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Chapter Text

As Percy got on the plane, he felt more nervous than ever. This was his first time flying since Zeus himself slapped him across the Atlantic. Being the son of Poseidon and all, he didn't like going into his Uncle's territory, but this was necessary. They couldn't sail to Australia, that would take too long. And they needed this vacation. Annabeth and Percy decided that since the war was over, they needed a break from all the craziness in their lives. And because North America was filled with monsters, being the center of the gods' power, and Europe was home to the original birthplace of the gods (as well as where they just fought a war) they thought they would give Australia a try.

They had asked the entire Seven to come, (minus Leo)[Sorry he's still missing in this story] as well as Nico di Angelo, but Hazel and Frank didn't want to leave their new positions at Camp Jupiter and Nico didn't want to be a third (or is it fifth?) wheel (Jason just thought he didn't want to leave Will). So Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Percy packed their bags and headed to the airport. 

"Percy, relax. We just saved the world for him. He won't shoot you out of the sky. Plus, Jason is with us. Zeus wouldn't kill his own son," Piper said, adding a little charmspeak into her words. She knew Percy didn't like flying from their time on the Argo Ⅱ, but she'd never seen him this nervous. Percy sat down in his seat next to Annabeth and tried to calm his nerves. Piper's charmspeak was helping, but not much.

"You know he killed his sons many times in the old myths and he probably would still now, right?" Jason whispered to Piper once she sat down.

"Yes, I do. But he just looked so nervous I had to tell him something," she responded.

"Look at you, being all nice to him. I'm starting to get a little jealous." Piper's face got beat red and she punched Jason in the arm.

"You know I'm just kidding, don't need to get all violen..." Piper cut him off by kissing him.

"Now shut up, Sparky before I have to punch you again," Piper said. Then she rested her head on Jason's shoulder and fell asleep.

Percy didn't unclutch his hands from the armrests (and occasionally Annabeth) until the plane landed. Several times during the flight, Annabeth tried to get him to calm down but he wouldn't. Annabeth wasn't very excited about being in the sky either, but at least her mother was on good terms with the sky god. Percy's father was not. As they got off the plane, Percy looked so thankful they were on solid ground again, Piper half-expected him to get down and start kissing it.

"Happy now, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asked Percy.

"I would be happier if you would shut up, Wise Girl," Percy joked.

"Oh, I am so gonna get you for that." Percy starts running and Annabeth chases him until she sees he is getting really close to some people.

"Percy watch out!" But of course, he didn't understand her until after he slammed right into a teenage girl, knocking them both to the floor. Annabeth runs up to them and looks down at the girl. She has dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked and helped her up.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said. Annabeth could tell she was from around here. She had an accent.

Annabeth reached down and grabbed Percy's ear, like she was his mother, and pulled him up.

"You must excuse my boyfriend's clumsy behavior," Annabeth said as she let go of his ear and elbowed him in the ribs.

"I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going," Percy said.

"No, it's fine, reall..." The girl was cut off by another girl, this one with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. This girl came stampeding over like she wanted to rip someone's head off. It actually reminded Percy of Clarisse.

"Cleo! It is not fine! He pushed you on the ground. You can't be so nice. What if he did it on purpose?!" A third girl came over. She had straight blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Rikki. Come on now. He apologized! I'm sure he didn't mean it."

"Yeah, Rikki. Come on."

"You're taking Emma's side on this? You're the one who got pushed over!" Watching them was like trying to get through the labyrinth by yourself... confusing.

"Um, like I said. I'm really sorry," Percy said, awkwardly. The girl called Rikki looked at Percy, and Annabeth noticed something change in her eyes. Like she was just realizing how good looking he was. At least that was what Annabeth thought, but she had a hard time reading her. This girl oppressed her emotions very well. Annabeth could tell the girl in the middle, Cleo, was uncomfortable. She didn't like confrontation. And the girl on the right, Emma, she just wanted to win the argument.

Rikki scanned all four of the demigods before saying, "Well, I guess there is no sense arguing. C'mon guys. We need to get Cleo's grandad." The other two girls just stared at her. Annabeth guessed she usually didn't back down from a fight.

As they were walking away, Annabeth heard one of the girls ask her, "Are you okay? Do you have a fever? Did you manage to boil your own brain?" Boil your own brain? Annabeth thought. That must be some kind of expression here.

Chapter Text

They found their way to the resort and got unpacked.

"We're going to go look at the sites. You guys want to come?" Piper asked Annabeth and Percy.

"Well, I actually wanted to go for a swim to check out the waters around here," Percy said. Annabeth was a little disappointed. She wanted to spend time with Percy but she saw how excited he was about this. Much like she gets when she talks about architecture. So she didn't say anything to him. She would have gone with Jason and Piper but with one look at Piper, Annabeth could tell she wanted alone time with Jason.

"I think I'll just stay and check out the resort. And there is a museum next door so I might go over there. You guys have fun," Annabeth said.

Percy felt guilty about leaving Annabeth alone. But he knew she could tell how excited he was about being in an ocean he wasn't familiar with. It excited him. So, yes, it is still the Pacific Ocean, which Percy has been in thanks to his time at Camp Jupiter. But a lot can change from across the ocean.

Percy ran down to the beach and saw that it was littered with people. All different kinds of people. If Annabeth was here with him, he would probably start pointing at the people sunbathing and say that they were beached whales and then Annabeth would tell him to stop making fun of people, while secretly laughing herself. Which was what Percy was thinking at the moment. But thinking about her made him more guilty. He almost went back and got her, but he decided against it. He wanted to explore the sea. But he couldn't do it like he wanted to if he constantly had to focus on keeping an air bubble around her. Not that it wouldn't still be fun.

Percy dove into the sea and willed the currents to carry him out farther. The water here was different. Almost like his father's power wasn't there. It was a wonder he could breathe or control it. He got out pretty far when a few dolphins came up to him.

"Lord, a creature is in trouble," said one of the dolphins.

"Come save her, lord, please," said another. Percy nodded and grabbed onto a dolphin. They led him deeper out into the sea and down to the bottom. It was a shipwreck. A fisherman's boat by the looks of it. And sure enough, there was some sort of fish caught in a net. But this wasn't any ordinary fish. Its tail was bigger around than Percy's waist and longer than his legs. He couldn't see the front half of it but Percy knew this had to be a sea monster of some sort. He just hoped it was friendly and he wasn't freeing an enemy. Percy willed the currents to push him to see the front of the sea creature.

He rounded the corner of the boat and saw the last thing he expected to see, a mermaid. But it wasn't like the mermaids at his dad's underwater castle. This was like the fairy tale mermaids. It was a human girl's upper body with a tail instead of her legs. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Her eyes widened as if she had never seen a son of Poseiden before. Which was weird. All of the mermaids, or any creature really, that Percy met knew who he was. Percy tried to speak to her but he realized he couldn't talk to her like he does any other sea creature. And she most likely wouldn't understand him if he tried to talk like he did on land. So Percy did what he once did with Annabeth in the Sea of Monsters, he gathered all the air bubbles around him to create an air pocket around their upper bodies. She watched, frightened until the bubbles settled. She looked at him, eyes wide, and said nothing. When he saw her face clearly, Percy realized she looked familiar. But he was sure he'd never met a creature like this before.

"Hello, my name is Percy. I don't want to hurt you. I want to help. The dolphins told me you were in trouble," he said, trying to sound as nice and soothing as he could. Percy was talking to her like he did Bessie when he freed him four years ago. Percy felt like that had been in a different lifetime. He knew giving his name could be dangerous but if she was a monster she would already know it. But there was something off. She didn't seem to know what he was. He uncapped his sword, Riptide, to cut the rope and her eyes got even wider.

"I swear I won't hurt you. Just don't move." Percy swung Riptide and slashed through the ropes easily. As soon as she was free, the mergirl started to swim away. But she hesitated and came back to the air bubble.

"Thank you," she said in a small voice and darted away. Percy wasn't sure exactly what she was but he knew one thing for sure. She was not Greek.

Chapter Text

Cleo

Cleo swam away from the boy as fast as she could. He looked familiar but only now did she realize who he was. The boy from the airport. Cleo knew she sensed the ocean on him. It was stronger than any mermaid she'd even met. Whoever he was, he scared Cleo to death.

The only reason Cleo was stuck in the first place was that she saw the shipwreck and got worried. It looked as if it just happened and she just wanted to see if there was someone stuck. Of course, as soon as she tried to get in there, the only stuck person was her. She saw some dolphins and they swam around, keeping her company. Until they left. Stupid dolphins. Cleo thought as she watched them swim away. But what she didn't realize was they went to get help. Cleo knew dolphins were smart but she didn't know they were that smart. And she definitely didn't know they could talk. The boy said they told him Cleo was in trouble. She also wondered what he was. He wasn't a merman. Cleo had never seen one and he didn't have a tail. And the way he made that air bubble. Even she couldn't do that.

Cleo finally made it to the moon pool, where her friends, Emma and Rikki, were waiting. They looked worried. Rikki was pacing back and forth beside the pool and Emma had her head in her hands.

When Rikki noticed Cleo she shouted, "What took you so long?! You were only supposed to check for cameras. We do it every day!"

"I'm sorry! I got stuck in a fisherman's net at a shipwreck," Cleo explained.

"We were about to go out looking for you," Emma said.

"Well, I kind of ran into someone."

"WHAT?!" Emma and Rikki shouted at the same time.

"Did they see you with your tail?!" Rikki asked. Cleo nodded.

"How could you be so reckless?!" Emma scolded.

"Just hold on! He was underwater too. He saved me from the shipwreck." Rikki and Emma both looked confused.

"Yeah. He was breathing underwater," Cleo said.

"Was he a merman? I've never seen one. And even we can't breathe underwater," Emma said. "I feel like we would know if someone else was given powers like us,"

"No, he didn't have a tail," Cleo said. "But get this..." Cleo told them how he made the air bubble and that he was the guy that knocked her over at the airport. Rikki's cheeks got a little red.

"Seriously? And you didn't slap him or something? I still can't believe I let him get away with that," Rikki said.

"He must be a tourist. I think we should go looking for him," Emma said.

Annabeth

Annabeth was just getting settled with her book when Percy came rushing into their room. Annabeth had gone over to the museum after they all left. It was a kangaroo museum, which was kind of weird. But it was still mildly interesting. Annabeth still wished Percy was with her though. After the museum, Annabeth came home and sat in the hot tub for a little while until her skin turned wrinkly and she got out. At the kangaroo gift shop, she had picked up a stuffed kangaroo (for Percy) and a commemorative book about her mother, Athena, that was written in Ancient Greek. Why the book was in a kangaroo gift shop, she had no idea. But at least it was something she could read without her dyslexia acting up.

Percy came rushing into her room, looking like he'd just seen a whole stack of blue pancakes (which made him really happy) and sat down on their bed. They couldn't sleep apart from each other or nightmares would get to them.

"I just met a mermaid!" he said, all excited. Annabeth couldn't figure out why this was a big deal.

"Don't you see mermaids all the time at your father's castle?" she asked him.

"Yeah but not this kind of mermaid. I mean like the ones in fairy tales. Without the blue skin and stuff."

"Okay, cool. But why are you so excited?"

"What? You wouldn't be excited to see your childhood dream come true?" Annabeth burst out laughing.

"Your childhood dream is to meet a mermaid?" Annabeth said laughing harder.

Percy crossed his arms and said, "Make fun of me all you want. When I was little I was secretly obsessed with mermaids, okay? I loved how easily they could swim through water."

Once Annabeth finally stopped laughing she said, "Okay, I'm sorry, Seaweed Brain. I just didn't see you as the type to like something so girly..." Annabeth barely finished her sentence before she started laughing again.

"Oh, just shut up, Wise Girl. I bet there's something you're obsessed with that you're embarrassed about."

"Well, there is one thing," Annabeth said as she grabbed the stuffed animal. "Kangaroos!" Then she threw the kangaroo at Percy and it hit him in the face. Annabeth starting laughing hysterically, which gave Percy enough time to grab the stuffed kangaroo and throw it back. Annabeth instinctively grabbed her knife and swat at it, cutting the poor kangaroo's head off.

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled and started laughing so hard he was rolling on the ground. Annabeth just picked up the kangaroo (now in two pieces) and sadly looked at it.

"This was supposed to be a gift for you," Annabeth said, acting sad. Then she taunted, "So you don't have to cut the circulation off in my arm on the plane, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth threw the dismembered kangaroo pieces at Percy, who started laughing. They had a full-blown war when Jason and Piper came into the room, asking what all the noise was. Jason joined Percy on one side of the bed and Piper joined Annabeth on the other. They threw the animal at each other until stuffing was scattered all over the room. They all jumped on Annabeth's bed and Percy told Jason and Piper about the mermaid.

"She looked really familiar but I couldn't figure out why. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Any of you guys know someone like that?" Jason and Piper shook their heads but Percy could see wheels turning inside Annabeth's head.

"Wait! Was it the girl from the airport? The one you knocked over?" Annabeth said the last part like she was scolding him. Realization dawned on Percy's face.

"Yeah! She was!"

"But how can that be? That girl was mortal," Piper asked.

"I have no idea," Percy said.

"Wait, Piper. Remember that poster we saw? The one about Mako Island," Jason said.

"Oh yeah. We saw this poster telling an urban legend. There is this moon pool in the center of the mountain on this island. Supposedly, whoever is in that pool when the full moon goes over the mountain will be turned into a mermaid. But we saw people looking at the poster in disgust. I guess the people here think it's completely bogus."

Annabeth thought for a moment and said, "Well, most things in our life people thought were bogus. I think we should check it out."

Chapter Text

All four of them went out to the pier the next day, looking to rent a boat to get to Mako Island. They were walking around when they spotted a small fishing boat with a "For Rent" sign on it. Well, they guessed that was what it said. With all of them having dyslexia, it looked more like "orF ntRe." They walked up to the boat and met this really nice guy named Lewis. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. Annabeth could tell he was sort of a nerd by how awkward he was around them.

"So, we were wondering if we could rent out your boat for the day," Piper said, as she was our negotiator. Annabeth could tell she added a little charmspeak into her voice but she really didn't need too. This guy was so nice, no doubt was going to let them use it.

"Yeah, definitely. Just let me clean it up a little. And don't worry about the price, since you're only using it for a day. May I ask where you are going?" he responded.

"Mako Island," Annabeth said. She saw something change in his eyes. His body stiffened. Annabeth could tell he knew something about it. He was about to say something when someone shouted his name.

"Lewis! We need... you," the girl from the airport paused when she saw who Lewis was talking too.

"Hey, Cleo. This is Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason. They are going to use my boat for today," Lewis introduced us. She smiled but Annabeth could tell she figured out who Percy was too.

"Funny seeing you here," the girl with curly hair, Rikki, said.

"Rikki, be nice. We shouldn't hold anything against him. He made up for it," the other girl, Emma said. Eyeing Percy wearily.

"He did?" Jason asked, glancing at Percy.

"Yes. He apologized," Emma explained. Although Annabeth could tell Cleo told them about Percy saving her.

"I'm confused. You guys know each other?" Lewis asked. Cleo explained what happened. Lewis didn't look surprised that Rikki was still holding onto it.

"I think we're just going to go. Thanks so much, Lewis. We'll have it back to you in a little while. Oh and Rikki, please let it go," Piper said, loading on the charmspeak. All the anger left Rikki's face.

All four demigods got onto Lewis's boat and sailed off.

"They are going to Mako," Lewis said.

"Lewis! Tonight is the full moon!" Cleo shouted at him as the demigods sped away on Lewis's boat.

Chapter Text

Once they got on the island, Percy felt a connection. Something was urging him on, trying to get him to go somewhere.

"Guys, I can feel it," Percy said. His friends looked confused.

"Feel what?" Jason asked.

"Her power." They followed Percy to this pile of rocks that kind of reminded Annabeth of Zeus's fist. Which reminded her of the time they spent in the labyrinth. In other words, bad memories. She shook them off and realized Percy had stopped.

"It leads right here. But there isn't anything her..." he was cut off as he suddenly slipped and fell. The other demigods watched in horror as Percy fell down some kind of hole and disappeared. Annabeth ran over to the hole and yelled Percy's name down it.

"I'm fine!" he yelled back. "Just a little scraped up. This is some sort of cave. It leads somewhere else..." Percy's voice trailed off as he walked deeper into the cave. Annabeth was just about to go down when Jason stopped her.

"Let me go. If there's trouble I can fly us back up." What he was saying made sense, but Annabeth hesitated. She wanted to be with Percy. After everything he did for her in Tartarus... Annabeth shuddered at the thought. And not being with him today almost killed her. They had rarely been apart since the Giant War and she didn't want to start. Eventually, she reluctantly got up and let Jason slide down. After a few minutes of waiting, Jason and Percy called up and said the coast was clear. Annabeth and Piper slid down and they were in a dark cave. The walls were made out of volcanic rock and the floor was sand. They followed the boys' voices into another small cavern. There was a bright sea-green pool in the center that matched Percy's eyes. The pool looked like it led out into the ocean.

"Uh, guys, I don't see any exits," Piper said, saying what Annabeth was thinking.

"No, it's cool. Percy is just going to float us out," Jason explained. Piper and Annabeth nodded.

"So, are we just going to leave or..." Piper trailed off.

"No way! This place is awesome!" Percy exclaimed, obviously a lot more excited about it than the rest of them.

Percy jumped into the pool and said, "It's really warm! Get in guys!"

"Percy, it's getting dark," Piper warned.

"Who cares!" Percy said and got out and grabbed Annabeth. He threw her in and was about to jump in, but the pool started bubbling. Percy desperately wanted to get in there and pull her out but he couldn't move. Annabeth started to look really scared and glanced at Percy. He tried so hard but it was not his fate. After a few seconds, it stopped and Annabeth looked fine.

"Are you okay?!" Piper asked frantically.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was so weird," Annabeth said.

"Let's get out of here," Jason said. Percy jumped in the water and gave the other's their own air bubbles around their heads. They swam back to the shore of the island and got in Lewis's boat. Once they got back to the resort, they immediately went to bed, still feeling unsettled about what happened in the pool. 

Chapter Text

Annabeth wakes up early in the morning like she usually does. That night she had dreams about fish. Which was very weird for her. She usually doesn't have normal mortal dreams. She gets undressed and steps into the bath. She sits there for about ten seconds until her body starts to shimmer. Annabeth watched in horror as her legs formed into one long, sparkly orange... tail. She starts to freak out and for a second, she wonders if Percy did this.

"Percy! Get in here!" she yells.

He knocks on the door and asks, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure but if this is some sort of prank, I swear to the gods..." Her voice trailed off as Percy opened the door and stepped into the bathroom, eyes squeezed shut.

"I'm decent," Annabeth says, annoyed. Percy opens his eyes and they almost bug out of his head.

"Y, you're one of them?" Percy asks, excitement filling his eyes.

"Percy. You better not be doing this somehow."

"I'm not! I swear!" Percy says. Then he pokes his head out the door and yells for Piper and Jason.

"Woah! What the..." Jason says. More unsettled than excited. Piper just stood there, eyes wide.

"How did this happen?" Annabeth asks.

"The pool," Piper says, remembering the urban legend.

"Just like Cleo!" Percy exclaims, still oblivious to the seriousness of this.

"Percy! Come on! I can never touch water in public again! This is horrible. What am I going to do?" Annabeth puts her head in her hands. Percy puts a hand on her shoulder and immediately her body shimmers again and she turns back human.

"Oh yeah! Percy, anything you touch is dry right? You could just stay by Annabeth and..." Piper was cut off by Annabeth.

"He's not going to be with me every minute of every day. No matter how much we try, there are accidents. I think we need to talk to those girls. Maybe they know a way I can reverse it somehow." The rest of them nodded.

Chapter Text

Percy kept his hand on Annabeth until she was out of the water. Somehow her clothes were back on her, despite her being naked before. Some freaky magic this is. The rest of them got dressed and headed down to the beach.

The beach was practically empty, so it would be easy to find them. Just as they spotted the girls, something attacked them.

"Didn't think you got rid of me forever, did you?" a familiar voice snarled. All four demigods turned around.

"Kelli," Annabeth snarled back, obviously not happy to see the empousa again. There was a whole group of empousi, probably the same ones who had attacked Annabeth and Percy in Tartarus. Kelli and Tammi were still wearing their Goode High School cheer outfits, which made Percy wonder if they ever washed them. He guessed monsters didn't have to worry about being clean. Kelli looked beautiful, but they knew what was under all that mist. A horrible combination of animal, bronze, and ghost that was the inspiration for the vampire legend.

"Ever since that stupid Titan of yours saved you in Tartarus, I have been reforming, plotting my revenge on you. Today, I will finally get that revenge. Especially for killing my Lukey-poo." When Kelli said the last part, her bottom lip stuck out in a pout, which made her even more beautiful. Jason, not having seen Kelli before, was totally lovestruck. In hearing Luke's name, Annabeth flinched.

"We did not kill Luke. He just finally realized who he actually was, which you know nothing about," Annabeth snapped. Her defending Luke didn't really make Percy very happy but he was thankful for Annabeth standing up for them. Despite all the things he did, Percy still couldn't stay mad at his late old friend.

"Jason. Snap out of it," Piper demanded. Jason blinked a few times and kept his eyes on Piper. Kelli snarled and all the empousi started to change into their true forms. They were vampires from the waist up, with red eyes, pale skin, and fangs. Below the waist was where it got weird. Their left legs were brown and shaggy with donkey's hooves. Their right legs were shaped like human legs but they were made of bronze.

Kelli stood back and sent the other four empousi to attack the demigods. One lunged at Percy. He sidestepped and brought his sword down on her back. She burst into dust. Annabeth locked eyes with Percy and they made a silent agreement. Annabeth put her Yankee's cap on, forcing the empousa that was attacking her to move onto Percy. Percy killed her easily. Piper tried using her charmspeak but the empousi weren't affected by it. So Piper just settled on taking out her ice sword and stabbing the monster through the stomach. Jason flipped his coin and was holding an Imperial Gold sword. But he didn't need it, he just called on some lightning, shocking the monster in her bronze leg. She burst into dust with a sizzling POP!

The only one left was Kelli. She smiled evilly and said, "Come on, son of Poseidon. Attack me. You are no match for the senior empou..." Kelli burst mid-sentence. Standing behind her was Annabeth, Yankee's cap in one hand and her dagger in the other. They all high-fived and congratulated each other but the feeling quickly faded.

"I knew it was right to have our weapons," Annabeth said gravely.

"This is bad. Australia was supposed to be the one place without all this stuff!" Percy exclaimed.

"Uh, guys," Jason said and nodded his head towards the girls who were standing there, mouths wide open. Percy walked up to them and snapped his fingers.

"You did not just see four teenagers with weapons fighting monsters. We were just walking on the beach." They all looked up at him, clearly unimpressed.

"What are you talking about? Yes, we did," Rikki snapped.

"What were those things?" Cleo asked, a little scared.

"What are those?" Emma asked, pointing to their weapons.

"Annabeth? What went wrong? You felt the mist didn't you?" Percy whispered to Annabeth. She nodded.

"Maybe they can see through it, like Rachel," Piper suggested.

"But all three of them? That's very unlikely," Annabeth said.

"What should we do?" Piper asked.

"Maybe we should act like it never happened. They might forget about it," Jason said.

"No. Grover and Chiron tried to do that to me when I first battled Mrs. Dodds. It doesn't work," Percy explained.

"We should ask Chiron," Annabeth concluded. Percy, Annabeth, and Jason walked over to the water, leaving Piper to distract the girls. Percy made the water spray into mist and Annabeth threw a golden drachma into it.

"O'Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood," Percy said. Annabeth still wasn't used to asking Fleecy to do Iris messages, but Percy seemed to like it. Chiron was singing along to the campfire songs that they knew so well. The three of them actually started singing along, but they realized it was urgent. They had to yell Chiron's name a few times to get him to notice them. Once he did, he walked to a place that wasn't as noisy.

"What is the matter?" Chiron asked, obviously annoyed that they pulled him away during his favorite song.

"We have a problem," Annabeth explained all about the mermaids and the monsters, ending with telling him how the mist didn't work.

"Oh yes. I was wondering when you were going to run into a monster. My cousins have been reporting about the recent uprise in monster sightings."

"Wait, the Party Ponies live in Australia too?" Percy asked.

"That doesn't matter. What does matter is that you knew we were going to be attacked, yet you didn't tell us!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Well, I knew you could handle it. You are the best demigods of this century. And I wanted you to enjoy your vacation. Not constantly be worrying about monsters," Chiron paused. "But there is something I wanted to discuss with you. I need you to stay in Australia for a few more months," Chiron said.

"A few months?!"

"Yes. Argus already bought you a house and enrolled you in school. There have been so many more monsters there than we're used to seeing. I'm afraid there is something big coming." Then Grover comes running up to Chiron.

"Chiron! Rachel just said another prophecy."

Chapter Text

Four demigods will travel to where the gods have never been

Unnecessary sacrifice will create a friend

With aid from unforeseen allies, they shall win

Without trust, they shall meet their end

When Grover was done, they all just sat there and stared at him. Piper had rushed over as soon as she had heard the word "prophecy," forgetting about the girls. They didn't know what to do. None of them wanted another war, but that was what it sounded like.

"Well, at least we know the first line. It's already completed," Jason said hopefully. "It's us four and the faraway land is Australia."

"But prophecies are never already in action when they are spoken. Chiron, what does this mean?" Annabeth asked. Chiron thought about that for a while.

"Honestly, I don't know. I've never seen a prophecy like this before. That unsettles me. But I will see what I can figure out. I must go now. I'm sure the whole camp knows as Rachel said it in the middle of a sing-a-long." Chiron wiped his hand through the message and he disappeared.

"What is going on?!" Emma shouted. The demigods all jumped in surprise. They had forgotten they were there.

"We forgot to ask Chiron about them. What do we do now?" Piper whispered to Annabeth.

"Well, we know their secret, so we'll have to tell them ours. No sense in trying to keep it from them."

"Weird vampire things, crazy weapons, mist messaging, prophecies? What is this? Who are you?" Emma asked nervously.

"Not here. We will tell you but not here. Know a place we can go to talk?" Percy asked. The three girls looked at each other and nodded.

Chapter Text

"The moon pool," Cleo said. "It's our spot. I think it will be perfect for this." Then Percy, Annabeth, Emma, Cleo, and Rikki all jumped into the water.

Percy came back up to the surface and told Jason and Piper to jump in. So they did and Percy created air bubbles around their heads. All seven of them raced towards Mako Island, Piper and Jason trailing behind. Once they got to the moon pool, Percy climbed out and made sure Piper and Jason were dry before sitting on a rock. Rikki, Emma, and Cleo looked at Annabeth.

"I knew Lewis shouldn't have let you go to Mako during a full moon," Cleo said.

"We're really sorry about this. It will change your life. You will never have a normal life again," Emma apologized. Annabeth scoffed.

"Trust me, my life is nowhere near normal."

"Oh yeah. That was why we're here. Explain," Rikki demanded.

"I don't think we should explain every little thing, but we can tell you who we are. Jason, do the thing," Percy said.

"Um, you guys need to get out of the pool. Percy, do the thing," Jason said, trying to hold in his laughter. Percy smirked and walked up to Annabeth. He held out his hand. She took it and immediately her tail started to shimmer and turned back into legs. Percy helped her out of the pool. Annabeth pecked him on the cheek before he turned to Cleo and took her hand. Her eyes were wide.

"What is happening?" she asked.

"It will be explained once you get out of the pool." After all the girls were out of the pool, Jason closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Lightning came down and struck the moon pool, sparks flying everywhere.

"How did you...?" Emma trailed off.

"Hey, Emma? Go jump in the moon pool," Piper urged, using all her charmspeak. Emma got up and started walking towards the moon pool but Piper could sense she was trying to stop, and that was just what she wanted.

"Emma! Stop! What are you doing?!" Cleo shouted.

"Emma! Come back!" Piper said. Emma stopped in her tracks and turned around. There was a relieved look on her face. Cleo and Rikki looked at Piper like she was crazy.

Now it was Percy's turn. He walked up to the moon pool and turned to face the girls. Percy raised his arms and the water behind him started to rise. The water formed into two large arms that copied his movements. Then to much the girls' surprise, he started making hand puppets. Piper and Jason started laughing.

"Wow, Seaweed Brain. Way to show off your powers," Annabeth laughed. Soon the rest of them joined in. When everyone was done, Percy sat back down.

"So, what are you guys?" Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper glanced nervously at each other.

"How much do you know about Greek and Roman mythology?" Percy asked.

"You mean like Zeus and stuff?" Rikki asked. Jason smiled.

All four demigods glanced at Jason.

"Well, I'm just going to come out and say it. They're real," Percy said. The girls burst out laughing until they realized Percy was serious.

"How is that even possible?" Emma asked.

"They exist as long as western civilization exists. So, right now they are in the United States. Olympus is above the Empire State Building,"

"What? This doesn't make any sense!" Rikki shouted!

"Yeah that's what I first thought but I had to learn to accept it," Percy explained.

"Why exactly did you have to accept this?" Emma asked.

"Well, we are demigods."

"You mean like Hercules?" Cleo asked. Percy nodded.

"I'm a son of Poseidon."

"I'm a son of Jupiter," Jason chimed in.

"I'm a daughter of Athena."

"And I'm a daughter of Aphrodite."

The demigods answered all of their questions. They didn't tell them their exact experiences though. They weren't ready to share those with anyone else yet. They did tell the girls about Camp Half-Blood, Camp Jupiter, and pretty much everything they learned when they first were told they were demigods. Eventually, the topic of Annabeth's new tail came up.

"So, what is your power?" Cleo asked.

"My what?" Annabeth asked.

"We all have a power over water. You mean you didn't figure that out yet?" Emma asked.

"I can control it," Cleo said and made a ball of water come out of the moon pool.

"I can freeze it," Emma said and turned the ball into ice.

"And I can heat it," Rikki said and the ice started to steam and melted. Cleo released it back into the pool.

"Just focus on the water and see what you can do," Emma said.

"But if you can't do anything, don't get discouraged, I couldn't use my power until a few days after," Rikki explained.

"Oh yeah. About that. You guys are just tourists, right? When are you going back to America?" Cleo asked as Annabeth tried to use her powers.

"We aren't tourists anymore. Our camp director, Chiron, told us we need to stay here for a few months. Monsters have been showing up in this area more frequently and he needs us to make sure nothing is going on," Piper explained.

“He even enrolled us in school,” Jason said. 

Annabeth groaned in exasperation. “I don’t think I can do anything, guys.” The other three mermaids looked at her in pity, especially Rikki. 

“It’s okay. It might take a few days,” Rikki comforted.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go find our new house,” Percy said and jumped into the water.

Chapter Text

Once on the shore, they were greeted by Argus.

“Hey, Argus. How did you get here? Never mind. Are you here to show us our new house?” Percy asked. Argus nodded. Then he started walking down the beach, all four demigods in tow. The girls had gone home since it was getting late. Eventually, Argus stopped in front of a huge beach house. Percy’s eyes almost bulged out of his head as he ran in to look around. The demigods all went back to the resort and checked out. Then they brought all of their stuff to their new house. Percy and Annabeth shared a room because they still couldn’t bear to sleep apart since Tartarus. Piper and Jason had their own rooms, much to the dismay of Aphrodite. Piper was fine with it though. She wasn’t ready to sleep in the same bed as Jason. They hadn’t gone through what Percy and Annabeth had. 

That night, Annabeth got in the bath to wash off all of the seawater. She stepped into the bathwater and her legs shimmered and turned into her bright orange tail. 

“ This is going to be hard to wash, ” Annabeth thought. Then she absent-mindedly started to sing as she awkwardly tried to wash her tail. She wasn’t singing words, just a beautiful string of notes as they came to her mind. But she noticed that her voice sounded different than usual. Then Annabeth heard a banging on the door, and Percy and Jason walked in. Their eyes were glazed over and they didn’t look to be in control of their bodies. Piper came in, trailing Jason, with a confused look on her face. Annabeth stopped singing abruptly.

“Jason?” Piper questioned wearily. The boys shook their heads and seemed to snap out of their trance.

“What am I doing here?” Percy asked in bewilderment.

“I want to know the same thing,” Annabeth agreed.

Piper frowned and turned to Annabeth. “What were you just doing?” 

Realization dawned on Annabeth’s face. “Singing.” Jason frowned but Percy seemed to understand.

“Like the Sirens,” Percy said dreadfully. Sadness filled Annabeth’s eyes. She was remembering her and Percy’s time in the Sea of Monsters.

“Why is this a bad thing?” Piper questioned. “You found your mermaid power!”

Annabeth frowned. “But Rikki said that their powers all had to do with water.”

“Maybe with you being a demigod, your power is different?” Jason suggested.

“Must be,” Annabeth concluded. “Now everyone out! I have to finish my bath.”

Chapter Text

In the morning, they went to the JuiceNet Cafe to meet up with Cleo, Emma, Rikki, and Lewis. Once they got there, there were two other guys sitting there. One guy was sitting next to Emma and the other guy had his arm around Rikki.

"Hey, guys. This is Zane," Cleo said and pointed to the guy with his arm around Rikki. "And this is Ash." She pointed to the guy sitting next to Emma.

"Who are you?" Zane asked.

"My name is Piper. This is Jason, Annabeth, and Percy. We are from America. Just moved here actually," Piper explained. Zane looked wearily at the demigods. His eyes rested on Percy and Jason for a moment, obviously seeing them as threats. They all made room and the four sat down at the table. Percy put his arm around Annabeth.

"Ugh. I can't believe the holiday is almost over! I don't want to go back to school," Rikki groaned.

"Same. I hate school. I've never been at a school for more than two years," Percy agreed. Zane, Lewis, and Ash narrowed their eyes. Annabeth, noticing this, elbowed Percy in the stomach.

"We all have ADHD and dyslexia. Seaweed Brain over here likes to stand up to bullies which make the teachers think he's a troublemaker. But remember Percy, this year was supposed to be your third year at Paul's school," Annabeth explained.

"Yeah until we had to move here. I liked Goode," Percy pouted.

"Stop giving me those baby seal eyes, Seaweed Brain. You know it isn't my fault we're here."

"Yeah I know, Wise Girl but you know you love them." Annabeth rolled her eyes and kissed him. Over at the other side of the table, Piper had started up a conversation with Emma.

"How do you live with them? Are they constantly this cute?" Emma asked, almost laughing.

"Well... yeah. Yeah, they are. But they've been through a lot together and kind of deserve to be like that all the time," Piper explained. Emma nodded.

"What have they been through?" Ash asked. Percy stopped what he was doing and gave Ash his wolf glare.

"That is for us to know and for you to not ask about. Got it?" Annabeth said angrily. But she was shaking at the same time. Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand and calmed him down. Zane looked at them with curiosity.

"Do you guys know how to get to our school?" Cleo asked, quickly changing the subject. "We could show you."

"I think that would be a great idea. Maybe the girls could go with you and you guys can show us around. The boys can show Percy and Jason around too," Annabeth suggested. Everyone agreed. The girls got up, leaving Percy, Jason, Lewis, Zane, and Ash alone at the table.

Chapter Text

"So, where are we going first?" Percy asked the guys. No one answered. Zane was staring daggers at Percy. Percy ignored him. He'd seen better glares from the pigeons in New York.

"Lewis? Any suggestions?"

"We could take you to the Marine Park. Cleo works there so I'm sure the girls will take them there but we could go to school after." Lewis said. Percy nodded and stood up. Jason followed him.

"Well. Don't just sit there. Let's go!" Percy said. Zane reluctantly got up and let Ash and Lewis out.

"Hey, Zane. We could use your car so we don't have to walk," Ash said. Zane groaned but agreed. The boys all got into Zane's sports car. Once they got to the marine park, Percy knew he was going to love it there. Roller coasters and sea animals? What could be better for the son of Poseidon? Jason looked over at Percy and saw his excitement.

"This place is practically designed for you," Jason whispered to Percy. He smiled at Jason. Then dragged all five of them to the dolphins.

Free us, lord. These humans throw things at us and make us do tricks. The dolphins said to Percy.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked him.

"The dolphins. They hate being locked up," Percy explained, ignoring the looks the other boys were giving him. "Let's go somewhere else."

After a few hours of riding roller coasters and staring at the helpless animals, Percy had enough. He wanted to see Annabeth. They hadn't been apart this long in ages. He actually considered Iris messaging her but he thought better of it. If she was in public that would raise some suspicion.

Jason noticed Percy's anxiousness and said, "How about we go to the school now." Percy silently thanked him. Just as they were about to leave the park, Percy sensed the monster. Jason must have sensed it too because he took off his bag which held his sword. They searched through the crowd but couldn't see anything.

"What are you guys looking for?" Zane asked suspiciously. Percy and Jason ignored the question and kept searching. Then Percy saw it. It was a man with two different colored eyes. Dr. Thorn. Percy nudged Jason and pointed at the disguised manticore. Jason looked confused but he must have realized Percy was telling the truth because he didn't question it. The two demigods took off running. They ran right past Dr. Thorn, hoping he would follow. Dr. Thorn took the bait and chased after them. The boys led him into an Employees Only gate so they would be away from all the people and near the water.

"Perseus Jackson. We meet again," Dr. Thorn snarled with his french accent.

"I thought I was done with you after the Titan War. I guess I was wrong," Percy snarled back.

"And Jason Grace. I don't think we've had the pleasure." Thunder boomed overhead. The water beside Percy started to churn.

"Enough talk, Thorn," Percy growled. Dr. Thorn started to change into his true form just as Zane, Lewis, and Ash walked in through the gates. They watched in horror as Dr. Thorn grew larger and his body turned into that of a huge lion. His face was still human but he had a leathery, spiky tail that whipped deadly thorns in all directions. Percy and Jason created a storm that was enough to knock down a whole neighborhood. The pool was forming huge waves, throwing water onto the concrete. Thank the gods the pool was empty. Jason struck Dr. Thorn with lightning that knocked him down as Percy advanced. The manticore was throwing his thorns at Percy but he easily dodged them. Thorn quickly stood up and smirked evilly at Percy. Percy stabbed and slashed with Riptide but Thorn parried with his thorns. Percy summoned a huge wave just as Jason struck the manticore with lightning again. Dr. Thorn was stunned long enough for Percy to bring Riptide down and the manticore burst into dust.

That was when Percy and Jason realized they had an audience.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Zane yelled. Percy looked at Jason, who nodded. The son of Poseidon walked up to the three boys and snapped his fingers. It was louder than it should've been and an invisible force seemed to ripple out from Percy's fingers. The Mist.

"We are completely normal. Jason and I just got into a fight with some obnoxious man that cut in front of us in line. Nothing unusual," Percy said to the three of them. The boys nodded in agreement and Percy walked back to stand next to Jason. He was so glad Hazel had taught him how to do that. And, luckily, these boys were completely mortal and couldn't see through the Mist like the girls. Once the guys got out of the daze, they decided they could go to the school now.

The five boys got back into Zane's car and headed to school. In normal circumstances, Percy would've done everything possible to stay away from that place for as long as he could but at the moment he was still trying to get the images of those sad creatures out of his head. Plus, Percy didn't want to stay at the monster-infested park any longer. On the way, Percy couldn't help but wonder. Why are all of his old "friends" coming back now?

Chapter Text

The school was huge. But there was no one there so there was no reason to stay. Percy tried to memorize the way there but his hyperactive mind couldn't remember all of those directions.

Lewis texted Cleo and they agreed to meet up at the beach. When he finally saw Annabeth, she had her back turned. So, Percy ran up and hugged her from behind.

"Hey, Wise Girl."

"Hi, Seaweed Brain," she said. Percy let go of Annabeth and they turned back to the group, still holding hands.

"You won't believe what happened at the marine park," Lewis said. Annabeth glanced at Percy skeptically.

"What did happen at the marine park?" she asked.

"Percy and Jason got into a fight with some guy that cut in front of us in line," Ash said as if he rehearsed it. Piper glanced and Jason and Percy, realizing they had used the Mist.

"Well, I think we should head home. See you guys," Piper said and the four demigods walked the short distance to their house. As soon as they closed the front door, Piper turned to look at the boys.

"Sit. Tell us what happened," she said. She didn't even need charmspeak. They knew better than to mess with Piper.

"It was Dr. Thorn," Percy said and glanced at Annabeth. She grimaced but compared to Tartarus, the manticore was like a teddy bear.

"Who is Dr. Thorn?" Piper asked. She and Jason didn't know about when they first discovered Nico di Angelo and his sister all those years ago. So, Percy and Annabeth explained. Percy choked up a little when he mentioned Bianca's death, still blaming himself for it. Once they were done, Jason and Percy continued with what happened at the marine park.

"Why would he be back already?" Annabeth questioned, knowing full well monsters took varying times to reform. They just thought they would be lucky and get rid of him for a few centuries.

"I feel a lot of our old friends are stirring. Kelli, now Dr. Thorn. Who's next, the Minotaur?" Percy exclaimed, exasperated.

"Names have power, Seaweed Brain. If we walk out that door tomorrow and are attacked by that giant cow I'm going to blame you," Annabeth said.

"I just hope my old foes don't start showing up," Jason said with a shutter.

"Who exactly are your old foes?" Piper asked curiously.

"Names have power," Jason said, clearly not wanting to talk about it. And on that happy note, all four demigods went to bed. Hoping for dreamless sleep but knowing that was not possible for a demigod.

Chapter Text

Percy had an unusual dream, even for him. He dreamt he was back in the Labyrinth, fighting Antaeus. But he was watching himself do it. Percy saw himself challenge his giant half-brother. He saw Ethan Nakamura behind him and Annabeth and Rachel being held captive by Laistrygonians. He saw Luke smile down at him. Percy watched himself stab Antaeus in the thigh, only for the giant to be healed by the Earth. That fourteen-year-old kid didn't know how evil the Earth was. Eventually, Percy saw himself stab Antaeus in the stomach, who was dangling off the ground, hung by chains in the ceiling. But something was different.

Just before Percy swung Riptide, Antaeus said, "I am coming for you. First, you disgrace my father's name by being alive and then you kill my mother! I will get my revenge, Perseus Jackson. You will pay!" Then Percy swung Riptide and the red giant dissolved into dirt. His view moved to Luke. The dream shifted and Luke was with Nico and they were running through the Underworld.

Luke looked directly at him and said, "I'm coming, Percy. I'm getting a second chance." Then Percy woke up. Annabeth was shaking him. It looked like she was crying.

"Percy! You were having a seizure. I didn't know what to do. I..." Annabeth trailed off in a panic. Percy sat up and cradled her in his arms.

"Hey. It's okay. I'm okay. But I had the strangest dream," Percy said calmly. He explained his dream to her.

"Luke? What does he mean a second chance?"

"I don't know. But I do know something big is coming and both Antaeus and Luke have something to do with it."

Chapter Text

The next few days the ten of them just explored the town together. They stayed together from then on, to be ready for any other monster attacks but they didn't have any. And now it was Monday, their first day of school. They all met up to go to school together.

"Ugh. There's Hell itself," Rikki said. Percy and Annabeth tensed. Zane noticed.

"Hell is much worse," Percy muttered to himself.

"We have to go get our schedules from the office. We'll meet up with you guys later," Piper said and led the demigods to the office. On the way, Percy and Annabeth calmed down. They got their schedules and had almost every class together. The only different class was their second elective, which was third period. Percy had Swim, Annabeth had Design, Piper had Yearbook, and Jason had Natural Disasters. Other than that, their classes went like this...

Period 1 - Science

Period 2 - ELA

Period 3 - (Elective 2)

Period 4 - Lunch

Period 5 - Mythology (Elective 1)

Period 6 - History

Period 7 - Math

Period 8 - Physical Education

So they headed towards science class. Once the demigods stepped into the classroom, everyone turned to look at them. Percy noticed some guys staring at Annabeth and he gave them his wolf glare. Jason did the same with Piper. The guys sunk into their seats in fear. Then they saw Rikki sitting alone in the back of the class and they went to sit with her.

When the teacher walked in, Annabeth and Percy immediately recognized her.

"Mrs. Dodds," Percy whispered under his breath.

"Hello, class. I am Mrs. Dodds and I am your new science teacher. And it seems that we also have four new students," the teacher said. "Perseus Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace and Piper McLean. Would you four please come up to the front of the class and introduce yourselves." Piper winced at her last name, knowing someone is bound to recognize her. The four walked up to the front of the class. Percy stood next to Mrs. Dodds, his hand clenched around Riptide in his pocket.

"Hello, my name is Annabeth and I am from San Francisco, California."

"Hi, my name is Percy and I'm from New York City."

"I'm Piper and I'm from Los Angeles, California."

"And I'm Jason from Berkeley, California." They were about to go sit down when someone shouted from the back of the classroom.

"How do you guys know each other if you don't even live near each other? Especially the Percy guy."

"Uh, summer camp," Percy said and rushed to sit back down but Mrs. Dodds grabbed his wrist.

"Now, Honey. Maybe other people want to ask something," Mrs. Dodds said all sweet-like. Exactly how she did it back at Yancy Academy. " Does anyone else have a question?"

"Are you single?" some girl shouted. Percy put his arm around Annabeth and Jason put his arm around Piper. The girl frowned.

"Are you related to Tristan McLean?" someone asked and Piper winced.

"Yes. He's my father," she said quietly. A couple of girls squealed.

"Is that all?" Percy asked. No one said anything. The four demigods went to sit back down. Mrs. Dodds started her lesson.

Chapter Text

After class, Mrs. Dodds stopped the four demigods. Percy was sure she was going to attack them. Percy gripped his pen.

"No need for that, son of Poseidon. I am not here to hurt you, although I would like too. Hades sent me here to make sure you guys stay out of trouble. But I promise you when you slip up, and you will, I will kill you. Now go to class," the Fury said and waved them off.

The demigods' next class was horrible. It was English Language Arts. Not a great class for kids with dyslexia. The teacher was wild though. He sat in a wheelchair but was constantly fidgeting as if he wanted to be out of it. He was really tan and had crazy hair. His name was Billy (He wouldn't tell the students his last name) and he looked like a college student. Percy and Annabeth looked at each other and knew what he was. An undercover Party Pony. Chiron must have convinced him to do this somehow.

"Yeah, so. This is English and stuff," Billy said like he didn't really care. His lessons were a joke but Percy didn't mind. At least he didn't have to worry about failing this class. Annabeth was upset that they weren't going to learn anything but also relieved because she didn't have to get frustrated every class. Piper and Jason were also glad they didn't have to make fools of themselves.

Their next class was their electives. Percy, Annabeth, and Jason happily went off to their classes but Piper wasn't sure why she was put in Yearbook. But then she realized it must have been her mother's doing. Yearbook was basically putting people into groups and giving them pointless awards. One of the awards being the best couple. Piper felt like it was her mother's specialty to put people into groups and match them up.

Percy had a great time, obviously. On his first day, he broke all of the school's records by a long shot. Piper even came in to take a picture of him for the yearbook. She was having an awful time working the camera.

Annabeth was so focused on her computer that she didn't even notice the bell ring. She was making a 3D model of Olympus. Which she knew by heart, having redesigned it after the Titan War.

Jason's class wasn't as exciting as the others' but he did enjoy it. He loved laughing at the mortals blaming all of these occurrences on science. Jason was learning about the weird weather occurrences that happened a few years ago and remembered Percy said that was when Typhon was stampeding towards Olympus, thanks to him. Jason almost laughed out loud when the teacher mentioned the eruption of Mount. St. Helens (that was also caused by Percy).

Then it was finally time for lunch. All four demigods plus the mermaids and their boyfriends sat at one table together. They laughed and shared stories. Annabeth was in the middle of telling about how she and Percy were thrown into the lake to have their first kiss "in a boat," when two people burst into the lunchroom. Once was a couple of years younger than them. He had olive skin, black hair, and obsidian black eyes. He was wearing all black too. The other was about the age of a college student. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, and a scar over his right eye.

Annabeth stood up, shaking, and asked, "L-Luke?"

Chapter Text

[For the sake of this story, pretend they didn't know Luke's underworld situation. Like he didn't go for rebirth or anything] Percy's mouth was hanging open and he was shaking too. Piper and Jason were a little confused but they'd heard of Luke Castellan many times from Percy and Annabeth. They heard he was dead. Annabeth walked up to him slowly and Percy followed. Annabeth reached out her arm and touched him as if to make sure he was real. Luke just laughed.

"Hey, Annabeth," he said nonchalantly.

"Luke. But how?" she started.

"Percy knows. Don't you, Percy," Luke said.

"My dream. You're getting a second chance. But can't you just go for rebirth for a second chance?" Percy asked, still shaking slightly.

"I was actually on my way to do that when Nico found me," Luke explained.

"The Fates foresaw him being a big part of this prophecy and convinced Hades to let him live again," Nico cut in.

"Come on. Let's get away from all the mortals," Annabeth said and led them out into the hallway. Piper and Jason were tempted to follow but they let them have time with their old friend. Nico went over and sat with the rest of the group.

"So you are alive now? That's it? They are letting you live after this is over?" Annabeth asked once they were out of earshot. Luke looked down.

"No," Luke paused. "They are giving me a second chance to keep doing my good ways. If I help with this war I get to move to Elysium. But if I go back to my old ways then I will go to the Fields of Punishment." Annabeth knitted her eyebrows.

"What do you mean move to Elysium?" she asked, a little scared of his answer. Luke sighed and didn't meet her eyes.

"They put me in the Fields of Asphodel," he mumbled. Annabeth and Percy's eyes widened.

"WHAT?" They both screamed at the same time. "After you sacrificed yourself to save the world?!" Percy continued, looking like he wanted to hit something. Annabeth put her head in her hands.

"All this time I was mourning over your death I kept telling myself that it was fine because you were in a better place. But..." she trailed off and Percy put his arms around her. Annabeth put her head on his shoulder and started to cry. Luke watched them with amazement.

"Nico told me you guys were together but..." Luke trailed off. "He also told me you guys have been through some pretty rough stuff."

"He told you about... Tartarus?" Percy asked. Luke stumbled back in surprise.

"No, he only told me what I just said. That you guys have been through a lot. You guys were in Tartarus?" Luke looked shocked. Annabeth squeezed Percy's hand as if to make sure he was still there.

"Among other things. But no changing the subject. Why the Hades did they put you in Asphodel?" Annabeth demanded. Luke took a deep breath.

"They said that my sacrifice only balanced out all my evil deeds. It didn't help that I got Minos for a judge," Luke grumbled. Percy scowled. He hated that horrible king. He'd have to pray to every god to not get Minos when he is judged. Minos would somehow find a way to send Percy to the Fields of Punishment.

Luke sighed and said, "But that doesn't matter now. I was only in there for almost two years. It wasn't bad. Although it didn't help that I didn't lose my memories."

"How..." Percy started.

"Gift from my dad. I think he knew I would need them again. I guess I can't say he never did anything for me," Luke said. Percy was shocked at how much Luke had changed. He didn't have that bitter resentment for the gods like he did before. Percy guessed it helped to not have Kronos breathing down your neck all the time.

"But for now, I'm going to go to school with you. At least until something happens. But from what I heard, it will be about two months," Luke said.

"Who told you that?" Annabeth asked.

"When Nico and I were coming out of the Underworld we ran into some followers the Antaeus. They were saying how he is forming an army and will destroy us at the Spring Equinox. That is in about two months."

"Antaeus? Why the Spring Equinox?" Percy asked.

"I thought you would've put that together by now. Antaeus is furious you helped defeat Gaia so he's leading an army to try to destroy the gods and demigods. Starting with you," Luke explained gravely.

"And the Spring Equinox is a powerful day for monsters. I'm not exactly sure why though. It's right before everything starts growing so it must be about the last day before the gods start gaining power," Annabeth explained.

"Wow. Wise Girl doesn't know something! We need to mark this day in a calendar," Percy said with a smirk.

"Oh haha, Seaweed Brain. I bet you don't even know the date," Annabeth said sarcastically.

"I do too! It's January eighteenth. The first day of school. I know because I've been dreading this day for weeks," Percy said with a frown.

"Hey, guys?" Luke cut it, smirking at them. "The bell just rang."

"Oh, gods! Come on! We're gonna be late!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Relax, Wise Girl. We can use the Mist remember," Percy said.

"That doesn't make me feel any better..."

"I don't start school until tomorrow so I'll be at the house. Our parents magically added a room for me. Nico isn't going to school with us, that lucky son of Hades. He's going back to Camp Half-Blood but I'll tell Piper and Jason everything after school. See ya," Luke said and walked out of the school. Annabeth dragged Percy to their next class, Mythology.

Chapter Text

While in Mythology, neither Percy nor Annabeth could sit still. Now, they could never sit still, being demigods, but it was worse. They couldn’t wait for the school day to end so they could go home and spend time with Luke. Even Annabeth, who was obsessed with school, was shaking with anticipation. 

The four demigods expected another undercover centaur, satyr, or some other monster to be their mythology teacher, but no such luck. They were stuck with a mortal teaching what should’ve been their best class. Her name was Ms. Brides, which Percy found kind of ironic. But there was good reason she wasn’t married. Ms. Brides was one of those old school teachers that carry a ruler around class, still wishing she could use it on the kids.

“Listen here, brats. This is a mythology 1 class. Greek mythology, to be exact. Other mythologies are taught in higher levels of this class but don’t expect to learn them. You, little children, will be lucky to even pass this class. Now, who can tell me the King of the Gods?” Ms. Brides snarled. Annabeth was still so excited for the end of the day that she didn’t even raise her hand. No one did. Percy, of course, was zoned out. Ms. Brides noticed this and pinned her eyes on him, as a cat does to a mouse before it pounces.

“Mr. Jackson! What about you? Do you know who the King of the Gods is?” Ms. Brides smiled evilly, expecting Percy to not know that answer. Percy smirked at Jason, who was sitting across from him, before turning back to the teacher.

“It’s Zeus, Ms. Brides. Jupiter in Roman. ο Δίας in Greek,” Percy answered with a smile of his own. Ms. Brides looked shocked but quickly covered it.

“Very good, Mr. Jackson,” the teacher said reluctantly and turned back to the class. “Who can tell me Zeus’s wife?”

The rest of the class Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason answered all the questions. They didn’t speak in Greek too much, in fear of people getting suspicious. It didn’t work. At the end of class, before she dismissed everyone, Ms. Brides asked them.

“Mr. Jackson, please explain to me how you and your friends know so much about my material? Did you steal my lesson plans?” she questioned. Percy stifled a laugh. Annabeth answered for him.

“No, we did not steal your lesson plans. We are all half greek, so we grew up speaking it and learning about the myths,” she explained. Ms. Brides looked impressed. 

“I look forward to having you four in my class. Class is dismissed,” Ms. Brides said, in a way better mood than before.

Chapter Text

So someone brought to my attention that Annabeth's power doesn't fit. That is one of Percy's greatest powers and it took a while for the mermaids to get anything close to that. So I need to change it but I don't know what to. No matter how much I like the Charybdis joke, her power has to change. I want to know what you think her power should be. All of the basic states of matter are taken (since that is what the mermaids' powers seem to be based on) so I'm really stuck on what her's should be. Please help me out!

Chapter Text

Their next two classes were pretty boring. History and then Math. Both of the classes were taught by mortals so they actually had to try to pay attention. Annabeth, of course, was great at math and Piper was great at history. Maybe it was because we were learning about American Indians. Math was complete torture for everyone, even Annabeth. Though she could do it, Annabeth wasn't very excited about it. I mean, who likes Calculus?

Finally, it was time for gym. The four demigods, the three mermaids, and their boyfriends had PE together. They walked into the gymnasium and were greeted by a familiar face. At least the demigods were. A man, about five feet tall, wearing a bright yellow polo shirt and white nylon workout pants stood at one end of the gym. He had a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes and a wispy goatee adorned his face. The guy had a whistle around his neck and a megaphone clipped to his belt.

"Coach Hedge!" Percy yelled. Gleeson Hedge turned his head towards the teens. "What are you doing here?" The demigods rushed up to him, mermaids and co. following wearily behind.

"Working, obviously," Hedge grumbled. "Never thought I would be doing this again."

"I had Mellie as a teacher too. Who's watching Chuck?" Jason asked. Coach Hedge sighed.

"Clarisse. She and Chris are babysitting during the day. They're here too, you know. They just refused to go to school," Coach explained.

"Who's Clarisse? And how do you guys know each other?" Zane questioned.

"Summer camp," Percy said simply. Zane was prevented from questioning any further by the bell signaling the start of class.

Zane

"Listen up, Cupcakes!" Coach Hedge announced to the whole class. "My name is Coach Hedge. Welcome to your physical education. This is not a normal gym class! You will be pushed to your limit. Teenagers nowadays are so lazy and out of shape. I'm gonna change that! Fifteen laps around the gym! Now! Move it, move it!" Most of the students groaned and started carelessly jogging around the perimeter of the gym. Not Percy, Annabeth, Piper, or Jason. They took off and easily finished the fifteen laps like it was nothing. Coach Hedge didn't look surprised. He just told them to do more while they waited for everyone to finish. Zane picked up his pace and lapped the other students a few times. By the time he finished, he was out of breath and sweating profusely. The other students still had a few more laps to go. The four Americans were still speedily running around the gym, laughing and not even breaking a sweat. I will not let them beat me. I am the most athletic person here. Zane told himself before taking off to do more laps.

By the time every student had finished the fifteen original laps, Zane had done twenty-five. That's way more than them. He thought.

"Listen up, Cupcakes! You see these students here? This is the shape I want you to be in by the end of the year. How many laps did you do Percy?" Coach asked the American.

"Forty. Although it's been a while since we've just ran like that," Percy said nonchalantly. Forty laps? They aren't even breathing hard! Zane's mind was blown. But his shock was quickly replaced by anger and envy. I'll just beat them in something else. They have to have a weak spot.

"Now, behind me is an obstacle course," Coach said and pointed behind his shoulder. Zane just noticed that while they were running, someone had set it up. The obstacle course was a maze of mats and exercise balls. "I have put you in teams of four. The first team is Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper. The second team is Rikki, Zane, Emma, and Ash. The third team is Cleo, Lewis, Nate, and Tiffany..." Coach Hedge listed all the teams and then explained that whoever finishes the course the fastest doesn't have to do laps the next day. That got everyone excited.

It was finally time to do the course. The Americans volunteered to go first since they were the only ones that weren't still breathing hard. They got through the course easily and worked together so well, it was as if they could read each other's minds. They got through in a minute and ten seconds. Next was Rikki, Zane, Emma, and Ash.

Let's just say their run didn't go very well. Rikki and Emma got in a fight, Zane tried to break it up only to join in, and Ash just awkwardly tried to get them to keep going through the course. They ended up taking three minutes and twenty seconds to finish.

During Cleo, Lewis, Nate, and Tiffany's turn, Nate just started running through it and left the team behind, and Cleo fell off an obstacle because Tiffany ran into her. Nate ended up finishing in two minutes while the rest of the team finished thirty seconds later. Coach Hedge gave them a penalty and made them run extra laps.

The rest of the teams made their way through the obstacle course, never coming close to the American's time.

"Congratulations, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason. You guys are free from laps in tomorrow's class," Coach Hedge announced as if he expected it.

"Actually, Coach. We would like to give our prize to the second-place team. We don't mind doing laps," Percy interjected. Coach Hedge raised an eyebrow but complied.

"Fine then. Oliver, Brianna, Will, and Noah, you are excused from laps in tomorrow's class," Coach sighed. Then the bell rang, indicating the end of the school day.

Chapter Text

The demigods raced home in anticipation of seeing Luke again. They briefly said their farewells to the mermaids and their boyfriends. Percy and Annabeth had refused to tell Piper or Jason anything the entire school day, so they were just as excited, if not more, than Percy or Annabeth. The four of them burst into the house to find Luke sitting on the couch watching TV and eating popcorn.

"What are you watching?" Percy asked, his ADHD kicking in.

"The Real Housewives of Olympus. I rigged the TV to be able to play Olympian channels," Luke explained. "Watching Hera and Aphrodite fight is hilarious. What makes it better is when Demeter tries to stop them by offering them cereal." The demigods all turned their heads towards the screen just in time to watch Demeter throw a box of Cheerios at Aphrodite, who was knocked out cold.

"Man! I think I've underestimated the power of cereal," Percy marveled. Thunder boomed in the distance.

"Yeah, yeah! You were right!" Percy shouted at the ceiling. Luke started cracking up. All five demigods watched the rest of the episode and Luke was about to start another one when Annabeth stopped him.

"Luke, you have some explaining to do. Especially to Piper and Jason," she reminded him.

"Fine," Luke grumbled and turned off the TV. Then he explained everything to Piper and Jason, including what happened when he died, considering they weren't there.

"So... Who is Antaeus, again?" Jason asked once Luke was finished talking.

"He's my half brother, son of Gaea. Antaeus is a giant red monster who is healed by the Earth. So we have to suspend him off the ground somehow to kill him. I did it once in the... Labyrinth," Percy elaborated.

"So he's coming to destroy you because he hates that he's your brother and he blames you for killing... uh sorry... putting his mother back to sleep?" Jason confirmed. Percy nodded.

"Wait. Your dad had a child with Gaea?" Luke pointed out, stifling a laugh. Percy playfully glared at him.

"Well, that kind of makes me angry. He's giving you all the credit for putting Gaea back to sleep!" Piper joked. Percy cracked a smile.

"Yes, Pipes. We know you, Jason, and... Leo did all the work," Percy paused before he said Leo's name. It was still a touchy subject for all of them. They just couldn't believe he was dead.

"Who's Leo?" Luke asked. No one answered. They were trapped in mournful silence.

Finally, Annabeth broke it. "He was one of the Seven. Leo sacrificed himself to defeat Gaea." Luke nodded understandingly.

"You know, I just realized I know nothing about your guys' quest," Luke pointed out.

"We'll tell you but you have to understand there are some parts we aren't ready to tell yet," Annabeth explained gravely. Luke nodded and Piper and Jason began by telling him about their quest.

When they were finally done, Luke didn't know what to say. They were all crying from telling him about Leo and Luke was still shocked about Nico.

"Wait, Nico is gay?" he questioned.

"Yes. He is dating Will Solace. Keep up," Annabeth teased while wiping tears from her eyes.

"And he had a crush on you?" Luke pointed to Percy. Percy nodded slowly to get his point across.

"And you were the first one to know about it?" Luke asked Jason in astonishment.

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Why are you so hung up on that?"

"I didn't even know Nico so I really don't know. I just remember seeing him fight with his dad. Gods, that was crazy," Luke marveled.

"You should see him now," Jason commented.

"Well, who wants to watch another episode of The Real Housewives of Olympus?" Luke announced to the group while grabbing for the remote. Everyone agreed and snuggled into the couch. Piper was especially excited to see her mother get whacked with cereal again.

Chapter Text

The five demigods watched TV until they all fell asleep on the couch. In the morning, they all slept in late, even Annabeth. As soon as she realized it, Annabeth jumped up from the couch and shook the rest of them awake.

“We’re late!” she exclaimed and rushed to get ready. The others did the same. 

“Ugh,” Luke groaned as they walked out of their house. “I already graduated before I died. Why does this quest have to involve school?” Nobody disagreed. Clarisse and Chris didn’t have to go to school. Why should Luke?

When they finally got to school, the first period was almost over. Luke got his schedule and he had the same classes as the rest of them except his elective was Marketing, which he was not happy about. They realized that none of them actually got to pick an elective. They figured it must have been their parents.

The five of them stepped into Mrs. Dodds’s class and the entire class turned to look at them. 

“Alecto?” Luke asked before he realized what he was saying. The Fury’s eyes flashed a warning.

“Ah, you must be Luke Castellan,” Mrs. Dodds paused. “Just because you are new does not mean you can be late. Don’t let it happen again. Please take your seat.” The five demigods hurried to their seats but the teacher stopped them.

“Now, honeys,” she warned in her sweet voice. “You four are not new. That is detention tonight after school. You will be punished.” They knew what was going to happen. And that did not make them excited. 

They all rushed to their seats, ignoring the pitying looks from the other students. 

“Now, Luke. Please come up here and introduce yourself. Quickly, please,” Mrs. Dodds urged. Luke pulled himself out of his chair and made his way to the front of the class.

“Hi. My name is Luke Castellan and I’m from Los Angeles, California,” he explained making half of the girls in the classroom swoon. Percy almost laughed at his comment. Luke had to say he was from LA, considering that was where the Underworld is. But Los Angles was about two hundred miles too far up. [ I don’t know how deep the underworld is so I guessed ] 

“How do you know the other Americans?” someone shouted from the back.

“Summer camp,” Luke responded. The person who shouted grunted like they expected a better answer.

“Are you single?” one girl screeched. Luke looked repulsed but nodded. The girl gave him a strangled fangirl scream.

“Anything else?” Luke asked. No one said anything so Luke went to sit back down. 

The demigods went through the rest of the day like normal, introducing Luke to their teachers. At lunch, they formally introduced Luke to the mermaids and their boyfriends. 

“Another American?” Rikki pretended to be annoyed.

“Unfortunately,” Luke grumbled. 

“You look so much older than us and we’re seniors. How old are you?” Emma questioned. Luke glanced at the other demigods. He would be around twenty-five now but he couldn’t tell them that. 

“Nineteen,” Luke responded. Percy choked on his blue Coke (that he brought with him). Luke was nineteen when Percy first met him. That was almost six years ago! 

“Were you held back or something?” Cleo asked.

“Or something,” Luke said. The mermaids realized it had to do with the demigods’ situation, so they left it alone. But their boyfriends wouldn’t let it go that easy.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Zane asked, a little annoyed. 

“Zane, just leave him alone,” Rikki warned. He gave her a questioning look but backed off. 

“So, why did you come later than the others?” Ash asked.

“I wasn’t allowed to come until now.”

“Why not?” Luke answered by giving Ash a glare. Ash backed off. The rest of the lunch, they were unusually quiet. When the bell finally rang, they were actually happy to go to class. 

In gym class, they introduced Luke to Coach Hedge, who had Luke do the obstacle course from the day before by himself. He ended up having the fastest time out of anyone. Zane protested that it wasn’t fair because he didn’t have a team, but with one look from Coach Hedge, he shut up pretty quickly. At the end of class, the mermaids invited the demigods to the moon pool. 

“We want to know his story,” Rikki said. 

“Ok. But first, we have detention,” Annabeth sighed. The other three mermaids nodded and said they’d meet up after. Then Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason trudged to Mrs. Dodds’s classroom. 

“I told you, honeys. If you messed up I would kill you. But alas, I cannot do it myself for I have a job to complete. But I will enjoy watching as my sisters tear you apart,” Mrs. Dodds hissed at them from the other end of the classroom. Then the other two Furies appeared in front of them. Percy drew Riptide, Annabeth palmed her knife, Piper hefted her ice sword, and Jason flipped his coin. Percy and Annabeth took one, Piper and Jason took the other. Percy swung his sword a little too wide and the Fury’s whip knocked Riptide out of his hands. He cursed and tackled the monster, accidentally grabbing her whip.

“Ah! Hot!” he exclaimed and jumped off of her. But she was stunned long enough for Annabeth to stab her in the stomach.

On the other side of the room, Piper was yelling at their Fury, “Fly!” She started flapping her wings but the ceiling wasn’t high enough and she slammed her head into the panels. Jason flew up to her and, in her daze, sliced his sword through the Fury. 

“Just remember, demigods,” Mrs. Dodds warned. “This is just adding to my anger. I think you have been punished enough. You may go.”

Chapter Text

Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason all went back to the house to get Luke, then headed to the beach. The mermaids were already there.

“Hey!” Cleo exclaimed once she saw them.

“So we wanted to tell you that our boyfriends know about us. And we want to know if you would consider telling them about yourselves too?” Emma questioned cautiously. The demigods glanced at each other. 

“If something goes wrong we can always use the Mist,” Percy whispered to the other demigods. They all agreed.

“Sure, why not?” So, Cleo texted Lewis to have Ash, Zane, and him meet them in the moon pool. 

Then Cleo, Emma, Rikki, and Annabeth jumped into the surf, followed by Percy, and Jason, Piper, and Luke with air bubbles around their heads. Once at the moon pool, Percy dried everyone off.

“Annabeth! Why didn’t you tell me you were a mermaid?!” Luke exclaimed. 

“Because you didn’t know anything about them so I thought I should wait,” Annabeth explained, gesturing to the other mermaids. Suddenly they heard the sound of someone falling and some cursing. Then Lewis, Zane, and Ash joined them. They all were very confused.

“What are they doing here?” Zane asked. 

Cleo glanced at Emma and Rikki before she said, “They know about us.”

“WHAT?” Zane and Ash exclaimed at the same time. Lewis’s mouth formed into a little O. 

“They came to Mako during a full moon. Are you all mermaids now?” Lewis looked like he couldn’t believe it.

“No. Just me,” Annabeth explained. Zane looked like his head might explode. 

“But, Luke. We need to explain this to you,” Emma remembered. So they did. They told Luke all about Mako and the moon pool. Once they were finished, Luke looked mystified.

“That’s crazy! Can I do it? I need a power,” Luke joked. Annabeth rolled her eyes.

“Well I bet you could but we’ve never seen a merman before,” Cleo explained.

“Plus, you’re fine the way you are. I didn’t do this to myself on purpose,” Annabeth said. “But, Luke. We need to talk. Rachel spoke another prophecy.”

Luke furrowed his eyebrows. “Prophecy? Who’s Rachel?” Annabeth glanced down.

“She hit you in the head with a hairbrush once,” Percy said, trying to make light of the situation. Luke gave him a confused look.

“What does that have to do with a prophecy?” he questioned.

“She’s the oracle,” Piper explained, not understanding what was going on. 

Luke glanced at Percy and Annabeth. “What is she talking about?” 

“Um. Sh-she passed the Spirit of Delphi into herself,” Annabeth explained in a shaky voice. Luke looked like he didn’t understand why she was so nervous.

Percy took a deep breath and elaborated, “Luke, she did what your mother tried to do. And succeeded.”

Chapter Text

Luke looked betrayed. Tears started forming in his eyes as he sat down on a rock. 

“But how…?” Luke said, dismayed. 

“It was her fate. Not… Not May’s,” Annabeth explained, tears forming her eyes too. At the mention of his mother’s name, Luke let the tears stream down his face. Annabeth put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

“Sorry to interrupt this depressing moment, but could someone explain what is going on?” Lewis questioned. 

“We’re Greek and Roman demigods, yes like Hercules, and they know about us as we know about them,” Piper explained, gesturing to Cleo, Emma, and Rikki. “We go to a camp for demigods in New York and there is another one in California. At the New York Camp, Camp Half-Blood, we have an oracle. Her name is Rachel and she recites prophecies given to her by the Fates. Got it?” Lewis looked overwhelmed but he nodded anyway. 

By then, Luke had pulled himself together. He took a deep breath and said, “You guys wanted to hear my story, here it is. I’m a son of Hermes. I died in the second Titan War a couple of years ago and was just recently brought back because I have something to do with this new prophecy.” 

“There was a war a couple of years ago? How did we not know?” Lewis questioned.

“Well, for one thing, it was in New York City. For another, only monsters, demigods, gods, and titans fought in it so there were no mortals involved. Well... there were a couple... Like Rachel. And everyone that was in close proximity of Manhattan was asleep at the time..." Annabeth took a sharp intake of breath. "But did you know about the freak weather that was moving across the entire U.S? Or how about Mount. St. Helens erupting?” Annabeth explained. The demigods smirked and glanced at Percy.

Percy looked slightly annoyed and exclaimed, “What? I didn’t mean to make a volcano erupt! Or let out Typhon! I was just killing some Telkhines!” The five demigods laughed but the mortals seemed lost. 

“Wait, how did you cause an eruption?” Emma asked.

“Long story short, I let out the water within me and it made me exhausted,” Percy said. 

“And land on Calypso’s island,” Annabeth muttered disdainfully. Percy heard her, and a mixture of sadness and anger filled his eyes. Percy wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about Calypso. He felt bad for not making sure she was set free, but he couldn’t forgive her for cursing Annabeth, no matter how much he understood why she did it.

“Calypso? Like the sorceress?” Luke questioned. Percy nodded. Then an Iris message appeared beside him. It was Clarisse.

“Hey, Prissy! Get your butt over here!” she yelled. Then Chris’s face appeared.

“What she means to say is there are a whole bunch of dracaenae at Hedge’s house and we need your help protecting the baby,” Chris cut in.

“Where is Coach?” Percy asked.  

“Date night. Hurry up!” Clarisse yelled. Chris told them the address and then swiped his hand through the message. Percy glanced at the other demigods and then at the mortals.

“Um. We have to go,” he said and then jumped into the moon pool, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, and Luke close behind. 

Chapter Text

Once they got close to the address Chris had given them, they saw the dracaenae . There were at least thirty of them, swarming a small beach house. They were fighting to get into the house but none of them seemed to have much luck. For one, they were fighting each other to try to get in. And for another, as soon as they would cross into the house, they would explode into dust. 

“Piper, you get into the house and help Chris and Clarisse. Jason cover for her. Luke, Percy, and I will stay out here and try to kill as many as we can,” Annabeth directed and Piper and Jason started fighting their way towards the house. Luke, Percy, and Annabeth attacked the back of the bunch, killing six in a matter of seconds. 

Once Jason and Piper get into the house, they find Clarisse standing in the center of the room, the farthest away from any windows, holding a screaming baby satyr in one hand and a spear in the other. She had a wild look in her eyes that Piper noticed to be desperation and adrenaline. Chris was zipping around the room, fighting monsters at every window. He’d put some kind of camouflage net over most of them but the monsters were clawing at it. When he noticed Piper and Jason, a look of relief washed over his face.

“Thank the gods you’re here! Where is everyone else?” Chris asked.

“Outside,” Piper said. “What do you need us to do?”

“Keep all of the monsters out of the house. Kill as many as you can.” So, Piper and Jason turned to the open windows and started slashing the monsters to dust. Piper was yelling at the dracaenae to kill each other while stabbing them with her ice sword. Jason called on some lightning to strike outside of the house while simultaneously killing monsters with his Imperial Gold sword through the windows.

“Hey!” Percy yelled after he got hit with a bolt of electricity. He, Annabeth, and Luke were a whirlwind of swords and daggers as they cut through the dracaenae from the back. Percy had brought some water from the ocean nearby and was drowning the monsters while using Riptide to cut through them. Annabeth was using her new dagger to stab the snake ladies, every once in awhile putting on her Yankees cap to confuse them. Luke was the fiercest of any of them. He had missed sword fighting while he was in the Underworld and was glad to be back. He hadn’t lost any of his skills (that were now equal to Jason and Percy’s) and time seemed to slow as he fought. 

In a matter of minutes, all of the dracaenae were gone and Percy, Annabeth, and Luke headed inside the house, covered monster dust.

“Luke?” Clarisse asked, hatred in her voice. 

“Clarisse…” Luke started.

“Don’t even…” Clarisse took a deep breath, tears forming in her eyes. “ You are the reason S-Silena is dead.” She said it so calmly, so unlike her that it caught everyone off guard. They’d expected her to scream at him. A look of despair formed on Luke’s face.

“Clarisse. I loved Silena like a sister. At the time, my judgment was so clouded by my anger that I didn’t know what I was doing. I should’ve never asked her…” Luke was cut off as Clarisse stormed out of the room, Chuck still in her arms. Chris glared at Luke and followed his girlfriend. Annabeth had tears in her eyes and went to sit on the couch. 

Percy turned to Luke. “I think you should go. Give everyone some time to cool off.” Luke agreed and walked out of the door.

Chapter Text

Luke

Luke walked out of the house, tears stinging his eyes for the second time that day. He was angry at himself or making all of those mistakes during his life. That all of his mistakes had cost his closest friends their lives. He had so many regrets. The most one being how his anger had made him follow Kronos blindly. And Silena. Clarisse had just confirmed his worst suspicion. Silena had died. He didn’t know how but she had. Luke was relieved that the demigods seemed to think of Silena as a hero instead of a traitor. 

But the way that Annabeth had looked at him. That was what broke Luke’s heart the most. Even if she acted as if she had forgiven him, Luke could tell that she hadn’t. Annabeth was still mad at him for manipulating Silena. He couldn’t blame her. Luke was still mad at himself for manipulating Silena. It was obvious that Percy was still holding a grudge. Maybe he didn’t know it, but he was. Luke didn’t expect them to forgive him or even pretend to forgive him. They didn’t need to. Luke might as well of stayed dead. No one wanted him back. He was still confused as to why the Fates were so convinced that he was so important. Luke was just a son of Hermes. He didn’t have any special powers. Not even his mind, like Annabeth. Luke guessed his sword fighting was good but even that was being outshined by Percy and Jason. 

Luke was pulled out of his thoughts as he sensed something coming towards him at lightning speed. He knew that it would kill him, hit him straight in the chest if he didn’t do something. But what could he do? Nothing. He deserved to be sent to the Fields of Punishment anyway.

“ All this effort to be brought back to life and I’m killed by a measly arrow ,” Luke thought as the sharp point was inches away from his chest. Luke closed his eyes and accepted his fate. But it never came. Luke listened but everything was deathly quiet. He couldn’t hear the birds chirping or car engines. The only sound was Luke’s breathing. He opened his eyes to see a silver arrow, floating just in front of him. Luke looked around and saw that nothing was moving. It was as if someone had hit pause on the entire world. Everything was frozen in time, except Luke. 

Luke didn’t give himself time to think about how it could happen. Instead, he traced the arrow back to a girl in a silver parka with a circlet adorning her spiky black hair. There were at least a dozen other girls around her, all wearing the same silver parkas and had bows on their backs. 

“Thalia,” Luke said to himself. She was the one he’d missed the most. When she had been turned into her pine tree, Luke had thought she was gone for good. But Kronos had brought her back, hoping she would join them and be the downfall of Olympus. At the time, Luke had wanted nothing more than to be reunited with her. But she stuck with Olympus. They had even fought on Mount Tamalpais. Seeing her again filled a whole in Luke’s heart that had been missing for a while. The only thing that got him was that she was trying to kill him. Why?

Luke walked back over to the arrow, tried his best to stand in the same position, and grabbed hold of the arrow. 

“Now for the hard part,” he said aloud. Luke concentrated as hard as he could and surprisingly, it worked. The arrow pulled on his grip as time started again. Luke looked over to Thalia, who was smiling big. 

“I was afraid you were getting rusty,” Thalia taunted as she walked towards her. 

“Good thing I’m not,” Luke said in angst. 

Thalia rolled her eyes. “A little ambrosia and nectar and you’d be fine.” Thalia hugged him, which got him some weary looks from the other Hunters. “How is this possible?”

“Prophecy,” Luke said in dismay. “The Fates brought me back because I’m needed for this new prophecy. If I stay on the side of the gods I can go to Elysium.”

Thalia knit her eyebrows. “I thought you were already…”

Luke cut her off, “They said my sacrifice balanced out my evil deeds. So they put me in Asphodel.” Thalia looked like she wanted to punch something.

“They don’t know anything!” Thalia shouted. Realization dawned on her face. “Silena?”

Luke shook his head in dismay. “I don’t know. But I got Minos as a judge. Maybe she didn’t? She might have gotten lucky.” Thalia nodded her head in hope. 

“So why are you in Australia?” Thalia asked.

“Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason were on vacation but got bombarded with another quest. Antaeus is leading an army of monsters here in two months,” Luke explained. 

Thalia frowned. “Well, the Hunters will help as much as we can. IM me when the army gets close. But I should get going. We’re tracking down a monster for Artemis. Don’t want to lose its scent.” Then she and the rest of the Hunters ran off to kill a monster.

Chapter Text

Piper

Piper didn’t know what to do. Everyone around her was sad and she didn’t know how to comfort them. She had heard from other campers how Silena Beaureguard was blackmailed into being a spy for Kronos because of Luke. And how she sacrificed her life to get the Ares campers to fight in the War. Piper looked up to Silena. She was the head camper before Drew and actually had done things right. Plus, Silena’s situation was quite similar to what Piper’s had been when she first came to Camp Half-Blood. 

Annabeth was crying in Percy’s arms on the couch, Clarisse was trying to get Chuck to stop crying while tears were in her eyes as well, and Piper and Jason stood in the living room awkwardly. Piper wanted to comfort Annabeth but she would have to get between her and Percy, and that would make things more awkward. Luke had left to let everyone cool down and still hadn’t come back yet. 

Piper turned and whispered to Jason, “What do we do?”

Jason shrugged and nodded his head to the door. Piper nodded in agreement. They walked out onto the porch and sat on the porch swing. 

“I feel like we’re intruding on some age-old drama,” Piper admitted.

Jason nodded. “Yeah. I didn’t know there was so much of it during that war. Camp Jupiter didn’t have that much drama.” 

“I heard that Luke convinced a lot of half-bloods to join his side.” 

“Yeah, but he sacrificed himself in the end. I guess that’s why Annabeth forgave him so quickly.”

Piper snorted. “Yeah, that’s why she forgave him.” Jason looked confused. “Don’t worry about it, Sparky. But I am the daughter of Aphrodite, you know.”

Jason knitted his eyebrows. “What does that have to do…”

Piper cut him off. “Oh, look! There’s Luke now. Let’s go talk to him,” she said with fake enthusiasm and ran to meet Luke. Luckily, Jason dropped his question. 

Boys. Piper thought. So dense.

“Hey, Luke. What did you do?” Piper questioned, noticing the grin on Luke’s face. 

“Oh, nothing. Just ran into Thalia,” he explained. Piper nodded. She could sense Luke’s feelings for Thalia, but she didn’t say anything. Piper knew if she mentioned Thalia’s oath it would just rub salt in the wound. Then Jason joined them.

“Hey, man. You okay?” Jason asked. Piper was a little taken aback by his sudden trust, but Jason was a Roman. He respected sacrifice. 

Luke gave him a smile and nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. I think I’m going to head back to our house,” he paused and gestured to Coach Hedge’s house. “I don’t think anyone in there wants to see me right now.” Piper gave him a sympathetic smile and looked down at her shoes. Then Luke started the long walk down the beach. 

Piper and Jason headed back in the house to find Chuck quiet, and Annabeth and Clarisse had pulled themselves together. Chris, Clarisse, Annabeth, and Percy were standing around the kitchen table, talking.

“How do you forgive him so easily?” Clarisse angrily questioned Annabeth. 

“H-he sacrificed his life for us,” she said as if she wasn’t sure. This was the first time Piper had seen Annabeth like this. She seemed uncomfortable and nervous. Something Piper knew were products of her mother’s power. 

Percy seemed to understand this. Unlike usual, Percy wasn’t trying to comfort Annabeth. He didn’t even seem to be standing up for her. Percy was jealous. 

Clarisse didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, whatever, Blondie,” she said and noticed Piper and Jason. “Oh, look who it is.” 

Annabeth shot Clarisse a look and turned to Jason and Piper. “Where did you guys go?”

“Just out on the porch,” Piper explained then glanced at Clarisse. “Luke is heading back to our house.” Clarisse looked as if she was about to start screaming when Coach Hedge walked in, Mellie trailing behind.

“How’d it go, cupcakes?” he asked. 

“Fine, Coach,” Chris said.

“We got attacked by a whole herd of dracaenae , but fine,” Clarisse cut in sarcastically.

Hedge nodded. “I was wondering why these cupcakes were here,” he said, gesturing to Annabeth, Percy, Jason, and Piper. Mellie walked over to Clarisse, who was holding Chuck.

“Thank you so much, guys,” Mellie said. “Now, you should go home and get some rest. It’s a school night.” Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason said their goodbyes and drove back to their own house.

Chapter Text

Annabeth

The next two months went surprisingly fast. Focusing on spending time with their friends and school, the demigods almost forgot about the upcoming war. Almost. They would be laughing and having a great time, but in the back of all of their minds, there was always a dark pit of dread, nagging at their brains. 

They all became very popular in school, bringing the mermaids with them. Especially Luke. One day, Annabeth was walking down the hallway with Luke. It was third period and the Design and Business classrooms were right next to each other. In the hallways, there was one group of girls that kept glancing at Luke and giggling. Of course, Luke didn’t pay any attention, but Annabeth studied the girls with interest. Most of them were freshmen, by the looks of it. One of the girls’ locker was open and Annabeth could see pictures of Luke with hearts around them and “Maci + Luke” stickers. 

But one sticker caught Annabeth’s eye. It was a blue circle with the letters, “LCFC” in black in the center. The weirdest part was that there was a caduceus, the symbol of Luke’s father, that made up the F. It was a simple design but it gave Annabeth a bad feeling. She noticed that every one of the girls in the group had a button pinned to their shirt with the same design on it. 

One girl, who Annabeth guessed was Maci since she had “Maci + Luke” written on her arm, had a T-shirt on that also had the design on it. But below it, it had “Luke Castellan Fan Club” written in black. 

A fan club? Annabeth asked herself in bewilderment. She told Luke to go to class without her and then walked up to the girls. They looked at her in disgust and tried to ignore her. She noticed that Maci’s button was different. It had “leader” written on it in red. 

“Stalking Luke, now are we?” Annabeth questioned. She didn’t want to get on the girls’ bad sides but it kind of annoyed her that they tried to shun her. 

Maci rolled her eyes and said, “No. We just want to know where he is at all times.”

“That’s stalking!” one girl remarked but was quickly stared down by Maci. 

“Who cares if we stalk him? Luke likes it! Did you see him smile at me, er, us?” Maci exclaimed, which sent off a wave of fangirl squeals throughout the group. 

Annabeth pretended to get a closer look at Maci’s locker. “Where did you get the idea for the logo?”

Maci scoffed. “That’s none of your con…”

“It’s his favorite symbol! It’s all over his locker!” the same girl from before exclaimed. Maci turned on her.

“Shut up, Jennifer! This dumb blonde doesn’t need to know that! What is the point of a fan club if you go around blurting out our secrets to everyone? Another word out of you and I’m revoking your membership!” Maci screamed at her. Annabeth saw Jennifer sink back to the back of the group, which enraged her more. 

“First of all, I’m not dumb. Second of all, I’m one of Luke’s best friends, I already know everything about him. And third of all, what gives you the right to revoke someone’s membership? We live in a democracy, Maci. I think the members should choose who gets their membership revoked. Starting with you,” Annabeth snarled. She looked around to the other girls, waiting for them to do something. If they didn’t agree with her, her plan was ruined. Of course, she had a backup plan, being a daughter of Athena, but it was a long stretch. 

Thankfully, a few of the girls responded. They started clapping. Jennifer came up from the back and snapped off Maci’s button. Maci gave Annabeth a death glare and ran off. 

“You should be our leader!” a girl exclaimed. Everyone nodded in agreement but Annabeth shook her head. 

“No. You don’t even know me. Plus, I know a girl that would be perfect for that job. Jennifer!” Annabeth exclaimed. Everyone clapped as Annabeth pined the “leader” button onto Jennifer’s shirt. Once she was done, all of the girls swarmed them and congratulated Jennifer.

Once the bell rang, Jennifer and Annabeth realized that they have Design class together and headed to class.

“You should at least be a member, you know,” Jennifer said. 

Annabeth pondered this. “Sure, why not?”

So, I know this is super cheesy but I thought it was kind of cute. Thanks to LarryDrarrySolangelo (account on Wattpad. Her name is Guada) for helping me come up with the idea! And I realize I haven't had the H2O girls in this fanfic that much. They're kind of like supporting characters. I hope none of you guys are here for them but if you are, sorry to disappoint. So I needed something to take up the space of the two months so I think I'm going to do little one-shots like this for the next couple of chapters. If you don't like that idea, please tell me and I'll just skip right to the war. But I just thought that would be rushing the story. Soooo if you liked this chapter, don't forget to give some kudos! Thanks for reading!

Chapter Text

Percy met up with Annabeth to go to lunch and was surprised to see a blue button pinned to her shirt. 

“What is that?” he asked. Annabeth thought about it for a few seconds, wondering if she should tell him. 

“I can only tell you if you agree to join,” she decided.

“But what is it?” 

“I’m not telling.” Percy sighed in exasperation.

“Fine. I’ll join. Now tell me what it is.” 

Annabeth smirked. “Well, we can’t let just anyone join. I’ll have to talk it over with the other girls,” she explained and then walked off. Percy shook his head and walked into the lunchroom. He sat down at their usual table with Cleo, Emma, Rikki, Lewis, Ash, and Zane. Then Piper, Jason, and Luke joined them. Percy kept glancing at the door to see if Annabeth would walk in but she didn’t. He heard laughing from a nearby table and turned his head to see Annabeth sitting there with a bunch of other girls all wearing blue buttons. 

Percy walked over to Annabeth and asked, “What is this, some kind of cult?”

Annabeth looked up at him and pulled him down so he was sitting with her. “They agreed that you could join.” Then she pinned a blue button on his shirt. It said, “LCFC” in black. 

“What does that stand for?” Percy asked.

“Luke Castellan Fan Club,” Annabeth explained. 

Percy knitted his eyebrows. “Why are we in this? And why don’t I get a fan club?”

Annabeth chuckled. “I helped them overthrow their former dictator so they wanted me to join.” Percy was still confused but nodded anyway. 

“Can we move back to our table before our friends get suspicious?” he asked. Annabeth nodded and said goodbye to the other girls.

Once they got back to the table, Piper eyed them wearily but no one asked any questions. Percy was glad about that. He didn’t know what he would tell them if they did ask. 

Over the course of the next few days, all of their friends joined the club. So at lunch, everyone was wearing a blue button except Luke. And he was thoroughly confused. 

“Why do you guys all have those stupid buttons on?” Luke questioned. Cleo giggled but everyone else pretended like they didn’t hear. 

“Hello? I’m starting to feel left out here!” still no one answered him, so he turned to Cleo. “Can you tell me what you’re all hiding?” She suppressed a giggle and shook her head. Luke threw his hands up in exasperation. Luke looked around the lunchroom and saw that every single person there was wearing a blue button. Even some of the teachers! 

Luke walked up to the table where Annabeth had been sitting a few days earlier. A couple of the girls squealed. 

“Can you guys tell me what is going on here?” he asked.

“We’re your biggest fans!” a girl screeched. Luke looked confused. “I always have been your biggest fan, Lukey-poo.” The girl stood up and Luke almost passed out.

“Kelli?” he breathed. The demigods all snapped their heads in Luke’s direction.

“KELLI?” all the demigods screamed at once. 

“Didn’t we already kill you this month?” Percy sighed as he stood up next to Luke.

Kelli grimaced. “Well, I heard that Luke was back and I just had to see that!”

Annabeth clenched her fists. “How could I not know?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, daughter of Athena. We have plenty of Mist.”

“Why are you here? You’re working for Antaeus, aren’t you?” Jason asked.

Kelli chuckled. “Oh, son of Jupiter. How little you know. We empousi will not be tied down to such small beings. No matter, I would say we should take this outside, for the mortals’ sake. But when have I ever cared about mortals?” Kelli and a dozen other girls sitting at the table changed into their true forms. Cleo, Emma, Rikki, Lewis, Ash, and Zane ushered all of the mortals out of the lunchroom while Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and Luke pulled out their weapons. 

All of the empousi snickered at them before turning to Kelli. 

“So long, demigods!” Kelli waved before every single one of the demons burst into flames. 

“They’re all senior empousi ?” Annabeth exclaimed, frantically running for the exit.

“We are going to be in so much trouble!” Piper yelled as they ran out of the doors of the school. The principal was waiting for them.

Percy turned to Piper and muttered, “When are we not in trouble?”

This is the last update for the week since I have another tournament! This might be the last one-shot I'm going to do before the war. Maybe one more, I'm not sure. I really should stop calling them one-shots because they still have an impact on the story. But, oh well. So, see you guys on Monday! (or maybe Tuesday) I hope you liked this chapter and if you did, don't forget to give some kudos (if you haven't already) ! Thanks for reading!

Chapter Text

“WHAT HAPPENED?” Mrs. Bandal screamed at the demigods. Piper started to explain when she was cut off by Hecate appearing right behind the principal. Hecate had a look on her face like, “Really?” The goddess snapped her fingers and the next thing they knew, everyone was back in lunch like nothing ever happened. The weird thing was, all of the buttons and the memory of Luke’s fan club seemed to disappear. Even the demigods forgot about it. They all went off to Mythology as if nothing had happened.

“Today, brats, we will be learning about a personal favorite of mine. Tartarus,” Ms. Brides smiled evilly and didn’t seem to notice Percy turn pale or Annabeth start to shake. Piper put a reassuring hand on Annabeth’s shoulder but it didn’t have much effect. 

“Does anyone know what that is?” Mrs. Brides looked around the classroom and her eyes landed on Percy and Annabeth. “None of the smarty-pants over there want to answer?” The teacher had a smug look on her face. She thought she had finally found a question they didn’t know the answer to.

Annabeth raised a shaky hand. “T-Tartarus is the deepest part of the Underworld. It is where monsters go when they die as well as where they reform. The god Tartarus had the Giants with the earth mother, Gaea, as well as many other monsters. Tartarus is a horrible place and definitely should not be your favorite.” The entire class was stunned. Ms. Brides looked confused and angry. 

“I have never heard it explained like that. You make it sound as if it is real,” the teacher managed to speak.

“It is,” Annabeth said simply. 

Ms. Brides just shook off the comment. “Well…” The teacher resumed her lesson and droned on for the next thirty minutes. Annabeth and Percy managed to make it through the entire class without having a panic attack and then they were off to History class.

“I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll see you in the class,” Annabeth quickly stated to Percy and ran off towards the bathroom.

“Hi, Percy,” a girl said in a flirty tone. Percy turned his head to see Miranda, the school’s “popular girl.” She was wearing a slutty outfit and there was so much makeup caked onto her face that you could do three full faces of makeup with it. 

“Hello, Miranda,” Percy said, annoyed. 

“Why don’t you forget about your little girlfriend tonight and come over to my house,” Miranda cooed. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “My parents aren’t home.” Percy rolled his eyes and pushed her off of him. Without saying a word, Percy walked away from Miranda and into class. Annabeth, having seen all of this, pushed past Miranda to get into class. She “accidentally” left two wet handprints on the back of Miranda’s shirt. As she walked to her own class, Miranda heard sneers throughout the hallway, completely unaware of the imprints on her back.

Chapter Text

“So, a noun is …?” Billy trailed off, waiting for the class to finish. 

“A person, place, or thing,” the class mumbled. Billy’s lessons were kindergarten level. Even the demigods could get straight A’s in his class. It was so easy, even the slackers were begging for something harder. And it was getting pretty old. Seeing as they knew he was a Party Pony, Chiron’s party cousins, the demigods knew Billy was probably teaching them everything he knew. 

“We aren’t even going to learn anything all year!” Emma whispered to Annabeth. Annabeth frowned. 

“How is he even a teacher?” a girl snickered to her friend. 

“Yeah. Like he should go back to Jupiter to get more stupider,” the other girl whispered. They both started laughing. Billy, of course, heard this and started to rise out of his wheelchair. Luke panicked and stopped time. Somehow, he kept Percy, Annabeth, and Billy going too. Annabeth stared at Luke like he had grown a third eye and Billy looked around the classroom in shock. He was now fully centaur and his head was about a centimeter away from the ceiling. 

“What are you doing?” Luke hissed at him. 

“They were saying I should go to Jupiter. I thought I would send them to Jupiter. He would be pleased,” Billy explained. Luke shook his head.

“Billy they are mortals. You can’t just go around showing your horse ass to everyone!” Luke scolded. “Get back in your wheelchair and pretend you didn’t hear them.”

“Luke? What is this?” Annabeth questioned.

“He froze time, Wise Girl,” Percy gave Annabeth a look like, “duh!”

“Wow, Seaweed Brain! I had no idea!” Annabeth exclaimed sarcastically. “I meant, how?” How did you do this?”

Luke shook his head. “I have no idea. I never could do it before I… you know. But now I can.”

“I bet Kronos could do this. Maybe… Maybe some of his power was left in you?” Annabeth suggested. Luke thought about this. It does make sense but how is that even possible? 

“When he dissipated his essence was probably spread out to multiple different places. Most of it going to Tartarus, hopefully, but some staying in you,” Percy agreed.

“Wow, Seaweed Brain. That was almost smart,” Annabeth taunted. Percy stuck his tongue out at her. 

“Can I get on with my lesson now?” Billy asked lazily.

Luke glanced at him. “Sure, Billy.” Percy, Annabeth, and Luke sat back in their seats and Luke started time again. The two girls blinked a couple of times, forgetting they had seen their teacher start to stand out of his wheelchair. 

“And a verb is…?”

Chapter Text

After two months of drama and worrying (essentially school) the dreaded day has come. It was the morning of March 20th, almost exactly two months since Luke showed up at their school, and the spring equinox. The demigods were expecting something big. They couldn’t stay home, which would raise too much suspicion, and they were not about to go looking for a huge army of monsters. So, Luke IM’ed Thalia, who said she’d be there before noon, and drove to school. 

First, they had Science class, taught by Mrs. Dodds. She nodded at them grimly before starting her lesson. Then they had English, taught by Billy, who patted them all on the back as they were walking out of his class. After that, they had their electives. Mellie wished Jason luck as he came into the classroom. Then it was time for lunch. 

“Does anyone else feel like the teachers are expecting us to die?” Percy asked the entire lunch table. The demigods and mermaids nodded. Then a bunch of girls with silver parkas on slammed the cafeteria doors open and walked up to them. The girl in the front had a silver circlet adorning her spiky black hair. 

“Why is everyone so sad?” Thalia questioned. Annabeth, Luke, and Jason jumped up and gave her a hug. Piper gave her a small wave and Thalia hit Percy in the head. 

“Nice to see you, Kelp Head,” Thalia remarks and sits down at a table the rest of the hunters pulled over. All of the teachers looked like they wanted to say something but they held off. 

“So, when is this war happening?” Thalia asked the demigods frankly.

“Sometime today,” Emma said quickly. Annabeth could tell she was uncomfortable. She would be too if someone she didn’t know barged in and started asking questions about war.

“Oh, right. Guys, this is Thalia, daughter of Zeus, lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. She’s Jason’s sister,” Annabeth introduced. Cleo waved, Emma smiled, and Rikki, Lewis, Ash, and Zane all nodded. Annabeth pointed at them and said each of their names before deciding they knew each other.

“I’m guessing those are the rest of the Hunters?” Lewis asked, pointing to the other girls. They were all laughing and talking amongst themselves, not even paying attention to the rest of them. Percy guessed there were too many boys.

Thalia nodded. “Artemis herself is usually with us but she couldn’t interfere with the quest and the last thing she wants to do is go to a mortal school.”

Lewis knitted his eyebrows. “You have met a god?” All of the demigods had to hold in their laughter.

Percy snorted. “Man, most of us have been to Olympus. I know all of us have met every single Olympian god at least once, plus some of the minor gods. The entire seven have fought with the Olympians. We’ve saved all of their sorry butts, what did you expect?” That comment earned a rumble of thunder outside. Lewis looked like his head might explode, but he kept his mouth shut.

The rest of the Hunters left to set up camp by the demigods’ house, leaving Thalia to stay at the school. After lunch, they had Mythology.

“Ok, brats! Today we’re learning about the greatest hero to ever live. Hercules,” Mrs. Brides announced. All six demigods burst out laughing. Especially Piper and Jason. Luke had to stop time just so they could get their laughter out. They laughed for what would have been about twenty minutes, had Luke not done that. Thalia was too busy rolling on the floor to be surprised. 

“Hercules? Great?” Jason managed to choke out between breaths. Eventually, they settled down and Luke started time again. Mrs. Brides looked furious.

“What are you laughing at?” she demanded. 

The demigods glanced at each other and Luke stopped time again. 

“Man, doesn’t that make you tired?” Percy questioned.

“No. I think it’s because I’m using Kronos’s power and energy,” Luke suggested. Percy nodded.

“So, should we reveal ourselves?” Jason asked.

“Thalia is good at the Mist. Maybe we could just do it and then erase it? Just for a laugh,” Annabeth suggested. Everyone nodded and Luke started time again.

“Well, you see, Mrs. Brides. Piper and I have personally met Heracles and we know that he is a big-headed jerk,” Jason explained. 

Mrs. Brides frowned. “How-”

Annabeth cut her off. “Remember when we told you we were half Greek and Roman? Well, our Greek and Roman sides are gods. I’m a daughter of Athena, Percy is a son of Poseidon, Piper is a daughter of Aphrodite, Jason is a son of Jupiter, Luke is a son of Hermes, and our new friend, Thalia, is a daughter of Zeus.” The entire class was silent. A couple of the kids laughed nervously but mostly they were quiet. The looks on their faces were priceless. After a minute of silence, the demigods burst into laughter. Thalia was just about to use the Mist when Hecate appeared in front of them. 

“Oh, you think this is funny, huh? I might just have to make Hazel come here to keep you from messing things up completely! I will fix this but this is the last time! You guys are going to kill me!” Hecate scolded. She snapped her fingers and the looks from the students disappeared, along with the goddess herself. Luke stopped time again and they dissolved into fits of laughter.

Chapter Text

The rest of the school day was normal. Nothing unusual happened, despite it being the day a huge army was supposed to come and destroy them. Well, nothing happened until the last possible second anything could happen. There was one minute of gym left when five bodybuilders burst into the room. Well, the mortals saw bodybuilders. The demigods knew they were Laistrygonian Giants. 

Or as Percy calls them, “Canadians!”

Jason gave Percy a sideways glance. “Canadians? If Frank were here he would be very offended.”
Annabeth raised her hand. “Sorry, that would be my fault he calls them that. But it isn’t my fault he couldn’t pronounce Laistrygonian.”

“Enough talk! Let’s go kick some Lazy Dragon butt!” Percy exclaimed and pulled out Riptide.

Annabeth puts a hand to her temple. “Laistrygoni-. You know what? It doesn’t matter. Coach, will you get all of the mortals out of here, please?”

Coach Hedge grunted but agreed. 

“Lunch!” one giant bellowed. He pointed to the demigods and looked at his ugly friends as if saying, “Look what I found!” The next thing they knew, all five giants had flaming cannonballs in their hands, ready to throw them. 

“Gods, I wish Leo were here,” Percy murmured. The rest of the demigods nodded in agreement but sadness filled their eyes. 

“What are you doing here?” Jason shouted at the monsters.

“Less talky more die-y! I’m hungry!” one of the giants bellowed in return.

A different giant, who Percy recognized as Joe Bob, flashed an evil look in the first giant’s direction. “Don’t be rude!” he paused and looked back at the demigods. “We have been sent by Antaeus himself! Where is the girl? GIVE US THE GIRL!” Joe Bob threw one of his cannonballs at Jason, narrowly missing him. 

Suddenly, Annabeth started singing. She wasn’t singing words, just a beautiful string of notes, but the Laistrygonians dropped their cannonballs as their eyes clouded over. The giants walked out of the gym, Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Piper, Thalia, and Luke trailing behind, leaving the cannonballs on the gym floor. They led them out of the school and onto the football (soccer for us Americans) field. 

Annabeth stopped singing long enough to tell the other demigods, “I will make them stand still. Just kill them.” Then she resumed singing before the giants could regain their senses. Percy cautiously walked up to the giants, who were standing as frozen as Greek statues. He uncapped Riptide and stabbed the monster in the gut. He burst into dust without a single yelp. Percy smirked and moved onto the next one. In a matter of seconds, all that was left of the five Laistrygonians were little piles of dust. 

“Gods, Wise Girl. I didn’t know you were that powerful,” Percy remarked as he made his way back to the group. 

Annabeth looked offended. “I’ve always been powerful, Seaweed Brain. But now I’ve got something to use my power for.” 

Percy smiled and kissed her. “Sorry, I must have had a brain fart.” Annabeth wrinkled her nose. 

“Eww, Percy. That’s a disgusting way to describe that,” Piper complained. That was when Cleo, Emma, and Rikki showed up beside them.

“Did we miss the fight?” Rikki questioned.

Thalia turned towards her. “Yeah but Annabeth was the only one who really did anything. All she had to do was bust out those pipes and get the monsters to stop moving.” 

Piper frowned. “For a second there, I thought you were talking to me.” 

Thalia burst into laughter. “Where would Annabeth need to bust you out of, Pipes ?” Piper laughed. 

Emma turned to Annabeth. “What did you have to fight?”

“Laistrygonian Giants,” Annabeth said simply.

Percy cut in, “They’re Canadians!” Cleo giggled.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “I only said that because they live up north,” she defended. “I don’t see how they are all the way down here.”

“I fear the war is starting,” Luke announced grimly. “That is the only way to get monsters to places they aren’t used to.”
“Like the Hyperboreans. They usually live in Alaska,” Percy said. Luke, Annabeth, and Thalia nodded. No one else knew what they were talking about. 

Annabeth noticed the confused look on their faces and simply said, “Titan War.” They all nodded. 

Annabeth knitted her eyebrows as if just remembering something important. “Do you guys remember what the one Laistrygonian said?”

“Joe Bob?” Percy cut in. Annabeth glanced at him and raised her eyebrows. 

“What? His name is Joe Bob! He showed up at my school in seventh grade,” Percy defended. 

Annabeth turned back to everyone else with wide eyes. “Okay. Joe Bob wanted a girl. He said, ‘Give us the girl!’ What does that mean?”

Piper pursed her lips. “It sounded as if Antaeus is looking for someone. And he thinks we have her.”

Chapter Text

Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Luke, Thalia, Cleo, Emma, and Rikki sat in the living room of the demigods' house, waiting for something, anything. They knew the war was starting but they were in no hurry to die. So they sat and waited to be attacked. 

Emma's eyes suddenly got huge. "Guys! I just realized! There's a full moon tonight..." she trailed off. Suddenly there was frantic banging on the front door. Percy pulled out his sword and cautiously opened it. 

Lewis burst into the room, looking like he just had gotten the greatest idea of his life, and it terrified him.

"It's happening again!" Lewis shouted. He shoved a book in Cleo, Emma, and Rikki's faces. "Guys! It's happening AGAIN!"

Cleo stood up and put her hand on his shoulders. "WHAT is happening again, Lewis?" Cleo questioned.

"All the planets are lining up again. It doesn't make any sense! It just happened! It isn't supposed to happen for another fifty years!" Lewis was hysterical. Cleo, Emma, and Rikki looked dumbstruck. 

Annabeth looked puzzled. "What does this mean, Lewis?"

"It means..." Lewis paused to get a hold of himself. "If any one of you are in the moon pool during tonight's full moon, you can lose your powers for good." Everyone sat there in uneasy silence. 

“That’s what he wants,” Annabeth broke the silence grimly. Everyone turned to look at her. “He wants to take away our powers.”

Thalia frowned. “But…” she paused. “Why? It’s not like we are trying to kill him or anything.”

“We did kill his mother though…” Percy murmured.

“Do you think it has something to do with Gaea?” Piper asked. 

Percy groaned. “Of course it does. I thought we were done with Queen Dirt-Face!”

Annabeth gave him a sympathetic look. “Me too, Seaweed Brain,” she paused as realization dawned on her face. “Antaeus hates you because he is jealous Poseidon likes you more, right? And the mermaid blessing has to do with your dad. Maybe he’s jealous of us too? It probably only gave him more motivation when we disgraced his mother.” Everyone nodded. 

Luke took a deep breath. “I think that’s enough speculation for today. I’m going to bed.”

Thalia frowned at him. “What’s got your toga in a bunch?” Luke grunted and walked out of the room. 

Annabeth started to get up. “I’ll go talk to him-” 

Thalia stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. “I got it.” As Thalia walked up the stairs, the rest of them sat in the living room talking uneasily. Thalia barged into Luke’s room, not even bothering to knock. He was sitting on his bed, staring out his window. Thalia sat beside him.

“I don’t see my purpose,” Luke said without turning to look at her. “Why? Why am I needed for this quest? I don’t bring anything special. I’m just a kid of Hermes. I don’t have a cool power and I’m not super smart. Just… why?”

Thalia frowned. “Luke, listen. I don’t know why the fates decided to bring you back. But you’re here now. So don’t spend all of your time moping around and wondering about your self-worth. And you do to have a power! You can freaking stop time !” 

Luke turned to look at her. “I wasn’t even born with that power. It’s evil!”

Thalia rolled her eyes. “Oh come on!” she got up off Luke’s bed and started to walk out. Just as she was at the door she turned back. “When you’re done with your pity-party and realize how awesome you are, come back downstairs. We’re probably going to be up all night discussing strategy with Annabeth.” And then she was gone.

Chapter Text

The next morning, all of the demigods and mermaids were exhausted. Even Annabeth, who was the cause of their tiredness. The mermaids slept over (Lewis went home) and talked about what to do all night. Unfortunately, they got nowhere. They were no closer to figuring out why Antaeus would want to take away their powers than they were before Luke stormed off. Speaking of Luke, he was not part of the discussion. He stayed in his room, actually getting some sleep, all night and didn’t even come out in the morning. Thalia, Annabeth, and Percy each tried banging on his door or yelling at him, to no avail. They went back down to the living room and sat groggily in the chairs, dozing off.

They were jolted awake by more banging, this time on the front door. Piper yawned and sleepily walked over to the door. She opened it and was immediately pulled out. That snapped Jason awake. He jumped up out of the chair, slowly followed by everyone else. Jason rushed over to the door, his sword in hand. There was a black figure carrying a struggling Piper over its shoulder. It was hard to make out. Just a black blob in the vague shape of a man.

“Hey! That thing is pulling a Hera on Piper!” Percy exclaimed. What startled Jason was Piper was laughing. 

“Put me down!” Piper giggled. The figure set Piper on the street and they started walking back towards the house. Then something jumped out from the figure. It was a rat. The rat scuttled into the house and Cleo screamed. 

“Guys! Look who’s here!” Piper exclaimed, gesturing to the black figure. Even up close, Jason couldn’t make out what the figure was. It was like a 2D black hole. It had no features, just solid black. 

Piper noticed the confusion on their faces and nudged the figure. “Oh, sorry. Mist. I wanted to give you a fright,” the figure chuckled in a deep, electronic voice. Like the things hackers use when they don’t want you to recognize them. Then the figure began to morph into a fourteen-year-old girl with dark skin and gold eyes. 

“Hazel!” Annabeth exclaimed and ran up to the girl. Percy and Jason felt hands on their backs and immediately jumped around, swords in hands. Behind them was a buff Chinese guy wearing a purple shirt. 

“Frank!” Jason smiled. 

“Gods, man. Don’t do that!” Percy exclaimed. “But it’s good to see my favorite… uh, cousin, or something.” He knitted his eyebrows but gave Frank a hug anyway. 

Jason frowned. “I thought I was your favorite cousin.”

“Sorry, man. Frank’s a descendent of Neptune and he can shape-shift.”

“But… I can fly…”

“That just makes you Superman. Which makes you an alien. And, sorry man, can’t like an alien.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Just shut up already!” Percy and Jason frowned on their now glued together lips. Frank went to stand by Hazel. Piper turned to them. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Well, we heard a war was coming!” Hazel said a little too excitedly.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “Hecate sent you, didn’t she.” Hazel nodded. They were stopped from saying any more when a roar sliced through the air. 

“Seaweed Brain!” Annabeth exclaimed angrily as she turned towards the bull-man. “I told you I would blame you if he showed up!”

“That was two months ago!” Percy retorted as he pulled out Riptide. The Minotaur was pawing the ground and staring daggers at Percy. There were a few dozen dracaenae surrounding his feet. 

“You guys get the snake-ladies. I’ve got Tidy-Whitey over there,” Percy said and charged the Minotaur. Frank turned into a mongoose and ran at the snake-women who, surprisingly, ran away in fear. Annabeth put on her Yankees cap and kept poking the women in the back. Piper started yelling at the dracaenae to attack each other while simultaneously stabbing them with her sword.  Hazel used the Mist like a demon, swirling that stuff around everywhere and tricking the monsters’ minds. Jason kept grabbing dracaenae , flying up to great heights and dropping them, causing the snake-women to burst into dust on the ground. Cleo got water from the plumbing and made a bubble around the monsters and Emma froze it, creating snake-pops. Then Rikki would boil it and the monsters would just be dust in the water.

While all of this was happening, Percy was fighting the Minotaur. The bull-man charged him but Percy jumped out of the way. Then he jumped up onto the monster’s back and drove Riptide into the Minotaur’s hide. He roared with pain and dissolved into golden dust.

“Percy!” Annabeth yelled. The nine of them were standing in a circle, looking at one last dracaena . Piper was singing. Annabeth whispered to Percy, “She says Antaeus is heading to Mako.”

“You will never defeat him. Once he getsss what he wantsss he will be the mossst powerful being in the universsse,” the snake-woman exclaimed lazily, under the spell of Piper’s snake song.

Piper stopped singing long enough to ask, “And what does he want?”

“He needsss a ssssacrifice to do it. A special girl…” the monster answered. They all glanced nervously at each other. “A mermaid herssself, of course. Wait, why am I telling you thissss? I mussst kill you!” The dracaena charged Hazel who, on instinct, sliced the monster into dust. 

“Hazel! We could’ve gotten more information! ” Annabeth exclaimed angrily.

Percy put a hand on her shoulder and said in a scolding tone, “Annabeth, remember the kangaroo.” Annabeth gave Percy a glare but backed off Hazel, leaving her very confused. 

“Kang-” Hazel started.

Percy cut her off and explained what happened when he threw the stuffed animal at Annabeth. Frank started laughing hysterically while Hazel just shook her head with an amused expression. 

“Okay, okay. We get it,” Annabeth cut in. “We all have reflexes. Now can we please get to school? We’re going to be late.”

Chapter Text

“I always knew going to school was a bad idea,” Percy muttered. “I just didn’t have anything to justify it until now.” He, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank, and Thalia were sitting in Mythology class (with a little help from Hazel, the teachers didn’t at all question why there were suddenly two more kids in their classes) when they looked out the window to see a whole horde of monsters attempting to swim out to sea. Emphasis on attempting. Most of them were drowning in the huge waves (courteous of Percy) while the rest were trying to get a tiny rowboat to carry a dozen of them. They didn’t even get a few feet out before it started filling with water. (I have no idea where their school is but I’m just going to pretend they’re by the beach…)

“Are they trying to get to Mako?” Piper suggested. 

“You said Mako was that way, didn’t you?” Hazel asked. Annabeth nodded. All of a sudden, the fire alarm goes off.

“There wasn’t supposed to be a drill today, was there, Ms. Brides?” a girl yelled over the blaring sound. Ms. Brides’s eyes widened and she slowly shook her head. 

But she quickly regained her composure. “Everyone stay calm and treat this as if it was a drill. If you make any sound as we are heading out of this building, I won’t hesitate to leave you behind.” Then the teacher whooshed her dress towards the door and led the class out. The demigods exchanged uneasy glances. They fell into the back of the line and, once Ms. Brides turned a corner, ran off to find Cleo, Emma, and Rikki. Luckily their class wasn’t too far and they found them easily.

“What are you guys doing? There’s a fire!” Cleo yelled over the alarm.

“No there isn’t! It’s the monsters. They want us out and vulnerable,” Annabeth quickly explained as they walked out of the doors of the school. Emma looked confused but didn’t say anything. They all ducked behind a corner and Thalia peaked out. It looked like a normal fire drill with kids in lines talking even though they were supposed to be and teachers counting heads. That was when a couple of large dark figures stampede onto the blacktop. Percy frowned and Annabeth caught her breath. Similar reactions spread throughout the demigods as they were reminded of Percy’s half-brother, Tyson. Because the dark figures were Cyclopes. Grown ones at that. 

“What’s wrong?” Cleo whispered.

“Cyclopes… Tyson…” was all Percy managed to get out. He had forgotten how hard it was to fight them. They aren’t Tyson. Percy reminded himself. 

“WHERE IS SHE?” one cyclops bellowed. Mortals were running around screaming. Percy wasn’t sure what they were seeing but it must not have been cute and cuddly. 

The other cyclops sniffed the air. “I smell demigod.” Percy caught his breath when he realized the cyclops was a girl, if you could call it that. Both Cyclopes were about twelve feet tall and had matching ugly faces. The female had long stringy brown hair and was wearing a dress that looked like someone had stitched it out of a bunch of normal dresses. The other cyclops, presumably a male, had tufts of greasy blonde hair sticking up out of his head at odd angles and was wearing what Percy called “the mother of all potato sacks.” It was a humongous potato sack that could probably hold thousands of potatoes if the monster wasn’t wearing it. 

The she-monster kept sniffing the air and got dangerously close to the corner the demigods and mermaids were behind. 

“We are so stupid, bringing everyone to school like this,” Thalia quietly remarked. “Six of the Seven most powerful demigods of this century, including two children of the Big Three, plus a child of Zeus. We are probably overloading their nostrils.”

“Hey, Ugly!” Percy yelled as he stepped out from behind the corner. Both Cyclopes turned to look at him.

“Percy!” Annabeth whisper-yelled at him, still hidden.

“Ah! Perseus Jackson. I have been dying to meet you! Brother has told us so much about you!” the female cyclops exclaimed in a horrible attempt at a fangirl squeal.

“Brother? Sorry, who are you?” Percy retorted. 

“Oh, Master Antaeus! He said Daddy is most pleased with you. Taking all the attention. I am Beretta and this is Axle.” Percy’s eyes widened.

“You’re my siblings?” he gaped.

“Southern Cyclopes! You are much too smart to fall under Antaeus’s spell!” Annabeth stepped out from behind the corner.

“Annabeth Chase! Such a pleasure! Meeting two popular demigods at one time! Can you believe this Axel?” Beretta beamed. 

“Such a pleasure to be able to kill you both, really,” Axel agreed with the same amount of enthusiasm as his sister. 

“Oh, you don’t want to kill us! Your father would be very unhappy with you,” Annabeth bargained. 

Beretta glanced at Axel wearily. “Master Antaeus promised us we would be Daddy’s favorites if we killed you! We believe Master Antaeus! He is trustworthy.”

Percy scoffed. “He tricked people into fighting to the death in the labyrinth. But yeah, he’s trustworthy.”

“Don’t talk that way about Master Antaeus! He has done so much for us!” Axel bellowed angrily. 

Thalia, Piper, Jason, Frank, and Hazel stepped out from behind the corner. “Settle down now, buddy,” Thalia cautioned. “No need to start a fight you can’t win.” 

Beretta’s eyes widened. “Jason Grace! Piper McLean! Hazel Levesque! Frank Zhang! And Thalia-”

Thalia cut her off. “Yeah, yeah. You know all of our names. So what do you want?”

“Sadly, we cannot kill you now. Master Antaeus won’t let us. He says we must have pat- payten- uh…” Axel trailed off, struggling to say ‘patience.’

“Patience, brother!” Beretta finished.

“What do I need to wait for?” Axel questioned, oblivious.

Beretta shook her head and turned back to the demigods. “My brother is correct. Master Antaeus won’t let us harm you yet. He sent us for the girl. The girl with ‘dual blood,’ as he put it,” the cyclops scratched her head. “Not sure what that means but he said we would smell it.” Beretta began sniffing each of the demigods who, in return, drew their weapons. Beretta backed away.

She pointed at Annabeth, who was the last one she got a whiff of (so cringe), and howled, “YOU!” Then she burst into dust. Piper, who was standing next to Jason, shimmered away and revealed the real Piper standing behind Beretta, her sword in hand. 

Axel turned to look at Piper with complete and utter hatred. Then he grabbed her around the waist with his big meaty hands and ran off towards the beach and into the surf.Axel turned to look at Piper with complete and utter hatred. He lunged at her but Piper was knocked aside before he could reach her. Cleo stood in Piper's place, looking up at the monster in fear. Axel grabbed her around the waist with his big meaty hands and ran off towards the beach and into the surf.

Chapter Text

Axel (oof not expecting that were u…? of course u were)

Axel used his limited powers over the water to carry himself and the annoying girl to the island. He walked up onto the shore and deep into the forest to find Master Antaeus.

“Ah, Axel! Hello, Buddy. Where is Beretta?” Antaeus boomed once he saw the cyclops. Axel frowned and pointed down.

Antaeus clenched his fists. “THOSE HATEFUL DEMIGODS! FIRST THEY KILL MY MOTHER AND NOW MY SISTER! THIS IS WHY-” He was cut off once he saw what Axel was holding. Cleo, now a mermaid, was limp in the monster’s meaty hands.

“What do you have there, Axel?” Antaeus questioned.

Axel held out Cleo to Antaeus. “I got her, Master Antaeus! I got her! Beretta smelled her just before she… you know.” Axel pointed down again.

“Excellent,” Antaeus smiled evilly and took Cleo from Axel’s hands. “I must say, I didn’t expect you to prevail. Now those stupid little mortals will come to rescue her and will be playing right into my trap. You see, I have learned to bide my time. I will not be ignorantly challenged like the first time I met my disgrace for a brother.” Axel whimpered.

“Not you, you blubbering idiot! Perseus Jackson,” Antaeus said with absolute loathing. “I will destroy that puny demigod last of all, so he can watch all of his little friends die at my hands first.” Antaeus made a fist.

Percy

“No! Cleo!” Emma screamed as they watched the cyclops carry her out to sea. Emma, Rikki, and Percy wanted to follow her out there but Annabeth held them back.

“We need a plan first!” she demanded.

“But, Wise Girl!” Percy pleaded.

“Don’t ‘Wise Girl’ me! If we just follow her out there blindly we’ll all get killed!”

Jason stepped forward. “She’s right. Antaeus wants Annabeth. We found out that much.”

“And he wouldn’t hesitate to kill you, Percy,” Piper chimed in.

Percy crossed his arms. “I guess you’re right.”
“Of course I am,” Annabeth agreed. They didn’t even talk for ten minutes before Percy, Thalia, and Rikki started getting antsy.

Rikki groaned. “Cleo is out there and we’re standing here and doing nothing!”

Annabeth ignored her. “Antaeus is probably too big to get in through the shoot, right? So he probably set up camp on the island.”
“I could fly over it and see if I can see him,” Jason suggested. “Wouldn’t take nearly as long as if we searched it on foot.” Annabeth nodded.

“I can turn into an eagle too. And Hazel can use Arion,” Frank suggested.

“I think Frank should go but Hazel, you stay here. A lightning-fast horse will definitely cause some attention. If they come back with nothing then you will be our last resort,” Annabeth

“Do Iris Messages work if you’re flying?” Percy asked absent-mindedly. “Do they fly with you or do you have to stop and hover?”

Jason pondered this. “I don’t know, man. Never tried.” Annabeth rolled her eyes and continued to talk with Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Emma.

“What if Jason doesn’t find anything?” Thalia wondered. “Would we be too late?”

“That just means he’s already in the moon pool. So we just go to the moon pool and BAM! Done,” Percy smirked. Thalia, Rikki, Jason, and Percy burst out laughing.

“Guys! This is no time for jokes! Cleo is there, with all of those monsters that she’s never faced before! We need to be serious!” Emma scolded. It was almost like charmspeak- they all shut up.

“Jason, Frank, make your rounds. If you find anything come back here and get everyone else. Don’t be like Percy,” Annabeth ordered. (“Hey!” Was all Percy could say.) Jason made the winds lift him up and he headed towards Mako, Frank (in eagle form) following close behind.

After a few minutes of waiting (that felt like hours to the ADHD demigods), Jason and Frank finally came back.

“I can’t see anything. You would think an army of monsters wouldn’t be hard to spot,” he complained.

Hazel stepped forward and held up her hand. "I believe it is my turn," then she put her fingers to her lips and whistled. Not even seconds later a beautiful caramel-colored horse appeared next to her. Hazel mounted him.

"Hey, Arion. Can you get me to that island out there? We need to look around," Hazel asked the horse. Arion whinnied in response.

Percy whistled. "Man! Gets me every time! He still cusses like a sailor," he shook his head. "He said, of course, he can. But wants to know what you're looking for."

"Any sign of monster encampment," Hazel told the horse. Arion whinnied again and burst off toward the water. Seconds later they were just a dot in the horizon before disappearing completely. Emma and Rikki watched with open mouths.

"How-" Emma started.

Frank cut in. "Fastest being on land. Hazel got him 'cuz she's the greatest female warrior according to the prophecy," he paused and got a giddy look on his face. "Man, I love my girlfriend." Frank's eyes widened as he realized what he said. ("Did I say that out loud?" Frank muttered.)

By the time Hazel got back, it was already dark. She looked worried.

"It's bad. There are a lot. I think you couldn't see them because they were under a bunch of trees. But I heard a couple of them talking and they said they wished they could watch the sacrifice. Meaning it's happening right now! We HAVE to go!"

Chapter Text

Cleo

Cleo stood next to the moon pool, legs trembling, as she watched Antaeus stare up at the sky through the opening of the volcano. She only had a sliver of hope left that her friends would come and save her. The moon was creeping over the edge of the volcano now and all she could think about was losing her powers. They’d been a part of her life for so long, she couldn’t imagine her life without them. And Cleo could tell Antaeus was getting antsy. He was pacing the pool, well, he was trying. Antaeus was so big that he could only walk a few steps before having to turn around again. It probably would have been funny to Cleo if she wasn’t scared out of her wits.

“UGH! I wish that brainless goddess would hurry up!” Antaeus groaned, pulling himself out of the water. He narrowed his eyes at Cleo.

“ You are the only thing I have to entertain me…” the giant trailed off. “You have powers, don’t you? Show me.” Cleo turned to the water, holding out a shaky hand. She didn’t dare disobey him. She made a ball of water hover over the moon pool. Antaeus’s eyes narrowed in interest. Cleo turned it into a star. Then she raised it higher into the air. 

“Your power is like Jackson’s,” the monster said resentfully. “He is Father’s favorite. Just because he is a mortal. I must do this to show Poseidon he is worthless. That insolent boy killed me a few years ago. It took me that long to reform. Now he thinks he can beat me like he did last time. But I have gotten smarter, stronger. My mother has made sure no puny demigod can kill me alone. You see, they would need the help of a Titan-” Antaeus was cut off as the moon pool started to bubble. He smiled evilly before grabbing Cleo and jumping in. He laughed as Cleo’s legs turned into her tail but slowly began returning to legs. Cleo thrashed around, desperate to get out of the water, to no avail. She could feel the power seeping from her body.

______________________________________________________________________________

Wouldn’t it suck if I ended it there?? Haha, I almost did because I’m that lazy…

______________________________________________________________________________

Suddenly, six demigods and two mermaids burst into the cave. Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Clarisse, Chris, Emma, and Rikki all stood at the water’s edge and looked in horror at the scene before them. Then, Jason came flying down from the volcano opening, casting shadows on Cleo’s face. They landed next to everyone else. As Cleo struggled in the giant’s hand, she couldn’t help but think of Charlotte. She, Emma, and Rikki did this to Charlotte. She used to think Charlotte had deserved it but now… she almost felt bad for her.

Then, she felt hands on her. They grabbed her wrists and she was lifted from the water. Somehow she was no longer in Antaeus’s grasp. Cleo was set down on the sand and Emma and Rikki swarmed her. Their questions were a blur to her. She wasn’t even sure if she answered them. Cleo was too much in shock. She could vaguely hear Percy shouting at Antaeus in the background.

“Titan!” Cleo yelled. That was the only thing she knew at the moment. They needed to know. “Need… Titan!”

Emma put her hand on Cleo’s forehead. “Are you okay?” Cleo wasn’t sure why it was so important but she needed one of the demigods to hear her.

Cleo shook Emma off and shakily stood up. “You need… a Titan to kill… him!” she shouted, making her way over to Annabeth, who was standing next to Percy, trying to keep Antaeus occupied. 

She turned towards Cleo. “What did you say?”

“You need a Titan to kill him. His mother made it that way, whoever she is,” Cleo explained, regaining her strength. Annabeth paled.

Suddenly, the wind started to blow rapidly, almost knocking Cleo over. Annabeth turned back around to find Antaeus with his hands outstretched and an evil grin on his face.

“My plan has worked, puny demigods,” the giant caused the water around him to swirl. “Now nothing can stop me!”

Chapter Text

The demigods heard yelling from behind them and turned to see an Iris Message in the air.

“Annabeth! We were trying to get to the cave but his army cut us off. My Hunters and I will do the best we can to disperse the army. You guys handle the big guy,” Thalia yelled from the other side. Annabeth nodded and was about to cut the connection when she got an idea. 

“Thalia! Go get Luke! We need him here. He may be our only hope,” she said grimly and cut the connection.

Emma knitted her eyebrows. “Why is he our only hope?”

“Because he can stop time!” Percy answered. Annabeth elbowed him. “And because of the reason he can stop time…” Percy finished, slightly miffed. Emma still looked confused.

“Luke-” Annabeth was cut off as Antaeus bellowed in rage.

“Enough! Such hope in you! Too bad your plan will never be carried out,” Antaeus faked sympathy. He growled and grabbed Hazel. She screamed and kicked with no luck. Frank turned into a hawk and began pecking at the giant’s meaty hands but Antaeus swatted him into the wall.

“Frank!” Hazel screamed. She stopped struggling and closed her eyes. Much to Antaeus’s surprise, she took a deep breath, balled her fists, and dissolved into shadows. She reappeared next to Frank, now in human form, and helped him up.

“Hazel!” Piper exclaimed. “Since when-?”

Hazel just shrugged. “I’ve been practicing.” 

“Piper, Hazel, Frank, Rikki! Keep him busy. I’ve got a plan,” Annabeth ordered.

“Of course you do,” Percy said with a chuckle. Annabeth glared at him. She gathered Cleo, Emma, Percy, and Jason and told them the plan. They all got in their positions.

“How sure are you that this is going to work?” Emma asked Annabeth wearily.

Annabeth frowned. “Look, I am the daughter of the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. I’d think my plan would be sufficient.”

“So how sure?” Percy asked, smirking.

“Not very,” Annabeth admitted. “NOW!” The plan was set into motion. Percy joined Hazel, Frank, Piper, and Rikki in fighting Antaeus.

“Hey, Fish Sticks!” Percy yelled. Antaeus sent a wall of water towards Percy without even looking away from the seal with a sword he was fighting. Percy stopped the water and threw it back at him. Antaeus, too focused on trying to not let the seal (Frank) slip out of his hands or stab him, had his mouth open and breathed in the wall of water. Frank slipped out of the giant’s hands as Antaeus coughed and sputtered. Water began wrapping around him without him noticing. 

“Stupid excuse for a demigod! How dare you!” Antaeus bellowed and lunged at Percy, to find his arms were trapped at his sides in the whirlpool swimming around him.

“Now, Emma!” Cleo yelled, desperately trying to keep the hold on Antaeus. Emma extended her arm and the water around Antaeus froze. The giant fought and fought, heating the water around him, only for it to freeze again. 

“Hurry, Jason!” Emma groaned, using all of her willpower to keep the water frozen. Jason flew above Antaeus and Percy used the water remaining in the pool to lift Antaeus towards the opening in the ceiling. Once he was high enough, Jason used the winds to carry him up and out of the volcano. It was a crazy sight. A giant with a mermaid tail flying through the sky.

 Everyone swam out of the moon pool and found their way to the beach. Cleo was very distraught, seeing as she hadn’t actually swum in years. Percy helped her onto the shore. 

“You guys all find the hunters and help them. Jason and I got this,” Percy ordered and turned to look at a tiny black dot in the sky. Antaeus and Jason.

Meanwhile, in the sky…

Jason was struggling to keep them both aloft. He was going to have to drop him soon. But he needed to give Percy enough time to get everyone else out of the way. Once Antaeus hit the water he was going to create a tidal wave and he would rather his friends not drown. 

Antaeus coughed. “Puny Sky Spawn. You and Jackson cannot defeat me. My mother has made sure of that much. You deserve to die for killing my mother!” The giant’s tail shimmered and returned to legs.
Jason smirked. “Well, for your information, we didn’t kill her. She just fell asleep.” Then Jason let loose the wind from under Antaeus. The giant hurtled towards the ocean below, screaming. With a jolt, Jason realized Antaeus was heading straight for the little black dot in the ocean he knew to be Percy. He dived straight down as he could, screaming Percy’s name. But it was too late. The giant landed in the ocean with a huge splash. Jason stopped so quickly it gave him vertigo. He was still feet above the water but was narrowly avoiding the giant’s splashes. 

But what surprised Jason was Antaeus wasn't turning into a merman. Somehow, he realized, Percy must be keeping a hand on him. All of a sudden, the water reached up and grabbed him. The next thing he knew he was underwater in a bubble, watching Percy struggle to keep his hand on the thrashing giant. Somehow Antaeus could breathe but he still seemed disorientated from falling at least a hundred feet from the sky.

“I don’t know why you try, little demigods,” the giant sneered. “All of this could have been avoided if you would’ve just realized you can’t defeat me. My mother made sure only a-”

“Only a Titan could kill you. Yes, get it,” Percy imitated. “You know, you would think you would keep something like that a little quieter.” 

Antaeus huffed in annoyance. “It doesn’t matter because there is nothing you can do about it.” He reached over and grabbed Jason, popping his bubble. Jason didn’t even get a chance to take a breath. Percy yelled in defiance and uncapped Riptide with his mouth, careful not to let go of the giant. Percy stabbed Antaeus in the hand he was holding onto, not the smartest move because the giant howled in pain and whipped his hand around. It took all Percy had to keep from letting go. Jason floated aimlessly, forgotten by the giant. Percy flicked his finger and pushed Jason to the surface. He hoped to all of the gods he would take a breath. 

Percy felt a shadow fall over him. He looked up to see the bottom of a boat. Someone on the boat lifted Jason into it as someone else dropped into the water. Luke. 

The boat sped off towards shore as Luke made his way to Percy and Antaeus. Percy briefly thought about giving Luke an air bubble when he suddenly felt a hand around him. His arms were trapped at his sides, Riptide included. Luke was groggily sparing with Antaeus but his moves were slow as if he were underwater. Oh wait, Percy thought. He is.

“No more games!” Antaeus bellowed and Luke shot back as if an invisible force pulled him. 

“Oh, that’s right. You have powers now,” Percy mumbled to himself. Antaeus threw him backward and Percy had no choice but to break contact with him. The giant’s legs shimmered and turned into a tail. Antaeus laughed.

“Your little girlfriend’s plan failed, Jackson. As I told you before, nothing can stop me!” Antaeus cackled. That got Percy going. No one insults Annabeth! He charged the giant and tried to strike with Riptide. Antaeus dodged. His tail was making him faster. Antaeus took a punch at him. Percy used it as an opening and slashed the giant’s fingers. Antaeus growled. 

“Luke? I could really use your help here!” Percy shouted. He risked a glance back and saw Luke was turning purple. Percy’s eyes widened. He made the water shoot him backward towards Luke, leaving Antaeus stunned. Percy made an air bubble around Luke’s head and he took a deep breath. Luke snapped his fingers and stopped time.

“Percy, I was thinking and I think I only have so much of Kronos’s power in me. I think I’m almost out. I can’t risk stopping time again-” Luke explained. He stopped abruptly when he noticed Antaeus surging towards them. Time had started again.

Percy pushed Luke off to the left of Antaeus and himself to his right, but Antaeus brought Percy toward himself.

“I WILL have my revenge, Jackson! All you are doing is delaying the inevitable!” Antaeus bellowed in anger.

“Less talky more stab-y,” Percy snickered and stabbed Riptide into the giant’s arm. Suddenly he felt a sudden pain in his head and was thrown away from Antaeus. The giant had punched him in the head. His vision went blurry and he struggled to stay conscious. All he saw was a huge dark blob he realized was Antaeus and a smaller blob that was Luke. There was something shiny sticking out of the large blob’s arm that Percy later realized was Riptide. The smaller blob started glowing and golden sparks of power fizzled around him. The golden stuff beamed at the larger blob until the small blob went limp and the larger blob dissolved into golden flecks floating in the water. ( from Percy’s perspective. Sorry that it was so vague. It was a bad attempt to make a joke lol )

Percy was so dazed we barely noticed when the shadow from the boat fell over him again. He barely noticed being dragged out of the water and plopped down on the hard metal floor of the boat. He did notice, however, the sound of Annabeth sobbing. Percy jolted awake, ignoring the aching pain in his head.

“What’s wrong?” he questioned frantically to no one in particular. He looked around and found Annabeth kneeling over someone. He hurried over to find it was Luke. And he wasn’t moving.

“What happened?” Percy asked, kneeling next to Annabeth.

Annabeth took a shaky breath. “We found him i-in the w-water like this,” she broke out into another sob. Percy could tell she was trying to hold it back but was failing. 

Thalia put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay,” she whispered to Annabeth. Then she turned to Percy. “I think he d-drowned.” Percy’s heart dropped. How was this possible?

“B-but I put a bubble around his head! There’s n-no way…” Percy trailed off. Could it be possible the bubble popped when Luke was fighting Antaeus? 

“Hey,” someone said. It sounded like… but it wasn’t possible…

“Luke?” Annabeth choked. Percy looked up to see an Iris Message with Luke looking at him from the other side. “How-”

“I only get a few minutes,” Luke said.

“So are y-you really…” Annabeth trailed off. 

Luke nodded. “I had to. I made it into Elysium,” he said grinning. Percy grinned right back.

“Percy, it isn’t your fault. I had to go back to the underworld. Don’t blame yourself. Goodbye,” Luke smiled and cut the connection. Annabeth had stopped sobbing but was still crying, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her eyes. Thalia turned away, trying to hide her tears. Even Percy felt the tears swell up in his eyes. He moved over and put his arms around Annabeth. They had just gotten Luke back and now he was gone again. 

Everyone gathered around them in solemn silence. They had all come to know and love Luke. Jason held Piper, who was crying silently; Frank and Hazel held hands, respectful of the others since they didn’t know him; Emma, Cleo, and Rikki had their arms around each other, tears falling down their faces; and all of the Hunters stood with their heads bowed in respect.

After a few minutes of silence, Annabeth stood and wiped her face. “It’s sad he isn’t with us anymore but… but it has to be. He wasn’t truly a-alive anyway. He achieved Elysium so he succeeded. We should be celebrating!” she sniffed and wiped her eyes again, slightly forcing a smile. “We just won a war! We can go home…” her voice faltered as she looked at Percy then at Piper and Jason. Everyone was smiling but there was still a hint of sadness in the air. 

Taking Annabeth’s hand, Percy smiled warmly and said, "Let's go home.”

ƬΉΣ ΣПD

Chapter Text

“It’s so sad to see you go,” Cleo admitted to the four demigods in front of her. They nodded in agreement. “And it’s definitely gonna be weird without my powers,” she added sadly.

“Can’t you just go back in the moon pool on another full moon?” Percy suggested.

Cleo shrugged. “I don’t know. But if I could, then what’s the point of saying it takes away my powers forever?”

Annabeth frowned. “I don’t think it would work. For some reason, I just get that feeling. It wouldn’t make sense if you could. But I think I have an idea.” She walked over to Cleo, put a hand on her shoulder, and closed her eyes in concentration. After a few seconds, Cleo’s body jolted and started to glow faintly. Annabeth swayed on her feet and Percy caught her just before she fell.

“Did it work?” Annabeth asked groggily.

“I think so. But I would have to get in the water to check,” Cleo said hopefully.

Annabeth, now back on her feet, scanned the airport. She walked over to a nearby restaurant and came back with a cup of water. “Or I could do this,” she said and stuck her hand in the cup. They all silently counted to ten in anticipation, Percy holding his hand close to Annabeth just in case. Nothing. She grinned and threw the cup away.

“How did you do that?” Emma asked, astounded.

Annabeth shrugged. “I just had a feeling.” 

Rikki frowned. “You know what I don’t understand? How come it was Annabeth they needed to sacrifice but it still worked with Cleo?” Annabeth knitted her eyebrows, thinking.

“Maybe the moon pool gave him the normal powers? You didn’t see anything special when you were fighting him, did you, Percy?” Emma suggested. Percy shook his head.

An announcement rang over the PA system.

“We have to go. We will IM you!” Piper assured as they all hugged one last time. Then Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper walked to their gate, excited about finally seeing Camp again.

“I hate these dam planes!” Percy exclaimed, clutching onto the severed head of a plush kangaroo.