Thalia: Some luck in my new mission and some surprise with it

Riding with the Hunters of Artemis, I had already reached the La Sal Mountains where Prometheus was supposed to have hidden himself. But so far, neither myself or any of my Hunters found any sign that Prometheus was even there. Then something happened and the ground around me began to fade away as I was suddenly levitated up to the tallest mountain in the range. There, I found him waiting for me: Prometheus had been expecting me from the way he greeted me, adding that it was good to see me again.

"My lord, we found her alongside Mount Haystack and believe there may be more of her kind around there," a soldier said. "Good work Commander, leave us now. Find her companions and bring them to me alive if possible," Prometheus ordered, the Black Sword of the Night hanging at his belt. "So glad you could see my hideout for it will make no difference what you do at Camp to prepare for my arrival," he began.

"What do you mean Prometheus?" I asked. "You see, you only have at most two thousand demigods if I recall correctly. My army numbers a hundred times as many and will not even need to surround Camp Half-Blood to overwhelm it," he answered. "We don't plan to achieve victory through strength of arms but through strength of minds," I told him and that had to be true.

I was already aware that his forces would greatly outnumber ours and Gabriel had made sure to hammer that into our heads. However, two hundred thousand (in a moment I was about to see precisely that meaning preparing for battle) was far too overwhelming for me to not be surprised. "How did you manage to rake up so many so quickly?" I asked.

"For one thing, the deity of Tartarus was more than willing to raise enough dead to aid me. And for another thing, I have received the Blessing of the Night that works almost like the way the Hydra does. Cut off a head on one of my soldiers and the severed body shall regenerate its head while the severed head grows a new body. The same principal applies no matter what part you cut of one solider whether it be an arm or a leg," he explained.

"Then that must mean the same flaw applies as well. Apply fire to the wounded area and the soldier cannot regenerate what it lost. Or just blow them to bits with fire, which usually has never been an option," I inquired. "Very good, you have already figured out the weakness of this army but what difference does it make?" he mocked. "You think we'll still be slaughtered even if I know how to defeat them but we have the demigod son of Kronos on our side," I assured him.

"Oh I know you have that boy on your side. If only he were aware of what he could be. You know, he could have already been more powerful a Titan than even his father," Prometheus replied. I had no comment or question so he continued to elaborate what he said.

"When Kronos gave his mark, he was trying to make him immortal so that he could destroy Zeus and take what was his by right. Kronos knew he was already fated to fail again as Gabriel's siblings and Olympian family would always be powerful enough to crush us rebel Titans. So he tried to give Gabriel a chance to act as an extension of the revenge of the Titans and bring our glory back to us and more," he explained, to which I was not surprised. "Mark, what mark?" I asked.

"Oh, ask Annabeth to tell you about it for only she knows of the mark when immortals are excluded," Prometheus answered. "I suppose you'll be counting on me doing that in order to disassemble the unity of the Camp. It won't work and even you know that deep down as you have the ability of foresight," I snapped. "I don't care for the unity of the Camp; tell you the truth, I hope they fight as one when I arrive so I can destroy them all at once," Prometheus calmly replied.

That made me shutter in my mind and he smiled, indicating he had somehow picked up on that. "I actually have a mind to let you go right now and I have even send a telepathic message to cancel the search for your friends. Do nothing to change my mind in the next few moments and you will be spared. And if you need knowledge of what I mean, do not speak when I send this little message to him through you," he said.

"I guess I can fulfill a request meant for Gabriel but I don't expect Chiron will like that too much," I told him. "The goddess you serve understands that you are under my thumb and will have to cooperate in order to escape this place. Do not worry for Chiron knowing that Artemis is not to be worried about," he replied. "Then I am ready to deliver your message," I said.

He smiled, chuckled to himself before finally saying what the message was. "Tell him that the vision he and Nico experienced were my doing. The meaning is simple: his cousin Little Mary lives as my captive in a palace that used to belong to Hyperion himself," he said to me. "I suppose there's a catch to this revelation too," I said.

He nodded and said that the catch was that she was guarded by Hyperion's forces, now under the command of Prometheus. "What's more is that years of torment have somewhat… enlightened her to the treachery of the Olympians," he added. I knew this was going to be very difficult for Gabriel to bite on but something in my heart told me he had to know. For almost six years, he had been forced to assume she was dead and although some small part of him believed she was still alive it was a relatively dormant part of his mind.

Especially when time passed by and he had been forced to focus on his service to Olympus more than on trying to find her. "Your friends are being teleported back to their camp and I will see to it that you have the same means back home. Gabriel will have quite the surprising chat when you talk to him on the Iris-message with the fountain I have provided you as well as the drachma in your left pocket," Prometheus said. Somehow, he knew about my lucky coin but something had me on edge.

Why the hell would he give us a fountain if we were the enemy? Did he want something with Gabriel? I asked the latter question and he was surprised I was even thinking about that. "Yes, I do have something a little personal to deal with him on: my brothers Atlas and Epimetheus are dead because of him," Prometheus said.

"I'll admit to you right now that I am the one who killed Atlas. As to who murdered Epimetheus, I have no clue. This is the truth and if you wish to avenge Atlas, kill me now," I confessed. "So selfless of you to just give yourself up but keep in mind that were it not for Gabriel, you would never have fought Atlas nor would you have killed him," he replied.

I had to admit he had a point there and he continued by saying his grudge still lied with Gabriel. "How many times can the fountain be used? I mean, for Iris-messages and all that," I asked. "Just once so make your chat with him long and meaningful," Prometheus answered.

"Thank you, Lord Prometheus. You have been wise, generous, and benevolent to the Hunters of Artemis," I said. Though I honestly believed I had had better hosts in my life, I had to admit that Prometheus impressed me with how respectful of Zeus' hospitality law he had been. Sadly, the fountain was not much when compared to previous fountains I had used.

Still, it was enough to deliver one Iris-message to Camp before disintegrating. Prometheus had been right about that much when he said it would only be good for one use. Truthfully, I had trouble deciding how I would tell Gabriel that his cousin was still alive when he had presumed her dead six years ago. Do I just blurt it out and let him sort out how to figure out if I was telling the truth or do I tell him everything?

I decided to be as clear and direct as I could be in telling him the truth about his cousin's continued existence. After making that painful decision, I recited the chant and told the Iris-message who I wished to be connected with. When an image of Gabriel appeared, he greeted me and told me he was glad to see me. "So have you found where Prometheus is holing up yet?" he asked.

"Actually, after two weeks on this mission, I have. And it's not the only thing I found," I answered. He asked to know more and I told him about how I had seen Prometheus' army and how they numbered two hundred thousand. "The most we can rally at a single time is around a hundredth of that number with weapons that make us look even bigger.

"I'm installing a mine field out at the front of the camp that will be controlled by remote for precisely this kind of situation," he said. I nodded and he apparently noticed I was hiding something by the look on my face. "Gabriel, you might not want to hear this even though it concerns the vision you and Nico had," I told him. "What is it, does Prometheus know about the vision?" Gabriel asked.

"He was the one who sent it to you with reasons you won't want to hear about," I answered. "Tell me," he ordered. With a sigh, I told him about his cousin and how Prometheus said she was being kept in Hyperion's old fortress. I reluctantly told him about how she was there under torment and had been ever since that day when he mistook her for dead and nearly fed her to the sharks.

"Then the gods have lied to me about her like I thought they had. For years, I assumed that the crunching sounds of the sharks' biting was of them eating my cousin but I was wrong. Prometheus simply used the Mist to prevent me from seeing her rescue and the Olympians knew about it although they didn't tell me. I wonder how many more of my 'memories' have been cases of the Mist being used to hide me from the truth," he said.

"Please Gabriel, we need you coolheaded and more so now than ever before. I fought you and I have seen what an incredible power your rage gives you. Please don't be so enraged as to rebel against the gods now," I begged. "I'm not that enraged at all of the gods but just one," he said.

I knew who he was talking about and I begged him not to go against her. "As I said before, I'm not so enraged as to rebel now. However, I am enraged enough to make sure she knows what pain she has put me through," he told me. "I hope that's all; I'm returning to Camp now that I've found his hideout but please keep out of trouble at least until I arrive," I asked. I never got to find out the answer to my plea until it was too late.