Nobody cheered when the Argo made port in the lake in at Camp Half Blood. There was no celebration waiting. The campers stood on the grass, silent. Reyna and Calypso were waiting on the beach.
As the Jackson family exited the boat, Grover ran forward. Percy and Annabeth hugged their best friend. Nathan, Casey's best friend, didn't hug her. He knew she wouldn't want it. He ran to her side and stood in front of her with his head bowed.
"Casey, I'm sorry."
The grand daughter of Poseidon raised her eyes just enough to see Nathan, then fell into his unexpecting arms. He carefully guided her away. He knew she would want to be somewhere more private when she began to cry. Adora went to the infirmary with Katie Gardner, only because she didn't want to go back to the Poseidon cabin. Jase still had his extra bag of Ambrosia hidden under the mattresses in the infirmary, and Adora wanted a piece. It was Jase's special Jackson ambrosia because it was the one he gave to his little siblings, the one he said tasted like Grandma Sally's cookies. Adora didn't know that all ambrosia would taste like that. She wasn't physically hurt, but took a small piece of the godly food anyway. It didn't taste like Grandma Sally's cookies. It tasted like Jase's blueberry chocolate chip pancakes. Adora didn't even like Jase's blueberry chocolate chip pancakes that much.
Percy and Annabeth went to the big house with Grover. Oscar was in his mother's arms. Tyson was waiting in the living room and he immediately pulled the Jacksons into a barely-breathable hug.
"What happened?" Chiron asked once they entered. His attitude was much too serious to think about how happy he was to see Percy and Annabeth again.
Percy exchanged a look with his wife. Might as well start from the beginning. "When I got to Camp, I was setting up a training drill in the forest for Jase's class. Nyx used her powers to create divots in the camp's border so the cyclops's could get it just long enough to nab me and the others, then zap us somewhere else. It came up behind me and hit me over the head. When I came to, I was in a cave. Piper and Jason appeared soon after, then Hazel and Frank. Annabeth was the last to come. It was another week before Leo appeared. None of us had expected him, but he explained as best he could. That's when we found out he had a son back in California that didn't know about this world," Percy said. He glanced at Annabeth, and she took over.
"Then the kids came. They made it through the cyclops and were able to free us, but because Nyx had used so much power to keep us all from leaving, she couldn't control it anymore. When she was attacking, she created cracks in the ground that lead all the way to...there. Charlie fell in. Jase got loose, and jumped after him. That's all we know."
Chiron was thoughtful. He didn't voice his concerns, but he doubted that Charlie Valdez and Jason Jackson would have even survived the initial fall. He didn't know Charlie. He knew Leo, but that didn't aid his concerns.
Leo stayed on the beach with Calypso. He did not embrace her. Dropping to his knees, he apologized. He held her legs as a scolded child would.
"I'm sorry, Caly. I kept him out of this to keep him safe, and now I've lost him because of it," Leo tried to apologize but a sob broke through.
Calypso gracefully knelt down beside him and touched her forehead to his. "It's not your fault, Leo. We'll get him back."
