Chapter 60 - Unexpected Company
Larry and Owen dropped Percy and Nico off seven miles away from the Titan Camp, in a snowy blizzard. Then, terrified of being so close to the Titans, the two centaurs spun around and disappeared.
Percy stared after them, covering his eyes to shelter them from the blizzard. "Well," he said, "that's great."
At least Chiron had reminded them to make sure to wrap up warm for Alaska. Percy groaned, turning his head around as he scanned the area. It was then that he realised there was a problem. "I don't know where we are," he said to Nico.
Nico turned to glare at Percy. "What do you mean you don't know?" He demanded in disbelief. "I thought you knew where the Camp was!"
"Yeah, where it is on a map," Percy agreed. "I don't know where we are though!" Percy hesitated as he slowly turned in a circle. "You know, we really didn't think this through," he said as he scratched sheepishly at the back of his head. "Kronos usually just kind of flew me over here and I… well," he said, gesturing to the blizzard around them. "I have no idea where to go from here," he admitted.
Nico sighed. "Percy," he said tiredly, "the Party Ponies have left too. The only way now is to the Camp."
"I know that," Percy said. He hesitated as he squinted into the blizzard. Percy cupped his hands to his mouth. "HELLO?" He yelled into the blizzard. "TITANS?"
"Percy!" Nico hissed. "What about monsters?"
Percy glanced back to Nico. "It's fine," he said to Nico. "I've never seen any-"
A deep howl split the air and Percy froze. He uncapped Riptide, immediately spinning around as Nico drew his own sword. The Stygian Iron blade seemed to make it even colder around them.
Percy shivered despite his coat. Nico had his back to Percy's, so at least Percy didn't have to worry about that. Still, a chill ran down his spine as Percy heard the howl be echoed and answered from multiple different points around them.
"You were saying?" Nico quietly asked.
"Well, I guess Kronos did fly me over anything that might be out here," Percy admitted. His skin crawled, every nerve seemingly on edge. Percy's stomach churned. He flexed his free hand, recalling everything that Oceanus had taught him about blood-bending in case he needed it. There was a blur of movement amongst the flurry of snow. Percy narrowed his eyes. A low growl rippled out in front of Percy, and he set his feet firmly as he watched a white-coated wolf slide into view in front of him, upper lip pulled back into a snarl to bare sharp fangs at Percy. He felt Nico sense against his back. "You got one there too?" Percy asked, uneasily staring at the wolf in front of him, only a dozen feet in front of him. It looked like a normal wolf, if not for the blood red eyes and horse-sized body.
"Yes," Nico said. "Any ideas?"
"Kill them?" Percy asked.
There was another low snarl from around them, one which made the earth beneath Percy's feet tremble. The wolf in front of Percy stilled its slow creep forward. Percy's heart crawled into his throat when a giant paw moved into view. The first wolf's back only reached the top of the new paw. A warm breath melted the snow around Percy's head and feet. Percy slowly lowered his left hand as he craned his head back.
Percy swallowed. "Nico?" He whispered as he looked up.
"Yeah?" Nico asked.
"Turn around," Percy quietly said.
"There's a wolf in front of me too, Percy."
"We've got a bigger problem," Percy breathed out.
Nico's weight at Percy's back shifted, and Percy heard him inhale sharply. "Zeus' underpants. Definitely bigger," Nico said, his voice breaking slightly.
The wolf's nose twitched as it took in his scent. Percy, staring up at it, noted he could see straight down said nose. Each of the wolf's fangs were larger than one of Camp Half-Blood's javelins. He took a deep breath. The wolf's head alone was so large that it disappeared into the blizzard around them. Percy couldn't even see it's ears, only two massive eyes and a muzzle that twitched as the wolf sniffed the top of Percy's head. He noted the massive scar he saw along the top of the wolf's snout. The red eyes of the wolf were larger than the eyes of any of the giants Percy had encountered the year before, which gave him some perspective on this wolf's size. The blizzard masked the real size of the wolf, but what he could see had him keeping his sword pointed down unthreateningly.
Percy had faced down Gaea's children the giants. This wolf terrified him more than they ever had.
A screech split the air. Lightning without thunder flashed over Percy's head, followed by a flash of gold that whistled past one of the wolf's eyes. A golden bird glided back past one of the wolf's eyes, lightning crackling between its feathers as it hovered next to the wolf's eye sharp celestial bronze talons flexing in the whistling from the blizzard as it spread its wings wide.
Percy gaped in disbelief. "Aquila?" He asked.
The golden eagle screeched again. The wolf's eye – which had until then still been trained on Percy – visibly shifted to fix onto Aquila. The eagle's wingspan was somewhere upwards of forty feet when stretched wide, by Percy's best guess, but even then Aquila's wingspan couldn't have been even half the length of the wolf's head.
The wolf's eyes returned briefly to Percy, but then with one last grumble which seemed to shake the entire world, the muzzle of the wolf slowly rose into the blizzard above Percy's head and disappeared. The far smaller, horse-sized wolf in front of Percy blinked red eyes at him before sliding back into the blizzard. Next to Percy, Nico let out a long exhale. Percy let out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, his head suddenly spinning. Around them, the blizzard died down into something more natural. Percy could see a lot further now, but he could spot no sign of the wolf's presence – aside from the two giant pawprints that were closest to him, the other two of which he couldn't immediately find. Percy figured he could lay down in one of those pawprints width-wise and would only be able to reach halfway across.
Percy let Riptide's point bury into the snow as he took a deep breath, his hands on his knees. "What… what was that?" He demanded, his voice breaking slightly. The wolf had probably been able to smell the fear rolling off him in waves.
Nico slowly shook his head. "I don't know," he breathed out, his breath shaky.
A wingbeat caught Percy's attention, and he raised his head in time to watch Aquila land daintily on the snow in front of them. The giant eagle screeched at Percy, his wings thrown wide. Percy jerked back, warily eying those giant, celestial bronze talons and beak. Aquila seemed agitated as he shuffled his wings, folding them close to his body.
Percy recalled seeing the giant pain-in-the-ass flying around the Titan Camp sometimes on his visits, and was relieved to see the eagle now. Especially after Aquila had just saved their asses from that giant wolf. Still, Aquila looked particularly uneasy and shifty as he sharply tilted his head to the side to look at Percy. There was a sharp recognition in the eagle's eyes.
"Aquila, O' Great Eagle," Percy said as an idea came to mind then, really laying on the flattery for the eagle. "Could you give us a lift to the Camp?"
Nico's eyes widened slightly. "Wait, what?" He asked, clearly alarmed at the thought of Zeus' lightning-bolt-carrying bird giving them a lift.
Aquila, however, gave Percy the stink-eye and lowered his head to groom at some feathers on his chest instead, making his answer more than clear.
Percy sighed. "Stupid bird," he muttered under his breath. He raised his voice as Nico snickered behind him. "I'll get you some organs," he offered. Aquila paused in his grooming, eying Percy consideringly, but still didn't seem satisfied and lowered his head to continue. Percy paused briefly, hesitating. "Immortal organs? Nice and fresh?"
Aquila stopped his grooming. His head tilted to the side as he stared unblinkingly at Percy. Percy warily stared back at him, not sure if Aquila was about to try to take his organs as payment instead. But Aquila screeched and flared and spread his giant wings, taking off into the faded blizzard with a flurry of snow. Percy and Nico spluttered, wiping snow from their eyes.
Percy angrily yelled into the blizzard around them after the golden bird. "Fine!" He yelled. "Don't help us then! Be a pain in the – ah!" His shouting broke off into an alarmed yelp as Aquila rematerialized heading straight for him with outstretched talons and the ground abruptly dropped away beneath Percy's feet.
Percy wasn't sure if it was him screaming or Nico next to him. Probably both of them. Aquila's talons was unyielding around Percy's shoulder, the eagle's grip like a vice from the ratchet within the muscles of the raptor's toes.
The eagle's wings beat solidly against the freezing wind, lifting Percy and Nico higher and higher. For a brief moment, Percy worried that Aquila was taking them elsewhere – probably to take their organs for himself, but within a minute Percy spotted the warming green flames of Greek Fire in the distance.
He happened to glance down, and his heart leapt when he saw the giant wolf easily keeping pace with Aquila. Muscles rolled and rippled, visible even through the creature's mated and shaggy fur. And yet, Percy could spot patches where the fur had been rubbed away around the wolf's body and close to the paws of the giant wolf, and the fur around its muzzle seemed thinner as if it had also been rubbed off. From the height they were flying at, Percy judged the length of the wolf to be at least the size of two blue whales, at a minimum, and closer even to three.
"Any names?" Percy yelled to Nico next to him over the whistling of the wind and Aquila's beating wings. Where was Annabeth when Percy needed her?
"No," Nico yelled back, clearly also staring down at the massive wolf running beneath them.
The wolf started running off to the side, soon disappearing into the snow as Aquila began to descend, gliding down towards the large camp sprawled out below them. Snow warmed and slid down the sides of an invisible barrier around the limits of the camp, leaving the ground within the borders snow-free and – mostly importantly – warm.
Aquila released Percy and Nico onto the lawn before the large house that Percy recalled spending many nights in, and then he beat his wings and settled on the top of the house like an overgrown gargoyle.
Percy bowed his head to the eagle. "Thank you," he called, "I'll make sure you get your organs as payment!" He called up to him. Aquila chirped down to Percy in what could only be acknowledgement, before he began to ruffle through his wings with his beak for any loose feathers after the flight through the blizzard.
"Percy? Nico?"
Percy spun around. "Luke!" He exclaimed, grinning as he saw Luke. "Hey, it's good to see – you," Percy said, stiffening as he noted the demigod standing next to Luke.
Alabastor Torrington nodded stiffly to Percy, his mouth a thin line. Clearly he was as happy to see Percy as Percy was to see him – which was not at all.
Luke frowned slightly between them. "Not now, you two," he warned. "It's really not the time."
"Yeah," Percy grumbled. "Hey, do you know where any of the Titans are?" Percy asked. "Preferably Kronos. We need to ask them a few questions. There's been a… situation at Camp."
Surprise flickered across Luke's face. His blue eyes furrowed, the son of Hermes looking utterly confused. "What, you can't ask him yourself?"
Percy paused. "Who? Kronos? No," Percy said. "I haven't seen him in at least a month now. Conveniently, not since Apollo has disappeared. I just need to ask Kronos if he knows anything about-"
"We haven't seen him," Luke said curtly. He bit at his lip thoughtfully, eyes passing from Percy, to Al and to Nico. "Damnit," Luke breathed out, running a hand through his hair in what could only be frustration. "Fuck. We thought he was with you."
Percy blinked. "Kronos?" Percy's eyes furrowed. Now he was as confused as Luke. "No, no, he's been here this last month," he insisted. "I haven't seen him!"
Luke just shook his head. "No one here has either. Hyperion was getting angry about it the other day, went off on a rant about how Kronos was paying more attention to you, the enemy, than he was his own people. The rest of his brothers have been pretty angry about it too."
Percy scowled. "Hyperion? Where's he then?"
Luke shrugged. "I don't know. He said something about needing to poke around California – something about the state being on fire, but in a weird way? I don't know," Luke repeated. "But – listen – what do you mean you haven't seen Kronos?" He demanded.
Next to Luke, Alabastor Torrington sighed, looking up at the giant eagle perched on the top of the house. Aquila was peering down at them all. "It explains why Aquila has been so agitated lately," he murmured. At the odd, questioning looks directed towards him, the son of Hecate frowned. "Isn't it obvious?" Alabastor demanded.
"No," Percy said.
"Not in the slightest," Luke agreed.
Nico shook his head slightly. "No," he said.
Alabastor scowled at all three of them. "Well, clearly," he slowly said, as if he was talking to utter idiots, "Kronos is also missing."
Percy stared at Alabastor, in that moment forgetting all his rather natural animosity with the other demigod. "Well, shit," he muttered.
Luke stilled, looking questioningly back at Alabastor, who just shrugged at him. The son of Hermes sighed, his gaze flickering to the demigods who'd started to inch closer to them and their conversation. His jaw clenched, and Luke let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I don't know what's going on," he said, blue eyes flicking past Percy and towards the mansion behind him as mutters broke out amongst the gathered demigods. Percy noted many of them bowing low. "But… apparently company turned up recently who might."
Percy turned, his eyes furrowing slightly, to see the source of the commotion.
The immortals stood on the porch, one with her hands folded in front of her. Her gaze – as ancient and as unyielding as the earth itself – fixed onto Percy. A chill tracked down the son of Poseidon's spine as he met alien green eyes, as vibrant as a rainforest and lethal as the earthquakes which rocked the world. "Perseus Jackson," Gaea greeted Percy, looking down at him with clear distain. Her gaze drifted towards Nico, whom had tensed at the sight of the Primordial; clearly ready to shadow travel away in that instant. Gaea's lips twitched up slightly at the sight.
The second immortal, one beside Gaea, looked older than the Primordial, if only accounted by the wrinkles which had formed on her face. Rhea looked to have physically aged decades in the time since Percy had last seen her at the Acropolis, making her appear older than her Mother next to her. "Perseus, Nico," Rhea greeted, her gaze sombre and weary in the way no immortal's should be. Something had harmed Rhea, and Gaea actually seemed concerned for the other immortal. "We have been waiting for you. Come, let us speak inside and away from prying ears," Rhea said.
We get to see Gaea again! Yay! (What insults will she have for Percy next chapter? XD)
Basileos: Having time to myself is definitely a new experience! Kronos and Apollo would definitely be a fun dynamic... especially with Apollo stuck as a mortal XD. Yeah, I was tempted to put a joke in, but I figure Percy would be aware that if Grover's actually bringing it up to him, it's gonna be smth not normal XD.
Thatgremlinbitch: 3 chapters back to back! XD Percy's just a little too used to the Titans now aha. Lmao yeah, but I figure if Grover's worried enough to be saying it to Percy, Percy would be aware it's smth unnatural. The Titans are all off on their own little adventures (because Hyperion clearly would've been able to sense smth suspicious about the fires), unfortunately for Percy (instead, he's now gotta deal with Gaea and Rhea together, lol). LMFAO, poor Zeus! XD