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halothenthehorns · 1 year

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Chapter 5: I PLACE AN UNDERWATER PHONE CALL

Nico read the new chapter title telling himself he was happy to be reading now. These books weren't that long, maybe he'd even get out of reading the rest of this one getting his out of the way now.

"Wouldn't monsters still be summoned to you under there?" Alex asked.

"I didn't think waterproof phones had gotten that advanced," Magnus said.

"I want to know who he's calling," Jason frowned, "was your mom supposed to be waiting for you, or did you all assume you'd find another ride to camp?"

"I wish I could make one now to 911," Percy sighed, "you guys are insane constantly questioning these."

I'd never seen Camp Half-Blood in winter before, and the snow surprised me.

Nico tried to hide a grimace behind the book how ominous that should have been. He brought cold and the dead everywhere with him from the beginning.

"I keep telling Chiron we need some kind of winter break holiday special!" Will nearly shouted Nico's ear off as he waved at Percy. "To many campers miss how awesome this place is to experience with snow whenever we want, and we need some new traditions to shake up some of ours! I already promised Nico fireworks in December."

Nico was now blushing just a bit and muttering nobody else would want to sit around for that, but over ruled instantly as Percy nodded along seriously. "Even just for two weeks, that sounds awesome!"

See, the camp has the ultimate magic climate control. Nothing gets inside the borders unless the director, Mr. D, wants it to. I thought it would be warm and sunny, but instead the snow had been allowed to fall lightly. Frost covered the chariot track and the strawberry fields. The cabins were decorated with tiny flickering lights, like Christmas lights, except they seemed to be balls of real fire. More lights glowed in the woods, and weirdest of all, a fire flickered in the attic window of the Big House, where the Oracle dwelt, imprisoned in an old mummified body. I wondered if the spirit of Delphi was roasting marshmallows up there or something.

"Better than the sacrificial alter fire I was imagining," Magnus made an 'uck' face.

"We only sacrifice kids during the eclipse thank you," Will gave a dramatic sniff.

"Whoa," Nico said as he climbed off the bus. "Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"Little extra challenge.

"Extra challenge," Magnus repeated, "because the normal kind you can fall off of and die from isn't fun enough."

"You said it, not me," Alex smirked.

"Saved our butts in the past, the lava-less climb made Polyphemus's cliff seem tame," Percy shrugged it came in handy.

Come on. I'll introduce you to Chiron. Zoe, have you met—"

"I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly.

"Does she hate him too?" Jason asked. "They're both immortal, but not gods, you'd think she'd get along with the horse guy for having something in common."

"She's still unhappy about being sent away from Artemis," Thalia sadly interpreted. It was the first time she'd spoken up after finally getting her breath back, and she still sounded so exhausted and weary, now for a different reason. "She's going to be unhappy with everyone for a while." A sentiment she'd never have understood before joining herself, and she winced with guilt how harshly she'd treated Zoe just like Percy back during these times.

"Tell him we will be in Cabin Eight. Hunters, follow me."

"I'll show you the way," Grover offered.

"We know the way."

"Oh, really, it's no trouble. It's easy to get lost here, if you don't"—he tripped over a canoe and came up still talking—"like my old daddy goat used to say! Come on!"

"Why do I have a feeling that advice didn't help him escape Polyphemus?" Alex asked.

"I sort of want to hear that sage satyr advice," Jason admitted. "I didn't think they could give advice."

"I'll be sure to ask him when we get back," Percy rolled his eyes.

Zoe rolled her eyes, but I guess she figured there was no getting rid of Grover. The Hunters shouldered their packs and their bows and headed off toward the cabins. As Bianca di Angelo was leaving, she leaned over and whispered something in her brothers ear. She looked at him for an answer, but Nico just scowled and turned away.

"She asked if the place looked like fun," Nico answered before Alex or anyone could ask. "Like I was at my first day of preschool," he finished, his voice colder than any frost.

"I mean, wasn't the answer yes?" Percy gave him a smile and as always tried to laugh that off.

He just turned his face away from him back to the book. He was trying so hard to let go of his bitter thoughts about his sister he didn't even realize for the first time he hadn't admired Percy's talent for doing that, it was just a casual response from him by now.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters.

"He clearly takes Artemis's dire warnings to heart," Rachel chuckled.

"What's she going to do, ground him?" Thalia sighed.

He winked at me. "Watch out for those prophecies, Percy. I'll see you soon."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus.

"Cryptic, unhelpful, leaves an impression," Jason sighed. "These gods are almost getting predictable."

"Gods, don't tell him that," Will's eyes went wide in fright what his dad might do to be called anything other than predictable.

"I thought you meant bus drivers in general for a second, so who are we to judge?" Alex shrugged.

"Later, Thalia," he called. "And, uh, be good!"

He gave her a wicked smile, as if he knew something she didn't.

"Like how to be good?" Magnus asked without hope.

"There's a lost cause before it started," Thalia scoffed, "least of all from Apollo."

Then he closed the doors and revved the engine. I turned aside as the sun chariot took off in a blast of heat. When I looked back, the lake was steaming. A red Maserati soared over the woods, glowing brighter and climbing higher until it disappeared in a ray of sunlight.

Nico was still looking grumpy.

"I'm beginning to think that's his perpetual state of being," Rachel said cheerfully.

"He's had his moments in here," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Leave him be," Will almost sounded like he was snapping at them. "Nobody's telling you to take all of this with a smile."

Nico was biting his lip, not quite hiding a smile Jason noticed as Nico watched Will, so he didn't really think he was that bothered at all when he tacked in, "still, since we're marking milestones, first time Nico was mentioned like that."

"We are not marking those!" Thalia reminded in exasperation. "You keep doing it despite our continued protests!"

Rachel now had her hand pressed to her mouth to poorly stifle how Thalia sounded like an exhausted babysitter with to many charges as Nico kept going.

I wondered what his sister had told him.

"Who's Chiron?" he asked. "I don't have his figurine."

"I'm sure he's heartbroken," Alex sighed, though immediately perked up and said, "maybe I could make one."

"You can't, ah, just make up your own," but Nico wasn't going to be the one to tell Alex no when she was clearly going to try.

"Our activities director," I said. "He's... well, you'll see.

"That's all you gave him?" Magnus protested. "A little sympathy for the guy you could warn is part horse."

"I thought you wanted to hear Nico having more of a reaction to you than something?" Percy asked innocently. "Maybe I'm trying to surprise the kid."

"By giving him a heart attack?" Magnus demanded.

"Be honest, do you want Nico to ask how many hit points a centaur has?" Thalia was clearly on Percy's side.

Nico was shaking his head in long accepted exasperation that's all he'd clearly ever be to them, a kid. It really wasn't bothering him as much as it used to though, maybe Bianca had meant for him to let go and even enjoy his age a bit more rather than focusing on revenge.

"If those Hunter girls don't like him," Nico grumbled, "that's good enough for me. Let's go."

The second thing that surprised me about camp was how empty it was. I mean, I knew most half-bloods only trained during the summer. Just the year-rounders would be here—the ones who didn't have homes to go to, or would get attacked by monsters too much if they left.

But there didn't even seem to be many of them, either.

I spotted Charles Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin stoking the forge outside the camp armory.

Percy smiled with a somber look for Tyson. He remembered back during their school year he'd loved wintertime and splashed through every puddle on the way to school, always stopping to make incredible snowmen during recess. Even when Matt Sloan had broken them apart he'd just smile and rebuild a better one.

He hoped he was okay down under the ocean, that he and Annabeth could send him a Christmas card.

The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, from the Hermes cabin, were picking the lock on the camp store.

"Argus was having a mysterious emergency on the bus," Will said innocently. "Connor told me he was positive he heard some poor soul trapped in the engine."

"I'm so sure there was someone trapped in the store they had to get out right away, it couldn't wait," Percy nodded while the others chuckled that no matter the time of year, at least business as usual seemed to be going on there.

A few kids from the Ares cabin were having a snowball fight with the wood nymphs at the edge of the forest. That was about it. Even my old rival from the Ares cabin, Clarisse, didn't seem to be around.

"I'm sure she's somewhere around there," Thalia muttered, wishing she'd asked more at the time why she'd always been locked up by herself.

The Big House was decorated with strings of red and yellow fireballs that warmed the porch but didn't seem to catch anything on fire. Inside, flames crackled in the hearth. The air smelled like hot chocolate. Mr. D, the camp director, and Chiron were playing a quiet game of cards in the parlor.

Chiron's brown beard was shaggier for the winter. His curly hair had grown a little longer. He wasn't posing as a teacher this year, so I guess he could afford to be casual. He wore a fuzzy sweater with a hoofprint design on it, and he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

"It's almost full on deja vu to the first time I did meet him," Percy smiled at Magnus now. Except Annabeth wasn't down at her cabin to tell him drooled this time, he couldn't help a forlorn sigh.

He smiled when he saw us. "Percy! Thalia! Ah, and this must be—"

"Nico di Angelo," I said. "He and his sister are half-bloods."

"As opposed to finding a couple of what?" Alex asked.

"You never know, I might have to rescue a baby satyr one day," Percy shrugged.

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

Percy and Thalia made an eerily similar face, they could never call that mission a success, and Nico still winced against his own intentions. He'd brought them nothing but chaos from the beginning.

"Hey," Will said quietly beside him. He couldn't be disrespectful to the hurt in the pair of them, but he still told Nico sternly, "one success doesn't mean someone else's failure. We will always want more kids around camp however they get there."

Nico studied him for a moment, wrestling with himself if he believed that. Will probably saw him as just a kid too, an obligation of someone to take care of down here. They all weren't that much older than him, hell, technically he was older than them!

It wouldn't matter when he came back from Tartarus with proof, they couldn't just see him as some pipsqueak then.

"Well..."

His smile melted. "What's wrong? And where is Annabeth?"

"Oh, dear," Mr. D said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost."

There was a tense, crackling noise filling the room. Jason and Rachel were glancing uneasily at their nearest seatmates with trepidation nobody needed translating. If Dionysus started pretending like Annabeth's loss was no big deal, no way were they going to survive both of these two having a fit over it down here.

I'd been trying not to pay attention to Mr. D, but he was kind of hard to ignore in his neon orange leopard-skin warm-up suit and his purple running shoes. (Like Mr. D had ever run a day in his immortal life.) A golden laurel wreath was tilted sideways on his curly black hair, which must've meant he'd won the last hand of cards.

"What do you mean?" Thalia asked. "Who else is lost?"

Just then, Grover trotted into the room, grinning like crazy. He had a black eye and red lines on his face that looked like a slap mark.

"I'm guessing his offer to show them to the showers didn't go over well," Alex wrinkled her nose Grover was that bad at taking a hint.

"Must be strange for him chasing someone who can't turn into a tree to get away," Jason said blankly, but an idiotic fawn acting like a pest was the most normal thing he'd yet heard of this camp, so it phased him the least.

"The Hunters are all moved in!"

Chiron frowned. "The Hunters, eh? I see we have much to talk about." He glanced at Nico. "Grover, perhaps you should take our young friend to the den and show him our orientation film."

"Poor Grover getting more sidelined in this one than the last one where he was literally kidnapped out of the way," Magnus smiled faintly.

"G-Man's always had his own agenda," Percy said without concern. He'd catch his best friend up on any important details he'd miss.

"But... Oh, right. Yes, sir."

"Orientation film?" Nico asked. "Is it G or PG? 'Cause Bianca is kinda strict—"

"It's PG-13," Grover said.

"Cool!" Nico happily followed him out of the room.

"Speaking of being sidelined," Nico huffed as he flipped the page. It was no wonder really, he'd been duped out of the room as easily as any toddler.

"Oh come on, the graphics aren't that bad," Will insisted. "I'd skip on a dire conversation about the end of the world again just to watch that part about Odysseus sailing around and slaying a few monsters."

"You only say that because your dad directed it," Nico smirked.

"You didn't deny it though," Will smirked back.

"Now," Chiron said to Thalia and me, "perhaps you two should sit down and tell us the whole story."

When we were done, Chiron turned to Mr. D. "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately."

"The proper response when a camper goes missing," Will sounded as petulant as he ever could, maybe even a tad bitter himself. As many campers that had gone missing over the past two years alone, Chiron had cautioned patients and keeping an eye on each other more.

Because they knew the truth, they were defecting to Luke's side. There was no saving them.

Annabeth goes missing and Chiron wants to launch an immediate rescue to go find Luke and bring her back. Because she'd want to come back.

He knew the difference when he spelled it out, but it didn't make the hurt any less so many other kids had been passed over. He'd had a new little brother for about three weeks when he went missing one night, and Chiron had mournfully announced the same old speech at breakfast. What if Luke had taken him against his will? Indoctrinated him into hating the gods? He might have wanted to come back!

Will didn't say any of that though, didn't let the others see it. He couldn't hate Chiron for making the hard choices any more than he hated his dad for not casting divine intervention to rescue all his kids. It just hurt.

Nico looked at him in surprise though for the unfamiliar tone, and for the first time wondered if anybody had actually looked for him when he fell into the Labyrinth.

"I'll go," Thalia and I said at the same time.

Mr. D sniffed. "Certainly not!"

Thalia took a deep breath to reign in her temper, but Percy was already glowering at the book in Nico's hands, his green eyes churning the water around him without him even seeming to notice.

Thalia and I both started complaining, but Mr. D held up his hand. He had that purplish angry fire in his eyes that usually meant something bad and godly was going to happen if we didn't shut up.

"Why does it always have to be bad and godly?" Magnus sighed. "For once I want to see something good and godly happen with all that massive power."

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Alex was leaning forward curiously in her seat what he was going to do, her hair swinging over her shoulder. Magnus caught a hint of skin on the back of her neck that seemed oddly miscolored, and quickly averted his eyes lest he get caught peaking.

"From what you have told me," Mr. D said, "we have broken even on this escapade.

The water was getting increasingly hot in here, and Nico vaguely wondered what they were doing to the ecosystem as he read faster.

We have, ah, regrettably lost Annie Bell—"

"Annabeth," I snapped.

Percy had restrained himself from doing that in here by forcing his eyes to the ceiling and copying Thalia, taking a deep breath. He knew it wasn't Nico, he didn't want to kill anyone in here, he was being calm because she was okay...

Jason was still looking wearily from him to the center of the room like he expected Oceanus to pop back up any second and save them. It's not like they could do anything else if Percy exploded.

She'd gone to camp since she was seven, and still Mr. D pretended not to know her name.

"Yes, yes," he said. "And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her.

Nico had to pause there and clench his teeth together hard enough to crack a tooth to stifle a self-deprecating laugh. As if he could replace Annabeth in any sense, yet somehow one of his favorite gods was indulging his forbidden wish. There was always a reason he liked the wine dude, all the fun good ideas.

So I see no point risking further half-bloods on a ridiculous rescue. The possibility is very great that this Annie girl is dead."

...She's alive, she's alive, she's alive...

It shouldn't be possible for them to hear howling wind down here or sense the danger in the very air they should be fleeing for their lives, but they all could.

"Percy-" Thalia began, but he didn't want to hear from her right now, a proven fact when she felt an icy splash of water to her face as he snapped, "I know, I'm listening!"

Thalia spat the water out and only commented, "I was just going to say if you didn't say something to him I would have."

Nico was pretty sure Percy hadn't been a pile of ashes when he burst in, so he tried to keep going before that happened to all of them. Thalia was scrunching up her tongue in disgust without trying again anyways.

I wanted to strangle Mr. D. It wasn't fair Zeus had sent him here to dry out as camp director for a hundred years. It was meant to be a punishment for Mr. D's bad behavior on Olympus, but it ended up being a punishment for all of us.

"Annabeth may be alive," Chiron said, but I could tell he was having trouble sounding upbeat. He'd practically raised Annabeth all those years she was a year-round camper, before she'd given living with her dad and stepmom a second try. "She's very bright. If... if our enemies have her, she will try to play for time. She may even pretend to cooperate."

"That's right," Thalia said. "Luke would want her alive."

"In which case" said Mr. D, "I'm afraid she will have to be smart enough to escape on her own."

I got up from the table.

"Percy." Chiron's tone was full of warning. In the back of my mind, I knew Mr. D was not somebody to mess with. Even if you were an impulsive ADHD kid like me, he wouldn't give you any slack. But I was so angry I didn't care.

"Whoever says that's not a fatal flaw has clearly never met you," Jason muttered as Percy's feet kept shifting his weight around, he had his hand clamped tight in his pocket but still hadn't drawn his pen. He really was trying to keep in mind not to kill all of them and have another meltdown.

"You're glad to lose another camper," I said. "You'd like it if we all disappeared!"

Mr. D stifled a yawn. "You have a point?"

"Yeah," I growled. "Just because you were sent here as a punishment doesn't mean you have to be a lazy jerk! This is your civilization, too. Maybe you could try helping out a little!"

For a second, there was no sound except the crackle of the fire. The light reflected in Mr. D's eyes, giving him a sinister look. He opened his mouth to say something—probably a curse that would blast me to smithereens—when Nico burst into the room, followed by Grover.

"Jason, mark this one for your diary," Will gave him an air poke. "Nico just saved Percy's life!"

"It's not a diary," he huffed before muttering there was nothing wrong with taking notes.

"Yeah, thanks Nico," Percy sighed, rubbing hard at his temple where a hurricane-sized headache had lodged. "Annabeth probably would have resurrected me herself just to smite me for getting killed before she got saved."

"Anytime," Nico said with an odd feeling of lightness. He'd never thought Percy would actually thank him for anything before.

"SO COOL!" Nico yelled, holding his hands out to Chiron. "You're... you're a centaur!"

Chiron managed a nervous smile. "Yes, Mr. di Angelo, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."

"And, whoa!" He looked at Mr. D. "You're the wine dude? No way!"

Mr. D turned his eyes away from me and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?"

"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine."

"My figurine."

"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"

"I second that vote," Rachel raised her hand.

"The Mr. D is actually cool part, or the Nico saved Percy's bacon part?" Jason asked, even mock clicking a pen.

"Both," she grinned.

"Duly noted," he laughed.

Percy, however, exchanged an exasperated look with Magnus. "He's now got us both beat out on first reaction to seeing a god, three times, in one day!"

"Nico's actually got you beat out on less gods who want to kill him too," Alex added.

"Can we not!" Nico planted his face in the pages in protest.

"Now you know my pain," Percy victoriously reminded.

Nico spared a look around and grinned back. It was nice, to just look at Percy and not feel his own oceans' worth of tangled, rushing emotions. Percy swept his black hair aside and watched him expectantly to move on, and surprisingly the first thing that came to mind wasn't to feel longing, then shame for wanting to brush at it himself, but instead to feel a little happy the guy clearly didn't blame all this on him like some of the other campers inherently seemed to do when any bad thing happened.

He still didn't find it as endearing as usual Percy just laughed it off too. Odd.

"Ah." Mr. D seemed truly perplexed, which probably saved my life. "Well, that's... gratifying."

"Percy," Chiron said quickly, "you and Thalia go down to the cabins. Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

Percy winced though and sat back in his seat with frustration. He'd never played a game of capture the flag without her, and he wasn't looking forward to it now.

"Capture the flag?" I asked. "But we don't have enough—"

"It is a tradition," Chiron said. "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."

"Friendly? That's the word he used?" Alex drawled.

"Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."

"Touché Alex," Thalia grinned.

Chiron jerked his head toward Mr. D, who was still frowning as Nico talked about how many defense points all the gods had in his game. "Run along now," Chiron told us.

"Oh, right," Thalia said. "Come on, Percy."

"And I would have gotten the popcorn," Alex sighed.

"Nah, I'd get bored without him constantly causing distress," Thalia shrugged.

She hauled me out of the Big House before Dionysus could remember that he wanted to kill me.

Percy was still working his jaw and didn't seem upset at the trade off if he could have finished telling that pompous sot off.

"You've already got Ares on your bad side," Thalia reminded me as we trudged toward the cabins. "You need another immortal enemy?"

"It's not an important number until I hit three, right?" Percy said innocently to Jason. "Hades actually doesn't hate me for giving back his helmet, I'm just keeping it real."

"Mock me all you like, you'll thank me for remembering the details you keep forgetting about your own story," Jason grinned.

"What would his curse even do to you?" Alex snorted. "Make all of your cokes flat?"

Percy got a horror-struck look on his face though, and Thalia sighed that's what it had taken for him to rethink mouthing off to a god!

She was right. My first summer as a camper, I'd gotten in a fight with Ares, and now he and all his children wanted to kill me. I didn't need to make Dionysus mad, too.

"Sorry," I said. "I couldn't help it. It's just so unfair."

She stopped by the armory and looked out across the valley, toward the top of HalfBlood Hill. Her pine tree was still there, the Golden Fleece glittering in its lowest branch. The tree's magic still protected the borders of camp, but it no longer used Thalia's spirit for power.

Magnus smiled he at least got one of his many questions answered about that. Her spirit wasn't attached anymore, but the tree still seemed to be blessed by Zeus at the very least to be so powerful.

It wasn't exactly a happy reminder to Thalia though, as she sat still as a pine in her seat. Her father could have easily made that thing vanish when she'd come out of it. Instead, it stood sentinel in place as a constant reminder to her.

"Percy, everything is unfair," Thalia muttered. "Sometimes I wish..."

She didn't finish, but her tone was so sad I felt sorry for her. With her ragged black hair and her black punk clothes, an old wool overcoat wrapped around her, she looked like some kind of huge raven, completely out of place in the white landscape.

She'd felt out of place there. It was why she'd gone to private school with Annabeth, who didn't need her anymore, while being so socially out of the loop and behind in all the remedial classes with monsters showing up every other weekend to challenge her. She could barely stomach sleeping in her own cabin and rather dragged her sleeping bag up to the roof above Zeus's statue most nights. Chiron had tried to respect her wish, teaching her how to manipulate the mist as soon as possible, always letting her come over at a moment's notice for extra practice, but she'd felt no more at home in the real world than at Camp. She'd never felt at peace until she joined the hunt, or was traveling with Luke and Annabeth, or those first years where it was just her and her little brother.

Maybe she had an older sibling complex, but at least it had all worked out for her in the end.

"We'll get Annabeth back," I promised. "I just don't know how yet."

"First I found out that Luke is lost," she said. "Now Annabeth—"

"Don't think like that."

"You're right." She straightened up. "We'll find a way."

The two exchanged a solemn look. Percy was still angry and frustrated with his situation and the world at large for constantly putting Thalia in his face down here, mocking him for everything he wasn't; but she was his friend. He'd felt it the moment he met her and wanted to get back to that more than dwell on this argument.

Thalia felt the exact same sense of replacement when she looked at him. To her it had seemed like Percy had slipped so easily into the role of Luke and her for Annabeth, her little sister didn't need either of them anymore when she'd come out of that tree and Annabeth had spoken of nothing but him.

They'd both failed to save her though, and blaming each other wasn't getting her back.

Over at the basketball court, a few of the Hunters were shooting hoops. One of them was arguing with a guy from the Ares cabin. The Ares kid had his hand on his sword and the Hunter girl looked like she was going to exchange her basketball for a bow and arrow any second.

"What could they have even found to argue about on such sacred ground in so short a time?" Alex asked with interest.

"Basketball to the death, yeah, sounds on par with this place," Magnus shrugged without surprise.

"I'll break that up," Thalia said. "You circulate around the cabins. Tell everybody about capture the flag tomorrow."

"All right. You should be team captain."

"No, no," she said. "You've been at camp longer. You do it."

"We can, uh... co-captain or something."

She looked about as comfortable with that as I felt, but she nodded.

"Look at you two working together," Jason approved, "those Hunters won't stand a chance. Um, no offense Thalia," he went a little cross-eyed as he eyed her silver jacket.

Thalia laughed without humor the game had been a disaster and her current status wasn't the concern about it when she said, "wait to place your bets on that one."

As she headed for the court, I said, "Hey, Thalia."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about what happened at Westover. I should've waited for you guys."

'"S okay, Percy. I probably would've done the same thing." She shifted from foot to foot, like she was trying to decide whether or not to say more.

Thalia swallowed a lump in her throat and looked quickly away from Jason. She wished she had kept her mouth shut now instead of opening up a bit to Percy, making temporary peace with him then felt like a slap in the face looking at the kid brother she'd lost in here.

Jason felt an inexplicable surge of guilt when she clearly looked away from them. He didn't know if it was regret for sharing that with Percy, or something to do with him, his clear otherness. She seemed to like Alex plenty and treated Magnus fondly, so fingers crossed it was the Percy thing.

"You know, you asked about my mom and I kinda snapped at you. It's just... I went back to find her after seven years, and I found out she died in Los Angeles. She, um... she was a heavy drinker, and apparently she was out driving late one night about two years ago, and..." Thalia blinked hard.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well. It's... it's not like we were ever close. I ran away when I was ten. Best two years of my life were when I was running around with Luke and Annabeth. But still—"

"That's why you had trouble with the sun van."

She gave me a wary look. "What do you mean?"

"The way you stiffened up. You must've been thinking about your mom, not wanting to get behind the wheel."

I was sorry I'd said anything. Thalia's expression was dangerously close to Zeus's, the one time I'd seen him get angry—like any minute, her eyes would shoot a million volts.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Yeah, that must've been it."

She trudged off toward the court, where the Ares camper and the Hunter were trying to kill each other with a sword and a basketball.

"You can tell me to skip stuff like that," Nico offered as he looked around at her with his own sorrow. "I, I'm not looking forward to some things, well, I'm sorry too Thalia."

She shrugged, but gave a concerningly wet sniff as she spoke to the wall above him. "It's whatever, I'm not ashamed to share that." Which was true enough, Percy had guessed wrong.

"He's right though Thals, I need to learn to keep my mouth shut," Percy sat forward in his seat with clear apology he'd upset her.

She forced herself to look back and shrug again, but she fooled no one.

The cabins were the weirdest collection of buildings you've ever seen. Zeus and Hera's big white-columned buildings, Cabins One and Two, stood in the middle, with five gods' cabins on the left and five goddesses' cabins on the right, so they all made a U around the central green and the barbecue hearth.

As Percy even slightly relaxed at the true feeling of being home again seemed to settle on him when this was described, Jason still twitched uneasily. From the very beginning, this setup was still weird.

I made the rounds, telling everybody about capture the flag.

Will smiled for the slipped moment nobody would know but him and Percy, that the book and clearly the guy hadn't thought about long enough to care. He'd been the one to answer the door, he and Kayla had been the only year-round campers at the time. In the background had been Grover, escorting Nico to the Hermes cabin Percy had already passed. Nico hadn't looked over his shoulder to even realize that was the first time he'd seen him, but Will had already been thinking about going over after dinner as an excuse to check on the new kid and maybe say high to Connor. He was always so mopey whenever Katie wasn't around the rest of the year.

I woke up some Ares kid from his midday nap and he yelled at me to go away. When I asked him where Clarisse was he said, "Went on a quest for Chiron. Top secret!"

"What's this now?" Jason sat up straight once more.

"Which word did you not get?" Percy asked politely. "The quest, or the secret?" His sarcasm didn't hold up very well, he was just as curious what all this was about.

"Is she okay?"

"Haven't heard from her in a month. She's missing in action. Like your butt's gonna be if you don't get outta here!"

"Such caring for their siblings, really brings the comradery of this place into focus," Nico muttered, the speech about how he couldn't even have a bed because they were all claimed from Travis, while Connor had been eyeing his bag with a familiar look of what could be stolen from him his first impression of the campers.

"The only thing we like to use the Ares cabin for is a bad example," Will shrugged.

I decided to let him go back to sleep.

Percy and Jason groaned in unison and flopped back into their seat, sending the couch back a few inches.

"You sure you don't want to switch books?" Percy insisted, knowing he'd decapitate anyone else who suggested it. "This is the worst one yet!" Most annoyingly of all because he had a sixth sense of what the answer was. Clarisse came back from this mission, but he wasn't going to like the answer.

"What makes you think I'd have any better luck than you?" Jason reminded as he tapped his temple.

Finally I got to Cabin Three, the cabin of Poseidon. It was a low gray building hewn from sea stone, with shells and coral fossils imprinted in the rock. Inside, it was just as empty as always, except for my bunk. A Minotaur horn hung on the wall next to my pillow.

"Because that'll chase the monsters under your bed away," Alex smirked.

"It's not even a good commemorable piece from the first monster you killed," Magnus said with a confused frown. "The fury didn't leave behind a trophy, did she? Why'd you keep that thing instead of throwing it in the attack?" He didn't exactly want a daily reminder of when he'd lost his mom, he carried it around in his head enough.

"A reminder to write her all summer," Percy said quietly. He fell asleep every night looking at that thing knowing what he had to lose. If he could mount that manticores head up next he would.

I took Annabeth's baseball cap out of my backpack and set it on my nightstand. I'd give it to her when I found her. And I would find her.

Percy made such a deep, frustrated noise of longing it must have disrupted the sonar of every underwater creature in the ocean. He didn't blame Rachel or Magnus for being here instead of her, but he still felt more lost during this one than any coordinates pinning his location could ever describe.

I took off my wristwatch and activated the shield. It creaked noisily as it spiraled out.

Dr. Thorn's spikes had dented the brass in a dozen places. One gash kept the shield from opening all the way, so it looked like a pizza with two slices missing. The beautiful metal pictures that my brother had crafted were all banged up. In the picture of me and Annabeth fighting the Hydra, it looked like a meteor had made a crater in my head.

"Hopefully not foreshadowing," Percy muttered.

I hung the shield on its hook, next to the Minotaur horn, but it was painful to look at now.

"Tyson will just be relieved it did its purpose and saved your life," Thalia promised. "He's out there practicing how to make even better stuff."

"Right," Percy agreed with that, but it didn't negate how he'd miss that one.

Maybe Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin could fix it for me. He was the best armorsmith in the camp. I'd ask him at dinner.

I was staring at the shield when I noticed a strange sound—water gurgling—and I realized there was something new in the room. At the back of the cabin was a big basin of gray sea rock, with a spout like the head of a fish carved in stone. Out of its mouth burst a stream of water, a saltwater spring that trickled into the pool. The water must've been hot, because it sent mist into the cold winter air like a sauna. It made the room feel warm and summery, fresh with the smell of the sea.

"That sounds like a thing of beauty," Alex's eyes glimmered with want to see such a piece in person.

"I've spent an embarrassing amount of hours in there sketching it," Rachel laughed for the amount of times Percy and Annabeth had chased her out of there. "The design is so elegant!"

"Cool," Magnus was blinking like he had a bright light in his eyes, "but what? That's insanely creepy somebody just came into your cabin and set that up."

"It's not just my cabin," Percy reminded with a genuine smile once more. "It's in honor of my family."

I stepped up to the pool. There was no note attached or anything, but I knew it could only be a gift from Poseidon.

I looked into the water and said, "Thanks, Dad."

Percy chuckled, just a small little one, but the first semblance of a happy noise he'd made sense Annabeth's vanishing. "Maybe he heard my tirades last summer about those two words and upped his game."

"That's one hell of a gift Percy, you're lucky," Will said sincerely, but Nico noticed how the smile didn't quite reach his eyes and instantly knew why. His dad had certainly never given his cabin such a custom gift, and he'd think Hades would shower the place after finally getting one after all this time. Had Apollo ever added any kind of personal touch?

The surface rippled. At the bottom of the pool, coins shimmered—a dozen or so golden drachma. I realized what the fountain was for. It was a reminder to keep in touch with my family.

I opened the nearest window, and the wintry sunlight made a rainbow in the mist. Then I fished a coin out of the hot water.

"Iris, O Goddess of the Rainbow," I said, "accept my offering."

I tossed a coin into the mist and it disappeared. Then I realized I didn't know who to contact first.

My mom? That would've been the "good son" thing to do, but she wouldn't be worried about me yet. She was used to me disappearing for days or weeks at a time.

"I disagree with that track," Magnus almost sounded like he was scolding him. "Your mom was probably worried the moment she dropped you off, you still could have called her to tell her about Annabeth and the two new kids, she would have wanted to hear."

Percy looked quickly away though to hide the lump in his throat as Magnus had said the very reason he was reluctant to talk to her. His mom thought the world of Annabeth, and he'd just got done telling Chiron how he'd lost her. He couldn't bare to say it all again yet.

My father? It had been way too long, almost two years, since I'd actually talked to him.

"I really wouldn't call it much of a conversation either," Magnus agreed with a mystified expression. No god had exactly expressed thanks for Percy saving the world, and he still couldn't get over Poseidon saying he regretted Percy's birth even if he'd shown in the time since he did care about him.

But could you even send an Iris-message to a god? I'd never tried. Would it make them mad, like a sales call or something?

"I don't see why not?" Jason still seemed particularly intrigued over these things as he analyzed that silly question. "Since it's a goddess herself doing it, but you've yet had one so I'm wondering if there's just this mist hovering before you, you have to accept it or something, and I don't know if it comes with caller ID."

"Also, the chapter title is a lie because whoever gets this phone call, you are not underwater," Alex added.

"Your minds must be some strangely coded places," Percy told them both, and he was the ADHD one.

"I'm with Percy, since you all missed the obvious," Rachel gave them a pointed look. "Percy did send an Iris message to Dionysius!" It was a story every kid loved to tell about Tantalus's great departure.

They sat staring at her for a moment before Percy muttered, "oops. Yeah, I try to actively forget about him."

"Uhhu," she rolled her eyes at all of them.

I hesitated. Then I made up my mind.

"Show me Tyson," I requested. "At the forges of the Cyclopes."

Percy grinned as everyone in here smiled for his choice. Alex even raised her hand and said, "I take it back! You need to be making more underwater phone calls!"

He couldn't wait until he could actually see his little brother again and introduce him to even more friends.

The mist shimmered, and the image of my half brother appeared. He was surrounded in fire, which would've been a problem if he weren't a Cyclops. He was bent over an anvil, hammering a red-hot sword blade. Sparks flew and flames swirled around his body. There was a marble-framed window behind him, and it looked out onto dark blue water—the bottom of the ocean.

"I don't know why, but a window underwater is really hurting my brain right now," Magnus rubbed the heel of his hand into his forehead to prove his point.

"Yes, that's the weird part, not the literal fire underwater," Alex said in almost sympathy.

"I'm trying to learn to roll with some of the punches," he sighed since, again, nobody else had blinked at that part. Maybe because they were underwater too, which still boggled his mind if he thought about it to long.

"Tyson!" I yelled.

He didn't hear me at first because of the hammering and the roar of the flames.

"TYSON!"

He turned, and his one enormous eye widened. His face broke into a crooked yellow grin. "Percy!"

He dropped the sword blade and ran at me, trying to give me a hug. The vision blurred and I instinctively lurched back.

"Keeping those battle reflexes alive in all situations," Jason chuckled.

"Tyson, it's an Iris-message. I'm not really here."

"Oh." He came back into view, looking embarrassed. "Oh, I knew that. Yes."

"How are you?" I asked. "How's the job?"

His eye lit up. "Love the job! Look!" He picked up the hot sword blade with his bare hands. "I made this!"

"That's really cool."

"I wrote my name on it. Right there."

"Awesome. Listen, do you talk to Dad much?"

"You could have just called your dad if you wanted to know about him!" Alex protested. "I want to know what else he's been making! You didn't even ask if he was having fun!"

Percy had no words of defense for himself, other than the contrite, "I know, I was going to ask if he had a clue where Thorn could have vanished with Annabeth. It was a long shot, since they just vanished into thin air, but," he spread his hands miserably he couldn't be asking Tyson that, and his dad had been his last hope for help with this.

Tyson's smile faded. "Not much. Daddy is busy. He is worried about the war."

"What do you mean?"

Tyson sighed. He stuck the sword blade out the window, where it made a cloud of boiling bubbles. When Tyson brought it back in, the metal was cool. "Old sea spirits making trouble. Aigaios. Oceanus. Those guys."

The eight of them exchanged uneasy glances.

It should have been comforting, Oceanus himself had admitted to causing these problems and their being here was apparently part of his redemption.

It was just, nobody thought he was doing a very stellar job.

Percy kept telling himself he was being paranoid, the Ocean Titan hadn't abducted him to push him into Kronos's side, or if he was he was blundering it like the people who were apparently supposed to be here in the first place.

Still, the nagging question had yet left since it occurred to him. Where were Annabeth and Grover? Was the war still going on and this was a really weird prisoner-of-war scenario?

His father had given him a reassurance though, only one brief moment of warmth, but he was positive it had been Poseidon assuring him. Nobody in the know had contradicted a single line of this story to manipulate him to any side, they were just his thoughts. If nobody else, he had faith Annabeth would be with him again soon enough to straighten all this out, he just had to get back to her by any means necessary.

I sort of knew what he was talking about. He meant the immortals who ruled the oceans back in the days of the Titans. Before the Olympians took over. The fact that they were back now, with the Titan Lord Kronos and his allies gaining strength, was not good.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked.

Tyson shook his head sadly. "We are arming the mermaids.

"I'm assuming he doesn't mean Ariel?" Magnus asked, and he considered it progress his voice hadn't cracked at this new revelation existing too.

"I am really salty we haven't seen a mermaid down here," Alex huffed.

They need a thousand more swords by tomorrow." He looked at his sword blade and sighed. "Old spirits are protecting the bad boat."

"The Princess Andromeda?" I said. "Luke's boat?"

"Yes. They make it hard to find. Protect it from Daddy's storms. Otherwise he would smash it."

"I am extremely worried what old spirits could block Neptune?" Jason frowned.

"I think we're living in the answer," Percy reminded.

"Smashing it would be good."

Tyson perked up, as if he'd just had another thought. "Annabeth! Is she there?"

Percy would swear his heart withered into nothing at such an innocent question that had no good answer. If all had just gone according to plan she would have been right there beside him catching up with Tyson too...in his cabin...

The strange expression of dread on his face fluctuating between a faint blush would have been fascinating to watch on a better day, but Nico found he didn't have the urge to gawk at him. It wasn't even for fear of getting caught, he was just striving in that moment to treat Percy like he was treated. As a casual friend.

"Oh, well..." My heart felt like a bowling ball. Tyson thought Annabeth was just about the coolest thing since peanut butter (and he seriously loved peanut butter). I didn't have the heart to tell him she was missing. He'd start crying so bad he'd probably put out his fires.

"Underwater," Magnus repeated, but he was so worried about her too he might drown in his own bubble of protection if he didn't get some kind of answer about her soon.

"Well, no... she's not here right now."

"Tell her hello!" He beamed. "Hello to Annabeth!"

"Okay." I fought back a lump in my throat. "I'll do that."

"Along with nonstop hugging, giving her back her hat, and maybe a headlock for going off that cliff," Will chuckled. "She's got a lot of catching up to do."

"When she comes back," Percy nearly growled at the end there would be no other alternatives.

"And, Percy, don't worry about the bad boat. It is going away."

"What do you mean?"

"Panama Canal! Very far away."

I frowned. Why would Luke take his demon-infested cruise ship all the way down there? The last time we'd seen him, he'd been cruising along the East Coast, recruiting halfbloods and training his monstrous army.

"International monsters and kids. Gods, how is that more chaotic and terrifying than five seconds ago?" Rachel muttered. She'd visited meetings with her dad that sounded less chaotic.

"All right," I said, not feeling reassured. "That's... good. I guess."

In the forges, a deep voice bellowed something I couldn't make out. Tyson flinched.

"Got to get back to work! Boss will get mad. Good luck, Brother!"

"Okay, tell Dad—"

But before I could finish, the vision shimmered and faded. I was alone again in my cabin, feeling even lonelier than before.

Percy sighed and glanced around at his friends in here. He didn't really feel alone, but despite he felt a kinship with every one of them now for sharing this with them, none of them felt like the family he would have wanted in that cabin with him right then.

I was pretty miserable at dinner that night.

I mean, the food was excellent as usual. You can't go wrong with barbecue, pizza, and never-empty soda goblets. The torches and braziers kept the outdoor pavilion warm, but we all had to sit with our cabin mates, which meant I was alone at the Poseidon table. Thalia sat alone at the Zeus table, but we couldn't sit together. Camp rules.

Nico let out a cold, blistering sigh. He hated that rule, he hated most of the rules at camp that felt they were designed to leave him alone feeling like a singled-out freak. Every time he looked around now-a-days, Percy had still been smiling and laughing with kids nearby like this was no concern at all.

"We should really change that rule, we've been breaking so many lately," Will said non to quietly with a commiserating look at Percy and Thalia, but his blue eyes glanced at Nico only out of the corner of his eye. They'd been building cabins and adding all sorts of accommodations to fill in for all the extra kids they'd been getting lately, why not allow a few more to go with the past?

"Good luck getting Chiron to agree with that," but Percy sounded just as hopeful he could sit at a table with Annabeth someday.

At least the Hephaestus, Ares, and Hermes cabins had a few people each. Nico sat with the Stoll brothers, since new campers always got stuck in the Hermes cabin if their Olympian parent was unknown. The Stoll brothers seemed to be trying to convince Nico that poker was a much better game than Mythomagic. I hoped Nico didn't have any money to lose.

"Negative," Nico assured with a mock smile. There had been a trust set up for him and Bianca, but it's not like money had ever been his concern between being passed around from foster family to caretaker on their way from Vegas to Westover Hall, learning to pickpocket and only relying on each other in those weeks.

Will's heart skipped a beat though as he remembered watching that fondly from a table away, and the memory was oddly flipped. He could still see Connor slipping a card up his sleeve and thinking how he wouldn't warn Nico so as not to spoil Connor's fun.

Now he definitely knew he'd step in and warn those two not to pull such a stunt on Nico right now, he'd been through enough.

Connor would probably have laughed, maybe even called him fickle. He'd never been subtle about his crush, but as he glanced at Nico now, he wondered what was a crush but deciding you wanted to get to know someone and liked what you learned?

The only table that really seemed to be having a good time was the Artemis table. The Hunters drank and ate and laughed like one big happy family. Zoe sat at the head like she was the mama. She didn't laugh as much as the others, but she did smile from time to time. Her silver lieutenant's band glittered in the dark braids of her hair. I thought she looked a lot nicer when she smiled. Bianca di Angelo seemed to be having a great time. She was trying to learn how to arm wrestle from the big girl who'd picked a fight with the Ares kid on the basketball court. The bigger girl was beating her every time, but Bianca didn't seem to mind.

Nico struggled hard to swallow for a moment, but it was no good, he'd choked over that entire paragraph with a bitter resentment once more. She hadn't once looked over to check on him. She'd always wanted to be brave enough to to make friends, and she'd finally gotten her wish.

He wanted to be happy for her, he really tried to push and search for that. She'd deserved this freedom from him, he'd spent that lone conversation with Travis and Connor chatting about card tricks, even over completely different games than she'd ever wanted to hear. He hoped laughing along with her new family had been her last thought.

When we'd finished eating, Chiron made the customary toast to the gods and formally welcomed the Hunters of Artemis. The clapping was pretty halfhearted. Then he announced the "good will" capture-the-flag game for tomorrow night, which got a lot better reception.

Afterward, we all trailed back to our cabins for an early, winter lights out. I was exhausted, which meant I fell asleep easily.

Being emotionally drained could do that to a person, Percy knew, as he was constantly living that experience. He was half tempted to ask to take a nap from this book, and they were only five chapters in.

That was the good part. The bad part was, I had a nightmare, and even by my standards it was a whopper.

"You dream about hamburgers too?" Alex asked almost innocently enough.

Magnus tried to laugh along for her like usual, but even he couldn't muster it. He didn't know which would be worse, to hear about Annabeth, or something else going wrong.

Annabeth was on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog.

There was Magnus's answer anyways. He winced and leaned forward in his seat for whatever this hurt was, he had to know she was okay. Percy got to see her in dreams, all he had was a few sparse memories of their childhood days always imagining her in these horrible places.

It almost seemed like the Underworld, because I immediately felt claustrophobic and I couldn't see the sky above—just a close, heavy darkness, as if I were in a cave.

Annabeth struggled up the hill. Old broken Greek columns of black marble were scattered around, as though something had blasted a huge building to ruins.

Jason twitched, a faintly familiar frown on his face. Not quite as pronounced as back on Circe's island, but one all the same Thalia noticed. She really didn't like the way he might know about this place too.

"Thorn!" Annabeth cried. "Where are you? Why did you bring me here?" She scrambled over a section of broken wall and came to the crest of the hill.

She gasped.

There was Luke. And he was in pain.

He was crumpled on the rocky ground, trying to rise. The blackness seemed to be thicker around him, fog swirling hungrily. His clothes were in tatters and his face was scratched and drenched with sweat, "Annabeth!" he called. "Help me! Please!"

"It's a trap," Alex spat at once.

"Maybe not," Magnus pleaded with the universe she wasn't going to be hurt by him again. "Maybe Luke did something to piss off Kronos, and this is his punishment. Thorn was meant to bring random half-bloods there," he reminded as he gestured at Nico, "maybe this is a warning?"

Alex didn't seem very convinced, and Percy was watching between the two with deep longing. If it was a ruse, Annabeth would see it coming before him, right?

She ran forward.

I tried to cry out: He's a traitor! Don't trust him!

But my voice didn't work in the dream.

All the terror, none of the protection, Magnus shivered. That's often how Hearth had told him he felt when they were confronted by cops on the street. To not have a voice in any situation was its own nightmare.

Annabeth had tears in her eyes. She reached down like she wanted to touch Luke's face, but at the last second she hesitated.

"What happened?" she asked.

"They left me here," Luke groaned. "Please. It's killing me."

I couldn't see what was wrong with him. He seemed to be struggling against some invisible curse, as though the fog were squeezing him to death.

Jason was starting to perspire, little tendrils of adrenaline trying to race along him with nowhere to go but whisper in his mind. He knew this place.

"Why should I trust you?" Annabeth asked. Her voice was filled with hurt.

"You shouldn't," Luke said. "I've been terrible to you. But if you don't help me, I'll die."

Will winced. He still remembered the tears in Annabeth's eyes when she'd sat in the infirmary and tried to explain to him why she'd done it. He'd promised he would have helped him too, and she'd cried herself into a much needed sleep. It hadn't been a lie.

Let him die, I wanted to scream. Luke had tried to kill us in cold blood too many times.

He didn't deserve anything from Annabeth.

"Except maybe a swift kick off a cliff," Thalia hissed. He'd promised Annabeth they'd protect her, be her new family. This was his promise!

Rachel gave her a concerned look, she'd said that with a little too much confidence. She really hoped Thalia didn't try to resurrect Luke just to act on it.

Then the darkness above Luke began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake.

Huge chunks of black rock began falling. Annabeth rushed in just as a crack appeared, and the whole ceiling dropped. She held it somehow—tons of rock. She kept it from collapsing on her and Luke just with her own strength. It was impossible. She shouldn't have been able to do that.

"You guys continue to do things that shouldn't be possible," Magnus reminded with a proud, if forlorn smile.

Luke rolled free, gasping. "Thanks," he managed.

Then his heart shattered, all eight of them winced.

Alex and Percy had been right, they'd known it was a trick from the start. And she'd fallen for it.

Magnus had never thought to call his cousin faint of heart, but he wished he could shake her right now and ask how many times Luke had to betray her before she'd stop caring about him? He was almost scared breathless if she would forgive her dad if she met him now, and he didn't even know how badly Fredrick had hurt her. He watched Thalia with wide, desperate gray eyes nobody needed to imagine had been in Annabeth's yearning face.

"She's alive, she's alive," Percy was chanting it like a mantra now, palms splayed flat on his knees to stop himself clenching up and destroying anything that would stop them getting to that. She was alive, and being tortured because of Luke!

Thalia kept up a brave face, just like always. It was true, but they had a long path to get there, and Percy wouldn't want to hear from her for quite some time as things progressed.

"Help me hold it," Annabeth groaned.

Luke caught his breath. His face was covered in grime and sweat. He rose unsteadily.

"I knew I could count on you." He began to walk away as the trembling blackness threatened to crush Annabeth.

"HELP ME!" she pleaded,

"Oh, don't worry," Luke said. "Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the meantime, try not to die."

Nico studied those last, awful, spiteful words he'd said to her before casually strolling away with a kind of loathing he rarely indulged. What if that had been Bianca as intended? How had Luke just walked away knowing she well could die and leave her like that? Annabeth had never been his favorite person, but he couldn't imagine a more soulless person than this guy right now. And he'd always thought he was the freak of nature.

The ceiling of darkness began to crumble again, pushing Annabeth against the ground.

I sat bolt upright in bed, clawing at the sheets. There was no sound in my cabin except the gurgle of the saltwater spring. The clock on my nightstand read just after midnight.

Only a dream, but I was sure of two things: Annabeth was in terrible danger. And Luke was responsible.

The earth was rumbling and shaking beneath them, cracks and splinters threatening to topple the titan of the ocean's kingdom down around them all as they traveled up the walls to the domed ceiling while Percy yelled in frustration and slashed his sword at nothing. He was going to kill him!

#PJO #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #jason grace #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo #percabeth #alex fierro #magnus chase #fierrochase #rachel elizabeth dare #reading the books #fanfiction #Titan's Curse

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shibee-inu · 11 months

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hi helo 👋 can i have uhhhhhh 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 27, 35, 53 and 65 for selen and 8, 10, 12, 13, 35 and 69 for endymion?

D&D Ask Game

Selene

8. What is something they cannot resist?

Hmm I guess maybe her own impulsiveness? Although that's actually kinda changing over time so it's not so much that she can't resist, moreso that it's difficult. I dunno, this feels like a strange question to answer, like how would you answer this for yourself ??? So the real answer: she can't resist adopting NPCs at the drop of a hat. Colton watch out you're next.

9. What is their favorite scent?

I don't think Selene has just one favorite? I'll give a few different ones. From her home: the ocean, cypress, and burning wood. In modern times: flower perfumes and fresh pastries.

10. If they were in a rock band, what role would they play?

Lead guitarist! Selene has played the lyre before, and while they obviously aren't the same, I think string instruments would generally interest her more. Plus she likes being the center of attention so her playing the melody would be fitting !

16. What keeps them going?

Hope and confidence! Fake it till you make it type beat. Selene figures that even if no one else believes in her, she can at least believe in herself, and that can be enough.

17. Does your character swear? What’s their favorite phrase/word?

Of COURSE Selene swears have u heard her… As for favorites. I think Selene is very particular to the usage of "asshole," but I've never actually considered it consciously? lol

27. If they were a ghost, how would they haunt in the afterlife?

She would move around your furniture and make spooky little noises. Mostly harmless! Haha unless…? I guess it would also depend on who she's haunting, because if it was like, the PRESIDENT? That guy would not be getting a harmless ghost that's for dang sure.

35. Do they consider themselves childish/mature for their age?

I don't think she really considers herself more or less childish/mature tbh. That's just not something she ever really thinks about yknow. Listen, that's Talfryn's obsession, not hers'. She's just livin her life out here.

53. What does freedom mean to them?

FUCK the government is what it means. Selene doesn't want to be constrained by others' ideas of who or how she should be. Also she's a roaming kinda gal <3 loves to wander. The facilities are basically antithetical to that entirely which is part of the reason she's against them on just a basic level. Governments that rob people of their autonomy have never been her jam (cuz yeah… the ancient Greeks did do that with women. A lot.)

65. Adoration or Intimidation?

Adoration for sure. Above all else, Selene is a charmer, although she definitely uses the power of intimidation when she really needs to! Sometimes what people need to be convinced is a good scare, and how is that her fault, huh.

Endymion

8. What is something they cannot resist?

I don't think Endymion is really a person who indulges in much so like. I can't really think of anything SORRY. I guess like… Selene in a way ?? She gets him to do things out of his comfort zone, pushes him out of his shell, gets him to say what he normally wouldn't. They're besties :) and he trusts her with that power.

10. If they were in a rock band, what role would they play?

Uhhh vocalist, perhaps ? He isn't really very musically inclined haha. Though I think he would get a bit nervous when put in the spotlight, so something like percussionist/keyboard might fit him better. If only he knew how to play either.

12. Physically, does your character feel warm or do they always feel cold?

Endymion runs hot! So it's always a little chilly for him during normal weather. That's why the Mediterranean climate fits him well, it's usually at least somewhat warm and sunny, and the winters aren't too too cold.

13. If they were a body of water, what would they be?

This is. Such an odd question to think about aslkdjglsk. Maybe like… a stream???? Not as big or intimidating as a river. Idk man it ain't that deep <- am I talking about the question or the stream? Who is to say.

35. Do they consider themselves childish/mature for their age?

Mature—he has a lot of responsibilities and has been able to basically single-handedly take care of himself and his family for over a decade. Though maturity is all subjective, and it's not something he values in himself or others. If he had a choice in the matter, he'd want to be more childish and enjoy life rather than be bogged down with worries or responsibilities. dw about his traumas <3

69. Journey or Destination?

Destination!!! Endymion is always looking ahead at the future, so living in the moment is harder for him to do. 6isms amiright. The shorter the journey the better, in his eyes.

#ask game #dungeons and dragons #dnd character #james-fun-in-the-sunderland #thanks for the asks rev these were fun to think about !!!!#a few made my brain hurty akglfjsk hope the answers were sufficient #I can expand more on anything that doesn't make sense/wasn't detailed enough

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somerabbitholes · 3 years

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hello, hope you’re doing well! i love the aesthetic of your blog ^^ ✨ would you happen to have any book/article recs for someone who wants to know about india’s war history? (this area of study is probably broad, and apologies for not narrowing the question down, but i’m just starting out, so literally anything about india’s war history would do ^^) thank you, and take care! 💕

hi! thank you so much! sorry this took a while. my phone isn't working so i only check tumblr when i use the laptop, which isn't that often.

it is a broad field, yeah, so here you go with a bunch that covers as much range as i could think of:

1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh by Srinath Raghavan ─ about the Bangladesh war; really great because it places the war in a Cold War context. Also generally check out Raghavan, especially his India’s War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia and War and Peace in Modern India.

Climate of Conquest: War, Environment, and Empire in Mughal North India by Pratyay Nath ─ looks at warfare in an environmental and cultural context in that he sees the army or fighting as part of society; looks at what Mughal warfare tells you about the state; at how the environment played a role in determining strategies and outcomes

1962: The War That Wasn’t by Shiv Kunal Verma ─ about the 1962 war/debacle; pretty good in that it covers all major details

Watershed 1967 by Probal Dasgupta ─ on the clash in Sikkim over Nathu La and Cho La between India and China, which India won; and the road to ‘peace’ after that

India’s Wars: A Military History, 1947-1971 by Arjun Subramaniam ─ pretty much what it sounds like, focuses primarily on the armed forces; there’s also a second part to this: Full Spectrum, which covers everything between 1971 and 2019/20

Solstice at Panipat by Uday Kulkarni ─ the buildup to and the climax of the Panipat battle; what it meant for the Maratha-Peshwa empire and for South Asia

1965, Turning the Tide by Nitin Gokhale ─ an account of the 1965 war, what went wrong/right; but mostly about how India won

Women at War: Subhas Chandra Bose and the Rani of Jhansi Regiment by Vera Hildebrand ─ about the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the INA, which was the first all-women infantry unit; I haven’t read this, but it comes well-received and it looks very interesting

here are also a few academic ones that have been on my reading lists for classes:

Warfare and Weaponry in South Asia, 1000-1800 by Dirk Kolff, Jos Gommans ─ takes a historical view of the development of military technology and strategies; also considers the social aspects/functions of war, and how it fits into the state structure

Between Mars and Mammon: Colonial Armies and the Garrison State in India by D. Pears ─ about how the colonial standing army developed; how it worked with/for the state; and further what that tells you about how colonial rule worked

Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market in Hindustan, 1450-1850 by Dirk Kolff ─ on military labour and its relationship with social structures; how ‘standing armies’ developed

i hope that helps, and happy reading!

#book recs #answered #books

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castpeve · 5 years

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The Eden Club was a hellhole, but it was better than running away from the police as a deviant. You weren't everyone's first choice, but not unpopular either. The only moment of escape rA9 gave you was when a snobby man rented you a chance to run from the club, along with his android, to find Jericho.

A/N: ok first two chapters probs won't have interactions with the og dbh characters since i dont want the story to be escalating too quickly. first two chaps are just an introduction to the reader and a few minor characters i made up (and maybe sneak a main character in, wink), i hope you guys dont mind !!

count: 2058 words

posted: 190406

PREVIOUS / CHAPTER ONE / NEXT CHAPTER

"Purchase confirmed." The tube slid open, "Eden club wishes you a pleasant experience." The man chuckled, throwing the old, ugly trenchcoat at the android. "Y/n...Eh? All yours, Matt. Ye Bastard." She stood there, perplexed, seeing the man walk out of the club, the Android accompanying him tilted his head, signalling that the Traci should follow.

She didn't know what else to do but do what she thought she was supposed to, after all, no one has ever purchased her for a whole night before. Was this safe? Was this allowed? She didn't know, but the man who bought her looked like a minted man, and the WR600 which followed certainly didn't look like the average model. Yes, it had the iconic blond hair and thin face, yet it had bright, grey-ish blue eyes and countless freckles splattered across it's face. It was also suited in grey trousers and what looked like a white long-sleeved button up shirt under a black hoodie, the Traci, or Y/n, still stood there in front of the closing tube. 'Matt' sighed, walking back to Y/n and grabbed the trenchcoat, helping her to wear it. She was inexperienced with putting on clothes more than revealing black undergarments, only knowing how to take them off.

"Hello, I'm Matthew. Err.. Y/n. Please follow me." He gave a half smile, turning his back at her and she followed. The music slowly faded into the distance as they exit the vibrantly coloured club, the cold climate made Y/n thankful she was given the coat. Even if she was designed to not be bothered by the cold...Or heat, or temperature. After all, she was just a plastic toy to be fucked.

Matthew opened the car door, gesturing her to come in. She did so silently, the awkward atmosphere immediately consuming her. The other android followed, and the car started. "Almost thought you two screwed in the club, heh." The old man laughed, despite looking rich he still drove an old sports car, not the self-driving vehicles that became the ordinary. The car blasted music, seemingly from 2018. They all sat in silence as the car drove, away from the bustling streets of Detroit and into...One of the richer sides of the city. "Get out." The man mumbled, Matthew left the front and opened the door for Y/n, who nervously stood up, out of the sports car. They entered the Apartment complex, Y/n trailing behind Matthew's tall figure the whole walk. They arrived at the elevator, which was quite spacious, the walls decorated with mirrors and mellifluous piano music filled the small space. "So," The man started, stuffing his hands into his beige jacket. "Watcha think of it, Matt? Want me to work late so you two could have some private?" Matthew turned his head to the side, his ears showed a faint blue. "Please, mr. Hutton. I never asked for a Traci.." He responded in a small voice. "Overworked cunt, ye know you should take a break. Stop workin' and watchin' over Collie like ye life depended on it, Oliver's there for that." Mr. Hutton's thickly voice sounded extremely like the plummy men Y/n had to endure. She stood awkwardly at the side, maintaining her posture. She was admittedly more attractive than all the other Traci's, but made her a bit overpriced. If lonely men hadn't drunkenly spent their money on sex androids, then maybe they had the slimmest chance of being able to afford her. The elevator briefly stopped, Mr. Hutton stepped out as the two androids followed, Y/n still trailing behind Matthew like a lost puppy.

Y/n's theory of Mr. Hutton being a minted man was correct, the bloke lived in a penthouse. And with his mention of a droid named 'Oliver', showed that Matthew wasn't the only bot he owned. Hutton locked the doors, taking off his jacket and immediately heading towards a room. "I'll be in my office, if anything malfunctions about Y/n, Matt, just tell Oliver to tell me. 'Cuz I don't want to smell Android sex." He chuckled, yawning right after. Matthew pressed his lips together, looking annoyed. "I'm sorry, Y/n. You don't need to do the...Thing. Take this as a break from the usual, ehh...Sexy moments you take nightly?" He simpered, taking off the hoodie, briefly revealing the white button up. Y/n could tell the android was a deviant, she herself was one. "I..I know you feel awkward. You don't usually have any robotic clients, yeah? Just, we can hang out in my own...Shared room with two other androids. All of us are deviants, Mr. Hutton doesn't have the heart to report and we don't have the heart to do anything deviant-y. Two others are busy doing whatever." Y/n still followed the Blond sheepishly, taking in the warm coloured interior contrasting from the bright, neon lights of the club she's always been in.

Matthew's room felt significantly colder than the living room, yet the room still had the same warm aesthetic as the rest of the penthouse, accompanied with three twin beds, night stands seperating each of them. They were treated as if they were humans, which wasn't a typical perk humans give to servant androids. Hutton must be incredibly warm-hearted to spend this much for androids. She mumbled a small "Thank you," almost seemingly like a whisper. He plopped down his bed, she assumed, and turned on the TV, situated in the middle of the room on a small, black wooden table filled with various magazines and such. She realized that Matthew isn't going to make the first move any soon, and her main purpose was to satisfy customers. But she was a deviant, she didn't have to give in the club's greedy orders. "You can go and make yourself at home, for the time being. Until you can go back and settle in the tube thing you live in, oh that must be uncomfortable, isn't it? Oh you probably don't wanna be reminded. Oh, uh..." He trailed off, hiding his face behind his hands, the blue hue returning to his face. Boy wasn't used to being with other androids, female androids.

Y/n stiffled a laugh, "It's ok, sir." The corner of her mouth quirking up, "Certainly we can enjoy the night, though?" His eyes widened, "W-wait are you actually willing to do it?? I...Was I programmed for this..." He stuttered, shifting his glance all around the room. She cracked up, laughter echoing in the secluded room. "No, you little cutie, spend it however you want. Whatever you wanna do.." She sat down next to his bed, making Matthew sit up. If he was a human, he'd be a hot flustered mess. Frankly, she didn't imagine doing it with the boy. Something about him turned her off, not in a bad way, but in a way that she'd rather do something else than ride it all night. They have a night to spend, and that night isn't going to be spent throwing nervous exchanges at eachother. "Maybe get to know eachother? What do you like?" Seems like Y/n has the upper hand.

"Wha— Well," His LED turned yellow, which she hadn't paid much attention to. "I like doing new stuff. It's exciting." He grinned apologetically, being a shy wreck. Y/n scanned through her options, thinking about what to ask the man next. She subtly took off the trenchcoat, despite the cold temperature, it was ugly and reeked. She obviously wasn't given anything else, so all she wore was the iconic black EDEN CLUB undergarments. Despite being an android, programmed to work and not to feel, he acted like such a human. If he would remove the LED, she would be convinced Matthew was a normal human boy. And like a normal human boy, the blood rushed to his face, blue contrasting to his pale, synthetic, freckled skin, "Does this make you uncomfortable, sir?" She asked, tilting her head. Matthew shook his head, "I'm quite fine. Call me Matt, or Matthew, uhhh I-D-K."

Y/n's LED flashed yellow, "I-D-K? What does that mean?" She asked, genuinely. "Err, I don't know."

"What? then why did you use it if you didn't know?" She tilted her head in confusion, the concept of internet slang was foreign to her. "Wait, nooo......" He lightly chuckled, "It means that I don't know an answer to something." The tension lightened up a little, Matthew invited her to sit down next to the bed, offering her something to change into. It actually did make him uncomfortable, but, hey, he wanted to be polite.

"Do you have any shirts, please?" She giggled, "I-D-K, your choice, Matt." He looked back at her with wide eyes, soon a smile was plastered onto his face. "I can't believe I'm teaching another Android slang." He laughed, opening the clean, white closet. Well, one of the three. "I have, ehh, this one blue jacket, I think it would fit you. Frankly, I don't remember buying it but, it's convenient.. I guess." He picked up an indigo, red and white striped jacket that would look to small even for Matthew's rather thin build. She was confused as to why he had that in his closet but nodded, gesturing that she would be alright wearing it. Looked like it fit anyway.

He walked back to her and gently put the clothes on the white sheets, the TV still babbling in the background, about an AX400 running away from their home with a human child, the victim said to have been attacked along the way. Matthew spoke up, "They would probably find their way to Jericho, the two, I mean."

Y/n, who had just finished putting on the jacket, "J....Jericho?" she questioned, Matthew raised his artificial eyebrow. "Yes, Jericho. The place where fugitives, deviants run off to to be 'free'. I've wanted to go there but..." His LED turned yellow, "I...I g-guess I'm already content with my artificial life here.." She didn't know why he hesitated.

"Do you know where Jericho is?" She questioned, squinting at the TV, rambling about androids and Cyberlife and shite.

"Well...I've heard that there are clues. Clues that guide you to Jericho. Very few make it, I never made the risk. I didn't want to leave the safety of Mr. Hutton's home either." He tensed up, "You want to go there, don't you?" he started unbuttoning his long sleeve. "Will that be a bad idea?" She asked again, feeling that she's comfortable enough with Matthew to ask about whatever this Jericho thing is. "Likely."

He threw the shirt onto a nearby basket, leaving him with the grey trousers. Y/n's seen naked men, sometimes women, so this hadn't fazed her. unlike Matthew. He turned around, and mumbled a small "Oh." She gave a lopsided grin, before he turned around and grabbed a random shirt and some shorts along with it, "Excuse me!" He added quickly before dashing into the bathroom connected to the bedroom. Which gave her a chance to explore the room for a few moments.

The room was quite luxurious, real Birch wood was used as the floor, mostly being covered by a soft, white mat. one side had Thirium stains which concerned Y/n, but chose to ignore it. One wall was made of mostly glass, showcasing the dim buildings of Detroit; matching white curtains drawn.

The door swung open. "Hews, I'm sad to say that the tomatoes you grew sucked—" Another Android came in, an AP700, Y/n concluded, since she didn't see her come in, she looks like she had just come back from outside. The girls stared silently at eachother, before one of them spoke, breaking the silence; "I am thoroughly disappointed in you, Matthew—fucking—Hutton," She mumbled. Another android came in, sighing. "I told you."

#long #ig #connor x reader #dbh connor #connor rk800 #dbh kara #dbh markus #markus x reader #dbh ralph #dbh gavin #dbh #detroit become human #dbh fanfic #dbh x reader #pentagon castpeve #fanfic #fanfiction

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xtruss · 4 years

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The Great Lakes are higher than they’ve ever been, and we’re not sure what will happen next

Lakeside living comes with a new premium: flooding and lots of uncertainty. Researchers and residents aren't certain what comes next. — via Popular Science

— By Molly Glick | May 15, 2020 | Popular Science

A storm on Lake Michigan isn't the same as a storm on the ocean: There are different atmospheric factors and water-flow patterns that determine its ferocity. Jentara/Deposit Photos

A single road near Lake Superior connects Michigan’s Keweenaw Bay Indian Community to the rest of the state. During major rains, rocks and wood litter the route and cut off travel in and out. Over the summer, drivers have to take a 30-minute detour; in the winter, the trip can take more than two hours. Work crews eventually clear the path with plow-like machines, freeing the tribe’s movement.

Living at Superior’s southern edge, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) manages close to 19 miles of its shoreline. They rely on it for tourism revenue, drinking water, and fish for the tribal hatchery. A full lake is good news for KBIC, but if the levels spill over, it could spell danger for the residents’ subsistence.

This precarious balance shifted toward disaster during the 2018 Father’s Day flood, when more than seven inches of rain pounded the area in just three hours. In the storm’s aftermath, fecal runoff plagued local beaches, teeing up an explosion of harmful E. coli bacteria. The Michigan Health Department closed several swimming spots on the state’s Upper Peninsula, but they didn’t offer to test the tribe’s domain. That led KBIC’s Water Resources Specialist Stephanie Cree to take matters into her own hands. After all, the health of Lake Superior is an essential measure when people’s livelihoods depend on it.

“A lot of the community relies on fish for food,” Cree says. "We have a lot of tribal and commercial fishermen who rely on fishing for income.”

Cree instituted weekly beach monitoring to check bacteria levels, soon shuttering two of the reservation’s beaches. As far as she knows, it was the first such closure in Keweenaw Bay’s modern history. And it likely won’t be the last, given that the region is becoming more unstable by the day.

Across the 5,241 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, tribes, cities, vacationers, and wildlife managers are grappling with devastating flooding and erosion. It’s a different story from the nation’s coasts, where rising seas are creeping inland at a steady pace. Instead, the five Great Lakes fluctuate naturally by season—though over the past four decades, they’ve bounced both above and below historic records. Experts suspect that climate change is partially driving these shifts, but because of the complex nature of the water, it’s hard to isolate human factors from the rest of the turbulence. That leaves states like Michigan with little room to prepare for the lakes’ next turn.

To understand how much the Great Lakes have seesawed, one needs to go back to 1860, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started taking monthly averages of the water levels. Based on those measurements, the lakes have stayed within a modest six-foot range of their typical levels. But the pattern of spikes demands closer attention.

Since September 2014, the planet’s largest collection of freshwater has broken and re-broken most of its long-term records. Last June and July, Lakes Superior, Erie, Ontario, and “the sixth Great Lake,” St. Clair, all surged above century-old highs. Meanwhile, Lakes Michigan and Huron hit new peaks this April, after an unusually wet winter pushed their levels three feet above the monthly average.

Some of these patterns are inherent to the cycles that shape the Great Lakes, says Chin Wu, an engineer at the University of Wisconsin, who’s worked with the Army Corp of Engineers and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study the system. The basin’s levels usually increase in spring with heavy precipitation and runoff from snowmelt. They continue to ramp up through mid-summer, as hotter temperatures cause water molecules to expand somewhat, before dropping off in fall as cold air accelerates evaporation.

“The Great Lakes are very complex,” Wu says. “It’s not like the simple formula for ocean levels, which keep going up.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been taking monthly averages of the lakes levels for the past many decades to identify anomalies. (Michigan and Huron are connected and considered as one unit.) Graph: Sara Chodosh

The recent string of record highs relates directly to extreme ice cover from 2013, 2014, and 2015, says Greg Mann, science and operations officer at the NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Office. Competing atmospheric processes, like evaporation and precipitation, usually keep the Great Lakes system in equilibrium, he notes—but when one of those reactions doesn’t go as planned, the water builds up too quickly. That’s exactly what happened during the 2014 polar vortex, when the region froze over and evaporation took a hit. Months later, the ice thawed into the lakes, just as the heavy spring rains arrived.

The opposite is also true, Mann says: Reduced precipitation and low ice cover can speed up evaporation, causing levels to bottom out. In fact, before the recent stretch of highs, the Great Lakes experienced its longest sustained period of below-average waters. In spring of 2013, Lakes Huron and Michigan reached the nadir of a 15-year plunge, posing a challenge for industries like shipping and hydropower.

Less understood are the freak meteorological events that feed off already-dangerously high waters. Meteotsunamis will randomly materialize in the Great Lakes, lasting anywhere between a few minutes and two hours. The storm-driven waves usually top out at a foot, but they can still cause major damage; in 1954, an abnormally tall meteotsunami pounded Chicago’s shoreline and killed seven people.

Looking back on all the dramatic highs and lows of the past decade, it seems impossible to project the future of the tides. The best bet is to dig into data and predict a wide range of outcomes for each lake. Currently, researchers from NOAA and the Canadian Hydrographic Service are tracking the tiniest changes in water levels with gauge stations positioned throughout the five Great Lakes (there are 53 total in the US). The sensor-packed devices allow scientists to keep close tabs on the amount of water flowing in and out of the basin. That itself is a tall order: Lakes Michigan and Huron alone take in an average of 139 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of runoff and precipitation per minute.

From that data, experts can try to learn if climate change is gaming the Great Lakes system, though they still won’t be able to draw any solid correlations. Studies have already linked climate change to shifting local precipitation levels. The region’s annual rain and snow totals have shot up by 13.6 percent since 1951, and as of last October, the Great Lakes experienced its fifth wettest year in a row. The coming decades could bring even damper winters and springs.

What’s more, the region is losing swathes of frozen ground, much like the Arctic. Recent NOAA maps show that the basin’s total ice cover shrunk by 69 percent between 1973 and 2017—a trend that might link back to warmer water temperatures in summer. Less ice means more waves hitting against land, resulting in erosion on Chicago beaches and coastal hamlets. In January, a cottage in White River Township, Michigan, toppled over a bluff and collapsed in the waves, a tragedy that could signal the new normal for lakefront life.

All in all, the country’s longest freshwater coastline isn’t what it used to be. Some parts of Michigan’s shorefront are eroding at an average of a foot a year, and the state has spent millions of dollars restoring damage on campgrounds, dunes, and beaches.

There’s also a symbolic importance embedded in Michigan’s coasts. Locals take ownership of and advocate for the Great Lakes’ protection, says Nick Assendelft, public information officer at the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. “It’s in the DNA of Michiganders to have a connection with water.”

Michigan officials are monitoring development in high-risk erosion areas, though only 10 percent of the state’s coastline currently falls under this protection, says Richard Norton, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan. Meanwhile, some residents are trying to salvage their lakefront homes by installing rock or steel sea walls to guard against rising swells. These can cost property owners up to $150,000 depending on the material and property size, says Beth Foley, a Michigan real estate agent who specializes in waterfront homes. In particularly treacherous zones, people have even picked up their homes and dragged them several yards away from the lake.

Besides being impractically pricey, sea walls and other armoring measures can counteract themselves by redirecting waves in a way that accelerates erosion. Wu, the University of Wisconsin engineer, also says they eat into prime coastal habitat by churning up waters that displace sand from the shallows. With that in mind, researchers are seeking “soft” solutions that don’t simply cut communities off from the Great Lakes, including “living shorelines” made of natural materials such as flora, rocks, and oysters. The idea is far from new: Indigenous communities around the globe have traditionally used vegetation to fight erosion, and cities in Washington, North Carolina, New York, and Alabama are already putting the non-rigid buffers to use.

The 2018 Father's Day flood was linked to heavy amounts of rain, which caused spillover from Lake Superior and local tributaries in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.James R. Melchiori/USGS

For the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, hard and soft solutions work in tandem. The tribe hired a company to install boulders and a loose foundation of stones called rip rap around their gas station on Lake Superior. And for more than a decade, the natural resource department has led restoration efforts like seeding native grasses as a screen around local soils and wetlands. These measures also increase habitats for birds and butterflies, a win-win for the Superior ecosystem.

Ultimately, the stakes are high for KBIC. The tribe’s most valuable assets are based in and around the lake, both in the fisheries and the sands that hold centuries-old burial grounds and historically important plants. When the floodwaters spill onto the roads, they don’t just jeopardize the community’s economic well being—they threaten its cultural salience, too.

Moving forward, there’s no telling what the lake waters will do. They could wax and wane as they have over the past century, with slight deviations from global warming and regional cold snaps. says Eric Anderson, a physical oceanographer at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. But unlike the accelerating trajectory of sea-level rise, the Great Lakes levels probably won’t follow a clear path.

In the short term, the Army Corp of Engineers is forecasting a wide range of outcomes for each lake. Overall, they’re expecting a similar situation across the lakes for the next six months, says John Allis, chief of the Detroit District Great Lakes Hydraulics and Hydrology Office. “We’ll either be dealing with record highs or just below them.”

Ice cover on Lake Superior registered at a little below 7 percent this February, as compared to 37 percent last year. NOAA CoastWatch Great Lakes

How to deal with those highs is a complex issue of its own. Take KBIC for example: The Father’s Day Flood propelled its natural resources department to organize a plan for future emergencies (a mandatory component to vie for federal disaster funding). Cree, their water expert, thinks nearby tribes may follow suit.

“This is all something new,” she says. “We haven’t had these types of issues before because storms are happening more frequently.”

In 2018, the tribe began developing a pre-hazard mitigation plan to tackle abiding concerns like record water levels, extreme storm events, infrastructure issues, and climate change, says KBIC Environmental Specialist Dione Price. They hope to adopt it by this summer.

And while the Army Corp of Engineers’ models may give communities a hint of what to expect, the future of the region can’t be determined by a curve on a graph. To really understand what’s happening with local water levels, Mann, the NOAA operations officer, says, people need to gain an appreciation for the intricacies of the Great Lakes. Warming and cooling don’t pull all the strings in the system; neither do natural cycles likes rain and evaporation. “Predicting outcomes with any certainty is nearly impossible,” Mann says. “I know that isn’t satisfying, but that is how things work.”

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