"So Ryker's gone?" Victoria asked with a sense of finality in her voice, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling. "Typical."

"Uh, yeah." Percy said uncomfortably. The Amazon had tracked him down, he had been in the middle of packing his bag for the quest, and forced him to answer her questions. "Sorry I couldn't be more help. He left early this morning, or maybe really late last night. Hecate gave him some advice and he left."

If Victoria heard him she did not acknowledge him, staring off into the distance as though the tree line was to blame for her missing interest. "The first thing I am going to do is teach him how to give his girlfriend a proper goodbye." She said suddenly, seemingly having come to a decision. "Then maybe manners."

"Wait, what?" Percy asked, confused despite himself. He finished packing his bag and tossed it onto his bed, rising to his feet. "Did you call yourself his girlfriend? Does he know this?"

"Does it matter?" Victoria asked shortly, sweeping out of the tent without another word.

Leo, brushing past Victoria, entered the tent moments later and jerked his thumb towards the direction the Amazon had gone. "What was that about?"

"Dude, I don't even know." Percy said, shrugging his shoulders. "Well? Is it ready?"

"Psssht. 'Is it ready?' he asks." Leo said mockingly, puffing his chest out with pride. "Did the Leo-mister say that I would get this puppy done in a day? Did I promise to make it the sweetest ride ever? Am I the greatest thing since melted cheese?"

"Yes. Yes. No." Percy said, counting off the questions on his hand and then grinning at his friend. "So we can leave soon then?"

"Yeah, just as soon as we finish getting prepped." Leo confirmed. Percy then saw a change in the son of Hephaestus. Leo's face fell and lines of worry that he had been hiding from, well, everyone appeared. His eyes grew tired and his normal traces of fun and his joking mannerisms disappeared. "Another one, eh?" He asked, taking a seat on Percy's bed.

"Seems like." Percy knew Leo's tiredness well, but he assumed that it was probably far more than his own. He had not risen from the dead like Leo had after all. "Maybe this will be the last one."

"Last quest, maybe." Leo said darkly. "But there is always something going on. No matter what we do it just feels like we can't ever catch a break. You know, hermano?"

"I know how you feel." Percy agreed tiredly, sitting down beside Leo and burying his face in his hands for a few moments. Though they had all been hiding it from the camp the participants in the quest were exhausted in every way possible. It had truly been one thing after the other. Percy had been looking forward to a monster-free college in New Rome with Annabeth, maybe taking a job working part time at a coffee shop or weapon store. Something to keep him busy. But not… Now such a future seemed nigh impossible. Like everyone else inevitably had, Percy had been replaying the words of the prophecy over and over in his mind. "The Flame, the Storm, and the Sea, to the South they will be." Percy repeated, the words themselves sounding worn in the air.

"One shall cease to be henceforth." Leo added, staring at the floor. Small flames danced around his hands, flickering to life quickly and dying away just as fast. "I don't suppose there is any chance that the Oracle could have gotten that wrong?"

"You know how prophecies are." Percy said simply.

Leo glared at him. "Not helpful, man."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Percy said quickly, apologetically. "I meant… like, prophecies are never clear. We might think it means one thing, when it really means another."

"Hey, yeah, maybe we don't have to go on a quest at all." Leo said with false brightness. "Maybe we got it all wrong and Tartarus is going to go off and do something else, bother someone else. If that's the case I am all in, I can stay in and watch movies with Calypso all day."

"I don't think even we can get a prophecy that wrong." Percy said, smiling even though Leo's joke wasn't particularly any good. "So, any idea where we might start looking? All we got it 'south'. How far south do you think? Like, Brazil? I'd be okay with that. Nice weather, good food."

"More like, South Pole." Leo said glumly, preemptively shivering as he thought about the subzero temperatures they would possibly be subjected to. "With snow. Bleh."

"Don't even start with me, fire boy." Percy rolled his eyes. "If you get too cold you can just light yourself on fire. Hey, we can roast marshmallows on you! Why have we never thought about that before?"

"I still get cold." Leo snapped. "It's not like I can be the Human Torch indefinitely. I still have to eat and junk."

"And it might not be a good thing, having you on fire in the South Pole." Percy said with a falsely grim attitude. "Global warming?"

Leo narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Did you just blame me for global warming?"

"You are full of hot air." Percy said fairly.

"You are lucky that you are my friend, otherwise I would turn you into a charcoal briquette." Leo said, but he chuckled nonetheless. "I don't know, being blamed for global warming was not the idea I had for this quest. But, hey, I'll take it. I guess. Not sure that is actually something I want to be blamed for, I changed my mind."

"What are we blaming you for?" Jason asked, stepping inside the tent and cocking his head to one side.

"Global warming." Percy supplied.

Jason nodded sagely, pushing his hands into his pockets and leaning on one of the tent's pillars. "Because he is so full of hot air?" He guessed.

Percy had to stifle a laugh, which came out as a snort instead and Leo shot them both a dagger-filled look. "Sure, make fun of the mechanic." He threatened venomously, "I installed injector seats in the car just for that."

"Wait, how did you have time for that?" Percy asked curiously. "I thought you said you would barely be able to finish as it is."

"Oh, please." Leo rolled his eyes. "Ejector seats was the first thing I thought of, they were always in the calculations. Besides, with the Hephaestus and Vulcan cabins working together we made this ride look awesome. I got to boss them around, it was pretty sweet."

"So, it is ready then?" Jason asked.

"Ready and waiting." Leo confirmed. Percy glanced over to him and saw some of the old Leo humor and spunk returning, his momentary weakness left behind and forgotten. "We can leave when you two are good. My stuff is already packed and stowed."

"My stuff is in the Temple of Jupiter." Jason said, pushing off the supporting post and popping his knuckles. "Any time in particular that you two want to leave?"

"Today." Percy said firmly, not wanting to get caught up in procrastination. "We have to leave today. The sooner we can finish this the sooner we can get on with our lives."

"Agreed." Leo nodded.

Jason echoed the sentiment and then added quietly, "I'm… going to go say goodbye." He said, waving a goodbye and departing the tent.

There was a moment of silence in the wake of his parting words and Leo slowly stood up. "I am too." He said, his voice as soft as Jason's. "This whole quest thing… well, Calypso is taking it hard. She wants to go too, doesn't want to stay here. Says she feels useless."

"I totally understand man." Percy clapped his friend on the shoulder as they both left the tent. "I'm going to go say goodbye to Annabeth too."

They bade each other farewell and went their separate ways, each of them looking for the ones who were so important to them. Percy made his way to the Athena tent, knocking on one of the tent's entry poles for attention. One of Annabeth's sisters, her gray eyes a match to Annabeth's, poked her head out and smiled automatically at Percy. Despite the rivalry between Athena and Poseidon, the relations between Percy and the Athena cabin had only gotten better the more serious his relationship with Annabeth became. "Come in, Jackson." The girl, Percy could not remember her name for the life of him, said chidingly. "Come on now, you don't need to knock."

"Just trying to be polite." Percy said, shrugging with a returning smile. "Annabeth here?"

"Sorry, you just missed her." The girl apologized. "She went out to find Piper for something. Probably about the quest."

"Probably." Percy agreed, ducking out of the tent after waving farewell. He stood up and took a deep breath, wondering about where to go next in his search of Annabeth.

"Looking for your woman?" A man in a Hawaiian shirt sporting a large brown beard asked, sitting down by a water fountain that had seemed to sprout from nowhere directly in front of the Athena cabin. The man, of course, was none other than Percy's father, Poseidon. The god of the sea rose from where he sat and beckoning to his son with one arm. "Come, walk with me Percy. I would like a word, is that alright?"

"Uh, sure." Percy said, jogging to catch up to his father and looking at him in surprise when Poseidon placed an arm around his shoulders. "What's up Dad?"

"I simply wanted to wish you luck." Poseidon shrugged. "I am told that human fathers often do these things when their children go off on their own adventures, so I thought that I would give it a try."

"Oh, well, bye then?" Percy was never too sure about his father's motives, or his odd attempts at fatherhood. They were nonetheless appreciated, but they were usually hard to understand. Having a god for a father was never easy, or simple. "Is that all?"

"Not quite, I wanted to give you some advice as well. And a gift." Poseidon turned to his son and Percy felt a whooshing sensation around his head. He blinked and when he opened his eyes he found that he and his father were standing in the middle of a vast lake, the edges barely visible in the distance. Poseidon saw the confusion written on his son's face and smiled warmly. "Sorry, I just wanted a moment of privacy. Father to son, you understand."

"Yeah, of course." Percy said, peering down at his shoes and being grateful that he could repel water.

"Percy, be careful on this quest." Poseidon said, voice suddenly grave and full of concern. "This will not be like your other quests you have faced. Tartarus is old, older than Gaea perhaps. He would not move unless he felt that his odds of victory were truly insurmountable. He will have protections in place to keep you from reaching your destination."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Percy sighed, shrugging. "But it was the same for Gaea, right? She thought she had it in the bag too."

"Gaea grew careless in the end, allowing herself to materialize where she could be attacked." Poseidon countered, both of his hands upon Percy's shoulders. "Tartarus will not be so foolish, I believe that is the purpose of your quest. He must have taken measures that would prevent him from being killed here, possibly more than we know."

"We'll do it." Percy said confidently, raising his chin. "We always come through, we will this time too."

"Your confidence is warm to my heart." Poseidon said, smiling.

"If you are worried about that line about one of us not coming back-." Percy began, intending to deliver a heartfelt speech about how he was certain that none of them would fall during the quest.

"Oh, I am not worried that you will be the one to fall." Poseidon said bracingly, squeezing Percy's shoulders tightly. "That will be the son of Cybele, worry not."

"W-what?" Percy asked, all of his former bravado drained away in an instant. "Ryker? How do you know?"

"Don't worry about that for now." Poseidon told him. He glanced up at the sky and rolled his eyes. "My time grows short, I need to take my leave before Zeus intervenes. Here, my gift." Poseidon reached into the chest pocket of his Hawaiian shirt and pulled out a small golden charm with a trident pendant hanging on it. He took Percy's hand and slipped it on his son's wrist.

"Wait, what's this?" Percy asked confusedly. "How do you know about Ryker?"

"Take care, Percy." Poseidon said, dissolving into water. "I will watch over you as much as I can. The charm will activate when you have need of it most."