I stood before the pit, its vastness stretching out into the darkness. The only illumination in the area came from behind me, where the mouth of the cave opened up into the Underworld. I should've been afraid, I should've been panicking. What was I doing here? How did I even get back to this place? But strangely enough, I felt relaxed. Like I was meant to be there. From the depths of the pit, I could hear the echoes of rocks shifting and scraping, as if some great being was trying to claw its way out.

The menacing presence I felt on the beach with Ares washed over me, but I did not flinch. The cave seemed to draw breath. "Now, Perseus Jackson, you see how the gods reward those who are loyal to them. With lies, murder, rejection, and promises of death. They use you when it befits them, and discard you as soon as you've served your purpose. Such tyranny must not go unpunished. I think the gods have gotten too comfortable in their thrones. What say you?"

My feet balanced precariously at the edge of the chasm, and I peered down into darkness. I became uncertain. I had a feeling I was supposed to make a decision, but what that decision meant, I did not know. Just as my mind was beginning to tear itself in two, I felt icy hands grasp my shoulders and shake. I lost my balance, and—

I awoke to the sound of waves crashing arounFd me, which was normal for Cabin Three. Except this time, someone was there with me, yanking my shoulders around like I was the newest model Shake-Weight.

"—ercy. You alright, man? Percy!"

I opened my eyes and found myself momentarily blinded by sunlight. I brought up a hand to shield my eyes and realized that I wasn't in my cabin at all, but rather still on the beach. I blinked groggily, my hands grabbing fistfuls of sand as I sat up. The sun was hovering just over the horizon now. I must have passed out on the beach shortly after I burned the shroud, and by the looks of it, I only had time for a power nap.

Standing over me with a look of concern was Luke. He was shirtless and drenched in sweat, chest heaving like he'd just sprinted a lap. Footsteps in the sand behind him indicated he came from the woods.

"Oh, hey Luke," I said, shaking the sand out of my hair. "Out for a jog?"

Seeing I was awake, he stood unsurely. "Yeah, I usually pass by the beach in the mornings. Didn't expect to find you here, though." He stuck out a hand and helped me up. "Party too hard last night?"

I'd have probably laughed if I hadn't been so bone-tired. "Nah, I wish," I replied. "Actually, I was up all night making a shroud."

Luke arched a brow. "Didn't like the one Ares cabin made for you?"

"Nah, that was perfect." I shook my head and turned to gaze out into the ocean, looking for any remnants of the raft, but it seemed to be either all burned up or lost at sea. "This one wasn't for me, actually. It was for my mom. I... wasn't able to save her in time."

Luke looked genuinely at a loss for words. "I'm sorry," he said, stunned. "I didn't know." In that moment, I felt closer to him than I ever had since coming to Camp Half-Blood. I wondered if that was because we shared a commonality: we'd both lost someone because of the gods. As he stared out into the ocean and watched the sun rise higher in the sky, I knew he must have been thinking about Thalia.

His scar rippled, and I could see the bitterness return to his features. "It was Hades, wasn't it?"

The intensity of his gaze made me hesitant to reply, and I found that I couldn't meet his eyes. Something about my body language must have given it away, though, because Luke just said, "Figures."

After a moment, he sighed heavily. "Want to join me for a run?" he asked.

The abruptness of the question took me aback, but I was glad for the change in subject. Luke really creeped me out when he got like that. I was going to say no at first. I wasn't really sure if my body would hold up just walking back to my cabin, let alone keep up with one of the fastest sprinters in camp. But I was kind of glad Luke was being so friendly with me. When I'd gotten back to camp yesterday, he'd seemed weirdly distant, almost like he was avoiding me. Now, it felt like he was trying to open up. It was clear that he didn't see me as the same newbie kid who he had to take care of in the Hermes cabin. It felt like I'd earned his respect.

"Sure thing," I said, taking a side glance at the sea. "But let me re-energize first."

After a quick dip in the water, the tiredness drained from my bones and I suddenly felt like I could run a marathon. I tried to hold onto that feeling for as long as possible as I fell in behind Luke. We jogged back the way he had seemingly come, following his footsteps into the woods. Luke said he had a few places where he liked to jog, but the woods was by far his favorite. Apparently, avoiding getting gored by monsters was a pretty good motivator.

Case in point, a few minutes along our route, we accidentally startled a massive hog who had been giving himself a good backrub against a pine tree. I challenge you to maintain a leisurely jog while a pig the size of a sedan is squealing at your heels. I could've killed it easily with Riptide, but Luke said that would ruin the fun. It eventually stopped tailing us after I gave it a surprise bath in the creek. I was a little disappointed we weren't timing ourselves, because I was pretty sure I'd just set a new PR for fastest mile.

The hog stomped around and snorted and shook its tusks at us from the other side of the creek, but gave up after a while and left. Luke and I decided that was a good time to cool off and take a break. I kneeled down at the edge of the creek, cupping water into my hands and taking a drink.

Luke wrinkled his face. "Gross," he said. "That water is filled with monster piss."

I laughed. "Nah, I filtered it." An evil thought crossed my mind. "Want some?" I asked. Before he could respond, Luke was drenched head to toe, clothes dripping and hair in his face, courtesy of yours truly. He gaped at me, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, before his features took on a mischievous glint.

"You're dead, Jackson!" he yelled, rushing forward to football tackle me into the creek. We sloshed around in the water for a bit, trying to best each other in a wrestling match. Luke was 7 years older and had at least 60 pounds on me, but the water was giving me so much strength that I was making it difficult for him to pin me. After a while, my tiredness started to catch up with me, and Luke made me gargle monster-piss water until I tapped out.

Laughing like idiots, we pulled ourselves up onto the bank. The water in my clothes and hair instantly evaporated, but I left Luke out to dry (literally) on his own as a show that he didn't win completely. We sat there for a while, watching the sunlight move through the trees and listening to the birds and weird sounds from the monsters.

"Were you close with your mom?" Luke asked, picking up a flat rock and skipping it across the creek.

I nodded. "You could say that. I spent most of my time away from her at boarding schools, so monsters wouldn't bother us. She could see through the Mist, so she always knew the best ways to protect me from them." Luke nodded in understanding. "But the moments that I got to come home and see her were some of the best times of the year. She never really cared that I got kicked out of every school I attended or failed all my classes. She was always just glad to see me. She'd bring home bags of candy from the shop she worked at and take me on trips to the beach." A small grin wormed its way onto my face as I recalled fond memories of her. My eyes began to grow misty, but no tears fell. I wondered if I was all cried out. "I miss her already."

Luke was staring into the water, eyes hard. He had picked up another rock, but he didn't throw this one immediately. His hand formed into a fist around it. "You're lucky," he said, frowning. "My relationship with my mom wasn't so great. She was a clear-sighted mortal just like yours was. She could see everything about the Greek world, a little too well. At some point, she got it in her head that she wanted to become the next Oracle."

My jaw dropped, stunned. "You mean that—up in the attic—"

Luke shook his head. "No, that's not her. My mom's still alive, as far as I know. The current Oracle has been dead a long time, at least 50 years before my mom tried to take on the role. I was a baby when it happened. I don't know what happened when she went in there, but she wasn't normal after that. She had fits where her eyes would turn green, fog billowing from her mouth, and she would speak in broken prophecies. My earliest memories of her pretty much consist of me hiding in a closet, praying to my dad for help, while she went on a tirade about some dark, twisted fate I was going to meet. Only, my dad never answered my prayers, and eventually I couldn't take it anymore. I ran away when I was 14."

I shuddered at Luke's story. I knew it would have been terrifying if my mom had ever done that, but of course my stupid brain could only think about how Gabe would react if my mom's eyes suddenly turned green and she predicted he'd lose at poker that night.

"Then you found Annabeth?" I asked, hoping he would continue his story. Annabeth had talked briefly about their time on the run before they came to camp, and I wanted to know more.

"No, first I met Thalia." I could see his face liven up a bit, the ghost of a smile returning to his lips. "Man, she could really fight. Being a daughter of Zeus, she attracted twice as many monsters as I ever did, but she handled herself just fine. I know she saved my ass dozens of times. We kicked around for a while, following some goat around until—"

"Goat?" I asked, perplexed. "Like a satyr?"

Luke chuckled. "No, I mean an actual goat. Amaltheia, I think was its name. It was a sign of Zeus. Thalia had been following it, and it led her straight to me. Then we followed it, and it led us to Annabeth and a gift for Thalia, a shield modeled after Zeus's Aegis."

"Woah, you mean, like, the one with Medusa's head imprinted on it?" I suddenly wished I hadn't been so hasty to package up and send off my spoils of war from the fight with Medusa. If I had kept that, I bet I could've paid one of the Haephestus kids to make a new mold of that design using the real thing. I could've had my own Aegis.

"That's the one. For a year after that, the three of us travelled all up and down the east coast, fighting monsters and building safe houses. Until Grover found us." His reminiscent smile curled downwards, and he lobbed the rock that was curled in his fingers forwards where it crashed into the creek with a thunk! "That's where everything went wrong. Hades found out about Thalia, and let all his worst monsters out of the Underworld to hunt her down." Luke paused now. He seemed to be having trouble continuing. "I... I think you know the rest."

I nodded. Annabeth had told me how Thalia sacrificed herself to hold back the horde of monsters, allowing her and Luke to get to safety. I empathized with Luke. My mom had basically done the same thing for me and Grover with the Minotaur. Except I had been able to get my revenge on the Minotaur instantly. Luke had to live with the survivor's guilt, with a reminder of his loss sitting on top of Half-Blood Hill for him to see everyday.

"It wasn't your fault," I told him.

Luke's eyebrows scrunched up again, his scar frowning at me. "I know!" he snapped. He caught himself immediately, and his voice softened a degree. "I know. Believe me, Chiron drilled that into my head for weeks after her death. I came to accept that there was nothing I could do. Nothing except blame the gods."

It didn't sound to me like he had fully accepted what happened. But I really couldn't blame him. The guy had been forced to grow up with a mother who'd been possessed by a mummy, spouting prophecies of a lousy fate for him, and when he finally escaped it all and found something good in his life, a friend, she was taken away from him. And now, after living in Cabin Twelve all these years and interacting with kids whose parents never claimed them, well... I guess it was enough to make anyone bitter.

"It's not fair, what happened to them," I said, hugging my knees to me chest. "Thalia and my mom, I mean. When I talked to my father after the quest, he defended Hades, made it sound like her death was my fault." I sighed. Luke was watching me out of the corner of his eye, concerned. "I know it wasn't," I told him quickly. "But still... I wish there was something we could do. Make the gods admit to their wrongdoings and hold them accountable for what they've done."

The forest grew silent as I waited for Luke to say something. After a moment, I glanced to my side and saw surprise written on his face. His features ran through a gamut of emotions so fast that I didn't have a clue as to what he was thinking. He looked like he wanted to tell me something, but at that moment I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Luke felt it, too. A chorus of growls ripped through the underbrush. We'd been so deep in conversation that we'd forgotten we were sitting in a forest stocked with monsters.

"Time to go!" Luke yelled, shooting up and taking off through the brush like a startled gazelle.

Cursing, I stood up and hobbled after him. "Hey, wait for me!"

In case you were wondering, yes, I made it out of the woods alive, no thanks to Luke. Some of the campers were just starting to rise, bed-heads and half-lidded eyes heading towards the bathrooms. For me, however, it was bedtime. My fatigue over the last 10 days had caught up with me, and I ended up sleeping throughout the entire day. Mr. D slapped me with latrine duty for the rest of that week for shirking my daily camp responsibilities.

The following weeks were a blur of training, sparring with Luke, and just falling back into a general routine. I hung out with Grover and Annabeth when I could, and made plenty of new friends from other cabins. It turns out successfully completing a quest turns you into a kind of celebrity. I met a boy named Beckendof from the Hephaestus cabin who couldn't believe we survived one of his father's traps, and I practiced sword fighting with a guy named Ethan who had apparently bunked with me in the Hermes cabin during my short stint there. He was pretty skilled, but not as good as Luke.

The 4th of July came around, and Beckondorf told me about how the Hephaestus cabin puts on a big show every year, with so many fireworks launched per minute that it looks like an animation in the sky.

As Annabeth and I were laying out the picnic blanket, Grover approached us to tell us goodbye. I tried to feel glad for him. After all, it wasn't every day that you got permission to search for the great god Pan. But Grover was my oldest friend, despite only knowing him for less than a year, and I was going to miss him.

Annabeth fussed over him, making sure he had enough tin cans and that his fake feet were on securely. Grover looked different. He was starting to grow a wispy beard, and his horns had begun to become visible above his hairline.

He wouldn't tell us where he was going to search first. Apparently, it was some big satyr secret. I wished him luck. It was hard not to worry about him. After all, no searcher had ever come back from their journeys in over 2000 years. But I had faith. Grover had found me and Thalia, the only two children of the Big Three to exist over the past 60 years. If anyone was gonna find Pan, it was him.

Annabeth and I watched the fireworks in stunned silence. They were pretty spectacular. Images of Hercules slaying the Nemean Lion, Artemis chasing the boar, and Washington crossing the Delaware danced across the sky. As I watched the grand finale light up the valley, I felt my mind start to wander. There had been a burning question that I wanted to ask Annabeth for a while, but I never really found the right time to ask it, and I was afraid of how she'd respond. Deciding that we were far enough away to be out of earshot of everyone else, I went ahead and fired away.

"Hey Annabeth? Can I ask you something personal?"

She averted her attention from the explosions in the sky and looked at me warily. It seemed there were still topics she was guarded about. "I guess that depends."

I pursed my lips, trying to figure out how to ask my question. "Do you ever resent the gods for what they did to Thalia?"

She regarded me carefully for a moment, and then seemed to become lost in thought. She chewed on her words for a little, then: "The gods in general? No, I don't resent them. Hades is the one who was responsible. He's the one that sent the monsters after her, and he sent them after you too."

"That's true," I replied. "But in my case, Hades wasn't the only god to attack me. Remember the Greyhound bus? If we hadn't gotten out of it in time, Zeus would have fried us with that thunderbolt."

Annabeth frowned. "Maybe he was aiming for the Furies? The king of the gods had no reason to attack us there."

"It'd have to be a pretty big coincidence then, considering that was the second time it happened to me that week. When my mom was driving me and Grover to camp, lightning blew our car right off the road. It's the only reason the Minotaur caught up with us." Annabeth's frown deepened. Apparently she hadn't been privy to that knowledge.

I continued. "There was also Ares. He tricked us into falling for that trap and then fought me on the beach. And then the awful things my father said to me… I just can't help but get the feeling that all the gods are like that."

Annabeth looked at the sky fearfully, and I don't know why, but that really pissed me off. Why couldn't we speak ill of the gods without worrying about getting smote? It was the exact opposite of what their 'Western Civilization' was supposed to be about. Was there no such concept as free speech on Olympus?

"It's dangerous to talk like that," Annabeth reminded me, though I got the sense she knew I didn't care.

"But do you see my point though?"

"Yes, I see where you're coming from," she admitted grudgingly. "It wasn't fair what they did to you or your mom, but Percy, they're our parents—"

"Exactly!" I said, a little louder than I meant to. I noticed other campers look our way, but most of them went back to staring at the sky or chatting with their friends pretty quickly. I lowered my voice to a hushed tone just in case. "They're our parents, but they don't act like it. Chiron, Grover, Luke, you. You're all more of a family to me than they are."

Through the bright flashes of Apollo slaying the Python in the sky, I could see the color rising to Annabeth's cheeks. "What are you trying to say?" she asked, twirling a finger through her hair.

I looked down at my hands, curling them into fists and relaxing them. "I… I don't know. I just feel so used. I don't like how the gods treat us as pawns."

Annabeth sighed, rubbing at her temples. "You're starting to sound like Luke," she said. "He hasn't been the same ever since he got back from his quest a couple years ago. He's been more… distant. And angry." Annabeth leaned back on her hands, her eyes reflecting the fireworks in the sky. She smiled. "Lately, though… I've been seeing him around a lot more often. He seems happier, almost like his old self."

July passed. I made it to the top of the climbing wall for the first time without getting singed by lava. I quickly gained a reputation as the second best swordsman at camp, right after Luke. My archery skills failed to improve, and Chiron looked like he was just about ready to give up on me. Cabins Three, Six, and Twelve formed an unstoppable capture the flag alliance that went on to win the trifecta.

At the end of the summer, the year's beads were given out. I had to hide my blush from the rest of the campers as Luke handed me mine. It was black, with a golden trident on one side.

"The choice among the counselors was unanimous!" Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first son of the Sea God at this camp and the quest he undertook to the darkest parts of the Underworld to stop a war!"

Cheers erupted, and Luke beamed at me. Annabeth was steered to the front of the crowd by the other Athena kids to share in the applause.

That summer, despite the loss and hardship I endured, was the best of my life. For the first time, I had people who cared about me and thought I'd done something right. Several of the younger campers even looked up to me for my success on my quest, and I wasn't completely oblivious to the looks Silena Beauregard, the counselor of the Aphrodite cabin, sent my way whenever I passed Cabin Nine. I felt wanted for a change. But it also saddened me, because soon they'd all be leaving for the year, and I'd be stuck at camp with only Clarisse for company, assuming Annabeth's dad accepted her back (which I had no doubt he would).

The next morning, I had a letter on my doorstep from Mr. D. Giving it a once-over, I promptly tore it up and threw it in the trash. The Big House wanted to know if I'd be staying year-round. Well, the choice for me was obvious. I would have rather taken my chances in the Fields of Punishment than live with Gabe year round, not that he'd ever even allow me to live with him.

After taking a steamy shower, I got dressed and trudged down to the Big House where I informed Chiron of such. He smiled at me sadly. I don't think I ever told him what happened to my mom, but I was sure he must have been able to glean it from Annabeth or Grover. He told me not to worry about my education; he offered plenty of courses at camp for those who stayed year round.

I blinked. School had honestly been the last thing on my mind at that moment, but I thanked him anyways. Annabeth joined us at the Big House after a while, bags packed and attention focused on the hill. She seemed nervous. Her parents were coming to pick her up, she told us.

I was happy for her, I really was, and I tried my best to show it. But when she looked at me, I could tell she was having second thoughts. I remembered the conversation around the dying campfire we had the night we got back from the quest, and how Annabeth was worried that she'd put her family in danger if she went back to them. I wanted to reassure her, tell her she was making the right choice, but honestly, after what happened to my mom, how could I?

Instead, I just wished her luck.

"I'll be sure to IM you throughout the year," she said. "And when I get back, you'd better be able to beat Clarisse in a fight."

I flashed her a grin, accepting her challenge. Her family was up on the hill now. A middle-aged couple stood close together, and two kids were playing on the branches of Thalia's tree. Annabeth grabbed her things and started making her way up towards them.

"And keep practicing your Ancient Greek!" she called over her shoulder.

I smiled. "Braccas meas vescimini!"

Annabeth laughed, a melodious sound that cheered me up. "Keep your eyes open, Seaweed Brain!" she called, waving goodbye.

"You too, Wise Girl!"

I watched her trudge up the hill towards her family, and when she got there, she dropped everything as her dad embraced her. Then they disappeared over the hill, and the camp felt just a little lonelier.

"Erm… 'Eat my pants'?" Chiron asked.

"It's a long story."