A/N: Wow hi I'm surprised I got this thing posted this weekend! Things are so bad! I hope everyone is doing okay. I literally have no ability to process my life left let alone this chapter so this might be hot garbage.

Annabeth

I was on the ground.

It sounded like I was in a wind tunnel, and my ears were ringing. There were voices.

A clash of swords. Bronze on bronze. Was I smelling smoke?

"Styx!" someone cursed.

More ringing in my ears, like they couldn't focus.

"Watch your back!"

There was… a shoe. Four shoes. Four feet? Four shoes definitely attached to two pairs of feet. Oh, I was on my side on the ground. My hearing and vision started to come into focus.

"You're going to regret ever messing with me," someone said, and I wanted to let the voice carry me away to somewhere safe. How many times had I thought that if that voice was the last thing I heard, that I could die happy? It was somewhat comforting that my subconscious defaulted to that, even all these years later. But true to form, my analytical brain immediately kicked in and I remembered where I was.

I pushed myself up on one arm, searching for Percy. My vision fully came into focus and I was able to find him immediately, mostly because he was standing right in front of me, so I didn't need to look that hard. He stood over me, protecting me from the blow of Dolus' sword. He must have arrived right after I passed out.

The second thing I realized was that the campers were with him, so the whole quest squad was here. Phillip and Apate were a few feet away behind Dolus, locked in combat, both fighting with swords. Phillip looked awful, and I didn't know how he was still on his feet. Sweat dripped from his brow onto the floor in rhythmic drops, yet he matched every blow Apate dealt with expert precision. It reminded me immediately of when he took down the very large Ares camper a few weeks ago during sparring. He seemed more than capable of keeping pace with opponents that should be able to take him down easily.

On my other side, Cara was crouched over the birdcage machine, trying to connect some wires and cursing. That was the source of the smoke. The talisman now hung securely in the middle of the machine, catching the light as it swayed with the air.

I tried to make a plan as these three scenes swirled in my head and my mind finished its hard reset. Where was I going to be the most helpful? Certainly not laying under Percy's feet, so I crawled over to Cara. I needed 60 seconds to orient myself and put the pieces together.

When I reached her, I recognized the panic in her face immediately. Her breath was coming in shallow bursts, and her eyes were wide and glassy.

"It's not working, I don't know what to do."

"Take a deep breath first," I tried to calm her, but I flinched at the sound of bronze colliding in the background. I forced myself to take a deep breath too, because I couldn't help her if I didn't have my wits about me. How could I expect her to be calm if I was freaking out?

I thought about all the times Leo Valdez mended Festus the dragon after it was blown to bits, or even held the Argo II together by sheer willpower and a little luck during battle. She could do this. Hephaestus kids were the most resourceful demigods at camp.

"Go back to Tartarus," I heard Percy grunt in the background as bronze collided again. I tried not to worry about him, even though he was all I wanted to think about. He could hold his own, he always could, but Cara needed help now.

"Facts always help me in these situations," I said to her. "What do you know, and what can you change? Start there instead of getting overwhelmed. Take a moment to really think. The boys are fine, it's just you and me here." All that was so much easier said than done, but if she felt like I believed in her, which I did, maybe it would help.

Unfortunately, Phillip cried out and that captured the whole of Cara's attention. Apate was gaining ground on him, and he stumbled backwards and clutched his chest.

"This was fun for a bit, but we're through here," Apate hissed as Phillip tried to regain his footing after stumbling. To my surprise, she didn't raise her sword, but instead mumbled something under her breath and flicked her wrist in Phillip's direction. He fell to the ground immediately, writhing in pain. He tore at his shirt as if he desperately needed to claw out the skin underneath.

In an instant, Cara was on her feet, knocking over the machine as she charged Apate with her own weapon. I tried to steady it but wasn't fast enough, so the machine clattered and rolled away, letting off sparks as it went. I yelled for her to stop, but it happened too fast. Cara approached, swinging her sword with confidence at Apate's midsection. The goddess dodged and had the audacity to let out a laugh as she flicked her wrist again.

"I don't think so, little demigod," she laughed as Cara went flying backwards and hit the wall. Phillip tried to crawl towards her, but only made it a few paces before he collapsed into the floor again.

Now I was on my feet, moving swiftly towards Apate. Sometimes instinct trumped a well thought out plan. I didn't care anymore, I would go down protecting these campers.

As I charged, I noticed something happening with Percy and Dolus. Percy had his sword pointed at Dolus, the end of the blade barely touching his neck, but the spirit slowly sank onto one knee, forehead in his hand. It looked like he was struggling to stand and move out of the way. My eyes flickered to Percy to see if something was wrong with him, but the expression on his face made me think he was confused too.

I slid to a stop between Apate and the kids, my dagger extended. Her eyes were on Dolus, so I took the moment to call out.

"Percy?" I asked, desperately hoping to hear his voice.

"Yeah," he confirmed, assuaging my fears. I didn't need to ask follow up questions that might give Apate any more information.

Dolus groaned and dropped to his other knee, then to his hands, and his head sank to the floor, as if slowly moving through a vat of honey.

Percy didn't hesitate, seizing the moment and lifting his sword. "You made an enemy of me. If I ever, ever get wind of you reforming, I won't stop until your essence is spread so thin no one even remembers your name."

With that, he brought his sword down on the prone god, and Dolus evaporated into a cloud of golden ichor. Apate let out a scream of anger, not anguish, and fled the room in a whirl. I ran after her as fast as I could, but she was gone as soon as she hit the hallway.

Ichor churned through the air, and that's when I noticed the machine laying on its side near Percy. The ichor swirled more aggressively before being sucked in like a miniature tornado. Cara gasped, as if feeling all the effort her creation was exerting. I wouldn't be surprised if she actually was. We all watched as the fine mist disappeared from the air.

After the ichor fully evaporated, I flew back across the room, no longer able to keep myself away from him. He let out a small laugh and a huff as I stumbled into his arms.

"Are you okay?" I mumbled into his chest as my arms wound around his waist.

He pulled back to examine my face, letting one hand cup my cheek and the other rest on my shoulder. "Are you okay? I didn't love seeing you passed out on the ground when we got in here."

"Yeah," I smiled sheepishly. "I think Dolus put a curse on me right before I blacked out. I'm fine though," I tried to assure him as he frowned, still cupping my cheek. "How did you know I was in trouble?"

"We didn't. Phillip started deteriorating really fast. The Apollo cabin thinks that he has until about midnight without any more intervention, so we needed to pick you up and we came here because you weren't answering your phone. We're lucky that the timing worked out."

"Maybe the Fates are actually on our side this time." I thought about all the coincidences that Dolus had listed out, and he was right, it was almost too much to write off. Maybe we had a shot. Plus, it was one god down.

Laying on its side between the four of us, the machine let out a loud groaning sound, and we all walked towards it. Cara was back on her feet, barely, and had Phillip upright with an arm around her shoulders. When she reached it, she helped him to the floor before dropping down herself to peer inside her creation.

"Um, is that thing going to hold Dolus?" Phillip asked as smoke continued to pour out of it.

"Yes," Cara stated, no doubt in her voice, but Phillip raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced.

"Oh, I didn't even think about connecting those wires!" she exclaimed after a moment, pulling a mini soldering iron out of her pocket. "They must have gotten crossed when I knocked it over by accident. This is excellent." I silently put this as another point in the "the Fates might actually be on our side" category.

"So what's our plan here? Apate is gone," Phillip asked, and my brain immediately went into overdrive. It was my time to shine.

"We have to split up," I said with confidence, but Phillip and Percy gave me looks that were not so confident. "Your curse is too far along, and she just lost Dolus, so she won't leave here entirely. She needs to end this as much as we do. But, she won't try and take on all of us, especially if Cara is there with the trap. She knows what it is now. We have to find her ourselves," I said, turning to Percy who took my hand.

He nodded, understanding that this was our only option. The three of us quickly formulated the rest of a plan.

"This is going to be tricky with all the mortals downstairs," Percy said, and I felt like my brain was lagging. All the mortals downstairs? My contractors should have left by now. Did he mean the event setup people…?

Oh no. What time was it?

I whipped my phone out to look at the time. 8:02. I had a text from Kennedy.

Kennedy: My engagement party was one thing, but your own party? Are you making a habit of this now? Where are you?

"Oh, Hades!" I cursed as I ran out of the room. "I'll be right back!"

I knew this was always going to happen at some point, and it was exactly what I was afraid of when I had the thought that I couldn't exist in both worlds at once. There were approximately 100 mortals downstairs, and my mythological issues were barreling at me full speed.

/\

The party was, unfortunately, in full swing.

All of my employees, their families, and most of my friends and acquaintances were attending. The music reverberated throughout the first floor, and the sound of normal, happy people called out to me.

Like the Minotaur in a china shop, I nearly ran headfirst into Kennedy as I sprinted into the main room.

"Whoa," she said with a frown as she steadied me. "Is everything okay? I'm starting to get worried about you."

"I'm fine," I gasped. "Been here all day. A pipe burst upstairs and I lost track of time." Kind of true? Half of it anyway. With Percy here it would be an easy alibi.

I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and admittedly did take a big gulp to calm my nerves. The DJ was playing lively music, and I walked over to him and asked for a mic. I tapped it a few times to get everyone's attention.

"Thank you for coming everyone," I started my speech, and a hush fell over the room. Everyone turned to look at me, and I put on my best smile that said "there are absolutely no vengeful goddesses loose in this building right now."

"It's crazy to think we've been at this for seven years. Some of you have been with me since the beginning, and some of you longer than that. You know who you are, Kennedy," I raised my glass to her while people laughed, and she let out a whoop and a clap. One of these days I would convince her to come work for me.

"I just wanted to bring us all together for an evening to say thank you and celebrate all the hard work we've done together, even those of you who don't work with us and have just shown endless support for me over the years." Behind the crowd, I spotted Percy's face. He must have followed me downstairs. The speech I had planned went out the window and I started to ramble.

"A lot of you know that I was kind of a mess when I started Chase Design Company seven years ago. I was going through a lot in my personal life, and this company gave me something to anchor myself to and focus on. There were a lot of tears, a lot of late nights, and many times I considered giving up on everything. But, I learned that some things are worth the perseverance, even when it seems hopeless and like it's not worth fighting for anymore. The things that mean something will work out. Every person in this room got me through, and I've ended up exactly where I need to be." My eyes locked with Percy's and he gave me his best lopsided grin. For a moment, it felt like we were the only two in the room.

"Anyway, please eat, drink, check out the project portfolios of our best work and enjoy the night. Cheers!" I raised my glass and a loud cheers from my people followed. In a split second, I noticed a flash of red in the doorway behind the crowd.

Not here, I pleaded with the Fates as I held my breath for a single moment. There was nothing I could do if she decided to attack this room.

She smiled at me, just like Percy had, and I thought it was crazy how a the same gesture could mean such vastly different things. Percy's smile was a promise, and hers was a threat. As quickly as she appeared, she was gone. He must have noticed my gaze or sensed her presence because he turned around right as she disappeared.

The moment passed in a single beat, and no one seemed to notice what was shared between the three of us. The DJ resumed the music and I walked over to return the mic, but also whisper something to him.

"I have to step out for a minute," I said to him. "If you hear anything weird happening on the upper floors, I want you to turn the music up as loud as you can."

He looked at me like I had lost my mind (maybe I had) but he nodded because I was paying his invoice for the evening. I turned around and casually walked over to Percy who took my hand again, and we walked out of the room together to vanquish the goddess and put an end to this nightmare once and for all.

A/N: Quest squad was absolutely an Onyx Storm reference. Two-ish chapters left! See you all for the next one.