AN: Hey there, here I am again with another chapter. I'll admit I'm not one hundred percent happy with it, but I'm tired. I'm sure I'll make a few tweaks here and there in the future depending on the response and feedback. Mainly though I am starting to think I have messed up the pacing of the story, I feel like I am dragging stuff out to long with character interactions and dialogue. I've read other stories that have breezed through the entire quest by this point. But I suppose for me this story will cover more than the third book, it will continue on to the HoO story arcs so I need to set the scene and add in a few bits and pieces which will be important going forwards.

For clarification, the only books I count as canon both for myself and in my stories are the Last Olympian series, the Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus series, that and I count the stuff in the Demigod diaries etc. in my canon. Though obvious many of these events haven't happened yet, but for context that is what I view as canon, and some of that will feed into this story. Though obviously things will be veering widely off the canon rail tracks as we go.

Either way, here is chapter 12, I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review etc. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to PM me, or if not join my discord. The link is in my bio, and at the bottom of the page.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

Betaed by Arch_Angel in December 2022

( - )

(Last Time)

"Mayb-" Percy started to speak, before he heard a scream from down the street and froze, his gaze instantly focusing on the source. Five Sparti were making their way down the street, all five of them pulling out weapons as they stalked towards the group. "Ah, for fucks sake!"

"Damn it, how did they get here?" Thalia growled at the sight of them.

"Gods aren't the only ones that bend the rules," Phoebe answered, already nocking an arrow on her bow as she watched the group of skeletal warriors approach.

"Well shit," Percy summed up, the ring on his hand already changing form as he palmed his golden gladius and prepared for battle.

This was not how he was expecting his morning to go.

( - )

Chapter 12

( - )

(With Percy)

The sun was slowly rising as they fought, both warming the frosty barren ground around them slightly with its radiance, even as it reflected off the snow and nearly dazzled them with its brightness

The wind was cold and fierce, chilling their sweat soaked clothes as it swirled around them, buffeting them with its strength and ferocity.

It was not quite as cold and wintery as it had been in Maine and Washington DC, but winter was still gripping the land with its icy fingers.

The ground beneath them was frozen, and covered in both slushy freshly fallen snow, and compact snow.

Raising his sword, Percy's arm shook with every blow he blocked or deflected, his feet slipping and sliding beneath him as he tried to steady his footing and pushed back against his attackers.

He had been forced onto the defensive.

He hated fighting defensively.

He was an offensive person by nature, both in terms of fighting and personality.

He didn't do well on the back foot.

As he continued to fight, he could see Thalia, Zoe and Phoebe were all fighting defensively as well.

The two Hunters were doing well, despite the adverse conditions, and the slippery compacted snow and ice underfoot.

They had their hunting knives in hand, and were dancing around the larger, more ungainly Sparti; often times using their superior agility, skill, and in Zoe's case, superior strength, to keep two of the Sparti at bay.

Their footwork was annoyingly light as they fought, their every action and move graceful in its elegance, and brutal in its execution as they weaved around their skeletal attackers, punishing them for every misstep or missed strike.

The Hunters were in their element right now, fighting in nature against bigger, stronger, slower prey. They were trained for this, and had centuries, or in Zoe's case, millennia of experience, doing just this.

Thalia meanwhile, was in a similar position to him.

She was fighting some half dozen metres away, and unlike the Hunters, who were more controlled and careful in their fighting style, she was relying on raw power and the reach her spear gave her as she danced around one of the skeletal warriors.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see that every now and then her entire form became enshrouded in lightning, as she used the enhanced speed her lightning cloak gave her, to avoid some of the Spartus's attacks, including once or twice a stray bullet as and when it found the space to fire one off from its handgun, even as she regularly delivered her own thunderous replies with the tip of her spear.

Between the four of them, they were doing well for the moment.

But he knew it wouldn't last.

It was currently a battle of attrition, one that if it continued, they were sure to lose. After all they weren't fighting against regular monsters that would go down after a few well-placed hits. Instead, they were facing off with immortal, untiring, well-armed skeletons warriors, who could also regenerate from any damage they inflicted.

Annoying skeletons that were now wearing blue New Mexico State Police uniforms instead of the grey army camouflage gear they had been wearing at the Smithsonian, and who also wielded pistols as well as swords now.

Thinking about it, a part of him was very curious about how the Mist would present the ongoing fight, were a hapless mortal to come across them now?

Still, the important thing was that the three of them, Thalia, Phoebe and Zoe were winning their respective fights, thus far, in part because they had engaged the Spartus in close combat quickly and thus mostly nullified the impact of their firearms, as the skeletons instead fought primarily with their blades. But also because they were mostly evenly matched in terms of numbers; Thalia was fighting one on one, and Zoe and phoebe were fighting two on two.

Percy, meanwhile, was in a bit of a predicament.

He was fighting two Sparti at the same time, and unlike the others, he was struggling to fend them both off, let alone defeat them.

But then again, unlike Thalia and the others, he was still tired after his exertions the previous day at the Smithsonian.

His energy levels were still low, and although he was slowly feeling better as the sun rose and bathed him with its light, he still wasn't at one hundred percent.

He was running on fumes currently, and that little energy he had managed to recover during the night, was rapidly being chipped away as he was constantly forced on the defensive.

His arms were already aching from the effort of blocking and deflecting the Sparti's blades, and as he gave ground to their onslaught, he could feel his feet slipping and sliding on the compacted snow as he tried to steady his footing.

The Sparti however had no issues, they did not tire, nor did they struggle on the ice, instead they continued to harry him, not giving him more than a few moments to catch his breath as they continuously drove him back.

He had no time to draw on the fiery energy inside of him, nor was he able to concentrate enough to use Melinoe's gifts – for all that he was getting better at using them, he didn't yet have enough practice with them, to use his intangibility seamlessly in fight. And unfortunately, every time he tried to buy himself space to use his gifts, the Sparti both pressed him, and then punished him for even trying.

The small cuts on his forehead, cheek, and the much deeper one on his thigh were evidence enough of the trouble he was having.

The way things were going at the moment, they weren't winning this fight anytime soon.

"What even are these things?!" Bianca shouted into chaos from somewhere behind him.

Kicking away one of the Spartus, and ducking under the other's swinging blade, Percy managed a glance back at the daughter of Hades.

Unlike the others she had not gotten stuck in, instead she had retreated from the fight, her bow held tightly in her shaking hands, and an arrow nocked, but the bow itself was not drawn or aimed at anything in particular..

She was scared, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn't blame her for it.

Unlike the rest of them, she was new to the demigod life, and didn't have any real experience dealing with monsters, or fighting.

"They're Sparti. They won't stop until they kill us, or we kill them." Zoe shouted back, her brow furrowing, as she then darted forwards and jammed her hunting knife into the side of one of the Sparti's skulls, before then lashing out with her foot shattering its knee, driving it to the ground.

Almost at once, the creature's bones unknit, and clattered to the asphalt in a heap.

Almost immediately after which, they began to move, reassembling themselves.

In response, its fellow Spartus, turned its attention on her, taking one of Pheobe's knives in its back, even as it drove Zoe away from its fallen comrade with several wild swings of its jagged, falchion-like black blade.

It was unnerving in a way to see how synchronised the Sparti were, and how sentient. Despite being dead, they still seemed to have some measure of intelligence and awareness.

"Percy, your mum is one of Hades' kids, isn't she? So, can't you just, you know, order them back to the Underworld? I mean, you are the son of one of the gods of the Underworld, aren't you?" Thalia asked hurriedly, her brow furrowing as she saw her Spartus, its ragged police uniform now on fire, standing up again.

Just moments earlier, she had sent it flying with a controlled blast of lightning.

"I told you already! She's the goddess of ghosts." Percy shouted back, his face drenched in sweat despite the chill in the air, even as he once again was forced to block swinging swords with his gladius. His arms were really beginning to ache now, it had gotten so bad that he was now forced to wield his gladius with both hands. "Do these fuckers look like ghosts?"

"Just try something at least." Phoebe snapped. "We can't keep this up forever." Percy grit his teeth at that comment.

He was beginning to get sick and tired of always being the one who had to come up with the answers or the trump card. Zoe was the immortal, several thousand-year-old Lieutenant of the Hunt, and Thalia was a daughter of Zeus, surely it was one of their turns as big hitters, to take the initiative and do something?

Still, even as he fought on, he knew he should at least try something, after all they had a point when they said he had a connection to the Underworld, minor though it was.

Only at the same time he knew it wouldn't work.

He was not a true child of the Underworld.

Yes, Melinoe had given him her blessing, both at Hades' behest and because it benefited both her reputation and influence within the Pantheon to have a powerful 'child' on the board. But he was not truly her child.

Her ichor didn't flow through his veins, nor did her domains infuse his spirit.

Sure, he could do some of the things a child of the Underworld could do, but he was not a true child of the Underworld.

Already in his gut, he knew that he didn't have a trick up his sleeve, or a trump card which he could use to beat them.

Bianca, he suspected, could probably order the Sparti away.

As a daughter of Hades, she could command them, just as she could probably easily destroy them too.

Unfortunately, she didn't know about her heritage yet, nor had she awoken her abilities.

Which meant that even if he turned around now and shouted her parentage at her, she would probably be able to do no more than gape at him in response.

For all that demigod abilities were their birthright, control of them didn't come naturally to most of them, or at least now without a bit of help or a blessing from their godly parents. Though admittedly, there were a few exceptions to the rule.

Which of course meant he was in somewhat of a bind.

"Percy!" Thalia shouted, getting his attention.

Blinking dumbly at her call for a moment, Percy quickly forced himself out of his musings, and just in time too, as he saw a wickedly sharp blade headed right for his head.

Grimacing as he felt his injured leg flare up, he tried to throw himself backwards to avoid the questing sword, and in part he managed it. Or at least he managed to avoid death, as the cold black steel cut a gouge into the front of his breastplate, cutting almost all the way through to his t-shirt beneath as it tore along his chest before bouncing off the collar of his jacket.

Letting out a growl of anger and embarrassment, Percy seized some of the fiery power inside of him, and forced it into his now glowing fist.

Stepping forwards, he then smashed his fist into the skeleton's body in retaliation.

Almost at once, its clothing burst into fire, even as it staggered back a few steps.

Fire, Percy thought desperately as he remembered what had happened at the Smithsonian.

Back then, when he had gone all out, he had burned several of these fuckers to cinders.

Unfortunately, to take out both of them he'd need to draw on a lot of power, power that he just didn't have at the moment due to his previous exertions.

He narrowed his eyes at that thought.

There had to be another way.

Gritting his teeth again, Percy ploughed forwards, his energy levels continuing to rise bit by bit as the sun continued its ascent, even as he intercepted the blade of the other Spartus with his gladius, his now faintly glowing golden eyes flickering down to look at the blade as he did so.

The blade was crude, and archaic looking, quite anachronistic compared to both the Sparti's modern police uniform, and to the mortal handgun it had strapped to its hip. But more importantly, it was black, and jagged, and almost certainly made out of Stygian Iron.

"Idea!" Percy shouted, his eyes blazing, as he rammed the tip of his gladius one-handed into the Spartus's chest and released it, even as he reached out with his other hand and grabbed the hilt of the skeleton's sword. Ignoring, as he did, how the skeleton was rapidly starting to overpower him, its other claw-like hand already clasping his neck in a vice-like grip.

Instead, Percy set his feet and tried to disregard the fact he was now being choked, as he instead continued to try out his last second gambit by reaching out and yanking the joint of the skeleton's sword wielding arm towards him, even as he flooded his body with energy heightening his strength, as he then twisted its wrist and forced its own blade up and into its gut, directly into where its core, or heart would have been had it been a living creature.

With a clattering of bones the Sparti fell to pieces, only this time it didn't reform, the pieces instead just shaking in place for a moment before they evaporated in black flames, leaving behind the shredded remains of its police uniform and his ash covered gladius.

"Thank fuck…" Percy gasped, sucking in some fresh air, even as the sword in his had rapidly corroded into dust, before floating away in the breeze.

"Behind you!" Thalia shouted in response.

"Huh?" Percy muttered, before moments later his eyes widened as he felt something striking him in the back and staggering him forward.

He'd just been stabbed in the back.

Had he not been wearing his Nemean Lion hide jacket, he'd be dead.

"I'm getting sick of this," Percy gasped out tiredly, fury now flooding him as he turned around and once again punched the still smoking Spartus in the head with his glowing fist. The force of his punch blowing the head clean off in an explosive burst of fire.

Clinging onto his burning rage, Percy then forced himself forward, his arms clasping around the body of the headless Spartus in a bear hug, only for him to then go full Flaming Torch as he forced fire out of every pore in his body and concentrated it into the flailing skeleton in his arms rapidly reducing it to ash.

Pushing the burning husk away from him, Percy glanced down at his armour, only to groan as he saw his already damaged Celestial Bronze breastplate had warped from the heat.

Groaning at the sight of the ruined armour, Percy quickly pulled himself back to the present as he saw the others were still in trouble, or at least Thalia still was.

Zoe, meanwhile, had obviously seen what he had done, and had quickly used her strength and one of her knives to break one of her Spartus's arms at the joint, before then forcing it to stab itself in the chest with its own sword.

One of their opponents were already down, and by the way Zoe and Phoebe were continuing to fight, the other Spartus would soon be following.

"They couldn't have done that before," Percy muttered to himself as he stumbled over to help Thalia, even as the daughter of Zeus once again blasted her opponent into pieces, only for it to then once start pulling itself together again.

Reaching the regenerating pile of burning bones – which had landed only a couple of metres from where he stood -, Percy didn't think twice as he limped over and quickly scooped up its fallen sword, before plunging it into its skull.

"That still counts as mine." Thalia muttered tiredly as she let out a sigh of relief and fell backwards onto her ass.

"You can have it," Percy replied wearily, as he too collapsed forward and fell down beside her.

If he thought he was tired before, now he just felt bone-weary.

What little energy he had managed to recoup on the train he had once again burned through in his fight.

Glancing over at the daughter of Zeus, he could see that she also looked tired.

Though, notably not quite as tired as he felt.

Fortunately, the sun was higher in the sky now, which in itself was a clear indicator for just how long the skirmish with the undead had gone on. Still, he wasn't complaining as it just meant he would now be able to recharge his energy reserves a lot faster than he was able to when it was night, or when the sun was hidden away behind the clouds.

Shrugging off his coat, and throwing his ruined breastplate off to one side - a task made easier by the fact that the enhanced leather straps holding it together had been practically reduced to cinders, Percy collapsed backwards onto the dirt ground with a sigh, his sweat soaked torso on full display as he leant back against the delightfully cold snow and just absorbed the slight heat from the winter sun.

In any other circumstances he would be shivering right now from the chill, but right now his body was running hot, and literal steam was still wafting off him.

"Making yourself comfortable there," Thalia said dryly from beside him, her cheeks going slightly pink as she noticed his current state of dress. "What even happened to you?"

"I was just a bit too hot," Percy said, closing his eyes and smiling as he heard Thalia groan.

"You're so vain." Thalia muttered. "So why didn't you do that before?"

"I needed to recharge." Percy replied.

"What, like a battery?" Thalia asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Sort of, but think solar…, my fire I guess you could say, is at its strongest during the day, and the… I'd guess you could say, the pool of energy I'm able to draw from…, it gets bigger during the day too, and refills faster. In the evening and at night… not so much, it's more… what's the word… finite?" Percy tried to explain. Which was harder to do than he thought it would be, after all, how do you explain fire to someone who uses lightning? His control of it had always come naturally to him – which he knew was unusual -, and he had long since become accustomed to the quirks of his inherited abilities. Trying to explain it now to someone who couldn't do what he could…, and whose powers probably worked in different ways to his own, was difficult.

"Huh, you need to recharge?" Thalia said curiously, her eyebrow raising in surprise.

"Yep, don't you?" Percy replied with interest.

"No, I just do it. I can kind of just spam lightning as much as I want, though the more of it I throw around, or if I chuck out powerful blasts, it can kinda give me a bit of a headache if I use it for too long, and can cause some numbness." Thalia replied with a shrug. "I guess I've never really thought about how it all works."

"We all have limits I suppose, they just tend to be different. Though considering you're a child of the 'Big Guy' I'm gonna guess you're not as limited as a child of a minor goddess like me…?" Percy said with a shrug, once again opening his eyes as he heard the crunch of boots on frosty ground approaching him from behind, before a shadow suddenly appeared above him.

"What are you two doing?" Bianca asked, her voice holding an odd edge to it. Her expression was also difficult to read; her face was slightly red, and her mouth twisted. She looked both angry, scared and nervous all at the same time. "Why are you both just sitting around while Zoe and Phoebe are fighting?"

"I'm tired," Percy said bluntly, tilting his head to look at the ongoing fight, only to smile slightly as he saw it come to a sudden anticlimactic end as Phoebe kicked the disintegrating skeleton away from her, before glancing over at where they were resting with a scowl on her face.

Now they knew how to deal with the Sparti, the two of them had been able to gang up on the last remaining one, and quickly finish it off.

"Plus they're big girls, they had it handled." Thalia said with a slight smile. "I doubt either of them would have appreciated it if Percy or me interfered, and besides even then if I thought they needed help I would have gone over, but, well as you can see, they already had it handled."

"Poor skeleton," Percy muttered, before scowling. "Oh yeah, and why did I end up having to fight two of them, while you three only got one each?"

"Bad luck I suppose," Thalia shrugged dismissively, "I tried to fight with you at the beginning so it would be two on three, but we got separated. I don't know what you did to piss them off, but they were really gunning for you?"

"I might have burnt some of their mates to cinders at the museum." Percy shrugged, letting the matter lie for the moment. It wasn't exactly Thalia, Zoe or even Phoebe's fault that fate had once again tried to fuck him "But who knew skeletons hold grudges?"

"Well, I would have thought you would, death boy?" Thalia shot back quickly.

"Again, ghosts and skeletons, they're not the same thing…" Percy replied just as quickly, fighting back the urge to roll his eyes.

"Are you two having fun?" Phoebe asked irritability as she stomped over towards them, interrupting the back and forth as she instead glared down at them. Her hunting knives were now both sheathed at her hips, and her unstrung bow on her back alongside her nearly empty quiver.

"Not so much having fun, as just passing the time while we waited for you to finish…" Percy shot back sarcastically.

Phoebe scowled, but didn't otherwise reply to him as she instead glanced up at the relieved looking Bianca, her scowl fading to a softer smile as she placed a comforting hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, fine, s-sorry I didn't help, I-I didn't know what to do." Bianca replied, her gaze downcast now as she struggled to look Phoebe in the eye.

"It is fine," Zoe answered abruptly, her expression as stern as ever as she wiped the black dust off her blades and approached them. "You are still new to the divine world, and to the creatures that lurk in its shadows. I brought you along on this quest so that you might gain experience, and that is what you have been doing. The Sparti though, they are foes that are beyond you, and so you did the right thing."

By which she meant, Percy inferred, Bianca would have just got in the way had she tried to get involved, a sentiment he very much agreed with.

Bianca was a pleasant girl, a bit odd yes and obviously sheltered, but still nice. But she was not a fighter, not yet. She lacked the experience most demigods her age had due to her sheltered and isolated upbringing.

She had potential though. He didn't know her well at all, but even he could see she had changed a lot, even in just a few days, from the nervous awkward girl at Westover Academy to what she was now, a Hunter in training.

Yes, she was still inexperienced and uncertain, but she at least had a spine and was still brave enough to take on a dangerous quest after only a day or so in the life of a demigod, and had even managed to pop off a few shots at the Nemean Lion.

Give her a few years to gain the experience she needed, and she could become very powerful.

Percy paused at that thought, even as he groaned and pushed himself to his feet.

If she survived the next few years and made it to adulthood, the girl could become a big player in the Greco-Roman Pantheon, and the wider divine world. With enough experience, and considering the powers she would most likely be able to wield, she could be a formidable foe, one that only a fool would want to be on the wrong side of…

Frowning as he tried to weigh up whether the pros and cons of having Hades' favour, however temporary it might be, but also the ire of his daughter, Percy couldn't help but feel a cold chill run up his bare back.

"You have my thanks for showing us the way to deal with the Sparti, Perseus." Zoe said suddenly, knocking him out of his thoughts, even as he finished clambering to his feet. "I had not thought to turn their own blades against them."

Glancing over to Thalia, he saw her doing the same, though with far more ease than him, Percy nodded.

"Yeah, it's not a problem, it just took me a while to work it out. I would have probably been able to do it faster if I wasn't fighting two of them…" Percy replied, his brow furrowing. He wasn't about to admit that he had got lucky. He had had no idea at the time whether or not the Stygian Iron would have worked on them.

"You survived, didn't you." Phoebe replied dismissively.

"With injuries." Percy shot back, gesturing at his wounded leg and the thankfully no longer bleeding cut on his forehead.

"Phoebe, heal Perseus's wounds." Zoe said, an almost approving gleam in her dark eye as she met his gaze head on. "And Perseus… clothe thy self."

Phoebe groaned at the order, but otherwise acquiesced, her bedside manner leaving much to be deserved as she walked up to him and roughly began to manhandle him as she used her demigod abilities to heal his cuts and scrapes, though mainly she focused on fix up the gash on his leg.

Percy meanwhile smiled awkwardly as she worked, even as he cast around looking for his satchel. He had carelessly thrown it to one side at the start of the fight, back before the Sparti had first driven Thalia and himself apart.

"Are you looking for your handbag?" Thalia smirked.

"It's a satchel," Percy corrected automatically, before smiling as he saw Bianca pick it up.

"What's actually in here?" Bianca asked as she awkwardly handed it over to him, even as Phoebe finished healing him and then stormed over to where Zoe was standing waiting for them to finish.

"Lots of things," Percy grinned, flipping the bag open and reaching in almost to his shoulder, much to Bianca's shock, and his amusement.

"How?" Bianca asked.

"Magic," Percy shrugged. "I picked this bad boy up after doing a job for Merc-Hermes. The job wasn't too difficult either to be honest, I just had to drag one of his favourite brats out of trouble and dump him at the border to the Camp, but he seemed to appreciate it enough to give me a bottomless satchel as a reward."

"That's kind of handy," Thalia muttered, a slightly envious look on her face.

"It is, isn't it?" Percy grinned as he found what felt like a t-shirt amongst all the other things he had stashed away in the bag. With unlimited storage, he had become somewhat of a hoarder over the years.

"Who did you save, by the way?" Thalia asked as he pulled a purple t-shirt out of the bag and quickly pulled it on, her eyes momentarily lingering longer than they perhaps should have as he did so.

"No idea," Percy shrugged as he rolled his arms and stretched the t-shirt out a bit. It was slightly too tight on the arms and chest, and had a musty smell to it, but it would do. "I can't remember their name, I don't think I ever actually bothered to ask it…"

"Well, aren't you a class act," Thalia said, before she glanced down at the front of his t-shirt. "And what's Camp Jupiter."

"I'm a grade-A asshole in every sense of the word, I know that, and I would have thought you'd have worked it out by now too." Percy replied. He had no illusions about himself; he knew he was selfish, morally bankrupt, sarcastic and untrustworthy, and although he didn't always like those aspects of his personality, he had long ago accepted that that was just who he was. "And Camp Jupiter is a summer camp…"

"Oh, I would have never guessed…" Thalia replied sarcastically.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised what you can pick up in a thrift shop." Percy continued, grabbing his damaged breastplate and dumping it in his bag as he did so, before he then pulled on his coat, and swung the bag over his shoulder.

Now that he had begun to cooldown, he was beginning to feel the cold.

"A thrift shop," Phoebe said loudly as both Zoe and herself walked over. "Is that really where you scavenged that shirt from?"

"Well it was either that, or I got it after raiding the belongings of a dead person, I'll let you decide which version of events you believe." Percy said with a shrug.

Phoebe narrowed her eyes in disapproval, but didn't reply to him beyond muttering the word "scavenger".

"Enough talk, now you two are rested, we need to leave. We need to make up for the time we lost and find Lady Artemis." Zoe said sharply, cutting off any further conversation.

Phoebe and Bianca both nodded immediately.

Percy and Thalia meanwhile shared a glance, before also nodding their agreement.

Time had slipped by now, it didn't feel that long ago since they had first got off the train, but looking at the sky, Percy could tell that it had been well over an hour ago.

Turns out fighting immortal, regenerating skeletons and then bantering about it afterwards, was a time-consuming activity.

"Sure, let's head. We can head to town and get a bus out of here, I reckon. That, or we can just hijack a car." Percy replied as he buttoned his coat up. From the corner of his eye, he could see the others doing the same.

"We're not just going to steal someone's car, are we?" Bianca asked aghast.

Phoebe and Zoe shared a look, but didn't refute his suggestion.

"Not unless we have too." Thalia finally said, "Ideally we can get a bus. But if we can't, well…"

"The fate of Lady Artemis is more important than anything else right now," Phoebe finished Thalia's sentence.

"Besides, with a little application of the Mist, the mortal we steal won't even know they had a car." Percy said cheerfully.

"For a day maybe, but then when someone starts asking questions about where it's gone, and an insurance company gets involved…" Thalia replied.

"We'll be long gone, and the police, if they're even called, will be able to pick it up from wherever we dump it after we're done with it." Percy said dismissively. "This isn't my first time stealing a car, you know."

"Why doesn't that surprise me." Bianca muttered disapprovingly.

"Enough, we are wasting daylight." Zoe cut in, cutting off Percy's response, as she instead walked straight through their conversation, and started heading for the town.

"Well, you heard her," Thalia shrugged, sharing a glance with him as Bianca and Phoebe dutifully followed their Lieutenant's lead. "Let's head to town and find a bus."

"And some food," Percy added. "We've a long way to go, and I've not eaten for a while, and I feel like getting something greasy and unhealthy."

"Sometimes, Percy, your genius is frightening." Thalia grinned, bumping his shoulder with her own as they briskly headed for town.

"You can get food on the way. Zoe is right, though, we need to move, and fast." Phoebe said, glancing back at them.

"Whatever," Percy shrugged as the group quickly headed into the town.

( - )

(Sometime Later)

With the hiss of hydraulics and the distinct smell of BO in the air, their coach came to a stop at a lonely bus stop, on a crossroads in the middle of nowhere.

"Well, this is shit," Percy muttered, trying to flatten his mussed up hair as he descended the steps.

They'd managed to find a bus headed west in Cloudcroft, and after a quick couple of burgers and some disgusting french fries they'd quickly 'bought' some tickets, courtesy of a small application of the Mist, and boarded the bus. The reasoning being that the bus would allow them a chance to sleep and recuperate energy while it drove them in the right direction. That, and it meant they weren't the ones responsible for navigating through the ass-end of nowhere as they crossed over into the State of Arizona and continued their journey to San Francisco.

Unfortunately, there was no direct coach there, nor any trains. Which meant they would now have to get off the bus here and trek a few more miles further west and on to the next town to get their next connection, even as their bus trundled further south.

Rolling his shoulders as he stepped off the bus, and unbuttoning his coat to give his sweat soaked purple shirt a bit of air, Percy looked around at their surroundings forlornly, ignoring the annoyingly cheerful coach driver as he gave them a cheerful farewell before he drove off.

"We definitely should have taken a car," Percy continued, narrowing his eyes slightly as a sudden gust of wind blew some grit from the nearby desert-like plains into his eyes.

"Hindsight is 20-20." Thalia replied, her brow furrowing as she did a few stretches. "And can I just say that that coach ride sucked."

"The seats were too narrow, and the guy next to me probably hadn't had a shower in weeks." Percy agreed.

"Stop complaining," Zoe cut in, her expression calm as she looked around at their surroundings. "The conditions aside, we made good progress, and managed to get both substance and rest. Now come, the next town is only a few miles away, and we will need to get there swiftly in order to continue our journey."

"Uh huh," Percy muttered, unimpressed. "You say that, but you three managed to have three seats to yourselves, none of you had to sit next to a sewer monster."

"No, but we do have to tolerate your company." Phoebe replied sharply.

Percy's eyes narrowed as he felt annoyance surge up within him.

"H-Hey, let's not argue." Bianca pushed her way in between the two of them.

"Bianca's right, this isn't useful. Phoebe's an asshole, we know that. But there's no point arguing about it here. So, drop it and let's get going." Thalia added on, her own brow furrowed in displeasure, even as she played the role of diplomat.

"Phoebe, enough." Zoe said simply, her dark eyes fixing on Phoebe, the intensity of her gaze forcing the scowling daughter of Apollo to back down. "Good, now let's go."

With that said, she started off down the road, Phoebe and Bianca following her.

Thalia meanwhile, waited for him, her frown easing slightly as she tore her gaze from Phoebe's back and instead looked back at him.

Letting out a slight grumble, Percy nodded and then followed their lead.

All five of them quickly set off at a quick pace as they headed west along the empty road.

As they walked, Percy made sure to keep an eye on his surroundings.

He didn't want to let his guard down again, not after the events of the last few days.

He was very much beginning to get sick and tired of being ambushed and attacked.

Continuing to look around at his surroundings as they walked, a few things started standing out to him, even as he felt Thalia slow down, so she was now walking next to him.

They were walking on an empty road with nothing but barren ground on either side.

Had the road never been built, he was sure they would be walking through the desert.

"One shall be taken in the land without rain." He muttered to himself, too quietly for his companions to hear, his eyes narrowing in thought as he looked around, only for him to pause mid-step as he saw a pair of family, gleaming yellow eyes gazing out at him from the shadow of a road sign, only for the eyes disappear completely as he looked back at the shadow.

"Percy?" Thalia asked as she stopped and looked over at him.

Watching the spot for a few more seconds, Percy held back a shudder of discomfort as he once again continued walking. "Sorry, I thought I saw something."

There was a heaviness in the air as they walked, a foreboding feeling that was difficult to properly identify, and as they continued walking the feeling only got worse.

Around twenty minutes later, after cresting a small hill, they saw the next town sitting half a mile or so away.

Sitting in between themselves and the small town, however, was a huge junkyard, one that seemed to be completely abandoned.

At the sight of the junkyard, Zoe, who was still at the front, stopped moving.

"Come on, what are you waiting for? Let's go, the town is right there." Thalia said as she made to continue forward.

Before she could, however, Zoe held out an arm blocking her path.

Glancing from Zoe to the junkyard, Percy frowned as he once again felt the air around them grow heavier with foreboding.

Whatever that junkyard was, it was not a normal junkyard.

( - )

AN: So what did you think? Please leave a review, comment etc. If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to PM me. Things will be starting to veer of from canon now, and things will quickly start to escalate the close we get to the end of this arc. So if you like the story, you've got that to look forward too.

Also I am on a discord with a load of other writers, so if you fancy popping over to ask questions or offer suggestions about this story, or any of my other ones, or to find new authors you might not have come across yet, please feel free to use this link: discord .gg / elibrary

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you later.

Greed720.