§Annabeth§

After picking up and wading through what seemed like thousands of spiders we finally made it across the room, and I high fived Ron. We made a good team. Suddenly, a silvery shape materialized, and I took a step back, drawing my sword. Ron however got closer. I followed his lead, slowly edging forward, and realized that it was in the shape of an otter.

"We defeated Lord Malum." It said in Hermione's voice. It then started to glide away in the direction it came.

"C'mon. I think we're supposed to follow it." said Ron. We scrambled after it.

We ran down rows and rows of corridors, not stopping to catch our breath for fear of losing the otter which Ron referred to as a 'patronus'. Finally, we reached a pair of marble columns, and the patronus spoke again, except in Greek, requesting the aid of Terminus, god of boundaries. An archway appeared, and Ron and I walked through. Hermione, Ginny, Leo and Lyra sat on the floor looking very pale. Ron immediately went over to Hermione and clasped her shoulder, then sat down and hugged her. "Percy, Jason and Harry aren't here yet?" I asked them. Ginny shook her head.

My shoulders slumped and I took a seat on the tile. "So, what happened?" They relayed to me how Leo and Lyra had found Lord Malum and everything since then. I glimpsed the two bodies on the other side of the room and a cold chill overtook me. I shuddered. "Can we go out into the hallway?" Everyone agreed vigorously and we migrated out of the room.

I was relieved to hear that Hermione and Ginny thought they had gotten the remainder of Lord Malum's supporters still in the building, but I was incredibly worried about Percy. And Jason and Harry, of course. Where were they? If they hadn't run into people, what had happened?

We waited nervously until Ron tried to start conversation. "What's up with your weird weapons? And why does Percy stab people with a pen?"

I glanced at Leo, wondering how to explain. "Well, first of all, there's this thing called the Mist."

"We know what mist is, we're not-" Ron interrupted, but a fierce glare from Hermione made him stop.

"The Mist is something that keeps mortals from noticing anything… out of the ordinary," I continued. "It's why demigods have thrived in secrecy from them for all these millennia. Few know exactly how it works, but it "mists" over certain things, and instead mortals see what they want to see and what they expect." Hermione gave a little gasp of realization. I was curious about what she was thinking, but I kept talking. "But I guess since you guys are wizards, you must be able to see half-and-half."

"Yeah- whenever you guys fight, either we can't make out the weapon, like when they blur anonymous faces in the news, or it switches between, say, a pen and a sword!" Ginny said excitedly. I was surprised she understood.

"The thing is," Hermione said slowly, "Muggles- non-magical people- never notice magic either. We've always thought they were simply ignorant or, sort of like you said, they only saw what they wanted to see. But I wonder whether, without wizards knowing, the Mist works to hide magic, too?" I pondered what she had said. Until we had met them, I thought demigods were the only "magical" race of humans there were. But I'd quickly learned wizards were at least our equals- maybe Hermione's muse was correct. Maybe the Mist was yet more confusing than we had thought, and it acted like a guardian for all of us. We all chatted about the Mist, comparing demigods' abilities to wizards'. It helped keep the panic away.

§Percy§

I lashed out with Riptide recklessly, I didn't care that it was about the stupidest thing to do considering our situation. The Cyclopes sneered and grabbed hold of the tip of my sword. Why didn't they disintegrate? "Celestial Proof Gloves. Technology these days." the Cyclops replied to my unspoken question happily as he threw my now bent blade over his shoulder.

Harry yelled something like "For a new WORLD!" The Cyclopes grabbed him and threw him into the pile of clothes from the capsized armoire where Riptide had landed. Whoa, that was heroic. Then first Cyclopes suddenly crumbled to the ground, literally. The second roared with anger but a golden blade appeared through his chest. Jason stood there, panting.

"Thanks man" I patted him on the back. Which was awkward because he was about three inches taller than me. Then I heard a muffled moan coming from the junk. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Riptide." Harry grunted in protest as I frantically searched for my faithful sword. Riptide, please you've got to be here somewhere... My hand got stabbed by something sharp. " Aha!" A hand came up. I pulled and Harry's face appeared. I sighed then saw my sword. I groaned, releasing Harry back into the tangle of coats and robes. It was bent in several directions and then I realized that it hadn't reappeared in my pocket. "Thanks a lot for helping me" a sarcastic voice said.

Suddenly, the lock on the door sprang open, and an otter appeared. Hermione's voice issued from it. I shivered. "We defeated Lord Malum." It said. We followed it down the hall, leaving behind the gigantic twin piles of gold dust. I couldn't help running my finger softly down the side of Anaklusmos as we stumbled out of the room.

Percy? The clear voice of a girl rang out. I jumped as I recognized it. Zoe Nightshade, the feisty yet loyal hesperide, one of Artemis' hunters. But I had seen her die myself... I poked Jason in the back.

"What?" he cried irritatedly.

"Didn't you hear that?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.

Only you, the owner of the sword, can hear me. I chewed the inside of my cheek and nodded, still a bit confused. I've enchanted this sword so that, should it be damaged, the owner may know how to fix it.

I smiled at her clever planning, but responded, I could always just find Tyson later- I probably won't use Riptide anytime soon.

Never assume security! I winced as she chatised loudly. Just… do what I instruct. I sighed and waited for her to continue. You are holding Anaklusmos now, yes? Here is what to do: lift- She stopped suddenly.

What? I thought.

She sounded suspicious. Is there a… wizard near you?

Huh? Oh, yeah.

So the races have reunited once more, she mused, a hint of satisfaction creeping into her voice. I didn't reply. Well that makes things much simpler. Ask your wizard friend to help you- those wands are amazing…. she trailed off. Anyway, I guess you no longer require my instruction; until you break your sword again, Percy Jackson, she said, slightly amused.

I screamed in my head as I felt her presence leave, No! Wait- Zoe! But she was already gone. I had half a mind to break my sword again later just to talk to her. As our conversation ended I realized I had fallen several yards behind the others, and I jogged to keep up.

"Harry… your wand," I said.

"What about it?" he said, grabbing his pocket protectively.

"It can fix Riptide- my sword," I added, seeing his puzzled face.

Harry smacked himself on the head. "Stupid!" he cried. We stopped in the hallway as he pulled out his wand. "Sorry, I was a bit distracted by Hermione's patronus. Reparo!" He tapped the tip to my blade. Nothing happened. Just as I was about to glance up at him to ask what was wrong, Riptide started moving. I stared as it straightened out, like someone had attatched a string to the end and was pulling (assuming it was not solid Celestial Bronze). Within seconds my sword looked as if it had never been crooked. I looked up at Harry in amazement.

"Cool, dude." He nodded, silently pocketing his wand, and we resumed following the otter, which had been waiting at the fork up ahead, annoyed, the whole time.