Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

If Percy had thought school was a terrible experience when he was seven, it’s nothing on going to school at fourteen.

To be fair, he hasn’t actually attended mortal school in the years in between. And he never went to a rich kid’s school in the Hamptons. It was more inner city elementary school? Too many kids, not enough teachers.

This school, on the other hand… Oh, how he wishes there were more kids and less teachers. Lee’s been driving him and Clarisse to and from camp to this insane school since January. They are ‘day boarders’. It’s like being under a non-stop spotlight.

Most days, Lee gets called in early to come and pick up Percy for whatever disciplinary issue he’s triggered this time. At least at first, it was always Percy.

At this point, both him and Clarisse are equally bad with the disciplinary thing. She did make an attempt to look and dress like a nice normal mortal, but she got so frustrated with the dress code.

It wasn’t an actual uniform, just kinda colour coded with a shirt with a logo, but girls have to wear loose pants or knee-length skirts. Nothing fitted and definitely no leggings. No jeans either. The school’s extra helpful definition for this is ‘appropriately modest’.

Over five months they’ve learned; any fitted clothing is not modest when worn by a girl, any clothing that shows knee caps is not modest when worn by a girl, any clothing that allows actual full use of your legs is not modest when worn by a girl… The list goes on, and it all only applies to girls for some batshit reason.

Clarisse’s lived in workout clothes and jeans since she came to camp. She has no interest in changing clothes every time she wants to spar. Piper and Drew tried their best with the dress code, but Clarisse hated the clothes so much. And the fact she wasn’t allowed to wear her spiky ribbons.

Percy tried wearing a skirt to school in solidarity with her and promptly got sent home. That was when they realised Lee’s also spent too much time away from the mortal world, he was totally lost on the skirt thing.

He’d just figured since it was knee length it was fine like, have you ever seen actual Ancient Greek clothing? Way less gendered.

The school disagreed, vehemently.

One teacher attempted to explain to Clarisse that, “ you would find life easier if you tried to be a little more feminine.” Percy and Clarisse didn’t wait for them to call Lee that time, they left and walked back to camp by themselves.

Which actually did get them in trouble with Lee. He’s loosened up on Percy leaving the barrier, since there aren’t any gods available to act as escort, but he still wants someone with them when they travel between the school and camp.

Percy honestly doesn’t know who’s happier, Percy and Clarisse or their teachers, now that the school year is finally over and they can officially be expelled.

Clarisse certainly looks positively delighted as they walk out of their classroom for the last time.

Poor Clarisse. Even when she found the miraculous ‘appropriately modest’ clothes, she’s still repeatedly dragged into the office over him calling her War Drum. Or her calling him Prissy. What’s perfectly acceptable at a demigod camp has caused intense concern at the stupid mortal school.

Somehow, Clarisse is always the one who gets in trouble for the names, even if Percy is the one who said something. It’s not ladylike to be okay with being called War Drum. Apparently.

Percy was so very tempted to sic Aphrodite on the school after that one.

Lee’s total lack of concern over Percy’s “disturbing behaviours” caused whole new issues. Even Lee got kinda snarky after the fifth time he was called because Clarisse brought a knife to school. Or the time she found a spiky ribbon thing in the correct shade of navy blue and the school still dinged her for ‘bringing a weapon to class’.

Like, they make her happy? Why is this a problem? If some moron grabs her by the hair and it cuts them, it’s their fault, not hers?

It probably didn’t help that she flipped out on that poor maths teacher over it. Percy thought it was awesome. The guy’d already made her take it out and was trying to force her to hand it over.

She got right up in his face, her brown eyes were like totally flashing with fire and her honey blonde hair was whipping around her just like Zoe’s used to when she got angry.

Total hero moment as far as Percy’s concerned. Scared the crap out of the teacher though.

And there was that time they kinda started wrestling in the middle of lunch. They may have gotten a little too focused on debating whether their tridents could actually damage each other.

On the plus side, neither of them actually drew their tridents? Yay for restraint? Lee got called in for a conversation about ‘their home life.’

Percy did finally tell Lee all of this was Apollo’s doing, and Lee looked so dead. He can’t even force his dad to show up so he can scream at him. Apollo and Artemis are off dealing with the ‘worst monsters’ at Zeus's order. Also known as; Zeus is cranky with them and has put them in the godly version of a time out.

No-one is having fun right now.

Percy didn’t actually tell Lee about Rachel though. Just that Apollo wants them here and that being expelled won’t be an issue.

At least they haven’t broken Rachel? And Percy is now one hundred percent certain that they found her before Zeus did? So, assuming they keep her close, whenever Hades lifts his curse on the Oracle of Delphi, that whole thing where the world is gonna end will be nicely sorted out. No fuss, no muss.

Percy still hasn’t told anyone about Ophioter. He was born at the very start of Zeus's rise to power and gave a prophecy saying if his spirit was ever lost the new age of the gods would end. Also the entire world. Ophioter was then promptly killed. Because. Of course.

Poseidon, Ophioter’s dad, and also Percy’s, did a thing and for awhile Ophioter’s spirit was passed from clear sighted mortal to clear sighted mortal who were each known as the Oracle of Dodona. Until Zeus got hold of the last one and kinda caged him and forgot about him.

By the time Zeus remembered his caged oracle there was no body and as far as everyone but Percy and Poseidon is aware, the spirit that inhabited the Oracle just went poof and was lost forever.

Zeus still seems to think that this means if anyone can claim the domain of prophecy, it’s him. Despite the fact that the guys sole interest in prophecy is the power it grants the domain holder. He has zero interest in cryptic prophecies, he just doesn’t want anyone else to have access to them either.

The Fates did a thing, as they do, and either created Python, or found Python, Percy’s still not sure which. Either way, Ophioter’s spirit was dumped inside Python until Apollo came along. Apollo killed Python and released the spirit and placed it in the first of the Oracles of Delphi. In doing so, he also claimed the domain of prophecy which used to be Poseidon’s.

A little more than four thousand years of the spirit being passed from clear sighted mortal to clear sighted mortal later, Zeus decided his son was getting too powerful, and since the idiot thinks the domain should be his, he started sticking his oar in.

Zeus began finding clear sighted mortals before Apollo and having them swear loyalty to him. By the time the last Oracle of Delphi came along, the whole situation was majorly bad. Zeus found that one when she was four. Apollo didn’t find her until she was ten.

Percy has thoughts about how Zeus found that one. But sadly, the knowing says it’s still not for him to know so he hasn’t pursued that rabbit hole. He definitely plans to. He kinda suspects he’s finally worked out how Annabeth Chase connects to it all. But that’s a later problem. Sigh.

He and Clarisse are currently standing just inside the main door of their very fancy school and are both so incredibly relieved this is the last time. They’ve got at least half an hour before Lee turns up. They were both “excused from class early.”

Also known as their teacher was going to commit homicide if he had to deal with Percy’s total inability to stay in one place for even a minute longer. Which means Percy has far too much time to follow brain tangents since anything he says aloud will be taken the wrong way by their now ex-teachers.

So he and Clarisse stand there like silent idiots and wait for Lee to show up and rescue them. They still have to talk to Rachel before they can leave. And Percy can’t work out how to communicate this without someone overhearing and taking it the wrong way.

That last Oracle of Delphi took on the spirit and immediately did a thing, something that isn’t for Percy to know, but it upset everyone. It led to Zeus attempting to kill Hades's two children and their mother, so Hades promptly cursed the Oracle of Delphi.

He trapped the spirit in her body until Hades is freed from his oath on the Styx and his children are once more welcome. The Oracle died a while back and now her mummified body is kept in the attic of the Big House at the camp. It’s as horrifying as it sounds.

But Uncle Hades likes Percy! He’ll totally lift the curse whenever it’s the right time. He’s technically free of the oath because Zeus broke it ages ago. His daughter, Bianca, is a sworn maiden of the Hunt and his son, Nico, is Percy’s adopted little brother.

Except, right now, Nico’s sort of spending all his time with Castellan and Chase who are kinda working for Kronos and intending to overthrow the gods?

But it’s all good! Apparently, once Hades took away Zeus's new toy, Zeus stopped hunting clear sighted mortals. Or at least, he never found Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

So as long as they keep up this awesome streak of not breaking her with the weird, everything is just gonna be awesome!

First, Percy has to explain to her that while she totally should come to camp, it just can’t be right now. Like, if she could just wait, say two weeks? Not even two weeks actually. Ten days or so should do it? It’s May twenty-fourth now, and she’s good to go by June fifth!

He just needs to explain this without letting on he can see the future. Easy as pie!

Clarisse coughs and brings Percy’s attention back to the real world in time to realise a nearby teacher is giving him the stink eye. Oh. He’s kinda pacing isn’t he? He huffs and he and Clarisse move outside the main door of the school and a little further from the mortals.

Lee’s given up on controlling caffeine intake and is now giving them energy drinks before school. But that wears off by like lunchtime and the school hit the roof the one time they brought their own caffeine.

Given that both of them are completely fine with the chaos when they are at camp and not confined, they’re totally lost on why caffeine is bad. And also why caffeine is different to medication. It gets the same result?

All that stuff the school said about flexible learning environments and experience with learning disorders apparently just meant they had an extensive list of methods of torture designed to ‘teach’ Percy to be calm and quiet.

Clarisse is usually a lot better than he is at all that, but she got the same crap from their teachers too. For some reason, Percy has to get to the leaving his seat level of twitchiness before they intervene. Whereas if Clarisse so much as taps her fingers too frequently they are after her. It really doesn’t help that they are both kinda overprotective of each other.

It made Percy so grateful he grew up at camp, if he’d been subjected to all that since he was little? Gah. He is so very glad to have Lee instead. Lee might be driven nuts by the chaos, but he’s never tried to force Percy to be anything but himself. If Percy fails to stay for morning lessons at camp, Lee just lets him leave.

Lee’s never tried to lock Percy in a classroom.

Clarisse utterly lost her shit when the stupid school did that to Percy. She might possibly have broken the door down. But the Mist did a thing, so all good. No-one knows that one was them.

Clarisse says she’s never been more grateful for Lee. She’s far better at staying still and focusing, but she needs to move as much as Percy does. If they’d forced her to be all nice and ‘feminine’ since she was little? Yeah, Percy’d have nothing on Clarisse when it came to property damage. His would be accidental, hers would be super deliberate and intentional.

Five months of politely telling teachers to fuck off whenever they tell her to act more ‘ladylike’ is definitely his War Drum’s limit.

If Aphrodite, the literal goddess of beauty and all things feminine, thinks Clarisse is perfect exactly the way she is what right do random mortals have to tell her different?

See above, re: overprotective of each other. It’s causing problems. Lots and lots of problems.

Honestly, besides Rachel, the only good thing in all of this is that Percy is now super duper okay with growing up to be a prophet living in the divine world. He is very certain the mortal world is not for him. Nope. No thank you.

It’s kinda impressive that Rachel hasn’t freaked on them really. All the other kids avoid them like they have the plague. Percy really hopes this means they’ll be good friends with Rachel. Assuming she doesn’t hate him over the delayed camp thing.

Percy can feel Rachel approaching, and he still hasn’t worked out what to tell her.

He’s just turned to tell War Drum she’s gonna have to tell Rachel, when he feels two super not fun auras nearby. He instantly switches focus.

“Ah, Clarisse?”

Clarisse stiffens, yeah, he doesn’t use names much. He doesn’t need to say anything else, she’s already dropped any attempt to look like a random middle schooler and is rapidly scanning the area, one hand ready to draw Amyntor.

________________________

When Prissy uses that voice and says her name, she already knows it’s bad. So much for getting expelled without property damage?

“Prissy, what are you seeing?”

She follows his eyes and is so confused. Prissy is staring, and blinking rapidly and staring some more at cheerleaders? Huh?

Two of them in the stupid school’s maroon, gold and white cheerleading uniforms with the ultra short skirts.

She does not understand how the school can keep after her about her clothes and be so fine with the cheerleaders uniform having like, three inches of skirt. Total. And yet she has to wear pants or long skirts that restrict movement?

Like, not that Clarisse can talk when it comes to the short skirt thing. The skirt on her High Priestess armour is still shorter than the cheerleaders’ skirts. But she does wear leggings underneath it?

And even her armour gives her more movement than the tight cheerleader skirts do. How do they do any sort of acrobatic movement with those skirts?

Yeah. Actually, she doesn’t care. She’s watched the cheerleaders practice a few times just trying to work out what on earth they were doing. All she’d realised was that the whole concept of cheerleaders is like, so very weird. Prissy tried to tell her they are the mortal version of a war cry, but that just made it weirder.

She suspects that was his intention.

The older cheerleader has like, intensely long braided hair. Doesn’t that hurt to wear it all tightly braided back into that high a ponytail? Girl’s hair legit hangs like a foot below the edge of her skirt, isn’t that heavy? How do you do flips and stuff with that much weight on the very top of your head? And the ponytail is maybe two inches back from her hairline? Like, ow?

Clarisse has definitely been spending too much time with Piper.

Given how tense Prissy is, these cheerleaders are probably not actual cheerleaders. Huh. Maybe that explains the crazy hair? Because, again. Ow?

The other cheerleader looks younger, and is a much more boring blonde blue-eyed stereotype. With a much less interesting plain high ponytail. The cheerleader uniform is so weird though! Teensy skirt, and long sleeves and a high neck. And shoes without socks.

Mortals make zero sense. It breaks her brain every time she sees one of the cheerleaders.

Except, she’s pretty sure she’s never seen these two. She’d remember that giant ponytail.

It’s the blonde who asks with a super bouncy voice, “Hi! Will you be joining Rhoden Academy’s Summer School?”

Clarisse wrinkles her nose, “Uh, no?”

Granted, she and Prissy have been trying to limit their interactions with mortals because if they break demigods on the regular the poor mortals have no chance, but after the past five months they’re pretty infamous?

It’s not just the teachers who are glad they’ve been expelled. Neither of them ever say the right things, and apparently, most of their conversations are super concerning.

They’d switched to Ancient Greek but that just got yet another phone call to Lee because someone thought they were planning some sort of criminal activity?

After that, they were told they could only speak in English on school grounds. And then they got in trouble for ‘not engaging with the lesson’ in Latin studies.

When they’d been speaking Greek, she’d just been arguing with Prissy about trying to help Grover find Pan, it really wasn’t that concerning!

The girl with the gravity defying ponytail is extra bubbly and bouncy, “Oh, we’re here to help out with the summer school! You sure you don’t want to join us? What’s your name? I’m Kelli and this is Tammi!”

Clarisse tries to focus on her but she is completely distracted by the smell of horse.

It can’t be Spot. Prissy sent his zebra off to see her zebra friends weeks ago. Before that, Clarisse’d only convinced him not to bring her to school by reminding him it’s illegal to have a pet zebra in New York, and just because they know Spot wants to live at camp, no mortal is going to believe that.

With Mr D away, if the mortals seize Spot, retrieving her is going to be a task and a half. So, maybe just leave her at camp?

Gods she cannot wait to go back to life at camp where ADHD just feels normal and not like she’s fighting her own brain. She’d had no idea how much the constant training helped keep her focused. She’ll gladly train with Chiron like, daily if she never has to go to school again.

Priss wrinkles his nose at the two idiots, “You know what my name is. You know War Drum’s name too?”

Oh, great. Must be sent by Castellan and Chase. Not that she and Prissy were making much of a secret of the school thing. They hadn’t needed to do anything to have Rachel focused on them. They’d just been careful not to be seen with her or do anything to draw attention to her.

To anyone else, it looks like Lee decided they needed some normal experiences and sent them to the nearest school. Since both of them have been virtually confined at camp for years, and every other camper gets forced into the mortal world once they get over discovering they’re a demigod, it’ll seem perfectly reasonable.

Especially with the whole prophecy thing, most people who know about it assume Priss’ll die when he turns sixteen. So of course Lee wants to give him normal life experiences before his inevitable death.

The fact the school costs an absolute fortune won’t occur to most demigods, and the handful who notice will assume it’s Mist manipulation. Not Apollo’s credit card.

Ponytail tilts her head and makes an exaggerated frowning face at Priss, “Nope, can’t say I do.”

Seriously, why can Clarisse smell horse?

Her voice drops to purr and she looks up at Priss through her eyelashes, “But I’d really love it if you could tell me your name?”

Clarisse’s necklace does the weird not-tingle thing as the girl’s voice washes over them.

Awesome. Charmspeak. Either children of Aphrodite or monsters of some sort. Silvertongue feels different and no way is there a second one kicking around. Not when Deadbeat is so obsessively focused on Castellan.

Clarisse’s voice is carefully even, “Priss?”

He keeps his eyes on the cheerleaders but shakes his head, “Not one of Bright Eyes, something else entirely.”

Monsters then. Dressed as cheerleaders. Because that makes sense?

Gods! What she wouldn’t give for a proper fight right now. But these two don’t seem to exactly be at the level of the Nemean lion. Hey! At least her brain is starting to stay on target now?

Clarisse squints at them, “I’m not seeing feathers, they ain’t Sirens.”

Kelli and Tammi are staring at them, blinking rapidly. Kinda ruins the seduction thing they were trying.

They are also standing like, two metres from the entrance of a mortal school. A rich one, but still. Little kids go to this school and monsters tend not to care if they kill a few mortals while hunting demigods.

Priss has noticed this and he asks all brightly, “Any chance we can move this conversation somewhere with a few less witnesses?”

The cheerleaders are now downright startled. Ponytail’s mouth falls open and everything.

The blonde recovers first. She steps forward and reaches for Priss’s arm as she purrs, “Of course, let me show you the way!”

He steps back and gives her a hard look, “You know who I am, you know what I’ll see if you touch me. Are you really that dumb?”

Yes. She definitely is.

Ponytail steps in, all pouty lips and fluttery eyelashes, “Oh, Tammi’s my trainee! She’s still learning!”

The situation gets so much better when Rachel comes barrelling out from who knows where.

“Wait! Stop!”

She’s staring at the cheerleaders with huge eyes looking totally horrified.

Oh, just wonderful. Rachel’s clear sighted, she’s definitely seeing whatever the cheerleaders actually are. Clarisse isn’t perfect with the Mist, she can sort of see through it enough to know it’s being used, but not always past it.

There’s definitely something a bit funky about Kelli and Tammi’s legs now she’s actually scanning them. Clarisse doesn’t really stare at people’s legs normally, she totally missed it. She’d been much more focused on the three inch skirts and why she has to wear stupid knee length ones that restrict movement.

Which is going too cause issues if this comes to a fight. Just great.

At least them being monsters explains that gravity defying ponytail? But also, why would you choose to be ruin your centre of balance if you’re a monster expecting to fight?

Prissy keeps his voice super casual, “Yo, Red, you ever have a weird dream about a first test and being tempted?”

Rachel’s eyes get kinda bulgy as she switches focus to him, “Uh, yes-”

He cuts her off before she can say anything else, “So, could you just roll with this and ask questions later?”

Surprisingly, Rachel just nods and gestures for him to continue. Huh. Prissy hasn’t mentioned a dream before. Problem for later.

Rachel is a little too accepting of the weird, clear sighted or not. With the red hair and green eyes, Clarisse even asked Prissy if she was related to Georgie, but nope, she’s pure mortal. Pity, be easier to explain things if she was a demigod.

Clarisse turns back to Tammi and Kelli, “Well? Lead the way, let’s go talk?”

Monsters are nowhere near as fun as gods are with the whole making them bluescreen thing, but it’s still entertaining. Takes a good thirty seconds for them to reboot and then they actually walk off. Like, she and Priss could just run for it while their backs are turned? Monsters are really dumb sometimes.

They end up tucked down the back of the mostly empty carpark, gods only knows what anyone will think if they see this out of a window, but whatever. It’s at least not right next to an entrance mortal kids use. She and Prissy have already been expelled, she’s more concerned about limiting injuries than witnesses.

Both of the cheerleaders keep smiling at Prissy, all simpery, it’s so weird. They both completely ignore Clarisse. At least this is more normal behaviour. Mortals make zero sense but most of the dumber monsters seem to think Clarisse is Prissy’s bodyguard. Makes it more fun when she kills ‘em.

Kelli cocks her hip out and gives Priss another pouty big-eyed smile, her voice dropping low, “Forget them, you should come with us, we’ll show you SUCH a good time.”

Priss stares at her blankly, “I’m fourteen? Also, charmspeak doesn’t work on me? I thought this was pretty well known at this point?”

Tammi huffs and steps forward, thrusting her chest out and kinda swaying her hips. She pouts her lips and purrs at Prissy, her voice is totally drenched in charmspeak, “Oh, I’m sure we can find something to do. How about a kiss to start with?”

Priss is looking at her kinda horrified.

Whatever he’s seeing, it’s not the same as Clarisse. He looks like he was just told to french kiss Heracles. Like, he’d still be bothered by the cheerleader doing the come on routine, but it wouldn’t normally make him look quite so physically ill?

Clarisse huffs, “Prissy, what are they?”

He shrugs a shoulder but keeps his eyes fixed on the two girls, “Vampires? I think? With super weird legs. Not sure. Only seen them once before, with the Witch, no clue on an actual name.”

With Hecate? Weird.

But if they’re vampires… Huh. “Like Twilight? Do they sparkle?”

She looks at the two girls with more interest. That book had been so totally wacko. But if the sparkling thing is real… She’ll happily toy with them for awhile if they sparkle and have impenetrable skin. Mostly just so she can have one up on Piper, they’ve been arguing over the most ridiculous fantasy character for months.

Tammi is super offended. She totally drops the sultry thing and is all stiff posture and fiery eyes, and her voice starts off like a hissing cat, “What! We aren’t vampires! That stupid mortal story!” She’s kinda screeching by the time she throws herself at Priss, “AND WE DON’T SPARKLE!”

She impales herself on Anaklusmos as Priss manifests the sword and promptly explodes into gold dust.

Sparkly gold dust.

Prissy asks the dust all cheerfully, “You sure about that sparkling thing?”

Kelli is furious and has finally dropped the Mist. Okay, Prissy was not lying about the super weird legs. One is a goat leg and one is brass?

Wait, are the cheerleaders the horse she keeps smelling?

Clarisse tips her head to the side as she tries to work out what the hell is going on with the legs. Like, the top half is also now super pale, with red eyes and fangs, but the legs, now they’re something else.

She cuts off Kelli’s ranting about being formed from magic, drinking men’s blood and Priss killing her trainee.

“Hey, how’s that ponytail work? Like, it looked super heavy before, but now it’s actually on fire? I don’t get it. How’d you do it?”

Sadly her answer boils down to, “Magic.” Which is so not helpful. Clarisse isn’t sure she wants to try that look, but if there’s a way to pull it off, it would look kinda badass with her armour? She’ll have to ask Silena.

This is also probably proof she’s spent too much time away from camp. Since when did she have time for thought experiments about her hair? She is so glad this school thing is over.

Rachel is staring at all of this wide-eyed but still hasn’t said anything that would give her away as more than a mortal school friend who’s having the worst day of her life. Impressive.

She also somehow gets away with wearing comfortable clothes. The teachers are after Clarisse like, daily and totally ignore Rachel’s jeans. Prissy swears Rachel doesn’t know magic. Clarisse still isn’t sure if she should believe him.

Kelli has her lips pulled back, baring her vampire fang things. And she keeps clenching her fists. She’s also kinda snarling at them, “I am a senior empousa! No hero has bested me!”

Prissy chirps, “Oh! Empousa! Cool. Still never heard of you, but I do like to know the names of monsters. Don’t suppose you’d mind telling me what’s with the legs?”

Kelli starts to stalk forward but Prissy just kinda waggles Anaklusmos at her silently, and she stops. She’s totally shaking with rage, even her hair is extra fiery.

Kelli snarls, “It’s rude to comment on a person’s physical attributes!”

Priss pulls a face, “Okay? I’m sorry? Look, just tell me why you’re here and either go away or wait for War Drum to stab you. I don’t care, but since I already stabbed Tammi, War Drum gets first crack at you.”

Prissy’s the best. Aniketos, her new trident still hasn’t been used on a monster yet. Though, would Tri think an empousa is a worthy first blood? Not quite the chimera and the War God that were Priss’s first kills with Katecho. An adamantine trident deserves a worthy monster. Maybe she should just use Afosi, her practice spear?

The school has no idea that she and Priss wear transformed weapons that exist as charms on a necklace and a bracelet for each of them. Which is good, because no way was she going to school totally defenceless.

She’s pretty sure Apollo did a thing with the Mist since jewellery is the only thing she hasn’t gotten a detention for at this point.

Kelli tries some more purring sultry tones. It super doesn’t work with the whole vampire thing. Did she forget she dropped the Mist?

“They told me you had limited intelligence. Surely you can see what is coming? Soon your camp will burn, that little guardian of yours you cower behind will be dead, your friends will be enslaved to the Titan of Time, and you-”

Clarisse cuts in, “Wait. Titan of Time? Uh. I thought we were dealing with the Crooked One? You know, the Titan King?”

Like, sure, people keep getting Kronos and Chronos confused but they aren’t the same? There’d been this whole long argument about that, but even Chiron said they were different. And Chronos is nowhere near as interesting as he sounds with his whole ‘Titan of Time’ title.

She’d asked Chiron about that title, she figured, of anyone, he was the most likely to have a weird fake myth that could be fun. Sadly it’s just ‘cause his realm created like, days and weeks and stuff. Plus, he’s a primordial, not a titan. And still no time freezing or time travel. Sad face.

Okay. Clarisse has definitely spent too much time around mortals. Can we please kill the vampire lady and go home now?

Pissed Ponytail off for sure, “My lord goes by whichever titles he chooses to.”

“Okay. Cool. But, uh, the Crooked One is all about the harvesting and the devouring of the world. All chaos and discord? The ‘Titan of Time’ is a hell of a lot older and is all about order and things happening at the right time?”

Only one of them wants to destroy the world. Also Kronos has something to do with ice that no-one seems entirely clear on. Still terrifying, but no time manipulation from either of them.

More importantly, Chronos is very much a primordial who is equivalent to the Fates. Kronos is the forerunner of Zeus. They are absolutely fucked if Chronos tries to destroy the world, they can no more stand against him than they can stand against the Fates. The Crooked One is a touch more realistic.

Ponytail actually stamps her goat hoof and flicks her ponytail. She ignores Clarisse and speaks directly to Priss, “Oh, they have the prettiest little collar waiting for you. It would be far more merciful if I just killed you and drained your blood.”

Priss raises an unimpressed eyebrow, “And you say you aren’t a vampire? You sure about that? Also, you understand I ‘see’ everything, right? ‘Cause if you pull the trick you’re thinking of, you aren’t gonna like the result.”

Clarisse tenses, “Priss?”

“Nah, War Drum, I got it. Hold ‘less I say, ‘kay?”

She gives a sharp nod. Prissy always lets her have fun if it’s an option. He wouldn’t keep her back unless there was more to this.

And- Yep. Kelli explodes into flames and she and Priss quickly back up, taking Rachel with them. As soon as the flames start, a tiny little storm cloud forms straight over Kelli and absolute drenches her.

By the time they’ve pulled back ten feet, they’ve entirely avoided being drenched and Kelli- Yeah, Kelli looks like a wet rat. If the rat was a vampire with one goat leg and one metal leg.

The horse smell is now more of a wet dog stench.

Whatever plan she has is entirely abandoned as she makes some weird high pitched hysterical screeching sounds and turns and runs away from them.

Clarisse flattens her lips and glares after her, “Prissy, why’d we leave her alive?”

His answer is clipped, “Reasons. Later.”

Oh. Yeah. Rachel.

Prissy turns to Rachel and gives her a big grin, “So, ah. First, I promise you’ll get a proper explanation. It just has to wait for camp. But, uh, camp’s been delayed?”

________________________

So those were empousa. Awesome. He still needs to somehow convince Rachel to hold off on getting answers until the fifth.

He also needs to keep her attention on him until Clarisse can pocket the whatever that Tammi left behind when she went boom. Spoils of war are the dumbest things ever.

Rachel looks less than impressed. She’s handled the whole exploding cheerleader thing super well though?

Huh, wonder if she’s already having prophetic dreams?

Rachel crosses her arms and stares at him with narrowed eyes, “What exactly do you mean when you say ‘camp has been delayed’?”

Percy gives her his best big innocent eyes, “Uh, there was a whole thing, and uh, you need to wait until the fifth?”

The downside of being a Prophet of Apollo is that he’s basically allergic to lying. This is what War Drum and Shadow are for. But Shadow is off being a lieutenant of Kronos and War Drum is currently cranky with him and ignoring the angry Rachel.

War Drum is definitely pissed she didn’t get to kill Kelli. She is absolutely desperate for a proper fight. Triton being gone is making things suck for both of them.

But the more ‘reports’ Castellan gets back about Percy being just a dumb goofball with good luck, the better for everyone. Tammi’s little suicide by sword thing is gonna go a long way to adding credibility to that stupid belief.

Rachel still has not broken eye contact. Percy is trying very hard not to shift awkwardly on his feet.

She keeps glaring at him and now her voice is getting so loud, “First you were super intense about me going to this weird camp, and now you don’t want me to go? The hell?”

He rubs the back of his neck and looks anywhere but at her, “Look, I’m sorry. There’s a thing, related to what just happened?”

Oh, she’s so not happy with him.

Rachel hisses, “Percy Fletcher, are you ever going to explain what’s going on?”

After five months of being called that, Percy’s an old hand at hiding the flinch. Clarisse is just as bad with it. Like, they adore Lee. He’s their Lee. But they also never call him Lee Fletcher? Last names just aren’t a thing they do.

The dumb rich people’s school disagreed with that concept. And, since neither Percy nor Clarisse wanted to go near their actual last names, Fletcher had to do. It was even worse because the teachers call students by just their last name.

If one more person screams “Fletcher!” at him, he may just join War Drum in the property damage.

Rachel sees way too much. Not just from the whole clear sighted thing. She saw that hidden flinch and now she’s like a dog with a bone. She’s completely ignoring the exploding cheerleader in favour of finding out who Percy is.

She takes a step closer to him and keeps glaring into his soul, “Who the hell are you, actually? Are you in witness protection or something?”

Clarisse is still pretending she doesn’t see any of this. Girl’s super not happy she didn’t get to kill Kelli.

He tries a new innocent look on Rachel and tries very hard not to flinch backwards, “Uh? No? Totally, not. It’s just… hard to explain?”

Rachel rolls her eyes, her voice is getting super terrifying, “Which part? The cheerleaders just now? Or the bit where I totally saw your sister at Hoover Dam last December?”

Neither of them manage to fully hide their wince this time. Rachel glares even harder.

She points at Clarisse and demands kinda shrilly, “Or the bit where you both twitch whenever someone says she’s your sister?”

Percy tries a smile, he’s pretty sure it looks more like a grimace, “Uh, War Drum actually is? There’s just some… family trauma around that term?”

Athena totally didn’t kill her adopted sister and Triton’s daughter in cold blood or anything. Triton who considers Clarisse and Percy to be his. Clarisse stays very far away from anything that remotely links her to Athena.

Green eyes narrow into slits and she goes to step forward again. This time he does step back. For a mortal, Rachel’s kinda scary.

“Look, Ra-” Yeah, he still can’t do it, gods damn it.

He tries again, “Look, Red. I swear everything will be explained, even the cheerleaders, just… wait until the fifth? Please?”

She’s practically shaking with suppressed fury.

She hisses at him in a super impressive imitation of Kelli, “You do realise that this camp of yours doesn’t exist on any maps? Like, at all? No-one’s heard of it?”

Clarisse finally jumps in. At last! “I thought Priss gave you that brochure? And the phone number?”

Rachel scowls, “Dad hasn’t called it.”

Yeah, Rachel might be mortal but apparently she’s got the same luck with parents that demigods do.

Percy tries to soften his voice, “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I promise, me and War Drum will meet you at camp on the fifth. Lee’ll answer all your questions then. If you’re still freaked, he’ll take you home, or enrol you in the school’s summer camp. I promise.”

She stares at him, “And you’ll tell me how you learned to draw like that?”

Gods, he so regrets that one time he brought a sketchbook to school with him. There’s no way to say ‘I’m a prophet and the mad art skills come with the gig’. Can’t she just be focused on the weird vampire cheerleaders?

Then again, she’s a natural artist too. Wonder if she’ll get the same party trick when she’s the Oracle of Delphi? Huh. Thought for later.

Oh, thank the gods! Lee must have pulled in just after his mini storm, and now he’s come to see why they aren’t racing for his car.

He’s all casual school dad today in jeans and an old t-shirt. He’s all sunshine smile and bright voice, “You two can’t seriously be planning to hang round? Pretty sure you’ve both been expelled?”

Rachel gapes at him. Oh yeah, guardians aren’t meant to seem quite so cheerful over their kids being expelled from a fifty thousand dollar a year school.

Then Percy sees Rachel’s eyes slide back to Anaklusmos.

Oh. Guardians also shouldn’t be so unbothered by the fact their kid is holding a sword. Oops. Percy hastily returns Anaklusmos to pen form and tucks it away. Lee hasn’t even glanced at it. Guess he’s saving the questions for later.

Lee ended up concluding that, while he enjoyed the break from attempting to homeschool Percy and Nico, the constant phone calls from the school were even worse.

Trying to explain to the school that he is entirely okay with his kids calling each other War Drum and Prissy also didn’t go over well. There were some mentions of CPS after that one.

Since all of Percy and Clarisse’s mortal paperwork is very much forged, that would be less than fun. Like, Apollo would totally come back from wherever he is to retrieve them, but the waiting to be retrieved bit would just suck so much.

The school also super didn’t like all those interesting lies Lee had to tell in order for the school to relinquish the confiscated knives to him. Lee did make Clarisse promise that if she absolutely has to take a knife to school, to at least take normal steel ones. The mortal world is not ready for adamantine. They never got that blue ribbon back though.

Yeah. It’s definitely better for everyone if Clarisse and Percy stay far away from the mortal world. Possibly Lee too. He may not be as good at the mortal stuff as Percy thought he was.

Rachel very obviously does a double take and narrows her eyes at Lee and goes, “Wait, you look just like the guy I saw at the dam! You got another kid around here or something?”

Come on, Rachel! Ask about the exploding sparkly cheerleader! That question is easier! Why does she keep asking the hard ones?

Percy had entirely forgotten that Lee looks like a grown-up Apollo. And that there is no easy way to explain that the guy who looks like Lee’s kid is actually Lee’s dad.

Lee considers her for a long moment, and then turns to Clarisse, “Something I need to know?”

Percy jumps in before Clarisse has to work out how to answer that with all the listening ears, “Probably one of D’s siblings, you know, that one who super likes poetry?”

Lee gives him such a dirty look for that. Sorry, dude. Not like he can say she’s talking about his dad? Apollo looks sixteen, at best. Lee is almost twenty-seven and looks it.

His birthday is in four days, Percy’s been having fun sneaking around to set up a party for him. Lee deserves the best of everything.

Lee’s face is turning a little too thoughtful. There really aren’t many reasons for Apollo to be interested in a thirteen year old mortal girl.

He might be well known for getting around, but Apollo’s also the Protector of Youth. Gods can be gross, especially in the old stories, but Apollo’s not that gross.

No comment on Deadbeat.

Lee clearly decides now is not the time to ask and just says, “So, you ready to go?”

Rachel stops them, “Not so fast! Tell me why I can’t come now?”

Lee pauses and turns to Percy, raising an eyebrow, “I didn’t know you’d invited a friend to camp?”

Lee saw the sword but he’d have assumed Rachel didn’t. Mist and all.

Percy has given him the very bare bones outline on all of this. That a clear sighted mortal who is probably the next oracle will be coming to camp. He just hasn’t told him how or when, or that she was the reason Apollo sent them to the school.

Since Percy is a prophet, Lee definitely assumed he’d dreamed about it all. Not that he’d been investigating her for five months to make sure the risk was worth it. She has the potential to be the next Oracle but if she’s had even the slightest contact with Zeus, Apollo would have kept searching for someone else.

Percy’s pretty sure Lee thinks Apollo sent them to the school for some unknown godly machinations. Or because Percy’s trying to make sure a fated path happened or something.

Which he is. Sort of. Rachel hasn’t got a fate. Not yet anyway. It’ll depend on everything that happens this summer. And where her loyalty lies when the time comes.

Percy taps his pocket where Anaklusmos sits, but all he says is, “Same thing as Sea Foam and Cranky. Been a bit of a hiccup and camp won’t be able to properly start till the fifth.”

Cranky, actually called Nathan, is one of Clarisse’s favourite people. Terrifying black ops guy, son of Ares.

He won her undying loyalty when he got all up in Chiron’s face the day of the chariot races. It’s even funnier ‘cause Nathan is absolutely terrified of Clarisse. Percy and Clarisse approve totally.

Fear is the appropriate response to Clarisse and that had been before she killed a Nemean lion. She’s the first person in all of history to manage that.

Lee squints at him. Percy had told him he needed to hold off on calling the auxiliaries in. The whole camp is expecting war at any moment. Castellan and Chase are mobilising an army and no-one doubts the camp will be their first target.

Lee was not impressed when Percy told him they needed camp to look nice and normal. Just a whole bunch of underage kids and no adults. Sitting ducks for the taking.

Lee did agree. Eventually.

Lee gives up and makes all the same assurances to Rachel. She tells him she’s meant to be going to a two week long art thing at the stupid rich people’s school, and Lee assures her he’ll come and collect her himself on the fifth.

Percy also tells her that she doesn’t need to worry about that bitchy cheerleader, she’s gone for good. Rachel gives him such a filthy look.

Lee hesitates at that one, but then goes back to assuring Rachel that everything is arranged. He doesn’t point out she’d clearly intended on dipping out of school and going to the camp without her parent’s permission. Lee is amazing.

Rachel is still suspicious and makes a few sarcastic comments about being kidnapped and stealing her kidneys. Lee points out the camp is practically in Montauk, not really the place for that sort of thing? The inner city would be much more viable.

Rachel blinks at him, looks horrified for a moment and then gives him a big grin.

Huh. She really is doing so well with the weird. Even before Tammi went boom, Percy and Clarisse constantly failed at the undercover stuff. They have no clue how to act like mortals. Apparently, rich mortals have a whole extra set of rules?

Though, War Drum’s probably right about that whole thing where wearing shoes is normal for like, everyone. It’s just Percy who’s weird. Shoes are annoying! Not his fault he takes them off and then forgets where he left them.

They eventually escape Rachel and make it back to the car. Percy really wants to know where the hell the car came from, it showed up the same week they started at the school.

It’s totally the same armoured SUV Triton got from who knows where a few years back. At the time, they’d claimed Percy had ‘hired’ a driver and Triton had shown up in one of his weird mortal disguises and ‘driven’ them from Vegas to Santa Monica.

Since Triton can’t drive and spends most of his time under the ocean with two tails, Percy still isn’t clear on how that worked. But Triton super loved it? Or just thought it was funny how much the idea of him driving freaked Percy and Clarisse?

Percy scowls, he misses Tri so much. He hasn’t seen him since before Winter Solstice. Stupid gods and stupid wars. Triton and the other gods still do the aura check in every night, but it really doesn’t make up for them not being there.

Clarisse doesn’t even know that Triton checks her every night, so she hasn’t even got that bit of comfort.

Percy lets Clarisse explain the empousa thing and that it’d been a halfhearted attempt from Castellan to get them with charmspeak. It’s so awesome how Castellan and Chase think he’s a total moron.

That bit about his ‘limited intelligence’, gods that stuff shouldn’t still sting. Chase is literally a lieutenant of Kronos? Planning to overthrow the gods?

Yet her telling an empousa that Percy is an idiot still hurts? The hell is wrong with him?

It’s definitely a good thing that they underestimate him. But he also hates it.

Lee and Clarisse finish their back and forth. Since they won’t be returning to the school and Rachel gave them nothing, they aren’t too concerned about another attempt. It was more information gathering than an actual attack.

Clarisse hands off the weird magic charm thing from Tammi and Lee pockets it without comment. He’s very used to them dumping spoils of war on him by this point.

Percy keeps sulking and glaring out the window. As soon as he tries to make himself forget about Chase’s latest barb, he’s back thinking about Tri. The stupid car always makes him miss Tri.

Of all the gods, Percy and Clarisse saw Mr D and Tri the most, and Tri was the one who was actively engaged with their training. They’ve never gone so long without them. He’d only seen Mr D for like, two minutes last month.

Lee looks over at him and goes all teasingly, “Come on, Perce! It can’t be that bad! School’s out forever!”

Lee is way too happy about this whole expulsion thing. Poor guy, he super hated being told how terrible his kids were. They’re demigods and powerful ones at that, the mortal world just isn’t made for them.

Lee’s been dealing with the school trying to send Percy for psychiatric assessments all year. Either because of him getting bored and going poking around with his sight, which totally looks like dissociation to the rest of the world, or from teacher’s catching sight of stuff he’s randomly drawn without realising.

They wanted to put Clarisse in counselling too. Percy’d accidentally overheard the principal absolutely ripping into Lee about her having ‘no appropriate female influences’. Only reason Percy heard that was because he’d felt Lee’s aura go all super distressed and he’d thought he was under attack by monsters.

The principal is a monster. Just the mortal kind. Lee’d started dragging Silena to meetings after that. Poor Sea Foam pretended to be their stepmother and got judged right alongside Lee for Clarisse not being ‘ladylike’. Fucking morons.

Percy shakes his gloomy thoughts off and tries for a bright grin as they pull onto the road to the strawberry farm and camp. It’s not so successful. Sadly.

His voice is at least a bit more upbeat, “Oh, I am super glad to be done with that. Like, never again, Hot Air! But, also not looking forward to the next couple of weeks?”

Lee squints at him, “You gonna actually tell me anything now?”

War Drum just huffs a laugh from the backseat. Percy did have to tell her the basics. If he hadn’t, she would absolutely have lost patience and done something about the camp situation.

Especially the bit where he said she couldn’t spar with her trident ’til the guy goes. With Georgie arriving at camp, she’d been looking forward to sparring with ‘real’ weapons again.

He just didn’t tell her exactly who the guy is, and neither of them know the guy’ll be there when they get back.

Percy offers, “There’s gonna be someone at camp when we get back. Need him to see exactly what everyone expects to see. Camp of kids, training for war, no support from gods or like, actual adults.”

Lee looks at him out of the corner of his eye, “And the adults that are at camp?”

This guy is guaranteed to discount Lee just for being a son of Apollo. Sorry, Lee.

“Chiron’ll be whatever, he’s been kept in the dark for reason, but he can know everything after the fifth?”

Lee rolls his eyes and makes a grouchy noise, he was extra enthusiastic when Percy suggested not telling Chiron about the extent of zombie apocalypse plans. He super hates the centaur and it’s just getting worse. It’s kinda funny, actually.

“And the others?”

“Grumpy and Mermaid are fine, you can tell them everything. Kazoo, Prepper and the others are just gonna be campers for now.”

Beck, ‘Grumpy’, lives in the Big House and does all the maintenance and forge work. These days he’s mostly focused on the armoury.

Technically, there are other ‘adults’ at camp. Will and Kayla are eighteen and nineteen, but with the only two under eighteen Apollo kids not coming to camp, they’re staying in Cabin Seven and continuing as campers.

Easier to explain and means there are adults near the cabins if needed. Travis and Connor have technically aged out as well, but are staying on as Cabin Heads. That cabin needs leaders with experience.

There was a reason Percy’d been so pushy about getting Chris Rodriguez away from the camp. Guy’s doing well since Mr D stopped in for all of three seconds to de-blenderize his brain, but best they keep his continued existence a secret.

Besides, Percy hadn’t lied. Chris’s aura is super whacked and not fun to be near. He’s pretty sure it’ll come good in time, but right now, Percy so doesn’t want to be in his vicinity. He doubts Chris’ll ever go back to Castellan, but still better this way.

Lee’s long suffering voice, “Perce, I don’t know everything?”

Good point. He purses his lips and then offers, “Tell them that new guy needs to be treated like he’s staying, but I’m confident he’ll be gone by dawn on the fifth of June?”

Lee’s voice is dripping with scepticism, “You seem very confident on that date?”

Percy grins savagely, “Course. That’s not Fates stuff. If he’s not made a move by then, me and War Drum’ll make him move. We’ll let him have his looksie, but he’s not staying.”

“Perce, this better not be like the Child Killer.”

Percy winces, Lee still has nightmares about that. Who knew Piper had such a vicious streak?

He answers as honestly as he can, “Nah, Hot Air. It’s more… This guy hasn’t decided what side he’s going to be on? He’s gonna want to see both before he makes a decision.”

Lee hesitates and then asks, “Is this going to change tomorrow’s campfire?”

Tomorrow is officially the first day of summer. Just after Haloa, when Percy told Zoe and Phoebe’s full story for the first time, Lee asked if he’d be willing to tell it again for the summer campers. With even the gods acknowledging Kronos's return, everyone needs to be prepared.

It’s extra important with the new Nightshade cabin opening for business this summer.

Percy shakes his head, “Nah, it might be good for this guy to hear it. Dunno, plenty of people will hear Zoe’s story and just ignore it because they heard the moronic losers story first. And this guy- I don’t actually care which side he picks, just don’t want him taking stories back to Chase and Castellan about us. But so long as he doesn’t see more than he should, no harm in him looking around?”

Lee slowly shakes his head at him, “You have definitely been spending too much time around gods. Where’s my nice honest as the day is long kid gone?”

War Drum cackles, “Pretty sure he never existed? Kid’s been a snarky little shit since day one.”

Lee sighs so very tiredly. “Clarisse, just because you successfully got yourself expelled, it doesn’t mean that the rules on swearing have changed. The summer campers have already started arriving.”

“Aww, come on, Hot Air! I even talked her into putting all her favourite knives away while our guest is here! At least let her talk how she wants!”

Poor Lee. He hasn’t even got time to find a new argument because they’re pulling into camp and the new guy is standing outside the Big House talking to Chiron.

Percy really misses Mr D right now.

________________________

Clarisse scans the new guy and is so not impressed.

Prissy had warned her that she needed to tolerate the guy. That he won’t be here for long and no matter how tempted she is, she can’t treat him like Chiron.

Chiron comes with the advantage of basically being made of Teflon. It’s both super frustrating because nothing gets through his head, and also means she can use him as a guilt-free target for her anger.

Apparently, new guy is here as their ‘new sword instructor’. Like, Georgie’s right there? Sent by Triton to make sure all the underage campers are absolutely lethal by the end of summer?

Piper finally has an actual trainer to help her. Clarisse’s been trying to give her some training as well, but with the whole school thing she hasn’t had time. Seriously! Eight hours a day, five days a week! The hell are mortals doing?

Like, she guesses an extra trainer could be good, maybe? Clarisse’s just not so certain it should be this dude. Nathan’s already said he’ll pitch in with training when he gets here. Chiron, Georgie and Nathan should be enough? Plus Lee too?

New guy is also like, old? Which is… weird. She’s used to adult demigods, doesn’t see them much but they are around.

It’s just… Most of them are still under thirty. Lee’s generation is the first to kinda bond together. The older ones that survived want nothing to do with the Greek world. Some of them will foster kids or whatever, but they are very firmly mortal. Even Nathan’s only a couple years older than Lee.

This guy… he’s got actual grey hair? And a grey beard too. Super pale blue eyes, kinda freaky looking actually. And for some unknown reason, he’s wearing the orange t-shirt they give to new campers. The one no-one ever actually wears.

Apparently, they used to use it as a kind of uniform? Lee says it had more to do with kids arriving with nothing and it being the cheaper option for the camp. Silena had Opinions about that one. Even if a kid arrives at camp with nothing, they leave with at least a week’s worth of clothes in their own styles.

Silena and Lee say that life as a demigod is hard enough without feeling like you’re stuck in a juvenile detention centre too.

With Priss at camp, ‘Dite has regular contact with her kids and she or Apollo covers camp expenses most of the time. Everyone still gets an orange shirt, it’s just more like a souvenir than something anyone wears.

The camp necklaces with the summer beads get worn regularly by most of the summer campers and some of the year rounders, but never the orange monstrosity.

If this guy just arrived, why does he have one and why is he wearing it?

It is super ugly. The bronze breastplate he’s wearing over it is not helping. And, uh, why is he wearing a breastplate?

She checks on Prissy but he’s just standing there with an extra bland expression on his face. The same one he uses when he’s forced to tolerate Chiron for too long.

Oh, this is gonna be super fun.

She tunes back into the conversation where Lee is attempting to get information about the guy and even Chiron seems hesitant but he does tell them that Quintus is an excellent swordsman.

Did this guy seriously just turn up and figure with a war coming they totally wouldn’t have already made arrangements for trainers?

She narrows her eyes and demands, “Wait, Quintus? Like, Fifth? That a nickname or something?”

Stupid rich school taught latin. Apparently, it’s another language she and Prissy are naturally good at. It was a mild improvement on all the classes they were totally lost on.

Media studies and technology? Like, what? They quickly learned to leave their god provided mobile phones with Lee during school hours. The first time that teacher saw one there were a LOT of questions.

But for most of the classes, it was just… ugh. Like, when Lee went over it with her, it was always stuff she did actually know. She’s just never had to sit down and read books about it. Dyslexia? Ever heard of it? She might have been able to fidget less than Priss, but the school was as useless with her.

Quintus gives her a friendly smile, “Oh, it’s good to see the old languages are known here! It was actually a common name in Rome, Octavius is another.”

Okay. This is not Ancient Rome though? That was kinda thousands of years ago?

Prissy stares at him and then announces, “Yeah, I’m just gonna call you Fifth.”

Huh. That’s… different. Prissy’s nicknames are weird but they’re usually descriptive rather than like, nickname, nicknames.

Then again, Priss did he say the dude would be gone by the fifth? It’s the twenty-fourth, so eleven days. They can do eleven days. She hopes.

Quintus looks at Percy and smiles wider, his eyes are so creepy, “Ah, you must be the Prophet of Apollo I have heard so much about?”

From who?

Percy raises an eyebrow and asks all politely, “What makes you think that?”

“Well, I was told you looked the very picture of your father. The resemblance is uncanny?”

Fair point. Prissy looks like a fourteen year old Poseidon, same black hair, sea green eyes and sun tanned skin. Though, poor Priss is looking kinda pale after months of being forced indoors for actual school. So not his thing.

The sparring after school has been absolutely savage. Prissy normally spars for fun while Clarisse is the one trying to get a grip on her aggression. She’s not sure how she feels about that being reversed. Or how it’s not been enough to work out her own aggression either.

Lee is still looking unimpressed. Clarisse thinks it’s kinda awesome how he can flip from exhausted dad who is so done with his kids’ shenanigans straight into camp leader mode. He’s definitely trying to tone down the commander thing, but at this point this kinda impossible to hide.

Ever since winter when Kronos, via Chase and Castellan, kidnapped Bianca and Artemis and they discovered Kronos has like, a literal army ready to go, Lee’s own preparations have majorly stepped up.

Not just all the organisation and stuff. Kayla’s taken over most of the day to day coordination for that and Piper’s doing most of the camp stuff. But Lee’s been totally throwing himself into physical training.

Not that Lee has ever been unfit. He’s a son of Apollo and archery is totally in his blood. According to Priss it’s even a central component of Lee’s aura. Lee’s always disappearing to the archery range whenever he needs to think things through, or deal with emotions, or he’s just bored. It’s his thing, and demigods are all intense in their own ways.

Now, he’s actually joining the Ares Cabin for weapons training everyday and he’s like, running every morning. Piper keeps saying they need to make sure her dad never meets Lee or he’s going to start trying to cast him the next movie or something.

Prissy’s calling it Lee’s quarter-life crisis. Technically, Prissy doesn’t know about the looming war, that’s all of one year and three months away, at best. But he’s also said they can tell him on his fifteenth birthday, which is in less than three months.

Anyway, it makes the difference between Quintus and Lee, kinda super noticeable?

Lee is still standing there glaring at Quintus, arms crossed, looking super commander-y, even in old jeans and a t-shirt with holes in it. Today is the last day of school, which is when summer campers start arriving. He was definitely helping the Stoll brothers get set up for the massive influx of Hermes campers.

Lee’s tone is cool and ultra polite, “How do you know Mr D?”

Quintus keeps smiling with his weird cold eyes and speaks much more warmly, “Oh, I’ve been around. I do know Dionysus has gone to visit some old friends. Needs to check what side they’re on. He suggested I come and help out.”

Okay. That was a bald faced lie. Mr D is Camp Director in name only. Lee does all of it and Mr D super respects Lee. No way would he send a trainer along without some sort of separate message.

Mr D also knows they’ve taken on two additional trainers already?

Quintus also called him Dionysus. Which uh, is not really a thing they do at camp?

Lee’s all polite interest, “Oh? So you know where he is?” Lee does actually have a fair idea of where Mr D is.

Quintus gives him a tight smile, “I do. I probably shouldn’t say anymore than that though, you know how it is. The gods don’t like us speaking out of turn.”

Clarisse is a little too amused as she watches Lee clearly debate whether he should interrogate the new guy or not. His eyes flick to Percy who is back to a totally blank face and Lee seems to decide questions are left for later.

“Tell you what, we can give you a trial. Two weeks. Prove to me why we should keep you around and I’ll consider it. Not sure you noticed, but we do already have a sword instructor here for the summer.”

Quintus looks completely gobsmacked and he keeps glancing at Chiron, as if he thinks Chiron makes the decisions?

Lee beckons Georgie forward from where she’s been leaning against the Big House with her arms crossed, watching the latest drama. She’s looking a lot tidier than usual, so someone definitely inflicted Drew and Piper on her.

Georgie’s amazing, she’s a daughter of Galene and arrived at camp almost the same time as Percy, though she’s a few years older than them. She stuck around so he wouldn’t be the only sea kid here. Like them, she’s been training with Triton for years. A couple years ago she started an internship thing with him and moved permanently to Atlantis.

She’s totally been taking advantage of being away from Triton and his very firm views on ‘one’s appearance and the image they project’. Which means Tri insists her hair be ‘both well brushed and neatly braided when outside your personal quarters’.

Normally when she’s at camp, she leaves it hanging loose, and it’s one big massive tangle of bright red curls down past her butt, permanently full of sand and seaweed from her last trip into the ocean. Georgie can do the same dry clothes trick Prissy can, she just doesn’t feel the need. Prissy is not wrong with the Mermaid nickname.

Today, her hair is still hanging loose but all the curls are defined and hanging just so. No sand or seaweed to be seen. She’s got Prissy’s bright green eyes, except hers don’t change colours like his. She’s almost nineteen now and all warrior. There is nothing soft or sweet about her.

She strides over to Quintus and holds out a hand to shake. Definitely leaning hard into actual Ancient Greek ritual. Triton has lectured them endlessly about how handshakes started with the Ancient Greeks.

She’s got Triton’s favourite regal face on too. The one he says is ‘best used for unavoidable political meetings’. Her posture is just as stiff and precise as Triton’s is, completely unbending. Even in jeans and a t-shirt she can’t be mistaken for anything but a warrior.

“It is good to meet you, I am Georghaliae, daughter of Galene.”

Georgie keeps her voice ice cold and uses Triton’s exact pronunciation on her name, ‘george-AH-lee-ay’, normally when she reluctantly admits to her full name she turns into a slurred mess.

Clarisse keeps her face blank, but all of her is so surprised. Like, she does know that’s her actual name. Georgie’s endlessly fighting with Tri over it because she thinks it’s too fancy. But to introduce herself like that without also mentioning her rank? Tri insists she use her full name whenever she lists her rank, but she avoids it at all costs otherwise.

Quintus looks confused. He also doesn’t shake her hand. The fuck?

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I’ve heard of Galene, I take it you’re one of my campers?”

Chiron makes a weird choking noise. Yeah. Chiron’s been terrified of Georgie since she moved to Atlantis full time. Most people consider it common sense to treat the sea gods and their people with respect. That whole flooding camp thing is not a bluff.

Georgie stares him down coldly and Clarisse could swear she’s Triton for a moment, she’s gotten his expressions and posture down pat. She’s the same height as Quintus but she definitely looks taller like this.

She’s even got his tone and clipped accents perfect, “I am not a camper. I am here as a personal favour to Prince Triton, heir to King Poseidon, to continue the training of the second prince in his absence. I am the Strategos of the Atlantean Military.”

It totally freaks Clarisse out that Athena mimics Triton, but when Georgie does, it’s just completely awesome.

Quintus still seems confused. “Oh. I thought Atlantis was completely isolated. There are Atlantean children at camp?”

Dead silence as they all give him dumbfounded looks, even Chiron seems startled. Wasn’t the guy just talking about how much Priss looks like Poseidon? What?

How does he know what Poseidon looks like if he thinks Atlantis is completely isolated?

After a long stretch of silence, Prissy offers, “She’s talking about me?”

Then Priss pauses and tilts his head, squinting towards the barrier, “What’s with the hellhound?”

Prissy just stands there while Chiron and Lee race for the barrier with Quintus trailing behind exclaiming, “She’s friendly!” Georgie is definitely stalking him, she looks ready to run him through with a trident already. She’ll do the hellhound too, but Clarisse suspects Quintus is first on her list.

Clarisse turns on Priss, “Hellhound?”

Priss makes a face, “He apparently has one as a pet? Which like, you know me, I’m all for friendly monsters, but turning up here and announcing Mr D sent him, while bringing a hellhound with him?”

Plus asking a son of Poseidon whether there are Atlantean children at camp.

She huffs, “You’re saying he sucks at common sense?”

“Pretty much.”

They both agree they don’t feel like watching the fallout of the weird new guy showing up with a monster, so they grab their dumb school bags and head for their cabins so they can finally ditch all the mortal stupidity, change into proper clothes and go back to their normal lives.

As they walk, she asks, “Please tell me you aren’t going to make me keep him and Georgie separated or something?”

She’s ever so slightly more willing to place herself between Georgie and her desired target than she is Triton and his, but she’d still rather avoid it entirely. She may have grown up with them, but Georgie’s all warrior and will definitely win against Clarisse.

Prissy shakes his head, “Nah, War Drum. I really don’t care which side he chooses. Soon as Shadow or one of the gods catches sight of him, he’ll be handled. If we’d turned him away at the barrier they’d know we were hiding something. This way-”

She fills in for him, “This way they’ll get an independent witness saying camp is exactly what they expected?”

He doesn’t answer, so she adds, “That why you let the cheerleader live too?”

He gives a half hearted shrug as they reach the common area. Prissy glowers at the fire in the centre of the common area, and she exhales very loudly. “Prissy, she’s allowed to tend the hearth.”

“That’s not the issue, the issue is that she’s still here when everyone else is preparing for war with the Crooked One!”

As always, Hestia doesn’t even look at them, just completely ignores them. She used to engage with Prissy a bit, but since winter Prissy keeps trying to make Hestia help the war effort. Now she acts like he doesn’t exist.

They used to be a little more okay with her lurking, both she and Prissy have spent time sitting with her when they were little.

Then they got older and actually understood what it means that the Goddess of Home, Hospitality and Family sits in the centre of the cabins and never intervenes. And the few conversations they’ve had with her in the past couple of years have gotten distinctly weird.

Every other god they know can’t ignore their nature. Mr D deliberately got himself assigned to camp as a ‘punishment’ because he didn’t want more demigods dragged into another war.

Apollo may have technically obeyed the non-interference rules, but there’s never been a time he hasn’t been involved in his kids lives. The moment he started spending more time at camp because of Priss, he got involved with helping all the campers.

Whereas Hestia… She is such an utterly useless goddess. Like, today, she’s right there, tending the fire, while Cabin Eleven is being turned into what is basically a temporary evacuation shelter. Some Goddess of Hospitality she is.

If Clarisse eggs Prissy on, he will definitely decide to use his trident on the goddess and they really can’t afford all that drama right now.

“Come on, Priss. Let’s ditch our stuff and go and see if we can help Travis and Connor.”

The Hermes cabin has always been way too full, especially in summer, but it’s just gotten worse since they found out Hermes wasn’t sending his kids to camp. Most of his kids are never found.

Prissy, being an overachieving prophet, decided to find all of them. Ever since the guy broke his favourite clear sighted mortal twenty-five years ago, he’s been making babies like crazy. The Hermes cabin traditionally also houses all campers who are unclaimed or whose parents aren’t Olympians.

If they’d continued that this year, they’d have had thirty-six kids crammed into one cabin. A full third of the camp’s underage demigod population.

The only other cabin that ever houses that many is Cabin Eight when the Hunters come with the full contingent. But they don’t even try to sleep in the cabin. They use it as an operations base and set up their big camping tents in whichever field isn’t in use inside the barrier.

Lee set up a new cabin to house the ten non-Hermes kids. He’s basically hoping that the gods are so busy with war preparations that they don’t have time to whinge about an unauthorised cabin.

Or at least, that’s what he says. Prissy goes oddly silent whenever Lee talks about it. Clarisse is suspicious.

It sits at the end of the big U shape, between Cabin Eleven on the end of the ‘male gods’ wing and Cabin Twelve on the end of the ‘female gods plus Mr D’ wing. It faces Zeus and Hera’s cabins at the base of the U. Clarisse thinks it’s location is an excellent non-verbal ‘fuck you’.

It started out as a prefabricated thing that Beck majorly upgraded with Jonathon’s input. Lee’s made the ‘executive decision’ that the group of ten would be acting as their own cabin for all camp activities. Which means there’ll be thirteen cabins this summer. Thirteen tables in the dining pavilion now too.

It’s been named the Nightshade cabin. Clarisse thinks it’s Lee’s own version of telling the Olympians that if the gods can’t be bothered to care about the kids, they’ll just elevate one of their own. She just knows Zoe would totally approve, even if it houses boys too.

The Hermes cabin was more of a challenge. When they were little, Cabin Eleven was the smallest of all the cabins. Because Hermes is a moron. It got majorly renovated a few years back to match the other cabins, but then they found out how many kids Hermes actually has.

The old cabin could stretch to twenty-four kids if they convert all usable space into beds, but they’d be crammed in like sardines and a fair number would be sleeping on the floor. Since half this mess was caused by a disgruntled Hermes camper, no-one loves the idea of isolating them even more.

As Hermes is a total deadbeat who doesn’t care about any kid not named Luke Castellan, Lee decided he didn’t care enough to ask permission and they added big extensions to the main cabin at the same time the Nightshade Cabin was built.

Lee very much decided he’d prefer a ragingly angry Hermes over yet more demigod kids feeling abandoned and betrayed. Besides, the war effort means Hermes is being kept super busy. Unless Castellan personally invades camp, he’s unlikely to even notice the renovations.

It does mean it now spreads right up to the edge of the Hephaestus cabin on one side and way out into what was a garden at the edge of the cabin area on the other. At least now the twenty-four children of Hermes have two full sized dorms. Everyone has an actual bed that is not on the floor and their own locked dresser for their things.

Plus, there’s a main common area with enough seating for all of them even in summer. Even the cabin’s bathrooms got completely upgraded so the kids didn’t have to use the communal camp ones all the time.

They still have to use bunk beds and things are a bit tight, but it’s a huge improvement. Most of the cabins are intended to house twelve to fifteen campers at most, and only during summer. Virtually all of them convert into actual bedrooms with only one or two kids in each during the rest of the year.

Clarisse and Prissy spend most of their afternoon setting up all the assorted bedding and getting the new ‘welcome packs’ ready for the kids as they trickle in.

Travis and Connor keep their distance. While Priss has mostly letup on the non-stop hatred, he hasn’t quite forgiven them for the centaur blood thing. Prissy says that, since Zoe isn’t here to take revenge, he’s just gonna have to do it for her.

Doesn’t stop her and Prissy helping out with the cabin though.

At winter they’d had twelve new Hermes kids, but with everything that happened Lee got them sorted super quick and they’re down to Travis and Connor as Cabin Heads, and Jonathon who will be leading the new cabin but is still pitching in with Eleven. By tomorrow, the cabin will be overflowing with kids.

Prissy is way too amused by the welcome packs. He’d originally been intending to try and track down a minor god that’s allied with Hermes to do the Deadbeat’s job, but Apollo and Artemis stepped in.

Apollo’s the Protector of Youth and Artemis is the Protector of Young Children. Despite them having been virtually out of contact for months now, they sent along Artemis’s Hunters two weeks ago with supplies for the camp. Most ear-marked for Cabin Eleven. And a note for Lee to use Apollo’s funds to provide anything the Cabin Eleven kids “are going without.”

It also means the camp won’t get in trouble for providing extra support without Hermes approval. The Hunters do as they please, and simply because they have a new lieutenant doesn’t mean they’re going to change that longstanding tradition.

Huh. “Hey, Prissy. Where did the Hunters actually go?”

Priss grins at her, “They’re doing a favour for me?”

She scowls at him, “And would that favour involve them returning on the fifth?”

He smiles super innocently and goes, “Maybe?”

She glares harder, “Prissy, I swear to the gods, if we get attacked because you’ve dismantled our forces…”

“War Drum! I promise. I checked and triple checked. We’re good. At least until the fifth. No promises after that, but there’ll be time to reset everything. I promise!”

Prissy better be right or Aniketos's first blood is gonna be his.

Chapter Text

The night before summer camp officially begins, Percy dreams.

It is an almost-now dream. He is on the Princess Andromeda, but for once, this is a real moment. One that is happening soon.

It also must be a Fates directed dream. Percy can rarely tolerate being near the sarcophagus. He’s been working hard on his own shielding and Apollo and Dad had some ideas for making it easier for Percy to be near the really unbearable auras.

But right now, without the Fates shielding him, he’d be unable to feel anything but the shattered aura of Kronos. So. Fates want him to see a thing.

Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan kneel in front of a golden sarcophagus. Chase looks uncomfortable, like even she knows kneeling to Kronos mulch is unnatural on every level.

Castellan on the other hand… He’s dressed himself in actual Ancient Greek clothing, a white himation wrapped around him. The same cloak that Apollo’s High Priests once wore. That Lee is technically supposed to wear like, all the time. Not even Apollo has come close to winning that argument.

Both of them have healed rapidly from their falls off the cliff last winter. Percy still isn’t sure whether the Fates intervened or if Kronos's army has access to healers or something. Given he doesn’t feed or house his troops it seems unlikely.

Now that he’s healthy, wearing the white himation, and with his white blonde hair, Castellan is back to looking like one of the old heroes. All prideful bearing and clear carrying voice. Actually, he looks kind of disturbingly like the pictures of Christian angels? Or those weird drawings of Jesus where he’s blonde and extra white?

Castellan speaks directly to the gold sarcophagus, “Our spy has reported the camp’s routine is undisturbed, my Lord. Campers have already begun arriving for the summer session. We will be sending the drakon to harry the camp. It will keep them distracted while we locate the device.”

Drakon? Seriously? That’s just wonderful.

Chase twitches from where she’s kneeling, slightly back from Castellan. He shoots her a sharp look and she settles again, though her expression can be described as mulish, at best. She is so not happy with Castellan right now. Wonder what he did this time?

Percy shudders a bit when Kronos speaks. His voice rings in his mind rather than being heard with his ears. Yuck.

“Excellent. Once we have the means to navigate and my form is complete, I will lead the vanguard through myself.”

That was very specific wording. Lead the vanguard through? Does that mean Kronos is not going to participate? Unless he attacks himself, the gods won’t be able to step in.

Castellan looks horrified and even though he tries to keep his voice steady, it’s still got too much emotion threading through it. “My lord, surely it is too soon? Krios or Hyperion would be able to-”

“No. I will lead. One more heart will join our cause. The son of the hated one shall be sufficient for me to rise from Tartarus. His power at my command is all I need.”

Castellan’s voice shakes, “But the form, my lord-”

“I gave you a sword specially forged for you when you swore yourself to me. Regardless of what has happened since, that sword is still proof of your promise.”

Percy grins to himself, Bianca absolutely destroyed ‘Backbiter’ last winter. She was extremely pleased with that one.

Castellan tries again, “My lord, it’s just-”

“You wanted power. You demanded it. I gave it to you. I keep you and your protege from harm. Soon you will rule this world. Did you not talk so eloquently of your desire to avenge yourself? To see Olympus destroyed and you and your sister in their place? To return her prophet to her?”

Return? Because Percy totally belonged to Chase. Not.

Castellan’s face turns hard and determined, he speaks with fierce conviction, “Yes.” Behind him, Chase raises her own head. Her face matches his. She believes in this cause with every fibre of her being.

Percy hates this. He hates it so much. He still can’t tell how much of her possessiveness over Percy is her being an overly dramatic teenage demigod with her first crush, and how much is coming from something far more sinister. Given how long she’s known Castellan, he doubts he’ll ever be able to know for certain.

It’s gotten easier over time. It’s been two years now since they were any semblance of friends. She stopped being his Wise Girl back then, and these days she’s not even Annabeth. Not to him. That stopped when he saw her willingly take the sky and free Atlas.

Even Percy calls her Blondie sometimes. Lee’s encouraged it, says that with her acting as one of the Crooked One’s lieutenants it’s best for both Percy and Clarisse to “create emotional distance.”

Dreams like this one are encouragement enough.

Kronos speaks again, “Make ready the initial strike force. As soon as the device is located and the form complete we will move forward. First, retrieve the prophet and then reduce Camp Half-Blood to nothing but ash. Salt the ground it stands on. Destroy this new generation of heroes before it takes root. With the prophet in chains, we will march on Olympus.”

Last time Kronos rose, it was Ophioter’s death at the hands of a Titan that freed the gods from the rules of warfare. They utterly destroyed him for it. It’s how that whole myth got twisted into Zeus’s eagle retrieving the entrails before they could be burned came from. The King of the Gods led the attack, but he had nothing to do with Ophioter.

Kronos still seems certain that Percy is like, Ophioter reborn or something. Or at least Percy’s assuming that’s the reason for his repeated attempts to take Percy alive.

Percy hears a single knock at the door before it opens and a familiar face walks in. Kelli with her very own retinue of dracaenae. Awesome. Castellan stands and turns to face her, Chase not far behind.

She’s still wearing the dumb school’s cheerleader uniform. Does she have no other clothes or what?

Wait. How did those two get cheerleader uniforms to start with? Uh oh. Percy probably needs to see if any mortal cheerleaders are missing. Shit. Hopefully it’s just stolen?

She drops herself on Castellan and tries the same flirting tricks she used on Percy. She’s definitely using enough Mist to make herself look like a cheerleader again, but Percy cannot unsee the red eyed vampire with flaming hair.

Chase glares at her and makes a comment about “that boy in Seattle.”

Whatever that means, it does make Castellan push Kelli off.

Castellan demands a report.

Kelli pouts, “The spy has returned. He has news of the camp.”

She frowns and spins around abruptly, scanning the room. Percy amuses himself making faces at her. He learned the you-can’t-see-me trick years ago. Even if she senses a presence she won’t be able to find him.

It does completely disrupt their little meeting. She keeps snarling about a presence and Chase and Castellan keep telling her she’s an idiot.

The dream fades without giving Percy any useful information.

He lets himself drift through random bits and pieces of the past and future. He sometimes really wishes he could actually dream, like normal people. He does have the ability to watch the dreams of people around him, but demigods aren’t exactly known for peaceful sleep. He already sees too many of Lee’s nightmares.

Although… Percy can never resist a bit of mischief.

He lets himself be pulled towards his anchor’s unchangeable aura. The warm air and spilling light of a door opening, an arrow nocked and a bowstring under tension.

Lee’s dreaming about shooting Chiron. Again. Percy’s never called him on it, but his guardian definitely spends too much time thinking about whether an immortal centaur can be killed.

It takes only the slightest of nudges to divert Lee’s dreams.

Lee drives a golden chariot, a familiar golden radiate diadem on his head. He holds golden reins leading to two golden drakons who pull the sun chariot Lee is standing on. Lee’s sharp eyes scan the world far below and see everything as it happens.

This is one of Lee’s own well-worn dreams, but one Percy rather likes.

One day, Lee will put the pieces together. It’s gonna be hilarious.

________________________

Percy is woken at dawn by Apollo’s latest bouncy song choice for the first day of summer camp. “Summertime, summertime”, Apollo and 1950’s music is really… something.

From the yelling Percy can hear in the Ares cabin next door, Apollo also woke up Clarisse the same way. Since she sleeps in a dorm with her siblings, he also helpfully woke all of them up too.

Have fun with that.

They may not hear from the gods at the moment, but Apollo apparently can just leave the dawn wakeup music set to automatic or something.

While Percy’s not so big on having the song stuck in his head for the rest of the day, he has to agree with the whole excitement thing. Even with Fifth wandering the grounds, it’s definitely time to have some actual fun.

School had just been so completely terrible. Honestly, even if their ‘accessible learning’ had been actually accessible, he’d spent so much time in trouble for one thing or another that it’d felt more like one of the old heroes facing unending insurmountable challenges than it had actual mortal school.

He’d learned more from an hour of lessons a day with Lee than he did in eight hours a day at that school.

Give him a duel with Ares any day!

Though… Being at school did give Georgie and Tyson time to install their own ‘congrats for surviving school!’ present, and Percy super approves.

Artemis’s glowing night sky on the ceiling of his room had already been changed to include Zoe and Phoebe’s constellation by the time they got back from the Winter Solstice ‘fun’ at Olympus.

Now, hanging from his ceiling are a whole host of sea creatures. Hippocampi, sea serpents and sea goats all swim with more mortal creatures. In one corner a kraken lurks, and mixed in with the hippocampi is a lone Ophiotaurus. Even Snuffles, the now thirty foot ‘great white shark’, has his own little model swimming under the stars.

Chase was not wrong when she called Snuffles a megalodon. Percy had eventually given in to his curiosity and asked Tri about that one. Turns out Snuffles is still just a baby. Which also explains why he was so happy to claim Percy’s nickname as his own name. Poor Triton.

Percy’s assuming Georgie is the inspiration for the range of creatures. Tyson definitely made them, but Tyson wholeheartedly believes hippocampi are the best creatures in existence. If he’d been solely responsible, there would be several hundred hippocampi and nothing else. Which would be equally awesome.

Though, now he’s wondering if they only did his room. He didn’t think to check Nico’s last night.

When he peeks into Nico’s kind of abandoned dusty room, a bronze statue of a three headed dog is standing on the dresser near the door. It’s a perfect copy of Cerberus, and even has it’s own set of the pink diamanté collars they’d begged Beck and Leo to make for them. Very nice.

He definitely needs to do some dusting before Nico gets back. The room’s vibes are super sad.

He goes to shut the door again and realises something else has changed too. Huh. That’s not from Georgie and Tyson. The ceiling of Nico’s room’s been painted black at some point, and he now has his own night sky. Different from Artemis’s one, it’s done with gems of some sort? Looks a bit like how Persephone decorates her garden in the Underworld palace. Nice.

Someone pounds on the door, “Oi! Troublemaker! Up and at ‘em!”

He rolls his eyes, shuts Nico’s door, and goes to let Georgie in.

“Hey Mermaid, a dawn wakeup? Really? Though, Apollo still beat you to it.”

She rolls her eyes at him and huffs.

He eyes her dubiously, “You pissed at Tri or something? Like, I know you’re still doing the teenage rebellion thing with your hair but you kinda look…?”

She used to live in torn jeans and old t-shirts, same as he did, but Atlantis has different rules and those clothes were camp only. She’d stopped wearing them entirely years ago. Percy didn’t think she even still owned any.

Like Tri, she normally wears close fitted pants and long sleeved top in such a dark shade of cerulean it may as well be black, with fitted armour over the top in the silvery blue shade of ocean forged metal. The armour itself is still mostly the standard spolas, pteruges and greaves that most Greek armour is made up of. Just a bit more fitted, a bit sleeker, no loose bits. Very much intended for fighting underwater.

It’s also a symbol of her rank in Atlantis, and like Tri’s circlet, not something to be set aside lightly.

Yesterday, Percy’d figured she’d been dressed down for the same reason Lee had, because she was pitching in as manual labour to get camp ready for summer. But now…

She grins at him, all chaotic mischief, “If you’re new instructor is gonna be an idiot, I’m just going to give him as much rope as he needs.”

“Uh huh. Where’d you get the clothes anyway?”

Six months ago, Percy would have no idea how to describe Georgie’s ‘look’. After being stuck in a mortal school full of rich kids and teachers insisting Clarisse be more feminine and ladylike, he’s learned a little more than he ever wanted to know about fashion. Especially the whole ‘athleisure’ weirdness that is the workout clothes mortals wear solely as a reason to wear as little as possible?

Like, they wear them out shopping and never for exercising?

Georgie’s in hot pink short shorts and a matching hot pink sports bra/crop top thing, and uh, nothing else? Well, she has running shoes on. In the same shade of hot pink. And no socks. He would’ve never noticed the socks thing until Clarisse spent five months pointing out the cheerleader’s lack of socks.

Georgie’s hair is dead straight and super shiny. Tied up in a high pony. Percy’s trying to remember if he’s ever seen her wear her hair in anything but Tri’s tight braid or completely loose.

She beams at him, “Went into town with Drew last night for them.”

Oh no. “Why Bright Eyes?”

“Piper heard about the new trainer and went to ask him for some additional private lessons.”

Percy cringes, “What did Fifth say to her?”

Georgie grins savagely, “That daughters of Beauty shouldn’t worry their pretty little heads about such things.”

Welp. That’ll do it.

“Did you at least warn Hot Air?”

“Of course! And it won’t be all of ‘em. We’ll keep the younger ones away from him, but me and Drew and Piper and some of the others… well. Serves him right.”

Yeah, it really does. Not even Triton will disapprove of this, even if it does mean his second in command will be spending the next week ‘out of regulation’.

Triton’s issue isn’t all the skin on display, dude’s a merman, clothing is kinda optional for any gender. It’s the lack of protection from unexpected weapon strikes that bothers him. If they let him, he’d have all three of them permanently dressed in full armour.

It’s the same reason he fusses about the hair. Loose hair can catch on things. Though, he also just dislikes things looking messy. Poor old Fusspot.

Nathan is super wary of Piper, but it’s solely because Clarisse has been training her and he thinks Piper is another War Drum. Her being a daughter of Aphrodite doesn’t come into it. He’s agreed to train her when he arrives with the auxiliaries though.

“Okay, then. You here to rope me in, or did you want something?”

She raises an eyebrow at him, she is way too good at Triton’s many and varied unimpressed expressions, “Did you not hear me tell the idiot I am here to continue the second prince’s training?”

“Mermaid, it’s dawn!” Percy definitely didn’t just whine. Nope. Not him.

“And? You have five minutes to be at the main arena. Just enough time to get dressed, if you hurry.”

Awesome, he misses the Sea Sister he grew up. She has so spent too much time with Tri.

He does at least rapidly change into something a little more suited for a spar and races to the arena. Clarisse and Piper are both already there.

Piper is… Um. Yeah. That’s a new look? Piper changes her hair colour like, daily, but normally, it’s to very bright unnatural colours. Or her own ultra dark brown. Today, she has bright yellow blonde hair. And she’s wearing the pink sparkly bikini top and bright pink fur jacket from Legally Blonde.

She’s all stretched out, ready to get a nice even tan in the extra weak dawn sunshine. He should just be glad she doesn’t have textbooks and a chihuahua with her, shouldn’t he?

Clarisse is at least dressed normally.

Piper grins at him gawping at her, “What? Drew’s been wearing pink for years, and I’ve shocked you?”

He shakes his head, blinks a few times and then gives her a big smile, “Nah, I was just not expecting all this? Takes a lot to catch a prophet by surprise y’know!”

“Well, dude’s got weird ideas. Dunno why he has to stick around, but we aren’t gonna make it easy for him.”

Yeah. Clearly. Piper’s one of their best fighters. Clarisse still holds pretty much every record in camp. Percy’s started joining in a bit more, but only since winter. Normally, he’s very careful to not be seen participating during summer camp. But with the underwater training grounds off limits and no Tri, he either joins in camp activities or doesn’t spar at all.

Two hours later, he’s feeling nice and loose and extra bouncy. Fighting with Georgie is fun! Especially now his height is finally starting to catch up with her. Freaking amazon. They switched between spears and swords and then she made him fight with a shield which was just mean.

Shields just don’t suit him. Tyson made him a totally awesome one that spirals up out of a watch, but it’s still just not his thing. He likes using two hands to wield his trident, thank you very much. A free hand is also good for pulling something unexpected.

Like the time he stabbed Ares with a trident when he was twelve. He’s still very proud of that one. He’s totally fine if that’s his peak hero moment. It was awesome.

They head to the dining pavilion that’s already overflowing with campers who arrived last night. Everyone else should be here by lunchtime, with a few extras trickling in as schedules allow.

When they sit down with their breakfast, Georgie fills him in on the situation in Atlantis. She’d headed back briefly last night to update Triton on the new camp trainer. Little areas of fighting keep popping up in and around the city. All the older sea gods that never came under Poseidon’s rule. The cyclopes forges are working at capacity to keep the military forces battle ready.

Triton is confident he can spare Georgie for the summer and Percy knows he has no chance of changing his mind. It’s still all a bit terrifying to think about. Godly wars just seem too big for them to deal with. It was expected that the fighting would begin in the ocean.

Dad’s kingdom is usually seen as the weakest, compared to attacking Olympus or the Underworld. Olympus is the gods’ seat of power and any attack will be met with overwhelming force. The Underworld has only a handful of entrances and is basically impenetrable. Whereas the ocean… Atlantis looks like a sitting duck.

Three brothers and three kingdoms, each a reflection of their ruler. Dad is willing to act as a distraction and let Kronos army thin themselves out by attacking Atlantis, but it still sucks.

Percy smirks when Clarisse joins them at Table Three. Georgie’s always been allowed, part of the negotiations from when Percy first arrived at camp. Clarisse is a newer addition, ever since Ares basically handed over custody of her to Poseidon and Apollo she’s sat wherever she feels like.

The regular Ares campers are used to her, the summer only ones never know what to do with her, and most of them will only just be hearing about the Nemean lion thing today… She may be their Cabin Head but she’s still gonna avoid them until they stop asking about the lion.

He grins evilly at her, “You do realise I’m telling Zoe’s story tonight? Definitely gonna tell ‘em you killed the lion.”

She scowls at him and he gives her an extra innocent face back.

“This is your one chance to ‘fess up if any of Deadbeat’s kids are going hunting.”

He rolls his eyes, “War Drum! I told you, that summer was the last time. It won’t happen again. Promise.”

She clearly doesn’t believe him, but whatever. The bullying thing is sorted. The handful of ‘kids’ who still know that story and want revenge have all aged out.

“Besides, you do need to actually do activities with your cabin? You are the Cabin Head?”

Clarisse’s face is all ‘just bit into a lemon’ vibes, “And who are you joining?”

“Gonna go with Power and Strobe for this week. Or Beauty’s kids, G-man’s due back too.”

He looks over at Georgie who’s glaring daggers at the main table where Lee is sitting with Fifth, and Chiron is standing next to them. Seats don’t work so well for centaurs.

“Mermaid, you got a full schedule?”

She turns away from her attempt to kill the guy with just her eyes, “Yup, Lee switched things around a bit so I have the newbies mostly, which means you’re training at dawn. Each and every day.”

He huffs but agrees. Now is not the time to slack off on his training. He at least had a fair amount of time for storm and earthquake training before Dad got too busy. Poor Castor and Pollux have been basically left to their own devices for power training since Mr D left.

Castor has some super impressive mind magic that’s a little more mental health focused than charmspeak or silvertongue is. It can also go the other way and make someone insane. Pollux is more about growing anything and everything. That whole intense chaotic madness thing in plant form.

They had been doing regular focused training with Mr D before he got sent off, hopefully it’s enough? At least they’re both sixteen now and their powers have mostly settled, if they were still increasing in power it probably wouldn’t have been safe for them to stay at camp without Mr D.

As it is, it means they’re free of all obligations, which also means it is totally time to have some nice normal kid fun. And prank as many people as they possibly can.

Before he can head off and start putting five months of plans into action, Clarisse does grab him and inform him he will also be participating in the ‘advanced training’ with Quintus. Yay.

Not like the guy’s aura is totally awful or anything.

________________________

It is kinda stupidly easy to sneak off on Scarface and Blondie. How they bought his whole ‘naive twelve-year old who feels isolated and abandoned because son of Hades' thing, he does not know.

He didn’t even need to try! Nico just complained a lot about how much they ignore him and never notice him and how Chiron says death is unnatural and bad and Hades is evil. They bought it completely. Neither of them even seemed to notice he called Father by name, repeatedly.

Idiots. He is surrounded by idiots.

Father’s suggested he start using his name as a curse word, just to see what happens. Nico’s probably the only demigod who won’t get smote for that one.

Nico doesn’t even need to make up an excuse when he sneaks off. Just waits until they’re busy and have no need for him and then shadow travels away from Mount Othrys.

Technically, he’s meant to remain in the ‘barracks’ (shitty old tents) that are under the command of Daniel, son of Hermes, and Sonia, daughter of Athena. They both are less than happy with being told to watch the twelve year old demigod that Castellan randomly showed up with.

Even if they did actually remember Nico’s existence and go looking for him, they still won’t overhear him. Being able to sense essence means he’ll know they’re there way before they get close enough to hear anything. Not that they know about that trick.

Or that Percy’s been working with him to learn how to feel when a god is watching. He’s still not great with that one, especially if it’s Father or Uncle, but he can always tell Zeus. And if Kronos ever actually reforms enough to use that trick, he’ll definitely feel it.

Percy’s voice is a little too relieved when he picks up the call. Nico mostly talks to him or War Drum instead of Lee. Lee was pretty open that he didn’t think he’d be the right person to handle the whole twelve year old actively committing espionage bit, so he just does the twice a week ‘wellbeing check-ins’ and the other two do the actual information sharing fun.

Percy doesn’t like it either. Nico can always hear how unhappy he is that Nico has so much face to face time with Castellan and Blondie.

Most of the back and forth is the usual status updates. Blondie and Castellan are super fascinated by the Labyrinth, but, so far, have only been sending single scouts out. It’s how Chris Rodriguez ended up at camp. He’d been sent in back in March when Nico first told Blondie about the prophecy. Popped out again last month with his mind and essence totally fractured.

Nico was the only one who’d seen him return and he’d quietly shadow travelled him to a pick-up point. Kronos would’ve ordered the poor guy executed. Which is polite doublespeak for what the bear twins, Agrius and Oreius, would do to him.

Even before Nico ‘joined up’, Percy warned him the madness thing was a possible outcome and said it was actually fixable.

It’s left them at a total stalemate though. Kronos is insistent they find a way to invade camp and nothing they’ve tried has remotely worked. Scarface insists there is an entrance inside the barrier and based on Percy’s total non-reaction, Nico’s assuming that’s true.

They keep going back and forth on ways to force Blondie and Castellan into the Labyrinth, mostly just because they are both sick and tired of them sacrificing random demigods to the whole malevolent intelligence thing the place has going on.

Problem is, the prophecy from the Oracle made it sound like Blondie is guaranteed to die and Castellan is way too attached to her. Neither of them know where to go from there.

“So, we’re back where we started on Blondie’s prophecy?”

Percy’s voice is super upbeat as he recites it, which really adds to the weirdness of it all.

“She shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze.
The dead, the traitor and the lost one raise.
She shall rise or fall by the Ghost King's hand,
The Child of Athena's final stand.
Destroy with a hero's final breath,
And lose a love to worse than death.”

“I still can’t believe the Oracle gave that prophecy to Zoe, must have made that whole thing so much worse after.”

There’s a fond smile in Percy’s voice, “Think she was just hoping that the mountain was Chase’s final stand. If there hadn’t been bigger things to worry about, Zoe totally would have hunted her down.”

They’re quiet for a moment. Nico’s come to terms with what happened. Once he’d gotten past the unnaturalness of souls being placed in the sky, being able to see Zoe and Phoebe’s constellation at night has become a definite comfort, especially when he’s surrounded by Kronos's army.

Nico hesitates and then asks, “How much of that do you already know the meaning of?”

Percy’s answer is a little too even, “About half of it? It’s a bit of a job lot of bits and pieces, Oracle’s doing her usual batshit thing of deliberately mixing everything up. I cannot wait ’til we get that situation straightened out.”

Nico doesn’t ask anything else. Percy would tell him if he asked, but while he’s playing at being Kronos's lieutenant, the less information he knows about their own plans the better. He does trust that he’s as shielded as possible, but still, no point risking it. Everyone seems to think things will come to a head this summer, so it’s only a matter of time until he bails.

And thank the gods for that. Nico hadn’t been wrong when he’d thought Kronos didn’t feed or house his army properly. Nico is not enjoying sleeping on the ground alongside monsters of every description. He hates the Andromeda even more and is very glad he’s not important enough to be dragged on board whenever Blondie and Castellan report in.

Nico does have a solution for part of their Labyrinth problem at least?

When he explains it to Percy, he’s less than impressed. Especially since Nico and Father went ahead and did it anyway without telling anyone.

“Shadow, are you really sure about using this guy’s spirit?”

Percy can’t see it, but Nico still rolls his eyes and says with a lot of exasperation, “It’ll be fine. Father’s the one who bound him to me. The guy can bitch all he wants, he still can’t do jack.”

“Uh huh. Then, why did you say he keeps trying to convince you to find a soul to trade for your mother’s?”

Because Zeus’s demigod kids are total morons. Except for Thalia.

“Because he’s an idiot? He seems to think I’m so lonely and abandoned and I don’t know, full of pre-teen hormonal rage, that I desperately want my mother back?”

The mother he barely remembers versus Lee, Percy, War Drum and Father. Totally exactly what he wants.

Percy’s not buying it, “Is he actually trying to help? What would he get out of this?”

Nico huffs, “Pretty sure he thinks he can switch places and be resurrected instead.”

Dead silence on the other end of the phone.

Nico says drily, “Yeah, I was a bit confused by that too. But the guy is a son of the Sky King so…”

“Yeah. Say no more. Can he actually lead you to wherever the string is?”

Yeah, Nico had wondered that too. “Pretty sure, based on what he’s said it’s more to do with him being able to scout ahead and having spent too much time there already? It won’t be remotely straight forward but still better than just going in and hoping for the best.”

“And how are you explaining your new magical ability to walk through the impossible to navigate Labyrinth?”

Nico’s voice is all dark savagery, “Oh, I won’t be. I’m just gonna screw with them whenever I need them to take a specific turn.”

Percy pauses and then asks a little too gently, “Do I want to know what she did this time?”

Nico hesitates. Lee told him the basic story of Pallas and Athena before he ‘joined’ Kronos, but none of them has ever mentioned this part.

“Do you know about the Palladium and the Trojan war?”

Dead silence on the other end. Percy finally speaks very softly, “I do. The others don’t.”

Nico honestly doesn’t know the actual story either. Blondie’s not been all that forthcoming. And that’s assuming she knows the real story to start with.

“Two things then I guess? She never explains but she keeps talking about needing to work out what the gods are using as ‘the Palladium’. She definitely sees the gods as Troy for some reason.

Percy makes a soft noise of understanding, “Yeah, Shadow. Just ignore that. She’s obsessing over the old stories again. What was the other thing?”

Nico scowls, “She’s been hinting at ‘that’ story for a while, and yesterday she decided to have a nice gossip session with me. All about how the story is happening again. She’s the assassin who knows what to do, and you’re the one who totally failed to pay attention to your training, so it’s not her fault you got hurt. Just like it’s not her mother’s fault that SHE got hurt.”

Blondie loves Percy so deeply that she keeps finding new ways to call him an idiot. Nico would like to stab her. So very much.

Percy’s voice is all soft and gentle, “Oh, Shadow. I’m sorry. You don’t need to fight my battles for me though. I know she’s doubled down on all that. Had an empousa show up yesterday talking about my limited intelligence.”

Nico pulls a face, “Kelli?”

Percy huffs a laugh, “Yeah. War Drum really wants to know what the hell is going on with her hair.”

Nico offers, “S’not actually her hair. Burning whips of fire, which she’s attached to her head for… dunno? Reasons?”

Percy snickers before turning serious, “She leaving you alone? They tried the whole come on thing with me.”

“Yeah, she’s technically under Father’s authority, and even allying with the Crooked One she’s not dumb enough to screw with a son of Hades.”

“Huh, makes sense. I’d been trying to work out where empousa fit in things. Never come across one before. Anyway. Your ghost guy, he definitely can’t be seen or heard by the others?”

Nico’s happy to reassure him, he’s made certain of this one, “No, only by Father’s kids. He can make noises if I let him, but that’s it. And there’s only me and Bi, not like she’ll point him out if we even run into her. She said you might know where they’re heading?”

“Oh! I do actually! It’s a bit delayed, but they’ll be at camp by the middle of next week. They’re planning to stay for the summer. It’s a full house here!”

Nico’s thoughtful, “Huh. Might stop in at some point then. Do the whole espionage thing?”

Percy’s voice is full of mischief, “Ooh, I wonder what nefarious plots you could uncover while you’re here? I have so many ideas!”

Nico just rolls his eyes and they finish up quickly after that. Which means he really should head back to Mount Othrys and its army camp of misery.

Or, he can make use of his own Apollo provided credit card and spend a few hours in an extra nice hotel room with proper food and actual hot water… Choices, choices.

Yeah, hot water totally wins.

________________________

Piper glares at the giant dog and tries to work out when exactly her summer plans had fallen apart.

Friday morning, things had been awesome. Percy and Clarisse were heading to their very last day of school. They’d promised they were never going back. She’d finally be able to have a regular schedule of training that wasn’t just Chiron and sparring with Clarisse whenever Percy wasn’t available.

She had been so looking forward to this!

Lee was the one who’d suggested she change things up to a schedule more like Clarisse’s than Drew’s and it had massively helped. She’d had no idea her constant twitchiness and impulsive ideas weren’t just the usual ADHD all demigods get. Apparently, it’s super common in war kids and they just ‘weren’t used to having an Aphrodite kid with so much fight in them’.

It’d made the past few months so much easier. Like, she was still a daughter of Aphrodite and kinda constantly full of intense emotions, but she hadn’t realised a hard fight could be as cathartic as a sob-fest. Silena and Drew seemed pretty unsurprised but she’d known the rest of their siblings were going to be less than happy that Piper wasn’t doing everything with them this summer.

Aphrodite kids were super big on the sticking together thing. During summer camp, it tends to be the whole cabin or none of the cabin, for everything. It’d taken some getting used to, but she’d mostly liked it. And now she’s intentionally splitting off. It’s going to cause some issues for sure.

She’d originally stayed on at camp just as a trial to see if it was an improvement on the whole rich kid boarding school thing. She’d honestly surprised by how much better it was. Even with Tantalus invading and Mr D being a total ass.

There was still bullying, but it actually got resolved. Just in ways that would never be approved in one of her old schools. As much as the campers whinge about Lee’s Rules of Retaliation, they give people a tonne of leeway. If a camper can’t, or just doesn’t want to, deal with the issue themselves, Lee does it for them. Often with some slightly terrifying archery skills.

The fact that this sort of brutal retaliation doesn’t cause lasting feuds is still strange. Awesome, but very strange.

Piper’s so glad she has camp. She kinda hates that her dad’s taken her being settled at camp as reason enough to take jobs all over the world and never come home. The moment she stopped forcing her way into his life, he stopped reaching out.

At camp, her story is not exactly uncommon and she’s had a lot of time to see what actual family relationships look like.

It’s also shown her how good it feels to be connected with her heritage. At least on her mother’s side, Piper knows who she is and where she fits. Even with the oddity of the whole Areia thing.

On her dad’s side… Yeah. She still doesn’t know what to do about that. Lee’s offered to make some calls and see if he can find someone who can help her learn about her grandfather’s Cherokee culture, but right now, she’s just not ready to open that can of worms.

Still. This summer was meant to be a GOOD summer. She’s been learning about running the camp from Lee and getting to do leadership things without being stuck with the Cabin Head duties. Percy and Clarisse are back full time and Georgie is the camp’s trainer for the summer.

Yet, somehow, her schedule has been changed so she’ll be spending her late afternoons participating in ‘Advanced Swordsmanship’ with the random new guy who showed up out of nowhere? The same one who told her she shouldn’t worry her ‘pretty little head’ about such things?

Who apparently has a pet hellhound? The same hellhound who is taking up most of the arena?

She turns on Percy, “Surfer Boy! The hell did you do?”

He holds his hands up, “Whoa! Angry Girl! I didn’t do anything!”

“So this guy’s not here solely because he has a pet hellhound? I know what you’re like with animals!”

She’s also kinda pissed he sent Spot away without telling her. Like, yes, the zebra is Percy’s, but Piper visits her daily! That should give her at least partial ownership rights, right?

If he sent Spot away because he wants a hellhound…

He makes a sympathetic face and softens his voice, “Sorry, Angry Girl, had to take the opportunity when I had it. It’s not why I sent Spot away though. Camp’s just not safe for a mortal pet right now. I promise, she’s not gone forever.”

It’s super annoying the kid always knows what she’s actually saying. Prophet fuckery for sure.

She glares at him, but she knows he isn’t lying about that. He loves Spot as much as she does. She really isn’t sure if zebras are meant to be so cuddly and sooky or if it’s just the whole being raised in a circus thing. It’s awesome either way.

“And why is the giant hellhound here?”

She eyes it’s giant sprawled butt, it’s looking a little too much pet dog-ish for her to feel like she can stab it, but if it belongs to the misogynistic creep…

Percy shoves his hands in his pockets and goes all nonchalantly, “Dunno? Service dog? Guy seemed pretty determined to keep her with him.”

She eyes him, that was a definite evasion.

“That mean I can’t stab it?”

“I would rather you didn’t.”

Awesome, misogynistic creep is here. And even better, he does the skeevy head to toe scan thing. Granted, she is wearing ‘workout’ clothes that amount to basically a sports bra and tiny shorts in Areia pink, but he’s the only one in camp who’s given her so much as a second glance.

She’d normally go for leggings and sleeves, because armour totally chafes, but Georgie completely agreed when she came storming in ranting about the guy. If he thinks Aphrodite’s daughters are too pretty to fight, she’s gonna make him eat his words, and look as pink and feminine as possible while she’s at it.

She gives the creep her own very cynical head to toe scan.

She’s long since learned to live with the Eye of the Beholder stuff. Most of the time at camp, it just makes a fair chunk of the campers look like models. Their appearance matches how genuine they are, and shows Piper who they are at their core.

It’s annoying she only sees her actual physical appearance, but Drew has the same issues. As long as they regular describe how they see each other, it stops the whole ‘self-hate because I’m so ugly in comparison’ thing.

Piper knows Quintus looks older to everyone, but to her, he looks absolutely ancient. And kinda super gross. Like, the creepy sort of gross, the type of person she would cross the street to avoid? It means nothing good.

He’s still wearing the orange camp shirt, and like, army camo pants?

And a breastplate. She tilts her head and eyes the shirt before squinting at Percy, “You gonna explain that?”

The only time she’s seen the orange shirts worn was when the auxiliaries came and pretended to be campers while Tantalus was here. None of them owned clothes that looked like they belonged to teenagers and it was the quickest solution.

But no-one ever wears them normally?

Percy grins all super mischievously, “Nope. Consider it a clue?”

Great. Prophet Percy is in the house.

Castor and Pollux turn up next and Clarisse eventually shows up too, she was definitely dawdling.

Piper asks a bit too aggressively, “So why’re you here again? We already have a trainer?”

“Oh, well, Dionysus asked if I could help out. Your, uh, head camper? Suggested we start with a two week trial. He gave me a training schedule and it looks like this group is my first class!”

She squints at Percy again, but he just beams at her. Dionysus? Head camper? Uh huh. She doesn’t even like Mr D and even she knows there is zero chance he’d send someone along who calls Lee anything but Camp Director or Hero.

She does let the guy get their ‘class’ underway.

They all gape at him as he explains basic stances and the best way to hold a sword. What?

Clarisse breaks first, “Uh, dude, this is meant to be advanced swordsmanship? We all know this already?”

Quintus seems genuinely surprised at this, what? Piper is steadily less impressed with the guy.

“Well, if that’s the case, why don’t I see what you’ve got? Percy is it?”

Percy stands there all loose and casual, with his head tilted to the side. When he speaks there is way too much glee going on.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. Prophet, remember? I see everything if I make physical contact. Your past, your future, your worst memories…”

Okay. Piper has never heard Surfer Boy make his spiel sound quite so threatening. Scared the crap out of Quintus, dude actually took a full step back.

He immediately turns towards the twins, “Well, perhaps one of you?”

Yeah, she’s had enough of this bullshit. “How about me? Or am I too pretty to fight?”

Like, Clarisse could do it too, but if he’s going to be such a dick, no need to waste their best fighter.

Quintus reluctantly agrees and hands her a sword, which is when they hit their next snag.

“This has a live edge?”

Clarisse’s head shoots up. She turns on her heel and stalks off.

He goes all confusedly, “Yes? It’s a little hard to kill someone with a blunt sword?”

“This is training? Didn’t Lee tell you the rules? Live edge is for specific things only, and if you’re here on trial no way did Lee okay live edged weapons.”

Not even Chiron gets to make that call anymore. Even with Chiron supervising, it’s Lee who decides who’s allowed to fight with battle ready weapons. Maybe Georgie. Maybe.

Clarisse returns just as Quintus says, “You young ones need more challenges, they didn’t have camps like this when I was a boy.”

“Pretty sure that doesn’t mean you get to ignore Lee’s rules?”

Quintus argues back about how he’s the trainer, and head campers don’t set rules.

Clarisse loses patience and makes a super cranky noise and all but chucks a blunt sword at Quintus's head and, much more politely, exchanges Piper’s for another blunt training sword.

The fight after that is plain fun. This guy is one of the thinker fighters. All complex strategies like the Athena and Apollo kids prefer. And nothing to Percy’s impulsive sneakiness where not even he’s thought through the move before he’s trying it.

The first few times Piper dropped him, he was definitely going easy on her. You know, because Aphrodite’s kids can’t fight and all? After that he actually started fighting back properly.

That was when he started trying all the complex sneaky strategies. Might’ve worked better if he hadn’t so clearly worked them out step by step. Piper’s own strategies tend to be solidly between Clarisse’s more straightforward overwhelming force attacks and Percy’s unexpected sneakiness.

She can’t beat either of them, but compared to Quintus? Oh yes. Piper whipped Quintus so good. Bit weird that the guy never even broke a sweat, but he was definitely so totally done by the eighth time she knocked him to the ground.

That was the time she grabbed him by his armour and threw him. As he got back up, she noticed that the weird birthmark thing on his neck was actually some sort of brand? Could be a tattoo, but looked a lot more like it was burned into him. Some sort of bird?

When she asks what it is, he’s not happy. He tells her it’s ‘a reminder’ and goes all stiff and offended.

Whatever. She focuses back on the fight.

Just as the fight is winding down, he attempts to apologise to her as he “clearly misunderstood, and thought she was a daughter of Aphrodite, where he can see now she’s a daughter of Ares.”

The ninth time he goes down is the hardest yet.

Clarisse gleefully drawls from where she’s leaning against the arena fence, “Nah, dude, she’s definitely one of Beauty’s. We ain’t stereotypes.”

After that, he decided they should work through some drills, which were so much more boring but at least weren’t total beginner level. Percy keeps eyeing the dog, he so wasn’t interested in training. Piper knows he desperately wants to pat the puppy.

When the conch horn blows, calling everyone in for dinner, they’re all very glad to be done with the ‘training’. She is so unimpressed, she was looking forward to training with Georgie!

“Yo, Angry Girl?”

Percy had apparently caught up to her while she was stalking and muttering to herself, “Surfer Boy?”

“Two things to tell you, can’t answer any questions and you can’t talk about them.”

Awesome, not the first time he’s done this to her, but it tends to not mean anything good.

“Okay?”

“First, current stuff, totally temporary. You’ll be training with Mermaid before you know it, promise. Second, don’t go searching for the Wild God.”

“And I can’t ask questions?”

He grins, “Nope, but I’ll give you this. That second bit is ‘cause you’re needed for something that you will absolutely adore.”

Since she’s never been remotely interested in the satyrs’ search for Pan, she has no idea why she’d want to go looking now, but still, she’ll keep it in mind?

________________________

When Clarisse walks into the Big House, the first thing she hears is Lee’s completely dead and so done with life tone.

“Quintus, it really doesn’t matter how things ‘used to be done’. That was then. This is now. Children do not train with live edged weapons unless they have been approved. I do not give permission unless they have been extensively trained.”

She winces, it’s only been three days since Quintus tried to spar with Piper using live weapons, and he has yet to let go of this one.

Yesterday he ‘assisted’ with one of Georgie’s intro sessions for the younger kids who are at summer camp for the first time.

No-one seems to know how the guy even got into the armoury, but there he was, handing out live edge celestial bronze weapons to a bunch of ten year olds!

She’d been pulled away from the Ares cabin’s activities to help go through all the weaponry and make sure all of the live edged weapons were accounted for.

She knows Chiron used to be as bad, but isn’t Quintus meant to be a demigod? Chiron has his weird immortality deal to excuse him, Zeus definitely botched it super badly, but Quintus is pretty determined to present himself as just another adult demigod.

He so isn’t. Priss is refusing to tell her what he actually is though. The only thing he said was that he’s not using the Mist to hide.

The fact that he thinks Atlantis is completely isolated is making her extra suspicious. That first thousand years after Pallas died, the sea gods completely closed their realm off.

Once he heard about the Nemean lion thing Quintus refused to spar with her, so she hasn’t had a chance to see if he bleeds. Yet.

Quintus is demanding, kinda aggressively, why Lee gets to decide this. The guys been super confrontational since he found out Lee was a son of Apollo, he’s just as bad with all the Apollo kids. If the guy’s eyes were grey she’d be certain he was a son of Athena. Acts just like Blondie.

She carefully peeks around the doorway, not in the mood for an argument with Quintus. His back is to her and Lee is standing behind his desk, arms crossed glaring at the guy.

Ouch, she’s never seen Lee’s eyes that cold. Then again, it’s been years since anyone’s challenged Lee’s leadership in the camp. Doesn’t matter what the Olympian Council thinks, the camp is Lee’s baby, he cares about every kid here.

Lee’s answer is clipped, “I get to decide this because I run the camp. I negotiate with the gods. I make arrangements for their children. If you have an issue with that, I recommend talking to Dionysus, since you know where he is and all.”

Lee turns to Clarisse and says in a much warmer tone, “Hey, kid. What’s up?”

“Priss said to let you know Grover’s back. Said you should come?”

Grover is back, but it’s very much an excuse. Most of camp is gathered in the dining pavilion for a surprise party for Lee’s birthday. They just hadn’t expected Quintus to waylay him.

Lee nods and turns back to Quintus, “Look, you’re here for a two week trial. I don’t care how you got into the armoury, but if you do it again, your trial will be immediately terminated. I’ll allow you to run your planned war-game next Tuesday. That gives you a week to set it up. Senior campers only and I will be approving the participants. I’ve got places to be, so ask any questions later.”

And Lee stalks straight out of his office, gesturing for Clarisse to lead the way. She’s grinning far too wickedly at Lee reading new guy the riot act. Guy looked like a stunned mullet when Lee said he didn’t care how he’d broken into the armoury.

Admittedly it’s weird that they don’t know how he did it, but breaking into the armoury isn’t exactly a challenge.

Half of camp knows how to break into it, bit stupid to keep the weaponry so inaccessible they can’t get to it when they actually need it. Everyone just knows better than to do it outside of actual emergencies. It’s left untouched even during prank wars. Because demigods aren’t totally insane?

The guy looked like he was expecting Lee to demand explanations or something. Lee is just pissed the guy gave the weapons to kids.

Plus, now it’ll makes these surprise party extra fun when Lee’s crankiness switches straight to pleased shock.

Clarisse very much enjoys watching Lee’s surprise. Most years his birthday is just before camp starts, but the dates worked out this time and she and Prissy pulled out all the stops. Lee deserves all the nice things.

Pollux even did the decorations. It’s definitely upset the Demeter campers. They seem to think growing things is solely their mum’s thing. But even they can’t turn the dining pavilion into a hobbit house with a proper lawn on top in like, ten minutes flat.

Piper and Mr D had some sort of blow up while Clarisse was away on a quest, something about fantasy books? Anyway, it turned into Piper determinedly reading as many fantasy books as she possibly can and then retelling them to Drew, Priss and her. Then she showed them bits of the Lord of the Rings movies. They’d all agreed that Lee was totally Legolas.

Piper found the Hobbit movies which also have Legolas in them for… reasons? He wasn’t in the book anyway. After that, they decided Lee needed a Hobbit themed birthday party. They even dressed Beck up as a dwarf! Beck was not so impressed, but they assured him his willingness to participate would totally impress Silena.

They didn’t tell Beck Silena wouldn’t even be here. Poor guy. That beard looks super itchy.

Lee obligingly lets them dress him in a velvet cape thing and a circlet just like the one Legolas had on at the end of the movie. Poor Lee. He does complain that he deserves an elven bow too, and acts all super sad when he is reminded that elves don’t actually exist.

Priss looks suspiciously blank faced at that one. Huh. What’s he know? Are elves a thing? That’d be so cool!

Most of the campers will take any excuse for a party, and she’s pretty sure the prospect of Beck in a beard and wig like a real dwarf got most of Hephaestus cabin out of the forge. Leo can’t even get through a full sentence he’s laughing so hard. He’s trying to explain the concept of a fake beard to Tyson who is looking so confused.

Tyson has been completely absorbed by Hephaestus cabin, Clarisse is pretty sure he’s sleeping in their dorm now too. Georgie says if he was human he’d be like seven or eight years old now? Absolutely amazing with making pretty much everything, but still a little kid. Despite being an eight foot tall cyclops.

Clarisse loves it when Tyson is at camp. The first time she met him she told him that Chiron was a pony, and the kid has never forgotten it. It’s great fun watching Tyson beg to ‘pat the pony’ and Chiron try, yet again, to convince him he’s actually a centaur.

That first winter, Chiron had appealed to Lee for help. Naturally, Lee told Tyson that Chiron is definitely a pony. He explained that centaurs are ‘person ponies’ whereas hippocampi are ‘fish ponies’. Clarisse has no idea what Chiron was actually expecting Lee to do.

Didn’t help that Chiron attempted to tell Tyson that Prissy was his brother. Which, technically, he is. Most cyclopes are children of Poseidon. The problem is there’s a huge difference between that relationship existing and it being acknowledged.

Prissy is the second prince and Triton’s brother because Poseidon and Triton call him that. If he’d been claimed but not acknowledged, he’d be a son of Poseidon and nothing more.

If Tyson had actually believed Chiron it would’ve been an absolute political nightmare. Instead, Tyson told Chiron that “Pony has silly ideas! Tyson is Georgie’s brother!”

Kid’s treated like a camper and everything, he just has the same flexibility Georgie does. He came to camp last summer too, even though Georgie stayed in Atlantis.

And Chiron is never escaping his new “Person Pony!” nickname. Makes Clarisse gleeful every time she hears it.

Most everyone is having fun and the Aphrodite cabin are handing out fantasy cloaks like party favours. It adds a new level of weirdness to Greek demigod camp.

Prissy’s dragged Castor over to talk to Grover for some reason. The satyrs tend to be a bit antsy around the twins, with Mr D being their father. Prissy has been repeatedly forcing them together with Grover all year. She’s given up trying to work out why.

She watches Castor and Grover talk for a bit and Grover seems to be looking a bit happier. But as soon as Castor leaves, he’s back to looking totally miserable.

She heads over.

“Grover! What’s with the moping? Did ya see the party?”

He gives her a weak smile, “Hi Clarisse! Yeah, party’s great, I just…”

She scowls, “I know you didn’t find anything, but Priss seems certain you will?”

He cringes, “Might not matter, even if I eventually find him, I’ve been summoned to the Council of Cloven Elders next week.”

What?

“Why?” Okay, that came out way too aggressively, but seriously?

Grover sounds so miserable, “They say I haven’t shown any proof. That first I got caught in a satyr trap by Polyphemus and had to be rescued, and that without Nico to give testimony I can’t prove what we felt in Cloudcroft.”

“But you heard Pan just after the Solstice?”

He wrings his hands, “They say it was a hallucination. That I have to give up my search. Castor says I need to fight back, but I just don’t know how. I’m sure I heard Pan, but the Council keeps saying I’m imagining things!”

She grits her teeth, Grover is a friend. She’s known him since she was little. Like all the satyrs, he used to scarper as soon as Prissy turned up, but after the Polyphemus thing he’s become just as close with Priss too.

Prissy says Grover has a super good fate, and with the number of shitty fates they deal with, no way is she letting Grover miss out on the good stuff.

“How can I help?”

Chapter Text

Percy isn’t surprised when Clarisse virtually disappears for a full week. With Quintus constantly lurking and her siblings being extra weird since they found out about the Nemean lion, girl needs a distraction.

The stuff with Grover certainly counts as a distraction. If it wasn’t so stupid, it’d almost be funny. The older satyrs have had eighty years of Mr D breathing down their necks, and apparently, when the cats away the mice will play.

When Dionysus is around, he’s the final authority on everything when it comes to nature spirits and satyrs. He hasn’t always been, just since Pan disappeared two thousand years ago. Before that, they fell under Pan’s domain. When his power started fading, they kinda got shuffled into Dionysus's domains.

Dionysus has always been a kinda eccentric god. Like, give a guy the domains of Theatre and Madness as well as Hospitality and it’s gonna give you super strange results.

A fair chunk of Mr D’s more bizarre theatrical performances have ended up pretty famous, even in the mortal world. Most of them were performed by satyrs.

It doesn’t help that a fair chunk of them went from being accepted as fictional plays to being considered actual events.

Like that whole story about Athena cursing a musical instrument because it made her cheeks look puffy. A satyr found the thing and played it in a competition with Apollo. The competition being to play their instrument upside down. Apollo easily played his lyre upside down, but the weird wind instrument thing couldn’t be played upside down. Apollo won the competition and turned the satyr into a tree and flayed him alive.

As you do.

The whole thing was Dionysus mocking his siblings and again, total fiction. Performed by satyrs. The mortals now just accept it as part of their stories. And that’s one of the child friendly stories.

Most of those stories really don’t put satyrs in a good light. Like, at all. “Explicit” is the politest word Percy can use to describe most of all that. But, well, it’s theatre? The mortals with their whole Game of Thrones stuff haven’t got a leg to stand on.

But the satyrs still aren’t happy about the myths, or Dionysus in general. It’s the main reason they keep supporting the search for Pan. They want their old boss back. G-man’s different though. He wants to find Pan solely because he’s Pan. The God of the Wild.

Percy feels a little bad about not telling Grover that Pan is fading, G-man genuinely believes Pan can be returned to the world. But that’s the sort of thing the satyr needs to learn for himself. His whole journey is gonna be so awesome. Sad, but awesome too.

Percy’s less happy about the Cloven Elders deciding to have their little disciplinary shindig in the butt end of nowhere. He’s been hiking through the woods for like, ever. He had planned on arriving fashionably late, but this is getting kind of ridiculous.

When he finally hears voices, he sneaks up quietly to see how far along they’ve gotten in all of this.

Grover isn’t intimidated by him anymore, but the rest of the satyrs were terrified of him even when he was seven and spent more time drifting than in the real world. It’s only gotten worse since. If they see him, they’re more likely to run away than let him participate in the stupidity.

The three oldest and ‘wisest’ satyrs have grown themselves little topiary thrones. Out of rose bushes? Those three have been so snarky ever since Lee took over everything with finding new demigods. The satyrs are still like, integral, but it’s less adventure quest and more babysitting duty?

They think it’s beneath them. No matter how often Lee points out that no-one dies on the retrieval missions anymore, it’s still somehow disrespecting their greatness or whatever.

The thrones are definitely a bit much. And totally a sign the satyrs have been spending too much time around demigods. Nature spirits don’t really go in for thrones and crowns and things. Or polo shirts. Why are those three wearing polo shirts?

Grover’s standing at the front with Clarisse looking absolutely miserable, and behind him is a whole circle of nature spirits and satyrs sitting on the ground. The whole thing is looking like a super uncomfortable reflection of the last time Percy got dragged to Olympus.

Seriously, this lot have been spending way too much time around the demigods, and listening to Percy’s stories at the campfire. This is nothing like it’s meant to be.

This sort of thing, if it reached an actual level of needing formal handling, would involve Dionysus leaning hard into the greek thing, reclining on the ground in a big white sheet dress type thing with his vine crown on and all the nature spirits sprawled out around him. The satyrs aren’t meant to unionise?

Clarisse shifts back to where he’s standing, of course she noticed him.

“Prissy, the hell is going on with this? Grover explained this to me but nothing he described was like this?”

“S’not meant to be like this. Think it’s the result of the Wild One being gone and them pushing back against Mr D? They can’t do anything when he’s here, their natures won’t allow it, but with him away...”

One of the throne guys cut off Grover’s speech and demands to know why he should believe G-man.

Grover looks even more stressed and doesn’t get further than “But, Silenus-” before the guy just turns away from him and stops listening.

Percy stiffens, this is wrong. At every level. The satyrs aren’t human. They aren’t demigods, they aren’t mortals. Why are they acting like this?

“Where’s Chiron?”

Clarisse shrugs, “He’s meant to be here, but they changed the location at the last minute.”

Guess that explains why it took Percy so long to find them. One of the dryads moves closer. Juniper, G-man’s best friend.

She’s been crying, uh oh.

“Lord Prophet, I don’t understand this? I know they were unhappy, but this, it’s not right?”

Percy tries to look like he knows what he’s doing. He’s a bit too used to the Lord Prophet thing at this point. No chance he’ll ever talk them out of it any more than he’ll ever get Spot or Blackjack to stop calling him their prince. Juniper is one of the few who are even willing to speak to him at all, so he’ll take what he can get.

Silenus finally turns back to Grover, “Mr Underwood. For the past six months you have insisted you heard Pan speak to you. Such claims are blasphemy!”

What? Blasphemy? The hell?

Grover loudly and very firmly states that he did hear Pan.

One of the other ‘elders’, Maron, declares him impudent. When Grover protests, the guy legit holds his hand up to silence him.

“You will cease with this nonsense! As if the Wild God would ever speak with the likes of you!”

‘Cease’. Well. There’s the proof this lot are playacting as Olympians. Dad is very fond of that word, and the campers have been re-enacting the moment the Winter Solstice nearly turned into full out war all year.

Clarisse grabs Juniper’s arm before she lunges forward. Good call, if their Lord Prophet made physical contact with a nature spirit, (Against the sacred laws!), it would cause mass panic. Doesn’t bother Percy remotely, but it’s how their natures work.

Or should work. This pretend council thing is super disturbing.

Silenus takes up the argument and tells Grover, “Mr Underwood, we have indulged you for a full six months! Permitted you to travel, even allowed you to keep your searcher’s license! You still have provided no proof of these preposterous claims. You have found nothing.”

“Prissy, why aren’t you stopping this?”

Clarisse is so not happy with him.

He speaks quietly but does give a serious answer, “If they stop him leaving I’ll step in, but right now, letting them playact as Olympians is just gonna screw them over, not G-man. When Mr D is back, I’ll be giving him a full blow by blow of this. It’ll come better from him than me.”

She’s still not happy, “Then why are you here?”

“As a witness? And so G-man knows he has friends?”

That calms her down. He doesn’t blame her, he’d like to call the whole lot of them out on this too. This is just satyrs throwing their weight around just because they can, and because they think they’re hard done by.

If they’d actually been screwed over, sure Percy’d want to help. But they haven’t been. They’re just whinging because they don’t like change.

But seriously. It’s been over two thousand years. Get over it?

Leneus speaks up and declares Grover has found nothing and he needs to choose a new pursuit, such as puppet theatre.

“Yo, War Drum, go tell the three idiots that even G-man deserves a second chance. And if they don’t give it, the Prophet of Apollo is going to tell the true story about the satyrs and Odysseus.”

She gives him a very wide-eyed look at that one, but stalks straight to the three idiots. Percy never tells Odysseus stories. The man was absolutely vile and, for some reason, well liked by Hermes and Athena.

Dad had chased him through the Sea of Monsters for what he did to Polyphemus and Circe, and eventually trapped him with Calypso on her prison island. Two people who were all about the non-consensual drugging and rapist lifestyle, match made in heaven, no? At least until Hermes freed him.

The satyr story is pretty tame in comparison. The three idiot satyrs are super fond of being the ones ‘clever enough to drug Polyphemus’. Since Odysseus needed some way of explaining how he ‘magically’ had drugged wine and didn’t just blind the cyclops while the poor guy was, uh, otherwise engaged.

Percy’s never corrected that story, but he totally will if the satyrs are going to act like this.

It works too. The satyrs look completely horrified and as nervous as G-man had looked. They only give Grover one week, but that’ll work.

Poor Grover tries to argue with them about how impossible it is and how he can’t lose his searcher’s license. Percy is not pleased by the way they just talk over the top of him. None of this is right.

He’s even less happy when nymphs show up carrying trays of food. Silver trays. Mr D’s only been away since Solstice. If this is how those three act, it is definitely time for new leadership among the satyrs. There’s acting as a true leader, and there’s bossing everyone around for the fun of it. This lot are all about the last one.

Clarisse leads Grover over to where Percy’s still trying to be invisible.

“Hey G-man, that looked like it super sucked?”

Grover gives him such a miserable devastated look, “I don’t know what to do, Percy. This… I just know this is what I’m meant to do. I know it was Pan! But one week, what am I meant to do with one week?”

“S’not as bad as you think. And it was Wild God, both times. Shadow was there and felt it, and I was watching when all that happened. It was definitely him. You’re going to find him, I know it.”

That gets him a suspicious look. Grover has noticed how confident Percy is about this, but isn’t prepared to actually ask if it’s a prophet thing or Percy being a friend.

It’s totally both, but no matter how comfortable Grover’s become with him, he is still a satyr. He can never quite forget that Percy is a Prophet of Apollo.

He also super didn’t like that one time Percy mentioned the Labyrinth to him. Poor guy.

They walk back to the main camp together, Grover’s not remotely in the mood for spending more time with the satyrs.

“Hey, G-man, how long have they been doing the throne thing?”

He pulls a face and shifts uncomfortably, “This is the first time I’ve seen it? But I’ve been away. This past week they’ve been kinda weird though. Silenus was talking about wanting a bedroom in the Big House.”

Even Clarisse misses a step at that one. It’d be like one of the tree dryads wanting to sleep in a cabin and not their tree. Or a water naiad building their own house on land.

The satyrs’ whole thing is sleeping in meadows and tree roots and, well, the wild places. Maybe plants grown into a soft bed-like situation. Maybe. They engage with the mortal world and help with demigods because Mr D asked them to, but it really isn’t meant to be a thing they genuinely want.

“Yeah, they are super taking advantage of Mr D not being around. Is it just those three, what about the younger ones?”

Grover shakes his head, “The others are fine, they’re all kinda weirded out by it too. But those three, they’ve been the voices of the Cloven Council for thousands of years, and they’ve always overseen the search for Pan.”

So just long-term disgruntlement. Fun.

“If they cause you problems, let me know. Mr D would never forgive me if I let things slide in his absence. If they won’t listen to Strobe or Power, they will listen to me.”

________________________

Lee stares at the bow that is lying on his bed and tries to work out when exactly Percy had taken it.

The bow ‘should’ be on Apeiron, the god-supplied ship that is actually intended for emergency evacuation. Emergency as in, the world is ending and Olympus has fallen.

It has weaponry onboard for all of them that suits that level of extreme emergency. Including this bow. Dad mentioned it to him last winter before he got sent off on his punishment tour of duty.

A golden bow originally forged for Dad in Zeus’s Royal Forge on Olympus, and a matching quiver from the Royal Atlantean Forge. Left for Lee just in case he’s ever his kids’ last line of defence.

It’s only meant to be used when the gods are beyond their reach.

It should be in a sealed weapons locker on Apeiron. One that can’t be accessed by anyone but Lee. Why is it on his bed?

“You just gonna stare at it?”

He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath, without turning away from the bow he asks, “Perce, exactly how did you get this?”

“Found it when we went to the Sea of Monsters.”

Lee takes another long slow breath, “You mean it’s been out of the weapons locker this entire time?”

Zeus will not react well to Lee having possession of a god’s weapon, even if it is a backup one.

“No? I just added my own access code.”

Of course his kid did that. Why would he expect anything else?”

He turns to look at his kid who’s leaning casually in the door frame and entirely unbothered that Lee is upset with him.

Lee tries to keep his voice calm, “Why is it here?”

His kid just blithely goes, “You’re gonna need it.”

Lee has spent the last week trying to keep Quintus contained. Every time he turns around the guy has done some new insane thing. This morning, Lee had to confiscate actual Greek fire that the guy was about to hand over to the Hermes cabin!

When he tried to explain to Quintus that the campers are children, not warriors, the guy just told him they needed more challenges. Apparently, he thinks Lee is coddling the kids. Because they’re children?

Straight after Quintus, Chiron, (Chiron!) approached Lee to tell him Quintus keeps asking him about the Great Prophecy. And also, Quintus keeps calling him ‘Master Chiron’ and it’s freaking the centaur out.

Lee has no idea when their relationship flipped from old annoying teacher and former student to Chiron considering himself under Lee’s authority. Helpful though. For once, Chiron didn’t even ask questions when Lee told him it was being handled.

After lunch, multiple satyrs and nature spirits came to Lee to report the Council of Cloven Elders has completely lost its collective mind and decided to play at being Olympians. With Mr D out of reach, they’ve decided this is Lee’s problem.

And now, the end-of-the-world bow, that should be locked away out of sight, is sitting on his bed. He is at his limit.

He takes another deep breath and tries not to yell, “Perce.”

His kid at least drops the devil-may-care attitude, “Just, trust me on this, okay? Camp will be fine regardless, but your normal bow won’t kill it. This will.”

Lee’s normal bow is another gift from Apollo. It’s just made for a favoured demigod child rather than for Apollo himself. It kills most things. This does not bode well.

“You gonna tell me why this is important?”

Percy’s face is dark and mutinous, he’s furious about something.

“I’m sick of Castellan and Chase thinking we’re weak and stupid. Thinking you’re weak. You’re gonna make them eat their words.”

“I thought that was the point, for them to think we’re just a defenceless camp of kids?”

“It is.”

Percy sighs and walks over to Lee, leans against him and hides his face against his shoulder.

He talks into Lee’s t-shirt, “I know it should be fine Hot Air, but I can’t lose you. Your bow won’t kill it and no matter what the knowing says, I know you’ll go after it so it can’t attack camp again. I can’t lose you!”

Oh, kid.

Lee gives him a tight hug, “Perce, I won’t do that, I won’t forget you and Clarisse are here. I’ll take the bow if you’re certain, but what happens if Sky King sees it?”

His kid just shakes his head against him, “He won’t. None of them will see. If any of them were watching they’d step in way before it got here.”

“There a reason you aren’t telling me what it is?”

“‘Cause you’ll overthink things if I do.”

Oh, just wonderful.

“Anything else I need to know?”

Percy shakes his head against him but does add, “Ranged weapons only, no melee fighters.”

He squeezes his kid and speaks into his hair, “I’ll come back, promise. And we’ll show Castellan we aren’t weak, or stupid. We got this, kid.”

Percy hates them thinking he’s a goofball, but he tends to go nuclear at the idea of people underestimating Lee or Clarisse. All of them are definitely a bit too loyal at this point.

Percy pulls back and tries a smile. It doesn’t quite work. Lee really isn’t sure how to feel about this. All of them have gotten used to Lee being here at camp while his kids go off and do whatever weird task they have this time.

Even with the cursed school in session, his kids have been disappearing on weekends to check into things Nico’s reported back.

Last month, they went to collect Chris Rodriguez. Both his kids were freaked after that one. Chris is only a few years younger than Lee and the guy was really not okay after all of that. Doing better after Mr D’s five second visit, but still not great. A couple of the auxiliaries are looking after him until Quintus is cleared out.

Lee might be preparing for a war and training relentlessly, but this is the first time the fight has come to him and not his kids.

“Perce, what about Quintus?”

Percy huffs, “Turns out that guy is much dumber than I realised. You know he sparred with me the other day? Like, totally ignored all the warnings about my seeing his memories if I made physical contact?”

That startles a laugh out of Lee. They’re all used to people being extra twitchy about the Prophet of Apollo. Percy’s nearly fifteen, his abilities are old news in the divine world. Exactly how out of touch is this guy?

“You learn any fun new secrets?”

Percy just pulls a face, “Nothing I didn’t already know. Be glad when he’s gone.”

Yeah, Lee’s still not going to get any answers is he?

He sends Percy off to dinner and glares at the bow a little longer before he finds a jacket to drape over it and make it look a less like Apollo’s backup golden bow if he has to drag it around camp with him.

The quiver is fine, another magically transforming gadget. At this point, Lee is assuming transforming weapons are the speciality of the Royal Atlantean Forge or something.

He gives Kayla a heads up that Percy’s being weird and says they need ranged fighters for something. Lee also reminds Will that he’s head medic, and no he can’t join them. Head medics do not actively enter battle unless the world is ending. Will’s swear words are getting incredibly creative.

Clarisse tells him she and Piper were given a similar message from Percy, so he’s definitely rounding up everyone who’s best with a bow. Other than Georgie, none of the campers are as bad with a bow as Percy is, but that really doesn’t mean much.

Percy did tell Clarisse that whatever is happening will be tonight, which is more than Lee got out of his kid. Then again, Lee didn’t hold a spear to his throat. Clarisse is quick to assure him it was “just Afosi!” Yeah. Her using the ever so slightly less lethal spear doesn’t actually make Lee feel better.

One day, when all of this is over, he and Triton are going to have a very serious conversation about what weapons are and are not appropriate to give to children.

Every time he’s tried to bring it up in the past, Triton completely redirects the conversation to how Lee needs to discourage Clarisse from renaming her weapons. The spear is meant to be called Afosiosi and not Afosi. Because Lee cares about this? Triton is a little too much like his father sometimes.

Lee had made the mistake of asking Georgie if the platinum compound weaponry was normal. He was not happy to learn that even their special forces cyclopes ‘only’ wield celestial bronze weapons.

His kids platinum compound and adamantine weapons are very much reserved for the gods. And Lee’s two teenage demigods. Because Triton says so. No comment on the weaponry Hades gave Nico.

Thinking of ways to murder Triton at least keeps him entertained while they all keep vigil on the porch of the Big House. It sits closest to the border of any building and gives them a good view of the hill and Thalia’s tree with it’s golden dragon guardian wrapped around it and dozing.

Lee doesn’t even need Peleus's sudden snarl and giant geyser of fire to get his attention.

The hell was that? That thing was huge!

And glowing green. The hell?

The four of them race up the hill, the others definitely don’t need Lee’s warning to keep them on this side of the barrier. Peleus is still sending bursts of fire out into the night. The golden dragon’s sole purpose is to protect the Golden Fleece and he takes his duties very seriously.

Clarisse speaks quietly from behind him, “That’s an Aethiopian drakon, we saw it when we went past the Princess Andromeda winter before last. It’s grown a tonne.”

It’s also still very young if that’s what it is. Aethiopian drakons grow up to one hundred and eighty feet. This one’s maybe sixty?

Lee speaks softly, “No-one cross the barrier. Fire at will, but do not cross the barrier.”

He gets three acknowledgements and they all spread out. He keeps Piper with him but leaves Clarisse and Kayla to find their own positions. Clarisse is a far better fighter than Lee and will do better trusting her own instincts. Kayla’s archery skills lend themselves for to rapid-fire as well.

Lee’s greatest skill with a bow is his marksmanship. Of any of his siblings, he’s the one who can hit his target every time.

And Lee has Apollo’s bow. No wonder Percy was so insistent. His kid was not wrong, if the drakon survives the attack and leaves, Lee will be having nightmares about it invading camp and eating kids. It needs to die and it needs to die now.

He is never going to escape the kids’ teasing about elves if he does this, but screw it. That thing is going down.

He carefully moves to the side away from the Fleece and hoists himself up into Thalia’s tree. Peleus doesn’t so much as twitch, still staring fixedly into the dark. Apparently, he’s confident Lee isn’t trying to steal the Fleece?

Lee pulls himself up from branch to branch until he’s a good fifty feet off the ground and standing on a far too thin branch. He can hear Piper laughing at him. Yes, he knows. Legolas. But if it works?

The quiver on his back materialises arrows as he reaches for them and he almost drops the first one. Adamantine. Of course. These were intended for world ending disasters. If Triton outfits his kids with adamantine, why on earth did Lee think he’d be spared?

The lime green drakon is already pacing back around the barrier towards them again. Still a long way off, but with the height of the tree and it being on top of the hill he has an excellent view of the thing.

Even from this vantage point it was bizarre to look at. More serpent than drakon with short muscular legs and weird vestigial wings on its back.

The mouth is enormous. Baby or not, this thing can already eat an adult demigod whole. They’re said to be one of the largest of any of the drakons. The Lydian drakon might be larger? He thinks?

He stares it down and some distant part of him is remembering an old dream. One from his sight but from before he met Percy. A golden chariot drawn by a matched pair of golden drakons. Much nicer looking ones. Nothing at all like this green thing.

He shakes the distraction off. He has adamantine arrows and a god’s bow. There is no better time to deal with this thing.

It’s a good ways off still but arrows are already slamming against it from two different angles. The arrows all shatter on its scales and fall to the ground. The drakon doesn’t even hesitate in its slow pacing at it systematically pushes against the barrier with each step.

It’s already inside his maximum range, but the closer it comes, the harder the arrows will hit.

Lee reaches back and grabs a second arrow, nocking both arrows at once. There are advantages to being a son of Apollo.

Six hundred feet away.

A third shooter begins firing arrows. Piper, standing directly below him. It doesn’t even change its stride. The arrows strike and shatter or bounce off. None have even drawn blood, but all three continue raining arrows on it.

He lets himself breathe as his mind focuses down to a single pinpoint. A lime green eye in the head of an Aethiopian drakon moving steadily closer. Shifting back and forth at a constant rate as the drakon tests the barrier.

Five hundred feet.

Lee feels everything at once, the too thin branch under his feet, creaking with strain.

His left hand gripping the bow. His right hand, arrows nocked, holding them gently in position against the bowstring. The tension on the bowstring as he takes it to full draw.

Left arm out straight holding the bow steady, right arm bent way back, hand almost touching his cheek, muscles tense, holding the arrows still with a gentle touch, even as the string sings with tension under his fingers.

Four hundred feet.

Lee is a son of Apollo and this is what he is born to do. All he sees is that green eye pacing forward. He can feel the arrows ready to sing.

Three hundred feet. Perfect.

He breathes slowly and releases in the pause at the end of his exhale.

Two arrows streak through the barrier and slam through a green eye. Straight into its brain. Both arrows completely disappear into the eye, fletching and all. Adamantine is without match. And the bow… Yeah. Lee will be very glad when it’s locked away again.

He watches as the drakon collapses to the ground twitching before very slowly dissolving to gold dust, and some sort of spoil of war.

“HOLD!”

Lee’s heart nearly stops when he realises Kayla is about to dart through the barrier. Yes, it’s dead, but please wait? It wasn’t even Lee who screamed that.

That was definitely Piper way below him. She roared like a lion. Gods! That wasn’t even charmspeak.

He scrambles back down the tree, bow flung carelessly over his shoulder. He’s pretty sure he got more scraped on the way down than he did on the way up.

He finally makes it back to the girls who are all now staring through the barrier, bows up. Completely ignoring Peleus who’s left his tree and is all of two feet away from them, staring just as fixedly.

“It’s all clear.”

Nope, Lee didn’t just jump out of his skin. Not him. He spins around to see Percy standing there, all casually barefoot and in his pyjamas like there aren’t the remains of a sixty foot drakon barely ten feet away from them on the other side of the barrier.

He shakes off the shock, “You sure no-one else is out there?”

Percy nods cheerfully, “They don’t exactly have much control over that thing. Pretty sure half the reason they released it is because they can’t afford to feed it. Doubt they had any real idea of how to retrieve it. Think they just wanted to see if there were any weak points in the barrier.”

Clarisse darted through the barrier as soon as Percy spoke and is now picking over the gold dust and the whatever that was left as a spoil of war. It’s certainly very green?

She comes back, dragging the thing behind her. It’s heavy anyway, Kayla and Piper go to help pull it back inside the barrier and while they’re distracted, Clarisse hands Lee the two arrows. Which are still pristine. Lee stares at them and then quickly returns them to the quiver where they vanish back to wherever they came from.

He’s not going to think about that. Ever. He’s definitely murdering Triton though. Maybe a little warning next time? Or any information at all about that quiver would have been good.

When Percy gestures silently, Lee hands him both bow and quiver and gives him a very narrow eyed glare. “Those better be put back where you found them, Perce.”

Also, based on what his kid just said…

“Percy, did you arrange this because that thing was an actual threat, or were you just trying to turn me into a real life Legolas?”

Percy gives him a far too innocent grin. Wonderful. Manipulated by his own kid. And as always, Lee can’t even tell him off. The drakon did need to be killed and this way it was a nice easy kill with zero injuries.

“Perce, I swear to the gods, if you add this to your campfire stories…”

Percy gives him an extra innocent look and places his hand over his heart in mock hurt “Me? Tell stories about you? Never!” Then he turns to head back to the cabins and calls cheerfully over this shoulder, “Legolas on the other hand? He’ll never be forgotten! Don’t you worry!”

Kayla comes up beside him, where he’s still gaping at the cheek of the kid, and bumps her shoulder against his, “Kids grow up so fast, don’t they?”

Lee just shakes his head in despair and goes to look at the whatever. Peleus is still snarling at it but seems happier now he’s realised it’s very dead. He’s at least no longer trying to flame-grill it.

Lee should probably be more bothered by Peleus, but the little gold dragon is more adorable than fearsome. At least, he is if he likes you, anyway.

Oh lovely. It’s a giant snakeskin. A lime green one. Seriously?

“Anyone have any idea what it’s supposed to do?”

All three just shake their heads. Cool. Weird enormous lime green snakeskin. Clarisse and Piper are definitely laughing at him, none of them are willing to help him work out what to do with it.

Clarisse either dumps her spoils of war on Lee, or gives them as tribute to whichever god she feels like honouring that day. The weird magic charm thing from the empousa is just her latest contribution.

Triton doesn’t like her giving them to him, so everyone else suffers for it. Dad’s asked Lee more than once why Clarisse thought he’d want her latest whatever. Since her logic is generally ‘anyone but Ares’ Lee really couldn’t give Dad an adequate explanation for the manticore spine. Which was actually Nico’s but he handed it off to Clarisse who first left it with Will in case it was useful, and then dumped it on Dad.

He does eventually convince the girls to help him get the thing back to the Big House. This is exactly why the attic used to be full of random spoils of war isn’t it? No-one actually wants to keep the things.

With the fun over, Kayla and Piper quickly head back to their cabins. Both of them with an extra bounce in their stride. It feels good to actually kill something, much better than the interminable waiting.

Clarisse hovers. Lee watches her a moment. “C’mon kid, I’ll make hot chocolate.”

He leaves her to settle in the lounge room and goes to make his ubiquitous hot chocolate. Solution to all life’s problems. He doubts she wants to talk. But she’s no more used to Lee being in a fight than he is.

She hovers over Percy after every fight too. Lee’s fine with giving her an excuse to stick around if it helps her settle. Her protective instincts can get a bit too overwhelming with everything going on.

And honestly? Lee could do with some quiet time and hot chocolate too.

It’s kind of only just hitting him that there was a sixty foot drakon trying to invade the camp and eat the kids.

________________________

When the phone vibrates before dawn, Percy isn’t surprised.

“Hey, Shadow!”

All he gets is stuttering in reply. “Yo, Shadow, take a breath, kid.”

Some very precise breathing later, Nico asks, “Did Lee seriously just kill a drakon? THROUGH the barrier?”

Percy cheerfully chirps back, “Yup!”

Nico’s laughter is semi-hysterical, “They were on the ship when it happened. Watching somehow, dunno, magic bullshit. None of them believe it.”

Percy huffs, “Of course they don’t. Let me guess, the magic of the Fleece?”

“Yep. Or Thalia’s blessing on the tree.”

Percy’s eyebrows jump at that one, “They know she’s alive? Saw her last winter?”

Also, Thalia is a demigod? Since when can she give blessings?

“Blondie’s got some batshit ideas these days.”

“They still haven’t made a move into the Labyrinth?”

“Scarface and Blondie are fighting about it all over again. She’s told him that if he doesn’t go with her, she’s going in on Wednesday, no matter what. Taking me with her, of course.”

Percy huffs, “Naturally. Though I still don’t get how you convinced her to like you so much. How are you hiding the hate?”

Nico’s answer is far too casual, “Oh, I’m not. She’s just certain it’s you I hate. And War Drum. She keeps telling me that once we’ve helped you understand the truth of everything and ‘gotten rid of the bitch’, I’ll want to be friends with you.”

Chase’d been on Apeiron with them for a good chunk of the Sea of Monsters stuff, Nico’d been awful to her and perfectly cheerful with Percy. She really does live in her own world, doesn’t she? No comment on that bit about Clarisse. He’d honestly had no idea how jealous Chase was of her.

He still doesn’t get that one. He also prefers not to analyse why Chase would think Clarisse was ‘competition’. Because, ew?

“What are her plans for the Labyrinth?”

“Oh, she has so many of them. She wants to take me, Castellan and Ethan. She keeps talking about how quests should only be three people, but the Labyrinth is different?”

Percy blinks at that and it takes a few attempts to give a coherent answer. Because. What? “Yeah. I got nothing Shadow. That makes zero sense. Though, I’m honestly surprised she remembered that three was a sacred number?”

“Uh, don’t think she does? Got the impression it’s more just how quests are done?”

Ah. Never mind. Of course she didn’t have that much common sense. He’s gotten too used to Jonathon.

“Hey, where are you anyway?”

Nico’s answer is extra chirpy, “In the Underworld. I’m ‘camping’ near the Styx.”

Percy snorts, “What’d he do this time?”

“He sent me a new jacket, while I was on Mount Othrys.”

“Shadow, he’s a god, I doubt he’d have sent it to you if anyone would see.”

“I’m literally on a mission! Spying on the enemy!” Nico is all twelve year old outrage.

It’s kinda hilarious. How dare Hades send his son a new jacket? Then again, if Poseidon fussed over Percy like Hades fusses over Nico… Yeah, he’d totally be staging a protest as well.

Percy can also hear another voice talking quietly, “Shadow, who’s with you?”

Nico is still all outraged pre-teen. “Minos” is the grumpy reply. The muttering abruptly cuts off, probably banished by the cranky son of Hades.

Oh. Percy shouldn’t be able to hear him. Nico doesn’t call him on it at least. At some point Nico is definitely going to want to know how Percy notices so many things he shouldn’t. Percy’s explained to Clarisse, but hasn’t shared with anyone else. It was kinda easier when he just thought it was his prophet stuff being weird.

“He still being a pain?”

Nico is still grumbling, “Yeah. Won’t shut up about a soul exchange.”

Percy tenses, “Wait, your soul?”

“No. He hasn’t actually told me who. Just goes on about someone cheating death.”

Ah.

“Yeah, Shadow? I know who he means. Ignore him, if he gets too much, come and talk to me, just, uh, without the spirit dude.”

Nico sounds a bit more interested at that, “Huh, good to know someone has the full sitch. I’ll be glad when Blondie finally goes into the stupid maze and does the whatever. You really don’t seem to care if she finds the string or not?”

Percy answers cheerfully, “I don’t. With or without the string they’ll attack camp at some point this summer. Kinda just has to happen?”

If camp is suddenly impenetrable, Kronos will throw everything at them trying to work out what changed. Actually letting them invade is the safer option.

Same as Lee killing a drakon with a ‘single’ shot through the barrier is a lot easier to wave away than if a squadron of auxiliaries had hunted it down outside the barrier.

“And you’re sure it’s fine for me to raise the dead or whatever? I won’t be able to call in much once we actually go into the Labyrinth.”

“Yeah, I know Shadow. Long as you keep within your dad’s rules, you’re fine to do what you need to, don’t let her bully you though. I’ll monitor you as much as I can. If anything happens, you get to the mortal world as fast as you can and we’ll come get you.”

Downside of the weirdness of the Labyrinth is that it’s super hard for Percy to actually see the future or any events that happen inside it. He knows Nico will return to them safely and Chase and Castellan’s fates are no longer his problem. So he can be a lot more casual about all of this.

Even if Kronos's army have a perfect run through the Labyrinth, they’ll still be bottlenecked at the single entrance into camp. To successfully invade they’d need to come out of the entrance, get all the way through the woods across camp to Thalia’s tree and dismantle the barrier.

Since the only people who know how the barrier actually works are Poseidon, Hades and sort of Percy, there is nothing they can do the Fleece or the tree that will actually bring that barrier down.

Even in the absolute worst case scenario where a fair number of campers outright die, Castellan and Chase still won’t successfully invade camp.

So, as far as Percy is concerned, those two can waste as much time as they want in the Labyrinth.

Dawn is just breaking now and Percy only has a few minutes before Georgie starts banging on his door and demanding he come and train, so he finishes up quickly with Nico making sure he has everything he needs for who knows how long in the Labyrinth.

Percy is so glad it’s Nico and not him. Nico’s own Hades abilities will work well in the evil death maze. Neither Percy’s Poseidon stuff or his prophet parts would have a fun time in there. That place just oozes death.

Fighting Georgie really is so much fun. She’s still wearing the intensely pink tiny short shorts and sports bra getups, same as Drew and Piper. Though, the last two are now only wearing them when training with Quintus. Guy just will not stop sticking his foot in it.

Georgie’s extra annoyed this morning because last night he asked her if Strategos was an honorary title in Atlantis.

It’s the only fun Clarisse is having with all of this. They’ve never met someone who could so constantly and unintentionally horrify Chiron. Even the centaur has started distancing himself from the guy.

Percy’s beginning to think that Quintus is basically holding a mirror up to Chiron showing how stupid immortality makes a person.

Not that Chiron knows about that part.

When Percy and Georgie finish up and head to breakfast, Clarisse plops down next to him at Table Three.

He eyes her, “You do realise Cabin Head is like, an actual job? Big Bro does have things to do other than babysitting your siblings?”

Sherman’s not even meant to be here, he’s one of the auxiliaries who were waiting to be called in. Lee decided that he doesn’t really want the summer Ares kids left permanently to their own devices, so Sherman’s pretending to be an underage camper.

“I never asked for it! They just decided, I didn’t agree.”

“Then, at least deputise or something? They do need a leader?”

“That’s what Sherman’s for.”

Percy rolls his eyes and gives up, He is so glad it’s just him and Nico, dealing with a cabin would be total hell. It’s another thing that drives him nuts with the gods. Some of the gods have kids who are naturally better at the whole organised leadership thing, but oh no! We can’t let different cabins mix!

Like, there’s at least eight kids in Hermes cabin who could do wonders keeping the Ares cabin sorted for activities, but nope, gotta be an Ares kid. Even if Clarisse has practically been adopted by Poseidon and Apollo, she’s still preferable to someone who actually wants to do a job like that.

Clarisse is very focused on him, eyes narrowed.

“Something wrong?”

“It’s the fourth today.”

He grins at her, “Yup! It is!”

She glares at him, he smiles back. They can do this for hours, and have. Since she’s not gonna let up anytime soon, he lets her keep glaring at him while he gets on with the business of actually eating his breakfast. And watching the offerings.

It still makes Lee twitchy even years later, so Percy has stopped mentioning it to him, but it’s fun to watch the campers make offerings.

The Greek gods aren’t reliant on worship or offerings, but it’s still an important part of their existence. Demigods connect them to the mortal world and much of that relationship occurs through prayer and offerings.

Even the gods that don’t have their own demigod children act as patrons to other demigods. Artemis literally needs her Hunters to connect her to the mortal world. It’s an essential part of keeping their world in balance.

Even now, with the gods so busy, a lot of prayers are answered. Or acknowledged is probably a better word for it? Most kids won’t get more than a brush of awareness back, but its still something to show them they’ve been heard.

Apparently, most of the Hermes campers are a lot more grateful for those welcome packs than they’ve let on. When Travis and Connor get their table lined up and giving their offerings one by one, almost every offering is followed by a touch of Artemis’s moonlight and Apollo’s sunshine.

The twins may not be able to talk to anyone, but they are still actively listening to the kids’ prayers.

Not a single offering from the Hermes kids is answered with the rapid movement and bright laughter that is Hermes. The only reason Percy even knows what his response feels like is because Deadbeat did respond to Luke Castellan’s prayers and a little seven year old Percy felt the response.

Hermes’s hasn’t answered a single prayer from a camper since Luke Castellan was banished.

Makes it even stupider that Castellan is the one who’s all gung-ho about destroying the gods. Of all Hermes’s dozens of children, he actually liked and answered Luke Castellan.

Hades’s deep shadows in response to Lee is particularly loud. Poor Lee, he hates Nico being at Mount Othrys. Apollo’s sunshine is equally intense.

Triton’s conch horn responds to Georgie, Clarisse, Lee and, surprisingly, Piper’s prayers. Amphy’s still strength answers Georgie and Clarisse. It’s a little difficult to hide his grin when he sees how many of the Ares kids have their prayers answered by Poseidon’s crashing storm.

None of them will ever admit aloud, but a fair few of them seem to be hoping they’ll be adopted like his War Drum has been. Edward Teach and Clarisse, High Priestess of Apollo have become shiny new role models for the war kids.

As offerings are made, Percy feels the auras of most of the gods with kids at camp. Even Ares responds to a couple. Unlike Athena, who is a notable exception. Though, while the kids in Cabin Six probably prayed to her, Percy has no idea about Jonathon.

Jonathon’s decided that if his mother doesn’t think sewing is a skill worthy of claiming, then she’s not worthy of being called his mother and there are better gods anyway.

Actually, when the new head of the Nightshade cabin makes his offering Percy could’ve sworn there was a trace of moonlit sunset and pink dawn in reply. It was a barely there touch, but he’s sure it was there. Does that mean…?

Percy shakes off his newest tangent when announcements are made. Most of the campers are unhappy to hear about the drakon attack but cheer for Lee when Chiron tells them it was his arrow that killed it. Piper gleefully adds from Aphrodite’s table “He was standing in Thalia’s tree! Just like Legolas!”

Lee buries his head in his arms. Yeah, okay, maybe Percy was just having fun. But also, if Lee hadn’t killed the thing it would’ve been roaming wild for who knows how long. And it eats people? Much better solution.

It’ll also mean Lee will feel a little more prepared when the invasion happens. The whole concept of a weapon’s first blood is just as important for the warrior who wields it.

Besides, as soon as Fifth is dealt with he’ll put the bow back on Apeiron and no harm done.

Except for the fact Lee is now going to be called Legolas by the entire camp. Which is also a win in Percy’s opinion.

Chiron warns everyone that they need to stay alert, that it won’t be the only attack, but it’s happened before and will happen again.

Fifth ‘helpfully’ adds that it’s going to happen with increasing frequency.

His doom and gloom pronouncement doesn’t quite work as intended when Drew calls out, “Do you mean Lee’s gonna pull a Legolas more often, or there’ll be more monsters? Oh! Maybe it’s both?”

The campers’ increasingly downcast mood immediately switches to multiple debates on what the coolest archery shot would be and the most dramatic way a monster could be killed.

Now it’s Clarisse’s turn to look ready to bolt. Most campers think her high dive into a Nemean lion’s mouth is the pinnacle of dramatic awesomeness.

Lee’s had to ban any attempts at re-enactments.

Despite the spirited debate, Clarisse switches straight back to glaring silently at Percy.

Quintus finishes up the announcements by telling them the war games will be happening tonight. Before he gets any further, Lee cuts him off and firmly tells everyone that the competitors have already been chosen. And “depending on how it goes, we’ll discuss including more campers at a later date.”

There’s some cranky muttering but it’s all good. Soon as everyone sees the fallout from tonight, they’ll be fine with their regularly scheduled activities.

Lee leaves quickly after that, not wanting to hear anymore comments about Legolas, especially after Piper asks if he’s ever considered using a shield to toboggan down stone steps while shooting arrows. Poor Lee, Percy is enjoying this way too much.

Lee’s lucky he doesn’t have long hair or Piper and Drew would never leave him alone.

Chiron brings Grover over to them after that. Poor G-man looks so miserable. Chiron makes some comments about how he should talk to Percy and see if he can ‘assist with matters’.

Grover slumps down miserably.

Georgie is looking way too interested, “What’s Shortstack supposed to be helping with?”

Percy rolls his eyes at her, “The Labyrinth.”

She pulls a face, “The creepy maze Lee was talking about?”

“Yep. Chiron’s finally bought a clue and realised the Wild One’s probably in there.”

Georgie’s thoughtful, “Huh, makes sense I guess. Grover’d found the guy by now if he was somewhere expected. Lee says the Labyrinth can take you anywhere, like it’s alive or something?”

Clarisse is still glaring at Percy and pretending she’s not interested in the conversation.

Percy nods, “Pretty much. It’s kinda super malevolent though. Makes people kinda insane.”

Grover makes a distressed bleating sound, “So I’ll get lost and die a horrible death and I still won’t find Pan!”

Percy tries to be a bit more comforting, “G-man, those three guys, they’re just kinda drunk on power with Mr D gone. You are gonna find Pan and all this will be sorted out. You won’t die in the Labyrinth.”

Grover’s answer is very firm, “No, I won’t die in the Labyrinth. Because I’m NOT going in the Labyrinth. Annabeth talked about it constantly. I never want to go near it. Ever.”

Percy winces, “Yeah, I know she was obsessed. Most of what she said… It wasn’t true, G-man. She was just super focused on its creator being a ‘genius’ and you know what she was like with architecture.”

Percy will never not be amused by the fact that by calling himself ‘Daedalus’, the guy totally erased his own lineage. Annabeth has no idea he’s a child of Athena. None of the Athena kids do.

Georgie adds thoughtfully, “Wouldn’t Castellan be able to move the army like, super fast if he had access to the Labyrinth? Isn’t that why Lee’s been looking into it?”

Percy lets Grover explain the whole story of Ariadne’s string. He gets most of it right, surprisingly. It’s certainly not the version Chase used to talk about.

Grover seems to already know that it was Ariadne herself who guided Theseus through the place. And that ‘Ariadne’s String’ was later built by the maze’s creator as an alternative to a clear sighted mortal.

It doesn’t work anywhere near as well as a clear sighted mortal, but this is Chase they’re talking about. An invention will always sound better to her than relying on an actual person.

“Hey G-man, who told you this? Like, it’s a hundred percent right, but it’s not what Blondie ever thought?”

Huh. Mr D’s a sneaky one. He’s known for ages that G-man will be the one to find Pan, and he was aware of the cursed oracle’s prophecy about Chase. Guess he decided to hedge his bets?

Clarisse is starting to find it hard to keep her unrelenting glower up, she’s genuinely interested.

Grover’s super not happy about any of it though. He keeps talking about how satyrs aren’t meant to be underground, and never so far from plants and sunshine. He looks nauseous just talking about it.

Then he adds, “I know Annabeth used to say you could make the Labyrinth work for you, but she also said it could read your mind and wants to kill you.”

“G-man, she also thought the string was better than a clear sighted mortal, don’t take her words as fact. Plus, wasn’t she like ten or so when she told you all that?”

Grover’s not convinced, “I can’t go underground Percy! Being shut in that cyclops’s cave, it was awful, I could feel all of me just withering away. I was so scared! Every time I see Tyson I feel like I’m back there, and I just… I can’t do this.”

Percy keeps trying to comfort him but in the end he sends him off to find Juniper. Grover’ll find the courage when he needs to. He just has a lot of overthinking to do before then.

Though. Percy catches sight of Fifth watching Grover walk away with too much calculation on his face.

Percy focuses on his knowing and… Yeah. No. We aren’t doing that.

Percy heads off to find Lee. He’ll fix it.

Chapter Text

When the campers gather after dinner, Quintus is looking less than happy. He’s got Lee looming over him and watching his every move like a hawk.

Prissy had disappeared earlier to, “Talk to Hot Air.” All she’d gotten out of him was that Quintus had suspicious boxes from somewhere called “Triple G Ranch” and “Super weird ideas about cyclopes and satyrs.” Helpful.

This is technically meant to be the guy’s audition as their trainer. The only reason Lee is allowing this is because Prissy insisted that Quintus will be gone by dawn on the fifth. That’s like twelve hours away. So, time for the guy to crash and burn?

Clarisse desperately hopes so anyway.

They were all told to wear full armour and be ready for combat. She gets the distinct impression the guy is very surprised by their appearance.

Lee’d approved live edged weapons for this, so everyone has their real weapons. Plus, as it’s senior campers only, most of the weapons are personal ones. Either specially ordered and bought with saved funds or gifts from godly parents.

Lee and Clarisse may be the only ones with a clear idea of what’s coming but they’ve all known that Kronos is rising for nearly two years. The older campers have been heavily encouraged to either make preparations for an eventual battle, or make arrangements to be very far away when things go down.

At this point, if they’re still coming to camp, they’re intending to be here for the long haul. Lee offers assistance to the ones with useless godly parents too.

Quintus just looks kind of shocked by it all. Does he think they use their best battle-ready gear for friendly training or something?

Honestly, even this lot isn’t their actual battle gear. The most dangerous of their weapons are still stashed in their cabins.

Lee’s just in his standard gear, with his usual bow and quiver on his back. He’s added a sword, which is… interesting, but still fairly low key.

Prissy hands Clarisse one of the standard celestial bronze swords in a scabbard with a serious look, which she is extra unimpressed by. She’s good with a sword but they aren’t her preferred weapon. Same as the bow. She’s almost as good a shot as Lee, which is apparently super impressive, but she prefers not to use one.

She’s a melee fighter, not a ranged one. She has two spears and a trident, all in pendant form, surely one of them would do?

Prissy’s decked out in Atlantean gear that matches Georgie’s. Except Prissy’s been totally plastered with trident symbols. It stands out even more when compared to the singular conch shell surrounded by a spiral on Georgie’s breastplate.

Clarisse has only seen the spiral a couple of times, from memory, it’s Galene’s claiming symbol?

The Atlantean armour is getting a lot of sharp looks from Quintus. Clarisse is honestly a little confused. Is it really that weird?

He has made a lot of comments about Atlantis being isolated and uninvolved. Which is completely hilarious given who’s saying them. He seems to have no idea that he’s giving the game away with those comments.

In normal camp games they all wear the standard celestial bronze, but never if dealing with actual monsters or whatever. Half the time, Priss didn’t even bother with armour, but apparently the Nemean lion was Triton’s limit. They haven’t seen him since Solstice but he still sent a cranky note that they are to “don their armour prior to every battle, no matter how trivial from now on.”

Triton sent an Atlantean set of armour for her along with the note. But Apollo gifted Clarisse with combat ready armour with his sun symbol after she was named High Priestess Guard.

It’s still too gold and kinda ostentatious but it’s definitely way more durable than the camp supplied bronze stuff. And nowhere near as blinding as her official High Priestess getup.

Most everyone else is in bronze armour, though there’s some silver pieces which probably came from Artemis as well as some gold armour. The Stoll brothers have unmarked golden armour. Clarisse would bet anything it came from Apollo. After the Castellan stuff, most of the gods listen when Lee points out a major risk. Like leaving the leaders of the Hermes cabin to their dad’s ‘tender’ mercies.

Quintus announces he’s already decided the pairings for this and that there will be no changing them, under any circumstances.

He runs through the names. Lee’s approved thirty long term older campers for this. Most of the pairings are expected, like Travis and Connor or Castor and Pollux.

But then, he calls out “Clarisse La Rue and Georgia”

What? She never goes by her surname, ever, and who the hell is Georgia?

Lee reaches over and takes the guy’s super weird parchment scroll. Has he ever heard of printer paper? She’s been suspicious for awhile, but at this point the evidence is just piling up.

“Make that, Clarisse and Percy, Georgie and Drew, Jonathon and Sophie.”

Wait, he called her Georgia? Uh, hope he likes rainbow hair?

Clarisse watches Georgie layer her hands together, spread her fingers, and thrust both flattened hands palm forwards, from her face out towards Quintus.

Clarisse’s eyes widen when she sees the way Quintus flinches hard.

Like, she knows what that is because nine year old Prissy taught it to Georgie and Triton absolutely lost his shit at them over it. It’s like the only time he’s ever actually lost his composure.

Not even the campers know that one.

It’s called a faskeloma, a non-verbal actual curse. It’s like the most absolutely extreme form of saying “Fuck you” while giving both middle fingers, with a side of actual magical cursing. At least it was three thousand years ago.

Apparently, it’s still a thing in modern day Greece, but Quintus is definitely not modern day anything. And none of the campers know what it is. Georgie and Prissy were threatened with all sorts of creative things if they started teaching that one to anyone else. Clarisse hasn’t even dared do it to Chiron.

Huh. Guess that’s the final bit of proof she needs. Georgie is now staring at the guy looking absolutely fascinated. She definitely hadn’t expected him to understand the gesture either.

And to rearrange three pairs… Wait, did the guy try and pair Priss with Sophie? She’s one of the Athena summer campers, nowhere near as bad as Chase, but still not great. They stay very far away from that cabin at all times. Poor Jonathon.

Quintus yanks the parchment back and gives Lee a filthy look. Like, dude? Priss is a Prophet of Apollo? She’s a High Priestess?

Those are more than just titles. No way are they doing partnered war games with anyone but each other. Capture the Flag is different, they’re out for each other’s throats in that, but Lee is always out there as umpire, so Prissy’s fine.

This on the other hand… Yeah, no. She does not trust this guy. At all.

The rest of the names go mostly smoothy, though how Piper and Leo ended up paired together she does not know.

Quintus finishes the list by calling, “Tyson and Grover Underwood.”

Lee yanks the parchment back off him and balls it up. “Ignore that last one. Neither were approved for this.”

Both Tyson and Grover relax from where they’d both gone super stiff and horrified. Tyson’s just a little kid and he’s scared of satyrs for some reason. And the last cyclops Grover was up close and personal with was intending to eat him.

Also, neither of them are senior campers? Why would they be participating in war games? Tyson’s only here because Georgie is participating and he wants to cheer for his ‘big sister’.

Grover’s been sticking close to Priss because the Labyrinth stuff is spooking him. And those three moronic satyrs won’t approach him if he’s with Priss.

Lee and Quintus are glaring at each other, so everyone just stands around awkwardly while they wait for one of them to break the stalemate.

Naturally, it’s Quintus who looks away first. Lee’s always the best, but Quintus is extra stupid.

He turns to the gathered troops and lays out the rules.

Apparently, their main goal is to find the golden laurels without dying?

What. The. Hell.

Clarisse isn’t the only one staring at him dumbfounded.

Georgie does the faskeloma thing again and the guy flinches hard, but keeps talking.

It doesn’t matter how camp used to be run, death and maiming is no longer on anyone’s bingo card. War games or not. They are kids? Like, hello?

Lee is looking super pissed, but then he glances at Priss who gives the tiniest shake of his head and Lee steps back. He’s still ultra cranky. Bet he wishes he hadn’t given that bow back to Priss right about now.

Then Quintus tells them the laurels have been tied to the back of a monster. And six monsters have been released into the woods.

Wait. The same woods where the satyrs and nature spirits live? What?

He wants them to kill the monsters and stay alive and also find the monster with the golden laurels.

Like, they do bring monsters into camp to fight. Lee and Prissy don’t love it but everyone agrees it’s better than leaving demigods to go and find monsters themselves. But it’s supervised? They aren’t just randomly released into the woods?

Nature spirits? Satyrs? Ever heard of them? The barrier keeps them safe, same as it does the demigods. Even Chiron is staring at Quintus like he’s grown a second head.

She and Priss lock eyes, and then turn to Quintus together and they each give him a faskeloma of their own.

Lee very deliberately looks away. Apparently they’re allowed to break even that rule today.

Quintus legit stutters this time and it takes him a few attempts to finish his speech.

He tells them they have two minutes to prepare and kinda rudely orders everyone off to the woods.

This guy is completely insane.

She hangs back until Prissy catches up with her. He’s looking way too thoughtful.

As they make it to the edge of the trees, Priss goes, “War Drum? Heads up, dude’s pulled a stupid.”

She asks with intense suspicion, “How stupid?”

“He wants the monsters to herd us.”

She comes to a stop at that and grabs Priss’s arm, “Wait, us, as in us two specifically?”

Prissy tilts his head, “Well, it was gonna be me and Sophie, but…”

Clarisse finishes for him, “Lee switched the groups around. Why Sophie?”

Priss pulls a face, “He has some bizarre views about Poseidon and the Grey Eyed One”

She pauses, he does have those weird views about Atlantis being isolated. Would that mean…?

“He know about Pallas?”

Priss shakes his head, well that’s something, at least?

“So we gonna let monsters herd us somewhere?”

Priss bares his teeth at her, “Nope. Let’s kill ‘em.”

She arches an eyebrow at him, “With what?”

He gives her a wicked grin, “Long as he’s not watching, think it’s time for Aniketos's first blood?”

“Is there a reason you don’t want him seeing Aniketos?”

He smirks, “Not a Fates thing. But you’ll be running into the Crooked One’s lieutenants sooner or later. Shadow said they’re certain you got in trouble for the trident and that whole thing was a one-off. I just know you’d love to shock the hell out of them by drawing your very own trident the next time you see them.”

Yes. Clarisse would like that very much. Excellent. Time to go hunting.

________________________

“So, main thing to keep in mind, don’t let them chase you into any caves, ‘kay War Drum?”

Clarisse gives him an absolutely withering look. Yeah, well. Welcome to his life.

Percy knows exactly where the Labyrinth is and that Fifth would very much like him to ‘discover’ it. Not like the entrance is set into one of the main landmarks for like, every Capture the Flag game. Even without the dreams, he can literally feel it every time he’s near Zeus’s Fist.

Fifth has apparently entirely failed to understand what it means that Percy is a prophet. A prophet who has no interest in being driven insane by his bizarre little invention.

Seriously dude, read the room? Even if he wasn’t a prophet, who in their right mind would send a child of the sea in there? A land dweller or an underworld kid is gonna do so much better.

He can already feel the monsters approaching. Their auras are not fun, but nowhere near at the level of pit scorpions or the like. Just basic sensations of kill, attack, hunt.

He draws Anaklusmos and keeps Katecho in pendant form in his left hand. Tridents don’t have cutting edges, or at least, not ones that can easily cut off a giant scorpion tail. They are however, long enough to keep a giant scorpion tail at a safe distance.

Clarisse asks quietly, “They hunting you, or both of us?”

Percy pulls a face, “Me, this guy still thinks you’re just muscle.”

She snarls at him. Yeah, Clarisse is super done with Quintus. Honestly, it’s making Percy appreciate Chiron so much more. Forced immortality screws with people so bad. If they thought Chiron had trouble budging from a fixed belief, it’s nothing on Quintus.

He’s so certain that children of Ares are good for nothing but fighting, and only a child of Athena would be able to handle something so very complex as a Labyrinth.

Percy and Sophie in the Labyrinth together is a horrifically bad idea on so many levels.

And the way Quintus treats Piper and Drew… Georgie just gets brushed off as being the child of a ‘very minor goddess’, but children of Aphrodite are apparently able to do nothing but check their nails and brush each other’s hair.

Though, when Piper shrieked about a broken nail and the guy stopped mid-spar… That tackle was just absolutely glorious. Quintus is not happy that all of them have now tried that one on him.

And since the guy has never had anything to do with a prophet, it doesn’t occur to him that the prophet is fully aware of his little intelligence test and wants nothing to do with it.

Percy leads Clarisse straight for Zeus's Fist, still trying to keep track of the circling monsters.

“Four incoming now, not sure on the last two yet.”

She gives a firm nod. They’ve made it to the boulders now and Percy heads for the open clearing off to the side, putting as much space as he can between them and the rocks. The dumb bugs- Wait. They aren’t insects, what do you call enormous scorpions?

The dumb ‘critters’ won’t approach unless they are at least sort of near the entrance.

He’s well aware that Quintus had to give them his scent. No wonder the guy got so pissy when Percy showed up with his own armour and weapons, he’s still not clear on how much control Quintus actually has over them. He doubts it’s much.

Artemis herself couldn’t do more than point one in the right direction.

Once they get close enough to the entrance he turns back to face the approaching monsters.

The first scorpion finally shows itself. He feels the war drum in Clarisse’s aura flinch slightly. Yeah. These things are awful in every way.

They’ve faced worse, but monsters from the myths tend to hit different.

These giant scorpions don’t really count, Artemis gleefully killed Orion with one, but that’s about it. No fun impressive names or anything.

These are just giant dumb bugs that want to kill. And they set off some primal part of their brains because of the whole skittery bug thing.

The downside of that whole primal reaction things is that the moment that reaction passes, all the scorpions look like is giant bugs. And between them, they’ve skewered Ares, God of War and killed a Nemean lion.

All told they’d each be about ten feet long, but a good half of that is the tail being held curled over their head. All golden brown and a little too like enormous cockroaches for comfort.

“Priss, the fuck are they?”

“No myths m’afraid, just fucking big scorpions.”

It even has the little red bag thing on its back for the war game.

Clarisse shifts on her feet and makes a weird wordless noise.

He knows what she wants to ask, “They don’t do cold, War Drum. He tied them on when they were all sleepy.”

She makes an irritated huffing sound. Yeah, totally cheating. He completely agrees.

The first one hesitates twenty feet away and makes little fake lunges forwards but doesn’t come closer.

“Priss?”

“Told you, they want to herd us. They aren’t meant to kill us.”

“They?”

“There’s one on either side, hanging back. Another still in the undergrowth straight ahead.”

He feels another aura approach and grins. They’re just waiting for one more.

Clarisse is getting annoyed, “Priss, why’re we holding?”

He answers cheerfully and a little too loudly, “‘Cause the moment we attack this one, the others will too. And I’d rather deal with all six? Plus, I like dramatic timing?”

By this point they are back to back, Clarisse has drawn Aniketos and stabbed the bronze sword into the ground next to her. Easy to grab if she needs it, but gives her the freedom to use both hands on the trident.

Neither of them so much as twitch when they hear a quiet murmur, “Stand ready.”

Percy lets Katecho extend in his left hand, but this isn’t his show. He’s here to cut off stingers with Anaklusmos and let War Drum have some fun.

He’s no happier than she is about Quintus constantly underestimating them. He wants the guy to find them with dead monsters and no answers. If he actually sees Percy cutting tails off while Clarisse kills them, he’s just going to come to even dumber conclusions.

Probably something like how Percy, being a son of Poseidon, is far too reckless and Clarisse is his bodyguard and stopping him from accidentally killing himself with his impulsiveness. Naturally, Percy needs a child of Athena to properly keep him under control.

It’s certainly what Chase thinks and Percy is not liking the way Quintus seems to have drawn the same conclusions. Kinda freaking him out actually.

He finally feels the last two scorpions approaching. He speaks too loudly, “Heads up, last two are joining the party.”

Another low murmur, “Hold.”

With two more approaching, the ones on either side of them finally show themselves. Clarisse and Percy have been ‘trapped’. The only one path of retreat available to them is straight back to the boulders that make up the base of Zeus's Fist.

Neither move.

They now have three ten foot long scorpions all making little fake lunges at them and stabbing forward with their tails.

Six huge pinchers are opening and shutting with harsh clicks. The pinchers alone are well over a foot long and close to the same in width. Big enough to crush a limb. Three mouths moving rhythmically, just like a spiders.

Oh! Scorpions are arachnids! Percy has knowledge!

As they move, the scorpions make dry rustling noises that just seriously light up all of those primal panic centres in their brains.

It should be completely frightening. And it is, in some distant sort of way? But also, War God? Chimera? Nemean lion? Both Percy and Clarisse have fought far worse monsters.

The fact that these scorpions were Quintus's choice means he either has no access to actual monsters, or he really has failed to accurately assess the camp’s capabilities.

Probably both.

Pride and intelligence can be a super bad combination.

After another long minute of watching three scorpions try and fail to make them move, Clarisse asks tensely, “Priss?”

He answers loudly, “The three in the undergrowth aren’t close enough yet, and our audience is still too far away.”

A soft murmur, “Hold.”

They wait for an unending few minutes while three scorpions keep fake lunging at them.

Finally.

After freaking forever, Quintus decides he should find out why no-one is screaming.

Percy tells Clarisse, voice overloud, “Audience on its way.”

Sharp voice, “Engage.”

Yes! Percy turns and heads straight for the scorpion on his right as Clarisse heads for the one on their left. An arrow whizzes past and slams through the one that had been in front of them.

Percy cuts the stinger off his first target and leaves it for Clarisse to finish off, heading straight for the next three that have broken from the undergrowth and are now advancing, stingers lashing forward.

Super convenient that. He just has to wait until it strikes forward and a quick slice of Anaklusmos later, no more stinger.

Okay, the thing about Poseidon kids being reckless isn’t entirely wrong. But the scorpions are kinda super predictable, he’s perfectly safe darting in and back out before they can actually turn and grab him with their pincers.

Besides, Triton constantly tells him that his unpredictability is his best asset in a fight.

Clarisse follows behind and gleefully skewers each scorpion. Even if they had their stingers, the trident keeps them well out of striking distance.

They make a kind of horrific gooey crunchy noise as Aniketos makes contact and then rapidly turn to gold dust.

The two hit by arrows are still pinned to the ground and squirming when she stabs them.

In less than thirty seconds all six scorpions are nothing but gold dust. Each leaves a little red package behind. Percy ignores them in favour of retrieving the arrows.

He grabs Clarisse and turns her around before shoving the arrows into the empty sheathe from her abandoned sword. He crams the sword in on top. Drawing it again will be a pain but no-one is going to notice the arrows.

By the time Quintus strides into the clearing, Percy is holding Anaklusmos and Clarisse is using Afosi to poke through the piles of gold dust. Both tridents are back in pendant form on their necklaces.

Quintus stops and stares wide eyed, just as Clarisse makes a happy sound and unearths the golden laurels. She frowns when she realises there’s only one wreath.

She looks over at Quintus, “Uh, dude? This was a pair’s exercise? Why only one?”

They definitely broke the guy. He’s staring at the six piles of dust, and ‘subtly’ glancing back to the rock pile, looking so very confused.

Suddenly his head snaps up and focuses on ‘something’ in the boulders.

Oh, he won’t, will he? It takes all Percy’s self-control to stop the wicked grin when he realises Quintus absolutely is about to do something phenomenally stupid.

Quintus points and yells, “There’s something over there! Hidden in the boulders! Quick, stand ready!”

Percy and Clarisse blink at him and don’t move.

Quintus stares back at them.

Finally Percy offers, “Aren’t you the trainer? If there’s a monster, shouldn’t you be checking that?”

“I don’t have a weapon!”

Clarisse and Percy tilt their heads at the same time and look at the sword on his hip.

They pause for a long silent moment.

Percy cannot take this longer, “Dude, you do get that I’m a prophet, right? I see the past and the future? And I’ve lived at camp for nearly eight years?”

Quintus looks confused.

Percy gives a very deep exhausted sigh, he definitely sounds like Lee right now, “Dude. My man. I know there’s an entrance to the Labyrinth right there? Going into the Labyrinth would be a very very bad thing for me? So, when your little pets decided to try and force me in there, we killed them.”

More silence.

Clarisse huffs, “Your brain is broken or something. Didn’t think I’d ever meet anyone worse than Chiron, but you take the cake. Did immortality fry your basic common sense?”

Percy grins viciously. His War Drum’s so cranky she’s actually ranting!

Quintus actually takes a step back at that one.

His voice is kinda high as he asks, “Immortality? I don’t know what you mean?”

Clarisse gives him an absolutely beautiful disappointed parent face. Even her voice is just dripping with it. All those meetings with Athena and Hermes have really paid off.

Percy and Clarisse definitely haven’t been practicing their disappointed faces and voices on each other. Or their teachers at the stupid school. Nope. Totally just natural talent.

“Our first class, you said they didn’t have camps like this when you were a kid.”

Quintus tilts his head like a confused puppy, it’s awesome.

Clarisse’s voice is just dripping with aggravation and disappointment.

“Camp Half-Blood is called that because, a thousand years ago in the divine world, demigods were called half-bloods. This camp has literally existed for over a thousand years. If it didn’t exist when you were a kid, that means you’re an immortal?”

She’s so pissed she’s making speeches and Percy thinks it’s just beautiful. Quintus looks so very confused.

Percy cheerfully adds, “I’m betting War Drum even knows your actual name.”

Quintus narrows his eyes, looking a bit too interested, “Oh?”

Percy rolls his eyes, “Not that one. You might be in love with yourself and those dumb myths, but again, I’m a prophet? I see the future. Also. The PAST. And we used to have a friend who was totally obsessed with the made up hype about a ‘genius’ builder of a dumb maze.”

Clarisse’s voice is cutting as she adds, “Iapis. Son of Iasius. You have ten seconds before I tell the Sun God and the Sea King where you are.”

He freezes for a long moment, and then abruptly comes back to life.

They both grin evilly as they watch the guy turn and race for the boulders. He slams his hand against the little Delta carving and throws himself head first inside.

Clarisse adds dryly, “Buh bye.”

Lee finally drops down from the tree where he’s been standing directly above them with his bow trained on Quintus the entire time. Even he looks miffed.

Clarisse huffs, “Some trainer he is, didn’t even look up once.”

Percy smiles cheerfully, “And he left Mrs O’Leary behind!”

Lee gives him such a dirty look for that one. Percy gives him a bright grin, “Shadow deserves quest prizes too!”

Lee rolls his eyes so hard. Poor guy, everyone who spends time with Percy ends up having to give in to sarcastic gestures or just explode from frustration. It’s awesome.

They still have a minute or two before anyone comes looking for them and Lee has just realised who Quintus is.

“Perce, that guy was Iapis? Seriously?”

Percy winces, he knows what Lee is actually worried about. Clarisse had eventually coaxed him into telling Lee Asclepius's full story.

Zeus totally destroyed multiple people’s lives and imprisoned a god over a rumour of him knowing how to bring a person back to life. The ‘secret’ of immortality could theoretically get the same response. It won’t, but Percy understands his worry.

“It’s different, Hot Air. ‘Pollo did give the ‘secret’ to immortality but only it works on that guy. He’s basically a ghost driving an automaton around? Shadow, Dancer or any of the gods can deal with him in like, a second flat.”

“And there’s no chance he’s given this knowledge to anyone else?”

Percy shakes his head firmly, “It wasn’t knowledge. Apollo did a thing, with his healing schtick? It’s well known anyway, he did the same for the second born prophet? Actually, to all his prophets come to think of it.”

Apollo certainly wasn’t meant to help his current paramour attach his soul to an automaton, but in the range of gods behaving badly, it’s not something anyone cares about. The only one with any real grudge over it is Dad and since Apollo also wants Iapis dead, Dad’s fine with it all.

Lee cringes as he realises the same thing.

He switches focus, “And the reason you never mentioned there’s an entrance to the Labyrinth here?”

Percy smiles sheepishly, “Well, Juniper would’ve told us immediately if it was used? Castellan used to use it, before I came to camp. Hasn’t been accessed since. Even Fifth came through the barrier.”

Lee’s eyebrows jump, “Juniper?”

“Uh, hi?”

Juniper comes over from where she’s been quietly watching from her bush, which is like, two feet from the Labyrinth entrance. When Percy had first realised the Labyrinth entrance was there, when he was like, eight or so? He’d asked Juniper to tell Lee or Mr D if anyone ever used it.

At the time he’d just been worried that Chase would discover it. Getting her back if she went into the Labyrinth as a little kid would be nearly impossible.

There are advantages to being the Prophet of Apollo. Even at eight, the nature spirits took him way too seriously.

The red haired green skinned dryad hastily assures Lee that no-one else has accessed the Labyrinth, not since just after Castellan and Chase came to camp. She also, very shyly, tells Lee he really did look just like Legolas standing up in that tree during the scorpion attack.

Percy greatly enjoys watching Lee’s cheeks dust pink. It takes a lot to shake his emotions, but he really doesn’t know what to do with that sort of hero worship. He’s still baffled that Chiron has started actually listening to him.

Like, not entirely. But with just months left before even Percy will need to know everything, the centaur is finally behaving. Mostly. These past ten days with Quintus have totally helped a tonne.

Just as Chiron reaches the clearing with various campers, Clarisse shoves the golden laurels on Percy’s head. He glares at her. He just knows she’s about to tell everyone he killed all six scorpions and- Yep.

“Prissy killed all of them! With his trident!”

He scowls at her while she steps back and lets everyone surround him and congratulate him. This is why Ares has no idea what to do with her, she lives for the fight but doesn’t know what to do with the glory.

Even if Quintus had included two laurel crowns, she’d still have stuck the second one on Lee.

No-one even blinks at Lee holding a bow, he’s always armed when he acts as umpire and the fact that Quintus released monsters in the woods would just guarantee it.

Percy had only hidden Lee’s arrows because he didn’t want to deal with Quintus arguing his test was invalid or something.

Or telling him he needed a child of Athena to properly guide him, since he’s so stupid and all. If a son of Poseidon isn’t allowed to think for himself, a child of Ares must be even dumber.

Yeah, Percy’s ability to handle Chase thinking he’s stupid really hasn’t improved.

Lee does announce that they’ve discovered an entrance to the Labyrinth inside camp borders and he’ll be calling in the auxiliaries tomorrow. But he needs volunteers to stand guard tonight.

Percy eyes the way Sophie perks up and quietly steps up next to Lee.

“Hot Air, gonna have to keep an eye on Cabin Six, think they share Chase’s views on the maze.”

Lee’s eyes are sharp as he scans the three Athena kids currently in the clearing. There are only four claimed kids at camp, plus Jonathon. All aged between sixteen and nineteen.

Lee still hasn’t asked Percy why there aren’t any younger Athena kids. They did have a slightly awkward conversation where Lee tried to tell him that if Percy doesn’t want to be near Chase’s siblings, arrangements can be made.

It was pretty obvious that even Lee doesn’t think Percy would deliberately withhold that information. And he hasn’t. There are no Athena kids younger than Annabeth.

There are a couple of Apollo kids that are older than Percy but younger than Will, but at Apollo’s own request they’ve been kept away from camp until everything is over. Lee checks in with them and they haven’t been abandoned or anything. Just being kept out of the upcoming zombie apocalypse.

“Perce, just the claimed kids, or Jonathon too?”

Lee had been hesitant giving Jonathon the Nightshade cabin. It’s already entirely made of kids who are either unclaimed or looked down on for having ‘minor’ gods as parents.

The wrong Cabin Head and it’s a Castellan situation all over again. Plus, Athena’s kids have been causing issues and a fair chunk of the adult Athena children are very firmly standing with Chase.

Percy was the one who argued that they can’t hold Jonathon’s mother against him. Demigods are free to choose their own paths, and if Jonathon is choosing a different path to his siblings it should be encouraged.

“Tailor’s fine. He’s got no interest in Labyrinths and weird genius robots. It’s the four in Cabin Six that will be the problem.”

Lee nods and does the commander thing, assigning guard duty shifts to Castor, Pollux, Drew, Sherman, Jonathon and three of the older Ares kids who are camp regulars.

It’ll keep things under control until they can do the whole camp leader meeting fun in the morning.

As they finally tramp back through the dark woods to the cabins, Percy pulls Lee aside.

“Hot Air, full war council tomorrow. Let Cabin Six push for a quest.”

Lee stops and turns on him. Poor guy does not like it when Percy uses that particular serious voice.

“Is this going to be like last winter?”

Percy tries for a reassuring smile, “Nah, Hot Air. Dunno if it’ll even happen tomorrow, but it’s almost time for G-man. Mostly, it’s just time for everyone to get a better idea of Castellan’s plans with the Labyrinth. You can call all the auxiliaries back in now. Red too.”

He feels kind of guilty at how relieved Lee looks. Percy would never have left the camp open like that, not with over a hundred underage campers here and summer camp in full swing. Lee will still feel better when he’s not one of only a handful of adults.

Percy knows this and has already made arrangements.

Things are getting serious but they should be able to handle it. Poor Rachel is going to get a whole new level of trial by fire, but it’ll just be more proof for Apollo that she’s the right choice.

As they walk out of the woods, a hunting horn sounds and Percy smiles widely. Right on time! He runs to greet Thalia as she leads a full complement of thirty-five hunters down the hill past Peleus.

He can hear Lee yelling about how Percy is going to kill him from the constant heart attacks before he turns thirty.

Worth it.

________________________

Percy had expected it, but he still wasn’t happy when his dreams dragged him to moments of Iapis's past.

He’d been determinedly ignoring the guy ever since he arrived at camp. He ended up very grateful for the whole automaton situation. For all the awful memories the soul carries, the actual physical body has existed for far less.

It’s still not fun.

He’s in a palace in Crete from a time long gone. A young man is being courted by a god. A son of Zeus and Europa, the man’s intense passion for everything he does has caught the eye of a god who is enthralled by such fervour.

Poseidon, King of the Sea.

Percy is not fond of how much he knows about his dad’s love life. As far as Poseidon is concerned, so long as Amphitrite is okay with things and his paramour consents, anything goes. He tends to ignore things like other people’s marriages.

Prince Minos was adopted by King Asterion of Crete, and trained from an early age to be its next ruler. He had recently married Pasiphae, daughter of Helios and the Oceanid Perse. Sister of Circe.

Minos was beautiful and passionate, throwing himself fully into everything and anything he did. He had black hair and sparkling blue eyes and Poseidon was smitten. So smitten that he gifted Minos with a child.

That was where the problems began. The demigod son of Poseidon and Prince Minos was named Asterion, after Minos's adopted father.

At the same time, Poseidon gifted Minos with the Cretan Bull. The Cretan Bull had been born of Apollo’s sacred cows. Poseidon had personally requested it from his nephew. This beautiful snow-white bull confirmed Prince Minos’s position as rightful heir to the kingdom and was proof Poseidon’s favour.

He was crowned and became King Minos. His wife, Queen Pasiphae, ruled alongside him.

The bull that earned them their thrones was a gift from a lover, and intended as such. Pasiphae’s fury grew. A bastard demigod child she was expected to raise as their oldest son. A magical bull that directly led to them being crowned a King and Queen. She owed her throne to her husband’s adultery.

While ancient times had different views on genders and relationships, they still had their own judgey opinions on things. Pasiphae had a lot of opinions on her husband being the… uh, ‘lesser’ partner.

Pasiphae was a sorceress and she was furious. Percy watches as she takes a celestial bronze knife and cuts her palm. She mixes her blood with magic and smears it across Asterion’s forehead. She curses Asterion to forever bear the likeness of the Cretan Bull.

Percy doesn’t talk about Asterion’s full story. Clarisse knows the basics. Percy told Nico the absolute barest of facts because of the Labyrinth and the spirit currently bound to him, but that’s it. He does not tell this story.

Lee knows Percy is emotionally attached to the Minotaur, but not why. Percy probably should explain, it’s going to come up at some point. The Minotaur may now be a monster but he was born a son of Poseidon. Asterion is Percy’s demigod brother, cursed to an eternal half-life because of Pasiphae’s jealous rage.

Even so far in the past, the gods were bound by sacred laws on non-interference. Poseidon was prevented from freeing Asterion from the curse for the same reason Aegle could not save James, and Ares could not lift Circe’s curse on Edward Teach.

Over centuries of existence, Asterion lost any traces of humanity. Asterion is no longer a cursed demigod, he is a monster in every sense of the world. But Percy knows who he was supposed to be.

Asterion is not even five years old when he takes on the likeness of the Minotaur. When Pasiphae commissions a famous inventor, a daidalos called Iapis, to build a prison for the child. An inventor who soon became known simply as Daedalus.

Iapis was Apollo’s current lover. A brilliant son of Athena whose constant pursuit of knowledge and fascination with the world had caught the sun god’s attention.

The last conversation they had is about the Labyrinth and how unwise such a creation would be. That consciousness is to be born naturally or created by gods. It is not a thing for mortals to aspire to.

Especially when the intended purpose of the Labyrinth and it’s new consciousness is to imprison a son of Poseidon.

Poseidon would have gladly ignored the laws of non-interference, but he is prevented from striking directly at Iapis for two reasons. Firstly, his alliance with Apollo and secondly, Iapis continuously disappears into the Labyrinth. Poseidon is only able to locate him when he is on the surface.

Percy watches as Poseidon’s rage grows and it soon fuels a devious plan. The same year that a very young Asterion was cursed, a rumour begins.

Now, people believe that the Cretan Bull was gifted to Minos as a sacrifice to the gods. They believe that Minos decided he liked the bull too much to sacrifice it. He sent it off to his herds to breed and instead sacrificed an inferior animal.

Just as Minos chose his inferior jealous wife over Poseidon’s favour.

According to this new story, in his anger at such blasphemy, Poseidon cursed Pasiphae to desire the bull. The inventor now called Daedalus built a wooden cow covered in a real cow skin to allow Pasiphae to well… You get the picture. Dad was a little too explicit for comfort, if you ask Percy.

It didn’t help that Apollo gleefully took up the story and ensured it became one of the most well known Greek myths. Gods are big on the vengeance thing.

Today, as far as anyone else is concerned, the Minotaur was born from Pasiphae’s desire for the Cretan Bull. A slightly warped way of saying Asterion was cursed out of jealousy.

Percy watches as Minos rages at his wife and at Daedalus. Whatever had originally drawn Poseidon to the young prince has long since been consumed by the all too familiar greed and ambition of a child of Zeus. Minos is entirely unbothered by the loss of his demigod son.

What Minos is furious over is the loss of Poseidon’s attention. The gods do not take it well when they are shown such disrespect. Poseidon turned his back on Minos and that was that.

Minos found other ways to leverage the situation. After another son of his died in Athens, Minos demanded the Athenians give him tribute to ‘feed the minotaur’. He demanded they send seven young men and seven maidens annually. Athens actually sent them and Minos dumped them straight into the Labyrinth. All died, but none were killed by Asterion.

At that point, he was just a little kid, cursed and trapped in a maze. It would take centuries for him to become a monster.

The monster in this story is a malevolent consciousness embedded in a living maze. Not a cursed demigod.

Percy watches as dozens disappear into the Labyrinth. None are ever seen again.

Fifteen years later, another son of Poseidon came along. Theseus. He joined the group of sacrifices and befriended King Minos's daughter, Ariadne. A young woman born with clear sight.

Minos and Pasiphae’s children are not precisely demigods, but they are all clear sighted. Percy has his theories on where clear sight originated from.

Percy’s views on Theseus have changed over the years. He was not a good man, like most heroes, he died a monster. But there had been a time where he hadn’t been quite so bad. A time where he had been one of Hades and Persephone’s chosen mortals.

When he decided to travel to Crete to end the sacrifices, Poseidon gave him an additional quest. He was to locate Asterion and free him from the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth had been built to hide its inhabitants from the gods. Poseidon wished to retrieve what was left of his son.

To this day, the Minotaur is rarely seen, and virtually never attacks. There is a reason that Asterion was sent to harry the camp when Zeus was attempting to claim Percy force. It was a very pointed statement from Zeus and aimed at Poseidon.

Percy cringes as he watches the absolute mess Theseus makes of everything. He at least admitted to Ariadne what he’d been asked to do. She’s the one who manages to herd Asterion out of one of the Labyrinth’s access points. Poseidon did the rest.

Theseus then killed a random cow and attempted to persuade Ariadne to claim she’d seen him ‘slay the Minotaur’. Given that Asterion was her brother through Minos and Theseus's brother through Poseidon, she wasn’t so big on all of that. Theseus ditched her on an island and it’s only through the intervention of the Fates that Dionysus found her.

Percy watches as Minos discovers the loss of his favourite pet monster, as well as his clear sighted daughter. He was a son of Zeus and until now he had tolerated Daedalus and his particular brand of crazy because Minos liked power above all else. And Pasiphae and Daedalus? They represented incredible power.

Percy watches as the daidalos Iapis, now an elderly frail man is carried by guards into the centre of the Labyrinth, the one part that never changes. Dumped into his new prison with him is his very young son, Talos.

Percy still can’t decide if Minos had any idea that choosing to use the Labyrinth as Iapis's prison also kept him safe from Poseidon and Apollo, or if it was just dumb luck.

Either way, Percy’s so done with this story.

He reaches for the touch of auras around him and feels Clarisse’s war drum in the Ares cabin next door. He lets himself drift through the hero moments of her past as she kills the Nemean lion and fights side by side with Artemis.

Much better.

________________________

Lee is not looking forward to all of the arguments that he’s in for this morning. Percy had, finally, explained to him who Rachel actually was.

Lee has no idea what he feels about any of that either. It’s not exactly like he can yell at his kids over it. They were doing this at Dad’s request. It’s not like they’d gone off half-cocked.

Still, exactly how does he explain any of this to a random mortal?

Lee’s driving the ridiculous car that Triton ‘anonymously’ provided to the camp when he found out about the school thing. Because an armoured Cadillac Escalade intended for actual war zones is totally a thing rich people drive in the Hamptons.

It really helped them make a good impression with the cursed school. Not.

None of them had even remotely put their best foot forward with that cursed school. Percy and Clarisse had tried so hard, but the mortal world just isn’t built for powerful demigods. And it isn’t like Lee lives in the mortal world.

Lee stays connected to the mortal world, but only just enough so that he can handle the big issues for campers. All the little day to day problems? That’s what the demigod foster parents are for!

He very deliberately places kids with demigods who live fully in the mortal world. Even the campers who go to boarding school have other demigods handling all of the guardian’s roles. Lee definitely doesn’t understand the ins and outs of a mortal boarding school.

He still doesn’t understand why they were constantly hassling Clarisse about her clothes. Or why they freaked out when Percy wore the same clothing as she did.

Half the time Lee genuinely had no clue what the issue actually was, and all he could was nod and promise to ‘handle it’ and leave with his angry kids.

He couldn’t actually tell his kids he was as baffled as they were most of the time. He’d ended up repeatedly calling Silena and Malcolm and begging for help because he was completely lost.

And all that bullshit about Clarisse needing an appropriate female influence… The hell do mortals expect women to be like?

He’d called Silena in for that one. And after they’d lied their asses off to the cursed school, sat in the car and just sobbed his heart out on her shoulder, because Gods! Zoe would never have stood for anyone saying that about her ‘little warrior’.

Phoebe would have just burned the place to the ground.

Lee’s never felt so stupid before. A whole camp full of teenage demigods and a looming war between gods and titans? Yep. He’s got this.

Trying to understand why Clarisse’s pants ‘weren’t appropriate for a young lady’ or why his kids ‘will be unable to function in the adult world if they don’t learn basic life skills now’? Nope.

Especially when the ‘basic life skills’ seem to consist of expecting his kids to act like dogs at obedience school. Sit still, be quiet. Stand when told, sit when told, and never move from where they’ve been put.

Wait. He’s been an unwilling listener to too many conversations about training methods for Cerberus, hellhounds and zebras. His kids would never use the sort of ‘methods’ the school suggested. They were treating his kids worse than a dog at an obedience school!

The closer Lee gets to that cursed school, the more his dread builds. There is nothing good there. But Percy insists that the clear sighted mortal needs to come to camp. So off Lee drove, and now the cursed school is rapidly approaching.

Lee’d much prefer to face the drakon again. Please and thank you.

Wait. Actually. How is he retrieving said random mortal? Percy had just told Lee to pick her up from the school at first light on the fifth. Which is today and the reason why he’s driving back to the cursed private school he’s spent most of the year driving back and forth to.

Percy hadn’t actually given him anymore information and Lee had been so unhappy about the drakon thing and then the Iapis thing that he hadn’t pushed him.

When Lee pulls into the cursed carpark of the cursed school he’s a little startled that the passenger door immediately opens and the redhead girl swings inside.

Lee tries a smile, “Oh, did Perce tell you I’d be here?”

She pulls a face, “Don’t know? Do dreams count?”

She keeps talking before Lee can ask for clarification.

Lee has no idea what to think when she tells him the full story. She’d seen Clarisse and the ‘kid who looks likes you’ at Hoover Dam last December. Then someone, she’s not clear on who, enrolled her in a boarding school in the Hamptons, to start mid school year.

She was fine with it because she’d hated her old school. She says something vague about how her parents don’t really care about that stuff.

Lee hides the inner flinch. There are good biological parents out there. There are. He just rarely sees evidence of it.

She recognised Clarisse on their first day of school and had apparently also been dreaming about Percy before she met him. She’s certain Lee and his kids have the answers about all the weird things she keeps seeing and she’s not leaving until she gets those answers.

She’d especially like to know about the magical sword and trident. Particularly the trident because it doesn’t look like one but she’s absolutely certain it is.

Since those are answers he can somewhat reasonably give without going into all the backstory, he gives her the run down on things.

Percy and Clarisse both carry weapons that magically transform. Percy has two tridents, one for friendly fights and one for life and death situations. Both were made for him. He also has the sword she saw.

Clarisse has a trident that matches Percy’s life and death trident, a spear at the same level of lethality and a matching spear for friendly fights.

Rachel stares at him, “No. That’s not right. The spear on her necklace. It isn’t the same.”

Lee blinks, “Uh, what do you mean?”

“It wasn’t made for her.”

Lee assures Rachel it definitely was and she gives him a sceptical look but drops the subject.

Percy has been drawing Amyntor since the day he met Clarisse. Always either being wielded by Clarisse or sitting in a weapons rack. Apollo had shown Poseidon Percy’s drawings of Amyntor, and Poseidon had the spear forged for Clarisse.

At least, that’s what Lee was told.

Not the time for that rabbit hole, anyway.

Rachel’s next question is why did the guy who looked like Lee glow?

Lee cringes and then figures since he’s currently driving her to camp, he may as well just dump it on her now.

“That would be because he’s a Greek god? And. Uh. My dad?”

Rachel stares him down with sharp green eyes. While she’s processing that he gives her the very blunt version of the whole why we don’t name gods or monsters aloud spiel.

The first thing she says is, “You’re not a god.”

Lee huffs a laugh, “No, thank the gods and all that’s holy. I am a demigod though. Half mortal, half god.”

“So all the awful things I keep seeing?”

“Yeah, sorry. They’re real.”

Her voice turns very small, “I’m not crazy?”

Lee softens his tone, “No. You’re not crazy, Rachel. Mortals don’t normally see our world, but what you see- All of it is very real.”

She’s straight back to fierce eyes and sharp questions, “Percy and Clarisse?”

“Demigods, like me. Also my kids, but adopted, not biological.”

That gets him a fierce look, “Why does that matter?”

He appreciates how protective she is. He’s far too used to demigods losing it over random things. She don’t scare him.

“Because I don’t want people thinking I had a baby when I was eleven? Also because their inherited abilities are nothing like mine, or each other’s, and it would confuse things even further.”

That calms her down some. Like, Lee agrees entirely. Insisting a child is adopted and not biological can be incredibly cruel. But for his kids, people thinking they’re actually Lee’s biological kids will make them think they’re soft targets.

They are anything but vulnerable, but best to head off problems before they begin.

“And where are we actually going?”

“The official name is Camp Half-Blood, it was named back when that word wasn’t a slur. It’s a sanctuary for demigods.”

Rachel’s voice is sharp, “When was half-blood not a slur?”

It’s a fair question. Lee’s still not clear on how imitheos got turned into ‘half-blood’ when they switched the camp from Greek to English as the main language. Imitheos directly translates to half-god. In the oldest forms of Greek imiaetho would be half-blood? More recent, but still Ancient Greek, would be imiaimo. Oh. Dyslexia. That was a thing even then, whether or not they had a name for it. Huh.

At least the camp part makes more sense. They started out as a phrourion, basically a permanent military encampment. According to Chiron, even when they switched to English it was still called the encampment, until the mortals got twitchy and it just became ‘the camp’.

He cheerfully answers Rachel, “Two thousand years ago in Greece?”

Rachel’s answer is a very soft, “Oh.”

Yeah. Most campers have the same views when they hear the camp’s name. It’s the entire reason Lee knows what the original name was, he has this conversation with most new campers.

Unfortunately, changing the name requires a vote from Olympus. The only change they’ve made in thousands of years was changing from the original Greek. Getting them to actually give the place a reasonable name is so far down his list. They need to sort out the cabin thing first.

Lee pulls off just outside the barrier. He honestly doesn’t know what will happen if he drives directly into camp with an unauthorised mortal, but he’d rather not try it.

“I, Lee Fletcher, give Rachel Elizabeth Dare permission to enter camp.”

Gods he feels stupid yelling that at an invisible barrier. From the look Rachel’s giving him, it looked as dumb as it felt.

Either way, he gets back in the drivers seat and pulls the car in behind the Big House.

“Uh, what was with the yelling at thin air?”

He gives her a sheepish smile, “We have a magical barrier protecting camp, it keeps monsters and mortals outside. You can see through the Mist so you’d see the camp regardless but you wouldn’t be able to get through the barrier.”

They get out of the car and he leads her towards the Big House as she asks, “Mist?”

“Yeah, it makes people see what they expect to see. It’s really not common for mortals to be able to see any of the things you do.”

“In my dreams, Percy said I’d one day need to make a decision.”

Lee cringes, the hell is his kid up to?

“What decision?”

“Whether I want to know or not.”

She still hasn’t actually explained why she was in the cursed carpark of the cursed school waiting for him.

“Is that how you knew to meet me? Percy?”

She shakes her head, “Sometimes I just know things. Gotten worse since I’ve been around Percy.”

Lee’s blood runs cold.

No. She’s a mortal.

No way would Dad leave one of his kids out in the cold. But Lee has the sight and it got a thousand times worse after he met Percy.

Rachel’s saying something but everything sounds muffled.

Lee is frozen to the spot and he’s still not breathing, dark spots are flickering in his vision.

He feels Percy grab his arm and yell in his face, “Lee! Breathe!”

It’s hearing his name that breaks through the paralysis. He gasps the air in and turns on Percy, “Percy, you said she was just clear sighted?”

His voice is far too loud and demanding, but he knows what happens to people with the sight who aren’t prophets. He’s spent a lifetime hiding his own abilities.

He’s fairly sure Dad knows, Percy certainly knows, but no-one else does. Zeus kills people like Lee, as well as anyone who kept their secret. No sacred laws can protect Percy, Clarisse and Nico if Zeus thinks they knew about Lee.

Percy tucks himself against Lee’s side, “Breathe! It’s not what you think. I promise.”

Rachel is staring at them both wide eyed.

Lee crushes his kid against him and talks quietly into his hair, “Percy, I need an explanation. I can’t handle another. I just- I can’t.”

He feels terrible, but one prophet is all Lee can take. If Rachel is the same, Lee can’t protect her. He cannot put his kids at risk for her.

“She isn’t. I swear. The clear sighted mortals who are born with that particular potential, they all have dreams. May Castellan did too.”

He pulls back and focuses on Percy’s deep green eyes, “You’re certain she’s not one of Dad’s?”

Percy nods firmly, “Not his and not my dad’s either. We checked, I promise. Went back a full fifteen generations, just in case. She’s exactly what she looks like. A clear sighted mortal with potential and no current alliances.”

Lee’s eyes widen, “Potential? Not fated?”

Percy shakes his head, “No, not fated. It’s up to her what happens, she is free to say no at any point. This is just a getting to know you thing.”

“Do you two always talk so cryptically?”

Percy turns and grins at her, letting Lee keep hold of him, “Pretty much! I’m the only living Prophet of Apollo, I see the future!”

It’s only just dawn. Lee decides he doesn’t feel like handling anything else right now. He gives his kid one more tight hug before heading back to the Big House.

If Lee pretends that little meltdown never happened, Percy will too. Sometimes denial is the best choice.

He spent most of last night calling auxiliaries and he needs to make sure they have enough supplies and housing for everyone.

He still hasn’t decided if he wants to thank Percy or yell at him for that little trick with the Hunters, better to focus on logistics and leave emotions for later.

________________________

With Lee rapidly running away, Percy turns back to Rachel.

“So, I actually have to go to training, or Mermaid will hunt me down. But War Drum and Angry Girl like to watch and heckle me, and they should be much better suited to explaining things than I will be?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer, just turns and heads towards the arena as Rachel trails behind. He feels kinda bad how much she’s just being dumped into all this, but he honestly doesn’t know how any Oracle can get an easy introduction to all this.

Demigods at least have some level of weird touching their lives from birth, but clear sighted mortals? Everything’s normal, except what they see. He really doesn’t want to think about what happens to the ones that talk about the things they see.

Clarisse is heading straight for him, looking furious, “Priss! What did you do to Lee?”

Oops.

He holds his hands up, “Look, in my defence I really didn’t think he’d immediately jump to conclusions and think Red is like Halcyon Green?”

It does calm her down a bit, they are both painfully aware of how much of a sore point that is for Lee. Percy’s never told Clarisse anything, but she’s not an idiot. There aren’t many reasons for Lee to take that story so personally. Halcyon Green also isn’t the first child of Apollo to do something stupid.

Even before Percy came along, Cassandra’s story was banned from camp. They only recently learned it was because teenage Lee utterly lost his shit on anyone who mentioned her.

He legit actually shot Beck with an arrow when he was fourteen and Beck was eleven. Guy still has the scar on his arm. Lee’s mellowed a tonne since then, but teenage Lee had no such self-control.

It’s something that isn’t talked about. But with the stupid school constantly calling Lee about Percy and Clarisse ‘fighting’, he started worrying he’d missed something and they might end up repeating his mistakes.

Lee’s now had far too many serious conversations with them about handling teenage emotions and how no demigods is spared from that explosiveness.

Percy’s the only one who knows exactly what set Lee off that day. Everyone else just thinks he’d been upset because Cassandra was a child of Apollo, and Apollo’s kids are super protective of each other.

Percy’s told Clarisse that Cassandra was like Halcyon Green. She had the sight but couldn’t see the tapestry. She’s one of the ones Mr D tried to help. He did a thing to contain her sight but it just made her think she was losing her mind instead. Others, like Astyanax, were killed at birth on Zeus's orders.

Percy super doesn’t like the way this sort of thing happens in clusters. They’ll go a thousand years and then get two at the same time. Lee was eighteen when Halcyon Green died.

Lee’s only alive and sane because he’s never told a single person that he has the sight.

There’ve only been seven official children of Apollo born with the sight and unable to see the tapestry. Lee is the eighth. The Fates have promised Apollo there will never be another one. Their version of paying a debt for Apollo’s protection of Percy, the Fates' ‘twice-blessed child’.

Having dreamed of the others, Percy is ridiculously glad that the Fates made that promise. The idea that it could happen again- No. So much no. Any child of Apollo’s born with the sight from now on will also see the tapestry. They’ll be safe.

Rachel is being surprisingly patient with their conversation, though she does turn to Clarisse and go, “Percy says you can explain things while he does some sort of training?”

Clarisse rounds on him again, her eyes sparking with fury.

Before she says anything, Percy jumps in, “Uh, I said you AND Angry Girl can explain? Like, she’s been shadowing Hot Air all year, I figure she’s the best choice?”

There we go. One War Drum shaped bomb defused. Good. It’s dawn. Too early for explosions. They still have a camp leader meeting after breakfast that’s gonna be so fun. Not.

He’s very glad to see Georgie back in normal camp clothes. Honestly, those pink outfits and the dead straight hair was starting to majorly weird him out. And if one more of them goes on about wearing pink on Wednesdays…

Georgie’s in an exceptionally good mood with Quintus gone and the Hunters here. It translates into an absolutely vicious training session, but it’s somewhat expected. Triton may not be here, but he absolutely will find out if Percy slacks off. With an invasion expected, Tri would not take it well if Percy or Clarisse treated training with anything other than intense focus.

Georgie’s also extra enthusiastic because there’s a Capture the Flag game planned for Saturday against the Hunters. She apologises when she sees Percy’s face fall. She was never close with Zoe and Phoebe, Georgie grew up in Atlantean culture and always kept her distance from most land dwellers.

For Percy, it still hurts so much that they won’t be here.

Thalia’s doing amazingly and has really stepped up. Her new immortality is doing the same weirdness it seems to do to everyone and she’s already acting far older than her chronological age. Not that she ever really acted her age to start with. Crackle didn’t exactly get any childhood at all.

Plus, unlike with Chiron and Iapis, the Hunters immortality is given by a goddess who knows what she’s doing. The older Hunters might be a bit out of touch but they haven’t turned completely stupid.

For example, just after winter, Chiron called the new constellation, ‘The Huntresses’. It took several of the Hunters threatening him with arrows at point blank range for him to take it back.

Percy’s still not sure if Chiron understands why calling them Huntresses and not Hunters is offensive, but he’s not tried that one again.

Even if you ignore the sexism thing, Artemis has the title ‘Huntress’, and gods do not like anyone using their titles. Even Chiron knows this!

If he can remember that Percy is never to be called the Sea Prince, he can remember not to call the Hunters by Artemis’s title.

With Artemis away, the Hunters have become Thalia’s sole charge. Bianca’s acting a bit like a personal assistant, which also helps Thalia feel a bit less isolated being dumped with the leadership of such a tightly bonded group.

They’ll be based at camp for the next few months at least if not longer, so Thalia won’t be on her own with the leadership stuff.

But they all still miss Zoe and Phoebe.

It kinda ruins the fun of fighting. Georgie still keeps him at it until she’s gotten her full two hours out of him. Clarisse and Piper have their own one-on-one daily sessions, but only Percy gets the joy of Georgie’s dawn wake-ups.

Downside of the Atlantean thing. She may act casually with him at camp, but she is well aware of Poseidon and Triton’s plans for Percy.

Percy knows too. It’s not exactly something he can even claim is not for him to know. While the timing isn’t set, he’s expected to go through the whole formal coronation craziness at some point.

Like, no thank you? He’d also really like to know how they are all so certain he won’t be like any of Dad’s other demigod kids. Most weren’t exactly good people by the time they died. Ophioter died at fourteen and doesn’t count. Asterion never got to actually live as a demigod.

Theseus died alone and abandoned just like Heracles did. Having recklessness as their worst personality traits does nothing good for children of Poseidon.

Honestly, Percy definitely prefers his horse and monster siblings. Unfortunately, nothing he’s said has managed to convince Tri or Dad to give up the coronation thing.

When he heads over to the girls he discovers that Piper found it necessary to tell Rachel he’s the second prince of Atlantis. She’s gone all bug-eyed staring at him.

“You’re half a god and royalty? And a prophet?”

He hitches a shoulder in an awkward shrug, “Yes? Most people don’t really put it like that though?”

She fixes him with sharp eyes, “Why were you at my school?”

He huffs with frustration, “Clear sighted mortals are rare. Ones that haven’t been found by other gods are even rarer. ‘Pollo wanted to be sure you weren’t allied to anyone else. Once we were sure, we brought you to camp.”

“And then told me not to come?”

He throws his hands up, “We had a weird lookie-loo, and I didn’t want him knowing about you! What was Angry Girl talking about this whole time?”

Rachel completely drops the intense stare and beams at him, “Oh, they told me all of that! I just wanted to hear it from you! So. What’s for breakfast?”

Why’d he want her here again?

Chapter Text

Nico glares as Blondie demands he tell her the prophecy yet again. They are standing on Mount Othrys with Castellan and Ethan, right beside a boulder that looks like every other rock on this gods damned mountain.

Except, this one has a little triangular Delta engraved on it.

Blondie’d told Castellan she was going into the Labyrinth by Wednesday at the latest. Which would be today. Wednesday, the fifth of June. But now she’s gotten cold feet.

She seems to think he must’ve gotten a line wrong or something and if she makes Nico repeat the prophecy enough times it’ll magically change.

He huffs and lets himself really lean into the pre-teen angst thing, “She shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze.“

She nods enthusiastically on that line. Yeah. Nico knows. That’s Blondie’s favourite line.

He makes another grouchy noise and keeps going, letting a whine tinge his voice, “The dead, the traitor and the lost one raise.“

“Clearly, you’ll be raising the dead at some point! And the lost one must be Percy! I just know I’ll find a way to get him back! But a traitor?” She trails off, muttering to herself.

Nico keeps his posture and expression unchanged. The traitor is definitely him. It’s what makes this whole thing such fun.

It’s like, the only fun he’s having. He’d thought Blondie was bad with the Siren thing. But all that uninterrupted time with Castellan actively encouraging her creepy obsession with Percy has just made her so much worse.

He’s never known Castellan before he signed on with Kronos, so he honestly can’t tell if the guy was always nuts or if this is new. Then again, you’d have to have like, all your screws loose, to voluntarily raise Kronos.

When Blondie finally stops pacing and muttering and gestures at him again, he makes his voice as sarcastic as possible.

“She shall rise or fall by the Ghost King's hand,“

And now Blondie’s doing the rapid-fire muttering thing about dead kings from old myths. Nico still can’t tell if she genuinely doesn’t know, or if she’s just that stupid. Nico is standing right here? Like, a literal physical super obvious hint?

But no. She’s still muttering about King Agamemnon, King Theseus and King Minos. Even King Aegeus, the doomed father of Theseus, gets a mention.

Nico rolls his eyes so hard it hurts when she starts on about King Odysseus. This is really just wishful thinking isn’t it?

With Castellan right there, Nico debates for all of half a second before going for it.

What? Percy’s the nice one in the family. Nico never claimed to be good or kind.

He chirps in his sunniest voice, “There’s King Oedipus too?”

Ha! Castellan’s face was absolutely priceless. Guy’s so dumb he doesn’t seem to realise Nico makes comments like that deliberately. Castellan goes, all gently, that King Oedipus's story is more complex than he knows, and he’ll tell Nico “when he’s older.”

Like there isn’t way worse than that in most of the myths Blondie’s going on about? If Nico has to hear about Pasiphae and the cow one more time…

She seriously keeps talking all gleefully about how Daedalus had made a fake cow and how impressive it was, and doesn’t seem to understand how completely horrifying that entire story is?

Percy may not talk about the Labyrinth but he had made sure to tell Nico that none of that was true. Thank the gods. If he’d thought it was real… Ugh. So much skin crawling ugh. But the idea that Blondie thinks the fake cow was an amazing invention and keeps telling a twelve year old that? Does she have any common sense left?

Blondie finally decides she needs more information before she can come to a conclusion on who the ghost king is and demands Nico tell her the rest of the prophecy.

“The Child of Athena's final stand.“

Castellan flinches and Chase starts rattling on about the various children of Athena who have ‘joined the cause’ and how it must be one of them.

Honestly, so long as it isn’t Malcolm or Jonathon, Nico doesn’t actually care. But still.

Nico makes his voice extra hesitant, “Uh, you’re also a child of the Grey Eyed One?”

Her face goes soft and intense. Awesome. Dodging the question again.

And, yep. Chase shakes her head all sympathetically at him, “How many times have I told you, you should not be afraid to name the gods. They only have as much power over you as you give them. Name them! Take back your power!”

Nico has ‘allowed’ her to convince him of this. He does regularly name the gods. She has yet to realise he only names the ones that are allied with Father and Uncle.

He’s started using Pallas’s name too. Percy specifically said Triton had given permission for Nico to use her name.

He says that even though Pallas can’t hear, Triton always knows when she’s been named. Which cannot mean anything good for Blondie if Triton ever gets his hands on her. The things she says about Pallas are- Yeah, Nico has no words adequately insulting enough.

The fact that both Blondie and Castellan equate Percy with Pallas, super doesn’t help. They seem to think that Percy is at risk of dying if someone doesn’t ensure he has proper training, just like how ‘Pallas died because the gods neglected to train her properly’. Athena, being wiser, had properly committed herself to her training.

Of everything he’s been told about Pallas, ‘goofball’ is not a descriptor Nico would have picked. Triton keeps his distance from Nico but he’s seen him around often enough and heard enough stories from War Drum and Percy.

There is zero chance that Triton’s own daughter could have ever been a lazy goofball. There’s also zero chance that Percy ever was either. So. Castellan and Chase are just plain stupid.

Nico is so hoping Blondie dies in the Labyrinth, but he doubts it. She and Castellan won’t shut up about how they’re protected by their lord. Castellan especially. His essence has always been so not fun but it’s definitely gotten worse since winter.

Nico’s assuming whatever they did to keep the guy alive totally screwed with him. Blondie’s essence has always completely sucked, Nico can’t tell if it’s changed or not. It’s just all super ick, all the time.

He’s kinda assuming Hecate had something to do with their rapid recoveries from the cliff thing. She’s got that whole protection during dangerous liminal transitions thing.

Blondie’s lost interest in the prophecy. She always stops at the fourth line. So Nico helpfully reminds her of the last two lines.

“Annabeth! You forgot the rest of it! It said, ‘Destroy with a hero's final breath. And lose a love to worse than death.’”

Another filthy look from her but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she goes back to pacing in front of the Labyrinth entrance repeating her favourite facts about how to find the centre of the Labyrinth.

Ethan watches everything looking totally unbothered. Nico’s beginning to think Castellan broke the guy, He knows Ethan was the youngest to be banished from the camp when Castellan was. He’d been eleven, younger than Nico is now. And without the fun inherited abilities that make Nico’s mind work differently.

Lee says Ethan had been claimed by Nemesis just before Percy came to camp, a few months before he was banished with Castellan. Until Lee said that, Nico had assumed Ethan left camp before he was claimed.

Because none of this makes sense. Ethan super doesn’t act like a child of Nemesis.

Ethan’s nineteen and that much time spent with Castellan cannot have been good for him. Lee still stresses about Ethan whenever he’s left with too much time to think.

Ethan lost an eye at some point too. Percy says he knows how it happened but he and Nico figured actually befriending the guy would go better if Nico didn’t have too much information in advance.

Nico’s made so many attempts to get to know him, but Ethan’s not having any of it. All Nico’s actually learned from him is what he already knows, that Ethan is a son of Nemesis.

Even with Nico constantly talking about how terrible Father is, it hasn’t softened Ethan any. Ethan hasn’t said a single thing about his mother. Like, literally nothing. The only thing he has told Nico is that one time he said, “I am a son of Nemesis.”

Nico keeps trying, but there are only so many different angles he can use to rant about terrible parents and gods who are terribly violent and associated with death.

Father finds the whole thing vastly amusing. Every time Nico sees him, Father is full of new suggestions about what a terrible uncaring parent he is. Father is incredibly inventive for an unchanging god who’s worst trait is meant to be sloth.

Actually, Father just loves screwing with everyone. Percy and Lee are still upset by Father’s whole prank thing when he sent Nico a skeleton trainer nearly two years ago, the one who collapsed the moment his sword made contact. Father hasn’t been allowed to provide a trainer since.

Nico is absolutely dreading Father’s retaliation when he finds out Uncle is telling everyone Father looks like Benedict Cumberbatch playing Sherlock.

Blondie is still pacing and Nico can’t take it anymore, “Are we going or what?”

He still finds this whole thing so stupid. He’s done the quest stuff enough times to be used to Lee’s version of preparation.

If this was a quest at camp, all of them would have full hiking packs, multiple extra weapons, full demigod specific first aid kits, multiple forms of money, and they’d have been repeatedly drilled on their knowledge of various transport methods, both mortal and divine.

Even with Nico being sent off to play lieutenant for the Crooked One, Lee had gone overboard. Nico couldn’t take an actual pack with him, it needed to look like he ran away, but that didn’t stop Lee.

Nico has a phone and a credit card he’s to carry at all times, and Lee got creative with the rest of it. There are multiple supply drops in San Francisco and surrounding areas, all with first aid kits, money and emergency supplies.

Lee made absolutely sure Nico had memorised the locations of every single one. He’d also made Nico take an incredibly enormous ‘emergency kit’ to the Underworld to leave with Father.

Nico can come and go from the Underworld at will because of the shadow travel, but anyone else has to use actual entrances. It’s a good evacuation point for him.

He has a bracelet that lets him summon the sea god provided boat, Apeiron, too. And Lee insisted he knew how to drive the thing before he started this whole infiltration malarkey.

Nico’s got his own shielding necklace, made of stygian adamant. With Castellan’s silvertongue lojacked, Nico no longer needs protection from him, but Kelli uses charmspeak like, constantly.

Nico has her convinced that empousa’s charmspeak doesn’t work on children of Hades. With her being a creature of the Underworld, she hasn’t tried any of the more mortal forms of seduction.

He’s trying very hard not to show any response to that stupid cheerleader outfit. She will definitely misunderstand his reaction. So he’s pretending he just doesn’t see it.

Nico’s bident pendant clips to the shielding necklace. Unlike Percy and War Drum, whose weapons seem to all be initials, Nico’s bident is a coffin shaped pendant. Father thinks he’s just so very hilarious.

Nico also has Doom, his stygian adamant shield, in bracelet form. The black curb link bracelet looks like a fashion accessory, and it goes well with his whole semi-goth thing. Especially with the coffin pendant.

Nico’s been living in increasingly grotty black jeans, black leather jacket and black t-shirts. After two months of living on Mount Othrys with the monster army, the diamantés have fallen off all his t-shirts. He really didn’t think he’d miss Percy’s habit of finding him bedazzled skull t-shirts.

Hopefully, Scarface will send him to camp on an information gathering mission, and he can collect some new clothes while he’s at it. Father is also less than impressed that Nico is losing weight from the army’s ‘rations’ that he’s not eating, so he’ll probably find a reason to recall him, even if Nico isn’t sent back to the camp soon.

Nico still has the aurichalcum knife from Queen Anne’s Revenge too. Castellan and Chase have both tried multiple times to make him hand it over, but he just goes all petulant teenager and tells them it’s his only bargaining chip. If he gives it to them, what’s to stop them kicking him out?

Like, the knife won’t do a thing to Percy’s shielding necklace, but they seem certain it will.

Castellan kinda lost his shit when Nico first told them he had the knife.

Percy had been right about them raiding Circe’s island for it. Castellan made a lot of bitter comments about how many of their forces they lost in that attack. The Queen Anne’s Revenge hadn’t even been there. Blackbeard had no idea where it could be.

Nico knows where it is. The sisters they’d given it to kept their word and sunk her once they made it back to the mortal world. He’d gone out with Percy and War Drum to check that the ship would be secure on the sea floor.

Percy seems to think that once Scarface and Blondie are no longer an issue, they might be able to keep it themselves. Nico rather likes that idea. Pirate treasure and a stolen knife from the Thief God is amazing. But commanding their own real life pirate ship? Nico could die happy.

Castellan hasn’t tried on the aurichalcum knife on his lojack. He seems to be in complete denial about its existence. The one time Nico tried to bring it up, the guy had absolutely lost his shit.

Castellan has sworn to kill Bianca for it. Nico’s the one who actually put it on him. Nico’s warned Thalia and Bi about Castellan’s whole revenge thing but they seem unbothered.

Nico is very grateful for all his hidden weapons now, given the total lack of supplies from Castellan and Chase. They are standing outside the entrance to the Labyrinth, about to embark on a quest for who knows how long, and what do they have with them?

Lunch and a single change of clothes each. No ambrosia, no nectar, no first aid of any sort. No money either.

Nico had not been surprised to learn the Princess Andromeda had been provided on a loan basis and didn’t actually belong to Kronos and his army, but they definitely still used all their available cash on it.

Oh and Blondie also has a whole bag full of old bits of paper with useless maps that completely ignore the whole thing where the Labyrinth is constantly changing.

Castellan is now telling Blondie about how she’s always wanted to lead a quest and this is her chance. Her first quest! He tells her this is an actual quest with a prophecy and she’s going to be amazing.

Nico cannot resist the opportunity, he chirps, “I thought that trip to the Sea of Monsters was your first quest? You had a prophecy and everything!”

Twin filthy looks from Scarface and Blondie. They don’t reply though. Sigh. Nico really wants to make at least one of them explode and do the screaming ranting thing. The whole glaring daggers thing is nowhere near as fun.

Scarface is now telling Blondie she can solve any problem. Blondie’s telling Castellan she’s worried something will happen to him or Percy.

Nico grits his teeth. The fact she considers Percy to be ‘her love’ is never not going to freak him out. Percy has made it incredibly clear where he stands with her. She remains certain she just needs a chance to talk things out with him ‘properly’.

She keeps talking about how he has a heart of gold and will choose her once he understands. She definitely has some super uncomfortable ideas about Percy and War Drum.

Like, yes, they definitely are soulmates, kinda obvious just based on their essence, but they are very much the sibling sort of soulmates? Blondie grew up with them? How does she not know this?

If Percy had just been a random demigod, someone would have talked her out of her weird crush by now. But since Castellan and Kronos very much want their own prophet, they’ve encouraged her obsession and now it is completely terrifying.

Also, ‘worse than death’ can mean a hell of a lot of things. Like, you know, eternal hatred? Which, if that’s the case, she’s already lost him. Years ago.

And the prophecy says ‘a love’, not ‘a person’. Kind of super duper vague?

Nico’s kinda instinctively waiting for one of his wonderful ‘leaders’ to remind him and Ethan to do a weapons check. It’s becoming obvious it won’t be happening. At least they let Nico keep his more visible weapons, he still has a stygian iron sword and a single stygian iron knife.

They took his lock picks and have yet to return them. Blondie has her single celestial bronze knife. Nico does not understand that, even War Drum is baffled by it.

Like, awesome, favourite weapon, all good. But why is it her only weapon? Has she heard of swords?

War Drum dislikes swords and bows and adores her spear and trident. She still carries multiple knives and trains extensively on every weapon she has access to. They aren’t going to war for fun, personal preferences don’t really matter?

Though. Blondie having just the knife meant War Drum didn’t even try to fight her last winter.

Father passed a message to her through Nico telling her she must never hesitate like that again, that she put all their lives at risk when she did that. Nico felt awful telling her that, but Father isn’t wrong. This is war, kill or be killed. She’s their best fighter and they are past the point of playing nice.

Castellan only has a plain celestial bronze sword. He is intensely narky about Bianca breaking his weird sword.

He tried to claim Nico’s stygian iron sword but quickly realised that it doesn’t respond well to anyone who isn’t a child of the Underworld. Or at least, anyone who isn’t one of Father’s favourites.

Percy and War Drum can use stygian iron weapons. They prefer not to, but Nico’s sword doesn’t pull the freezing trick on them. Castellan dropped the sword and jumped around screaming about his hand when he tried to use it. Nico still has no idea how Father managed that. Even Thalia can freely use Bianca’s weapons these days.

Finally! Blondie stops talking about how much she loves Percy and goes all stiff and commander-ish and announces its time to leave.

She’s all super serious and ritualistic as she slooooowly presses the engraved delta on the rock and the tunnel opens. She stares into the tunnel entrance for an age, before giving a single sharp nod and stepping forward.

Castellan and Ethan follow her and Nico reluctantly climbs into the Labyrinth after them. He’s fine with the underground stuff, it’s the confined space with Blondie and Scarface that’ll suck.

The tunnel is perfectly round and made of black volcanic rock, the same sort the black palace on Mount Othrys is made of.

As soon as they start walking he can feel the sense of deep embedded loss and death fade behind them. He is so glad to be away from the whole eucalyptus stench and miserable death essence of Mount Othrys.

Blondie is loudly insisting they need to focus on finding the oldest parts of the Labyrinth, because that’s where the centre will be. Nico doesn’t bother arguing. They reach a crossroads and Blondie deliberates for way too long before she heads towards the stone tunnels.

They walk maybe a hundred and fifty feet before they have to stop again, this time because Blondie is panicking over how the stone has abruptly switched to red brick. When Blondie turns to look behind them she realises the stone is entirely gone.

Blondie announces they’ll be keeping their hands on the left wall and walking that way, so they can still find their way out. Because that’s what works in mortal mazes.

Nico bites back his sarcastic commentary and settles in for a very long aggravating walk.

________________________

Piper’s not sure what to think when everyone finally gathers for their little war council thing. Ever since winter, when Lee asked if she wanted to take on a bigger role in camp, she’s been trying to get a better understanding of how it all fits together.

She’d ended up deciding to take Lee’s advice about the prophecy stuff to heart. He told her that if it was confusing her and sending her around the twist, it’s just best to pretend it never happened.

She’d stared at him blankly for that one, he’d just laughed at her. He said prophet things are his problem and not hers and he’s totally fine with her living in denial.

When Clarisse introduced her to Rachel with no explanation other than “Apollo and Priss did a thing”, Piper decided to follow Lee’s advice and ignore the weird bits.

Rachel is mortal, but otherwise, she’s just another new camper. Lee gave her the choice of staying in Nightshade cabin or in the Big House. Rachel rapidly decided she liked the sound of Nightshade. She even extracted a promise from Percy to tell her the story ‘properly’.

Poor kid. Even Piper hadn’t entirely realised how important Zoe and Phoebe were to him or to Clarisse. Piper had been so lost by that last conversation she had with Zoe. She’s only just starting to realise what that was actually about.

Lee says Percy had known for a long time what was coming. He still decided to fully engage with them knowing they would die.

Piper’s not sure how she feels about that. Like, on one hand all that intense emotion and deep connection is awesome and beautiful and whatever. But also, why would you put yourself through all that heartache?

To hear about it is one thing, to actually choose to do it… Whole ‘nother kettle of fish.

Percy is definitely stronger than she is.

Right now, he just looks done with life. No-one loves the camp leader meetings and Piper was not happy when Lee told her that part of her new role as his ‘intern’ means she has to attend even though Drew is Cabin Head.

Percy had told her to bring Rachel along too, he didn’t explain why. So that’s extra fun.

Lee forces everyone into the Big House, saying he’d rather not deal with eavesdroppers. Even with Chiron in his wheelchair thing and them using the largest room, they are kinda crammed in.

Spread around the room are all the Cabin Heads; Percy for Poseidon, Roxy for Demeter, an extra cranky looking Clarisse for Ares, Sophie for Athena, Kayla for Apollo, Leo for Hephaestus, Drew for Aphrodite, Travis and Connor for Hermes, Castor and Pollux for Dionysus and Jonathon for Nightshade.

Of the Cabin Heads, Percy is the youngest at fourteen. Clarisse and Leo are fifteen. Roxy, Sophie, Mr D’s twins and Jonathon are sixteen. Then, seventeen year old Drew, eighteen year old Connor and Travis and Kayla are both nineteen. The last two aren’t meant to be Cabin Heads still, but Travis and Connor do everything together and they don’t have any underage Apollo campers this summer.

It’s a full house even before they add in Thalia for the Hunters. Piper sidetracks briefly wondering what age Thalia now counts as. She became a Hunter before she turned thirteen, but she really doesn’t act like a twelve or thirteen year old.

Then they’ve got Georgie who is… eighteen? Nineteen? Piper’s lost track. She’s a terrible friend. Rachel who is apparently fourteen and staring at the collection of chaotic demigods with wide eyes.

Chiron who is immortal so who fucking knows. Lee who just turned twenty-seven and looked totally fabulous in Legolas's circlet at his birthday party.

And for some reason, Grover the satyr and Juniper the dryad have joined their motley gang.

So that’s… Piper does a quick headcount, sixteen teenagers, one actual adult, one immortal and two- whatever satyrs and dryads counts as. Twenty people, all crammed into one room and most of whom are teenage demigods with intense ADHD.

Is this a war council or a hostage situation?

It does explain why Lee is handing out energy drinks like they’re going out of style. He’s super intense about stopping them all overdosing on caffeine, right up ’til he has to spend time in an enclosed area with Percy and Clarisse. Or Nico.

It’s been ages since Piper’s seen the kid, Lee and Percy don’t seem worried. She’s not so confident. She can see Nico is a hell of a lot more genuine and good at heart than he tends to present himself.

Eye of the Beholder makes him look like a miniature Percy, who’s just as focused on genuine kindness. Which also means he probably does the same self-doubt thing Surfer Boy does.

Percy’s fine because he has Lee and Clarisse to remind him to trust himself, but Nico isn’t here with them.

Piper doesn’t need Aphrodite abilities to see Nico doesn’t feel like he fits in at camp. He disappeared at the same time she started taking on bigger roles at camp, so she’s not had a chance to start forcefully including him. She really doesn’t like it.

Piper gives in to the inevitable and takes an energy drink too, if her brain is already wandering down random tangents no way is she surviving this meeting without it. Who cares that breakfast was only half an hour ago?

At least Georgie didn’t bring the cyclops as well. Tyson’s nice and all, just huge, and they already have kids perched on every available spot.

Literally, Percy, Clarisse, Rachel, Drew, Georgie and Piper are all sharing a single two seater couch. Castor and Pollux are sitting on the ground in front of them and everyone else is pretty much the same.

Lee starts the meeting and Sophie immediately interrupts, going to stand beside Lee so she can address the room.

Piper’s less than impressed. She hasn’t had much to do with Sophie. When she first arrived at camp she’d kind of befriended Annabeth, who then promptly went on a quest and came back so bizarre.

After that, Piper stayed away from the Athena cabin. Jonathon’s cool, nothing like his siblings and proud of it. But the rest of them? Yeah, pass.

Sophie’s blonde and grey-eyed, same as all the Athena kids but her face is kinda extra sharp. Like she’s always frowning. Her thing seems to mostly be battle strategy, but ever since Annabeth left, she’s spent summer’s talking endlessly about architecture.

Like, Piper has nothing against the info-dump thing. It’s really not specific to Athena kids, Hephaestus and Apollo kids are just as bad with it. They’re just don’t act like they’re the only ones allowed to know about something.

It’s why Jonathon doesn’t count as an Athena kid, unclaimed or not, he’s spent a tonne of time with the Aphrodite kids teaching them how to make and tailor their own clothes. Aphrodite totally adores him for it.

Jonathon loves sharing his passion for all things fabric. Whereas first Annabeth, and now Sophie, seem to believe no-one else can know anything about architecture. Piper is so over it.

Sophie is speaking very seriously, “Annabeth must have known about the Labyrinth entrance. She knew everything about camp.”

Piper flicks her eyes towards Percy. Who is looking extra innocent. Even leaving the prophet stuff out of it… Sure, Annabeth apparently arrived at camp the year before Percy and Clarisse, but she was a summer camper? Those two live here, their guardian runs the camp?

And even if she was year-round, it’s pretty obvious not even Chiron knows everything about the camp. Surfer Boy has the prophecy stuff to give him an in, what’s Annabeth got?

Juniper adds, super hesitantly, “It’s always been there. But Annabeth Chase never used it. The last time it was used before yesterday was by Luke Castellan before he left camp nearly eight years ago.”

Drew narrows her eyes, “Wait, you knew about it and didn’t tell Lee?”

Juniper flushes green, “I thought he knew? The Lord Prophet knew of the entrance.”

Half the room turns to Percy, he raises an eyebrow, “I know a lot of things? Do you want me spilling all your secrets or something?”

Most of the room shifts uncomfortably, Piper looks at all the awkward faces around her. Just how many secrets does Surfer Boy know? And more importantly, how much blackmail material does he have?

Rachel distracts them when she asks, very politely, what exactly the Labyrinth is?

Piper winces, don’t ever ask an Athena kid questions like that. They never shut up again.

Sophie dives straight into full lecture mode.

“The Labyrinth was built as a prison for Pas-” Percy cuts her off with a sharp, “No names!”

Sophie glares at him, “I wasn’t naming him? What exactly would you like me to call the bull man then?”

Piper cringes, and is not surprised by Percy’s acidic reply. “The woman you were about to name is an immortal sorceress who is still alive. Naming her is never a wise idea. His name was Asterion.”

Piper smirks at his emphasis on ‘wise’.

Sophie’s voice is sharp, “And no-one knows who Asterion is!”

Rachel speaks quietly, “I know who he is, and I only arrived this morning.”

Lee’s voice cuts across the rising babble, “I believe everyone else is already familiar with the story. Sophie, call him Asterion or use a respectful nickname.”

“Fine. The Labyrinth was built as a prison for ‘Asterion’ who is a monster who is half bull and half man.” Piper’s not even sitting next to Percy and she still feels him flinch.

How does Sophie not know that Percy is extra sensitive about the Minotaur?

Like he’s never explained why, but given how many stories he tells at campfires about monsters who started out as perfectly reasonable people, Piper’s assuming Asterion wasn’t born a monster anymore than Medusa was.

Percy took her and Drew to meet Medusa a few months back. He’s been telling Medusa all about how they’ve been telling her real story and she asked to meet the daughters of Aphrodite responsible for the change.

It’s super weird the way Percy befriends like, actual monsters, but she seemed to be a pretty nice lady? Gave them lunch and everything.

Sophie’s still describing what a masterpiece the Labyrinth is.

Piper butts in, “So, it has an entrance in camp and it’s underground. Like the Underworld? Where else does it go? Like, how big is it?”

Sophie’s full of useless answers, “There may be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld. I’m not sure. But the Underworld is way, way down. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, kind of like a second skin. It’s been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth.”

Lee adds from where he’s been leaning against the wall just watching all of this, “We’ve been investigating the Labyrinth for awhile. I wasn’t aware of the entrance inside the barrier but I do know Castellan and Chase have been looking for ways to rapidly deploy an army. We rescued one of their scouts a while back. Kept talking about string, among other things.”

Sophie nods way too enthusiastically, “The builder, Daedalus, was a genius. The greatest architect, the greatest inventor of all time. If the legends are true, his workshop is in the centre of the Labyrinth. He’s the only one who knew how to navigate the maze perfectly.”

Oh this just gets better and better.

“If Annabeth managed to find the workshop and convince Daedalus to help her, Annabeth wouldn’t have to fumble around searching for paths, or risk losing her army in the maze’s traps. She could navigate anywhere she wanted, quickly and safely. First to Camp Half-Blood to wipe us out. Then to Olympus.”

Huh? Piper asks, “I thought Castellan was the Crooked One’s lieutenant?”

Like, Annabeth is definitely with him, but he’s an actual adult? She’s what? Fifteen?

Sophie speaks over Lee’s answer, “Yes, well, he is older. But Annabeth would be the brains of the operation, she’s incredibly intelligent. Even Mum says so.”

Percy definitely just flinched hard. Clarisse is making some sort non-verbal sound that’s a little too much like growling.

Kayla notices, but turns to Sophie and asks, “Isn’t the Labyrinth impossible to navigate?”

Sophie’s eyes are sparkling as she tells them, “They would need Ariadne’s string! In the old days, Ariadne’s string guided Theseus out of the maze. It was a navigation instrument of some kind, invented by Daedalus.”

Piper glances to the side. Percy’s face is completely blank. He’s not giving anything away.

Leo’s the one who actually asks, “Uh, didn’t Ariadne guide him? Since when was there string?”

Sophie assures him that Ariadne definitely had a magical string she stole from Daedalus and that’s how she guided Theseus, and he could give it to Annabeth if they don’t do something about it. That this is definitely why the scout Lee mentioned kept talking about string.

Piper is very suspicious about that one. She was there when Percy and Clarisse brought Chris Rodriguez into camp. He did mention string. But he also talked about a thousand skulls, the earth keeps healing him and the son of Poseidon who was horrible. And also who is apparently not Percy because Chris was totally fine with him.

Leo’s even more confused, “Why do you keep talking like this guy is still alive? Didn’t all this happen like, thousands of years ago? I know Prof’s told stories about Theseus and they definitely were a good three thousand years ago?”

Piper’s looking straight at Lee as Leo talks. She’d have missed it otherwise, the way he stiffens, ever so slightly. Huh. Guess this Daedalus dude actually is alive? And Lee is super not happy about it.

Chiron adds quietly, “It is from before my time but there are many rumours of his survival. They say he went back into the Labyrinth near the end of his life and never came out again.”

Piper narrows her eyes at Lee. His deep blue eyes are definitely kinda glowing with his whole child of a sun god schtick. He’s furious. Impressive he can keep his face so calm otherwise.

Sophie adds extra passionately, “We need to go in. We have to find the workshop before Annabeth does. If Daedalus is alive, we convince him to help us, not Annabeth. If Ariadne’s string still exists, we make sure it never falls into Annabeth’s hands.”

Jonathon is frowning, “Why can’t we just seal off the entrance to camp? Who cares what that lot do, so long as they can’t invade here?”

Piper is so not impressed by the scathing look Sophie gives him. Everyone knows that the moronic Athena has deemed him unworthy of claiming, because sewing’s not good enough for her uppityness or something. The rest of camp is fine with it, but his siblings treat him like scum. She hates it. So much.

Hm. Georgie’s here for summer, wonder what other interesting charms her Atlantean friend makes? Retaliation is in their blood after all.

Sophie informs him tightly, “The Labyrinth is magical architecture. It would take god-level power to seal even one of its entrances. The best we can do is prevent Annabeth from learning to navigate the Labyrinth.”

They can’t just ask Mr D to stop by for another flying visit?

Thalia adds, super casually, “Or we could just fight them? That entrance will create a bottleneck. With enough forces we can just keep killing them indefinitely?”

Chiron agrees that defences are needed but doesn’t seem confident the camp will be able to hold the line. Then again, he still hasn’t seen any of Lee’s little contingency plans.

At least, Piper doesn’t think he has? Lee really doesn’t like the centaur. Says he’s an excellent trainer but can’t be trusted with sensitive information. Even Piper knows more than Chiron does about all of this.

Sophie’s standing at the front of the room, ‘leading’ the briefing. Lee’s still standing behind her, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He’s watching everything with sharp eyes, but Piper gets the feeling all of this is very much performative.

Lee’s told her before that demigods aren’t great at handling things in civilised ways. Sometimes it’s best to let them argue themselves out first.

Piper would bet anything that Lee has no intention of letting Sophie near the Labyrinth. He’s just letting her get it out of her system.

After last winter, Lee’s spent a tonne of time explaining the quest thing to Piper. Lee lets kids go on quests after they turn sixteen, but he still tries to make sure the quests are things they can actually achieve.

Even Piper can tell that Sophie’s got way too much hero worship going on for both Annabeth and this Daedalus guy. No way would the Labyrinth be a good or remotely safe option for her.

Sophie also seems a little too unbothered by the whole Annabeth wants to destroy the world thing.

Sophie insists vehemently, “We need to go into the Labyrinth and find Daedalus's workshop. We can find Ariadne’s string before Annabeth and stop them invading camp!”

Piper can’t help asking, “Exactly how do you think any of us will be able to find this workshop?”

Sophie assures her, “I’ve been studying it for years, longer than Annabeth. I definitely know it better than anyone else.”

Piper blinks, “You know it better than anyone else, because you read about it?”

Sophie does a weird twitchy thing like she can’t decide if she should admit that she doesn’t actually know enough or if she should be super offended by Piper’s ‘insult’.

Chiron speaks thoughtfully, “Are we really sure this is the best use of our resources? I admit, I am hesitant to fight a battle with the campers constituting the bulk of our forces, but all of this is based on rumours and old myths. There’s no definitive proof that Daedalus is in the maze still, or that he possesses an item that would make navigation possible.”

Lee, Percy and Clarisse all turn and outright stare at the centaur super incredulously. Piper is very entertained. The three of them hate the guy and she’s never seen them look so dumbfounded before.

Chiron calmly looks back at them and quietly says, “I do listen to Percy’s stories. I freely admit I struggle to change my views on things, but this past week has shown me how easily a person can be blind to what is right in front of them.”

Huh. That’s new.

Lee gives Chiron an actual genuine smile and a nod before he turns back to Sophie.

“Sophie, I’m in agreement with Chiron, but I’ll make a deal with you. If you go the Oracle and she gives you a prophecy about the Labyrinth AND you are able to tell me Daedalus’s real name, I’ll green-light a quest into the Labyrinth for you.”

Sophie’s grey eyes fix on Lee, “Why the Oracle? Percy is right there?” She waves her hand towards Percy.

Lee’s voice turns ice cold and his eyes glint as he glares at her, “The Prophet of Apollo is not a parlour trick. Oracles may be available to anyone who wishes to speak with them, but prophets are not. He gives his prophecies at the will of the Fates and them alone. As we’ve been discussing the Labyrinth for quite some time, and the Fates have had nothing to say, you can see the Oracle or no-one.”

Okay. That was kinda scary. Piper’s seen Lee act like a commander, she was on the ground below the tree when he shot that drakon, but she’s still never seen him go so ice-cold. He’s normally like, teddy bear level friendly?

Clarisse makes some sort of muttering noise at Percy and then speaks clearly, “I’ll take her Lee. C’mon Sophie, let’s go see what nonsense the Oracle has for us today.”

Sophie’s not happy but she does at least leave with Clarisse.

Piper briefly sidetracks wondering how Percy translates all the random non-word noises Clarisse makes at him. She’s really starting to think he actually can read minds. She’s seen them have whole extensive conversations where Clarisse never speaks an actual word, and yet Percy responds with full sentences every time.

As soon as the door shuts, Drew asks Lee what he meant about the guy’s real name.

Lee’s back to his usual teddy bear demeanour as he grins at her, “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

Prophets are super annoying and High Priests are even worse. Seriously!

________________________

Lee warned Clarisse this was one of the likely outcomes of the war council. Sophie is the second youngest known Athena kid at the moment, and even only attending for summer camp, the girl is getting majorly twitchy.

If Clarisse actually could be bothered to focus on the Athena kids she might’ve done more to help her, but most of them can’t seem to understand that Chase is very literally the enemy now.

Clarisse was willing to be good friends with Chase when she hadn’t actually done anything. Chase has done a whole hell of a lot things since then, and being friends is absolutely nowhere on her to-do list.

Athena does not like anyone doing things with her children without her approval. So, while the rest of the camp’s over sixteens have been kept incredibly busy on small quests ever since the Sea of Monsters thing, Athena’s kids have had nothing to do.

They have to wait for a big quest to come along and force their way onto it, or hope that Athena will show up and give them a quest.

Sophie’s not actually going to be allowed in the Labyrinth. It’s why Lee added a second condition to this.

Prissy hasn’t talked about the Labyrinth in years but when they were little, after the thing with the wings and Chase’s near cliff-dive, Priss had told Clarisse why Chase’s fascination with Daedalus upset him so much.

She’d honestly totally forgotten about it. Then, after they killed the scorpions Priss mentioned the Labyrinth entrance. With Quintus being so obviously immortal, well, who else could he have been?

Priss has never told that story at the campfire. He never talks about Asterion. He waves it off as not wanting to talk about the bedroom games of gods. And yeah, the stuff with Pasiphae and the wooden cow is totally not child appropriate.

But what upsets Prissy is that Asterion never even had a chance.

If a seven year old Prissy hadn’t called for Apollo when he did, his story would have ended up looking a lot more like Asterion’s. The world is not kind to powerful demigod children who are entirely without protectors.

From what she’s learned since, about Poseidon’s whole ‘only mortals who are good parents’ policy, (unless the Fates do a thing of course), she kinda suspects Asterion is the reason behind all of that.

It means there is literally zero chance Sophie has ever heard of Iapis, son of Iasius. He is very much a footnote in history.

The Apollo kids know of him because he’s pretty much number one on Apollo’s Most Wanted, and on Poseidon’s too, but no-one ever says why.

He has no myths attached to his name, except for a vague comment about how Apollo offered him the gift of prophecy, but Iapis asked for the secrets of healing and long life.

Which apparently is the myth version of ‘Apollo told him building a Labyrinth was a supremely stupid idea and not to do it and Iapis ignored this advice’. You know, because basic common sense is the same as seeing the future?

Sophie marches ahead of her, all the way up to the attic of the four story house. She’s all focused determination. She has the look of Pallas but nowhere near Chase’s level. Thank the gods. Sophie looks more like a blonde Athena than a grey-eyed Pallas.

From memory, she used to be a little more tolerable, but in hindsight, she was also Chase’s favourite target. Chase was never a good Cabin Head and she and Sophie shared a love of architecture. That didn’t go over so well with Chase.

She’d been a decent friend to Prissy and Clarisse because there was virtually no crossover in their interests. Though, Clarisse is kinda now just realising she and Priss had gone out of their way to avoid showing interest in anything Chase claimed as hers.

Even though they both had regular interaction with Apollo, they always agreed with Chase about her mother’s wisdom. Clarisse was a child of Ares but stepped aside when Chase talked about battle strategy.

Since Chase couldn’t remotely match her in a spar and Prissy could, Clarisse just plain didn’t care who ‘knew more’. Besides, they sparred regularly with Triton who always wins. Clarisse has grown up knowing she’ll always be out-matched by someone. Being the best ever at anything was never her goal.

Neither of them actually cared about architecture so it became one of the safe topics. Chase never noticed how unhappy Prissy got when she talked about Daedalus. Clarisse and Prissy were equally relieved when, after the wax wing thing, Lee barred conversations about Daedalus.

Since Chase left, Sophie has fully embraced her role as supreme knower of everything. Especially architecture.

She’s been full of opinions about the Nightshade cabin. It’s partly mortal construction and partly Beck’s design, but Sophie was very annoyed to arrive for the summer and discover no-one consulted her about the new building.

Because the sixteen year old camper should have been asked about a camp building? She seriously seems to think the underage summer campers have more right to make decisions than the actual adults who run the camp. Priss might be involved occasionally, because Prophet of Apollo, but not even Clarisse expects to have that right!

When they finally get to the attic door, Clarisse enjoys Sophie’s taken aback look a bit too much. The attic door is basically a vault these days. The armoury is much more accessible. Edged weapons are dangerous but only to the immediate physical area. The cursed Oracle on the other hand- she can destroy the world with the wrong words.

Lee isn’t worried. He says she’s already had her say about the Labyrinth last winter and, if she keeps to her new routine, she’ll just give another irrelevant doom and gloom prophecy that’s linked to Chase.

At best, they’ll get some info on Chase’s next move. At worst, Sophie will somehow convince the Oracle to give her a relevant prophecy and she still won’t have Daedalus's real name.

Clarisse makes Sophie turn her back before she unlocks the door. Mostly ‘cause it’ll drive Sophie nuts trying to work out the code based on the tones of the number pad. The one that is entirely for show and Clarisse jabs a random set of numbers into.

The door opens for her ‘cause she’s a High Priestess of Apollo. Apollo magicked the lock so only her and Lee can get in. Not even Priss can access it without one of them. But now, Sophie has a fun new intelligence test to keep her busy.

The girl’s eyes have already gone distant as she follows Clarisse in. Hey, Clarisse isn’t a saint! She gets her fun where she can find it. She screws with her siblings in just the same way. Do something impossible and leave ‘em to torture themselves trying to replicate it. She learned that trick from Priss.

Sophie looks even more confused when she sees the totally bare attic and the super sad mummified Oracle.

“Wait, the last time I was here this was full of quest trophies and stuff? And it wasn’t locked.”

Clarisse raises an eyebrow at her, “Girl. Did you seriously just admit to visiting the Oracle without permission?”

Sophie looks down and mutters, “I just wanted to see.”

Clarisse rolls her eyes, “Well, the reason it’s like this is because Chase had the same idea. Apollo was super peeved. Lee cleared the place out a few years back.”

Two years ago actually, but she’s curious how long ago Sophie was here. She doesn’t react, so definitely before everything with the Master Bolt. Huh. Wonder if she’s the one who read the fake prophecy? They still haven’t traced that back. Chiron might be an idiot but everyone’s pretty confident he’s not the one telling tales.

Whoever it was, they definitely read the whole fake prophecy that Apollo had left in a little pouch on the creepy lady’s neck.

Nico’s reported back that Castellan has mentioned both the first and last lines of the fake prophecy. “A half-blood of the eldest gods” and that weird bit about “Olympus to preserve or raze.”

Apollo admitted he’d just found the whole raze/raise thing funny. He totally fails at the domain of poetry thing.

The prophecy still needs Priss to turn sixteen though.

She and Lee’d had the most bizarre conversation with the gods about the Great Prophecy and whether that day and a half they’d been in the Sea of Monsters, when six days passed in the real world, would change Prissy’s biological age for the prophecy stuff.

Apparently the Lotus Casino would have caused issues, but the Sea of Monsters is far more complex and the answer boiled down to; no, because magic.

Sophie’s standing just inside the door, but her eyes are scanning the mummy sitting on her little three legged stool. She used to wear this tie-dyed sundress thing with her arms totally bare. Long black hair hanging loose under a headband thing. Clarisse had not been prepared for any of that when she first saw the creepy thing when she was thirteen.

She’s just as shrivelled and horrible looking and she does still have the rainbow tie-dyed sundress on, but she’s been totally wrapped up in one of the oversized old lady shawls.

Lee’s added another shawl draped over her head. Not like Medusa’s which is more what a modern muslim lady would wear, more like what you see in statues from Ancient Greece. Clarisse thinks they were called veils? Maybe?

The only visible skin is her face, and it’s tightly stretched across her skull. She looks super fragile. Lee’d had some sort of extreme air conditioning system installed in the attic too, all of it aimed at preserving the creepy mummy for as long as possible.

Prissy still won’t tell them what the hell is going on with the Ophiotaurus thing, but he did say the world will basically end if they don’t lift the curse and find a new host for the spirit. Hence Rachel.

Sophie looks kinda appalled and has made no move to actually approach the mummy.

Clarisse huffs, “Girl. You gonna ask for a prophecy or what?”

Sophie looks lost, “I… can’t you ask?”

Clarisse rolls her eyes, “I ain’t the one desperate for a quest. You want a big quest that much? This is how they start.”

Clarisse would rather no quests ever. Her job is to protect Priss. But Fates do what they want.

“What do I say?”

Sophie hadn’t been here at winter when Priss’d done the prophet thing, but Clarisse is less than impressed that one of the ‘wisest’ campers has completely ignored anything to do with prophets and oracles. They literally have both onsite?

Clarisse huffs, “Address her by name.” She shoots a sharp look at Sophie and adds with too much aggression, “Respectfully.”

She tries to make her tone a little less confrontational as she adds, “And ask your question. Whatever it is.”

Sophie gives her a very sarcastic look in reply. Makes her look way too much like her sister. Clarisse doesn’t like it.

Sophie turns to the Oracle, “Oracle. Tell me how to find the centre of the Labyrinth.”

Okay. Definitely not respectful. ‘Oracle’ is not her name? Also. That’s a unique demand. Shouldn’t it have been more like, asking how to help camp or something more general?

Creepy oracle lady spews out her green smoke stuff and an image forms.

Oh, that’s less than fun. Clarisse had completely forgotten to warn Sophie about the Oracle’s habit of showing traumatising images from their past.

Lee said that last time, it’d shown Chase under the sky while Castellan watched. Before that, it’d shown Chase Thalia ‘dying’. It showed Priss his abusive stepfather kicking the daylights out of a tiny Prissy.

This time, it shows a younger Sophie sitting on a bed in Cabin Six. She’s completely curled into herself and clearly sobbing her heart out. Chase is standing over her and is definitely shouting at her. Like, literally standing over her, leaning down and wagging a finger in her face type shouting.

They look like they’re ten or eleven? Isn’t that when Sophie first came to camp?

Okay. Clarisse knew Chase could be prickly, but she didn’t know she’d been that bad. Certainly never showed any of that in front of her or Priss. Did Lee know about this?

Chase turns to face them and gives them the prophecy. She’s still aggressively shouting in Chase’s younger voice.

“She draws closer to the final deadline.
Her fate assigned, two threads entwine.
One to ascend, god and spirit to mend.”

The green mist is sucked back into the creepy mummified Oracle, and Sophie’s audience is done.

She gapes at the Oracle all bug-eyed.

“What was that? How is that a prophecy? How will that help me find the centre of the Labyrinth?”

Clarisse makes an attempt to speak with a gentle tone, “It was a prophecy, it’s just not meant for you. The Oracle has no-go’d your Labyrinth quest. Sorry.”

Sophie seems kinda stunned. Yeah, the Oracle does that. She follows Clarisse as she leaves the attic and double checks the door is locked behind them.

As they tramp back down the stairs Clarisse is less than happy. That prophecy… ‘One to ascend’? That better not mean Chase. No way is Blondie getting a redemption arc. Clarisse’d all but promised Nico that would never happen. Stupid confusing prophecies and cursed oracles.

When they return to the rec room, there’s an ongoing debate happening about how none of them want to go near the Labyrinth. Roxy’s already left, which Clarisse is so not surprised by. The Demeter kids have been getting worse. It’s like they’re allergic to working with other campers or something.

Clarisse is almost impressed when Sophie immediately announces, “It gave me a prophecy. I can lead this quest.”

Lee tilts his head and looks at Clarisse, “Clarisse?”

“Girl’s tripping. Oracle gave another batshit poem. Definitely didn’t mention the maze.”

Sophie glares at her. Like. Seriously? Props for pure balls, but no. Lying about things Oracle’s say never ends well for anyone. The Golden Fleece is literally on Thalia’s pine tree. Object lesson anyone?

Might be time for Priss to tell that story at the campfire again.

Clarisse recites the new prophecy before Sophie can dig herself a deeper hole.

Lee does a little twitchy thing at the last line. Bet he’s thinking exactly what she is. Chase ain’t gonna be a god. Not if Clarisse has anything to say about it.

Lee pulls himself together quickly and tells Sophie, “Sorry, Sophie. Whatever that’s about, it has nothing to do with the Labyrinth. I agree with Chiron, trying to locate Daedalus's workshop would be a waste of resources.”

Sophie is still glaring angrily and gods, does she look too much like Chase.

Before she can speak, Chiron adds, “I do think the Labyrinth may be the solution to the satyrs’ search for the Wild One, however.”

Grover turns on him. Wow, Clarisse has never seen the guy look so aggressive.

“Just because a searcher doesn’t need a quest, it doesn’t mean I have any interest in dying or going insane underground. I’m a satyr!”

He’s in full rant mode now, “That place is full of psychotic goat-killing monsters. Why would Pan be there? He’s the God of Wild Places! Not the God of Creepy Caves!”

He pauses to catch his breath and Prissy’s voice cuts off his next rant.

“Asterion’s lonely prison spreading far,
An entrance hidden in sanctuary’s heart.
His sister’s sight to be your guide,
To where the Wild One yet abides.
The sacred beast waiting for release.
A time to mourn as a vow is sworn.”

Everyone turns and goes all wide-eyed at Prissy. No-one ever seems to know what to do when he does the prophet thing. Priss just looks back, light dancing in his eyes, looking like the cat that got the cream.

He is definitely pleased with his newest prophecy. Normally, he’s as appalled as everyone else. She still hasn’t gotten an explanation out of Prissy for that line about ‘the Mark of Pallas is the Fate’s eternal curse’ from last winter. He definitely remembers it, but Priss just tells her it’s not their problem right now.

Lee raises an eyebrow at Grover, “Well, looks like you do need a quest. The Prophet of Apollo has spoken. You’ll be leading a quest into the Labyrinth.”

Grover is suddenly grinning, his freakout completely forgotten. Labyrinth or not, he looks super excited at an actual prophecy telling him that Pan is waiting for him. Whatever he says is lost in the noise.

The room immediately explodes into people taking over the top of each other. Most of them yelling at Grover. Everyone is super determined to go on an actual big quest.

Even though they’d just all been talking about how much they didn’t want to go into the Labyrinth. Demigods always up the weirdness factor.

Then again, finding the lost god of Pan is an earning glory thing. Fighting Kronos and his army is less glory and more just plain terrifying.

Sophie is definitely yelling that she has to go because of the Labyrinth. But Clarisse doubts anyone else can hear her.

Drew’s voice rises above the others, “It said something about sight, didn’t it? Doesn’t that mean Surfer Boy?”

It actually shuts them up as they all turn to look at Prissy.

Sophie starts to say, “You need Ariad-” when Priss cuts her off.

He holds his hands out, “Oh. No. Nope. Nothing would ever make me go into that place willingly. No, thank you.”

Grover stares wide eyed at him, “But you want me to?”

Prissy gives him a kind smile, “You’re not a prophet, G-man. A fair chunk of what I know is triggered by physical contact. Not just with people, but places too. The Labyrinth has thousands of years of terrible memories.”

Leo calls out cheerfully, “What, you scared of some bad dreams, Prof?”

Priss rolls his eyes good-naturedly, “Hey, if you could see what I do, you’d be desperately avoiding it all too. If I need gods shielding me to go to Olympus, I really doubt the Labyrinth would be better. Besides, this is G-man’s quest. Not mine.”

Sophie goes to speak but multiple conversations break out again, this time it’s Travis who’s the loudest, “So what’s with the sister’s sight thing?”

Castor answers him and talks straight over Sophie’s latest attempt to answer. The twins have been sitting on the ground in front of Priss, eating popcorn and just enjoying the chaotic meeting.

It was only when Prissy gave that prophecy that they actually starting looking invested in this.

Castor’s voice is soft but firm, “Ariadne was Asterion’s sister. Back then, she wasn’t a goddess. She was a clear sighted mortal.”

Clarisse eyes the twins. They look like slightly younger Mr D’s these days. The same Prince Charming vibe with curly black hair and deep blue eyes. Still way too full of chaotic mischief, but like all of them, they’ve had to grow up in the past couple of years. Less Prissy’s partners in crime and more actual friends.

She knows Prissy’s been trying to force a friendship between them and Grover for months. She’d kind of assumed it was because of the satyrs missing Mr D’s influence and Grover being the most sane one of that lot. But now. Huh.

The whole room is now arguing about exactly how you find a clear sighted mortal. Sophie’s comments about the string being better aren’t heard by anyone, except for Clarisse who has the misfortune to be standing beside her. Points for determination, she guesses?

All of them are ignoring Rachel who is sitting right there. Lee hadn’t actually introduced her, they probably assume she’s another new demigod.

Oh. Actually. With the red hair and green eyes, they probably think she’s with Georgie. Who is entirely ignoring the explosive debate and is definitely playing a game on her own god provided mobile phone.

Even if Georgie was still a camper, no way would she willingly go into an underground maze. So not the place for a sea kid.

Clarisse kinda wants to know what wisdom Iapis was using when he tried to force Prissy into the Labyrinth. It’s really not the place for any sea kid, especially when said sea kid is a son of Poseidon.

They’re probably lucky Poseidon’s distracted by the fighting at Atlantis, aren’t they? If he’d actually seen that little skit play out…

Lee lets them argue it out for a bit and only steps in when the conversation turns to May Castellan, who is apparently the only clear sighted mortal anyone knows about.

And only because Travis and Connor were at camp when Castellan was. Apparently, he constantly ranted about her.

Lee cuts off the debate about May Castellan, “Or we could just ask if Rachel would like to go on this quest?”

Half the room says some version of “Who’s Rachel?”

“Uh, that’d be me?”

Everyone turns to gape at Rachel. Lee claps his hands, “Okay, you lot. We’ve established there’ll be a quest. Grover will be leading it. Which means Grover gets to choose who he takes. So. Vamoose. Grover or I will come and find you if he wants one of you on the quest with him.”

Clarisse moves from the doorway and helps Lee start herding all the whinging teenagers out of the room. She shoves Sophie through first and then just keeps herding the others behind her, so she has no choice but to leave. Problem for later.

Grover says something to the twins and they stay behind. Rachel too.

Prissy and Chiron don’t budge. So. Once the room is mostly cleared, Clarisse plops down beside Prissy.

Grover’s talking to Lee, “You sure it has to be three total?”

Lee’s voice is full of his commander tone, but he does try to soften it, “I’m afraid so. Three is a sacred number for a reason.”

Chiron adds, “Three Fates, three brothers, three Kindly Ones.”

Prissy turns in his seat to squint at the guy, “The hell do the Kindly Ones have to do with anything? Just when I thought you were doing better, man!”

Chiron actually looks sheepish, though he doesn’t give Priss a reply.

Grover’s shifting uncomfortably on his hooves, his eyes flicking between the twins.

Pollux speaks up, “Hey, if your issue is not wanting to pick between us, it’s all good. If you do want one of us to come along, take Castor. He’ll do better underground than I will.”

Grover looks relieved, “You’ll really be okay with it? It just seems… kinda wrong?”

Pollux shakes his head, “I do plants. Sure, I’d love to help you find the Wild One, but Castor’s way better suited to all this. I’ll be fine at camp.”

Grover nods, “Okay. So. Me, Rachel and Castor?”

Lee agrees and they decide the questers will be leaving at dawn the next day, giving them time to pack and prepare.

Clarisse is happy. She mostly stayed back to make certain no-one tried to force Priss into the Labyrinth. She genuinely does want Grover to find Pan, but it’s not remotely her focus. Plus, this way, Rachel becomes someone else’s problem for a while.

If she returns from the quest and still wants to stay at camp, she should have more than enough exposure to their nutty world. She’ll be able to make her choice and for once it won’t be up to Clarisse and Prissy to guide her to the right path. Even better.

Now, she and Prissy just need to keep Sophie distracted until the quest leaves. With the Hunters guarding the entrance to the Labyrinth, Sophie has zero chance of actually sneaking out.

But she can still upset Grover and he’s already going to be overthinking everything. Best to keep Sophie away from him.

Prissy clearly has the same idea. He grins at her, “How many architecture facts do you think we can get totally wrong?”

Clarisse perks up, this could be fun.

Chapter Text

Nico is seriously rethinking his stance on murdering Blondie. How important can her fate be, after all?

After her meltdown over the red brick walls, and her decision to keep her hand on the left wall, they ended up in some weird round room where there is no left wall.

Like, within ten feet of that announcement, they were in this room. Blondie went round in literal circles for a bit, completely unable to even work out which tunnel they came out of.

Like, Nico knew. Minos has been following them this entire time and Nico can see him standing at the correct tunnel. But Nico isn’t gonna tell her shit. Like, eventually, he needs to give her a nudge in the right direction, but this is day one of the Labyrinth fun. He figures she needs at least a week of wandering before he starts playing nice.

Percy says she has a fate and Nico can’t kill her, he didn’t say anything about not torturing her.

She finally picks a tunnel. When Ethan asks her why, she answers confidently, “Deductive reasoning.” And suddenly she can’t hear him when Ethan accuses her of just guessing.

The tunnel rapidly narrows, soon they are literally army crawling along the tight confined space. Some sort of argument breaks out between Blondie and Scarface. Something about how long they’ve actually been in the Labyrinth and how concrete tunnels are too modern.

Nico would really like to know who the hell told Blondie the centre of the Labyrinth would have the oldest architecture. Especially since she clearly knows the inventor’s workshop is also at the centre.

Isn’t it like, common sense that inventors constantly invent? Why would he use the old bit?

They come out into a distinctly Roman atrium. Though, who knows where the light is coming from. While Blondie argues with herself again, Nico pokes around the old mosaic tiles. Huh, interesting. The room is definitely Roman but these are all Greek gods.

Nico isn’t meant to know about the whole pantheon thing. He’s fairly sure Percy knows. Father told Nico that if Zeus ever pulls something truly stupid and Father can’t get to Nico in time, Nico is to, “remind my little brother of Jupiter and Jason.”

Based on things Thalia has said and the way Percy goes all soft and gentle with her whenever anyone discusses siblings, Nico can come to his own conclusions on that.

Which makes the Roman atrium with Greek gods really weird. That’s definitely Zeus, not Jupiter. And he’s standing beside Poseidon.

If this was Roman, Neptune would not be at the right hand of the King of the Gods. The Romans weren’t so fond of their sea god. Well, freshwater god. They kinda totally shrunk Poseidon’s domain when they turned him into Neptune.

Blondie is super excited about the atrium, she’s talking about how it’s at least two thousand years old. Ethan points out that they are in America and there isn’t any Roman architecture in America?

Nico is surrounded by idiots.

Blondie talks about the Labyrinth being alive and Minos helpfully adds some appropriately ghostly noises that the others definitely hear. Huh. Guess Nico isn’t the only one losing patience with all this.

Blondie decides that the tunnel Minos is standing in is definitely the right choice.

Because the noise came from that direction and, “The architecture is getting older. That’s a good sign. Daedalus’s workshop would be in the oldest part.”

Which means, naturally, they walk straight into a concrete tunnel with modern spray painted graffiti.

Scarface is the one who points out this isn’t Roman. Blondie ignores him and keeps ‘leading them’ through new tunnels.

Nico follows dutifully and amuses himself debating on what he’d spray paint if he had the right art supplies. He’s thinking Blackbeard’s Old Roger flag. For War Drum, naturally. At least to start with.

Maybe a zebra for Percy too.

From there, they walk through an actual basement. A hand dug tunnel with some mortal guy still in it, frantically digging and completely ignoring them. The wine cellar of a very rich dude based on the smell of it. The whole place just reeked of too much money.

They move very quickly through one tunnel section that was all concrete walls, with solid coloured lines running along the ground and US military signage on the walls. It definitely was inhabited by actual mortals.

Not long after they walk into an actual natural cave formation with massive stalagmites and stalactites.

Nico likes this one, he ‘helpfully’ tells Blondie and Scarface all about how they are called stalagmites because they ‘might’ reach the ceiling and stalactites because they need to ‘hold on tight!’ He makes sure to add an extra bounce to his step and makes his voice even chirpier.

It’s fun leaning into the twelve year old thing. Their faces are just perfect. Blondie even clenches her hands into fists!

It’s less fun after like, twenty different types of tunnels they find a skeleton. It’s too small to be even a teenager and definitely looks like the kid must’ve fallen into the Labyrinth. They’d still have had to be a demigod, the entrances stay sealed unless a demigod presses the delta.

Ethan looks disturbed but all Blondie says is, “Some people wander in by mistake. Some come exploring on purpose and never make it back. A long time ago, the Cretans even sent people in here as human sacrifices.”

Why does she sound so enthusiastic about that? That is not a happy thing. That is a very sad, very traumatic thing?

She turns away from the tiny skeleton calls back to them, “We have to get deeper into the maze. There has to be a way to the centre.”

Nico hangs back as the others hurry after her, none of them seem even remotely bothered by leaving the dead child just lying there. It does not sit well with him. Nico quietly speaks a quick prayer to Father and pulls a drachma from his pocket, tucking it into the child’s mouth.

The skeleton dissolves to dust as soon as he presses the jaw bone closed. Even if the child’s soul is still waiting for passage from Charon, the coin and a prayer from a son of Hades will carry them to their rest. It’s the best Nico can do.

He races to catch up with the others who have yet to realise he’s not with them. Minos will guide him back to them even if he does drop too far behind, but best not to let on to that skill just yet.

Nico is a little too amused when they walk through a shiny modern stainless steel tunnel, like an air conditioning vent, and straight back into the weird not-Roman atrium.

He’s even more entertained when he sees who’s waiting for Blondie.

Huh, is he acting of his own volition or did Father send him?

Not that Father could actually order him to do anything. Give him a suggestion. Maybe.

There’s three of them, triplets, though only one is in the room with them. Very few people know Moros. His brother Thanatos is far more popular. And somehow Ker has become Keres. To the point there’s literally more than one of them these days. Still, they started out as triplets of Erebus and Nyx.

Thanatos has the whole angel of death vibe going on with big black feathery wings and warm golden eyes. Ker is much more bat-like and is all about the poison and infection.

Moros on the other hand… He looks like a super kind old man. All gentle expressions and liquid blue eyes. When Percy saw that Mythomagic card he said Moros looks just like the old guy from Jurassic Park, the one who owns everything?

Nico can totally see it. The white hair and the kind smile. He’s wearing a tuxedo type suit, with a white shirt and a thin black tie thing.

He’s completely focused on Chase and Castellan. Nico is not surprised.

Blondie is confused, “Uh, who are you?”

The guy smiles at her even wider, “Oh, don’t you know, my dear?”

She stares at him, “No? Should I?”

Moros's face turns a little sorrowful, “Many have told you of me. It appears you still have not heeded this lesson.”

Blondie scans him, “You’re clearly a god, but most gods carry a symbol of power. I can’t see anything.”

What? Nico actually physically turns to gape at the back of her head. Since when do gods carry symbols of power wherever they go?

Wait. Does that mean she has no idea how often Apollo and Triton are at camp, even when she still lived there? Was she seriously on the lookout for a sun chariot or a conch horn that whole time?

Mr D doesn’t exactly carry a thyrsus around?

Moros's answer is straightforward, “I am far too well known to need such things. I have no symbol of power. My image is rarely recorded.”

Yep. Ancient Greeks preferred to ignore Moros until they had no choice. He exists in his absence rather than direct references. If Percy is Blondie’s ‘best friend’ how does she not know who this is?

Blondie stutters something incoherent, still looking confused.

Moros's face stays calm as he gestures towards the door behind him, the one standing just a little ajar with warm welcoming light visible through the crack. “Do you wish to know how you die? I can show you if you would like.”

Welp. That broke her. Blondie is gaping like a fish.

Moros's face softens ever so slightly, “I know what you wrestle with every day. I know your indecision. You will have to make your choice sooner or later. And the choice may kill you.”

Chase tries to ask what is through the door.

Moros's answer is gentle, “You will only know if you walk through that door. You’re in charge now, my dear. All the decisions are on your shoulders. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? It does come at a cost, I’m afraid.”

Yeah, Father definitely asked a favour. Blondie’s got a fate. There is no choice she can make that will change that. Nico totally approves of screwing with her.

Sadly, he just knows she’ll immediately decide to forget this whole thing rather than dwelling on what it means.

Blondie hesitates and she’s staring at the door with definite longing. Nico is rather enjoying the show.

Unfortunately, light flares and Moros disappears as someone new shows up. The door disappears with him.

Okay. Less fun. Still entertaining though.

New girl is less a girl and more a lady. Tall and elegant, dressed in a simple chiton that shimmers in greens and blues. She has an actual crown on her head with a veil draped over the top of it all, covering most of her long hair. Huge liquid brown eyes, all soft and gentle, but her face is on the stern-side of calm.

The epitome of an Ancient Greek wife.

Nico eyes Blondie, if she misnames this one they are all going to suffer for it. Should he intervene?

Nah.

Nico watches with a lot of glee as Blondie gulps, scans the woman and gulps again.

“Queen Hera.” Yay! Blondie got it right!

Castellan looks like he just swallowed a lemon whole, even Ethan is edging backwards. Nico stays exactly where he is.

Hera showed up the same day Nico left to ‘join’ Kronos's army. She was very upset with him. She genuinely thought he’d run away from his family and was utterly furious that he would abandon Lee, Percy and War Drum like that. Nico is very very glad it all got straightened out so quickly. Otherwise, Hera definitely would have killed him on the spot.

She’s an incredibly temperamental goddess and is as vicious as her husband is greedy. Her focus is the family unit. None of them are entirely sure why she’s decided their makeshift little family fits her ideal, but it gives all of them a significant amount of protection from Zeus.

At least it does so long as they keep within her expectations.

When she’d shown up, it’d taken some very fast talking on Lee’s part. Afterwards, Father had seem kind of puzzled by it all and said he needed to talk to Uncle. Nico still doesn’t know what that was about.

What he does know, is that if Nico actually ran away, he’d probably be in for Hera’s extra special Heracles treatment. But once she understood he was doing the double agent thing, she’s completely left him alone. If anything, it’s made her even more fond of him.

Best he can tell, she doesn’t actually always blame the kids for their parents adultery. But they can easily become targets if they say the wrong things.

It helps that even if Persephone wasn’t involved with Nico’s mother, she was still fully aware of the situation and consented to it from the outset. Hera loathes adultery with every fibre of her being, but Father’s ‘ethical non-monogamy’ is completely fine in her books. Hera’s all about the healthy relationships these days.

Once Uncle explained that Amphitrite had also known about Percy from the start, both Nico and Percy were completely excluded from Hera’s whole rage thing. She definitely didn’t bother telling Zeus that Amphy knew either.

Apollo isn’t married or in a committed relationship. She may hate Apollo’s mother and be kinda temperamental with Apollo himself, but Hera’s fine with his demigod kids and she adores that Lee adopted outside his own siblings. Ares is a bit hit and miss, but Hera has decided War Drum’s specific situation is also acceptable.

No comment on any of ‘Dite or Hephaestus's kids though. She’s also not big on Athena’s kids. Nico’s really not clear on why. She supported Zeus in the Pallas thing, but given that Triton has a matching parenthood domain to Hera… ‘Complex’ is like, Hera’s favourite word.

Hera waves a hand and magics a whole table full of food, plus furniture, into existence. She even fixes up the room so it looks all nice again and the fountain in the centre starts running. It makes the whole Greek gods and Roman architecture thing even weirder.

Blondie asks who that man was and Hera raises a single unimpressed perfectly plucked eyebrow at her, “That was Moros. You did not recognise him?”

Blondie frowns, “Wait, he’s real? He doesn’t have any mythology associated with him!”

Hera speaks as elegantly as she moves, “Why would he? How many stories are there about the air we breathe? Or why you possess blood?”

Nico reaches his limit and says very exasperatedly, “He’s the personification of doom and fate. Every mortal meets their doom eventually. All lives end?”

Literally. Even gods. Like, from a mortal perspective, the gods are eternal but they do fade. The age of the primordials gave way to the age of the titans which gave way to the age of the gods. Everything ends eventually. The only exceptions are the architects, like the Fates. And Moros.

Hera ignores Blondie’s spluttering and fixates on Nico.

Nico doesn’t think Hera’s ever looked at him so coldly before not even when she thought he’d run away. But while Blondie and Scarface are distracted, she sends him a quick wink.

Percy’s right. The Olympians are all absolute drama queens.

Hera speaks extremely stiffly and coldly, “Another of my brother’s by blows. Why waste your time here, child of death? You do not belong among the living, especially these companions of yours.”

Another wink. Because. Of course.

She’s as bad as Father!

So. Naturally. Nico makes his voice turn all small and hurt, “I know, Queen Hera. It’s why my father isn’t accepted on Olympus. Why my sister left the camp. They are not welcome anymore than I am. Not at that camp.”

Nico internally cringes as he sees the others’ essence react. It makes Blondie and Scarface far too happy to hear. Percy and War Drum would trap him in a room for like, days of forced bonding time if they heard Nico say any of that. Even as a joke.

Lee would just start crying while trying not to let Nico see his tears. Especially after months of that stupid school harassing him about how he’s ‘failed’ War Drum and Percy. Even Father was making plans to destroy the school last time Nico saw him.

Yeah. Nico will definitely be apologising when he sees them next.

Blondie refocuses on Hera, “Queen Hera. I can’t believe it. What are you doing in the Labyrinth?”

Nico smirks as Hera does her clean clothes trick on all of them. That lady really does not like dirt. Hera assures Blondie she came to see her specifically.

None of them seem to remember that they are well known lieutenants of Kronos who have pretty publicly declared their intention of bringing down Olympus.

Though, even if this was a quest led by one of the claimed Athena kids from the camp, Hera has no actual valid reason for visiting.

Nico focuses on eating actual decent food. Hera’s even provided his favourite iced coffee. Caffeine!

Even with how often he sneaks off into the city and the whole avoiding the supplied food entirely, he’s so over what counts as rations in Kronos's army. They have like, zero funds.

Monsters might eat gods only knows what, but the demigods in the army need actual food.

The others are still completely engaged in their conversation with Hera and haven’t so much as looked at the food.

Blondie and Hera talk about Heracles and whether or not Hera actually hates heroes. Hera cheerfully tells her that she’d been in a bad mood recently because of Zeus cheating on her yet again. Apparently they’ve had ‘some excellent marriage counselling since then.’

Okay. It was very hard to keep a straight face on that one.

Said ‘marriage counselling’ was Lee telling Hera that she should borrow Poseidon’s trident and castrate Zeus herself. Lee also, very politely, asked her to do Hermes while she was at it. Hera promised that if she went after Zeus she absolutely would include ‘his bastard son’ too.

Nico keeps his grin on the inside when Blondie sticks her foot in it and directly references Zeus “siring Thalia”. That would not remotely be the most recent bit of adultery from Zeus. But Nico absolutely is not meant to know about Jason. The whole room turns ice cold with Hera’s anger.

Blondie ‘wisely’ moves the conversation onto Moros, and Scarface demands to know why he was here. Hera makes a vague comment about the minor gods being angry at her husband.

Moros is not a minor god by any definition. Or a major one. The closest equivalent is the Fates themselves. He has no need for worship or attention, he simply is.

Nico has no idea why he felt the need to visit Blondie. Other than as a favour to Father.

Now, if Menoetius had somehow returned from the ether, Nico might understand him visiting. After last winter, Nico had harassed Father until he told him more about the faded titan.

Father says Menoetius did have an actual name once. But the gods had given him the same punishment that Percy is currently giving the moronic loser. They ensured his name would be forgotten.

Menoetius is just a compound of two words, ‘menos’ and ‘oitos’. It literally means ‘doomed might’. Scarface is the living personification of that. Nico so approves of that Mythomagic card.

Unfortunately, it also means Father didn’t feel like telling any actual stories. It’s frustrating, Percy knows so much about the gods, but the titans were just too long ago.

Hera leads the conversation back to her own domain of marriage and the importance of perseverance.

It’s interesting. Hera is very much a living embodiment of the concept of a particularly ruthless form of perseverance. Percy says most of her stories haven’t survived in the mortal world. That these days she’s just seen as a jealous vindictive wife.

People have forgotten that Hera was beloved because she was proof that everyone can fight, even if they are physically weak. Hera uses nothing but her words, she is constantly pushed aside and mistreated, and she gets back up every time.

She is absolutely, hands down, one of the most terrifying gods of the Greek pantheon. And here she is, talking all sweetly about rising above petty squabbling and keeping faith in what you believe.

Ah. This is at least partially about causing dissent. Only Castellan is sworn to Kronos. Ethan and Blondie aren’t. If they take a story back to the army camp about Hera offering amnesty, some demigods might turn away from the cause.

Hera’s good at the doublespeak thing. She tells Blondie to keep her goals in mind. Blondie immediately asks what Hera’s goals are.

To stop Kronos rising? Just maybe? At this point, Nico is thinking pride is an incredible super power. Ethan’s looking terrified, but Blondie and Scarface still seem to think Hera wants to help them. Or maybe that she doesn’t know about Kronos?

Then again, Nico has definitely felt Hermes essence at the mountain more than once. Do they think they can turn Olympians to Kronos?

Hera’s answer is all gentle elegant tones, “To maintain the family unit. At the moment, the best way I can do that is by helping demigods. Zeus does not allow me to interfere much, I am afraid. But once every century or so, for a family I care deeply about, he allows me to grant a wish.”

Blondie and Castellan hear that Hera sees them as a family and wants to preserve it.

The message is for Nico. A reminder that his family is waiting for him and Hera is keeping an eye on all of them. That wish she’s talking about is that Zeus won’t stop her interfering with her new favourite family if she decides they need her help.

Blondie instantly asks about the wish. Hera rambles on about Hephaestus and how much he admires Daedalus.

If that’s true, Nico is super questioning the god’s common sense. Sure, creepy inventions of mass destruction are fun and all, but also, aren’t there multiple gods are out for the guys throat?

Blondie cuts the Queen of Heaven off, “But how do we get there? That’s my wish. I want a way to navigate the Labyrinth.”

Hera gives her a filthy look, “So be it. You wish for something, however, that you have already been given.”

Blondie gives her a confused look, “I don’t understand.”

Hera raises an unimpressed eyebrow, “The means is already within your grasp. Nico knows the answer.”

Awesome, guess Nico’s raising the dead? Yay.

Though. He also knows that a clear sighted mortal can navigate the maze. And he knows the locations of three separate clear sighted mortals. And can probably find a fourth easily enough. One’s even nearby. At least, when they visited him last winter, Frederick Chase was in San Francisco.

For him to have flown a plane to Mount Tamalpais and fired on the monster army, he had to have been clear sighted. But no chance Nico’s gonna tell them that.

Blondie argues back and Hera just tells her there’s a difference between getting an answer and understanding it. Even throws in a bit of snark about Athena and wisdom being different from knowing facts.

Hera turns to leave, but, being an absolutely dramatic bitch, she adds over her shoulder, “Know this, daughter of Athena, Moros comes for us all. Ignore him at your peril.”

Both Hera and the food disappear in a flash of white light. Nico is the only one who actually got to eat lunch. She totally did that on purpose.

________________________

Percy, Clarisse, Pollux, Lee and Chiron meet the newly named questers before dawn to send them on their way.

Sophie glares at them from Cabin Six as they head towards the woods, but she doesn’t try to follow. He feels a bit bad about how they kept deliberately provoking her yesterday, but G-man’s stressed enough about this, he doesn’t need to argue with her too.

Percy barely manages a greeting before Juniper disappears back into her bush when she sees the others with him.

Technically, they aren’t the only ones here. Some of Thalia’s Hunters are posted up in the trees keeping a twenty-four seven watch on the Labyrinth entrance.

For now, it’s been decided an invisible watch was a better choice. Keeping guards right at the entrance leaves them open to a blitz attack. The Hunters can sound an alarm and fire a whole volley of arrows before an intruder will be able to locate them.

It’s not great, but with Nico still with Chase and Castellan they should get a decent warning before his army makes a move. Only Thalia and Nathan know they have a spy, the others have just been told their leaders have been briefed and they’re not currently at risk of a large scale invasion.

Lee’s produced three hiking packs from who knows where and is walking Grover, Rachel and Castor through their contents. He watches with sharp eyes as they fully unpack their new bags and then systematically pack each item away again.

Lee does to this to everyone, so no-one is too annoyed at him. Nico gets frustrated by it, but he comes and goes so much that Lee is fine with the kid just handing over his pack to Clarisse or Lee to check through.

Gods may not be allowed to interfere with quests, but Lee isn’t a god. If he wants to oversupply the questers, no-one can actually stop him.

Lee is full of nightmare stories about quests from when he was a teenager, and will tell them at length to anyone who tries to say the old days were better.

Lee isn’t wrong either, the fact that questers regularly returned maimed or didn’t return at all is super freaky. The campers are all kids. Sending them off without so much as a first aid kit is just… Yeah. No.

Apparently, even when Deadbeat paid attention to his kids, he would give them quests that were exact copies of the moronic loser’s ‘labours’. Breaking into the underworld wasn’t too bad because Uncle just refused them entry. They didn’t succeed but they also didn’t die.

But Deadbeat also sent off two separate quests to fetch a golden apple.

Oh. Wait. Percy just realised. That fucking apple was intended for May Castellan wasn’t it?

It’s also how Ethan lost an eye and how that massive scar on Luke Castellan’s face happened, after they’d left camp. So that makes at least three attempts to retrieve a golden apple. Yeah. Percy is never mentioning this to Lee. Two kids died on that last quest to the Garden of the Hesperides.

The only reason Lee didn’t freak out during the winter quest is because he didn’t realise until too late where they were headed.

Even Chiron is now convinced that Lee’s way is better. Chiron’s been incredibly thoughtful since Quintus left and Percy could swear his aura has lightened a touch. Please let this stick!

It’s kinda fun to watch all this from the other side. Both Clarisse and Percy are staying very firmly at camp. At least for this particular quest.

Percy sidles up beside Rachel as she finishes repacking her bag, “I take it someone’s explained the whole thing where I see stuff, right?”

She rolls her eyes at him, “Yes, that has been covered. Though I’m very pissed you didn’t tell me I’d arrive at camp only to be sent off again?”

Percy pulls a face, “I’m all for a good trial by fire. Honestly wasn’t expecting it all to happen so rapidly, Fifth totally mucked up the timelines. I was hoping he’d bail earlier rather than sticking it out to the last minute.”

Clarisse snorts, “That’s ‘cause the guy’s an idiot. Immortality screws with you, so much.”

Chiron twitches, but doesn’t say anything.

Rachel eyes him. She speaks very quietly to them, being careful not to be overheard, “Uh, Percy? I know not all the myths are true, but there’s a pretty famous one about Chiron?”

Yeah, he and Clarisse totally failed at being subtle. It’s becoming painfully obvious that Rachel has spent the past five months brushing up on Greek myths trying to work out exactly what Percy and Clarisse were.

Percy grins at her, “Don’t worry. He’s Chiron, but not that Chiron. This one started life as a nice normal centaur, Sky King made him immortal. He’s not the son of the Crooked One, that one gave his immortality up for a thing. I can tell you the whole sitch when you get back?”

Rachel still looks uncertain, “One of the others, uh, Georgie? She said something about how the guy is rising like, a piece at a time?”

Percy nods but doesn’t say anything. Rachel keeps going, “You sure this Luke and Annabeth are just after a way to navigate? If Daedalus is as good an inventor as they say, can’t he like, fix the Titan dude? Or make a robot or whatever?”

Percy gives an uncomfortable shrug, “What will be, will be, Red. Not your problem. You need to help G-man find the Wild God.”

He moves on quickly before she can argue, “Anyway, the seeing stuff thing. I can’t really see much in the Labyrinth, too many overlapping auras. But it’s easier if I have something to track. I know you aren’t trained, but, please take this?”

He holds Anaklusmos out to her, still in pen form.

She narrows her eyes at it, “Isn’t that Zoe Nightshade’s sword?”

Clearly, someone in Nightshade cabin told her the story at some point yesterday. Rachel’s super nosey, Percy totally approves.

“Yes, this is Anaklusmos, Riptide. It’s only a loan. You will be bringing it back and returning it to me. But I know it’s aura and I can track it anywhere.”

He’s had the sword long enough to know it’s possible to give it to someone and have it return to them instead of him. It’s always temporary, the sword is bound to Percy by Zoe and as long as he’s alive it will always eventually return to him. Still. If he gives it willingly, Rachel should have it for a good few months before it vanishes on her.

Rachel is still scanning his face with sharp eyes, but she does take the sword and tuck it away in her pocket.

Clarisse has decided to usurp Percy’s usual role as chaos causer and is attempting to convince Lee that the glowy rock things he just gave the questers are actually the light of Earandil, from the Lord of the Rings.

Clarisse insists that, as Lee is totally an elf, he must have given the questers an elven gift.

Lee found the things years ago in the Big House, some previous child of Apollo leaned hard into his light domain and could make crystals that work like torches, just minus the need for batteries.

Rachel helpfully finishes the quote for Clarisse. The fact his War Drum even remembered the name of the glowy thing in the movie is impressive.

Lee’s face is priceless when Rachel goes all seriously, “I give you the light of Earandil, our most beloved star. May it be a light for you in dark places when all other lights go out.”

Percy is so glad Grover wasn’t at camp when Piper insisted they do that movie marathon. He would definitely be panicking about giant spiders right now, instead of just being super grateful for the glowy rock.

It adds a bit of fun to what’s really super not fun. This is the problem with being a prophet. When it comes to the future, Percy mostly sees bits and pieces. Fated moments are set, but the path to get to them changes with each and every decision people make.

He knew last winter would end with the loss of Zoe and Phoebe, and Thalia would become Artemis's lieutenant. There had been no guarantee that Bianca would survive, she just had a better chance than Nico did.

He knows how Grover’s quest ends, but Castor and Rachel don’t have fates. Percy knows if Rachel survives this, she will be so much closer to a fated path, but right now, it could go either way.

Castor and Pollux have been his friends since he came to camp. Percy doesn’t do best friends and he’s even more allergic to that term after everything with Blondie.

Castor and Pollux are the closest to that, he’s known them longer than anyone other than the Apollo kids. They went out of their way to make him feel welcome. And sure, Mr D probably asked them to, but they were absolutely genuine with it.

The twins aren’t like him and Clarisse. They might spend most of their time together but they are fine with being separated too. Percy still hates it. He watches Pollux give his twin a tight hug and step back.

Percy offers awkwardly, “Good luck, Strobe. I’ll be watching, promise.”

Castor grins at him, eyes sparkling, “Course you will, short stack! We’ll be fine though. I might not be at your level with a sword, but I got some fun tricks. Stop stressing!”

Fun tricks is certainly one way to describe things.

Percy turns to Rachel next, “Hot Air give you a briefing on the whole clear sight thing? Focus on your goal and you should be able to guide everyone safely through. Just, don’t get distracted?”

She laughs at him, “I’m not a demigod? No ADHD here!”

Everyone laughs at that one. It’s genuinely weird to have someone at camp who isn’t dealing with constant wandering thoughts.

Rachel volunteers in summers as a living statue for like, performance art. She stands still as a statue for hours. Percy finds the idea so totally bizarre. Demigods make much more sense.

Grover heads towards the rocks and the cave thing. Castor pokes the delta for him, none of them are sure if it’ll work for non-demigods. Iapis had way too many opinions. Too much like his mother.

Grover stares into the dark and says with a lot of false confidence, “Well, goodbye sunshine and hello the light of Earandil!”

They all watch as the three questers disappear into the tunnel and the entrance closes behind them. Now it’s just Percy, Clarisse, Lee, Chiron and Pollux standing silently in the pre-dawn light.

Percy can definitely hear Juniper crying from her bush. It’s totally not awkward at all.

Lee cheerfully claps his hands and chivvies everyone back to the main camp area. Huh. He’s very used to this part, Chiron too. Percy and Clarisse, not so much.

Pollux heads straight back to his cabin. Percy needs to remember to include him in everything as much as possible ’til Castor gets back. But neither of the twins are fond of early mornings, he’s totally going back to bed.

Clarisse follows Percy back to Cabin Three. He still has twenty minutes or so until Georgie will be looking for him.

Clarisse just gives a little huff Percy pulls the binders of Mythomagic cards out and shoves them at her.

Both Hades and Poseidon are still regularly changing the cards however they feel like. Most are sarcastic jabs that Percy and Nico don’t understand but there’s sometimes useful information as well.

When Nico left for his whole espionage thing a new card had been added for Dolos, the Spirit of Trickery. The picture looks like Nico and it’s mostly being used as a way of telling them if there’s an issue.

So far it’s just got a snarky comment of about how he “needs to eat more.” With a comment below, probably from Dad, that says, “His father is beginning to sound just like Demeter.”

Reading is a painfully slow slog for Percy. Clarisse has dyslexia too, but not to his level. She’s used to him asking her to read things for him. It’s no different to him doing her hair. They work to each other’s strengths.

Clarisse silently flicks through the binder scanning for changes.

She shakes her head, “Nah. Still the same.”

She hesitates before adding, “Did you ever get an answer on why those cards look like me, Lee and Castellan?” As she talks, she pulls the yellow, red and grey cards from the binder and shoves them at Percy.

Percy winces. He honestly can’t give her a helpful answer on the Soteria thing. He doesn’t know himself.

There’s a definite connection, but it might just be that, with the Fates making use of Percy as a mouthpiece, they’ve been sending the spirit of Soteria to Clarisse as needed.

Super weird, since Soteria is only meant to be sent to gods, but with the Fates, weird is the order of the day. And not all the stories about Soteria are right. Hecate loves claiming a Soteria aspect, but Percy has yet to find any actual evidence of it.

The grey Menoetius card is just as confusing. An old faded titan who was famous for being blinded by his rage and doing dumb things. Right up until Zeus killed him for it. Technically, he’s meant to be in Tartarus but Percy’s fairly sure he’s actually faded since then. Menoetius is just gone.

Percy’s never dreamed of Menoetius, he’s too far back and has no actual connection to the world.

The only thing that’s particularly unique about Menoetius is that he has no epithets. No nicknames. Not even any other stories.

There aren’t many known stories about Hades but that’s because the Ancient Greeks venerated him to the point they believed speaking his name would draw his ire. Whereas Menoetius… It was more like he was such an idiot they didn’t think he was worth their time.

Unlike the Dolos card, Nico’s had those cards since he was at the Lotus Hotel. The timing completely freaks both Percy and Clarisse out, so they avoid thinking about that part.

And as for the Helios card that looks like Lee…

Percy pauses staring at that one. “Had a thought recently. Fifth’s been making me dream about that whole cluster of a situation. All of the sorceress’s kids had clear sight.”

Clarisse wrinkles her nose, “Isn’t she technically a minor god?”

He nods, “Yeah, Helios and an Oceanid. Uh, Perse? Both are faded now. But they were the parents of the sorceress queen of Crete, the lady who cursed James and, much less known, but also Calypso?”

Clarisse raises an eyebrow at him naming a sorceress.

He grins at her, “She’s imprisoned on an island, can’t hear anyone. She also successfully changed her own mythology to make her a daughter of Zoe’s dad, but one of Apollo’s kids wrote a thing and now the mortals can’t decide who her parents were.”

Clarisse glances over at James who is closely listening from his tank which makes up an entire wall of Cabin Three’s sitting room.

He hasn’t changed since Percy sent Lee to buy him years ago. Still a tennis ball sized fancy tailed goldfish. All bright orange with a black patch shaped like beard and moustache and a black splotch on top of his head.

He started life as a demigod and a hundred years ago washed up in a rowboat on Circe’s island. She turned him into a pig and at some point he used the little bit of naiad ichor in his blood to turn into a fish. He’s basically immortal as long as no-one lifts the curse.

He has a lot of opinions about sorceresses. Since Percy is the only one who can hear him, he’s also the only one who has to suffer through a goldfish screaming at him. James has already perked up at the mention of Circe. It’s only a matter of time until the ranting begins.

Clarisse decides it’s still worth setting him off. “You’re saying that three sorceress siblings are responsible for clear sight?”

And there he goes. Percy winces and rubs at his ears while Clarisse laughs at him.

Making sure not to raise his voice, to be heard over the sounds only Percy can hear, he tells Clarisse, “Thanks for that, War Drum. Much appreciated. But no, not them specifically.”

James goes silent, entirely focused on Percy. He wants to know desperately. Demigod ADHD in a cursed fish is super weird.

Percy enjoys the silence while he can, but explains to Clarisse, “Think it’s Helios himself. When his children mixed with mortals and there’s enough generations between them and Helios, it seems to still get expressed as clear sight?”

She looks so confused. Yeah, Percy is too. He tries again.

“Helios had a domain of sight, but like, vision sight. Things you see with your eyes? Not prophecy sight. ‘Cause he faded thousands of years ago, any mortals descended from him are at least a hundred generations removed. Nothing godly, just a handful of family lines with clear sight.”

She doesn’t point out what that means for the four clear sighted mortals they know of.

Percy is very grateful for that. So far, no-one has noticed that he, Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan all have a clear sighted mortal parent. Despite only a handful of clear sighted mortals ever existing at any given time.

He’s still not clear on how Rachel’s connected.

“How does that relate to Lee? Is it just the sun god thing?”

Percy shakes his head, “I think it’s more? The couple of times I’ve tried to ask Dad, he just shuts me down.”

She taps Nico’s Dolos card, “Is this one the same as the other three?”

Percy grins, “Nah. That’s just an extra form of communication. Uncle finds it funny to call Shadow out on being a sneaky little shit. Nothing more to it.”

Oops. He sees the way her eyes zero in on his face. He was so focused on making sure she knew Nico wasn’t being screwed with that he gave a bit too much away.

He can’t tell her though. Too much is not for him to know and most of it isn’t the whatever that he can be told when he turns fifteen.

Clarisse flattens her mouth and goes to speak, he cuts her off. “Don’t ask that. Seriously, War Drum. I have my reasons.”

She glares at him but drops it. Dawn is just breaking now so they head out to meet Georgie. Percy knows Clarisse won’t permanently drop this one. He’s honestly surprised she’s waited so long to ask him where the cards with Percy and Chase on them are.

Dad was ‘kind’ enough to leave that set of cards in his room when they were added to the collection. Percy immediately hid them.

He prefers to just pretend they don’t exist. It’s a problem for later. Some things he’d rather just not know.

________________________

They spend gods only knows how long tramping through more random tunnels. Nico stops at every skeleton they pass and leaves them with a coin and a prayer. The others still haven’t realised why he keeps dawdling.

He nearly flat-out stabbed Castellan when the guy stomped straight down on the ribcage of one of the skeletons. A little respect? Son of Hades right behind you?

Unfortunately, he’s running out of coins. He hadn’t brought many to start with. He hadn’t thought he’d need any in the Labyrinth and only pocketed some out of habit.

The other three constantly whine about how hungry they are and they can’t believe Hera vanished the food. Chase is also unhappy that Hera offered a wish and then “refused to help them”. Lots of complaints about how she just went poof and took the food with her.

Nico is genuinely confused why the lieutenants of Kronos think that Hera, Queen of Heaven, should have been nicer to them.

They could have been on a quest from camp and she’d have acted the same. She’s like, known for being a dramatic bitch? And for being extremely jealous, vicious and not fun to be near if you aren’t one of her chosen people.

Actually, most of the Olympians are like that, just in different days. Why would Hera having a domain of marriage, women, and childbirth change that?

Oh! Nico snickers to himself. Does Blondie seriously think being all feminine means Hera has to be nice?

Like, the comments they are making seem to be around how she’s a terrible representation of motherhood and being a wife. Which is…

Nico is just endlessly lost how people keep thinking Greek gods should fit modern interpretations of things. Childbirth had like a super high fatality rate until really recently? Father and Hera practically shared that domain until medicine kinda started fixing things.

Nothing about motherhood is soft and sweet. Hera is vicious for a reason. She’s jealous and protective and unrelenting. She protects her marriage at all costs. Above all else. She’s the one who draws a line and refuses to yield, no matter what.

She has no sword, no weapon of any sort. Hera was beloved because she was proof that women were not powerless even if they could not physically fight. She uses whatever she has to protect her own, and nothing will stop her. She never gives up, never backs off.

She’s the literal physical incarnation of the most extreme form of protection you can get. The Greek god of mama bear rage. The perfect balance for Zeus’s overwhelming power. She is as powerful as her husband, but in an entirely different way.

Sure, she also presents herself as a perfect Ancient Greek wife, because she was, but the old stories are pretty accurate when it comes to describing her personality.

But it’s looking more and more like Chase and Castellan think the amount of femininity a person projects directly equates to niceness level. The world must look horrible from their perspective if they think that.

Is this because they’ve both spent so much time in the mortal world? Do they expect the divine world to be the same?

Nico’s not surprised they’re ranting about a god, he’s just surprised they aren’t blaming Hera’s behaviour on her being a god. And why they think she should have helped them at all.

This could be a quest led by Percy himself, if she didn’t happen to like him she’d do jack even for him on a quest. And her liking Percy or Nico isn’t exactly within their control. She could have just as easily hated them for breathing. Goddesses don’t need a logical reason.

Gods are gods, not people. It’s practically Percy’s motto at this point. There’s a reason Percy doesn’t think gods should be left to raise their children without a mortal parent.

Blondie and Scarface are working for Kronos to overthrow the gods and they seem to still think the gods should act like mortals. As if they were actually human. Wait. Are they going to expect the titans to act like mortals? Because, seriously. If they thought the gods weren’t human enough…

Blondie and Scarface have another ‘quiet’ argument about what it could mean that ‘Nico knows the answer’.

They both have some level of awareness that there’s a ‘rumour’ that a clear sighted mortals can navigate the maze. Given that both of them are children of clear sighted mortals and they’ve already completely negated it as a ‘rumour’, Nico’s assuming that’s not the answer Hera meant.

Nico, Percy and War Drum had an actual contingency plan set up for if Blondie showed up with Frederick Chase. He was nice and should not be dragged into this. If she’d tried, Nico was going to shadow-travel him out of there and screw the secrecy.

Never came up though.

Even discounting clear sighted mortals, both of Chase and Castellan completely fail to see what should be obvious. That Nico is a son of Hades and can raise spirits? Guess he’ll give them a few more hours and then do the hesitant self-conscious twelve year old thing.

He does have to get Minos to pitch in at one point. Nico can definitely feel Tartarus down that right tunnel and nothing else. He’s pretty sure it’s a trap of some sort. But not one of the ones Minos can sense, since he doesn’t have any fun Hades tricks, he’s just dead.

Nico sends Minos down that tunnel, to make ‘big animal noises’. Nico has no clue what he was trying to mimic but it does the job and Blondie leads them straight down the left tunnel into a dead end. Awesome.

There’s an access point right above them but it has yet to occur to Blondie to look up.

Minos obligingly provides some more super loud scraping noises, Nico runs forward and “scrambles” against the boulder blocking the tunnel. His hand totally accidentally presses the engraved delta as he does this.

The four of them rapidly climb out of the tunnel and Blondie immediately closes the entrance and crows about trapping it.

Okay. Nico’s being a bit too scathing. Technically, she has ‘trapped it’. If it actually existed.

There’s some incredibly weird noises like rocks crashing against each other. He spends a few more minutes watching them all panic about the new room they are in. The one that is definitely a locked gaol cell.

Nico spreads his senses out to see what essence is nearby. Ugh. One super sad one and one kinda toxic one. Fun.

Castellan finally seems to hear the weird grinding noises. His face clears.

He tells the others, “This is where Kampe is holding Briares.”

Okay, weird noises are speech. That’s new.

Castellan calls out and the toxic essence approaches them.

Huh. Interesting. Lady on the top bits but kinda dragony past her waist. Way more dragony than the dracaenae snake ladies. Twenty five foot long and super dark green. Also, absolutely surrounded by snakes. Like Medusa’s hair, but on her lower half. She has snake hair too. Lady has a definite theme.

And a super weird belt thing. Or jacket? It’s made of dozens of animal heads anyway, all draped over her top half. She has big wings on her shoulders that are kinda angelish, if the angel was a half lady half dragon thing. Also a scorpion tail.

What’s with all the scorpion bits in greek monsters? It looks like someone attached the manticore’s tail to her dragon butt.

Nico sneakily pulls the mobile phone from his pocket, just high enough to expose the camera and snap a quick picture. Percy asked him to keep an eye out for a particularly weird monster and Nico’s kinda thinking this is she.

Even Castellan is sweating when she gets close to them, Nico gets the impression he’s not so confident with his control of this particular monster.

Kampe speaks directly into their minds. It sort of bounces off Nico’s shielding but he still catches most of the words. From the looks of the others it’s an incredibly unpleasant experience to get the full force of it. They all look like they got a mega dose of Nico’s impending doom trick.

“And what would you be doing inside one of my prison cells?”

Castellan speaks firmly, “We came through the Labyrinth to check on your progress.”

Kampe glares but she opens the door of the cell for them.

She leads them straight to another cell, the one full of sadness. They pass a sign identifying the miserable place as Alcatraz.

Hey! Nico knows where that is. All that time wandering through the Labyrinth and they are literally just across the bay from Mount Tamalpais?

Nico trails behind, and quickly texts the image to Percy along with their location. The advantage of magical god-provided phones is that they somehow make texting possible for even incredibly dyslexic forbidden kids.

Nico’s reading and writing is only a hair better than Percy’s, being able to text each other is still a fun new thing.

Chase and Castellan don’t notice. It’s kinda entertaining how they constantly just accept his dawdling as being a distracted twelve year old. Castellan’s made it very clear he thinks Nico is super naive and he’s keeping him close because he’s at risk of being ‘easily influenced’.

Scarface sounds more exasperated than Lee when he calls for Nico to hurry up. Nico likes this game.

Inside the sad cell is a Hekatonkheir, one of the hundred handed ones. Huh. Nico had no idea any were still around.

There were three of them, Briares, Cottus and Gyes. The original cyclopes, from before cyclopes were a thing. Depending who you ask, the three original or ‘elder’ cyclopes were either their younger or older brothers.

Briares is human sized for some unknown reason. He does seem to have a hundred arms, all spiralling down from the top of his shoulders in a giant tangle. Weren’t they supposed to have fifty heads? This guy seems to have just the one?

Nico listens as Kampe does her freaky voice thing and tells them that she’s told him he will serve ‘the master’ or suffer for it. Briares (so he is one of the three!), is refusing to serve. Kampe is enjoying making him suffer. She says she is making him long for his original imprisonment in Tartarus.

Blondie is glaring at Briares. Nico sidles up to her, “What’s the problem? Why do you look so pissed?”

She frowns harder but seems to think he genuinely cares about her, “They are the forebears of the cyclopes. I hate cyclops so much. They should never have been born.”

Nico really isn’t sure how to answer that. He’s not close to Tyson like Georgie is, but the kid does come to summer camp. He seems fine?

When he asks why Blondie hates cyclopes and she tells him about Thalia and Polyphemus he feels like face palming. He’d forgotten. Now she’s gonna rant. Awesome.

Technically, Uncle was responsible for the ones chasing Thalia. And Blondie got herself caught by Polyphemus. So.

He’s very glad he’s looking away from her when a whole new voice sounds in his head.

“Go back to your initial access point. I can command the others, but not you.”

Okie dokie. Unexpected, but Nico can roll with it. The other three have gone all stiff and robotic and are lock-stepping their way back to the gaol cell they arrived through.

Nico probably can be mind-controlled too, but he can understand the guy not wanting Father to come after him.

Kampe just stands there staring at them walking away, looking totally mystified. Nico hears the grinding rock noises start up as she says something and then starts following them. She’s still way behind them when they reach the cell.

They just make it back inside when this horrific shrieking starts up. Wait, is that Kampe?

Nico turns to watch as vines explode into existence throughout the building and Kampe stumbles straight into the middle of them, shrieking like boulders crashing in a landslide. From the looks of her, she’s super susceptible to Mr D’s madness shtick.

He kinda wishes he had popcorn to snack on while he watches the absolute carnage Mr D wreaks on Kampe. The hell did she do to him?

Whatever it is, the guy is taking it super personally. She doesn’t even manage to fully draw her giant bronze scimitars before he’s got her restrained on the floor.

When it’s over, all that’s left of Kampe are the shattered pieces of her weird poisonous feeling scimitar things. Castellan, Chase and Ethan are all lined up like robots at the back of the cell, staring blankly forward.

Nico carefully leans out the door and calls, “Hey, safe for me to come out?”

Mr D comes strolling towards him. The guy looks actually chipper for once, “All is well now. Though, I may need your assistance in coaxing Briares to leave his cell. He is not handling events well.”

Nico raises his eyebrows at him, “Do I get to know why you’re here?”

Mr D smirks, “The brat told me last winter that I would be needed for two things. He insisted I respond if I am at all able to. I had not realised one of the tasks would be destroying Kampe again. I quite enjoyed that.”

Nico pauses, “Again?”

There is a kinda terrifying purple glint in Mr D’s eyes, “Yes. Father naturally claims the victory as he struck her with a lightning bolt just after I rendered her mad, but not even his Master Bolt could kill her on its own. She is quite formidable.”

Oh! “She speaks mind to mind, means she’s super open to your stuff?”

Mr D smiles very smugly, “Precisely. The brat also warned me if I didn’t assist when he asked, it would put my sons at risk. Castor has been training his own abilities and theoretically can do the same trick. But I would not ask that of him, not when I can directly kill her without Father fussing.”

Cool.

Nico’s voice is dubious as they walk back to Briares's cell, “I have no idea how I’m going to help with a hundred handed one?”

Mr D gives a loose gesture, “I need him to approach the water. I’ve already spoken to Uncle, he will send a cyclops to escort him to Atlantis. Right now, he won’t leave the cell.”

Hundred handed ones apparently really like games. Percy told Nico a story ages ago… Huh. Nico’s pretty sure not even Percy has any clear idea which stories he tells just for fun and which are little bits of useful information for future situations. Super helpful though.

Mr D doesn’t move but the cell door unlocks and swings open for them.

Before Nico goes into Briares's cell he asks Mr D, “What about the other three, how am I going to explain Kampe to them?”

Mr D is super casual, “You aren’t. As far as they remember, they were trapped at a dead end in the Labyrinth. When I release them they will not remember having left it.”

That works. Gods are very useful to have around.

Nico crouches in front of the still sobbing Briares, “Hey dude, you’re free. The wicked witch is dead. Think you’d be willing to come out now?”

Briares sobs, “She’ll punish me! I cannot leave.”

Nico pulls a sympathetic face, “Yeah. That lady was an utter bitch. But she’s gone. Back to Tartarus. She can’t hurt you anymore.”

Briares shakes his head as he cries into dozens of hands at once, “I cannot leave. I cannot fight. The war, it was terrible. Lightning shook the world and we threw so many rocks. So many died. I killed so many! The titans almost won. Kampe says they are rising again. That they will win this time. They want me to kill people! I cannot! I cannot fight! I won’t! I won’t!”

His voice cracks and he dissolves into wracking sobs. He curls into a ball and rocks back and forth, dozens of arms wrapping around himself.

Nico watches him quietly for a moment before he stands up and turns back to Mr D. He keeps his voice quiet, “You lot got plans for him?”

Nico’s not going to help if they are going to break the Hekatonkheir. Even immortals deserve peace and a final rest. Briares will be better off here than being manipulated by the gods.

It’s one of the things Nico’s learned from Lee and Father. And from Zoe Nightshade. It’s okay to say stop, I’ve had enough, no more. Choosing to fight of your own free will is the difference between dying a true hero like Zoe and dying a monster like Heracles.

Pushing past that point of ‘too much, I can’t go on’, is what turns good people into monsters.

What Briares is saying, it isn’t cowardice or giving up or whatever stupid thing people will claim. It’s just being honest. He’s done and no-one has the right to ask any more of him. What’s the point of fighting in the coming war if you forget what you’re fighting for?

Mr D shakes his head and speaks just as softly, “Not unless he wants to participate. We just want him out of reach of the Crooked One. He’s to be escorted to Atlantis, Uncle can send him wherever he wants to go from there.”

Good. They are as bad as Kronos if they ask Briares to fight. The guy is absolutely shattered already. The fact he’s still alive and not faded is a miracle in itself. His essence feels so incredibly broken. If they push him to fight when he’s not willing, there won’t be anything left.

Their history is too full of people who have been pushed too far and lost themselves as it is.

Nico goes back over to Briares and crouches in front of him again. He speaks softly trying to make his voice as genuine and honest as he can.

“You don’t have to fight, Briares. I promise. No more fighting. No more killing. You can have peace. We just want to send you somewhere you’ll be safe.”

Briares peeps through his fingers, “You promise? No more killing?”

Nico nods firmly. “I promise. No more killing. All you need to do is walk out of here and down to the water. Uncle Poseidon will do the rest. I’ll even teach you a new trick for rock paper scissors while we’re at it.”

Briares brightens up with excitement. Huh. He really is just like Tyson.

It takes a bit more coaxing, but Briares hesitantly leaves the cell. Nico keeps him distracted on the walk out of the building, explaining the whole thing about cheating at rock paper scissors by using a finger gun. Because, you know, a gun beats anything.

Briares is absolutely fascinated and keeps crowing about how he can’t wait to use his new trick on the cyclops waiting for him.

Mr D definitely did a thing to keep their weird little group invisible to the tourists that were like, everywhere. Nico takes a moment to just enjoy being out of the Labyrinth and breathing fresh clean air.

Briares joyfully greets the full-grown cyclops standing waist deep in the water. Must be one of the military ones.

The ones like Tyson who work in the forges wear an incredibly eclectic mix of clothing choices. The military ones that answer to Triton dress like he does, in the deep blue-green wetsuit thing with silver greek armour over the top. This one’s even got his hair braided all neatly.

Nico tilts his head, the cyclops is not acting as he expects.

Oh! That’s awesome. He watches as the cyclops gives a precise extremely deep formal bow and tells Briares he is honoured to act as an escort for one so great as he. Briares flushes to the roots of his hair and hides his face behind a few dozen hands, but the single eye Nico can see is sparkling happily. Nice.

Nico promises that he’ll see Briares again sometime and watches him leave with his new escort. Looks like he’ll fine with the cyclopes, even if the gods back out on their promise. He turns to look back at the prison and pulls a face.

“I don’t suppose you could leave that lot as permanent robots? It’s so much more peaceful.”

Mr D rolls his eyes and impatiently gestures him forwards. Yeah. Figured. As they walk back to the cell, Mr D kinda aggressively shoves a leather pouch at him muttering about how the brat says Nico needs it. It’s filled with drachmas.

Considering Percy hadn’t thought he’d be able to see anything inside the Labyrinth, Nico is very impressed. He’d hated the thought that he’d have to start leaving the bodies where they are when he runs out of coins.

He really doesn’t want to think about how they had a good run with no skeletons, then he came across one and now they are pretty much constant.

He has no idea if it’s just random coincidence or if the Labyrinth is trying to freak the others out. Yeah. Best not to think about that.

Nico reluctantly finds the delta symbol and re-opens the stupid Labyrinth. Once the other three have been kinda just dumped in by Mr D, he climbs down too. Mr D vanishes before the door even closes.

The other three return to animation and jump straight into a debate over whether the monster has passed them yet or not and how they need to backtrack. Nico just stands back and watches.

He’s so over this.

Chapter Text

The night after Grover’s quest leaves, Percy dreams.

He can feel a familiar tug already pulling at his mind, but he ignores it for now.

He reaches out for familiar auras. An orange sunset, untouched by moonlight or the pink light of dawn. One that still sings of Hesperia before she became Zoe Nightshade.

He gets only the barest glimpse of a tunnel and a glowing stone. Three auras, all healthy, whole and unharmed. Even such a brief glimpse is still a comfort, their quest is continuing as it should.

He reaches next for two seperate auras. The mischievous laughter and rapid movement indelibly embedded with the sound of twin war drums, one soft, the other loud, the taste of the ocean and the touch of sunshine.

An aurichalcum knife forged for Hermes, stolen by Edward Teach, and stolen again by Percy and Nico before they gifted it to Clarisse. A knife that was owned by the only two children of Ares to be blessed by Poseidon.

Near it, is the second aura he searches for.

Apollo’s sunshine completely engulfed by possessiveness, with the lingering touch of now/later/then of Halcyon Green’s sight. Now tinged with the brush of owl feathers, the whisper of a king’s advisor and a pencil drawing perfect straight lines.

All of those auras overlaying a far more ancient one. A celestial bronze knife carried by Annabeth Chase since she was seven. Percy’s skin absolutely crawls at the way the knife’s essence sings to the Labyrinth’s own.

Four living auras walk down a tunnel.

The twisting dancing shadows are heavy with old sorrow and anticipated grief. Percy pauses and looks closer, has something happened?

Oh. Nico.

Percy winces at how much louder Nico’s self-doubt has gotten. Uncle will recall him if it gets too bad. Otherwise, it has to wait until Nico returns to camp.

Right now, his little brother is counting dwindling coins and worrying about people who died lost in the darkness, hundreds, maybe thousands, of years ago and who are still waiting for passage into the Underworld.

And Nico accuses Percy of being too kind for his own good. Many gods owe Percy favours, he can fix this at least.

He turns his attention to the other three auras. They must be in a part of the Labyrinth that sits close to the world above, it’s rare for Percy to have such a clear view inside the Labyrinth. The gods themselves cannot see inside it, it is testament to Percy’s power that he even gets a glimpse of events inside the Labyrinth.

Luke Castellan’s aura has changed since Percy last saw him. He had already sworn to Kronos by that point. He is still a son of Hermes and he carries his father in his aura as all demigods carry their divine parent’s.

Like Lee, Castellan does not carry the principle components of his father’s aura. Lee carries spilling light and sun-warmed wood, but does not have the glow of the sun or dancing sunshine that all the other children of Apollo have.

There is no mischievous laughter or rapid movement in Luke Castellan’s aura, even though every other child of Hermes carries it. Castellan carries Hermes in the sound of a lock opening, the feel of sealing wax crumbling as a letter is opened and normally, the vibration of vocal cords.

That last is still there but it feels strangled. The lojack at work.

Castellan still has the hint of whispers and feathers that comes from Annabeth Chase, but Thalia’s touch of electricity is gone. Overpowering everything else is the burning searing heat of Kronos and his aching painful hunger. The pottery cracks but no longer shatters.

Luke Castellan’s aura has been torn since Percy last saw him. He focuses on the darkness cutting through the aura. It is not something he has seen before.

The closest comparison he has, is the first time Percy met Zoe Nightshade when Heracles's betrayal was tearing at her very soul. This is not the same, but it has the same feel of wrongness. The same feel of unnaturalness at every level.

He turns to Annabeth Chase. Her aura has been constantly changing since before that last summer she was at camp.

She’s the reason Percy has learned to consciously track changes in the auras around him. He had not even realised that he could see manipulation in an aura, not until he realised she was carrying Luke Castellan’s aura.

The soft rustle of feathers is still there but the whisper in the ear of a king has changed. It’s now less an advisor and more a commander. The aspects he knew so well when they were little are almost entirely gone. The slightest scent of books, the faintest crackle of a page being turned, the smallest scratch of the pencil.

Her aura is now all armour settling onto his shoulders, a spear point pressing against his chest right over his heart. The talons of an owl on his shoulder. A longing for power.

Like her mother, Annabeth Chase’s aura has changed dramatically and it now echoes the core components of Athena’s own aura.

She too carries the touch of Kronos, but nowhere near Castellan’s level. She carries Luke Castellan in the crumbling wax and the clicking lock, but it’s faint. Fainter than it used to be.

No matter how much Percy wants to tell himself she has been manipulated into this, her aura tells him that she chose this path. No manipulation was needed. She longs for power.

Their fourth member is not someone Percy knows well. He has seen him a handful of times but never as a friend and he’s never looked closely.

Ethan’s aura is exactly what he expected to see. A perfect balance of light and dark. Ethan is a son of Nemesis and she is a goddess who exists to ensure balance.

Neither Percy or Nico can understand why Ethan Nakamura is so closely allied with Castellan. The others who were banished from camp with them are long gone. Choosing to live in the mortal world and forget gods ever existed.

Chris Rodriguez intends to do the same once he fully recovers. Being sent into the Labyrinth alone was the final straw for him.

Lou Ellen did join up with them, but there’s been no sign of her since they saw her on the Princess Andromeda before the Sea of Monsters. A daughter of Hecate still makes far more sense than Ethan’s support does.

None of Nico’s attempts to befriend Ethan have gone anywhere. He is as silent and stand-offish as he ever was. He goes conveniently deaf whenever Nico tries to talk about Nemesis with him. It’s been months and he hasn’t even spoken to Nico about how he lost his eye.

The familiar feeling tugs even harder at Percy’s mind. He gives a mental huff, and turns away from the four people in the Labyrinth.

He’s honestly surprised they let him linger for as long as he did.

He lets them pull him to the unending room with its familiar loom. A crumpled tapestry lies discarded, a large tear across its width. A faint ripple of lost tension along its length where Pallas’s warp cord was lost and not replaced.

Near the very start of the tapestry there is another just visible ripple of lost tension. It winds like a snake, sometimes travelling along the length, other times making a sharp ninety degree turn and travelling the width.

Ophioter’s thread. The one thread that binds the entire tapestry together. Had it kept tension, Pallas would not have died. If Ophioter’s thread is lost entirely, the tapestry will be too.

Nearby, three old ladies are spinning thread, measuring thread and cutting thread. The Fates, the architects of the universe.

They ignore him. He glares at them.

“I’m getting really sick of this. I have no idea why you want me to remember this, but no matter how many times you show it to me, I’m going to make myself forget it as soon as I leave.”

Atropos, the one who cuts the thread, glares back at him, “And what happens when the time comes and you are still in denial?”

Percy throws his arms up and shouts wordlessly in frustration. “I don’t need over a year of dread and overthinking! I’m still not meant to know any of this. I can keep that barrier up when I’m awake, but all of it disappears every time you drag me here!”

They watch him and he does not like the calculation in their eyes. He adds, “And don’t you dare tell Lee instead! I do know you lot send him visions when you get sick of me avoiding things. If you show him this, I won’t do any of it. At all. You will not punish him for my actions.”

The Fates can spin, measure and cut thread, but they can’t actually force it to take the right path. Percy is able to defy them if he wants to. This is not a task they can entrust to anyone else.

Lachesis, the one who measures the thread, is a little calmer. “You must look again. Look and acknowledge the truth. After, you may tell us how much forewarning is appropriate.”

Percy kind of totally hates the Fates. They’ve been dragging him to this stupid room since he was claimed.

He stalks over to where Clotho stands, holding a small tray. Clotho, the one who spins the thread. She silently radiates with smugness over her own cleverness. She is exceptionally pleased with these five threads.

Percy huffs and stares up at the clouds that count as a ceiling for a moment. He deliberately relaxes his muscles before he takes a deep breath and looks down at the tray.

Five little skeins of thread, all glittering impossibly. Less reflecting the light and more radiating it.

Gold, sapphire, steel, ruby and silver.

One thread is distinctly shorter than the others. Percy stares at it. He lets himself acknowledge what it means. How everything will end. He lets himself feel the crashing grief and guilt and dread and horror. He is fourteen. He is not remotely capable of handling this.

The Fates told him to acknowledge the truth. So he does. He admits it to himself. He admits how it will end.

He looks up to the Fates, “One week. No more than a week before. If you keep reminding me, I won’t be able to do what you are asking.”

Three old ladies watch him with sharp impossibly ancient eyes. The three move together as they give a single sharp nod.

Three voices speak as one, “Very well. You will be warned seven days before.”

His dream dissolves and Percy forgets.

________________________

Nico is so sick of this gods forsaken Labyrinth. Why did he think he’d be fine with this?

Then again, if even he’s shaken by the number of skeletons they’ve passed, what would this place do to Percy? Yeah. He’s still the best choice for all of this. But seriously. He is so done.

They end up in a weird giant room that’s apparently made of waterfalls. It’s all pouring into a put in the centre which, oh how lovely, leads straight to Tartarus.

Did the Grey Eyed One have any children who were actually sane? Or are they all diabolical mad scientists at heart or something? Nico’s all for invention and creativity but it super doesn’t mesh well with pride.

Hephaestus’s kids at least temper their invention with self-doubt. It mostly stops them making world-ending inventions.

Blondie suggests they stop and take a break, and Nico makes a snarky comment about sleeping next to Tartarus. She looks at him, completely horrified. It gets her moving again.

Minos’s continued with their little group, quietly drawing Nico’s attention to the worst of the traps and tripwires. All it takes is various ghostly noises to redirect Blondie away from them. Minos started this back when she came up with that genius idea about keeping their hand on the left wall.

It’s working surprisingly well. They’re definitely going in circles, but they’re all alive. Blondie is intensely frustrated. Nico is also getting really freaking tired. They have yet to pass anything that looks like an access point. He does not want to sleep in the Labyrinth.

They do pass two more mortal military installations of some sort. Nico’d had no idea how obsessed mortals were with tunnelling before all this.

They reach a new room that Blondie immediately announces is older and must be a good sign.

Nico is less convinced. It’s made of marble and looks a bit like what a modern mortal thinks an Ancient Greek tomb should look like.

Right down to the bronze torch holders. The very suspicious bronze torch holders.

Nico wanders over and pokes around for a few minutes, before he flicks a switch.

Well. That ruins her fun. The electric light is a relief after hours of dimness, but she’s totally furious it isn’t an actual Ancient Greek tomb.

Blondie is ranting about how this quest isn’t logical and the Labyrinth doesn’t make sense. How has she not realised this until now?

Castellan and Chase have a weird back and forth about how this is Chase’s quest and she needs to guide it. It’s getting increasingly heated as she insists she can’t ask for help, she doesn’t need help.

Chase snarls at Castellan that having someone else guide them is cowardly.

Castellan stares at her blankly for a moment before turning to Nico and talking rapid fire, “Nico! The prophecy said you raise the dead. Hera said you could help us navigate. Maybe we need a spirit to guide us?”

Father gave Nico very clear instructions on what to do whenever Blondie reached this conclusion. Nico’ll take Castellan at this point. Took long enough as it is.

Nico bounces on his toes and declares as chirpily as he can, “Yes! I can do that! But we gotta do things right, or bad stuff happens.” He lets his voice drop and makes his face turn super worried at that last bit.

Gods are dramatic bitches and Father is one of the worst ones for theatrics. Definitely can be useful though.

Scarface is all over it. He’s talking all super calmly, “Nico. What do you mean, bad stuff?”

Did the guy always copy Lee, or did that start when Blondie joined him full time? It’s so weird.

Nico speaks hesitantly and makes sure he’s extra nervous, bouncing on his toes, eyes darting around the room, “Uh, if we make a mistake and the spirit gets free, they can kinda possess people?”

Castellan narrows his eyes, “Possess?”

Nico nods enthusiastically and bounces a bit more, but keeps his eyes flicking around, looking anywhere but Castellan, “Yeah. Like, shove your spirit out of your body and take up residence instead? You’re dead, but your body isn’t? It’s kinda super bad?”

“And how do you know this?”

Nico goes all sheepish and shrugs a shoulder, staring at his feet while he toes the ground, “Took a bit for me to work out what I can do.”

He glances up through his lashes to see their reactions. Inside, he is absolutely cackling at the twin looks of horror from Castellan and Chase.

Oh, he so loves being a creepy little gremlin.

Like, what he said could theoretically be possible. But not exactly easily. It’s why neither he nor Father are particularly worried about Minos's manipulations. No matter how much he wants to, the guy can’t actually just help himself to a body.

At best, he can make other people hear him, maybe show himself for a minute. But he’s tied to Nico, and that stops him leaving Nico when they are outside the Underworld. Minos tries anything and Nico’s just gonna dump his ass straight back to the Underworld.

Chase and Castellan push him to explain what has to happen, and Nico happily sets to work bossing the crap out of both of them.

He forces them back through a few tunnels until they ‘happen’ to find a tunnel with a dirt floor that Minos scouts out for him.

Nico tells Castellan they need a pit “at least three feet deep.”

The guy gives him such a filthy look, but he and Ethan actually start to excavate a pit using their swords. Which are totally not made for digging.

Nico can actually open up a pit/fissure thing with his powers. But no way is he wasting energy on what is essentially all window dressing.

He does agree with Father, it’s best to let them think summoning a spirit is an absolute tonne of effort and super exhausting for Nico. If they know what he can do they’ll push him to use it for them and he’ll have to bail.

Also, it’s really entertaining watching them dig a hole with nothing but their hands and celestial bronze swords.

They do finally get their weird little ultra deep hole dug and Castellan demands, “What now?”

Nico promptly shakes all three of them down for whatever they have on them. This was the one point he disagrees with Father on.

Like sure, a blood sacrifice is super theatrical and everything, but if he lets them think it’s a thing, they’ll start grabbing random innocents instead of using their own.

Gods aren’t people, they tend to forget ‘little’ problems like that.

Nico gets a canned energy drink from Chase, five protein bars between the three of them and four drachmas. Kronos totally fails at the whole feeding an army thing. Doesn’t he know an army marches on their stomachs?

Nico remembers the bear twins and decides to stop thinking about that now.

He pockets the drachmas when they aren’t looking. Much better used on the lost souls they pass.

He makes himself look super creepy, pulling at the shadows around them so they twist and dance around him, and sending out just a touch of his favourite impending doom trick. From the three drawn faces in front of him, the creepiness factor is majorly working.

Nico stands in front of the pit and pours in the energy drink while solemnly intoning in Ancient Greek, “Let the dead taste again. Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember.”

He smirks internally remembering the last time he called Minos. “Get your ass up here, you idiot,” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Nico unwraps the protein bars and tears them into pieces and throws them into the pit too. Mostly because no way will Chase or Castellan eat them now. Nico’s petty. He knows this. Percy’s the nice one, War Drum’s the blunt mother hen, Nico’s the creepy little shit.

He switches to chanting one of the many old prayers to Father. One that specifically honours Persephone as well and describes them as being in perfect balance.

Father truly doesn’t care what words Nico uses, but Hera did give Nico lunch, he can do something she’ll especially appreciate.

He pulls at the shadows some more, so the room feels like it’s sinking into the ground. Minos does a thing, so the liquid in the pit bubbles and turns frothy and looks disturbingly like actual blood.

Little wisps of light start forming around him. It’s a newer trick of his and he doesn’t have great control of it, but it totally looks like tonnes of spirits are showing up.

Father can summon balls of coloured light and stuff, he gleefully told Nico about pretending to show Blondie Thalia’s soul.

Nico draws his sword and points it dramatically at his wisps of light. He loudly declares “One at a time!”

He tugs in his mind at the specific spirit he wants to call on. Blondie’ll totally get a kick out of this.

One of the wisps of light takes form and he hears Blondie gasp behind him. The spirit approaches the pit and leans down and drinks. When he stands up again, he’s a teenager who looks way too much like Percy.

Nico rolls his eyes, what is it with spirits and reliving their youth? The guy was like, old when he died, but no, gotta show up as a teenager.

He’s in standard bronze armour with a himation and he’s even given himself a little seashell clasp for it. Because Poseidon totally didn’t disown him or anything.

Nico has opinions on Theseus. And it definitely has nothing to do with him being one of Father’s paramours. Nope. Not at all.

This totally doesn’t make him stress about leaving Father and Percy alone, like ever. Even though Nico knows Uncle Poseidon would run Father through if he so much as thought something like that.

Still. The likeness thing is creepy and he really wishes the Greek gods would look beyond their own little incestuous gene pool a little more often. Even if they don’t have DNA, it’s still gross.

Though, if he’s honest, the main reason it freaks him out is because of Blondie’s obsession with Percy. The fact that Uncle’s kids all look like him wouldn’t be so uncomfortable if Nico hadn’t seen what the Sirens showed her.

Nico shakes off the distraction and embraces the creepy gremlin vibe as he demands, ”Who are you? Speak!”

The spirit answers, still kinda confused by his abrupt summoning from Elysium, “I am Theseus.”

Oh yeah, Blondie is losing her shit. Did she just squeal?

She definitely said something about him being Percy’s brother. So much ick.

Castellan’s looking at Nico and he has this look on his face- Nope. Not going there.

Nico calls back to her, “You had questions for him?”

Blondie’s immediately next to him. Nico glances at her. Her eyes are huge. Girl is having the time of her life right now. Nico so does not get it. Whatever.

Blondie practically breathes the words, “Tell us how to navigate the Labyrinth!”

Theseus is still confused, but he answers automatically, “The Labyrinth is treacherous. There is only one thing that saw me through; the love of a mortal girl. It was the princess who guided me.”

Yeah, let’s not remind Blondie about Frederick Chase. He’s nice. No Labyrinth for him.

Also. Since when was Ariadne mortal? She’s the daughter of a son of Zeus and an immortal sorceress?

Nico huffs, “Okay, cool. How about you guide us to the nearest exit instead?”

Blondie is super annoyed, but Theseus has already turned and started walking. The others hurry to catch up. They go straight through a weird old mine shaft into another actual cave.

Nico winces as they pass another skeleton, he can’t risk stopping. Chase has already forgotten the bit about the princess and he’d like to keep it that way.

They follow Theseus straight to a section of tunnel where light is pouring through a set of metal pipes. Theseus points out the little delta symbol to open the gate thing. Perfect. Blue sky and deep golden light, must be sunset.

Nico turns to Theseus, “I thank you, you are dismissed.” Theseus bows and dissolves back into mist.

Blondie turns on him, furious that he didn’t ask whether she had more questions first.

Whatever. Nico is tired and hungry and he wants out of the stupid Labyrinth. He’d also like to forget that look on Castellan’s face. Being a creepy gremlin is one thing, Castellan being actually frightened of him is- Nope. Not thinking about that.

Castellan and Ethan apparently agree with Nico about leaving the Labyrinth and Blondie has no choice by to follow them or be left behind.

________________________

It is super weird being at camp while a quest is in progress. And also being completely aware and functional for it.

Honestly, it was almost preferable being able to watch the questers every step of the way. Being confined to his own physical body is much less fun.

Percy’s dying to check in on Nico and Grover again, but, even with both groups carrying familiar auras, finding them is currently next to impossible.

He thinks it might be the time thing. Time moves differently in the Labyrinth but not at a constant rate. Sometimes it’s faster, sometimes it’s slower. It makes now dreams kinda impossible. No wonder the gods can’t find Iapis.

When Nico pops up in Alcatraz of all places, Percy is over the moon to get a text with a picture of Kampe.

He’s been stressing about that one since winter. If they don’t contain Kampe and Briares, at least one of the twins die when camp is invaded. Maybe both.

If Castor tried to take on Kampe, she’d kill him. Or Briares would turn up to fight, either on Castellan’s orders or because he’s escaped Kampe, see Kampe attacking them and completely flip out and bury her in boulders. Along with a number of their own fighters. Including both twins.

And Lee. Percy tries not to think about that part.

Percy’s been dreaming about it for months. He knew Mr D would have done it just for Lee, but with her targeting the twins, Percy told the guy the truth. His twins don’t have a fate, the Fates don’t care about their path, but Percy would like to keep them alive.

Dionysus is the only god who has ever actually spooked Kampe. Zeus may have fried her more than once, even imprisoned her during the Titan War, but when she eventually escaped, he’d have totally failed to actually kill her if she hadn’t been trapped by Dionysus's madness thing. She’s not quite at titan levels of unkillable, but it’s pretty close.

She has an absolute vendetta against Mr D and any children he claims. It’s been like two thousand years and she only recently reformed. Hopefully it’ll be another two thousand ’til she shows up again.

Percy had known she was out of Tartarus and torturing Briares but he couldn’t find her. He sees a lot of Roman stuff but he’s still a bit too Greek to successfully watch San Francisco closely in real-time. No wonder he kept missing her.

She’s very dead now. Briares is safely tucked away under the ocean with cyclopes watching over him.

If he joins the war he’ll be formidable, but Percy completely agrees with Nico’s opinions on all of that. If Briares decides to fight, awesome. If he chooses not too, that’s okay too. He’s with his people again and has a chance to heal.

Anything is better than him killing campers by accident. Killing Lee.

With that sorted, things are quiet again. Georgie and Nathan relentlessly drill the senior campers and push them to be better, faster, more precise. Thalia’s doing the same to her Hunters and the auxiliaries have claimed their own field and set up a miniature tent city. It’s still not all of them, but it should be enough.

Nathan and Silena seem to have taken over leadership of the auxiliaries from Lee. Percy’s still not sure if Lee agreed or if they just shoved him out of the loop, but they both seem very happy bossing everyone around.

Clarisse has even talked Nathan into sparring with her.

Only once. She kinda left the poor guy moaning in the dirt and bitching about how he misses active duty in the military. He’d been some sort of terrifying black ops infiltrator. He says that at least there it’d been a fair fight.

When Piper gleefully asks if she can go next, Nathan suddenly has a very important task that needs to be done immediately.

The Hunters completely demolished the campers at Capture the Flag, yet again. Thalia stopped any of them from doing Zoe and Phoebe’s thing. He’s super grateful for that. Not all of the Hunters entirely understand why Clarisse and Percy aren’t ready for that. It still hurts too much that they aren’t there. Time for new rituals.

Thalia’s still very pleased by their complete and total victory. Lee made sure to compliment her on continuing Zoe’s seven year streak of zero maiming or killing.

Thalia’s even take over for Lee and Piper with redirecting Sophie who has yet to give up on the Labyrinth thing. She didn’t know about the Hunters the first time she tried to access the entrance. Since then, all of the Hunters have been super confrontational with all four of the claimed Athena campers.

It’s probably not the best of ideas, but Sophie is not letting it go. Clarisse told Percy what she’d seen when she took Sophie to see the Oracle, but neither really know what to do about it. Lee says he and Malcolm weren’t aware of it, so he doesn’t think it could have been a common thing.

If Chase had been bullying her siblings regularly, none of them mentioned it to anyone. She’d been prickly with Percy and Clarisse, sure, but they’d also been friends. It might’ve been a one-off?

No way of knowing and Sophie isn’t willing to share. Lee’s tried a couple of times but gotten nowhere. Part of the problem is that demigods in general are pretty confrontational with each other.

The stupid school proved how poorly other people view the way he and Clarisse interact. Clarisse regularly gets in Percy’s face, but it’s very much a sibling thing, it doesn’t upset either of them. So they’re pretty much back where they’re started with all of it.

Lee’s spending most of his time with Kayla and Will, going over contingency plans and battle plans. Piper’s taken over the day to day management of the underage campers.

She’s doing amazingly, Angry Girl is loving having a purpose. She thanked Percy for telling her not to look for Pan. She seems to think managing camp is reason enough to keep her here.

She may murder him when she finds out the actual reason.

But mostly, camp continues like it does every summer. It’s a bit more serious, with everyone more focused on training and less focused on pranks, but for the younger kids, it’s business as usual.

Percy’s joining in with the training, between Georgie’s relentless dawn training sessions and all the time he’s spending actually going to the various classes, even he’s levelling up on his skills.

They still won’t let him participate in archery. But it’s all good, he’s using that time to keep working on befriending Mrs O’Leary.

Clarisse still has to stop him going after Hestia. It’s gotten to the point the goddess disappears when she sees him approach. It’s driving him nuts.

Like, sure. Gods are gods, not people. But her entire thing is home and hearth and hospitality. Why does that not extend to any level of protection? Why won’t she engage with the children of Hermes who desperately need someone to care about them?

Clarisse seems to have developed her own radar for whenever Percy starts fixating on Hestia. She always turns up and drags him off before he tries to re-enact his fight with Ares on the goddess.

So, instead, Percy spends far too much time trying and failing to see the questers. He’s assuming Nico will be checking in soon.

When the phone rings just after he finishes training with Georgie, Percy isn’t too surprised.

“Yo, Shadow!”

Nico’s voice is tense, “So, uh, hypothetically, if someone was slaughtering Sun God’s cattle and feeding them to the Crooked One’s army, how incensed would he be?”

Percy takes that back. He is totally surprised.

He blinks a few times and shakes his head to clear it. “You just said that, didn’t you? I didn’t hallucinate?”

Nico’s answer is curt, “No. There’s a tonne more here too. All of it is awful. All these animals- Percy, they hurt.” His voice breaks on the last word.

Percy can hear the way his little brother’s own heart is twisting over this. He’s somehow picked up Percy’s habit of hyper-focusing on every animal he meets. Osmosis maybe?

“Shadow, where are you? If it’s Sun God’s cattle, me and War Drum should be able to handle it, but not while you’re there with the others.”

“We’re about to head back into the maze. Got here late yesterday and spent the night. It’s the Triple G Ranch, in Texas.”

Nico gives him the address and quickly hangs up, not wanting to be caught with the very much not normal mobile phone. It never needs to be charged for one.

Percy heads out of his cabin and marches straight for the Big House. Clarisse clearly realises something’s going on and runs to catch up.

Lee looks up from his desk kinda startled, when Percy throws the door open and charges in.

“Hot Air, get Apollo. Some moron’s decided to feed his sacred cattle to the Crooked One’s army.”

Percy can contact Apollo himself, but they’d all agreed that communications would go through Lee, outside of an actual world ending emergency. Plus, Lee handles the mental communication thing so much better than Percy does.

Apollo shows up seconds later, already burning with fury, he flashes all three of them straight to the Triple G ranch.

Right in front of them is a super weird looking guy.

He’s normal from the waist down and the neck up, but he’s got three torsos. All just chilling on a single waist. Only two arms though. The torsos are kinda merged at where the shoulders should be and then they all go down into the one set of chests.

He’s using a tonne of Mist to cover up how he can’t actually use modern clothing. Well, maybe if they had a tonne of velcro and hidden snaps like baby clothes have?

He’s clearly Geryon. Percy is completely lost on how he ended up running a cattle ranch in Texas. Like, he’s a cattle herder, but this is new?

Apollo’s never mentioned the name of who looks after his sacred cattle. Geryon is the son of Chrysaor and an Oceanid. Chrysaor is technically Percy’s brother, not that Poseidon really acknowledges that particular son.

Geryon’s the one who owned the red cattle that Heracles claimed to have stolen.

Huh. The sacred cattle weren’t even Apollo’s initially. He inherited them from Helios, they are very literally Apollo’s sacred duty.

Helios's sacred cattle are snow-white with golden horns. Percy remembers Apollo mentioning he’d branched out a bit with them and he’s got cherry red ones now too.

Guess he bought some of Geryon’s red cattle? Percy is almost fond of the tenth labour of Heracles.

The myth starts with Heracles shooting an arrow at the sun because he was so angry that it was too hot. According to that story, Helios so admired Heracles ‘courage’ that he gave him a golden cup that could, apparently, be used as boat.

Heracles entirely failed at creative writing, his stories are so completely bizarre.

After the shooting at the sun thing, Heracles attacks and kills Orthus, the two headed dog and then Eurytion the herdsman. He, somehow, ‘magically’ kills Geryon with a single arrow dipped in poison. Heracles then tries to herd the red cattle back to the King of Tiryns.

Except! According to Heracles, Hera sent a gadfly to bite the cattle and scatter them, Heracles rounded them up again, only for Hera to flood a river. The ever so clever Heracles piled stones in the river so the cattle could cross.

That’s it. The whole story.

That one time Heracles shot an arrow at the sky, killed a whole bunch of people (and a dog) in cold blood, stole some cows, totally failed at herding them and had the genius solution to use rocks to help them cross the river.

Percy loves telling that story at the campfire. He doesn’t even need to correct it, there’s always a total brawl of campers talking over each other about how insane the whole thing is.

Anyone who has ever met a cow knows one single very important home truth: Cattle are incredibly stupid.

Like, only sheep are dumber. Cattle grids are panels of metal pipes that cattle are unable to cross. Because they are incredibly stupid and have hooves. They are literally incapable of balancing on rocks of any size to cross a river. They also run away, all in a single herd, if you clap your hands and yell loudly.

It’s genuinely super impressive that Heracles managed to scatter a herd of cattle. Assuming any part of his story actually happened.

Gadflies are everywhere and rivers flood like, annually. Hera had nothing to do with all of Heracles oh so horrible challenges in his eleventh labour. She did not appreciate being blamed for the guy’s stupidity.

The story ends with the cattle being sacrificed to ‘placate’ Hera. Also known as; the King of Tiryns was so appalled at Heracles’s stupidity he genuinely thought Hera was about to destroy his city. He forced Heracles to do the humble apology thing.

Percy’s still not clear on whether the cattle that were sacrificed were Geryon’s red cattle, or just random cows Heracles bought in Tiryns.

Looking at Geryon, Percy is even more confused by the story. The Geryon in the story was carrying three shields and three spears. This dude’s only got two hands?

Two hands which are being held up in the air, while he desperately tries to placate Apollo who is utterly losing his shit.

Percy hadn’t really been listening to the conversation but it apparently boils down to; Kronos offered him more money than Apollo pays.

Geryon tells Apollo they are just cows and good eating. And the white ones taste even better than the red ones.

Now there are two suns, one in the sky and one standing in front of Geryon.

Guess conversation time is over then.

Percy and Clarisse stand well back while Apollo goes all raging sun god. They’ve seen the show enough times to know he’ll shield them from the worst of the heat, so long as they don’t move about too much.

Percy would really like to know how long Geryon’s been butchering the cows. He doubts it’s all that long. Apollo might be busy, but he checks them every Winter and Summer Solstice. Even without Nico’s phone call, the guy had two weeks, at best, before Apollo found out.

Last time someone messed with Helios's sacred cattle, he ended up having his ship struck by lightning, all his men killed, and Odysseus himself was trapped on Calypso’s island for seven years. It was meant to be eternity, but Deadbeat Dad intervened.

Percy and Clarisse watch as Apollo kinda slowly and very literally burns the flesh from Geryon’s bones. Ow?

Serves him right.

Apollo is nice enough to leave the super adorable two headed dog alone. Is that Orthus?

And another more normal looking guy is so far still alive and standing off to the side. He looks kinda super sunburned. Apollo is still screaming his fury at the new scorch mark.

Guy has some serious pent-up anger at the moment. Guess monster hunting isn’t going well?

Apollo eventually peters out. He stands there, gasping in deep breathes for a few more moments while he clenches and unclenches his fists.

Anger wins out, Apollo turns on the sunburned guy and vents his spleen all over again.

When Apollo calms down a bit, he demands, “How involved were you in this? I will know if you lie!”

The guy holds his hands up, “Until a few months back, your cattle weren’t involved. I’ll swear on whatever you want. I’m just a cowherd, the other animals were Geryon’s responsibility. Their patrons were less involved and there was nothing I could do.”

Apollo is not pleased, “And how did my sacred cattle become involved?”

The guy cringes, “The Lieutenant of the Crooked One told Geryon he would soon own the cattle and it didn’t matter if Geryon helped himself now. I’m sorry, there was nothing I could do. Punish me if you must, but please leave Orthus out of it?”

There’s nothing the guy could’ve said that would work faster to cool Apollo off. Based on Apollo’s reaction he was speaking truthfully. He genuinely just wants his dog to be spared.

Percy keeps his face blank when he sees what else Apollo has done in response to the guys honesty. Guess Percy has an awkward conversation about choosing whether or not he wants to keep his immortality in his near future.

Apollo turns back and gestures Percy and Clarisse forward.

“The Prophet of Apollo, Percy, and his High Priestess Guard, Clarisse. I can only spare them for a day or so, but they will witness the situation for any interested parties.”

Percy grins to himself when he feels the stutter in Clarisse’s aura. She still doesn’t know why Apollo changed her title. Percy’s not sharing and it’s driving her nuts now. He gets his fun where he can find it.

Another gesture from Apollo and two fully packed backpacks materialise beside him. Lee’s work, no doubt.

Percy and Clarisse are getting better at these little mini errands. They’ll poke around long enough so that they can act as witnesses if any other gods have complaints. It also ensures the cowherd guy won’t decide to step into his boss’s shoes.

Besides, Percy has his water tricks and he’s guessing they’ll be needed. This place absolutely reeks of manure. Like, sick to your stomach level smell.

Apollo turns back to Percy and Clarisse, “I can’t stay. I’m well within my rights to respond to an attack on my sacred cattle, but I can’t leave Artemis to fight alone.”

“All good, appreciate the lift here. We got transport of some sort back? Doubt we’re near the coast right now.”

Another sharp nod and a gesture, and now there’s a whole ass car just chilling beside them. Cool. Poor Clarisse, she does not love driving.

Apollo pauses for a moment longer, “I’m told you may know the location of Iapis?”

Percy shrugs a shoulder, “Got a decent idea, we’ll flush him out soon enough. Shadow’ll handle him when the time’s right.”

The expression on the sun god’s face is absolutely savage. All he says is a single clipped “Good,” before he disappears in another burst of light.

Percy grins at the poor cowherd guy. “Hey! Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

________________________

Clarisse knew from the moment she was introduced to James, that spending time with Prissy will inevitably involve dealing with whatever weird pet he’s found this time.

A demigod cursed to be a goldfish, a mortal and entirely unmagical zebra, a clingy pegasus stallion, a thirty foot tall three-headed guardian of the Underworld that randomly shows up at camp whenever he feels lonely… That’s not even counting Fluffy the hippocampi Triton gifted Priss when he was eight.

And then there’s Snuffles. Though, to be fair to Prissy, even he had thought Snuffles was just a particularly large great white shark that was some sort of pet living near the royal quarters in Atlantis.

Poseidon and Amphitrite had Snuffles well before Prissy was even born. They just never mentioned he was a freaking baby megalodon and they grow super slow.

Prissy’s the one who nicknamed the shark that. Triton is more than a little distressed that Snuffles is now refusing to use his actual name.

It’s not really dignified to charge into battle on a noble steed called Snuffles. Not that Triton has admitted that Snuffles was meant to be his, but she and Priss are kinda assuming that’s the case. They’re also very interested to see if Triton keeps him, or if he gifts him to Priss or Georgie. There may be a large bet riding on the outcome.

Anyway, weird pets are just part of life with Prissy.

But now that Apollo has left her and Prissy alone on a ranch full of miserable and mistreated weird pets? Uh. Clarisse has no clue how to handle this.

The greyhound with two heads giving them double puppy dog eyes is bad enough. She can see the look in Prissy’s eyes. No. No more multi-headed pets. Nuh uh. Has he forgotten there’s a hellhound at camp? Quintus still hasn’t retrieved Mrs O’Leary.

Prissy loves greyhounds. He’s tried to convince Lee to adopt a retired greyhound before. He goes on and on about how calm and sooky they are and how they are total couch potatoes who would love to live in Cabin Three. If he already wanted a mortal greyhound, and now there’s a two headed one right there-

The super sunburned cowherd guy breaks into her latest rabbit hole and introduces himself as Eurytion, son of Ares. Which- Huh.

“Wait, weren’t you meant to have been killed when the moronic loser stole Geryon’s cattle?”

The guy pulls a face, “Yeah. I was dumb enough to accept immortality when my father offered it to me. He bound me to Geryon. I’m stuck here. I come back no matter how often I’m killed.”

Prissy shifts a bit, Clarisse eyes him. Apollo has very strong opinions on immortality these days. He can’t do anything about Chiron, because Chiron is immortal specifically to punish Apollo for the Asclepius thing.

But he’s still the God of Healing and can interfere as he pleases everywhere else.

She turns back to Eurytion, “Yeah, I’m a war kid too. Pissed him off so much he basically handed custody over to Poseidon and Apollo.”

Eurytion takes a full step back, “Wait! You’re that one?”

Prissy smirks, “She might be? Depends what you’ve heard?”

Oh no. She can’t even blame Prissy for whatever this is, the gods gossip like old women.

Eurytion says very carefully and politely, eyes darting away from them, “They say Enyo has been reborn as a demigod.”

Clarisse double takes. The hell?

Enyo, the female spirit of war, violence and bloodshed. Not an actual goddess, more a concept or idea.

Shit. Soteria was bad enough, now she’s Enyo to? She’s never going to escape the stories is she?

Prissy is grinning maniacally, “That’s a new one! Totally gonna add it to the stories I tell about her! Thanks!”

Eurytion is still looking anxious and looks a second from outright fleeing. He keeps glancing at her and looking away.

He asks very hesitantly, “They say you wield a royal trident?”

Prissy’s face is so full of mischief. She scowls and gives into the inevitable, and draws Aniketos.

Her adamantine trident has a very obvious, deeply engraved conch shell symbol. The claiming symbol of Triton, the Prince of the Sea. It ranks her below Prissy, who is claimed by the King of the Sea, but still marks her as a member of the Atlantean royal family.

At least, it does for those who know the meaning of the conch shell.

Eurytion definitely does. He gulps again, then asks very hesitantly, “Lord Apollo said you would be here for the day?”

Clarisse puts her trident away as Prissy chirps all happily, “Yep! We’ll leave tomorrow. We just gotta have a sticky beak, and I’ll help clean some stuff up if I can. Though, uh, if you’re providing food, can you make sure it’s like, not a sacred animal? Please?”

Yeah, the Prophet of Apollo eating a god’s sacred animal… Even ignoring how traumatising Priss would find it, it would also cause a war between the gods. Let’s not.

Eurytion finally stops gaping at Clarisse and turns back to Prissy, “S’all good, Geryon might not have an issue with it all, but I did. Plenty of normal food at the house.”

He leads the way up to a kinda fancy looking farmhouse. Clarisse quickly shifts to walk beside Prissy, so close they keep bumping shoulders. He looks more and more horrified at every glimpse they have of the animals. The smell alone is awful.

But the animals… If it’s breaking Clarisse’s heart Prissy’s will have already totally shattered. He adores animals, says they are a nice break from human and godly drama.

The mix of solid red and solid white cattle up on the hill are definitely the best cared for animals here.

As they walk and stare in horror at the animals, Eurytion walks ahead of them and talks about how everyone ends up at the ranch at some point. It’s been connected to the Labyrinth, though he has no idea how.

He hesitates for a moment and then adds cautiously, “We get one guy more often, he’s not with the Crooked One, but can’t promise he won’t show up while you’re here.”

Prissy rolls his eyes and asks, “Quintus? Moron with a brand on his neck?”

Eurytion actually turns back to look at him for that one, “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Run into him before. Don’t worry about it. He’s terrified of Enyo here.”

Eurytion grumbles something about how anyone with common sense would be terrified of the teenager who killed the Nemean lion in one blow. Clarisse sees Prissy’s smirk.

He is definitely going to change the story to add the ‘in one blow’ bit. Just great.

At least it’s keeping him distracted from the sadness that is the animals? Fire breathing horses are super overcrowded into a single paddock, and there’s a whole paddock crawling with those giant scorpions that Quintus sent after them.

She can’t see them, but she can hear the non-stop sound of upset horses somewhere in the distance. She can definitely smell them.

Eurytion leaves them on the porch of the farmhouse while he goes to get paperwork on the animals at the ranch and which gods they belonged to.

Prissy tells him to treat his sunburn first. Which fair, that looks so painful. Healing fast though, immortality side effect? Or just Apollo feeling a bit of remorse for flipping out after the dog thing.

She looks at Prissy, “You going to be okay with this?”

He twists his mouth, “Yeah. I don’t love it, the animals here… They’re hurting so bad, War Drum. Shadow was nearly in tears when he told me about it.”

She glances over to make sure they’re still alone and asks quietly, “Do we need to pull him?”

Priss bites his lip, “Not yet. This place pushed him over the edge, but he’d been upset before that. Not just from the way Castellan’s death is evil thing. They kept coming across bodies of people who died in the Labyrinth and he’d been running out of coins.”

“I take it you fixed that already? I can’t imagine Blondie or Castellan were respectful.”

Prissy grins, “Yeah, made Mr D play delivery boy.” He turns more thoughtful, “Shadow’s calling him Scarface more and more, think it’s the only thing keeping him sane. We’ll pull him by August no matter what, but I’m hoping he’ll be back sooner?”

Clarisse huffs, “His dad’s driving Lee nuts over Shadow not eating.”

Prissy just smirks at her. “Priss? What’d you do?”

He smiles widely, “Didn’t do anything, Queen of Heaven on the other hand…”

Clarisse shakes her head in despair at him. She cannot work out how they ended up adopted by Hera of all the gods! Like, Prissy isn’t wrong, having Hera like them is far better than her hating them, but still.

She at least doesn’t interfere on a day to day basis. So far she’s only shown herself when she thought Nico was running away.

Lee’d had to have some very awkward talks with her and Prissy about contingency plans for what to do if their family does implode. Kids running away and teenage drama Lee can handle. Having one of his kids killed by the Queen of Heaven, not so much.

Lee’d kept trying to find ways to say it’s totally okay if they ever feel the need to run away, but they need to find a way to inform him so he can stop Hera from flipping out on them.

For a goddess of marriage and marital harmony, Hera’s interference is making their family even weirder than it was before.

When Eurytion returns with the paperwork, he and Clarisse go through it with Prissy. She might be better at the reading thing but Prissy’s the one with a clearer idea of how each god is going to react to their sacred animals being mistreated.

At least Eurytion is looking less crispy? He’s kinda shiny from the aloe vera, but definitely healing way faster than he should. Clarisse decides she no longer needs to feel bad about Apollo doing the wrathful thing.

A whole bunch of the animals aren’t claimed by any specific god. The scorpions, some weird oversized crossbred cattle, some pegasi and there’s even some horses that are apparently completely normal and mortal. Eurytion smiles a little smugly and says they’re his particular project.

The others… Oh that’s gonna suck. Among others on the very long list, there are Poseidon’s hippalectryons, which are weird half horse half rooster creatures, Helios's radiant horses, now owned by Apollo, Athena’s sacred doves, Ares's fire breathing horses, the flesh-eating Mares of Diomedes, also owned by Ares, the guard dogs of Hephaestus and Aphrodite’s sacred geese, which are, apparently, large enough to ride.

She wants to cry when she finds out Hades’s black-skinned sacred cattle are also at the ranch. Eurytion assures her that Geryon didn’t touch them. If someone butchered one of those… Yeah, the entire ranch would be flattened.

It takes a lot to genuinely anger Hades, but Poseidon’s got nothing on him when it comes to wrathful vengeance.

She frowns at another familiar name, “Eurytion, the Augean stables? How many types of cow do you have?”

He seems surprised, “Everyone always assumes they’re horses.”

She stares at him, “The guy was famous for owning the most cattle ever or something stupid. Why would they be horses?”

He gives a vague shrug, “‘Cause people are stupid?”

Clarisse thinks she might like this sibling almost as much as Nathan. It’s also kinda fun having older brothers terrified of her.

Eurytion had told them an excellent story about pranking Ares and Aphrodite, and she’d been very amused when she realised she and Priss had been the ones to fetch the shield for that one. Totally ruined Ares's fun while they were at it.

“So, the Augean stables?”

He shrugs again, “Geryon thought it was funny.” He looks horrified suddenly and hastily adds, “Don’t think he had anything to do with the original stables though.”

What? She’s missing something.

Prissy snorts sourly, “King Augeas died thousands of years ago, pretty sure Geryon only got the whole killing sacred cows idea recently.”

Clarisse eyes him. She knows he’s mentioned the story in passing but it’s one of the less funny, and more just plain sad stories. Not one he tells at the campfire.

“Priss, remind me what the moronic loser did?”

He shifts in his seat, “He was told to clean an enormous building that housed three thousand head of cattle and hadn’t been cleaned in thirty years. The cattle had some sort of blessing on them that kept them permanently healthy even in all that misery.”

Clarisse gives him a sharp look, “Priss.”

He pulls a face, “Cow manure burns super well, War Drum. He set the sheds on fire. The cattle weren’t immortal.”

Oh. That’s… Yeah. No words.

“And Augeus?”

Prissy’s voice is clipped, his face dark, “Went in and attempted to free the animals. He burned alive.”

Her voice is way to sharp, “What? And he claimed to have diverted rivers to clean it? Even though he just killed them all and the king too?”

Prissy looks uncomfortable, “Burning animals and people alive isn’t exactly considered honourable or heroic. Moronic loser needed an appropriately heroic story.”

Gods! If she could kill Heracles she totally would.

She shakes it off and turns back to Eurytion, “So, what are the Augean stables here?”

“It’s where he stables the Mares of Diomedes. Geryon did the same thing, shoved them in a paddock and didn’t clean it. Only a hundred head, but it’s- Yeah. Real bad.”

Prissy suddenly grins all mischievously, she narrows her eyes at him.

“Priss?”

He says super brightly, “I’m gonna do my own fifth labour, but do it right!”

Oh, lovely.

Prissy does have a few fun water tricks though. Not even Lee would be okay with Spot having the freedom to wander the camp if Priss didn’t clean up after her. Especially since she’s housed in a little stable thing attached to Cabin Three and not in the camp’s actual stables. She lives a bit too close to where campers sleep for her stable to ever be left dirty.

Eurytion is very confused, “Um. Aren’t you a prophet? I thought you were here as a witness, for the gods?”

Prissy grins, “Yep! But I’m a son of Poseidon too. Got all the fun stuff.”

They’d spent most of the morning going through the paperwork, but there’s still plenty of daylight left.

Eurytion drives them over to the ‘Augean stables’ in a pickup truck. Orthus grinning from two mouths in the back. He points out a horrific monstrosity called a ‘moo mobile’ that Geryon apparently liked giving tours in. Prissy immediately suggests ‘killing it with fire’. Clarisse agrees totally.

When they finally saw the source of the horrific smell and the sound of distressed horses, she was absolutely horrified. What the hell?

A big horse corral with stables running down one side of it. The doors of the stables had been removed and all the horses are just mixed in together. They are standing up to their bellies in horse shit. Like, liquid horse shit. The horses have to wade through it.

And these are the flesh eating horses. So it’s not the sort of cow manure that catches fire easily and only stinks when wet. This is carnivore excrement and it smells like it.

Priss wordlessly offers her a handkerchief. She eyes it. The hell did that come from?

He tilts his head slightly, “I took a peek before I went to get Hot Air. It’s just fabric but I did a water thing.”

She wrenches it out of his hand and shoves it against her face. Oh, thank the gods. It smells like the ocean and totally stops the stench reaching her lungs. Her eyes are still watering but at least she can breathe. Prissy’s dug out a bandana from his pocket and tied it over his own face.

Eurytion just shrugs when they look at him, “Think I lost my sense of smell a few centuries ago.”

Yeah. Fair.

She takes another look at the horses. Stallions are mixed in with mares and there are definite signs of movement from smaller creatures, too short to be seen above the muck. Are there foals in there?

Prissy winces as they get closer to the horses, all the nearby ones turning to look at him.

“Priss?”

He pulls a face, “Think they’ve all gone a bit cracked from the living conditions. They keep telling me I’d make tasty seafood.”

That’s new. Horses obsess over Priss. Spot has to be kept separate from Blackjack because the two of them very literally fight over who Prissy’s favourite is. Spot is a kinda small zebra at barely ten hands. Blackjack is a nearly twenty hand stallion. Prissy just shrugs and says Spot has no self-preservation.

Clarisse totally isn’t missing the stupid zebra. Nope. Not her. Lee says Prissy’d told Mr D to send her away ‘until it’s over’. So it’ll be at least a year until she’s back at camp.

Nope. Clarisse doesn’t miss her. Not at all. Not her.

Yeah. Maybe an off track greyhound wouldn’t be that bad an idea. No-one but Prissy knows Clarisse would visit Spot when the nightmares were too much. Piper and Nico did the same thing. It’s not safe for a mortal zebra to stay at camp right now, but they’re all missing her.

Movement near the river catches her eye. Oh. Great.

“Priss, river naiad?”

He turns to look at the incredibly angry naiad. The hell was Geryon up to?

Clarisse and Eurytion stand staring at the miserable crazy horses while Prissy goes and talks to the cranky blue haired lady.

Clarisse can’t keep quiet anymore. She demands, way too aggressively, “Eurytion, are there foals in there?”

He gives her a bleak look, “Yeah. Dunno how many. The horses eat any that die.”

Yeah. Clarisse doesn’t want to know. She should not have asked.

Prissy comes back looking irritated.

“She seems to think I actually am the moronic loser. She’s not old enough to have known the truth of it, so she just yelled at me a lot about how I can’t use the river to clean the stables.”

Clarisse stares at him, “The hell? She thought a son of Poseidon would deliberately pollute a river?”

Priss shrugs, “Most of my demigod siblings were that dumb, so..”

Okay. True. Still. She’s only ‘adopted by the sea’ and she gets twitchy around polluted water. Hoover Dam totally freaked her out. It’s way worse for Priss.

“Priss, can you please do the thing now?” Her voice is way too desperate, but those horses-

He gives her a sympathetic look and turns back to the paddock. It’s kind of boring to see from the outside. Though he does extra bits that he’s never needed for Spot or Blackjack.

Priss’s eyes just kinda go distant and water bubbles up underneath the horse shit in a thousand different spots. From the way the horses are reacting it’s definitely sea water. It swirls in eddies and currents around the horses, and the manure kinda just dissolves down into it.

Clarisse can’t help the little smile when she realises Prissy is deliberately keeping the water only just above the ground, no risk of harming any of the foals that they still can’t see.

Slowly the manure sinks down into the ground and disappears. The place is still filthy but they can now see the ground and all the horses. There are way too many foals in there, still caked from their ears down in horse shit.

It’s not helping that the whole lot are panicking and super distressed by the water.

A little storm cloud forms over the paddock and rain pours down over the horses, washing away the last of the manure and any remaining salt. All of it sinks into the ground instead of pooling and turning the ground mud.

By the time Prissy’s done, they are looking at a paddock full of damp distressed but very clean horses steaming in the Texan sun. The ground is a little damp but still firm enough for the undoubtedly tender horse hooves.

After that, actually handling the horses goes fairly smoothly. The horses may be kinda cracked, but like every horse adjacent creature, they are bound to obey a son of Poseidon who inherited his father’s power over horses.

Prissy has to be more forceful with them than he ever is with the camp horses, but they do settle down and do what they’re told. Without trying to eat anyone.

Eurytion clears out the stables and replaces doors super fast. Guess being an immortal cowherd has its advantages?

They get the stallions separated out of the herd along with any foals actually old enough to leave their mothers. The stallions go into the stables and Eurytion promises to move the foals elsewhere so they have a chance at not inheriting the parent’s behaviours.

It still leaves the actual Mares of Diomedes, and there are way too many of them. They are all also apparently still calling Prissy seafood, but they are clean and Eurytion assures them he can handle them on his own now.

They head back to the house and Prissy interrogates Eurytion about Kronos and who Geryon had contact with.

Eurytion seems perfectly happy to spill all his old boss’s secrets. Neither of them are surprised to find out Geryon hadn’t actually been paid yet. He’d been promised huge payments, but hasn’t received so much as a drachma.

However Kronos and Castellan had paid for that cruise ship, the helicopter and the handful of mortal militia guys, they’ve had zero funds since.

It’s well and good to raise an army but less great when you can’t fund it. It’s only a matter of time though. Kronos may have no power in the real world yet, but once more minor gods start joining the cause they’ll be able to provide funds just like Apollo has been funding the campers.

From what Lee’s said, before a Prophet of Apollo was housed at camp, money was incredibly tight. They were solely funded by the strawberry farm. Most cabins relied on their patron god providing necessities. These days, the various gods that fuss over Percy have, somewhat inevitably, begun supporting the camp as a whole.

Lee says the first increase in funding came just before Triton started training Percy and Georgie. Amphitrite had been rather concerned what would happen if Triton thought children were being mistreated.

Eurytion tells them that Geryon was also promised additional gold for any powerful demigods he brought to Castellan. He hadn’t found any yet, but he’d had Eurytion keeping watch on the Labyrinth entrance, fully planning to capture anyone who came out.

In a moment of absolutely perfect timing, just after Eurytion tells them this, they hear a familiar voice calling from the direction of that same entrance.

“Uh, hello? Anyone here?”

Prissy grins hugely, “Grover!”

Chapter Text

Percy races down the hill to meet Grover, Rachel and Castor, grinning his face off.

They are equally stunned to see him.

Percy just goes all chirpily, “Apparently, everyone who passes through the Labyrinth ends up here at some point. A little birdie told me about a problem here, and me and War Drum came to fix it. We’re staying the night and heading back to camp in the morning!”

Grover is still staring at him and he’s looking kind of- Yeah. Percy only just convinced the satyr to treat him like any other camper and they’ve definitely stepped back into Lord Prophet territory. Oops.

He focuses on herding them all back to the house where Clarisse and Eurytion greet them. Eurytion is more than happy to give the questers beds for the night and some decent food. He again assures Percy and Clarisse it’s normal mortal food.

When Castor flicks a glance at him for that, Percy just shakes his head and promises to explain when they’re back at camp.

After the questers sit down with lemonade and root beer and explain their most recent adventure, Percy can understand Grover’s wide-eyed look.

Just before they arrived at the ranch, they’d run into a Sphinx who was absolutely barrelling down a tunnel. She’d ignored them entirely but they’d all heard her ranting about “the son of the Ghost King who said such a wonderful thing!”

Since there’s only one living son of Hades, Castor insisted they find the nearest exit into the mortal world and call camp to check on Nico.

For Percy to meet them as they left seems a little too miraculous for coincidence.

Percy snorts, “Got no clue what Shadow said to the Sphinx, but he’s been exploring the Labyrinth for a bit. He’s fine though, don’t worry about it.”

Eurytion is definitely realising something. Clarisse gives him a glare, “Mention this to anyone and I’ll give you the Nemean lion treatment.”

Eurytion immediately assures her he will be silent as the grave and it’s clearly none of his business anyway.

The others know better than to push for answers from Percy. Especially with everything going on. Castor does double check that he’s certain Nico is fine.

Percy really needs to try and get Nico more integrated at camp. He’s very much welcome there, especially with the year rounders, but they still haven’t made much progress with changing the summer campers’ opinions on Hades.

He’d asked Bianca to try and make some headway with them. She seemed happy to lean into the daughter of Hades thing and see if that breaks down barriers, but it’ll take time still.

Nico spending so much time with Chase and Castellan who have super strong views on how evil ‘death gods’ are, is just going to make his self-doubt so much worse.

Compared to what Percy knows of Nico’s ‘quest’, Grover, Rachel and Castor have had a near perfect run through the Labyrinth. They haven’t found Pan but Rachel seems to instinctively know where traps are and which tunnels are safe or not. They’ve not seen a single monster.

Well. Grover saying ‘not a single monster’ sets all three of them off into a debate. Percy smirks when he realises they’re arguing about the bull. It’s called either the Cretan Bull or the Marathonian Bull, depending on who you ask.

The lover’s gift Poseidon gave to Minos when Asterion was born. At some point, Pasiphae dumped the bull into the Labyrinth and the poor guy’s been there ever since.

It’d taken all three of them, plus Castor’s mind powers and Grover’s pan pipe skills, to coax the bull to an exit that would send him out into one of the few uninhabited wildernesses left.

Castor and Rachel don’t think they should have wasted time on the bull, and they certainly shouldn’t have just let it out of the maze, but Grover is adamant that they did the right thing. Percy is happy to tell them that they absolutely did.

The bull was originally one of Helios's sacred cattle that had been given by Apollo to Poseidon, and then gifted to King Minos. Being released to run free is exactly what Dad would want. The sacred beast in the prophecy was also definitely the Cretan Bull.

Percy tells G-man that he did a great job and the Blessing of the Wild was an excellent idea. Grover looks both extremely pleased and very awkward over the praise. He quickly switches the conversation back to their quest and finding Pan.

They haven’t seen anything at all like Pan. Percy sits back and listens to them go back and forth about it. Grover’s super stressed about his deadline. He’d only been given until the tenth and they left on the sixth. From their perspective they’ve been in the Labyrinth for just over a day.

It’s actually been four days and tomorrow is the tenth, but if they haven’t noticed, Percy’s not gonna point it out. Grover’ll find Pan no matter what the satyrs pretending to be Olympians say.

They’ve worked out that if they give Rachel a specific focus she can lead them straight to it. They started in Long Island and after a few hours of walking without success had begun experimenting. She’d successfully taken them to the Marriott Hotel in New York, Phoenix in Arizona, Rome, as in Italy, and a random shopping mall in Colorado.

That last one was just because they wanted actual food. But still, it’s clear she can get them to any location she focuses on. The problem is she doesn’t have a clear idea of who or what Pan is.

He suggests that to them and Rachel gives him a scathing look. Apparently, Grover and Castor had the same idea, and they’ve been attempting to explain the Wild God to her for hours.

At least Percy can fix this one? Later tonight, anyway. For now, he suggests they take a break and relax, eat dinner, sleep in actual beds and try again in the morning.

He and Clarisse finish up with Eurytion. Percy spends most of the time patting Orthus. Orthus is the bestest dog ever. Percy makes Eurytion promise to send Orthus to him or back to his brother Cerberus if Eurytion ever can’t care for him. Such a good boy needs all the love!

That night, he drifts in half dreams of bits of the past and the future until he feels Rachel’s aura slip into deep sleep.

He carefully touches her mind. He’s done this to her before, back when he was still tracing her past and looking for any signs of contact with gods who weren’t Apollo.

To start with, he brings her to the Andromeda. It’s not a fun place to be, but it’s not a real location and it’s familiar to both of them which makes the conversation easier.

She’s less spooked this time, “Percy? Something to say?”

He grins at her, “Don’t worry, this isn’t a Fates type dream. It’s just an easy location to talk to you.”

She squints at him, “You keeping secrets from Castor and Grover?”

Hey! She’s making friends. Excellent.

He shakes his head cheerfully, “Nah, but if I’d told them I was doing this beforehand they’d have bugged the hell out of you and it’d have taken you ages to fall asleep. Feel free to tell them everything when you wake up.”

“And what are you doing?”

He turns a little more serious, “I can show you Pan. Where he is now. It’s kinda super sad. It’s going to break G-man’s heart when he realises, but this is a journey he needs to take.”

Understanding on her face, “Pan’s dead?”

He gives a vague head waggle, “Not yet. He’s waiting for his chosen. For Grover.”

She thinks for a moment, then nods. “Show me.”

Percy carries her with him as he searches for the familiar feel of Pan.

He shows her a quiet cave that feels like life. Darkness that smells of fresh grass and new flowers. An aura that glows with the warmth of summer.

Walls that glitter brightly under a ceiling of unseen constellations. Long forgotten animals sleeping peacefully. And in the centre of it all, holding this little pocket of time still and safe is a sleeping satyr. Huge curling horns, long white hair and a peaceful smile. He lives, just.

Rachel breathes beside him, insubstantial but still here.

“This is Pan?”

Percy speaks softly, “The great god Pan awaits his chosen. Time runs thin.”

He holds Rachel there a moment longer, giving her time to feel and see this hidden place. She is not a prophet. She has the potential to host a prophet’s spirit, his brother Ophioter’s spirit, but for now, she is just a mortal who sees a little too much.

Her voice is firm, “I know him now. I can lead them here.”

He pulls her back to the not-moment that is the room on the Andromeda.

She turns to him, looking curious, “Decision time?”

Percy grins, “Nah, you have ages yet for that. I wasn’t kidding about the whole ‘try before you buy’ stuff. But there are things that can’t be said aloud. Things I can’t speak of in the real world. But if you have questions, I may be able to answer them here.”

She pauses and then asks, “Why did Lee panic when he found out about my dreams?”

Yeah, he’d figured this would be bugging her.

He bites his lip and tries to give her a clear explanation, “There are rules when it comes to the sight. Prophets are incredibly rare. Some are gifted with their abilities, but mostly, prophets are born. They see the future and the past, but they also have an instinctual understanding of what events can be changed and what can’t be. What is a fated path and what is just a choice.”

Rachel gives him a look.

Percy pulls a face but continues, “Very occasionally, a child of Apollo is born who can see the future but does not have that instinctive understanding. We mostly call it being able to see the tapestry of fate. The ones who can’t see it… If they never talk about it, never communicate the future to another person, they are safe.”

“And the ones who do change things?”

He winces, “They cause cascades of events that can destroy the world. The last one, he saved the life of a little girl nearly a hundred years ago. Everything that’s happening now is an attempt to fix the tapestry that was torn by his actions.”

“What aren’t you saying?” Rachel is way too perceptive.

Percy speaks very carefully, “There are seven known children of Apollo with the sight who can’t see the tapestry. Only a couple actually did something terrible. The rest- some were killed as newborns on the Sky King’s orders. Others… Well. Apollo tried to seal their abilities and it never ended well.”

She’s still watching him with intense eyes, “Chiron pulled me aside, like the second I was left alone.”

Oh no.

“Uh, what did he tell you?”

“He said to ask you any question I have about oracles or seers and not Lee. And under no circumstances should I ever talk about Cassandra.”

Oh! Wow. Quintus really did have an impact, didn’t he?

Percy hastily assures Rachel that Chiron was absolutely correct and please never talk about Cassandra. Ever.

He’d been thinking about Cassandra himself after Lee freaked over Rachel’s dreams but he really hadn’t considered that Rachel might accidentally set things off. Yay for Chiron?

Wow, who’d have imagined there’d come a day where he actually thought that?

Rachel doesn’t have any other questions, so he tells her again that she can talk the dream and seeing Pan with her questmates and sends her back to her much more normal dreams.

He kinda envies her. He barely ever has actual dreams. He’s almost always aware and conscious whether he’s asleep or awake.

Super annoying.

He lets the latest gentle tug on his mind drag him to whatever fun thing comes next. Not quite Fates directed but also not entirely random. Yay for prophetic abilities.

Percy is not happy to open his eyes to a familiar scene in the centre of the Labyrinth. He shouldn’t be surprised, he’s been spending most of his time trying to see into the Labyrinth. And that stupid bronze knife is currently in the Labyrinth.

Iapis, still insisting his name is Daedalus, is languishing in his invention turned prison. He’s done something to the ceiling so now it looks like they are in an open air room. His son, Talos, is nearby. He can’t be more than five years old.

Talos's mother was Perdix. It means ‘partridge’. Percy’s not clear on why that part of the myth was changed. Most people believe Perdix and Talos are one and the same, and that he was Daedalus's nephew.

Talos was born to a young Perdix and an elderly Iapis. In the Cretan language, Talos means ‘sun’. Iapis's hubris truly knew no bounds. He is still so proud to be one of Apollo’s chosen, even though Apollo will kill him if he finds him.

Then again, Quintus was an absolute asshole to Lee once he found out Lee was a son of Apollo. So it might be less pride and more actual insanity.

Iapis is not doing well. He’s thin and exhausted, his white hair has grown too long and whole patches are missing.

Iapis tells one of his favourite stories to an entranced Talos, sitting at his feet. The story of Icarus, the brilliant young man with a wise parent. Who built wings of wax and bronze and flew farther than anyone ever had before.

Iapis speaks of how Icarus carefully flew between the sun and the ocean. Of how his wise parent guided him every step of the way. How he triumphed using nothing but basic mortal materials, and it was his intelligence that truly won the day.

Iapis tells Talos how he had to fly so fast and move so quickly because people were constantly chasing him, constantly seeking to steal Icarus's knowledge for themselves.

Percy can do nothing but shake his head at this man. It was Apollo who called a young Iapis, ‘his icarus’. An old word for a disciple of the sun. Not quite as formal as the titles Lee and Clarisse hold. More a label for an acknowledged worshipper of the sun god.

Apollo has not spoken to Iapis since the Labyrinth was built. Just as Poseidon held back from striking Iapis as he did not want to risk their alliance, Apollo withdrew his support of Iapis for the same reason.

Yet here he is, telling his son that he is one of Apollo’s chosen.

No-one ever calls Percy out for avoiding stories of Daedalus and the Labyrinth.

The story of Icarus infuriates Apollo and Poseidon. Dad used to cause intense storms inside the camp if anyone spoke the name of Minos, Pasiphae or Iapis. It’s mostly just assumed Percy stays silent out of respect for his father or his patron. Chase is the only one who never seemed to pick up on that.

Oh, and Sophie. She was definitely about to name Pasiphae at that meeting.

The story Iapis tells Talos ends differently to the myths that are so well known now. Icarus successfully flies between the sun and the ocean, always guided by his wise parent.

He finds sanctuary in a kingdom far away and builds new inventions beyond what anyone has seen before. He discovers the secret of immortality and becomes a living legacy.

Percy’s fairly sure Apollo’s the reason the story now ends with Icarus being burned by the sun and drowned in the ocean. Someone definitely made sure the story changed from Iapis’s original one.

Talos is enthusiastic, bouncing in place as he begs Iapis to tell him the secret of immortality. Percy smirks a little when he sees the shadow cross Iapis’s face. Apollo only gave the guy half of the answer. Clearly he works it out, but right now, he has to admit to his son that he doesn’t know.

While not using those exact words, Iapis explains that he has undergone a ‘special ritual’ to ‘loosen the connection between the animus and the physical’. He admits he is still exploring how to attach the animus to another object.

It’s the same thing Apollo does to assist his born prophets to become spirits hosted by oracles. Until Iapis, doing the same thing to a person who was not a prophet allowed them to live forever as a plant, or a not entirely conscious spirit inhabiting a specific place.

It’s not as strange as it sounds. Had Dad and Uncle not wanted to revive Thalia, it’s exactly what they, or Zeus, would have done to ‘preserve’ her as a pine tree. Not alive, but also, not dead. It’s not true immortality and the gods rather liked exploiting that loophole.

Eurytion’s immortality must have happened literal millennia ago. Immortality isn’t given by anyone but Zeus these days. Not even Ares would get away with it now.

Apollo used to be very fond of turning his mortal lovers into plants at the end of their natural lives. Since Iapis, Apollo no longer interferes with anyone’s spirit, other than his prophets.

The issue is that Iapis was brilliant. He had an incredible mind that saw potential in unlikely places. He convinced Apollo to perform the first parts of releasing his spirit and then went off to work out how to do the rest himself.

It’s also the reason why the Labyrinth is conscious and malevolent. Iapis split off some of his own soul and bound it to his new creation. It ensured he wouldn’t die before he found a solution to his degrading physical body thing.

Percy watches Talos babble about all his ideas for physical bodies. Oh. That’s a very un-fun look on Iapis's face.

Yeah. Percy doesn’t feel like watching any more of this story, thank you very much.

He drifts through random glimpses of past and future moments and mostly ignores them. He’s not in the mood for revisiting parts of Pallas and Athena’s story right now.

He and Clarisse will drive back to the coast tomorrow. They’ll check in with Lee and, depending on timing, they’ll take Apeiron or the hippocampi the rest of the way to camp.

He’ll find a moment to tell Eurytion that Apollo can and will release him from his immortality if he’d prefer Elysium. And regardless of what he chooses, he’s no longer bound to Geryon or the ranch.

As soon as he gets back to camp, Percy also needs to have a quiet chat with Uncle. The thing with Nico is starting to super bother him.

Percy’s beginning to suspect he might be partly responsible for Nico feeling like he doesn’t belong.

They’ve been letting Nico come and go at will and to decide how much affection he wants from them, but it’s definitely time to make the situation a bit clearer to his little brother.

For not being on a quest, Percy is being kept super busy.

________________________

Nico heaves a sigh when he hangs up with Percy and goes out to meet up with his three ‘companions’.

The ranch just about broke him. How could anyone do that to these animals? This wasn’t even neglect, it was deliberate torture. Just because.

Annabeth had been more interested in the house than the animals. Talking about how it was a Frank Lloyd Wright.

She did say the paddocks were disgusting and was even a bit upset about the hippalectryon omelette thing, at least? But then she found out that Castellan knew where they were and it had all gone rapidly downhill.

Nico takes back everything he said about Kronos feeding his army. He felt sick to his stomach when he realised who had been supplying the food. And incredibly grateful that he still hasn’t actually eaten any of the army rations.

He’s been sticking with whatever he can buy when he makes it into the city, and protein bars. It’s why Father is getting so upset with him.

But if the alternative is eating Apollo’s sacred cattle? Nico’s totally fine. Really.

As soon as the worker guy, whose essence reeked of misery, saw Castellan he vanished, and Geryon showed up straight after. Gods he looked so strange.

Castellan announced they needed to sleep and eat and Geryon pretty much left them alone. Blondie seemed to decide that if there ranch was supporting their own army, it was fine? Nico’s honestly not sure, she completely stopped talking about the animals after that.

Nico’d spent most of the time reminding himself he could call Percy as soon as they’re ready to leave. Even if Apollo won’t step in, Percy will find a solution.

He’ll need more time and more privacy to tell Percy that Castellan has been buying demigods.

When Nico gets to his room, a hot meal is sitting on a tray with a little note, “Keep up your strength, my dear. You’re doing good work. Hera.”

Gods are so freaking weird.

Still. He’s very glad to eat food that definitely isn’t a sacred animal.

He’s less happy when Minos starts muttering at him. Does the guy ever stop?

This time, he’s going on about the terrible things that await them in the maze and why does Nico think Daedalus will help anyone?

Nico ignores it, until Minos starts talking about lying sons of Poseidon who can’t be trusted, and how they’re always the same no matter how many millennia pass.

Nico eyes him sourly, “If you don’t give it a break I’m going to make sure the entire Underworld knows who Asterion’s parents actually are.”

He’s been sitting on that tidbit for ages. Percy said it might help. It works too, Minos looks absolutely horrified. Nico isn’t clear if the issue is the adultery or Uncle being a dude. He really doesn’t care so long as it shuts him up.

Though, now he’s thinking about it, seeing Theseus do the teenage thing does remind him. Minos is one of the few spirits who chooses to look old.

He was a young man when Asterion was born. Cretan culture was even weirder than Greek culture was. Two guys was fine, but a whole bunch of weird assumptions were made based on their ages. Especially about whichever was younger.

Plus, adultery. And when your wife is an immortal sorceress, probably not the best of ideas.

Minos is useful to have around and knows the Labyrinth far better than any other spirit they have available. The only better option would’ve been Ariadne and she’s kinda busy being a goddess and all.

But complaining about Percy is really going like a thousand steps too far. Especially since Minos literally had a child with Poseidon.

Nico’s also sick of the bitching about Daedalus. Percy hasn’t told him much other than that Daedalus isn’t the guy’s actual name. And that Poseidon would like to murder him for what he did to Asterion. Nico kinda wishes he could correct Minos, what he’s saying is definitely wrong, but he’s not sure what’s actually true.

Minos makes a couple of pointed comments about how he could turn Chase and Castellan insane, just like he “did the others.”

Nico rolls his eyes so hard it hurts, “You didn’t do that. You were in the Underworld sitting in judgement over the dead, you complete and utter moron. Does being half Sky King fry your brains or something?”

Minos's reply is just as sour, “Your fatal flaw is showing, di Angelo.”

Nico gives him a big innocent blink, “Since when was it a fatal flaw? Also, possessiveness is my worst trait, I have zero clue how you translated my insult into that?”

Minos looks kinda stunned, “Holding grudges is the fatal flaw of all of the Unseen King’s children.”

Well that’s one way to say ‘implacability’ and ’sloth’? Sort of?

Nico looks at him blankly, “Since when? Wait, are you going to tell me that ambition is the downfall of every single one of the Sky King’s lot too? We can make our own choices dude, just because we were born with that potential doesn’t actually mean you have to lean into it?”

He shakes his head, “Why am I arguing with a ghost? Go away. Now.”

He adds enough power to the command so Minos will vanish, but not so much that it’ll sever his connection to Nico. Minos is bound to him until Nico chooses to release him.

And even then, he’ll just release him back to Father. No way is he ever being legitimately freed. He has a job to do in the Underworld. Though, it’s definitely intended more as a punishment.

After that, Nico gets some actual sleep. Hera sends him another tray with a hot meal for breakfast with actual proper hot coffee and he feels a thousand times better. Especially after that phone call with Percy.

Now, they’re back in the maze. Yay.

The other three didn’t have a good night’s sleep. Ethan is definitely upset about the animals but still not really engaging with anyone. Chase is ranting about Hera and cows. Nico isn’t sure if Castellan got the same treatment or if Chase just kept him awake.

Nico is definitely wondering how many cow pats Blondie’s gonna be stepping on in the near future. The Queen of Heaven is all about being ultra petty. And Blondie did name her when she was bitching about Hera didn’t feed them lunch yesterday.

Either way, Nico’s the only one feeling remotely spritely. He does manage to redirect them long enough that they go past the same skeleton he’d had to leave behind last time.

The Labyrinth dumps them straight into another weird mortal-built tunnel system. Chase reads a few labels and says something about it being a nuclear shelter for like, world ending events.

Because being underground will totally protect them from nuclear fallout? Mortals are complete lunatics.

For reasons known only to Chase, she then leads them through a marble tunnel and across through a room with no floor. Literally. They all have to swing across a set of suspended bars. Chase tells them all how good she is at monkey bars.

Because that’s clearly important?

Nico is about to remind himself that his inner sarcastic commentary is not helping, when he catches sight of Castellan.

For once, Castellan mimicking Lee’s expressions is just funny. It’s definitely unintentional on Scarface’s part, but he looks as exasperated with Blondie as Lee gets with War Drum and Percy when they start back-chatting Olympians.

When Minos tells Nico what’s up ahead he doesn’t even try to redirect Chase. He no longer cares about playing nice. Percy is not wrong with the whole crossroads thing.

It won’t fix Blondie, but it’ll entertain Nico. Right now, he really needs a smile.

Might even make Scarface blow a vein or something. No way will Blondie’s ‘I’m the smartest person alive’ thing go down well with what’s coming.

He has to stop four more times on the way for yet more poor souls who died inside the Labyrinth. Father must be watching because the skeletons dissolve as soon as Nico speaks the first word of the prayer each time.

He probably doesn’t need to leave the coins, but it doesn’t feel right to leave them without. Coins for the dead mattered to the Ancient Greeks. Nico sees essence. He knows these are all demigods, it would have mattered to them too.

They reach a new room and Nico is utterly horrified. The room is filled with abandoned bodies, all in different states of decomposition. The room throbs with their pain and fear. What the hell?

Minos told him about a Sphinx, not this!

Nico completely ignores the Sphinx at the front of the room. It is at least keeping the other three busy. He shuts his eyes and prays silently.

In his head he is absolutely screaming at Father. He has no large offering to give, but if Father is watching, surely he can do something?

A dark shadow drifts through the room, entirely unnoticed by the other three, each body it touches dissolves into nothing.

The shadow lingers briefly around Nico offering him a sense of Father’s deep devotion and love. Nico pushes back with his own gratitude.

Most of what they’ve actually seen in the Labyrinth hasn’t particularly bothered him. Like, none of it is nice, but he’s a son of Hades. What he’s seen would only be traumatising if he wasn’t able to fix it. Since he’s been able to free the souls, it’s been fine.

But this room… No. It’s just wrong. Monsters kill people, sure. Plenty of monsters eat people too. Sphinx definitely do. It’s not a thing that’s disrespectful or respectful. It just is. From a mortal perspective there is no death that is good or pleasant. But death isn’t really bad either. All mortal lives end.

The Ancient Greeks feared Hades, but they respected him too. Father represents grief and loss and endings, but no-one wants to die alone and abandoned with their soul trapped at the point of death.

Even the Fields of Asphodel, where most souls reside, are not cruel or awful. The souls do not remember their lives, they simply exist and are at rest. No guilt or resentment or misery.

It’s the modern mortals who decided death is evil. They took Hades and twisted the stories up until they had Satan presiding over the burning fires of hell and a god watching over a utopian heaven. And every single soul, no matter where they reside, remembers every moment of their lives.

As far as Nico is concerned, the Christian heaven sounds even worse than anything in the Underworld. Worse than Tartarus. It’s just another way of describing immortality, and immortality is not good for people who are not born to it.

The people in this room, all the bodies lying discarded, they are wrong on every level. Their souls have been trapped here, still aware, still awake. Trapped at the moment of their death. They weren’t killed for food. They were just killed and dumped.

They were all screaming at him when he first walked in.

The shadow is gone as quickly as it came, but the lost souls are now at peace and the room no longer aches with their pain. Nico takes another long slow breath before he goes to join the other three.

The lion lady has definitely been in the Labyrinth too long. Did she get trapped in here or something?

She’s used the Mist to set herself up on her own little dais thing and done her hair like some sort of prim and proper school teacher. She’s even given herself a nice lush golden coat and used the Mist to make herself appear in the prime of health.

But she’s also still a human head on a very scrawny lion’s body, so it just kinda comes across as super weird. And she’s used the Mist to give herself her own set of golden laurels. Because, reasons?

Nico’s going to assume she’s definitely been trapped in the Labyrinth for too long. There’s several Sphinx, but they all go by the same name, so who knows how many there actually are. If he had to guess, he’s gonna assume it’s either three or six. Because that’s pretty much how the divine world works.

The Sphinx are all kind of more cat than person. They say a few things, play with their food for a bit, and then eat it.

This one has leaned hard into the playing with her food bit and seems to have forgotten the eating part.

There’s also something kinda off about her? Even under all the Mist manipulation…

Oh. Someone’s cut her wings off.

Egyptian Sphinx are said to be wingless, but they’re also guardians and more at the nice end of the spectrum. This one’s definitely a Greek Sphinx, she’s got very sad looking stubs covered in scars where her wings should be.

She’d done something to lock them into the room and now she’s getting everyone setup like it’s her own personal game show. Naturally, the only way through is behind the dais she’s standing on.

Lion lady announces super brightly. “Welcome, lucky contestants! Get ready to play Answer That Riddle!”

Nico blinks as she manipulates the Mist to make it look like glitter is being thrown everywhere. She’s even managing to make a strange sound that he suspects is meant to sound like an applause track.

Nico has to focus to see the Mist, he naturally sees through it. Hearing whatever sound that is, is kinda much harder.

From the looks of the other three and the way their eyes are tracking the glitter, they think the whole gameshow thing is actually real. Huh. Does that mean they never saw all the bodies?

He’d kinda wondered why they weren’t freaking. There had to have been at least fifty dead bodies in the room when they came in.

Lion lady keeps going with her patter, “Fabulous prizes! Pass the test, and you get to advance Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?”

Lion lady definitely hasn’t been eating, but he really doubts she’s actually let anyone actually go through that door. Nico’s feeling kind of sorry for her, under the Mist she’s really looking like total shit, and she’s more than a bit cracked.

He’d really rather not kill her, and he’s still ambivalent on her killing Blondie and Castellan, so may as well let it play out?

Nico rolls his eyes as Blondie pushes forward, telling Castellan she already knows what lion lady will ask.

How on earth was Blondie ‘best friends’ with Percy for so many years and yet still so convinced those bizarre stories are real? Guess that’s why she’s so insistent he’s such a ‘goofball’. If she admitted Percy had brains she’d have to admit she was wrong about like, everything.

But even if the old stories were real, a Sphinx putting on a modern looking gameshow experience in the middle of the Labyrinth should probably wave a red flag that this isn’t one of the old stories?

Even Scarface is looking less than confident.

Nico smirks a bit when he watches Blondie walk over to the ‘contestant’s podium’ that is entirely made from Mist. She does a weird side shuffle thing to remove the totally real skeleton from the totally real podium. Seeing through the Mist can be extra entertaining sometimes.

He has no idea if this Mist skeleton is from Father or the Sphinx, but it’s still hilarious.

Like, Sphinx can’t materialise things? Unless Blondie thinks the Labyrinth made the weird gameshow setup? They are in an empty room with a Sphinx and nothing else.

They still won’t get through that door without getting past the Sphinx, but the gameshow bit is entirely fake. Shouldn’t all those skills in deductive reasoning that she claims to have, clue her into the absurdity?

Nico keeps his face blank as Blondie apologises to the Mist skeleton. She missed the fifty actual bodies and apologises to the fake one? Seriously? She’d seemed almost enthusiastic when she was talking about Cretan sacrifices when they first came into the Labyrinth. Now she feels sorry?

Lion lady is super perky, she also looks like she’s half starved, “Welcome, Annabeth Chase! Are you ready for your test?”

Huh, can Sphinx read minds? How’d she know Blondie’s name?

Blondie is super confident, “Yes! Ask your riddle.”

Lion lady is gleeful. Also hungry. The Mist version of her is all bright joy, underneath she’s a Sphinx of sadness.

Still, her voice is cheerful as she goes, “Twenty riddles, actually!”

Blondie instantly protests, “What? But back in the old days –”

“Oh, we’ve raised our standards! To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty. Isn’t that great?”

Even Scarface’s wacky essence is throbbing with dread.

Lion lady does a thing with the Mist and gives Blondie a totally real scantron sheet with a totally real pencil. Seeing through the Mist has never been funnier.

Blondie nods with determination, “I’m ready.”

Lion lady makes a weird purring growly noise, was that seriously meant to be a drumroll?

Nico watches with far too much joy as lion lady asks her first question, “What is the capital of Bulgaria?”

Blondie frowns, confused, “Sofia, but-”

“Correct! Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a 2B pencil.”

Nico really wants to know what that totally real scantron sheet says. Lion lady didn’t actually give her any sort of multiple choice option, but it must make some sort of sense to Blondie. She looks offended, not confused.

Blondie’s voice is so flat. “What?”

Lion lady keeps up her bouncy chatter, “Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle. If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers.”

Nico is about to explode from trying to keep his laughter inside.

Blondie legit asks, “What machine?”

Lion lady twists the Mist a bit more, and now Blondie is staring at the completely real giant bronze box that looks like a god’s interpretation of a scantron machine. If they’d never actually seen one.

Kinda looks more like a combination of an old fashioned projector and a giant photocopier.

The Labyrinth really does send everyone ‘round the twist, doesn’t it? Mortals and monsters both.

Nico admires lion lady’s sticking power, “Now, next question –”

It just gets better when Blondie interrupts her, “Wait a second. What about “What walks on four legs in the morning?’”

Lion lady gives her a slightly crazed glare, though the Mist just makes her look even more like a prim school teacher.

“I beg your pardon?”

Blondie keeps going. Scarface looks like he’s seconds from facepalming.

“The riddle about man. He walks on four legs in morning, like a baby, two legs in the afternoon, like an adult, and three legs in the evening, as an old man with a cane. That’s the riddle you used to ask.”

Nico gapes at that one. Does she actually think there’s only one lion lady? Tyson got attacked by one, just before Georgie found him. It totally wasn’t this particular Sphinx. She’s been in the Labyrinth way too long.

Lion lady looks confused too, but she recovers quickly.

“Exactly why we changed the test! You already knew the answer. Now, second question, what is the square root of sixteen?”

“Four. But-”

“Correct! Which US president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?”

“Abraham Lincoln, but-”

Huh, okay, general knowledge can be useful. Nico has no idea about US history. How does the lion lady know the answers?

“Correct! Riddle number four. How much-”

Blondie waves her arms in a big slashing motion and shout “Hold up!”

Oh, this is gonna be good.

“These aren’t riddles!

The totally not crazed lion lady drops some of the Mist and lets Blondie see exactly how cranky she is right now.

“What do you mean? Of course they are. This test material is specially designed-”

If Blondie keeps cutting the Sphinx off, she’s gonna get killed and maybe eaten even if she gets all twenty questions right.

“It’s just a bunch of dumb, random facts. Riddles are supposed to make you think.”

Lion lady looks at Blondie like she’s the one who’s lost her mind.

“Think? How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That’s ridiculous! Now, how much force is required-”

Yeah. Even computers can think? Nico knows what Blondie was trying to say but her wording leaves a lot to be desired right now.

“Stop! This is a stupid test.”

Girl. Did you really just say that to the monster who wants to eat you?

Ethan speaks very hesitantly, “Um, Annabeth. Maybe you should just, you know, finish first and
complain later?”

Blondie completely ignores him, waving a hand at him like she’s telling him to shush. She doesn’t even look away from the Sphinx.

Poor Ethan throws a desperate look at Nico, Nico just shrugs back. The hell is he supposed to do about her? Ethan and Castellan are adults, they can deal with it.

Blondie’s not done, “I’m a child of Athena! And this is an insult to my intelligence. I won’t answer these questions.”

Okay. She actually is insane.

The very hungry skin and bones Sphinx is utterly delighted with her answer. “Why then, my dear. If you won’t pass, you fail. And since we can’t allow any children to be held back, you’ll be eaten!”

Nico sighs as the Sphinx gets ready to pounce. Guess his fun is over. He still doesn’t want to kill the lion lady. Not when she’s had nothing but decades if not centuries of darkness. Sphinx were not born to live in the dark. Even Greek Sphinx live for sunshine.

Not that the others know it, but Nico’s the only one here with weaponry that’s going to actually be helpful in a fight with a Sphinx.

As War Drum has endlessly lectured him since winter, attacking truck sized monsters with nothing but a sword is virtual suicide. It might be something Nico would totally do again, but he doubts these three would ever try it.

Well. Blondie just drew her single little knife. Nico takes back what he said about stupidity. At least he used a stygian iron longsword each of those times. Not an itty bitty bronze knife?

He silently orders a very grouchy Minos to play distraction. What’s he bitching for? It’s not like he can die again?

He and Minos are definitely going to have a conversation about what’s relevant to report back too. Like a room filled with dead bodies.

The lion lady goes for Minos thinking he’s Blondie and the rest of them head straight for the door.

Nico dawdles. As soon as he’s sure they won’t hear him, he turns back to the Sphinx.

“I think you’re the most amazing lion lady I’ve ever met. Please keep being awesome, but also, might be time to leave the Labyrinth? Bye!”

He leaves her ranting incoherently about the magical non existent grading machine and runs to catch up with the others.

________________________

While not common, Hades has become used to the occasional traditional offering from his nephew.

Each time the offering has been carefully thought out. Of the Olympians, very few can receive offerings without benefit of the hearth fire. Any offering that is burned comes with the unfortunate side effect of being heard by his sister, Hestia.

His nephew has become increasingly irritated with Hestia’s disinterest in the world and he now avoids making burnt offerings as much as possible.

Today, he has dug a pit at the edge of the beach where sand turns to earth.

A meal of aged cheese and fresh bread is laid out with a glass of fresh pomegranate juice and a mug of dark rich coffee.

Alongside the food, the child places a piece of the hide of the aethiopian drakon slain by his guardian. Black tourmaline and rubies stolen from a pirate’s ship and previously decorating the habitat of a cursed demigod turned goldfish. A fossilised skeleton of a small creature unknown to mortals, only found in the ocean’s deepest depths.

An offering of this level is not needed. Not from his nephew. Each time Hades informs him of this the child makes a blithe comment about respect being earned. The implication being that the child would not burn so much as a toenail clipping in tribute to Zeus.

It is rather pleasant to be the child’s favourite uncle. Especially after the recent revelations from Poseidon.

It does mean he needs to push all such thoughts from his mind before he makes contact. The child sees too much.

He brushes against the child’s mind, “Is all well?”

“Yes, Uncle. All is going as expected. This isn’t a knowing thing, more… a family thing?”

Hades frowns, “Are Nico and Bianca well?”

There’s amusement in the child’s mental voice, “Of course Uncle, Hot Air or Crackle would tell you immediately if anything happens.”

Hades is still unused to the level of consideration the demigods give him. His children have always been outsiders and it is a touch discomforting to be so accepted by a son of Apollo and a daughter of Zeus.

The child’s mental voice gentles, “Uncle, you have been isolated too long. It is natural for mortals to fear the act of dying. It doesn’t mean they wish to walk alone in their final journey.”

This is the downside of such conversations. It provides complete privacy from eavesdroppers but the child feels and sees too much of Hades's own thoughts.

The child continues, politely ignoring Hades's discomfort, “It’s Shadow specifically. He’s always known he and Dancer are different from your other children. It’s kinda my fault? I was pretty scrambled from the Sky King and when he asked about you and your Queen I just answered without thinking.”

Hades frowns, “I’m sorry, I don’t follow?”

The child speaks with caution, “Before Maria di Angelo, you and your queen always, uh, shared mortals. Any children that were born belonged to your Queen as much as they did to you.”

Ah. “Nico is aware that Persephone was not involved with Maria?”

The child’s voice is still hesitant, “Yes. I knew it was odd, but I only recently went looking for the reason. Shadow’s struggling to find where he fits and I thought if I could give him the answer…”

Hades is both amused and exasperated, “I take it you now know why they are different?”

A smile in the child’s mental tone, “Dad was meddling. Again.”

Hades huffs a soft laugh. He hadn’t known at the time. Before Maria, Persephone had encouraged him to seek out a new mortal.

He and his Queen had met a young woman and a child was born at the turn of the century. A child who eventually participated in the mortal world war. Persephone had hoped the child would connect Hades to the mortal world, but he isolated himself again after his son was born.

The child’s voice is even more careful, “Uncle, you do know most people are only aware that you had a son, and assumptions have been made as to who your son was?”

Hades is well aware. Even Zeus has alternately claimed that Hades is the father of Adolph Hitler or Benito Mussolini. Naturally, a child of the Underworld must desire death more than anything else. Never mind that it is the children of Zeus who long for power. Both those men were mortals, not demigods, but the rumour persists.

Zeus was not wrong when he said that Hades's child had been on the opposite side of the war to Zeus and Poseidon’s children. Hades's son had not been an active participant in that war. He is a famous and well known name in the mortal world, but he is famous for shielding thousands from the horrors of the Holocaust. His son had been a protector, not a warrior.

It is a son of Zeus who is associated with the deaths of thousands. When he made the decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan. Poseidon’s own children are just as well known in the mortal world. For speaking against the atomic bomb, even though they eventually supported the decision.

“I am aware, Nephew. There is little I can do about it. I have told Nico the truth of the matter. Bianca has so far been uninterested in knowing of any older siblings.”

It quickly became clear to Persephone that his son’s birth was not enough to overcome his own disinterest in the world outside his realm. Another child was conceived in his aspect as Pluto, and Hades again immediately retreated to the Underworld.

That same year, just after Hazel’s birth, Persephone came to him.

She had very bluntly told Hades he was too disconnected from life, and it was dangerous for a god with his domains to forget the sanctity of life itself.

She had never been so forthright with him he’d honestly believed it was Hera speaking for a moment. The intensity of her insistence was enough for him to agree to her new plan.

She’d sent him off to live in the mortal realm. To make a genuine connection with a mortal. To not just conceive a child, but live in an equal relationship with a mortal. Without Persephone.

It had been strange and discomforting, but he cannot deny it was a successful strategy. Hades has been far more engaged in the world at large since Bianca and Nico were born. They were not the products of a brief encounter. Hades had lived as Maria’s husband, still a god with duties elsewhere, but most of his time had been spent with Maria and their children.

Zeus would have been apoplectic had he known, but he assumed Hades was isolating himself in the Underworld as he always has. For most gods, distance from the mortal world is essential. Mortals live short lives and gods do not die. It is an unfortunate combination. The sacred laws of non-interference protect mortals from the gods’ inevitable reaction to their loss.

But such a separation is dangerous for a god whose principle domain is the Underworld and his subjects the souls of the dead.

It was only after they learned Percy was a prophet that Persephone admitted the idea had originally come from Poseidon. His too perceptive younger brother who had realised the danger long before anyone else.

Hades’s time with Maria and the birth of their children rebalanced a situation that would have dramatically deteriorated without Poseidon’s interference.

By the time Maria was killed, his older son and Hazel were already dead. Hades pretends not to feel the quiet sympathy from his nephew as he loses himself to memories.

Nico and Bianca’s long years hidden in the safety of the Lotus Hotel had again led to his retreat into his kingdom. His only contact with the mortal world had been Poseidon’s visits.

Since Bianca and Nico were removed from their stasis Hades has been far more connected to the mortal world than he has been in millennia.

Specifically, since Nico was returned to the world. His son who regularly visits the Underworld and is entirely unaware of how unusual his willingness to move between realms is.

Hades asks, “Do you wish to tell Nico of your father’s interference?”

The child’s mental voice is soft and far too gentle, “I think it would be better coming from you, Uncle. I think Shadow’s starting to second-guess your love for him. He doesn’t understand what makes him different, what makes him special.”

Well, that will not do. Nico is special. Even beyond Bianca, who Hades has publicly acknowledged before the entire Council as his most beloved daughter. He only neglected to do the same for Nico because he knew his son would be discomfited by such a gesture.

“Very well, I will speak with him when he is next here.”

The child’s tone turns warm and grateful, “Thank you, Uncle. I know I’m poking my nose in things I really shouldn’t, so I do super appreciate the lack of smiting.”

Hades shakes his head in exasperation as the child breaks the connection. To smite the child would throw Olympus headlong into war. He can insult Zeus to his face and live to tell of the encounter.

Even had he been offended, Hades would not have retaliated. The child still seems entirely unaware of the power he holds.

Hades had already had his suspicions. Poseidon had confirmed them. There is nothing that could ever convince Hades to turn his back on this particular child.

Gods are possessive of all that they consider to be theirs.

________________________

Percy is so done with dreams. He absolutely wants to just plaster return to sender on his prophetic abilities and send the whole mess back to the Fates.

Honestly, he actually misses the days where his dreams were just of old heroes and gods doing terrible things thousands of years ago. At least that time was long over, not his problem.

He’ll even take the constant dreams of Athena and Pallas, and their stupid training ground sitting abandoned in Atlantis. That’s more just boring than disturbing.

Today, he’s on Mount Tamalpais. He can’t quite tell if it’s a now moment or something in the near future. Nico doesn’t seem to be there but that doesn’t mean anything, kid’s sneaky. There’s nothing to suggest a specific time.

The black palace stands tall, fully finished with sweeping ceilings and huge echoing halls. It’s all gleaming black marble and far too ostentatious.

Percy kind of wishes Apollo didn’t insist he pretend the Roman demigods don’t exist. Like, they do know this place is on their doorstep, right?

Oh. Actually. That’s definitely something to poke the knowing about

Castellan and Chase are wearing normal clothes this time. Well. Normal for them? Percy is still lost on why they’ve got digital camo pants on, but I guess it gives an army vibe? Plain grey t-shirts and celestial bronze breastplates. No pteruges or greaves though, just the breastplate.

Percy follows the pair down a hallway and out into a courtyard of a weird mix of demigods and dracaenae.

He’s even less impressed when the whole lot of them stand up and beat swords against shields. Like Castellan and Chase are- Actually. Percy is lost. The hell are they doing?

Wait, Piper said something… She’d seen some movie about ancient warriors of some sort and about died laughing trying to describe, what was it? Oh! “A spartan haka”. As in someone had seen that thing people in New Zealand do at like, sports events and somehow added swords and shields and now it’s a thing?

Ancient Greeks didn’t do the whole ritualised military thing. They didn’t do salutes. They might whack their shield with a sword to make a big noise to get attention in like, the middle of battle, but whatever that was that Castellan’s ‘army’ just did, so wasn’t it.

The Ancient Greek were all about the ultra loud war cries. Even have a spirit of the war cry Alala. But their weapons didn’t quite stand up to being regularly beat together for noise. Their whole fighting style was kinda super individual. Nothing like today’s military.

Romans saluted. But that’s not done anymore, because Hitler liked it a bit too much.

Castellan and Chase are super obsessed with the old stories, why would they pick this as the one formalised military thing Kronos’s weird army does? And also, why do it for those two?

Percy shakes off the latest weird distraction and tries to actually pay attention to the conversation happening.

Oh, how lovely. Kelli’s back. And she’s still dressed like a cheerleader from Rhoden Academy. Weirdo.

She’s also extra cranky. Doesn’t even turn when Percy starts up his ghostly thing. She knows someone’s watching but won’t be able to find him. He’d hoped to upset her, but today, no go. Sigh.

“My lord and lady, I’m afraid I have bad news.”

Lord and lady? WTF? Percy stops his ghostly noises stuff, because, what the hell? Is this because people keep calling Percy, Lord Prophet and Prince? Surely Chase noticed how much he hated it, why would anyone want to be called that?

Chase snaps out, “What is it, do not waste our time.”

Who died and made her queen?

Kelli actually looks super anxious now Percy is looking closer.

“I’ve just returned from Alcatraz. Um. I’m afraid…”

She trails off and looks even more uncomfortable.

Castellan gives her a look, “Well?”

Kelli speaks fast, words tumbling over each other.

“Kampe’s dead. Briares is gone. I don’t know what happened. There’s no sign of an attack. But she’s definitely dead. Her scimitars were still there, completely shattered.”

Chase is furious, “We need her! She’s powerful! And we need Briares, he can break the barrier! Where are they?”

Did she not hear Kelli? Kampe’s dead? Gonna have to wait for her to reform, Blondie.

And Hekatonkheir can do a lot of things, but breaking a magical barrier powered by Hades and Poseidon is not one of those things.

The hell happened to you, Annabeth?

Chase paces and rants for a moment before storming off in another direction. Castellan watches her go, frowning.

He turns back to Kelli, “It may be for the best, Kampe was far too chaotic. But to lose Briares as well…”

Kelli is all sultry purr as she practically hangs off Castellan, “You should not fear power, Luke. Use it!”

Castellan’s voice is dark and sour, “The sooner we leave, the better. I want this over with.”

Kelli runs a finger down his arm and he shakes her off all irritatedly, “You find it unpleasant to destroy your old camp?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You’re not having second thoughts about your own, ah, special part?”

He glares at her, all fierce anger, “I know my duty.”

Her voice turns all perky and cheerleader-ish, “That is good. Is our strike force sufficient, do you think? Or will I need to call Mother Hecate for help?”

Hecate’s totally the reason those two survived that cliff fall last winter, isn’t she?

Castellan rolls his eyes, “We have more than enough. If she can’t locate the centre on our next trip through, I’ll have Nico summon a spirit to guide us directly there. Quintus told us he would give us the string if we met him in Daedalus’s workshop.”

Kelli eyes him sceptically, “And the arena?”

Castellan is unbothered, “I’m sure we can negotiate safe passage through the arena.”

Back to the sultry purr, “That should be interesting. I would hate to see your handsome head on a spike if you fail.”

Castellan steps away from her and speaks with determination, “I will not fail. And you, demon, don’t you have other matters to attend to?”

She pouts at him, “I am not a babysitter. I have better things to do!”

Castellan’s voice is very firm, “No. You don’t. You will watch her and keep her out of harm’s way.”

Kelli scowls but stomps off.

As soon as he’s alone Castellan’s face crumbles. He looks exhausted and miserable. And frightened. Truly deeply frightened.

Percy hates it, but he turns away. He has people to look after and feeling sympathy for Castellan will not make his job any easier.

Poor Nico is definitely struggling. Being around Chase has just made him hate her more, but Castellan’s story isn’t quite so cut and dried.

Because the Fates definitely hate Percy, they dump him straight into another dream of Iapis and Talos.

Iapis looks like the walking dead. All of his hair is gone, even his eyebrows, and he’s aged to the point he’s starting to look like the mummy in the attic of the Big House. His connection to the Labyrinth is keeping him alive, but his body is failing.

Iapis is not in the Labyrinth for once. He’s in some sort of stone tower. Talos is maybe fifteen now. Percy’s eyebrows jump when Iapis calls him Perdix. Is the man’s mind going?

Talos and Iapis go back and forth a bit on the boy’s current projects. Iapis becomes increasingly sour as Talos shows him more and more brilliant inventions.

Percy knows how this ends but he still cannot understand Iapis. Talos is his son. Iapis is famous for his brilliance and he’s a child of Athena. Why is he so bothered that his child inherited that same intelligence? Is that not how genetics works?

Why would he want his child to be less intelligent? Why are Talos's achievements not something to celebrate?

Clarisse surpassed Lee’s fighting skills when she was like, nine. Even he admits she’s probably better with a bow than him now too. It doesn’t remotely bother him.

Well, not in the way it bothers Iapis. Lee stresses that with Triton unavailable Clarisse doesn’t have an outlet and he feels guilty that he can’t keep up with her.

Most of the campers have some sort of talent that far exceeds Lee’s abilities. But it’s always been something to celebrate, a reason to find new trainers, new tutors. Not this bizarre thing Iapis is doing.

Iapis talks to himself about how Talos will take his place when he dies.

Talos takes the comment entirely differently to how it’s intended.

He starts talking excitedly about the stories Iapis used to tell him. About building an automaton to host an animus. That if Iapis truly knows how to separate the animus from the body, Talos knows how to build a body.

Iapis's eyes gleam. He makes increasingly pointed comments to Talos about how it’s impossible, that magic is no good, it won’t work with mechanical things.

The old inventor easily goads the fifteen year old into showing him his blueprints and his carefully drawn designs. Iapis looks them over, his expression one of pure greed. He tells Talos it will never work, that he’ll understand when he’s older.

Iapis keeps the blueprints in a tight grip. Talos doesn’t notice. Iapis tells him he is busy and needs to be left alone.

Talos nods cheerfully and heads to a little balcony door. Oh. This is that day.

Percy watches as Talos leans out over the low ledge of the little balcony and launches tiny scale models of people, each with carefully formed wings of wax and bronze. Talos leans far out and watches them fall, keen eyes tracking their movement, looking for the slightest sign of lift.

Talos believes the story of Icarus. At some point he has come to genuinely believe his father, Daedalus, Iapis, whatever you call him… Talos believes he flew with wings of wax and bronze. Just like the stories Iapis would tell his five year old son.

Talos has no wish to supersede his father. He just wants to be like him, to walk his path and follow in his footsteps. Talos wants his father to be proud of him.

Iapis believes Talos wants to steal his glory. He is lost to his own pride and has entirely failed to see his son’s love. He seems entirely unaware that he is son’s hero, his role model. Talos wants to lift his father up, not push him down.

Talos watches little model people fall and entirely fail to fly with their wax and bronze wings. He calls back to his father all of his ideas about how his father had made the wings, about how they would work. He is excited to solve this puzzle.

Iapis mutters to himself about his son being smarter than him, about how Talos wants to take his place. Wants to take his title. How dare Talos take the place of Icarus. Iapis was named Icarus and not Talos.

Iapis never made wings. Iapis never actually flew. He seems to have entirely forgotten this.

Talos tells him he dreams of flying. That one day he will fly too.

Iapis doesn’t hear the unspoken part. That Talos wants to one day fly just like his father.

Percy watches as a shaky Iapis climbs to his feet and carefully tucks the blueprints away. As frail and shaky as he is, he still moves with a determined stride as he walks toward the balcony where Talos is perched, leaning over the edge and watching pretend people fall.

Iapis doesn’t even hesitate. He uses all that remains of his strength to shove hard against Talos's shoulders.

Talos overbalances and falls headfirst off the balcony. As he falls, screaming for his father, Iapis tells him “Where are your wings now, you pretender?”

Iapis turns away before Talos even hits the ground. He goes straight to the desk and the hidden blueprints. He retrieves them and walks to the stairs. He falls more than he walks all the way down to the base of the tower.

He walks straight past the crumpled form of his son without giving him so much as a second glance.

He reaches a set of boulders and places his hand against the delta. It glows blue and an entrance opens.

Behind him, a woman shimmers into view. Athena.

She speaks coldly, the pride on her face a perfect match for Iapis’s, “You will pay the price for that, daidalos Iapis.

Iapis scowls at her, “I have always honoured you, Mother. I have sacrificed everything to follow your way.”

Percy huffs to himself. Her way of pride, maybe. What exactly did the guy sacrifice? He just screwed over everyone he came into contact with!

Athena’s voice is still cold, and it sounds far too much like Triton, “Yet the boy had my blessing as well. And you have killed him. For that, you must pay.”

Iapis turns on her, turning away from the Labyrinth entrance, “I’ve paid and paid! I’ve lost everything. I’ll suffer in the Underworld, no doubt. But in the meantime…”

Percy stares, gobsmacked. What? Since when had he paid? Also, he’s mortal?

Athena flinches too, like even she was surprised by that one. “I have protected you from Apollo and Poseidon. I rescued you from your prison and sent you to Camicus. Yet you kill your own son? Does your hubris know no bounds?”

Huh. Guess that explains why Dad and Apollo couldn’t find him even when he spent so much time out of the maze.

Iapis, very literally scoffs in her face.

She’s his mother? And patron? Also one of the Olympians? Iapis has none of the protections Percy and Clarisse do.

Athena is… yeah. That expression is definitely called ‘dumbfounded’. Possibly even a bluescreen.

Just as Iapis walks into the maze, she calls behind him. “You will pay now and forever.”

She raises a hand and a brand appears on his neck. A partridge. Perdix means partridge in Ancient Greek.

Not really an adequate punishment if you ask Percy. Especially since, three thousand years later, the guy was able to spend over a week at camp with none of the gods interfering.

Of anyone, shouldn’t Athena have been able to track the guy?

He spends a little more time drifting through the little glimpses of Iapis that are available to him. The Labyrinth super screws with things and it just got worse the more settled its whole malevolent consciousness became.

He can mostly watch Theseus and Ariadne. But current events in the maze? No chance.

Chapter Text

After the Sphinx, Nico genuinely debates whether he should actually take Blondie straight to the centre. This is getting kinda insane.

He ends up deciding it’s not quite time, but also, he absolutely needs a break. They’ve gone through another unending series of tunnels.

One definitely took them through the maintenance tunnels of some sort of aquarium and he found himself thinking longingly of Cabin Three and James's huge tank. Percy can, and has, gone for a swim with his cursed goldfish. It was no stranger than the zebra on the couch, really.

Nico’s scale for weirdness might be a bit skewy.

Nico really wants to go home. Blondie rants on and on about theories for finding the centre. Minos keeps them mostly redirected from traps but he definitely deliberately led them through that sewer.

And they keep finding new skeletons. He still can’t decide if there’s just that many bodies in the Labyrinth, or if the Labyrinth is trying to find the point they’ll crack.

The last one did just about break him. An adult skeleton and they had a baby with them. A very literal infant had died in the Labyrinth.

Blondie and Castellan march straight past but Ethan pauses and looks down at the two skeletons, something that is at least horror-adjacent showing on his face.

Nico appreciates seeing some emotion from the guy, but that feeling sours when Ethan shakes it off and just walks after the other two. When Nico leaves coins and prays, he feels Father respond, brushing against his mind.

Father’s voice is very firm, but there is a definite undertone of worry, “Nico. Come home. You cannot continue at this pace. Lead them back to Mount Tamalpais.”

Yeah. He stinks of sewer and the baby was the last straw. He sends a silent order to Minos and they soon emerge from the Labyrinth back into the stupid eucalyptus and death essence of the mountain.

Blondie and Scarface are absolutely gobsmacked. Like, they cannot work out how on earth they ended up back where they started without ever approaching the centre of the Labyrinth.

Ethan announces he needs sleep and food and they can try again some other time, but not today. He walks off before they can answer him.

Yeah. Nico’s out too. He mutters something and walks back to the ‘barracks’. He lingers just long enough for his ‘commanders’, Sonia and Daniel, to catch sight of him and then moves off again.

Once he’s absolutely certain he’s out of sight of everyone, he shadow travels straight to the Underworld. Father is waiting for him.

Father takes the stupid Kronos spy bracelet Castellan insists Nico wear. Father’s found some way of making it look like Nico’s still in San Francisco when he does these little unauthorised side trips.

He also assures Nico that all of the souls have found rest in the Underworld and packs him straight off to Lee.

With Father guiding his travel, Nico isn’t particularly surprised to arrive in Lee’s office in the Big House. With a very startled Lee in front of him.

“Hi? Father kinda ordered me home? I’ll have to go back, but I…” He waves a hand vaguely.

He’s really not sure how to react when Lee wordlessly walks over and hugs him. He’s doesn’t think he’s ever been hugged like this before. He generally keeps his distance from everyone, even Lee. Percy knocks shoulders with Nico or kinda sits on him just to be annoying, but… yeah. Hugs are nice.

Bianca swings past and gives him her own bear hug, before racing off again to return to her Hunters. She’s definitely turned that white streak in her hair into a point of pride.

Lee rounds up Percy and War Drum and locks them all in the back living room they’ve pretty much claimed for themselves. Nico is never quite sure what to do with how they always include him in family time. Like. They are family, but also, it feels kinda awkward?

He’s not bothered by Father sending him here and not keeping him in the Underworld. Hades might be a lot more parental than most gods, but that just means he’s very aware that he is a god and mortal children need a mortal parent. Nico’s not sure how that mortal parent ended up being Lee.

Still, sitting on the couch with Sleeping Beauty playing for the billionth time, Percy’s legs draped across his lap, War Drum on one side of him and Lee on the other, Nico feels so much better.

Poor Lee has the rest of Percy sitting on him because Percy says personal space doesn’t count with Lee. Lee just shrugs his shoulders and gives a sheepish smile. Nico’s pretty sure the guy actually likes having at least one kid who’s clingy.

Percy tells him about the ranch and Apollo frying Geryon and Nico feels even better.

Plus, proper food is amazing. Especially since he doesn’t have to wonder where it came from. Mr D oversees the camp kitchens. He might be sarcastic and snarky and super grouchy, but he cares in his own way. He’s the God of Hospitality after all.

Nico enjoys his break from Scarface and Blondie so much. A proper bed in his own bedroom and a hot shower… So very appreciated right now.

He’s not sure what he thinks of the changes to his room since he was here last. The Cerberus sculpture is kind of adorable and definitely from Tyson. Percy’d said Tyson had been really excited for summer camp this year, he’s made Percy a bunch of sea monster decorations too.

But the ceiling of stars… Must’ve been Father and Persephone? The stones are from her garden, but the ones for the Hunters constellation are diamonds that definitely came from Father. It’s intended as a message, and he’s just not up for trying to parse out his feelings about any of that.

No matter how many times Father and Percy tell him he belongs, he just feels too different. Too strange. People don’t make sense to him. And the way Castellan keeps looking at him, like he’s frightened- No. Don’t think about that.

Nico only stays the one night and heads back to Mount Tamalpais at dawn on June twelfth. He does stop off in the Underworld and Father says some things that Nico needs to think about later. Apparently, Father is super doubling down on Nico distancing himself.

He just can’t think about that now.

Because, right now, he needs to be an almost lieutenant of Kronos and be ready to enter the Labyrinth, yet again.

This time, he lets Blondie drag them through eight tunnels. Nico keeps count. Then, he politely suggests summoning another spirit to guide them.

Castellan is super twitchy about this. He says they should wait a little longer first.

Yay.

When he summoned Theseus, it’d been fun to be a creepy little gremlin at the time. But he definitely overdid the drama. Castellan will not stop giving him these little looks. It’s getting hard to ignore.

They end up back in the room they’d met the awesome lion lady. Nico’s not sure the others recognise it. Without the Mist, it just looks like a sad empty room with a lot of suspicious scratch marks.

He does make sure Minos doesn’t send them through a river, an aquarium and a sewer this time.

Which means they end up in a tunnel with copper sheeting along the walls. They walk for what feels like forever before they reach a pressurised hatch.

Blondie is absolutely gleeful and seems certain Daedalus is on the other side. Is she an idiot?

Nico waits a few more moments for Ethan or Castellan to jump in, but both seem to actually agree with Blondie.

Fine. Whatever.

Nico stays in the tunnel as the other three open the door and walk inside. The door with the very large Greek letter on it. An Eta. As in H? For Hephaestus?

He could feel the essence before they even entered the copper lined tunnel. This is an entrance into an Olympian’s workshop.

And Hephaestus is in da house.

Nico smirks to himself when all three scramble back into the tunnel like the hounds of hell are behind them.

Huh. So. Totally fine with Hera but scared of Hephaestus? Definitely lacking in common sense. Hephaestus would just kill them, no muss no fuss.

Hera on the other hand… Yeah, she’s big on the whole decades of unending torture thing.

As entertaining as that was, the running flat-out thing gets old fast. The other three seem to think Hephaestus is going to hunt them down.

Blondie’s muttering something about forges and volcanoes. Nico is utterly delighted. Did they think Hephaestus wouldn’t notice or something?

He’s still not clear what they are doing at Mount St Helens, but he does know something’s going on there that shouldn’t be.

Huh. No better time than the present. Minos tells him there’s a route to the volcano that he knows. So Nico gives the grouchy ghost permission to lead them there.

He’s going to have to send Minos back to Father soon. He’s getting way too pissy to deal with. He hates to drag Theseus from Elysium, mostly because it’s creepy the way he looks like Percy, but if this keeps up, he so will.

The others finally slow down and Nico starts asking chirpy innocent questions about what Blondie meant about volcanoes?

She happily switches into Athena lecture mode.

“Mount St Helens is a forge that Hephaestus used to use. But when Olympus moved to America, they trapped Typhon beneath it. That’s why it keeps erupting. Typhon is waking. He’s going to lead the attack.”

Castellan makes a harsh noise at her, but she ignores him. Nico is impressed by Blondie’s pride thing. Normally it’s just annoying, but like, Nico isn’t actually sworn to their cause? Is she really telling him this?

He asks hesitantly, “Wasn’t he the one who is said to have almost defeated Sky King?”

Blondie grins savagely, “Yes! He’s one of the deadliest monsters in history. He’s said to be the brother of Python. He almost won the last Titan war!”

Nico blinks at that bit. Percy is very tight lipped about a lot of the prophet stuff, but Nico is aware that Python was not so much a monster as a Fates created being. Until Apollo came along Python interacted with no-one. Nico really hopes that Blondie just has her stories confused, because if Typhon was formed by the Fates…

Hang on. Typhon. Python. Nico may be dyslexic but he just realised… Yeah. Definitely translation issues happening there. Blondie’s wrong.

He listens as Blondie goes on to tell all about the time Typhon almost won the Titan War.

Which is- What? Since when was Typhon at the Titan War? wasn’t he born like, ages afterwards?

Like, wasn’t the whole point of Typhon’s existence that Gaia was super pissed about the Titan War and the Giant War?

There’s no point asking that question. Blondie doesn’t like her knowledge being directly challenged.

“Wait, didn’t you say Sky King defeated him all by himself?”

Blondie hesitates before adding, “Well, the stories say that during the Titan War, Typhon was drugged with the grapes of Dionysus. Zeus wouldn’t have managed it otherwise.”

What? Dionysus is the youngest of the Olympians. He definitely wasn’t around for that war.

He asks extra innocently, “Which story was that?”

Blondie gives a kinda garbled answer about the Bibliotheca which is kinda amusing.

She is very insistent that during the war, most of the gods had already fled from Typhon. Typhon cut out Zeus’s sinews and hid them, but Hermes stole them back. Typhon somehow ended up drugged with the grapes of Dionysus and Zeus dropped Mount Etna on him.

Ignoring the bit where Typhon, Hermes and Dionysus didn’t exist at that time, it does suggest Typhon can be defeated.

From what Father has said, the Titanomachy was fought by the six children of Kronos and Aphrodite, alongside the Elder Cyclopes, the Hekatonkheires and some of the second generation Titans.

Given that Typhon happened well after that, even if Typhon is more formidable than Kronos, it does sound like Zeus managed on his own?

Huh. Nico needs to talk to Percy about that. Could just be Zeus telling stories, the guy does like people to think he did everything all on his lonesome. But if he did succeed by himself or just with one of the ‘lesser’ gods assisting, maybe all the backroom dealing the gods have been up to will be useful if or when Typhon is released?

It took Father, Poseidon and Zeus working in tandem to defeat Kronos. But they managed it. Is Typhon harder or easier than Kronos to subdue?

Blondie seems to think Typhon will do all the heavy lifting and destroy the Olympians so she and Castellan can take their ‘rightful place’ and ‘fix everything’.

He chirpily asks, “So you’ll be killing the Grey Eyed One too?”

Nico’s really not clear on what their plans are for Athena and Hermes. Both of them talk about how they just wanted the gods to care about them. Exactly how does that work if they’ve overthrown them?

Suddenly, she doesn’t want to talk about Typhon anymore. Castellan is very glad to redirect the conversation.

Guy gets majorly twitchy when Blondie starts talking about them on Olympian thrones. Chase has said several times that Nico will be ruling the Underworld when they overthrow the gods. Castellan gets so shifty when she does.

Does he really think Nico actually believes they’d give him the Underworld? He’s twelve?

Also. No thank you?

Then again, he has said a lot of super dramatic things about how much better he’d be then Father. Father had all sorts of helpful ideas for things he can say.

Minos easily keeps herding Blondie and Castellan towards the volcano. He’s getting a little too good at the whole sudden chills and weird creepy noises that make them instinctively choose the only option that feels safe. Nico is totally not taking notes. Nope.

Blondie starts getting twitchy when the tunnel heats up, but Nico distracts her with another dumb question. This time, he channeled all his twelve year old energy into asking if she has a bellybutton.

It’s just perfect! She legit walks into one of the glowing hot walls. Castellan has to yank her back. She stares at Nico all wide-eyed before going into a super intense rant about Athena and how her children are gifts.

He internally winces when she tells him that Athena loved her dad in the same way she loved Odysseus. Comparing anyone to Odysseus is a definite choice. The old stories make him sound bad and the truth is just… yowzer.

Blondie rants on about how Athena’s children are meant to be a gift.

Specifically, “A blessing from Athena on the men she favours,”

Nico asks brightly, “What about the women she likes?

He doesn’t even get to the question about non-binary people before Blondie trips over nothing and turns to stare blankly at him again.

Like sure, that bit did kinda catch Nico by surprise when he first came to camp. But he was literally born in the 1930’s? And missing most of his memory?

He feels like it’s kind of understandable that he needed a few conversations before he really understood that the Greek world was different.

But seriously, what’s her excuse?

She’s the one who won’t shut up about Pasiphae and the cow. But somehow that’s way more reasonable then her mother with a woman?

Blondie decides she doesn’t want to talk about Athena anymore.

She never tells him if she has a belly button. Shame.

Like. He does actually know the answer, he’s been at the camp for two years now. But that question is always guaranteed to derail Athena kids mid-lecture. He and Percy both use it when one of them gets too intense with the info dumping.

Doesn’t work on Jonathon though. Dude just kept talking and raised his shirt enough to show his very normal bellybutton. Didn’t even hesitate. If not for his looks and smarts, Nico would swear Jonathon isn’t actually an Athena kid.

Jonathon leans hard into the handicraft stuff, and is a lot more like Leo when it comes to the whole intense excitement whenever he learns something new, but he’s also like, stupid smart.

Percy always gets a really thoughtful look on his face whenever people talk about how Jonathon is nothing like his mother.

He’s definitely nothing like Blondie. Nico kind suspects Blondie is nothing like Athena was supposed to be. Or who she still is under all that pride? Like, would Athena really argue with a Sphinx?

They emerge inside a volcano not long after that. Like. Literally inside. It’s a massive cavernous space and most of the floor is very literal lava. Some sort of balcony type platform has been built around the edges and there’s even bridges going across it.

The central section is a suspended platform that looks like an actual forge area. Machines, anvil, smelting pots, the usual. Though the anvil is particularly massive.

Nico stretches out his senses, curious to see what metal they’re using.

Okay. Unexpected. Celestial bronze and mortal steel. Same as Castellan’s weird sword, the one Bi broke.

Didn’t Kronos have an adamantine sickle? Are they making weapons for the army?

Castellan announces they may as well check on “their progress” while they’re here. He does give Nico a bit of a look but based on his essence he still genuinely believes that Nico is loyal to the cause. His concern seems to be more that the ‘other side’ might be able to turn him.

Because, you know, Nico’s such a fickle child and all.

The whole place seems to be filled with Telkhines.

Telkhines are one of the more interesting monsters. Both Father and Uncle make snarky comments about lying sea demons whenever they come up in conversation.

Uncle especially hates them because they have this weird idea that Atlantis is their rightful home and the cyclopes have usurped them somehow. Except the Telkhines have never lived in Atlantis. Or underwater. They lived on an island. They’ve just decided Atlantis belongs to them because it’s in the ocean and has forges.

The Telkhines like to claim they forged Uncle Poseidon’s trident. And only Poseidon’s Trident, out of those first three symbols of power.

All three were forged at the same time by the Elder Cyclopes for the war against Kronos. Specifically, the three cyclopes who are Briares three youngest brothers. Or three oldest brothers. Depends who you ask.

Telkhines certainly look incredibly weird. Nico much prefers the cyclopes. This lot are very shiny and black and have weird puppy dog faces and semi-formed limbs like they can’t decide if they want to be mermaids with flippers or people with arms and legs. They are also a good seven feet tall. At least the adults are.

There’s a whole bunch of younger Telkhines here. Which is kinda confusing. Baby cyclopes happen when sea gods get with various nymphs or naiads. But most monsters don’t really breed? There’s a set number of them and every time they get killed they end up in Tartarus until they reform and find their way back to the surface.

The divine animals that breed are more like, actual animals? Apollo’s sacred cattle for example.

There are tribes of some creatures. Centaurs are still everywhere. Uncle definitely would have mentioned it if the Telkhines were a tribe.

Nico could have sworn there’s only meant to be four Telkhines at most. Though he can only remember three names, so it might’ve been three? Since when was there a whole army of them?

Nico cracks and asks Blondie, “What’s with the baby sea lion monsters?”

She very enthusiastically tells them that Telkhines can self replicate through magic. Okie dokie. They’re baby clones. Not the weirdest thing Nico’s ever seen.

Blondie then tells him they were banished to Tartarus for using magic.

Nico just nods and moves on. The Telkhines may not have forged Poseidon’s trident but they definitely forged Kronos's sickle. Or scythe. Depends who you ask as to what it actually was. Either way, the Telkhines made the scythe and were imprisoned like everyone on the losing side of that war.

Practically everyone in the divine world uses magic. Even the creepy unfun blood magic sort. They don’t get sent to Tartarus for it.

Nico knows where the scythe is now. Demeter uses it as an actual sickle to harvest wheat. Father finds it very disturbing. Kronos used that sickle to castrate Uranus. Like. Literally. That is a thing that Kronos did. Zeus used the same scythe to cut Kronos into itty bitty pieces.

And now, Demeter uses it to cut wheat.

Both Uncle and Father kinda hate Demeter just for breathing, but Nico agrees on that one. It is super disturbing.

But that scythe was made of adamantine. War Drum and Percy have way too many weapons made of adamantine, but it isn’t actually common.

Father had finally explained to Nico exactly how he and Uncle seem to have an unlimited supply.

It’s because they do.

Adamantine is created from deep pressure. The sort only found in hidden pockets of the ocean and a few places in the Underworld that reach into the earth’s core.

Zeus, in his sky realm, has no access to such things. The only adamantine on Olympus is in his Master Bolt and Demeter’s sickle.

Neither Father nor Uncle have felt the need to tell Zeus that they can get adamantine on demand. They don’t normally use it, but they like having access to it.

They’ve outfitted Percy, War Drum, and Nico with it because they know a war is coming and they want their children to have the best chance possible.

Father says they gave it to them so far in advance so they’d have time to train and drill with the weapons. Uncle didn’t want them to be fighting a war with unfamiliar weapons.

But it is not remotely normal for demigods to possess so much as an aurichalcum knife, let alone all the adamantine they have.

Kronos clearly has no access to it either. Which is… interesting.

Does this mean that Castellan’s weird sword is the strongest weapon they forged? Or was it like some sort of failed experiment? That sword definitely could cut through normal celestial bronze, but it didn’t stand a chance against adamantine or stygian iron.

Nico follows along behind the others as one of the older Telkhines tells Castellan and Chase all about their progress on ‘the weapon’. They are finally led to the central platform.

Their guide tells them, “The blade is almost complete. It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals.”

Okay. Gross. Why blood?

One of the workers adds, “Aye. It shall be even sharper than before.”

Nico focuses his senses on the thing they’re talking about. What? That’s not adamantine. That’s a weird celestial bronze and steel mix. They literally mentioned fusing metals. How is it going to be sharper?

Unless they mean it’s sharper than Castellan’s weird sword? Isn’t this meant to be for Kronos?

Nico stares at the red hot blade on the anvil. It’s a good six feet long and is definitely a scythe. Or a sickle? Nah. He’s just gonna call it a scythe.

Back when Percy first found out Nico can make stuff cold, he had this idea for an amazing prank.

Specifically, Leo was going on about how he wanted to make some sort of Japanese sword that required the metal to be like, repeatedly heated and folded in layers. It’s some intensely long process that takes forever because of all the folding or something.

Leo would not stop talking about it. For literal months.

He made test knives first. Percy talked Leo into making two knives at once. He wasn’t quite mean enough to destroy the only final product. But he insisted the second would be for him, and Leo went along with it.

Nico and Percy stopped in at the forge while Leo was working on them. Nico added just a touch of glacial cold in a single thread to one of the freshly finished knives that were still red hot from the forge.

The first time the knife struck something, it shattered along that same line. It took like, no force too.

Leo, being an utter weirdo, was absolutely delighted after he got over his complete shock. The metal layers were meant to stop it sheering off like that or something.

He even had Nico do it on purpose so he could study the shatter patterns of forged metals. Like he said, total weirdo. But in a good way? Leo’s fun. Just gets hyper focused on the most random of topics.

It means Nico has an excellent idea for that scythe. That’s just lying there all glowing hot and super tempting. The scythe that’s waiting for its final cooling.

Yeah. He has no self control. He’s gonna.

He wanders over to look at it while the other keeps talking to the Telkhines about cooling things in blood and dark magic.

He listens kinda distantly as the Telkhines talk about how they intend to slice Uncle into pieces and cast him and all the Olympians into Tartarus. They are really pissed about him ‘stealing’ a trident they never made.

He stretches out with his essence and pulls at the weird freezing cold in his centre and lets it draw lines across the blade at different points.

No-one’s watching. Even if they had, all they’d see is a twelve year old boy with wide excited eyes fixed on the enormous scythe thing. No chance they’ll see the near invisible lines where the red glow has abruptly cooled.

He quickly rejoins the others after that. He’s not Percy. Percy is somewhat lava proof and heat proof. Because Poseidon. Nico is not. He could totally see Percy attempting to make the volcano go boom or something in order to deal with all the Telkhines, but sneakiness is more Nico’s thing.

He’s never actually dealt with the weird celestial bronze and steel compound metal, or blood magic, but he’s still betting basic physics applies. Cold spots are bad.

He’s almost happy to go back into the Labyrinth this time. He would like to be elsewhere before the Telkhines realise their shiny new weapon is totally ruined.

________________________

“Priss, what’s wrong?”

Kids been pacing around camp all day. She’s never seen him so stressed out. They saw Grover, Castor and Rachel four days ago. Not hearing back yet isn’t really at the pacing level of panic.

They literally saw Nico this morning when he left for Mount Tamalpais. So can’t be that either.

He shakes his head at her, “I- I don’t know how to explain. It shouldn’t happen. I did everything I can. But if it’s going to happen, today is the day.”

She gives him a blank look, “Are we gonna get attacked?”

He jerks, “What? No. It’s-” He throws his hands up. “I hate the prophet thing! I really fucking hate it War Drum!”

She stares at him. Okay. This is different.

This is totally a Lee level problem.

She grabs Prissy’s wrist and drags him to the Big House.

Lee is getting way too used to people storming into his office, he just glances up all casually and goes, “Yes?”

“Prissy’s like, super freaked and yelling about how he hates being a prophet. He won’t explain. Fix it!”

Lee blinks and tilts his head to see the sheepish Prissy standing behind her.

“Okay, come on you two, let’s go find somewhere quiet.

With the sea floor training grounds off limits and camp absolutely stuffed to the gills with campers, Hunters and auxiliaries, quiet isn’t really possible. They end up on Apeiron.

Lee pushes Prissy into a couch and asks him all crankily if this requires hot chocolate.

When Priss says no, he gets an energy drink shoved at him instead. Lee’s totally given up on the detoxing stuff. He super hated the whole mortal middle school thing.

Possibly even more than they did.

When Prissy tried to ask him about it Lee said he’d talk to Silena about it, and he’s not trauma dumping on his own kids.

Lee ends up sitting next to Priss and wrapping his arm around him while Prissy keeps stopping and starting and entirely failing to explain.

Clarisse finds a convenient counter to sit on where she can supervise, but will also be far enough away that she won’t end up tempted to punch Prissy for whatever stupid thing he’s got in his head this time.

It comes out in bits and pieces but Clarisse eventually gets a fair idea of why Prissy is freaked.

Actually. She is also freaked now.

Like. What the hell?

Apparently, if Priss had taken a different path it would’ve been him in the Labyrinth and at some point he’d have ended up accidentally stumbling into Mount St Helen’s where Telkhines are forging weapons for Kronos's army.

It’s also where Typhon is imprisoned. So, super terrible all around.

Prissy’s explanation of what happened while he was there is super jumbled. Some sort of combination of overwhelming auras, way too many Telkhines and the whole dark blood magic thing super triggered stuff for him. Prissy reached too deep when he used his earthquake powers and kinda made the volcano erupt?

With him inside.

That got a very exasperated “Prissy!” from her, and an equally exasperated, though much quieter, “Perce,” from Lee.

He had been flung out of the volcano with the explosion and ended up on Calypso’s island. Lee went like, rigid when Prissy says that.

Oh. No. This is gonna be bad isn’t it? Prissy doesn’t talk about Calypso. Just says Odysseus totally deserved her.

Oh. Gods. Yeah. Uh. Nope. Still nothing. The random sentences Priss says are all completely horrifying. They also don’t make sense, but if they mean what she thinks…

Lee finally steps in and tells Clarisse the story because Prissy just plain can’t.

He’s clearly dreamed it, but actually telling it his horrifying him. Which, totally fair. Kid’s fourteen. That is not a story for fourteen year olds. Actually. Not a story for people of any age.

Calypso lives on Ogygia. It’s another prison. One that doesn’t actually exist. But also does. Gods really didn’t want people finding her by accident.

The myths say she was banished there just because Atlas is her father. Which makes no sense, because Zoe?

Atlas also isn’t actually her father. There are three sister sorceresses born to Helios and Perse; Calypso, Pasiphae and Circe.

Calypso was punished for participating in the Titan War and supporting Kronos. But she’s trapped on the island for another reason entirely.

Calypso is on Ogygia because she’s a sorceress who is a sadistic predator. She likes to keep people. They stay aware but completely unable to control their own bodies. She turns them into puppets and keeps them that way. She enjoys breaking them.

Poseidon is the one who built her prison and he keeps her there for what she did to a long forgotten child of Poseidon. Poseidon is vengeful and protective even on his good days. Get him on a bad day and well…

Calypso had taken this child of Poseidon and hidden them from their father for literal decades, she broke their mind and utterly destroyed them.

Lee quietly adds that this happened just after Asterion was cursed by Calypso’s sister.

Oh. Gods.

She asks very hesitantly, “Why would Priss end up there?”

Priss has his face buried in Lee’s shirt and she doubts he’s coming out anytime soon. The path may never happen, but he still had to see at least some of that.

There’s something else still bothering him, but she doubts he’ll share until they’ve gotten past the Calypso thing.

Lee purses his lips, “I think it would depend on how that path unfolded. Gods occasionally send mortals there as punishment. If one of the gods was particularly upset…”

Percy mumbles into Lee’s shirt, and Lee’s face turns to pure shock.

He asks Priss, “You’re sure of that?” Prissy nods against him.

Lee looks over at Clarisse, all confusion, “The Queen of Heaven sent him there.”

That’s it. Clarisse stalks over and pulls Priss off Lee. She glares into his eyes looking for any sign of hesitation, “Priss? She gonna backstab us?”

He wipes at his face, entirely ignoring that their noses are practically touching, and shakes his head. “No. It’s the dominoes thing. Shadow was way more distant on that path and she blamed me for not helping him. I was a lot closer to Chase as well, and that pissed her off because of the way Chase treats her family.”

Clarisse lets him hide his face on Lee again and plops down beside him. Sandwiching the kid in between her and Lee.

Lee quietly explains that mortals are sent there and Calypso inevitably ‘falls in love with them’. Or at least, her version of falling in love.

There’s some really uncomfortable stories about how she’s only sent heroes who aren’t willing to stay and that this is her actual punishment. Like, she rants about the Fates doing it on purpose or some insane thing like that.

Not that she’s an absolutely sadistic bitch who does, well, ‘that’, to every person she meets. Why would anyone want to stay near her?

Apparently, every time a mortal has been sent to her, her treatment has been so horrific that a god intervenes and retrieves them again. Even Odysseus.

“Prissy, why is this upsetting you? As in, today specifically?”

She feels her blood run cold when he tells her that he’d seen Nico in the forge under Mount St Helens. Lee is quick to assure both of them that Hera genuinely likes Nico, she’s been sending him food in the Labyrinth after all.

It’s still terrifying. There’s nothing they can do. Poseidon is virtually out of contact. He’s the only god who can reliably access Calypso’s island.

They go round in circles for a bit until Lee points out that they can listen to the mortal news, if something happens at Mount St Helens it’ll be reported.

They both gawp at him. It totally had not occurred to them that this was a thing they could do.

It helps a tonne. They go back to camp and she and Priss set up in Cabin Three with a radio on low. When nothing has been reported by nightfall and Prissy says he felt Nico’s aura go back into the Labyrinth, they both relax.

She tells him she’s sleeping on the daybed in his room tonight and he just shrugs back unbothered. Cabin Three is like, the only cabin where it’s patron god genuinely doesn’t mind who sleeps in it, so long as Priss or Georgie okays them.

Ares gets pissed if Prissy so much as puts a toe inside Cabin Five. Even Hermes has rules, all travellers might be accepted but claimed children of Olympians, not so much.

Neither of them are surprised when Lee shows up close to midnight with red eyes and pulls the trundle bed out. Nightmares are not kind to demigods.

Lee might have left them to it but she’s sure he spent the day listening to the news as closely as they did.

She has no idea what they were gonna do, but if the crazy lady got hold of their little brother she absolutely was going to ventilate her with Aniketos.

It’s something that Clarisse is struggling with. Not Calypso and Nico, she just doesn’t want that to happen. So long as it doesn’t happen, she’s fine.

What she’s struggling with is the way she’s changing.

She stares at Prissy’s glowy starry ceiling with the new Hunters constellation and all the weird sea monsters swimming under the stars and tries to sort her head out.

Eurytion calling her Enyo kinda freaked her more than she wants to admit.

The Soteria thing… Prissy says it as a joke, but only in private and he doesn’t share it around. Besides, Soteria was a shield, a protector. Enyo was the spirit of war. Of death and violence and bloodshed.

They are preparing for war. Lee’s contingencies plans aren’t just for whenever Castellan actually makes a move on the camp. They are also for next year. For actual all out war against actual Titans and enemy demigods as well as monsters.

Fighting has always been fun. It’s in her blood. She needs to move, to fight. But killing? Actual killing? Not so much. The monsters she’s killed, the ones that are part of the stories Prissy tells… They were genuine monsters. Even Polyphemus.

Every time she’s been faced with fighting demigods, she’s taken the easy way out. Last winter at the waterfront, she’d knocked them into the harbour and whichever sea god had been monitoring them teleported them elsewhere.

She’s no more asked what happened to them then she’s asked what Triton did with Victoria, the camper who tried to unleash a pit scorpion on Prissy. If she doesn’t know, she can keep believing she’s not responsible for their deaths.

Last winter, he’d hesitated when Chase squared up to her with nothing but that little bronze dagger. She’s received messages from Triton, Poseidon, Apollo and even Hades since. All different versions of ‘you must never hesitate like that again.’

They’re right. She put everyone at risk. She couldn’t kill Chase because of the fate thing, but she still should’ve dropped her. There were endless non-lethal but still incapacitating injuries she could have caused.

It’s not just Chase that can make her hesitate.

It’s herself too.

Calypso is a terrible person. But she is a person. One that Clarisse is genuinely willing to actually kill. They joke endlessly about murdering each other, but it’s a joke. Not something they’d ever do.

She and Prissy would never spar if either thought there was an actual risk of serious injury. They still don’t spar with god-level weapons unless there’s someone there to supervise who isn’t Lee or Chiron.

As they’ve gotten older Lee has talked pretty openly about how the time he shot Beck was a major wakeup call for him. He’d only hit him in the arm, but he’d been good friends with the guy. Beck had called him Cassandra as a joke and a teenage Lee flipped out.

Lee’s never killed. The drakon was probably the first actual monster he’s killed and she’s near certain that’s why Prissy manipulated him into it.

Shooting Beck is the only real injury Lee’s given someone. Yet he’s preparing for a war and Lee absolutely knows there will be actual killing happening.

When Castellan does attack camp, it won’t just be monsters. It’ll be demigods too.

They aren’t sparring for fun, not even Prissy is treating training like a game anymore. All of them are training with the knowledge that sometime very soon they’ll have to choose to kill or be killed.

There’s a very high chance that by the end of summer she’ll have killed actual people. Enemy combatants, sure. But also. Living breathing demigods. Some who are probably children of Ares.

Half-siblings just like Nathan and Sherman. Just like Eurytion.

Clarisse has no idea how she feels about that.

________________________

Nico stares blankly as Castellan and Chase try to use an actual literal paper map to navigate the Labyrinth.

He’d really thought he’d seen it all. But nope.

A. Paper. Map.

Castellan cracks first and grabs the map off Blondie and crumples it up, muttering about how it should’ve been the last turn.

He had finally told Nico that ’someone’ told him they’d need to pass through an arena before they got to the centre.

Nico had given Minos such a filthy look at that one. The ghost had given him a far too innocent look back.

Nico’d had to shove at him with his own power to get the guy to admit that while he can lead Nico around the arena, demigods without shadow travel abilities have to go through it.

Just perfect.

Castellan tells Chase, “Maps are useless here!”

She immediately reassures him, “Don’t worry. I’ll find it!”

Uh huh. Like she has so far?

They do their same back and forth patter about how the larger the group is, the more likely they are to get lost, that’s why they sent single scouts. But it’ll be fine, because as soon as they get the thread they’ll be able to lead the vanguard through.

He’s seriously getting the impression that Castellan and Blondie believe very different things about the Labyrinth.

Until they actually entered the Labyrinth, they’d been limiting how much information they shared with Nico. Because he’s a kid and all. But in the Labyrinth they don’t really have the option of secret chats away from him.

Nico’s been hearing more and more about this ‘Quintus' lately. From the way Minos perks up, it’s definitely the guy he wants to do the soul exchange with.

Nico’s kinda assuming that Quintus and Daedalus are one and the same. And neither name is the guys actual name, since ‘Fifth’ and ‘Inventor’ aren’t really names?

Chase and Castellan definitely don’t know this. Blondie seems certain Daedalus is at the centre of the maze. Castellan always assures her he will be, but when he talks about finding the centre he always mentions needing to meet Quintus there.

Ethan asks how he’s so certain Quintus has the answer.

Castellan is instantly all reassurance, “Oh, Quintus will come through. All we have to do is reach the arena, and it’s at a juncture. Impossible to get anywhere without passing it. That’s why we must have a truce with its master.”

Nico super hates the way the guy starts talking like Kronos every time an ‘underling’ asks a question. It’s almost as irritating as the way the guy mimics Lee when he talks to Nico or Blondie.

Does the guy actually have his own voice, or does he just mimic everyone else?

Like, if his essence was genuine, Nico ‘might’ be okay with it, but there is nothing genuine about Castellan.

Lee hates lying, like absolutely utterly despises it. It’s such an intrinsic part of him that his whole essence feels honest.

Nico’s seen Lee the times where he’s had to lie. His whole essence twists. It’s awful to see. But Lee’s lies are usually to protect Percy and he never lies to someone he considers family. If he can’t tell Nico something, that’s what Lee tells him. He doesn’t lie.

Okay. He does occasionally lie about whether there’s caffeine in the Big House, but that sort of lie doesn’t exactly count.

Castellan seems incapable of not lying. Like it’s as necessary as breathing. Nico hates it so much.

Nico digs deep and find his most hesitant I’m just a twelve year old who knows nothing voice.

“Um. I could summon a spirit? If the map isn’t working, it might help?”

Castellan eyes him, “You’re certain you can prevent it from possessing anyone?”

Yeah, he definitely overdid that summoning for Theseus. Castellan seems almost frightened of the whole spirit thing.

Nico nods enthusiastically, “Yep! Theseus was fine, wasn’t he?”

Chase asks if she can pick who he summons. What? He’s not a McDonalds!

Castellan is looking even more afraid, so guess it’s time to make some shit up?

Nico gives her some bullshit explanation about how he can call ‘a shade’ who will guide them but won’t really be a person.

He’s intending to just use Minos, but he’s gonna make them work for it first. And this way Castellan can stop looking frightened of Nico. Nico super doesn’t like it.

It’s one thing to do something to deliberately scare people, but Castellan seems to just be afraid because he’s a son of Hades who can do stuff with dead people.

He looks at Nico the same way he looks at Kelli. Kelli is a vampiric monster who drinks people’s blood. For Castellan to look at Nico with the same fear is- Yeah. And that… Yeah. It just makes Nico feel like total crap. Even after everything Father said to him.

Yeah, best to pretend he didn’t notice any of that. Time to focus on being a chaos causing gremlin and stop feeling like Castellan or Blondie’s opinions matter.

They think Percy’s an idiot after all. Their opinions are irrelevant. Torturing them should be fun. So Nico will make sure it is.

Castellan has acquired a folding shovel thing since the last time they were in the maze. Nico watches gleefully as he digs another three foot deep pit.

Nico does all the same ritual bullshit, and this time makes a wisp of glowy light that sticks around. He so isn’t going to give Minos free rein to actually communicate with the other three. But they are all super willing to follow the glowy light.

He ignores the way Castellan is so relieved it doesn’t look like a person.

Chase entirely fails to notice that every turn they take is one that leads down. According to Minos, that’s the main trick of navigating the Labyrinth when you don’t have clear sight. Might also land you in Tartarus though.

Blondie does bicker constantly about how they should be choosing the tunnels with older architecture. Because “that’s more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, towards Daedalus's workshop.”

Nico just gives her wide innocent eyes and says the ghost says to go straight. Minos suggests sending her down that particular tunnel anyway, apparently there’s a trap made of spikes. Nico is far too tempted.

Interestingly, all the constant skeletons stop once he summons his wisp of light. The Labyrinth is totally just screwing with him, isn’t it?

They walk for an eternity but end up in a long brick tunnel that slopes straight down. Nico can already feel the not fun essence at the end. Yay.

He can feel earth and ocean, which is a very strange mix in an essence. Percy has sunlight and ocean, which makes a little more sense.

Also that is a lot of skulls, but not like the Sphinx thing. These don’t have souls attached. Whoever they were, they’ve been given their funeral rites and sent on their way.

But someone definitely collected their skulls. For reasons?

Ohhhh, Nico knows who this is.

Nico actually stops them this time and turns to Castellan.

He keeps his voice super hesitant, “Um, Luke? You mentioned an arena? I can feel something, kinda really not great down that way? Like a tonne of skulls?”

Actually, he’s pretty sure he just found Antaeus, a son of Poseidon who’s been missing for like, millennia. But he’d like to know what Castellan knows first.

Yeah, Castellan is definitely expecting this. Nico’s gleeful at the look Castellan throws Blondie. The whole Sphinx thing hasn’t seemed to make an impact.

Nico’s betting Scarface really wishes he still had his silvertongue right about now. He may not have used it on her before but Nico is certain Castellan wouldn’t even hesitate if he still had access to it.

Especially since Blondie definitely only knows the myth about Heracles wrestling Antaeus. She gonna try to pick the guy up or something?

There’s been a lot of enthusiastic debates at camp about how the other kids would defeat Antaeus. It started up just after Nico and Bianca came to live there, after Chase left. It’s one of those questions that’s turned into like, an ongoing challenge?

Lee says it’s just kind at the demigod version of the Gordian knot and it’s good for the campers to exercise their lateral thinking skills.

That whole thing where Antaeus heals from anything so long as he’s in contact with the earth, but he’s also meant to be giant sized and incredibly strong?

The old stories claim Heracles picked the guy up and killed him by holding him up in the air.

Percy’s explained what actually happened, he’s never minded telling this particular moronic loser story.

Heracles's actual solution is not as bad as other things he’s done. Seducing the guy did work after all. But Nico would really like to be elsewhere if any of this lot are intending to use that strategy.

Heracles does make sure everyone knows he slept with Antaeus's wife after he ‘defeated’ Antaeus himself. It really doesn’t make things any better.

And again. Nico would like to be elsewhere if Castellan or Blondie try that solution. Please and thank you.

Castellan very carefully tells Blondie that this is the arena they talked about. He reminds her she needs to be quiet and not talk. She looks mulishly back at him. He tells her that the quicker they get past the arena, the sooner she’ll be able to find Daedalus.

Okay. Nico’s extra weirded out now. Why’s the guy treating her like she’s a child? Blondie’s like a week off turning sixteen. She’s really not a little kid?

She glares at Castellan but does finally agree.

The arena is a big empty space, full of skulls. Just like he expected.

They don’t have the same abandoned soul feel that the skeletons they keep coming across have.

All funeral rites have been given and their souls are in the Underworld where they should be. This is very much intended as a temple. Still not so nice to see them completely surrounding the place and hanging off the ceiling too.

There’s also an absolute giant banner on the wall depicting Uncle’s trident.

Oh, Uncle would not be happy to see that. Tridents and their imagery are for the very select few children that Uncle chooses to fully acknowledge.

Uncle gleefully covers Percy in trident symbols. Percy says he does it mostly ‘cause it annoys Triton, if there’s literally no space left on his armour for a conch shell to be stamped. Percy and War Drum have an ongoing debate about switching breastplates on their Atlantean armour, just to see if Triton or Uncle explodes first.

Anyway, Antaeus and his whole born of Gaia and Poseidon weirdness is not something Uncle acknowledges.

Antaeus himself is super tall, a good fifteen foot in height. He’s wearing a little kilt type loin cloth type thing and nothing else. His tattoos are kinda impressive, tonnes of individual blue waves covering all of his skin. That must’ve hurt like a tonne.

Giant guy grins at them and claps his hands. “New entertainment! Excellent! I was getting so very bored!”

Nico is very happy to slink back into the shadows and leave the actual conversation to the others. Ethan looks no happier about all of this than Nico is.

Castellan introduces himself as, “Luke Castellan, Lieutenant of Lord Kronos.”

The giant guy narrows his eyes at him, “That may be, but you are also a son of Hermes. God of Travellers. I don’t like him. He tries to stop me challenging people. Says they’re under his protection. It’s why I moved to the Labyrinth, no pesky gods down here.”

Nico watches with glee as Castellan processes that little fun fact. None of Deadbeat’s kids are happy about the way he ignores them.

Percy says he has some sort of long term plan for Cabin Eleven. But it requires some sort of leverage on Zeus first. Nico doubts it’ll be Hermes doing the actual caring about his own children part.

Luke Castellan is the only child Hermes really cares about, but that isn’t saying much. Like, the whole overthrowing the gods stuff is going way too far, but Nico doesn’t blame the guy for feeling bitter about how Hermes treats him.

Nico tunes out the ongoing negotiation for safe passage. He’s pretty sure either he or Ethan are going to be left behind as a hostage. He’ll deal with it when it’s decided.

From what Percy’s said, May Castellan tried to take on the spirit and become the Oracle of Delphi back when Luke was a baby. It absolutely shattered her mind. No-one really talks about how bad it was, but Lee’s said Mr D couldn’t help her. Even Apollo tried but nothing really helped.

The gods aren’t allowed to interfere with each other’s children. Not without explicit permission. The only exception is an actual formal big quest with a prophecy.

Hera sending Nico food breaks the sacred laws. The other gods, like Uncle, Artemis and Apollo, have negotiated with Father for unsupervised contact with Nico and Bi.

Hera just does what she wants and everyone seems to have given up controlling her. But if she does more than feed him, Father would be storming Olympus to confront her.

Even feeding him would normally be crossing the line, it’s just that Father is kinda panicking about Nico not eating, so he’s willing to let Hera step in. Anything Father does will draw too much attention to Nico. Whereas he has no connection to Hera, so even if they notice it’ll just baffle Blondie and Castellan.

The rules mean that when May Castellan’s mind broke, and Apollo and Mr D were unable to fix it, they couldn’t stop her taking baby Luke with her when she left the camp.

Hermes set them up with a house and apparently still visited occasionally but it definitely didn’t occur to him that a young baby should not be left with a mother entirely unable to care for it.

Nico had asked Lee about how Castellan had even ended up at camp, especially since so many of Hermes’s children were never located before Percy started searching for them. It’s not something Nico’d ever cared about before, but when they decided he’d be doing the double agent thing, it seemed kinda important.

Apparently, as soon as Castellan turned twelve, Mr D sent a satyr to bring him to camp. Demigods come into their powers around that age and it was the earliest he could justify ‘interfering’. He’d managed to keep Castellan at camp for nearly a year before the guy ran off again.

After that, satyrs were sent to track him down every six months, Apollo’s had helped locate him each time. They just couldn’t keep the guy at the camp. He’d stay a night and leave immediately. The first time he voluntarily stayed was when he brought Chase to the camp when he was eighteen and Chase was seven.

Mr D had waived the rules about campers aging out to keep the guy there. Lee was allowed to stay because he was taking on actual camp duties. Castellan stayed because they were trying to help him. The rules have changed since, but back then, no-one was allowed to stay past their nineteenth birthday.

Lee hadn’t known what changed for Castellan, but Thalia knew. She’d had her own lecture for Nico when she found out where he was going. She told him she’d been injured and Castellan had taken her to his mother’s house for supplies. Hermes had turned up too. Deadbeat has the best timing and all.

Antaeus and Castellan are still arguing about exhibition matches. Blondie is not doing well with the staying quiet thing.

Ethan’s somehow got babysitting duty this time, repeatedly reminding her about the wonderful things she’ll see in Daedalus's workshop. Gods, it’s weird the way they treat her sometimes.

Thalia said they’d already had Chase with them when they went to May Castellan’s house. Thalia’d been a bit too focused on the whole injury situation but she caught enough of Castellan’s ‘conversation’ with his father.

She said, even then, she’d been horrified at how totally blasé Hermes was. He’d told Castellan some stupid thing about how it had been good for him to grow up on the streets because Hermes had left his cradle and set out to steal Apollo’s cradle at birth.

Some gods are super out of touch with the whole mortal thing. Forget punishing Apollo, Hermes is the one who needs a few decades of life as a mortal. Thalia also told Nico that Castellan had said some super concerning things to her about how his mother had treated him.

And how Hermes had told Castellan he was “getting too old to be on the run without help.” Like. What? It’s totally fine to be nine years old and on the streets without help, but not when he’s seventeen and collected two more demigods?

Percy’d even told Nico he’d give him more detail if he wanted it.

Which is huge for Percy. He’s a total steel trap when it comes to people’s secrets. Nico knows about Leo’s mother because Leo told him. Percy’s never said a word. He still knows nothing about War Drum’s family. Even with Blondie, Percy’s only told him things Blondie has said to him, nothing about what he’s seen.

Nico hadn’t taken him up on the offer. Thalia gave him enough information to know that Luke Castellan had been in an absolutely terrible situation and Hermes made it worse.

Very few people ever see Mr D’s caring side. From Castellan’s perspective it must’ve felt like satyrs were legit hunting him down. Dionysus is still famous for his cult in Ancient Greece that would straight up kidnap women in abusive situations.

It’s one of those things that’s super weird in the modern world, but actually makes sense when you break it down.

Same as Apollo and Dionysus being a lot closer than anyone realises. They look to be exact opposites, Apollo’s rationality and solid determined progress, versus Dionysus's absolute chaos and lack of restraint. But as brother gods, they match.

Apollo couldn’t have brought Castellan to camp without drawing too much attention of the wrong sort. You know, because Castellan’s mum tried to take on his cursed Oracle without permission, and therefore the Protector of Youth totally wants to kill her kid too.

Mr D reliving his glory days and having satyrs drag him to camp was totally fine. Because people are insane and incapable of seeing the blatantly obvious.

It was a successful strategy for the most part, he did end up being repeatedly brought to the camp for like seven years straight.

Castellan just never stuck around long enough to understand they were trying to help him. He never saw past Mr D’s whole belligerence thing. He still doesn’t seem to understand they were trying to offer him a home and a sanctuary. He’s completely fixated on Hermes not providing for him and missing the blindingly obvious.

Nico’s had to sit through a lot of ranting from Chase and Castellan about Dionysus. Given that Mr D doesn’t interact with demigods he isn’t interested in, they’ve read a lot into their handful of interactions with the guy.

Which isn’t that unusual. Piper still thinks Mr D is out to get her and has totally failed to realise that Mr D genuinely admires her for the Tantalus thing. But since her reaction is just to double down on the fantasy books and movies, it’s not exactly gonna cause her any issues. Nico suspects Mr D will just respect her more for it.

Still, Nico does actually agree totally with Castellan about Hermes. Nico just doesn’t think it’s reason enough to overthrow Olympus. It’s kind of an extreme reaction? Castellan did have other options. Like, sure, he’s the same age as Lee and camp used to be different, but if Lee could find a home there, why couldn’t he?

War Drum’s father completely ignored her until she started doing heroic things, and she definitely didn’t care about it. Preferred it even. Castellan and Chase are both literally their divine parents current favourite children.

Antaeus and Castellan are still arguing. Gods, this is tedious.

Chase cracks and asks about the skulls and Antaeus joyfully tells her it’s his temple to the Earthshaker. That he killed them all in his father’s name.

He looks Chase over and then asks much more coldly, “You a child of Athena?”

Oh shit.

Antaeus is one of the older children of Poseidon. There’s a good chance he knows more than most about Pallas. Even if he doesn’t, the ‘feud’ between Poseidon and Athena is well known, and often replicated in their children.

If Chase brings up the Pallas thing and Antaeus knows about it, he absolutely will kill them. He might be a little less aggressive if it’s just the vaguer feud stuff. It’ll still suck.

Castellan seems to realise the issue as well and starts speaking extra loudly about how they’ll leave Ethan with Antaeus as a hostage and return to collect him later. He promises to bring monsters for some ‘proper gladiator fighting and entertainment’ when he returns.

Ethan seems entirely unsurprised. Which is less than fun. Nico kind of wishes they’d leave him behind instead, Nico can just shadow travel away. Ethan is super stand-offish but he’s a hell of a lot more tolerable than the other two.

Chase turns on Castellan and starts arguing about how splitting up is a really, really bad idea.

Splitting up is too dangerous and Ethan shouldn’t be left alone. Nico’s honestly surprised by her reaction, he has no idea if she genuinely cares about him or if it’s her whole leading a quest deal.

While Castellan argues with Chase a bit more and Antaeus gleefully watches them, Nico pulls Ethan aside and gives him a whispered rapid-fire rundown of what he knows about Antaeus.

That theoretically, if he’s physically out of contact with the earth, he can probably be defeated, but Heracles hadn’t killed him, just seduced him. Antaeus is very focused on the obvious and handles sneakiness badly, but he also doesn’t expect it.

Ethan looks thoughtful, Nico has no idea what he’ll do with the information. He’s nineteen, he’s free to handle this however he wants. Nico’s done his best.

Castellan won his argument with Chase. There’s a bit more back and forth between Castellan and Antaeus, but eventually they walk out of the arena through the next exit.

On the other side of the door, Blondie immediately starts ranting about how they should have just killed Antaeus. That son of Gaia or not, he’s not invincible and there would be a solution. They just needed to be ‘smart about it’. She bitches about how Castellan didn’t even give her a chance.

Nico interrupts the non-stop ranting, “Um, I still have the spirit with me, do you still want to go the centre?”

That refocuses her. Castellan gives Nico such a grateful look. There is definitely something stressing him. He’s been getting increasingly worried since the last time they were at Mount Tamalpais. Whatever it is, Blondie either doesn’t know or is unbothered by it.

The longer they’re in the Labyrinth, the more sympathy Nico is feeling for him. That whole thing with the Sphinx… Just, why? What on earth possessed Blondie to tell a Sphinx she was a daughter of Athena and the lion lady was insulting her intelligence?

And how exactly would ‘being smart about it’ defeat a giant who heals when he’s in contact with the earth? Like, yes, Percy could probably figure out a solution. His whole fighting style is chaotic unexpected sneakiness, but the rest of them don’t have that advantage.

Not even Percy would try it without any useful weapons. Blondie only has a little knife? And she’s a not yet sixteen year old teenager who is not remotely as physically fit as she was when he first met her two years ago.

Nico so isn’t in the mood for dealing with Daedalus/Quintus, whoever the hell he is, right now. Especially with Minos getting so twitchy.

Nico has to use a lot more power than usual to force Minos to show them a safe area to stop in. He was a bit too determined to make them stay in some sort of Ancient Greek temple type room. It was huge and those marble columns were barely holding the ceiling in place. One little knock and it’d come down on top of them.

Nico’s not that stupid, thank you very much. An extra cranky Minos leads them to a side tunnel that’s a natural cave formation. A bit chilly, but no risk of collapsing ceilings.

Nico announces he’s too tired to maintain the spirit and needs to rest. It works too. Castellan like, slumps with relief. Blondie’s much crankier, but she eventually agrees sleep is probably needed.

Yay.

Even after they set up ‘camp’, Blondie is not being very fun.

Castellan gets a fire started and Blondie starts stabbing it with her knife. Because that makes sense?

Nico is suddenly reminded of Percy’s rants about the zebra’s lack of self-preservation and how she won’t stop trying to square up with Blackjack. Blondie is reminding him way too much of Spot right about now.

She’s still upset with Castellan and she keeps talking about Heracles and how he defeated Antaeus on the way to steal the golden apple.

Nico has to keep himself very still when she starts in on that one. He’s not surprised she waited until Ethan was elsewhere to mention the golden apples, but no way does Blondie know Nico has his own strong opinions on all that.

Percy’s only been telling Zoe’s full story since December. There is no rational reason for Castellan and Blondie to know what an asshole the guy was during that whole thing.

Nico is not entirely surprised to realise Percy left out the part where the guy stopped off on his way to the garden to sleep with a son of Poseidon. Percy did make a vague mention of Heracles telling people he’d stolen Anaklusmos from a son of Poseidon but he’d made it sound like it was a complete lie.

It kinda makes the story even worse, that the guy went straight from Antaeus, and his wife, to promising marriage to Hesperia. Guy got around. It also makes the story less child appropriate, and these are campfire stories after all.

Chase accuses Castellan of losing his nerve and he looks so done. He doesn’t even argue with her. Just sits there while she rants.

Blondie’s like the only one he lets talk to him like that. Nico certainly wouldn’t dare. Guy’s a bit too unhinged to risk provoking him without good reason, and a clear exit strategy.

Blondie doesn’t exactly improve the situation when she turns on Nico and goes, “So which way now, York?”

Nico jerks his head back a bit at that one.

He’s Italian? Sure, his skin is darker than hers, but did she really just call him that? Is Blondie racist too or what?

Nico is a son of Hades. He does have his limits.

He speaks very coldly and precisely, “I would suggest you rephrase that.”

Castellan is clearly only just processing what she said.

He speaks very cautiously, “Uh, Annabeth. Please don’t imply Nico is a slave.”

She looks blank, “What? I just meant he’s a guide?”

Nico’s voice is glacial, “I didn’t hear an apology. Please rephrase.”

She glares at him, her eyes are as cold and grey as Athena’s. Nico doesn’t care. He’s put up with her for months. He’s backed down every single time she’s gone off at him.

This is the line. If she wants to cross it, he and Minos are going to leave them here. Have fun.

Scarface is looking at him with intense eyes and he’s clearly realising that Nico will not be letting go of this one.

Castellan’s voice is very sharp, “Annabeth. Do it. Now.”

She turns on Scarface and he just glares back at her. Finally, without even looking at Nico, she mutters. “I. Am. Sorry. Which way now?”

It’s really not much better but it’ll have to do. He has no idea how she’s connected their Labyrinth exploration to the Lewis and Clark expedition.

If he was a girl was she going to call him Sacagawea?

Nico’s the one born in the 1930’s. Blondie’s been living mostly in the modern mortal world, or at camp where there she had a Lee and a Malcolm?

He needs to start keeping count of the different ‘isms’. There was the sexism with expecting Hera to feed them but being scared of Hephaestus, homophobia with that thing about Athena only getting with men, even though she’s a sworn maiden so why does the gender matter?

He’s not actually sure where her weird bias against children of certain gods fits. Cough, Ares, cough. But now we definitely have racism. Just lovely.

Also, does this mean she’s decided Nico is the equivalent of an enslaved man who was meant to be freed at the end of the expedition but was given the old bait and switch routine instead?

Because he’s not stupid. He’s well aware that they have no intention of giving him Father’s throne. He’s here as a spy, not a convert.

Percy was not wrong when he said that they were guaranteed to underestimate Nico. They’ve been suspicious of plenty of the demigods who joined up, but Nico being twelve and a son of Hades is a-okay.

Nico tells them some vague information about the next tunnel to take. Blondie mutters something he doesn’t catch and stalks off.

Castellan watches her go, looking worried.

“Sorry, Nico. There’s some stuff coming up that she’s not so happy about. She’s been taking it out on everyone.”

Nico squints at him, “Pretty sure the Sphinx thing was just all her.”

Castellan cringes, “Yes, well…” He clearly has no idea what to say.

He’s still trying to find words when Blondie returns. Castellan seems to just take it for granted that Nico is all in on the overthrowing the gods stuff. Castellan has a far worse view of Hades than even Chiron does.

From his perspective it’s perfectly natural for Nico to hate his father, because how could the God of Death ever be a good parent?

Like, Castellan seems to genuinely think that Father is actively attempting to kill Nico, because that’s what Hades does, kill people. He also has a lot to say about how Father called Bi his most beloved daughter at Olympus last winter and ‘didn’t even acknowledge Nico’.

But seriously, for one, Nico is Father’s son, not his daughter? Father can absolutely have a most beloved son AND a most beloved daughter? Have they not noticed the gods habit of exact phrasing before?

And for two, Nico would definitely have given into temptation and helped Thalia stab Zeus if anyone drew any more attention to Nico during that whole thing. Father was well aware of this fact.

Castellan also seems to conveniently forget that he’s the one who forced Bi under the sky six months ago. Well, actually, it’s more that he thinks Nico blames Father for not rescuing her quickly enough?

Then again, Scarface also thinks Ares is a much better parent because he actually cares about his kids fighting. So he’s not so good with the accurate assessment stuff.

Huh. Nico’s pretty sure it’s spending so much time around Percy that makes him think it’s insane to put mortal expectations on gods. It probably seems totally reasonable from Castellan’s side.

No comment on Blondie, she’s spent a lot more time with Percy than Nico has. She’s just dumb.

Nico is not in the mood for more of Blondie’s ranting so he announces he needs a full night’s sleep if he’s to control spirits in the morning, and leaves Blondie and Castellan to sort out their whole keeping watch bullshit.

Minos will make sure Nico doesn’t actually die. They can take care of themselves.

Chapter Text

Things are getting more and more tense at camp. Piper is still gleefully acting as camp leader in Lee’s place and she’s totally loving her new role.

She gave Percy an extra weird look when he checked how she was going without her lojack. Apollo removed it when Piper was at Olympus for the Winter Solstice, she’s had plenty of time to adjust to life with charmspeak again.

Percy may be getting a touch anxious. He hasn’t been able to check on Grover at all. The closer they get to Pan, the more time slows down for them. The whole stasis thing.

Even if Rachel leads them straight there, what will feel like a few hours to them is likely to be a week or more in the outside world. Which entirely prevents Percy from monitoring them in real time.

Until Pan releases his little stasis bubble, Percy just has to wait.

He’s obsessively checking the Mythomagic cards. He knows the gods are busy with like, actual war preparations, but they do still update bits and pieces of the cards.

He keeps going back to the Menoetius card. It doesn’t make sense. It’s still not for him to know, but he instinctually knows the Helios and Soteria cards are like that for a reason. Same as the cards he’s hidden.

Menoetius must fit the pattern but there’s just no information on him and Percy has never dreamed of him.

A son of Iapetus and Clymene. A full brother to Atlas, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. Atlas was the leader of the Titan army and the Titan of Astronomy. Prometheus, the Titan of Foresight, Epimetheus, the Titan of Hindsight.

Menoetius doesn’t fit that pattern either. His Mythomagic card might say he was the Titan of Violent Rage, but Percy is very suspicious.

There was another Menoetius, one who was not a titan. Percy has definitely been left with far too much time to think.

Mrs O’Leary is still trying to camp out in the main arena. They are all very glad to have Bianca at camp with the Hunters. If not for her, they’d have had to just let the giant hellhound claim their main training grounds for the summer.

The truck sized dog still finds her way there each night, but Bianca meets Percy and Georgie at dawn each day to coax her to somewhere with a bit less traffic. Lee’s not loving having the hellhound outside the Big House, but most campers instinctively avoid the place because of Mr D. Mr D’s absence hasn’t really changed anyone’s habits.

Percy’s had no such luck with normal routines. He’s tried to spend as much time with Pollux as he can, but Pollux’s heart really isn’t it. Neither is Percy’s if he’s honest.

After the day where he’d had a total meltdown over Calypso, Lee pulled him aside for a more in-depth conversation away from Clarisse.

It’s one of the super cruddy parts of the prophet gig. Percy sees and dreams of a lot of things that are just… awful on every level. It’s not even a new thing, he’s had these dreams all his life. They just aren’t normally about him.

The only saving grace is that the prophet stuff also shields his mind. He never gets the full trauma dose that happens with events he actually experiences in real life. Given how often he dreams of Athena killing Pallas, if he didn’t have that shielding… Yeah, he’d be a vegetable by now.

He did still have to repeatedly tell Lee that he’d been more upset by the idea of Nico going through that. That he sees a lot of terrible not-futures for himself and always has.

Of course, that made Lee look even more upset. Percy ended up promising to let both Apollo and Mr D check him over whenever they next show up.

He spends a lot of time sparring with Clarisse, Thalia and Piper. It used to be Clarisse who needed to fight and Percy who just did it for fun. Now, everyone is so much more serious, they’re all fighting for a purpose. A purpose none of them particularly like.

Clarisse is not doing so hot either. She’s been kinda explosive since they started at the stupid school but after three weeks of summer camp, she hasn’t calmed down any. It’s a bit concerning.

Two days after the Mount St Helens thing, Hephaestus shows up at camp, requesting a formal audience.

He’s upset that Chase, Castellan and Ethan visited his workshop from the Labyrinth. When he tracked them down, he’d gotten a better idea of what’s going on at Mount St Helens. He’s very not happy.

He also has no knowledge of Nico, so Shadow must’ve stayed behind when those three visited the workshop or something. That’s one less headache for everyone.

Percy’s never had much to do with the Smith God. He knows the guy’s relationship with Hera is a lot more complex than the stories would suggest.

It had been Zeus who’d thrown him from Olympus, not Hera. But Hera is also a vicious lady and whenever she’s particularly upset with Hephaestus, she tells him she was the one who did it. Hera doesn’t approve of the way his marriage to Aphrodite has mostly failed.

Except it didn’t so much as fail as turn extra volatile. Percy prefers not to think about the games Hephaestus, Ares and Aphrodite play. So not his problem. But it does piss Hera off.

That isn’t the only reason they fight.

Hephaestus is a child of Zeus and Hera and, like Ares, is both hot-headed and vicious. He’s also kind when he wants to be.

He’s a god, not a person. The living embodiment of his domains. The God of Fire, Artisans, Metallurgy, Metalworking, Craftsmen, Sculpture, Blacksmiths, Carpenters and Volcanoes.

Basically, the physical embodiment of artistic temperaments and explosions. Unpredictable is the name of the game.

He also has a soft spot for the sea gods. Thetis mostly raised him after he was thrown from Olympus.

He’s not a god Percy would really expect to meet. Hephaestus has zero interest in prophecy and while Percy is good friends with Leo, Harley and Beck, it’s not the sort of friendship that the god cares about.

Hephaestus's form changes depending on his current relationship with his parents. The angrier he is with them, the more deformed he makes himself. It’s certainly an interesting choice. But hey, artistic temperament.

The last time Percy saw Hephaestus was at Winter Solstice, he’d had a kind of hunchback thing happening, his head’d been all bulgy on one side and his face was super blotchy. He’d also been wearing a broken leg brace that made him limp heavily.

Greek gods are all drama queens at heart, even the Smith God.

Things must have improved with Hera since then, Hephaestus is back to looking like an extra muscly blacksmith. Huge bushy beard with embers burning inside it, giant eyebrows and overlong hair. A big leather apron over basic jeans and a t-shirt.

He also looks incredibly uncomfortable about the whole asking for an audience with a prophet deal. Lee’s with them and they’re all sitting kinda awkwardly in the Cabin Three sitting room.

Hephaestus is instantly focused on James's tank.

He grunts, almost to himself, “Sea god work, though Leo’s improved it. He did a good job. With that little apartment too.”

James has his own scaled down apartment to suit his goldfish size, with doors he can open and shut himself. All Leo’s work. He’s got a feeder too that both Beck and Leo made and improved.

Percy’s happy to tell Hephaestus all about his children’s work while the god decides whether or not he actually wants to talk to him.

Hephaestus cuts Percy off mid-sentence to say, “I dealt with the Telkhines. Didn’t get to the scythe in time though, it’d already been sent somewhere else.”

Hephaestus has no reason to think Percy has any idea about any of this. Gods can certainly be kinda unique.

Percy nods and tries for a polite smile, “The scythe will be dealt with, I believe. I’m glad the Telkhines were handled. Is the Storm Giant still secure?”

Hephaestus frowns and tugs at his beard, “He’s definitely stirring. Not sure if that’s the Telkhines doing or my own, I’m afraid.”

Percy keeps his face expressionless. It’d have been far worse if he’d gone there, but the fact that even Hephaestus thinks handling the Telkhines could have woken Typhon…

Why haven’t they secured the volcano better? Wasn’t Athena meant to be checking all the imprisoned Titans?

Percy should probably just be glad Mount St Helens didn’t erupt.

“Was there something you wished to ask?”

Hephaestus considers him, “Haven’t decided. People are hard. Inventions make sense, people don’t.”

Ah. “You want to know about the Labyrinth’s creator?”

Hephaestus looks uncomfortable. Honestly, it’s a nice change from those audiences with Hermes and Athena. All insistent demand.

Hephaestus just looks awkward and uncomfortable. Percy’s always gotten the impression that he’s a lot like Mr D. Maybe for different reasons but both have a fair amount of genuine compassion, they just don’t like showing it.

It means both are super erratic when they have demigod children. Mr D either stays away entirely, or is totally involved in their lives from birth. He rarely has demigod children, less than ten in thousands of years. The twins come under the ‘totally involved’ category so Percy’s never felt the need to interfere.

Hephaestus has a lot more children. He mostly claims them and he sends them gifts now and then. He just seems to forget they exist for years, or decades, at a time. It mostly doesn’t bother the Hephaestus kids. Like their dad, they’re more interested in machines and inventions than forming connections with people.

Leo has no interest in being parented by anyone. Beck does the check in thing with him, but otherwise, Leo’s been pretty much independent since he arrived at camp. It’s not even Nico’s push/pull stuff. Leo just plain isn’t interested.

Hephaestus voice is kinda sheepish as he tells Percy, “It isn’t easy being a brilliant inventor. Always alone. Always misunderstood. Easy to turn bitter, make horrible mistakes. People are more difficult to work with than machines. And when you break a person, he can’t be fixed.”

Percy tilts his head, “I don’t disagree, but it also depends on the person. If the Labyrinth’s creator had been one of your children, I would agree with you entirely. But I don’t think his bitterness comes from the same place.”

Hephaestus gives him a small grin under his bushy beard, “If anyone else said that to me I’d tell them they can’t judge someone until they’ve stood at their forge and worked with their hammer. Except, well…”

Percy gives him a big smile and says cheerfully, “Except I’m a prophet and have seen his story?”

Hephaestus gives a jerky nod and his face turns dark again. He definitely doesn’t know how to say what he wants to ask. The guy wasn’t kidding about how bad he is with people. He’s bad even with connecting to the other gods, connecting to mortals… No go.

The only reason he has so many kids is because he adores invention and creativity and all of the mortals he has children with are exactly the same.

It’s very much something Hephaestus doesn’t want shared around, but a fair number of his children are born the same way Athena’s are, from brilliant ideas and the meeting of minds. Rather than the more conventional ways of making babies.

Athena turned the maidenhood thing into a whole personality trait, Hephaestus thinks it’s no-one’s business but their own how his children come about.

Percy’d only learned about it recently. It completely ruined all his theories about why Athena kids don’t inherit power. Because Hephaestus’s definitely do, even the ones born of a meeting of minds.

Percy patiently waits for Hephaestus to find the words.

“I know he’s unlikely to help the gods. He hasn’t before. I admired his mother once, she used to be fascinated by new things. Always looking for new ideas. That was before, well-” Hephaestus glances over at James's tank.

Yeah. He’d have been a young god himself but he’d definitely have been around when all that happened. Raised by Thetis or not, he stood with Zeus and Hera when the sea gods closed themselves off.

Hephaestus would still have noticed Athena’s abrupt personality change. There’s no knowing for sure, but Percy feels increasingly certain that Athena was meant to balance Hephaestus. Like Dionysus and Apollo balance each other, the same motivations expressed in opposing ways.

Percy speaks quietly and gently, “She may have been different once, but the creator of the maze has never been like that. He is brilliant, yes. Perhaps one of the most brilliant mortal minds to have ever lived. I don’t know. I’m not a craftsman, I’m not in a position to judge. He is also completely lost to his own hubris. He believes the stories, especially the one about Icarus.”

Hephaestus startles at that, “He actually believes he flew on wings made of wax and bronze feathers?”

Percy nods.

Hephaestus looks thoughtful, “Do you know how he actually escaped from Minos? He’d been in the maze for over a decade and then he just disappeared?”

“He’d already started telling the Icarus story by that point. He had a son, Talos while he was imprisoned.”

Percy doesn’t explain how that happened. The days of the old heroes are entirely awful and unless the god absolutely needs to know, he’s not sharing.

He purses his lips, debating. He hadn’t known the specifics until recently. He’d known Iapis hadn’t escaped so much as been rescued but until the last dream he hadn’t realised the how.

“His mother teleported him and his son to the Court of King Cocalus of Camicus.”

Hephaestus’s eyes fill with understanding, “That’s where Minos found him.”

Yep. Minos had been really upset about his missing inventor. He’d set a riddle and sent it out to every known kingdom. To thread a string through a spiral seashell without breaking the shell. The reward for the solution was a frankly ludicrous amount of gold.

Iapis was in Camicus and, for some bizarre reason, had immediately built a temple to Apollo. With Athena shielding him from Apollo’s eyes, Apollo was left trying to work out where the hell the temple had come from.

After Iapis disappeared back into the Labyrinth, Apollo found out the truth and was kinda extra furious.

But before that, Iapis used honey to coax an ant through the sea shell and successfully drag a fine thread along behind it. When King Cocalus presented the solution to Minos, the guy immediately travelled to Camicus and demanded they hand over the inventor.

Cocalus refused and Minos did the raging son of Zeus thing and threatened war. He was eventually convinced to stay the night while Cocalus had Iapis retrieved.

Iapis had known Minos would come after him for solving the seashell riddle and left a trap of his own. By this point, Iapis was an old hand at manipulating young girls to do his bidding. The daughter of King Cocalus personally arranged Minos’s room and Minos soon drowned to death in his bathtub.

Iapis violated all the rules of hospitality with that one, King Cocalus too. Which means even more gods hated his guts.

Percy tells Hephaestus, “The Grey Eyed One protected him from Dad and Apollo, right up to the day Talos died.”

Hephaestus gives another jerky nod, “I… I had wanted to ask what would happen if I offered him my protection.”

Lee’s been sitting quietly and just supervising all of this, but Percy does not miss the fire in his eyes when Hephaestus says that. Children of Apollo want Iapis dead and this is the closest they’ve got to him in millennia.

Lee is so not happy that Percy didn’t tell him Quintus was Iapis. He’s known since winter that Daedalus and Iapis are one and the same, just not that he was the one spying on the camp.

Percy speaks firmly to Hephaestus, “He is not one of your children. He may have once been brilliant but it has all been lost to his hubris. If you protect him you will find yourself at war with several Olympians. He is not worth that. Not when your own living children have such bright futures.”

That gets Hephaestus’s interest, but Percy doesn’t give him anything else. They aren’t fated paths. Just possibilities.

But he can tweak things a bit.

He gives Hephaestus a sincere smile, “If I could make a suggestion. Your children are here at camp. I know none of them have the sort of bitterness and anger that Chase and Castellan do, but I also know even a brief visit from you would be greatly appreciated. They’re doing some super interesting things over at Cabin Nine. You will find their work far more interesting than anything the Labyrinth’s inventor can produce.”

Hephaestus’s eyes light up and he forgets to even say goodbye as he leaves the cabin. Percy really doesn’t mind, Hephaestus wasn’t meaning to be rude, he just doesn’t do people. Percy grins at Lee’s bemused face.

“Not all the gods are people gods, but they also aren’t all like Deadbeat. Some will make connections if they can.”

Lee just shakes his head at him, all disappointed dad-ish. Lee’s awesome.

Plus, Tyson is spending the day with Leo at the forge. Hephaestus is like, Tyson’s icon. He’ll get such a kick out of meeting the Smith God.

It’ll be good for Leo too. He’s settled in well at camp but he struggles to fit in with the other kids. He adores the forge and his work, but he’s less great with people.

It’s totally wrecking his self-confidence. He’ll still flip from super confident straight into second-guessing everything.

He might be fine without being parented, but he still needs to get a bit of approval now and then.

Plus, he’s the first child of Hephaestus in centuries to have control over fire, surely that’s worth at least one conversation with his dad?

Percy doesn’t expect the gods to act like anything but gods, but they do have a very long history of acting as patrons to mortals and demigods.

________________________

Blondie decides to wake Nico up by shaking him. She is entirely horrified to be flipped on her back with a knife to her throat.

Nico backs off fast, but seriously? What was she expecting?

Castellan seems super surprised too. Which… yeah. Nico doesn’t get it. He’s meant to be a bitter twelve year old who’s been living on his own. Surely he’d have survival skills?

Thalia certainly has them, she’s been a spitfire from the moment she was revived.

The downside of Nico being allowed to come and go as he pleases at camp is that whenever he’s there, multiple people insist on reviewing his training.

Even Lee will chase him down if Nico can’t prove that he’s already done a session with War Drum and Percy. Or Piper. Or Thalia. Or Bianca. Or Georgie if she’s around.

Seriously, there is such a thing as too many adopted older siblings.

With them all stuck together, there’s no nice hot meal from Hera. The protein bar is at least in sealed packaging and definitely not sacred cow. It’ll have to do.

According to Minos, the workshop is only a short walk away. Thank the gods. Hopefully they can get the whatever they have to do for the string done quickly, and then Nico will think of some bullshit reason why the ‘shade’ is able to lead them straight back to Mount Tamalpais so easily. He’s so done with this Labyrinth stuff.

There is zero chance he’s actually going to participate in the actual attack. Or at least, not on Kronos’s side, anyway. Nico’s hoping finding the workshop and the Daedalus/Quintus guy will be the end of all his ‘fun’.

Honestly, based on what Father said, he’ll pull Nico soon even if this isn’t the end of it. Nico still has no idea what he thinks about all of that.

On the ‘short walk’ they pass twelve more skeletons. Apparently, the Labyrinth is screwing with him again.

Blondie and Castellan spend the entire walk bickering, and Nico doesn’t even try to hide what he’s doing. They don’t seem to notice.

Ethan was the only one who seemed even remotely aware of what he was doing, but they left him behind as a hostage with Antaeus. Or maybe Blondie and Castellan just don’t care? Whatever. He’s almost out of coins again, but at least this is almost over.

The new skeletons that he leaves coins and prays for certainly get Father’s attention. Nico can feel Father’s essence closely following him as they walk the last stretch.

They must be either much nearer the surface or much closer to the Underworld. Nico’s felt brief touches of Percy’s sunshine and ocean now and then, but he clearly wasn’t able to hold a connection.

The tunnel is ultra modern now. Shiny seamless stainless steel and electric lighting. Blondie is less than happy.

She actually stops and turns on Nico, all but snarling at him, “This is so wrong! The workshop should be in the oldest section of the maze. This can’t-”

Castellan cuts her off and points out the doors right in front of them. They’ve got nice big blue deltas engraved in them and everything.

Blondie totally forgets Nico and charges the doors, slamming her hand against the delta. She’s gone from righteous fury straight to kid in a candy shop. Lovely.

Nico can’t help a snarky, “What was that about the oldest part of the maze, again?”

She gives him a shirty look but she’s too interested in the newest room to actually yell at him.

Nico keeps himself well back and near any available shadows. He does not like this. Something in here feels incredibly wrong. Like, incredibly broken essence shattered into multiple pieces type wrong.

In theory, the place is impressive? Big picture windows flood everything with bright clear daylight. They must be near the surface rather than the Underworld.

The rest is less artist’s studio and more architect’s dream. Huge tilted desks with different half printed blueprints on them and an intense amount of technology.

The technology is interesting. There’s at least ten laptops and twice as many phones. Huh.

Nico quietly slips a few of the phones into his pockets. The inventor, whatever his actual name is, isn’t a god. Everyone’s been super clear on that. No magic retaliation to be had. So.

Lee’s taught Nico it’s important to say thank you, and if not for Leo, he’d have had no idea how to handle that scythe situation. Leo would absolutely love one of these phone things.

Leo’s fascinated by the god provided phones Percy, War Drum and now Nico have, but they come with the side effect of being impossible to replicate. They don’t have any working parts, it’s all magic.

There’s a whole tonne of weird half built inventions. And a suspicious number of them look like those Russian egg things. Faberge? Just these are super giant and very bronze.

Way too many chemicals just chilling on a bench. A whole bunch of them are definitely Greek fire which is just super fun.

There’s a glittery ball type thing nearby that Nico figures is what they’re after. Neither of them have seen it and it’s too large to fit in his pocket. Sadly.

Blondie is talking to herself and running around staring at everything. She’s got her hands behind her back like a little kid told not to touch.

Nico adds a few more interesting things to his pockets. Respect? Don’t know her.

Blondie and Castellan are now like, fixated on these giant wing things hanging on a wall.

Nico wanders over to look. If he shoves much more into his pockets it’s gonna be a bit too obvious.

What the hell?

Those are wings made of metal feathers, and that is definitely candle wax.

Oh. Icarus. Another myth Percy doesn’t talk about. He says it’s because there’s no actual story to tell, that it’s purely a metaphor.

Given that Icarus flew between the sun and the sea, Nico can draw his own conclusions from that. He does live with a son of Poseidon, who is also a Prophet of Apollo, after all.

That really doesn’t explain why there are actual giant metal wings hanging in the guys workshop.

And considering he clearly has access to whatever material he wants, why has he used wax?

Like, flight is a thing the mortals mastered over a hundred years ago? If the guy wants to fly with wings, even the mortals have moved past wax and bronze? If he wants to be low tech, he ever heard of hang gliding?

Inventor dude must be nearby, everything’s switched on and running. There’s even a blueberry muffin and a cup of coffee sitting at one of the desks.

Nico stares at the coffee for all of two seconds before swiping it. Mine.

What? He’s exhausted, sleeping in a cave doesn’t exactly equal decent sleep. He has no idea how long they’ve been in the maze this time, but there’s been zero caffeine the whole time.

The coffee’s even hot. He approves.

Through the windows there’s some high up view of the mountains, with some weird red rocky cliff things. Nico has no idea what they are called. He can name all sorts of types of undersea canyons because of Atlantis, but the mortal world, not so much.

Castellan walks over to him and wonders aloud, “Where are we?”

Oh. There’s the wrongness.

Definitely not a god, but he’s acting like a dramatic bitch all the same.

New guy’s above them on one of the spiral staircases, holding his sword out extra dramatically, as he pretty much declares, “Colorado Springs. The Garden of the Gods.”

Nico inches further back and away from the brightly lit windows as Castellan and Chase turn to confront the guy. Father’s still actively watching him, but only him. He’s not watching the others at all.

Castellan calls him Quintus. Chase is still frantically scanning the workshop.

“Wait. Daedalus should be here? What have you done with him?”

Can Nico facepalm yet? They are standing in the workshop of an inventor. There is only one person here. Quintus means Fifth.

Okay. Nico might have an advantage because of the whole essence thing and the way Minos is freaking the fuck out.

Nico’s having to use way too much power to keep his grip on Minos. He mentally hisses at him that if he keeps fighting him he’ll send him back to Father right now. It shuts him up. For now.

Quintus does a creepy smile thing and says, “Trust me, my dear. You don’t want to meet him.”

Wait. Dude’s wearing one of those orange souvenir shirts from camp. The ones no-one wears.

Nico hadn’t stayed at camp long when he’d stopped there after the Sphinx, but War Drum did make some snarky comments about a ‘fake trainer who actually wore the orange monstrosity’. She hadn’t given a name.

Hm.

Blondie tells him she’s had to deal with a Sphinx and a volcano and she wants to see Daedalus, right the hell now.

Does she think the guy kidnapped him or something? Castellan looks exhausted. Like he’d not actually expected to find Daedalus, just Quintus.

Ohhhhh. He made a deal for the string with ‘Quintus’, and he was told he would only get it if he found the centre. Maybe he lied to Blondie to make her actually help him find the Labyrinth’s centre? Only for Nico to be the one who guided them through?

Ha. Serves him right.

Blondie tells Quintus that he works for them, so he has to answer.

Quintus just gives her a look, “You’re an intelligent girl. But you’re wrong. I work only for myself.”

Uh, what makes him think Blondie is intelligent? Oh. Wait. The answer is definitely, because Athena, isn’t it?

He wanders down the stairs all super dramatically and casually strolls to a window. This guy has spent way too much time around gods. He’s totally copying their whole drama queen schtick.

“The view changes from day to day. It’s always some place high up. Yesterday, it was from a skyscraper overlooking Manhattan. The day before that, there was a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. But it keeps coming back to the Garden of the Gods. I think the Labyrinth likes it here. A fitting name, I suppose.”

Nico rolls his eyes so hard. This guy genuinely thinks he’s a god, doesn’t he?

Like, his essence is wrong at every level, but it’s a mortal one. Demigod originally. The tiniest touch of sunlight, so he was closely connected to Apollo at some point, but he’s not one of his kids. He’s done something completely awful to attach his soul to an automaton. It’s… just. Ick.

Definitely Daedalus, and definitely the soul Minos wants to do the soul exchange thing with. Nico only has a matter of time before he has to send him back to Father. Minos’s spirit is totally flooding with greed as he stares at ‘Quintus’. Sky King’s kid really do lean into the whole not seeing the blatantly obvious thing, don’t they?

Castellan starts to say something, but Blondie cuts him off.

“Where. Is. Daedalus?”

Quintus stares at her, “My dear, you cannot seriously be asking that? I am Daedalus.”

Chase and Castellan are floored.

“But I thought you were a swordsman? You told Luke you’d won Ariadne’s string in a duel!”

Dude just shrugs, “I’m many things. An inventor, an architect, a scholar… I have had much time to learn new skills. A real artist must be good at many things.”

Gods save Nico from moronic mortals who cosplay as gods.

Chase is still staring at him, “But Percy drew you for me. When we were little. You can’t be Daedalus.”

Of course Percy did that. Too freaking kind for his own good. Of course he drew Annabeth Chase a picture of her favourite person.

Nico really doesn’t feel like calling attention to himself. Based on what he can see, this guy will bolt the moment he realises Nico has power over the dead.

So, instead, he waits out Chase and Castellan’s very slow logical deduction thing.

It takes way too long, but Castellan finally says, “You’re an automaton. You made yourself a new body.”

Yay! Gold star for him.

Blondie’s not having it, “Luke, that’s not possible. That- that can’t be an automaton.”

Inventor dude points out that Quintus means Fifth, he even helpfully opens up his wrist to show her the machinery.

Blondie is horrified, “You found a way to transfer your animus into a machine? That’s… not natural.”

Nico eyes her, she’s gonna talk about unnatural things? Seriously? Has she got any idea what her essence looks like?

Inventor dude totally breaks her when he says, “Oh, I assure you, my dear, it’s still me. I’m still very much Daedalus. Our mother, Athena, makes sure I never forget that.”

Her eyes are like bulging out of her skull. “Athena? You’re a child of Athena?”

He’s a genius inventor demigod who doesn’t belong to Apollo. That means Hephaestus or Athena? And since he’s absolutely dripping with pride, there’s really only one option?

Wait. Has she been crowing about Daedalus this entire time and didn’t know he was a sibling? Like, Nico didn’t know for certain ’til he saw the guy, but he'd assumed he was a son of Athena, and he'd also assumed that was why Blondie was so obsessed with him? Now Nico’s super confused.

Inventor dude shows her a brand thing on the back of his neck. Kinda bird shaped.

Blondie calls it, “A murderer’s brand.”

Castellan adds, “For your nephew, Perdix. The boy you pushed off a tower.”

Nico narrows his eyes at Quintus as he says, “I did not push him. I simply-”

Castellan cuts him off, “Made him lose his balance. Let him die.”

That’s… not right. Like, totally lying about the not pushing but there’s something else. Not his nephew? Not named Perdix? Not a boy? One of those anyway. Or more than one.

The old myths say Daedalus pushed his nephew off a tower. Castellan knowing that isn’t unusual. Nico just can’t work out what the truth actually is.

Inventor dude’s face twists, a perfect copy of Castellan’s own expression, “I regret what I did, Luke. I was angry and bitter. But I cannot take it back, and Athena never lets me forget. As Perdix died, she turned him into a small bird, a partridge. She branded the bird’s shape on my neck as a reminder. No matter what body I take, the brand appears on my skin.”

Okay. That was a whole lot of lying. No way did Athena turn someone into a partridge as they died. That lady doesn’t do compassion like that. She’d absolutely brand the murderer though.

Castellan asks why he’s wearing a Camp Half-Blood shirt.

“I wanted to see if the camp was worth saving. You gave me one side of the story, I wished to see for myself.”

Chase’s voice is cutting, “Did they know who you were?”

“No, of course not. I am quite talented with deception.”

Uh huh. Even without his essence saying lie, Nico would bet everything he owns that Percy knew who the guy was before he even set foot in camp. No wonder he’d delayed Bi and Thalia at the start of the summer camp session.

Chase loses interest, and asks how he created the Labyrinth. Because that’s totally what’s important right now.

“It is tied to my life force. But I have allowed it to live and grow on its own. That is the price I paid for privacy.”

“Privacy?”

He smiles all smugly, “From the gods and death. I have been alive for nearly three millennia, my dear, hiding from death.”

Nico creeps back a little further. Not for much longer, my dude.

Chase is confused, “How can you hide from Hades?”

Nico grins internally as Father’s presence goes from closely monitoring Nico to watching the entire room. There’s a reason you don’t name the gods.

“They do not know everything. Or see everything. You have encountered them, Annabeth. You know this is true. A clever man can hide quite a long time, and I have buried myself very deep. Only my greatest enemy has kept after me, and even him I have thwarted.”

Minos is all screeching rage. He goes abruptly silent even though his mouth is still moving. Father is not interested in Minos unending complaints. He’s as enthralled as Nico is with all this.

Chase is equally fascinated, she almost breathes the words all reverentially, “You mean King Minos.”

Quintus gives her a proud smile, “He hunts for me relentlessly. Now that he is a judge of the dead, he would like nothing better than for me to come before him so he can punish me for my crimes. After a daughter of Cocalus killed him, Minos’s ghost began torturing me in my dreams. He promised that he would hunt me down. I did the only thing I could. I retreated from the world completely. I descended into my Labyrinth. I decided this would be my ultimate accomplishment, I would cheat death.”

Uh huh. Hi. Nico is still standing in the room.

Also, Minos is a normal demigod spirit. He can’t actually visit a person’s dreams. That’s just your own guilt torturing you. No need for divine intervention.

Father made Minos a judge as his own form of perpetual timeout. Great deeds earn ‘heroes’ Elysium, and Minos did enough things that he theoretically should be there. Father’s never said why he’s upset with Minos, but given what Percy’s said about Asterion, Nico’s assuming Father’s pissed on Uncle’s behalf.

Rhadamanthus was because Father loathes Heracles as much as Percy does, and Rhadamanthus was his first teacher.

Aeacus basically because he’s a lying liar who somehow managed to convince the world half the old heroes were his descendants. Being a judge is more a smack on the wrist than an actual punishment.

Annabeth is staring at Quintus, completely awestruck. “And you did cheat death. For thousands of years. I know what it’s like to suffer for your goals.”

Nico stops inching back to just flat out stare at her. What?

Blondie is talking all passionately now, “The gods, they took my best friend from me. Percy, he’s amazing. This total goofball with a heart of gold. But the gods, they twisted him up inside, made him believe in things that aren’t right, aren’t real. They make him deny the old heroes. He even claims your story is wrong.”

Did she miss the bit where the guy was at camp? And has definitely met Percy?

The inventor’s voice chills a touch, “You speak of the Prophet of Apollo?”

Huh. There is sunshine in the guy’s essence, as broken at is. That’d only be there if he still has some actual attachment to Apollo.

She nods enthusiastically, “Yes! When we were little, he told me Daedalus wasn’t your name. That it wasn’t a name at all. He had this entire bizarre fantasy where you were actually Icarus, but you never made the wings. Except clearly you did! They’re right there!” She gestures enthusiastically at the wax and metal things.

Quintus is kinda staring at her looking a bit confused.

“Anyway, the gods, they stole him from me. Even sent him to talk to my dad. They turned my dad against me! He shot at me with celestial bronze bullets and I fell off a cliff. I nearly died!”

Percy never met Frederick Chase, That was Zoe, Nico, War Drum and Thalia. The hell?

Nico probably should check in on Frederick Chase. That’s way too much bitterness. Gods! If she’s done something to him…

Blondie takes a deep breath and just keeps going, speaking all intensely and passionately, “And Athena never cared about me! She sent me this stupid hat of invisibility when I was twelve and that’s it, nothing else. She doesn’t care at all. That’s when I realised that Luke had been right all along. The gods don’t care about us. They don’t deserve their thrones. We’d do a much better job!”

Inventor guy is still studying her, “A hat of invisibility when you were twelve?”

Does Blondie seriously think the gods regularly give their kids magical items on a whim? Outside of Percy’s sketchbooks, everything the gods have given them is because there’s a war coming. Not gifts just for existing. Gods don’t think like mortals.

Percy’s an exception because gods are expected to give boons in return for prophecy, and Apollo takes care of his prophets. But otherwise… Gods acting like mortals is super not a thing.

Also, invisibility is actually an intensely huge thing? Only for the gods and all that? Father’s symbol of power is literally a helm of invisibility.

Chase nods frantically and babbles about how stupid it was and how it didn’t even work because apparently Percy always knew she was there. Only he never told her that, not until after she’d lost the hat in the Underworld.

She’s kinda failing to read the room.

In a very even tone, Quintus says, “Mother only acknowledges the children she deems worthy. To receive her attention and a special gift at just twelve years of age is no mean feat.”

Blondie scoffs and waves a hand, waving away all his words.

“All I had in nearly sixteen years was her claiming me when I was seven during my first week at camp, and the stupid hat when I was twelve. I don’t think that counts as attention!”

Wait. What?

Admittedly, Nico’s never cared to ask about Blondie’s background, but since when did an Athena camper get claimed within a week of arriving? Let alone at seven!

Nico’d assumed she’d lived in Cabin Eleven and that’s why she was so close with Castellan?

Quintus is equally startled, “She claimed you when you were seven? Immediately after arriving at camp? When I was there, Sophie told me it took more than two years to be claimed and many of Mother’s children are never considered worthy of claiming.”

Annabeth makes a weird disbelieving sound.

Before she starts ranting again, Quintus turns to Castellan, “You have a message for me?”

In the very brief pause of Blondie’s ranting, Castellan seems rather relived that he finally gets to talk, “My lord has promised you your freedom. I was given a specific message to deliver.”

Quintus eyes him with very definite distaste, “Very well, let’s hear it.”

“In return for Ariadne’s string and our continued safe passage through the Labyrinth, once the gods are overthrown, you will take the place of Hades in the Underworld. The king’s soul is to be cast into Tartarus. You will be granted the opportunity to make things right with your son. You will reclaim your title.”

Nico struggles to stop himself laughing. They promised Nico Father’s throne too. They don’t seem to even care that Nico is still in the room and hearing all of this. Shouldn’t they wait ’til he swears his allegiance to Kronos before they pull the bait and switch?

You know, the one Blondie told him about last night?

Also, for a guy who is way too intense on the death equals evil thing, Castellan is a little too comfortable naming Father.

Father lifts the gag on Minos. He and Nico are the only ones who hear Minos snarl about how “Icarus just means he takes it up-”

Yeah, Nico stops listening when the guy starts in on a very explicit and very homophobic rant about Apollo and Daedalus. He pushes back a single word. “Asterion”. Minos stops mid-syllable. Ha! Didn’t even need Father that time.

Still. Nico has some useful information now.

Quintus is looking kinda unconvinced, “When I was at the camp it seemed obvious that their cause is doomed. That they had no way to hold back the might of Kronos.”

Huh. Interesting phrasing, and use of past tense.

Castellan agrees completely and enthusiastically and pushes for the string.

Quintus hesitates again. Blondie jumps in insisting that he’s making the right choice.

She tells him, super intensely, “You’ve been my hero since I was little. You build such amazing things and solve the impossible problems! To have you join our cause, my cause, it’s just incredible! You’re living proof that children of Athena are always wise as well as clever.”

The inventor’s eyes widened at that one. Do they not see what Nico sees?

Unfortunately, Minos decides now is a really good time to thrash at his bindings. And Nico was a little too focused on the inventor guy.

Minos manages to fully show himself to the room, he is entirely fixated at the inventor.

He crows gleefully, “To me! Spirits of the dead!”

Everyone freezes. Nothing happens.

Father’s essence is full of smug delight, he is deeply enjoying this drama.

Minos decides to ignore the complete lack of response, and turns on Nico who’s so far gone unnoticed by the inventor.

“You do not control me, young fool. All this time, I have been controlling you! A soul for a soul, yes. But it is not your mother who will return from the dead. It is I, as soon as I slay the inventor!”

Everyone really does think Nico’s stupid don’t they? That he actually believed signing up with Kronos would get him Father’s throne or that Minos would bring his mother back?

Nico’s feeling more and more empathy for Percy and the way he cringes whenever anyone mentions Blondie’s constant insults about his intelligence.

Nico’d been furious before this, but if this is even a tenth of how she makes Percy feel? He cannot wait for the day he’s allowed to stab her full of holes.

Nico gives Minos his best innocent twelve year old face. The one Percy made him practice. “Shadow, think of seals and sad puppy dogs!”

Nico doesn’t say anything. Just lets the silence stretch as absolutely nothing happens.

Finally, Nico asks, “Uh, and how were you going to do that?”

Minos laughs at him, “You have no power over me. I am the lord of spirits! The ghost king!”

He goes to say something else but only gets as far as “I am-” before he disappears with an audible ‘pop’.

Yeah. Father does not appreciate people claiming his title. There is only one Ghost King and that would be Hades, King of the Underworld.

Minos might be a judge of the dead but he doesn’t keep his kingship in death. That’s not how it works. Nico can practically hear War Drum’s gleeful, “Too bad, so sad.”

Father still lingers watching closely, but as far as anyone else can tell, Nico’s the one who banished Minos.

Okay. This is a problem.

Castellan is looking at him with pure horror on his face. No. Not horror. That’s fear. A far more extreme version than Scarface has shown so far. His eyes are bulging and his chin is trembling, all of Scarface is tense and rigid and he is absolutely fixed on Nico.

Castellan is afraid of him. Completely and utterly petrified of what he thinks Nico represents.

Nico had no idea he had a limit for tolerating Castellan and Chase, but he has definitely just hit it.

He is not okay with anyone looking at him and radiating such genuine fear. Not when he didn’t even do anything!

Nico would like to go home. Right now.

He does not like being looked at like that. He is not a monster. He is a son of Hades, not of death.

He’d really like Percy to tell him that right about now.

He’d even take Father awkwardly telling him how much he loves Nico and Bianca and how they rebalance his connection with the mortal world. That without Nico’s visits, Hades would be at risk of retreating back into sloth and further unbalancing everything.

Nico will gladly take Father trying to explain that Persephone loves them too, but feels like she’s taking Maria’s place if she parents them. That was just mortifying, not horrifying like this is.

Nico is not a monster. He’s not! He is a child of the Underworld, just like Percy is a child of the sea. They are different, but they aren’t to be feared. Not like this. Not when Nico’s not fighting or doing anything other than existing.

With Castellan looking at him like that, Nico is finding it very hard to cling to all the things Lee and Percy keep telling him. Castellan’s hands are shaking and he’s turned so pale.

Blondie is gleeful, “The prophecy, Nico! Rise or fall by the Ghost King’s hand! You’re the Ghost King!”

Uh oh. Nico’s spiral comes to a screeching halt. Father does not tolerate anyone using that title.

Oh thank fuck. All he can feel from Father is a sense of him absolutely cracking up with laughter. Nico really didn’t want to be smote by his own father.

Castellan is still looking at him, and his essence is flooded with genuine fear. Nico didn’t even do anything. He is not a monster! He’s not!

Okay. Spiral later. Focus on something else now.

Blondie had kept chattering on about who knows what, and Quintus had said something and pointed off to the side. Blondie’s gone to see the whatever.

Nico takes advantage of the silence to tell the inventor, “The only way to be Icarus again is if you become the person who earned that title.”

Guy looks like he’s been slapped. Nico’s still missing a lot of context but from what Minos was ranting about, Apollo named the guy Icarus as a term of endearment. No way would Apollo see the guy standing in front of him like that now.

It snaps Castellan out of his freakout. He ignores what Nico said and turns back to Quintus and demands the string again.

Quintus is looking super shifty. His eyes dart towards the door.

Castellan starts stalking towards him, “You agreed that if we reached the workshop you would give us Ariadne’s String. We’ve made it through the arena and to the workshop. My lord has offered you power and eternal life. You will honour this bargain.”

Quintus turns to Blondie who’s gotten completely distracted by the inventions again. She’s standing almost in front of the glittery ball but has her back to it. Castellan definitely sees it.

Quintus asks Blondie, “Do you really wish to take Mother’s throne?”

She nods enthusiastically, “Yes! Lord Kronos has promised me the domain of prophecy as well! Percy will be my prophet and I’ll be able to guide him properly.”

Oh. Ick. So much ick. It’s not the first time he’s heard her say stuff like that, but gods it freaks Nico out.

Quintus is confused, “You said he was your best friend? And you wish to own him?”

Okay. That was blunt. True. But blunt.

Castellan ignores all of that and says, “We will take the string by force if you back out of this bargain.”

Quintus gives him a scathing look, “Did you not hear that the Labyrinth is tied to my life force? Kill me and the whole thing will come down around you. Your army will lose its access to the camp.”

Blondie has finally realised Quintus changed his mind.

Nico would really like to know if she’s aware that she’s the reason the guy just flipped sides. Or at least, decided to be neutral. Nico’s not entirely sure on that one.

Like an entirely rational person, Blondie’s reaction is to sweep her arm across one of the benches. The one that had all those toxic looking chemicals just sitting on its surface.

The green flames of Greek fire race across the workroom floor. Nico can feel Father tighten his grip on Nico, ready to yank him out by force if he has to. Nico pushes back a ‘not yet’ and keeps watching all of this unfold.

Castellan swipes the glittery ball and shoves it in his bag as he and Blondie run for the wings on the wall.

You have got to be kidding.

Because of all the inching back, Nico is very much on the other other side of the wall of flame to them. He’s not bothered by this, but they don’t actually know he can shadow travel.

If he were any other demigod, he would currently be cornered with no way out and facing a very horrible death by Greek fire.

Thalia told Nico all about being trapped in a mansion burning with Greek fire, along with Castellan. Scarface doesn’t even look around for Nico.

He’s so upset Deadbeat doesn’t care about him, but Castellan has yet to realise he acts exactly like his father.

The only person Castellan cares about, other than himself, is Blondie. And Blondie definitely wishes Castellan acted more like Lee. It’s the same story on repeat. Isn’t the whole point of changing the world to do things differently?

Nico watches as Blondie slaps wings made of wax and bronze onto Castellan’s back and arms and then turns for him to do the same to her, though he does it much more gently.

They throw a chair through a window, completely shattering it, and move to launch themselves. Neither of them look back at Nico, not even once.

Kinda funny to watch them throw themselves out the window and try to fly. They look super dumb.

Quintus calls from the other side of the workshop, “Hold fast, dear boy. I can try to extinguish the flames.”

Huh. That’s new. Guess he has picked a side? Maybe?

Nico calls back super casually, “Nah. Don’t bother. Got my own exit strategy.”

Quintus stares at him so confused. He’s still staring when Father pulls Nico away and back to the Underworld.

Nico never said HE didn’t like being a dramatic bitch.

What? It’s fun.

Chapter Text

The night after his conversation with Hephaestus, Percy is very deliberately pulled to a now moment.

Rachel is acting as an anchor, but no way could she maintain the connection. The Fates, maybe?

Although. The connection tastes of moonlit sunset. Anaklusmos? But the moonlight- The sword doesn’t carry moonlight. There’s the slightest touch of the pink light of dawn too.

They are walking down a natural tunnel, moist earth beneath them and damp stalactites above them steadily drip water. The air is freezing cold, white mist forming from the three questers’ breath.

Grover is bouncing with excitement and babbling about how he can feel it, they’re so close. Castor has a hand very firmly gripping the satyr’s backpack, stopping him charging off on his own.

Rachel is looking very thoughtful, and a little sad. She knows this will not be the homecoming Grover dreams of, and she’s definitely gotten attached to the satyr during this quest.

Grover completely collapses just as they reach an underground cavern with a lake running down the centre.

While Castor manages the confused and overwhelmed satyr, Percy moves closer to Rachel.

“Yo. Red, can you hear me?”

Her head snaps up so fast he’s sure she’s pulled a muscle.

Still. He hadn’t been sure if her innate abilities would be strong enough. She’s confused though, she definitely can’t see him.

Not like Apollo and Artemis can see him. Percy’s beginning to suspect Dad also knows when he watches, and is just pretending not to see him.

“Hey, it’s all good Red. I’m kinda dreaming. But there’s enough of me here that I should be able to make crossing the river a bit less awful? Give Strobe a heads up it’s me?”

Rachel speaks very hesitantly to Castor, “Hey, uh, I could swear I can hear Percy? He said he can make the river crossing less awful but I needed to give you a heads up?”

Castor grins brightly, “Great! His water stuff is super useful, but he’s not wrong. I would have panicked if the river started just doing the thing.”

Rachel looks like she’s already regretting her next question, “The thing?”

Percy obligingly parts the water of the river. He cackles when Rachel calls him Moses.

Still, it gets the questers safely across. That water is only slightly above freezing. Hypothermia is no fun for anyone.

Rachel’s looking thoughtful, “I think this is Carlsbad Caverns? Definitely not open to the public though.

That perks Grover up, he’s still kind of out of it and leaning heavily on Castor, “I was in New Mexico when I felt Pan last winter!”

They walk down the cold tunnel into the warmth of a summer’s day. It smells of sunshine and fresh flowers. It sings of growth and life and the very essence of nature. It feels like life. Not Persephone’s beginnings that balance Uncle’s endings, but the cycle of life and its constant unending change.

In the cave is the very essence of life, the pure taste of a world untouched by mortals.

Percy watches as all three questers react in different ways. Grover’s eyes are full of awe and wonder and disbelief. This moment that satyrs have dreamed of for thousand of years, it’s about to happen. To Grover.

Castor hides his awe but he feels just as Grover does. He is a son of Dionysus. His father chose to take on Pan’s domains. Not because of the Fates or any sense of duty, but out of love for a friend. Dionysus deeply respects Pan.

For Castor, to be the one to find Pan is to surpass all expectations. It is to achieve not the impossible, but the never expected or imagined.

Rachel is full of anxiety. Not just because she knows the heartbreak that awaits.

Percy speaks softly, “Red, we are not our parents. No matter how good or bad they are, we are not our parents. You are not your father, Pan will know this.”

She barely breathes her reply, “I hope you’re right.”

He grins, “I am.”

When they step into the cave, it’s as beautiful as it has always been in his dreams. Vast sweeping ceilings arch over them, a cathedral formed for worshipping nature itself.

The walls are full of impossible crystals in equally impossible glittering colours. Entire rainbows of light sparkle from the walls.

Pressed into the crevices between them, huge long extinct plants grow and flow like waterfalls down the arching walls and ceiling. Soft moss covers the floor and provides bedding for the animals gathered there.

A car sized armadillo is dozing off to the side, looking as strange as it sounds. A huge raven type bird is asleep standing on one leg, the other leg tucked up into its petticoats of feathers. Even dozing like this, it is the same height as the questers. A giant otter is curled into a donut shaped ball, sleeping peacefully.

A dodo bird is settled near the centre of the cave, quietly humming to herself.

In the centre of the cave, where the moss is the thickest, a satyr sleeps peacefully, his head pillowed by a sabre tooth tiger. As they move closer, his eyes slowly open, the same deep blue as Dionysus’s own preferred form.

He has huge curling horns, a deep glossy brown. They look far too large and heavy for his head.

For all that this little pocket is full of the feel of life and nature, this satyr feels tired. His hair is long and white, even along his legs.

Grove throws himself forward, wrenching free of Castor’s grip on him.

He kneels on the ground before the reclining satyr and breathes his words, “Lord Pan.”

Pan smiles to him, “Grover, my dear, brave satyr. I have waited a very long time for you.”

Grover stutters, “I- I am sorry, my lord, I-”

Pan holds a frail hand up, “You have come at the time the Fates have ordained. No apologies are needed. You have walked the path that was set for you. I need you to be brave, just a little longer.”

Grover is overwhelmed, he nods but is completely lost for words.

Pan turns his eyes towards the others, “My four chosen.”

Percy startles slightly and the old god chuckles, “Yes, I can feel your presence, young prophet. You are the storyteller are you not? You stand witness to the great moments of a new age.”

Percy smiles sadly, “If it’s all the same to you, I kinda wish this didn’t have to be one of those moments?”

Castor and Grover glance towards him. With Pan holding this pocket of time, they can hear Percy now.

Pan shakes his head, but still smiles, “All things end, young prophet. Even gods. New cords are formed and old cords travel new paths. It is the way of life, of change.”

Rachel and Castor have moved to either side of Grover, kneeling before the exhausted god.

Castor murmurs quietly, “My lord, this cave, it is beautiful. It feels… sacred.”

Pan’s face is sad, but he still smiles softly, “It is one of the last wild places. My realm above is gone, I’m afraid. Only pockets remain. Tiny pieces of life. This one shall stay undisturbed… for a little longer.”

The sound Grover makes is heartbreaking. He’s just realising what this is, but he’s not ready to accept it.

“My lord, please, you must come back with me! The other satyrs will be overjoyed! You can save the wild!” Grover breaks off into a choked sob.

Not even Grover believes Pan will be returning. Not now.

Pan reaches out his frail hand and places it on Grover’s bowed head, “You are so young, Grover. So good and true. I think I chose well.”

Grover is still crying, Castor asks for him, “Chose?”

Pan’s voice is sad, “I have slept many eons. My dreams have been dark. I wake fitfully, and each time my waking is shorter. Now we are near the end.”

Grover’s voice is small, “But you’re right here. You’re still here.”

Pan shakes his head, “My dear satyr, I tried to tell the world, two thousand years ago. I announced it to a satyr very much like you. He lived in Paxos, and he tried to spread the word.”

Percy fills in the story for the others as Grover tries to calm himself.

“A sailor called Thamus, who was passing the island of Paxos, heard a voice calling out to him, to ‘tell them the great god Pan is dead’.”

Grover shakes his head stubbornly, refusing to accept it.

Pan makes a fond sound, “Your kind never believed it. You sweet stubborn satyrs refused to accept my passing. I love you for that, but you only delay the inevitable. You only prolong my long, painful passing, my dark twilight sleep. It must end.”

Percy winces, it’s not Grover who does that. It’s the three idiots who won’t accept that they are now bound to Dionysus and not Pan.

Pan speaks more firmly, “Grover, you must listen to me.”

Pan waits until Grover raises his eyes to meet his, “Lord Dionysus has taken on my sacred duty, he has been charged with the care of my kin. Just as they followed me, they must now follow him. They are creatures of the divine and they must be tied to a god’s life force. It can no longer be mine. The satyrs are not gods, and they do not have the freedom of mortals. I will not be the cause of their destruction.”

Grover shakes his head, “No, you cannot be dying.”

Pan’s voice is gentle, “The young prophet knows the truth of it. You must accept this.”

Percy speaks quietly, “Grover, all gods fade eventually. One age ends and another begins. So it was, so it always shall be. We are at the beginning of a new age of heroes. The gods change with the world. Just as the world no longer needed Helios and turned to Apollo, there is no longer a place for Pan in this world.”

Grover sobs, “Gods can’t die.”

Percy thinks of Pallas and his heart breaks. He learned this lesson years ago, and it had hurt so much. He’d watched first Lee, then Clarisse and then Nico learn the same lesson. It does not get easier. They are mortals. To them, gods are unchanging, indefatigable. Gods do not die. But they do fade.

Pan speaks to all four of them, “They can fade, when everything they embody is gone. When their power is gone and they no longer hold their domains, there is nothing to keep them in the world. My realm is the wild. It is my sacred place. And it is gone.”

Grover sobs and Castor grips his shoulders, giving what comfort he can, as Pan struggles to pass on a message he has waited millennia to give.

“Grover, my domain is gone. The little power I still hold is only because Lord Dionysus has allowed it. Grover, you must carry a message back to your people. To all the nature spirits. Tell them that the great god Pan is dead. Tell them they can wait no longer. I cannot save them. They must make new choices.”

“Each of you must take up my calling. Lord Dionysus is not Pan. He will treat you differently, he will handle the domain differently. You must find a new way forward. If the satyrs do not wish to follow Lord Dionysus, then they must learn to live a different way. As themselves, not as gods or mortals.”

Percy frowns thoughtfully. This is more than a last message, Pan is deliberately passing his domains to Dionysus. It’s not the first time Percy has seen domains transition, he just hadn’t realised it could be done so intentionally.

It does make him wonder about Briares. Why he hasn’t faded when his brothers have. Briares is much closer to being a minor god than an immortal. Would that mean he holds a domain?

It also brings up a question about Hera. Percy really isn’t sure he wants to poke that sleeping dragon, but as far as he can tell, he’s the only one even aware of what’s going on with her. He kinda suspects investigating it falls under the sacred duties of a Prophet of Apollo. Unfortunately.

Pan looks towards each of them, meeting their eyes one by one, “Be strong. You have found me, and now you must release me. You must carry on my purpose for me. It can no longer be carried by me. It must be taken up by all of you.”

He looks to Percy, “Young prophet, your journey is barely begun. It is daunting to see the time stretch before you. Know that there is no need to fear the path the Fates have set. You will not be alone. Every step you take will be in the company of others. Speak your truth and change the world. This is your time.”

Pan turns to Castor next, his eyes so gentle, and there’s a spark of recognition, as if he sees his old friend in his son’s form, “Castor, son of Dionysus. Do not fear your power. Simply because it has not been known, does not mean it is not right. It is who you are and you were given it for a reason. Be true to yourself. Listen to your father, but follow your own heart. Trust it will not lead you astray. Tell your brother that life is a gift, and he too was given his abilities for a reason. He must seek for himself what that reason is.”

Pan’s face is all gentle kindness as he turns to Red, “Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Your journey has not yet begun. Many choices lie before you, and all will take you to new heights. Your father is irrelevant, a mere footnote in your story. Do not carry guilt for actions that you did not take. Listen to the young prophet and his guardian, allow them to help you find your voice. Speak the truth and weave a new path that is yours alone.”

He looks towards Grover who is still a bit teary but determined and focused.

“I am ready Lord Pan. I will carry your message.”

“I thank you, my dear satyr. I name you, Grover, my last and greatest Lord of the Wild. You are to be the foremost among your kin, but not quite yet. Let yourself grow into your new role and do not reach for more than you are ready for. Time will show you the way. Grover, you must tell every one you meet, if you would find Pan, you must regrow the wild. Form new sacred places, wherever you find yourselves. Do not wait for another to give permission. Grover, will you promise to do this?”

Grover speaks through his tears, “I swear, Lord Pan. I will take up your calling.”

Pan smiles and there is definite pride in his gentle eyes, “Thank you.”

Pan glances towards where Percy stands watching, “It is a new age of heroes. The heroes of today. Whether those heroes be demigod, mortal or nature spirit, your choices will change the world.”

He turns back to Grover, “My last Lord of the Wild, will you be the first to release me?”

Grover smiles through his tears and moves forward, leaning over the reclining satyr and gently kissing his forehead.

He murmurs against Pan’s head, “I thank you for all you have given to the world. I release you.”

Grover pulls back and stands with Rachel and Castor as Pan smiles at him, his form already beginning to fade, “I thank you. You will do wondrous things, my dear satyr. A final blessing for my four chosen.”

As Pan fades, the sleeping animals fade with him, swirling into a great spiral of sparkling shimmering mist that settles around the four of them. Percy smiles as Grover’s form shimmers and settles, with new larger glossy brown horns and vines climbing along his arms and wreathing his head. Even his brown eyes have a blue tint.

A new Lord of the Wild indeed.

Mr D may be well known for his deep blue eyes and his decorative vines, but they are worn in tribute for a lost friend.

They stand quietly in an empty dark cave. A quest fulfilled and a new story to be told.

Three questers standing in a huddle and one insubstantial dreaming prophet.

Percy speaks softly to Rachel, “They won’t be able to hear me now. Focus on camp and your return should be much quicker than your journey here. I’ll make sure they know to expect you.”

She nods but stays focused on comforting Grover who is sobbing into Castor’s shoulder. Castor’s crying too. Change and loss is hard. It’s sometimes necessary but it always hurts.

Percy pulls himself back to his own bedroom in Cabin Three, and wakes to the dimness of first light. Before he goes to find Lee to update him on the quest, he takes a few minutes to water Nico’s moonlace. Artemis’s sacred flower, no matter what Calypso says.

Perhaps it’s also time to add actual plants to James’s tank?

When Percy tells Georgie that both Nico and the questers will be returning this morning, she actually lets him off dawn practice. He swears she’s an even harder taskmaster than Triton.

If he so much as grumbles she makes him train even longer.

Still, Percy’s very happy to race off to the Big House. Lee’s already awake because of Apollo’s dawn wakeup thing. Percy only escapes it because Georgie’s got him waking before dawn.

Lee is particularly unhappy this morning.

“Perce, the hell did you do?”

He winces, “What was it this time?”

“Shake rattle and roll.” Lee’s glare is burning through him.

Percy holds his hands up helplessly, “Shadow and the questers are coming back this morning? I didn’t actually do anything?”

Lee glares harder, “Is Iapis still alive?”

Percy grins, “Not for long. End of summer at the latest, I swear.”

Lee’s sigh is so exhausted, “Perce, if Dad does that to me every morning until he’s dead…”

Percy rolls his eyes, “I don’t actually control the gods? Can we go meet the questers now? Please?”

Lee lets him drag him into the woods to the Labyrinth entrance. The Hunters are mildly more tolerant of Percy wandering this way than they are of other campers, but they’ll still challenge him if he gets too close to the entrance without Lee.

Sophie has stopped trying to sneak past them. Thalia definitely went after her with her lightning shtick after that last attempt.

The Hunters take their guard duty very seriously. Which is really fair enough. It’s just annoying when he’s excited to meet his friends and see them safely home and Lee is really not awake yet.

Clarisse shows up not long after they get there. Does she have a tracker on him or something?

They’re only waiting a few more minutes before Grover, Castor and Rachel are climbing out of the Labyrinth entrance.

Lee is a bit taken aback when he sees Grover’s new decorations. And the horns. But he’s also super used to the weird.

He shepherds everyone back to the main camp as the three talk over the top of each other about the Cretan Bull and finding Pan.

As they walk, Rachel pauses besides Percy and returns Anaklusmos to him with a bright grin. She tells him she’d not even used it once, but maybe give her a bit of training before sending her off with a magic sword next time?

It’s the seventeenth today, so Grover is technically seven days overdue for the Council weirdness. But Percy fully intends to screw with them and lean hard into the Lord Prophet stuff until Mr D is back. They have bigger issues than the satyrs pretending to be gods.

He feels another aura show up and leaves the others to go and greet his little brother.

His people are home!

Like, things are about to get kinda bad, but for now, everyone is home!

________________________

Clarisse is so glad when Prissy pops up again at breakfast, this time with Nico in tow.

She instantly heads to Table Three, completely ignoring Sherman’s exasperated voice behind her. He can pick another Cabin Head if it pisses him off so much.

“Shadow! You back for good?”

He grins cheekily at her, “Well, given that Blondie and Scarface left me to certain death by Greek fire, I don’t think I’ll be joining up after all.”

She narrows her eyes at him, “How close was it?”

He’s all sunshine today, “Father was watching at the time, so zero risk for me. But they didn’t know that.”

He grins extra cheekily, “They actually used the guys wax and bronze wings to escape.”

Clarisse chokes on her orange juice, “What?”

Nico gleefully tells the story. He seems fairly certain they survived their little adventure with wings. Guess Chase finally made her childhood dreams come true? But seriously?

When Nico tells them that Blondie managed to sway Daedalus against Kronos just by being herself, both she and Prissy are bug eyed.

Like, the hell?

Castellan has not been good for her. Clarisse’d already known that they’d both been super unbothered by the whole endless dead bodies in a dark maze thing, but this is a whole new level of weird.

Most people don’t come out of the Labyrinth with their minds intact. Especially if they go in without a clear sighted mortal. But- Yeah. Clarisse has got nothing.

Piper comes and plops down beside Clarisse and grins at Nico.

“Nico! I was getting worried. Surfer Boy said you were fine, but it’s been absolute ages. Everything okay?”

Poseidon’s being super tolerant today, huh?

Nico’s all big sunshine smile. It’s good to see. Clarisse has not loved having him spend so much time off on his own and stuck with people he hates. Though, Prissy’s face is doing a thing. Shadow is okay, right?

“Just running some errands, spying on enemies, you know how it goes!”

It’s kinda fun to see the way Piper startles. She’s been asking them about Nico more and more. She’s definitely taking her duties as a second Lee very seriously. With Nico back, there’s no harm in her knowing where he’s been.

Bianca spots him next and dive-bombs him from behind and wrestles him off the bench. She’s grinning gleefully and her dark hair is hanging loose with the white streak extra visible. Nico definitely knew she was there, otherwise he’d totally have stabbed his big sister.

Nico finally wrestles free from her and looks incredibly tousled and extra grouchy when he takes his seat again. Clarisse grins, he’s still not used to Bianca hovering. Kid definitely doesn’t know what to do with having so many people care about him.

Thalia wanders past and reminds Bianca they have guard duty, and also tells Nico he’ll be joining the senior campers doing weapons drills every day.

Prissy’s smirking to himself looking super smug. Yeah, he definitely had a few quiet chats with people. No way was he gonna risk Nico pulling away from them.

Prissy’s mentioned a few times that one of the struggles children of the Underworld have is feeling like they don’t belong with the living. Like, not just Hades’s kids, but any Underworld gods.

There aren’t many Underworld kids, those gods are the least likely to spend time with the mortals, but it just makes the disconnect worse. Hecate is the only exception, she seems to adore having kids with mortals. Priss just says she’s a counterbalance to Deadbeat, which cannot mean anything good.

Nemesis isn’t actually an Underworld god, but she tends to get the same death is evil type rep as Hades. They’d assumed Ethan would face the same struggles as Nico has. None of them can work out why Ethan is so loyal to the cause. It’s like having a Demeter kid be super involved in camp. Sometimes demigods go against their parent’s natures, but it’s not exactly normal.

Clarisse might be an ultra weird war kid, but she’s still a war kid. Castellan might hate Deadbeat, but he is acting exactly like Deadbeat does. What Ethan’s doing… Yeah, makes no sense.

Nico’s spent months trying to befriend the guy and completely failed. Of anyone, they’d figured he had the best chance, because of the isolated Underworld thing, but no go.

None of them know Ethan well enough to track down his past. And, from what Nico’s telling them, he may still be being held hostage by one of Prissy’s weirder brothers.

Nico happily tells Piper and Prissy about what he’s been doing. He’d probably be a little less honest around the others but Piper is very much family adjacent at this point.

The fact that she’s been so accepting of the lojack and actually made a genuine effort to handle her charmspeak rather than going all wrathful vengeance was honestly just such a relief.

Especially in comparison to Castellan and Chase’s bitter anger deal.

Prissy is looking- Huh. Clarisse looks around and catches Lee’s eye and jerks her head in a silent request.

Lee comes over straight away.

He arrives just as Piper asks Nico, “So you can’t go back? Guess we’ve learned all we need to from them?

Prissy answers for him. He’s speaking directly to Piper, eyes fixed on hers.

“One hundred heads tamed by the cooing of a dove.
The black palace growing tall, looming sky above.
The beginning of the end, to be witnessed by friends.“

Awesome. Another quest. And she knows exactly where.

Just great. What is her life? Can Clarisse go back to bed now?

Nico looks equally horrified and even Lee is just so done.

He watches Priss with sharp eyes as Prissy blinks his way back to the real world.

“You with us, Perce?”

Prissy pulls a face, “Yeah. And I remember what I said. It’s Angry Girl’s quest, but the rest… Do we really have to go through that bull shit again?”

Yes. Apparently they do. Lee sends Clarisse and Piper off to round up all the camp leaders and Cabin Heads. Lee recognised that description, same as them, and suggests they get Bianca too.

At least Grover and Juniper are left out of it all this time?

________________________

This is like, literal deja vu.

Piper is crammed into the same stupid rec room with the same cast of characters and they are all fighting. Again.

She likes bossing all the campers around and doing all the easy bits of Lee’s job. Checking schedules and mediating arguments over who booked what arena is fine. Fun even.

But these little war councils? No. Thank you. But no.

This time they’ve added Nico and Bianca and left Grover and Juniper out of it.

So they have eighteen teenagers, seventeen of whom are demigods, a totally done with life Lee and Chiron. Even Chiron looks so over this.

What’s even worse is this time Piper has to actually participate. Because Surfer Boy gave the prophecy to her. She is so gonna get her revenge later.

She debates on just stabbing him in the middle of the meeting when Chiron starts talking about how quests usually need to be completed prior to the Solstice. Which is four days away.

Percy immediately shakes his head, “No, this isn’t for the gods. It’s for us.”

Lee frowns at him, “Do you have an idea on actual timeline?”

Percy shrugs uncomfortably, “They’ll see whatever it is at the right time. Not sure how it’ll unfold though.”

Lee is still eyeing him, “Piper’s to lead it?”

He shrugs again, “She’s needed. Don’t think she has to lead if she doesn’t want to.”

Castor and Pollux immediately tell the room that they will offer whatever support they can, but they aren’t going. Which, fair. Castor only got back this morning.

Travis and Connor are whispering to each other. Travis eventually asks, “It’s a quest to Mount Tamalpais isn’t it?”

Chiron answers, “It seems likely, the references to one hundred heads, a black palace and a looming sky…”

Connor shakes his head, “Then we’re out. We’ll fight, but Luke had the most of dad’s abilities. No way could we sneak past him.”

Roxy bluntly announces the Demeter kids aren’t interested and just up and leaves.

Piper stares after her. The Demeter kids are incredibly weird. Lee says they’ve always been like that. They manage themselves and never participate in anything. He makes sure they have funding and supplies and just leaves them to it.

There are two auxiliaries from Demeter, Katie and Miranda who are genuinely nice and super involved. But the rest…

So strange.

The twins and Travis and Connor leave next.

It’s a bit of an odd turnaround from the last meeting less than two weeks ago when everyone was arguing about who should go. Then again, that was a quest to find Pan, not a mission into the centre of enemy territory.

Kayla grins at her and says she’s happy to provide advice or supplies, but she’s needed at camp.

Piper already knows Surfer Boy won’t be going. Kronos is a bit too interested in prophets, they’d be serving him up on a silver platter. Nico just got back from there, if he needed to return she’s certain Percy would have given the prophecy to him. He must have ways in and out of their whole army setup.

Leo cheerfully says he has work in the forge, apparently Hephaestus was at camp yesterday and he gave his kids a tonne of ideas. Leo’s no longer interested in going anywhere other than the forge. So off he goes too.

This is feeling more like rats on a sinking ship. Like, being able to sit on the couch without being squeezed off is nice, but also, she still needs people for a quest?

Drew drops down beside her and nudges her shoulder against hers. She speaks quietly, “I’m here to support you, I’ll go if you want me to, but otherwise, I’m just here to stop them steamrolling you.”

Piper squints at her, “Them?”

“Wise kids.”

Oh. She’d not been watching closely enough. Jonathan and Sophie are absolutely glaring daggers at each other.

Yay.

Sophie announces that she should be leading this quest because she’s already been given a prophecy by the Oracle.

Lee reminds her that she was given a prophecy that was very clearly not for her.

Sophie wants to know how he can tell. Lee looks at Percy.

Percy huffs, “The Oracle’s prophecy was about someone with a fated path. You don’t have a fated path.”

“Who says so?”

Lee’s voice is very dry, “The Prophet of Apollo says so.”

Georgie is near the door watching this looking increasingly unhappy. She looks over at Piper and mouths “back in a sec” before she slips out the door.

Everyone’s just straight up abandoning Piper today, aren’t they?

Sophie starts kinda yelling at Lee about how he’s stolen a quest from her and the Labyrinth should’ve been her quest and she absolutely should have this quest. That she knows better than Piper how to handle a quest. That Piper’s not even sixteen. Apparently, those four weeks ’til she turns sixteen are gonna make such a difference?

Lee just waits Sophie out.

Jonathon’s been tensely watching this and he’s the one who asks Sophie, “So, if you lead this quest, exactly how were you planning to reach Mount Tamalpais?”

She stares at him, “The Labyrinth?” The ‘no duh’ is unspoken but still obvious.

Jonathon just tilts his head and asks, super politely, “The same Labyrinth that we know Luke and Annabeth are exploring? Wouldn’t they have whatever entrance they’re using like, super heavily guarded?”

Piper isn’t as good as Lee with keeping her face blank.

She can’t help asking, “Didn’t the prophecy say ‘witnessed by friends’? Where would you fit in this? You saying you’re my friend, or Annabeth’s, or what?”

Lee kinda winces at that, but doesn’t interfere.

Piper’s a daughter of Aphrodite, relationships are kinda Mum’s thing? She’s been living at camp long enough that Piper has learned her lesson about the ‘love goddess’ stuff.

Like, romantic relationships are totally Mum’s thing, but she’s big on all forms of relationship and intense emotions. Including friendship and genuine love. Piper’s got zero time for fake friends.

Sophie fires back, “Well how else are you going to get there? It’s a fortress?”

Piper gives her a slow innocent blink, “Prophecy said a hundred heads tamed by a cooing of a dove? Figured I might charmspeak the dragon?”

She’s absolutely terrified by the idea. Tantalus was one thing, but even then it’d been Stymphalian birds? Ladon bit Zoe, and had been at least partially responsible for her death.

Which reminds her, Piper talks over Sophie’s spluttering, “Uh, if it’s all the same to you guys, I’d really like someone who’s been there before to come with?”

Various looks are traded around the room. Thalia’s the first to volunteer. Bianca says she’ll go if Piper wants her, but she hasn’t actually been through the garden.

Nico immediately shakes his head and says he shouldn’t risk it, better to leave them thinking he’s dead. Which is fair enough.

Clarisse and Percy are having some sort of silent argument. Percy’s intensely nodding her head and Clarisse is just as fiercely shaking hers,

Lee talks to them, “Guys. Clarisse, we can hold the fort if you want to go. Perce has said that it won’t be the same if you need to split up again.”

Okay. Cryptic. Granted, Percy did the creepy prophet thing last winter, but that happened before Clarisse went on that quest.

Clarisse is still hesitant, she keeps glancing at Nico.

Piper frowns and asks Lee, “Any idea when we have to leave, or how we’re getting there? San Francisco isn’t exactly close?”

Lee snorts, “Between the hippocampi and pegasi and any other weird transport that shows up, we’ll have something for you. Or I can use Dite’s credit card and stick you on a private plane. The prophecy has been nice and straightforward for once, it actually gave you your destination.”

Piper grins a bit at that. She’s heard lots of ranting about vague prophecies that just say “head west” Specifically prophecies that talk about going west to face a god who has turned or going west to find a goddess in chains.

Actual destinations sound so much better. From what she heard at breakfast, even Grover’s prophecy ended up being pretty straightforward with Rachel going with them. They’re still kinda freaked that what they thought was two days in the Labyrinth was eleven days for everyone else.

Sophie butts in about the Labyrinth again and Piper’s had enough.

“Girl. I don’t know who I’m taking yet. But I do know it won’t be you. If you want a quest, ask your mum.”

Georgie comes back just as Piper says this to the furious Sophie.

Sophie opens her mouth to yell and another voice adds, “That’s enough, Soph. I know you’re upset, but this isn’t going to change anything.”

Malcolm Pace is standing in the doorway. Oh! Georgie must’ve gone to get him. He’s one of only a handful of Athena auxiliaries and was the Cabin Head until two years ago. Most of the Athena kids actually listen to him.

It takes a bit more coaxing on Malcolm’s part, but he gets Sophie out of the room which makes everything so much calmer. Like, the Athena kids have almost as shit a deal as the Hermes ones do, but this is so not the way to fix it.

Lee looks over at Piper, “You can take time picking your questmates, no need to do it right here and now, but I’d suggest at least bouncing ideas off Thalia and Clarisse. Nico too. They’ll have the best idea of what you’ll be facing.”

Piper suddenly remembers Mr D telling her that she could have a quest when she turns sixteen if she wants to self-destruct that badly. She still has a month to go. She’d really like to just not do a quest at all. She’s been enjoying life at camp, having a purpose. Does she really have to do this?

Percy adds, “Angry Girl, you’ve got time. I gotta sort something with War Drum, but if we don’t see you before dinner, come find us. It’ll be okay, seriously.”

Thalia grins and comes over. She holds a hand out to pull Piper off the couch, “C’mon, lets go beat some Hunters up, it’ll make you feel better.”

________________________

Clarisse is increasingly unhappy with Percy during the war council. It’s not just being split up with him that’s the issue, it’s that she can see as well as he can that Nico is not okay.

Once Thalia drags Piper off for a sparring session they basically kidnap Nico and force him to go with them back to their cabin.

Percy shoves him on a couch in Cabin Three and sits beside him, being the annoying older brother who sits too close. Whatever’s going on, Nico’s spooked and if Percy lets up even for a second the kid’ll disappear.

He’d seemed fine when he talked about Greek fire and the wings, more entertained than anything else.

Nico is still fidgeting and not talking. Percy doesn’t even need to say anything, Clarisse has seen it too. She’s sitting across the room watching Nico with sharp eyes, fully prepared to destroy whoever upset the kid.

“Shadow, what aren’t you telling us?”

Blunt as always, but Percy is still too hesitant with Nico, never sure how much he should say or not. And after he realised he’d screwed things up with the Persephone thing…

War Drum is the best.

Nico hesitates and says quietly, “In the maze, I called Theseus up at one point to guide us. He said something about how it was Ariadne’s love that guided him.”

There’s a long pause while Percy tries to work out what his little brother is actually trying to say.

“Is it the bit where the guy was my half-brother and Poseidon kids all look alike that’s the problem, or something about the princess?”

Nico makes a sour face, “Blondie was very… enthusiastic, about Theseus looking like you. But it’s not that. They’d been discounting the clear sighted thing ever since I gave them that prophecy, but I just got to thinking about Frederick Chase and May Castellan.”

Oh. Okay. This is not something Percy can say much about. He has a pretty clear idea of what the issue is now.

He asks gently, “You were worried that they would decide to use one of them?”

Nico jerks his head in an awkward nod. He hesitates and says even more quietly, “After the workshop, Father pulled me back to the Underworld. But I didn’t come straight here. I went to check on them first.”

Of course he did. Nico keeps insisting Percy is the kind one and Nico has ‘no such compunctions’, but he’s just as bad as Percy is with caring too much.

War Drum asks in as gentle a tone as she ever manages, “What happened?”

Nico looks even more uncomfortable and he’s very much refusing to look at either of them.

“The Chases, they’re just gone. The whole house was totally empty, no sign anyone had ever been there. When we saw them over winter, Helen said they would be there for at least another year. I tried asking around but everyone says they were there one day and somehow the whole family and everything they owned just disappeared overnight.”

Percy keeps his face blank and says nothing but he can see Clarisse eyeing him. Right now, this is not something that can be discussed.

When Clarisse speaks she is being very careful with her questions, “Priss. Do you know if Frederick Chase is in the Labyrinth?”

Percy’s answer is soft and Nico is looking at him, even more distressed.

“No. He isn’t.”

Poor Nico. Through his connection to the Underworld he’ll know the Chases aren’t dead, but, given the circumstances, that’s a lot less comforting than it should be.

Clarisse gives him a glare but he just gives a slight shrug back. Being a prophet sucks sometimes. He absolutely is not meant to know anything about the Chases, and there are connections people really shouldn’t be making right now. It puts too many people in danger. Including them.

She switches back to Nico, “And May Castellan?”

Nico looks even unhappier, “She’s where she’s supposed to be. I’d just never looked at all that too closely before. But after spending so much time with Scarface, I started kind of wondering how bad it’d actually been?”

Oh. Kid.

Percy’s voice is all soft gentleness, “You saw how she lives?”

The side effect of having spent so much time tracking Annabeth ever since their trip to the Sea of Monsters is that since she’s always with Luke Castellan, he’s inevitably had a lot of dreams triggered about his past too.

It’s both terrible and also nowhere near as bad as others. No worse than what Percy experienced before he called for Apollo. Nothing like what Lee experienced in the two years before he arrived at camp.

Percy knows Nico was given the basics by Lee who knew the facts but hadn’t been an active participant in any of it. Thalia filled in details for Nico from her singular visit to May Castellan’s house.

Percy had offered to tell him more, but only if he wants to know. Demigods have enough nightmares without adding to it.

Nico nods jerkily. He hesitates and then asks, “Why’d Mr D wait ’til he was twelve? I know there’s interference rules, but there are loopholes?”

Percy wraps an arm around Nico and forces him to accept some physical comfort. Nico’s seeing essence thing doesn’t give him quite the level of daily weirdness the knowing gives Percy, but it still super ups the weirdness of things. Plus, just being a powerful child of the Underworld. Nico’s both twelve years old, and also really not.

“Luke never asked for help. The gods are bound unless help is directly asked for. Luke only ever prayed to Deadbeat. Didn’t reach out to any other gods. Even when he was brought to camp, no-one ever managed to convince him to pray to anyone but Deadbeat.”

Nico’s voice is plaintive, “But he was just a kid? Why’d they leave him like that?”

Clarisse answers for him, “Gods are gods, Shadow. Not people. Apollo wanted to help, you know how he is, even with May Castellan and Deadbeat completely going against everything for the Oracle thing, he did want to help Luke. But Deadbeat is very possessive.”

Uh oh. There is too much realisation on Nico’s face. He’s just put together the pieces on something Percy has been keeping to himself. He’s kind of assuming Apollo’s worked it out by now, but no-one else seems to have noticed.

Nico turns on Percy, “When Deadbeat showed up that first time and hassled you about helping Luke, you kept pointing out he was doing this because of May Castellan. At the time, you said you didn’t know why she’d tried to take on the spirit of the Oracle.”

Kid is too good at puzzles.

Nico narrows his eyes, “No way you left that alone afterwards.”

Percy tries an innocent face and Nico just stares at him.

Percy huffs and gives in, “Yeah, I went looking.”

Clarisse has now put the pieces together too.

She pulls a face, “Sky King found her first, didn’t he?”

“Yep.”

She gives him a very fiery glare, and he gives up entirely, “Dunno whether the idea of the Oracle was purely hers or not, but Sky King definitely encouraged both her and Deadbeat. He super didn’t care if it broke her, just wanted a new Oracle. I don’t think Deadbeat had any real idea of the risks, that guy doesn’t really understand mortals, like at all.”

Clarisse goes to ask her next question and Percy’s voice is sharp, “Don’t ask that. Seriously. Don’t ask. The longer we can go without that being spoken aloud, the better it’ll be.”

She frowns at him, “I’m right though, aren’t I?”

He sighs, “Yes. You’re right.”

Because of investigating Rachel, he’d finally gotten the hang of looking back generations. He’d been able to skirt the big gaping chunk of things that weren’t for him to know and still get some actual answers on what’s been bugging him for years.

Thank the gods for Hermes’s single mindedness. He completely failed to notice or care that May Castellan had a sister, one who went missing just after she attempted to take on the Oracle of Delphi.

As far as Percy can tell, Zeus never knew the sister saw everything May Castellan could. Zeus believes she’s dead.

Apollo certainly does. Percy thinks Dad knows, but Dad never shares anything unless he wants to. Percy’s fairly sure Dad actually can and does lie about what he sees.

Apollo is the God of Truth, his prophets are bound to speak truthfully. Poseidon’s domains lean more towards whatever he feels like. The sea can be as a honest or as cunning as it wants to be.

So, honestly, Dad’s the only one who could know, and if he does, he’s not telling.

Clarisse is very unhappy with him, “And Red?”

He gives a helpless shrug, “Got no clue on that one War Drum. She hasn’t got a fate. I went back fifteen generations and there’s no connection. Think she’s just random chance.”

Nico is watching all of this and putting pieces together. Kid is an absolutely terrier for working things out. Doesn’t help that Hades tells him pretty much everything.

Nico is hyper-focused on Percy, “Percy. I know you can’t share stuff. But Frederick and Helen, are they safe?”

Percy sighs, “You can’t talk about this. At all. But yes. They’re safe. The twins too.”

It seems to settle something in Nico, poor kid was definitely at his limit with Castellan and Chase.

Percy considers him for a moment, “Shadow, you do realise if you don’t promise to stay at camp until they return, War Drum won’t go on this quest?”

From the very startled look Nico gives him, no, his little brother had not known this.

Clarisse huffs from across the room, “Shadow. You’re practically crawling out of your skin. I ain’t going nowhere if you’re gonna run the moment I turn my back.”

Nico gives Percy a bewildered look. He grins at him, “She’s protective, Shadow. She has her own priorities for who she protects. She’ll only go if you promise to stay at camp.”

Nico is incredibly sulky as he mutters a promise to stay and absolutely bolts for his room.

Clarisse pulls a face, “You do have a plan for that, right? ‘Cause he was already struggling when we lost Zoe and Phoebe, the spy thing has not helped.”

It’s going to be even worse when people realise Nico is the obvious choice to play double agent.

He’s got some breathing room now that Chase and Castellan think he’s dead, but at some point they’ll realise he’s alive and at camp. It’s practically a given that they’ll instantly try and blackmail Nico and threaten to tell Lee and the gods about how Nico spent months serving Kronos.

Anyone else that Castellan could use as a spy is going to be trusted a lot less by him. He looks at Nico and sees a naive twelve year old who is a child of the Underworld. Castellan and Chase will assume that everyone here is as afraid of Nico as they are.

Percy super hates it. Just like he hates the way the mortal school has shaken his War Drum too. That she paid a price for their investigation of Rachel. But this is war. Lee may have strong beliefs about children fighting adults battles, but sometimes kids are the best option. Especially for information gathering.

Percy grins viciously at Clarisse and says very loudly, “Pranks. Lots and lots of pranks. Not gonna let him do the hiding thing anymore. He doesn’t need to get on with the summer campers, but he needs to actually spend time with the year rounders and the Hunters. The stray cat’s gonna be tamed.”

A cranky pre-teen voice calls through the door, “I heard that!”

Percy calls back, “You were supposed to! Gonna attach a bell to you if I have to. Just try me!”

A furious wordless snarl is followed by crashing sounds. Nico totally just threw himself head first onto his bed.

Clarisse is laughing as she moves to sit next to him on the couch.

He grins as she leans against him.

“It’s not gonna be that bad, War Drum. I know how to hold the connection now. No sob-fests for either of us. Promise.”

She pulls back to squint at him, “How’re you so sure?”

He smiles, “Been testing out ideas since winter. Wouldn’t recommend going more than a week, but there are ways to make it work in the short term.”

He pauses and then adds, “You’ll have to give me Amyntor again, and take Katecho. You can still fight with Aniketos, but Katecho will anchor things.”

Katecho carries Triton’s aura and is intended to anchor Percy in places like the Underworld. But after last winter, he’s worked out how to use it to keep him and Clarisse connected. So long as he’s wearing Amyntor and doesn’t totally lose focus, he should be able to stop the weird separation anxiety thing. Stupid Fates.

The Labyrinth would screw it up though. And Percy has a sinking feeling about that whole thing.

He absolutely hates being near Amyntor and its aura, but it’s necessary. He’s fine with Clarisse wearing it, not so happy when he has to wear it.

Aniketos has an aura too. But it’s a nice one, and much dimmer than either of the other two. It’s more like Anaklusmos, a weapon imbued with a god’s essence to protect the one who carries it, with no expectation they’ll ever actually feel it.

“You ever gonna tell me who isn’t supposed to see Amyntor?”

He pulls a face, “It’s complicated? Most of it’s not for me to know. Not right now. I know it’s not forever though?”

She huffs, “And do you actually know how we’re getting there? Piper seemed super indecisive on that?”

Percy grins with intense mischief, “Well. If you go on the quest, I know exactly how you’ll be travelling there. Dunno if you don’t go, though.”

Oh, she’s so very suspicious now. “Why am I special this time?”

It is very hard to contain his laughter, “You remember the moronic loser’s story about how Helios rewarded him with a golden cup that could sail across the sea in a single day?”

The horror on he face is just priceless. “That was part of the story about herding the red cattle of Geryon. Moronic loser shot an arrow at the sky and it impressed Helios. Please tell me you aren’t saying-” She cuts herself off, still looking horrified.

Apollo may be her patron god but she does not love his little bits of dramatic flair.

Percy outright cackles at her.

When he finally gets himself under control he says, “Well. You have impressed him with your courage. There are like, so many examples at this point, dunno which one he’ll pick. But it does give him an excuse to give you a golden cup that provides near instantaneous transport?”

Clarisse stares a moment longer and stands and stalks out of the cabin.

She’ll come back eventually.

________________________

If she’s going on this stupid quest, there’s a conversation she needs to have first.

She finds Thalia drilling the Hunters, but she calls Bianca up to keep things running and walks over to Clarisse.

Thalia has changed like, intensely, since winter. It’s kind of weird. Clarisse honestly has no idea how much is from becoming the Lieutenant of Artemis and how much is just who Thalia already was under all the anger.

Even Castellan had gotten more of a childhood than Thalia did. Until she was revived she literally had no-one. Even Castellan hadn’t exactly been nice to her.

Clarisse silently follows Thalia as she leads them off to a quiet spot at the edge of the woods and drops down onto the ground.

She grins at Clarisse still looming over her.

“I hear emotional chats work better when we’re on the same level?”

Clarisse rolls her eyes and drops down next to her. “You’ve been spending too much time with Lee.”

Thalia’s unbothered, “Well, leading a whole massive gaggle of Hunters is kinda of an abrupt change for me? He seemed the one with the most experience at the sort of thing?”

Yeah. He so is.

Clarisse huffs, “How much do you know about your shield?”

Thalia looks surprised, “This about Castellan again?”

Huh? Oh. Yeah. That was a thing last winter.

She shakes her head, “Nah. Saw you push him off a cliff, got no worries. This is more clearing the air? That shield has a history. It wasn’t fun before, but we weren’t friends so it was whatever.”

Thalia beams at her, “You saying we’re friends now, War Drum?”

Clarisse rolls her eyes, “What do you think?”

Thalia’s still grinning at her, though she’s more thoughtful, “Honestly, I have no idea what’s true or not about the original Aegis. Lee did say he was really glad I hadn’t mentioned to the shield to Queen Amphitrite when she first explained everything to me. I know the stories say it was somehow made of the hide of a goat called Amalthea and the head of Medusa. It was wielded by the Sky King and that he gave it to the Grey Eyed One as a reward for something.”

She sees Clarisse flinch and narrows her eyes, “This about the Grey Eyed One?”

Clarisse huffs again, she has not got the words for this, but the only other one in a position to explain is Prissy and he finds all this even harder than she does.

“’Til now, no-one at camp knew the story, other than me, Prissy and Lee. We told Nico just before he did the spy thing, and so glad we did, ‘cause Chase got hold of the story somehow.”

Thalia is looking thoughtful, “Can you tell me the basics without giving away information? I don’t need specifics if it’s something private.”

Crackle really has grown up so much. There was a time where she wouldn’t let anything go. If she saw so much as a flinch she was out for blood.

Clarisse is very glad they’re past that. If not for the whole Kronos rising and looming war thing, they’d have time to be really good friends.

“Basic story is that Grey Eyed One used to be loyal to the sea gods. Sky King asked her to betray them and do something really terrible. She did it, and was given Aegis as a reward.”

Thalia is still thoughtful, “Whatever she did, it’s something that specifically affects you and Percy, I’ve seen the way you react to the shield. And Lee was always insistent that I never use it on either of you. Should I leave it behind when I go on this quest?”

Clarisse immediately shakes her head, “No. It’s your main weapon and you’re good with it. Me and Priss, we may not like it if you used it on us, but it won’t be traumatising or anything. It was more that if someone else saw you use it, they’d do the all out vengeance thing. Things have changed since then, and they’ll be okay with you using it to fight beside us.”

Nico had told her about Triton’s little loyalty test with the pocket knife at Solstice. Triton could have and absolutely would have taken her shield as ‘recompense’ if he’d decided he didn’t like her. He definitely did that whole thing on purpose for that specific reason.

But whatever he’d seen, he’d decided he could handle Thalia wielding Aegis around ‘his’ children. He’s had months to change his mind. Georgie has been sparring with Thalia while she’s used Aegis and they haven’t heard a peep from Triton.

Thalia isn’t entirely convinced, “If the shield is a sign of her allegiance with Sky King, it seems less than great for me to wield it?”

Clarisse smirks at her, “You’re still a daughter of the Sky King. Godly politics are stupid and I hate them, but we’ve learned when we can and can’t screw with them. Putting that shield aside voluntarily would be taken badly.”

“So why are you telling me?”

“Prissy isn’t wrong that things go better when everyone’s on the same page. Kept you out of the loop last time we went to the mountain. Don’t want to again.”

“Do you know what we’ll find there?”

Clarisse shakes her head, “Wish I did, but I’m not even sure if Prissy knows. Kinda figuring that bit about friends means it’s something to do with Chase or Castellan, but could be some of our people who’ve turned or who knows. Prophecies reveal themselves at the right time.”

Thalia tilts her head, “Can I ask something kinda rude? Totally unrelated to all this.”

Clarisse gestures for her to continue.

“I know I didn’t really know you well before winter, and we’ve been pretty constantly on the move since, but you seem to have gotten kinda-” Thalia cuts herself off, blushing.

Clarisse fills in for her, “Explosive? Erratic? Randomly super aggressive?”

Thalia seems surprised she’s so willing to admit it.

“I’m a war kid, and as much as I prefer to ignore his existence, I got a big dose of the War God’s stuff. Normally it’s fine, I have camp and Prissy and Triton. But this year…”

Okay, Clarisse can admit she’s gone all irrational and batshit insane but explaining the reason, not so much.

“You’ve been going to a mortal school all year.”

Okay, Thalia’s also picked up Lee’s mind reading trick.

“Yeah. I’ve never been in that situation before. Like, with Priss, they just treated him like a criminal. If he so much as twitched they were on him. It was completely awful but he’s been able to shake it off soon as we got back to camp.”

Thalia eyes her, “Mortals don’t do well with girls who don’t act all sweet and feminine.”

Clarisse tips her head back to glare at the sky and admits, “It was constant. I didn’t sit right, didn’t walk right, didn’t stand right. My voice was too gruff. They legit told me my tone is ‘too masculine’. My clothes were wrong. They went after Lee for not giving me proper female role models. They kept saying if I didn’t act more ladylike no-one would like me.”

Thalia is speaking way too gently. No thirteen year old should sound so tired and grown up.

“Was talking to Rachel earlier, she’s worried about you. Says she couldn’t believe the way the teachers targeted you. She also said girls in her world don’t get to your age without some adult ‘fixing’ them.”

Clarisse just looks away. If she pretends she never heard all the lectures the mortals gave her, she can also pretend it didn’t completely freak her.

She misses Triton so fucking much. He always made so much more sense. He’s never treated her and Georgie differently than Priss. If anything, he pushed them harder because they both want to fight. Prissy’s never been as interested in it as they are. He trains because it’s expected, he trains hard because Clarisse does love it.

Thalia says quietly, “Zoe told you something, just before. She told you not to let anyone hold you back.”

Clarisse sighs and slumps back against a tree behind her, “Prissy says I’ll settle if I get to do some actual fighting. That it’ll remind me who I am. I don’t want to do this quest, but Prissy keeps telling me that if I keep going like this I’ll be useless for the actual battle.”

Thalia snorts, “He’s not wrong. Our strongest fighter second-guessing herself over whether or not she’s acting ladylike doesn’t mesh so well with the girl who killed a Nemean lion.”

Clarisse huffs, “Mortals are really stupid, aren’t they?”

Thalia’s way too cheerful as she goes “Yup!”

Clarisse pulls a face, “Do you gotta sound so happy about it?”

“Well, if it didn’t make me feel happy, I’d end up thinking I should participate in that world or something. It’s bad enough Lee’s insisting I still keep up with the homeschool bullshit when we’re not actively fighting.”

Clarisse smirks. Lee is super invested in like, every kid he meets. Thalia choosing immortality has just made him double down on her ‘keeping up with the world’.

She switches topics before they both start ranting about Lee and mortal expectations.

“We good for weapons for this quest?”

Thalia happily moves onto the much more familiar ground of reviewing what they have and what they need to give Piper.

Thalia has her replica of Aegis, an extendable bronze spear from Zeus and a few extra bits and pieces from Artemis. Clarisse isn’t surprised to learn that Zoe left instructions for Thalia to receive both Zoe and Phoebe’s weaponry.

Bianca now has Phoebe’s bow and Thalia has Zoe’s transforming bow. It was at least partially ocean forged and shouldn’t work for a daughter of the sky, but, according to Thalia, Artemis had it ‘upgraded’ before passing it onto her.

Tyson had a lot say about bows when he arrived for summer camp. Clarisse can guess where Artemis sent that bow. Nice of her.

Thalia’s also been given the same sort of protective charm Artemis has supplied most of her Hunters since Castellan’s silvertongue was confirmed. She has no idea if the empousa’s charmspeak thing actually works on girls, but always better safe than sorry.

Piper should be naturally protected from charmspeak. They still have the old charm that Apollo gave Nico before the Sea of Monsters trip, so they’ll give that to her just in case.

Piper has a somewhat bizarre gift from Aphrodite in the form of a mirror bright dagger. From what Piper’s said, it kinda sounds like ‘Dite intended it to show glimpses of the future or something, but Apollo stepped in and reminded her about the whole prophecy is not good for people thing.

So now, Katoptris is just a dagger that doubles as a mirror. Piper had, very dubiously, noted it could be used for passing messages or something, all of them have some knowledge of basic signalling using light reflections.

Either way, Clarisse and Thalia decide to raid the armoury and pull a couple of the higher-end weapons for Piper to take.

Georgie had offered to ask Tyson to make something just for her but Piper had waved her off and said she was fine with the camp weapons. Something about needing to prove to the other campers that it’s not god-provided weaponry that makes Piper, Clarisse and Percy good fighters.

Which is fair. All of them can do major damage with basic weapons. Them having the weapons they do is mostly Triton just being Triton. Though, a big part of it is the anchoring thing for Percy. Clarisse still doesn’t understand the Amyntor thing but she’s gotten used to just accepting that there’s more to it and Prissy’ll tell her when it’s time.

With their conversation of weaponry winding down, she and Thalia go to hunt down Lee to check what contingency plans he’s got this time. Even if they have some sort of teleport type transport, he’s still gonna go overboard.

Especially if they’re going to Mount Tamalpais.

Chapter Text

Clarisse is more than ready to murder Prissy.

Piper and Thalia will totally help her. All of them are staring completely gobsmacked at the extra smug Apollo and his ‘reward’.

Once Shadow promised to stay at camp until she returned, she didn’t really have a leg to stand on. Especially after clearing the air with Thalia.

So she’d gone to Piper and told her she was in if Angry Girl wanted her. Piper looked incredibly relieved. Actually, come to think of it, when she and Thalia were talking things through, she also seemed super relieved that Clarisse was going.

Since when did Clarisse end up the de facto leader of this shit?

Lee found her just after that, and told her Apollo had been in touch and said he’d be here the day after next with their ‘transport’.

So. Two days after Nico, Grover, Castor and Rachel returned to camp from their various adventures, she’s standing packed and ready with Thalia and Piper, and staring at Apollo’s absolutely fucking insane ‘transport’.

She turns on the god who is just radiating his smugness. Like, literally radiating. He’s totally glowing right now.

“The fuck are you on? Tri gave us an actual boat!”

Apollo is entirely unbothered, “A boat would require you to either go very far out of your way, or attempt to travel through the Panama Canal with an extremely magical US Navy Patrol Boat.”

Okay. This is true. With everything last winter, she’d had to learn actual geography and how it’s not exactly easy to take a boat from New York to San Francisco because there’s like, a continent in the way.

But Lee had said that with Thalia travelling with them, and no Prissy or Nico, they could take an actual plane. Even hire a private one because Piper’s a favoured daughter of Aphrodite and Dite funds the camp.

That’d get them to San Francisco just as quickly?

Lee raises an eyebrow at her, he totally knows what she’s thinking, “Mortal transport requires mist manipulation, and there’s no guarantee they won’t still see your weapons as guns or something.”

But anything is better than, well, this.

Piper’s staring at it, just as confused.

She turns to Apollo, “Uh, Lord Apollo? Have you been to Disneyland recently or something?”

It’s a fair question. Clarisse has never been to Disneyland, but she is aware they have a ride that involves giant teacups.

Just like the extra gold extra large shiny teacup that’s sitting on it’s saucer and gentle bobbing on the waves in front of them.

Apollo grins brightly, “Haven’t you ever read the Bibliotheca? It says ‘But being heated by the Sun on his journey, he bent his bow at the god, who in admiration of his hardihood, gave him a golden goblet in which he crossed the ocean.’ It’s totally allowed! I did take over Helios’s role after all.”

Piper asks even more hesitantly, “I, uh, didn’t think Clarisse had shot the sun, or you, recently?”

That is an excellent idea. Where can Clarisse get a bow from super quickly?

Apollo just keeps beaming at them, “She’s faced down both the Grey Eyed One and the War God in just the last six months, I’ve got endless admiration for her boldness!”

Clarisse is looking at another god she’d like to get all up in the face of.

Thalia is eyeing her half brother so very sourly. Artemis has definitely explained to her that Apollo was deliberately screwing with her those times she saw him before she joined the Hunt.

“Okay? So the moronic loser got given a floating goblet for shooting the sun. Didn’t he make that up?”

Apollo holds his hands out in a ‘who knows?’ gesture and just goes all cheerfully, “Hera suggested this!”

Of course she fucking did. Of all the gods, Hera seems to genuinely want to fight something and Zeus is apparently not letting her. Clarisse has no issue with her feeding Shadow. Actually, given what they learned about the sacred cows, she’s really fucking glad Hera fed him.

And she’s not stupid enough to ever say thanks but no thanks to Hera, Queen of Heaven. Ares? Sure. He’ll either smite her there and then or be impressed by it. Hera’s anger lingers for decades.

Like. Moronic loser totally deserved the wrath and vengeance, but not everyone she goes after actually deserves it. Clarisse has no intention of pissing her off unless she’s actively threatening Clarisse’s people.

The golden teacup thing isn’t a threat. It’s just really fucking bizarre.

And okay. Priss is right.

Clarisse is going stir crazy after months of school and now being stuck at camp, endlessly training with no actual challenges. There are no impossible to defeat gods for her to blunt her energy on.

Just like his prophecy stuff is rapidly increasing, her own engrained Ares stuff is going haywire. Growing up absolutely sucks. She misses Triton so gods damn much.

Prissy keeps saying she needs to do this quest or she’s gonna be completely cracked by the time she’s needed for an actual battle. He’s probably right.

She needs to take a breath and aim her anger at the right target. She does not need to stab Apollo with an adamantine trident.

She does notice with a vicious smirk that Apollo has taken several large steps away from her. It’s kinda fun making people scared of her, even if they are her patron god.

She finally asks, “Why a teacup though? Can’t you just give us a lift on the sun chariot?”

He cheerfully smirks at her from a safe distance, “But a golden cup is traditional!”

Priss grabs her arm before she can lunge at Apollo. She still manages to draw Aniketos.

Sadly, Prissy takes Aniketos off her and hands it to Lee. Who refuses to give it back until she calms down.

Both Piper and Thalia are now staring at her kinda bug-eyed. Oops. She’s been mostly hiding the rage thing from everyone except Priss and Lee. They’ve seen it before and aren’t bothered by it.

Though, she knows Lee is blaming himself for Triton not being available. Because he can totally control godly battles in Atlantis and all.

Thalia knows she’s been erratic, but probably didn’t know Clarisse has reached ‘stabbing Apollo’ levels of rage.

She gives them a kinda sheepish smile, “Don’t worry. Gods are fair game, but I ain’t gonna turn it on you. Downside of being a war kid.”

Apollo asks her, very politely, not to stab him. He even adds a please.

Prissy shoves her towards the stupid teacup and says Lee will only release Aniketos when she actually sits down in the stupid cup.

She is so not happy that Triton somehow changed the charm on her trident so that Lee actually can confiscate it. Lee was exceptionally pleased when he discovered that.

She snarls at Priss but does move to get in the dumb cup. Prissy grabs her and hugs her first. She stands stiff and glaring at the sun, but she knows he won’t take it badly.

She really hates leaving him behind. They are meant to be fighting side by side. He keeps telling her that they will be, that something has to happen, and then he’ll be joining her for every fight.

He just won’t tell her what he’s waiting on.

At least this time she’s going with two people who will be entirely unbothered by the braiding hair thing?

Piper does it for her all the time, and Thalia’s just accepted it. Neither seem to know it’s a Prissy thing.

She climbs into the stupid teacup and Thalia and Piper join her. She feels Aniketos return to her necklace just before the teacup does a thing and the world kinda spins around them.

The golden cup leaves them on a beach in San Francisco just after sunset. Just wonderful. Now they have a full day to wait until they can actually access the stupid garden.

Like, even without a prophecy it’s probably how she’d choose to approach the place. They’ll all assume no-one is dumb enough to try and get past Ladon.

Since no-one has ever tried before. It’ll be the one hole in their perimeter. The Labyrinth entrance is definitely well guarded.

They climb out of the dumb teacup and it instantly vanishes.

Thalia’s the one who asks, “We doing a hotel or your weird boat?”

For a Hunter, Thalia totally has a taste for luxury. She grins beatifically when Clarisse tells her Lee said they should stay at the Four Seasons if they arrived after sunset.

Thalia leads them gleefully straight to a skyscraper and demands the room with the best view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Mount Tamalpais.

The poor clerk looks kinda horrified, but Piper’s done the weird Aphrodite thing where she dresses just a little differently and changes her posture, and suddenly she looks ten years older.

Clarisse sees Silena and Drew do it all the time but it still seems so strange. It’s not like they use magic or anything, that’d make a lot more sense.

Right now, the clerk totally accepts that not-yet sixteen year old Piper is actually twenty-two and fully able to book a room. Piper happily agrees with Thalia that the $7000 a night Golden Gate Terrace Suite is exactly what they want to book.

It’s only when she’s watching Piper charm the clerk that Clarisse remembers Piper is an actual rich kid, same as Rachel.

Thalia theoretically should have been, but her mother was- Yeah. No comment.

She is so glad Piper is nothing like the other kids at that stupid school. Rachel too.

It’s weird, when they finished at the school, she’d felt fine. Just glad it was over. But the more time she’s had to sit and think, the worse she’s felt. It’s been four weeks now and Prissy is not wrong about the spiralling.

The clerk actually accepts Piper’s credit card and gives them the suite for the night. Mortals are completely insane.

When they’re in the elevator Clarisse eyes her, “Tell me that was one of Beauty or Apollo’s cards and not your dad’s?”

Piper full on snickers, “I was tempted to do the whole teenager rebellion thing, but no. Mum gave it to me ages ago, said to use it however I wanted, so long as Lee could use it too.”

Ah, loopholes are such fun. Aphrodite can only interfere with her own kids and only to a point. She can give them as much money and gifts as she feels like, so long as she doesn’t speak to them directly outside of specific circumstances.

She can also provide funds to the High Priest of Apollo as a thanks offering for how often she consults with Prissy about the future. She’s very fond of his weather predictions. Totally has nothing to do with how she always stops by Cabin Ten afterwards.

Once the funds are allocated to Lee, he can do whatever he wants with them because he’s a demigod, not a god. If he chooses to spend them on the camp, no-one can complain.

The suite is… Yeah. Mortals are insane. It’s immediately obvious why Thalia wanted it though. Not only does it give them a view of Mount Tamalpais and its whole permanent storm situation, but it has a large enough balcony for her to sleep outside. She definitely plans to set up one of the Hunter’s tents if the weather turns bad.

The triangular building that’s directly in front of the terrace is completely bizarre, but if you ignore the whole mortals being mortals thing, it is kinda fun to stay in a ridiculously expensive hotel for the night.

They gleefully order room service and settle in for a night of pretending to fancy. It’s not like they can really do much else. Thalia and Clarisse should be able to access the garden now that Zoe’s taken them there, but access still need the sunset. And since it’s summer, that means waiting until like 8:30 at night.

On the plus side, the watch shield thing that Tyson made Prissy actually works as a watch, so Clarisse feels mildly less stupid than she did last winter, when none of them could work out what the time was or when they should visit Frederick Chase.

She winces, best not to think about the Chases. If Prissy says they’re fine, then they are. She’s overthinking enough shit already.

Thalia notices, because of course she does. She’s stretched out on her stomach on the rug, ignoring the completely functional couch, kicking her legs in the air, as she and Piper try and work out the most expensive food they can order, and whether or not it’ll actually be edible.

Piper is at least sitting on the couch. Though, she’s upside down with her legs balanced on the back and her head hanging off the seat while she talks to Thalia.

Clarisse is sitting on the ground in front of the couch mostly just watching the other two argue about whether or not wine tasted better in Ancient Greece or if it’s always been disgusting and that’s why Mr D is so shitty all the time.

Thalia asks, “Clarisse, something wrong?”

“Just thinking about the last time we were waiting for sunset.”

She rolls onto her back and pulls a face, “The Chases?”

Piper instantly loses interest in the menus, “Wait, you know about Annabeth’s family?”

Thalia makes a face, “Yeah. I knew her before she came to camp and Clarisse and Percy were friends with her right up to the Master Bolt thing.”

Piper’s still upside down, which makes that head tilt look super weird.

“Wait, what aren’t you saying? Both of you are pretty blunt when it comes to crappy living situations?”

Thalia huffs and moves to sit on the couch next to Piper, shoving at her ’til she turns right way up.

“Problem is, Annabeth’s situation wasn’t crappy. I was kinda super shocked when I saw it. Just a normal suburban family, with a dad who was kinda the ditzy version of Lee?”

Piper looks shocked, “Seriously? Like, I know I barely knew her before everything went down, but she came across as kinda…”

She’s definitely struggling how to describe Annabeth before that first quest.

Clarisse offers, “Like she had nowhere else to go?”

Piper nods, “Yeah, she said she used to be year round. When I got to know the camp better I think I just assumed Luke was all she had and she was one of the kids Lee sends to boarding school?”

Clarisse’d gotten used to Piper calling him Luke. She’s never met the guy and Luke is a hell of a lot quicker to say than Castellan.

Scarface is easier too. Shadow might be onto something with that.

“Nah. She ran away from her family when she was seven. Met up with Castellan and Thalia and they took her to camp. She and Castellan were very much doing the big brother protecting little sister thing. After he was banished, she stayed on. After that she was year round for like two or three years?”

Piper’s all bright curiosity, “What changed?”

“Lee. He never liked her around Priss, didn’t say why though. Think Chase triggers super bad prophetic dreams and Lee knew she was the cause. He did a tonne of work to get her to reconnect with her parents.”

Piper squints at her, “Annabeth didn’t seem like someone who could be convinced easily?”

Clarisse smirks, “She did this stupid thing where she tried to make bronze and wax wings and test them on a cliff. Lee found out in time, but she was switched to summer after that.”

Thalia is completely horrified, “She actually tried to do the icarus thing? When she was, what, ten?”

“Pretty much. Gave Lee a good reason to make her move home though.”

“Do you know why she ran away?”

“Not really. She had lots of complaints about her family, but none really make sense.”

Clarisse looks over at Thalia, “Crackle?”

She huffs and flips herself upside down on the couch. Okay, Clarisse definitely spent too much time at that school. Some weird and completely insane part of her wants to tell the girl to sit properly.

Gods, she needs an actual fight. Like. Now.

Thalia is still thinking, eyes distant.

“I’m not sure. She said her family didn’t want her, so she ran away. Luke told her she was part of our family now. Told her the dumbest shit about that stupid knife.”

The Chases definitely want her. But that last bit- That gets Clarisse’s interest, “Wait, you know why she doesn’t use another weapon?”

Thalia rolls her eyes, “Something about how knives are only for the quickest and bravest fighters. That because they don’t have the reach of a sword they can only be used by clever warriors.”

Clarisse stares at the upside down girl, eyes wide.

Her voice is very flat, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Thalia shakes her head, smirking, “Nope. He told her only clever fighters can use a knife. And that she’s part of his family and he’ll never fail her like our families failed us.”

Thalia flinches, like she just realised what she said, “Uh, I don’t believe that last bit anymore? Don’t give a shit about Sky King but I’ve got the Hunters and my cousins and all the campers. Doesn’t matter who my mortal parent was, I’ve got my own people.”

Clarisse grins, “Know you don’t think that Crackle. Prissy’s still waiting for you to okay him telling the story of that tantrum you threw at the manticore. Says it’s where your hero story starts.”

Piper’s instantly peppering Thalia with questions. At some point, it turns into wrestling over the Aegis bracelet. Clarisse leaves them to it.

That knife still freaks Prissy out. Shadow told them Thalia said something about how the knife is said to protect its owner. Neither he nor Priss are sure if it protects Annabeth or her fated path. It’s certainly been super useful with how Prissy can track it.

He can track the aurichalcum knife too. She’d made Shadow return it almost as soon as he got back. He’s less likely to make his own way back to Mount Tamalpais if he’s not carrying something Priss can track him with.

Prissy’d had Clarisse give it to Piper this time. Said he can track Thalia’s Aegis bracelet but if Piper carries the knife he can track the questers even if they split up. She’s got Katecho on, as well as Aniketos. She’s pretty sure Prissy can track her even without any of that.

It’s kinda weird, having the two tridents, she isn’t a child of the sea but she’s getting super suspicious that the whole ‘child of war embraced by the sea’ thing is a little more literal than Tri’s let on.

She can feel the difference between the tridents. She absolutely should not be able to.

Like, they look different. Percy’s Katecho charm is vaguely ‘P’ shaped. Aniketos is pretty much a designer jewellery conch horn shape. Piper made a lot of comments about Elsa Peretti designs when she saw it.

They’re getting a bit suspicious about how much of godly made items look like that lady’s designs. Tri just gets his most ‘I know something that you don’t’ look on his face when she and Prissy try to ask him if she was a demigod.

Like the other pendants, nothing about Aniketos suggests a weapon. But the conch shell is an incredibly deliberate choice. She carries a very visible claiming symbol from Tri, whether her weapon is drawn or in pendant form.

It might also be more of Poseidon and Triton screwing with each other too. The pendant form is meant to disguise the fact they carry weapons. Which means Katecho can’t look like a trident. Huh. Wonder if the ‘P’ is for Percy or for Poseidon?

Clarisse can also feel the two trident pendants are different. Katecho feels like Prissy, everything about it screams ocean. It was intended to anchor a prophet and apparently even she can feel its aura. Aniketos just feels right, like it matches her.

Prissy says Amyntor has an aura too, but the only description he’ll give her is that it’s ‘like Katecho’. Totally doesn’t feel like that though. Before Tri gave her Aniketos, she’d have said that no weapon has felt more perfectly suited to her than Amyntor. But now, Aniketos feels like a perfect match.

Because of the adoption thing? Like, embraced by the sea means a trident now feels more natural? Or just because Amyntor was forged before Tri really knew her? She’s not actually sure when it was forged, but it must have been pretty early on. Both Lee and Tri have mentioned it being kept ready for her.

Amyntor has an engraved conch shell too. It’s much less visible though. Only shallowly engraved and the same colour as the rest of the spear. The conch shell on Aniketos is a lot bigger, the engraving is much deeper and something’s been done to darken it so it super stands out.

Prissy had told her to bring Tri’s atlantean armour with her instead of Apollo’s golden armour. They’d had plenty of arguments about them swapping the breastplates of their armour so she had a trident on her too, but she hadn’t really looked it over before.

When she was packing she realised it also has a big extra distinct conch shell on it. Ever since she killed the Nemean lion, Tri seems to have decided he’s going to be as open about claiming her as he is with Priss and Georgie.

She’s not sure how Poseidon feels about Tri claiming Priss. He makes sure Priss’s gear has the trident engraving and not a conch shell but he’s never interfered with Triton fussing over Prissy. Priss says he’s pretty sure Poseidon knows about the hidden conch shell on Katecho, but Poseidon’s never done anything about it.

Galene sees Triton claiming her daughter as a mark of pride. After the scorpion thing, she’d asked Georgie about the spiral on her armour. Apparently, Galene had designed the combination of claiming symbols herself. In contrast, Ares seems to have just realised that nothing he can do will convince Clarisse to choose him, so now he pretends she doesn’t exist.

She eventually separates Piper and Thalia and reminds them that sleep is a thing they need to do. Piper’s arranged some sort of late checkout, so they have plenty of time to just do nothing. Oh, and work out their plan of attack.

She also needs to find a way to tell Piper the message Prissy gave her, without setting off questions she honestly can’t answer.

Priss gave her zero explanation for that. He better be right about Hera not retaliating. Because they are completely fucked otherwise.

________________________

It’s kinda surreal to leave the fancy ass hotel dressed as normal teenagers and take a taxi halfway up a mountain. Then tramp off the road to a convenient clearing where all three of them switch from mortal teenagers to heavily armed warriors.

Fun. But surreal.

They’d already left most of their stuff at a ‘safe-drop’ Lee told them about. Piper’s assuming it’s there for Nico. So now, they’re down to just light daypacks, wearing armour and weapons, and are steadily shedding any sign of them being normal kids.

Before she’d left on that last quest, Zoe Nightshade had pulled Piper aside and asked her to do something. Made her swear on the Styx that she would. She was like, scary intense about it. Piper had not understood it, at all. It was partly why she’d been so determined to go after the questers.

Why would Zoe Nightshade make Piper swear on the Styx that the Aphrodite kids will make braiding hair before battle a thing?

Like, they’d already known something was coming by that point, and Piper is a daughter of Aphrodite. She knows the way someone looks can actually increase their confidence and everything. But why would Zoe Nightshade care? To the point she straight up demanded Piper swear on the Styx?

After spending more time with Clarisse and Percy and actually hearing them talk about Zoe, Piper understood.

Zoe had no idea what the future would hold, she’d just known she wouldn’t be there for it. She’d wanted to leave something behind for Clarisse.

Clarisse may say she doesn’t do shows of affection or tributes, but Piper’s a daughter of Aphrodite. Those braids mean more to Clarisse than she’ll ever admit, and Zoe knew that.

At camp, ‘Nightshade braids’ have become a thing. A crown braid done using a dutch plait so it looks kinda like a Greek halo. It’d been Zoe’s signature style for actual combat. What she’d been wearing when she died.

Clarisse hadn’t said a word when Piper sat her down and braided her hair before they left the hotel. Piper’s done her own hair the same way and adjusted the colour to be her natural dark brown.

Even Thalia said she’d do the same if her hair was long enough. It isn’t, and she still has the silver circlet of her rank somehow permanently set on her head. That thing never budges. Piper’s tried to steal it so many times.

It’s super entertaining watching Clarisse mutter over her new armour as she straps it on. Must be from the sea gods, it’s all deep blue tight fitted clothing underneath and silvery-blue metal on top. The metal’s just plain odd. It’s shiny and it should reflect light but somehow it doesn’t.

Piper’s just waiting for the day Ares sends Clarisse some of his distinctive red armour. If she’s already started switching between Apollo’s extra shiny gold and the Atlantean silver and dark blue, maybe she needs some red too? She’s gonna totally lose her shit and Piper is so looking forward to the fireworks.

Thalia’s in the kinda sorta uniform most of the Hunters wear. Silver camo style pants, plain grey top, light jacket and fitted armour that’s a bit more modern and a little less Greek.

Mum had offered Piper the ‘classic Aphrodite armour’ and she’d stared, kinda horrified, until she found the right words to explain it was important to her that she used the same supplies the campers have available to them. You know, leading by example or some bullshit like that.

Piper’s all for Aphrodite Areia pink, but armour in eye-smarting shades of pink and red is more than she can handle. Armour is meant to protect you, not turn you into a giant bright pink target.

Since Artemis and Apollo do supply a number of campers besides their chosen kids, Piper had gratefully accepted her own set of much plainer silver armour.

As they finish up, Clarisse eyes Piper, “You clear on what to do?”

Piper’s still so confused about the extra instruction’s Clarisse gave. Seems kinda like it’s helping the enemy, since they can’t get past the dragon anymore than anyone else can. But if Percy says to do it, he must have a reason.

Piper’s never pushed her charmspeak like this either. It’s going to be a whole new experience. But this is not the time to show hesitation.

She gives a confident nod, “Yeah. I can do it. Still a bit worried about targeting though. You’re certain you and Thalia will be protected?”

It’s the one thing she’s still not perfect with. She has scads of power and can charmspeak anything. The problem is, she inevitably charmspeaks everything. Apollo seems confident that her targeting is adequate and he did take the lojack off.

But it was only when she had that bracelet that she even realised how she almost always screwed everyone in her vicinity over when she used her charmspeak.

Kind of made her feel incredibly guilty when she realised how many people she’d accidentally mind-controlled before she came to camp.

Clarisse gives her a grin, “If Castellan’s silvertongue couldn’t do jack, pretty sure I’ll be fine. Worst case, if you somehow manage to charmspeak me, Apollo will show up, like, immediately. You’d just be giving him a loophole to help out.”

Oh. Hey. That actually helps. She probably shouldn’t be almost fond of the god who spent like, two full years threatening to smite her, but his whole ‘my way or the highway’ routine actually helped her so much.

If he hadn’t bound her charmspeak, she’d have definitely managed to talk her way out of the camp in those first couple of weeks. And even if she later realised she’d made a massive mistake, she’d be too mortified to go back.

Piper likes her life now. She likes having a purpose. She hadn’t realised it at the time, but in hindsight, if she’d stayed in the mortal world it was only a matter of time before she went down the same self-destructive spiral so many kids of famous people end up in.

The demigod stuff made everything so much worse and she was already fighting against herself constantly. Camp hadn’t been perfect, Lee had only suggested changing her routine six months ago and before that she’d kinda been constantly exploding.

It’d still been vastly better than the mortal world. People had seen she was starting to spiral and stepped in before she did something she’d regret. She still has no idea what she thinks about Mr D and whether he did that on his own or because of Lee, but either way, they did more for her than her dad’s ever had time for.

She gives Clarisse a much more real smile. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

Actually entering the garden is fine. The three of them hold hands like they’re on their way to some bizarre costume party, and Clarisse leads them straight through the solid white fog into a garden.

Four girls who look like very sad imitations of Zoe Nightshade show up and totally gape at them.

They start in on some lecture about how Clarisse and Thalia shouldn’t have returned, but Piper’s not in the mood.

No time like the present to test the charmspeak, right?

She adds just a touch of power to her voice, “Go away and leave us alone.”

All four look stunned but they shimmer and vanish immediately. Cool.

Piper turns towards the dragon. They’re only just inside the entrance of the garden and so far, the dragon is either ignoring them or hasn’t seen them.

He is absolutely enormous. And all the heads… She’s just going to take Percy at his word that Ladon has one hundred heads. She’s got no idea. He’s completely wrapped around the giant apple tree, all his heads resting on the ground, kinda stacked on top of each other.

This is totally not making Piper think of Smaug, if Smaug was actually a living embodiment of his hoard of gold.

She’d doubled down on the fantasy thing after Mr D mocked her over the Tamora Pierce stuff. Especially after she realised Mr D absolutely reads the same books. Percy and Clarisse gleefully joined in once she introduced them to Legolas.

Piper’s thinking the dragon is actually asleep. All the eyes are shut and the breathing sounds are kinda like snoring.

She keeps her voice soft and gentle but slowly increases the volume as she speaks.

“Ladon, Queen Hera’s most faithful guardian. Sleep peacefully and deeply. Dream sweet dreams and stay asleep until I release you. Wake if someone touches the tree, but let all others pass you by. Sleep my little dragon. Sleep deeply.”

Percy’s spent time with her talking about controlling her voice and how it will affect her charmspeak. He says that understanding the skill of storytelling will help with her precision. Not just in her tone of voice, but the words she chooses. Percy says the more her words sound right to people, the less they’ll fight against the charmspeak.

She’s pretty sure he’s right. She lets her voice rise and fall, all soft coaxing and musical lullaby.

Clarisse told her specifically to name Queen Hera. That it would be better if she knows immediately what they’re doing. Even Clarisse seemed a bit twitchy about that part. They’re both killing Percy if he’s wrong about this.

Clarisse and Thalia seem entirely unaffected, both are tense with anticipation and scanning the area with sharp eyes, always returning to look at Ladon.

Ladon doesn’t wake up, even as Piper raises her voice until she’s talking like some old fashioned orator, all loud carrying voice.

The heads seem to sink deeper into the grass and all of him seem to relax a bit. Muscles she hadn’t realised were already tensing from their intrusion, are softening as the dragon falls even more deeply asleep.

She repeats her instructions a few times, making it clear he is to wake if someone actually touches the tree. Ensuring people can travel through the garden safely is one thing, giving them access to apples that grant immortality is so not happening.

Even if the tree didn’t belong to Queen Hera, immortality is definitely a capital ‘B’ Bad thing.

Clarisse gestures, and all three of them start carefully creeping along the edge of the garden. Piper keeps up her soothing litany about sleep and sweet dreams and how very faithful the dragon is.

They make it to the other side of the dragon and out onto the path up to the harsh rocky mountain peak without being challenged.

Piper is more than happy to stay quiet until they get much closer to the black building at the top. They eventually step off the path and crouch near a boulder.

She whispers to the others, eyes wide, “I know Percy said I could do this, but I can’t believe that worked!”

Clarisse smirks at her, “He did say this is a new age of heroes, s’not gonna be just me and him, Angry Girl.”

Clarisse is all calm focused energy. No more freaky aggressive rants and threats to stab her own patron. She absolutely does live for this sort of thing. Piper’s feeling super calm and happy too.

Yeah. Demigods are incredibly strange, her included.

They hear the creepiest fucking sounds and break time is over.

They each take turns carefully peeking over their boulder to see what’s happening a little ways down from them and off to the left.

If Percy hadn’t shown her a drawing, she’d be absolutely lost. Best description she has is; weird and black and puppy-dogish. Telkhines.

And they are like, growling and barking? But also talking?

There’s two of them, super tall, so that means they’re adults? Plus a normal guy. Bit older than her, and looks kinda Japanese. Clarisse quietly murmurs, “Ethan.”

Oh. That kid. Well, not really a kid. Son of Nemesis, banished from camp when Luke was. No-one seems to have any actual information on him. Nico told her the other day that he’d spend months trying to befriend the guy and got absolutely nowhere.

Which is impressive. Nico is incredibly good at extracting information. He just chatters away all innocently and somehow you end up telling him things you never meant to. He managed to talk her into telling him their Capture the Flag strategy two separate times before she realised she needed to straight up refuse to talk to him if she had secrets to keep.

The two Telkhines are talking back and forth about the whatever they have with them. It’s all wrapped up and laying on a convenient slab of rock.

“At least we salvaged the blade. The master will reward us!”

The other is less enthusiastic, “Yes. Rewards beyond measure. But it will take many years to rebuild our numbers.”

The bossy Telkhine does an angry barking thing. “What does that matter? With the Titan of Time on his rightful throne we will have access to all we need!”

Clarisse does a weird cranky twitchy thing beside her. What? Oh. She’s still upset about the lack of time travel. Because that’s somehow important right now?

The Japanese guy goes all unhappily, “Yeah. That’s great. I’ve got places to be. So I’m just gonna go,” he moves to walk away.

The bossy Telkhine isn’t having it, “No! You must come with us for the presentation. It is a great honour!”

“Fine. Whatever. But I’ve had enough of Luke bitching about stygian iron, I ain’t touching that thing.”

The Telkhine does a thing that might count as eye rolling in monster body language? “This is far superior to paltry Underworld tricks! One touch and the blade will sever your soul from your body!”

Ethan just gives him such an unimpressed look back, “Yeah. I know. That’s why I said I’m not touching it?”

The Telkhines fuss back and forth but they finally unwrap the whatever between themselves.

Okay, that’s a giant… The hell is that? It’s like a giant metal blade bent into half a circle, with a short stubby handle on one end. In theory it might be good for like, beheading people? Like, giant sized people? How do you fight with that thing?

Apparently, Piper’s total confusion is obvious. Clarisse is snickering very quietly beside her.

She barely breathes her words, “The original scythe was made for castrating the Crooked One’s father, he kinda made it his thing?”

Piper blinks. And blinks rapidly a few more times. Gods are so fucking weird. She vaguely knows the myth of Kronos and Uranus, she’d just never put those pieces together. That weapon makes no sense.

It’s huge, like six full feet just of metal blade and an extra two feet or so for the wooden handle. It’s a weird bronze and steel combo colour. Bianca’s talked about that, something about Luke having a super bizarre sword with an aura of death that she’d totally shattered. She’s very proud of that one. She never said exactly how she did it.

Piper watches the Telkhines fuss and asks the other two, “How’d Bi break Luke’s sword?”

Clarisse is all vicious smile, “Don’t worry, got some contingencies for that thing. Best leave them to it.”

Okay, then. Nico has been here for months, so Lee must’ve had plenty of time to prepare.

The Telkhine announces they need to sanctify the creepy weapon in blood. Which. What?

Ethan seems unbothered, and just follows them when they walk off talking about how he’ll help present it.

While the path is clear, the three of them creep up to the fortress thing.

It looks kinda like a massive tomb made of black marble. But the marble absorbs light, no reflections at all. Piper’s used to Bianca and Nico feeling a bit weird, just like Percy and Georgie feel slightly off in a different way, that whole different realms thing. But this is more like pure death, rather than Underworld kid.

Totally freaky.

They easily sneak inside the main door. Apparently, guards aren’t a thing they use inside their perimeter?

The hallway is full of statues of titans. Clarisse stops in front of one and stares at it, looking kinda stunned. Piper quickly heads over to her.

When she gets a better look, she’s so confused.

She whispers, “Why is there a statue of Lee?”

Clarisse keeps her eyes on the statue and speaks just as softly, “Not Lee. That’s Helios. He faded. I just thought Priss was joking about them looking alike… The hell?”

Thalia hisses at them and Clarisse shakes off her confusion and turns to look towards what seems to be the main room.

“Come on, let’s get this witness shit over with.”

She takes the lead, with Piper and Thalia just behind and on either side of her. None of them are clear on why the prophecy wants them here. They’d gone back and forth a few times about the witness line and the reference to friends. All three of them are friends, so it could be as simple as that, but Clarisse seemed doubtful.

At the far end of the empty echoey room is an absolutely enormous sarcophagus. Piper supposes it’s a greek thing? Honestly it just makes her think of a cross between an altar in a Christian church and an Egyptian pharaoh sarcophagus thing.

Big giant ten foot long gold box. That’ll work as a description too.

The whole place looks super ritualistic. Like it actually is a church. Even has huge candles on pillars and everything.

Clarisse and Thalia go tense when they see the sarcophagus.

Piper looks over at Thalia. She pulls a face, “That’s what they were summoning Titan mulch into.”

They crept up to the dais and stared some more at the giant gold box.

It has the most bizarre scenes engraved on it. All modern landmarks being crushed under raging figures which she’s assuming are Titans. All of the Olympians seem to have at least one image of their imagined death.

Lotta wishful thinking going on here.

The air around the sarcophagus is freezing cold. If they’re recalling Titan chunks, do they need to keep the pieces cold like a mortuary or something?

So creepy.

There are even weirder words engraved on the lid, definitely not Greek. She squints at it, nope, no demigod translation skills for this one.

Clarisse quietly says, “Priss showed me a drawing, says it’s an old language. Says Titan of Time and King of the Titans.”

Yeah, Clarisse is not letting go of the ‘Titan of Time’ thing, is she?

Thalia huffs, “Guess we’re opening it? Maybe we can steal some chunks or something, stop him reforming?”

Okay. That’s disgusting. But she’s not wrong.

The three of them very carefully ease the lid back and turn it slightly so it stays balanced and doesn’t fall and alert anyone.

Thalia is the one closest to the little gap they’ve opened. Piper watches as horror spreads across Thalia’s face.

Dread fills her voice and she whispers, “No.”

________________________

Clarisse has no idea why she’s surprised. She can’t even work out what she’d actually expected to see.

Thalia stumbled back as soon as she got a look inside. Which isn’t great for their whole stealing Titan chunks plan.

Which is so incredibly gross and if Prissy actually wants her to do that, there are going to be some very serious conversations happening.

Still, Clarisse’s hesitant as she creeps over to peek down into the stupid gold box that feels super cold and so incredibly wrong. The stupid box with the stupid Time Lord title that’s so-

What. The. Fuck.

She has no idea how to process this. None at all.

She shakes it off. She has Aniketos in her hand, keeping it in charm form. There’s enough space between the lid and the wall of the box that she definitely could shove it straight down and kill Kronos right now.

She glances at the other two, “I can stab him. If it works on gods it’ll work on titans, right?”

No way is she gonna ask Thalia to do that, even if she has a weapon that’ll work.

Kronos is missing a chunk of his chest still. Looks kinda totally dead, so now’s the time, right?

Thalia shakes her head, “Titans can’t be killed. Even if you can cause an injury, the gods couldn’t kill him first time around.”

She’s right, unfortunately. Clarisse really wants this to be over.

Piper’s still watching them, looking confused. She hasn’t looked.

‘Witnessed by friends’. Gods she’d like to stab the Fates. They’re really fucking cruel.

Clarisse gestures Piper over, there are definitely voices approaching, so guess the witnessing needs to happen now.

Piper hesitates, but she does go and look into the box. Her eyes widen and her face pales several shades.

She gapes at Clarisse, “What?”

Clarisse takes one last look before grabbing both and shoving them off to hide behind a convenient pillar.

They hide just in time, as the two Telkhines come in with the scythe.

They must’ve made some noise because they’re super excited and barking at each other about how their lord stirs and they must present the gifts immediately.

They do the whole formal kneeling thing and hold out the weird scythe and go all super seriously, “My lord, your symbol of power remade.”

Guy’s symbol of power was made of adamantine and is still being used by Demeter. Clarisse definitely agrees with Shadow that the weird steel and Celestial bronze is a super bad replacement, no matter how much time the Telkhines spent on it. Or how much magic they embed in it. They aren’t gods?

Also, last time she saw them, they were talking about sanctifying the weapon in blood. They managed that real damn fast. It can’t have been more than ten minutes since they left with the weird weapon. How exactly does sanctifying in blood work?

Wait. Scratch that. Clarisse doesn’t want to know.

Ethan is dragged into the room and shoved down in front of the sarcophagus next.

Unlike the Telkhines who are still kneeling with their weapon, Ethan is super unhappy to be forced to his knees. He argues about how he doesn’t like the sound of being required and would like to go now.

The guy holding him snarls at him, “Stop being a coward! I’m not going to kill you. You’re gonna pledge your service to him. Renounce the gods.”

Clarisse reaches out and grabs Piper before she can charge forward. Nico tried gods knows how many times to get through to Ethan. But he’s never opened up, not to anyone. As best they can tell, he doesn’t even talk to Castellan about any of it.

There is nothing any of them can do or say that will stop what’s coming next. Might get them killed, though.

Ethan sighs and slumps a bit, the guy is still forcing him to kneel. Clarisse sees when Ethan turns his head slightly sideways. No depth perception makes it super obvious when he looks at them, but he doesn’t say anything.

He turns his head back to the gold box and says clearly and very firmly, “I renounce the gods! What have they done for me? I will see them destroyed. I will serve Kronos.”

A weird not-earthquake thing rumbles beneath them, uncomfortable and awful. A dark shadow moves from Ethan and into the box. That’s when they notice the lid is slightly cracked. Took them long enough.

The Telkhines pull the lid all the way off, just as Kronos sits upright.

Luke Castellan joins Ethan Nakamura kneeling in front of the sarcophagus as Annabeth Chase, now with golden eyes, sits upright in the box.

Except that’s not Annabeth Chase. That’s definitely Kronos.

He easily leaps out of the box and onto the ground. The strange cold follows him. There’d been arguments about what the old stories mean when they talk about Kronos having control over ice. Clarisse has some vague memory of Prissy talking about a myth where Kronos shot ice spears as weapons. Kinda looks like that might be true?

For a moment his face twists, and that’s Annabeth’s grey eyes staring at Castellan and Ethan kneeling in front of her.

Then it’s gone, and Kronos is giving an incredibly creepy smile.

He speaks in a weird layered voice. Annabeth’s light tones with a darker older tone underneath. Clarisse’s heard the Fates speak through Prissy and it’s nothing like this. This is so wrong, so unnatural.

“The body has been well prepared.” He glances sideways and directly at them, “Don’t you think so, Clarisse?”

Oh, lovely. This isn’t possession, this is a Titan who’s just inherited all of Blondie’s opinions.

And- Yep.

“Annabeth is so very afraid of you. Her jealously and hatred have been such powerful tools. She came to me willingly. I never needed fear or obedience, she wanted the power to destroy you. I thank you.”

He glares at the three of them and orders, “Come here, little girls.”

How lovely. Is she ever going to escape the whole female equals weak bullshit?

Considering the number of times she’s heard that stupidity from Castellan, Chase and various monsters in their army, and the fact the gods have said jack about her being a girl, they’d have won her loyalty even without Prissy being around.

Ares has never said a thing about her gender. He’s just pissed she’s not loyal to him.

Still, being seen as weak has its advantages. The three of them shuffle forward and somehow the morons actually believe they came here without weapons.

The Telkhines take Piper’s sword but definitely seem entirely unaware that they have transforming weapons. Chase should know she has weapons in a spear form, shouldn’t she? Clarisse honestly can’t remember any more. Huh, actually. She’s not sure Chase has ever seen her draw a weapon, only Priss.

The Telkhines don’t even glance at the knives all three of them are carrying. Mysogynistic snobs.

Kronos takes the scythe from the Telkhines. Okay, Chase looks incredibly idiotic lifting a weapon that’s literally longer than she is tall. Six foot blades are for like, god-sized people. Not 5’9” fifteen year old girls.

Wait. It’s the twentieth. Shit, Annabeth Chase is sixteen today isn’t she? Oh, that’s a really uncomfortable thought.

Kronos- Annabeth- Whoever the fuck that is, examines the blade and makes some super weird comments.

“Much better. Luke called it Backbiter. Not so sure on that name, but now it’s fully reforged properly, it definitely will be biting back.”

Okay. That was all Annabeth. Awesome.

Does she not know the original weapon was adamantine? Did they really take the sword Bianca chopped up and turn it into a scythe?

Thalia demands sharply, “What did you do to Annabeth?”

Annabeth tilts her head and her eyes are more grey than gold, “Nothing. I’m still me, Thalia. Kronos just offered me some extra power if I served him with my whole being.”

Thalia’s voice is all sarcasm, “Just before, you talked about yourself in the third person, and how you were afraid of Clarisse. Pretty sure Annabeth Chase would never have said that out loud.”

Definitely Kronos speaking now. He ignores Thalia and focuses on Clarisse.

“Annabeth did fear you. But I do not. I require the prophet to serve me and you are standing in my way.”

Kronos raises the giant oversized scythe, which still looks completely stupid. It’s longer than Annabeth is tall.

Though. Kinda concerning that he’s wielding it with so much ease. Guess super strength is a thing, now?

Clarisse stays where she is. She has Aniketos in her hand, it can extend in a millisecond. She’s not willing it into trident form unless he stops the grandstanding and actually swings at her.

Piper gets there first. Apparently, the moronic sea lion things let her keep her extra shiny useless dagger.

Maybe not so useless. Piper throws it with a sharp movement that makes it spin hilt over blade.

It hits the scythe perfectly. Clarisse has no idea if it hit hilt or blade first, but it doesn’t matter. The whole thing shatters in Kronos’s hand.

Like, an explosive shatter. Nico was not kidding when he said he thought he may have gone overboard with the freezing trick.

First Bianca wrecks the sword and then Nico booby-traps the scythe. Poor Kronos, personally victimised by the di Angelos.

The high pitched voice that shrieks is purely Annabeth Chase as she screams “Ouch!!!” and starts dancing around, shaking her hand out.

No blood though. She’s an utter wimp apparently.

Piper’s looking super startled but it’s definitely time to bail while Chase, Castellan and both Telkhines freak over the blade. As much as she’d like to kill them, better to just scarper while all of them are yelling each other about the scythe exploding. Also, Clarisse suspects Chase will be killing the Telkhines herself when she finds another weapon.

Ethan follows them out.

Clarisse hesitates when they get outside, but Prissy would want her to try one last time.

She does draw an adamantine blade first. She’ll talk to him, but no hesitation this time around. Chase doesn’t count, Thalia was right about titans not being able to die. Stabbing her would have just got all of them killed instead.

Clarisse turns on Ethan and starts taking rapid fire before he can speak, “Why are you doing this? It makes no sense! Why would you join them?”

He jerks back, completely stunned, “Why wouldn’t I join them?”

“Uh, because it’s wrong? They want to destroy the world, destroy the balance?”

He looks so confused, “There is no right or wrong side. The gods don’t care about us. Why would I care about them?”

“They literally left you as a hostage with a crazy giant who kills people and keeps their skulls?”

How’d he escape Antaeus so fast, anyway?

He rolls his eyes, “I’m not going to argue with you. You have seconds until that lot come after you. Why are you still here?”

She widens her eyes at him, “Because Percy would want me to offer to help you. Offer you a path back to camp.”

Ethan’s voice is flat, “Mercy has no place in war.”

She shakes her head, “Yes, it does. Always. Help us fight back, help us stop this!”

Ethan’s face changes, it kinda looks like pity? The hell?

“‘An eye for an eye.’ You ever hear that saying? I learned what it means the hard way when I first learned who my parent was. I’m the child of Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge. And this is what I was made to do.”

She gapes at him, eyes practically falling out of their sockets, mouth dropping open.

What. The. Fuck.

“Since when was she the fucking Goddess of Revenge? What the fuck are you on? Scarface tell you that?”

And why the fuck does he think Nemesis is responsible for his eye? He’s the moron who tried to steal a golden apple! Prissy’d seen it in one of his dreams!

Ethan looks so confused, “She’s literally Nemesis?”

“Yes. Goddess of Retribution and BALANCE you absolute fucking moron. Equal distribution, she punishes people lost to hubris. Like Chase? And Daedalus?”

Clarisse takes a deep breath, she’s being too loud and swinging her arms around way too much, but are you fucking kidding? All that time trying to make headway with the guy and this is what he thinks?

“Hera’s the Goddess of Revenge. You fucking idiot. You aren’t a fucking mortal, you speak Greek like all demigods. Why the fuck would you think that, you fucking lunatic?”

If not Hera, than the Furies. Not Nemesis!

Thalia goes all tightly, “Clarisse, not the time. Titan incoming?”

Oh. Yeah. Ares aggression is totally still causing issues.

And that is definitely Chase and Castellan stalking towards them. They’re still in the entrance hallway thing, but Ethan had left the door open. They’d only just made it outside the black palace when she started her little argument with the idiot.

“I’ve got it.”

A whole other voice speaks softly from like, right beside them. If she wasn’t so used to the kid pranking her she’d absolutely have stabbed him with the knife in her hand.

She blinks rapidly. That is Nico. What the fuck? Where the hell did he come from? He promised to stay at camp? This is a thing he definitely did?

Nico slams his stygian iron longsword straight down into the ground and a goddamn building sized spire of rock comes shooting up out of fucking nowhere. Matching spires are erupting through the roof of the palace.

Clarisse steps forward and holds position over the kid, while the whole world shakes around them.

The building is collapsing down and the rocks are still growing, and it’s all completely fucking insane.

Chase and Castellan didn’t reach the door before the first spire erupted, so who the fuck knows where they are. But there is an absolute army of monsters closing in behind them.

Thalia’s taken up a defensive position on the other side, facing the army, and she’s got Piper right beside her. Clarisse stays facing away from them, but she sheathes her knife fast, draws Afosi and holds it out behind her without turning. Piper takes it with a quick thanks.

Her trident extends into her hand as Nico yanks his sword out of the ground. He staggers a bit, but she just grabs him by the arm and hauls him along with them.

Monsters are kind of charging them and she’s never felt more grateful for the way an adamantine weapon makes most lesser monsters explode into golden dust at the slightest touch. She’s even more grateful for the six foot length of her trident. She sweeps Aniketos in big arcs front of the group as they charge down the mountain.

She’s pretty sure her grip on Nico’s arm is the only thing keeping the kid upright. She can’t risk turning to check, but it better be exhaustion and not injury.

Piper is stabbing any monsters her trident misses and Thalia has Aegis on her arm and taking advantage of the way the monsters automatically flinch back when they see the Medusa head.

Nico made sure she had a decent idea of where it is, but which fucking boulder? They all look the gods damn same. Nico says something she doesn’t catch, but she follows his shaky hand as he points to a rock.

She leads their group straight for it. There’s a dark crack that must be it.

When she sees another familiar face she’s certain this is it.

They slam straight into the Labyrinth, as Rachel frantically beckons them closer.

Clarisse sends Aniketos back to her necklace as she turns on Nico. She does a lightning fast scan, no blood, so she hoists him over her shoulder. Gods! Hades is right, kid is way too thin. Helpful right now, but he’s so gonna get it from everyone when they get back.

Rachel sets an intense pace as they run through the Labyrinth.

She takes a sudden left turn and leads them through a weird empty room covered in scratch marks. Shadow’s still hanging off her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, but she hears him mutter something about awesome lion ladies? Kid. Not the time.

Rachel makes another random set of rapid turns, something about avoiding a room without a floor.

They end up under a cattle grid. Clarisse hasn’t seen it from this side but she knows where they are. Seriously?

Eurytion was not kidding about everyone ending up at the ranch.

They stumble out of the Labyrinth and head for the farm house.

They slam through the door into the kitchen and Eurytion looks at them in horror. He holds his hands up, wet sponge still in one, like he thinks they’re about to attack him?

“I’ve been doing just as you asked! I swear!”

What? Oh. That. He’d been given a list of gods to send reports to. Once she and Prissy were finished with the ranch it was no longer their problem.

Piper’s still got Afosi held ready and Thalia’s still got Aegis. Lotsa reasons he might think they’re here to kill him.

She shakes her had, “Nah, there was a thing. Had to do a fast retreat. This was the first exit point we found. Can we use a room or something? Just ’til we sort ourselves out?”

Eurytion is super relieved and more than happy to give them free run of his lounge room.

She dumps Nico on a couch and starts checking him over. He whacks at her and tries to push her off. He mutters kinda groggily, “‘M fine, War Drum. Just ‘xhuasted.”

Rachel pulls a familiar pouch from her pack. White with a golden cross where a mortal first aid kit has a red one. Nectar and ambrosia.

Nico actually takes it willingly and without needing any threats.

With him sorted for now, she checks on the others.

Thalia’s staring blankly at the wall and seems entirely unaware that she’s crying. Tears are streaking down her cheeks. Probably more a delayed reaction to Annabeth than anything else.

Piper looks horrified as well, but is a little more functional. Rachel just looks tired. She doesn’t know what they saw, and never knew Chase anyway.

Clarisse crouches in front of Thalia and tries to make eye contact. Thalia’s still got Aegis up in front of her and Clarisse does her best to ignore the instinctual flinch.

“Crackle. Thalia. You in there?”

A slight twitch of her lips, “Pretty sure Percy’s the prophet, not me.”

Clarisse shrugs but keeps scanning her face, “Still a massive shock. Other than last winter, you never saw her after she came to camp.”

Thalia frowns, she’s showing more emotion now at least, “You seem like you expected it?”

Clarisse is mostly talking just to keep the kid focused, “Nah. Honestly had no idea titans could even possess people. But if they could, no way would he choose Castellan if he had a choice.”

Thalia’s eyes are getting clearer as she tilts her head, “Why?”

“‘Cause Castellan is the perfect lieutenant. Not that many people both dumb enough to want to revive a titan but also smart enough to actually manage it.”

Clarisse hesitates and pulls a face, “Also, Castellan is too narrow-minded. He’d never willingly give himself over. He’d have to be forced into. Chase absolutely would do it willingly.”

Thalia is definitely returning to the real world, she speaks with more animation, “I know she was obsessed with Percy, but what was with all that talk about hate?”

Nico’s already looking better, still exhausted but no longer semi-passed out and shaky, “Blondie thinks War Drum stole Percy from her. That if War Drum had never come to camp, Percy would be hers. Since Percy came to camp like two months before War Drum or some bullshit like that.”

Huh. Did Nico see Annabeth’s gold eyes just before the rock thing, or did he watch that whole thing? He’s entirely unsurprised by how they’re talking.

No comment on the jealousy stuff. Clarisse still finds it kinda of completely insane. They’d been friends? And she has definitely never had a crush on Priss. Nico says it’s because of Zoe and Phoebe telling them that they were adelphipsychi. That Annabeth took the idea of her and Priss being soulmates completely differently to how it was intended.

Thalia pulls a face, “I really wish I could defend her, but that was definitely her talking at some points.”

Yeah. Clarisse is kinda still processing that. Kronos is alive, he’s body-sharing with Annabeth and apparently they’ll be destroying the world together. Chase always did talk about how she was such a powerful demigod, completely ignoring the bit where Athena kids don’t inherit power.

Guess she finally got her wish.

Annabeth Chase was incredibly intelligent. She inherited a massive chunk of her mother’s mental fortitude stuff. She’d have believed she could keep control of Kronos if they shared a body. She may even be able to, Clarisse honestly has no idea.

From what Nico’s said, Chase also has her own ideas about what will be happening once Kronos overthrows the gods. Prissy thinks she has some sort of plan for forcing the gods to act the way she wants them to, rather than the outright destruction Kronos wants.

Thalia abruptly realises where her shield is, and quickly returns it to bracelet form. Clarisse is very grateful. She takes Afosi back when Piper holds it out. Piper returns the aurichalcum knife too, apparently having a god’s stolen knife was freaking her out.

Clarisse is still trying to get the events straight in her head and she suddenly remembers Piper throwing her knife.

Uh oh. That knife was a gift from Aphrodite.

“Angry Girl, is your mum gonna freak that we left the knife there?”

Piper grins way too cheekily, “I think it’s a fitting end for it, don’t you? I really didn’t love that thing, and it did shatter his scythe.”

She pauses, looking confused, “Actually, how did that knife shatter the scythe?”

Nico smirks, “That’d be my fault? I was with Castellan and Chase when they checked on it being forged. Might’ve fucked with it so it’d shatter at the first blow.”

Piper glares at Clarisse, “You knew! That’s why you didn’t do anything when she was swinging it around!”

Clarisse shrugs cheerfully, “Poseidon and Hades super hate the Telkhines for lying all the time, figured their extra special weapon being destroyed in the least impressive way possible would screw them over. A single blow from a knife is one thing, hitting a trident that can injure gods on the other hand…”

Piper seems mollified. Which is good, because Thalia’s now looking between Nico and Rachel and very clearly panicking about something else entirely.

“Crackle, what’s wrong?”

“Chiron’s told me that three’s a sacred number and the reason two died on the last quest was because there was five of us. Nico and Rachel make five?”

Guess Clarisse has a centaur to stab.

Nico makes a sour noise, “Chiron’s an idiot. Three is a sacred number but there were six on that quest, same as this one. Last quest, three returned to camp, three didn’t. This quest, six’ll return to camp.”

Thalia’s so confused, Clarisse fills in for her. “Priss’s prophecy shtick means he can stay connected to me even while he’s physically at camp. Last time, Zoe and Phoebe died and you joined the Hunters. Me, Nico and Priss returned to camp.”

Wait, Clarisse just realised. She stalks to the door and yells out at Eurytion, who is very visibly keeping a safe distance from his own house.

“Oi! What’s the date?”

“Twenty-fourth of June?”

Oh for fuck’s sake. They’d entered the garden on sunset on the twentieth.

They’ve lost four days already.

She calls a vague thank you and goes back to the others. They all look less than happy. Though, Nico tells her he and Rachel left midday on the twentieth so they made it full across the country in like, eight hours..

They debate back and forth for a few minutes on how to get back to camp. They’re in Texas and the Labyrinth ‘could’ be quicker. But it also might take days or weeks.

In the end, Eurytion takes them to the nearest town and they hire a car with Piper doing her whole ‘I’m an actual adult’ trick again.

Five demigods stuck in an entirely mortal car for hours is as miserable as it sounds. She is so incredibly glad when they make it to a river that dumps into the ocean and she can summon hippocampi.

None of them care about the fact they’re soaking wet and still in armour. They make the trip from a river in Texas to Long Island in a matter of hours.

It’s still awful, but they at least make it back to camp late that same day. At least any weird time dilation should affect Kronos’s army too?

Or it’ll get them across the country in less than eight hours.

Clarisse is definitely adding Iapis to her list of people to stab.

Chapter Text

When Percy tells Lee to send Nico and Rachel into the Labyrinth after the other three, he is so not happy with him.

The last they actually hear from anyone is just before the girls enter the Garden of the Hesperides.

Percy watches it unfold and honestly has no idea how to tell Lee.

In the end, he waits for Lee to fall asleep and then shows him it in his dreams. He’s too much of a coward to tell him about any of it directly.

It means Lee wakes him up at like 2am the day of the Solstice.

Lee doesn’t even try to pretend he’s not being a clingy parent. He stretches out on Percy’s bed next to him and gazes up at the sea monsters on his ceiling, absolutely stunned.

Percy speaks quietly, “Sorry, Hot Air. Fates wouldn’t let me say.”

Lee flinches and sits up, as he turns wide teary eyes on him.

He barely whispers the words, “Perce. You mean- You knew about this?”

Percy shuts his eyes. “Since before I came to camp, Hot Air.”

He feels Lee pull him up into a hug but doesn’t open his eyes. Too numb to even hug him back. He still can’t talk about most of it. The Fates are keeping their stranglehold on him.

He does mutter into Lee’s shoulder, ”Even without what I see. That summer during the fireworks. She said Luke’d been talking to her in her dreams. He’s just a demigod, he can’t do that. Crooked One can, though. That’s when I knew for certain.”

Lee hugs him tightly. Percy can feel the way Lee’s shoulders are jerking from suppressed sobs. Gods, he feels so guilty. How could Percy do this to them?

He’s honestly startled when the first thing Lee says is, “Gods! How did I ever end up with such a kindhearted kid?”

Percy jerks and pulls away. He gapes at Lee, “How the fuck is this kind?”

Kind would have been letting the chimera kill her. Kind would have been leaving her with Polyphemus in the Sea of Monsters. Anything was kinder than standing by while Annabeth did this. Anything was kinder than deliberately distancing himself, calling her Chase and Blondie, not even giving her the dignity of her own name.

Lee’s gaze is absolutely unflinching, “You knew she was going to willingly take on Kronos specifically to destroy the gods and enslave you, and you still befriended her. You spent literal years trying to give her good memories.”

Percy ducks his head and looks away, and Lee grabs his shoulders and gives him a little shake. He says his name loudly and waits for Percy to look at him.

“Percy. What you did was a good thing. It was a kind thing. You have no control over what the Fates do. But you still went out of your way to show her kindness and love.”

Percy shakes his head and looks away, twisting his body as far from Lee as he can. Nothing he did was remotely enough. Nothing can ever balance what happens next.

Lee adds quietly, “I also know what you did for the Chases.”

Percy startles and turns to look at him. He speaks cautiously, “You aren’t supposed to know about that.”

Lee gives him a lopsided smile, “When Dad realised we’d had Iapis at camp, he got worried that she might use Frederick Chase to guide them. He went to check on them. All he learned was that they’d abruptly disappeared overnight.”

Oh no. All of Percy cringes, “He knows?”

Lee shakes his head, giving him far too fond a look, “He thinks since she has such a direct connection to clear sighted mortals and the Labyrinth, she just realised the danger before anyone else. With Mr D away, she could act without anyone’s knowledge.”

Percy smirks slightly, “Even the Olympians forget about the minor gods.”

Percy really hasn’t had many interactions with Ariadne. They are connected through Asterion but neither of them really wants to talk about that.

When Mr D was here to heal Chris Rodriguez’s mind, Percy asked him to send a sealed note to his wife. Since Chris had been driven mad by the Labyrinth and Mr D is well aware of the Asterion thing, even he didn’t think twice about it.

Percy doesn’t trust that Hestia won’t listen in on a prayer and he’d need to make an actual burnt offering if he prayed to Ariadne. Only Apollo, Dad and Tri monitor him closely enough to hear him, no matter what.

All he’d said in the note that there was a clear sighted mortal in danger of being forced into the maze against his will, and they would absolutely use his wife and sons against him. She’d done the rest.

It was mostly true. Or a half truth at least. At some point, Kronos is going to realise that Annabeth’s one true demigod ability is her intense strength of mind.

Percy’s spent years watching her aura batter people into submission through willpower alone. She’s the only demigod he’s ever seen able to do that. None of her siblings have that sort of strength of will.

While Percy’d always known Annabeth would be Kronos’s final choice, she did also make sense from a logical standpoint.

Castellan’s silvertongue automatically disqualifies him. His mind is protected by his own power. Children of Athena don’t inherit power. Percy’s yet to see another with Annabeth’s strength of mind either. Kronos can’t see auras. He won’t have realised until after they merged.

The Crooked One is not just a nickname. It’s an epithet. It started as Anklyometes, usually translated to the Crooked of Counsel. It’s meant to mean he’s known for having a cunning sneaky mind. He uses underhanded methods to get what he wants.

When he realises Annabeth can’t be outright forced to submit to him, he’ll look for other options.

Apollo had once asked Percy why he was so insistent that Apollo not kill Castellan. He’d told him that things will be easier with Castellan as Kronos’s lieutenant. And it will be, but it will also be kinder for everyone.

Castellan will keep Annabeth connected to the world, keep her fighting against the possession. He’s really not sure it’s better for Annabeth. Kind of feels like Percy’s just ensured her torture. Her final fate is kinder though.

Percy can’t do anything about those who joined the army willingly, but if Kronos has access to the Chases, he absolutely will use her family against her. Better they be elsewhere for the duration. Percy just hadn’t realised Nico would get worried and check on them himself.

Lee fusses over him and Percy tries to give coherent answers. The knowing said this was inevitable but right up until it actually happened, Percy had hoped for a miracle.

When Lee asks if he knows if Annabeth had any reasons besides the ones they know of, Percy cringes all over again. He’d gone looking after Nico talked about how Chase kept shutting him down whenever he asked about overthrowing Athena.

Her plans for the future are… less than fun. She seems to think she can place Kronos over the gods and otherwise keep the world as it is, with a few changes to the gods own behaviour.

“Perce?”

“She and Castellan have this idea, that all the minor gods need recognition in the form of thrones and all demigod children need to be claimed.”

Lee pauses. Yeah.

Lee’s voice is very deliberately even, “They think overthrowing the Olympians, and then forcing the Greek gods to be egalitarian will improve demigod lives?”

Percy hitches a shoulder, “They are super certain gods are just extra powerful mortals and that even the titans can be managed.”

He watches Lee’s face as he tries to process this. Percy’s honestly not sure if it’s lack of contact with gods or Chase and Castellan just leaning too much into their mortal side that led both of them to this conclusion.

And even if this is the sort of change that would actually help, freeing Kronos is not the way to go about it. Titans are not beings that mortals can control. Kronos, King of the Titans is not an attack dog they can keep on a leash.

Lee gives up trying to get his head around it and drags Percy back to the Big House and up to his apartment. He shoves hot chocolate at Percy and he takes it, leaning into Lee when he sits next to him.

Lee cares about everyone who comes to camp. As much as he’s lectured them about creating emotional distance, what just happened to Annabeth is… Yeah. So beyond words.

Percy’s agreed with Lee on distancing himself and done everything he can to forget what was in Annabeth’s future. But now it’s happened. What use is that distance now? She’s still gone and done it.

He speaks quietly to Lee, “They’re in the Labyrinth now, it’s doing the dumb time weirdness. But knowing says they’ll show up at the ranch in a few days and make their way home from there.”

Lee shifts a bit but keeps his arm around Percy’s shoulders, “They’re safe?”

“Yeah. Nico’ll be kinda exhausted, but he just needs some sleep. Strength’ll be back before the attack starts.”

Lee’s gone tense again. Percy leans his head against his shoulder. He should probably care more about how much Lee is freaking out, but right now he’s just empty.

It’s still well before dawn, but it’s the Summer Solstice today. Just under two months until he turns fifteen. The date the knowing says he can find out a chunk of what hasn’t been for him to know.

This is the Fates' last chance to mend the tear in the tapestry. Some part of him has always known that what they are doing is far beyond anything they’ve ever done before. There’s something in the not for him to know that proves it. But he won’t learn that on his fifteenth birthday.

He still knows that he’s spent years counting down to important events on the Fates' list of things that need to happen.

Thalia, Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan arrive at the camp barrier. Thalia is placed in stasis by Dad and Uncle. Luke and Annabeth become campers.

Percy arrives at camp. Luke Castellan attempts to kidnap him and is banished by Apollo.

Percy meets Clarisse and a new path is fixed in stone. It all starts with the drum.

Clarisse claims Amyntor, and sets her own fated path. It all ends with the drum.

Bianca and Nico di Angelo leave the Lotus Casino and Hades is able to push back against the sloth and implacability that unbalances his kingdom.

Annabeth turns her back on the gods and is banished by basically everyone.

Thalia is revived and Nico chooses his path.

Zoe and Phoebe die and Thalia becomes Artemis’s new lieutenant.

Annabeth merges her soul with Kronos’s and it’s entirely voluntary.

Percy leans against Lee and lets his grief and guilt slam into him.

It was Luke Castellan who struggled with this. Luke Castellan who begged and pleaded for Kronos to choose another path. Luke Castellan who desperately wanted Annabeth to have a different future.

Luke Castellan offered himself, Ethan Nakamura and Nico di Angelo in turn. Entirely failing to understand why none were suitable.

Annabeth and Kronos chose each other.

Castellan had no idea that Quintus was Daedalus. Had no idea that Daedalus was even alive. He’d had quicker options for finding the Labyrinth’s centre. But he’d given Annabeth the quest of her dreams, exploring the Labyrinth in search of her favourite person.

One last attempt to show her a different life, to change her mind, to give her a good memory.

Percy tries to explain this to Lee, that Castellan had done the same thing as him. He had tried to give Annabeth good memories, good moments.

Lee squeezes him tightly and speaks firmly. “No. Percy. I understand why you think that. But no. He may love her, I honestly have no idea, but he’s never once tried to stop her obsession with overthrowing the gods. Or even her focus on you. You were kind to her, but you never gave up your own beliefs. You held firm and repeatedly told her no, told her that she was wrong.”

Lee adds quietly, “Luke Castellan is also an adult. No matter how hard his childhood was, he has had more than enough time to come to terms with it and find solutions that don’t involve destroying the gods and taking Annabeth down with him. Most of the kids at camp have experienced terrible things. It’s not an excuse, Perce. Having experienced terrible things can never be an excuse for doing those terrible things yourself.”

Percy shuts his eyes and leans harder into Lee. He knows he’s right. Percy does as the Fates demand, Luke Castellan acts of his own free will.

But Percy thinks if he had the free will to choose, he’d have chosen differently too.

Annabeth Chase is acting of her own free will. As much as he hates to admit it. The Fates may have set a path and stacked the odds, but they have nowhere near the control over fated mortals or even gods as they do over their prophets.

Especially when the prophet is born with too much power. Too much of a connection to prophecy. Percy isn’t like Ophioter, he is not a Prophet of the Fates. They still ensured he’d be bound to them above all else.

He can defy them, but it comes at a terrible price.

Any hesitation on Percy’s part and they can and will shower him in images of terrible future paths until he does what they want.

They will send these same dreams to Lee, who is only safe if he never speaks of what he sees. They’ve done it before. Back when the Master Bolt was first stolen and Percy was wavering, The Fates showed Lee images of Percy and Annabeth in the future. Images he could not talk about without risking Zeus killing him. Percy’d had to watch Lee struggle, completely unable to help his guardian.

When Percy did as the Fates insisted, they’d sent the same images to Apollo and Poseidon, so Lee would no longer have to decide if speaking of the future was worth more than his own life.

The Fates gave Percy a sister he is bound to in every way. A way of ensuring he obeys, no matter what.

The Fates aren’t people, they aren’t even gods. They don’t feel sympathy or empathy or understanding. They are not beholden to worst traits or any form of emotion.

When he’s feeling more reasonable, Percy knows Clarisse exists as his protecter, his Soteria. That Lee is just as much a gift from the Fates. People sent beforehand to protect their ‘twice blessed child’. To balance out his too much power with constant reminders of humanity. But on nights like this, it feels more like the Fates are just being really fucking cruel.

Lee’s voice is hesitant, “Perce, do you know when the attack’s coming?”

Percy pokes very carefully at the knowing. He’s learned not to ask, most of the time. It always shows him too much these days, answers questions he never wanted answers to. The Fates are losing patience with him and all his mortal emotions.

He flinches at the cascade of images and shoves them out of his head. Nope. Not going there.

“The attack will be dawn, the day after War Drum gets home. She’ll arrive at the ranch the morning of the day before the attack.”

Lee relaxes slightly, “Twenty four hours notice. I can work with that.”

“Satyrs are going be a pain.”

Lee huffs, the sound is all pure exhaustion, “Any chance you’d be willing to do the thing? I know you hate it, but Grover is going to stick around no matter what, the quest made sure of it.”

Yeah, probably is time. He hates it mostly because they listen to him and not Lee. Percy’s nothing compared to Lee. Lee should get that respect, not him.

He sighs but says a quiet, “Okay.”

Neither of them talk more about Annabeth Chase. What is there to say? It’s awful and it sucks, but given every insane thing she’s done, it really shouldn’t have been a surprise.

Percy’s known it was coming all his life, but somehow, he’d still believed it wouldn’t have. That it could be changed.

Percy ends up sleeping in an armchair and feeling a little sad he can’t curl up in a ball and still sleep comfortably, like he did when he was little. He has no interest in going back to his cabin. Not when Nico isn’t there. And Clarisse isn’t next door in Cabin Five.

He feels the auras that hover over him. Dad is watching him closely. He’s done something to dim the feel of his aura. Percy can still feel the ozone and electricity of a building storm, the tremble in the ground and crashing of waves.

He’s not surprised when he feels Triton’s conch horn sound, he’s as upset as Percy and Clarisse are over being unable to see them for so long.

The deep shadow that follows is unexpected though.

At some point, Percy needs to have an actual talk with Dad. He’s starting to think there are some secrets he’s completely failed at keeping.

In the morning, Lee says he’ll move a mattress in for Percy and he can stay with Lee until the questers get back. It’ll be super cramped, Lee’s apartment is absolutely tiny. Most of the space on this level is being used for Chiron, who actually needs a fair amount of space because of the whole being mostly a horse thing.

Still, Percy fully intends to stay there. He can hold a sort of connection with Clarisse, but time has definitely slowed for her in the Labyrinth. It means she’ll be unaffected, but he’s going to struggle until she returns to the surface world and the normal flow of time.

He waits patiently while Lee dresses in his High Priest of Apollo golden armour and purple cape, complete with the radiate diadem crown and his giant sun on a stick.

Apollo had originally called it a ‘Staff of Office’ but Lee stopped that one. It’s a camp full of teenagers, there’d be far too many jokes. But now, even Apollo’s given up trying to make Percy agree that it’s Lee’s sceptre.

It’s a sun on a stick. Deal with it already.

Yeah, waiting to re-establish his connection to Clarisse is going to absolutely suck. He could so do with one of Mr D’s purple aura chill pills right about now.

Grover is waiting when they get out into the pre-dawn light. His face is pure relief when he sees Lee’s outfit. The poor guy’s taken to sleeping in the main camp area because the satyrs will not stop hassling him about how he’s lying about Pan and needs to be banished from camp. He’s only been back for three days, but those three satyrs are causing so many issues.

Percy isn’t surprised to see Mrs O’Leary vanished overnight. Honestly, he’d thought Iapis would recall her much earlier. Lee gives the empty space an extra cranky glare, but focuses on their current task.

They cut through the woods straight to where the satyrs are all still mostly sleeping in the clearing with the stupid topiary thrones.

Lee’s voice is very loud and full of command, “You will listen to the Prophet of Apollo!”

A whole bunch of satyrs jerk awake and look around themselves stupidly. Easy enough to find the three idiots. They’ve definitely stolen a mattress from one of the cabins. Percy eyes it sourly, if they took that from Cabin Eleven he’s going to sic Travis and Connor on them.

The three playing at Olympians, Silenus, Maron and Leneus are also now wearing Hawaiian shirts and designer jeans.

Just like Mr D.

Like, sure, satyrs might dress like mortals when they fetch demigods or play babysitter, but it’s not meant to be something they choose? They’re creatures of nature! They aren’t even monsters. They are very literally the living embodiment of nature and fertility. Not gods, not monsters and definitely not human.

It’s so gods damn bizarre. And Percy really isn’t in the mood for playing nice.

He speaks as loudly as Lee, making sure his voice rings across the clearing.

“The great god Pan is dead. He has charged Lord Dionysus with the care of his satyrs and all who fall under his domains. If you wish to be released from Lord Dionysus, you must speak to him. Grover Underwood, Pan’s last Lord of the Wild, speaks the truth. You will listen to him.”

Silenus is the first to recover he snarls, “Sacrilege and lies!”

Lee’s voice thunders across the clearing, “YOU DARE ACCUSE THE PROPHET OF APOLLO OF LYING!”

Yeah, Lee’s seen one too many of Apollo’s meltdowns. Percy’s seen Apollo use that exact tone and virtually the same words.

Scares the bejeezus out of the satyrs. Percy grins internally when he sees Juniper come up behind Grover and slip her hand into his. She’s whispering fiercely to the stressed satyr, definitely reminding him to stand up for himself.

Percy has no issue with demigods leaning into a bit of drama and theatrics. It very much is in their nature. It’s the satyrs doing it that makes his skin crawl. Then again. Percy thinks sourly of Iapis, even demigods can lean too hard into the god thing. It’s only fun so long as they remember they are mortal and human.

Silenus calls Lee a ‘nature destroyer’.

Lee looks at him, and tilts his head slightly. He lets the moment stretch. Eventually, he speaks softly, though his eyes are absolutely burning into the old satyr.

“I am currently overseeing this camp with Lord Dionysus’s full approval. I can and will force you outside the barrier if you test me.”

The satyrs may not admit it, but the wild places are long gone. The entire reason they live at camp is because it is a sanctuary. Outside of the barrier the satyrs and nature spirits are completely vulnerable to pretty much everything.

The whole retrieving demigods thing started as Mr D wanting them to have more than the search for Pan to focus on, though he pitched it as them basically paying rent.

Percy’s really not clear when they decided it was a sacred duty. Or why Lee making it safer for anyone made it beneath them. Oh, maybe they’ve taken on the demigods views about glory too? Yeah. Mr D definitely needs to step in.

The satyrs are increasingly unhappy with what Lee’s saying. Add in the High Priest of Apollo getup and it’s kind of absolutely terrifying. Lee has nothing on the gods’ dramatic performances, but he’s still far better at it than the satyrs ever will be.

Lee ends by telling him he has bigger issues to worry about and hasn’t got the time to deal with satyrs. If they’re going to ignore the Prophet of Apollo, then they will be leaving.

The rest of the satyrs and nature spirits who were still supporting the three idiots pretty much abandon ship and head straight for Grover.

Lee just needs the arguments to stop until everything is over, and it looks like this should do it. Grover seems a lot more confident at least and the three idiots have been quickly excluded from the clearing. They’ll be permitted to stay within the barrier so long as they don’t cause more arguments.

Lee and Percy leave the group dismantling the weird throne things and head back to camp. Percy thinks it’s absolutely stupid that the satyrs ignore Lee unless he’s dressed like a High Priest and has the Prophet of Apollo backing him up.

Like, Lee is the leader here? Not his fourteen year old kid?

After that, Percy spends most of his time following Lee around like a lost little kid. Georgie’s backed off on training with Clarisse away. She may not understand the situation entirely, but she always listens to Lee. If he says Percy’s not up for training right now, she won’t push.

Which is good, because Percy still feels like crap.

Lee eyes him at breakfast, “Perce, I thought you said it’d be better?”

He gives a half-hearted shrug, “It is for her. It’ll be fine when they leave the Labyrinth. But the time difference thing screws everything up.”

Lee winces sympathetically. He doesn’t argue when Percy keeps hovering.

Normally during the summer Percy prefers to act like he’s just another camper and his parental figure isn’t at camp. Lee’s used to being entirely ignored by Percy and Clarisse every summer and having them show up only if something happens and they want an actual adult to do a thing.

Lee’s admitted he also enjoys the break from teaching morning lessons.

Huh. It’s never really occurred to Percy, but both he and Clarisse have never been remotely bothered that Lee finds the lessons stressful. But neither of them were at all okay with the way their mortal teachers treated them like problems to be solved.

Maybe it’s just that with Lee, he’s never suggested they be different? Whenever Percy cannot stand being in the classroom a second longer, Lee’s never stopped him, Never even suggested he try to stay. Just waves him off and leaves him to it.

So long as Percy actually shows up, Lee always says Percy did well for staying as long as he did. If Percy skips out entirely without a valid reason, Lee’s less happy with him. But as long as he tries, Lee’s full of praise.

Lee just doesn’t like teaching. Or at least, not mortal homeschool stuff. He’s great with all his archery kids and with Piper.

Oh! That’s why. Percy just realised. Lee thinks most of the mortal lessons are useless, but he has to keep telling kids that they need to learn them and it’s important.

Lee’s problem with the lessons is how much he hates lying. They’re important because the mortal world says they need to check specific boxes and Lee wants every camper to have options. But Lee doesn’t think they’ll help demigods function in the mortal world anymore than the campers do.

Whereas that stupid school definitely thought Percy and Clarisse were the problem, not the lesson material.

“You okay over there?”

Percy blinks. Oops. He definitely got carried away with Anaklusmos and the straw dummy he’d been attacking while Lee talked to the Hunters.

He smiles sheepishly at Lee, “Got some things to work out still ‘bout that school.”

Lee pulls a face, “Yeah. We’re never doing that again. Ever. I don’t care if the Fates demand it. That was hell on earth.”

Percy agrees entirely.

Lee spends most of his time talking with different people, making arrangements now that they’ve gone from ‘we’re probably gonna get invaded’ to ‘attack any day now’.

Percy just keeps following him. Chiron keeps throwing him little side glances but leaves him to it when Lee shakes his head at the centaur. It’s getting super weird how quiet and well-behaved Chiron is being. Kinda starting to freak Percy out. Like, Quintus couldn’t have changed things that much? Surely?

Sophie is still causing issues. She heard that an attack was expected and for reasons known only to her, decided she would be coordinating everything.

An absolutely bewildered Georgie and Bianca come to find Lee and tell him that Sophie had just given them instructions on the deployment of the Hunters and the senior campers.

Percy enjoys watching the fireworks with that one.

It basically boils down to Lee repeatedly telling Sophie that he is an adult, she is a child and he doesn’t give a fuck who her mother is.

Malcolm shows up next and tells her he’s a son of Athena and wisdom means knowing who the best person to lead is. Sophie goes to answer and Malcolm cuts her off and tells her the best person is definitely Lee. Who is an adult and not an actual literal child like Sophie.

It's just beautiful.

Like, he definitely feels a lot of sympathy for her too, pride like that totally sucks. But he’s not feeling all that nice right now. He feels more like he wants to stab something repeatedly.

When he finally feels his connection to Clarisse clear up, Percy is so incredibly glad. He tells Lee they’ll be attacked the next morning, the questers are all fine and on their way home and heads for his cabin.

He hasn’t exactly been sleeping much. If he’s fighting tomorrow, sleep is a very good idea.

________________________

Things have been absolute chaos since the hippocampi left them on the beach..

Lee had hugged all five of them, apparently not caring who liked shows of public affection or not, or that he got absolutely soaking wet from it, he was too happy to have his ducklings back.

Prissy’d slammed into her and been just as glad.

None of them had been happy to hear they were expecting an attack at dawn. They’ve got maybe twelve hours?

Lee insists they all clean up and eat and at least make an attempt to sleep, that everything is well in hand and Priss will give her and Nico the rundown on who’s going where.

Rachel is very relieved when she’s told she’s to stay at the Big House tonight and be prepared to be one of the first evacuated if Kronos’s forces break through their lines.

She blushes and apologises after. Clarisse, Piper and Thalia are quick to tell her that she’s already shown a frankly ridiculous amount of courage going through the Labyrinth twice. She’s had no training on any weapons and she should absolutely be leaving with the first group of kids if it comes to that.

Thalia heads off next, going to check in on her Hunters, Bianca will have everything ready for her. Lee absolutely would have made sure Bianca knew Thalia was returning tonight and will need a rapid debrief before she takes over command from the older Hunters.

Piper hesitates and Prissy grins, “You’re all good Angry Girl, go do your thing. Hot Air’ll appreciate the help.”

Prissy grins at Piper’s rapidly disappearing back and tells Clarisse and Nico that Silena and Nathan have been managing the underage campers, but they’ll be very glad to have Piper back. It’s impressive how quickly she’s made herself indispensable at camp. Good, though. Everyone needs a purpose, especially demigods.

After that, Prissy grabs Nico and Clarisse by the wrists and drags them straight to Cabin Three.

Prissy’s definitely planned for this, he’s already set up the sitting room with mattresses and is clearly ready for a sleepover.

Clarisse eyes James’s tank, “Priss, thought the creepy fish was staying?”

“He is. He’s just up at the Big House swimming with robot fish tonight. Red can take him if it all goes to hell.”

“Is it going to?”

“Doubt it. But you know Hot Air.”

Priss is sounding pretty distracted. Nico is making a definite attempt to leave and Prissy’s having none of it. Clarisse goes to help, sitting on the kid’s legs and holds him face down on the mattress.

Nico whines into the pillows about how he’s sick of being fussed over and he will eat, just not if they’re all watching him!

Priss goes all cheerfully, “Oh! That’s not this conversation! This is the ‘you’re one of our best fighters so get your shit together’ talk.”

That settles Shadow right down. He pops up beaming and is suddenly incredibly excited to know about battle plans.

Demigods really are their very own extra special brand of weird.

Prissy tells that that the army had been ordered into the Labyrinth right behind them, but with them using the string and not a clear sighted mortal, time had stretched even further.

Three and a half days had passed in the real world as their group ran from Mount Tamalpais to the ranch. For the army travelling behind them in the Labyrinth, five days will pass between Mount Tamalpais and the camp, though it’ll feel like a single day’s march to them.

Nico is so fascinated by all the preparations and plans that he entirely fails to notice Prissy handing him a plate of food. Kid just eats and keeps chattering.

Clarisse doesn’t think it’s actually an issue. Hera and Hades have their own views on parenting. Nico will be fine now he’s home. If he disappears on them, Hades will absolutely help her and Priss track him down.

Besides, with the Great Prophecy approaching and actual fighting finally starting, Nico will be right as rain. Kid needs an outlet and killing monsters seems to be his preference.

They do eventually manage some sleep. It’s much more than she’d have gotten if she tried to sleep in her bunk in Cabin Five. Helps having both Prissy and Shadow so close.

There’d apparently been a lot of arguments about how best to handle the attacking force. Prissy’s confident that Chase and Castellan will not be joining the attack. He did say both survived Nico’s giant rock summoning thing. Chase surviving she kind of expected, because of the Kronos thing, but Castellan must have nine lives or something. Or maybe he’s part cockroach?

Prissy isn’t sure on the numbers of the attack, other than that they’ll hit hard in the hopes of catching them by surprise. Clarisse isn’t surprised when Priss quietly tells them that they have orders to take him alive. Based on what else he’s told her recently, it’s less to do with Chase and more to do with actual strategic reasons.

Lee wanted to put it down with overwhelming force, right then and there, but Priss had insisted they’re better not showing their hand.

Or at least, not fully showing it.

Lee had still not been convinced. Prissy tells them he told Lee the list of injuries and fatalities if they hit with overwhelming force. That the number will be lower if they don’t appear to be an actual threat.

Their backup plans have backup plans and even Prissy agrees that they should use one of their unexpected surprises to deal with the Laistrygonian giants that Castellan definitely has.

But for now, when the first fighters come out of the Labyrinth, they’re gonna be met by a handful of kids.

The next morning, it’s still dark, just before first light, and they’re all standing ready in the clearing, waiting for the attack.

Chiron and Lee are standing further back, both in full armour.

Lee’s in proper armour too, not his High Priest stuff. The golden armour that’s virtually identical to Apollo’s own armour. Plus his main bow, also gold.

It’s kinda disturbing, it wouldn’t be before their trip to the black palace. But now she knows that Helios actually looked alarmingly like Lee. Actually. Lee looks like if Apollo and Helios had a baby.

Apollo knew Helios before he faded. Does he know about this?

Prissy sees the look on her face and grins, “S’not what you’re thinking War Drum. Gonna be ages yet ’til I can explain that one, but he is just a demigod, promise.”

Well. Guess that’s confirmation that she’s not the only one affected by Fates weirdness? She never found the guts to ask Prissy outright about the Soteria thing. At least it sounds like he’ll be able to explain one day. That’s something?

And Priss did say the Enyo thing is just from people adding to her story and absolutely nothing to do with him or the Fates.

In keeping with the whole not showing their hand thing, their ‘front line’ currently consists of Piper, Thalia, Castor, Pollux, Georgie, Clarisse and Prissy.

Nico and Bianca are standing off to the side and further back. Both fitted in some sort of black armour that must’ve come from Hades. Nico’s already got his shield fully extended, and even when she’s not looking at it, she can feel the fear that radiates off it. ‘Doom’ is a very fitting name.

He’s got his bident out too and even Bianca is side-eyeing that one. Nico was an utter little shit about training, insisting they only train him on it when no-one can see. Not even his sister knew he had it. He is absolutely gleeful at the wide-eyed looks he’s getting.

She, Priss and Georgie are all wearing Atlantean armour and, despite the different symbols, they look like a matching set. Especially with how Atlantean armour doesn’t come with helmets, apparently they get kinda problematic underwater. Triton has yet to remember she and Prissy fight exclusively on land.

Their armour does differ slightly from each other. Prissy has a ridiculous number of tridents stamped over his, she has the single conch shell on her chest and Georgie has the conch shell surrounded by Galene’s spiral.

In their ‘front line’ the fact that three of them are wielding royal tridents is gonna go down in history.

Wait. Clarisse eyes Georgie’s trident, since when did Tri put his claiming symbol on it?

She’d grown up listening to his stiff comments about how Georgie was privileged to wield an ‘unmarked trident’. The royal sigils were for Prissy and Priss alone. Clarisse’d been surprised Aniketos had conch shell at all, let alone such a visible one.

Georgie catches the look and gives a helpless shrug, “He shoved it at me just before I left to come to camp last month. Didn’t say anything, just swam off.”

Yep. Sounds like Tri. Completely incapable of actually verbalising emotions, yet he still makes sure everyone knows that the three of them belong to him. Georgie shows her the engraved name and Clarisse’s eyebrows jump. Seriously, Tri?

They’d had a whole debate about whether they should use the adamantine weapons for this. Georgie will use hers regardless, because Strategos. But so far, no-one seems to be entirely aware of what she and Priss are carrying.

Priss had endlessly harassed Triton about why monsters disintegrate on contact and he’d eventually said something about adamantine deeming most adversaries unworthy. Prissy translated it to, “it’s a total snob and wants to be sure we know it’s better than everyone else.”

It means one-on-one fights with monsters barely count as a fight. And, when facing an entire army of monsters, it also means Clarisse, Prissy and Georgie can kill a ridiculous amount of lower-level monsters without much effort. Still needs them to actually be decent fighters though. Triton endlessly reminds them adamantine cannot replace actual skill.

Castor, Pollux and Piper are all in the bronze armour that’s standard for campers. Piper is still super smug about ‘disposing’ of Aphrodite’s gifted dagger. Prissy is gleefully making plans to add it to Piper’s ‘hero story’.

Thalia’s outfitted like the Lieutenant of Artemis’s Hunters she is, but with Aegis fully extended too. There’d been a few more conversations about Aegis, Athena and her and Priss during their trip to Mount Tamalpais. Thalia’s still careful, but she seems to understand what’s not being said. She’s made some very fierce comments about making sure her story is different to Athena’s.

Given the amount of power between the seven of them, not even counting Bianca and Nico, they should be absolutely terrifying.

But Castellan and Chase have repeatedly proved they are absolute morons and incapable of seeing what’s right in front of their faces. They’re just going to see a whole bunch of kids, all sixteen and under, apart from Georgie.

No-one has even tried to argue that they are underestimating Castellan and Chase. Lee made endless plans for extracting Nico on the assumption they’d eventually realise what a powerhouse the kid is.

From what Nico’s said, while Castellan was completely freaked out, he still didn’t make the connection that Nico is almost as valuable an asset as Prissy is. If he had, no way would he have dragged him through the Labyrinth. Or ever left him unguarded. The best they can tell, Castellan is super-freaked by the idea of Hades having children. Because death is evil. Thalia’s suggested that Castellan might actually be doing this for the same reasons as Daedalus. He’s terrified of death and wants to be immortal.

Regardless of the reasons, they figured they may as well make use of this bit of idiocy.

There’s a fuck tonne of Hunters up in the trees all around the clearing, and a whole hell of a lot of surprises hidden further back. But right here in their front line, there’s just nine kids, their immortal centaur trainer and the ‘head camper’.

They’d debated including Leo in the front line. In the end, they decided he’ll do better as a surprise attack. Guy still has the weirdest issues with self confidence. Clarisse has spent enough time around him and Harley to know how much effort it takes to get a forge hot enough to melt even mortal iron. Let alone celestial bronze.

Leo can control fire to the point he can do all parts of making a celestial bronze sword without ever actually going near the forge. And he panics that he’s still not good enough?

If she ever gets hold of one of his old ‘foster carers’ she’s gonna stab them. Repeatedly. She doesn’t care if they’re mortals.

Clarisse isn’t so good at the waiting bit.

She amuses herself for a few minutes trying to imagine how Blondie would predict their defences.

Let’s see…

Sophie would definitely be running everything, because Athena. Malcolm may have practically raised Chase, but he doesn’t do battle strategy, ‘just’ weaving. Never mind he’s a total collector of information and hyperfocuses on everything.

Though, that’s assuming Chase’d think they’d pull aged out campers in for this.

She probably expects the under eighteens only. All hundred plus of them. Most of which who are actually on lockdown in their cabins and nowhere near the battlefield.

Given what Prissy said about Sophie’s comments about a command tent, Chase isn’t entirely wrong with that assumption. Without Lee and Malcom stopping her, Sophie probably would have named herself commander.

Chase would definitely think all Apollo’s kids are naturally discounted because Apollo. Only Athena is allowed to be smart.

Blondie’d expect Hephaestus’s kids to build some sort of device that’s super clever but only shoots rocks or something. Because only Athena understands strategy and cunning.

Hermes’s kids… Yeah, just give ‘em some bows and stick them in the trees with the Apollo kids. Not like they’re good for anything else. Totally not born leaders with all those communication skills and inventiveness. Only Castellan gets that ability.

Clarisse’s own Ares siblings would be in the front line, but being stupid about it. Some nice traditional shield phalanx from the old stories. Chase would absolutely figure sending out overwhelming force to bowl them over would be the way to go.

Since Aphrodite’s kids are completely useless, they’d be doing hair and fixing armour. Clarisse grins to herself, everyone lined up with her who has long enough hair is wearing Zoe Nightshade’s battle braids. All done by Piper, Drew and Silena.

So. Okay. Half right. They’ve even made sure Georgie’s braid halo integrates the silver circlet that marks her as Atlantis’ Strategos.

Clarisse eyes Castor and Pollux. What would Blondie think Mr D’s kids did during a battle? Get drunk? Complain? Oh! Totally handing out juice boxes. What else would they be good for?

Even when they were kids Clarisse and Priss had been kinda weirded out by how Chase leaned in hard to some old stories, and completely waved others off.

Like, fair enough that she believed them. If Priss wasn’t a prophet, Clarisse would believe them too. It’s the bit where she only believed some of them that was so odd.

The stories about the cult of Dionysus are utterly terrifying. Yet Chase’d always treated Mr D like he was completely useless and incapable. Probably was better that she ignored him. If she’d ever actually confronted Mr D he’d absolutely have destroyed her mind.

Clarisse thinks Chase would have been right about one thing. She’d definitely discount the Demeter kids. They’re all back in the main area. Katie and Miranda would fight, but they’re also the only ones their siblings listen to.

They had to stay back in case of an evacuation. It’s frustrating, they’re just as capable as Pollux with the scary plant fighting skills thing. They just don’t want to be involved.

Would Chase expect the gods to fight with them? Unless Kronos or another god or a Titan directly attacks, the gods are bound by their own sacred laws. If Prissy goes down, Apollo can step in. And Hades is definitely monitoring Bianca and Nico, but demigod fights are governed by sacred laws.

It’s the same reason Chase won’t participate in this attack. The moment Kronos personally strikes at them, the gods are free to interfere. So long as he doesn’t fight directly, the gods can’t either. Clarisse’s asked Prissy about that, about why the titans would bother being honourable.

Prissy’d told her that during the Titan War, when the six elder gods rose against Kronos, they’d been bound by the same laws. That war had been fought between mortals, demigods and monsters. The gods had been restricted to fighting through them, or various fights that were basically single combat.

Right up until one of the titans fighting for Kronos had killed the first prophet of the new age and freed them from the rules of engagement. The six elder gods attacked full force with the cyclopes and hundred-handed ones. Kronos fell the same day. Prissy made a snarky comment she definitely wasn’t meant to hear about Sky King changing the story to his eagle saving the day.

But it does explain why Kronos is fixated on taking Priss alive.

Clarisse listens to Lee and Chiron talk behind her. Lee’s known since the night after they reached Mount Tamalpais about the whole Annabeth thing. He’s apparently not shared this with Chiron until now.

The centaur is horrified. He’s not sure how that’s even possible. For a god to be forced to take a mortal form is one thing, to merge with an existing mortal is not something he’s ever heard of. It should have turned Annabeth to ash.

Chiron’s talking thoughtfully about whether this will restrict Kronos’s power and make him easier to defeat.

Wait, Clarisse actually turns to glance over her shoulder. Lee is looking at the centaur with just as much bewilderment on his face.

Chiron finally notices them gaping at him and goes all politely, “Something wrong?”

Lee stutters and then takes a breath and speaks clearly, “I held off telling you because I thought you’d struggle with the idea of facing her. You seem entirely unbothered that she’s the one who took on the Titan King and not Castellan?”

The centaur actually looks ashamed, “I have looked for hope in the wrong places for many years. Zoe Nightshade’s story had already led me towards new conclusions, but the situation with Quintus rather confirmed things. I am coming to realise that if I am to stand with you when it matters, I must trust your judgement.”

Lee’s face is a beautiful mix of complete shock and definitely some relief. He’s probably been stressing about how Chiron will handle not being in command of an actual real battle. He has been acting as the camp’s trainer and leader for two thousand years after all.

Clarisse smiles to herself as she turns back to face the Labyrinth. She’d not really understood why Prissy kept insisting Zoe’s story would change the world. She’s starting to see it now.

They’ve all grown up in a world where the old stories guide their actions, whether or not they want them to. Zoe very deliberately turned her back on the old stories and chose a new path.

Her story changes the world because it makes other people realise they can choose different. They don’t have to follow in the footsteps of the old heroes.

Even for demigods it’s too easy to believe they are living in an endless cycle of the same stories and they are powerless to change it.

If Chiron is willing to let go of his faith in Annabeth Chase, there’s hope for him yet.

She listens as Lee points out that Kronos will definitely be gunning for Chiron.

The twisting of the myths of Chiron, son of Kronos who was not a centaur, and the myths of Chiron, Trainer of Heroes and a centaur gifted with immortality were not their Chiron’s doing. Priss seems pretty certain Zeus did that, but Kronos will still take the centaur’s existence personally.

Chiron’s just telling Lee that he doubts Chase or Castellan will lead this invasion, not when she’s so recently merged with Kronos, when the ground starts trembling.

Helmets are rapidly crammed on heads as she and the rest of their line take several long steps back. They’re here as bait, not cannon fodder.

As expected, the first out of the Labyrinth are Laistrygonian giants.

Eight foot tall, extra wide, carrying massive clubs and weird handmade shields.

Piper’s voice rises above their yelling, “DON’T MOVE!”

A dozen giants freeze in place. Charmspeak is amazing.

The rest of them split up and head for the trees. Except for Georgie.

Strategos Georghaliae stands tall in the centre of the clearing. She raises her trident in the air as she screams “TO ME!”

A squadron of cyclopes in Atlantean armour break from the trees and gleefully start smashing the frozen giants to pieces.

Poor guys, they’ve been stuck camping on the sea floor training grounds for over a month. They must be incredibly bored. And spoiling for a fight. The carnage is absolutely vicious.

Did Chase and Castellan really think Tri would leave the camp unguarded?

Gods can’t participate, but they can send armies of demigods and monsters, just like Kronos can.

With the Laistrygonian giants mostly contained, Clarisse, Percy and Georgie gleefully step in and around the cyclopes and stab every exposed body part they can see.

Adamantine tridents are absolutely amazing.

With the complete failure of the giants, whoever’s coordinating things inside the Labyrinth sends a whole herd of dracaenae out. All carrying spears and weird net things. Wait. Herd? The hell do you call forty plus snake ladies?

Vaporised is what you call them.

Thalia and Piper join in the fight and honestly, they’re all a bit disappointed by how quickly the snake ladies are dead. All of them are sick of the endless training with no actual battle.

Clarisse is all full of vicious glee.

Unfortunately, after that, they just start slamming their forces out, clearly figuring shock and awe is the way to go.

The fight’s still fun, but now there’s demigods mixed in with centaurs and monsters and she’s not so okay with that.

Lee had been very clear on this part of his plan. As much as possible she and the others are to redirect the demigods towards Castor and Pollux. Lee stands with them, bow raised, ready to defend the twins if they get overwhelmed.

Chiron’s already been sent out to help anyone who looks like they’ll be overwhelmed.

It’s a whole chaotic mix of demigods, snake ladies, hellhounds, Telkhines, bat winged harpies and other monsters.

A few familiar faces too.

________________________

Nico is aware that he and Bi aren’t meant to join in the fighting. If their ‘front line’ of overpowered kids and military cyclopes gets overwhelmed, they’ll be needed as backup.

They are meant to stay back and be ready to take over command and deploy Father’s army if everything goes to shit. Lee was very clear that since skeletons can’t actually die again, they’ll be deployed before the auxiliaries standing at the ready in the outer ring. And well before actual campers join the fight.

Nico is much better at commanding Father’s forces than Bi, but he is not made for holding back.

When he sees Kelli come screaming out of the Labyrinth, he hits his limit. She’s holding that gods damn glittery ball thing too. She’s screaming something about taking the prophet alive and how her lord demands he be captured immediately.

Nico has put up with Chase and Castellan and Ethan and been polite and all twelve year naive child for literal months. He didn't react when Castellan decided to be totally petrified of him just because of who Father is.

He’d been practically unconscious on Mount Othrys when the others got to actually fight. He is absolutely done with not fighting.

He glances at his sister. His voice totally isn’t plaintive when he goes, “Bi.”

She grins at him, “Go, I’ve got it. Father said it only needs one of us.”

Oh, thank the gods.

He charges into the chaos, Doom on his left arm as he stabs viciously with his bident and enjoys the way monsters explode into golden dust as he surges forward.

He has a very specific target. He can see the bear twins, Agrius and Oreius, just climbing out of the tunnel, but Kelli is Nico’s focus. She’s scanning the battlefield for Percy.

She’s still wearing that stupid cheerleader outfit from the stupid school that fucking tortured War Drum and Percy for months.

She may not have known how much that stupid fucking outfit enrages Nico, but she’s still gonna pay. And she’s gonna pay right the fuck now.

She’s so focused on heading towards where Percy and Georgie are screaming “For Poseidon!” while skewering Telkhines that she doesn’t see Nico approach.

Nico distantly notes Percy’s got a massive slash down his unarmored upper arm, but he’s still screaming his new war cry, so it can’t be too bad.

Nico has more important things to focus on.

It’s kinda of disappointing the way she only has time for her eyes to widen in shock before he’s shoving his bident straight through her stomach. And poof. Golden dust. Bye bye Kelli.

He grabs the glittery ball just before it can poof with her and shoves it in his armour. He doesn’t care if the fucking thing breaks, so long as Castellan and Chase don’t get it back.

Thalia’s suddenly beside him, her own shield raised. She calls to him, “Think the bear things are our next target?”

Nico’s all vicious snarl, “Absolutely.”

He raises Doom on his own arm and they storm forward.

If monsters flinch from Aegis, having a son of Hades and a daughter of Zeus bear down on them with matching shields of fear and doom is a whole ‘nother thing.

Castellan was far too fond of these monsters. Would not shut up about how they ate demigods and he’d feed any dissenters to them. It made everyone on the mountain constantly terrified because the two just wandered however they chose.

They killed at least two demigods while Nico was there. Thalia had been horrified when he’d told her about it. She knows exactly what he wants to do to them.

Both monsters stumble backwards when faced with the twin shields. Doom always radiates fear and death, but Nico’s pushing his impending doom trick into both shields, making absolutely sure Agrius and Oreius know they are about to die and are utterly terrified.

They die far too quickly to Thalia’s spear and his bident. She does manage to stab Oreius straight through the mouth and he completely explodes. His own bident stabs into Agrius head with one prong going straight through his mouth too.

There’s a hell of a lot of golden dust floating around them, but he feels so much happier knowing they’re dead. It’s one thing to know monsters will eat demigods if given a chance. Being at the mountain when it’s happening…

Yeah, Nico doesn’t care if those demigods are his enemies. The bear twins were still going down.

He pulls back with Thalia to get an idea of the battle raging around them.

Castor and Pollux have a surprising number of demigods contained, with Lee keeping a sharp watch on their surroundings. The whole section is kinda going under in vines, Pollux is so channeling his father right now.

Leo’s flame grilling a hellhound and looks kind startled like he hadn’t thought he could do it or something?

Chiron’s moving around the battlefield pitching in wherever numbers are getting overwhelming.

Percy and War Drum are killing Telkhines with extreme prejudice. They turn occasionally to stab whatever other monster gets close enough. War Drum’s acquired a gold helmet from somewhere and it looks kinda weird with the sleek Atlantean armour.

Georgie’s back with her cyclopes, in command and loving it. They seem to be focusing on any and all Laistrygonians as they exit the Labyrinth.

Silver arrows are pouring from the trees and killing everything they hit. Nico tells himself it’s only monsters and refuses to think about what else they hit. After the battle is over. Not now. The Hunters have different orders to them.

Piper’s fighting too many dracaenae and definitely needs a hand.

“Crackle!” When she looks over Nico, points towards Piper.

She grins back at him, “Cover me?”

Okie dokie, what’s she planning?

He moves to stand beside her and starts scanning for any attacks while she raises her shield and focuses. Nico can smell the ozone building and feel the electricity.

Thalia yells for Piper to get clear and she throws herself sideways just as the Thalia lashes out with her lightning.

Nico blinks the white flash out of his vision.

“Hey! Twelve for twelve! Strike!”

Her aim has massively improved. Bowling with dracaenae could totally be their new thing! They surge forward again, clearing a huge swathe in front of them and heading for Piper.

Things get less fun when the waves of monsters abruptly stop.

Nico isn’t exactly surprised when Greek fire bombs start being thrown out of the Labyrinth. They smash on the ground and set everything they touch on fire. Greek fire can’t be put out with water. The entire clearing is ablaze in seconds, the fire exploding out towards the trees.

Lee’s yell rises above the noise, “RETREAT! RETREAT NOW!”

Nico scrambles backwards with the others, and smirks to himself when he hears cheering from inside the Labyrinth. Leo’s stepped off to the side and is using his awesome fireproof thing to bodily keep the Greek fire from reaching Juniper’s bush next to the Labyrinth entrance.

Georgie and Percy race towards each other as everyone else pulls back to the tree line and well off to the side.

Just in time too. Georgie and Percy were apparently good with water even when they first came to camp, but after years of practice? Absolutely terrifying.

They’re holding hands and looking towards the ocean, twin expressions of concentration and vengeance. Both look so much like Uncle Poseidon right now.

It’s like a shaped tidal wave floods through the woods, staying along a single path and then pouring into the clearing. It carefully skirts around Castor and Pollux and their whole jungle of vines, sweeps up the Greek fire exploding everywhere and shoves it all straight back into the Labyrinth.

It sweeps the Greek fire away from Leo and definitely slaps him in the face with saltwater, but he’s cheering them on anyway.

The river of water goes on for way longer than necessary, but Georgie and Percy are definitely having fun. Nico smirks slightly when he sees a stream move away from the main river to wrap around Percy. The slash in his sleeve is still there but no more injury. He so wishes he had water healing. Super useful.

They all stand tensely in the silence waiting to see if there’s more. Most monsters would have drowned in that, but some, like the Telkhines, can breathe underwater.

And there is more. Because of course.

Furious bellowing is echoing from the Labyrinth and definitely getting closer.

Percy and Georgie tilt their heads at the same time looking surprised.

Something new?

Percy grins and calls across the clearing, “You lot remember camp’s whole ‘new Gordian knot’ thing? You’re about to get a chance to test your theories.”

Oh! Antaeus has joined the party. Cool. Nico’s never really had an opinion either way, but virtually every other camper has some genius idea for how they would kill him.

Some sort of vicious debate happens between Piper, Thalia and War Drum that Piper apparently wins. By the time Antaeus actually walks out of the Labyrinth, she’s standing alone in the centre of the clearing.

He looks very confused when he sees her and starts turning in circles looking for more opponents.

He finally stops and frowns at her, “You are not a worthy opponent.”

Admittedly, fifteen foot tall giant son of Poseidon and Gaia versus fifteen year old daughter of Aphrodite does seem kind of unfair. For Antaeus.

She smiles at him, all ferocious grin, “Just want to test something out. They let me have first go.”

He glares at her, “I never lose. Tiny female or no, I shall crush you!”

Nico really wants to know where all the sexist bullshit is coming from. Monsters aren’t normally bothered by demigods’ genders. Bit more focused on the killing thing. Is it from Kronos? Oh! Maybe that’s why Demeter is so obsessive about the scythe. Did he think his daughters were useless? That would totally explain Hera’s everything too. Nico’ll have to ask Father.

“Yeah. Whatever.” Piper brushes Antaeus’s insult off like he’s an annoying mosquito.

Her grin turns even sharper and now her voice rings with charmspeak, “You will no longer use your healing ability. The earth will not heal you. You will bleed and die just like any other god or demigod.”

He blinks at her, completely dazed. “What are you talking about? I will crush you!”

Piper steps backwards quickly as Thalia strides out. “Yeah, whatever. But first, we gotta test her theory.”

Antaeus rants about being the best wrestler in the world and he can’t be defeated and how Thalia’s head will be given as tribute to Poseidon. They all watch as Thalia summons a whole new massive bolt of lightning that strikes his head as he stalks towards her.

Thalia is definitely overdoing things. Nico can see the way her essence is kinda flickering. He glances sideways. It’s easy enough to catch Lee’s attention, Nico suspects Lee’s already seen what he has.

He turns back to Antaeus. Huh. The lightning bolt didn’t kill him, but he’s definitely extra crispy. And extremely confused. He stands there swaying, shaking his head like a dog.

They give it a few seconds more to see if he’ll heal. Doesn’t look like it. War Drum moves to stand with Thalia but just watches the guy with interest.

War Drum’s got her head tilted to the side. Even through her helmet, Nico can see her eyes are all super predatory and alight with war kid fire. She’s just quietly watching while Antaeus sort of sways and stumbles in a circle.

Lee makes a very exasperated non-verbal sound from where he’s standing with Castor and Pollux, bow up and arrow nocked.

“Clarisse. Stop playing with him. He’s not a mouse and you’re not a cat.”

War Drum definitely growls at Lee, but she does make a move. She’s totally snarling with vicious glee as she skewers Antaeus with her trident.

Hey! That’s cool! Antaeus turned into like, literal sand. A nice change from golden dust.

Lee calls for Thalia to report to Will. She turns to snarl at him and trips over her own feet. War Drum huffs and grabs her arm and starts dragging her into the trees.

Whoever’s in the Labyrinth is now making a lot of chaotic sounds. Sounds less like the next wave and more like there’s a battle happening inside the maze.

Nico and Percy turn towards each other at the same moment. Is that-?

The hell?

Yeah. Fun time is over. No telling what’s happening or being planned, but best to handle it. Lee’s seen their shocked faces as well as Percy’s signal.

As the next surge of monsters starts up, Lee turns towards the trees and yells “GROVER! NOW!”

This next wave starts out looking more like a frantic retreat out of the maze than an attack.

Giants, Telkhines, hellhounds and dracaenae are erupting out in a whole new extra chaotic tidal wave type deal when Grover screams.

Holy Fuck! That is a bad noise. No thank you. Make it stop. Jesus fucking christ!

The sudden christian expletives snaps Nico out of it. Huh, who knew he still had some of his 1940’s instincts?

The monsters are suddenly scrambling over each other and trying to head back into the Labyrinth, even as more are fleeing whatever’s going on inside.

They are kinda of colliding into each other and not going anywhere.

The cyclopes had been warned about this and storm into the clearing to cut down monsters as they turn and flee back into the Labyrinth.

Having a prophet around is super useful. From what Percy’s said, Grover had no idea this was something Pan had gifted him. He’d been kinda surprised when he was told ahead of time to use it if Lee told him to.

Seriously, Grover is like, the bravest satyr Nico’s ever heard of. Fighting is completely against their nature. They might volunteer to fight, but volunteering and actually doing it are two very different things. Grover’s got so much heart.

With the clearing empty again, they stay quiet and tense. Nico and Percy are focused on the Labyrinth. They can both still feel it.

The noise in the Labyrinth is completely chaotic, there’s a lot of screaming but it’s not moving closer or further away. The sounds slowly die down.

Bi comes up beside him. “Neeks, what the fuck is that?”

Percy’s voice is sour as he answers for him, “Iapis. Dunno which side he’s on.”

Iapis? The fuck? How many names does this guy have?

It gets Lee’s attention, he barks a sharp order and switches places with Chiron before he stalks over to stand with them. Kayla, Michael and Austin melt out of the trees, all with bows up and arrows nocked.

Lee keeps his eyes on the Labyrinth entrance but calls behind him, “Will, don’t you fucking dare move from your position.”

Will yells back some entertaining curse words that basically amount to; he’s a child of Apollo too and it’s no fair he doesn’t get to participate just because he’s the camp medic.

He stays in position though.

Quintus/Daedalus/Iapis/whatever the fuck you want to call him, finally steps out of the Labyrinth, sword drawn, his giant hellhound right behind him.

Nico has no idea what the guy is expecting, but apparently four extremely angry children of Apollo holding bows on him, two furious children of Hades and one extra chirpy Prophet of Apollo aren’t it.

Behind them, Nico can hear someone arguing with Thalia about drinking nectar and overusing her powers.

Inventor dude is just doing the wide-eyed super shocked thing at them, his mouth is even hanging open.

“Uh. I’ve realised I made a terrible mistake. I was going to make amends, but I appear to have arrived too late.”

Nico has very strong opinions about how the guy only realised this when Blondie admitted she wants to literally own Percy.

Percy snorts, “You mean the bit where you thought we were completely incapable?”

Nico adds sourly, “Or the part where your immediate response to that is to overthrow the gods? Because seriously. You realise you’re fucking insane, right?”

Inventor guy looks kind of sheepish, “I had not realised how far my hubris had taken me. Not until I saw Annabeth and she said, well…”

That the whole reason she was overthrowing the gods was because she wanted to keep the Prophet of Apollo as a pet? Nico really doesn’t care what Percy says about Chase and Castellan having actual reasons. He’s a child of Hades, he takes shit personally and he doesn’t feel like being reasonable.

Nico is extremely sarcastic, “She said everything you’ve been telling yourself for millennia?”

Inventor idiot closes his eyes, but does acknowledge it. “Yes. I lost my way long ago. When I first built the Labyrinth.”

Which would be why his essence is so screwed up, People aren’t actually meant to divide their souls!

Nico frowns to himself. Well. Zoe Nightshade did. He has no idea how she survived that. She certainly handled it a lot better than this guy.

Percy’s voice is almost gentle, “You understand what has to happen? The Labyrinth cannot be allowed to continue.”

Inventor idiot, “Yes. I understand. I must make an apology first.”

Nico’s surprised when the guy turns to him, “Young man. When I realised you could, uh, ‘handle’ the bodies in the Labyrinth, I directed them into your path. It did not occur to me what that would do to you. I am sorry.”

Okay. Guy is still completely insane if he thinks that’s the worst thing he did, but no point arguing. He’s not leaving this clearing alive. Only question is whether it’s voluntary or not.

At least Nico now knows that whole bit of shittiness was deliberate?

Nico considers him, “I’ll accept your apology, on one condition. Release the Sphinx you’ve kept trapped in there. You broke her.”

Sphinx are monsters yes, but she was broken. Starving and yet entirely unable to eat. Nico had intended to go hunting and give her a quick death regardless, but he had really wanted her to have a chance to see the sun again first.

He’s kind of hoping that whatever Tartarus does to reform monsters will also fix her brain.

Iapis looks ashamed, “I have already guided her to an exit. You are correct, but she will not die when the Labyrinth is destroyed.”

Iapis pulls a laptop from a backpack that had been almost invisible against his armour.

He holds it out to Lee, “All my work is here, everything I managed to save from the fire. Some notes on projects I never started and some of my favourite designs. I could not reveal my work, lest the gods find me. But now, would you see that this is given to young Sophie? Someday she will be a greater architect than I ever was. She can take my ideas and improve them. Be truly wise, as a child of Athena should be.”

Yep. Completely fucking insane.

Also. Nico just remembered his little stash of stolen items. Been a bit too busy to do more than dump them in his cabin. What’s the betting they have copies of all the files that were ‘lost’ in the fire?

“No.” Percy’s voice cracks across the clearing, he sounds exactly like his father in that single word.

Iapis turns to stare at him, still holding the laptop out to Lee.

Percy’s voice is still harsh. “You come here and say you made a terrible mistake and wish to make amends. Yet your last act is to start the same cycle all over again? Why would you curse one of your siblings to your own doomed life?”

Iapis frowns, “I don’t understand?”

Seriously?

War Drum speaks from where she’s standing back from the group. There is a lot of anger in her voice. Nico knows she is absolutely furious at the idea of this idiot turning Sophie into another Blondie.

“You hoard knowledge because you believe no-one else deserves it. Your pride destroyed you. Why would give all your knowledge to the sibling who is already struggling to turn away from her pride?”

They may not like Sophie, but she belongs to the camp, to them. Demigods protect their own.

Percy’s voice is firm, “It is your right to decide if you want to share that knowledge. But you will not destroy another child with your own pride. If you insist that laptop be given to Sophie, it will be destroyed here and now and given to no-one.”

Nico’s still not clear on whether the guy killed his nephew or his son, but he absolutely did murder his kid. They’re is no way any of them are letting him fuck Sophie over, no matter how much she pisses people off.

Iapis looks completely lost. He stares around the clearing as if someone is going to explain why his world is being turned upside down.

He glances down at the laptop again and then turns fully away from Lee and faces Percy.

“Prophet of Apollo, what would you have me do?”

Hey! Some intelligence is still in there!

Percy’s face softens. He speaks with the confidence of the prophet.

“Give it to Jonathon or Malcolm. They are your siblings too. They have already walked the path of pride and chosen differently. They made different choices and forged new paths. They understand knowledge is to be shared and never hoarded. That true wisdom is allowing others to share in your discoveries.”

Iapis stares down at the laptop for a few beats.

He holds it out to Lee, “Give it to young Jonathon first. I have no actual concerns about Malcolm, but I have not met him. Whether Mother acknowledges him or not, Jonathon is a true child of Athena. I will leave it to Jonathon to decide how the information should be dispersed.”

Interesting. Like, Nico doesn’t disagree, Jonathon actually does embody Athena’s whole wisdom thing.

Problem is, Athena absolutely does not agree that wisdom is deciding Athena’s not worth Jonathon’s time. He spends most of his time with Aphrodite’s kids. From things Percy’s said, Aphrodite is currently trying to work out whether she can claim Jonathon in the same way Poseidon and Apollo claimed War Drum.

Lee is completely expressionless when he takes the laptop.

Iapis turns to Nico. “Son of Hades, I have treated you wrongly. Will you take my soul as ransom, as Minos suggested?”

Okay, now we’re back to idiocy.

Nico shakes his head, “No soul can be exchanged for another. Father’s realm is where the dead find peace and rest. They do not leave it. I will release your spirit to make its final journey. I will not prolong your life.”

Iapis smiles sadly, “It is impressive for you to learn such a lesson so young, and yet it took me three millennia. I have no knowledge of the future, but I am confident you will do well. If you are willing, would you care for Mrs O’Leary? Or find her a new situation if you do not wish to?”

Nico can see the spreading grin on Percy’s face. Exactly how long has he been planning to give Nico a hellhound?

Nico nods and agrees. He ignores that bullshit about him learning a lesson so young. You don’t need actual intelligence to understand the concept of ‘all mortals things must die eventually’. That’s just a basic fact?

Iapis smiles and hands him a whistle made of Stygian ice. That’s been carefully wrapped inside a piece of parchment. He gives Nico a very serious look as he does so.

This guy is nuts. Time to refocus.

“You do understand you will be judged in the Underworld. That you will face punishment for the murder of your child?”

Given the fact he hid from the gods for literal millennia, he’s probably just going to have his memories washed clean in the Lethe and sent to the Fields of Asphodel where he won’t remember enough to cause problems. But Nico suspects this guy would absolutely consider that a punishment.

Iapis looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. “Genius does not excuse evil. No matter what offer the Crooked One made me, there is nothing I could do that would make things right with Talos. I killed him in cold blood, I will accept whatever comes.”

Chiron is watching this conversation with absolute fascination. He gonna give up on hating Father now?

Iapis looks around the clearing and speaks to the four children of Apollo. All of whom still have their bows trained on him. They all look like they’re about half a millisecond from killing him.

“I do know that I do not deserve such kindness from someone who is a son of Hades and a brother to the Prophet of Apollo. There is nothing I can give or say to make up for millennia of you and your siblings searching for me. I never learned how Apollo did what he did. No information has been recorded in any manner that would allow another to prolong their life as I have. It is all I can offer you.”

That’d be because the answer is ‘because magic’. Godly things are beyond mortal minds, no matter how long they live. Moron.

Lee gives a slight nod, but that’s the best he’s gonna get from them.

Iapis turns back to Nico. “I am ready.”

Nico nods and takes a deep breath. He pushes all his sarcastic comments to the side and focuses on being a son of Hades who has been asked to do a sacred duty. He doesn’t need to like the guy to give him a respectful death.

Nico draws his sword and touches it against the inventor’s shoulder. He speaks in Ancient Greek, “Your time is long since come. Be released and rest.”

Iapis smiles and Nico watches as he turns to ash that drifts away on an ocean breeze. Even the sun shines brighter. Uncle and Apollo were definitely watching that.

When the earth starts shaking, Lee has to yell for everyone to “Hold!”, as alarmed shouts echo from the trees.

Percy speaks up, “Its okay, that was the Labyrinth collapsing in on itself. It was tied to his life force. It’s gone, there won’t be any more attacks coming out of there.”

Lee snaps out clipped orders and people take up guard positions, just in case. Others start moving through the clearing and begin the kind of horrific part of all of this.

Nico keeps his eyes averted, and goes to stand with War Drum and Piper. Nathan, War Drum’s favourite son of Ares, walks into the clearing leading his squadron of auxiliaries.

While the others are distracted Nico checks the paper Iapis gave him. He is less than happy with what it says and decides he’d prefer to not think about that. For today at least.

He’s a little too relieved when Nathan and his group start bringing the spoils of war to their little huddle. It gives him something to focus on that isn’t Percy and Lee over with Castor and Pollux, or what Kayla and Will are doing at the other side of the clearing.

Not all monsters leave spoils of war. The ones that aren’t the originals from the old stories generally don’t. Cyclopes and Laistrygonian giants don’t leave anything. Kelli left some sort of charm thing. Antaeus left some sort of knife, War Drum hands it straight to Piper.

It gives him something to smile about, at least until Percy comes to collect him.

Chapter Text

When it’s all ended and even the Labyrinth itself is gone, Lee gestures for Percy to come with him.

Lee leads him to where Chiron is still standing guard over the enemy demigods Castor and Pollux have kept contained and mindless throughout the fight.

Lee had talked to Percy about this, told him it was his choice if he did this or not. Problem is, if Percy doesn’t, each and every one of these demigods will be handed over to the gods.

They would be dealt with like with the others; Victoria and the other two unclaimed campers from Cabin Eleven from Annabeth’s last summer and the four guards Clarisse knocked into the water last winter.

Percy’s never asked what happened to them. He knows Clarisse and Lee haven’t either.

He also knows that, from today on, he will no longer be able to easily list the people lost to this fight.

This is war and gods are gods, not people.

What they are doing now is the only amnesty they can offer the enemy demigods. And only if Percy does this.

He feels like judge, jury and executioner all in one.

He takes his time, pulling on the knowing and watching the faces of the seventeen demigods. They don’t know he’s there, Castor’s still got a tight grip on their minds. Strobe’s powers are absolutely terrifying. But for some of these demigods, it’s the reason why they’ll get a second chance.

Lee had talked about this at length. That while they won’t always have the time or capacity to do more than kill or be killed, if they can find another option, he wants to see if it’s feasible.

Percy scans them, one by one. Forcing the knowing to show him the choices they will make if they are given a second chance. It’s miserable and horrific and he hates it.

All of them are adults, most only joined recently. None have fated paths, just available choices, He points nine demigods out to Lee. All will choose a different path if offered sanctuary from Castellan and Kronos.

The other eight… Best not to think about that.

Lee gives clipped commands to Chiron, and Percy chooses not to listen.

Lee asks if he’s sure about the next thing and Percy nods wordlessly.

He collects Nico and they head to where Will and Kayla have been laying out the dead.

None are theirs, thank all the gods. But it’s still bad.

Had Kronos, Chase and Castellan truly honoured the old ways, they would have already sent a herald with spondai. It was a special type of libations. In ancient times, the spondai declared their defeat and established a truce. It allowed them to collect their dead and return them home with honour.

No herald is sent. Not even an Iris Message.

Between them, Percy and Nico identify who each demigod’s godly parent was and any identifying information they can find.

Will and Lee write down descriptions of each, along with everything Percy and Nico can tell them about each demigod’s past. Nico knows many of them from his time at Kronos’s army encampment.

Uncle Hades left coins with Lee for this. Lee says that Uncle knew this would be important for both Percy and Nico. He’s not wrong. Nico gently places a coin into each fallen demigod’s mouth and speaks a prayer to his father.

Percy hadn’t even needed to explain to Lee why this was so important to them. He’d understood straight away. Lee is the one who holds their hope after all.

Nico may have a connection as a child of the Underworld, but it goes far deeper for him. Just as Percy has a connection through what he sees and knows, but it’s not why he needs to do this.

All demigods exist in an uneasy blurry area between mortal humans and divine gods. For most, they naturally lean towards their mortal side. It is easier to understand people than it is to understand gods.

Nico and Percy are the most powerful demigods of their generation. They both instinctively lean away from their mortal sides. They struggle to hold onto what it means to be human, to be mortal. Both he and Nico are far more comfortable among gods than people.

They both know they must cling tightly to their mortal side. They must remember what it means to be mortal. They will respect the dead. They will respect each demigod who fights and dies, no matter which side they were on.

They will lead by example in this new age of heroes just beginning.

Each demigod will be given a funeral pyre, wrapped in the shroud of their parent. Each soul will be sent to Charon with coins blessed by Hades to ensure swift passage.

They are dead, they’re beyond the point where their paths can be changed.

For those who still live, this is where change begins. By offering respect to each life lost. Respect for each demigod whose life ended in violence on a battlefield.

They are not Achilles, dragging Hector’s body behind his chariot. Nor are they Ajax and Odysseus fighting over Achilles’s armour even as his body lies abandoned on the ground. They are not the old heroes who have long forgotten the old ways. Who have forgotten why sacred rites and rules exist.

Lee takes the final list to the auxiliaries who will prepare burial shrouds. Not the elaborate embroidered tapestries that the camp once made for every quester, but plain lengths of fabric in their divine parent’s symbolic colour.

Wherever possible, small items are added in honour of the demigod. Other than Antaeus’s knife, all spoils of war left behind by the army are added to the items given in tribute to the fallen demigods.

Children of Ares are given armour and a weapon, even if they were found without their own.

Children of Hermes have feathers and caduceus charms tucked into their burial shrouds.

Children of Athena receive owl feathers and a small fresh cut branch from an olive tree. When Percy hands Lee pearls and sun-bleached coral and gestures to the two children of Athena being wrapped in their shrouds by the auxiliaries, Lee doesn’t ask questions, just tucks them into the shrouds for him.

A spoil of war left by the empousa Kelli is placed in the shroud of a child of Hecate. A child of Morpheus is given a poppy flower and crystals.

The funeral pyres are built in the clearing. Lee still wants to shield the underage campers as much as he can. They will be told a battle was fought and lives were lost, but a handful of words has far less impact than physically seeing the funeral pyres burn.

The silence is strange and uncomfortable. Percy really doesn’t like it. All the satyrs and every nature spirit that could be separated from their homes are in the main camp, waiting to be given the all clear.

Grover is the only one who participated in any capacity. All had offered to help, but they were also incredibly relieved when Lee told them it was handled.

Most of those who participated in the battle, whether actively or by standing ready, watch quietly as each body is wrapped in a shroud and laid out. The watchers are all dressed in their armour, still dirty and sweaty and exhausted. This is not the time for pretty clothing and clean faces.

Some of the fallen were known to them.

Zach, the son of Ares who had spied on camp the winter before last, fell to a Hunter’s silver arrow.

Four children of Hermes from Lee’s time as a camper are laid out. Only two fell to their forces, the other two burned alive from their own side’s Greek fire.

The fifth child of Hermes to be laid out just about breaks Percy’s heart. He’d known this is where it would end for him.

Daniel led the demigods in this attack, he was the one calling orders in the clearing while another demigod stayed just inside the tunnel entrance.

Percy saw how Daniel would die that time he grabbed his arm during a Capture the Flag game two years ago. Percy saw Daniel die from a single golden arrow shot with deadly accuracy. A golden arrow shot from Lee’s bow.

Percy had all but begged Hermes to acknowledge his son, just once. Every time he’d seen Hermes, he’d reminded him of his son Daniel.

Daniel died in the camp that was once his home, having never met his father. There is nothing more Percy can do for him.

When Clarisse sees Daniel, she doesn’t hesitate, she hands her own offering to Lee and silently gestures.

Lee tucks an aurichalcum knife that once belonged to Hermes into Daniel’s burial shroud.

Two children of Athena are laid out, both Lee’s age and definitely known to Lee and Malcolm. Malcolm doesn’t even try to hide his sobs when he sees the woman.

When he gets control of his breathing, Malcolm tells the gathered group that he hadn’t known she’d joined Kronos. He thought Sonia was still living in the mortal world as a college professor.

She drowned when Percy and Georgie sent the Greek fire and their ocean wave into the Labyrinth. She’d been the one posted just inside the entrance coordinating the attack.

The son of Athena laid out beside her fell to Clarisse’s trident when he attempted to disarm her. Clarisse stands with Percy and looks nauseous. Pale and drawn and horrified as she realises what happened. That it hadn’t been a monster she’d blindly defended herself against.

Lee steps up behind them and wraps an arm around each of them.

His voice is quiet but very firm, “You did what you had to do. This is war. We will save as many as we can, but we cannot save them all. We will respect their sacrifice, but we cannot let this break us. We will not waver.”

Clarisse swallows hard, but her face firms. She knows as well as Percy does that, while this may be the first time they’ve faced this, it will not be the last. They both know Lee would give anything for them to not be involved in this. That he desperately wishes he could keep them out of the fight.

But they were both born with too much power for a reason. The Fates cannot be defied. Not forever. This is their fight, Lee’s too, but none of them can stay out of it. They’ll all be needed.

Nathan, son of Ares, pours a libation of wine onto the ground for the dead. He speaks a prayer to his father and burns frankincense.

Nathan speaks the names of the dead and tells Ares they fought bravely and with honour. They died courageously. He asks Ares to watch over their final journey as he sets the wooden pyres alight.

Nathan, son of Ares, does what Kronos and his army cannot be bothered to do for their own people.

They stand and watch as the funeral pyres burn. Percy sees the auras of gods in the smoke, bodies not so much burning as dissolving, as gods receive the offerings and hear their prayers.

The roar of the battlefield, of violence, as Ares answers his son’s prayer.

The deep welcoming shadow of Hades lays heavily over the funeral pyres. The King of the Underworld personally escorting the fallen.

Hermes mischievous laughter and rapid movement answers a prayer from the camp for the first time since Luke Castellan was banished.

Daniel is dead. He no longer needs or wants his father’s attention.

Bianca who steps forward and speaks the final funerary prayer. She’d told Nico he had carried enough. She was a child of Hades too, please let her do this for him.

Nico slips out from the shadows and Lee reaches across Percy’s shoulders to pull him into his little huddle of ducklings.

Neither Nico nor Clarisse complain about Lee’s display of affection today.

Sometimes, it’s exactly what they need.

________________________

There are a thousand things to do when the battle is over.

Lee is so glad that all his people came through with nothing worse than cuts and bruises, but this was the first time he’d fought against demigods.

Georgie’s a little more comfortable with it, and most of the Hunters entirely unbothered, but for most of them, they’ve only ever fought monsters.

It had torn him up inside when he saw his kids’ faces afterwards. He’d seen Clarisse’s trident strike the son of Athena, and he’d known even then that she hadn’t realised he wasn’t another dracaenae.

She did exactly what she was supposed too, and Lee is so proud of her. He still wishes he could have done that for her. That she never knew she struck the killing blow.

He has no idea how Percy and Nico had the strength to not only identify the dead, but ensure they were given the traditional burial rites.

Clarisse hadn’t hesitated in giving her own prized aurichalcum knife as a tribute for a child of Hermes. Kronos and Castellan hadn’t even bothered to request parley to retrieve their own dead. Lee had truly believed they would send one. Right until it never came.

How did Lee’s teenage children have more respect for the enemy than Kronos and Castellan do for their own forces?

Lee’s known war was coming for nearly eight years. Dad had given him so many chances to walk away from it. Lee is an adult and he went into this knowing what would happen. He knew his own kids would still be children when the fighting began. It doesn’t make it easier.

It was bad enough seeing his kids try to process what had happened. But then Chiron asked to talk to him, just after they finished updating the underage campers with a sanitised explanation of the battle.

This is exactly why Lee shouldn’t say things in anger. It only took two years for this one to come back and bite him in the butt.

Chiron is looking very upset, “You told me that one day I would learn Annabeth’s true fate. That I set her on that path and I sealed her fate.”

Lee shuts his eyes and tries to keep control of breathing. He’s just been through his first ever actual fight with a literal army that involved demigods. Lee shot actual demigods. His golden arrows were mixed with the silver ones that Will and Kayla removed from the dead.

Lee killed Daniel, the Hermes kid Percy’s been desperately trying to help for years. Lee hadn’t even hesitated.

Daniel was very obviously commanding their ground forces, Lee didn’t need Percy to tell him that there were no kinder paths available. A quick death was the only mercy Lee could give him. If Ethan led the forces, Lee would do the exact same thing.

Chiron has the absolute worst timing, but letting him stew will just make this worse. May as well get it over with.

“I didn’t actually know her exact fate. I just knew she had a terrible one and it was directly related to Percy and the Great Prophecy.”

Chiron looks at him with too much realisation, “Percy’s always known, hasn’t he?”

What’s Lee meant to say to that?

He gives a single nod, there are no words.

His kid has too big a heart. He’d befriended Annabeth and done so much for her, knowing full well where her path would lead. Chiron’s finally realising why Percy is the child of prophecy. Only took him nearly eight years.

“And I was the one who told her she had a destiny that was entwined with the child of the Great Prophecy.”

Lee speaks quietly, “She was single-minded and determined even at eight years old. She fixated on Percy from the day he arrived. I still don’t know if it was you or someone else, but before Percy came to camp she’d already gotten hold of that first line from the fake prophecy, about a ‘half-blood of the eldest gods’. We think that’s why she was stalking him, even during that first week he was here.”

Chiron ignores the comment about how she got hold of that prophecy. He’s much more focused on his new realisation.

“The gods of the sea as a whole are considered to be the oldest gods of all. Even not knowing his parentage Percy was the closest match to both the fake and the actual prophecy.”

Lee doesn’t give a response. He genuinely doesn’t know what he can say to Chiron. These last four weeks have been the best his relationship with the centaur has ever been. He’s actually thinking for once, and listening when Lee tells him not to do something.

“A prophecy that is believed to decide the fate of Olympus.”

Lee sighs and runs a hand through his hair, “Chiron, I don’t know what you want me to say. I lost my temper and I was a little too honest with you. I shouldn’t have said it.”

Chiron is insistent, “But it was the truth.”

Lee slumps, what the hell is he meant to say? “Yes.”

“I would like to stay at the camp, to support the war effort however I can, but I would understand if you’d prefer I leave.”

What? What the ever loving fuck?

Lee turns on him, and his voice is definitely too savage, “Chiron. I am one person. A very mortal demigod. I may argue endlessly with you, but you have a hell of a lot more experience with this shit than I do! Why would I send you away? If we’re going to add up all the moments of Annabeth Chase’s life that led to this choice, half the camp will be carrying the blame!”

Lee pauses to try and get his breathing under control. He is definitely kind of shouting in Chiron’s face right now. Oops.

“She was given endless opportunities to turn from this path. All of us, including you, tried to show her a different choice. At this point, the only ones we can blame are her and Luke Castellan. I’ve already had to try and convince my kid not to blame himself for this. I fucking expect you to lead by example!”

He’s still kinda doing the deep panting breath thing and clenching his fists.

There’s a long moment of silence while they just stare at each other.

Chiron recovers first and gives him a very sympathetic look, “Then, may I suggest you go and find your children? I am sorry, this conversation could have waited for another time.”

Ya think?

Lee turns on his heel and heads straight for Cabin Three. His list of tasks can wait for tomorrow.

Whether Lee likes it or not, today is going to be a defining moment for his kids. The point where childhoods are set aside and they transition into warriors.

Into heroes.

They are demigods after all.

Lee was, at least, able to give them a lot more years than he’d had. He still needs to see them and hug them and try and keep it together. He’ll fall apart later, but right now, his kids need to know they can still be kids.

They are still allowed to be upset and confused and terrified. Today has not changed that.

To carry the hope is also to remember what it means to be human.

________________________

It’s a very quiet group that returns to the main camp.

People had been sent back as soon as they were certain they were clear, and the lockdown was lifted. Campers were told to stay away from the woods, and they’re clearly aware that something happened.

Percy, Nico and Clarisse head straight for Cabin Three while Lee and Chiron gather the campers so they can speak to them all together.

The three of them saw everything, they really didn’t need a repeat performance.

Piper shows up not long after, tapping hesitantly on the door.

“I- Yeah, I couldn’t face my siblings.”

Percy wordlessly gestures her in.

He isn’t surprised when, not even ten minutes later, the door opens a crack and Silena’s brown eyes peek in. As soon as she sees Piper with them, she gives him a thumbs up and leaves them to it.

Most of camp knows Nico and Clarisse don’t like being fussed over, if Piper’s come to them, she’s definitely avoiding Silena.

Lee just smirks a little when he sees Piper, after he finally finishes up and comes to join them. Percy just knows Lee is wondering how he managed to collect yet another kid.

He gives them an update on things.

Briares had been waiting at the sea floor training grounds, but was willing to hold off unless he was actually needed. Percy didn’t explain why he was so terrified of the Hekatonkheir joining the fight, but Lee just accepted it should be avoided if possible.

As much compassion as Percy has for Briares, he is exceptionally glad to know he’s been sent back to Atlantis.

If he wants to fight, there’ll be far less collateral damage fighting sea gods and monsters, than there will be on a battlefield filled with demigods. Hundred handed ones are walking weapons of mass destruction. That’s not always a good thing.

With the Labyrinth gone and the barrier at full power, the cyclopes collected Briares and headed straight back to Atlantis where they can assist with the ongoing attacks. Georgie and Tyson will stay on for the summer, but the rest of the Atlantean contingent is already gone.

Triton won’t let Percy talk to the cyclopes. He’s a little horrified that Percy knows which ones used to watch over him when he slept in local parks when he was little.

Rachel still wants to stay on for the summer, she’s been moved back to Nightshade Cabin. She’s already asked Lee to help her make arrangements to keep attending Rhoden Academy, so she’ll be close by even during the school year. Percy is very glad he and Clarisse won’t have to go with her.

Lee only ever calls the place ‘that cursed school’ these days. Unlike when he calls James ‘the creepy fish’, there is no fondness in his voice.

Jonathon has been given Iapis’s laptop. Lee gets the most amazing, half horrified half proud, look on his face when Nico brings a whole collection of stolen bits and pieces out of his room. All from Iapis’s workshop. Lee agrees to distribute them to the appropriate people and promises to make sure Leo gets the phone with the most data.

Percy’s not looking forward to Sophie’s reaction when she finds out Jonathon was given that laptop, but Lee seems confident that Jonathon will ‘lead by example’. He says that she’ll take it better from a sibling. Percy’s doubtful.

The Council of Cloven Elders has demanded Grover present himself tomorrow for a ‘final hearing’. Percy tells Lee it’ll sort itself out and Lee isn’t needed, but Lee does not seem convinced. Percy’s confident.

Mr D has had six months of knowing there’s a high chance his sons will die during the invasion. He’ll want to see for himself that Castor and Pollux are whole and unharmed.

Mr D’ll also want to lash out, just from being forced to experience all those emotions that gods aren’t meant to feel. He’ll definitely be turning all that ire on the idiot satyrs. Percy’s looking forward to a reason to smile. He’s definitely taking Nico along to watch.

Silena swings back past and insists Piper come and join in family time. Lee seconds this and Piper reluctantly leaves.

She’s spent the afternoon glued to a couch, not speaking. She definitely needs time with Silena and Drew and their siblings. Areia or not, her Aphrodite siblings can give her the comfort she needs, the sort of support that the four of them just can’t manage.

Clarisse also won’t settle while Piper’s there. She’s kept herself crammed back into a corner and flinches whenever anyone comes close. She hates anyone seeing her when she’s dealing with big emotions.

Nico’s not much better and is half-disappearing into the shadows.

After Piper leaves, Percy digs out a hair brush and Clarisse relaxes enough to let him take out her crown braid. One by one they shower and change into soft clothes. Still mostly numb and shell shocked now it’s over.

Lee watches the three of them and far too gently asks if they want to talk about what happened. None of them do. Nico quietly says he’s glad they were able to give them last rites.

Lee looks at Nico for a long moment, “Nico, I know you prefer to work through your emotions on your own, but please stay at camp this time. We’re all going to handle this better if we know where each other is.”

Percy thinks that’s probably the only argument that would ensure Nico stays here. How long has Lee been sitting on that one?

It works, anyway. They all camp in the sitting room and actually sleep to dawn.

________________________

Percy has been pushing back against the Fates and their cursed dreams for months.

He’s just gone through his first battle and would like to sleep without dreams, just once. Please.

But the Fates have decided that tonight is the night to make him acknowledge the things he’s been avoiding.

They drag him to a room in the past. Nearly one hundred years ago now.

A grief stricken Apollo speaks to a young unbroken Halcyon Green. A son of Apollo in his late teens who is brightly telling his father about saving the life of a little girl.

The first time Percy dreamed of this it hadn’t been for him to know. Apollo had spoken of the future to Halcyon Green and the Fates ensured Percy was not told the full story.

Tonight, they’ve decided it is time for him to know. Now that there is nothing even Percy can do to change Annabeth’s fate.

He watches as Apollo and Halcyon Green talk.

Apollo attempts to explain to Halcyon why he was told not to speak of the future. About what it means to see the tapestry. About why it’s so dangerous to see the future but not the tapestry.

Apollo tells Halcyon that he has doomed us all.

Halcyon asks how? It was just a young girl.

Apollo’s eyes are filled with sorrow and Percy’s never heard his voice so broken. He speaks with the heat of the sun and something more.

The Fates themselves speak through the God of Prophecy and tell Halcyon Green of the disaster he has set in motion. If he wishes to know the future so badly, they will make sure he regrets his choices.

“A young girl who was fated for death. A thread already woven. A thread that has now been torn out of the tapestry, out of the weave. It will take thousands upon thousands of threads, of lives lost, before the tear is mended. Because of your foolish actions, she will bear a child, who will bear a child, and that knife will be placed in the hands of a child formed at the will of the Fates. A child born solely to mend the tear. To die in the little girl’s place.“

Percy is less than happy when the Fates ever so kindly shove the rest of the story at him.

All the parts Apollo never knew.

Gods aren’t actually all knowing and they tend to consider mortals beneath their notice. The prophecy he gave to Halcyon doesn’t specify which Fates created child will die in the little girl’s place.

No wonder he panicked when he realised Percy and Clarisse were both touched by the Fates.

When Apollo and Lee admitted all those trips to Atlantis when he was little were them testing Percy and Clarisse’s weird separation anxiety thing, Percy had wondered why Apollo had been so intense about it.

It also explains why Apollo has been so insistent about Annabeth being formed at the will of the Fates. If one of them has to die, Apollo doesn’t want it to be Percy or Clarisse.

As to the knife Annabeth carries…

A little girl fated to die was saved by Halcyon Green. She gave him her knife in thanks.

A knife that had been passed down for endless generations.

Percy knows where that celestial bronze dagger’s journey started. Thousands of years ago, Pasiphae used it to cut her hand in order to perform the blood magic that cursed Asterion to take the form of the Minotaur.

A knife whose aura burns with more anger and rage than Anaklusmos ever did. Pasiphae’s jealousy mingles with Poseidon’s fury and makes the knife pulse like a beacon.

Endless generations pass as divine blood is diluted until all that is left of the daughter of Helios is clear sight.

The little girl, that should have died but didn’t, had two children.

Her older daughter went on to have a son called Frederick Chase.

The little girl’s younger daughter met a descendant of Hades and had two children of her own. May and Sarah Castellan.

The three grandchildren of the little girl each had a child. Three children born through the will of the Fates.

Three is a sacred number after all.

May Castellan is five years older than Sarah Castellan. Sarah was thirteen when May Castellan attempted to take on the spirit of Python.

Percy used to wonder how May Castellan survived that. How she hadn’t outright died. Given Uncle Hades’s domains, any curse set by him is liable to kill anyone who interferes with it. To immediately separate their souls from their bodies. Unless it’s one of Uncle’s own descendants.

May and Sarah lost their parents in a plane crash. Zeus may not have known there was a descendant of Hades travelling through his realm, but he knew the two children were clear sighted. That they came from the same family line that produced the cursed Oracle of Delphi.

Frederick Chase and Sarah Castellan never spoke of what they saw, not even to Athena or Poseidon.

May Castellan did. If Zeus is known for anything it is for his singularly focused determination. He arranged matters so that Hermes would meet a seventeen year old May Castellan and explain the divine world to her.

Percy’s still not clear on if Zeus just forgot to explain the bit about the Oracle needing to be a young maiden chosen by Apollo, a requirement intended to honour his twin sisters own choices, or if Zeus and Hermes assumed these rules were simply ritualised traditions.

When May Castellan was returned home with a just turned one year old Luke, speaking of the future and her mind completely lost to reason, Sarah Castellan panicked. She was thirteen. She had no family to turn to. Sarah knew it was the things her sister saw that had caught the attention of an Olympian god.

Her older sister no longer knew her and spoke of nothing but Hermes and Luke’s fate. His fate to be a true hero.

Sarah was brave, even then. She took Luke with her and managed to travel an impressive distance before Hermes found them.

Sarah knew nothing of the world. She was thirteen and a Greek god popped into existence right in front of her, took the baby from her arms and coldly told her to, “just be grateful I don’t burn you to ash,” before disappearing with Luke.

The streets are not kind to young girls. Percy turns away as the Fates show her his mother’s life. He knew her choices were not so much actual choices and more the only options she had left.

It is nearly ten years later when Sally Jackson meets Poseidon on a beach.

She did love Poseidon. It had not been a single night at the Fates’s direction. He had wooed her, taught her how to laugh again, how to see joy in the world. Offered her some kindness before the Fates insisted she play her part.

Percy is his father’s son. To offer kindness wherever possible is in his blood. From both his parents.

It’s only after Percy is conceived that she truly panics. She knew Poseidon is a god and she remembers what happened to May Castellan. Remembers the way Hermes had taken the baby from her arms and she was helpless to stop it.

Percy won’t excuse how she raised him. How she left him with Gabe. How she threatened Triton and forced the sea gods to keep their distance. But Percy understands. He understands why she lashed out, even as she tried to love her child. He even understands why she chose that name for him in a moment of anger.

Sally Jackson knew she is powerless in the face of gods. All she has are words and bluster. Percy’s genuinely impressed that Triton and Poseidon believe her when she tells them she’ll tell Zeus about him if they don’t leave her alone.

She’s so frightened and she fights back with the only thing left to her, her words and her courage. Just as Hera is not a warrior goddess, but is still considered to be the most vicious of the gods, there are always other ways to fight.

By the time Sally Jackson makes that threat, she’s spent nearly fifteen years terrified for her life because of the gods. Percy will not excuse her treatment of him, but he understands it.

She lives a good life now. A happy one. Sometimes, forgetting is a kindness. The Fates allow him to peek in at her in the now. All bright domesticity and genuine connection. The English teacher she’s been dating is planning to propose to her. Both of them are dreaming of their future lives together, of having children.

Percy is glad for her. He has no anger or hate for the person she is now, not when she’d been facing an impossible enemy.

The gods are gods, not people. They exist as they ever have, and meddle as they choose. It is the checks and balances between the gods that keep them from wreaking havoc on the wider world.

Checks and balances like the Fates allowing the bloodlines of three sorceress sisters to produce clear sighted mortals.

The Fates redirect Percy’s attention away from Sally, to the three children born to the three grandchildren of the little girl who should have died but didn’t.

The Fates ensured that Pasiphae’s knife would find its way back to her bloodline. It was placed in the hands of Annabeth Chase by Luke Castellan. Bringing it into constant proximity with multiple children formed at the will of the Fates.

Percy inherited the ability to see essence, and a far more powerful prophetic ability than has existed since Ophioter’s death.

It is the resolute steadfastness and implacability of Hades that tempers the impulsivity of Poseidon in his blood and transforms it into loyalty. The gift of prophecy from Apollo, son of Zeus, ensures they stay in balance.

One to greed, one to fervour, one to sloth. Three opposing powers held in perfect balance.

Perfect balance intended to counter the effect of being born with far too much power.

Luke Castellan was also gifted the implacability of the children of Hades. Nothing will turn him away from a decision once it has been made. The Fates did not offer him balance. Too much power from Hermes, son of Zeus, mixed with that trace of Hades is a catastrophic combination.

There is still one more thread to trace. Percy may not know how it fits together yet, but he suspects he will soon.

Clear sighted mortals are rare. The Fates are confirming what Percy suspected, all clear sighted mortals are descended from three sorceress sisters born of Helios and the Oceanid Perse.

Oh. Perse may be long gone, but her name means ‘Destroyer’. Her dark destructive ocean to Helios’s ancient harsher sunlight.

Balance. Not just between Helios and Perse, but they also created a bloodline that gives the mortal world a connection to the demigod world. Checks and balances.

Because the little girl lived, her parents were not broken by grief and they soon had a second child. A sister with an even more powerful gift for clear sight than her older sister has.

Zeus closely watched the family from the moment Halcyon Green’s actions tore the tapestry. He witnesses the first time the sister speaks of the things she saw. By the time she is four, he has persuaded the young child to swear allegiance to him.

Apollo finds her when she is ten and names her the next Oracle of Delphi. She is the one Uncle cursed. The mummy in the attic is the sister of Percy’s great grandmother.

The knowing tells him the circumstances of the curse are not for him to know. Not quite yet, but very soon he will know.

________________________

Apollo’s little dawn music concert jolts them all awake with ‘Que Sera, Sera’.

Both Percy and Lee roll their eyes hard at the whole “the future’s not ours to see,” line.

Apollo thinks he’s just so funny.

Nico is never a happy camper when he wakes up. Today, he’s groggily ranting to himself about exactly what he wants to do with Apollo’s poetry and music domains.

Lee apparently expected that reaction because he just dangles a bottle of iced coffee in front of Nico. Percy laughs his butt off at the way Nico’s eyes widen and he grabs at the drink.

Lee lingers until Percy and Nico are awake and dressed and then gives Nico another extra gentle look and another very soft request that he stay in the camp.

Lee leaves super fast afterwards. Percy watches with glee as realisation dawns on Nico’s face that he is being manipulated by Lee.

He scowls at Percy, “Since when was Lee so underhanded?”

Percy smiles extra sunnily, “Since forever? I was a little shit from the day dot, you really think Apollo would give me to someone who wasn’t able to be ten steps ahead of me?”

Nico is so unimpressed. He’s also realising that even if he knows Lee did that deliberately, he still can’t bring himself to hurt his feelings by actually leaving camp now.

Percy laughs at him, “C’mon Shadow. We need to make a couple of stops, and then I’ve got some world class entertainment for you.”

They really need a break from the intensity of yesterday and Percy knows just the thing.

Nico is doubtful but he willingly follows along as Percy stops off for a quick chat and then heads to the kitchen in the Big House to make popcorn.

They reach the sacred grove of the Council of Cloven Elders, popcorn in hand, just as everyone is sitting down for their extra special emergency meeting. Percy’d told Lee not to worry about it, so it’s just satyrs, nature spirits and Chiron gathering this time.

Since they didn’t move the meeting at the last minute this time, they have everyone. A couple of hundred people at least. Not just the plant based nature spirits that are closest with the satyrs, but all the water spirits too. Mostly dryads and naiads, but also others.

Lee and Percy’s little show and dance from a few days ago doesn’t seem to have had much of a lasting effect. It stopped the satyrs interrupting the battle preparations, but they’ve gone straight back to their new habits.

The three idiots have even grown themselves new rosebush thrones.

When the Council is called to order and the three idiots start right in on the whole exiling Grover thing, Nico beams at Percy. He’d been very suspicious the entire time Percy’d been making the popcorn.

Hey, the kid constantly talks about how he wishes he has popcorn whenever Percy starts screwing with gods. Yesterday was complete shit, they all deserve nice things today.

Chiron very patiently stops the idiots from attempting their instant exile thing, and they agree to hear his evidence. They even do finger quotes when they say ‘evidence’.

When the first person to give eyewitness testimony is Castor, quiet mutterings start up around the clearing. He may not be Mr D, but he is his son.

Chiron gives his own statement about the sound Grover used to drive the army back. Considering the army was driven straight back into Iapis and Mrs O’Leary who were actively attacking, it was kinda super impressive.

Juniper’s the one who calls out across all the muttering, “It was Panic! Grover used the power of the Wild God!”

Nico flicks a glance Percy, he grins and says quietly, “Pan’s older than anyone realises. When Storm Giant was first born, Pan helped Sky King fight him. He had this weird thing where he could make a sound that absolutely terrified anyone who heard it. Used it on the Storm Giant. It’s where the tradition of war cries comes from.”

Nico grins suddenly, showing far too many teeth, “Blondie kept talking about how the grapes of Mr D helped Sky King defeat Storm Giant during the Titan War. I was so confused how he managed that when neither of them had been born.”

Percy can’t keep the snort of laughter in. She’s literally merged herself with Kronos, she’s had more than enough time to realise the old stories are an absolute mess of contradictions. Pan is older than many of the Olympians, yes, but he wasn’t a titan.

Then again, Percy listens as Chiron gives his own explanation for Pan’s war cry, maybe everyone is a bit confused about their history.

Chiron seems to think Pan used his abilities on Kronos’s armies. He’s not wrong about it being a ‘horrible cry that scared away the enemy armies and helped the gods win’. It just wasn’t that particular war.

And Pan definitely did give that ability to Grover.

Silenus isn’t having any of it, “Preposterous! Sacrilege! Cease this nonsense!”

It’s funny when Dad does this. Super grating when the satyrs copy it.

Maron adds, voice dripping with sarcasm, “Perhaps the Wild God favoured us with a blessing. Or perhaps Grover’s music was so awful it scared the enemy away!”

Nico goes stiff beside him, but Percy grabs his arm and shakes his head.

Grover stands in front of the three idiots, his glossy brown horns gleaming in the light, vines wreathing his arms and wrapping around his head, his eyes a strange mix of deep blue and brown.

For all his anxiety, Grover’s voice is firm, “Pan passed his spirit to us. He charged Lord Dionysus with the care of all satyrs. Lord Pan is dead. If we want to renew the wild, we each must work for it. We must protect what is left of it. We must spread the word that this is our duty.”

Silenus isn’t having it. He and the other idiots are still wearing designer jeans and Hawaiian shirts. For all their disparagement of Mr D, they’re leaning hard into the whole mimicry thing.

“After two thousand years of searching, this is what you would have us believe? Never! We must continue the search. Exile the traitor!”

Nico is hissing like an extremely pissed off cat. Twice now, he’s reached for a sword he’s not carrying. Lee’s already re-instituted his camp rules about weaponry. No carrying the scary weapons in camp. Nico definitely regrets leaving it behind.

Percy’s kinda hoping Nico doesn’t remember he still has his bident. He’s not in the mood for explaining to the satyrs that his little brother’s just a bit stab happy and totally doesn’t intend to kill them.

Apollo’s Prophet’s aren’t meant to lie.

“A vote! Who would believe this ridiculous young satyr, anyway?”

“I would.”

Drama queens. All of them are such drama queens.

Dionysus still uses the form he took when Percy was little.

A young man, looking maybe five years older than his sixteen year old twins. Curly black hair, deep blue almost purple eyes, and all of him the very image of an Ancient Greek youth. Clarisse calls him Prince Charming Personified and conveniently doesn’t hear any teasing about her love of Disney movies.

Percy smirks when he sees what Mr D is wearing. Percy had given him the heads up of what would be happening. When he and Nico last saw him, Mr D was in his standard designer jeans and Hawaiian shirt outfit.

He’s now wearing a bright purple himation, and not much else. It’s pinned at his shoulder, but draping so low it only just wraps around his hips and leaves most of his chest and back bare. He’s also barefoot, showing a lot of leg, and has extra vines wrapping around his arms and wreathing his head.

And, because Dionysus is an absolutely dramatic bitch, he’s found himself a live leopard from somewhere. It’s casually doing that whole low slinking swagger thing, as it walks along beside him.

Percy’s instantly focused on the cat. He hadn’t realised how big leopards were! Mr D better let him pat the kitty cat before he sends it back to wherever he found it.

All of the gathered people are staring at him. A lot of the satyrs are fixated on the leopard and looking kinda terrified.

Percy doesn’t get why the satyrs are so scared of Mr D. He’s all bark, no bite.

Leopards are his sacred animal. He’s not going to do anything with the kitty, just use it as a living theatre prop for a bit. The whole reason Mr D is so involved with Spot is because animals used in theatre and circuses come under his domain.

Most of the satyrs bow as Mr D and his new leopard friend go past.

Percy has to admire the theatrics. The leopards all low rippling muscle and Mr D has all but stuck his nose in the air. He’s every inch the proud prince who is thoroughly annoyed his time is being wasted.

Dionysus stops in front of three idiots who are still sitting on their thrones. Mr D just looks at the thrones and they abruptly disappear, dumping all three satyrs on their butts on the ground. Nico is crowing beside Percy at the spectacle.

Another long look and a big soft pillowy thing of vines grows out of the ground. The leopard stalks forward and settles down before Dionysus drops down next to her. He reclines back, partially leaning against the leopard.

The three idiots are still sprawled on the ground, blinking stupidly.

Dionysus rolls his eyes, “Are you going to get on with things, or what?”

Silenus is the first to get himself back on his feet, “My- My lord! You were not expected back so soon!”

Mr D gives him such a dry look, “Clearly.”

He looks out at the gathered group. “I bear bad news, my friends. The minor gods are changing sides. Morpheus, Hecate, Kydoimos and Eris have gone to the enemy.”

Percy and Nico exchange looks. The God of Dreams, the Goddess of Magic, the God of Battlefield Confusion and the Goddess of Discord. Most are technically underworld gods.

It’s both problematic, and not. Hecate, Eris and Kydoimos will automatically side against the gods just because that’s what their nature directs. Morpheus is a surprise though.

From what Georgie’s said, Dad investigated the sea gods himself, so the fact Mr D didn’t include Aigaios and Oceanus isn’t a surprise. They allied with Kronos last winter. Georgie mentioned concerns about Phorcys and Keto too.

But where are the sky and surface gods? Maybe Zeus is handling them?

Mr D rants a bit more about how not even his father knows how many have turned. None of the gathered people seem to realise he’s actually complaining about Zeus, not the minor gods.

Mr D announces he wants to hear Grover tell his story himself.

Silenus is dumb enough to tell him that Grover’s story is nonsense.

Dionysus turns on him. “I have just been informed by the Prophet of Apollo that, had the High Priest of Apollo and Grover Underwood not interfered, I would have lost both of my sons yesterday. You will shut your mouth, Silenus. I am not in a good mood and I have no patience for your whinging complaints.”

That does it. Silenus shuts up and gestures Grover forward to tell his story all over again.

Percy was telling the truth when he told Mr D about that. Like, the knowing had warned him days before, so Lee and Grover had time to sort things out, but Castor and Pollux would have died.

Percy had begun to think they did have fates after all.

He’d done all that work to keep Kampe and Briares off the battlefield, only for the knowing to start screaming at him that the last surge of the army would overwhelm their forces. Georgie would call in Briares, and he’d fight the only way he knows how. By dumping several thousand tonnes of boulders on the clearing.

He’d kill all of Kronos’s forces, yes. But also all of theirs. Percy’d gone searching for a solution, and also tried to double check if the twins were fated and he’d somehow missed it. But they definitely weren’t, it was just pure bad luck.

Grover using Panic was their best option. It’d taken intense effort on Lee’s part to convince Grover to use a skill he’d not known he possessed. But when it came down to it, Grover and Lee were absolutely perfect.

Percy is less than impressed to realise it was Iapis charging the army from behind that caused that last surge. If the absolute moron had succeeded with his plan, he’d have been responsible for the death of everyone in the clearing. Entirely by accident.

Still. As much as he hates everything about Annabeth’s entirely unchangeable fate, the knowing is useful. Castor and Pollux have new hero stories and all of their forces lived through the battle. No-one reached camp, none of the non-fighting underage campers were so much as injured.

Among their own fighters, their worst injuries are mostly exhaustion, Thalia totally overdid it. A few Hunters have cuts and scrapes from being so high up, some fell when monsters retaliated. A couple of Georgie’s cyclopes were injured by the Greek fire bombs and will already be in an infirmary in Atlantis.

Percy’s injury was technically the worst, he’d caught a sword on his upper arm and it’d cut him to the bone. Georgie’d summoned water as soon as she saw it, and later, the saltwater from their wave did the rest. Water healing has distinct advantages, but it’s only a matter of time before Triton finds a way to lecture him.

When Grover finishes up his story, Dionysus is very thoughtful. He makes eye contact with Percy and gives a quick wink.

Oh no. What’s he up to now?

Mr D drawls in his most sarcastic voice, “It sounds like the sort of thing Pan would do. Grover is right. The search is tiresome. You must start thinking for yourselves.”

He turns on Maron, “Bring me some peeled grapes!”

The idiot is so shocked he actually agrees and walks off. To get peeled grapes. Two seconds after Mr D told him to think for himself.

Nico is absolutely cracking up beside him, both hands clutched over his mouth as he desperately tries to stay quiet.

Silenus jumps in and demands they exile the traitor.

Dionysus gives him an unimpressed look. “Did you not hear your new Lord of the Wild? Pan has charged me with the care of his kin. Your existence must be tied to a god’s life force. Pan is dead, so now you’re tied to me. Exactly which traitor are we exiling?”

The idiots again completely miss the subtext. Maron made it halfway across the clearing before he realised what happened and he’s already stalked back to the group.

Silenus insists, “We will vote!”

Silenus, Maron and Leneus immediately declare they will exile the traitor. Three yes votes so the traitor is exiled.

Dionysus rolls his eyes. “You really didn’t listen to the Prophet’s stories did you? I’ve heard from multiple people that you have become very fond of screaming ‘cease’ at everyone, but you forgot one important factor.”

Silenus is all indignation, “What are you talking about?”

Mr D’s voice is all low threatening purr, “You forgot to name the traitor. Pan tied your life force to my existence. If you deny Grover’s testimony, you are committing treason. You just voted to exile yourself.”

Zeus had tried this exact trick on the Council last winter, demanding they vote to kill ‘the monster’, and trying to make them think they were voting on the Ophiotaurus and not Percy. It’s the whole reason Dad was repeatedly screaming ‘Cease!’ at Zeus.

Like Percy said, they’re idiots. Nico is having the time of his life. He’s also had a new bag of popcorn suddenly materialise in his hands. Mr D loves an appreciative audience.

Silenus is gaping like a fish, opening and closing his mouth and saying nothing.

Maron is furious, “This is an outrage! The council cannot be manipulated like this!”

Mr D pats his leopard and leans back more comfortably against her.

“Then the Council is dissolved. I don’t care. Grover Underwood has been named a Lord of the Wild by Pan is his last moments. He can lead the satyrs far better than you three. He actually remembers what it means to be a satyr.”

Grover steps forward and turns to the gathered group. Completely ignoring the three stuttering idiots, he starts telling his story again, now talking about his ideas for the future and what they can do now.

Dionysus even gives him an approving smile. To his back of course, no need for Grover to know Mr D actually likes the spunky satyr.

Nico and Percy return to the main camp. Despite all the gleeful crowing, Nico rapidly vanishes. Percy frowns after him.

As much as the battle let Nico get rid of some of his anger at Annabeth and Castellan, it’s also made him feel even more other, even more separate.

Percy’s very careful not to speak of what he sees, but he is allowed to discuss things with his High Priest.

At this point, he’s fairly sure there is nothing he can do to convince Nico. But Lee will definitely know what to do.

It’s just going to require Percy to tell Lee one of Nico’s secrets, as well as one of his own.

________________________

Despite his endless to do list, after Percy comes to talk to him, it’s clear Lee has one thing to do first.

Catch an exceptionally sneaky son of Hades before he disappears completely.

Lee stalks Nico through the woods for a surprisingly long time. Until Nico stops and throws his hands up, and demands with intense pre-teen angst, “WHAT?!”

Lee steps out from behind the tree he was using as cover. Nico has throwing knives and impressive aim, Lee doesn’t actually want to be impaled today.

“I’m fairly sure you promised both Clarisse and I that you wouldn’t leave camp?”

Nico’s whole posture instantly shifts from angry to incredibly uncomfortable and awkward.

Lee softens his tone and expression, “Nico. You need to have this talk with someone. If you’d prefer Percy or Clarisse or even Bianca, I’ll arrange it, but it will happen before you leave camp.”

Nico glares at him, “Percy doesn’t tell secrets.”

“No. He doesn’t. But he does tell me when he’s worried about his little brother.”

Nico slumps and gestures for Lee to lead the way.

Lee lets a touch of disappointment fill his voice, “Nico. Please don’t treat me like I’m stupid.”

And now we’re back to a ball of pre-teen rage.

From what Percy’s said, Castellan reacted poorly to seeing something that Hades had actually done, but Castellan assumed Nico was responsible for.

Which means that the best thing Lee can offer the kid, is to make it clear there is nothing he can do that will scare him off. That Lee sees a demigod in need of a parent and not someone to be afraid of.

Lee spent the battle standing guard over Castor and Pollux while they mind-controlled and restrained enemy demigods. He’s known the twins since they were a year old and he was there every time Castor lost control of his powers and accidentally trapped a camper in madness. Lee’s been the unfortunate victim more than once.

Even at nineteen, Lee already had a lot of experience with the terrifying end of the spectrum of demigod abilities. He refused to be scared of the twins.

It’s part of the reason Dad gave him Percy, none of the other campers were willing to spend time around the twins when they were little. Mr D had asked Lee to help integrate them with the rest of the camp. And Lee had succeeded.

Honestly, even if Nico doesn’t know what Castor and Pollux used to be like, Percy’s abilities are a hell of a lot more frightening than Nico’s. What’s a peaceful death compared to the end of the entire world?

There are kids at the camp that are a hell of a lot scarier than Nico’s powers over spirits and death. There is literally nothing he can do that will scare Lee off.

Nico eventually stalks back towards the camp, completely infuriated that Lee is refusing to let him out of his eyesight.

When he finally gets Nico corralled in one of the smaller rooms in the Big House, Lee is hit by a sense of absolute deja vu.

Nico is ranting and swearing and pacing back and forth while Lee sits quietly on a couch watching him.

Lee had paced and screamed in this same room while Apollo calmly watched him, the day Lee learned that Percy was a son of Poseidon and the subject of the Great Prophecy.

Nico might not be Lee, but Lee’s betting he needs exactly the same thing he did that day.

For someone to let him rant and scream at the world and, when he finally winds down, to give him a hug and promise him everything will be okay.

So Lee sits quietly and listens as Nico rants about not being human, not belonging, that people are afraid of him and he doesn’t know what to do. That he isn’t welcome at camp, they’ll look at him just like Scarface did. That he can’t take it. He cannot face having Percy and War Drum and Lee be afraid of him.

He rants about how Underworld gods aren’t welcome, that not even his father has a seat in Olympus. There is no cabin for him-

Lee smiles as Nico stutters to a halt. “You just realised, didn’t you?”

Nico turns to him with wide eyes, “How did you make the Nightshade Cabin a thing? There’s no way you actually just built it and the gods still haven’t responded.”

Lee walks over and pulls him back to the couch. It’s not quite the same as hugging Percy, Nico’s far too stiff and unused to it, but he still gets the kid leaning against him, with Lee’s arm around Nico’s shoulders.

Given the amount of weaponry Nico has on him and how his knee jerk reaction is to impale things, Lee is very confident that if Nico wasn’t actually okay with this, he’d already have been stabbed.

He speaks quietly to Nico, letting him keep his head turned away so he can hide his emotions.

“Zoe and Phoebe died protecting Hades’s most beloved children. Like Poseidon, he didn’t like the idea of his son living alone in a cabin without siblings. An agreement was reached between the three brothers.”

Nico twitches slightly, but still doesn’t look away from the wall.

Lee keeps his voice gentle, but still firm, “A new cabin would be built that is officially without patronage, but it does still fall under the protection of your father. A place where all children of the Underworld are welcome. Where children of all minor gods are welcome. Your father chose the name. He said he had no need of worship or offerings. If they are to be given, they should be given to Zoe and Phoebe.”

Nico shakes his head and still watches the wall, “Bi joined the Hunt at Solstice. I’m the only one here.”

Oh. Kid.

“He wanted to ensure you had a place where you belonged. That you would never feel beholden to Percy and Poseidon, unless you wanted to be. He no more goes in for overt gestures than you do, but he still wanted to make sure you have somewhere to go that no-one can take from you.”

Another twitch, and Nico stiffens, refusing to give in.

Lee keeps going, “Deadbeat may be the God of Travellers but Hades is the King of the Underworld. The Underworld is also called the Realm of Guests. All mortals find their way there eventually, and all are welcome. No soul is turned away from the Underworld. It is a far more encompassing domain of hospitality than Deadbeat’s.”

Nico is still determinedly looking away, but there’s a thread of confusion in his voice, “Jonathon is a son of the Grey Eyed One.”

Lee smirks, “You know your father better than I do. Jonathon has repeatedly rejected his mother and insists he’ll do things his own way. That he won’t live in Cabin Six even if she does claim him.”

Nico’s voice is tinged with amusement, “It’s exactly the sort of thing Father adores.”

“Yes. He also knew you wouldn’t want to be Cabin Head even if you do live there.”

Nico definitely doesn’t know what to say. It’s the perfect chance for Lee to drive his point home.

“Nico, there were a lot of people in that clearing yesterday. We all knew that if the cyclopes were overwhelmed you and Bianca would be summoning and commanding an army of the dead. We all saw you release Iapis’s spirit.”

Nico flinches and starts to move away. Lee squeezes his arm tighter around his shoulders, the kid is staying right where he is until he hears him.

“You do us a disservice to think we’ll see you like Luke Castellan does. I am no more afraid of you than I think Percy is a brainless goofball. There is nothing you can do that will make me afraid of you. There are times I am afraid FOR you, but you cannot scare me away.”

Nico still seems uncertain.

Lee debates and then figures if Percy said he could, it must be fine.

“Nico, there’s something else I want to tell you, but it cannot be shared. Not even with your father. As far as I know, Percy and Clarisse are the only ones who know this. I’m not even sure how much Clarisse knows. Percy only told me because he wanted to prove a point to you.”

He’s definitely got Nico’s attention. He instantly promises to keep quiet. Nico loves secrets. It’s like catnip to the kid.

“Percy is a descendant of the Unseen King. It’s a fair number of generations back, but it’s why he can see essence.”

Nico wrestles out from Lee’s hold to stare at him, his dark eyes wide and his mouth falling open.

“What? You’re serious?”

Lee nods, “There’s more to it. I doubt Percy’s told me everything either. But clear sighted mortals are incredibly rare. I’m not sure how it came about, but apparently, Percy and Luke Castellan’s mothers were full sisters. Both descendants of your father.”

It had taken everything Lee had to keep himself calm and focused on Percy when he told Lee that. Because it was very clear that Percy doesn’t see it. Percy and Nico have both gone in endless circles with Lee about May Castellan and how much her treatment of Luke sent him down this path.

They’ve both been very certain that May Castellan can’t be blamed for what happened to her, that Hermes should never have allowed it. Lee’s listened and comforted and tried to help them sort their minds out.

When Percy told him, Lee realised that Percy doesn’t see it. Doesn’t see that Sally Jackson and May Castellan were two sides of the same coin. Both destroyed by the actions of the gods. Both taking their fear and distress out on their sons. Both ‘raising’ demigod sons born with terrifying abilities.

Both sons were removed from their mothers and given the chance for a better situation. Both were offered a home at camp. One embraced it, one ran from it. Both collected a sister along the way.

It’s not the first time Lee’s thought it, but what Percy told him confirms it.

Percy and Luke Castellan are a matched set. Living examples of how big an impact little choices can have. Percy would die for Clarisse, but he’d be the first one to stop her if she started down a bad path. Luke may love Annabeth just as much, but he has actively encouraged her poor choices.

Lee knows this isn’t why Percy wanted him to tell Nico, but he’s betting Nico will be making some interesting connections when he has time to process this.

Lee has definitely never seen Nico’s eyes so wide.

“You’re not kidding, are you? He and Castellan are cousins? And both descended from Father?”

Lee nods. He watches as Nico tries to process what that means. That Percy’s own heritage is just as ‘terrifying’ as Nico’s.

Nico doesn’t know what to say.

That’s fine, Lee does, “You’re part of our family. You belong here. To be afraid of you is to be afraid of Percy. Do you think I would ever do that? You cannot scare me. I will never look at you and be afraid of you. Even if you raise a thousand spirits and command them to possess people I care about.”

Nico cringes away, eyes dropping, entirely unwilling to believe what Lee is telling him.

“Nico.” Lee makes sure Nico gives him full eye contact, makes sure Nico can see the truth on Lee’s face, “You. Cannot. Scare. Me.”

Nico is shocked, like genuinely shocked by this.

Lee speaks as firmly as he can, “You are as human as I am, as Percy is, as Clarisse is. You belong here. No matter how far you run, we will always come and get you.”

There we go, Nico’s whole posture starts to slump. He’s finally listening.

“There is nothing you can do that will push us away. We’re only going to give you space if we know you’re coming back. Otherwise, we will chase you down as many times as we have to. We will never abandon you.”

Nico slumps forward, Lee catches him and lets the kid cry his heart out against his shoulder.

He may be more familiar with sea kids at this point, but he still has a fair idea of how hellish it is for powerful demigods when their powers start increasing.

The rest of them may be absolutely certain that Nico won’t ever fall victim to his worst inherited traits but Nico doesn’t believe it. He’s fighting against himself and refusing to admit that he needs people at all.

Growing up is hard, and it’s just going to take time for Nico to understand that he is allowed to want and need people and that’s not the same as being possessive.

Just like Percy has had to learn that there are limits to loyalty and Clarisse has learned where the line is between healthy aggression and overkill.

Lee absolutely hates that Nico’s spent so much time with Chase and Castellan, but they’d had no-one else who could do it. Just like Percy and Clarisse got sent to that cursed school. But it’s over now, and he can keep his kids close.

Percy’s told Lee that it’s only a matter of time before Castellan attempts to blackmail Nico into continuing to spy for them. Which means there’s no more time to wait for Nico to come to him in his own time. Nico needs to know now that he has people who will never leave him. Mortal people, not gods.

He needs to know that Lee’ll come for him, no matter what happens.

Percy told Lee that they’ll want Nico to stay at the camp and feed them information, so at least they’ll be able to keep Nico close from now on.

Nico’s still crying and Lee just keeps rubbing his back and promising they won’t abandon him.

It’s a promise Lee means, with every fibre of his soul. Nico’s become his kid, just as much as Clarisse and Percy are. Lee might have struggled with understanding what Nico needs, but he is still Lee’s.

Percy needed a parent and he had been just as frightened of people leaving him as Nico still is. Lee’s kid had chosen to live on the streets instead of with that man, and he had no understanding of what it meant to have a caring parent.

Just like Luke Castellan.

Lee won’t ever tell Percy about how similar he is to Luke Castellan. He knows Percy would misunderstand and believe he could make the same choices Luke Castellan has. Percy has already made different choices. Nico has made different choices too.

Neither of them are at risk of becoming Luke Castellan, but they are both absolutely terrified of it.

Chapter Text

With the battle behind them, Percy’s actually glad to go and train with Georgie each morning.

She has a whole host of new opinions about his weaknesses after that battle and decides he needs to drill twice as hard.

In sea kid speak, Georgie was absolutely terrified seeing Percy throw himself into a battle against too many monsters and is now applying Triton’s favourite coping method; ensuring Percy and Clarisse are absolutely lethal fighters.

Percy really doesn’t blame her.

At breakfast he is very amused to see Mr D back in jeans and leopard print Hawaiian shirts. Guess he won his fight with the satyrs?

He’s been wandering around in nothing but that low slung, very purple, himation since he returned. The leopard disappeared straight after that meeting. Percy’s still bitter that he didn’t get to meet her.

With Lee elsewhere, Percy doesn’t even try to hide his focus on the offerings. He’s just about convinced himself that he was imagining things, but he still watches at every meal, just in case.

All the auras are the expected responses. Percy’s happy to see Hephaestus now responds to each of his children. He may not do people, but when a brilliant idea gets his attention he stays focused on it. That visit to Cabin Nine has done his kids a world of good.

Tyson too, Percy grins when he sees Poseidon’s storm and Hephaestus’s molten bronze answer the cyclops’s prayer.

He watches the various auras and still sees nothing unusual. Athena’s aura is, as always, entirely absent. So is Hermes’s. Guess only his dead children are worthy of that honour. Percy isn’t bitter about Daniel. Nope. Not at all.

It’s not until Nico makes an offering that something changes. Nico’s offering is answered by the most eclectic mix of auras Percy has ever seen.

Hades’s peaceful shadow, Poseidon’s ocean, Apollo’s sunshine, Ares’s battlefield, Artemis’s moonlight and then- There! A tiniest touch of moonlit sunset and pink dawn. It’s gone before Percy is even sure he saw it. The aura that replaces it makes him entirely forget what he just saw.

What the fuck, Nico?

Ice white marble and rippling peacock feathers. Hera. Queen of Heaven. Percy’s never seen that particular aura respond to a prayer before. Ever.

Percy stares at him, absolutely gaping, as Nico comes to sit at Table Three.

He looks over and goes all casually, “What? Something on my face?”

“Shadow, don’t screw with me. You see what I do. You know full well, Queen of Heaven just answered that prayer.”

Like, sure. Hera likes them. It’s both awesome and horrifying. She’s a legitimately scary goddess and the best option is always for her to not care about you and just ignore you entirely.

Nico smirks, “Did ya know she’s the patron god of the Sphinx?”

Oh! Okay. That makes a little more sense. Nico’s still trying to work out if there’s anything they can actually do for the Labyrinth Sphinx, other than the whole mercy killing thing.

Lee gives them such an exhausted look whenever he hears them talk about it. Percy just knows Lee’s trying to work out a way to convince them to stop adopting monsters. Lee still doesn’t know what to do about how often Percy visits Medusa. Or about how Percy keeps introducing campers to her.

Nico’s offering to Hera completely distracts Percy, and he misses the Nightshade Cabin making their own offerings.

Oh well, he’ll try again later.

Nico’s looking a little too thoughtful.

Percy narrows his eyes at him, “If you’re planning to run, Hot Air hasn’t changed his opinion. We will track you down, even if we have to use half the Olympian Council to do it.”

Nico huffs at him, “I said I’d stay! I’m still here, aren’t I?”

That’s true. Percy and Lee had half expected Nico to bolt as soon as Lee let him out of the Big House. Nico doesn’t like hanging around after he shows emotion. He seems to be taking them seriously though.

Lee’s somehow talked Hades into putting some tighter rules on Nico’s wandering too. Though, with Kronos actually risen, it’s probably not that strange that Hades’s would prefer to keep Nico out of potential war zones.

“So what’s wrong?”

Nico huffs all sulkily, “Mr D’s being weird. He even called me by name.”

“He’s always weird. Maybe he just finally ran out of names starting with ’N’?”

Nipper had been a new low on Mr D’s part. Then, he’d called Nico ‘Naxen’ in Piper’s hearing, that’s what set off her whole obsessive fantasy thing. Apparently, it was proof Mr D reads trashy fantasy novels?

Nico’s voice is very flat, “He told me that he appreciates what I did for Iapis. That it was a kind thing to do, and kindness can be more powerful than a sword.”

Oh. Mr D’s doing the thing.

“Yeah. He kinda does that. Angry Girl still doesn’t know what to do with him. Pretty sure he was attempting to give you his own version of Hot Air’s speech?”

Nico goes extra drily, “This is why he should leave pep talks to Lee.”

Percy happily chirps, “I keep telling him that.”

Nico rolls his eyes, but before he can say anything, Castor and Pollux show up and outright kidnap the kid.

Yeah. Mr D definitely decided to help out again. His methods aren’t exactly remotely conventional, but they’ll work. Eventually. Until then, Nico will just have to live with Mr D siccing various kids on him. All to remind him that he belongs at camp.

Hospitality comes in many forms.

Which Percy is very reminded of, when he gets back to the cabins and sees Hestia tending the fire. Yeah. He’s done with this shit. Clarisse isn’t here to hold him back either.

He stalks towards her, but she vanishes before he’s gotten with ten feet of her. Awesome. Maybe she’ll stay away this time. Otherwise, he’s gonna start trying sneak attacks with Katecho every time he sees her.

Unfortunately, he can feel a nearby aura of a goddess who absolutely does want to speak to him. Percy just doesn’t want to speak to her.

Still, he heads back to Cabin Three and politely greets Queen Hera where she’s laying out a whole tea set. Like, teapot, teacups and saucers and everything.

She does like leaning into her whole housewife image. Just another type of drama queen. The very literal Queen of drama.

She smiles at him, “Good morning, Percy. It is not a formal audience I am seeking. I am not asking you to speak of the future, but if you are amenable, I should like an explanation of how recent prophecies unfolded.”

It’s not like he can tell her no. She is not a goddess Percy will ever willingly screw with. She’s scarier than Zeus, and Percy only refuses Zeus because if one prophet gives in to him, he’ll go after every other prophet that comes along.

“Which prophecy did you wish to discuss?”

She’s all elegant graciousness, “You need not look so worried. I admittedly have a temper, but it does take rather a lot to make me turn on those I have placed under my protection. I would not actually have harmed your brother without first seeking clarification.”

Physically, no. Mentally? Yes. Nico was completely freaked.

Hera tells him, “It is the Oracle’s prophecy about Athena’s girl I would like explained.”

Percy considers her, “I have no wish to cause a war between gods. What happened was at the Fates’ direction.”

She smirks, “I am aware of that. There are far more important things at stake.”

Lovely. He’s not getting out of this, is he?

May as well get on with it.

Percy sighs. “She shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze is self explanatory.“

Hera nods and hands him a cup of tea. Because Percy drinks tea?

He looks at Hera out of the corner of his eye. Well, apparently he does today.

“The dead, the traitor and the lost one raise. The dead was Theseus and Minos. The traitor was Shadow who returned to camp. The lost one was Iapis. Annabeth Chase’s own pride acted as a mirror and changed his mind about supporting the Crooked One.

Hera makes a non-verbal ‘hm’ noise and gestures for him to go on.

If she attacks Hades, Percy is totally blaming the Fates.

He huffs and says, “She shall rise or fall by the Ghost King's hand. She needed access to the Underworld.”

Understanding on Hera’s face, “The Styx?”

Percy nods but doesn’t say more.

Hera tilts her head slightly, “Is that why she was so irrational?”

He cringes, “I really wish I could say yes. But she’s been kinda problematic well before that.”

Hera is still too thoughtful, “And the other lines?”

“The final stand. To destroy with a hero's final breath. They were both about Iapis, son of the Grey Eyed One who destroyed the Labyrinth when he died.“

“When Nico released his soul.”

Same diff. But Percy politely agrees.

Hera prompts him again, “And the last line?”

Hera will absolutely lose her shit over this one, but it’s not like she was fond of Annabeth Chase before this.

Percy speaks carefully, “In order to take on the curse, she needed her father’s blessing. She threatened a younger sibling to get it. Her family is fine, but any love they felt for her was lost at that moment. Death would be kinder than to be feared and hated by the people who loved her more than anything.”

Hera’s face turns dark and furious, “There is nothing worse than to be hated by the ones who should be your family.”

Percy keeps his voice very even, “She did it to herself.”

Hera’s big brown eyes are drilling into him. She’s being nice and she’s still terrifying, “I visited her, you know.”

Percy pauses, “I know you met her in the Labyrinth, you went back?”

“At the ranch, after they left the Labyrinth. Well before- Well. Everything else.”

Oh. Just great. “I take it she said something stupid?”

Hera purses her lips, “She has some very unusual ideas about family. While it seems likely you are already aware of the situation, I still wanted to speak with you.”

Does she really have to go there? Percy’s well and truly sick of hearing about Annabeth’s obsession with him, “She said something about my belonging to her?”

Huh. Hera hesitates slightly. What is it this time?

“Well, yes. But that is not what I meant. She seems to believe I am some sort of beacon of feminine kindness and spoke extensively about how I only care about my own ‘perfect’ family. She ranted quite impressively about my treatment of the moronic loser.”

Percy grins at her. It sounds completely bizarre for Hera to say ‘moronic loser’ in such elegant tones. She is very pleased with Percy’s ongoing destruction of Heracles’s memory.

He’s still not clear on what she’s getting at though. Unless…

“Please don’t tell me she gave you a spiel about the Trojan war.”

Hera tilts her head, “It is not the most misguided thing I have heard. The builders of that temple on the River Sele still win that prize. To engrave a temple dedicated to me with the ‘labours’ of the moronic loser is a feat yet to be topped.”

Percy grins as her voice turns exasperated. He’s right there with her. That’s incredible stupidity.

He asks with a little less carefulness, “I take it she thinks we’re the Trojans, and that you and the Grey Eyed One will be supporting her and Castellan?”

Hera shakes her head in disbelief, “Apparently so. I suggested she give me a sacrifice in thanks for my help in navigating the Labyrinth and she told me I ‘don’t belong’. She seems to entirely fail to realise that she and that boy treated Nico far worse than my little joke in the Labyrinth. I told her she would regret her insult.”

Yeah, Percy’s just gonna leave her to that. Nico knew Hera was joking and wasn’t bothered by it. The rest is not his problem.

Though, Percy should make an offering at lunch to her. He doubts she’s expecting one, but still better safe than sorry.

“Thank you for informing me Queen Hera. I was aware of her interest in the events of the Trojan war.”

Hera gives him a very sharp look, but doesn’t ask any further questions.

Percy hesitates, but she is being incredibly open for once, “Queen Hera, there is a question I would like to ask, but I am unsure how to say it. I mean no offence and am not asking for a boon or a favour, I just want to get a clearer idea of your own perspective on something.”

She gives him an elegant and gentle smile which he absolutely does not trust.

Her voice is all kind graciousness, “You would be within your rights to ask for a boon. I am very grateful for how that man’s power is already fading as you tell the truth of his story. I am also grateful that you tell the truth of the gods. Even when we have had a living prophet previously, they have been reluctant to speak against long-held opinions.”

Prophets are different from Oracles. Oracles answer direct questions with information given to them by the spirit of a prophet. Living prophets are storytellers, they are born to speak the truth of the past and guide the future.

Zeus is the one who has repeatedly prevented the other prophets from doing this. Apollo alone did not have the power to force change.

A child born of both Apollo and Poseidon’s prophecy domains can speak where others were silenced. Percy rather gleefully makes use of this fact.

Ares is again receiving prayers for protection against domestic violence, after millennia of silence. Dionysus is receiving prayers for protection from imbalances of power.

Percy’s having more of a struggle convincing the campers that Hera is not a temperamental housewife with no actual power.

He really doesn’t want another demigod to be given the Heracles treatment unless they deserve it. And not just because they failed to realise that that being a Goddess of Marriage and Family had very different connotations in Ancient Greece.

Especially when he’s not sure she’s actually aware of the family part.

“It is not a boon I seek. Just understanding, but I cannot work out how to ask this, without making it sound like I am implying something I know you would never do.”

She smirks, “Just ask. I have seen you insult most of the Council to their faces, I am familiar with your ways.”

Yeah. That’d be the problem.

But he may as well make use of the opportunity while he has it. He’d not expected to have a chance to speak with Hera anytime soon.

“Why do you have a cabin here and insist it stays empty?”

She considers him, “I’m assuming, based on your earlier warning, you are not asking why I don’t have demigod children.”

Percy gives her an awkward half smile, “No. I know you don’t have demigod children of your own and never will. But I am a prophet and I see much of the past. I have noticed a shift. I’m beginning to think it was so gradual that the gods have not seen it. I am hesitant to speak of it to you, as I am aware gods do not like being told something about themselves they did not know.”

Hera looks intrigued, and so far there are no signs of smiting. That’s hopeful? Maybe?

“I have changed?”

Percy nods with a lot of hesitation, “You inherited a new domain. It has been far more gradual than such changes usually are. I don’t believe it was given willingly.”

Hestia tilts her head, “Of what do you speak?”

Percy’s gotten so much better at the polite respectful thing. This still feels like tiptoeing through a minefield.

“Queen Hera, if I asked you to list your domains, what would you say?”

She raises an elegant eyebrow but gives him the full list, “I am the Goddess of Marriage, Women, Marital Harmony, Childbirth, The Sky and The Stars of Heaven, Heirs, Kings and-”

She cuts herself off as her eyes widen.

She speaks sharply, “Hestia is the Goddess of Family, not I. Why would I think I am?”

Well she’s not smiting him. That’s a good first step?

Percy keeps his voice even, “I’m not sure when the domain transferred. It was before my time. I’d just completely accepted you were the Goddess of Family and hadn’t thought about it. When I realised Mr D had taken on only some of Hestia’s domains and she was fading, I started poking around.”

He watches too many emotions cross her face. This is the dangerous bit. The Hera of two thousand years ago would consider their eccentric little family an offence to lawful marriage.

Hestia is the one who would embrace their situation. Like, she’d be useless about it, but she’d accept it.

Domains cannot go unclaimed. Pan kept himself alive specifically to hand his domains over. Hestia is in complete denial of her situation. The last time Percy got an actual conversation out of her, she’d told him her domains were ‘to tend the fire and to yield when necessary’. It was a completely bizarre conversation.

Hestia no longer cares, and domains cannot be left untended.

Especially not one as important as the domain of family. Triton rejected his own domain of childcare and adoption, but Amphitrite and Poseidon very deliberately tend it in his place. It’s not a perfect solution, but it has maintained the balance for thousands of years.

There is a very good reason why Percy won’t tell Clarisse, Nico or Lee what Pallas’s domains were. Or what happened to them. He’s honestly not sure if most of the gods know about that little situation.

Hera’s voice is sharp, “Lee is not married and none of his children were born within a lawful marriage.”

Percy cringes, “You understand why I was concerned about discussing this?”

Hera’s eyes are sparkling as she smirks at him, “While I do like being giving the proper respect, you are still under my protection. I am not going to smite you for pointing out something any other Olympian should have noticed. There is a reason prophets are given such deference. They speak truths we fail to see.”

May as well go for it then, “You will keep the domain?”

She smiles all sweetly at Percy, “Of course, it has been mine for at least a few centuries. I may not have realised it, but I have already come to terms with the different ways a family unit can exist outside traditional marriage. So long as all parties are in agreement and their relationships are healthy, it coincides quite neatly with my other domains.”

She turns more thoughtful, “But keeping a cabin here and refusing entry to all is not appropriate behaviour for the Goddess of Family.”

Which would be why Percy wants to skewer Hestia. Sitting at her hearth for years talking about the importance of family, surrounded by demigods desperate to belong, while she entirely ignores what’s right in front of her face.

Hera narrows her eyes at Percy, “Especially when I have named myself patron of your particular family where all bonds are forged through adoption.”

Percy speaks carefully, “I’m assuming you know how the Nightshade Cabin came about? And that Dad, Uncle and Lady Artemis negotiated between themselves for how the camp’s two sea kids and two Underworld kids would be housed?”

Percy honestly isn’t clear on how much negotiation was happening behind the scenes. He gets the impression that Dad has been planning this since Percy first came to the camp. When a child of the sea was first housed in Apollo’s cabin.

Nearly six years later, Nico and Bianca were placed in Cabin Three and Cabin Eight as a second, more obvious, declaration. Percy has no idea if Thalia being housed in Cabin Eight was part of the plan, or if Artemis just took advantage.

Two years on, with no signs of retaliation from any of the Olympians, Dad moved onto the third stage of his plan. An entirely new cabin under the patronage of Hades where all are welcome, in the same way that all are welcome in the Underworld. Well, after they die anyway. The Underworld is still no place for the living.

Hera is definitely curious, “Is there a specific question you want answered?”

“Not right now. With you being new to the domain of family, I don’t know yet how it will interact with your nature. I will not ask you to do something if it goes against your nature.

Hera’s cabin is the only one that stays permanently empty. Zeus and Poseidon’s cabins were empty because they swore an oath not to have children. Prior to that, Zeus’s was overflowing and Poseidon’s was always inhabited.

Even before Bianca and Thalia, Artemis’s cabin saw regular use from the Hunters.

Hera may not hold a hospitality domain, but she instinctively gave protection to a family of adopted children from four separate godly parents. Percy thinks she might the answer to the problem.

She is still looking interested and not angry, “Perhaps you could explain what the actual concern is?”

Back to the minefield we go.

He speaks very carefully, “The non-interference rules. I’ve got no objection to gods keeping their distance from demigod children. While some of the kids definitely wish their godly parents were more involved, it just isn’t safe. History’s proved that, over and over.”

Hera had drawn back when he first spoke, but is now looking more and more intrigued.

“Gods can’t interfere with each others children, unless the child explicitly requests their assistance, and even then, plenty of gods still won’t risk war. The minor gods face far harsher punishments than the Olympians for breaking that rule. And among the Olympians, you have at least four gods who are not involved with their children unless they prove themselves.

Hera murmurs, “Ares, Athena, Hermes and my husband.”

Percy nods, “If not for me being a prophet, War Drum would be incredibly isolated. There are kids in Cabin Eleven who have so much potential, but we can’t help them because of the non-interference rules.”

Hera nods, still thoughtful.

“I’m not asking gods to interact with their children more. I know how dangerous that is. I don’t care if the kids are claimed or not. If the Grey Eyed One was forced to claim Tailor against her will, it would be a total disaster. But if children are allowed to choose patron gods who are not their parents, without risking a war between the gods…”

Hera gives him a sharp look, “You are using the Nightshade Cabin as a proof of concept.”

Percy grins, “It was going to happen regardless, of the three brothers, Uncle is the most protective of his children. But yes. It solves some immediate problems and will provide evidence to the Council. We can’t stop the war that is coming, but I would like to avoid the cycle repeating again.”

“And my own cabin is sitting empty. It is the natural choice for a second experiment.”

Percy shakes his head kinda aggressively, “Right now, I just want to draw your attention to this. I will not ask you to go against your nature. I may be a prophet but I cannot read minds. I don’t need an answer, I don’t even know the question to ask.”

“But this is something that is clearly worrying you?”

He huffs and tries to find words to explain the issue, “The gods have gotten used to finding loopholes for handling things between each other’s children. I promised Medusa I would never say his name, but that whole thing with Dad and the War God doing back room dealing to deal with that man- It shouldn’t have been needed. Certainly shouldn’t have gotten to the point of the War God going on trial for murder.”

Medusa hadn’t been Halirrhothius’s only victim, but she was his last. At Poseidon’s request, Ares claimed Halirrhothius had attempted to assault his daughter Alcippe and he had killed him for it. Alcippe had willingly gone alone with the charade. It was a whole ridiculous lot of bluster and none of it would be needed if the non-interference rules didn’t apply.

Percy pauses and then add, “Much more recently, two years ago Angry Girl used charmspeak on Mr D’s twins. If he’d retaliated directly, even if he got permission from ‘Dite, your husband would have punished him. I voluntarily acted as bait to make her attack me.”

Hera considers him, “Which ensured Apollo would bind her powers as those rules do not apply to anyone who breaks the sacred laws regarding his prophets.”

Percy nods, “Yes. And it worked. Angry Girl is practically family at this point. But it shouldn’t have needed so much back and forth. I don’t know what the solution is yet. I’m just trying to understand what possibilities there may be.”

He pauses and then adds, “ With the cabins, it shouldn’t be just the kids with their parent’s particular favour who have the flexibility to move between cabins. Annabeth was only able to join Cabin Eleven activities because she was her mother’s favourite. All demigods should be given that choice.”

Hera is still regarding him thoughtfully, “I would have thought you would be pushing for each god to be given their own cabin.”

Percy winces, “No, Queen Hera. We are not gods. We are demigods. We cannot be our parents. To build additional cabins that may or may not house a child of a god would just be incredibly isolating. It might be tolerable for summer campers, but for the year rounders? It would just create a new type of bitterness.”

He’d once told Chiron that centaurs and demigods were social creatures who need to be with their own people. He is so glad that Dad has never made him live in Cabin Three alone. It would just be so miserable when everyone else has siblings to live with.

Hera is still looking very thoughtful. Which is very hopeful. If she’s willing to push for this, Percy won’t need to do anything. Hera is utterly relentless when she wants something.

Hera tells him she’ll think on it and tidies up her tea service. Guess the audience is over.

Hera stands to leave and tells him, “Please assure Nico I have found a better situation for the Sphinx he has named ‘Lion Lady’.”

Percy tilts his head, “Is it a situation Shadow will approve of?”

Hera smiles smugly at him, “I believe so. I have charged her with guarding the entrance to Athena’s temple on Olympus.”

She sweeps out of the cabin as Percy cackles. That’ll work. Hope Athena doesn’t want worshippers any time soon.

________________________

After Hera’s little visit, camp goes back to normal.

Well. The new normal. Without the stupid school taking up his time, Percy’s becoming painfully aware of the lack of gods.

Mr D’s already gone again, staying just long enough to make sure the satyrs are under control and ‘his sons’ (i.e. everyone at camp) are suffering no lasting effects from the battle.

The others may have been unaware, but Percy could feel Mr D sitting vigil at the hearth set between the cabins every night. Without his help in that first week after the battle, there would have been unending nightmares, not just among the fighters, but for many of the kids who’d been sitting in the cabins waiting for a lockdown to be lifted.

Mind powers can be very terrifying, but they can also be very healing. Virtually all the campers still hate Mr D, but Percy knows the truth. And Mr D has never needed thanks or offerings for any hospitality he gives. It’s just not in his nature.

Nico is forcefully included in everything and dragged along to activities like he’s back repeating his very first summer at camp. Lee apparently explained to him where the Nightshade Cabin came from as well as the whole descendant of Hades thing and Nico willingly joins Jonathon and the other ‘unclaimed’ kids most days.

Percy was called in to moderate the strangest dispute he’d yet come across, when Blackjack threw an absolute tantrum over Nico being near him. The pegasus has spent the past month completely swanning about, lording it over all the other pegasi, ever since Spot left.

Apparently, Spot being evacuated for her safety meant Blackjack had won the fight over which of them Percy belonged to.

Which means he won’t let anyone near him, not even the Aphrodite kids. Jonathon had thought Blackjack might accept Nico as a rider, since he’s Percy’s little brother and all. Blackjack responded like an absolute drama queen and repeatedly shied away from Nico and acted totally terrified.

Given how hard Lee and Percy are working to convince Nico nothing will scare them off, Percy is not remotely happy with the pegasus.

When he asks him what the fuck he’s doing, Blackjack tells Percy that Nico smells like dead people.

Percy uses a thread of power to make the pegasus admit what each demigod smells like.

Percy asks him why he’s decided ‘dead people’ is his hill to die on when he’d also listed fish, sour wine, body odour, sweat, skeletons, leopards, salt water, bloodlust… Demigods smell weird. Get over it dude.

Once Blackjack understands that there’s nothing he can say that’s going to make him Percy’s ‘favourite’, he decides that, as he’s the only solid black pegasus in the stables, it’s only appropriate that he serve the ‘Prince of the Underworld’. Especially since Nico is the one who cut his chain and freed him from the Princess Andromeda.

Nico is a touch cranky that Percy has now dumped two new pets on him, but too bad. Just accept the love, dude.

Though, seriously, horse logic is absolutely insane. They take the whole diva queen thing to extra weird levels. The hippocampi are even worse.

Clarisse is struggling the most of the three of them. All Percy can be sure of is that whatever’s bothering her, it’s not the son of Athena who died.

A few weeks after everything returns to normal, Percy finds her absolutely shredding one of the sparring dummies.

“War Drum, you gonna tell me what’s wrong yet?”

She keeps stabbing the dummy shreds, “Nothing. Everything. I don’t know!”

Percy darts forward and takes the trident off her. Like, she still has two spears but she’ll actually pay attention to him if he has Aniketos. It is very much her favourite weapon.

She glares at him, “Give it back. Now.”

He shakes his head and dances away from her lunge, “Not ’til you tell me what’s wrong.”

She throws her hands in the air and stalks around the arena muttering to herself.

Eventually she wheels around and turns on Percy, “Prissy. Is the lojack the reason?”

Oh. Clarisse. Has she been blaming herself for Annabeth’s choice?

He speaks gently, “No. She was always his choice. It’s why she wasn’t sworn to him. He didn’t need her soul. Children of the Grey Eyed One aren’t born with power. The lojack just means he can’t use his power on anyone, but he still has it. He wouldn’t have been able to take on the Crooked One.”

She stares at him wide eyed, “You mean she planned for this?”

He nods. Yeah, he’s as horrified as she is. He honestly had refused to believe it when he was little. He’d been certain all those glimpses were of a wrong future. Like the futures where Lee is the same age as him or Castellan was Percy’s best friend. Percy had refused to accept it. Refused to believe it.

But Annabeth had planned this. Fought for this.

He watches new horror on Clarisse’s face, “The Oracle. One to ascend, god and spirit to mend. Priss, does that mean-?”

He shrugs, “I have no clue what that line means, War Drum. I don’t always know what the prophecies are leading too.”

The Fates have decided that knowledge is not for him to know. Even if he goes searching, they’ll block it from his mind.

He’s kinda assuming the spirit is Ophioter, but the god to be mended? He’s completely lost. Triton maybe? With the whole rejecting his domains thing?

Or this could be about Pan fading, Grover becoming a Lord of the Wild and Dionysus fully embracing Pan’s domains. There is genuinely no way to tell until after the prophecy is fulfilled.

Her voice turns very small. “I promised Shadow she wasn’t getting a redemption arc.”

Oh. War Drum. He can hear how guilty she feels even suggesting she doesn’t want to save her. Even though the one thing they know for certain, is that Chase desperately wants to kill Clarisse.

Percy speaks intensely, “I don’t think she CAN be redeemed. I know Hot Air and Chiron see her as a kid, but so are we, so is Shadow. Castellan didn’t use silvertongue on her. He had zero contact with her from the day he left camp until after she turned thirteen. At some point, she has to carry the blame for her choices. Halcyon Green is proof it’s possible to go against the Fates, possible to make different choices. She chose this of her own free will.”

He watches her try and process that. That sometimes, it doesn’t matter how or why someone did something. What matters is that they did it at all. All they know for certain is that she was in her right mind when she did this. And that she is not a little kid.

Perhaps if she were a mortal and not a demigod, an argument could be made for a lack of understanding. But Annabeth Chase inherited a massive dose of Athena’s intelligence. She understood what she was doing was wrong at eight, and she understood it at sixteen.

Clarisse’s definitely debating asking something.

“What is it?”

She scowls, “It’s gonna make me sound like an absolutely heartless bitch.”

He gives her a small smile, “War Drum, I know you. Just ask.”

“You said something had to happen before you could join the fight. Was this it?”

Percy gives her an uncomfortable kinda smile, “Yeah. This is what had to happen. I can’t tolerate the aura normally, but it’s intensely dimmed now he’s been forced into a mortal form. I’ve got the shielding necklace plus the anklet and the bracelet. No more splitting up.”

It is absolutely not a fight he wants to have, but he does what the Fates tell him. He will always choose his family, and the Fates are the ones who gave that family to him.

He watches relief spread across Clarisse’s face. Yeah, he feels the same way about them not having to split up. According to the knowing, the Labyrinth was the last time he’d have to stay at camp while he sent her off.

Partners from here on in.

She’s an uncomfortable mix of relief and dread, and Percy decides it’s time for something a little less horrific.

“C’mon War Drum, let’s go visit G-man.”

It definitely helps both of them.

Grover’s still kinda stunned at the whole being personally named a Lord of the Wild by Pan thing, but he’s also really doing well at the leadership thing.

At Lee’s request, the satyrs have divided themselves up into those who would prefer continuing with the whole ‘protecting baby demigods’ thing and the ones who want to take up Pan’s message.

Percy’s not surprised that a good third of the satyrs want to stay on with the camp. Many of them have never lived in the actual wild and have grown very used to living partially in the mortal world.

The knowing says it won’t last forever. That Grover is the beginning of the satyrs fully returning to their own natures, to the return of the wild in the wider world, but each of them needs to learn that for themselves.

Until then, Lee is very grateful for any and all assistance. The only reason the satyrs ever started the demigod thing, is because they’d gotten so frustrated with the search for Pan. Mr D decided they needed something else to focus on. It literally only started when Mr D came to camp in the forties.

The Hunters stay on for the summer. Artemis is with Apollo and, with Kampe routed, they’ve gone searching for any other monsters they can put down now without setting off actual war.

It means a lot more Capture the Flag games and Percy and Clarisse slowly adjust to fighting Hunters who are not Zoe and Phoebe.

Piper does eventually pull Percy aside and tell him about a conversation she’d had with Zoe just before they left for that quest and whether she should tell Clarisse.

Percy is not surprised. Clarisse doesn’t do shows of affection. If Zoe had left her a note like she’d left Percy, it would have broken his War Drum.

Aphrodite cabin deciding the camp would be honouring Zoe by wearing her favourite braided hairstyle, the one she only wore for ‘worthy opponents’, is Zoe’s way of telling Clarisse the same message she left for Percy. “I will be watching.”

Zoe Nightshade lives on.

Piper’s had her own struggles to face since the battle. When she’d realised why Percy had kept her away from Grover’s quest, she’d demanded a spar and had been absolutely vicious with it. Percy was fine with it.

He’s just glad Piper hasn’t asked about why he’d told her to make the dragon sleep permanently. Apollo had a whole list of interesting threats if Percy ever speaks of the existance of Roman demigods.

But Percy keeps dreaming of Thalia’s brother leading an entire force of them to Mount Tam, and far too many of them are basically eaten by Ladon before they try a different access point. The Fates didn’t care if Percy did this or not, and he’s always going to prefer less death if he can make that happen.

After the spar, Piper thanks him. Says that, even if it was the Fates or whatever sending her on that quest, she truly had not believed that was a thing she could do.

The first time Percy tells Piper’s story at the campfire, she hides her face in her hands the whole time, even as the hundred plus campers cheer her on.

Percy likes Piper’s story. It starts with charmspeaking the Prophet of Apollo and demanding he assign her a new parent, and continues on through her attempt to lie to the God of Truth.

He tells the enthralled campers about Piper deciding to protect the camp from Tantalus, charmspeaking an entire flock of Stymphalian birds to shred Tantalus, and of her rapidly developing fighting skills that lead to her absolutely flattening daidalos Iapis, son of Athena, to the point she drops him nine times in a row.

He speaks of her riding a golden cup to San Francisco, sending Ladon into a permanent sleep and shattering the newly forged scythe of the Crooked One. Her story ends with her successfully charmspeaking Antaeus into no longer healing, and thus solving a long debated question for the campers.

Mr D left a gift behind for Piper before he disappeared again. Piper received her very own set of golden laurels for finding ‘such a unique solution to the camp’s favourite Gordian knot’. Piper still doesn’t like the guy, which seems to make Mr D approve of her even more.

Percy had an ulterior motive for telling Piper’s story. Her siblings are still not entirely comfortable with how much of a warrior she is becoming. Aphrodite’s kids can fight, and fight well, but they don’t usually need to fight.

By telling her story at the campfire Percy can show them that Piper is absolutely a daughter of Aphrodite, that she still belongs to them. She just has her own path to walk.

It’s not the only new story he has for them. Nico is probably never going to be okay with Percy telling his story, but there are other ways to help people understand children of the Underworld.

With both Uncle and Lee’s permission, Percy speaks of Ancient Greece and the stories of the wars. Not the Trojan war, he’s so not in the mood for that mess, but the smaller battles. The ones that have been entirely forgotten by the mortal world.

He carefully sanitises the stories, but he does not completely remove the violence. He wants the campers to understand why honour and ritual were so important. That they connect the mortal world to the divine in the exact same way demigods do by their very existence.

He tells the stories of the handful of times where Hades himself has joined a battle, specifically to provide cover for the fallen warriors.

Of how the moronic loser delightedly speaks of the time he shot Hades with a poisoned arrow, and completely neglects to explain why Hades had been there at all. Hades rarely leaves the Underworld. Outside of the Council meetings, the few times he has done so were because of a soldier’s disrespect for the dead.

Other nights, Percy tells Zoe and Phoebe’s story. Or he tells parts of Clarisse’s story. The spar after he talks about her being called Enyo reborn was absolutely brutal.

He even speaks of Eurytion and Percy’s own accomplishments. At the request of the Hunters, he tells Thalia’s story, starting from that charge up the hill with a seven year old Annabeth and an eighteen year old Castellan, through to her becoming Artemis’s new lieutenant and her own heroic acts at Mount Othrys and during the recent battle.

He also tells the story of Iapis. The true story, not the one he invented and spent thousands of years tending. It takes a while, but it does seem to be getting through to Sophie. Malcolm had also taken her aside and told her about the two children of Athena that died.

It may have been a harsh lesson, but with everything that happened with Iapis and Annabeth Chase so fresh, no-one wants to risk Sophie following their paths.

She’s been given access to many of Daedalus’s architecture files, though Jonathon is keeping the laptop in his own possession and only distributing the files he’s certain aren’t actually some new bizarre version of the wax wings.

Malcolm’s been great with that, Lee’s talking about having him stay on at camp full time this year.

Percy sees Rachel around camp, but has mostly left her to it. She needs to see what the demigod world is actually like and neither Percy or Clarisse are precisely normal. So far, Rachel still doesn’t have a fate.

Whatever crossroads she’ll face, it’s not here yet. Percy tells her this and she seems unsurprised. She is very happy to be part of the camp though.

Lee tells Percy that, at his request, Chiron’s explained Apollo’s rules for his oracles to her. Percy’s very glad, that is so not a conversation he wants to have with another kid, please and thank you.

The rest will be up to Rachel. Since the Fates are staying out of it, Percy’s assuming they do have actual alternative options if Rachel isn’t the one.

The worst conversation Percy has is the one with Lee. Percy’s been noticing a pattern in things Annabeth is saying. And Hera pretty much confirmed it.

Lee is the one who brings it up. He must have been stewing on it because he didn’t even try to act casually. Percy’d been in the Cabin Three sitting room, flicking through Mythomagic cards, when Lee came in and sat across from him.

Lee gives him his most commander-ish stern look and straight up asks, “Perce, was using Ethan deliberate?”

Percy flinches. Lee’s eyes narrow. Lee sees far too much.

Percy tries to make his voice as casual as possible, “Deliberate on my part, or hers?”

Lee’s voice is exasperated, “Hers, you idiot. I know you wouldn’t have done that deliberately.”

Yeah, well.

Percy asks carefully, “I’m guessing someone’s mentioned the Trojan war to you?”

Lee gives him a look, “Nico asked if I had any audiobooks on it. Wouldn’t tell me what he was looking for.”

The Palladium for sure. At least Nico didn’t tell Lee about it?

Lee’s eyes are burning into his soul, “Perce, is there a reason you’re avoiding the topic?”

There’s no point avoiding this, is there?

Percy pulls a face, “You’re asking whether she used Ethan as the final sacrifice because Helen of Troy was the spark that triggered the Trojan war. I’m assuming yes, but it goes deeper than that.”

Both Helen of Troy and Ethan Nakamura are children of Nemesis. Siblings separated by thousands of years, but siblings nonetheless. It’s incredibly strange that any of her children could ever set off a war like that, and for it now happen twice…

Nemesis is a daughter of Nyx and while Nyx is actually a primordial, Nemesis is mostly given the same shitty rep as Hades. And it’s also very wrong.

Nemesis is a goddess of balance. She exists to punish pride and hubris. To avenge crimes for which justice is impossible. For a demigod child of hers to consciously choose to follow Kronos, it makes no sense.

Lee’s face is calm, but his voice is very firm, “Percy, I need a better explanation. I was worried there was more to it. This is something we need to know.”

Percy shifts a bit, “I have this really bad feeling that Annabeth has drawn some conclusions about this whole thing. Some of what Shadow’s said…”

Lee’s eyes are sharp, “What do you mean?”

Percy’s kinda starting to think Lee already has an idea of what’s going on, and is just looking for confirmation. Awesome.

He huffs again and tilts his head to stare at the ceiling as he tells Lee, “The Judgement of Paris thing happened when he was given a choice between the Queen of Heaven, the Grey Eyed One and Beauty. He was basically offered ultimate power, deep wisdom or genuine love.”

Lee tilts his head, “He chose love and Aphrodite.”

Percy nods and keeps his eyes on the ceiling, “And because Paris chose love, Beauty gifted him with the love of Helen of Troy. The stories describe her as his soulmate.”

Yeah, Lee definitely guessed this was behind it. He’s also going to make Percy say it. Percy flicks a glance at him. Lee’s watching him quietly with his calm serious face on.

Percy huffs and switches to staring at his hands as he picks at his sleeve, “But Helen of Troy was married to Menelaus. As far as he was concerned, Paris kidnapped his wife. Stole what rightfully belonged to him, all because of some goddess claiming they were soulmates.”

Lee prompts him again, “You think Chase sees herself in this story?”

Awesome, this is one of those ‘admit the truth to yourself’ conversations. It’s funny when Lee out-thinks Shadow, less so when he pulls the same trick on Percy. Then again, the whole reason Lee is his Lee is because Percy can’t make an end-run around him.

Percy shifts uncomfortably and looks away. His voice is as awkward as his posture, “She’s always been kinda possessive, and she apparently had a lot more opinions about War Drum than she ever said.”

Lee waits him out. Percy huffs, “And she’s very certain that if I was in right mind I would never have chosen War Drum over her. She’s sure the gods are the reason I’m so attached. To the point she’s prayed to her mother for help.”

Just like the old stories blame Eros and claim that Helen of Troy was hit with his arrow to ensure she fell in love with Paris.

Athena had requested an audience last winter and demanded to know why Percy had chosen Clarisse over Annabeth. He should have realised then what was going on.

Lee prompts him again, “You’re saying that Chase sees you as Helen of Troy and Clarisse as Paris?”

Yeah. Fuck you too, Lee.

“She seems to go back to the old heroes stories. She can’t seem to see past them, and with everything that’s happened since the stuff with the Master Bolt, it’s only going to get worse.”

Lee’s still doing the focused calm thing at him, Percy huffs, “You done now?”

Lee gives him a much kinder smile and comes and sits beside him, “Sorry, Perce. It’s important you understand what’s happening. Both you and Clarisse are going to need to watch this closely. If she wants to set old stories in motion again, she has a lot of choices in the Trojan war.”

Yeah. Percy knows.

________________________

The night before he turns fifteen, Percy tumbles into a new dream of Fates gifted knowledge.

Another moment he has no wish to see.

He already knew about this one. The knowing had itched at him until he spoke to Uncle.

As Dad and Apollo led him back through the palace at Olympus last Winter Solstice, heading home after giving audiences to Athena and Hermes, Percy stopped beside Hades.

“Uncle. Someone will do a repeat of our first meeting soon. Please let them enter.”

Uncle nodded and Percy moved on. Dad acted as if Percy hadn’t spoken, and Apollo clearly decided he didn’t want to know.

Percy has seen this part before. Before this happened, the Chases would have refused to leave with Ariadne.

Percy watches now as Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan enter the home of Frederick Chase.

Annabeth tells her father that she requires a mother’s blessing. He is confused and asks why she hasn’t asked Athena. Annabeth’s face twists with anger and bitterness and she demands he give it to her.

She doesn’t give him any explanation. Even she knows that he would never bless what she is about to do.

Frederick Chase asks why.

She tells him it doesn’t matter. When he tells her he loves her and begs her to come home, she storms from the room.

Luke Castellan stays where he is, glaring at Frederick Chase, anger and distaste written across his face.

Annabeth returns with Matthew. She’s holding her bronze knife to her little brother’s throat. She tells Frederick she will kill her brother if he doesn’t give her his blessing.

Percy wants to believe it was a bluff and she would never hurt her brother. He honestly has no idea. Either way, she gets what she wants.

Frederick gives her his blessing and they leave.

He is holding his ten year old child tightly and crying into his hair when Ariadne steps into the room. Frederick begs her not to hurt his children. When she explains who she is, who sent her and why she is here, he slumps with relief. He quickly finds Helen and Bobby and their family leaves within the hour.

Percy just wishes he could have stepped in before Annabeth Chase had so truly terrified her family. Before she lost a love to something worse than death.

Her family, who had so adored her, were lost to her the moment she threatened Matthew’s life.

Annabeth had been so worried that the prophecy meant she would lose a person. Not that she would lose her family’s love to fear and hate. Even if she turns from her path, that love cannot be regained.

She lost her Lee and she doesn’t even care.

Percy watches Luke Castellan and Annabeth Chase ‘sneak’ past Charon and journey into the Underworld.

To rise or fall by the Ghost King’s hand.

Not Nico. It’s Hades who holds the title of Ghost King. No-one has ever successfully broken into the Underworld. It is impossible for the living to go unnoticed in the realm of the dead. The only way they can enter is if Hades allows it.

The Fates insisted that Percy make sure they had access. He had so hoped something would change and it would be Castellan who merged with Kronos.

Even though he’d known it never would be.

Didn’t stop Uncle screwing with them though. Percy frowns as he watches the ‘ghost of Achilles’ approach them. Guess that explains her newfound focus on the Trojan war. He’d been wondering where the hell that came from. She’s gotten super intense these past couple of months.

Uncle had dressed his ‘ghost Achilles’ in his armour. The armour forged by Hephaestus, that a bloody war was fought over, and Achilles definitely wasn’t buried with.

Uncle’s even added a bloody arrow sticking out of the ‘ghost’s’ ankle.

Gods really like making Percy’s life harder, don’t they?

Nico constantly complains about how spirits choose physical forms to ‘relive their glory days’, but Achilles is using the form from the moment of his death. Neither of them realise what a red flag this is.

‘Achilles’ is all intense focus as he tells Annabeth Chase, “Do not do this. It will make you powerful. But it will also make you weak. Your prowess in combat will be beyond any mortal, but your weaknesses, your failings will increase as well.”

Annabeth comments about wearing armour on his legs.

“The heel is only my physical weakness, demigods. My mother, Thetis, held me there when she dipped me in the Styx. What really killed me was my own arrogance. Beware! Turn back.”

Uncle’s really leaning into the drama isn’t he? Though, why he thinks telling her she’s got too much pride will work when literally no-one else has gotten through to her, Percy doesn’t know.

Uncle does relent enough to have ‘Achilles’ tell them what they need to do to actually survive their little bit of insanity.

Honestly, seeing this play out, Percy’s kind of assuming Dad spoke to Uncle at some point. Uncle would have wanted them to die outright in the Styx, not have his ghost puppet thing explain the concept of a mortal point and the importance of anchoring their soul to their physical body.

This isn’t even a ghost talking to them, it’s a little light show and Uncle’s own voice. Percy absolutely has to make Nico watch Piper’s Hobbit DVD’s. Percy’d seen Dad say something to Nico at Solstice that had completed disturbed Nico, he’d eventually coaxed Nico into admitting Dad told him Uncle looked like Benedict Cumberbatch.

This whole little display is so making Percy think of that Smaug scene. Definitely time to screw with Nico.

What? He is his father’s son after all.

Hades turns extra dramatic at the end and he tells them to, “Prepare yourselves! Whether you survive this or not, you have sealed your doom.”

What he doesn’t tell them is that the Styx is the embodiment of hatred and abhorrence. That you need more than just love for another person to anchor yourself. You also need to feel hate.

To take on the curse of Achilles is to unbalance your soul. To leave just a thimbleful of goodness and allow the rest to be replaced with your hate.

Perhaps that warning isn’t needed. Luke Castellan has been drowning in hatred all his life. Percy just hadn’t realise Annabeth was too. He has a sinking feeling he knows who she hates.

‘Achilles’ vanishes and Percy watches Luke Castellan and Annabeth Chase discuss what physical point on their bodies they’ll focus on and the thing they’ll think about that keeps them mortal.

Every part of Percy flinches back when Annabeth says she’ll focus on him.

Castellan, naturally, says he’ll focus on Annabeth and Thalia.

At least the physical points they choose are extremely entertaining?

Like, he’s never telling their stories, ever. So he can only amuse himself with this, but it’s something.

He’s pretty sure Castellan only put himself through this just in case he could take Annabeth’s place with Kronos. Annabeth thinks it’ll make Castellan a better fighter and keep him safer.

And that was before she had her little bath in the Styx. She really didn’t need the curse of Achilles to have issues with arrogance.

Although, when Nico told him the full story of the Sphinx Percy was just so lost. For her to reach such levels of complete caricature so fast, what’s she going to be like after a few more months, or a year?

Annabeth and Castellan crawl from the Styx, still alive but bright red and miserable. They aren’t given time to recover. As soon as Uncle sees them leave the Styx, he comes bearing down on them in his war chariot. Absolutely bellowing at them about being intruders and to prepare to die.

They both run for the entrance. They fail to realise Uncle stays just close enough to terrify them but never actually reaches them.

They do know that even a normal chariot goes faster than a person’s top running speed? Right?

Percy turns back to look at Uncle as they leave. Hades eyes are narrowed and he is focused on Castellan. He’s looking very thoughtful. Uh oh.

Poseidon shimmers into view on the ground next to the now stopped chariot.

Double uh oh.

Percy’s fairly sure at this point that Dad knows when he’s watching and for reasons known only to him is pretending he doesn’t.

And- Yep. Poseidon locks eyes with Percy and fucking winks at him before turning back to his brother. Awesome. All the fun revelations tonight.

Poseidon speaks to Hades, “You must not speak of what you saw.”

Hades purses his lips and gives his brother a narrow-eyed glare from his high ground on the chariot, “Are you speaking of their visit to the Styx, or what I just saw in the boy’s essence?”

“Both. The Fates do as they choose. We obey them, they do not bow to us.”

Hades’s eyes are burning into Dad’s, “And your son?”

Dad’s voice is all mild and calm, “I have known since the Fates first sent me visions of his mother. Since I first asked you to choose who his father would be.”

Hades’s voice is sharp, “Clear sight does not run in my descendants.”

“No. It does not.”

Huh. Percy had wondered why Hades confirmed Percy was seeing essence but never mentioned the relationship. Kinda sounds like he knew though, and was just confused how it’d happened.

Percy hadn’t been surprised that Hades was unaware of May and Sarah Castellan. Before Maria di Angelo, he’d been completely drowning in sloth, just like Zeus is drowning in greed. For Hades it meant that he had stopped tracking his descendants.

Even when he had a living son at the start of the century, he’d completely stayed out of the mortal world. Once Nico and Bianca were placed in the hotel, Dad was Uncle’s only connection back to the surface world.

Hades eyes his brother with frustration. “Your son spoke the First Prophecy at the Winter Solstice meeting.”

Dad shakes his head slightly, “He is not Ophioter. They do look alike, I grant you, but their souls are different. Ophioter’s soul resides where it always has.”

Hades’s voice is all intense anger, “And are you ever going to tell me where that is? It has been more than five thousand years and he is still not in my realm!”

Oh. Percy’s been dreaming of Dad and Uncle speaking in the graveyard just after Maria di Angelo was killed for most of his life. He’d known Dad had gone there specifically to ask about why Uncle cursed the Oracle. It hadn’t occurred to Percy how weird it was that Dad was so invested in the Oracle of Delphi.

Of course he hunted Uncle down when the Oracle was cursed. She’s the current host of the spirit of Ophioter, the first and only Prophet of Poseidon. Dad even asked Uncle what he intended to do if her body fails before his conditions are met! How did Percy not notice before now?

That probably also explains why Dad pushed so hard for the Nightshade cabin. Just because it’s not named the Hades Cabin doesn’t mean it isn’t Uncle’s. His children are welcome at camp in their own cabin. The terms of the curse have been fulfilled.

Dad’s voice is firm, “Only those who already know where he is will ever know. It is not safe for that information to be shared.”

Poseidon’s eyes slide to where Percy stands watching. Percy speaks quietly, “I won’t tell.”

And he won’t. Despite how much he wants to ask Dad if he’d known Apollo would one day claim the prophecy domain, and if that’s why he raised Delos so the twin archers could be born.

Ophioter certainly already knew about Apollo back during the Titan War.

Percy doesn’t need his connection to the Fates to know too much knowledge is not a good thing.

Dad gives a slight nod and returns to watching Hades stew.

Percy should be weirded out by the fact he can talk to Apollo, and now Poseidon, in past and future moments, shouldn’t he? Nah. Better to not think about it.

Poseidon speaks quietly, “I will tell you that the Fates are repairing more than this current tear.”

Hades rolls his eyes, still standing in his chariot and glaring down at his brother, “I know that already. You told me after the last time Athena’s chit entered my realm.”

Poseidon continues as if Hades hadn’t spoken, “The first attempt to mend the unbalanced tapestry failed almost immediately because of Athena.”

That gets Hades attention, he actually steps down from his chariot to scan his brother’s face with narrowed eyes.

“You are speaking of your granddaughter.”

Poseidon does a single small nod, “Yes. With the loss of the Oracle of Dodona, our little brother made use of the fraying weave to turn Athena. It unbalanced the entire pantheon.”

Double speak.

Athena was born well after the Oracle of Dodona was lost, but before Apollo and Artemis were born. In that time when Ophioter’s spirit was hidden in a living Python.

But Athena must’ve been turned after the prophecy domain was claimed but before the balance had been fully returned, there had been a point where she was genuinely loyal to Triton and Poseidon.

Hades looks disbelieving, “And the Fates have done nothing else in four millennia?”

Poseidon smiles wryly, “Another attempt was made. This time to replace my granddaughter in the weave. But the Fates can only spin, measure and cut threads or cords. They may be able to nudge them or correct the occasional turn, but they cannot force them to replace another.”

Realisation on Hades’s face, “Dionysus?”

Poseidon is still unbothered by his intense older brother all up in his face, “Yes. A demigod born to ascend. Unfortunately, instead of replacing Pallas’s lost cord, he replaced Hestia’s and now Pan’s.”

Hades steps back a bit and rolls his eyes, “I asked you two years ago if the child was intended to replace her. You refused to answer me.”

Poseidon gives him a gleeful smirk, “It is not my fault you asked the wrong question.”

“And what question should I have asked?”

“You should have asked ‘which’ child is to replace her.”

Of course, the dream dissolves without giving Percy any answers. That was a past moment, does this mean Uncle actually knows what Dad is planning?

He hasn’t shared with Nico if he does. Percy won’t get anything out of either god.

He’s not sure who he hates more right now. Dad, Uncle or the Fates.

The dream resolves into another moment. This time just a little glimpse. It’s a now-dream, or at least, close to actual time. Hades is in the surface world, dressed like a mortal and still looking uncomfortably like Benedict Cumberbatch’s version of Sherlock Holmes. Percy will never understand the relationship between Uncle and Dad.

Dad is with Hades, dressed down like a really lame surfer guy. He literally has Birkenstocks on. With socks. They’ve both done something to completely conceal their essence and their aura. Huh. Dad can’t do that trick not to that level, but Percy can. Must be from Uncle?

They ring the doorbell of a nice suburban house, and are quickly welcomed by Sally Jackson to some sort of meetup for creative writing.

Okay. That may have broken Percy’s brain. What? He watches as Dad distracts the man Sally is dating with some very strange comments about blowfish and ancient history, while Uncle approaches Sally.

It at least explains why they’ve totally hidden their true selves. It’s not really a thing gods do. They very much do not like being mistaken for actual mortals.

Hades and Sally don’t speak about anything of importance, just the usual social chit chat that happens between strangers who are mortals. But Percy knows Uncle.

Uncle will probably never speak to Sally Jackson again, but he has placed her under his protection with just as much intense care as he gives Nico or Bianca. Percy can see the subtle flow of power as Hades adds his own protections to Sally Jackson’s house.

Gods are a possessive lot and the Fates pay their debts.

Just as Apollo was owed a boon for protecting Percy, their twice-blessed child, Sarah Castellan, now Sally Jackson, is owed a debt.

The tear in the tapestry is not the only thing to be repaired.

________________________

Percy is less than happy to wake from that particular dream.

It’s his fifteenth birthday today. The day he said they could tell him about the things that are not for him to know.

His birthdays have always been spent quietly. To anyone else, Lee always looks like any other happy parental figure on their kid’s birthday. But Percy can see auras. Lee has been counting down to something since Percy was seven.

He hasn’t minded keeping his birthday quiet. Percy’s never been one for celebration, and Lee and the gods all tend to give him gifts whenever they feel like, the specific date has never mattered.

But today is August eighteenth, he is fifteen and he can already feel the auras of gods gathering in the Big House.

Clarisse is waiting for him outside Cabin Three, looking stressed. Nico is nowhere to be found.

She grins at the look on his face, “Shadow’s around, he just didn’t want to be here for this. Kinda don’t blame him either.”

That’s… not so fun.

Summer camp ended last Friday, so it’s just the year rounders left. They have a couple of weeks until Lee inflicts morning lessons on them again, so everyone is being extra antisocial and focusing on catching up on sleep and resetting cabins from their summer dorm configurations.

Even Georgie and Tyson are gone. Georgie isn’t sure if she’ll be back any time soon. The fighting is constantly increasing in intensity, Triton needs his second.

Percy can still feel Thalia and Bianca’s auras. He eyes Clarisse, “Why are Crackle and Dancer still here? Thought the Hunters had an assignment?”

“They do. But you’re not the only one we kept things from.”

Oh. Awesome. That’s just great.

They meet Poseidon, Apollo and Lee in the Big House. Chiron’s definitely been sent off again.

Apollo looks incredibly stressed, “Percy, before we say anything, are you absolutely sure it’s time?”

Yeah, it’s been nearly eight years of them keeping all this from him because of some sort of world ending risk, Percy would be panicking too.

He double checks, focusing on the bright spot of his knowing and poking at it. For once, it doesn’t respond with a slew of things he doesn’t want to see. Just sends a sense of yes, this is right time.

He eyes the gods, “Apparently it’s still the right time. I’m gonna hate this, aren’t I?”

Apollo looks so uncomfortable. Dad answers for him, “Possibly. You should know though, the day you met Apollo he gave a prophecy of his own. More a statement actually.”

“Which was?”

Apollo answers for Dad, speaking quietly but very firmly, “Do not give up hope. Percy Jackson is not marked for death.”

Oh. Percy is really going to hate this.

This is definitely related to the cursed Oracle. No wonder the Fates have been dumping dreams on him about May and Sarah Castellan and Halcyon Green.

He’s right too, it’s the first prophecy she gave, when she was all of ten years old. A year before Maria di Angelo died.

When Dad tells him the Great Prophecy, Percy realises something else too. Everyone has gotten it wrong. Has misunderstood what it means.

He feels the weird not actually physical but still seems like it, sensation of his throat closing before he even manages to make a sound. Guess the Fates aren’t going to let him explain that bit.

So he nods along with Apollo and Lee as they talk about how it is set to start when he turns sixteen, that a hero will die and a choice will be made that decides the fate of Olympus.

Percy makes eye contact with Dad, who winks at him.

Okay. So Percy isn’t the only one who knows what that prophecy actually means. Awesome.

Well, it will happen when he turns sixteen. They have that much right, so only one more year until the Fates let him talk?

Percy gives his father a cheeky grin in return, before turning serious and redirecting the conversation to Annabeth Chase and the Crooked One. How he’s now in a mortal body and whether she can still be saved.

Clarisse gives him such a wide-eyed look for that one.

It’s Percy’s turn to go wide-eyed when Dad legit says, “Mortal, perhaps. But there is something different about Annabeth Chase. I don’t know how she prepared herself to host the Titan’s soul, but she will not be easily killed. And yet, I fear she must be killed if we are to send Kronos back to the pit.”

Well. That definitely confirms Percy’s theories about Dad being able to lie about what he learns from the knowing. Huh, wonder if Shadow can tell when Dad lies?

Percy gives Dad an extra cranky side-eye when he starts talking about how he’s too busy to help with any fighting in the surface-world. The ocean is at war with itself and he’s being kept busy protecting the world from being destroyed by typhoons and hurricanes.

He also talks about Typhon stirring, which Percy already knows. Even without the knowing, Hephaestus had sounded pretty grim.

Dad goes on, “‘It would’ve happened sooner or later, with the Crooked One awakening the ancient monsters. But be aware, if the Storm Giant stirs… it will be unlike anything you have faced before. The first time he appeared, all the forces of Olympus were barely enough to battle him. And when he stirs again, he will come here, to New York. He will make straight for Olympus.”

Clarisse breaks at that one, “You lot couldn’t kill him, so you’ve decided we will? Seriously?”

Dad’s face is gleeful as he gives her a wink and keeps talking about how horrific Typhon is. This is definitely a a whole new bit of theatrics that is apparently for the benefit of eavesdroppers.

Which, admittedly, there are a few extra auras listening in. Including Zeus. The only way to entirely avoid gods listening to this sort of thing is to talk in the Underworld. And Dad is the only one who regularly visits Uncle. Everyone would notice if Percy, Clarisse, Lee and Apollo all went there.

Dad does finally switch topics and gives him a ‘birthday present’ that is absolutely dripping with his essence. Dad tells Percy to spend it wisely when the time comes, and that Percy will know.

The eavesdroppers are unlikely to notice his emphasis on the word ‘know’. Guess it’s another random Fates guided thing. Yay.

Dad then adds, with a lot more mischief, that he’s arranged an additional birthday present for his ‘favourite son’, and he hopes Percy doesn’t mind sharing it with Clarisse. He puts a lot of heavy emphasis on the ‘favourite son’ bit.

Percy absolutely beams when he feels another aura show up. He doesn’t say anything, just grabs Clarisse’s arm and barrels out of the Big House dragging her with him.

They get halfway there when she realises where they’re going and now they’re racing each other.

They sprint all the way to the beach, and they’re neck and neck when they slam into Triton.

Triton’s standing there super stiffly, holding his hands up and out of the way of the two kids clinging to him, looking absolutely baffled by the unexpected show of affection. But give them a break! They haven’t seen him for six months!

Percy’s used to Poseidon coming and going erratically, but Triton’s visits have always been like clockwork.

Percy and Clarisse have seen Triton at least weekly since they were little. Triton shows up daily whenever they’ve done something to worry him. Six months without him has been a new and kinda awful experience.

Triton does eventually pry them off him and, like Dad, says he cannot stay long. Honestly, to see him at all is far more than Percy had expected. Not with Triton leading the military forces. Dad’s already disappeared, so he must be covering for Triton so he can visit.

Triton insists they allow him to examine their weapons, that he will not be comfortable until he’s certain their weapons are ready for the coming battle.

Percy knows Clarisse misses it, but he’s watching for and expecting Triton’s flinch when he reaches for one of them.

Triton lingers on the three adamantine weapons; Katecho, Aniketos and Amyntor, examining them closely, inch by inch, and speaking words of an ancient sea blessing over them. Percy and Clarisse politely look away, allowing him to feel whatever he needs to without witnesses.

By the time they look back, he’s fully returned to his usual stoic prince of the sea demeanour.

Triton leaves them far too soon. Leaving behind new armour, including for Percy’s upper arms, and some additional things for the coming fight.

He also makes them a promise. In Triton’s stiff clipped voice, his promise carries the depth of his devotion and love for his children. It carries far more weight than any oath on the Styx.

Percy and Clarisse have no idea what to say when Triton says that if he does not see them earlier, he promises to meet them in the throne room of Olympus to ‘celebrate your inevitable victory’.

The only time Triton has left the ocean since Pallas died has been to meet them at the camp, and to twice give assistance during a quest. He has never returned to Olympus. He has not seen Athena since that day.

For him to say that… Yeah. Got nothing.

When he prompts them, they do eventually promise to meet him there and he leaves rapidly, definitely fleeing from all the emotional displays.

Percy and Clarisse stare at each other, wide-eyed and shocked.

Percy offers, “I’m thinking that we just pretend that didn’t happen? When it becomes a thing, we’ll deal with it, but until then...”

“Yes. Definitely.” Clarisse nods frantically, still wide-eyed.

As they walk back to the main camp, at a much slower pace, Nico comes out to meet them, looking wary.

Percy grins at him, “S’Okay Shadow, worst of revelations is already over. I did kinda know already, was just doing the denial thing. No over the top explosive emotions here!”

Nico rolls his eyes, “Good. I did want to talk to you though. Castellan’s already tried to approach me once, and there’s something we need to talk about before I end up spying for them all over again.”

Percy pulls a face, he hates that Nico has to talk to that guy again. “What’s up?”

“I have an idea for how to deal with Chase and Castellan. I think it’s the only way we’ll have a chance.”

Oh, this is going to absolutely suck. May as well get it over with.

Percy grins at him, “C’mon then, let's go and harass Lee for cake and you can tell us about it.”