Yo :) Thanks as always for the reviews. Got another short chapter, but this is pretty much where the super short ones end. After this is when things really pick up, so the chapters get a lot longer.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy!

XLIV
LEO

They grabbed Will Solace and Katie Gardner on their way out of the infirmary and were at the Big House in minutes. All the usual council members who weren't incapacitated by injury were busy filing into the rec room, and the place seemed particularly crowded. Though, this could have been due to the increased nervous energy in the camp. No matter where you went, the unspoken tension tended to be so thick you could almost see it.

Leo dropped into his usual armchair to the right of the door. Reyna sat on the arm of the same chair, crossing her arms and frowning around at the room as though waiting for someone to explain what was going on. Hazel moved to sit next to Frank, who was in a metal folding chair beside Jason and Piper, and once everyone had piled in and made themselves relatively comfortable, Chiron, who was in his wheelchair at the front of the room as per usual, raised his hands to signal quiet. When the chatter died down, he nodded wordlessly to Clovis, who stepped away from the wall against which he was leaning.

"Thanks, everybody, for coming," Clovis addressed them all. "I know we've all been busy lately. But the thing is, I've got some news that might change the way we're doing things. Y'see, I… I got a message from my father."

Immediately a chorus of whispering swept through the rec room. Clovis's father was Hypnos, the missing god of sleep. A message from him at this point could be crucial, a fact of which everyone was fully aware.

"It was a dream," Clovis explained, stifling a yawn. "Kind of choppy and confusing—I think he had a hard time reaching me. He couldn't say much, but… he was able to get through enough." He took a heavy breath, golden eyes surveying everyone seriously. "I found out where he is. Erebos has him trapped in the throne room on Mount Olympus. And the gods are still asleep."

The resulting outburst was immediate. Fifteen people started talking at once, exclaiming about their rotten luck or proclaiming their doom or voicing what they thought they should do next. Leo felt his stomach drop in dread. After all the trouble they'd gone to in order to free Hypnos from Nyx's clutches, it still hadn't been enough. Nyx was defeated, sure. But they were hardly any closer to freeing the gods and beating Erebos.

"Calm down, please," Chiron raised his voice over the noise. He spoke firmly, but he looked just as troubled by this news as everyone else. "At least we now know where Hypnos is, if nothing else. There may be a way we can free him."

"He said something about that," Clovis added with a frown. "He said that… he was 'locked again in fire'. I don't know what that means, but—"

"We do," Leo interrupted, exchanging a significant glance with Nico across the room.

"Nightflame," Nico agreed with a nod. "Dark fire that blocks and consumes immortal energy. It's how Nyx had Hypnos imprisoned in Death Valley. Erebos must be able to control it, too."

"So, what, we just dump a bucket of water on him?" Connor Stoll suggested.

Nico shook his head. "According to Hypnos, the only ways to snuff out Nightflame are to get the one who conjured it to extinguish it, or cleanse it with immortal light fire."

"Immortal light fire?" Frank repeated, and Nico nodded at Leo. As all eyes turned toward him, Leo grinned and waved, letting a tiny tongue of flame spring to life on his hand and dance around his fingers.

"Yet another reason it's great to have you back," Jason said appreciatively.

"So what should we do?" Thalia Grace asked the room. "Send an infiltration team to sneak into Olympus and find Hypnos?"

"I don't think sneaking in is gonna be an option," Leo pointed out. "That place is heavily guarded under normal circumstances, when they're on our side. With Erebos running the place, you can bet it's Monster City up there. Besides, if we send a small team and Erebos finds 'em, they're toast."

"Well, what do you think we should do, storm Olympus?" Thalia countered sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Actually," Leo said, "that's exactly what I think we should do."

"What?" Piper said as more than one person blinked in surprise.

"Think about it," Leo explained, leaning forward to the edge of his chair. "We know where Hypnos is. We know how to free the gods. But we also know that Erebos is bound to be keeping a close eye on Hypnos after what happened to Nyx. He's not just gonna let us waltz right into the throne room. We need to bust in. And for that, it's gonna take all we've got. Not to mention the fact that it'll be much easier to find and free Hypnos in the confusion of a major battle."

Leo had been over every possible plan of action in his head while he waited in the infirmary that evening. With their new information, he knew this was the best plan. No action they could take would be completely risk-free, but in his mind the direct approach had the highest chance of success.

"Plus," he added, considering another important goal he'd been puzzling over, "Percy's up there somewhere, isn't he? If we can find him and break him out too, all the better." When Annabeth had told him about her boyfriend's sacrifice, she'd been adamant that he was still alive and they had to rescue him. And while logic tried to tell Leo that that was highly unlikely, he chose to ignore it in favor of the fact that he strongly wanted Annabeth to be right. He wouldn't believe that his friend was dead until they knew for absolutely certain. The more people broke into Olympus with them, the better their chances would be of finding the missing son of Poseidon and hopefully saving his life.

"Come on, guys," Leo went on, looking around the room. "We've been biding our time and preparing for battle for long enough. I'm done with Erebos's threats. It's time we take the fight to him."

"A frontal assault, huh?" Reyna mused with a small smirk. "I like this plan."

Leo grinned at her. "Somehow, I knew you would."

"I'm in, too," Annabeth spoke up. "I'm tired of waiting around for Erebos to finish us off."

The agreement of two of the camp's best strategists seemed to slowly draw everyone else around. Mutters of approval and tentative smiles came from every direction, and soon enough there was a buzz of excitement in the air.

"It seems like we have a decision," Chiron said after a minute or so. "I'm going to ask each of you to relay the message to your cabins and Cohorts."

"What should we tell them?" Katie Gardner asked.

"The truth," was Chiron's reply. "In one hour's time, we march on Mount Olympus. We'll fight our way to the palace throne room and free the gods from sleep. And together, we'll challenge the King of Darkness."

A ripple of tension washed over the room at the prospect of taking on Erebos. Leo could already feel adrenaline rushing in his veins. He'd fought the Queen of Night and freed Hypnos once. Now all that was left was to face Erebos and do it again. He was ready for this to be over.

"One way or another," Chiron said with grim finality, "the Shadow War ends tonight."

Woo-hoo! Excited? I sure am, haha. Though we're starting to catch up to where I'm at writing-wise... These last few chapters are taking me a long time because they're very eventful and I want to make sure I do this story justice by giving it a worthy final stretch. I'll get the next chapter up this week for sure since it's like the beginning of the end, but once the action starts my updates may slow down a little until I finish writing it. Trust me, though, the chapters will be better so the wait won't be as disappointing as lately. Promise!

Thanks as usual, guys! Later days!

-oMM