OMG. I totally forgot about Nico last chapter! That's goddamn unforgiveable. I knew I was forgetting someone. I kept counting the seven in my head: Percabeth's in Tartarus, Jason, Piper and Frank are with Fayden, Aurelia, Thalia and Artemis, Leo and Hazel are off somewhere else, that's seven plus Fayden's group. AND I FORGOT NICO. Goddamn it.
(Above is what I wrote like decades ago when I started this chapter, then 'noped' out for however long. Present day me judging productive me from then lol. Sorry, but I basically stopped caring and started focusing on my actual book. But someone messaged me and nicely told me to stop being a lazy *%$* so here I am, irregularly updating again.)
Fayden's POV
"Fay?! Fay?!"
Fayden opened his eyes, blinking softly. Nothing seemed to be in focus – colours blended and hazed into one big catastrophe of modern art. As he felt his head clearing of that painful fuzzy feeling, his eyes sharpened. Shades of grey became the black and white murals dedicated to Hades that decorated the wall, a muddled brown split into distinguished oaky colours of ceiling timber. A soft brown and pitch black suddenly came into being as two heads of hair – one of spiky midnight, the other choppy chocolate.
"Fay? Oh my gods!"
The crushing hug brought awareness to the aches on his body. Grunting with pain he twisted slightly, only to slip even more weight onto his side. A sudden cry of pain released the hug as he looked around. Piper and Thalia were kneeling either side of him.
"Sorry," they both grinned sheepishly.
Sitting up, he finally saw the rest of the group; Jason, Frank, Artemis, Aurelia and Nico were all standing in a loose semi-circle around him, varying degrees of joy and wonder etched onto their faces. Piper suddenly spoke, her voice scratchy with emotion,
"You have no idea how close I was to… I felt so trapped…"
Fayden interrupted her, "Hey, hey, hey, Pipes," he reassured her, then, with a grin, "what was I gonna do, let you drown?"
Piper nodded a smile breaking through her worried expression, before she started rummaging around in her jacket. As she did, Fayden turned to Thalia, who seemed anxious. He simply lay their staring at her for a few seconds, before his entire face relaxed. He opened his arms, and she melted into a hug that seemed to dissolve all the pain he was feeling. Her head was buried into his shoulder, and he could feel it becoming slightly damp. He said nothing, but clutched her even tighter to him.
As if she realised she was in company, and needed to act with some level of machismo, she broke away, fiercely wiping her eyes, but smiling none the less.
"I'm fine, Thals," he said. Looking around at everyone's face, he struggled to his feet and repeated, "Honestly, I'm fine. Don't we need to be somewhere?"
Nico shook his head. "You aren't fine, Fayden. I'm noticed something off with you this whole time, but it was stronger when you were lying there. An aura of death. It's faint, and I don't know why, but it's there."
Fayden paused. He locked eyes with the son of Hades, and all those manic thoughts rushed to his head once more. What's waiting for me when we find the doors? Why does Tartarus keep talking to me.
Nico's icy gaze was far to old for his age, and Fayden found it weirdly uncomfortable, so brushed aside,
"Um, okay. But we do need to be somewhere?"
Artemis nodded. "The Doors of Death are close. I don't know about any of you, but I'm starting to sense them."
As Nico nodded, Fayden tried to ignore the various aches and pains, concentrating. As he did so, a blast of cold energy swept through his mind, causing him to gasp aloud. Images flashed through his head – two doors, standing without a frame, etched with iron and silver. Thick heavy chains held them in place to massive black hooks imbedded beside them. His head churned as he suddenly saw inside the elevator. Percy and Annabeth, covered in bruises and blood, their faces sallow and worn, both pushed up against the doors with all their might, as if to hold them closed.
With another swirl, everything was red. The sky was invisible, for a sheet of thick crimson mist obscured everything. The ground was riveted with vein-like lumps and boils. Everywhere, monsters raged and tussled against each other. Fayden's gaze, however, was fixated on the dark mass standing in the centre of the monster army. He, for somehow Fayden knew who it was, radiated such power, such fear, that Fayden suddenly felt very small and weak. At the god's feet lay strewn corpses that he seemed to be standing over gloatingly. As Fayden watched, a huge red-skinned giant dissolved into dust, beside him, a silvery being slightly smaller, and strangely, a sabre-toothed tiger and a drakon. In a matter of seconds, all that left was a great pile of sulphuric dust that caught a non-existent wind, disappearing.
The god turned to stare directly at Fayden, and suddenly only the utter domination over his movement stopped Fayden from turning and running.
See, little one. The voice was instantly recognisable, and Fayden fell to his knees in shocked awe, staring up at the being. That voice had haunted Fayden, always prickling in the back of his mind, even when he tried to forget.
You are not the only one who can kill Titans. Tartarus continued. Even the Giants fall before me.
Fayden couldn't see a face, but the gleeful expression was still there. We will have such fun.
Fayden's eyes snapped back. He stumbled, instincts straightening him up again. He was walking. It took his brain a few seconds to retake control of his body. As he did, he stopped, and looked around. Someone collided with him from behind. Turning, Jason was eyeing him strangely,
"You okay?" he muttered.
Fayden said nothing in return. He still felt numb. Then,
"Why wouldn't I be?"
Jason seemed uncomfortable. "That was the first time you made any kind of move with your head since you got up."
Fayden frowned. Had Tartarus kept his body acting as normal while showing Fayden those visions? Not wanting to let slip that anything was wrong, Fayden shrugged,
"Sorry. I was thinking."
Jason took a few more seconds to glance him up and down, before walking on. Fayden quickly sped up. He soon reached Thalia, and pulled her aside.
"What?" she asked, looking round as Frank led the rest of them on.
"Okay, please, can you just, answer the question?"
"Uh, what question?"
Fayden breathed. "What have I been doing since the flood room?"
Thalia paused, scanning his face. Her eyes went wide, but Fayden shook his head almost unnoticeably. He felt terrible, not confiding in his girlfriend of all people, but something kept him from opening his mouth every time he tried.
"Please," he pleaded. "Trust me?"
Thalia's face straightened seriously. Nodding, she replied, "Of course. Um, Piper didn't have any ambrosia left, but you didn't seem to need it. So, Frank took the lead again, and you just, fell in line like we did."
"Did I say anything?"
Thalia looked concerned, but even so, said, "Um, yeah. Nothing weird. Just told us to stop worrying. Except… you pulled Artemis aside and spoke with her for a bit. Don't know what about though."
Fayden paled. What had he said to her? Glancing behind him, Artemis was plodding along with her usual energy, head down, eyes not even glancing anywhere but forward. He had to know.
"I promise… I keep trying to tell you…" Fayden spluttered, then leaned in and kissed Thalia.
She seemed surprised but readily replied in likeness, her hand coming up to his cheek. When they pulled apart, Fayden, as sincerely as he could muster, said,
"Thank you, Thals. I love you."
"I love you too," she replied, her cheeks glowing.
They turned back to keep up with the group, but Fayden, giving her hand a quick squeeze, slowed to match Artemis' pace.
As he opened his mouth to talk, a great, unbreakable pain crashed down onto his head. Breaking through an invisible barrier, his mouth closed and his body slackened, reduced to the same plodding posture as the ex-goddess beside him.
I think it's best, Tartarus whispered in his mind, if I take the reigns for a bit. I would hate for you to exercise that annoying little thing you humans pride so dearly. What was it? Oh, yes… he laughed, the noise reverberating around Fayden's head. Your freedom.
Hazel's POV
Hazel's eyes drifted to the centre of the room.
"Yep," Leo muttered. "Those are doors, all right."
Fifty feet away was a set of freestanding elevator doors, their panels etched in silver and iron. Rows of chains ran down either side, bolting the frame to large hooks in the floor. The area around the doors was littered with black rubble. With a tightening sense of anger, Hazel realized that an ancient altar to Hades had once stood there. It had been destroyed to make room for the Doors of Death.
"Where are you?" she shouted.
"Don't you see us?" taunted the woman's voice. "I thought Hecate chose you for your skill."
Another bout of queasiness churned through Hazel's gut. On her shoulder, Gale barked and passed gas, which didn't help.
Dark spots floated in Hazel's eyes. She tried to blink them away, but they only turned darker. The spots consolidated into a twenty-foot-tall shadowy figure looming next to the Doors. The giant Clytius was shrouded in the black smoke, just as she'd seen in her vision at the crossroads, but now Hazel could dimly make out his form – dragon-like legs with ash-coloured scales; a massive humanoid upper body encased in Stygian armour; long, braided hair that seemed to be made from smoke. His complexion was as dark as Death's (Hazel should know, since she had met Death personally). His eyes glinted cold as diamonds. He carried no weapon, but that didn't make him any less terrifying.
Leo whistled. "You know, Clytius… for such a big dude, you've got a beautiful voice."
"Idiot," hissed the woman.
Halfway between Hazel and the giant, the air shimmered. The sorceress appeared.
She wore an elegant sleeveless dress of woven gold, her dark hair piled into a cone, encircled with diamonds and emeralds. Around her neck hung a pendant like a miniature maze, on a cord set with rubies that made Hazel think of crystallized blood drops.
The woman was beautiful in a timeless, regal way – like a statue you might admire but could never love. Her eyes sparkled with malice.
"Pasiphaë," Hazel said.
The woman inclined her head. "My dear Hazel Levesque."
Leo coughed. "You two know each other? Like Underworld chums, or –"
"Silence, fool." Pasiphaë's voice was soft, but full of venom. "I have no use for demigod boys – always so full of themselves, so brash and destructive."
"Hey, lady," Leo protested. "I don't destroy things much. I'm a son of Hephaestus."
"A tinkerer," snapped Pasiphaë. "Even worse. I knew Daedalus. His inventions brought me nothing but trouble."
Leo blinked. "Daedalus… like, the Daedalus? Well, then, you should know all about us tinkerers. We're more into fixing, building, occasionally sticking wads of oilcloth in the mouths of rude ladies –"
"Leo." Hazel put her arm across his chest. She had a feeling the sorceress was about to turn him into something unpleasant if he didn't shut up. "Let me take this, okay?"
"Listen to your friend," Pasiphaë said. "Be a good boy and let the women talk."
Pasiphaë paced in front of them, examining Hazel, her eyes so full of hate it made Hazel's skin tingle. The sorceress's power radiated from her like heat from a furnace. Her expression was unsettling and vaguely familiar ...
Somehow, though, the giant Clytius unnerved Hazel more.
He stood in the background, silent and motionless except for the dark smoke pouring from his body, pooling around his feet. He was the cold presence Hazel had felt earlier – like a vast deposit of obsidian, so heavy that Hazel couldn't possibly move it, powerful and indestructible and completely devoid of emotion.
"Your – your friend doesn't say much," Hazel noted.
Pasiphaë looked back at the giant and sniffed with disdain. "Pray he stays silent, my dear. Gaia has given me the pleasure of dealing with you, but Clytius is my, ah, insurance. Just between you and me, as sister sorceresses, I think he's also here to keep my powers in check, in case I forget my new mistress's orders. Gaia is careful that way."
Hazel was tempted to protest that she wasn't a sorceress. She didn't want to know how Pasiphaë planned to 'deal' with them, or how the giant kept her magic in check. But she straightened her back and tried to look confident.
"Whatever you're planning," Hazel said, "it won't work. We've cut through every monster Gaia's put in our path. If you're smart, you'll get out of our way."
Gale the polecat gnashed her teeth in approval, but Pasiphaë didn't seem impressed.
"You don't look like much," the sorceress mused. "But then you demigods never do. My husband, Minos, king of Crete? He was a son of Zeus. You would never have known it by looking at him. He was almost as scrawny as that one." She flicked a hand towards Leo.
"Wow," muttered Leo. "Minos must've done something really horrible to deserve you."
Pasiphaë's nostrils flared. "Oh… you have no idea. He was too proud to make the proper sacrifices to Poseidon, so the gods punished me for his arrogance."
"The Minotaur," Hazel suddenly remembered.
The story was so revolting and grotesque Hazel had always shut her ears when they told it at Camp Jupiter. Pasiphaë had been cursed to fall in love with her husband's prize bull. She'd given birth to the Minotaur – half man, half bull.
Now, as Pasiphaë glared daggers at her, Hazel realized why her expression was so familiar. The sorceress had the same bitterness and hatred in her eyes that Hazel's mother sometimes had. In her worst moments, Marie Levesque would look at Hazel as if Hazel were a monstrous child, a curse from the gods, the source of all Marie's problems. That's why the Minotaur story bothered Hazel – not just the repellent idea of Pasiphaë and the bull but the idea that a child, any child, could be considered a monster, a punishment to its parents, to be locked away and hated. To Hazel, the Minotaur had always seemed like a victim in the story.
"Yes," Pasiphaë said at last. "My disgrace was unbearable. After my son was born and locked in the Labyrinth, Minos refused to have anything to do with me. He said I had ruined his reputation! And do you know what happened to Minos, Hazel Levesque? For his crimes and his pride? He was rewarded. He was made a judge of the dead in the Underworld, as if he had any right to judge others! Hades gave him that position. Your father."
"Pluto, actually."
Pasiphaë sneered. "Irrelevant. So you see, I hate demigods as much as I hate the gods. Any of your brethren who survive the war, Gaia has promised to me, so that I may watch them die slowly in my new domain. I only wish I had more time to torture you two properly. Alas –"
In the centre of the room, the Doors of Death made a pleasant chiming sound. The green UP button on the right side of the frame began to glow. The chains shook.
"There, you see?" Pasiphaë shrugged apologetically. "The Doors are in use. Twelve minutes, and they will open."
Hazel's gut trembled almost as much as the chains. "More giants?"
"Thankfully, no," said the sorceress. "They are all accounted for – back in the mortal world and in place for the final assault." Pasiphaë gave her a cold smile. "No, I would imagine the Doors are being used by someone else… someone unauthorized."
Leo inched forward. Smoke rose from his fists. "Percy and Annabeth."
Hazel couldn't speak. She wasn't sure whether the lump in her throat was from joy or frustration. If their friends had made it to the Doors, if they were really going to show up here in twelve minutes…
"Oh, not to worry." Pasiphaë waved her hand dismissively. "Clytius will handle them. You see, when the chime sounds again, someone on our side needs to push the UP button or the Doors will fail to open and whoever is inside – poof. Gone. Or perhaps Clytius will let them out and deal with them in person. That depends on you two."
Hazel's mouth tasted like tin. She didn't want to ask, but she had to. "How exactly does it depend on us?"
"Well, obviously, we need only one set of demigods alive,' Pasiphaë said. 'The lucky two will be taken to Athens and sacrificed to Gaia at the Feast of Hope."
"Obviously," Leo muttered.
"So will it be you two or your friends in the elevator?" The sorceress spread her hands. 'Let's see who is still alive in twelve… actually, eleven minutes, now."
The cavern dissolved into darkness.
Hazel's internal compass spun wildly.
She remembered when she had been very small, in New Orleans in the late 1930s, her mother had taken her to the dentist to get a bad tooth pulled. It was the first and only time Hazel had ever received ether. The dentist promised it would make her sleepy and relaxed, but Hazel felt like she was floating away from her own body, panicky and out of control. When the ether wore off, she'd been sick for three days.
This felt like a massive dose of ether.
Part of her knew she was still in the cavern. Pasiphaë stood only a few feet in front of them. Clytius waited silently at the Doors of Death.
But layers of Mist enfolded Hazel, twisting her sense of reality. She took one step forward and bumped into a wall that shouldn't have been there.
Leo pressed his hands against the stone. "What the heck? Where are we?"
A corridor stretched out to their left and right. Torches guttered in iron sconces. The air smelled of mildew, as in an old tomb. On Hazel's shoulder, Gale barked angrily, digging her claws into Hazel's collarbone.
"Yes, I know," Hazel muttered to the weasel. "It's an illusion."
Leo pounded on the wall. "Pretty solid illusion."
Pasiphaë laughed. Her voice sounded watery and far away. "Is it an illusion, Hazel Levesque, or something more? Don't you see what I have created?"
Hazel felt so off-balance she could barely stand, much less think straight. She tried to extend her senses, to see through the Mist and find the cavern again, but all she felt were tunnels splitting off in a dozen directions, going everywhere except forward.
Random thoughts glinted in her mind, like gold nuggets coming to the surface: Daedalus. The Minotaur locked away. Die slowly in my new domain.
"The Labyrinth," Hazel said. "She's remaking the Labyrinth."
"What now?" Leo had been tapping the wall with a ball-peen hammer, but he turned and frowned at her. "I thought the Labyrinth collapsed during that battle at Camp Half-Blood – like, it was connected to Daedalus' life force or something, and then he died."
Pasiphaë's voice clucked disapprovingly. "Ah, but I am still alive. You credit Daedalus with all the maze's secrets? I breathed magical life into his Labyrinth. Daedalus was nothing compared to me – the immortal sorceress, daughter of Helios, sister of Circe! Now the Labyrinth will be my domain."
"It's an illusion," Hazel insisted. "We just have to break through it."
Even as she said it, the walls seemed to grow more solid, the smell of mildew more intense.
"Too late, too late," Pasiphaë crooned. "The maze is already awake. It will spread under the skin of the earth once more while your mortal world is levelled. You demigods… you heroes… will wander its corridors, dying slowly of thirst and fear and misery. Or perhaps, if I am feeling merciful, you will die quickly, in great pain!"
Holes opened in the floor beneath Hazel's feet. She grabbed Leo and pushed him aside as a row of spikes shot upward, impaling the ceiling.
"Run!" she yelled.
Pasiphaë's laughter echoed down the corridor. "Where are you going, young sorceress? Running from an illusion?"
Hazel didn't answer. She was too busy trying to stay alive. Behind them, row after row of spikes shot towards the ceiling with a persistent thunk, thunk, thunk. She pulled Leo down a side corridor, leaped over a trip wire, then stumbled to a halt in front of a pit twenty feet across.
"How deep is that?" Leo gasped for breath. His trouser leg was ripped where one of the spikes had grazed him.
Hazel's senses told her that the pit was at least fifty feet straight down, with a pool of poison at the bottom. Could she trust her senses? Whether or not Pasiphaë had created a new Labyrinth, Hazel believed they were still in the same cavern, being made to run aimlessly back and forth while Pasiphaë and Clytius watched in amusement. Illusion or not: unless Hazel could figure out how to get out of this maze, the traps would kill them.
"Eight minutes now," said the voice of Pasiphaë. "I'd love to see you survive, truly. That would prove you worthy sacrifices to Gaia in Athens. But then, of course, we wouldn't need your friends in the elevator."
Hazel's heart pounded. She faced the wall to her left. Despite what her senses told her, that should be the direction of the Doors. Pasiphaë should be right in front of her. Hazel wanted to burst through the wall and throttle the sorceress. In eight minutes, she and Leo needed to be at the Doors of Death to let their friends out.
But Pasiphaë was an immortal sorceress with thousands of years of experience in weaving spells. Hazel couldn't defeat her through sheer willpower. She'd managed to fool the bandit Sciron by showing him what he expected to see. Hazel needed to figure out what Pasiphaë wanted most.
"Seven minutes now," Pasiphaë lamented. "If only we had more time! So many indignities I'd like you to suffer."
That was it, Hazel realized. She had to run the gauntlet. She had to make the maze more dangerous, more spectacular – make Pasiphaë focus on the traps rather than the direction the Labyrinth was leading.
"Leo, we're going to jump," Hazel said.
"But –"
"It's not as far as it looks. Go!" She grabbed his hand and they launched themselves across the pit.
When they landed, Hazel looked back and saw no pit at all – just a three-inch crack in the floor.
"Come on!" she urged.
They ran as the voice of Pasiphaë droned on. "Oh, dear, no. You'll never survive that way. Six minutes."
The ceiling above them cracked apart. Gale the weasel squeaked in alarm, but Hazel imagined a new tunnel leading off to the left – a tunnel even more dangerous, going in the wrong direction. The Mist softened under her will. The tunnel appeared, and they dashed to one side. Pasiphaë sighed with disappointment. "You really aren't very good at this, my dear."
But Hazel felt a spark of hope. She'd created a tunnel. She'd driven a small wedge into the magic fabric of the Labyrinth. The floor collapsed under them. Hazel jumped to one side, dragging Leo with her. She imagined another tunnel, veering back the way they'd come, but full of poisonous gas. The maze obliged.
"Leo, hold your breath," she warned.
They plunged through the toxic fog. Hazel's eyes felt like they were being rinsed in pepper juice, but she kept running.
"Five minutes," Pasiphaë said. "Alas! If only I could watch you suffer longer."
They burst into a corridor with fresh air. Leo coughed. "If only she would shut up."
They ducked under a bronze garrote wire. Hazel imagined the tunnel curving back towards Pasiphaë, ever so slightly. The Mist bent to her will. The walls of the tunnel began to close in on either side. Hazel didn't try to stop them. She made them close faster, shaking the floor and cracking the ceiling. She and Leo ran for their lives, following the curve as it brought them closer to what she hoped was the centre of the room.
"A pity," said Pasiphaë. 'I wish I could kill you and your friends in the elevator, but Gaia has insisted that two of you must be kept alive until the Feast of Hope, when your blood will be put to good use! Ah, well. I will have to find other victims for my Labyrinth. You two have been second-rate failures."
Hazel and Leo stumbled to a stop. In front of them stretched a chasm so wide, Hazel couldn't see the other side. From somewhere below in the darkness came the sound of hissing – thousands and thousands of snakes.
Hazel was tempted to retreat, but the tunnel was closing behind them, leaving them stranded on a tiny ledge. Gale the weasel paced across Hazel's shoulders and farted with anxiety.
"Okay, okay," Leo muttered. "The walls are moving parts. They gotta be mechanical. Give me a second."
"No, Leo," Hazel said. "There's no way back."
"But –"
"Hold my hand," she said. "On three."
"But –"
"Three!"
"What?"
Hazel leaped into the pit, pulling Leo with her. She tried to ignore his screaming and the flatulent weasel clinging to her neck. She bent all her will into redirecting the magic of the Labyrinth. Pasiphaë laughed with delight, knowing that any moment they would be crushed or bitten to death in a pit of snakes.
Instead, Hazel imagined a chute in the darkness, just to their left. She twisted in midair and fell towards it. She and Leo hit the chute hard and slid into the cavern, landing right on top of Pasiphaë.
"Ack!" The sorceress's head smacked against the floor as Leo sat down hard on her chest.
For a moment, the three of them and the weasel were a pile of sprawling bodies and flailing limbs. Hazel tried to draw her sword, but Pasiphaë managed to extricate herself first. The sorceress backed away; her hairdo bent sideways like a collapsed cake. Her dress was smeared with grease stains from Leo's tool belt.
"You miserable wretches!" she howled.
The maze was gone. A few feet away, Clytius stood with his back to them, watching the Doors of Death. By Hazel's calculation, they had about thirty seconds until their friends arrived. Hazel felt exhausted from her run through the maze while controlling the Mist, but she needed to pull off one more trick.
She had successfully made Pasiphaë see what she most desired. Now Hazel had to make the sorceress see what she most feared.
"You must really hate demigods," Hazel said, trying to mimic Pasiphaë's cruel smile. "We always get the better of you, don't we, Pasiphaë?"
"Nonsense!" screamed Pasiphaë. "I will tear you apart! I will –"
"We're always pulling the rug out from under your feet," Hazel sympathized. "Your husband betrayed you. Theseus killed the Minotaur and stole your daughter Ariadne. Now two second-rate failures have turned your own maze against you. But you knew it would come to this, didn't you? You always fall in the end."
"I am immortal!" Pasiphaë wailed. She took a step back, fingering her necklace. "You cannot stand against me!"
"You can't stand at all," Hazel countered. "Look."
She pointed at the feet of the sorceress. A trapdoor opened underneath Pasiphaë. She fell, screaming, into a bottomless pit that didn't really exist. The floor solidified. The sorceress was gone.
Leo stared at Hazel in amazement. "How did you –"
Just then the elevator dinged. Rather than pushing the UP button, Clytius stepped back from the controls, keeping their friends trapped inside.
"Leo!" Hazel yelled.
They were thirty feet away – much too far to reach the elevator – but Leo pulled out a screwdriver and chucked it like a throwing knife. An impossible shot. The screwdriver spun straight past Clytius and slammed into the UP button.
The Doors of Death opened with a hiss. Black smoke billowed out, and two bodies spilled face-first onto the floor – Percy and Annabeth, limp as corpses.
Hazel sobbed. "Oh, gods…"
She and Leo started forward, but Clytius raised his hand in an unmistakable gesture – stop. He lifted his massive reptilian foot over Percy's head.
The giant's smoky shroud poured over the floor, covering Annabeth and Percy in a pool of dark fog.
"Clytius, you've lost," Hazel snarled. "Let them go, or you'll end up like Pasiphaë."
The giant tilted his head. His diamond eyes gleamed. At his feet, Annabeth lurched like she'd hit a power line. She rolled on her back, black smoke coiling from her mouth.
"I am not Pasiphaë." Annabeth spoke in a voice that wasn't hers – the words as deep as a bass guitar. "You have won nothing."
"Stop that!"
Even from thirty feet away, Hazel could sense Annabeth's life force waning, her pulse becoming thready. Whatever Clytius was doing, pulling words from her mouth – it was killing her. Clytius nudged Percy's head with his foot. Percy's face lolled to one side.
"Not quite dead." The giant's words boomed from Percy's mouth. "A terrible shock to the mortal body, I would imagine, coming back from Tartarus. They'll be out for a while."
He turned his attention back to Annabeth. More smoke poured from between her lips. "I'll tie them up and take them to Porphyrion in Athens. Just the sacrifice we need. Unfortunately, that means I have no further use for you two."
"Oh, yeah?" Leo growled. "Well, maybe you got the smoke, buddy, but I've got the fire."
His hands blazed. He shot white-hot columns of flame at the giant, but Clytius's smoky aura absorbed them on impact. Tendrils of black haze travelled back up the lines of fire, snuffing out the light and heat and covering Leo in darkness. Leo fell to his knees, clutching at his throat.
"No!" Hazel ran towards him, but Gale chattered urgently on her shoulder – a clear warning.
"I would not." Clytius's voice reverberated from Leo's mouth. "You do not understand, Hazel Levesque. I devour magic. I destroy the voice and the soul. You cannot oppose me."
Black fog spread further across the room, covering Annabeth and Percy, billowing towards Hazel. Blood roared in Hazel's ears. She had to act – but how? If that black smoke could incapacitate Leo so quickly, what chance did she have?
"F-fire," she stammered in a small voice. "You're supposed to be weak against it."
The giant chuckled, using Annabeth's vocal cords this time. "You were counting on that, eh? It is true I do not like fire. But Leo Valdez's flames are not strong enough to trouble me."
Somewhere behind Hazel, a soft, lyrical voice said, "What about my flames, old friend?"
Gale squeaked excitedly and jumped from Hazel's shoulder, scampering to the entrance of the cavern where a blonde woman stood in a black dress, the Mist swirling around her.
The giant stumbled backwards, bumping into the Doors of Death.
"You," he said from Percy's mouth.
"Me," Hecate agreed.
She spread her arms. Blazing torches appeared in her hands.
"It has been millennia since I fought at the side of a demigod, but Hazel Levesque has proven herself worthy. What do you say, Clytius? Shall we play with fire?"
If the Giant had run away screaming, Hazel would've been grateful. Then they all could have taken the rest of the day off.
Clytius disappointed her.
When he saw the goddess's torches blazing, the giant seemed to recover his wits. He stomped his foot, shaking the floor and almost stepping on Annabeth's arm. Dark smoke billowed around him until Annabeth and Percy were totally hidden. Hazel could see nothing but the giant's gleaming eyes.
"Bold words." Clytius spoke from Leo's mouth. "You forget, goddess. When we last met, you had the help of Hercules and Dionysus – the most powerful heroes in the world, both of them destined to become gods. Now you bring… these?"
Leo's unconscious body contorted in pain.
"Stop it!" Hazel yelled.
She didn't plan what happened next. She simply knew she had to protect her friends. She imagined them behind her, the same way she'd imagined new tunnels appearing in Pasiphaë's Labyrinth. Leo dissolved. He reappeared at Hazel's feet, along with Percy and Annabeth. The Mist whirled around her, spilling over the stones and enveloping her friends. Where the white Mist met the dark smoke of Clytius, it steamed and sizzled, like lava rolling into the sea.
Leo opened his eyes and gasped. "Wh-what…?"
Annabeth and Percy remained motionless, but Hazel could sense their heartbeats getting stronger, their breath coming more evenly. On Hecate's shoulder, Gale the polecat barked with admiration.
The goddess stepped forward, her dark eyes glittering in the torchlight.
"You're right, Clytius. Hazel Levesque is not Hercules or Dionysus, but I think you will her find just as formidable."
Through the smoky shroud, Hazel saw the giant open his mouth. No words came out. Clytius sneered in frustration.
Leo tried to sit up. "What's going on? What can I –"
"Watch Percy and Annabeth." Hazel drew her spatha. "Stay behind me. Stay in the Mist."
"But –"
The look Hazel gave him must have been more severe than she realized.
Leo gulped. "Yeah, got it. White Mist good. Black smoke bad."
Hazel advanced. The giant spread his arms. The domed ceiling shook, and the giant's voice echoed through the room, magnified a hundred times.
Formidable? the giant demanded. It sounded as if he were speaking through a chorus of the dead, using all the unfortunate souls who'd been buried behind the dome's stelae. Because the girl has learned your magic tricks, Hecate? Because you allow these weaklings to hide in your Mist?
A sword appeared in the giant's hand – a Stygian iron blade much like Nico's, except five times the size. I do not understand why Gaia would find any of these demigods worthy of sacrifice. I will crush them like empty nutshells.
Hazel's fear turned to rage. She screamed. The walls of the chamber made a crackling sound like ice in warm water, and dozens of gems streaked towards the giant, punching through his armour like buckshot.
Clytius staggered backwards. His disembodied voice bellowed with pain. His iron breastplate was peppered with holes. Golden ichor trickled from a wound on his right arm. His shroud of darkness thinned. Hazel could see the murderous expression on his face.
You, Clytius growled. You worthless –
"Worthless?" Hecate asked quietly. "I'd say Hazel Levesque knows a few tricks even I could not teach her."
Hazel stood in front of her friends, determined to protect them, but her energy was fading. Her sword was already heavy in her hand, and she hadn't even swung it yet. She wished Arion were here. She could use the horse's speed and strength. Unfortunately, her equine friend would not be able to help her this time. He was a creature of the wide-open spaces, not the underground.
The giant dug his fingers into the wound on his biceps. He pulled out a diamond and flicked it aside. The wound closed.
So, daughter of Pluto, Clytius rumbled, do you really believe Hecate has your interests at heart? Circe was a favourite of hers. And Medea. And Pasiphaë. How did they end up, eh?
Behind her, Hazel heard Annabeth stirring, groaning in pain. Percy muttered something that sounded like, 'Bob-bob-bob?'
Clytius stepped forward, holding his sword casually at his side as if they were comrades rather than enemies. Hecate will not tell you the truth. She sends acolytes like you to do her bidding and take all the risk. If by some miracle you incapacitate me, only then will she be able to set me on fire. Then she will claim the glory of the kill. You heard how Bacchus dealt with the Alodai twins in the Colosseum. Hecate is worse. She is a Titan who betrayed the Titans. Then she betrayed the gods. Do you really think she will keep faith with you?
Hecate's face was unreadable.
"I cannot answer his accusations, Hazel," said the goddess. "This is your crossroads. You must choose."
Yes, crossroads. The giant's laughter echoed. His wounds seemed to have healed completely. Hecate offers you obscurity, choices, vague promises of magic. I am the anti-Hecate. I will give you truth. I will eliminate choices and magic. I will strip away the Mist, once and for all, and show you the world in all its true horror.
Leo struggled to his feet, coughing like an asthmatic.
"I'm loving this guy," he wheezed. "Seriously, we should keep him around for inspirational seminars." His hands ignited like blowtorches. "Or I could just light him up."
"Leo, no," Hazel said. "My father's temple. My call."
"Yeah, okay. But –"
"Hazel…" Annabeth wheezed.
Hazel was so elated to hear her friend's voice that she almost turned, but she knew she shouldn't take her eyes off Clytius.
"The chains…" Annabeth managed.
Hazel inhaled sharply. She'd been a fool! The Doors of Death were still open, shuddering against the chains that held them in place. Hazel had to cut them free so they would disappear – and finally be beyond Gaia's reach.
The only problem: a big smoky giant stood in her way.
You can't seriously believe you have the strength, Clytius chided. What will you do, Hazel Levesque – pelt me with more rubies? Shower me with sapphires?
Hazel gave him an answer. She raised her spatha and charged.
Apparently, Clytius hadn't expected her to be quite so suicidal. He was slow raising his sword. By the time he slashed, Hazel had ducked between his legs and jabbed her Imperial gold blade into his gluteus maximus. Not very ladylike. The nuns at St Agnes would never have approved. But it worked. Clytius roared and arched his back, waddling away from her. Mist still swirled around Hazel, hissing as it met the giant's black smoke.
Hazel realized that Hecate was assisting her – lending her the strength to keep up a defensive shroud. Hazel also knew that the instant her own concentration wavered and that darkness touched her, she would collapse. If that happened, she wasn't sure Hecate would be able – or willing – to stop the giant from crushing her and her friends.
Hazel sprinted towards the Doors of Death. Her blade shattered the chains on the left side like they were made of ice. She lunged to the right, but Clytius yelled, NO!
By sheer luck, she wasn't cut in half. The flat of the giant's blade caught her in the chest and sent her flying. She slammed into the wall and felt bones crack. Across the room, Leo screamed her name.
Through her blurry vision, she saw a flash of fire. Hecate stood nearby, her form shimmering as if she were about to dissolve. Her torches seemed to be flickering out, but it might just have been that Hazel was starting to lose consciousness.
She couldn't give up now. She forced herself to stand. Her side felt like it was embedded with razor blades. Her sword lay on the ground about five feet away. She staggered towards it.
"Clytius!" she shouted.
She meant it to sound like a brave challenge, but it came out as more of a croak.
At least it got his attention. The giant turned from Leo and the others. When he saw her limping forward, he laughed.
A good try, Hazel Levesque, Clytius admitted. You did better than I anticipated. But magic alone cannot defeat me, and you do not have sufficient strength. Hecate has failed you, as she fails all of her followers in the end.
The Mist around her was thinning. At the other end of the room, Percy was still pretty much out of it. Annabeth was awake but struggling, barely able to lift her head.
Hecate stood with her torches, watching and waiting – which infuriated Hazel so much, she found one last burst of energy. She threw her sword – not at the giant but at the Doors of Death. The chains on the right side shattered. Hazel collapsed in agony, her side burning, as the Doors shuddered and disappeared in a flash of purple light.
Clytius roared so loudly that a half-dozen stelae fell from the ceiling and shattered.
"That was for my brother, Nico," Hazel gasped. "And for destroying my father's altar."
You have forfeited your right to a quick death, the giant snarled. I will suffocate you in darkness, slowly, painfully. Hecate cannot help you. NO ONE can help you!
The goddess raised her torches. "I would not be so certain, Clytius. Hazel's friends simply needed a little time to reach her – time you have given them with your boasting and bragging."
Clytius snorted. What friends? These weaklings? They are no challenge.
In front of Hazel, the air rippled. The Mist thickened, creating a doorway, and eight people stepped through.
Hazel wept with relief. Frank's arm was bleeding and bandaged, but he was alive. Next to him stood Nico, Piper, Jason, Thalia and Fayden – all with their swords drawn. Further back, Aurelia was wielding her twin daggers with a determined, angry look on her face. Dia… Artemis looked at Clytius with disgust, her hands aflame with pulsing green fire.
"Sorry we're late," Jason said. "Is this the guy who needs killing?"
Fayden's POV
Fayden watched his body flip over a shadowy tendril, his katana slashing down. The shadows cascaded apart, reforming as the blade passed through them. He cursed, his mouth didn't.
This body is so weak, Tartarus sounded almost annoyed at yet another attempt to kill Clytius. How do you put up with it?
Fayden couldn't respond, simply watching, like a spectator to his own life. He didn't understand why Tartarus wasn't just using Fayden to attack his friends. He could have killed most of them, especially with the element of surprise.
Patience, Fayden. He could hear Tartarus' grin. I enjoy the struggle against this one. It has been so long since a fight had equal ground.
He tried to look around at his friends, but even his eyes were controlled by the primordial. He saw Jason flying towards Clytius' head, both feet forward as he collided with the giant's face. He wasn't proud of it, but Fayden retreated inside his head. There was no struggling – it felt like he was trapped inside someone else's body, not his own. He could do nothing, and was terrified that soon his thoughts might not be his own.
Another tendril shot towards him, but Nico was suddenly there, his Stygian Iron blade absorbing the shadows, its glittering darkness sharpening the blade. So much smoke leaked from the sword as Nico spun away, it looked as though the son of Hades was fighting Clytius with his own shadows.
He's convenient, Tartarus darted forward, the katana slashing at Clytius' thigh.
Fayden didn't like how similar their thoughts had been. The only thing he could say was convenient about this arrangement, was as Fayden watched himself get flung through the air, and collided so hard with the far wall, it cracked, he didn't feel a thing. It was only when a trickle blood obscured his eyes and Tartarus cursed, missing a swing, did he notice that his head was bleeding, badly.
Curse this pathetic form! Tartarus yelled. I've had enough of equal ground.
Fayden would have gasped at the sudden energy coursing through his body. He felt his body flex, all his wounds suddenly healing, all his energy returning. Suddenly wreathed in golden fire, Tartarus flung back into the fight, Fayden's katana swinging at lightning speeds. Nothing hit. Clytius' form weaved away from every slash, and Tartarus used Fayden's mouth to yell in frustration. Tossing the sword to the side, Fayden watched his knuckles crack, fists clenching.
"Fay? What are you doing?" Thalia yelled from across the cavern, her spear spinning in defense against two shadow tendrils.
Time for some real fun.
Tartarus ran full sprint at the giant, who turned, bellowing with laughter. Eight separate tendrils shot at Fayden, aiming to tie up his body. Nico slashed through two, and Fayden felt his body twist, and nothing hit him. He couldn't see exactly what he'd done, but as he landed, he was suddenly right in front of Clytius. Tartarus plunged his fists straight into the shadowy mass of the giant. Clytius screamed with pain as a deep red glow filled the two wounds.
"What is…" the giant bellowed, before he started disintegrating. His body fell away from Fayden's fists, collapsing against the wall and bursting into shadow.
Standing there, breathing heavily, Fayden was suddenly pinned against the floor, two daggers held to his throat.
"What was that?!"
Hecate was glaring at him, eyes wild with fear and anger. "Half bloods cannot kill Giants!" She yelled again.
Thalia was there, pulling the goddess off of him. "Hey! Leave him alone!"
Hecate turned to strike Thalia, before stopping. Breathing heavily, she growled, before stalking off towards Hazel. Thalia pulled Fayden to his feet, idly brushing him.
"How did you do that?" she sounded awestruck.
What should I make you say? Tartarus pondered. Shut it weakling? No? Possibly too obvious. I could just kill her…
Fayden's internal screaming went unheard as his body awkwardly stood there, like an automaton with no programming. Behind Thalia, the others crowded around Percy and Annabeth.
Maybe I'll still hidden for now.
In a frighteningly good use of Fayden's voice, a shaky reply, "I… I don't know, Thals."
His head looked down at his hands, which were suddenly shaking slightly. Taking both of them in hers, Thalia offered a half-smile, possibly trying to be reassuring, but she looked exhausted.
"Let's go see Percy and Annabeth," Thalia turned, and Fayden felt himself follow.
He watched his vision go hazy as he mentally retreated again. He couldn't watch Percy and Annabeth like this, I fear of what Tartarus would do.
These two, Tartarus growled. Annoying half-bloods if there ever was a pair.
Suddenly, a splitting headache tore Fayden's sight from him. It wasn't Tartarus, that was certain immediately, but his head screamed as a vision of the throne room on Olympus appeared. He could barely hear the words being spoken, the pain muffling his senses. What was going on?
"…up! I will stab you if I have to!"
As his vision cleared, he saw Athena, fully garbed in armour, her spear aimed at Zeus, who sat upon his throne, spasming in pain, his form flickering, a long purple toga appearing then disappearing, the pinstriped business fighting for its place. His facial hair kept flickering as well – from neatly cropped to clean shaven. Clean shaven Zeus was weird.
Suddenly, Athena's form joined her father, altering between Minerva and Athena, screams of pain causing her to drop her spear.
"No…stay…" she grunted.
Her form solidified as Athena again, and her spear jumped into her hand. As Fayden watched in shock, she thrust her spear into Zeus' shoulder. The King of the Gods bellowed in pain, and his form stopped flickering, becoming Zeus, ichor trickling down his chest, eyes mad with anger.
"Yes!" Athena cried out. "Focus on that pain, Zeus! The one that keeps you sane!"
"Ahh!" he bellowed. "Why…?!" he went to pull the spear from his shoulder. "How dare…"
"No!" His daughter rushed forward, twisting it further in. "The demigods need your help! The pain is keeping you from fighting your roman side temporarily!"
Jumping to his feet, Zeus yelled at Athena, "We don't directly interfere with their affairs!"
"We do when the Primordial of the Pit has taken over Fayden's body!"
Athena's shouted reply caused Zeus to freeze. "What?" His voice was icy, and Fayden could swear a small amount of fear caused the tremble in his voice.
"Tar…he has taken over Fayden's body. He seems determined to do something with him. I needn't explain to you how that half-blood, controlled by a primordial would be catastrophically bad?"
Zeus stood frozen, before his eyes swivelled straight at Fayden. Jumping slightly, Fayden looked down, seeing if he was still invisibly watching this.
"He's there, watching us," Zeus said, eyes still on him. "Fayden, I must offer my aid, but there is not much I can do against this primordial."
Fayden couldn't nod, but Zeus seemed to understand. "You need to protect my children," he continued. "What I'm about to do will hurt them greatly. They are too greatly attuned to my powers."
Fayden again tried to nod in agreement.
"Very well," Zeus waved his hand, and Fayden's vision faded, returning to his body.
What was that little one, Tartarus' voice echoed through his mind. I don't appreciate being closed off from your thoughts. How did you…
Fayden tried to ignore him, looking through his eyes at the scenes before him. The others were still crowding around Percy and Annabeth, and Fayden could hear Leo's whoop of joy. Fayden felt his hand clench something, and he recognised the familiar grip of his katana. His body started moving slowly towards the group. Frank was the closest to him, back turned like the rest of them. Tartarus raised his katana, and suddenly Thalia and Jason screamed with pain.
The others scrambled away, shouts of surprise echoing the cavern. The pair of them were on their knees, hands clutching their heads, screaming. Sparks of lightning flashed around their bodies. Fayden screamed in his head, desperate to run over to Thalia, but Tartarus just stood their and watched.
Interesting, he mused. What is that grumpy sky…
Suddenly, Tartarus' screams joined the symphony of pain, using Fayden's voice as he collapsed to the floor. Flashes of electricity danced before his eyes, and he felt his body contract sharply, as if it had been shocked. Suddenly, Fayden's eyes snapped to where he wanted to look. Thalia was rolling on the floor, her arms crackling with power, screams ever louder. Then Fayden's eyes were no longer his.
Another bolt of lightning warped Fayden's body, arcing his back into the air. The others were scrambling between them, panicked. Fayden scrambled to his feet, rushing towards Thalia. And Tartarus retook control, forcing Fayden to the ground, right beside his girlfriend.
Yet another bolt of lightning in his mind, and Jason screamed, his torso smoking. Fayden's voice suddenly rang out as he clutched Thalia's arm.
"Connect…their hands…"
Tartarus tried to pull his hand off of Thalia, but yet another bolt of electricity tensed his hand muscles, gripping her arm tighter. The other rushed over, pulling Jason's hand to Thalia's.
No! Tartarus roared.
Fayden watched in triumph as Jason's smoking hand gripped Thalia's, then cried out silently as his own was torn from her arm.
"No!" he yelled, before his voice was no longer his own.
I've had enough of this, Tartarus growled. Let's return to where no god can annoy me.
No! This time, it was Athena's voice in his mind. Zeus, do something!"
Tartarus dragged Fayden's body to his feet, running towards where the Doors of Death had sat. They weren't there, but cries of alarm from the others went unheard as Fayden raised his hands, and ripped the air apart. An overwhelmingly hot wind blasted his face, and he could just see behind this tear, a landscape of red rock and pulsating lava.
"No!" Piper's voice yelled above the others. "Fayden, what…!"
As Fayden's arm slipped inside the portal, Athena's voice bellowed across his mind. STYX! If this is his punishment, I will hunt you for eternity until you FADE!
Athena's voice was like a blade through his mind. Immortals using his head as a conference room was rather painful. Especially as this conference was still being frequently zapped by god-powered lightning bolts. His hand jerked from the portal and he watched as dark blueish-black aura surrounded his body. Another voice joined the cacophony.
He broke my oath, Styx hissed. You can do nothing, Daughter of Zeus.
Zeus' bolt gave Fayden another bout of freedom and he snapped his hand from the portal, stumbling backwards. Athena's voice hissed in turn,
Try me, you aggressive, hateful little…
Another bolt, mixed with the screams of pain behind him cut Athena off. His body was still glowing, and he suddenly realised it was Styx, the blue-black aura was her, but what was she doing?
"Fayden! Fayden!"
The others were still yelling at him. In the brief seconds between excruciating pain and the mental bolts, Fayden imagined what it must look like for them – Fayden standing before a portal to Tartarus, as if he wanted jump into it, getting zapped by lightning as he glowed blue.
And suddenly it didn't matter. His pain vanished. His thoughts vanished, lucidity hitting him like a truck, but he couldn't feel the impact. Another layer of reality washed over him, and he realised what had happened. By pure chance, Athena had yelled another blade of insults, Zeus had struck him again, Styx had burned her aura closer to his body, and Tartarus had forced his mind back into the Primordials control all at the exact same time. The sensation overloaded him, and Fayden watched from a bird's eye view as his body fell limp against the floor.
There's no way I died again, he thought to himself. But no, its different. What happened?
He watched Piper and Leo rush to his body, the others still watching over Thalia, Jason, Percy and Annabeth. He watched as Thalia and Jason slowly stopped shuddering, lying there, gasping for breath. And he watched as a strong, red gasp of force bellow with anger as it fled through the portal into Tartarus, closing it behind him. But what was happening to him? He had no desire to find Charon, as he had last time. He wasn't dead.
You, an angry snarl. Need to stop befriending immortals.
It was Styx. How could she talk to him?
Cause its me doing this you fool. I knew all of the interference in your brain would kill you, so I shielded you from death.
You, Fayden frowned. Did what? Won't Hades be…
I'd rather have Hades pissed at me than Zeus and Athena, Styx growled. But if you keep befriending these gods, you will find yourself a victim of the pettiest of them. What will you do if they ask you to choose sides? How stable do you think that Pantheon really is?
Why, Fayden paused. Why did you help me? You wanted me in Tartarus.
Wrong. Styx's voice held a small smiled edge. I wanted you punished for breaking my oath. Tartarus was a little…what is the modern slang for it…overkill? But it worked. I did not want you dead. And I certainly did not want Zeus to hound me for centuries after today for killing you. There's not much he can do to me, but his voice is annoying, and those bolts of lightning have a habit of spreading through rivers rather rapidly.
So, Fayden watched as his spectral form slowly floated towards his limp body. What do you want now?
Styx was definitely grinning. Kill Gaia, as that might distract Zeus away from me. Or, you know, let her kill Zeus, it would achieve the same outcome. But above all, stop using my oath. You are frightfully bad at upholding them.
I swear on the…Fayden paused.
I hate you so much, Demi-Titan.
And his mind went blank.
He felt someone lying beside him. His eyes blinked into focus. He was in… a bed? Looking around, he saw a table with a few pills and what was definitely ambrosia. A medbay? As his body regained his feeling, felt the weight next him. Peering down, he saw Thalia, curled up next him, head on his arm, hair a complete mess, with a few bandages on her arms, snoring softly. Trying not to laugh or move, he simply settled back into the bed, eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling. He couldn't hear any other noises, except the faint clanging of metal. The gentle rocking of the entire room made him think he was probably on the Argo II. His entire body had regained its feeling, and the aches had started. So, he rolled his head slightly, resting against Thalia's spiky locks, her smell comforting him. He barely had the energy to smile, before he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
Percy's POV
"Hey, Reyna," Annabeth called. "Have some food. Join us."
The praetor glanced over, her dark eyebrows furrowed, as if join us didn't quite compute. Percy had never seen Reyna without her armour before. It was onboard the ship, being repaired by Buford the Wonder Table. She wore a pair of jeans and a purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt and looked almost like a normal teenager – except for the knife at her belt and that guarded expression, like she was ready for an attack from any direction.
"All right," she said finally.
They scooted over to make room for her in the circle. She sat cross-legged next to Annabeth, picked up a cheese sandwich and nibbled at the edge.
"So," Reyna said. "Frank Zhang… praetor."
Frank shifted, wiping crumbs from his chin. "Well, yeah. Field promotion."
"To lead a different legion," Reyna noted. "A legion of ghosts."
Hazel put her arm protectively through Frank's. After an hour in sick bay, they both looked a lot better, but Percy could tell they weren't sure what to think about their old boss from Camp Jupiter dropping in for lunch.
"Reyna," Jason said, "you should've seen him."
Jason didn't look much better than Percy. A couple of bandages on his face, and his hair was still a complete spiked mess, like he was constantly in contact with static. Percy hadn't fully realised the absolute chaos that had followed Clytius' death, but he knew Thalia was still up in the Argo II, looking not much better. And Fayden – who Percy had been told had died. Again. That guy, he thought. Its like he was trying to one up everyone's trauma… and succeeding.
"He was amazing," Piper cut through his thoughts.
"Frank is a leader," Hazel insisted. "He makes a great praetor."
Reyna's eyes stayed on Frank, like she was trying to guess his weight. "I believe you," she said. "I approve."
Frank blinked. "You do?"
Reyna smiled dryly. "A son of Mars, the hero who helped to bring back the eagle of the legion… I can work with a demigod like that. I'm just wondering how to convince the Twelfth Fulminata."
Frank scowled. "Yeah. I've been wondering the same thing."
Percy still couldn't get over how much Frank had changed. A 'growth spurt' was putting it mildly. He was at least three inches taller, less pudgy and bulkier, like a linebacker. His face looked sturdier; his jawline more rugged. It was as if Frank had turned into a bull and then back to human, but he'd kept some of the bullishness.
"The legion will listen to you, Reyna," Frank said. "You made it here alone, across the ancient lands."
Reyna chewed her sandwich as if it were cardboard. "In doing so, I broke the laws of the legion."
"Caesar broke the law when he crossed the Rubicon," Frank said. "Great leaders have to think outside the box sometimes."
She shook her head. "I'm not Caesar. After finding Jason's note in Diocletian's Palace, tracking you down was easy. I only did what I thought was necessary."
Percy couldn't help smiling. "Reyna, you're too modest. Flying halfway across the world by yourself to answer Annabeth's plea, because you knew it was our best chance for peace? That's pretty freaking heroic."
Reyna shrugged. "Says the demigod who fell into Tartarus and found his way back."
"He had help," Annabeth said.
"Oh, obviously," Reyna said. "Without you, I doubt Percy could find his way out of a paper bag."
"True," Annabeth agreed.
"Hey!" Percy complained.
The others started laughing, but Percy didn't mind. It felt good to see them smile. Heck, just being in the mortal world felt good, breathing un-poisonous air, enjoying actual sunshine on his back. Suddenly he thought of Bob. Tell the sun and stars hello for me. Percy's smile melted. Bob and Damasen had sacrificed their lives so that Percy and Annabeth could sit here now, enjoying the sunlight and laughing with their friends.
It wasn't fair.
Leo pulled a tiny screwdriver from his tool belt. He stabbed a chocolate-covered strawberry and passed it to Coach Hedge. Then he pulled out another screwdriver and speared a second strawberry for himself.
Piper suddenly said, "So…about what happened down there…"
Percy could see her face was still sombre, and one of her arms was clutching Jason's so tightly, as if she expected a hole to open up and swallow him.
Reyna looked confused – she'd received, veiled, incomplete stories about what had happened to Fayden and Thalia. Jason cringed at the question, as if still feeling the pain. Annabeth had that look she always got when she was about to say something smart, but even she hadn't seen everything.
"I…I don't know," Hazel shrugged. "I felt Fayden's life force get stronger, but he looked dead? I think only he can truly explain what had happened."
"I'd like to know why Jupiter was trying to kill me," Jason sounded angry. "I thought he was too busy being schizophrenic?"
Annabeth nodded. "Yes, that's what I was thinking. Godly intervention clearly happened; Fayden interacts with Gods as much as he does with us."
Percy smiled softly. Leo coughed slightly. "Um, I think pondering this is going to go nowhere? Fayden will tell us, meanwhile… we've got this slightly used forty-foot-tall statue of Athena. What do we do with it?"
Reyna squinted at the Athena Parthenos. "As fine as it looks on this hill, I didn't come all this way to admire it. According to Annabeth, it must be returned to Camp Half-Blood by a Roman leader. Do I understand correctly?"
Annabeth nodded. "I had a dream down in… you know, Tartarus. I was on Half-Blood Hill, and Athena's voice said, I must stand here. The Roman must bring me."
Percy studied the statue uneasily. He'd never had the best relationship with Annabeth's mom. He kept expecting Big Mama Statue to come alive and chew him out for getting her daughter into so much trouble – or maybe just step on him without a word.
"It makes sense," Nico said.
Percy flinched. It almost sounded like Nico had read his mind and was agreeing that Athena should step on him. The son of Hades sat at the other end of the circle, eating nothing but half a pomegranate, the fruit of the Underworld. Percy wondered if that was Nico's idea of a joke.
"The statue is a powerful symbol," Nico said. "A Roman returning it to the Greeks… that could heal the historic rift, maybe even heal the gods of their split personalities."
Coach Hedge swallowed his strawberry along with half the screwdriver. "Now, hold on. I like peace as much as the next satyr…"
"You hate peace," Leo said.
"The point is, Valdez, we're only – what, a few days from Athens? We've got an army of giants waiting for us there. We went to all the trouble of saving this statue…"
"I went to most of the trouble," Annabeth reminded him.
"… because that prophecy called it the giants' bane," the coach continued. "So why aren't we taking it to Athens with us? It's obviously our secret weapon." He eyed the Athena Parthenos. "It looks like a ballistic missile to me. Maybe if Valdez strapped some engines to it…"
Piper cleared her throat. "Uh, great idea, Coach, but a lot of us have had dreams and visions of Gaia rising at Camp Half-Blood…"
She unsheathed her dagger Katoptris and set it on her plate. At the moment, the blade showed nothing except sky, but looking at it still made Percy uncomfortable.
"Since we got back to the ship," Piper said, "I've been seeing some bad stuff in the knife. The Roman legion is almost within striking distance of Camp Half-Blood. They're gathering reinforcements: spirits, eagles, wolves."
"Octavian," Reyna growled. "I told him to wait."
"When we take over command," Frank suggested, "our first order of business should be to load Octavian into the nearest catapult and fire him as far away as possible."
"Agreed," Reyna said. "But for now…"
"He's intent on war," Annabeth put in. "He'll have it, unless we stop him."
Piper turned the blade of her knife. "Unfortunately, that's not the worst of it. I saw images of a possible future – the camp in flames, Roman and Greek demigods lying dead. And Gaia…" Her voice failed her.
Percy remembered the god Tartarus in physical form, looming over him. He'd never felt such helplessness and terror. He still burned with shame, remembering how his sword had slipped out of his hand.
You might as well try to kill the earth, Tartarus had said.
If Gaia was that powerful, and she had an army of giants at her side, Percy didn't see how seven demigods could stop her, especially when most of the gods were incapacitated. They had to stop the giants before Gaia woke, or it was game over.
If the Athena Parthenos was a secret weapon, taking it to Athens was pretty tempting. Heck, Percy kind of liked the coach's idea of using it as a missile and sending Gaia up in a godly nuclear mushroom cloud.
Unfortunately, his gut told him that Annabeth was right. The statue belonged back on Long Island, where it might be able to stop the war between the two camps.
"So Reyna takes the statue," Percy said. "And we continue on to Athens."
Leo shrugged. "Cool with me. But, uh, a few pesky logistical problems. We got what – two weeks until that Roman feast day when Gaia is supposed to rise?"
"The Feast of Tyche,' a voice cut in.
Percy jumped slightly, turning. Artemis stood there, staring at them all.
"That's on the first of August. Today is… July eighteenth."
Percy stared at Artemis. He was still having trouble with this whole 'Artemis is mortal now'. It wasn't something to just take in stride. That being said, there was another Demi-Titan at the dinner table, who'd stayed quiet the whole time, which also twisted Percy's brain. He watched… Aurelia? She just silently stared at her food. It was weird how everyone ignored her. It was like, if he stared too long, she seemed to slowly fade from his vision. But if he glanced and looked back, there she was. Weird, magical urban camouflage.
Looking back at Artemis, he noticed he wasn't the only one nervously watching her. The ex-goddess didn't sit, but circled around the table, looking back up at the Argo II, worry for the first time breaking her stoicism. He supposed she wanted to know how Thalia was doing. Knowing Fayden, she probably hated him.
Hazel winced. "It took us eighteen days to get from Rome to here – a trip that should've only taken two or three days, max."
"So, given our usual luck," Leo said, "maybe we have enough time to get the Argo II to Athens, find the giants and stop them from waking Gaia. Maybe. But how is Reyna supposed to get this massive statue back to Camp Half-Blood before the Greeks and Romans put each other through the blender? She doesn't even have her pegasus any more. Uh, sorry…"
"Fine," Reyna snapped. She might be treating them like allies rather than enemies, but Percy could tell Reyna still had a not-so-soft spot for Leo, probably because he'd blown up half the Forum in New Rome.
She took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, Leo is correct. I don't see how I can transport something so large. I was assuming – well, I was hoping you all would have an answer."
"The Labyrinth," Hazel said. "I – I mean, if Pasiphaë really has reopened it, and I think she has…"
She looked at Percy apprehensively. "Well, you said the Labyrinth could take you anywhere. So maybe…"
"No." Percy and Annabeth spoke in unison.
"Not to shoot you down, Hazel," Percy said. "It's just…"
He struggled to find the right words. How could he describe the Labyrinth to someone who'd never explored it? Daedalus had created it to be a living, growing maze. Over the centuries it had spread like the roots of a tree under the entire surface of the world. Sure, it could take you anywhere. Distance inside was meaningless. You could enter the maze in New York, walk ten feet and exit the maze in Los Angeles – but only if you found a reliable way to navigate. Otherwise the Labyrinth would trick you and try to kill you at every turn. When the tunnel network had collapsed after Daedalus died, Percy had been relieved. The idea that the maze was regenerating itself, honeycombing its way under the earth again and providing a spacious new home for monsters… that didn't make him happy. He had enough problems already.
"For one thing," he said, "the passages in the Labyrinth are way too small for the Athena Parthenos. There's no chance you could take it down there…"
"And even if the maze is reopening," Annabeth continued, "we don't know what it might be like now. It was dangerous enough before, under Daedalus's control, and he wasn't evil. If Pasiphaë has remade the Labyrinth the way she wanted…" She shook her head. "Hazel, maybe your underground senses could guide Reyna through, but no one else would stand a chance. And we need you here. Besides, if you got lost down there…"
"You're right," Hazel said glumly. "Never mind."
Reyna cast her eyes around the group. "Other ideas?"
"I could go," Frank offered, not sounding very happy about it. 'If I'm a praetor, I should go. Maybe we could rig some sort of sled, or…"
"No, Frank Zhang." Reyna gave him a weary smile. "I hope we will work side by side in the future, but for now your place is with the crew of this ship. You are one of the seven of the prophecy."
"I'm not," Nico said.
Everybody stopped eating. Percy stared across the circle at Nico, trying to decide if he was joking.
Hazel set down her fork. "Nico…"
"I'll go with Reyna," he said. "I can transport the statue with shadow-travel."
"Uh…" Percy raised his hand. "I mean, I know you just got all eight of us to the surface, and that was awesome. But a year ago you said transporting just yourself was dangerous and unpredictable. A couple of times you ended up in China. Transporting a forty-foot statue and two people halfway across the world…"
"I've changed since I came back from Tartarus." Nico's eyes glittered with anger – more intensely than Percy understood. He wondered if he'd done something to offend the guy.
"Nico," Jason intervened, "we're not questioning your power. We just want to make sure you don't kill yourself trying."
"I can do it," he insisted. "I'll make short jumps – a few hundred miles each time. It's true, after each jump I won't be in any shape to fend off monsters. I'll need Reyna to defend me and the statue."
Reyna had an excellent poker face. She studied the group, scanning their faces, but betraying none of her own thoughts. "Any objections?"
No one spoke.
"Very well," she said, with the finality of a judge. If she'd had a gavel, Percy suspected she would have banged it. "I see no better option. But there will be many monster attacks. I would feel better taking a third person. That's the optimal number for a quest."
"Coach Hedge," Frank blurted.
Percy stared at him, not sure he'd heard correctly. "Uh, what, Frank?"
"The coach is the best choice," Frank said. "The only choice. He's a good fighter. He's a certified protector. He'll get the job done."
"A faun," Reyna said.
"Satyr!" barked the coach. "And, yeah, I'll go. Besides, when you get to Camp Half-Blood, you'll need somebody with connections and diplomatic skills to keep the Greeks from attacking you. Just let me go make a call – er, I mean, get my baseball bat."
He got up and shot Frank an unspoken message that Percy couldn't quite read. Despite the fact that he'd just been volunteered for a likely suicide mission, the coach looked grateful. He jogged off towards the ship's ladder, tapping his hooves together like an excited kid.
Nico rose. "I should go, too, and rest before the first passage. We'll meet at the statue at sunset."
Once he was gone, Hazel frowned. "He's acting strangely. I'm not sure he's thinking this through."
"He'll be okay," Jason said.
"I hope you're right." She passed her hand over the ground. Diamonds broke the surface – a glittering milky way of stones. 'We're at another crossroads. The Athena Parthenos goes west. The Argo II goes east. I hope we chose correctly."
"What about us?" Aurelia had finally spoken. She was looking at Artemis. "After Fayden and Thalia have rested…"
Artemis sighed, looking back up at the Argo II. "We'll go to Athens with the Seven."
Annabeth frowned. "Don't you have your own quest?"
Artemis stared at her, and Percy didn't like the look. Artemis didn't seem to like anyone at the moment, but he supposed given her situation. Still her glare made Percy twitch his hand towards his pocket.
"Yes. And I figured out where one of my trials are. Possibly all three."
Annabeth frowned. "No offence, Artemis, but prophecies usually aren't that…"
"Yes, yes, my brother is a nuisance, I'm perfectly aware. But the line 'temple of maternity', must refer to my Brauroneion."
"Your brownie-what-now?" Leo blurted.
Artemis glared at him. "It was a temple young girls worshipped me at, specifically worshipping my roles in childbirth and motherhood. And it lies walking distance from the Parthenon, within the Acropolis."
Percy found that awfully convenient – but having four extra fighters in this Giant faceoff sounded helpful. Especially two demi-titans and an ex-goddess.
"What about the others?" Annabeth queried.
Artemis shrugged. "My birthplace is Delos. But my temple twice destroyed. I'm not sure. It might still be destroyed, and so… underground."
They were all silent. Underground was not somewhere Artemis – or anyone, for that matter, should be going. Gaia would love to remove one of the pantheon permanently.
Percy wished he could say something encouraging, but he felt unsettled.
"One thing bothers me," he said. "If the Feast of Tyche... or Spes... whatever... is in two weeks, and Gaia needs the blood of two demigods to wake – what did Clytius call it? The blood of Olympus? – then aren't we doing exactly what Gaia wants, heading to Athens? If we don't go, and she can't sacrifice any of us, doesn't that mean she can't wake up fully?"
Annabeth took his hand. He drank in the sight of her now that they were back in the mortal world, without the Death Mist, her blonde hair catching the sunlight – even if she was still thin and wan, like him, and her grey eyes were stormy with thought.
"Percy, prophecies cut both ways," she said. "If we don't go, we may lose our best and only chance to stop her. Athens is where our battle lies. We can't avoid it. Besides, trying to thwart prophecies never works. Gaia could capture us somewhere else or spill the blood of some other demigods."
"She's right," a voice came from behind them.
Swiveling in his seat once again, Percy couldn't help but wish he didn't have so many travel companions. They kept sneaking up on him like character introductions in a bad Sitcom.
Fayden was limping towards them, Thalia alongside him, leaning against each other. Piper, Leo and Jason were immediately on their feet, rushing over.
"What are you doing? You needed to stay…" both Leo and Piper were worrying over them as Jason wrapped Thalia in a massive hug.
Percy watched Fayden collapse into Piper as his support was being slowly crushed by her brother. Coughing, he pulled away, trying to smile at Piper.
"Its okay. I'm totally…" he broke into a coughing fit. "…totally fine."
As Jason pulled away, Thalia also broke out coughing, "Thanks, bro. I don't need my lungs to… breathe."
Jason flushed with embarrassment, then grinned. Leading her back over to the table, he settled her into on the empty chairs. Leo had brought out enough for everyone on the hill, and three had been empty this whole time. Fayden collapsed into the other one, and Artemis finally sat in the last one.
Percy watched Fayden closely. He noticed that he was not the only one. Annabeth, Reyna, Nico and Hazel all had their eyes on him. As he looked up, he grinned at them all.
"Percy! How was Tartarus?"
Percy shook his head. "Too hot, if I'm being honest."
Fayden croaked a laugh, turning to Annabeth. His smile softened, "How are you?"
Annabeth smiled back. "I've been better. As have you."
Fayden shrugged. "I've been worse."
Thalia elbowed him slightly. "That's a not a good thing, Fay."
She'd slumped against him, their chairs shuffled next to each other. Percy had found their relationship very strange – mainly because he was still used to the Thalia who electrocuted you for annoying her too much. With Fayden, she softened massively, almost acting like a girl. Then again, Fayden did the same, their demeanour for each other was completely different than the rest of them, like they had their own secret language.
As Piper took her seat again, she immediately demanded, "What happened?"
All eyes turned to Fayden this time. The demi-titan gazed at the sunset. "Oh man, this is a long story."
Thalia snorted. "That's an understatement. He just told me, and I can't tell if I want to stab him or hug him and never let go."
Annabeth grinned wickedly. "We're always like that with him."
"Hey!" Fayden's grin seemed real this time.
The mood dipped as no one spoke for a second, then Piper broke the tension. "Well. I'm not leaving until Fayden has told me everything." She held up her cornucopia. "So who wants dessert?"
I can tell this is gonna be a hit-or-miss chapter. Cause I completely winged it. Improv in every sentence lol. This is a first draft after months of ignoring this fanfic, and I just went with the first ideas in my head every step.
So some of you might go 'Yes. Awesome!' and others might go 'You're a dick, and your story continuity is addicted to crack its so fucked'.
And you know what, both of you are right.
And I don't care. ;)