-Percy-

As soon as we got to Olympus and got out of Apollo's chariot/Maserati, he started muttering something and disappeared. Thalia sighed loudly and motioned for all of us to follow her.

"Where are we headed?" Leo asked.

"Oh, I forgot. For those of you who have not been here before, welcome to Olympus, home of the gods, yadda, whatever," Thalia explained sarcastically. "You all will be getting an apartment to stay in while you are here, and Percy and Annabeth are coming with me."

"Throne room?" I asked Thalia.

She nodded. We walked through Olympus, and it seemed kind of empty. There was not the usual amount of godlings and such running around.

"Where is everyone?" Annabeth said.

"Oh, they are either preparing for war or getting ready for the games."

"Games?" Jason questioned out loud. "What games?"

"Oh, c'mon, Jason! What do the Romans do to boost spirit, celebrate victories, and get ready for war?"

"Ludi Circenses," he breathed. "The Circus games."

"Yep. The Greeks do it, too. You guys are invited to the event. They are having Gladiator Games tomorrow, as it is night here. The times most tested gods, godlings, and demigods hashing it out on an open field? It'll be entertaining."

"But what about Gaia?" Piper asked.

"She can wait one day, or at least that's the last thing the gods said."

"Of course she can," I muttered.

We rounded a corner, to a plaza with buildings all around it, a fountain in the center. We walked across the plaza, and Thalia took us to an open door.

"All right, this is you guys. I feel sure someone will come and get you before the games start. Just a word of warning: Don't expect a big showing from the gods, especially your parents. I doubt you will even see them," she said, rolling her eyes. "It all depends on what kind of mood they are in and lately, that has not been a good one." They all filed in, but Jason paused at the door.

"Thalia?"

Jason stood in front of his sister, and he was a good head taller than her now. Even though Thalia was born before him, Jason looked older. Thalia had stopped aging, and Jason looked seventeen or eighteen. Thalia hugged her brother, and Jason wrapped his arms around her.

"Will I see you again before we get sent back?" he asked while in the embrace. Thalia pulled back, sadness in her eyes.

"Maybe? It all depends on what Lady Artemis wants. If I don't please, be careful. You all are going to have a lot to deal with these next couple of weeks."

Jason nodded his head and reluctantly said goodbye to his sister. We walked away from the apartments and headed towards the throne room.

"Artemis sent you to get us?" Annabeth questioned Thalia.

"No, she actually sent me to babysit her brother. And to get you guys informed. After that, I'm sure she will send me to do Hunter stuff, maybe hunt down some of the bigger monsters before the actual battles start."

"Do you have any idea what this plan of my mother's is?"

"I have no idea. All I can tell you is this about Addie's situation: Some of the gods really care about her, while some make her curse a living hell. There's even a few who are indifferent. There is one thing I have learned as an immortal so far: the gods love to play their games, and they are very good at them. If Apollo and my Lady say we need to do this carefully, I would follow their lead. All they told me to tell you was to avoid mentioning her until you had to, and that they trusted you."

Well, that was absolutely the vaguest instructions ever.

We had made it to doors that lead to the throne room, and I could feel the anticipation building in my body. All I wanted was for Addie to get out of Tartarus alive, and I did not care what happened to me for that to happen.

"Good Luck," Thalia murmured. "Just go on in. They are expecting you." She walked away, leaving us staring at the huge golden doors. I tried to tell myself that I had been here before, that it would not be that scary. Without even thinking, I reached for Annabeth's hand.

"It's okay, we can do this," Annabeth murmured to me.

"We have to do this," I replied, placing my hand on the door.

We walked in, and a torrent of conversation hit me. Most of the gods were arguing.

All twelve of them were there. Hera was muttering quickly into Zeus's ear, her voice occasionally getting higher. You could only hear her words when they reached the peak, and I managed to hear "Cheese", "Woman", and "Mad" (whatever that meant). Zeus was leaning against his arm on one of the armrests on his throne, looking thoroughly bored. My dad was arguing with Athena, but it wasn't as much words as it was a silent conversation. They seemed to be having the ultimate stare down, each of their glares getting more and more intense by the second. Artemis was arguing with Ares and Aphrodite, about what I couldn't be sure. All the voices were mangling together. Apollo would throw in the occasional comment, his voice seething with rage. Hermes was talking quietly and earnestly to Demeter and Hephaestus. She was shaking her head angrily, but Hephaestus looked mildly interested. Dionysus was just watching everyone argue around him, sipping on diet coke.

How typical.

We had made it to the outer edge of the circle, and we stopped. There was no way in Hades I was going into the middle with all of them arguing. Annabeth looked apprehensive as well. We were there for about a minute, trying to wait for them to notice us, but no one seemed to.

That's when I almost lost my temper. My gods, they were selfish! The anger and fear I had come boiling to the surface, and I really just wanted to give them the middle finger, turn around and walk out. After all they had let happen…..

But then again, Athena had sent Addie. She sent somebody to help. And I had to help Addie.

"HI!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

They all stopped and looked down at us. I purposefully looked over my dad, but I met each of their gazes quickly. They were settling back into their thrones, trying to look as regal as possible. It was kind of hard to do that when moments before Aphrodite had called Artemis a "stuck-up, feminist pig." Finally, my eyes met Zeus, and I felt my hair stand on end. I gave him a look, a look that I hoped said, "You are the ones that dragged us here, so get on with it."

He nodded his head.

"Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, you two seem to look well after Tartarus."

"We were lucky," I managed calmly back. His eyes narrowed, and I could tell some of the other gods were suspicious.

"Why don't you tell us what happened?"

So, I began recapping our adventures. Annabeth occasionally helped out. We told them everything we could remember, but we both left out Addie. When we mentioned Phoebe and how we got her to tell us, I noticed that Ares eyes narrowed.

"So she gave you two favors?" Athena questioned.

Annabeth and I nodded our heads. I continued on until the point of Apollo meeting us. It was quiet for a minute, and my eyes flashed quickly to Athena. She had a smirk on her face, and she quickly, but unnoticeable to everyone else, nodded her head.

"Wait a minute," Hera said, her face skeptical. "You had to have had some help! Who from Tartarus did you ally with?"

"No one from Tartarus," I said cryptically. A few of the gods looked confused at this, and others looked anxious.

"Who closed the doors, Jackson?" Ares commanded.

It was the question I dreaded. The question I knew everyone wanted to be answered. And I knew how I responded would either save or condemn Addie. I hesitated for just a second, and Ares shot me a look of contempt.

"Thantos has control of the doors, boy. It had to be someone from the inside, and yet you two are here. That means either that you had some kind of help, or an ally is down in Tartarus that might be useful in our fight against the Giants. A name, Jackson!"

"I don't know her real name, only her nickname."

It was true, she had never told me her real name, just what to call her. I found out Addie's real name from the dreams. Annabeth and I had agreed not to speak of Addie's past to anyone, even the gods. It was something deeply personal, and if it was me, I would not want anyone to know. I did not even want the gods to know that I knew. Twelve gods and goddesses stared down attempting to intimidate me, but Annabeth and I owed her our lives. I would not betray her.

"So you are telling me that some woman closed the doors, and volunteered to stay down there? Just like that?" Ares demanded. I felt my temper flare.

"Yes, she did. And she would do it again, if she could, even if-" I stopped myself.

"Even if what, Perseus?" Athena said dangerously. I saw her expression though, urging me to continue. I looked her straight in the eye, her gaze just as level and anticipated as my own.

"Even if one of you ordered her down there again."

It was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. The atmosphere was so thick with tension, I think if you lit a match, the whole place was going to blow up.

"Euadne? She is the one that got you out of Tartarus!?" Ares bellowed.

"Well, Addie did, yes," I said, sneaking a peek at my shoes.

"Who did this?" Zeus ordered. No one answered, and I kept my eyes to the floor.

"WHO ORDERED HER TO TARTARUS?" Zeus bellowed. Lightning crackled all around him, and he stood, glaring at the lot of them.

Athena got up as well, glaring at Zeus. "I told Addie to go to Tartarus," Athena explained. "It was the best strategy. It wouldn't have done for both of them to die. The doors are closed and we have an advantage over Gaia at the moment."

"You, scheming, lying-" Ares started.

Athena gazed at him menacingly, and he withered under it. "I do not scheme or lie, Ares. If they had not come back, Gaia would have had two demigods to resurrect herself with. If any of you have a better plan, I would love to hear it."

Not one of the gods said anything. In fact, a few looked pure uncomfortable.

"I move that we summon her back," Ares said enraged. "Then, we can address the issue, properly."

"All those in favor?" Zeus asked.

Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, my Dad, and surprisingly Dionysus all raised their hands.

"That's enough," Zeus huffed. He snapped his fingers, and a bright light filled the room.

It was silent for a few seconds, and then a huge boom echoed throughout the room. A huge swirling vortex opened above our heads, and out fell a monster most demigods would cringe over. In fact, it was the only monster that ever bested me.

A chimera appeared in the throne room, not Addie. Everyone kind of looked at it in awe and that's when I noticed it had something in its mouth. That something pulled out a long bronze sword and stabbed it right between the eyes.

It opened its mouth in a feral roar, dropping what was in its mouth. A figure with dark brown hair weakly sat up on the floor. Addie's sword laid about five feet from her, and she scrambled to go get it. The chimera opened its mouth in her direction, flames erupting from it towards Addie. It engulfed her completely, and I was speechless. We had just got her back to lose her again?

"Oh, I love a good fight!" Dionysus howled. He snapped his fingers, and everyone had a drink in their hand. "To the death!"

Some of the gods looked sick. Artemis had already pulled out her bow, an arrow notched and waiting to send the creature back to Tartarus.

The flames stopped, but Addie was gone. You could hear a collective intake of gasps, wondering what had happened. It looked around in confusion for just a second. It looked a little sad that its plaything was gone.

Then, she appeared in midair and landed on top of it, and she sliced off its head with the sword. It disintegrated into ash, and she fell to the floor. Addie was on her back, eyes closed, her breathing harsh and ragged. The chimera appeared to not have bit her badly. From what I could tell, she was not bleeding heavily. I wanted to rush to her aid, but Annabeth caught my eye. She shook her head, nodding towards her mom.

Addie looked bad, and I mean really bad. Her skin was so ashy and pale it was practically grey. The jacket that she had was ripped to pieces, part of it tied around her leg, which was soaked and stained with both old and new blood. The other part of it was wrapped across her chest, fresh blood soaking the makeshift bandage. Her left arm, where Arachne had bitten her, was bare. It was almost solid black, and you could see the veins of black on her neck and beginning to get on her face. She was not moving, and her chest fluttered weakly.

"How nice of her to drop in," Aphrodite sneered.

"Addie, get up and clean up this mess," Hera snapped at her. Addie did not even flinch. How can she do that when she was dying? I knew I had a look of rage on my face, and it was mirrored on some of the other gods.

"What in Tartarus, Hera! She's practically dead! We need to heal her," Apollo stated.

"She is beyond healing, it is her time," Demeter said condescendingly.

"It is not, Demeter! When you become a goddess of healing, you let me know!"

"This how we repay heroes? By letting them die when they have done us a great service? This is how we repay her? She only did as I asked, and I will not let her die without trying to save her," Athena snapped.

"Good riddance if you ask me," Hephaestus muttered.

They all started yelling at each other, arguing once more.

Addie's hand moved, just a little. Her head turned slightly, so she was looking at her wrist. She was staring at the bracelet Tiberius had given her. She closed her eyes, and I saw a single tear fall down her cheek. It was easy to see because it cut through all the monster ash and blood.

She was dying, and instead of doing something about it, all the gods were just arguing.

"SILENCE!" Zeus roared. The room got quiet, everyone looking heated. "We need to vote, all those in favor of letting Euadne live?"

Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Hermes, Poseidon, and Dionysus all raised their hands.

"Those opposed?"

Ares, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hephaestus, and Hera raised theirs.

Zeus took a deep breath and looked at the girl on the ground.

He still had to vote.