It had taken a whole lot of pleading to convince Calypso to come with her, nearly as much as it had taken the daughter of Athena to ensure the nereid did not kill her. The vision haunted Annabeth and she had struggled to put into words what she had seen in a way that her hostess could understand. She couldn't blame Calypso, of course, for not trusting her. The Annabeth/Annie thing had been a huge misunderstanding and in retrospect? She should have been upfront with her. She should have told her the truth from the very beginning so the knife to her throat and magical hair pulling that followed had probably been justified. Annabeth drew a line when the whole magical venues to tickle torture admissions from her was where she drew the line.
There were just somethings you didn't do. Tickling was one of them.
At first, Calypso had not helped her but she also did not stop the blonde from collecting supplies around the island. She had provided a hammer or a saw when it was asked of her. With a flick of the wrist one would appear the perfect size for the daughter of Athena. The days on Ogygia were beautiful and they were long, the sun high in the sky and the hot air cut by a cool breeze. Annabeth had chopped and sawed and sanded for three days straight. By the end her hands were covered in blisters and welts that had opened and bled so frequently that the wood and ropes she used to make her raft was stained a dusty copper in places. Each night, Calypso would call her to the fire side and tend to her hands before offering her thick stews filled with plants from her gardens and eat night, Annabeth would ask again, "Come with me."
On the forth night, the cool breeze grew into a gale. The wind howled through the branches of the trees and caused the fire to dance, a frantic and frightening display. The moon and starts were soon blocked by thick clouds and just as the demigod had opened her mouth to ask Calypso if storms were common on Ogygia, lightning tore through the sky with a massive clap of thundering so loud and long it had Annabeth jumping up from where she sat. The lightning continued, striking trees and the ocean itself once a minute. Zeus himself appeared to be warring with Poseidon and the sea responded in turn, the waves swelling and crashing despite the fact it should have been low tide.
"Something isn't right."
"What?" Annabeth shouted over the volume of the wind and thunder but she could barely hear herself.
"Something isn't right. The weather on Ogygia… it never storms. Not like this."
Calypso was stood next to her, lips practically pressed to her ear, and she still struggled to hear the nereid. The wind might as well have ripped the words from her lips and swallowed it whole. As if to demonstrate the daughter of Atlas' point, one of the laundry lines snapped and the clothes that had been pinned to it tore free. The t-shirt Annabeth had washed ashore with flew up and away into the wind, twisting and turning until it disappeared from sight. Calypso and Annabeth ran to collect the rest of the clothing before the wind could take it on the same adventure. The rope continued to flail dangerously in the wind until Annabeth managed to jump on top of it and set a rock to hold it in place; they could affix it back into place in the morning when the storm had passed.
Lightning struck the beach, so close and so bright that she was shielding her eyes with the back of her arm. Spots swam in front of her vision. "We need to head inside. It's not safe out here!" Annabeth shouted as loud as she could but Calypso didn't appear to hear her as she tried to secure the dried herbs she had picked earlier in the day so they wouldn't be ruined or stolen by the storm. Golden locks whipped in her face, and the wind tugged harder. Deep inside her gut, Annabeth knew that something was going on though she wasn't sure what.
When lightning zigzagged across the sky once more, Annabeth spotted figures up in the sky. The wings of a pegasus that disappeared just as quickly; the horse was the color of midnight and was lost to the clouds and the dark sky but something was close by, chasing it.
Annabeth grabbed hold of Calypso's shoulder and wide almond eyes met her own. "Have monsters ever found Ogygia before?"
"No."
The nereid looked like she wanted to say something else but her gaze travelled up and she must have caught sight of something that changed her mind.
"Inside. Quickly!"
The two girls ran for the mouth of the cave just as the sky opened and rain began to pour. It was like a monsoon; one moment the earth was dry and the next it was flooding, waters rushing in torrents back down toward the beach. The fire sputtered and hissed; in only a few seconds it went from frantic dancing in the wind to a sodden pile of smoking ash. Inside the cave they were sheltered from the wind and the rain. Annabeth bunched the knotted massive mess of blond curls at the nape of her neck and used the spare hair band she had on her wrist to make a messy bun.
"How close is Ogygia to Ephyra?"
"It's hard to say… the island itself is ancient magic. It doesn't sit in just one place or another. Time doesn't flow the same here, and distance does not mean the same thing."
"But if you had to guess."
"Perhaps 100km? Perhaps a thousand times that. Why?"
Before Annabeth could answer, lightning struck outside the opening of the cave and this time the ground responded in kind. The soil pitched and heaved, rolling beneath their feet leaving the demigod feeling as if she were standing on a trampoline while others around her did their best to launch themselves into the sky. From the ground erupted a woman and although she was made of earth, she was not solid, as if she had hold of the earth itself but just barely. Her eyes were closed but she didn't appear to be asleep — not exactly— more like lightly napping.
You are not wrong, child of Athena. Something is very wrong. My minions rush forth from Tartarus pouring onto the earth.
"My friends and I will stop you."
Your friends? Don't be foolish. You'll be lucky if any of them survive what waits for them. Your boyfriend isn't doing too well, or so I have heard.
Her form rippled with laughter as she turned her attention to Calypso. Her hand reached out to brush the minor goddess' hair from her face.
Calypso, you are as vibrant as ever. I see that the ignorant Olympians have not freed you from your eternal prison. Have you not paid three fold for the crimes they perceive you to have committed?
Calypso took a step forward and Annabeth's stomach sank as she remembered. Calypso's father was Atlas and she had sided with him in attempting to usurp the Olympians. And her father had been punished with the weight of the sky on his shoulders for eternity and the caramel haired girl to a magical island destined to have heroes wash ashore only to leave her the moment her heart grew too fond of them. Like Odysseus. Like Percy. Sucking in a breath, Annabeth reached for the dagger at her side glad that Calypso had finally seen fit to return it to her.
"I don't remember you coming to my aid. The timing is convenient, isn't it? You show now that you're growing an army, not because you're genuinely concerned."
The earth mother looked amused, or rather, as amused as a massive pile of dirt could look. Her clay colored lips turned up at the edges and though her eyes were not open, it still felt as if she was gazing through them. Annabeth felt a shiver up her spine. Outside the cave the wind howled and lightning cracked across the sky, splitting it in half. She could hear the shrieks of monsters but it was impossible to tell how far or how close they might be— the wind threw the sound back and forth. It could have come from anywhere, any distance.
The earth is slow to wake. Join me, Calypso. Be free of this island. Spill the blood of this demigod and help me to wake. I will free you and grant you any wish. Percy Jackson? Show your loyalty to me and you may have him. Love him, punish him, do both in turns. Whatever your heart desires. I only ask you prove your loyalty to me.
"And if I don't?"
Then you will be destroyed along with Ogygia when I remake the world. If you think the Olympians are cruel with their punishments, you do not wish to know the things I could do to you.
Annabeth kept her grip on the hilt of her dagger as she slowly moved, inch by inch, behind and away from Calypso. She wanted to be out of reach just in case, but be sure the other girl didn't notice. For a moment, the daughter of Atlas was unmoving and Annabeth was sure that her heart would hammer out of her chest. The wind was nothing compared to the pumping of her own blood echoing in her ears. "Calypso," she whispered when she was out of arm range. "You don't have to listen to her."
Should she trust you? Gaea turned toward her, tossing the ground beneath her feet and causing Annabeth to fly backwards. Her hands flew out behind her to catch herself and the second they hit the ground, her wrists and her feet were covered with dirt. Buried. She was bound with earthen chains and tugging against them did nothing. Your boyfriend broke her heart. You knew she was here, knew that Percy had made a promise to help free her and did he honor it? Did the gods honor it? She and her boyfriend could have freed you… and yet they chose to do nothing.
The shrieking outside was louder. Closer. Something crashed through Calypso's gazebo made of roots and flowers and branches. There was a howl of pain and the screech and commotion. Calypso raised her hand over her heart and with three fingers, pushed outwards in the gesture to ward off evil.
"I will not make the same mistake I made last time. Leave!"
Annabeth could feel the power like a pulse from Calypso and as it hit Gaea the earth was scattered in the wind and swept away. The hold around her wrists and her ankles dissipated and the daughter of Athena scrambled up from the floor and glanced up wide eyed at Calypso. Before she could say anything, the pot outside the cave crashed and came rolling in through the cave's entrance, spattering stew that had long since flooded with rain water across the walls of the cave and the teen girls. She jumped out of the way and tugged Calypso with her before the cauldron could knock them over or injure them. It smacked into the back wall of the cave and stopped then.
"Something's outside."
With her dagger in her hand, Annabeth made her way to the cave entrance. The night was dark without the light of the full moon that normally hung over the island, or the warmth of the fire long since washed out. No, there was only the purple tinged lightning (like nothing she had ever seen before) illuminating their surroundings. A chocolate colored pegasus was sprawled at an unnatural angle, keening as its legs slowly pawed at the air. But what was it doing here? They didn't fly by themselves, and one especially wouldn't come this far without a demigod.
And that's when she caught sight of armor glinting in the flickering lightning. Her black hair was plastered to her forehead, some of it was smoldering (and possibly had been singed off), as she raised her Imperial gold spear and cut down a gryphon. The thing burst into gold dust and rained down. The daughter of Bellona turned to them, wild eyed and ready to strike until recognition softened her features when she saw them.
"Annabeth?"
"Reyna! You got Jason's message?"
"I did." She opened her mouth to say something else when the pegasus whined, a sad gurgling sound. "Scipio." She turned her trusty steed and kneeled next to him. "My friend, you fought valiantly." The tone was soft, something the daughter of Athena never would have associated with the praetor.
"He's in pain." Calypso stepped out into the rain, wind tugging at her hair. She came to kneel beside the daughter of Bellona and rest her hands on the creature's flank. There were wounds to its sides, its wing was most certainly broken in the crash, and he was likely poisoned. Wide eyes focussed on Reyan, silently pleading with her, though Annabeth couldn't imagine what the animal was trying to say. Was she able to understand, like Percy was?
Annabeth watched as Reyna turned to watch Calypso as she began to sing the softest and saddest lullaby. With each note, the pegasus began to relax and as the tension left his body, the daughter of Athena knew that she was chasing away his pain. In his last moments, he nuzzled his nose against Reyna's hand. She whispered something in latin that Annabeth couldn't make out before she pulls a golden knife from her belt and with one swift strike relieves the animal from his fatal wounds. His disappears in a shower of dust but Calypsos song hangs haunting in the air for a moment longer.
"He went in peace," she reassures the other.
"Thank you." Reyna says softly, her voice thick. When she goes to stand up, she falters but Calypso is quick and catchers her before she hits the ground and leads her into the cave. There, in the fire light, it's obvious that she is also injured. "I don't know where to start." She says.
"How about we start with cleaning up your wounds and getting you something to eat." Calypso offers.
"And a bath." Annabeth piped up. "None of us are going to get off this island if we die of pneumonia."
That was how it happened, how Annabeth convinced Calypso to join them in leaving the island. Two demigods, one Roman and one Greek, worked relentlessly to finish a raft that could set sail. Calypso assisted, bringing them water and food, weaving them new garments, and eventually a sail. Annabeth used the starts to calculate their location versus expected destination and when all was said and done, the three climbed aboard. Calypso sang softly to call forth a wind to continuously fill their sails and waved goodbye to her home. The ocean had been kind— or Poseidon and the Oceanids were distracted by their personality splits— and eventually they washed up in Epirus.
The skies overhead were black and purple, with inverted lightning (because it wasn't bright it was dark) striking across the sky.
"You're sure they will find us?" Reyna asked.
She had made Annabeth tell them everything that had happened since she and Jason had had the idea to leave the message for her (and since they'd sent word for her to come). Calypso had been equally interested but Annabeth wasn't positive if that was because she wanted to know about what had lead Annabeth to the island, because she was curious about the outside world and the goings on, or just because Reyna was interested. Grey eyes hadn't missed the way that Calypso's dark almond ones followed the Roman praetor, then again, she supposed that female demigods hadn't exactly been given the freedom to flourish into impressive heroes in their own right all that frequently in the past. Seeing Reyna's dark braided hair hanging over her shoulder, standing out against red of her cape with her long lithe frame, even Annabeth had to admit she was impressive and radiated power. Totally understandable how Calypso would be taken with her. She looked like a real life wonder woman except a whole lot more formal. Annabeth was entirely not sizing herself up next to the other teenage girl (and she was entirely not thinking about how Percy with his amnesia might have found her attractive and almost maybe had a thing with her… like at all).
"They will. We just have to wait." Annabeth reassured them both.
It hadn't taken long.
They had nearly finished their round of lattes and hot chocolate when they had spot the Argos II coming over the horizon. It appeared a little worse for wear, Festus appeared to be turned off and his head hung a little less proud than it had before, but everyone was in one piece.
"Reyna?" Jason flew down on the back of a wind, landing before them.
Calypso's almond eyes were wide as she took in the sight of the ship and the demigods. "Is this one Jason?" She asked, turning to the praetor. Reyna gave a brief incline of the head in affirmation before turning back to the other. She held out her hand and grasped his forearm as he grasped her own.
"It is good to see you."
"You got my message?"
"I did. But we can talk about that later."
"We can talk about all of this later. We need to get going to the Necromanteion. The Doors of Death are working overtime and Percy's in trouble."
"She had a vision," Calypso piped up.
"And you are?" Hazel had asked gently because they might be on their way to a life or death mission but some things, like manners, were too deeply ingrained within the girl from the 30s to be entirely ignored.
"Calypso."
Golden eyes lit up as she regarded the goddess who appeared only slightly older than her (though considerably taller). She held out her hand and when Calypso took it, she shook it daintily. "It's nice to meet you. We're going to need all the help where we're doing." Annabeth couldn't help but think that she was implying the whole control over magic thing; it was no secret that a sorceress would wait for them below along with who-knew-what-other sorts of monsters. The child of Pluto had been working to better manipulate the mist but, if the child of Athena was being entirely honest, with relatively little success. The grey eyed girl was hardly going to turn down an extra set of hands or two.
"We need to get going. Percy is close. He needs us."
"They need us." Hazel corrected, her golden eyes watchful. "Or have you forgotten there are two of them."
Before Annabeth could open her mouth, Jason stepped between them and held up a hand. "I know we're all tired and on our last nerves, but we're so close. Once we close the doors of death, monsters will stay dead. So let's not forget who the real enemy is here, okay?" Stormy blue eyes regarded her and then Hazel and back again. Jason's jaw was set and though he had asked a question, it was clear there was only one correct answer.
Annabeth nodded and was thankful for his level head and commanding nature. He might choose Camp Half Blood, but there was a very defined Roman streak in him. As she fell into step beside him, she bumped him with her hip and flashed a smile in a silent thank you. He bowed his head and didn't say a word.
They had made it deep into the Necromanteion before things inevitably went wrong. The entire thing was unstable from floor to ceiling and any time someone so much as stepped a toe briefly out of line, the daughter of Athena was convinced the whole thing would come down on their heads. Then there were the voices, the specters that called out to them. It wasn't quite the same as the siren's song, or maybe it was because she had been so hopelessly tempted by it, but Annabeth brushed them off. There was nothing the dead could offer her. Percy was on his way back to her and she needed to be there when he returned.
Each time the doors of death returned to the surface the entire relic shook, more cracks spiderwebbing their way across the floor and the ceiling. Bits of onyx fell, mortar crumbled, and her stomach sank. Eventually, a tunnel collapsed and they were separated. She'd almost been crushed to death by the ceiling but Jason had wrapped his arm around her middle and tugged her out of the way just in time. They'd been a mess of limbs covered in debris and dust on the floor but they'd picked themselves up and dusted themselves off.
"Thanks," she half choked, lifting her shirt over her mouth to keep from breathing in too much dust.
"No problem. I just hope everyone else is okay."
"Guess there's only one way to find out." The blonde nodded towards the passage way. There had been more than a few monsters on their way down. Six handed Earthborn, what appeared to be a mix between a rabid raccoon and a rhino that oddly coughed acidic phlegm, and even a lycanthrope. Apparently the whole silver being the only thing to harm a wolf wasn't true because Jason's Imperial gold sliced through its hide like a warm knife through butter after he'd sent a lightning bolt to shock the thing.
When they'd emerged from the passage was, Hazel was battling Pasiphaë alongside Leo. She glanced to Jason (the sorceress hadn't noticed them yet as they were hidden in the shadow of the furthest most tunnel out of her line of sight); the other's must not have made it. Her heart squeezed in her chest. They had Calypso with them— they'd be okay. The elevator door was ornate, silver and gold, and reminded her of something more akin to Hazel's time than present day. Where it was chained, it rattled and strained against them. It didn't want to remain in one place. The floor around it was scratched and scuffed, grooves worn deep in the belly of the Necromanteion. The thing hardly looked table and it screeched, incessant ding, ding, ding, ding as it counted up impossible numbers of floors. And next to it? Next to it was a twenty foot giant with clothes and skin made of the shadows themselves, mostly dissipating into the background except for the glaring blue of his eyes. Annabeth had no doubt that the armor he wore and the blade he clutched in his hand were of the same material as Nico's.
Jason was about to step forward but Annabeth reached a hand out before him, stopping him in his tracks. She nodded, blonde curls bouncing, in the direction of Clytius. The son of Jupiter's eyes widened and he gave a silent nod mouthing for them to sneak around. If they could go unnoticed by the sorceress, the giant, and their friends, they could cut free the doors of death before worrying about how they were going to deal with him.
They pressed to the circular sides of the massive room, masked in shadows. The two were silent as they slipped along outskirts, eyes keenly focussed on the sorceress and the giant. Annabeth slapped a hand over her own mouth to keep herself from crying out when the labyrinth sprung forth, rabid and racing to grow to lengths she thought long gone. Jason looked at he and the daughter of Athena just shook her head.
There's nothing we can do for them, she said with her eyes. They'll have to find their own way out.
They needed to trust in Hazel and Leo. The two had their own job to take care of. If Jason had a problem with it, he didn't show it, just motioned for her to continue to follow him.
"Eight minutes!" The sorceress shouted but Annabeth wasn't sure what she was counting down for.
Eight minutes until the labyrinth collapsed on itself? Eight minutes until they died a horrible painful death? Eight minutes until hundreds of monsters came piling out of the elevator? Eight minutes until the whole Necromanteion caved in on itself burying them alive?
The possibilities were endless and oh so cheery.
A flaming arrow whizzed passed her face, so close that she could feel the wind from it. It lodged itself in Pasiphaë's arm and the sorceress cried out.
Frank.
There, to their left was another passage and she could see their friends charging forth. Their foreheads shone with a sheen of sweat despite the chilly air. Frank already had another arrow notched and let it fly towards the giant. It spontaneous lit in mid air before burying itself in Clytius' flank but it looked like a matchstick against a massive pile of coal. Reyna's cape flowed behind her as she and Calypso charged towards the sorceress.
"We've got a window." Jason said. "Do you trust me?"
"I do."
Annabeth wasn't sure about the whole blonde superman thing until she was in Jason's arms flying towards the Doors of Death with her dagger in hand ready to slash through the chains. It was only a few seconds but it was enough for every kid's dream of being able to fly away to come true. She tucked and rolled as Jason let go over her and flew up and over Clytius to distract him; one very graceful somersault later and Annabeth was hacking at the chains because her blade might not be big but it was strong. The daughter of Aphrodite must have had a similar thought because her kaleidoscope eyes met Annabeth's.
"Thought I'd chip in. Us girls have to stick together. Besides… I think they've got it covered."
So Piper took one side and Annabeth the other, both working diligently to cut through the chains.
Honestly there was so much commotion that she wasn't sure what happened but Pasiphaë was gone leaving Clytius as their sole nemesis. Black smoke pooled around him and danced across the cavern floor towards them. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She knew that she didn't want it to touch her. That she couldn't let it touch her. Piper on the other hand didn't notice it and she stood to cheer having severed the chain on her side only to have the smoke creep its way up her leg. She pulled her leg back, twisted and turned, tried to kick it off, but it latched on and crawled up until it was forcing its way inside her mouth.
"Pasiphaë is a fool." He spoke with her voice and yet it was as if in reverse, as if she were inhaling with each syllable instead of breathing out. "When your friends arrive I will take them and bring them to Gaea. They will make a wonderful sacrifice. Though, I must say, I think I like this one. I can feel the magic within her."
"Annabeth— the doors! Someone needs to press the 'up' button!" Leo shouted towards her just as the daughter of Athena cut through the final chain.
Piper, who was no longer Piper, grinned at her and began to shuffle towards her. Clytius used her like a puppet and her movements were equally as jerky. A giant fire ball flew from Leo towards the giant but it sputtered out just as quickly.
"Your flames cannot hurt me, Leo Valdez. They are not strong enough."
"And me, what about my flames?"
Piper stopped, her head canted towards the lyrical voice as a goddess stepped forth from the mist, black dress and hair golden light the sunlight. Calypso, who must have assisted Hazel with Pasiphaë grinned. "Oh, things are about to get interesting."
The elevator cried a final ding and Annabeth jammed her thumb against the button.
Please, please, please, let it be him.
Her blood ran cold in her veins.