Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any related characters! Please, please, PLEASE review if you read; all feedback is greatly appreciated. You all are awesome, and thank you for reading my story!
Annabeth was walking through the forest with Cyrene on her back and with Nico in her hands. It was about 3:00 in the morning. The fall air whisked through the trees, making even Percy's dream-self shiver. It smelled like fall out there, but not the homey fall vibe that Hestia had created in their hotel room; a violent, wild, forest fall that includes the smell of blood. Percy recognized the area as the West Woods, where he and Annabeth had forged into during a particularly weird game. They were supposed to collect all the gold laurels while stopping anyone/thing that tried to collect their lives.
As Annabeth walked, it caught Percy off guard how strong she was; she was easily carrying Nico off the ground as if he was a suitcase. He always knew she was fit, but there weren't many feats of strength that she had displayed. However, Percy thought back to when she had carried the sky and had matched weapon strikes with Kronos himself and retracted that previous statement. Percy saw Nico close his eyes, clench his fist, and show exertion on his face, but the bracelet's markings glowed and he stopped trying. Annabeth stopped next to an opening between two boulders. Percy recognized that immediately as the way they had entered the Labyrinth in years ago. Was that time the turning point? Why was so much of her plan contingent on our trip through the Labyrinth? Was she entering the Labyrinth? If so, they would have to recruit Rachel and go through there themselves if they were ever to catch her.
Annabeth knelt down and put a small cylinder with thick green liquid in it. Percy's blood went cold. He didn't know if that was out of fear or because of the wind. That was Greek fire, some of the most dangerous substances in existence. Annabeth made sure the detonator on the cylinder was primed, picked Nico up like a sack of potatoes, and set him down against a tree about five to ten feet away from the bomb. Percy panicked. Was she going to kill Nico?!
She tapped the bracelet on his wrist and a golden flickering shield erupted around him. She took out a glowing string, which she put on the ground, straightening it so it was facing Nico. Percy recognized the string as Ariadne's string; she was trying to lead something out of the Labyrinth. She continued to walk. Was that a detonator on her wrist? In response, Cyrene yawned on her back, and Annabeth fought a smile.
As Percy's dream self followed Annabeth, his homing radar was buzzing like crazy; his senses told him that she was walking towards Camp Half-Blood. It was eerily silent as Annabeth walked, besides the wind. Annabeth got to the borders of camp and Percy saw two things coming up. First was an artifact that glowed warm, golden light even through his dreams; the Golden Fleece. It made the wind feel like a breeze, and he could see its energy seeping into the tree it was hanging on, forging the boundaries for the camp. Percy had an epiphany; both the Fleece and the Nemean Lion's Pelt were two indestructible pieces of golden fur that he had been given one time or another. Percy shook the thought out of his head. The second thing he saw was Peleus, a long dragon who woke up and looked up at Annabeth. If it could smile, it gave her one and went back to sleep. Annabeth took out her hybrid sword and cradled Peleus' head. She took two deep breaths and looked to the sky, as if she was trying to stop herself from crying. On the third breath, she reached her sword back and stabbed it straight through Peleus' head, through his brain, and out the top of his head.
Percy's dream self screamed as the Stygian ice on the sword started to freeze the area that was punctured. Tendrils of ice spread about six inches from the initial contact, and Peleus was killed instantly. Percy felt like fighting someone. Peleus was one of the most loyal additions to the camp, and now he's dead. Annabeth stepped on Peleus, reached up, and grabbed the Golden Fleece from its branch. She closed her eyes and Percy saw she had her concentrating face on. As she concentrated, the Fleece melted into almost an energy-liquid and merged with her plain brown shirt, now creating a shirt that was brown with glowing golden stripes, almost like a tiger. Cyrene smiled on her back and snuggled closer to Annabeth's back, probably enjoying the warmth of the Fleece.
Did Annabeth do that for Cyrene? Did she take the Fleece to ensure her safety? Percy shook his head and chastised himself. He continued to interpret certain things that Annabeth did as being brave, heroic, or kind, when she literally had put a sword through the protector of the camp's head and stole the source of the camp's magic borders. He needed to stop looking at her as being redeemable. Annabeth took out a watch from her pocket and pressed it. In the distance, there was a large explosion that produced a large cloud of green smoke. The Greek fire bomb had blown up, and Percy screamed again. Nico was there!
Annabeth lounged against a tree and waited. Percy looked at Camp to see if he could find anything out of the ordinary. He was going to try to will his dream self onto the Camp grounds when he heard large footsteps. Percy turned and saw one of the most terrifying sights he's ever seen. Monsters came from the exploded Labyrinth entrance; huge monsters. Gorgons, empousai (Percy wondered what his high school cheerleaders were doing here), manticores, Telekhines, giant humanoids, and other monsters trudged towards Annabeth. They undoubtedly smelled the many demigods in one place and headed there by instinct. Annabeth looked fearlessly towards the monstrous army coming towards her. She looked up in the sky and saw huge wings flapping in the air. A being landed in front of all the monsters, and Percy recognized it as Kampѐ, the jailer of the Cyclops and Hundred-Handed Ones. She was a sadist, and took great pleasure in torturing anyone she could get her hands on. Was she the one who Annabeth was serving? It didn't seem likely though; Kampѐ was too much of a wild and uncontrollable spirit to employ Annabeth as a sleeper agent. Annabeth maintained her composure, but Percy saw fear flash in her eyes. Kampѐ and the monsters walked until they were ten feet from Annabeth and all of them stopped, as if it was part of a Thriller dance routine. If Annabeth was serving Kampѐ, it sure seemed like the other way around.
Annabeth turned towards the camp and took out her watch again. She pressed another button on her watch, and Percy saw his worst nightmare come true. Every single cabin and building, including the Big House, exploded in Greek fire. Percy could feel the heat, even in his dream. Percy tried to attack Annabeth, but his dream self wouldn't allow it; he was just a passenger of this ride for now. Annabeth began to walk onto the grounds of Camp Half-Blood and the monsters followed. Once more, it was deathly silent as they trudged into Percy's destroyed home.
Percy woke up in all types of pain. His head hurt, his neck hurt, the swipe on his face hurt, and his body was sore from all the times Percy hit the ground. All he thought was, Camp...
He tried to sit up, but pain wound up and punched him back down. A hand went on his chest.
"Relax, hero."
Power flowed through the hand and he looked up. Looking down on him was a very beautiful woman that looked in her late twenties with chocolate-colored skin and curly black hair. She had caramel-colored eyes that seemed to glow with power. She smiled and her teeth almost seem to glow. She held a straw up to his lips. Percy drank and tasted his mother's chocolate chip cookies. He put together quickly that she had fed him ambrosia, the food of the gods. She hummed a melodic song as she walked away from him and Percy saw that she had on a business suit. When Percy focused harder, through the Mist, he saw that she wore a glowing white Greek-style dress. He felt like he was on Calypso's island again, where he gets knocked out and a gorgeous woman nurses him back to health.
Percy began to feel better and he sat up slowly. He was on a couch that was in a dimly lit room that glowed red and golden. The room looked like a jazz lounge, with chairs and tables set up and all of them pointing towards the stage. From the ceiling above the stage hung four lights that shined light on the four chairs on the stage. The stage itself seemed to glow with a golden light. The atmosphere was warm and soulful. Percy saw that there was a thirty foot wooden square hanging behind the stage that seemed to have different brushstrokes of colors and shadings. There was brown, caramel brown, yellow, honey, golden, dark brown, and other variations on brown and yellow. There were three words in the center that seemed to glow golden; The Commodore Grill. Percy turned the other way and saw three other couches, where Thalia and Grover were on as well. Percy saw two more women, one at each couch. They both looked exactly like the one who nursed Percy, but they just had different hairstyles. One's hair was tied and put up so that a large puff of hair was sticking out on top. The other's hairstyle had a large, thick, obsidian black afro of curly hair. It seemed to shift and move as she moved, reminding Percy of Medusa. The women put straws to both Grover and Thalia's mouth, and his friends began to stir and sit up. They were alive.
Percy looked up at the women. They were nice, beautiful women that looked like triplets and had healed his friends. They may be monsters, or they may be gods. He wasn't going to take his chance with the former. His hand reflexively went to his neck to check his wound, but it was mostly gone. What was left was a long, thin scar that Percy could feel. Another addition to his decoration of painful souvenirs from battles. He was still in his white shirt that he had gone to sleep in the previous night at Camp Jupiter. It was now stained with a lot of blood though, so it almost looked like a Thrasher-hipster T-shirt he was wearing. He had gauze covering half his neck and wrapping around his shoulder. Percy's hand crept to the pen in his pocket.
"Who are you all?" Percy's voice came out as hoarse and rough, and every word hurt his throat.
The one who had nursed him to health walked over to the other two women, who stood on either side of her. They waved their hands and the three couches quickly slid together and melted into one large couch where Percy, Thalia, and Grover were sitting on together. The women were right in the center of their vision, and Percy felt like he and his friends were an audience for these mysterious women.
The middle one smiled. "I…am…Aoide. But you can call me Ao." After every word in her first sentence, a saxophone or trumpet played a quick staccato as if she had her own personal backup jazz instrumentalists. Thalia looked around suspiciously, but couldn't find the source of the music. Grover was too busy trying to pick his mouth off the floor. Percy figured Juniper wouldn't be too happy.
The one to the left, who had nursed Thalia flipped her hair and struck a pose like Beyoncé. "And I…am…Melete. But you can call me Mel." After her introduction, the invisible jazz instruments held a long note, like a finale of the song.
The one to the right, who had nursed Grover at the far couch, and popped her leg as if she was on the runway of a fashion show. "I…am Mneme. But you can call me Nemi." The sound of applause sounded through the room as if it was a packed lounge, and the three women bowed and smiled. Percy, Thalia, and Grover looked at each other and began to clap as well.
Ao focused her attention on them once more. "And we…are the Muses."
Grover almost knocked out on the spot. "The Muses? THE Muses?!"
Percy could only think of the women who would sing the ironic gospel songs in the movie Hercules. He did see a bit of a resemblance, and Percy felt like his mind was melting.
Mel smiled at Grover and Ao seemed to read Percy's mind, since she giggled a bit. Mel answered, "Yes, sir. Well, we expanded our ranks a little bit. First, there were us three, then we increased to nine, and now we have applications every spring for some more soulful women who will be able to join our countless number of Muses."
Thalia rubbed her eyes as if she was dreaming. "This…is the Commodore Grill. I thought you all were supposed to be hanging out at temples of Apollo?"
Nemi tapped her chin as if that was a good point. "You're right, Ms. Grace. But…every music lounge, club, and performance theater is a modern-day temple to Apollo, wouldn't you say? He is the god of music and the arts, after all."
Thalia frowned in response.
Mel nodded. "We have Muses watching over every single lounge, club, or area that celebrates music, spoken word, or poetry. Speaking of which, do we have any word on Beyoncé's application?"
Nemi shook her head. "We need to wait until that comes down from Apollo's corporate, and then we can get back to her."
Percy pressed his head to his temples. It made about as much sense as everything else in this world. "How did you find us?"
Ao beckoned at Thalia. "That one had picked both of you up from the Parthenon replica down the street and had limped all the way down the road. She was nursing her own injuries though, so she got to our lounge and the poor thing passed out. Mel sensed you all here and we brought you inside. And…it's on the news."
Nemi waved her hand and the sign that said "The Commodore Grill" changed into a television, which flipped to a Breaking News station. It showed policemen, firefighters, and ambulances at the scene of the Parthenon replica ruins. They heard a reporter speak on the subject.
"In a rare turn of events, sources say that the Parthenon replica in Nashville, Tennessee was struck by a bolt of lightning, reducing it to ash and rubble. Police found the regular late night shift security guards tied up safely, about a hundred feet away. Maybe Athena was not happy about something." The news-caster gave a radiant grin before Nemi waved her hand and the television disappeared.
Percy looked at Thalia, who matched his gaze. He sent a silent thank you to her. She nodded back. Grover was sweating at this point. "Thank…thank you! Thank you all so much! You all are so fabulous and so amazing and so wonderful, and so…I don't know, you're great."
They all smiled at once. "Thank you, Grover."
The satyr almost died.
Ao trained her eyes on Percy and her face turned deadly serious. "But this one has something to tell you all."
She looked at Percy meaningfully for a strong second, then turned to the others with a smile. "We'll leave you three to it. I hope you all feel better! It is about 3:15 a.m. and we have to get ready for opening! We hope you feel better; we tried our best to patch you all up. Luckily, there was gauze and ambrosia on you all's person when we brought you in."
The Muses snapped at once, and they disappeared with a loud jazz note.
With the red-golden lighting and the setting, the ambiance felt like Percy, Thalia, and Grover were in a club. Thalia raised an eyebrow. "Who brought the gauze and the ambrosia?"
Percy thought back to the encounter and saw Annabeth toss it at him without a second glance. "Annabeth did."
Grover perked up. "She gave you materials you needed to save yourself?"
Percy shook his head. "I don't know. It's all so weird. She'll go after everything I love and do heartless things, but will go out of her way to do small things to protect me or Cyrene. It doesn't make sense."
A very small part of Percy thought that it may be because she actually does love him, even if it's just as a friend. The rest of Percy pulled that thought into a dark alley and beat it down.
Thalia sniffed. "I don't know. It was tough fighting her. Not just because she was my friend, but because she knew my fighting style, and it was like she was predicting every move before I executed it. It also seemed like she wasn't all of her effort; it seemed like she was bouncing around and letting me do all the heavy lifting when it came to destroying the Parthenon replica."
Thalia looked up bashfully. "Sorry for that. I was so angry that I didn't see her plan until it was too late."
Percy put his hands up. "It's no one's fault but Annabeth's. First, I wanted to call myself a vlacas because I left Camp Jupiter without any battle materials. We had no armor, no special weapons, no ambrosia, no first-aid materials; I was so angry and so blinded that I had you all shadow travel with me without any preparation."
Grover bleated. "Perrrrrcy, it's oka-"
"No, it's not okay. Grover, you ended up fighting in a T-shirt. Thalia was still in her sleep clothes, but luckily she has her Hunter outfit on demand. And I was fighting in a white T-shirt and sweatpants. If a sword strike had gone the wrong way, it would've gone straight through us. I'm sorry."
Thalia smiled. "Yeah, you are a vlacas."
Percy half-smiled, but then recalled something. "I remember now. Those bracelets with the weird markings on them? That Annabeth, Nico, and Cyrene had? They had hieroglyphs on them. They're Egyptian magic charms."
Grover's mouth hung open and Thalia sat forward. "Percy, are you sure? This is getting into a new pantheon of gods and monsters here."
Percy nodded confidently. "Yeah. A few years ago, Annabeth and I had met some Egyptian magicians and we had collaborated to defeat a common enemy. Whether Annabeth had engineered that so she could get access to the magic, I'm not sure. But I bet you those charms are cursed with Egyptian magic, and that's why they're all hidden from the gods and why Nico wasn't able to use his powers."
Thalia nodded thoughtfully. "Interesting sentiment, but even Greek gods can see Egyptian magicians. According to Artemis, people who are embroiled in different pantheons of gods have a different aura about them, almost like a different color."
"What about Annabeth's invisibility hat," Grover pointed out.
Thalia raised an eyebrow. "What about it?"
Something in Percy clicked. "No, Grover's right! Good thinking, goat!"
Grover blushed. Percy elaborated. "Annabeth probably had her invisibility hat blessed or cursed by Sadie's charms the last time we had a rendezvous with the Egyptian magicians."
Thalia looked confused. "Sadie…?"
"She's one of the magicians we met," Percy quickly said. "But, Athena gave that invisibility hat to hide from Greek monsters, demigods, and mortals. What if…with the help of Egyptian magic, it can make Annabeth invisible from even the gods?"
Thalia nodded. "It's not unheard of. That's how King Arthur's legendary sword Excalibur operated; it was so sought after because every single pantheon of gods had blessed it with their magic. It allowed the sword to be used against any living or dead being that the wielder encountered. If that same principle was applied to her hat and Annabeth combined magic from two pantheon of gods, it would explain how she was able to kill Iris and Fleecy without being seen."
Grover stood up. "So, to apply Hestia's lesson; Annabeth and Nico's demigod physiology make them glowing fire people. With those charms on their wrists, they turn into regular fire people, camouflaged among the rest of the world."
Thalia pointed out, "Which makes it hard for the gods to find. Hestia mentioned that they'd have to scour through every single building of every single city of every single state to find someone with that charm."
Grover continued. "But when Annabeth puts on that hat, the mix of Greek and Egyptian magic combines perfectly and her fire person disappears."
Percy nodded. "That's how she did it. She knew the gods were going to take special interest in Iris and Fleecy's death, and she needed to cover her tracks."
Thalia rubbed her chin. "But why go to the Parthenon in the first place? And why not keep the hat on at all times?"
Grover thought for a second. "Maybe she was worried that the Egyptian magic would take a toll on Cyrene. Or maybe it hurts. Or maybe she likes to see herself as she moves around. Regarding the Parthenon-"
"It's hiding in plain sight," Percy finished dejectedly. "It's one of Annabeth's favorite techniques; especially with her demigod aura disguised, no one would think to look for her at the Parthenon replica. That's like looking in the Poseidon cabin if someone told you I'd been missing for a few weeks."
Thalia shrugged. "I would check there first. Maybe you were having a really good sleep."
Grover grinned. Percy remembered his dream. "Speaking of which, I have a dream to tell you all about. It's pretty heavy, so fair warning. Annabeth had her new hybrid sword and was walking through the forest around Camp Half-Blood. She still had Cyrene on her back. She set and primed a Greek fire bomb right by the entrance to the Labyrinth, and placed Nico and Ariadne's string a few feet away. How she acquired all of these materials is lost to me. My guess is that she used Nico's Big Three demigod scent as bait for monsters. She used the string to most likely give a clear path out of the Labyrinth for the monsters. Nico had his charm on him, which Annabeth tapped and released a golden, flickering shield, which is probably an Egyptian spell of protection."
Thalia nodded while Grover gulped. This time, Percy could read his friend's emotions; he was thinking about Juniper. Percy continued. "She walked to the Camp border. Peleus saw her and went back to sleep, but…she killed him. A sword straight through the head."
Grover sprung up, tears in his eyes. "NO. That can't be true."
Thalia put her head down sadly and said a quick prayer.
After a sad moment, Percy continued. "She pressed a timer on her watch, and the Greek fire exploded, creating a path out the Labyrinth and straight to Camp. The monsters all filed out, but once they saw Nico was under protection, they began to smell all of Camp Half-Blood's demigods. Mind you, this is early in the morning, so everyone was probably asleep while this was happening. Annabeth took the Golden Fleece, and led the monsters into camp. She pressed another button on his watch and…ah…"
Percy had to fight back tears. He hoped somehow that most demigods had went on a search party or a quest somewhere and escaped this, but he knew that was not realistic.
"…she blew up every single building and cabin at Camp. She must have planted Greek fire bombs underneath them all, and their wood composition probably didn't help either. Every demigod who was sleeping in their bed probably…died instantly."
Thalia and Grover stared at him as if he was the one who did it. Percy looked away when he felt tears threatening to escape. Thalia fell to her knees. "She's gone. Annabeth's really gone."
Grover stalked around and punched a wall. His fist went straight through it. "Juniper, my fiancé, is there! We need to go. NOW!" Grover looked at his Hades ring and reached out both his hands. Though tears were falling freely from her eyes, her eyes showed a steely determination that even made Percy's wolf stare look tame in his opinion. She took a breath.
"We need to go, before she can do this to anyone else." She turned to Grover. "Still think she's able to be saved?"
Grover's jaw clenched and Percy sensed him biting back a retort. Thalia clenched her fist, and her ring started to glow with a pale white energy. She grabbed Grover's shoulder and reached her hand out towards Percy.
He looked at the two of them and thought about Camp going up in flames. He reached out and took Thalia's hand. All three of them thought about Camp Half-Blood and they melted into the shadows.
They felt the usual travel noises and speed, but as they began to slow down, an outside force seemed to whisk them to the left for a few seconds. They came out of a shadow by a tree in the same forest, but it was about a hundred feet past where Percy was thinking. He looked forward and saw the monsters trudging around Camp Half-Blood, picking up rubble and checking for demigod remnants. Percy saw Kampѐ grab two harpies and eat them. He uncapped Riptide and anger flowed through him. Thalia and Grover pulled out their weapons. "Let's end this."
Percy dashed forward, and crashed into an invisible, metallic wall, knocking Percy out immediately.