Happy Valentine's Day! I love double updates! I'm so close to being done again!

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Thalia read the new chapter title with a pit of dread already lodged into her no matter how silly it seemed. She knew Percy was fine, he was sitting right next to her, but there weren't a lot of nice ways to read that without her mind once again showing her distraught sister begging her to help find Percy...

"Thalia!" Like the annoying little brother she missed every day, Percy waved his hands in front of her eyes to get her attention.

"I'm going, I'm going," she huffed, swatting his hand away impatiently.

"I would not actually," Alex shrugged, "you're on an island, it would be weirder if he did."

"I'd just be grateful he's not throwing the sheep at you," Magnus nodded.

Jason whistled in appreciation for Clarisse making that swim weighed down like that, and wished he could shove one of those boulders up Ares's nose.

Percy ground up his teeth and wished to lob any number of retorts back, but there was no need. He knew Tyson wasn't falling for this.

Thalia's face twitched unpleasantly, leaving Percy to wonder for a bizarre moment if he'd ever tried to do that.

"I never understood why prat falls were supposed to be funny away," Will sniffed, "stupid banana," he trailed off into mutters about the Stoll brothers and their stupid speaker sound effects, but Nico couldn't help but notice he wasn't really upset about whatever this was apparently about as he still smiled.

Percy couldn't have been more proud of his little brother, the same guy who'd been afraid of Matt Sloan was now narrowing his calf brown eye with the only dislikable expression Percy had ever seen in his kind-hearted face upon Polyphemus. Percy had to keep reminding himself not to grip his sword, not to charge into battle as he smiled along.

Jason had total confidence this was going to be perfectly fine for Percy. He'd defeated Ares once, Polyphemus was nothing in comparison.

'Blitz and I should never go against this guy,' Hearth smiled mockingly. Their friend would spend the whole battle critiquing that wool wardrobe and they'd never get out of there.

'I wouldn't have it any other way,' Magnus fervently agreed.

"Is virgin olive oil in that mango recipe?" Alex smirked.

"Remind me to send you to Hell's Kitchen," Percy scowled.

Percy finally started to feel a little bit of regret for his actions, almost letting Polyphemus live before, if he was about to pull the same trick on Tyson now. Please, please don't let this brute hurt my little brother, he prayed directly to his father, but there was no answer from Poseidon this time.

Alex definitely made another inappropriate comment under his breath over there, something about Annabeth feeling better, but only Magnus heard and flushed neon red to give it away.

Even Thalia winced along with all the boys in the room at the prospect of getting, ahem, a scratch there...let alone that!

"You almost deserved that one," Jason muttered, though he still wished he could leap up and help any second too.

At least Nico didn't burst into hysterical laughter at the idea again, but there was certainly a new air about him. The feeling of awe, longing, even envy for Percy had diluted enough he just chuckled a bit at the idea before pressing his lips together so Thalia could keep reading.

Magnus leaned close to Alex this time and muttered, "I wondered where the whomping tree was this book."

"And Percy even made an effort to mess up the roots," he added salaciously, causing Magnus to close his eyes and turn away lest he burst into hysterical laughter next.

The collective wince around the room and spastic blinking, even Thalia rubbing her own eye for a moment before she could keep going wasn't exactly the sympathy pain Polyphemus deserved after all he'd done, but involuntary all the same.

Jason had never looked at Percy with a stranger expression. Percy stared back defiantly and just knew this guy was forming a whole lecture in his head about what an idiot he was, how it was just a monster, and Percy was still prepared now like he had been before to defend his choice every step of the way.

He didn't though, just turned back to watching Thalia read with a stubbornly straight face, eerily like the one's she got when she was keeping her thoughts from Percy what was about to happen. Percy didn't know what to make of it and wondered if Jason himself did. If something in his past he didn't even know about was bothering this about him, the poor guy probably wouldn't even know.

"Silence is golden and duct tape is silver," Will groaned, thinking he might have to have a roll on him if he ever found out Clarisse went out on a quest again.

"You think that girl would learn her lesson," Nico agreed, maybe she needed to rip her own arm off and shove it down her throat to take a hint.

Percy gasped and spluttered out a no, but Thalia wasn't giving him much time to freak out as she kept reading in a blur. She was already reading with that same stubbornly straight face. Whatever worries or fears she might have for her friends, she was keeping it all in check until they were out of there.

"Didn't it take the Titanic three hours to sink?" Alex asked.

"Different kind of ship," Percy reminded grimly, "she sunk in five minutes, easy, and was going to take us all with her."

"Shit, shit, how do we abort the mission," Percy muttered, whishing he could shake Thalia to make her read faster or just launch himself into the wreck to get them all and knowing neither would do any good. So he was just left to sit here and do nothing, which was somehow as terrible a torment as listening to this!

"A fun fact I hope I'll never need," Magnus whispered. Annabeth had to be carried out there, she was doomed if something wasn't figured out, now!

Magnus had so many questions about how that worked, but mostly he felt bad for Tyson. If he'd tried calling out for Percy like this after Clarisse's ship had blown up and been so scared to find no answer from Percy.

"I am giving that horse-fish all of his favorites when we get back," Percy flopped back into his seat like a dying fish he was so exhausted constantly thinking everybody he cared about was about to die! Why couldn't it just be him, he knew he was alive!

"See, I was hoping for the opposite," Alex challenged. "I want to know how he leaves the island, and if he comes after you surely you can just defeat him again."

"I'll stick with Rainbow," Percy shook his head vigorously.

Percy's hands twitched. To hold her steady, to pull her close, to wrap the fleece tighter around her. She was okay, Tyson was alive, Grover was traumatized but still kicking, even Clarisse had survived. They did it. They really managed to pull this off.

Percy laughed hardest of all, but the others had their share of fun giggling along Percy had kept his promise. Technically. Nobody said she had to be awake to hear it, and they liked to think Annabeth would be kissing her idiot right now for this.

"That one was short," Thalia said with a sigh of relief as she got up to hand the book to Nico.

"Technically everybody went down with the ship, and Nobody," Nico smiled as he took it without a second thought.