Chapter 4

The torrential rain battered ceaselessly against the windows of the Big House. Annabeth grimaced as she heard the violent roar of thunder over their heads.

Annabeth's hands cupped around her mug of coffee, frowning down at it as if it was personally responsible for her current frustrations. "You're telling me that Kampêis probably the vanguard of the Titans – again," she said.

Chiron inclined his head slightly. "It isn't something we can dismiss," he said.

Thalia sighed, tilting her head back to glare up at the ceiling as another loud rumble of thunder rattled the building. "We've been tracking her since she escaped from down there with no luck so far," she said, clearly irritated. "Lady Artemis thinks she's got help at avoiding us."

That would make sense, Annabeth mused as she thoughtfully traced a finger around the rim of her mug. "But which immortal?" She questioned.

Thalia just shrugged. "No idea," she said tiredly.

"If she comes here we can all deal with her," Clarisse suggested.

"It won't happen," Thalia said flatly. "She's not attacked anything like Camp yet, mostly the odd few unlucky nature spirits." The daughter of Zeus pressed her lips together. "She's mostly laying low."

"She's not going to be a problem in the immediate future."

Annabeth raised her head, relieved to see Rachel up and moving around. "All good?" Annabeth asked.

Rachel smiled and nodded slightly. "All good," she confirmed as she stepped through the clutter crowding the wooden floor and settled into a chair. "Leo's nearly here," the Oracle added a few moments later.

"And we're still waiting for Nico to get here with the Romans too," Thalia added. Annabeth glanced over to Thalia, trying to judge how things were going between her oldest friend and Jason. Like the relationship between Nico and Will that seemed to change regularly, Thalia and Jason also still had their own issues. But Thalia seemed vaguely irritated at the thought of the imminent arrival of the Romans, so Annabeth assumed that they were not currently on speaking terms with each other.

Clarisse rolled her eyes at the look shared between Annabeth and Thalia. Considering how long they had all known each other for now, there was little that they could all hide. "I suppose it'll be good to see Frank again," she mused, though said nothing of the others. Clarisse, like the other immortal campers who'd also never been on the Argo II, had never been particularly close to the Roman demigods. While collaboration between the camps often meant speaking with their Roman counterparts was needed, talking outside of such required moments was rare and Clarisse had only really become close with her Roman half-brother. Annabeth always found the differences between the half-siblings fascinating. She'd expected that they might not get along, but had been pleasantly surprised when they did.

"Could someone get the door for Leo?" Rachel asked, her lips twitching slightly.

Annabeth was quick to do so, pulling the door to the war room open in time for Leo to rush through. "Sorry," Leo gasped out, welding goggles propped above his eyes and streaks of dust over his cheeks. He dripped water onto the floor as he hovered briefly just inside the room, forming a small puddle at his feet. Annabeth's lips twitched as she closed the door behind him. "I was in Bunker Nine," he said as he dropped into the chair closest to the door with a wet squelch. "Heard there was a prophecy? One of the others grabbed me – we're getting Percy out?"

"Well, there could always be more than one Hero in the Pit," Thalia slowly said, her tone vaguely sarcastic.

Leo eyed her suspiciously. "Right," he said with a snort after a brief pause. "Sure."

Annabeth let out a long breath, moving back to the chair she'd vacated as the door burst open again, Grover lurching through with wide eyes and knocking over some of the boxes piled to the side as Annabeth flinched at the slam of the door on the wall. He let out a loud bleat when he saw the eyes turning to him. "Sorry, I'm not late, am I?" He asked, relieved a moment later to see no Romans yet in the room.

Chiron chuckled. "No, no, Nico hasn't yet returned with the Romans," he said.

"Thank the gods," Grover said with a relieved sigh as he flopped onto a chair himself with a wet squelch. "I assume that Lord Zeus is unhappy?" He asked as he glanced to the window and the storm over the camp.

Thalia snorted. "Now what makes you think that?" She asked. "Clearly, they're tears of happiness from him."

Chiron's tail flicked anxiously as thunder cracked over their heads. A streak of lightning slammed into the ground at the top of Half-Blood Hill. Thalia's smile didn't drop in the slightest, only widening and growing smug as she lounged further back into the old chair.

Annabeth cleared her throat with a brief glance out the window. "The prophecy from Rachel says there's going to be another war," she supplied to Grover.

The Lord of the Wild gaped at Annabeth. "Please tell me it's all going to be food fights," he said hopefully.

"We haven't trained the campers here for food fights," Clarisse said flatly. "At least they're all going to be more trained than we were for ours if one does break out soon."

Clarisse had a point there. It was something that they'd expended a lot of effort into for the generations after theirs. None of the immortal campers wanted the generations after them to be as unprepared as they had been themselves, so Clarisse had collaborated with Frank and Reyna to find out how to incorporate more war training into Camp Half-Blood.

"But will they be trained enough?" Thalia questioned.

Clarisse frowned at her, clearly irritated with the other demigod's doubt. "Not all of us can be Hunters with blessings from a goddess," she said, leaning forwards slightly with narrowed eyes. "But they'll have a much better chance at surviving than we ever did."

"We're not the Hunters or the Legion," Annabeth agreed. "But I'd like to think we're not far behind."

"You must all give yourselves more credit," Chiron said, speaking up from where he'd lapsed into silence as he watched the storm outside. "Us Greeks fight differently to Romans; we always have. Remember, the vast majority of beings which may rise from the Pit are Greek, first and foremost. While some have their Roman forms, I suspect that most have a distinct dislike of them." Chiron' tone was thoughtful as he considered his own words. "We would know Greek tendencies better than the Romans would, which may yet give us an advantage in this war to come."

Leo looked up from where he'd been assembling something mechanical in his hands that was vibrating slightly. Annabeth eyed it suspiciously and judged the likelihood of it spontaneously combusting and catching all of them in the flames. "I don't suppose there's any hope we can get Piper to solve it by putting them all to sleep before loads of us die this time? Maybe just walking up to them before anything happens and going for a meet-and-greet?"

"If you can even get that close," Thalia muttered with a frown as she inspected the edge of one of her silver hunting knives. "We were lucky last time."

"With Dirt-Face," Leo agreed, only grinning slightly at all the eyes that turned to him.

Annabeth's lips twitched. "You're lucky she hasn't stirred again," she said. "But with her, I think it only worked because she was only half-awake anyway. It's unlikely to work with a god coming directly from… from there. They're already awake and aware down there before they emerge out."

Chiron nodded in agreement. "It's unlikely to work," he agreed. "Perhaps, Lady Aphrodite herself may have a chance at slowing them down, but revival of Primordials is different to younger immortals."

"There are other gods down there too," Annabeth added hesitantly, reluctant to drag up memories of her experience down there. "And Primordials whom are awake, and also the other one."

Annabeth's obvious evasion in mentioning the Primordial Tartarus was not missed by the others.

"Is that likely?" Thalia asked warily, eyes lifting from the edge of her knife in a sign that she had actually been paying vague attention. "That one of the Primordials down there might be the god mentioned?"

Grover bleated nervously. "I hope not," he said worriedly. "Any Primordial – especially that one – will cause problems."

"There is the lack of monsters around," Clarisse slowly said. "Which is why it doesn't make sense that it would be quiet down there right now."

Annabeth glanced to Rachel, raising an eyebrow at her. The Oracle only shrugged back at Annabeth. "I haven't dreamt anything," she offered. "Absolutely nothing."

"Nothing nothing?" Thalia asked.

"Nothing," Rachel agreed.

"Let us pray that it's not a Primordial," Chiron finally said with a long sigh.

"Who does that prayer go to?" Leo asked curiously.

Chiron smiled. "The gods," he said. Leo snorted, returning his gaze to his mechanical creation that now had wings.

"If we assume that it's a Titan behind it," Annabeth said. "Then which one? Which ones would even be options anymore? There's… well, Bob," she slowly said. "But I doubt he'll be involved. He seemed regretful about his past before."

"Prometheus has never been found since he fled after Manhattan," Thalia added, slamming her hunting knife down point-first into the table as she leant forwards slightly and ignored Chiron's disapproving frown. "He'll be a good one to point fingers at over this."

"Oceanus, too," Grover suggested. "I don't think he's been seen for a while. Then there's a few others scattered around, some of the Elder Sisters, a few minor and second generation Titans spotted occasionally. They tend to mostly stay away from Olympian gods. There's also Rhea."

"She won't be involved," Chiron said, a slightly tight tone in his voice. Annabeth side-eyed him, noting the others were doing the same. It was one advantage of being half-immortal, getting to know each other rather well over the past centuries. The centaur had always seemed uneasy when Rhea was mentioned, but Annabeth had never been able to figure out why... beyond the obvious of Chiron being Rhea's step-son and the bastard child of Rhea's cannibalistic and estranged husband. "Rhea would not be involved in a war against Olympus, against her beloved children."

It was Thalia who broke the brief silence. "I'll ask Lady Artemis about tracking down some of the Titans and seeing what they're up to," she said as she pulled the hunting knife out of the poor pool table.

"And if it's a Primordial?" Clarisse asked with a grimace.

"We hope it's not." Annabeth sighed, jumping slightly at another rattle of thunder that shook the windows. She tapped her knee, mind racing as she tried to think about every possible god it could be. "Percy will probably know," she muttered. "If they're coming from down there, he'll have been down there with them." But the silence from Percy for so long didn't bode well, Annabeth wasn't oblivious to that and neither did she miss the looks the others shared.

After all, the prophecies never specified if they would find him alive or if they'd only be bringing a corpse back with them. The only way for Annabeth to know Percy was alive or not was to trust Nico's feelings. She had every faith in him, but Nico had admitted himself that sometimes the Pit messed with him and it was difficult to be certain. According to Nico, sometimes Percy was dead and sometimes he wasn't.

"What about Calypso?" Thalia asked abruptly, pointing the hunting knife in Leo's direction and making him freeze briefly. Annabeth raised an eyebrow at Thalia, who only smiled slightly.

Leo frowned, overly interested in one of the tiny gears of his winged metal creation. "What about her?" He asked as he shrugged slightly in response.

"She's a Titan herself," Thalia pointed out. "Maybe she knows something she's not sharing yet." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Wouldn't surprise me if she's visited him too," the Hunter said, looking irritated at the thought.

"Atlas, you mean," Clarisse said with a quick glance to Annabeth, whom just grimaced and hid her shiver at the Titan's name. "She does always look twitchy whenever she encounters demigods."

"I don't know," Leo slowly said. His fingers were smoking. Annabeth doubted he'd ever really get over Calypso properly. She frowned slightly at Thalia, but was ignored. "Why don't you IM her and ask her?"

"They've got a point, Leo," Annabeth murmured.

"I would if I thought she'd say the truth," Thalia grumbled. "That, and she's withdrawn away from interacting with the Olympians and demigods lately."

"I thought she was always doing that?" Grover asked.

"I mean more than usual," Thalia said. "It's annoyed a few of the gods that usually drop in to visit her."

"I'll see if I can't convince Lord Dionysus to check in with her," Chiron said. "See if she knows anything she's not mentioned."

Thalia nodded curtly, sighing a few moments later as she tilted her head back against the back of the chair. Annabeth, used to the younger campers messing around, resisted the urge to ask her to keep all four legs of the chair on the floor. "Of all the things the Romans didn't pick up from us, did it have to be them still taking forever to react to anything?" She complained. "Roman bureaucracy," she grumbled.

"They insisted on telling Lady Lupa and the Praetors," Nico's voice sighed out as he peeled himself out of Thalia's shadow, making the Huntress jerk in surprised and very nearly topple from her precariously balanced chair.

Rachel smiled in faint amusement and Annabeth only sighed before she nodded in greeting to Nico and Jason. "Thank you, Nico. It's good to see you again, Jason," Annabeth added.

The Roman smiled slightly and nodded back to her, though he seemed distracted by Thalia's presence as his gaze flicked over to her briefly. Thalia scowled, glaring down at the ping pong table. Annabeth resisted the urge to sigh again.

"You too," Jason said. He greeted Rachel, and then Leo and Piper with more enthusiasm before finally turning to Thalia. "It's been a while," he said to his sister, looking rather nervous. "How have you been?"

Thalia just shrugged slightly. "Fine," she said, eyes flicking to Annabeth as if pleading for help. Annabeth ignored her. "Just the usual."

Jason's expression tightened slightly.

Nico just sighed as he sat at the table, crossing his arms. "Hazel is bringing Frank over. She won't be long."

Jason slid into a seat next to Nico, the old ping pong table starting to look a little crowded. "Reyna's calling for the Praetors and then they'll get the Senate to meet," Jason added as he leant forwards slightly. "Since Nico said the Prophecy says there's going to be another war." His eyes flicked towards Rachel, whom just shrugged as if it was a regular occurrence to spout predictions of immortal wars. Annabeth knew from experience that it was not. "We thought we'd start getting the ball rolling quickly. It might take a while to push a motion through the Senate to ready the Legion for war."

"Of course it will," Thalia muttered.

Jason tensed slightly, but flatly ignored her. "But once the motion's through the Senate we'll be on a war footing immediately," he added. Annabeth raised an eyebrow as she glanced between a mulish Thalia and Jason. The Roman was tense, knee bouncing under the table slightly and making it shake – though Leo's was doing that too, and now that Annabeth noticed it seemed like Rachel and Chiron were the only ones not fidgeting.

Annabeth wasn't surprised.

Clarisse grunted and crossed her arms. "While we have you here, some of ours encountered a group of Romans not that long ago in this half of America. I thought we agreed we'd tell each other when quests went into the other's half so we wouldn't have any friendly-fire again," she said with a scowl.

Annabeth grimaced. She'd forgotten about that. But considering the current problem they were there to talk about was Percy she didn't think that was very important. Jason frowned slightly. "Romans? I didn't know we had any on a mission in the east."

"Aren't you supposed to be aware of that stuff? Like, that's your job?" Leo asked, raising an eyebrow at Jason.

Jason sighed, tilting his head up slightly with a grimace to echo Annabeth's. "We advise the Legion and the Praetors," he said. "We try to keep an eye on missions, but it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes they like doing their own thing."

"Can't blame them really," Piper murmured. "The campers here are the same. Especially the counsellors, they don't like being told what to do… or suggested."

Annabeth thought about a particular son of Poseidon whom liked causing problems. "They don't," she agreed. "Poseidon's head counsellor thought it would be fun to flip all of Athena cabin's canoes despite repeatedly being told not to."

Jason winced. "Which one is that?"

"Felix," Annabeth said, frowning in the direction of both Thalia and Leo when they both snickered. Jason just frowned, clearly not recognising the name. They fell into an awkward silence, the former easy conversation non-existent now a Roman was present. Annabeth grimaced.

There was a war coming, she reminded herself. Now had to be the time to start making sure Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter were able to cooperate again. "How have you been?" Annabeth asked Jason. Thalia eyed her with a faint frown.

Jason paused briefly. "Good," he slowly said. He glanced towards Chiron, whom was warily watching the thundering and flashing sky out the window. "Lady Lupa said to give you her greetings and well wishes." He nodded his head slightly to Annabeth. "I'll bring up the agreement with the Senate and remind them we're supposed to leave the eastern half of America to you."

Chiron inclined his head back at Jason. "If you would give Lupa my regards in return? And suggest to her that with this new, troubling news, that the two of us should see if there's not a way to further cooperation."

Jason nodded, his gaze firm. "I'll do that," he agreed. He relaxed slightly as the shadows twisted and Hazel stepped out, holding hands with Frank. Jason sighed, rubbing his forehead once Hazel and Frank had greeted the others and claimed seats for themselves. "So, this prophecy," he said, an odd look in his eyes.

Annabeth grimaced. "A god is rising from the Pit," she bluntly said, finger tapping on the ping pong table. "Which god isn't specified, only that it's a god."

"That leaves gods, Titans and Primordials," Nico summed up for the Romans.

Jason just nodded, a frown brewing. "No knowing which one of them, then?" He was already trying to muddle through it.

Annabeth decided to spare him the time wasted with the rest of the prophecy. "No," Annabeth said. "Only that nine of us are going down into the Pit and searching for Percy. I'm assuming we'll find out more down there, or Percy will know since he's been down there with them."

Jason stilled, his frown deepening. "How do we know he's even still alive down there? I know Nico checks, but that's… that's the Pit. We all know nothing works properly down there."

Thalia shot him a sharp, disapproving scowl, but Jason flatly ignored her.

Annabeth decided she didn't want to get in between whatever was going on with the Grace siblings. "Whether he's alive or not, the prophecy says we need to go down there and look for him."

"Down… into Tartarus?" Frank asked, looking uneasy himself. Both Annabeth and Nico flinched and Frank grimaced. "Sorry," he said apologetically as the room grew slightly colder.

Nico just shrugged slightly. "It's fine," he muttered. It wasn't. "But yes. We need to go down there." There was the same dark edge in his tone that Annabeth recognised in herself. Neither of them wanted to go down there again.

Hazel was pale. "You're sure? The prophecy, sometimes they can be interpreted differently."

"We know that," Annabeth said, slightly too sharp. At the vague annoyance that flitted across Jason's face and the offence on Frank's, she shook her head slightly. "'Nine enter the depths of the earth', and 'Delve into the deep abyss' don't exactly leave much room for interpretation," Annabeth curtly said. She took a deep breath, calming herself. She knew snapping at them here would do them no favours. "I know we haven't all seen eye to eye for… a while," she slowly said, ignoring both Thalia and Clarisse scoffing. Thalia's hunting knife ended with its point buried in the ping pong table again. Jason studiously ignored her. "But we need to at least cooperate, for Percy's sake."

Electricity sparked between Jason's fingers. He frowned and crossed his arms. "And not because of a coming war?" He questioned.

Thalia pressed her lips together. "Sure, Percy and I didn't always get along, but yes," she said. She looked like she didn't know whether to be angry or irritated with Jason, so had opted for both. "We fought a lot, but he's my cousin. I'll fight for Lady Artemis, but father? The only times I've seen him in the past three-hundred years is when I'm on Olympus with Lady Artemis for a Solstice."

Jason looked pained. "That's a lot more than I've seen him," he said sharply. The Romans, as per their tradition and Laws, were still not permitted near Olympus and in the Greek half of America. The only times Jason would've seen his father Jupiter would have been when the King of the Gods dropped in on New Rome and Annabeth suspected that was an extremely rare occurrence. She couldn't imagine Zeus just suddenly deciding to leave Olympus and visit his semi-immortal son in New Rome.

"That's exactly my point," Thalia bit out, tugging out the hunting knife again much to Chiron's disappointment. Annabeth suspected the old ping pong table needed replacing soon anyway. It had survived well enough, but was barely standing at this point. Thalia pointed the knife in Jason's direction and nearly flung it towards Leo in the process. "I'll fight alongside my Lady, but I don't give a damn about the others."

A vicious roar of thunder rattled the windows and Grover let out a nervous bleat as he looked like he didn't know whether he wanted to laugh or bolt in case any rogue lightning bolts were aimed in their direction.

Annabeth hoped Zeus would at least think twice before he blasted all of them at once.

Everyone else looked to be as tense as Annabeth felt. Chiron had taken a few paces away from the window, his tail swishing uneasily. "Let us not be too hasty here to insult the gods," he said, levelling a firmly disapproving frown in Thalia's direction. The Romans looked like Thalia had slapped them in the face, Jason gritting his teeth. While he'd passed on the title of Pontifex Maximus to another Roman long ago, he'd held firm since in his worship of the gods.

"Haste is exactly what we need," Nico slowly said. He tapped a finger on the ping pong table. "It's probably a good thing Reyna stayed in New Rome and isn't here, she'd go nuts from all these emotions. We can waste time squabbling amongst ourselves here if we want, or we can do it down in the Pit."

Leo glanced up, avoiding the eyes of the Romans as he eyed Nico. "You want to go down there?"

"No," Nico flatly said. He shrugged slightly, sighing as he sat back. "But I'm going to go anyway. Percy might be dead down there and we might be retrieving his corpse, but we need to find out what's going on and who might want to start a war. We'll do that down there."

"Lots of them would want to start a war," Clarisse said with a faint scowl, eying the Romans with faint suspicion.

"Down in the Pit, Clarisse," Annabeth said in faint amusement. "They're our allies."

Clarisse grunted, scowl deepening. "Would be nice for them to show it and cooperate every so often then."

Jason's eyes narrowed at her, and Frank frowned. "There's little to cooperate with when we're on the other side of the country and we're supposed to be staying clear of each other," the son of Mars pointed out.

Thalia scowled. "That's what you call a Roman party being sent into the Greek half?" She asked dubiously. "Staying clear of each other?"

Electricity danced between Jason's fingers. "I said I'd look into that," he said flatly, tone firm and irritated.

"You've said a lot of things."

Jason's eyes narrowed at his sister. "Like you have?"

Annabeth winced, suddenly sure they were talking about a lot more than just the little Roman incursion. Thalia hadn't opened up to Annabeth entirely about what had happened between the two of them, only that it had pissed her off.

Grover bleated nervously as lightning cracked over the Big House. "So, it says nine are needed for the quest," he said, clearly trying to get the conversation back onto topic.

Leo laughed in the tension. "Good thing there are nine of us here now, right?" He asked warily, flicking his little motorised contraption into the air above the ping pong table.

Annabeth watched it hover, staying silent as she watched the Romans mentally counting the gathered demigods. Jason grimaced, eyes flicking to Frank and Hazel whom both looked scared. Hazel took a deep breath. "Us three?" She slowly asked.

"You three or Reyna are the only ones which participated in the Giant war in the Seven," Nico said, shrugging slightly. He frowned and swatted at the helicopter as it buzzed over his head.

"And Reyna is staying with the Legion," Jason muttered. He clenched his jaw, the little scar over his lip twisting slightly. "We know nothing about which immortal is behind this new war?"

"A god," Annabeth said, repeating what she'd said earlier. "But that's it. And that could mean a Titan, a younger god or a Primordial. There's no knowing." Along with all the others, for a brief few moments she just watched the rotating blades of Leo's creation as it circled over their heads.

Jason slowly nodded. "Alright," he agreed, grimacing at the thought of what he'd just agreed to. "The Pit, then. To stop a war. For the gods."

Annabeth pressed her lips together and heard Thalia's scoff at the same time. "Not for your cousin, then," Thalia mumbled under her breath.

Hazel and Frank both agreed with Jason and Annabeth relaxed slightly. "Thank you," she said. Hazel offered her a weak smile. She then had to duck as the helicopter drifted a little too low over her head.

"Percy's probably dead by now," Jason slowly said to Thalia. "It's been three-hundred years."

Everyone jumped as Thalia's hunting knife flashed and pierced the motorised menace, sending it spiralling down to crash onto the ping pong table amidst Leo's curses. "We don't know that," Thalia curtly said as Leo reached for the scattered pieces. Annabeth wordlessly slid a tail section towards him. "Until we know for sure-"

"I think it's best if you all get some rest and relax," Chiron said, cutting across Thalia's angry retort before she could cause another argument. "Now that that's all settled and we're in agreement over the quest members. I can begin preparations," he offered. "Where would you three prefer to stay?" Chiron questioned. "I am sure you can stay in the upper floors of the cabins if you wish? Or I can have the harpies prepare rooms here in the Big House for the night?"

"We'll take a room here," Hazel requested after a quick glance at Frank, whom nodded back at her.

Jason hesitated briefly. "Where's Thalia sleeping?"

Chiron raised an eyebrow. "I expect she will be staying in the Artemis cabin with the rest of the Hunters," he said, eyes flicking between Thalia and Jason. Thalia nodded curtly, scowling as she crossed her arms. Annabeth frowned briefly at her, but Thalia pointedly avoided her gaze. Grover only sighed, shaking his head slightly.

Jason chewed at the scar on his lip. "Here will be fine for me too, thank you, Chiron," he said, looking rather tired. Annabeth resisted the urge to interrogate him in front of the others.

Chiron inclined his head. "While none of you need to hear this, I suggest that you make sure you all get some rest. You have a difficult venture ahead of you." The old centaur smiled faintly at them.

"We done now?" Clarisse asked.

"I'll speak to my dad about getting through to the Pit later," Nico said, ignoring Clarisse as she frowned slightly at him. "See if we can find an easy way in."

"Is there an easy way?" Annabeth asked, her skin crawling.

Nico grimaced. "There's always the Doors," he offered quietly. Annabeth flinched. "We can go down and not up."

"And hopefully up after," Leo very unhelpfully muttered under his breath as he mournfully picked through the remains of his helicopter.

That didn't need to be said, Annabeth begrudgingly thought. Thunder rolled over their heads still, the storm still drenching the camp. Annabeth hoped the gods would stop it soon before they plunged the camp underwater entirely.

Annabeth took a deep breath, her eyes flicking to Nico. His eyes were dark as he watched her too. "I think Nico and I are going to stay here a little longer," Annabeth said. "But I don't think anything else needs to be said?" Her eyes flicked over everyone, nodding slightly when no one spoke up. "Okay," Annabeth said with a faint, relieved sigh. "Good." She rubbed at her temple. "I don't suppose someone would be willing to check Poseidon cabin? I don't trust them not to try to steal half of the lake and fit it into the cabin's upper floor." The floor which would be Percy's.

Thalia smirked. "They'd try," she agreed as she happily stood, snatching her hunting knife from where it had landed after she'd tossed it at Leo's helicopter.

Leo frowned once she was gone. "She's still scary sometimes," he said mournfully as he toyed with a bent and chipped blade of his helicopter.

Jason just sighed, tilting his head back to blink up at the ceiling, before he returned his gaze to Annabeth and Nico. He'd relaxed a little after Thalia had gone. "Do you two want someone to bounce ideas off?"

Annabeth glanced questioningly at Nico, who nodded. "Sure," the son of Hades agreed.

"Make sure you three do get some rest before tomorrow," Chiron warned them as the other gathered demigods departed, along with Rachel who'd pointedly remained silent through their discussion. Annabeth eyed the red head when she snuck out, hoping that Rachel could give some more indication of the future regarding their new quest, but the Oracle avoided her gaze.

"We will," Jason said when neither Annabeth nor Nico answered the centaur.

Chiron's eyes lingered briefly on Annabeth and Nico, clearly expecting them to do the same. Annabeth doubted that either her or Nico were going to be getting any form of decent sleep that night, so stayed silent instead of disappointing Chiron.

The centaur sighed as he left, leaving the three demigods alone to talk between themselves. Annabeth finished her cold coffee, certain that it was going to be a long night.

So, uh... hi? It's been a few months, I guess. Spent a good few months in Tartarus myself there. But hopefully this is getting the ball rolling again (here's to hoping I'm not like Sisyphus here and trying to roll a boulder up a hill).

Not much this chapter, but definitely needed to show how the uh... well, how the immortal campers do not get along anymore. I'm 100% a believer of the Seven just being co-workers, there's no way they'd be such good friends outside of the Giant war. I tried to get most of the pre-quest chatter and plans out of the way here in one chapter, so next one should pick up.

Guest: Ngl, I've been struggling, but finally managed to get this finished, soooo you guys get an update.

vampireacademygirls: thanks!

BlackMoon-1: Thanks! Yeah, but the issue with the first one is I was a young teen when I started it and my writing has improved a lot since then. That, and the plot is just sheer chaos in the original aha.

Mithril83 (chapter 3): well, they are demigods with ADHD XD. I'm trying to make that a bit more obvious than it might've been before with their random tangents and shifts in conversations.

Mithril83 (chapter 1): Thanks! Shows what a decade-ish of writing gets you aha.

mangamanic: thanks!

Kronosbluehairbrush: Thanks! I've always loved making prophecies, there's just so many different ways you can twist them in the stories. I thought the old CbT needed an update with... everything, really XD. One of the consequences of getting older is I've looked back at my first stories and I'm horrified when I read them lol (unfortunately CbT was one of those).

TatsuyaShiva4 : Percy's going to get the Primordials maybe curious, but he's not getting favoured. He's just a little demigod after all! The bad guy, I'm gonna keep to myself. Thanks!

Jenyla: thanks! Sorry you had to wait so long!

Guest: thanks!

Eridanos: thanks! Wasn't really soon, but at least there's an update?

MasterCluck30: I mean... it's the entire name of the story. It's not supposed to be a good relationship you should look to imitate lol

Guest: I can confirm that I didn't just randomly stop posting XD.

PhantomFuryJP: thanks!