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.
"That's the chapter." Luke said, setting the book down gingerly.
"Really?" Percy questioned. "That was short. It didn't even get to the good stuff!" He complained. Chris sighed in relief. Maybe they didn't come across him after all...
"Last chapter, then we will stop for dinner." Hestia decided.
Katie retrieved the book before anybody else could say anything, and Annabeth decided not to make Chris read the next one, best they not be focused on him when his own betrayal was revealed. They'd already known about Luke, so it wasn't as much of a concern.
Chapter nine: I have the Worst Family Reunion Ever
"You were caught, weren't you?"
"Hey!" Annabeth protested while Percy and Luke tried to hide their grins. "That does not mean we were caught!" It was her idea to go after him, after all. Or at least, she didn't protest.
"They were caught." Luke confirmed. He couldn't even complain about the chapter title, that meeting didn't exactly go well, after all. Or end well.
He did send them to be fed to the drakon.
(Annabeth volunteered... cap of invisibility,)
"Nobody is going anywhere alone on a monster-infested cruise ship!" Chiron said sharply, looking over his students sternly. "I don't care how invisible you can be."
"Being invisible would not stop their noses from working." Sally said quietly, concerned.
"Didn't even think of that." Annabeth muttered, grimacing.
(but I convinced her... or nobody went.)
"At this point I'm not sure which one I would prefer." Chiron grumbled.
"It's a good thing we went." Percy sighed.
("Nobody!" Tyson voted... to gather our stuff.)
"Why didn't you have your things with you the entire time?" Thalia asked, blinking at three. "Leaving them behind is nothing short of stupidity."
"Yeah, I realized that later." Annabeth grimaced.
"Rookie mistake." Percy scowled.
(We figured whatever... million-dollar bingo.)
"Sadly." Percy sighed.
Annabeth elbowed him in the stomach. "You have an unlimited casino card." She rolled her eyes. What did he really need a million dollars for? Even if he did use it sparingly.
"Hey!" Clarisse said, and stared at him. "Why didn't you use that? Why the panic?"
"It was in my bag, still in my cabin. Hermes didn't include it." Percy shrugged.
"I gave them money." Hermes reminded the room, shrugging. He probably didn't see the need to include the card, not since he was giving them money anyway.
(I made sure... the top of my bag.)
"Smart." Hermes said. "The vitamins probably won't be needed yet, but the winds might come in handy." He had a feeling that the vitamins wouldn't be needed for a while yet, not until they reached Circe's island, if they had the misfortune to reach it.
"Oh, they did all right." Percy muttered. Especially with his knowledge of his powers still so shaky.
(I didn't want Tyson... carry a backpack.)
"It is perhaps best if he carries them, you would be hindered in a fight by their size and weight, while he would be unaffected at all." Poseidon supplied, glad that Percy wasn't just going to use him for those things alone. He truly cared, even if he'd had a hard time showing it in public while in camp.
"Yeah, I got that." Percy grumbled a bit. It just felt like taking advantage to be doing that.
(We sneaked through... zombie passengers.)
"One would think that with all the monsters running around, that they would be around more." Clarisse commented.
"At this time of day, they were mostly training or outside doing other things." Luke said cryptically. That, and he didn't like them near him while he was sleeping.
(As we came up... one of them said.)
Chris swallowed. Please let Annabeth have not recognized his voice... Please.
"A drakon? That's not good." Artemis said quietly, concerned. Any drakon, although the Aethiopian drakon was the smallest and easiest to kill, so it should be fine.
(The other laughed. "Yeah, it's awesome.")
"I've seen more impressive." Clarisse dismissed. She'd fought the Lydian, after all.
"It would have been better if it wasn't tearing up my city." Percy muttered. "Or eating our comrades." He added, remembering the son of Ares that it ate.
(Annabeth was still... second guy's voice.)
Chris sank down into his seat in despair. If Percy thought he sounded familiar, Annabeth was really going to recognize him, she'd known him longer then Percy did, after all.
And better.
"I am so dead." He whispered to Clarisse, who glanced at him, worried, until she realized what was going on.
"Hey, it's ok, we won't let them do anything." She whispered. "Luke is still intact, isn't he?" She reminded him. And Luke had done much worse then Chris ever managed, at least based on what little he'd told her about his time with the Titan Army.
("I hear they... familiar voice said.)
"Two more what? Drakon's?" Ares asked sharply, looking at Luke.
"Among other things, yes." He said stiffly.
Ares whistled and said back. This was looking to be quite the fight.
("They keep arriving... man- no contest!")
"I bet you stopped being impressed when you returned to camp." Percy muttered, glancing at Chris with a raised eyebrow.
Chris grimaced, but nodded. It was much less impressive when he was no longer on the side with the large and terrifying monsters that wanted to eat him.
(The voices faded down the corridor.
"That was Chris Rodriguez!")
Chris closed his eyes in resignation. He'd known they would find out eventually. Clarisse wrapped her arms around him and glared at everybody who looked at him wrong.
"Chris?" Chiron asked in horror, turning to look at him, while the younger demigods just stared or backed away in horror. His own younger self honestly wasn't too surprised, until a few days ago he'd been one of the unclaimed, and they were all bitter about it.
"Clarisse, don't tell me you-" Ares started sternly when he saw the way she was acting towards the traitor. He knew they were dating, but he liked to think that his daughter would have more sense then to date a traitor, so...
"Of course not, father." Clarisse sighed. "A lot happened. Chris didn't stay in the Titan army for much longer after this. Let's just leave it at that." She finally said after a few moments. Luke bit his lip and looked away guiltily.
"You are not surprised." Hera said, studying Hermes expression. He looked grieved, and tired, but not at all surprised.
"I already knew." He shrugged. "Luke spoke with me a few days ago, before his own actions were even revealed. He also told me the... circumstances around Chris returning to camp." Dionysus looked at him curiously before looking at Chris again.
"He reeks of madness." He muttered quietly. "And of my power." Hermes was not surprised, given what he knew of where Luke had last seen his brother before he was suddenly fighting for the Olympians again.
Zeus was fuming. Two traitors! What was Chiron doing in that camp of his, that they had two, possibly more, traitors! He didn't say anything, though, because he was currently being stared down by five of the seven, one of which was twirling her knife expertly in her hands.
(Annabeth took off... from Cabin Eleven.")
"Most of the demigods that came from camp were from Cabin Eleven." Luke said quietly. "They were the most bitter and angry towards the gods."
"Understandable." Percy murmured.
(I sort of recalled... summer before.)
"Just sort of?" Chris asked, acting wounded and trying to get some of the negative attention off himself. "I thought we were floor buddies!"
Percy snorted. "I was only in Cabin eleven for a week." He said dryly. And then he'd been in Cabin three and avoided, and then on the quest.
"We shared a floor space, though!" In Cabin eleven, with the crowded conditions there, floor buddies usually became closer. It was less awkward to sleep so close to a friend then it was a total stranger, after all.
(He was one of... claimed him.)
"I am so sorry for not claiming you sooner." Hermes said again, ashamed.
"It's fine, dad." Chris smiled slightly while Chris shifted in his seat. "I know you barely have a chance to stop and sit most of the time."
(Now that I... clearly troubled.)
"I knew what that meant, it meant that we weren't just fighting monsters anymore." She said grimly. The others who fought the Titan war looked away, the faces of the half-bloods that fell to their blades echoing in their memories.
"How many half-bloods joined you?" Persephone asked, looking just as troubled as Annabeth had on that ship.
"Enough." Luke said, looking at her calmly. If their parent had joined the Titan army, most of the children followed, like Hecate and her children. Only one or two didn't. And there were a lot of minor gods that were bitter over how little recognition they got, or how they were treated by the 'major' gods in general.
Sally and Paul glanced at each other, remembering all the phone calls, the visits where she'd had to help them through nightmares and guilt. They were far too young to have been in a war of any kind, let alone one with kids their own age fighting on the opposing side. Chiron wilted, sad at what he was hearing.
(We kept going... the presence of evil.)
Hades and Persephone glanced at each other, their bad feeling about that getting worse.
"It felt like when we were at the edge of the pit." Percy shuddered while Annabeth grimaced. Honestly, she hadn't even noticed until they were in the room.
("Percy." Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look.")
"Oh, what now?" Demeter groaned, surprising everyone.
"Nothing good." Percy murmured, remembering what he'd seen.
(She stood in front... with a dodge balls,)
"Are you sure you didn't send them?" Katie asked Luke suspiciously.
He sighed. "Yes, I'm sure." He said. "But, like I said. I was not privy to all of his plans."
(two hellhounds... instead of legs.)
"That's quite the collection you have."
Luke shrugged. "Olympus has a lot of enemies." He said. It hadn't been hard to raise an army against them.
"If you think this is a lot, this wasn't even all of them. The rest were hidden somewhere on land." Chris murmured. This was Luke's personal 'platoon', the rest were somewhere else entirely.
("Scythian Dracaenae,"... Half-Blood T-shirt.)
The younger demigods recoiled in horror while the futures merely looked at each other and set their jaws firmly.
"They hated us, too?" Annabeth whispered, dread filling her at the thought of having to fight other demigods.
"We were the lucky ones. We knew our parents, had their favor. Our parents are part of the twelve, they make the orders. While their parents are left in the background, barely acknowledged, treated poorly by the Council. We're allowed to come to Camp, receive training and resources, while hardly any of them ever get found, you must have noticed how few children of minor gods there are." Annabeth sighed, running a hand through her hair tiredly.
Chiron pursed his lips at the last bit while Dionysus flicked his head in annoyance and kept on reading. The other Olympians looked around at each other. The Grover's glanced at each other before looking at the ground. It was true, most of the time when they found a child of a minor god or goddess, they were ordered to leave them unless they were in immediate danger or were particularly strong. Most Satyr's ignored this order, though, and brought them anyway. Or they directed the demigod in question towards somewhere or somebody where they could get the help they needed.
Grover, of course, knew how much that policy was thrown out the window when it was discovered that all those minor demigods were joining the Titan army while the Camp's demigods were dying off. When they started running low on recruits, then they were ordered to find demigods and bring them.
The Romans looked at each other, finally finding something that they could honestly say they hated about the Greek camp. (Other than their easy access to Olympus and supplies like Nectar and Ambrosia.) The Roman camp didn't care about your parentage, didn't ignore those who were considered 'minor'. If you had godly blood in your veins, and you could wield a sword or even just run errands, you were a soldier of Camp Jupiter.
(As we watched... Straw flew everywhere.)
"Oh, my." Sally murmured, hands over her mouth in horror. She'd known that they were angry with Olympus and Camp, she'd spoken with them often enough, but...
Luke was carefully watching his younger self, and was pleased to see him looking slightly unsure.
A few of the past demigods looked like they might be sick.
"Who was-" Annabeth started to ask.
"Nobody you know." Chris cut her off. That guy had never been to camp, he was one of those who were left behind by all except their parent.
(The monsters cheered... face was ashen.)
The younger demigods mirrored her expression in the book while the older ones were just as grim as they were before.
"This is going to be a long, hard war." Hestia said grimly, knowing that she was going to struggle to keep the hearth-fire lit throughout the conflict.
Even Zeus could no longer deny that there was going to be a war, even if he was still in complete denial over who was in charge of the opposing army.
("Come on," I... Luke the better.")
"This isn't going to end well, is it?"
"What gave you that impression?" Percy asked sarcastically, making Luke smirk briefly before glancing at Zeus, wondering how he was going to take this.
(At the end of... that far?" I asked.)
"Farther." Tyson corrected.
"That would come in handy." Reyna muttered to Jason, who nodded.
(Tyson closed his eye... which way to turn.")
"Oh." Percy muttered, understanding the partially heard sentence now. Everything else about the following conversation and 'escape' clicked into place. "You were talking about Thalia there, weren't you?" He questioned Luke, who grimaced and looked at the girl in question, warily.
"Yeah. I told you I would have given you the Fleece when we were done with it." It hadn't just been on the off-chance that Thalia may have come back, it was because Kronos wanted that off-chance to happen. He wanted the uncertainty and fear of the prophecy from both Thalia and Percy running around to further cloud their judgement. He knew how his youngest son thought very well, after all.
Thalia gave him a dry stare, but didn't say anything.
(Before I could react... is gone for good?")
"Of course not." Chiron said, frowning. He was sure that they would succeed in finding the Fleece, and his name cleared in due time, especially if they were following Luke right now.
"When did you find out we were there?" Annabeth asked Luke quietly, wondering if it was because of Tyson doing this.
He quirked a small grin at her, but didn't say anything.
(Tyson laughed Luke's... in his closet.)
Chiron pursed his lips. "There are no 'skeletons' in my closet, there is nothing that the gods do not already know." He said stiffly. The only reason he could think of for not being trusted in this situation was if he'd kept trying to make Zeus see sense about Kronos trying to come back, which would mean he was already on thin ice when the tree was poisoned.
Zeus frowned, but didn't say anything.
(The poisoning of... that? It's creepy.")
"No, let him hear!" Katie protested, interrupting herself. "It's information you need! Why would you-"
"Enough!" Percy's sharp bark stopped all the protesters. He sighed when they all fell silent in an instant, with the Romans and younger Greeks staring at him in surprise. "You will find out later why she reacted the way she did." He said, and left it at that. There was absolutely no reason the Fates would have left out their conversation about it, so it would be in here. They would understand then why she treated Tyson the way she did in the beginning, and why she reacted this way to Tyson listening in on Luke's conversation.
Luke and Thalia pursed their lips and refused to elaborate while Annabeth looked away from everyone and curled more into Percy's side.
(Tyson opened his... "Are you sure?")
"You've been found. Haven't you?" Rachel deadpanned.
"What gave it away?" Percy asked sarcastically.
("Yes," Tyson... "Right outside.")
"That's when he heard you. You were a little loud." Luke informed Annabeth casually. Even he'd heard that.
She groaned and sank down in her seat while Percy sighed.
"I had wondered." He muttered.
(Too late, I realized... time to say, "Run!")
"You should have probably at least hid instead of standing right outside while speaking." Clarisse commented.
"Yeah, not very stealth of you." The Stolls agreed, making Percy roll his eyes at the brothers.
"I don't think you would have gotten very far, anyway." Rachel muttered, doodling on a sketch pad she'd procured from somewhere.
(when the doors of... Come right in.")
"I would hope I was your favorite." Annabeth muttered with a small smile.
"Always." Luke quirked a smirk. Although he'd honestly been shocked to see the two of them on his ship. He'd had to think fast to figure out a way to let them escape without raising their suspicions. He'd thought they were already well on their way to Florida by now.
(The stateroom... it was horrible.)
"I don't think those two descriptions can actually go together." Sally smiled shakily, trying to relieve some tension in the room.
"It was fitting, though." Annabeth said, frowning.
(The beautiful part... table in the other.)
There were some impressed whistles.
"You certainly know how to travel in style." Travis complimented his brother.
Luke shrugged. "This wasn't actually my room." He reminded his younger brother of what he'd said earlier about where his room actually was. His room was still nice, but it wasn't this.
(The table was... -long golden casket.)
"What the-" A few demigods muttered.
"Keep reading." Hades ordered before anybody could say anything else. He needed to hear what this casket looked like.
(A sarcophagus... room feel cold.)
Hades and Persephone shuddered, knowing immediately what this was, especially combined with the earlier conversation the book-trio had overheard.
"You fool." Hades glared at Luke. "You mess with ancient magics that you have no hope to control or understand." He spat.
Luke looked away. "It wasn't my idea, I didn't even know such a thing was possible until I was told to set it up." He defended himself, still not able to look at the Lord of the Underworld. Hades narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything else or meet his siblings confused and questioning eyes. He could tell that the future Greeks knew what the casket was, while the younger ones were just as clueless as their parents.
And for good reason, there was much the other Olympians did not know about the Underworld, and he aimed to keep it that way. Sadly, he didn't think he was going to get that wish.
"He will need a living host at some point, his body was destroyed." Persephone thought to her husband. They exchanged a look, knowing who the host was going to be.
("Well," Luke said... Cabin Eleven, huh?")
"A lot colder, that's for sure." Connor said, icy at the slight to his home. Cabin Eleven may have been crowded, but it was alive, there was always somebody coming or going, always something happening. And there were no ugly caskets holding the reforming body of Titan Lords.
"The casket didn't help." Luke muttered, not elaborating. He'd actually tried to avoid that room as much as possible, which unfortunately wasn't as much as he would have preferred. Hades was right, this had been something he couldn't hope to understand beyond how to set it up and ensure it's success. He hadn't cared about that, though. He'd been too angry, too determined to tear Olympus apart.
(He'd changed since... Harvard this year.)
Luke raised his eyebrows and shot Percy and incredulous look, but didn't bother trying to dispute that description. It was very accurate, after all.
"An evil male model?" The Stoll brothers echoed, blinking at Percy.
"What? Was I wrong?" Percy asked Annabeth, who thought about it for a few minutes.
"I can see it." She finally agreed.
(He still had... with a dragon.)
"I don't think that's going away any time soon." Apollo muttered. He could get rid of it, but he wasn't in the habit of getting rid of scars unless they were exceptional circumstances.
(And propped against... mortals and monsters.)
Hephaestus shifted uneasily at the reminder while glaring at nothing, while his sons shared a look and resolutely turned their attention back to their current project.
"I still want to know how he got his hands on something like that." Artemis scowled.
("Sit," he told us...
None of us sat.)
"Good. Stay prepared for anything." Ares nodded in approval. Sitting would leave them somewhat vulnerable, they wouldn't be able to react in time if they were attacked.
"I just wasn't in the mood to do anything he said." Percy shrugged. He hadn't been thinking about staying prepared. He certainly wasn't about to sit down and have a nice conversation with the guy who'd practically stabbed him in the back barely a year before.
"Is nobody else concerned with where he's gotten these powers?" Hera asked suddenly. "Sons of Hermes do not have these kinds of powers."
Luke looked away. "A gift from my benefactor." He said simply while Hermes frowned at Hera.
(Luke's large friends... all pointed canines.)
Artemis breathed in sharply before looking away. She'd regretted turning the girl away after she'd done it, but by then it was too late. She hadn't known of Aphrodite's involvement until later, she'd been too angry that the girl had turned around and broken the number one rule she had so soon after she took the girl in, and it hadn't even been with another human, or even a nature spirit, it was with a bear.
That was when she started truly fighting with Aphrodite, she detested how she interfered with the mortals and played with them.
"What are they?" Annabeth asked, having never heard or read of them before.
"Not what. Who. I'm sure it will be in the book." Zoe sighed, looking at her lady with concern.
("Where are my... heard of them.")
"No, actually. We didn't." Annabeth admitted. Which Luke had known full well.
This was one of the stories that weren't written about, one of their failings that the gods kept hidden.
(I said nothing... who scared me.)
Percy got some looks, but nobody said anything. Some of them were sure they knew, and understood, who he was really scared of.
Percy had looked up to Luke, after all, and the last time he'd seen him Luke had left him to die. It was perfectly understandable that there would be some fear.
(I'd imagined meeting... hands from shaking.)
Percy looked away, ashamed, but Annabeth smacked his arm lightly.
"There is nothing wrong with that." Ares shrugged. As long as he didn't let that keep him from acting.
Percy blinked at him in surprise.
("You don't know... enough, though...")
Nobody spoke while Katie read, letting her read the tale without interruption.
"And yet again the demigods are the ones paying for the sins of the Olympians." Luke said bitterly, glaring at Artemis, who winced. Unlike the demigods, her Hunters were very rarely targeted for something she'd done, mostly because she was usually with them, whereas the demigods didn't have that luxury.
Hermes and Apollo glanced at each other, while Poseidon and Amphitrite looked around at the others.
Piper was the most affected by the story. "Of all the stupid, petty things-" She seethed. "You threw a fit and destroyed her life because she didn't want to fall in love when told? Because she wanted to live her own life?" She demanded, glaring at her mother in disgust.
Aphrodite looked away, and refused to feel guilty. They would have made a cute couple, she knew it, and refused to be sorry for trying to set them up. Artemis was looking at her in equal disgust with sorrow.
Those that cared noticed Aphrodite's complete lack of guilt or remorse and shook their heads in disgust.
"You just said they don't mind half-bloods." Paul ventured, hopeful. The demigods grimaced, knowing the truth wasn't going to be what Paul was hoping.
("For lunch," Agrius growled.)
"Of course." Paul sighed, not sure why he bothered hoping for anything else.
Sally patted him on the back, not any happier about it.
(His gruff voice... stared at him.)
"Um- is he alright?" Hazel asked, alarmed by this.
"Yeah, this is how he always acted." Luke sighed. "He wasn't all... there." He finished with a grimace. In human terms he might have been considered severely autistic or something along those lines, he wasn't sure if he could be called such when he wasn't human, though.
("Shut up, you... punish yourself!")
"I don't think that's the right way to deal with him." Piper said, looking around uncertainly.
Luke shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I just didn't want to argue with Agrius." That wasn't an argument he was interested in having, partially because he didn't really care, partially because his 'relationship' with Agrius was rocky enough as it was.
(Oreius whimpered... silver plates rattle.)
"Um..."
"Was he alright?" The demigods couldn't help but feel sorry for the half-bear, half-human. Even if he did consider them to be lunch, it wasn't really his fault that the goddesses screwed his mother over so badly.
"He was fine." Luke sighed.
(Luke acted like... normal behavior.)
"Because it was." Luke muttered to the Seven nearest to him, who he was pretty sure was Annabeth, but he couldn't be too sure without seeing her face.
She snorted, but didn't say anything.
"I'm glad I didn't have much to do with them." Chris muttered to Clarisse, who snorted.
(He made himself... mom? How's school?")
"Was that a threat?" Thalia jumped in, glaring at him suspiciously. Poseidon fixed him with a sharp look but didn't say anything yet.
"Wha- No! That was not a threat towards Sally." Luke protested, alarmed.
"Shouldn't you already know how things went at his school? It was all over the news that it burned, and monsters were involved." Sally pointed out, ignoring Thalia's protectiveness. The other future Greeks had similar expressions on their faces as she did, and she knew from experience that she wasn't going to be able to talk them down.
"It's called small-talk." Luke grumbled, slumping in his seat.
("You poisoned Thalia's... tree. So what?")
"'So what'?" Thalia echoed, glaring at Luke. "After everything that happened, 'so what'?!" Those surrounding and protecting Luke from Zeus subtly drew back, not able or willing to protect him from his own idiotic comments, at least not when it was Thalia who was angry.
Luke audibly gulped. "I didn't- It's not what it sounds like!" He protested, scooting away from her. He yelped when a lightning bolt shot out of her hands and slammed into the ground next to him.
"And to say that to Annabeth?!" She exclaimed, showing what she was truly angry about.
"It was stupid! I know!" Luke shouted back, not able to fully look her in the eyes.
"Stupid is an understatement." She glared even harder.
("How could you?"... be on my side.")
"No I would not." Thalia declared. "I was just as angry with them as you always were. But I at least saw that they are the better option than he would have been." She glared at Luke for trying to speak for her, something he knew full well she hated. She could speak for herself, thank you very much.
Luke grimaced. "I know. I knew that you would never join the Titan's. I was just trying to get Annabeth to 'see reason'." He sighed, knowing he would probably pay for the rest of his comments in this chapter later. If he remembered right, this was the last chapter for the day.
But he'd truly believed that Olympus and Camp stood no chance, and he hadn't wanted Annabeth to get hurt or killed by being on the wrong side. The only way he could have protected her was if she joined him.
("Liar!"
"If you... you'd understand-")
"I don't! I learned what was coming, and I still didn't understand!" Annabeth retorted.
"What exactly is coming?" Connor asked quietly, glancing at Luke but not actually asking him. The younger ones weren't too sure what to do with him after learning he was the traitor.
Percy sighed. "You'll read all about it." He told the past demigods sadly. Hopefully they would never have to live it, but he wasn't sure if they had a hope of surviving the current war with the giants if they hadn't had the war with the Titans to make them stronger, to make the gods Claim their children and give them more fighters. He still wasn't sure how much of a chance they stood, but he figured their odds were better than they would have been otherwise.
("I understand you... them, Annabeth?)
"Yes, and it's not as glorious as what you were imagining." She sighed. Especially with the Titans in charge.
"I think all of us could imagine that." Katie said softly before she kept reading.
(What good is that... rotten to the core.)
While there were times when all the demigods thought the same thing, they also held out hope that things could change, and the knowledge that things could be so much worse.
They also knew that Zeus would strike them down if they ever dared voice such thoughts, like Luke was doing now.
The Council shifted uncomfortably when they saw the looks on the demigods faces, realizing that on some level they agreed with Luke.
(It has to be... within the month.)
Those who had been left behind at camp shifted angrily at the dismissal of their fighting skills, but couldn't dispute that he wasn't wrong.
"There were so many of them." Connor said quietly.
"And they just kept coming." Travis agreed. They fought them off every time, but with every attack more damage was done to the camp, more injuries were taken, there were more close calls, and the more tired they all were. They were being worn down bit by bit, and it had been nightmarish to realize.
"We couldn't keep up." Will piped in, gesturing to himself to indicate that he was talking about the Healers in the Apollo Cabin. They were running out of supplies, energy, and determination to keep going under the onslaught of wounded campers.
The younger demigods stared at them in horror.
(The heroes who survive... pointed at Tyson.)
"Hey!" Most of the Greeks protested, glaring at him for the slight to Tyson.
"Guys, this is more on why Annabeth hated him in the beginning." Percy sighed, not even bothering to get angry over it. He knew the reasons behind Annabeth's reactions and he didn't blame her, especially since she seemed to have gotten over it when she got to know Tyson better.
("Hey!" I said... You of all people-")
"Remind me how many Cyclops you yourself had in your army?" Thalia snapped at him, glaring as she held Annabeth.
Luke flinched and looked away.
"Ok, now I'm really curious." Beckendorf said, looking between the three of them and wondering just what happened to them that involved a Cyclops. Obviously it would have been before Annabeth and Luke reached camp, maybe even before they were found by Grover...
("Stop it!" she... father claimed him.")
"Which actually sent even more unclaimed demigods towards me." Luke chimed in, not looking at Poseidon.
"What do you mean?" Chiron asked, even though he had a feeling he knew why.
"Poseidon can Claim a Cyclops, but yet their own parents can't take the time to Claim them?" Chris pointed it out with a scoff. He'd already left camp by the time Percy returned, but he still heard about it, and it had still angered them.
The gods in question glanced around at each other, wondering. Did something so small and insignificant really affect the demigods so much?
Poseidon refused to feel guilty for Claiming his Cyclops son, but he did feel for those Unclaimed.
(I must have looked... keep me posted.")
"Spies." Chiron said quietly, missing the way Clarisse and Chris looked at each other, or any of the other futures for that matter.
"She wasn't involved with me until later." Luke said quietly. But she had provided the most valuable information, she had access to more information as a Counselor then his other spies had, after all.
"Just how many spies did you have?" Clarisse asked, incredulous.
"Uh, at least three at any one time..." Luke shrugged. There were a few times his spy had to leave camp because Chiron had gotten too close, but he'd had another there to fill the gap. Chiron visibly sagged at the information while Zeus seethed.
("Spies, you mean."... cares for this monster?")
"Of course I care!" Poseidon protested. "I care about all my children!" The timing just really sucked when he tried to show it.
"We know, dad." Percy smiled reassuringly at his father.
(Tyson clenched his...using you, Percy.)
"Like you're one to talk?" Percy rolled his eyes, and Luke flinched.
"I didn't see it like that, you know that." He sighed. Annabeth glared slightly.
(Do you have any...
Sixteenth birthday?)
"I knew about the prophecy, but this was the first I was hearing about an age-limit, or whatever." Percy shook his head.
Chiron sighed. "I have been sworn to secrecy on its exact contents. I cannot disclose them until instructed otherwise." He said unhappily. He truly hated that restriction, especially since there were now five demigods in this room that the prophecy could refer to, three of them Greek.
One from each of the brothers.
It meant that the prophecy was coming true, whether Zeus liked it or not. Hopefully the prophecy was revealed in these books.
(I mean, I knew... the sound of that.)
"Still don't." Percy grumbled while the Romans listened with interest.
"You survived!" Rachel said bracingly, trying to give a reassuring smile, but it just came out as a grimace.
"Somehow." Annabeth said dryly, tightening her grip on his hand.
("I know what... my enemies are.")
"While that is important to know, if you don't know everything, then you cannot say that you really know who all your enemies are." Ares cautioned against that kind of assumption.
"And it has already been revealed that there are spies within camp." Athena chimed in, she'd been running all the possible scenarios through her head while listening, so she had been silent for a while.
("Then you're a fool.")
"Better a fool then a traitor." Percy muttered to himself, looking thoughtful about something.
(Tyson smashed the... he charged Luke.)
"Go Tyson!" The Stolls cheered while Tyson smiled slightly before it dropped into a frown.
He couldn't do anything, he was stopped before he could.
"Careful. Those bear twins are more powerful together then they are separate." Poseidon cautioned his sons. Judging from Percy's grimace and Tyson's frown, he guessed that they'd found that out.
(His fists came... stopped him cold.)
"No way." The Stolls said in disbelief. "How?"
"They're strong."
"There's not much out there stronger than a Cyclops." Chiron said grimly. These twins were two of the few, unfortunately for them right now.
(They pushed him... father sent us.")
"I don't think you should have said that." Rachel told Percy with a smirk.
Percy sighed. "I know, but somehow I doubt that anything we said could have stopped this." He admitted.
"It wouldn't have." Luke confirmed.
(His face turned... even- mention him.")
Apollo laid a hand on Hermes' shoulder, trying to comfort his brother.
Luke wouldn't look at his father while Luke looked at a wall, stone-faced but with an angry glint in his eye.
"Nice job." Annabeth complimented Katie, who'd managed to imitate the venom in Luke's voice perfectly. Katie smirked and kept reading.
("He told us to... me, Percy!)
"That is not true!" Hermes burst out.
"That's how it seemed." Annabeth said quietly. Especially when they were younger, and especially after they had to visit Luke's mother that one time.
"That's how it felt to me." Luke agreed with what Annabeth said.
"Well that is not what happened." Hermes whispered. He'd tried the best he could, he was trying to protect him.
(I want Olympus... crushed to rubble!)
The Council shifted uncomfortably at the mention of their thrones being destroyed.
While their destruction would not kill them or anything, a lot of their power was tied to them these days. Olympus being destroyed would certainly cause a lot of damage to their powerbase, but they could rebuild it elsewhere.
It would take centuries for them to recover, and they would be extremely vulnerable in the meantime.
(You tell Hermes it's... He grows stronger.")
The gods glanced at each other again, even more uneasy.
As much as some of them (Hera) hated the demigods, they all knew how important they were to their survival.
(Luke pointed to the gold sarcophagus.)
"Wait, what?" A few of the younger demigods asked in confusion.
Katie kept reading, not bothering to stop. She knew what the problem was with the sarcophagus, she didn't want to have to explain it twice.
(The box creeped me... the sarcophagus.)
"You figured it out fast." Clarisse commented, surprised sounding.
"You don't have to sound so surprised." Annabeth murmured, offended on Percy's behalf.
Percy threw Clarisse a dirty look. "It wasn't hard." He said. "That coffin felt just like the Pit did in the Underworld, and he just told me that something was in there."
Clarisse didn't say anything, just grimaced apologetically.
(The temperature in... piece appears-")
"And every demigod that joins him weakens us at the same time." Athena murmured to herself, bothered by that in ways she couldn't quite describe, even to herself.
It certainly made a 'war of attrition' take on a new meaning.
("That's disgusting!" Annabeth said.)
"Agreed." Most of the girls muttered, scowling.
"Is that-" Amphitrite started to ask, glancing at Hades, who sighed and nodded.
"It's an Ancient, Dark ritual." He admitted. "I've only read snippets about it, but it's entirely possible. It's also incredibly dangerous, because you could call something much, much worse then what you were trying for." He glared at Luke again, the boy could have truly doomed them all.
"Worse then Kronos?" Percy asked, incredulous. What could be worse then him?
"Kronos isn't even a bug on a windshield compared to what else is out there." Percy informed him darkly. The scars on his face stood out as he said it, and suddenly took on a darker meaning for the demigods while the gods looked on in sympathy and respect.
(Luke sneered at her... I wouldn't talk.)
"I'm not sure that the two situations are that similar." Reyna muttered.
"The thing with the sarcophagus is far more disgusting." Frank agreed. Although they were both a little on the gross side.
Although the Romans weren't too sure about the comment about how Athena was born.
(Soon there will... forges of Hephaestus.")
"That ritual requires a physical body at the end of it, to give the new 'form' something to latch onto." Hades said grimly.
"I know." Luke said quietly. "I didn't find out about that until later. At the time, though, that was a sacrifice I was more then willing to make."
"You would have needed to swim in the Styx." Persephone said quietly.
"Not fun." Both Luke and Percy said at the same time. Percy earned startled looks from the younger demigods and the gods.
("You're insane." Annabeth said.)
"He was sounding kind of crazy." Connor agreed. He'd never heard Luke speak like that before.
"I was, wasn't I?" Luke grumbled quietly, frowning.
("Join us and you'll ... ship and much more.)
"If the cruise ship was bought, then what is with the passengers?" Sally challenged.
"It wasn't actually bought. The first ship, yes. The second ship..." Luke shrugged. They'd snuck onboard the Andromeda as it was leaving dock, taken it over, and transported the monsters onboard further away from the docks.
(Percy, your mother... buy her a mansion.)
"Like I told Poseidon, if I just let my life be given to me without working for it or finding it on my own, then my life has no purpose." Sally said softly. "I have to be able to live my life, for it to be my life." Besides, if she didn't let Percy buy her everything he thought she needed after he got that card from the Lotus, why should she accept that just because the Titan's were in charge?
Luke looked down. "I think I understand that now." He'd had some talks with Hestia and Persephone since dying, not to mention the stories the other demigods in his army had told of the woman who took care of them regardless of the side of the war they'd chosen to be on.
(You can have... whatever you want.)
"I am powerful." Percy said. "I have fame. I don't want the fame and my power is dangerous."
"You just need to learn how to control it better." Poseidon assured him.
"Your power is what it is. You can't fear it. You can only learn how to use it." Sally smiled at her son while Annabeth squeezed his arm.
Percy shifted while Annabeth glanced at him in concern. She knew, probably better then anybody else, just how much he feared hurting others with his power, especially after what happened in Tartarus.
(Annabeth, you can... of the next age!")
"I've already done that." Annabeth said. Unfortunately she was pulled off the project and she didn't know if it had been finished in her absence. But it was still her design. "Well, not the 'lords of the next age' bit, but the architectural part." She shrugged.
("Go to Tartarus," she said.)
"Careful with what you say." Annabeth muttered. Hopefully that hadn't been an Arai curse come back to haunt her, and that was the reason she ended up there herself. Meeting the Arai had truly taught her and Percy that actions have consequences, even if you don't really see it.
"Wow." Leo whistled. "Did Annabeth Chase just tell somebody-"
"Yes, I did. So what?" She challenged him. He backed up with his hands up, surrendering.
(Luke sighed. "A shame."... dangerous in a fight.)
"And you would be right." Luke agreed.
("Ah, good, security,"... some stowaways.")
"What are you up to?" Demeter asked suspiciously.
"We had stowaways. I reported them to security." Luke shrugged, knowing that they would read about it.
"You're up to something." Sally agreed with Demeter, frowning at him. "Why send regular security officers with them when you could just get a few monsters to escort them somewhere else?" Luke didn't answer them.
("Yes, sir," they said dreamily.)
"That's creepy."
"You have no idea." Percy said.
(Luke turned to... how it's done.")
"Why do I get the feeling I know who the meal is going to be?" Paul asked the room rhetorically.
"Your feeling is correct." Luke said with a grimace. Of course, he'd hoped that Percy would take the chance to escape, even if the security guards' competency almost ruined it.
(Oreius grinned... threat," Luke said.)
"One of the bear twins alone stands no chance against a Cyclops, even one as young as Tyson." Poseidon frowned.
"You wanted them to escape." Artemis realized.
Luke sighed. "We needed the Fleece." He said simply. "They weren't supposed to be on my ship."
"You're going to let them do all the work of retrieving the Fleece, and then steal it off them when they leave the Sea of Monsters." Apollo frowned at him. "That's genius, and also wrong." Luke shrugged.
(He glanced back... troubling him.)
"What was wrong?" Will asked.
"Huh? Oh, it was nothing. Just thinking about the next part of the plan." He muttered. Failing to get the Fleece only delayed the inevitable, but after he learned just what was expected of him, he almost wished they'd succeeded in getting it, then he wouldn't have had so long to think about it.
He'd also been wondering if Thalia would truly join him when she was brought back by the Fleece, assuming the Fleece could really bring her back.
("Agrius, stay here... security guards.)
"This is the perfect chance to escape." Piper said.
"Not yet." Clarisse disagreed. "They're still in the middle of the ship."
"They'll need to wait until they're either closer to a door, or out on deck, but then they would be easy pickings for archers."
Percy and Annabeth looked at each other, but didn't say anything.
(As I walked down... But maybe separately...)
"Yes!" Most of the group cheered.
"I didn't even catch that." Annabeth admitted. She'd had no clue what was happening when Percy gave Tyson the signal. She'd been so busy trying to think of a way out of that mess that she'd almost missed it.
"Hey, you're the long-term, I'm on the fly, remember?" Percy hugged her closer to his side before relaxing his hold. "I doubt I would have survived this long otherwise." She rolled her eyes but smiled gratefully for the assurance.
"Oh, I'm sure you would have found a way." She said dryly.
Luke was pleased that one of them caught that hint.
(We exited the... lined with lifeboats.)
"Now would be a perfect time to escape." Clarisse said, smirking. "Their getaway is practically gift-wrapped for them at this point." Especially with those boats right there.
"This is the only time they had to escape." Chris agreed, especially since he knew that ship, and he knew that they wouldn't have been outside for much longer, across the deck and down the elevator, that would have been it for them.
"Thank goodness Tyson figured out what you were talking about." Annabeth sighed, earning curious looks.
(I knew the ship... look at sunlight.)
"I thought there weren't any maps of the ship." Piper said, confused. "How did you know that?"
Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson blinked at her for a moment while everybody else stared at the three of them.
"Good question." Percy said slowly. How had he known that? Earlier he'd been complaining about there not being maps showing where they were, and now he knew exactly where they were? "We explored, sure, but not that much."
"Maybe your powers as a Son of Poseidon kicked in? You do have perfect bearings at sea." Annabeth suggested.
"That doesn't apply to knowing my way around the ship." Percy argued.
"I don't know, you controlled the Queen Anne's Revenge pretty well." She shrugged. Percy looked at Poseidon in question, his dad only shrugged. It was a plausible reason, after all. He honestly couldn't say one way or the other. His children were unpredictable, that included how their powers manifested sometimes.
(Once we got... that would be it.)
"If you're going to make your move, you better make it. Now."
"If we keep reading, you will find out what happens." Percy sighed.
(I looked at... he understood.)
"Of course." Tyson confirmed, a little confused about why Percy thought he wouldn't have.
Percy snorted and patted him on the arm fondly.
"Fight!" Ares cheered.
"It wasn't much of one." Annabeth muttered under her breath.
(He turned and... the swimming pool,)
"Yeah!"
"Go Tyson!"
"Kick his- er, you know what!" Connor quailed and censored himself under the sudden Look from Sally. She nodded, a satisfied smile on her face while Paul snorted and hid his laughter in her hair. The rest of the group dissolved into cheers and laughter.
(right into the... blast in the pool!")
"That would be funny if it wasn't so creepy." Leo deadpanned.
"Yeah..." Piper and Jason agreed.
"Were they alright?" Hestia asked, concerned.
"They weren't hit or landed on." Percy confirmed.
(One of the security... a well-placed kick.)
More cheers from the demigods and more 'immature' gods.
"That was a nice kick." Percy commented.
"Thanks." She smirked. "Maybe you shouldn't have been so busy watching me, though." She said, amused. Percy pouted while grumbling about it not being his fault.
(The other guard... nearest alarm box.)
"Stop him!"
"Don't let him push that button!"
Annabeth gave Percy a pointed look. "Sorry!" He grumbled some more.
("Stop him!" Annabeth... he hit the alarm.)
"That's what happened." Luke muttered. Their competence almost stopped the escape attempt. Luckily Percy and Annabeth had shown themselves to be more resourceful then he'd thought. "What is with you and deck chairs when fighting?" He asked Percy.
"They were everywhere, and made for convenient weapons?" Percy shrugged.
"Forget that, they're going to have monsters all over them now!" Will cut in, reminding them of how serious the current situation in the book was.
(Red lights flashed... the nearest one.)
"Go, go, go, go."
"Quickly!" A few of the demigods were almost bouncing in their seats in anticipation.
It had been a long day, they were more then ready to be done for the day. Hopefully this chapter was almost done.
(By the time we... of pina colada.)
"That's embarrassing."
"At least Percy didn't have to deal with him."
Chris pursed his lips. "I think that was Miguel." He muttered. He remembered hearing about that, the poor guy was teased for it for weeks. Luke shrugged.
(Laistrygonian archers... their enormous bows.)
"Ok, you might want to get out of there, now." Hermes said.
"Wow, they showed up fast." Apollo muttered.
"It's a big cruise ship, but it's not that big." Percy pointed out. "There were probably a lot of them already nearby, especially if they were still on the Promenade." That seemed to have been turned into their training arena after all.
"And we were working on getting out of there." Annabeth sighed.
("How do you... screamed Annabeth.)
"There was a pin and a lever that you had to pull." Luke supplied helpfully, earning glares.
"We found it, it was jammed." Annabeth said dryly.
"Ah, you might want to take that up with the cruise liner, then." Luke suggested, hiding his smirk when her glare deepened. Hey, it wasn't his fault if the safety equipment wasn't checked to make sure it worked properly before launch! Besides, Percy figured out a faster way, anyway.
(A hellhound leaped... a fire extinguisher.)
"You are really good at using everyday objects as weapons." Katie commented to Tyson, who shrugged.
"I didn't have a stick yet." He frowned. So, he'd made do with whatever he could get his hands on.
"Stick?" Poseidon asked, not sure he wanted to know.
"Tyson has a really big club. He's quite effective with it, too." Percy said proudly. And what was even better was that a new club was all he'd asked for after saving Olympus. Zeus's face had been hilarious.
("Get in!" I yelled... above the water.)
"A fall from that height, even in a boat, could be deadly." Poseidon said, worried for the daughter of Athena in the group. His sons would be fine, unless they got hurt by the boat fragments.
"I had it covered." Percy assured the room, squeezing Annabeth's hand.
"That's not going to matter if you can't get the boat free." Paul muttered, biting his lip. Honestly half the stuff these kids got up was going to give him premature grey hairs.
(Annabeth and Tyson... the release pulley.)
Annabeth gave Luke a dirty look for that, but didn't say anything else, knowing he would just tell her to take it up with the cruise liner again.
"That's not good."
"They have a knife and sword, they don't need to bother with that." Leo pointed out. Annabeth face-palmed.
(I jumped in beside... toward the ocean. )
"That is the chapter." Katie said, inserting the bookmark somebody had found and closing the book softly. None of the Greeks would look at Luke after the conversation he'd had with Percy and Annabeth, except for Thalia.
Nobody would have been surprised if more lightning started to be thrown around right now.
"We need to talk." Thalia growled, standing up and reaching for him.
"Dinner first." Hestia said, appearing beside her, and taking off with Luke before she could argue.
"Hey!" Thalia protested anyway, growling more about her prey being taken. The Seven wisely decided to get Luke out of range before she turned on him, even though he hadn't technically done anything yet.
"Come on, the faster you eat, the sooner you can let him have it." Nico was the only one brave enough to get her attention while the rest of the group quietly made their escape.
"Oh, I'll be having a talk with him." She promised.
"Come on." Percy appeared on her other side.
Before I get flamed for saying they would recover from their thrones being destroyed, I get that idea from the Titans.
Their stronghold was destroyed, their thrones crushed, and yet they rebuilt their stronghold and made a comeback. So I figure the Olympians could survive the same thing, just be left vulnerable.