The Fates Want Change

by FMPtrumpets

The Fates are tired of watching it. There is a storm coming, and if they want to survive... so they force them to read what they're actions are doing to themselves and their children. And they pull Percy and a few others along for the ride.

24. We Find out the Truth, Sort of

Younger kids with an older self. kids with no younger self. The Seven.

Normal talking, telepathy

Sadly, I do not and probably never will own Percy Jackson and associates. I really, really wish I did, though.

---

"You better hope that dad didn't hear Cerberus whining from up in the palace. He'll be in a really bad mood, then." Nico warned, suddenly appearing next to everybody along with Hazel. The Romans immediately closed ranks around the younger girl, who smiled gratefully, but she wouldn't tell them what was wrong or why Nico and her left so suddenly. She didn't want to talk about it...

"I'll be in a bad enough mood just from the break in." Hades corrected his son with a scowl. But, no... hearing his dog keen like that would not help anything at all.

There was silence for a few moments before Jason held the book up. "Who wants to read next?" He asked the room in general.

"I will." Chris volunteered, surprising everyone. So far, all the younger kids had been quiet, mostly letting the older ones speak.

"Here you go." Jason manipulated the wind a little to 'float' the book towards him, and he took a moment to find the right page again.

Chapter nineteen: We Find out the Truth, Sort of

Chris read out, and everyone else sat forward, eager to finally find out what exactly was going on.

"About time we find out just what's going on." Clarisse said in annoyance. Nobody knew just what happened on this quest except for the gods, and Chiron. And none of them were talking. All everybody else ever had to go on were just rumors, although the Ares cabin had been able to confirm their fathers defeat.

"Hopefully we get back to the action soon." Ares huffed with a growl, equally annoyed.

(Imagine the largest... a million fans.)

"That's a lot of people." Somebody commented, to everyone else's agreement.

Nico wondered if he'd brought Hazel back too soon, because it sounded like they were going to discuss the Underworld for a bit.

(Now imagine a... over the crowd.)

"That sounds depressing." Katie frowned, thinking of a few times when she'd been somewhere and there was a concerning accident that shut everything down.

"Maybe. They are the ones who didn't do anything with their lives, good or bad." Persephone sighed.

(Something tragic has... will never start.)

"It was eerie." Grover whispered, shivering at the memory of it. Especially when you looked towards the edges of the fields, which were just as green-tinged as the shores of the Underworld had been from the ferry barge.

"That sounds creepier than that abandoned water park." Sally muttered, suddenly glad that she didn't remember any of her time in the Underworld.

(If you can picture... Asphodel looked like.)

"I'm never ending up in the Fields of Asphodel." Somebody muttered, not sure about that description.

"It's not like you would even be aware. Besides, with any luck, you should be headed for Elysium, unless you really screw up at some point." Nico pointed out, not even sure who spoke in the first place.

(The black grass... here and there.)

"Not much plant life." Demeter muttered, startling everyone. She'd hardly said a word the entire time, not that anybody had been complaining too much, since almost the only things she ever did when in Hades company were to complain about him and argue over Persephone.

In all her visits to the Underworld, she'd never left the palace.

"It's the Land of the Dead, what did you expect?" Hades asked dryly.

(The cavern ceiling... the black grass.)

"I don't think that helped your imagination." Sally said weakly, especially since now she was imagining her son being impaled by one of those.

Percy shook his head. No, no that hadn't helped at all.

(I guess the dead... of booster rockets.)

"Those are big." Will said after a moment of silence while everyone tried to picture that in their heads. At any other time that statement would have humorous.

"They don't fall often, do they?" Jason asked, concerned for the trio currently wandering around under those stalactites.

"Only when Hades has a temper tantrum." Persephone informed the room with a small smirk in her husband's direction. Which was usually quite often actually... depending on what was going on in the world of the living, especially when it resulted in a lot of deaths.

"With the temper Father is probably going to be in right then..." Nico winced.

"He saved it until we were in front of him, don't worry." Annabeth reassured with a grimace.

(Annabeth, Grover... into the crowd,)

"Good luck." Chris snorted. "You're the only ones out there who are alive. How do you expect to blend in like that?"

"We tried." Annabeth defended themselves. "We were trying to lay low." She shrugged.

Hazel frowned, biting her lip in thought. She was trying to think back, without getting caught in another Blackout, but she thought she remembered the other spirits getting all stirred up over something. She couldn't tell them how long ago it would have been, though, time hadn't held much meaning when she was there. But... it might have been them. The more she thought back, the more she thought she remembered hearing the others whispering about 'the living' being there.

(keeping an eye... spirits of Asphodel,)

"You won't find any." Hades said immediately.

"Even if you do know somebody that died, there is no guarantee that they would be in Asphodel, they could be in another part of the Underworld. And there are so many spirits in Asphodel in the first place, the chances of seeing somebody you recognize are... astronomical." Persephone agreed with her husband. She didn't mention that there was more than one field, there were actually several dotted all over the Underworld that the spirits were free to travel back and forth between, it helped keep occupancy numbers down somewhat.

(but the dead are... They're just sad.)

Everybody frowned at the thought. They feared death almost more than anything, although they all knew that they were going to someday.

They had thought that the Underworld would be filled with nothing but horrors. Well, they knew they didn't want Percy to start describing the Fields of Punishment or anything, but still.

(We crept along, following...

Welcome, Newly Deceased!)

Hades shrugged, but didn't say anything. That was probably about the most cheerful thing about the Underworld (unless you were in Elysium).

Persephone was the one who made the signs, though, not him.

(Out the back of... different torture areas.)

Everyone shivered at the description of the Fields of Punishment, except for Hades who smirked, rather proud of that area of his Underworld.

That reminded him, some of his, ah... special prisoners were probably starting to miss him, he should really go pay them some attention later on. He was sure he was going to enjoy time with that fake preacher when he came.

"It's not fun to be walking through, either." Percy muttered. Thalia nodded in agreement while Nico shrugged, he didn't have a problem with it...

(Even from far... to opera music.)

Everyone either swallowed heavily, turned green/pale, or were unaffected.

Funnily enough, it seemed to be the opera music that got most of them.

(I could just make... want to describe.)

Thalia shuddered along with him. "There are some things its better to not see at all." She agreed with her cousin.

"I couldn't sleep for weeks." Percy muttered. He still had nightmares about that place sometimes.

Percy shuddered, the Fields of Punishment were nothing compared to Tartarus.

Nothing at all.

(The line coming... much better.)

"And smaller." Annabeth muttered.

(This one led down... barbecue cooking.)

The demigods murmured among themselves in awe. That sounded amazing... Chiron had talked about it occasionally, of course, but he never described it quite like that.

Because there was only one place that could be...

"Now that sounds more like it!" Demeter said, satisfied with what she heard about the plant life within the gates.

"That sounds amazing." Paul breathed, stunned. After everything else described about the Underworld, he hadn't thought that there could be anything like this in there. Hades smiled with just as much pride for Elysium as he'd shown for the Fields of Punishment. Just like the bad ones got punished for their sins, the good ones were to be rewarded for their lives.

(Elysium.

In the middle... go when I died.)

Hermes considered what he'd read in Percy's file, he didn't remember it saying anything about Percy already going through Elysium or anything, but that probably wasn't in there. Information like that was probably kept solely in the Underworld.

He might make it, if he wasn't offered immortality by the point he died.

The demigods were silent for a few moments while they considered what was just read. That certainly sounded like somewhere they would like to go.

("That's what it's all about,")

"It's not just about Elysium, although living that kind of life is a good goal." Hades said, frowning at her. She had a very skewed view of things.

Annabeth turned red at his rebuke. "I know... back then it was just... well, let's just say I didn't leave camp much." She muttered.

(Annabeth said... for heroes.")

"And there are many different ways of being a hero, it's not all about diving into action to save everybody. It's certainly not all about the glory and accolades." Hades informed, thinking about that horrifying Disney film about Hercules. Why, he didn't know, all he knew was that he couldn't wait until the film writer came within his grasp... write him as the bad guy who just wants to take over, please!

Although he wouldn't mind putting Hercules in his place more often, that boy was insufferable.

(But I thought of... It was depressing.)

"It gets worse every year. It didn't use to be like that." Persephone said sadly. Less and less people earned Elysium every year, every decade even. Anymore, it was only half-bloods or the occasional soldier.

"It's like people forgot how to at least be kind to each other." Hestia murmured. She saw it all the time, and it usually started in the home, sadly enough.

(We left the... spirits began to thin.)

"You're starting to move further away from where the spirits congregate." Nico commented. "For some reason they prefer to hang out as close to the entrance as they can manage." He shrugged.

Hades shot his son a look. "The closer they are to the gates, the further away from me they are." He replied dryly.

"Ah... makes sense." Nico shrugged.

(After a few miles... waiting for us.)

"They are." Hades, Persephone, Nico, and Hazel all said at once.

"She hates you." Nico made sure to remind Percy, again, who just scowled.

"They shouldn't impede your progress, though. Not if Hades wants something from you, since you were so... kind enough to go to him on your own, then they will just watch to make sure you don't try to back out now that your there..." Apollo reasoned out thoughtfully. He ignored the looks everyone shot him, especially Athena, with practiced ease.

("I suppose it's... said wistfully.)

"Sadly, yes." Percy muttered.

"I think it was too late when we entered the studio." Annabeth said dryly.

("We'll be okay." I tried to sound confident.)

"Was that what you were going for?" Annabeth asked, she'd wondered.

"Sorry, Perce. Didn't work." Grover chimed in, grinning at his best friend, who sighed.

"What did he sound like?" Clarisse asked, interested.

"Like he was trying to convince himself." Annabeth and Grover both said in unison.

("Maybe we should... Elysium, for instance...")

Grover sighed mournfully. "I tried." Grover looked just as mournful.

"Don't blame you." Will muttered.

"It was a nice thought, Grover." Annabeth consoled. Unfortunately, they already knew where they needed to go, which was straight to speak with Hades.

("Come on, goat...

Grover yelped.)

"What?"

"What happened?"

"You didn't grab him that hard, did you Annabeth?" Was asked, Annabeth just shook her head grimly at the last question.

Chris had read ahead a bit and looked up at his father confused. That... wasn't supposed to happen, was it?

(His sneakers sprouted... from Annabeth.)

Hermes sat up in alarm. "That's... not supposed to happen." He said slowly, not sure what was happening right now, but knowing that it was wrong.

His children leaned forward in concern. This meant that somebody had tampered with the magic of the shoes before giving them to Grov- no. Before giving them to Percy before Percy gave them to Grover because Zeus would probably blast him out of the sky if he wore them. The older ones glanced at Luke, wondering just where those shoes were supposed to take him, and why.

"You guys might want to grab him." Apollo said slowly, knowing that the shoes were probably on a mission now, as odd as that was to think. If they didn't grab him now, they would probably not see him again.

(He landed flat... messing around.")

"I don't think he is." Thalia muttered to her, making her flush red.

"I know, it just didn't occur to me that the shoes could have been malfunctioning, or tampered with." She explained, giving Grover an apologetic look, which he just waved off.

("But I didn't-"... like crazy now.)

"That's really not right!" Hermes yelped, eyeing the satyr in concern. "Somebody tampered with those."

"But who could have done it? Weren't those gifts from you? Who could have tampered with magic put in place by a god?" Paul frowned, worried.

"Thankfully, that's a small list." Artemis muttered. Unfortunately, everybody on that list were... not friendly with the Olympic council, to put it lightly.

(They levitated... him away from us.)

"That's not good." Hades muttered. "I don't know where they're dragging him to, but there are areas of the Underworld that are not at all safe." He warned. Places that not even he could really go. Just like he was sure there were places in the oceans that Poseidon could not go, because of the Ancient beings that dwelled there.

"Yeah, we figured when we noticed where he was going." Percy grimaced. He never wanted to go anywhere near another pit like that again.

("Maia!" he yelled... Nine-one-one! Help!")

A few people snorted at Grover's reaction, finding some amusement that he was actually yelling nine-one-one right now.

The short bit of levity disappeared when Chris kept reading, though.

"That's not right, either." Hermes muttered, very concerned by everything about this.

(I got over being... like a bobsled.)

"It would have been better if I'd had a sled." Grover winced. "I hit a few rocks and bumps in the ground along the way, they hurt." He informed the room. And boy, had he had a hard time moving around after they got off the plane, he'd been one big bruise, and his bruised muscles had only stiffened up while sitting there.

"We should go sledding while we're here." Leo said suddenly, looking up from his small tinkering project. His whip was proudly attached to his hip by a 'holster' fashioned by his father that could take the heat until it cooled back down after being used.

"Yeah... I'm sure there's somewhere within the time-bubble, or whatever it is, that we can use for sledding. Prissy, can you make snow or something?" Clarisse asked, looking at him.

"Yeah... I think I can. If I can't do it, dad can." Percy shrugged.

If any of the adults found the sudden tangent strange, none of them said anything. Those that interacted more with the demigods just counted themselves all lucky that the kids had managed to stay as focused as they had been, for as long as they had been.

Especially with all the tension, they weren't good at dealing with it. It just made them edgy, and needing to fight something. They couldn't exactly just fight something here, though.

(We ran after him... "Untie the shoes!")

"How's he going to do that? He probably can't even really move." Clarisse frowned.

"It's a good idea though." Chris shrugged.

"It might be the only thing that saves him." Luke said grimly, knowing that with the way he made the shoes...

(It was a smart... at full speed.)

"No, it's not." Grover confirmed, shaking his head emphatically. He could barely move his upper-body into a position where he could reach his shoes, every time he came close to grabbing one, he would hit a rock or the shoe would tug a little harder and jerk him around so he would start flailing again.

He didn't know if they had become slightly sentient, or if it was just part of the enchantments that had been added, the ones that activated once he got into the Underworld, to take him straight to the Pit, where Kronos was probably waiting for him (Percy), and the Bolt.

(Grover tried to... to the laces.)

"It was very annoying." He scowled.

"Not to mention terrifying." Percy glared at the wall as he made his admission.

"We had no idea what was going on, all we knew was that you were in trouble." Annabeth informed their Satyr friend, who flushed slightly at the reminder of their care. It never failed, knowing how much these two demigods cared about him.

(We kept after him... him in annoyance.)

A few people chuckled at the mental image, but the momentary levity vanished quickly with the next sentences.

(I was sure Grover... to the right)

Hades and Persephone sat up suddenly with gasps. "Not to the Cave." He demanded, looking at the three. The council looked at them in alarm and concern.

"If you mean the cave with the really big hole in the ground and a Being chanting in Ancient languages, trying to pull us in, then yeah. To the cave." Percy said, falsely bright.

"It is Father." Poseidon murmured. "But why would the shoes be pulling Grover towards the Pit?" He asked in growing dread.

"It's not Him." Zeus gritted out, and was ignored.

"The shoes were given to them. They were supposed to be Percy's, but..." Apollo said slowly, looking at Hermes sadly, only to see him slumping in his throne, eyeing Luke mournfully. Now those who did not already know Luke's involvement were looking at him in suspicion, while Luke had sunk down in his seat.

He knew now that he was going to be caught.

"They must think that Percy has what they want." Clarisse commented, looking around.

"Oh, we did. We didn't know it, but we did. It was a good thing I couldn't wear those shoes." Percy glared at Luke, who grimaced and mouthed an apology towards Grover.

(and dragged him... sprint to keep up.)

"And failed at it." Annabeth grimaced. Grover had just been getting further and further away from them, no matter how fast they ran.

(The cavern walls... he yelled back.)

"There was nothing to hold onto." Grover snorted.

"It was an idea, ok? And you did eventually find something to hold onto." Percy reminded.

"Yeah, at the very last minute." Grover scoffed.

The tension skyrocketed.

(He was grabbing... evil down here.)

"For good reason." Hades muttered, tense. "Rescue him, and get out. Do not linger." He warned.

"Didn't really want to." Percy grimaced. He'd just been surprised and curious. If Kronos hadn't started chanting, they would have been on their way out, anyway, he just... sped them up.

"We did linger too long." Annabeth whispered to him, he just nodded.

(It made me think... of a murderer.)

Everybody shivered at the description.

"Man, Perce. Why do you have to be so descriptive of these things?" Will complained, not liking to think about things like that at all. As a child of the sun god, it was understandable. Satyr's weren't the only ones that disliked going underground, after all.

"Technically, it was the Fates that were so descriptive." He pointed out, for what he felt like was the fifth time.

"All this was pulled out of your thoughts." Thalia reminded him.

"So?" He grumbled.

(Then I saw what... in my tracks.)

"What are you doing?"

"Don't stop!"

"Keep running, you need to catch Grover!" The others yelled in shock that he was seemingly giving up on saving Grover.

"Let's... keep reading. You'll understand why I stopped." Percy said slowly.

(The tunnel widened... a city block.)

"That's a big hole in the ground." Paul said blankly, blinking in shock.

"Yeah... there's a lot of things around here that are bigger than you would think." Percy muttered, thinking about a few palaces he'd seen, some monsters, and even Typhon. Now that guy was big.

"Ok, I might stop too, if I saw something like that." Clarisse muttered to Chris, who nodded his agreement.

(Grover was sliding... toward the edge.)

Unseen by most of the rooms occupants, Annabeth and Percy got up and walked out abruptly, not able to listen to any more of this. They thought they could handle it, they'd fought with themselves the entire time the tunnels and even the chasm itself were described, but listening to Grover almost get pulled in, like they were, was too much.

It brought the memories that they tried so hard to not think about, flooding back.

They were really dreading when they reached that part of this whole reading.

Thankfully it wouldn't be for a few more weeks at least, assuming they took time between books to relax and let the demigods work off some energy.

("Come on, Percy!"...

"But that's-")

"Not a place any of you want to be in." Hades muttered, finishing Percy's statement for him, even though he was fairly certain that wasn't what Percy was going to say.

"Agreed." Percy, Annabeth, and Grover all said at once.

"You can gawk at it later, save Grover!" Chris yelled, and silently urged his younger self to keep reading.

("I know!" she shouted... right, of course.)

"Of course she was right." Thalia latched on, using the moment to create some brief levity. "She's Annabeth, she's always right." Annabeth gave her a small smile while everyone else agreed.

"Until I'm not, of course." She murmured to Percy, knowing there were plenty of times over the years where she was wrong.

He quirked a grin and held her closer.

(Grover's predicament... were his hooves.)

"His hooves?" Thalia asked in confusion, while everybody else shared the same expression.

"Well... I suppose that his hooves would make the shoes a loose fit..." Hermes reasoned slowly. "All that tugging they're doing would make it difficult for them to stay on."

"That's what happened." Percy muttered, still sore that he wasn't able to help Grover himself.

(The flying sneakers... like an anchor.)

A sigh of relief went through the room. Grover was safe now.

"It shouldn't take much for the other shoe to come loose, now." Rachel sighed, leaning back.

"That was close." Hermes muttered, slumping down in his seat.

"You kids have way too many of those." Apollo complained.

Percy huffed a laugh. "Yeah... welcome to my life." He deadpanned. Annabeth nodded in agreement with a grimace.

(He was ten feet... to join its twin.)

Everyone chuckled a bit at the image that presented. "Shoes with personality. Who knew?" Travis laughed, grateful for the brief respite from the tension.

"Hecate could probably tell us more about that." Persephone muttered to Hades, who nodded in agreement.

(We all collapsed... on the obsidian gravel.)

"That's not a place to rest." Hades warned.

"We were moving... eventually." Percy defended himself. They'd already been exhausted from the long trip, before having to chase Grover all over the Underworld.

"Not fast enough." Annabeth muttered beside him. They'd almost been sucked into Tartarus, not something any of them wanted.

(My limbs felt... it with rocks.)

"As soon as we neared the Pit, huh?" Annabeth muttered, and Percy nodded.

Nobody else seemed too bothered by that, most of them figured that it was because Percy was tired from running, it had been known to happen.

(Grover was scratched... panted. "I didn't...")

"I didn't activate them. They just did it on their own." Grover was still shaken up over that. He'd refused to handle magical items that he himself didn't create, or watch be created, for weeks after this.

"Somebody tampered with them. It would have had to have been somebody powerful to get around my magic." Hermes pursed his lips, not wanting to think of the possibilities behind who it could be.

("Wait," I said... in the darkness.)

"Run." Most of the council said at the same time.

"Run right now." Poseidon said again, in a sharper tone. Whatever was being said, near that place, was not something any of them needed to hang around to listen to.

Percy grimaced in reply. Well, at least they managed to escape there.

(Another few seconds... Coming from the pit.)

"Get. Out. Of. There." Poseidon said, sitting on the edge of his throne.

"That's not good."

"It's a good thing they left." Leo whispered to Piper, who nodded in agreement. If they didn't come back by the end of the chapter, though, she was going to go find them.

(Grover sat up... that noise?")

"Something that you do not want to be near." Hades muttered darkly. There would be times when the wind would shift and he could hear faint chanting coming from the Pit. He hated those days, the spirits were always edgy during those times.

(Annabeth heard it... uncapped Anaklusmos.)

"That won't do anything." Persephone said, worried.

The demigods shifted uncomfortably, wanting something to fight against to try and take care of the edginess they were all feeling.

(The bronze sword... resuming its chant.)

"But it bought us a few seconds to get out of there." Annabeth said softly. She firmly believed that if Kronos hadn't interrupted his chant when Percy brought out Riptide, they wouldn't have been able to get away.

"Maybe..." Hades murmured.

"When we get home, I am wrapping him up and hiding him away." Sally muttered into Paul's shoulder. It was a sentiment she'd often shared with him, but never moved to act on it, mostly because she knew her son, and she knew that he would never be able to sit on the sidelines.

(I could almost... Annabeth said.)

"Yes!" Poseidon yelled, throwing his hands up. "Thank you!"

Percy flushed. "Sorry if I was curious about what that sound was." He muttered. Clearly his dad felt strongly about him getting away. Not that he blamed him, considering what that place was, but still...

(Together, we... weighed me down.)

Now the mention of the backpack's sudden weight drew some attention. "Once doesn't mean anything. Twice..." Hermes said thoughtfully.

"Let's wait and see if it's mentioned again." Apollo suggested. Three times, was no coincidence.

"Run faster..." Was the general sentiment from the room. Everyone was on the edge of their seats, wanting to know if they got out of there alright. (Obviously they got out, all three of them were sitting right here! But still...)

(The voice got... pit were inhaling.)

"He's trying to suck you all in." Hestia breathed in horror. If they had been any closer to the edge, they would have been lost forever.

"How did you guys get out of this?"

"By running as fast as we could." Percy sighed, and rubbed his legs in remembered pain. His muscles had not been happy with him after all this running through the Underworld.

(For a terrifying... Fields of Asphodel.)

Hades suddenly relaxed. "You're too far away now, for him to keep trying. Whoever that was," He exchanged significant looks with everybody on the council who was willing to consider the fact that Kronos was making his bid to return, "won't be strong enough at this time to keep up the attempt."

Everyone slumped over in relief again. "Ugh! All this tension, drama, and sudden relief is driving me crazy!" Piper complained. She was feeling jittery, and edgy, and she couldn't do anything about it! Normally, she would go for a run, or go visit the Arena, get some practice with her knife in. She couldn't do that here, not until somebody called for a break again.

"How about we eat after this chapter, finish up the rest of the book tonight, and then take a few days to unwind?" Hestia suggested. "We're not in a hurry, the Fates have placed us in a time-bubble until these books are read." She reminded the room, looking right at Hera with a raised eyebrow. Hera closed her mouth and sniffed primly, while everyone else agreed with her suggestion.

(The wind died. A... we'd gotten away.)

"We had what he wanted, and he failed to get it from us." Percy muttered, frowning. He wondered, though, just how much was Kronos banking on getting this Bolt? He knew that the Titan could have used the Bolt to come back sooner, or something, but just how much was he counting on getting that Bolt?

After all, this whole plan took months to carry out, especially when Luke got caught in the first place.

("What was that?")

"I think the more appropriate question, is who was that?" Athena said grimly. Mentally, she was going through battle strategies for if that being ever got out. She had no idea who it was, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Whoever it was, this isn't good." Hephaestus grunted, choosing not to mention the current running theory at that moment, he didn't think Zeus would appreciate it too much at the moment...

(Grover panted, when... Hades's pets?")

"No. That was not one of mine. Nothing down there could ever be considered one of mine." Hades immediately denied hotly.

Tartarus was where the monsters, and the truly evil, went when they were 'killed'. The ones who were too horrible that even he couldn't handle their punishment. That was another reason he was so annoyed with the boy for defeating his Furies multiple times and making him have to get them out of Tartarus, partly because they didn't belong there, and partly because of the effort he had to put into it.

(Annabeth and I... scared to share it.)

"All the more reason to share it, so that those around you are prepared for whatever it is that you're thinking about. Just in case you're actually correct." Demeter said suddenly.

"I figured we had enough going on without bringing something like that up." Annabeth shrugged uncomfortably. "I was also still really, really hoping I was wrong." She sighed. Too bad she couldn't stay in denial like that.

(That was enough to terrify me.)

Percy shifted uncomfortably when he caught everyone else's curious looks. "So far, she had no problem telling it like it was. She didn't sugarcoat things to make others feel better, or anything like that. For her to actually be scared to tell me something... That set off my imagination, big time." He informed the room.

Annabeth sighed. "Sorry, I was trying not to worry you like that." She leaned back in her seat, dejected.

Percy bumped her shoulder with his. "Don't worry about it, I would rather know, than be caught off guard." He murmured, getting a small grin from her. Mrs. O'Leary woofed behind them, not liking all the tension in the room anymore than the demigods did.

(I capped my... "Can you walk?")

"Did I have much choice?" Grover asked wryly.

"Yeah... our bodies did not appreciate us after all this, did they?" Percy groaned. He had thoroughly enjoyed turning his cabin's bathtub into a hot-tub once he got back. If he remembered right, he was going to talk to Tyson about making him an actual hot-tub... Grover and Annabeth shook their heads with a grimace.

Well trained they may be, that didn't mean they appreciated all the sitting around accompanied by very short bursts of action, adrenaline, and fear. That just played havoc on their bodies, especially when they had a long (only four hours, but long enough! Especially for Percy...) plane flight to get back to New York.

(He swallowed. "Yeah... and I were.)

"Adrenaline wearing off, mixed with residual fear or terror from almost losing Grover, and then escaping what was in that pit." Apollo quickly diagnosed, tilting his head to the side.

Percy snorted. "Sounds about right." He muttered.

(Whatever was... nobody's pet.)

"No, it most certainly is not." Hades said grimly. Whoever that was, was not somebody to be trifled with. He was going to have to tread carefully for a bit, it seemed.

(It was unspeakably... of Hades.

Almost.)

"I would think that even I would be preferable to being pulled into the Pit itself." Hades called in amusement.

Percy huffed a laugh. "We were going away from the Pit, I may not have known what, or who, that was, but at least I knew how to avoid it. I had no way of avoiding you, though, not if I wanted to do what we'd gone there to do." He pointed out.

"Point." Hades shrugged.

(The Furies circled... stood wide open.)

"Sounds impressive." Sally commented. "And rather imposing." She grimaced.

Hades shrugged. "I quite like how it turned out." He said, pleased with her comments about his palace. He designed it, after all.

(Up close, I saw... scenes of death.)

Some momentarily wondered who would want something like that on their palace gates, and then remembered at the last minute that this was Hades... the Lord of the Underworld. Not to mention, they were in the Underworld.

(Some were from... with empty bowls-)

"That's horrible." Rachel murmured, looking horrified by the images described.

"That's life." Hades replied, staring at her hard. Nobody even bothered trying to refute that. As demigods, they'd seen horrible things in their lives, some of them probably even did horrible things, mostly during the war. They all knew that life wasn't all sunshine and daisies.

(but all of them... that had come true.)

"No." Hades immediately denied. "Whenever there is a new 'disaster' that results in a large amount of fatalities, throughout the world, but mostly within countries where we had a strong presence at one time, new carvings will be etched, through magic, on the palace gates." He informed the room.

(Inside the courtyard... I'd ever seen.)

"I said strangest, not ugliest or anything. Strange can still be beautiful." Percy quickly stated when he saw the glare on Persephone's face. He had no intention of being turned into a dandelion or something.

"Nice save." Nico mouthed in his direction, earning a glare.

"And just how many gardens had you seen? You live in New York." Katie asked, amused.

"Hey! There are gardens in New York." Percy objected, offended on behalf of his beloved city. "Plenty of parks, and the big ones all have a garden somewhere in them."

"Some of our neighbors at Montauk also kept gardens, just off the beach." Sally supplied, smiling.

(Multicolored mushrooms... clumps of raw diamonds.)

The demigods murmured amongst themselves, especially the children of Hermes. Now that sounded like a challenge they were willing to accept. Hermes overheard what his sons were saying and just shook his head wryly.

He didn't say anything to discourage them, though, even if Persephone's garden was a target not even he would hit. They would learn on their own that there were just some things that weren't worth going for.

(Standing here and... smiling grotesquely.)

"It was really quite beautiful." Annabeth said, making Persephone smile proudly. "Except for the statues." She grimaced.

"Hmm... perhaps something different, then... now that I know they were from Medusa." She sneered. Nobody really liked Medusa, for good reason.

"It does seem fitting though, for a garden in the Underworld." Piper spoke up. "Morbid and all that." She grimaced.

(In the center of... pomegranate trees,)

Demeter scowled, but surprisingly said nothing. Persephone was honestly starting to get worried about her mothers silence.

(their orange blooms... "Keep walking.")

"That's right." Persephone agreed. "My garden is not someplace you want to linger. Not if you wish to leave the Underworld." She warned, and all the demigods grimaced, but took her warning seriously. She sat back, satisfied, while her mother scowled heavily at what she said.

It was a shame, though, that it wasn't wise or safe for visitors to linger in her garden and admire it. Ah well.

(I understood why... a big juicy one.)

Hermes sighed fondly. "Satyrs. Always thinking with their stomachs." He grinned. When food was involved, Satyr's didn't always think things through. They led with their stomachs a lot of the time.

(We walked up... house of Hades.)

Five of the Seven flinched violently at mention of that place. "Please do not call the palace the 'house of Hades'." Jason requested with a shudder.

"Huh?" Percy asked, confused.

"There is an actual place called the House of Hades." He said. "It's a temple in Greece, and well... lets just say it's not a pleasant place to visit." He glanced at Hades, almost apologetic, almost.

"We've already said too much." Piper cut in, with a warning look at her boyfriend. "It will be explained later, I'm sure... much later." She muttered under her breath. "But... be careful about what you call places. Some people might have bad memories attached to them, or there might actually be a place like that, and you will offend the wrong person." She warned the room at large, but mostly Percy.

Hades was just staring at them. Yes... now that he was looking for it, five of them bore all the signs of having gone through his House, while the other two... now their leaving whenever the Pit was described in any detail made more sense.

(The entry hall... rain down here.)

"Nope. Which does not help my garden." Persephone groused.

Hades sighed. "Which is why I had an extensive irrigation system installed." He said patiently, telling everyone that this was a common complaint of hers.

"It's not the same though. Rainwater or groundwater makes a difference." She insisted. Hades sighed again.

(Every side doorway... on the shoulders.)

Ares nodded in appreciation.

"Well, at least you have variety." Somebody muttered.

Hades shrugged. "Mortals fight amongst each other far too much. It leaves me with plenty of guards to choose from."

"Which is just depressing." Sally muttered with a grimace.

(They carried spears... down the hall,)

"It was kind of like those cartoons where the eyes in the picture frames followed the person sneaking around." Percy commented, making everyone else look at him funny. "What? None of you know what I'm talking about?" He demanded.

Most everyone else shook their heads, except Hermes and Apollo who looked amused.

"We're having a movie night or something." He muttered, making Sally start laughing.

(toward the big... across their chests.)

"Skeleton's grinning at you is very, very creepy." Annabeth deadpanned.

"Especially when they're also holding grenade launchers." Percy muttered.

("You know," Grover... door salesmen.")

"I don't." Hades grinned smugly.

"I wonder why." A few people muttered. Hermes scowled. A lot of his salesmen refused to go to Hades to try and sell, now he knew why. Although if one of them had just explained the problem...

(My backpack weighed a ton now.)

"That's the third time that's been mentioned." Hermes said, loud enough for the whole room to hear, now.

"Something is not right with that." Apollo agreed, frowning.

Now that it was mentioned, that was suspicious.

(I couldn't figure... wasn't the time.)

"We really should have stopped to check it." Annabeth shook her head in frustration, it would have probably helped.

"No... I think our surprise when he told us to open our pack is what allowed us to get away." Grover denied.

"It probably surprised him enough..." Percy shrugged.

("Well, guys," I... should... knock?")

"Might as well be polite considering what you're there for." Sally suggested with a small, wavering smirk. She was trying to keep it together for her son, both of them, and Paul, but was barely able to.

(A hot wind... Annabeth said.)

Piper and her mother flinched at the way Chris mangled the pronunciation of the French words, but didn't say anything for now. Everybody else was too tense to put up with it. That, and they both wanted to know what happened in Hades throne room as much as everybody else did.

(The room inside... me as godlike.)

Hades raised an eyebrow, pleased. Persephone and Nico both rolled their eyes at the smug pleasure rolling off the god.

"Excuse me?" Dionysus questioned, mildly offended that he hadn't struck the boy as godlike.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Ares demanded, while everyone else laughed. Percy just smirked at him.

"Ah, I love your comments sometimes, you know that?" Thalia chuckled.

(He was at least... of braided gold.)

The council all glanced at Hades with eyebrows raised. Except for Hermes and Hestia, none of them had ever seen him like that.

Currently, he was wearing a nice suit, was at the same height as everybody else in the room (Hestia's 'suggestion' to make the demigods and mortals feel more comfortable), and was looking distinctly uncomfortable with the attention.

"I can see how he struck Percy as actually godlike, compared to the other two." Poseidon muttered to his wife. If Hades was the first one he was seeing in his own throne room... She had to hide her smirk behind her hand.

(His skin was... he radiated power.)

"Of course, he's not about to hide or hold back when he's in his own throne room." Nico pointed out with a scoff.

"Just because I'm not a muscle head..." Hades shrugged with a smirk. Based on other descriptions Perseus had given (Dionysus), he'd honestly expected the brat to start insulting him. This wasn't bad, though. No, he liked this.

"Hey!"

(He lounged on... as a panther.)

"Hmm... I don't think I've ever had someone describe me like a panther." Hades quirked an amused eyebrow. He did like that description, though.

Percy turned red and muttered something, but refused to repeat himself.

(I immediately felt... be my master.)

"Hades." Poseidon growled, not at all happy with Hades using his influence on his son. He hadn't liked it when Ares did it (although that was just dangerous considering Percy's temper and abilities), and he liked it even less when Hades did it.

Hades raised an eyebrow. "If he's going to be invading my territory, I'm not going to pander to his mortal sensibilities and hold myself back." He shrugged, not at all concerned with Poseidon's glaring at him, knowing that he was right, and there was nothing Poseidon could do about it.

(Then I told myself... Hitler, or Napoleon,)

"Adolph was my son." Hades shrugged. "And Napoleon was a descendant of mine." Which... did not help his or his children's reputation among other demigods...

"Well... WWII was between children of the Big 3..." Annabeth pointed out when she saw a few of the others glance between Nico and Hazel. Which really made her mad, because they'd been fine with the two of them before this! "That's not exactly news."

"Didn't know that about Hitler, though." Will shrugged, but didn't move from his seat next to the son of Hades. He didn't care who Nico's older half-brother was. He was sure he had a few half-siblings himself that were... less than desirable. He knew Percy had more than a few half-siblings that weren't exactly the nicest. Percy had complained more than once about all his half-siblings wanting to, or trying to kill him, after all.

"Who cares?" Jason asked. "We all have half-siblings who did bad stuff." He pointed out, and the others stopped to think before giving Nico apologetic grimaces.

(or the terrorist... suicide bombers.)

He scowled at that comparison. "They have nothing to do with me." He snapped. All they did for him was create more unnecessary paper-work. Too bad they had a different belief system, Alecto would have enjoyed getting to know them.

And here the boy was doing such a good job with his description.

(Hades had the... mesmerizing, evil charisma.)

"Evil?" Hades sputtered. What was evil about him? Sure, he dealt in death, but death was a natural part of life!

Percy grimaced. "I... didn't have a very good opinion of you back then." He muttered, ashamed. He knew better now, or at least liked to think he did.

("You are brave to... have done to me,)

There was silence for a split second as everybody absorbed what was just read.

"After what Percy has done to you?" Jason echoed, confused.

"What did Percy do?" Somebody else asked.

"I didn't do anything. Yet again I was being accused of something without any proof or reason." Percy said in annoyance.

(very brave indeed... and sleep forever.)

"If he were anybody else's son..." Athena murmured, shaking her head.

"I think you overdid it a bit, brother." Hestia said mildly.

"He was an intruder in my kingdom! I wasn't about to go easy on the boy!" Hades protested, not liking it when Hestia scolded him.

Annabeth and Grover looked surprised. "We didn't feel any of that." Annabeth revealed to the room. Then again, they hadn't been affected by Ares' presence, either. Hestia sighed, and shot her brother a look, making him quail slightly while Amphitrite calmed down Poseidon.

(I fought the feeling... two requests.")

"Oh, he is bold." Persephone said, amused.

Hades shot her an unimpressed look when he heard the amusement in her voice. She just smiled at him, making him turn away with a grumble.

(Hades raised an... trying to get out.)

"Hmm... not a bad description, even if that's not quite right." Hades shrugged. Those were the ones he saw to personally. In reality, they were underneath his palace in his deepest dungeons, and not actually on his robes but, eh.

Those were just 'after-images' of those souls.

"You really need to stop being so descriptive." Piper looked a little sick and disturbed at the thought of what was just described.

(The ADHD part... Hades's underwear?)

There were a few moments of complete and utter silence as Chris stared at the words he'd just read. Percy turned bright red and hid his face in his hands with a groan.

"Could you repeat that?" Luke asked after glancing at Percy. He knew that the other boys mind could take interesting paths at times (ADHD at it's finest, right there) but... this was a little much, even for them. Chris did, and Percy was suddenly having to dodge pillows and everything else soft that the demigods could get their hands on, while the council laughed or teased Hades about it.

"Percy..." Annabeth groaned, she really wondered about him, sometimes.

"That is an image I did not need." Nico complained, turning slightly green.

"There aren't after-images on my underwear." Hades deadpanned, slightly strained sounding. Persephone's giggles became louder and a little more hysterical sounding, making him glance at her in exasperation.

After everyone calmed down, Chris kept reading, almost dreading what he would read next.

("Only two requests?"... as I'd feared.)

"I was expecting it to go about as well as it was." Percy nodded in agreement.

"It's not going so good." Jason noted, and the three who were there agreed.

"It was going better than I thought it would." Grover admitted.

"Really?" Annabeth asked, surprised.

"Yup. We were still alive."

"True."

"Gee, thanks, guys." Percy muttered with an eyeroll.

(I glanced at... to Hades's.)

Persephone huffed a laugh, guessing what the boy would have been thinking at that moment. "Sorry, child. You have to deal with him on your own this time." She smirked. She could keep her husband calm, most of the time. She was often his voice of reason, just like she was sure Amphitrite was often Poseidon's.

Percy just sighed.

(It was shaped... with gold.)

"That sounds really pretty." Piper said, admiring.

"Of course it's more black." Demeter groused. Persephone just shot her a small glare.

(I wished Queen... create the seasons.)

"Well... the tilt of the planet certainly help provide the right conditions for the seasons, especially for the plants to survive." She laughed. After all, the tilt of the planet affected how much sun shined down, despite Apollo's best efforts sometimes.

(Annabeth cleared... in the back.)

"He was quiet too long, Lord Hades looked like he was getting impatient to hear what we had to say." She shrugged when she saw the looks she was getting for that.

"I don't think that would have mattered, he was already in a bad mood." Nico pointed out.

"No need to make it worse." She answered primly.

("Lord Hades," I... would be... bad.")

"This again?" Thalia complained.

"You, my friend, have a talent for understatements." Leo said, pointing at Percy with a wrench. Percy just grinned.

"You haven't even heard half of it, yet." Grover grumbled.

Luckily for him, Ares kept his opinions on just how good or bad a war amongst the Olympians would be.

("Really bad," Grover... it to Olympus.")

"Wrong thing to say." Hazel murmured. Hades back was already up from their entrance to the Underworld in the first place, plus the fact he was being blamed at all...

This wasn't going to end well, she just knew it.

"You can't demand something of me like that!" Hades protested indignantly. "With nothing more than a 'please' and 'thank you'!" Percy winced.

"I didn't have a better plan." He muttered.

(Hades's eyes grew... you have done?")

"Anybody else feel like we're missing a really big piece of the puzzle?" Jason asked. It was a rhetorical question, because they all knew they were missing something big, but everyone answered, anyway.

"Oh, it was big, alright." Percy muttered, still a little miffed about being accused of theft twice.

"This isn't going to end well." Piper's words were being echoed in everybody else's thoughts.

(I glanced back... confused as I was.)

"For good reason." Grover muttered. They had no idea what Hades had been talking about.

("Um... Uncle,"... have I done?")

"That's a very good question."

"This is when you really should calm down, because it's clear the boy has no idea what your talking about." Persephone whispered in his ear, he just sighed and nodded.

(The throne room... in Los Angeles.)

"We did." Jason said, remembering this day. He'd been in L.A. checking out reports of a monster in the area, and he remembered the terror and chaos as the earthquake's hit the city.

Evacuations had been started almost immediately, for fear of aftershocks, and when the second quake hit, people had already been taking cover. And, of course, with the chaos also came looters and the like, he'd had to fend four of them off just on his way out of the city to reach safety. He wasn't sure what exactly they saw that made them think he would make a good target, but he had not appreciated it.

The monsters, also, had gotten riled up, and started coming out of their hiding places, so he and his team had also had to fight through them.

(Debris fell from... in Western civilization.)

The Olympian Council felt a collective shiver roll down their backs at the casual reminder of just how big Hades' army really was.

He literally had over a thousand years worth of soldiers at his command, from all the nations ever conquered by, occupied by, or influenced by either Greek or Roman civilization. His army could number millions. They could never hope to combat that. The sheer numbers alone could overwhelm them... especially since he had a near limitless supply.

A war among them, would trigger another war among the mortals, which meant more soldiers dying and adding to Hades army.

Hades smirked at their expressions. Maybe now they were starting to understand...

(They lined the... blocking the exits.)

"That's not good."

"It doesn't matter how good you are, against these kinds of numbers." Clarisse muttered, eyes narrowed.

Poseidon, though, he relaxed suddenly. Amphitrite looked at him, confused. "The Pearls." He muttered in her ear, making her relax too. The kids would be fine. They had a way out that Hades couldn't block.

(Hades bellowed, "Do... dangerous answer.)

"Huh. He does have a brain-to-mouth filter." Clarisse said in wonder. The others were all looking equally amazed, much to Percy's disgruntlement.

"I do know when to shut up." He said dryly.

"He just doesn't do it often." Annabeth tacked on, grinning at her boyfriend in amusement. He stuck out his tongue, and she laughed.

"He is right, though. The army surrounding them doesn't exactly scream 'peaceful'." Rachel pointed out with a huff and a roll of her eyes. Hades shrugged, not caring.

("You are the... kingdom, right?")

"Thousands die every day through various causes, without our help." Hades said dryly. "I do not need a war to expand my kingdom or gain more subjects." Honestly, it wasn't like people could emigrate, either, they were dead, where else were they going to go? Unlike his brothers kingdoms, where subjects could actually come and go, to an extent.

Thankfully there were other Pantheons capable of taking their own load of dead, otherwise he truly would be overrun.

("A typical thing... the Asphodel Fields?")

"He has a very good point, there." Aphrodite pointed out, eyeing Poseidon and Zeus. Zeus looked uncaring, while Poseidon looked sheepish.

He had accused Hades of that several times, usually when he was really angry with something his brother did. He knew it wasn't true, of course, but still.

"And that's not the only Field, either." Hades grumbled.

("Well..."

"Have you... had to open?")

"A lot." Hades helpfully supplied. The mortals fought amongst each other a lot... even more so now that they had easier and faster modes of transport. Their weapons caused more damage now, too, than they had in past centuries.

(I opened my mouth... But my expenses!")

"The mortals' greed for those precious metals doesn't help." He grumbled. They were always searching for new sources once the old ones dried up, and then they were always picking those new sources clean without any regard for what would happen once they'd found it all. You would think they would realize that the more of the material there was available, the cheaper it would be.

"Have you thought about investing in a business or something?" Hermes asked, frowning. It would supplement his treasury, or whatever.

"I'm the controlling shareholder in most major jewelry chains or mining companies." Hades muttered. "It helps, but still."

("Charon wants a pay raise," I blurted out,)

There was a moment of shocked silence while Annabeth and Grover sighed quietly and shook their heads.

"Why? Why do you have to be an impulsive idiot?" Thalia groaned after a moment. The guy had just finished complaining about his expenses and financial issues, and then he goes and blurts something like that out?!

"I'm sorry, ok?!" Percy burst out, annoyed at that moment.

(just remembering... sew up my mouth.)

"So do I." Annabeth informed him matter-of-factly.

"I said I was sorry." He pouted. She rolled her eyes and kissed him.

("Don't get me... Italian suits!)

"He's been impossible since long before that." Hades grumbled, with a sneer.

(Problems everywhere... them personally.)

"You can't delegate most of it?" Poseidon asked, concerned. That's what he did, after all. That's what he had the council for. Of course, he also had so many different species and races to rule over, and they all had a representative.

"I do delegate what I can." Hades shrugged. "But for some reason whenever something comes up, it always ends up being something that can't be delegated." He scowled. Or during the summer months when Persephone wasn't there to help him handle it.

Zeus wouldn't really understand. For all that he was the King of Olympus, he didn't have subjects like they did. He ruled over the air spirits, but that was it. The minor gods mostly did their own thing.

(The commute time... for this war.")

"But somebody did." Athena said grimly, her mind racing to put together a strategy. She was also trying to pick apart their new enemies strategy. So far, it seemed like they were trying to pit the Olympians in a three way war between the brothers.

WWII was chaotic and costly enough when it was two on one, Hades against Zeus and Poseidon. But for all three of them to be fighting each other like that... she feared the world would burn should it ever reach that point.

("But you took Zeus's master bolt.")

"Way to be blunt." Thalia muttered.

"I have stolen nothing." Hades grumbled, bitter about being accused of being a thief. He was many things, a thief he was not.

("Lies!" More rumbling... I see his plan.")

"This should be good." Poseidon grumbled, irked that now he was being accused directly by Hades, in addition to Zeus.

("His plan?"... room on Olympus.)

"It would be a good plan, except that everyone is missing one tiny little detail." Percy rolled his eyes.

"What detail is that?" Zeus growled.

"The fact that I didn't know any of this," He waved his hand around him, "Existed." He raised his eyebrows. "Kinda hard to steal something that you don't even believe exists." He scoffed.

"Willful ignorance?" Annabeth suggested. After all, it should have been obvious just from his reaction to Mr. D and Chiron explaining to him that the Olympians were real, that he had nothing to do with the theft of those items.

Percy grumbled.

Hades winced. Yeah... his book self obviously wasn't thinking clearly to have missed that crucial detail in his interpretation of events.

(You took the master bolt and my helm.)

There was silence for a split second after Chris read that out, and the rest of the council turned to look at Hades in horror, who merely closed his eyes in resignation at the confirmation.

So, his helm was stolen... he knew it.

His resigned look faded away and he glared at Luke, who gulped and looked everywhere but at him.

(Had I not sent... my helm back!")

"Except that Percy had no idea your helm was missing, too." Will muttered, brows furrowed in thought. "Let alone where it could be, and he's already cutting his deadline close for getting the Bolt back before a war starts between Zeus and Poseidon. How is he going to get them both back?" He wasn't really asking anybody in particular, just thinking out loud.

"He's just gotta figure out who the real thief was. Find the thief, find the stolen items." Thalia sighed, answering him anyway.

"How?" Katie muttered. Although, all three of them knew it was Luke. But they hadn't known that until the end of summer.

("But..." Annabeth spoke... if missing, too?")

"That's your second clue that your theory is wrong." Hestia said, raising an eyebrow at her brother, who grimaced sheepishly.

Persephone sighed. "Your mind is clouded. You must calm down, or you will not get your answers." She told her husband. See, this was why she preferred being down there, instead of visiting her mother. Her husband had a habit of letting his anger cloud his judgement, and she usually came home to him ranting and raving over something, or needing to clean up a mess of some sort.

("Do not play... an ultimatum.)

"A Daughter of Athena, running errands and making threats in Poseidon's name..." Apollo pointed out dryly. "You really need to calm down, Uncle. Your starting to not make sense." He informed his uncle, looking at him in concern.

Hades sighed and rubbed a hand down his face, reluctantly admitting, if only to himself, that they had a point. He was letting his anger cloud his thoughts.

(Does Poseidon... supporting him?")

"If I wanted your support for something, I would just ask for it." Poseidon said dryly. He wasn't one to like playing politics. He could, but he didn't like it. He preferred the straight and blunt approach to getting what he wanted.

("No!" I said... the slightest help.)

"Of course we would help you!" Apollo exclaimed, shocked and highly offended that Hades would think so little of them. "Well... maybe not all of us." He glanced at his father, then turned his attention back to his uncle. "You're family, too, even if most of us don't always act like it." Besides, a Symbol of Power going missing or being stolen was a very serious thing. A lot of damage could be caused in the wrong hands, they could even be used to control their owners to an extent.

(I can ill afford... fear is missing.)

Hades grimaced at the thought, just imagining all of his enemies finding out about it. They would have been coming for him in droves to try and take back control of the Underworld. Like he'd said earlier, there were many dark corners of the Underworld that even he did not dare walk.

"That would be a disaster." Persephone said grimly. At least Zeus, up on his mountain, was safe from retaliation like what Hades could expect if word got out that his Helm was gone.

The rest of the council wondered at the way that was worded, and what the two were talking about. What did he mean...

(So I searched... try to stop you.")

"Uh... that's not what we read." Connor glanced at Hades, confused.

"The monsters weren't sent after us by him. He sent the Furies once, and that was it." Percy shook his head. Echidna was sent by Zeus, and the other problems, they'd just run into on their own.

("You didn't try... into the world.)

The Council all gasped in horrified shock. "That will be chaos." Hestia breathed, disturbed that he was at this point. She'd known it was getting bad for him... but she hadn't known he was considering this.

The demigods all privately thought about what was going on right now, with Gaea controlling the Doors of Death, and letting whoever she pleased to come back.

"The mortals would descend into chaos and confusion... wars might start." Ares pursed his lips in thought. When mortals started panicking, they tended to start fighting, and it was hard to contain.

"You would really go that far?" Zeus growled, glaring at his older brother, who glared right back.

"Honestly, most of the time I wonder why I don't." He said with finality. With the way he was viewed and treated... the only thing staying his hand from doing exactly that, was knowing how his wife's domain's would suffer through the kind of destruction the mortals were capable of, and how much such chaos would stretch his kingdom's capacity.

(I will make your... out of Hades.")

Poseidon growled and made to stand up at the threat to his son, but was held back by Percy, who quirked a grin at him. The other five of his group all welcomed him and Annabeth back quietly. They didn't want to overwhelm them right now, not when they were still raw.

"That threat is getting really old." Percy mused, startling his father and Sally, who looked like they wanted to demand answers that they didn't actually want.

(The skeletal soldiers... something I didn't do.)

"Yet another thing for you to have in common with your father." Amphitrite moaned, thunking her head on the back of her throne.

Poseidon grimaced lightly, but was in no way ashamed. "Being wrongly accused is very... aggravating." He said simply. Triton and all three Percy's in the room nodded in agreement. She sighed in defeat, shaking her head.

(I've had a lot of experience with that.)

"Gabe?" Paul reasoned, glaring at the thing that hurt his step-son.

"Mostly." Percy agreed with a sigh. Also teachers and other students.

("You're as bad as... the other monsters?")

"They weren't actually him." Percy said again with a shrug.

"Unfortunately, they were just your bad luck, and Zeus." Annabeth rolled her eyes.

(Hades curled his lip... Fields of Punishment.)

Everybody shivered at the thought. Just what little Percy had described of Punishment, let them know that it wasn't a place they ever wanted to go to experience one of the tortures there, let alone all of them.

Privately, Hades thought that the boy wouldn't have been in the Fields of Punishment. Oh, no. The boy would have joined his special prisoners down in the dungeons.

(Why do you... so easily?")

"That was easily?" Most of the demigods asked flatly, creeping the adults out slightly with the way they said it in unison.

"Actually... yes." Nico said, nodding his head. "Father could have made the trip much more... difficult." Hades smirked smugly.

("Easily?"

"Return my property!")

Jason's mind suddenly jumped to the dreams Percy had regarding Zeus and Poseidon's fight, and how Percy compared the two of them to a kindergartner, fighting over a toy. He thought briefly that Hades wasn't really that much different, for all that they were millennia old beings.

("But I don't have... you already possess!")

The room was dead silent. "What?" Everybody seemed to ask at once, even if they didn't speak.

Percy said nothing, he merely pursed his lips and glared at the wall instead of the one he really wanted to glare at.

"I knew it!" Zeus crowed triumphantly, trying to get his feet back under him after the events at the mouth of the Pit. "The two of you did steal it!"

"Oh, shut up. Would you stop trying to blame everybody for everything, and just listen for once?" Percy demanded, annoyed. "I really, really hate being used." He muttered darkly while Zeus just glared at him and everybody else gaped in shock. The Seven glanced at each other, exasperated and concerned. Percy just shrugged, not at all repentant for his younger self's actions and words, while Frank took it as his cue to get between Zeus and Percy for the time being.

Chris decided not to give anybody time to start a fight, and just kept reading. Hopefully they would figure out what was actually going on that way, instead of having to listen to Zeus's baseless accusations.

(Hades shouted... threaten me!")

"That's probably the only part of that whole theory of his that he got right." Percy snorted.

He'd had every intention of threatening Hades somehow to release his mother.

("But I didn't!"

"Open your pack, then.")

"What?" Annabeth asked, her analytical mind going into overdrive, trying to work out what was going on right now.

"His bag? But... there was no bolt in his bag, it was basic supplies from Ares." Travis said, causing his brother to nod in agreement.

A few of the council sat up at the reminder of where the bag came from, and Ares sank back against his throne. He had a bad feeling about this...

(A horrible feeling... It couldn't be...)

"No... how-?" Poseidon asked, jaw dropping for a split second before he collected himself and glared at Ares. His knuckles were white from gripping his trident so hard. "You gave that bag to my son... a bag that held the bolt!" He gritted out.

"Dad. There was more to all this than we knew at the time." Percy muttered reluctantly, he couldn't believe that he'd just defended Ares, but he also knew that they weren't going to get their answers if they stopped every time something happened to yell at the person who apparently caused it.

Ares recovered from both his shock and terror at being on the receiving end of that Look. "Yeah... let's just keep reading." He grinned around the room, shakily.

(I slung it off... humming with energy.)

There was silence in the room as the bolt was revealed. "You've had that since Denver. But... how? It wasn't in the bag earlier." Reyna asked, looking around for anybody to give an explanation.

Zeus pursed his lips in thought, forcing himself to calm down. "That bag might be the sheath for it..." He held up the bolt from where it was sheathed at his side, showing them what he meant. "It is designed to always return to it's sheath, much like Riptide is designed to always return to it's wielders pocket. However, as was proven when the boy lost it in the Mississippi, the... connection can be blocked." He explained, much to everybody's surprise.

Of course, they could also see how much of a struggle it was for him to remain in his seat and remain calm.

("Percy," Annabeth... always the same,")

"Oh, read the room!" Poseidon snapped. "Honestly, you sound like Zeus right now! Clearly none of the children have any idea how that bolt got there, and none of them even knew your helm was missing until you told them about it!" This whole thing of accusing his son of being a thief was getting on his nerves.

Hades winced. "My... apologies, Perseus Jackson, for acting like my brother, and not getting all the facts before I started accusing." He said stiffly, after his wife elbowed him, roughly, in the side with a glare.

Everybody ignored Zeus' protests and glares.

(Hades said. "Your... weapon before me.)

"But they didn't know." Piper whispered.

"We know that. And he probably did, too. He just wanted somebody to blame, and wasn't thinking clearly." Jason told her with a shrug.

(I did not ask... bargaining tool.)

"Hades." Zeus growled in warning.

"Zeus." Hades mock-growled back, not in the mood to put up with it.

(And now... my... into my backpack.)

"That's another thing I really, really hate." Percy said suddenly. "Being used. Somebody used me to get the Bolt into the Underworld, and down into that pit, and somebody was using me to start a way." He didn't say any names just yet, wanting them to read all about it, that way nobody could argue the fact.

"I think that's what we all hate the most." Annabeth sighed.

Clarisse snorted. "Yeah, but what are we going to do about it?" She asked bitterly. It wasn't like they were in any kind of position to say 'no' when one of the gods wanted them to do something. If they found out halfway through that what they were doing, and what was actually going on were two completely different things, well... the only thing they could do was adapt and hope they didn't get killed by the unexpected change in plan.

Then there were those that joined the Titan army trying to change how things were, who betrayed Olympus because they were tired of the way things were.

The gods looked at each other, concerned or indifferent. The kids sounded really bitter over it.

(I wanted to... was the bad guy.)

"I was trying to square the new facts with what I thought I knew, and what I thought I knew, was that you were the bad guy in all this." Percy reasoned when he saw Hades glare at him and open his mouth to yell.

(But suddenly... the backpack from...)

"Ares." Poseidon finished the sentence with a hiss, glaring even harder at his nephew at the confirmation from book-Percy

"I wouldn't have taken them! I couldn't have taken them, the laws strictly forbid it!" Ares defended himself, seeing his father glaring at him, too, and starting to rise.

"Nevertheless, it appears that you were in on their theft, how else would you have the Bolt with you to give to the boy?" Zeus asked, deadly quiet, glaring at his son.

"I- I don't know! None of this has actually happened yet! They haven't even been stolen!" He swallowed, really hoping he wasn't about to get punished. His father was the best at punishing, he always seemed to know just what to do to really get their attention. With Dionysus, he'd cut him off from his domain (was more torture than punishment, especially for the 'crime'), he seemed to enjoy turning Apollo mortal whenever one of Apollo's prophecies stated something he didn't like and Apollo refused to tell them what was coming. Hephaestus was the good child, seemingly, but in all reality, he avoided getting on their father's bad side by not being around and staying in his workshops. And so on, he really didn't want to know what his father would think up for this one.

"Perhaps we should keep reading, husband." Hera finally spoke up, for the first time in a long time. She didn't want to see her favorite son punished, after all.

("Lord Hades, wait,"... all a mistake.")

Nearly everybody winced while Hades glared at the boy. Even knowing that he was right and there was a mistake, he still didn't like being told he'd made one.

"Not good."

"That's one thing you never want to do, and that's accuse one of the gods of making a mistake." Jason winced. They were all... quite proud would be an understatement. Percy shrugged.

"I call it like I see it." He said simply.

("A mistake?" Hades... their master's throne.)

"Ah." Leo said simply with a wince.

"I was wondering where they were." Piper grimaced, thinking back to Percy's last two encounters with them.

(The one with... flicked her whip.)

"Have we mentioned that she really hates you?" Nico asked, a little cheerfully, which was odd for him.

Percy sighed. "Yes, Nico, we all know that she hates me." He grumbled.

("There is no... bargain for her.")

"Her?" A few people asked, confused. Who was he talking about?

Percy's face became pinched, and he bit his lip, but didn't interrupt. If he never saw his mother like that again, it would be too soon.

(Hades loosed a... her to death.)

Everyone was silent for a moment while Paul slowly brought Sally into his arms and held on tightly, not wanting to let her go as that image settled in his mind.

"So it was you that took her." Poseidon said quietly. He didn't know how he should feel about this. On the one hand, he kidnapped Sally! On the other, if he hadn't taken her when he did, she would be dead right now.

"Threatening a boy with his mother. Using her to blackmail him... how dare you." Hera hissed suddenly, glaring at her brother.

Hades merely raised an eyebrow. "How I conduct my business is none of your concern." He dismissed her.

(I couldn't speak... hot as a bonfire.)

"I wouldn't touch that." Frank said with a grimace at the thought of fire. His hand wandered to his pocket where he kept his life-wood.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that." Percy grinned at the Roman.

("Yes," Hades said... with me eventually.)

"He thought his mother dead... and there was only one place she could have been in that case." Jason realized. "But... if you knew how much he loved his mother from observing him, then how did you not realize that he didn't know anything about the Greek world until he was chased to camp?" He asked.

"Willful ignorance." Annabeth said again. "They'd chosen to ignore that little fact because it didn't fit in with their beliefs of what happened, or was happening." She explained further.

(Return my helm... I will let her go.)

A few of the demigods started to get an idea of how Sally was free of the Underworld, considering he'd had to have left her there. Percy found the Helm, and because Hades said he would let her go if he returned his helm...

But how did he find it? He'd come straight back to New York after the fight on the beach with Ares, he hadn't had time to go anywhere else.

(She is not dead... that will change.")

"Hades!" Hera snapped, not at all happy with the way he was threatening the boys mother right in front of him.

He just shot her a droll glare.

(I thought about... my mom free...)

"But there's only three." Thalia whispered, glancing at Sally every so often.

"I wasn't too worried about that." Percy shrugged. He'd been planning on fighting his way out somehow, as long as she got out. But then... he'd needed to get the bolt to Olympus in New York.

("Ah, the pearls,"... my blood froze.)

"How did you..." Katie started, but stopped. It wasn't her place to question the Lord of the Underworld. But, the entire time they'd been there, Hades had been missing or dismissing every cue they were giving him that they had nothing to do with the thefts, that they were being used just as much as he was, and then he caught something like this?

He shrugged. "I probably sensed them. They would have been dripping in Ocean Magic... His hands might have wandered towards the pocket they were sitting in, as well." He didn't know for sure, though, because obviously none of this happened to him yet.

"Now, why can't you have been using your brain like that to realize they are innocent in all this?" Persephone asked, probably more amused than she really should have been. He shot her a grin and shrugged.

("Yes, my brother and his little tricks.)

"Little tricks!" Poseidon sputtered indignantly, making Amphitrite giggle beside him while Triton had to hide his face before his father saw his own smile.

Hades shot him a sly grin, which he narrowed his eyes at, but a few people could see the amusement in them.

(Bring them forth... a single person.)

"Somebody is going to be left behind." Amphitrite said sadly, repeating what had been said when Percy was first given the pearls.

Everyone looked around at each other, none of them looking at Percy or Sally.

They couldn't believe that Percy was being given a choice like this. He loved his mother more than anything, but he also had to prevent a war that could destroy the world. The demigods knew which one he chose, because all three of them returned from the quest alive and in one piece, so obviously he'd chosen to leave Sally behind. They couldn't imagine how impossible that choice must have been...

Artemis pursed her lips and leaned forward to see what the boy would do. So far, he was impressing her with his attitude, so different from most males (a fact she credited Sally for completely). But how would he handle it when it was his mother on the line?

(Try to take you... accept my terms.")

Horror dawned on those who hadn't already worked it out, as they heard the impossible ultimatum Percy had just been given.

Save his mother and leave behind one of his friends.

Save both his friends, and leave behind his mother.

Or save all three and become the cause of the bloodiest war in history.

If his mother wasn't involved, they were certain that they knew what he would choose without question. But, then if mother wasn't involved, this wouldn't even be a problem.

Hestia looked at the boy with small tears in her eyes, already having an idea of what he chose, and her heart broke for the boy who clearly loved his mother.

(I looked at... in the pit-")

"Is probably part of the puzzle." Athena sighed, not quite willing, herself, to admit it was probably Kronos until she heard solid evidence. She knew it was, but she was doing what her daughter did.

"He probably knew the kids had the Bolt. He was waiting for them, he didn't start chanting until a few moments later, when the shoes would have had time to reach him, and he saw that they were empty." Hermes reasoned.

"We need to keep our eyes and ears open." Apollo agreed, thinking back to the glimpses he'd seen, and the Great Prophecy.

("I don't know... intend to ask.")

"Ask who?" Katie asked.

Percy shrugged. "Anybody. Zeus, dad, Chiron. Anybody that might be able to tell me more about it." He said. He ended up asking both his father and Chiron about it.

("Decide, boy!" Hades yelled.)

"Don't rush him with a choice as hard and as big as this one is!" Hestia scolded him, glaring slightly for even forcing this kind of decision on the boy.

("Percy." Grover... him the bolt.")

"Obviously." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't planning on it, believe me." Percy huffed. He'd had no intention of finding out what would happen to the world if Hades was given the Bolt.

("I know that."... pearl on your mom.")

There was a wave as everybody sucked in a breath in their surprise, while a few people glanced at the Satyr in shock, including his younger self.

"Huh." Dionysus muttered, eyeing Grover from over his magazine. "I guess there is some of his Uncle in him, after all." He muttered, going back to his magazine and pretending not to be paying any attention at all.

Nobody expected the Satyr to volunteer to stay behind in the Underworld.

("No!"

"I'm a satyr,"... like humans do.)

"Thank goodness." Hades muttered, shuddering at the thought of how much more traffic there would be if more than just humans went to the Underworld when they died. No, monsters turned to dust, while Satyr's became plants, and humans went on to whatever afterlife they believed in, even if they actually ended up in the Underworld with him.

(He can torture... It's the best way.")

"No, its not." Percy whispered, remembering the desperate fear as he listened to the words his friends were saying, and trying to figure out how to get them all out of there.

("No." Annabeth... to protect Percy.)

"Oh, gods." Katie whispered as she realized what was happening. Both of them were offering to stay behind, essentially sacrificing themselves and putting themselves at Hades mercy, expecting to be tortured for information before being killed.

(You have to get... down fighting.")

Percy took a shuddering breath while everyone else looked at the two in horror.

"That's an action worthy of Elysium." Hades said softly. The actions she planned to take were heroic, and selfless. Fortunately for her, he highly doubted that the boy would let it happen.

"None of you are staying behind!" Sally said sharply, not wanting to listen to anymore of those two offering to sacrifice themselves for her. "All three of you are leaving, and not worrying about me!" She stared at the three of them sharply, even though she knew the outcome.

Percy closed his eyes in pain, while Mrs. O'Leary whined behind him and put her head as close to Annabeth's lap as she could.

("No way," Grover... ripped in two.)

"This is where personal loyalty as a fatal flaw is so dangerous." Poseidon said softly. "It can tear you apart, who do you save? Who do you let go? And then you try to save everybody, not let anybody go... It is perhaps the most dangerous fatal flaw to have."

Everybody nodded their agreement or understanding, while a few of the girls had tears in their eyes at the impossible choice in front of him.

This was his mother. This was Sally. But it was also Grover and Annabeth. Whoever they left behind, would probably never leave the Underworld again.

But it begged the question, just what happened, because clearly they all made it out alive.

(They had both... the statue garden,)

There were some cheers and hollers at that reminder, and Grover smirked even while he turned bright red.

That had been a good day... it was a memory he cherished.

(and Annabeth saving... the Lotus Casino.)

"It was an eventful trip." Katie murmured at the short summary of what they'd survived to get here, only to learn that everything they thought about the theft was so wrong.

And to think, they still had a ways to go... they still had to get back to New York, after all. After they found the Helm, of course.

(I had spent... never do that.)

"The prophecy never said when the betrayal would happen, or how. And I'm sure you have more friends than just the two of them." Apollo pointed out.

"Yeah, I had a few more friends." Percy shrugged. "But only these two were on the quest with me, I figured that if anything happened, it would be during the quest."

"Technically, the betrayal happened before, during, and after the quest." Annabeth muttered. Luke betrayed their trust when he gave Grover those tampered with shoes, he betrayed their trust when they told him everything that happened so far and he turned around and gave that information to Kronos instead, and he betrayed their trust by stealing the Bolt in the first place, and then helped set it up so that they had no choice but to send Percy out on this quest.

(They had done... for my mom.)

"A woman that Grover had only met once, and for five minutes, and who Annabeth hadn't met yet at all." Rachel pointed out.

"It just shows how amazing she is. I'd heard enough about her over the school year, I didn't need to have met her." Grover dismissed.

"It shows in how she raised Percy." Annabeth agreed. They'd known Percy, they didn't need to know Sally to want to protect her.

Sally smiled at the two of them, slightly red.

("I know what... each a pearl.)

There were slow inhales, shocked gasps.

He was leaving Sally behind?

"Good." Sally said, smiling shakily at her son. "You three get out of there, and don't worry about me." She instructed, even though she already knew what happened. Percy closed his eyes, and wished he could close his ears as effectively.

Artemis' eyes widened and she glanced between Percy and Sally. He was leaving her behind, but it was to save the mission, and she had no doubt he had gone back for her somehow afterwards. He was refusing to leave his companions behind, though. He wasn't tossing them aside, even after they both volunteered. Zoe stared at him, hard.

(Annabeth said, "But... what she would say.)

"If you dare even think about doing such a thing..." Sally warned, eyes wide with a hint of panic at the thought of it.

Percy smiled sadly, she'd just said exactly what he'd known she would have said back then, if she could have. "I know, mom. I didn't."

(She would never allow it.)

"No I wouldn't." She muttered, glaring at Hades for even making her son choose something like this.

(I had to get... I saved her instead.)

"No, I wouldn't." She claimed. "It's my job to take care of you, not the other way around." She shook her head fondly. Even if it seemed like they'd always taken care of each other, and even if she'd failed in that by marrying Gabe.

Hera nodded in approval.

(I thought about the... most in the end.)

"Oh..." A few people breathed, understanding now. At first, a few had thought it meant the Bolt, because wasn't that why he was really out here?

"It meant failing to save what mattered most to him." Clarisse muttered.

"It wasn't talking about the Bolt at all." Chris agreed.

"Prophecies usually have double meanings." Apollo smiled apologetically at Percy, but knew that this would turn out well, somehow. After all, Sally was right here. She had a loving husband, even. She clearly didn't remain trapped in the Underworld. "It's not until they are fulfilled, that the meaning becomes clear." He glanced at Zeus, but didn't say anything else. That was a fact that Zeus didn't seem to want to hear.

("I'm sorry," I told... said, "Godling...?")

Poseidon barked out a smug laugh. "Weren't expecting that, were you?" He grinned at Hades smugly, even though he was pained for what his son was having to go through right now, and worried for Sally, he was also proud of his son and the kind of hero he was already becoming, even so early in the books.

Hades scowled.

"I would say that by then it might be too late, but she's clearly here, so..." Hermes said in response to what Percy said to his mother in the book.

Percy grinned. "I found a way." He said simply. A painful, but a way nonetheless.

("I'll find your... Charon's pay raise.")

"Oh, he's on a roll now." Clarisse huffed.

"Go big or go home, right?" Percy grinned at her. He'd figured, if he was going to go against him like this, he might as well say what he wanted to say before they left.

"He's not going to let this go." Chris warned.

"He did... eventually." Percy said after a moment, glancing at Nico, who grimaced.

("Do not defy me-")

Amphitrite snorted. "He's a son of Poseidon. He lives to defy people." She informed the room dryly.

"Not me, he doesn't." Sally muttered. Her son was a good boy. If he rebelled against somebody, like he was doing now, he had a good reason for it.

("And it wouldn't... red rubber balls.")

"Are you saying I don't play with him?" Hades frowned at Percy, eyes hard.

"And giant Frisbee's." Nico said at the same time.

Percy cleared his throat. "I didn't know, all I saw and heard when we were done playing with him was a dog that wanted to play with somebody." He shrugged. Besides, Cerberus was a guard-dog, in his experience they weren't there to play, they were there to work. "And, really?" He asked Nico, who nodded. It had been a pain to get that thing for him, though, even though he'd had it custom made just for him.

("Percy Jackson... nothing happened.)

"They take a few seconds." Poseidon said after a beat of silence.

"I bet that was awkward..." Leo muttered to Piper, who shrugged. Percy had kind of built up to that moment, and then nothing.

(Hades yelled, "Destroy them!")

"Excuse me?" Poseidon hissed, completely forgetting in that moment that the kids were safe, the pearls had been crushed and they were already out of there.

"What? He was an intruder, I thought he was a thief, I was simply stopping him from escaping. No more or less than what you yourself would have done." Hades defended himself, not even sure why. The boy had willingly entered his domain, therefore he was out of the reach and authority of the other gods. In the Underworld, the boy was at his mercy.

Poseidon glared, but didn't say anything else, knowing it was true.

(The army of skeletons... bursting into flame.)

"Any second now, would be good." Sally muttered nervously at the thought of all those guns and swords being aimed at her boy.

"Don't worry, nothing will hurt them." Poseidon reassured her, even though he himself was a little nervous over how close they were cutting it.

(Just as the... fresh sea wind.)

Hades scowled.

Everybody else sighed in relief or cheered quietly. They should be safe now.

"Bullets won't effect those things, will they?" Clarisse asked, wanting to know.

"No." Poseidon smirked. 'Little tricks', please.

(I was encased... we floated up.)

"It was freaky." Grover muttered with a shudder. He was a Satyr, he wasn't built to be underground, or in the air, or any of that. He was like Percy in that regard...

"It was... unsettling." Annabeth said slowly with a grimace.

(Hades yelled with... peaceful night in L.A.)

"Yeah... but by then most of the city was already evacuated or being evacuated from the earlier quakes." Jason supplied the room with. It was mostly just emergency personnel left behind at that point, although he'd seen a few surfers that stayed out on the water when they saw the land moving from where they were.

("Look up!"... going to crash!")

"No you won't." The Sea-dwellers all said at once, grinning in anticipation.

"Maybe not, but that was still terrifying." Grover shook his head just remembering the feeling of that ride, and the sight of the stalactites getting closer and closer with no way of slowing down or avoiding them.

(Sure enough, we... and skewer us.)

"It won't." Poseidon said again, grinning mischievously, relaxed now that his son was out of danger. He was disappointed, though, that Sally had to be left behind, but was proud of his son for showing the kind of strength necessary for making a decision like that.

Triton snorted. "If bullets and spears bounce off it like that, a little stalactite won't even begin to scratch it." He leaned back, completely relaxed.

("How do you... I shouted back.)

"You could... if you had enough control over your powers. Which, since you were just starting to figure out the basics of, would be out of your reach at this point in time. However, in this case, you won't need to control it, just sit back and enjoy the ride." Poseidon informed the room.

Percy hummed in thought. He was pretty sure that he might have enough control for that now... He didn't know when he was going to ever get a chance to test that, though, and wasn't really interested in testing it while in the middle of a situation.

(We screamed as... and... Darkness.)

"Wait, what just happened?" Gwen asked, concerned.

"I think they just... went through the ceiling?" Dakota questioned. "Either that or they were all knocked out by the impact." He said, more sure of himself.

(Were we dead?)

"No, you are quite safe inside the bubbles." Amphitrite said, satisfied.

(No, I could still... bubble in water.)

"It was freaky." Grover repeated. "And I am never doing that again." He warned Percy, pointing a finger in his direction threateningly.

Percy laughed. "Yes, Grover." He grinned mischievously. Grover narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but turned back to the book, satisfied that he'd gotten his point across.

"Again with a water reference." Jason grumbled. Percy used way too many of them.

(That was the power... to the sea.)

"Of course." Triton muttered, matter-of-fact. Where else would it go?

Hades growled in annoyance.

(For a few moments... the ocean floor.)

"We couldn't see much around us until we got closer to the surface, but it was pretty." Annabeth admitted. She wouldn't mind going back out that way and scuba-diving with Percy or something. Well, she would be scuba-diving, Percy would just be swimming around.

Poseidon beamed at the compliment towards his domain. He worked hard to keep the ocean waters as clean as he could to preserve that.

(The two other... And- Ker-blam!)

Everyone jumped when Chris did the appropriate sound effect as loudly as he could.

"Dude!" Connor protested, rubbing his ear. He'd gotten the full brunt of the sound, being right beside his half-brother.

(We exploded on... an indignant, "Dude!")

"I wonder what he thought about all this." Jason muttered.

"They did come out of nowhere from below." Piper agreed. She wasn't sure how she would have reacted if this had happened to her while surfing. She hated it when she was knocked off her board by other surfers, but at least she could see them coming and try to avoid them.

(I grabbed... to a life buoy.)

"Good. He can't swim as well with his hooves." Hermes nodded in satisfaction.

"It will be easier for Coast Guard or something to pick them up, too, if they're that far out." Poseidon agreed.

(I caught Annabeth... eleven feet long.)

"He was probably under instructions to keep an eye out for you three." Poseidon tilted his head, thinking. Yeah... that sounded like something he would do, without question.

"That didn't mean we were pleased to see a shark right there." Annabeth muttered. Especially one that big.

(I said, "Beat it.")

"Rude." Triton commented with a grin.

"He was just curious." Amphitrite grinned, too.

"I bet that stirred up rumors." Poseidon laughed. They were all relieved he was alright, now that he was in his fathers domain, he was safe. Even if Hades had somebody waiting for him on shore, as long as they stayed in the water, nobody could touch them.

(The shark turned... fast as he could.)

That got a laugh out of the crowd in the room.

"Why mushrooms?" Leo asked randomly, but was ignored.

(Somehow, I knew... the summer solstice.)

"The power of the ocean. You'll get used to it." Triton promised. They had perfect bearings when in the ocean, and that included being able to keep track of the time.

"You only have hours to get to New York." Piper said, worried. They had to travel yet, it took them days just to get out West, and now they had hours to get back? And that was if they didn't get held up by something else happening, not to mention they still had to find the Helm.

"There's only one way to do that..." Rachel said slowly, thinking about something.

"Flying." Chiron finished her statement.

"But... Percy and flying..."

"I would hope that Zeus would make an exception this time while Percy is carrying his Master Bolt." Chiron raised an eyebrow at the god in question, who scowled and grumbled, but agreed that he would be foolish to destroy a plane with his Bolt onboard, no matter who else was onboard.

"Now the real question, how are they going to pay for tickets?" Clarisse asked dryly.

Rachel's eyes flew open and shot to Percy. She remembered now... She glanced at Gabe and grinned. She couldn't wait until they read the news interview Percy gave.

(In the distance... all over the city.)

Everybody grimaced at the mental image that created.

"I remember watching that on the news." Rachel said suddenly, now remembering exactly what and when this was. California had a lot of earthquakes, after all. "There was something around a hundred deaths." She informed the room, grimly.

Hades grimaced, great. More souls to figure out what to do with. He ignored the dirty looks for causing the quakes that killed them in the first place. Just like he ignored the fact that he caused them.

(There had been... me right now.)

"No... probably not." Hades denied. "I'll probably just send my Furies." He waved off.

"Like that's any better." Annabeth muttered. She was so glad she'd only had the one encounter with them, although the way she understood it, Percy'd had several.

(But at the... biggest problem.)

"Excuse me?" Hades demanded, not sure how he felt about the boy dismissing the possibility of having him after them.

"I had other things to worry about at the moment, like getting back to New York in time to start a war." Percy deadpanned.

He considered that for a moment. "Good point." He was not sulking, he wasn't.

(I had to get to... who'd tricked me.)

Chris shut the book after a moment, letting the ominous silence after that pronouncement ring. "That was the last of the chapter." He announced.

"Who was the guy that tricked you?" Travis asked, confused and not remembering it.

"Ares." Percy said simply, and ignored the war gods bristling. "He's the one that gave me that bag... there was no way he didn't know that the Bolt was inside." He rolled his eyes at the Killing Intent he felt rolling off the war god, all aimed at him, of course.

There was silence for a moment while people glared at Ares while Ares glared at Percy, then Hestia stood up and clapped her hands, getting everybodies attention. "Dinner, then we can finish this book before bed, I believe?" She questioned Chris, who flushed at the attention from her.

"Yeah... there's only three chapters left." He said.

"I will read when we return." Chiron volunteered, and stepped forward to retrieve the book. He put it nearby where he'd been standing before he followed his students towards the dining hall.

"We will discuss your involvement, later." Zeus hissed at his son, before flashing out while everyone else walked, chatting amongst themselves about what they learned in the last chapter.

"Sally, can I speak with you a moment?" Hermes asked the mortal woman, as she sat down with her husband to eat.

The English teacher had actually been handling all this surprisingly well. He had gathered that the man was aware of Percy's heritage, and therefore the fact that the gods were real, but to his limited knowledge the man had never come into contact with anything more than the demigods when they needed a safe place to sleep and/or recover.

"Oh, um, sure." Sally said, standing up with a hand on Paul's arm to keep him seated. "Is something wrong?" She asked as Hermes led her out of the dining area.

"I was curious, so I went through the Records room earlier, focusing on your and Percy's files." Hermes started, and stopped in an empty corridor. "Your mother was one of the children of my Roman aspect, while your paternal grandfather was a son of Vulcan." He said bluntly.

Sally looked surprised. "Really?" She asked. He nodded. "But... mom never said anything, and neither did my uncle... and he couldn't see the monsters..." She trailed off. If he could, he wouldn't have been dragging her in front of every doctor he could to drug her.

"Your uncle was your fathers half-brother, from your grandmothers first marriage. He didn't have a drop of godly blood in his veins, he might have known anything, either. And you were so young when your parents died..." He shrugged. "Your mother also never went to Camp Jupiter. I don't remember why, but..." He shrugged again.

He debated telling her what else he'd found, but decided he'd laid enough surprises at the poor woman's feet.

Sally got a sudden, familiar mischievous look in her eyes. "I suppose this means I can call you grandfather?" She asked.

Hermes shivered. He may be more than old enough, but he would really rather not be called grandfather. "Please don't."

She laughed, and hugged him suddenly. "Thank you." She said when she pulled away. He pushed aside his surprise, slight discomfort, and warmth from the sudden hug, and smiled warmly at her before escorting her back to the dining hall, delivering her back to her husband (and her dinner) in one piece, completely prank free, before going to find his own dinner.

Nobody was really in the mood to stretch dinner out, they wanted to finish this book and sleep, so food was eaten quickly, and everybody was soon back in the Throne Room to read, watching Chiron expectantly.

Chapter Twenty: I Battle my Jerk Relative