The damage to the Big House was even worse in the daylight. There was a gaping hole where the attic and second story were supposed to be, and the yard around the building was trashed with charred planks of wood and broken glass. Precious artifacts that had been stored in the attic for decades were now scattered around the lawn, and campers were crisscrossing the yard collecting them into bins while others swept up glass or picked up debris.

Chiron and Mr. D watched from the porch. Mr. D picked up a plank and stared at it woefully before tossing it into the grass.

"I can't believe you let this happen," he grumbled. "One minute, I was sleeping in my bed, and the next, the roof was falling down on top of me. Some welcome back celebration. I hate this job so much." Chiron didn't respond as Dionysus continued to rant. "What has gotten into that Jackson kid? Hasn't he caused me enough grief all these years? This is what happens when I leave you in charge."

"What do we know about Theseus?" Chiron interrupted, deep in his own thoughts.

"Who the hell is Theseus? Are you even listening to me, you ass?"

"The new camper, Theseus." Chiron pointed across the lawn at the infirmary, where Theseus had just stepped out to survey the scene, still bandaged.

Mr. D squinted at him, trying to get a better look. "There's another one? Don't tell me Jackson has a brother!" He threw his hands up in frustration. "I can't keep doing this anymore."

"Don't be ridiculous," Chiron shook his head. "There's no way Poseidon could have hidden him all this time. Unless..." His eyes widened with fear.

Mr. D stared at him expectantly. "Unless what? Spit it out, horse-man!"

Chiron waved the thought away. "No, now I'm being ridiculous."

"Whatever, back to the issue at hand." Mr. D gestured at the smoldering house behind them. "We need to keep a close eye on Percy Jackson. I don't trust him."

"I hate to admit it, but you're right," Chiron sighed. "Percy has gotten out of control."

"Where is he anyway?"

"He's gone off the grid."

"What the hell does that mean? He can't hide from us forever."

Annabeth volunteered to sweep, choosing a spot around the side of the house, conveniently within earshot of the two men talking on the porch. She had been hoping to hear that he was safe somewhere, but hearing that he was nowhere to be found made her heart drop. And what was Chiron talking about concerning Theseus? Why did he sound so scared? What was she missing? By this point, she had stopped sweeping, too lost in the swirling mire of questions in her head to keep up the task. There had to be a new course of action for her.

Theseus. There had to be a reason Chiron abruptly brought him up in the conversation. Why had he had so many problems with Percy? If there was something else to him, Annabeth needed to figure out what it was.

"Hey," said a voice behind her, and she jumped in surprise.

"Whoa, sorry, it's just me." Jason held up his hands calmingly.

"Oh, hey." Annabeth went back to sweeping, avoiding eye contact with him. "Did you need something?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Why?" She turned sharply to him.

"Look, I didn't want it to be this way."

"Well, it is this way," she snapped.

"Annabeth, I'm sorry, but Percy's changed. He's gone off the deep end. You saw what he did to Theseus last night."

Her grip tightened on the broom in her hands. "I know. I was there."

"It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Percy is a threat."

"I couldn't agree more."

Both Jason and Annabeth turned toward Theseus, who had just walked up. Annabeth narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"I couldn't help but overhear," Theseus said smoothly.

"What do you want?" Annabeth asked warily.

"Nothing, nothing. I just wanted to see if you were alright," he replied, slowly inching closer.

Jason chuckled. "We should be asking you that. You look like shit."

Theseus stared at Jason. "Yeah, it was a rough night for everyone." He shifted his gaze back to Annabeth. "Listen." He draped his arm around her shoulders and leaned close to her ear. "If you need someone to talk to, you know where to find me," he said in a low voice.

Annabeth froze, unsettled. At that moment, Theseus' voice sounded a little too similar to Percy's.

Jason cleared his throat and moved Theseus away. "Boundaries, man. Come on."

Theseus raised both his hands innocently. "Hey, man. No harm, no foul."

"Riiight." Jason raised an eyebrow at him and nudged Annabeth to leave. "Well, we'll see you around."

Theseus put his hands in his pockets and watched them leave. Once they were out of sight, he strolled over to the camp gate, reminiscing about his moment of victory the night before. Percy was finally gone.

As he stared into the forest, he noticed something glimmering in the grass outside the gate. When he went to investigate, he saw Percy's camp necklace, the morning sunlight glinting off the polished beads. He rolled the beads between his fingers, particularly focused on the black bead with a turquoise trident on it. He couldn't help but look pleased as he fastened the necklace around his own neck.

Percy had been nauseous for a week. He didn't know how Nico was able to shadow travel all the time when it had this kind of toll on his body. Perks of being the son of Hades, he thought. The two of them had been traveling across the country, jumping a few hundred miles at a time, but Nico had refused to tell Percy where their final destination was.

Percy leaned forward and braced himself on his knees, chest heaving. Then, hit with a wave of exhaustion, he let himself topple over sideways, rolling onto the ground and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Get up, you big baby," Nico deadpanned. "You weren't even the one traveling. How tired can you be?" He kicked Percy's foot.

Percy let out an exaggerated groan. "Are we there yet? You promised me a boys' trip to make me feel better, but we've been on the road for a whole week, and you slept for most of it."

"Quit your whining." Nico pointed at a large stone sign behind him. "We're here."

Percy craned his neck to read the sign. "Big Bend National Park? Why did you bring us here? We gonna go camping or something?"

"You think I brought you out here for stargazing?"

Percy put on a fake pout. "Did you not? Because I was really looking forward to being eaten by a coyote in the middle of the desert."

"Yeah, I'd be so lucky. Maybe then you'd stop complaining."

Percy stood up and dusted himself off. "Okay, what then?"

"Hold your horses. We still have some walking to do."

"We came all this way, and you couldn't have dropped us at the actual place we were going?"

Nico shrugged. "I love a dramatic reveal. Come on."

The cool desert wind felt refreshing on Percy's face after so much shadow traveling. He looked up, and he had never seen so many stars in his life. There was no moon out, but the sky was absolutely lit up with thousands of bright pinpricks of light. And in the center of it all was a swirling cloud of pinkish interstellar dust: the Milky Way.

"Are you sure you don't want to go stargazing, Nico?" Percy breathed, still staring up at the galaxy above them.

"It's stunning, yes."

Percy's gaze shifted back down to Nico, who was continuing down the left side of a forked path. A sign at the intersection pointed out the Rio Grande Overlook to the left and the Hot Springs to the right.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Can't we go to the hot springs?"

Nico stopped and turned impatiently. "No."

"Damn, okay. Take that stick out of your ass."

"We're going this way."

Now Percy actually was pouting as he followed Nico down the left fork to the Overlook, all the while muttering to himself. "No one ever wants to do what I want to do. Bring me all the way out into the desert in the middle of the night and then not even stop at the hot springs? Unbelievable."

Almost an hour had passed before either of them spoke again.

"Nico, enough. Where the hell are you taking us?" Percy stopped in his tracks in the middle of the path. They were passing through a short tunnel built into a rocky ridge. "We've been jumping across the country all week, and we've been walking all night. This really isn't making me feel any better. Can you please just tell me what you're planning?"

Nico stopped at the mouth of the tunnel on the other side, turning slowly to face Percy. "Percy, we're here to fuck shit up," he said seriously.

Percy nodded slowly as he processed what Nico had said. Then a grin spread across his face, and he nodded more enthusiastically. "That's what I'm talking about." He jogged to catch up to Nico. "But can we maybe start in the morning? I'm exhausted."

"I told you, I have a plan."

"But does it involve sleeping?"

"Yes, Percy. Go to sleep." Nico took off his backpack and tossed it down on the ground at his feet. He laid down, using the bag as a pillow, and Percy followed suit. After being on the road with Nico all week, sleeping on the ground was becoming second nature to him.

After a few moments, Percy turned to Nico in the dark. "You know, I hope you wake up tomorrow with a better attitude."

Nico didn't move. "I hope you don't wake up."

Percy gasped. "Fine. Maybe I won't. Good night." He aggressively turned his back on Nico.

Percy woke up at dawn. He could see the sun creeping over the horizon behind the mountains, and in the early morning light, he could see the river curving below the ridge they had slept on. Yawning, he rolled over and immediately froze. Standing half-hidden in the brush about twenty feet away and staring back at him was a massive boar. It was at least six feet long, with a broad chest of pure muscle and long curving tusks arching out of its foaming mouth.

"Nico," Percy hissed. "Nico, wake up."

Nico stirred awake, blinking groggily. "What... I thought you wanted to sleep."

"Not anymore, Nico. We have company."

Nico sat up and rubbed his eyes. Unfortunately, the sudden movement startled the boar, and it stepped toward them, huffing its snout threateningly. Percy reflexively held out his hand to the boar in an effort to calm it down while he slowly reached his other hand to grab Riptide from his back pocket.

"Easy now..."

From behind him, Nico quietly called Percy's name. Percy slowly turned his head to see what Nico was looking at, reluctant to turn his back on the monster in front of him. Turning, he saw another boar approaching Nico from the other side. Before he had a chance to react to the new threat, he heard the first boar charge him from behind. He barely had time to click his sword open before it clashed against the wicked tusks. The movement also prompted the other boar to charge, thundering toward Nico, who rolled out of the way just in time and grabbed his sword.

"What's wrong with these pigs?!" Percy's voice strained as he shoved the creature away with his sword. The boar stumbled back, giving Percy time to scramble to his feet, but it was soon poised to charge at him again.

Nico slashed at the air in front of him, trying to keep the boars away from him. "They're not pigs, Percy! They're Erymanthian boars!"

Percy rolled to the left as his boar ran at him again. He swiped Riptide at its leg, making contact, but the boar didn't slow down. "So they're monsters?"

"Yes!" Nico dove out of the path of his boar, winding up back-to-back with Percy.

"Oh, okay," Percy smirked over his shoulder at Nico. "I think it's time to fuck shit up now."

They expected this to be a short fight, so when over five minutes had passed, and the boars looked just as healthy and threatening as before, Percy was getting annoyed. He had stabbed and slashed them multiple times with his sword and blasted them with water from the river below, but nothing seemed to have any effect. Nico, fighting only with his sword, was dragging his feet and panting.

"Nothing is working!" Nico growled. "We need a new plan."

"You're the mythology expert. Do they have any weaknesses?"

"What do you mean I'm the expert?"

"Well, do they!?" Percy shouted back frantically.

"When Hercules fought one of these, he got its attention with shouts and then trapped it in a snowdrift so he could chain it up."

Percy raised an eyebrow dubiously. "That's it? Why didn't you say anything sooner? I've got a plan."

Percy grabbed Nico by the arm and dragged him to the edge of the cliff overlook. The two boars turned to follow them, stalking forward slowly.

"Do you trust me?" Percy asked, his frenzied eyes glinting with excitement.

"What are you going to do?" Nico asked hesitantly, leaning away from Percy.

"Do you or do you not trust me?" Percy asked again, more forcefully.

"Maybe?"

"Good enough for me!" With that, he turned his attention to the boars, shouting and waving his sword at them tauntingly.

Nico glanced behind them and saw they were no more than a foot away from the cliff's edge. Realizing their position, he turned back to Percy in a panic. "Are you stupid? Percy, stop!"

Percy ignored him, but his grip on Nico's arm tightened. The boars, angered by the shouting, began to charge.

"You might wanna close your eyes for this," Percy said slyly. But before Nico had a chance to argue, Percy yanked him backward over the cliff. They were only in the air for a few seconds when a funnel of water engulfed them, muffling Nico's shouts of protest as it lowered them safely into the shallow river at the bottom. The water level only came up to Percy's knees, so they were able to stand.

Nico coughed, recovering from the shock and almost swallowing a bucket of river water. "Don't you ever do that to me again," he snarled once he had regained his composure.

Percy laughed. "Oh, lighten up!" Nico opened his mouth to say something else, but Percy held up a hand to stop him. "Hold that thought." He pointed at the cliff just as the two boars charged over the ledge and tumbled down the cliff face and into the river. "It's go time." Nico watched as Percy lept into action, capitalizing on the creatures' stunned condition to imprison them. The water surrounded them, holding them in place.

"Nico, now!"

Nico's eyes widened with the understanding of what he had to do. He raised his sword and plunged it into the water, burying the tip in the riverbed. A crack snaked out from the impact point and approached the restrained monsters. Ghostly chains rose out of the chasm and wrapped around the boars tightly as they squirmed and squealed to escape and to no avail. The chains began to retract into the void, pulling the boars down with them. In moments, both beasts were gone. Nico pulled his sword out of the silt, and the crack sealed shut. Nico stumbled back, driving his sword back into the ground to steady himself. The adrenaline had worn off, and he felt thoroughly exhausted from using his powers after fighting for so long.

"Whoa, you okay?" Percy rushed forward to help, but Nico brushed him off.

"I'm fine," he said through gritted teeth, walking unsteadily to the riverbank. Percy followed him out of the water.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm peachy." Nico sheathed his sword and sat down on a rock. "Where to next?"

Percy grinned. "I've got some ideas."

Theseus walked into the dining pavilion with a mission that morning. It was early, and only a handful of campers were awake already. His eyes scanned the tables, landing on Annabeth sitting alone at the Athena table. He had a confident swagger as he approached and slid into the seat next to her.

"How are you doing on this fine morning?" He smoothly reached an arm around her shoulders.

Annabeth grabbed his wrist and removed his arm from around her without responding. "Theo, it's seven in the morning, and I'm not in the mood." She was aware of how close he was to her, and she scooted away. Immediately, he followed to fill the gap and leaned in front of her casually, relying on the table to better see her face.

"Already with the pet names? I didn't expect it so soon, gorgeous." He reached out to brush a piece of her hair behind her ear, but she snatched his hand out of the air, turning to face him for the first time. Now that she could see his face, she remembered why she preferred not to look at him straight on; he looked so much like Percy. Annabeth would have thought the similarity would be less noticeable up close like this, but their proximity only made the resemblance more striking. Snapping herself out of her thoughts, she shoved his hand away and turned, averting her eyes again.

"Come on, don't be like that," Theseus said coolly. He reached over and softly turned her by the chin to face him again. "Wow, when Athena made you, she was seriously showing off."

Annabeth glared and pushed him away from her. "Stay away from me."

Theseus grimaced but kept his cool, not wanting to betray his annoyance. He didn't like losing the upper hand, but letting her see his reaction would only give her more power over him.

As he righted himself, something caught her eye. She glanced down at his collarbones, where she noticed he was wearing Percy's camp necklace. "Where did you get that?" she demanded.

Theseus looked down at his chest and grabbed the necklace, holding it up. "Do you like it?"

"Take that off," she growled and stood, looking down at Theseus. She reached out to snatch the necklace off him, but he caught her arm before she could. He pulled her back down to his level so they were face to face again. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said in a low voice.

"That doesn't belong to you." She could feel her face getting warm.

Whenever she saw Theseus, she saw Percy. Especially when he was sitting so close to her. He looked like Percy and sounded like Percy. And Annabeth loved Percy. It was too confusing.

His eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly. She was caught. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I thought I'd keep it warm for him."

Annabeth could feel her palms getting clammy, and the knot in her stomach tightened. She became super aware of how close they were, their faces only inches apart, his firm grip on her arm that kept her close to him. She also noticed the other campers in the dining pavilion and the confused looks they were giving her. Confused and judgemental. Percy had only been gone for a week.

She wrenched her arm out of Theseus' hand and straightened herself, her face bright red. "Just... stay away from me," she muttered as she ran out of the pavilion.