AN: Right on the heels of chapter twenty, it's the finale. Shoutout to everyone who has read this story from the beginning!
All of this belongs to Rick Riordan. I own nothing except for Steven Rust and a few others, but I'd give them to him if he asked nicely.
Camp Life, Chapter Twenty-One
Armistice/Homecoming
The Chinook tandem rotor helicopter slowly touches down at the tarmac of FOB Grevena, flicks its running lights off, and opens its rear hatch to the ground.
This section of the base is both devoid of human presence and poorly lit. Which are ideal circumstances for the Echelon agents striding down the ramp of the helicopter.
Micheal Yew and Ethan Nakamura step onto solid ground, each holding a thoroughly bound Lester Jones by the upper arm. They move briskly away from the chopper, which is powering down its rotors, and into a small building at the edge of the landing area.
Micheal pushes open the door and flicks the dim lights. He and Ethan arrange Lester into a metal folding chair – one of the few pieces of furniture, along with a table and a barstool.
Ethan settles on the barstool and unstraps his sweaty, hot armor. Micheal relaxes against the wall.
Lester just sits there for a long moment, looking seriously depressed. Not that Ethan blames him. His whole 'I'm gonna rule the world!' thing had come crashing around his head in the last few hours. Ethan can sympathize with that.
"So," says Micheal, after grabbing a couple of sodas from the dingy mini-fridge (and checking their expiration dates), "we can do this – and I really hate to say it like this – the easy way, or the hard way."
Ethan rolls his eye. Lester gives him a 'really?' look.
"Sorry. There's not many other ways to say and not sound like an idiot."
"Including that one."
"Shut up, Long John Silver. You're supposed to be on my side."
Ethan bites back a retort. Lester looks up, sighing. "I don't see much point in lying or not talking, honestly. This entire thing has gone completely, one hundred percent pear-shaped. It's sucking the life out of me, I don't even have the energy to do one of my impressions!"
"Thank god," Ethan mutters.
"Okay," Micheal responds calmly. "That's good, Lester. That's better for all of us. Okay. What we want to know first is, who are the other children of Gaea? The half-human ones, I mean. We know Ana, obviously. We'll talk about her later. And you know we know Ady. Who are the blonde brother and sister?"
"Hayden and Elizabeth. I don't remember their last name, honestly. I'm not sure I ever bothered to find out. I never did any recruiting."
"Who did?"
"Usually? Ana did. But sometimes Mother would send us people."
"Like who?"
"Matt, for one. But he's dead. As of two days ago, I think. And Emily. Haven't seen her in a while either."
"Anyone else?"
"There was this guy named Atash who showed up with Adalina a few days before the fight. I don't know who he is or how he got there, but he's not a Child and she didn't look too happy to have him there. He was a weirdo."
Ethan gives Micheal a 'look who's talking' expression, but the other boy looks genuinely interested.
"Okay, this is good, Lester, you're doing great. Tell me more about – "
The half empty soda Ethan set on the table fifteen minutes ago abruptly falls over onto the floor, spilling Mountain Dew onto the semi-clean carpet.
The three demigods stare at it. The room shakes slightly.
"I didn't do that," Lester says quickly.
Ethan stands and lifts the blinds, peering into the early morning.
Then the portable building shakes jarringly. Lester tumbles off his chair and hits the floor with a pained grunt.
Micheal starts to hear klaxons and alarms from the main parts of the base and strides to the corner of the room, pulling a radio off the wall and begins speaking into it.
Ethan steps forward and grabs the son of Gaea, setting him back in the chair. "What's going on?"
"My mother sounds like she's quite a bit more awake than before. And possibly in dire straits. Which should please you."
Ethan respond, but the shaking earth causes him to fall again.
Frank's body explodes, bathing the chamber and its occupants in crimson flames.
To the demigods, the inferno feels hot but not scathingly so. The Gaea statue doesn't make any noises or flail or anything, but when the flames die, its skin is withered and cracked.
Hazel screams in denial and tries to launch herself at the goddess, but Nico juxtaposes himself between them, grabbing her in his arms before she can enter the statue's deadly range. He can't stop Luke, however, a dark-faced specter with glassy eyes who leaps at Gaea like a panther stalking its prey.
Combat renews; and Luke, once the most feared demigod at Camp Half-Blood, then in the world, the former lieutenant of Kronos, holds his own against the oldest goddess in the universe. His sword only lands glancing blows, but Gaea can't seem to hit him at all; her fists attempting to pummel him are met with bare hands catching the punches, and her blade trying to decapitate him is parried by his longsword.
Luke seems to be doing fine, but Percy launches himself at Gaea's unprotected back anyway, tears streaming down his face. Annabeth holds Hazel so that Nico can join the fray, holding his sword over his head and summoning skeletal warriors, clad in nineteenth century French army uniforms. The corpses manage to fire their muskets at the statue once before Gaea scatters their bones across the chamber with a slash of her weapon.
The fight seems suddenly even. Percy prays it's not just an illusion.
Kara Corleano picks her way across the battlefield, wiping her forehead with a rag ripped from her tank top.
Vinnie shadows her a few steps behind, not paying much attention to anything. He's started limping, she notes, and heads toward the medical tents at the foot of Mt. Olympus. He doesn't comment on the change of direction.
They meet Drew and Danny Hemingway about halfway there. The two women are accompanied by a squad of Roman legionnaires. Kara waves tiredly and hugs Danny, whom she hasn't seen in a while. The daughter of Ares shifts her rifle to her back so she can return the embrace.
"Have you guys seen Amanda?" she asks without preamble.
Drew nods. "She's up on the summit, last I saw. Or not quite the summit. There's a temple or whatever up there. Don't worry, my boyfriend is with them. She'll be fine."
"I'm guessing the 'them' is Jesse?"
"Smart girl."
"What are the current odds on them getting together?" Danny asks, grinning.
"Three to one on the way home," Vinnie, the bookie, answers. "Eight to one by Amanda's birthday in two months."
"Can we get in on that action?"
"You certainly may."
As Vinnie takes their money, Kara shades her eyes from the morning sun and peers up at the mountain. She can make out something moving near the top that she's pretty sure is the Argo II. Other than that, she's much too far away to really tell.
"Can we go up there?" she asks. "I'm worried."
She expects Drew to sneer at her, but the older girls seems to seriously consider it.
"Sure, why not?" she says finally. "I think there's still a few helicopters over by the tents. Let's go."
Relieved, Kara breaks into a jog, before remembering Vinnie's limp and slowing to take his hand. He doesn't say anything about this act, which he would normally never allow.
A harried child of Apollo gives Vinnie a quick cast for his ankle and a few drops of nectar, stitches a cut on Kara's scalp, then runs off. As Drew leads them back out of the tent, where Kara, seeing her father, gives a quick wave, which he returns, beaming (mostly at Drew, but she's used to Apollo's ways so it doesn't really bother her) and asks the Asian girl if she knows how to fly a helicopter.
"Nope," says Drew calmly, "but I know someone who can."
She plants her feet firmly, opens her mouth, and bellows, "MASON! FRONT AND CENTER!"
"You called?" says a polite voice right behind them.
Drew spins around and points at the Black Hawk helicopter sitting idle fifty feet away. "Take us to the top of the mountain."
"Please," Kara puts in quickly. Drew glares at her.
"Your wish is my command, beautiful lady," Jake replies, dipping into a flourishing bow, "but I'm afraid this other equally beautiful lady requires my humble presence." He indicates Reyna, who is standing next to him listening to reports from her underlings.
"You can go," she says without looking at him, flicking her fingers.
Jake looks crestfallen.
Drew's mouth twitches. Kara winces.
"Great!" says the daughter of Aphrodite with wicked glee. "Let's go, then."
"I'll give you some poetry to read her later," Kara whispers to Jake as the approach the aircraft, patting his shoulder.
He thanks her morosely but gratefully and hops into the pilot's seat, flicking some switches over his head and grabbing a headset. Kara and Drew sit on the benches in the crew compartment, while Vinnie gleefully hops onto the minigun protruding menacingly from the fuselage. The rotors whine and increase their speed, but before they can take off, two figures approach, duck under the rotor wash, and slip into the vehicle.
Drew nods noncommittally to Beckondorf and Silena, Kara and Vinnie wave uncertainly. Jake spots his old friend and brother and hollers to him from the foreword compartment.
"We're going to go make sure Steven and the dynamic duo are okay," explains Drew as the helicopter lifts off from the dusty ground.
Beckondorf nods, grinning easily. "There supposed to be bad guys up there?"
"Not that we know of."
"Shame."
None of them look back down at the camp to see several of the tents collapse as the ground rumbles ominously.
Rachel and Jacob cover Steven's body in blankets and leave it aboard the Argo II. They both quickly return to the others, not wanting to be alone with the corpse if they can help it.
Poseidon is having a cheerful conversation with Kevin and Lacy about mermaids as she passes to talk to Butch. The buff Greek is the only one of them besides Jake with even a bit of medical training, and the Roman is prowling the perimeter of the clearing, the safety on his rifle off.
"How bad is it?" Rachel asks him, meaning Jesse and Amanda, not the constantly shaking earth.
"Both of them somehow managed to sprain their left ankle, ironically. Mostly cuts and bruises. Lots of them. I had to pry a bit of rock shrapnel from Jesse's temple. I think he also might be bleeding internally somewhere, because his stomach area is seriously discolored, but I just gave him enough nectar and ambrosia to make his toes steam, so they both should be fine."
Rachel breathes out in relief. "That's lucky, at least."
She looks around, feeling edgy. "Where did Percy and Annabeth go? Down into that cave?"
"I think so."
"Should we follow them?"
"Hell no. The prophecy, remember? Seven demigods will answer the call – "
"I'm the last person you need to recite that thing to, Butch."
"Well, you get what I mean, then. You're not a demigod."
"Thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't noticed. So we're just supposed to sit here?"
"Pretty much, yeah. Look, this is Percy, we're talking about, right? He defeated Kronos with the help of Luke, Grover, and Annabeth. Well this time he's got Luke, Annabeth, Nico, Frank and Hazel, Piper, and Jason. Seriously, have you heard some of the stories the Romans tell about that guy? Nate and Gemma worship him. He defeated a Titan with his bare hands. Killed a massive sea monster too. They'll be fine, Rachel."
"Well, when you put it like that . . ."
They chuckle, a bit sadly, then lapse into silence.
The rotors of a helicopter break that silence.
Tyson pops his head over the railing of the Argo II and shouts that a helicopter is coming.
The Black Hawk comes in for a quick flyby, then circles and sets down in a clearing only a few feet away but separated by a line of thick, bushy trees.
After a few minutes, the Corleano twins, Danny Hemingway, Drew Tanaka, and, to her slight shock, Charles Beckondorf and Silena Beauregard, walk into the clearing, looking around.
"Aw, fuck," Butch groans when he sees Drew frowning and obviously trying to find Rust. Rachel nods, feeling her heart seize. She looks at Butch, who hesitates, then nods painfully. They both stand and walk towards the tall daughter of Aphrodite.
Zeus curses as the earth rumbles under his feet ominously.
"Great grandma is pissed," says Apollo, who was born without a brain-to-mouth filter.
Hera gives her son a stern look and looks upward at their birthplace. "Where is Poseidon? He's late, as usual."
"Fucking around with those stupid kids, probably," Hades mutters, taking a swig of mortal liquor. Ares tries to snatch the bottle from him but gets his hand burnt with hellfire for his trouble.
"We have to do something," growls Artemis, pacing impatiently. Zeus hates it when she does that; it's never a good sign. He feels a part of him pull towards Jupiter, insisting he take control of his children. He resists it. He hasn't enjoyed being Jupiter in a long time. Probably the American in him.
"And we will," Hera says calmly
Persephone opens her mouth to say something, then thinks better of it. She pokes her husband instead.
"Let's go kill them all," Hades says brightly. He's a little intoxicated.
"An excellent idea," says Dionysus, glaring at his uncle frostily. "Its simplicity is mind-bogglingly beauteous."
"It's bogglin', all right," mutters Apollo.
"The man has a point, though," says Demeter, looking seriously bored. "We're not doing any good here."
Hera looks like she's about to snap at her fellow goddess, but Zeus has had enough. He agrees with his brother.
For the most part.
Percy channels water down Riptide's length and performs a hip – to – shoulder slash that would have sawn in half any lesser enemy. He definitely manages to injure Gaea, however; from the wound pours glowing hot lava. Encouraged, he raises his blade again, but has to divert and catch a flying Nico with his body before his friend can bash his brains out on the rock wall.
"Hey, baby," says the groggy son of Hades, "we've got to stop meeting like this –"
"Get off of me."
Annabeth, seeing the seeping wound on the statue's side, takes a step back from the melee and slips her cap on. She's not really here to fight, she knows. She's here to strategize.
Percy strides back into the fight, hammering Gaea with Anasklusmos. His enhanced water powers and their numbers are the only thing keeping them in this fight. Jason had enhanced his strength to similar awesome levels, but his lightning powers and flight are pretty much useless down here. The son of Jupiter is still a huge problem for Gaea though; he's been hacking at her left arm for a while now, and lava-blood is starting to spray from it with every blow.
Annabeth decides to follow his lead. She grabs Percy by the collar and hauls him backward, telling him to target the statue's right arm. Before she can finish the sentence, however, Gaea thrusts her blade straight at them. Percy riptide between them, but the blow smashes them into the wall.
Annabeth can feel her ribs grind together and cries out in pain. Percy dizzily raises his sword to ward off the next blow, but they both know it won't do any good.
"I love – " She whispers.
Then a shadow falls over them, and Annabeth blinks in shock.
Ana Massri is standing protectively over them, her clothes in tatters but her spear in her hand. Blood from somewhere on her back drips onto Percy's leg.
Gaea stops short of the blow, but Annabeth has a feeling it has nothing to do with filial pity. She just wants to taunt them. Jason continues to swing at her arm, but she doesn't seem to care anymore.
MOST AMUSING, DAUGHTER. IT APPEARS THERE IS NO LONGER ANYONE IN THIS WORLD I CAN TRUST.
"Maybe if you weren't a royal cunt all the time, Mum, that wouldn't be the case. But it's obvious you don't give a shite about me or my sister. So you can piss off as far as I'm concerned."
Nico cheers and applauds. Everyone ignores him.
YOUR STUPIDITY CONTINUES TO AMAZE ME. REALLY, IT'S ACTUALLY STUNNING TO ME. I ALMOST WANT TO LAUGH IN SURPRISE.
The statue appears to clear its throat. Percy and Annabeth tense.
LOL.
"That's not funny," Jason says, and cuts off her arm.
Melted, liquid stone pours from the opening, nearly soaking Jason, who leaps out of the way, swearing.
The lava tenses, the coils into a replacement arm, trying to swat Jason and Piper, who dodge about frantically.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Percy groans.
Hazel screams suddenly. Annabeth and Percy whirl about, as best they can while lying on the ground, searching for new enemies –
"She's not kidding," says a calm, confident, familiar voice.
Annabeth rubs her eyes, certain she's hallucinating. Percy makes a choking sound.
"'Sup, guys," says Frank says cheerfully. "I came back to see if you guys needed a hand."
"Shut the fuck up," Drew snarls.
Rachel very carefully keeps her hands in plain sight. "Drew, I'm so sorry. He really is gone. He was trying to protect Jesse and Amanda."
Drew looks over at the still unconscious teenagers. Her gaze softens. "I don't believe it."
Rachel carefully takes her hand and leads her up the gangplank. They had left Steven's body by the mast.
Something looks odd about the scene as Rachel approaches. She stares, then it clicks.
The blankets are empty. Bloodstained, but containing no slain demigods.
"Tyson!" Rachel says, trying to keep her voice under control. "Did you – did you move Steven?"
The Cyclops frowns. "No."
"What did you do?"
Tyson considers this question very seriously.
"Played checkers with Ella," is what he comes up with.
Rachel stomps her foot furiously, unable to believe this. "He was just here a second ago, we put him here –"
Drew looks ready to commit a homicide. Maybe two.
Butch starts to say something, but is interrupted by gunfire.
They sprint to the railing. Down below, at the edge of the clearing, Jacob Van Isaac is down on one knee, firing rapid bursts from his G36C at something in the bushes. Then a large hellhound leaps at him and rips the rifle from his hands; the Roman roars in fury and sprawls in the grass with the monster, punching and kicking.
Butch leaps over the railing and drops ten feet to the ground, rolling and coming up with his sword drawn, running alongside Kara and Vinnie, who are nocking arrows to their bows.
Drew grabs the Mp7 submachine gun off her back and runs for the gangplank. Rachel looks around frantically and spots a crossbow nearby on the deck.
Drew rounds the corner and sprints down the ramp, her weapon raised, looking through the holoscope. Emerging from the trees are a couple of short fat guys, a couple of big, lethal looking guys, and several massive hellhounds, though none quite as big as Percy's stupid pet.
Butch kills a hellhound and engages another. Drew aims at the hellhound on top of Jacob and blows its head off.
Then one of the fat guys raises something shiny, and there's a bang. Butch goes down clutching his thigh; Drew immediately rolls away before the shooter can draw a bead on her.
Up top on the Argo II Rachel tries to aim the heavy crossbow at the man with the gun as Tyson charges down the ramp, heedless of the gun, only the safety of his friends. She thinks she's aimed correctly and is about to fire when someone taps her on the shoulder.
She whirls and shrieks.
Steven Rust, clad only in ripped dark trousers, rolls his eyes. Rachel stares at his torso in disbelief. He appears to be completely unhurt. There isn't a mark on his body.
"You're dead!" She hisses.
"Yeah, so is he," Steven says cheerfully, pointing at the man standing next to the shooting guy. Rachel glances downward and finally recognizes one of the most famous men in history, Adolf Hitler.
She turns back to Steven. "What did . . . you went through the Doors of Death?!"
"Yeah, dude. It's the newest thing. Well, it was. The hipsters are probably avoiding it now. Will you hand me the fucking crossbow, please? He's shooting at Tyson, and I like that guy."
Dazed, Rachel obeys. Steven expertly shoulders the weapon and shoots Hermann Goring straight through the heart, causing him to drop the Luger. Hitler scrambles for the weapon.
"Who are those other guys?" Rachel asks.
Steven glances at the hulking warriors assisting the former dictator. "Dunno. They look like Spartans if you ask me, but I'm no expert."
The warriors in question suddenly about face and begin fighting someone behind them. Rust reloads the crossbow and mutters, "Oh joy, reinforcements. Less for me."
Reinforcements turn out to be Beckondorf and Silena, accompanied by Cleopatra and Abraham Lincoln, who look sheepish.
"Sorry about that, ladies and gents," the former President of the United States says gravely as he contemptuously kicks Hitler's remains a few minutes later. "Those evil Spartans showed up to rescue him several miles down the mountain. Is that boy alright?" he adds kindly, nodding at Butch.
"He'll be fine, sir, just a graze," Vinnie reports from Butch's side.
Drew is hugging Steven tightly, telling him to stop scaring her. Kevin, secretly resentful he hadn't gotten a chance to fight a hellhound, is suddenly realizing that Mr. Neptune is gone, and is looking around the clearing for him. Tyson returns to his checkers.
"I wish they'd hurry up down there," Rachel grouches, and plops onto the shaking ground, arms crossed in annoyance.
"Okay, one, two, three," Percy says, and he and Nico and Ana all strike a blow at the statue's right leg.
At the same time, Frank, currently in the form of a small hawk flies overhead and transforms back to his normal self, landing astride Gaea's shoulders. He raises his dagger – borrowed from Ana – and smashes it between the primordial goddess's eyes. The blade isn't as good as piper's dagger, but it does the job. The woman's face cracks and splits. He hits her again for good measure, and Gaea's face shatters. She finally howls in pain, trying to swat him off. Lava stings Frank's thighs as he throws himself to safety, transforming into a swarm of bees – a trick he'd learned recently - and buzzing to safety.
YOU'RE ANNOYING. GO AWAY.
"Go back to sleep, and we will," Nico suggests.
NO. I HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT SALAMI AND ROTTEN VEGETABLES AND EARTHWORMS.
"See a psychologist!"
HOW CAN I DO THAT IF I'M ASLEEP?
Percy rolls his eyes at the banter and slides underneath the goddess, slashing to the side with his Riptide in an attempt to hamstring her.
Then he gets an idea.
"Cover me," he says to Frank, who transforms into a massive silver backed mountain gorilla and tries to restrain the murderous statue.
Percy retreats and takes inventory of the water he has left. By his calculations he has barely enough to carry out his new plan, so it had better work, otherwise he's screwed.
The son of Poseidon points his sword overhead and fires his remaining water. It shoots into the ceiling of the chamber and runs straight upward through a mile of stone and earth – and reaches the surface, the very tip of Mt. Olympus.
As he is about to step into the Olympian's tent at the foot of the mountain, Poseidon looks up sharply.
Gaea swats Percy into the wall just as his distress call reaches its intended recipient. He bounces off, feels his arm finally break, and fishes with his good hand into his pocket for some ambrosia. Gaea, headless, with lava pouring out of her from several places, finally gets tired of being pushed into a corner by the most powerful demigods of the age. She fends off Hazel and Adalina, who's just rejoined the fight, reverses her sword to aim point-downward, and slams it into the floor.
A shockwave detonates inside the chamber. The room is instantly made much wider, though only a little taller. Shrapnel the size of a full-grown human flies everywhere. Annabeth covers Percy with her body, much to his extreme annoyance. Hazel and Jason huddle behind a newly created outcropping of stone, Nico summons some skeletons to shield him, and Frank stuck across the room from Hazel, transforms into a cricket and gleefully dodges everything that comes his way.
But Piper, stuck out in the open, watches a massive piece of rock come flying at her.
She tenses for the end, or at least extreme pain, but something shoves her out of the way.
Someone, that is. Luke catches the blow with his body and disappears. Piper, dazed, collapses.
Percy, Annabeth, Ana, and Adalina spring from cover as soon as the air clears, weapons pointed at the damaged statue. But they suddenly find their way blocked by massive glowering Olympians.
Poseidon claps Percy on the shoulder and winks, Zeus nods distantly at his son (Hera glares at him).
SO. YOU'VE FINALLY SHOWED YOUR FACE, GRANDSON.
"It would seem so," The King of the Gods replies coolly.
AFTER LETTING SEVERAL OF YOUR LITTLE SLAVES GET KILLED. WERE YOU HAVING A NICE LUNCH?
"That's enough," Zeus says witheringly. He raises his hand, and the Master Bolt flickers to ominous life in his hand.
The demigods scramble desperately for cover, but before they know it they are encased in bubbles of aquamarine water. Poseidon gives them a thumbs up before turning back to the rogue primordial.
Percy wraps his arms around Annabeth and closes his eyes tightly.
Laurel Smith swears angrily as she barely escapes the collapsing tent. The shaking ground throws her to her knees; she crawls forward to safety until the earthquakes settle.
A hand looms invitingly over her, she grabs it and lets its owner haul her to her feet.
"Thanks," she says to the tall Roman girl who helped her up. She frowns. "We related?"
The gorgeous girl smiles, amused. "Looks like. I'm Gemma. This is Nate."
The tall, elegant looking black boy next to her nods politely, offering his hand.
"'Sup. Did everyone get out?"
Gemma looks over at the tents; children of Apollo and Roman Third Cohort medics are pulling injured from the collapsing tents. "I think so. The Praetor and Miss Thalia are giving us directions to start skirting the mountain. Are you coming with?"
Laurel frowns, glancing around. "I guess."
She's about to say more, but they are interrupted by a hideously loud explosion. Laurel drops to one knee, reaching for a rifle she had discarded an hour ago when she emptied her last magazine, and grabs her short sword instead. Nate half covers Gemma with his body until they realize where the explosion came from.
The peak of Mt. Olympus has shattered, sending a debris a thousand feet in the air. Huge chunks of stone are forming an avalanche that is pouring down every side of the mountain.
Gemma turns white.
"Butch is up there," she says to her companion, whose face tightens.
"You guys know Butch?" Laurel asks in surprise.
"Yes," Gemma says simply. "We need to help him."
Nate begins looking around frantically for some sort of vehicle. Laurel remembers there was a helicopter around here a while ago, but she doesn't see it anymore. Then a familiar figure rushes past them, and Laurel blurts out, inspiration striking her, "Excuse me!"
The figure turns: a pretty woman of about twenty-five, with auburn hair cut at her shoulders, wearing a brown leather jacket. "Can I help you?"
"I really hope so, Miss Earhart," Laurel answers. "Can you get us to the top of that mountain?"
The older demigod peers up at the exploding spire. "Erm. I suppose I could. Why would you want to do that?"
"Our friends are up there."
Amelia relaxes. "Oh, I see. Well, if you find something I can fly, I'd be happy to."
Laurel rushes over to Gemma and Nate. "Find something for us to fly in!"
"All along, it was a feeling . . .!" Steven warbles, holding up his reclaimed fiery sword. "A cold something something believing . . .'"
"Get a room," Rachel snaps at him as she paces back and forth.
He gives her the finger. She gets in his face.
"Oh my god," Silena groans, hurrying over to break them up. "This is getting ridiculous . . ."
"Tell me about it," Drew mutters as she leans against the deck of the Argo II, sunglasses on. She glances a slightly envious look at Jesse and Amanda, who are both still asleep, curled up next to each other.
"I'm bored," says Kevin plaintively to Butch.
The son of Iris shrugs. "Wanna go fix the ship?"
"Not really."
"Well, there you go. Life as a demigod, kid. Get used to it."
The earth rumbles ominously. Butch and Jacob Van Isaac cast wary looks at the dark cavern entrance.
The Roman casually unslings his rifle from his back and walks towards the dark hole.
"Anything?" Butch asks.
"Nada."
The top of the mountain explodes upward, deafening them.
Steven and Rachel, their hands literally at each other's throats, look up in surprise.
A boulder the size of Tyson come rolling down right at them. "Oh, not again," Steven says crossly.
"Run, moron!" Rachel yells at him.
A second chunk of rock touches down and smashes into the Argo II, ripping it in half.
Tyson leaps from the wreckage, Ella on his shoulder, and catches a boulder that would have smashed Jesse, Amanda, and Beckondorf, catches a second boulder and throws it to intercept a third.
"Jesus," says Drew from behind a tree. "That kid's a badass." Steven and Rachel nod in agreement.
Rust sees Jacob and Kevin trying to reach cover and leaps into the air, floats for a second, then quick-steps to them, wrapping an arm around each of them and returns to the tree they'd been hiding behind.
"Everybody hold on," Rachel says grimly, and they all huddle together.
"So," Percy says, "She's asleep again?"
His father nods reassuringly as they watch Hecate and Hera bend over the crumpled form of the primordial. "And the Doors are closed. She won't wake for a nice long while."
"And how long is that?"
"A few millennia. Not the most ideal, but whatever."
"Oh. Well, I guess."
"You won't have to worry about it again, if that's what you're thinking."
"Well, I do have a tendency to attract trouble, according to Annabeth. And her mother."
"Well, they're probably right."
"They're always right."
"Sucking up, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth asks sweetly, appearing behind him.
"Of course not. Would I do that, Wise Girl?"
"Yeesh," Poseidon says. "Get a room."
Nico snickers.
Zeus finishes talking to Jason and turns. Something shifts in his face, and Percy realizes that he must have been Jupiter when he spoke to his son.
The thunder god glances up at the sunlight streaming down from the hole in the roof of Gaea's chamber, then over at Percy.
"Jackson, Chase," he says gruffly. "Good work. As usual."
Percy feels fiery pride burst around him at the very rare praise. He grins at Annabeth, then kind of sheepishly at his father, who just laughs and pats his shoulder. "He's right, you know. I suppose I should have been the first to say it."
"It's cool," says Percy. "I know how you feel."
Demeter invites them for cereal at her palace in Omaha, and Hades and Persephone for drinks at Erebos. Percy wonders if he should be taking these at face value, but he doesn't feel like devoting brainpower to politics right now. All he can really think about is collapsing in his bunk on the Argo II and sleeping for a month.
"There's going to be a formal ceremony out on the plains to congratulate the camps, and the Hunters and such," says Poseidon. "You two can go rest though. I doubt you have any interest in being there."
Percy agrees wholeheartedly, and Annabeth smiles and squeezes his hand.
Artemis begins transporting the weary demigods to the rim of the pseudo-volcano. Percy hugs Frank and Hazel, who have been literally inseparable since the fight ended, then Jason and Piper, who are reluctantly headlining the upcoming ceremony. Nico waves cheerfully, then slips into the darkness with his father. They notice that Ana and Adalina are nowhere to be seen, which doesn't shock either of them.
"I feel bad for Luke," Percy says after a while.
Annabeth is silent for a moment, then says, "Me too. It wasn't fair for him to waste his second chance just fighting with us all over again."
Percy nods. "Maybe he managed to sneak out again before the Doors closed. Or maybe this counts as one of his reincarnations, so he can get to the Isles faster."
Annabeth laughs. "Maybe."
Artemis flickers into being next to them and takes their hands. She gives them a wry look.
"My Lady."
"'Sup, Lady Artemis."
The Lady of the Hunt rolls her eyes good-naturedly at Percy's flippant greeting. "Hello, you two. Having a good day?"
"Oh, you know. Same old."
Artemis chuckles, squeezing Annabeth's hand. There's a feeling like falling, for a brief second, then they're standing at the top of the mountain. Percy can see the ruined temple a few hundred feet downhill.
"Aw, shit," he says. "Is that our ship?"
Annabeth sighs. "Well, so much for getting home soon."
Artemis's mouth twitches. "I believe my father will give you a free pass for air travel, considering the circumstances, Percy Jackson. Fare thee well."
She disappears, leaving behind the scent of flower petals.
"I've always liked her," Percy says amiably.
"You do have a thing for blondes, huh?"
"Only a little. That grass looks comfy. Let's go take a nap."
Jesse opens his eyes and yawns.
"Good morning, mate," says a cheerful voice. "Or rather, it's pretty much afternoon.
Brave Jesse hits his head
Spends the rest of the day in bed
What else is he going to do?
After all his girl is in bed too."
Jesse turns his head to look at the speaker. Apollo waves cheerfully.
They're lying in a grassy patch near the top of Mt. Olympus. A bunch of large rocks are resting around them. Amanda is lying next to him, breathing softly. Apollo is sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees. The afternoon sun shines brightly.
Jesse takes in the fact that a god is chilling out next to him. It's a bit easier since the sun god looks only a few years older than him.
"Where is everyone? What happened?"
"They're mostly all heading down the mountain. Your boat got smashed, but your big sister Amelia showed up with a helicopter."
"But did we win? Sir?"
Apollo grins. "Just Apollo, brotha. It's cool. And yeah. We won."
Jesse takes a moment to absorb this. Amanda stirs next to him.
"Who did we lose?" he asks.
"Luke Castellan, for one. Technically we lost Steven Rust and some other guy – a Roman whose name I can't remember. But they returned through the Doors. Actually a lot of demigods who died did that too. Hades is turning a blind eye."
"Oh," says Jesse, considering this. "That's kind of awesome."
"I know, right? It's too bad we can't do that for every war in the future, but Zeus and Hades won't hear of it."
Jesse privately thinks they have a point, but he doesn't say anything.
Amanda wakes up next to him. Their eyes meet and she smiles sleepily. Jesse is sorely tempted to kiss her, but he's more than aware of her dad sitting right next to them, with the power to vaporize him with a thought.
She rolls over and stops dead when she sees Apollo. Jesse gets up to let them have their privacy, but they both tug him back down.
"Hi, Dad," Amanda murmurs shyly. Apollo gives her a gentle smile and hugs her. "Hey, sweetie. It's good to see you, finally."
"Well, you could have visited."
Apollo sighs. "I really can't, as much as you think. Trust me, me and Aphrodite and Poseidon have been bugging Dad about visiting the cabins for a while, but he won't budge."
Amanda sighs drowsily. She lays her head in Jesse's lap and puts her feet in Apollo's. Her dad raises an eyebrow but doesn't comment.
They sit in peace for a moment or two. Jesse hopes no one is worrying where they are or anything. He kind of wishes his own dad was here too, but he's glad Amanda gets to have a moment with Apollo.
"I guess you have to go soon?" Amanda says.
Apollo looks at her. "Yeah, kinda. You know, you're taking this a lot better than most demigods do, love."
Amanda shrugs. "I talked with Rust about it once. He sort of explained it to me."
Apollo considers this. "He's Aeolus's kid, huh? Well, he would know. Never much liked that guy, to be honest. Aeolus, I mean. Kind of a weirdo."
Thunder rumbles through the clear sky.
The sun god stretches and stands up. "Alright, you two. It's time to go." Jesse stand and offers Amanda a hand, which she ignores. She leaps up and puts her head on his shoulder.
Apollo fishes some keys out of his jeans and clicks the beeper. The sun chariot - a beautiful silver Audi - appears on the grass next to Jesse, who jumps in surprise.
Apollo offers the keys to Amanda, who accepts them with an ear-to-ear grin.
That night huge bonfires are set up around the medical tents at the base of Mt. Olympus. Demigods, satyrs and Hunters of Artemis whirl around, dancing and eating and chatting. Percy, Annabeth, Jesse, Amanda, Thalia, Jason and Piper, Kara, and Vinnie and Will Solace end up at with a picnic table to themselves.
War stories are swapped between the members of different groups. Will starts hitting on Reyna, who shows up to say hi. Jake Mason, accompanying her, glares at him. Percy and Annabeth kiss a lot. So do Jason and Piper. And Jesse and Amanda, whereupon Vinnie hands three hundred dollars to Piper, who cackles evilly and stashes her winnings about her person. Percy expresses profound disappointment at this turn of events, claiming he saw the Jesse-Amanda thing first. Nico, sitting a few feet away with a Roman girl on his lap, shouts that he was the first.
At about ten o'clock Reyna stands up on a table where most of the whole camp can hear her and announces that since the Argo II was destroyed, and the Doorway portal has been taken apart and stowed for safekeeping, the gods have arranged for several flights out of Athens International to take them back to New York and California. There's also a fleet of shiny new charter busses sitting in the middle of the former battlefield.
A little after this, Danny Hemingway approaches the table and whispers something in Jesse's ear. He gets a peculiar expression on his face, then gets up and says to Percy, "I don't want to alarm you, but apparently Drew and Steven are missing. No one's seen them since this afternoon."
Percy considers this and just shrugs. "They know what they're doing. They'll be fine."
Jesse nods in agreement.
The party continues on into the wee hours of the morning, with Grover scrounging up a turntable from Travis and Conner (no questions asked) and DJing for the ecstatic crowd.
Percy is forcibly reminded of the first time he'd seen a Roman party; several of the Greeks are visibly shocked by some of the crazier antics. At twelve the Stolls show up with a truckload of wine, which Percy would be sorely tempted to put a stop to if he hadn't seen Reyna be one of the first to grab some, and known it wouldn't do any good.
Rachel and Lacy stop by an hour later, both tipsy. Butch (limping slightly, he'd refused any more healing then a bandage and a few stitches, claiming there were many more severe injuries), Gemma and Nate say hello on their way to bed. Clarisse shows up – thankfully still sober – to punch Percy's shoulder, ruffle Jesse's hair and call them all losers. Thalia, looking tired and sore, hangs out for a while, playing cards with her brother and Piper and Vinnie (who is winning until Thalia gives him a bowel-shakingly evil look).
Eventually Percy just grabs a blanket, tosses it on the patchy grass next to the table, curls up with his girlfriend and falls asleep.
Three days later finds the Greco-Roman army in a large, nice but not fancy hotel in Athens (you can't get on an airplane covered in dirt and blood and looking like you haven't showered in a week). The younger kids chase each other around the corridors, laughing and acting their age, more or less. Percy and Annabeth aren't reliable witnesses, they were either rolling around the bed kissing gently or taking a long, hot, well-deserved shower together.
Jesse and Amanda spend part of that evening on the roof of the hotel, eating some kind of Greek food neither of them can pronounce. Both privately wonder where Drew and Rust ended up – they aren't dead, obviously. Probably in Amsterdam or Vienna by now. Jesse hopes they come back to Camp, at least to visit. He'll miss them.
Percy nearly has a panic attack when the 747 takes off. Annabeth actually has to knock him out when the flight attendant isn't looking. She'll make it up to him later. Needless to say, Zeus doesn't use their plane for target practice.
Jesse, Amanda, Laurel, Danny, Nico, and Jacob Van Isaac – the only remaining members of the Doorway Gang – all marvel about how comfortable the trip is in comparison to the military transport they've been used to.
The Romans and Greeks part ways at La Guardia.
Not to Reyna's surprise, both Percy and Jason elect to stay at Camp Half-Blood (Jake Mason decides to change locale to Camp Jupiter, but that's another story). She'll need another praetor, even if Jason plans to visit as much as he can.
Several demigods decide to switch camps – Butch, for one. Percy (the unofficial leader of the Greeks) and Reyna decide to just give every demigod, nationality notwithstanding, a free pass into either camp.
"After all," Amanda says as she and Jesse hug Jacob good-bye, "it's just easier that way."
Jesse takes his first step into Camp for two months and feels like he just came home.
The sun is high overhead. The sky is cloudless. The trees sway lightly in the breeze.
The camp is deserted. Clovis and Juniper show up to welcome them home, and some of the younger campers, but they're literally the only ones.
Jesse walks hand in hand with Amanda down to the cabins, where they drop their stuff off and then shower, then spend the rest of the day hanging out at the pavilion with Tyson, Danny, Nyssa and Nico.
That night, Chiron and Annabeth hand out beads marked with a lightning bolt and a trident crossed – the Twelfth Legion Fulminata and Camp Half-Blood, united as one for the first time in history. Jesse slips his first bead onto his necklace and wonders how many death-defying adventures he'll have to survive to collect as many as Percy or Annabeth.
He glances at Amanda, remembering the night they'd been given those shields – one of which saved his life a few days ago – in this auditorium. She grins back, and he's pretty sure she's remembering the same things.
That night – and, incidentally, the week after – feels like peace.
The Romans have a slightly different homecoming.
After a long flight, through O'Hare airport in Chicago to Denver International in Colorado, to San Francisco, and then a bus ride to the Caldecott tunnel, Reyna and her weary companions had trudged up the Via Principalis at ten o'clock in the morning to find an eerily quiet Camp Jupiter.
Instead of making for the barracks, which some (all) of her soldiers would have preferred, she forms them up in columns and marches them towards the Senate.
Residents of New Rome cheer and applaud as the returning heroes parade down the streets, but Reyna still feels something off. She wishes Scipio wasn't still flying himself back to California (they couldn't get him into the cargo bay of a plane). She feels short, especially with Jake Mason striding next to her.
A visibly nervous probatio from Fourth Cohort ushers her and her troops into the Senate Building. She's halfway towards the praetor's thrones when she realizes what's wrong.
Her seat is prisitine and untouched, exactly as it should be. No one has sat there since the first time she had, certainly not since they left.
The other throne, however, is occupied.
Lounging in Percy's (or Jason's?) seat is a girl with several admittedly fetching facial piercings, long red hair and an insolent smirk.
"Who are you?" Reyna snaps before she even has time to think. "Get off that chair!"
"Don't think so," the girl says lazily. "It's mine, see."
A Senator coughs uncomfortably from the nosebleed seats.
Reyna registers the small crowd of people near this throne, including two of her officers, Hank and young Tony who look are very, very terrified and trying very, very hard not to show it. One of them – a young man wearing glasses and dressed like a very stylish banker, approaches her.
"My lady," he says politely, bowing. "Mr. Mason."
"Gardner," says Jake before Reyna can speak, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"
"Ah," says Gardner with a shudder. "It was harrowing journey, I assure you. Fraught with danger and idiocy at every turn. I myself barely survived, despite my hearty constitution and vigorous self-defense training. But I'm not quite sure this is the time to tell it."
Reyna steps into this kid's face, simmering and ready to explode. "What. The. Hell. Are you doing here."
Gardner steps back hastily, looking both worried and offended, an expression peculiar to him. "Madam, I assure you, we mean you no harm, physical or otherwise. Ah, that being said –"
"I'm the new praetor," says the girl in the chair, a denizen of the east coast by the sound of her voice. That's about all Reyna can decipher; there are so many different tribes and domiciles on Long Island, the way Percy explains it, that the entire eastern seaboard is a mystery to her. Maybe she's from the part of New York that isn't an island. Or Florida.
"Says who?" Reyna hisses, letting her hand drift pointedly to her sword belt.
Another girl, this one tanned, tall and brown haired, steps up and hands Reyna a scroll over Gardner's shoulder. She unfolds it and reads it.
Dear all Romans,
This note is leting u all now that This girl Loo elen is now ur praetor. Disobey me (or her) and die horribly.
-Mars, God of War and Awsomnes
The likelihood of someone forging this is unlikely, Reyna thinks, dazed, because Mars would, well, make them die horribly. But why her? A Greek?
The girl who handed Reyna the scroll smiles apologetically. "We helped him – Ares – kill a giant, and he promised a favor. And Lou-Ellen likes it here. Also she's a bit power-hungry."
"You don't say," Reyna growls sourly, as the girl introduces herself as Miranda. The daughter of Bellona seats herself next to Lou-Ellen and waves to her troops to be seated. Jake and Butch, in their midst, stare at Lou-Ellen, Castor, Miranda, Gardner, and Malcolm with worry.
"Okay," Reyna addresses the Senate, desperately trying to stay awake. "It's great to see you all again. And welcome to Praetor Lou-Ellen," she adds politely. More politely than the girl deserves. The Bostonite waves cheerfully.
"As you can see, we are back. That is all. Troops dismissed!"
Some of them fall asleep right there. Most of them manage to zombie-lurch toward the barracks. Reyna waits till the rest of the Senate empties and Lou-Ellen wanders off with her friends before curling up in her throne and drifting to sleep.
Ana Massri uncorks her flavored water and takes a sip, then offers it to Wes, who's just woken up. He accepts it gratefully.
"Where are we?" he asks.
She and Adalina had carried him off the bus a half hour ago. They had been on it all night as it trundled across the plains. The bus stop is a few blocks from their current position, in a tiny, sunlit, and mostly clean alley between a bank and some kind of converted office building.
"Lisbon, Portugal," she says, shifting on the cobblestones. He nods, unconcerned. They had found him stumbling around on the south side of Mt. Olympus, dizzy and covered in dirt and blood. Since then, and since they had told him what happened in Mother's Chamber, how they were AWOL from Mother and Ady is AWOL from Echelon, he hadn't said much. Not because he disapproved of their actions, but because – well, Ana had heard about something soldiers got in the Middle East called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It was probably that. She's sure he'll be fine eventually, though. He's a tough kid.
Ady slips into the alley, carrying a bag filled with a loaf of bread and a few tomatoes and some blueberries. Unlike Ana, who had traded her war-torn cargo pants and tank top for a not-war-torn cargo pants and tank top, Ady had gone full-on civilian, wearing a cute skirt with flowers on it, and a spaghetti-strap top. It's a jarring difference to Ana, even now.
They munch happily for a while – apparently Portuguese market fare is fantastic – and then Wes asks, for the first time, "So what are we doing?"
Ana and Adalina glance at each other carefully.
"Well," Ana says hesitantly.
"Who cares?" Ady says.
Ana and Wes look at her, then grin in agreement.
"I like that plan," Wes says, then lays down and stares up at the cloudless sky as he eats another blueberry.
Atash steps into his father's domain.
Because Krios is technically in hiding, his father's domain is in a small apartment in Belfast.
Or at least, that's what it looks like on the outside. Instead of a small, dim, cigarette-stained room, the door opens into a palace atop a desert mountain. It's always night here, the stars form gigantic constellations, just like the ones in the real sky. A cool breeze lifts Atash's hair from his shoulders as he steps out between a pair of pillars.
His father, the Titan Krios, is standing in the middle an open stone dais, staring up at the sky. Not unusual behavior for him.
Atash walks to his side. When they'd first met, Atash had been respectful to a fault, in a way that had made Krios seriously annoyed and uncomfortable.
Now he just hangs out, waiting for Krios to say something.
Finally, the Titan glances down. "Hey. How'd it go?"
"A bust," Atash replies in Arabic. "They didn't have much, just one or two strong fighters, a couple of seriously out-of-their-element Giants, and a half-asleep primordial goddess."
"Not worth out time, you say. If Gaea herself isn't capable of overthrowing the Olympians, who will be?"
Atash knows his father isn't being critical of his performance, just musing aloud.
"Maybe you need to find a new outlet," he suggests awkwardly. "Something more . . . I don't know. Fun?"
Krios looks at him blankly. "Fun?"
Four Weeks Later
"This is it, I think," Jesse says, glancing at the screen of his phone and then at the address in the window of the restaurant in lower Brooklyn.
"You sure?" Percy says, sounding skeptical. "That place looks a bit . . . old for you two. not to sound like my mother."
Jesse shrugs. "This is what it said. We each killed a Giant, I'm sure we can handle it."
Amanda nods in agreement.
Percy shrugs. "Alright then. Call me if you need a ride back. Or help."
"Thanks, man," says Jesse, fist bumping him. he opens the door of the Prius and slips out. Amanda grabs his hand; they wave to Percy, then enter the building.
It's all neon lighting, well-dressed, sexy twenty something's, and alcoholic beverages with fire coming out of them, but no one seems to notice the two young teenagers looking around the place curiously. Jesse scans the dark booths until he finds the one he's looking for and walks over.
Steven and Drew, wearing a black suit and a pretty crimson dress, respectively, sip their drinks and wave, grinning.
Jesse and Amanda sit down across from them.
"Hey, you two," Rust says, lifting his wineglass to his lips, which causes his jacket to shift revealingly over the leather shoulder holster he's wearing. "How's it going?"
AN: Ah. Bit lost for words here. It's been such a long wonderful, journey, and it's not really over yet. Don't know when that will be. But expect more chapters, huh? I will say that Camp Life won't be my priority in the next few months, I have other projects I want to work on, but you may expect updates. Au revoir! :)
Next Time: Travis and Conner wax eloquent on Camp doings in a post-Rust world, Atash and his dad decide to become petty criminals, and Micheal and Ethan return to an Echelon HQ in serious turmoil. Untill then:
Five Weeks Ago
A dark, starry sky the size of the universe watches the sea churn below it. This sea is black and maroon but gentle, unmarked by islands or continents, sailing vessels or oil slicks. It is primordial and ethereal. It is inhabited by one thing: a boy, sleeping on the waves as though they were a mattress, and the sky a blanket. This boy is a new phenomenon in this sea, and he has not gotten here by accident. He has been brought here by destiny.
Leo Valdez feels the weight of the ocean shift under him. He opens his eyes for the first time, in what seems like either millennia or nanoseconds.
He watches the black sky overhead, a canvas complemented by crimson and neon splashes marking far-off galaxies and novae, and the vast clusters of pure white stars.
It's beauty enough to fulfill the soul of any human.
The gentle rocking of the water lulls him back to sleep.
Something changes in the waters and the atmosphere. He instinctively knows, while still asleep, that he's somewhere else now. Somewhere very similar to where he just was, but not quite the same thing.
The waves caress him, making him feel safe. This is strange, because as far as he can remember, he can't swim. Very well, at least.
He takes a deep breath through his nose. The air smells and tastes salty now, something he now realizes was missing before.
He feels suddenly alone. Where are his friends?
He's about to return to a slightly more troubled sleep when something firm bumps his back. He's jolted awake. Bright, gentle moonlight meets his bleary eyes. He opens his mouth to do – well, something. All that comes out is a croak.
Strong, tender hands wrap around his torso and pull him onto soft sands. He looks up into the face of the most beautiful women he's ever seen.
"Hello, little hero," Calypso murmurs gently, smoothing his hair from his brow. "Welcome to Ogygia."