Blake5000: I guess "quest of seven" is like a callback to the Heroes of Olympus series. Since my saga will have more people on the ship :)
naedinefebruary2.0: I have DM'd you.
Chapter warnings in the end.
Listening to: Self-Made by NEFFEX
Rachel paced around the house, desperately patting the back of a wailing baby. Kimmy was having none of it.
"I have the worst luck, I swear," Rachel huffed. "I bet the guys are having a swell time wherever they are."
Percy took out two sections of the telekhines while tamping down his memories of exploding Mt. St. Helens.
He leaped over a pile of rocks and sliced Riptide through the necks of two telekhines while slamming his foot into a third one's gut. Two more roared, leaping at him, but they were dust before they got within an arm's distance of Percy.
The smell of the Underworld was ripe in his nose. Sulphur and charred hair wafting all around them. It made Percy want to drop his sword and dive into the nearest river.
Which happened to be the Lethe and that's what some people would call 'a bad idea'.
The silvery white river bubbled and flowed amid the rocks, having carved out a deep path for itself eons ago. It went underneath a wide but short bridge made of ancient cobbled stone.
But the pool it flowed into was even more devastating than the river. It was circular black, and non-reflective. Its diameter could fit inside an Olympic-sized pool but Percy didn't even have to be a son of Poseidon to know it was deep. He sensed no bottom to it. The rock bed must be miles underneath the Underworld, possibly ending in Tartarus. He figured the Mnemosyne flowed for a billion years and would eventually lead into the Chaos Pit at the end of time.
If the Lethe was like a star, unbelievably bright, burning, and powerful, the Mnemosyne was a black hole, bending space-time and promising to draw you in and never let you go.
If you fell in the Lethe, you'd be erased of all memories, revert to childhood, and eventually disappear into a microscopic cell that would wither away in the river's awful energy. If you fell in the Mnemosyne, you would remember everything.
That was what Hazel had cautioned them. Everything from all your life, every breath you took ever since the first one outside the womb, every scrape and fall, every morsel of food, every face you've seen, every sound you ever heard, every feel of the wind on your skin, every ray of sunlight and glimmer of the moon, every moment of every day crammed into your head in at the speed of light.
And if you stayed in the black pool for longer than a minute, you'd start remembering all your previous lives. You'd recall everybody your soul had ever inhabited and each second of memory from every life. You would remember being born and reborn, travelling the Underworld for judgment over and over again.
Nico had added to Hazel's cheerful warning that some souls happened to live thousands of lives.
So, dropping Riptide and going for a swim wasn't a current option, Percy reminded himself as he took out the last of the terrified telekhines which were now trying to escape the encampment.
Sciron took on a band of telekhines that tried to follow Nico and Hazel. As the last one from the main region was shish-kebabed by Percy, he stood and surveyed the red-tinted rocky landscape.
It looked like one of Rachel's dangerous oil paintings come to life. To the left were the Fields of Punishment while the right side stretched out to cover the Fields of Asphodel Trees. Aside from the faint noxious glow, there wasn't much else blowing in their direction. The mostly flat land between the Lethe and the fields had been perfect for a secret Titan camp.
Thalia, Jason, and Bianca were fight the Titan, Iapetus. The siblings struck him with lightning while Bianca leaped behind him and sliced his hamstrings. The Titan roared, spinning around and nearly stabbing her neck. She dodged his spear and retaliated with a vengeance.
Nico and Hazel crossed the stone bridge to find Mnemosyne and talk to her.
"Jackson!" Sciron called from the side, alarmed, just as Percy had been about to run in and behead the Titan.
Percy groaned, ready to snap back because what trained demigod would be panicking against a few telekhines…
Oh. Oh no.
The piles of sulphur they'd left were moving. The dust quivered on the rocky terrain, sifting about as though a breeze had caught them. Even as Percy and Sciron watched, stunned, the piles began to reform. The torso grew first. Then the limbs.
Sciron stabbed three of them, his double swords whirling like a dancer's ribbon batons. Percy diced through the rest.
The sulphur still reformed.
"What the Hades?" Percy hissed, spinning around to catch sight of all the re-dead telekhines struggling to regenerate in mere seconds. He'd never seen this happen.
"They're not dying!" Sciron blurted, wide-eyed. "Is this because we're in the Underworld?"
Percy got a good glimpse of the Titan. He couldn't believe it. Iapetus's calves healed in seconds as though someone was actively healing him. He recalled when Gaia had done the same for Antaeus in the Labyrinth, constantly using the mud to heal her son even as Percy slashed at him. He had to use the ceiling chains to raise the giant king in the air and kill him up there.
"Gaia," Percy muttered. "She's done something."
Iapetus danced around the three deadly demigods, bringing his spear down so close to Jason that had the dude not dashed to the side in time, he'd have been skewered through and through.
"Nico!" Percy yelled across the river. "Hurry up!"
He and Sciron destroyed the telekhines again, stopping them from going after Nico and Hazel.
But everything kept coming back.
Crookshanks jumped onto Hermione's face.
He startled her awake, which really wasn't something anyone would want when they're taking a five-minute power nap between study sessions.
Her mirror was buzzing.
Crookshanks meowed loudly. Hermione shook her curls away from her eyes and lunged at it with newfound energy.
"Hello?"
"Hermione!" Harry's face popped up on the mirror. The bright day behind his muddy, bloody face did not liven up the scene. A river raged behind him, taking up most of the noise that emerged from her mirror.
"Harry?" she asked, stunned. "Are you hurt? Why are you bleeding?"
"This? It's fine. I have a doubt. You've been reading up on all the myths, haven't you?"
Hermione glanced away from the mirror. She sat up in her bed and checked the dorms. Beauxbatons's privacy laws were a little different from Hogwarts. But once she engaged the noise-dampening curtains, nobody should hear the details.
"Just started on Roman myths," Hermione whispered, holding up the mirror. Crookshanks purred on her lap and she stroked him behind his ears. "Ron's been saying that you were putting off going to Camp Jupiter?"
"I was busy!" Harry protested, wiping the dirt of his face. "But that's what I wanted to talk about. I'm here now. Things went sideways and I ran into gorgons."
She blinked. "I'm sorry, who?"
Harry angled his mirror away and Hermione gazed at the new scene. At first, she thought he was showing her the wrong thing, just some clumps of sand on muddy ground.
The sands quivered. They moved on their own, pulling towards each other like each grain was magnetised. Hermione watched, jaw open, as the piled reformed slowly, colours changing to blood red, then pink, then green, eventually forming a head of hissing, spitting snakes.
Hermione slapped one hand over Crookshanks' face and the other over her own eyes. The mirror tumbled onto her bed.
"It's not Medusa," Harry explained urgently. "They're her sisters."
"Gorgon sisters," she realised, snatching up the mirror again. Even as she watched, more than half of the demon had reformed like nothing she had ever seen before. Morbid curiosity forced Hermone to observe every detail.
An arrow flew in from the corner and impaled the partial monster in the neck. Hermione squeaked. The gorgon squeaked harder and burst back into a pile of fuming sands.
"Sorry," Harry said, before looking over his shoulder and calling out, "Frank! Nice shot!"
"Thank you," a quiet voice spoke, barely heard over the river. The mirror swerved and Hermione watched a large boy in real metal armour peeking over at her. He was sitting on the ground, just like Harry. Thankfully, he wasn't bleeding. He lowered a bow to his lap as a quiver of arrows dangled on his back.
"This is my friend, Hermione Granger," Harry told him.
"Hello, Hermione. I'm Frank Zhang. Err… Roman Legionnaire of the Fifth Cohort of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, SPQR," the boy rattled off nervously. Hermione already liked him. He had Neville's sweetness. They'd great along great.
"Hello, Frank," Hermione smiled. "You work for the Senatus Populusque Romanus?"
"Yes," Frank mumbled, eyes darting from her to Harry. "We… err, we kinda have a problem with the monsters here. They're supposed to die when we kill them. But they aren't dying. When we kill them, that is."
Hermione quickly ran through all the stories she'd read and everything she'd heard from Camp Half-Blood. When Greek demigods killed monsters, they generally turned to sulfurous dust which meant the monsters would regenerate in the bowels of Tartarus before becoming strong enough to claw their way up to the mortal realm.
"It's not a Roman, Greek thing, 'Mione," Harry said like he'd read her mind. "I threw slicing curses—"
"Harry!"
"I'd never use them on mortals," Harry swore.
She scowled. "We'll talk about that later, Harry Potter. But show me."
Harry dutifully turned the mirror again. Hermione got a live feed of watching a second large pile of sulphur sands reform painfully slowly till the head full of snakes burst out.
"I see your magic, Harry Potter!" the gorgon sister shrieked. "You and all your friends from across the pond are already targets and you think you can waltz around with the godlings—"
Harry sent two curses at her. One sliced her at the waist and the other took her head off.
Hermione inhaled. Harry could be quietly cruel sometimes.
But she watched without a word. The monstrous sands moved on their own again, clumping together.
"They're regenerating on our realm, not… not down there," Hermione whispered.
"I stabbed one with my dagger," Harry said. "It's Celestial Bronze and it didn't take. Frank's arrow heads are Imperial Gold and those didn't work either."
Frank looked down at his bow doubtfully. "Most Romans don't like bow and arrows. I guess if I had a sword… or if Hazel were here…"
Harry turned to him, surprised. "Hazel Levesque?"
"Yes!"
"Nico's sister? She's supposed to be here?"
"This week's our turn to guard the gates," Frank said. "I… I don't know why she didn't show up. If the others found out—"
Frank nervously explained how the other Romans may assume Hazel ran away from her duty if she didn't show up by the end of the shift.
Hermione shared a glance with Crookshanks. Her cat raised his head from licking his paw.
"Maybe Nico knows about it," Harry frowned. "I barely know Hazel, but I doubt she'd just leave her post. Something must have come up."
At a sign that Hermione didn't notice, both boys raised their weapons, aiming at something offscreen. Harry shot another curse and Frank let fly an arrow. She heard enraged hissing and the nauseating sounds of a pair of bodies bursting into sulphur.
"The gorgons knew I'd be here," Harry said calmly, like he hadn't been interrupted. "It can't be a coincidence that they were waiting in the tunnel to find the entrance, at the exact time I apparated here. Stheno said that the Locrians sent them. But I can't imagine how… how Ajax would have known."
Hermione held Crookshanks closer to her. "Harry, Frank. This might really be planned. Look. The natural state of order is for mythical monsters to turn to dust and regenerate in the Pit and then make their way back to the surface. That's what really takes them centuries, the process of reforming to full strength and the journey all the way up here. But that isn't happening. They're skipping a couple of major steps."
"Understatement," Frank murmured.
"Harry, it's like you," Hermione said pointedly.
Frank looked puzzled. Harry reared back. "What?!"
"I mean your powers," Hermione hurriedly explained. "Your bracelet brings you back. It goes against the natural order. So it goes to reason that something, or someone, is bringing back the gorgons even faster than you."
Harry's eyes lit up in realisation. "The Earth Goddess."
Frank paled. "Is that… possible?"
"It's happening here, Frank," Harry said, pointing his wand at the ground carelessly. "Bloody hell, then we'll need a superbly powerful way of actually killing them so it takes much longer than this to regenerate."
Hermione nodded. Then she tilted her head. "Say… what's that river behind you?"
"Little Tiber," Frank said. He sat up, now hopeful. "It's got strong defensive magic."
"Try drowning them," Hermione suggested.
Harry grinned. "That's delightfully evil of you, Hermione."
"And look for your friend, Hazel!" she added. "If the gorgons knew you'd be here, Harry, then maybe they knew Hazel wouldn't be here!"
The stone bridge held up well.
"Hold your breath," Hazel reminded Nico as they ran across it. He nodded urgently, feet pounding on the stones. They reached the other side and searched the backs of the black pool. One look at the unending depth of the Mnemosyne made Nico shudder.
"Don't get too close," Hazel said, holding her arm out and letting his chest bump into her forearm. "We can breathe easy as long as there's some distance."
"How do we summon her?" he asked.
Hazel paused. "I think we can just call her name?"
"Yeah, okay."
She cleared her throat. "Lady Mnemosyne? We're here to help you be free of the Titan Iapetus."
It worked. Nico was glad because they hadn't brought any food or treasures to sacrifice to her.
A tall lady clad in black robes stepped out of the pool. She had black skin, black hair, and black irises. The whites of her eyes were barely visible. A dark veil fell over her face but they could see her features through the delicately netted fabric.
"Hazel and Nico," Mnemosyne whispered. The siblings winced. The goddess seemed to be whispering inside their heads. She already knew everything there was to know. She knew every single corner of their minds.
"My Lady," Hazel bowed and Nico followed suit. "We wish to help you."
"In return for answers about Pandora?" she mused.
"Y… yes."
Mnemosyne hummed and carefully watched the fights across the white river. Iapetus's furious raging that was even louder than the ominous Lethe.
"She wished for a second life," Mnemosyne said. "Pandora gave her body and her mind to me. I set her soul free. The Fates did the rest."
Hazel was clutched Nico's hand. "When you say the Fates… are you talking about her lifeline?"
Nico had the distinct feeling that Mnemosyne was smiling. "Lovely colours, that lifeline. Black and blue… you cannot follow her line, but you can certainly try."
Black and blue?
That felt like Deja Vu. Nico tried to think back to when he heard those colours.
"Why can't we follow Pandora's lifeline?" Hazel asked.
"You cannot follow anyone's lifeline," Mnemosyne said. "When the Fates cut a string, life ends. When they weave a fresh line, a new one begins."
She stepped closer to them, her feet gliding over her water.
"You need to follow her soul," Mnemosyne whispered. The words rang inside Nico's head like bells.
"How do we do that?" Hazel asked, alarmed.
"You don't," she chuckled. Then she turned her head. "But they will."
Hazel and Nico watched. The goddess was looking past the bridge where Percy and Sky were running towards the others to join the fight against Iapetus.
Kimberly Jackson was right, Nico realised. In the end, they would figure out who Pandora was reborn as.
"But what can you tell us?" Hazel asked, now frustrated.
Mnemosyne was already growing bored of the conversation. She slowly retreated into her waters.
"We're here to help you!" Nico yelled. "Everyone on the planet is in danger, including you! Tell us anything, even about Zeus or Janet Kassidy."
Mnemosyne paused, her back still turned to them. She whispered, "I would like a taste of one of you."
Hazel and Nico shared an alarmed look. "W… what?"
Despite not facing them, Nico had the distinct feeling that she was peering into their souls. "Step into my waters. And I will tell you about Janet Kassidy."
Kimmy had finally drifted to sleep.
Rachel placed the baby in her crib as quietly as she could and backed out of the room. She pulled the door carefully till a small gap remained between it and the frame.
Then she looked at the mess left behind. Frost was large enough that usual clutter didn't seem so bad. But while trying to soothe a fussy infant, Rachel had left a ransacked hall. Tissues, bottles, toys, and towels littered the floor. A pack of fresh diapers had spilled all over the couch. The baby's spit up was visible on the arm chair. The carpet was sticky. Rachel didn't even know how that one happened.
One moment, Rachel was clearing the diapers to drape herself over the couch like a Victorian lady, in the next, she was stumbling over a rocky terrain.
"What the…" she gasped, spinning in place.
It was dark and red. The air was thick with unexplainable gas. Walls of unforgivable rock towered all around her. A ceiling of cloudy glass stretched several dozen feet above her head.
And there was an enormous king trapped in a tall cage.
Rachel stumbled back.
"Finally!" Zeus boomed. "Oracle! Deliver a prophecy! Send the best heroes to find me!"
Rachel gawked at him.
"Now!" he ordered, impatiently.
Rachel didn't move for a long moment.
"Huh?"
Zeus rolled his eyes. "Stop gaping like an idiot. Do your job and call for a quest. The greatest quest in all of time! And you better include my fool of a son, seeing as how he has barely done anything to help!"
This was a vision, Rachel dimly realised. But it was also real.
"Lord Zeus!" she choked. "Um… hi!"
"DID YOU HEAR A WORD I SAID?!" he roared. The vast cavern shook ominously.
Rachel backed away, ears ringing. The king had summoned her from Frost. From the surface world to… whereever this was. Zeus was locked behind what was possibly the best locked cage in the world. If the king of Olympus couldn't break through it, Rachel didn't know how three demigods could.
"Do you know how to change a diaper?" Rachel asked instead.
Zeus glowered down at her. He was nearly twenty feet in height, doing his best to take up all the space of the cage in order to look imposing.
"So you do understand English," Zeus spoke, incensed.
"I'm babysitting my sister," Rachel explained. "I just put her to sleep after finally feeding her. Harry ditched me for some emergency. I've never changed a diaper before and I just know she's gonna need it when she wakes up."
"FOOLISH GIRL!" Zeus roared. The cavern shook again. The glass ceiling shimmered. "I ORDER YOU TO CALL A QUEST!"
Those words pushed at her, prodded at her will, and tried to invade her mind.
Rachel poked her tongue at the inside of her cheek. "Does that mean you don't know how to change a diaper? I get it, those printed instructions seem intimidating. But I just can't tell the front from the back."
Zeus's body ignited. Bright light exploded out of him, blinding tendrils of lightning arcing out and slamming against the cage. Shockingly, it held.
Rachel blinked the spots out of her eyes.
"You really are stuck," she observed.
Zeus was literally smoking. Heat waves arose from his skin and clothes. His eyes blazed at her, trying to will her dead probably.
"Order," he hissed and Rachel's skin crawled, "the quest."
She backed away. She wanted to be back home, back on the surface. Get her out of here, out of…
Rachel opened her eyes.
She was back in Frost. The mansion's living room was just as cluttered as she'd left it. Her clothes felt strangely hot to the touch.
The telekhines grew smart.
When they realised they couldn't defeat Percy and Sky, they turned tail and bounded over to their Titan overlord who had managed to push Jason closer to the Lethe. Jason flew high, feet skimming the stone bridge to avoid every stab of the spear.
Then, two telekhines tackled Thalia at the same time Iapetus swung a massive arm at Bianca. Both girls were thrown several feet away.
Jason threw his sword into the air. It spun and changed into a spear. He caught it and went toe to toe with the Piercer who cackled in delight.
Sky leaped to his side and charged at Iapetus, stabbing his arm. Percy went low, diving under Jason to slash at the Titan's stomach. The stones shuddered.
The air crackled with tension, and the swirling mist of the Underworld didn't help. Iapetus roared in fury and threw his spear. Jason dodged it and caught the end of the weapon with his own, changing its trajectory to avoid it spinning back into the Titan's hand.
The bridge shook ominously.
Percy got the brightest, most stupid idea of all time.
"Fly!" he yelled at Jason before shouting to Sky, "Hold your breath! Stay dry!"
Sky's response was a panicking war cry.
"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!" Iapetus laughed. "I AM THE TRUE STRENGTH OF ALL THE TITANS. I AM—"
Percy ducked Iapetus's massive right hook and aimed Riptide at his feet. The blade sunk through the stone easily and crackled with his blue energy.
The bridge collapsed.
Iapetus tilted backward, an expression of rage and panic overtaking him.
"No!" he shouted, grasping at the air, but his grip failed him. He disappeared into the bubbling Lethe.
Percy and Sky fell on the other side, into the placid Mnemosyne.
DRY! DRY! DRY!
He caught Sky's arm and thought with all his might. STAY DRY!
The water enveloped them like a thick blanket, swirling with flashes of the past—moments he thought long forgotten. Faces and places flickered before Percy: his mother's warm smile, the laughter of his friends, the first time he discovered he was a demigod, the first time he met Harry. Each memory pulled at him, beckoning him to linger and remember everything in crystal-clear clarity.
But he fought against the tide, grabbing Sky's stiff shoulders, and desperately kicking their way up.
Together, they clawed their way to the surface, gasping as their heads broke the still waters of the pitch black pool.
Sky gasped, completely dry. "J… Janet?"
Percy knew what they were talking about. Memories, not his own, were being pushed into his head.
Janet Kassidy.
1984
The seventeen-year-old daughter of Aphrodite stood in front of the Mnemosyne.
"Please," she begged. "I need to know! Pandora could be born any time since 1945. She could be alive now! We need to find her."
The goddess of the pool, Mnemosyne stood resolute. "The Fates know. But nobody else will. Not yet."
"But I got the visions!" Janet pleaded. "I've seen so much! Just a little more! I won't hunt her down. I won't go after her! But I need to know who she is now!"
"Need to?" Mnemosyne mused. "Nobody needs to know things that desperately do they?"
Janet wept. She was going out of her mind. Her siblings in Cabin Nine couldn't bear to hear her mumble to herself about her dreams, all her visions. Her best friends, May and Mark, were also growing weary. She didn't want to cause them any more pain.
"Give me a name," Janet whispered. "I'll give you anything!"
"Anything?"
"That is within my power!" Janet added quickly.
Mnemosyne could have been cruel. She could have asked Janet to step into her waters and drive herself mad with possibly thousand years of memories.
But what she suggested might be worse.
"Let my beloved have a taste of you," Mnemosyne spoke.
Janet watched, confused for a moment. Then she faced the white river, the idea dawning on her.
"You… want me to walk into the Lethe?"
"I do not want anything," the pool spoke. "It is you who wants answers. Pandora has bequeathed her curiosity to you."
Janet gulped. She observed the Lethe for a moment.
"But… I will forget," she said slowly. "I will die."
"Yes," Mnemosyne said. "It is the price anyone must pay to find out too soon."
"I cannot afford this!" Janet whispered, terrified. "I… cannot end myself. It is against the king's rule!"
That much was true. Self-harm was considered a crime unto oneself during ancient times. The Underworld would not be kind to Janet when they greet her in the afterlife.
The ancients were cruel. The gods even crueler.
"It is not what you think," Mnemosyne said, now a tad sympathetic. "It is sacrifice. You wish to know who Pandora will be? Let my Lethe take your mind and body. Your soul will know."
Will be.
Who Pandora will be.
Which meant, she wasn't born yet.
Maybe… maybe if Janet could get reborn… she'd meet Pandora. And she would even recognise her.
Forgive me, May, Mark, Chiron, my siblings… mother. Forgive me.
I have to know.
Janet nodded. She walked across the bridge and stood at the center, at the highest point. The Lethe ended here, at the Mnemosyne; two goddess forever attached; antithesis, yet beloved to each other.
Janet Kassidy raised her foot over the bubbling river, eyes wide open. She practically leaped from the stone bridge.
The Lethe accepted her.
And for one shining moment, Janet Kassidy was the only creature in the world who knew the truth (and understood Zeus's lie) before the river swept her away.
Nico and Hazel were running around the long away, covering most of the Mnemosyne's circumference to reach the other side.
Bianca and Thalia drove away the rest of the telekhines.
Jason dropped from the air, landing on shore and holding his breath to reach out and yank both Percy and Sky out of the pool.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Thalia was shouting. "WHAT THE HADES WAS THAT STUNT?"
Nico prayed to all the gods in relief that Percy and Sky were bone dry. Not a single drop of the Mnemosyne seemed to have touched them. Sky was panting hard, their chest pulling and expanding deeply as they leaned against Jason.
Percy was in better shape, though dumbstruck by his own antics. He stared at them with wide eyes.
"Janet…" he choked. "She drowned herself in the Lethe to find out who Pandora will be!"
Nico glanced over at the river. How desperate had her visions drive her that she was willing to do this?
Sky finally sucked in fresh air. "When… when did she die?"
Nico racked his brains, "1984?"
" '84, that's right," Bianca whispered.
Thalia scowled. "That's also the year May and Mark Rohan disappeared."
Jason steadied Sky and asked, "What does that mean?"
"It means," Hazel announced, looking back at the deceptively quiet Mnemosyne, "that Pandora was born after Janet Kassidy died. And May and Mark Rohan might be the only ones to know something about it."
The seven teens trudged their way up to the surface.
Iapetus was now Bob, thanks to Percy's quaint brainwashing experiment. Hades was just relieved to not have to deal with a Titan wreaking havoc. Bob was happy to perform some mild janitorial duties.
They found Camp Jupiter bustling just inside the entrance.
Jason stepped forward to survey the ruins of the massive bridge that had once connected the banks of Little Tiber. The shrubs and plantlife all around them had also been decimated.
Octavian, Reyna, the centurions, and several legionnaires were patrolling the area, surveying the mayhem themselves. Frank stood to the side, quickly shoving two glowing vials down his pocket. Romans were talking over each other, pointing fingers at the only person standing without weapons, armour, or a toga.
"Harry?" Percy yelled.
Harry seemed calm for someone who was at the receiving end of Octavian's red-purple face and manical words.
"What happened?" Jason shouted and everyone fell quiet.
Octavian only grew more incensed. "Where were you, Grace? Gallivanting off with the Greeks while we were under attack by wizards!"
Harry made a face. He shot Percy a weary look. Percy totally understood.
Sky waved a hand. He was so obviously blushing that even Harry noticed, and shot him a wink.
Jason glared. "My cousins and I were summoned by the Lord and Lady of the Underworld. We have information about Janet Kassidy, her companions, and Pandora. What happened here, Octavian?"
Octavian jabbed Harry in the sternum with desperate energy, "He invaded our camp, enchanted our sentry, and happily destroyed the bridge across the river!"
Frank winced. Harry narrowed his eyes. "Wrong on all accounts, sir. I was here by invitation and got bulldozed through the gates by a food truck. I used no magic on your sentry. I admit, I was enthusiastic about collapsing the bridge, but it was only to wash away the gorgons."
"Right," Octavian drawled. "The continuously reforming monsters and nobody else saw."
Frank raised his hand. "I saw."
Octavian glowered. "Then why did you not raise the alarm?"
Percy saw Reyna twitch her hand. She and Jason locked eyes, a quick and silent message connecting them. Percy raised an eyebrow at Harry and jerked his head towards the debris. Harry nodded.
"I tried calling you before they arrived—"
"But you didn't raise an alarm," Octavian insisted, cutting off Frank. "And you didn't do anything about the wizard intruder. And you let him cause destruction!"
"But the gorgons—"
"I would love to know what the senate would say about this," Octavian shrugged.
"About what?" Harry asked.
"The mess you made, you idi—"
Octavian stopped. He blinked at the bridge, newly constructed while he'd had his back to it.
It stood tall and proud, every beam, plank, and every nail exactly the way it was. It was hard to believe the bridge had ever been broken. Everybody else was gawking at it and then at Harry because they'd seen the wood piece back together in mere seconds as though a video run in reverse.
Octavian spun back to face Harry. "You did this!"
"You're welcome. Shall I regrow the plants as well?"
Jason shared a quick little smile with Reyna before clearing his throat and nodding, "Yes, please."
Harry walked the length of the river from Octavian's frozen form to the end where the water turned in a large bow near the edge of the grounds. He held a hand outstretched and everything turned green and beautiful. Grass broke through the soft earth and long stems grew tall, sprouting leaves and flowers along Harry's trail. If magic ever left them all, the earth would weep when Harry lost his.
Harry waved his hand and grew out more plants on the other embankment. He turned around and grinned at the Romans standing in shock.
Nobody looked more entranced than Sky though. Percy deliberately blocked his view and walked up to Harry as whispers broke out.
"You look terrible," Harry said blandly.
"You look great," Percy responded and threw an arm around his shoulders. "Quick question. Why are you here?"
"My invite," Harry said, exasperatedly. "I keep telling everyone. I'm supposed to be here today!"
"Um, no. It's for February."
"Then why does it say January?"
"Show me."
Harry thrust the envelope at Percy. He opened it and checked Reyna's fancy writing.
"Look," Percy huffed. "It says, February the first."
Harry squinted. "Are we reading different numbers? It says second of January."
"Do you not know how to read dates?"
"Maybe you need a refresher. I'm good."
"Then check again, smartass," Percy snarked. "It's February!"
"I'm looking at it, genius!" Harry argued. "It's January!"
Harry's mirror rang with his name blaring out. He shot Percy an annoyed huff, who stuck his tongue out at him.
"Yeah?" Harry answered snatching the letter back from Percy.
"Harry!" Rachel snapped. "Oh, good. You're with Percy. First off, you suck."
"What'd I do?" Percy protested.
"Not you, him!" Rachel rolled her eyes in the mirror. "Harry, I can't believe you ran out and left a baby alone and helpless here!"
Harry choked. "I did not leave Kimmy alone. She was with you!"
"I'm not talking about her, I'm talking about me!" Rachel yelled. "I'm the baby!"
"You're a baby, alright."
Rachel scowled. "I had a pretty harrowing day just now."
"Solve this for us first," Percy interrupted and grabbed the letter back from Harry. "What date do you see on this? January or February?"
Rachel leaned in, checking out the official invite. Her eyes ran from left to right quickly, reading the whole thing carefully.
Finally, she declared, "I cannot believe I'm stuck with two morons for eternity."
"January or February?!" Harry and Percy yelled.
"Americans write month-date-year!" Rachel shouted. "The British write date-month-year! You are taxing that poor shared brain cell!"
Harry froze. He shoved the mirror at Percy and snatched the letter back, reading it carefully.
"Why would you write a letter in American English and then give it to me, a Brit?!" Harry blurted.
"I didn't write it, Reyna did!"
Reyna looked up, having heard her name from several yards away. "What?"
"Harry is illiterate in American," Percy yelled for all to hear.
"I will smack you all the way to London and back," Harry warned.
"I just dropped a Titan into a memory-washing river and got him a job on the maintenance staff at Hades's castle," Percy retaliated. "I'm ready to throw down."
Nico appeared at their side. He swiped the mirror and spoke, "Sorry, Rach. We gotta borrow these two self-proclaimed morons for some serious discussions."
"They're all yours," Rachel sighed. "I didn't have anything important to say anyway."
Warnings:
A. Character drowning herself on purpose.
B. Offscreen mention of a character being brainwashed to switch sides.
C. Canon-typical violence.
Stay tuned, folks!