I'm just going to throw something out there in response to a review on the last chapter, but I actually have not read the Trials of Apollo. I just couldn't get into it. I barely managed to get through the first one, and could barely focus on the second one longer then a few chapters. So I am going to make several references with the Seven that there is stuff currently going on/has happened with Apollo, but I have no clue about anything that actually happened beyond the first book. So they will just be vague references.
When they first came out I was interested, but actually starting to read them... It took me three weeks to struggle through two chapters of the second book, whereas with Son of Neptune, I read the entire thing in four hours. That should put my issues with it in perspective.
And as a reminder, there are currently three Percy Jacksons in the reading. One from the beginning of Son of Neptune, one from after the Giant War/during Trials of Apollo, and the other is 8. He is not from the beginning of Lightning Thief.
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.
He wasn't holding his breath on that one.
"Goodnight." Luke muttered absently. He'd been quiet ever since his talk with Thalia.
"Goodnight." The rest of the Messengers echoed as they followed their leader.
The next morning went as usual, with an early morning chase through the palace for the bag of cookies Sally used to bribe the demigods into wakefulness.
"You know, if they didn't lead such active lifestyles, I would worry more about giving them so much sugar first thing in the mornings." Sally sighed, sitting down beside Paul.
Paul snorted. "I'm just glad sugar seems to actually calm some of them down." He said, amused.
"Instead of making them more hyper?" Sally nodded in understanding. "Just don't let them get into the coffee." She warned with a smirk.
"I know, I know." Paul did not want to experience that ever again. He was just glad that their renters insurance covered the damage to the apartment, even if they had to do some fast talking and the landlord wasn't too happy. For a bit there, he'd wondered if he wouldn't have to find one of the demigods and have them manipulate the Mist into letting them keep their apartment. It had been bad.
"Oh, that sounds like a good story." Hermes said, sitting down beside them with a grin. The demigods were starting to trickle in as well, Percy pouting a bit as he'd been caught and the bag taken from him so he couldn't keep it all to himself.
"Paul let a group of demigods staying over for the night have coffee the next morning. And he didn't restrict it to one cup." Sally informed the god.
"Oh, I bet that wasn't pretty." Hermes winced with a small laugh.
"It wasn't." Thankfully the group in question sent them a few canisters of coffee beans, the good stuff, in apology for the damage they'd caused and for drinking it all. Chiron had picked up the tab for what insurance didn't cover. "Especially since they were children of Hecate and Nemesis." Obviously this group was part of the Titan army, which made Paul confused when Chiron called and arranged for the rest of the repairs to be paid for. He never did get answers to how Chiron even knew about it, or why he paid for repairs.
Still, fireballs being thrown around his (rather small seeming at that moment) apartment at six a.m. had been rather terrifying.
"Oh, ouch." Hermes flinched. "Oh, I wish I had seen that." Sally and Paul both gave him a look that clearly said 'no you don't'.
"Oh, I remember that. Those five were not liked when word spread of the incident." Luke informed the table, sitting down beside his father. His demigods had feared for a bit that Sally and Paul would withdraw their offer of sanctuary because of it. Thankfully Sally hadn't. Still, the fact she was so willing to help them, no matter what side of the war they were on, made many of them rather protective of Sally Jackson. The fact that those five could have hurt her or worse...
"They were-" Apollo started, surprised. Luke nodded and focused on his breakfast.
"I told you the apartment looked different." Percy muttered to Annabeth, who sighed and shook her head.
"Come, lets start this reading again!" Hera finally called, standing and leaving the room for the courtyard. Zeus still would not budge on his stance that Luke not be allowed in his Throne Room, but she actually found it rather relaxing to sit outside and read.
"She does realize that most of us just got here and sat down, right?" Annabeth asked nobody in particular before rolling her eyes and returning to her food. Amphitrite was amused to note that Zeus was the only one that followed Hera, the rest of them stayed to eat.
"Sally, there's something I've been meaning to ask." Aphrodite asked suddenly from her spot at the other end of the table.
"Yes?"
"You dropped out of high school to take care of your sick uncle, correct? And when he passed, there was no money left, so I'm assuming his medical bills used it all up. How did you not end up on the streets?" She was slightly amazed that the woman had managed to make something of herself with her circumstances. No high school diploma, no money, no family to fall back on... most people in those circumstances ended up on the streets for some reason or other, unable to find a job.
"I did for a little bit." Sally shrugged. "The bank foreclosed on my uncle's house and kicked me out before I was able to find a job or a new place to live. After that, I found a shelter, and took the first job that would hire me. It wasn't the best, but it paid well enough that I was able to get a cheap apartment. Stayed there for a while before I started hunting for a better job. Once I had that I was able to get a better apartment, then I started making friends, took a trip with them to the beach. Then I had Percy."
Paul wrapped his arm around her shoulders, knowing that despite her calm tone of voice, she did not like to talk or think about those days.
"I still had my dreams, I wasn't going to give them up." She'd literally crawled herself out of the gutter. She'd fought for everything she had now, and she was not going to give it up.
For anything.
The gods stared at the mortal woman who had been able to do so much for herself. Poseidon just smiled proudly, having already known all this. Hermes' eyes were downcast as he thought about what his descendant must have gone through. Not only for what she went through when her uncle died, but then when she had Percy, having to raise a child on her own, research everything she could about the Greek Pantheon so she could protect her son from it, and later put up with Gabe for her sons protection.
The demigods just glowed with pride for their 'aunt' and everything she'd been able to accomplish.
"What about child services?" Amphitrite asked, disturbed.
"I was eighteen by the time my uncle died." Sally said softly. Once you were eighteen, you were no longer a 'child' and never entered child services radar.
Aphrodite went back to her breakfast, thoughtful. She could tell that Athena and Artemis were both thinking hard about something, but she had no idea what.
Half an hour later, a rather annoyed Hera tapped her foot as the group finally made their way to the courtyard and found somewhere to sit. Clarisse claimed the book before anyone else could and found the page she wanted before smirking when she read the title.
Chapter ten: We Hitch a Ride with Dead Confederates
"Ah." Clarisse interrupted herself, still smirking. "Now we get to the good stuff."
Percy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah." He muttered.
Ares tilted his head, an idea forming about what this could be about.
Everyone wondered if they really wanted to know.
("Thermos!" I screamed... toward the water.)
"What?" A few demanded, confused about what Percy was talking about. Why would he want the thermos in a situation like this?
"No, that's a good idea, as long as it's done carefully." Poseidon assured everyone. At this point in the books, Percy didn't have the control over his powers that would be necessary for manipulating the water under them to catch them, like a net under a stunt artist or circus acrobat. Such a thing would still be jarring, but it would not be the fatal fall (for Annabeth) that they were currently in.
If Percy had the experience and control over his abilities to do it. Since he didn't, he might end up doing more damage.
"What?"
"If you would let me keep reading, you would know!" Clarisse snapped without looking up from the book. Everyone fell silent at the faint wisps of red coming off of her for a moment. (Those that saw her fight with the Drakon knew what that was about. Ares blinked at her in shocked surprise.)
("What?" Annabeth... I'd lost my mind.)
"I did." Annabeth said sheepishly.
"That's fine. You didn't know what it was." Percy shrugged, not too concerned about it. There were plenty of times over the years when he'd thought she lost her mind because of a crazy scheme. Once it was all over, of course, it all made perfect sense.
(She was holding...
But Tyson understood.)
Percy had a small grin on his face at that, enjoying the looks on the Roman's faces. He wasn't blind to the looks they'd been giving Tyson.
They were not happy to be in the same room as a Cyclops, and he could see the surprise whenever he said something intelligent in either the books or in a current conversation. He was happy to see them constantly being proven wrong.
"Go Tyson!" The others cheered the big guy on while Poseidon smiled, pleased to see that the two had bonded so well.
Of course, nobody dared laugh at the description of what Annabeth's hair was doing.
(He managed to... it or the boat.)
"That takes skill." Somebody commented, impressed.
"I was surprised." Percy shrugged. He'd half expected to have to catch Tyson or pick him up from the water when he fell.
(Arrows and javelins... right thing. "Hang on!")
"I hope you're doing the right thing, too." Hermes muttered. This wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind when he gave Percy that thermos, he was sure.
"It worked out." Percy shrugged, ignoring Annabeth's slight glare.
("I am hanging on!" Annabeth yelled.
"Tighter!")
"That wasn't possible at that point." Annabeth said dryly. She'd had a hard time letting go of the ropes when they finally landed, her fingers refused to uncurl. That was how tightly she'd been holding on. Her hands had been sore for days afterward.
"Sorry." Percy apologized quietly, rubbing her hand as though it had just happened.
"Why do you get to have all the fun?" Travis whined, glaring half-heartedly at Percy.
Percy blinked at him a few times. "I don't think 'fun' is the word I would have used at this moment." He deadpanned. Especially when one of his companions would have died upon landing if he didn't do something.
Annabeth nodded fervently. This had not been fun.
(I hooked my feet... cap a quarter turn.)
"Wait, if he was holding onto you two, then how was he staying in the boat?" Katie asked, glancing at Tyson in concern.
"Probably the same way I was." Percy said after a moment, glancing at Tyson, who nodded and went back to his project.
"Good, no more then a quarter turn at a time, and even that might be too much." Hermes cautioned, leaning back slightly now that he knew Percy wasn't going to overdo it with the thermos. Percy gave Annabeth a pointed look.
"I said I was sorry." She muttered, rolling her eyes.
(Instantly, a white... five-degree crash landing.)
"Ah, good. Still a hard landing, but survivable for the non-child-of-the-sea in your group." Apollo said in satisfaction, knowing that the girl would be fine now.
"Yeah, hard landing." Annabeth grumbled, rubbing her neck. Tyson holding onto her had been the only thing that kept her in the boat, despite the death grip she had on the ropes and the side of it. "Thanks, Tyson." She said, suddenly realizing that she'd never thanked him for that.
"Did you almost come out?" Sally asked in concern. She nodded with a shrug.
(The wind seemed... was glad to be free.)
Hermes sighed, already dreading having to deal with Aeolus to reacquire them.
"It's a good cause." Apollo reminded him quietly. Hermes had to acknowledge his point.
"I think I would be glad to escape, too." Grover muttered, shuddering at the thought of being trapped in a small thermos like that, especially for a free spirit like the wind.
(As we hit the... the ship behind us,)
"What?" Luke asked, looking around at all the raised eyebrows he was getting. "I had to make it look real for everybody else." He shrugged. That, and it was frustrating for them to have gotten away so easily, even if he had planned it that way.
(but we were already... then it was gone.)
"Just how fast were you going?" Rachel asked, blinking in surprise.
"Faster then a life raft without a motor should have been capable of." Annabeth said, thinking back to the Coast Guard cutter.
Percy nodded in agreement. He'd been a little too focused on getting away from the cruise ship to pay attention to that.
"I was surprised." Luke added. He had not expected them to shoot off like that, to say the least.
(As we raced over... who else to trust.)
"Thank you." Chiron said with a small smile, touched by their faith in him.
"Who else would we call?" Percy asked with a shrug. The rest of the demigods nodded in agreement.
He was their teacher, in many cases he was the only parental figure they really knew. He may not have been at the camp anymore for that summer, but he was always going to be the first one any of them ran to when they were in need of something.
Zeus glared at the centaur sourly while some others smiled at him, grateful that he was able to be there for their children when they couldn't be. The rest were indifferent, as always.
(The wind from the... connection was still poor.)
"I can't imagine that Iris would have a fun time maintaining the connection with the speeds you are going, but it still shouldn't be a problem for her." Apollo said, confused.
Percy, Hazel, and Frank glanced at each other, knowing that Iris may have no problem with it, but Fleecy was a different story.
"Most of the disturbance was probably from Chiron's end, actually." Annabeth said thoughtfully. "Rather then being a poor connection."
"If I am where I think I am, then probably." Chiron muttered, disgruntled at the thought of staying with his cousins. When he called them 'wild', it wasn't because they were 'feral' or 'undomesticated' or any of those terms that a mortal might think when they heard about a wild animal. They took the term 'party animal' to the extreme.
(When Annabeth threw... was at a dance club.)
"Party ponies!" The Stolls cheered, already making plans to go visit them sometime soon. The younger ones were confused and trying to reconcile the image of their strict, but fair, teacher at a dance club.
"No!" Chiron ordered sternly. "Absolutely not!" He would invite the Party Ponies to his camp, or let the Stoll brothers go party with them, only when he wanted his camp destroyed. His only consolation in such an event was that the Party Ponies at least preferred root beer to actual beer.
"Ah..." They wilted, disappointed. Percy was too busy snickering in Annabeth's shoulder to notice the betrayed looks they were sending him when he didn't speak up in their favor.
(We told him about... how much he heard.)
"Probably not much." Chiron sighed. He could only imagine what his relatives were up to in the background during this call.
"I think you heard enough to get the basics of the situation." Annabeth said, slapping Percy's leg when he wouldn't stop laughing. He'd heard enough to ask Iris to keep an eye out for them, and have his cousins come to their rescue, at any rate.
("Percy," Chiron yelled... up like Comanche warriors.)
Chiron sighed in annoyance.
"Hmm, perhaps a visit with them would not be remiss." Dionysus muttered. That sounded like a party that he could enjoy, even if they rarely had alcohol. He could still enjoy himself, his current restrictions meant that he couldn't have alcohol, anyway.
"Please don't." Chiron said, a pinched look on his face. Dionysus just raised an eyebrow and went back to his current wine magazine.
("What?" I yelled... somewhere out of sight.)
"Do I want to know?" Sally asked dryly, blinking.
"No, probably not." Chiron sighed again. There was a reason he hardly ever visited with his cousins, especially not the Party Pony chapters.
("Annabeth, you shouldn't... do get the Fleece-")
"Well, at least he heard that part of the conversation." Piper reasoned.
"Yeah, I'm not sure how much else he heard, though." Percy shrugged.
"He heard enough, I think." Annabeth reminded him. "Or he wouldn't have been in Miami." Luke turned bright red at the reminder of Miami. He actively tried to forget about Miami, and he wasn't too thrilled with the thought of everyone hearing about it right now.
("Yeah, baby!" somebody... made our boat vibrate.)
Chiron sighed and mourned his hearing in the future.
"Wow, that's loud."
"Vibrating through an IM call? I didn't even know that's possible."
A few of the gods chuckled in amusement at Chiron's expression while Travis and Connor kept up their silent plans to go visit the Party Ponies. The younger demigods glanced at each other, some of them excited to possibly meet these Centaurs, the others not wanting to meet them.
("- Miami," Chiron was... and Chiron was gone.)
Chiron sighed again, exasperated. "It probably was a bottle." He muttered. One of them probably took offense to the conversation in some way, it was probably 'ruining the mood' for them or some other nonsense.
"Well, you couldn't really hold a very good conversation, anyway, not with them making all that noise in the background, so it was probably for the best." Sally reasoned with a grimace, although she was worried that her son couldn't get any advice anymore.
Well, they still had Drachma left, so they could have still called again later when they were in a better position.
(An hour later we... wanted a second look.)
There were some laughs at that.
"I bet, the crew must have been very confused." Leo laughed with a smirk.
"The captain probably wanted to send his crew in for an evaluation when they told him about seeing you go past." Clarisse smirked at the thought while Will sighed and shook his head.
(I guess it wasn't... manned by three kids.)
"A hundred knots? How fast is that in non-marine speak?" Leo asked, scratching his head.
"'Non-marine speak'?" Percy repeated, not amused and honestly a little offended. Leo nodded his head, looking at him expectantly. Percy sighed and thought about it really fast. "About 115 miles per hour." He shrugged. "There's not much of a conversion difference."
"If I ever catch you doing that in my car..." Paul threatened. It was bad enough Blackjack decided to use the hood of his car as a landing strip.
"I won't." Percy promised him quickly.
("That's Virginia Beach!"...travel so far overnight?)
"The Andromeda only traveled half that. The rest of that distance was all you." Luke said quickly, somewhat shocked himself at how fast they'd traveled. "And we sped ourselves up, obviously." The children of Hecate were very tired at the end of the trip, needless to say.
"Well, we did use that thermos." Percy said after a moment.
"We were only traveling for an hour!" Annabeth exclaimed. Percy shrugged, not sure what to really tell her.
(That's like-"
"Five... nautical miles," I said.)
"What the-"
"How did he know that?"
Percy gave them a look. "Son of Poseidon. In a boat. On the ocean." He said dryly. Annabeth stifled her laughter in his shoulder, it wasn't like he'd known about it, either. But then, they'd already been over this sort of thing, hadn't they? And most of them were already familiar with Percy's general abilities.
"... Right."
(She stared at me... I said immediately.)
"Boat trip!" The Stolls suddenly announced, planning it.
"No." Percy denied immediately. "We are not going on a boat trip just so you can abuse my abilities."
"Ah! But Percy!" They complained.
Katie sighed and shook her head. And they had been so quiet, too. "Sit down, be quiet, let Clarisse read before she maims you." She ordered, pulled them back into their seats beside her. Connor scowled, but didn't protest.
(Then I shook my head. "Whoa. How did I know that?")
"You didn't know about it, either." Somebody muttered, a little sour because of how he'd answered them earlier.
"Maybe, but I was still new to my powers. I'm pretty sure we covered this earlier." Percy shrugged, not concerned about it.
("Because of your dad,"... That is so cool.")
There were some noises of agreement from the rest of the room.
"Eh, it has its moments." Percy muttered, thinking that this was the most benign of his abilities.
(I wasn't sure about... "Other boat is coming.")
"What? How could they have caught up?" Piper asked, thinking that Luke had sent somebody after them and they somehow managed to keep up.
"It wasn't Luke." Percy shook his head.
(I looked back. The... it was gaining speed.)
"Oh... I'm not sure if that's better or worse then Luke catching up."
"Of course they would be curious." Piper shook her head.
"I don't think you want them catching up to you, they will ask questions that you can't answer, especially about going at speeds you really shouldn't be capable of." Katie warned.
"We knew that." Annabeth shrugged.
("We can't let them... too many questions.")
"So many questions." Leo muttered. People in charge seemed to enjoy asking questions and then not accepting the answers they were given. Granted, in his case the answers actually were false, but... still.
"And then they'll probably try to contact your parents and send you home." Piper added. "It'll take more time then you have to get away from them." The younger group exchanged worried looks. They didn't have time, they had to find the Fleece and rescue Grover.
("Keep going into... a place we can hide.")
Both Thalia and Luke frowned. Annabeth and Luke startled slightly when they realized where they were, having not thought about those hideouts in a long time.
"Would that still be hidden?" She questioned. "A monster or some kids might have already found it." It had been at least five years since any of their old hideouts would have been used, after all.
"We hid them fairly well." Luke reminded her.
"Yes, but I think we left some things behind in that one, the bronze might have attracted monsters." Thalia countered.
"What are you two talking about?" Clarisse asked, confused. There hadn't been anything there when she picked them up, although if there was it might have been destroyed by the Hydra. They glanced at each other and motioned towards the book in Clarisses' hand.
(I didn't ask what... and farther behind.)
"I almost feel sorry for whoever had to read that report." Rachel snorted.
"If they even bothered to report it." Percy raised an eyebrow. Something as unbelievable as this, the men might not have wanted to risk it. It could have damaged their reputations, maybe forced a mental evaluation.
(We didn't slow down... down off a sugar high.)
"Whoa."
"That... doesn't sound good." Percy got a few concerned looks, which he quickly waved off.
"It's gotten better over the years." He shrugged. In the beginning, though, when he was first starting to use his powers, it really drained him to use them, and to go from salt to fresh water was a massive shock to his system. He'd gotten better about it, though.
(I didn't know where... was directing me.)
"I probably would have beached us." He admitted with a grimace.
"I didn't even notice anything." She muttered, eyeing him. He shrugged. She'd been busy watching the landscape for landmarks, it was fine.
"You recognized where you were going from the water?" Thalia asked her, giving her a long glance. They'd only ever approached that area through the woods, never from the water. Annabeth nodded. It hadn't been easy, and the woods had had five years to grow over, but she'd spotted a few of the trees she'd enjoyed playing in while Thalia and Luke figured out their next move.
("There," she said. "Past... curled off the river.)
Both Grover's relaxed at the mere mention of the place, along with Demeter and everyone else even remotely connected with nature.
"That sounds peaceful." Katie said, smiling slightly. She had a feeling she knew Percy's reaction to it, though. He was a city boy and everyone knew it, even if he did like going into the woods around camp just like anybody else.
Everyone was still curious about just what was here that she was interested in stopping.
(Basically, it wasn't Manhattan, and I didn't like it.)
Percy shrugged while everyone else laughed or shot him scandalized looks. He never hid how much he preferred the city.
"Oh, Percy." Sally and Annabeth both sighed at once.
("Come on," Annabeth said... want to draw attention.")
"Especially with the bright orange canvas." Percy muttered. There was a reason life rafts were bright orange, and that was because they were so highly visible.
That had not been helpful for them, however.
"What are you there for, though? You don't have time to just stop, you need to keep going." Katie pointed out.
"Don't worry, we were there for a reason." Annabeth assured her. "We needed supplies." Everyone else was even more confused, but let it go for now.
(After burying the... buffet line on his arm.)
"Oh, I bet that was miserable." Sally winced in sympathy for the young Cyclops.
Poseidon frowned. "I don't know what it is, but mosquitoes seem particularly drawn to Cyclopes." He told the group, honestly perplexed by that.
"That sounds like a truly wild place." Grover said with a small smile, thinking about heading out that way and seeing it for himself. Perhaps he could set it up as a sanctuary of sorts if it was still this untouched.
(After another few... a patch of brambles.)
"It sounds like it's still intact, then." Thalia said, looking thoughtful.
"Like what is still intact?" Katie asked, even more confused.
Clarisse read ahead slightly and glanced up, eyebrows raised. "Interesting."
(Then Annabeth moved... into a camouflaged shelter.)
"Whoa."
"That's unexpected." Athena glanced at her daughter and the two to raise her consideringly.
Chiron glanced at the three/five of them. "Do you have any more of these?" He asked quietly. They nodded their agreement. "I would like to know where, they could be useful for demigods on the run, or journeys to the camp for new campers and their Satyr."
(The inside was big... looked pretty soundproof.)
"That is actually where we got the idea, and the design." Thalia shrugged. They'd been in a library a few months before they found Annabeth, and found the basic design in a book. Obviously it was weather-tight, or they wouldn't have built them that way. It seemed like a good idea when they built their first one. And because it was made from branches and leaves from the area around it, it was perfectly camouflaged. They'd had to go back to the library, though, to find out more about how they'd been made, because their earlier attempts weren't exactly succeeding.
"They should have been weatherproof, too. We never tested them for how much sound could be let out." Luke added, leaning forward curiously.
(Stacked in the corner... and a box of ambrosia.)
"Not bad for three kids on the run." Apollo commented, looking at the three of them in surprise.
"The weapons we mostly gathered from monsters that we defeated, especially if we found their lairs. The Ambrosia we found one day." Thalia glanced at Luke and didn't voice her suspicion on where it came from. She'd long suspected that Athena or Hermes had left it where they could find it, but had no proof. After going to Luke's mom's house and meeting Hermes there, she was sure that Hermes had left it for them. But she'd never been stupid enough to voice that opinion.
"It sounds like you three were doing fairly well for yourselves." Sally commented, relaxing slightly.
"On stuff like that maybe... but as far as food went..." Luke trailed off, frowning. That stuff was easy to steal, especially in wooded areas. There were always campers of some kind around, and it wasn't hard to sneak up to their campsites to snatch things they needed, such as the lamp and a blanket or two. Grocery stores were a little more conscious of potential thieves, especially when three dirty kids walked in.
"We couldn't have lasted for much longer out there, the monsters were starting to target me specifically, starting to come after us instead of us just stumbling across each other. There were getting more powerful, too, and more persistent." Thalia said. Hades looked away, but otherwise didn't react.
(The place smelled... for a long time.)
Luke nodded in satisfaction. "It looks like it still kept the water out." They hadn't been there for over five years and everything was still intact?
"There wasn't even any water damage that I could see." Annabeth added. The wood and cardboard boxes had still been perfectly intact, not even weathered since they were indoors.
"And you built these over five years ago?" Athena questioned. She nodded and gave her daughter a rare look of pride when they confirmed. "Good job." Both Annabeth's beamed.
("A half-blood hideout."... them to Half-Blood Hill.)
Grover looked down in shame at the reminder of his failure.
Annabeth noticed and rolled her eyes before reaching over to smack him upside the head, glaring when he looked up until he looked sheepish and sat up straight again, knowing that she didn't blame him and hated it when he blamed himself.
(But whenever Annabeth...
The word was jealous.)
"Jealous?"
"What on earth do you have to be jealous about?"
Annabeth and Luke were blinking at Percy in surprise while everyone else snickered or questioned Percy. Finally, Luke and Annabeth glanced at each other. "You know he's/she's my sister/brother?" They both asked at the same time. Annabeth may have had a small crush on him for a time, but she was sure that was true of all girls on their older brothers at some point or other.
Percy cleared his throat. "Yeah, I got that part." Eventually, anyway.
Aphrodite ignored their conversation and squealed internally, already plotting on making things for young Percy interesting. Poseidon caught the look on her face and narrowed his eyes, not at liking what he saw.
("So..." I said. "You... they are. Or cares.")
"Of course I remember where they are! I helped build them, they were essential to our survival." Luke protested. He was more surprised that she had remembered where this one was and was able to find it from the water.
Artemis hummed and glanced at her future lieutenant. "I would like to see these hideouts." She suggested. They might be good locations for permanent camps or maybe she could convert them into emergency bunkers for her Huntresses to run to in the event that something happened and she wasn't around.
"Yes, m'lady." Thalia nodded her agreement, smiling slightly.
(She threw herself... she didn't want to talk.)
Annabeth sighed. "And yet, clearly you didn't get the message." She snorted.
Percy shrugged. "It seemed like something we needed to talk about. You know, clear the air."
Nearly all the girls sighed, shaking their heads. "Percy, when a girl wants to be left alone, sometimes its best to just leave them alone." Katie advised. Percy just raised an eyebrow and turned away. His instincts told him to not leave it, and he generally followed his instincts.
("Um, Tyson?" I said... store or something?")
"A 'wilderness convenience store'?" Paul deadpanned, glancing at his stepson. "Really?"
Percy shrugged. He needed Tyson out of the way for a bit, that seemed like the most plausible reason at the time.
("Convenience store?"... Just don't go too far.")
"Did you really just send him on a wild goose chase so you could have a word?" Clarisse deadpanned.
"Yeah. I needed to talk to her, and I knew she wasn't going to talk with Tyson around." He defended himself. Annabeth put a comforting hand on Tyson's arm when he whimpered quietly and turned his large, watery eye on her at the thought.
("Powdered donuts," Tyson... calling, "Here, donuts!")
Most of the women broke down and cooed at how adorable that was, while Poseidon cracked a small smile and Tyson looked around in confusion before going back to his project.
"Ok, that was kind of cute." Annabeth admitted what she refused to admit before.
The Romans glanced at each other, more and more they were questioning their stance towards monsters and spirits. And it was actions like this that made it happen.
(Once he was gone... the blade with a rag.)
"I think that's a warning, Percy." Nico advised his cousin with a smirk.
Percy rolled his eyes while Annabeth smirked. It had been a warning to leave it be, but Percy being Percy, completely ignored it. Evidently he hadn't even noticed.
("He let us go too easily," I said.)
"So you did notice." Luke nodded. He'd known Percy was observant, he'd hoped not observant enough.
"It was kind of hard not to." Percy deadpanned.
(I hoped I'd been... talking about us.")
"Yup." Luke confirmed, unashamed. "But at the same time, no." Grover hadn't initially been part of the plan, especially since they hadn't even known about the Empathy Link the crazy Satyr established with Percy.
("The Fleece is the bait? Or Grover?")
"Not Grover. He wasn't part of the plan until you started having those dreams." Luke denied.
"Will you shut up?" Percy asked, exasperated. The more he talked right now, the more Zeus glared, and the more he felt like he was going to have to deflect another lightning bolt, which he really didn't want to have to do.
Luke's mouth closed with an audible click of his teeth. Percy nodded in satisfaction.
(She studied the edge... can steal it from us.)
Luke started to agree with that observation, but a glare from Annabeth this time made him shut his mouth again.
He didn't know what she had gone through since he died, but whatever it was made her much more intense and intimidating.
As much as he mourned the innocent girl she used to be, he was oddly proud of her for it.
(I just can't believe he would poison the tree.")
"Neither can I." Thalia muttered, glaring at their brother.
Annabeth looked similarly lost on that point, while Luke wouldn't look at any of them.
("What did he mean,"...
"You don't sound sure.")
"Believe me, I was sure." Annabeth snorted. Whether Percy didn't think she sounded like it or not.
If there was one thing she'd been sure of, it was this one fact.
None of the demigods noticed it, but all of the gods shifted uncomfortably at the thought of the daughter of Zeus turning against them. It was the same wariness many of them displayed regarding Percy, but they were less concerned about him, having already discovered his Fatal Flaw to be loyalty. But Thalia was a daughter of Zeus, they almost never failed to inherit their father's proud natures and desire for power. Most of the time that could be tempered, but not always.
(Annabeth glared at me... was holding a knife.)
"You do have horrible timing about starting difficult conversations." Piper commented, having noticed that in the last book.
"Oh, you don't even know the half of it." Annabeth assured her.
("Percy, you know who... would've strangled each other.")
Percy and Thalia glanced at each before they both shrugged.
"I mean, it depends on the day?" Percy questioned.
"Or the mood, you know." Thalia nodded.
Annabeth sighed. "You two are impossible." She muttered.
"How many new clearings are in the woods because of you two?" Travis wondered out loud, glancing at Connor.
"At least three, we almost lost our creek, that one time, too." Connor provided, trying to think back. Thalia and Percy rolled their eyes while the younger group blinked at the two of them in surprise. They seemed to get along just fine to them, but they'd also only seen them interact in response to something in the book.
"Let's just not have a repeat of the Freeway Incident." Annabeth shuddered at the thought.
"Yes, can we not?" Nico agreed.
"Do I want to know?" Sally groaned. Everyone who was involved in that incident shook their heads.
("Let's go with 'best friends.'")
"What?" Percy demanded when he saw the looks he was getting. "We hadn't actually met yet, and I'm not in the mood to be strangled!"
The demigods could accept that, being strangled was never fun.
("Thalia got angry with her dad sometimes.)
Luke shifted and glanced at his guards to see if they would stop him from speaking again. When none of them did, he cleared his throat and wouldn't look at Thalia. "Replace 'angry' with 'raged and destroyed forest clearings with lightning', and you get the picture." He announced. When he caught Annabeth's confused look, he shrugged. "She made a huge effort to tone it down when we got you, she only raged out once and she managed to wait until you were asleep." He'd stayed with Annabeth, but she'd stayed close enough for him to watch the lightning show from their camp, and hear the falling trees.
Thalia refused to look guilty at Grover's reproachful look towards her tree destruction. She'd had the sense before she started to check that there weren't any nature spirits nearby... the second time she'd done it.
(So do you. Would... in the corner. "No.")
"That didn't sound very convincing." Poseidon commented with a raised eyebrow.
Percy shrugged, not willing to bring up the many, many times when he himself had felt that they would be better off without the gods.
("Okay, then. Neither... knife blade into the dirt.)
Luke grumbled. "I could have been right." Deep down, though, he knew it was just wishful thinking.
(I wanted to ask her... she wouldn't tell me.)
"You're right, I wouldn't have." Annabeth smirked. What little she'd shared was all he was getting from her.
Percy scowled at nothing before turning his glare on Zeus, the one he figured was the one to have forced the vow of silence on Chiron.
"Percy, there would have been nothing you could have done to escape it, and you know." Rachel said sadly, knowing what happened, and knowing what the prophecy was about in the end. "Sometimes I think the Fates give us prophecies just to torture us." She sighed, Apollo glanced at her, but didn't protest the thought. Quest prophecies were usually given to give the demigods a starting point and warnings of things to be careful of lest they fail.
Great prophecies... sometimes giving them caused more trouble then it was worth at the time.
(Chiron had made it... said you of all people-")
When she heard somebody about to interrupt, Clarisse plowed on, reading over them and not giving them a chance to say anything.
She'd read ahead enough to know that there was going to be a big enough interruption after the next sentence.
("I know what he... real reason Thalia died.")
"Wait, what?" Everyone asked, confused.
"I thought that was because Hades took exception to her existence." Katie said blankly, not looking at the Lord of the Underworld. He scowled in her direction, but otherwise didn't react. (Persephone's fingers digging into his thigh had more to do with that then he would admit to).
"Well, that was, but... we probably would have made it to Camp, all three of us, except..." She trailed off and glanced at Grover. She told Percy the story while they were on that raft, and she really didn't want to get into it twice. "You know what, I told Percy all about it, why don't we wait until that part of the book." She finally said. Neither Grover would look at anybody, although the younger one was more out of self-blame and regret then the older one.
The older one had it beaten into him years ago not to blame himself.
(I waited, not sure... trust a Cyclops, Percy.)
"I take it back, some Cyclops can be trusted." Annabeth muttered, glancing at Tyson and patting his arm.
"It's usually obvious when that's the case." Percy agreed. He'd had his share of run-ins with both good and bad Cyclops. Some answered directly to his father, others didn't. Those that did were more likely to try and help him then they were to eat him, and vice versa.
(Six years ago, on... to Half-Blood Hill-")
Everyone was leaning forward in their seats, eager to hear what happened.
Percy and Annabeth shared a quick smirk between them before quickly hiding it.
(She was interrupted... open. Tyson crawled in.)
Everyone collapsed back against their seats, disappointed.
"Bad timing!" The Stolls cried. They wanted to know!
"Powdered donuts!" he said proudly, holding up a pastry box.)
"What?" Nearly everybody asked all at once, shocked.
Hermes leaned back, already getting an idea of what just happened. When he glanced at his older sons, he could tell they had a similar idea. "Well, this should be interesting." He muttered with a grimace.
(Annabeth stared at him... just over the hill!")
"Oh, that's not good." Most of the demigods muttered at once.
Sally and Paul were confused, while Rachel just frowned. Since becoming the Oracle, she'd been doing everything she could to get caught up on things in her new world, and she thought she remembered something about Monster Donut.
"What's bad about that?" Sally asked. "Sure, it's odd that there is one so far out like that, but what's bad?"
"It's a monster nest." Chris was the one to clarify. It didn't, but he tried.
("This is bad," Annabeth... middle of the woods.)
"While that is odd, I'm still confused about what is so bad about it." Sally admitted. Telling her that it was a nest didn't actually tell her anything, in the end.
Paul nodded his agreement beside her.
(It looked brand new... parked in the lot.)
"Are there even any people living in a twenty mile radius from that spot?"
"Probably not."
"Where did that store come from, then?" Sally muttered to herself. If there weren't any people to patron the business, then why build it out there?
"It probably is brand new." Luke muttered with a snort, thinking back to everything he remembered about this project.
(We could see one... baked chocolate donuts.)
Most of the demigods almost drooled at the thought.
"We just ate breakfast." Hestia stopped them from asking sternly.
"And donuts are so unhealthy. There aren't enough grains." Demeter agreed immediately. It was bad enough Hestia had completely taken over providing food for everyone and absolutely refused to let her make it nothing but grains. This was a chance to have some measure of control over that.
("This shouldn't be... Nothing happened to him.")
"Because he's a monster." Chris muttered with a grimace. Percy or Annabeth walking in that store would have been another matter entirely.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Reyna finally asked, just as confused as the mortals in the room about everyone else's reactions.
"I explained it to Percy." Annabeth said quickly, not wanting to have to hear it twice. There were a lot of things like that in this book she was having to stop from being explained.
("He's a monster."... them in New York.")
"And in California." Reyna agreed. She'd been outside the city enough to know that, at least.
"They're all over America." Paul agreed.
"They spread quickly, don't they?" Hermes commented cryptically.
("A chain," she agreed... middle of the woods?")
"That... is a little more suspicious." Sally admitted, although she was still confused about why this was such a big deal.
Glancing around, she could tell that most of the demigods knew what this was about, the Romans and the trio with Jason, Piper, and Leo were just as confused as she was.
(I thought about it... list of sinister forces.)
"They are now." Percy muttered. He hadn't been to a single donut shop since this incident, and he generally tried to avoid chain stores, much to his mothers confusion.
He'd just never been able to get a straight answer on which ones were tied to a monster's life-force or not, so he thought it safe to just avoid them altogether. It did make it difficult sometimes to do any shopping, but he figured that it was better safe then sorry. Besides, the small business owners needed his money more.
("It could be a nest," Annabeth explained.)
"It would be a fairly small one if the store was just opened..." Hermes mused.
"But no less dangerous." Apollo reminded him. Who knew what monsters were in the area if this really was a nest. Hermes hummed in agreement.
(Tyson whimpered. I... all over his face.)
Poseidon was once again reminded of his earlier thoughts about the wisdom of bringing such a young Cyclops along for a quest like this.
He was sure he'd already said this, but Tyson was still a young child in Cyclops years, a fact which showed in instances like this.
Once again a lot of the readers found book-Tyson to be cute and a little adorable.
("A nest for what?" I asked... across the country?")
"Now that you mention it..." Sally muttered. "Wait, that has to do with you guys?" She asked, shocked.
The Greeks nodded.
Sally was shocked. She'd known that a lot of the conflict between the demigods and the gods bled over into the mortal world, but she hadn't stopped to consider other things that might also bleed over.
"I just always figured they had a good construction crew." Paul muttered, wondering what else he'd missed over the years because of that Mist stuff.
("Um, no. Never thought... the 1950s. They breed-")
"Of course it was a child of Hermes." Paul muttered with a snort.
"Hey!" Nearly all of the children of Hermes, except Luke protested at once while Hermes shot him a mildly offended glare.
Paul blinked slowly and swallowed at the look from Hermes he was getting.
"They actually started it as another way of bringing profits to Camp." Annabeth said, finishing the explanation that had been interrupted by a Hydra. "If I remember correctly, the strawberry harvest wasn't doing that great, and it was in the early fifties, so they were still trying to recover from the war." She said, trying to think back.
"Chain restaurants and businesses seemed like a good money maker." Hermes nodded his agreement. He'd been all for the project when he found out about it. "Unfortunately, the project had to be abandoned when it grew out of control." He frowned, still not even sure how that happened.
He didn't notice the Messengers glancing at each other, wondering how much the Triumvirate profited from that failure, or if they had anything to do with the venture failing in the first place.
"And I am the one who asked the sons and daughters of Hermes to find a solution to our financial problems." Chiron said, glaring slightly at Paul.
"I'm going to seriously pay for that comment, aren't I?" He quietly asked Sally, who nodded with a sympathetic look on her face.
(She froze.
"What?" I demanded. "They breed what?")
"They breed monsters." Hermes finished the thought, having a feeling that there was a very good reason Annabeth would have frozen like that.
"Why would you want more monsters running around?" Paul deadpanned.
"It was a good investment opportunity for the camp." Chiron sighed. Thankfully they'd worked it so there weren't necessarily more monsters running around, or they truly would have been overrun given how quickly this got away from them.
("No- sudden- moves,"... slowly, turn around.")
"Did you hear something?" Jason asked, worried that might be a monster.
"Not yet, it was more of a feeling than anything I saw or heard." Annabeth said slowly, thinking back to that day.
"Understandable." Percy had been too focused on what she was saying to really pay too much attention to his surroundings, something he had regretted.
(Then I heard it... through the leaves.)
"Whatever it is, it's heavy."
"That narrows it down, its on the larger side."
"Belly dragging, could be a Dracaena, but that's too small." The demigods talked amongst themselves, keeping amused by trying to guess what it was.
(I turned and saw... hissing reptilian head.)
All the demigods recoiled when they realized what was being described, and glanced at Luke, who shook his head.
"This wasn't one of mine. This is a random attack." He wished he could be annoyed about them automatically assuming that the attack was because of him. But he couldn't, not after everything.
Ares perked up, pleased that they were finally going to get to some action. Not that the escape from the ship was lacking, but it was over far too quickly and they weren't fighting, they were escaping.
(Its skin was leathery... I'M A MONSTER DONUT KID!)
"That would be really cute if this wasn't such a bad situation." Connor muttered to his brother.
"Is that a Hydra?" Paul asked. When they all nodded, he swallowed. "Right, just checking." If his stepson didn't get himself into a situation... Sally patted him on the arm, trying to swallow a pained noise at the thought.
(I took out my... silent warning. Not yet.)
"Not yet? Why wouldn't you draw your weapon with a Hydra right there?" Sally asked, worried and trying to hide it.
"Celestial Bronze actually draws their attention, similar to a demigods scent." Annabeth explained. "At that moment, it hadn't actually found us yet, so there was a chance it would pass us by and we wouldn't have to fight it at all."
"We had no way of actually defeating it." Percy said in agreement.
"You could have stabbed it fatally, a strike through the heart will kill any monster." Ares pointed out, eyebrows raised.
"A little more than difficult with all those heads everywhere." Percy muttered.
(I understood. A lot... certainly get its attention.)
"Without a doubt." Most of the demigods and Artemis agreed.
"It happens all the time, a demigod or somebody panics when seeing a monster, draws their sword, and draws attention." Ares said carelessly, losing interest since apparently there wasn't going to be a fight.
"That's why you don't jump to conclusions." Reyna agreed. "Or act rashly."
(We waited.
The Hydra was... of our duffel bags.)
"Oh, a fight!" Ares growled, leaning forward again, eager.
"It's tracking you." Artemis said, recognizing the behavioral signs. Plus the fact that it had one of their bags.
"It must have followed Tyson back to the hideout, scented the demigods on the bags, and took one to follow it." Athena analyzed.
Sally whimpered quietly at the thought of her son going up against a Hydra, even though she knew that he could beat it, if given enough time to figure something out.
(The thing had already... for the real thing.)
"The stuffed head was only one head, and it was very clearly dead. This thing had seven and they were very clearly not." Percy deadpanned.
He glared when he still heard a few snickers.
(Each head was diamond... rows of sharklike teeth.)
"Each Hydra is a different species of snake, they take on the characteristics of their species, although any venom they have is going to be far more potent. And they all spit acid of some kind." Artemis listed, frowning. She glanced at Zoe, who nodded her understanding and noted down the location.
This nest was probably new, most likely only hours old, if that, but they still tried to keep track of Hydra's, purely because they were so dangerous.
"That doesn't make me feel any better, oddly enough." Percy muttered. He was happier not knowing the specifics like that, no matter how useful it might be in future.
(Tyson was trembling... snapped a twig.)
"Oh, no." Nearly everyone groaned. Sure, they'd all known that the Hydra would find them eventually, but not because of that!
"Hope you three are ready." Rachel muttered, pausing in what she was drawing momentarily.
"Sorry." Tyson said, lowering his head in shame.
"Not your fault, big guy." Percy immediately assured his brother.
(Immediately, all seven... began to disintegrate.)
"Acid, you said?" Sally asked, blinking slightly in shock at how fast that was. "That's some potent stuff." She muttered.
"I think you will find that most acids, venoms, and poisons of a divine nature are more potent than the mortal variants." Chiron said slowly. What he didn't say was that they had long since worked to make it so that there was no crossover of that stuff with the mortal realm, ever since they 'separated'.
"I would avoid getting hit, if I were you." Will advised dryly, swallowing at how quickly the tree dissolved.
(The whole tree toppled... now right in front of him.)
"A Cyclops, frozen by fear?" Reyna asked quietly, skeptically.
"He's a young Cyclops, remember? Lord Poseidon said he was only about six or seven years old mentally at this point in the books." Gwen reminded her just as quietly. Reyna pursed her lips, but nodded.
The Greeks were chanting for Tyson to move, worried about him.
("Tyson!" I tackled him... of two of its heads.)
The demigods burst into cheers while a few of the gods gave Percy a considering look.
To be strong enough at that age to knock aside a Cyclops? Impressive, even for a demigod.
(The Hydra stumbled... steaming pool of muck.)
"That's one way of venting frustration about something."
Grover scowled at the thought of the tree being destroyed, but didn't say anything. He knew full well that in a fight you could only stay alive, and keeping your surroundings intact was the last thing you focused on.
"If I were you, I would avoid getting hit by that thing." Clarisse informed Percy and Annabeth conversationally.
"No, really?" Percy and Annabeth both asked dryly, in unison.
("Move!" I told... attention.
It worked.)
"Unfortunately." Percy muttered.
"Oh, please don't actually swing at that thing." Sally pleaded with nobody in particular. She may not know everything about monsters that the demigods seemed to, but she knew the basics, which was enough to know what would happen should one head be cut off.
Percy fidgeted. "Sorry, mom." He muttered. Everyone else groaned. It was instinct when he was holding Riptide to swing it at the enemy, so that was what he did! After this mess, he'd done his share of training to control that instinct and his reflexes better.
(The sight of celestial... into a puddle of goo.)
"You have such a gift for understatement." Katie muttered, eyeing Percy with worry.
Nearly everybody was at the edge of their seats by this point, drawn into the battle and cheering the three questers on.
(One of the heads...
"No!" Annabeth yelled.)
"Oh, you idiot!" Ares snapped, leaning back with an eye roll.
"It was a reflex!" Percy defended himself. "Believe me, I worked to fix that." He shook his head and glared at those that he could see trying, and failing, to hide their amusement.
"Is that why he puts the newer campers through those drills." Clarisse muttered to herself before she kept reading. She hadn't put that together until just then, but then she hadn't come across them until the thing already had eight heads, so she felt justified.
(Too late. I sliced... grew a full-size head.)
"That was fast." Somebody muttered in shock.
"And then there were eight." Somebody else muttered with a wince. Seven heads was bad enough, but now there were eight?
(Now I was looking at... Donut shop somewhere!")
"I think you have other things to be worrying about." Clarisse paused to deadpan, giving Annabeth a strange look shared by most of the group.
Annabeth turned red. "I know... That was really stupid." She honestly didn't know what she'd been thinking, saying that.
"I think 'stupid' is an understatement." Reyna snorted, shaking her head in disbelief.
(I dodged a spray of ... "We have to have fire!")
"Fire will kill it?" Leo perked up.
The others nodded. "If you cut off a head, you have to burn the stump before it can grow back. That thing is a lot easier to fight with one head than with multiple heads." Theseus said seriously. Just because Heracles got all the credit for the one he fought didn't mean that Perseus and he hadn't fought and beaten one as well. They just didn't brag about it like their half brother/cousin did. Once you got rid of the annoying 'multiplication issue', it was a far more simple task to stab it through the heart or brain to kill it.
"That's perfect!" Leo lit up... literally. Percy stared for a moment before dumping several gallons of water on him. "Hey!" He protested, sputtering in shock. He glared around at everyone who laughed before he was back to sketching out a new idea.
"What about Tyson? Can't he-" Gwen started to ask, glancing at the Cyclops.
"Cyclops are fire proof, but they cannot control or become the flames. Not like Leo can." Hephaestus shook his head.
"Then while he distracts it, you need to create a torch or something so that you can tag-team it." Reyna decided, glancing at Percy and Annabeth as she worked out the best strategy for them to use. The problem was, it apparently grew its head back in seconds, which wasn't a lot of time when you were also working to avoid the other heads flailing around at you.
Annabeth blinked at her before she groaned. She hadn't even thought of that! Well, she was sure she would have given enough time, but Clarisse showed up soon after the fight even started, so she supposed it was a moot point.
(As soon as she... remembered the story.)
"We need to work on your memory recall about facts and monsters." Annabeth muttered, shaking her head.
"What?" Percy asked, confused. "I remembered it, didn't I?" He asked.
"After I reminded you in the middle of the battle." She deadpanned, rolling her eyes fondly.
(The Hydra's heads would... river. The Hydra followed.)
"Good, yes, if you can get in the water, you can tear it apart." Amphitrite murmured. The river may not be part of the sea, but it was still water.
"You may not have fire, but you don't have to defeat it the same way he did." Theseus assured his half-brother, agreeing with his step-mother. "You have other options open to you."
"Like a cannon." Clarisse muttered to herself with a smirk, having read ahead to find out just when she entered the picture.
(Annabeth moved in... her into the muck.)
"And that is what makes it so hard to fight. If it weren't for all the heads, it would actually be rather easy to fight." Perseus sighed.
"They are rather slow." Percy agreed. "Except for their head, they can whip those things around." Annabeth nodded her agreement, rubbing her side where it hit her.
"Were you alright?" Will asked, concerned with the potential of cracked or broken ribs from getting hit like that. Monsters hit hard, the fact she was hit in the side was concerning.
"Yeah, no damage, just knocked the wind out of me." She grinned, knowing why he was asking.
("No hitting my friends!"... Hydra and Annabeth.)
"What's really sad is that he considers you a friend after the way you've been treating him." Rachel informed Annabeth with a raised eyebrow.
She flinched. "I know I treated him like crap, ok? I had my reasons, they will be explained later." She sighed.
"Don't." Percy warned, glaring. Although Rachel did have something of a point, and it was certainly he was going to watch in the future, since Tyson was still rather naïve in many ways. He supposed he could just be grateful that nobody had tried to take advantage of him yet.
(As Annabeth got to... mole game at the arcade.)
That got some laughs and cheers, lessening the tension in the courtyard. "Go Tyson!" The Stolls cheered on the young Cyclops. Tyson grinned, but didn't look up from his project.
"I'm surprised it wasn't some kind of water reference." Annabeth teased her boyfriend, knowing his habit of comparing nearly everything with some kind of water or marine reference.
"Why would it be? It looked like a high-stakes game of whack-a-mole!" Percy defended himself, to much laughter. "That's what it looked like!"
(But even Tyson... off the Hydra forever.)
"I don't think anybody could." Theseus said dryly, glancing at his Uncle. Not even Heracles could have done it.
"I was getting tired." Tyson admitted, thinking back to this. He remembered this fight very well, mostly because of how terrified he'd been when the Hydra showed up.
(We kept inching backward... the thing would kill us.)
"Think of something already!" Rachel snapped, on edge.
"I was trying!" Annabeth defended herself. It was a little hard to think when you had eight heads snapping at you and spitting acid in your face, though.
"Try harder." Travis informed her. She glared before muttering dire things she would like him to do under her breath.
(Then I heard a... the riverbank shake.)
"I don't think that's your heartbeat." Will said slowly. If a heartbeat could be described as a 'chug', then he was pretty sure something was very wrong, anyway.
"But what is it?"
"Reinforcements for the Hydra?"
"Hopefully it's friendly."
Clarisse rolled her eyes at the conversation and kept reading, louder then she should to get their attention.
("What's that noise?" Annabeth...
"Steam engine," Tyson said.)
"He could hear what kind of engine we had?" Clarisse asked, blinking.
"Yeah. It's a Cyclops thing. He heard when the engines were struggling, remember?" Percy reminded her with a frown.
"Well, yeah, but anybody who knows engines can tell that... but what kind of engine?"
"Anybody who knows engines can tell that." Beckendorf and Hephaestus said at once.
("What?" I ducked... over my head.)
"But is the coming engine a friend or another enemy?" Katie asked, frowning.
"Or maybe a bit of both." Percy muttered. It depended on the day, back then, whether or not they were friendly.
(Then from the river... enemies on two fronts.)
"Hey!" Clarisse protested, cutting herself off to glare.
"What?" Percy defended himself innocently while Annabeth snickered.
There were a few more snickers when people started to realize what was happening. Although they were a little confused about what she meant by 'thirty-two-pounder'.
(A gravelly male... "Full steam ahead!")
Eyebrows raised, even Ares'. Unlike the others, though, he couldn't decide whether he was proud of that 'get it done' attitude or if he should scold her for trying to get her allies killed. Nearly every army in the world did foster some kind of 'no man left behind' mentality, after all.
"Did you just advocate firing some kind of weapon at your allies?" Will asked, frosty. He would never use the word 'friends' when describing any of them to Clarisse, he liked living. Even though they all knew that she saw them as friends of a sort, and she had some strange relationship with Percy that none of them could quite describe.
Clarisse turned red. "I knew they would move!" She defended herself and turned back to the book.
"Barely." Percy muttered mutinously.
("Aye, m'lady."
"Fire at will, Captain!")
Will sighed. "Whenever I hear that, I hope that there is nobody named 'Will' around." He commented, raising an eyebrow.
In his opinion, that phrase was overused and old.
Percy blinked at him. "That's... a good point." He acknowledged while the rest of them snickered or nodded in agreement.
(Annabeth understood what...echoed from the river.)
"What on earth did you just do?" Katie asked, blinking in shocked surprise.
"What kind of weapon is that?"
Hephaestus hummed, frowning. If he was right, then that would certainly take care of the Hydra.
(There was a flash... guts tend to do.)
"Thank goodness, because that would be disgusting otherwise." Piper replied dryly while everyone else cheered or sat up in anticipation of what might happen next.
There were nods of agreement from everybody, even those who didn't really care. Walking around covered in monster guts did not sound in any way fun.
"We found another way to take out the Hydra." Leo said after a moment. "Shoot it with a cannon." He smirked.
"Cannon?" Katie muttered, glancing at him in question. Clarisse took that as her cue to keep reading.
("Gross!" screamed Annabeth... across the banks.)
Both Grover's made a face at the thought of that smoke cloud, but didn't say anything.
Yet.
(Chugging toward us... ship I'd ever seen.)
"You hadn't even seen pictures?" Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well yeah, but pictures don't really do it justice." He shrugged.
(It rode low in the... each side for cannons.)
"Is that... a Civil War Ironclad?" Rachel asked, shocked.
"Yup." Clarisse said smugly. All the Romans glanced at each other, knowing that they had been on the Confederate side of the Civil War.
"Is this what the chapter title was talking about?" Gwen muttered, happy to finally have an answer to that. Reyna nodded thoughtfully.
If they'd had this, then why had they washed up on their shore on that makeshift raft?
At least now everybody understood what destroyed the Hydra. "Win for modern weaponry." Beckendorf grinned at Leo.
(A flag waved from... on a bloodred field.)
Hades glared at Ares, knowing where this ship and the crew came from. While he didn't begrudge his nephew this part of his domain, he hated how much paperwork it caused him whenever Ares called the fallen soldiers on their debt to him. And the sheer nerve of the war god, calling on them so soon after everything with his Helm being stolen!
"Wait a minute, that's Ares' flag." Will realized.
"Which means..." They all glanced at the daughter of Ares, who merely smirked and went back to reading, intent on finishing this chapter.
(Lining the deck were... guarding Hades's palace.)
"What the- how did you get them?" Nico demanded, confused and hoping that everything was alright in the Underworld, or at least that his father wasn't mad at somebody again.
"They lost the war." Ares shrugged. "Thus, they belong to me, now. Well, when I need them, otherwise they belong to my Uncle." He amended when he caught sight of his uncle's glare. His uncle could and would cut off his access to his loser soldiers if he made him angry enough.
He was just surprised that he hadn't done it after his part in the thefts were revealed.
(The ship was an... armor, was Clarisse.)
"I did not almost kill you." She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Like I said, I knew you would get out of the way." She shrugged and kept reading.
Chiron sighed, slightly disappointed in her, but resolving to fix the issue with her younger self. It was clear by the way older Clarisse acted that she had learned that lesson, even if she didn't always act like she had.
("Losers," she sneered... you. Come aboard.")
"Well that's one way of doing it." Katie said after a moment.
"That's the chapter." Clarisse snapped the book shut, not even bothering to save the page for the next reader.
"I suppose if the next chapter is going to be their entry into the Sea of Monsters, I might as well." Poseidon sighed after a few moments of chatter about the chapter they'd just read. Clarisse shrugged and brought him the book, not really caring about who read it, her failures would still be read to the entire room.
Chapter eleven: Clarisse Blows up Everything