IV

PANDA

My eyes fluttered open and I cringed when blinding sunlight hit me right in the face. I had to blink a few times to regain my sight. The sky was bright blue, too beautiful for the world to be so in chaos.

I could still feel Percy and Nico's shoulders against mine and I didn't want to move or make a sound. I wanted to stay here, keep them here with me, feel safe. But I knew that couldn't happen. The gods wouldn't let up and now they knew where we were.

I slowly sat up and softly released my fingers from the boys. The bottom half of their bodies were as far away from me as possible and I suddenly felt embarrassed. Years ago, Percy had told me I kicked in my sleep and I guessed that's what had happened last night. I looked around and I saw a huge black mound between the trees that started to slowly shift around. Spyridon lifted his head and a small ripple of fear ran through me when he fixed his glowing red eyes on me. I knew he was the good guy, but he still looked terrifying.

"I will go on ahead," he said, nodding his head and then spreading his wings and flying off. He truly looked majestic as his black wings unfolded like a rose blooming and he jumped, taking to the sky in one swift move and glided on the air through the clouds. He was awe inspiring. After he'd left, I turned and tapped Percy a few times on the forehead and he tried to swat at my finger like it was a bug.

"Percy…" I said, as I tapped his forehead a few more times. He hummed as he lazily opened his green eyes. When he saw me, he quickly sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Did I oversleep?" he asked, looking around.

"No. I just got up too. It's only…" I glanced at my watch, "8:49 AM."

"Okay, is Nico up?" he asked as he stretched and yawned. I looked to my side and saw Nico sleeping, now curled up into a ball. I tapped his foot with mine, but he just mumbled and stayed sleeping. I kicked him again, and he jumped up, picking up his sword that was beside him and taking a fighting stance.

"Easy cowboy, we're not under attack," Percy said, as we stood up. Nico squinted his eyes and looked slowly around and then yawned. A look of grumpiness came over his face as he hitched his sword to his belt. Halfway through the night, the fire must've burned itself out, because it was now just a big pile of ashes and a few pieces of wood. We pulled down the tent and packed our things. I was sticking our garbage into a small grocery bag when Percy came up behind me.

"Hey," he said. I tied the grocery bag and stood up, turning towards him. He held a short bronze sword in his hand with black cloth tied around the hilt.

"It's not much, but I figured you'd want a weapon," he said, tapping the flat of the blade against his palm. "Here." He handed me the sword.

"Thanks," I said, as I gripped the sword in my hand. I stared at it, at my reflection in the blade and I looked away. I couldn't stand looking at the face that stared back.

"Are you okay?" I looked at him.

"Yeah, of course," I lied. He pursed his lips, but he didn't push me further, which I silently thanked him for. We finished packing our bags and started walking. We didn't really know where, we just knew it was not here. We walked through the forest, our bags thudding against our legs as we hopped over puddles and giant roots.

"So, where did Spyridon go?" Nico asked, as we stopped for a duck and her babies that were crossing our path.

"He's making sure our path is clear up ahead. He's been giving me the okay every ten minutes," I said, as I looked up at the rustling leaves. Our surroundings were truly beautiful. Because of the gaps between the leaves, it casted shadows broken by rays of light that danced across the grassy floor. Leaves would fall, whirling downwards and then softly settling on the ground. It was peaceful; little rabbits hopping through the bushes and blue jays singing. No one would ever think the world was slowly turning inside out because of one death.

"Cool," Nico said, as we continued forward. After a few yards, Spyridon's voice echoed in my head again, telling us there was a monster to our left up ahead about another fifty yards. We changed direction, heading right towards… wherever. After a long while, we finally came onto a city, cars whipping past us with amazing speed. People walked back and forth, their ears glued to their phones.

"What do we do now?" Nico asked, as he switched his duffel bag to his other shoulder.

"Eat," I said, as I looked across the street at a small diner that read "Mama's Kitchen". I was really hungry and the whiff of pancakes made me hungrier.

"Okay then, let's go," Percy said. We made our way across the street and walked into the diner. A little bell went off as we walked in. The diner had white and red tiles with yellow tables and red chairs. Women in little yellow dresses with red aprons and white sneakers were serving fresh breakfast to the few people inside.

"Smells nice," Nico said, as he walked over to an empty table and sat down, dumping his duffel bag next to him. Percy and I joined him and waited for someone to serve us. A few minutes later, a perky young woman with blonde curls into a ponytail came up to us with a notepad in her hand.

"What can I get ya?" she said, flashing us a big smile and pulling out a pen tucked behind her ear.

"Pancakes with a Dr. Pepper," Nico said.

"Scrambled eggs and hash browns with a coke," Percy added.

"Fried eggs with toast and a coke too," I said last. She dotted it all down with the swiftest writing.

"Be right out," she said cheerfully as she spun and skipped off. The day seemed unnaturally peaceful. I hadn't been attacked by monsters yet and although I was grateful, I knew my luck wouldn't last long. I started to get uneasy. I tried to engage into the conversation Percy and Nico had created, but I was too busy scanning my surroundings for danger to really pay attention. I jumped when Percy grabbed my shoulder.

"Whoa, calm down," he said, as I took a deep breath from the scare. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I said, forcing a smile. Percy was about to say something, but our waitress came back with two plates on one arm and one on the other. She set them down, said "enjoy you food" and bounced off again. I looked at my food and started to dig in. It was the best food I'd had in a long time. I grabbed my glass to take a sip, but before the glass touched my lips, Nico smacked it out of my hand.

"Get up!" he yelled, as the glass fell to the floor and shattered, releasing the soda into a small puddle.

"The hell?!" I said, as I jumped back to avoid getting soaked in coke. Before Nico answered, he opened up a small fissure in the ground and made it swallow the puddle whole. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief.

"Nico, what was that for?" Percy asked, standing up. Nico turned towards us, his big brown eyes dangerous.

"That wasn't coke," he said. He pointed at the shattered glass on the floor. "It was water from the River Styx." My eyes opened wide. The danger I was anticipating came in such a different form I wasn't even sure how to react towards it. I stared at the glass, seeing what could've happened to me. I would've just burned from in the inside out.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," a voice said behind us. I spun around to see our waitress. She didn't look nice and cheery now. She looked evil. We drew our swords and Nico came to stand at my side. The waitress giggled.

"Those weapons won't do much to me, you know," she said with a triumphant smile. My breath grew heavy, but I took a step forward and readied my sword.

"Who are you?" I growled, trying to steel my gaze to say "tell me or you're over". She smiled.

"I guess it's fair you know who I am since you won't survive the next five minutes," she said. She pulled her pony tail loose and her curls fell across her shoulders until it reached her mid abdomen. Her eyes changed from being brown to red to yellow to black to white. Her yellow and red dress melted and transformed into a long white dress, that hung to one shoulder with a golden circle. The dress looked like a modern toga.

"My name is Ananke. Goddess of destiny, fate and… need," she said, adding the last word like it would explain everything. I stared at her. At her sick smile, her multi-colored eyes, at the aura she was giving off. I gulped.

"See Panda, the gods need things too. Right now, they need closure, something to take their grief out on, something to pour their anger on… they need you," she said in a voice that sounded like velvet.

"Then why did you try to kill me?" I asked. Ananke laughed. "The bounty wants me alive and gods aren't suppose to directly interact with demigods," I said firmly. Ananke smiled.

"Well, I'm a different type of goddess. Not to mention that bounty does nothing for me! I'm a goddess for Zeus's sake!" Thunder rippled through the sky. She put her fingers in front of her mouth.

"Oops. I keep forgetting Athena is a little touchy about his death. But hey, death happens. Doesn't it, Panda?" she asked, like I should know what she was talking about. Suddenly, I had a vision. It was a vision of Ryder's death. I stumbled back as I tried to shake it out of my head. Percy caught me and held my arm.

"Panda?" he asked, as he tapped my cheek to bring me back. The vision melted away until I was standing in the diner in front of Ananke. She was smiling.

"You monster," I whispered, as my hands started to shake and my heart ached again with his memory.

"It was bound to happen at some point Panda. Death is inevitable. I should know," Ananke said. "You just hastened its arrival."

I caught my breath. She had just said what I had been feeling guilty about for weeks. What people said wasn't my fault. That there was nothing I could've done about it. But it was me. If I hadn't followed that map, Ryder would still be alive. Sorrow swam through my veins, but anger boiled at the very pit of my stomach. She spoke about Ryder's death as casual as someone talked about a new pair of jeans they just bought. I pulled my arm free of Percy's hand and pulled up my sword.

"Don't do something you'll regret," Ananke chided.

"I already have," I said, as I advance and brought the sword down on her. She sidestepped and elbowed me in the back of the head, making me stumble. I spun and I saw Percy and Nico slashing at Ananke, who was easily blocking them. With her back turned, I slashed at her side and cut a huge gash through her dress. She spun, hissing as she touched her wound. She bared her teeth at me like a cat and her wound healed, leaving nothing but a torn dress. As she gave me the death glare, Nico's sword protruded her stomach and she gasped. She spun, knocking both Percy and Nico to the floor. She pulled out Nico's sword and her wound closed up. Ichor stained her torn dress gold. She threw Nico's sword across the diner and it embedded itself into the wall.

"Naughty, naughty," Ananke said, as she licked her lips hungrily. I knew if I didn't do anything soon, we'd all be dead. And I didn't want anything to happen to Percy or Nico, so I did something I'd been trying to avoid. I pulled out the dagger from my boot. I screamed, to catch her attention and it worked. Ananke spun and smiled, showing pearly white teeth. But the smile was terrifying. I lunged forward with my sword and she smacked it aside. I loosened my fingers around the hilt, so it easily fell out of my hand and skidded across the floor. She reached for my shirt, wrapped her fist in it and pulled me to her, until our faces were only inches away. She raised her hand and a long silver knife appeared.

"You lose," she said, with a huge smile.

"Think again," I said, as pulled up my dagger and stabbed her. She gasped, dropping her knife and stumbling backwards. She ripped the dagger out and threw it towards the floor. She tripped over a chair and fell on her back. She took one more breath and then her body fell slack and her hand slid down her side and fell against the floor. The diner started to tremble and the ceiling started to fall in chunks.

"Run!" I yelled, as I scooped up my sword and bag and ran out the diner, Percy following close behind. We jumped through the cracked windows and tumbled to the floor. My arms hurt as they slammed against the broken glass, but I didn't care. I was alive. I quickly jumped up and spun around. Someone was missing.

"NICO!" I yelled, as I peered into the shaking diner. He was running towards us, with his sword in his hand. The ceiling began to collapse. I extended my hand and his fingers met mine. I pulled him out and we fell to the floor as the diner disappeared.

Sorry it took me so long to pull this chapter up, but it's finally here :) I hope I did a good job with this one and if not, then tell me why ;) I hope you guys liked it! And thanks MysteryPerson for your thoughts. Really helps me shape the story! Thanks!