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"At least these things aren't long, no offense Percy," Magnus said as he thumbed through the last few pages and glanced at the still staggering pile.

"None taken," Percy quickly assured. "You think I want more crap happening to me in each book!" He was rubbing his necklace where the second one resided. The silver pine tree painted in detail on the golden clay bead had been obvious at the start, but ominous now.

Magnus nodded agreement to that, silently thinking that whatever happened to Percy inevitably also affected Annabeth and the less of that the better as he theatrically cleared his throat and read the new title.

Percy felt un unpleasant buzzing in the side of his head for definitely being able to figure this one out early. Thankfully it wasn't quite painful, but left him jittery in his seat all the same like he should be waiting for something to go wrong with Thalia now permanently back in the picture, but at least she'd been here all along so it didn't torment him to guess right.

"That would be a real puzzling one if the evidence wasn't right in front of us," Jason chuckled as Thalia lounged out in her chair.

"Something good came out of this misadventure for everybody," Will laughed at the explosive following weeks where Percy and Thalia hadn't exactly blossomed into immediate friends, but he'd never seen Annabeth happier.

"So dramatic, such intrigue, what on earth could be about to happen?" Thalia said with almost a straight face.

"Remind me to enter you into a poker tournament," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Well I would hope so," Jason yelped. "Guy spent long enough and nearly died on the last one."

"Like that's going to stop him," Percy grinned as the happy feelings flowed right back into him now. Grover had been getting cheered by every bush he'd passed for being the first satyr to come back alive, but more importantly, he was safe at home again.

"If Polyphemus had just given him some reed pipes, I bet he'd have annulled the marriage himself," Nico chuckled.

Percy was already shaking his head as the sentence started and was pressing a stubborn hand to the back of his head like he could hold it into place, nobody needed the following outburst from him saying as much.

"Thrilled enough to murder, that's a real accomplishment on some level," Alex's lip was quivering by the end he tried so hard to say that sincerely.

"That's a thing!" Percy burst out. "Why has he not been teaching me that this entire time!"

Thalia had to press her fist against her mouth to stop herself from busting out laughing he still didn't know it to this day.

Then she and everyone began laughing once more, and Percy sighed but waved it on. "Fine, whatever, I'm worried the apocalypse would come early if I managed to ever leave a school without getting expelled. Surely it's one of the coming signs of doom."

"I still think we should talk to Chiron about implementing some of their school curriculums," Will insisted, "deadly dodgeball would be a hit with the Ares kids, and blowing shit up would be a class the Stoll brothers would ace."

"I'm sure Chiron will squeeze it in between the lava wall, arts and crafts practice, and their roller coaster of doom," Percy agreed as he waved vaguely at the Norse kids.

Percy made a strange face as he tried to decide if that was insulting or not. Was the principal implying he was too smart to go there?

...that was a first.

"Frankly I don't know what she's going to do with all of her free time now she's not worried about that," Percy said with nothing but relief.

Percy expected more snickering laughter on his part for having to check in with his mom, but all he saw were sad smiles and a strained delivery from Magnus. Nobody had forgotten poor Sally had been left in the dark for the entirety of Percy's quest on what was going on with him.

Alex gave him a slow clap for managing all that in one breath though.

Percy was smiling so much it looked painful. A part of him still hated himself for leaving her in Hades's realm for moments like this, how could he ever have hoped to keep going without her there at the end of every crazy summer he had?

"Don't make promises you can't keep Percy," Thalia said ruefully.

Percy sighed because he knew she was right. Wishing and regrets didn't get you much, and no action he ever took would hold that promise.

"That probably was the best thing you could have said to her," Jason nodded diplomatically.

"Not Canada, California, New York, and probably St. Louis if they're still holding a grudge against you blowing up their arch," Thalia ticked off on her fingers. "You're not even a teenager yet and you're already racking up a considerable list."

"I chose to take that as a compliment," he rolled his eyes.

"He adopted a cat to help his sphynx fear?" Magnus grinned.

"He and Clarisse teamed up for the next chariot race and you're screwed," Jason chuckled.

"He was secretly Poseidon all along?" Alex snickered.

"This is what you guys have been reduced to?" Percy asked in exasperation. "You can't guess the chapter titles anymore so you drag this out?"

"We've having fun," Jason reminded.

Percy huffed and glared at the stack of books. Surely they couldn't all be about him, and they'd get their dues how 'fun' this was.

"True," Will nodded, "Connor tried to teach him a knock-knock joke once and it didn't go well." They'd repaired that whole in the Hermes door with smiles.

"I'll take him as is," Percy reminded with pride.

"Wait," Magnus went cross-eyed in that now familiar expression of something strange everybody else hadn't looked twice at. "Underwater? Forge? Don't forges require, you know, fire?"

"He's immune to fire," Percy shrugged like that's all the explanation he'd ever thought up for this, a great look of disappointment on his face he clearly hadn't been invited to come obviously bothering him a lot more than normal rules of physics.

"If it's anything like that school's charity case, I'd be worried," Alex scoffed. "All work and no pay while being criticized."

"Hope they at least have decent office supplies to steal," Magnus agreed.

"Go with him!" Jason looked ready to start shaking Percy in hopes the memory of that happening would appear. "I'd call that plenty of training!"

"Now I'm being encouraged around fire huh?" Percy brushed him off, no matter how tempting the idea was. One notorious way to get attention from your parents was to sneak around right? Why not right into his dad's domain, see how long he was ignored then.

Then he remembered he was trapped at the bottom of the ocean without so much as a wave of hello and his scowl only grew.

"I think he's going now," Magnus added helpfully.

"Perceptive as your cousin," Percy huffed.

All of the Greek kids grimaced at this, and Magnus sighed as the book dipped in his hands and he looked uneasily around at the others to come. They were only just done with the first two, it would be a miracle to survive all of them.

"I hope he does that exclusively, starts a haberdashery of weapons and watches," Alex beamed.

Hearth smiled to himself maybe Blitz would like a business partner.

"Maybe, if it's a one-time-only kind of use," Jason muttered as he hadn't exactly done much of that yet, but he was quickly adapting to the idea he shouldn't assume he knew otherwise.

"I need whoever's permission I have to get to turn that into a vase!" Alex seemed to demand of the universe as a whole.

"You have my blessing," Percy assured.

"Where did he hear that from?" Nico asked, it's not like Grover had ever struck up a conversation with a cyclops before.

"Nymph gossip, maybe a cyclops has even visited camp before," Will shrugged. "Poseidon might have sent one as a blessing to help, or the tree spirits are just full of it. Chiron's never shared a lot of stories about children of his," he reminded with a sad smile at how uniquely troubling Percy was.

Percy couldn't hold back a longing sigh. He liked all of the friends he had around him now, but he couldn't shake the feeling of who was missing too.

"Hopefully it keeps him off the dating game for the next few millennia," Percy scowled.

Thalia closed her eyes for a moment, the sad smile lingering on her face so her eyes could hide the pain. She almost hadn't recognized the girl, nearly a teenager, the same kid now closer to the age Thalia had been when she'd fallen. Absolutely nothing had been the same when she'd opened her eyes again, but here she looked around with as eager a smile as everybody else. Maybe Zeus had even had some inkling of this passage of time would be her best path.

Percy sort of wanted to rip one of Grover's horns off for nearly giving him a heart attack, but he was to grateful his best friend had come to tell him at all rather than staying with Annabeth and rousing around the first child of the Big Three he'd found.

"How the best sleepovers end up," Alex nodded this made perfect sense on every blade of grass at that camp.

"Ooo, actual chapter title being quoted," Magnus shook his head at how all of this had worked out. The uncomfortable question of how they would ever manage to beat a Titan who was already so many steps ahead of them still sort of made him wish for his ignorance of this world back if they were all doomed.

Percy was looking from Thalia to the book with a heavy sense of forbidding. 'Was Kronos right to play this card,' a nasty voice whispered in his mind. Thalia wouldn't do that to Annabeth, but then, neither should Luke. It suddenly bothered him quite a lot Oceanus had 'accidentally,' not managed to pull in his girlfriend or best friend, just a couple of strangers he got vague impressions about and kids he didn't even know. How did he know what side Oceanus was on? Could this all be some weirdly elaborate trick into trying to convince him to switch sides away from them?

Will gave a guilty wince he'd been just as stunned stupid even as he admired Percy stepping in like that. Will had never met Thalia, but her story was legendary, it could have been no other Half-Blood in their leader's arms, and the whole camp seemed to have been holding its breath at the time as they all wondered what was coming next.

Jason studied her now the same way he had himself in the mirror. It wasn't just the eyes, it was the same powerful aura Percy gave off. There was something in the air about her nobody could mistake, and yet as he started unconsciously rubbing his tattoo, all he could think was how strange his mind had to be for not ever having found her threatening like he often did Percy.

Thalia shivered, just the smallest bit like a cold chill had passed over her, and Percy immediately felt like a jerk for any second guesses he might have as his first impulse was to assure her now. He could now claim same as her to wake up a stranger in a strange land and she'd been nothing but a friend to him, looking out for him the entirety of his stay here. It was no regret then, that no matter the outcome, he'd at least given her the same honor upon first meeting her.

"Dun, dun, dun," Percy chuckled for himself.

"Don't count yourself off either of those lists yet Jackson," Thalia rolled her eyes, not understanding the strange look he gave her. Like he didn't know whether to laugh at that for the joke it was for once.

"That would have been a lot more dramatic if you hadn't been hanging around with us the past few days," Magnus told her as he finished looking up and around.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she grinned, "next time we all get sucked into a room together, I'll hide behind the couch until my grand arrival."

"Thank you, finally, a woman with some class," Alex nodded.

Perhaps the snickering that circled the room was a little more exhaustion induced than they would have admitted, but it must have been late enough in the day for all of them nobody cared. Percy was first out the door fighting off a yawn, everybody else's conversations lulling easily to a close.

Alex and Magnus lingered around still practicing their signing to each other and Thalia and Hearth were happily adding in, watching the two in an almost paternal way.

When Nico gestured Will out and he gladly jumped to his feet, Jason watched them leave discreetly and debated if he should follow or invest more into learning ASL. Though he'd disclosed his secret, he still wanted to talk to Nico again now that he was more confident his other secret wasn't exactly being held over his head, but he still didn't find Nico the easiest person to talk to either. Not as standoffish as he was that first day, but still giving off the aura of antisocial he had no clue how Will kept bypassing. When Thalia called his name and asked how late he planned on staying up, he found himself getting easily sucked into their group without another thought.

Nico lead him up to the terrace, and Will closed the door and watched him with that same casual, laid-back attitude like there was nothing at all in the world to worry him. At least he didn't seem to be holding a grudge?

"Sorry, for um, snapping your head off before," he fidgeted guiltily in place and couldn't look at Will to long. Ugh, he was so bad at this; but he wasn't taking Will to that other camp, let alone Tartarus with him, it was too dangerous to risk anyone but a solo mission. That stupid prophecy line of Clarisse's mocked him though, and maybe he would go to Camp first, get a useless prophecy and let Jason decide if he wanted to take that risk...He couldn't explain that though and didn't know what else to say. "What do you want from me?" He demanded point blank why Will cared at all, why he'd asked and started all of this!

"Nothing!" Nico still wasn't doing this right, Will looked hurt anew at his accusatory tone as he answered. "Just, I know some people prefer to be alone, and I'm not judging, honestly! I'm sorry for pushing, I just wanted you to know you had a friend, if you wanted one."

Nico kept scrutinizing him for a few moments more with lingering guilt. There was no lie in Will's voice...but that couldn't be it? What reason did Will have for wanting to be friends now? "Well, Jason's going through some crap and I, um, guessed and offered help. It, it's up to him." He found himself suddenly hoping Jason would invite Will along to the other camp, but then, maybe he should pass the buck altogether and just let even Thalia and Will deal with Jason with clear directions and go straight to Tartarus when they got out of here. He was putting it off to much, trying to delay it, and Gaia would not wait. Her plans may already be in motion, and somebody had to stop them.

"Okay," Will said, clearly at peace with this decision left out of his hands, a baffling thing all its own. Nico was the only demigod capable of stopping the Earth Mother in Tartarus, and he'd be the only one who wasn't missed if all he could do was send a dream message for a warning to come.

They stood in awkward silence for a few moments more and Nico wished he could leave now. Will seemed to sense this, he stepped away from the door in invitation but said gently, "I know you're not looking forward to the next book. If I could pay Connor to steal it away and stop this, I would."

Nico found himself hesitating now, but all that came out was the odd comment, "you talk about Connor a lot."

Will shrugged that off like he seemed to everything. "Kind of have a crush on him, and Katie Gardner too, but they're dating each other so sorry if it comes out wrong. I'll try to stop bringing it up." Will bit his sun-chapped lips at the end and gave him a funny look he didn't know what to call.

Nico stared. He'd never imagined a guy could say something like that so casually in his life. He'd seen men displaying affection for each other on the streets during his travels, sometimes with horrible commentary from other passersby on the street, sometimes without a second glance. He had no idea which and when in this culture it would be taken, but it was strangely nice if Will could say it so off-hand, maybe he just hadn't been at camp long enough to find out. "No, um, just, I just noticed."

Will squatted, then lounged out on the crumbling balcony and now looked up at him, an oddly vulnerable position as he gestured back to the stairwell. "Nobody in there is going to judge you for what comes next Nico, we've all got our secrets."

"Not for long," he bitterly reminded. Percy may fling him out of the ocean when he found out he'd been hiding away who his dad was, Jason and those Norse kids might too. Will was just too nice to know better apparently, naïve enough to blindly trust him. He didn't know Thalia's score, maybe pity as she might understand why he wouldn't go parading the fact.

And when he finally heard in vivid detail what had really happened to Bianca, he might wish for it...

"Your sister is a hero," Will whispered gently as if reading his thoughts. "You take after her. You've done nothing wrong, Nico, by not sharing every detail of your life. Nobody held a grudge against Jason or Alex for not sharing their vulnerabilities the second they showed up in here."

"You don't know the half of it," Nico scoffed, but it came out a bit watery, and it had nothing to do with the ocean. Hades had betrayed his trust once and Percy had blamed that on him, Pan hadn't given him a second glance in his last words, Minos had tricked and manipulated him for months. Before, he'd felt the need to do something irrefutably good to maybe someday impress Percy, but even that notion was withering away. He didn't know why he still didn't tell Will about Gaea's rising, maybe because he was afraid the Son of Apollo would try to talk him out of it.

"And I won't if you don't want me to," Will shrugged while Nico did a double take.

"How?" Now studying the blonde and waiting for the trick.

"Oceanus isn't sitting on top of us making us all be there, it just seems a common courtesy," he reminded with a wave of his hand. "I don't even think I was supposed to be brought here, probably an accident like those Norse kids. If you want one person Nico, who doesn't know every single thing you've done printed out and still trusts you, I'll leave the room whenever you ask, no questions."

Something so warm and unfamiliar flooded through Nico, he decided he should sit down too as light-headed as he was. "Thank you," he murmured, his hands felt oddly heavy in his lap, a weight settling on his back that had nothing to do with the responsibility he felt hearing the whispers of the dead and coming horrors, it was a different kind. The pressure seemed less in fact, like he'd only just now noticed it lighten now it was gone.

There were no lights in the gloom below, no passage of time to speak of. They sat together in silence for an untold time until they both mutually got up at once and went off to beds.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Here I am, being a liar by once again ending dramatically on Nico and Will. I swear I don't try to play favorites on purpose. I'm sure you're all so disappointed.

I'll start the next book around early June, see you all then!