say anything.

“It’s just--this is from the Graduate School of Design,” he continues, looking at the page as if to confirm it. “And the dean says you were one of their ‘most promising graduates,’ here, so. That means you have, what, a master’s degree? Right?”

Still, she doesn’t say anything.

Percy rubs a hand over his mouth, square jaw squaring further. “I guess I just don’t understand why you lied to me.”

“I never--” she blurts. 

“I mean, were you trying to spare my New Yorker sensibilities by telling me you didn’t get in? Did you think I would actually care?”

There’s nothing she can say in response. So she doesn’t. 

After a moment, he blows out a sharp breath. “So. Fifteen thousand dollars, huh.”

She sighs, looking away. It’s not like Annabeth doesn’t hate it, too. “I didn’t do that,” she says, crossing her arms. “My dad did it, he just put it under my name.”

“And, he did that… why? I mean,” he tilts his head, a little bewildered. “I thought you guys weren’t on speaking terms.”

“To try and get me to network again, probably.” She shrugs. “And I’m not on speaking terms with him. He just hasn’t gotten the memo yet.”

He hasn’t raised his voice at all. He hasn’t moved from his seat, or made any kind of threatening gesture, but like an approaching storm cloud, she can feel the anger rolling in, dense and crackling. “Does he do this a lot, your dad? Throw his money around for you?”

“It’s not like I asked him to.” 

But he’s shaking his head, rueful. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. You know, I thought it was weird that you could afford an apartment in the East Village with a bedroom on periodic architecture contracts, but I’m guessing he pays for that, too?”

He’s right, of course, but that doesn’t stop her from bristling. “It’s a trust fund,” she snaps. “It’s still my money.”

“A trust fund,” he says, softly. “Right.” 

Anger lances through her, cold and burning. Just because her dad had set it up for her didn’t mean that she wouldn’t use it. “Yeah, a trust fund. Is that a crime, now?” 

He opens his mouth as if to say something, then snaps it shut with an audible click. Pushing his chair out, he stands up, hands flat on the table. “I should go and get ready for my class. I’ll… I’ll text you later, okay?” Percy takes a step towards her, hands reaching for her on instinct, then pauses. “See you around.”

Percy leaves without so much as a look back, closing the door so quietly she can barely hear it over the roar of blood in her ears.

[calcifers-writings]

sokeefe + human stuff headcanons

headcanon that keefe loves letting sophie talk or rant or infodump about random human things. this girl spent twelve years with books as her only friends, she was 100% involved in All The Fandoms and keefe is there for it. they talk for hours and hours sometimes about harry potter/percy jackson/sjm’s books/lotr/marvel/etc. (and keefe is almost personally affronted about the legolas thing, “Excuse me, we don’t all have Tiergan’s hair. Some of us have good taste.” *Sophie laughing until she cries at this*) 

but more than human things keefe just likes to see sophie smile and the way her eyes light up at the mention of her favorite characters and the way she gets heated about her bookish opinions and then that slightly sad smile when she thinks about all the books she’ll ever reread or the sequels she never got to read because she left before they come out. 

they totally have cuddle time watching all the harry potter and marvel movies on her iPod becuase dex helps them hack into netflix or disney+ or whatever, and then she shows him all her other favorites movies and he convinces her to show him the Percy Jackson movies even though she totally hates them 

he immediately starts calling tam Nico along with bangs boy and he jokes that Sophie is his own personal annabeth, he’s convinced biana would be a daughter of aphrodite and Fitz the son of zeus because hes the Golden Boy. he never tells sophie but he thinks hed be a son of ares becuase his mom pretty much bred him for the war she was planning. Sophie thinks he belongs with biana in the aphrodite cabin because of his obsession with his hair and how he knows hes hot. 

then he absolutely loves the idea of birthday cake and the smashing thereof so for sophie’s next birthday he gets a chocolate cake recipe from amy and edaline helps him bake and decorate it and its messy and kinda ugly but sophie nearly cries because its just like the ones she got every year growing up. 

hes shocked by the idea of packaged sweets like prattles that come in tons of different flavors so he begs sophie to let him try some adn she eventually relents and helps him get tons of different american candy. he hates butterfingers because they’re so messy but immediately loves the gummy worms. sophie’s favorites were always kitkats. 

Sophie slips and tells him about halloween once and he insists on their friends group dressing up and going trick-or-treating and they sneak away to the human cities and ro ends up smashing pumpkins. 

one day he finds sophie listening to music on her ipod and she gives him one of their earbuds and they spend hours laying under calla’s tree going through her old playlists. Keefe is a sucker for sad love songs and plays a few on repeat until sophie threatens to never let him listen again

[twoidiotwriters1]

Pureblood 12 (Sirius Black x Fem! Oc)

Words: 2,004

Masterlist:

Chapter 11

Christmas

Persephone

"So, Prince Charming is not coming?" James says sitting on the stool at the kitchen island. He leans against it with a beer in his hand.

I roll my eyes as I continue to stir the mixture.

"No, Benjamin won't come," I say in a whisper. “And I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention him around Percy.”

James throws his hands up defensively.

“It was just a question, beast. And why haven't you told your son?"

“You know exactly why, James.”

“I don't think he'll take it badly,” he shrugs.

"You can't guess how he’s going to react, I'm not ready to introduce him yet," I say without looking at him.

"Okay, don't be mad."

"I'm not mad," I put down the mix and look at him. I put a hand on my hip.

“It's hard to tell the difference these days,” He frowns and stares at me like he wants to read my mind.

"Of course not. Haven't you noticed that we haven't fought so much anymore?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"And what about a few minutes ago, when I came in?" He says with a mocking smile.

"That was because of your stupid prank, idiot," I purse my lips to keep from smiling.

As soon as I opened the door of my house, I was an easy target for a shower of snowballs that ended up making my body wet and cold. I can still hear James and Percy laughing. My first response was to yell at James about how he hasn't matured at all, but my second response and revenge was fulfilled when James sat down on the single chair he usually sits on and couldn't get up until Remus arrived.

In the end, I was able to dry myself off with a spell, but he still has a huge patch of armchair cloth on his butt. Maybe I'm not as expert on pranks as the Marauders were, but I did learn a few things over the years.

James groans and tugs at the fabric of the couch on his pants.

"I still can't believe you beat me with a muggle prank."

That makes me laugh again and he can't help but follow me.

"Face it, Potter."

"Whatever."

"I think it's time to get the cake out," says Remus walking into the kitchen.

"What’s the cake’s flavor, Moony?" James asks, innocently looking down at his beer.

I laugh going back to my work.

"You know the rules, Prongs," Remus sings, bringing out the dessert.

"Oh, come on. I’m an adult like you and you continue to treat me like a small child.”

“You keep behaving like one,” I add.

"Don’t help me."

"It's your fault the taste is a secret, James," says Remus.

"It’s not true."

“Smells like cake!” says Percy quickly sitting down on the bench next to James. “What's the taste, Uncle Remus? My favorite uncle, who is looking really dapper tonight,” he continues with a huge grin and puppy dog ​​eyes.

Remus and I laugh at the similarities between my son and James, who groans in understanding.

“It won't work, Paddie. I already tried it and the traitors will not tell us the taste.”

Percy sighs and pouts.

“At least we tried.”

I laugh again,  I wash my hands, walk over to my son and I inspect his outfit: beige dress pants with a navy blue shirt. I smile at him and try to straighten his black hair so it doesn't cover his face.

He groans a bit and tries to walk away to no avail.

James thinks for a few minutes, then leans toward Percy.

"I'm your favorite uncle, right? That thing you said about Remus was just a trick to taste the cake."

I roll my eyes and rest my hands on the boy's shoulders. Percy laughs.

“Yes, Uncle James. You are my favorite."

"I heard that!" Remus yells from the back of the kitchen with an air of amusement.

***

"I'm already bored!" James complains as he sits on the single chair - making sure it's a normal chair, without glue - in which Percy is also. They both squeeze together to be comfortable in the cramped space. James sighs and puts an arm around my son's shoulders. “Without my son, without Apollo and Jane and their army of children, not even Jenna will be joining us for Christmas. Can you believe that, Paddie? My own son would rather spend Christmas with his friends than with his very funny father,” he exaggerates.

Percy smiles awkwardly.

"I don't understand how he could do it, Uncle James."

"Stop complaining. You told Harry it was okay for him to stay at Hogwarts,” I say sitting down on the couch across from them.

“I had to tell him that so he wouldn't think I'm a controlling, overprotective parent.” Now he rolls his eyes.

"But, you are," Remus adds, sitting down next to me.

“That's not the point,” James points out. “He should have changed his mind and decided to be with his family,” he pouts and then turns back to his godson. “Do you know what he could be doing, Pads? Is there anything more important than being in here with us?” James's tone is playful, but Percy fidgets and his new smile is strained.

I frown at his reaction.

“I never know what Harry’s doing. You know he's unpredictable," he replies.

"And why didn't you stay, Percy?" Remus asks curiously.

"Yes, I remember that in one of your letters you mentioned that your friend Erick would stay in school," I added with a warm smile.

He shrugs.

“He said that nothing would happen if I decided to come. Besides, I need to be away from that school for a while.” He rolls his eyes and snorts.

Now the three adults look at him confused.

“What do you mean, son?”

With my question it seems that Percy realizes his words and that maybe he hadn't meant to say them. He clears his throat.

“Uh, you know, a lot of homework, I want a moment away from all that,” he tries.

“But you're a nerd, you love doing chores,” says James.

"Hey," Percy groans.

"I'm sorry, honey, but it's true," I add with a small grimace. "Your room is full of books and I'm sure you spend too much time in the library."

Perseus growls loudly and stands up.

“And what's wrong with spending a lot of time in the library? I don't hurt anyone, and I don't bother anyone. It's not fair that everyone criticizes my hobbies when I never do. And I'm not the only one who spends a lot of time in the library, Hermione does too and she has the nerve to judge the time I spent between books when she is equal to or worse than me. Of course, if her great friends ask her for help, she doesn't hesitate to go there,” His chest rises and falls rapidly and his face is flushed.

I share a look with my friends and they have the same expression.

“Aw, Paddie has girl problems,” James comments with a smirk. Remus slaps his shoulder and he groans.

“Uh,” continues Remus then he clears his throat. "Percy, I don't think it's a bad thing to be in a library so much, Harry's mum and I used to spend a lot of time in it, but," he says carefully, "I think this is another problem with Hermione, isn't it?"

"No!" Percy screeches. "That's exactly what I just said," he crosses his arms.

"Honey, maybe she didn't mean to hurt you and you misunderstood her words," I try, but it only makes it worse.

“No, Mum, she made it clear that I have issues and I shouldn't leave the stupid school gossip to be in the library. I don't even care what happens.” He rolls his eyes. "But of course when foolish Harry is involved, everyone has to know."

"Wow, stop there" says James now serious. "What happened to Harry, Percy?"

At that moment, my son's previously flushed face changes to a white face. His eyes widen and now his body is tense with nerves.

"Uh, nothing," he stutters.

"Perseus," I intervene.

My son steps back a bit to face us at a distance.

"It's nothing, really. I think you were right mum, maybe I misunderstood Hermione's words,” he grimaces.

"You have 3 minutes to tell us what's going on, young man."

"Mum..."

“Now,” continues James.

***

Percy

“Good morning,” I say shakily. Ron, Harry and Hermione look at me at the same time and with the same confused expression.

"Uh, morning?" says Ron to break the ice.

Then Hermione shakes her head, looks down and she continues eating.

"What do you want?" Harry asks. His tone is not cold, or rough, but genuine confusion.

I sigh and little by little I sit next to my cousin, at the table with the lions.

“Long story short, our parents know what's going on at school, about the chamber of secrets and all that. My mum talked to Mcgonagall and she assured her that everything would be fine, but obviously she can't just sit around and neither can your dad, so they sent me to ask you about what you're doing and stop you from doing stupid things that put at risk your life,” I say almost without taking a breath.

"Bloody hell," says Ron making a face.

“I can't believe you told them!” Harry says.

I shrug.

"I didn't plan to do it, it was an accident and, anyway, at some point they were going to find out, it's not a big deal."

"It's not a big deal? Surely my dad is making a plan to make me return home,” Harry complains.

"They won't do that, Mcgonagall has it under control."

"I don't know if that's worse."

"Stop crying and tell me what you're doing to be in on this whole chamber of secrets thing."

“You ratted us out to your parents and you still want us to tell you what we do?” Ron adds.

“That was an accident. I don't want to get in the way of your foolish plans either, but I have no choice."

"Then you shouldn't have told them-" Harry says, but Hermione's voice cuts him off.

"Your parents have every right to worry, especially with you Harry," now we all look at her. "Even if you don't like it, it's normal that people who care about you try to do everything for you to be well," she hisses the last thing looking at me fixedly.

I feel my cheeks burn and I look down in embarrassment.

The four of us are silent, while Hermione holds her head high, Ron and Harry look at us in confusion.

“But look who we have here...”

I sigh as I recognize the voice.

Unexpectedly, the Weasley twins sit next to their younger brother.

"Freddie, I can't believe my eyes."

"That’s right, brother. A demigod with the heir to Slytherin,” continues George.

I roll my eyes.

“This is no time for your jokes,” I growl.

"According to you, it's never time for jokes," says Fred.

“I was talking to Harry. So you can go now."

"Oh, but how can we miss this moment with the heir and a demigod?"

"Stop calling me that," Harry complains.

I frown.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

"Nothing!" Harry and Ron say at the same time.

“Looks like we're really in the middle of a problem,” the twins keep talking, but I decide to ignore them.

"Listen, you have to tell me something so I can report it to our parents."

"Why don't you lie?" Harry answers me.

“My mother will know, you know how she is.”

“What good will that do if it will only worry her more?”

"Harry, just tell him about the diary and that's it, it's no big deal," Ron says in frustration.

"Which diary?"

"Ron!"

"Just tell me, Harry," I insist.

He rolls his eyes and scoffs.

“Fine.”

Taglist:

@dielgonacoffee  @avipshamitra @auroraawrites @findzelda @lizlil @siriusmuch @reverse-hxlland @may-rapp @the-specific-oceans @eveft @secret-obsessions @theeicedamericano @xkonpinkx @inkandpen22 @aggressivevillian @littledeadgirlwalking @hamiltonwc @dielgonacoffee @treestarrrrrrrr   @siriuslysirius1107    @madmaiden2890 @ren-ela  @azura-mist @cedricisnotdead @letsfly-andbe-free @greengarsstuff @talksoprettyjjx @avengersz-biotch @23victoria @peachyaeger @chloe-geoghegan1 @thagreenmoon @the-specific-ocean​

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 12: Hello Poodle

We were pretty miserable that night.

We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.

We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch.

Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Percy took the spot beside me and was laying on my lap. Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

"Go ahead and sleep," I told them. "I'll wake you guys if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?" Percy hissed.

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

He glared at him. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"

"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"

A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never known.

"Tell me about the search," I said.

Grover looked at me cautiously, as if he were afraid I was just making fun.

"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told me. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."

"And you want to be a searcher."

"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand ... the statue you saw back there—"

"Oh, right, sorry."

Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"Hang on—the first?"

Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."

"Not once in two thousand years?"

"No."

"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"

"None."

"But you still want to go," Percy said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"

"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."

I stared at the orange haze of the sky and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, was I any better?

"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" I asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me—"

"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out."

"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me...." His voice faltered.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Forgave you for what?"

Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong—"

"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if I pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."

"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunderbolt that Hades took."

"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur—The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy... why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."

"They seemed plenty aggressive to me."

I shook my head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"

"Asking about me," he said.

"Maybe if you haven't steered, we could've found out."

"Maybe ... but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt...." He looked at us like he was hoping for answers, but neither of us had have any.

"Maybe... Had--- the big guy isn't actually that bad."

"I haven't been straight with you," Percy told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back Y/N's parents and my mother."

Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"

"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."

Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth and Y/N. I'm not as brave as you and Y/N. But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."

"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."

Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."

"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west."

Grover looked at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. He turned to me, "How about I take first watch, huh? You two get some sleep."

I nodded and turned to Percy who wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and he turned away. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, I was asleep. He was sleeping.

"You're still awake?"

"Barely. I call the next shift okay?"

Grover nodded so I slept.

Believe in them.

Where is this coming from?

Water is our enemy, air is our demise, the darkness shall be our ally and the land should be haven. You should befriend Hades. We need someone on our side. We've already angered Poseidon and Zeus.

Why'd have to be him? He seem like the reason we're in this quest.

Trust your allies.

I was woken up. It was still dark and I could see Grover was droopy. Percy held my hand tight as he was trembling in his sleep.

When Grover saw me awake he just passed out on where he was sitting.

"Percy," I called him trying to keep quiet not to wake up the others. "Wake up." I slowly shook him.

His eyes shot open and looked at me in fear.

"Y/N..."

"Are you okay?"

"Nightmare..." He whimpered snuggling closer.

"Want to tell me about it?"

"Well... I was in a pit and someone was talking to me I think. I saw your parents' last moments... And my mom's then... I saw you drowning... desperately trying to save yourself. The voice told me to help them rise. I couldn't do anything..."

It is not us. I dare not hurt our hero.

"It's okay. Percy, don't worry. You should continue sleeping. Come on, I'm on watch."

He looked at me in hesitation and slept while I ran my hand on his hair.

~

"Well, good morning to you Peabody." I greeted Annabeth.

"Weren't you the first watch?"

"Grover went first watch. I went to sleep with Percy."

She turned to look at Percy who was asleep holding my hand. "Isn't it weird that he's so attached?" She grimaced.

"Well, to be fair. I feel like I have to stay with him no matter what. Like my subconscious telling me, don't leave him and stay. I'm not sure about his case though."

"Where's Grover?"

"I don't know he said he's going to look around. I'll look for him. Stay with Percy without killing him will you?"

"Eh, I'll try." She smiled.

"Good enough for me." As gentle as I could I remove his hand from mine and stood up to look for Grover.

It didn't take me long to find Grover who was sitting in the middle of no where in front of a pink poodle.

"Uh, whatcha got there?"

"He's our ride west." He looked at me. "His name is Gladiola."

"Uhm... hello." The dog looked at me then barked. "Well, let's bring him to Annabeth then."

Annabeth was as confused as I was when I found Grover. She greeted it hello reluctantly.

I shrugged at her as a response.

Grover sat cross-legged on a blanket with the dog on his lap.

I walked up to Annabeth and laughed, "I have no idea."

Percy stirred awake and sat up.

"Good morning." I smiled.

"The zombie lives." Annabeth tossed him a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar.

Percy eyed Grover confusedly and back at me and Annabeth.

The poodle yapped at Percy suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."

Percy blinked. "Are you... talking to that thing?"

The poodle growled.

"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."

He stared at Annabeth and I, as if we were kidding.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," He said. "Forget it."

"Percy," I said. "I said hello to the poodle. Annabeth said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

The poodle growled.

He said hello to the poodle.

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" I asked.

"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."

"Of course," I said. "Silly me."

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"Not another bus," Percy said warily.

"No," Annabeth agreed.

She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I saw last night. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

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