Author's Notes:

Hey guys, here's a new chapter. Originally, I planned on updating a week after my last chapter, but obviously, that didn't happen. Before I start talking about this chapter, I have an announcement to make. Some people are asking me about pairings, and well, I haven't decided that yet. When I first started writing, I didn't plan on making a pairing, but as I continued, I was leaning towards Percy x Annabeth, but in a more platonic friendship. However, I'm going to let you guys decide that for me! I opened up a poll, so please let me know what you want, and I'll go with the majority.

Alright, let's talk a bit about this chapter. Not going to lie, this chapter was quite difficult to write. Why? Because I'm trying to bridge the scenes together and lay down some groundwork for future chapters. That being said, this chapter is basically info dump and not much action, so sorry to disappoint if you're expecting a fight against Ares, etc. With my rough estimate, it will probably take one or two more chapters for this arc to complete. Plan is to have an interlude between arc one and arc two, in other words, it will be completely original. Heck, as the story continues onward, it will diverge more and more from the canon. Another thing is the OOC that I'm sure you guys noticed already. Things such as "Why does Annabeth seem to incompetent?" will be answered later. If you have any suggestions or thoughts on this story so far, please let me know in the review! I'm not sure if you guys like the direction of the story, but as always, thanks for reading!

*Story starts

Gabe was my stepfather, and if this was a fairy tale, then my mother was the Cinderella, likewise, Gabe was the evil stepmother. He was the definition of a stuck up, disgusting man that Artemis would not hesitate killing if she ever learned what he did to us. The word abusement would be an understatement when describing his actions. When something went horribly wrong, he would hit my mother out of anger and frustration. When the food was not cooked properly to suit his taste, he would throw the plate off the table and spat the food at her. Hm, didn't know that pigs were picky about what they eat.

But after all this time, my mother never complained and accepted all the abuse not because she enjoyed it, but to protect me. The scent of the Big Three was incredibly strong and according to Grover, if not for Gabe's foul smell as a filthy human, a sea of monsters would already be swarming me. So long as my mother and I were living with him, then monsters would have a hard time pinpointing my whereabouts.

Either way, vomitous men like him are the reason why Artemis created the Hunters to take in every maiden that was abused and proudly execute the abuser in the most gruesome way. She would even go as far as to make sure Hades put them in the Fields of Punishment to experience everlasting tortures. Once, one of Hades' judges, Minos, decided to put a man that commited rape into Elysium out of pity considering how beat up he was when he came to the judgment pavilion. Needless to say, The Hunters were the one responsible for his missing limbs, ruptured throat, and deformed facial features, so when Artemis learned that the pig ended up in the underworld's paradise, she personally paid Hades a visit and strongly suggested him to override the decision. Her unorthodox methods that Thalia refused to tell me as she claimed that it was a secret among the Hunters somehow managed to make the stubborn Lord of the Dead to change his mind.

Supposedly, when my summer break began, my mom borrowed Gabe's Camaro and took me to the beach house that we used to go to when I was young. The time spent was merry and relaxing. Away from school, away from chaos, and away from smelly Gabe, but as we all know nothing lasted forever, especially the good. That was when the Minotaur showed up to crash the party and followed by flipping our car off the road. That was also when I was brought to this timeline, witnessing my mother being taken away by Hades for the second time.

After that, I managed to defeat the monster unleashed by Hades and dragged Grover pass the boundary line of the camp, but that didn't mean the story ended here. Well, to say that Gabe was pissed off about his destroyed Camaro was an understatement. He reported the incident to the police and proceeded to defame me, spewing things like I had violent behaviors and was a threat to the happy family. I snorted when I thought about how delusional the guy could be.

Ever since his report, I had become the top story on every major newspaper and apparently became a wanted figure. And this was the reason why I had quite a sour expression on my face.

Mist was a powerful veil that could hide mysteries from mortals, however, it wasn't all that perfect. Some mortals were able to "see" more than what the average population could. Funny thing about mortals was that they could always find a way to twist the reality in order to explain something that they failed to understand. For instance, some said that the explosions at the St. Louis arc was an act of aliens trying to take over the Earth while others claimed that an adolescent child called Percy Jackson was the one responsible.

I mean, it wasn't too far from the truth, but hey, I didn't have fire powers that could melt structures, nor did I possess the strength to break eight layers of concrete. So saying that I was responsible was not fair. I was sure that if the Three Fates and Chronos were present, they would be laughing their assess off at my expression after learning how mortals managed to twist the truth by an enormous margin.

"Umm before you go over what happened earlier, can you explain to me first why you are immersing yourself in the water? Shouldn't you be going to the doctor?" Rachel asked from the side. "By the way, that water looks really filthy, are you sure you didn't hit your head from earlier?"

Both Grover and Annabeth were also staring at me in wonder, but I ignored all of their curious glances. Once we successfully escaped the cameras and reporters, we headed straight for the nearby lake that I plunged in years ago thanks to Chimera's poison. Oddly, Rachel followed us and I decided against asking her if she should be returning to her parents. After witnessing the entire fight, I couldn't just leave her without telling her about the supernatural world. Besides, as the future oracle, Rachel might be able to provide me with useful information down the road.

Annabeth offered to pull the knife out of my shoulder earlier but I declined. Reason being that it served as a temporary blood stopper, but now that I was in the lake, I mentally prepared myself as I closed my eyes and yanked the knife out of me. The previously clotted wound was now reopened, resulting in blood gushing out, instantly tainted the water around me into the color pink.

Slowly, I could feel the wound closing up again and the burning sensation from my back was also cooling down. Numerous gasps were heard from where Annabeth, Grover, and Rachel were standing as they saw the phenomenon of water healing me in less than a minute.

Once I felt that my body was completely recovered, I stood up and they gaped at me again when they noticed that I was completely dry. Ah yes, a perk from being a child of the sea god: unless I allowed the water to drench my clothes, it would always stay dry under water.

"To answer your question," I spoke up, giving a lazy stretch. "No, I don't think the doctors will be able to cure me this fast." I chuckled a bit and continued, "And before I explain anything else, please close your mouths."

When they realized what they had been doing, they immediately shook their heads and lifted their jaws back up.

"So Rachel," I began, eyeing the mortal girl we just met carefully. "How much of Greek Mythology do you know?" Of course I knew what she was going to say, but I had to guide her to the conclusion I was seeking.

"If you're referring to Zeus, Poseidon, then yeah I read over some stories about them." At the mention of the Lord of the Sky's name, the sky rumbled softly, and I involuntarily glanced up. Scrunching her brows in confusion, she asked, "What was that? Thunder when the sky is clear?"

"That was the King of gods himself," I stated simply and she tilted her head, appearing to be more confused as the conversation went on. "What I'm saying is that the so called myths are all real. Annabeth and I are demigods and Grover here is a satyr." At the mention of their names, the former gave Rachel a nod while the latter gave her a wave.

"Wait a minute…" Rachel muttered to herself, resting her chin on her fist. After a brief moment, she shot up with widened eyes. "You're telling me that this is all real? I knew it... those dreams were too real to be fake…"

"What dreams?" Annabeth learned forward and asked with narrowed eyes. Oh boy, let's pray to all gods that these two won't start bickering at each other. For some reason, Annabeth would always try to start a fight with Rachel, whether it was about something she said or did, at any given chance. In response, the Rachel would try her best to ignore those condescending and snarky comments that were thrown at her, though at times, she would also show that she was not here to be mess around. The feud between the daughter of Athena and the Oracle lasted for a good amount of the time until Annabeth and I started dating. To this date, I still had no clue what happened, but the most bizarre thing was that ever since Annabeth became my girlfriend, her attitude towards the redhead took a 180 degrees swing and somehow became her best friend. Weird, huh.

"Well, it's rather complicated," Rachel frowned and said. "I'm not sure if you will believe me."

"It's alright to tell us," Grover reassured her. "We will do anything we can to help." Both Annabeth and I nodded in agreement.

"It all started couple months ago," Rachel began with hesitation. "I began having dreams about thunder and rain. At first I thought they were just nightmares, but…"

"But?" Annabeth prompted her as her eyes began to narrow.

"But it didn't stop. In fact, it became much worse," Rachel confessed. "To the point where I could hear evil laughter and something about demigods and Zeus going to end the world if the stolen object isn't returned."

Here, Annabeth had to cover up her mouth to prevent a gasp from escaping and as for Grover, he dropped the tin can he was chewing on the floor with shock. Seeing how those two were incapable of formulating words right now, I spoke up. "Is there anything else?"

Rachel shook her head and sighed though she did look a bit more relaxed now that she got that off of her chest. "Alright listen up Rachel," I said slowly, contemplating as to how I should word myself. "We don't have much time because as you know, the Lord of the Sky lost something valuable to him, and we're on a quest to retrieve that missing object."

"Percy!" Annabeth glared at me and said. "How can you tell a mortal about this? Do you know the consequence?"

"It's fine," I told her and turned my attention back to Rachel. "But for your own safety, please do not speak of this to anyone, got it?"

"So this is all real, isn't it?" Rachel said. "The Olympians and the demigods...they are all real?"

"Yes," I said. "And what you saw earlier was the Echidna and her evil sidek-, erm, I mean her son."

"Wow, this sounds really dangerous but fun," Rachel exclaimed excitingly. "Can I-"

Before she could finish, I interrupted her, "No, you can't come with us. Like you said, it's very dangerous."

"But-"

"How about this, if we somehow meet again, I'll fill you in more on all this."

"Deal?" The gloomy expression that Rachel had previously was now wiped away with excitement yet again.

I smiled and nodded at her, "Yes, it's a deal."

"But how are you getting around?" Rachel asked. "I don't think you're old enough to drive."

"Right… about that…" I frowned and trailed off as I thought about the biggest challenge we have right now.

*Scene Break

"Well, that was certainly quite convenient," Annabeth muttered to herself after we watched the car drive off in the distance. "Never thought it would be like this."

"Yup," Grover nodded his head. "If we make it out alive, we should thank her."

"I'm sure we will see each other soon," I told them half heartedly then knitted my brows as I thought about the current situation. Something was off, and I didn't like it at all. Wasn't Hades' helm of darkness stolen by Luke and in Ares' possession right now? If so, where were the Furies? Unless in this timeline it wasn't stolen at all?

There was another thing. Apparently, the mysterious stalker that was following us wasn't the Echidna since I was still able to detect its presence. How frustrating…

On the bright side, we had successfully secured our transportation all the way to L.A, courtesy to Rachel Elizabeth Dare. After learning about our quest and the lack of transportation to travel across the country, the red haired girl decided to help us out. Annabeth, Grover, and I were extremely skeptical about her statement and initially declined the offer. I mean, how was she going to it? But then again, this was Rachel, who surprised me multiple occasions in the previous timeline, so hey, maybe that remained constant and that she had a trick up her sleeves.

Oh boy, I was right about that. Apparently Rachel had developed that cunning and sly personality of hers before I met her. When she brought us to her guardian, she told him that we were her classmates who were in need of help of getting to California. When asked why, she immediately responded for us, saying that we got lost on a school trip.

Naturally, there were a lot of holes in her reasoning, but in her defense, she was only twelve. Due to the status as a driver/guardian for the young and single child of the Dare family, he only lifted his brows in surprise then called his superior.

As a wealthy businessman, Mr. Dare didn't have time in his hands to deal with her daughter's request, so instead of flat out denying it, he made a deal with her, in which he would help Rachel's friend as long as she stopped blasting her weird music at night.

Maybe Rachel already knew that her demands could be delivered as long as she opens her mouth. Maybe to others, that sounded terrific, but that wasn't what she wanted. Like any other twelve year old, she wanted attention from her parents, but with all the board meetings and client's constant demands, Mr. Dare never really had time to spend with her daughter. To compensate, he would lavish Rachel, thinking that money could solve all problems in this world.

I wish…

What he didn't understand that, wealth may play a role in the level of happiness, but there were a lot of other things that people value over money. In this case, it would be parental love.

In the previous timeline, she told me about her family problems and was grateful that I introduced her into the mythical world. That time, I only stared at her weirdly, thinking to myself who would want to be involved in a world full of chaos. Perhaps, I was slowly beginning to understand her reasons.

Well, thanks to Mr. Dare's generosity and Rachel's honorable sacrifice, we got ourselves enough travel expense to reach our destination. They did offer to buy us plane tickets, but I shook my head violently at that proposal. Me, a son of Poseidon, traveling in Zeus' domain was as suicidal as fighting Ladon alone. Annabeth and Grover looked at me quizzically, but soon caught on and elected to transport by train and buses.

"I'm not sure if we will be seeing her again," Annabeth pointed at herself and Grover with a smirk. "But I know for sure that YOU will be seeing her again." Right, before Rachel departed with her driver, she gave me her phone number and asked me to call her should we have time to hang out in the future.

"... What are you trying to say here?" I sighed and asked Annabeth.

Increasing the size of her smirk, she responded, "Oh it's nothing Seaweed Brain. Or should I call you Rock Head instead?" Grover was trying very hard not to break out in laughters, but in the end, he failed and began laughing hysterically. When I glared at Annabeth, she merely shrugged and continued on, "Either way, let's get going. I hope the dining cart has good food."

*Scene Break*

Everything went by peacefully as the train continued onwards to our destination. Both Annabeth and Grover were exhausted from earlier encounter at St. Louis Arch, while I was also feeling a bit fatigue. Deciding to take a short nap to replenish my energy, I kicked off my shoes and curled up on my seat. Since Mr. Dare had bought us our tickets, he also ensured that we got the most comfortable seats, thus explaining the spacious area and marshmallow like seats.

As per usual, the moment I fell asleep, I began dreaming.

The surroundings were quite dark making it somewhat difficult for me to pinpoint my whereabout. One advantage of demigods was that we were able to wander freely in our dreams, giving us the freedom to explore and gathering as much information as we desired. Thus, my curiosity prompted me to journey further down the dark abyss. One might say that my action was impulsive and borderline stupid, but hey, unless it's caused by Morpheus himself, I don't think anyone can die in their dreams.

Chattering sounds and metal clashing noises gradually grew as I made my way down the hallway. Once I reached the end, a wave of hot and dry heat collided with me, and I had to blink a few times to adjust my pupils to the new surroundings that I had found myself in.

Though the scenery before me wasn't as impressive and traumatizing as that of Tartarus, the sheer amount of monsters forging new weapons and the dry atmosphere in this cramped area still made me feel quite overwhelmed. As I made my way through the groups of Teklines, my overwhelming feeling was further developed into astonishment when I realized how far Luke had carried out Kronos' will, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried. There was no way that the opposing side was THIS far ahead of us in terms of preparations, right? They didn't need to wait for another year, no, not even a day. With their current strength, if they were to storm Camp Half-Blood at this moment, the demigods would stand no chance. Strategically speaking, Luke and Kronos held all the advantages in this war. Not only did he have superior numbers, but also possessed superior intel, including strengths and weaknesses of the camp's defense, on our side. If I were in his position, I would gather all the scattered monsters across the country and issue an attack within days since surprise attack was a common military tactic. So the question now is why? Why was Luke not pulling the trigger?

As I slowly walked through the crowd while coming up with some logical explanations behind Luke's actions, I found myself stopping in front of a closed door that said "Do Not Enter." Naturally, my rebellious nature along with my dyslexia read that as "Please Enter!", so I diffused through the door, determined to find out what secrets were being held in this room.

"But my Lord," a voice pleaded desperately. "Now is the perfect time! There's no opportunity better than right now!" The room itself was completely dark with an exception of golden light emitting from the far side of the room. As I traced my sight to the source of the brightness, it was then that I was able to spot the figure that was talking.

"Silence, you fool," an ancient voice bellowed with authority and power. "We don't have enough intel to proceed with our operations. There is only one chance for me, and if I don't succeed, then I'll have to wait for another millennia."

"B-But think about it, that blasted camp is in utter chaos now, with each of them taking sides and fighting against each other! If we attack right now, then it's going to be a guarantee victory!"

"Then what? Have you considered all possibilities?"

"What do you mean?" the figure asked quizzically.

"Did you forget about the other camp that I told you about?" the voice pointed out and a low but soft gasp could be heard from the figure. "Do you think they will sit idly?"

"If their past rivalry is being factored in, then perhaps?"

A momentary silence dawn upon the room, and I thought that the figure had successfully convinced the mysterious voice. "Seems like you're still too naive …" the voice spoke up again with great disappointment. "If you can't see the reasons yourself, then don't even think about leading the army."

"But my Lord -" The previous confidence that the figure once held was now gone, only to be replaced by a sense of dread and panic.

"Do you need me to remind your carelessness? Do you need me to remind you how you failed your undercover mission, and the only mission that I gave you?" The figure whimpered a bit as the voice pressed onwards. " What was his name again? Perseus Jackson? My son's brat if I recalled correctly." This was where all my suspicions were confirmed. Before my frameless body was Luke and a part of Kronos' essence. Even to this date, I was still unable to fathom how a part of Kronos' essence was able to escape from Tartarus let alone grow under the nose of the Olympians. Was it once again due to the pride and ego from the gods? Or was the Titan Lord so powerful that he was able to revive himself from the pit of forever darkness.

"Yes, my Lord," Luke grimaced and nodded. "Somehow that kid was able to see through our plans even though I mentioned nothing about it previously. He even knows about you."

"Ah yes…" Kronos hummed a bit in contemplation before continuing. "That is quite interesting indeed, but that doesn't excuse your negligence on this matter!"

"I-I'm extremely sorry my Lord, please forgive me," Luke kneeled on the ground and bowed his head to the ground with a shaken voice. "I promise you I won't fail you again."

"Since this is your first offense, I will forgive you just this once," Kronos said. "But if you fail again… you know what will happen." Before Luke could say his thanks, Kronos muttered quietly, "I wonder what we should do with the boy…"

"Should I assassinate him, my Lord?" Luke suggested and I smirked a bit at the thought. I mean, you can try, but don't be dumbfounded when you realize that the monsters you sent after me are all turned into golden dust. I wasn't even concerned about the callousness in Luke's words since it was a pure logical choice that strictly meant business from his end.

"Are you kidding me?" Kronos scoffed at Luke, which the latter looked quite perplexed at the remark. "You didn't even have the guts to kill him when you first realized that he knows our plans, so what makes you think that you can do it this time?"

Biting his lower lips in frustration and balling up his fists in resentment, the young son of Hermes remained in silence with a scowl planted on his face. There was nothing he could say to defend himself at Kronos' accusation. Luke indeed should've killed me back then, or at least try to, but he decided to bail, gambling his future of how the godly world should be with my words. He was nevertheless young and conflicted, thus clouding his thoughts and instilling reluctance in his actions.

"Then what option should we take now?" Forcing himself to relax, he managed to unclench his jaw.

"There are few options here," Kronos said and immediately I felt a chill and a wave of overwhelming power. "Why don't we ask him ourselves?"

"What do you mean?"

Ignoring Luke, Kronos spoke up. "So Perseus Jackson, I'll give you an option to join forces with us, what do you say?"

"My Lord, he isn't here," Luke frowned and said.

"Well," I began slowly, causing Luke to widen his eyes, jumping back with astonishment. "That's a nice proposal you got there, gramps."

"H-h-how..?" Luke stammered out in disbelief while attempting to locate my whereabouts.

Seeing his reaction, Kronos cut in, "Don't even bother. You won't be able to sense his presence, let alone see it." This entire time, Luke's jaw remained hanging as he was still unable to take in the reality. "He seems to be quite powerful as a demigod to be able to sneak in like this in his dreams. Nonetheless, answer me, Perseus."

Letting out a small sigh, I began with a shrug. "My answer will depend on what I can gain. Give me a good reason for siding with you. "

At my statement, Kronos boomed into laughter that rumbled the entire room. Luke had somewhat regained from his initial shock and had an anxious expression, meanwhile I kept a straight face, waiting patiently for Kronos to respond.

After what seemed like eternity, the laughter died down. "You dare negotiate with the Titan Lord?" Amusement was laced in his voice and I gave me a smile of my own. "Very well. If you join my army, then I'll spare your life."

Scrunching my eyebrows, I began by stroking my chin slowly. "Hmm… very tempting offer, but I'm afraid that I'll have to decline."

"Oh? You think I'm joking?"

"Oh no," I said with a shrug. "I just don't think you can, that's the problem."

With a raised brow, Luke crossed his arms and warned, "Percy, if I were you, I would accept the generous offer. Doing this will only get yourself killed."

"Thanks, but no thanks," I glanced at the son of Hermes before turning my full attention back to Kronos. "In your current state, there is no way you can defeat me."

"Are you testing your luck, Jackson?" Kronos growled. "Or you think you lived long enough?"

"Maybe a little bit of both?" I grinned playfully.

"Then I'll let you taste a fraction of my power, if you wish to take a one way trip to Hades' realm this badly." The moment he finished his words, everything around me seemed to be frozen in place as if time itself had stopped. Luke remained still with his arms still crossed over his chest, staring intently into space. All the whacking and hacking sound from the weapon forging outside of the room was now gone, only to be replaced by dreadful silence. What didn't change was the glowing golden light that was still being emitted from the box on the table. To my surprise, the other thing that stayed in motion was me.

Kronos seemed to be sharing the same bewilderment as he spoke up, "How is it that you're not affected by my time spell?"

"Who knows," shrugging, I responded with a smirk. "But I did tell you that you can't hurt me."

"Nonsense!" Kronos bellowed in frustration before I felt a wave of golden energy shooting towards me. However, before it could even reach me, the power behind the attack dissipated into the universe, further enraging the Titan Lord.

"You know," I said with a yawn, placing both arms behind my head in a relaxed position. "I can do this all day with you, gramps. I know Tartarus must be a boring place for you, so if you want, I can keep you entertained. But for now, I'll be taking my leave." Leaving behind Kronos' endless roars and Luke's frozen body, my dream shifted, causing the previous darkness to melt away.

Instantly, I knew this wasn't a demigod dream that foresaw the present or the future, but a dream about my past, the past that had been haunting me ever since I began a new life in this timeline.

In front of me was Frank, the chubby Canadian-Asian that I befriended at Camp Jupiter, and next to him was his girlfriend, Hazel. I couldn't make out what they were saying from a distance, but decided not to eavesdrop on them. Instead, I shifted my attention and took a quick note of my surroundings.

Rome. To be precise, this was the Little Timbers where Annabeth began her solo quest to recover the Athena Parthenos. The setting was so similar to how I remembered that for a brief moment, I thought I was reliving the past.

Almost…

If my memory wasn't deemed as bad as Annabeth pronounced all the time, then Jason and Leo should be on the Argo II instead of hanging around not too far away from me with Piper. Speaking of the daughter of Aphrodite, wasn't she talking to her mother at this instance?

No. This was not right. Something felt a bit off in this dream cycle. This was too good to be -

A shriek went off in a distance and swiftly, I bolted to the source of the sound, only to find myself caught in an extremely bizarre situation. In front of me was Annabeth, slowly bleeding out on the ground as few earthborns stood victoriously few feet before her.

"No...no...Annabeth….NOOO," I muttered to myself and charged forward. I knew it was a dream, but the throbbing pain in my heart whenever I thought about Annabeth's death was unbearable. It was futile, but I had to try saving her. I wanted these dreams to stop. I wanted all suffering from the past to be gone.

As if they didn't recognize my presence, the leader of the group, I presumed, walked up slowly to the helpless Annabeth, and as fast as lightning, a gaping hole was opened at her chest as the earthborn materialized a piece of sharp rock and pierced her with it. Blood gushed out uncontrollably, tainting the ground into a crimson red. I was too scared to move because I was in shock, too scared to call out her name because I didn't know what to do if she didn't respond, and once again, I had to witness the death of my wise girl.

A large rumbling sound momentarily distracted my thought and I realized my surroundings had changed again.

"When I said get us out of here, I was expecting you to turn into a bear and smack everything out of your way, not turn into an eagle and fly away," a voice that resembled Leo said with disappointment.

"I mean, if you don't like it, I can always drop you right now," Frank said while soaring through the air.

"I just don't like it when you grab me by the neck of the shirt with your feet…" Leo mumbled under his breath. "Stupid Zhang."

"What was that?" Frank yelled out loudly as he tried to whirled around the oncoming arrows by twisting and turning in the air. However, this only amplified Leo's fear of free falling ten feet from the sky. "Dude, stop moving, or else I'll actually drop you by accident."

"It's not like I have a seatbelt to secure myself," Leo yelled back. "What am I supposed to do? I can't transform into an eagle like you!"

"Maybe you can help me by throwing some fireballs back at them?"

"You know what? That's a good point!" Leo agreed and began channeling his demigod power. Ever since Leo returned back from Ogygia with a non-flammable cloth provided by Calypso to wrap his firewood with, Frank had felt more at ease around the son of Hephaestus.

As a result, the duo was now providing air support for the demigods and the Olympians while simultaneously weaving through oncoming ground attacks from mountain giants that were throwing rocks at them. Instead of raining cats and dogs, it was now raining fire, scorching the ground with burning flames.

"Here," Leo pointed downwards. "Drop me off next to my dad." Without any word, Frank dove down and did what Leo asked. "Thanks man," Leo gave him a thumbs up and waved. "I'll see you soon, hopefully."

"Yeah I hope so too," Frank agreed. "Even though I really don't want to."

"Now, now Zhang," Leo crossed his arms and chided. "That's not a very nice thing to say."

"I'm just joking man," Frank gave out a laugh as he took off into the sky. "I'm going to find my dad, good luck."

Out of curiosity, I willed my body to glide behind Frank, interested to see what would happen next. After spotting Ares with his eagle vision, he tucked in his wings and dove down with incredible speed, transforming back to his human form the moment his feet touched the solid ground.

Next to the God of War was his daughter Clarisse, wielding her spear at such proficiency that calling her the best spear wielding demigod in this century wouldn't be an exaggeration at all. The way she whirled, stabbed, and block with her spear looked as if the weapon was her third arm. Pairing up with her fluid body movement, a combination of rolling to evade enemy attacks while swiping their bases with her spear and wild 360 twirls that made her look like a deadly spinning top, Clarisse was as terrifying as ever.

As soon as she pulled her spear out from a now dead hellhound, Clarisse nodded at Frank before continuing on with her rampage. When Ares saw Frank, he changed into his Roman form and beamed happily, "My boy, you're finally here. Ready to slay some monsters?"

"Of course," Frank replied with as much enthusiasm before transforming into a giant grizzly bear. While Clarisse utilized her spear in a precise and speedy manner, Frank took advantage of his size and strength to brute force through the enemy ranks. The rampage of two children of Ares continued onwards until they ran into an indestructible wall.

I knew exactly what was going to happen here, and I knew exactly who Clarisse and Frank ran into. I willed my dream self next to the son of Ares, trying to direct his attention towards me, but it was no use. No matter how hard I screamed, no matter how much I screamed, Frank never stopped in his tracks. He continued to charge and…

"Percy...Percy… PERCY!" A feminine voice yelled out while shaking my body violently. "For crying out loud, are you going to wake up or what?"

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I blinked slowly and saw Annabeth's face with a worried expression within inches of mine. I had to use every ounce of my self control to stop myself from holding onto her and ask if she was really alive. A part of me was thankful that she dragged me out from my nightmare because the amount of emotion I had to process to relive the death of Frank would be too overwhelming.

"Erm… What's going on?" Forcing those thoughts out of my head, I blinked a couple more times to regain focus. After giving my legs a good stretch, I asked, "Is there a monster somewhere on the train?"

Before she could continue, Grover cut in to answer my query. "I don't know, but all of a sudden, everything became awfully silent… and something feels really odd. "

Annabeth nodded in agreement, "And the sky seemed to be darker." I scrunched my brows as I tried to access the situation. It seemed that Annabeth had exhausted all possible scenarios considering how she was staring at me expectantly.

Closing my eyes, I tried to concentrate on my surroundings, attempting to detect any form of malicious intent or foreign beings. Immediately adjacent to me, I could discern two different auras that resembled that of Annabeth and Grover. As I further stretched out my senses, I continued to block out the two strongest presences due to the close proximity and persisted on scanning.

Nothing...nothing at all. After a quick scan, I failed to detect any other beings other than the three of us. Due to the inherent weakness that full mortals possessed, it was actually more difficult to access their aura. On the contrary, demigods and other divinities or mythical creatures were much more potent. So long as they invoked a glimpse of their power, no the tiniest fraction was more than enough, I would be able to track them like a hunting dog tracks prey. It was the same principle as sharks; where a tiny drop of blood in the vast ocean would be enough to attract dozens of sharks that are miles away. The Hunters of Artemis also applied this concept, thus explaining their excellency at tracking down menacing monsters in matter of one or two days. While my tracking skill wasn't as proficient as that of experienced members of Hunt like Phoebe, mostly due to my lack of experience and the fact that this particular skill set wasn't required majority of the time, it was still sufficient at getting the job done.

So the fact that I wasn't able to detect any power means two things. It either meant that my tracking skill was still lacking and that Thalia would be making fun of me for gods know how long or …

"Um.. Percy, what are you doing?" Annabeth asked, giving me a perplexed look as I got up from my seat. Ignoring her, I slowly made my way to the exit of the compartment and carefully climbed up the ladder on the side. This was where I was thankful of the training I had in the past life because staying balanced on top of a moving train was no easy task. Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes once again. Instead of concentrating on my surroundings, this time I opted to focus on myself, my inner self, the demigod blood that coursed through my veins, the power that flow between all my muscle filaments, and the energy that stored in all my organs. All of them, every single drop of strength that resided in me, I flared them up to the maximum.

Whoever that was causing this phenomenon to occur was also good at erasing and masking their own power. What better way to attract power than power?

"Alright Percy," Annabeth yelled from below with Grover standing behind her, peeking out of the compartment curiously. "What are you doing? And what WAS that?" Alright, maybe I had overdone it and flared up too much unnecessary power. It was so potent that it might be able to attract all monsters within this proximity, but that was least of my concern, considering how we were on a moving train and that my power dissipated as fast and it appeared.

My goal was to draw out the power that had been lurking in the dark, in hopes of unveiling the cause behind this weirdness. It was like sending out an invitation; all I could do now was to wait for "it" to accept my challenge.

"I'll explain later!" I yelled back at her and plopped myself down on the roof of the cart.

Who knew if "it" will ever show up or how long it was going to take, so might as well make myself comfortable. So patiently, I closed my eyes and waited.

"Let's go back, Gro-, what in the gods name is going on?" mid-sentence, a gust of wind so strong that it formed a miniature tornado interrupted Annabeth's train of thought. Immediately, I was able to detect three divine presences in my close proximity, but I elected to remain still.

Without opening my eyes, I spoke up while masking my surprise, "How are you doing, Alecto?" Since the Furies failed to appear at the bus station, I had thought it to be unlikely that it was them, but it turns out I was incorrect in my assumption.

"Oh?" the leader of the Furies answered with amusement. "The boy seems to know us. How surprising."

"Yeah.. except he doesn't seem to know my name," one of them grumbled quietly.

"Ah, apologies," I said with a small smile. "Allow me to start over. How are you doing, Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone? I hope the Lord of the Underworld is doing well."

"I'm not sure about him doing well," Tisiphone on the left said dryly. "Especially some wet behind the ears demigod stole his symbol of power."

"Can't believe you have the time to ask for our well being when you're the one in deep trouble," Megaera said in disbelief.

"Maybe we should give him a quick death for being considerate?" Tisiphone suggested hopefully and next to her, Megaera bobbed her head up and down in agreement.

"As much as I would like that...No we can't…" Alecto sighed as she began, glaring daggers at me with hatred. For a brief moment, I was a bit confused to her hostility. Sure, I was the prime suspect for stealing your master's helm, but what was up with the enmity, especially since this was the first time we met each other -

Ah that explains it…

"So is it detention time, Mrs. Dodds?" I asked slyly with a smirk.

"Oh not this time," she gave me a sick grin and continued. "The person you're about to meet will make you prefer detention." During my year at Yancy Academy, Mrs. Dodds became a replacement for my previous math teacher, in the past it was unknown to me that she was a fury in disguise. It was until the field trip that took place mid semester that made me began questioning my own sanity, I mean, in what world does your math teacher transform into a demon and your Greek teacher toss you a ballpoint pen that could turn into a bronze sword. With some luck and heightened up senses involved, I was able to turn Mrs. Dodds, or Alecto, into a pile of golden dust. The act alone was certainly enough to build up her hatred against me and now that her essence and body reformed, she was coming at me with vengeance.

"Hmm… after giving it some thought, I think it will be great if you take us to see Hades," I rested my hand on my chin as I contemplated. "This way, you can save us some trouble of traveling all the way to L.A." A low rumbling sound emitted from below and Alecto glared at me while I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Um Percy…" Annabeth shifted uncomfortably. "You do know that names have power, and I don't think that was the brightest thing to do."

Grover bobbed his head up and down in agreement, "I think you just pissed them off."

"Did he just speak of our Lord's name with that filthy mouth of his?" Megaera pointed at me incredulously.

"I really really want to stab him right now," Tisiphone grumbled underneath her breathe while glancing sideways at Alecto. Seemingly knowing the frustration that was being built up by her fellow sisters, Alecto smiled wickedly, "You know what, I just remembered that I have another errand to run. I'll be back in ten minutes, so behave yourselves, my dear sisters." Tisiphone and Megaera looked at each other and grinned as Alecto vanished on the spot before slowly trudge towards us.

"T-T-This is not good," Annabeth stammered out as she took a step backwards. Grover began bleating nervously, likewise, stumbled backwards and nearly tripped on his own foot. "Blahhh, Percy what have you done!"

"Hmm?" I hummed in confusion and they also stared back dumbfounded. "They can't possibly hurt us. I mean, they are nice, peaceful Ol- SCATTER!" While I was talking to Annabeth and Grover, the two furies struck swiftly, forcing me to push my companions out of the way and draw out a shield of water to defend myself. Since the getgo, I never expected us to have a peaceful confrontation. My attempt at dissuading their advance also seemed to be futile, perhaps complimenting my enemy wasn't the right choice?

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled from couple feet away with her daggers drawn. "Are you hurt?"

While I would love to respond back to her and check on them, I was currently being pressured by two divine old ladies. The shield that I conjured earlier was able to deflect the talons that were aimed at my torso, buying me enough time to leap backwards and uncap Riptide. However, having a couple feet between the three of us didn't mean that I could let my guard down. Dealing with three of them at once might be troublesome, but that didn't mean it was impossible. The real problem here was fending off two ferocious old ladies while protecting Annabeth and Grover.

"Stay close to me," I told them without breaking my line of sight. "They're dangerous."

"We'll help," Annabeth spoke up behind me, unsheathing her dagger and taking a stance next to me.

"No," I snapped back at them as I lowered my central gravity and place Riptide in a comfortable position for counterattacks. "You're not ready for this yet."

"But -"

Whatever the daughter of Athena wanted to say was cut off when Megaera and Tisiphone flanked each of our sides. To my understanding, the order that the Furies received from Hades wasn't to kill us, but to capture and interrogate us about the missing Helm of Darkness. If they really wanted us dead, they had so many opportunities to assassinate us prior to our current encounter. No, what they were doing now was simply playing with their food to vent out their frustration and unfortunately for them, I was not someone to be toyed with easily.

"Now, now," A voice appeared. The Furies immediately halted their movements, and I breathed out a sigh of relief for avoiding an unnecessary fight before turning to thank the new comer. At least that was what I wanted to do.

I had hope that it was Hermes or Apollo who interrupted the crazy old ladies from harming us, but I couldn't help to show a slight disappointment when I recognized the person that was strolling his way over. Black jeans, combat boots, leather duster along with a large hunting knife strapped to the waist could only resemble one of the twelve Olympians I know. The sickening aura that he gave out left an everlasting reminder which I would never forget. Even now, the urge to pick a fight with him still coursed through my veins.

"Lord Ares," Megaera and Tisiphone exclaimed in surprise and bowed respectfully. "What brings you here?"

Taking off his sunglasses, the God of War waved dismissively at the Furies and began scrutinizing me with profound interest. "So this is old seaweed's brat?" he said with a smirk. I remained in silent and held my glare with him. "Not bad, not bad at all. Hey kid, you know who I am?"

It took a great amount of self-control to not spat out something like, "Yeah, you're the cocky and snobby god that got his ass whooped by me." Saying something like that would only foil my plan to bring Luke back, so after taking a deep breathe to calm myself, I responded respectfully with a bow, "Yes. You're Lord Ares, the God of War and one of the great twelve Olympians. What brings you here, m'lord?"

"I wish my kids are like this," Ares murmured quietly. "But to answer your question, little cousin, I'm here to help you on your little quest. Ya know, it's not everyday that the great God of War himself wants to help a mere demigod."

"Isn't that against the ancient rules?" I pointed that out and he waved at me dismissively.

"Yes yes, the ancient rule. So that's why you have to keep it between the two of us and not tell my father." He told me with a threatening glare, so I nodded and went along with him.

"Um do I have permission to ask something, Lord Ares," Annabeth squeaked, hiding half of her body behind me.

"Ask away!" Ares responded cheerfully after we seemingly accepted his condition of not mentioning anything about the ancient rules.

"Can I know the exact reason why you want to help us?" After seeing the hospitality that Ares was showing, Annabeth regained some confidence and asked without squeaking her voice.

"Well," Ares began with a booming laughter. "Normally, I don't interfere with these puny quests because those demigods don't deserve my godly presence. But someone here was interesting enough to catch my eyes." When he finished, he eyed me with great interest while stroking his chin slowly though Annabeth and Grover gave me a suspicious look. Since I had no idea what ridiculous conclusion Annabeth had came up with, I decided to ignore their glares for now. After seeing how I paid no attention to their questioning looks, Annabeth folded her arms and let out a small "hmph". Surely, she would be upset with me and bombard me with endless streams of questions afterwards, but I could always talk my way out, so I decided to divert my attention back to Ares' words.

This was the same trick that Ares pulled when we met him last time. When we lost our transportation and money after barely escaping from the Chimera's crazy pet, we were all beat up, exhausted, and wanted to sit down, relax, and have a nice meal. But without any money, that was merely a wish. This was when Ares came in.

Perhaps the gods really do listen to our pleas because at that moment, our wish was granted by the War God who rode in with his Harley. The meal, transportation, and traveling accessories that came after didn't come without a price though. In order to continue our journey, we had to complete a small favor for the god - fetch his shield from a nearby water park.

Long story short, we ended up completing the side quest and secured ourselves new clothes, backpacks full of cash and accessories, and most importantly, a ride that would take us straight to Las Vegas. Back then I didn't think too much about the generous gift and the suspicious intrusion of the god, but we also fell into Luke's trap because of my own naivety. I felt responsible for putting my friends and mom in danger, but thinking back about it now, I had to give it to Luke. It was a very well crafted plan, definitely not at Hermes' calibur yet, but even someone as bright and cautious like Annabeth didn't detect the animosity behind it.

In spite of altering the timeline slightly, there was still a high possibility that Ares appeared with a scheme in his mind. But the question now was, how exactly was I supposed to make him reveal his true intent? If the rippling effect that I induced from my previous actions was able to prevent Luke from contacting Ares, then bluntly accusing him right now would not only put a dent in our future relationships, but the wrath from being falsely accused of a crime that he didn't commit would also endanger myself and my companions. Ares was known as a hot headed and not-so-bright god where the only thing that was bright was his red Harley, so getting information out from him through vigilant manipulation of my words shouldn't be too difficult. That being said, his status as a millennia old god granted him countless experience at reading situations that might posed to be disadvantageous to him, so underestimating him would be a fool's act.

I contemplated for a brief moment before I spoke up, "Lord Ares, if you're referring to me, then I must say that you're mistaken." When I noticed that Ares raised his eyebrows questionly, I quickly added, " There is no redeeming feature in me, so I don't understand how a mere demigod like me would become an interest to you."

Once he realized that my words meant no disrespect, he soften up his expression and I swore I heard him mutter something along the lines of "Just why does that Barnacle beard always get the good children." Pretending I didn't hear his little complaint, I simply smiled and waited for his response. Annabeth remained silent but through my peripheral view, I saw a pair of eyes scrutinizing me closely. As for Grover, well, he had been doing Grover things, which was basically biting his hands and surveying the whole situation with worry written all over his face.

"You're the only demigod at your age who is able to detect my concealed presence," Ares said slowly, and I had to stop myself from revealing a surprised expression. Using simple deduction, I knew the presence that had been tailing us this entire time wasn't from any of the Furies. What bothered me the most was my failed attempts at discerning the identity of the presence, and now that Ares revealed that it was him all along, I felt a bit relieved but also alarmed. "Anyway, that's why I decided to follow you and assist you. I was going to secretly kill the Chimera for you, but it seemed that you handled the situation quite well yourself. You're quite capable for your age, I gotta say."

I gave a respectful bow and replied, "Thank you, Lord Ares. Your praise worth a lot to me."

"You know what?" Ares began. "You can drop the title and just called me Ares."

I nodded my head and behind me I heard a small gasp escaped from Annabeth. This was probably her first encounter to an Olympian that wasn't her mother or Dionysus. In her eyes, the Olympians were almighty beings that no one could defy. To the divinities, we were just one of their many children that had been born to them throughout history and as such weren't special in any significant way.

I understood where Annabeth was coming from. Athena wasn't there when she was growing up. All the goddess did was leave Annabeth to her father's care before returning to the Olympus. At times of crisis, the wisdom goddess did show up when Annabeth most needed help, providing guidance for her daughter when she decided to escape from her family. Aside from that, Athena along with most Olympians upheld the philosophy of independent growth, where children of a god or goddess were responsible for their own paths.

"If that's the case, then I will comply," I said. "So what is the favor you may ask us to do in order to receive your generous help?"

"You're a very bright person, Perseus," he said as he nodded his head with approval. "Let see...ah yes, there might be one favor you can do for me though it might be a bit difficult, but I'm sure you will be able to accomplish it."

"And what will that be?" A faint evil smile appeared across Ares' face, and I swallowed nervously, hoping that it wouldn't be something like steal a golden apple from the Garden of Hesperides or retrieve his shield from the nearby waterpark.

As Ares rubbed his hands together in anticipation and ready to announce the task, a cough reminded us that we weren't the only one present. "Lord Ares, but I have strict order to capture these demigods alive and bring them forth to my master," Tisiphone said respectfully.

"What about it?"

"Things will be quite difficult for us if you don't allow us to complete this task," Megaera bowed and answered. While this sounded like a threat, Ares knew better than to go against Hades himself. Fighting off the three Furies at once was not a challenging task for the God of War himself, but making Hades an eternal enemy would be quite troublesome.

"I understand," Ares said after a brief moment. "But can you give us a second?" Knowing that they would accomplish their task successfully, the two Furies complied to the request. Ares then turned to us and snapped his fingers, conjuring a backpack and two duffel bags before tossing it to us. "Listen up kids," Ares began with a serious tone. "A Journey to the Underworld is quite dangerous so I prepared some stuff that you might find useful."

"That's very kind of you, Lord Ares," Annabeth said. "Thank you."

"This was supposed to be the gift after you complete the favor, but well, that didn't go as planned," Ares said. "Consider this as a down payment. If you return from the Underworld, then you'll have to make up for it." Here he gave us another evil smile, "By then, who knows what kind of favor I'll ask for."

"Pst, Percy," Grover whispered into my ears. "Maybe we shouldn't accept this gift.

"Nonsense," I told my friend, giving him a disapproving look. "When someone gives you a gift, you accept it and say thank you."

I said it loud enough for Ares to hear it and when he did, he gave an approving nod and glared at Grover, "Young goat, you better start acting like Perseus here or else one day you might find yourself in deep trouble."

"Y-Y-Yes Lord Ares. Absolutely," Grover stuttered out in panic. "I'm terribly sorry about that."

"Hm," Ares gave Grover one last stare and glanced briefly at Annabeth before turning his attention back to me. "I've stay here for too long. Good luck on your quest and don't forget about the favor you still owe me."

"Of course," I smirked and said. "I'll see you shortly." With that being said, Ares began emitting a blinding wave of light and reactively I closed my eyes. When I reopened them again, the two Furies and my companions were the only ones left.

"So are you going to stop trying to kill us?" I asked dryly but instead felt someone stomped my foot. "What was that for Annabeth?"

"Shush, we almost got killed earlier," Annabeth glared at me. "Stop making these stupid jokes."

"Hey," I protested. "That really hurts. Besides, I'm sure they weren't trying to kill us."

"Heh, don't underestimate us," Megaera said. "If we really wanted to kill you, you would've been dead."

"For now, we'll take you to Hades and behave yourself unless you want to end up in the Fields of Asphodel," Tisiphone said threateningly.

I shrugged and stuck my tongue out, but Annabeth and Grover didn't look as composed. "Oh boy," Grover bleated nervously. "We're definitely not gonna make it back alive...I mean, only few demigods like Hercules were ever able to leave that place." He then looked at Annabeth and asked, "Is there no other way?"

The daughter of Athena certainly looked agitated, judging by how she was chewing on her lips and how hard she was clenching her fist, but she tried her best to steady her voice, "I don't know. I mean, on the bright side it does save us the trouble of going to L.A. This way we can meet 'him' sooner and retrieve the Master Bolt."

"On the bright side, she said…," Grover muttered underneath his breath.

"Well," I began as I looked at the Furies expectantly. "Are we going or not?"

*Scene Break*

"This place is terrifying," Grover complained out loud. "We satyrs don't like anything underground."

"You'll be fine," I assured him while taking in the sight of the River Styx that was polluted by endless amount of lost hopes and dreams. "Just think about your Searcher's license after this."

"That's only if we make it out alive…," Annabeth supplied drly at the side. "Gods, I didn't think my day will end up like this."

Me neither. This was just...not right at all. When I challenged the anonymous presence earlier, I never thought it would be the Furies, rather the point of that was to draw out the stalker that had been tailing us this entire time. Since things happened so quickly one after another, we never got the chance to receive those special pearls that my dad gave me in my previous life. Without them, I had no clue how to leave that place without Hades' permission. Certainly, there was no way I could slaughter my way out of this especially with Annabeth and Grover at my side. The only way I could see us returning alive was to convince Hades into releasing us, but knowing his rough personality, the probability of that happening was miniscule. My third option would be using that…

Yes… Even though I don't want to, I could always resort to that… But that raised another problem: How exactly does it work? Using it without knowing its full extent could bring some terrible consequences, but fighting my way out or having a diplomatic talk with the Lord of the Dead were two very fickle plans. Glancing at Annabeth, I thought to myself, "What would Annabeth do in this situation?"

"Hey Percy," Annabeth whispered next to me when she noticed my gaze, lowering her voice to ensure that the Furies leading us wouldn't hear her. "You got a plan right? Or else why will you look so confident?"

I smiled at her and thought about the irony where the daughter of Athena was driven into a dire situation without a plan. "Right, I have a plan, so just follow my lead. I'm sure we will be fine." After hearing my answer, she let out a sigh a relief. A part of me felt guilty because that last part was mainly to reassure myself. I really hope I won't let Annabeth down again this time.

"What are you chattering about?" Tisiphone asked with her back still facing us. Not too far away, I could make out multiple silhouettes standing in three different lines. At the end of the lines was the judging pavilion that would put the dead souls in either the Fields of Punishment, Fields of Asphodel, or Elysium. A little bit to the right of that was a familiar enormous three headed Rottweiler, guarding the gates of Hades' Palace. "We're almost there. It will be really unfortunate if I decide to let Cerberus eat you for dinner. I heard he really likes goat meat."

"Blehh," Grover bleated scarily. "I-I-I'm a satyr, n-not a goat, and s-s-s-atyr meat is not delicious at all!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Megaera dismissed him with a wave. "It's not up to me to decide anyway. Speaking of which, we're here."

After fighting against the giants and seeing their ugly faces, I had come to a realization that Cerberus was actually a cute little puppy. The intimidation I once felt was silly now that I thought about it, but Annabeth and Grover didn't seem to harmonize with my thoughts. This entire trip they looked terrified, especially Grover. Annabeth had tried her best to hide her distress, but I was always able to see through her facade by little things she did such as lip chewing or closing and opening her fists constantly.

"Welcome back sisters," A familiar voice greeted us at the entrance of the door. "And you demigods, my master is waiting for you."

The three of us looked at each other, and I gave them a wry smile, "Welp, here goes." As I was about to advance forward, I couldn't help but buckle my knees at the sudden gain in weight on my back, throwing off my balance.

"Percy!" Grover exclaimed and ran to my side. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, no worries," I told him as he helped me up. Damn it. So the lightning bolt was still in the backpack all this time. I had my suspicion but was unsure due to the fact that the events had been all mixed up. If I knew this was going to happen, I would tell Annabeth and Grover to take the backpack back to Olympus while I go and accomplish a task I had in mind on my own. This might just turn out exactly like last time minus the part where we escaped with Poseidon's pearls. "Let's keep going."

I had only been to Hades' palace a couple of times but there was no way I would forget this place. The concept for this piece of architecture was similar to that of medieval Roman Catholic church with an extremely high ceiling and enlarged windows with the only difference being entirely black. The steps leading up the stairway and the elongated hallway were covered with a piece of red carpet and either piles of bones or ancient Greek style armor on the sides. The shadows that were casted behind us, created by the torches on the wall, made this place even creepier. But why were there purple daisies and baskets of flowers on the floor? It looked extremely out of place like coco puffs with mustard and could someone please explain to me why that skeleton over there has a leis around its neck?

Then it hit me. All of this could only be done by one person and one person only. Due to the gloominess in the Underworld, Persephone had suggested to grow some flowers to lighten up the atmosphere. Obviously, Hades prefer darkness so the idea was veto at the spot, but that didn't stop the Goddess of Harvest from her little operation as demonstrated by these small decorations in the hallways. There was no way that Hades wouldn't notice these kind of things, but for his beloved wife, I was certain that he chose to let that slip. That and if Demeter found out about how Hades refuse to grant her daughter's wish, then there would be no end to it.

"Master," Alecto and her sisters bowed respectfully at the man sitting at the end of the room. "I've brought Perseus Jackson and his companions here as you command."

"Very well," A deep and gravelly voice spoke up. "You may leave us." Once again, the Furies bowed before warping themselves away, leaving only the four of us alone in the room.

It was very awkward, seeing how Hades was merely studying us, or at least that was what I think. Annabeth was fidgeting with her hands nervously as for Grover, let's just say he has seen much better days. The poor satyr was trembling out of control and had to cover his mouth with this hands in order to stop himself from bleating. Under the presence any other divinity, the reaction wouldn't be as severe, but the aura that rolled off from Hades amplified the inner fear that they possessed.

I sighed as I could no longer stand this uncomfortable silence and allow my friends to suffer like this. "Erm, Lord Hades," I began politely as I feigned my innocence. "I don't mean to be rude, but what is the reason for your summon?"

"Tsk, tsk," Hades chided, shaking his head in disappointment. "So this is the son of Poseidon that I've been hearing so much about. Well, either way, I'm sure you know why I summoned you."

"Sorry, but I really don't." Once again, I said innocently. "I only agreed to come here because I thought you can tell us about the missing lightning bolt."

"Boy, are you accusing me as the thief?" Hades roared, slamming the arm of his chair with purple flames dancing around his black orbs. "Why will I even care about that stupid bolt? But of course, you gods and demigods will always accuse me for every wrongdoings. Why? Because I'm an outcast, AN OUTCAST!"

"Lord Hades," I spoke up calmly. "I'm not accusing you of stealing the Master Bolt. I know you didn't, and I know who the thief is."

"Oh?" Hades raised his eyebrows, prompting me to continue. Good. This was exactly what I need. As long as Hades was willing to cooperate and talk diplomatically, then everything will go as smooth as silk. Right when I was about to explain to him about Luke's betrayal, the previous anger that dissipated somehow returned. "Y-You," Hades pointed at me with trembling rage. "It was you who stole it. I could sense the power of that bolt. Open up the backpack and prove to me that you're the thief."

Annabeth and Grover looked at me with confusion while I reluctantly took off the backpack. Then there it was, sitting in my backpack was a two foot long cylinder made of Celestial Bronze capped on both ends. Even though without its owner the object was deactivated, but the potential power that it could draw on could still be sensed, sending tingling feelings throughout my skin.

"Percy wha-," Grover asked incredulously. "How is it that you have the bolt this entire time?"

"He didn't," Annabeth began slowly, her face now in deep contemplation. "Ares was the one who gave us the backpack, so in other words, this might be a trap that Ares' laid."

"Nonsense," Hades roared. "Why will Ares do such thing? Now tell me, under whose order are you acting under? Was it Poseidon? A puny demigod like you will never have the guts to commit such stupidity." Before I could even explain the current circumstance, Hades rambled onwards. "Yes it has to be Poseidon. So this was his plan all along: get his son to steal Zeus' bolt and my Helm of Darkness so that he can be the most powerful out of all of us," Hades mumbled angrily as he began pacing back and forth in the throne room. "Heh, little does he know that his precious son ruined all this for him."

"Sir," Annabeth swallowed hard when Hades directed his murderous glare towards her. "It's true that Lord Ares' gave us the backpack and even if Percy is the thief, why will he come here to begin with?"

"Ha, that's simple," Hades gave an evil grin. "Because of this, obviously." With a snap, a compressed jar appeared and inside was -

"Percy, it's your mom," Grover pointed out. "But I thought she died."

"Of course not," Hades' devilish grin widened. "If I had killed her, then Perseus here wouldn't be here. Am I right?"

Welp, there goes my plan of talking my way out of this. Time to execute my second plan.

"Alright you got me," I surrendered my hands up in the sky but mentally prepared myself for what was about to come. "I've come here to bargain for my mother's life... but with yours." Before I even finished the last part of the sentence, I conjured multiple hardened water pellets and aimed it at Hades. There was absolutely no way that it would be remotely close enough to harm him, but it might serve as enough distraction for us to escape the room.

"RUN," I yelled while shooting out more pellets of water. As expected, the water was evaporated by dark flames before it could reach Hades, but that didn't matter. My objective was to buy as much time as possible for us to leave this place. There might be another way to leave the Underworld if we look hard enough, but first, we have to escape.

"I can't, Percy," Annabeth yelled. "There seems to be an invisible wall in front of me!" Confused by her remarks, I attempted to move my body forward but was met with great resistance.

"Just how foolish can you be?" Hades laughed and said. "Attacking an Olympian? You really think was going to work? Boy, let me tell you something, unless you're a child of mine or have my permission, no demigods can ever escape this place."

"If you want the Helm, then sorry to break it to you but I don't have it," I gritted my teeth and said as I continuously try to fight the restraint. "And I already told you that Ares was the one who gave me the backpack, so if you want your Helm, go ask him yourself."

Silence dawned upon the room after my statement, and I had thought that Hades might turn out to be reasonable. "Very well," Hades spoke up after a brief silence. "It seems that you still insist on your lie. Killing you here will only be problematic for me. FURIES!" Instantly, three black figures emerged from the shadows all kneeling down awaiting for Hades' order. "Take them to the cells. Poseidon can cry all he wants but there will be nothing he can do if I imprison his precious son here."

"What about the bolt, my Lord," Alecto asked.

"Hmm," Hades hummed as he thought about the question. "Take it from the boy. In a couple of days when my brothers start a new war, I could sit back and watch who the victorious one is. After that, I can raise from the Underworld and rule them with this Master Bolt." When he realized that his plan was near flawless, he began to laugh uncontrollably. "What are you waiting for? Go take it from him."

After all this time, not only did my failure put everyone here in danger, but also allowed the gods to start another destructive war. Didn't Chronos put me back here so that I could defeat Gaia? Would I get another chance? Or was this the end for me?

No. There was one more thing I could do. It might be risky, but to prevent catastrophe from happening, I must use it. Sticking my hand into the left pocket, I fished out the stopwatch that I found couple of days ago and began to twisting the knobs on it.

"What are you doing now, boy?" Hades looked at me questioningly. "It's futile. A puny stopwatch isn't going to save you from your fate." I ignored him and continued fiddling with the device. The Furies were practically in front of me now. It was now or never, so without knowing the consequence of my action, I pressed on the knob.

Everything around me began to distort and I could feel my body being compressed and suck into space itself. I gave Annabeth one last look before closing my eyes, assuring myself that I would be able to see her again. Vaguely, I could hear screams of anger erupting in the throne room, but the odd phenomenon that was occurring was something that Hades had never witnessed before, so he too, was helpless against it.

The chaos that I felt earlier disappeared but was instead replaced by a bunch of noisy crowds. Slowly, I opened my eyes up and was momentarily confused by the familiar sight of the St. Louis Arc.

What exactly happened was the first thing that went through my mind. I began strolling around the place to find some clues, checking for the time and date, and everything seemed to be identical. Judging by how Annabeth and Grover weren't by my side, I assumed that they went to buy tickets for the observation deck, which means Echidna…

I must warn them right now. As I tried to run, I noticed that my backpack seemed to have gotten heavier than the last time I was here. The weight on my back felt as if the lightning bolt was still here and there was no way that could be the case. However, the speed at which I was running at was greatly hindered by the extra weight on me.

"Just what's in my bag?" I muttered to myself as I swung my backpack off of my back. When I unzipped it I found myself froze at the sight of the lightning bolt that Hades' wanted not too long ago. "What the heck?"

"Hey Percy," I whipped my head back and saw Annabeth and Grover making their way back from the ticket booth. Swiftly, I zipped up my backpack and hide my surprise with a smile. "You sure you don't want to come with us to the deck? You can still get a ticket if you want. We'll wait for you."