Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews last chapter! :) I really wanted to respond to reviews, but guess what? On Thursday morning, I scraped up both my hands at the beach! Yay... Right after I get off antibiotics, I have to crank out the band aids. ;) I had my hands heavily bandaged Thursday night so I missed a night of writing, so I'll skip reviews and get straight to the chapter. Sorry guys! I own nothing but please enjoy this chapter. :)

Percy's POV

Neither of them said anything. With the suspense killing me, I asked, "Did I pass the test?"

Aether paused before shaking his head sadly. "Nope. I'm sorry kid. We're not going to have to be your sworn enemies!"

I suddenly felt very nauseous. Had I really failed not only the test, but Zoë and Chaos? They are going to die for this. I am going to die for this. The world will remain in the grasp of those gods-awful Olympians. All our efforts would be in vain. I'd have escaped my prison for nothing.

A tense moment passed. Pontus stared at Aether, while my eyes flickered between the two, hoping one of them would shout "JK", "LOL", or some other acronym that turned my situation positive. Id settle for a "LMAO". If not, I'd drop a "FML".

(For those of you that might have to google that for it to make any sense, JK means just kidding. LOL is laugh out loud. LMAO is laughing my ass off. FML is fuck my life.)

Sadly, another moment passed before either primordial said anything. But when they did, I was ready to strangle both of them, no matter how powerful.

"Dude," Pontus said, "you've had your fun. Now tell the kid the truth before he starts crying and begging us to change our minds. Because as fun as that would be for us and as humiliating for him, I'm tired of snapping my fingers to change pants after people wet themselves." The marine primordial sighed. "Fates know how often that's happened. I have no wish for a repeat."

"Wait a minute—" I tried to protest before Aether responded, cutting me off.

He sighed dramatically. "Do I have to? I enjoy the groveling, them throwing themselves at us, the wetting themselves. That's the fun of it!"

"Hey, I—" I tried before i was cut off again.

"I know!" Pontus acknowledged. "But you're not in charge of cleaning that up because your domains don't have to do with liquids! It gets disgusting after a while."

"Fine," Aether huffed like a dramatic teenager.

"What is going on?" I rushed in a single second before they could speak again. The green eyes and the blue eyes looked at me in annoyance.

"He's not begging!" Pontus exclaimed to Aether in wonder.

"Or groveling," Aether added, surprise lacing his voice.

"And he didn't wet himself!" They finished together, staring at me in awed annoyance.

"That's so disappointing," Aether said, pouting at me.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded.

Pontus frowned. "Aether lied. You passed the test. We'll be your allies."

Aether at least had the decency to pretend to be sheepish. "Yeah. Sorry man."

I felt my spirits soar. I didn't fail my friends! We might not lose the war! Our efforts wouldn't be in vain!

Then a lava started burning my veins as I stared at the two gods in anger. "Why'd you trick me?" I growled. "You two are such—"

"Woah, hold on there!" Aether said, throwing his hands out in front of himself (as if that would protect him from my coming onslaught of curse words).

"What?" I snarled, the angry fire burning my bones. The same one I felt when...

When I was yelling about Athena and Poseidon...

Oh.

Pontus saw me try to visibly calm down, and gestured for Aether to relax. "You knew what was going on?"

He sounded extremely surprised. "Yeah," I answered. "It's happened before, ski just added 2 and 2."

"He can add?!"

"Aether, shut up," Pontus said, not even looking at Aether. It must've been second-nature for him. The primordial looked at me. "That's happened before?"

I nodded. "Yeah. When I was cursing out my former father."

Pontus frowned. "Did anything else happen? Except that glow that was just around you?"

I bit my lip. "I, er, started an explosion, which then turned into a massive blue fire."

Pontus paled. "Oh. Aether, we have to talk. Kid, go back to your friends. Don't tel them anything about what you learned here. You don't know we're your allies, right?"

I nodded quickly, not wanting to change their minds about being my allies. "Right. For that matter, who are you people? How'd I even get here?"

Aether smirked. "Exactly." Then he snapped his fingers. In a puff of glitter, the two primordials were replaced with Zoë and Chaos. Thankfully, neither of them were looking at me. Instead, they seemed to be consulting a map.

"Where could he have gone?" Zoë murmured. "He was lying right there on that blanket!"

"Maybe something took him," Chaos offered, but it didn't seem to help Zoë's mood.

"It just doesn't make sense!"

They sat in silence for a minute. I lurked behind them, wondering who they were talking about and how to reveal my presence.

"I just don't get it," Zoë whispered to herself under her breath. "First I lose Milady, then I lose Perseus. Must I lose everyone I care about?"

Chaos heard her too. At first, he didn't do anything. He just stared at her out of the corner of his eye. Then he put an arm around her, hugging her close to him. "You haven't lost me," he reminded her.

She sighed, determined to stay gloomy. "Yet," she muttered. Regardless, she melted into the hug.

I frowned at the pair. Something inside me freaked seeing them hug, saying that should've been me hugging her. I should be the one she rests her head on. I need to be the one. But no, that privilege was Chaos's right now. I knocked her out while she was unaware. I don't deserve to comfort her.

I was about to walk away when Zoë turned her head, her chin resting on the shoukder of Chaos. Just the sight of her face made me freeze in place. Until I realized her beautiful eyes were closed.

My mind fought with itself. This was the time to escape! But I wanted to see her lovely black eyes again. What am I thinking? I'm an idiot! I want to be her idiot.

There was one thing both parts of my brain agreed on: where were these thoughts coming from?!

Before I could make up my mind on what to do, those black eyes I had wanted to see flew open. They focused on me immediately, and faster than I could see, Zoë had flown off Chaos's shoulder and into my arms. Technically, I was in her arms. Mine were pinned by my side.

After a (long) minute, Zoë pulled away. She looked at my face, tears brimming in her eyes. "Where were you?!" She demanded. "I thought you were eaten by something!"

I bit my lip. "I'm not quite sure... I think something got me, because when I woke up, there was golden dust everywhere." I showed her the blood on my clothes. "See?"

She stared at that, then back to me. Suddenly, her fist connected with my face. Oddly enough, tears were still in her eyes.

"You idiot!" She exclaimed before wrapping me back in a "hug". Over her shoulder, I sent a questioning glance to Chaos, who shrugged, looking highly amused.

At least one of us was.

After I had managed to detach myself from Zoë, I sat on the ground with my two friends. They showed me their map, which was of Tartarus. We were all examining it when Chaos spoke.

"I think I've found where Pontus and Aether are hiding out!"

Hey guys! Ok, I have some bad news. For you. Don't worry, I'm not discontinuing this. But I'm going on vacation to WDW in Florida! Until August 5. So, I'm gonna be gone for about two weeks. I'll update again on the 8 of August so I have time to actually write the chapter. I leave midday Tues (July 26). Feel free to PM me while I'm gone if you have more urgent things. I'll check that as soon as I get back August 5! See you guys on the 8! :) Stay awesome while I'm gone. ;)