Percy P.O.V.

Nico was in charge of the construction of the prison, the children of Hephaestus doing the actual work. They were building a prisoner of war camp deep in the forest at camp. It was literally being raised from the ground and from the trees surrounding it. So far there were six cells: roots, dirt, and metal made the floor; a mixture of human metals and celestial bronze and branches made the bars and roof. To complete the prison feel, Children of Ares patrolled between the cages and informed a strict no talking policy.

"I was thinking we would interrogate them on top of a big oak tree," Nico suggested. When I gave him an inquisitors glance, he added, "With the dryad's approval of course."

Still with no response, he explained further, "You know the 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' routine. You'd be the good cop, telling them the easy way is to 'fess up to all their crimes and to spill all their nasty secrets and evil schemes. They probably won't say anything so that's where I come in. I threaten them with my Hades powers and then toss 'em off the bough when they still won't talk."

"No." I said without looking up.

"Oh, come on, Percy! We can work on how we do it."

"It's not the how we do it, Nico. It's the incredulous no that follows any plan you have that involves throwing our prisoners off of a five-hundred foot tree!"

Nico gave me an annoyed, sour sneer. "The dryad'd catch 'em."

"The answer's still no." I said and continued to rifle through the documents we had commandeered within the past few weeks. A few papers went flying when I jumped at the screaming shriek of a Banshee from outside the clearing. No matter how long we had been there, I don't think I'd ever get used to being in the forest. As a precautionary action, we had relocated our camp and base of operations into the forest, alongside the prison. A quick spell and incantation by Lou Ellen and her siblings and all the monsters were barred from the makeshift headquarters. But that didn't stop them from prowling around us.

"Do me a favor, Nic, and find out if Annabeth and Will are done testing Rupert."

Nico growled something in audible, so I gave him my winning smile. He slipped between the shadows and trees and disappeared from sight.

I didn't really need to know if the testing was finished, but Nico wouldn't stop pestering me. We already knew the government was experimenting and trying to create super soldiers and that the officers and agents we had forcibly detained have the blood of monsters and demigods running through their veins.

The tests were mostly medical, a few psychological but all ascertaining to humanity. The subjects of these tests have showed a lack there off, and we wanted to know the extent of their inhumanity. Rustling leaves revealed Grover's presence, though he did little to conceal his approach. I gave him a small smile.

"Hi, Perce."

"What's up, G-Man?"

He fidgeted with his hands, shuffling his hooves before speaking. "I was thinking about the gods..." He trailed off so I waved him on again. "We'll, you don't think they faded, do you? Like Pan?"

I licked my dry lips. The thought had occurred to me, multiple times. But I had pushed it away each time. It didn't make sense that the gods were dead. When Pan faded, he had a catalyst, Grover, to carry on his spirit. And Kronos and Chiron had stressed that our world wouldn't be the same without the immortals. The entire civilization relied on their existence.

"Nah, man," I said, smiling. Grover visibly relaxed. "They're just waiting for us to save their ungrateful asses."

"Mocking the gods again, Seaweed Brain? Think about where that got you last time." Annabeth said before kissing my cheek.

I kissed her back, fully this time. Behind us, hovering on a giant tree root, Nico made very audible gagging sounds. Annabeth pulled away and gave him a scathing glare.

To prevent her from flaying him alive, Grover cleared his throat and asked, "So how is the good senator doing?"

Annabeth threw one last warning to Nico then answered, "Truthfully... I've no idea. Will and I have been asking him and the others questions for hours. Hal, the guy Lyra and I grabbed, may have always been like that, but he was overly aggressive—"

"Or it could have been that you kidnapped him," Nico put in but promptly shut his mouth at Annabeth's livid expression.

"Most of them have been aggressive, but compliant. Maybe a little delusional." She stepped to the table and rifled through the papers until she found the sheet she was looking for. "We recorded this one yesterday. That woman, Kathleen Hues, was much more cooperative—at least she answered them rather willingly and boastfully. 'Before they recruited me, I was a nobody. An asthmatic CIA analyst. One of hundreds. Then this one day, these two guys in suits come to me and offer me this job. An experiment, they said, of evolution. A war is coming and only the fittest survive. All it took was one little injection. And this happened. I was strong, fast, I could run without gasping for air like I was drowning. Yeah, it hurt, but I'd take pain and this life over a life of nothing any time.'"

Annabeth stopped reading and waited for us to comprehend the woman's statement. No one stepped forward with questions, but I figured the same thought was going through their mind as mine: why would they do this? Chase kids to the ends of the world in the name of evolution? This is why the gods kept us hidden from the mortal world.

"Is Hal awake?" I asked Annabeth.

She nodded.

"I think it's time I have a little chat with my old gym teacher."

I had thought he would be less intimidating now that he was in prison, but I was way off. He looked like a caged, cornered, rabid animal. His black eyes flashed back and forth, squinted to spot every possible attack. The small of his back was dark with sweat, his face dripping, his fists clenching and in clenching with anticipation.

I paused before facing him. I steeled my emotions and took a deep breath. Showing fear was not an option if I wanted answers and respect.

"You should calm down, Hal. A man of your age is bound to have a heart attack from increased stress." I called before sauntering up to his cage. Nico walked behind me.

The speed of the change was amazing. As soon as he heard my voice, he turned from anxious and cautious to a sputtering beast. He rammed himself against the bars of his cell and growled ferociously. Teeth bared and spittle flying every which way.

"Emerald, come to play?" He spit.

Nico chuckled and mouthed the nickname at me. I couldn't do anything there so settled for a silencing glare. I have to sort that out later.

"I have some questions for you, Hal."

"Screw you, Emerald. I told the grey-eyed bitch I'd sooner cut out my entrails then betray my country."

"That sounds painful. What I'm proposing is much simpler. Less painful. Just tell me who Smith is and how the government discovered the existences of the Greek gods."

Hal spit in my face. "Go to Hell, Jackson."

I sighed and wiped off my face. I don't know why, but something inside me ticked. "That's disappointing." I've had enough being the good guy. "Hal, have you met my friend here? Nico, this is Hal Rogerson. Hal, this is Nico DiAngelo." I waited to see if Hal recognized the name. He did. "Son of Hades."

Like I thought they would, Hal's eyes widened marginally. But Hal insisted on playing brave, "So? Why should I care about some death boy?"

I prayed that Nico would play along, following my lead, and continued my ploy. "You should care, Hal. See Nico here can cause some serious trouble for you. One touch and he can rip your despicable soul from worthless body. One word and the furies take a special interest in you." I laughed madly and added, "you don't even have to be dead for that!"

Hal swallowed roughly, his eyes dancing from me to Nico and Nico's hands. Nico smiled and waved, and Hal jumped. "You're lying..." He didn't sound very convinced. "And even if he could, you wouldn't. I read your profile, Jackson. You're not a monster. You're the hero, you don't torture people."

"Don't I?" I yelled and slammed my fists against the bars of his cell. I got real close, shoving my face right in his. "You've read my file? How much you wanna bet it says I will do anything to protect my friends and family? I bathed in the River Styx to save them, what's to say I won't do this for them too?"

Besides me, I felt Nico shift uncomfortably, shooting a glance in my direction.

"I don't know who the agents are. All I know is that they approached me with this fantastic tale about children of gods. All they needed was from me was to whip you into shape, prepare you for the final step. I was fresh out of the army. I needed money, a job. I had nothing to lose."

"How did they find out about the gods?" Nico asked. "About us?"

Hal shook his head. "I don't know." He swallowed. "A war is coming. This world can't sustain us all, not at the rate we're going, and the boss plans to be on top when that happens."

The initial adrenaline wore off and Hal seemed to collapse in on himself. Disgusted, I turned away. Nico was watching me worriedly so I snapped, "what?"

"You should 't have told him about the Styx."

"It doesn't matter. He's not going anywhere. Besides, they'll never figure out my Achilles Heel." I started walking away, and Nico had to run to catch up to me.

"Percy. Percy!" He grabbed my shoulder and forced me to face him. "Maybe you should go lie down. Go calm down and control yourself. I'll calm you when we need you."

I shook him off. "I don't need to control myself. I'm perfectly in control," I snarled. "I need to take care of the camp, I need to find the gods, and I need to figure how the hell they found out about us!" I was practically yelling by then.

"Percy, you need to calm down—"

"You don't tell me what I need to do!" I shoved Nico back and continued hiking up the hill. Before I knew what happened, the forest flipped sideways, and I was fading in and out with a major headache.

"How hard'd you hit him?"

My head throbbed and pulsed as someone poked my temple again. Thanks to the Achilles Curse, there wouldn't be a bruise or anything broken, but it hurt like hell. Distantly, I thought the curse was supposed to prevent this type of injury, but it was the second time this type of thing had happened.

"And with what?" The same female voice asked. Sadly, it was the poking that was the identifying marker.

"Lyra, I swear if you poke me one more time," I growled as I opened my eyes. I blinked a few times to clear my vision and noticed I was in a different place from where I lost consciousness. My guess was that we were deeper in the forest, farther than I had been in a long time. Right next to my head was the creek Annabeth, Grover, and I had stopped searching for Nico at.

Both Nico and Lyra were hovering over me. Nico had the courtesy to look slightly abashed and guilty while Lyra was hiding a smirk. I lifted my hand to my face and fingered my temple. Yep, it was still perfectly intact.

"How'd I get here?" I frowned.

Nico looked anxiously at Lyra and raised his hands in defense. "Now, before you get med..."

I pushed to my greet and stared at Nico incredulously. "You hit me!" I exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the boy in front of me.

"I helped drag you," added Lyra, like it was a good thing.

"Look, Percy, you were acting insane and potentially dangerous so I—" Nico stopped abruptly, obviously aware of the innocently murderous expression on my face.

"So you what, Nico?" I inquired angelically.

"So he hit you with his sword," finished Lyra. "He was worried about your mental health. I thought he was just fretting, but now I agree."

I took a breath to calm myself. "But why did he knock me out?"

"You were having a panic attack."

"I was not having a panic attack. I am not panicked. I was and am furious. That's completely normal in these types of situations."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "You threatened to torture the guy, Percy. Doesn't that seem a little drastic to you?"

I waved him away. "I wouldn't have done it. You wanted to do the same thing! Good Cop, Bad Cop."

Nico grabbed his head, tugging at the black mass. "Percy, listen to yourself! Do you even know what you're saying? You told him about the Styx, you threatened to torture him, you won't even listen to me!"

"There's a reason for that. How do I get back to Base?"

Nico set his jaw and crossed his arms. Misdirected anger burned through me, burning hot enough to make me realize what I was doing. Why am I so mad at Nico? Breathing deeply, I shut my eyes. This is what Smith wants. To mess me up.

"Nic, I'm sorry, man. I'm good."

He didn't look convinced so I dropped to the ground and laid on my back. I draped the crook of my elbow over my nose, effectively blocking off any light left in the night. Feeling less threatened, Nico sat across from me. He opened his mouth a few times, but stayed silent for the most part.

"Wanna talk about it? Whatever's bothering you?" He asked eventually.

I shook my head. "How did you knock me out?" I was honestly curious, I had figured the Curse prevented any bodily harm, including consciousness affecting blows.

Nico shrugged impishly. "I, uh, hit you with the hilt of my sword." He chuckled nervously and continued, "I forgot about four curse the moment I swung it, but then you blacked out and it was all good.—I mean for me. You'd've killed me if you hadn't lost consciousness." His voice died down towards the end, he realizing continuing wasn't the best move.

"But how come I got knocked out? I'm invincible remember."

"I think it's the iron that kind of sucks the life out," he suggested. I let it drop, not interested enough to keep the conversation going, and instead watched Lyra drawing on her right arm then her left and back again. For a few minutes we were content to just sit in the silence and the calls of the frustrated monsters.

Eventually I asked, "What time is it?"

"After midnight."

I looked sideways at Nico. "Won't someone be wondering where we are?"

"After I knocked you out and Lyra and I dragged you out here, I told everyone you went to think. Don't think Annabeth believed me," he mused.

I scoffed. "The fact that you told her I was out thinking would be enough to doubt you."

Nico laughed softly and kicked the dirt with his shoe. I couldn't help notice how much he had grown up since I met him. He was just a nerdy little kid with his myth-o-magic cards who then lost the only person in the world that mattered. Then he was taken, melded, indoctrinated by an insane, vengeful ghost. 'I am the Ghost King.' Now he can raise the dead to fight his battles.

"Any Underworld whispers? About the immortals, I mean."

"Nothing. If it weren't for the Keys to the Underworld, Halloween would have come late this year."

"Samhain, and not late. Today's November 1st," Lyra said while inspecting her designs on her arm. Nico debated replying then shook his head. Lyra, however, did not need him to voice his reply. She continued, "Sow-ain. The celtic holiday of the Otherworld."

I nudged Nico, "Just nod when she comes up for air."

Lyra scowled and focused all of her attention on the drawing on her right arm. She added a few finishing touches then began drawing on her other arm.

"Have you thought about why you were having a panic attack?" She asked casually.

"I told you," I ground out between my clenched teeth, "I was not having a panic attack."

"A fit of terror, panic, panic disorder, scare, spasm. Call it what you will, it's not going to change what it was."

I've been the target of attacks since I was born, I don't get panic attacks, I thought grudgingly. Besides I was enraged, not panicking. I sighed and rubbed my temple forcefully, "Since you won't tell me how to get back, might as well do what you told Annabeth. Have any new theories about Smith 'n Jones?"

Both Nico and Lyra shook their heads.

"And before you ask, there is still no significant person by the name of Marius B." Nico stated. Ever since we had taken the defensive, I had been drilling anyone we could find about the name Marius B, the last gift Dr. Calder gave me before she was murdered.

"How hard can it be to find Marius? I mean who names their kids Marius anyways?" I demanded.

".03% percent of kids were named Marius in the year 1954. The most common year for Mariuses," informed Lyra. Nico and I exchanged perplexed looks.

"How in Hades name do you know that?" Nico queried.

"I looked it up, clod. Percy's head has been screaming that name since he heard it." Lyra rolled to her feet and pulled out a knife, the steel blade glinting in the broken moonlight. "I've been thinking about who would have the power and audacity to pull off something like this." She paused, her gaze becoming calculating and considerate. "I think he's human."

"Why's that?" Nico asked.

"He has to have some kind of connection to our world though," I said. "Maybe a clear-sighted mortal. But why wage war against us?"

Lyra plopped back down on the forest floor, spinning the knife between her fingers as she debated the facts. "Maybe he felt wronged by the gods? Having seen everything and fearing it because he didn't know what it was. When he discovered the gods, he was bitter and resentful for thinking he was insane."

"People fear what they don't understand." I agreed. "But that doesn't explain Smith. I'm damned if he's even part human."

"I don't have any theories about the Bobbsey Twins except that Hoover knew them, or at least of them."

Nico perked up when he realized he had something to add to the discussion, "Yeah, he said they'd been around for a while. Specially trained for unorthodox missions. Wait, how'd you know about that? I never mentioned it."

"I dreamt about it."

"Huh."

"Nico," I incited, "what happened when you summoned Huver?"

"Hoover, and not much. He bulled a lot of it. Talking about removed emotions and that he made a lot of bases around the country and in Mexico. I think I must have really pissed him off cause after I sent him away, this stone flew out of nowhere and knocked me in the head."

"Removed emotions," I echoed, chuckling humorlessly. "I wouldn't put it past this Marius Bastard. Come on, everyone will be starting to get worried."

By the time we all got back to base, it was obvious we missed something big. Kids were running wild with looks of anger and fear written plain on their faces.

Nico and Lyra glanced around, each mirroring the fears I felt crashing down like a tidal wave. A son of Hermes rushed by, but I lashed out and caught his collar, his legs comically flying it from under him. He yelped and struggled even after he realized it was me.

"What happened?" I demanded. The boy shook his head, mumbling incoherently. I shook him violently, trying to break into his clouded mind. "Did they find us?"

Still, the boy just shook his head.

"Percy!"

I dropped the kid and turned to the voice. Annabeth, her blonde hair flowing free behind her, sprinted over to me.

"Annabeth, did they find us?" I asked as soon as she was close enough to talk without shouting and ensuing more panic.

Annabeth shook her head, but the tears in her eyes dispelled any hope I had left. "The hunters just arrived."

"What's wrong? Are they hurt?"

"Nothing fatal, but they—they were attacked. In D.C. They were transporting some half-bloods and a patrol caught up with them. But Percy—Thalia. They have her."

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