Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He died in early spring. There was an accident. A bad one. It was a blur. All he could remember was saving his sisters. His three little sisters. All in their teens and beyond now. All of whom had been headed for certain death. He managed to save them. If only just barely. 

It was all luck.

He’d always been lucky.

As he bled out, his eldest sister cupped his face and whispered reassurances to him. She was crying. He could still remember when she was born. She'd cried so much as a baby. 

He told her that he would be okay. 

It was the last thing he ever said. 

Then he was in a waiting room. He stood there for a long moment, around him people of all ages, ethnicities, genders, cultures, and sizes grumbled and shifted as if they’d been waiting past their threshold for patience. In front of him a tall black man sat behind a desk.

He walked up to the man, because what else was there to do?

The man looked up. He wore a name tag that read Charon. He rose an eyebrow expectantly. “Can I help you?”

“I don’t mean to bother you,” he started, because it felt like Charon was annoyed. “But where am I?”

“You’re dead.”

“Right.”

He didn’t know what else to say. Charon waited for a moment as that set in. He obviously had a lot of experience in this sort of thing.

“So. . .” he began, trying to find the right question. “What now?”

“Well, you’re a demigod. Hopefully someone will give you some gold drachmas for the ferry trip. Until then, you can take a seat.”

“Right.” He nodded as if that made any sense.

He found a seat in a chair and thought. About his sisters, about how he’d managed to save them, but just barely. He hoped that they were okay. That they’d made it to safety. That their father kept it together long enough to keep them away from more harm. That they grew up happy and stable.

Time passed without moving.

He felt nothing as days rolled by.

Then, suddenly, he noticed a new heaviness in his pocket. He placed a hand into it, and then pulled it out to find a small handful of foreign gold coins.

He stood, and walked up to Charon, who hadn’t moved from his chair. He placed the coins down on the counter, which got the ferry man’s attention.

“Is this enough for the ferry?”

***

After that, things became harder to hold onto. He lost himself in the shadow of what he once was. As he waited for judgement, all he could do was reflect on all of his regrets. He could’ve tried harder, and helped more people. Could’ve been kinder, more mindful of his family’s needs and less resentful of their attachment. He could’ve spent less time lazing around doing nothing, and more time learning a useful skill or volunteering. 

When he got in front of the judges, he got no chance to defend himself. They spoke between themselves and all he could do was listen. Most of it, he couldn’t understand. His mind was smoky, and their words held little meaning.

But he caught up when it all came to a head with his final act.

“He saved his sisters, three innocent lives.”

“Without his gift from his mother, they would’ve died.”

“Yet he didn’t have to do it. He could’ve saved himself.”

It ended just like that. 

He was sent away to Elysium. It was there his mind cleared. He looked around and began to understand. But he didn’t feel like he belonged. The feeling of restlessness led him away. He meandered. Time meant nothing.

Luck found him, even down in the Underworld.

He happened upon something that he wasn’t sure he was meant to. It was a thin part of the white river that he had mindlessly followed. In a fit of unease, he backed up until he could get a running start, and then leaped across the river like he used to the creek by his house when he was a child. On the other side, he felt the first spark of joy his soul had experienced in a long time. He cheered and spun in place.

Then he began to run.

Just to experience the freedom.

With no thoughts to how he may have wandered out of where he was meant to be.

He leaped, with no pain or resistance in old injuries. There was no fatigue. He weaved and bobbed his way all the way towards a light that he could see far ahead of him.

New life. An instinct in him promised.

He reached the light, one hand outstretched. A smile on his face.

Pain like he never felt it before attached itself to him. It tore at him piece by piece until nothing was left.

Darkness was all that remained.

Until there was light.

***

“There is a bit of a situation, my Lord Hades.”

“What is it now?”

“Well, a soul has just been reborn—”

“Let me stop you right there. Rebirth is Persephone’s domain. She hates it when I interfere with her work. Trust me, it’s not worth the headache.”

“But my lord, he was a son of—”

“I don’t care who he is, it can wait until the queen gets home.”

“Yes, my lord.”

***

Sally Jackson named her first born son Perseus, because it was the one Greek hero she could think of that had a happy ending. She named her second son, Perseus’s twin, Theseus, for his long dead brother.

Why she named the younger twin this, she couldn’t say for certain. Only that something about his blue eyes told her that was his name, and that had to be that.

And it helped that the names rhymed. Which brought her a special kind of joy.

From day one, she called Theseus, Theo, for short.  Just as she called Perseus, Percy. Because they were more than their families and the legends surrounding them. They were her sons, and she was going to give them every chance they could get, no matter the cost.

Chapter Text

Being a baby was well, strange. At first, nothing made sense. Everything was a blur of color and speech might as well have been gibberish. It took him what had to be weeks to even realize that he’d been reborn. That’s how bad it was.

Eventually, his brain began to grow, and his mind slowly returned. The picture of his new situation became clearer.

His new name was Theo. He had a twin brother named Percy, and a mother named Sally. The three of them lived in a tiny studio in New York City. Sally was a single mother who worked every day, and had a babysitter watch them while she was away.

She was a good mom. Theo had never had a mother in his last life to compare her to, but he could tell how much she cared. Even as tired as she was after work, she always made sure to spend time with both of them. She went out of her way to make sure that she spent time with them individually, as well as together, which was above and beyond in Theo’s humble opinion. Most parents would likely lump them together because they were twins, but Sally never seemed to think of them as one entity.

Being a baby gave him plenty of time to think.

Theo was fairly certain that something had gone wrong in the whole reincarnation process. As far as he could tell, he hadn’t been meant to hold onto his adult memories. The pain he went through when he reached that light had been unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He was changed after, though how much still remained to be seen.

It was hard to tell with the mind of an infant, but he was fairly certain he’d lost a good bit of the details of his last life. He couldn’t remember anyone’s names, not even his own.

For a while he tried to consider the possibility that everyone went through the same thing. With their last life’s memories slowly fading away as their new one began. Then sometime around the time he managed to lift his head on his own and could see well enough to make out that it was nearly Christmas, that idea was proved very, very wrong.

It was the middle of the night. Percy was asleep in the crib next to him and Sally had long since knocked out in her modest single bed nearby. There was no sign when the stranger entered the room. The door did not open. The floorboards did not creak.

She appeared as if from the shadow themselves.

He wasn’t sure if it was her arrival that woke him, or if he’d simply woken naturally. Either way, he was awake to watch as she approached. She wore a bone grey, flowing dress. Her dark hair was curly, and her gold eyes glowed in the dark room. With one hand she stabilized herself on the crib and with the other she reached down to run a freezing, pale finger down Theo’s cheek.

“Hello little nephew.” She greeted him softly as she reached down with both hands now to lift and cradle him against her warmer chest. Though it still felt colder than it should have.

Fear filled him. He struggled slightly and began to fuss. In the crib, Percy stirred.

“Shhh,” the stranger shushed him. She began to rock him lightly, just like Sally usually did.

Despite himself, he began to calm.

The strange woman smiled down at him. “I bet you’re regretting your rebellion about now, aren’t you?”

He blinked up at her, unable to respond. Even if he could, he had no idea what she was talking about in the first place. He didn’t know who the fuck she was or what she wanted.

“Skipping the river Lethe before your next life is certainly a punishment in and of itself.” She mused, seemingly mostly to herself. “And truly you are as lucky as they say. To be born someone so. . . untouchable. Regardless of your crimes, to kill you now would almost certainly mean war.”

None of her words made sense to him. He stared up at her with wide, confused blue eyes.

She let out a small chuckle. “Yes, I suppose luck does go both ways. I wonder if dear Nemesis had a hand in balancing your mother’s gift?”

His mother’s gift? As far as he knew, Sally didn’t have any gifts she’d given him. Other than his life itself. And well, everything he owned. Perhaps that’s what the stranger meant?

“Only time will tell,” the stranger went on. “No matter, I will not collect little Thesus now. So, there is no need to panic, Sally Jackson.”

Theo turned his head as best as he could in the woman’s arms. In her bed, Sally slowly turned around and sat up. Her deep blue eyes were terrified, but she still pushed off the bed and to her feet without hesitation.

“Who are you?” the shaking in Sally’s voice was just barely noticeable. “What do you want?”

“I’ve wanted a lot of things over the eons.” The stranger finally looked up from Theo and locked her inhuman eyes dead at Sally. Her voice was cold as ice with a lethal warning as a deep undertone. “But never war. My little nephew will not face threat from me. Not while he lives at least.”

Sally took a step forward. “You’re not. . . then that means you’re. . . I never expected. . .”

He’d never heard his mother so lost for words. Her sentences all trailed off before she had a chance to clear anything up for Theo. As if she were wary to even say the names of the people she was trying to refer to. He fussed again until the strange woman began to rock where she’d slowed.

“Nor should you have. I do not often come to interfere with the lives of mortals, especially not this time of year.” The woman explained as she tucked Theo closer to her cool bosom with a hand on his head. “I had come to see for myself if the reports were correct. And they were. Your son was born very lucky, Sally Jackson. I implore you to remember that luck goes both ways, and that the Fates never make things simple for children such as yours. As he grows, you will come to see just how special he is.”

She continued to rock him as she took a few steps forward until she was close enough to hold him out. Sally immediately snatched Theo out of the stranger’s arms. The panic behind the action was jarring enough to ignite his tears. She looked him over as if she could see through his very skin to any possible injuries underneath.

Once she seemed satisfied with her inspection, she looked back up like she was about to say something more. But she never did. Theo turned his head to find that the woman was gone as silently as she’d came.

There was not a lot that Theo remembered about his time as a baby, but as he got older, that was certainly one thing he held onto. The woman had seared herself to his mind like a brand. As if her words themselves had been some sort of curse.

***

Theo was a few days into being one year old when he received his second nighttime visitor. Though for this one, Percy was also awake, but Sally was at a nightshift job that had made her cry more than once already. The babysitter was passed out on the couch, some soap opera that she was watching on the old TV playing at too loud of a volume.

Percy and Theo sat in their crib together. They were meant to be asleep, but neither of them were very good at following direction, even at such a young age.

They babbled to each other in a way only the two of them could understand. They both knew some basic words like mama, cookie, tired, and most importantly no. But their mouths and minds were still too young to do much more. So instead of trying and failing to communicate with others, they just spoke to each other.

Outside, it began to rain. A light, summer rain that splashed into the window with a light breeze. And as sudden as the storm, there was man by their crib.

Neither of them cried. Something in them told them there was no need to fear.

The man was probably in his early twenties. His dark hair was the same shade as the twins, and his green eyes sparkled in the same shade as Percy’s, not far from Theo’s whose were a bit blue like their mother’s, but still had a tint of that green in the light. His skin was a deep tan, and his smile seemed to greet them like a warm day at the beach. He almost seemed to glow in the low light.

“Hello little Perseus, Theseus.” The man reached out to place a large hand on their heads. “Look at you boys, already so strong. Just like your mother.”

Was this their father? How did he get in? Why was he suddenly here? When Sally was not, no less.

She’d told them about their father when they were at a cabin at Montauk beach earlier in the summer. Said he was lost at sea. It had been clear to Theo that she’d loved their father, and he’d been outraged for his amazing, young, kind-hearted mother.

How dare this guy come to see them out of the blue after so long?

The joy in his sea green gaze dimmed slightly. His smile became more melancholy, lingering on Theo a moment longer than his twin. “My sons, I am sorry. Because of my position, your lives will not be easy. But know, you will always have the might of the ocean behind you. In the water, you will never be alone.”

He bent nearly in half to press a firm, loving kiss to both of their foreheads. He smelled of the sea breeze after a storm. As soon as he straightened, he was gone in a spray of mist. The rain outside slowed to a stop. Percy began to cry, and the babysitter finally stirred.

Theo just stared at the spot their father disappeared from.

He’d tried to convince himself that the woman who had seemingly appeared and vanished the prior winter in a similar way had been a bad dream or him misremembering. But now, here was someone else who could also seemingly teleport into their home without hesitation.

What the actual fuck was going on?

***

They never saw their father again.

Not long after he visited, they woke one morning to snakes in their crib. Two of them. Without thinking, Theo grabbed one around the throat and squeezed until it was no longer moving. He looked over to see that Percy had done the same.

His twin shrieked in glee and waved the snake’s corpse around in his tiny fists.

Theo stared at the snakes with a furrow between his eyebrows until their mother rushed from the bathroom with suds still in her hair. She must’ve heard Percy’s noise and known something had happened.

Just as shocked as Theo, for a long moment their mom just stared at the dead snakes.

They moved a week later.

***

Before long, Theo and Percy started preschool. It was sometime around that time that Sally started to date Gabe.

Theo had no idea what she saw in the smelly asshole. He was rude, ugly, and never stopped complaining. Percy hated him just as much as Theo did. The two of them did everything in their power to avoid the man as much as possible.

Which got a lot harder when he moved in with them.

After about a year, Sally and Gabe were married. And Theo was left with an empty sort of dread for what was to come. He may have never had a mother in his last life, but he certainly could remember enough about his asshole previous father to know that things with Gabe would never be easy. He’d been lucky enough in his last life that his dad had mostly just been self absorbed and absent. It was the opposite with Gabe. The awful man was always home, rotting in his chair as he only seemed to take a shower every other week at the most. He was loud and always seemed to have something negative to say about Sally.

“What does she see in him?” Percy would ask Theo at night. Repeating a question they’d both heard their neighbors ask often.

The only upside to living with Gabe was that the two of them had their own room. If they closed the door and opened the window, then they could just barely get a respite from the stench.

“I don’t know,” Theo told him honestly. “I don’t get it.”

He really didn’t.

Sally herself didn’t even seem to be happy or satisfied in her marriage. Though she put up a wonderful show of being a dutiful and obedient wife, he could tell that she hated Gabe just as much as they did.

It all was in the subtle details.

Like when Gabe told her that food couldn’t be blue. And the next thing they knew, everything that Sally made was suddenly blue. She began work in a candy shop, and the only things she brought back were blue. Her pancakes in the mornings were blue, even the syrup was blueberry. Everything she could, she found a way to make it blue.

It drove Gabe crazy.

And made Percy and Theo happier then either of them knew what to do with.

***

It was when they started in Elementary school that things—outside of their terrible stepfather—began to go wrong. It started with the testing. Neither of the Jackson boys could sit still for longer than a minute to two at most. They struggled to understand basic written words, and they had no patience for conflict. Sally brought them to a specialist without hesitation. After weeks of appointments, the doctor finally sat them down for a diagnosis.

Well, he sat Sally down. Percy and Theo played with the toys they’d become rather acquainted to by now, and pretended like they weren’t listening.

They both had ADHD and Dyslexia. A very extreme case of both of them.

Which made sense. Theo was fairly certain he’d struggled with similar things in his last life. Though it hadn’t been nearly as severe

After the doctor explained and answered any of Sally’s questions, he moved onto Theo alone.

“While he is still struggling with the same things as his twin, Theo’s mind could not be more different.” The doctor said. “He is far more advanced than most children his age. His IQ is closer to that of an adult’s. I highly encourage you to speak to his school about advancing grades early. I can recommend a few schools for either of the boys, to best support them and help them to succeed.”

“Do you mean splitting them up?” Sally asked, a stubborn undertone to her professional voice.

Percy and Thoe stopped pretending. They turned to the desk with wide eyes.

“As awful as that might seem, I believe it may be the best approach. It may end up being your only option to meet both of their needs.”

***

Despite both of the twins’ protests, Sally ended up sending Theo and Percy to different schools. At first, it wasn’t the plan. Then, somehow their school bus blew up and Theo and Percy were blamed for it. They were allowed to finish out Kindergarten, but were not welcome back the next year.

After that, they were sent to separate boarding schools. Their mother seemed to believe them when they insisted that it wasn’t their fault, but regardless, she just repeated that it was for the best.

Neither of the twins understood how being on their own could be for the best. But it didn’t change anything.

Theo ended up in an accelerated program, on scholarship, while Percy was sent to a school that specialized in kids with disabilities such as theirs. Percy was the first to get expelled from his new school. Sally told Theo about it over the phone sometime around early May. Theo made it through the entirety of first grade, and through to winter break of second.

It really, really wasn’t his fault.

He actually had no clear idea what had happened.

Only that one moment, his class was taking a field trip to the beach, and the next a rich boy that had been bullying Theo since he started at school was washed away in the waves. The only explanation that anyone came up with was that Theo had pushed the other boy, and he’d been caught in a particularly violent riptide.

All of his teachers told him that he should count himself lucky that that boy’s parents hadn’t pressed charges. After all, he’d almost died of the hyperthermia.

It was strange that they never seemed to talk about how the other boy had been two years older than Theo and had been picking on him for over a year. Or how Theo had nearly perfect grades despite his extra challenges and the fact he was now two grades ahead of his twin.

No, he was lucky because some parents didn’t try to prosecute a seven-year-old.

Theo didn’t feel too lucky as he had to start at a much more expensive new school in the middle of the year.

That place only lasted six months. He got into so many fights with the bullies there that the school decided he was a liability.

He didn’t know what it was. In his last life he had never been so volatile, nor did he have such strange things happen to him. But at least all of it happened to Percy too, so neither of them were completely alone in it.

Thankfully, after that second school, he was always lucky enough to get scholarships. Which helped ease the burden on his mother. She was already paying for Percy’s tuition and it wasn't like Gabe pitched in with money from his manager job. That he somehow never seemed to go to.

As they got older, the twins began to feel further and further apart. Percy grew more and more frustrated with school subjects, and as a result grew a bit resentful of the way Theo seemed to handle his own ADHD and Dyslexia with ease. It wasn’t like Theo could just tell his brother that the only reason he was able to do it was because he’d already been through school once. Percy would think he was crazy. Or at least making things up to make him feel better, which would piss him off much more than he already was.

They were identical. Standing side by side, strangers couldn’t tell the difference between them. Hell, not even Gabe, who had known them since they were toddlers, could do it. But as the years passed, and they spent more time apart, Theo could spot more distinguishing features. Both in personality and appearance.

They’d always had slightly different colored eyes, with Percy’s being greener then blue and Theo’s being bluer than green. Though they both fell in the middle enough that it took a moment to notice. Percy always had his hair a little shaggy, while Theo kept his cut closer to his scalp. With both having hair the same shade and perpetually wind tousled regardless of length. Theo also tended to stay an ich or two behind Percy in height. Though they both had the same lanky body type as they got closer to puberty.

Their attitudes paralleled each other, but were not perfect replicas. Percy was more outwardly angry, and ready to jump into a fight. Whereas Theo tended to focus his anger inward until he snapped, never wanting a fight but ending up in them anyway. Not that Percy wanted fights either. He was just more willing to make the first move when it came down to it. Usually in the defense of another. That was a big one. Percy made friends naturally, while Theo tended to avoid other children like the plague. Both twins remained impulsive, however. And neither of them could ever manage to keep their mouths shut.

No matter what, it seemed that the two of them were simply danger magnets.

***

It was the spring after they’d turned twelve that everything changed forever.

Percy was attending a school called Yancy Academy by the Hudson River, while Theo had started at one Hamiliton School for Gifted Students that winter. Thankfully, since it was still so new, he hadn’t managed to make any enemies yet.

Well, except for his Trig teacher, Ms. M.  

No one had any idea what M stood for, and no one was brave enough to ask.

Theo—like his twin—was used to being targeted by his teachers. It was the nature of being someone who couldn’t stay in their seat or pay attention to most lectures. But Ms. M seemed to especially have it out for Theo, giving him detentions like they were candy.

He wished they were candy.

Ms. M’s detentions were the worst. She would have him stand at the chalkboard and literally solve complex equations for hours. He’d go back to his dorm with his wrist aching and chalk in his throat for days.

It happened one day in lunch detention. Ms. M was watching him like a hawk as he worked on the equations. She always did that, as if she were concerned that he’d try to bolt. Even though he’d literally never even made an attempt to avoid her detentions.

Though he’d been very tempted on more than one occasion.

Halfway through his fifth equation, Ms. M suddenly stood from her desk with so much force it sent her wheeled chair into the wall behind her.

Theo turned to her. His heart began to race. Something in his gut told him something was very, very wrong.

“Ms. M?” He asked in a cautious voice. “Is everything okay?”

Her head snapped towards him. Behind her thin rectangular reading glasses, her eyes seemed to glow as they narrowed. She let out an inhuman growl.

“My sister was just taken from this realm and sent back to the underworld,” she told him in an accusing voice. As if were his fault that her sister apparently died.

Which, did she like just feel it or something? How did that work? She must’ve known earlier, he’d never seen her with cell phone to receive a text with such news.

“Um, I’m sorry for your loss?” Theo offered, unable to think anything else to say to such a thing.

A terrible screech filled the room. Theo covered his ears instinctively, his eyes flickering down to see Ms. M’s claw like nails scratching through the top of her desk.

“What the fuck?”

“Language!” Ms. M snapped in a voice that wasn’t much better than the last noise. “Now, tell me where it is, Theseus Jackson! Where are you and your brother hiding it?!”

“Hiding what?!” Theo was so confused.

Ms. M began to approach him, and he backed up until he reached the wall behind him. Trapped, his eyes frantically scanned the room looking for chances to escape.

In front of him, Ms. M seemed to transform. Her long black cardigan melting into wings that were folded at her side. Her metal ruler that she carried around as if it were still legal to smack kids with it, gleamed in the light, until Theo suddenly realized it was no ruler at all. It was a straight dagger made of a dark metal he didn’t recognize

She curled her lip at him as if he were wasting her time, and rose her dagger to point outward at him. “Do not lie to me, half blood. It must’ve been your brother who slain my sister. What else am I to take that as, if not a confession of guilt?”

“Please I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Theo begged her to listen. “I haven’t talked to my brother since winter vacation.”

It was hard for them to call each other at school. Most calls at school were outgoing, it was rather difficult to receive a call. And they had no money to get cell phones.

Rather than being comforted by his statement, it only seemed to anger Ms. M further.

Unable to think of another option, Theo sent a silent prayer up to whoever might be listening, and planted his feet. Then, like he’d seen boys do on the football field, he ducked lower than the dagger and rushed at the monstrous teacher with his arms outstretched.

He must’ve caught her off guard, because he managed to slam her back and knock her off balance. Her wings flapped, but she still fell into the desk. The impact changed her trajectory just enough so for her to fall sideways and straight onto her blade.

Theo panted, wide eyed at the pure luck of the action as the woman dissolved into dust.

Then he panicked, fleeing from the room at top speed until he reached his dorm. His roommate, a boy named Sam who had curly blonde hair that was perpetually hidden under a beanie that no teachers bothered him about for some reason, was lounging on his bed. He snapped to attention as Theo burst into the room. Theo ignored him and went straight for their bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

He’d just killed someone.

Probably.

Did it count as killing someone when there was no body?

Or maybe his mind was just trying to protect him?

He heard Sam’s crutches click on the ground, and a few moments later the older boy knocked softly on the door.

“Theo? Are you okay? Did something happen in detention?”

“No!” Theo called out quickly, not sounding believable in the least, much to his dismay. “I just—My stomach—I need privacy!”

“Are you sure?”

For one irrational moment, Theo wondered if Sam somehow knew. But that was impossible.

Or was it?

“Yeah!” Theo called out. His heart was painful with the speed it was beating. “Just give me a while.”

“Okay,” Sam still sounded doubtful. “Just let me know if you need anything.”

“I will!”

Theo turned on the shower and stepped under it without thinking about the temperature. Most of the boarding schools had shared floor bathrooms. He’d never been so grateful to have a shower to himself as a panic attack overwhelmed him.

He was crazy. That was the only explanation.

Chapter Text

Theo stood with his feet in the ocean. The tide was coming in. With every wave he sank a little lower into the sand until he was buried up to his ankles. He stared mostly unseeing out at the open water. It soothed him just enough to really think about everything, rather than dodging the anxiety inducing thoughts like it was deadly dodge-ball.

The rest of spring semester had been a blur of panic and confusion.

As it turned out, Ms. M never existed.

Which made no sense at all.

He’d returned to classes the day after—he’d played sick to get out any afternoon classes the day it happened, hiding under his covers—to find out that no one remembered the former Trig teacher but him. Not only that, but she’d been replaced by a younger, blonde woman who he’d never seen in his life. When Theo had summoned enough courage to ask someone about the change, they’d acted like he was playing some sort of prank.

It felt like some sort of prank the cosmos was playing on him.

It was either that or he was crazy.

After everything, the latter seemed more and more likely. It brought into question everything he thought he knew about himself. His whole life he’d never thought twice about the possibility that he hadn’t been reborn at all. Now, he felt as if that might just be another delusion his mind had made up. And if that was the case, then he was much worse off then he’d ever suspected.

He didn’t tell anyone about what happened with the teacher, once it became clear that he was the only one who remembered Ms. M. How could he? He knew that he’d be instantly labeled as insane.

The semester had ended with a bang. Stressed and unable to hold onto the small bit of patience he’d been graced with in this life, Theo managed to break his personal record for the amount of fights he got into. The school had tried their best, but with angry rich parents all pointing fingers at the scholarship student, it was only a matter of time.

It didn’t matter if he had perfect grades. School was just as much hell for him as it was for Percy. It was all the other students that really made the experience. Percy had also been expelled from his school for a fight with a bully. So at least they were together in that.

“Theo!” Sally called from where she and Percy sat around a fire-pit behind him. They pulled out the hot dogs and stuck them to the roasting sticks. “Come eat!”

Theo took one more moment to stare at the horizon, before he finally pulled his feet out of the sand and stepped out of the water. The moment he left the waves, it felt as if his body was heavier. The weight of his anxiety returned like one of those vests they make you wear when you get an Xray.

He let out a sign and tried his best to summon a smile for his mother when she greeted him with a hot dog already skewered on a stick. As he plopped down beside her, he accepted the food and held it out over the fire across from Percy’s. It wasn’t nearly as strong as the water, but a nostalgic feeling overtook him enough to lighten the weight on him slightly.

Montauk was a special place for their family. They came there every summer and stayed in the same pastel shack, half buried in the sand. It was an escape from their grim, difficult lives in the city. A time where all three of them could be together without smelly stepfathers, school, or work. It was the only time that they got to be like that.

“You okay?” Sally asked in a gentle voice as he settled.

Theo nodded. “Fine.”

Once it was done, he took a bite of his hot dog, inhaling it just as fast as Percy did his. The boys ate another four each before they moved onto marshmallows. The sun fell completely below the horizon. The dark ocean turned a deep shade of blue that almost boarded on black. Above them, the few stars that could make it out this close to the city began to shine. The entire time, Sally entertained them with stories of her childhood, or ideas for books she wanted to write one day.

Eventually Percy got up the nerve to ask the question that he always asked. Theo never really wondered about their father. In his experience, fathers were no good. He could still vaguely remember the meeting with their father when they were one. It wasn’t something he’d ever shared with Percy. Especially now that Theo was mostly convinced that he’d imagined it. But it hadn’t exactly done their father any favors in Theo’s mind. What with him somehow sneaking in without their mom there, and never once visiting them again.

Despite the negative traits that Theo suspected their father held, Sally never had anything bad to say about the man.

In fact, she had very little to say about him at all.

“He was kind,” she told them. Then continued with some form of what she always said. “Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You both have his black hair, you know, and his eyes.”

She grabbed a blue jellybean out of the bag they were all snacking on. “I wish he could see you two. He would be so proud.”

Percy looked so doubtful at that statement, it caused Theo’s chest to constrict. He could read his twin better than he could read books—what with the dyslexia and all—and he could tell that Percy was thinking that their father wouldn’t be proud of him. Maybe Theo, but Percy truly believed that there was nothing about himself to be proud of.

Theo wanted to say something, but what could he say? To call Percy out for feeling inferior would likely only make the situation worse, not better.

“How old were we?” Percy asked a new question. “I mean. . . when he left?”

“He was only with me for one summer Percy. Right here on this beach. This cabin.” Sally stared at the flames.

“But. . . he knew us as babies.” Percy argued in confusion.

A pitiful spark of hope ignited in Theo.

Did Percy remember that moment with their father too? If he did, that had to mean that Theo hadn’t made it up, right?

“No, honey. He knew I was expecting you two, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born.”

Percy’s eyebrows furrowed. As if it didn’t add up with what he knew to be true. Which only made the hope in Theo grow.

Theo was about to speak up with his own, likely much clearer memory. But before he had a chance, Percy changed the subject. He turned towards Sally with complex green eyes.

“Are you going to split us up and send us away again?” he asked her. “To more boarding schools?”

Sally pulled a marshmallow out of the fire, inspecting it like it was the most interesting thing the world. Effectively avoiding both of their eyes on her.

“I don’t know, honey.” She answered in a heavy voice. “I think. . . I think we’ll have to do something.”

“Because you don’t want us around?”

Theo was about to protest in defense of their mother, but she beat him to it.

“Oh, Percy no.” She glanced at Theo and took both of their hands on either side of her. “_I—I have to, boys. For your own good. I have to send you away.”

“Because we’re not normal,” Percy said, like it was a done and decided thing.

And, well he wasn’t wrong. In a weird way, Theo was just glad to be included. He didn’t feel normal.

“You said that as if it’s a bad thing, Percy.” Sally argued in a very mom-like fashion. “But you don’t realize how important you are. I thought your schools this year would be far enough away. I thought you two would finally be safe.”

“Safe from what?” Theo and Percy asked at the same time.

Theo suddenly found himself thinking of the other nighttime visitor he could remember from his time as an infant. That woman had been just as strange if not stranger than their father. She had assured Sally that she was no threat. As if Sally had a good reason to assume such a thing.

All this time Theo had believed that the strange lady was a random weirdo who’d broken into their apartment in the middle of the night.

But perhaps it was part of this specific threat that Sally thought might come for the boys.

Theo shook his head just slightly. That seemed too far fetched.

Why would anyone want to hurt them? They were just two random kids in the biggest city in the country.

Sally looked between the two of them, long and hard.

Percy seemed to be realizing something.

Theo tried his best to catch up.

Maybe it wasn’t far fetched?

But close to nothing weird in Theo’s or Percy’s life could be blamed on a person or even persons with a vendetta. It was all too random. Like Percy being at the aquarium when it flooded. There was no way a child could cause such a thing. There was simply  no way that someone could be responsible for all the crazy things that had happened to them over the years. There was no way all of those strange things could even be related to one another. They shared no logical pattern as far as Theo could work out.

“I’ve tried to keep you as close to me as I could,” Sally went on. Her voice was tight. “They told me that was a mistake. But there’s only one other option. The place your father wanted to send both of you. And I just. . . I just can’t stand to do it.”

“Our father had a school in mind for us?” Theo was disbelieving.

Absent fathers didn’t care about schools. At least not in any way that actually mattered.

“Not a school. A summer camp.”

“A summer camp?” Theo repeated.

Frustration began to rise in him at the lack of clarification.

What hadn’t their mother told them?

What sort of summer camp was so bad that she’d balk at sending them?

That’s when it hit Theo. He shared a look with Percy.

If their mom started sending them to summer camp on top of boarding school, they’d practically never see her at all.

“I’m sorry,” Sally caught their look. “But I can’t talk about it. I—I couldn’t send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to both of you for good.”

“What?!” Theo exclaimed. “What kind of camp is this?”

“For good?” Percy said in the same tone, at the same time. “If it’s just a summer camp?”

Sally turned back to stare at the flames. And it was clear that there would be no more discussion on the subject that night. Percy and Theo keep exchanging looks, neither of them willing to push further. Both for the chance she might change her mind, and because they knew how much she already had to put up with.

The last thing they wanted was to make things harder for her.

***

Theo couldn’t sleep that night. Percy passed out in the bed next to him, but he twitched occasionally like his dreams were exciting. Both of them often had very vivid dreams. Though Percy always had an easier time sleeping than Theo.

Theo tried to count the waves and did his best to lull himself to sleep. His eyes closed.

It was his personal belief that if he was in bed, with his eyes closed, then it counted as rest enough.

Their conversation with Sally was playing on repeat in his mind as he tried to figure out what she could possibly mean. He couldn’t think of anything else, and knowing his ADHD, it wasn’t likely he’d be able to let it go anytime so.

It didn’t help that he was already stressed about the possibility he might be crazy. So, this hit almost a little too close too home.

It began to storm at some point. The wind picked up enough for Theo to hear it slam sand against the cabin. Theo opened his eyes as he realized just how quickly the storm had hit. It seemed strange. The night had been clear earlier.

Something was restless inside of him.

He turned to see Percy’s eyes open as well.

Thunder boomed over the sea, loud enough for Theo to feel it in his chest. With the next thunderclap, Sally sat up from where she was sleeping on the couch.

“Hurricane,” she said.

Theo was inclined to agree. He could feel the wind pick up as much as he could hear it. It rustled the strange feeling inside of him like a tree in the storm. Then there was a different noise. Like the sound of hooves on the sand. A moment later there was a voice calling out and pounding on the door.

Sally was up and in her bathrobe in a moment. She rushed to the door and threw open the lock. There in the doorway was a boy around Theo and Percy’s age. For some strange reason, Theo suddenly found himself reminded of Sam. He blamed it on their shared curly hair that was voluminous enough for it to be obvious even in the boy’s shadow. It was dark, but he could see there was something off about the boy.

“Searching all night,” he gasped. “What were you thinking?”

Sally turned to Percy, her eyes wide with terror. Theo turned to him too, and saw that his brother very obviously recognized this newcomer.

“Percy, what happened at school? What didn’t you tell me?” Sally had to yell to be heard above the rain.

Theo suddenly thought about his own secret. He’d been so distracted by it that he hadn’t noticed his twin had been holding something back as well.

“It was both of them, actually.” The new boy corrected. “Sam and I agreed that I would handle it, and he would meet us a camp. But then Percy disappeared and—”

Percy didn’t react to any of it. For some strange reason, his eyes were locked on the boy’s legs, horrified. Theo couldn’t bring himself to look, as if something were blocking him.

“Who even are you?” Theo demanded. His already racing heartbeat had gotten even faster at the sound of his former roommate’s name. “How do you know Sam?”

“I’m Grover,” the boy informed him. “And you’re Theo and—We need to go! Now! It’s right behind me! Didn’t you two tell your mom what happened? Or at least each other?”

Finally, Percy looked away from Grover’s legs, to lock gazes with Theo. The twins didn’t have to say a word. They might not have the specifics, but just from each other’s eyes, it was clear they’d gone through the same thing.

“I thought I was crazy,” Theo said softly. Not loud enough to be heard over the storm.

“Boys!” Sally yelled in a tone that she’d never used with them before. “Tell me now!”

Percy stuttered out something about old ladies and fruit stands. Then he gave a familiar account of what happened with Theo, but with his pre-algebra teacher Mrs. Dodds and a museum. Sally grew pale.

“When was this?” Theo asked.

“Sometime this spring.”

“The same day it happened it to you,” Grover spoke over Percy.

“Explain.” Sally demanded Theo.

Theo went into his own panicked explanation of what had happened with Ms. M. He hadn’t seen any old ladies, but what Percy had said sent a chill up his spine.

Sally was already moving before he was done. She grabbed her purse and tossed both boys their rain jackets. “Get to the car. Now.”

Grover ran for the Camaro, and Theo finally saw why Percy had been staring. He paused, but Percy quickly grabbed his hand and forced him forward.

Percy’s friend was half goat.

And he walked just the same way as Sam.

Did that mean that Sam was. . . a satyr too?

A satyr. That was what it was called, right?

If Percy and Sally weren’t just as freaked out as Theo, he really would think he’d gone absolutely up the wall bonkers. Even as it was, he still wasn’t completely certain of his own sanity.

***

The car ride was a blur of half explanations between Percy and Theo trying not to have full out panic attacks at the sight of Grover’s goat half. Sally drove like a race-car driver. The storm was so bad that the road in front of them was barley visible. But she was undeterred.

Theo learned that Grover was in fact a satyr, that Percy’s history teacher apparently taught him Greek Myths for fun—Theo was jealous, he’d had to read the Odyssey and Iliad in his advanced English class, then write papers all through the process—and that Percy seeing the old ladies about to the cut string likely meant that Per—someone might die.

Then in a moment the car flipped, rolling with a noise akin to an explosion. Grover was shoved sideways from his spot in the middle of the backseat, into Theo. Which in turn sent Theo’s head into the window.

His skull bounced against the glass with a sickening crunch and his head rang.

For a moment all he could see was white.

Slowly, he became aware that they’d stopped. Percy was yelling.

“Mom! Theo’s bleeding!”

Theo swayed in seat as he tried to straighten. The world felt crooked. He lifted hand to his head, and it came back completely covered in red. His vision was swimming too much to tell what was blur and what was actually blood. But the feeling of warmth on his hand felt all encompassing.

“How unlucky.” Theo muttered to himself. His words slurred so much that he wasn’t even sure what he was trying to say.

He tried to keep up with what was happening. The sound of his family’s voices was distant and almost staticky. Like it came from a radio in another room.

Percy and Sally were shouting over the rain. Sally gave Percy orders to get his brother and run to the valley. Theo was too distracted by the pain in his skull, along with the ringing, and his vision that he didn’t catch most of it.

Next thing he knew, he was being pulled from the Camero and into the rain.

The water on his skin felt like blessed relief. It centered him just enough to walk on his own, so that Percy and Sally could carry Grover. He stumbled a great deal more than usual, but the further they got, the easier it seemed.

Up until he turned and caught a glimpse of what exactly was coming for them. A man with a large, realistic bull mask on. No. That wasn’t right. The head of the bull was very, very real. It was what could only be the Minotaur. That got his nausea going twice over and he tripped over his feet to fall straight into the mud.

His head slapped against the earth. It began to ring once more. Just in time for the beast to charge. It bypassed him by an inch. Theo lifted his head and through his spinning vision, he saw Percy and Sally jump out of the way at the last second.

“Theo!” Sally immediately helped him up.

“I’m okay,” he tried to assure her. It came out mostly gibberish.

“Percy take your brother and get to the valley. Go get help.”

“No. Mom, you and Grover—”

“He’s not after us, he’s after you two.” Sally was firm. She passed Theo over to his twin, who supported him with ease. “Go, Percy!”

Then they were moving. Theo managed to get his footing eventually. Every drop of rain that hit him seemed to wake him up more and more. Though his body still struggled to keep up. Percy had to drag him by the hand as they ran.

Percy glanced back, and they stopped at the top of the hill under a tall pine tree.

Theo attempted to catch his breath. The tree blocked most of the rain, and he longed for the fresh feeling on his skin. He stumbled, bent over himself, with his side pressed up against the trunk to keep himself upright. The awful smell of pure pine sap hit his nose, and he knew that he’d never be able to get it out of his coat.

It took him a moment to see what his brother was looking at. But Theo’s vision cleared up just in time. When Theo saw it, his stomach dropped.

The monster had not followed them, but had instead gone for Sally and Grover. Just as their mom just said that he wouldn’t. He didn’t let Sally sidestep this time. He reached out with one ginormous hand and caught her around the neck.

“No!” Theo and Percy yelled at the same time.

It was too late.

Sally burst into a shower of golden light.

Shock made Theo numb.

He barely realized when he fell again. Only made conscious of it by the wet earth under him as it soaked his pants. His torso still propped upright by the solid, unmoving tree.

Percy was already halfway down the hill by the time Theo caught onto his twin’s movement.

“No.” Theo repeated, much more quietly. He struggled to see clearly as Percy faced off against the mythical beast. He willed his body to move, but it had lost the ability to listen to his wills. “No.”

The Minotaur charged, his arms outstretched to catch any attempts at dodging. Percy didn’t sidestep. He was smarter. He went the only other direction available.

Up.

Percy held onto the back of the bull-man without a moment of hesitation. With a flash of lightening, Theo watched Percy rip the monster’s horn clean off.

He was thrown from the Minotaur’s back, only to roll in a blur of movement and land in a kneeling position with the horn up just as the monster lunged.

It lodged itself into the Minotaur’s side.

Just like Ms. M—and Mrs. Dodds, according to Percy’s brief account of his fight—the beast transformed into gold dust. The wind picked up the remains and, in a moment, the entire form had vanished into the storm.

Theo had just enough brain power to note how different it had looked from what happened to their mom. Then he fell back.

Laying down was a relief he couldn’t enjoy.

The storm in his chest echoed the one that raged all around. 

The tree branches above him spun. There were needles poking his back where the clothes had ridden up to expose his skin. The sting of their stab was counteracted by the cool mud. All he could smell was pine.

“Theo,” Percy fell to his knees by his twin’s side. “We have to go. I need you to get up.”

Theo wanted to. He really did. Hell, he wanted to say something to his twin. Anything. But his eyes rolled as his mouth opened.

Percy took a deep breath, and dragged him to his feet.

As the rain hit them, Theo fought with all his might to stay conscious. But he lost that battle quickly. The last thing he remembered was the warmth of his twin, and the pain of loss sharper than the ache in his head.

***

Part of the reason that Theo struggled to sleep, was because he knew what sort of dreams awaited him. His dreams were vivid and often terrifying. Most often with the great expanse of a world lit by a distant, glowing kingdom, and a river raging beside him that begged him to jump in.

That wasn’t the case for the dream when he lost consciousness in the storm. Though it was just as haunting.

He was sitting on the subway. It must’ve been a strange day, because for some reason, the car around him was empty. Then at the first stop, three old ladies got on. Despite the entirely open seating, they sat directly across from him. Their withered, wrinkled hands pulled out a strand of yarn from the wicker basket in the middle one’s lap. One of them stretched it out taught. Another pulled out a pair of large pair of metal scissors and opened them wide.

Theo’s stomach was heavy.

“Don’t worry about them.” A girl said from beside him.

He turned away, and didn’t see them cut it, but could assume that they did. After all, they’d had the scissors posed just above the yarn. Though he didn’t hear it. Which he found strange.

He was very quickly distracted by the girl next to him. She was maybe a little older than him. Her short black hair was gelled up, and her clothing was undeniably punk. With a long black jacket, fingerless gloves, chipped black nail polish, and an old pair of doc martins laced up tight over her red and black pants covered in pockets.

Her eyes were a shocking electric blue.  “They think they know everything. But the future’s not set in stone. Not yet.”

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?” the girl threw back at him.

He didn’t know what to say.

“You’re very lucky, you know,” the girl said like an accusation.

Across from them, a chilling, raspy voice spoke no louder than a whisper, yet it echoed through his mind like his head against the car window. It came from all three of the women, but spoke with one voice.

“Luck goes both ways.”

“We make our own luck,” the girl argued. She crossed her arms and lounged further into the subway seat with her boots stretched out in front of her. “Never listen to what other people tell you should happen, how things should be. It’s all just a bunch of Minotaur shit. Trust me.”

And for some reason, Theo did.

***

Theo woke in a room split down the middle like a hospital. His head ached, but nothing like before. More like when he didn’t drink enough water. In the corner of the room, by the door like he was guarding the escape route, stood a familiar man.

For a moment Theo didn’t question it.

As usual, Theo tried his best to keep his locked on the security guard’s eyes and not on the markings all over his skin that was rumored to be some sort of skin condition.

“Mr. August?” Theo’s voice was scratchy, and he had to clear it before continuing. His mind began to catch up to himself. “What’re you doing here? Where am I?”

This wasn’t the Hamilton Boarding School. He knew that he’d hadn’t dreamed everything with the car and the Minotaur. It was too real.

Right?

Yes.

He’d been in the infirmary at school. Many times. And that was certainly not where he was.

He kept his eyes locked on Mr. August in front of him. Terrified of what it might meant that he was there.

Had Theo been kidnapped?

Where was Percy?

He pushed himself to more of seated position, and winced at the wave of nausea it sent through him. Mr. August held out a hand as if to say don’t move. Then he smiled and stepped out of the room.

No one had ever heard the strange security guard talk. Some people had said he must be some kind of serial killer, but Theo had always defended him. He couldn’t help but wonder if that had been a mistake. Perhaps he’d endeared the man to him so much that Mr. August had taken him when he found Theo vulnerable.

 “Percy,” Theo muttered to himself.

He pushed passed the pain and forced himself to his feet. For a moment, the ground swayed under him. The ache in his head sharpened. But as soon as he managed to get his sea legs, he stepped forward and yanked the curtain back.

There, in an identical bed, laid Percy.

Theo nearly fell as relief rolled over him. He managed to stumble forward and seat himself on the side of his twin’s bed. Though his vision was still a bit blurred, he determined that Percy seemed unharmed. He was just very, very asleep. Probably exhausted after everything that had happened.

Theo felt a bit useless.

He should’ve done something, anything to help. But he’d just laid there and watched as his brother destroyed the enemy of Theo’s mythological counterpart.

The monster that had killed their mother.

He still couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it.

Adrenaline shot through him as the door opened again. He snapped to alert, and tried to ignore the way it caused the pain in his head to amplify again.

He was slammed into by a familiar form. And another stab went through his head at the movement.

“Bwaaa-Theo,” Sam belted. “I’m so sorry! I should’ve never let Grover bring you guys back on his own!”

Theo spat out some of Sam’s bushy blond hair before he spoke. “Sam, what’s going on?”

Sam pulled away, looking increasingly alarmed. “Do you not remember?! Did you lose your memory?”

“No,” Theo snapped. Then sighed and tried to center himself at the hurt on Sam’s face. He might not be particularly close to the boy, but Sam had never done anything bad to him. “I just—My mom. . .”

“I’m so sorry Theo,” Sam now looked hurt for a different reason. His big eyes filled with tears. This time, when he hugged him, Theo let himself be comforted, if only a bit. “You and your brother are safe now. No monsters can get you in here.”

Theo didn’t respond. His mind stuck replaying his mother as she exploded into a shower of light.

***

Mr. August brought back a glass of a strange, golden liquid. When Theo was finally convinced to sip at it, he was shocked to find himself filled with warmth like he was sitting in the sun. It tasted of the bagels that they sold a few blocks away from his apartment. The ones that he always craved when he was away at school. With cream cheese, tomato, basil, salt, and pepper.

“Don’t drink it too—” Sam attempted to protest, but Theo had already finished the drink.

“Can I have more?” Theo asked eagerly. He felt better than ever. His head no longer ached more than a tingle, and when he moved, it only got the smallest bit worse. He felt as if his insides were glowing like a bioluminescent jelly fish. “What was that stuff?”

“Ambrosia of the gods,” Sam explained, looking slightly wishful. “In small doses, it can heal you, but too much would burn you up.”

“Oh.” The warmth in Theo didn’t feel so comforting anymore.

“What did it taste like?” Sam asked.

“You’ve never had it?” Theo asked. It seemed like Sam knew a lot about theses things, so it was strange for him not to have tried such a delicious thing.

Sam shook his head. “It’s not for Satyrs. Only gods and demigods can reap its benefits”

What the fuck did that mean?

Then Sam’s earlier words really sunk in. Ambrosia of the gods.

“What?” Theo asked, trying to encompass so much confusion into a single word. “Where are we Sam?”

“You’re at camp.” Sam told him. “Welcome, to Camp Half-Blood.”

***

Theo didn’t understand how to play pinochle. Even after it had been very, very briefly explained to him by a man who called himself Mr. D. He sat across the table from Theo, his beady eyes on his cards, and his face flushed red like he was drunk. Which, Theo was fairly certain he was. In the corner. Mr. August stood in the same pose he always seemed to be in. Like a solider waiting for command. Grover hovered over Sam, seeming anxious, but otherwise unharmed. The last pinochle player was a kind looking man with a beard and a wheelchair, who had introduced himself as Chiron, before declaring that the orientation video wouldn’t be quite appropriate. Which was how they ended playing the unfamiliar card game in the first place.

“I’m so confused,” Theo muttered to himself in frustration.

“As I would expect you to be, Theo.” Chiron said in a reassuring way. “It is not everyday that your entire idea of the universe gets turned upside down. With such great loss attached as well.”

Theo’s eyes prickled, but he pushed passed it as best as he could. “Will you just tell me what the fuck is going on already?”

“Language,” Chiron chided.

Mr. D snorted, clearly amused at Theo’s cursing. Though it faded quickly. They’d only met a few minutes ago, and it seemed that the guy already deeply disliked Theo for some reason.

“You see Theo, how well do you know Greek Myths?” Chiron asked him.

“I’ve read the Iliad and the Odyssey for class,” Theo offered. English wasn’t his strongest subject, but he had enjoyed the little that he understood from the epic poems. “And mom would sometimes tell us bed time stories about heroes. But that’s about it. What does that have to do with anything?”

He had a sinking feeling that he already knew the answer. After all, he had just seen the Minotaur.

“Well, what if I were to tell you that every single one of them was true?”

Theo just stared at him. Part of him wanted to laugh, while another wanted to scream that the stranger was crazy and run as far he could.

But he knew better.

Theo knew, deep in his gut that Chiron spoke the truth.

After a few moments of silence, the only noise was the two satyrs’ nervously chewing on a tin can, a girl burst into the room. She was Theo and Percy’s age, with blonde hair up in a high ponytail. She wore a bright orange shirt that Theo just realized matched the ones the satyrs wore.

“He’s awake!” the girl declared. Then she stopped herself short and studied him with a crease between her eyes. “Wait, which one are you?”

Theo sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and lamented the fact that he’d hadn’t gotten a hair cut recently, which made it so that his and Percy’s hair was around the same length. It was going to be a pain to meet a whole bunch of new people who would have no easy way to tell the difference between them.

“Annabeth, this is Theo. His brother, Percy, was the slayer of the Minotaur.” Chiron said. Theo had recapped what he could remember when he first got to the table.

“Oh,” Annabeth was noticeably disappointed at this. “So, the interesting one is still asleep.”

“Now, Ann—” Chiron attempted to scold. But Theo cut him off.

Theo glared at her. “Sorry to disappoint. Next time I’ll be sure to stay knocked out longer.”

Annabeth curled her lip slightly and looked ready for a fight. This time Chiron didn’t let himself get interrupted.

“Annabeth, please go down to Cabin Eleven and let Luke know to prep for a new camper.”

The new girl looked about ready to protest, but at Chiron’s stern look, she turned and jogged down the hill, grumbling the whole way.

“So, if all the Greek Myths are real,” Theo thought out loud rather than dwell on the rude girl. “Then why are the monsters suddenly coming after us?”

“They’ve always been after you my boy, but there comes a time for most demigods where the monster attacks intensify. And that is why we are here, to train and prepare you to better defend yourself.”

“Right,” Theo drew the word out. “But the word demigod. It implies that me and Percy, that we’re. . .”

He didn’t want to say it.

“Children of a god?” Mr. D finished for him with a raised eyebrow. “Yes. I would know, as I am one. A god that is.”

This didn’t exactly surprise Theo. He’d already started to figure out who Mr. D was. If the leopard print shirt, vaguely drunk attitude, and the strange way that the satyrs kept glancing at him was anything to go off of.

“You’re Dionysus.” Theo said before he could help himself. “God of wine and festivities.”

“You should be careful throwing around names,” Dionysus warned. Though he was clearly at least a bit pleased to be recognized.

“Sorry,” Theo apologized compulsively. “But, who is our dad then?”

“That remains to be seen.” Chiron told him. “For the time being, we will wait and hope that a sign appears. Some half-bloods are claimed by their godly parent.”

That didn’t make it sound especially probable.

***

As it turned out, not only was Mr. D, Dionysus. And Chiron the actually mythological figure by the same name. But Mr. August was actually Argus. The man that had a hundred eyes and was assigned by Hera to watch over one of her husbands many mistresses. He’d been sent to Theo’s school to keep an eye on him—pun not acknowledged—since Chiron had been watching Percy.

Theo forced himself to look closer, and his stomach sank as he saw that the security guard’s skin condition truly was hundreds of eyes all over him.

If he still had any denial left once he saw this, it vanished when Chiron stood from his wheelchair.

After Theo got over his shook of seeing Chiron go from man to full centaur, he was led down the hill to the camp proper. Theo tried not to think too hard about the lava that seemed to be coming from a rock-climbing wall, or the way that girls waved at him from under the lake surface where they were weaving baskets with no care for air.

He felt a bit like he was dreaming, though he knew he wasn’t.

The cabins were laid out in a horseshoe formation. With the far ones being large marble temples, and all the others like a mismatched holiday village with houses all from different sets and holidays. Chiron led Theo to the cabin that looked most ‘normal’ if anything at the camp could be called such a thing.

The centaur stayed at the doorway. Inside everyone stopped what they were doing, and turned as the door opened.

Theo wished he could disappear.

Everyone stood and bowed.

“Alright Theo, I will leave you now. I must track down Annabeth. Luke, I trust you can help Theo here get himself settled and his schedule mapped out?”

“Yes sir,” a blond boy agreed. He looked friendly enough, if a bit preppy appearing simply due to his genetics. Like he would fit in well at Hamilton. But he had a large scar that stretched from the corner of one eye and down his cheek. “We’ll take care of him.”

“Very good.” Chiron nodded. “I will see you a supper, Theo.”

“Wait, what about Percy?” Theo asked.

Chiron gave him a gentle smile. “I will fetch you as soon as stirs.”

“Thank you, sir.”

***

Once Chiron was gone, all eyes turned onto Theo. Theo shifted from foot to foot. His chest was  tight and his head still ached ever so slightly.

“Are you the one that defeated the Minotaur?” one of the crowd asked.

Theo shook his head, his cheeks burning. “That was my brother.”

“Oh.” The kid said in clear disappointment. The crowd on the same wavelength.

“Regular or undetermined?” Another asked.

“What do you mean?” Theo asked.

“Is Hermes your dad?” yet another kid answered.

“Not that I know of,” Theo said, uncertainly.

That basically made a majority of the crowd lose interest. Luke stepped forward, and gave Theo a friendly smile.

“Ignore them. It’s nice to meet you Theo. Welcome to the Cabin of Hermes, patron of travelers. We’re happy to house you as long as needed.”

“Right,” Theo took the hand Luke extended and shook it. “Thank you.”

“I’ll show you where you can sleep.”

Luke led him to a small part of the floor, with a pillow haphazardly thrown onto it. It wasn’t much—it really wasn’t—but it was something. Without Sally, there was no way that Gabe would let them live with him, nor would they want to.

Theo happily took a small spot on the floor over nothing.

“Thank you,” Theo said evenly. He didn’t have anything to set down to claim the spot. So, he just turned back to Luke. “What do I do now?”

Luke’s look was empathic. His blue eyes were a few shades lighter than Sally’s had been, but not nearly as shocking as the girl in Theo’s dream. He had his blond hair cut short. His muscles defined subtly on his arms, exposed where his camp shirt sleeves were cut off at the shoulders to make a tank.

He was attractive. A few years older than Theo, probably about 17 or so.

Theo found himself unconsciously moving his eyes away. He was still blushing from all the attention, and he hoped that Luke blamed anything he noticed on that.

“Hey,” Luke clapped him on his shoulder. Theo’s gaze automatically meeting Luke’s again at the action. “It’s going to be okay. You’re safe here. I’ll show you around and go through your schedule for the next few days. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good,” Theo nodded. Exhausted and restless at the same time.

He probably would’ve agreed with almost anything Luke had said at that point. It was the only direction he had.

He followed the other boy out of the cabin. For the next two days—including that first one—Theo found himself glued to Luke’s side as they tried to determine who his godly parent could be. It was obviously not Dionysus, and Hephaestus was ruled out basically immediately when Theo managed to set himself—and half of the forge—on fire. He was a good runner, but nothing like the dryads who helped Luke instruct him.

He felt like he was running out of options, and quick.

On that second night, he sat in the darkness behind the Hermes cabin. The curfew harpies would be by soon, but he would move before that, then go back when they had passed on if he was able.

Perhaps it was because Percy had not woken, that now Theo could not sleep. His twin was stealing all of the unconscious.

Theo froze when there was a sound at the window. Slowly, it slid open, and out jumped Luke. He didn’t see Theo at first, and made like he was about to take off into the woods. No level of stealth should’ve hidden Theo from Luke. After all, he was barely a foot away. Yet Luke looked around and then took off into the forest with no sign that he’d seen Theo at all.

Theo didn’t follow him. Though part of him was begging to.

After all, Luke had been at the camp for years, and Theo was just some new kid. Who knew what the older kids got up to? The last thing that Theo wanted to do was walk into Luke getting frisky with some girl in the woods.

He crawled into the window Luke had left from, and found his tiny spot on the floor. It was certainly a test of skill to sneak over so many sleeping children, but Theo managed. He curled up, and prayed to whoever was listening that no dream came to him that night.

But he couldn’t seem to find his good luck.

***

He dreamed of tunnels. A dream he’d had before, though never this intense. He ran through them, searching for something. A way out. Someone other than himself. Anything. But all he could find was more turns. More crossroads. More tunnels. In his hand was a sword. It’s glow was the only light.

It was so cold that it made it hard to keep running, but he insisted to himself that he would warm up with the movement. His footsteps and panicked breaths echoed in the hallways like a stampede.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he saw a new light. He rushed towards it.

Only to find a light-bulb. that swung like his very footsteps had caused the tunnels to shake.

All it illuminated was a dead end.

He screamed and fell to his knees, banging his fists bloody against the wall until the dream changed.

***

Theo found himself in the underworld. Before recently, he’d never known how to name this dim, lifeless place. But now, he knew exactly what it was.

The underworld. The realm of the dead.

Next to him, the river rushed by. It’s milky appearance told Theo it was the river Lethe. And now, after twelve years of confusion, he finally understood what exactly it was that he’d done. Luke had told him a lot about the gods and answered all of Theo’s questions. Which had expanded his knowledge of the stories tenfold. Both a blessing and a curse.

He thought of his sisters. The ones he’d saved. The ones he’d left behind.

They were not supposed to still be there. In his memories. He shouldn’t have jumped over the river. Even now, he wasn’t entirely certain why he had.

In the rushing waters he seemed to see his thoughts as they passed through and became memories. He was leaning forward, closer, trying to make sense of it all.

Lucky.

But had it been bad or good luck to be born with his memories intact? To be born the son of a god.

Suddenly, he lifted his head. He stared across the expanse, and as if responding to his will, his vision zoomed forward until he could see a man pushing a boulder up a hill. Then, in a moment he was that man. Punished for his crimes against Hades. Fated to eternally push a boulder up a mountain side.

Theo pushed, trying to plant his feet. But the boulder was too heavy. It fell onto him with impossible force. Knocking the breath out of him before he even had a chance to scream for help.

***

He woke with a gasp.

“You okay?” Luke asked him, knelt down next to Theo and his pillow on the floor.

The cabin was mostly empty. The few other camper left glanced over, but didn’t linger. They’d all pretty much decided what Annabeth had already declared. He was the less interesting twin. Everyone was just waiting for Percy to wake up. Theo included.

“Yeah just—”

“Nightmare?” Luke finished for him with a shadow falling over his face. “We all get them. It’s a just another demigod thing.”

He sounded particularly bitter about this fact. His mood briefly darker than Theo had ever seen it. Not that it was saying much, since he'd only knew the older boy for two days.

Outside, the sun was already blasting down the summer sun. The cabin already getting muggy.

“What time is it?” Theo asked.

“I let you sleep in,” Luke said, rubbing the back of his neck. “You seemed like you needed it. I know you haven’t been sleeping well.”

Theo didn’t respond to that. It almost made it sound like Luke knew that Theo had been outside last night. But it was still impossible to know if he’d seen Theo or not.

Not that it probably mattered either way.

“Thanks,” Theo accepted the hand that Luke offered him to help him to his feet.

“There’s a reason I woke you,” Luke told him. “Chiron asked me to grab you. Your brother’s waking up.”

Chapter Text

Theo ran into Annabeth on the way up to see Percy. He’d been back to the sick room a couple of times to see his twin since he himself had woken a few days ago. Both times, the blonde girl had already been at his brother’s side. Like a bitter nurse that was impatient for her charge to awaken. Though Theo didn’t understand why. She mostly just ignored him and left without saying much. This time was no different. As they ran up the hill together, they didn’t say a word.

Theo wanted desperately to ask what her obsession was with his brother. But part of him was scared that it would turn out to be a crush, and then she would likely just hate him more for embarrassing her.

Girls their age were so finicky.

Percy was already most of the way through the camp’s explanation of all things god-like by the time Theo and Annabeth arrived. Theo’s chest throbbed when he caught sight of his twin. He slowed down before Annabeth did, and let her take the lead. She marched up to the table with no hesitation. Her eyes were locked on Percy, but there was no blush or hint of being flustered. Just intensity. As if he held answers to questions that she’d long awaited the answer to.

So not a crush then.

Not that there was much she could see that would make a difference between the twins. At this point Percy had only been awake for a few minutes, and she’d barely talked to Theo. Which meant that any contrasts she saw between them came from her imagination at best. They hadn’t even stood next to each other yet, so she wouldn’t be able to spot the half inch or so that Percy had on Theo.

What was it that had her so focused on Percy?

His defeat of the minotaur maybe?

“—the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there.” Chiron was in the middle of what sounded to be a rather dramatic monologue. Not dissimilar to the one he’d given to Theo a couple of days ago. “They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they’ve ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zues. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American City where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple placed. Like it or not—and believe me, plenty of people weren’t fond of Rome, either—America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here.”

Percy blinked, shellshocked. His cards were forgotten in his hands as he stared at the centaur, wide-eyed. “Who are you, Chiron? Who. . . who am I?”

“Who are you?” Chiron turned his chair to smile at both Theo and Percy at once. “Well, that’s the question we all want answered, isn’t it? But for now, we should get you a bunk next to your brother in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s’mores tonight, and I simply adore chocolate.”

Percy turned his gaze to Theo. His twin looked for a moment like he didn’t recognize him. Theo felt the same. Suddenly there was something about Percy that he hadn’t ever seen before. An undercurrent of. . . it was hard to define. 

Power perhaps.

This is the son of a god. His mind now told him when he looked at his twin.

He wondered if Percy saw the same.

They had no time to greet each other. No time to catch up, or even hug. Chiron had already started to rise from his chair, and had garnered all of Percy’s attention as his bottom half was revealed. The twins didn’t go back to do it either. At least not yet. After a few moments for Percy to gather himself, Chiron lead them through the camp. Percy still looked like he wasn’t sure if he were dreaming. Though he got better as they got further into the tour. He and Chiron chatted, with Percy asking tons of questions as he tried to make sense of the shift in reality. Theo looked back to see the state of Annabeth, only to find that she had vanished.

“What a weird girl,” Theo muttered at they reached the cabins.

“What?” Percy asked. He fell back, to walk in stride with Theo from where he’d been matching pace with Chiron.

“Nothing,” Theo shook his head, speaking loud enough for Percy to understand this time. “How are you feeling, by the way?”

“I don’t know.” Percy’s eyes scanned the camp in front of him. “How is it?”

Theo easily understood what he meant by the vague question. It was something they often asked each other on the rare occasion that were able to talk while they were both at school.

“Not bad.” Theo answered honestly. “Cabin eleven is a little. . . cramped. But so far, everyone’s left me alone for the most part.”

Percy nodded. A bit of tension melted out of his shoulders, but not completely. They got to the larger cabins at the end center of the horseshoe layout. Percy did well as he made an unintentional game out of guessing who the cabins belonged to. Theo found his eyes drawn to cabin three. It was one he’d found himself staring at often. There was something about it that drew him in. Probably that it looked like a cabin that had been plucked straight from the beach. Not unlike the one they always rented on Montauk. Though of course, this one was fit for a god. So, it was adorned in brilliant shells, sea glass, and coral that made up mosaics on the walls.

As if he could feel the same draw as Theo did, Percy stopped in front of the cabin. Before Chiron could stop him, Percy stuck his head inside the doorway. Chiron didn’t let him look long. He put a hand on Percy’s shoulder and led him away. Theo couldn’t help but wonder what Percy could have seen to cause such a haunted look on his face.

***

“Theo, I trust you can handle your brother from here?” Chiron asked once they reached cabin eleven.

Theo, slightly taken off guard, nodded in acknowledgement more than anything. Then the centaur was off. In a repeat of what had happened before to Theo alone, the twins were left with the entire cabin staring at them. This time was different though. These kids had already started to get used to Theo, and the idea of Percy. Now, half their shock was annoyingly familiar and had nothing to do with the feat Percy had accomplished against the minotaur.

“You’re twins.” One of the younger girls spoke the thoughts of the crowd.

“Which is which?” others muttered to each other.

“This is Percy. Yes, we are twins. Yes, we are identical.” Theo introduced with a sigh and flapped a hand towards his brother next to him.

Percy waved awkwardly.

“So, you’re the one that defeated the minotaur.” An older camper—a son of Hermes that Theo couldn’t remember the name of—stated.

“. . . yeah. That’s me.” Percy eyed the crowd warily.

The two of them had naturally gravitated closer together, both slightly turned away to keep more of the crowd in view. It felt as if they were surrounded. Now, Theo knew that the instincts that caused them to do things like naturally shift to protect each other, likely stemmed from the innate battle sense gifted to them by their godly father. Whoever that may be.

“Let’s leave them alone guys.” Luke pushed to the front of the crowd.

Like always, everyone complied. Though their eyes lingered. Luke’s included. Theo could see Luke assessing Percy. Though the only reason that he even knew it was Percy was because it was obviously Theo who had spoken. If Luke were to close his eyes, and the two of them were to switch places, then he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between them in their matching camp issued outfits. Like some cruel joke, someone had put Percy in the same pair of shorts that Theo had been given. Being unable to tell the difference, obviously unnerved Luke. More so than the others.

Theo’s mind latched onto it.

Did Luke see them as a potential threat?

Why?

He couldn’t help but recall the way the older boy had snuck out the night prior. Then the way he’d talked about nightmares that morning. The guy was not nearly as harmless as he seemed when he smiled. Percy hadn’t picked up on this fact quite yet though. Theo could feel him relax slightly at Luke’s smile from where their shoulders pressed together.

“This is Luke, he’s the head counselor of the Hermes Cabin.” Theo introduced. “He’s been helping me out the last few days.”

“Helping you?” Percy asked as he shook Luke’s offered hand.

“We’ve been trying to narrow down who your godly parent might be.” Luke explained. He dropped Percy’s hand, and stuck his back in his pocket. Perfectly casual. “Nothing definitive yet. Though we can solidly presume you are not sons of Hephestus.”

Percy sent Theo a questioning look. The one Theo gave in return thankfully seemed to pass the message of how bad it had been.

“Right. Process of elimination.” Percy didn’t sound especially hopeful. “How many gods are there again?”

Theo huffed out a laugh. “Let’s not talk about it.”

“That’s what I thought.” Percy was irritated. Not at Theo, but at the situation. His humor faded like the sea before a storm. “How long do these things usually take?” he asked Luke. His eyes lingered on the cots on the floor.

Luke didn’t try to hide his wince. “It depends. Sometimes, your godly parent claims you quickly.”

He locked eyes with Theo. Already it had been days with no sign. Theo was hoping that now that Percy was awake. . . well maybe it was it was silly to think that a god would wait for them both to claim them. He could only hope. And Luke had been kind in making sure those hopes were realistic, but not crushed completely.

“Come on Percy.” Theo grabbed his twin’s arm. “I’ll show where we sleep, and then we can go see the amphitheater.”

“We just saw the amphitheater.”

“Then we’ll see it again.”

***

They did not see the amphitheater again. Well, at least not right away.  They talked on the way there, their pace slow. Theo learned that Percy was deep in denial. Even after the conversation with Luke, he hadn’t fully grasped that their father was truly a god. He was just barely about to accept it, as they passed the bathrooms. There a gaggle of kids loitered. Theo unfortunately recognized them. Percy and Theo immediately tensed as the group perked up. What Percy didn’t know was that the same group had been eyeing Theo for days. He’d stuck close to Luke and crowds during that time, and it had kept him safe.

Now that Percy was awake, the group looked even hungrier for blood. Even better, the twins were alone. The gang approached like wolves. With three of them circling behind so that there was no escape.

“Ares kids.” Theo muttered to Percy, eyeing the ones behind them.

Thankfully, Percy understood perfectly, despite any lingering denial. He took a step forward towards the head girl, and drew himself up. Theo kept back. His eyes on the kids that encircled them. There were all at least a year older, if not many years. Where Percy and Theo were lean, Ares had children that were built like tanks. Each and every one of them with a fire in their eyes that burned to cause pain and humiliation.

Theo supposed this was inevitable. But that didn’t make him happy about it.

“Look at that! Newbie, you found a clone!” Clarisse—Theo remembered her name from when Luke had told him to stay away from her specially—joked. Around them the other kids laughed as if she were the pinnacle of humor. “We have an initiation here for newbies.”

Fuck. Theo wanted to opt out. The last thing he needed was fight. They’d talked a good bit about ADHD and such on their walk, along with the idea of their godly father, but had not even touched the subject of their mother yet. Percy looked like he was thinking the same thing.

“What’s your names?” Clarisse demanded.

“I’m Percy. This is Theo. Jackson.” Percy said. “And we’re not interested in any initiations. Thanks, but no thanks.”

She smiled down at them with a deadly gleam in her eyes. “It wasn’t optional.”

Things were a bit of a blur from there. There were too many Ares kids, and only two of the Jackson twins. To their credit, the twins held their own for a surprising amount of time. Which only served to piss of their attackers more. After a brief scuffle, the bigger, mostly older kids got ahold of them and began to march them to the bathrooms. The twins began to struggle harder as they realized where they were headed.

“Since you got here first, you can go first.” Clarisse growled incorrectly to Percy as she held him and kicked in his knees, so he was forced to kneel in front of the disgusting toilet.

Theo could smell it from where he was. His arms were bruising from where two Ares boys held them behind his back. It didn’t stop him from trying to twist harder to get away.

Percy let out a laugh full of irony and scorn. But he did not correct her. Clarisse pushed down, then with a jerk flew back. Along with her, went the kids that held Theo. It took a moment for Theo to realize what happened. The blood rushed back into his lower arms. He rubbed them as he looked around and tried to make sense of what had changed.

The toilets had exploded in high pressure geysers of disgusting sewer water. It soaked the Ares cabin bullies, who mostly went screaming from the room in horror. Theo didn’t blame them. He would’ve run too. If he didn’t watch as the water turned pure and fresh, with the distinct scent not of toilet, but of the sea. By the time it died down, the bathroom floor was noticeably cleaner than before, and the water ran clear. Yet somehow the cleansing waters managed to completely miss Clarisse. Who was the only one that remained of her siblings. She panted and pushed herself to her feet. Her entire form was covered in black water that dripped onto the floor. She wiped the water from her eyes with sharp flick and curled her lip at Percy like a dog showing their teeth.

“You are so dead. Do you hear me? Dead.”

She made sure to hit her shoulder into Theo’s as she fled as quickly as her siblings, gagging as she caught a whiff of her own arm.

“Theo.” Percy was still on the floor. Around him a circle of dry concrete. “You’re not wet.”

“Neither are you.” Theo pointed out. He crossed his arms.

“What do you think it means?”

“It means that you two get to be on my team for capture the flag.”

Both boys jumped as Annabeth seemed to appear out of nowhere. She stuffed a baseball cap into the back pocket of her jeans. Her greys eyes narrowed as they switched between the twins. A furrow formed between her eyes. She was confused. Not about Percy’s crazy trick.

Theo wondered if she’d heard what Clarisse said to Percy. If she now didn’t know which was which.

“Were you here the whole time?” Percy was outraged. He stood and strode up the girl with a glare. “You could’ve done something!”

“You handled it.” Annabeth shrugged. She locked her gaze on him. “How did you do that?”

Percy shrugged. He squirmed under her intense scrutiny. “Right, well if you excuse us. . .”

This time is was Percy who dragged Theo away. Annabeth’s eyes followed them. Uncertain, and just as intense as ever.

***

Days passed without much fanfare. Percy grew more comfortable at camp, and Theo started to feel restless. He couldn’t help but feel like something was watching him. In his dreams, he wandered endless halls. Lost. With voices that seemed to call for him. Some were familiar, while others sent chills through him. But try as he might, he could not find anyone else. No exit. He wandered endlessly. Desperate. Time held no meaning. Each dream could’ve stretched on years. The only light from his sword, and the occasional green torch that floated against a wall. Finally, after beating his hands bloody against another dead end, he would wake up with a shock, Percy close beside him, and stare at the ceiling until he fell back to sleep. If he could.

At meals, he burned offerings and made the same three prayers in rotation. They came to him as if he’d done it a million times before.

A prayer that luck stay on his side.

A prayer that Percy stayed safe and healthy.

A prayer that their father didn’t forget them.

The other campers left the twins alone for the most part. Even Luke, who seemed uncertain of who to look every time he approached them. His every statement addressed to them both rather than an individual. They continued activities to try and sort out their godly parent to little success. On top of that they attended classes on mythology and other such subjects that had somehow become extremely relevant. Annabeth started to teach them Ancient Greek in the morning. Despite her attitude, she was a surprisingly competent teacher. She and Percy especially seemed to have some sort of natural chemistry. Which resulted in them fighting as much as it didn’t. Still, Annabeth was uncertain every morning as she eyed them at the start of the lesson. She needed them to tell her which of them was which in order to properly address them. Something that she never failed to do in ways that were not as subtle as she thought.

The first day, Theo thought that she would snub him as soon as she identified Percy. However, that never happened. Percy, it seemed, had in some ways disappointed her just as much as Theo had. He was not some tactical genius or perfect hero that Theo assumed she must’ve imagined Percy as before he woke up. Either that, or she realized just how identical they were and now any difference she’d created between the two in her mind had been proven untrue. She treated them both with the same amount of suspicion and fascination.

Theo almost missed it when she’d mostly ignored him.

On Thursday, Theo and Percy had their first sword fighting lesson with Luke. It was private, which the twins were grateful for. They drew enough looks without having a crowd watch them trying something for the first time. Luke was good about such things. Though sometime it was unavoidable. Such as when a crowd had formed to watch the twins win against the naiads at canoe races the day prior. Theo stepped forward first to spar with Luke. Luke instructed that he openly attack. So that the older demigod could determine where to begin the lessons.

Theo rushed forward. The sword felt awkward and unbalanced in his hand, but he was able to hold his own. A few jabs, some dodging that came as naturally as skipping, and a little twist of his sword against Luke’s. Somehow, he’d  managed to disarm a surprised Luke. The older boy was left blinking at his empty hand in shock.

“Sorry.” Theo said automatically. He was just as surprised, and scared he might’ve upset Luke.

Luke shook his head and let out a laugh. He bent to pick up his sword. “Don’t apologize. Which one are you?”

That hurt. Theo tried not to let it show. “Theo.”

“Right, Theo.” Luke was kind enough to look apologetic. He straightened and fell back into stance. “That was amazing. Do it again.”

So, he tried. This time, Luke didn’t have a smile on his face. He didn’t hold back. He knocked Theo on his ass. The look his eyes was hard, annoyed, as he stared down at Theo. Then it faded. Not away, but behind that disarming smile that Luke had down so well. A family trait. One most of his siblings shared. A mask that made it easy to trust someone. A useful trait for the god of thieves and his children. Luke helped Theo up, and gave some light feedback before switching his attention to Percy.

They left the training ground that day exhausted and sore, but satisfied none-the-less.

Friday came, and with it, Percy and Theo discovered just how seriously everyone took capture the flag. The twins were armed, covered from head to toe in mismatched, ill-fitting armor, and sent out into battle like it were truly war. Annabeth led then out into the woods. She’d been talking up her strategy all week, but Theo didn’t see her vision. Things were being kept from them. That he was sure of, and he didn’t like it.

“Why here?” Theo asked as she instructed them to stay far from everyone else.

“Just stay.” She smiled in a way that promised possible pain. Then she placed her baseball cap on her head and vanished.

Theo glared at the spot she’d disappeared from, his arms crossed.

Of course, she could like teleport or turn invisible or some shit. It explained so much. He couldn’t help but wonder how much she’d been spying on them. Trying to find those unknown answers that she seemed desperate for the twins to supply.

Everything was quiet.

The two—ADHD—twins didn’t know what to do with themselves. They spun in circles. Chatted. Finally talked about their mom. Cried. Sobered up. Sat against a log with their legs stretched out and stared at the sky.

Still, nothing.

“God, this boring.” Percy complained with a groan. “How long has it been?”

“Hours.” Theo sighed. “I don’t know. I’m just as time blind as you are.”

“Why do you think she left us here?”

“I have no idea.”

“She said she wanted us on her team. Talked about it all week.”

“She wants you on the team.” Theo argued.

“Same difference.” Percy said, spitefully. “None of them can tell the difference between us anyway.”

“I should cut my hair.” Theo offered.

“Nah.” Percy waved him off. “Don’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“I dunno.” Percy looked confused at himself. “I just feel like its safer this way.”

It felt like the forest grew silent around them. Theo felt his stomach drop slightly. If he wasn’t mistaken, even the shadows got darker. Suddenly, the blue Cherry Coke that Percy had got him addicted to decided to catch up to him.

“I’m gonna go pee real quick.” Theo motioned vaguely to the denser trees behind them.

Percy nodded, distracted as he followed suit and stood. His eyes scanned the trees like the nymphs might come out and attack at any moment. Theo made his way into the underbrush. Not far. Just out of sight in case Annabeth or anyone else appeared unexpectedly.

The stillness, the growing darkness as the sun got lower in the sky, seemed to press in on him.

He went as fast as he could. Eager to get back to Percy. He was just buttoning up his pants when a growl echoed out. The vibrations ran through him. So deep he could feel it in his chest.

“Fuck.” He cursed. Barely more than a breath.

He let his armor fall back into place.

One hand on his borrowed sword, he slowly turned away from the tree.

Not five feet in front of him, a shadow crawled out of the bushes. No, not a shadow. A massive dog with shinning, wet fangs and claws that cut into the earth like butter.

Dog felt like it was too light of a word.

“Hellhound.” Theo thought out loud.

The hound took a step forward. Drool trailing from its jaws all the way to the dirt below. Theo took a step back.

“Eeeeasy.” Theo held out a hesitant hand like trying to calm a stray. “Good doggy.”

Maybe it was nice hellhound.

Percy was yelling. Theo couldn’t hear what. He was too focused. He barely even noticed the other voices. But still he caught that someone was with his twin. Someone not friendly.

“Fuck.”

The hellhound lunged.

Theo stumbled back. He almost tripped, and became dogmeat. At the last moment, he managed to keep his footing. He got one foot in front of another.

It felt like a bit of good luck. Finally.

Or perhaps it was just reflexes.

He ran.

Faster than he’d ever run before.

The hellhound nipped at his heels.

It’s burning breath on his neck.

The underbrush crushed and tore under its massive paws. Thunderous like a truck cutting through the forest.

He thought about yelling—screaming—but he didn’t seem to have the breath to spare. It probably wouldn’t have been very useful anyway. Theo could hear kids yelling all over as they played the game. Cheers even, maybe. Any sound he might have forced out subconsciously, was lost on any close enough ears.

Theo’s chest ached. His legs burned, but adreline pushed him forward.

Death was only a step behind him.

He weaved. It was said to be good for bears, right?

It worked. By some miracle he was able to create some semblance of distance.

The hellhound was big enough that it had more trouble than him changing direction. Especially between the old trees. Theo didn’t know where he was running. He followed the tug inside him and hoped it was more than animalistic panic.

“Theo!” Percy’s voice called out as Theo broke from the tree line to a small creek.

Theo lost his footing as the ground changed from dirt to rocks. He fell to the ground. The pain he felt as his skin bruised against the stones was nothing compared to the terror that filled him. He’d somehow managed to draw his sword as he rolled to his back. But his shield was long gone. It had disappeared somewhere in the chase.

The sword didn’t help him anyway.

Pain exploded as the giant claws embedded into his chest and over his right arm. He heard a snap. His vision blurred. His arm went numb. He swallowed back his nausea. A muffle, broken noise escaped him.

Screams. Not his. He didn’t think.

“Theo!”

“What the fuck?!”

“Is that a hellhound?!”

“Chiron, do something!”

Massive jaws lowered towards his neck. Dark fur, gleaming fangs, and drool were all he could see. There was a smell worse than death. The hellhound’s breath.

Then there was sound like something snapping.

 The shadow beast exploded into a shower of golden dust.

Theo coughed as he was coated in dead monster. Something warm and wet splashed onto his face.

“Theo!” Percy screamed again. This time louder. No. Closer. He fell to his knees by Theo’s side. “No, no, this can’t be happening.”

Percy’s hands fluttered over Theo’s chest. His face was the only thing that Theo could get his eyes to focus on. It was horrified. Terrified. Desperate. There was a fresh cut on his cheek and smudged blood on his armor.

His twin was a much better final sight. A second life going out in the arms of his sibling.

Would he have earned Elysium once more? Or did Hades have a punishment waiting just for him? Would the god of the Underworld at least let him say goodbye to his mother before eternal torture?

It may have been unlikely, still he prayed that it would be the case.

“Healers!” A deep voice called. Chiron.

“Wait.” Annabeth was there. She met Percy’s death glare with no fear. “Help me lift him to the water.”

“What—no we need to—”

“Do it!” Annabeth snapped. She was already grabbing Theo’s shoulders in a surprisingly gentle grip.

He let out a gurgling groan at the agony the movement caused.

The sky above him shifted.

Then something cool came to cover his back as Annabeth and Percy lowered him into the water.

Water.

Ah yes.

Theo was starting to get it now.

The water flowed through him.

He could feel it like his own lifeforce. An extension of himself.

His mind was taken back to the sea.

The river’s current like waves in his veins.

Not metaphorically, but literally.

It cleansed him against the rocks. He was the water. His wounds washed away with all the impurities as if they’d been painted on his skin.

He could feel as his pain and suffering flowed down stream. Where it met the ocean.

Father.

His eyes opened. He was not aware he’d closed them.

Above him and Percy, a bright, sea green icon glowed. It spun in the air. Meant for the crowd on the shore.

Theo sat up.

Percy stared at him in shock from where he knelt in the stream beside Theo. The cut on his cheek had healed.

Annabeth backed out of the water to stand by Chiron. She bowed, low to her knees, along with the rest of the campers that had gathered on the beach. Theo wasn’t sure, but he was fairly certain they had all been there the whole time.

He wondered if the game was over.

So distracted by the amount of eyes on him, Theo almost forgot about the glowing thing now fading above them. Percy barely seemed to catch a glimpse of it.

“Father.” Theo remembered his epiphany from moments before.

“Our father?” Percy asked. His eyes told Theo he already knew. It just had yet to fully process.

“Poseidon.” Chiron’s voice rung out into the forest. “Earthbreaker, Stombringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perceus and Theseus Jackson. Sons of the Sea God.”

***

The next morning, Theo and Percy moved into cabin three. Chiron was quieter than usual as he led them there. The only things they had were the few supplies that Luke had stolen for Theo, and Percy’s Minotaur horn. Which they hung on the wall.

“You should’ve been the one to kill it.” Percy said, stepping back to stare at where he’d mounted it.

“Don’t joke.” Theo rolled his eyes. He tested the mattress on a bunk that he’d chosen at random.

“Your name is literally Theseus. I like, stole your battle from you.” Percy insisted.

He wandered to the other side of the room to study the mosaic on the wall. A trident made up of sea glass and naturally colored shells. It had more detail, but Theo didn’t let his eyes linger on it.

“I was half dead, and you saved my life. Our older brother can keep the minotaur glory for himself. I don’t want to be like him anyway.”

“Brother?”

Theo raised an eyebrow at twin. He could see it, when Percy got it. They’d talked about Theseus in their class on mythology at camp. All week in fact. Likely inspired by the fight that occurred, much to the twins’ annoyance. But it meant that Theo’s namesake was fresh on the mind. Which was honestly more of an unfortunate reality than anything. The original Theseus had certainly been a hero of his time. Trying to kidnap Persephone only to end up trapped next to his friend’s corpse until Hercules happened to pass by and free him.

Perhaps that was what Hades would do to Theo.

It certainly had irony. A mockery of the second life that he’d stolen.

But who did Theo have that Hades could that with?

Percy.

Fuck.

Would Hades dare to touch his brother’s children? Something told Theo that all it would take was a small spat between the immortal brothers and his uncle would be willing to just that. After all, he had right cause. Theo had messed with the rules of The Underworld.

His only destiny was eternal torture.

Percy deflated, unaware of Theo’s horrifying reality. He sat on the nearest bed, elbows on his knees. His eyes were locked on the floor. Far away. His entire form despondent.

“I can’t believe this.”

“I know.”

“How did Annabeth know to put you in the water?”

“I don’t know. Educated guess maybe? Her mother is the goddess of wisdom.”

“What do you think this means? Why is everyone acting like we suddenly smell or something?”

Theo ran a hand over his face and sighed. “Percy, I have already told you everything I know. I am no longer the person to ask.”

“Right, sorry.” Percy grew quiet.

After around a week in the Hermes Cabin, the empty, silent space around them was suffocating. Almost worse than the stares and whispers. Almost.

“So, which one of us is the counselor?”

***

“Ted is right.” Dionysus declared. He swirled his diet coke can like it was the finest wine. “The camper with the most seniority gets to be the counselor.”

“We’ve been here the same amount of time!” Percy argued.

“Watch your tone with me Peter Johnson.” Dionysus’s eyes flashed purple. The room grew cooler. “If I remember correctly, then you were unconscious for the first two days of your stay and were not technically a camper at that time. Your brother was. That is the end of the matter.”

Theo tried really hard not to gloat with his smile. Given Percy’s expression, he failed.

His smugness didn’t last long. Chiron and Mr. D got to the subject at hand. The reason they were summoned to the big house that morning. A long explanation that only got worse as it went on. About a lighting bolt and thief that everyone thought was one or both of the Jackson twins.

***

“What do you mean you refuse?” Percy demanded. “I went up to see the Oracle. I had to listen to that mummy’s weird Gabe smoke speak. If you can even call it that.  You have to come.”

“Percy.” Theo sighed. He had no real idea what Percy was talking about.  He could feel Grover and Chiron’s eyes on him. But Dionysus’s eyes felt as if they bore into his soul, bearing all secrets. “I just—this is not my quest. Okay? You have to take someone else.”

Theo couldn’t go back to the underworld. He simply couldn’t.

“Take someone else?!” Percy was practically yelling at this point. His eyes were wet and angry. “Who else is there? Who in their right mind would volunteer for a quest like this?! I went up there assuming you would join me! There is no one else!”

That was when Annabeth appeared. Her baseball cap in hand.

“I’m coming.” Annabeth declared. “I’ve been waiting for this for years. Chiron promised me a quest. I deserve this. Let me come.”

Percy stared at her. Half in shock at her sudden appearance, and half completely taken off guard by the certainty in her speech. As if it were already decided. It drained all the anger out of Percy. When he looked back to Theo, his green eyes thrashed like the rain and wind of the storm that approached the edge of camp.

 But not rage like what fueled the weather.

Fear.

Theo felt it reflect back.

He was terrified.

Terrified of going.

Terrified of not going.

What if something happened to Percy?

He would never forgive himself.

But Percy didn’t understand. He didn’t understand that Theo wouldn’t be able to help him. If he went to the underworld, there was no telling the ways in which Hades might decide to punish him. Even perhaps going as far as to sabotage the quest completely.

If he hurt Percy. . .

Theo couldn’t risk it.

It was much less likely to happen if Theo wasn’t there. Hades might actually help, as long as Theo was not involved.

He couldn’t do it.

It wasn’t worth the possible cost.

He still needed time.

He wasn’t ready to be punished.

“Theo—”

“I can’t.”

“You’re my twin.” Percy’s hand was on Theo’s arm. His voice was tight. Desperate. “I need you.”

They were close now. Percy talking only loud enough for Theo—and maybe Annabeth and you know, the god in the room—to make out clearly. Actually, who knew the hearing abilities of centaurs and satyrs. They probably all could hear him just fine.

“Please.” Percy pled. Tears had escaped. Just a few. Percy had always been good at holding back his tears. “I can’t do this without you.”

Theo only ever really cried at the sight of his brother doing the same. The things he would do to make sure that Percy was happy. He used to think that there was little to no limit on it. Now—now he’d found where he drew the line. Where his selfishness became too much.

What if Hades didn’t care that Theo wasn’t there?

What if he took Percy anyway?

Theo couldn’t bare it.

His chest hurt.

He couldn’t do it.

“I’m sorry.” Theo took a step back. “I just can’t.”

Then he was running. Percy called out behind him, but Chiron spoke out. Theo didn’t hear what. Something that must’ve been enough to keep Percy from following.

Camp was a blur as he didn’t break stride. He pushed. As desperate as Percy sounded. Only Theo was desperate to get away. To escape this new hell that his life had become. Full of godly drama, cursed births, and potentially deadly quests. It was worse than his endless nightmares of underground tunnels.  

He didn’t know where he was running until it was in sight.  

The beach.

The storm hit the camp like a hurricane warning.

The campers in sight froze as the sheets of rain washed over them.

It was not supposed to rain here. Not unless Mr. D wanted it to. And never like this.

Campers ran towards the cabins, seeking shelter. Satyrs fled to the forest with nymphs that melted back into their trees. Even the dryads that hung out on the beach were diving into the water by the time that Theo reached it. A few of the stragglers gave him curious looks, but didn’t stick around.

He collapsed on wet sand and panted into his knees as he hugged them to his chest. The rain brought to him a sort of strength. It was brought to him from the sea. He could smell it. The angry waves crashed, and the saltwater hit him like a cup of coffee. He’d landed right on the edge. The water rushed up under him and then back away. Like it could wash him away with the sand. Hands guiding him to a home he’d never known.

“Father.” He sobbed into his knees. His voice lost even to his own ears against the winds. “I’m scared. Please, I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m so scared.”

“Theo!”

Theo’s head whipped around to see a familiar blond making his way down the beach toward him. He had his hands up to shield himself from the water that pelted him from the side. His face in a tight grimace as it did little to protect him. His orange camp shirt clung to him as it was rapidly soaked.

Theo looked down at himself. He wasn’t wet in the least.

“Are you alright?” Luke asked. Screaming to be heard even as he got closer. “I saw you running. You seem upset.”

Of course Theo was upset.

Luke had no idea.

He wouldn’t be able to grasp it.

Theo hugged himself tighter.

With Luke in so much discomfort, he didn’t have much of a chance to have a mask on. At least there was that. Still, Theo couldn’t tell his intentions. There was something forced about this. As if Luke were trying to purposefully get closer to him. To create a bonding moment now that Percy wasn’t here. To capitalize off the time they’d already spent together.

Was he just a creep?

That would be sad. Theo liked his attention. Even if he didn’t know the true motivation behind it.

He really should get over that. He knew better.

He was just so tired.

“How did you know it was me?” Theo asked him.

Luke’s face scrunched in confusion. He turned his back to the sea as best he could and bent down to try and hear better. Theo repeated his question, louder.

“I guess that’s fair.” Luke laughed and rubbed at the back of his neck slightly. “I’ll admit, with the two of you next to each other it can be really hard. But I know that Percy’s still up at the Big House with Annabeth and Grover. So it had to be you.”

Theo nodded and turned back to the ocean. It made sense. Luke could probably barely even see him. It would be absurd to assume that Luke had somehow figured out how to recognize him. He didn’t miss the fact that Luke somehow knew it was Percy who had the quest. He filed it into the Luke Weirdness cookie jar that had appeared at some point in his mind.

Luke wasn’t a priority in his thoughts right now.

Theo was still very occupied.

The need to escape crawled under his skin like a thousand fire ants.

He felt trapped.

He couldn’t do it.

Theo wondered if Poseidon would be able to tell the twins apart. Poseidon was a god after all. Surely, he would have some sort of godly sight.

Did that mean he knew about what Theo had done before he was born?

Was he angry with him?

Did Poseidon resent Theo for being born his son? Did it cause him trouble?

If Theo were to dive into the waves, would his father meet him? If he were to swim to his father’s kingdom and beg him at his throne for sanctuary, would he provide it?

Or would his father cast him aside?

Luke surprised Theo by settling close enough that their shoulders pressed against each other. His knees pulled to his chest in a reflection of Theo’s position. He was shivering, and it got worse with every wave. But you could barely tell by his voice.

“It bothers you, doesn’t it?” the older demigod leaned in to speak into Theo’s ear.

“What?” Theo asked.

“That people can’t tell you and Percy apart.” Luke said, a little louder. His tone was like he already knew the answer. “It bothers you.”

Theo could feel Luke gaze on him. But didn’t turn from the water again. His eyes stuck on the angry churning of the tides.

“Wouldn’t it bother you?” Theo countered with a scoff. Once he remembered he was supposed to.

He wondered how long it would take for Luke to give in and leave him alone.

“You’re still dry, and warm.” Luke let out a small laugh, he pressed closer. Then he sobered up and went back to the subject at hand. “Yeah, it would bother me. But it’s not like the two of you go out of your way to make yourselves visibly distinct.”

Theo didn’t tell Luke that they’d been doing that exact thing for years. He didn’t point out the subtle differences between him and brother. It didn’t matter. And like Percy had said, there was some sort of advantage to it. Though Theo hadn’t been able to define it quite yet.

“Let’s go inside.” Luke said like an order. “We can’t sit out here forever. This isn't the sort of storm you’re supposed to sit though. Not even you.”

“I’m fine.” Theo insisted.

“No, you’re not.” Luke stood. He began to tug at Theo in a way that was hard to ignore. “Let’s go. If I’m out here any longer, I’ll be stuck in the infirmary with the Apollo kids making fun of me for getting a cold in the summer. Plus, I assume you have quest to prepare for?”

“I’m not going.”

“Come on—“

“On the quest.” Theo stood then, shrugging off Luke’s hands. It was pointless fighting at this point. He might as well follow. “I’m not going on the quest.”

“You’re not?” Luke was clearly a shocked as Percy had been.

“No. I’m staying here.” Theo turned from the fantasy of his father’s kingdom. “Do you think you might be willing to offer a few more sword lessons? Once a week. . . well I would prefer to have something else to keep my mind occupied. While Percy is. . .”

“We can do that.” Luke’s smile was different. Smaller. More genuine. He wrapped an arm around Theo as they began to head back towards camp. They had to stay close to hear each other, and no doubt Luke was taking advantage of Theo’s water resistance and using him as personal heater. His shivering had gotten worse. “Don’t worry. It will be just like before Percy woke up. I won’t leave you on your own here.”

“Thank you.” Theo said, so quietly that Luke didn’t seem to quite catch it.

All the same, Luke pulled him closer, in a firm half hug as they walked. As if he could tell that Theo was still crying. He probably could. After all, Theo didn’t have the excuse of his face being wet from the rain.  

***

That night, Theo had his worse nightmare to date. Though, he knew that if he’d ever verbalized it, no one would understand what had made it so bad. Only that it was the most horrifying thing he’d ever dreamed, and left him with a sense of terror that had haunted him for a long time to come.

He was in the tunnels again. Only this time they were enshrouded in smoke.

No, not smoke.

Mist.

He stood in the middle of a crossroads. Though he couldn’t see the ceiling above him, he could still somehow tell he was underground. The walls of the tunnels that lead away from him seemed to be older than others he’d been in. Bits of nature found their way through the cracks.

“Hello?” he called out. Though he wasn’t sure why.

He took a few steps in a random direction, then stopped.

No.

Something was different.

This was important.

He couldn’t mess this up.

This decision would decide everything.

“Yes. That is right. Do not decide lightly, young demigod. Your fate and the fate of others is now in your hands. But once you choose a path, your future is set in stone. What will you choose? I wonder?”

Theo didn’t startle. Somehow, in the dream way, he’d always known he wasn’t alone. Not this time.

The crossroads lit up in an eerie green glow. Illumined by floating torches that framed each of the paths in just enough light for Theo to see a few feet down them.

At first glance the paths were all identical.

His stomach dropped.

“How will I ever know the difference?” he asked. “They all look the same. I can’t tell which is which.”

“Witch indeed.” The woman chuckled. Her voice was raspy, and seemed to come from all around him. Layered in on itself as if there were three of her. “Surely, you understand the importance of even the slightest difference. Just because something looks the same, does not mean it is the same.”

“I know that.” Theo nodded. His eyes locked onto one of the paths. He wasn’t sure why. It called to him. With a voice that became less and less metaphorical the closer he got.

“Careful.” She warned from all sides.

“It’s calling me.”

“Names are powerful things, Theseus Jackson.” She reminded him. “Must you answer every time someone calls yours?”

Theo shook his head, yet still he could not tear his eyes away. He could hear it so clearly now.

It sounded like his mother.

“Theo!” she called. “Theo, come here.”

As causal as if she were calling him out of his room for dinner.

“Mom.” Theo’s voice broke.

He’d taken a step forward without meaning to.

“Yes. You may still go on the quest with your brother.” The resounding woman acknowledged. “It is not yet too late to join him. To put your mother from this life above all else and risk descending into your uncle’s kingdom. Certainly, a noble pursuit. There is still a chance that he may let you survive a while longer. All come back to him, in the end. He has learned to be patient.”

But at what cost?

Theo suddenly didn’t feel so drawn to the path.

He could still hear his mother’s voice though, which made it hard to turn away. But he forced himself to.

He could not choose that path.

“No? Three more to go then.” The goddess—Theo wasn’t sure how he knew it, but suddenly he did—was almost amused. “Not much time left, demigod.” She told him. “If you don’t choose soon, the choice will be made for you.”

The opposite path from the one with his mother also began to call out for him as he turned to it. This voice was darker, colder. On the edge of the light, he could just barely see sand. But it wasn’t beach sand. He wasn’t sure how, but he could tell. It sent something uncomfortable down his spine. The voices tone reminded him of the voice that called for him in his other dreams as he tried to escape the endless tunnels.

The one that promised relief, direction.

Yet Theo didn’t believe it. Didn’t trust it. He wasn’t sure why.

He turned away from that one as well.

“Two down then?” the goddess waved her hand, and the torches on the two tunnels he’d turn from went dark. “A shame. That one would have led to certain victory. Time is running out. Do not delay Theseus. This is your last chance.”

Theo’s heart was beating so fast. He wished that she would stop rushing him. He was still trying to understand. He didn’t know which way to go.

This was important.

He couldn’t mess it up.

On his right was the sound of the ocean. The smell of salt. Waves. Peace. His father’s kingdom.

On his left was a feeling of longing. Something he couldn’t quite describe. Not even for himself. Akin to heartbreak, yet with just enough pleasure to draw him in. No sound echoed form the tunnel. Just that ache. A vow of pain as much as something he wasn’t sure he could ever regret.

He was turning towards it before he made any conscious decision. The feeling was familiar, yet completely foreign. It intrigued as much as terrified him.

“Ah yes. The draw of Eros has never failed to create temptation.” The goddess’s voice was one. Right next to Theo’s ear. A whisper. A promise. “He will make you powerful. More powerful than you could imagine.”

Theo took a step forward.

At what cost? His brain reminded him. This emotion that had been invoked in him was not entirely pleasant. And yet. . .

Theo spotted it then. As he stepped right up to the entrance of the path in front of him. Something small that visibly distinguished the tunnel from all the rest. An item he would’ve never expected to see. Even in a dream as strange as this one. Before he could think better of it, he’d stepped past the torches and reached down to pick it up. It was wet as if it’d been left out in the rain.

A tiny, Beenie-Baby hydra. Faded and ragged.

Theo turned around. Painful shock jolted through his veins. He realized that it was much too late.

All that was behind him was the torches and a wall.

As if the crossroads and the goddess had never been there in the first place.

It was done.

There was no turning back.

He woke up sobbing. Harder than he could ever remember doing.

Percy crawled into his bed and held him like their mother used to when they were small. Percy’s tears as warm as his own as they dripped into Theo’s hair and onto his cheek.

"It'll be okay." Percy swore to him. "I'll come back. I promise. And I'm bringing mom back with me. You'll see. It'll all be okay." 

He sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as Theo.

The next day Percy left. Theo saw him off, after hearing the story of Thalia's pine tree. Luke was by his side, waving good bye to the questing trio. He'd come to give them gifts to help them on their journey. Much like his father had in the quest of the original Perseus. Only Theo wasn't so sure Luke would appreciate the comparison, so he kept it to himself. They stared after Percy, Annabeth, and Grover long after they'd disappeared from sight. Until Luke finally wrapped an arm around Theo and physically turned him away. 

"Don't worry." Luke told him. "I got you now."