As the icy walls of water came crashing down around her, Annabeth experienced a single moment of deep, intrinsic terror. It was an instinct, she figured. One likely possessed by all children of Athena. But it was also a fear based on fact. Annabeth had considered many times in her short life how she might die, and she knew without a doubt that drowning was the worst case scenario. Drowning was slow and painful. She'd take a good stabbing over that any day.

Luckily for her, a certain son of Poseidon would drown himself before he ever let that happen, and when the wave came crashing down on her head, she felt nothing more than a slight increase in pressure. Well, it was a bit more than slight, but she could deal with it.

Ten minutes. That's how long they had to stay down here. Just ten minutes.

When the bubbles cleared and Annabeth found the courage to open her eyes, she found her fiancé floating casually in front of her, studying the group with concerned eyes. He relaxed when he seemed to realise that the bubbles were holding and they were all breathing fine, and his mouth split into a wide grin when he caught her gaping at the open waters around her.

She was in the middle of the ocean.

Well, not technically, but it certainly felt that way. For as far as she could see in any direction, there was nothing. Just deep, unending blue, and the shelf they'd stepped off of just behind them. This was Percy's world, she realised with no small amount of awe. This vastness that they now found themselves in was a part of him just as surely as his blood and bones. The force of it, even so deep beneath the waves was astounding. She could feel the undulating currents as each massive wave passed by overhead, and she knew without anyone having to tell her that the wild domain around her had the power to tear her apart. Dragging her down, down, down into the depths until she was no one and nothing but forgotten bones.

Annabeth looked down at the deep dark below, and it seemed to yawn, opening wide and readying to swallow her whole. For a second, she was not ten feet below the Coney Island Channel, but being dragged towards the edge of an abyss beneath a parking lot in Rome. Her brain layered one pit over another, until there was no difference between them, and she could feel the webs tangled around her ankle, dragging her, hungry. And there was no escape, no one to help her—

Percy was at her side in an instant, his somehow-still-warm hand coming up to gently cup her cheek through the bubble he'd made for her, dragging her gaze up to meet his. She didn't have the presence of mind to wonder how that was possible. They couldn't speak, but his eyes conveyed everything she needed to hear.

They weren't there anymore. They'd made it. They were out. The war was over. He'd caught her. They'd fallen together. She never had to be alone again.

Annabeth felt her breathing slow back to its normal pace, and after a few moments, she nodded in thanks and stepped away. She turned to examine the rest of the group, and found them occupying themselves a few metres away, giving the couple the privacy they needed.

Panic attacks, though still concerning, were no longer a rare occurrence at camp. Especially among the Seven. They each had their own triggers and strategies for overcoming them. Thankfully for the whole group, Annabeth had managed to make her way back to reality before the panic could really take hold. During the worst of them, she barely knew where she was, never mind what she was supposed to be doing. Had she lost herself to that panicked haze, she never would have been able to make it across the channel.

Will caught her gaze, and she nodded, signalling that she was alright.

Will, Keir, and Zach gathered up the younger kids around them, signalling as best they could without words that it was time to go. Julia and Katie brought up the rear, the latter with a curved knife gripped expertly in her hand just in case.

Annabeth's first step over open water was equal parts fascinating and terrifying. Fascinating in the sense that hardening water without freezing it should be impossible, but terrifying because there was nothing, absolutely nothing below her. No way to save herself should something go wrong. She was completely and utterly vulnerable, and she hated it. In fact, the only reason she'd agreed to do this in the first place was because it was Percy, and if there was one thing she'd learned about him in all their time together, it was that he was quite possibly the only person in her life that she could wholly trust.

And so she took that step. And another, and another, and another. She never looked down.

—

The momentary relief Percy had felt after allowing the tons of water he'd been holding up to collapse back into its natural place was quickly wearing off. The slight tugging in his gut that appeared whenever he used his powers was quickly and alarmingly changing into a deep kind of burning. Like his very blood was boiling. It was all he could do not to let it show on his face.

Instead, after ensuring that the group was alright and comforting Annabeth through her panic attack, he turned around and swam a little ways ahead as a scout. He wasn't joking earlier about the sea monster. In storms like this one, they tended to run a bit wilder than usual. A terrifying cooperation between two goddesses he had no interest in ever seeing again.

The arctic current appeared in his vision as large swathes of ice blue, and he focused on the beauty of it to distract himself from the pounding in his head. It was fast and cold, and though he'd never done it before, he knew riding it would be more exhilarating than any mortal rollercoaster. It danced where it mixed with the last remnants of the warmer southern currents that had retreated back down the coast, the mixture of opposing temperatures the only reason his storm had managed to take root at all.

His temples gave another painful throb, and he winced, taking a moment to cradle his head in one hand.

600 feet. That's all he had to do. He just had to make it 600 feet to the beach he could feel on the horizon and then he could collapse and sleep for a few minutes. Or hours. Or days.

This level of intense exhaustion was something he'd never experienced before. Even in the middle of a battle, even when he'd been fighting for days on end without rest he had never felt this. It was odd. His entire life he'd taken it for granted, that well of power that was spooled within him. But now, when he had emptied it completely, the emptiness that was left in its wake ached. Burning him and tearing him apart from the inside out.

Percy pushed it aside when he felt the group reach his location, wiping his face clean of all expression and shoving down the pain. He could deal with the consequences later. For now, his family needed him.

The small group was walking as quickly as they could manage against the resistance of the water, Annabeth in the lead. He watched her, seeing through her expression of laser-like focus to the desperation and anger hidden beneath. He knew what she was thinking. The same thoughts echoed through his own head.

It was supposed to be over. This year was supposed to be peaceful. Just he and her in their tiny apartment, working their way through high school as though they weren't the veterans of two world-ending wars. The mortals, the Mist, this mess they were now in….It wasn't fair. To them or the kids they were desperately trying to lead to safety.

The world seemed to shake, and Percy started at the vibrations he could feel echoing in all directions. The others still walking along beneath him didn't seem to feel anything of the world above them, and he figured that that was for the best. The storm was picking up. Waves as large as a small ship smashing into the man-made barriers along the water with all the fury of the sea.

The heart of the storm was now above them.

Hopefully that meant that it would soon be past them and move on somewhere further inland. Without the power it was draining from the water, it would quickly taper out into a smaller thunderstorm. Or snowstorm, depending on where it went.

The shelf of the beach came into view, and Percy swam back to the head of the group, planting his feet securely in the wet sand.

Percy could feel his body trembling with exhaustion, but he met Annabeth's hopeful gaze and pulled from down deep within himself. He thrust forward with both hands, a silent yell of pain forcing its way past his lips, despite his best efforts to contain it. But it worked. The water parted like a giant deadly tunnel, the individual bubbles around each demigod popped, and the small group of twelve ran for their lives.

Julia and another child of Hermes were the first to break free and make it onto the beach. They looked around immediately for any watching eyes, Julia reaching for the pistols she had holstered at her hips. But thankfully, there was no one. At least, not that they could see.

The beach was small, only a strip of sand next to the road really. But if it was popular among the locals, it seemed the storm had chased even them away. Julia couldn't blame them. The wind blew sea spray and sand alike in every direction, and they stung like tiny knives as they were whipped into her face. She squinted, turning to watch as the others emerged from the tunnel, Keir carrying his younger sister on his shoulders. A few seconds later, Katie ran out, knife still clutched in her hand.

The daughter of Demeter took her first step on the dry land of the beach, and the tunnel slammed closed behind them. Nothing like the controlled fall Percy had allowed on the opposite side of the channel.

The two walls of water slammed into one another with a deafening Boom! that, thankfully for them, fit right in with the occasional peal of thunder. The waves surged higher than they had previously in response, and though water washed up and over her feet and ankles, Annabeth didn't seem to notice.

She had turned immediately upon reaching the beach, waiting for Percy to emerge himself. Will stepped up by her side, his med bag already out and ready. Grey eyes scanned the surf, but there was no sign of him. "Where is he?", she said worriedly, talking more to herself than anything.

Will turned to face her, adopting the careful expression she'd seen him use multiple times in the infirmary when he was about to say something his patients wouldn't want to hear. "Annabeth, he might have passed out—"

He was cut off by Annabeth's exclamation. "There!"

A raven black head of hair appeared just beyond the breakers as Percy shot up from where he'd been regathering his strength at the bottom of the channel. Even exhausted, he was an excellent swimmer, and Annabeth felt herself relaxing slightly as he began swimming towards them, cutting through the choppy water like butter. When he got close enough to the beach, he dove down, allowing the force of one of the powerful waves to carry him the rest of the way in.

Percy's entire body was screaming.

He'd used the last of his power to keep that tunnel open long enough for the entire group to make it through, and now that well inside of him was utterly dry. No, not dry. It had been dry half an hour ago. Now, it was bleeding. He'd pushed himself too far, and now he could feel the effects of it searing through his bloodstream.

Percy washed up on the beach a little ways away from where Annabeth and Will had been waiting for him. They ran to him, and he tried to rise, but his arms were weak and shaky, and he collapsed back into the sand with a pained groan. His head was buzzing, and the world around him didn't feel real. Distantly, he felt a warm liquid dripping down his face.

Blood. His ears and nose were bleeding.

"Percy!". Annabeth threw herself into the sand at his side, and though she couldn't do anything to help, her comforting presence alone was enough the help him breathe a bit easier. Her eyes widened as she beheld the crimson quickly staining the sand beneath his face, and she shot Will an alarmed look over her shoulder.

Warm, practiced hands turned Percy onto his back, and he came face-to-face with Will, looking him over with an analytical expression. The medic's fingers found his neck, taking his pulse, and he held a glowing finger in front of his eyes to test his pupils.

"Julia!", he suddenly said, calling over his shoulder to the daughter of Hermes hovering with the rest of the group nearby. "Do you still have any water or food in that bag?". He turned Percy back onto his side as he spoke, encouraging the son of Poseidon to lean over so that he didn't choke on the blood running down his throat.

She nodded grimly and made her way over, slinging the bag in question off her shoulder and kneeling in the sand beside him to begin digging through it. "Yeah. Here". She pulled out a fresh bottle of water and a granola bar, both of which she handed to Will. Then, she turned to Annabeth. "We're starting to run low on food, though. We need to make another run."

Annabeth shoved down her own panic and turned away from Percy to face the rest of the group, marking that most of them did, indeed, look hungry. "Alright. Percy said the bus station isn't far from here. There should be a gas station or something near by. Why don't you and Dana go scout it out. I want to know where we're going so we don't have to carry him farther than we have to", she said, gesturing to Percy where he still lay supine in the sand.

"Hey", he protested weakly, "'m not fat."

"No one said you were, Percy", Will said patiently, noting with slight concern the slurring of his patient's voice. He uncapped the bottle of water and held it to his lips, "Now drink."

Percy obliged, and Julia turned back towards the group of waiting demigods, tapping her sibling on the shoulder and jerking her head towards the road. Dana nodded and stood up from where they'd been crouching in the sand with the rest of the under-12's. Though only 11 years old, Dana had lived at camp for almost their whole life and had served as a messenger in both wars. They were the fastest person at camp to date.

Annabeth watched the two children of Hermes run off before turning back to Percy who had somehow already managed to drink the entire first water bottle and was now halfway through his second one. She noted with some slight relief that the water seemed to be helping. At least, his nosebleed seemed to be slowing, and the glaze over his eyes had disappeared. He was still unusually pale, though, and perhaps most alarmingly of all, still soaking wet from his swim across the channel. If he was too weak to even dry himself off…

Will seemed to be thinking along similar lines, as he shot her a concerned look before gesturing Keir over from where he was waiting with the younger kids.

The 15-year-old nodded and disengaged from his shaking younger sister. Coming to kneel at Will's side, he cocked an eyebrow in question.

"We need your help to lift him", Will explained. "He might be able to stand up on his own, but he certainly won't be walking anywhere. Just until we get him on the bus." Keir nodded in determination and moved around to Percy's other side. "Alright", Will warned, seeing the son of Aphrodite get a good grip on Percy's arm and shoulder, "On three. 1…2…3!" They hoisted him up until Percy was more or less in the sitting position and holding himself up on his own power.

"I'm fine", Percy said, waving them away.

"You are not fine", Will replied, "Eat this."

A granola bar was thrust into his hand, and Percy scowled at being ordered around. "I'm not some sort of invalid", he complained. Will just glared at him until he gave in, tearing open the wrapper. "I think I understand Nico a bit more now", he grumbled, tearing into whatever honey-nut whatever bar they'd managed to steal from the last convenience store.

Will huffed fondly at the thought of his grumpy boyfriend. "Making you like me isn't my job, Jackson. My job is getting you well enough to make it to the bus stop without passing out again."

"I'm chalking the fact that he's even awake right now up to the rain", Annabeth said, gesturing vaguely to the downpour around them. She, like the rest of them, was completely soaked. Her normally golden blonde hair now looked closer to brown where it was pasted to the sides of her face.

Percy looked down at himself and frowned, as though just then realising that he was wet and unable to figure out how it had happened. "This has never happened to me before", he said slowly, balling the now-empty granola wrapper up in his fist.

Annabeth, hearing the underlying tinge of fear in his voice, moved closer and took his free hand. "Hey, you're just as in control as you were before, Percy. You're powers are just drained." He nodded slowly, and she squeezed his hand. "We'll be alright."

Loss of control over himself and his powers had been one of Percy's greatest fears ever since the Battle of Manhattan, and his time in Tartarus had only made it that much worse. Annabeth knew that, just as she knew that despite all her reassurances, he still saw himself as a monster

A particularly cutting gust of wind off the water blasted them with freezing mist, and Percy frowned in concern as Annabeth shivered. "We have to keep moving", he said, "The bus will have heating. Are Julia and Dana back yet?"

Keir, who had taken a few steps away to give the couple some privacy, nodded and pointed down the street to where they could just make out the forms of the two children of Hermes, braced against the wind and rain on their way back.

Annabeth stood upon noticing them, waving to Katie to grab her attention and then yelling, "Time to go!", over the sound of the wind and waves. The daughter of Demeter nodded and roused the rest of the group, preparing them to leave, and Annabeth turned back to face her fiancé. "Do you think you can walk?", she asked. Percy gritted his teeth and nodded. "Good. Let's go."

—

Fifteen minutes later saw the group collapsed in various seats in the back of a public bus trundling down Oriental Boulevard. Percy had passed out in the first seat he saw, with Annabeth taking the seat just beside him. The rest of the group followed their lead, sitting quietly in groups of twos and threes. Most took the opportunity to take a short nap, and Julia handed out the food she and Dana had managed to grab to those still awake.

Percy was still out cold when they turned onto 86th street a little more than half an hour later, and while the others woke up easily enough with a quick shake, he stayed dead to the world. Annabeth frowned as she shook him, growing more worried the longer it took to wake him up. Demigods in general were light sleepers—they had to be considering the constant danger they were in all the time—but Percy even more so. Back at their apartment, he startled awake at even the slightest noise, often taking a long time to fall back asleep again.

"Hey, is he alright?".

Annabeth whipped around, hand flying to the dagger she had hidden in a fake pocket, but it was just a kid around Zach's age with a backpack slung over one shoulder. She would have written him off as a threat entirely if it weren't for the strange aura and sickly paleness of his features. "He's fine", she replied shortly, meeting Julia's gaze over his shoulder and nodding towards the door, "He's just tired."

The kid just looked at her in what she supposed was supposed to be skepticism, but there was something missing from his dark brown eyes that threw the whole thing off. "Nah, I've seen tired", he said flatly, "That ain't just tired."

Julia had managed to skirt around the kid and had gathered the rest of the group next to the doors of the bus. A hand was propped casually on her hip, but Annabeth caught the golden glint of one of the pistols she had holstered there. She was watching the interaction carefully.

Annabeth forced her expression to look non-threatening as Will approached, opening a bottle of water. They couldn't afford a fight right now. "We just got caught in the storm", she explained, trying to look as ditzy as possible as she took the offered water bottle and splashed some of its contents in Percy's face.

He shot awake with a gasp, and Annabeth took advantage of this momentary surge in energy to hoist him to his feet. "There. See? He's perfectly fine. We'll just take him home now to rest." She didn't wait for a reply as the bus lurched to a stop and the doors opened to reveal the abating storm that awaited them. The creepy kid stiffened as they passed, but thankfully didn't do anything more than stare after them with an unreadable expression on his face as they stumbled down the stairs and onto the sidewalk below.

"Who was that?", Percy asked, leaning heavily against the sign for the bus stop. His senses were completely muddled, including the demigod instincts that normally would have been blaring at an encounter like that. Weak as he was, he was now completely reliant on Annabeth and the others to get their group out of New York, and he hated that he was unable to help.

Annabeth frowned in confusion. "I don't know. It might have been a monster, but with the Mist falling apart, I don't see how it could have managed to hide so well."

"Maybe it was just a really normal-looking monster", Zach suggested.

She nodded. "Maybe. It doesn't matter now, though. Whatever it was, it didn't follow us. We should get to the train before it changes its mind."

—

The D train was, in essence, a piece of junk. It shook ruthlessly as it ran along its tracks, utterly denying the demigods inside of it their one chance to rest. Not to mention, as was the propensity of all New York public transportation, it quickly filled with a number of…odd characters. By the time a gods-damned mariachi band of all things decided to make an appearance, Annabeth had almost blown a gasket. As the small men cheerfully made their way down the train with their very loud instruments, Annabeth turned in her seat next to Percy and shot them her fiercest glare.

The music stumbled for a moment, and just as Annabeth was preparing to continue with her stream of prepared non-verbal threats, something behind them caught her eye. Or rather, someone.

They'd made it into Midtown Manhattan by that point. Far enough without any disturbances that she really should have seen this coming. So when she caught sight of the unnerving boy from the bus following them, some part of her wasn't even surprised.

She woke Percy from where he was trying to doze next to her with a quick elbow to the gut, "Percy!", she hissed in alarm, as he woke from the half-lucid state he'd been in for the past hour. "We've got a tail. It's that kid from the bus."

Percy turned in his seat, blinking through blurry vision to see that she was right, and that the boy had now stood from his seat and was advancing down the car towards them.

"I didn't even see it get on the train", Annabeth continued.

Percy nodded, believing her immediately, and turned to Will and Julia who were sitting together on the other side of the aisle. "We've got problems", he said quickly in Greek, nodding back to the approaching monster.

Will looked up and frowned at it thoughtfully. "I swear I've seen something like it before."

"Yeah, well, whatever it is", Julia interjected stumbling slightly over the language, "We can't fight it here. We have to go."

"Julia's right", Annabeth said, standing. Just then, the train hit another tunnel, and they were plunged into darkness.

A cold crept along the train car as the demigods readied themselves to run. An unnatural chill. The same unnatural chill, Percy realised, that he felt whenever Nico used his powers. Whatever this thing was, it was from the Underworld.

The mortals crowding the train had gone eerily quiet, as though they, too, could sense the danger that now stalked among them. Percy just hoped that the Mist held out just enough to keep them from realising what was really happening and getting themselves hurt.

Annabeth grunted as she hoisted him to his feet, and Keir was quickly at his other side as his knees buckled, throwing an arm around his shoulders and helping them to stumble towards the doors. The mortals in their immediate vicinity watched them curiously, with a few even looking mildly concerned, but Percy had no time for them, now. It was hard enough just staying conscious.

They exited the tunnel into the next station in a flash of too-bright fluorescent light and a high-pitched squeal as the train hit its brakes and came to a grinding halt at the next stop.

The monster was almost upon them, but in a stroke of rare good fortune, a veritable crowd of mortals stood up between them at that moment, apparently intent on exiting the train at this stop as well.

Annabeth breathed a momentary sigh of relief and then stumbled along with the rest of her group out into the underground station. She counted heads as they passed, making sure that they didn't leave anybody behind: Percy, Keir, and her made three, then Katie with two of the under-12's made six, then Zach, Marcus and another under-12 made nine, then Dana, Julia and the last under-12 made twelve, then finally, Will, jumping out just as the doors closed and guarding their back.

Thirteen. Thirteen altogether. So few, and yet so many. For the moment, though, they were all together and safe, and that was what mattered.

Annabeth frowned as she looked around the marginally-crowded platform. "It's gone. Did it get off the train?"

Will approached quickly, gathering the demigods in their charge together until they formed a tight group. "No. It's not gone. I recognise it now. Nico taught me about them. They're called cacodaemon, evil spirits."

Under normal circumstances, Percy would have taken the perfectly-presented opportunity to tease his younger cousin and his boyfriend, but for now, his head felt like it was filled with cotton, with words seeming much too difficult a skill for him to manage.

Annabeth seemed to sense that, as she looked over his steadily-drooping form in concern. "We're in no shape to fight", she said, "Is there any way to run from these things. Will it ever stop following us?"

Will shook his head grimly. "No. We have to dispel it, usually with light or fire—"

Zach, who had been trying his best to listen and learn, caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye and whipped around, his brain converting the rest of the conversation to a dull buzzing in the background.

What was that?

There was nothing but mortals milling about, most soaking wet from the rain and looking quite miserable about it. A few shot them curious or annoyed glances, but there was no reason any of them should have caught his attention—

There.

Another flicker. A figure wearing grey rags, moving too quickly for him to track. Zach turned completely, forest green eyes scanning the entire platform suspiciously until they landed on the object of his search. The boy from the train. But not.

What little Mist had been cloaking him before was gone, revealing his true form. His face was gaunt and skeletal, yellowed skin pulled tight over bare bones. And his eyes…gods. Even from several metres away he could see that his eyes were nothing. Just black holes. Pits full of nothing but hunger.

"Look out!"

He cried his warning just in time. Will whipped around from where he'd still been discussing with Annabeth the details of the monster they were facing. His demigod instincts came roaring to the surface, and with them, the powers gifted from his father that usually took much longer to conjure up.

From out of his outstretched palms blasted a beam of pure light. His eyes blazed with it, the faint gold ring around his pupils flaring until it seemed his eyes were glowing with the sort of bright, golden light only Apollo and his children could ever hope to conjure up.

The spirit screamed, a howling, unearthly sound that made everyone who heard it freeze and the hairs on the back of their necks rise. The light burned through it, and its body cracked like a drying lakebed before it finally disintegrated into ruddy golden dust, blowing away on some phantom wind.

The beam of light disappeared as soon as the monster died, and Will slowly lowered his hands, chest heaving at the exertion. Normally, he had only limited control over his father's domain over sunlight, unlike some of his more talented siblings. This was more than he had ever done before, but he was glad that the power had chosen now to manifest. If it hadn't, he'd surely be dead.

The platform was dead silent as the crowd of mortals stared at them with shock, horror and fear. Some blinked before looking around in confusion and continuing on with their day, but others (many more others than there should have been) just continued to stare.

"Run", Annabeth breathed, as the first mortal began pulling out their mobile phone, "Run!"

They ran. Faster than any mortal could ever hope to keep up with, they sprinted through the station and up the stairs, bursting out onto 6th Avenue suddenly enough to startle the normally unflappable New York pedestrians.

"Right!", Percy called from the back of the group. They followed his directions without question, weaving through crowds and shoving people out of the way as they raced away from the scene.

Percy kept yelling directions from where he was lagging at the back of the group, still being supported by Keir, and it took Annabeth an embarrassingly long amount of time to realise just where he was directing them to.

Their apartment. After everything, his plan was just to get them home.

The group passed a quiet alley, and Annabeth grabbed at the opportunity, halting their progress and ducking into it so that they could discuss where they were going. It was dark and damp in the alleyway, a barely-there sliver of space between two apartment buildings that seemed to exist mostly to house dumpsters and offer shelter to suspicious figures such as them.

Percy's face was worryingly pale as she looked at him, his black hair pasted to the sides of his head with a combination of sweat and rainwater. He leaned against the dirty brick wall behind him, utterly exhausted and frustrated with himself for being too weak to even keep the group dry.

Annabeth examined him carefully, face growing tighter with worry the longer she looked at him. It was clear why he'd chosen to make for their apartment. They needed somewhere warm to lay low and rest, and he physically wasn't capable of trying to reach anywhere further away.

"Where are we going?", Katie panted, letting Keir's sister down off her back now that it seemed they would be slowing down slightly.

"I was headed for our apartment", Percy answered, equally out of breath. A familiar headache was beginning to pound in his temples. Whatever good Will's treatment and his short rest on the bus had done, it had long worn off by now. He was running on fumes. No, less than fumes. The memory of fumes.

"What? We can't go there!", Julia protested, and Percy was dragged back to the present, "That'll be the first place they'll start poking around."

"We don't have any other option", Percy replied tiredly, trying to push himself up the wall so that he could stand up straighter. "Besides, the only way they'd find out about the place is if my mom tells them. We pay rent off the books, no one at school knows where we live, we should be safe there for a little bit."

"It's still dangerous", Julia continued, though now with considerably less anger heating her words, "What we need is to get out of this gods-damned state!"

Percy was quiet for a few moments before his eyes gained a determined glint Annabeth didn't like the look of at all. The last time she'd seen that look, it was when he was telling her to run before blowing up a volcano with him inside of it. "You guys need to go", he said, looking around and meeting the gazes of everyone in the group, " Take a taxi and get the kids across the Hudson. Without me slowing you down and attracting attention, you'll make it. I'll lay low here, meet up with you when I can."

"Oh, no you don't!", Annabeth hissed, stepping towards him with fire in her gunmetal eyes. "You've made enough sacrifices, Percy. We're not leaving you behind!"

His pained green eyes softened slightly as he looked at her. "You know as well as I do that it's our best option, Wise Girl", he said quietly.

She opened her mouth to continue arguing, hot tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, but before she could, a new voice spoke up instead. "That doesn't sound like a very good idea."

The group froze. Amidst all the debate, Percy had turned his back on the mouth of the alley, leaving no one on watch for pursuers. He chided himself silently and viciously. They were in no shape for a fight, but with the stranger blocking the only exit out of the alley, it seemed they no longer had a choice.

The quick tensing of his shoulders was the only warning before Percy suddenly pushed off the wall, fist flying. Whoever it was stumbled back, just barely missing the hit. "Whoa! What the hell, man?!"

Percy wasn't listening, though. His other hand lashed out, grabbing them by the collar of their shirt and swinging them around so that they slammed into the wall of the alleyway. "Who are you?", he demanded darkly, uncapping Riptide and pointing it at their throat in one fluent move.

It was only when he met the scared brown eyes of the person he'd just attacked that he recognised the shaking form of his teammate, Shounak.