Chapter 59 - Threads

Chiron had paled dramatically when Grover had told him what had happened to Percy and had immediately instructed a harpy to fetch Rachel from her Oracle cave and bring her to the Big House.

His horse backside shifted nervously, clopping on the floor as Grover grabbed a glass of nectar and handed it to Percy. "Careful," he murmured as he handed it over to Percy.

Percy just waved off their concern. "I'm fine," he assured them. "Not hurt at all. Just – what were those voices?"

Grover shook his head slightly. "Like I said before, no one in the forest is telling me if they know."

"But why?"

"They're scared," Grover tiredly said to Percy. "It's, whatever it is, it's dark and it's messing around with the forest in dangerous ways. They're too scared to answer."

Percy groaned. "Can't they be more helpful?" Grover just shrugged.

The son of Poseidon sipped at the nectar slowly as they waited for Rachel to arrive, eyes flicking over to Nico who was sitting a few seats down from Percy along the ping pong table. His cousin seemed worried, probably because every other camper that had been lured in by the voices had completely vanished, and he'd managed to lose Percy while they were in the forest together. Percy frowned slightly at Nico. "Why didn't it affect you?" He asked.

Nico shrugged. "There are lots of voices and impulses down in the Underworld," he said. "And in Tartarus." Right, Percy recalled. Nico had been down in Tartarus. He eyed his cousin, curious about what it was like down there, but not wanting to ask him.

Rachel let out a long breath. "Percy, Chiron suggested I should talk to you about what's going on… or what I've found out. It may be related. So, you remember back last summer?"

Percy groaned. "I try not to. Before or after Kronos stabbed me and kidnapped me?" And wasn't that suspicious? The usual response from saying Kronos' name was dimmed.

"After," Rachel said after a sharp glare at Percy once the flickering lights settled again. "You remember what I said about the meeting I had with the Romans?"

Percy nodded slightly. "Yeah," he said. "That tower or something." Rachel, as the Oracle of Camp Half-Blood, had met with the Romans to try to stop them from attacking Camp Half-Blood. "Why? What about it?"

"I spoke with Chiron about it last year," Rachel said. "And I've looked into it more since. There was something off about that tower. So I got my dad's lawyers to look into it…" she trailed off slightly as she flipped through her phone, causing Percy to raise an eyebrow. "Here," she said, showing him a picture of three men, all features obscured, at the top of a penthouse. "These three men," Rachel said. "They own a company – called Triumvirate Holdings."

Percy's eyes furrowed slightly. That name – for some reason, he'd heard it before. "Right," he slowly said. "Who are they though?"

"That's where it gets interesting," Rachel said. "Those onager Octavian brought to attack us here at Camp?" Rachel tapped a finger against the picture on her phone. "These three – their company – paid for them all."

Percy sat up straighter, his eyes narrowing sharply. "They tried to attack the Camp?" He demanded.

Rachel nodded slightly. "They paid for the weapons," she confirmed. Rachel switched off the screen on her phone. "There's more," she slowly said. "I did more digging. You remember everything the Titans had? Weapons, helicopters, mercenaries?" Percy did remember that. Back on the quest to free Artemis, he remembered that helicopter when Artemis had first shown up.

"Yeah?" Percy prompted, a scowl forming on his face.

"The tank they had during the Battle of Manhattan?" Rachel continued. "Even the cruise ship – Princess Andromeda?"

Percy immediately nodded. "Yeah. I remember," he said, a small smile tugging at his lips as he recalled it being blown apart – with a Kronos-hosting Luke on it. Though he smile fell as he recalled the death of Charles Beckendorf.

"All of it was paid for by Triumvirate Holdings."

Percy exhaled sharply. "Triumvirate," he muttered. "I've heard that before."

Chiron seemed startled, his eyes flicking towards Percy. Grover and Nico – sitting quietly close to Percy – also turned their attention to Percy.

"Triumvirate," Percy repeated slowly, letting the word roll. "But where…?" And then Percy recalled. "An army of mortals and immortals," he muttered, and then swore loudly under his breath. Oceanus. When Oceanus had first offered to teach Percy blood-bending, he'd mentioned them briefly – only by name once.

"Percy, what do you know?" Chiron asked urgently.

Percy slowly shook his head. "Oceanus, months ago, I met him in person," he said. "It was while Kronos was busy, he kept disappearing off and doing things – and I asked Oceanus what he was up to," Percy said, inwardly kicking himself. He should've asked for more information, but instead he'd just let it drop. "Oceanus said he was trying to 'pay off a debt' before the people he owed money to started trying to get him to pay it off in different ways, basically," Percy explained. "Oceanus thought it was pretty likely that it would happen... he also thought it would be funny when it did."

Chiron shut his eyes. His tail flicked. Nico swore loudly, and so did Grover and Rachel. The centaur sighed. "And so it comes back to the Titans," Chiron mused.

"Do you think they'll know what's going on with the forest?" Percy asked. "It looks like it's all connected. The Titans – Kronos – and the Triumvirate."

"Always the Titans," Chiron muttered tiredly under his breath. "Why do they always insist on causing problems?"

"If it helps," Percy said, "Kronos doesn't think very highly of you either." He figured it was an immortal form of trolling the gods, the Titans always going out of their way to cause them problems.

Chiron's glance towards Percy was rather wry. "Ah. That does help." There was no love lost between Chiron and Kronos; the Titan and his son had never quite seen eye-to-eye.

"So what do we do?" Percy asked. "Go to their camp and see which of the Titans are around – preferably one of Kronos' brothers, or Kronos himself – and get them to tell us about Triumvirate Holdings? And how to find Apollo?"

Chiron nodded his head slightly. "That seems to be the wisest course of action."

Percy tilted his head back with a heavy sigh. "It seems the only thing I'm doing is cleaning up after Kronos' messes," he said tiredly. Percy didn't miss Chiron's slight frown towards the dimming lights. Percy scowled at the lights. At the raised eyebrows directed towards him, he just shrugged. "I've got used to it."

Percy frowned at the others in the room. "But how is it connected? What have the disappearing campers got to do with the Triumvirate and the Titans?"

They all shrugged hopelessly. Chiron sighed. "Perhaps the visit to the Titans may dig up some clues about the forest too?" He suggested. "In the meantime, I will continue to ensure no more campers enter the forest until we can figure out what's wrong."

Nico was staring at the table, apparently deep in thought. He stirred when Percy shifted his chair back. "I could go with you," he offered, "instead of Annabeth?"

Grover twitched slightly. Percy blinked. "I thought you didn't want to?" He asked. "You know, since we're going to have to fly." By pegasi though, because Percy was going to flat-out refuse to get onto a plane, whether Olympus was closed again or not.

Nico just shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do," he said with a wry smile. "Besides, we can drop in on the Romans while we're in the west too and see Hazel."

Percy nodded in agreement. "That's not a bad idea," he agreed. "Let them know what's going on when we know. Just in case." Percy wouldn't mind seeing Jason, Reyna and Frank either. Especially with all the silence from the Roman camp lately due to the lack of messages. "After visiting the Titans though," Percy added. "Then we can pass on any information to the Romans too," he said. "Get everyone onto the same page."

Chiron nodded. "A good plan," he decided with a worried glance towards the foreboding forest in Camp.

"Make sure no one else goes in there," Percy added to Chiron firmly. "I don't know what that was in there, but it's stealing campers and maybe killing them too."

Chiron's expression was grim. "I had hoped that it wouldn't happen whilst you were in the forest."

Percy just shrugged. "No harm done," he assured Chiron. Though Percy was half thinking that if Grover hadn't stopped him, he might've been able to find the missing campers – even if that was by himself disappearing too. It was a risk Percy was willing to take. Percy eyed the nectar remaining in the glass, and then decided to risk taking another large sip. It warmed his stomach – almost too much – and he noted Grover shifting uneasily as he put it down onto the table. "We should leave quickly," Percy said to Nico and Grover.

Grover however frowned slightly.

"What?" Percy asked with a low groan. "Is there something else going on too?"

"There is a lot," Grover admitted. He sighed. "Southern California is on fire," he said to Percy. "It's been ongoing for a while now and I've been trying to split my time between there and here to help Chiron out with the forest here, but it's just too much for me to deal with if I'm joining you on this quest too."

"What do you mean on fire?" Percy asked, baffled. "It's only February. California shouldn't be on fire yet."

Grover nodded. "And yet it is. Something beneath the ground is causing unnatural fires on the surface," Grover said. "Nature spirits have been telling me it's coming from the Labyrinth, which can't be-"

"The Labyrinth is back now too?" Percy groaned.

"Unfortunately," Grover confirmed. "But whatever is causing it, no one can figure it out. The name the Burning Maze is being thrown around by nature spirits there, and so is Neos Helios, but that's the extent of what we know."

Percy shut his eyes, tilting his head back. "Neos Helios?"

"New Sun," Chiron supplied. "Latin."

"That can't be a coincidence with Apollo missing," Nico said.

Percy nodded slightly. "Okay, so we also have a flaming Labyrinth that's causing problems. Has it ever done this before?" He asked, opening his eyes and glancing towards Chiron. "Or is this another thing that is completely new for us to deal with?"

Chiron's expression was grim. "It is unprecedented," he confirmed for Percy.

Percy scratched at the back of his head. "I swear, if this is something else that's happened because of Kronos too, I'm going to slap him," he grumbled half-heartedly. He wouldn't, not really. Kronos would incinerate him for that. But Percy could dream. Percy sighed, looking back to Grover. "I guess you can't actually join us then?"

Grover shook his head slightly. "Sorry, Perce," he said. "I really wish I could, but there's too much going wrong right now."

"Tell me about it," Percy muttered under his breath. He eyed Nico thoughtfully. "You think Mrs. O'Leary could give us a ride across to Alaska?"

Nico slowly nodded. "In a few jumps," he said. "She'll need some rest stops, but it's definitely doable. Better than flying."

Percy agreed with Nico there. "Maybe we'll find a third person in California," he muttered.

"As there has been no quest issued," Chiron said quietly. "A third individual may not actually be needed." He shifted his hooves. "But Mrs. O'Leary may not be capable of making the journey swift enough – I'm sure I can pull in some favours with some of the party ponies. I feel that time is running out for us," Chiron mused. "The ones responsible for this have had years to plan and act, and we are only now uncovering a crisis."

Percy hadn't considered that. "Right," he said. "The party ponies. That's a good idea." Percy glanced to Nico. "When do you want to leave?" He asked.

Nico blinked. "Shouldn't you tell your mom first?"

Percy shrugged slightly. "Honestly? She's used to me disappearing now," he said. "It'll be fine," he dismissed. "It's best she doesn't know if something's wrong until it's dealt with. I don't want to worry her, y'know?"

Nico nodded his head slightly. "Just let me pack and say goodbye to Will," he said. "Then I'll be ready."

Percy grinned. "Sure. Tell him I said 'hi'," he chirped as he recalled how sour Will had been with him before. Clearly, Will had taken Apollo's disappearance pretty hard. But Percy had nothing to do with this disappearing act. He watched Nico go, before returning his gaze to Rachel, Chiron and Grover. "How bad is this likely to get?" He quietly asked.

Chiron let out a long breath. "Whoever is behind this has been planning for long enough that they have been capable of getting this far – the Oracles going silent, Olympus' silence, and everything seemingly going wrong at once – without being noticed. Include in that all their involvement with the Titans and Romans which has been undetected until Rachel looked into it," Chiron added grimly.

Rachel nodded her head slightly. "All we know is from that picture – there's three of them. That's it," she quietly said. "Nothing else."

Percy slowly nodded. "So… it's bad," he summed up. It also sounded awfully alike to something that Kronos might try to pull off. The Titan was certainly sneaky and cunning enough to try.

Rachel leant forwards. "We need the Oracle back. Without an Oracle, we're… stumbling around in the dark."

Chiron had pulled through with the Party Ponies. Percy recognised Larry and Owen, two of the Party Ponies which had fought Kronos' army in the battle of Manhattan, waiting impatiently at the top of Half-Blood Hill a few hours later. The centaurs cheerfully greeted Percy and Nico, although both seemed a little twitchy with the son of Hades.

Percy wished he could bring Blackjack with him instead of riding the Party Ponies, but Blackjack couldn't bend space and time to the same extent that the centaurs could. And time was everything here.

"Perseus!" Larry had exclaimed when he saw Percy. "Wow, long time, dude!" The centaur had his shirt on that proclaimed him as part of the New Mexico chapter of the Party Ponies. "We've heard you've been up to a lot since Manhattan!"

Percy smiled slightly. "You don't even know half of it," he said as he accepted the hand up onto Larry's back. Owen grumbled a little, but helped Nico up onto his own back.

"Alaska, I hear?" Larry asked. "Chiron said you wanted to go to a Titan Camp? Like no offence, but could we not drop you on their doorstep?" His horse back end skittered nervously, but Percy was barely jostled. Nico nearly fell from Owen's back when he did much the same.

"Yeah, the Titans?" Owen asked. "They kind of freak us out, dude," he said. "Maybe we could stop… a few miles away? Maybe a hundred?"

Percy pressed his lips together. "Two miles?" He asked.

Owen and Larry groaned. "You're trying to kill us," Larry protested. "The Titans will turn us into mincemeat if we get too close to them."

"What?" Percy asked. "Nah. They won't, they're chill," he reassured the centaurs, a little surprised to hear the Party Ponies were so scared of the Titans. "You guys fought them in Manhattan," he pointed out. "And you survived. But anyway, they're not that bad," Percy said, figuring that bringing up a battle against the Titans may not be the smartest idea.

"Your definition of chill is different to ours," Larry muttered under his breath. "And, y'know, dozens of centaurs died in that Battle, right?"

"Hey, Percy," Nico called over to Percy as Owen skittered nervously. "Remember what I just told you in the forest? Everyone aside from you has a very healthy and understandable fear of the Titans."

Owen and Larry immediately nodded their heads in agreement. "Yeah, listen to the death boy," Owen said. Nico's expression twisted slightly, and Percy frowned at the name-calling. "The Titans freak everyone out, dude."

Percy pressed his lips together. "But they're not that bad," he protested, but his words fell on deaf ears. Owen and Larry were squabbling about how far away from the Titan Camp they could take the demigods.

The Titans weren't that bad, right? Percy thought to himself as he heard Nico pick up the argument and try to convince the centaurs to land closer to the Titan Camp than one-hundred miles. Like, sure, Hyperion could be downright terrifying, and Iapetus, and Krios and… all of them, but no more than the Olympians. By Gaea, Percy would even say that the Titans were more predictable than the gods – at least he knew they all stood behind Kronos and knew what to expect with them. But the gods? Percy never knew if they were going to try to smite him, torture him or pat him on the back for a job well done.

Percy genuinely couldn't understand why everyone was so fearful of the Titans. He shook himself out of his thoughts before he grew too distracted.

Nico had managed to convince the two centaurs to drop them five miles away from the Titans – which still left the two twitchy, but it was better than nothing. Percy wasn't looking forward to trekking five miles through Alaska in the middle of February, but he held back his complaints. Owen and Larry were terrified enough with the five miles and worrying about their chances of getting incinerated, so Percy reasonably couldn't ask them to push it any closer.

The centaurs immediately kicked up a gear into a gallop from standing, which made Nico yelp and grab onto Owen's neck. The centaur's hind legs kicked up behind him in a protest which nearly flung Nico straight off his back and over his head.

Chiron had been right with them needing a fast transport across America; faster than shadow-travel due to the constant need for stops, and faster than a pegasi could manage.

Percy ducked his head down slightly to shield his face, shutting his eyes when Long Island Sound blurred into the distance behind them as Larry and Owen bent space and time across the States towards Alaska.

Second chapter! Yay! It's great having some free time again to actually write XD.

Basileos: thanks! It's been a very long 4 years XD. Aha ngl, there won't be loads seen from Kronos and Apollo, because of... things. But I'll definitely try to fit in bits with them in! I will say that the Apollo arc... well, from my initial attempt to draw out the plot... basically, this all starts a month later than the actual Hidden Oracle book does in canon. So the Triumvirate are already very far ahead in terms of their efforts in Camp Half-Blood. But as Percy and Nico are going to Alaska and California long before Apollo reaches Cali in the books, they're going to get there just in time to see off Jason and Piper on their first expedition into the Burning Maze (this changes a LOT of things, very few of them good).