Chapter 7

"What do you mean Percy's missing?!" Poseidon thundered as he jumped to his feet in the Olympus throne room, his glare shooting to Aphrodite.

"Exactly what I said, Poseidon," Aphrodite kept a straight face as she watched Poseidon's grip tighten around his trident, "I went to visit him this morning, and I saw that his palace was empty. His bed was unused, and it appeared as if he hadn't been home in hours."

"He could very well just be performing his duties," Demeter spoke easily as she glanced over at Poseidon, "I'm sure he's alright."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Apollo answered, "A quest has been sent…Rachel spoke one out today during breakfast."

"What was the quest, Apollo?" Zeus urged.

"The beginning of the end is at hand

The Titan's Curse one must withstand

Heroes to the West to the God of Darkness

To stop the world from succumbing to eternal blackness."

"Welp, that's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?" Hermes huffed as he shook his head, "Somehow, Atlas has removed the weight of the sky from his own shoulders, gotten the upper-hand on Percy, and placed them upon Percy's shoulders."

"This is not good," Zeus frowned deeply, "If Nyx and Erebus are recruiting Titans, we are in more trouble than we originally thought."

"We'll be fighting a war within a war," Athena deduced.

"Dionysus, who is being sent on this quest to rescue Percy?" Zeuz questioned.

"Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Jason Grace, Calypso, and Annabeth Chase," Dionysus answered easily.

"Why would you send Annabeth Chase to save Percy after what transpired between them?" Hades questioned his nephew curiously.

"I didn't send her," Dionysus huffed, "She sent herself. She followed the other four when they left this afternoon."

"I bet they aren't too happy about that one," Hermes snorted, "As far as I know, those four can't stand Annabeth after what she's done to Percy."

"Rightfully so," Poseidon grunted.

"Even so, I request that Dionysus and Apollo offer the quest their aid should a danger they cannot face arises. And do try and watch over them and make sure they don't kill Annabeth. I'd have to have to stop Athena from striking down the Saviours of Olympus," Zeus sighed.

"As you wish, My Lord," Dionysus and Apollo nodded their heads to their fathers.

"Meeting is adjourned then. Let us pray that Percy is rescued in time and returned home," Zeus sighed. The Olympians nodded to Zeus before one by one they began flashing from the throne room.

The only ones remaining were Aphrodite and Zeus. Zeus was normally the last one to leave the throne room after a meeting, so his presence was unsurprising. He waited patiently on his throne as he watched Aphrodite's eternal battle with herself. After a few minutes of shifting facial expressions, Aphrodite rose to her feet and made her way towards Zeus's throne.

"Aphrodite, is there something I can help you with?" Zeus questioned, lifting a single eyebrow silently.

"I want a divorce from Hephaestus," Aphrodite stated simply. Zeus appeared unsurprised by her request, his expression remained soft and neutral as always. Actually, if Aphrodite had seen correctly, a knowing smile appeared on his features, "You're not surprised."

"You may not think it, Aphrodite, but I see and notice everything," Zeus stated, "Your heart belongs to someone else. It is quite obvious. I noticed the moment you and Ares had broken up that your heart was leading you onto a far different course than you've been following for thousands of years."

Aphrodite frowned softly at Zeus's words, "If you know then-."

"Yes, most everyone on the council knows. Hades, half of Olympus knows, actually. We watch you and Percy when you are around one another. You appear so much different around him than you ever did around your previous lovers," Zeus smiled softly at Aphrodite, "Much happier, lighter even. It's a pure kind of happiness that can only be found once in a lifetime. I will admit, at first I wasn't going to allow it. I wasn't going to grant your request if you came forth with one. But Hera reminded me that everyone deserves a chance at love. Times are changing, and I must change with them.

"Therefore, I will grant your request," Zeus offered, "On one condition."

"Anything, Lord Zeus," Aphrodite nodded her head a little too eagerly.

"When Percy is found, you tell him how you feel. Though we are immortal, I have learned that life can sometimes be too short to let good opportunities pass you by."

"I will," Aphrodite nodded her head.

"Excellent," Zeus boomed with a grin, "Now I do believe you have a quest to watch over. Perhaps you can offer a bit of your own advice as our heroes journey to rescue Percy."

"Thank you again, Lord Zeus," Aphrodite bowed before she flashed away almost immediately.

Zeus frowned to himself as he leaned back in his throne, "You Fates sure have a funny way of working. I do hope you know what you're doing here."

…...

Piper McLean was annoyed. No, actually, to say she was annoyed would be an understatement. Piper was beyond pissed off. The quest that had been sent to rescue Percy had originally been old Piper, Jason, Calypso, and Leo. Piper was alright with that. After all, they were her boyfriend and her best friends. Her family. What she hadn't been okay with, was Annabeth tagging herself along. If Piper hated Annabeth before, she hated Annabeth even more as they traveled west. Annabeth with her holier than thou attitude, and her know-it-all ways used to impress Piper, but now it had taken everything within Piper not to rearrange the stupid know-it-all's face.

The only stopping her were her friends, her mother, and how she suspected Percy to react if he had found out. Percy claimed he held no hard feelings towards Annabeth, that he had forgiven her. However, that didn't mean Piper had to. Piper wasn't so quick to forgive, and she doubted she'd forgive Annabeth anytime soon.

And so, Piper decided to maintain as much distance away from Annabeth as possible. She merely sat in the passenger seat of the van that Chiron had loaned them, with Jason in the driver's seat, heading towards Mount Othrys. Leo and Calypso had occupied the middle seats, and they had saddled Annabeth in the far back to keep her as far away from them as possible.

"How much further to San Francisco? I'm exhausted. I need to stretch my legs, I feel like I'm going stir crazy in this van," Leo groaned.

"We still have some ways to go," Jason admitted, a small frown on his features, "I can probably pull over somewhere. We can stop and take a look at the map, maybe we can find a faster route."

"Can you make it a gas station? I want a slurpee," Leo questioned as he leaned forward between the two front seats, and Piper snorted as she rolled her eyes in amusement at her best friend.

"Yeah, Leo, I'll find a gas station," Jason chuckled as he shook his head.

"We shouldn't be stopping anywhere," Annabeth's voice sounded from the third row of seats, "We have to rescue Percy. He's in danger. We don't have the time to focus on Leo's silly needs."

"Since when do you care about Percy?" Piper scoffed as her head whipped around to glare at Annabeth.

"I've always cared about Percy!" Annabeth argued.

"Sure seemed like it," Piper rolled her eyes.

"Do you have something to say to me, Piper?" Annabeth's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, I have a lot to say to you, Annabeth, but out of respect to my best friend, I'm choosing to keep my mouth shut. Maybe you should do the same. This isn't even your quest," Piper huffed before she spun around in her seat to gaze out the front window once more.

"Maybe it should have been," Annabeth scoffed, "If it were my quest, we'd have made it to San Francisco by now, and Percy would have been rescued by now instead of making all of these unnecessary pit stops. It seems to me that I'm the only one who has Percy's interests at heart."

"Oh Gods, that's rich!" Piper laughed dryly at Annabeth's words, "If you had Percy's best interests at heart, you wouldn't have cheated on him. You wouldn't have broken him."

"I apologized to Percy for what I did!" Annabeth insisted.

"Uh, guys…?" Leo's voice sounded.

"And you think that makes it better? That suddenly we're all just going to forgive you and bow down to you, and praise you?" Piper scoffed as she spun her head around to look at Annabeth, "Should we be proud? 'Oh, Annabeth completely and utterly destroyed Percy Jackson to the point where he wished for death! But she apologized! So everything's just fine and fucking dandy!' Is that what you want, Annabeth?"

"I wasn't happy!"

"Piper..." Calypso's voice sounded next.

"Then you should have told him that! Instead of leading him on, instead of filling him with false hope then leaving him to wonder what the hell he did wrong to deserve what you did! You should have told him you didn't love him anymore!" Piper hissed.

"Guys!" Jason hollered, causing the girls to both quickly shut their mouths and their heads to snap in Jason's direction, glares on both of their faces.

"What?!" both Annabeth and Piper shouted.

"The Minotaur," Jason pointed ahead of them, and Piper's head snapped towards the road. Her eyes widening at the sight of the Minotaur charging towards them.

"Jason, back up! Back up, right now!"

"Don't have to tell me twice," Jason put the van in reverse, and he stepped on the gas, the car reversing at an alarming speed. The Minotaur continued charging after them, and Piper's eyes widened as she stared at it.

"It's getting closer!" Leo called as he stuck his head out of the window.

"Can you hit it with fire from here?" Piper questioned.

"At this speed?! I might miss it!"

"Just do it!"

Leo groaned as he stuck the upper half of his body out of the window. Fire sprouted from the tips of his fingers, and he threw his arm out in the Minotaur's direction. His fire had just barely touched it, and Leo groaned as he quickly climbed back into his seat, "Any other bright ideas, Pipes?"

"Stop the van," Annabeth spoke up from the back.

"Are you crazy?! He'll ram into us! I don't know about you, but I'd rather not become Minotaur chow!" Piper scoffed.

"Just stop the van!"

Jason glanced over at Piper, and Piper hesitated for a moment before she nodded her head once. Jason slammed down on the brakes, causing the car to swerve and skid to a stop.

"Let me out," Annabeth quickly clambered over into the second row of seats.

"What are you doing?" Calypso questioned.

"Trust me," Annabeth stated as she climbed over Calypso to climb out of the van, "Hey! Over here you giant ugly cow!" Annabeth waved her arms as soon as she clambered out of the van.

"Oh Gods, she's gonna get herself killed," Leo groaned.

Piper frowned as she watched the Minotaur change course, charging for the Daughter of Athena. Her eyes widened when she noticed that Annabeth had put on her Yankees cap, disappearing from the Minotaur's sight. The Minotaur grunted and growled when Annabeth disappeared, and he spun around in circles in search of Annabeth. But then Annabeth appeared again, waving her arms in the air and spewing insults at the monster.

"What is she doing?" Calypso frowned as she watched Annabeth repeat this process quite a few times.

After a moment, realization dawned Piper's features, "She's distracting him. Jason, come on! I'm not sure how long this will hold up," Piper quickly unbuckled her seatbelt, scrambling out of the van. Jason quickly followed suit, running around to stand at Piper's side, his Gladius in hand.

"What's the plan, Pipes?"

"When Annabeth has its attention, you go high, and I go low," Piper ordered, and Jason nodded his head in understanding.

They waited a moment until the Minotaur's back was to them, attention solely on Annabeth who had just appeared again a few feet away from the monster. Before he could charge at Annabeth, Piper charged forward and Jason flew upwards before charging forward. Piper swiped her dagger along the back of the Minotaur's leg, causing the Minotaur to drop to a knee. Jason swung his sword over the Minotaur's horn. Once the horn had fallen to the ground, Annabeth had surged forward to grab ahold of the horn before pushing it into the Minotaur's chest.

The Minotaur howled in agony before he fell over, his body exploding in a golden light, crumbling like sand, blown away in chunks on the wind. In its place was its horn, the same horn they had used to kill him. Annabeth sighed as she sat down in the middle of the road, exhaustion present on her features. Jason hunched over, his hands on his knees, "Are you okay, Annabeth?" Jason questioned as he lifted his head to look at the daughter of Athena.

"I'm fine," Annabeth waved her hand dismissively, "I just need a minute."

Jason nodded his head in understanding.

"Are you guys okay?!" Leo and Calypso called as they neared their friends, frowns taking over their features.

"We're fine," Piper assured before she glanced over at Annabeth, "We wouldn't have made it if not for Annabeth's plan...I still don't like you, and I honestly don't know if I ever will, but I guess it's not such a bad idea having you along for the ride."

Annabeth nodded her head as she slowly rose to her feet, "I just want to rescue Percy. The same as you guys...you can hate me all you want, Piper, but I'm going whether you liked it or not. He was my best friend before he was yours, and if Percy forgives me, then that's all that matters. Not your forgiveness, or anyone else's."

Piper frowned at Annabeth's words for a moment before she let out a sigh, extending her hand out in Annabeth's direction, "Truce, then. At least until after we rescue Percy."

Annabeth smiled softly before she took Piper's hand in hers, "Truce."

"Great! Now that that's settled, can we go now? I still want that slurpee, and now I'm kind of hungry, and the nearest rest step is still a few miles out," Leo jumped in, a grin taking over his features.

"How can you think of food at a time like this?" Piper rolled her eyes playfully at her friend.

"Hey! I'm a growing boy, okay? I have needs, and one of those needs is a slurpee and a bag of Cheetos. So let's hit the road," Leo clapped his hands together, rubbing them against one another excitedly.

"You're something else, Leo," Jason chuckled as he tossed an arm over Leo's shoulders to lead him to the van.

"I know I know. You guys love me," Leo grinned, "Hey, can I drive?"

"No!" everyone chorused almost instantly.

"Wow, guys, way to let a guy down easy."