Disclaimer: I do not own this series

Chapter 10: Mortality, Pain, and Violent Death

This section is in Annabeth's POV.

I woke up early the next day to check on Thalia. After hastily putting on some clothes, I snuck out of my cabin. I paused every few seconds to make sure no one in my cabin woke up.

"How is she?" I whispered to Chiron once in the Big House.

"Hard to tell," Chiron frowned. "She's stopped twitching her in sleep, but she's still in a coma."

The scars on Thalia's face were starting to fade. Even so, at first glance, I sometimes still couldn't recognize her.

I sat down on a chair and rubbed my forehead. It was still unbelievable that the Hunters had disappeared. I had seen them in action before. It'd be hard to weaken such a fluid fighting force as the Hunters.

"Annabeth," Chiron said gently. "Is there something you would like to tell me?"

My mind wandered to Percy, and how I felt abandoned by his actions. And then to Kier who I had mixed feelings for, and the strange things I had seen with him. Then there was my uncertainty of even taking revenge on Percy, because I had never done anything like this before. And of course, the whole issue with the Hunters.

"No. Nothing."

"In these times, it is sometimes better to keep things to yourself, and sometimes not. I need to know if you have seen anything."

"It's just… I'm really confused."

"So are the gods. Something is going on. Something that is even making the gods uneasy."

"The Hunters disappearing?"

"No. Something worse."

"Worse than the Titans?"

"Oh yes. You see, the defeat of the Titans has aroused a great and terrible god, the mother of the Titans herself."

"Gaea?" I knew the goddess of the earth was evil. But she had been in deep slumber for so long that I had even forgotten how dangerous she was.

"The gods are worried. Hera had a plan, a dangerous plan, but it has been shattered."

"By Percy?" Percy always did have a reputation to ruin things…

"Yes. Her backup plan, we think, involved the Hunters, but Hera is refusing to talk."

"So Gaea is rising and the gods aren't doing anything about it?!"

"Zeus thinks the gods can handle this by themselves," explained Chiron. "Hera however knows that gods and demigods must work together to defeat Gaea, but Zeus is too arrogant to listen to her."

"But we have to fight together! Otherwise there is no hope."

"Unfortunately Zeus does not understand that. Gaea is bringing back many dangerous minor gods that have long been forgotten. And the Doors of Death…"

Oh boy. Nothing involving Death was good.

"They say Gaea is trying to seize it, which is not good news."

"Isn't Hades fighting back?"

"Even Hades can't match the power of Gaea. The Doors are weakening." Chiron glanced at me. "I advise you not to mention this to any other campers."

"Yes, Chiron."

"Breakfast will start soon."

"I'll be going then."

"Have you heard the news?" Kier asked me as I bit into a donut. I had once again snuck out of camp to meet Kier for lunch.

"What news?"

"You know. It's all over TV."

Like I got to watch TV at camp. Demigods had no access to any sort of electronics, even cell phones. It made it easier for monsters to find us. I had a cell phone hidden in my cabin, just in case.

"I must have missed it," I lied.

"Well a woman had a heart attack and died yesterday night," Kier informed me.

"And…?"

"And they say she came back alive."

I nearly spit out my donut. "You mean like a ghost?"

"No. I mean alive. Like back to life."

"That's not possible."

"That's what everyone's saying, but she's walking proof." Kier leaned back in his chair and cocked his head, his brown eyes staring intently into mine. "What do you think?"

"Um," I stammered. It would be easier to answer his question if he wasn't so good-looking. "I think it's insane. It must be a hoax."

"Hard to prove them wrong when the woman is talking, breathing, and walking."

"Maybe it's a clone?" I suggested weakly.

Kier laughed, his eyes sparkling. "Yeah, well something fishy is going on."

Fishy… That made me think of Percy and how he smelt after taking a swim in the lake at Camp Half Blood. Everything these days seemed to remind me of Percy.

"Hey, you never gave me your phone number."

"Huh?" I blinked.

"You know, so I can call you."

"Oh. Um." I searched my mind for an excuse. "My parents are really strict. I don't have a phone."

"Oh. That's ok. There's a new exhibition at this museum just down a block. Want to go check it out tonight?"

"Um." I didn't really want to go. I still felt like I was betraying Percy, and I kind of wanted to stay and see if Thalia… I suddenly felt a kind of strange, tickling sensation inside me. Thalia wasn't going to go anywhere. Chiron had told me that it was unlikely she would be waking up any time soon. And who cared about Percy anyways? He was the one who left me. "Sure," I answered.

Kier flashed another heart-throbbing smile. "Ok. See you at eight." A quick kiss, and then he was gone. He somehow always managed to convince me to meet him no matter how conflicted I felt about it.

There was something about this conversation that made me uneasy. I sat, finishing my donut for a long time before I realized it. Chiron had talked about the Doors of Death weakening. Could this woman who had died and came back to life be proof that Gaea was indeed wakening?

This section is in Percy's POV.

It's no fun dragging a snoring satyr. Grover kept mumbling something about kitchen pots and drooling in his sleep. He had collapsed on the spot once we had gotten out of the Underworld.

Nico had gotten us out of the Underworld and found us an empty hotel to stay in last night. The Titan attack must have scared the owner away. Nico stood guard over Phineas for a few hours and then woke me up for my turn.

It was now morning, and I stifled a yawn as Nico stirred. I still found it weird how we were able to sneak Phineas out of the Underworld. I didn't understand it completely, but Nico had briefly mentioned something about a door and bringing Bianca back.

Nico had gotten up and was now prodding Phineas. Grover lay in a furry heap in the corner of the room, still snoring heavily.

"Ow!" Phineas yowled. "Not so hard. I'm awake!" He muttered some words in Greek.

"We kept up our half of the deal, and you swore on the River Styx to keep up your half," Nico reminded the old man.

"Fine, fine," Phineas grumbled. "You didn't have to poke me so hard."

"So?" I prompted Phineas.

"Don't rush me! I'm thinking," he squawked. He scrunched up his nose and squinted his eyes. "Hmm. Ah. Yes. Of course. Iapetus."

"Iapetus?!" Nico and I both exclaimed, exchanging looks.

"Oh yes," Phineas said gleefully. "The brother of Kronos, god of mortality, pain, and violent death. He turned to me. "He's much more friendly now after you tossed him into the River Lethes." He then turned to Nico. "You were there. The poor fellow is convinced his name is Bob now, eh?"

I had almost forgotten about that. Iapetus had been fighting me, and I was losing terribly. Luckily we were right next to the River Lethes and I just dunked him in.

"He can tell you how to become mortal again," Phineas then cracked an evil grin, "though I doubt he remembers."

The River Lethes had the power to make someone forget their identity with a single drop. When I dunked Iapetus in the River Lethes, he had lost everything that he had known. There was no way of recovering his memory.

"There has to be some other way," Nico blurted.

"This is the only way," Phineas said happily. "I've kept up my half of the deal, so I'll just be going now. I have errands to run for my patron."

Nico and I reluctantly stepped aside. Phineas had did exactly what we wanted him to do, even if it wasn't what we wanted to hear.

"Well," said Nico, "Percy, you couldn't have expected it to be easy anyways."

"Yeah, but I didn't know we had to go get back the memory of a Titan that tried to kill me." Did I also mention that we had destroyed his brother, Kronos?

"Even if we do get his memory back, I doubt he'll help you," Nico said.

At that moment, Grover woke up with a snort. "What happened?" he yawned.

"We have to get a Titan his memory back."

Grover gulped and a small noise escaped his throat. It sounded like a scared baby sheep.

After eating a quick lunch, Nico, Grover, and I wandered around aimlessly.

"How are we supposed to get his memory back?" Nico asked for what seemed like the tenth time. "It's impossible…"

"Doesn't Iapethus have a son? Epimetheus?" I asked. "Creator of mankind?"

"That's Prometheus," Nico frowned. "And I don't think he'd be willing to help either." He sighed heavily. "I don't think anyone's tried to become mortal before."

"We can't give up," I said stubbornly. "I messed up everything. I have to fix this."

"You're a god," Nico said slowly.

"So?"

"Why can't you make yourself mortal again?"

Good point. "I'm a lousy god," I grumbled. "I can't even do anything. I don't even feel like a god. I have no powers."

"That's because you haven't tried using them yet. It's only been about a week. I think Hades once told me it took him a five centuries to fully master his powers."

"Great."

"Didn't you say you could do that cool disappearing thing?"

"It was just luck. I can't seem to do it again…"

There was silence and only the sound of Grover munching on silverware could be heard.

"So do we have an actual plan?" Grover spoke up.

"Find Iapethus and hope he remembers how to make me mortal?" I suggested.

"Back to the Underworld it is," Nico grinned. Of course he'd be happy in his father's domain.

"Oh boy," Grover moaned. "I think I'm going to be sick."

A/N: For those of you that haven't read The Demigod Files, yes, Percy did throw Iapetus into the River Lethes. It is all in The Demigod Files, just to clear up any confusion there may be.