A/N (I recommend reading this): I'm going to MAKE THIS CLEAR. Just like I mention on my bio page about every other fanfiction I done: I DON'T OWN THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIAN SERIES or AND THE KANE CHRONICLES OR IT'S CHARACTERS as the rights goes to Rick Riordan. Also I suggest you guys start paying attention to the Author notes and my warnings that I left on EVERY chapter of EVERY story.

Sorry if this chapter is too much like the book.

This is a The Tales of version of the Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles crossover and takes place after 'The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus part of the series. So if you haven't read them yet read before reading this story as stuff that happened in them will be mentioned:

The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Early Adventures
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Lightning Thief
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Sea of Monsters
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Titan's Curse
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Magical Labyrinth
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Stolen Chariot
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Sword of Hades
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Bronze Dragon
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: The Last Olympian
The Tales of the Son of Poseidon: the Staff of Hermes
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Quest for Buford
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades
The Tales of the Heroes of Olympus: The Blood of Olympus
The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Son of Sobek
The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Staff of Serapis
The Tales of Magicians and Demigods: The Crown of Ptolemy

Also if you haven't got the chance feel free to read:

The Tales of Classical Mythology

A crossover with The Tales of series with my dictionary on Greek/Roman Mythology where The Tales of Percy Jackson tells his version of stories behind famous names in Greek and Roman Mythology.

And if you are a fan of Stephen King:

The Tales of the Heroes of the Stand

Which is basically a crossover of The Tales of series with one of Stephen King's best novels The Stand.

Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.

Nero Escapes but Dodona is Saved, Apologies Forgiven, and... Wait, Where's Meg?

Nero sneaky, but Hecate is the true mistress of deceive and her kids were no better.

For once in my immortal and mortal life I was glad about it.

Nero had this place set ready to go up in flames before we got here because not long after the match hit the ground, the forest done just that.

Flames were roaring between Nero and myself, burning grass and bones, tree roots, and the earth itself. The blaze was too strong to be stamped out, if Greek fire even could be stamp out, and was rolling hungrily toward the six bound hostages.

But as quickly as it started, the flames suddenly diverted elsewhere—to Alabaster. To our shock the fire seemed to be sucked up into something in Alabaster's hands until it was completely gone.

Once it was over, Alabaster stood, holding a ball of Greek fire over a golden card before it too was snuffed out

Alabaster hit the end of the torch on the ground. "Meg wasn't the only one Dodona talked to. It talked to me, too."

"No… NO!" Nero started stomping on the ground. "NO! NO! NO!"

"How?" I asked.

"I learned several elementals magics and spells while I was on the run, including one that can snuff out Greek fire," Alabaster said. "Catch is, I can't use fire magic again—not without taking my own life."

"You will pay for that!" Nero shouted. "I can still burn this place down!" He waved his box of matches around.

Peaches did not think so. The Karpos hurtled through the air, screaming his war cry "Peaches!" He landed on Nero's arm, chomped the emperor's hand with the matches.

Nero roared in pain as he swung his hand around managing to throw Peaches off just to end up empty handed as Peaches achieved his goal of swallowing the box of matches.

The scene might have been funny except that the Germani were now back on their feet.

Emperor stared at his empty hand. "Meg…?" His voice was cold as an icicle. "What is the meaning of this?"

"P-Peaches, come here!" Meg's voice had turned brittle with fear.

The karpos bounded to her side. He hissed at me, Nero, Alabaster, and the Germani.

Meg took a shaky breath, clearly gathering her nerve. "Nero… Peaches is right. You—you can't burn these people alive."

Nero sighed. He looked at his bodyguards for moral support, but the Germani still appeared woozy. They were hitting the sides of their heads as if trying to clear water from their ears.

"Meg," said the emperor, "I am trying so hard to keep the Beast at bay. Why won't you help me? I know you are a good girl. I would not have allowed you to roam around Manhattan so much on your own, playing the street waif, if I did not know you could take care of yourself. But softness toward your enemies is not a virtue. You are my stepdaughter. Any of these demigods would kill you without hesitation given the chance."

"That's not true!" Alabaster said. "Ethan and I are living proof of that. We sided with Kronos in the Second Titan war and the camp pardon us. They will pardon you too."

She studied Alabaster. "Even… even if that was true…" She turned to Nero. "You told me never to lower myself to my enemies' level."

"No, indeed." Nero's tone had frayed like a weathered rope. "We are better. We are stronger. We will build a glorious new world. But these nonsense-spewing trees stand in our way, Meg. Like any invasive weeds, they must be burned. And the only way to do that is with a true conflagration—flames stoked by blood. Let us do this together, and not involve the Beast, shall we?"

Finally, in my mind, something clicked. I remembered how my father used to punish me centuries ago, when I was a young god learning the ways of Olympus. Zeus used to say. Do not get on the wrong side of my lightning bolts, boy.

As if the lightning bolt had a mind of its own—as if Zeus had nothing to do with the punishments, he meted out upon me.

Do not blame me, his tone implied. It is the lightning bolt that seared every molecule in your body. Many years later, when I killed the Cyclopes who made Zeus's lightning, it was no rash decision. I had always hated those lightning bolts. It was easier than hating my father.

I had to do it father, I remember Halcyon told me when I cursed him. He risked everything for a girl, defied the fates, defied me, and warned a girl of her death. I blamed his curse on the Olympians, but I remembered I warned him there were consequences for defying fate. I thought Halcyon got off lucky considering, but truth was, Hal suffered because I blessed him with sight of the future.

Not just me. Athena punishing Medusa for making love with Poseidon in her temple. Hera cursing every girlfriend Zeus had because of him cheating. Each Olympian done something, and mortals took blame for.

Alabaster was right. The Olympians were tyrants, and I was no better.

But neither was Nero. He took the same tone when he referred to himself as the Beast. He spoke of his anger and cruelty as if they were forces outside his control. If he flew into rage… well then, he would hold Meg responsible.

The realization sickened me. Meg had been trained to regard her kindly stepfather Nero and the terrifying Beast as two separate people. I understood now why her preferred to spend her time in the alleys of New York. I understood why she had such quick mood changes, going from cartwheels to full shutdown in a matter of seconds. She never knew what might unleash the Beast.

She fixed her eyes on me. Her lips quivered. I could tell she wanted a way out—some eloquent argument that would mollify her stepfather and allow her to follow her conscience. But I was no longer a silver-tongued god. I could not outtalk an orator like Nero. And I would not play the Beast's blame game.

Instead, I took a page from Meg's book which was always short and to the point.

"He's evil," I said. "You're good. You must make your own choice."

I could tell that this was not the news Meg wanted. Her mouth tightened. She drew her shoulder blades back as if preparing for a measles shot—something painful but necessary.

"Apollo," she said in a small but firm voice that told me an order was coming. "Use your sonic whistle."

For once I was happy to oblige to Meg's command. I took a deep breath and released my loudest sonic whistle. Only this was not my normal sonic whistle. I felt it inside me. This was my godly power being released from my lungs.

Germani and Vince dropped to the ground their ears bleeding. Nero was blasted straight into the Myrmekes den.

Finally, I was done, but unfortunately my whistle only set off the Grove of Dodona as it releases its own blast. Peaches screamed and beat his head against the dirt.

I was prepared for this. As the trees' ear-splitting chorus reached its crescendo, I anchored my mind with the catchiest tune I could imagine. I hummed "Y.M.C.A.," which I used to perform with the Village People in my construction costume until the Indian chief and I got in a fight over—Never mind. That is not important.

"Meg!" I pulled the brass wind chimes from my pocket and tossed them to her. "Put these on the center tree! Y.M.C.A. Focus the grove's energy! Y.M.C.A."

I was not sure she could hear me. She raised the chimes and watched as they swayed and clang, turning the noise from the trees into snatches of coherent speech: Happiness approaches. The fall of the sun; the final verse. Would you like to hear our specials today?

Meg's face went slack with surprise. She turned toward the grove and sprinted through the gateway. Peaches crawled after her shaking his head.

Vince and Garry were on the ground, unconscious—even dead. Nero was still in the nest, planning his escape. I want to go after him. I still feel my godly powers coursing through me, and I know I can take him. But at the same time, I can feel that power ebbing. It will not be long before my muscles were back to their pathetic flabbiness. So instead, I decided to use it to free the campers. I ran to the stakes.

The closest was Austin's. I wrapped my arms around the base and pulled. I raised the stake enough to topple it backward. Austin stirred and groaned. I repeated the process uprooting Kayla, then Paulie the geyser god, then the others. By time I uprooted Miranda Gardiner, my divine strength disappeared.

Meg and Peaches were nowhere to be seen. Alabaster manage to get to the Germani and stabbed each with his imperial gold sword.

A wave of relief washed over me. I realized Daphne was talking about the heart felt apology from the song I used to mesmerize the ants as I killed them. But at the same time, she was also waiting for me to fully realize what type of god I was and to do the right thing for once.

Then the west wind blew in and somehow a flower and a seedling flew in and landed at my feet. Hyacinth—the flower I made using Hyacinthus—and leaf of from a laurel wreath tree created from Daphne. Normally that brings nothing but pain, but for some reason I felt forgiven from Daphne and Zephyros.

"Thank you," I cried.

Behind me, someone groaned. "Where am I?"

Austin was awake.

I crawled to his side, weeping with even more relief, and kissed his face. "My beautiful son!"

He blinked at me in confusion. His cornrows were sprinkled with ashes from the fire earlier. I suppose it took a moment for him to process why he was being fawned over by a grungy, half-deranged boy with acne.

"Ah, right… Apollo." He tried to move. "What the—? Why am I wrapped in smelly bandages? Could you free me, maybe?"

I laughed hysterically, which I doubt helped Austin's peace of mind. I clawed at his bindings but made no progress.

"Alabaster! Austin is awake! Help me free him!" I shouted.

"Right!" Alabaster ran over.

"Torrington? What is he doing here?" Austin asked.

"Long story," I said.

Alabaster freed Austin and we pulled him from the stake. Austin stumbled around, trying to shake the circulation back into his limbs. He took in the scene—the burned grounds, the other prisoners, The Grove of Dodona had stopped its wild chorus of screaming (when did that happen?) A radiant amber light now glowed from the gateway.

Nero has not showed up from the Myrmekes nest and I got the feeling he will not show up anytime soon. He used the Labyrinth to go into hiding.

"What's going on?" Austin asked. "Also, where is my saxophone?"

Sensible questions. I wished I had sensible answers. All I knew was that Meg McCaffrey was still wandering in the grove, and I did not like the fact that the trees had gone silent.

I stared at my weak mortal arms. I wondered why I had experienced a sudden surge of divine power when facing danger when it did not appear before? Had my emotions trigger it? Was it the fact that I realized my own mistakes instead of blaming others? If so, was it a reward from Zeus for realizing it, or was he messing with me again giving me a taste of my old power before yanking it away once more? Remember this, kid? WELL, YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!

I wished I could summon that power again, but I would just have to make do with average demigod powers.

I turned to Alabaster. "Help Austin free the others. I'll be back."

Austin turned to me incredulously. "You're going in there? Is it safe?"

"I doubt it," I said.

Then I ran toward the Oracle.