Thanks for the reviews on last chapter guys. I decided to respond to them here. Not saying that I'll do this for every upcoming chapter but if there are more than just a couple reviews, then I'll respond to them on here.

Also, about reviews, I don't beg for them, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know what you guys are thinking. Feel free to leave one! If you have any questions about the story, or just want to tell me what you liked/disliked about the chapter, tell me! I love the consistent reviewers I get every chapter, but it would be helpful to know what other people think too. And don't get me wrong, I know a lot of people read fics and don't review, that's totally fine. All I'm saying is that if you want to, then feel free to do so. It helps me in a lot of ways to become a better writer and make this story better. And not to sound too weird, but it makes me feel good to get them too.

Okay, enough of that, let's respond to some from last chapter.

Shadowhunter2077: "Well this chapter almost made fill pity for Levi, keyword almost.

Also Matt prepare for pain because you are going to have a lot."

Response: Yeah, last chapter was meant to feel a little bad for Levi, but also to bring confliction. Nothing he's done is forgiven though. And yeah, Matt will probably not have it easy, you got that right.

SuAvE ViPeR: "Great chapter. You can really feel the anguish in this fight. The rivarly between the two is one of the best parts of the story, I can't think of many other OC's as deep as Harper, besides maybe Zane and Talon. Which the latter is part of this story as well, so that just shows how good of a writer you are and at making characters.

So glad that Matt and Harper reunited, can't wait to see where their relationship goes."

Response: Thanks. I love writing their rivalry, it's one of the best parts too I think. And yeah, Matt and Harper's relationship will be interesting to say the least going forward.

thesuperone342: "Okay this is review for chapter 41, sorry that these are so late. This chapter was more of a down time chapter, which is never a bad thing if done right, which you did. Some great character development all around, especially for the sons of Thor. Good reveal on Camp Asgard and the son's of Thor motivation. It's good to know they're not just some mustache twirling villain and they have actual motivations. A lot like Magni and Modi. And damn, the son of Odin must be really strong if he can beat Thor in a 1v1, probably even stronger than Matt and Hercules. Sorry for long review, and other reviews will probably be longer, but good chapter overall and I'll get started on the next one as soon as possible."

Response: Thanks man, glad to see you back reading this story again. And I agree, down time chapters are necessary, but they have to be done right, and I'm glad I did it okay. the Sons of Thor had to have more depth, I just knew it, and it didn't take me that long to come up with their motivation, or the Camp Asgard idea. But it's such a cool idea that I had to do it, and it's gonna be super fun to write once I get there. About the Son of Odin, I wouldn't say he's stronger than Matt or Hercules, but he's definitely strong, you'll see. Anyway thanks for the review, hope you caught up with the other chapters too. Also, don't apologize for long reviews, I love long reviews.

MountainBookSage25: NYAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

THEY HAVE

REUNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

FUCK YEA

Man please update FAST

Response: Haha love the enthusiasm. Thanks for your reviews, they really mean a lot and I'm glad you like Matt and Harper. Hope this update was fast enough, enjoy the chapter.

NiHaR OP: "Bro I gotta admit, i don't like the flashbacks they're just stretching this out. Anyway we got the reunion Sorta. Bro cover sucks hope u feel better and be healthy"

Response: I understand, I just liked the parallel from the flashback scene to the scene in the snow, and I think it's necessary development for the both of them. But I get where you're coming from. There won't be as many, don't worry. Thanks for reviewing, let me know what you thought of this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the OC's) Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Heroes Of Olympus, or Trials Of Apollo. All of that belongs to Rick Riordan.

Now then, on with the nineteenth chapter!

19. The Gang Gets Back Together...Sort Of

Matt

Typically, when you stumble upon a horrific incident, you do one of two things.

One, you run away. Being the first one on the scene, you have no idea what to do, the fear overtakes you, and you dip.

Or two, your instincts tell you to help the person, and you run to them. You're panicking, but you manage to keep a somewhat level head, and help them.

Right now, kneeling beside Harper, I was teetering between both of them.

Obviously I wasn't going to run away from her. But I was seriously freaking out on the inside, and well...the outside. My hands were shaking with fear and worry, seeing her like this, with Levi's cloak on her...it was pretty obvious what had happened.

We would deal with that later. I had to figure out how to help her.

I subconsciously slammed my hands all over my body, frantically searching for any sign of ambrosia, only to find none. I silently cursed, of course I didn't have any ambrosia. If I did I would've used it instead of Viribus at Eliza's house.

I glanced down at Harper, wincing and gritting my teeth at her horrible state. I reached down and gently uncovered the cloak from her body, and the sight made me gasp. She had multiple cuts all over her torso, gashes cutting deep into her skin, causing blood to leak out like oil from a machine.

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was her face. Usually beautiful and defined with cute features, it was now bloody, bruised, and swollen from multiple blows. Most likely punches.

I was so stunned that I almost missed what she said.

"Levi?"

It could barely be heard, but I caught it, and it confirmed my suspicions. Levi had been here, and they had fought, somehow. But if that was true, why did he put his cloak on her? Did he think she was dead or something, and put it on her as a last sign of respect? But then again, it was Levi we were talking about. Respect was hardly a part of his current self.

Either way, I needed to say something back, so I let instinct take over, and automatically appeared closer to her side, my hand on her cheek.

"No, Harper." I tried to keep my voice steady and calm, even though I was losing it on the inside, "It's me...Matt."

She widened her eyes a little, as far as they could go with the swollen bruises. But she squinted at the same time, like what she just heard was a joke, a trick of the wind.

"Matt?" She practically whispered. It made me shiver hearing her say my name again. "Y-You're really here?"

My breathing hitched. At least she was well enough to speak, and somewhat recognize me. But her eyes were kind of glassed and dazed, and her face was scrunched looking at me, like she couldn't fully register what was going on.

"Yeah, it's me!" I told her, a little too loud. I couldn't help it, I was just so excited to see her again, even if she was in a horrible state.

I turned backwards facing the broken door, "FATHER!" I yelled, trying to get his attention. But it was probably useless. He was out there fighting those giant things, giving me time to rescue Harper, who I couldn't even rescue.

I tried again, "FATHER!"

"Matt...you're..." Harper muttered, seemingly about to pass out, "Here? Are you..."

I quickly cradled her shoulders and reached my arm under her legs, "I'm here, Harper. I'm here and I'm never leaving again."

I picked her up in my arms bridal style, trying to be as gentle as possible. Her head and arms went limp, and she became pure dead weight, but I lifted her like she weighed nothing. This told me however she was completely drained of energy, and the wounds were far more serious than I even thought. They weren't just bad, they were...fatal.

FATHER! I yelled inside my head, thinking that I could talk to him like that, kind of like how I did with Zeus last year.

I stood at the door and waited for a response, but got nothing.

Frustrated, I said lowly, "Screw it, I'll come to you." And took off into the snow.

I waded through the thick sheet of white, the hailing snowflakes hitting my skin like soft bullets. The crisp air was nothing to me, due to my durable skin. That certainly helped, as I was able to keep going without a beat, and my walk soon turned into a run. But Harper...well, she didn't have such durability, and I could feel her body autonomously shiver in my arms, and her teeth chatter.

I hugged her even closer to try and provide a little warmth, whispering in her ear, "It's gonna be okay, just a little longer, and you'll be good as new."

I heard a slight whimper from her, like she was trying to reply, but nothing came of it.

My heart split a little, seeing her like this. Obviously I wanted a happy Harper for our reunion, but...expected an angry Harper, and I deserve the latter. But this...I had no idea this was coming. I mean, I knew she'd be in some kind of danger, being at the Griffith's manor. But Levi? That was out of nowhere for me.

My teeth gritted in anger at the thought of him. Beating his own sister to near death. I didn't give a damn if he played nice guy for a few seconds and wrapped his cloak around her, if that's what even happened. The fact of the matter is, he thought about killing her. And that's enough for me to want to pummel his face in.

No, I told myself. That's Harper's fight.

But she just lost that fight, Matt. The other side of myself told me. You need to step in and take care of this once and for all.

But...no, that wouldn't be right. Harper wouldn't want me to get involved. It's personal between them, not me.

But you two are close, are you not? The voice said, in a sort of hissing way. A way that I didn't find intriguing.

Don't you want to kill him? It asked, End him for good, so she never has to worry about it?

Stop talking to me, I retorted, hating the way that voice hissed. It sounded almost like...

Ouranos.

Ouranos was beckoning to me, trying to awaken the new dark side I had acquired from Viribus. He was using my emotions about Levi against me, to bring out a killer.

Well, that wouldn't work.

You can't control me, I told him. Only I can. I have to save Harper, I don't have time for you.

With that, I shut him off completely, forcing my brain to focus on Harper, and getting to my father.

I didn't use super speed, in fear that the wind pressure would be too much for her, and the whiplash potentially hurting her body more. I decided not to risk it, and run at normal human speed.

It didn't take too long though, I cleared the corner of the mansion and faced the front within a minute, and saw my father fighting the last of the snow giants. His body glowed red for a split second, and a flash of light erupted in the center of the giant's chest, disintegrating nearly all of it's torso. It fell dead and bled all over the white snow.

A thing that I took notice of briefly was that they didn't disintegrate. Not even after a minute or two. My father must've defeated half a dozen giants, yet none had faded. They all just lay there with a hole in their chest, or their head caved in. The strange thing was, there were more of them farther towards the gate. Most likely where Harper and the others had fought when they got here.

That didn't matter at all though, we could worry about monster cleanup later.

"FATHER!" I yelled over the wind, putting some strength into it so that it would cut through the background noise.

Thankfully, it did. My father darted his head in my direction, and saw that I was carrying somebody. He immediately appeared in front of me, blasting cold wind in both of our faces.

I shielded Harper from the gust, annoyingly telling my father, "Chill with that! She's freezing as it is!"

He raised an eyebrow and tried to lean closer to get a better look at her, "Who the hell is that?"

"Harper." I said impatiently, "She's hurt, bad. I need ambrosia."

He was still confused, "Wait a sec, that's the Harper you've been talking about-"

"Yes, it's her!" I shouted impatiently, getting annoyed now. I hated to be rude, but we didn't have much time here. "You can introduce yourself later. Right now I need some ambrosia or she'll die!"

He broke out of his trance and nodded, turning around and whistling towards the sky, a shrill call that had to have been for Kyros.

I was about to ask what the hell he was doing. Wasting time on calling Kyros. What was he going to do? We needed to give her ambrosia, not a ride on our giant bird!

I voiced this to him, "Why are you-"

He interrupted, "Just shut up and hold on."

I rested my head back, about to argue, when a caw rang from above, and a brown figure emerged from the blinding snowfall, swooping down and landing firmly in front of us. Kyros.

Hercules quickly tapped him on the shoulder, "Lay down buddy, quick."

Kyros obeyed, and curled up on the snow.

I looked back and forth between them, puzzled at what was going on.

"What are you-" I started, but father had other ideas.

He pointed at me, then at Kyros, "Set her down."

"What?"

He raised his voice, "Set her down on the damn bird!"

I snapped out of it, and gently sat her down on Kyros's body. Her legs touched the ground, and her upper half leaned back on the great bird, like she was sitting up against a wall on the floor.

Kyros curled up against her, his fur pressing into her skin. Her teeth chattering actually began to slow, and her face wasn't as blushed and abnormally pale.

"For warmth. That's why I called him." Father told me, making me look like an idiot for thinking It stupid to call Kyros down. I just got so freaked out, I wasn't thinking I guess.

I calmed down a little, "Do you have any ambrosia?"

He nodded, "Not much, but I've been holding on to it for emergencies." He reached in a small pouch strapped to his waist, and pulled out a block of ambrosia no bigger than my palm. But it would be enough.

I sighed in relief, thank the gods.

He forced her mouth open and pushed it in. Luckily she got the memo, and father didn't have to make her chew. She did that on her own, slowly but surely, and eventually swallowing the godly food.

Instantly after, she closed her eyes, and her head bobbed off to the side.

I looked at my father, eyes wide. Panic welled up in my chest again. Was she okay?

"She'll be fine, just be patient. Ambrosia doesn't work immediately." He said.

I leaned down on one knee and looked at her, both of our heads level to each other.

A couple of minutes passed, and gradually...I could see her condition improve. Her swells started to shrink, her bruises went away and her normal pigment returned. Even the large cuts sealed back together like it had never happened.

Soon enough, she was back to normal. I smiled so wide that all of my teeth were showing. It felt like the heaviest weight I had ever lifted had been taken off of me. All the tension left my body when I saw her chest rise and fall naturally.

I glanced at Kyros's face. He was looking back at me with piercing eyes.

She'll be okay, his emotions told me.

I reached up and stroked under his beak, "Thanks, Kyros."

He closed his eyes and seemed to nod at me.

I turned to my father, and stared at him. He had his eyes set on Harper, watching her closely.

I felt another smile form on my face, gratitude filling me.

"And thank you." I said, "Sorry for being rude."

He glanced at me and waved a dismissive hand, "Don't worry about it. It's a good thing you got her here in time. Those wounds...I'm surprised she lasted that long."

My eyes drifted back to her, sleeping soundly.

"She's tough." I muttered.

Shortly after I said that, a soft mumble escaped her throat, and she shifted ever so slightly.

Father stepped closer, "I think she's waking up."

My heart started racing. Oh man, I wasn't ready for this. Facing her regularly after all this time, and...after what I did. I had no idea what to expect.

Okay, that wasn't true.

But either way, I had thought about this moment for so long, and for it to actually be happening...was both amazing, and unnerving.

Her eyes fluttered open slowly, and her lids went behind her brow, revealing an icy blue circle on the right, and a pure white one on the left.

She groaned and rubbed her eyes, sitting up a little. Kyros allowed her some room and uncurled his body some.

For a second, she just looked around, trying to process everything. Where she was, who she was with, the fact that we were on a quest.

Then...she looked directly at me.

The moment those two eyes met mine, one whole and one not, my stomach twisted and my heart pumped faster than ever. She was even more beautiful than she was last year. Every thought I had of her, every dream on my father's Island, paled in comparison to her in person. Her hair was jet black, just like I remembered it, and it was in a long braid, all the way down to her shoulder.

Her clothes had definitely not changed though. Black leather jacket, tank top, slightly ripped jeans, knife strap, combat boots and a few chains here and there, she kept the punk/goth getup.

But a thing that had changed was the body underneath. She had gotten...well, curvier. And it was pretty noticeable to me. Not saying it was some crazy growth spurt, or that she had changed completely. In fact it was pretty subtle, but still noticeable.

As for her face...gods, I could stare at it all day. Her soft lips were slightly parted, not clad in black lipstick this time. It made them look even more inviting and perfect. And her features, they were so defined, so flawless. Just like her skin, it looked so smooth, so well taken care of. Not a single mark or rough spot could be seen.

Sorry if I got a little carried away with the description. But to put it in summary, she's so hot that it hurts, and I am officially tongue tied.

Not just that, but...a little intimidated. She just kept staring at me, blankly, like she was studying the best way to kill me. Which in truth, she probably was. Considering what I did last year.

That memory in my head, I tried to break the ice.

"Uh, hey Har-" I started, but got cut off by a forcible blow to the face.

A small sting shot up my nose and my head recoiled back. I had completely let my guard down, and I totally didn't see that coming.

She glared at me, her fist outstretched from the punch. I just looked on in shock and put my finger to my nose, checking for blood.

Father just stood there, unsure of what to do.

"Agh..." I winced, "Damn. That one kinda hurt-"

WHACK!

Another one right to the nose. My head shot back again, and I yelped audibly, an equally painful sting shot up my nervous system. What was I supposed to do? I didn't want my durability to break her hand. But I also didn't expect a second punch!

Thinking about what she went through though...I understood, and knew I deserved it.

I shook my head and looked back at her, to see her still holding her glare.

"That's for leaving me, Matt Beckett." She said angrily.

I just sat there, the guilt over flooding me again. Honestly I'm surprised she doesn't want to cut me open right here. But she was mad, of course she would be, she had every right to be.

Part of my chest seemed to deflate. At least I knew my answer now. She wasn't interested anymore, and wanted to move on. It would probably take time to even be friends again.

"Harper, I-" I tried to say, but once again, I never finished my sentence.

What happened next though, stunned me more than the punches. Instead of jabbing me in the nose, she grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me close, her lips crashing on mine.

At first I tensed, shocked at what was even happening. But after a second, it hit me, and I relaxed into the kiss, fully enjoying it, the feel of it...I missed it more than anything.

Soon her hand found it's way to my cheek, and she cupped it softly, her fingers slightly running through my hair.

The kiss only deepened, our heads turned to the side more, my hands gently rested on her waist, and pulled her a little closer to me. We kept it at a simple kiss though, no tongue or anything like that. Just a passionate, slow kiss, saying a thousand words that we couldn't express audibly.

After what felt like several blissful hours, she pulled away, but her hand never left the side of my face, and her forehead touched mine. Our eyes locked.

"And that's...for coming back to me." She said, a light smile playing on her lips.

I laughed, and closed my eyes, letting the fact that we were together truly sink in. I was here, she was here. Despite everything, this moment made me truly happy.

"I missed you so much." I said.

She broke away from the forehead touching, and smiled genuinely at me, her right eye sparkling. "I missed you too, Shark Boy."

Hearing my old nickname, was all that was needed to seal the deal. Anymore and my heart would've been the size of Kyros.

Of course, my father had to ruin the moment with a grunt. "Shark Boy?"

I turned to him, suddenly feeling embarrassed that basically made out with Harper in front of him. Kind of an awkward thing to do.

But at the same time, I was excited for him to meet her. I had talked about her so much to the point that it drove him crazy.

I gestured between them, "Father, this is Harper. And Harper, this is...my dad, Hercules."

He leaned down and held out a hand, "Heard a lot about you, Harper."

She looked at the hand and back at him, no amusement in her expression.

She didn't shake it, "So you're Hercules?"

"Uh, yeah." Father stood there awkwardly, silently asking me from his peripheral - what's up with this girl?

I was as clueless as he was. I understood her being angry with me, but my father? I don't know, maybe she blamed him or something.

Heck I knew the feeling. I blamed him for a lot of things a long time ago, but I eventually changed my mind. Hopefully she would too, when she warmed up to my father's good qualities...

Oh man, she'd never like him.

She got up from the ground, stumbling a little. I reached out to catch her, but she waved me off, mumbling, "I'm good."

Eventually she gained balance, and nodded her head at my father. "More the merrier"

He reared his head back, "Excuse me? Am I a fly on the wall or something? I'll have you know I'm just as much a part of this quest as-"

She ignored him and turned to me, "Alright, we got a lot to talk about. It's story exchange time."

A vein popped from Father's forehead, he looked like he wanted to smite Harper right there, but I shook my head at him, silently telling him to let it go.

He hesitated, then cooled off, snorting to himself.

I responded to Harper uneasily, "Yeah...we do have a lot to talk about."

I'm not sure who's story was crazier, hers or mine.

We walked slowly to the front entrance of the mansion, deciding that was the best route to take, and really the only one that we knew of. Harper walked beside me, and my father behind us, Kyros had transformed into the size of a regular eagle, and perched on his shoulder. On the way, Harper and I talked about the past year and what had happened between us. Thankfully we left out the personal parts, and stuck to the main stuff.

To sum it up, Harper, Talon, Malachi, and Sera have been through a lot.

She told me everything in a matter of two minutes. She glossed over Chiron's death and the Camp's destruction, finding it too hard to go in detail, which I understood, and went straight on to telling me how they fought the Sons of Thor in the city, left for their quest, fought Storm Spirits, met the god of food Lipos, and came to Griffith Manor, in search for something called the Elixir of Invisibility.

Once she was done, I proceeded to fill her in on my eventful summer. Training with my father, becoming stronger, fighting the Ourae, Krios, Hephaestus, Arges, the Volcanic Dragon, and the Sons of Thor. At that, she decided to chime in.

"I had a vision about them. They said to Ouranos that they killed you, and sent you flying all the way to Kansas. That true?"

I nodded, "Yeah. Well, not the killing part, but the Kansas part, yeah. I landed at this mortal family's house, and they took me in for a couple of days. I...I mean, the wound was pretty bad, and I didn't have any ambrosia. So...I used Viribus." I showed her my necklace at the last part, remembering that she didn't know much about Viribus, due to me leaving soon after I got it.

"That's your new weapon, right?"

"Yeah. It lets me do all kinds of stuff. Manipulate lightning, wind, earth, and even heal."

She nodded knowingly, "So you used it to heal your wound."

"Yeah...but the downside is, the source of Viribus's energy comes from Gaea and Ouranos. So...whenever I use it to heal myself, a chunk of Ouranos's energy enters my body and mixes with mine. So he's basically in my head now."

She widened her eyes, "Gods, does he talk to you? Or force you to do stuff?"

I shook my head, "Not the second part, thankfully. But...he tempts me, and whispers to me a lot. It's hard to resist, but I manage."

Father grunted behind us, "It's the reason he lost control with Hephaestus, that damn club."

I didn't appreciate him bringing that up, but he was right. "Yeah, that's true."

Harper sighed, "I'm sorry Matt, that sounds awful. Having to listen to that psycho all the time."

I shrugged, "It is what it is. I made the choice, so I gotta deal with it." I wanted to change the direction of the retelling, to something less dark. Then I remembered where I was at with the story. Eliza's house.

I smiled a little at the memory of her. "Anyway, I healed myself with Viribus at the mortal's house. They were super nice. It was a huge farm owned by a middle aged couple, their daughter lived there too. She was cool. Wants to be a journalist or something, travel the world, that type of thing."

At this Harper became very interested, and raised a curious eyebrow.

"And this daughter...around our age?" She asked.

I nodded, not seeing what she was getting at. "Yeah, sixteen I think."

"You guys hang out?"

I knit my eyebrows in recollection, "Yeah. She showed me the farm, the town they live near, told me all about her journalist dream, and kept pestering me about how different I was. I actually...had to tell her I was a demigod."

I looked back at father for that last part, hoping he wasn't too angry.

He only seemed miffed about it though. Like a fly had landed on his face. "Why'd you tell a mortal you're a half blood? She'd just think your crazy."

Harper now looked annoyed. More so than my father. "So you told this random girl a secret that could jeopardize our world? You must really trust her." She huffed.

What was going on? Was I missing something? Why was her tone like that?

"Guys, she's a clear sighted mortal." I explained, "Like Percy's mom. She saw me fall from the sky, and her parents didn't. When I told her about the Greek world, she wasn't even surprised. She said she used to see weird stuff all the time."

Hercules nodded with interest, keeping a turtle's pace behind us, "Clear sighted mortal, eh? Not too common."

Harper snorted, "Where's this girl now? You didn't want to bring her on the quest with you?"

I turned to her, utterly confused at why she was being like this. "No...I didn't want to bring her. But I kinda promised her I'd do something for her after the quest."

"And what's that?" She asked, full on glaring a storm at me now.

"I'm gonna fly her around the world on Kyros, show her the famous spots she wants to write about someday. It's payment for her and her family helping me."

My father grabbed my shoulder in protest, "Hold up a second, I never said you could borrow my bird."

"I'll take good care of him. Come on, you don't really mind do you?"

He thought about it for a moment, then looked a Kyros, who seemed to tell him it was all good.

"Ah fine, just don't go to another volcano. He hated the last one."

We were rounding the corner of the mansion now, and I noticed that Harper had gone mute.

I looked at her, and saw her arms crossed. Her face was red with anger.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She growled.

I pressed further, "C'mon, just tell me."

She threw her hands up, "Oh, don't mind me! I'm happy you met some farm girl and decided to not only tell her you're a demigod, but take her on a world round trip, just the two of you! I'm so happy!" She said the last part with so much sarcasm it would put Talon to shame.

I couldn't figure out what set her off. I just told her about Eliza.

Who's a girl...

That I stayed in a house with...

And promised to travel around the world with...

Okay, I'm dumb, but not that dumb. I could see now what was going on. Harper was jealous.

In a way, it actually made me a little giddy inside, to know that she was jealous. It proved to me that she still wanted to be with me. I mean, the kiss proved that, but this only boosted my confidence.

But by the way she looked ahead, her lips tight and eyebrows close, I could tell she was genuinely angry. I needed to quit joking around and tell her the truth.

"Harper...are you jealous?" Is what came out instead. Stupid me, I couldn't help myself.

Her face became red, not out of anger, but embarrassment. She started stuttering, "J-Jealous? Yeah right. I don't get jealous."

"It's kinda obvious..." I quipped.

She rolled her eyes and conceded, "Okay fine. But can you blame me?"

I stopped fooling and grabbed her shoulder gently, "Hey, nothing happened between her and I. We're just friends. The only person I have feelings for is you, and it'll always be that way."

She darted her head towards me and her eyes widened at my words. We stopped walking, my father bumped into me, but I ignored it.

"R-Really?" She asked, almost shyly, like she wasn't used to talking with me as my girlfriend. Which she wasn't, since it's technically only our second day as a couple.

I smiled, "Of course. How could I forget about you and get with some mortal chick I don't even know that well." I leaned in and whispered, "Besides, she's a lesbian."

Harper's face turned even more red, "Oh...well then, uh, sorry for saying-"

I chuckled, "Don't sweat it. Now, let's go meet with the others."

"Bout damn time. All this lovey dovey mess is getting old." My father grumbled. I elbowed him.

We started walking again, now near the entrance. It was a longer walk than expected.

"Matt?" Harper said.

"Yeah?"

"One thing about all of that, I still have a question."

"Shoot."

"How'd you know we were here?"

Okay, now this would be hard to explain. It was actually quite simple in my head. Sigurd was the reason I knew to come here, but if I mentioned Sigurd, then I'd have to explain who that was, and then I'd have to talk about Camp Asgard...which was a can of worms on it's own.

But she needed to know. They all did. Camp Asgard and the Norse demigods that lived there were crucial to this quest, and defeating Ouranos. I just knew it.

So I took a deep breath, knowing it was gonna be a long explanation.

"Oh man, this is gonna take a while." I sighed, "To cut to the chase, a guy named Sigurd Borgarsson showed me where you were in a vision."

A loud grunt came from her, and I looked over in concern. It seemed she was choking on her own saliva, and started coughing like crazy.

I patted her on the back, "Are you okay?!"

Father looked around for any sign of trouble, "Quiet her down, will ya?"

I half glared at him, then kept patting Harper.

Eventually she got it out, and breathed heavily to calm herself.

"What was that all about?" I asked, shocked at her reaction.

She shook her head incredulously, "I'm fine, it's just...gods, I can't believe this."

"What?" I said impatiently, ready for her to spill it.

She hesitated, "In the vision where Bjorn and Boris said they'd killed you, Ouranos got mad at them for not making sure you were dead, and they almost quit on him. Until...he reminded them of why they work for him in the first place."

I was very interested now, "Like their motivation? I've been wondering that myself." Then I scrunched my face, "But what does that have to do with Sigurd?"

She pursed her lips, "I'm getting to that. Anyway, this Sigurd guy apparently kicked them out of some place called Camp Asgard, a camp for Norse demigods I'm guessing, and their father, Thor, wanted revenge. So he went to fight Sigurd, but he ended up losing. So now those two want revenge themselves, and want Camp Asgard for themselves."

A lot of that was news to me. I was stunned at the new revelations, but at the same time relieved that Harper knew what Camp Asgard was.

"So that's why they work for him." I said, the pieces coming together. "If they kill me, then Ouranos helps them kill Sigurd, and take over the Norse Camp."

She nodded, "Yeah."

Father hummed grimly behind me, "Damn. Ouranos is playing the pantheon game well. Using two loose cannons like that...gotta admit the bastard's smart. Especially since after they take over the other camp, they'll still work for Ouranos, and that Camp will be under his control."

"That's not gonna happen. We won't let him take over anything." I told him over my shoulder, "I talked to Sigurd in a vision. He's a Son of Odin, so he can...do things like that. But anyway, I told him we would come to their camp, and figure out a way to take down Ouranos together."

Harper smirked, "I like the way you think. That was literally my exact plan too. I mean, why wouldn't we?"

Father snorted, "You barely know these people. Just one of these demigods was enough to defeat a god by himself, imagine a couple hundred. You might as well be walking into a lion's den."

She rolled her eyes, "Any better ideas? Maybe one that involves getting our asses kicked?"

"Ain't saying it's a bad plan, just that you need to keep your guard up."

She huffed, "Whatever."

I suddenly felt a tingle in my neck, and my aura sense fired up. I stopped walking and put my arms out to block the two from stepping any further.

"Guys, stop for a second." I whispered.

We stood for a second in silence, nothing but the whistling wind in our ears. They looked around for what I was talking about.

"What?" Harper asked.

I bent down a little, and pointed up at the mansion. We were now facing the front. It loomed over us like a giant castle, multiple rooms and parts of the structure could be seen, due to it's impressive architecture. Heck, Annabeth would be freaking out right now, looking at this monstrous building, despite the situation.

But that wasn't what I stopped for. I sensed several auras inside the mansion, next to the windows. People were waiting for us, and their auras were fairly considerable. More powerful than an average human.

"There's a bunch of people waiting for us inside, they know we're out here." I said.

Father leaned towards my ear, "How strong?"

"Decent." I shrugged, "Nothing to us, though. We can take them out quick. It's the family I'm wary of."

Harper unsheathed her knives and gripped them, "Well then, let's get to it."

Like we had rehearsed it, we all jumped into action, and the people did too. They busted the windows open and popped out into the open, holding machine guns and rifles. They fired clips of rounds at each of us, but none of them hit.

We all avoided the gunfire in different ways. Harper simply flipped around the bullets and dodged them, sometimes deflecting them with her knives. I simply stood there and took them head on, most of the rounds hit my chest and bounced off like paperclips to a steel wall. About half a dozen bullets hit me square in the face, but they too were nothing to my durable skin.

I was a bit surprised to feel the force of them though. Instead of feeling absolutely nothing, I felt the force of them hitting me. No pain, but still, that told me these weren't regular bullets, they were celestial bronze.

As for father, he simply released a tiny fraction of his aura. Hints of red mist tinted the air around him, and the bullets stopped in their tracks, like soda cans being crushed, they practically disintegrated in the air into nothing.

The people inside saw their assault failed, and some decided to take things up close and personal. Two figures jumped out of the broken glass and appeared above Harper and my father, long saber like swords in their hands. I couldn't see them all that well, but I could've sworn they were wearing suits.

Either way, they made quick work of them. Harper leapt from the ground and met the man halfway, using both of her knives to cut the saber in half, leaving him without a weapon. Just as quick, she turned around in mid air and planted her boots in the man's back, sending him crashing into the snow, his vertebrae most likely broken. He didn't stand a chance.

Father took a different approach, he didn't even have to lift a finger. He simply whistled and Kyros disappeared from his shoulder, faster than sound easily. He tucked his wings in and became a corkscrew of death. Like a thrown spear, he shot straight through the other guy's chest, leaving behind a gaping hole and a pile of blood.

That was when I took action. I squinted my eyes and located each remaining figure in the mansion. About a dozen or so guys. Time slowed down around me, even the snowflakes that fell slowed to a snail's pace in mid air.

It only took half a second in real time for me to take down the guards. Faster than light, I poured strength into my legs and blasted through one of the already busted windows. I landed next to the last guard on the right, none of them taking notice of me. They thought I was still outside.

I didn't want to take my father's route. Instead of killing them, I quickly tapped each of them on the back of the neck, in the soft spot. I get these guys are probably horrible people, but right now...with this whole Ouranos in my head thing, I just wasn't so sure I should be killing anybody. It might awaken something within me that I can't control.

After I tapped the last guy, I slowed down, and time sped up back to normal. They all fell limp to the ground, unconscious, and their guns with them, a couple firing off at the impact.

I leaned down to get a better look at the one below me, and saw he was indeed wearing a suit and sunglasses. All of them were. They each had the same haircut. Cleanly shaved face and near buzzed black hair.

Strange outfits for guards, but I'd expect no less of strange from this family.

"Nice one!" Harper called up to me.

I jumped down from the second story and landed at the entrance on my side, breaking the lock with my fist, I let them in.

The door creaked loudly, but it didn't matter at this point. The gunfire had probably already alerted them.

Harper smirked at me, somewhat proudly. "You've gotten way faster. I had no idea where you went, and speed's kinda my thing."

Father must've wanted to gain some points with her, because he chimed in smugly, "He's far faster than light now. My training's made him a hundred times what he used to be. Tell her, son."

I inwardly cringed, noting her aura change from happy to annoyed whenever he started talking. She really didn't like him, maybe on my behalf or something, or maybe just the fact that he was a god. I wasn't sure, but it didn't matter right now.

I just played it off the best I could, "Um, yeah...Dad's training helped a lot."

She looked between me and Hercules, and huffed. "Glad it was worth it." Then she walked past me, and ahead into the dark hallway.

I threw my hands up at him, like - what are you doing? Trying to make her mad?

He shrugged, "I'm trying to get her to warm up to me. Geez, you told me she was a feisty one, but I didn't expect this."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Just cool it with the forced small talk. She'll warm up to you, eventually. But right now we need to focus on finding the others."

He and I started walking after Harper, who's back I could see twenty feet in front of us, looking around in alertness.

"Why not just destroy the entire place? These people deserve it anyway." Father mumbled.

I shook my head, "I don't wanna look for my friends under rubble. No thanks."

He grumbled and we kept walking.

As we walked around each hallway and room, I was in awe at how fancy this place was, and wondered exactly how the hell these people made so much money. I mean, I knew illegal activity brought a lot of cash, but all of this? Looking around at the thousands of intricate paintings and pieces of furniture, the massive bedrooms...I wondered just what the hell they did to get all of it.

Harper slowed her pace and whispered over her shoulder, "Dead silent."

She was right. Literally no noise could be heard anywhere, other than our footsteps.

"How about your aura sense? Feel anything?" She asked.

I concentrated, and sent it out miles around the area in a circular surge. I can't describe the process, but it's like a sixth sense, or how a snake senses thermal heat, I can just feel the energy inside of people, their auras, their power, their emotions too. It doesn't matter who it is either. I can feel all creatures' auras. Plants, animals, humans, demigods, gods, titans...basically if it's alive I can sense it, and the more powerful the being, the more prominent the feeling.

Right now, I could feel dozens of animals a few miles out of the blizzard. Squirrels, rabbits, insects, etc. But inside of the mansion...I only felt three auras. One of them was immensely powerful, almost as much as mine, so I knew right away that was Malachi. The second one was powerful as well, but only hidden deep down, buried under this layer of timidity and fear. That one was obviously Sera.

The third one was weird...like, hard to describe. There wasn't a level of power to it, or at least a consistent level. It was constantly switching back and forth, mixing and rising, changing and shifting. But it was there, and it was ancient, very ancient. I guessed that was Talon. His aura always felt like that, I guessed because of the Nikandreos thing.

But no Griffith family...

Now that was the really weird part, the fact that they were hidden.

I responded to Harper, "I feel Malachi's, Sera's and Talon's...but no Griffith's."

She gritted her teeth, "Dammit! They must've taken the Elixir!"

"But how would they know I have aura sense? Or that I would even be here?!"

"I don't know..."

"Doesn't that other kid have it too?" Hercules asked.

"Yeah, Malachi." I supplied, "But they didn't know he was coming either, right?"

"It doesn't matter." Harper said, "Why don't we just follow our friends' location? Think about it, wherever they are, the family can't be too far behind, right?"

I nodded, "Makes sense. Guess I'm leading the way then."

But as soon as I stepped in front of her, I heard a loud CHINK! And felt the floor beneath us shift.

We all stopped like deer in headlights, looking at each other in a triangle.

"What the hell?"

The next second, the entire floor split open and shot down like a hatch door. There was a moment's delay, and then we fell, plummeting and flailing before smashing against a metal slide.

We slid all over the place. Even Kyros was disoriented, the poor bird was desperately flapping his wings to get out, cawing loudly.

I spun around on my back, the metal in the chestplate sliding up against the metal of the chute we were on. It was like a rollercoaster, no scratch that, even better than a roller coaster...if you're in it for the thrill. Right now were were going up and down, side to side, and all sorts of other directions. But I could tell that the main goal was to get us as far underground as possible.

Harper was behind me. She had gained her senses quicker than me and was using her thigh to slide skillfully and not crash into the side. See, it was like a circle, what we were in. You know those little tubes that you travel through in those fancy aquariums? The glass ones that let you see all the fish? Well, this was like that, only a lot crazier, and we couldn't see anything but metal.

She pulled out her knife and tried to stab the metal to stop herself, which was smart, considering this stuff didn't look like celestial bronze at all. So the knife would cut through it.

She yelled at me, "Grab my leg! I'm gonna stop myself!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

I reached out and grabbed her shin. When she felt it, she raised her hand to stab, but of course, right when she was about to do it, the slide beneath us completely disappeared, nothing but a black abyss replacing it.

We fell down. Harper and my father immediately dropped like they had been placed above it, while I banged up against the sides. It was like a trapdoor had been sprung on us.

After falling for a solid ten seconds, I could see a faint light beneath us, and a stone floor. We were falling at a pretty good speed, so if I was an average demigod...this would probably hurt.

But I'm not average. Not to be big headed, but father was right earlier. I was one hundred times what I used to be, in case you couldn't tell by the battles I've had so far. Fought and beat a titan and a god, something I couldn't have done last year, hell no.

As far as strength, well you've seen it, but I don't know the limit, I'll be honest. I lifted impossible things on the Island for training. Father used his godly abilities to summon entire mountains and he would drop them on top of me (no joke) and proceed to make me do ten million overhead presses, and again, I'm not kidding about the ten million part, he literally made me count it out.

But the thing was, that was light. Mountains...were light to me, in fact, they were like feathers to me in my base form. After only a couple of weeks, he had to bring in the Olympian weights, and we're talking billions of tons here. Over time, those became light too.

Now I wonder, is there a limit to my strength? I mean honestly, I'm only sixteen, and I might be the strongest demigod in the world. Well, strongest Greek demigod in the world.

And that's not me being an ego maniac, it's just a fact. Comparing my aura to the Olympians themselves, I'm stronger than nearly all of them, save for the Big Three. Heck, I'm even stronger than my father now.

It makes me wonder sometimes...could I lift the weight of the world? Or something crazy like that? Atlas's burden? The possibilities were endless. I just wish I knew where my ceiling was.

It applies to other categories too. In terms of speed, I'm faster than light. I don't know how much faster, but it's a good bit. Durability...well, you saw me take those celestial bronze bullets like they were nothing. Something that I couldn't have done last year. Used to, Celestial Bronze hurt me, like how Percy cut me with Riptide that one time so I could test Viribus. Well now, and no offense to Percy, Riptide would do no damage to me.

And lastly, endurance is off the charts. I never get tired now, my training ensured that. I once fought for four days straight with my father, and still stood fine, using my powers and everything, only sweating and depleting a little. Honestly, it might be my strongest feature.

But enough about that, let's get back to where I was...oh yeah, falling down a hole.

With a loud thud, I hit the floor, no pain hitting me, a good thing. My father came next, and landed on his feet, cracking the rock beneath him. Kyros swooped down and perched on his shoulder, looking like nothing had happened.

He looked at me and scoffed, "Get up. You're embarrassing yourself."

I frowned, "Shut up."

I was about to stand up, when I remembered Harper. Where was she?

"Watch out!" I heard her yell, from above me. My eyes darted to the gaping black hole and there she was, eyes wide and arms flailing everywhere, coming straight towards me.

Too late. Before I could register what was happening, she'd already landed on me with an "OOF!"

Luckily I caught her just in time by the waist, so her neck wouldn't get whiplash. It was kind of an awkward position though, as I looked down I saw her legs in between mine, her face right above mine, and her chest...right above mine. Basically if I let her go, she'd be laying on top of me.

I set her down next to me, and sat up, trying to hide the heat on my face.

I cleared my throat, "You good?"

She looked at me, a slight blush on her face too, several wild strands of hair hanging over her face, but she nodded, "Um...yeah, thanks."

I smiled.

Father groaned loudly, "By Olympus, will you two hurry up and stop goo gooing at each other?! We got Ice people to confront!"

I turned and looked at him incredulously, "Goo gooing, are you serious?"

He nodded, "Dead serious, now come on!"

I looked at Harper, but found her eyes interested in the floor, her face still red.

Great, I pushed it too far. What was I thinking, touching her like that when we've been apart for a year. It's not like things are gonna go back to the way they were!

Then again, if I didn't catch her, she would've gotten hurt, so...I had to do it, yeah.

But still, she was obviously upset about it, and my father saying that goo goo crap didn't help either. It's like he's labeling us as a thing again, which I'm sure Harper hates.

Gonna have to talk to her later, I thought. And pushed myself up.

"Hello there!" A voice said.

It surprised all of us, because we were the only ones standing in the room. The only thing other than that was another wide hallway, going so far down that only black could be seen at the end.

"It's just one thing after another, huh?" Harper said with annoyance.

Father was looking around at the ceiling, spinning in circles, "Where's that coming from?"

"My name is Reginald Griffith." The voice said, sounding like an older man. But wait, Griffith? As in one of Sera's relatives?

"I am currently speaking to you over the intercom." He said, "If you look to the top left corner of the room, you will see it."

We did, and sure enough, there was a little black speaker like thing sitting there, staring at us.

"Where's Sera?!" Harper yelled at it, "What've you done with everybody?!"

Reginald chuckled, "Now now, daughter of Nemesis, all will be revealed in due time. But I can tell you that we are going to have a little fun."

Father growled, "Quit hiding behind that thing and come face us yourself!"

Reginald's tone didn't seem at all worried by that threat, instead finding it amusing. "Oh Heracles, god of strength, the mighty hero, so on and so on. I must admit, I did not expect you and your son to show up. He is quite the target for Ouranos. They seem to fear him quite a bit."

"They should." I said, "My friends and I are gonna take him down, after we take you down."

Reginald clicked his tongue, "I am afraid that if you wish to do that...you'll have to beat my game first."

I clenched my fists, "We don't have time for games. Tell us where our friends are!"

"Patience, young one. You'll find your friends, and Sera as well, but you must respect our rules." He laughed lowly, "When in someone else's house, you respect their rules, no?"

"Not when it's a house of psychopaths." Harper muttered.

Reginald continued, "Now then! You should see a hallway in front of you. To begin the little game, you will go down it. You may encounter some...obstacles along the way, but keep going straight, that's all you need to know. If you keep going straight, you will find me and the rest of my family. And after that...well, then we'll see about killing us, Mr. Beckett."

I really didn't like this guy. But of course if he was related to Sera, he was bound to be an awful person. I knew a vague gist of what she went through from Talon. How a family could treat their own relative like that, especially someone as sweet and innocent as Sera, I would never know. But the fact enraged me.

I swallowed my pride, and responded, "Fine, we'll play your stupid game. But when we find you...you better face us head on. No tricks."

He chuckled, "But of course, fair and square. You have my word. Now good luck!"

Yeah right, his word. As if that has any merit.

I heard a little click on the intercom, signaling that he had shut it off.

We stood there in silence for a second, no ambient noise whatsoever. We were really far underground.

"A game? What kind of sick idiot is this here?" My father said angrily.

"Reginald Griffith." Harper said, "Sera's father."

I raised an eyebrow, "That was Sera's father?"

She nodded, "Yeah, and she has four siblings. All of them ice users. They gave us a tranquilizer potion and we passed out. That's how I ended up in that dungeon and got separated from the others."

"How'd they trick you into taking the potion?" I asked.

She didn't look happy to relive the memory, "We thought it was the Elixir, and we drank it. I was...stupid. I shouldn't have let it happen."

"It's okay." I tried to comfort her, "You didn't know."

She didn't look convinced.

Father broke the ice by saying, "Well then, let's play this game."

The game wasn't fun.

Reginald didn't have us play some video game, board game, or even a role playing game. Nah, he had us dodge traps.

Yep, traps.

We broke off into a run towards the end of the hallway, assuming whatever was in our way would be waiting on the other side of some door.

But about a hundred feet in, the side of the walls opened up a little and revealed two giant crossbows. They immediately fired a legion of arrows at us.

Father released his energy and disintegrated them before they even got halfway to us. Harper and I quickly closed the distance and destroyed the defenses. Her by cutting it off the wall with one of her knives, and me by punching it.

We continued on like nothing had happened, figuring that we needed to keep moving. There was no telling how long this hallway was. I mean, the slide had to have been hundreds of feet long itself.

We ran another football field length, and the next trap came. The walls opened up again, but way wider this time. Behind it, a wall of large metal spikes was revealed, their points as sharp as they could get.

Like a spring, they shot at us from the wall, encompassing the entire height of the area, from floor to ceiling. So there was nowhere to go.

Luckily, these wouldn't hurt me at all. I jumped in front of Harper, and held out my hand, tensing it up. The first spike hit it, and I wrapped my grip around it, stopping it in it's tracks. I felt it keep going, like a hydraulic press crushing whatever was under it. Only I had stopped the hydraulic press.

I squeezed the spike until it crumbled, and did the same to the others, palming them with my hand so they shattered to the ground.

Finishing that, we all kept going, not missing a beat. This was going great so far. Was this Reginald's idea of a challenge?

Don't think that, Matt. I scolded myself. Every time you say something like that, things get worse.

We ran some more down the endless hall, dodging some more obstacles. At one point the floor disappeared again, but we had an easy solution. Father and I simply jumped over it, while Harper took a cooler approach. She literally ran up the wall and made her way to us over it, her body appearing sideways at one point.

She landed with a barrel roll behind me, and kept running. I had to force myself to not drool at her and face forward.

More stuff tried to stop us. A wall of machine gun turrets that I crushed, A round boulder that Father crumbled, and a narrow space that Harper crawled through like a panther. Now that last one was actually kind of difficult. The space was so small that I had to squeeze myself through, while father forced himself so much, he literally expanded the space.

Finally we seemed to see the end of the line. A giant wooden door could be seen in front of us, about a hundred meters away, two large torches hung next to it on the wall. We were close, and nothing else was slowing us.

Scratch that. The moment I thought that, an obstacle stood in our way that I totally did not expect.

Both sides of the walls exploded, like completely. It looked like someone had set off dynamite in here. Brick pieces flew everywhere, dust filled the air so much that I had to swat the area around my face. What the heck had happened?

It was only a second later that I felt my neck sting. Sting. Which meant that the auras that had caused this were powerful.

No way...It couldn't be them...

Once the dust settled, and the brick stopped falling, I saw the victims of the assault lying dead on the ground. Two Laestrygonians. One had bullet holes riddled in his head so much that it looked like a misshapen puddle of goo. The other was charred black and burnt, sparks of electricity crackled around it.

"Well there you are!" A familiar gruff voice shouted.

"Here I am? I looked all over for you!" Said another familiar voice, "I saw you at one point down a corridor, fighting those Scythian Dracaena! I tried to call to you, but you kept shooting, laughing like a maniac!"

The two voices stepped out from behind the walls parallel to each other, and when I saw them, my chest lifted a dozen feet.

On the left, stood a dude about average height, clad in a leather duster, jeans, cowboy boots, and of course...sunglasses. His waist was equipped with a holster and a strap, the holster held a clean looking revolver, with a white grip.

His face was hard looking and rugged, like he hated you, or wanted to bully you. But there was always that hint of a playful smile on his face that assured you he was just kidding. His hair had remained the same. A little longer than what would be considered short, and spiked up in the front, like a fauxhawk. Yep, it was Talon.

And on the right, stood a taller figure, maybe a hair over six foot one, and lean. He wore a gray hoodie, dark blue jeans, and sneakers. His skin was tan, and his face was long, but handsome, like a male model. His hair contrasted that though, medium length blonde coming down to his jawline on both sides, parted in the middle. It looked smooth and silky, like a girl's almost, but his ripped frame disproved that. His aura...monstrous. It held so many years of training, so many years of confliction and confusion. His emotional aura ran deep, telling me he was a nice guy, and dumber than a bag of rocks, but when it came to protecting those he loved, he wouldn't hesitate to bring you down.

Malachi.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Talon and Malachi were actually here, in front of me, bickering with each other like old friends, which they were. I had missed the ex assassin more than I thought. His blunt behavior, mature jokes, and sarcasm...I had missed it all, big time. Even Malachi, who I knew last year as mainly my archenemy, I had missed. We only had a couple of talks outside of him being possessed, but I remember looking forward to being friends with the real him, not the him Ouranos had crafted. Now...I could get a chance at that.

I hadn't realized my mouth had been hanging open, until dust entered it. I coughed a couple of times and cleared my throat.

Both Talon and Malachi stopped arguing and looked over at us, their eyes widening when they saw me. I looked over to Harper and saw her smirking.

"Guess we don't have to go to Kansas after all, guys." She told them, trying to hide her grin, "He's back."

"Matt!" They both shouted, and ran over to us.

"Holy shit dude, you're back!" Talon exclaimed, and we shook hands, bringing it into a bro hug.

Malachi clapped me on the shoulder, "Indeed. It is good to see you. We heard you've been through much. I can't imagine-" He paused, and stepped back to look at me up and down, then when he got to my head, he put up his hand and measured where his was.

"Wow, you're as tall as me now!" He said with a smile.

It was true, I was about half an inch from being the same height as Malachi, when a year ago, I had been two inches shorter than him, and far weaker. It just showed how much I had changed.

I smiled from ear to ear at both of them, "It's great to see you guys. I missed you."

Noticing that there was a third person in the room, and an animal, both of them looked up at my father. All seven feet of him.

"And I'm guessing this is...your dad?" Talon guessed. "And an eagle?"

Father nodded, "The one and only. And yeah, it's an eagle."

"Are you going to help us with the rest of the journey?" Malachi asked.

"Course I am." Father said, "Matt told me about you guys...so with our combined power, Ouranos should be a piece of cake. And why would I wanna miss him getting killed?"

Talon and Malachi looked fairly pleased about this, but Harper on the other hand, not so much.

"Yeah, yeah, he's going." She grumbled, "Can we move on to Sera? Where is she?"

I hadn't even noticed, but yeah, Sera wasn't with them. She was on this quest, but definitely not in this room.

Malachi's face darkened, "We haven't found her."

Talon nodded grimly, "Yeah, no signs of ice or anything. Pretty weird if you ask me."

I held up a hand, "Wait, wasn't she with you guys coming in?"

"Yeah." Harper said, "But like I said, when they tranquilized us, we got separated."

This definitely wasn't good. Sera was, well let's face it, not exactly a fighter. If she was on her own in here, especially the place where she experienced so much trauma...we needed to find her, all there was to it.

Father looked confused, and gave a time out hand signal, "Hang on, Sera's the good ice person, right?"

I facepalmed. I had told him about my group more than once on the Island. Harper more than the others, but that's besides the point. He knew their names, what they were like, what they could do, but I guess his memory sometimes escapes him. Though he's a god, so that's weird.

Malachi nodded at what he said, "She is my girlfriend. And yes, she is the greatest person in the world." No arguments here. She was way nicer and sweeter than any of us. Let's face it, you can call me a "good boy" or "nice guy" all you want, but I've killed hundreds of monsters, brutally, and even some demigods, to my regret. As for the rest...well, they're in the same boat. Harper did questionable things in her past, to get information on Levi, everybody knows that, Talon was an assassin, so he killed people for money, and his personality isn't exactly warm. Malachi, well he was close, but he could be brutal when he wanted to, not to mention his intimidating frame.

Talon leaned in towards my father, "She's a daughter of this family, long story, but they hate her."

"And we have to rescue her." I chimed, "She's not exactly a brawler, father."

He nodded and pointed to the door, "Well, If she's anywhere, I'd say it's through that door."

We all turned and looked at the door simultaneously.

"It's just a one way street, huh?" Harper said.

I looked down. If we were gonna do this quest right, we needed all of us. It didn't matter how strong I was, or my father, or whoever. All of us needed to be there, we needed to stick together. And I was going to make sure it went that way.

With a burst of confidence, I stepped in front of everyone and faced them. "Look...I don't normally do this kind of thing, but just listen for a second."

They all focused their attention on to me. Even my father, which made me hesitate a little. Secretly, his approval means a lot to me. I mean, he's my father, who I used to blame for everything, but always had that inkling of hope that one day I would meet him, and he would be proud of me.

I remembered last year, when I first met him in my cabin, and he told me he was proud of me. I had never felt so good before that. It made me feel so at peace, to know that he knew about what I had done, and was proud.

I took a breath, "This war...it's changed us. All of us, in different ways." I chuckled humorlessly, gesturing to myself, "I mean, look at me. If it's not already clear, I've changed a lot in the past year. I used to be...a loser. A sad loser. I had no friends, I hated everything, and I knew nothing about my real strength. Let's face it, this war, the things that've happened to us, they've...made us stronger. Whether that be physically or emotionally. But despite that, it has to end, and once we get Sera, we'll all be together, stronger than ever. Nothing'll be able to stop us."

I continued, "Just take a second and think about the power in this room. It's actually crazy. I mean..." I pointed at my father, "We have a literal god, on par with the Olympians." I then pointed at Malachi, "The son of a being older than time itself." Then Talon, "A former assassin with weird powers" Then Harper, "A super fast daughter of revenge..." And lastly, I pointed at myself, "And a really, really strong, dumb guy."

They snickered, and I couldn't fight the smile on my face.

"I know this little speech is out of the blue but...it's great to see you guys again." I gestured to Talon, Malachi, and Harper. "And I just...I have a really good feeling about this. But the main point of what I'm trying to say is, we can stop whatever stands in our way." I thrust my finger at the door, "Whatever's behind that door, we can face it, and destroy it. And I believe with everything that I have, that if we work together, we can stop Ouranos."

A silence ensued, and they continued to stare at me. Harper smiled, Talon and Malachi nodded at me approvingly. Father studied me, like he was trying to figure out where this was coming from. And I can't really answer that, It just...came out, it felt like I needed to say it, to get some of my feelings out there.

I concluded with, "And that's all I wanted to say. Sorry if that was...well, I don't know."

They all walked over and stood beside me, Talon clapped my shoulder, "It's good to have you back, kid."

"That was well said, Matt." Malachi said.

Harper squeezed my hand, which made it all better. "Good speech." She said, a little smirk on her face.

Father just nodded at me, his face hard to read.

Determined, my sights set on the door, "Let's do this then."

I reared my fist back and it connected with the center of the door, instantly breaking it open and sending both sides clanging on the ground.

We all walked inside the new domain, and it was a lot different.

For one, it was much larger and more spacious than the hallway. What we stood in now might as well be a cathedral. The ceiling was shaped like a dome, and the rest of the room like a battle arena. It was circular, and nothing occupied the floor. The circumference had to be a hundred feet.

I knew where this was going.

A loud click could be heard throughout the room, and then a voice blasted, slightly muffled, kind of like how old radios used to sound.

"Hello contestants!" Reginald said.

"This asshole again." Talon groaned.

The Ice patriarch continued, "I see the traps were nothing to you! Nor the low level monsters! I am utterly impressed with your strength. I'll admit, I underestimated you all, but that will not happen again. In this arena, you'll face more...challenging opponents." There was a pause, then a shout, "Langston, let them out!"

A continuous creak started to sound, and the ceiling opened above us, spiraling around like a corkscrew. When it opened completely, several large figures appeared out of it, and their auras appeared in my sense. One of them was powerful, and familiar. It reminded me of Arges and Brontes, two of the original cyclops. The other auras were numerous, but much weaker than the first one, the same applied to the third set of auras, but I could tell they were larger in size.

We all tensed up and got in our stances, I knew Malachi could sense them too, and I felt his aura spike, the sound of electricity sparking in my ear.

The figures got closer and closer, and soon smashed into the ground. The first figure was definitely the last original cyclops. When he smashed into the floor he created a small crater, sending cracks throughout the entirety of the ground. He stood up, and I got a good view of him. He looked just like the other two, only his skin was darker, and he had a long, bristly beard. He wore a blue loincloth and held a club bigger than my father. The weird thing was...it crackled with lightning. That was when I remembered the third Cyclops's name, it was Steropes, the Lightning Bringer.

Then the other figures landed, on either side of Steropes. Both were the size of a squadron. On the right, stood two dozen of the guards in the windows, the guys in suits and sunglasses, and strapped to their backs were sets of machine guns.

On the left of him, lumbered the same amount of giants. The ones that Father fought near the gate. They looked like hairy abominable snowmen, beefy and patched with white.

Steropes hefted his club and stepped in front of them, looking down at me. He huffed a gust of breath, and I held mine, not interested in smelling the inside of a cyclops.

Once it passed, I looked at the others. They all had the same look of determination on their faces, ready to fight.

I smirked and turned back around, getting in a fighting position. "Alright guys, let's see how much of what I said outside that door is true."

With that, both sides charged each other, and clashed.

(000)

I gotta be honest, that one was fun to write. Hope you all liked it, and keep reading, because the final chapters of Book Two are coming!

Like I said before, be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! I respond to all of them.

Until Next Time.