I gotta admit, this part of the story was meant to be complicated, but it's not what I initially planned because stories develop as you make 'em. I'm working to get back on track to where all of the notes and clips that I previously made for this part can be incorporated. Then we get to BoO! We're so close friends!

Enjoy!

;)

First Person: Zytaveon

"You know, you should consider getting more hand-to-hand combat lessons."

"I don't…need…your commentary…"

I kicked Lu in the stomach as hard as I could. In my defense, I was only returning the favor for the times that she kneed me in the stomach, punched me in the solar plexus, poked me behind the ear so hard that I thought my jaw was gonna come off, kicked my knees out from behind (it was nicer than kicking them from in front and shattering a kneecap or two), dislocating an arm, and twisting the other up my back between my shoulder blades so far that resulted in me thinking that it had been dislocated in some way as well.

She staggered back as I pulled myself up, but she didn't give me the chance to recover because she tackled me down without caution, pinning me down with some kind of professional move.

"You should have taken wrestling in high school," Lu said flatly.

"As if. You know I'm not a sporty person."

"Because sports are too low of stakes compared to killing monsters," Order sighed. "I know. Sports are for entertainment, but I don't understand how something so boring gets forced down your mortal throats. But this is not supposed to be a sport. You're supposed to be killing each other and making it hurt!"

"But this is more fun," Lu said with a small sadistic smirk and pulling the arm that had been dislocated and then hastily fixed again and was still sore as hell - as if the rest of me wasn't also sore.

"Would you idiots please stop playing around?!" Chaos snapped. "Order, it's your turn in three minutes."

He was holding up a barrier around us all, leaving a space about the size of a softball field, the ground a mat of grass that we were supposed to be attempting to 'break me' on. In all honesty, that sounded worse than it actually was. Both of the Primordials were working together to protect against Tartarus, but they had yet to be restored to their full power, meaning they needed to take turns while the other recovered. Right now, Order was off-duty and attempting to figure out what was going wrong.

"No, no, no. We need something worse. Worse than killing your little girlfriend and all your friends and we can't very well have you fight your father - now that would cause havoc should he perish. The Underworld is unstable enough at the moment without him dying. I know! How about your mother?"

"I barely even knew my mother. The only thing I have of her are memories, and memories that I only recently even got back."

"Adoptive parents?"

"They don't deserve to be brought into this. They're not a part of the Olympian life. They're just mortals."

Order clapped his hands. "Then we'll go with them."

"Order-"

"The more you hate it, the more I love it, little Zyta."

"Next time," Chaos demanded. "You can try that out next time. But for now, it's Order's turn."

He rolled his eyes at his darker look-alike. Both of them looked like me at the moment, which was kinda disconcerting. "Fine, fine. Hand over the baton."

Order waved his hand up at the barrier around us and it flashed. The Lu that was currently holding me down disappeared and my injuries disappeared, which was a big weight off my shoulders.

Chaos exhaled deeply and lowered his arms. "Finally. Now, it's my turn to work with you, Zytaveon."

"I don't even understand why we have to work with each other. I thought I gained both of your favor."

"That's what's so curious. I attempted to use you, but something went wrong. Something's interfering. I'd like to simplify it down to Tartarus and Gaea playing dirty, but in all honesty, I just don't know."

"What if it's not my fault, but yours?"

He looked up at me curiously.

"I mean, you're not very ancient and Primordial right now. You're…pretty average. Pretty…human. Order and I…we said that we'd save you and Lu whether you liked it or not. But I don't think we ever got the chance."

"You showed me why you keep fighting, Zytaveon. You fight for a future you know you can never have, but the illusion of it is enough to push you forward. I can't feel that drive, not on my own. That was why I gave you my favor. It takes a heart that will never give in to renew my will to go on for just a little longer. It takes a heart that will last me a few centuries before it wears out. Eventually, my hosts always give in to despair with my influence upon them. Meanwhile, Order's hosts often go mad with power and his…eccentric way of life. So long as we stay together, we can delay the process. Or we can stay out of human affairs altogether, but Order gets bored very easily - as do I. When you're above everything in the world, it's about as interesting as sitting around doing nothing for eternity with no emotions or feelings while the world beneath you constantly changes and evolves. We like to watch the stories that happen, we like to come down and feel real emotions. We didn't invent you with emotions, you know. We made you for a single purpose: to evolve. We made gods to watch over the world, but we made you humans as the ones who would wield the gods' power to the fullest. Love, hate, light, darkness - we gave it all to you and wanted to see what you did with it."

"And you guys like to come down and see us. Right. I get that."

He shook his head. "To Order, there is always something new and exciting. To me…all I see is so much sameness. There are liars and cheaters and those who hurt others for no reason other than they want to. There are those who do horrible things in the name of a just cause, there are those who lie to themselves to keep going. There are bad people who use their power and wealth to oppress others, and there are the masses who somehow still believe they're good people. There are those who are foolish and callous in charge of making great decisions, there are races for popularity that make people into terrible monsters for the sake of victory. There is love, but love rarely ever lasts simply because it's ephemeral like everything else. Instead of using the knowledge that everything ends to the fullest, people waste what they have. It's so hard to do what you love because life just doesn't work that way. Why doesn't life just work that way? Where people can choose their paths and enjoy it? Why are the most popular people also the ones that have to make themselves suffer for the sake of their appearance? How long will it take to make everyone happy? This world is so destructive, that I just want to see it end sometimes."

"But…"

"But there are also good things. There are quiet moments of relaxation within the pandemonium. There are those that do what they love in exchange for hard work and struggle. There are benevolent people, those with integrity who feel good doing good things without an audience ever having to look. There are parents and children who love each other, there are lovers that dedicate themselves to their partner for however long they have. There are frail people who make the most of their life because they know better than anyone how much you can possibly lose. There are people who don't have a lot, but they have enough - a single friend they can count on, a single hobby that never ceases to make them smile, a single place they feel secure, an object that gives them strength when they need it most. And there are people with a lot more. Many friends - many to lose, but many to cherish in turn. Many hobbies they love to do, many objects that help them be happy, confidence and strength even when sometimes life is hard. And their will to keep going, no matter how tough life gets…that's what I need. I need to find those good reasons in the sea of bad to continue forward and learn to enjoy my life anew. I can't do what Order does, finding fun in every little thing. But I can find those quiet moments and those single things and start my discovery of life again and again."

"So did you find that in me?"

He nodded. "Yes. However…there is still this empty feeling inside me." His eyes looked at the grass beneath us, his mind processing things in deep thought. "It should have worked. We should have done it. So why can't I feel your presence? Unless…"

He raised his eyes to the dome, and they widened just a fraction of an inch.

"What?" I asked.

"Unless you're out of our reach."

"You're the ones who brought me here. I'm with you guys. I earned your power."

"Too late. It was too late; it was always too late."

"What do you mean?"

He looked me in the eyes, a mixture of horror and pity on his face. "I'm sorry. We failed you. We failed you, my son. All of this happened because we failed."

I stared at him for a long moment before sighing. "Well that was quick. You always were so pessimistic, Chaos. It's hard to keep you distracted for very long. Now Order I expected to have some challenges containing, but you…you are easy to contain, but not easy to fool. Well, I suppose it's less fooling you and more keeping you complacently preoccupied. Order gets distracted by every shiny thing in existence, but you're so down and dreary that you never look at things twice because you're so uninterested and boring. But I guess I was wrong about you. You don't look at things twice because you're uninterested - it's because you've observed every little detail before you can even become invested. You see the good and the bad and everything in between and then you no longer care and you move onto the next thing, while Order over analyzes things slowly with more investment and excitement. You were always so much smarter, but also so much duller."

I snapped and the barrier around the area instantly shattered. Order gasped and was thrown back as the tidal wave of darkness flowed through. Order and Chaos scrambled together as the fake world around them disappeared and they were left floating in the howling winds of darkness. I floated up above them as the grass at my feet dissolved, the power surrounding me and emerging from me. My eyes went black, the sound of screaming souls writhing in agony filled my ears and made me smile. I could only laugh at the pain now, I could only submit to a will that wasn't my own.

"It doesn't matter that the illusion broke. It was only there to keep you entertained, thinking you had somehow won your prize."

"Tartarus, stop this!" Order snapped.

I laughed, the sound distorted and warped. "And why would I do that when I have the two of you at my mercy? Your power may lie beneath me in the darkest depths of my pit, surrounding and consuming me, but so long as I have your Existences contained here, you pose no threat to me."

Order, ever the trigger-happy Primordials he was, shot his hand forward and released a blast of energy strong enough to rip through Tartarus's power and blast him, but while he flinched, the swirling power quickly closed in again and he recovered in the air.

"Attack me all you want, but I've extracted only your consciousness - the one you flaunt around jumping from host to host with. I didn't take your actual power, that would be foolish. Your power is just sitting beneath my pit, worthless without the Existence of you that I've trapped. And you yourselves are worthless without the rest of your power. It seems I've out-smarted the both of you."

If there was one thing to be said about Order in his natural state, it was that he was easy to provoke. He attacked again, sending a wave of attacks at Tartarus - at me. I had to work to block most of them, but once I put in the effort, it became almost too easy. Order was angry, he just wanted to get in a single hit and show his rage, but it wouldn't work. Eventually, he began to tire out, his entire body flickering with a lack of power.

"Careful, dear Order. If you keep using up your raw Existence like that, you might just finish yourselves off before I can."

"You're just looking to keep up trapped forever," Chaos accused. "Forever your pets, an eternal reminder of your superiority - an eternal boost of your ego."

I shrugged with a smile. "You know your creations so well, Chaos. This is your prison. You can play with me in here all you want, but it won't matter. I've got both your toys under my thumb; my victory has already begun. This here is just a small piece of me that's here to keep you two entertained. The rest of me is off somewhere else, executing my victory. Your creations are fighting their battles in vain, and I will enjoy their struggle. The world you made will no longer exist to cater to the whims of the foolish mortals you favored so heavily - making all of us there to serve them. We will turn the world of humans into a world of monsters and Primordial deities. A shame. You could've made it this way from the beginning, and perhaps you could've joined us like you did with your lesser creations."

"We didn't put you in charge for a reason," Order hissed, still attempting to regain his breath. "We made them weak, but we made them diverse. We didn't give them the powers that we gave you, but we gave them the ability to utilize them all - all of their emotions, from joy to hatred, all of the times of day, all of the personality types, all of the skills. If we'd given you the world, then you would've just turned it into a wasteland of brutality and no change, no evolution, no creativity - you would've destroyed the world long before it could flourish. All of you are single creations, single concepts - strife, old age, times of day. Most of the current gods are like that as well - revenge and contempt, love and beauty - but at least they strove to be less brutal and more strategic above how they run the world. They invented music and marriage and loyalty and sacrifice and it was beautiful and yes it was flawed but it could strive to be better. You…all you creatures are going to do when you take over is destroy. You'll destroy that which you abhor, but soon you will run out of things to hate, and then you will start to destroy yourselves. It is inevitable. Don't make me create a prophecy about it. I will."

I rolled my eyes and made a Primordial scoff. "Enough with your philosophical bullshit."

Order scoffed. "Forgive me for attempting to make you at least a little upset when I'm facing my end. My creations taught me that if you can't hurt one with strength, you can hurt them with words."

I huffed. "Well I hope you had your fun. Enjoy your eternity of defeat. I know I certainly will."

With that, Tartarus pulled us away, leaving the two Primordial beings under watch, but without any Tartarus to plead to.

Order chuckled to himself bitterly. "Children usurping the seat of power. We should've seen this coming. We made it happen so many times in history, all for a change of scenery. Why should it have been any different with us?"

"The difference is that we're the beginning of everything, Order. We can still shut it all down. We can start over."

Order frowned. "No matter how bad it's gotten in the past…we've never done that. There's no going back if we do."

"It's either that or go dormant until the world eventually ends on its own. It'd end all your fun either way; it'd end all my joy.

He hesitated. "We lose everything either way."

Chaos shrugged. "You never know. We could wait it out and have faith that our creations are as strong as we created them to be."

Order scoffed at the absurdity of the situation. "Why am I the negative one here and you're the positive? Ugh. I spent too much time in the mortal world without you, having to become all serious and down in the dumps to keep myself stable."

Chaos smiled. "Well, once everything seems hopeless, I suppose even I have things that I like about the world and don't want to lose. Even I can be positive sometimes."

"It's the end of the world, all right. Ragnarok, Armageddon, all that jazz."

"Well? Is it?"

Order stared into the infinite void of Tartarus's essence. "I suppose it is. It really is."

Order took his hand and began to glow white, reverting to their original form. Chaos closed his eyes and did the same. A bight void filled with power too blinding to comprehend, too confusing, too much potential, too much creation. A dark void that had nothing, that consumed everything, that ended all that would ever exist - like a black hole that not even light could escape. The two Primordials gave away everything that they had changed about themselves from the moment they had existed. They were creation and destruction, a cycle that created an entire universe and made it wonderful. And they would bring it to an end once more, as it was always destined to be.

"I suppose…it was fun while it lasted."

Third Person: No. 1

"Iapetus!" Hyperion bellowed. "Well, well, I thought you were hiding under a cleaning bucket somewhere."

Bob lumbered forward, scowling. "I was not hiding."

Percy crept toward the right side of the Doors; Annabeth sneaked towards the left. The two of them decided they would try to cut the chains on their own with their blades enhanced with the power of the Remnants for whatever good it did. If No. 1 needed to find her own way to break the chains, she would, but so long as even the small parts of her Remnants had the power of Chaos - and that was a long shot on its own - then hopefully Annabeth and Percy could get the job done quickly. The Titans gave no sign of noticing them, but they took no chances. Percy kept Riptide in pen form, crouched low, stepping as quietly as possible. The lesser monsters kept a respectful distance from the Titans, so there was enough empty space to maneuver around the Doors; but Percy was keenly aware of the snarling mob at his back. Annabeth had decided to take the side Hyperion was guarding, on the theory that Hyperion was more likely to sense Percy. After all, Percy was the last one to have killed him in the mortal world. That was fine with Percy. After being in Tartarus for so long, he could barely look at Hyperion's burning golden armor without getting spots in his eyes. On Percy's side of the Doors, Krios stood dark and silent, his ram's-headed helmet covering his face. He kept one foot planted on the chain's anchor and his thumb on the UP button. Bob faced his brethren. He planted his spear and tried to look as fierce as possible with a kitten and a little smiling girl in a pink dress on his shoulder.

"Hyperion and Krios. I remember you both."

"Do you, Iapetus?" The golden Titan laughed, glancing at Krios to share the joke. "Well, that's good to know! I heard Percy Jackson turned you into a brainwashed scullery maid. What did he rename you…? Betty?"

"Bob," Bob snarled.

"Well, it's about time you showed up, Bob. Krios and I have been stuck here for weeks-"

"Hours," Krios corrected, his voice a deep rumble inside his helmet.

"Whatever!" Hyperion said. "It's boring work, guarding these doors, shuffling monsters through at Gaea's orders. Krios, what's our next group, anyway?"

"Double Red."

Hyperion sighed. The flames glowed hotter across his shoulders. "Double Red. Why do we go from A-22 to Double Red? What kind of system is that?" He glared at Bob. "This is no job for me - the Lord of Light! Titan of the East! Master of Dawn! Why am I forced to wait in the darkness while the giants go into battle and get all the glory? Now, Krios I can understand-"

"I get all the worst assignments," Krios muttered, his thumb still on the button.

"But me? Ridiculous! This should be your job, Iapetus. Here, take my place for a while."

Bob stared at the Doors, but his gaze was distant - lost in the past. "The four of us held down our father, Ouranos. Koios, and me, and the two of you. Kronos promised us mastery of the four corners of the earth for helping with the murder."

"Indeed," Hyperion said. "And I was happy to do it! I would've wielded the scythe myself if I'd had the chance! But you, Bob…you were always conflicted about that killing, weren't you? The soft Titan of the West, soft as the sunset! Why our parents named you the Piercer, I will never know. More like the Whimper. And just look at the company you're keeping!"

"I am the strongest one here," No. 1 said, crossing her legs as she sat on Bob's shoulder. "Besides, I'm able to use my Original's blessing of Chaos to my benefit. That means, I can run this hizz-house. And I'd say that Bob can pierce just fine. Can't you, Bob?"

Percy reached the anchor hook. He uncapped his pen and Riptide grew to full length. Krios didn't react - his attention was firmly fixed on Bob, who had just leveled the point of his spear at Hyperion's chest.

"You brag too much, Hyperion," Bob said, his voice low and even. "You are bright and fiery, but Percy Jackson defeated you anyway. I hear you became a nice tree in Central Park."

Hyperion's eyes smoldered. "Careful, brother."

"At least a janitor's work is honest. I clean up after others; I leave the palace better than I found it. But you…you do not care what messes you make. You followed Kronos blindly. Now you take orders from Gaea."

"She is our mother!" Hyperion bellowed.

"She did not wake for our war on Olympus. She favors her second brood, the giants."

Krios grunted. "That's true enough. The children of the pit."

"Both of you hold your tongues!" Hyperion snapped, his voice tinged with fear. "You never know when he is listening."

The elevator dinged and all three Titans jumped. Had it really been twelve minutes? No. 1 had lost track of time.

Krios took his finger off the button and called out, "Double Red! Where is Double Red?!"

Hordes of monsters stirred and jostled one another, but none of them came forward.

Krios heaved a sigh. "I told them to hang on to their tickets. Double Red! You'll lose your place in the queue!"

Annabeth was in position, right behind Hyperion. She raised her drakon-bone sword over the base of the chains. In the fiery light of the Titan's armor, her Death Mist disguise made her look like a burning ghoul. She held up three fingers, ready to count down. They had to cut the chains before the next group tried to take the elevator, but they also had to make sure the Titans were as distracted as possible.

Hyperion muttered a curse. "Just wonderful. This will completely mess up our schedule." He sneered at Bob. "Make your choice, brother. Fight us or help us. I don't have time for your lectures."

Bob glanced at Annabeth and Percy. He considered what would be the best distraction that would allow them the chance they needed - peaceful or violent. Finally, he raised the point of his spear.

"Very well. I will take guard duty. Which of you wants a break first?"

"Me, of course," Hyperion said.

"Me!" Krios snapped. "I've been holding that button so long my thumb is going to fall off."

"I've been standing here longer. You two guard the Doors while I go up to the mortal world. I have some Greek heroes to wreak vengeance upon!"

"Oh, no! That Roman boy is on his way to Epirus - the one who killed me on Mount Othrys. Got lucky, he did. Now it's my turn."

"Bah!" Hyperion drew his sword. "I'll gut you first, Ram-head!"

Krios raised his own blade. "You can try, but I won't be stuck in this stinking pit any longer!"

Annabeth caught Percy's eyes. She mouthed: 'One, two-'

Before they could strike the chains, a high-pitched whine pierced through the air, like the sound of an incoming rocket. There was just enough time to think 'Uh-oh' before an explosion rocked the hillside. A wave of heat knocked Percy and Annabeth backwards. Dark shrapnel ripped through Krios and Hyperion, shredding them as easily as wood in a chipper.

"STINKING PIT."

A hollow voice rolled across the plains, shaking the warm fleshy ground. Bob staggered to his feet. Somehow the explosion hadn't touched him. He swept his spear in front of him, trying to locate the source of the voice. Small Bob the kitten crawled into his overalls. No. 1 had fallen off of Bob's shoulders, picking herself up and grabbing her stuffed animal as she looked up to the voice. Annabeth had landed about twenty feet from the Doors, and the Death Mist had evaporated from both her and Percy. Their disguises were gone.

"TITANS," The voice said disdainfully. "LESSER BEINGS. IMPERFECT AND WEAK."

In front of the Doors of Death, the air darkened and solidified. The being who appeared was so massive, radiating such pure malevolence, that No. 1 felt a fear she hadn't felt since she had first died - a real little girl in a world so much bigger and scarier and out of her control. She wanted to crawl away and hide. She squeezed her stuffed toy insecurely. She forced her eyes to trace the god's form, starting with his black iron boots, each one as large as a coffin. His legs were covered in dark greaves; his flesh all thick purple muscle, like the ground. His armored skirt was made from thousands of blackened, twisted bones, woven together like chain links and clasped in place by a belt of interlocking monstrous arms. On the surface of the warrior's breastplate, murky faces appeared and submerged - giants, Cyclopes, gorgons, and drakon - all pressing against the armor as if trying to get out. The warrior's arms were bare - muscular, purple, and glistening - his hands as large as crane scoops.

His head was probably the scariest part of him, the one that filled No. 1 with the most dread. His helmet was twisted rock and metal with no particular shape - just jagged spikes and pulsing patches of magma. His entire face was a whirlpool - an inward spiral of darkness. As they watched, the last particles of Titan essence from Hyperion and Krios were vacuumed into the warrior's maw. Once they were gone, the whirlpool that was his face solidified and disappeared into a face No. 1 knew because of her most recent Remnants.

"Oh, gods, Veon, no…"

No. 1 had been pushed to her limits over a thousand times. She'd known pain and suffering beyond anything she could've imagined and yet her mother's blessing (or curse, rather) had always saved her. She had felt invincible, she had been invincible. She felt that the other monsters in Tartarus were lesser beings, but her power was still that of a human. Her mother was a mysterious goddess, a powerful one, manufactured from human rather than the Primordials. That had always made her more powerful than the rest of the deities, but she wasn't on the levels of a Primordial so ancient that he could be considered older than the world itself. Tartarus had come before Gaea, Tartarus was where life was born and death was only a temporary torture, Tartarus was a most ancient and deadly power. And now he had the power of Order and Chaos thanks to Zytaveon being his host.

"Tartarus," Percy managed.

He made a sound like a mountain cracking in half: a roar or a laugh, they couldn't be sure.

"This form is only a small manifestation of my power. But it is enough to deal with you. I do not interfere lightly, little demigod. It is beneath me to deal with gnats such as yourself."

No. 1 felt a part of her heart break at hearing the undertones of Veon's voice beneath the rumble of Tartarus's.

"You were supposed to save me. I was supposed so save you. We were supposed to save Order and Chaos."

"Uh…" Percy's legs threatened to collapse under him. "Don't…you know…go to any trouble."

"You have proven surprisingly resilient," Tartarus said. "You have come too far. I can no longer stand by and watch your progress."

Tartarus spread his arms. Throughout the valley, thousands of monsters wailed and roared, clashing their weapons and bellowing in triumph. The Doors of Death shuddered in their chains.

"Be honored, little demigods," The god of the pit said. "Even the Olympians were never worthy of my personal attention. But you will be destroyed by Tartarus himself!"

Someday, No. 1 thought to herself, she would get to tell the story of how the world ended with the ding of an elevator. Somehow, the Doors of Death had operated on their own, and the first one to step through made No. 1 speak without even thinking about it.

"Big sister."

First Person: Emily

I'm not sure why Frank was hoping for fireworks. Or at least a big sign that read: WELCOME HOME

More than three thousand years ago, his Greek ancestor - good old Periclymenus the shape-shifter - had sailed east with the Argonauts. Centuries later, Periclymenus's descendants had served in the eastern Roman legions. Then, through a series of misadventures, the family had ended up in China, finally emigrating to Canada in the twentieth century. Now Frank was back in Greece, which meant that the Zhang family had completely circled the globe. That seemed like cause for celebration, but the only welcoming committee was a flock of wild, hungry harpies who attacked the ship. Frank felt kinda bad as he shot them down with his bow. He kept thinking of Ella, our freakishly smart harpy friend from Portland. But these harpies weren't Ella. They gladly would have chewed Frank's face off. So he blasted them into clouds of dust and feathers.

The Greek landscape below was just as inhospitable. The hills were strewn with boulders and stunted cedars, all shimmering in the hazy air, the sun beat down as if trying to hammer the countryside into a Celestial bronze shield, and even from a hundred feet up, we could hear the drone of cicadas buzzing in the trees - a sleepy, otherworldly sound that made my eyes heavy. Even the dueling voices of the war gods inside Frank's head seemed to have dozed off. They had hardly bothered him at all since the crew had crossed into Greece.

I wiped sweat from my forehead. After the whole freezing situation with Khione, I had thought that I'd never be warm again, but now I was drenched in sweat. Kaze and Azrael were identically sitting out in the sun with ease, both staring off in deep thought blankly. They didn't seem affected by the heat. Audrey was helping boost the ship forwards as fast as possible towards Epirus, and her sweat only seemed to be coming from the straining of her powers considering she was drenching herself in the cool passing seawater specifically to keep her power going. Lu was standing up on the mast, watching the sea pass and keeping her eyes intently on the horizon and looking for when land became visible in the distance. Perched atop the foremast beside her was Nico, also looking out to sea and keeping his eyes on the black lightning of the Doors of Death.

"Hot and steamy!" Leo exclaimed, grinning at the helm. "Makes me homesick for Houston! What do you say, Hazel? All we need now are some giant mosquitoes and it'll feel just like the Gulf Coast!"

"Thanks lot, Leo," Hazel grumbled. "We'll probably get attacked by Ancient Greek mosquito monsters now."

"I don't think there are such things," Audrey called from the front of the ship. How she overheard the conversation and how we could hear her from so far away, I guessed it had something to do with water. "At least that I researched. How about we not test the theory?"

Frank studded the two of them, quietly marveling how the tension between them had disappeared. Whatever had happened to Leo during his five days of exile, it had changed him. He still joked around, but Frank sensed something different about him - like a ship with a new keel. Maybe you couldn't see the keel, but you could tell it was there by the way the ship cut through the waves. Leo didn't seem so intent on teasing Frank; he chatted more easily with Hazel - not stealing those wistful, mooning glances that had always made Frank uncomfortable.

Hazel had diagnosed the problem privately to Frank: "He met something."

Frank was incredulous. "How? Where? How could you possibly know?"

Hazel smiled. "I just do."

"She's right," Emily said later on. "His heart aches, but it makes him into a new person while he hopes to finish this quest and return safe and sound."

Frank stared at Hazel. He just didn't get how women knew these things without being children of love gods. Of course, he was relieved that Leo wasn't hitting on his girl, but Frank was also kind of worried about Leo. Sure, they'd had their differences, but after all they'd been through together, Frank didn't want to see Leo get his heart broken.

"There!" Nico shouted. He pointed toward a glittering green river snaking through the hills a kilometer away. "Maneuver us that way. We're close to the temple. Very close."

As if to prove his point, black lightning ripped through the sky, leaving dark spots before my eyes and making the hairs on my arm stand up. It almost felt like my entire body was filled with electricity. We'd once had a physics teacher that had us stand on chairs and make a long line all connected to one of those electricity machines that we could touch. We'd gotten nearly the entire class in a long line and then one person touched a metal doorframe to let the current go through and all of us had gotten a bad zap - nothing dangerous, but painful all the same. I felt like I was in that line right now, electricity surging through me and building, but the only way to discharge it would be to suffer through a bad zap. The anxiety itself was more disturbing than the electricity.

Jason strapped on his sword belt. "Everyone, arm yourself. Leo, Audrey, get us close, but don't land - no more contact with the ground than necessary. Piper, Hazel, get the mooring ropes."

"On it!" Piper called.

Hazel gave Frank a peck on the cheek and ran to help.

"Frank," Jason called. "Get below and find Coach Hedge."

"Yep!"

He hurried down the stairs.

"Kaze, will you fight with us?" Lu asked her brother.

"I do not know what to do," Kaze said. "Mother has given no orders. Tsuchi has given no orders. If Mother gives me orders, I am unsure if I can resist."

"You mean she has some kind of control over you?"

"Over my body," He corrected. "My body is made from her earth. My soul is held captive within its crust."

"I can give his soul power," Azrael announced. "I can prevent Gaea's full control."

She nodded. "Good. Thank you. Kaze, do you have your weapon?"

He nodded, reaching into his trench coat and pulling out the weapon. The blade snapped free, then the second beneath it, and then the two blades for either side. Azrael stared at the weapon in amazement as Kaze sheathed all four blades at once and stuck the hilt back into his jacket.

"We're going to a very dangerous place," Lu said. "I don't know if the House of Hades will be safe for both of you, no matter your heritage, Azrael."

"My mother told me to help you. I can go and remain where she cannot because I am alive. She can go into Tartarus for a short amount of time. I assume I can survive as well."

"Percy and Annabeth can survive Tartarus without any assistance, so I'd assume so too. If you're sure, we'll protect you with all that we have."

"Kaze will protect me. He is fast, I can touch his soul. You must focus on your task. My parents tell me you have a hard job, but you are the only one who can save them all. You must know: you may never be human again. And this trial is not the end of your journey."

She nodded. "I know."

It was weird. She had never been without a deity inside her, ever since I'd met her. Though she was the same person, she was also…emptier. It left a feeling in me like after I'd done a really long run for gym class and cooled down, left really drained of energy.

I felt some agitation below deck from Coach and I realized that Frank might have caught him making a message to Mellie. Hedge and Mellie had gotten married back at the end of May just before the Argo II sailed. They hadn't made a big deal about it. Mellie had taken a break from her job in L.A. and gone to Camp Half-Blood for the summer since they figured it'd be safer, but now it was surrounded by hostile Romans. She might've just floated away normally, but she was pregnant, and it would be unsafe for her to attempt an escape now. Hedge had been pretty open about admitting things to me - even without my powers over emotions. He told the story of how when he'd brought Clarisse to Camp Half-Blood he'd had a dream about his mother being in trouble. He'd thought it was just a dream, but when he went looking for his mom afterwards, it had been too late. He never knew what happened to her, but he'd always regret it and wonder what he might have been able to do. Now, his wife and unborn child were in danger halfway across the world and he couldn't be there to help.

The ship began to descent, jolting me out of my thoughts. When Frank got back up with Hedge, everyone made preparations for the landing. Leo pulled Frank and Hazel aside to show off the new fire-proof cloth that he'd gotten from his secret trip and how it could help protect Frank's firewood. I knew that I'd be able to get Leo to tell me about who the person he met was, but I decided it was best to keep it as secret as I could to myself. My emotional powers were still very strong, attempting to influence me with every person that I came into contact with, but I was getting control of it.

I began to realize what my gifts were. I could take on both the emotions and memories of a person as well as the appearance of someone thanks to the Dove of Aphrodite. I could use my fire to heal, I was invincible, but even so I had little offensive abilities. I could become others though, and if I could become others, that gave me any power that I wanted to have from my friends. It meant I could connect the Primordials, it meant that I might be able to sort out the whole messed up situation and fix the damage that had been done. With Lu up here, there was no telling the mix of emotion and terror that was happening with Veon in Tartarus, fighting off and attempting to win the favor of Primordials themselves. We needed to help them, and at this point, the only way to get to Tartarus were the Doors of Death. We needed to use them, then seal them. It was an impossible task, one that we might not make it out of.

Strangely, knowing that I was most likely going to die didn't make me afraid. Or perhaps that was just me feeling what Lu felt. She was purposely blocking out emotions, able to hide them even from me and my sensitive powers. Her mental walls were strong, but at the same time, they were fragile. When I focused on her, I got a nervous feeling of being on the edge, and if I lost my concentration for even a second, I would be overwhelmed by a tsunami of emotions that I would drown in.

"Hey, guys!" Piper called from the bow. "Better get over here. You need to see this."

We'd found the source of the dark lightning. The Argo II hovered directly over the river. A few hundred meters away, at the top of the nearest hill, stood a cluster of ruins. They didn't look like much - just some crumbling walls encircling the limestone shells of a few buildings - but from somewhere within the ruin, tendrils of black ether curled into the sky, like a smoky squid peeking from its cave. As we watched, a bolt of dark energy ripped through the air, rocking the ship and sending a cold shockwave across the landscape.

"The Necromanteion," Nico announced. "The House of Hades."

I took a deep breath. Guess it was too late to suggest turning back. You knew that things were bad once you started feeling nostalgic about fighting regular old monsters. Those poison cows in Venice seemed more appealing than this place.

Piper hugged her arms. "I feel vulnerable floating up here like this. Couldn't we set down in the river?"

"I wouldn't," Hazel said. "That's the River Acheron."

Jason squinted in the sunlight. "I thought the Acheron was in the Underworld."

"It is. But its headwaters are in the mortal world. That river below us? Eventually it flows underground, straight into the realm of Pluto - er, Hades. Landing a demigod ship in those waters-"

"Yeah, let's stay up here," Leo decided. "I don't want any zombie water on my hull."

Half a kilometer downstream, some fishing boats were puttering along. I guessed they didn't know or care about the history of this river. Must be nice, being a regular mortal. Nico raised the scepter of Diocletian. Its orb glowed with purple light, as if in sympathy with the dark storm. Roman relic or not, the scepter troubled the crew, I could feel it. If it really had the power to summon a legion of the dead…well, it made them all nervous to say the least. Frank in particular had once been told the children of Mars had the ability to call on ghostly soldiers from the losing side of any war to serve him. He'd never had much luck with that power, probably because it freaked him out too much. He was worried he might become one of those ghosts if they lost this war - eternally doomed to pay for his failures, assuming there was anyone left to summon him.

"So, uh, Nico…" Frank began. He gestured to the scepter. "Have you learned to use that thing?"

"We'll find out," Nico said simply. He stared at the tendrils of darkness undulating from the ruins. "I don't intend to try until I have to. The Doors of Death are already working overtime bringing in Gaea's monsters. Any more activity raising the dead, and the Doors might shatter permanently, leaving a rip in the mortal world that can't be closed."

Coach Hedge grunted. "I hate rips in the world. Let's go bust some monster heads."

Frank looked at the satyr's grim expression. Suddenly he had an idea. "Coach, you should stay on board, cover us with the ballistae."

Hedge frowned. "Stay behind? Me? I'm your best soldier!"

"Of course you are, dear," Lu sighed flatly.

"We rely on your contribution," I agreed.

"We might need air support," Frank said. "Like we did in Rome. You saved our braccae."

"It would be ideal to have firepower from the air should we face great numbers," Lu said, resting her elbow on her arm across her waist and her other hand at her chin in a thinking position. "It would be greatly appreciated if we have someone here to man the ballistae. It's a smart plan."

Frank didn't add: 'Plus, I'd like you to get back to your wife and baby alive.'

Hedge apparently got the message. His scowl relaxed and relief showed in his eyes.

"Well…" He grumbled. "I suppose somebody's gotta save your braccae."

Jason clapped the coach on the shoulder then gave Frank an appreciative nod. "So that's settled. Everybody else - let's get to the ruins. Time to crash Gaea's party."