…Percy…
We fled Big Ben as fast as we could.
A wave of exhaustion had set in with all of us from the fighting and mental trauma we had just endured. Whatever had just happened had seemed to attack our bodies first and then go right for our minds. Despite how we were felt, the five of us sprinted down the steps of the tower as if it were about to explode any second. It was an understatement to say we all wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
I didn't know if it was only me, but the tower still seemed to shake underneath my feet like it did when the bells signaled noon. A slight ringing remained echoing through my ears, making my head throb as we finally made it out of the tower.
The bright sun greeted us outside, an unpleasant contrast from being in the dark and sheltered rooms of the tower.
We were so busy catching our breaths that we hardly seemed to notice that a large group of people stood not too far from us, a few staring at us. A different tour guide was facing the group, speaking about something informational. It was clear that they were about to begin a tour of Big Ben, and I knew that we had made it out just in time.
Thalia was the first to turn away, starting out toward the streets. We followed quickly, and I could tell that Thalia didn't have the energy to manipulate the Mist again for such a large group if we were questioned. As we hurried away, I could hear the tour guide from behind us. He seemed to notice us walking out from the direction of the gate, and he called after us. "Hey, wait!" he hollered. "Did you kids just come out of the tower?"
We didn't stop walking until we were as far away from Westminster Palace as possible. Nico exhaled loudly as we stopped at a stoned sidewalk by some old buildings. "I know what the next headline for the global newspaper is going to be," he said in between heavy breaths. "Five maniac kids murder tour guide to sneak into Big Ben for an educational experience."
Annabeth gave Nico a dismissing look. "We've got bigger problems," she said, collecting herself. "I mean, what in the world was all of that?"
An uneasy silence sunk in between all of us. I was sure that none of us knew where the floating weapons or visions had come from, and it left all of us a confused and frightened.
"Whatever is was," Thalia said, "we should get somewhere safer before talking about it."
"Should we go back to the hotel?" Amber offered.
As we stood there, I found myself shaking my head. "No, not the hotel," I said. Near us, I could feel the slow current of water flowing. I remembered the Thames River just a few streets away from us, and it was almost as if my sixth sense was telling me what we had to do. "There's a ship waiting," I announced, surprising even myself. "We have to go east."
We found our way to the border of Thames River easily. Ships and smaller boats traveled through the water, carrying tourists.
"Over there," Annabeth pointed. A medium sized ship with an all white exterior stood alone, away from all the other boats lined along the dock. A black trident was printed on the ship's hull.
We passed by fisherman and ship captains giving us strange looks as we boarded our ride. Inside, the ship was roomier than our last one with a control room cabin in the front and a large seating area in the back.
I didn't wait, entering the cabin and taking control of the wheel and the switches on the panels. I had never controlled a ship this large before, but the knowledge seemed to come to me without even trying. In my head, various locations zoomed through my mind as usual until I got a clear image of where we were. Being at sea seemed to tame my exhaustion for just a second as I summoned my energy to will the currents to sail us along Thames River into the Atlantic. We would have to sail around the tip of Britain and deeper into Europe.
After I was sure the ship had picked up a steady pace and was set on its route, I exited the cabin to find Nico, Amber, Thalia and Annabeth sitting together in silence. We were all thinking, too shaken to speak.
As I sat down, it surprised me when Amber broke the silence. "That wasn't Hecate," she said quietly.
Annabeth frowned slowly. "What do you mean?"
"Whatever the weapons and hallucinations were up there, it wasn't Hecate's doings. That's not how my mother's magic would work or feel. The attack was from something else," she said, confidently.
Annabeth was shaking her head when I remembered snippets of the bloody spears and the picture of the boar on the swords. "Amber's right," I said.
"How could that be?" Annabeth said at loss. "Who could be attacking us?"
I told the others about the symbol of the boar and how the bloody spears fit in. "It's the symbol of Ares."
Thalia shifted uncomfortably. "I noticed that, too," she admitted. "And the visions… they had to be from another god. But who?"
"Dionysus," Annabeth said carefully. "It had to be. The power to lure you into madness, it's a specialty that belongs to Dionysus."
Nico looked outraged. "So the gods are trying to kill us now?"
Annabeth had been taking all of this in, and she seemed to sigh. "Not exactly," she said thoughtfully. "The artifact may have had something to do with it. It's very possible that we triggered a type of protection force from the gods. It was probably set up thousands of years ago when all of these pieces of the object scattered around in different places. The gods must have created those to protect it."
Thalia had the same expression as me, and I knew that there were too many things that didn't make sense. A part of me was telling me that we had to keep going, tracking Hecate and finding the artifacts to put together an object, until it would start making sense.
Amber looked almost startled by all of this, and I couldn't help but feel a little bad knowing this was her very first quest. It was the first time she was experiencing something as difficult as running for our lives constantly and being tortured by so many different things from monster to visions that attacked straight for the soul.
I found myself mumbling, "It would have been helpful if Athena had warned us about the protections."
…
Hours may have passed as we sailed out of the Thames River and way past London. I readjusted our route from time to time, feeling a strong pull through my hands as I shifted the oceans currents under me.
Everyone was quiet, definitely not talking as much as we normally would have, and I knew that there were hundreds of thoughts on all of our minds.
As much as I didn't want to admit it, the memories of the vision I had seen still bothered me more than the remaining headache. I had been trying to block out those thoughts, but it was no use as I leaned over the ships railing, staring out at the water.
The thoughts in my head were as restless as the waves, and I finally couldn't take it anymore as I walked away, looking around for where the others were. Towards the back, a low door was unlatched and a small light shone downstairs. I could see a very brief set of stairs leading into a very small basement area on the ship. I didn't know who was down there, but I found myself going down to explore. I was surprised to find Annabeth sitting in the basement all alone.
"Annabeth?" I said just loud enough to get her attention.
She looked startled when she noticed me. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Barely a second," I told her, honestly. "What are you doing down here by yourself?"
Annabeth brushed the hair out of here face. "Sorry, were you looking for me? I didn't realize how long I had been here."
"The ship's going in the right direction now, so I thought I'd see who was down here," I told her. Annabeth nodded, still looking like she wanted to be alone. I didn't know what she was thinking about, but I tested my chances as I asked, "Can I join you?"
"Yeah," she said after a second, scooting her legs in so I could sit down. The area below was very compact, probably a storage area. Seats were built into the wall on both sides.
I sat down across from Annabeth in the tight space and our knees pushed against each others. A single light bulb hung from the low ceiling, letting me see her face. In the dark, Annabeth gripped my hand; our fingers laced together as they rested on top of our knees.
"How's your headache?" Annabeth asked me. "The bells must have been ten times louder to you since you couldn't cover your ears."
I found myself playing with her hand, running my hand along each of her fingers. "It'll go away," I said. "Besides, that wasn't the worst part."
Annabeth seemed to know what I was talking about because a deep silence set in. We were both thinking about the terrible visions we had seen during Dionysus's protection.
"I wasn't expecting it," she admitted. "I mean, not something that strong to play with our minds like that this early into the quest."
As I thought about it, I knew that I would never be ready to see something like that whether it was expected or not. "It scared me," I said, not realizing where it had suddenly come from.
Annabeth's hands felt warm as she brushed them against mine. "Percy," she whispered. "What did you see?"
Our eyes locked, and I found myself holding her hand tighter. I remembered the feeling of running through the dark maze, being tortured and dying. But that hadn't been the worst part. The worst part was being stripped of something that I cared about the most. For a while, in the maze, I had completely lost Annabeth, and it scared me more than I had let myself think about.
"It was a maze, kind of like the labyrinth," I started telling her. "I was running, and you were slipping from me."
Annabeth pressed her knee against mine harder. "I was in it?"
"I was chasing you," I explained. "But you kept getting away. Eventually, I couldn't see any of you. I didn't know where you were, Annabeth."
There was silence for a while, except for the sounds of someone walking above us and the water gurgling against the ship's walls. I didn't know how long we sat there, our hands in each others. A part of me wanted to ask Annabeth what she had seen, but I knew better than to push her. I wasn't expecting it when Annabeth started telling me on her own. "What I saw wasn't any better," she admitted. "It's always about choices."
I thought back to Janus, the two faced god, and how he had tortured Annabeth to make a decision. Being a daughter of Athena, I knew choices were one of the hardest things for her. She fought between logic and desire.
"Hey, it's alright," I said, seeing the look on her face as she remembered what she had been shown. "You don't have to talk about it."
Annabeth shook her head, staring at our hands tangled together. "I want to tell you," she said, looking up to meet my eyes. Annabeth swallowed as I waited for her to continue. "There were two pathways. I saw two people. It drove me insane, Percy."
I leaned forward, closer to her, brushing her hand with my thumb. "You had to choose between the two people?" I asked her, trying to understand.
She nodded, not breaking her gaze with me. "It wasn't easy. Behind one person there was everything I could have asked for. I could see happiness, power, safety- everything."
Annabeth carried on painting the perfect picture behind this one person, and I frowned.
"What was it that drove you insane?"
Annabeth's voice got shakier. "There was another pathway," she told me. "Behind the other person there was darkness. I could see death and pain, and some of the most terrible things that I've felt before. My friends dying, destruction, torture, losses…"
The things Annabeth was talking about were all too familiar in our lives. I could relate all too well, and it was like a cold rod poking me as Annabeth explained all the darkness behind the other pathway. I nodded, understanding how horrible it was to witness loss and pain.
"But there's more," Annabeth said. "I could see who the two people were."
I watched Annabeth closely for a second before speaking. It was like there was something still bothering Annabeth terribly. "Who were they?" I asked her, nearly whispering.
"Luke," Annabeth said, her voice fighting to stay steady. "Luke was one of them. There was safety behind him. And the other person… it was you, Percy."
I couldn't help but stare at her as she said that. My mouth suddenly felt dry. "So I belonged to the pathway of loss and death." It wasn't a question.
Annabeth shut her eyes tightly. "It drove me crazy, Percy. I had to make a choice. Luke offered me safety. But behind you, I would have to go through everything we faced during the war - all the pain and death."
It was stupid because my heart was pounding. What Annabeth was telling me wasn't even real, yet it had me upset and I didn't quite understand why it hurt. My throat burned as I talked. "Who'd you choose?"
As Annabeth stared at me, I suddenly had the feeling that I had never lost her back in that maze. She was just inches away from me. "It finally stopped when I realized I didn't have to make a choice. That was how I got out of it," Annabeth told me. She looked down at our hands. "I already made the choice a long time ago."
As our eyes locked, I knew that Annabeth felt satisfied to just get it all out. I wanted her to know that I trusted her.
In the darkness of the basement with just Annabeth and I alone, I kissed her. Annabeth didn't hold back. As I was kissing her, it felt like I was on a roller coaster going down one of the highest slopes. All I could think as I felt her lips was that I never had to feel what I had felt in that maze. She was still here. She was still mine.
…Thalia…
I was sitting atop the cabin of the ship again, looking out at the ocean and letting the sea breeze blow my hair away from my face, cooling me down and calming me like I had never been calmed around the ocean before. It was as if Lord Poseidon realized I needed to be calmed and was using his powers to assist my father's wind to let me breathe a little bit easier, to let me lose a bit of the tension in my body. Something like this had never happened before, but I wasn't complaining for one second.
Dionysus' vision had done a number on my mind. Those voices had brought forward many of my worries, my well-hidden fears of not being good enough. Despite all he had done, I still couldn't lose the image of Luke Castellan from while we were on the run together, when things weren't so complicated because we just had to survive and run and fight and try to enjoy ourselves, not fight a war and deal with quests from our fathers. We had been best friends, training partners, and I had always tried my best to impress him by improving.
His words, harsh and commanding more than I could even hope to give, had cut me deeply because I always feared that that would happen to me. If you then added in Chiron, who I respected for his knowledge and the pain I knew he must have gone through for millennia, and Lady Artemis and even my father, a person then had those I most wanted to impress and made proud. Having them tell me they had seen better, expected more from me, wanted me to give more than I could, had torn me apart in that vision. It's no wonder Dionysus was the god of madness if he could do that.
Now that I was in my right mind, thinking back on it, I could remember my sanity leaving me with each insult, with each monster killed, with each scream I allowed to escape my lips… Had it gone on for much longer, I would most likely have gone truly insane from that, and it hurt to acknowledge that because I did like power, to feel powerful, to feel as if something like that vision couldn't hurt me, even if it did terribly.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, I wiped away the tears that had formed at the memories of the vision, staring out at the sea and smiling very slightly as a dolphin jumped out of the water for a few moments before diving back in. Sea creatures had been drawn to our ship every time we were out at sea, obviously due to Percy and the powers he was using. It made watching around fun and interesting due to the antics of the fish.
"I was so scared," I suddenly heard Amber say from below, though it was quiet enough to be almost a whisper for me up here. Surprised, I looked down at the ship as saw her and Nico sitting, cross-legged, with their swords across their laps, on the deck. I had been so deep in my thoughts I hadn't even heard their sword practice stop for a break.
"Dionysus must have given everyone some good visions," Nico replied, and I moved forward, closer to the edge of the cabin, curiosity beating my fear of heights as long as I wasn't right at the edge, just to hear a bit better. "I've never seen Thalia so pale and withdrawn, and Annabeth and Percy are quieter."
"What might drive one person insane could do nothing to another," Amber stated. "I have a feeling whatever Dionysus did found one of the most personal things he could exploit to drive all of us insane. I know he did for me…" Both of them sighed, Nico's head leaning back to look up at the sky above us.
"I was surrounded by people I knew," he began slowly, and I realized he was sharing what he had seen, possibly to help himself and to get Amber to share what she had seen. "Bianca, my father, my mother, Percy, Annabeth, those I knew from camp – everyone. Then, one by one, they turned into the ghost of King Minos from Crete. Last summer, the one before the battle, I made some wrong choices, allowed anger and the thirst for revenge and a need for Bianca to come back to overcome me. I listened to Minos and did things I shouldn't have, and it was only Percy finding me that stopped me from going too far. In this vision, though, the ghosts of Minos all kept telling me that my actions would cause more trouble for those I loved, how Minos would make them regret ever caring for me. I couldn't escape him."
This story was at least partially new to me. I realized this was most likely how Nico had ended up in the labyrinth with Percy and Annabeth last summer, but I had never been told how that happened or why or what happened down there. I only knew the bare basics. Unfortunately, this seemed to be affecting Nico just as badly as it did a year ago – wounds that wouldn't heal easily, if at all.
"I don't know you or your friends very well, but I can already tell they like you because you're you, danger and son of Hades and all," Amber told him. "I know I already do."
"Really?" Nico asked, and I watched as Amber nodded. "Thanks." Amber shook her head to tell him it was no problem before turning to look up at the clouds. I could tell even from here that she was thinking hard about telling Nico what her vision had been, obviously pained by it.
"I haven't really spoken about my father to anyone, but I should probably start there," Amber finally sighed, looking back at Nico. "He was a magician who caught my mother's eye fourteen years ago, and he truly loved magic, so finding out that my mother was the goddess of magic was just amazing for him. Then my mother had me and gave both me and the ring to my father before leaving forever.
"I already told Thalia and Annabeth about my ring. It helps center my powers so that I can control them better – a focus. When I turned seven, I got my ring. All children of Hecate come into their powers on their seventh birthday. I remember wanting a second glass of milk at breakfast, but my dad wanted me to eat all of my food first. Instead, my glass floated across the table and into my hands. That was when he gave me the ring."
Amber sighed deeply and stood, walking over to the side of the boat, sheathing her sword so she could lean against the railing. Nico hesitated a moment before following, his own sword sheathed as well. They were silent for a bit, just looking out at the water, and I watched them quietly, not wanting to give away my presence or interrupt.
"My seventh birthday was the beginning of a large change in my life," Amber finally began again, still looking towards the sea, making her quiet voice even harder to hear, despite the fact that I was as close as I could get without my acrophobia acting up. "Once my powers woke up, I received my ring, and from then on, I was never allowed a single day to pass where I didn't train my magic up. Some days it would be levitating more and more objects, and others it would be creating things, and so on and so forth. Dad was a tough teacher who wanted only the best from me, often pushing me until I was exhausted. It helped in the long run by making my magic and my control of it that much better, but it was terrible at the time."
"Reminds me of my own father," Nico informed her. "Up until recently, nothing I did was good enough. Bianca was the child he wanted. If she had lived and I had died, he would have been pleased. If I did something, Bianca could have done it better, in his opinion."
"The war changed that?" Amber asked.
"Somewhat," Nico sighed. "He more proud of me for getting him respect from the other gods and goddesses, but he still pushes me." Amber nodded in understanding.
"My vision was my father challenging me to do magic against him, and he somehow had magic," Amber admitted. "I soon realized his magic was my magic, and nothing I tried could get it back. He had stolen my magic somehow for revenge of some sort. It was terrible. Ever since I was seven, I've always had my magic – always. Not having it… It was a nightmare for me. Drove me insane trying to do as he asked like I always used to, but I just couldn't."
Amber's head had fallen so that her chin rested on her chest, eyes staring at the railing she was leaning on. I couldn't help but feel bad for her. Amber's vision almost reminded me of my own – being told to do something that she just couldn't do no matter how hard she tried. It was a very painful thing to go through emotionally.
I didn't wait to hear how Nico would comfort her. His arm had just moved to be around her shoulders as he pulled her closer to him, possibly whispering in her ear so that I wouldn't have been able to hear him anyway. Instead, I backed away silently, using the training I had gotten from the Hunters and Lady Artemis to stop any noises.
Once I was far enough away, I laid back so that I could look up at the darkening sky above, finding shapes in the clouds. Hopefully I would fall asleep so my memories wouldn't bother me and so this sea trip would pass more quickly. I needed to get off this boat so that I would have something to distract my thoughts with, and that meant sleeping the trip away.
