Sanstrom: Love your guess, Pandora could very well be a loved one of all the heroes… someone they can't hurt or stop. 😊
In response to your review on 'Pepe', there will be a call back later in the series to the moment Lily gave up her wand. Good catch! It's interesting that you connected the lack of original wands to their ends at the hands of Voldemort. It was definitely a factor! The box from Egypt is still hidden! Don't worry, our heroes will track it down.
Yup, you're right. Pepe was the parents' quest which wasn't very successful. So, the next generation is picking things up to solve things. Definitely not a coincidence!
aProcrastinatingOrange: Oh, Triton knows way more than he's letting on. He's going to feature more in Immortals, and he's going to successfully annoy his baby brothers! Rachel is definitely a candidate in the guessing game. All the characters are going to do their best to impersonate Agatha Christie and figure out who Pandora is! But the Fates are not going to make the journey easy!
Moncef: You did it! You broke Percy, Harry, and Rachel down to their bare essentials!
Time! Reader, you have a gift and it is understanding what people write. Time is a core theme in this fic. Our protagonists are immortal. They have unlimited time on their hands. But the rest of the world does not and that raises the stakes.
Percy is going to have to deal with the past in more ways than one. Chapter one was a taste of the things he's going to go through.
Rachel will visit the wasteland future frequently. When the world is dead, the immortals will keep existing and that is the apocalypse scenario apparently 'set in stone' that she wants to avoid at all costs. (yes, she's intensely aware how she's the ghost in that moment.)
Harry… he's in the present, growing stronger and learning more about his ability to love (similar to canon, but I want to build on that).
You are a gem! Percy and Sky are just a few steps away from bashing heads, but they have more self-control than the people around them think. Will they become friends or pretend?
Oh, Lupa is absolutely going to hate teaching our immortal trio. They're going to push her to her limits, just as she pushes them to theirs.
Octavian is an interesting antagonist. He's not a full blown villain, but he's a very solid obstacle to the heroes. The way RR crafted him is interesting, and I might just keep him like that.
What you doing, Harry? People are beginning to suspect you. Tsk, tsk. Gaia knows something's up with the Potters, she's not about to let that go.
Moncef! I am not afraid, because when I get to Power on Ao3, I will welcome all comments like pizzas. (meaning I will ravenously devour them)
.
Listening to: Far From Home by Sam Tinnezs
14th November, 2013
07:00 pm, Vervion Hospital, outside London
The air resonated with a song he couldn't comprehend. His head was filled with cotton and his mouth tasted vile.
"Can anyone hear me?"
A very strange song indeed.
Harry shifted, unwittingly straining his ears. All noises were muffled, but this lyrical ghostly voice stood out of the buzzing chaos.
"Help me."
His eyes shot open.
Ow. Ouch. Bugger.
Light flashed into his retinas. His extremities had a phantom burning sensation. Harry closed his eyes and curled onto his side, trying to hide under the covers.
The voice was quiet and he fell asleep again.
Things made sense a while later. It's gonna be okay, Sally had said. The oddest part was that… he believed that.
Harry's hearing was completely tanked, his ears now red and slightly blistered. He couldn't even hear the buzzing of his phone which was placed on the table beside him. And the thing had probably beeped a lot, seeing as how there were a bunch of notifications on the screen that he was in no mood to read.
The skin on his torso, upper chest and shoulders were numb since his nerve endings were in the process of being rebuilt. His designated healer, Sierra Calles, worked her magic and Harry was breathing fairly well. It honestly would have been less pain and hassle had he died from the lightning or even succumbed to the fall.
But Harry wasn't fretting as much as he should have. Part of the reason was that his skin was knitting itself back together even when he was alone in the room, even when he'd just woken up.
He was healing far too fast after the trainwreck on Mount Olympus.
Harry winced at the memory. He'd woken up just a day ago to a teary-eyed Sally who'd stayed with him for hours even when he'd been upset with her before. He'd been admitted to the new hospital. As usual, he had his own room here, monitored by Sierra's team. At this point, he should just staple his name on the door.
Tonks had told him the whole story: of Ajax reappearing in Olympus to abduct Rachel and how that was thwarted because Percy, Sky, Harry, and the campers who'd gone on the quest had all accidentally crash-landed in Olympus.
He wished Hedwig was here. Unfortunately, the hospital had a strict no animal policy for inpatients.
The bad memories came unbidden. Bolt was dead. Rachel was dead, not yet awake. Percy and Annabeth had been stabbed. Will, Reyna, Hazel, and one of the new demigods (Leo or Leah) had encountered a primordial goddess and then fell off a balcony, closely saved by the Pegasi. Pretty sure Piper was mostly fine, but she'd have nightmares to last a lifetime. The spirit of Delphi, funnily enough, seemed to be the only one completely unperturbed. She (or it) was walking in Rachel's body around camp giving everyone a scare.
Sky was back.
Harry exhaled slowly. It was a trip to think about him. He wondered if Sky's hair was still as soft as before.
Sky had jumped to save him.
The memory of falling was brief. The pain had been all-consuming fiery heat burning through—
Stop thinking about that!
By Thursday evening, just a few days after the incident, he was already walking around his room, the sensation of pins and needles erupting under his feet.
It could have been worse. It should have been a lot worse.
Tonks wandered in by lunchtime. Harry was testing his body's ability to have solid foods, with unsurprising results. He didn't need the hydration charm anymore.
"You're a sight for sore eyes, Potter," she sighed, shaking her head. Harry accepted the one-arm hug easily. She patted his back and he shrugged, "My hearing's shot to hell. Got no clue what you just said."
She pointed at him and then gave a thumbs up. He gave a reluctant smile.
In the evening, Sierra walked in with a floating quill and notepad, with a grim face. "You can check out tomorrow by noon."
Tonks leapt to her feet, stunned. "Just like that?"
"Well, no. But the way Harry's body is healing itself, he'll be leagues ahead after a full night's sleep. It's unprecedented, but I'm confident."
Harry was beginning to stitch parts of their inaudible conversation together, but the floating notepad zoomed towards him. He grabbed it, mindful of his tender skin, and read Sierra's notes.
Patient has begun a self-activated healing phase, covering all internal organs and immediate causes. Priority has been reduced from critical to normal. Patient is advised to take an additional two-day rest, followed by a final check-up.
If the prognosis is good, patient can resume usual lifestyle following this.
By the looks on their faces, Sierra seemed to be getting past a denial stage and Tonks was just entering it. Still, the healer knew what her patient required.
(In case you're new here, Harry hates hospitals.)
"I can leave?" Harry asked quietly. The skin over his ribs itched with the final protective layers of his bones being rebuilt.
Sierra nodded. As she spoke, the quill wrote her words on the notepad. "I'm allowing a Friday discharge, but you'll still be an out-patient for the next week. I can make a house call if there's an emergency, but most likely, there wouldn't be a problem after tomorrow. You're recovering at an incredible rate."
Harry grimaced. He still felt like he'd been battered by a meat tenderizer. "What about my ears?"
She gestured over to the side of his head, "Your eardrums may take some time. The healing is focused on the necessities right now. Give it till Monday morning. If nothing changes, I'll floo in and give you a check-up. May be good to keep an eye on your pulse for the rest of the month."
Tonks's jaw was on the floor. She jerked a thumb at Harry and told the healer, "The lad got blasted with a billion volts of energy! And no, that's not an exaggeration."
Sierra's shoulders dropped. "It was a dangerous amount, yes. But I could also tell from the burns that this was a negatively charged lightning bolt. They don't cause as much damage as a positive one. Of course, this is nothing to sneeze at, but whatever hit him, was not at full strength. And… it's obvious that his bracelet did its part in aiding the healing."
Harry frowned at the notepad.
That didn't make sense. The bolt came from Zeus's throne. How could the electricity be anything like feeble? Sure, it wasn't the Master Bolt, but this was still the king's true seat of power. Harry was barely a new immortal and he'd been injured at the time.
The bolt should have killed him.
Sierra didn't know about Mount Olympus, so her speculation could be wrong. But Tonks did know about the gods and she shared a troubled look with Harry before relenting.
She told Harry, "I'll be just a minute," before ushering Sierra out of the room.
The constant ringing in his ears was troublesome and he couldn't hear what was happening outside. The inner ear and drums were being slowly regenerated from the litany of potions he'd taken ever since being admitted and also by his own magic it seemed.
He placed the notepad to the side, watching the quill zip through the air and fall still on the paper. Then, he carefully swung his legs over to the side and stood up as gently as he could. Unlike the morning, now there was no pricking sensation. He could walk slowly around the room without pain.
Either Harry had grown far too powerful in a short amount of time, or Zeus's lightning strike had been weak.
Tonks was not pleased.
"Five minutes, Potter!" she said, standing in the corridor where Harry had reached by shuffling his feet carefully. She sounded less irritated, and more surprised if anything. "I was gone for five minutes!"
She cast a written spell that made her exclamations glow in the air so he could read them.
"I wanna see Sirius," Harry told her. Or at least, he hoped that's what came out of his mouth. The words were muffled and very dull and he didn't want to strain his healing ears too much to put in the effort to care.
She looked at him, disappointed. "Sally's on her way, alright? She's been talking about getting Percy to enlist a… a god to give you another check-up. She's already had a hard few days, this isn't gonna help."
Harry didn't want to see a god for the next two years.
"If I see Sirius," he said slowly, his own voice sounding like mush to him. "I'll be able to sleep properly tonight. I couldn't get my eight hours yesterday."
Tonks grimaced.
She'd been first to reach the Empire State when Thalia and a bunch of other demigods had wheeled Harry out. He figured he'd been terrible to look at, and that had been after Apollo had checked him over and cast a body cooling and regenerative charm to ensure he was still breathing without a swollen airway.
So his pathetic expression worked. In return, she'd convinced him to use a wheelchair.
.
Sirius's room was practically air-conditioned. Harry focused on his prone body which had barely moved in the past eleven months except to breathe. His hair was dry and crumbly between Harry's tender fingers.
There was one silver lining: he was still alive. Yet, the healers weren't confident in his recovery. Twelve years in Azkaban had ensured he'd never be a hundred per cent healthy, physically speaking.
But Sirius was one of the strongest people Harry knew. If Azkaban couldn't break him, then this shouldn't either.
"I know you can hear me," Harry said, lowering his voice. He hoped the words were clear enough. "We don't know when Rachel will wake up, but the Delphi spirit is pretty happy. Sky's also fine. I guess Rach and me got the worst of it. Everyone else is fine. Mostly."
Harry leaned in his wheelchair, breathing carefully. "Percy and Annabeth are in Camp Jupiter. Not sure what's more alarming. That there's another camp, or that those two are walking around like they were never sta—"
He stopped himself. That news probably wouldn't help Sirius's sanity. He took Sirius's warm hand and held it gently between his shaking palms.
"I'm tired of failing," he admitted. "And you have to be sick of that bed. When are you leaving this place?"
Sirius didn't answer of course. Harry tried to imagine what he would say if he were awake.
"I'm getting better way too fast now," he whispered. "If I'm supposed to be a healer, I should be able to fix this. All you need is a full brain analeptic. But I can't just force the healing to start. I need to… "
Harry dropped his head onto Sirius's shoulder. That was a bad way to heal anything. Some things can't and shouldn't be brute-forced. The help had to come from a place of health and goodwill.
If Harry was a master healer, a proper one, he'd be able to cure himself and everyone around him from anything. He was already more than halfway there.
He was sick of being held back.
Harry leaned into Sirius's space and whispered, "If you're not going to wake up, that's alright. I'm going to sort this out."
When he left his godfather's side and was wheeled back to his room, Sally was waiting.
.
She paused at the sight of his entrance.
Harry looked away as casual as can be. His clenched fist probably didn't help that. Unsure what to tell her, he kept mum. Luckily, Tonks took over the awkward silence, giving a quick rundown of Sierra's verdict and their little trip to Sirius's long term ward.
Sally's nose was shiny. She never liked that. It meant she'd barely looked after herself in the past few days, probably working on automatic to make sure baby Kimmy was fine and to check on Percy and Harry.
Something strange came over him. Harry carefully stood up from the wheelchair, faced Sally and raised his arms.
Both Tonks and Sally stared. He was sure they didn't know what the gesture meant at first. Finally, Sally stepped forwards, full of hesitance and hope. She moved into his embrace, her arms lifting up to hold onto his back and cup his head gently.
She smelled of porridge, milk, and baby powder.
Harry couldn't recall the last time he'd initiated a hug with… anyone. It had to be recent, right? Unlike his younger years, he'd been growing a little more open to physical affection.
Sally mumbled something into his shoulder. He was now taller than her. Her words went over his head, but the meaning wasn't lost when he felt warm tears soak a patch of his scrubs.
Despite the argument and the anger he'd held towards her, this moment didn't fix anything. But he felt bolder and more confident. It had always seemed as though he'd been waiting for something to happen to him before taking the next step.
Maybe the only one holding Harry back had been himself.
Hermione Granger almost never used social media.
She had a mobile phone, courtesy of her parents. But studying in Beauxbatons had left little time to conduct an electric safe space to use her phone. The school owls were ever-present to send mail to her parents. She had a magical two-way mirror to reach out to her friends in Britain. A couple of drachmas sat in the inner lining of her beaded bag for an emergency Iris-message situation. She did have grandparents in South France whom she visited every other weekend and they had no idea of her magical education. To keep them in the dark, she had a barely used phone they could text to keep in touch.
Her Mémé couldn't bear to go without hearing her voice at least once a week, now that she knew her youngest granddaughter was in an elite boarding school in France.
Just a few days ago, Ron had called her with the shocking news of what had happened in Olympus, and Hermione had mailed a double get-well-soon care package to both Harry and Rachel.
Now she was in the library, reading up on the grand myths of the past. After finding out that Roman demigods were a thing, she'd done her bit to get her hands on all the books on topics of Troy, Roman empires, and the Roman Pantheon. Reading them in French was such a treat as well, translations had the best and worst of gems.
Her kneazle-cat, Crookshanks, had grown even bigger in their time in Beauxbatons. He languished over her bag, stretched out under a patch of sunlight. Hermione absentmindedly scratched his ears and let him purr over her fingers.
Misa popped into her little nook of the grand library.
"Salut, Hermione! Le dîner est prêt. Qu'est-ce que tu fais?" she greeted her curiously. (Hi, Hermione. Dinner's ready. What're you doing?)
Hermione nodded quickly at her roommate, making notations on a scroll. "Merci, tu pouvez aller." (Thanks, you can go on.)
Misa Lafayette was one of the first students who'd taken a shine to Hermione. She didn't mind the new Hogwarts witch or her relentless enthusiasm for school even when others preferred to take things lightly.
Misa leaned over her notes, "Ça va le taf?" (How's work)
"C'est très facile," Hermione mumbled, far too engrossed in the story of Metis. (It's very easy.)
"Mademoiselle!" Misa said loudly, putting on the airs. "Avez-vous faim?" (Miss, are you hungry?)
"Shh!" Hermione hissed, looking around for the formidable librarian, no doubt skulking around. Ignoring her, Misa leaned in close and moved a pile of papers aside to read one of the books' title, "The Tragedy of Pallas."
Hermione lunged for the falling sheets, "Fais attention, Misa!" (Be careful!)
"Pardon!" Misa sighed, retreating. (Sorry!)
She stood back to watch the seated girl rearrange her papers. Crookshanks wasn't bothered at all. He was laying by another book, its title printed in Latin. Misa couldn't read it, but her attention was caught by a depiction of a white and black ceramic vase on the cover. It had intricate designs of people dancing and fighting.
"Whoa," Misa shook her head. "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" (What's that?)
Hermione finally looked up. "Quoi?"
Misa tapped on the cover. Hermione made a face. She probably shouldn't leave that out in the open.
"Ce n'est rien," she said quickly. "C'est tout?" (It's nothing. Is that all?)
"Oui!" Misa huffed and retreated with a warning. "Tu serez en retard!" (Yes! You'll be late!)
Hermione frowned at her classmate's retreating form, just as Crookshanks meowed unhappily. She looked at him and heard a slight buzzing sound. It was coming from her bag.
Her phone!
She stood up to try and move her cat out of the way, but Crookshanks didn't want to budge. He levelled her with a look that plainly said he was far too comfortable in the light. It took several more minutes of her coaxing him away enough so she could reach inside and fish out her phone.
Though the data was switched off, she'd received a text notification from Snapchat.
Wait, it couldn't be Mémé.
Hermione opened it and stared at the bold words blinking up at her.
Everyone was waiting for Percy when he walked back into the deposition hall. He felt his phone drone in his pocket, but made no move to reach for it. Mom would call on the mirror and camp would IM him if something was urgent.
The attorney at the head of the table nodded at him to sit. "Participants please note, I will ask the questions. You can pass your lists to me."
Percy reached out to grab Annabeth's hand under the table. She looked a little surprised, probably from the heat of his palm and whispered, "What took you so long?"
"Triton dropped by. Tell you later."
She narrowed her eyes but said no more.
"Mr. Alvida, shall we begin?" Durand asked. Percy find Sciron staring at the table, engrossed in the reflection. He looked up immediately, flushing at the sight of everyone waiting.
"Yes, ma'am! You can call me Sky, though."
"Alright, Sky," she said politely. "Question 1, why did you infiltrate the gathering in Gretna Green last year?"
Percy eyed Sciron carefully. The Roman looked surprised by the query but answered, "I've never met a demigod before. I've lived all my life in Alaska with my parents. I found out that the demigods from Camp Half-Blood were going to a party outside the country. Since it was far from North America, I knew the gods wouldn't be alerted by me. So, I just… went."
Clarisse huffed and folded her arms. Percy agreed with her. Annabeth scribbled something on the question sheet and pushed it back to Durand.
"How did you get through the barrier around the house?" the attorney asked.
"I formed a tunnel under the wall and shield. I didn't actually tamper any magic, just got around it," he added quickly.
Percy held back a groan. This was a really common defect of shields, be it magical or godly. Elements could either work for or against enchantments like that. Even Thalia's pine tree's protection didn't extend underground which was how the labyrinth with all its chaotic powers could surpass it.
"And how did you build this tunnel?"
With a grimace, Sciron said, "Well… um. I sorta… kinda… made a… quake. In the ground and split it open before resealing it with enough space… I closed it when I left!"
Percy's knee bounced uncontrollably. The table shuddered.
Frigging dude made a frigging earthquake just to gate crash a party. And it was controlled enough that nobody felt it, not even Hermione was attuned to the earth or Nico and Bianca who were also in the house.
Harry can really pick 'em.
The questioning round continued:
Why was he hiding in Alaska?
What can he tell about Cassandra and Iphigenia?
How much control does he have over his powers?
Why did he come to New York?
How did he get into Mount Olympus despite not having an invitation?
Alaska was safe, it was the land beyond the gods. I mean, sure monsters abound, but we dealt with them easily.
Mom's good at cooking and bad at jokes. Ma's good at listening and bad at kicking her reality show binge-watching.
Pretty good control. I don't generally lose it and wreck things.
One of Lady Iris's legacies helped me get into Olympus Parcel Service office. I was hoping to find a camper, but then I saw Harry…
I don't know. Harry's bracelet dragged me along for the ride, I guess?
"The question is why did you go to New York instead of heading for Camp Jupiter or the Wolf House," Durand reminded him.
Sciron squinted. "I… I'd been having strange dreams about things going wrong on Olympus. I can't explain it. I could have gone to Camp Jup, yeah. But it felt right to head east."
Percy didn't like that answer. Honestly, he didn't like any of them, but this bothered him the most. Sciron had intentionally called Percy to dream about him to warn him something was going on.
No matter how much they cross-questioned and interrogated him, Sciron gave infuriatingly logical and wholehearted answers. Not once did Aurum and Argentum bat an eyelash. The wolves didn't deign to react. If there was anyone on edge more than Percy, it was Sciron, but his responses were on point.
When Durand finally exhausted the question list, and nobody could pick at his answers, she adjourned the deposition.
"Pending a final statement from Lupa, Patron goddess of Rome, this deposition may end here. I suggest Sciron Alvida is to be placed under probation, overseen by a representative of Camp Jupiter until Lupa's wolves report to her on the proceedings, and she decides on your future. All in agreement?"
"Etiam!" the Romans nodded. (yes)
"Sure," Percy muttered. His fellow campers hummed and nodded, unenthusiastically. Annabeth was eyeing Attorney Durand curiously while Thalia and Bianca went back to ignoring each other.
Jason cleared his throat, "Greeks, may we convene?"
Clarisse frowned. "What?"
"He wants to discuss stuff," Annabeth said, not taking her eyes off of Durand.
Everyone stood up and the doors opened. The wolves were the first to leave, completely trained and alert. Reyna's metal dogs waited for her before flanking her out the entrance. Percy watched as the ONUH rep and Sciron stayed back muttering to each other.
Annabeth was the last to stand. Percy wound his fingers through hers and whispered, "What's on your mind?"
"Durand can read Ancient Greek."
He blinked. That wasn't at all what he was thinking about. "Um…"
"We wrote all our questions in AG," Annabeth clarified. "And you know how Reese's handwriting is."
"I'm pretty sure she wrote in shorthand."
"The associate attorney could easily read it," Annabeth insisted. Percy raised his shoulders and dropped them as they walked out of the room. "Maybe the Romans asked her to lead the deposition because she knew Ancient Greek?"
Annabeth made a face. "Maybe…"
The others were standing by the very same balcony that Triton had remade. Percy stared down at the banister before looking over at the imperial statue below them.
Octavian was here as well. Percy thought he was a watered-down version of Draco Malfoy. And not even that was a compliment to Malfoy.
"That's ridiculous," Octavian announced, hearing the sparknotes version of Sciron's tale, "You mean to tell me a bunch of old people ran into each other decades ago and now their kids have strange destinies and prophecies all pointing to Pandora?"
Reyna massaged her temples. "Nobody actually said the name Pandora."
"I believe he's telling the truth," Bianca spoke up. Percy kept forgetting she was almost 15 years old. She still resembled the pre-pubescent girl he'd met in West Hall, years ago. Her silver circlet spoke volumes and even Octavian fell quiet.
"You know about Cassandra and Iphigenia, then?" Jason guessed.
"I've never run across them, but yes," Bianca nodded, looking over at the others. "It's true. They've been helping Hunters for several centuries."
"Helping how?"
"Stopping battles, reducing escalations, carrying information, helping figure out prophecies and dreams… we have a system set up on how to contact them. We tried using it during the Second Titanomachy, but they never responded."
Octavian kept grumbling. Jason looked over to Reyna and asked, "You can confirm this with Hylla?"
"I'll ask," Reyna nodded. "This business with Pandora is troubling."
"I thought you said nobody mentioned the name," Octavian huffed.
Thalia frowned. "We need to get in touch with Lord Triton. If Cassandra and Iphigenia are on the run, they may not be able to help us. At least not right away. Percy can go to Atlantis today—"
"He already dropped by," Percy sighed. She shot him a sharp look for cutting her off, but the others stared. Annabeth nodded, urging him on.
"What d'you mean dropped by?" Nico asked, suspiciously. He looked around the balcony, almost as though he could sense Triton's presence.
"Triton was here," Percy waved an arm. "He said Sciron can help with finding Pandora, whoever she is now."
He explained the memory but left out everything he could of TÃa Kimberly. That was a story only for his mom.
"So… Pandora's actually back?" Octavian asked, swallowing heavily. Nobody else responded.
Percy winced. "Nico checked with his father. She really is out there."
Jason's jaw twitched. He looked to Thalia for confirmation and she nodded. Reyna asked, "And the jar?"
The group rustled. Bianca gave the answer. "It's in the Oracle's cave. Rachel wasn't as affected by it as most of us."
"Affected?"
"The spirit," she emphasised. "Hope. She can hear us if we stand too close."
They shuddered, a sharp sense of uneasiness sneaking upon them. Reyna said, "That needs to be locked away. We should store it up in Olympus."
"Not a good option," Thalia sighed. "We know that Ajax can break into the place. It's just better where it is now at camp."
"But we have incredible defences around the senate building," Octavian blurted. "The jar will be safer here."
Nico frowned. "It's being protected by Rachel and Annabeth's tech. Nobody else can get to it."
Octavian swivelled around to face Annabeth. "Why you?"
Annabeth raised a cold eyebrow. Jason cleared his throat loudly, "We'll can figure that out—"
"There's nothing to figure out, it's safe," Clarisse said through her teeth.
"But—"
"We can discuss that soon," Reyna nodded at Jason who frowned but didn't retaliate. Octavian pressed his lips together, his face growing unpleasant.
"Then let's just focus on one thing for now," Annabeth sighed. "The tale about Pandora."
"We need to speak to the Potters for that," Octavian decided. "Jackson's friends with their son, right?"
"Harry," Percy nodded, closing his eyes again. "But that's a no go. They passed away years ago."
Jason winced. "Was it the Earth Goddess?"
"No… no, unrelated. Let's not get into that."
"What about the Dares?" Octavian asked, eyes lighting up. "They have something to do with your Oracle! She shares their name."
"According to Sky," Thalia began, exasperated. "Patrick Dare was resurrected by the dirt gal. No points on guessing what Beatrice offered her in exchange for the deed. We have to assume they're not reachable—"
"That's convenient," Octavian muttered. Percy gritted his teeth.
"Rachel hasn't been in contact with them for the past few months," Clarisse snapped. "Trust us, that route's not a way we wanna go."
Jason looked over at Percy with wide eyes. "Wait, your mom!"
Percy made a face and Thalia smirked. "For shame, Jace."
"I'm not joking!" Jason said hastily. "I mean… Percy's mom was in Egypt."
Percy shook his head. "She doesn't remember any of this. Trust me, when she first met Harry, she had no clue who his parents were."
The Augur was not pleased. "Is there anyone not dead, not working with the enemy, not on the run, or hasn't had magical memory loss who can corroborate Sciron's story?"
They stayed quiet.
Percy's mind jumped to Ajax. But he wouldn't remember either, not if Cassandra truly dumped him into the Styx. That would have been a horrible death, thousand times over.
Thankfully, Annabeth gave the answer as usual. "The Aurors."
"What?"
Nico said, "They're like cops with magic."
"Wizard cops," Clarisse nodded.
"Cairo's Auror force," Bianca recalled from the story. "But Cassandra and Iphigenia wouldn't leave loose ends like that. Those Aurors would have been paid off or obliviated to keep the secret."
Annabeth frowned. "The museum curator. Professor Arwa Karim. I bet you they didn't obliviate her."
"She has information on what the Potters stole from the temple," Reyna realised. "But she could be under vow to not speak."
"Cass and Iphy are smarter than that," Bianca shook her head. "I think the curator would be willing to tell us what we need if we can help her out as well."
Percy followed what she was saying. "We need to figure out what Lily and James stole and where they hid it."
Annabeth grimaced and looked him in the eye. "We're gonna have to talk to Harry."
Percy didn't even know how to approach that, when his mirror went off, sounding a loud, "Percy Jackson!"
Reyna, Jason, and Octavian were startled, but the others frowned.
"You kept your mirror?" Thalia complained.
"In case of an emergency," Percy retorted, plucking it out from his pocket. His reflection was replaced with his mom's face.
"What's wrong?" he said immediately, ready to head back to New York.
"I'm not sure," she murmured. Her eyebrows came together and she looked over to the side. "I'm at the hospital now. Harry's fine! Don't worry, it's not that."
"Then what—"
"Do you have Snapchat?" she asked completely out of the blue.
Percy stared. "Eh?"
"I do," Annabeth frowned. "I haven't used it much though."
"Okay, take a look at what's trending right now," Sally said, doing her best to sound at ease. Percy, for some odd reason, was only more agitated.
Piper watched as Leo ran around Will, screaming that his head was on fire.
But it was a cool orange hologram of a hammer. Will proclaimed him a son of Hephaestus, the group of other demigods (seriously, actual demi-gods) and the teacher Chiron (believe it or not, a centaur), bowed to a stunned Leo, and then led him off in the direction of his cabin.
Piper's cell phone beeped. She would have ignored it in the favour of discovering a camp full of supernatural beings (she was one of them apparently), before wondering if her dad was calling.
She struggled for her cell, swiping it open to find that it was just an app notification. Piper grumbled and one of the boys who'd bowed to Leo looked towards her. "Do you know that cell phones aren't really good for us?"
"Yeah, like radiation or something…"
"No, no. I mean, they can attract monsters to our location. The wireless ones are a huge problem."
Piper flinched. Monsters. That was real.
"Sorry," the boy quickly responded. "I'm Adam, son of Aphrodite. Hi. I didn't mean to scare you. We're kinda safe in the barrier, so it's not so bad to use phones now. But there's a landline in the Big House if you wanna make a call."
"Thanks, I'll check it out," Piper nodded in relief and pocketed her cell. "I'm Piper. I don't know who's my parent… I mean, my dad's human. I never knew my mom."
"You're unclaimed for now," Adam said, a little surprised. "It shouldn't last for long. After the war, nearly all kids get claimed right away. It could take a few days, if your godly parent is busy or is waiting for something."
"Yeah, Connor said that," she nodded. "I'm in Cabin 11 for now."
"Cool. I can help with the offerings," Adam smiled.
"Huh?"
"The food," he explained. "We sacrifice a portion during dinner, right? I can get a bunch of other campers to help you out and get your parent to look over here."
Piper was taken aback. "Oh, wow. Thanks! I'd like that."
If her dad would talk to her, she'd be more comfortable with not knowing who her mom was, but clearly he was busy. The way he'd been busy for the past four years.
The campers weren't so bad. Piper hadn't known what to expect, but she was glad that they were taking it slow. Her head was still muddled with this whole new world of gods and monsters, of demigods and wizards.
Mermaids lived in the lake, satyrs lived in the forest, there were harpies flying around camp, nature spirits were the trees, there was a god and a centaur in the Big House… it was a lot to digest.
"I saw you with a lance," Adam said, trying to pick up the conversation again. Piper wondered if someone had told him to make sure she wouldn't be alone.
"Yeah… I was terrible at that. Throwing isn't my thing."
"What else have you checked?"
"Sword. Too heavy. Bow and arrows. Too much work. Knives are alright. They don't seem to fit, though."
Adam grinned. "Annabeth's the best at those. She could give you a proper tour of knives and daggers around camp later. My weapon is the bow."
"Nice."
"Yeah! Compound bows are the best, but when you see the hunters at their archery game," Adam whistled, wide eyed. "That sorta beats you up. I've been trying to branch out. Crossbows are pretty great. I found a machete in the training room. That's scary awesome! Ethan couldn't take his eyes off of me for days!"
Piper was mostly content to sit in the mess hall and listen to Adam jabber on. He wasn't annoying in any sense, but his voice was soothing enough to blend into white noise so her thoughts could wander.
And she would have let them wander away had it not been for her cellphone beeping again with a notification.
What was strange was that Adam paused and brought out his phone to check something at the same time.
"Huh?" Adam frowned. Piper's nerves were a little high strung and, on a hunch, she too looked down at her screen.
"I haven't used Snapchat in ages," Adam mumbled.
Piper stared at her phone. The notifications that were now piling in were all from the same app.
"Percy!" Adam shouted, making Piper jump.
A few other campers around them turned to him in surprise. A boy with a shiny gold eye-patch stood up from another table. "They're over at the other camp. What's wrong?"
"Ethan, check your phone!" Adam said urgently, standing up. Piper looked back down at her device as a few others did the same.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare has started following you.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare has liked your post.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare has liked your photo.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare has sent you a friend request.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare has made her first post in a while.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare has tagged you in a post.
Follow Rachel Elizabeth Dare on her timeline.
The short video was already being liked, reblogged, and reposted to various platforms. It was shot with a shaky-cam, handheld by the face seen head-on.
"Hello, internet and friends," Rachel chirped, flipping her long, tangled hair with a flick of her head. The tresses reached well below her elbows, framing her face intensely. Her eyes were strangely bright, almost causing a lens flare in the video.
"This is my first post in years. And damn, do I have a lot to share with y'all! Here's an ice-breaker. The kudzu will be the last plant to die on this planet. That will happen in the year 4507 Common Era. Stay tuned for more awesome future updates!"