Percy's POV

I could not understand why we were up so early. The sun had just come up, and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. We were all at the big house, waiting for our mysterious ride back to Greece. I still had not slept well, so my nerves were pretty much on edge.

"Why did Mercury say to be up this early if whoever is taking us back is running late?" Jason asked. He was leaning against the side of the porch, and Piper was gently snoring on his shoulder.

"Beats me," I yawned.

"The gods work on their own time," Nico muttered from the corner.

"Well, I wish they would hurry up," Leo grumbled closing his eyes. "I have work that needs to be finished on the ship before we get going. I hoped Hedge worked on the list I gave him before we left."

I closed my eyes, enjoying the cooler air before the summer heat hit. My hand was clasped in Annabeth's, who was sitting beside me. Frank, Hazel, and Leo were sitting across from us, while Nico was sitting over by Jason and Piper. Something must have happened while we were down in Tartarus because Nico seemed a lot closer with Jason and Hazel. I was thankful to Nico for helping them get to the other side of the doors. It meant a lot to me that he kept his promise.

I heard the crunch of someone walking on the path, and I opened my eyes. Addie stood in front of us, her hair pulled halfway back. She looked ready for a fight and there was a backpack trailing from one of her shoulders.

"Addie? What are you doing here?"

"I'm your ride," she said with a sigh. "I'm coming with you guys." She looked a little uncertain, like she was not sure we would be okay with it. I was more than okay with it. Addie would be a valuable ally.

"You got orders?" Annabeth asked sleepily from beside me.

"Yeah, I'm going to take you guys back, and I'm to stay with you until further notice. I hope that's okay," she muttered.

"Of course it's okay," I said cheerfully.

Addie nodded her head, and slowly walked up to us. Chiron walked to the doorway, and her eyes ghosted to him. They looked at each other for just a second, something silently passing between them.

"You're that chick who beat Hercules, right?" Leo said excitedly. Addie smiled and held on to her arm. She looked embarrassed for some reason. I could not imagine why. That fight was the most amazing thing I had ever seen from a demigod.

"Yeah, that was me," she said softly. Leo walked up to her and stuck out his hand. Addie bit her lip in an attempt to hide her smile.

"Leo Valdez," he said while they shook hands. "And you are a badass."

"Not really," she responded with a laugh. "Just lucky. Call me Addie."

The rest of the group introduced themselves, but when Addie's eyes got to Nico, her expression turned completely black.

"Nice to see you again, Nico."

"Euadne," he said curtly. They stared at each other for just a moment, and Addie looked away. She looked a little uncomfortable.

"You guys ready to get back?"

We all nodded our heads and started to get up.

"We are all relying on you," Chiron said gravelly. "Good luck, heroes."

Addie walked back towards the Camp's borders, and we followed her. When we approached Thalia's pine tree, Peleus wined petulantly. Addie smiled and scratched the dragon under his chin. Steam rolled out from his nostrils, and he hummed pleasantly.

"He likes you," Piper noted.

"I'm the one who brought him here," Addie explained. "I always make sure to say hi when I stop by."

"You've been to Camp before?" Jason questioned.

"Many times, not that anyone has ever seen me."

We stopped as a group just outside the boundary line.

"Okay, I know this sounds cheesy, but we all have to hold hands. Keep a firm grip. You don't want to get lost," she added. I took one of Addie's hands and Leo took the other. I noticed that Jason, Frank, and Hazel looked nervous around Addie, and I wondered why. "Don't let go, no matter what. The ship is in Epirus, correct?"

We nodded our heads, and she took a deep breath.

"I've never been there before, so picture it in your minds. Don't let any other thought take precedence. Just picture where you want to be. Get ready."

I thought of the ship and Hedge, and how we left it. I focused on that, blocking out everything else. It was harder than it sounds. My ADHD brain almost couldn't cope.

"All right, here we go…one…two…three."

It felt like someone had knocked my feet out from underneath me. A sense of weightlessness and vertigo overwhelmed me, like that feeling you get as a roller coaster goes over the first big hill. Winds swirled around me, hitting me from all sides. It was like falling through the middle of a tornado. Annabeth and Addie both gripped my hands, almost painfully. I couldn't breathe, and every second felt like a minute. It was almost too much, and just as I was starting to feel nauseated and overwhelmed, my feet hit sold ground.

I almost fell, but Addie's hand kept me upright.

"Sorry, I should have warned you all about the jump," she muttered apologetically. I pulled Annabeth up from the ground, and I was relieved to find that we were all here. The ship floated above the ground, a gangplank coming down from it. We walked up onto the Argo II, Addie following a few steps behind. We made it onto the deck of the ship, looking at each other warily. Addie had walked to the front, looking at Festus's head.

"So… what are we going to do now?" Frank asked.

"Let's get settled in," Annabeth suggested. "Leo can see what needs to be repaired, and then we can meet and discuss what to do next."

We all nodded our heads and went separate ways on the ship. I walked up to Addie, who had her arms resting on the railing around the ship.

"How long has it been?" I said as I took my place beside her. Addie let out a chuckle, and closed her eyes.

"I have not been to Greece since I was here with Bear, Ry, and the others. We never made it this far South. Greece was a lot larger back then."

I nodded my head, and looked out at the city. It seemed peaceful enough, but I was scared. We had a little over a week to figure out how to stop Gaia, and I had no idea how it was suppose to be done. With the time difference, it seemed to be late afternoon in Greece.

"I don't know how we are going to fit on this boat," Annabeth fussed. She walked up to us, her back and elbows coming to rest on the railing. "There are only eight bedrooms, and ten of us. I guess it will work out if we sleep in shifts."

"Don't worry about me," Addie said pointedly. "How are the dreams?"

"Same," I muttered. "Jason and Hazel are having them as well."

Addie made a humming noise, but did not explain anything further.

"Hedge actually got some work done!"

Leo walked up to us, and Festus started clicking and whirring excitedly.

"I know, buddy. I've got a list on what's left to be fixed, but if we all work on it, then we should be good to go in a few hours. You ready to call this meeting?"

We all sat around the big table. Addie lounged in a corner, where she was talking to Hedge. Apparently, they had run into each other before, when Hedge was a teenage goat. She knew Millie as well, so they were talking about that. Nico sat farthest away from her, and I felt myself start to get a little annoyed. I did not see why he held so much animosity against Addie.

Leo had just explained what needed to be fixed, and everyone volunteered for a task, even Addie.

"Okay, so now, we need to figure out where we are headed," Annabeth started.

"We have to go to Olympus, right? Gaia said she would take the gods out by their roots, and that's where it all started," Piper supplied. We all looked in Addie's direction, who looked up at us.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Aren't you like two thousand years old?" Jason questioned.

"I'm about a hundred years short," she countered. "The origins of the gods are still about eleven hundred years older than I am."

"Just tell us what you know," Nico said, his voice full of steel. Addie narrowed her eyes at him. She got that look on her face that would have scared the living daylights out of me if I didn't know her better. Nico just glared back, and Hazel looked helplessly between them.

"The old ruins are still there, but the gods keep it under lock and key. It's a precaution that they take. We could go find the key; however, I don't know where it is. Trying to find it is a gamble though. If Gaia already knows where it is, then we need to beat her to it. But if she doesn't, then by trying to find it we could lead her to the key."

"Which would be bad," Frank offered.

"Do you have any idea how to find it?" Annabeth asked Addie.

"Um, well, that's what we were going to do, back before, I mean, when, um, I was-"

"Still mortal? Not cursed?" Nico supplied scathingly. It got really quiet in the room, and a boom of thunder could be heard overhead.

"You are pushing your luck, di Angelo. I already apologized once for something I could not help. I will not do it again."

Nico stood up, cold rage filling his features. I didn't know how or when Addie and Nico had met each other before, but there was definitely some bitterness there.

"If they knew how you really were-"

"You don't know a damned thing about me! You only know from rumors, and about half of that is true!" She snapped back at him.

"I know what my dad told me," he replied matter of factly.

"Well, since you seem so determined to lay my supposed faults and errors out on the table now, let's go ahead and get it over with."

Nico took a deep breath. "You can't be trusted. The reason Greeks and Romans are separated are because of her and her brother. She's cursed because they attempted to oppose the gods," he spat back at her. "She's neither Roman nor Greek. She's nothing but a traitor slave and a disgrace to demigods."

The table was silent. Lightning flashed in the windows, and the lights in the cabin flickered. The strike could not have been that far away because the boat shook violently. Addie's face angered further. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. This was what Apollo had talked about, that storms formed when she got angry. I wanted to stand up for her. Addie didn't deserve this.

"Nico, you don't-" I started.

"I appreciate the thought, but I can defend myself, Percy. I don't need you to do it for me," she told me. She was taking deep breaths, her face scrunched in concentration.

"Is that true?" Frank asked quietly. She opened her eyes, looking at him sincerely.

"Yes," she said honestly. Her voice had no inflection of anger in it. "It is true, but there is a lot more to my life than the simple, gossip fueled version Nico seems to be under the impression of. I know the feeling you Romans get around me. I see the apprehension. That's fine, think of me however you want, but I am here to help," she added. She looked back at Nico, who seemed to wither under her gaze.

"I am cursed, and my orders were to come on this quest and assist you, so whether you like it or not I have to do it. I don't have a choice in the matter. But before you cast your judgment on me, Nico di Angelo, remember that I spared your life at a time when I was ordered to kill anything that got in my way. You don't have to like me, but I will not be disrespected. You don't know me, or even an eighth of what I have been though in my life. I may be ageless, but remember that I am human, just like you. We all make mistakes and do things we are not proud of at some time in our lives. I made my mistakes, and now, I reap the consequences of it. That being said, do you want my help or not?"

Nico grudgingly sat down, and the others murmured their assent.

"Rachel said the path that I traveled before must be taken again. Back before I was cursed, I was on a quest with six other demigods. Our goal was to return the Athena Parthenos to Athens, so that the Roman and Greek forms of the gods could be reconciled. We were told the next step in our mission would be found in Athens once we returned the statue. The next step was the key, which was a way to get access to Olympus."

"But you never made it that far, right?" Annabeth asked tentatively. Addie eyes softened, and she sunk down into the chair at the end of the table.

"No, we didn't. We were told we would find answers in the books, and to look for them at the shrine of Delphi. I think the city is called Delfi now."

"What books?" Hazel asked hesitantly.

"The Sibylline Books," Addie explained. "And supposedly, there is a full copy hidden at the shrine. All the others were in the hands of extremely powerful people or destroyed. The Greeks did not want the Romans getting their hands on the prophecies. They did anyways, but they tried to keep the knowledge to a minimum."

"Why don't we ask Ella? Maybe she knows the one we are looking for," Hazel suggested, looking around at everyone.

"That's a good idea," Annabeth nodded. "We could Iris message Camp. We will just have to hope she can help. All in favor in heading towards Delfi?"

Everyone raised their hands, including Nico.

"Good," I said. "One more thing. I don't want us to split up anymore. Gaia needs two demigods to raise herself, and we are the closest ones. We need to stick together to make sure she doesn't get her hands on any of us."

They all nodded their head, and Leo stood up.

"All right you guys! Let's get this ship fixed so we can get moving. End of the world won't wait on us!"

A/N: Yay! I told you I would get one more done! I forgot to put this is the last chapter, but the poem is from Longing by Matthew Arnold. I'm going to go back and add it into that chapter. Its a beautiful poem, and I thought that portion fit perfectly in there. Gotta give credit where credit is due!

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Until tomorrow!