Um, well hi! It has been a long, long time since I published here. I originally only published this re-vamp on AO3, but this is where I started and I remember that a lot of people did read my original Secrets on hre, which means I can't leave them hanging because they were the ones who motivated me.

So, this is Secrets, but remade and revised. A longer fic, more complex plot, and taken from a different angle, but still the core idea: Percy and Co. have been cursed, the gods are in trouble, Kronos is a bad man I will tell you, instead of ignoring HoO like I had last time, I will be writing this fic as HoO is happening, so you will not only see old characters, but the new ones as well. So, it's like an HoO AU, but not really.

Now, without further ado, for all of you new readers and even the older ones who I hope are still around, I present, Secrets!


Percy:

Secrets, oh gods, secrets. Did you know secrets kind of really just suck? Well, yeah, those little white lies or the moments when you can't tell your friend they're having a surprise party, I mean those are good. But what good can secrets really do? Honestly, most of my life had secrets in it and it always screwed everything up. The prophecy? Secret. Spies? Secrets. My cousin, Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter? t.

I guess by this point you're wondering why on Gaia's green earth I'm telling you this, well, she's the reason. Or rather, her son's the reason. Or well—okay, let's start from the beginning, or rather, the end.

So, Olympus was preserved, Luke died a hero, I kissed Annabeth, the Gods were happy, or as happy as they could be I guess, and Blackjack flew off into the sunset. Everything was nice and dandy, but for some reason that only Gods would know, or rather they don't know because they have no idea what's happening, no one thought that Kronos, the titan KING and LORD of time, had a back up plan. Well…he did, obviously that's why I'm telling you this. I'm gonna tell you his back up plan, I'm gonna tell you how it happened, I'm gonna explain every single little detail because if I don't no one is gonna know the truth, hades—Hades doesn't even know the truth—the gods don't even know the truth, because I can't tell them the truth. Because if I do, I'm gonna get my ass kicked, my cousin's are gonna get their ass kicked, everyone's gonna get their ass kicked. Everything is so utterly screwed, so I thought in the little time before everything blow's up, I'll tell you about it.

Let's start.

The waves crashed lightly against Camp Half-Blood's shoreline as the sun set, so bright that it looked as if there was fire sitting on the horizon. Apollo must've still been happy from the victory. It had been two weeks after the Battle of Manhattan and the last day before camp ended, and demigod's slowly started returning back to their homes. Campers were healing and loss was apparent for some beds had stayed empty after we returned home, but a sense of peace had washed over us all, because it was all finally over.

"Seaweed Brain!" A voice called out behind me.

I turned to see Annabeth sprinting towards me and I extended my arms in time for her to crash into them. She laughed as I spun her around, hair flying out behind her and she buried her face into the crook of my neck; I could feel her smile against my skin.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked.

"Just thinking, you know, and stuff." I said.

"And stuff?" She asked.

"Yeah, and stuff." I said, threading my fingers through her hair.

She grew quiet. "You ready to go home? Sally definitely misses you."

"Misses me?" I asked. "She saw me two weeks ago."

Annabeth pulled back and rolled her eyes at me, "Yeah, Percy, during and right after a war. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you under safer conditions."

"Yeah, you're right." I said.

She pulled me into a kiss. "I'm always right," She said.

"Why do you think you're Wise Girl," I said, glancing out at the bay. I turned back towards her, smirk on my face, and I could tell from the look on hers that she already knew what I was going to ask her. "Wanna go for a swim?"

"Of course."

.

By the time we got back the sun was gone, but the wind blowing across the lake seemed to drop the temperature an extra ten degrees. We hurried back to our cabins as quickly as possible, making sure to avoid the harpies who were no doubt on watch. When we finally reached the Athena cabin, we were a little out of breath and I was about to burst from laughing.

Annabeth playfully hit my shoulder, "Percy! Shh, you're gonna wake up my siblings."

"How do you expect me to keep quiet if you make me laugh?" I asked, half wheezing.

"Who knew cheesy jokes were your weakness."

"I'm pretty sure everyone knew that, it's practically written across my forehead."

"Ohmygods," She whined. "Why are you my boyfriend."

"It's true love," I said, pulling her close. "And don't quit on me so soon, it's only been two weeks, I'll prove myself."

"Two weeks of absolute peace."

"Yeah," I sighed. Annabeth's hands pushed a few strands of hair from my face, and cupped my cheek. I wrapped my arms around her, pulled her closed, and kissed her and kissed her and kissed her. She pushed her hands through my hair and down behind my neck, interlocking them and pulling me closer. I sighed against her lips and lowered on of my hands, down towards—

SCREEE—a loud noise from above made us break apart, it must've been a harpy, but the sky was clear. The noise repeated itself, quieter this time and we turned around to see a small silver owl perched above the door way.

It was Annabeth laughing this time.

"Oh, okay, I see, I get it." I looked at the owl. "Ok, I'm going, I'll stay away from your daughter. Whatever."

"Come back here." She said, pulling me back for one last kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow morning to see you off, okay?"

"You're not going home?" I asked.

"I'm going to stay a little while longer, just to make sure everything is okay before I leave." She explained.

"That's a good idea. Smart as always," I said. "Goodnight."

"'Night." She replied, searching my face one last time before retiring for the night. I walked to Cabin 3, light on my feet, smile on my face—Okay, okay, okay, I'm stopping everything just for a moment. This is the moment where it all goes to hell. Yeah, right after that great night with Annabeth, goes to hell, right into Hades, just superb. Yeah, great, I know right. Okay, get back to reading about my misadventures. I'll see you soon, okay, bye—and mind at ease. Things were gonna get better. Everything was going to be better.

I was so trapped in my own bliss I didn't realize something was wrong until I was already a few steps inside my cabin. The air was thick and my feet suddenly felt ten times heavier, like some unseen force was pulling them down. The moonlight could clearly be seen through the windows, yet somehow it wasn't filtering inside, so the room was pitch black. The fountain in the corner no longer glowed, but the water continued to gurgle and was the only sound in the room aside from my shallow breathing.

I reached for Riptide.

"I wouldn't." A voice came from behind and that was enough for me to throw away any sense of rationality before spinning around to face the intruder, but I couldn't spin around. I couldn't move at all. My feet wouldn't move.

"Bag him." Another voice said and before I knew it a hand took my wrist in a vice-like grip. I cried out in pain, Riptide clattering to the floor and whoever it was took my other hand, tying both behind my back. A bag was thrown over my head, my chest, my legs, then the floor disappeared from under me and I had the sensation of being lifted. I started flailing about, trying to break free, but I heard someone mutter something. A spell maybe? Then…then nothing.

.

I heard before I saw.

I heard groaning and shoes scuffing from a pair of feet that passed nearby, you could even tell what shoes they were wearing, just by the way they walked. Big, black combat boots, the clunky ones that made it hard to walk, but were perfect for kicking people in the gut. Next came the sound of cell bars, heavy and rusted, clinking shut, keys rattling and locks clinking. Then came the whispers, soft and quick, like smoke; you could hear what was being said, but only for a moment, then it was gone. They seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, it made it seem as if the area around me was spinning. I heard something else, it was close and rather loud, but it wasn't until I opened my eyes that I realized it was the sound of my own shallow breathing.

I found myself on my back in what appeared to be a cell, with brick walls reaching high to a grated hole in the ceiling and a barred cell door that led into a narrow hallway. My immediate reaction was to sit up but I found myself unable, not because I was restrained, but because I was in pain. My bones ached and my mouth was dry. How long had I been in this cell exactly? With some difficulty (and a whole lot of pain, let me just repeat) I dragged myself to the door and peered down the hall as far as the bars would allow. For awhile, I just lay there with my face smushed up against the bars, pondering whether or not I should call for a guard or just go back to sleep. I was in too much pain to move, let alone get up and try to break out of the cell. It felt as if I'd fought an entire army by myself, but I hadn't, I got kidnapped. Seized, captured, abducted like a cow to an alien spaceship.

Ohmygods, no, was it aliens, did they perform experiments on my body is that why everything hur—

A loud noise disturbed me from my thoughts and I glanced in the direction from where it came. It originated from the cell across from mine, which held a sleeping man who seemed to be having a coughing fit. At closer inspection I found that not only was the person familiar, I had fought with him previously in a war only two weeks ago.

"Nico…Nico?" I whispered, careful not to alert any guards (or whatever could possibly be running around this place). Nico kept coughing, but didn't seem to awake from his slumber. I tried again. "Nico. . .Nico, Ni-co."

More coughing.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I muttered. "Di Angelo!"

This time he awoke, with a few more coughs for a good measure, and I watched as he went about the same routine I did. Eyes open, look around, try to sit up, experience a heavy amount of pain, slowly sink back down to the shitty rock floor, glance out into the hallway; that's when he saw me. He seemed a little taken aback by it at first.

"P-Percy?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's me. Nico, do you know what's going on?" I said. He looked me over before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. As he lie there, he began to speak, slowly and quietly.

"I woke up in here three days ago, or at least I think it's been three days. Percy, I don't know what's going on. I was walking around the Underworld and then suddenly I couldn't move. These men came out of nowhere, everything got darker—and that really says something seeing as I was in the Underworld to begin with—and, and then they grabbed me, hauled me away. I passed out, I guess, and then I woke up in here. Every time I wake up I feel as if I'm in a daze, and then sooner or later someone comes to get me, and—" His voice grew thick. "Percy, I hurt, I don't know what they did to me but it hurt, and I'm still hurting and I don't understand. They drag me out into a room, and maybe it's something in the air, but I can't hear them. Everything's muffled, I can't move, I feel as if I'm moving in slow motion. And then I'm hurting, I think I'm screaming, I don't know, then they drag me back in here."

"Nico…"

"I hurt for hours, maybe days, I can never tell, then I fall asleep. Then it happens all over again." His eyes open suddenly and he turns to me with a crazed look in his eye; for a moment, I'm scared. "Percy, look at me. I don't know how they're doing this, but just look. I'm not the same."

My eyes scanned Nico up and down, from his legs to his chest, to his broad shoulders, and his defined jawline, whoa, whoa, hold up, JAWLINE? Upon closer inspection I came across more oddities, like the stubble that covered half his face, plus fact he seemed to actually fit into this body. It's like he'd totally skipped puberty.

"Nico, what did they do to you?"

"I don't know Percy. One second, I was me, then they took me into this room and the next thing I know, I'm back in this cell and I—I look like this! I feel like I'm twenty, it's so weird, I don't know why, or how but—"

"Nico, calm down, just explain. I'm right here, take deep breaths."

"No, Percy, you don't understand, something isn't right and I mean that in the worst way. I wish I could flip over so I could show you my arm, they put something on it I—"

"Nic—"

"Percy, I have no idea how to get out of here, I don't even know what's going on, I'm scare—"

Just then there was a clang down the hall—a door being opened—and then a pair of feet started to shuffle towards us, they sounded like the shoes from before, clunky and big. A figure appeared outside my cell, their shadow looming over me through the bars. I looked up, tried to make out a face, but the light that filtered through the grate impaired my vision and left white specks around the edges. I heard a lock click and the bars slid open, and then I was being hauled up and dragged down the corridor; I couldn't even move. Someone was screaming in protest, I was 99.9% sure it was Nico.

The guy or lady, or whatever, dragged me through the end of the corridor, throwing me to the side like a rag doll and pausing momentarily to shut and lock a door—the door to the corridor I guessed. A gigantic, metal door that was not tall but wide, like the door to a bank vault, but rectangular and without that spool thing in the middle. Also, a lot dirtier, yeah a lot dirtier. They picked me up and returned to dragging me across the floor. Where we were going? I had no idea, but we arrived in a room rather quickly. The person hauled me up onto a chair, the kind you'd see those massage therapists use, you know the one's in the mall where people just awkwardly stare at them as they pass. He had my chest flat against the chair and so my back was exposed to the open room, which sent my mind off the chain.

With my back exposed I was totally vulnerable, and right now I didn't even have the slightest idea of how to get out of this place. I moved my head to the side slowly, because I could barely move, to get a better look at the room. It had a few tables, an empty steel shelf, and a light that most likely hung above me because I couldn't see it, but it cast a ugly, yellow tinge around the entire space, so it was definitely there. Thankfully, with the new, less blinding light source, I was able to get a better look at big boots, who was in fact, a man. He was dressed in all black: boots, jeans, shirt, even hair, and was rocking a wicked five o'clock shadow.

No not rocking, it was hideous, it was really ugly. Gods dammit, Percy, he's the enemy.

Big boots was tinkering with something that I couldn't quite make out. He kept picking up little silver things that looked like needles and inserting them into some small gadget. For a moment, he paused and stood up, walking over to me. Well this is it, I thought, he's gonna beat the shit out of me. But no blow came. All he did was strap my arms and legs to the side of the chair, then went back to his weird toothpick game. I rolled my eyes and decided to speak up, a bit pissed off at the restraints.

"You know, I can't move, thanks to you probably. There's no need to tie me down."

In response, he simply glanced my way for a moment and gave a deep, throaty chuckle. Then he reached into a small box that had sat atop the table next to him and pulled out two vials, both containing a shimmering liquid, one gold and the other green. He screwed them into his little object and as he lifted it off the table, fear finally dropped down into my stomach, closing around my chest and constricting my throat. The thing resembled a gun, not a real gun, but some sort of tattoo gun.

Big Boots got up and dragged his chair behind me, it's rusty, metal legs screeching against the concrete. I felt his hands ghost over the hemline of my shirt, and then he took it and ripped it up the middle.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Ignoring the question, he plopped down in his seat. He started rubbing a cloth against my back and it was wet with…something.

"You know," He said. "The boss says I don't have to do this. I could just say some dumb incantation, all that voodoo, magic shit. But I think it's much more entertaining this way, don't you agree?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He ignored me again. "Of course, we'll probably do that with the rest, it's not like I can drag every single one of you in here. Boss said he wanted me to deal with you six personally though, so at least I can enjoy this. I mean, either way you'll end up with these symbols, but it's just nice to make 'em myself. They're some pretty sick tatts."

"What the fuck is wrong with you." This time he didn't ignore my comment and his hand came down on my back, hard. I clenched my fist and tensed, "Ah, shit! That hurt."

"Keep yourself in line, boy, you wouldn't want me to actually hurt you."

"Let me go."

"No." That seemed to mark the ending of our conversation, because he moved closer to me and settled his arms against my back. He had the gun in his hand, I could feel it hovering over me and my stomach twisted into knots. Then it buzzed to life and pierced skin.

Pain.

Red hot, searing pain broke out across my back and danced underneath my skin. My muscles tightened and I gripped the seat with just about every ounce of strength I had. I started yelling, for him to stop, to let me go, to do pretty much anything but continue. It was like little shards of burning iron had been shoved into my body, and now they were swimming through my bloodstream. Tears prickled at the corner of my eyes. You will not cry, Jackson, I told myself, you will not. The pain spread and spread, until not even the tips of my fingers were safe from it's onslaught. I yelled and yelled until my voice grew hoarse and died, but he still hadn't stopped, hadn't even paused. This definitely isn't a tattoo, was the last coherent thought I had before blacking out. You'd think I would've gotten some peace, right? No, that was even worse.

.

I woke up back in my cell. I didn't even try to move, who knows how much pain I'd feel this time around. For some reason, I knew Nico was in the cell next to me still, I didn't even have to look over, his presence was just there. Almost as if I could sense him.

He spoke up, his tone knowing. "Feels weird, doesn't it?"

"What?" I asked.

"You know what I mean." He said. I did, in a way, I just pretended not to.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Alright then," He said. "How was it?"

I paused, swallowing, and winced. Even my throat hurt. "It, um, it was painful. It hurt…a lot. It was strange." He waited, probably hoping I'd elaborate. There was more, but I couldn't say it, couldn't describe it, not right now. "That's all."

"Okay…you think the gods know we're here? Like, do you think the fates know?"

I thought for a while. "No," I said.

"Do you think anyone will find us?"

I thought for a while longer and when I thought I was done, I thought some more. Finally, my voice thick, I answered. "No, Nico, I really don't."

After that day, things just kept getting worse. Nico and I were hauled out of the room every few days, separately of course, and every time we'd come back with the same story. Get dragged down a hall, get strapped to a chair, experience unbearable amounts of pain via needle (but it was the work of a god, it had to be a god), black out, wake up in the cell. We'd kept strong for what seemed like a few weeks; talked each other through panic attacks and told the other we'd find a way to get out of here, even when we knew it was hopeless. It was only when two men came in, dragging Thalia—her silver circlet still glistening, her eyes filled with tears, a cut lip bleeding down her chin—between them, that I finally cracked. She stared at Nico and I as she passed by, mouth agape, and with that I was screaming. I told her to run, get away, shock them, do anything, even when I heard the lock on her cell click I couldn't stop, they couldn't do this to her. I screamed obscenities, cursed in Greek, told them where exactly to shove it, but they simply laughed at me and left. When I'd finally calmed down, Thalia started off with the rapid fire questions, said she could barely move, said they'd kidnapped her while she was on watch. She wanted to know what was happening, why she hadn't known about this, why Nico looked like a college student, why, why, why. Nico tried to answer the best he could, but I couldn't take it, they were going to hurt her and I couldn't do jack shit about it.

I cried until my eyes burned and throat felt raw. I didn't even have it in me to call out to her, I just slept.

About a week after that, or at least I think it was a week, they stopped taking Nico out of his cell. The last time he'd left, he said they'd told him he was finished. Finished with what? He didn't know, but that wasn't a surprise. They seemed to enjoy letting us guess, liked to see us drive ourselves insane. Of course, the day they stopped with Nico, they started with Thalia. When she'd come back, we'd asked her what was wrong but, much like myself, she refused to say. The next day, they took me.

And so on it went.

It was just Thalia and I for a while, every day one of us would go, and as time went on Nico started getting stronger. One day he could sit up and the next he could stand, it was only for a second though; he'd gotten on his feet only for his knees to wobble and give out. The big brutes started putting spells on his cell as if to keep him in, and one day, after my trip to the tattoo shop, the three of us learned why.

"Guys, look at this." Nico said and I turned my head in his direction. I heard Thalia shuffle along the floor, closer to her cell door.

"What?" She whispered.

"My powers, I can use them again." He said and reached his hand through the jail bars. It hovered there for a moment, then suddenly, a ball of black flame ignited from his palm. It popped and crackled, but there was no wood. Nico spun it around, let it dance across his fingertips, and slowly, let it die out. I was speechless.

"I've never been able to do that before." He said in amazement.

"Nico!" Thalia cried, a smile in her tone. "Oh my gods, no way! Can you get out? Can you shadow travel?"

"No, I can't shadow travel, the shadows here won't respond to me whatsoever, but maybe I could melt the bars." He said.

"Go for it, dude." I said.

With a deep breath, Nico lit his palm again and held it up against the bar. It was silent for some time, but then the metal start to creak and pang. I could see a sharp cracks crawling throughout the entire pole. Nico grabbed another and did the same. I could hear Thalia let out a laugh.

"Nico, you're doing it, oh my gods, you're doing it."

He kept it up and the cracks spread, grew larger, the poles seemed to break apart, and a smile stretched across my face. I inhaled deeply, more anxious than I've ever been, when suddenly a shining light ran through the bars, returning them to their previous state and propelling Nico back into the wall. He landed on the floor with a thud; I didn't even have time to be disappointed. The door at the end of the hall flung open, smashing against the wall and a group of people stormed in. The first to come into view was Big Boots, he stopped in front of Nico's cell and leaned to the side to make way from the others. This was, of course, the first time I'd actually gotten a good look at him, seeing as the others were spent with me on my chest and face shoved into the chair. He was tall, had to be almost 7 feet, and he was built, with dark hair, down to his shoulders, and a beard that said, 'hey! i haven't shaved in two weeks!' He was wearing what appeared to be a cloak, but whatever it was exposed his arms and along them I could see tattoos everywhere, shifting, shimmering, moving, as if they were living across his skin. It made a shiver run down my spine.

Finally, two other men came down the hall and as they came into view, I realized why it had taken them so long. They were dragging a third, a guy with blond hair and a purple t-shirt. He seemed about my age, another demi-god I assumed, but I had never seen him before. He was kicking and shouting, trying to break their grip, but it seemed pointless, they weren't going to let go. He turned his head and for a second, our eyes locked, then they were shoving him past me and into the cell across from Thalia, but it was too late. I'd already seen them, his eyes, they were a striking shade of blue, electric in their movement. . .they were Thalia's eyes, they were Zeus' eyes.

I scrambled to my feet, despite the pain, and threw myself against the bars, reaching my arm across the small hallway to grab Big Boots by the collar. In his momentary shock I was able to fist a good handful of clothing and draw him forward, pulling him against the bars. His eyes were wide, the iris a pale emerald, they were hypnotizing. If I wasn't so angry I might have passed out, but I was angry, I was livid.

"What the fuck are you trying to do, man? Who the fuck are you?" I spat. I could see anger leech into his eyes as he returned the favor, grabbing me by my shirt.

"First of all kid, never touch me. Second of all, you're not worth an explanation." And with that he shoved me back, throwing me against the wall. I steadied myself before taking a breath, and slid to the ground slowly. He spat on the floor of my cell, then nodded at the others, signaling them to leave; I glared at him. As they passed, he turned towards Nico and crowded up against his cell.

"I know what you were trying to do, this place is coated with spells. If you try it again, I'll remove that ink and we can start all over again." He threatened and left. Once I heard the lock of the door click into place, Thalia whispered to the new kid. It was a son of Zeus, it had to be.

"Jason."

There was silence.

"T-Thalia?"

"Yes!" Thalia cried. "Yes, it's me. Thalia, that's my name, you remember me. Jason, oh my gods, it is you. Wh-what happened to you?"

"Me?" He asked and I could practically picture his eyebrows scrunching together. "I…don't know, I was in, um…and then there were these guys surrounding me. I froze, I don't know why, they jumped on me and I blacked out. I woke up too soon though, or at least I'm guessing I did, because when I started struggling they freaked. They dragged me through a bunch of hallways, it was weird, where are we now? What is this place? Wh—"

"No, Jason, what happened to you? I thought you were dead. Where have you been all these years? What did you say before, you were in where?" She said.

"Uh, I…um, it's complicated I can't—"

"You can't what? Jason, I'm your sister please tell me, I deserve to know. Listen, I'll go first, ok? I'm sixteen, after you disappeared I ran away and met a boy named Luke Castellan…things happened, Dad kinda turned me into a tree, but thanks to my friends I'm here now, I attended Camp Half-Blood, I'm the lieutenant of Artemis and I—"

"Wait, what? Did you say Artemis, as in the Greek goddess Artemis? Thalia, don't you mean Diana?

"Yeah—wait what? No, I mean Artemis, why are you calling her Diana?" She said. Nico and I glanced at each other.

"Well, uh, I—"

"You what—"

Down the hall, there was a clang and the door swung upon, effectively silencing them both. Big Boots appeared and walked straight to Thalia's cell. Strange, he shouldn't have been back here for awhile. I could hear the jingle of keys and the sliding of her door, he hauled her up despite her protests and shoved her against the wall."

"Hey, what in Hades' are you doing?!" She yelled.

"They're bringing more of you soon," He grumbled. "Gotta' speed up the process."

He dragged her down the hallway despite Jason's protests, despite all our protests, and left. I could hear Jason's breath go from quick, to slow, then even. He started shuffling, and I knew what he was trying to do.

"Don't get up," I warned and there was a pause, then a snort and more shuffling. Next second later, a loud thud. "Told you so."

"Whatever," He replied. "Who are you anyway?"

"Name's Percy. Jackson. Percy Jackson, son of—" I caught myself. I glanced over at Nico, his eyes were wide.

"Son of who? Hold up, are you guys demi-gods too?" He asked, hopeful. "Maybe if all four of us work together, we can get out of here."

"We're not getting out of here." Nico said.

"Don't think like that, listen me and my sister alone can get us out of here if you're both weak or injured or something. I'm a son of Jupiter, no need to worry." He said. Oh no, I thought, oh no.

"Nico…" I started, but he snorted and laughed, cursing under his breath.

"I guess it's true. I mean Thalia's pretty down to Earth, but maybe then it's just Zeus' sons who are arrogant beyond measure." He said.

"Jupiter," Jason corrected. "And I'm not arrogant, I'm just trying to save everyone's life."

"No need for saving here, sweetheart."

"Fine, we'll leave you here in the dark."

Nico laughed, "Oh, what a fucking family tradition."

"Nico." I warned.

"What are you even talking about, dude? Is there a stick up your ass or something?" Jason said. Nico glared at the wall, almost as if he could see through it, and suddenly Jason let out a cry. "Whoa, what the hell!"

Nico blinked, once, twice, then let out a huff of air and rolled his eyes. "Don't worry you won't actually burn."

"You did this?!" Jason yelled. It sounded like he was patting parts of his body, his chest, his jeans, his arms.

I looked at Nico, "What did you do?"

"I might have accidentally made him caught fire."

"Accidently?!" Jason yelled. I mouthed a 'how,' towards Nico but he just shrugged with a bored expression.

"He pissed me off," He stated.

"How did you even do that? That fire was black as night. Who's kid are you? Vulcan's?" Jason asked.

"Hades." Nico said matter-of-factly and went silent. Yet another pause.

"And you?" He asked. Assuming Jason had meant me, seeing as there was no one else in waiting for the Tattoo Parlor of Hell, I sighed and answered.

"Poseidon."

Jason didn't reply, not instantly, not later, not at all. I didn't take it as a good sign, but I didn't take it as a bad one either. Instead of worrying, I drew my attention to what Big Boots had mentioned before. More? Of us? Who else were they going to throw in here? Were there more Children of the Big Three? What was going on? For a moment, my mind wandered to him and gold eyes flashed in front of my eyes, but no, it couldn't be, he was gone. He had to be gone, Luke sacrificed himself to make that certain, there was no way…was there? A while later, Jason had started up again with the questioning, but neither of us would answer him. When Thalia was brought back, and he saw her in her current pained state, he shut up for good.

The next day, they took him.

From then on we fell into a pattern, but this time around, there was no resistance; just waiting. Day after day, they'd take two of us, one in the morning and one at night I'd assumed, but again, no way to tell in this place. Eventually, there came a day when they'd brought me to a different room and I knew it was my last time. It'd been…very painful, very bad, and something I'd prefer never to think about ever again. The next day two guards waltzed, one was Big Boots and the other, had an unconscious Katie Gardner thrown over his shoulder. When she woke up we gave her the run-down, and she told us that she'd been in the strawberry fields, a little past curfew, when they'd grabbed her.

"What were you doing?" Thalia asked.

"Trying to salvage the last of the strawberries and maybe get a few more to grow. Mr. D does keep the fields in harvest season for a few months longer than usual, but even he can't control the Earth." She said.

"Wait, the last of the strawberries?" Thalia asked. "What month is it?"

"November." Katie replied. I drew in a sharp breath

"Three months?" I said. "It's been three months? What's been going on? Is the camp alright? Annabeth, what about Annabeth?"

"Oh, Percy," Katie's voice sounded strained. "The camp is fine, but Annabeth's lost her mind. She's been out searching for you. At first she thought you'd gone home, but then Sally called asking for you. She won't stop, she barely sleeps, the whole camp is concerned. I'm sorry."

I shrunk into myself. Katie started telling Thalia how the Hunters had come looking for her, but their conversation grew farther and farther away. Just thinking about her, restless day and night, looking for me even though it was pointless. We didn't even know where we were, we hadn't even seen the outside world, there was no life to be heard from the hole at the top of my cell, no birds, no trees, nothing. How could she possibly find us? I wouldn't even want her to. It didn't matter if they kept me in hear for months or years, I'd never let them touch her. The more and more I thought about it, the angrier I became. I could practically see her sitting at her desk, head in her hands, stressed beyond belief. It wasn't right, they did this, those monsters did this, they'll pay, I'll make them fucking pay. If they even tried to lay a single hand on her I'll ring their necks and—

Someone was calling my name repeatedly, loudly, quickly. "Percy! Percy, Percy, Percy! Stop, Percy, stop it, you're going to bring the whole building down!"

I looked over, it was Nico. He stared at me, face pale, and then glanced up at the ceiling. He did it again and again and again, until I glanced up myself. There was something wrong with it, there were little cracks throughout the ceiling; my eyes travelled the lines taking me down the wall and to the floor, all cracked.

"What happened?" I asked. Nico stared at me in awe.

"Percy," Nico said simply. "That was you."

"You really are the Earthshaker's son," Jason said. "Go figure."

.

Well, you guessed it, after Katie's arrival we fell into yet another pattern. She was the first to come back crying, which set us into a panic, but between the sobs she explained that they had taken the needle to her side and I understood. It was poison to begin with, I couldn't imagine having them inject it in an area that's already sensitive. After awhile, she'd fallen asleep, as I had many times before, and an eery silence fell down upon us. I sat up and shoved my face up against the bars, peering down the hall as far as I could; something wasn't right. There was a unsettling weight in my gut and I glance over towards Nico to find him looking at me, an eyebrow raised in question.

"What is that?" He mouthed. I simply shrugged in reply, at least I wasn't the only one. There was silence, silence, silence—suddenly, the door flew open, banging against the wall, deafeningly loud. I could hear Katie awake from her slumber with a shout.

"This is the last one right." One of the men said.

"For now," Big Boots replied.

I watched as they came down the hall, this time carrying…someone I had never seen before. She looked older, maybe 19, definitely not older than 21. She had an olive skin tone, much like Nico's, and her hair was long, wavy and a rich dark brown that I'd seen somewhere before but…where. Their routine had become so familiar that I hadn't realized they'd finished until they'd already gone back down the hall. As they were leaving, no name muttered something.

"When are we gonna start bringin' in those other kids? And don't we got those dead ones too? We're taking this too slow." There was a dull slap, probably Big Boots hitting the other guy upside the head, but that was my guess.

"Not here." He threatened and then with a slam of the door, they were gone.

"What the Hades was that about?" Thalia asked.

"Who is she?" Katie asked. "I've never seen her at camp before."

"What'd they mean by dead ones? And others?" Jason asked. "Any other cousins I don't know about."

"Oh please, Jace, it's not like we were keeping it a secret from you." Thalia said. He let out a huff.

"Percy…" Nico started. "You don't think they meant…"

"The other kids from camp." I said. "Yeah, I do."

"Clarisse," Katie gasped. "The Stolls, Annabeth, Pollux, Chris, no—not the children! They wouldn't do this to them, this is torture, it's cruelty. It's savage, they couldn't do this to them."

"Not the kids," Nico said. "But to the others most likely, yes. There's a lot of campers our age, but they couldn't possibly do this to the whole camp, we don't even know what the hell they're doing."

"What the Hades." Thalia corrected. Nico rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Hey, hey! Guys, she's waking up." Katie said. There was groaning, coughing, deep breaths, going through the motions as usual.

"Wh-huh? What's going on?" The voice was soft, but smooth…almost comforting. She was so familiar, but I was certain I'd never seen her in my life.

"Hi," Katie said, as calmly as she could. "You're probably not going to be able to get up, don't worry it's normal. Well, not normal, but normal in terms of this place. You're probably going to feel like shit too, sorry again. What's your name?"

There was a pause. "…Samantha. My name's Samantha, but I usually go by Sam."

"That's a really pretty name." Katie said. "Are you a demigod?"

"Pardon?" Sam asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Katie said, flustered. "I just assumed, since you were here I mean, I don't think a human could survive this, no offense to you if you are human it's just—"

"No, no, I am a demigod," She said. "I just had to double check that's what you meant. No one's ever really asked me that before…are you a demigod?"

"Yep!" Katie said. "My name's Katie Gardener, Head Counselor of the Demeter Cabin at Camp Half-Blood. She's my mom."

"…Did you say Demeter?" Sam said warily. Now, Katie was nervous.

"Um, yeah? Uh…is that a bad thing? Does your godly parent not like Demeter or something?" She asked.

"No," Sam said. "That's not it, it's just…I, I shouldn't be hear, ok? I need to leave."

"You can't leave," Katie said. "Trust us, we've tried. The other day Jason tried to fly to the top of his cell and at the last moment his powers gave out and he hit the floor. Hard."

"It was hilarious." Nico said, smiling.

"It wasn't funny, it was sad." Katie retorted, then turned her attention back to Sam. "They've trapped us in here, we don't know why, we don't even know who they are, but we can't get out."

"No, you don't understand," Sam said, panicked. "I have to get out of here, if they find out who I am my mom will get in so much trouble."

"Your mom?" Thalia asked. "Who's your mom?"

"Oh, sweetie," Katie said. "If you're in here they already know who you are."

"That's true," I said. "Those ugly dudes have used my full name with such colorful language numerous times, they know all about us."

"Hello!" Thalia yelled. "Is no one going to asked her who her mother is? Who's your mom?"

"I don't want to say." Sam replied, a little to quickly. "I don't want to get her in trouble."

"It's not like the gods are going to hear you here. I don't think they even know where we are." Nico said.

"…Really?" Sam said hesitantly.

"Yeah," Katie said. "Don't worry, we're not going to think it's bad. There are four embodiments of illegal consummation in here with us anyway."

"I don't know what you mean by that, but count me as the fifth." Sam said. "I'm the daughter of Hestia."

.

Safe to say, we were shocked and in total disbelief, because frankly, she's a virgin goddess. That's not something you just throw away, at least I assumed it wasn't, but after a long, detailed description of Hestia, her abilities, and a sudden disappearance of the goddess a year prior (hm, I wonder why), we decided to believe her. She was clearly anxious in the way she spoke and we tried to reassure her, but nothing worked. That was, until Jason made an off-comment saying the worst thing that could happen is his father whining about, "why does she get to do it without getting in trouble and I can't" and Sam burst out laughing. We all burst out laughing, a pure, blissful laugh that rang through the cells, the different octaves intermingling and echoing against the rock. It was the happiest moment I'd had since I'd woken up in my cell and from that moment on, things changed. We talked to each other more often, faded in and out of conversations and share secrets with one another. Jokes were exchanged often—the ones about our family were the funniest—as well as stories, and we all told one another about TV shows and movies we'd watched, although they were very few. We told Sam about the Titan War, Jason told us about Krios, and she told us about growing up with a goddess around consistently. We talked about our goals, our dreams, our hopes, our fears, and with every word a bond grew. It was different, it felt warm and light, in a way that I had only ever really felt with my mom; it was nice.

We started to change, acted like actual cousins for a change. The girls would pick on us, and vice versa. We had inside jokes, as best as we could, having to whisper from one cell to another, and we there was ongoing teasing after a few of us had confessed embarrassing tales from our childhoods. I came to like Jason, he was harmless really, good natured, and the back and forth bickering between Nico and him was extremely entertaining. Katie and Thalia were people I had known before, but being in such close quarters provided me an insight to their lives which I was unaware; I grew protective and vice versa. Sam was quite the same, but she felt like an old friend, except I'd never known her and yet, we seemed to click; she seemed to click with everyone. Nico, on the other hand, well—at the times when the others were asleep we would sit and talk endlessly about everything and nothing, and I found his company akin to that of Annabeth's. It wasn't until one day, a day where everyone had finally finished that horrifying process and we were just sitting around waiting, that an epiphany came down upon us.

With a gasp, Nico stood. "Oh my gods, guys, guys, I figured it out. I know what they did."

"What?" I asked.

"They mimicked them with us. They, they recreated the six siblings. The children of Cronus. We're them." Nico said.

There was a pause as we all took it in, thought about it, processed it and then—"NO…" Thalia gasped. "I'm not supposed to be Hera, am I? I swear if I'm here in that vile woman's place I'm going to kick someone's ass straight into Tartarus!"

"I'm going to go with the obvious here and say this isn't a good thing." Katie said.

"I don't know, but it makes sense, doesn't it?" Nico said. "There's six of us and…alright, since we got here, have you noticed a change in yourselves? I don't know what it might have to do with this but, you know how I can make that fire? I've never been able to do that before."

"Yeah," I said. "But…wait! Yeah, remember when I made all those cracks in the wall. I wasn't even trying to do anything then it was just like—oh! Katie, remember how you made those vines awhile back."

"Right!" Katie said. "They were golden vines, I've never been able to make gold vines before."

"What do you think is going on?" Nico asked, looking at me and I could see it in his eyes. The spark, the anger, the fear, a look I'd seen on my own face before, a look that I was certain was on my face as well but I couldn't even tell because there was no mirror in here. There was nothing in here, it was a cell, we'd been in here to long.

"I don't know," I replied, taking a deep breath. "But we're not going to find out from in here."

"Hold on," Jason said. "Are we really doing this?"

"I'm up for it," Thalia said. "But this place is coated in spells."

"As cheesy as this sounds, what if we all try together?" Katie said. "Our abilities are unpredictable at this point, but there isn't much left they can do to us if it doesn't work out."

There was shuffling as the rest of us stood. I could hear increased breathing, the sound of knuckles being cracked, the tapping of a foot against the floor, it was like second nature. My adrenaline increased rapidly and I shot Nico a smile, he smirked in reply.

"Alright," Nico said. "I can try melting the bars again, but that won't be enough."

"I'll try loosening the rock around the bars," I suggested. "It can't hurt, besides I've got no aqua." Katie laughed, light and airy.

"I can try regrowing the vines," She said. "If the fire cracked those bars like you said it did, the vines will add pressure."

"Shall Jason and I play mad scientist? The bars are metal after all, they'll react to electricity." Thalia said.

"I'm with you sis," Jason said.

"I don't think I can do much for you guys," Sam said. "But if the opportunity comes up, I'll jump in."

"Okay," I said. "Plan is done, but the aftermath?"

"Run like hell and knock down anyone in our path." Thalia answered simply.

With that, it began. I watched as Nico held out his hands, but this time, instead of grabbing the bars, he simply held out his palms and they ignited. I watched in awe, stared at the deep look of concentration in his face, until the bars in front of me were enveloped in black flame and I jumped back. Shouts from the others alerted me that their's must have set fire as well. Nico shot me a look and I went to work, let my eyes travel across the structure of my cell, took a breath. There was a tug in my gut and I looked down, cracks had appeared at my feet and I watched as they crawled across the floor, up the wall, around the doors, growing larger, and making the rock splinter. Roots sprung from the cracks, wrapping their way up the bars, viciously tight, and the metal started to break. I held my breath and watched as lightning came forth from the cracks, making the metal vibrate and shake. The bars started to deteriorate under the onslaught and I could see it now, they were going to snap and break and—suddenly, everything seemed to slow down. The roots stopped growing, the cracks closes up, the fire and lightning froze in place and from down the hall, on the other side of the door, there were heavy footsteps and angry voices.

"Is this…" Thalia started. "Oh my gods."

"What's going on?" Sam panicked. "Why'd everything freeze?"

"Oh my gods," I said, ice closing around my heart. We were doomed. Everything seemed to happen at once, but I couldn't process it. The metal door opened and shocked against the wall, the noise echoing down the hall, but then there came a shout.

"NO!" Samantha yelled, her tone ringing out with finality. The fire and lightning and roots all turn gold and they were burning, burning, burning—the cracks came back, everything came crumbling down, and I was thrown back into the wall by the sheer force of it all. I shut my eyes, ears ringing, and when I opened them, there was a gaping hole were the door used to be and someone was reaching out for me, it was Big Boots. I grabbed his shirt, reflexes kicking in, and as I stood up, I brought him down, connecting his face with my knee. He fell back onto the floor and I stood over him, punched him, again and again and again. I was relentless, taking out every ounce of rage in the months that I'd been there on his face, on his chest, on his ribs, on everything. When I finally stood back, adrenaline low enough that I could actually think for more than a moment, I hauled him up against the wall and demanded he tell me everything. He looked at me and laughed, but confessed nonetheless. At the end of it all, I threw him on the floor, equally satisfied and terrified at what lie ahead. I turned and walked out of my cell, looking at the other guards strewn across the floor, and came face to face with everyone else. I stared at them and gestured behind me.

"Uh, you…you heard, right?" I asked, breathing heavy.

"Yeah," Thalia nodded. "We heard."

"Then let's go." I said and we ran. There were more guards, the place was like a maze, but just like Thalia had said we knocked down everyone in our path. It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but we finally found a ladder that led up to a door and we didn't look back. Once we had all gotten out, I collapsed on the ground and cried. I could feel the sun on my skin for the first time in months and I took deep breaths, relishing in the the fresh air, but it was cold and as I looked around, I could see snow, like a blanket, covering everything. It was underneath my hands, the icy temperature turning my palms red and raw. I loved every second of it.

"Where are we?" Katie asked and I looked up to see her staring at the sky, her breath like a fog around her face.

"I don't know," Thalia said. "Maybe if it was night, I could see the stars, but that won't be for a few more hours. We're definetely nowhere near camp, or New York for that matter."

"I don't think we want to even consider New York," Nico said. "Not after what that man told us down there."

"But we have to go back, Nico," Thalia said. "They're the only one's who can help us."

"They're not going to help us if we go back," Nico said, voice growing louder. "If what he said is true, they'll kill us on the spot."

"What if it isn't true?" She asked.

"Even if there is a slight chance that it isn't," Jason said, cutting in. "I'm not going back. Look at us, we're not the same. We're not harmless and there isn't even a slight chance that we don't look suspicious. Look at these fucking tattoos, it's not normal."

"We weren't normal to begin with," Katie muttered and Jason pointed at her, eyebrows raised, as if to say: Exactly.

"This is a mess," Thalia said, then paused. "Speaking of which, Sam, what did you do back there? I heard you yell, I'm assuming it was you." We all turned towards her and she seemed to shrink in on herself, shaking her head.

"I have no idea," She said. "I could hear them coming and I just, I couldn't stay in there another day. I grabbed one of the bars and it's like everything melded together and then it was gold and I—I don't know."

"Well, whatever you did, it worked. So thanks." I said. For the first time since she had been taken to her cell I was able to actually see her, and the more I looked the more I realize she did look like Hestia. The warm eyes, soft face, gentle smile, the dark hair that framed her face, and as the sun hit it, it seemed to glow, turning parts of her hair red.

"Wow," I said. "You are so screwed when they find out."

She laughed, instead of panicking, probably high off the fact we were no longer locked in cages. "Oh, I know. Trust me, I know."

"Well," I said. "Where are we goin—"

There was a sound from below and voices floated up through the hole. Nico slammed the door shut quickly and we took off in a random direction. We ran and ran and ran until that door down to hell was nothing but a dot in the distance. I wondered why they hadn't followed us, but suddenly an invisible force tripped us all, and we fell along the forest floor. A presence, heavy and dark, surrounded us and I froze in place. A deep, throaty chuckle run out, making the hairs on my arms stand up; a shudder ran threw me. No, I thought, not this time. We all stared at one another, and wretched ourselves from our places. I stared down in shock, he couldn't control us, but as we kept running, farther and farther away, a voice in the back of my head told me he wasn't really trying.

We broke into a clearing and found ourselves atop a cliff, down below I could see a wide beach and gray, choppy waters. I pointed to it and as we ran along the cliffside, it began to snow. Down, down, down we went and as we ran across the beach, towards the sea, a voice rang out, clear and true, seeming to come at us from all directions:

"RUN LITTLE DEMIGODS!" Kronos bellowed. "RUN but you can't go HOME. There's nowhere for you now and I WILL FIND YOU. Your parents will never believe you, so do your best to HIDE because there is no DEFEATING ME this time, little demigods. I WILL HAVE MY VENGEANCE."


….Oh, hello there, nice talking to you again. I know, crazy right? Well, there's more where that came from. More friends, more old faces, more monsters, more secrets, all that good stuff.

Did you think this was it? Oh gods, no, this is just the beginning, but let me reassure you now. If you thought it was going to get worse, don't worry.

It does.


Thank you so much for reading! It would mean the world to me if you could review!

I hope you enjoyed it!

Chapter 2 will be out soon, but I have uni, so by soon I mean like 3 weeks, I'm so sorry.