Serenity Burns

"So who do you think pissed off Cinder?" Piper called from her pegasus.

We approached the burning mansion at terrific speeds. Smoke and embers filled the air. About half of the mansion was untouched, but the burnt half sent ripples of anxiety down my spine. I could only hope that everyone was okay.

And then we found the first body.

"Land us right there," I told Blackjack.

Don't need to tell me twice. I hope you don't mind if I take off. The place reeks of smoke and dead sea lion.

He dropped us off by the unconscious girl, who upon closer inspection I realized was Zoë. Only then did I realize that the piles around her weren't the sand from the beach, they were the remains of what had to be at least two dozen monsters. Her body was covered in gashes and bruises, a nasty burn marred her face, and her nose was definitely broken.

Annabeth gasped. "What could have…?"

I pressed my ear to her chest and breathed a sigh of relief when I heard her shallow breaths.

"She's still alive. We need to find the others. Piper, watch after her. If you see anyone come out, bring them here. Annabeth, let's go. You lead the way through. I'll put out the fires."

For the next fifteen minutes or so, I did all I could to not give in to despair. We didn't find anyone else, but the amount of flames didn't give me much comfort. Torrent after torrent of the lakewater crashed through the mansion and doused most of the larger fires. With each and every one that passed, I could no longer tell if the tightening of my gut was from me overextending my powers or from the waves of worry that wracked my body. By the time Annabeth and I could make any progress inside the house, the piles of ash, embers, and monster dust combined with the water to form a river of gray sludge.

"Be careful," Annabeth said. "After all this, the house may not be—"

CRACK!

A section of wall and ceiling collapsed to the ground, splashing gray goop and burnt wood into the air. Fortunately, it wasn't in our path.

"...stable."

Annabeth took a deep breath and ventured deeper into the mansion.

"I thought this place was safe," I finally said, my nerves needing a distraction.

"It should have been. Ogygia lasted thousands of years. This is unheard of."

"But… all of the monsters—"

"I know, Percy! I saw them as well. Now stop panicking. I need you with me right now."

"Right." I drew a shaky breath. "Let's go."

It took another five minutes before we found the second body.

"Come on! Help me with this!"

This time, it was Reyna. Unlike Zoë, it didn't seem like she went down fighting monsters. Rather, a wooden beam collapsed on top of her.

"On three."

On Annabeth's count, we lifted the beam off of Reyna, and pulled her body away from any nearby dangers. She was decked out in her armor, which looked hastily put on. Several pieces were missing, and most of her fastening straps were loose. Despite that, her breastplate was dented across the shoulder blades and a corrosive burn covered her front.

Once more, she was thankfully alive.

"This doesn't make any sense," Annabeth said.

"You just realized that?"

"No. Seriously. Both Zoë and Reyna should be dead. Monsters don't just knock people out. It takes too much effort and is way more risky. They were after something, and we need to find out what."

As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. Zoë and Reyna were two of our best fighters. There's no way a bunch of monsters would just let them live if they had an opening. At least, not without another goal.

"You don't think they… I don't know… laid any eggs in them, right?"

She frowned. "Like a wasp? There's no monster I know of with that kind of reproductive capability."

"Okay. I don't know why I asked. Just—"

"I get it. You're on edge. We'll find the others. We just need to keep moving." She glanced down at Reyna with a pained expression. "Or maybe you should. I'll take Reyna back with the other two. Can't imagine that all this smoke and stuff is good for her."

I didn't want to leave her alone, but given the condition we found Reyna in, there's no telling what the others were like.

"Be careful."

She smiled, kissed me, and pressed her forehead to mine. "You too."

With Reyna slung over her shoulder (now missing all of her armor), Annabeth began making her way back to Piper.

I, in turn, set back to my task of tracking down the others.

There's no telling how long I searched the ruins. The once opulent mansion I first considered a prison was reduced to a charred husk of its once former glory. Most of Tyson's hard work was gone in a few hours.

What little comfort I could glean from the situation revealed itself in the form of a heated shouting match from inside one of the bedrooms.

"... need to be out there!"

"Are you kidding?! We'll be killed!"

The muffled argument came from behind a door blocked off by a portion of collapsed ceiling.

"Girls?!" I shouted. "It's Percy!"

Everyone inside went quiet, only for someone to try and open the door.

"Percy?!" the unmistakable voice of Calypso cried out.

"Get her back!" another voice shouted. "Get her back!"

"No! Let me go!" Calypso shouted. "Let go of me!"

With a surge of panic fueled energy, I summoned two massive tendrils of water and all but swatted away the rubble blocking the door. Not five seconds later, I burst into the room, only to be met with a sword at my throat.

"See?! It's him! It's really him!"

I didn't even have a chance to take in my surroundings before a sobbing mass tackled me to the ground.

"You're back!" Calypso's voice cried into my chest. "I— I thought—"

"Give him a chance to breathe," another said.

But she refused to let me go. Her grip on me practically crushed my ribs to powder.

As I hugged her head to my chest, I took a second to assess the situation. There were startlingly few girls in the room. Calypso, Silena, Drew, Rachel, and Hazel; the latter of which seemed to be the one who nearly decapitated me when I entered. All of them were visibly shaken. Hazel in particular looked about thirty seconds away from a panic attack.

"What happened?"

Hazel shook her head. "It… it's my fault. I didn't mean to… but they just…"

"Okay. Hold on. Take this from the beginning."

"We can't!" Silena said, her voice shaky. "The others. Did you find everyone else?!"

"We found Zoë and Reyna. They're alive."

"What about Thalia, Bianca, and Katie?! Khione! She went to try and find them! Did you find her?!"

"Woah, woah! Slow down. Look, we'll find them, but I need your help. Is anyone here injured?"

Only then did I actually take a good look at them. Drew and Rachel were relatively unscathed, but Hazel was hugging her arm to her side and had a nasty gash above her eye. Silena's leg was lined with a makeshift splint. Calypso, once she lifted her face from my chest, revealed a claw mark on her cheek, and several more that covered her arms and shoulders, one dangerously close to her throat. Despite that, she couldn't stop smiling at me, regardless of the tears streaming down her eyes.

"I'll help," Calypso said. "We'll find them."

"No," I said. "I need you to stay here. Look after the others. Protect them. Try and help Silena's leg." I turned to Rachel and Drew.

Though some would consider them our most unlikely fighters, never discount what Rachel can do with a hairbrush. Drew… well… charmspeak in mid combat was a bit difficult to pull off, but if done well, it would be lethal. And as much as I hated to admit it, if anyone other than Piper could pull it off, it would be Drew.

"You two good to help?"

Rachel cracked a wry grin. "It's been a while since I last had any fun like this. Let's go!"

Drew took a few seconds, but begrudgingly nodded.

"We're just going to find the others. Hopefully, we won't need to fight anything."

Within a minute, Rachel, Drew, and I were back in the more burned part of the mansion. Despite Calypso's initial protests, she eventually agreed to stay put and keep mending Silena's leg, with Hazel resuming her guard duty.

"Do you know what happened?" I asked Rachel as we made our way through the ruins.

"It's… hard to explain. Honestly, one moment, everything was fine, the next, Hazel is running around, screaming for everyone to get their armor and weapons. Monsters just started coming from everywhere. Those weird seal-werewolf things mostly."

"Telkhines."

"Yeah, whatever. But there were a few cyclopses. Some snake ladies as well."

"Dracanae."

"It doesn't matter! The point is we were swarmed. Everyone was trying to fight them off, but we didn't stand a chance. Hazel and Silena dragged a few of us into a room to bottleneck them. Silena took a club to the leg. Khione went ballistic after that. I don't know how much of her power she kept, but don't underestimate her abilities with a pair of icicles."

I sighed in frustration. "At least you guys are safe. But we need to find them."

No sooner did I say that before I all but tripped over the unconscious body of the aforementioned snow goddess. She was face up, floating in a large puddle. Her face bore an unsettling resemblance to how I left her in the dungeon nearly two weeks ago.

"Come on. Help me pick her up."

"Seriously?" Drew said. "I'm all for getting the others, but do we really need to—"

"We'd probably be dead if not for her!" Rachel growled. "She sealed us in that room!"

Drew pouted, but reluctantly helped us pull her body out of the puddle. Her already thin white dress was soaked completely through and torn along her side, leaving little to the imagination.

"Get her back to the room. See if Calypso can help her."

She grumbled something about Khione not being worth it, but at least began to slowly make her way back. I contemplated having Rachel go with them, but there were still too many people we needed to find, and not nearly enough people to find them.

"Come on. One down, three to go." I froze, a realization dawning on me. "Where are the nymphs?!"

Rachel shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. We lost them in all the chaos."

My heart started beating on my ribcage as the panic started to set in. "Let's go."

The good news is that we found Katie and Bianca. Both of them were hiding away in the gardens, sheltered within a sphere of earth, roots, and vines. If not for my ability to wriggle some water inside the shield, I doubt they would have ever opened it up.

"You two okay?"

"More or less," Bianca said, her foot wrapped in a cast of leaves and vines. "Just peachy."

"We did what we could," Katie said, her voice shallow.

"Do you know where Thalia is? Or the nymphs?"

Katie's face tightened. "Thalia was in the main hall with Zoë last we saw. Rose… Rose was with us, but…" Her voice cracked. "Percy, they took them. They took the nymphs!"

A chill dropped within my blood, only to be replaced with a raging boil.

"Where?! Who took them?! What happened?!"

"We don't know," Bianca groaned. "One second, we're just going about our day. The next thing we know, we're fighting for our lives."

"There wasn't any warning," Katie said. "Most of us were unarmed."

My fists clenched at my side. I tried to steady their shaking, but failed miserably. "Rachel, can you get them back to the room? We need everyone together. I'll keep looking for Thalia." I turned to Katie. "You said the main hall?"

She nodded. "That's where the fighting was heaviest."

I turned to leave, only to be stopped by Rachel. "We'll get them back. You know we will." She squeezed my hand and gave me a quick kiss before moving to help Bianca to her feet. "Come on. We're hiding out in Silena's room."

To summarize the state of the main hall with just two words: ground zero. The walls and ceiling were nonexistent. Once luxurious furniture was reduced to ashes. At the center of it lay Thalia, her body covered in soot, her face blistered and peeling. Cinder stood at her side, hopping back and forth once I entered the room

I rushed and knelt by her side. If not for the raspy crackling of her breaths, I may have given in to despair. It was instead replaced with desperation.

I slid my hands under her burnt form, slowly beginning to pick her up. As I did, the soot coating her body fell away, revealing that whatever burnt down the room also seared off her clothes. If not for her being a daughter of Zeus, she probably would have been scattered to ashes as well.

Cinder squawked and nuzzled her cheek before turning his attention to me. In those blank white eyes was an intelligence, a quiet power raging within them.

"You did this," I whispered.

He squawked indignantly, his feathers puffing out.

"You saved her."

His head tilted in confusion, but his ruffled feathers settled.

If what Katie said was true, and the fighting was heaviest in that room, Cinder must have burnt the whole place down as a final act of desperation. As bad of a condition as Thalia may be in, there's no telling what could have happened if our resident phoenix hadn't burnt the building to the ground. Though, if this was the better alternative, I really didn't want to know what the worse option was. Besides, there's no way he would let himself hurt his new best friend.

"Let's go. We need to get her some help."

I lifted her naked body from the ashes and took off for Silena's room, hoping against all hope that this was the worst of what was to come.

By the time I got back, Piper and Annabeth seemed to have joined the rest. The bedroom had been turned into a makeshift hospital, with Silena's bed holding three of the most severe cases.

"Room for one more?" I asked, carrying Thalia bridal style.

Most heads turned with me with a collective gasp of shock and relief.

"Bring her here," Silena said, pulling herself up from the bed. "Now!"

She hopped to the side as I filled in the empty spot with Thalia. I stepped back and led Silena to the lounging area, propping her foot on the coffee table.

Calypso moved from Khione to Thalia, checking for vital signs. If her sunken eyes and pale complexion were anything to go by, her medical magic was all but spent.

"Give me about ten minutes," I told her. "You've earned a break."

A quick kiss later, I slipped back outside and rushed to the kitchen. Fortunately, I confirmed while searching for Thalia that it was still in one piece. I quickly grabbed a few large bowls, and rushed upstairs. As if Tyche herself was smiling down at me, the spa was on the near polar opposite side of the collapsed part of the building, leaving it completely unscathed. I rummaged through it, lined my pockets and filled the bowls with as many flasks of the injury salves as I could find. By the time I got back to the bedroom, my arms were loaded with ceramic bowls and turquoise potions.

With a wave of my hand, I summoned a stream of water straight through the windows and into my array of bowls. Soon, the role of medic fell to everyone who could move. I tossed a potion to everyone I could and told them what it was. Soon, the severe burns and bruises were fading away, but only just. Some were still far too severe to be taken care of with our lack of supplies.

If only we had some ambrosia and nectar.

But we didn't. So I made do with what I had on hand and started healing what I could. Thalia was soon free of soot and her face almost returned to normal, but was still far too pink to be considered healthy. Zoë's nose was in far better shape than we found it in. Reyna's neck injury was reduced from crippling to mild.

It was all I could do to prevent any lasting injuries, but I was beyond exhausted by the time it was done.

"Okay," I heaved, falling back into a beanbag. "Hazel. Since you seem to know the most about what happened, please tell me what you know."

She was sitting by Bianca. The young girl fanned her face, her hands coated with the viscous potion.

"You know how Reyna and I were talking about trying to take down the magic surrounding this place?"

I nodded.

"Well… we kind of succeeded, in a manner of speaking. Once Calypso started helping us, I was able to punch a hole in it. Come to find out, it was just a really heavy layer of Mist. Like… super concentrated. The problem is, when I did that, I basically got all of this magical feedback. You know about my abilities underground, how I can basically determine my position and the layout of tunnels?"

Once again, I nodded.

"Well, when I got all of that feedback, a full image of the island flashed into my head. Everything. There's a massive tunnel complex under the island, full of large chambers and all that. Like an underground fortress. But when I got that image, those tunnels weren't empty. They were filled with monsters and… something more powerful. I didn't get a good read on it, but either there was more than one really powerful being down there or something on par with the giants is lurking underneath us."

"We've handled giants before," Piper said, now drenched in sweat and soot. "We can handle whatever this is."

"Sure, with a god or two at our side," Annabeth pointed out. "Unfortunately, our resident deity is out of commission."

"We'll get to that in a bit," I said, my attention returning to Hazel. "So you found all of this. That would explain the monsters that the hippocampi were complaining about."

"Wait," Drew said. "So you knew about this?! And didn't bother doing anything or telling anyone?!"

"I didn't think it was something this big! The hippocampi complain to me all the time about this stuff, and it's almost always something that isn't even worth reporting. They once thought a drakon was invading camp when it just turned out to be a slightly large eel."

Drew huffed. "But you didn't even bother checking! How long have you known?"

I clenched my jaw. "In case you haven't noticed, we've been dealing with a bunch of gods screwing around with our lives! We had other prior—"

"Enough!" Piper shouted. "This is getting us nowhere. Hazel, what happened next?"

She shook her head. "When I saw them, someone on the other side, probably the one who put up the Mist barrier, saw me. It was like… like plucking a spider's web. The pulse of vibrations gave me a quick glimpse of the whole web, but the spider felt me do it, and it knew exactly where I was when I did. We had maybe two minutes to warn everyone before they attacked. It was rushed. They swarmed us all. It was all we could do to stay alive."

"So they didn't plan the attack," Annabeth said. "They lashed out because they didn't have any other options."

Hazel slumped forward, burying her face in her hands. "It's my fault. If I just stopped pushing—"

"No," Annabeth said. "Hazel, this is incredible! You may have just helped us solve the last piece of the puzzle!"

Just about everyone had their attention locked on Annabeth. I frowned, but listened.

"Think about it. Aphrodite said that after she paid Phorcys, he vanished. She hasn't been able to find him. What if that was because he's been here this whole time? He's been hiding right under our noses."

"So," Hazel said, "that presence I felt…"

"Most likely Phorcys," Annabeth confirmed. "It could be his entire slave operation, if what you said about the size is true."

"And how would he be able to get away with an operation that large if he's literally right underneath us?" Piper said. "Not to mention, my mother is the one who purchased the nymphs. That only makes sense, since she's the one who paid him. So she already had to know where it was. If it was here the whole time, she would know that already."

Annabeth grimaced. "I'm still working on that. There has to be an explanation."

"First things first," I said. "We need to get down there and get the nymphs back."

"You aren't going anywhere," Calypso said. "You can barely stand. There's no way way you can—"

"I promised them that they were safe! I told them I would protect them! If I can't even protect those that I care about, then what good am I as a hero?! They will be rescued. End of discussion. Now who's coming with me?"

Everyone stayed quiet longer than I was comfortable with. I didn't exactly like saying what I just said, but I needed them on my side. After the horrors the nymphs had faced, there's no telling what would happen to them.

"If you're going through with this," Hazel said, "you'll need someone to help you navigate. I opened this can of worms. The least I can do is help."

I smiled gratefully at her. My attention turned to the others. Almost no one was in fighting shape. Half of them were unconscious. Half of what remained couldn't move more than ten feet on their own.

"You're not leaving me behind again," Calypso said. "I may not know them as… intimately as you, but they are still my friends."

I grimaced. "But we need someone to help with healing everyone."

"I'll stay," Piper said. "I'm no expert, but after you were laid out by the boar, I spent a while reading up on medical practices. Don't expect me to set any bones or stitch anyone up, but I can at least keep the wounds from getting infected."

"All of this would be easier if we had some ambrosia and nectar," Katie said. "But I guess the garden will have to do in the meantime. I've got some aloe growing, and there's a couple herbs I could mix into an ointment. I doubt they've matured enough to be of much use, but it's better than nothing."

I nodded. "We only need to hold off for a couple of hours at most. After that, we can see about getting everyone properly treated."

"Maybe Hestia could help," Piper said. "Especially after earlier, she'd definitely be on our side."

Annabeth smirked. "My mom definitely wouldn't mind lending a hand to take down Phorcys. She could definitely do with a way to release all that anger."

"Fair point," I said. "Come on. Everyone pray. Maybe we'll get the message across faster."

An almost universal nod passed through everyone. Even Drew. My thoughts went straight to Hestia, asking, begging for her help. I swore up and down that I would dedicate entire feasts to her if she answered.

For nearly fifteen minutes, no one said a word. All faces were wrought with concentration, each of us trying to bring some level of divine help. I even called for my dad.

So dad… I know it's been a while, but we kind of have one of your greatest enemies at our doorstep. I know I wasn't exactly grateful about the harem, but if you could lend a hand, that would really help things along.

More time passed. Honestly, I couldn't blame everyone when, one by one, the others started giving up. A few of us kept up our prayers, hoping beyond hope that someone would answer us.

No one did.

"We're getting nowhere with this," I finally admitted.

"Why not?" Piper said. "We were literally just with them!"

"Phorcys could be blocking our prayers."

"He can do that?"

"Not by himself. But he's got telkhines working for him. If anyone knows how to block out the divine, it's them."

"Could also be an explanation for our lack of dreams," Silena said.

"Possibly," Annabeth replied, though she looked unconvinced. "Regardless, it looks like you're on our own."

"You? So you won't come with us?"

Her shoulders sagged. "You have no idea how much I want to. Seriously, I do. But if we can't get any of the gods down here, I'm the only one that's actually got the medical know-how to keep everyone alive, no offense guys."

"None taken," Katie said. "I'll make the medicine, you can take care of the difficult stuff."

"Still," Annabeth continued, "you know I'm always with you, Percy. It doesn't matter how bad things get, know that I will always be on your side."

I won't deny that my heart fluttered in my chest as she said that.

"Very touching moment, you two," Rachel interjected. "But are we sure three people will be enough?"

"Two," Hazel said. "I'll be able to help them navigate down there, but my arm is in no condition to fight."

"Seemed plenty useful when you almost took off his head," Rachel replied.

"That was an ambush! We had some degree of the element of surprise. We won't have that down there. They'll know we're coming."

"Fine, fine! So two. Let's face it. If I go down there, I'll get torn to shreds. I'll be more useful up here."

That left us with one final option.

Drew.

The demigoddess in question seemed lost in her own world. Probably one filled with gossip magazines and a never ending spa treatment. Still, she was our only available fighter, if you could call her that.

My shoulders sagged. "I know you don't care about the nymphs… but… if you help us…" I bit back a scathing remark. "I'll take away the punishment. You won't have to worry about the curse."

If anything could get her attention, that was certainly it. Her impassive expression shifted to a sultry smile. "I hope you don't have any plans tomorrow. Just let me get my knife."

"Here," Piper said, tossing her a belted sheath. "Take mine."

Drew gaped, taken aback. "But this is—"

"It's not Katropis. I stopped using it a little while ago. But we don't have time to waste."

Drew pursed her lips, but shrugged. She clasped the belt around her hips and turned to me. "I guess we're back to three."

Cinder squawked from the headboard above Thalia before leaping onto my shoulder. He chirped expectantly, tilting his head.

"Make that four," I said, grinning at our little friend.

I took a look at everyone. Most of them couldn't look back at me, their injuries too severe. I could only hope it wouldn't be my last time seeing them.

"Let's go," I finally said. "Let's pay Phorcys a little visit."

A/N - What's this? Another update? This soon?! How is this possible?! Joking aside, I hope you enjoyed what this chapter brought to the table. Definitely a tone shift compared to most chapters. Things are starting to get intense now. We can only wait and see where this leads us.

I appreciate most of the reviews that came in last time. But to the one guest that, because they are a guest, I can't respond to, yes, I'm aware of the time it takes to read this story. But no matter what you do, you're at a net positive. I've been working on this story for over two years now to absolutely no charge on your part. So you'll have to excuse me if I'm not too keen on sharing information with those who would rather make demands of my already free labor rather than reach out an olive branch and see for themselves what the issue is. This isn't about me not giving you a reason. This is about guests trying to make demands of my labor when they aren't even willing to do a fraction the effort that I put in for themselves. Seriously, it takes five minutes at most to join the discord server. It's one hundred percent free. It currently has like two thousand dollars worth of commissioned artwork on it made specifically for your enjoyment. And despite all of that, I'm the bad guy for not sharing information to people who, quite honestly, couldn't care less.

Rant aside, I do sincerely hope you enjoyed what this chapter brought. It was definitely fun to write, and for now, you can only imagine what fun the events of this chapter will bring in the future. In any case, I wish you all a better day than Percy is currently having. This is Ronin signing off.