The wind blew into my face as I looked out at the marina. Groups of campers walked by us- families, couples. School trips. People just going about their daily lives, ready to spend a nice weekend away from their daily troubles.

I watched the sights through narrowed eyes. Despite my best efforts, I still found it difficult to mesh completely back into the mortal world.

It's hard trying to enjoy your day like everyone else when you have the knowledge of monsters and gods floating around in your head, a sword in your pocket. Don't even get me started on the intrusive thoughts I get, constantly reminding me that I could theoretically blow wherever I'm currently at cleanly off the map like it never even existed in the first place.

"Otter Creek State Park," Jason read off a sign, leaning on the railing next to me. We were supposed to be taking a little break to eat food and enjoy the sights, but much like me, I don't think Jason enjoys this aspect of being on the road too much. "The point equidistant between your destination and ours."

"Coeus hasn't moved?"

"Nope. Well, he has, but no more than ten miles," Jason shrugged, pulling out the card Hades had given him. "It still makes sense to aim for the original destination. We can narrow in from there, intercept him, and return him to the Underworld. If we time it right, we might even be able to get back before you go for the apple."

"Why is he in Bellevue, of all places? Doesn't that seem kind of a random place for a Titan to show up?" I asked, watching the card as a red blip appeared, followed by some markings. Jason tapped the screen, seemingly confirming something to himself, before stuffing it back into his jeans.

"Titans can't access power like the gods. He must be making some sort of base or accessing a keyline of natural power. Prometheus used to do the same when we'd stop in places."

I gave him a sad smile at the hesitation before saying Prometheus' name. I still wasn't entirely sure how their backstory panned out, partly due to my own desire to leave Jason's past in the past and Jason's own unwillingness to speak on it, but I still felt a pang of sympathy for my cousin every time his ex-dad was brought up.

Parental relationships were awkward at best in the life of your average demigod. For a guy like Jason, it was probably the worst series of events you could imagine for another human being. Still, though, he worked his way through a lot of that trauma his summer. He still is.

"What's your plan?" I finally asked as a family walked by, the father wheeling the cooler while his son sat on it. They both had wide grins on their faces. I felt a rush of heat at the sight- little pinpricks of a feeling I couldn't quite place.

"Well, as I said, I don't think the fight itself will be that lengthy. I'm not entirely familiar with Coeus, but I've trained against Titans with brainpower before," Jason commented. He pulled his windbreaker around his body a bit more. "Considering he's been imprisoned for a while now, he's likely out of practice and his mental state will be malleable. His domains suggest a substantial amount of intelligence, and the fact that he somehow narrowed down where we'd be passing through leads me to believe he's capable of calculating down to a very specific degree with little to no resources."

"He somehow made that collar for Alcyone on the fly," I pointed out. "There's no material like that in the overworld, and especially not in a random field. He would've had to steal some from our uncle before he left."

"Right. Meaning, he not only calculated the perfect time to escape, but he also designed a plan with the exact amount of time he'd need to find Alcyone, procure some material, and then escape- all while being shackled up," Jason tilted his head in thought. His hair looked golden in the light. "I'm certain his strengths end there. If he was physically strong, he would've intercepted us himself. If he was cunning and persuasive, he would've tried to bargain with us."

I leaned forward as the afternoon sun began to cast a shadow over us both. "I guess. Don't underestimate him, though. Like you said, his mental state probably isn't the best. If you push him too much, he could end up doing something you don't expect."

"I'll be careful."

"We'll be careful," Silena said, walking up behind us both. She was licking a snow cone. "I wanted to come over earlier, but you both were kind of in the middle of a serious talk. Talking about how attractive you both think I am, I hope?"

I cracked a grin, "Would've been a rather short conversation."

"You wound me, Percy," Silena said dramatically. Her eyes held a small amount of nervousness, and her actions seemed a little bit forced. "You wound me gravely."

"So, this is it."

Silena's eyes crinkled, "Try to sound more unenthusiastic, Percy, really. I'm not quite bummed out enough. Just one or two odd comments like that, and I'll be completely depressed."

"Sorry," The words came out of my mouth like a reflex. "You don't have to worry, though. Jason's a good fighter."

"I'm not worried about him," Silena mumbled, playing absently with one of her coat buttons. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was truly on her mind.

"I'll protect Malcolm," I returned simply. "You don't have to worry about that. If I have it my way, he won't be near any danger at all, I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Silena said pointedly.

I shook my head good-naturedly, "How cliché, Silena. Are there any more famous movie lines you want to shove down my throat before you go?"

"I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you," Silena winked, stepping closer to Jason, who was watching the conversation with an amused look on his face. "You ready to go, wonder boy?"

"I'm still mad he gets my name," I complained, pushing off the railing to stretch. "The world doesn't feel right! I swear, Silena, you're throwing off the natural balance of things by giving him my nickname. That's my rightful title!"

"Yeah, yeah, and I'm Spider-Man's girlfriend," Silena said sarcastically.

I shook my head. If only she knew…

Jason took another peek at the card. His brow creased. "We should probably get going if we want to reach an adequate spot to rest before combating the Titan. I don't want to waste more time than we have to."

Silena's smile drooped a little. "Okay. I'm ready! I already said bye to Malcolm and stuff. Is it bad that I'm already so ready to go back to Camp? I'm going to nap for a week when I get back."

Ignoring the growing pit in my stomach, I gave Silena an effortless smile, "More adventure than you bargained for?"

"Way more. I thought we'd fight a couple of monsters, take a train or two, and watch you fight Ladon. Instead, you got ambushed by mummies, we blew up a field, and now I'm fighting a Titan. I think I've had enough adventure for a year or two," Silena said after taking a shaky breath. She bit her lip, "You take care, okay?"

"I will."

"Good. Besides, you owe me for basically kidnapping me out of camp. I take Sephora gift cards and/or Belgian chocolate," Silena trembled, and I looked away as she wiped her eyes.

In a rare show of emotional intelligence, Jason placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Silena, you need not worry. I know Percy may not look it, but he's a prodigious fighter and a half-decent strategist. This isn't a final goodbye by any means."

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled as Silena let out a watery laugh. "Who won our last duel, Jason?"

"Okay, that's a bad example and you know it," The tips of Jason's ears got red. "Sally accidentally gave me whole milk brownies- you know I can't have those."

"Excuses, excuses," I waved off his statement. "But he's right. You'll be fine, too. Just don't let Jason have anything with more than 2% dairy beforehand."

"That's enough out of you," Jason was blushing right down to his roots. "We, um, should go."

"Okay, okay," Silena said, finally calming down. "Thank you both. Really. I needed that."

"Bye Silena," I waved to the brunette. I made eye contact with Jason, and a grin formed on my face. "Try not to take too long, Jace."

"Not everyone can move as fast as you do. One of these days, you're going to show me how you do that," Jason demanded as opened his arms, with Silena awkwardly settling into them. He left me with one piece of advice, "When I used to do supply missions for Prometheus, he'd always tell me the same thing before each one: let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt. Bye, cousin."

"What a load of—" My hair was blasted out of my face as Jason and Silena shot into the air and disappeared toward the horizon a moment later. "—bullshit."

Some of the mortals nearby started gathering around, pointing at the blip in the sky, growing smaller and smaller. Maybe they thought it was a really tiny plane, or a UFO, or something.

Shaking my head, I walked back to Malcolm, who was running around a picnic bench, trying to grab Alcyone's tail. She kept fluttering just out of his reach when he got close, and he'd stumble to the ground, laughing all the way.

Maybe I'm just being a little bit paranoid, but Alcyone's definitely a bit odd to me. I was willing to bring her with me earlier when I wasn't entirely sure what I was going up against, but now since she's given us all the information she has, I'm surprised to see her stay.

If her life really was so great in the Underworld, wouldn't she be eager to return? She was in the car when we spoke to Hades- if anything, she knows I have an at least workable relationship with her ruler. It wouldn't be too crazy to assume I could send her back.

Maybe she's happy to be alive? Even if that's the case, why would she be following me around? Wouldn't she have asked to go with Jason and Silena to ensure that her captor gets sent away? Wouldn't she try to live her own life?

"Percy, Percy!" Malcolm said breathlessly, jumping into my arms. He nestled his head into my shoulder. "Are we going?"

"Sure, kiddo," I patted his head. "We've got a little bit of driving to do, and then tomorrow's the big day, right?"

"Yeah! Is Alcyone coming?"

I stared at the bird impassively, our eyes making contact. I severed the bond rather quickly- something about bonds makes me feel all wonky, maybe a bad experience in the past or something- so now, I just mainly tried to decipher what she was tweeting.

Still, though, my answer to those earlier questions is simple- the most logical explanation is that she's lying. Maybe not about the whole thing, but about a substantial portion of it, nonetheless.

I'm a bit lost on how much of a threat she is, so the second she steps out of line, I'm sending her back to the underworld- the hard way.

"Yes," I stared at the bird. "She is."

It was about an eight-hour drive from Utah to San Francisco. We parked at the Mountain Home Inn, which was right near Mount Tamalpais.

To be honest, I'm sick of driving. Modernization has definitely gutted the intrigue and mystery of half of these quests. They feel less and less like an undertaking and more of a chore followed by a bigger chore.

Back in the day, you had to find the Gray Sisters, get a few gifts from the gods, save a burning village or two, and then you got to the really good parts. Then you could fight the big monsters and get married and all that.

Now? I sat in air-conditioning and listened to Drake all the way to San Francisco, cutting off suburban moms and sleeping in nice hotels while eating good food.

Even before I could drive, Piper and I had that stipend from Hades that got us from point A to B, but even then, I still lost an eye, so I guess I'll leave that one up to the jury.

"Can you read me a bedtime story?" Malcolm said, plopping down into my lap and breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Sure, buddy. Do you have your book of myths?" I watched in amusement as he rummaged through his bag. He procured said book, but to my surprise, he put it down and pulled out another one. "Can we read this one?"

"The Story of Gilgamesh," I read the title aloud. "Where did you get this?"

"One of the nice hiking moms gave me it!" Malcolm said, gripping the book like it was made of gold. "When you were talking to Jason and Silena was getting my ice cream, a mommy said I looked like a little reader, and I said yeah, and she was like 'oh you'll love this book' and then she gave me this book!"

I blinked a few times, "Oh, uh, sure, then. I can definitely read you it."

I turned the book over in my hands a few times, scanning it for any sort of curses or traps, but it came up empty. For all intents and purposes, it was a completely normal book, devoid of external influence.

What is it with Malcolm and interacting with goddesses?

My question was answered when I opened the book.

There was a note in rather neat, efficient writing:

My dearest Malcolm,

May you never forget your greatest treasure—your mind.

Love,

Mother

Yikes. She writes letters just how I'd expect her to. Not that I think she's emotionless or anything- I know secondhand from Triton how angry Athena gets.

Once I was done reading the note she'd added in for Malcolm, smoke rose from the paper. I narrowed my eyes as a sentence was burned into existence right below Malcolm's note: Pay attention.

Yep. That's Athena for you. I feel like it would cause her physical pain to just outright say what she means every now and then. Maybe it's like some fun guessing game for her or something. She probably gets her sick kicks by putting unwilling demigods through these riddle challenges.

Malcolm led me over to his bed and started getting comfortable under the sheets as I turned the lights off. "Percy?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Are you scared about tomorrow?" Malcolm asked in a small voice. The thick hotel blankets basically swallowed him up. The only indication that there was a human on the bed was the little tuft of sandy hair sticking out. "About getting the apple?"

"Nah," I returned easily, settling into the bed, right by him. I moved my arm a bit, and he wrapped his arms around it. "Not one bit."

"How?"

I poked him in the forehead, "I have you by my side, don't I? Every monster's afraid of you! I'll just let you go up and scare them all away, and we'll waltz out with the egg. Easy peasy."

As he started laughing and pestering me with questions, I didn't stop to contemplate if it was wrong of me to lie to him- I'm protecting him! I feel bad that I'm technically lying, but I don't think it's wrong.

Parents tell their kids little white lies all the time if they think it'll help.

When I was a kid, my mom told me to stop putting forks near electrical outlets by telling me a big monster would come out if I did and gobble us both up. Even if I was terrified of plugging anything into the wall until middle school, her main purpose, which was to stop me from electrocuting myself, worked.

This is the same principle. Malcolm's a little kid, and I don't want him to directly be in any danger. I want to protect him. I'll probably slip out at the crack of dawn and intercept the egg before he even wakes up.

I opened the book and pointed to the picture of two men. One was dressed in elaborate gold armor, while the other was clothed in rags.

I frowned to myself- if Athena herself gave Malcolm this book, couldn't she have at least found one with entertaining pictures? You could run my hand over with a truck and make me draw with that same hand and the pictures would still be better off than this.

"Long, long ago, there was a king by the name of Gilgamesh. He would go around crashing weddings and causing mayhem in the city of Uruk," I cleared my throat, "To tame Gilgamesh, the goddess Aruru created a rival called Enkidu. Enkidu lived beyond the walls of the city, where chaos reigned and wild animals, invaders, and evil spirits prowled. After a priestess of the goddess Ishtar seduced Enkidu, the wild animals beyond the wall rejected him and he ventured into the city."

"What does seduce mean?"

I could feel a cold bead of sweat forming on my brow. If word got back to Annabeth that I explained the birds and bees to her little brother, I'd be sleeping with the fishes. Something tells me she wouldn't care even if I tried to explain that her mom sent this book over.

I could hear Triton laughing already, "Um, to make friends. The goddess Ishtar made friends with Enkidu! They must've had a tea party, or a sleepover, or something, so the wild animals got jealous and told Enkidu to get lost!"

"Oh! Gerald and I have sleepovers all the time! Do you think the wild animals would be mean to me, too?"

"Nope! Cause you're a cute little genius and Enkidu was a grown man!"

Malcolm nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer. I took that as my sign to continue, and I flipped the page.

Malcolm looked in awe at the drawing of two men fighting each other. "This is awesome."

It was weird, but the art style started to change a little bit. The humans in the story got a bit more refined, three-dimensional. There was a little bit of shading. The artist had taken the time to draw in sound effects for the fighting, too.

Maybe I was just imagining things. I'd be lying if I said that couldn't be a possibility. I have been driving for a bit, I guess. Weirder things have happened.

I noticed the passage underneath the picture, "After being rejected by the beasts of the wild, Enkidu took refuge in the city of Uruk. There, he encountered Gilgamesh up to his usual tricks. Enkidu stepped in to stop him. Almost perfectly matched, the two men wrestled all through the city streets until Gilgamesh won the fight by a hair."

I flipped the page. Okay, this can't be my imagination anymore. On the newer page, both Gilgamesh and Enkidu were depicted in comic book style, with little thought bubbles and perfectly defined faces and bodies.

Gilgamesh had long, black hair. Enkidu's eyes turned a rich shade of blue, glinting in a way I didn't know was possible in a picture.

The background was awash in a light color. Clouds had formed, buildings were expertly rendered, and the grass had actual texture instead of looking like a bunch of Vs.

"Are the pictures changing for you too?" I asked Malcolm, who looked at me like I was crazy.

"No! They've been the same since the start!" Malcolm exclaimed, flipping back to the first page. "See?"

This picture was nowhere near the same as the last one we'd just seen, but I just swallowed nervously and smiled at Malcolm. "You're right, buddy. I must've just driven too much today. I think I just need some rest."

"Finish the story first!" Malcolm ordered, yawning cutely. He snuggled his stuffed animal. "I'm sleepy now."

I looked at Gilgamesh's face- bright, proud, and carefree. I wondered what I looked like right now. Probably not as happy as this dude, that's for sure.

I continued the story after another tug from Malcolm, "Afterwards, they were inseparable. With his new friend, Gilgamesh turned his attention from the brides of Uruk to proving his strength in combat. They set out to slay Humbaba, a creature with a thousand faces who guarded the trees of the Forest of Cedar. They tracked Humbaba and ambushed him. Cornered, he begged for his life, and then cursed them as Gilgamesh dealt the final blow."

The creature with a thousand faces? Is Athena trying to reference Ladon, somehow?

Back in the day, between Greek authors. it was common to consider Ladon as a serpent-like dragon. Most people depicted him as encircling a single tree within its coil.

Aristophanes, I think, was the first to mention Ladon being multi-headed, and after that, all those toga-wearing freaks decided that the imagery of a multi-headed Ladon was so great, they'd only depict him as a dragon with a hundred heads moving forward.

No one at camp knows what the dragon's actually like, though. Well, I'm sure Luke does, but he and I aren't really on talking terms like that.

While I was in the middle of trying to figure it out, Malcolm was dozing off, his eyes struggling to stay open.

The next picture looked like a literal photograph. I had to rub my eyes twice to make sure I wasn't just seeing things, but Gilgamesh was starting to look decidedly more and more like me. I read the rest of the book to myself.

Back home in Uruk, the goddess Ishtar took a romantic interest in Gilgamesh. Knowing she tended to lose interest and curse her former flames, Gilgamesh refused her advances. So, Ishtar unleashed the Bull of Heaven on Uruk to destroy crops and kill people. When Gilgamesh and Enkidu slew the creature defending the city, the gods killed Enkidu as collateral.

I flipped the page frantically.

He entered the House of Dust, the shadowy Mesopotamian underworld where the spirits of the dead knelt eternally on the ground, eating dirt, and drinking stones. Grieving for Enkidu and terrified of meeting this fate himself, Gilgamesh set off beyond the cosmic mountains to seek immortality. He passed scorpion people and groves of gemstone trees, traveled beneath the mountains, and outran the rising sun until he finally came to the end of the world, where he found a bar. The bartender was a goddess named Shiduri, who urged Gilgamesh to give up his quest. She told him all mortals must die, but until death comes, he should enjoy his life.

Next page.

Utanapishti also encouraged Gilgamesh to accept that death comes for everyone. But Gilgamesh still would not budge. So Utanapishti told him that if he could conquer sleep, the gods might grant him immortality. Gilgamesh intended to stay awake for seven days but fell asleep immediately. Utanapishti then told him about a magical plant that grew at the bottom of the ocean and granted eternal youth.

Come on, come on. What's the point of all this?

Though Gilgamesh successfully retrieved the plant, a snake stole it on his way home. But when Gilgamesh laid eyes on his beautiful city again, he made peace with his mortality and vowed to spend his life doing great deeds. He wrote his story on a lapis lazuli tablet and buried it under the city walls for future generations to find and learn from.

This has to be some sort of a joke. I gently disentangled myself from Malcolm and made a beeline for the living room, the book still clutched in my hands.

Pay attention.

What could have Athena possibly meant by that? Was she trying to get me to compare myself to Gilgamesh? Did she want me to come to terms with my own morality? Go to the Underworld, perhaps? Was this a sign that Aphrodite was going to kill Jason?

Halfway through my slightly dysfunctional slippery slope, my phone rang. I didn't even really notice at first, but Alcyone nudged my hand with her beak.

MJ!

I picked up the call, "Hello?"

"Hey, hon," MJ's sweet voice floated over the speaker. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing much, really. I just put Malcolm to bed and read him this weird book his mom sent over."

"His mom?" There was a pause. "Oh, like Athena. Right. Because that's a thing. Was the book at least interesting?"

"Yeah," I said, holding the phone between my ear and shoulder as I flipped through the pages again. "It's super weird, though. She told me to pay attention to it, whatever that means. Oh, and get this, I swear the pictures in it look exactly like me, but Malcolm swears they don't."

There was a laugh on the other end of the phone, "The pictures look like you? Now this, I have to see. IM me!"

And so, I did. I held the book up to MJ, telling her the story while flipping through the pages and pointing out all the major differences I could. The way his facial structure slowly got softer, like mine. The slow burn of his eyes from black to green. The scar over his eye.

Unfortunately, MJ didn't seem like she saw it, either. At the end of the story, she gave me a reassuring smile, "Well just because I can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there. Maybe Malcolm and I just weren't meant to see it, or something."

"The book doesn't seem like anything special though," I frowned to myself. "I can't detect any magic coming off of it."

"Well, what if it isn't magic?" MJ suggested. I gave the redhead a blank stare, to which she slowly brought her knees to her chest and shook her head. "Babe, I'm just putting ideas out there. What if it's just 'cause of your wonky eye?"

"My eye isn't wonky," I said indignantly, to which she giggled. Though, I'd never admitted it, just talking to her always helped me get rid of some of the tension I felt encumbered by.

I think she has her own version of [Serenity Inducement]. That, or I'm starting to fall for her.

She still had a point. I covered my magic eye, and surprisingly enough, the pictures all reverted to a basic art style, with a Gilgamesh that looked nothing like me at all.

"She encoded the book so that only I could see it like that," I said out loud, placing the book down. "What could she be warning me about? I mean, I guess I'm going after Ladon, who's kind of like Humbaba. If I think about it, Aphrodite could be Ishtar. The apples of immortality…"

I stopped mumbling when I looked up and saw MJ trying not to smile. A flash of annoyance burned through my face, "What!"

"Nothing, nothing! You're just really cute when you're thinking!" MJ followed up quickly, raising her hands in a sort of placating gesture. "Honestly, though? I think we should consider the possibility that you're overthinking it."

"Overthinking?" I repeated, an incredulous tone coloring my voice. I leaned back into my chair, "Are you being serious? How could I possibly be overthinking this? If anything, I'm underthinking it! The goddess of wisdom just set me an encoded message, MJ. I can't afford to misconstrue it."

"Okay, I understand you're a bit stressed out, but you need to listen to me," MJ said firmly, moving closer to the message. "I need you to take a few breaths. While you do that, I'll tell you what I think. Okay?"

I didn't need to take a few breaths, but I nodded and took them anyway.

"Percy, I understand myths for you are, well, real, but the more you start delving into that part of who you are, the easier it is for you to miss what's literally right in front of you. It's been happening this whole week. You're getting caught up in the logistics of everything. You're denying your human side," MJ said, looking at me with a concerned look. "The way I see it, it's almost obvious."

"What is?"

MJ shot back up, "That it's just that- a myth! Myths to mortals aren't about learning about the gods, and trying to fight monsters, or whatever- they're about the lessons that come from these stories. Think about it like I would. Achilles was all-powerful except in his heel. He still died- showing the reader that even a small or seemingly insignificant flaw can prove fatal and stop us from achieving our goals. Hector, the son of Troy, was forced to fight Achilles and ran for his life, only to return later and fight the battle to the finish. It's a metaphor for overcoming your fears and facing challenges. Greek myths are brimming with weird life lessons like that. I guess what I'm trying to get at is, look at it from a human perspective. That story, with Gilgamesh and whatever, won't give you some end-all solution in there. Babe, it isn't even necessarily a true story. Even though you have no way of verifying its validity, the lessons in it are still helpful. Read it again, like someone else would."

That brought me up short. I tried to deconstruct the way I was looking at it. I closed my eye again and flipped through the whole story again, trying to fully understand what was going on instead of just immediately looking for a solution.

I analyzed it from cover to cover. Taking MJ's advice, I turned the part of my brain off that knew about the gods and all that. For a moment, I was just Percy Jackson, a random teen going through and reading a myth.

"Better?" MJ asked with a grin as I finished reading.

"Much better. Thank you, MJ," I said sincerely. "I don't know how I missed that."

"Well, I'm no Peter Parker or Percy Jackson, but I still go to one of the best high schools in the state," MJ winked. "Well, I guess, so does Flash, but you get my point. I've just so happened to become a bit of a literature nut. Now, what did you get out of that?"

"Um, I think the biggest lesson I'm getting from all of it is how death is kind of inevitable. Death is an inevitable and inescapable fact of human life. Gilgamesh is all bitter that only the gods can live forever and tries to do everything he can to change his fate. Life is short, and some things are inevitable…"

I trailed off, my eyes widening. Inevitability. That was it. Athena wasn't trying to warn me about love goddesses, or Ladon, or any of that!

She was referencing Malcolm.

If what he really did draw was the future, who's to say things necessarily go poorly? This whole time, I've been trying my absolute hardest to make sure the future he saw doesn't become reality, without even considering the implications of it.

That's why she wanted me to read the story. Athena knew I was planning on leaving Malcolm behind and wanted to advise me against that without outright breaking the Ancient Laws by interfering in a mortal quest directly.

"Percy?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I told MJ. "And now, I know what I have to do."

The next day came sooner than I would've liked. After talking to MJ a bit more, mainly about how her summer was going so far, I knocked out on the couch.

Before I woke up Malcolm to go to Mt. Tamalpais, I looked around in my [Inventory] and eventually found the wand Heket had given me during the start of my training. It wasn't much, sure, but in the drawing, he'd had one.

I could give him the rundown on how to access magic on the way there. Beyond that, everything else would be up to him.

We had a small breakfast in the hotel lobby. I ate a few pieces of toast and drank a hearty cup of orange juice, and I let Malcolm practice flicking his wand around.

There was a flicker in the air in front of me as I left the buffet line for my second plate- almost like someone rippled reality itself, but it was gone as soon as it came.

A couple of the other people in the hotel gave us some weird looks, but I wasn't too concerned with what they thought they were seeing. We had a job to do.

As we walked to our destination, I found myself wishing I'd chosen a hotel a bit farther away. I barely had time to tell Malcolm anything but the basics on how to use his boomerang. Zeus knows I'm praying he doesn't have to use it.

Alcyone was perched on Malcolm's shoulder, staring ahead passively. She hadn't said much in a while, and I was beginning to think that my fears from before had a little bit of truth to them- not that it mattered much, anyway.

The apples were a necessity. If I didn't get one, the camp would be overrun with monsters. I was willing to do whatever it took to save the camp, even if it meant willingly springing a loaded trap.

We turned a corner, passed some palm trees, and just like that, we'd reached our destination. Ahead of us loomed Mount Tamalpais. I guess, in terms of mountains, it was a small one, but it looked plenty huge as we were walking toward it.

The so-called Mountain of Despair. The home of Atlas, Kronos's right-hand man, the general of his forces, and all-around bad guy. If I was in a touristy mood, I'd stroll on up to the top, where he's imprisoned to this day, and say hi.

I don't think I'll be doing that this trip around.

Malcolm was quiet, one hand holding mine and the other gripping the wand tightly. Probably for the thousandth time, I was left wondering if I made the right decision, but I tried not to think about it too much. What's done is done.

The gray clouds swirled even thicker over the mountain, and we kept walking straight toward them. We were out of the base of the mountain now, shuffling into wide-open spaces overlooking cliffs and grass, and rocks and fog.

I felt the heaviness of magic settle into my bones. The thrum of something bumped in my blood. The mountain was caked in the strongest magic, an enchanting illusion strong enough to addle even my senses for a second.

Again, reality flickered in front of me, but again, nothing of consequence happened. I put it out of my mind and continued our journey.

We stepped into the fog, through the Mist, and into the belly of the beast. A small, narrow road of pavement and haphazardly placed granite curved up the side of the mountain, slicing through the rock.

We were walking for a while before anything of consequence happened. The fog, I decided, wasn't normal fog. I offhandedly tried to dispel it a few times, but it just wouldn't budge.

Right as I was about to suggest turning back, the fog cleared, almost as if it sensed my emotions. We were still on the side of the mountain, but the road had transformed rather drastically.

The grass was thicker. The sunrise made a bloodred slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power.

There was only one path to the top, directly in front of us, and it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers.

The garden was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen. It almost reminded me of the garden overlooking the med bay over in Olympus.

The grass shimmered with bright morning light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed despite the unrelenting rays of the sun. Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples- and I don't mean yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. I mean real golden apples.

I can't describe why they were so appealing, but as soon as I smelled their fragrance, I knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted. They were my target, my fast pass to saving everyone I cared about.

Underneath the tree, well, let's just say that Aristophanes wasn't too far off.

Ladon's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. His claws were easily the size of a tv remote, and his tail was longer than a life-sized submarine I'd once seen in a museum.

As if that wasn't enough, the appendage was covered in various hazards- I say hazards because there truly isn't a better word for it. That tail was covered in spikes, blunt, rounded balls the size of a basketball, pincers, jagged edges- if you looked up the top ten scary things a tail could have, Ladon had that list down pat and then some.

Thankfully, though, he appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed. As his gargantuan body heaved with each inhale and exhale, tufts of smoke billowed out of the nostrils, curling up toward the sky in a dense cloud of smoke.

Then the shadows in front of us began to move. There was beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. I reached for Riptide but decided against choosing violence right away.

Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much alike. They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. They looked just like maidens from the old days—gorgeous, proper, and probably very dangerous.

My [Flirt] perk activated instantly, filling my body with a comfortably warm feeling, like I'd taken a few shots of tequila.

The girls studied me. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black.

"Perseus Jackson," One of them said, causing a ripple-like effect in the gathered women. Some of her companions looked happy, while one, in particular, looked rather nervous.

The one who'd spoken looked more passive than all of them, so I deduced she was probably the leader.

"Yes," mused the one all the way on the right. She gave me an up-and-down, "I see why he is a threat."

"A threat?" I repeated, giving them the most blinding smile I could muster at the moment. "No, no. You ladies must have me mistaken for someone else. I'm hardly a threat to women as beautiful as you four."

The one in the middle's expression softened, "Perhaps. But you're a threat to our father, no? A threat to our garden. You seek our bounty."

"I do seek your bounty," I nodded, bowing slightly. "I won't deign to lie in your presence. I don't wish it for myself, though."

"You don't want to become immortal?" The one on the left, the nervous one, asked quietly. "What else could you possibly gain from stealing our fruit?"

"Steal? Goodness, no, I don't wish to steal anything from you," I circumvented the barb, giving them all a pleading look. "Protection. My home, Camp Half-Blood, was recently poisoned by a messenger working for the Titan Lord. The poison has stripped away our protection, leaving us completely vulnerable to mortals and monsters alike. The juices of your apple will reinvigorate and boost the protections further than they were before."

The nervous one mumbled to herself, vigorously nodding her head, "Sister! His goals are noble, surely, we can—"

The leader raised her hand, "Quiet. You've sided with the Olympians, Perseus. Surely you understand the precarious position we would be in, should we help you. We've maintained careful neutrality after our father's…embarrassing defeat. Allowing you to simply walk in and take one of our apples would be political suicide. The Titans would condemn us, and your gods wouldn't protect us. We would become a casualty of war."

I couldn't deny her point, but I pressed, "Perhaps, perhaps not. I have sway with a significant portion of Olympians. I could plead your case."

"You could plead our case. That doesn't mean it would result in our protection," The sister to the left of the leader spoke up. "On the other hand, you would be absolutely protected. This does not seem to be a fair exchange, Perseus."

"What would you have me do, fair one?" I replied, faintly noticing the smell of eucalyptus. "I come seeking a peaceful solution. I don't want to fight anyone, but it's of the utmost importance that I retrieve an apple. It's the only way to save my family."

"We empathize with your struggle and commend you for going to such lengths to protect those you love," The leader said again, in a somber tone. "Surely then, you'll understand that we must do the same."

"Understand, yeah," I said, dropping the formal tone and pulling out Malice. "Like it? Nope. For what it's worth, just know I don't hold this against you. Any of you."

"That is all we ask," The sisters turned, and all at once, yelled, "Ladon! Wake!"

The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies, and the Hesperides scattered, disappearing into the air.

"Malcolm," I said firmly. "Listen to me, okay buddy? Nothing bad's going to happen. I need you to be a brave boy now, okay?"

Malcolm nodded, though the poor thing's shoulders were shaking uncontrollably. "I-I will."

The dragon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Malcolm's eyes instantly shot to Ladon, widening to the size of dinner plates.

I picked up a rock and marked it with [Death's Leap]. The game pinged, and I could see the bright blue outline of the rock, even in the bright morning.

"Look at me, Malcolm," I said kindly. I crouched to a knee in front of him, and he slowly turned. "I need you to do a big job for me, okay? It's very important. I wouldn't trust anyone with it but you."

"W-what's the job?" He stammered, slowly backing away from the dragon. "I c-can't fight it. I can't move."

"That's okay," I rubbed his shoulders. "No worries. Everything is fine. It's all good."

I slowly unclenched his fists and gently placed the rock in them. "Do you know what I just gave you?"

He shook his head hysterically.

"It's a magic rock," I continued in a soft tone. I closed his hand around it, "I'm going to need your help now, okay, Malcolm? You're a very powerful demigod. When I get the apple, I'm going to need you to make a wish."

"A wish?"

"That's right!" I said, giving him a smile. "Whenever you make that wish, I'll come right back here, and we'll go home! How about that?"

"Okay!" Malcolm said, still scared, but determined. "I can do that. I promise!"

"Good boy!" I said, ruffling his hair. I made eye contact with Alcyone and nodded as she gave me a series of tweets and notes.

I stepped up to the dragon.

Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down my back, and that was before his breath hit me. The smell was like acid. It made my eyes burn, my skin crawl, and my hair stand on end. I remembered the time a rat had died inside our apartment wall in New York in the middle of the summer. This stench was like that, except a hundred times stronger, and mixed with the smell of chewed eucalyptus.

"Hey," I said loudly, squatting my knees. "Don't bother. You're not touching me."

ROAR!

Flames the size of a tsunami billowed toward me, rushing forward at breakneck speeds.

I turned on [Time Dilation] and [Accelerate] at the same time, and the flames stood still. I flicked my eyes past the fire and the dragon to the tree, where I quickly identified which apple was the biggest and juiciest.

And, before either meter even ran out, I teleported to the tree, grabbed the apple, and teleported back to Malcolm.

By the time the fire reached where were just standing, the three of us were already halfway down the mountain, the apple stored safely in my inventory.

"See!" I told Malcolm, a megawatt grin on my face. "Piece of cake. You did so well!"

He smiled brightly and jumped into my arms. "We did it, Percy! Camp's gonna be safe, now, right?"

"You know it! Camp's going to be the safest place around!" I promised, putting him on my shoulders as we marched down the hill.

As we neared the bottom, the reality-flickering thing happened again. It bent around the air itself, coiling together kind of like Ladon had around the tree.

This time, though, I recognized it as an Iris Message. A shoddy one, sure, but still an Iris Message, "PERCY!"

Jason and Silena swam into view. Jason's head had a healing cut on it and a few bruises, while Silena looked completely fine other than a gash on her cheek. They were flying- pretty fast, actually.

Normally, Iris Messages were in the best quality imaginable- much better than any resolution a television could support. Right now, though, the transmission of my two friends was so choppy that it might as well have been in 420p.

"How are you guys even—"

"No time!" Jason roared over the wind. "It's a trap! Coeus told us! You need to get out—"

The message cut off.

Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. When was it ever that easy?

The base of the mountain swam into view.

"Hey, cuzzo!" Luke grinned from the parking lot. He looked like he had earlier in the year, but there was something a little different about him. "Heard you got a present for me."

He was flanked by two people- a man, and a woman. Before I could even examine any of the three, the man picked up a Volkswagen and hurled it at me like it was a piece of crumpled-up paper.

The woman, who was dressed in a golden dress, raised her fingers. The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and I felt the mana in the sky gather frighteningly fast. Damn it!

My eye blurred back and forth, drinking in the situation. Unfortunately, my skills were still recharging. I was fast enough to dodge it, sure, but if I did that, I wouldn't have the time to both protect Malcolm and safely neutralize the attack.

Instead of dodging the impending attack, I made the call to protect Malcolm, blasting him backward into the grassy knoll with a burst of mana. Alcyone helped, flying out behind him, and softening his landing.

Lightning flashed down from the sky, and the car erupted like a canary-yellow grenade. I probably would've been killed by shrapnel if it wasn't for my instant drop to the ground.

I flared my power, exploding the rest of the shrapnel back toward the parking lot.

BOOM!

Another car came flying at me. This time, I dug deep into my bag of tricks and blasted it apart with a whip of fire. It slammed into the car, exploding into a cloud of smoke.

It sounded like a metal ram slamming into a wall.

Once the smoke cleared, I was surrounded by wreckage. Part of the second car's fender had impaled itself in the street. The smoking hood was spinning in circles. Pieces of charred metal were strewn across the road.

I really hope those poor souls had insurance.

I got back up to my feet, glaring at Luke. "That's not a very nice greeting, cousin. You know, normally, if you want something, you need to say please."

"Yes, of course. Where are my manners?" Luke said, sweeping a hand in front of him into an elaborate bow. "Percy, meet my new friends, Iapetus and Thea. We want to kill you, so please don't make this too hard."

AN: Here you are, another chapter! Not much to say here except that we're headed toward the end of Sea of Monsters. Far and away, it's my least favorite arc of this story, so I'll be glad to be getting through it. The story was fun to include, namely because I read it in high school and saw a TED Talk on it.

I hope everyone had a tremendous new year. Seriously, though, I can't thank you guys enough. It's been an amazing year for me personally, and this story literally grew exponentially! As long as you guys keep giving me your support and keep wanting more chapters, they'll be here!

Let's crack the top 20 most popular stories in this fandom next. :)

Striking Thanatos: Wow! That is rather high praise! He's basically the gold standard for what these fics should be like, so I'm very flattered! I still haven't read it, and I don't see myself doing so, just because I want to see how my fic stacks up to it when I reach a similar word count if that makes sense. If I had to compare, though, I've read The Spider, and I feel like our writing styles are more like Sam Raimi vs Marc Webb, if anything. His action scenes are fire, but I'm a bit more about how my character feels and the relationships around him. Both are amazing, just different. Thanks for the review!

Ladis11: I was hoping someone would like that reference LOL

Joe Lawyer: For sure! I think there's a certain level of control he'll be able to reach without it, but that sort of tech has great utility if he ever needs to be inhumanly accurate.

bdcrisco98: I agree! The story has gotten a bit convoluted, but I'm going to be going back to basics pretty soon.

Malosi: I hope you're still hungry because this one is going to be a lot to chew on! Happy holidays, friend.

DATONEGUY: Interesting theory! Who knows! Well, I do, but that's beside the point. Also, on your PS4? That's commitment.

Arrowman: Thank you, my man! Hoping to work some more of that in, piece by piece.

Riptide013: Both you and Deatybring3101 make a good point about that. Reading it back, I can definitely tell what you mean, and I know exactly what I was going for, so that's saying something. It was an educational trial run, though, and in the future, I'll take more care when describing that stuff. Thanks, guys!

Caelum Est Finis: Of course, no spoilers, but objectively, I'd say it was an 8.5/10. There's a lot to like, and I'm overly critical of movies sometimes, but it was very good. Subjectively, I'm a Spider-Man nerd, so I'd give it a 10/10, but yeah! We won't see a Jason POV, just because I want this story to be just from Percy's POV, but trust me, he won't be gone for long. I actually have a doc full of just research and random myths and plot points, and it's over ten pages long, lol. This is why I do it, though! I'm glad to hear that :)