"Stop."

A voice like that wasn't something you'd forget. Devious and greasy. There was only one thing that seemed different from the usual.

"Setne," Zia said, her tone calm and collected and she went into a fighting stance.

As soon as they heard the name, everyone turned to the direction. Their fighting stance were ready. The thick suffocating atmosphere that just recently disappeared, re-appeared. The discomfort and the tense atmosphere was back.

"What is it now?" I asked, slowly walking towards him. There was something wrong. He didn't add a "doll" or "darling" to the end of his greeting. What was his plan? His eyes glanced up to me, noticing my movement.

Sighing, he said, "You have to let go of that stone now." He made no movement to come closer. He didn't even try for a sadistic smile- only a grim expression. Annabeth, knowing what stone he was talking about, quickly took a hold of her bag.

"Reasons." Annabeth simply stated, tightly holding the bag.

"Let's keep this simple, shall we?" His voice was tight.

"Impatient much?" I asked. His eyes rolled.

"A war is about to rise and you're here, questioning and interrogating. You're wasting time."

What did he need from the stone? Jason was still, hands curled into a fist, trying to keep himself calm. It was just a few hours ago, Setne had appeared. It was just a few hours ago, the team was about to fall into pieces.

"I'm making this easier for all of you," he started, raising his arm into a surrendering position. "The stone or a team mate?"

"What?" Almost everyone asked at the same time.

"The deal I told you about. They don't know I'm here."

It all seemed so true. So tempting.

"Who's they?" Piper said, walking closer to me. She was either not using Charmspeak or she just suddenly became good at hiding it. I chose the second one.

"...Pretty sure you wonder kids already have an idea," Setne managed to say.

"We don't want the idea. We want the answer."

I turned my head to Annabeth, she had the Amethyst in her hand. Her gray eyes examining it. Apparently, I was the only one looking at her since I too saw the quick glow of the stone. I ran to her and took it away from her hand.

"It's been chipped," I announced to no one in particular.

"Yes, I was aware of that," Annabeth confirmed, walking to me. "We were right about it being able to do something. But what can it do?"

My head turned to Setne as he pursed his lips. It was likely he knew there was something it could do.

"It was dropped in the store," he started, "As soon as we felt your auras, we quickly left. But that idiot of monster dropped the only reason we stayed there for four hours looking for that thing."

Why was he telling the truth? There was something going but I couldn't pin point it. I think I knew what to ask.

"Tell us what the stone can do and where Jason's sister is, then we might consider it." I said, pointing my staff at him. He stiffened. Jason quickly turned his face to me.

"That's a hard bargain to make," he coughed, stretching his neck.

"We're not trying to be fair here."

No one answered for a moment. Just exchanging glances. It broke when Setne sighed in frustration.

"Fine. I tell you what the stone does and where the Daughter of Zeus is but the deal I told you before will still keep going."

"What?" Hazel exclaimed. "You told us to give you the stone and the deal is over."

"We're not trying to be fair here," Setne mocked.

Suddenly, the tense atmosphere that we had just a few hours ago thickened. There were choices to make again.

"Begin," Zia said, lighting up her staff and pointing it at Setne. It took a while for Setne to answer. He was deciding whether to actually tell us. He knew he couldn't lie.

"The amethyst is called The Amethyst. It does two things. Shows you what you should do in a situation and it helps you teleport too," His voice cracked a bit. "You chip off pieces of it for it to work. But the more you chip off it, the less you could get from it. So far, it's been only used once." He stopped talking, looking at us. Who made something like that? Something so powerful? "Sadie Kane, see what magic can do?"

I blinked, he was talking to me. I paused. I didn't know what to answer. Why was he referring to me? I panicked a little, I looked at Carter for help.

"What about Thalia?" Percy called out, saving me from answering. He probably didn't mean to get me out of the awkward situation but I felt the need to thank him later on.

"She's... in Mount Leet. I've never been there. That's all I know. A few hours ago, I was just told to send the message."

This was all the information we could get about Thalia. He was telling the truth, we could all tell.

The silence was yet again here. No one knew what to say. We all nodded to Annabeth to toss him the stone, she hesitated for a moment, doubting Setne but tossed it to him.

His form was fading, before he left, the words he said weighed our shoulders down.

"Choose the right person. Tricking them won't work. A life for a life."