Chapter 18: More Pain for Percy, Yay!

Jason watched the scene unfolding between Nico and his sister unfolding. He had heard what Nico said and knew it was true. He had seen the same things in himself pretty often. Still, others pointing it out must hurt. He hadn't been put under the microscope yet, but it was bound to happen. For now, he just wanted to watch how his cousins and sister interacted before he met them. There was something he'd missed out on there, flaws and all.

He moved a little to be in between his sister and Nico along with Percy and Hazel. Will had scooted between Apollo to sit near his boyfriend who was looking confused about what to say to the sullen Thalia. "Are you sure it's a good idea to let them stew like this?"

Percy nodded looking a bit wary himself. "They'll get over it soon with everything else that happens. It's just them getting antsy as the harder parts start to get closer."

"So just sit and watch?"

Percy shrugged. "It's really all we can do. Can't say I'm complaining. It's actually kind of a break from having to save the day, even if I'm watching myself save the day in the past."

"Dude."

"Bro."

"Can you both shut it so we can move on?" Nico grumbled.

"C'mon little bro. We're here for you."

"I'm not your brother, nor am I that much younger than you."

"You're still a squirt and if you keep acting younger then you'll be treated younger," Percy said sagely.

"Says you," Nico snorted.

"I happen to have a presence of authority."

"And idiocy."

"That hurt, baby bro," Percy said pouting, falling back and putting his hand to his heart as if he had been shot.

Nico rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. Percy caught the word whatever, but it seemed to have lightened the mood a little, so he didn't really care so much. They'd need it before it all got much grimmer.

The scene seemed to skip. Three more petals were missing from the flower. They were walking toward a grey hill when Percy asked who Melinoe was. Nico responded it was a long and scary story. Percy turned with a raised eyebrow, but Thalia ducked and told them to draw their weapons.

"It's Melinoe. Isn't it?" Hearth signed.

Thalia shook her head. "Believe it or not. It isn't. We had a few more fun obstacles first."

"Fun? That's what you call it?" Percy asked her incredulously.

"Do you want me to call it what it was? Scary, deadly and dangerous?"

"I mean that just describes our lives," Percy agreed. He let out a deep breath and slumped. "So why not?"

There were some frowns from people feeling like they should be less nonchalant about the whole situation.

Percy held Riptide in one hand while he held the flowerpot in another. Nico took out his sword as Thalia drew and readied an arrow. Percy asked her what was wrong. She wasn't looking around, but her head was turning and searching. On cue her eyes widened, and several daemons appeared.

"You could hear them?" Sadie asked Thalia in surprise. "Because they just appeared out of nowhere."

"One of the skills I got when I became a Hunter. Along with some agility, strength and etc. Hearing and listening are important parts of the hunt after all."

"I wish I had known you when I met Neith," Sadie muttered.

"Who?"

"Our goddess of the hunt. Apocalypse prepper and jelly baby fearer/lover. It might be both at this point. I'm not exactly sure."

"Full story later please."

"But of course!" Sadie said exaggerating her British accent, and finishing with a little bow.

The batlike female creatures swirled around them. Nico called them Keres. Percy asked what and he explained they were battlefield spirits feeding on death. Thalia said wonderful.

"Do you know anything about the stuff you face?" Carter asked Percy. He couldn't imagine facing any of this stuff without his previous knowledge on Egyptology.

"Sometimes. Depends on what it is. This is just minor underworld stuff. So, it's not like I needed to know it. Plus, if I knew all this stuff, I wouldn't be getting explanations and you guys wouldn't be able to watch them. You'd be left clueless."

Carter shook his head. "No more than you. We'd just have to ask someone here. It's not like we've gotten explanations every time."

"Still..."

"Percy don't try and make him agree with your reasoning," Annabeth said with exasperated fondness. They all knew her boyfriend was quite smart, there were just things he didn't know about, but nobody knew everything. Anyway, the way he explained it wasn't working. "We both know it doesn't make sense."

"Fine."

Nico ordered the daemons back calling on his power as the son of hades. In response the spirits hissed like snakes and foamed at the mouth while looking at the weapons. One snarled Hades would be defeated, and they'd get freedom under their new master's rule. Nico blinked in surprised and said new master? Nico was so surprised when the daemon attacked that he couldn't defend. Luckily Thalia shot it in the face, and it disintegrated.

"You must not have had much experience with spirits not bowing to your command at that point," Reyna observed with twinkling eyes at Nico. "I know you are well aware of that fact now."

"Minos didn't listen to me."

"Yet he still fell under your control," Reyna reminded the younger demigod.

"Yeah. Okay. I guess it was like Percy with those flesh-eating horses. It just never happened before."

"Do you know now which you have reign over and which you cannot control?"

"A little, but for the most part it's just wariness as I try on sight."

Reyna sighed. She turned to Annabeth. "I think we should take some time to get a comprehensive look at everyone's powers. I feel like we all might be missing something about each other."

Annabeth nodded. "A good idea. The small displays and the scenes aren't the same. I'll start compiling what we already know."

"Great more science and studies," Percy huffed. "I'm not just the entertainment, but also a lab rat?"

"You're forgetting that's what we all are," Rachel reminded him. "You should be used to this by now."

"You'd think," Percy muttered harshly under his breath.

The other Keres attacked. Thalia no longer able to fight at a distance took out her knives. The three were seamless, Percy ducking under Nico's sword so he could cut a Daemon in two. Percy slicing and jabbing and killing three or four as more came.

Frank frowned as he watched the fight. Everyone else was applauding the seamless technique between the three. There was just something about Percy's style at the moment that made him frown. Between the Argo II crew they'd decided that the Greeks were more likely to slash and swing swords. The Romans used more precise jabbing and stabbing movement. In Leo's words, 'Greeks fight slashy-slashy, and Romans fight stabby-stabby.'

Percy was using both techniques. It was strange. Frank had always noticed that the older demigod didn't fight like a Roman. That was clear from the moment they met. Now it seemed he didn't exactly fight like a Greek either. It was more of a combination of both. He filed the info aside to talk to Annabeth about.

One of the Keres yelled that Iapetus would crush them. Percy asked who but then stabbed her.

"Questioning something and killing it before you receive an answer is an interesting technique," Sam smirked.

"I get it. I think it was more important to defend myself at the moment then interrogate the things attacking us."

"Perhaps you could defend while you get them to talk," she suggested kindly.

"I'm more of a one thing at a time kind of person," Percy said simply.

"We all know that was a total lie. That's literally the opposite of every person with ADD or ADHD," Grover chuckled.

"What do you know?"

"I've spent most of my life disguising myself to help demigods like that. I think that's good enough."

Percy just covered his eyes and sighed. It didn't seem like he could put this part off for much longer. "Right."

Nico cut through some more of the Keres, who were absorbed into his sword as he did it. Thalia was flipping and kicking the demons, spinning like a tornado as she stabbed one and stabbed another behind her without looking. Another cried for the mortals to die in pain. Percy tried to raise his sword in defense but was clawed on his shoulder. It tore through the shirt through some of his skin. There was a huge gash on his shoulder. Nico kicked the monster and killed it.

In real life Percy looked as pained as he had in the past. He was clutching his shoulder as he curled up on his right side. Apollo and Will looked at him in concern, but Nico kept them away. "We treated him as best as we could. You both should know that an injury from a Keres isn't a normal cut. And it's part of the whole vision quest thing."

Will frowned. "But the Keres inflict a lot of pain. We must be able to do something right now."

"No," Percy moaned as he pushed up a little to look at them. "Just keep watching. When it's over I'll be fine. We just need to finish."

Annabeth looked pleadingly at Thalia and Nico. She hadn't known about this part of their mini quest. "How much longer?"

"A while. It's best to just get through it as best as we can with no breaks," Thalia said. "And with what happens next I realize interruptions are probably going to happen."

"Now I'm even more worried," Jaz protested as she came over to see if she could help. "You can't tell me that when he's just lying there hurt."

"It's all you can do," Percy said again, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. No one missed his voice was a bit sterner than usual. "Just watch."

Thalia begged Percy to hold still but she was obviously trying not to cry. Nico uncovered it and Percy screamed in pain.

In real life, Percy screamed in the same manner. Nico cringed. "I had to clean it and remove the shirt pieces from the wound. I'm sorry."

"You were helping it's fine," Annabeth said, cringing as Percy squeezed her hand and bit back another howl of pain.

Nico said he would pour nectar on it and did so.

Percy relaxed a little. "Better."

He passed out a moment later to everyone's surprise except for Thalia and Nico. Thalia frowned and made sure Percy was positioned comfortably. She squeezed his shoulder and looked at the rest of the room.

"He'll do that a few times." She said with a pained expression, which quickly spread around the circle.

Nico and Thalia dressed his wound. It went dark and lit up again a few times until finally Percy was sitting up against a rock with a bandaged shoulder being fed ambrosia by Thalia.

"How much did you have to feed him?" Will asked.

"More than I wanted to," responded Thalia gravely. "I kept thinking he would burn up, but we couldn't do anything else."

Percy shook his head, pulling himself up a little. "You could have left. You could have finished the quest without me."

"Which would've been impossible, and you know it," Thalia answered. She turned to him, adopting a strict voice. "Now lie back down. It's bad enough what you did back then. At least don't strain yourself more than you have to now."

"I still don't think that's how it works."

"Just listen!" Thalia said calling in her powers as the oldest.

Percy asked about the Keres. Thalia explained they were gone for the moment, but he'd worried them. For now, it seemed like he'd be fine.

"Thank the gods," sighed Piper with relief.

"Wait a moment," Apollo said somberly. Because though he hadn't been mortal for long he knew well enough there was always a catch.

Nico held the flower with only five petals left. He looked around warily before facing Percy and telling him the Keres would be back. The wound was infected. The Keres were spirits of disease and pestilence. They did what they could to slow infection, but the only thing that could heal it was godly power. He trailed off turning paler.

The entire room was almost as pale. Percy rolled his eyes and grunted as he sat up. "I'm fine. Right here, remember?"

"How though? Where did you find a god down there? It seems unlikely you'll get back to Father and Persephone in time. And would they even help you?" Hazel asked concerned. "Nico is right about the Keres. Their wounds are quick to kill."

"Again, I'm fine. The sooner you all watch the sooner it's over!"

Percy argued he'd be fine and sat up. Thalia warned him to do it slowly. He needed rest before he could move. Percy said there was no time. One of the Daemons had talked about Iapetus. Percy remembered he was a titan.

Calypso looked startled at that. "I'm surprised you remember such a thing."

"Yeah. Since when?" Jason demanded.

"I already told you! I know stuff like that!" Percy frowned. "I'm injured. Stop being mean to me."

Jason huffed but turned back to watch.

Thalia explained Iapetus was Kronos's brother and Atlas's father. He was the titan of the West. He was Iapetus because he was the piercer and he was supposed still be down in Tartarus with his brothers.

Clarisse grumbled. "And we all know how well that's lasted."

"And with help from the keys," reasoned Reyna, "they might be able to work around such a thing."

On screen the trio reasoned the same thing. Nico explained that it might be able to draw people out of Tartarus. They couldn't let it happen. Thalia reminded them they still didn't know who was trying to do this. Percy replied the half-blood working for Kronos was likely Ethan. He'd already recruited some of Hades's servants by promising chaos and evil. Nico agreed they were right because his father liked balance. If Kronos appointed his brother, they wouldn't reign in the violent spirits. Nico said both the Keres and Melinoe would like if Iapetus was in charge.

"So, you know the goal. Great. Now actually go stop them."

"If you hadn't said anything we might have!" Nico yelled back.

"Are you gonna explain who Melinoe is?"

"If you watch, sure."

Percy reminded him they still didn't know who Melinoe was. Nico explained she was the goddess of ghosts. The ones who were on earth. She terrified mortals every night after coming up from the underworld.

"So, she's Ethan's way out," Chris decided. "It's a good plan. A bribe and an escape."

"Yeah. Good for them," agreed Alex sarcastically.

Percy reasoned she was the path to the upper world. Nico said it probably wouldn't be blocked. Most the time people wouldn't even go through her cave. But if this guy was brave enough—Thalia interrupted that he could escape the underworld with the sword for Kronos. Percy agreed saying then Kronos would use the sword to get his brothers from Tartarus, putting them in bigger trouble.

"Which we already knew," Leo said. "Speed this thing up!"

"We can't."

"So, I'll shut up then," Leo said pretending to zip his mouth.

Percy tried to get up and swayed dangerously doing so. Thalia grabbed Percy saying he wasn't in any condition to do such things. Before she could finish her sentence, he interrupted saying he had to be. Another petal fell off leaving for. He told them to give him the plant so they could find Melinoe.

"That took way too long," Annabeth said looking between the rest of the room. "No more talking. None!"

"It's fine," Percy told her looking a little green around the gills. He knew it would be impossible to stop conversation. It was impossible. He would be in incredible pain and on the verge of death, but the Fates wouldn't let their spell kill him. He was sure of that, at least.