A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. I have been meaning to update sooner but I couldn't find the time until today. I have a 5 day weekend so expect updates sooner. Anyway here is a new chapter showing some of the happenings of the first night on Olympus and of course the reading of a new chapter will be also put in so that no one complains about me taking so long, this is not as easy as it looks seeing how I want to make this Percy Jackson reading fic different then the already existing ones.

P.S.: also I would like to point out that neither Percy (to many fics put him in) or Thalia will come in, Hazel will be also absent, these characters and some others will only appear at the end of the book when the legacies get home. There WILL be a person from the future who comes by the third book when they are by the Hoover Dam chapter…didn't I say this already. Also adult Nico will make an appearance by the Mark of Athena book, but he will be in a dream-scape and only talk with the person who come by the third book and his father no one else.


XIII. Nightly talks and pink animals

After getting Poseidon into a bucket and Ares returning from Athena's temple had they a mostly eventless dinner after which it was decided that the demigods and legacies just like the Chase family may spend the night in the main palace where they set up rooms for them according to godly parent/grandparent, then they retired for the night.

Malcolm had spent a good hour after they had retired thinking of a plan how he could sneak out of the spacious room with soft gray walls, embodied with owl designs and three walls being to some degree covered by full book selves. The ground for this was that Annabeth decided to attempt interrogating her children about what Luke was annoyed about regards his namesake and of course Percy, but neither said anything and he needed to admit that Sally was in a way like a mini Annabeth with the way she managed to divert her mother's questions and to counter them. Finally after another half an hour all three went to bed and fell asleep, the exhaustion of the book's happenings finally catching up with his sister. When the room fell finally silent Malcolm carefully climbed out from under the covers and tiptoed outside in search for Mitchell, they had agreed as they were led to their rooms that they will meet on the balcony they had seen on the way here. Not to close to the rooms that anyone who wandered out of them, like such as the Stolls wanting to prank Katie, but close enough that they could slip back without anyone getting suspicious about their whereabouts.

When he arrived was the brunette already there.

"Sorry, Annabeth did an interrogation and only now fell asleep." he found himself explaining to the other who was sitting on the white marble railing, looking at him with blue eyes which have taken up a slight silvery glow due to the moonlight. Malcolm did his best to not stare at them or their talk might turn into a repeat of the earlier one, which's memory now didn't help at all so he quickly pushed it away.

"No problem, Silena and Gwen were a bit faster out which is kind of understandable considering their reactions while reading, I should know, if not for this meeting would I probably also be sleeping already." Mitchell explained with a grin as he jumped down from the railing now that Malcolm was finally here, though he needed to force his thoughts now at the ground they had met up and not on his fantasies, even thought this was a pretty romantic scene here for a kiss.

"Being faced with so much obliviousness to love is pretty frustrating to you." Malcolm noted while the other nodded his head with a small smile before his expression turned serious.

"You have also guessed." Mitchell said as the blonde's face turned grim, this was what he had dreaded.

"The way Luke is reacting and him saying that depending on which story one brings up, he either likes or hates his namesake, also the reactions of the other legacies mostly Lance, Misty and Ace who all have in common that Lord Hermes is their grandfather who is the father of the our suspect." listed Malcolm, each word making his stomach turn slowly into ice.

"There is only one option who could be the lightning thief, and that is our Luke. He had been at the scene at the right time, he is a child of Lord Hermes who is also the patron of thieves, a skill all his children have inherited so far and the book had shown that he holds a deep grudge against his father." Mitchell gave in his own option as Malcolm sighed in frustration, all this was too much to be only a coincidence, they had found their 'lightning thief'.

"Annabeth won't take this well, at all." he finally said, feeling terrible for his sister when he suddenly felt a warm hand on his shoulder before finding himself gazing into the face of the Love Goddess's son.

"At least we know that things turn out well in the end or I can't see either your sister nor Percy, even thought we haven't met him yet, that they would name their firstborn after a person they hate." he told Malcolm reassuringly, he didn't like to see the blonde upset and the small smile he was now receiving was worth everything.

"You are right Mitchell." Malcolm said, he had been to busy trying to figure out how to console his sister and didn't think about that, thought now he also needs to bring up another subject. "Mitchell?"

"Yes?" the brunette asked, slightly happy that the other had till now not complied against his hand still being on his shoulder, beside the fact that his name sounded just to wonderful coming from those lovely lips.

"Well, during these readings have you kind of acted not like, well not like an Aphrodite kid, I don't mean this as a…", but Mitchell gave him a soft laugh, his eyes sparkling brilliantly which made Malcolm feel a new blush nearing.

"I'm not offended, I know that people kind of tend to see what we do and I admit that it really looks as if we would only live for gossip, fashion and beauty products." he told the blonde more than glad that the other didn't wish to upset him. "That is true most of the times, but that is mostly our fault and you need to admit that it can be good if people don't expect much from you." Malcolm needed to nod his head; it can be useful when you have something unexpected up your sleeve when it comes to a fight, the element of surprise can usually lead to triumph or at least give you time to get to safety. "Beside that, I was always good with spotting small details, my dad is a tailor for a good few of pretty high-profile fashion firms, this is kind of how he got mom's attention - beside the family name that is - , he had often taken me to his job and I could see him work with the clothes." Mitchell explained and Malcolm found himself nodding in understanding that would really explain how the other had figured out about their Luke and Medusa, he was used to pay attention to small details ADHD or not, his father had certainly given his son an advantage for survival.

"You are really petty good in this." he found himself complimenting the other which made the brunette blush.

"Thanks." Mitchell replied, he had not expected to receive a compliment from Malcolm, but he was happy none then less, this nightly meeting had brought also something good with it in his option, he finally managed to get closer to his lovely owl.

At the same time in the room shared by Apollo's sons and grandson, En decided to stay with Henry, the lights were still on as Will and Octavian relied the ground why they were since the revelation about one of their siblings/uncle acting so different when it comes to one of Lord Poseidon's sons. Neither of them liked what Octavian had relied to them about how he found them and with to many myths being around regards the pair, Orpheus was more than shaken by some of them, was it not easy to know which was true and which not, but they would still put they foot down between them.

It was probably for the better.

Orpheus promised to keep an eye on Orion that he doesn't do anything disrespectful towards their aunt before it was decided that they should finally head for bed seeing that breakfast will be at eight in the morning.


On the next day after a quick shower and getting dressed, headed everyone to the kitchen in the main palace to have again a shared breakfast which this time went without yesterdays incidents seeing how Hermes and Ares were still slightly sleepy, the former having done some late deliveries and the later not being a morning person. Both Poseidon and Athena were also much more calmer, well that was not exactly the ground, both of them woke up feeling stiff in the neck, slightly disoriented and with head aches, Poseidon had also woken up with a slight chill, seeing how Amphitrite kipped him into the bathtub so that he wont start the morning with trying to either step out of a bucket or get it off of his head.

When everyone finished they headed back to the throne room to continue reading.

"I'm curious what this chapter will be about." said Phobos to his brother as they sat down with the other minor divinities and nature spirits in the soft grass.

"Who knows, but yesterday's last chapter had definitely been a good example for our lovely Miss-know-it-all aunt." Deimos replied back with a grin as both him and his twin snickered while other only rolled their eyes at them, typical sons of the war god, his demigod kids tended to be the occasionally normal ones.

We Get Advice from a Poodle

"A what?" come many confused voiced as the divinities exchanged confused glances with each other while trying to understand the title.

"They are getting advice from a spot of water? Can water answer to you?" asked a confused Hedylogos before his brother Eros spoke up.

"No, mom read p-o-o-d-l-e and not p-u-d-d-l-e, this must be something else." he told his brother from beside his wife who was leaning against his shoulder.

"Hopefully we will know soon what that it because I'm lost." stated Bia while looking at the palace.

We were pretty miserable that night.

Everyone nodded their heads that was understandable with what they had gone through so far, first being attacked by Hades's heralds and torturers, getting almost fried by Lord Zeus and then meeting up with Medusa, this was not a pretty start for a quest.

We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties.

"What is wrong with parties?" asked a confused Herse while she busied herself with making random patches of grass moist with morning dew.

The other deities also shrugged about that seeing how they tended to have a good deal of parties here in Olymphos, mostly when it was a birthday from one of them, which with their numbers was pretty often and no one could say no to an Olympian party.

The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

The nature spirits bristled at this, they didn't know what those were, but they were definitely not something you should throw away in the nature.

We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.

"A good choice, what in the name of Olymphos am I doing to not give them a break?" asked Seteria before looking over at her male counterpart who only shrugged helplessly.

"Don't look at me, I have no clue." he answered back to her before looking over at Tyche who held up her hands in defence.

"I already told Iris that I have no clue what I would have against that boy." she said, her eyes wandering over to Nemesis.

"Neither of us knows what is happening in the future so we should listen to it and let Hecate take note about what we should try changing." she said while gesturing to the goddess of magic beside whom a scroll floated on which a black raven feather was writing something in runes.

We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch.

"I'm not surprised." Eusebeia said who had a feeling that this boy had certainly a strong blessing of loyalty, his actions so far certainly pointed to that.

Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground.

A few goddesses who were close to Athena grinned at this, she also tended to snore even thought she would always deny it if the brought it up to her.

Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

"Go ahead and sleep," I told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"

"Father won't like that." said all children of the King of the Sky when shortly thunder rumbled above them, he was so predictable.

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

The nature spirits gasped in horror at this while many of the minor divinities also looked shocked and angered about such a thing happening, it was unthinkable.

"They can't see mother's works?" asked a baffled Eris, she could never imagine walking down in the mortal world and not be able to see the night sky above herself when night had fallen.

"The mortals will certainly change in the future and not for the better I fear." Hemara said sighing as she looked over at her little sister.

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

He glared at me. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human.

"Technically, is he only half-human." Hecate said, but she also felt bothered by what they had heard and feared for the safety of the nature spirits and some gods.

At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Find Pan!?" chorused the shocked deities and nature spirits before exchanging nervous glances.

"I'm sure that he is fine, he is only off somewhere flirting with nymphs." spoke up Adrasteia nervously, the others nodded, that would be so like Pan, he was fine.

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"

Everyone was looking confused at that, they had no clue what a cooking spray was, sprays could not cook or could they?

"All these future references are confusing." Selene said while Helios patted her on the shoulder.

"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"

And the tension was back again, this could not be happening.

A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rain water, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never known.

This on the other hand made everyone let out a sigh of relief and give them hope that the Lord of the Wild was only playing around like he tends to do; he was his father's sill son after all.

"Tell me about the search," I said.

Grover looked at me cautiously, as if he were afraid I was just making fun.

"He doesn't seem like a person who would do such a thing." Iris said in a kind tone, that demigod was loyal and considerate, not a person who would make fun out of a friend's dreams or thoughts.

"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told me.

There was a defeating silence before…

"WHAT!" screamed everyone and out of the palace something blue and white shoot out into the sky before it disappeared in a flash of golden light.


"Dad certainly took the new well…" Travis said in a faint tone as everyone stared at the empty throne of the Messenger God which had been only a second ago still been occupied by a pale looking god gripping the armrests since the search for his oldest son was read out loud.

"I think you should continue Aphrodite, he will be eventually back." Apollo told the goddess, but one could hear the worry in his tone for both his brother and nephew, speaking of younger brothers, Dionysus looked also not good, his knuckles had turned white from gripping the armrests of his throne too tight.

"Ok." Aphrodite replied as she looked at the next lines, maybe it was good that Hermes doesn't hear this.

"And to think that this was his reaction to his disappearance, the fourth book will be a disaster." Misty whispered to Lance, worried about their grandfather and how he will take being worried about one of his sons and then losing two in two chapters in a row.

Malcolm and Mitchell also exchanged dark looks; things were really going hard for Lord Hermes in their time.

"A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it.

Suddenly Aphrodite's beautiful face darkened as she looked up at the demigods and legacies from the future.

"Is this true?" she asked in a tight tone.

"It is Lady Aphrodite." Lupa said with a bowed head, using the Greek name of the goddess.

"Unfortunately was this a result which could not be stopped as the news spread, thus the Fates needed to let it happen." Enysswe said at which Aphrodite nodded before reading the part which had enraged her.

They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since.

Dionysus bristled at this, but didn't comment.

But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died.

Dionysus nodded, he appreciated the satyrs determination.

In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."

The Roman demigods stared wide-eyed at this, they knew really too little about the fauns and underestimated them, but they will certainly change that fact from now on.

"And you want to be a searcher."

"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand ... the statue you saw back there—"

"Oh, right, sorry."

Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

A sudden, uncomfortable silence fell over both the occupants of the throne room and those sitting outside.

"Did he just say in his last sentence what I think he said?" Apollo asked nervously while Annabeth shuddered, she didn't like think about the fact that Grover could get killed or worse disappear forever, but at least the fact that her children knew him meant that he was still fine.

"That is what stands here." Aphrodite said her tone faint, no one liked this confirmation.

"Aphrodite, continue." Zeus said finally.

"Hang on—the first?"

"Our sentiments exactly little brother." Orion said while trying to shake of the bothersome feeling he had since waking up and going into the kitchen to have breakfast, that he was being watched.

Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."

"Not once in two thousand years?"

"No."

"This is anything, then a cheerful thing." Trickster said uncomfortably, those fauns had all set out to find his oldest half-brother and lost their lives trying; he was not sure how he truly felt about this, but he will certainly do something from now on to help their fauns.

"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"

"None."

"But you still want to go," I said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"

"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."

"I'm sure that it can be done." Dionysus said, but Odysseus saw the legacies bow their heads slightly making a dreadful feeling spread in him; it was already too late at that time to awaken him.

I stared at the orange haze of the sky

"It is already deep in the night and the sky is orange?" Demeter growled, what had those mortals done?

"Great-grandmother is not impressed by it, but change is slow and this is better than it was after the industrial revolution, which was a disgusting era." Enysswe said nodding with a wrinkled nose, but as she said in their time was change only going on slowly by the mortals.

and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, was I any better?

"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" I asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"

At this could the legacies not help themselves then to snort which made everyone turn into their direction.

"This sentence coming from him of all people is truly ironic." Mich said with a small laugh.

"Seeing how many of them he has on his list of beings wanting to crush him and dad still being there is really amusing." Luke said, it was hard not to add titans also to the list, but that would spoil some sequences.

"Well, Bob kind of likes him now." Henry said laughing as the other legacies cracked up while the others stared at them in confusion.

"Please continue Lady Aphrodite." Enysswe said smiling which the goddess did after understanding that they won't get any answers from them.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me—"

"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out."

Annabeth bit back a sigh, she could understand Percy's feelings even she would be annoyed with herself, she come over too bossy and commanding, beside the rudeness.

"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life,

Frederic winced at this.

but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me..." His voice faltered.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Forgave you for what?"

The others looked confused at this, but before anyone could ask there was a gust of wind and Hermes's throne was again preoccupied by said god who had a firm hold on a disgruntled looking satyr in his arms who was attempting to get free, but the hold was too strong.

"Dad, really I love you to, but as it really necessary to want some father-son time when I'm kind of busy? That nymph was pretty hard to get for a date and it kind of does not always impress a girl when their date's dad rushes in and kidnaps said date." Pan tied to reason with his father.

"Not a chance, you will not go anywhere without me." Hermes growled in a determined tone, he would not let his son get lost if he has a say in it.

"D, help me!" Pan called when he spotted his favourite uncle/best friend.

"I can get you out of there, but then you will settle for the same by me." Dionysus informed the Wild Lord who only stared at him gaping before noticing the large group he assumed to be demigods seeing how Chiron was also there with a really pretty she-wolf, though he would not get near those teeth.

"Uh…what is happening here?" he asked in confusion.

"We kind of got visitors from the future at the decision of the Fates to read ten books to change some happenings and to save lives." Athena explained to her nephew who nodded carefully when he noted some of the demigods looking at him, the features told him that they were his younger siblings, he even saw two Athena kids, some Aphrodite ones and a good deal of others in the groups. "Aphrodite, continue."

Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes.

"Is he a satyr?" Pan asked suddenly.

"Yes, the two of you have also certainly much in common." Dionysus told Pan who only grinned at this.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't ... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong—"

Everyone flinched and Pan decided that it had probably been something which went terribly wrong.

"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if I pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's,

"Wait, Medusa? The priestess on which aunt Athena did a number and made her a hideous thing turning everything she looks at into stone?" Pan asked in shock, those three were lucky to survive.

"Yes, and the fact that they live is a miracle seeing how this boy is a child of Poseidon and the girl belongs to Athena." Apollo told his nephew who whistled at this.

Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."

"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunder bolt that Hades took."

"Wha…" but hearing two of the teenager's growl and the dark look his aunt Persephone had, wait her husband was also up here?


"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur—The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy ... why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."

"That is true, all three of them could have done more damage and before that had Alecto enough chances to kill Percy and then, there were her words in the museum." Hecate mused while exchanging look with both Nemesis and Sophrosyne.

"There is still something missing from the picture." Sophrosyne said in a thoughtful tone, something was not adding up.

"They seemed plenty aggressive to me."

Those who knew the three sisters only shook their heads at this in the negative.

"You haven't seen anything from what they are capable of." Enyo said to no one in practicular.

Grover shook his head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"

"Asking about me," I said.

"Something tells me that this may not be the case." Zagreus said while looking over at his two sisters, this would not be like their father even in his most angry moments.

"Maybe ... but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt..." He looked at me like he was hoping for answers, but I didn't have any.

Some of the minor gods had suddenly a suspicious feeling that the quest had not been misunderstood, but that it may be that there was much more to it, then the stolen Master Bolt and this bothered them.

I thought about what Medusa had said: I was being used by the gods.

Here those who had demigod children flinched, they didn't want their children to think like this, they were not objects.

What lay ahead of me was worse than petrification. "I haven't been straight with you," I told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother."

Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"

"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."

"If any of my other demigod siblings would say that Percy, I would believe them, but you don't give the feeling of that you would even abandon family, our father included." said Desponia in a kind tone while gazing at the palace where Aphrodite had started reading again.

Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth.

"Seeing how Miss Know-it-all is her mother, then you should not be surprised." Phobos scoffed as he remembered those dreadful classes she had forced on them.

I'm not as brave as you.

But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."

The gods and nature spirits snorted at this, some even started snickering at the memory of what stood at the end of the last chapter they had heard yesterday before going to bed.

"I'm sure that he did notice him, alright." Phobos snickered while looking over where Eris was sitting. "Do you think that there is a chance that someone recorded the reactions?" he called over to her.

"There is a good chance for that if not by either Apollo or Hermes, then the constellations on the night sky mother had placed up in the throne room as a present surely did." Eris called back in delight, anything that annoyed the one who had hurt his sister was great, she started to like this demigod.

"The first time a demigod dared this." snickered Telete, she had not seen such actions even from the most drunken partiers to defy the gods like this and getting away with it none then less.

"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."

Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."

"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west."

"I wouldn't say that he had done nothing worth bragging about seeing how he had defeated three monsters, two without and one with only a little bit of training and in the case of his second argument." Hecate said with a small smile on her lips. "When there is a will, there is always a way."

Grover looked at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. "How about I take first watch, huh? You get some sleep."

I wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and I turned away, my eyes stinging. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, I was asleep.

There was suddenly a pause which lasted for about two minutes, but only a few noticed it and those did not like the strange feeling in the back of their minds.

In my dreams, I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit.

An icy chill run down on everyone's back out and inside of the palace before looking at the three Underworld siblings and the children of the Night Goddess.

"Tha…that place." Hemera gasped in shock while gripping Aether's hand, he also knew that place it was the entrance to their uncle's kingdom which's dark way down held a secret door their mother and his sister/wife use when they switch places.

"This is anything, then good no child of either being should ever need to wander to that place." Macaria said nervously while her sister Melinoe tried calming her down, their youngest sister had always been more sensitive than she or their brother.

Gray mist creatures churned all around me, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead.

They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm.

"Don't go near it!" a good number of deities and spirits yelled in panic.

"At least will they in there now know that our father is innocent." Zagreus said as he also tried to console his sensitive little sister.

"Agreed, our father's subjects are trying to protect the son of our uncle Poseidon, no one who is guilty or cruel like in those lies spread out by the mortals would do that." Melinoe said in a tone that the others could also hear, some nodding in agreement with her words while others looked guilty.

Looking down made me dizzy.

"Then don't look down and get out of there!" yelled everyone before turning over to the newly arriving god dressed in gray. "Morpheus, why is he visiting there in a demigod dream!" the poor god of dreams stared only perplexed and slightly scarred at everyone, not sure if he should get Dionysus, Mania or his aunt Lyssa to check up on everyone's mental health.

The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, I knew it must be bottomless. Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss,

The cold returned as siblings, even if often arguing clustered closer, lovers holding the other or their friends as everyone stared with dread at the palace, clinging to the shaking voice of the love goddess.

something huge and evil.

The little hero, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do.

The voice felt ancient—cold and heavy. It wrapped around me like sheets of lead.

"On the other hand…I wouldn't mind if dad would be behind all of this." Zagerus said in a weak voice.


"PERSEUS JACKSON, GET IMEDIATELY OUT OF THERE, YOU ARE FORBIDDEN TO TALK OR BE IN THE PRESENCE OF YOUR GRANDFATHER!" Poseidon screamed in terror, his son was not only by the bloody entrance of Tartaros, but also when that bastard was awake! His other sons looked about to pass out at this and Theseus was doing a nice job in making a new set of ten holes into the couch.

"Are demigod dreams even allowed to take you to that place?" asked a nervous Travis Stoll as he was hugging a shaking Katie. When they were told where Percy was had everyone gone pale and looked frightened, even Clarisse and her father which was saying something that those two showed outright fear, though no one noticed that Malcolm and Mitchell also looked close to throwing up.

"I fear our grandparents will have a nervous breakdown by he end of he eight book." Luke whispered gravely to his sister while he looked at their frightened mother.

"Agreed, the older gods already look close to passing out, well not all Zeus looks like someone who just took a jump into the Nile and started swimming against the current." Sally answered back as she observed the King of Gods, hoping for him that he doesn't start a new war with En.

They have misled you, boy, it said. Barter with me. I will give you what you want.

"HE WILL NEVER SIDE WITH YOU!" screamed everyone even Aphrodite before continuing to read, hoping that someone will wake Percy up soon.

A shimmering image hovered over the void: my mother, frozen at the moment she'd dissolved in a shower of gold. Her face was distorted with pain, as if the Minotaur were still squeezing her neck. Her eyes looked directly at me, pleading: Go!

Everyone was still too much in panic to react to this, but the legacies turned to the Underworld cousins.

"I'm not sure, grandfather said that he had felt a strong presence near Tartaros and sent out his subjects to stop any type of incidents, he never elaborated, but it might be that he had allowed grand-aunt Sally to also go if she had felt that it was uncle Percy." Enysswe said in a thoughtful tone.

"Her looks might be picked so that he gets the message, if she would have been there as a normal soul it might have not worked that he gets out of there fast enough." Henry added in while the others nodded.

I tried to cry out, but my voice wouldn't work.

Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.

An invisible force pulled me forward. It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm.

"Yes, yes don't let yourself be dragged in there." Annabeth pleaded hoping that either Grover or her would wake him up any second.

Help me rise, boy. The voice became hungrier. Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!

"And you compare our older brother to that." Hera hissed into Zeus's ear, she hated hearing about their father again, it brought back to many bad memories, but also made her see the differences between him and Hades, their brother will endure banishment and betrayal for so long and not turn against them even if his own children do everything to get him to do it, but their father would use others to help him raise. No, Hades had only inherited their father's cunning, but not his lust for blood and power.

The spirits of the dead whispered around me, No! Wake!

"Percy, please listen to your uncle's subjects, as ironic as that sounds, the dead know what is good for you." Apollo said nervously while occasionally looking over at Poseidon who looked close to becoming a puddle again.

"Please, please, please wake up Percy." Poseidon whimpered while holding his wife for support, the tension in the room was palpable, just like outside.

The image of my mother began to fade. The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around me.

I realized it wasn't interested in pulling me in. It was using me to pull itself out.

"FATHER! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS IMEDIATELY OFF OF MY SON!" Poseidon screamed again while the legacies flinched, he took his hands from him alright, though someone else had not been so lucky.

"I really find the fact that I have that as a grandfather sickening." Jay said in a faint tone.

"Look at it like that, all of us are in a way related to him." Felix said looking sick from the thought, unfortunately his mother's powers regards luck didn't reach that far.

Good, it murmured. Good.

"Not good, not good at all." the others said.

Wake! the dead whispered. Wake!

"Yes, Percy please listen to the dead, wake up and get out of there." Poseidon pleaded, he now really would have preferred Dionysus changing him into a dolphin and sending him to his palace, he now really liked that idea.

Someone was shaking me.

"Finally!" Poseidon said in a relieved sigh.

My eyes opened, and it was daylight.

"Well," Annabeth said, "the zombie lives."

Annabeth blushed when the god of the seas had suddenly stood up and gave her a hug before returning to his throne, looking much more better now that he knew that his son was facing a lesser bad situation.

"Uh…shouldn't the zombie comment be used for a kid of the Underworld like uncle Hades's kids, grandkids or those of Thanatos?" Hermes asked in an attempt to lighten the mode, thought it only earned him some not exactly friendly looks which made Pan start a new struggle to get out of his father's grasp, but it failed again.

"Only because we are only slightly warmer as a corpse doesn't mean that we are like zombies, beside that after our knowledge has Thanatos still no demigod children to account for." Henry said while the others, by the gods only a few, stared at him and En.

"Only slightly warmer than a corpse?" Trickster asked in an unbelieving tone.

"Of course, well En is a different case regards how she had been born, but yes even my body temperature is much colder than that of a normal person." Henry said while the eyes turned to the queen of the Underworld who just shrugged.

"One gets used to it, so I don't mind." she replied while everyone decided that they had got more than enough information.

"Aphrodite."

I was trembling from the dream.

"Who wouldn't?" asked Pan, great now had he not only a butchered date for which he had worked for two months, but he would also have nightmares about his great-grandfather.

I could still feel the grip of the chasm monster around my chest.

"Monster is a prefect description about him nephew." Hades said in a dark tone while some of his siblings shifted in their thrones.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed me a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar.

There were a few weak snickers at this while Annabeth blushed.

"And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

"That is adorable, but I don't think that it is a natural colour." Aphrodite said before continuing.

My eyes had trouble focusing.

Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal.

No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle.

"That is definitively not the natural colour of any animal which is not a bird or some cold-blooded animals or fish, mammals would never have such an unpractical fur." Pan said with narrowed eyes as some of the others also frowned.

"This is animal abuse." Katie said, that poor dog.

The poodle yapped at me suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."

"He?" the men in and outside of the palace called incredulously.

I blinked. "Are you ... talking to that thing?"

The poodle growled.

"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

"Of course they can seeing that a part of them is also an animal." Pan sated at which the Roman demigods turned to Lupa who nodded her head in confirmation.

"And now also this." Jay said to his fellow Romans, fauns were incredibly useful.

Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."

"That poor poodle, I don't know what is worse, being pink or being named Gladiola." Chris said shuddering, the other guys looked also disturbed.

"I doubt that he feels extremely manly." Connor added in.

I stared at Annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on me, but she looked deadly serious.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," I said. "Forget it."

"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

"And another repeating theme." Misty said in an amused tone, glad that the tension was slowly disappearing, but if she remembers right will it be back next chapter.

"What, saying hello to a pink poodle?" asked Bellerophon with a raised eyebrow.

"Not exactly it is more mom getting dad to do something he refuses or just to do in general." Sally told them.

The poodle growled.

I said hello to the poodle.

There were a few snickers at this.

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family,but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"Aww, that was really nice of him." Silena said smiling.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" I asked.

"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."

"Most animals can, but only a small number can use the tongue of humans, and even then it is limited to a few words." Artemis explained to the demigods while in the back the looked Frederic interested.

"Of course," I said. "Silly me."

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

I thought about my dream—the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in the chasm, and my mother's face, shimmering as it dissolved into gold. All that might be waiting for me in the West.

Everyone shivered at the reminder.

"Not another bus," I said warily.

"No," Annabeth agreed.

She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west bound train leaves at noon."

"The chapter is done." Aphrodite said as she handed the book over to her husband who looked down at the title.

"A wonderful start." he said while shaking his head, his uncle will not like it.

"Don't worry, this was actually dad's second highest jumping experience." Luke answered the god.

"Do I want to know what his first one is, if this was the second." Hephaestus said while the others were staring at him and Luke in confusion.

"Not really, but the seventh book will tell you anyway." Luke replied with a shrug.

"Hephaestus, what is the title?" Hera asked her son and everyone was slightly shocked by the gentle tone she had used.

"The chapter is titled 'I Plunge to my Death'." he read while Poseidon groaned.

"Just lovely the title and looking back at the pleasant conversation you had with my grandson have I even he chance to read about something more dangerous than whatever place he plunges himself of. That boy fulfils a fathers every wish to worry, does he not?" Poseidon said in a sarcastic tone. "Just read Hephaestus, I'm ready for the heart attack."

To be continued…