Happy Birthday Percy! I am so thrilled to finally devote my full attention to finishing just this series now!

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The Titan of fresh water and nourishment was strangely odd and beautiful, with thick black hair that had a river braided into the locks, glimmering as if its own body of natural state down her back, embroidered with pearls and sand dollars that floated right off her in the different densities around them. She wore a nurse's outfit and was having an argument with the crab guy who had thrown them in here.

"You can't just lock them in a room until all their homework is done," she was complaining, pen moving faster than her mouth as she jotted things on a clipboard while striding into the middle of the room. "This is why none of our children visit anymore!"

Oceanus sighed. Up close, his bull horns scraped the ceiling, he had miniature crab claws jutting out of different parts of his body like he was being devoured from the inside out, his green skin gave off a phosphorescent glow, his flower patterned toga never sat quite still around him as it pulled in a million currents at once as he gestured to the domed roof. "I can't just have them wandering the whole ocean, the other gods have spies, if Klymene heard word of this! Hera is furious-"

"Yes dear, but they should still have some common commodities," she explained in a kindly voice as if to a senile old man before smiling brightly at the eight of them. "Hello, I am Tethys. You poor dears, you must be exhausted, and look, they're already out of food," she whacked him on the chest with the clipboard. It did not get tangled in his beard by some minor miracle. "Come with me now and I'll show you all to some rooms and make sure you're as comfortable as you can be for your stay here."

None of them immediately leaped up to follow her, not after the numerous kindly death traps they'd already heard about and being escorted anywhere by a Titan wasn't on anyone's to-do list, but the promise of more food and the reminder none of them could leave anyways had them reluctantly following them into the hall in a tight cluster, Thalia and Percy in front, Magnus and Hearth trailing in the back. The magical door that had appeared out of nowhere at least didn't disappear on them.

"This used to be an old bathhouse you know," she told them all pleasantly as they uneasily peeked around each corner. Thalia had her bow cautiously at her side, no arrow in place. Nico was tapping the pommel of his sword and more grateful than ever for the dark depths of the ocean that would increase its power, trying desperately to shake off the idea of what a great team he and Percy would make if it did come to a fight.

Alex was gripping the handles of her garrote again but twining the deadly wire around her fingers curiously, Jason was clutching his coin in his grasp again with no clue why, while Percy held tight to his pen. The others were definitely regretting their lack of weaponry, but she made no dangerous moves toward them as she started opening up doors for spare, empty rooms that could trap them even more forever and possibly deadly beds. She didn't even try to throw the clipboard Captain America shield style at their head though. "We're thinking about renovating it into a pool house, aren't we Ocea?"

"Yes angel fish," Oceanus sighed, bubbles whirling from his crab claws as they twined up his green hair like spaghetti.

"Nobody will think to look for you here while you finish, but you're already half done with the first one, you deserve a break," Tethys told them maternally. "I wish I'd known you were already starting, I would have liked to give you a check-up before you did."

She drew something from an inside pocket, what Percy hoped was a mouth thermometer as she turned and gave them an appraising look. "Would anyone still like one? I'd be happy to assist you in any way."

"Ah, no thank you, my lady," Jason told her calmly.

"Let me know if you change your mind," she flashed them a cheerful smile and gestured to the last door. "This leads up to the roof if you'd like a view of our kingdom, but you can not go beyond these borders until you've finished, that was the deal."

"What deal? We made no deal," Nico bitterly reminded.

"Now, now Mr. Di Anglo, mind your heart rate," Tethys told him, "and we were warned of that shadow traveling nonsense, please don't try it here honey, you might hurt yourself."

Nico looked very perturbed and slightly threatened, but she kept going with a sugary smile. "Your rooms can order you up a wider selection than kale chips, though they are healthier for your cholesterol mind you, and the beds have wonderful arch support and any other homely needs you may each require. Don't press the help button though, we haven't quite figured out how to rid that of summoning grindylows."

Nobody wondered if it was just in their imagination she'd yet clarified how to summon help though.

"Um, I have a question now," Magnus began, but both Titans gave him a blank look of confusion as if just realizing he was there.

"I thought you brought Athena's child, not one of those other gods," she'd finally lost her cheerful, and they now realized very practiced professional tone.

"Ah, whoops," Oceanus was eyeing her clipboard as if it had started flashing like a danger sign. "You know, maybe I should check in with Poseidon, make sure none of the other gods have grown suspicious of our little ploy yet."

He vanished in a floom of bubbles and Tethys went after him shouting, "this is not in our health plan!"

'They seem odd,' Hearthstone signed helpfully.

"I'm sure ours are just as strange buddy," Magnus rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of food though," Alex reminded, already waltzing to the nearest room. The others poked their head in behind her to see an eerie like hospital setting. The beds did look comfortable with adjustable lumbar support and each had an attached bathroom, but the walls were blank, there were no windows, and hanging beside the bed was a baggy of something gold with a needle hanging threateningly from it.

Thalia stepped forward and gave it a light prod and a gentle sniff before declaring, "it's nectar."

Alex looked ecstatic and reached for it at once. Nobody was insane enough to try grabbing her to stop her, going with the assumption they wanted to keep their hands as her garrote was still on display, but Thalia did clear her throat uneasily. "Um, about that whole exploding thing..."

She paused with the needle raised to her mouth before considering it and dropping it back. "Yes, fine, stupid non-emergencies."

Jason went around the bed and found the help button he very carefully set down on top of something black with a little stack of golden neatly squared cubes of food on a clam-plate. "I found ambrosia," he offered, opening the door to find it was a mini-fridge, "and burritos! Yum!" It was enormous, nearly the size of a small child with guacamole leaking out of one end already.

"Sweet," Magnus eagerly bolted forward and poked his head in, a plate had already refilled with no obvious way to order something else. Magnus made to grab that and be satisfied it wasn't more kale, but Alex smacked his hand and said, "let me try."

She closed the door, concentrated for a moment, then opened it back to find a bowl of mint ice cream.

"Yes!" Magnus cheered, nearly slamming the door on her fingers before she could remove her own food before doing the same and pulling out a feast of falafel for himself next.

"I guess we're taking a break." Thalia noticed as Jason sat on the bed still hungrily devouring his food, dribbles of lettuce and cheese filling the plate, and a flush from the closed door told them where Nico had vanished to. "Meet back in that room in an hour?"

Percy followed her out with a reluctant face and waited until they were a bit away from the others to whisper, "maybe we could keep going without them? Surely they don't need to hear every detail?"

Thalia studied the bags under his eyes and how stiff he carried himself. Even under the relaxed air he'd carried amongst them while reading and being in his own domain, the curse of Achilles was taking its toll on him. He needed his rest and to refuel, and being in a constant state of distress while getting his memories returned was likely almost as taxing as taking on any monster.

"Nobody can sit and read a whole book in one sitting Percy," she told him gently. "Especially not us. I promise, Annabeth's okay, she's probably back at camp studying ocean maps and threatening to disembowel Malcolm if he doesn't bring her another star chart fast enough. To get back to her, I need you to not pass out, and for that, you need a break. If ever you want to kick someone out because of something delicate in your past, I'll back you up."

"Thanks," he reluctantly agreed, even if others learning about his history was the least of his concern, he'd never felt like he had much privacy in his life what with Gabe and the constant boarding schools with awful roommates, and now he realized he'd had even less say-so with Gods peeping in to check on his progress of whether he was dead or not at all hours.

Taking the advice for now, he trudged off to an empty room. There was no shower...which was both disappointing and rather odd to think of where the toilets plumbing went, nor a change of clothes, but he stretched out on his own bed and ate as many blue sweets as he could imagine up the fridge to give him and sat taking stalk of his own thoughts for quite some time as he evaluated all he'd heard of so far and what was to come before abandoning his solitude and going back to the main reading room.

It bothered him Will and Thalia were obviously whispering about him over a bowl of nachos and stopped abruptly when he came in, but their smiles were genuine, and they still made an effort to try talking to everybody and keep the conversation flowing as naturally as possible.

The plates and bowls were all magically swept into the trashcan that vanished to no where when they were done and Alex was mock threatening to dump Jason in it to see what would happen when Nico came back in last, more put out than ever he had tried to finally leave and had in fact not been able to go a foot in any direction. Who could have warned the titans about that? Certainly not his father- "Is it like, a metaphorical poodle, or a talking magical poodle?" Nico looked over Will's shoulder to double-check that one when it was read out.

"Why do you keep asking?" Percy demanded in exasperation. "You guys never come close to guessing right."

"Don't ruin our fun," Thalia snickered. "My money's on a normal, mortal poodle who chases them onto another bus that takes them closer to LA."

"If I could ban you all from playing this game I would," but Percy was smiling along now as Will began.

"At least Grover should have been able to eat too?" Magnus offered.

"Do not get him started on the difference between free-range tin cans and store-bought ones," Percy shook his head.

"Are you positive about that? You sure you don't want to meet a hydra in the first twenty-four hours too?" Alex mocked.

"Don't, tempt, the, fates," Percy said with a completely straight face.

"I don't think anyone's ever regretted going on a quest with you," Thalia told him bracingly, "even those who didn't volunteer," she gestured around the room, where indeed not a single one of them had actively seemed to blame this on him.

Alex was just as frustrated as the part goat-kid, nodding and snapping, "why can't the gods just, fix that!"

"A deep philosophical conversation that boils down to, they won't," Will frowned.

"Not that they don't try, in some ways," Thalia tried to defend, her patron goddess had been known to set animals loose in more than one factory that destroyed the oceans and habitats of her wildlife. Zeus had an awfully convenient habit of wiping memories and then seeming to forget about it himself rather than doing anything to stop this.

"Wow," Percy grinned, "is that why we're not supposed to invoke the gods names?" Just uttering it had given him a hint.

"It helps you were in Pan's domain, but yes," Thalia nodded. It was so sad this was the last of the gods powers on display, giving the humans a wistful reminder of what had been.

Jason steepled his fingers together and concentrated hard on this idea. Grover was still the biggest anomaly to him, more than the odd names they called the gods and the casual monster attacks. His vision tried to double up, layering the world into someplace he couldn't grasp, plans he couldn't form, until he shook his head and let it go again, but somewhere deep in him he vowed to look into the fawns he couldn't remember. He'd already discovered for himself all one needed was a purpose to look for meaning.

"This was a really nice story until right then," Magnus looked queasy. 'Talk about hopeless,' he finished just for Hearth. Did all Greek stories end in tragedy? Did his own?

His elf friend though looked rather spurred on, hopeful even. Generations of satyrs had gone thousands of years searching for their lost god without giving up hope so long as they remembered, perhaps it wasn't such a fantastical idea elf's could still learn the laws of magic if they just applied themselves?

"That is really poor planning," Jason looked nauseated and began refining his own strategy of a wisp of an idea. "They couldn't have left clues, notes, conferred with each other what they were doing, set up-"

"Woah there battlestar," Will waved him down, "organize the satyr revolution at a later date, yeah? They don't let us get involved in their affairs much," which had been true before, but now the demigods tried to more actively help each nature spirit upon Pan's request thanks to Grover's trip in the Labyrinth.

"It's a nice idea," Thalia agreed kindly as Jason sat back and nodded to let it go for now.

"We all want to believe we're special," Nico muttered bitterly, keeping the word freak to himself. At least it wasn't only a human delusion, this lack of accepting how the world would always be.

"There's a balance somewhere in that cliché, like all things," Will smiled.

"What are they hoping this god'll do?" Alex demanded. "Chase all the humans from his territory? We've covered a pretty good chunk of planet for him to spontaneously take back," she didn't sound all that distressed about the mass chaos this would bring though.

"At least preserve what's still left," Magnus offered, wishing he could help this search himself now, anything to sanctify those nature trails he'd once traversed with his mom. He hadn't gone to any since he'd lost her, but maybe someday he might.

"Even just listening is a form of support," Alex happily told, "you're being a good friend to Grover right now, I'm sure he'd return the same."

"It's so weird to hear you being snide about this," Thalia laughed, she and Luke had been learning to take Annabeth's battle strategies into account by the third day of being on the run.

"I'm sure she deserves it on some level," Alex shrugged, "a genius will never admit sometimes the best plan is to wing it."

"Yeah, no, Annabeth will eat her shoes first," Percy chuckled.

They'd all done the math and figured this out for themselves, it seemed a very strange coincidence otherwise considering how fondly Thalia spoke of Annabeth and yet should have been in a tree otherwise to meet her. Only Magnus still felt the craving to ask for more, hear in detail what had happened to his cousin, but Grover had told all of the story he was comfortable with before on the lake, it was clear pushing him now was putting a strain on him even by his best friend.

"Could Zeus have sent them?" Jason offered.

"Only Hades has dominion over the furies, no other gods could wield control," Nico corrected.

"But then what could Hades be after? Is he trying to steal something of the other gods?" Alex asked.

It wasn't a question they were getting an answer to, and something had been fishy of this from the start, like who the true thief of Zeus's property was to begin with.

Percy sighed in relief, he hadn't duped his friend at least, Grover had known what he was getting into and that was one worry gone.

"Denial doesn't make a happy man," Will sighed, "not good to be shoving that stuff down Perce." He was looking at Nico to hopefully add in, he probably had an even better understanding of how Percy felt.

He did, but he'd hardly be sharing he knew what it felt like to be trapped out of time from his own dad until it was convenient for him. He crossed his arms and looked away.

Thalia sighed and wished to agree, she wondered how long Luke had been bitter and kept trying to pretend otherwise before it boiled over into this plan. She'd hated Zeus for as long as she could remember and never tried to hide it.

Nico exhaled sharply for this one way trip to Tartarus he'd been edging closer and closer to right before he'd been thrown in here. The spirits had been urging him away even after Kronos had gone quiet, but it only made him all the more convinced he'd been right, maybe he could find some secret of Gaia down there hidden with her favorite children. He hadn't the courage to do it yet, still mindlessly searching the Fields of Asphodel like a coward for some alternative or hint of where else he could, he knew his mind wouldn't survive the journey down there...not that anyone would notice.

Magnus shivered and very much hoped these awful dreams and premonitions weren't going to be a spontaneous side affect of him realizing he wasn't mortal too. Alex was just looking on without surprise, as if this still wasn't the worst thing she'd seen in her dreams, and he didn't have much hope.

They all shivered for that, as if it were trying to form around them now. It did not seem unreasonable, all of a sudden, to wonder if there were ways below even the ocean here on its floors, if their Titan host could even have been lying to them.

'I'm really hoping that's not the poodle,' Hearth frowned.

"I thought we agreed zombies weren't a thing," Jason tried to laugh off if he wasn't fighting off goosebumps more.

"He does drool, eat questionable meat, and moan quite a lot, I wouldn't rule it out," Thalia had the ability to tease much easier knowing it would all work out and still sounded shotty.

"She'll be getting five stars in no time," Alex grinned, brushing off the nightmare faster than anyone, she did not linger in her past, but kept moving.

"Now see, if that had just been in the chapter title-" Will threw his hands up.

"It just would have been weirder," Nico cut off with a mild chuckle for this guy's posthumous good mood.

"How are you not already saying hi to such a cutie!" Thalia smiled, she'd thought Percy was a dog lover considering Mrs. O'Leary.

"It's pink!" Percy protested as if she'd missed that, "and Grover was talking to it, I had other concerns!"

"Your mother would be proud," Percy was sure Nico was only slightly mocking him.

"I have questions," Magnus raised his hand.

"Sorry pal, nobody here has the answers," Jason reminded with his own mystified expression.

"And much, much more I'm sure," Will muttered, they were only half done and hadn't even met Ares yet.

"We might have to start a tally of how many different ways you can destroy one of those if so," Alex said way to eagerly.

"That was probably the most direct, concise instructions and chapter title yet, and I'm still concerned for what's next," Will told all of them as he passed the book along.

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