Chapter 11

The ride to Pittsburg wasn't eventful at all, thankfully. Percy knew that if they had to ditch yet another ride, it would take them forever to be able to complete this quest and judging from the stakes, they didn't have forever.

During the ride, Annabeth had been on her phone and she had shown him news articles that just proved things were getting far worse. From what he read, half of Europe was experiencing famine that hadn't been seen in centuries there. Then there were articles that basically said war was inevitable now. He'd seen one where the American military was now getting ready to launch a invasion into Iran while Russia planned to counter it. Percy wasn't really caught up in mortal affairs but he did know the United States and Russia were two great powers, if they fought, the death toll would be in the millions and could very well mean the end of the world.

Yet there were signs that the gods were holding Ares and Demeter back. Crop yields had been unaffected in the rest of the world, meaning Demeter had yet to launch her worldwide famine, so far it seemed she was only hitting Europe for the time being. When it came to war, it seemed all that was preventing war was the fact that no country on Earth could promise itself that they'd have the food necessary to fight one after they'd seen what had happened in Europe.

Aside from famine and world war, Percy knew he had a far bigger problem. Each day that went by meant another day of his disappearance possibly being discovered back at camp. He knew once that happened, Jason was going to order a hunt, hell, he might even be the one leading the entire thing.

If Percy was being honest, he wasn't sure if he could take on Jason, he wasn't sure if he even really wanted to. At this point, he outright refused to believe that Jason had eyes for Annabeth, it just made zero sense. Nothing about his relationship with Piper indicated he was unhappy in any way and there was nothing about Annabeth that indicated she even liked him in that way.

However, that left the one question that was raking Percy's brain: Where did that text message that Hektor had shown him come from?

Percy just couldn't figure that out. He was tempted to ask Annabeth but if he told her the contents of the message, he wasn't sure how she'd respond. The last thing he wanted was for her to try to kill Jason, which he could see her doing.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth's voice rocked him from his thoughts.

Percy quit looking out the window and turned to face her. She stared at him with a concerned expression.

"Huh?" He asked.

"You were glaring out the window like you saw something." Annabeth pointed out, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just…thinking about stuff." He said.

"What kind of stuff?" She asked.

Sometimes, Percy wished she wasn't so curious about everything.

"I was just thinking, what if we don't finish this quest in time?"

Annabeth got a dark look on her face, "You shouldn't think like that, Percy."

"I can't help it." He said while pinching the bridge of his nose, "Annabeth, we're supposed to get Demeter's staff and Ares's shield back before the world tears itself apart but we aren't anywhere near getting that done."

"We're doing our best." She said.

"And that's what I'm afraid of. What if our best isn't enough?"

Annabeth put her hands on either side of his face and forced him to look her in the eyes, "Percy, we've been through worse. We can do this."

He placed a hand on her hand, he knew he should believe her but he still wasn't sure. Yeah, they survived every encounter they went through but they didn't always win. The only reason they survived Tartarus was because Bob, small Bob, and Damasen had sacrificed their lives so they could be free. Then there Kronos, if Luke hadn't regained control, he and Annabeth would probably be dead by now.

"Okay." He said, the sinking feeling in his stomach not fading away.

Ω

As soon as the bus arrived in Pittsburgh, Percy and Annabeth jumped off at the first stop. They were sure they probably would've gotten closer to the train station but they were not about to stick around inside the bus for a monster to get on and ruin their joyride. Plus, their ADHD made it almost impossible to sit for any longer.

"Well, this definitely isn't New York." Percy said as he looked around.

Annabeth looked down at the map she had on her phone, "The train station isn't too far. It's about a thirty-minute walk."

Percy followed her lead while making sure to look out for any uglies. He felt uneasy, like something bad was about to happen.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as he and Annabeth walked through the bustling streets. They looked like a normal teenaged couple out for a afternoon stroll, so of course no one bothered them. He watched every person that walked by, everyone from a guy in a business suit cursing someone out over a call to a woman trying to silence her baby in its stroller. He could never be too careful.

The sound of thunder rumbled through the sky overhead. He looked up warily at the gray storm clouds rolling in. He had a feeling if they didn't get to the train station quick, they were going to get drenched or at least, Annabeth was going to get drenched.

They were about a block or two away from the train station when they ran into a old memory.

Percy watched as a guy walked out of a store in front of them, a white plastic bag filled with groceries in his right hand while he held a cane in another. He was freakishly tall, about seven feet tall. He wore a black overcoat that was buttoned up over his huge frame while a black top hat covered his face. Everything about this guy felt off.

Then just as things couldn't get any worse, he turned and started walking their direction. He didn't make any sign to show he noticed them or even knew who they were. Percy got closer to Annabeth, who looked at him with a confused expression.

"Percy, what's wrong?" She whispered.

"You see that guy up there?" He pointed to the clad-in-black figure walking towards them.

Annabeth looked to where he was pointing. The guy was walking past a fire hydrant and a white minivan by now. There was no one near him so Percy was certain she saw him.

"Yeah, what about him?" She asked.

"Doesn't he look a bit suspicious?" He asked her, "I mean, look around. No one around here is dressed like that. No one wears a overcoat in seventy degree weather."

Percy had seen everyone that walked by and how they were dressed. A few people were dressed in business clothes but that was because they were probably walking to or from work. The average person was wearing summer clothes, like shirts and shorts. Some wore jeans but he didn't see a single person wearing a overcoat.

"Okay, you want to wait until he passes?" She asked him, "There's a alleyway we can hide in."

"Let's just do that." He said, "Better safe than sorry."

Before the guy could reach them, they both disappeared into a nearby alleyway. Annabeth ducked behind a dumpster, Percy was pressed against the wall behind her.

"Wait until he passes." She whispered over her shoulder to him.

The figure stopped at the entrance to the alleyway. Percy's heart boomed in his chest as he stared at the figure. His hand drifted into his pocket and wrapped around Riptide. His instincts told him to prepare for a fight.

His heart sank when the figure started walking into the alleyway. He dropped his groceries on the floor, a apple and some candy bars rolling onto the ground. His shoes clicked against the concrete as he walked.

"I thought I smelled you, Percy Jackson." The figure spoke, "My, it's been a while since I've seen you."

Percy and Annabeth emerged from behind the dumpster, their weapons drawn. Annabeth's bone sword looked as sharp as ever while Riptide glinted with a dangerous glow.

The figure took off his hat, revealing himself to Percy and Annabeth. Percy recognized him almost instantly. Geryon.

"I never thought I'd find you here." Geryon said with a voice that sounded like he was holding back from screaming at them, "You done fucked up, Jackson."

"How about you turn around and go back the way you came?" Percy asked, "You don't want this work, I promise you."

"Work?!" Geryon shouted, his voice echoing off the alleyway, "You have a lot of nerve talking to me about work, young man. Do you have any idea how much you ruined my life?"

"You ruined your own life." Percy said, "You could've handed over Nico and let us go but you decided to be all evil and shit."

"Letting you go would've been bad business practice!" Geryon growled, "I would've had it made."

Percy wasn't sure what Geryon was doing in Pittsburgh, it wasn't like he had a ranch up here or anything.

"I lost everything because of you. That damn traitor Eurytion took the damn ranch from me, the Titans are gone so I can't even get a job with them, and I've been sitting here in a cramped apartment trying to make connections. I had wealth, status, and freedom. Now I have jackshit and it's because of you." Geryon ranted, "There are no words that can describe how much I hate you, Percy Jackson."

"If you want to fight, then we can, but it won't end how you think it will." Percy said.

"Oh, I think it will." Geryon said, "With your dead body in the dumpster and your precious girl as my little breeding partner."

Annabeth let out a gag, "Disgusting!"

Percy knew he shouldn't have let the comment get to him yet it did anyways. He gritted his teeth and inched forward, ready to send Geryon back to Tartarus where he belonged.

Geryon smiled as he saw Percy approach. He pulled the handle of his cane back, revealing that it wasn't a cane at all but a cleverly disguised sword.

"Come a little closer so I can show you what real pain feels like." Geryon said with glee.

Percy wasn't stupid, he knew about Geryon's three bodies and hearts. He knew he'd have to think outside the box to win this fight. He looked behind him, the alleyway led to dead end, there was no running.

As the rain started drizzling down, Percy's nose wrinkled at the smell of wet garbage coming from the dumpster. A empty ice cube tray lay fallen out of the dumpster, next to a bag of spoiled fruits and meat. That's when the idea hit Percy, instead of using a sword to kill Geryon, why not use ice?

Geryon let out a battle cry as he charged Percy but the demigod was prepared. He caught the monster's sword almost effortlessly before shoving him backwards.

"You aren't running like you did last time, good." Geryon said, "Still won't save your ass."

"You're the one who needs saving here." Percy said before slashing at Geryon.

Years of training and fighting made Percy the far better swordfighter in this situation. Geryon failed to block Percy's incoming strike as it slashed open his middle body's chest. The monster let out a gasp of pain as he clutched his gaping chest wound.

As Percy expected, the wound started to heal up almost immediately.

Geryon sighed as he cracked his neck, "That hurt but it won't kill me. You don't have a arrow to shoot through my side this time, you little—" He let out a cry of pain as a empty can of Pepsi caught him in the eye.

Percy looked back to see Annabeth shrug as she threw yet another can at the monster.

"Tell your girl to back off or I won't be gentle when I win!" Geryon bellowed.

"You're not going to win anyways, dumbass!" Annabeth called.

Geryon growled, "We'll see." He launched another strike at Percy, this time succeeding in using his sword to cut open a black trash bag, the garbage inside spilling out and filling the air with more putrid stenches.

Percy smirked as the rain started falling even faster and harder. Now he had all he needed. He started controlling the water, willing it to freeze into icicles pointy enough to pierce through clothes. Ice shards smashed against A/C units and the ground below. Then with a flick of his wrist, Percy sent a dozen ice shards towards Geryon, whose eyes widened as he realized what the demigod was doing.

"Cheater—" Geryon shouted before grunting. He looked down to see ice shards jutting out from where his hearts were. He looked up at Percy with a look of anger, "This isn't over, Jackson."

"Yes, it is." Percy said as he capped Riptide, "Tell Tartarus I said hello."

Geryon cursed one last time before disintegrating into dust. All that was left behind was a bag of groceries and a drenched black top hat.

Annabeth walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, "Since when can you do that?" Nodding her head towards the top hat.

"Just now." He said, "I'm kidding, Nico had me watch Avatar a while back and that's where I got the idea. Ice is still water, just in a different form."

Annabeth smiled, "Thanks for killing him for me, what a pervert."

"Anytime." He said, kissing her, "Now, we might want to go before anyone else shows up."

Ω

As soon as Percy boarded the train, he ended up passing out in the seat right next to Annabeth. He didn't even care that her shoulder was wet, he rested his head on her shoulder anyways. If he had to guess, turning the rain to ice and directing it at Geryon must've taken a lot of his energy.

His dream was different this time. Instead of the two mystery half-bloods like last time, he was watching Jason and Piper.

Judging from the surroundings, they must've been in cabin one. Percy had only been in cabin one a few times but he was always taken aback by how nice it actually was. The floors were polished and made of a reflective marble. The walls were painted a eggshell white while golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

In the middle of the cabin were a set of leather chairs and a long leather couch surrounding a glass table. In front of the glass table was a giant statue of Zeus, it was like Medusa had caught Zeus in his god form. The eyes of the statue seemed strangely alive, which freaked Percy out a little. The statue was the only part he really didn't like.

On either side of the cabin, doors lined the walls. There was a second floor configured in the same exact way. Percy knew each door led to a individual bedroom. He'd been in Thalia's bedroom once when she had stayed there before joining the Hunters. She had Green Day posters plastered all over her walls, it looked more like a high-schooler's bedroom if he was being honest.

Jason and Piper stood in front of the statue and judging from the way they were talking to one another, they weren't happy.

"You're supposed to be leading camp but you don't even know where Percy or Annabeth are!" Piper complained, "What if they're in trouble?"

"Percy and Annabeth both know they're not allowed to leave camp." Jason said, "Are you sure you checked everywhere?"

"Yes!" Piper exclaimed, "They're literally not at camp anymore, no one has seen either of them."

"Shit." Jason cursed under his breath, "Why the fuck would they leave? They were there when Chiron told us we weren't allowed to leave camp."

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's because of how you've been treating Percy!" Piper said.

Finally, someone besides Annabeth was sticking up for him. He never expected it to be Piper but he wasn't complaining. He and Piper weren't exactly close but he still considered her a friend.

"How I've been treating Percy?" Jason said with a offended voice, "Don't act like you treated him any better. You forget that I was right next to you when he tried to talk to you and you blew him off?"

"Because I was angry at him for what happened to Annabeth at the chariot race!" Piper defended.

"That doesn't matter!" Jason yelled, "You can't just pin him leaving on me like this! You and everyone else are just as responsible for this as I am."

Piper shook her head, "It still doesn't excuse the fact that you were going to punish him for fighting that guy because of what he did to Annabeth. I saw what happened, Percy was in the right."

"We've been through this already, Piper." Jason groaned as if they'd been through this a dozen times, "Percy broke the rules. Anyone who breaks the rules gets punished, you know this."

Percy knew Jason was strict with rules, he obeyed them way more than himself.

Jason let out a shaky breath, "I hope that you aren't right about them leaving. Zeus isn't going to be happy if I have to tell him."

"I wish I wasn't right." Piper said, crossing her arms.

Ω

Percy woke up to Annabeth pushing his shoulder. His eyes opened to reveal her gray eyes filled with concern as she gently pushed his shoulder to wake him up. He grunted and sat up straight.

"What's up?" He asked.

"You started jerking in your sleep." She said, "Bad dream?"

He shook his head, "Sort of. I was dreaming about Jason and Piper."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at this.

"They know we left, or at least, Piper does." He said, "She was telling Jason. Apparently, she blames him for us leaving."

Technically, Jason was in the right here. Percy didn't blame any single person for making him leave, he made the choice to leave. It was a combination of everyone's behavior towards him over the course of the few weeks that had caused him to leave and as much as he hated to admit it, Annabeth's behavior did play a role. He hadn't considered leaving up until she got mad at him.

"Well, she's sort of right, isn't she?" Annabeth asked, "I mean, Jason was going to punish you over that fight."

"Yeah, but there's more to it than that." Percy said, "I wouldn't have left if that was the only thing that had happened. I got tired of everyone being angry at me. Those two weeks of stable duty hit the hardest for me."

Annabeth looked down at her lap to avoid meeting his eyes. He knew that she knew he had been going through a hard time during those two weeks. She may never know how bad it really got but she knew he'd been through more than what should've been asked of him.

"Yeah," She said while rubbing the back of her neck, "I'm so sorry for putting you through that."

He shook his head, "It wasn't your fault, you weren't the one who gave me two weeks of stable duty."

"But I did treat you like shit." She said, "I mean, I literally judo-flipped you for gods' sakes."

"Annabeth, just stop." He said while putting a hand on her arm, "I'm over it now, we have other things to worry about right now."

He really didn't want to have this conversation, partially for her sake. He didn't want her to know how much those two weeks hurt him, he had a feeling she'd never forgive herself if she knew.

"Okay, fine." Annabeth relented, "But everyone at camp owes you a huge apology."

"Well, first we have to prove I was innocent."


A/N: Thank you all for the reviews, they really do mean a lot to me.

By the way, spoiler alert for The Sun and The Star and HOO.

I haven't read the book yet, but from what i've heard Geryon is not evil anymore. Don't get me wrong, Rick's writing is way better than mine but i genuinely consider this direction kind of dumb. I mean, monsters are monsters, it's not like they're supposed to be good or likeable but i notice Rick is starting to go down a path of trying to make monsters sympathetic and i feel like the fear that we felt for Percy during PJO is starting to fade away now that monsters are either becoming sympathetic characters or cannon fodder. Like we all know Percy is going to end up killing whatever he runs into because he's a gigachad but i feel like now, there's almost no threat to him.

I feel like there's a deeper issue with Rick's direction now. I mean, all the villains like Gaea just feel really weak. Kronos on the other hand was scary af, anytime he appeared in the books, you knew he was dangerous, but with Gaea, i felt like she went down a bit too easy. If i recall correctly, all it took was Jason, Piper, and Leo to take her down, like really? We spent like four books hyping her up to be the worst villain so far, worse than Kronos, yet she went down easier than him. Yeah, Leo died but he ended up coming back in the end. I mean seriously, Kronos felt like the better villain to me because that guy actually killed people. Beckendorf, Ethan, Luke. Kronos caused all their deaths. I can't think of anyone who Gaea killed, except Leo but he doesn't count since he's still alive. I'm pretty sure Octavian was killed by his own stupidity, like didn't that dude accidentally kill himself with a onager or something like that?

I guess what i'm trying to say is if we're going to write about a scary villain, whether it just be a monster or someone like Gaea, make them terrifying or at least unlikeable. Give us a reason to root for the heroes. I'm not saying we should kill off Percy or Annabeth or anyone else(rip Jason), but don't hype them up like Gaea only for her to die to three demigods and a bronze dragon.

I'd love to hear what y'all think about this.