Chapter 8 (3,140 words)

We were ten minutes into the hour-long drive to the Manhattan Greyhound station when Annabeth set down her copy of the Divine Comedy (in Greek of course) and looked up to Percy, who was seated across from her with Grover. "So what did the prophecy say?"

"Um, that we'd—" Percy began.

"The exact words, Seaweed Brain, I know Chiron already told you how misleading prophecies are," Annabeth cut him off, rolling her eyes.

"By the way, where are we going?" I piped up from my own book, a copy of Native American Animal Stories (again in Greek, honestly, Camp store has literally everything).

She waved my question away, saying, "Really far west if we're taking a Greyhound, so probably Hades. Now, exact words Percy."

"Wait what? Why do you guys—" Annabeth shushed me and motioned for Percy to talk.

Percy sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, I think she said:

You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.

You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned.

You shall burn through the mist to a world revealed

And the goods and evils of old now unsealed."

"Was that all?" Annabeth asked, raising her brow.

"Yep," Percy nodded, pursing his lips slightly.

Annabeth just scoffed and said, "Ok, so we're going to Hades because he has the Master bolt, and it looks like we may get revealed to the mortals a couple times, but I never doubted that wouldn't happen with a group as big as ours and a demigod as powerful as Percy."

Percy just nodded. "That's pretty much what Chiron said. Though he was a little confused that Hades would have the Master Bolt."

"Wait, wait, time out. You guys think Hades has the Master Bolt?" I asked incredulously. "Didn't Chiron tell you guys?" I'd have thought he would tell the people that would actually be going after the damn thing, but—

'Damn it, Mr. D told him not to say, or at least, didn't tell him it was ok to tell them,' I mentally cursed at the realisation of what probably happened. Grover was looking between us bemusedly, and Annabeth had narrowed her eyes at me. I turned to Percy.

"Ok, what exactly did Chiron tell you about the quest?" I asked, looking directly at his eyes.

Percy shifted under my gaze. "He said that the 'god who has turned' is likely Hades since he was the only Greek god he could think of that was in the west."

"But did he say that Hades is the god who has turned?"

Percy adopted a thoughtful look. "Now that you mention it, he did seem kind of surprised that Hades would be the god who had turned, but he said that Hades could be jealous of Zeus and Poseidon for stealing his rightful place as king."

I groaned. "Damnit, I'm sorry but I really doubt Hades has the Master Bolt. He's not that petty."

"What makes you say that?" Annabeth asked with a raised eyebrow. I countered with my own eyebrow raise.

"Come on Annie, I know you know the myths as well as I do. Was he ever traditionally portrayed as evil or petty?"

"Well, he did kidnap Persephone."

"Yeah, and whose idea was it? Also, you seem to forget that Hades was almost always made out as faithful to Persephone and was pretty chill with how the power was divided," I replied, somewhat impatiently.

I could almost see Annabeth quickly review her mental library behind her eyes.

"Ugh, you're right, that was mostly Zeus again," she said, rubbing her forehead in exasperation. "But that still leaves us with who could've stolen the Bolt? And do we even need to go to Hades? Chiron told me a Fury got sent after Percy. Why?"

"I mean, if the prophecy is telling you to go west, I think Hades is as good a place as any to check out," I replied. 'And that way I can really make sure we don't fail,' I thought grimly. "As to who stole the Bolt, if we follow the prophecy we should find out anyway." I finished with a shrug. I glanced up the front of the van at Argus, one of his hundred eyes winking at me as I threw a thumbs up his way.

'I shouldn't tell them about the Helm of Darkness and the likely third party in on this disaster yet. Maybe until we're not close to a member of the Greek world?'

After all, Argus might be camp security and stuff, but he was still Hera's right hand man first and foremost. I liked the guy, but this was top-secret world-ending info.

Annabeth gasped. "Wait, Percy, your mom got turned into golden dust right?"

Percy nodded sombrely.

"That means she's not dead!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Percy asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Yeah, mortals, when they die, stay solid. The only way your mom could have turned into gold dust is if someone intervened," she said excitedly.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I told Chiron that too, I'm surprised he didn't mention that though. I said that Zeus probably took her since he thinks you've got the Master Bolt." I shivered. "I hope your dad keeps her safe though," I muttered under my breath, thinking of all the things a degenerate like Zeus could do to an innocent woman.

"But wait, that doesn't make any sense," Annabeth said, her eyes darting back and forth, seeing something only she could see. "It was Hades who was going after Percy actively, so it makes more sense if he was the one who intervened with your mom, Percy."

Percy's eyes were wide now, hopeful. Grover was smiling and patting his shoulder, eyes teary.

"Huh, I guess that does make sense," I mused. 'Honestly, how could I miss that? Especially since he needs the leverage too,' I thought to myself.

"But why would Hades need leverage over Percy? Does he want the Bolt?" Annabeth muttered under her breath, too low for Percy to hear. But I heard it. She was right beside me. And my eyes widened because now that Annabeth had all the pieces of the puzzle, she would definitely find out what was really going on. There's a reason she's Athena's current favourite, after all. No other Athena kid has something as cool as her hat. But before I could distract her, her face paled and her eyes bugged out of their sockets.

"Di immortales," she gasped as she looked at me. I quickly motioned for her to keep quiet, glancing up at Argus.

"What happened?" Percy asked when he noticed how pale Annabeth had gotten.

"Oh, nothing, just something we noticed about the quest, not too important. We'll tell you later," I quickly supplied.

Annabeth nodded shakily and picked her book back up, her knee bobbing up and down in her anxiety. Percy and Grover didn't seem to notice Annabeth's distress, distracted as they were by the possibility Percy's mother was alive. We all settled back into our seats, Annabeth glancing up at me occasionally and barely turning the pages of her book. I just stared out at the landscape, lost in thought, imagining what I could do for combat against monsters.

Even if everything went well, we would still likely face monsters more than people, and I was worried I would fail when it came time to fight. After all, I'd only ever trained against demigods, and with low stakes too. I would be facing mythical beasts, powerful creatures seeking only my death and scrumptious demigod meat. It would be my first time, and I was very nervous that I wouldn't be able to perform. Since, you know, the fate of the world rested on our shoulders. We spent the remainder of our journey in our own worlds.

Annabeth was busy having her silent breakdown (not that I blame her, even I had one when I realised just how high the stakes were), Percy alternated between staring at the ceiling and playing thumb wars or rock paper scissors with Grover, Grover was either munching on some cans or examining his pipes (when not losing horribly at rock paper scissors) and I either alternated reading A Book of Five Rings or Native American Animal Stories while listening to music on my Walkman and doing some image training and meditation.

Eventually, I began reviewing our schedule with Percy and the general plan Chiron had given him: Zeus had given Poseidon until the solstice to return the Bolt, so we had eight days to get to L.A., that wasn't going to change in light of new information. The Oracle said to go west, so we would (privately, I thought that going to Hades would likely help kill two birds with one stone if we got the Helm on our journey). After all, the prophecies given for quests are made as a guide to the best possible outcome, obtuse as they were.

"Ok, so if everything goes according to plan, we'll be in L.A. in three days, just about." I shook my head, sighing.

"Do we have a backup plan?" Percy and Grover looked at me like I was crazy.

"Come on guys," I groaned in disappointment. "You know something crazy is going to happen. Do you even realise what kind of monster bait you are Percy?"

"Don't all demigods get chased by monsters though?" He asked.

I took a deep breath, trying to not let this headache get too bad. "Ok, Percy, you know how the Minotaur went after you, right?"

"Duh, I was there."

"Ok, but did you know that the Minotaur hasn't been seen in decades? Your dad is one of the Big Three! Your blood is so potent, and there are so many monsters with all the grudge against your blood that any time you are outside of camp it'll be like a nuke of flavour drops on flavor town for them!"

Grover bleated nervously. "Yeah, children of the Big Three always get hordes of monsters after them no matter what, especially as they grow older," Grover said, a somewhat sad look in his eyes as he regarded Percy. "You've really only survived as long as you have because your step-father stank of humanity so bad even I could barely stand being next to you."

Percy's face scrunched up and he tried to discreetly lift his arm to smell his pits. "Though it's not that bad now," Grover assured, nose still a bit wrinkled at the memory of an undoubtedly foul smell. Which in turn made me think about what kind of man could produce such a bad metaphysical stench. "But that also means that more monsters will be able to smell you. They'll also ignore anyone else in favour of going after you."

"Huh. That reminds me, why weren't you at Capture the Flag?" Percy asked me.

I shrugged. "Not sure if I told you before, but my dad is Phlegethon. Do you know how divine blessings work?"

Percy shook his head. "Ok, well, basically when a god loves a mortal and decides they want to have children with them, they may bless the child with abilities greater than a normal demigod. Not sure if you've noticed yet, but we're a lot stronger than mortals."

Percy shrugged, which I took to mean he hadn't. "Anyway, that kind of physical strength is part of the general package, the 'cable television', and depends a lot on how powerful your parent is. However, there's also the chance that a demigod will get more gifts than the general package; the premium extra special 'satellite package'." Percy nodded along, but I could see I was losing him.

"So the premium package really only happens because of one reason: Your godly parent likes your mortal one more than your siblings'. You can usually tell who's the favourite by who has an item given by their parent. Take Clarisse, for example. Ares' kids get a general package with more physical strength and aggression since their parent is the god of war. Sometimes they get better minds for strategy and stuff, but not usually." I paused as Annabeth snorted in contempt from the side.

"Clarisse is actually a decent bit stronger than most other Ares' kids, and that's because she got the Ares premium package. However, if you get the premium package, it means that monsters will be more drawn to you than your siblings, and more 'Fate' stuff tends to happen to you. And the strength of the premium package tends to go up the less siblings you have and the more your godly parent liked your mortal one. Can you see how this affects you?"

I could see a realisation dawning in Percy's eyes. "Wait, so if I'm the only son of Poseidon right now, then that means I'm even more powerful than I would have been? Doesn't that mean more monsters will come after me? Why would Poseidon even do that to us!" There was a bit of resentment in his eyes, which I took to mean that his mom had to go through some pretty bad things for Percy to not get killed by monsters. I reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey man, I don't think it was even his fault, to begin with. The premium package usually doesn't even happen on purpose! Honestly, you should take it as proof that your dad actually truly loved your mom, especially since Poseidon sounds like a more sentimental guy than Zeus. Trust me, if Zeus likes your mom enough for you to get really powerful, it's usually not because of their winning personality." Percy sighed and his shoulders loosened slightly.

"Alright, alright, it's just… My mom had to deal with Gabe —my step-father— for a really long time. And now I know it's because of me, and these stupid demigod powers I didn't even ask for! And he treats her like trash! He calls her names, he makes her make him and his stupid friends' food all the time without helping and…" he stopped abruptly, looking to the side. "I think he's hit her before." I froze. "I mean, I'm not sure," he said quickly. "I've never seen anything, and a lot of the time I'm not even there, but I… I think he hits her."

I don't think that before then I had ever felt that much rage as I did at that moment. I heard his quiet voice, and the subdued words, and it was like all the lava from an exploding volcano rushed back into the earth, into the centre of my heart and down into my stomach. I breathed in deeply, trying to calm myself. I squeezed Percy's shoulder reassuringly and quickly took my hand away, worried that I would burst into flames and burn him. Annabeth had an almost horrified look on her face, hidden by her book and the desire to not cause Percy shame, which may sound strange now, but we were kids back then. We didn't know how to react. Grover just looked kind of shocked and sad for his friend. There was a pause in the conversation, no one knowing what to say. Especially not me. Hell, even imagining my own mother in that kind of position was practically impossible for me. She was always so strong, able to kick anyone's ass from here to the moon. But it still made my blood boil. Literally.

"Well, now that you're coming to camp and training you, she won't have to deal with him any longer," I said as confidently as I could. "In fact, when we get her back I'll introduce her to my mom. She taught me everything I know, and I think they'd get along great!"

Percy nodded, a smile taped haphazardly to his face.

"Yeah, don't worry Seaweed Brain, if you need any help we'll always be here," Annabeth said. "Camp Half-Blood is just extended family, and we'll all have your back."

"By the way," Annabeth continued, turning to me. "How in Hades do you know all that stuff?"

Percy smiled a bit more genuinely, happy about the change in subject, uncomfortable with the attention.

"Oh, Lethe visits my mom pretty frequently for some reason, so she told me all about that stuff," I replied. "Basically, since I'm the only child of Phlegethon ever, and my dad likes my mom quite a lot, I got all of that backed up divine premium juice." And I immediately regretted saying that. Luckily for me, that innuendo seemed to fly over Annabeth's and Percy's heads.

'Ahh, the innocence of two years ago,' I thought to myself, because wow, you lose a lot of innocence between the ages of twelve and fourteen.

"So even though my dad's a minor god, I got as strong a divine blessing as possible. Kind of like how Hercules was the most powerful demigod. Neither of us has to 'share', I guess you could say, the premium package," I said. "And because of that, my blessing is almost too strong for my own body. I don't actually have blood, but rather water from the Phlegethon. So that basically means that any time I get hurt, I bleed fire. And if I get hurt bad enough, I'll burst into fire completely or just explode in flames."

"What, really?" Percy exclaimed.

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah, I've seen it actually. The first time I had Capture the Flag was the first time Gwyn felt good enough to participate. He got cut pretty bad and he just burst in a ball of flames."

Grover laughed nervously. "Yeah, he almost burned down the forest! The dryads were so not happy with us."

"But I've been working on it!" I said. "Need to show all these posers who the real coolest dude is!"

"Hah, you wish Flame Brain! Just for that, when you can take a hit without lighting up like a firework I won't ally with Hermes' cabin," Annabeth said, a grin on her face.

"Psh, I don't need you to win! I'd have Percy! Right?"

Percy looked between us, amused. "Well…" he mimed weighing objects in his hands. "If you're that good, do you even need me?"

"Hmm, now that you mention it, Hermes Cabin could probably take the rest of camp by itself, especially with me on the team…"

"Oh, you're on! When you get your control down, Percy and I are telling everyone that you said you could beat the whole camp by yourself!" Percy nodded with Annabeth, an evil grin on their faces.

"What, no, I didn't say that!"

"Too late, when you can play Capture the Flag it's gonna be you versus camp!"

"Gah! Pride! Evilest of sins! Why have you done this to me!"

We continued talking and laughing the rest of the drive, Argus watching over us fondly, the stress and distress from the impending end of the world practically evaporated.

AN: Oh, hello again. I hope you are having a good week. It seems I'm still behind schedule. Apologies for that. Once again another slow chapter. Damn, literally all of this story has been the Boat Arc hah. Don't worry, we'll be picking up the pace (hopefully).

Anyway, yeah, this chapter had all that mumbo-jumbo explanation about demigod powers, I hope I was able to convey what I wanted properly. I don't quite remember if any of that is explained in canon, but this is my take on that. Anyway, I'm being a bit heavy-handed in the 'worlds' I want to incorporate for now, I still have research to do in order to do them any justice, but don't get your hopes up too much. Go read the 'Monster Force' PJO fanfic if you want a really good one.

So, about Percy's mother. I first read Lightning Thief when I was like 11, so that part flew by my head. Eventually, however, I realised how fucked up it was, and how that was never mentioned afterwards. Just wanted to say that I won't just leave that by the wayside. Domestic abuse is always terrible. Apologies if I made anyone sad.

As always, thank you for your review addalittlesmoke, much appreciated. To anyone who grew up with Eric Carle books or was a fan of School of Rock, yeah. Sad times. But like Miura wrote (in a roundabout way): We will struggle on.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Soon, I will be done with my exams, and hopefully be able to increase my output. I hope you have a good week. Until next time.