Percy and Aika rode side by side, the weight of their quests fading to the background in the midst of the other's company.
It was a blessing, riding with Artemis. Percy no longer felt the overbearing paranoia that came with riding alone through the unfamiliarity of the Greek peaks and plains. He didn't have to look over his shoulder to see if Dolos was nearby, or avoid a town with suspected Spartan allegiance. They could simply let Artemis and her Hunt guide them, watch for them, and help them.
Was it a miniscule amount of the sheer pressure on his shoulders? Yes. But any relief was relief.
Aika looked at Percy, a slight smile on her face. That smile split into a grin as Percy matched her expression, radiating even more light than Apollo's domain did. They rode in a comfortable silence, blanketed by the other's presence, horses plodding along the path to a hopeful resolution.
He turned his sight back to the dirt path in front of them. He could see a few flashes of silver amongst the trees, running alongside them - Artemis said following them on foot was training. Only her and Aura had been given the privilege of riding a horse, the former in front and the latter trailing.
Percy turned back to Aika, who was still staring at him, an affectionate smile still adorning her face.
"What?" He asked playfully.
She blinked, refocusing her eyes before turning back to the road. "Ah, nothing."
Percy studied her, who was pointedly looking anywhere but him. He didn't miss the slight redness of her cheeks.
"Sure." He turned back to the road, all smiles.
"Gross."
He hadn't noticed Aura pull up beside him. Her voice spooked him, and he nearly fell off his horse at her proclamation.
"Jesus, Aura! Scared the shit out of me!" He clutched at his heart.
Aura cocked her head. "What's Jesus?"
"Oh, uh… you'll see?"
"...Right."
"Yeah, he's from… ah, never mind."
Aura narrowed her eyes, before continuing in a hushed tone. "I need to talk to you. About Aika."
Percy pursed his lips. "Ok, talk."
She slowed her horse, gesturing for him to do the same. Aika looked back at Percy, concerned, but he waved her attention away, throwing her a grin and a wink. Her eyes lit up once more, before turning away. Aika rode away, giving them some space.
Aura looked at Percy, a worried look on her face. She leant to him, speaking in a low tone.
"It's… well, you see…"
"What is it, Aura?"
"I think I know who her father is."
Percy reeled back. He tried yelling out a shocked "What?!" But Aura was quicker, clamping her hand over his mouth, muffling the sound of his vocal chords.
Hand still over Percy's mouth, she raised her pointer finger to her lips, making the universal sign for 'please, shut up.' She gave him a pointed look, to which he nodded, rewarded by the removal of her hand.
"What the hell, Aura?!" He spat it out quietly, a venomous tone seeping into his voice.
Aura was unperturbed, speaking calmly in a tone reminiscent of speaking to a child. "Please. Hear me out."
He leant back, taking a series of deep breaths, calming himself from lashing out against the hunter.
"Talk."
Aura gave a deep breath. "Tell me about her powers. As you saw them."
"I mean, it was like a jet of air. Not like a wind gust, though. You could physically see the air move, like it was in a solid tunnel." He thought back to the frantic escape from Dolos. "The air punched the god, it shot him back at least a mile, if I had to guess. She didn't know her own strength."
"Anything else?"
"She moves really… sneakily? She can hide practically instantly. It's like she melts into the earth - one second, she's standing next to you, the other, she's invisible in the trees."
"And, let me guess. She's not overly fond of oceans, or open plains?"
Percy cocked his eyebrow. "...yeah. That's nearly identical to how she put it."
Aura looked down, a blank look on her face. She was quiet for a moment.
"How did you know that?"
She set her mouth in a hard line, turning back towards Percy. She spoke with a harsh conviction, sad yet resolute.
"Because I have those exact same powers and limitations."
"...What?"
Aura raised her open hand, and a small cylinder of air formed above it, a quiet jet shooting into the air. The vibrations were evident against the sky, and Percy's jaw dropped. It vanished nary a second later, but it existed long enough to note the similarities between Aura's and Aika's powers.
"Because she's almost certainly my sister."
The shoe dropped.
Percy stared at Aura, slack-jawed and eyes wide. For a solid thirty seconds, he couldn't talk, the surprise from the revelation the only emotion prevalent. This felt too good to be true.
Finally. A discovery, instead of a mystery.
Percy stuttered. "You… you're her… sister?!"
She nodded, but it was a forlornly gesture. "Please, keep your voice down. I can't tell her."
"Tell her! She deserves to know that she has family around! And she deserves to know who her father is!" Percy was incensed at the secrecy Aura desired. "Everything she's done for years was in order to find clues to her heritage. She wouldn't be here, I wouldn't have met her, if she was content with who she was. She has a right to know!"
"Perseus-"
"No! Tell me who her father is, if you're not going to tell me. She needs to know! It's been her mission for years!"
"I can't do that!" She exclaimed defeatedly.
"You won't do that, you mean." Percy snarled.
"You don't think I want to? I do, Percy. I want a sister, but I… I can't."
"Why not?!"
"Because it would kill her!"
Oh.
Aura breathed shakily, turning her attention to the road in front of her. The only sound was the plodding of the horses along the mud. She seemed to grapple with herself, mouth opening and closing as she searched for the right words.
"My… her… our father, he's not tolerated. Or, no… our father is someone Olympus wants to end."
"What?" Percy was flabbergasted.
She plowed on. "If Aika knew who her father was, soon enough Olympus would find him. And they likely wouldn't stop at him alone."
"You're telling me that if Zeu… Olympus found out about her parentage, they'd drop everything to kill her?"
"Wouldn't be surprised," she scoffed.
"Well, why aren't you dead?"
"I should be," she said spitefully. "They tried. But by the time they found me, Artemis had taken me into the Hunt - they didn't want to provoke a war. Artemis didn't know when she inducted me, but luckily she's one of the only ones up there that doesn't think we're evil incarnate."
Percy shook his head, taking a breath. "All this does is make me want to know her father even more."
Aura slapped her hands together. "Exactly. Imagine what it would do to her!"
The point had merit, Percy acknowledged.
"What if she joined the Hunt? Would that work?"
"Do you really think Aika would join the Hunt?" She asked wryly.
"If her life was in danger, I'm sure it would be appealing," Percy said.
"Right, that's fair. And you can talk to her about it. But I highly doubt that she'd join without actually learning who her father is." She shook her head. "And I'd bet good money the Olympians would see a second child of an opposition Titan join the same force. They'd think it was infiltration, and might move against us."
"A Titan?"
She palmed her face. "Fuck. Forgive me, father, my mouth runs too much."
"What about Zoë? She's also the daughter of a Titan."
"It's different, Perseus." Aura was exasperated. "The Hesperides, they're trusted by Olympus. For whatever reason, they atoned for the sins of their father, enough for Hera to put her damn wedding present in their care. But our father," she gestured to herself, and then down the road, "he hasn't atoned. Not even fucking close. He still actively works against the Gods, and even if we don't support him, Olympus still wants to hurt him. So they'd hurt Aika."
"Shit." Percy pinched his nose, tired. "So… Aika, and yourself, are daughters of a Titan who fought the Gods, still fights the Gods, and you fear Aika could be killed by the Gods as an attack against your father. You lucked out by being part of the Hunt and causing a temporary truce, but if Aika joined the Hunt, the gods would probably move against Artemis for being a Titan sympathizer."
She took a shaky breath. "Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much, yeah."
"Shit."
"Yup."
They rode in silence once more, although the hooves sounded more thunderous than before. Percy looked out onto the path cresting the hill in front of them, the peaks of Mount Olympus towering into the skies into the distance. No longer did the mountain seem a welcome safe haven in the wilds of Greece - now, it was just another threat.
The weight of the world came crashing down once more on Percy's shoulders.
"What do we do?"
She remained quiet. An avoidant pensiveness.
"Aura?"
Aura snapped out of her trance-like thinking, looking back up down the long road they rode. "Right. Well. Two options, in my eyes, that wouldn't lead to all-out Olympian warfare. One… you keep her in the dark, completely, and you don't tell her about her parentage or any family members."
Percy glared. "Not an option."
She raised her hands in self-defense. "I know, I know! That leads me to Option Two. I know where he lives, or one of the places he frequents. If you bring Aika there, he might have a way to protect her. Watch over her, maybe."
"Just maybe?" Percy's eyebrows jumped.
"Just maybe." She breathed out through her nostrils. "Go to Meteora, on the Plain of Thessaly, to the top of the tallest pillar. I've only met him twice, and both times asked me to visit him there. I never got the chance." She looked down at her horse, a forlorn expression on her face. "He may not be a fan of the Gods, but I don't think he would turn away his own flesh and blood. He cares, in his own way."
"So we go to Meteora, I show Aika to her yet-to-be-named father, and… that's it? Hope for the best?"
She nodded sadly. "Aika was not born into a kind situation, and her digging is only endangering her. I'm sorry, but if you're going to protect her… it's not going to be easy. You might have to fight most of Olympus to do it."
The looming peak in front of them seemed twice as tall now.
What did Percy have in store for his future? Why was he here?
"Thanks, Aura."
"I wish you luck, Perseus. If anyone deserves a good life, it's her. I'm glad you can try and make that real."
Percy looked once more ahead of him, spying Aika's horse a bit in the distance, the eponymous girl riding nearly carefree, black hair spilling out behind her as the wind blew, laughing at something Zoë said.
"Yeah. Yeah, she does."
Aura reached over, resting her hand on his shoulder. "Rest a night with us, Perseus. And then, you may be on your journey in the morning."
Percy gave her a tight smile, a smile which fell as soon as she turned and rode ahead. This was becoming increasingly tense and convoluted, and Percy needed to find something to control. It was spinning out of hand, far too fast for him.
Too many threads to count.
Percy sighed, before looking up, locking eyes with his companion. Aika smiled invitingly to him, gesturing for him to meet her, to ride side-by-side once more.
He took a deep breath, riding up to meet her.
And thus, the quest began anew.
"They say dreams are the windows of the soul–take a peek and you can see the inner workings, the nuts and bolts."
Henry Bromel
The blackness of unconsciousness faded once more to the sides, the dreamlands encompassing his attention once more. Percy felt memories starting to return, yearning to be set free, to break through the bonds holding them back from him. He was all too happy to let them return.
He stood in front of a table, a picnic table, resting on a large porch overlooking a vast field. Dotted throughout the field were numerous Greek-inspired buildings, including an amphitheater and a dining hall. There was a series of smaller buildings as well, each with unique identifying features, like barbed wire on a black and red building. Cabins, his mind supplied.
A camp.
The camp sat in front of a beach, the ocean stretching to the horizon, The weather was perfect, sun bright and clouds missing. Kids crawled over the whole camp, tending to the plants in the fields to his left, climbing an impossibly lava-filled climbing wall, or practicing archery. Percy only saw happy faces.
Where was this?
Was this the Greek camp Frank had hypothesized?
He brought his attention back to the table in front of him. There were three people sitting down, playing some kind of card game. One was Grover, the satyr from Nico's photograph and his dream about Pan.
The others were unfamiliar - one was an older man, a wisdom hidden behind his eyes, with spectacles that just screamed college professor. He sat in a wheelchair, stroking his beard, staring at Percy with kind eyes. The other just seemed unstable, a wild head of hair and messy clothes featuring predominantly. He was chubbier, but not any less dangerous - his eyes, wild and huge, glowed a sickening purple.
It seemed like he had arrived mid-conversation. As Percy stood, the wheelchair man pointed over Percy's shoulder.
"Annabeth here, she helped nurse you back to health."
Percy turned, and there she was. Annabeth. The blonde girl from his dreams, wearing an orange shirt and with a beaded necklace around her neck. She was younger than he remembered seeing - she couldn't have been older than thirteen.
Who was she to him?
He felt his mouth move. "Thanks."
She looked him over, eyes pausing at the horn - horn? - he held in his hands. She locked eyes with him once more, intimidating gray narrowed.
"You drool in your sleep."
She sprinted off, taking the steps off the porch two at a time, before rushing into the open field.
Percy tried to call out in response, likely to make some snarky comeback, but he was too slow. The image faded to black, inky unconsciousness reclaiming the image, before reopening one more, as if turning a page.
A new image coalesced.
Now, Percy and Annabeth were in the midst of some creature - a manticore, his mind supplied - on a cliffside. The moon cast its beams upon the scene, snow glowing atop the firs and oaks. The world seemed quieter, apart from the actual sounds of battle. They had clearly been fighting it, what with the scrapes and cuts on his skin.
The Hunters stood near the treeline of the clearing, bows out, arrows aimed at the manticore. A young-form Artemis stood near the front, arm raised, ready to order fire. The monster, head of a lion and tail of a scorpion, snarled at the goddess, eyes incensed with fury.
But Percy looked to his side, and Annabeth was missing. He spun around, but before he found Annabeth, he heard the manticore roar.
Annabeth was on top of it.
The scene stretched out in slow-motion, and Percy was helpless to stop it. Percy yelled, Artemis lowered her hand, the arrows were loosed, the creature roared, Annabeth screamed, the manticore stumbled, the cliff came near, the monster fell.
She was gone.
Percy sank to his knees.
Annabeth.
No.
"Not again. Not again!"
Percy cried.
Once more, the scene faded to black, the page ending. That inky unconsciousness was his greatest enemy - he could never react accordingly. Perhaps that was the curse of memory.
The dreams came faster now. The pages flipped faster and faster, and Percy only weaned glances at each image.
Him and Annabeth on an amusement park ride, something called Tunnel of Love.
Him and Annabeth on some kind of battleship, surrounded by skeletons.
Him and Annabeth holding hands.
One more image stabilized, but held for longer than a second or two. Percy was in a river, black water rolling over him. He was clearly in pain, flailing about as if getting stabbed by thousands of needles at once. Whether it was the frigidity or some magical element of the river, he was clearly not having a good time. Though the water was fractured, he could clearly see an image of Annabeth on the dock above, hand reaching down towards the water to pull him up.
"Hold on, Seaweed Brain. You're not leaving me yet."
Percy raised his hand towards hers, reaching for her, stretching with all his might, grit and determination evident on his face, despite the stabbing pains of the river. But finally, he took hold of her hand, and found himself on the hellish shore of the River.
The River Styx.
Annabeth wasn't just his girlfriend in his past life. She was his anchor.
Why could he remember this, but nothing else?
Where were the rest of his damn memories?
"Percy!"
Huh?
"PERCY! WAKE UP!"
Right.
The underworld faded away, reclaimed by an inky black once more.
"Every dream that anyone ever has is theirs alone and they never manage to share it. And they never manage to remember it either. Not truly or accurately. Not as it was. Our memories and our vocabularies aren't up to the job."
Alex Garland
"PERCY, WAKE UP, DAMNIT!"
Percy opened his eyes, blinking away the crust formed during his unplanned nap. It was Hazel, bent over his unconscious form, back in Frank's bedroom. She was clearly worried and upset, tears seeping from her eyes as she shook his body. Frank stood in the doorway, also clearly worried but unsure how to help.
Percy groaned, dropping an elbow to push off the floor. "Hey, guys."
"Percy!" Hazel gasped.
Frank moved forwards, dropping on his haunches next to Hazel and Percy. "What happened?"
As Percy came to, a pounding headache seemed to suffocate him suddenly, the world pulsing around him. "Frank, grab me a couple Advil, please," he was able to croak out.
Frank rushed out of the room as Hazel stole a glance out of the window, worried look on her face. The son of Mars hustled back nearly instantly, feet pounding up the steps. Percy was presented with a couple of tablets and a half-filled flask of nectar, which he greedily swallowed.
As the pain subsided, Percy sat up, leaning against the drawer in the corner. "Did you see the guy?"
"Which guy?" Hazel asked.
"The guy, there was… there was a guy here. He knocked me out."
"In this room?" Frank asked, confused. "Us and Grandma are the only ones here."
"We don't doubt you," Hazel said. "What did he look like?"
Percy thought back. It had been hours, for him. "I didn't get a great look - he had a purple cape on. And a black hoodie, I think, and golden eyes. And I'm pretty sure he could control the air - I got launched towards him, I think from a manufactured wind gust. He left that message for me."
The words scrawled in the footboard seemed to taunt him. LISTEN TO SWORD.
Hazel leaned forwards. "You said a purple cape? And air powers?"
He nodded.
She locked eyes with Frank, a look on her face Percy struggled to read. It took Frank a few seconds to realize what she was insinuating.
"No… you don't think?" Frank's jaw had dropped.
"The cape and powers add up."
"Why would he be here though?"
"Uh, guys?" Percy butted into their conversation. "You know him?"
Hazel's eyes were swirling with possibility, alight with hope. "Jason. Our lost praetor. He was the son of Jupiter, those are his powers. And praetors are always bestowed with purple cloaks."
"He didn't have golden eyes," Frank commented. "But… that's the only theory we have."
Percy nodded. "I guess we'll have to keep our eyes peeled."
Hazel snuck another glance out the window, face paling even further.
"Haze? What's wrong?"
She pointed at the glass, towards the backyard. "I don't think they're going to wait much longer."
Percy stood slowly from his sitting position, eyes peering over the windowsill. She was right - the Laestrygonians were antsy. Infighting was evident - it seemed like the leader was trying his best to placate the others, but that the effort was a failing one. Cries of "Zhang! Zhang!" rose from the hubbub.
"Yeah. We have to get out of here. Frank, any ideas?"
"There's an airstrip about a mile and a half away. Apparently there's a plane there for us - if we show them Reyna's letter, they should fly us to the Alaskan border." Frank fixed him with an apologetic look, knowing what he was asking.
"A plane? Really?" Percy cocked his head, incredulous.
Frank shrugged, holding his shoulders upwards. "Jupiter wouldn't blast you while you're on a quest?"
Percy snorted, nodding his head a couple times, still a bit groggy from his nap. "Right. Yeah, fuck it."
"Can you drive? My Grandma's Cadillac is in the garage."
Percy chuckled. "How hard can it be, right?"
It had been very hard.
He had nearly killed them a couple times on the frantic drive to the airfield. Part of it was certainly due to the pursuing Laestrygonians, and the massive potholes they formed via the boulders they insisted on throwing. Part of it was Percy not knowing which pedal was the brake initially.
Whoops.
The trio had jumped out of the Cadillac as fast as possible, dashing to the plane waiting on the airstrip. Frank shoved the paper towards the pilot, a mid-twenties guy named Alex with a scraggly beard, like you'd see on a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hiker. He didn't waste any time, and the jet was in the air within ninety seconds.
The airstrip was riddled with holes, fires breaking out across Lynn Canyon Park. Percy was pretty sure he could see Frank's family's house, burning to a crisp. He hoped Frank's grandma had been able to get out.
The flight had been a special kind of torture. Every slight bit of turbulence threw Percy for a loop. His knuckles were white right off rip, eyes clenched shut, sweat pooling on his forehead. As they settled into the flight, Percy pried his fingers off the armrests, trying his best to relax.
The flight gave Percy some time to marinate in his thoughts. Those dreams… his memories were starting to come back. He had a legitimate life before he woke up at the Wolf House. He had a best friend, maybe even a girlfriend, in Annabeth. He had a camp he lived at, with people he knew. He wasn't alone in this world.
He had a life.
But it didn't… it didn't feel that simple.
Percy could tell that in a way, his memories weren't coming back fully naturally. It felt like he was being shown certain things - almost like it was a controlled flow. Like a dam on a river - water was getting through, but it had to go through the spillway to get there.
There was a dam.
A block?
A memory block. That someone put on him, holding back most of his memories.
And Hera had put it there. Iris and Phineas had hinted at that.
Hera did a real number on you.
But it wasn't the strongest barrier, if memories were getting through nonetheless.
Unless it was a controlled leak. But why…?
Oh. To release pressure.
So maybe… maybe Hera wanted to ensure certain memories always stayed behind the block, so the block was a bit more lenient on the memories less important to him.
Not to him. To her.
She had an agenda here. That was certain. Why else would the Queen of the Gods abduct a demigod from the Greek camp, take their memories, and drop them in the Wolf House? What did Hera have to gain here?
And how could he break the barrier?
As Percy looked out the window to the snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies stretching out into the distance, he realized something.
That life… the one he was stolen from… even if he got his memories back completely, how could he just transition to it? He had a life here. He had friends in Frank and Hazel, not to mention his other life with Aika and Zoe. There was just no feasible way to balance a third on top of that.
And with the incoming war against Gaea, the mysteries yet to be unraveled, and the danger of entering Alaska… Percy took a deep breath.
One thing at a time, Percy.
One thing at a time.
He thought back to the warning given to him by whoever invaded Frank's house. LISTEN TO SWORD.
What the hell did that mean?
He took Anaklusmos out of his pocket, holding it up to his ear. He felt incredibly silly.
"Sword? Anything?"
The sword didn't respond back to him.
"No shit." Percy chuckled to himself, putting Anaklusmos back into his pocket.
"What is that?" Frank's voice cut through to him.
Frank was pointing out the far window. Hazel stood from her position laying on the couch, peering out as well.
Percy shakily got to his feet, the plane shaking ever so slightly from turbulence. He lunged across the aisle, taking hold of the seats to stabilize himself. Shaking, Percy looked out the window as well, blue skies stretching out in front of him.
Blue skies, and one bird.
The bird.
Percy would know those piercing eyes anywhere.
He dropped down into his seat immediately, preparing to find some kind of ear plug, even if just his fingers as a makeshift. He couldn't embarrass himself anymore amidst his friends, not with the bird being -
"Is that a strix?" Hazel asked worryingly.
He jerked his head faster than thought possible towards Hazel, relief seeping into his voice. "You can see it!"
She turned, eyebrows raised quizzically. "Yeah?"
"That's the thing I keep seeing. The thing that goddamn near traumatizes me. Sounds friggin demonic."
"Oh… shit."
"How do you know what it is?!"
"My mom, she was into all that stuff - witches, curses, magic, all that. But why is it - real, and here?"
"Uh, guys?" Frank stepped back from the window nervously. "I don't think it's stopping."
The strix wasn't slowing down, or moving away from the jet. In fact, it seemed to be making a beeline for them.
If the strix was visible to all three of them… then it was probably physically here.
Oh. Oh, no.
"STRAP IN!" Percy fumbled for his seatbelt. Frank and Hazel were quick to catch on, darting to their own respective seats.
Percy looked once more out the window, and the terrifying form of the strix filled the window.
"BRACE!"
And then hell broke loose.
The strix let loose its wicked cry, and Percy slapped his hands over his ears, an action mirrored by Frank and Hazel. But it wasn't a cry to disturb them - it was a cry to announce its own presence.
The strix crashed into the plane, puncturing through the cabin like a needle through skin. The bird was barely visible, diving at a practically subsonic speed as it broke through the plane. It flew so fast, it punctured not only the right side of the jet, but it stabbed all the way through, flying out the left.
All at once, the cabin depressurized, air rushing out through the gaping holes in the sides. Air masks dropped from the ceiling, dancing with the wind. Percy felt the air tug at him, beckoning him out of the jet. Their bags, unsecured, were instantly sucked into the open air, followed closely by anything loose on the plane. Percy could see Frank and Hazel desperately clutching their own weapons, not willing to go defenseless in Alaska.
If they actually made it that far.
The plane pitched downwards, the pilot desperately trying to find anywhere safe for an emergency landing. Percy held on to the armrests, eyes wide. He may or may not have been screaming.
Hazel and Frank didn't seem like they were doing much better, but Percy wasn't exactly sure. The plane was shaking a bit too much for him to get a good look.
"PERCY!"
He forced his head left against the will of the wind, teeth chattering. It was Hazel, pointing out the hole to his right, wide eyes showing clear panic. His head snapped to the right, eyes darting for whatever Hazel was pointing out.
It was the strix, coming in for a second pass.
Percy's eyes widened even further, before he felt for Anaklusmos. The seatbelt constricted him, though - it rested over his pocket.
He struggled with the seatbelt, desperately trying to adjust it, pulling at the strap. But he hadn't the strength to overcome the brutal depressurization. His mind was whirling, oxygen harder to get. His organs were twisted and jumbled. He could barely think.
Percy looked out the hole, and the strix looked right at him, eyes boring into his soul. The bird was terrifying, huge wings outstretched, murderous intent evident.
It was terrifying.
Percy stopped pulling at his seatbelt, knowing it was useless. He couldn't think, he couldn't focus, plane nose diving through the sky, fully discombobulated.
Don't think. Just act.
He had a target.
Fuck it.
Percy thrust his hand out towards the strix, wishing nothing but harm and pain come to the torturous bird that had been haunting him. He pushed, summoning the power reserves within his body, desperately seeking some kind of vapor in the air to heed his call.
His power reacted accordingly.
But not the vapor.
It was the air itself.
A cylinder of air blasted out from his palm, a shot with the force of a Glock, punching through the atmosphere. It hit the strix dead on, a huge hole ripping through its wing. The bird was shot backwards, blasted through the sky, crying not the sounds of a terrifying baby, but whimpering the sounds of a wounded animal.
Percy looked at his palm in shock.
Air.
That was Aika's blast. That was Aura's demonstration.
So that was the third power Hylla spoke of.
But why?
How?
Holy shit, he had air powers!
As the plane gave yet another violent lurch, he realized he might not get to use them if he didn't survive a goddamned plane crash. Could there be any more damage to their forms of travel on this quest?
The earth was getting closer. Percy could see a set of islands amid the ocean, as well as some mountains in the distance. But he just couldn't focus. He couldn't even tell if they were plotting to crash into earth or sea - he knew he would survive a naval landing, but the odds weren't good for Hazel or Frank.
He turned towards Hazel, eyes wide, desperately seeking any ideas. But she seemed just as clueless and terrified, if not more so.
Percy held onto the armrests, clenching his fingers as much as he could, head against the headrest, bracing for impact. His eyes closed, readying for impact. He thought back to his rediscovery of his powers, wondering just how to maximize his chances of survival. If he called for the water to come to him, it might be able to form a shield, a protective bubble, that could…
A gorilla roared.
Wait, what the hell.
A gorilla stood in the aisle.
A gorilla.
In the plane.
"FRANK?!" Hazel shouted incredulously.
Frank? The gorilla?
Sure. Yeah, cool. Why not?
Frank the Gorilla reached down, ripping out Percy's seatbelt, before wrapping its arm around his body. Doing the same to Hazel, the gorilla stepped near the hole, preparing to jump.
As the plane skimmed over the water, coming treacherously close to crashing, Frank the Gorilla leaped from the plane, crashing into the cold water of the Canadian Pacific Ocean. Percy made sure to reach out to Hazel, grabbing her wrist to keep her dry, and to ensure she didn't freeze to death.
Huge plumes of seawater splashed into the air, the plane finally crash-landing, the cabin ripped to shreds. Frank surfaced from his initial plunge, holding Percy and Hazel aloft. The air was still warm, but there was a chill to it - maybe he still just had goosebumps from the threat of almost dying.
Percy slapped the gorilla's arm, trying to get its attention. "You can drop me, Frank!"
The gorilla looked at him, muscles rippling as it treaded water, before snorting and releasing Percy from its grasp. Percy shook his head, feeling reinvigorated by the cold seawater, before commanding a water jet to shoot him upwards. He did a 180, searching for land close by - a forested island caught his eye, nary half a mile away. He pointed, ensuring Frank knew where to go, before launching himself to the beachhead, jettying there as fast as he could. He needed to be on solid ground.
Within moments, Percy shot onto the beach, breathing heavily. He flopped down, collapsing onto the rocky coast. He barely felt the pebbles punishing his back. Sighing in relief, he stretched his arms out, devolving into near-maniacal laughter.
Soon enough, Hazel was dropped unceremoniously onto the beach by a gorilla. Gods, that was weird. She started laughing like Percy, kissing the earth as she hyperventilated.
The gorilla slumped to the ground, morphing back into the sweating, baby-faced Frank Zhang Percy knew and loved. His face was a mix of mortification and epiphany. But soon, the Canadian had broken down, the relief overpowering any other emotions, and soon all three of the demigods had tears streaming down their faces.
Percy was gasping for air, relief flowing out of him faster than Niagara Falls. He tried to talk, fitting words between his laughs.
"Frank… why were you… how are you a… a fucking gorilla!"
He devolved into laughter once more.
Frank propped himself up on his hands. "It's my… my family's secret. I'm a legacy of Poseidon, and I got shapeshifting powers, they get passed down each generation. I only figured it out on the plane, and uh…" he shrugged, giving a sheepish grin. "No better time to test than in a life-or-death scenario."
Percy chuckled. "Yeah, you're damn right. But why a gorilla?!" He devolved once more into laughter, joined by Hazel.
Frank shrugged, face lighting up red. "I don't know, man! Life was moving fast, I didn't really know what I was doing."
More laughter.
Hazel turned towards Percy, still breathing heavily. "And you, that wasn't water powers, was it?"
He shook his head. "No, that was… that was the other power Hylla talked about. Life-or-death scenarios, yep."
She laughed, holding onto the rocks on the ground. "What the heck. This is bizarre, y'all."
Frank looked over at Percy. "Wait, what power?"
The son of Poseidon grinned, took aim at a nearby tree, and punched his fist out, envisioning the air punching the tree. Just like he had seen Aika do, a cylinder of air was blasted out, punching a hole in the trunk - the top half of the tall Douglas fir tipped and fell to the ground, crack echoing through the cool air. The tree fell atop a rowboat, smashing it in two.
"Oops."
Another round of relieved laughter ensued.
After a moment, Percy paused, picking himself up. "Uh, guys? We don't have anything."
"Oh. That's not good," Frank said.
"And we're lost," Hazel observed.
"Not even close to Hubbard Glacier," Percy spoke.
"And those donkeys look creepy," Frank said.
"What?"
Percy whirled around, looking up the hill where Frank was looking. He was not wrong - there were two donkeys there. Horned donkeys. They each had horns, a brightly-colored pair of twisting horns that extended upwards from their foreheads, like bizarre unicorns. They stood nearly as tall as Diomedes' Mares, a gray coat covering most of their body.
They were also staring right at the demigods.
"Huh." Percy uncapped Anaklusmos. The donkeys didn't seem like a threat immediately, but Percy knew never to trust anything anymore. Shit, even Frank could become a gorilla.
Hazel and Frank walked up next to him, holding their own weapons. It was legitimately all they had anymore - no food, no nectar or ambrosia, no extra clothes. No means of transportation. This was it. Just their swords.
And they would live and die by their swords.
Percy advanced towards the donkeys, Anaklusmos out in front of him in his right hand, left hand clenched beside him.
"Hi!" He called out. Hazel snorted behind him. He turned, glaring at her jokingly, leading to another chuckle from Frank. They were just damn happy to be alive.
"Can you help us? We're lost!"
The donkeys looked at each other, unnervingly so, before facing Percy and his friends once more. They lowered their heads, pawing at the ground in front of them, before charging as one.
"Ah, damn. Scatter!"
Hazel and Frank darted to Percy's sides, while Percy readied his sword for combat. Just before they reached him, he sent out another punch of air, this time less concentrated. It swept into one of the donkey's legs, tripping it. He rolled away from the second donkey, whose momentum carried it behind Percy, towards Frank, who engaged immediately.
Taking Anaklusmos, Percy slashed at the temporarily incapacitated donkey's horns, cutting them clean in two.
Big, big mistake.
Out of the horns came a wave of water, black and murky and with an aura of death about it. It seemed to defy gravity and logic - the sudden torrent of water surged through the air towards Percy, not falling as it should.
Percy stepped back, eyes wide as he dropped Anaklusmos. Arms outstretched, he desperately tried to take control of the water, but he couldn't even sense it. It just methodically floated towards him, streaming out of the horn's cut.
"Uh, guys?"
Those were the last words Percy was able to get out before the water enveloped his body.
It wasn't just any water.
It was Stygian water.
The pain was unlike anything Percy had experienced. It was like a million needles pierced every millimeter of his body, like he had been submerged in subzero water at the same time as he was thrown into the sun. It was the definition of pain.
It was like someone had designed a special torture device solely for him.
Percy screamed in agony, but all that did was invite the water into his mouth - he quickly tried to spit it out and clench his lips together, but his tongue was inflamed already, like he had eaten the spiciest pepper on the market whole.
As the water swirled around him, his vision went black, senses ruined, and he collapsed to the ground.
He just wanted it to end.
And then it did.
Suddenly, without warning, there was nothing.
No pain, no agony. No needles or peppers. Nothing.
He risked opening his eyes, and was greeted with a cool, black, inky darkness, nothing visible. It was like a massive black hole, made with Vantablack.
Percy cautiously got to his feet, not being able to clearly identify the ground. He turned a full circle, and nothing changed. Just black nothingness.
"Perseus Jackson."
And suddenly, there was something.
A woman stood in front of him. Obsidian hair, pure-white skin, midnight makeup. A purple and black dress seemed to almost float around her. Her eyes were hatred, but her face seemed almost delicate.
And she looked at him with utter contempt.
"My name is Styx. We need to talk."
A/N: What's up, y'all! I know I'm not on a schedule, but this came out a few days later than I had hoped to finish it in. So, that's on me. But from this chapter on, shit is gonna move fast. Reveals are beginning, mysteries are becoming solved (while creating new ones of their own). And things are starting to get wild. And yes, those donkeys are, in fact, a real myth - Scythian Horned Donkeys, which were said to carry the water of the River Styx in their horns.
Shoutout once again to y'all reviewers - thelordoptimus, surya25addanki, Hooded007, Bobthebuilder, EldritchTerror, PhantomFuryJP, camster888, Jontybh. And a quick shoutout to all of you who have followed or favorited this work! So many new readers over the past week, it's great to see.
Hope y'all enjoy your weekend. Obligatory 'Go Celtics' from a Boston superfan. Peace, y'all!