Chapter Text
Ch68 – TTC – Percy Ruins Some Plans
Rhea had an amused smile on her face as she read the title, “I LEARN HOW TO GROW ZOMBIES”
“Percy?” Hazel asked in amusement.
“You’ll see.”
“The thing about… their products anymore.”
“Nah. That was just a one-time thing.” Connor replied and shared a look with Travis.
“No, it wasn’t.” Katie replied. “I work at the camp store. I know how many things we have thrown away over the years because of you two.”
“I didn’t know she worked at the store.” Travis whispered to Connor. “What else don’t I know?”
“A lot.” Katie whispered loudly.
“We lost the … That's the one.”
Zoe looked impressed at the fact that she could commandeer mortal vehicles that sounded so different than the usual chariot.
“Hey, look! There's a donut shop. Can we get something to go?”
“Ah! The famous obsession with donuts.” Hazel chuckled and thought about how Arion always wanted gold nuggets. The affinity for weird and unconventional horse food probably had something to with being descendants of Poseidon. She looked at Frank and tried not to laugh out loud as she wondered what weird food he might like if he turned into a horse.
“Half of my pocket money goes on buying donuts for him.”
“I tried explaining… birth date said.”
“That she was sixteen.” Thalia replied with a shrug. “Anyone who looks like they are old enough to drive get a fake license made.”
“Woah! You have a fake license?” Leo asked in fascination.
“Yup.”
“Dude! Your sister is way cooler than you are.” Leo said to Jason, who rolled his eyes at his best friend. He would get a driver’s license in the next year. It was fine. He wasn’t jealous at all.
“"Well," I said … we couldn't move.”
“Why are you stopping them, D?” Hermes asked his younger brother. The child was going on an important quest that would not only protect Olympus but also throw some light on Luke’s condition. Till now the wine god had not shown any interest in the books with regards to the children and now all of a sudden, he is hindering Percy? Why? He didn’t seem to take any action in the previous book when Percy had done almost the same thing.
Before anyone else could answer, Percy spoke up, “Because I was breaking the rules and there is another reason which would probably come up any time now.”
The son of Poseidon knew what was coming up and wasn’t exactly looking forward to it. He looked at Theseus, Mr. D and Ariadne. This was going to affect them the most and Mr. D’s apparently baseless hatred of the demigods would finally be explained. Percy wondered what the other demigods would think about it. Would they be as confident as he had been back then in their innocence and goodness or would they have doubts like he now did?
“"Going somewhere?" … wine dude!”
Dakota chuckled and said to Nico, “Looks like that caught on.”
“Yeah,” replied Nico, “caught on by a horse!”
“Mr. D sighed in… do you want?"”
Annabeth rubbed her forehead and said, “It wouldn’t kill you to be a bit more respectful, you know?”
“Yeah, it’ll actually save you.” Thalia piped in as Percy nodded, hoping that Dionysus wouldn’t go ballistic this time round. The look on the god’s face wasn’t all that encouraging.
“Is there anyone you have not disrespected?” Triton asked in disbelief.
“Are we counting thoughts?”
“If we do?”
“Lady Hestia. She is super nice.”
“Okay then.” Triton sighed as Hestia chuckled at the exchange and especially the look on Poseidon’s face at hearing that his boy probably disrespected him at some point.
“"Oh, what do … the way down."”
“Dionysus!” exclaimed Rhea, interrupting herself, “we do not threaten to throw someone off a tall structure the first time.”
“This is not the first time.” Dionysus responded.
“Oh, okay.”
“I balled my … do to you?"”
“Valid question.” Thalia said. “Mr. D never liked Percy since the beginning. He wasn’t that hostile towards anyone else.”
“He has a reason.”
“It isn’t really a valid reason.” Jason whispered to Percy, remembering their talk from some days ago. He and Piper were sharing the couch with Percy and Annabeth. “He didn’t even know what kind of person you are.”
“It was valid enough for him.” Percy whispered back. “Plus, he has been harboring that hatred from even this time. It’s not gonna be easy to let it go.”
Jason groaned softly and said, “Why are you so understanding and forgiving?”
Percy shrugged. “Just because you see some good side of me, doesn’t mean I don’t have a bad one.”
The other boy nodded and whispered in understanding, “And if you are forgiving to someone for their faults, maybe they can forgive you for yours.”
“You finally got it!”
“What are you both whispering about?” Piper asked and the two shook their heads in unison and concentrated on the reading.
“Purple flames flickered in his eyes. "You're a hero, boy. I need no other reason."”
Ariadne looked at her husband and whispered, “Dionysus, this better not be about what I think it is about.”
“I think I might disappoint you in that, my dear.” The god replied, knowing where exactly the conversation was going. He glared at the back of Theseus’ head. That pompous demigod was sitting over there as if he had no troubles in the world. Dionysus really wanted to see whether the demigod even felt a bit of remorse for what he had done or not. Maybe he’ll finally get his chance to see just that.
“"I have to … wouldn't understand!"”
“Do not forget child, that Dionysus was a demigod before he became a god.” Rhea said. “If there is anyone on the council who could even understand you demigods, it would be him.”
The wine god angrily sipped his wine. He absolutely loathed to be reminded of his demigod days. The only good thing that had come out of those days was that he had created wine and his father had miraculously offered him to become a god and that too an Olympian.
“Um, boss … to talk nice.”
“You should really listen to the pegasus.” Theseus said, worried for what new trouble his brother would get into. It was obvious that Dionysus didn’t like demigods even now so it couldn’t have been anything that happened recently in terms of the events in the book. So, what had happened that had made the god hate demigods? After all, a god who used to be a demigod should be more supportive of them rather than hating them so completely.
“The grape vines … out of sight.”
“You should let him go, D.”
“Do not tell me what to do!”
“"Did I ever tell you about Ariadne?" Mr. D asked.”
Ariadne sighed and looked sadly at her husband. She didn’t want him to hold a grudge against all demigods because of her. She had moved on from Theseus not long after Dionysus had mended her heart. Where she had all but forgiven the demigod for his deeds, her husband had taken it up as a reason to hate the demigods.
“What does Ariadne have to do with this?” Theseus asked incredulously, but at Percy’s warning look and the heated glare that he could feel emanating from the wine god, the King of Athens decided to not say another word till he found out what the issue was.
“"Beautiful young … I don't care!”
“Typical demigod.” Dionysus muttered under his breath. He could feel every last bit of hatred that he buried deep inside, come out all at once.
“How is this about me?” Theseus asked but once again kept quiet when Percy gave him a ‘don’t make this worse’ look.
“But I didn't … The end."”
“Oh.” Theseus sucked in a breath as he finally realized what Dionysus was talking about. But to hate all of the demigods because of that? Was it not too extreme for the god? It wasn’t that bad, was it? If anything, he too deserved to be angry at the god, but he wasn’t, was he?
“Mr. D sneered… a broken sandal."”
The Greek demigods shifted uneasily as they realized why Mr. D was always snapping at them for no reason. He was probably taking out all his frustrations over this one demigod on them.
“That is not true!” Theseus said indignantly. “I did not leave her behind.”
“Dionysus, do not make this worse.” Ariadne warned her husband but he didn’t listen to her.
“Did you or did you not leave her alone on Naxos?” Dionysus asked, purple fire burning in his eyes and his voice carrying every bit of power that he kept hidden.
“I had a…”
“Did you or did you not?”
“I did, but…”
“Then you left her alone after taking her half way across the sea, after taking her away from her family. She gave up her life to accompany you on the voyage. She went against her entire family to help you out in the labyrinth and this is how you repaid her.”
“There was a reason!” Theseus raised his voice in anger. He could tolerate a lot of things but not false accusations.
“Hmm. Love triangle and that too involving a god, a demigod king and former mortal. I love this.” Aphrodite said with a giggle.
“Not now, Aphrodite!” Athena and Artemis hissed at the goddess of love.
“A REASON?” Now, even Ariadne did not stop her husband from losing his cool and creating a scene. She too wanted to know what reason could have prompted Theseus to leave her behind on an unknown island.
“She was unwell,” said Theseus, his eyes unfocused as if he saw the very day this had occurred. “She had been unwell ever since we started our journey. Travel on sea did not suit her.”
“That much is true, my Lord.” Ariadne said to Dionysus.
Theseus continued as if he had not heard his former lover. “Every passing day made it even worse and I knew we had to stop at land to ease her situation. So I stopped the ship at the first land that I spotted. That was Naxos but back then I did not know that. There were rumors of a special herb that could be found at some distance that could ease this sickness. So I went to retrieve this herb. I would have stayed back with her on the island and sent my crew ahead but I was the only child of Poseidon aboard and no one would undertake the journey without me. A few days later, whence I was returning to Naxos, I found myself amongst sea monsters. So I sent a few of my crew members ahead while I dealt with the monster. The crew never made it as they too were attacked on the way. Another few days passed before I made it to the island. But by then Ariadne was gone and I had to return.”
Theseus was quiet for a while and then spoke with much grief, “In my grief stricken state, I forgot to change the sails and lost my step-father.” He looked at the god with sadness and asked quietly, “So, tell me who was wronged here?”
No one answered the demigod except Hestia, “Both of you were.”
“What do you mean by that, Lady Hestia?” Ariadne asked the solemn goddess.
“Naxos is an island sacred to Dionysus which means it is essentially part of our world. Most of the areas covered by our world do not have the same concept of time as the mortal world does.”
By now most were confused as realization dawned on Dionysus’ face.
“Time on Naxos is faster than time in the mortal world. We, as gods, would not feel the change in time as we do not age and are ultimately unaffected by it. Days, months, years, they all feel the same to us. But for you, Ariadne, it would have felt like months what in reality were only a few days for Theseus.”
“No,” gasped Theseus as he stared at the ground.
“Dionysus?” Ariadne asked her husband for confirmation of this. Had he known this and deliberately sabotaged her relationship with Theseus? No! He could not have. He was not that sort of a god.
The wine god shook his head and said, “I do not know. I cannot feel any change in time while travelling from mortal world to our world or vice versa. Being on Naxos would have made it seem like months for me too considering I had not been in the mortal world for years back then. It could have been only a few days in the mortal world and I would not have known of it.”
The god was lost in his own thoughts about how wrong he had been. In the end, it turned out that it was none of their fault for what had happened. It was the confusing nature of the interaction of mortal and immortal world that had left both Ariadne and Theseus heartbroken. He wondered that had he not interfered and taken her away, would she have gone with Theseus upon his return?
As everyone was pondering on this new information, Ariadne saw her husband’s inner turmoil and clutched his hand to show that she was here with him and not Theseus.
Leaning closer to him, she whispered, “My Lord, I do not want to think about what may have been. It was quite some time ago and I do not wish things to be any different than they are today. But you know what you have to do now.”
“I am not going to apologize to a demigod, if that is what you mean.”
“Those are your words, Dionysus, not mine. I never said that you have to apologize. But now that you mention it, you do have to.”
The wine god turned to look at the smug look on his wife’s face and whispered adamantly, “No.”
“Yes, you have to. You have been fueling your anger against the demigods based on this incident. Now that the truth is out, you do owe him an apology.”
“This is only one incident. The demigods are far from innocent or have you not seen that from Hercules’ thoughtless actions? I may have been wrong on this particular incident but I am not wrong about the general nature of the demigods.”
“From what I can see, the general nature of the demigods is trying to barely survive in a world that cares not for them. You have wronged Theseus and you should make amends for that.”
“That is not going to happen. We are not discussing this anymore.”
Ariadne huffed at her husband’s bullheadedness. This was one of the biggest drawbacks of the gods – their ego. They always believed themselves to be right and even when they were wrong, they would project an air of righteousness at all times. She knew she would have to keep at it till he relented. She couldn’t believe that even after centuries, Dionysus was still holding on to this one incident.
Rhea looked around at the introspecting gods and demigods and suggested that she continue the reading. She had come home to spend some time with her children. She wasn’t going to let the whole time be gone in reading about the future, no matter how important.
“"That's wrong," … wood nymph—"”
“The boy is not wrong, Dionysus.” Ariadne raised her brow at her husband.
“Humph!” the wine god casually sipped his wine, ignoring his wife’s not so subtle looks.
“"My point … everyone around you.”
Hestia and Artemis shook their heads at that and Hestia said, “While you are correct in saying that Dionysus, that both gods and demigods are vain, you should also take into consideration the source of their actions. Where exactly would demigods learn this from?”
“Gods.” Thalia muttered under her breath.
The gods shifted uncomfortably and avoided looking at either Hestia or their children as Hestia continued, “From the gods, obviously. They have seen or heard all about how each god behaves with the mortals or anyone else for that matter. It would not be too hard to guess their thought process that if it is alright for gods to behave in such a manner, then it would be alright for them too. And if that is true for the demigods, then we also have to consider where the gods would have picked this up from. The Titans, obviously…”
“That is exactly why it is better to not get involved in all this relationship nonsense.” Artemis inputted.
Rhea sighed and said, “It is no secret that this family has absolute lack of good father figures. My father threw his children into Tartarus before his other children killed him, my husband ate his children before I got Zeus to safety and then the children killed Kronos too. I suggest that none of you take up the bad habits from each other. And with that said, let us continue.”
Without waiting for anything else to be said, Rhea continued to read, while the demigods tried to digest all that.
“So you'll excuse … ask Zoe?"”
Zoe groaned and hoped that the boy would do no such things. She would definitely kill him if he did something like that, but the way things were going, she was sure that all would be eventually revealed.
Having seen Zoe’s reaction, Percy said, “Don’t worry, I didn’t actually ask you. I prefer to live.”
“Good.”
“He waved his … the other heroes."”
“That’s not true.” Jason said and whispered to Percy, “It’s not, okay?”
“Mhmm.” Percy said dismissively and thought about how he had left Calypso or Bob behind. He had used them both, Calypso to heal and recover from his ordeal and Bob to help him out and even use him to kill the Titan’s own brother, and then he had left them. Just because he hadn’t meant to do it, didn’t mean he hadn’t done it. Theseus too hadn’t meant for Ariadne to be left all alone and heartbroken, but he had done it, albeit unknowingly. Hercules may not have even understood what he was doing when he had left Zoe behind, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t destroyed her old life when he did it.
Unknowingly, Percy had glanced at Calypso while he had been thinking about all this. The sorceress, having caught the look, groaned internally. She knew that was the reason why Percy had been avoiding talking to her all this while. Although, she had been initially angry at the demigod, she no longer felt that way. She was quite happy in her life and she didn’t want Percy unnecessarily drowning himself in misplaced guilt because of something that had been out of their control. She now saw that Percy had always been in love with Annabeth, whether he knew it or not. There was no way he would have ever stayed back with Calypso for any reason whatsoever. If this demigod could jump into Tartarus for that girl, then giving up immortality and a private island would be nothing for him.
Annabeth brought their intertwined hands up and kissed Percy’s hand. “It is not true, Percy, no matter what you are thinking. I know you. Trust me, okay?”
“Okay.” Percy sighed in defeat and leaned against the backrest. He would trust Annabeth. That he could do very easily.
“With that, Dionysus … on this quest.”
“You had way more chance of messing up your previous quests than this one.” Reyna said. “At least you have experience now.”
“I don’t think it made that much of a difference.” Thalia said and Percy nodded in agreement.
“"Come on, Blackjack … was so tired.”
“Poor Blackjack.” Reyna and Hazel said sympathetically.
Thalia chuckled and said, “Benefits of immortality, we don’t need breaks often. Zoe had only stopped because Grover and I were driving her crazy.” At the confused look from the hunters, Thalia explained, “I couldn’t sit still for that long and Grover needed the washroom. He was really nervous.”
“Hey!” Grover bleated in indignation while the demigods chuckled.
“I'll be okay … can do that.”
“You should send him back,” said Reyna, now worried for the second pegasus she had befriended in her life.
“I did, but he was too tired to move at that time so I told him to stay there otherwise there was no way he was going to let me go alone.”
“I put on my cap of invisibility…”
“Yours?” Annabeth asked, one brow raised in question.
“Mine? What? No, that’s yours. Yours.” Percy answered with a nervous smile. Annabeth was way possessive about her things, including him.
“Good.”
“…and walked over … hot chocolate problem…”
“It’ll turn invisible but that’ll only work for inanimate objects.” Annabeth confirmed.
“Yeah, figured that out later.”
“Why are you even thinking about food at this time?” Adrianna asked.
“I didn’t have time for breakfast between all the rescuing the Ophiotaurus and running away to go on the quest.”
“Fair enough. This time ‘round.” Gwen said with a shrug.
“…when my whole … did it right."”
“What are you talking about?” Sabrina asked in confusion.
“An old satyr tracking spell.” Hedge answered. “We use acorns and nature magic to track something. The nature magic would rearrange the acorns and we can read them to find out the next step.”
“Yeah, every satyr is taught this in school.” Grover added.
“Does it work?”
“Of course it does, cupcake! Don’t question our methods.”
“Coach, relax.” Piper said calmly and Hedge calmed down.
“"D.C. is about … I'd forgotten."”
“You lived in D.C.?” asked Will.
“Yeah.” Nico scrunched up his face as he tried to remember those days. “Long, long… ago. I don’t remember much.” The boy sighed as he stopped trying to remember his life before Lotus Hotel. There were days when he could remember bits and pieces but those didn’t come around so often and usually came with a giant dose of headache and nausea.
“"I dislike this … said west."”
“We are not heading west? Why are we not heading west?” Zoe asked in confusion.
“There is a reason… sort of. You’ll see.”
“"Oh, like … a scullion?"”
Annabeth chuckled and shook her head at Thalia when the hunter looked at her friend.
“They should at least use modern cusses to insult us. At the least, we’ll be able to understand them.” Connor said.
“Yeah, I’ll inform them of that.” Thalia told him.
“"Whoa, you … Let us go."”
“Huh! You can’t argue with that.” Lou Ellen said.
“Don’t challenge her!” Percy said in a mock panicked voice and Thalia rolled her eyes at her cousin’s antics.
“As Blackjack … hunted dinosaurs.”
“That was exaggeration!” Percy said before Annabeth could say something to him about messed up history timelines.
“I give up!” Annabeth shook her head.
“How old … didn't want that.”
“Nobody would.”
“Fortunately, the van started to slow down.”
“Finally!”
“It crossed the … of the sky.”
“That’s not how it happens.” Chiron said. “Pegasi can’t show up on military radars. They can’t even be spotted by regular mortals. None of our creatures can, except demigods.”
“Good to know.”
“He… he just called us creatures. Is nobody going to argue with that?”
“Nope.”
“"Set me down … handsome like me.”
“I like Blackjack.”
“He’s like a pegasus version of Leo.”
“Hey!” Leo shouted and then added, “That’s…not a bad comparison. Carry on.”
“I promised to … then I froze.”
“Monsters? So soon?” Perseus asked.
“Not just yet, but you are close enough.”
“A block away … Westover Hall.”
“I can’t believe we missed that and Kelp Head didn’t.”
“I’m amazing.”
“Shut up.”
“Invisibility cap on … bigger then.”
“Maybe because you were smaller.” Thalia suggested.
“Guys, come on, it’s not even noon yet. Don’t start now.” Grover interrupted before Percy could respond.
“Thalia checked the … and followed him.”
“Thank gods for that.” Grover said in relief.
“Why? What happened?” Jason asked.
“You’ll see.”
“Thorn crossed the … be PRIVATE.”
“Must be…” Frank said with a smile. It was entertaining whenever the others made a mistake while reading things. It made him feel better about his lactose intolerance and being unable to eat ice-cream as a result.
“I followed … gotten me killed.”
“It’s a good thing that you didn’t screw this up then.” Thalia said and then looked skeptically at Percy’s sheepish expression, “What did you do?”
“Meh… you’ll see. It wasn’t that bad. I think.”
Reyna hummed and said, “The monsters are organized.” At everyone’s looks, she said, “What? You gotta appreciate that.”
“Not really.”
“Yeah, we don’t appreciate the bad guys. They are bad guys for a reason.”
“Travis, you like the Joker.”
“Oh come on! He’s the Joker. How can you not like him?”
“Yeah, he’s got style.” Connor agreed with his brother.
“That he does.” Nico agreed and then added, “What? I know modern stuff!”
“Sure you do.” Percy scoffed. “It took you half an hour to figure out how to use the oven.”
“That’s hard, okay? It is.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
“Is…”
“Why are you not reading?” Hermes asked Rhea, who was now next to him and Apollo.
“They remind me of their fathers. It is so much fun to watch this.”
“This will not stop unless you start reading.” Apollo said, already having witnessed other such squabbles amongst the children.
“Fine. Children! That is enough for now.”
“I was in … old enemy Luke.”
Hermes sat up straighter at that. Finally, some news about his wayward son!
“He looked terrible… recently been reopened.”
“The scar was given by Ladon, correct?” Zoe asked. When the others nodded, she continued, “And if they went back to the mountain, Ladon would have recognized him and attacked him again. Ladon does not forgive nor does he forget trespassers.”
The god of thieves grimaced at that. What had prompted his son to think that going through all of that would be better than staying safely at camp?
“Next to him … he wasn't yelling.”
“He is there?” Calypso and Zoe gasped. This was even worse than Atlas just being out from under his burden.
“Dr. Thorn took … call him sir.”
“Monsters would not like to give respect to any demigod.”
“"How many?" … General growled.”
“He is not going to let me live through this quest.” Zoe muttered under her breath.
“Everyone in the … keep them occupied."”
“Great! A monster in a museum filled with mortals. This is gonna be fun.” Clarisse grinned in anticipation.
“"But—"
"We cannot risk you, my boy."”
“What is so important about the boy that they would not risk him?” asked Ares.
“Nothing good, that is for sure.” Athena replied, trying to come up with a reason for the monsters to want to keep the boy close to them. He had not fought with any of them, other than the one time Percy had forced him to duel. As the demigod instigator of the whole fight against the gods, the boy should have been on the forefront of everything and yet he only worked from shadows, protected by someone or the other. What purpose did the boy serve for the titans?
“"Yes, boy," … could even move.”
“Now that I think of it,” Apollo said thoughtfully, “Atlas does look like a sculpture.”
“A horribly crafted one, if that is the case.” Hermes added.
“"You have … born commander.”
“Unfortunately, his whole purpose was to command the titan army.” Artemis said.
“"I should … daughter of Athena."”
“It’s really freaky that they had thought and planned so much in advance. I mean, just think of all the ways they could have succeeded.” Dakota said with a shake of his head.
“Which begs the question: why didn’t they?” Enyo asked.
“Luck?” Demeter asked.
“This has nothing to do with me.” Tyche answered. “For one, I would not give anyone so much good luck that they would survive all of what could have happened. That would just tip the balance that Nemesis and I try to maintain. And for another, this is an open war on all of Olympus and I would not be allowed to interfere at such a large scale when demigods are involved in this.”
Everyone pondered over that as Rhea continued, “"But you promised … come to her."”
“Thankfully, that didn’t happen.” Thalia whispered and Percy and Annabeth nodded. “But he did follow Percy around a lot.”
“Apparently that because I saved him, he started to think of me as his protector, or so dad told me once.”
“"The Hunters will … her name!"”
Zoe grimaced. She was sure her father would kill her, no matter what it took.
“What did that idiot think? That I wouldn’t be that difficult to kill?” Thalia scowled at the ground.
“Luke swallowed… them," he said.”
“Teeth?” Will asked in confusion. “What are they going to do with teeth?”
“Plant them. Didn’t you hear?” Travis asked cheekily and Will rolled his eyes at the boy.
“You’ll see soon enough.” Percy said.
“In the center … Hawaiian Punch.”
“Please tell me that’s not blood.” Chiara said faintly.
“That’s not blood…?” Butch replied. “But it kinda is.”
“This is like a fantasy sci-fi or something.” Damien said.
“At least you didn’t see it happen.” Percy replied.
“The soil began … the best—"”
“Of course they are trying to outdo each other. They wouldn’t be villains if they didn’t.” Leo said.
“"Ha.'" … General said that.”
“The boy’s role in the whole plan is sounding a bit suspicious. It is like he does not want to do something but is still going ahead with it.” Athena said in frustration. She hated not having all the answers at all the time.
“He was really confused the whole time.” Annabeth said sadly, yet again wondering had she gone with Luke or tried to stop him, would it have made a difference.
“"—but under my … "Mew?"”
“What?”
“That was anti-climactic.”
“Yeah, I was expecting something really scary.”
“It was a kitten … in the dirt.”
“Cute.”
“They were.”
“Everyone stared … your face again."”
“I miss Small Bob.” Annabeth said sadly and Percy nodded.
“Who’s Small Bob?” Hazel asked.
“A friend. He was one of those homegrown kittens.”
Hazel nodded in confusion and decided to pay attention to the reading.
“The terrified guard … "I love them."”
“Humph!” Rachel glared at the book.
“That they are.” Ares said with a satisfied smile that made the other gods wonder what exactly he had done now.
“A minute later … "More Tylenol?"”
“Tylenol works on titans?” Lou Ellen asked.
“Anything is possible. You just learn not to question the weirdness.” Will answered.
“"No! It will … shall do nicely."”
“Aah!” Hades said in understanding and explained, “This will be a bit troublesome for the children. Worry not, as long as my daughter fights them, the other children will be fine.”
“Now I am worried.” Zeus muttered under his breath and Hades glared at him.
“He planted … have the scent?"”
“What is going on?” Adrianna asked in confusion.
“Zombies.” Nico replied. “These are special ones. Once they catch your scent, they will follow you till they kill you. Nothing can defeat them. Well, almost nothing. Only a child of Hades can. Power over the undead and all that.”
“I thought it was because of Stygian Iron.” Percy said.
“That would help too, but it’s mostly because of child of Hades stuff. I didn’t have any weapon when I dismissed them.” Nico told Percy.
“Well, at least you have Bianca with you.” Adrianna said in relief to Zoe, who still looked tense.
“"Yesssss, lord … Hunters wore.”
Zoe gasped at her father’s actions. Of course he would do something like that.
“That horrible, good for nothing…” Helen seethed.
“"Excellent," … X-ray images.”
“I don’t know if I should be afraid or fascinated.” Leo said.
“Both.”
“One of them … would fool it.”
“They are creatures of old. There is not much that can bypass them.” Hades said with a hint of pride in his voice.
“The snake lady … of the air.”
“Aaand you have exposed yourself.”
“You saved me.” Zoe said skeptically, looking at Percy in confusion.
“It didn’t make much of a difference anyway.” The son of Poseidon replied.
“"What's this?" … has to be."”
“At least the guy knows the one person who always screws up his plans.” Dakota said, sipping at his Kool-Aid.
Travis snorted and said in a high pitched voice, “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling Percy Jackson.”
The few of the other demigods laughed as they recognized the slightly modified Scooby Doo villains’ catchphrase.
“I sprinted … then I ran.”
“Damn! You got yourself in trouble.” Leo said. “Again!”
“Oh no! And then you joined us on the quest, correct?” Zoe asked exasperatedly. No wonder Percy had not been all that enthusiastic when she had earlier said that he had saved her.
“Correct.” Percy confirmed with a sheepish smile.