Chapter 11

"Something caused the earthquake," Poseidon announces.

Percy grunts, his eyes flicking over the sea spread out before them. "Obviously. But Kronos is still gone."

"We should have gone ahead with the harness," Zeus mutters.

"We tried," Percy reminds him. He cups his hands over his mouth and chitters in the hope that Kronos will emerge from the sea.

No such luck.

Percy sighs. "Any luck finding the culprit?"

Zeus crosses his arms, turning his scowl from the sea towards the forest. "Whichever one was responsible, it came from the land."

"It scared Kronos," Percy recalls. "He smelt something."

"Artemis is finding its trail." Zeus hugs impatiently. "I'll have to have every being on high alert for any unusual activities. We need to find the Titans before they get large enough to kill mortals – I don't want a repeat of Kronos." He twists to face Poseidon. "Any luck finding Oceanus?"

"He's still in the sea," Poseidon promises. "Amphitrite has got a message to him."

"Will he listen to her?" Percy asks curiously.

"He will," Poseidon sighs. "He trusts her. I've asked him to meet me here. So I'll be sticking around for a little."

Zeus tilts his head to the side. "Artemis calls," he informs Poseidon. "It seems that this monster is far easier to locate than Kronos was."

It's only after Zeus leaves that the storm clouds roll in. Poseidon pauses, before his lips twitch up into a wry smile as a Titan emerges from the sea.

Clutched firmly in Oceanus' hand is a squirming serpent. Kronos hisses fiercely, struggling to get out of Oceanus' grip, but his brother seems to know where to hold him to not be harmed. No matter how much he twists, Kronos can't get his brother.

Percy perks up. "Kronos!"

"Came straight to me," Oceanus grumbles. "Odd considering how much we usually fight."

Poseidon steps forwards. "Thank you for agreeing to talk."

Oceanus scowls. "Can't very well ignore it with what's going on."

Poseidon nods slightly. "Yes. What do you know of recent events?"

"Enough. I sensed it when Kronos left the Lethe in the Mariana Trench and entered mortal waters. Can't say I was particularly surprised," Oceanus adds. He throws Kronos into the sand at Percy's feet. "Here's your pet."

Percy frowns at the Titan's remark. "He's not my pet," he says curtly as Kronos hisses angrily at his brother. Percy presses his lips together. "Do you know what scared him?"

Oceanus nods. "Yes," he mutters. "Course I do. Iapetus was released from Tartarus." His lips turn down. "He's the one causing earthquakes."

"What monster is he?" Poseidon questions.

Oceanus frowns deeply at Poseidon's question. "We're not monsters. We're animals, but not monsters. There's an important distinction between the two, please do try to remember it."

"Iapetus?" Poseidon prompts.

"Have you ever heard of the World Serpent?" Oceanus muses.

"Oceanus," Poseidon sighs.

"It's important," Oceanus says curtly. "Have you? Jörmungandr, from the Norse Pantheon."

Percy blinks. "In passing," he says when it looks like his father isn't going to say anything. "Why?"

"Because that is essentially what Kronos is." Oceanus keeps his feet firmly planted in the surf, not stepping out of his domain. "None of you understand what you're really dealing with here. Kronos is where the legend of Jörmungandr comes from. They are one and the same. Iapetus? He's a wolf, Fenrir, actually. We aren't monsters, we're creatures of myths and legends that have been remembered in our own ways for millions of years."

"What are the others?" Percy asks.

"No, I'm not telling you that. Figure it out yourself, it's not particularly hard. Kronos has always been a slippery serpent, Iapetus has always stalked things in the shadows."

Poseidon is silent for several moments as he observes Oceanus. He abruptly frowns. "You want to be taken to Tartarus."

Oceanus' jaw tightens. "Of course," he whispers, suddenly looking incredibly pained. "He's giving us all back the one thing that we lost and wish we could regain. The only problem with it is that Tartarus takes our memories so we want to serve him."

"How about we make a deal?" Poseidon proffers. "We keep you safe from Tartarus, and we'll figure out how to get you your birth form back, whatever it is."

"And in return?"

"You let us know what the others are, when they come up. What their domains are, their weaknesses." Poseidon's eyes flick over to Kronos.

"Don't expect me to stay on land," Oceanus warns.

Poseidon's lips twitch up. "Of course not."

Oceanus turns to Percy, nodding down to Kronos. "Make sure he doesn't piss any other Primordials off, would you? He was always the best at that."

"We've got a harness for him now," Percy dryly informs Oceanus. "I'll keep an eye on him." Kronos seems incredibly affronted at the thought of having a leash like a dog. "Why did he run?"

Oceanus shrugs. "I… may have got in a fight. Kronos came to my defence when I called. Us sea Guardians tend to stick together."

"So it wasn't the earthquake?"

"Iapetus? No, he's a little puppy right now. He's not a threat." Oceanus smiles. "Though he will grow quickly to be a threat to Kronos."

"And what are you?" Poseidon asks. "Just so we know what we might be dealing with."

"Megalodon," Oceanus says. "Essentially."

"The prehistoric shark?" Percy asks in bewilderment.

"Yes, why?"

"You don't look very shark-like to me," Percy muses. "I mean, I can see the snake in Kronos, but-" he winces when Kronos swats his shin with his tail. "Okay, I deserved that."

Oceanus smiles. "Why do you think sharks are considered to be mine and dolphins Poseidon's?"

Poseidon holds his hand out to Oceanus and waits expectantly. "So we have a deal?"

Oceanus sighs. "I suppose," he says reluctantly. "No hard feelings for destroying Atlantis in the war?"

Poseidon's expression hardens. "Make no mistake, I'm not doing this for you."

"I know," Oceanus smirks as he takes Poseidon's hand. "We can agree to disagree at least."

It's only after the Titan is gone that Poseidon relaxes his stiff stance. "I've always wondered why he can't transform into sharks." Looking somewhat exasperated, he turns to face Percy. "Let us hope that Artemis has caught Iapetus successfully."

Percy steps back when Kronos tries to clamber up his leg, obviously to get to his favourite perch on Percy's shoulders. "You're too big now." And Kronos is, he's grown another two feet in the three days that he's been gone, putting him at six feet long.

Kronos snorts at Percy to let him know that he's displeased, but he tails Percy as they make their way back into Camp.

Percy and Poseidon find the rest of the Olympians in the arena. Kronos shoots ahead with a sudden burst of speed, heading straight for the cage in the middle. A black-furred wolf with silver eyes lies in the very centre, warily watching the beings around it.

Kronos wastes little time, settling firmly on the top of the cage and letting the tip of his tail slip through the gaps. Iapetus' ears rest flat against his head as he eyes the wriggling tail. Then with a fierce growl, he lashes out for the silver limb. Kronos curls his tail up and Iapetus smashes headfirst into the cage, whimpering.

"Hey, Kronos, that's cruel," Percy protests. "Come on, be nice to your brother."

It's Zeus that tugs Kronos away from the cage, dropping him onto the ground few feet away. "The plan," he says stiffly to Poseidon. "Is that Morpheus will return Iapetus' memories due to Iapetus' assistance in recent years. Nico, are you ready?"

Nico nods firmly. "Yes, I can do this."

"Wait, do what?" Percy asks.

"As you have… attempted to tame Kronos," Zeus says, eyes flicking over to Kronos as the serpent hisses back at him just so the god is aware that he's most certainly not tamed. "Nico will do the same to Iapetus."

"What about the whole sharing injuries thing?" Percy questions.

"You didn't ask Oceanus?"

"I forgot," Percy defends. "Since he just dropped the bomb of himself being a Megalodon, Kronos being the same as Jörmungandr and Iapetus being Fenrir on us we were a little preoccupied."

"Jörmungandr?" Athena echoes, looking incredibly alarmed.

"Yeah," Percy says. "Why?"

"Jörmungandr is known as the serpent that encircles the world, quite literally."

"He's that big?"

"Yes, though it looks like it will take centuries for Kronos to reach that size," Athena adds rather wryly.

Zeus clears his throat. "We can deal with that later," he grumbles as Morpheus steps forwards.

Percy plants his foot on the end of Kronos' tail to stop him from charging at Iapetus as soon as the cage is opened. Kronos grumbles before lowering himself down to flop in the sun.

A stark contrast to Kronos regaining his memories, Iapetus doesn't immediately try to kill someone, though he does claw Morpheus until the god drops him.

"Hey, Iapetus," Nico greets carefully.

Iapetus seems stunned where he lies, silver eyes blinking as he peers at the deities in the arena.

Kronos wriggles until his tail slips out from under Percy's foot. Percy's about to stop him again, but the serpent slithers over to Iapetus. Kronos thrusts his face right in front of Iapetus, causing the other Titan to yelp and swat at him. The small paw catches Kronos on the side of his head. While Kronos didn't look hurt, Percy felt like he'd just been slapped in the face.

The serpent moves right up to Iapetus and drops his head onto Iapetus' chest.

Iapetus' tail thumps against the ground and Percy relaxes. Maybe this could work.

1 review... come on guys, don't I get better than that?

Lord Nitro: Yeah, it's Iapetus. And Oceanus. And now the others will begin to emerge too.