Chapter 14: Percy's Pen, Possible Prophecy and Panics

Everyone was still trying to get over Alex calling them idiots and trying to decide whether or not to really be insulted. She was grinning at them while Magnus was rolling his eyes half amused and half annoyed. Finally they all stopped when she was cackling madly and decided to let it be.

The projection started on Percy sitting in a Ferrari looking out from the train windows on the sunset. A homeless guy was sitting next to him having suddenly appeared from no where.

"Did this actually happen? You can't just suddenly be on a train transporting sports cars with a homeless guy," Piper protested.

"It happened," Percy and Apollo said together. Percy looked at Apollo who winked and he sighed.

"We ran out and we couldn't take the van or they would recognize it. Bianca took us onto the subway, she said it hadn't been there when she lived in DC as a kid even though it was really old. We got lost near some warehouses and the train tracks. A homeless guy, that one invited us to his fire and asked us if we needed a train. He pointed us to the Sun West Line."

"I'm an idiot," Thalia said. "How didn't Zoe recognize you either?"

Apollo looked surprised at her demand and everyone else was looking at him. "She was too focused on other things. So were you. And I was in disguise. You weren't supposed to recognize me."

"You just made it fairly obvious," Will told his dad groaning. "Sun West, really Dad?"

Apollo shrugged.

"Anyway," Percy continued. "We got on the train which was transporting luxury cars. Thalia and I had a talk and I told her that they wanted her alone. She told me about San Francisco being bad for demigods and the Mountain of Dispair being there. I know now that's not the only reason. But she didn't really explain what the Mountain of Despair was. Then I got her mad."

"You guys fight a lot," noted Frank.

"Not anymore. Not since I joined the Hunters at least. That's what he said that made me mad anyway. Percy, being as perceptive as he is, realized that I didn't get along with Zoe because I had refused being a hunter. I would have if I didn't have to leave Luke. And Zoe told me he'd let me down someday."

"Oh." The sound echoed across the room.

Thalia sighed. "Yeah. Then Percy agreed that Zoe was right and I had to say that Luke had never let me down. Percy pointed out we were going to have to fight him and might even have to kill him. So I kicked him out of the car and told him he should think about why Annabeth would have wanted to join the Hunters."

Percy looked down as Annabeth looked at him. "It wasn't you."

"I know."

"You've never abandoned me. Not when you could do anything about it. Luke did and I felt betrayed. It was a thought. I wasn't going to go through with it. Not while I still had you."

Percy clutched her hand and nodded. "I was just scared. I didn't want to lose you and I thought I might be the one driving you away. The reason I hated Luke so much was because I was jealous of him, and because he betrayed us all. He hurt you and Thalia the most and I couldn't stand that."

Annabeth sighed. "We both couldn't look past our own fears back then. But remember you could never drive me away."

"I'm stupid," Thalia interrupted. "I knew I was hurting you and I was just upset because I knew you were right about Luke. So I decided to get back at you when you didn't deserve it."

"Don't apologize," Percy told her.

"I'm doing it. I'm sorry and I was a jerk," Thalia announced. "There. Now everyone is caught up."

The homeless man spoke up telling Percy not to be afraid of dreams. Dreams were the way he knew things about the future. They told him more than Olympian tabloids. He recited a Haiku and Percy guessed he was Apollo.

"Why that thing about dreams though?" asked Rachel.

"That's what I was thinking about when he appeared," Percy admitted. "I didn't want to go to sleep."

Apollo told him he was incognito and to call him Fred.

"Fred?" asked Calypso almost snorting.

"It's better than Lester Papadalous," Apollo grumbled. "You don't get to say anything to me. Witch."

Percy repeated that name asking if it was godly. Apollo said Zeus insisted on gods not interfering with quests. But Apollo wouldn't let anyone mess with his sister.

"That's sweet," cooed Jaz.

"Artemis thinks he's over protective," Thalia said. "She hates it."

"It's just the way he shows he loves her," Rachel interrupted. "And it's not a bad thing. He helped on your quest. Either way, it's nice."

Apollo was looking away. He missed his sister, she was never turned mortal, never punished alongside him. He wasn't his fathers favorite like she was. But she was looking after him he knew. And he just regretted they couldn't be together like always.

Percy asked if he could help them then. Apollo shushed him and said he had and to look out side. Percy nodded asking how fast they were moving. Apollo said fast enough but they were running out of time, they'd get a good way here. Percy asked where Artemis was. Apollo said he knew a lot and saw a lot but his vision was clouded and he hated it.

"Like now," Apollo grumbled.

"She's fine," Thalia assured him. "Just worried about you and trying to convince Zeus to bring you back to Olympus."

Percy asked if he knew what the monster they were looking for was. Apollo told him he didn't but he should ask Nereus who had a long memory and knew more than the oracle sometimes.

"Nereus?" Jason and Reyna asked.

"Yeah," Percy said. "I'm guessing you romans are why he hates demigods."

"We use him a lot. We don't have an oracle," Reyna agreed. "We only had Octavian."

"But like Apollo said," Rachel pointed out. "The oracle doesn't know everything. At least not the Oracle of Delphi. That's why the other ones exist. And why they're coming back."

Annabeth suddenly cursed and scribbled something down madly. "You just made me realize something. If all the Oracles are coming back, after the worlds have all interacted and something else is coming."

"Another great prophecy," Apollo said with eyes wide. "Probably the greatest. A result of all the Oracles. But to hear it I'll need to succeed in my quest first."

"So it's after the Triumvirate the Fates want us to know about," Percy said. "Something about me still. Either way, that means you'll defeat them."

"It's just a theory," Annabeth reminded them. "But I'll make a note of the idea."

Apollo told Percy he had to run and probably couldn't risk helping them again. He told Percy to get his sleep and make a good haiku about their quest. Then Apollo snapped his fingers and Percy slumped as he opened his mouth to protest. He fell asleep immediately.

"Thank you," Annabeth told Apollo.

He shrugged. "No problem."

THe scene changed. It was someone else wearing a greek tunic and leather sandals with the Nemean lion skin. A girl was towing him along telling him to hurry or they would be found. The man declared he wasn't afraid and she said he should be. They hid behind a thorn bush. The man assured her again they didn't need to run. He'd killed thousands of monsters with his bare hands.

"What's going on?" asked a very confused Jason. "This isn't you or anything. Why are we watching something from Ancient Greece?"

"Something about Hercules," Piper agreed knowing Jason was going to point it out. "What does he have to do with this?"

"A lot," Percy sighed.

The girl told him he couldn't beat this monster, Ladon this way. He had to go around the mountain to her father. That was the only way. The man said he didn't trust her father. THe girl agreed he shouldn't and they would have to trick him because they couldn't take the prize outright or he'd die. He asked why she wouldn't help him. She said she was afraid, she would be disowned by her sisters and Ladon would stop her.

Calypso gasped.

Thalia looked at Percy surprised. "The Hesperides?"

"The golden apple," Percy agreed. "I guess when Luke did that quest he met Atlas. And he got scratched by Ladon. It makes a lot of sense."

"He didn't say anything about it," Annabeth confirmed. "But how he acted after… what happened… he probably did."

THe man said there was nothing too it. The girl yelled for him to wait. She took a pin out of her hair and told him to take it. It was from her mother and it holds power from the Ocean.

Everyone looked to Percy. "A pin that holds the Oceans power?"

"Watch," Percy said grinning suddenly. "I hated everything about this dream but this. It'll make a lot more sense in a moment."

The girl blew a breath on the pin until it glowed she told the man to take it and make a weapon from it. The man laughed and asked how a hairpin would kill Ladon. She said it was all she could give him even though it might not work. The man took the hairpin and it became a long bronze sword.

"No way," Leo said looking at Percy.

"Yes way," Percy said twiddling with the pen in his fingers. "Cursed history. Ancient sword to do with the sea."

"Blah-Blah-Blah," said Jack growing from the medallion on Magnus's neck. "Pen form sucks. So do hairpins. And your sword can't even talk."

"Jack," Magnus complained. "Shut up."

"No way! Sumerbrander all the way!"

Percy laughed. "You've got a pretty cool sword too."

"Another one with a bad history and a curse," Magnus agreed. "Do all magic weapons have that?"

"Mine does," Piper said holding up Katropis.

"My medallion didn't," Jason said.

"My spear and Aegis," Thalia said. "Debatable."

"My old knife," Annabeth sighed. "We know that for sure."

"So a lot of them," Magnus decided.

"But not all," Hazel told him. "Mine doesn't. Neither does Nico's or any of Frank's stuff, or Reyna's or…"

"Thanks Hazel," Percy interrupted. "But why don't we just finish."

The man asked what he should name the sword. She told him Anaklusmos, the current that took you by surprise so you were suddenly swept out to sea. Then there was a hissing noise and the girl cried out that he was here.

"Wait, that voice is familiar," said Piper suddenly as the projection collapsed.

"Yeah, it would be," Percy confirmed. "We've been listening to her for the past day."

"Zoe?" Nico asked surprised. "Riptide comes from Zoe? She helped Hercules? That was Zoe?'

Percy nodded. "We didn't really talk about it but yeah. That was all Zoe."

Annabeth looked at him and his eyes crinkling, drooping. He was exhausted, emotionally and physically. Plus several things had been revealed or he'd learnt of today that were taking a big toll on him, that she was sure of though no one else might notice. "I think we should stop here for the night."

"It's a good place too," Grover confirmed. "Right before New Mexico."

"New Mexico?" asked Rachel with a grin. "Like when we…."

"Shh!" Percy told her tiredly. "Spoilers."

"C'mon," Annabeth said pulling him up. "You need some sleep."

"Is that all we're doing?" he said making her blush. "Like in the stables. On the Argo II."

"Shut up now," she said pulling him away as everyone else laughed harder than before. She glared at them and they stopped only to start again when the door shut behind them.