Hey, hey, hey! Welcome to another chapter of Tsukuyomi's Son!
BTW, this is where some of the creative liberties are, that I told you guys about in the summary!
Chapter 7: An Eye for an Eye
Percy Jackson
Percy had several revelations on the way to Camp Half-Blood, most of them having to do with how terrible his luck was, but the main takeaway was that Alx was bad with feelings. This didn't come as a shock to him, considering he already knew Alx was emotionally repressed, but it didn't strike him until now just how crazy it was that he could just… flip his emotions on and off like that. One minute he was on Ogygia, holding on to Calypso like a lifeline, and then the next he was on this raft with him acting like nothing had even happened. Calypso had honestly seemed more upset about the fact that Alx was leaving her than the fact that he was, so it was obvious that they'd been close, but now Alx was business as usual again, rambling tersely on about all of the things they'd need to get done soon, even though Percy could see that his hands were still shaking.
So, yeah, Alx was bad with feelings.
Apollo seemed kind of bad at them too, though, given his extensive track history, so maybe that evened things out.
And speaking of Apollo, Percy needed to burn some sacrifices for him as soon as possible, or he was pretty sure some Very Bad Things were going to happen to him. Alx seemed very adamant about this, and well, Alx was always right, so Percy always listened to him. That was just an unspoken rule in their relationship, only secondary to the rule that they were ride or die for each other. Alx literally got burned alive for him, and he nearly got into a fist fight with a god to protect Alx's honor, so that was that. Their friendship was sealed forever, even though Percy could be stupid sometimes and Alx could be dead depressing.
Not that either of them was actually dead, of course.
Everyone back home didn't seem to get the memo, though, considering he and Alx crashed their own funeral.
In a morbid way, it was kind of nice, seeing how many people would miss them. Beckendorf had been the first to shout Percy's name, and Silena had actually tackled Alx to the ground in a hug, uncaring of the dirt getting on her clothes and the way Alx clawed futilely at her shoulders to let her up. Annabeth's reaction, too, had been a nice surprise. She'd embraced Alx so tightly he'd thought the seer's eyes would pop out of his skull. Then, instead of punching him like Percy had expected, she'd wrapped her arms around him so fiercely she'd nearly cracked his ribs. She'd also yelled at the two of them so loudly he thought she would bust a lung, but that was fair, he figured. He and Alx had apparently been gone for two weeks.
When Chiron eventually brought them into the Big House, Percy didn't tell them the whole story. He just couldn't bring himself to talk about Calypso, and Alx didn't seem all that eager to share either, which just reinforced his assumptions that Alx missed her. Alx didn't seem to have a lot of friends outside of camp; it made sense he was probably taking the loss harder than he was, so he took on the explanations. He told them how he'd caused the explosion at Mount St. Helens and gotten him and Alx blasted out of the volcano; how the two of them had been marooned on an island; how Hephaestus and Apollo had found them and told them they could leave; and how a magic raft had carried them both to camp.
All of this was true, of course, but the more he talked, the sweatier his palms felt.
"You've been gone two weeks," Annabeth's voice was steadier now, but she still looked pretty shaken up. "When I heard the explosion, I thought the worst. Apollo's reaction didn't exactly reassure me, either. I think he must have sped up global warming by a good few years. You should see the photos they have of Antarctica right now-"
"Alright, yes, we know!" Alx interjected tersely, his hands clenched into fists in his lap. Annabeth immediately quieted, an apologetic expression on her face, and Chiron cleared his throat, looking at Percy pointedly.
Right. Okay. Time to change the subject.
"Listen," he said, sparing Alx a nervous glance. He looked pretty upset. "We're sorry. But we figured out how to get through the Labyrinth. I talked to Hephaestus."
"He told you the answer?" Annabeth asked, obviously eager to change the subject as well. It was never good when Alx got into a bad mood. He had that in common with Apollo, it looked like (although, at least his emotional turmoil didn't cause massive environmental disasters; it was no wonder he didn't like hearing what the god had done to the world in his absence).
Percy shook his head a little, trying to get his mind back on track. They were running out of time. "He told me that Alx and I already knew. And we do. We understand now."
He told them the idea he and Alx had thought up.
Annabeth's jaw dropped. "That's crazy!"
Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and stroked his beard. "There is precedent, however. Theseus had the help of Ariadne." Alx oddly stiffened at the name. "Harriet Tubman, daughter of Hermes, used many mortals on her Underground Railroad for just this reason."
"But this is my quest," Annabeth said insistently. "I need to lead it."
Chiron looked uncomfortable. "My dear, it is your quest. But you need help."
"And this is supposed to help? Please! It's wrong. It's cowardly. It's-"
"It's how it needs to be," Alx interrupted. He looked exasperated, which Percy was willing to take over the dark look he had on his face previously. "I knew the first time we met Rachel that we'd need her one day, and when Hera told Percy and I that we already knew a way to navigate the Labyrinth, I suspected this was the reason. We'll never be able to find Daedalus if we don't have someone who can lead us there."
"Hard to admit we need a mortal's help," Percy added. "But it's true."
Annabeth glared at him, even though this was just as much Alx's idea as it was him.
"You are the single most annoying person I have ever met!" she cried, and then she stormed out of the room in an angry huff.
Percy was left staring at the doorway. He felt like he was hitting something. Alx, on the other hand, just picked at his nails disinterestedly.
"So much for being the bravest friends she's ever had," Percy said mulishly, unable to stop himself from being a little petty.
"She will calm down," Chiron promised.
"She's just jealous, Percy," Alx said bluntly, like his heart wasn't going through enough severe hurtles at the moment.
"That's stupid, though," he dismissed weakly. "She's not… it's not like…"
Chiron chuckled as Alx gave him a blank look. "It hardly matters. Annabeth is very territorial about her friends; in case you haven't noticed. She was quite worried about you two. And now that you're back, I think she suspects where you were marooned."
Percy met his eyes, and he knew Chiron had guessed about Calypso. It was hard to hide anything from a man who'd been training heroes for three thousand years. He'd pretty much seen it all.
"We won't dwell on your choices," Chiron said, eyeing them both steadily. Percy tried not to fidget under his knowing stare, and Alx stared blankly at the wall. "You both came back. That is what matters."
"Tell that to Annabeth," Percy couldn't help but say, frowning.
Chiron smiled. "In the morning, I will have Argus take the three of you into Manhattan. I suggest you send an Iris-message to your parents tonight, Alx, and you might stop by your mother's tomorrow, Percy. They are all… understandably distraught."
Percy's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten. His mom was probably devastated. For the past two weeks, she'd thought he was dead. From the grimace on Alx's face, Percy knew his parents were likely feeling the same way.
"Chiron," Percy said, suddenly remembering, "what about Grover and Tyson? Do you think-"
"I don't know," Chiron gazed into the empty fireplace. "Juniper is quite depressed. All her branches are turning yellow. The Council of Cloven Elders have revoked Grover's searcher license in absentia. Assuming he comes back alive, they will force him into a shameful exile." He sighed. "Grover and Tyson are very resourceful, however. We can only hope."
"We shouldn't have let them run off," Percy said miserably.
"Grover has his own destiny, Percy," Alx said tiredly, shaking his head. "And Tyson was a good friend to follow him. We had to let them go off on their own. Besides, you'd know if Grover was in mortal danger, wouldn't you?"
He knew that was true. Their empathy link would have alerted him if something was really wrong. Still, it grated on his nerves to now know where Grover and Tyson were, even if their separation was something that had to happen.
"There is something else I should tell you both," Chiron said. "Actually two unpleasant things."
"Great," Percy muttered sarcastically, sharing a tired look with Alx.
"Chris Rodriguez, our guest…"
A bad feeling churned in Percy's gut as he asked tensely, "Is he dead?"
"Not yet," Chiron said grimly. "But he's much worse. He's in the infirmary now, too weak to move. I had to order Clarisse back to her regular schedule, because she was at his bedside constantly. He doesn't respond to anything. He won't take food or drink. None of my medicines help. He has simply lost the will to live."
Percy shuddered, and Alx looked down, hiding his expression from view. For a moment, Percy tried imagining Alx in a similar state, his mind flashing back to that photo of Cassandra he'd seen in his dream, and it made him feel a little sick. He couldn't imagine how he'd react if it were Alx in Chris's place, and well…
Despite all the bad run-ins he'd had with Clarisse, he felt horrible for her. She'd tried so hard to help Chris, and now that Percy had been in the Labyrinth, he could understand why it had been so easy for the ghost of Minos to drive Chris mad. If he'd been left wandering around down there alone, without his friends to help, he'd never have made it out.
"I'm sorry to say," Chiron continued wearily, "the other news is less pleasant still. Quintus has disappeared."
"What? How?" Alx asked, snapping his head back up.
"Three nights ago, he slipped into the Labyrinth," Chiron explained with a grimace. "Juniper watched him go. It appears you may have been right about him, Percy."
"He's a spy for Luke." He told Chiron about Triple G Ranch. How Quintus had bought his scorpions there and how Geryon had been supplying Kronos's army. "It can't be a coincidence."
Chiron sighed heavily. "So many betrayals. I had hoped Quintus would prove a friend. It seems my judgement was bad."
"What about Mrs. O'Leary?" Percy asked.
"The hellhound is still in the arena. It won't let anyone approach. I did not have the heart to force it into a cage… or destroy it."
"Quintus wouldn't just leave her," Percy insisted. He didn't know how he knew that, but he did. The guy seemed to really care for his pet, for all that he was a traitor.
Chiron shook his head, clearly at a lost about the situation as he and Alx were. "As I said, we seem to have been wrong about him. Now, you both should prepare yourselves for the morning. The two of you and Annabeth have much to do."
Percy and Alx left him in his wheelchair, staring sadly into the fireplace, and Percy wondered how many times he'd sat there, waiting for heroes that would never come home.
By the deeply sad look in Alx's eye, he had a feeling Alx knew the answer.
-{}-
The next morning, after sacrificing most of his breakfast to Apollo and asking Beckendorf to keep an eye on Mrs. O'Leary, Percy hiked over Half-Blood Hill and met Annabeth, Alx, and Argus on the road.
The three of them didn't talk much in the van. Alx looked queasy, and Annabeth seemed tense, so he knew they'd discussed something unpleasant before he'd shown up.
"Bad dreams?" he asked at last, which was always a loaded question when it came to Alx.
He shook his head. "An Iris-message from Eurytion."
"Eurytion! Is something wrong with Nico?" he asked, his gut tightening. No wonder Alx looked so uneasy. If something happened to the kid…
"He left the ranch last night," Alx said dully, as Annabeth reached out to hold his hand comfortingly. "He went back into the maze."
"Nico was gone before he woke up," Annabeth elaborated, taking on the explanations when it was clear Alx didn't have it in him. "Orthus tracked his scent as far as the cattle guard. Eurytion said he'd been hearing Nico talk to himself the last few nights. Only now he thinks Nico was talking with the ghost again, Minos."
"He's in danger," Percy said instantly, his mind shooting back to the dream he'd had the night before.
"No kidding," Annabeth said, as Alx continued to stare miserably out the window. "Minos is one the judges of the dead, but he's got a vicious streak a mile wide. I don't know what he wants with Nico, but-"
"That's not what I meant," Percy interrupted. "I had this dream last night…"
He told them about Luke, how he'd mentioned Quintus, and how his men had found a half-blood alone in the maze.
"That's not Nico," Alx said. Percy wondered whether Alx was just trying to convince himself of that.
Percy and Annabeth exchanged a glance, before they both sent Alx identical looks of sympathy. He seemed, predicably, irritated by that.
"I mean it," he insisted, scowling at them. "My mother told me something in a dream a while back. That I would meet a half-blood in the Labyrinth that would join Kronos in the war: a son of Nemesis, my distant cousin. He said I could eventually save him, if I try hard enough. I think that must be the demigod they were talking about in your dream, Percy."
Annabeth's jaw clenched. "At least it's not Nico, but… that's still very, very bad."
"So what do we do?" Percy asked, looking at his two friends. They always seemed to have the answers.
Alx and Annabeth exchanged a look he couldn't read, before the former answered grimly, "We go along with our plan. But first, we visit your mother."
It was Saturday, so traffic was heavy going into the city. They arrived at Percy's apartment around noon. When his mom answered the door, she gave him and Alx a hug only a little less overwhelming than having a hellhound jump on you. Alx seemed startled to be included in the enthusiastic embrace, likely because he'd never even met his mom before today, but Percy had admittedly talked about Alx a little more than he wanted to admit, so his mom probably felt like she knew the male seer, anyway.
"I told them you were both all right," his mom said, but she sounded like the weight of the sky had been lifted off her shoulders as she squeezed Percy's arm and brushed some of Alx's hair off his forehead. The seer gave a shaky smile in return, and the look on his mom's face at that convinced Percy that she's pretty much adopted Alx right then and there.
She sat the three of them down at the kitchen table and insisted on feeding them her special blue chocolate-chip cookies while they caught her up on their quest. As usual, Percy tried to water down the most frightening parts, but with Alx's blunt interjections here and there, he kind of made them sound scarier.
"So," his mom said when they were done with their story, "you wrecked Alcatraz Island, made Mount St. Helens explodes, frightened a sun god half to death, and displaced half a million people, but at least you're both safe."
That was his mom, always looking on the bright side.
"Yep," Percy agreed, as Alx made an uncomfortable grimace. "That pretty much covers it."
"I wish Paul were here," his mom said, half to herself. "He wanted to talk to you."
"Oh, right. The school."
So much had happened since then that he'd almost forgotten about the high school orientation at Goode, about that fact that he'd left the band hall in flames and that his mom's boyfriend had seen him jumping through a window like a fugitive.
"What did you tell him?" Percy asked, wincing.
His mom shook her head. "What could I say? He knows something is different about you, Percy. He's a smart man. He believes you're not a bad person. He doesn't know what's going on, but the school is pressuring him. After all, he got you admitted there. He needs to convince them the fire wasn't your fault. And since you ran away, that looks bad."
Annabeth was studying him. She looked pretty sympathetic. Unlike Alx, who had a little more divine protection, Percy knew Annabeth had been in similar situations; it was never easy for a half-blood in the mortal world.
"I'll talk to him," he promised. "After we're done with the quest. I'll even tell him the truth if you want."
His mom put her hand on his shoulder. "You would do that?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, he'll think we're crazy."
"He already thinks that."
"Then there's nothing to lose."
"It'll be fine," Alx said, after swallowing a bite of the cookie in his hand. "He'll take it rather well, actually."
His mom stared at Alx, as if just remembering he could see the future. Percy understood her reaction. Alx's powers were a lot to take in, and his eye was looking particularly creepy today. It was so, so bright. His mom politely ignored that, however, and instead offered Alx more baked goods, which he accepted without hesitation.
"Thank you, then, both of you. Percy, I'll tell Paul you'll be home…" She frowned. "When? What happens now?"
Annabeth broke her cookie in half. "Percy and Alx have this plan."
Reluctantly, he told his mom while Alx stuffed himself.
She nodded slowly. "It sounds very dangerous. But it might work."
"You have the same abilities, don't you?" he asked, recalling what Alx had told him back at Hoover Dam. "You can see through the Mist."
His mom sighed. "Not so much now. When I was younger it was easier. But yes, I've always been able to see more than was good for me. It's one of things that caught your father's attention, when we first met. Just be careful. Promise me you'll be safe."
"We'll try, Ms. Jackson," Annabeth said. "Keeping your son safe is a big job, though." She folded her arms and glared out the kitchen window. Percy picked at his napkin and tried not to say anything.
His mom frowned, clearly sensing the tension between him and Annabeth. "What's going on with you two? Have you been fighting?"
Neither of them said anything. Alx just kept happily eating his mom's cookies, clearly unwilling to get involved in their drama.
"I see," his mom said, sharing a knowing look with Alx, and Percy wondered if she could see through more than just the Mist. It sounded like she understood what was going on with him and Annabeth, just as Alx did, but he sure didn't. "Well, remember," she went on, changing the subject, "Grover and Tyson are counting on you three."
"I know," he and Annabeth said at the same time, which only heightened his embarrassment.
His mom smiled. "Percy, you'd better use the phone down the hall. Good luck."
He was relieved to get out of the kitchen, even though he was nervous about what he was about to do. He went to the phone and placed the call. The number had washed off his hand a long time ago, but that was okay. Alx had made him memorize it, after all.
-{}-
They arranged a meeting in Times Square and found Rachel Elizabeth Dare in front of the Marriott Marquis, completely painted in gold.
She was standing like a statue with five other kids all painted metallic, copper, bronze, silver. They were frozen in different poses while tourists hustled past or stopped to stare. Some passerby threw money at the tarp on the sidewalk.
The sign at Rachel's feet said, URBAN ART FOR KIDS, DONATIONS APPRECIATED.
Percy, Alx, and Annabeth stood there for about five minutes, staring at Rachel in various levels of disbelief, but if she noticed them, she didn't let on. she didn't even move or blink.
"Maybe if we push her over," Annabeth suggested.
Alx seemed to find that a little funny by the way he snorted, but Percy thought that was a little mean. In any case, Rachel didn't respond. After a few more minutes, a kid in silver walked up from the hotel taxi stand, where he'd been taking a break. He took a pose like he was lecturing the crowd, right next to Rachel, and then she unfroze and stepped off the tarp.
"Hey, Percy." She grinned. "And Alx! I was hoping to run into you again. You guys have good timing. Let's get some coffee."
The four of them walked down to a place called the Java Moose on West 43rd. Rachel ordered an Espresso Extreme, the kind of stuff Grover would have liked, while Percy, Alx, and Annabeth got fruit smoothies. They sat at a table right under the stuffed moose, and nobody even looked twice at Rachel in her golden outfit. That was New York for you.
"So," Rachel said, "it's Annabell, right?"
"Annabeth," she corrected with a tight smile. "Do you always dress in gold?"
"Not usually," Rachel answered with an easy tone. "We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this once a month, take in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. You're a half-blood, too?"
"Shhh!" Annabeth hissed, looking around. "Just announce it to the world, how about?"
"Okay." Rachel stood up and cried really loud, "Hey everybody! These three aren't human. They're half Greek god! One of them can tell the future!"
Nobody even looked over. Rachel shrugged and sat down. "They don't seem to care."
"That's not funny," Annabeth snapped. She looked over at Alx, like he would take her side, but Alx just sipped loudly on his smoothie, not making eye contact. Annabeth huffed in annoyance, before turning back to Rachel and saying, "This isn't a joke, mortal girl."
"Hold it, you two," Percy said, raising his palms up as Alx reached out to try the different flavored smoothie he'd gotten. Percy allowed it without pause. "Just calm down."
"I'm calm," Rachel insisted, eyeing him and Alx with an odd expression on her face. "It's just… every time I'm around you, some monster attacks us. What's to be nervous about?"
Percy winced at that, because yeah, they hadn't had such good experiences together. Alx politely offered Percy a sip of his smoothie in consolation, which he tried.
"Look," he said afterwards, ignoring Annabeth's scowl and the strange look on Rachel's face. "I'm really sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."
Rachel shook her head. "Nah. They asked a lot of questions about you, but I played dumb."
"Was it hard?" Annabeth asked condescendingly.
"Okay, stop!" he intervened, looking to Alx for help, but he just kept casually switching between drinking his smoothie and Percy's, indifferent to the bickering. Percy had a feeling Alx was even enjoying it.
"Are you guys dating?" Rachel asked abruptly, her eyes swiveling between him and Alx.
Percy actually choked on nothing, and Alx paused mid-sip, staring up at Rachel blankly. Annabeth gripped the table so tightly Percy thought she might break it.
"… What makes you think that?" Alx finally asked, since he seemed to be the only one capable at the moment.
"Do you guys see the way you're acting with each other right now?" Rachel pointed between him and Alx; they were sitting so close their shoulders brushed. "You were holding hands the first time we met, and you guys just act like a gay couple."
"No we don't. Do we?" Alx asked, frowning.
"Dude," Percy's eyes were big, "we're a little married."
Annabeth made an odd little sound.
"Uh," Rachel froze, blinking and pointing out the window, "does anyone else see the concrete outside melting?"
Percy blanched. There was literally steam coming up from the sidewalk.
"We're not together!" Alx said, a little too shrilly, although Percy couldn't blame him for his panic considering what happened the last time Apollo got angry. "We're not… Percy and I are just friends."
A stream of bright sunlight suddenly struck the window just where Percy was looking out, and he let out a strangled garble of surprise, covering his eyes and muttering out something his mom would have scolded him for. It was just like Apollo to be petty and jealous… and try to blind him.
"Total bros," he agreed hastily once he'd recovered. Annabeth was looking at him like she thought he'd deserved that just now, but Rachel seemed more bewildered by this than the skeletons warriors and the monster cheerleaders, which seemed just like her, really. "Alx… he's with a god, actually. And that was him trying to blind me."
He needed to clear the air right away. He was already on thin ice with Apollo, and this was only making it worse.
Rachel blinked again, more rapidly. "Are you guys married?"
"No," Alx grinded out. He looked like he couldn't even imagine the scenario. "We're just… together."
"Whoa, dude. Officially? You didn't tell me!" Percy gaped. He'd like to think if he'd known that, he would've been a little softer on Apollo back on Ogygia, but in reality, he probably would've been the same. His protective instincts sort of overrided his common sense whenever Alx was concerned. Not that he really had much common sense to begin with, he figured ruefully.
"Can we get back on topic?" Annabeth snapped suddenly. The napkin in her hands was all torn and shredded to bits. Percy was just glad she hadn't taken her anger out on one of them instead. Annabeth had the skills to do it.
"Yes, let's do that," Alx agreed with a tight smile, before kicking Percy none-too-gently in the shin. Ouch. Right. Fine. He'd put his foot in his mouth, he needed to redeem himself.
"Rachel, we've got a problem," he said. "Forget about… everything else. Alx had a vision of you last summer, which is why he knew we'd meet you again. We need your help with something."
Rachel narrowed her eyes at Annabeth. "You need my help?"
Annabeth stirred her straw in her smoothie. "Yeah," she grumbled. "Maybe."
Percy told Rachel about the Labyrinth, how they needed to find Daedalus, and what had happened the last few times they'd gone in.
"So you want me to guide you," she said. "Through a place I've never been."
Although she seemed to be talking to all of them, her eyes were on Alx, clearly waiting for a better clarification, which Percy thought was far. Alx had a knack for getting people to listen to him.
"You can see through the Mist," he explained calmly. "Just like Ariadne. Only a mortal with clear sight can see the right path through the Labyrinth, there's precedents to that. The maze won't be able to fool you as easily as the rest of us."
"And if you're wrong?"
"I'm never wrong," he said primly, which was a little boastful, but Percy figured Alx had a right to be. "Regardless, it will be extremely dangerous for all of us. I can't let you go in there without knowing that."
"I could die?"
"We all could," Alx answered honestly.
Rachel turned to Percy; her eyes narrowed. "I thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. That sword of yours-"
"Yeah," he said. "Celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. Most monsters will ignore you. But Luke… he doesn't care. He'll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."
"Nice guy," Rachel said flatly.
"He's under the influence of a Titan," Annabeth said defensively. "He's been deceived."
Rachel looked back and forth between the three of them, before saying decisively, "Okay, I'm in."
Percy blinked. He hadn't figured it would be so easy, even though Alx had been confident. "Are you sure?"
"Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've gotten yet. So what do I look for?"
"We have to find an entrance to the Labyrinth," Annabeth answered. "There's an entrance at Camp Half-Blood, but you can't go there. It's off-limits to mortals."
She said mortals like it was some sort of terrible condition, but Rachel just nodded. "Okay. What does an entrance to the Labyrinth look like?"
"It could be anything," Annabeth replied. "A section of wall. A boulder. A doorway. A sewer entrance. But it would have the mark of Daedalus on it. A Greek Δ, glowing in blue."
"Like this?" Rachel drew the symbol Delta in water on their table.
"That's it," Annabeth confirmed in surprise. "You know Greek?"
"No," Rachel said. She pulled a big blue plastic hairbrush from her pocket and started brushing the gold out of her hair. "Let me get changed. You'd better come with me to the Marriott."
"Why?" Annabeth asked.
"Because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. It's got the mark of Daedalus."
The metal door was half hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty hotel towels. Percy didn't see anything strange about it, but Rachel showed him where to look, and he recognized the faint blue symbol etched in the metal.
"It hasn't been used in a long time," Annabeth observed.
"I tried to open it once," Rachel said, "just out of curiosity. It's rusted shut."
"No." Annabeth stepped forward. "It just needs the touch of a half-blood."
Sure enough, as soon as Annabeth put her hand on the mark, it glowed blue. The metal door unsealed and creaked open, revealing a dark staircase leading down.
"Wow." Rachel looked calm, but Percy couldn't tell if she was just pretending or not. She'd changed into a ratty Museum of Modern Art shirt and her regular marker-colored jeans, her blue plastic hairbrush sticking out of her pocket. Her red hair was tied back, but she still had flecks of gold in it, and traces of the gold glitter on her face. "So… after you?"
"You're the guide," Annabeth said with mock politeness. "Lead on."
Alx and Percy shared a look of dread. It suddenly dawned on Percy that they'd be stuck with Annabeth and Rachel's bickering for who knew how long now, but he and Alx had no choice but to follow them inside.
The stairs led down to a large brick tunnel. It was so dark Percy couldn't see two feet in front of them, but, he, Annabeth, and Alx had restocked on flashlights. As soon as they switched them on, Rachel yelped.
A skeleton was grinning at them, and it wasn't human. It was at least ten feet tall, and it had been strung up, chained by the wrists and ankles so that it made a kind of giant X over the tunnel. But what really send shivers down Percy's spine was the single black eye socket in the center of its skull.
"A Cyclops," Alx said, laying a gentle hand on Percy's shoulder. "It's very old. It's not anybody we know."
It wasn't Tyson, he meant. But that didn't make Percy feel much better. He still felt like it had been put here as a warning. Whatever could kill a grown Cyclops, he didn't want to meet.
Rachel swallowed. "You have a friend who's a Cyclops?"
"Tyson," he said. "My half-brother."
"Your half-brother," she repeated faintly. Alx transferred his hand to Rachel's shoulder now, patting her comfortingly.
"Hopefully we'll find him down here," Percy said. "And Grover. He's a satyr."
Percy realized too late he probably wasn't curbing Rachel's culture shock.
"Oh." Rachel's voice was small as she reached up to squeeze Alx's hand. "Well then, we'd better keep moving."
She stepped under the skeleton's left arm and kept walking, sticking close to Alx. Percy and Annabeth exchanged looks, but the latter just shrugged, so they followed Rachel and Alx deeper into the maze.
After fifty feet, they came to a crossroads. Ahead, the brick tunnel continued. To the right, the walls were made of ancient marble slabs. To the left, the tunnel was dirt and tree roots.
Percy pointed left. "That looks like the tunnel Tyson and Grover took."
Annabeth frowned. "Yeah, the architecture to the right, those old stones, that's more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, toward Daedalus's workshop."
"We need to go straight," Rachel said.
He and Annabeth both looked at her. Alx didn't seem fazed.
"That's the least likely choice," Annabeth said, doubtful.
"You don't see it?" Rachel asked in surprise. "Look at the floor."
Percy saw nothing except well-work bricks and mud.
"There's a brightness there," Rachel insisted. "Very faint. But forward is the correct way. To the left, farther down the tunnel, those tree roots are moving like feelers. I don't like that. To the right, there's a trap about twenty feet down. Holes in the wall, maybe for spikes. I don't think we should risk it."
Percy didn't see anything she was describing, but Alx seemed convinced, so Percy nodded. "Okay. Forward."
"You believe her?" Annabeth asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," he said, frowning. "Don't you?"
Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, but one look from Alx and she waved at Rachel to lead on. together, they kept walking down the brick corridor. It twisted and turned, but there were no side tunnels. They seemed to be angling down, heading deeper underground.
"No traps?" Percy asked anxiously.
"Nothing." Rachel knit her eyebrows. "Should it be this easy?"
"I don't know," Percy said. "It never was before."
He shot Alx a nervous look, but Alx just shook his head. He supposed whatever was up ahead hadn't likely appeared in his visions, then.
"So, Rachel," Annabeth said, "where are you from, exactly?"
She said it like, what planet are you from? But Rachel didn't look offended.
"Brooklyn," she replied.
"Aren't your parents going to be worried if you're out late?"
Rachel exhaled. "Not likely. I could be gone for a week and they'd never notice."
"Why not?" This time Annabeth didn't sound as sarcastic. Having trouble with parents was something she understood.
Before Rachel could answer, there was a creaking noise in front of them, like huge doors opening.
"What was that?" Annabeth asked, her eyes sharpening in alarm.
"I don't know," Rachel said, looking a little uneasy now. "Metal hinges."
"Oh, that's very helpful. I mean, what is it?"
Percy heard heavy footsteps coming toward them, shaking the corridor.
"Run?" he asked.
"Run," Rachel agreed.
They turned and fled the way they'd come, but they didn't make it twenty feet before they ran straight into some old friends. Two dracaenae leveled their javelins at their chests. Standing between them was Kelli, the empousa cheerleader.
"Well, well," Kelli cooed.
Percy uncapped Riptide, Alx moved his hand to his metal bracelet, and Annabeth pulled her knife; but before any of them could do anything, Kelli pounced on Rachel. Her hand turned into a claw, and she spun Rachel around, holding her tight with her talons at Rachel's neck.
"Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?" Kelli asked him, her grin sharp enough to cut. "They're such fragile things. So easy to break!"
Behind them, the footsteps came closer. A huge form appeared out of the gloom. An eighty-foot tall Laistrygonian giant with red eyes and fangs.
The giant licked his lips when he saw them. "Can I eat them?"
"No," Kelli answered. "Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment." She smiled at Percy. "Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl."
It was pretty much his worst nightmare. They marched down the tunnel, flanked by dracaenae, with Kelli and the giant in back, just in case they tried to run for it, but nobody seemed to worry about them running forward, because that was the direction they wanted them to go.
Up ahead, Percy could see bronze doors. They were about ten feet tall, emblazoned with a pair of crossed swords. From behind them came a muffled roar, like from a crowd.
"Oh, yessssss," said the snake woman on his left. "You'll be very popular with our hossssst."
Percy had never been able to look at a dracaenae up close before, and he wasn't super thrilled to have the opportunity. She would have had a beautiful face, except her tongue was forked and her eyes were yellow with black slits for pupils. She wore bronze armor that stopped at her waist, and below that, where her legs should have been, were two massive snake trunks, mottled bronze and green. She moved by a combination of slithering and walking, as if she were on living skies.
"Who's your host?" he asked.
She hissed, which might have been a laugh. "Oh, you'll sssssee. You'll get along furiousssly. He'ssss your brother, after all."
"My what?" Immediately, Percy thought of Tyson, but that was impossible. What was she talking about?
The giant pushed past them and opened the doors. He picked up Annabeth and Alx by their shirts and said, "You stay here."
"Hey!" Annabeth protested, but the guy was twice her size and he'd already confiscated her knife, Alx's bracelet, and Percy's sword.
Kelli laughed. She still had her claws at Rachel's neck. "Go on, Percy. Entertain us. We'll wait here with your friends to make you behave."
Percy looked at Rachel. "I'm sorry. I'll get you out of this."
She nodded as much as she could with a demon to her throat. "That would be nice."
The dracaenae prodded him toward the doorway at javelin-point, and he walked out onto the floor of an arena.
-{}-
Okay. So. Things were looking bad. His friends were being held hostage; he'd gotten himself involved in what looked like a gladiator game headed by a giant maniac that was apparently his half-brother; and there were piles and piles of creepy-looking skulls everywhere, just staring at him. To make matters worse, apparently, his death was being used as a bargaining chip to allow Kronos's army through this area in the maze. He's already killed a dracaenae pretty easily, but he didn't really want to push his luck considering he didn't actually have much luck in the first place.
He glanced over at Annabeth, Alx, and Rachel. The giant still had his hand over Annabeth's mouth after she'd tried to shout him advice from her seat, and Rachel still had a deadly-looking demon at her throat, but Alx seemed relatively at ease considering the circumstances, so Percy figured they were all doing okay.
Still, he had to find a way to get them free. He had to distract the guards somehow.
"Round two!" his half-brother (gross) Antaeus yelled. "And slower this time! More entertainment! Wait for my call before killing anybody. OR ELSE!"
The gates opened again, and this time, a young warrior came out. He looked about Alx's age, and honestly, he looked like Alx too, with his glossy black hair and Asian facial features. He had an eyepatch on his left eye like Alx too, which didn't really give Percy good vibes as the other boy stabbed his sword into the dirt, adjusted his shield straps, and pulled on his horsehair helmet.
"Who are you?" Percy asked.
"Ethan Nakamura," he replied bluntly. "I have to kill you."
Yikes. Okay.
"Why are you doing this?" Percy asked urgently. Slaying monsters was one thing, but murdering a fellow demigod was another.
"Hey!" a monster jeered from the stands. "Stop talking and fight already!" The others in the arena took up the call.
"I have to prove myself," Ethan told him, but he was looking somewhere beyond him, and Percy followed his gaze, only to realize the other boy was looking at Alx. They seemed to recognize each other somehow, and that was when Percy remembered how Alx had said that the demigod Luke's men had found in the maze wasn't Nico, but a distant cousin of his. His mother had told Alx her could still help Ethan.
This must be him, Percy figured. Maybe Nemesis had told Ethan about Alx, too, because he was looking at Alx like he was trying to size Alx up and see what was so special about him. Alx just met his gaze steadily, his lips pressed in a thin line.
"We don't have to do this," Percy said, hoping to change his mind since Alx wasn't close enough to do it.
Ethan didn't seem to agree.
"Only way to join up," he said simply, focusing his attention back on Percy.
And with that, he charged. Their swords met in midair, and the crowd roared. It didn't seem right in Percy's eyes. He didn't want to fight to entertain a bunch of monsters, but Ethan Nakamura wasn't giving him much choice.
He pressed forward, and Percy realized how good of a swordsman he was. He'd never been at Camp Half-Blood, as far as Percy knew, but he'd been trained. Ethan parried his strike and almost slammed him with his shield, but Percy jumped back. He slashed. Percy rolled to one side. They exchanged thrusts and parries, getting a feel for each other's fighting style. Percy tried to keep on Ethan's blind side, but it didn't help much. He'd apparently been fighting with only one eye for a long time, because he was excellent at guard his left.
"Blood!" the monsters cried.
Ethan glanced up at the stands. That was his weakness, Percy realized. He needed to impress them. Percy didn't.
Ethan yelled an angry battle cry and charged him, but Percy parried his blade and backed away, letting him come after him.
"Boo!" Antaeus roared. "Stand and fight!"
Ethan pressed him, but Percy had no trouble defending, even without a shield. Ethan was dressed for defense, heavy armor and shield, which made it very tiring to play offense. Percy was a softer target, but he was also lighter and faster. The crowd went crazy, yelling complaints and throwing rocks. They'd been fighting for almost five minutes and there was still no blood.
Finally, Ethan made his mistake. He tried to jab at his stomach, so Percy locked his sword hilt with his and twisted. Ethan's sword dropped into the dirt, and before he could recover, Percy slammed the butt of his sword into his helmet and pushed him down. His heavy armor helped Percy more than him. Ethan fell on his back, dazed and tired, and Percy put the tip of his sword on his chest.
"Get it over with," Ethan said wearily, and it struck Percy in that moment how much Ethan reminded him of Alx right now, resigned and always willing to accept the worst. This could have easily been Alx at the end of his sword, Percy realized. If Alx had been born in any other circumstance, it might have been. Both Ethan and Alx had minor gods as their parents, but Alx had gotten a broader path. It wasn't surprising Ethan had chosen Kronos when the Olympians didn't treat their kids right, and if Alx's mom said Ethan could still be saved…
Percy looked up at Antaeus. His red face was stony with displeasure, but he held up his hand and put it thumbs down.
"Forget it." He sheathed his sword and glanced over at Alx. He looked relieved, but unsurprised. It was nice to know Alx still had so much faith in him, considering how much trouble Percy got him in.
"Don't be a fool," Ethan groaned. "They'll kill us both."
Percy offered him his hand. Reluctantly, he took it, and Percy helped him up.
"No one dishonors the games!" Antaeus bellowed. "Your heads shall both be tributes to Poseidon!"
Percy looked at Ethan. "When you see your chance, run." Then, he turned back to Antaeus. "Why don't you fight me yourself? If you've got Dad's favor, come down here and prove it!"
The monsters grumbled in the stands. Antaeus looked around, and apparently realized he had no choice. He couldn't say no without looking like a coward.
"I am the greatest wrestler in the world, boy," he warned. "I have been wresting since the first pankration!"
"Pankration?" Percy asked in confusion.
"He means fighting to the death," Ethan explained simply, looking pretty relaxed considering he thought he was about to die a few seconds ago. He really was super similar to Alx. "No rules. No holds barred. It used to be an Olympic sport."
"Thanks for the tip," Percy said, only half sarcastic.
"Don't mention it," Ethan replied mildly.
Rachel was watching him with wide eyes. Annabeth shook her head emphatically, the Laistrygonian's hand still clamped over her mouth, but Alx merely tilted his head at him and gave him a thumbs up. Percy figured that was good enough for him.
He pointed his sword at Antaeus, feeling a little more confident now. "Winner takes all! I win, we all go free. You win, we die. Swear upon the River Styx."
Go big or go home, he figured. Annabeth was probably horrified with him, but Percy saw Alx was smirking a little, so he probably approved of Percy's plan.
Antaeus laughed. "This shouldn't take long. I swear to your terms!"
He leaped off the railing, into the arena.
"Good luck," Ethan told him. "You'll need it." Then he backed up quickly.
Antaeus cracked his knuckles. He grinned, and Percy saw that his teeth were etched into wave patterns, which must have made brushing after meals a real pain.
"Weapons?" he asked.
"I'll stick with my sword. You?"
He held up his huge hands and wiggled his fingers. "I don't need anything else! Master Luke, you will referee this one."
Luke smiled down at Percy. "With pleasure."
Antaeus lunged at him, and Percy got ready for the fight of his life.
-{}-
It took a pretty psychotic plan and using Quintus's dog whistle to summon Mrs. O'Leary, but Percy managed to defeat Antaeus, save his friends, and buy them enough time to escape the arena. Now, they were in the midst of running away, but luckily, Rachel seemed to know exactly where she was going. She whipped around corners and didn't even hesitate at crossroads. Once, she'd said, "Duck!" and they all crouched as a huge axe swung over their heads. Then, they kept going as if nothing had happened.
Percy lost track of how many turns they made. They didn't stop to rest until they came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. Percy stood at the doorway, listening for sounds of pursuit, but he heard nothing. Apparently, they'd lost Luke and his minions in the maze.
Then, he realized something else: Mrs. O'Leary was gone. He didn't know when she'd disappeared, and he didn't know whether she'd gotten lost or been overrun by monsters. His heart turned to lead. She'd saved their lives, and he hadn't even waited to make sure she was following them.
Ethan collapsed on the floor. "You people are crazy." He pulled off his helmet. His face gleamed with sweat.
Annabeth gasped. "I remember you! You were one of the undetermined kids in the Hermes cabin, years ago."
He glared at her. "Yeah, and you're Annabeth. I remember."
"What… What happened to your eye?"
Ethan looked away, and Percy got the feeling that this was one subject he would not discuss.
"You really were the half-blood from my dream," Percy said, trying to ignore Alx's I-told-you-so look. "The one Luke's people cornered. It wasn't Nico after all."
"Who's Nico?"
"Never mind," Annabeth said quickly. "Why were you trying to join up with the wrong side?"
Ethan sneered. "There's no right side. The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn't I-"
"Sign up with an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment?" Annabeth said sarcastically. "Gee, I wonder."
Ethan struggled to his feet. "I'm not going to argue with you. Thanks for the help, but I'm out of here."
"We're going after Daedalus," Percy said. He kept holding on to what Alx had told him. Ethan could still be saved. "Come with us. Once we get through, you'd be welcome back at camp."
Ethan shook his head, scowling. "You really are crazy if you think Daedalus will help you."
"He has to," Annabeth said staunchly. "We'll make him listen."
Ethan snorted. "Yeah, well. Good luck with that."
Just as he was about to turn to leave, Alx grabbed his shoulder, and Ethan instantly froze, his gaze locking with Alx's. From this close up, Ethan's features appeared sharper, more resolute. A few loose strands of his hair were framing his face, stirring lightly with each tired exhale. Smeared, dark shadows seemed to gather around his eye and reflect across the sharp dip of his Asian nose. There was a certain edge to his unblinking gaze as he stared at Alx; a dark intensity that send shivers down Percy's spine.
"You're wandering into the wrong nightmare, Ethan," Alx told him gravely. "Your future isn't kind."
Percy watched as Ethan's throat bobbed while he swallowed, as his hands turned white around the knuckles.
"I have to do this," he said fiercely, voice shivering in the air. Everyone was listening, but he was only looking at Alx. "For my mother… for your mother…"
So he really did know who Alx was, Percy realized. They were on even footing here.
Ethan hesitated, very briefly, before offering quietly, "You could come with me."
Hearing that almost made Percy wish he'd cut the guy down. Annabeth didn't look too pleased, either.
"I can't," Alx said, but he almost looked regretful. Alx really wanted to help him, Percy realized. They might not actually be related, for all that Alx's mom had called him and Ethan distant cousins, but in this moment, Percy could see how someone might mistake them for family, anyway. "You're making the wrong choice, Ethan. Let me help you."
"Let me help our parents," he said, shaking Alx's hand off of him, but he looked a little wistful the longer he regarded Alx. If he could just abandon camp, recklessly enter the Labyrinth on his own, and join Kronos without looking back, Ethan might very well have no other family, Percy realized. Alx might only have a distant connection to him on the godly side, but he seemed like one of the only people who might know what Ethan was going through. Of course Alx would want to help him, and of course Ethan would want to hold on to that sliver of kindness Alx was offering, especially if his godly parent had told him about Alx. Ethan was all alone.
But he was also clearly stubborn and utterly convinced he was in the right, so it wouldn't be easy for Alx to get him to change his mind.
Percy grabbed Ethan's arm, deciding he should try to help as well. "Listen to Alx, Ethan." He felt like he was telling that to everyone these days. "We can help you. You're just going to head off alone into the maze? That's suicide."
Before, Ethan had looked at Alx with something close to longing, but now, he was looking at Percy with barely controlled anger. His eyepatch was frayed around the edges and the black cloth was faded, like he'd been wearing it for a long, long time. "You shouldn't have spared me, Jackson. Mercy has no place in this war."
Then, after sparing Alx an almost regretful glance, he ran off into the darkness, back the way they'd come.
-{}-
After Ethan left, they were so exhausted they ended up making camp right there in the huge room. Percy found some scrap wood, and they started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around them like trees.
"Something was wrong with Luke," Annabeth muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. "Did you notice the way he was acting?"
"He looked pretty pleased to me," Percy said, unwilling to think differently. "Like he'd spend a nice day torturing heroes."
"That's not true! There was something wrong with him. He looked… nervous. He told the monsters to spare me. He wanted to tell me something."
"Probably, 'Hi Annabeth! Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart. It'll be fun!'"
"You're impossible," Annabeth grumbled. She sheathed her dagger and looked at Rachel. "So which way now, Sacagawea?"
Rachel didn't respond right away. She'd become quieter since the arena. Now, whenever Annabeth made a sarcastic comment, Rachel hardly bothered to answer. Currently, she was using the burned tip of a stick to draw ash figures on the floor; images of monsters she'd seen. With a few strokes, she caught the likeness of a dracaenae perfectly.
"We'll follow the path," Rachel said. "The brightness on the floor."
"The brightness that led us straight into a trap?" Annabeth asked.
"Annabeth," Alx warned quietly, and the girl stood, a scowl on her face.
"The fire's getting low," Annabeth said stiffly. "I'll go look for some more scraps while you guys talk strategy."
She marched off into the shadows.
Rachel draw another figure with her stick. An ashy Antaeus dangling from his chains.
"Annabeth's not usually like this," Percy told her, once it was obvious Alx wasn't in the mood to comfort anyone. "I don't know what her problem is."
Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure you don't know?"
"What do you mean?"
Rachel locked eyes with Alx, an are you kidding me? look on her face. Alx just gave her a dry look in response, shaking his head.
"Boys," she muttered. "Totally blind."
"Hey, don't you get on my case, too! Look, I'm sorry we got you involved in this."
"No, you were right," Rachel said, sighing. "I can see the path. I can't explain it, but it's really clear." She pointed toward the other end of the room, into the darkness. "The workshop is that way. The heart of the maze. We're very close now. I don't know why the path led through that arena. I-I'm sorry about that. I thought you were going to die."
She sounded like she was close to crying. It seemed to be enough to jar Alx out of his dark mood, because he reached out to squeeze her knee.
"It's not your fault. We've been through worse," Alx said.
"Yeah, we're usually about to die," Percy promised. "Don't feel bad."
Rachel studied their faces. "So you do this every summer? Fight monster? Save the world? Don't you ever get to do just, you know, normal stuff?"
Percy and Alx exchanged uncomfortable glances. They'd never really had normal lives in the first place.
"Half-bloods get used to it, I guess. Or maybe not used to it, but…" Percy shifted awkwardly. "What about you? What do you do normally?"
Rachel shrugged. "I paint. I read a lot."
Okay, he thought. So far we are scoring a zero on the similarities chart. "What about your family?"
Percy could sense her mental shields going up, like this wasn't a safe subject. "Oh… they're just, you know, family."
"You said they wouldn't notice if you were gone."
He could tell it was the wrong thing to say when Alx sent him a sharp look and Rachel set down her drawing stick.
"Wow, I'm really tired. I may sleep for a while, okay?" Rachel said, her voice shaking a little.
Percy winced. "Oh, sure. Sorry if…"
But Rachel was already curling up, using her backpack as a pillow. She closed her eyes and stayed very still, but Percy got the feeling she wasn't really asleep.
Nice going, Alx mouthed. There was a sarcastically gentle around him. Only Alx could manage it.
Percy scrunched his face at him, and Alx made a face back. It almost cheered him up.
For a while, the two of them just sat there, staring at the fire, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable. In fact, Alx's apathy was weirdly comforting and reassuring to Percy. He couldn't explain why; it just was. Alx wasn't very expressive, to the point where it often turned people off, but Percy thought he understood it to an extent. It must be exhausting, seeing what he saw all the time. It was normal Alx would want to shut his emotions off and keep things to himself. He wished everyone else could understand that, too, although no one had ever really been unkind to Alx at camp as far as he knew. Silena seemed to like him well enough; she was always dressing him up, and Alx would yield placidly to her, which was kind of hilarious. Alx also seemed to have this weird love-hate relationship with Michael Yew that Percy had given up trying to understand, but, well, it was a friendship at least. Percy was glad there were people at camp who weren't too intimidated by Alx to try to make friends with him.
Alx just looked sad all the time, and Percy wished he could make that sadness go away. Especially now, after what happened with Ethan earlier.
"Don't beat yourself up over it, Alx," he said. "You'll get another chance later on. If anyone can get Ethan to change his mind, it's you."
Alx turned his head to look at him. His eyes were dim, so dim in fact that Percy thought that they looked like a blue-black winter sky in the light.
"I don't know if I can, Percy. My mother told me his fate was still up in the air, but from what I've seen in my visions…" He trailed off, looking back towards the fire, shadows twisting across his cheekbones. The look on his face made Percy remember what Minos had said to Nico: "A seer never comes with good news."
"Ethan Nakamura is dangerous," Alx said darkly. "It was good of you to spare his life, Percy, but it will have consequences."
"How bad can it be?" Percy asked. But he had a feeling, by the glint in Alx's eye, that it could be very bad indeed.
"The minor gods… they are powerful, Percy, despite how the Olympians treat them," he said. "Selene once held off Atlas singlehandedly for several hours before she was incapacitated. Hypnos put Zeus himself to sleep on two separate occasions. The moon is Selene's domain, no matter what Artemis thinks. Artemis may be the goddess of the moon, but Selene is the personification of the moon. She has more powers over the stars and the moon than any other being in existence. And with the mortals desire to reach the stars, she practically owns their dreams. Gaia is her mother and my grandmother, and she's said to live in the Earth itself. Even Zeus was afraid to encounter Gaia in the myths, and monsters fear saying her name. A lot of the minor gods aren't even directed related to the Olympians…"
Alx grimaced. "Most of my aunts and uncles aren't… exactly the good guys in the myths. Hyperion, Iapetus, Kronos himself even! They were all my mother's siblings, and even if she gave up a lot of her power to Artemis, she's still strong. Ethan's mother, Nemesis isn't just the goddess of revenge, she's also the goddess of balance, so Ethan more than most understands that on Olympus, there is no balance. Not for the minor gods at least. It's no wonder so many of their kids are resentful. Their parents don't even have cabins at camp, so what's the point in getting claimed?"
The uncharacteristic bitterness in his voice reminded Percy a lot of Alx's mom. Se- Tsuku had seemed so resigned to her role as a background character in the world, despite the major role she played in it, and it didn't strike Percy as fair. He'd never thought of Alx as lesser than him. He was literally a seer, prophesized to be loved by a god, and more collected and in control than anyone else he knew. Percy thought Alx was the coolest person ever, and it didn't seem right that his mom wasn't as respected as Percy's dad was just because she was classified as a minor goddess.
"Ethan is angry," Alx said, fiddling absentmindedly with his pendant, "and maybe he's making a mistake. But I understand his anger, and I think, to an extent, he's right. There is no honor for our parents on Olympus, Percy. I cannot blame Ethan for wanting something more."
The fire crackled, heavy and loud, as it cast an eerie orange glow across Alx's features. Percy wondered if Rachel was still awake, or if she'd fallen asleep right before their conversation. He hoped for the latter. This was the first time Alx had ever talked to him about something important to him, the first time he'd ever really reached out to Percy, and he didn't want anyone else seeing Alx this vulnerable when it was clear he wanted to hide this part away most days. Percy suddenly felt a warmth blanket him from all over when he realized just how much Alx really trusted him.
"It'll be okay," Percy said. "We'll change things. When this war ends, I promise you that. You and Ethan and your parents and everyone… they all deserve better. I'll make sure they get that."
He didn't know how exactly he was going to accomplish that, of course, but he was going to do it. For Alx's sake, if no one else's. Alx deserved that much after everything he'd done for Percy.
"Cheer up," he said, nudging Alx's shoulder a little, hoping to get a smile from him. "It's not so bad. We're almost to Daedalus now. We'll get through this."
"I hope so. It's just… there's no sun here, Percy," Alx said quietly. "I miss it."
I miss him, was the unspoken statement, but Percy heard it anyway. Despite what he knew about Apollo's past, and despite his wariness of the entire situation, he knew the god made his friend happy. It only made sense Alx wished Apollo was here with him.
"It's just… it's a lot most days, Percy. Sometimes, I feel like I don't really make much of a difference," Alx said tiredly. "What's the point in seeing what I see if I can't fix everything? I feel like I'm letting everyone down."
"Hey, no, don't say that." Percy shifted closer to him and dared to wrap an arm around Alx. Instead of punching him like he thought Alx would, Alx actually placed his head on Percy's shoulder. He must be really miserable, then, he thought. "We wouldn't have gotten this far without you, Alx. And even if you can't change some things, I doesn't mean anything. You're still my best friend. I wouldn't want to do and of this without you."
Alx didn't say anything in return, but he pressed his face into the side of Percy's neck, so he figured he must have helped Alx at least a little.
"Even if you couldn't see the future, I'd want you here with me," he said, leaning his cheek against the top of Alx's head.
They stayed like that, for a while, up until Annabeth came back, her eyes softening at the sight of them as she told them she'd take first watch.
I don't really have anything to say... so let's read some reviews!
Thank you so much, The Mad Lord! I'm glad this interests you!