also, apologies for the delay, as always. i've been spending more time on editing these days; it has pros and cons. please let me know if you see a difference in my writing! i want to make this story as well done as i possibly can.

i hope you enjoy! (if i succeeded, you might not)

PERCY:

I had a dream that night.

Out of every dream I'd ever had, it was the worst one.

I stood in a void. Darkness, just inky black. Then the world started to fade in, like a photo developing. A room—a gigantic room; not a room for a human. Slowly, blotchy figures solidified. Ornate mirrors, furniture, a bed against the wall, covered by a canopy, side tables, small tables, way too many pillows—all neat and all huge. Everything a varied hue of gold, not a mineral gold. Beige's, soft yellows, light browns—wheat. The sudden beat of my heart startled me. Thunk, thunk, thunk against the side of my throat.

Voices came next, but fuzzy.

"Percy." I jumped at the sound.

"Thalia," I whispered as ferociously as possible. Then, "Thalia?" She stood next to me, dressed in pajamas. We sighed. "We're dreaming together again." I grew acutely aware of the others as well; all five of us standing in a row.

"Haven't done that since we were on the run," She said.

"Got that right," Nico said. "This doesn't look good." The room came into a sudden, sharp focus. The voices, louder now, came from a set of double doors that were way too high for me to reach the handle. Another noise, it came from a plush couch in the middle of the room. The couch was smaller than everything else, as if it had been shrunk. When I saw who was sitting there, I knew why.

Katie, a set of gold chains around her wrists and another on her ankles, sat there. She had her head down; the noise was her sniffling.

She wasn't alone in the room.

Persephone sat on a bench at the base of the bed, picking at the frays of her dress. After a moment or two, she looked up and stared at Katie, who stared back. Something told me they'd been doing that for a while. A particularly loud shout came from the doors and Persephone sat back.

"Were you really planning on overthrowing mother?" Persephone asked. Katie's jaw dropped, then her hands fisted and her face twisted in anger.

"How long have you been conspiring with Kronos?"

Persephone squinted her eyes, "What's wrong with you? I've never met demigods as weird as your little posse." Katie blinked.

"You're not one of them—" The doors burst open and not only did the sister's stop, they sat up straighter. Demeter walked through the archway, only to spin around.

"She's my daughter! You will have no sway in where I keep her, you fool," Demeter turned to Persephone. "Go appease your father." The younger goddess rolled her eyes, but complied. When she was gone, Demeter shut the doors quietly and turned to Katie, who stared blankly at a throw rug.

"I don't like this," Jason said.

"Me neither," Sam said.

The yelling continued from the doors, but Demeter walked over to Katie, shrinking down enough to comfortably sit on the couch next to her. They sat in silence, until Demeter spoke up.

"Katie, you've always been a very bright, young lady," The goddess had her hands folded neatly in her lap. "You're talented. The best out of your cabin, if I had to pick. But I don't like pitting my children against each other." Katie ripped her eyes from the rug, only to turn her head away. Demeter continued, "I loved your father so much, I still do. I love you, very much. I know I am not as. . .available as other mothers, but. . .I don't see what caused you to do this."

Katie turned to her then, chains clinking. "Mother, I didn't do anything. They did this to me. People kidnapped me and they put this curse on me." Demeter was unfazed.

"Please tell me the truth, Katie. Maybe if we had the truth, we wouldn't be so hostile."

"I am telling the truth!" Katie yelled. She lifted her shirt to reveal the mark that ran along the side of her abdomen, from rib to hip. A sheaf of wheat, and a flaming torch, wrapped together with yarn. Demeter's eyes widened, but she remained perfectly still. "A man strapped me to a chair and etched this onto my skin for hours at a time! And it burned and we were there for months and there was no way out and—" Katie's voice almost broke, but she took a deep breath. "Nevermind." Demeter sat up straighter, if possible; I noticed her hands tightening.

"Continue," She said.

"No."

"That wasn't a request. Continue."

Katie rolled her eyes, but her face scrunched up.

"Young lady—"

"I asked!" Katie yelled. "Every single night. Everyone said it was useless and that none of you could hear us but I asked every single night for your help. And you never answered." Katie rubbed at her eyes. "I'm not lying."

I'd never seen a goddess cry. If I had to guess, Demeter looked like a goddess that wanted to cry. She adjusted herself to close the gap between them and took Katie's hands in her own. Then, she cleared her throat, "Tell me more."

"What the hell. ." Nico said skeptically. Outside, there wasn't even a whisper to be heard. Almost as if something had quelled their rage; an inside look, perhaps.

Jason noticed too. "Look at that. I told you. Ceres, a shady lady—" Sam hushed him. I clenched my fists, unable to run to Katie and make her notice.

She turned herself towards Demeter and took a deep breath, "We were in these. . .cages for months and then we broke out. It was only the six of us for a while."

"The six of you?" Demeter asked, voice like a soft wind.

"Percy, Jason, Sam, me, Thalia, Nico. You know, like the six of you."

Demeter raised her brow, "The six of who?"

"The six of you. The siblings. Kronos' children. I think that's what he wanted."

"Alright," Demeter's eyes had spun from a dark brown to a hard amber. "You broke out and what next?"

"We were on the run for a long time. We had to steal camping supplies. We'd make campsites, stay for a few weeks, then leave." Katie seemed lost in memory. "We traveled all across the country, but we stayed in the north most of the time."

"That's where you made your hideaway?" Demeter probed and Thalia almost snarled. Katie just shook her head, like getting pulled out of reverie.

"No, we only did that when the others started to appear, but before that we ran. Practiced with the new powers. We had to control ourselves. It was hard, especially with him always—" Katie looked up and took her hand from Demeter's, realizing what she'd done. "Anyway, Beckendorf was the first one to show up. Then we sensed Pollux, found him deranged and walking around a vineyard—"

"Him? Who's him? One of the boys?"

Sam clapped her hands together. "Hazel wasn't reacting to a feeling. She was sensing—"

Ice cold, frigid pinpricks seeped into my shoulders and weighed me down. A presence, giant and vile, like a massive bird digging steely talons into my skin. And I knew, with the senses that had been forced on me, that the others could feel it too.

You didn't think I'd stay away forever, did you?

"Kronos," Katie said meekly. Then she shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Tell me," Demeter insisted. "Please, let me help."

"I shouldn't say," Katie said.

"Katherine, this instant," Demeter said. A harshness was laced in her tone, revealing her true intent, but it was too late for Katie to stop. Far too late. A sickness broiled in my stomach, causing an acidic taste to slide across my tongue.

We all knew this was coming.

Accepting her fate, Katie took a deep breath and folded her shaking hands neatly within the other, placing them on her lap. Against the firelight, the sheen of sweat across her upper lip gleamed; a hand fluttered up to wipe it away.

"It was difficult to do things because, uh," She started, eyes darting this way and that like cue balls. "He appeared in our dreams quite a bit. Taunting and such. Eventually, we learned to phase him out, but it wasn't enough. It's never enough." Demeter, apparently satisfied with this confession, waved a hand.

"Keep going."

"Dark places, ominous threats. . ." It could have been over then. Sealed and wrapped. But I knew where this would go. Secrets could never be kept forever and this one, the worst one, like a bottle cap about to pop, was about to spill. And it was silent, a liminal silence. The quiet that consumed the moments between here and there, the moments you couldn't avoid. Where you could choose to keep the world from shattering for just a while longer, but you wreck it all anyway. We were neck-deep in that moment and Katie took the plunge. "There was one dream. A different dream."

The goddess straightened herself, "Is that so?"

"Yes, it was a bad dream. A nightmare," Katie shivered out. "One we couldn't wake up from. I mentioned that he was trying to mimic the six of you. . ."

"I recall," Demeter nodded; worry lines seeped into her expression.

"In this dream he did something horrible. Put us somewhere," as she spoke, her eyes glazed over, "And it was so painful." A murmur started outside the doors. "And it wouldn't have been that bad, but we just couldn't wake up." With swift movement, a maternal nature blended back into her stature and Demeter leaned closer to Katie, weaving a hand between both of hers.

"Tell me where he put you."

"I don't think I should," Katie sobbed, her head rocking back and forth. A dull thud sounded as Sam dropped to her knees with hollow cries to match.

"Make it stop," she said.

I can't stop fate. Pick your chin up, little ember. Watch.

"I have to know," Demeter said.

"It was hot," Katie started, twisting the goddesses hand like straw. "And red. It was just pain and hurt. There was sulfur in the air. I tasted it on my tongue." Demeter nodded and pushed back Katie's her with her free hand. Like there were no problems, like this was expected.

"Tartarus," she said. "That's where he put you."

"No," Katie said and with wild eyes, snatched her hands away. "That wasn't it. Do you think I would be like this," She pointed to herself. "if that's where we were? I wish he had put us in Tartarus!" Katie snapped, with the same intensity of a screw under to much pressure; quick and unfixable. "Mother, we were stuck in this cavern. With these red, spongy walls and drowning in some sort of acidic—bile." Nico retched and turned away.

And Demeter, well, it clicked. The goddesses eyes narrowed, the gold string in her hair thrummed with energy, and she threw a backward glance towards the door, where the murmuring had grown into a bout.

"We were screaming. Always screaming. The fumes, the stench. The acid went straight through my clothes. It felt like an eternity in there," Katie yelled, thoroughly crazed. Demeter grabbed her forearms and I could see her fear, plain as day.

"Tell me where."

"He was there the entire time, too. Taunting us. Laughing at us. While we sat there, burning, dissolving in all of it—" Katie's tangent choked off as Demeter shook her viciously. A heavy blanket of silence fell across the room. The goddesses eyes glistened at the rims and a small smile, a pleaful smile, was on her face.

This era will soon be over, Perseus. Enjoy the last of it.

"Tell—"

"His stomach," Katie said, hollowed and husked. "His stomach."

The doors burst open with such ferocity they cracked the walls beside them.

"You lying wench!" Hera screamed, her body towering over them. Golden tears rimmed her eyes. "You couldn't possibly know."

"I'm not lying!" Katie screamed back. Demeter drew her close in response, tucking her into her side, trying to protect her from the goddess above.

"Leave my chambers," Demeter demanded.

"Not until that witch is a heap of ash," Hera strode forwards, but Zeus came up from behind and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Let me kill her!" Demeter held Katie closer, her body began to glow. Other Olympians came in tow. A nauseating sensation washed over me and I became all too aware of the others. The clench in Jason's fists, Sam's nails dug into her scalp, the sweat down my back.

"She's a demigoddess," Zeus said. "Don't let her under your skin."

Hera's eyes were wild, "I don't care!"

"Let us go!" Thalia screamed, voice piercing. The bird lifted from its perch and the room pulled away, further and further until it was a spec in the inky distance. Heat grew, a roar hit, and darkness swallowed us whole. The floor fell out from beneath my feet. I spun three times before waking up in my bed. There was screaming out in the hall. I was burning.

I tumbled to the floor, knees hitting the hardwood, and screamed into the carpet. Dry heaves came next and thankfully, did not turn into the real thing. Annabeth appeared, her fingertips like icy pinpricks on my back; I jumped.

"Percy, you're boiling."

A loud shout crescendoed above the others in the hall. The doors of my bedroom wretched themselves wide and slammed against the walls. So much bursting.

Luke stormed in, jaw tight; it was the first time I'd seen him angry since he'd come back. It made me feel twelve years old again. A starved hysteria had claimed his face; the mark on his calf glowed through his pants.

"That's it Jackson, what the hell is going on?" He shouted, entire body trembling. He pointed to the hall. "Thalia is crying, won't come out of her room. Jason is out there practically sizzling, burning the carpet under his feet. Silena's cradling Sam like a fucking newborn bird and everyone's completely clueless." Nico ran in than and fell against the doorway, gripping the knob for dear life. His face was pale, cheeks gray. Pollux appeared, as if he'd been chasing him from the get-go, in time to help Nico find steady footing.

"We're fine," he said.

Luke didn't even turn, just scoffed. "Shit liar." Annabeth stood. The absence of her hands led me to realize how viciously I was shaking.

"Your true colors are finally shining through again," she said. "Aren't they?"

"There are rampaging minor gods trying to kill our parents," Luke started. "I don't have a lot of elbow room here, but don't you think, if the main goal is to stop them, then they—" He pointed at me. "—should tell us what's going on?" Annabeth craned her neck around to look at me and though her brows knit in empathy, it was clear she agreed with him.

A calculated sense, an uneasy vibration reverberated against the walls of my chest and I looked over to Nico, who had given up on his aid and slumped to the floor anyway. His chest heaved and his face, gaunt like a skeleton, was tipped upwards, head resting against the door. He repeatedly tapped two fingers against his sternum until the feeling turned weary. Tired. I sat back on my haunches. There was no room left to run, no words left to twist, no space left for secrets; and we all knew it.

"I'll tell them," Nico said, voice heavy and hardened. I made sure to hold his gaze.

"Let me do it," I said and before he could argue, "I need to do it." He nodded with understanding. The others kept shifting their stance, but Luke hadn't moved an inch. I had a sense his paranoia was rooted in the same source as my panic. "That first day, in the infirmary, you asked me—"

"What did he do to you?" Luke asked.

"What he did to you," I said. "Is much different than what he did to us." No reply came. Only the dying voices in the hall and the distant crash of the waves, dozens of meters below, far down on the shore. They were waiting.

And so I told them.

When I couldn't continue, Nico told them.

And when it was over, it took the night, the coming day, and the night again to feel real and right in any sense.

so, about the reveal, had anyone thought of that beforehand? i'd love to know!

comments are welcome and highly appreciated xxx thank you for reading!