Chapter Twelve
Mother Does NOT Know best
PERCY POV
I suppose I deserved the slap, yet at the same time I felt that I didn't. I was about to apologize, but Calypso did instead.
"I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just...I realized, Percy that I was never in love with you, truly. That was part of my curse: Failing in love with the heroes that made their way to my island. But Leo wasn't part of the curse, he broke it. Him, I do love. But, my anger slipped out, so I slapped you. Sorry."
That was a completely different speech then what I would've expected. But Calypso had always been nice. Her brown eyes meet mine, filled with a bittersweet memory.
"Uh, wow, uh Leo... You're back..."
At this point, Chiron galloped to the front of the demigods.
"Lady Calypso!"
He bowed, and the campers followed suit. Calypso smiled.
"Thank you Chiron, but you know I am no longer immortal."
"So, I'm assuming all this bowing is for me, right?" Leo quipped.
"Nonetheless, you are not to be without pleasantries," Chiron replied.
Without thinking, I wrapped Leo in a one arm hug.
"Gods, man! It's great to have you back! We tried to contact you so many times after the first time you came back"
His face contorted to pain and regret, like a painful list memory he wanted to get back. And trust me, I'm a bit of an expert on lost memory.
"Yeah...sorry...but that's not why I'm back, Percy. Annabeth and your kids, I assume, are in trouble."
"Yeah, I know," my mood was crushed, "Lucas is on a quest to save them with Iris."
Leo winced. "Bad news, Percy."
He told me the scenes he'd seen in his magic screen. I cursed Gaea and whistled for Blackjack. My emotion was fear this time, not the usual anger. My suspicions had been correct. It felt almost wrong to not be angry. Was it good or bad that my emotions were different? Leo put his hand on my shoulder.
"Wait, Percy, there's something else you should know. Gaea isn't our main threat. Tartarus himself is rising."
I thought it was a joke at first, but one glance at Calypso proved that it wasn't. Now, this, I had not predicted.
"No, no, no," I said, "Impossible! I've seen what just a fraction of his essence can do! It can't be! Gods, there's no way to stop him! No one is powerful enough to stop him!"
My mind raced, trying to think of what to do. Flashbacks of Tartarus clouded my thoughts. Panic rose in my throat. My vision got blurry. The awful stench came back to my nose. A hand reached out to steady me.
"Percy, calm down." Calypso's voice was soft, gentle, yet commanding. "Leo has told me what you and Annabeth faced-at least the parts he knows of, but it is true, of that much I'm sure."
"But, but-" I stammered. My head swam, memories haunting me. Blackjack landed beside me.
Boss, you good? I brought Snowball. I figured Little Boss might need some help.
He put his muzzle under my hand. His touch somehow brought me back to my senses.
"Yeah, Blackjack, I'm good. Leo, I'm going to save my family."
I straddled my Pegasus. He leapt upon Festus, offering a hand to Calypso.
"Take care of Sammy, Chiron" Leo said. He turned to me and spoke.
"Let's ride."
As I'm sure I've said before, my plans never go right. This was the same. My right arm was crushed while I went into battle, my Pegasus was shot out from underneath me, and I crash landed in front of the jailer KampĂȘ, who promptly lashed my arm with her whip of incapacitation. Luckily, she struck my arm that was already broken. Unluckily, IT STILL HURT. Imagine 1,000 fire Ants biting you, and multiply that by...let's say infinity. Ouch. My vision blurred, but I faintly saw a massive fireball hurtle into KampĂȘ's face, causing her to explode into dust. Calypso's fingers brushed my arm, subsiding the pain. My arm felt brand new.
"If I had known you had healing powers, I would have asked sooner," I informed her.
She gave an apologetic smile. "They are limited."
So, if you haven't guessed, we arrived at Gaea's great awakening. Luckily, thanks to Leo's scroll, we were able to find the location. She met us at the mouth of a cave, blocking our way inside, so I'm assuming something important was inside. Oh, and more bad news: that's exactly what she wanted.
"This is exactly what I wanted!" Gaea cackled. (see?) "The heroes all gathered together in one place to stop me, but unable to save their friends! And you, Leo! By Zeus, I'm surprised you came back!"
Leo balled his fists.
"You're wrong Gaea!" I shouted. "We're gonna save my family!" I was confident, ready to take on the world. (Quite literally, Gaea is the World).
She bellowed, shaking her head with laughter. Her brown eyes bored into my skull.
"I wasn't talking about your family, Perseus."
She waved her hand, creating images in dirt. Friends I hadn't seen in ages were trapped. Frank and Hazel Zhang were being crushed slowly by the weight of Atlas's curse. I had to bear that once before. It wasn't easy. She had made this fight the most personal fight I had ever had.
"Damn you, Gaea!" I shouted. "Damn you to Tartarus!"
Her smile only grew bigger.
"Why should I go to Tartarus, Perseus, when Tartarus is coming here?"
The earth shook, and I heard the voice of Tartarus. (And believe me, I knew what he sounded liked)
"Soon. Soon my essence shall be complete"
Gaea studied me. I was her pawn.
"You cannot save everyone, Perseus. Make a decision"
Just then a gigantic shadow covered Frank and Hazel. They disappeared. Then, it appeared next to us. It dissipated and Nico stood in the middle of it, along with Frank and Hazel. He fell to his knees.
"Oh gods. Never Shadow Travel that fast...remind me of that next time." He managed to wheeze out from his prostrate position. I grinned, finally glad something was going our way. I heard Gaea spit in disgust
"That was freaking awesome, dude." I said, "but I may need you to use it again. And also, who's holding up the world now?"
Nico groaned and Just then, my entire family burst forth from the cave, ready to fight.
NICO POV
It's funny, what you remember, when your life is in danger. The moments like when the entire camp thought Will Solace and I were gay and had a thing. Well, Will is gay, I should clarify. It's just that I'm not. First off, that stupid crush thing that Cupid made me admit to was more like an admiration thing. I mean, I was freaking twelve, so I blame Jason on spreading that rumor. Plus, the comment I made to Percy about him being cute probably didn't help, but I meant it as a joke. I was honestly just glad that Will had accepted me as a human without having felt any obligation to, to begin with. Second, people probably used my usually dark nature to "explain" it or whatever. But, I am a child of Hades. That should probably be a pretty big indicator to what my mood and personality will be like. And I suppose that it's not that funny that these particular memories surfaced. They were happening the last time Gaea rose, so I guess Gaea was kind of a trigger for them. Now, this time, I really felt like I was about to die. My body ached. I had no idea who was holding the world up, and I wished I had thought about that earlier.
"What do you need, Percy?" I gasped out. His face was set in determination. Grim determination.
"We're about to make a trip to the Pit of Tartarus."
My eyes bugged. Annabeth must have heard him, because she perked up.
"What did you say, Percy?" Her grey eyes radiated fear. She was pretty bruised and had identical piercings on her wrists. Fresh blood was slowly beginning to trickle forth. I turned back to Percy.
"What the Hades are you talking about, Percy? Tartarus's entire essence is forming and you want to dive into his Pit?! It'll be even worse than last time!"
I shuddered simultaneously with him. We had both fallen into that pit. At least he'd been in there with Annabeth...I had nobody at the time. The only reason I managed to survive was because I already smelled of Death.
"Just put us on the Edge, Nico. Trust me."
The way he said edge freaked me. Gods no, he couldn't mean.
"Percy! Don't do it!" Annabeth screamed. She had heard us talking. She started to run, but the ground, the literal ground, grabbed her ankles, keeping her struggling in place. Gaea was watching our drama and toying with us. Percy's hand testing on my shoulder snapped me back to reality.
"Come on, Nico," he urged. I remembered when I was begging him to bathe in the River Styx for his fight against Kronos. But this was different. This was Tartarus. Yet, I owed him...and the world. I hate logic. I closed my eyes, and together we materialized into the shadows.
We reformed at the edge of nothing. By nothing, I mean the edge of Chaos' realm. The Chaos, who created the world.
"Percy," my voice wavered. Partly from uncertainty, partly from the putrid smell of this damned Pit. "What, exactly is your plan?"
He coughed, the smell getting to him as well.
"Jump into nothingness, hope Chaos still exists, and convince him to fight for us"
"that is the stupidest idea I have ever heard," I told him.
"Won't be the last. But this will work. I've had a dream."
He got to jump, when I thought of something.
"Percy! Wait! Let me go. I'll shadow travel you back to earth. This is what Gaea wants, right? You, out of commission. If this fails..." I didn't need to say more.
"Can you do that? Shadow travel other people without you going with them?"
I nodded. Partly true. I had transferred Thalia a few feet at a time, but out of Tartarus. Gods.
"It'll probably drain me," I admitted. I turned my back to Chaos and stepped dangerously close to the edge. I shut my eyes right and focused on Percy and sending him back. Moments later, he was fine. I opened my eye, my stomach grew queasy, and shots danced in my vision. Exhausted, I fell backward into endless nothing.
