Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After walking miles through the underworld, we finally heard the familiar screech. In front of us, we saw the looming palace of black obsidian with the furies flying above.

After a long journey, Percy was just ready to have his mom back. These past few weeks have been hell, well not quite but you get the gist. First he finds out his best friend is part goat, a weird realization for anyone. But then his dad is a god who has ignored him and his mother for his entire life and he lost his mom.

When he arrived at camp the only person who was even remotely nice to him was Luke Castellan. The guy made him feel safe and included, even though Percy wasn’t exactly feeling it. Gods, he wishes Luke were here, but then again Percy really liked him and didn’t want Luke to betray him like the prophecy says. It’s why he chose Annabeth for this mission, if anyone was going to betray him, it would be her, and he was ready.

But he is getting sidetracked, after he gets to camp and finally settles on the idea of staying there, his deadbeat god-dad goes and claims him. Now he is on this stupid quest with two goals in mind: avoid being betrayed and save his mom.

However, those are, apparently, not the easiest tasks in the world. First, they run into Madusa, who Percy fully believes they didn’t have to kill. Then they run into the mother of monsters, Echidna, who proceeds to poison him and force him to jump from the St. Louis Arch. Thank whatever god seems to like him that he had Luke gave him those flying shoes. After that, he refused to take the things off, convinced they would save his life again. The rest of the quest was just one bad thing after the other, from Ares, who is his own separate problem, to the damn casino, it has been a hell of a ride.

But that is okay because everything will be fine when he finally gets to hug his mom again. If he could fly to the palace and not worry about Grover and Annabeth, who he has actually grown quite fond of dammit, he would.

Just as he thought that the wings on his shoes unfurled. Not only that, but the shoes actually seemed to be moving towards the palace, towards the also flying furies. Uh oh.

“Uh, hey Annabeth?” Percy says, although to him it sounds more like a question.

Grover and Annabeth look up just as he gets out of arms reach. “Percy,” Annabeth says, “stop joking around, we are almost there”

“Maia,” Percy says, “maia! MAIA! Annabeth they won’t stop!”

Just as he says that the shoes start to pick up speed, and all of a sudden Annabeth and Grover are chasing him through the underworld, trying to help him. Percy has lost track of who is saying what, as he can’t even keep his balance at this point. The shoes are dragging him by his feet, what did Luke’s dad do to these shoes?

“Untie them!”

It was a smart idea, but not so easy when your feet are pulling you along at Mach speed. Right when Percy thinks he is going to hurtle right through Hades’ gates, he takes a sharp right turn. The slope gets steeper, the ceiling lower, and the tunnel smaller. Long gone are the black grass and creepy trees, now they are surrounded by stalactites and obsidian.

“Percy! Grab onto something!”

He tried, really he did, but all that was in reach was gravel. All of the stalagmites were too far out of reach or so small and thin that they snapped. Just as Percy was about to pull out riptide, the tunnel got darker and colder. The hairs on my arm bristled. This place smelled evil.

He turned to see what he was headed towards and froze. This was the exact place Percy saw in his dream. The tunnel widened into a huge cavern, and in the middle was a chasm the size of a city block.

And he was hurtling right for it.

“Guys!” he shouts, worry slipping into his voice, “this is the place-”

“I know!” Percy turns and sees that Annabeth is the one who responded. And she looks terrified. Percy looks over to Grover who looks so anxious, Percy is sure he is going to throw up when this is over.

That is when Percy realized just how far Annabeth and Grover were from him. There was no way they would catch up with him. Looking back over his shoulder at the ever-approaching pit, Percy knew what was coming, and if he had to go, he would say what he needed.

When Percy turns back over he makes eye contact with Grover. “I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

“NO!” Grover shouts, “No, because you aren’t going anywhere!” Percy can see the tears forming at the edges of Grover’s eyes and turns to Annabeth.

“Tell the gods to fuck off for me and tell my mom I love her,” Percy tells Annabeth. she also has tears in her eyes but unlike Grover, she also seems to have accepted what is about to happen, although she has not stopped running just yet.

“Of course,” she replies.

With that Percy reaches over his shoulder and takes off the backpack they got from Ares and tosses it to them. “There are three pearls in there, they should be enough to get you guys and my mom out of the underworld,” Percy says, knowing he probably won’t survive this fall.

Annabeth’s eyes widen in realization, “No! Percy, you ca-”

Percy never got to hear what Annabeth was going to say, because at that moment he finally reached the edge of the pit and lost all hearing. It is like when there is a loud noise and you only hear ringing afterwards.

“Goodbye, Mom.”

If Percy died those would gladly be his last words.

With that, twelve-year-old Percy Jackson falls.

Chapter Text

Annabeth couldn’t believe it.

She and Grover stood at the edge of the pit that He had just fallen into. Annabeth held the bag he threw before falling while Grover trembled beside her. Annabeth was about to cry too, but she couldn’t let herself. They had a job to do.

With that Annabeth wiped the lone tear on her cheek, grabbed Grover’s hand, and marched off towards Hades’ palace. She would make sure Sally Jackson was saved and that the damned lightning bolt is returned, if only for Percy.

“Annabeth?” Grover asked after they moved far enough from the pit that they could breathe safely. “What are we going to tell everyone?”

Annabeth sighed, “I don’t know.”

—

The rest of the quest went just as you would expect after a member falls into the pits of Tartarus. That is to say, Horribly.

When they finally made it to Hades’ palace they found out that not only was the bolt missing but so was Hades’ helm. That is when Hades asked, “Where is Perseus anyway, hiding underwater with his father no doubt? Preparing for the war to come an-”

Annabeth could not take it anymore. She had to watch her friend fall into the pit and has had to keep going in spite of it. Now she has to listen to Hades complain and point fingers like a child? And worse, he is talking about said friend she just lost. So she snaps at a god for the first time in her life.

“He fell!”

Silence fills the throne room as Hades, Persephone, Demeter, and Grover stare at her. The gods in a look of confusion as to what exactly she meant and Grover in betrayal. She and Grover did not have much time to talk about what happened on the walk back from the pit, and evidently, that was a mistake. One she could not fix right now.

“He fell into The Pit,” Annabeth says, much quieter than before. “His shoes started to fly without him telling them, and he fell.”

Hades looks at Annabeth with narrowed eyes. He didn’t believe her.

Annabeth shook her head, “I’m sorry for the outburst My Lord. If you give us Sally Jackson, I swear we will find your helm as well as the bolt.”

Hades eyes light up as he scoffs, “ I think I know exactly where the bolt is. Open that bag of yours.”

Annabeth and Grover share a look before Grover opens the bag, and sure enough there the bolt is. Essentially a nuclear missile in Grover’s hands. Grover then drops the bag.

They both look up at Hades in surprise. “I felt my brother's weapon enter my domain as soon as you crossed the doors. But by your reaction, you did not know you had it?” Annabeth and Grover shake their heads. “Then you were tricked by Percy Jackson as well.” Annabeth and Grover shook their heads even faster.

“No, he wouldn’t,” it was Grover who spoke up this time. “We were with him the whole time and we didn’t get this bag until…”

Annabeth’s eyes light up with understanding as she makes eye contact with Grover once again. Ares. He gave them the bag, and he was the one who had the lightning bolt, and most likely the one who had the helm.

Annabeth turns back to Hades, “Please, Lord Hades, let us go with Sally Jackson and we can bring you back your helm and give Zeus his lightning bolt back. We know who has it.”

The lord of the underworld shakes his head, “did that coward of a nephew of mine really send you to bargain for him?” Hades snapped his finger and a woman with black hair and a kind face appeared in a shower of gold. It looked as though she could be sleeping. The daughter of Athena turns to Grover who’s eyes are wide as he stares at the woman, definitely Sally Jackson then.

Both demigods look up at the ruler of the underworld and shake their heads, unable to form words respectful enough for the god.

Hades sighs, “I was really hoping you two would just give me what I want but if you won’t.” The children watch in horror as Hades forms a ball of flames in his hand. “I don’t want to resort to extreme measures, but I will,” and he aims the ball of fire at Sally but does not shoot.

Annabeth reaches a hand into the pockets of the backpack and feels the pearls Per-, He got from the naiad and knows what has to happen. Three people to save at the moment. Three pearls to save them.

The daughter of Athena grabs Grover’s hand and puts a pearl in it, she locks eyes with him and they come to an understanding. It is time to go.

They both walk closer to Sally and pray to Poseidon that the pearls will work on an unconscious woman.

The gods in front of them look at them victoriously, assuming that the children are walking forward to give up the helm and the bolt. “I’m glad you have come to yo-” Before Hades could finish his sentence the two children threw down the pearls and stomped on them. As they left the underworld they heard Hades’ roar.

—

Luckily for them, the pearls do work on unconscious people and the pearls dropped them off just close enough to the shore for Annabeth to be able to reach the bottom. When they reached the shore they came face to face with the god covered head to toe in leather, leaning on his motorcycle.

This is the part that Annabeth would gladly skip over when telling the story to anyone else. And even you will get an abridged version, mostly because she isn’t sure how to explain what happened.

As much as the daughter of Athena loved to act like she knew everything, it was just an act sometimes. She knew that Ares was the one who gave them the bolt, but she didn’t understand why. She didn’t understand why he would turn on his father and family like that.

So she asked.

That was not her smartest decision ever.

She asked many questions, and they all seemed to stump the god of war, and the confusion did not sit well with him. Because the moment he showed confusion it quickly turned to anger. Their conversation quickly devolved until the god decided to kill them.

She tried to calm him down, honestly, she did. She even tried to outwit him, after all, he is the god of bloody warfare, and he cannot be too hard to outsmart. Which might have been true, had the god not been insistent on killing them.

Everything she and Grover tried was deflected by the god in place of violent promises. That is when Mrs. Jackson woke up. She looked around confused, as anyone would be if they woke up after they were being chased by a minotaur. But she quickly seemed to get an understanding of what was going on and how dire the situation was.
As Mrs. Jackson stood up and faced Ares, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "I’m just trying to understand something here, Ares. What does a god, as mighty as you, gain from threatening two kids? Not much glory in that, is there?"
Ares scowled, crossing his arms in defiance. "Don't think you can lecture me, mortal. They’ve been meddling in things they have no business in. I ought to make an example out of them."
Mrs. Jackson didn’t flinch, her voice calm but firm. "Meddling? These two have been trying to do the right thing—clean up a mess none of us asked for. You ought to be helping them."
Annabeth’s heart pounded as she watched. She knew this wasn’t going to hold him forever, but something about Mrs. Jackson’s confidence made her pause. She felt the urge to stay, but then she saw it—a small, subtle wave of Mrs. Jackson’s hand.
“Go,” Mrs. Jackson mouthed.
Annabeth swallowed, glancing at Grover, who nodded urgently. She took a step back, whispering to Grover, “We will come back right?”
And Annabeth really did not want to go, this was one of the last things Percy had asked her to do! Or at least implied to do, he really only said to tell her that he loved her, but that implied his mom living and able to know that!

But after a hard glare from the blue-eyed woman, Grover started to drag Annabeth away slowly. As they slipped away, Ares’ retorts echoed behind them.

When they were far enough away Grover said, “He won’t kill her. He can’t. But we need to get the bolt and this helm back to Olympus.” As Grover said he held up the helm he must’ve stolen from Hades at some point.

“How’d you manage to get that?!” Annabeth almost yelled, unable to believe how such a timid satyr could move so undetected and rob a god.

“The sand crabs didn’t like him being anywhere near their homes with that pollution machine he rides. Plus it seemed like something Percy would do.” Grover looks at his feet as he says this and they walk in silence, remembering their friend who had been with them not even an hour ago.

As they walked around the city trying to find anything to help them know where they were, Grover found a newspaper that said June 20th. Today is the Summer Solstice, aka the last day to return the bolt and now the helm. They needed to hurry to the airport because the newspaper also said they were in California again.

Annabeth and Grover quickly called a taxi to the airport and made sure to pay him extra if he sped. During the ride, the daughter of Athena couldn’t help but think about how little she had done to help that day.

She watched her friend fall into The Pit and accepted that it was happening before he had even reached the edge. When they reached Hades palace she seemed to only make everything worse by talking. She prided herself on her quick wit and ability to get out of any situation, but she only incriminated Him further the more she talked!

Then when they ran into Ares, she had to be saved by a mortal woman. A woman who shouldn’t have to do anything but grieve her son, and instead she had to save a stranger and a satyr. Now she is on a plane with Grover.

There isn’t any turbulence. Annabeth wonders if there would be if He was on the plane with them. He was so reluctant to wear Luke’s shoes because He was worried about Zeus. Now he won’t have to worry about a rivalry between the gods ever again, because He is gone and it is all Annabeth’s fault.

She would never admit it, but many tears were shed on that five-hour flight, by both her and Grover, and still, not a single word was said about the fall. Just a mutual understanding not to talk about it or Sally.

When they finally reached New York it was around eleven at night, they might just make it on time. The war could just be avoided!

Oh, how much hope Annabeth had. When they got into the taxi she was daydreaming about the proud look that would be in her mother’s eyes and the rewards she would receive. She also prepared herself to talk about what happened. But in all her daydreaming she did not consider that there was still a drive through New York City to get through. And in her reverie, she forgot that the city of New York never sleeps. So what could have been a quick drive turned into fifty-five minutes. But it was fine they could still make it.

When she and Grover walked into the Olympian throne room they were hit by a wall of noise. Above them on their massive thrones, the gods argued amongst themselves. It almost reminded her of the few counselor meetings she had sat in on.

Annabeth cleared her throat a couple of times and was ignored. She coughed and she was ignored by all but her mother who gave her a look of disgust before calling the attention of the Olympians Poseidon and Hades to her.

Annabeth shivered with the weight of all their eyes but knelt down before Zeus. “Oh great and all might lord Zeus,” she said reverently. “I have brought your lighting bolt and lord Hades’ helm back to you. There does not need to be a war between you and your brothers.”

“You are late,” is all Zeus replies with.

Annabeth’s eyes widen but she keeps her head down, “I apologize lord Zeus, but we came as fast as we could and-”

“Yes, yes you hurried but ultimately failed. Sure there will be no war because I know my brothers did not steal from me. But you failed.” This came from Annabeth’s mother. The blonde looked up and saw the goddess of wisdom looking down on her with contempt. Annabeth couldn’t help but let her shoulders fold in on her.

From there the meeting went about as well as you can expect, there was no war, which was great. But then Annabeth had to explain all that had happened and watch as Poseidon’s face morphed into one of fury. She could swear the room started to smell like sea salt and storms before the god of the sea vanished and with him the odd smells.

—

The rest of the summer was horrible, a funeral pyre was made for the son of Poseidon as soon as Annabeth and Grover returned. Life seemed to go on as if one of Annabeth’s friends hadn’t died in front of her and left a hole in her heart and screams in her brain.

Luke seemed happier than ever for the short time he seemed to remain around camp, even though he seemed even closer to the child of the big three than Annabeth was. But by August 1 he disappeared. Just poof and he was gone, he was nineteen years old and could leave whenever he wanted. But it still stung that he had not said goodbye.

Then, right before the summer ended, Grover had a hearing with the council of cloven elders. The point of the meeting was to “discuss his failure and what to do going forward” but both Grover and Annabeth knew it would be less of a discussion and more of a decree. Still, Annabeth promised she would be there.

She and Grover had grown much closer over the events of the summer. They talked before, but Annabeth kind of resented him for not saving Thalia even though she was the only one he was there for. Now that she saw the extent to which he went to save the son of the sea? She understood how difficult it was to save a person and how much more difficult to live with yourself after failing. She couldn’t hold it against him, and so they grew closer over their mutual experiences.

And now she is here, standing to the side as she watches the cloven elders discuss the case as if they haven't already made up their minds. “Grover Underwood,” one of them finally speaks up. “You failed to watch over Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus,” Grover flinches, “on your first assignment as a protector. Then when given a second chance to guard another demigod, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, you once again failed. Does this sound correct to you?” the elder asks.

“Yes sir,” Grover replies, head down.

“And do you have an argument for why you failed?” another elder asked.

“No, sir.”

“Then we have come to a decision, your protector license will be revoked.” gasps echo around the grove.

“Hush!” yells one of the elders, who then proceeds to cough up a lung after yelling too loud.

“Grover Underwood you will be assigned to work in the strawberry fields of Camp Half-Blood while undergoing a retraining in how to be a proper protector.” states the first elder. With that, all the elders stand up and exit.

Chiron and Annabeth run forward to Grover who has tears in his eyes. Without a word, Annabeth hugs him and they fall to the ground as he cries into her shoulder and Chiron pats his back.

—

So ultimately, Annabeth would say that the summer sucked, nothing good came out of it. The only prophecy child is now gone, her mother hates her, Luke is gone, Grover is not allowed to be a protector, and Annabeth still cannot figure out why those shoes started to fly towards The Pit.

Chapter Text

The next summer was not any better than the last, in fact, dare Annabeth say it was worse.

Early in the summer Thalia’s tree had been poisoned. Weakening the shield around camp half-blood and ruining the only surviving reminder of Annabeth’s pseudo-sister.

The gods accused Chiron, forcing him to leave Camp Half-Blood, and replaced him with the half-wit Tantalus, who insisted that they reinstate chariot races. Annabeth lost, though it wasn’t her fault, those stupid birds came out of nowhere.

Then at some point, Grover had disappeared. Annabeth thought the goat had just gotten lost in the forest again. He somehow always found the weirdest things that he insisted were amazing. But after a week of the satyr being gone, Annabeth started to worry.

She went to Dionysus and tried to ask him about the missing satyr, but he was of no help as usual. The other campers said they hadn’t heard anything about him, though one Aphrodite camper said she heard him mumbling about Pan and smelling something. But she probably got him confused with any of the other satyrs, the hairspray probably got to her brain.

Annabeth went to ask Malcolm if he had seen Grover but found him in the Athena cabin with his head bent over a table with papers scattered around it. “Malcolm?”

He looked up at her, eyes wide and startled, “Annabeth? When did you get here?” He stood up from the table and turned towards her.

“Just now” She walked further into the cabin, “I was hoping you could help me figure out where Grover went.”

He looked at her confused, “no, I haven’t seen him in a couple of weeks now that I think about it.” He turned back to the table and looked back up at her, eyes wide like he just had an idea. “But do you think you could help me with something while you are here?”

“Of course, do you need help with your Calculus work again?” Annabeth asked, Malcolm had never been good at math, always asking her for help. Most of the Athena cabin was like that, looking up to her for help with something or the other, after all, she is their mother's favorite.

He turned back to the table, grey eyes filled with confusion, “I think I can help save the camp.”

“What?” Annabeth highly doubted that, but she knew it was best to humor him, everyone was worried about the camp after all.

Malcolm looked back up at her, “Do you remember when we talked about the golden fleece in myth class last summer?” Before Annabeth could get another word in Malcolm continued. “I started thinking about it, couldn’t it save Thalia’s tree?” Once again he continued without even listening to Annabeth’s response. “Then I started to wonder where the fleece would be, it probably moved West with the gods, and the myths said it was lost after Jason and the Argonauts died.”

Annabeth opened her mouth hoping to get a word in, usually, this would be where Malcolm stopped and Annabeth assured him that there was no way they could find the fleece, but he kept talking.

“Then I found writing in our libraries,” he paused to point at the libraries in the back of the cabin. “That said the fleece was given to Polyphemus by The Sea God, as an apology for not protecting him from Odysseus.” Malcolm held a piece of paper up to her face. She grabbed it and started to read the ancient Greek. “This means all we have to do is find Polyphemus’ island and take the fleece.”

He finally stopped talking long enough for Annabeth to say, “It can’t work.”

Malcolm’s grey eyes glared at her, “and why not? All you need to do is help me figure out where Ployphemus’ island is.”

Annabeth opened her mouth and closed it again, lost on a reason as to why it wouldn’t work other than because she didn’t come up with it. Finally, she settled on one, “because we would need a quest to be issued and Chiron forbid any from happening after…” She trailed off not wanting to say his name.

Malcolm's eyes softened, “but Chiron isn’t here anymore, and I highly doubt Tantalus cares enough about us to stop us. I’m not asking you to go, I’m just asking that you help me get enough evidence that no one can say no to the quest.”

Annabeth looked away from him and towards the door. Sunlight beams in through the door, inconsiderate of the heavy conversation happening within the cabin. “I will help, but I have to go on this quest, I can’t be the reason she dies a second time.” A tear makes it to her cheek before she wipes it away and turns back to him.

He nods solemnly. No other words were exchanged between them as they turned to the papers spread on the table with newfound motivation.

For the next week, they compared descriptions of Colchis and the sea it was in with new American equivalents. One night after one too many complaints from their siblings begging them to go to bed, it hit her, “The Bermuda Triangle!” She screamed causing a pillow to be thrown in her direction.

Then next night at the campfire Malcolm and Annabeth suggested the quest be issued and after pressure from the rest of the camp, Annabeth was sent up to the attic to speak with the oracle.

As she walked up the attic steps she was reminded of all the times she had come up here as a child, wishing for her own quest, how she found out about the great prophecy. Standing in front of the Oracle she watched as green gas billowed out of the mouth of the corpse and formed the shape of the son of the sea god.

He opened his mouth and said in a voice that was not his own,

“To save the camp, a choice must be made,
Through a sea of monsters, the path is laid.
Beware the Cyclops and his golden prize,
For betrayal and trust will meet in disguise.
A hero's wit will light the way,
But the cost of victory none can sway.”

With that, the boy disappeared and the gas dispersed. Once again, a quest lined with betrayal was issued, but this time she would not be taken by surprise.

—

Down below a hero is faced with monsters at every turn and dreams haunted by that same voice from before, but this time he offers rescue. It spews poison and whispers of the gods' dissent, how the gods turned on him and his mother. Spilled secrets, such as his mother's death and a prophecy issued long ago.

However, his dreams are also filled with secret meetings, meetings between the voice and a tall blond, meetings between the gods, and meetings between the fates. All of which give him invaluable information, stuff he wishes he could tell the girl with the curls or the boy with the goat legs.

But unfortunately, he is stuck down here, fighting every waking moment and placating in every sleeping one.

He just wants to stay alive, he wants to make it back to his mom, to the kids who were kinder to him than anything he can remember, to the place that filled him with so much warmth and safety that he could never dream of being harmed there.

That night (?) the black-haired demigod cried himself to sleep and wished for one peaceful dream.

Chapter Text

From there Annabeth had to get together a group of questers quickly. She eventually decided to bring Malcolm and Katie Gardner.

Malcolm because he had done just as much research as her, and loathe as she was to admit it, he deserved to come.

Katie Gardner was coming along because who better to get a fleece that makes plants grow like crazy, than a daughter of Demeter? Annabeth was sure she would be ecstatic at the idea of participating but when Annabeth asked her, the daughter of Demeter seemed hesitant. She eventually came to her senses and agreed, but it still seemed odd to Annabeth.

It was the morning after Annabeth was issued the quest and she sat along the shore thinking about the quest to come. It was early enough that no other campers were up, but the harpies wouldn’t attack her if they found her.

As the daughter of Athena looked out at the sea she couldn’t help but think about the boy whose eyes matched. She shouldn’t have any trouble saying or even thinking his name. It’s not like they were friends or even close. She only went on that quest to prove herself, and they were natural enemies. A daughter of Athena and a son of Poseidon? It could never work.

Yet she couldn’t help but miss him and despair at the thought of him. As she stared out at the water lost in thought, a voice came from behind her, “You really should be asleep right now.”

Annabeth jumped up and pulled out her knife, turning to look at the voice. She was met with the sight of a light-skinned man with blonde hair and blue eyes. For a minute she thought it was Luke, that he had returned and would go with her on the quest. However, upon further inspection, there was no scar across the man's face, he held a staff with two snakes wrapped around it and feathered sandals. Hermes.

A scowl came across Annabeth’s face, she was probably Hermes' number 2 hater, right behind Luke. Although she wasn’t in the room with the father-son duo’s talk when she was younger, she had heard enough from Luke to know not to trust this god.

“What do you want, Lord Hermes,” Annabeth asked sharply. Although she didn’t like him she didn’t want to get turned into the oracle or whatever punishment he had for her.

The god of travelers sighed and looked at her, his eyes seemed tired, though what the god could be tired of she would never know. “I’ve come to give you some advice before you go off on this quest.”

The daughter of Athena rolled her eyes, “Thank you, but I don’t need your help.”

She turned to walk back to her cabin, ready to get some stuff together, and head out when the god said, “Grover is trapped there.”

Annabeth froze. In all her worrying about the tree and researching she had forgotten about Grover. She felt so guilty now that she thought about it, but non-stop studying left no room for unrelated thoughts. She turned back to look at Hermes, “What do you mean he is trapped there?”

The god looked her in the eyes and said, “Grover thought he smelled the god Pan and left to look for him. I believe he thought he could prove himself without his searcher's license. However it was not Pan he smelled, it was the golden fleece, he was lured into Polyphemus’ layer and is now stuck there.”

Annabeth took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. Gods help her this quest got worse every time she thought about it. “Thank you for the tip, Hermes. That was helpful.”

“I hope you will listen for just a little longer.” the god responded before Annabeth could even start to turn away. At this point, she was starting to get annoyed but the last thing he said was useful so she stayed and looked at him expectantly. “I want to give you some gifts and a warning about your upcoming quest.”

Before he could continue she interrupted him, “Why are you trying to help me so much?”

“Because you were Luke’s family when I couldn’t be.” Hermes looked out at the sea in thought. “I’m hoping that by helping you,” he turned back to her with a sad look, “that I can make up for some of my failures as a father.”

Annabeth scoffed, “he wants nothing to do with you or this world. You need to accept that he is done with the mythological world. He made his choice and you need to accept it.”

It was a talk she had with herself many times in the mirror. Whenever she had the urge to hunt him down, or she felt like a coward for not telling him how she felt while he was here, she would remind herself. He made his choice, he doesn’t want to see her or anyone at camp ever again.

“I’ve accepted his decision,” Hermes says, once again looking out at sea but this time like he was looking for something. “However, that doesn’t mean I will stop caring about him. I think that is something you will have to come to terms with very soon.”

Confused Annabeth opened her mouth to speak before the god turned to her and plowed forward. “That is a discussion for another day though. I want to warn you that the sea will be treacherous, especially for you.”

“Why especially for me? What did I do?” The daughter of Athena asked incredulously. She hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary recently, she hadn’t even insulted any of the gods in myth class for a couple of months!

The god eyed her before replying with skepticism, “Poseidon is still upset about his son, and since you were on that quest, old Barnacle Beard believes you could have done more to save him. It will probably be worse on your return journey with the goat boy with you.” Hermes looked at her like he was expecting a response.

But how was she supposed to respond to a god's incompetence? If she said anything out loud her sailing experience would be so much worse than it already will be. So she was left there inwardly fuming while maintaining eye contact with the god in front of her.

“Oh! How could I forget!” The god twirled his hands revealing boxes with Hermes Express written across them. “The gifts. this one is a GPS that already has the coordinates you are looking for set in.” Hermes handed her the box. Annabeth supposed that would be useful, but she was certain she could have found the island without it. “And the second gift is a thermos with the four winds trapped inside. Only open it when necessary, it can pack a serious punch” The god laughed, fully over the previous somber conversation.

Annabeth took both, “Thank you, Hermes, if that is all I must finish packing.”

As she was walking away she heard one last thing from the god, “you should start thinking about why those sandals dragged the poor boy into the pit and who gave them to him.” When she turned around to ask him what he meant by that she was met with nothing but open air.

—

Annabeth, Malcolm, and Katie left after breakfast that day. Armed with their usual weapons, a gps, and a Hippagogos ship.

As soon as they left the bay of Camp Hlaf-Blood the waves kicked up, it wasn’t impossible to sail but it was difficult. For 2 days they took turns watching for monsters, which were surprisingly few and far between, until they reached the Bermuda Triangle.

The difference between open sea and the Bermuda Triangle was palpable, even if the open sea didn’t want them there, it was still kind. That was not true in the triangle, as soon as they crossed over it felt like they were in the wrong place, the air felt old and powerful.

Sea monster attacks were much more frequent once they crossed the line too, a couple times threatening to flip the boat. When they came across their first island they considered anchoring, however after a second glance they decided otherwise.

Boats were scattered along the coast all in various stages of disarray with one Celtic Currach on fire. There were, what seemed like pirates running around the island chasing some girls. At this sight Katie isnisted we stop and help, but Annabeth knew better than to help strangers who seemed to be in need, and it wasn’t part of their quest. So instead they sailed on.

The next obstacle they came across way Scylla and Charybdis, the whirlpool and the monster. Annabeth wasn’t sure how they would get past, in the Odyssey they had passed her by sacrificing seven men, but they didn’t have seven men to sacrifice. They anchored just beyond the two monsters to talk out a plan.

They all stand around a table with the gps between them, which has been quite helpful when trying to figure out which challenge they are about to face. It wasn’t until after they passed the island with the boats that they realized it was labeled Circe’s island, although Katie was still upset they passed it.

Malcolm huffed, “There is no good way to get passed this, we don’t have a large enough crew to pass by Scylla, and we don’t have a fast enough boat to get past Charybdis.” The son of Athena threw his hands up and turned away to look at the sharp rocks jutting out of the choppy sea. It did not look good for them.

“There has to be some way,” Katie insisted. She had become very opinionated on their decisions ever since Circe’s island.

“I don’t know what you want us to do, Katie. If we try to go straight through either of the options, then we are dead. If we try to go around, we add at least three more days to our quest, and we can’t be sure that Thalia’s tree will last that long!” Annabeth said frustratedly, they had been going over this for fifteen minutes and had gotten no where. Katie insisted there was a way through Scylla’s layer, Malcolm said that sailing around would be the safest and Annabeth… Annabeth wasn’t sure.

She knew that they had to make a decision soon and that was about it. “What are our options,” Annabeth asked for the thousndth time.

Malcolm turned back to them with a groan, “We can go through Syllas layer,” he pointed at the island on the gps while the other two looked towards the visible cave. “And we can pray that we make it through there without being noticed, I guess we could also fight if we were suicidal”

Annabeth scoffed at the suggestion, if Odysseus and his crew couldn’t fight her, there was no way they would be able to. She continued for Malcolm, “We could scoot around the edge of Charybdis and hope we don’t get pulled in, but with the condition of our ship that is highly unlikely.”

Malcolm nodded solemnly and braced himself against the tabel after an especially rough wave threatened to knock him over, “And the option in which no one dies, we sail around both monsters and we can guarantee what happens next.”

“But also add three days to the journey,” Annabeth added.

They both looked at Katie to see if she had anything to add but found her staring off at Scylla’s cave. “Katie?” Annabeth asked hesitantly.

“What if we hid from Scylla?” Katie finally turned back to look at them with a wild look in her eyes. “We don’t have any demigods with us that have a crazy strong scent.”

Malcolm spoke up first, “We can’t guarantee that it will work, what will we do if we are caught? We have no defense against her.”

Annabeth nodded, this had been one of their first options but it was quickly vetoed because they had no way of knowing if they could hide from her. Even if they aren’t children of the Big 3, they are still children of Olympians, that came with its own dangers. Kaite was probably the most in danger of getting caught with her powers having their own stench even when not in use.

“Okay, I got that,” Katie replied, “But if we can get close enough without getting caught then I can throw these.” Katie pulls out packets of seeds from her backpack with a grin on her face. “I can make these grow if we get caught and hold Scylla back while we hurry out of the cave.”

Annabeth is shocked, it’s not a bad idea, she’s going to have to reevaluate the daughter of Demeter after this quest. Maybe she isn’t like her sibling at all, Katie actually seemed to have a brain in her head.

“What kind of plants are those?” Annabeth asks, pulling this off will depend on Katie’s strength of will as much as it will depend on the strength of the plants.

Katie looked surprised that Annabeth was hearing her out, she stuttered out, “I’ve got some bamboo, agave, strawberries, and some aloe. If we do this I should probably use the bamboo and agave because of their fibrous makeup. They will be harder to break through than the strawberries or alloe.”

Annabeth nodded, and considered, Katie clearly knew her plants. “How long do you think you could hold her?”

“Maybe a minute or two, if we get caught we’re going to need to get out fast. But I can give us the time to get out.” Katie looked at the two of them with determination in her eyes and Annabeth knew she could trust her.

“Okay”

Malcolm whipped his head towards her, “What?! If we get caught immediately then we-”

“Then we have time to turn around and go the long way like you want.” Annabeth interrupted, “This is my quest, I let you both present your case, and I choose to go with Katies plan.” Annabeth leveled a stern look at him, he had been more help than she thought on this quest and she was grateful for that, but she has made up her mind.

Malcolm sighed, “gods help me” he mumbeled, “Well where are our hiding spots?”

—

Malcolm and Annabeth were in an empty barrel, they had spilled its contents on the deck to sell the abandoned boat look. Katie was wearing Annabeth’s Yankees cap so that in case of emergency she would be able to do her parrt first and without restriction.

Annabeth couldn’t see anything in their barrel but she counted the minutes. At exactly five minutes, when they were more than half way through the cave, a loud crying screech rang out and the boat started to shake. Katie cried out and Annabeth knew they had been found out.

She sprang out of the barrel before Malcolm and stared at the forest of bamboo occasionally interrupted by an agave plant. She was jolted back into action by the shake of the plants and remembered that the plants were holding back Scylla. Annabeth and Malcolm ran to the rows they had and quickly started moving.

They made sure to enter the cave at top speed but in their ragtag fishing boat, it’s not that fast and didn’t last that long. Annabeth watched as the blinding light from the exit got closer and looked over to see Katie struggling to keep control. They had reached almost a minute of the choppy seas and screams of scylla when they saw a foot break through the foliage.

“Malcolm!” Annabeth relled to him over the roaring, “Get your bow and start shooting!”

Malcolm did just that and rushed to where is bow was stored, Annabeth couldn’t look over at them and continued to row forwards, her questmates were relying on her.

When they finally escaped the cave Scylla had also escaped her plant prison. The monster raced towards them but was unable to follow them out to the sea. The three demigods held onto the side of the boat as Scylla shook the waters and thanked every god they could think of that they had lived.

—

He had only ever been called “Sea Spawn” and “Son of Poseidon” since he fell down here, the only exception was by the voice in his dreams. In his dreams he is called “Little Hero” a name He absolutely detests.

Heroes saved people and didn’t have breakdowns when they finally had a moment to stop fighting. He was no hero and he did not like this voice and its promises. He decided a while ago that he would not fold to the voice’s will, the idea was cemented into him when he overheard who sent him down here.

The voice was working with the scarred man, and the scarred man had given him the sandals that dragged him down here. He would not be listening to the voice or the scarred man, even if they are the only ones who don’t try to kill him these days. He hated that thought, because every time that thought popped into his head he wanted to fold.

He had travelled through this pit and learned its name, Tartarus, He had fought the residents of the pit and looked for friends. Every time he looked he was disappointed, but the voice and the man? They seemed to want to be his friend, even if they had an odd way of showing it.

The voice often showed him what was going on in the world above, reminded him that no one up there was looking for him. The only woman who ever cared for him was in the underworld because of his father, and his questmates had long since moved on. He wanted to trust the voice, it’s promise of escape and kind words. But everytime He almost gave in He was given a dream to remind him.

A dream of the voice’s past as a ruler, of the voice planning something, or on the good nights, He got to dream about normal people. Tonight He was having a dream about a regular person, or He assumed she was a regular person, He could never tell who was a part of this world and who wasn’t.

She’s in an apartment looking over a familiar city, it really was a lovely view. He forced himself to look away from the window and around the room, these little bits of normal always made him feel better.

He looked around the room and found painting, drawings, and sketches scattered around the room. Some were hung up on the walls, but most were scattere on any horizontal surface. He couldn’t tell what was a bed and what was a desk.

The subjects of the drawings varied, most of the ones on the walls were still lifes or models, but the ones scattered on the floor seemed different. There were monsters, a painting of intense grey eyes glaring at the viewer, and many other random things. If He knew anything about art he could tell you what the mediums were but He was too busy looking at the amazing details.

When he finally pulled his eyes away from the paintings he looked at the girl at the center of the room standing in front of an easel. Her fiery red hair didn’t go past her shoulder blades, He watched as her hand flew across the painting in precise movements. He decided to walk around to have a look what she was painting and saw what He thought was himself or at least what he thinks he looks like. There aren’t any mirrors down here.

He wanted to take a closer look but startled when she turned to Him with a bewildered expression and asked in surprise, “What are you doing here?!”

Chapter Text

Katie quickly passed out once the adrenaline had worn off, the strength it took to hold back Scylla was too much. That left Annabeth and Malcolm navigating straight toward the coordinates Hermes had stuck into the GPS.

Annabeth didn’t realize how little she knew about her brother until they were left talking for 24 hours waiting for Katie to wake up. He was from Washington, but he hated the snow and was terrified of big cities. He claimed that living in Seattle was the worst decision his mother had ever made.

As they talked Annabeth came to realize that they weren’t as similar as she believed. She had always thought that all of Athena’s children were like her, devout to their mother to a fault and cognisant of the knowledge disparity between children of Athena and other cabins. Malcolm had no such ideas, he liked their mother but claimed he would not argue with someone if they pointed out her faults. Malcolm even said that finding out HE was a son of Poseidon didn’t affect his opinion of Him.

Not only that but Malcolm was much more educated on things that Annabeth knew nothing about! Malcolm knew so much about law and social justice that she couldn’t even comprehend what he was saying at somepoint. He sometimes paused what he was saying to look at her but she wasn’t quite sure why.

Once hour 25 came around and Annabeth started to worry about Katie they heard a groan. Malcolm and Annabeth jumped to their feet and ran over to check on her. After being assured that she was okay they gave her some more ambrosia and promised Katie it would be okay if she needed to sleep some more.

They were 2 hours out from the coordinates when Annabeth finally fell asleep, only to be met with nightmares. She found herself back at camp half-blood watching Clarisse fight at least twelve hellhounds. Thalia’s tree looked like it could fall over any minute and when Annabeth turned she came face to face with a ragged boy with black hair. He looked so thin, like he hadn’t eaten in days and his hair was grown out so much that it covered his eyes and brushed the top of his shoulder blades. His clothes were covered in red and gold and she couldn’t tell what color they used to be but she did know they didn’t have that many holes originally.

He looked at her, or she assumed and tilted his head as though he was confused. She was confused as well, who was this kid? She hadn’t seen him around camp in the past couple of months and they were in no shape to take in any more campers. She opened her mouth to say something but no noise came out, the boy seemed to understand and started to speak, only she couldn’t understand what he was saying. It sounded like the Greek they learned in camp but older and the sound ground against her ears. She quickly clamped her hands over her ears and glared at him only to find that he was gone and she was in a new place.

This time she was in a cave filled with random junk. There was some long dried blood covering the walls and a rock covering what was probably the entrance. She turned around trying to get a better idea of where she was when she heard a shriek.

She turned around to find… Grover? In a wedding dress? He had a veil covering his face but it was so ragged and see-through that his eyes looked straight at her.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, relieved that this time she could actually speak.

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here? It’s been weeks! I thought surely no one was coming.” Grover replied in an agitated voice. At least she knew where he’d been.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here, it’s demigod dreams you know,” Annabeth stated shortly. She couldn’t control what she saw or else she would’ve been here much earlier. “Where are you? We can try and stop by here on the way back to camp.”

“The way back to camp? Are you on another quest Annabeth?” Grover was clearly panicking but Annabeth didn’t have time and simply leveled him with a look. “I’m sorry it’s just… After the last one I was barely able to leave camp.”

“Why did you leave anyway?”

“I thought I smelled Pan,” Grover looked away from her in shame. “I was out in the woods when a smell stronger than any other wood nymph could produce hit me. I thought about telling the council but… if I found Pan on my own maybe they’d forgive me? I don’t know what I was thinking”

Grover paused and Annabeth didn’t feel like she should say anything, she just let him think for a while before he continued, “I ended up in this tunnel that took me to Florida of all places, and ran into a cyclops. He is trying to get me to marry him!” Grover quickly covered his mouth after that last outburst and looked around for something, probably the Cyclops.

“But you’re a man?” Annabeth responded, why would the Cyclops want him?

Grover bleated at her and responded, “Don’t judge a man for wanting this,” he gestured down to his body. “But that’s beside the point, what I was smelling was the golden fleece! It’s outside in the pastures.”

“Wait! Is the Cyclops Polyphemus?!” Annabeth couldn’t believe this, she thought they would be able to sneak on land and just take the fleece, but now they had to sneak inside the cave AND save Grover? This just got so much worse.

Before Grover could respond Annabeth felt her body start to shake and the next thing she knew she was back on the boat. Malcolm stood over her and said, “We’re here” and pointed towards the island

—

Katie, Malcolm, and Annabeth stood on their boat, looking up at the cliff-like island. Annabeth had just told them about her dream, and they were all at a loss for what to do. Malcolm suggested that Katie go for the fleece and he and Annabeth go for Grover, but Katie was worried that they might get stuck inside the cave.

Once again, Annabeth was left to cast the deciding vote while the other two argued the merits of their ideas. She just wished anyone else was here. Three is a sacred number, but having four people and splitting up Athena's children would probably be the best. That’s when it hit her.

“Why don’t I go inside, and you two get the fleece?” Annabeth asked looking up at the two of them.

They both looked at her baffled, “I’d rather get the fleece alone than try to do that,” responded Katie. Malcolm nodded his head in agreement.

“Okay, but hear me out.” Annabeth reasoned, “Grover is in there, and in my dream, it seemed he had been well fed and taken care of, he could help me escape. He should still have his pipes, and if we aren’t out in thirty minutes you two can come get us.”

Katie and Malcolm shared a weary glance, “It’s your quest so if that’s what you want we can do it, but are you sure? Grover has never been the best in a fighting situation or under pressure.” Malcolm looked around as if someone would strike him down for disagreeing with her.

“I’m sure, this way we can be in and out as fast as possible and the fleece will be on the boat when Grover and I get out.” Annabeth wasn’t so sure it would be a clean escape but they would be on the boat and get enough warning to get ready to sail, right?

Katie sighed and started to braid her hair out of her face, “If this is the plan then let’s get to it. Come on, Malcolm, that fleece won’t save itself.” Just like that the other two had left leaving Annabeth to start climbing the steep trail to the cave entrance.

—

Annabeth had finally made it to the top when she was met by a giant rock over the entrance. She had figured something was covering the entrance, or else Grover would have left already. But a giant rock the size of a two-story building was not what she expected. She’d probably have to wait until it opened to sneak in and again to sneak out. She let out a groan, put on her Yankee’s cap, and waited.

At around minute thirteen the stone movedand in it’s palce stood a giant ugly cyclops with some sort of goop in its eye. He was clearly blind, or at least had horrible vision, a gift from Odysseus when he had come through here all those years ago. Annabeth stood there before remembering her mission and snuck into the cave.

Once she was inside she realized how big the cave was, in her dream she didn’t get much time to look around as she was trying to find out what Grover was doing there. Now that she had, admittedly very little, time to look around she noticed some skulls, some human and some not, and treasure scattered around the giant cave. She shook her head, she had to find Grover, they didn’t know when Polyphemus would be back.

She took off her cap and started to walk around, this would be easier if Grover could spot her as well. As she walked around she saw more and more things scattered around the cave. She found jewels and weapons and a shattered vase. As she looked at the vase she heard someone call her name, “Annabeth!”

Annabeth turned to see Grover on a ledge above her, “Grover!” she shouted up, “Can you come down?!” He grinned and started to hop down the steep wall, finding pieces that he could balance on until he was on her level.

She smiled at him, it had been too long since she had seen this goat. She raced towards him and when they met they embraced each other in a hug. When she felt she had sufficiently welcomed him, she grabbed him by the ear and whisper-yelled, “What were you thinking? Running off without telling anyone? That is by far the dumbest thing you have ever done! Do you know how worried I was? And then I had to hear from some ditzy Aphrodite camper that you had run off and were muttering something?”

Grover looked away shyly a grimace on his face, though whether that was from her hold on his ear or the lecture she couldn’t tell. “I-” he started before she interrupted and continued on her tirade.

“You could have at least told me! I get not telling Chiron or the Elders or Mr. D, but not telling me? That was probably the dumbest thing you could have done.” She crossed her arms and huffed, finally done with her lecture.

“You would have tried to stop me or tried to come with me and I didn’t have the time,” he grumbled, “It was just a scent carried in the wind, it could have disappeared at any time.” He still wouldn’t look at her, instead looking at his feet, which were inside wedding shoes.

She sighed before hugging him again, “don’t do it again, I don’t care how fleeting the scent, at least tell me. I’m glad to see you again.” She smiled at him and turned to look back at the entrance of the cave.

“Do we have a plan, Annie?” Grover asked, clearly more calm now that Annabeth had stopped yelling, but still nervous.

“The plan is to sneak out when that door opens, you are going to wear my cap,” she handed it to him as she said that, “And I am going to hope that he is blind enough that he won’t notice me.”

Grover looked from the hat to her, “That’s it? We hope that he can’t see well and that he comes back. What if he doesn’t come back for hours? What do we do then” What if-”

Again Annabeth cut him off, if this went too long he’d hyperventilate. “Malcolm and Katie are getting the fleece right now, if we aren’t out of here in fifteen minutes they will come get us. And don’t act like you haven’t figured out his schedule,” She leveled Grover with a playful look, she knew he picked up her need to catalog information in a crisis.

He huffed, and glared at her, “Just because I maybe know when he gets back doesn’t mean he will,” there was silence for a couple of seconds before he said, “He should be back in ten minutes, he’s just feeding the sheep.”

“That gives us enough time to catch up and tell me all I need to know to get us out of here,” They shared a smile and got to planning.

—

Grover put the hat on right as the stone started to roll away and reveal the outside. Annabeth gets ready to start running when Polyphemus announces, “Wife! It is time for the wedding arrangements!”

Annabeth shuddered, how Grover was able to push off the wedding for so long was beyond her. Just as she was about to start running, Polyphemus made a loud and obnoxious sniff and announced, “I smell a demigod, where are you, puny creature.”

Annabeth started to run at the statement, Grover was almost definitely out by now, and if she didn’t get going she would be trapped while the Cyclops started looking for her. She came out from behind a rock near the entrance and ran.

It seemed they were lucky and he really was completely blind, however, he could still smell. She made it out of the cave but he could tell she ran past him and started to yell. He turned towards where she ran and took a step in her direction, immediately closing whatever distance she had crossed.

That was when Grover came in and started yelling in his weird woman voice, “Darling! I need your help! That ruffian beat me up and I need your kind and gentle care!” He was invisible and standing on the top of the rock that had covered the entrance before.

Polyphemus took a pause and turned to look at the entrance, clearly confused about what to do. It gave Annabeth just enough time to start making giant jumps, that would kill her ankles once she rested, down towards the boat. She looked towards the boat and found Malcolm and Katie looking at her with panic in their eyes.

She started signaling with her hands that they should start getting the boat ready to go when a rock landed right in front of her. She turned and saw that Polyphemus had decided to go after her rather than help Grover.

She started to run again and found Grover next to her holding her hat out to her. She smiled and grabbed it from him as they both took leaps over rocks and giant gaps as more rocks came barreling at them. Polyphemus continued to roar, only this time he was yelling in the defense of his wife.

They had just made it to the shore when the boat started to move, they jumped in right as it left. They turned to look at Ployphemus and found him thundering down the cliff, boulders in hand. They had no time to marvel at the Cyclops and instead got to work on getting the boat on the road.

Annabeth turned to look at Katie, panic in her eyes, only to find that Katie was not worried at all. Instead, she had a smile on her face and winked back at Annabeth.

Annabeth turned to try and figure out why Katie was so calm when plants shot out from the shore as thick as a person. Annabeth, Grover, and Malcolm stood stunned as the plants caught stones hurled at them and tripped up the Cyclops on his trip down the cliff.

“I can’t keep these plants going forever, guys!” Katie yelled, her face contorting as though she were lifting a giant weight.

Annabeth snapped out of it first and slapped Malcolm up the back of the head. “Come on, the sooner we get out of here the sooner Katie can go back to bed.” She was about to sit down at a pair of oars when she remembered the gift from Hermes.

She turned and ran to the back of the ship where all of their things were kept in a waterproof cabinet. Just as she pulled out the backpack, a rock hit right next to their boat, tossing everyone as the water shifted. Katie hit her head against the railing of the boat, Malcolm got an oar to the stomach and fell to his knees, Annabeth was holding onto the cabinet but got tossed around and lost hold of the backpack, Grover, who was already holding onto a railing, got hit in the head with said backpack knocking him to the ground and maybe giving him a concussion.

Annabeth watched as the plants crumbled under the weight of the rocks. She ran towards Grover and the backpack, she could check on everyone once they were out of danger. She quickly pulled out the thermos and twisted off the lid, once again she was thrown back, but this time it was because of the speed at which the boat started to move. She watched as the island receded into the distance and looked around at her questmates who were either unconscious or on the verge of unconsciousness and breathed out a sigh of relief. They had survived and would save the camp.

—

By the time they exited the Bermuda Triangle, everyone was awake and getting checked out by Grover, the closest person they had to being a medic. Grover had a mild concussion and would be fine within 24 hours, Katie had more of a moderate concussion and would need to be on bed rest until they could see an actual camp medic. Malcolm was fine as far as they could tell, he might have some internal bruising but other than that he was fine. Annabeth had dislocated her shoulder in the initial tossing and had to have it snapped into place.

They were able to close the thermos and had a few winds left, they planned to use it to get to camp half-blood even faster. First, they had to stop and get some more resources. The boat was pretty messed up from the speed of the winds and all their food and medical supplies had been knocked off by the tossing of the ocean.

Once they were out of the Bermuda Triangle, the GPS auto-coursed for Florida. Conversation was scarce and everyone just wanted to rest and get home. They took turns sleeping until they made it to a port off of Florida, they stood out with their Greek-style boat among the yachts, but it probably wasn’t the weirdest thing they had seen in Flordia.

Malcolm and Annabeth were chosen to go and get supplies while Grover and Katie stayed on board to get some more rest and protect the fleece from any stray monsters.

They made it to a local grocery store when Annabeth broke the silence, “I’ll get the food and you’ll get the medical supplies? We can meet up again and find out what to use to fix the boat.”

Malcolm nodded and left towards the medical supplies, he had been the quietest since waking up. He wasn’t happy about the way things turned out, something about the cannibal sheep on the island, she wasn’t sure.

On their way back to the boat Annabeth and Malcolm ran into a familiar face, “Luke!”

Annabeth ran straight for him dropping everything they had just bought. Luke looked at her with surprise before smiling at her gently. She couldn’t stop the blush that came across her face at the look. “What are you doing here? I knew you left camp but Florida? Really?”

She joked hoping to make everything like it had always been. It seemed to work because he laughed, before responding, “Believe me this would not be my first choice, but Chiron sent me to help you get the fleece back to camp.”

Annabeth smiled at him before grabbing his hand and walking towards the boat, “You know we could probably do this on our own. Not that I don’t want you here! It’s just-” She continued to ramble the entire trip back to the boat while Malcolm walked silently behind the two, as grumpy as when they got off the boat.

Grover looked just as happy to see Luke and gave him a hug as well. Katie looked at him warily, probably because of her concussion messing with her brain. Malcolm walked over to her and they had a hushed conversation that Annabeth brushed off. Not everyone was as close with Luke as she and Grover were.

Grover and Annabeth were talking with Luke when he asked, “So where is this fleece? I heard a lot about it in the myth classes, and always wondered if it felt as powerful as they say.”

Annabeth grinned and started to walk to the back of the ship, “Yeah, it’s right back he-”

She was cut off by Katie who stood in front of the waterproof cabinet and said, “We should really keep it locked away until we get to camp. Don’t want to attract any more monsters than necissary.” She glared at Luke with suspicion, “Surely you understand, don’t you?”

Annabeth rolled her eyes, “Katie, he’s a master swordsman! We are safe from whatever monsters may or may not come on board.” Leave it to a child of Demeter to be defensive about something that will help plants.

Luke nodded, “I’ll protect you guys from the big monsters, I just want to see it.”

“Then you won’t have any problem with us going off the coast and heading towards camp before we show it to you?” Katie crossed her arms over her chest, “Just to be safe, y’know?”

Luke’s demeanor shifted at this but he laughed it off, “it’s really not that big of a deal, you can show it to me for what? A minute? Two? There’s no problem.”

Annabeth glared at Katie, this was a lot even for a child of Demeter. Annabeth thought maybe she was different, but of course she wasn’t. “Just pull out the fleece, Katie”

Annabeth walked towards the girl when Malcolm stepped between the two. “I agree with Katie, why can’t he wait till we get to camp?”

Annabeth threw her hands up in the air, of course her brother would step in the way. “He can wait! Right Luke?”

She turned to see Luke shifting on his feet, “Annie it’s not that big of a deal, just take the fleece out.”

Malcolm glared at him and Grover shifted to stand by the other two demigods, “Who did you say sent you again?”

“Chiron! Guys this is getting ridiculous, just show me the fleece!” Luke started to march towards the trio standing in front of the cabinet when it finally hit Annabeth.

“Chiron isn’t at camp anymore,” She looked at him warily, “And we haven’t contacted him or camp this entire quest.”

Luke sighed and his strained smile dropped, “you were always too smart Annie.” Annabeth looked back at Katie who had brought out her sword and Malcolm who had his Bowie knife ready to go.

She turned back to Luke right as he started to lecture like he always used to, only this time it felt different, “Annie, I need the fleece, there is a guy I know, he’s really sick and he needs this fleece. He’s been watching your quest in his dreams and sent me here to get your help. Surely you understand how much I need this.” He looks at her with pleading eyes and Malcolm scoffs.

“Who is this guy? You can’t expect us to give up the only hope to save camp for a guy we don’t know and to a guy who was lying to us less than a minute ago.” Malcolm still glared at Luke and shifted forward to stand next to Annabeth.

Luke sighs, a defeated sigh, “If I don’t get the fleece to him now he will die, you can have the fleece back for the camp afterwards but I need you to trust me.” He was still looking at Annabeth even though he was answering Malcolm’s question.

“You still haven’t said his name Luke,” Annabeth eyes him warily. Now that the red flags had been pointed out she couldn’t ignore them.

“Annie, you can come with me if you really need to, but they can’t.” Luke points at the other three kids. “The guy is very private and won’t want everyone knowing about him.”

“Luke, what is his name?”

“I can’t say, Annie!”

“Then I can’t give you the fleece!”

Tears had started to form in Annabeth’s eyes, this wasn’t how she wanted this to go! If Luke would just answer their questions she could give him what he wants, but he insisted on acting like this. She turned to look at Katie and Grover, they were both to injured to help if Luke started a fight. That meant it was Malcolm and Annabeth, two knife weilders, agaisnt Luke, a sword weilder. She did not like their odds.

Annabeth walked towards Luke as a tear finally slipped from her eyes, “I just need a name Luke. Just give me a reason to give you the fleece.”

She’s close enough that Luke puts a hand on her shoulder and whispers so only she can hear, “I need you to listen to me before you freak out, okay? I will tell you his name if you promise to listen.” She nods. “His name is Kronos.”

Annabeth gasped and backed away from him, “Luke- You can’t! There’s no way! You can’t be trying to save Kronos over Thalia right now!”

Grover, Malcolm and Katie gasped behind her and she heard them shift into fighting stance.

“NO!” Luke yells, “Annabeth you promised you would listen! Thalia is gone because of them!” Luke points at the sky, “She is gone and they used that tree to try to inspire other would be heroes to die for them! Why wasn’t there a barrier in place before she died? Why didn’t her father, the king of the gods, come down to save her?”

Annabeth glared at him, “They can’t Luke, there are rules in place!”

“Rules they made! Kronos promissed that he will end the reign of heartlessness! That no demigod will ever have to die like she did! Unwanted and unnoticed!”

More tears fell down Annabeth’s face as she walked towards Luke once again, she leaned against him and he stumbled back at the sudden weight, “Please, Luke, please don’t do this.” She whispers against him.

“You can join me Annie, we can leave the rest of them and avenge Thalia.” She looked up at him, “We can fix the world.” He whispers.

Annabeth sighs, “I will miss you Luke.” Just as he registers the words she shoves him over the edge of the boat and into the water. “Grab the thermos of winds!” She yells at the three in the back.

Grover is the first to react to what she says and is the one to open the bag, sending them flying North, back towards New York. Katie walks over to her as the boat settles with the new speed, “I’m sorry that happened, I know you two were close.”

Annabeth looked over at her, the comforting face and kind eyes, and she can’t stop herself. Annabeth throws herself at Katie and cries.

—

They arrived at camp to find a major battle happening at the border, and Chiron was back? The three demigods and the satyr jump out of the boat before it can even hit the dock and start running.

Damaged cabins rush by them and gold dust covers the ground, as well as some blood… Annabeth can’t lose anyone else. She holds the fleece and runs faster than she ever has and reaches the base of the hill where are makeshift infirmary has been made.

Michael Yew stood over a camper with a nasty cut down their right arm. Annabeth paused at the sight, there was no way the barrier had completely dissapeared, right?

Michael looked up at her and his eyes widened in surprise, “Annabeth? When did you get back? You have to get to Chiron right now. I don’t know if that fleece will do anything at this point but we need to try.”

Annabeth nodded, if it could save anymore campers she would make sure the fleece was on Thalia’s tree. Malcolm and Katie caught up with her and shared a look at the sight of the injured, there were maybe fifteen, but that was more than a capture the flag game. Even the worst capture the flag games where Ares cabin had a grudge didn’t get this bloody.

Annabeth looked for Grover only to find him already helping heal other campers. Katie snapped her out of her stupor by taking the fleece and running up to Chiron, who wasn’t even at the top of the hill. This wasn’t good, monsters had gotten past the border and now were past Thalia’s tree. Annabeth raced after Katie, eyes flickering at everyone she passed.

Chiron had just shot an arrow at a Empousa who disintigrated just after. He turned to look at Katie and Annabeth and breathed a sigh of relief. “I was starting to worry you two hadn’t made it back. Where is young Malcolm?”

Annabeth turned to look over the field only to find Malcolm with their other siblings standing over a table and planning how best to get out of this situation. “He’s with the rest of Athena cabin,” Annabeth answered, “But we need to get the fleece on Thalia’s tree, got any ideas?” She really hoped she did, she was tired of life or death plans.

Chiron shocked backwards before shooting another arrow, “I knew you three went on a quest but I didn’t know it was for the golden fleece! Unfortunately we are too far from the border to place it.” His face took a solemn look, “not without losing even more campers to injury.”

Katie looked nervous before suggesting, “I can use plants to carry it over there, someone would need to protect it on its way, though. I’m not so sure I can protect the fleece from the monsters.” She fiddled with her fingers as she said this and Annabeth couldn’t understand it. How could Katie be so brilliant yet so nervous! If Annabeth had remembered Katie’s power at any point she would have even suggested it.

Chiron nods, “Annabeth, would you be willing to protect the fleece? I will tell Apollo cabin to focus on protecting it as well, though I suspect with the fleece being carried we won’t need it.” He shoots another arrow and looks down at the two girls.

“What do you mean we won’t need it?” Katie asked.

“The fleece encourages plants to grow, which means you might be able to protect it without help.” Chiron was quiet for a long moment before shooting another arrow, “Though it is better safe than sorry.” Just like that he galloped off towards their archers.

Katie and Annabeth shared a look, a nod, and get to work. Katie was still exhausted from stopping Polyphemus and having not rested properly from Scylla even before that so Annabeth knew she’d be able to keep up with the plants. Whether she could fight while keeping up with the plants was another story.

Annabeth watched as Katie summoned plants from around them and as soon as the fleece was placed on them, flowers bloomed and and branches grew. Katie looked at Annabeth for confirmation of what happened, before settling into a defensive stance and waited for Chiron’s signal.

Apparently the signal was a large volley of arows because as soon as they hit the monsters the plants took off with Annabeth right beside them.

The next minute and a half was a blurr of gold dust, arrows, and plants. Everywhere Annabeth turned it was one or all of those things. To the left her hand moved before she could think, slashing a monster and leaving only gold dust for her eyes to register. To the right plants shifted forwards and arrows pummeled any monster that got close. If you asked her to say what happened in that minute and a half it took to forge forward towards Thalia’s tree she couldn’t tell you, she could only say that there was gold dust, arrows, and plants.

When they finally made it to Thalia’s tree Annabeth stood guard as monsters rushed her and the plants rose higher and higher to the lowest branch of the pine tree. As soon as the fleece was placed on a branch high above her and immediately the monsters on the border disintegrated into dust. The ones charging the border were met with a solid wall and were knocked back to the bottom of the hill. The ones left inside the border were faced with a bunch of demigods with a new found reason to fight.

Annabeth watched as the few monsters left inside the border disappeared and were attacked by two to three demigods at a time. She smiled down as her siblings joined in the fight and the people she had known for so long fought with renewed vigor. She had no idea how Luke could look at the camaraderie between demigods and believe that it should be thrown away to spite the gods.

—

Rebuilding passed quickly all things considered, by the second day everyone’s cabin had been fixed and no longer let unwanted breezes in. Chiron has been reinstated in his position and Tantalus sent back to the fields of punishment. Everything semed to be going great, even Thalia’s tree was almost completely green. The only brown parts left were at the very tips of each branch.

The golden fleece was a miracle everyone was grateful for. Demeter cabin seemed to get a boost of power, able to grow and manipulate plants with an ease they previously couldn’t. Athena cabin were given opportunities to redesign broken cabins and deal with logistics. Apollo cabin finally got to rest without worrying about checking on patients, the fleece seemed to help everyone heel just a tad faster. Overall everyone was happy. Which is why it couldn’t last forever.

Ares cabin insisted they continue to patrol the border until the monsters got it through their thick skulls that the camp was safe once again. It was on the second night after the fight that that the alarm horn was sounded.

Annabeth bolted up and looked over at Malcolm, who had switched beds with one of their other sibling after they got back. He was looking at her just as alarmed before they grabbed their respective knives and ran to the border. When they got there other campers already stood around Thalia’s tree and Chiron was no where to be seen.

Annabeth pushed her way to the front of the crowd through many pajama covered demigods to find a girl leaning on the tree. Her short black hair was choppy and her leather jacket just barely too small for her. She started to stir from her sleep (?) when Chiron reached the group.

Annabeth stared at the girl unwilling to make any assumptions until she was sure. Because if she was right then Luke could have killed Thalia, could have killed her sister. Annabeth stared at every move the girl made and when her eyes opened Annabeth couldn’t stop the tears that formed in her eyes, “Thalia? Is that you?”

The girl looked up at Annabeth dazed and confused and asked, “Yeah, and who are you?”

—

He had settled into a rhythm over the past couple months in this hell hole. Wake up, drink from the river of fire, fight monsters, drink from the river of fire, go to sleep, and repeat. The only change that came in his schedule was once a week, aka once every seven times he went to bed, he had started to call these days sundays, he saw the girl with the red hair.

She couldn’t hear him and he could barely understand what she said so they were learning sign language together, it was the only times his dreams were nice. Any other time the voice taunted him and offered him a way out that was riddled with tricks and lies. Sometime he saw other things, sometimes he got to see a blonde guy fight monsters and argue with people in a small city, sometimes he saw a brother and sister run through a casino playing this game or the other.

However today broke his usual routine, he had not stopped wandering in his years underground, though he tried to find a designated safe space every couple of weeks to stay for a while. Today he found a giant black temple in this baren land.

He looked up at the carvings above the entrance and read “The House of Night” a very ominous name. He was not stupid enough to go in though. He could defeat lesser monsters with less than a thought but he felt that this was no lesser monster, this was the home of a deity, and his experiences with dieties had not been positive as of late.

He wasn’t stupid enough to go in, but he was stupid enough to camp out in a cave near by. Monsters didn’t bother him over here and his journey to the river of fire wasn’t too far. So he settled in the cave a fifteen minute walk from the entrance of the temple and waited for whatever deity who owned the place to come confront him.

Chapter Text

He doesn’t know how long he’s been down here, long enough to forget his name he is sure of that. He’s heard titles thrown around here and there, but never a name. The monsters that he ran into always called him, “Sea Scum” or “Ocean Brat” or “Prophecy Bastard.” He isn’t a fan of that last one because he doesn’t know what it means.

He remembers a prophecy before he fell down into the pit, but he doesn’t remember much about it.

The monsters all seem to have different reasons for chasing him though. Some chase him and claim it is for their “Lord” others just want to see his end and the smarter ones didn’t run into him on purpose.

The ones that are actively avoiding him are his favorite because it means they are starting to learn. He still kills them, though. As long as they are dead he doesn’t have to deal with them, especially the bigger creatures.

He’s run into a couple of major bad guys throughout his journey through the pit, most of which left him with brutal scars and lasting nightmares. Like the months he spent with Kampe, she frequents his nightmares often and left her fair share of scars. Unlike the rest of the monsters he’s faced she didn’t die, he just escaped her. That’s the source of most of his nightmares, that she will find him again.

He shivers, he hasn’t left the cavern near the House of Night for a week now and his fire water was starting to run out. He scoffed, realistically he knew fire water shouldn’t exist but the burning in his throat would argue otherwise.

He got up from his hiding spot for the first time in hours. Most monsters didn’t head this way and he decided to take full advantage of that. He layed around and did nothing whenever he could stand it, which was rarely.

He hadn’t left the cave very often in the past week, but everytime he has the entrance has been empty. Not today.

Today he stepped out of his cave and came face to face with a forty foot woman, well not face to face more like face to ankle. When he looked up to see who it was he was met with nothing but the vague outline of a face. The only distinguishable feature being the points where her eyes were. Her large wings spread out behind her and dress of rolling black fog.

He sighed before glaring up at the woman, if he had to fight one more person in this place he was going to lose it. Years and years of fighting were more than enough, and right when he finds a safe place? He is met with a forty foot woman who probably wants to kill him.

The woman laughs a dark laugh, not dark like evil more dark like it made the world around him dark. The limited light of the pit diminished even more as she laughed and turned her pinpoint eyes to him.

“Oh prince of the sea, I do not wish to harm you,” the woman smiles down at him with the warmest smile he has seen in years. It reminds him of another woman, one with wrinkles around her eyes and grey hair littered through her brunette ringlets. “In fact, I find you quite interesting. In the little time you’ve been down here you have stirred up the hierarchy quite a bit.”

He had no clue what she was saying, he had been down here for forever. And stirring up a hierarchy? He’s just been defending himself! He would tell her this if he could, but he had stopped talking after a week with Kampe and refused to use his voice after that.

The woman hummed before shrinking down to a much more acceptable, eight feet. “I want to train you to be even better at what you currently do,” her eyes glinted, with what he couldn’t say. “I will protect you from any dieties, and all you have to do is continue to impress me.”

He isn’t sure who would be considered dieties, so far the main problem has been titans. They wander around the pit and challenge him to worthless battles or claim it is time for him to complete his destiny, whatever that means.

He huffs and decides to voice his thoughts, What do you consider dieties, he signs. The red head girl has been teaching him so that they can talk during their frequent dreams together, whether this woman knows it or not is about to be proven.

The woman tilts her head as his hands move, “Dieties, divine, immortal, how else should I say it? If their blood runs gold they shall not harm you.”

Apparently she did know sign, how odd for what seems to be a woman of the night. “Do we have a deal?”

He watches as she sticks her hand out and notices it’s as big as his head, he really needed a growth spurt. He shakes his head and considers the deal he is being offered. From the sound of it he would be safe from Titans and be trained to protect himself from monsters, it sounds too good to be true. He really should think this over more, but the week of rest has made him soft and he wants more of it.

He looks up at her offered hand, and ignoring any consequences, he reaches for her hand and shakes.

“Lovely,” She doesn’t let go of his hand, “Well, my name is Nyx, and you my little killer, will be my finest champion yet.”

He watches as shadows spread from her hand down towards the inside of his wrist and take on a shape. The shadows form a black horse on its hind legs and a white star where its eyes should be. Before he can study it any further his arm starts burning. Just a little at first, no worse than when he spills fire water on himself, but it quickly turns into a burning pain he has not felt since Kampe.

He lets out a choked scream, the first noise he has made since Kampe, and looks up at Nyx while tears stream from his eyes. Before he can try to say anything the world goes dark as he passes out from pain.

—

His dreams are as weird as ever, except this time with a notable lack of conversations with the dark voice.

His dream starts with the red head girl. She smiles when she sees him and signs, It’s been a while, I was starting to think you weren’t going to show up.

He ducks his head shyly, he doesn’t get a choice in who he visits in his dreams, but she is right. He hasn’t seen her in a month at this point and he had started to miss her. Though he would never tell her to her face.

I was taking a break from your sloppy signing, she laughed at him and threw a book.

They learned early on that only metal really seemed to touch him in these dreams so the book went right through him. She had started wearing rings after they found out he could only be touched by metal. She liked to shove him or give him hugs whenever the time called for it.

I’m the one with sloppy signing? You’re the one who couldn’t sign water correctly for a week. She laughed at him and he blushed. He had said he needed a bitch for months before realizing he was placing his hands too high above his mouth.

How long was I gone this time? Time in the pit was odd, where he saw her every Sunday or more, she claimed to see him every day. Times like this, where he went a month without seeing her was rare, but not too weird.

Four days, a new record! He laughed at the obvious sarcasm before flopping on her bed. And how long has it been for you?

He sighed and watched her walk towards the bed, a month, its been a very boring month. She flopped down on the bed next to him and grabbed his hand.

I’m sure it’s been more exciting than what I’ve been doing. My dad grounded me after the mural incident, he even took my paints! She signed exageratedly.

He took a moment to look around the room, he didn’t realize how empty her room looked when he arrived. Where paintings and easels and toobs of paint used to be was clean floor. She had a complicated relationship with her dad, he wants her to be an 18th century woman who was contained and well mannered. She wanted to be a 22nd century woman, someone who had rights and didn’t have to worry about climate change because it was already fixed.

She often fought for rights for minorities and argued for green energy. This lead to many, many, many fights between her and her father, this was the first time he had decided to take her paints away though.

What have you been doing instead? If she was stuck at home AND had no paints she had to be dying.

Mostly sleeping, but I also started cooking yesterday. The cook offered to teach me, I’m amazing at making stake incase you were wondering. She looked at him with a proud smile and dared him to disagree.

I’ll have to take your word for it, then he decided to bring up the topic that always gets avoided. Wanna try saying our names again?

Everytime they tried to share their names, well her name and his titles, the dream got glitchy or just straight up ended, yet they tried every time without fail.

I’ve been thinking, what if we share nicknames instead of our actual names. She looked hopeful as she shared her idea, That way we have something to call eachother without ending the conversation?

He smiled, she always tried to find a way around the name thing. It was the one thing about their conversations that stayed the same. He brought up sharing their names and she suggested a new way to try to share their names.

She smiled back, My name is Red. Did you get that?

His eyes lit up, He could actually understand this time! What name would he tell her to call him though? He didn’t know his own name and therefore could not give her a nickname and giving her one of the titles the monsters called him seemed obnoxious now.

I don’t know my name, he signed back.

Her face fell and she looked at him with confusion and sadness, What do you mean you don’t know your name?

He looked away from her and at the wall, he was trying to form shapes with the holes that used to hang Red’s paintings. I forgot it a while ago, the monsters don’t call me by my name, only stupid titles. At some point my name just became one of those things that fade with time.

He didn’t want to look at her face as he signed that. Once he was done he rolled over and faced the wall. Her sideboard was made of white wood and covered in paint, he knew it was a painting of a forest in the style of monet. But this close to the wood, he could barely made out the shape of a tree.

He flinched as she grabbed his shoulder and rolled him over to look at her. Why couldn’t her dad have taken the rings as well. I will find your name. She looked at him with a determined gleam, You used to live on earth before the pit, right? There has to be a record of you somewhere, and I will find it.

Before He could respond he watched the world around him ripple like a rock had been thrown into a pond, a sign that the dream was about to change. She grabbed his hand and nodded. He didn’t know what she saw when his time was up but she could always tell.

With one last nod right back at her, the dream changed.

—

This time he was looking out over a valley that he is sure used to be beautiful, but at the moment seemed to be in ruins. Like it had gone through a war, as his hearing came into focus he realized he could hear fighting.

He turned to see countless children fighting on a hill as monsters poured onwards. The children were putting up a good fight and were able to hold the line, but it’s clear that the monsters had pushed farther than they would have liked. He watched helplessly as the fighting continues.

Just as he was about to try and force himself out of the nightmare a girl appeared in front of him. He watched as she scanned the world around her, she was clearly attached to the place. She turned and made eye contact with him before he averted his eyes.

He felt her give him an up and down and when he looked back at her he can’t help but feel like she is familiar. He watches her for a second more when she opens her mouth, only no sound comes out, she looks distressed and he decides if there was ever a moment to try and break his years of silence, it would be now.

“I recognize you from somewhere, please tell me you know who I am?”

Chapter Text

Having Thalia back was weird, to say the least. Thalia still treated her like she was seven years old! Annabeth was sure it couldn’t be easy to go from being a mindless (?) tree to suddenly being older, finding out everyone else is significantly older, and finding out you were a part of a prophecy that could mean the end of the world… But it has been six months and Thalia still acted like she was helpless. Worst of all, Thalia still had all of those thoughts that Annabeth shared when she was seven.

Annabeth is willing to admit after many talks with Malcolm that she had an extreme prejudice against other campers simply because of their godly parents and that wasn’t fair. But when she was seven? Those thoughts were so much worse, and she was starting to see where she got it from. Thalia sneered at Aphrodite campers and treated every Ares camper like they were personally trying to challenge her. Injuries had skyrocketed and no one wanted to be near her, Annabeth included.

Don’t get her wrong, she loved Thalia, that was her sister after all, but the constant fighting and reminders of her own prejudice made Annabeth want to curl up in a hole. Grover suggested that maybe she was just feeling cramped and needed to leave camp, after all before she was a tree she hadn’t stayed in the same place for more than a week! But Chiron was keeping Thalia close and not letting her out of camp ground, every time it was brought up Chiron would mumble and say he couldn’t lose another person. The reminder never ceased to make her breath stutter and her heart stop.

Annabeth couldn’t lose another person but she also couldn’t deal with Thalia’s constant rage at everyone. That’s why when Grover Iris messaged her about finding two powerful demigods and needing help because there was definitely a monster on staff she immediately thought of Thalia. Maybe if she left camp she’d stop being so cagey and weird. Though Annabeth wasn’t too sure if she would be helpful so she brought Katie along as well.

Katie and Annabeth had grown much closer since their quest together. Katie had taken over the parts of the story Annabeth couldn’t bare to say and helped her work through the new… development. They spent a lot of time together and found themselves venting about the various things that upset them. Katie was the only one who truly knew anything about how Annabeth felt at any given moment.

Now Katie, Thalia, and Annabeth were meeting up with Grover at Westover hall to get some demigods back to camp. Grover seemed more anxious than normal as he lead them into the school dance and explained more about what was going on, “-then there is the monster I told Annabeth about. I’m not sure what kind of monster he is but he is powerful and if he hasn’t eaten the kids by now then he is definitely going to take them, for what I’m not sure. Their powerful but I don’t know if the-”

Annabeth tuned him out again, she was picking up the important details, but sometimes Grover just needed to ramble to feel better. Which was totally okay, but she could not listen to the rambling for more than ten minutes before she started to feel anxious so she had started to tune him out.

Just as they got close enough to the gym that they could hear the music they were stopped, “And just what do you think you are doing?” a shrill voice asked. They all jumped and turned to look at an old woman with wrinkles that could hold more than any duffel Annabeth had ever used. “You all should be at the dance, not sneaking off to do drugs,” the woman huffed.

Thalia had sparks flying off of her and the flowers Katie had weaved into her hair were starting to writhe. Thalia was never good with authority figures, but after coming back? She was so much worse, even Chiron had to be careful with what he said or else everyone in the vicinity would would receive a severe electric shock. And Katie hated when people assumed anything about her, especially when they assumed she was a druggie just because of how she dressed. Needless to say Annabeth could feel the back talk stirring between the two of them.

“Of course ma’am! We just thought we saw a friend run out of the gym and got worried, we tried to find them but it must’ve been a trick of the light. There was no one out here,” Annabeth spoke up before they could get in trouble without even having entered the party. She tried to use her best innocent face and voice while manipulating the mist just a tad.It seemed to work because the old woman huffed and muttered something about “Kids these days” before leading them towards the gym.

Immediately Annabeth was hit in the face by music and talking. Kids were scattered around the room in groups and Annabeth could barely hear Grover when he yelled, “Those are the DiAngelos!” and pointed towards two kids sitting in the bleachers away from all the noise.

They didn’t look like much, two olive skinned kids with dark hair and retro style. The girl wore a green beret but that was the only thing to distinguish them from everyone else in the gym. However, looks could be deceiving, their ragtag group of demigods proved that well enough.

Then Grover pointed at a man with a cane in the corner of the room leering at all the kids, “He’s the monster I keep smelling. He’s been trying to get the sibling alone for the past couple weeks and there is only so much I can do to stop him.”

“Sounds like a creep,” Thalia jumped in. “I’ll keep an eye on him, who wants to keep an eye on the kids?”

Katie spoke up first, “I can go talk to them! They look like they are playing a game and people aren’t really my thing.” Katie smiled, even though she was yelling to be heard she still sounded bubbly and like she genuinely wanted to go play cards.

Thalia scoffed, “Sure you won’t freak out about the cards being made of trees? Or worse, non-biodegradeable plastic.” Thalia mocked Katie but didn’t yell it this time so it wasn’t heard over the roar of music and other conversations, but Annabeth could hear her and sent her a withering glare.

They went their separate ways leaving Annabeth and Grover to wander around and try to blend in, something Annabeth would have no problem doing, if guys didn’t keep coming to ask her to dance. She had turned down the eighth guy when she noticed that Katie, Thalia, the siblings, and the teacher were gone. She looked around the gym and couldn’t even find Grover, though whether that was because he was gone or because he wa much shorter than everyone else was hard to say.

Annabeth turned as another guy walked up to her and ran towards the exit, she had never been more thankful to be wearing flats before. When she finally made it outside she was met with chaos. Out in the snow Thalia and Katie were fighting a manticore with that teachers face on it, though both were clearly slower than usual. A few feet beyond the fight Grover knelt by the siblings, the boy watching in wonder and the girl bleeding from cuts on her face and wrist.

Annabeth was busy trying to figure out a strategy, right now her best was reliant on Katie’s ability to control dormant trees, when Thalia was thrown 20 feet through the snow. She couldn’t wait any longer and as Annabeth raced towards the monster a silver arrow let loose from Thalia’s direction. Everyone stopped to see girls dressed in silver coats and bows aimed and ready stepped out from the bushes.

Realistically, at this point it would be best to step back, maybe distract the manticore while the hunters fired from afar. But when Thalia went racing in again, feigning left then going right, Annabeth knew that wouldn’t happen. Katie charged forwards as well, jumping over the menticore before slashing low. Annabeth started running forward again right as the manticore charged at the DiAngelo siblings.

Annabeth jumped on his back and pulled at the lions mane causing the manticore to rear back, revealing its stomach to the hunters. However, she hadn’t realized how close they were to the cliffs and just how much a manticore could take before dusting. She turned as the manticore tumbled and saw the rocks at the bottom and the water rushing against the cliff.

She closed her eyes, she thought it seemed fitting, meeting her end near the sea but not at the fault of the sea. Annabeth couldn’t wait to finally apologize to the boy she had failed so long ago. As the wind rushed past her and her hair obscured her vision, she couldn’t be more at peace.

—

Nico couldn’t believe everything that had just happened. First he made a friend who actually wanted to learn to play Mythomagic with him, then vice-principal Thorn dragged him and his sister outside and turned into an actual for real manticore. Then he watched an actual swordfight! Then he had to watch a girl he didn’t know plummet to her death and hear the cries of his friend Grover and Katie and the other emo girl…

That was only the beginning! He was then told that all of the creatures and beings in Mythomagic were real! And he was the son of a god or goddess! The only thing that dampened his mood was, the death and mourning obviously, but also the weird group of girls that came out of the woods and wouldn’t let him hang out with his sister.

The girls were all dressed in silver and had bows strapped to their back. After the fight they seemed to avoid him and Grover as though they had the plague, and he swore they used the word male like it was an insult. But they couldn’t dampen his mood, because he found out the things from his game were real!

They decided to camp for the night, which Nico wasn’t too happy about because of the cold. There was a perfectly good dormitory inside the school! But apparently the risk of monsters was too great in there so they were camping in the snow.

That was when something odd happened, he was talking with his new friend Grover, because he was the only one who wasn’t too upset to answer his questions, when a sports car appeared out of no where! It was bright red and emanated heat and the man who stepped out… It was odd, Nico feels like the word pretty would fit but it was clearly a guy! So was he handsome?

Before he could think too much about it he was being herded onto the car which is now a bus by the emo chick. He did not want to make her more mad than she already seemed, so he didn’t ask any questions until he was on the bus.

He made sure to get himself a seat at the front, which was completely empty despite all the girls in silver getting there before him! They all seemed to be crowding in the back leaving Nico, Grover, Katie, and Thalia sitting in the front with the handsome guy, who was driving.

Now that Nico had more time to look at him, he couldn’t help but think pretty was a good word to describe the man. He had gold hair that seemed to shine even in the night and golden eyes that seemed to know everything. His tanned skin and fit body made the golden hair stand out even more, his smile never left his face, even when the emo girl yelled at him.

Nico decided now was a good time to approach the guy, “You’re Apollo aren’t you.” It wasn’t said like a question. Nico knew this was Apollo, what came next wasn’t really a question either, “You have fifty attack points and thirty health points and are weak to any night monsters or deities!"

That smile left Apollo’s face for the first time since Nico saw him, “Excuse me?” He asked, a look of confusion as he looks at the dark haired boy. He had been trying to talk to the emo chick, Nico knew her name was Thalia but he didn’t like her enough to call her that, when Nico addressed him.

“You’re a healer though which makes you pretty valuable though because they didn’t print too many healers in the original game,” Nico rattles off. He was probably confused because of the low stats, but Apollo was a good card! He was just usually better with a tank working in front of him.

Apollo looked at him with a baffled expression, “I am not weak to night time deities, I could beat my sister in a fight any day of the weak!” He paused and turned to look at the girls in the back who started glaring at him. “It would be a close match that would go on for years, but I would win.”

That didn’t seem to help his case, as one of the girls decided to pull out a knife and before Nico could respond Apollo turned to the Emo girl. “How would you like to drive, sister?”

At those words Nico tunned them out again and started talking to Grover, but he didn’t seem to interested in what he had to say. Nico turned to try and find his sister amongst the girls in silver when the bus started to jerk and turn. He turned to the front to see the emo girl in the drivers seat turning the wheel this way and that.

Nico may not have ever driven a car in his life, they were still relatively new after all, but he knew that this was not how you drive a car. Yelling erupted throughout the bus, Katie was yelling something about a lake and Apollo was yelling about scorching New York. Nico covered his ears to try and block it out, he never liked yelling, it didn’t help anyone.

Grover grabbed Nico and buckled him onto the bench as the bus plummeted out of the sky and Nico couldn’t bring himself to be too scared about what would happen.

—

The next couple weeks were amazing and heartbreaking, he had his first capture the flag game, where Camp Half Blood went against the Hunters of Artemis, the girls in silver were a group apparently. It was kind of scary to watch all these kids that were older than him try to kill each other and it was even worse when Camp Half Blood lost.

Everyone was upset and at each other's throats and his sister seemed to be avoiding him. He got to meet another god though! It was Dionysus, but he preferred to be called Mr. D. Nico hung out with him a lot, even if the god didn’t seem to be fond of kids, Nico just wasn’t any good at making friends his age…

Then a quest was issued to find Artemis and the girl who fell off the cliff, all the yelling people informed him her name was Annabeth. It was also during the campfire where the quest was announced that he found out his sister joined the Hunters of Artemis! Which was so cool because she got to go hunt monsters and tell him about all the cool stories!

Bianca looked a little guilty which he didn’t quite understand. Then she volunteered to be one of the people who went on the quest, which meant she would immediately have cool stories for him! Sure it was dangerous, but the emo girl and the girl in charge of the Hunters were going with her. She would be safe.

However, that night he just couldn’t seem to fall asleep. He knew Bianca would be safe, she would come back and tell him everything and that weird energy between the two of them would be fixed! But then why couldn’t he fall asleep?

Around the time the sun started to rise Nico gave up on sleep and went to walk around the camp, surely the harpies wouldn’t really eat him. Right?

While walking around he saw someone walk towards the stables and decided to follow them, maybe they could be his first friend! He had to make sure it wasn’t one of the harpies first so he tried to stay as quiet as possible when entering the stable. Before he could make himself known he heard a voice, “I just can’t leave them to do it alone! I know I should trust them to save her, but I can’t bring myself to believe it. When they save Annabeth they are going to have to calm her down and I’ve become the best at that! And I-”

Nico didn’t think this was something he was supposed to hear, he peaked around the corner and saw that Katie was talking to the horse, although talking seemed like a stretch. She just seemed to be ranting at it but didn’t seem to understand it.

Nico turned to walk out of the stables when the horse spotted him and whinnied. Nico winced and turned around making eye contact with Katie. “Hey Katie!”

She looked at him with a blush on her face and asked, “How long have you been here?” She asked quickly. The words were rushed and smooshed together so Nico could barely understand it.

“How long? I heard you talking a little bit, which was an accident! And it seemed like something you wouldn’t want me to hear so I was gonna leave but then the horse heard me and yeah…” Nico isn’t sure why he is being so awkward, maybe it was the conversation he heard? It just felt like he shouldn’t be talking to her at the moment.

“Did you get any sleep?” Katie asks, and it felt like a question he probably shouldn’t answer honestly right now.

“Yeah, I got a couple hours…” Nico paused and fiddled with his fingers before continuing hesitantly, “Are you planning on going on the quest?”

Katie looked at him in shock before schooling her expression, “Yes I am, the girl who fell over the cliff is important to me and I want to save her.” She responds honestly, it was weird, knowing someone who would be completely honest with him.

“I thought the quest was to save Artemis? That’s why the Hunters and my sister are going?” Nico asked, he isn’t completely sure how quests work just yet, they seemed important despite how cryptic they were.

“Well… That’s the point of the quest but I had this dream and, it sounds stupid, but Annabeth is there with Artemis. And the Stolls pulled this prank on the fifth member and now she can’t go with them but Zoe is too stubborn to admit she needs the full five person team, and she left.” Katie rambled, it seemed more like she was trying to justify everything for herself than for Nico.

He interrupted her babbling and said, “Just look out for Bianca for me, okay?” Nico asked, from what he saw at the fight with Dr. Thron, Katie was the most capable of the group. She had amazing powers and was level headed, she thought things through and didn’t get too angry. If she was going on the quest, Nico wanted her to protect his sister.

Katie bit her lip as though she were deliberating her answer, “Nico, I’m not sure that I can-”

Before she could finish Nico interrupted, “Promise to look out for her or I tell Chiron.” He crosses his hands over his chest and levels Katie with the most serious stare he could muster. Bianca had barely trained before she left, and the other people on the quest seemed to be at each other's throats or Grover. Don’t get him wrong, Nico loved Grover, but he didn’t seem like much of a fighter let alone powerful. Katie is his best chance at getting his sister back alive.

Katie looked at him for a moment longer before sighing and deflating, “I promise to look after your sister.” She answered before turning back to the horse.

“And she will come back alive and well?” Nico asked.

Katie seemed to pause at that one, she didn’t turn to look back at him and said, “that isn’t something I can guarantee Nico…”

He shook his head, “But I saw you fight! If anyone can protect her it’s you! It has to be you, I can't lose her!” He cried to Katie, she had to be there for Bianca. “You have to swear on the river sticks!”

Katie turned to him at that and asked, “Do you know what that means? What happens if those oaths are broken?”

Nico stood up straighter, “The Stolls told me.”

Katie shook her head, “I cannot swear on the river sticks, quests are dangerous even for well trained demigods.” She paused and led the horse out of the stable, “I will try my best, but so many people have died on quests that I cannot guarantee anything.”

Nico bit his lip and deliberated as he followed Katie and her pegasus to Half-Blood Hill. Trying her best wasn’t good enough, he needed a reason to trust she would protect Bianca, but she didn’t seem like she would wait for him to run to Chiron. He huffed, “I can’t lose her, Katie. She is the only family I have left.”

Katie stopped and let him catch up to her before placing a hand on his shoulder, “I will try my very best to protect your sister, Nico. But she isn’t the only family you have left, you have so many half siblings you will get to meet once you are claimed. Even if you don’t get claimed, Hermes cabin will become your honorary siblings. You aren’t alone at camp.”

It seemed like there was something Katie wanted to say but chose not to. Nico wanted to call her out on it, but the lack of sleep was getting to him, “You’ll be back soon right? Quests don’t take too long.”

Katie smiled at him, “We’ll be back before you even blink.” She hopped on her pegasus and looked down at him, “You should head back to Hermes Cabin before they start to get worried.”

With that she took off leaving Nico slightly more comforted, but he didn’t think he would be able to sleep for a long while yet.

—

The next couple of weeks Nico spent constantly worrying about his sister. He was constantly wondering if she was OK if she was sleeping right. He had never been away from her for more than a couple hours and the distance was killing him.

On top of that, he still hasn't made many friends at camp, he spent most of his days either at camp activities with Hermes Cabin or playing whatever card game Mr D wanted to play.

Most people seemed to try and ignore him or just forgot he was there, the amount of time people had run into him was ridiculous to the point where he was wondering if it was on purpose. And anytime he tried to ask someone if they knew how the quest was going they would wave him off like he was some pesky little kid!

At least Nico enjoyed playing capture the flag though, being able to be forgotten made it easier for him to sneak into the enemy territory and kick their butts! It wasn't until the third game that the enemy teams started to realize what he was doing, and when they realized, they were pissed.

That's how he ended up where he is right now, in the infirmary with a hole through his leg where he was stabbed and an Apollo kid looking him over. The Apollo kid introduced himself as Michael, and they sat in silence for the most part while Michael fixed Nico up.

While they sat in awkward silence a kid with bright blond hair, tanned skin and freckles came barging in and talking to Michael. Michael sighed and turned to Nico, “Nico, this is Will, he's also an Apollo kid and is likely about to ask you and me a dozen different questions.”

The Apollo kid, Will, seemed to light up and turned to Nico, “did you know that most leg injuries leave people crippled for life?!” Will looked way too excited about this fact and Nico kind of liked it.

“Will” Michael hisses before Nico can respond, “thats not something you tell a patient with a leg injury”

“I think it's kind of interesting” Nico cuts in with interest, "I'm not going to be crippled though, right?”

“No, because we have Ambrosia which means instead of muscles healing incorrectly they knit together stronger! Almost like it never happened!” Will says bouncing on his toes.

Michael Yew seems ready to cut in, but before he can Nico asks, with clear and genuine interest in his eyes, “Really? How does that work?”

Will’s eyes light up and just like that Nico makes his first friend his age and he could not be happier. They talk well into the night about gods and how the mythical world works before Michael forces them to go to bed, for both his own mental health and so he doesn't have to deal with tired hangry kids the next day.

—-

He had been training with the Night Goddess for a year now, though according to Red it had only been three months. Every day was brutal, he woke up and didn't have to worry about monsters or drinking fire water, but he did have to train his power over water every. Single. Day.

It was not fun, sure. He does fun things, like he is now able to control the fire water, so sometimes he likes to turn it into people and pretend he isn't going crazy. But for the most part it is constant pain.

According to Nyx, she told him to call her that a while ago, he is the son of a god named Poseidon who rules over the sea. That fact seemed to click into place as correct as soon as she said it. She says He has power over water, but there isn't really any water in the Pit, so she has him practice with the various rivers in the Pit, none of which are very safe. He keeps getting scared that he is going to touch some of the Lethe and forget everything, she says he'd be fine, He doesn't really agree.

Nyx also gave him a name! She realized very quickly that he will respond to any noise as if it is his name and started to get very upset with him about it, so she gave him the name Protathlitis.

He was so excited when he told Red that he was practically vibrating, he told her it meant champion, that that is what he is going to be.

Red told him that was a title and not a name, but he didn't care, it was more consistent than anything he had ever been called.

Red says she is still trying to figure out what his real name is, but that it's hard when neither of them know how long ago he disappeared, how old he was, or where he was from. He isn’t too upset by this, would he like to know his name? Sure! But it isn't at the top of his priorities right now with everything he is dealing with in the Pit.

Protathlitis’s life is easier with Nyx as a patron, but she only promised to protect him from immortals, so he still fight monsters on the regular whenever he gets a break from training. He has started making a map in the cave that has become his home, he's been to quite a few different places across the pit, but there is still so much he hasn't explored.That is why he spends his off days exploring and fighting monsters.

It is on one of these off days that he comes across a building of sorts. He wouldn't really call it a building because of how run down it looks, but the next best word for it is probably a hut?

It was built out of these thick white rocks and brown fabric looking thing. Neither of which are materials he has seen in his time in the pit.

Just as he goes to approach the odd structure as a twenty foot monster steps out of the hut looking directly at Protathlitis. The monster seems vaguely humanoid from the waist up, you know if it weren't for the bright red skin and copper colored hair. It is once you look below the monster's waist that you realize that he most definitely is a monster if the redskin wasn't enough to tip you off. Below the waist he has dragon legs, also red, with sharp claws on the feet.

Protathlitis almost wants to write the guy off from just the pure hopelessness radiating off of the monster, then he remembers the sheer size of the monster and pulls out the sword he always has in his pocket and the knife gifted to him by Nyx.

“Put your weapons down demigod, I do not wish to fight you” the monster states calmly, leaning against his hut.

Protatylitis doesn't know why, but he actually does put his weapons away, signing to the monster, Who are you?

“You can call me Damasen, demigod, would you like to rest inside? Away from the monsters?” Damasen asks, gesturing to his hut

How can I trust you wont hurt me? Protathlitis sign suspicious of this new creature.

“Im a functional pacifist, as long as you do not attack me i will not hurt you, demigod” Damasen responds, entering his hut, letting Protathlitis follow him if he wants to.

Begrudgingly Protathlitis follows Damasen into the hut, on edge the whole time as he goes. Entering to see raised seating and a kitchen, So what is this place made of? Protathlitis signs when Damasen looks at him again.

“Drakon bone and skin” Damasen replies shortly, explaining when Protathlitis tilts his head in confusion, “the thing under your skin that keeps you from being a puddle of mush”

I knew that, Protathlitis signs with a petulant huff.

Damasen tosses Protathlitis a piece of jerky to eat, which Protathlitis sniffs hesitantly before gnawing on. Nyx had been giving him more hard food since he started living with her, but never something this hard to chew.

Damasen and Protathlitis sit in comfortable silence as an agreement to silent company seems to settle between them, and Protathlitis can't help but wonder at how his luck has changed so much that he now has two friendly faces to turn to. Even if Damasen seems a little odd.