#laistrygonian giants

[nerdyfangirlmel]

Percy’s first words to Annabeth in season 2 need to be “how was Disney world” I don’t care if they are in the middle of fighting the Canadians

[all-da-ladies-luv-leoo]

this post goes out to sally fucking jackson

the woman who stayed in an abusive relationship for years to keep her son safe.

the woman who survived a minotaur attack and the underworld.

the woman who ate a primarily blue diet out of pure spite.

the woman who turned her abusive husband into a statue and sold him for a fortune.

the woman who was offered, by poseidon, a palace under the sea if she wished.

the woman who picked up a shotgun from a police car, used it against a laistrygonian giant, and when asked when she learned how to use it, responded “just now”.

a woman who, without notice, was met by a newly-human god and his twelve year old master and, without batting an eye, offered them food and clothing.

a woman who is a mother above all mothers.

i love sally jackson.

[melanthaeunomia]

hiii! i’m new to this blog but i see you’ve got a free week (SO jealous) so i was wonderinggg if you’d be willing to do a leo x fem reader where they’re on a quest/mission or something undercover and have to make out to keep their cover? sorta like that one b99 scene with jake and amy ig😅

"Just to blend in?" -Leo Valdez x Reader (Friends to Lovers?)

A/N : Hi dear!, thank you so much for your request, to be honest i was kinda procrastinating a bit on writing this but! i just got new nails so i felt the motivation kick in y'know, so sorry if this is a bit late, I like the concept!, but the scene is not really like the B99 cause i thought this would suit the undercover quest more but its sort of the same concept!.

synopsis : (the request sent)

Word count : 1.7k+ (idk why its so long either dont ask me)

Riordan verse Masterlist⚜️

You groaned rolling your head back as the aggravating and irritating music hit your ears, an ogre was playing make believe DJ, you can hear its gruesome nails scratching on the pad. You accompanied Leo on a quest to locate an enchanted item used in antient time to help Forge weapon and armors, Both of you settled in the corner of the night club, You leaned back on one of those wrapped cocktail tables, trying to cover Leo behind you, who was working on a machine in order to locate the said item. "Where in the hell did you get these clothes!" You whined tugging on your unnecessary revealing clothes, "Hey!, It took a lot of energy to charm the store lady, Besides, We're in a nightclub atleast we blend in." He rolled his eyes wiping the sweat building on his forehead with the sleeves of his suit, You scoffed, gaze following a few monsters who danced around with the pitiful drunken humans, Particularly on one Laistrygonian Giant who hovered over a woman his hands dropped down to grip the womans hip, licking his lips with hunger in his eyes You wondered what the humans were seeing, Are the Monsters hot with the mist? (wait we're getting off topic). You nudge leo "Are you done?" You hummed, turning back to face him "Hm?, not yet, just needs a few changes" He fiddled around with the wires on the machine, You turned your head back, Blood turning blue when you noticed the Laistrygonian was looking right back at you as its sharp teeth bit into the drunken woman's neck who was squirming around, everyone around them continued dancing as if it was a normal thing, Your eyes widened as The giant glared at you, and looked at the DJ with a nod

"Leo, Leo!, Hurry up, I think-" You tapped leo's shoulder aggressively keeping an eyecontact with the Giant, "Hold on!, I'm Don-" The music became louder, Covering the stomps of the giant walking over to the both of you with furrowed brows. You hurriedly grabbed leo's sleeve, dragging him away making him stumble over a few people "Hey!" a drunk dude grumbled "Sorry!" leo screeched, You dragged leo over to a corridor which was fortunately empty, The both of you panting "You almost made me drop the machine!" He groaned settling down on the floor breathing heavily, “yeah?, would you rather to have died?” You gently hit him in the head “that was unnecessary” a overly dramatic pout covered his face “yes but it was well deserved.” You rolled your eyes snatching the metal device from his hand, a red blinking button on it "Its somewhere here" He hovered behind you, "I know idiot, Look out for monsters" You waved the machine out in the air to try and get the blinking to stop, "You're doing it wrong!" Leo tried to snatch it away from you "I know how to do-" The both of you fought over who gets to use the machine arms intertwined as he kept trying to snatch it back, Until both of your attention was grabbed by the Giant who was all the way at the end of the corridor "Warning, Tall angry dude is coming here!!" "Thanks for stating the obvious, idiot!!" then the Red button finally settled when the giant was just about to strike "Follow me!" You ran towards the door where the machine was pointing to, leo followed "Lock it hurry!" A loud thud could be heard from outside and the giant muttering to themselves "Where do we go now?" leo asked, inside the room were tons of doors, You waved the machine trying to get signal, a loud tugging on the previous door behind could be heard "Just hide!" You grabbed him shoving him in a random room, The room was dimly lit, stairs going down "This is a bad idea!" "What makes you think theres not more monsters there?" He stammered "Just-" You were thinking of a retort but you knew he was right, You hesitated before shrugging him off. "You're really stubborn y'know, Hey!" Leo groaned yet still followed you down the stairs.

The seemingly old stairs creaked under yours and leo's weight, carefully listening for any hits of a monster nearby, The faint noise of.. moaning? could be heard, growing louder as the both of you walk further down the stairs "What the hell?" You cursed under your breath near a laugh, tugging leo's shirt forcing him to keep a straight face so he doesnt attract attention from whoever was there below. Soon enough You were in a wine cellar, with bunch of drunk and horny teenagers who doesnt look a day over 17, there were 5 pairs of couples all scattered throughout the room practically eating each others faces off, "You've got to be kidding me.." You slammed your face, Leo couldn't help but snicker behind "A make out spot hah!" You glared at him forcing your way into the end of the wine cellar, There was no point in being quiet or sneaky though, all those people there were too busy fulfilling their.. Fantasies... "we should do that sometimes" Leo smirked, making you cough, Cheeks growing red and you turned to look at him trying to keep an intimidating face as leo made his hands do a kissy kiss, You rolled your eyes, cheeks a pinkish hue then you "Accidentally" gave him a quick jab to the stomach "Oh oops" "Owh!" he said clutching his stomach, frowning up at you, You examined the wine cellar trying to find any exit but there was none… or as far as you could tell “theres no exit.” You mumbled checking the gaps of the overfilled shelves if there was a way to get our “The monster is close, we have to hide somewhere.” You gave leo back the machine so he could try and figure out whats wrong with it “adam!..” a girl groaned from across the room followed by a growl of a guy “I swear to hades, I’m actually gonna puke” Leo couldn’t contain his laughter anymore

“Dont be dramati-“ Just like that you were cut off, the both of you could hear a door breaking open from upstairs, it wouldn’t take long for the giant to come to the room, the both of you looked at each other and hurriedly searched every corner of the wine cellar for a hope of escaping “nothing!” Leo mouthed from across the room trying to ignore the couple that had their faces basically attached to eachother “Come here! I think i found something!” you mouthed back and he hurriedly ran right back over to you “i think-“ Then a loud crash from the entrance above could be heard all the way to the room below, somehow didn’t attract the humans in the same room, the both of you looked at each other with a knowing look when the old stairs creaked again, the giant was headed down muttering to himself “tsk tsk tsk.” both of you looked at each other and back at the stairs, and you could see a hint of a musty big foot.. both of your eyes widened could no longer speak, "I have a plan.." You said hesitantly cheeks turning red, You could see the giants hip, revealing more of its body as it goes down

"What is it-" Leo was soon cut of when you pulled him by his tie and softly kissed him, You didn't expect the kiss to be soo... passionate?, You could see his eyes widen but went along with you and kissed you back, a hint of pink in his sunkissed skin, You could smell Leo's cologne up close.. It was so intoxicating(in a good way) You guided leo's hands to your waist trying to make it seem more believable, The both of you were clearly flustered, you just hoped that Leo's cologne was strong enough to hide the scent of the both of you, you tried to to focus back on the monster and trying not to melt into the kiss, from the corner of your eye you could see the giant peaking under the stairs examining the room and hissed "Tsk", Suddenly Leo pushed you back into the wall kissing you in a slow and playful rhythm, You were sure you were gonna explode any minute now from embarrassment "Shh, eyes on me." He whispered before taking another kiss, You couldn't tell what was real and what was not anymore, You thought he wanted you to keep your eyes on his so that the giant doesn't notice, right?, I mean this was your plan.. Why are you so flustered right now??? "Its just for the mission" You think to yourself, a hint of vulnerability in your heart, But you snapped back to reality when you felt his heart beating fast through his suit, he still kept tight grip on your waist, his other hand found its way to cup your cheeks, finally after what felt like minutes the giant finally went away with a huff, so the plan did work!, now it was time to stop kissing right?, But leo still hasn't noticed that the giant was long gone, and was still softly kissing you, You pulled away slowly, Your eyes kept in contact as you pulled away with a breathy gasped "Uhm.." "Ehem.." The both of you were flustered, You pulled away from his grasp acting like noting happened, trying to act busy examining the room again for a way out, but your mind could't help but replay the moment in your head, He cant lie and he didn't miss the way your lips parted just to kiss him back. Wait, what are you guys thinking? it was just for the mission, nothing else, no feelings attached, right? "Can we atleast talk about it-" Leo mumbled behind you, cheeks flushed, you tried to ignore him checking the shelves once more before finding a hidden button hidden underneath the off brand wines "It was just to blend in.." You finally answered, remembering the words he spoke to you earlier, still feeling embarrassed, not like you can confess when you're in a life and death situation, but still those words hit like a dagger to his heart, Yours especially, denying your feelings for him, oh if only you knew how whipped this boy was for you, There was a hint of disappointment mixed with embarrassment in the air, You couldn't even hold proper eye contact with him without the memories appearing in your mind, and the smell of his cologne lingered in the room, "C'mon, lets get out of here."

Requests!⚜️ Riordan verse Masterlist⚜️

[justabooknerdposts]

hey, could you make one of estelle finding out that percy and annabeth are demigods? thank u so much i love your works <3

*Okay, I kind of struggled with this one because I don’t feel like they’d hide it from her.  I feel like it would be one of those things she’s always known.  So, after a lot of thinking, I finally came up with this.  Hope you enjoy!* Also, reminder, still closed to prompts, just catching up on a few old ones I hadn't gotten to yet.*

Demigods

It happened during spring break of his freshman year of college.  Percy had come home to New York, catching a ride with Hazel on Arion, since she was visiting Camp Half-Blood as part of the two camps’ exchange program.  Hazel was going to be spending a week at the Greek camp and Malcolm Pace was going to be at Camp Jupiter for a week.  Annabeth had stayed in New Rome to work on a project for one of her architecture classes and to hang out with her demigod brother, who she hadn’t seen in a while.  Percy had to admit he could understand the appeal, since the main reason he’d wanted to go to New York for a week was to hang out with Estelle.

His one-year-old sister was thrilled to see him.  She squealed, patted his face, grabbed his nose, tugged on his ears and hair, and slobbered all over his cheeks and chin in an attempt to give him kisses.  Basically, it was an awesome greeting.

The next day, he volunteered to take Estelle to a nearby park, to give his mom and Paul a break.  The first part was fun.�� He pushed Estelle on the swing, grinning back at her when she gave him a drooly, three-toothed smile, her chubby legs kicking excitedly.  Then he sat her on his lap to go down the slide.  Estelle squealed so loudly that at first he was afraid she was scared, but then he realized she was laughing. 

So they went down the slide about seven more times.

Everything was going well.  Percy was having a great day with his baby sister.  Even the weather was cooperating; it was a sunny, warm, early spring day, the trees just starting to be touched by green.

And then, as they turned the corner a few blocks from their apartment, Percy pushing Estelle in her stroller, he froze.

Skulking in an alleyway, flexing their muscles, were two Laistrygonian ogres.  For one moment, Percy thought maybe he could slowly back away unseen.

And then their eyes fell on him.  One glared, one grinned, and both pushed away from the alley wall and started moving towards him.

Percy cursed in his head, even as he reached for Riptide and, in the same move, stepped in front of Estelle in her stroller.

“Hey, guys,” Percy said, trying to keep his voice casual even as he palmed Riptide, still in pen form.  “How’s it going?”

“Better now, Perseus Jackson,” one of the Laistrygonians rumbled.  “Babycakes and I have been hoping you would reappear.”

Percy cursed out loud this time as he realized it was one of the ogres who had attacked him years ago during gym class.  And, apparently, the monster’s girlfriend, who was still glaring at Percy.

“Do you know how annoying it was to have to wait for Joe Bob to reform?” Babycakes crossed her meaty arms, which were tattooed as thoroughly as her boyfriend’s.

“Probably really annoying,” Percy agreed.  “Sorry about that.  Anyway, great to see you all again, I’ll just be on my way—”

“I don’t think so, Perseus Jackson.”  Joe Bob grinned, showing his crooked, stained teeth.  “We were just trying to decide what to do for lunch.  And then here you are.”

“And you brought a baby,” Babycakes cooed.  “I love babies.”

Percy’s skin crawled.  His own voice came out like a growl.  “No one touches my sister.”

The Laistrygonians laughed and prepared to charge.  They never got the chance.  The moment they threatened Estelle, rage rose like a red hot wave in Percy’s chest.  With a metallic shink, Riptide appeared in his hands.  He leapt forward and, in two swift swipes, he dispatched the giants.  They barely had time to look surprised before bursting into piles of monster dust.

“Enjoy Tartarus,” Percy muttered.  It wasn’t something he’d normally say, after having been there himself, but he didn’t have any sympathy for monsters that threatened his sister.

Behind him, Estelle gurgled.  Percy turned to look at her, Riptide still in his hands.  Estelle was smiling and drooling as she chewed on her hand.  When she saw him looking at her, she squealed happily and held out her arms.  Percy scanned the street, but when he didn’t see any additional threats, he capped his sword, slipped the pen back in his pocket, and reached down to unbuckle Estelle from her stroller.  His hands were shaking when he picked her up.  She didn’t seem to notice.  Instead, she babbled and patted his face.  Percy managed a smile.  “Come on, Estelle.  Let’s get home before we run into any other problems.”

His mom and Paul were still out when Percy and Estelle got home.  His little sister started to whine as soon as they got in the door, so after Percy had shut, and locked, it, he bounced her on his hip, which she usually liked.  But Estelle wasn’t having it right now.  So Percy changed his hold until he was cradling her against his shoulder.  Estelle nuzzled her face against his shoulder and one small hand gripped his shirt as she continued to whine.  Percy patted her back, then, cuddling her against his chest, headed to the kitchen to make her a bottle.

After she fell asleep while drinking her bottle, Percy stayed on the couch, just holding her for a while.  Even though he’d dispatched the monsters easily enough, the fact remained that, just for a minute, his baby sister, his fully mortal baby sister, had been in danger.  Because of him.  And that wasn’t a good feeling.

Finally, Percy stood up, Estelle fast asleep in his arms, and carried her to her crib.  Giving her a featherlight kiss on the forehead, he laid her down and tucked her in.  Then he headed across the hall to the bathroom and closed the door.  Sitting on the edge of the tub, he turned on the shower and used his powers to arc the water, letting it catch the rays of late afternoon sunlight coming through the window, creating a rainbow.  Tossing in a drachma, he said, “Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering.  Show me Annabeth Chase at New Rome University.” 

The rainbow shimmered.  A few moments later, Annabeth appeared.  Luckily, she was alone, sitting at her desk in her dorm room, absorbed in sketching.  The sunlight coming through the window made her blonde hair glow.  Percy watched her for a moment, already feeling a little better.  But finally, when she didn’t look up, he said, “Hey.”

Annabeth jumped.  When she saw him, though, an easy smile crossed her face.  “Hey, Seaweed Brain.”  The smile faded, though, as she studied his face.  “What’s wrong?”

“Had a little bit of a run-in with some Laistrygonians.”  He told Annabeth about what had happened, how he’d been on his way back from the park with Estelle, how the monsters had surprised him, how he’d dispatched them with no problem, but how he couldn’t get rid of the sick feeling in his stomach quite as easily.

“I just—” Percy ran a shaky hand over his face and through his hair, “I just can’t get past the fact that Estelle was in danger because she was with me.”

Annabeth tilted her head, as if thinking.  Her gray eyes were intense as she’d listened to his story, but now they softened as she said, “I have a slightly different take on it.  I’d say Estelle was never really in danger because she was with you.”

Percy shook his head.  “That sounds good, but it’s not true.  If they’d gotten the jump on me or something—”

“Percy.”  Annabeth’s voice was a little more stern.  She leaned forward on her desk, closer to the I-M.  “You once blew up a volcano.  Not to mention lots of plumbing over the years.  You don’t think you could blow up a New York City water main to wipe out some monsters if Estelle was in danger?”

Percy took a leaf out of her book and rolled his eyes.  “Well, yeah, probably, but that’s not—”

“That’s exactly the point, Seaweed Brain.”  Annabeth’s expression was earnest as she locked eyes with him.  “I’m not letting you beat yourself up about this one.  Could something potentially happen to Estelle that would be absolutely out of your control?  Yes, possibly.  But would you do literally everything in your power to keep her safe?  Absolutely.  And you have a lot of power to call on, Percy.  More than you even recognize sometimes.  Your little sister is as safe with you as she’s going to be with anybody.  Trust me.  I know you.”

Percy blinked hard and cleared his throat.  “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”  He managed a smile at his girlfriend.  “I believe you.”

“Good.”  Annabeth returned his smile.  “I am sorry that happened, though.  It sounds like a scary moment.”

“It did scare me,” Percy admitted, running his hand through his hair again.  He exhaled.  “Just more to lose, you know?”

“I know.”  Annabeth raised her hand, just barely touching the Iris-message, so that it looked like her fingers were melting into the rainbow.  Percy raised his hand to hers and it almost seemed like their palms were touching, even three thousand miles apart.

Naturally, Estelle chose that moment to start fussing from her crib across the hall. 

“Uh-oh,” Percy said.  “That might be my cue.”

“Give her a kiss for me.  I love you.”  Annabeth blew him a kiss.  “Enjoy your visit, babe.  It’s going to be okay.”

“Thanks, Wise Girl.  Love you, too.”

Percy did feel better, even as he swiped through the I-M and Annabeth’s image faded.  He turned off the shower, then headed across the hall to Estelle’s room.  She was standing up in her crib, hair nap-mussed, whining around her pacifier.  But when she saw him, her entire tiny face lit up and her pacifier nearly fell out as she smiled.  Percy felt a pang in his chest, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. 

“Hey, Estelle,” he said as he crossed the room to scoop her up.  “Good nap?”

She burbled happily to him and Percy couldn’t help grinning.

He kissed one of her chubby cheeks.  “That one’s from Annabeth.”  Then he kissed the other.  “And that’s from me.  I love you, Estelle.  And I’m always going to protect you.  Don’t worry about that.”

His baby sister tugged on his ear and squealed.  Percy figured she got the message. 

“Let’s check out the kitchen,” he told her.  “I think there’s a jar of mashed carrots with your name on it.”

He kissed the top of her head as he carried her down the hall.  Annabeth was right, he couldn’t totally control every situation.  But he would always do everything in his power to keep his little sister safe.

[teatoptony]

𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 - p.j

summary; percy comforts you after finding you on the fire escape.

pairing; percy jackson x neighbor!demigod!reader

word count; 4.6k

warning(s); themes of abusive relationships. do not interact if this is a trigger for you, and please, reach out if you need help and are able. the world is full of people who can help, even if it's just little things like consolation.

a/n; sorry this took so long!! english isn’t my first language, so there might be a couple errors. feedback is always appreciated :) // takes place between the fourth and fifth book of pjo

request(s); HI HOPE YOURE HAVING A GOOD DAY/NIGHT CAN I PLEASSSSEEEEEE GET PERCY X READER "58/ "Who did this to you?"" WITH PROTECTIVE PERCY I WILL CRY!!!

Hello! Can I please request Percy Jackson x reader with prompt #58: “Who did this to you?” Thank you!

Every time Percy made his way back home after Camp, he expected all sorts of monsters to come pounding at the door. He was the son of Poseidon, after all—the more powerful a demigod was, the easier they were to smell out.

And they kind of did; dracaenae in the grocery store, pit scorpions in the gym and pretty much everywhere else. He even saw a cyclops from his bedroom window once, lumbering pretty dam close to the apartment before shaking his head, seemingly confused, and wandering off. Well, that was strange.

Percy had tried to think of anything that could have thrown the cyclops off his trail. Maybe he smelled another half-blood somewhere, or maybe he just didn't feel like having son-of-the-sea-god fillet for dinner. None of those seemed likely.

Or maybe the cyclops just lost the trail, simple as that. But in Percy’s opinion, that was even less likely than the other two options. Being a son of one of the Big Three gods, Percy was pretty much a beacon for monsters everywhere, which was why he was always hesitant when coming home after camp. He didn't want to put his mom in danger because of him (and Paul Blowfish was really nice, too).

The only way to get rid of his smell, as far as he knew, was by covering it with a stench so foul that it got masked, making Percy smell like just a rather horrid mortal to monsters. Yeah, his mom got an apartment in a shady neighborhood to sort of do just that, but a shady neighborhood wasn't nearly enough to confuse a monster like a cyclops. He needed Smelly Gabe levels of stink, at the very least.

Another reason Percy thought the whole shady neighborhood plan wasn’t what had thrown that cyclops for a loop was because of you.

Now don't get him wrong, he liked having you around. A little too much, even, which he was embarrassed to admit. You were one of the first and best friends he'd made at camp, and you had a personality that could brighten anyone's day. But two demigods living in the same building? Going to the same school, no less? That had to be a recipe in some sort of demon cook book somewhere, just imagine—'easiest-ever cheesecake with half-blood garnish: start by catching two half-bloods, preferably from the same building to keep them fresh...'

Strangely enough, though, nothing ever seemed to get near him when he was with you. No dracaenae disguised as pregnant ladies in the store, no pit scorpions crawling out from between the bookshelves in the library. Not once while hanging out with you did a monster decide to stop by for a quick snack, which was a pretty big deal considering he never left your side if he could help it. He never understood why that was.

Until tonight.

Percy never slept well at home. Sure, it was great to be there, but this wasn’t like Camp, where a magic barrier kept anything dangerous from getting in. This was a regular mortal apartment, where a Laistrygonian giant could easily lob a giant ball of fire at if he had a half-decent aim. He lay awake most nights, which was pretty frustrating since he couldn’t use a phone or something to distract himself, and trying to read just made the words float off the page. So, naturally, he used the sound that flooded through his bedroom window as a sort of white noise to help him fall asleep.

Tonight was especially difficult. He was up way past the point where his body usually started to give in to the drowsiness, and it was really pissing him off. Every time he shut his eyes and tried to force himself to go to sleep, they just opened again a minute or two later, feeling a lot drier.

Suddenly, he heard someone open then slam their window shut a few floors up. Someone slipped onto the fire escape and started climbing down. Who in Hades would be out there at this hour?

The footsteps stopped almost as soon as they started, and nothing but the usual busy murmur of the Manhattan night continued once again. How long had passed? Ten minutes? Twenty? Percy realized he hadn’t heard another window open or close. And the footsteps never passed by his window, so Percy figured whoever was out there was maybe two or three stories up from his floor – somewhere near yours – and decided to go check, grabbing Riptide in its pen form off his bedside table.

If it was just some mortal who’d decided to hang out up there, that’s fine and all. He might have to scare them off if they were too close to your window, but no one would be in actual danger. If it was a monster trying to sneak up on him, or you, for that matter, he would take care of it and come back inside. He didn’t have anything better to do, anyway. He slowly opened his window and slipped outside, being as quiet as he possibly could considering the fire escape was practically ancient.

What he found when he climbed up, however, wasn’t some rando or a monster. It was you. And while normally the sight of you would fill his stomach with butterflies so strong they practically made his skin tingle, what he saw now made his heart drop umpteen stories to the Underworld.

You were wearing your pajamas, which any sensible person would say were much too cold for the season. It was nearing winter a lot more than autumn now, and the temperature was low enough that he could see your shaky breaths. Even so, you still sat out there in nothing but a paper-thin long sleeved shirt and some sweats, hugging your knees to your chest as to either bring yourself some comfort or warmth. Probably both. Your whole body was shaking pretty hard, and Percy didn’t need to see your face to know that you were crying.

He put Riptide into his pocket and shuffled his feet a little as he got closer to you, deliberately making his presence known so he wouldn't startle you when he sat down next to you. Quickly wiping your hand across your face, you tried to clean any trace of tears as you looked up to see who was there.

“Hey, Perce,” you said, smiling at him the way you always did. Your voice would’ve sounded normal if it wasn’t so raw. The way you tried to act as though nothing was wrong made Percy want to punch something. Or someone. He clenched his fists, trying to suppress the amount of sheer anger he felt. The silence was deafening as he tried to calm himself down.

“Who did this to you?” He finally asked, his voice shaking. Whether it was from anger, or the sheer amount of willpower he had to conjure to stop himself from beating whoever was the cause of this senseless, he didn’t really know. Your smile wavered a bit.

“What d’you mean?” You replied, trying your best to look confused and oblivious. If he hadn’t caught you actually crying, he was sure he would have bought it. “No one did anything to me, Percy. I’m perfectly fine. Just peachy. All that stuff.”

“Y/N, you’re crying on the fire escape in the middle of the night. I’m not that stupid.” Percy sighed, frustrated. He was your best friend, and as your best friend, it was his job to make sure no one stepped out of line around you, the way you did for him. Like how you gave anyone who tried to talk bad about him a glare so intense they would immediately shut up and run in the opposite direction. “Who did this to you?”

You stayed still for a minute, seemingly weighing your options. On the one hand, you could play dumb and go back home, the way you always did when someone asked what was wrong. You really didn’t want Percy to see you like this. On the other, he already has, so there was no point in trying to hide it.

Besides, the thought of going back to your own apartment made your blood run cold. You ran your hands up and down your arms as chills made their way along your spine.

“My boyfriend,” you finally muttered out, looking away from Percy as you spoke. “He usually stays over since my place is always empty. Practically lives there. We had a big fight about… you, actually. He said you were bad news and told me to stay away from you. I told him you were a good person who just got caught up in some pretty bad situations sometimes. He made a few accusations. Told me—”

You choked on your words. Percy put a hand over your shoulders, a bit hesitant as he wasn’t sure if you wanted him close by right now. After all, he was part of the reason you were out here in the first place. He breathed a little sigh of relief as you leaned into his touch, pressing yourself against his side as he pulled you close.

“He told me I followed you around like a puppy anyway, so to be a good little dog and run home to my master. I didn’t see a point in arguing with him, so I told him that maybe I would. He, um, didn’t like that too much.”

You let out a shaky sigh. Now that you recounted what had happened, it didn’t seem like much of a step up from what your boyfriend usually did. He never liked it when you made friends, so why did him trying to separate you from Percy feel so much more personal than all the other times he told you to cut yourself off?

While you were contemplating the reason for it, Percy was plotting a murder.

He was pretty sure Rachel had a step-by-step guide on it somewhere. But then again, why read a book when one of his other best friends was literally the daughter of the goddess of strategy? And Clarisse.. well, as much as they didn't get along, he was pretty sure she liked you more than most of the other campers, enough to threaten to pulverize anyone who hurt you with the full intent of following it through.

First things first, Seaweed Brain, Anabeth’s voice said in his head (it did that from time to time; Percy assumed he didn't really have his own voice of logic, so his brain borrowed it from the smartest person he knew). She's freezing.

“Right,” he muttered, giving your shoulders a little squeeze. You flinched. First things first, he mentally repeated, and pulled the both of you off of the cold metal platform with an apologetic look. “Let’s get you back to my place, yeah? Get you warmed up.”

You nodded and started to follow him down the stairs. Your legs were unsteady from being folded for too long in the cold, and you stumbled on the first few steps. After the first flight, Percy stopped in his tracks and looked at you for a moment, deciding whether or not carrying you was a bit too much considering there was only a floor or two left to his window. Then he decided that he didn’t care if it was and scooped you up, carrying you bridal-style.

To his surprise, you didn’t protest. He felt you wrap your arms around his neck and hug him tightly, the act making his face go warm. If someone were to see him right now, he was sure the mix of anger and butterflies would have made his face look the color of canned tomato soup.

Once he reached his floor, he put you down and climbed in first, offering you a hand once he was inside. You smiled to yourself as little butterflies fluttered to life in your stomach, but they soon vanished and left you with a sinking feeling that quickly spread everywhere. He was just being a good friend. He doesn’t like you in that way. You have a boyfriend, you shouldn’t be thinking like this–

Percy sat you down on his bed, rummaging through his clean clothes to find something useful. Most of his clothes were really worn out, so it wasn’t much of an easy task. Then his fingers brushed against something soft, and he pulled it out to examine; it was a blue polyester sweater his mom had bought around the end of last winter. He’d worn it a lot over the last few months, but it had been washed more recently than most of his other winter clothes.

“Put this on.” He threw it across the room at you. You caught it and did as you were told, pulling it over your shirt. The scent of ocean breeze fabric detergent and a hint of sea salt washed over you. Percy took a seat beside you on the bed, his gaze boring into you as you tried your best to ignore what had just happened. A second ago, being upset had felt justifiable. Now you were just embarrassed to have been caught.

Again, that wasn’t any worse than what he did every other day. Why did it bug you so much?

“So, you don’t naturally smell like ocean breeze, huh?” You commented, trying to lighten the mood. Or maybe distract him from what he’d just seen. Hey, why not both? “A shame, really. You’d be useful in the Hermes cabin—can’t get cleaned up for inspection most of the time, so smelling nice would definitely be an improvement.”

Percy ran his hand through his hair, his frustration starting to get the better of him. “Does this sort of thing happen often?” He asked. When you didn’t answer, he gently put his hands on either side of your face, making you look at him. Finally, you sighed.

“It’s not usually this bad,” you offered, giving him a small smile. “He never means what he says—or what he does, for that matter. He just gets a little carried away when he’s worried. He’ll apologize in the morning, I’m sure. Always does.”

Usually?

Never?

Always?

This had been going on for a lot longer than Percy had imagined. How could he have let this happen? Was he so dense as to notice the signs? He’d met the guy, for fuck’s sake. He realized now that you weren’t flustered or anything like that whenever your boyfriend dragged you away from him all those times. You were dreading what would happen once no one else was around.

“This isn’t okay, Y/N,” he muttered, moving his hands to hold yours instead. His thumbs traced little patterns on your skin, and you could swear it sent little electric shocks up along your nervous system.

“He’s the best I can hope to get…” You replied, a bitter smile on your face. He told you so all the time. Your best friend got a funny look on his face, something you could only describe as ‘are you fucking kidding me?’ That look then faded into anger, then sadness, then anger again. His expression alternated between the two as he took a breath, then said,

“Tell me everything.”

You were almost certain he almost said something else, but you figured it wasn’t too important. If it was, it would come up again, eventually.

You bit your lip. You didn’t really like telling anyone about your relationship. But then again, this was Percy. He would understand, wouldn’t he?

Percy’s gaze softened as he noticed how hesitant you were. “Please? Promise I won’t judge.” He added.

Oh, come on, that voice was cheating. How could you say no?

So, you started from the top.

From the beginning of your relationship, every time you made some minor mistake, your boyfriend would swoop in and clean up the mess as a ‘favor’. Even if you knew for a fact you could set things straight on your own or didn’t want his help, he was always there to act like it was this huge deal. He would tell you that you were a hot mess, and that no one else but him would ever want to keep you around. He only put up with you because he loved you. And after a couple months, you started to believe him.

Later on, he used those favors against you to guilt you into doing things you didn't really want to do. It started with little things, like getting you to wear what he wanted all the time.

“C’mon babe, remember when I did that thing for you? Just think of it as a little thank you. You can do that for me, right?”

To quote your boyfriend, you were to wear ‘nothing too long, but nothing too skimpy, either’. You weren't allowed to take your coat off in public if you wore a dress that went above your knees, or if your top showed off a little more than what he deemed necessary. You used to joke that you felt like you were dating a high school teacher, but what little humor you managed to find in the situation gradually disappeared as your entire wardrobe was stripped of your own personality and taste.

He became more demanding over time, doing things like taking you out to party with people you barely knew in clothes that made you feel downright uncomfortable, letting his friends ‘borrow’ you if they needed arm candy for a family dinner or something to get their folks off their asses, etcetera. You’d very nearly avoided giving him your first night on his fifteenth birthday—however mad he got, that was the one thing he couldn't guilt out of you.

That was the first time he’d hit you.

“He apologized afterwards,” you quickly added, feeling Percy’s grip tighten. The two of you were now sat facing each other on the bed, shoes kicked off on the floor and legs crossed, with not much space in between except for your intertwined hands. “Like I said, he always does. He was as surprised as me when he did it, and we avoided each other for a week before he came back with a written apology. He told me he wouldn’t go further than anything PG-13 if I wasn’t okay with it.”

He nodded, but you could see his eyes getting darker with each word, their usual sea green color changing until it had more of a stormy blue tone.

Wait a minute, why were you defending the boy who hit you, again?

You continued to tell him how your boyfriend was really insecure, though he tried to hide it in public. You did your best to try to help him, reassure him that he didn’t have anything to be insecure about, but he was almost impossible.

He didn’t like it when you had friends who weren’t also his friends, or when you hung out with anyone else more than him—which, considering he went to a different school than you, meant you weren’t allowed to interact with people much other than the basic stuff. You always distanced yourself from everyone to appease him. So, seeing how much the two of you were around each other, Percy wasn’t exactly popular with your boyfriend.

He murmured passive-aggressive comments whenever he saw you with him, never directly accusing you of doing anything with him but making the questions abundantly clear. He had tried on several different occasions to get you to push him away, and every time you refused, he just got a lot more persistent.

He picked out all the times Percy had supposedly gotten you into trouble, blissfully ignorant about the world of live-action D&D that practically required you to be in danger ninety-nine percent of the time. He made comments about Percy’s ADHD and dyslexia, which you shut down immediately every time. It wasn’t cool to be rude towards people for something they couldn’t control.

Your boyfriend wasn’t used to not getting his way with you for so long, but quite frankly, you didn’t care. Percy was special to you—with him, you could pretend you were just another pair of stupid teenagers doing stupid things. Ironic, considering he was front and center for every major thing that went on. He made you feel like you could breathe, and you’d be damned before you let some sorry excuse of a person take away what little freedom Percy offered.

You made sure to leave that part out, though. There was a time and place for everything, and this wasn’t really the time to confess you had a crush on your best friend, despite having a boyfriend.

That was a secret for another time, if it were to be told at all.

Every time you’d told someone about your boyfriend so far, you’d tried to explain to them that it wasn’t all gray skies and rain. He was so sweet to you back when you were friends, before you got into a relationship; you were sure he just needed some time to get used to the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing before he bounced back to his regular old self. This time, though, you skipped that part completely.

Something about how Percy treated you made something inside you snap. It had been two whole years, and you were tired of thinking he would change, tired of holding onto hope in a hopeless situation. You were sick and tired of your boyfriend, and it was time you stopped making excuses for everything he did to you.

But, old habits died hard. You felt the all-too-familiar words on the tip of your tongue, and so, on complete impulse, you stopped yourself from starting the obligatory ‘he’s not that bad’ speech by leaning forward and burying your face against Percy’s shoulder. You could tell he was as surprised as you were, and froze on the spot. Red alarm bells blared through your head as you held your breath, waiting for him to make the next move.

Oh fuck oh gods oh fuck—

You fully expected him to push you away, but he didn’t.

Instead, one of his hands snaked around your waist to pull you closer, and closer, and closer, until you were on his lap with your legs on either side of his. He rubbed your back—not exactly in a steady rhythm, but it was comforting nonetheless. You thought you’d cried everything out earlier, but, evidently, you were wrong. Tears made their way down your face and onto Percy’s pajamas, and you choked out apologies between sobs. For what, you didn’t actually know. Getting him wet, not telling him sooner, for making him find out like this… everything.

“I’m sorry,” Another sob racked through your body. “I’m so, so sorry…”

“It’s okay, it’s going to be okay.” He said. “Come on, let it all out.”

You stayed like that for a few moments, and Percy only pulled away when he felt your breathing start to level out. When he looked at you again, your eyes were a lot redder and he was sure they’d be really swollen in the morning.

“You said he… hit you, right?” You nodded, and Percy felt his blood physically boil. “Can I take a look?”

You didn’t say anything – tired out from all the crying, he guessed – and pulled up the back of your shirt instead. Percy hastily got out from under you and got one of the first-aid kits stashed around the house, flicked on the bedside lamp, then pulled out a tub of Arnica.

Apart from the scars and stuff from general life as a demigod, your skin should have been free of any unusual marks. But it was black and blue. A lot of the bruising was more recent, a few just starting to form, so the cream would work fine. But some of it was older and had more of an ashen tone. Those would be tricky to treat, as they would require a lot more long-term care. He dabbed on some of the ointment from the tub and rubbed it in, careful not to put too much pressure. You visibly relaxed, feeling like jelly under his touch.

Once he was sure he had gotten every single bruise, he tugged your clothes back down.

“I think you should stay over tonight.” He concluded, putting the first aid kit back in the general area it had been in. You drowsily agreed, your eyelids already drooping. Neither of you were eager to get back to your boyfriend.

Ex-boyfriend, you decided, telling Percy as such. You’d put up with him for way too long. You would break up with him officially the next day, and tell him to pack everything up and get the hell out of your apartment and out of your life. A weight lifted off your chest at the thought, the pressure that had been built up over two years suddenly dissipating.

When you snapped out of your thoughts, Percy had started to make his way out of his room, muttering something about sleeping on the couch. Before he could get a hand on the door, you caught his sleeve and gently pulled him back to you. You didn’t want to be alone after the night you’d had. And, to be a bit more honest, you wanted to be around him. You wanted him to stay.

“Or… you could just sleep with me.”

Percy’s face turned bright red and you realized how that sounded, sputtering out a few sentences of ‘literally sleeping together’ and ‘didn’t mean it like that’ before giving up and just pulling him down next to you. The two of you got settled under the sheets on opposite ends, which didn’t really do much because Percy’s bed had a single-size mattress. Eventually, though, the two of you moved into a cuddling position to avoid dangling off the sides.

“You don’t mind?” You asked, snuggling closer to him and making his heart skip one or two beats. “Me staying over, I mean.”

“I couldn’t sleep anyway, so you can’t really make it any worse. I think you’re helping, actually,” he replied. “So no, I don’t.” He felt you nod slightly.

“Thanks for everything.” You whispered, hugging him tight. He couldn’t see your face, but he knew by the way your arms slackened and your breathing evened out that you drifted off immediately after.

That was when it hit him.

He was in bed.

With a girl.

And not just any girl, either.

He was in the same bed as you, his best friend, who he had been holding back feelings for, for as long as he’d known you. And you were cuddled up to him, the way all those couples that died really early in all the scary movies his mom loved to watch. It made his heart beat a little faster. A lot faster, actually.

The couple part, that is, not the dying early part.

No, no, no, no. No. This was not the time. If he were to tell you how he felt about you, he would wait until you were healed, mentally and physically.

He hoped that day would come sooner rather than later. He’d help you get there if you’d let him.

His eyelids slowly got heavier and heavier until they closed completely. He hoped his mom wouldn’t be too surprised and scream when she walked in her son’s room and found that you had just magically appeared in his bed.

“For the record,” he murmured, finally feeling the clutches of sleep dragging him down into the abyss. “You deserve so much better. You deserve the world…”

I’d give you mine, if you want, he wanted to add, but those words could wait until another day.

[maybejenna]

imagine being a demigod in 2024.

imagine a minimal to no social life in the summers. always having to make excuses because you can't hang out. your parents having to excuse you to relatives why you can't go out on a vacation this summer with your cousins. having to explain to teachers why your grades are falling down. explaining to your friends why you look like your walked through hell because you just fought a monster before lunch.

can you hang out this summer? your friends ask you before the beginning of summer breaks because they wanna do something fun. like hang out in the mall. or get trashed in each other's houses. or someone's got a birthday party coming up. or there's this carnival coming to town that they would like you to attend with them. your answer's gonna be awkward.

ummm... yeah, i can hang. maybe for a couple for days. because yk you can't hang out for more than a couple of days. you have the get the camp jupiter or half blood asap. and before leaving you have to atleast spend sometime with your friends and family.

do you have plans this summer? some people tend to ask because they're gonna go out on vacations or have plans with family and friends.

what do you say, then? umm... killing monsters? going on quests? learning how to fight an ancient greek being? campfire sing alongs? crawling lava walls? parring with your half siblings? you had half siblings?? that you would spend majority of your summer hanging out with nymphs, satyrs, demigods, a centaur and a god of wine?

can we reach you? they ask only for you to say how you're going somewhere there's no signal. they'll soon start getting suspicious because now they're noticing a pattern. because you can't tell them how you have leave your phone behind so that you don't have monsters running after you. coming back to a million missed calls and so many messages left unread telling you how much you missed out on or the greatest party of the year.

dyslexia and adhd are least of your problems especially with college applications coming up because you never expected yourself to survive that long. it's a miracle, really. and college will be a pain because how do you say you got accepted to an university in NEW ROME?? most of them would be surprised you even got into college with your terrible grades. they don't even know how smart you are. most of them just presume you to be dumb because of your dyslexia and adhd. especially the teachers- gods they're such pains in the ass with the constant questioning and why you can't perform well in school. all you can think of is how smart you are in ancient greek or roman

why are you breathing so hard? you look like you ran a marathon. well, you kinda did because how else do you explain defeating a drakon or laistrygonian giants before first period? you settle for, oh i woke up late.

or being able to see through the mist. while your friends only see a black dot in sky, you can see the pegasus neighing at you. while your teachers only see gigantic storks pecking at the windows, you can see the stymphalian bird looking right at you. as your parents switch on the tv news that reports of a horrendous tornado, you can see zeus and poseidon fight and you think, what now? with a sigh. as you're faced with a terrible earthquake in a millenia, yk some demigod had pissed off some god, somewhere.

imagine running into one of your friends during a quest. imagine running around your city, trying to find ganymede's chalice or retrieving something that one of the gods lost. oh hey, jenna! what are you, doing here? i thought you were away on vacation? your camp friends look at you, all amused as you try to grapple for an answer. it's a funny story, yeah...

imagine the crazy gossip sessions during camp as you and your camp friends talk about the life outside and and the ridiculous things that happened this school year or the gossip of who cheated on whom and whom got wasted and flashed the english teacher. giggling as you catch your friends up on something mundane as your life is anything but.

and some camp elements coming alive during summer. like the amazing muscle strength you have as you fight a boy despite hating gym period. you can't just say- hey! this is what i train for every summer. or an eerie fact you state in physics as you learn about delta. oh yeah, old man daedalus' sign? he was genius but funny. how do i know? i read. can't just say, i met the dude once. or if one of your friends asks about your camp friends that you have pictures of on your instagram or on a polaroid, you're left stuttering. or when a guy outside camp hits on your and your friends pressurise you to go out with him. how do you tell them you have a boyfriend at camp? you can't without them asking to meet him and you can't have that.

imagine coming clean to your parents with a satyr's help. my mom would yell, then faint then stop talking to me for a while. but after that she'd be fine. my dad... he'd start looking at me funny and be very hesitant about camp. they'd try forcing me to stay longer and make me have more plans with the relatives that i'd have to keep cancelling. and imagine being an indian demigod- gods, the weddings you'd miss! and having to sit beside your mum during parent teacher conferences as your teachers drill on about how you're not performing well and even tho she knows- she agrees, saying you don't study and says i'm gonna try better next time. as soon as we get home, she says, we gotta do something about your grades. telling her about the university in new rome and somehow that's more helpful. maybe that's gonna help out the situation better.

then there's the issue of powers. being a hermes kid would be cool because you would be amazing at sports and popular. your thieving skills also wouldn't be too bad. the charm would make you likeable and popular and sneaky. being an athena kid helps out in pe and studies and maybe you can even be one of the best at classes. being an aphrodite kid means everyone adores you and you're popular and you can get yourself out of the slickest situations in the quickest way possible. even being an apollo kid would mean you're great at band and people like you. now, imagine being a kid of hephaestus, hades, hecate or poseidon. a kid pisses you off in gym class and he's lit on fire the next second. during an exam, you're so nervous that you douse the entire examination hall in water. you have a talent show coming up and you charm everyone into loving your performance and one kid swears he saw your eyes glow purple. imagine helping out your crush carry her bags and notebooks only for them to see a skeleton slip out of view. it would be a mad school year.

returning and looking at instagram and snapchat and realising how much you missed. but then you look at your camp beads and reminisce on your camp friends and how fun that summer had been. how fun it was staying with your half siblings and even mr d was pretty sufferable this summer. there was no greater feeling that sneaking around camp with the guy you like at night, running from the cleaning harpies. nothing like waking up and having realised that the hermes kids pulled a prank on your cabin. nothing like sparring with your friends or climbing the lava wall with extra risks involved. running through the strawberry fields with your siblings chasing you. sitting in camp sing along and realising that you finally belong. that you wouldn't have it any other way, even as you look at your friends hanging out without you. because you had people you loved, even tho the risk of dying the next night still loomed over you.

perhaps, that's what being a demigod feels like

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS: Voyage

Percy Jackson X Reader

Another year passed and now they're back as the camp needs them.

Chapter 2: Taxi Of Death

Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley down Church Street. She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.

"Where'd you find him?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.

Now, under different circumstances, I would've been really happy to see her. We'd made our peace last summer, despite the fact that her mom was Athena and didn't get along with my dad. I'd missed Annabeth probably more than I wanted to admit.

But I'd just been attacked by cannibal giants, Tyson had saved my life three or four times, and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like he was the problem.

"He's my friend," I told her.

"Is he homeless?"

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

She looked surprised. "He can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."

"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.

I couldn't believe she was being so rude. I was about to call her out when a smack was heard.

"Do NOT be rude." An assertive voice from behind Annabeth echoed.

Y/N came out from the shadows riding a dog that was bigger than the hellhound that had attacked me in camp when I got claimed. She looked pretty much the same from her photo if not more mature. Her clothes were different as well, but she still had the knife and headband on her.

"That hurts!" Annabeth hissed.

"And it'll hurt more if you continue to be rude. He helped Percy, he deserves credit."

Remembering what happened to Tyson, I examined his hands, which I was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine—grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips—but they always looked like that. "Tyson," I said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Annabeth muttered.

"I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around." Y/N chuckled looking at Tyson.

Tyson seemed fascinated by Y/N's dog. He was hesitant to touch it until Y/N took his hand and brought it to D/N's head.

"Annabeth," I said, "what is she talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Canadians," she decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams... about Grover?"

Their face turned pale. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

I told them my dream. "Why? What were you dreaming about?"

Annabeth's eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour.

"Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks? Either of you?"

Y/N looked on the ground and shrugged.

I shook my head. "None all year... until today."

"None? But how..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?"

Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something... Son of the Sea God?"

Annabeth, Y/N and I exchanged looks.

I didn't know how I could explain, but I figured Tyson deserved the truth after almost getting killed.

"Big guy," I said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—"

"Yes," Tyson said.

"Well... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries , so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals.

Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for me to get to the point.

"Uh, well, Annabeth, Y/N and I are half-bloods," I said. "We're like... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

I stared at him. He didn't seem surprised or confused by what I was telling him, which surprised and confused me. "So... you believe me?"

Tyson nodded. "But you are... Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."

Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then..."

A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.

"We don't have time for this," Y/N said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" I said. "You know how much money—"

"Trust me."

I hesitated. "What about Tyson?"

I imagined escorting my giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us.

"We can't just leave him," I decided. "He'll be in trouble, too."

"Yeah." Annabeth looked grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."

I didn't like the way she said that, as if Tyson were a big disease we needed to get to the hospital, but I followed her down the alley. Together the three of us sneaked through the side streets of downtown while a huge column of smoke billowed up behind us from my school gymnasium.

"Here." Y/N stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

All around us, sirens wailed. I figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and I were the bloodthirsty cannibals.

"I have one." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that I recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

"Annabeth," I said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

She handed the coin to Y/N.

"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"

As usual, the moment she spoke in the language of Olympus, I somehow understood it.

She'd said: Stop, Chariot of Damnation!

That didn't exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was.

She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.

It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door—something like GYAR SSIRES—but my dyslexia made it hard for me to decipher what it said.

The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"

"Three to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at me to get in, like this was all completely normal.

"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take his kind!"

She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.

What was it? Pick-on-Big-and-Ugly-Kids Day?

"Extra pay," Y/N promised. "Three more drachma on arrival."

"Done!" the woman screamed.

Reluctantly I got in the cab. Tyson and Y/N squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last. D/N was somehow smaller than he was when he arrived and had settled on Tyson's lap.

The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy—no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.

The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!

I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I wasn't that desperate... yet.

The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.

Wait a minute. Give her the eye?

I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.

"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left my stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.

"Excuse me," I said. "But ... can you see?"

"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.

"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.

"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.

I looked at the two. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."

"One eye?"

"Yeah."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total."

Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."

"Oh, man," I said, because I'd seen Tyson get carsick on school field trips and it was not something you wanted to be within fifty feet of. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"

The three gray ladies were too busy squabbling to pay me any attention. I looked over at Y/N who was rubbing Tyson's back saying some... comforting words? I guess something that could make him better. Then to Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and I gave her a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look.

"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."

"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"

"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."

"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"

"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"

"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.

"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"

"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"

"But I'm driving, you old hag!"

"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"

Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing me between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.

The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.

Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"

Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.

"Uh, if anybody's interested," I said, "we're going to die!"

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."

This coming from the daughter of Athena, but I wasn't exactly reassured. We were skimming along the edge of a bridge a hundred and thirty feet above the East River.

"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"

"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"

"The location you seek!" Tempest added.

Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"

"What?" Y/N said.

"What location? I'm not seeking any—"

"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"

"Tell me."

"No!" they all screamed.

"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.

"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.

"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"

"No!" yelled Anger.

"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"

She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into my lap.

I jumped so hard, my head hit the ceiling and the eyeball rolled away.

"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.

"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.

"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.

"I don't have it!" I said.

"There, by your foot," Y/N said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"

"I'm not picking that up!"

The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.

"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.

"Annabeth," Y/N yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"

"Are you crazy? Percy get the eye!"

Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.

At last I steeled my nerves. I ripped off a chunk of my tie-dyed T-shirt, which was already falling apart from all the burn marks, and used it to pick the eyeball off the floor.

"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew I had her missing peeper. "Give it back!"

"Not until you explain," I told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"

"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"

I looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.

"Percy," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."

"First they have to tell us," Y/N said. And signaled to me.

"Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic." I continued.

"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"

"I'm rolling down the window."

"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!"

They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.

"What do you mean?" I said. "That makes no sense!"

"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree, which contained the life force or a fallen hero.

"Percy!" Annabeth said more urgently. "Give them the eye now!"

I decided not to argue. I threw the eye into Wasp's lap.

The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"

She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."

"All right," I told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."

"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out now."

I was about to ask why, when I looked up at Half-Blood Hill and understood.

At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.

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[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 3: WE HAIL THE TAXI OF ETERNAL TORMENT

Enjoy my birthday gift to all of you! Next one on Monday, which all updates will continue on!

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Nico read casually enough this time, just trying to blend in and pretty sure he was doing it alright and that the others were muttering in confusion about the odd chapter title as usual, not him.

"Does Hades own a taxi?" Jason fidgeted in place if they were being dragged back to the Underworld for some reason.

"Do you never get the gum off the seats?" Alex asked in disgust.

'I've never been in a taxi, what would qualify as torment in them?' Hearth asked.

'The same thing that qualifies out of them,' Magnus uneasily promised, though he'd never been in one either.

Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley down Church Street. She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.

"I wonder if fire stations took bids on putting a homing beacon on you," Thalia grinned.

"More like begged the police to take it," Percy sighed.

"Where'd you find him?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.

Now, under different circumstances, I would've been really happy to see her. We'd made our peace last summer, despite the fact that her mom was Athena and didn't get along with my dad. I'd missed Annabeth probably more than I wanted to admit.

Percy smiled sadly now. According to Thalia, he'd only been away from her for three days, but since she was the only memory he'd woken up with before he'd started getting them back, it felt much longer.

  But I'd just been attacked by cannibal giants, Tyson had saved my life three or four times, and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like he was the problem.

Percy was grateful for the first time Annabeth wasn't here though, he felt like the center in a tug-o-war all of a sudden as his first impulse was to snap at her for being so rude to his friend, when he wasn't even sure that's what Tyson was to him. He groaned and rubbed his temples in frustration the smartest person he knew always gave him such a headache.

Thalia gave him a commiserating pat on the shoulder and hated not being able to explain this to him even if she could, she wasn't quite sure herself why this cyclops had latched onto Percy and sort of wanted this whole story herself.

"He's my friend," I told her.

"Is he homeless?"

Magnus and Alex frowned for the spurn they could imagine in Annabeth's voice Nico tried hard to hide, but it was a strange question even without that. If Tyson was some kind of monster, where did she expect him to live?

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

Hearth ducked low in his seat as Magnus shifted closer to him with real frustration for his cousin. Tyson was being treated the same way his deaf friend was for what reason again?! After he'd just saved Percy's life!

She looked surprised. "He can talk?"

"What is he that you are not seeing?" Alex demanded even knowing nobody would answer.

"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."

"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.

I couldn't believe she was being so rude.

Even Nico and Will were clearly surprised about Annabeth's dislike of Percy's brother and exchanged a mystified look for it, only Thalia was left truly guilt ridden again while holding her tongue and not speaking of their mess of a journey.

I examined Tyson's hands, which I was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine—grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips—but they always looked like that. "Tyson," I said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Annabeth muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."

Annabeth might not like him much, Jason reasoned out, but she wasn't trying to stab Tyson either, she wasn't concerned he was around. Whatever he was, this must be something personnel to Annabeth, like his odd feelings about faw- satyrs.

Tyson seemed fascinated by Annabeth's blond hair. He tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand away.

"Annabeth," I said, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, 

'They're not the only thing you and Odysseus will run across on this trip,' Thalia kept to herself.

but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Canadians," she decided.

The eight of them burst out laughing hard, and then Alex had to escalate the joke, "did they have to get visas to come here and try to eat you?"

"I thought they were only violent about hockey," Magnus's laugh was a touch more forced than the others, but he wasn't holding a grudge against whatever Annabeth's ignorance was until he could talk to her about it.

"Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

"Again," Will added. "Does that happen before every time you come to camp?"

"Man I hope not, my mom doesn't need the extra stress," Percy sighed, feeling awful already for the knock she'd be getting on her door about this.

"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams ... about Grover?"

Her face turned pale. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

I told her my dream. "Why? What were you dreaming about?"

Her eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour.

"Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong.

They wanted to believe her and give benefit of the doubt thanks to her fabulous reappearance and saving Percy's skin, but since there was already something she wasn't saying about Tyson, they were still pretty on edge.

We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?"

I shook my head. "None all year ... until today."

"None? But how ..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?"

Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class.

'The polite way to interrupt a conversation,' Hearth nodded.

'As opposed to Blitz kicking that guy in the shins,' Magnus agreed.

"Canadians in the gym called Percy something ... Son of the Sea God?"

Annabeth and I exchanged looks.

I didn't know how I could explain, but I figured Tyson deserved the truth after almost getting killed.

"Big guy," I said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—"

"Yes," Tyson said.

"Well ... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for me to get to the point.

"So am I," Alex said impatiently.

"Um, noting his lack of surprise here for Percy," Jason mock raised his hand.

"Duly noted," Percy sighed.

"Uh, well, Annabeth and I are half-bloods," I said. "We're like ... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

I stared at him. He didn't seem surprised or confused by what I was telling him, which surprised and confused me.

"And I now vouch for a third surprised and confused party," Magnus assured.

"So ... you believe me?"

Tyson nodded. "But you are ... Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."

Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then ..."

A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.

"We don't have time for this," Annabeth said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"We're not about to have to overcome another rivalry or something are we?" Percy asked, how many other gods could hate his dad? He just knew Tyson tied into Poseidon somehow...

"Um, no?" But Thalia didn't sound to certain herself, she wasn't looking forward to Percy feeling in the middle of his little brother and Annabeth until they made nice, but at least she knew they did eventually. Annabeth spoke fondly of Tyson nowadays.

"A taxi all the way to camp?" I said. "You know how much money—"

"Trust me."

I hesitated. "What about Tyson?"

I imagined escorting my giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us.

"I guess your mom wouldn't just hide him in the closet for you," Alex mock agreed, though she recalled Sally could see through the mist and must have known Tyson wasn't mortal this whole time, so he was more assured than ever Tyson meant Percy no harm.

"We can't just leave him," I decided. "He'll be in trouble, too."

"Yeah." Annabeth looked grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."

Annabeth's reluctant acceptance of Tyson was even stranger than Percy's though, Jason was more uneasy than ever. Did the monster have some way to lull people into falsely trusting him? Yet why had he saved Percy then?

I didn't like the way she said that, as if Tyson were a big disease we needed to get to the hospital, but I followed her down the alley. Together the three of us sneaked through the side streets of downtown while a huge column of smoke billowed up behind us from my school gymnasium.

"Here." Annabeth stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."

She looked even worse than I'd realized at first. Her chin was cut. Twigs and grass were tangled in her ponytail, as if she'd slept several nights in the open. The slashes on the hems of her jeans looked suspiciously like claw marks.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

All around us, sirens wailed. I figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and I were the bloodthirsty cannibals.

"Found one. Thank the gods." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that I recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

"Annabeth," I said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

"Percy, I think she knows that," Alex promised.

"Doesn't make me feel better about what she is doing," Percy promised.

"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"

As usual, the moment she spoke in the language of Olympus, I somehow understood it. She'd said: Stop, Chariot of Damnation!

Magnus was looking around pleadingly for someone to tell him he hadn't heard what he just heard. No such luck. His cousin was actively summoning damnation now.

'Why couldn't it be a Dalmatian,' Hearth pouted. 'I would love a chariot of dogs.'

'Same buddy,' Magnus nodded.

That didn't exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was.

'After your plan was to blow up a boys locker room, I can't imagine this'll be worse,' Hearth reminded.

"Do I want to know what he said?" Percy asked, as Hearth had been looking at him when he signed that.

"He says your plans are equally as bad as Annabeth's so you have no room to complain," Magnus translated.

Alex was practicing the sign for boy in fascination and Hearth leaned behind Magnus to correct his fingers while Percy didn't even deny it.

She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jason protested. "You could have taken a Taxi to LA last time!"

"Oh no," Thalia corrected, "they work out of that tri-state area only," she drew an invisible circle in the water like that would clear it all up.

"Plus tipping them is the worst," Nico sighed. He'd only been in it once and had gotten nothing but fake compliments from them about his dad, he'd figured out how to shadow travel the very next day out in the middle of nowhere when they'd dumped him out. He'd rather sleep in China for another week than try summoning them again anyways.

It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it.

There were words printed on the door—something like GYAR SSIRES—but my dyslexia made it hard for me to decipher what it said.

"Why wouldn't it be in Greek considering their cliental?" Alex asked.

"Why do you keep expecting anything in this to make sense?" Magnus asked back.

Alex reached over and gave him a mock pat on the hand to sympathize, and Magnus would swear all the blood rushed to his face and that tingling bit of nerves for several moments.

The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"

"Three to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at me to get in, like this was all completely normal.

"Oh, so it's not just me," Magnus said in relief.

"No, it is," Alex mocked, "I'm a little jealous actually, do you know how hard it is to get a taxi? Let alone in an even busier city!"

Percy wanted to come to the guy's defense and assure he was still catching up too, but Magnus always looked so riveted anytime Alex spoke to him it felt rude to interrupt.

"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take his kind!"

She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.

What was it? Pick-on-Big-and-Ugly-Kids Day?

"You do hear what you just thought right?" Alex confirmed.

"They're my thoughts," Percy protested, "I don't have to be nice and censored in my head! Just because the guy wouldn't win a beauty pageant doesn't mean he should be treated like that!"

Alex raised his hands in surrender to let that one go.

"Extra pay," Annabeth promised. "Three more drachma on arrival."

"Done!" the woman screamed.

Reluctantly I got in the cab. Tyson squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last.

The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy— no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three,

"They're not knitting blue socks again are they?" Jason asked.

"Wrong old ladies," Will corrected.

"How many are there?" Jason sounded way to excited about more crazy triplets out there.

"To many to count," Nico promised, and he'd once tried to collect them all. Stupid exclusive packs...

all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.

The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!

I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I wasn't that desperate ... yet.

"I'm curious what the limit on that desperation is," Thalia asked.

"I'd be wearing it now," Percy settled farther back into his beanbag now for this coming ride.

The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.

Wait a minute. Give her the eye?

"I have so many questions," Magnus rubbed his own eyes in exhaustion what bizarre thing was going on on top of a taxi coming out of the ground.

"Give it a chance to explain," Alex leaned forward eagerly in his seat and wondered who he could most easily steal a drachma from to try this next.

I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.

"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left my stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.

"These chicks put GTA to shame," Will was wondering if the mortals were somehow inspired through the Mist and an accidental ride in this thing.

"What's that?" Nico asked, trying not to make the same mistake as last time and wanting to stay on at least Will's good side today in case there was anything else he might be warned about before hand rather than bumbling along even slower than Percy putting this together.

"A game, the Stoll's sneak them into camp sometimes and we all take turns playing and keeping Chiron from confiscating it as long as possible. Anyways, very violent, lots of car crashes," Will had felt morally guilty just for playing the stupid thing and had never been allowed more than one turn as he wouldn't run over the pedestrians, let alone what Clarisse got up to.

"Excuse me," I said. "But ... can you see?"

"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.

"The blind person is driving!" Magnus repeated like they'd missed that.

"And probably still better at staying in their lane than half of New York," Will grinned.

"Speak for yourself," Percy said as he rubbed his stomach again.

"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.

"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.

I looked at Annabeth. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."

"One eye?"

"Yeah."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total."

"Because that clarified things," Magnus frowned, but he'd swear he remembered seeing some cartoon movie when he was little about Hercules and three ladies arguing over an eye declaring they knew everything...it wasn't one of his favorites and his mom had shut it off when she caught him watching.

Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."

"Oh, man," I said, because I'd seen Tyson get carsick on school field trips and it was not something you wanted to be within fifty feet of. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"

The three gray ladies were too busy squabbling to pay me any attention. I looked over at Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and I gave her a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look.

"Payback for something I'm sure," Thalia shrugged.

"I'd still like to see that look," Alex chuckled as he imagined the puppy eyes Percy could give, but all he got for his troubles was Percy scowling at him too along with Thalia.

"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."

"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"

"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."

"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"

"Wait, what!" Jason sat up so hopefully in his seat, it sort of broke Thalia's heart to remind, "um, she might not mean you."

"That Jason of myth might have sought them out, and well, immortals aren't very good at keeping track of time," Will sadly pointed out. Nobody needed clarification after Oceanus himself had gotten Magnus confused with Annabeth and countless other unnamed kids just this morning.

"We can ask them when we get out of here though if we don't find out," Thalia promised.

"Oh, right, yeah," Jason sat back in his seat and tried not to look as dispirited as he felt. It was of the most mild comforts he might have another option in Thalia for getting some sort of answer as he glanced at Nico, who kept reading without missing a beat like his words from last night had still never happened.

"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"

There was his answer anyways, but somehow he wasn't surprised. The idea of going to New York just didn't sit right in his mind, where as he still felt homesick if he even considered looking for a place in California Nico had only mentioned if he thought about it for to long.

"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.

"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"

"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"

"But I'm driving, you old hag!"

"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"

Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing me between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.

The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other,

"That chapter title was no lie," Magnus looked past carsick, "this is eternal torment for them, and us for having to know they exist."

"I'll be sure to scratch this one off your datebook," Alex grinned, but there was no mocking, doubled edged, teasing tint to it like usual. He sincerely meant he wouldn't drag Magnus into this thing with him when he tried it himself.

Magnus was very glad he wasn't reading as his brain shut down for just a moment.

I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.

Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"

Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.

"Uh, if anybody's interested," I said, "we're going to die!"

"That does interest more people than you'd think," Nico said.

"There's a reason we don't use this thing unless we're in a hurry," Will agreed, but he was just a tad grateful for their arrival that day considering the camp might have burnt down if they'd gotten there any later.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."

This coming from the daughter of Athena, but I wasn't exactly reassured. We were skimming along the edge of a bridge a hundred and thirty feet above the East River.

"So only Percy would survive, ironic as this was Annabeth's idea," Will looked a little queasy like he was in the ride too.

"Consider velocity rates and the angle they crash," Jason seemed weirdly calm in the face of this danger as he did some mental imaging's and math, "he might get launched onto dry land and still die."

"Thanks man, real comforting," Percy snorted.

"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"

"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"

"The location you seek!" Tempest added.

Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"

"Great, now people are throwing quests in your lap before the disaster's even happened," Magnus frowned.

"The disaster did happen," Percy reminded, tapping his temple impatiently. "Something's wrong with Grover, I hope he's the location they mean but-" he stopped with an ugly wince for trying to sort any of this mess out and Nico kept reading quickly.

"What?" I said. "What location? I'm not seeking any—"

"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"

"Tell me."

"No!" they all screamed.

"Never say it's only the Aphrodite girls that can be a tease," Will looked just as offended as everyone else they'd brought it up and denied what they meant.

"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.

"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.

"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"

"No!" yelled Anger.

"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"

She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into my lap.

Percy made a squealing noise of disgust and surprise, jumping out of his seat so hard the water launched him into the domed ceiling and right back into his beanbag chair. He didn't even seem to notice as he kept rubbing his lap with a look nobody needed to imagine anymore had been there at the time.

I jumped so hard, my head hit the ceiling and the eyeball rolled away.

"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.

"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.

"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.

"Nobody ever mention eyeballs again!" Percy snapped at the book, this was definitely a memory with Annabeth he might have been happier leaving where ever he'd lost it.

"I don't have it!" I said.

"There, by your foot," Annabeth said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"

"I'm not picking that up!"

"What would happen if you like," Alex mimed stabbing it, and Percy was still holding his pen even with no monster around, he felt to threatened to put it away.

"I don't want to find out," Thalia shivered at what could happen to such a powerful magical object.

The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.

'That would not surprise me,' Hearth nodded.

"I don't think anybody's ever taken a taxi to the Underworld, please don't try to be the first," Nico muttered.

"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.

"Annabeth," I yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"

"Are you crazy? Get the eye!"

Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.

At last I steeled my nerves. I ripped off a chunk of my tie-dyed T-shirt, which was already falling apart from all the burn marks, and used it to pick the eyeball off the floor.

"Oh thank the gods," Percy scrunched his hands up into his shirt one last time to get the idea of the residue off.

"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew I had her missing peeper.

"I'm half surprised they didn't leap over the back of the seat and strangle you for it," Jason wasn't so surprised they had a sixth sense for the thing, they had to have found it somehow in that lake.

"Give it back!"

"Not until you explain," I told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"

"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"

I looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.

"Percy," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."

"First they have to tell me," I said. "Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."

"I am going to take the sharpest arrow I can find and embed a sense of danger into your skull," Thalia promised.

"I've always wanted a tattoo," Percy said without concern, his face still hilariously scrunched up like the biggest regret he had of all this was that eyeball still in his hand while he threatened his own death.

"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"

"I'm rolling down the window."

"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!"

"4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42, see, I can scream random numbers too," Alex threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Maybe he wins the lottery on it," Magnus hadn't taken his eyes off him again for half the chapter.

"Maybe I have to do a math problem with it to find the square root of a castle and we're all doomed, I can promise we won't figure it out until we get there," Percy sighed.

They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.

"What do you mean?" I said. "That makes no sense!"

"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree, which contained the life force or a fallen hero.

"Percy!" Annabeth said more urgently. "Give them the eye now!"

I decided not to argue. I threw the eye into Wasp's lap.

Percy looked far to relieved when the vehicle hadn't even been stopped yet, but he even repeated the motion now like he was still trying to get that thing away.

Alex mock caught it and pretended to study it for several moments before Magnus started snickering and Nico tried to finish.

The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"

She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."

"At least somebody around here is," Will nodded.

"Whew, that is one worry off my check list," Alex mock wiped his forehead and really rolled his eyes.

"All right," I told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."

"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out now."

"Is Annabeth in on what that means too!" Magnus groaned, his cousin sure had the best and worst of all the timing.

I was about to ask why, when I looked up at Half-Blood Hill and understood.

At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.

"There's never a welcoming party when I arrive at camp, only world saving quests and monster attacks!" Percy grumbled as Will took the book. "Just once I'd like to arrive to some handshakes and slaps on the back for showing up."

"We'll throw you a whole dang celebration when we get back," Will promised, "if Annabeth doesn't kill you first."

[moonflower1605]

Chapter - 2

(Ella's POV)

I ran as fast as I could...my heart pounding..

Why am I running you ask? Well...

Remember when I said I'd be going to a boarding school? Yeah well...turns out that boarding school happened to be all the way in San Francisco! It's said to be one of the most dangerous places for a demigod...

Anyways...I was running away from two hellhounds. (Yes, I know I'm lucky!)

I had to leave San Francisco because these two hellhounds decided to show up smack in the middle of biology class..

Imagine learning about the different species of animals who have been evolving over the years.

Now picture a live example of species (Yes I'm talking about you, hellhounds) that come to class for a live demonstration..that's exactly what happened.

I immediately left the class & ran. I'd probably be expelled 'again', this time due to a so called 'poodle fiasco. That's what the mortals saw anyway..

It was around the 4th day of my escape when I got an iris message from Chiron. He told me that there was something bad happening at camp, but he wasn't exactly specific.

The two hellhounds had been chasing me for a whole week! I tried getting on a train, a bus, a taxi even...but they still kept up.

The hellhounds just didn't wanna give up & I'd had enough..I needed to end this. I stood my ground. When one of them approached I sidestepped as it charged & drove my sword into its ribs, it instantly crumpled to dust.

The second one also charged I leaped over its head in a flip & stabbed it right through the neck making it turn to dust as well.

I then quickly caught a train to get to camp...

(Percy's POV)

Our game of dodgeball had just turned into a murder zone. There was one giant who said.

“Well!” Joe Bob gloated. “I’m the last one standing! I’ll have enough meat to bring Babycakes a doggie bag!”

The last monster(called a laistrygonian, though I don't know how to say it) picked up another ball & aimed it at Tyson.

“Stop!” I yelled. “It’s me you want!”

The giant grinned. “You wish to die first, young hero?”

I had to do something. Riptide had to be around here somewhere. Then I spotted my jeans in a smoking heap of clothes right by the giant’s feet. If I could only get there...I knew it was hopeless, but I charged.

The giant laughed. “My lunch approaches.”

He raised his arm to throw. I braced myself to die.

Suddenly the giant’s body went rigid. His expression changed from gloating to surprise. Right where his belly button should’ve been, his T-shirt ripped open & he grew something like a horn-no, not a horn-the glowing tip of a blade.

The ball dropped out of his hand. The monster stared down at the knife that had just run him through from behind.

He muttered, “Ow,” & burst into a cloud of green flame, which I figured was going to make Babycakes pretty upset. Standing in the smoke was my friend Annabeth. Her face was grimy & scratched. She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, & a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she’d just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.

The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.

“Annabeth...” I stammered. “How did you... how long have you...”

“Pretty much all morning.” She sheathed her bronze knife. “I’ve been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone.”

“The shadow I saw this morning-that was-” My face felt hot. “Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?”

“There’s no time to explain!” she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself. “I just didn’t want to-“

“There!” a woman screamed. The doors burst open & the adults came pouring in.

“Meet me outside,” Annabeth told me. “And him.” She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that I didn’t quite understand. “You’d better bring him.”

“What?”

“No time!” she said. “Hurry!”

She put on her Yankees baseball cap, which was a magic gift from her mom, & instantly vanished. That left me standing alone in the middle of the burning gymnasium when the headmaster came charging in with half the faculty & a couple of police officers.

“Percy Jackson?” Mr. Bonsai said. “What... how...”

Over by the broken wall, Tyson groaned & stood up from the pile of cinder blocks. “Head hurts.”

Matt Sloan was coming around, too. He focused on me with a look of terror.

“Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!”

Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine, but just my luck-he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name.

“Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm.”

The other adults turned toward me. I knew they would never believe me, even if I could tell them the truth.

I grabbed Riptide out of my ruined jeans, told Tyson, “Come on!” & jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building.

Link to the next chapter is here.

Link to the prev chapter is here.

Comment, like & share.

Take care my lovely readers.❤

Alice signing off.

XOXO.

[stygicniron]

hinokagutsuchi asked:

‘ let’s not make a habit of this. ’ - thanatos

Lost Meme -- @hinokagutsuchi

“Agreed,” Nico groaned, hoisting himself up on to an elbow to look over at the chthonic god. He didn’t think Thanatos appeared much outside of the Underworld, except when the god was doing his job, but Nico was grateful in that moment that he decided to make an appearance. Although maybe it wasn’t the best sign to see the death god after he tried and failed to fight a Laistrygonian giant by himself.

At least nothing was broken, Nico figured, pulling himself further upright with a wince. Just a few scraps from when he’d had to dodge out of the way of a swing of a club the size of a small tree. He hadn’t even gotten hit on the head, despite how much the giant really wanted to hit him on the head. “Thanks.”

[trinity-mia]

a story as endless as the ocean

the sea of monsters

0.8 an offer i can refuse

warnings : cussing, monster attack, some psychotic ideology

word count : 3.3k

0.8 "You're So Vain" Except I'm Really Not, Certain People Just Expect Me to Be

Luke wanted to go alone since he was the sneakiest of us, but I refused, saying that it was too dangerous and it'd be bad if we got split up. Either we all went together, or nobody went.

"Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. He stopped after I gave him a stern look, wary that the loud crunching noises he was making would draw unwanted attention.

We stopped at our cabin long enough to gather our stuff. We figured whatever happened, we would not be staying another night aboard the muder-zombie-enchanted cruise ship, even if they did have an all-you-can-eat buffet.

I kept Riptide and Shaker in the scabbards and the vitamins and thermos from Hermes were at the top of my bag. I didn't want Tyson to carry everything, but he insisted, and Luke pointed out that it would be easier to fight without the straps of the bag constricting my movements.

Besides, Tyson could carry three full duffel bags over his shoulder as easily as I could carry a single backpack.

We sneaked through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs toward the admiralty suite. We hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people we saw were just glassy-eyed zombie passengers.

It was seriously creepy, seeing people look right through us, like we were invisible, and at the same time state those programmed responses mechanically. So creepy.

As we came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite was supposed to be, Luke hissed, "Hide!" and roughly dragged us into a supply closet.

A second later, I heard a couple of guys coming down the hall.

"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" one of them said.

The other laughed. "Yeah, it's awesome."

Luke squeezed my arm hard. I frowned, getting a vague feeling of recognition towards the first guy's voice.

"I hear they got two more coming," the second voice said. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man— no contest!"

The voices faded down the corridor.

"That was Brian Jennings!" Luke exclaimed when they were gone, looking stricken. "He was in my Cabin, but he didn't come back this summer."

I sort of recalled Brian from the summer before. He was one of those undetermined campers who got stuck in the Hermes cabin because his Olympian dad or mom never claimed him. Kind of standoffish.

"I guess we know why, now," I replied slowly, frowning deeply. "But what's another half-blood doing here?"

"I don't know," Luke said, shaking his head. "It makes no sense."

We kept going down the corridor. I didn't need maps anymore to know I was getting close to Annabeth and/or Cody. I sensed something cold and unpleasant— the presence of evil.

"Angel, wait." Luke stopped suddenly. "Look at this."

He stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multi-story canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade— a mall full of shops— but that's not what had caught Luke's attention.

A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store: a dozen Laistrygonian giants like the ones who'd attacked me with dodgeballs, two hellhounds, and a few even stranger creatures— humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs. I recognized them a second before Luke said their names, his voice grim.

"Scythian Dracaenae," he whispered, his breath warm on my ear. "Dragon women."

The monsters made a semicircle around a young guy in Greek armor who was hacking on a straw dummy. My stomach churned and I leaned away slightly when I realized the dummy was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. As we watched, the guy in armor stabbed the dummy through its belly and ripped upward. Straw flew everywhere. The monsters cheered and howled. I shuddered in horror.

Luke stepped away from the window. Both of our faces were ashen, I could tell from the window's reflection.

"Come on," I urged him, trying to sound braver than I felt. "The sooner we find Annabeth and Cody the better."

At the end of the hallway were double oak doors that looked like they must lead somewhere important. When we were thirty feet away, Tyson stopped. "Voices inside."

"You can hear that far?" I asked.

Tyson closed his eye like he was concentrating hard. Then his voice changed, becoming a disturbing approximation of Cody's. "— the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn."

Before I could react, Tyson's voice changed again, becoming deeper and gruffer, like the other guy we'd heard talking to Annabeth outside the cafeteria. "You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"

Tyson laughed Annabeth's laugh, and spoke again in Cody's voice. "They can't trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw."

Luke shivered. "Stop that, Tyson! How are you doing that? It's freaky."

Tyson opened his eye, looking puzzled. "Just listening," he claimed. I supposed that it was just a Cyclopes thing.

"Keep going," I told him firmly. This was useful. "What else are they saying?"

Tyson closed his eye again. He hissed in the gruff man's voice: "Quiet!" Then Annabeth's voice, whispering: "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Tyson said in the gruff voice. "Right outside."

Too late, I realized what was happening.

I just had time to cry, "Run!" when the doors of the stateroom burst open and there was Cody, flanked by two hairy giants armed with javelins, their bronze tips aimed right at our chests.

"Well," Cody said with a crooked smile. "If it isn't my old friend, Luke, and his girlfriend. Come right in." Given the weapons pointed at our hearts, we couldn't exactly refuse the kind offer.

***

The stateroom was beautiful, and it was horrible.

The beautiful part: Huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. The green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food— pizza boxes, bottles of soda, and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.

If it were just that, minus the monsters and terrifying parts, I would be tempted to like the room.

But the awful part completely overshadowed any nice parts. On a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket, with an unnatural coldness radiating from it.

A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths. Despite the sunlight streaming through the windows, the casket made the whole room feel cold.

"Well," Annabeth said, gesturing around herself proudly and grinning broadly at Luke. "A little nicer than Cabin Eleven, huh, Luke?"

She and Cody had both changed since last summer. Instead of shorts and a T-shirt, Cody wore a button-down shirt, khaki pants, and leather loafers. His dark hair, which used to cover his eyes, was now clipped short. He looked like he was showing off what the fashionable college-age villain was wearing to Harvard this year.

Annabeth was dressed in a long pair of cargo pants, a red blouse made of silk, and a pair of black ballet flats. Her blonde curls were tied back in a plait, and the knife Luke had given her when they first met hung from her hip. I saw Luke cast it a bitter glare, his expression the darkest I'd ever seen it, save for when I had first told him and Chiron of Annabeth and Cody's betrayal.

"Sit," Annabeth told us with a smug smile. She waved her hand and three dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.

None of us sat.

Her large friends were still pointing their javelins at us. They looked like twins, but they weren't human. They stood about eight feet tall, for one thing, and wore only blue jeans, probably because their enormous chests were already shag-carpeted with thick brown fur. They had claws for fingernails, feet like paws. Their noses were snoutlike, and their teeth were all pointed canines.

"Where are our manners?" Cody said smoothly. "These are our assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."

I said nothing. Despite the javelins pointed at me, it wasn't the bear twins who scared me.

I'd contemplated what would happen when I inevitably met Annabeth and Cody again many times since they'd tried to kill me last summer. I wanted to kill them both, so badly for everything that they had done. Everything that they had almost done. But now that we were face-to-face, I had to clench my hands into fist to stop them from shaking.

"You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story?" Annabeth asked. "I'm not surprised, wisdom has never been your strong suit."

"Clearly it isn't yours either," I interjected coolly, in a typical display of my inability to keep my mouth shut. "Given the company that you keep nowadays."

She glared coldly at me, but Cody's grip restrained her from attacking. She continued telling the story of the Bear Twins. "Their mother... Well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say? They fight with one another and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus."

"They like half-bloods well enough, though," Cody added with a sly smile.

"For lunch," Agrius growled. His gruff voice was the one I'd heard talking with Annabeth earlier.

"Hehe! Hehe!" His brother Oreius laughed, licking his fur-lined lips. He kept laughing like he was having an asthmatic fit until The Traitors and Agrius all stared at him.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Agrius growled. "Go punish yourself!"

Oreius whimpered. He trudged over to the corner of the room, slumped onto a stool, and banged his forehead against the dining table, making the silver plates rattle. I felt kinda bad for him, actually. He seemed like he needed a hug.

Annabeth and Cody both acted like this was perfectly normal behavior.

"So, I hope that you enjoyed your last year of life, Allie," Cody smirked. "What have you been doing with it?"

"Not much. Few movies and T.V. shows here and there. Fashion week was pretty fun— I always love a good trip to Milan. Performed at the Grammys, and a few other award shows," I replied coldly, not wanting to make it obvious how difficult it was to think about that Grammys performance. "Though, I know what you've been doing. You poisoned Thalia's tree."

For a second, I thought that I saw regret flash over Annabeth's face. But it disappeared too quickly for me to be sure.

"Right to the point, eh?" Cody sighed. "Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?"

"How could you, Annabeth?" Luke sounded so furious I thought that he might run straight forward and attack her. "Thalia sacrificed herself to save your life! Our lives! How could you just poison her tree and dishonor her—"

"I didn't dishonor her!" Annabeth snapped, standing and glaring at him. "The gods dishonored her, Luke! If Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side."

"You're wrong!"

"If you knew what was coming, you'd understand—"

"I understand you want to destroy the camp!" he yelled. "You're a traitor!"

Annabeth shook her head. "The gods have blinded you. Can't you imagine a world without them, Luke? What good is that ancient history you study? Three thousand years of baggage! The West is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your experience, Luke."

"Because you have none of your own!"

Her eyes narrowed. Annabeth had always resented not being allowed on quests, and only once tried going back to her father. It hadn't ended well.

"I know you, Luke," she insisted. "You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on a losing team... with company like this?" She pointed at Tyson.

"Hey!" I snapped, temper flaring as I stepped in front of my brother defensively.

"Traveling with a Cyclops," she spat. "Talk about dishonoring Thalia's memory! You of all people—"

"Shut up!" he shouted.

"Leave him alone," I ordered. "And leave Tyson out of this."

Cody laughed scornfully. "Oh, yeah, we heard. Your father claimed him." I must have looked surprised, because he smiled smugly. "Yes, Allie, we know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates, again... 30, 31, 75, 12? You see, we still have friends at camp who keep the two of us posted."

"Spies, you mean."

He shrugged. "How many insults from your father can you stand, Allie? You think he's grateful for you? You think Poseidon cares for you any more than he cares for this monster? You're far too pretty to be treated like that." 

I gave a very dramatic scoff and eye roll while Luke just got angrier. Tyson clenched his fists and made a rumbling sound down in his throat.

"'Far too pretty.' Why the hell do people keep saying that? What does me being pretty have to do with anything? My good looks have already gotten me all of the power in the world that I could ever need," I snapped back. "Or do you keep mentioning that because you think I actually care about shit like that? I'm not so vain, you know." 

Annabeth chuckled bitterly, turning away from her and Luke's staring contest. "The gods are using you, Allie. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your twenty-first birthday? Has Chiron even told you the prophecy?"

I hated that she knew just how to throw me off balance.

Twenty-first birthday?

I mean, I knew Chiron had received a prophecy from the Oracle about the possible destruction of the world many years ago. I knew that part of it was probably about me. I knew it would happen sometime during my twenties. But, on my twenty-first birthday (if I even made it there)? I didn't like the sound of that.

"I know what I need to know," I managed. "Like who my enemies are."

"Then you're a fool."

Tyson smashed the nearest dining chair to splinters. "Allie is not a fool!"

Before I could stop him, he charged Cody. His fists came down toward Cody's head— a double overhead blow that would've knocked a hole in titanium— but the bear twins intercepted.

They each caught one of Tyson's arms and stopped him cold. They pushed him back and Tyson stumbled. He fell to the carpet so hard the deck shook.

"Too bad, Cyclops," Annabeth said, voice filled with spite. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let the two of them—"

"What's in the sarcophagus?" I demanded, frantic to distract her.

Both of their expressions grew maniacal, and if I had held any illusions as to them being insane before, that would have dealt with it swiftly.

"He is re-forming," Cody declared. "Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears—"

"You're insane," Luke said, as disgusted as I was at the very thought.

"Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship and much more. Allie, you can have more than you have now— whatever you want. Live the life you live, just without people sexualizing you. You too, Luke, anything your heart desires!"

"Go to Tartarus," he spat in reply. 

I simply glared, hoping that erased any illusions of my being tempted by his suggestion. "I'm rich enough to buy this whole ship and more, sponsors not needed."

Cody sighed. "A shame." Annabeth looked away, hiding her face from Luke's betrayed, bitter glare. "Allie, you could be queen over everyone in the world. Make them do whatever you want. Respect you the way you should be respected. You won't have to be objectified anymore. Just say yes."

I hated that he knew how much I hated being sexualized. It was pretty much the only thing I hated about my job. Still, if this wackjob thought I was about to marry the fucking Lord of Time, he was about to be very disappointed.

"I've lived with it all these years, what's a few more? I'm sure as hell not about to be bribed into joining your little pity party against Olympus. So you both can go ahead and fuck yourselves." 

Cody shook his head and picked up something that looked like a TV remote and pressed a red button. Within seconds the door of the stateroom opened and two uniformed crew members came in, armed with nightsticks. They had the same glassy-eyed look like the other mortals I'd seen, but I had a feeling this wouldn't make them any less dangerous in a fight.

"Ah, good, security," Cody said, "I'm afraid we have some stowaways."

"Yes, sir," they said dreamily.

Cody turned to Oreius. "It's time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take these fools below and show them how it's done."

Oreius grinned stupidly. "Hehe! Hehe!"

"Let me go, too," Agrius grumbled. "My brother is worthless. That Cyclops—"

"Is no threat," Annabeth said. She glanced back at the golden casket, frowning as if something were troubling her. "Agrius, you're staying here. We have important matters to discuss."

"But—"

"Oreius, don't fail me. Stay in the hold to make sure the drakon is properly fed."

Oreius prodded us with his javelin and herded us out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards.

As I walked down the corridor with Oreius's javelin poking me in the back, I thought about what Annabeth had said and completely ignored Cody's offer— that the bear twins together were a match for Tyson's strength. But maybe separately...

We exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats. I knew the ship well enough to realize this would be our last look at the sunlight. Once we got to the other side, we'd take the elevator down into the hold, and that would be it.

I looked at Tyson and said, "Now."

Thank the gods, he understood. He turned and smacked Oreius thirty feet backward into the swimming pool, right into the middle of the zombie tourist family.

"Ah!" the kids yelled in unison. "We are not having a blast in the pool!"

One of the security guards drew his nightstick, but Luke knocked the wind out of him with a well-placed kick. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box.

"Stop him!" Luke yelled, but it was too late.

Just before I banged him over the head with a deck chair, he hit the alarm.

Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.

"Lifeboat!" I cried.

We ran for the nearest one.

By the time we got the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters with trays of tropical drinks. A guy in Greek armor drew his sword and charged, but slipped in a puddle of piña colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.

"How do you launch this thing?" screamed Luke.

A hellhound leaped at me, but Tyson slammed it aside with a fire extinguisher.

"Get in!" I yelled. I pulled out Riptide and slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. Any second now we would be overwhelmed.

The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water. Luke and Tyson were having no luck with the release pulley.

I jumped in beside them.

"Hold on!" I yelled, and I cut the ropes.

A shower of arrows whistled over our heads as we free-fell toward the ocean.

*    *    *

previous | next

SERIES M.LIST | MAIN M.LIST | TIPS

[gamecn]

demigod past life headcanons for one thirteen skellington under the cut! more may be added as time goes on, but here is his backstory so far...

thirteen skellington is the second life of quinn charles durand, son of thanatos and spy for camp half blood. the durand family hails from france yet his grandparents eventually moved to the states in pursuit of better job opportunities. then his mother lucille - a private investigator - met and fell in love with a friend who turned out to be the greek god of death in disguise. quinn was produced from the union and on his eleventh birthday, he was brought to camp half blood by a satyr.

as an unclaimed demigod, he was assigned to stay in the hermes cabin. while the mystery of his father’s identity never ceased haunting him, quinn eventually found a family with the friends he made at camp. 

but the higher forces on olympus heard his questions and pleas to know his father when his heart took over. so did some lower forces - including a voice that called from a pit. one who invaded the dreams of many demigods. quinn among them. all in the hopes of turning his inquiries and sharpening them into something dangerous. 

the dream voice only grew louder in volume as the years passed, as the titan of time grew increasingly desperate. and quinn’s love for his found family of friends at camp half blood continued to flourish. the only thing more hazardous than a young demigod who had been wondering about his godly father’s identity for years was a demigod with a powerful protective streak. who would never rest until his friends were safe and kronos wasn’t continuing his manipulation attempts.

with his fingers firmly crossed behind his back, quinn swore an oath of loyalty to the titan of time. in the daylight, he played the part and did his best to fool kronos. under the cover of night, quinn tirelessly crafted plans of sabotage and worked to make the monster population of the forming army dwindle. he did the best he could to help some of his fellow demigods who had already turned yet some of them were too far gone.

then when the war properly broke out, the burden grew too heavy for quinn to bear alone. late one night, he revealed his spy status as well as his work so far to chiron and dionysus. he relayed as much information as he could to them yet did his best to be mindful in the event someone caught wind of what he was doing.

and eventually, word got out. when the princess andromeda exploded, quinn miraculously managed to shadow travel to camp half blood. upon waking up in the infirmary, the symbol of thanatos was flickering above his head and he had so much explaining to do.

when the time came, quinn donned the familiar camp tee shirt along with the armor he had worn countless times, and rode into manhattan alongside his fellow campers. during the ongoing battle, a laistrygonian giant squad captain who also survived the explosion of the princess andromeda recognized his face amongst the combatants.

“TRAITOR!” quinn will never forget how he bellowed out that word to the demigods aligned with kronos, including the friends he had lost to the titan’s manipulations yet could never find it in himself to stop loving them. then came overwhelming pain when the giant snatched up a sword from a fallen combatant and stabbed him.

quinn durand died in the arms of his friends from camp half blood. however, they would be joined in mourning the son of thanatos by friends who slowly but surely returned after the battle as they learned about his bravery and how his protective nature in regards to his chosen family as well as innocent fellow demigods led him to undertake a perilous mission.

[deathlessathanasia]

"The other major revolt against Zeus and the Olympian order was launched by the GIANTS (Gigantes), who were defeated by the gods with the aid of Herakles in the mighty conflict known as Gigantomachy (Gigantomachia). The Giants were earth-born as their Greek name implies; according to the Theogony, they were conceived by Gaia in the very earliest times from drops of blood that fell to the ground from the severed genitals of Ouranos. Hesiod describes them as powerful warriors who wore gleaming armour and carried long spears in their hands, an account that conforms with the usual portrayal of them in archaic works of art. It is not clear whether the poet meant to suggest that they sprang up from the ground fully armed (like the Spartoi at Thebes); Claudian, a Roman poet of the fourth century AD, is the first author to state this explicitly. Even though the Giants are presented as martial beings, there is no indication in the Theogony that they ever revolted against the gods (except perhaps in a late section of the poem probably added after Hesiod’s time, which seems to refer to the contribution that Herakles was supposed to have made in helping to defeat the Giants). There is indeed no proper evidence at all for the revolt until the first artistic representations appear in the second half of the sixth century BC

Homer alludes to Gigantes on three occasions in the Odyssey. The Laistrygonians, some adversaries of Odysseus in the remote seas who seem to have been very large and were certainly very violent, are described as being ‘not like men, but like Giants’; in another passage, ‘the wild tribes of the Giants’ are bracketed with the Phaeacians and Kyklopes as beings who are akin to the gods; and third, we are told that a certain Eurymedon once ruled the overbearing Giants but brought destruction on himself and his people (in unstated circumstances). There is no reason to suppose that the latter story has anything to do with a revolt against the gods; nor can we assume that these Giants, who seem to have lived far away over the sea, were necessarily the same as Hesiod’s (any more than in the case of the Kyklopes, see p. 66). According to a tale ascribed to the Hellenistic poet Euphorion, Hera was raped by the Giant Eurymedon while she was still living at home with her parents, and bore Prometheus to him as a son. When Zeus came to learn of this after marrying her, he hurled Eurymedon down to Tartaros and ordered that Prometheus should be thrown into chains, using his theft of fire as a pretext. The obscure reference to Eurymedon in the Odyssey must have inspired the invention of this revisionist myth.

It seems likely that the main features of the story of the Giants’ revolt was established in an early epic account which was widely familiar by the early sixth century BC and came to be accepted as canonic. The richness and consistency of the artistic record from the sixth and fifth centuries would otherwise be hard to explain; and the popularity of the story in this period is also indicated in a disapproving remark by Xenophanes (born c.570), who mentions the Gigantomachy along with the Titanomachy as a violent subject best avoided in after-dinner recitations. The earliest literary allusions reveal nothing about the content of the legend apart from the location of the battle and its most surprising feature, namely that the gods  had to call on the assistance of Herakles (during the period of his earthly life when he was no more than a mortal hero). Pindar mentions that he brought the Giants to the ground with his arrows, including their king, Porphyrion, as they were confronting the gods on the plain of Phlegrai; and the Hesiodic Catalogue reports likewise that he brought destruction to the Giants at Phlegrai as he was returning from his campaign against Troy. On maps of the Aegean, the most striking feature of its northern shoreline is the Chalkidike with its three ‘prongs’, the peninsulas of Pallene, Sithonia and Athos. Phlegra or Phlegrai, the traditional home of the Giants, was usually identified with the westernmost peninsula, Pallene (although the adjoining peninsula of Sithonia and some of the hinterland of the Chalkidike were sometimes also reckoned to be part of it). Although the Giants seem to have confronted the gods on their home ground of Phlegrai in the original story, accounts were developed in which they took the battle to the enemy by trying to storm Olympos; and specific duels were said to have ranged further abroad, as we will see, to the southern Aegean and as far away as Sicily. Some Hellenistic and later accounts transfer the entire conflict to other regions, such as Arcadia or the Phlegraean (Fiery) plain in the neighbourhood of Mt Vesuvius in Italy."

 - The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology

[ao3feed-friendsofspiderman]

Peter Parker and Percy Jackson Don't Like Field Trips

by trailsofdaisies

Peter Parker was excited to go on his senior field trip until his homeroom teacher, Mr. Blofis, announced that they were going to none other than Stark Industries. He knew that the trip would be chaotic, but he didn't expect his classmates Percy Jackson and Rachel Dare to have anything to do with it.

Words: 20388, Chapters: 11/11, Language: English

Fandoms: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Peter Parker, Harley Keener, Ned Leeds, Michelle Jones, Percy Jackson, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, May Parker (Spider-Man), Paul Blofis, Flash Thompson, Cindy Moon, Zane Carver, Mitchell (Percy Jackson), Sam Wilson (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner

Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Percy Jackson & Harley Keener, Harley Keener & Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Rachel Elizabeth Dare & Percy Jackson

Additional Tags: Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Jealous Peter Parker, Demigod!Harley Keener, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Good Friend Ned Leeds, Bisexual Percy Jackson, Bisexual Peter Parker, Gay Harley Keener, POV Peter Parker, Miscommunication, Flash Thompson Being A Jerk, Pre-Relationship, no one is straight, bc I said so, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Canon-Typical Violence, Harley Keener is a little shit, Canadians (Percy Jackson), Laistrygonian Giants

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/39393120

[malconnorsupremacy]

Through the Years

Part 2: Age 13

"What were those?" Percy asked, face masked with terror as Annabeth, Tyson and him walked, or rather sprinted, away from the burning gym of Meriwether.

"Laistrygonian Giants. I should've known they would attack...the way they were looking at you all day." Annabeth answered.

Percy wanted to ask how she knew, when he realized something.

"You were watching me all day with that stupid invisibility cap of yours!" Percy said.

"That shadow in my bedroom this morning....you....you were spying on me while I slept?!"

Annabeth looked down, blushing.

Percy, with his eyes wide, continued.

"That's so...that's so...ugh! What if I'd been changing or something?"

"What kind of a freak leaves their curtains open while they're changing!" Annabeth retorted.

"Well, what kind of a freak stares at someone while they're sleeping!" Percy snapped back.

"Do you even realize how creepy that is?" He continued, exasperated.

"Well, I'm sorry I worried about your life, then, Seaweed Brain." She said sarcastically.

"Plus, creepy is also hiding my photograph in your Social Science book and ogling at it during class."

Percy's ears turned pink.

"It...it slipped in by mistake." He said, looking away.

"Oh really?" She asked. He nodded, walking faster.

She sighed.

"Why won't you just admit you missed me?" She smirked.

"Why won't you admit you missed me?" Percy said.

"I don't want to."

"Great, I don't want to either."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Annabeth lifted her chin and walked ahead while Percy rolled his eyes. As Tyson caught up with him, asking questions about the "pretty blonde princess who was angry at him", Percy couldn't help but wonder how her statement was slightly true. He'd probably missed her more than he wanted to admit.

That girl was starting to annoy him a lot less.

[son-of-midnight]

Laistrygonians are Greek mythological giants who live in the north.  Does this mean that they are the Frost Giants of Norse mythology what about the hyperborean giants in SoN? are they technically frost giants?