"Like Annabeth-Nobody, or nobody-nobody?" Percy demanded of his friends. Why were these stupid chapter titles here, they were never any help!
"Or is it the original Odysseus Nobody, back as a ghost?" Alex played along.
Nobody answered, in any sense of the word, so Percy grumbled for only a moment and kept reading.
"We can only hope," Percy scowled at the capital N in hopes the book was deceiving him.
They all saw the fear and worry radiating off of Percy, Thalia even shivered at the blast of icy ocean water that was trying to engulf him, but it was just that. They were only seeing it, Percy's soul attention was concentrating harder than he had on any book in his life on the words in front of him so much so even his inherited abilities weren't managing to make these dangerous waters.
"I'm sure Grover's offended he didn't get that first caught, first wed treatment," Jason frowned.
"This guy is seriously making me crave whatever mango chutney is," Alex shrugged, he sure wouldn't shut up about it.
Percy's grip on the book tightened, though he wasn't sure if he was imagining strangling this cyclops or pulling Annabeth close, both warred like crashing waves in him to be done.
"Both of them deserve revenge," Thalia agreed, resisting the urge to smack Percy again for trying to be the hero they already knew he was.
"It's really not so bad as having agreed with Percy about something," Thalia smirked.
"Do you want me to threaten to shove your arms down your throat?" Percy asked. "Because this is how I'll agree with Clarisse."
'They're going to do the Macarena?' Hearth blinked in confusion.
"You're going to send him to Europe?" Magnus repeated in confusion even as he corrected the word for his friend.
"How come when we get attacked by you we don't get a vacation out of it?" Alex pouted.
"Sush, listen," Percy ignored all of them.
Jason looked particularly thrilled about getting to hear of one of their battle strategies and muttered something about turtle formation.
"Honestly, without you steering that giant ship they probably would have died anyways," Nico reminded.
"This is just faster," Thalia nodded.
"You guys have such faith in us," Percy huffed. The fact that they were joking about it made him at least hope he hadn't gotten anybody killed though.
"You expect witty retorts from her though, that knowledge has to be good for something," Alex shrugged. "You've perfected the classics with practice Perce."
"Thanks," he snorted.
The wince that encircled the eight of them might as well have come from one person attacking them all, though Percy hadn't done anything again as he kept his focus. Thalia's hands were twitching as she longed to draw her bow and help, Will was clasping his hands with nobody to heal in here, even Alex, Nico, and Jason were resisting the urge to grab their weapons while Hearth was gently reminding Magnus Annabeth was surely okay out there now.
"We will not be judged by the size of our blades but the courage of our hearts-"
"Stop quoting cooler movies during my fight scenes!" Percy interrupted Alex in exasperation.
"It was supposed to be motivating," he huffed.
"I'm motivated enough to finish," Percy assured.
'He gets credit for trying,' Hearth winced and hoped it at least annoyed Polyphemus.
"Great," Will said in a way that didn't sound so great.
"Twice in one book," Percy shook his head at himself, "it is a good thing she isn't here or she'd never let me live this down."
Jason was all but bouncing in his seat, his hands twitching with the urge to jump in and help that wasn't needed. These two made an excellent team, as if Annabeth herself had given them this perfect strategy. It wasn't great for long term, but a perfect distraction, if only they had more forces to finish this beast off!
Thalia winced again at just sitting here doing nothing. Even knowing the gods would never intervene in this fight, she kept hoping Athena would take something of this personally and help another Perseus, if not for her daughter, then the tree!
Nico wondered for a moment if the arai would take that literally, then frowned as he decided they wouldn't care and enact it on anybody with the misfortune to say the word nobody around them.
Magnus was biting his lip and making some very odd signs about an ogre, a donkey, and a dragon to Hearth Alex was jealous he couldn't understand yet, but the meaning was clear, this really couldn't get any worse.
Percy's anger swelled as he glared down at those words, his hands tightening along the spine of the book sending an ominous cracking noise in the room. Thalia suddenly decided maybe it was a bad idea if he broke that thing instead of blasting water around and braced herself as she said coolly, "but how's he going to get back to his cave? He might miss sheep vs shark on cable!"
Percy looked around at her, at least vaguely distracted from doing anything permanent as he scoffed, "I'm going to make you eat mango chutney the rest of the time we're here if you don't shut it." It was good for her she knew Annabeth was okay, he'd still like to get through the surviving it all part first.
Thalia smiled without regret and grandly waved him on.
Now everybody was grinning along too, Percy most of all as he hadn't looked up once from narrating his thoughts, because they had known what he meant. He was glad he wasn't going through this alone right now or he might have broken the Titan's domain.
The others kind of wished Percy would at least put himself in a bubble for his time down here as they sat watching him now. Nico looked like he'd never shut his mouth again he was gawping at him so much.
Percy looked up and shrugged like, 'what?' before he kept going.
"The man eating sheep, that he was threatening to feed you to seconds ago, not to mention his countless other eons of harm," Jason was frowning at Percy's mellowing tone, the way the tension was easing out of him and there was something new growing in its place overpowering the anger.
Thalia sighed for Grover. He knew nothing of Tyson, he probably felt particularly indignant Percy was hesitating after all his best friend had been through and falling for this act.
They were still gawping at him, every one of them. Even Will apparently couldn't wrap his head around the idea of showing mercy here when his friend's lives were on the line. He couldn't really blame them, he'd never thought of all monsters he'd hesitate to kill, it would be this one who'd hurt Annabeth and tormented Grover...but...
"Ah Percy..."
For a moment Percy thought Thalia was laughing at him again as she shook her head with a whisper of a smile, but that wasn't it. She just seemed, resigned about him. She'd never really understood before this moment how Percy had set aside everything to let Luke make the final blow though.
"I would, he wouldn't," Will was frowning at Percy like he'd lost his mind, again. Nico finally came out of his daze and gave a soft laugh for the pun at least.
"You're insane," Alex politely informed Percy.
"And your hair is green," Percy said without looking up. He didn't care to give himself a headache to find out if he was right or wrong to do this, he was ignoring Thalia and his own sixth sense of what the outcome was. He didn't regret giving this chance.
His rib cage on the other hand sure regretted his actions right now, he swore they throbbed with the remembered cracks they'd gotten from that. He sat and waited for a moment for somebody to call him a fool and say they'd known it, but Jason looked as resigned as Thalia at his actions, their faces looked oddly similar the way they did that. Nico was just looking at him casually waiting for him to get up and keep going while Magnus was still studying the book with as much concern as Percy felt, waiting to get to the important part where Annabeth was okay than really anything else going on.
"It's to bad he and Charybdis can't just match already," Alex was right back to being sarcastically unhelpful in the face of Percy at least being very much alive.
"Maybe she has commitment issues," Percy nodded along.
"Only you would make a basketball comparison at a time like this," Thalia informed him, choosing now to look offended at his thoughts.
"If it was one of the piranha sheep that did it, I promise I won't stab that one," he grinned like that was the concern here, but he hardly looked up, attention suddenly riveted on the book again. For something good this time though...that had been a huge rock. Surely Clarisse hadn't...
"He should try drinking water with it," Will offered.
"New favorite mental image for hard-to-swallow facts," Nico snickered.
A hearty laugh encircled the room, Percy more than happily joining in. Just because he hadn't been able to do the deed himself didn't mean he was going to feel bad at this turn, and he was now reading as lightheartedly as ever as if nothing else could possibly be wrong.
"Tyson's alive!" Percy shouted with such joy he lobbed the book into the ceiling above and didn't watch it sink back down as he beamed. The sensation swamped over him so much he looked ready to literally start jumping with joy, if only Annabeth wasn't hurt so badly this could have been a perfect moment...
Alex made a grab for the book as it came floating down with his own pleased smile, Tyson was a cool outlier and he couldn't wait to get back to the surface and meet him- but Percy snatched the book back to him via the current again as he told Alex, "wait your turn!"
At least he'd controlled it enough this time he hadn't sent him crashing to the ground so Alex only brushed his fingers under his jaw at him as Percy read eagerly.
"Remind me to give Rainbow all of the extra treats when I get back," Percy was still grinning like he'd won the lottery, like he'd be running over and hugging Tyson and that hippocampus now, even looking around the room eagerly for a moment like the two would just happen to pop up down here.
"Note to self," Nico muttered. Will gave him a very odd look why Nico would avoid a hug from Percy, and where he'd get the killer sheep.
"Punctuation matters," Magnus couldn't help the laugh that burst out of him.
"Uncle Jack and his horse can explain it to him later," Alex smirked.
Some of Percy's enthusiasm finally faded, he stopped half shouting everything even at the revelation his brother was alive and turned a concerningly matching description of that now. He couldn't lose her right after he'd just gotten Tyson back!
"Duh!" Magnus sighed in relief, though there was still a rush of feeling coursing through him with the urge to do anything to actually help. He was almost glowing, and not from a blush for once, Alex noticed, but it was so faint only he did as Hearth was still concentrating on reading Percy's lips. "The entire reason you came on this quest! If it can heal a magic dying tree it can for her too, right?"
"Finger's crossed," Percy said fervently.
"Valid question," Jason couldn't help a little chuckle, "though I wonder if it would be divine too and kill whoever it was draped over."
"Magic devouring fleece, the opposite of this one, yeah I can see it," Nico nodded.
Magnus and Percy exchanged uneasy frowns at that development. Even if it healed Annabeth short term, the effects might not last. They had to get her real help. Then Percy's concern grew more as he studied Thalia for a moment, troubled all the more if her life was tied to that tree always having this fleece around it or something...there was definitely some kind of connection there he was missing...
"We seriously need to get Tyson into the NBA when this is over, he's won this for you guys twice in as many pages," Jason grinned.
'Isn't that, all of them?' Hearth asked. Percy hadn't exactly mentioned he even liked his dad much yet.
'I'd be doing it too if I could remember half their names,' Magnus signed.
"Is he still a goat in white?" Nico barely sounded coherent he started laughing so hard.
"He's got more virtues than half the humans I've met," Jason went a little cross-eyed for making such a broad statement, but he was still smiling along nonetheless.
"It wouldn't have been a very holy matrimony," Percy nodded seriously.
"They never would have made it out of the honeymoon phase," Alex smirked.
"Besides, we all know it never would have gone off without Annabeth being the bridesmaid," Thalia chuckled.
Alex wolf-whistled at Percy but gave a little wink to Magnus...like Alex was picturing him glittering? Magnus could feel himself glowing a different kind of way, because he was blushing more than ever and yet not bothering to turn away as he smiled back. If Alex was imagining injecting him with glitter, he wasn't going to protest.
Percy would bet his pen at this rate he'd yet gone a whole chapter of any of these without something going wrong and was increasingly wondering which of those gods were going to never let him live down how he was alive in exchange for Annabeth still breathing.
"I don't suppose they'd let you play leapfrog on them?" Will frowned.
"I'd rather have another round with Polyphemus than try," Percy shook his head.
"Remind me to mention this in my wedding speech if Clarisse ever gets hitched," Percy said warmly.
"I'll bet Clarisse will during yours," Thalia said slyly, causing Percy to flush and keep reading quickly.
"Show this to someone who ever laughs at the idea of running away from a chicken coop," Percy said as he still shifted about in his chair uneasily. This was almost over, they were almost home free.
"Did I piss off the god of jinxes too?" Percy was glaring down at that stupid sentence.
"Wouldn't surprise me," Thalia said with honest sympathy.
"Do I even want to know what else could go wrong?" Thalia actually hesitated to grab the book from Percy as she looked over his shoulder at that horrid last paragraph, a promise for even more carnage to come. "Does Luke's cruise ship come around too and attack again? Do you and Grover get drunk and accidentally get hitched?"
"You tell me," Percy restlessly reminded. He couldn't decide if he was reluctant to hand the book over or should just keep reading to get it over with himself.