AN: Wow. I just looked at the story stats for this thing- almost four hundred people from around the world have read this story. And it's been a week. That is a very strange feeling (But thank you all!). Anyways, another chapter here. This one is a bit heavy on plot, but . . . well, we'll see. I own nothing, not even a floating castle.

Camp Life, Chapter Nine

El Palacio Del Cielo/Tick Tick Boom

The son of Aeolus slams the hellhound into the ground and fires a bronze tipped crossbow bolt into the monsters skull, then turns to the rest of the group and gives them a thumbs up.

"And that, ladies n' gentleman, is how you hunt-"

"Yes, yes, very funny," says Jesse, rolling his eyes. "Can we get on with it?"

Steven Rust pouts. "Come on, you guys! Isn't this fun? It's just like old times!"

Amanda sighs. She supposes he's right; it is a bit like old times. Except in old times they were reasonably safe within the borders of Camp Half-Blood, not halfway up the side of a massive snowy mountain in the middle of nowhere, with the great possibility of a large Giant army close to them. And before there weren't two Roman demigods watching them with bemused expressions on their faces.

Jacob Van Isaac and Lily Merida exchange glances, looking uncomfortable, but Laurel Johnson winks at them.

"Don't worry about him," she stage whispers. "He's just crazy."

Steven glares at her and reloads his crossbow, but before he can do anything (even though he probably wouldn't actually shoot her, probably), Jacob, Legionnaire of the Second Cohort and Aquilifer, or Standard Bearer, of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, raises his hand hesitantly.

"Yes, rookie?" Steven asks pleasantly.

Jacob frowns, obviously not enjoying being called a noob, says, "I guess I just don't know what we're doing here, that's all. I mean, I get that there are enemies near here, but I guess my question is, how did you guys know there was?"

"And my question is," says an annoyed voice from behind Amanda, "what the hell are we doing here if we could be sitting in a floating castle? That's probably warm and comfortable, and not freezing and wet and miserable?"

Steven sighs and walks past Amanda to Drew, huddled on the only relatively snow-free log, sits down next to his girlfriend and puts his arm around her. She glares at him, but then relents and snuggles close.

"Sit down, guys," Steven rubs his forehead wearily with his free hand.

Everyone exchanges wary glances, then sit wherever the least snow is around the clearing.

Steven meets all of their eyes; Jesse, Amanda, Laurel, Danny, Jacob and Lily, and Drew, nestled against his shoulder.

"Okay, guys. This is what's going on."


Percy leans back in the chair and takes a sip of his lemonade.

If he's being honest with himself: despite the impending threat of utter destruction via Mother Nature, this is probably the best he's felt his entire life. The outdoor café he's sitting in looks like something from a postcard; the citizens of this town, Astros, are cheerfully going about their business in the street the café is on. The salty smell of the Mediterranean sea permeates the air. Sunlight shines down over the small coastal town, painting Annabeth's curls an even brighter gold then usual. She smiles at him from across the small table and takes a drink, licking her lips, and he grins happily, reaching for her hand.

Then Travis and Connor come barreling around the corner, barely avoiding smashing into a fruit stand, and he has a distinct feeling his good mood isn't going to last.

The Stolls pull to a stop in front of their table, trying to regain their breath and pointing frantically in the direction they came.

"Back there," Travis wheezes, "Apollo cabin . . . Roman madness . . . taking over the street! Wouldn't let us sell tickets!"

"What part of 'keep a low profile' do you two not understand?" Annabeth asks angrily, seeing the other patrons of the café staring at the weird Americans.

"It's not our fault!" Connor's face is a picture of righteous indignation. "It's Will! He's the one fucking up, playing random street concerts to try and get laid! That's not a low profile!"

Percy and Annabeth exchange identical exasperated expressions, then Percy sighs.

"Go on and show us."


Nyssa observes the faces of the Greek passerby with amusement as they watch Will carefully stack amplifiers on top of each other. Mick, a Roman son of Apollo, is putting together a purple drum kit, his tongue sticking out the side of his mouth in concentration. Kara is tuning her guitar and her twin Vinnie is carefully adjusting dials on the soundboard.

"Where did you guys get all this stuff?" she asks Kara. "I didn't see it on the ship's manifest."

Kara grins wickedly. "Piper charmspoke a dude at that music store there into letting us borrow it." She shakes her head. "I gotta say- I mean, I love playing, anytime, anywhere, but these Romans seriously love to have fun. This was all Mick's idea."

Nyssa grins. "I heard about that party the day before we left. How was that?"

Kara smirks. "Absolutely ridiculous. It was epic. I don't remember it all that well, but I'm pretty sure I ended up on a table- most of my clothes still on, unlike some of the people in that room- singing 'Airplanes' with Dakota."

Nyssa shakes her head at her friend. "Well, you'd better get on with it. I think Will pissed Travis and Connor off when he said they couldn't try and make money off this. They're bound to do something dramatic and ridiculous to get back at him."

Kara nods decisively. "Yeah, you're right." she waves her hand at Will as if to say, hurry up!

Will nods, checks the last speaker, grabs his bass guitar and walks to the microphone. The townfolk watch him curiously.

Kara begins playing a riff, Will says "Troy Green!" into the mic, and they start jamming.


"Two days before we left California, a week after the Octavian thing, we got a message. From Lord Zeus. Or Jupiter, if you prefer."

Steven's words echo around the clearing. His audience stares at him.

"Recon- Lady Artemis, if I had to guess- discovered a large group of monsters, believed to be under the command of Gaea, roaming the Colorado mountains. Lord Zeus wanted a strike force put together to scatter them and find out why they were there."

He lets this sink in.

"You're telling me that eight of us are supposed to beat a monster army?" says Lily in disbelief.

"No," says Steven, smirking, "though I'm sure we could, if it came to that. But that's why I was picked- My father's seat of power, El Palacio Del Cielo, is within three miles of here. He wouldn't help you guys much, but he'll give me an army if I ask for one."

Jacob Van Isaac gives him a skeptical look. "So this isn't a suicide mission?"

Steven snorts. "It's not a suicide mission if I'm here, but no, it won't be just us, if that's what your worried about."

He pauses. "That's pretty much it. It'll take us two hours to get to my dad's place, barring more than a few monster attacks on the way, and we can rest there and use it as a staging base. And besides," he smiles evilly, "I doubt anyone has messed with my weapons closet, so we're going to have our pick- I have everything."

As they stand up and stretch, getting ready for another long hike, Amanda asks, "Is it true you grew up with your Dad?"

Everyone stops, staring at her and Steven.

"Where did you hear that?" he asks quietly, studying her face expressionlessly.

Amanda hesitates. It had been Gardner Peck who had overheard the conversation, but the person who had told Thalia and half the camp had been-

"Chiron," she says cautiously.

Steven scowls. "That old horse. I should've known . . . well. What else did he tell you?"

Amanda is normally a plenty brave (some might say confrontational) girl, but she's thinking twice about the wisdom of this; the neutral look on Rust's face is barely hiding his anger.

"Um . . . he said you worked for him. Your dad. And you were at the Battle of New York."

Rust drops the calm look and glares menacingly at her. "Is that right? I'll thank you to keep your nose where it belongs, or-"

He stops when Drew grabs his shoulder. "Enough," she whispers.

He glowers at Amanda for another few seconds, then allows the daughter of Aphrodite to pull him away. Amanda tries to mouth 'thank you' to Drew, but she glares just as murderously as Steven and starts after him up the mountain. Laurel and the Romans follow, giving her sympathetic looks.

Jesse and Danny exchange stunned gazes, then they each awkwardly pat her on the back and begin walking.

Amanda, bewildered and hurt, reaches down and grabs her pack and joins the line.


"Yeaahhh I was right all along!" Will howls, fingers plucking the bass strings in a blur. The whole band is going wild, and the audience, mostly Roman and Greek demigods, but also a growing number of local teenagers and twenty-somethings, are rocking out in the street. Older folks watch curiously from balconies and sidewalks. Nyssa sees a pair of uniformed policemen sitting on the hood of their car and tapping their feet to the beat.

"I know people say music can really move people, but this is ridiculous!" Piper shouts next to her.

"What?" Nyssa yells back, unable to hear her.

"I said-"

Just then Jason appears next to them, laughing as he watches Will jumping around on the makeshift sidewalk stage, and Piper turns to him without finishing her sentence.

Nyssa shakes her head, amused by the antics of her brother's best friends. She spots Percy and Annabeth watching the Apollo children from the edge of the crowd and wonders how mad the Hero of Olympus turned Roman Praetor will be when he sees the Greek alcohol that Travis and Connor are currently acquiring (stealing) from a nearby restaurant cellar.


Octavian watches the demigods playing their instruments from a hillside overlooking the city. He can actually hear the music from here, and shudders to think how loud it must be on the street.

"Are you almost ready?" he snaps at the telekhine commander standing next to him. The dog-fish considers this question for a moment, then shrugs. Octavian dearly wishes he could offer the creature as a sacrifice to Mother, but since she was the one who gave him the wretched, smelly thing in the first place, she probably wouldn't appreciate it that much.

"Hurry up," he hisses to his minion. "We have to time this carefully."


Halfway up to the peak, Amanda decides that Jacob Van Isaac and Lily Merida are pretty awesome people.

Their inclusion into this war party had been rather sudden; Reyna had insisted that the party consist of at least two Romans, and the Second Cohort Legionnaires had been hastily chosen and bundled into a short bus that Steven and Jesse hijacked from an Oakland schoolyard, so none of the Greeks really blamed the two for keeping to themselves on the way out of California. It hadn't really helped that Jesse, displaying hitherto undiscovered criminal skills, had lifted a massive stereo system from a Radio Shack that night, and the short bus had zoomed into Nevada straight through a dracaenae roadblock blasting Eminem's 'Till I Collapse' while Steven fired his crossbow out the windows, hollering gruesome threats in Ancient Greek at the terrified monsters.

But now they're all chatting as they hike through the snow, and Amanda learns that Lily, a daughter of Vesta, loves baking, her short sword Banisher, made of Imperial Gold, and bursting into song at random times, while Jacob, a son of Vejovis, the Roman god of Medicine, an archer, is the standard bearer for the Legion and a chariot racer. He and Laurel get into a long conversation about different bowstrings and size to pull strength ratios while Amanda, Jesse, Danny and Lily talk about the TV shows they never get to see anymore.

Halfway through their conversation about how Glee has gone slightly downhill since the first season, Steven stops and motions the rest of them forward, then falls in step with Amanda, far enough behind the others that they have privacy.

Amanda keeps her eyes on the path, not daring to look at him. He seems calmer now, but he seemed calm before she asked about his Da too, and she doesn't even want to think about what kind of lethal surprises he's hiding under his fur-lined black winter cloak.

After a minute of walking in silence, he says, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Amanda actually stops mid-stride and stares at him in shock. She was not expecting this. She's pretty sure, despite having known him for almost a year, she's never heard him apologize before. Ever. Not even when he accidently (or so he said, it was rumored that the Stoll brothers had tried to put stink bombs in his bed the day before) set the Hermes Cabin ablaze while testing a homemade flamethrower, or the time he tried to rouse Nico Di Angelo for morning training with a horsewhip and discovered the reason Nico was tardy was because a pretty daughter of Nyx had been under the covers with the son of Hades. All of which is way worse than shouting at her after she asked a personal question.

"It's okay," she says hesitantly. "I shouldn't have-"

"No, you did nothing wrong. I understand- look, you've never met your father before, have you." It isn't a question.

She shakes her head.

"The Olympians- they're different from us. Completely different. To be honest, they really - most of them- don't really get what it's like to be one of us. Not just human, but one of us. Our lives aren't measured in years, they're measured in seconds. Because we are tools, all of us. Look- I love my father, I do, and he loves me- but not in the same way a human father would love his human son. He's had hundreds of demigod children, and he's watched them all die in what must seem, to him, like a heartbeat. I'm no different."

She digests this for a moment.

"It sounds complicated."

Steven smiles sadly. "It is. You'll understand better when you meet your father."

"Have you met my father?"

Steven blinks. "I have, actually. At El Palacio Del Cielo. Apollo, as Olympians go, is rather a nice guy- he showed me his sun chariot once. And he usually helps demigods when they need a hand."

"So you did live with him? Your dad?"

Steven shrugs. "Yeah, a bit. In the winter and spring, usually. But I really grew up down there- " he points down the mountain, to the east- "in Durango, with my ma. You can't see it from here, but . . ."

They lapse into comfortable silence for a while, than Amanda asks slyly, "So, how's it going with you and Drew? 'Cause Ya'll seemed really close at that last party-"

Steven grins, but says, "Nice try. But that is off limits."

"Alright. What's so great about this weapons closet of yours?"

Steven lights up immediately. "It's a bit like . . . heaven."


Travis hoists another cask of wine, labeled Amontillado and some other fancy Italian word he can't pronounce. He turns and sets the barrel on the ground in the back alley of the restaurant he has just robbed, then looks around impatiently for his brother. As if on cue, he hears the sound of an engine and a small green truck pulls up to the mouth of the ally.

"Thank the gods! What took you so long?"

"I had to re-steal the truck from Connor."

Travis freezes as horror washes over him.

"Now, look," he says chuckling weakly, "There's a good explanation for this-"

"Oh, I'm sure there is," Katie answers, inspecting her fingernails. "But I really don't want to hear it."

"But babe- I'm sorry! It's in my nature! It's not my-"

"If you finish that sentence, you will regret it."

"It was Connor's idea-"

"Really? He told me it was yours."

"Oh no, oh no, no, no . . ."

Katie grins demonically. "I have to say, Stoll, I've never actually caught you red handed, in the middle of the act, before. And considering the mind-boggling amount of crap you pull, that's pretty amazing. I have to do this more, the look on your face is totally caddywhompus. And kind of really hilarious. You fucking idiot."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah, that's exactly right! Now, I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to break up with you or not, but-"

"Um, Katie-"

"No! Shut up! You are not talking your way out of-"

"Katie get down!"

He tackles her just in time; the telekhine spear whistling past inches from his head. He leaps off Katie, who's sputtering curses from the ground, and grabs his knuckleduster from inside his leather jacket. With a single blow he kills both monsters, creating an impact crater in the pavement.

He glances around to make sure the street is clear, and sees more telekhines and a few larger Myrmidons, ugly reptile-fish-men hybrids, heading north. The concert, he thinks. That's where the others are.

Travis turns to help Katie up, but she's already standing, brushing herself off and looking at the destruction wrought by his new weapon. "Where did you get that? From your father?" she asks quietly. "I don't think I've seen it before."

He glances at his hand. The brass (or in this case, bronze) knuckles gleam menacingly.

"I got them before we left. From Rust, actually."

She stares at the cracked street and says, "That makes sense."

He chuckles a little and wonders how Rust's little group is doing in Colorado, and hopes his little brother is okay, but these thoughts are completely shut down when Katie grabs his shirt collar and kisses him roughly, her other hand sliding up his shirt. "Thanks."

He tries to reply but she kisses him again, says, "Stop stealing stuff," and walks off. He sighs happily and follows her.


Amanda tries to process the sight of the castle floating in the air in front of her, but she can't quite make it work.

El Palacio Del Cielo, the Palace in the Sky, is at least as big as a football stadium, and towers over all the mountain peaks in the range. The bottom part of it is actually rock and ground, like it had been plucked out of the land below and hung there in the sky.

Steven hums for a moment, staring at his old home pensively, then says, "Alright, everyone, let's hold hands."

He looks around at themand sees the weird looks. Sighing, he says, "There's no actual bridge-generally speaking, any person who is supposed to be up there doesn't need bridges. And Leo Valdez broke the last one. So I've got to fly us up there."

Jacob blinks. "Wait, you can fly?"

"More or less."

"Well, which is it, more or less?"

Steven grins. "Well, it's like this, son- either I fly you up there, or you sit in the snow until we leave. Your choice."

Jacob chooses to trust Steven.


The palace courtyard is peaceful and deserted, but the inside of the castle is bustling with activity. Wind spirits and harpies, engrossed in a million different tasks, ignore them completely.

"You guys know what my dad does, yeah?"

"The weather," answers Laurel. "On Hephaestus TV."

"Right. That's probably what he's in the middle of, so we won't have that much time. Let me do the talking."

He leads them to a bank of elevators that look out of place next to the stone walls. Inside, he's about to press one of the buttons when a voice shouts, "No, wait! Prince Steven!"

A frantic-looking woman with a transparent lower half glides into the elevator, wringing her hands. "I'm so sorry, I was waiting for you, but you went past so fast- your Lord Father isn't in the Broadcast Room."

Steven looks at her like she's speaking a foreign language. "He's not? Then where is he?"

"Er, in the Throne Room, your Highness. He's waiting for you."

Stevens face darkens. "Thank you. Leave us."

When she's gone, looking glad to be out of his way, he pushes a different button and the doors close.

The elevator starts up swiftly and silently, and the Camp Armorer stares thoughtfully at the wall.

"So, Your Highness,"says Drew playfully. "Am I still allowed to call you by your name?"

Steven rolls his eyes, looking sheepish, but Amanda notices he seems worried as the elevator stops and the doors open.

The room they enter is small and empty except for a single chair in the center. The throne is a work of art, all fluted columns and twisting arms, but made out of the same light grey stone as the walls and floor. Sunlight streams through floor-to-ceiling windows, giving the room a serene, warm feel.

A tall man stands at one of the windows, his back to them, but his sandy hair, exactly the same color as Steven's, as well as an aura of undefinable but unmistakable power, gives away his identity.

So this is what it's like to meet a god, thinks Amanda breathlessly.

Aeolus turns around, his face handsome in an old 1960's kind of way, wearing a simple blue business suit with a black tie. His silver tie clip, Amanda notices, has a large sapphire in it.

He regards them silently for a moment, and Amanda feels Steven tense, and with growing unease, watches her friend's hand drift to the hilt of his sword.

Then Aeolus grins happily and spreads his arms, saying, "There's my boy! You going to stab your old man, son?"

The tension drains from the Wind King's son, and Steven embraces his father awkwardly.

"It's been a little while, son! How do you like Camp Half- Blood?"

Steven glances back at them and smiles. "I like it a lot, Father," he says quietly.

Aeolus chuckles stiffly. "You do? Excellent, excellent . . . Well! I hear you have a bit of a predicament!"

Steven nods. "Yes, Father. We would like permission to rest here for tonight, and command of some of your warriors."

Aeolus waves his hand airily. "Of course, of course! Take whoever you want! And your old rooms haven't been touched. One of the aura can show your little friends to the guest rooms-"

"They will bedding down in my quarters, Father." Steven says, bowing swiftly.

Aeolus shrugs distantly. "Whatever you like."

He turns to the rest of the group, standing uncomfortably behind them. "Would you permit me to have a few moments alone with my son? Any of the aura can show you to the Prince's chambers."

Steven sends them an apologetic look, and they file back into the elevator.


"I know this is probably a bad time," Nyssa roars to Kara over the din of the fighting, "but I really liked your playing!"

She bashes another monster with her warhammer, and then another and another. From the roof of the parked and half-demolished car next to her, Kara shoots a telekhine through the forehead and grabs another arrow from the quiver at her waist.

"Thanks!" she yells back, grinning, and fires.

Nyssa catches a breather as the tide of battle turns against the monsters. Even the weakest demigod is more skilled then the most ferocious Myrmidon, but Percy Jackson and Jason Grace are in a whole different class. Vaporizing multiple foes with every elegant swing of their blades, they cut swathes through the telekhine lines, doing there best to prevent civilian casualties among the locals. Chris Rodriguez leads an arrow-shaped wedge of demigods around a corner and crashes into the monster's flank, and Nyssa feels relieved; that looks to be the last group of demigods scattered across the city.

Gaea's creatures seem to wilt as the tide turns ever more in the favor of the heroes, and then they break, running for the hills outside the city. Jason makes frantic motions at Dakota, who lifts a brass horn to his Kool-aid stained lips and blows a single long note.

The demigods scream with victory and give chase, charging out past the city limits. Nyssa joins them, keeping pace with Connor Stoll, who nods cheerfully and says "Nice day for it, eh?"

She rolls her eyes, runs a fleeing dog-fish through, and follows the back of Percy's brown shirt as he charges up the hill.


Steven and his father stand silently for a few moments.

"Piper McLean had to tell me what happened."

"I didn't want to alarm you."

"Alarm me? I thought you were stronger than that!"

"Gaea is older than Time, boy. I didn't have choice. And how would you have helped?"

They say nothing for a long time.

"I can't trust you anymore."

"Boy-"

"You let me send Piper, Leo and Jason Grace, son of our master, our best hope against the Doors, off from Camp with out even a word of advice! I didn't even have chance to give them anything! And that ridiculous kill order-"

"I hoped you would realize that was phony."

"Really? And what if I had killed Annabeth Chase? What would you have done then?"

"You didn't. So it doesn't matter."

"You are unbelievable."

Aeolus glares at his son tiredly. "How much do they know?"

"Drew knows everything. I couldn't lie to her- besides, her mother had already been talking to her about joining up. The others- well, I put them off with a few stories, but Chiron can't keep his fucking mouth shut, so they may think something a little odd."

Aeolus nods. "I'm incredibly proud of you," he says, and Steven blinks and nods hesitantly, unsure what to say.

"What about this army?" Steven asks.

"They are over a few ridges. I don't remember exactly where. Artemis's spy confirmed just before you arrived; they have the prisoner. It's just as you thought."

"Will it matter?"

"No. The Labyrinth is gone, like it never was. There's no need to fear."

"Good. I'm going now, I need sleep."

"Okay. Are you going to bring them all back here when you're done?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Go on, son. Good luck."

"Thanks."


Tony shifts uneasily and wishes someone would relieve him already. The traitor is grinning at him again.

"Stop that."

Across the small, dimly lit hallway, Octavian cackles from inside his cell.

Tony draws his sword and bangs it against the bars. "Shut the fuck up!"

Octavian smiles eerily.

"Goodbye," he whispers gently, and crumbles into dust.


Steven finds most of his friends in his massive sitting room, loungeing around on the plush furniture. Lily is standing on the wide balcony, leaning on the railing, and he can hear the shower running in the other room and assumes that's where Amanda is.

Jesse fiddles with the stereo on the other side of the room, and 'Charlie Parker' by I'm From Barcelona comes on over hidden speakers in the high ceiling.

"I forgot how much I love this song," Steven says, throwing himself on the giant sofa next to Drew.

"I can't believe all of this is yours," Danny says, shaking her head in awe.

"I know," Steven admits. "I gotta be honest- I kind of love it." Everybody laughs.

"Can I see the weapons?" Danny asks hopefully, and Steven beams at her. "Of course you can!"


"Does this come with a night vision sight?" asks the daughter of Ares, studying the PSG1/MSG90 semi-automatic precision sniper rifle with an experts eye. "And the Brugger & Thomet suppressor?"

"Of course. Right over there."

"Nice chainsaw," says Laurel, lifting the lumberjack's tool experimentally.

"Thanks. It's enchanted; don't touch that red button on the side."

"What does it do?"

"You don't want to know."


Nyssa catches up to Percy just past the top of the hill. The son of Poseidon is staring at the ground at the monster he just killed, a look of disbelief on his face.

Nyssa catches sight of the monster on the ground; it isn't a telekhine or Myrmidon. It's Octavian.

"What the . . ." she whispers, uncomprehending. They had left the skinny bastard in a tiny cell at Camp Jupiter!

"Surprise," rasps Octavian, his eyes glinting. "A present from Mother."

He stabs Percy in the stomach, then crumbles to dust.


Steven wakes them up at a quarter to five.

"Rise and shine, my lovelies! We get to kill stuff today!"

They depart El Palacio Del Cielo with a score of bloodthirsty harpies carrying pitchforks and bent swords. The early dawn light does wonderful things to the underside of the floating island, but they quickly leave Steven's home behind. Their march through the snow is swift, and they spot the first Laistrygonians within two hours. Danny sets up her rifle on a large rock with a good view over the valley, and Jacob grabs the proffered spotter's scope from Steven and lays down next to her. As the others continue on, they here the muted pew sound of the suppressed rifle firing and the cling-cling of the spent brass hitting the rock.

By the time they reach the monsters, a third of the ogres are dead. Steven draws his sword, shouts "For Zeus!" and they charge the enemy, Lily screaming "Twelfth Legion Fulminata! For Rome!"and Jesse adding, "Camp Half-Blood!" a second behind her.

The monsters scatter hopelessly within an hour, the combined effects of the silent, unseen death via celestial bronze sniper fire, the deadly swords of the demigods and vicious stabs from the harpies.

Steven orders his comrades to chase down the remaining Laistrogonians, then leaps thirty feet into the air and floats, searching the valley. He finds what he's looking for to the south.


Percy stares down at the knife in his gut and collapses. Nyssa screams for help; Will Solace and Reyna are there in a heartbeat. Will takes one look at Percy, scoops him up in his arms, and shouts, "We have to get him to the sea!"

Nyssa stares at the spot where Octavian vanished and falls to her knees.


"Hey, Octavian," says Steven pleasantly, landing on the ground a few feet in front of the former centurion. "Fancy seeing you here."

Octavian snarls furiously and backs up. Behind him, four Canadian Giants exchange looks and set down the large metal cage they are holding. The dark figure inside shifts restlessly.

"Oh no, boys, I have no time for you today," Steven says sadly.

There's a thumping sound behind Ocatavian, and he whirls around, shrieking in desperation when he sees the four headless corpses of his subordinates.

The augur starts to turn, but a bronze blade slides out his chest. "I wanted to do this the first time I saw you," Steven whispers in the boy's ear.

Octavian crumbles around the sword and falls to the earth. Steven blinks.

"Huh," he murmurs, staring at the pile of dirt in the snow.

Raising his blade, he removes the hinges on the cage door and tosses it away. The occupant of the portable prison blinks woozily at him.

"Hey, buddy," Steven says, reaching in to pull the prisoner out. "Long time no see."


Percy sees only grey when he wakes. Then Annabeth pulls her head away and says, "He's okay!"

Craning his head to the left, a burst of pain travels up his spine.

"Ouch," he mutters.

"Whoa there, tiger," Will says, pouring some water onto Percy's cracked, dry lips. "You aren't in any condition to move. Talk, maybe. Move, no."

Frank peers anxiously at his friend, Hazel at his side. "We thought he'd gotten you, man. When Will ran past . . ."

Percy remembers. "Octavian," he says.

Annabeth shakes her head. "Gaea."

Percy nods wearily and succumbs to sleep.


Nico opens his eyes and peers at up at Steven.

"Oh no," he exclaims dramatically. "You're supposed to be dead, Luke!"

"That's not funny."

"Yes it is."

"I'm way better looking than he was."

"It's amusing that's what bothers you about that comparison."

Steven grins. "Come on, man. Let's get you home."


To Be Continued.


AN: Well, there it is. The song Will sings in the beginning is "Tick Tick Boom" by The Hives. Also mentioned are "Charlie Parker" by I'm From Barcelona, "Airplanes" by B.o.B. and Haley Williams, and "Till I Collapse" by Eminem and Nate Dogg. I own none of the rights to these magnificent tunes. Be aware, updates are going to slow down a bit in the coming days (But seriously, I almost made this a cliffhanger, so there). Reviews are loved. Later, y'all.

Next Time: Steven reveals the truth about the mysterious organization know as Echelon Unit to the rest of his friends as they return to Camp Half- Blood, while the Argo II touches down at Mount Olympus.