alone at the edge of a universe

by Zaniey013

This is not my story. I'm only publishing this here for my own convenience. The sea is not unlike the abyss; it is deadly, destructive. It hides secrets in its depths and threatens even those that know it well. The sea easily swallows life with no trace left behind. See the rest of the summary inside! Check out the original story on AO3 by SarcasticMetaphor

15. running through hurdles, running in 2

running through hurdles, running in circles (ii)

Looking back, Percy wasn't certain he could recall exactly what happened.He just remembered the tunnel they were in getting hotter and hotter under it was almost unbearable. There was a roaring in his ears, too. Percy remembered a cavern the size of a football stadium, laden with walkways and platforms over nothing but lava and lots of running machinery.Monsters.

The plunge of fear when Nico said he'd venture to get a closer look on his own.

Percy remembered snarling dog faces with sharp teeth.

Bursts of frantic shouting remained sharp in his mind.

"Percy!"

Hordes of monsters between him and Nico. Percy waving Riptide frantically, trapped on the central platform.

"Go! Nico, just go!"

It didn't matter if Percy died.

So what happened after that?

A blade shaped like a crescent.An awful, inescapable heat.Burning.

He remembered being burned alive.

If Percy died then, he had no recollection. He only remembered the thrum of an endless ocean right under his skin, indistinguishable from the pulse of the cosmos. Inseparable from his heartbeat.Percy did not want to die.

The last thing he remembered was a force propelling him into the air, so powerful it could have-should have-been able to strip the flesh from his bones. As well as wondering if Nico survived.

So… where was he now?

He didn't have the strength to open his eyes. Percy could only vaguely feel the strangest rocking sensation. As if he were in a cradle.The roaring in his ears was more muted than before.

Was he in the water?

If it was knitting him back together, he couldn't tell. But if he was in the water, he must be safe.

Percy let his consciousness drift away. Time lost all meaning to him; when hewas next aware of anything, Percy was surprised it wasn't Chaos' presence tugging at his mind. A rhythmic roar made his head pound until he realized it was waves crashing against a shore. He was warm. Not burning, but warm.He opened his eyes maybe a millimeter at most and winced from the bright light overhead. He groaned, feeling as if his vocal chords were ground up into sand.

"Shush," a voice he did not recognize said. "You're terribly hurt, but you are safe here."

The voice was so warm, so soft. So caring that Percy was more than content letting foreign hands sponge a cool, wet cloth on his forehead. Whoever they were, Percy hoped they wouldn't kill him in his sleep. Dying would be so inconvenient...

Calypso was not quite sure what to make of her newest guest. It had been so long since she had a mortal hero come to Ogygia, but she was well versed in tending to them. Most washed upon her shores injured or dehydrated. This one, well…

Calypso thought it would have been the first time the Fates sent her a corpse. The poor boy's clothes were in tatters, gruesome burns covered most of his body. She saw him fall from the sky and plunge into the water but when she approached, she could feel that he was alive. Maybe the ocean protected him, or he had some god's blessing. Traces of red stained the white sand beneath him, made watery by the lapping of the waves.

Was it her imagination, or did his blood shimmer like copper?

In more than one place, Calypso also saw the white gleam of exposed bone.

She knelt in the sand beside him. He made a sound, soft and pained.

"Shush. You're terribly hurt, but you are safe here."

He didn't respond and she didn't expect him to. Calypso summoned a dish of water and ran a wet cloth over his forehead. She had her attendants bring him inside her cave and lay him down on the spare bed. The boy hissed and groaned as he was handled, making Calypso wonder what exactly he faced before winding up on her island.

As she tended to him, he spoke in threads of unintelligible babble while sleeping. He spoke of things she did not understand and repeated names she did not recognize.Nico, Grover, Tyson.Once, someone named Annabeth.

She tried to heal him with magic and nectar, singing for him to speed up the sealing of his torn flesh, but not much seemed to work. Could the Fates be so cruel as to send her a hero that would die in her care? Before she could even get to know him?

Calypso thought that this newest one would have made for good company while it lasted. His white hair was unusual for a mortal hero, and when his eyelids fluttered open she found herself admiring his glimmering green eyes.

Perhaps hours or some days after he arrived, Calypso intended to return to his bedside with a potion made of the magical and medicinal herbs from her garden. When she saw his bed, however, she froze and nearly let the bowl slip from her hands.

He was gone. The covers were not thrown back as if someone had recently gotten up. The blankets were mostly undisturbed and a strange golden powder dusted the pillow. Memories from long, long ago flickered in the back of Calypso's mind as she approached the bed.

Monsters turned into a similar golden dust upon death.

She set the bowl down on the bedside table and touched the cold pillow. Her fingertips came away shimmering with gold. Did this now mean he was gone forever? Was this a cruel ploy of the Fates?

But above all else, as Calypso stared at the empty bed, it made her wonder what exactly she had been tending to all this time.

Percy hardly had the strength to think, but something was bothering him. His heart kept jolting in his chest, as if too exhausted to pump his blood. He could tell he was not very far off from yet another death.

For some reason, Chiron's words bounced around in his head.

"...swear to me regardless that you will at least try your best. That you will not actively seek out your own destruction."

Did sneaking into a volcano inhabited by murderous monsters count as his own destruction? Was Percy dying of his wounds or of his broken oath upon the Styx? Maybe Nico would be able to tell him…

Some time later, Percy felt the feeling in his fingertips fade away. That loss of sensation laced across his whole body as he slipped into a nice, deep, painless sleep.

Ah, the troublemaker returns.A male voice said to him. It didn't sound like Chaos.

Percy felt no need to stir. Besides, he seemed to be lacking a body.

I suppose I ought to call you brother, as we have the same maker.

Percy struggled to string his thoughts together at all. Didn't Chaos say something about Tartarus?

Indeed. You know our arrangement well by now. All I'm to do is send you on your way. Goodbye once more, Perseus.

When Percy opened his eyes, he felt whole again. Nothing hurt and he could feel the cotton sheets clutched in his grasp. Percy sat up slowly, taking in the strange cave he was in. The walls and ceiling glittered with raw crystals, shining in hues of silver and green and blue. The furniture was embellished with gold and there was a loom in the corner of the room with a half-finished project still awaiting completion.

Percy coughed to clear his throat. "N-nico?"

No response. Was he alone?

Where even was he?

Percy eased himself out of the bed and shivered as his bare feet met marble floor. He braced one hand against the wall and made his way toward the mouth of the cave. He parted the white curtains and found himself at the edge of a sprawling garden. In the distance, he could see glittering water and a white sand beach.

It was so warm, so quiet. Percy closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of ripe fruit and blossoming flowers. No note of salt in the air, however, so he must've been near a body of freshwater. Percy registered the sound of footsteps approaching but was slow to open his eyes again.

"O-oh!"

He opened his eyes. A girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, in a white Greek dress with braided brown hair, stood a little ways down the path. She had both hands pressed to her mouth as she stared at Percy with shock. Percy squinted at her. Was she some kind of nymph? She had that sort of timeless beauty to her.

"Hello?" he called out.

The girl tentatively lowered her hands. Percy noticed how she took a half-step back. She said, "You- you're well."

Percy's brain struggled to register her words. He looked down at himself. He was in a white cotton button up shirt and loose cotton pants that didn't belong to him. Percy remembered heat and fire, but his skin was smooth and unbroken.

"I guess I am," he said. He looked back at the girl and risked a step closer. "Where am I?"

The girl took another step back. "This is Ogygia, my home. It is a safe place."

Percy noted the nervous edge to her voice. After a moment, she added, "Welcome… I am Calypso."

Apparently Percy fell from the sky and crash landed in the lake. He came alone, meaning that Nico either escaped Hephaestus' volcano or…

Percy wanted to believe that Nico escaped. But he could tell that he was reborn again and hoped none of the gods would notice. Maybe since Ogygia was so heavily shrouded by magic, his death and rebirth could go unnoticed.But pressing for details about how he arrived on her island made his host nervous, even though she treated him well. Calypso allowed Percy to keep the guest bed in her home and had servants to treat him to a meal whenever he so wished.

He must've been in really bad condition before his death because Percy had never come back still feeling so weak. His muscles ached, he wobbled and was attacked by vertigo if he stood up for too long. Percy knew he'd need his strength, so he hesitated to try finding a way home until he was back to his normal self. Even though Percy was intact and alive again, he tried to sleep and rest as much as possible.

It wasn't hard. Time passed by strangely on Ogygia, with days and nights both flying by and yet each moment feeling too long to be normal. But if Percy had to guess, he was at least aware of maybe five or so days passing.

At dinner one night, he finally coaxed some answers out of Calypso. They sat at a table in her garden, on opposite ends with the food set between them.

"I will not lie to you, Percy. You did give me quite the scare."

She refused to meet his eye.

Percy said, "I'm guessing your guests don't usually fall from the sky?"

He saw a flicker of a smile, but it faded as quickly as it came. Calypso shook her head. "You were gravely injured when I found you, but you've regained your health faster than I've ever seen. It was quite impressive."

Percy froze, wondering what Calypso had seen. If she had watched him return. That would explain her fear. The two of them ate in silence, and Percy sensed that maybe Calypso preferred it this way. In the back of his mind, he was still trying to puzzle out who Calypso was from mythology. He couldn't remember if she was some kind of minor deity, or maybe a nature spirit. But she was kind to him, so Percy tried to show he appreciated her generosity.

After dinner, Percy started up the path back to the mountain cave. He glanced over his shoulder and spotted Calypso retreating in the opposite direction, stepping off the path to tend to some of her flower beds. Percy cocked his head to the side and decided to follow her. He put a hand on a nearby tree trunk to steady himself as he watched Calypso work. She was watering patches of pale white flowers. And was it Percy's imagination or were they glowing in the moonlight?

"My mother has always wanted a garden like yours," he blurted out.

Calypso startled. "Oh, Percy. Um…"

She set aside her basin of water. "Is that so? Why does she not keep one, then?"

Percy told her of how he grew up in Manhattan, about how dense modern cities were. His mom enjoyed the strawberry fields at camp, at least. Calypso humored him, or maybe she was genuinely curious about the outside world. She told him a little bit about the flowers she was tending to.

"They're called Moonlace, and they were plentiful in my time. I'm sad to hear it's become rare in the outside world."

His heart ached for her. She sounded so sad, despite living in paradise.

"Is that why you live here?"

Calypso gave him a sad smile. She revealed how being sentenced to her birthplace was actually her punishment. But when Percy learned she was a daughter of Atlas, he only felt worse for her. Ogygia was nice, but a prison was still a prison.Eventually, when Percy began to sway where he stood, Calypso walked him back to the mouth of the cave. He hoped that meant she was even a little less afraid of him now.

Although he was really looking forward to a bath and a fresh set of sheets to sink into, Percy paused just outside the entrance.

Up close, Calypso really was beautiful. She still fidgeted by running her fingers over her braid and stared at Percy with a strange degree of intensity. Like she was afraid he'd suddenly leap at her just to scare her. It wasn't as intense as when he first woke up, but there were traces of that fear still in her eyes.

Percy didn't want anyone else to be afraid of him. "Thank you for all your help, but I don't want to intrude on your island any longer than I have to."

Calypso asked, "Do you expect to leave soon?"

Percy raised a brow. "Can I?"

She nodded. "It can be done. I cannot leave myself, but all my guests can."

"Oh," Percy said. He couldn't help but ask, "How… how often do you get guests?"

His host got a faraway look in her eyes for a moment. She sighed. "The gods sometimes visit, maybe every few decades. Hermes is my most frequent visitor. But as part of my punishment, the Fates send me the occasional hero. Someone always in need of my help. I- I admit I've fallen in love with many of my heroes before."

Percy got a flash of fear in his stomach. He didn't need to break this poor girl's heart while he needed to leave for his quest. But he also got the feeling there was more to that. Calypso let out a shaky breath. "I hope it does not offend, but you are different. I've never had a hero like yourself, Percy. But I expect that you'll leave, just as all the others have."

She didn't even sound accusatory. Only quietly accepting of her fate.

"I'm sorry, you deserve better." Percy said. It didn't change the fact that he couldn't afford to stay for much longer, he was missing in action and a bunch of his friends were still stuck in the Labyrinth. He had no idea what happened to Nico, either.

Calypso gave him a shaky smile. "It is alright, Percy. When you are ready, let me know."

Percy nodded and retired for the night.

The morning after, Percy awoke to witness a column of fire traveling across the surface of the lake.

Hephaestus. He came not for Calypso, but for Percy.

"You banished those Telekhines from my forge, but I doubt I'll be using it anytime soon, either. Typhon is stirring, sensing Kronos' growing power. But a deal's a deal, little hero," the god said. He told Percy what he knew of the Labyrinth. "That ball of yarn Theseus used was adequate enough. But his true secret? He had the help of a mortal princess with clear sight. With not a drop of god blood in her."

Clear sight? No god blood?

Percy thought back to Chaos. He remembered something about already having what he needed?

Gods… could it really be?

Hephaestus left shortly after, leaving Percy alone on Ogygia with Calypso. He did feel bad, but he approached her in the garden and said, "I think it's time I left. My friends need me."

She hardly seemed surprised. If anything, Calypso looked a little relieved. Percy wondered if she was just used to her solitude, or if she was always going to be a little afraid of him.

He stared down at the Moonlace she was tending to. In the daylight, they looked like plain white flowers. Looking back at Calypso, he asked, "If it's alright, could I take a flower? For my mother?"

Calypso seemed surprised. And maybe even a little touched. She nodded. "Go ahead."

Percy bent down and plucked a single flower. He nodded to her. "Thank you."

He tucked the flower into his front pocket. Down by the shore, a wooden raft awaited him. As Percy sailed for home, he looked back at Ogygia. The island was already beginning to be surrounded by fog.

He hoped Calypso was able to see him wave goodbye.

When Percy stumbled upon the shore of Camp Half-Blood, it was to find a funeral for him already in motion. His mother was there. Nico stood closest to the pyre, expression unreadable as he turned to face the crowd.

To face Percy.

His eyes lit up with surprise.

It was an unusual reunion, to say the least. Percy pushed past campers who in turn stumbled away from him as if he were a ghost. He might as well have been. He heard all sorts of whispers among the crowd.

"Percy's back-"

"He's alive?"

"Wasn't there that rumor-"

"How-"

"He's alive!"

"-unkillable-"

"-'s not the first time he's-"

Nico threw himself at Percy and almost toppled them both in his hug. Percy let out a breath, so relieved to know his friend was alive. That another child of the Big Three didn't perish from a death they didn't deserve. He looked over Nico's shoulder at his mother.She'd been crying, even though she knew Percy wouldn't stay dead. Despite the summer weather, she stood by the pyre meant for Percy dressed in a black blouse. His gut coiled with guilt. Once more, Percy had forced his mother to mourn him.

She approached him slowly, silently, and finally wrapped her arms around him and Nico.

Chiron stomped a hoof on the ground, dispelling the curious crowd and urging them back to their daily activities. He took Percy, his mom, and Nico to the Big House to talk in private.

Percy tried to give them the shortened version of where he'd been. He blew up a volcano (ignoring the pained sound his mom made), got stranded on Calypso's island, and came back after chatting with Hephaestus. Nico shared his side of the story. He had escaped by plunging back into the Labyrinth, stumbling through it until he found Camp Half-Blood again.

Both Percy and Nico were still alive, yes, but they'd have to return to the Labyrinth as soon as possible. However, this time he had a real plan.

Percy took his mom's hands in his own, knowing that he was going to have to ask the impossible of her. He met her eye and said, "We have to do what Theseus did. We need a mortal with clear sight to lead us through the Labyrinth."

Sally Jackson had been and always will be the strongest, the most amazing woman Percy knew.

She shuddered, her eyes widening before her whole expression smoothed over. She always looked so fragile when she cried, even though she tried to hide it from him. Even when he was little, Percy could feel his mother's fear over mounting bills and her ex-husband's negligence. But now, her eyes were smooth and dark like obsidian. Immeasurably prepared to do whatever it took to survive.

Percy felt her hands squeeze his own, as if she feared he'd vanish into dust otherwise.

"Percy," Chiron cut in, "I would strongly consider-"

"I'll do it," Mom said. She cupped Percy's face with one hand. "To protect camp, to protect you. If this is how I can help, I will do it."

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Percy?" Nico asked softly. All attention turned to him. Nico wrapped his arms around himself. "I mean- we're down most of our party, it'll be even more dangerous…"

Percy's mom gave the faintest of smiles and reached out to tuck a lock of hair behind Nico's ear. Her touch lingered as she smoothed over his unruly hair. "You won't have to worry about me. I promise."

Wrong,Percy wanted to say. He'd never stop worrying for her. But right now, with no one else to turn to, she was their only hope at protecting Camp Half-Blood.

In the following morning, Percy would be heading back to his least favorite hellhole. But for now, there were other things he wanted to take care of. According to Chiron, Quintus had vanished from camp a few days before Percy came back. When he tried to ask his mom about it, she only shook her head. "I always had the impression he was searching for something. Now, I wonder if he's found it."

The strangest thing was, he abandoned Mrs. O'Leary. Nico showed him the poor hellhound in the arena, gnawing wistfully on a wooden shield. Percy gave her some consolation head-rubs, wondering if she would be willing to enter the Labyrinth with him, when he heard the sound of footsteps.

It was Clarisse, decked out in full armor. Mrs. O'Leary growled but Percy put a hand on the side of her neck to calm her.

"That damn dog," Clarisse said. "Tried to bite my head off yesterday."

"I'm sure she only wanted to play."

She scoffed, "Says the monster boy."

For a second, Percy froze as anxiety shot up his spine. He stared at Clarisse, unable to form anything remotely like a thought. She saw his surprise and rolled her eyes. Nico and him shared a look.

Clarisse asked, "What? Like you don't already have a pack of hellhounds acting like your pets. Or a cyclops for a brother. Or your weird alliance with fucking Kampê."

Kampê.Percy realized he hadn't seen her at all.

"Where'd Kampê go?" Percy asked.

"She took off after Nico came back from the Labyrinth," Clarisse said. She was pacing around the arena now, absentmindedly hacking the heads off of dummies as she went. "Hasn't come back."

She was gone?Percy wondered what that meant. He was relieved, but that now meant Kampê could be anywhere, doing anything.

Clarisse seemed troubled by something else. Percy could see the tension in her entire body. With her full armor and sword at her side, it was like she was expecting an attack on camp any second now. Knowing her, she probably was. Percy watched her as she cleaved the head off of another dummy with just one swing. Ruthless, but efficient.

"Heard you're getting back to your quest in the morning." Clarisse was quiet, then asked, "Remember what I said to you, way back when?"

She kicked the dummy's severed head and watched it skid across the arena. Mrs. O'Leary bounded after it.

"What do you mean?"

"I said that camp can't afford to lose a fighter like you, dipshit." Clarisse picked up a javelin propped up against a pillar and threw it across the arena. It nailed a dummy head-on and made Nico wince.

Clarisse took off her helmet, giving Percy a good look at the shadows under her eyes. "Not to sound like the Athena kids, but isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again? And hoping something new happens?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Clarisse sneered at him, more out of habit than an indication of her mood. "I'm saying the Labyrinth isn't fucking worth it. Give up, Percy. Cause if the camp gets attacked during one of your multi-week disappearances, you not being here is gonna make a difference."

She began bridging the distance between them. "Heroes get hurt all the time. Wedieall the time. But monsters always come back."

Clarisse stopped in front of him. "We're at war, no way to avoid it. There's thousands of monsters on our enemy's side, while we've just barely got a hundred on ours."

She punched Percy's shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to jar him.

"Our days of practice drills and capture the flag are over. From now on, everything we do is for real. Get me, Jackson?"

Somehow, Clarisse looked unfathomably old. She was just a kid, they both were, but they'd also seen first-hand how unfair their lives were.

Percy stood his ground. "I get you."

It wouldn't change a thing, unfortunately.

"But it's not going to take long this time, I swear on the Styx." Percy returned Clarisse's gesture and hit her shoulder. The air turned cold for a moment before the foreboding nature of the underworld passed. "I've got a way to navigate the Labyrinth. A real way."

He supposed this was just in his nature. As untamable as the sea, as unpredictable as chaos. Strong-willed like his mother.

Clarisse sighed. "Gods, Jackson. I wish beating you up made you easier to stomach."

"Sorry," he said. He meant it.

"Words are cheap," Clarisse said, pushing past him. "Show me you're sorry by destroying that damned Labyrinth."

After talking to Clarisse and having a halfhearted dinner, Percy was surprised by how excited he was to sleep in his cabin again. He'd been away for weeks, but maybe that was why he shouldn't have been surprised by its current condition.

"Sorry," Nico said quietly.

Cabin Three was a mess. Old wrappers littered the floor, Nico's chest was open and cluttered with questing supplies, there was a crumpled pile of old laundry in the corner, and Nico's bed was a mess of tangled sheets.

"It's alright," Percy said, stepping over the threshold. "I've seen it in worse shape."

"I know it isn't even my cabin," Nico said. "But after I got back…"

Nico stared at the floor as he rubbed one arm. He always had a hard time being at camp without Percy, having no one to talk to about his powers or nightmares. In that moment, Percy cursed himself for not coming back as soon as he was able to.

He said, "Really, you don't have to worry about it."

Honestly, Percy wasn't mad. And he could use the distraction. He and Nico cleaned up the cabin, chucking laundry in the hamper and sweeping the floor. He could tell there was something on Nico's mind, the other boy being so quiet. What was it like for him to just be stuck at camp, waiting for when Percy would come back?

By the time they were done, Percy had an idea.

"This is gonna sound dumb but… do you want to have a sleepover?"

Nico stared at him. "A what?"

Percy cracked a lopsided smile. He grabbed a sheet off an unused bunk and spread it out on the floor. Then he grabbed his bunk's mattress and pulled it off the bed. It fell with athudon top of the blanket.

"Percy?"

"Come on, grab your mattress."

Nico reluctantly mirrored Percy. "Why're we doing this?"

"Cause we've only got one night to rest up. And we're going to make the most of it."

Percy pulled more sheets off the unused bunk and grabbed a roll of duct tape from the chest of assorted junk under his bed. By then, Nico pieced together what Percy was trying to do and helped, tearing off strips of silver tape as Percy pinned the corners of blankets to the walls and top bunks. After a collaborative effort comprised of blanket configuring, swearing, and tripping over the very mattresses they laid down on the floor, Percy and Nico stepped back to admire their handiwork.

A sheet taped between two top bunks gave the vague impression of a tent flap. Ducking below it, the back half of the cabin was made into a sort of makeshift tent. The blankets on the floor gave the bunker-esque cabin a warmer feel, muffling their footsteps. The box-shape of the blankets they pinned up made for an actually decent pillow fort. And of course, the limited lighting only made the glow from the cabin's fountain more prominent. The reflection of the water danced across the ceiling, reminding Percy a little bit of the aurora borealis.

"So what's the point of all this?" Nico asked.

Percy shrugged. Inside his junk drawer was his hidden stash of mortal soda and candy. He sat down cross legged on his mattress and set the food and drinks between him and Nico.

"To be kids?"

"But we've gotta get back to our quest in the morning."

"Exactly."

Percy cracked open a Cherry Coke and raised it like a glass. "Just one night to pretend everything's alright. Doesn't that sound nice?"

The younger boy stared at Percy, stared at the bag of sour gummy worms on the floor, then sat down on his mattress. Percy handed him a can of soda.

"So… I don't know if you're still into that game, but do you want to try teaching me how to play Mythomagic?"

Nico looked like Percy just handed him the world's biggest diamond. He dove for something under his bunk and resurfaced with a shoebox full of Mythomagic cards and figurines.

"Okay, okay- so like, there's the typical attack power and defense number, but in Mythomagic you also have magic points that you get for meeting certain requirements. And those are like bonus damage, or do things like cast poison on your enemy's forces. For example, I've got this awesome Athena card where, if you've also got Nike activated on your field…"

For a card game meant for children, Percy quickly realized he might've been in over his head. Even using a premade deck of Nico's, he still got his ass handed to him in ways he barely understood. At some point, he got fed up with losing and started making up his own rules. Apparently, it was utter blasphemy to try attacking a Dionysus card with a poison-base Serpent, but Percy kept insisting he was doing damage until Nico gave up on convincing him otherwise.

"You're so bad at this!" Nico said.

"I know." Percy said. The font used for the names on the cards was also killer on his dyslexia. It was this weird, Greek-inspired script that used actual Greek characters in the place of where English ones would be, tripping up his brain over what language he was even reading.

"Can you actually read these?" Percy asked.

Nico shrugged. "Yeah, you just have to get used to it."

They played right up until curfew, where Percy let out anoh, fuck!followed by a mad dash to the bathrooms to take last-minute showers and brush their teeth before the harpies got to them. Not that their oral hygiene mattered. Percy cracked open another soda as Nico popped more sour candies in his mouth as soon as they got back.

But it was now dark out and the two of them were in their pajamas, making it feel even more like some kind of sleepover. Nico also laughed at Percy's fleece pajama pants with cartoon sharks on them, but they were a gift from his mom.

After a few more games, Percy could tell they were both winding down. With their cards, figurines, soda cans, and candy wrappers still between them, Percy found himself splayed out on his mattress. He stared as the shadows on the ceiling seemed to play with the light from the fountain, chasing one another back and forth like a tide washing over the sand.

"Nico… are you doing that?"

"Yup."

"That's pretty cool."

Nico let out a short, quiet laugh. Percy marveled at how the shadows wobbled as if they too were alive and content.

Percy closed his eyes and reached out with his senses. The cabin filled with the sound of moving water as he pulled at the nearby source from the fountain.

"Percy… if you drop that on all my cards I'll drag you to my dad's domain myself."

He opened one eye and found a sheet of water a few feet over their heads. Percy laughed and reached up with one hand, dipping his fingertips into the water. Nico stayed quiet until Percy sent the water back where it came from. He rolled his head to the side, not surprised to find Nico pouting back at him.

"What? Come on, I'm not that mean. I even let you win a bunch of times in a row."

Nico's eyebrows vanished under his bangs. He let out a sharp laugh and stretched his leg out to kick Percy's thigh. Percy did what he thought was natural; he clutched his leg and groaned as if his femur was broken.

"Shut up, Percy."

"Never."

But all the Mythomagic cards were safe and dry, and it was back to listening to the crickets chirp outside. Percy tugged his blankets up to his chest and closed his eyes. Before he could slip into sleep, Nico whispered his name.

Percy didn't even open his eyes. "What's up?"

Nico was quiet for long enough to make Percy wonder if he'd fallen asleep. He opened his eyes and spotted Nico curled up under his sheets.

"Nico?"

"It's nothing, I'm just glad we did this. It was weird, you know. Waiting for you to come back."

Percy waited. Nico continued, "I knew, Iknewyou'd come back. But it was still so strange seeing everyone else think you were dead. It almost got to me, especially when-" Nico took a long, slow breath. "when I felt you die."

Oh.

"Did it… hurt?" Percy asked.

Nico shook his head. "No, not really. It just felt strange. I just knew someone I cared about had died, and I knew it was you."

The younger boy let out a humorless laugh and rolled onto his back. He stared up at the ceiling, at the lapping of the light and shadows.

"But I noticed that even when everyone else started thinking you were dead, your mom was so- not calm, but it felt like she knew something. So I went to talk to her."

"She knows everything about me," Percy said.

"Yeah, I found that out. She believed even if you did die, that you'd still find your way back to her. You should have seen it." Nico glanced at Percy, "Your mom's pretty good at keeping secrets, actually. Since you seemed so close to her, I told her I'm the son of Hades."

Percy propped himself up on an elbow. "Did you? What'd she say?"

"She said my secret was safe with her." Nico closed his eyes. "You're lucky to have a mom like her."

"She's a pretty amazing lady." Percy said. He dropped back onto his bed. "She'll get us through the Labyrinth. And when this shit is all over, maybe the three of us can bake some of her awesome cookies together. Blue ones…," he yawned, "with double the chocolate chips."

Nico made a sound, soft and full of longing. "And macadamia nuts?"

"Yeah," Percy said, his breath extending into a yawn. "...of course."

Percy closed his eyes and finally drifted away.

Not at all to his surprise, Percy's brief reprieve didn't last. He opened his eyes and found himself on a hill decorated with temples. Above him was a starry sky and before him was a gathering of kids around a bronze brazier. He didn't dare step closer but Percy could smell the smoke. It smelled of meat and cheese, bread and butter. He knew that when he woke up, the smell would still swim in his head. But he didn't care to approach and consume the offerings. Not again.

He moved as if to turn his back.

Please…

Percy jumped and spun around, but no one was there.

What he thought was the wind was actually a cluster of voices flowing over him. None of them sounded like adults.

…stop our endless battles…

…bring swift recovery to my brother…

Please, save us from the Labyrinth…

The promise of such a rich meal turned into a sour, acrid smell. Percy turned away from the offerings, his stomach coiling with disgust and fear. Didn't they know he couldn't do anything to help them? He was no god.

Percy fled from the hill. Camp Jupiter quaked and melted into shadows. A voice rang clear in his head and in his bones.

Revered as you so deserve. Does this rectify the way my previous gifts that made you an outsider among your kind?

"Chaos!" Percy shouted, spinning in circles as he tried to get his bearings. "Where are you?"

With you, always.

Percy stumbled and fell over. He hit the ground, surprised to find anything solid beneath him.

You recall my prophecy, correct?

He was too dizzy to think straight. "You said I didn't need to leave camp? My mom can guide us, but don't I still have to actually go in?"

A laugh, burrowed so deep in his own chest that Percy couldn't tell if it was made at him or with him.

Ah, my little one. I only wish you had more faith in me.

Percy felt the surface beneath him. It was cold and bumpy. Cobblestone?

"Chaos, what's happening to my friends still in the Labyrinth? My pack? Are they alright?"

See for yourself.

Percy squinted, the shadows ebbing away to reveal a dark, winding pathway. At the far end of it, he could see movement. Percy forced himself to his feet and chased after the figures some distance away. As he approached them, he could hear barking and voices. The end of the tunnel turned out to be an earthen chamber at a three way intersection.

Cass and Ruby both had their noses to the ground, sniffing for a trail to follow. Onyx and Andrea paced restlessly, dashing down a tunnel just to come back.

And at the center of it all, Percy's brother and best friend.

"-sure?" Tyson asked.

They both still had functioning flashlights, so they weren't out of batteries yet. And their clothes weren't too badly damaged, both good signs.

"Yes! Look, I know we need to find Percy and Nico, but-" Grover trailed off. He shined his flashlight down one of the tunnels. Percy followed the beam of light, noting how the cobblestone morphed into dry dirt. "You smell it too, right?"

"Dirt?" Tyson asked.

"Yes! Dirt a-and…" Grover took a shaky breath. "Please, Tyson. Trust me."

Percy startled as Ruby came to a stop right in front of him. She sniffed the ground at his feet intensely.

"Hey, girl," Percy said. He knelt down to get a better look at her. "Don't worry, we're coming for you. Both Nico and me."

Ruby raised her head. Percy couldn't tell if she could sense him or not. He wanted to believe that somehow, she did.

The scene in the Labyrinth evaporated like mist. Percy expected to find himself in the endless cosmos, but instead he was in some kind of forest. It was still dark out, but the sky was a more grayish color. It was close to sunrise.

"Tell us where to find the rest of your battalion."

A shock tore through him. Percy turned, witnessing Annabeth and Thalia standing over a lone cyclops. They both had their bows drawn, their arrows glinting like stars.

"Never," the cyclops snarled.

Annabeth scowled. "Fine."

She fired, a cloud of golden dust kicking up in the wind. Percy reached out, as if to catch their attention.

But Thalia and Annabeth only turned their backs and retreated deeper into the woods, leaving him behind.

Percy felt a set of hands rest on his shoulders from behind, but he didn't care to turn around. He watched Annabeth's figure vanish through the brush.

Clarisse was wrong, he distantly thought. The Olympians had no single, consolidated army like the Titans did and Camp Half-Blood was smaller than their Roman sibling camp, but Percy's allies were everywhere.

The hands squeezed just a bit tighter. Percy swallowed.

"You're not bound by fate. I don't suppose you could just snap your fingers and prevent our war from happening."

Chaos laughed. That would be far too easy.

But Chaos didn't deny they could do it. Why then? Was this all just a game to the oldest being in the universe? A ploy to get Percy to surrender the life he wanted?

Not for the first time, Percy wondered what his life would have been like as an ordinary kid. Going to school, being only concerned with his grades and getting a date to the dance. Not acting as a child warrior in a brewing war. Not this.

Do not forget your burgeoning cult. Or your role as a leader.

Were they reading his mind?

What a beacon you are, Perseus. And unlike my primordial children who are all grown, you are still so young. So consumed by finding your way.

Chaos' grip tightened just a touch more and Percy resisted the urge to flinch. It was becoming hard to breathe now, as Chaos' touch turned into something a little too painful to be loving.

All around them, the forest began crumbling away.

You are my pride, my Perseus.

Percy rubbed a hand over the juncture between his neck and shoulder, where he still felt phantom hands holding him still. He asked, "Are you ready?"

His mother shook her head. "In truth, I have no idea."

At that moment, Percy almost wasn't able to reconcile the Sally Jackson in front of him with the one that he knew his whole life. She wore leather harnesses from the armory over her clothes, one to keep her crossbow slung over her back and another to support the quivers hanging from her hips. With the braces strapped over her knees, she looked like she was ready for battle. Which, she kind of was.

But her hair was tied back in the same way she would when cooking. And regardless of circumstances, her gaze invoked the sensation of coming home.

Percy cleared his throat, "Then we shouldn't waste time."

He led his new team of three to the entrance of the Labyrinth. This time, there was no preamble. Percy wasn't even sure if he was afraid, even when he knew there was something in the Labyrinth that could hinder his manipulation of it. But after blowing up a volcano, dying, and coming back, he was going to end his quest no matter what.

Percy dropped into the Labyrinth first, followed by Nico. Last, Percy's mom slid down the slope and hit the ground with a practiced crouch. When she stood up, Percy shared a look with Nico. He wondered what she saw.

"So, what do you see?" Nico asked.

"Oh, this is so strange," Percy's mom said. She squinted, looking both ways down the tunnel they were in. After a moment, she seemed confident when she said, "there's this faint trail along the ground leading this way."

She turned left, crossbow drawn. Percy and Nico flanked her, swords at the ready. His mom reached for a cylinder attached to the shoulder of her harness. With a click, a white circle lit the way.

If Percy was born to the oldest being in existence, he would have thought the fates would be more hesitant to fuck with him.

Trapping him and his group in an underground coliseum, forcing him to fight another demigod…

Just for his efforts to go to waste, to lose the stupid kid to the Labyrinth.

Nothing came easily to him. Not before and apparently not now.

Because Percy was deep in the Labyrinth with Nico and his mother, a familiar scent made him stop dead in his tracks. "Do you smell that?"

His mother frowned. She'd been keeping a tight grip on her crossbow ever since setting foot in the endless maze, but after escaping the coliseum her knuckles were now pure white. She said, "It smells like… medicine?"

"Eucalyptus," Percy said.

Memories of being trapped under the sky resurfaced in his mind. He stared at the long hall ahead of them and thought of Mount Othrys in California. A chill wracked his body.

How close were they to Kronos? To Luke, if he did survive that fall a while back.

His mom took a step back, forcing Nico and Percy to do the same. She shuddered. "There's something evil down that tunnel."

A hand grabbed his sleeve.

"It smells like death," Nico added. Percy and him shared a glance.

"It could be the Titan's base of operations." Percy said. He swallowed, "I think I have to check it out."

"No," both Nico and his mom said at the same time.

"Percy, that's suicide!" Nico said.

He suppressed the urge to laugh. "Even better if I'm the one to go."

"Please," his mom said. She took one hand off her crossbow to cup his face. "Please, Percy. Don't do this. I can see the trail again, I can take you to Daedalus' workshop."

He put a hand over her own. "But if we do destroy the Labyrinth, we lose what might be our last chance to gather information on the Titans."

Percy always admired the soft brown of his mother's eyes, but in the darkness of the Labyrinth they looked almost black. She said, "Then we go together."

His stomach plunged. "No, it's too dangerous. We can't risk letting Kronos have two children of the Big Three, or a guide through the Labyrinth."

In truth, Percy would rather die a hundred times than put his mom directly in Kronos' path. He brandished Riptide and took a long, slow breath.

"Mom, I need to see. But I'll be back, I promise."

He'd come back to her many times before. He could do it again.

"Percy-"

"Just stay here. Stay with Nico. I'll only look for ten minutes."

Before anyone could stop him, Percy slipped past his mom and sprinted down the tunnel. He heard two voices call after him, but they got swallowed up by their own echos.

The tunnel opened up ahead of him and a cold rush of air hit his face. Percy slowed to a stop and crept to the opening of the Labyrinth. He was back in the Titan's lair. The Pacific Ocean sprawled below him and the sky above was a dark gray color. From far away, Percy heard low groaning and swearing. Atlas, if he had to guess.

But down the hill, about twenty feet below him, were two telkhines and a human. Percy squinted and realized the person was Ethan Nakamura, the demigod whose life he spared in the coliseum.

Percy watched them and recoiled as the telkhines unwrapped a massive scythe. The blade was probably as tall as a man, made of both steel and bronze like Luke's sword. A weapon of that size could only be for a Titan.

It was the same blade from Mount St. Helens.

Percy turned around and craned his head upward. The titan's black marble fortress loomed overhead. He gripped Riptide tighter.

There might not be much Percy could do, but he needed to see Kronos. He needed to know how close the Titan king was to rising fully. So he capped Riptide and ran up the nearest incline, slinking through shadows and up the sides of rough, rocky terrain. Percy found an entryway to the main hall, somehow unguarded, and slipped inside. At the other end of the room was a massive, golden sarcophagus.

He slowed to a stop, his footsteps ricocheting off the marble walls. The air was so cold here, stinging his lungs and making his breath fog in front of his face. Percy fought the urge to flee as he approached the sarcophagus. All the while, he wondered where the voice of the Titan lord was. It usually taunted him when Kronos could tell Percy was close. But this time, it felt like he was truly alone.

From someplace far away, Percy heard footsteps. No time to hesitate. He might die, but he could at least delay Kronos' rising. Percy heaved with all his strength and pushed off the lid to the sarcophagus.

He reached for Riptide… and froze.

Percy couldn't think, didn't know what to think.

He should have started hacking away at the Titan, but all he could think was Luke?

Indeed, the body in the sarcophagus was human in appearance. With blond hair and a long scar over one side of his face. The scar was dark red, as if frozen in time while still trying to heal. Percy almost wanted to reach out and touch it- could it be the result of him decaying Luke months ago?

If there was a time to willingly use his powers from Chaos, it was now. But just as Percy began to gather his senses, a voice shouted from behind him.

"Intruder!"

It was the telekhines with Ethan. One snapped at the demigod, "You! Swear your allegiance to Kronos and vanquish this nuisance!"

"Ethan!" Percy shouted back, "Don't do it! Help me, please."

He might've saved Ethan's life, but the other demigod looked at Percy with only pity. A part of Percy thought the only way to stop Kronos at that point was to strike Ethan down.

But he just couldn't do it, not to another human. Percy was powerless as Ethan scorned the gods and swore allegiance to Kronos.

The building shook. Percy staggered away from the sarcophagus. Not a moment later, the body in the golden coffin sat upright. It- Luke, Kronos?- blinked at Ethan and the two telkhines. All three fell to the floor and bowed.

Then the Lord of Time turned his attention to Percy. He smiled.

"It seems this body has been well prepared. Wouldn't you agree, Perseus Jackson?"

It was Luke's voice coming out of the body. But it was also like two figures speaking, every syllable combining with an ancient voice that sounded like metal grinding against stone.

Percy's body moved without thinking. Riptide drawn, he swung at Kronos.

But his blade only glanced off the Titan's body, as if he were striking solid steel. Kronos' smile only grew wider. He snapped a finger and Percy choked mid-breath.

He couldn't move. His whole body felt like it was encased in stone. It must have been Kronos' power to bend time.

His stomach lurched.

He can't hurt me, Percy reminded himself. Not in a way that matters.

Kronos circled Percy the way a wolf would circle its prey. He vanished from Percy's line of sight for a moment and spoke softly. When he came back, Percy's blood ran cold at the sight of the massive scythe now in the Titan's hands.

Kronos said, admiring the blade, "Back biter, Luke called it. A fitting name, I think."

He hefted the weapon, feeling its weight in his hands. Gods, what would being cleaved in two feel like?

But to Percy's surprise, Kronos let the weapon rest at his side. At that moment, he looked so confident. So at ease, so much like Luke in the summer before he turned traitor.

"You and your little friends tried your best, but I'm afraid it was a futile attempt. I've risen fully, and soon Olympus will lay in ruins."

Light glinted off the scythe's six-foot blade. Kronos laughed softly. "However, now would be an excellent time for you to reconsider your position. What do you say, Perseus? The little camp you care about could be spared in exchange for your cooperation. Both of them, even. No need for any more children to die, especially not for parents who couldn't care less for them."

Percy's eyes widened. He still couldn't speak as Kronos continued, "What a boon you would be to my army. You've already swayed Kampê to your side, you've decimated my forces on multiple occasions."

Kronos stared at Percy as if he were a finely cut diamond. He stared with a merciless greed in his eyes.

"I bet with hardly a thought, you could have Olympus razed to the ground. And in exchange, your camps and your dear mother would have my forces' full protection. Doesn't that sound nice, Perseus?"

Percy would be shaking if he still wasn't frozen. It was strange, he could still feel his heart pounding in his chest but his lungs didn't burn with the need to breathe. He had the feeling Kronos could keep him frozen for as long as it took to convince him otherwise.

And judging by the Titan's leisurely stance, he might just do so.

Kronos took a step closer and it felt like he towered over Percy. "You see, Luke feared you. He didn't understand what you were, but I know better. I witnessed it when you held the sky and it has only become stronger since. I feel the blood of a primordial pulsing through your veins, Perseus." A hand tilted his chin upward to meet the Titan's eye. "I may not know how you came to be, but you are something extraordinary."

Kronos might've been known as the Crooked One, but he sounded so truly genuine. Percy strained against the invisible bonds keeping him frozen, desperate enough to try summoning his abilities from Chaos just to try escaping.

Kronos looked like he had more to say, but stopped when footsteps rang out across the hall.

"Get away from my son!"

Something shot past Percy's shoulder and nailed Kronos directly in the chest. The Titan staggered backwards, dropping his scythe in surprise. Percy felt the hold over him vanish and he exhaled. An arrow laid on the floor a few feet away.

"Ow!" Kronos said.

Percy froze again, from his own surprise this time. The voice coming out of Luke sounded, well. Entirely like Luke. No raspy, ancient undertone. Just pain and shock. Percy used the moment to his advantage to run past the telkhines and Ethan.

His mom and Nico were standing at the other end of the hall.

"Stop them!" Kronos roared, back in full control.

Just as Percy reached them, Nico clapped his hands together. The hall shook once more as an outcropping of stone over ten feet tall erupted from the ground, cutting them off from Kronos.

"Let's go!" Percy shouted. He didn't dare look back.

The three of them scrambled down the mountain and leapt back into the comparative safety of the Labyrinth.

He didn't know how long they ran or how far they got, but by the time Percy found a chamber to rest in, he was doubled over and desperately gasping for air. From the sound of it, both Nico and his mom were in similar conditions. Percy looked up and squinted through the darkness. His mom's flashlight was bobbing with a jagged, erratic pulse as she heaved. But the room they were in was empty. It looked like part of a subway station, with tiled floors and cement walls coated in graffiti. It'd keep them safe for the time being.

The sound of something hitting the ground caught Percy's attention. He turned and spotted his mom sitting against the wall. Her crossbow was laying by her side as she pushed the stray locks of hair from her face.

Nico sat down next to her and Percy figured he might as well take the spot on her other side. Nico shrugged off his camp-issued backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. He tried to offer it to Percy's mom but she pushed it back toward him.

"No, you drink first."

Percy pulled out his own bottle and chugged a few mouthfuls before handing it over. His mom took it with trembling hands. "Thank you, baby."

After just a minute or so of catching their breath, his mom asked, "So… who was that man I shot?"

Percy barked out a breathless laugh. "Mom. You just tried shooting the king of the Titans."

The room was quiet for a second.

"Oh. I see. I would have expected him to be taller."

Nico let out a half-cry, half-laugh. None of them were ever going to forget the day Sally Jackson, a mere mortal, tried to kill the Lord of Time.

But it was strange how the arrow glanced off of Luke's body. Could it have been some power of Kronos'?

For now, it was just another thing to worry about. Percy didn't yet know if he regretted venturing into the Titans' lair but he was quiet as he recalled Kronos' offer. It was a ruse, absolutely. Percy was nothing more than a pawn to the gods, he wouldn't be treated any better by a Titan.

To his side, he heard soft rustling. He blinked as an arm wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him close. Nico was leaning against his mom's other side, toying with the buckles of his bracer. A hand ran through Percy's hair, a feeling he hadn't known in years.

Gods… how scary was it for his mom to see her child standing before Kronos?

She had always known Percy got involved in life-or-death situations, but this was one of the first she'd ever seen for herself.

Percy wanted to be strong for her, but found himself melting against her side. He rarely sought out affection, as there was hardly anyone willing to go near him at all.

He thought about being trapped under the sky and how much he missed his mom then.

"You're both so young. You're only children," she said. She sounded close to tears and it made Percy's gut twist.

"I know, Mom. Believe me."

"How- how do you cope? With everything?"

Percy didn't know how to respond.

"I don't know if it's coping," Nico said. His voice was raspy and soft. "But you have no other choice but to deal with things as they come."

A sniffle. A sigh. Nico said, "I have a- I… I had a sister. Her name was Bianca."

The silence settled among them. Percy's mother pulled Nico even closer to her, waiting. Percy continued to stay silent, not wanting to interrupt.

His mother said, "Oh, Nico."

"She was a Hunter of Artemis."

Percy stared at the wall ahead of them and thought of Annabeth.

"She sounds like she was a brave girl."

Nico's voice turned hollow. "Maybe. But… but she wanted to leave me. The Hunters are immortal. If things went differently, she would've outlived me… and I never got to ask if she realized that."

Percy's blood ran cold. He leaned over his mom and glanced at Nico. A pair of obsidian eyes stared back. He would've expected some trace of resentment, but there was none. The younger boy only looked resigned.

Percy was not Bianca. He never asked to be reborn, he didn't want to outlive all his loved ones by constantly resurrecting. But he wasn't going to abandon anyone he cared about, not if he could help it. He pushed himself to his feet and pulled out Riptide.

"We don't know how safe it is here, we should keep moving."

There were too many thoughts stirring in his head, Percy knew he wasn't going to be able to stay put. He still half-expected to be met with resistance but his mom and Nico picked themselves up off the floor.

"Stay close," his mom said.

"We will," he said. And Percy meant it. They exited the chamber and went down a path lined with broken bricks and no lights overhead. His mom steered them from traps, through intersections, and hopefully far away from Kronos.

The trail that only his mother could see guided them through corridors made of stone. For a time, it felt like they were in something positively ancient. They passed by bones too large to belong to any human and stepped over endless broken arrowheads, blunted blades, and rusted shields. Shattered mosaics lined the walls, only shreds of their original artwork surviving the millennia.

Then, as they were wandering a tunnel made of dusty stone blocks, Percy's mom suddenly took a sharp left and brought them to a new path made of smooth, white tile.

"The trail is really bright, we must be getting close," she said. But to Percy, it looked like they were in a public school with the lights out. It just looked so new.

His confusion only multiplied as the path changed again. They followed a dim light in the distance, making Percy wonder if they were about to stumble upon an exit. Instead, they turned a corner and found themselves standing at the mouth of a stainless steel service tunnel. A fully-equipped modern one with fluorescent lights overhead.

"This can't be right," Nico said.

Percy's eyes widened. He pointed with Riptide. "Look."

At the other end of the hall was a set of steel doors bearing a Greek Delta, the symbol of Daedalus.

"We're here," his mother said. She sounded sure. "The trail is gone. This is it."

After searching for so long, Percy couldn't believe it. But he also refused to let his guard down. He was the first to set foot in the metal hall. "Stay close to me, I'll open the doors first."

They approached as a group. Percy threw his weight against the doors, expecting them to be barred or at the very least, heavy. Percy didn't expect to push right through them. He caught his balance before he could fall, just as Nico and his mom followed.

"Whoa,"Nico said.

A gasp from his mom. "This is…"

"Not right," Percy said.

Something was very wrong.

The room they were in was massive. With one side being floor to ceiling windows revealing a bright blue sky overlooking a valley of red mesas and stone spires. More fluorescent lights overhead shone upon walls mounted with machinery, blueprints, bronze swords, and modern weaponry. Worktables and hydraulic lifts on the floor reminded Percy of Hephaestus' workshop. And the spiral staircase at the other end of the room led up to a loft and assumedly another floor.

The place would have looked like a hybrid between a millionaire's penthouse and the Athena cabin if it didn't appear ravaged by a tornado. Tables were overturned, papers and machinery scattered across the floor. Shelves were toppled over, chests torn open.

It looked like someone had been here before, and they were looking for something.

Percy kept a tight grip on Riptide as his mom wandered over to the windows. "Where do you think we are?"

"Colorado Springs," a new voice said, "The Garden of the Gods."

Percy spun on his heel, sword already raised.

Standing at the railing of the loft above was a familiar face.

"Quintus?"He asked.

The swordsman smiled. "Hello, Percy."

A hand fell on Percy's shoulder, keeping him close. His mom asked, "Quintus, why are you here?Howare you here? This place, is it really Daedalus' workshop?"

"What can I say, Sally? You've seen the end of the trail for yourself." The man descended the spiral staircase as if he had all the time in the world. At the bottom, he spread his hands to his sides to show he was empty handed. "Welcome to the workshop of Daedalus."

Quintus' eyes fell upon Percy. "Congratulations, my boy. You've reached your quest's goal."

Something about the man made Percy want to draw Riptide against him, even though he'd never won against Quintus before. But nothing about him felt right. He was too comfortable in the way he stood and spoke, like the ball was in his court and he knew it.

"We know Daedalus is alive, have you done something to him?" Nico asked.

Quintus raised a brow and scoffed as if Nico said something amusing. He strolled over to the windows as if their group posed no threat to him. Quintus stared out at the sprawling lands.

"I know you never trusted me, none of you did." Quintus glanced their way, "But I can assure you, I'm no agent of Kronos. For many years, I've served only myself."

Percy said, "That doesn't mean you couldn't have done something to Daedauls."

Quintus stared at Percy. He said, "I believe you need lessons from your mother on seeing clearly, Percy. IamDaedalus."

The hand on his shoulder tightened and he stifled the instinct to flinch.

"You can't be!" Percy said. "You-"

But then he paused. His eyes went wide. What had Chaos said to him?

He didn't even need to enter the Labyrinth to achieve his goals. All this time, their answer to the Labyrinth was already in their camp?

Percy lowered Riptide. "You…"

"Why didn't you say anything?" His mother demanded, "Camp Half-Blood, all those children. They're in danger, they're facing war in the only place that's supposedly safe for them!"

Quintus had the gall to look abashed.

"Wait, I still don't understand how you can be Daedalus." Nico said, "You'd have to be over two-thouasnd years old."

Quintus revealed to them his secret, the key to his immortal life. He'd escaped eternal damnation by building himself artificial bodies to house his very soul. It was hard for Percy to even begin imagining.

"I'm surprised you seem so shocked, Percy." Daedalus said.

"How can I not be? You've been living on borrowed time, living a kind of cursed life, for how long?"

The old architect cocked his head to the side. "And here I was hoping I'd get even a shred of sympathy."

"Percy is nothing like you," Mom said.

But that seemed to be exactly the thing Daedalus wanted to hear. "Isn't he?"

Daedalus pulled something from his pocket and at first glance, Percy swore it was a knife. But no, instead it was a pale dog whistle. Daedalus blew it before wandering over to the wall opposite of the windows, running his fingertips over the blade of a polished bronze sword. He took it off the wall and slid it into the scabbard at his side. As soon as he did, footsteps shook the floor and a massive hellhound burst from the shadows beneath the stairs.

Mrs. O'Leary woofed and gave her master a curious sniff. Daedalus gave her a scratch under her chin.

"We're at least both dog people." He said, "But in all sincerity, I've truly never met anyone like your son, Sally. Not in all my years. I thoughtIhad secrets, but the rumors I started hearing when I arrived at camp…"

He turned back to them. With a hungry look in his eyes, he stared directly at Percy and asked, "Do you know? You must. The way the other children insist you've struck deals with Death. Or Hades. Perhaps with even older forces. Or… that there is simply something not quite natural about you."

"Leave him alone!" Nico shouted. Percy winced.

"Have you escaped death when you shouldn't have?" Quintus asked, moving toward them.

"Not a step closer!" His mother commanded. Quintus ignored her, even as she leveled her crossbow at him. Mrs. O'Leary let out a sharp bark.

"You call my life cursed, but what about you? You're like me, aren't you, Percy?"

Quintus stopped just a few feet away. Within striking distance.

Keeping a tight grip on Riptide, Percy asked, "Is that why you came to camp? For me?"

The polymath laughed. "No, not initially. At first, my only goal was to ascertain the presence of the Labyrinth in the camp. But…"

Quintus paused for a moment. His controlled demeanor slipped for a moment as his eyes gleamed with something that looked like a mix of pity and fondness.

"You likely won't believe me, but I came to find myself enjoying your little camp. You demigods these days, hardly living to see eighteen. In my day, our kind grew up to be kings and conquers. But I wanted to believe that I could make a difference, that saving your camp could help atone for my past mistakes."

"Mistakes?" Mom asked.

But the story of Daedalus was already resurfacing in the back of Percy's mind. Daedalus couldn't stop his son, Icarus, from famously plummeting to his death. But there was something else. Someone else.

"You had a nephew, right?" Percy asked. Daedalus flinched, the only genuine reaction he might've ever given Percy. He pressed on, "And… you killed him. Or let him die."

"Perdix," Daedalus said. "And for a single moment of irrationality, a single mistake on my part, my dear mother Athena gave me this."

He pulled back the collar of his shirt to reveal the dark shape of a bird on the side of his neck. A brand, even on an inorganic body.

"You're running from damnation, then." Nico said.

"How blunt, but yes."

"Wait one second," Percy's mom said. She kept her crossbow aimed at Daedalus' face. "You said you wanted to help save the camp. Wanted. As in… you can't anymore?"

Daedalus sighed. "Look around, Sally. Kronos' forces have ransacked my workshop. They didn't care for my schematics or weaponry, they only wanted one thing." He pointed toward the far end of the workshop, where a pedestal stood surrounded by shattered glass. "With the help of my oldest enemy, they've stolen the golden thread of Ariadne, the one thing besides a mortal that can navigate the Labyrinth."

A cold shock tore through Percy.

Kronos was not only fully risen, but his forces could now fully traverse the Labyrinth. Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood were no longer safe.

Quintus spoke softly, his voice tinged with hope despite the circumstances. "There is still perhaps a way. You see, though I can no longer control it, my life force is still tied to the Labyrinth. If-"

He stopped just as the ground started to tremble. Mrs. O'Leary began barking furiously.

"Something's coming," Nico said.

The metal doors burst open with a deafening boom.

Percy remembered the watch given to him by Tyson and hit the switch, causing it to expand into a shield. He drew his sword as a cluster of monsters entered the workshop. Among them, he noted the spectral figure of a man in ancient Greek dress wearing a crown of laurels. A ghost, one whose appearance ticked something off in the back of Percy's mind.

Nico gasped. "You."

The ghost's cold eyes met Nico's and a slow smile spread across his face. "Ah, what a welcome surprise, master." The ghost's voice was laced with a condescending tone, "Oh, if only you accepted my aid sooner. But it appears that I no longer need you, child."

It clicked for Percy. This was the Ghost King. His eyes traveled from Nico to Daedalus.

The specter smiled. "Surprised to see me once more, Daedalus? I must admit, I have been looking forward to our reunion for some time."

Daedalus sounded breathless. "Minos."

Mrs. O'Leary snarled and Daedalus put a hand on her side. Percy took a half step forward so he could shield his mom's side if he had to.

The Ghost King went on, "You've become weak in your years of hiding, Daedalus. The Labyrinth is mine to control, now. And when it became clear this pathetic child of Hades could not do what I wanted, I found something far more willing to help."

The Ghost King spread his hands. "In exchange for guiding Kronos' forces to the location of Araidne's golden thread, the Titan king has promised me your head on a stick and your soul to torment!"

Monsters cheered and snarled as they swarmed the workshop.

Mrs. O'Leary snarled and lunged to protect her master. Arrows sailed past Percy as he fought back against the Ghost King's forces. He was more used to wielding a sword two-handed. The shield Tyson gave him was useful, but it slowed him down.

At some point, Percy heard the crash of something falling. It sounded like a dozen ceramic vases shattering. Moments later, he realized there was a pool of Greek fire rapidly spreading across the workshop.

"We gotta get out of here!" Percy shouted.

"No!" Daedalus said, "I can't abandon Mrs. O'Leary!"

A voice rose up over the din.

"To me!" The Ghost King cried. "Spirits of the dead!"

"No, to me!" Nico screamed. Percy dared turn to risk a glance at Nico. The younger boy was panting hard, sword clutched in his hands. Nico shouted, "To the son of Hades!"

Minos only laughed. He taunted Nico, "You have no power over us. I am the lord of spirits! The Ghost King!"

Nico raised his sword. "No, I am."

Percy's blood ran cold. Nico plunged his blade into the floor and the ground cut open as if it were butter. The floor shook as a massive crack grew along the length of the workshop, revealing a bottomless black pit far below.

"Percy!" Mom shouted. She grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him back.

"No!" Minos cried out. "No-"

But it was too late. As the fissure split open wide enough to fit a car, all the spirits and monsters in the room got pulled into it by some unknown force. The last Percy heard of them was the anguished wail of the dethroned Ghost King.

As the gap in the floor began to seal itself, as the Greek fire spread, Percy heard and felt none of it as he stared at Nico. For so long, he thought of Nico as a hapless kid, someone who still needed to be protected.

Even though he was well aware of it, it finally dawned on Percy that Nico really was another kid of the Big Three. And even if he was younger, he was shaping up to be as powerful as he should be. As powerful as Jason, maybe. As powerful as Percy would have been, if he had only one immortal parent.

"Percy?" Nico asked.

He blinked. He'd gotten lost in thought for a moment. Then he cleared his throat.

"We gotta get out of here," he said, noting the Greek Fire spreading closer to the door.

"Is there a kind of emergency exit?" His mom asked. Daedalus was rushing to salvage what work he could. He crammed papers and a laptop into a backpack and shouted over his shoulder, "There's no other way out of the workshop!"

"Yes there is," Nico said, eyeing Mrs. O'Leary. "Everyone hold on tight!"

The four of them gathered around Mrs. O'Leary legs. They held on to her tight as Nico patted as high up as he could reach. "Just follow after me. Okay, girl?"

All the practice with Ruby was paying off. Using Mrs. O'Leary to help, Nico shadow traveled them out of the burning workshop. When they reappeared, they were back in the Labyrinth. Only this time, they were armed with an additional swordsman and one of the biggest hellhounds Percy had ever seen.

He fell into step alongside Nico, wondering what else he'd accomplish with time.

According to Mom, there was still a trail visible to her. With the workshop no longer their objective, Daedalus said, "It's possible that you're seeing the trail to wherever it is you want to go."

"Camp Half-Blood," she said. "We need to get back."

At the next intersection they came across, his mom stopped and looked down the path ahead and the two branching off to the sides. Her flashlight hit a spot of bright red on the ground that made Percy do a double-take.

"Hey, wait."

He squinted in the dark and walked a few steps down the path to the left. Percy couldn't believe his eyes. It was a Rasta cap.

"Percy," his mom warned.

"But this is Grover's! He might be close!"

His friend, his brother, his pack. They might all still be down in the Labyrinth somewhere. That was when Percy took note of the tunnel he was standing in. Unlike the stone floor that came before it, this one was made of soft, wet earth. Small stalactites hung over his head and dripped water onto the ground below.

He thought back to the dream where he saw Grover and Tyson debating on which direction to go. The tunnel ahead of them smelled of warm earth.

"We need to go this way," Percy said. "We have to at least try looking for them."

He turned back. His mom nodded, jaw clenched tight as she hefted her crossbow. Nico put a hand on his sword's hilt, ready. Daedalus gestured for Percy to press on.

Since they weren't following the trail anymore, Percy led them down the descending, spiraling tunnel. It was treacherous, the ground slick and steep at times. More than once, Percy's stomach plunged as he nearly started sliding.

At last, the tunnel bottomed out and revealed a huge cave. Massive chunks of crystals overhead gave off a faint grayish light and reflected off the underground river cutting through the cavern. The sound of the water, however, was intermingling with the sound of dogs barking.

Percy couldn't believe it.

At the edge of the river were a cluster of hellhounds, a cyclops, and one satyr lying prone on the ground.

"Tyson! Grover!"

His brother whipped around, his eye growing wide as he spotted Percy sprinting toward him.

"Big brother!"

Tyson pulled Percy into a bear hug as the hounds descended upon him. They jammed their noses against his clothes, under his arms, sniffing and circling him as their tails wagged viciously.

"You're all alright?" Percy asked. He counted his hounds: Onyx, Andrea, Cass, and Ruby. They were all safe, all unharmed. But what happened to his best friend?

"What happened to you all? What's wrong with Grover?"

The hounds busied themselves with sniffing Nico and his mom, exchanging greetings with Mrs. O'Leary, as well as accepting head pats and belly rubs.

According to Tyson, it felt like only a day or two had gone by since their group was originally separated. With the hounds and his strength, not many monsters tried to attack them. They were wandering the earthen tunnels until Grover got overwhelmed and fainted. Tyson also asked why Percy's mom was suddenly with them so he had to explain that weeks had actually gone by since they lost each other. Percy could no longer bend the Labyrinth to his will, and there was the minor fact that Kronos himself was now walking the earth.

Percy splashed some cold water on Grover's face to try waking him up.

"Huh? What…"

"Grover, it's me. It's Percy."

Grover's eyes snapped open. He sat up slowly, rubbing his head. "Percy, oh dear Pan, we found you!"

It was more like Percy found them, but that hardly mattered. His friend, brother, and hounds were all alive and back with him. Percy gave back Grover's hat and learned that the last time Grover fainted in such a way, it was on the quest to free Artemis.

"Pan is close, I know it." Grover said once he was back on his hooves. "You all can go ahead and finish the quest, but I can't leave. Not when I'm so close."

Percy shook his head. "As if I'd let that happen. We all go together, no matter what."

So Grover led their party of nine through the system of caves and caverns, being drawn toward a source of ancient power. It was overwhelming, but not unkind. It made Percy feel stronger and more well-rested the closer they got to it. And all that power came to a head as they entered a chamber even larger than the one Percy found his friends in.

The walls and ceilings glowed in all sorts of shades of blue and green and purple. Glowing crystals the size of cars made Percy feel like he was standing under the aurora borealis. Flowers he'd never seen before grew among the stone pillars and extinct animals grazed peacefully.

At the center of the room was a bed. And perched on its edge was an old satyr with sky-blue eyes. Pan.

But there was something not quite right. There was a terrible fragility in the air that made Percy want to hold his breath. He was afraid that if even a shred of his powers of decay escaped, it would make the whole cave come crashing down.

He and Nico stayed by the entryway as the others padded deeper into the cave. Grover bowed low before his lord as the hellhounds sniffed the dodos and wooly mammoths.

"Do you feel it?" Nico asked softly. Percy nodded.

The magic in the air was pure and beautiful, but it was terribly weak. Pan himself, the lord of the wild, was dying.

But Grover refused to accept that a god like Pan could die. Percy felt more like an intruder as the god calmly described how his domain was so fragmented that not even he could save it. For two thousand years even, he'd been trying to pass away in peace. To slip into the realm of eternal quiet and dark that was as close to death as a god could get. A part of Percy wondered if that place looked anything like Chaos' void.

Pan's gaze drifted from Grover to Percy. "You friends here know the truth."

The old satyr smiled. "Son of Hades, you are well accustomed to death. And you, Percy Jackson." He smiled a little wider, "I, too, was once a being that inspired great panic in others. I cannot help but offer you this: be kind to yourself."

The two satyrs returned to their discussion and slowly, Grover started to believe Pan's words. In the end, not with a cry or with despair but with understanding, Grover said, "I release you, Pan."

The god nodded and continued to smile. "Thank you."

The splendor of the cave began to vanish. Crystals lost their glow, plants died. The animals turned to dust and the god himself dissolved into pale mist. After a moment, there was nothing left of Pan.

Percy ignored the shiver that went down his back. He was even more reluctant to set foot within the cavern but he did so anyway. He put a hand on Grover's shoulder. "Hey… are you okay?"

It felt like a stupid thing to ask but Grover nodded. He wiped his eyes and said, "Yeah. We should go now. And after we save the camp, we need to tell everyone. We have to let them know the great god Pan is dead."

Percy felt the briefest pain behind his eyes and a dull, pulsing ache in his teeth. He quelled the Chaos side of him and pressed his lips tight, hoping no one noticed. It was involuntary, almost like a muscle spasm.

But now that he was closer to the exact place of a god's death, Percy felt… strange. Like his skin was too tight, being stretched over a body too big for it. And the feeling was only increasing with each passing second. It was like Pan's death was feeding the side of him that thrived off of entropy.

Percy was the first to leave the cave and as soon as he did, the feeling under his skin started to ebb away.

With Mom, getting back to camp was a matter of moments. Daedalus pressed his palm against his Delta symbol and the tunnel ceiling above them shifted apart to reveal sunlight.

When Percy emerged from the Labyrinth, hopefully for the last time, he found himself in a Camp Half-Blood he hardly recognized. True, he returned to camp after healing on Ogygia. But he hadn't gotten the chance to see the woods recently.

The entrance to the Labyrinth was surrounded by trenches, catapults in the distance, and what looked like the entire camp in full battle armor. White spray paint marks on the ground indicated even more traps. Chiron was cantering among the campers.

"Chiron!" Percy shouted.

The centaur looked relieved to see them, but there was also an edge to his eyes that Percy rarely ever saw before. This wasn't Chiron, his kindly teacher. This was Chiron, trainer of heroes and now prepared for what looked like all out war.

"Percy, it is good to see you again." Chiron's eyes scanned over the entire group, "It is good to see you all again."

His gaze fell upon Daedalus. "Quintus, I believe an explanation would be in order if we weren't on the verge of battle."

"I would agree," the old architect said. He handed off his bag to Mrs. O'Leary, who vanished with it, "But for the time being, why don't you call me by my true name, Daedalus."

It was a testament to how old Chiron was that he hardly seemed shocked.

In the meantime, campers came to outfit Percy, Nico, Tyson, and Grover with armor. Kids from the Apollo cabin also gave Percy and Nico ambrosia squares to energize them. The last thing Percy requested was a can of spray paint so he could mark lines of white down his hounds' sides to show they were friendly.

But Percy still had one more priority. He had his mother guide him through the Labyrinth, but he wasn't letting her fight an actual battle. He approached her and noticed how pensive she looked.

"Mom, I think you should stay in the Big House."

"And leave you? All of you?" She looked around. "You're all just kids…"

"But we're also half god. Trust us, this is what we were built for." Percy had an idea. "You can take Andrea and stand guard at the edge of the woods. We'll need backup forces in case any monsters try to escape the main battle."

She still didn't look happy. But his mom only pulled him closer and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "You be careful, you hear me?"

Percy's throat felt tight and hot. His whole face flushed, but not from embarrassment. He nodded and forced himself to speak. "I will."

His mom turned her attention to Nico, who was standing nearby but seemed oddly fixated on a bug crawling up a tree trunk.

"You too, Nico. Come here."

She gave him a hug and took his face in both of her hands. She pressed a kiss to the top of Nico's head. "You two look after each other. You understand?"

Nico hugged her and nodded. Percy realized they were the only two campers who had a parental figure to say goodbye to. If anyone fell in this battle, their mortal parent was going to get only a call from Chiron and their child's necklace back. It wasn't fair.

But this wasn't the time to dwell on it. Percy watched his mom vanish into the shadows with Andrea, close but out of immediate danger.

Taking her place was Chiron, who gestured for Percy and Nico to follow him. To the best of their ability, they explained how Kronos had risen. Chiron seemed disturbed, but confident that the Titan lord himself wasn't approaching camp.

"By disturbing his very throne room, you might have delayed him," he said, "and to take a human body… it might give him physical form, but it may restrict his power as well."

Chiron brought them to the back end of the reinforcements surrounding the Labyrinth entrance. "I want you both to wait here when the battle begins. You two should go where you are needed most, wherever our defenses are weakest. As children of the Big Three, your help will be invaluable."

Nico made a sound. Percy couldn't say he was surprised Chiron figured it out.

"We will," he said.

Just then, the ground trembled.

"Something big is on the way," Nico said.

The hounds started barking, hackles raised. Ruby and Cass dashed to Nico's side, Onyx materialized next to Percy.

"Lock shields!" Clarisse called.

Dust spilled from the entrance to the Labyrinth. The battle began.

Even though Chiron was killing a monster with every arrow, even though the Hephaestus cabin's traps were taking out monsters left and right, even though the Apollo archers and Ares kids were battling from the trees and on the ground, Percy could tell they were barely managing to hold their own against Kronos' forces.

The Demeter cabin were growing brambles and vines to slow down enemies, and the entire Aphrodite cabin on Pegasi were serving as their last line of defense at the edge of the woods with his mother. Satyrs, the hounds, Daedalus, and Tyson helped.

But the monsters just kept coming.

Worse, there were traitor demigods among them.

Early into the battle, Percy sent Onyx to intercept another hellhound trying to attack Grover and the satyrs while he doused fires using water from the nearby creek. Even though Percy had experience in a full-on battle while at Camp Jupiter, this was more overwhelming because this was supposed to be his turf.

Everything was a blur around him. Percy would say his heart was hammering, but it was beating so fast he couldn't feel it at all. At some point, he and Nico were fighting giants and hellhounds back to back.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted a squadron of snake women breaking away from the main battle. They were heading for camp.

"Nico!" Percy shouted.

He guarded the other's back as Nico drove his blade into the ground. A dark fissure emerged and a dozen skeletal soldiers- Roman centurions, American Revolutionary soldiers, cavalry on skeletal horseback- emerged to intercept them.

It took Percy a second to realize Nico wasn't getting back up. He was breathing hard, supported by his white-knuckle grip on his sword hilt. Percy grabbed him by the back of his shirt and tried to haul Nico to his feet.

"Come on, come on!"

Nico stood, but it didn't look like he was in any shape to keep fighting.

An arrow cleaved the air over Percy's head. He couldn't tell if it was friendly fire or not. He whistled and Ruby appeared by their side.

"Nico, go!"

"I won't-"

The ground shook again. Dozens of reinforcements came spilling from the Labyrinth, banging clubs against their shields and sending campers scattering.

Percy got an idea. He spotted Tyson and Cass close by. "Ty! Get me in close to the entrance!"

His brother was wide-eyed and breathing hard. His war hammer was dented but he nodded. He grabbed a bronze shield discarded on the ground and let out a war cry.

He threw the shield like a frisbee. With the strength of a cyclops behind it, it cut clean through a Dracaena and plowed into another. Cass ambushed a Laistrygonian giant from the shadows, keeping in place for an archer to take out.

Percy said, "Nico, the two of us can work together!"

The other understood. Wielding his war hammer, Tyson cut a path for them as close to the densest part of the battle as he could.

"Campers, fall back!" Percy shouted at the top of his lungs. "Fall back!"

Some monsters mistakenly cheered while the campers doing the heavy fighting near the entrance retreated. Tyson fell back as well.

Nico raised his sword as Percy raised Riptide.

Together, they plunged their blades into the ground. Percy called up his godly powers from Poseidon. The entire battlefield shook.

Nico was of the underworld, but Percy was an earthshaker. Combined, they cracked the ground in two and cleaved a fissure at least fifty feet wide. Nearly the entire reinforcements fell into the growing maw Nico and Percy created. From a distance, campers cheered.

"You couldn't have done that sooner?"

That sounded like Clarisse. But Percy couldn't respond, he was gritting his teeth too hard.

"I- I can't-" Nico began.

Percy felt his own powers overwhelming him as well. Press himself any further, and he might risk unleashing too much of his strength. Nico withdrew his blade and Percy did the same. As soon as they did, the earth began resealing itself.

They were back in the thick of it, only a few dozen yards from the entrance and trying to safely rejoin the ranks of the other campers. They must've gotten separated, because Percy realized Nico wasn't at his back anymore. He was fighting on his own now, no campers immediately nearby.

The ground shook once more, but it wasn't Percy's doing. He noticed with a cold dread that the monsters around him seemed excited.

He soon saw why.

A massive head emerged from the Labyrinth. Scaled, serpentine. Yellow, slitted eyes and a forked tongue tasting the air. It continued to emerge from the Labyrinth, rising higher and higher- reaching at least thirty feet before its front legs appeared.

It was one of the biggest drakons Percy had ever seen.

"Campers, to me!" He shouted.

But no one came. Everyone else was too busy fighting, or too afraid to challenge the drakon. A telekhine lunged for him and Percy slashed across its chest. He couldn't spot any of his friends or his hounds nearby. Only campers falling back as the drakon curled itself around Zeus' Fist, surveying the battle from the rocky outcrop.

Percy did the only thing he could think of. He began sprinting for the giant lizard. It saw him and hissed, a green noxious fog gathering in its mouth. It lunged and Percy just barely rolled to the side in time. He found a little clay jar near his feet, an urn of Greek fire that somehow hadn't gone off yet. He threw it at the monster with all his might and the jar shattered against its side.

The drakon let out a sharp hiss as fire spread across its back, but it hardly looked hurt at all. It shook itself like a wet dog, sending globs of Greek fire everywhere. Even onto its own allies.

He didn't have any other choice. Arrows were bouncing off the drakon's hide and not even fire could hurt it.

Percy sucked in a breath and called forth his powers from Chaos.

The grass around Percy began dying, the decay spreading out in a circle around him. The stones weathered into sand. Trees and monsters alike wasted away and died, dead leaves and gold dust sent flying in the wind.

It was like a massive hand was squeezing around Percy now, leaving him breathless. He fell to one knee and drove Riptide back into the ground for support. The dirt felt like cutting through butter.

When did the power to decay come so easily to him?

Percy thought back to the time he was trapped under the sky. He'd managed to decay Luke with just a look.

He forced himself to raise his head.

Just in time to see a massive shadow fall over the drakon. A huge giant seemingly fell from the sky, sending the body of the drakon crashing to the ground with a boom that rattled Percy's teeth.

He tried to quell his powers as much as possible when he saw a massive figure pummeling the drakon with a hundred fists.

"Briares!" Tyson cried from somewhere far away.

But how did he even get here?

Monsters and campers alike shouted as something even bigger than the Hundred-Handed One descended from the sky. Kampê landed on Zeus' Fist and drew her twin blades.

"Servants of Kronos!" She cried in ancient Greek, loud enough to be heard across the entire battlefield. With a brutal smile, she said, "Weep before me!"

She leaped from Zeus' Fist to plow into a line of giants, sending up an enormous plume of gold dust before turning her attention to the drakon. The beast shook off Briares and turned its attention to her. The drakon wasn't as tall as Kampê, but it was much longer than her. And its entire body was laden with lithe muscle.

But Kampê was armed and just as dangerous. The jailer of Tartarus charged.

With both her and Briares handling the drakon, Percy wanted to go back to helping whoever needed it most. But when he tried to stand, his head swam and he fell back to one knee.

Too late, he figured out why.

He'd been calling up his powers almost nonstop since the battle began. Summoning water, causing earthquakes. His immortal side was already brought dangerously close to his surface. Just trying to access his powers from Chaos pushed him over the edge.

No, no, no…

Percy would not let a repeat of Mount St Helens happen. Not in camp, not when he was surrounded by his allies.

Too late, a voice whispered in his ear.

Water sprung from the ground around him. Where was it all coming from? Him?

It lashed against its surroundings in frothy waves. The scent of salt filled the air. The wind kicked up around him. Percy felt a sharp sting in his jaw and felt his scream catch in his throat.

He let go of Riptide and fell on both hands, curling his fists into the wet earth. He could feel everything as his waves hit whatever was in their path. Trees, traps, monsters, please no demigods…

And everything he touched turned to dust. Decayed, destroyed.

As if there was no distinction between his godly powers anymore. It all felt the same, it all felt like raw power thrumming under his skin.

His powers swirled around him like a hurricane, and he was trapped in the eye of the storm.

Percy watched droplets of red fall onto the ground. He brought a hand to his mouth as another aching wave made it feel like his gums were being torn apart. He felt them, his fangs. Were his eyes also changing?

Someone was calling his name "Perseus!"

Chiron?

"Percy! Percy, please!"

More than one person was calling him now.

"Stop!"

He couldn't. He finally found enough air to scream.

Percy's powers pushed outward in one great wave, a singular flood of unimaginable destruction.

As your namesake suggests.

He tried to keep the blood from spilling out of his mouth but it slipped through the gaps in his fingers.

A horrible sound, hopefully not his own, pierced the rising panic overtaking Percy. It was a shrill, awful sound. It made him shut his eyes and clasp his hands over his ears.

But it snapped him out of his haze and his powers finally started to lessen. Percy collapsed to the ground. His vision went black for one moment, two, three…

Someone was rolling him onto his back. A slow drip of nectar filled his mouth. Percy coughed and sat up. Nico was kneeling next to him with a bottle of nectar. He pressed it into Percy's hands.

"P-percy, drink this. You- your teeth…"

He clamped his jaw shut until he felt those damned fangs recede. Then he took a swig of nectar. Then another, and another. Even when it tasted of his mom's cooking, Percy still felt shaky and hollow.

"The battle…" he tried, but his voice sounded raw, "What about the battle?"

Nico said, "Grover unleashed this cry that sent all the monsters retreating. It's over. I think we won."

Percy hoped so. He used Riptide as a mirror and examined his eyes. They still looked human. But his mouth and the side of his face were smeared with blood. Percy tried to wipe it away the best he could with his sleeve.

Nico offered him a hand, but Percy declined. He got to his feet on his own, swaying where he stood. Nico was telling the truth; the invading forces were all gone and the wounded were being treated by Chiron and the Apollo kids.

Percy surveyed the damage he caused. The area around him was devoid of anything. No plantlife, no traps, no abandoned weapons, or anything else. And no one was standing within a hundred or so feet of Percy, but plenty were staring. Whispering. Avoiding his eye. Treating him with a mix of awe and fear. He swallowed.

"There's one last thing we need to do."

Time to end things, once and for all. The campers parted ways for Percy and Nico as they found Daedalus. As expected, the swordsman hadn't broken a sweat even if his armor was heavily damaged. When he saw them approach, he looked grim but determined.

"I suppose it's finally my time."

Nico nodded and drew his blade. "Are you ready?"

At that, Daedalus laughed softly. "I suppose I have been, for far longer than I would be willing to admit. But first…"

He turned his attention to Percy. His expression was unreadable. "Percy Jackson, I cannot leave Mrs. O'Leary to herself. She does not long for the underworld and probably would not like returning to it. Will you take care of her?"

"Of course." Percy said. He was pretty much the only one who could.

Daedalus looked relieved. "One last thing. If you could, give this to your mother."

He whistled for Mrs. O'Leary and she appeared with the backpack from his workshop. "This contains my laptop with all my unfinished projects, along with several decades worth of notes on mechanical construction. I'll no longer need it, but maybe your mother can find some inspiration for her writing within it."

Percy accepted the backpack. "I'll make sure she gets it."

Daedalus nodded. "Thank you."

He returned his attention to Nico. "I'm ready to see my son… and Perdix."

Nico raised his blade. "Then I release you, Daedalus. You can rest now."

Daedalus heaved a sigh of relief. It was his last as his body went rigid, then crumbled into dust. For a moment, Percy was afraid he accidentally interfered, but Nico sheathed his blade and didn't appear to be alarmed. The ground shook minutely. It was so faint, Percy doubted he would have detected it if he wasn't a son of Poseidon. He hoped that meant the Labyrinth had collapsed with Kronos' retreating forces in it.

Mrs. O'Leary howled and Percy patted her side. Onyx came over to comfort her, but she went off to be alone.

The battle was over and Percy was back home, but there was still so much for them to do.

Camp Half-Blood honored their dead and tended to their wounded. Percy's mom fussed over not only him and Nico, but anyone she could. She spent hours in the Big House helping tend to those with more minor injuries.

An emergency meeting for the council of Cloven Elders was called and Grover was tried as a blasphemous traitor for trying to say Pan was dead. Percy stood at a distance from everyone else and got the scenes they preferred this arrangement as well. When Dionysus returned from whatever he'd been doing, he came bearing grim news.

Many of the minor gods were rebelling and turning to Kronos' side. Typhon was still stirring as well.

Though no sign appeared over his head to claim him, Nico's dark blade of Stygian iron and powers over the dead announced him as the son of Hades. Now nobody went near either of them.

That night, Percy bid goodbye to Tyson and Briares as they decided to return to Atlantis together.

Meanwhile, Percy decided to go to bed early, declining the celebratory feast and singing being held. Nico joined him.

Percy dreamed of nothing.

It wasn't until a few days after the battle that he noticed something not quite right. He looked the same, sounded the same, but he didn't feel the same. Even as he hauled debris and helped clean up the battlefield, Percy felt… light.

Not quite as light as when he died after holding the sky, but something similar. He wanted to chalk it up to shock or exhaustion, but he knew deep down those weren't it.

When he found a moment alone, Percy examined his hands closely. They still looked and felt solid. He even pricked the tip of his finger with a dagger and drew the same coppery blood as always.

But this was still only supposed to be a shell hiding away his true self. So Percy wondered what was really going on beneath his skin.