It felt like decades had passed since Percy had last seen his sister. He knew it to be only a few passing years, but she had taken to submerging herself deeply within Castellan's research. She could sometimes be pulled away when they needed training, but even then, she sent them off to train with Kym.
Other times she was doting on the children around the kingdom. Not just their miniature friends and her children, but also the ones that had been placed there. After all, as the years passed on by, they had more half bloods to end up in their walls alongside their parents.
[There was that terrifying moment when Leo offhandedly called her Katarra and she screamed bloody murder. Thankfully, she managed to hold off until none of the children were around her, but she almost brought the castle down from how her powers reacted. Hector had to possess her body to drag her to the grove in an attempt to help her. Apollon and Poseidon had to take her deep within the sea; close to earth's core as her power threatened to explode everything around her.]
She was turning into a wonderful queen if the words of their father and stepmother were any indication.
[And Percy pretended for her sake that he didn't notice that she and Apollon had gotten back together. As if he didn't notice the casual strolling around the kingdom, the picnics, or the increasingly sappy love songs that were being written in her honor.
But by the sea, he wished that Apollon would share those with the world instead of teasingly giving them bad poetry and music.]
They manage to train the kids into something . It was waaay better than whatever they were learning before. The mages of the sea had also confirmed that it was a spell placed onto them. They gave the kids different mixtures to rub into their skins to fight it off. They couldn't pinpoint it exactly, but Percy knew that from every visit he had in that camp... it was getting stronger and that the campers were taking it out on the demi-titans.
He almost wanted to move them all [the demi-titans that is] to Castellan, but the two sides needed to get along. How could they ever hope to be friends... be family if they hated each other?
[Percy suspected– the titans weren't claiming their children. Hiding their relations under smoke screens. There was a child of Hekate there. Maybe more than one. That spell didn't come from nowhere. He was sure that even if there were no children of hers there... that there was another spy because there was no way possible that it was continuing to beat out the daily cleansing from the nature magick.]
If Percy was being honest, he would rather spend more of his time with Annabeth planning their wedding. It was easier and happier. But he knew that just like he... she couldn't concentrate much on it either. [There was also the simple fact that they wanted to make sure that they didn't have any special surprises coming up for their wedding.]
And there was the simple fact that they were pushing the children of Demeter and Aphrodite as their first priority. Katie was running the Demeter and Dionysus cabin like a navy. On one hand, they had a lot more produce and grain for the cooks to use. On the other hand, the dryads and nymphs had sat in on their lessons and Capture the Flag became a lot more dangerous when the Ares cabin started making deals with them.
[That was without mentioning the children of Apollo, the demititans, the kids of Zagreus, or the kids of Persephone.]
[Percy wondered if this renewed effort to heal nature would bring Pan back or was he still destined to pass on.]
Ariadne had looked on in amusement at the training that Clarisse was giving those of Cabin 10. Clarisse had walked into Cabin 5 and the Aphrodite cabin like a drill sergeant. They trained from sun up to sun down. Some of them hadn't been able to look Ariadne in the eye for some reason. Not that she cared... she only spent enough time with them so that Drew and Silena could get used to them whenever she didn't have Drew attending lessons with the sirens.
The Hephaestus cabin hadn't been spared either though what anyone thought Percy could do about that was confusing. He guessed that's where the earthshaker and stormbringer in him came to play because cabin 9 cursed at him plenty of times for destroying their perfectly good weapons. [And then suddenly he has a popcorn maker that's spitting out grenades, bullets, popcorn, and daffodils.]
Nico was in charge of the Underworld cabins. Of course, there was the accident where one of Melinoe's son accidentally summoned the spirit King Nebuchadnezzar whom the nymphs absolutely demolished when he ran into their trees.
Will had taken one look at their clinic and lost his entire damn mind. He didn't understand how the cabin looked like one of the world's best hospitals but the clinic was scraping by. [At lea st until he looked into the Asclepius cabin and noticed how they hoarded all the supplies.] Will set to fixing that while separating the rest of his siblings into more groups. He wanted everyone to be adept with more weapons and not to just stick to the whole archery shtick.
[And he definitely pulled away a lot of people from Cabin 9 and 5 to learn how to heal.]
[Rachel teamed up with him, gathering anyone with the slightest skill in divination. It didn't matter if they could only read the stars, pull tarots, or do palm readings. If they had any power of clairvoyance, then she took them off to her future cave and she trained them up. She stressed the importance that the future was not set in stone and that messing with fate was not always a good thing. If they were not the Fated, then they definitely shouldn't try their hand at it.]
Thalia had run off with the hunters, building up their ranks and sending as many monsters back to tartarus as they could. They were increasing so much in size that Artemis was splitting them into groups to cover more ground. [And in doing so, they were finding more half bloods that were in the eastern hemisphere. He could now understand why his sister was adamant on getting a camp over there.]
The Stolls had set up another branch of their Stolen Treasures and effectively replaced the camp store. It was the only time that the underground mall was put to work. Deadly Fashion, Starfish, Silena's Eatery, Paint The Future R.E.D, Annabeth's Weavery And Architecture, Build A Sword Workshop, Katie's Bakery, Will's Pharmacy, David's Delights had set up shops in the mall which employed some of the kids so that they could bring in their own income.
[Chris had gone out and stolen a Coinstar machine so that those that came from the mortal world could exchange their pocket change for cash.
Ariadne turned a blind eye when reports started popping up about various banks and accounts belonging to 0.01% being robbed. Eat the rich and account for inflation, she'd say.]
They still have to deal with their parents. Sally had eased on trying to talk to Ariadne. Though that may have been because on their birthday... Amphitrite had appeared after a council meeting for a ceremony.
[When a female of the sea reached a certain age, a month-long celebration was held in her honor. Considering that he and Ariadne were in the line of succession and the combination of her now official courtship, their stepmother was throwing herself into it all. Loudly and proudly calling Ariadne her daughter and smiling with ease as Ariadne affectionately calls her her mother.]
Beryl had teamed up with HephaestusTV to have more kid-friendly shows that let the viewers see more accurate detailing of their history. There were teen romance shows and Amerime for everyone to watch.
[That was a special moment to the kids at camp that were adept at various forms of art and those that were interested in graphic designing. The shows were getting such good ratings that Hermes told them Hercules called in to complain about not winning the Best Television Show award for the 3500th time in a row. He had gotten beaten out by Juniper Berrie Bakes and How to Train Your Kraken.]
They all knew what everything was leading up to. Percy watched over his younger self with increasing worry. Grace remained asleep on an actual cloud in Olympus, being watched over by Zeus' more protective eagles. [The first time some little handsy wind god got close to the slumbering girl...they came back to the sight of the god's heart being pecked out while the other two flew around, squawking enraged.]
They had no idea about the nursery rhyme. Not until Leo had come home and was reciting it under his breath. Not until Annie told them of The Heroes of Olympus television series that the Muses and Beryl were apparently cooking up. It was apparently a spin off of The Twin Swords: Heroes of Atlantis that the beings of the sea were incredibly fond of. It was weird if he was being honest, but nothing was weirder than Nico scolding a few residents of the Castellan.
[Nico scowled at the woman complaining about a haunted doll. First off, she lived in Castellan where ghosts operated. And secondly, she wasn't even taking care of the doll.
The poor thing was just bored.
The doll was only playing. She wasn't even interacting with it and she had the nerve to stuff it in that stupid glass case. There wasn't anything for her to look at and all the shatter proof items were not near it either. Of course, the poor thing would knock over picture frames and invert crosses on the wall [which why were there crosses on the walls? They were pagans! He had to stop his day of training and increasing duties as the ghost king to give her a proper lecture on caring for haunted objects. Ridiculous.
And the chilling laughter she heard was nothing but Helen and Silena laughing at their boyfriends.
[Though if Beryl had managed to come up with a new show called The Haunting of the Wolf House that got her more than a few looks from the gods.]
And there was the time, he came from a family dinner in the Netherworld to lecture the entire camp about messing with an ouija board without trained guides from the Netherworld. He then went on to drag at least thirty lingering spirits back to the Underworld because they allowed them in. He had been furious.
And Ariadne had grounded every child in Castellan that had participated in such activities. Leo didn't see a forge for months.]
Still as time moved on and moved forward, they kept their eyes out for any and every change. The discontent between the campers felt like pushing at a wall made of bricks into a wall made of steel that threw them back with a wall that absorbed and reflected kinetic energy. It was maddening.
And then it was time.
They had been there, hiding dutifully in the rafters the day of the Winter Solstice. Hades and Nico had buried them in shadows. Their eyes were locked onto every camper allowed there. The gods had fun showing off the new defense mechanisms to the temples in a very subtle way to ward off thieves. The only time that any of them had dropped down was when Hermes had reached out for Ariadne.
She had gone with a bright laugh, placing her hand in his, and once again being introduced to those of Cabin 11 as the best friend to their father. She had smiled once more when Aphrodite pulled her away to showcase in front of Cabin 10 [the kids were blushing furiously as she looked at them]. Apollon had caught sight of her and plastered her to his side as he spoke with his children. [It was a slap in the face to Hera as Ariadne cuddled with one of the toddlers that was quite obviously born after Apollon had begun to win her back. Ariadne only shrugged; Hera knew from her own marriage that she could not stop a god from finding pleasure in someone that was not her. She just made it clear that if she were to ever feel the same, then Apollon would have no right to rage.]
Hephaistos had taken the chance to outfit the thrones with better defenses and security for their weapons. [Percy prayed that JackJack would not be the one to face Kronos. He remembered all too well the feeling of his father's power the meomenthe sat on his throne. He didn't understand how Ariadne had been able to survive for years with the heaviness of Apollon's divine power within her.]
They had eyes everywhere and yet–
Yet, they still missed when the statues were taken. One of each of the Kronides; each imbued with the divine power of them all. Power that rang so strongly that they were weapons in their own rights.
[Athena... Minerva cackled once she found out... "How does it feel to be stolen now?"... "They stole you and they stole me!"... "Destroy them all!"]
The kronides were feeling the effects. Hades hadn't even managed to go back to the Underworld. Whomever stole from them had taken the items and hidden them away way better than the first time around. Every child that had come on the trip had been searched. Hermes and Apollon both looked over them.
["It was one of them," Apollon was sure of it. "But I'm not sensing any lies from them."]
The months passed in molasses as the rest of the Fated grew agitated. The kronides were not feeling any better. Whoever had the statues were treating them like voodoo dolls. Persephone had ended up staying in the Underworld longer, running the place like the army. Nico had ventured down to help. He and Melinoe doubled down on the ghosts.
[Melinoe had sent them out to the world. There was no stone overturned as she looked for what sickened her father. Zagreus stayed above ground, taking over in his grandmother's stead. And if nature turned more bloodthirsty in response, well that was just too bad.]
The sea hadn't been spared either. Unlike Zeus and Hades... Poseidon named his heir. Triton took over in his father's stead whereas Amphitrite showed them all why she had been worthy of the sea god's hand. It was only thanks to Triton and Rhode that she hadn't sent Kymplomeia out to sink the world under the sea. No one harmed her husband.
[The goddess took it as the declaration of war that it was. The armies shook at the sight of her. Krokus followed alongside her dutifully. Anyone that stepped out of line faced a brutal ending at her hand.]
Artemis and Apollon had taken over in their father's stead. Athena was in no shape. Cackling gleefully whenever she caught sight of the kronides. Ares was searching the world for the statues. This was a call to war and he wanted to be prepared. He trained his immortal children personally, even pulling Eros out of his hiding spot. War was coming. Hephaistos had taken to mass producing weapons while Dionysus personally went to camp to take over the training.
Hermes was being spread thin as the calls of war were being spread. He was flying all over the world making sure weapons caches were full and soothing worries. He was still searching for the statues and checking on his children. Ariadne had to personally chain him down to Castellan for him to rest.
And then...
The wheel of fate began to spin.