Luke hotwired a car once we got to Utah. Charlie and I got the backseat to ourselves and we got to just kind of relax for a few hours. It was strange.
Grover sat up front and told Luke where to go. Although Luke's driving had much to be desired, we somehow didn't get pulled over by a police officer. I wondered if it was the mist, but it probably was just because we were in the middle of nowhere. If we'd gotten pulled over then things would get a lot more complicated. Charlie and I were missing, presumed dead; that wouldn't exactly be easy to explain to the police, not to mention the fact that Luke had died forty years earlier.
I hadn't bothered putting my seatbelt on. I rested my back against the side door and laid my legs on the seat. Charlie sat comfortably in my lap and took a nap. Grover and Luke still weren't talking to each other. Grover would read him directions from the map but even that was awkward.
"So, Luke, want to tell Grover about how you ended up finding Charlie and I?" I said casually.
Luke glared at me through the mirror. I smiled cheekily and waited for him to speak. Uncomfortably, Luke glanced at Grover.
"Daedalus opened the Labyrinth but he didn't know where in Tartarus it was. I made a deal with him that if he found Percy and Annabeth and brought them to me after they fell, then I would help him escape. I found the Labyrinth and spent forty years mastering it so I could help Percy and Annabeth get out when they came. Daedalus, the guy's really an idiot now, missed Percy and Annabeth completely. He found Jase and Charlie and brought them to me." Luke spoke in an almost bored voice.
Grover gave him an almost suspicious look. "How'd you know Percy and Annabeth would fall?" he asked.
Luke ground his teeth together. "The Fates," he said. His eyes flitted between the road and his lap. "They told me as part of my punishment. They told me because they thought there was nothing I could do about it."
"Or because they knew you would do something," I suggested. Luke didn't respond to me but his grip loosened on the wheel.
Grover didn't speak. He only nodded and gazed out the window. I wanted to fix whatever was going on between them, but I knew there was nothing I could do. I knew what Luke had done in the past, but I didn't know how to get Grover to realize that he wasn't like that now. So I changed the subject.
"How is everybody?" I asked. "What happened while I was gone?"
Grover looked a lot more comfortable with this new subject. "Well, Cardigy Grills from the Nike cabin was killed a few months back while out on patrol, but there haven't been any other deaths. Rose went on a quest with Katrina and Casey and they ended up finding Octavian. Hazel and Frank had the twins. Hades declared you dead, we had your funeral. A couple months later, your arm showed up after a battle so most of us assumed a monster had brought it with them from Tartarus. Calypso and Leo had Roberto, and—"
"Who's Roberto?" Charlie interrupted.
I hadn't even realized that he was awake.
Grover looked like Hagrid when he told the golden trio about Fluffy. "A while after you fell, Calypso learned that she was pregnant. She just had Roberto a bit ago," Grover said quietly. "Roberto's your…"
"My parents had a kid?" Charlie summarized. I grabbed his hand. He looked torn.
"A little brother."
Charlie turned towards me and I got an uneasy feeling. "That's what you saw, isn't it? When you fought Artemisa and saw everybody at Camp, you saw my brother," he accused.
"I couldn't be sure that it was hers," I excused. "It could have been one of the Zhang twins. I didn't think I should tell you unless I knew for sure—"
"Didn't you think I should have known that I have a brother?!" Charlie had never raised his voice like this at me before."You of all people should know how important that is! Why didn't you tell me?"
I grabbed his wrist to shut him up and get him to listen to me for a minute. "Because I do know how important a sibling is! And I know how much it hurts to leave them behind, to be apart from them for so long. I know the responsibility, the guilt. Don't you dare think that I didn't tell you for any reason other than to keep you from the pain I have felt every day since I left my siblings at the top of that pit in Greece," I told him.
Instead of replying, Charlie closed his eyes and pulled back, leaning away from me. I saw tears tracking silently down his cheeks.
The ride was silent until nightfall. I felt a pain in my chest and I felt like I was going to puke the whole time. Charlie and I had never fought; we were usually too busy trying not to die. I was scared that any moment could be my last, so we never had time to fight.
Luke pulled over to the side of the road and we all settled in for the night. Charlie and Luke went to sleep, but Grover and I stayed up talking about what had happened in the outside world while I was gone. A lot could happen in nine months.
"Octavian, that little shit. He used my sister! Has anybody killed him yet or can I have that pleasure?" I asked.
Grover looked slightly weirded out by my reaction. "Uh, no, he's not dead yet. But Nathan Gardner kicked him so hard between the legs that I think he literally bust a nut."
I smiled. "Way to go Nate. I've always liked that kid."
Grover huffed, smirking. "I'm glad; it'd be a pity if you didn't."
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"Because he's dating Casey."
I felt my heart plunge into a bipolar mayhem. My first reaction was to pump my fist in the air, my second was to cry.
"What?! No way! I knew they liked each other! When did this happen?"
"Not long ago. Nate is completely nuts for her. Kinda reminded me of your parents," Grover laughed.
I smiled, a real smile this time. I felt the urge to give Casey a giant hug, although that wasn't possible at the moment. I bet Max 12 drachmas that they'd get together before I graduated; guess I won that.
My short moment of victory was interrupted by a giant dark blob running into our car, sending it, and us in it, flying into the forest.
The car flipped twice until we finally landed upside down in the ditch.
Grover screamed and bleated profanities as he clung to his seatbelt, even after the car stopped rolling. Luke, who had been in the driver's seat, wasn't in good condition. His head had been smashed through the window but I couldn't see much. Charlie, who had been sleeping in the seat next to me, was on the floor screaming.
"WHAT'S HAPPENINGGGGG?" he yelled.
I shielded my elbow with my sweatshirt and smashed it through the already cracked window. Charlie had stopped screaming by the time I pulled him through the window.
"Split up!" Grover yelled. I could tell something was still wrong with Luke but I knew staying here would just draw attention to him, so I grabbed Charlie's hand and we ran in the opposite direction.
A giant monster leapt from the rubble of our car to chase us. It turned to Grover and Luke, who still hadn't gotten up, and lifted its claws. I raised two fingers to my mouth and let out a loud whistle, like the one I usually used to call Mrs. O'Leary, to get the hellhound's attention. Unfortunately it worked.
"Shit!" Charlie yelped and ran faster. It was too dark to see where we were going so we blindly stumbled through the forest and hoped we weren't about to jump off a cliff. While we were running, Charlie pulled me behind a tree.
"What are you doing? We don't exactly have time to rest!"
"We might die!"
"That's usually the case," I mentioned.
"And we just got in our first fight!" he added.
"Your point?" I anxiously looked around for the hellhound.
He yanked me forward and kissed me long and slow, forcing me to calm for just that short moment.
"Good point," I said shortly once he had pulled away. He smiled, then kissed me again.
In dept of our kiss, we kept running. Eventually, the hellhound backed us up against a steep cliff edge. Since we didn't feel like jumping off of another cliff, we picked up rocks and got prepared to fight.
The hellhound was huge. We both knew we weren't getting out of this fight without serious injury. Our odds had been worse before, but this was just terrible timing.
Charlie was still half asleep and it was too dark to see anything. There wasn't any water around that I could sense other than the blood running through the hellhound's body. I didn't want to use those powers again so I tightened my grip on the rock in my hand.
The hellhound lunged. Before it could reach us, another black blur ran into it. I could hear growls and hellhound barks but it was too dark to see what was going on. Charlie squeezed my hand and we tried to creep away from the cliff before either of the hellhounds noticed.
Of course, we weren't that lucky. The second hellhound, smaller than the first, walked on its haunches as it approached us. I dared a small half step back, then it lunged.
"Jason!" Charlie screamed as I toppled over the cliff. I was sick and tired of falling off of cliffs and out of windows and trap doors. I was much more comfortable with my feet on solid ground. But before the sensation of falling could even take over my body, something grabbed my foot. Looking up, I could barely make out the figure of a hellhound's jaw around my ankle. It wasn't holding me hard enough to hurt, but it was still terrifying.
I couldn't get the scream from my lips. I'd already lost my arm, I didn't want to lose my foot too. The hellhound carefully dragged me back onto solid ground before letting go of my foot. It lowered its head and let out a short whimper, then dropped its head onto my chest. Charlie, who was standing shocked a few feet away, squeaked in surprise when I began to laugh.
I hadn't laughed that hard in a very long time. Tears formed in my eyes and I nearly slapped my knee. "Mrs. O'leary!" I yelled in joking accusation. The hound made a soft rumbling sound and began to lick me profusely.
"These are brand new clothes!" I complained.
"You know this thing?" Charlie screeched.
"Chuck," I said matter-of-factly, "it's my family dog! It's Mrs. O'leary!" I was so happy that I just kept crying. I wrapped my arm around Mrs. O'leary and hugged her tightly. She was wagging her tail with enough force to knock over a moderately sized cyclops.
"Good girl!" I laughed. "Did you come all the way from New York just because I whistled?"
Of course, she didn't answer me. I was filled with joy and relief that I hadn't felt in a very long time. I finally stood up and turned to Charlie, beaming.
"Dude, you're making me miss my cat," he said.
"Can your cat shadow travel us to Camp?" I hinted.
Charlie shrugged and cautiously approached Mrs. O'leary. "I have no idea what that means, so probably not. Ernie can roll over though, which is pretty impressive for a cat."
"It means that once my hellhound here gets some rest and charges up, she can teleport us to New York, or at least get us close." I jumped onto Mrs. O'leary's back and offered Charlie my hand.
Charlie's eyes widened. "What the Hades kind of dog is this and why didn't you call her sooner?" Charlie blurted.
"Because I didn't think about it! Besides, I didn't think she could shadow travel this far! The poor girl must be exhausted." I ran my hand across the hellhound's snout in sympathy. She let out a low whine. Charlie, now awkwardly perched behind me, wrapped his arms tightly around my waist.
After the sun began to set in the sky, we were able to navigate our way back to the crash scene. Grover was pacing besides the pale form of Luke, who still looked like he hadn't moved.
"Grover! Look who we found!" I called.
Grover whipped around with open arms. "Mrs. O'leary! How is she here?"
I shrugged. "No idea, I'm just glad she is. I whistled to distract the other hellhound and Mrs. O'leary popped out of nowhere and saved us. She's really tired, I think we should take the day to rest. How's Luke?"
Grover's face fell. "Not good, I don't know how much longer we can keep him alive without ambrosia or nectar," he said.
Charlie and I jumped from Mrs. O'leary's back and ran to Luke's side. Even in the degrading sunlight, I could see that he wasn't doing very well. I lightly slapped Luke's cheeks, not even earning myself a slight groan in response.
"Come on, snap out of it," I ordered. Luke didn't compley. He was never good at listening to orders.
"What are we going to do? We can't carry him to the hospital, can we? We don't even know where the nearest hospital is! Or how we'd get there!" Charlie started panicking.
"I don't know. He's lost a lot of blood. We need to bandage his head and keep his body temperature up, but I don't know what else we can do."
Charlie and I refused to leave Luke's side. His condition was only getting worse. We'd done everything we could do and I was starting to get desperate. We didn't move that whole day. I didn't care how much time we were losing, I wasn't going to risk it. Luke couldn't be moved.
But that night, Luke still hadn't woken up. His breathing was shallow, and I didn't want to admit that I didn't think he was going to live through the morning.
You're going to lose him.
"He's not going to make it," Grover said, obviously not as filtered as I was. "When the hellhound hit the car, Luke's head smashed through the window. Even if by some miracle he woke up, he'd have severe brain damage.
Charlie's hands began to shake. He grabbed Luke's hand. "I have an idea. It worked once before so it might work again. Give me some room."
Grover and I crawled back a few feet. Charlie intertwined his fingers and pressed them to Luke's chest as if he was going to do CPR. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"It worked with you, I've got to try."
"Try what?!"
Charlie took a moment to meet my eyes. "People don't come back to life after 27 minutes, Jason," he said in an eerily deep voice.
Something about the way he said it sent a chill down my spine. Memories of Achlys filled my mind. 27 minutes in the river of guilt felt like years. I knew that it was unusual, but I was too grateful to be alive to question it at the time. I should have known better.
I nearly fell backwards in surprise as a gilen light emitted from Charlie's hands. It flowed through Luke's chest and migrated throughout his entire body.
Luke gasped and bolted upright. Charlie fell forward and growled in effort. I wasn't sure who to check on first. Charlie gave me a feeble thumbs up so I ran to Luke.
"Morning, Jase. You ok? You don't look great," Luke groaned.
I sobbed in relief and attacked him in a hug. He hugged me back but I could tell he was confused.
"Ok, so something obviously happened. Is everybody ok? Did somebody die?" he looked around, noting that we were all alive. "Is that Mrs. O'leary?"
I nodded because I didn't trust myself to speak. Charlie groggily sat up and leaned against me for support. I turned attention away from Luke to boggle at Charlie.
"How did you do that?" I asked him in amazement.
He looked even worse than before. I needed to make sure he didn't use his powers too much; the poison was still affecting him. Using his powers just drained him.
"I don't know, it just happened. After Achlys attacked you, you died. I freaked out and tried to bring you back, but I couldn't. When I began to realize you weren't coming back, this happened. And you woke up," Charlie awkwardly tried to explain.
"I'm still confused. What did Charlie do?" Luke coughed.
I clapped him on the back. "Don't worry about it. Charlie used some sort of healing magic, probably from Calypso, and brought you back from the brink. Apparently he brought me back from death too."