#Octopus Kite | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

halothenthehorns · 4 months

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Chapter 17: I OPEN A COFFIN

"Dracula!?" Alex gasped with hope.

"We already have real monsters, why do you want more?" Percy frowned.

"I have fantasies too Percy, it's not all about you," Alex reminded.

"If Kelli sleeps in one of those, you just know it's going to be pink," Magnus snorted.

"Grave robbing Percy? That's what you've been reduced to?" Jason chuckled.

"How sacrilegious," Will snorted.

"Yes, because I really strike you as the kind of guy to be respectful," Percy scoffed with laughter.

Nico was to busy grinning to himself nobody seemed to assume this had anything to do with him to make a snarky remark as Alex eagerly started.

Jumping out a window five hundred feet aboveground is not usually my idea of fun.

"Really? Because you seem to do it a lot," Magnus frowned at him.

"The arch, you jumped off the side of a cruise ship, you were fully prepared to jump off that cliff after Annabeth, and now you jumped down the side of a mountain," Alex nodded along as he ticked off on his fingers. "Percy, you might have an adrenaline junkie problem."

"Yeah, the problem is to much adrenaline. Please tell me there's a cure," he sighed.

Especially when I'm wearing bronze wings and flapping my arms like a duck.

"But that's the perfect time to do it," Nico told him blandly from personal experience. "If you do the chicken dance any other time, people just look at you strange."

"Now the YMCA on the other hand, that's a universal dance you don't need an excuse for," Will grinned.

Thalia forced a laugh she didn't feel, she knew she wouldn't find anything really funny again until Percy's feet were back on the ground and she could stop imagining this.

I plummeted toward the valley and the red rocks below. I was pretty sure I was going to become a grease spot in the Garden of the Gods, as Annabeth yelled from somewhere above me, "Spread your arms! Keep them extended."

The small part of my brain that wasn't engulfed in panic heard her, and my arms responded. As soon as I spread them out, the wings stiffened, caught the wind, and my descent slowed. I soared downward, but at a controlled angle, like a kite in a dive.

A sudden memory flashed back to Percy's mind. He'd been eight in the park with his mom, who had just given him an octopus kite, with its big blue nylon head and each of its legs a different color of the rainbow.

It had only fluttered in the air long enough for him to take his eyes off and smile at his mom before a flash of lightning had zapped it out of the sky. On a cloudless day.

Now he couldn't shake the mental image that was about to happen to him next, and there was no string that would fizzle his fingers as a result.

Experimentally, I flapped my arms once. I arced into the sky, the wind whistling in my ears.

"Yeah!" I yelled. The feeling was unbelievable. After getting the hang of it, I felt like the wings were part of my body. I could soar and swoop and dive anywhere I wanted to.

"Annabeth once again saving your ass," Alex snorted. "Please tell me you're keeping a tally on that?" He obviously directed to none other than Jason.

"Of course," he scoffed as if the question offended his very principles, like he even remembered what those were. "What do you take me for?"

I turned and saw my friends—Rachel, Annabeth, and Nico—spiraling above me, glinting in the sunlight. Behind them, smoke billowed from the windows of Daedalus's workshop.

"Land!" Annabeth yelled. "These wings won't last forever."

"How long?" Rachel asked.

"I don't want to find out!" Annabeth said.

We swooped down toward the Garden of the Gods. I did a complete circle around one of the rock spires and freaked out a couple of climbers.

"I bet they spend the rest of their life telling everyone they saw an eagle soar," Will offered.

"Or a really, really big sugar glider," Magnus smirked.

Then the four of us soared across the valley, over a road, and landed on the terrace of the visitor center. It was late afternoon and the place looked pretty empty, but we ripped off our wings as quickly as we could. Looking at them, I could see Annabeth was right. The self-adhesive seals that bound the wings to our backs were already melting, and we were shedding bronze feathers. It seemed a shame, but we couldn't fix them, and couldn't leave them around for the mortals, so we stuffed the wings in trash bins outside the cafeteria.

"Where they can rot next to cat litter and corpses," Thalia shivered in disgust one last time.

"I can't believe Annabeth wasn't having a conniption fit about throwing away something he made," Magnus admitted.

"I like to imagine Rachel kept a feather as a souvenir at least," Jason said with a sad smile. He definitely liked the idea of flying, it sounded immensely comforting, the idea of lounging on a cloud.

"I can't believe Daedalus still never found a way to make those better long-range," Alex looked wholly upset at a clearly failed experiment. "That had to be his life's work, right? To find a perfect set of wings that could have saved his son. I hope he never finds out they still wouldn't have worked."

"I don't think I go out of my way to mention it," Percy's promise felt lackluster, he didn't exactly have a good feeling about meeting Daedalus again...though the fact that he felt anything at all for it was a cause of concern all its own.

I used the tourist binocular camera to look up at the hill where Daedalus's workshop had been, but it had vanished. No more smoke. No broken windows. Just the side of a hill.

"Have I mentioned how awfully convenient it is your world just cleans up after itself like that," Magnus shook his head in a kind of daze all that was so close and yet so far from the world.

"Now if only we could convince the monsters and gods and titans to stop getting the world killed and we'd have it made," Percy nodded, crossing his hands behind his head and lounging back.

"The workshop moved," Annabeth guessed. "There's no telling where."

"So what do we do now?" I asked. "How do we get back in the maze?"

Percy smiled in surprise nobody pointed out a better way back to Camp would be Blackjack, because it wasn't the way of getting there. Grover and Tyson were still trapped in there, and the Camp was already as warned as they could be. They weren't going home until everybody in the quest was back together.

Annabeth gazed at the summit of Pikes Peak in the distance. "Maybe we can't. If Daedalus died...he said his life force was tied into the Labyrinth. The whole thing might've been destroyed. Maybe that will stop Luke's invasion."

"Along with Luke," Thalia said lowly. She knew that didn't happen, but there was a tiny kernel of relief in her that Annabeth had said it.

The troubled look on Percy's face meant Annabeth might not have said it with any hope, but even the acknowledgment of it gave Thalia some sense of peace Annabeth wasn't totally delusional about Luke's end.

I thought about Grover and Tyson, still down there somewhere.

Percy decidedly did not like the hesitant moment of silence that followed that sentence. He knew Alex wasn't doing it on purpose as a respectful moment because they were probably dead, but it sure felt that way to Percy for that one, horrible beat.

And Daedalus...even though he'd done some terrible things and put everybody I cared about at risk, it seemed like a pretty horrible way to die.

Will smiled at Percy, a really tender expression Percy couldn't begin to guess at. Will couldn't help it, the only person Percy had yet shown zero remorse for was Gabe. It was obviously not common around camp to get to hear insights of what everybody was thinking, Will just genuinely enjoyed the moment of hearing the constant and probable deaths on these quests weren't so easily glossed over.

"No," Nico said. "He isn't dead."

"How can you be sure?" I asked.

"I know when people die. It's this feeling I get, like a buzzing in my ears."

"Is that where that saying comes if your ears are buzzing somebody's talking about you?" Magnus asked.

"No," Nico shrugged, "I have no idea what started that myth."

"Happens to me every time I blow my nose," Jason rolled his eyes. Thalia swallowed a hysterical laugh the same thing actually happened to her, and she didn't think it was related to this nonsense.

"Hades kids get all the good superstitions," Will chuckled, "all I get is somebody blaming my dad for their allergies."

"The real question is, do Percy's ears buzz every time somebody pee's in the ocean," Alex said saintly.

"I wish I could ban you from the room," Percy frowned at him while Nico tried hard to stifle a laugh and was failing.

"What about Tyson and Grover, then?"

Nico shook his head. "That's harder. They're not humans or half-bloods. They don't have mortal souls."

"Cool," Magnus said with a blank look on his face like he wasn't sure if he meant that or not while Percy started chewing on his lip hard.

Will still gave Nico a hopeful smile though. This was the first time Nico had blatantly talked about even a hint of his powers in his past and nobody was reacting poorly at all. If anything it sounded like they really wanted to know more and just weren't sure how to phrase it.

"We have to get into town," Annabeth decided. "Our chances will be better of finding an entrance to the Labyrinth.

"Why?" Alex looked truly dumbfounded at that train of thought. "You literally know of one in your own woods. The location seems purely random."

"Man do I wish somebody had made a map of these so we could try and discern a pattern," Jason said with a smile like cherishing a long-lost loved one.

"Dude, please keep going before Jason starts writing calculations on the wall," Percy groaned.

We have to make it back to camp before Luke and his army."

"Could Rachel even get you to Camp through the labyrinth?" Jason puzzled. "If mortals aren't allowed in, which would trump the other?"

"Monsters can't get in either, but we're not betting on the maze to keep them out," Percy frowned too though as he wasn't sure if Rachel would just smack into an invisible barrier. No way would they leave her behind in there for any reason, but who knew where the nearest entrance would pop them out at.

"We could just take a plane," Rachel said.

I shuddered. "I don't fly."

"But you just did."

"That was low flying," I said, "and even that's risky. Flying up really high—that's Zeus's territory. I can't do it.

"Important things Rachel should know for future interactions with you," Thalia said agreeably.

"And yet you've flown in every adventure so far," Jason chuckled.

"I don't consider getting thrown into the stratosphere by a ship exploding flying," Percy sighed.

"And yet Zeus probably never will forgive you for it," Thalia reminded.

Besides, we don't even have time for a flight. The labyrinth is the quickest way back."

Nico pursed his lips and wondered if Percy would accept a shadow-traveling trip from his dark creepy powers if it would have gotten them back in time to save the camp. He couldn't have done it back then, to many people, he certainly hadn't the skill for it, but the thought fluttered like a shedding bronze feather in his mind...as he next wondered what Will would say if had to experience that...

I didn't want to say it, but I was also hoping that maybe, just maybe, we would find Grover and Tyson along the way.

Alex had to bite back the comment about Percy being an optimist. Those two could be in France or Utah, or dead for all he knew.

With Rachel as guide though, there was a slim chance he would find them again, and Alex liked to blame that idea more on logic than these weirdos rubbing off on him.

"So we need a car to take us into the city," Annabeth said.

Rachel looked down into the parking lot. She grimaced, as if she were about to do something she regretted. "I'll take care of it."

"Rachel can hotwire a car," Magnus said at once with absolute confidence. Was she a runaway? It seemed to fit.

"Why does Nico feel like the only good influence friend you have?" Will frowned, even knowing that wasn't true. "The rest of you nutjobs are all out here doing every illegal, objectionable, immoral, or obnoxious thing I could name, he's the only one actively choosing not to kill people."

"That's not a very high bar Will," Nico rolled his eyes.

"And yet you're still winning," Percy shrugged.

"How?" Annabeth asked.

"Just trust me."

Annabeth looked uneasy, but she nodded. "Okay,

"Prog...proggress?" Jason tried to say. At least she didn't offer a snarky comment instead.

"It takes her a while to get there, but she does trust people," Thalia said patiently.

"Exhibit A," Percy shouted, raising his hand with pride.

I'm going to buy a prism in the gift shop, try to make a rainbow, and send an Iris-message to camp."

"Did Rachel understand any of those words?" Will asked with twitching lips.

"I'm going to buy a rainbow and talk to my also fruity friends, seems plain enough," Alex nodded.

"I'll go with you," Nico said. "I'm hungry."

It also didn't hurt to get away from Percy for a second, Nico happily kept to himself. He'd only been back in his presence for twenty minutes, tops, and already several fantasies had come true about monsters and buildings exploding. All that was missing was the slow, dramatic walk away from it all as he brushed his hair aside.

The reality looking back was much grungier. Percy's shirt had been singed, he'd had a desperately unhappy look in his eyes as he worried about his missing friends and the impending attack. There had been no hand-holding or swooning from anybody.

"I'll stick with Rachel, then," I said. "Meet you guys in the parking lot."

Rachel frowned like she didn't want me with her. That made me feel kind of bad, but I followed her down to the parking lot anyway.

"Because if Percy ever took a hint we'd all have like, half as many problems," Thalia chuckled.

"There could have been very fearsome monsters in that parking lot," Percy insisted. There really was no point in reminding his curiosity on how she was going to make that happen would never let him walk away from this.

She headed toward a big black car parked at the edge of the lot. It was a chauffeured Lexus, like the kind I always saw driving around Manhattan.

The driver was out front, reading a newspaper. He wore a dark suit and tie.

"Easy money his name is Jeeves," Alex said with a very calculating look of where this was going.

"Or Jarvis, or Alfred, come on Alex, don't stereotype," Percy snorted.

"What are you going to do?" I asked Rachel.

"Beat him up, steal his keys," Thalia said with all the sarcastic confidence she had.

"Finally reveal how Annabeth chased that guy out of the car wash, all without planning on duplicating her of course," Jason smirked.

"Kick him in the shins and run for it while expecting Percy to hotwire the car," Magnus offered. Hey, he was from New York, maybe she just assumed he knew how.

"Just wait here," she said miserably. "Please."

Rachel marched straight up to the driver and talked to him. He frowned.

Rachel said something else. He turned pale and hastily folded up his magazine. He nodded and fumbled for his cell phone. After a brief call, he opened the back door of the car for Rachel to get in.

Percy watched in sympathetic commiseration as four mouths opened in shock around him. Will had certainly never heard about this at Camp, and it made Rachel's mystic arcane powers seem even more enchanting she'd been doing this before she spewed green smoke.

"She's a secret siren! I knew Percy couldn't have a normal friend!" Magnus yelped.

"What does that make you," Percy's frown was just as confused as his though.

"I never claimed to be normal," Magnus snorted.

Alex was rubbing the back of his neck though with a very contemplative look on his face. Rachel sure knew how to get around for a mortal, and he knew of one sure fire way that could be accomplished...though it didn't track at all with her going to a public school Percy would attend...unless...

She pointed back in my direction, and the driver bobbed his head some more, like Yes, ma'am. Whatever you want.

"Would you like a space necklace from the Cupar system? Would you like my firstborn child?!" Thalia said sycophantically.

"Mock me all you like, I am this close to stealing that book away and getting answers without your help, Pine Fresh," Percy sighed.

"And miss all my brilliant commentary," she sniffed, giving him a good hard poke in his spleen just because she could. He yelped in surprise while Alex went on, for once ignoring the casual violence in curiosity if there was any proof to his theory.

I couldn't figure out why he was acting so flustered.

"It's called having manners Percy, I know that's a really foreign idea to you," Jason told, but he was to bemused himself to hold much weight.

Rachel came back to get me just as Nico and Annabeth appeared from the gift shop.

"With not a snack in sight I might add," Percy said, taking his troubled eyes off the book to throw an accusing glare at Nico. "If you stuffed Skittles up your sleeve, I hope you share!"

"Annabeth and I weren't exactly walking around with spare change," Nico reminded with a raised brow. "She went to the bathroom with that prism to get any good light and water for her rainbow and I kept lookout nobody went in the podunk, lucky it was working, one-room bathroom." Percy noticed he didn't deny the claim of stolen sweets though as his stomach rumbled.

"I talked to Chiron," Annabeth said. "They're doing their best to prepare for battle, but he still wants us back. They're going to need every hero they can get.

Percy waited for the smart-ass crack about how he and Annabeth alone were going to turn the tide of battle...but it didn't come. Percy felt a sense of pride they had as much faith in his camp as he did, though the troubled look on Will's face still promised it hadn't exactly been a clean sweep of a victory with or without them.

Did we find a ride?"

"We found an alien abduction in progress," Magnus muttered.

"The driver's ready when we are," Rachel said.

The chauffeur was now talking to another guy in khakis and a polo shirt, probably his client who'd rented the car. The client was complaining, but I could hear the driver saying, "I'm sorry, sir. Emergency. I've ordered another car for you."

"If Rachel was claiming that, I would expect to see a lot more blood," Alex said cynically with a raised brow. "I don't see her or Annabeth pulling the 'my water broke' line."

"She's an artist, I would think she'd commit to the bit more, be screaming her heart out at minimum," Percy mockingly agreed.

"Come on," Rachel said. She led us to the car and got in without even looking at the flustered guy who'd rented it. A minute later we were cruising down the road.

"You and Annabeth didn't question this at all?" Magnus asked of Nico.

"We just flew down from a window in the mountain where an emposua and Canadians tried to kill us, a mortal not asking questions why we were using his car was the blessing of the day," Nico scoffed.

Magnus sighed, he'd thought he'd gotten better about keeping up with the weirdness of all this, but clearly he was starting to fall behind again.

The seats were leather. There was plenty of legroom. The backseat had flat-panel TVs built into the headrests and a mini-fridge stocked with bottled water, sodas, and snacks. We started pigging out.

"The only way to travel," Thalia shook her head in exasperation. "You should have abducted this girl back at the Hoover Dam Percy, she would have gotten us a free ride the rest of the way west too in luxray."

"I'm sorry kidnapping wasn't my first train of thought," Percy said blandly.

'It sure was Artimes's' Nico kept the burning comment to himself, and it wasn't as painful as he'd thought it was as it lit and dimmed in him quickly.

"Where to, Miss Dare?" the driver asked.

"I'm not sure yet, Robert," she said.

"Damn, guess you lost that easy money Alex," Percy chuckled.

"I'll make it back by betting when you next say something illegal, objectionable, immoral, or obnoxious." He easily promised.

Percy sighed, he should have known he'd be the sole contender on that list. Ah well, he was used to taking the blame anyway.

"We just need to drive through town and, uh, look around."

"Whatever you say, miss."

I looked at Rachel. "Do you know this guy?"

"No."

"And here my next theory was long lost cousin and blackmail," Jason admitted.

"But he dropped everything to help you. Why?"

"Just keep your eyes peeled," she said. "Help me look."

Which didn't exactly answer my question.

"Oh, well that's a relief, I thought I was just lagging behind again," Magnus frowned.

"Not in this room buddy, one speed only," Percy agreed.

We drove through Colorado Springs for about half an hour and saw nothing that Rachel considered a possible Labyrinth entrance. I was very aware of Rachel's shoulder pressing against mine. I kept wondering who she was exactly, and how she could walk up to some random chauffeur and immediately get a ride.

"Is that what it takes to impress you?" Nico asked in exasperation. "I bet I could do that." Not that he wanted to... it was the principle of the matter...

"Do I need to add a clause about not giving said chauffeur a heart attack?" Percy demanded with a raised brow.

"Well that rules out Annabeth too, guess Rachel gets to keep this unique skill to herself," Will chuckled.

"Yeah, but Rachel ate all the peanuts," Percy grinned, "I have to say, it dulled some of her mystique."

After about an hour we decided to head north toward Denver, thinking that maybe a bigger city would be more likely to have a Labyrinth entrance, but we were all getting nervous. We were losing time.

Then right as we were leaving Colorado Springs, Rachel sat bolt upright. "Get off the highway!"

"That's better than screaming, oh my god monster, but somehow not by much," Magnus sighed.

"I was half expecting her to see vampires running alongside the car," Jason admitted.

The driver glanced back. "Miss?"

"I saw something, I think. Get off here."

The driver swerved across traffic and took the exit.

Alex's gleefully evil eyes were back on full display, clearly plotting whatever diabolical thing he'd do with someone willing to dart across traffic on a whim. It only made Magnus piss his pants a little.

"What did you see?" I asked, because we were pretty much out of the city now. There wasn't anything around except hills, grassland, and some scattered farm buildings. Rachel had the driver turn down this unpromising dirt road. We drove by a sign too fast for me to read it, but Rachel said, "Western Museum of Mining & Industry."

For a museum, it didn't look like much—a little house like an oldfashioned railroad station, some drills and pumps and old steam shovels on display outside.

"You've been spoiled by visiting all the good museums already," Thalia reminded. "This is probably their major economy or something Percy, be a little more respectful."

"It's going to take a lot more steam shovels for that to happen, I demand hydraulics," Percy smirked.

"There." Rachel pointed to a hole in the side of a nearby hill—a tunnel that was boarded up and chained. "An old mine entrance."

"A door to the Labyrinth?" Annabeth asked. "How can you be sure?"

"Why is she still wasting her breath questioning this?" Nico asked in exhaustion.

"Someboyd's got to double-check our work around there, and it's not going to be me," Percy shrugged.

"Well, look at it!" Rachel said. "I mean...I can see it, okay?"

She thanked the driver and we all got out. He didn't ask for money or anything.

There was an awkward pause where everybody expected somebody to say something. Alex didn't blurt out any wild ideas about mind control, Jason didn't offer any theories of how she pulled that off though.

There was just silence as they all tried to process for a moment if this guy had just done a random nice thing for a bunch of kids.

"Are you sure you'll be all right, Miss Dare? I'd be happy to call your—"

"No!" Rachel said. "No, really. Thanks, Robert. But we're fine."

Rachel had watched him go with a look on her face Nico had recognized at the time with no clue why. Percy and Annabeth had turned attention at once to their destination, but looking back he saw now she was regretting her 'power.' Her ability to manipulate someone into doing her bidding just by invoking her father's name. It was a heedy power she toed the line with he still struggled against.

The museum seemed to be closed, so nobody bothered us as we climbed the hill to the mine shaft. When we got to the entrance, I saw the mark of Daedalus engraved on the padlock, though how Rachel had seen something so tiny all the way from the highway I had no idea.

"A valid question," Jason promised, "though I'm over here wondering who went around and put all those marks up. Did Daedalus play Where's Waldo with a US map and throw darts?"

Magnus still took an extra second to realize he was talking about Quintus, that it was possible he'd been alive so long he'd lived in every city in the states, had moved west with every new plot of land and done this himself for his own means. The idea melted his mind.

I touched the padlock and the chains fell away. We kicked down a few boards and walked inside.

For better or worse, we were back in the Labyrinth.

"Worse. I'm pretty confident it's going to be worse," Percy said with entirely to much confidence for the guy who had lived through it and couldn't remember.

The dirt tunnels turned to stone. They wound around and split off and basically tried to confuse us, but Rachel had no trouble guiding us. We told her we needed to get back to New York, and she hardly even paused when the tunnels offered a choice.

To my surprise, Rachel and Annabeth started up a conversation as we walked. Annabeth asked her more about her background, but Rachel was evasive, so they started talking about architecture. It turned out that Rachel knew something about it from studying art. They talked about different facades on buildings around New York—"Have you seen this one," blah, blah, blah,

"I get the feeling Percy was riveted by this conversation," Jason snorted in amusement, and deeply wishing he could fill in the blanks of those blahs. He was now right along with Percy in his jealousy of the universe neither girl was here!

"I'm just over here glad she's finally making friends," Thalia said with a proud smile. She worried about that a bit when she'd left for the Hunters. She knew Annabeth had Percy, and everybody in Camp respected her, but in the time they'd spent together in the mortal world catching up, her little sister hadn't exactly given a list of friends she missed at Camp. She missed the freedom of walking around on the green grass and strawberry fields without a hall pass, and the activities, and avoiding the harpies when she wanted out after curfew to sneak down to the ocean, but just a few sparse details about her half-siblings.

Another thing she'd once resented Percy for but now found herself more than grateful to. The boy made friends everywhere he went, and his friends were going to be Annabeth's friends if they wanted to stay that way.

so I hung back and walked next to Nico in uncomfortable silence.

"No, Percy, say it ain't so. Tell me how you really feel," Nico said deadpan.

"I could have started whistling show tunes to ease the mood," Percy offered just as sarcastically. "There's a pretty wild swing on people who love and hate that though, I don't know you well enough to guess."

"Imagine if someone had actually locked them in a room together," Alex said with way to much critical thinking in the tone of his voice. "Two opposing personalities, that Big Bad Kid 3 whatever tension hitting its breaking point, they'd have either killed each other or come out as best friends."

"Isn't that how everybody makes friends?" Percy shrugged, throwing an arm over Thalia's shoulders.

She smacked him and scoffed, "if we were locked in a room together they'd never find the body."

Nico scratched at his ear and decided to keep the thoughts to himself; A, they were once trapped in a room together and Percy did consider killing him and B, they were locked in a room together now and nobody had actively started killing yet; so it really was anybodys guess how this would end.

"Thanks for coming after us," I told him at last.

Will smiled that of course Percy's first instinct was to thank Nico.

Nico, however, couldn't help a little twitch under his skin that the last person who had thanked Percy was Kronos, and didn't appreciate all the easy parallel lines he could always draw there.

Nico's eyes narrowed. He didn't seem as angry as he used to—just suspicious, careful.

It seemed to be how he'd mellowed out to now, Jason noticed. Gone was that happy little kid, but at least this quiet, suspicious, careful kid didn't seem to have a hint of homicidal return. He just seemed kind of sad. Jason didn't even remember how he used to be and he cracked a smile whenever he found the easiest chance.

"I owed you for the ranch, Percy. Plus...I wanted to see Daedalus for myself. Minos was right, in a way. Daedalus should die. Nobody should be able to avoid death that long. It's not natural."

"What is natural anyways?" Thalia said with a challenging smirk. "Fire doesn't occur without a biological factor, and yet we have Greek fire." Here Nico was mocking Annabeth for wanting to always make sense when he thought he could raise the dead and have natural order.

Fire- occurs- endless gasless fire- gas feeds fire- wait what is gas again- oh right- "Dinosaurs still exist as gas," Percy sounded like he was agreeing even as he went cross-eyed. "Hey, do you think the gods rode on them? I bet they all fought over who would win in fights like we still do. Bet I could ask my dad-"

He was forced to stop his verbal ADHD rant at the loud laughter and then chuckled along until Alex got his breath back enough to keep going. He really wished Riptide would work as a pen right now though, he wanted to jot that one on his hand to ask later.

"That's what you were after all along," I said. "Trading Daedalus's soul for your sister's."

"You know what, I take it all back," Magnus rolled his eyes, "Percy does have a filter, it's just so dam clotted with blonde hair the only thoughts that don't come through are when you won't shut up about how pretty my cousin is."

"I'm always slipping through the cracks!" Nico somehow managed to make that sound like a good thing as Will looked at him in concern.

"What?" Percy still asked blankly like he couldn't figure out why anyone would scold him for bringing up a sensitive topic.

Nico walked for another fifty yards before answering. "It hasn't been easy, you know. Having only the dead for company. Knowing that I'll never be accepted by the living. Only the dead respect me, and they only do that out of fear."

Jason's mouth ticked, and he had no clue. It wasn't pleasant, to suddenly have a lurching inside him that made him wonder if he'd ever described himself like that with no clue why...but the feeling was fleeting and didn't linger as his headache immediately overrode the sensation.

Percy was biting his tongue hard, proving Magnus's statement false once again as he stopped himself saying maybe that wouldn't be a problem if he hadn't run away in the first place! If he could use the maze and the ghosts to figure out how to get around, he could have come back to camp.

"You could be accepted," I said. "You could have friends at camp."

He stared at me. "Do you really believe that, Percy?"

I didn't answer. The truth was, I didn't know. Nico had always been a little different, but since Bianca's death, he'd gotten almost...scary. He had his father's eyes—that intense, manic fire that made you suspect he was either a genius or a madman. And the way he'd banished Minos, and called himself the king of ghosts—it was kind of impressive, but it made me uncomfortable too.

"Sorry," Percy said it like a knee-jerk reaction. Like he was still on the roof about to catch him before he fell, and yet his hand twitched in his lap like he'd pull away just as fast.

Nico knew he was apologizing the thought was said out loud, not because he'd thought it.

Which was kind of a relief. A nice feeling to know what Percy really thought of him instead of constantly wondering and guessing. It's not like there had ever been a question, but getting the answer was still appreciated. Somewhere deep down. "Uhhu," was all Nico could think to say to that.

Was Percy apologizing, saying he shouldn't come back to camp because he wouldn't be accepted? He knew that. And yet Percy made a face like there were dancing skeletons doing the tango every time it was mentioned he'd run away.

"Percy's just uncomfortable around anyone competent, like Thalia and Annabeth obviously," Alex scoffed - "Hey," Percy sighed- "We accept you Nico," he reminded, looking a touch hurt he wasn't everybody's first and last thought.

"Because you've been stuck in a room with me for days and I haven't killed you all," his biting sarcasm held no weight though, he found that an odd anomaly.

"I mean, that's a bonus, not the point," Jason snorted, waving a mocking hand at Percy who pretended to look offended.

Nico struggled to answer with the sudden heat in his face. Will and Percy wouldn't have let these guys murder Luke if he'd been trapped in here, it wasn't the same. They were kicking it in luxury survival mode and would all part ways the moment they could.

"It doesn't have to be like that Nico," Will said robustly like he'd read his mind, a stern edge in his voice like he was daring anyone to say anything now.

Yet even Thalia, who knew his contribution during the Titan war, looked a little to guilty as her eyes shifted from Percy to Nico and chose not to say anything. She thought Will naive, Children of the Big Three didn't get that balance between respect and friendship, Percy seemed unique in that. She'd certainly lived the experience in her short months at camp with everybody avoiding eye contact and afraid to step on her toes lest she electrocute them. The only ones who had never been like that were Luke, Annabeth, and Percy.

"It doesn't matter now," Nico sounded calm, factual. "I'll never know the difference, they all know so it won't feel real."

Percy went crosseyed in confusion when the Camp found out about this but Will wasn't letting go that easily.

"I'm not saying you'll be universally loved! I can't stand Ashely McNabb, I swear she has Munchausen's as much as she's in the infirmary complaining about something! Nobody is, have you met Clarisse?" He threw his hands up in exasperation, ruffling the hair along Nico's neck. "We took in Chris without question! We would have taken in Ethan despite how hard that would have been on a lot of kids who still feel betrayed by Luke and wouldn't believe some idiot would flip-flop on sides like that. You could at least give the place a real chance to prove that."

Nico didn't outright answer. Something about having a solid future like that ahead made him queasy. He still felt that need to go into Tartarus, to find out what was happening down there, and he didn't believe he could do both without being some sort of infectious plague on the camp.

When it was apparent Nico and Will were just going to have a staring contest over there, Alex kept reading. Not that this wasn't a riveting debate over universal morals, but whoever blinked first would just ruin the tension anyway and he'd rather do that himself.

Before I could figure out what to tell him, I ran into Rachel, who'd stopped in front of me.

"That's one way to end an awkward conversation," Magnus muttered. "I might just get up and run into a wall next time it starts getting to quiet in here."

"I'll have the camera ready," Alex promised without looking up.

We'd come to a crossroads. The tunnel continued straight ahead, but a side tunnel T'd off to the right—a circular shaft carved from volcanic rock.

"Do you go diamond mining?" Thalia asked with such a horribly painful build-up in her throat she was sure that didn't sound intelligible.

"I do not," Percy said with a dull flush on his face for whom his mind jumped to.

"What is it?" I asked.

Rachel stared down the dark tunnel. In the dim flashlight beam, her face looked like one of Nico's specters.

"Which is not an effect of proximity from being around him," Will added cheerfully like somebody was going to rush and check a mirror.

Yet only Nico looked soothed when nobody moved. Will would have rolled his eyes at him if it wasn't just a touch more sad.

"Is it that way?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Rachel said nervously. "Not at all."

"Why are we stopping then?" I asked.

"To make sure you're keeping up?" Jason offered.

"Not in the slightest," Percy sighed.

"Listen," Nico said.

I heard wind coming down the tunnel, as if the exit were close. And I smelled something vaguely familiar—something that brought back bad memories.

"Eucalyptus trees," I said. "Like in California."

"How's that abdication of cough drops going?" Thalia asked, wishing to plug her own nose up at just the thought.

"Surprisingly well, I don't get the flu or allergies very much," Percy resisted the urge to stuff his tongue down his throat to gag up any smell that wasn't in the memory of his nose.

Last winter, when we'd faced Luke and the Titan Atlas on top of Mount Tamalpais, the air had smelled like that.

Percy swallowed a lump in his throat as the thought easily echoed around his brain now. He'd meant to say that out loud, to warn Rachel and Nico what could have been at the other end of that tunnel, but the words had lodged in place to just leave his head feeling cluttered.

"There's something evil down that tunnel," Rachel said. "Something very powerful."

"And the smell of death," Nico added, which made me feel a whole lot better.

"The two usually go hand in hand," Jason agreed blandly, even as his innards squirmed at the idea of Percy going back there. He had no reason to...and yet Jason really wanted him to. Any time Percy got near California, and especially this mountain, the powerful feeling of his memories was always right on the cusp of being understood, no matter how painful it was.

Annabeth and I exchanged glances.

"Luke's entrance," she guessed.

"Gods, if she starts naming all the tunnels and actually trying to map this place out again you'll never leave," Alex said with an awkward laugh that still managed to sound genuine to everyone but him.

"The one to Mount Othrys—the Titans' palace."

"I have to check it out," I said.

"Percy, no."

"Two words that have never done any good," Thalia snorted.

"So we know if she ever says Percy, yes, I'll be unstoppable," Percy grinned.

"Luke could be right here," I said. "Or...or Kronos. I have to find out what's going on."

Annabeth hesitated. "Then we'll all go."

There was a collective wince around the room that Percy didn't cause this time. Absolutely nobody seemed to think it was a good idea to put Annabeth back around Luke, and yet, none of them would have tried arguing the point with her. Last time she and Percy had separated...hadn't ended well.

"No," I said. "It's too dangerous. If they got hold of Nico, or Rachel for that matter, Kronos could use them. You stay here and guard them."

Nico still felt just as small and unseen as he had then, and he still hated himself for that hold Percy would always seem to have over him no matter how desensitized he became to his crush. He didn't need guarding! He, unlike Percy and Annabeth, had never been fooled by Luke! He should have been the one to go!

He'd been about to slip away to prove as much when those girls seemingly agreed with that decision.

A very large part of him had wanted to tell Annabeth and Rachel to hit the road. To split up. He and Percy could handle this while they went to warn camp, it would have been perfect, he could have navigated the maze just fine.

And yet, he'd been far to much of a coward back then to voice such a thing, and it never would have had a good outcome. Percy would never see him as anything more than what they were now. Maybe acquaintances, possibly friends.

What I didn't say: I was also worried about Annabeth. I didn't trust what she would do if she saw Luke again. He had fooled her and manipulated her too many times before.

"Percy, don't," Rachel said. "Don't go up there alone."

"I'll be quick," I promised. "I won't do anything stupid."

Jason made a terribly mocking scoff as he looked at Percy in concern. "You can't even ask yourself what would Annabeth do to avoid that because she's just as bad!"

"Then I follow my own instincts, they've gotten me this far," Percy said simply.

"We're all doomed," Jason did not look very reassured.

Annabeth took her Yankees cap out of her pocket. "At least take this. And be careful."

"Thanks." I remembered the last time Annabeth and I had parted ways, when she'd given me a kiss for luck in Mount St. Helens. This time, all I got was the hat.

"I guess this decision isn't that stupid," Will grinned. "She only shows you affection when she's scared, so she's not that worried about you this time."

"Yeah, that's it," Percy sighed. "So what you're saying is, I should have decided to walk in backward and pretended to join their side."

"Annabeth definitely would have kissed you again if that was the stupid plan you went with," Jason rolled his eyes.

"You're assuming he had a plan at all," Thalia stage whispered.

I put it on. "Here goes nothing." And I sneaked invisibly down the dark stone tunnel.*

"And the countdown for the next disaster begins," Percy sighed for everybody this time. It did not help what a horrible feeling this place was giving him, like this quick trip to Mount Tam wasn't going to be any better than the last time.

Before I even got to the exit I heard voices: the growling, barking sounds of sea-demon smiths, the telekhines.

Percy looked mildly offended his awful stunt hadn't even vaporized all of these things. Either that or they'd just regenerated that fast because his luck was truly the worst.

"At least we salvaged the blade," one said. "The master will still reward us."

Magnus's mind flashed to a guy who lived near the local landfill who salvaged anything of value and then threw it in the ocean where he was sure his master dwelled and would one day call out to him. He was now vaguely concerned if Poseidon or some other ocean spirit could put curses on mortals or something.

"Yes! Yes!" a second shrieked. "Rewards beyond measure!"

"I wonder if they share that with all their telekhine kind, or if they're just the greedy ones who are going to hoard it for generations," Alex huffed.

"Like Kronos is going to hold up his end of the bargain anyways," Jason scoffed.

Thalia felt a horrible feeling deep in her chest that made her want to scream. This would be the last time they'd be able to speak about Kronos in the abstract...soon they'd all have a face to attach to the Titan, one she'd never wanted to look away from once.

Another voice, this one more human, said: "Um, yeah, well that's great. Now, if you're done with me—"

"No, half-blood!" a telekhine said. "You must help us make the presentation. It is a great honor!"

"Oh, well in that case," Magnus blew a raspberry and flipped off the monsters that had nearly killed Percy.

Percy chuckled appreciatively, but his stomach twisted hard at how familiar that voice had sounded. Apparently, no good deed was going to go unpunished.

"Gee, thanks," the half-blood said, and I realized it was Ethan Nakamura, the guy who'd run away after I'd saved his sorry life in the arena.

"Is this an ad to never save somebody's life again?" Thalia asked, that sick feeling in her slowly but steadily rising up, her face growing hot. "I'm thinking about throwing my hat in with that sponsorship."

"Don't forget to do a thorough background check Thals," Percy said with a deep frown of concern at her. He knew she was just kidding, she'd no more stand around and watch someone die than he would, but it was an especially bleak joke from her. There were shadows flickering in her dark blue eyes that had nothing to do with this dark room hinting when her mind really was.

I crept toward the end of the tunnel. I had to remind myself I was invisible. They shouldn't be able to see me.

"Doesn't mean you should start slacking," Jason said sharply.

"Yeah, I was going to start singing opera music or something, I thought that would be real subtle," Percy rolled his eyes.

"You don't even know any opera songs," Alex accused.

"You got me, it was going to be Led Zepplin," Percy grinned.

Thalia laughed in surprise, though she visibly winced too. Percy frowned steadily at her, that look on his face she hated the most. It was usually the dumbass expression that meant he noticed something when he was supposed to be helping her fight.

A blast of cold air hit me as I emerged. I was standing near the top of Mount Tam. The Pacific Ocean spread out below, gray under a cloudy sky.

About twenty feet downhill, two telekhines were placing something on a big rock—something long and thin and wrapped in a black cloth. Ethan was helping them open it.

"Careful, fool," the telekhine scolded. "One touch, and the blade will sever your soul from your body."

Ethan swallowed nervously. "Maybe I'll let you unwrap it, then."

"Not so brave now Percy's not about to be the one to kill him," Alex frowned.

"Thanks, I feel real special," Percy frowned along.

I glanced up at the mountain's peak, where a black marble fortress loomed, just like I'd seen in my dreams. It reminded me of an oversized mausoleum, with walls fifty feet high. I had no idea how mortals could miss the fact that it was here.

"Mount Olympus hangs above New York," Magnus was the one to remind with a completely blank face, "I'm so done questioning this." However, the fact that his face still ticked proved that a minor lie and he was just done begging the world to make sense of it.

But then again, everything below the summit seemed fuzzy to me, as if there were a thick veil between me and the lower half of the mountain.

Thalia tried hard to swallow, but it felt like her body was fighting her, she could taste the acid swiftly climbing. It had nothing to do with heights for once.

There was magic going on here—really powerful Mist.

Above me, the sky swirled into a huge funnel cloud. I couldn't see Atlas, but I could hear him groaning in the distance, still laboring under the weight of the sky, just beyond the fortress.

Percy still could have pointed to the exact boulder Zoe had been thrown into. He blinked rapidly against his painful eyes as he remembered Calypso.

He wished he could somehow add a few extra layers to Atlas's punishment.

"There!" the telekhine said. Reverently, he lifted the weapon, and my blood turned to ice.

It was a scythe—a six foot-long blade curved like a crescent moon, with a wooden handle wrapped in leather. The blade glinted two different colors— steel and bronze.

Percy rubbed his thigh where that blade had once sliced right through him. He exchanged a troubled look with Thalia, the hurt and vengeance all mingled together like the forge that had done this. Luke had used that to cut off everybody who mattered to him in service of Kronos...and they hoped it wasn't worth it.

"Is that a special telekhine ability only?" Alex asked with a rather sad smile for still getting a joke in. "If they steal my weapon, will they give me back a better one? Does the stealing have to be explicit, or do they do trades for volcanos?"

"I get the feeling that sword was a gift Alex, and Luke gave it back to them willingly," Jason told him with bland sarcasm.

"Killjoy," Alex rolled his eyes at murdering such fantasies of thieving gone right.

It was the weapon of Kronos, the one he'd used to slice up his father, Ouranos, before the gods had taken it away from him and cut Kronos to pieces, casting him into Tartarus. Now the weapon was re-forged.

"We must sanctify it in blood," the telekhine said. "Then you, half-blood, shall help present it when the lord awakes."

"But he didn't even win his fight!" Thalia protested. "What was he doing there in a place of honor?" She said that like one would of a porta potty.

"They got desperate and used the only fool they could grab," Jason scowled.

I ran toward the fortress, my pulse pounding in my ears. I didn't want to get anywhere close to that horrible black mausoleum, but I knew what I had to do. I had to stop Kronos from rising. This might be my only chance.

There was ominous silence in the room for several moments.

Then they realized Alex was just pausing dramatically for effect before he took a breath to keep going. Percy almost wished he wouldn't. He had a bad feeling about this, and not once had this kind of gut-deep bad feeling turned out to be wrong.

I dashed through a dark foyer and into the main hall. The floor shined like a mahogany piano—pure black and yet full of light. Black marble statues lined the walls. I didn't recognize the faces, but I knew I was looking at images of the Titans who'd ruled before the gods. At the end of the room, between two bronze braziers, was a dais. And on the dais, the golden sarcophagus.

The room was silent except for the crackle of the fires. Luke wasn't here.

No guards. Nothing.

"It's to easy," Magnus finally couldn't help but state the obvious.

"Which has never happened in my life and I'm finally owed one!" Percy tried to say with triumph, even shaking his fist at the sky like he was daring the god of the heavens himself to smite him for saying otherwise.

It didn't exactly invoke a feeling of safeness and assurance this was going to go well.

It was too easy, but I approached the dais.

Percy sighed and hung his head. Nobody even mocked Magnus for the book copy. It was just that awkwardly silent. "Yeah, I know," Percy said. "Time to play how does it all go wrong?"

"Well, we know it's probably not Dracula in that coffin, or if it is, Kronos has allies cooler than you and I'm not going to be rooting for you anymore, so I'm out," Alex shrugged, and seeing as he had the book, that kind of mattered the most right now.

The sarcophagus was just like I remembered—about ten feet long, much too big for a human. It was carved with elaborate scenes of death and destruction, pictures of the gods being trodden under chariots, temples and famous world landmarks being smashed and burned. The whole coffin gave off an aura of extreme cold, like I was walking into a freezer. My breath began to steam.

I drew Riptide and took a little comfort from the familiar weight of the sword in my hand.

Thalia couldn't help but paint over the image, Percy's black hair turning blond, him shooting up several inches and his eyes turning bright blue; Luke's final moments. Had he walked into the room with confidence and stopped to admire his final resting place with a smile? Had he been crying and regretting this as Kronos egged on his every step? Had he ever prayed to his father for a way out in a last desperate attempt? Would he have checked every corner, hoping beyond hope for someone to show up and help him out of this one last time?

Had he lain down in peace it was finally over?

She still remembered him throwing her arm over his shoulder, supporting all of her weight as she tried to limp along. She'd gasped he should take Annabeth and run, but he hadn't listened to her that time, instead telling her, "you can live with dignity, you can't die with it," and she hadn't said another word about it all the way to his mother's house.

What had been his final thought that day? What would he call this death? What Kronos had done to his body was perverse, as far from dignifying as she could imagine.

Whenever I'd approached Kronos before, his evil voice had spoken in my mind. Why was he silent now?

"Did he finally run out of things to say?" Nico asked without hope. "They say silence speaks louder than words, is he just trying to be louder than your constant internal monolog?"

"I have a feeling he was talking to himself when no one was around to listen in Tartarus, I doubt that's it," Percy was fighting off the urge to shiver in here. His body wasn't cold, only his memory of what was about to come.

He'd been shred into a thousand pieces, cut with his own scythe. What would I find if I opened that lid? How could they make a new body for him?

"Duct tape?" Alex offered.

"I vote a welding torch, it sounds more painful," Jason murmured, and they all felt a thrill of horror as they wondered if that's what Daedalus had done. Given someone other than himself an automaton body.

I had no answers. I just knew that if he was about to rise, I had to strike him down before he got his scythe. I had to figure out a way to stop him.

I stood over the coffin.

Jason looked blearily at the book, his gaze switching from its solid black cover to Percy and Thalia for several moments with deja vu swimming on the brain...before it clicked. Percy had dreamed of this moment once. Standing over this coffin, ready to kill Kronos...was Thalia going to appear again to help get the job done?

She looked just as pale and miserable as she had back then. He understood her expression now, truly one of mourning, which really didn't click with her having any feelings other than triumph over the Titan Lord's defeat. She'd screamed in that dream...a scream of fear for what was inside...

The lid was decorated even more intricately than the sides—with scenes of carnage and power. In the middle was an inscription carved in letters even older than Greek, a language of magic. I couldn't read it, exactly, but I knew what it said: KRONOS, LORD OF TIME.

"What a boring epitaph," Magnus raised a brow. "No, here lie's dad, he tried to eat us all and deserves this. I would have settled for, in loving memory of the dude who birthed us the second time and nothing more."

"Gods just aren't that original Magnus, we've gone over this," Nico scoffed.

"I bet the Titans made it and just couldn't be bothered," Alex rolled his eyes.

My hand touched the lid. My fingertips turned blue. Frost gathered on my sword.

"Guess Jason finally gets his answer about if I can get frostbite," Percy muttered as his stomach turned. He tried to calm it, constantly convince and remind himself nobody could possibly get hurt from this except him and he was fine...maybe he'd finally saved the world with one easy stab and Annabeth would hold his hand and kiss him this time.

Then I heard noises behind me—voices approaching. It was now or never.

I pushed back the golden lid and it fell to the floor with a huge WHOOOOM!

Thalia knew there was nothing she could do to brace herself. She wished there was, she would have done anything to feel prepared for what she knew was coming next, but there was nothing. She just felt cold, and empty, and primed for the pain that every word was going to cause her next.

I lifted my sword, ready to strike. But when I looked inside, I didn't comprehend what I was seeing. Mortal legs, dressed in gray pants. A white T-shirt, hands folded over his stomach. One piece of his chest was missing—a clean black hole about the size of a bullet wound, right where his heart should've been. His eyes were closed. His skin was pale. Blond hair...and a scar running along the left side of his face.

The body in the coffin was Luke's.

She'd known this was coming all along, reliving these horrible memories of Percy's could lead to no other choice of words than those, and yet Thalia still felt that gasp of air pass her lips. A traitorous tear slipped from her cheek.

She couldn't just sit here right now. She didn't care how weak or childish it felt, a betrayal of her own body as she jumped up with bile in her throat blocking her scream of protest.

This was not something she'd ever wanted to hear in vivid detail, and her mind claimed some protection from that as she stormed out of the room without a word...leaving a storm behind.

Percy gave her a thirty-second head start as he dodged a lightning cloud to go after her. Jason muttered something about raincoats as he ducked into the nearest room, but Percy felt eyes on the back of his neck until he very cleverly and with Sherlockian skill figured out which room she'd tried to barricade herself in by the loudest bass guitar he'd ever heard in his life.

He pushed the door open, one hand trying to reflexively come up and cover his ear to stop it bleeding. Thalia was standing with her hand inside the fridge where a large stereo was blasting music, her fingers still managing to fiddle with the links of her bracelet on that wrist awkwardly with the other.**

The lyrics weren't exactly cheery either, what he could make out through the screaming.

He knew he was probably going to get all of his bones shocked like a stupid cartoon outline and his hair would never lie flat again for this, but he went around beside her and waved his hand experimentally in front of her face to at least let her know he was here.

Her mouth twitched, the smallest degree, but her brow furrowed in concentration and somehow the music got louder. His teeth were vibrating in his skull. His eardrums felt like somebody was crumpling up sandpaper in them.

Stubbornness set in though as he leaned closer and blew on her face, disturbing the hair that was swaying along to the beat.

Her eyes snapped open, electricity crackled from her nose and he really hoped she never decided to get a nose ring, but she took her hand off the speaker and it finally dulled into a background noise as his ears popped. If he wasn't in the ocean he'd probably never get his hearing back.

"What are you, five?" She scowled. "You think I'm going to start whining you're breathing the same air as me?"

"Nah," he shrugged, "I just knew if I tapped you on the shoulder you would have murdered me without hesitation. This seemed safer."

"I probably can't kill you down here," she said with the confidence of one who had really considered it. "I don't want to hear the rest of that. Come get me when you're back in the maze."

"Fair," Percy promised. "Just wanted to check if you need anything besides new eardrums first. Punching bag? Black liquorice?"

She smiled against her will he did remember the kind of candy she liked.

He had to ruin the sweet moment though with a classic Percy, "I know you're beating yourself up, and you shouldn't. You couldn't have done anything differently."

"Go away Percy," she ground out, smile vanishing.

"What could you do?" He insisted. "Not saved his life on that hill? Pretend to join his side to talk him out of this? Annabeth thought of every plan and never found one crazy enough to use, you couldn't have changed-"

"I know!" She snapped as loud as the music had been. Thunder rumbled in the distance. "That's the worst part! I know I couldn't have fixed this and I hate him and I hate myself for hating him and I, I hate that I loved him!"

She stopped with a gasp, another exhale of air that fizzled with electricity between them and made Percy's heart zap like a paddle blast he had not needed. He swatted his chest impatiently, ignoring his fingers twitching against their will as his nerves were clearly standing on end too.

He watched her turn away, her hand reaching for the radio. Gods knew how long she'd been holding all that in. He suspected she'd never talked to Annabeth about this, or at least, it hadn't ended any better than grumpy silence if they started, considering that's all he got out of Annabeth defending Luke. He highly suspected she wouldn't talk to the other Hunters about this, the boy-hating club would just take her side and agree Luke wasn't worth the wasted breath and move on.

No one who was willing to listen without taking sides. She just needed space from any judgy opinion.

"Okay," he managed before the spark from her fingers could make contact. "I'll come get you like you asked."

"Thanks," she whispered.

He got to the door, but the music didn't start again.

"Do you really think that Percy?" She asked, face still turned away. "That we really couldn't have done anything differently?"

"Yeah," he said. He didn't need to know the whole story, or if this was all he'd found out in his life and the war was still raging on. He still believed it no matter the outcome, the two of them had done everything they could to save as many lives as possible.

"Right," she muttered with distaste. "So why put myself through listening to it, it won't change anything. It only makes me hate everything I ever remember about him."

"Right," he agreed, "no need to put yourself through that."

She hated Percy for not making this easy on her and insisting she should come hear every detail anyway or ask what she was hiding from. She knew she was playing right into his manipulative hand by falling for the 'I'm only on your side' smile on his face. If she didn't find a way to stab some nonvital part of him through that Achilles curse than she'd consider this trip a failure.

"Right," she echoed as she stomped around the bed.

He stayed in the doorway with that stupid smile. "Sure you don't need anything?"

"Move Perky!"

He stepped aside with his hands raised and she cussed him out all the way back he was taller than her and yet she could still drop-kick his ass. Why was she doing this to herself?!

She felt insane all of a sudden, like she'd been trying to convince herself she could go back to the innocence of it all. She knew all the signs coming and knew how it ended, but there was nothing she could do to turn a blind eye to it anymore. It had hit, and she just had to keep going...

They came back in to see the clouds had mostly subsided to murky black swirls that were escaping and dispersing out of the cracks in every wall, with everybody having an umbrella in hand and chilling in place like this was nothing out of the ordinary.

They were getting oddly good at that.

"How the hell do you make it rain underwater anyways?" Alex asked, sticking his hand out from under the pink and green nylon to catch a few drops, watching it fall through the cracks in the floor with interest.

"Hey Nico," Will grinned, staying close underneath Nico's arm hoisting a solid black one instead of holding his own. He looked ridiculous as ever all scrunched up and doubled over, but he had a stupidly delighted smile on his face while cupping his hands to collect some. Nico half expected to be splashed, until it spilled over Will's smooth palms to splatter into the puddle at their feet as he grinned and finished, "I think this is getting out of hand."

"So help me Solace, I will find a way to drown you down here," Nico said fondly.

"You're just mad you didn't think of that joke in time Nico," Magnus chuckled, shaking out his banana yellow umbrella and tucking it underneath his feet like he was sure he was going to need it again.

Jason was humming 'rain, rain, go away,' from under his purple umbrella and watching Thalia with those same deep, trusting blue eyes as when she'd first laughed and sang that song with him on an old, broken toy she'd stolen from a traders show to give to him. Unlike 'normal kids', that's how they'd learned their ABC's and 'twinkle twinkle little start.'

The old man bonking his head had been his favorite part. He was to young to get the joke the rain would never stop for them...only to be proven wrong as the others folded theirs up too. She supposed every storm had to run out of rain eventually.

"Sorry," Thalia sighed all the same.

"Pssh, I've gotten them all ten times more wet than this," Percy reminded.

"Anyways," Alex said loudly while Thalia struggled on whether she should address what Percy just said or not. She would either turn it into a competition or try to make him hear the double meaning and while both would be entertaining, Alex decided he had to be the mature one and finish one catastrophe before starting another.

I should have stabbed him right then. I should've brought the point of Riptide down with all my strength.

Nico resisted the impulse to tell Percy that wouldn't have worked anyway. Luke might have been in a state of in-between, he'd sensed that the closer they'd drawn something was off in that place like a soul that was screaming out and would need help being released.

Riptide wouldn't have done the trick though, not with the Achilles curse already in place to house Kronos's body.

But I was too stunned. I didn't understand. As much as I hated Luke, as much as he had betrayed me, I just didn't get why he was in the coffin, and why he looked so very, very dead.

Jason felt a horrible, sick feeling this is what all of Luke's planning had been leading up to. Some final sacrifice Kronos had needed. Wasn't it supposed to be some child of the big three to bring Kronos back? Wasn't that what this was all about? Had Luke thought he'd be good enough and his death was in vain? It was a sad, yet horribly fitting ending to the guy that had started all of this.

Then the voices of the telekhines were right behind me.

"What has happened!" one of the demons screamed when he saw the lid. I stumbled away from the dais, forgetting that I was invisible, and hid behind a column as they approached.

Magnus and Alex exchanged a whole conversation with just one look. They did not like Luke, and whatever was happening in this Greek story was well beyond them to understand.

What they did hear was the mental rant Percy was giving himself over there about losing his chance and how they were going to hear that verbally with extra effects later if this didn't end well, which had never been likely from the start.

"Careful!" the other demon warned. "Perhaps he stirs. We must present the gifts now. Immediately!"

"Swords in bed, they'll replace breakfast, love, and healthcare in no time with that method," Will said dully. This was just a horrible place to imagine from every angle and between that, and actually getting some rain in this dingy place with still not a hint of sunshine in sight was seriously starting to depress him. He longed for the natural world again more every chapter.

The two telekhines shuffled forward and knelt, holding up the scythe on its wrapping cloth. "My lord," one said. "Your symbol of power is remade."

Silence. Nothing happened in the coffin.

"That was not an impressive enough speech to get anyone to wake up," Alex scoffed. "They should try it with coffee and donuts."

"Will did just establish they think their idea is better and I don't think even you could change their mind," Magnus shrugged.

"You fool," the other telekhine muttered. "He requires the half-blood first."

Ethan stepped back. "Whoa, what do you mean, he requires me?"

Alex made a really suggestive, double-clicking sound with his mouth that made them all groan in disgust and Jason threw a bit of his beanbag at him.

"I'm sorry for putting us in the gutter but I'm electing we don't stay there," Thalia's voice was hoarse with stress. To anyone not paying attention she just hadn't thought the joke was funny and was still taking this in stride.

Alex was not one of those people and bobbed his head once in apology, mock zipping his mouth shut as he continued reading.

"Don't be a coward!" the first telekhine hissed. "He does not require your death. Only your allegiance. Pledge him your service. Renounce the gods. That is all."

"No!" I yelled. It was a stupid thing to do,

"True, but ramming a bus into the side of a tunnel is still your top impulse moment," Jason promised.

"If saving this guy's life the first time didn't convince him you knew more than these monsters I don't think shouting in his face will," Magnus agreed.

"I never shouted in his face?" Will mock grinned in confusion.

Nico pretended to spray a water bottle in his face, "bad joke, bad!"

Will laughed in delight and swatted real water still dripping from his hair, which got the most mild of chuckles out of everybody else in the room.

but I charged into the room and took off the cap.

"Annabeth's going to be so pissed at you for revealing her secret weapon, waving it around like that," Thalia managed some attempt at her usual tone.

"She can't do any worse to me?" But Percy somehow managed to phrase that as a question anyway.

"Ethan, don't!"

"Trespasser!" The telekhines bared their seal teeth. "The master will deal with you soon enough. Hurry, boy!"

"Ethan," I pleaded, "don't listen to them. Help me destroy it."

Ethan turned toward me, his eye patch blending in with the shadows on his face. His expression was something like pity. "I told you not to spare me, Percy. 'An eye for an eye.' You ever hear that saying? I learned what it means the hard way—when I discovered my godly parent. I'm the child of Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge. And this is what I was made to do."

"Could a goddess have a child that could have revenge against her? That sounds redundant," Magnus frowned.

"As Luke himself has proven, we're not hard-wired to use our powers for our parents unconditionally," Nico frowned. He still felt like he hadn't found a balance between defining himself and who his dad was.

He turned toward the dais. "I renounce the gods! What have they ever done for me? I will see them destroyed. I will serve Kronos."

The building rumbled. A wisp of blue light rose from the floor at Ethan Nakamura's feet. It drifted toward the coffin and began to shimmer, like a cloud of pure energy. Then it descended on the sarcophagus.

Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. He grows stronger." Luke pointed to the gold sarcophagus... Luke himself had promised this was exactly what was happening. Not one of them had wanted to see it in action, here in as vivid a detail what a few words could do. If only Alex had the power to kill a whole word, he knew which he'd start with right now.

Luke sat bolt upright. His eyes opened, and they were no longer blue.

They were golden, the same color as the coffin. The hole in his chest was gone. He was complete. He leaped out of the coffin with ease, and where his feet touched the floor, the marble froze like craters of ice.

Thalia pressed her hand to her mouth. She didn't know what she was holding in, a scream, a gasp, a sob. It didn't matter. It was staying where it was.

He looked at Ethan and the telekhines with those horrible golden eyes, as if he were a newborn baby, not sure what he was seeing. Then he looked at me, and a smile of recognition crept across his mouth.

"This body has been well prepared." His voice was like a razor blade running over my skin. It was Luke's, but not Luke's. Underneath his voice was another, more horrible sound—an ancient, cold sound like metal scraping against rock.

Percy had always heard those voices together side by side from one of his very first dreams. It still didn't prepare him to hear them as intrinsically tied together as Backbiter now was.

"Don't you think so, Percy Jackson?"

I couldn't move. I couldn't answer.

Kronos threw back his head and laughed. The scar on his face rippled.

"Luke feared you," the Titan's voice said. "His jealously and hatred have been powerful tools. It has kept him obedient. For that I thank you."

"He's not welcome," Percy managed through gritted teeth. He could feel that guinea pig in him once more squeaking in terror and telling him to run, but he easily overrode it with anger at Luke for doing this to himself. One swipe, that's all he needed, one chance with his sword before this could possibly somehow still get worse.

Ethan collapsed in terror. He covered his face with his hands.

There was no mocking to be had, no superior laughs for the comeuppance of his words. This was something no mortal should ever have to lay eyes on.

The telekhines trembled, holding up the scythe.

Finally I found my nerve. I lunged at the thing that used to be Luke, thrusting my blade straight at his chest, but his skin deflected the blow like he was made of pure steel. He looked at me with amusement. Then he flicked his hand, and I flew across the room.

Another tear traced down Thalia's cheek, and she hated herself for that. Her nails were digging into the side of her cheek and she did not unclench any part of herself, sitting still as a tree once more as if a once cursed slumber would help the pain of this all go in easier.

I slammed against a pillar. I struggled to my feet, blinking the stars out of my eyes, but Kronos had already grasped the handle of his scythe.

"Ah...much better," he said. "Backbiter, Luke called it. An appropriate name. Now that it is re-forged completely, it shall indeed bite back."

"What have you done to Luke?" I groaned.

Kronos raised his scythe. "He serves me with his whole being, as I require. The difference is, he feared you, Percy Jackson.

"He hid that well," Jason frowned. He didn't think Luke left his secret diary lying around for notes over that, but he would have liked to hear it from the horse's mouth. Jealousy, hatred, superiority could all easily be applied to Luke, but fear?

Then Jason's eyes flickered to Thalia, and he realized Luke was afraid of exactly what happened, what Thalia herself had once feared of Percy. That he would take away those most important to him. Kronos probably kept feeding the worst of this to delude Luke long enough he never realized he'd done that to himself as Luke's once best friend stayed frozen with this pain.

He wanted to do something for her, anything. He would have stolen Zeus's thunderbolt to smite this hybrid monster, he wanted to smack Percy for dragging her back in here.

All any of them could do was just get through it.

I do not."

That's when I ran.

"Character continuity," Nico gave him a big thumbs up. Percy would have assumed he was being mocked if Nico didn't look him right in the eye with sincerity. "It's like Echidna all over again."

"I've grown some over the years," Percy grinned, "I know how to pronounce Charon now."

"We all go at our own pace," Nico nodded along.

There wasn't even any thought to it. No debate in my mind about—gee, should I stand up to him and try to fight again? Nope, I simply ran.

But my feet felt like lead. Time slowed down around me, like the world was turning to Jell-O. I'd had this feeling once before, and I knew it was the power of Kronos. His presence was so strong it could bend time itself.

"Run, little hero," he laughed. "Run!"

Percy shivered, he still remembered the feeling like his blood was infected with ice. There had been no source of water, nothing he could have done. He studied his shaking fingers that hadn't even drawn his sword on instinct in here, that's how futile he knew this was. Why wasn't he dead? Of all the times he'd asked himself that, it really didn't seem like there was an answer this time-

I glanced back and saw him approaching leisurely, swinging his scythe as if he were enjoying the feel of having it in his hands again. No weapon in the world could stop him. No amount of celestial bronze.

He was ten feet away when I heard, "PERCY!"

Rachel's voice.

"What, took, you, so, long," Will swatted Nico's shoulder with every word, sadly the only available person here he could harangue for this. "Every one of you is a disobedient protective nutjob! How did Percy even make it five steps without you guys coming to save his bacon!" He was still smacking him on the shoulder with a pretty steady rhythm too.

It was light, and playful, like a kitten batting at him. Nico smiled at the casual contact and shrugged, which didn't dislodge Will's beat. "Annabeth told us to wait there, Rachel said she was coming, and I followed. It took, um, maybe sixty seconds, but it was a long tunnel and when we saw the telekhines we didn't have our own invisibility hat so we had to move slow."

Will huffed and crossed his arms, muttering about the lot of them all about to give him a heart attack.

Something flew past me, and a blue plastic hairbrush hit Kronos in the eye.

"Ow!" he yelled. For a moment it was only Luke's voice, full of surprise and pain.

Thalia couldn't stop the noise that escaped her. An eerily similar yelp of pain like it had echoed through time right to her. That this one moment couldn't have lasted forever. That was all that needed to be done to knock some sense back into him.

How awful did that make her? That she'd rather he be frozen in pain like that in his own body forever than possessed and disintegrated from the inside out as this thing took him over?

"Sorry Thalia," Percy couldn't help but whisper, moving to gently put his arm over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know. Me too." she whispered, eyes on the floor even as she gave his wrist a squeeze. Being sorry didn't make it feel better.

My limbs were freed and I ran straight into Rachel, Nico, and Annabeth, who were standing in the entry hall, their eyes filled with dismay.

"Luke?" Annabeth called. "What—"

I grabbed her by the shirt and hauled her after me.

Percy's hand grasped at nothing in here, as usual, though his feet twitched and the cold still felt like it was seeping in. The orange of her shirt had looked faded, the black letters peeling. She'd gotten a new one yesterday before they left camp. The gray in her hair had stood out more than ever, her face ghastly pale like being in Luke's mere presence had been aging her faster than them all.

Had Luke/ Kronos seen her and caused a second's more hesitation? Would it have been enough to draw them apart if they'd forced them back into that sarcophagus?

She'd saved his life in that arena with the tip about Gaia, now he returned the favor by saving her from Luke. It had to be that simple. Even if she did hate him for dragging her away kicking and screaming, he really didn't care. Like the sirens all over again, he'd always save her from herself.

I ran as fast as I've ever run, straight out of the fortress. We were almost back to the Labyrinth entrance when I heard the loudest bellow in the world—the voice of Kronos, coming back into control. "AFTER THEM!"

It hadn't been about impressing Percy, as Nico had sneered and a spark of anger always easily at the surface of his mind caught to life at that moment. It had been pure obstinance of being hunted down that had made him lash out with a power he'd never known to touch before.

"No!" Nico yelled. He clapped his hands together, and a jagged spire of rock the size of an eighteen-wheeler erupted from the ground right in front of the fortress. The tremor it caused was so powerful the front columns of the building came crashing down. I heard muffled screams from the telekhines inside. Dust billowed everywhere.

We plunged into the Labyrinth and kept running, the howl of the Titan lord shaking the entire world behind us.

It wasn't until Alex had finished and silently got up to hand the book to Percy, only to sign to Magnus in very choppy and slow words as he sat back down, 'I need your help to plan the best hairbrush-themed party for Rachel' did he realize he'd gone silent and his eyes were swimming with tears of laughter. Showing anything of the sort would have made Thalia really start crying for a wholly other reason though.

He nodded and smiled back, thinking how lucky he was to have landed in here with these guys as Thalia coughed and snapped at Percy to get a move on, her voice frostier than the South Pole.

Percy of course did so without comment or question, pulling his arm away and giving Thalia the space she needed.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

No, they did not stop and laugh about Rachel hitting a Titan with a blue hairbrush. Thalia was in pain over this and there will be respectful silence for their fellow person during that.

They will, however, laugh their ass off in the next chapter along with Percy when there's been a little time to cool. Don't worry, you'll all get your chuckles while I have my emotional constipation about Thalia finally relieved.

*The one and only detail that bothered me about Chalice of the Gods. Percy's worn her hat plenty of times before and never felt an itchy sensation. My headcannon for this change is that Athena did this as a reminder of Annabeth's hubris in the hopes it would save her daughter from her fatal flaw in the future, even if it took a while to kick in when she got it back in The Staff of Serapis. Otherwise, I can't get enough of psychoanalyzing how far their relationship has come from these books to that.

**If you're curious about the song I imagine Thalia was listening to during that scene, it's Downfall by Trust Company.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #nico di angelo #Will Solace #Alex Fierro #Magnus Chase #percabeth #fierrochase #solangelo

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