In which Percy and Luke talk, Percy plans and makes her opinions of the way Camp is run very clear. Luke is a little dumbstruck and awed so doesn't question how she knows so much- he may just admire her guts in the shit she says, and Artemis is horrified.
Replies:
Undeath9087:
I mean, Chiron has no clue who Bianca is, or where her loyalties really lie so yeah, rough spots is about right. He's very much panicking, but hey you'll have to wait and see how that goes.
DannyPhantom619: She'll do her best.
Guest:
Well you're right about that. Everything will come out in this one, though not quite yet. And no Chiron won't automatically connect Bianca to the Fleece situation, he doesn't know that Annabeth is now connected to the Egyptians.
PJ Fan 285: Well Sally would be trying to keep the situation as hushed up as she can while they make sense of things so at this stage the public think she was whisked away in the aftermath for her own safety. But don't worry all that will come up. As for writing advice, honestly I'm not sure how much help I'll be but I try to come up with the rough plot first, just rough because let's be honest it's easy enough to change what you want part way through, and I just write what I want to, then I go back, change things that don't feel write, edit it to correct mistakes- which I don't always spot. And I try to just write what I love y'know? Never force it too much or it won't come.
Wisestriker:
I offer you this gift of mouthy Percy.
Guest: Well Bianca and Percy will find out about the prophecy soon enough, so you'll have to wait and see. And excuse you, Amos would be offended, Hades is her favorite Greek uncle lol.
Guest: Chiron believes that the House of Life is declaring War on the Greeks in general, he doesn't necessarily believe they're strong but he does believe it's an act of war- and an act of war against the Greek camp would be against the Olympians as well. He doesn't know if the Egyptian gods are involved or even alive of course but at this stage that's less important than that the House of Life is rising against them- or he thinks they are. Even if they're weakened it's still something he'll take seriously because there's so many unknowns. And Hades would definitely step in of course- though I need to point out that he only comes to Olympus on the Winter Solstice- which is when any decisions would be made but still, there would be time for the Olympians to get worked up, especially the supreme dickhead Zeus himself lol.

When Artemis woke Percy and Luke, Percy felt a hell of a lot better than she had. Oh she still wasn't perfect, but when she tried to reach into the Duat she succeeded, and she was almost bouncing for joy when she pulled out her emergency bag. Even Luke looked kind of impressed, and Artemis had seemed relieved before she'd settled down to try and get some sleep before they moved on.

Of course one of Percy's first priorities had been to get changed, which she'd one in one of the stalls, pulling on a pair of warm jeans and a light blue jumper, and tugging on some trainers and tugging a brush through her hair, pulling it up into a messy bun before reemerging, sharing a bag of chips with Luke, and saving some for Artemis for when she woke.

Things were far from perfect of course, but all in all it was a lot better than any of them could have probably expected, and once Artemis had slept and eaten they headed off once more down the slopes of the mountain.

The journey seemed easier than it had the night before- but then they could see better now, in the dawning sunlight, and none of them were as tired as they had been, though Percy did notice that Luke still did look tired. Which was why she'd slowed slightly, catching Luke's arm to make him slow too, even as Artemis forged ahead.

"Did you sleep okay?"

Luke looked away, scoffing under his breath, "I haven't had a good night sleep since I was fourteen Kane." which earned him a somewhat annoyed look from the daughter of Poseidon.

"You know what I mean Luke. I don't expect you to have had a perfect nights sleep. It was two hours when we're running away from enemies. But you still look like shit, no offence."

"Oh what could I possibly take offence to there." Luke shot her a dirty look, "It's not like you just insulted me-"

"Luke, do not make me punch you."

To which Luke rolled his eyes, "You know, given the fact that we're working together you could stop with the threats-"

"I don't see why. One time my brother pissed me off and I threatened to cut off his nose. And I actually like my brother."

"Siblings," Luke's lips twitched slightly, "That's different." then he paused before, "He- it's not like he can use the dreams to find me. All he can do is torture me in my sleep." he shuddered, "He- he's not exactly happy about my betrayal." and there was a genuinely haunted look of fear in his eyes. Percy felt a rush of sympathy as she remembered her own dreams, remember Apophis' voice in the darkness. And she had no doubt that Luke's dreams of Kronos were a whole lot harder to deal with. And he'd been dealing with them for years she was sure. It explained a lot about him, even if it didn't justify anything.

"I can help there at least."

"You can?" Luke raised an eyebrow, "No offence to you but even if you're powerful that seems-"

"I was the eye of Nephthys-" she waved a hand at the confused look on his face, "Don't worry, you won't get it and I'm so not explaining all that right now. The important thing there is that because of that I'm more naturally skilled in the areas of her command- some of them anyway. One of which is sleep and the night. I've used my magic to give people dreamless sleep before and that's easy. It might take more complicated spells to actually shield your mind from Kronos completely but I can probably pull it off. And I have some friends who can make you amulets that'll protect your mind from his influence as well."

"I-" Luke blinked, "You're saying you can actually get me a night without Kronos whispering in my mind?" there was a strange expression on his face, a mixture of confusion, disbelief and just a sliver of hope before he squashed it, clearly not wanting to show a more vulnerable side. But still, Percy had seen it and she wouldn't forget it. The guy had a lot of baggage but she was willing to help him work through it if that was what he wanted.

She should probably tell him about Annabeth but- but he'd insist on going to her and she knew now wasn't the time. No she'd tell him once they'd dealt with the current disaster.

"Sure." Percy answered his question easily, "Next time we take a nap break I'll do it. I m still not back to my full strength but I mean, I'm a lot better than I was." she gave a crooked smile which earned a faint smile in return from Luke.

"What are you two doing?" the call came from Artemis, who had stopped and turned to look back at them, clearly noticing the distance that had built between them. Percy sped up slightly, smiling at Artemis.

"Luke and I were just talking, nothing that important." she ignored the suspicious glare that Artemis shot at Luke, and the scowl Luke sent the ex-goddess in return.

Those two would never be friendly she was sure of that, but she didn't need them to be friends she needed them to tolerate each other, just for now. That was hardly too much to ask was it?

"As you say." Artemis turned her gaze away, "We're nearly down the mountain. I wonder why Atlas hasn't come for us."

"The storm would have made tracking us damn near impossible even for a Titan like him." Percy pressed her lips together, "And they probably expected us to get further than we did, I doubt they thought we'd be stupid enough to stop even for a few hours."

"Not like we had a choice." Luke snorted, "You looked like you were about to pass out."

"If it had been much longer I might have." Percy admitted blithely, "I'm fine now though." sleep, food and drink were enough to keep her going."

"Let's hope it stays that way."

And they kept walking- it was at least another hour or two before they reached the bottom of the mountain, and with Percy's magic they were able to slip out past the gates with little problem.

Once they were away from the mountain they managed to hail a taxi, a fact which the two demigods and the currently mortal goddess were very grateful for. The hike hadn't been easy even with supplies like food and drink.

The lack of money might have been a problem, if Percy wasn't able to just shove her hand into the Duat and pull out her emergency supplies- and the look on Luke's face when she'd casually pulled a purse stuffed to the brim with cash out of thin air had been almost comical. Especially when he'd grumbled that he'd forgotten that she was some rich hotshot actress.

In any case when Percy had 'accidentally' flashed the purse at the taxi driver, showing him the wads of money inside he'd been very eager to get them where they wanted to go as fast as he could- Percy was pretty sure that there was more than one point during the drive in which they'd definitely been going over the speed limit. Not that she cared. If they got pulled over she could use a little magic to deal with the issue. They urgently needed to get to Greece.

It was Artemis who brought up an important point during the drive, as she watched Percy carefully. "Do you have a phone or anything you can use to contact the rest of the House of Life? To let them know that you are alive? It could help your brother prevent attacks upon us Greeks."

And- that was a good question. Percy didn't have a phone- or she had but she'd dropped it during the chaos at the school dance.

Then she paused, "I- I don't have a phone." she said slowly, "But I may be able to at least let them know I'm alive and where I am-" she paused, "It'll be tricky though, I don't want them to come here and get in trouble with Alina and Atlas." was there a way to alter the spell Carter had cast on her hand six months earlier? Just the fact that she activated it would tell Carter that she was alive at least.

Or she could activate it in Greece, on Mykonos. Perhaps she could in the instant it was activated send a message or- her eyes widened. She'd been staring absently out of the taxi window as they drove and her gaze focused on a cat on the street.

Of course! A smile spread across her lips. There were plenty of stray cats on the streets in Mykonos. It would be easy enough to find one and sent a message to Bast and she could get a message to Carter and Sadie. She'd send the signal once they were in Greece and Percy could easily get one of the cats to send the message.

"I have a plan." she announced, "We'll get word to them we just have to get to Mykonos first."

"What plan?" Artemis frowned.

"The cats." Percy declared chirpily, "I can use the cats, get one to send a message to Bast and Bast can send a message to Carter and Sadie." she told them both.

"Bast?" Luke frowned, "And- cats? Seriously?"

"Cats are awesome." Percy resisted the urge to poke her tongue out, "Bast is the goddess of cats and Champion of Ra, or, she was the champion of Ra, not sure if she still holds that status since he's not the big wig anymore." she ignored Artemis' curious look, snickering at the look Luke was giving her. "Did you not do research into the Egyptian Pantheon when Alina showed up telling you about Magicians and shit?"

"... Shut up." Luke's face was flushed, "I didn't think it would all be as important as she made out okay? Clearly I was mistaken."

"Yes. Yes you were." Percy rolled her eyes, leaning back in her seat. "I'll give you lessons once we've dealt with all this. You'll need them since you'll probably have to come to Brooklyn House."

"Brooklyn House?"

"My home, it's not like you'll be welcome at your camp for a long time so you'll need somewhere to say. Going it alone will just end with you working for Kronos again or killed by him." that made Luke wince though he frowned.

"No offence but I don't want to end up cramped in some magician's h-"

"It's a mansion. We have dozens of empty rooms and it's magical." Percy gave him a look, "You'll have your own room if you come and stay with us- though... there are a lot of people living there."

"My own room?"

"Yeah, it's not like your camp." Percy snorted, "No offence but that place sounds like it is not run well- not 'cause of Chiron but because of the sky daddy-" she ignored Artemis' horrified gasp, "Being a bit of a douche-"

"You can't speak like that." Artemis hissed the words, "My father would kill you if he heard such a grave insult-" and Luke was pale but he looked very much like he was trying and failing not to laugh. But then he did hate the gods, he probably found hearing them being insulted to be the peak of entertainment.

"Artemis-" Percy gave the goddess a look, "Your father fucking owes me. And I'm a Princess of the House of Life and despite what you guys seem to think we are not weak. He's not killing me unless he wants an inter-pantheon war which he will lose." she gave a sweet smile, fluttering her eyelashes at Artemis, "You cannot afford to make enemies of the House of Life Artemis. Especially not when Kronos is rising. What you need, is allies."

"We have never went to another pantheon to ask for help-"

"Well maybe you should." Percy shot back. "For starters you could learn a hell of a lot about how to work with your followers rather than using them like disposable weapons. Your own fucking children." she spat the words, "And maybe not all of you are bad, I can think of one who's a damn good parent despite the rules, but most of your lot are assholes and your rules are so beyond stupid and someone needs to tell your precious Zeus that." she took a deep breath, ignoring the stunned look Luke was giving her before she added, "Our gods were fucking assholes too, some of them anyway, but they are least are generally willing to learn-"

"Your gods were in very different ways you cannot com-"

"I can compare what I want to compare and you damn well know it. Laws and rules are important but when they're outdated and cause more pain than good they need changing." she snapped, feeling the car slow down, "And if I want to call out sky daddy's douchebaggery then I will call out sky daddy's douchebaggery. I have faced bigger and badder than him. Now if you don't mind-" the car was stopping, "I am going to pay our driver and get on with saving your dumbass pantheons asses because they think they can treat their kids as disposable." then she leaned forward, handing a wad of cash to the driver before leaning back, opening the car door and storming out.