As per usual for the three of them, things went wrong immediately.
As they were getting ready to leave, a chorus of yelling emerged. They sprinted in the direction only to see Thalia falling bonelessly to the ground and the Hermes children chasing after the mysterious figure that was running away with Annie.
Annabeth and Clarisse shooed the three of them off. They assured them that they would get everything under control. Annabeth suspected it to be someone they knew anyhow. [Ariadne prayed that it was Gleeson.]
When they emerged from the nearest shadow, fire was licking the air. The three of them fell to their knees, grasping at their throats at the power clinging in the air. Ariadne began to shake as something in her started to unravel.
"Your uncles and aunts will be ready to meet you soon."
She gritted her teeth as her chest tightened. The lyre symbol pulsing repeatedly. Coughing slightly, her lungs felt heavy as if she was lying under a pile of stone. Each cough was wet; except it wasn't blood coming from within her. At least not the colored blood she was used to. It was opaque, almost the same color as the sea foam.
[What belongs to the sea will always return to the sea.]
Ariadne reached out for her brother and cousin. She didn't know what kind of attack this was, but she had to make sure that they were safe. The second her hand made contact with whom she guessed were her family members; her chest burned.
"I shall see you soon."
Ariadne blinked the lights out of her eyes, taking in the sight of the boys lying on their sides. She turned them both over quickly, calling out for Apollon. The god appeared quickly, eyes widening and dropping to her side without a care about anything else. He pulled her into his arms, whispering healing couplets into her ears before waving his hand over the other two fated.
Nico watched as she shook in his arms. The god almost had tears in his eyes as he rubbed that weird paste against her skin once more. Percy was almost in the god's skin from how closely he stood at his side to look over his sister.
Her eyes opened, the blue hue darkened so deeply that they seemed black. She opened her mouth, but it wasn't her voice: "Remember this night, little hero, when they ask you to oppose me." Her body began to heat up; blisters appeared on her skin before it abruptly came to a stop. The power receded like water down a drain leaving Ariadne, ocean blue eyes blinking confusedly at them.
Nico pressed closer to them, eyes raking over his favored cousin in worry. But his gaze was soon drawn to the spirit that appeared at their sides. It was an older woman. Curly hair pulled into a ponytail. Her form flickered between what she looked like in life and horribly burned scars that spoke of how she died.
Nico was suddenly reminded of the fire they had seen once they made it. He pushed away from them slowly, following the ghost as she led him back towards the building. He could feel a soul within it; it was fluctuating as it was fighting for life.
"Percy," he called out. The soul pulsed once more, and the fire roared. Nico sprinted towards the building, "Percy!" The thumping of feet could be heard from behind him as waves of water washed over the building. The soul pulsed again, but Nico and Percy were already inside.
There was a lot of smoke and flames licked at them at every turn. The ghost banged her arms on one of the doors. Apollon appeared beside them suddenly; hands ripping the door open with ease. Lying unconsciously on the ground was a child almost the same age as Annie and JackJack. The olympian teleported them back outside of the building to stand in front of Ariadne.
The demigoddess' eyes narrowed as she took in the sight, limply lying in the arms of her paramour. She looked weak with tension, but still held her arms out to hold him in her arms. Apollon's entire form shifted until he resembled the child in front of them before disappearing from sight.
The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance so Nico covered the four of them with shadows. Ariadne ran her hand over the child's face, frowning minutely at the soot in his hair. The ghost stood beside them hovering worriedly. Papers appeared in front of them, charred at the edges. They couldn't tell what it was for, but it resembled something close to a drill.
Percy sent Nico off with the child for Will to look over him. The king of ghosts carefully held the boy in his arms, grabbed ahold of the ghost, and the two of them disappeared into a shadow. The twins stayed behind as the emergency responders worked on the building. One of them emerged with the child version of Apollon in their embrace.
A box appeared in front of them in a burst of fire. The twins looked at it in confusion. Percy pulled out Stormsurge [which now resembled a class ring] while she summoned Tidalwave into her grasp. They approached the box warily, opening it reveal clothing.
The two of them shared a look, conversation flowing easily between them.
And then they set to work.
Clarisse was kind of impressed by the sheer audacity of it all. While they had been content to chase down what was obviously a satyr leaving with Annie, another had swooped in an attempt to steal Grace away.
They just hadn't accounted for her mother's new found protective tendencies and how good she was at swinging her new baseball bat. No one was taking her daughter away from her. She already lost one child; she wasn't going to lose another.
The satyr with Annie in his arms was struggling himself as the girl kept kicking and punching. Clarisse inwardly grimaced; the girl was going to want to keep her dagger at all times now. They had only just gotten her to stop taking it to the bathroom with her. The ground rumbled in front of them, quaking softly as JackJack started giving chase also. Luey lunged forward, tackling the satyr to the ground while Annie followed her training, tuck and rolled out of the way. Con and Trav appeared at her sides while JackJack glared at the satyr in front of them.
She wasn't even surprised to see that it was Grover.
"What's a satyr doing in a place like this," she questioned. Con blinked, turning to her, "A satyr?"
"Divine followers of Dionysus and Pan," Trav recalled. "They have this personal mission of finding Pan even though he died and finding demigods."
"Pan isn't dead," Grover yelled, and Clarisse kept quiet wondering how this would play out. Luey tightens his hold on the other's arms, drawing out a pained yelp. "But you will be if you don't tell us where you were trying to take Annie too!"
Clarisse smiled in amusement, "What's your name, satyr?" He looked at her in caution, taking in the angry expressions on the other's faces. Licking his lips, he whispered, "Grover."
That was enough to shock Luey out of his threatening aura. He looked at her and she nodded her head. The child of war turned back to the satyr, "And I'm guessing that you're here to take Annie to camp?"
"Camp," the kids questioned while Grover eyed her suspiciously. Clarisse turned at the sound of approaching feet. She smirked inwardly at the sight of Katie hauling Gleeson through the air with one of her flower buds and Annabeth carrying an unconscious Grace. The two of them looked unsurprised to see Grover in the midst surrounded by the kids. "I think," Clarisse started, "This is a conversation to be handled back at the castle."
Percy had his head in hands as Ariadne and the aunt of their newest charge yelled at each other. He was sure that his sister wanted to kill the lady.
When she called the boy a "diablo", Percy had to hold his sister back from lunging at the woman. A quick glance at the disguised Apollon made it very clear that he would be perfectly fine with that course of action. Whether that spoke of his title as patron of young boys or how in love he was with Ariadne was yet to be seen.
"I'll pray for you," Rosa hissed. Ariadne narrowed her eyes, arms wrapped gently around Leo. The lady brandished a cross at them all. The demigoddess snorted, disdainfully eyeing the cross. "If Jesus died on a cross, what makes you think he likes those things? No wonder you keep losing him, y'all keep sending him into panic attacks. I'd disappear too."
One of the police officers, an atheist funnily enough, stifled a snort at her words. The caseworker in front of them [which so happened to be one of Apollon's kids] gave him an disapproving look. Apollon had told them that this one didn't know about their heritage as they hadn't been blessed with many of his gifts.
Rosa huffs angrily, turning towards the social workers. "There was always something wrong with that little boy. I don't know why they're fighting for him so hard, but if they want him, they can keep him!"
"I'd ask for you to keep your comments to yourself, Ms. Rosa," Percy warned. Her words were eerily similar to Smelly Gabe's. [After finding out about their history, the twins weren't surprised to hear that the man was basically serving a life sentence in jail for pedophilia, tax evasion, child abuse, fraud, and numerous DUIs.]
Ariadne's lips pulled into a wry sort of grin, "Cousin Hephy has been under a lot of unneeded stress. She turned back towards the police officers whose family line that Apollon was no doubt cursing. One of them had claimed that "Leo" was the one to set the building on fire.
Percy nodded diplomatically as he continued; voice infused with the siren's song, "A few years back, one of our great aunts had relinquished control of our families' business to her children. But they had done such a horrendous job. Unpaid workers, health hazard workplaces, and the works."
The twins inwardly shivered. Something–something was coming and they weren't sure they liked it.
Ariadne crossed her legs, taking note of how Apollon tensed when one of the police officers' trailed his gaze over her legs. The god turned child cuddled into her embrace, covering her body with his and making sure that no one could see anything past her dress.
[She laughed inwardly; there was no doubt that he wanted her to put back on her jeans and t-shirt instead of the clothing that Hephaistos provided for them.]
Flipping her hair over her shoulder, her voice took a softer yet serious edge, "Our father, uncles, and aunts managed to drive them out and get them locked up for their actions. But our aunt didn't like that and has been attempting to kill us. It was only just recently that she realized that by going after our loved ones that she could force compliance. It's why Hephy left in the first place. He didn't want to put them in danger, but she found out somehow. We were actually coming to offer Ms. Valdez the same protection offered to the lovers of our other family members."
Percy shook his head sadly, "Instead, all we can offer to do is pay for Ms. Valdez' funeral, but we want to petition to bring Leo with us after the unflattering comments that this woman has stated."
Rosa sneered, "My family doesn't need your blood money!"
Ariadne turned towards her and Percy hand shot out to hold her back, "I hope you rot in the hell you claim that I'll go to," she snapped. Turning her nose up, she turned towards the case worker, "We're paying for the funeral costs only. We'll happily take Leo off of her hands. Look at her, there is absolutely no way that she'd be a good caretaker for a child."
"By your own admittance, you all don't seem to be a good fit either," Apollo's child pointed out. Ariadne narrowed her eyes, huffing because he had a point. Still, the twins fought a smirk as Apollon's power flowed through the air. "But you are seemingly the better option; serial killer aside."
"Good riddance," Rosa sneered. "No one wants that little bastard anyway." Percy growled low in his throat, "Wasn't your Jesus conceived through adultery?" Ariadne laughed, if there was one thing that all girl's catholic academia her mother sent her to was that: "A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord, even to his tenth generation. Deuteronomy 23:2."
The lady was red in the face when the case worker finally cut in, "We'll meet again tomorrow after everyone has had time to process. Details pertaining to Ms. Esperanza Valdez shall be covered in the next few days."
The twins smiled with all teeth as Apollon's power washed through the air again. "Leo, of course, may go with you, um, Mr and Ms. Castellan." They smiled once more, standing from their seats. They looked as if they had just stepped out of a fashion catalog, prestige followed their every movement. Smiling even brighter, they chorused, "We'll be in touch."