Tunnel Trouble

"So where was the entrance again?"

Hazel had wasted no time in directing us to where we needed to go. Despite a slight limp, she moved like a woman on a mission, which, for all intents and purposes, she was. I raised my concern about my dream the night before, and the similarity of the architecture to that of the dungeons. Despite that, she assured me that the entrance itself was nowhere near the mansion.

Once more, we found ourselves in a familiar cave, complete with glowing crystals that were at once invigorating, relaxing, and slightly menacing.

"In here," she finally said.

My jaw nearly hit the floor. Of all the locations, the entrance just so happened to be the watering hole we had turned into a stables for the hippocampi. Or in other words, the spot where Hazel and I familiarized each other with how our tongues tasted.

She was definitely recalling our activities from a few days ago. Though she may have attempted to pass it off as fatigue after a long day, I knew the real reason her cheeks were flushed.

"It's an underwater cave system," Hazel said. "I can navigate the tunnels, but… Percy, we're going to need you to be our submarine. The trip there is definitely way too far for us to hold our breath."

I smirked, unsurprised. "No problem."

"Also," she continued, pressing her hand to the floor, "it's not super clear, but I can definitely tell you that this will require multiple trips. There's a bottleneck nearby that's too big for a group. Two people might be able to squeeze through. I can't see much more beyond that, but there could be several similar spots."

I forced a sigh.

Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

"Alright. I'm ready when you are."

She nodded and reached out her hand. I accepted it tenderly.

"Hold your breath for about five seconds," I said before taking my first step into the pool.

Hazel followed me, and before we knew it, we were wrapped in a bubble large enough for the two of us. Despite that, she seemed intent on holding her breath.

"You can breathe now."

So she did, and made quite the show of it. She gasped as if she had held her breath for ten minutes rather than thirty seconds.

I shook my head, smiling. "After you, Miss Navigator."

It didn't take very long for us to realize one glaring issue with our plan. Hazel couldn't navigate while underwater. Without direct contact with the tunnel walls, she couldn't see anymore than a typical mortal. So, despite our efforts to avoid making this trip any more awkward or difficult than it needed to be, I shrank down our bubble and threw her on my back. She wrapped one arm around my neck and pressed the other to the ceiling, clinging on to me like I was a rideable seal.

"Go fifty feet down," she said. "That's where the choke point is."

And so I listened. Sure enough, we found ourselves at a gap no larger than a manhole cover.

"I'll go first," I said. "If anything attacks, I'll stand a better chance at fending them off."

She didn't say anything, but she briefly squeezed my shoulder before letting go.

"Take a breath," I said.

She did, and I collapsed the bubble around us. Within seconds, I slipped through the hole and took in the surroundings. Nothing attacked. Nothing moved. Despite the fact that the average mortal wouldn't be able to see anything except pitch black, my eyes took to the underwater cave quite well. After all, what's one small cave compared to the bottom of the ocean?

Unfortunately, Hazel didn't share my underwater sight, which became painstakingly obvious when I motioned for her to follow me only for her not to do so. Grimacing, I lunged forward and grasped her hand before pulling us both through the gap.

If she could scream underwater, she would have. She thrashed and fought against my grip, but once she realized it was me, she steadied herself. Even underwater, I could see her face turning purple, so I summoned nearby bubbles to give us another pocket to breathe in.

The second we had a bubble around us, she gasped and spluttered, taking in as much sweet oxygen as she could.

I let out a sigh. "This isn't going to work."

"Just," she heaved, "warn me next time."

"New plan," I said. "I'll wrap a bubble around your head. You hold onto me and navigate."

She frowned. "Only in our lives would that sentence make sense. Lead on, horsey."

I didn't bother justifying that name with a response.

She mounted herself on my back, wrapping one arm around my chest and her legs around my waist. Our massive bubble shrunk down to just around her head, giving her the weird appearance of a severely underprepared astronaut.

Of course, she also felt the need to tap her heels on my hips as if spurring a steed. If not for our extreme time crunch, I wouldn't have indulged her. Alas, I had no choice but to move forward.

Fortunately, we didn't run into any other choke points. Unfortunately, I became painfully aware of how much Hazel was trying to ignore our position. Given what we would have to do in the near future, I couldn't blame her.

"So… I know this isn't the time…"

"No," she replied. "It really isn't. And I'd greatly appreciate it if you focused on the task at hand."

"...Right."

The rest of our ride went on in silence. Our destination couldn't arrive soon enough. After about ten minutes, we broke the water's surface and found ourselves in what still appeared to be a natural cave. Just like above, luminescent crystals provided a modicum of light. However, unlike the gentle purples and whites, these new crystals glowed sickly green and mottled yellow.

Hazel dismounted and peeked ahead. "We're in the right spot. In another two hundred feet, the cave branches off in two directions. If we turn left, the cave smooths out. It definitely isn't natural."

"Duly noted." I turned back to the water. "Are you going to be okay down here?"

She offered me a gentle smile. "I may not be at my best, but I think I know how to stay out of sight."

I nodded and submerged myself once more. The return rip was much quicker. A definite bonus of being Poseidon's child was my ever present internal GPS while on the water, or in this case, under it. Navigating back was no issue at all, save for me mistaking a large patch of seaweed for the nose hairs of the skolopendra.

When I returned to the surface, the very first thing I heard was a gasp of relief.

"Told you," Drew said, sitting with her back to a column, examining her nails.

"But they were down so long," Calypso said. "I didn't know if—"

"It's alright. Son of Poseidon here. I can breathe underwater. Anyways, who's next?"

"Me!" Calypso practically jumped, only to lose a great deal of enthusiasm a second later. "But… there's one issue."

I let out a sigh. "Of course there is. What is it this time?"

Calypso gestured to a lit sconce, upon which stood Cinder. "How exactly are we going to transport him underwater?"

I opened my mouth to reply, only to realize I had no clue what to say. That was actually a good point. How would we transport a phoenix underwater?

"Well, I can summon a bubble around us before we head under. But he'll need to stay very still." I turned to Cinder, who seemed to be treating the flames of the sconce like a bath. "Are you willing to do that? Would you stay still long enough for us to get down there?"

He squawked and jumped in response, which I decided to take as a yes.

"There. It's settled. In the meantime—" I turned around and kneeled "—hop on."

I certainly didn't need to tell her twice. She all but pounced on my back, tightly wrapping her arms around my chest, and her legs around my waist. The sudden weight almost knocked us forward, but I steadied myself enough to take things slowly.

"Take a breath," I said, now getting tired of repeating myself.

She did as I said, and so I took another plunge into the water. This particular trip didn't take very long. Once I crafted a bubble around our heads, Calypso wasted no time in burying her face in my neck. Besides that, she kept relatively still, which made our journey to meet Hazel a fairly smooth ride.

Of course, I didn't fail to notice the way she would squeeze herself against me, making it painfully obvious that she was aroused, what with her hardened nipples pressing into my back. Not to mention, the incessant purring in my ear left very little to doubt.

"Enjoying yourself?"

She hummed. "You have no idea."

Despite the evidence that she could go on like this for hours, she reluctantly parted with me once we reached Hazel, who managed to carve an alcove to hide in, and coated it with a heavy layer of Mist.

Calypso joined her in the alcove, and left me to return to the surface.

"Who's next?" I asked once I breached the mouth of the cave.

Drew shrugged nonchalantly. "If something goes wrong down there, he'd be more helpful than I would."

In other words, I know I agreed to go down with you, but I really don't want to.

"Fine," I said before turning to Cinder. "You ready?"

He responded by flapping his way over to me and perching on my shoulder. He was surprisingly light for his size, but I suppose it should have been expected.

"You might need to ride on my back. There's no way I can safely cover you if you're on my shoulder."

Note to self: phoenixes take your words quite literally.

He tilted his head in confusion, but took my advice… more literally than I'd thought. With a chirp, he turned around and dove onto my back, using the opening of my shirt as an entrance.

"Hey! Hey, wait! Not like that!"

I all but danced as Cinder tried situating himself directly on my back. His talons were most definitely not doing my skin any favors. Unfortunately, my panic started to rile him up, which meant that his body temperature started to rise.

The moment I heard my skin start to hiss, I knew there was a major problem. If not for me being a son of Poseidon, Cinder might have accidentally cooked my internal organs to a crisp medium well. However, though the extreme heat was uncomfortable, my shirt wasn't nearly as fireproof as I was.

As smoke filled my nose, I knew I was only a couple of seconds from winding up like Thalia. So, in a final act of desperation, I reached behind my neck and grabbed my shirt collar before ripping it over my head. Cinder had successfully burned a hole into the back, leaving the shirt with the appearance of a singed vest. I tossed the burnt fabric into the water with a sigh as Cinder settled himself on my back, his talons hooked a solid half inch into my skin. Despite the pain, I knew it was the best I could ask for.

Only then did I realize we still had an audience.

I turned to find Drew staring wide eyed at me. She made no attempt to hide the hunger in her gaze, going so far as to lick her lips.

"Hon, I am so going to have some fun with you."

I groaned internally before turning to the water. With a cursory glance backwards, I prayed that Cinder would stay calm during the trip before taking a step forward.

My prayers are very rarely answered.

We managed it about halfway with me working as Cinder's makeshift submarine before we encountered a snag. A wide open chamber that apparently looked a little too much like the depths of the ocean caused him to panic. His talons once more started to sizzle against my skin before he practically shrieked. He detached himself from my back and practically lunged into the water above him.

Water and phoenixes don't mix.

The previously pitch black cavern lit up like Camp Half-Blood on the fourth of July. Wave upon wave of heat radiated from Cinder, drying my lips despite literally being underwater. The area around him boiled, making his form blurry to see at best.

In an attempt to calm him down, I opened up a bubble of air around him, large enough for him to fly in, before launching myself towards him like a torpedo and catching him in the most painful hug I've ever given someone.

I won't lie, I screamed. I screamed loud enough to practically shake the island to its roots. The burning against my chest was unlike anything I'd experienced, and this is coming from a guy who has both been covered in lava and drank from it. For the briefest of moments, I felt nothing but cold, only to almost immediately find myself doubled over and foggy headed as I contemplated my life's choices.

Fortunately, the moment passed. Whatever it was that I did, it managed to calm Cinder down, leaving us in the middle of an air bubble, using a small geyser to keep us centered.

I didn't even bother looking at my chest, but did take a second to glance down at the phoenix.

"Are you done now?" I asked, shuddering.

He only tilted his head and chirped.

"You're going to be the death of me," I groaned.

With us more or less situated, I collapsed the bubble around us until it was large enough for only him to rest comfortably. Unfortunately, with him now pressed to my chest, I wasn't able to bring any water to heal me.

Nevertheless, we began what was arguably the most painful swim I've endured since the Styx. Despite only lasting about five minutes, it could have been five hours with how much my pain made it droll on. On the plus side, Cinder remained calm enough that he didn't nearly turn me into a Percy brûlée.

Never before had I been so relieved to see the opening of a cave. Based on Cinder's response, he shared the sentiment. The moment we exited the water, he jumped out of my arms and squawked with joy. The pain in my chest was so severe, I didn't even bother telling him to keep quiet. My arms weren't much better.

Only then did the other two reveal themselves.

"Percy!" Calypso rushed from the makeshift hiding spot. "What happened?! Are you hurt?!"

I sat down at the water's edge and groaned. "Just a bit."

Of course, that's when she saw my chest, and it wasn't pretty.

"No! No no no. You sit right there. Don't move."

I doubted I could with how fuzzy my head was starting to get. If my head had been any clearer, I would have voiced the importance of staying quiet for stealth missions. Instead, all I could think of was how lovely Calypso's singing voice was as it echoed throughout the cave. The pain subsided, and I slouched forward, falling face first into the water.

Sheer bliss is the only way I can describe how the water felt on my burning skin. There was definitely something magical about the waters, but at that moment I wasn't complaining.

When my thoughts cleared up, I pulled myself from the water once more, much to the evident relief of Hazel and Calypso.

"How are you feeling?" Calypso asked, her voice tight with worry.

"Much better, thank you," I rasped out. I took a few moments to collect myself.

She looked over my chest, her brows furrowed. "That will definitely leave a scar, but I should be able to take care of most of it when we have more time."

"That would be greatly appreciated."

"Um, Percy," Hazel said, fanning her face with her eyes averted. "Where's your shirt?"

All I could do was look to Cinder, who tilted his head and chirped innocently.

"This isn't over," I said.

He squawked defensively, leaving Hazel with a flushed face and possibly even more confused than before.

"Anyways," I said, "I have one last trip to make."

For the last time, I returned to the surface to retrieve an ally.

The water on the way up definitely helped, reducing the severe sting in my chest to more of an ache. Of course, it was still like a horse decided to kick me with freshly forged horseshoes, but it was an improvement.

When I returned to the surface, Drew glanced over nonchalantly and stood, taking her time to stretch her arms over her head and yawn. Of course, it was really just an effort to show off her midriff. I'll admit that it was a very enticing show, but I'd never tell her that.

"You ready?"

"Mhmm," she moaned out.

The few steps she took towards me were like her very own catwalk, but I did my best to ignore her blatant attempts at arousing me. Of course, the moment she saw my chest, her efforts came to an end.

"What happened to you?"

"Cinder," I grumbled. "Let's go."

"Wait!"

I grimaced, but relented, slowly turning to face her. For once, I saw genuine concern in her eyes. She tenderly rubbed along the edges of the burnt scar tissue, which may or may not have drawn a subtle moan from my throat.

"How much does it hurt?"

"It sucks. Now, let's go. Time's wasting."

I turned around and knelt. Like Calypso, she wasted no time in mounting me. Unlike Calypso, she did so gracefully, with a practiced poise that was partly imperious and partly erotic. With her soft body hugging against mine, I found myself thankful for the pain in my chest, as it helped me stave off the erection that was trying to form in my pants.

For the final time, I dipped below the water's surface and surrounded us with a bubble. She thankfully kept her hands off of my chest, opting to hold them around my abdomen. I half expected her to try and continue seducing me, especially with her hands so close to my groin. However, she kept her hands to herself and allowed our trip to pass without incident… Minus the small gap which forced me to carry them one at a time.

She insisted on keeping hold of me, and because I wasn't in the mood to argue, I gave her what she wanted. Had she been any curvier, there's no way we would have squeezed through. Thankfully, her slim build helped us get through the hole with relatively little difficulty.

"Mmm," she moaned. "My body feels so good pressed so tightly against yours."

As I squeezed us through, she nibbled my ear, earning a growl from me.

"Now is not the time."

"Ooh, so you are the dominant type. Good." She pressed her lips to my ear. "I like a man who takes control."

I didn't bother replying, which meant that the rest of the trip carried on without further incident.

When at last I broke the water's surface, Drew released me from her grip with a satisfied hum. "Thanks for the ride, hon."

Calypso, who was waiting for us at the water's edge, went red in the face and turned on me. With as much fury and fear as I could see in her expression, I half expected her to push me back into the water. Instead, she all but tackled me in a quite heated kiss. Her tongue wasted no time exploring my mouth, an exaggerated moan escaping her lips.

Drew whirled around with her mouth agape. Calypso made sure to angle us just right for Drew to see her tongue bridging the gap between our mouths. Her hands roamed up and down my upper arms, taking care not to touch the sensitive patch that Cinder burned.

When she finally pulled away, she gave me a final peck, leaving me light headed and smiling like an idiot. Drew watched her skip past with a frown. Hazel, the poor innocent soul that she is, was practically panting, fanning her face like it was about to catch fire.

"So," I said, now feeling a bit more peppy than I should have been given the circumstances, "I believe you said we should go left."

Never let it be said that I underestimated Hazel. Sure, in the water, she was about as reliable as a seventy year old map. But once she was in her home element, she truly shined as a princess of the underground.

It came as no surprise when the cave walls started shifting into something smoother. The damp cobbled floor echoed with every step we took, despite our efforts to remain quiet. Several corridors branched off, and Hazel led us through them like a bloodhound to a murder. A couple of doors lined the walls, but when I went to reach for one, she merely grabbed my wrist and shook her head.

Not knowing what was behind them drove me insane. This deep into the dungeon, I was expecting something, someone, to confront us. It was only when we found ourselves approaching a tee intersection that my expectations were met.

"There's three on both directions," Hazel whispered. "There's no other way around them."

"Can't make the tunnels bend to your will?" I asked hopefully.

She shook her head. "These aren't natural tunnels. Something about this place is off. Like it's alive."

No sooner did she say that before a stressed groan shook us to our core. My teeth chattered, as did my knees. Calypso gasped out. Cinder, ever the stealthy one, squawked in panic.

"Come on out!" a voice barked from around the corner. "There's no point in hiding. We knew you would be down here for hours."

Drew huffed. "There goes our so-called element of surprise. I'll take care of this."

She stood from her crouched position, pulled back her hair, and dusted off her pants. As she took a step forward, I grabbed her by the shoulder, eyes wide.

She only smirked. "Don't worry, hon. I'm not nearly as helpless as you think."

Once more, she strolled forward with a lovely sway to her hips.

"I'm telling you all, there's no point in keeping this up," she said, stepping into the intersection. She crossed her arms and shook her head, looking at whoever was at one of the two groups. "Alright. Congratulations. You caught us. Now if I play nice, would you show us where the nymphs are. We'd love to have them back."

The voice growled with laughter, followed by several more. With a few padded steps, a cyclops stepped out from both sides of the intersection, each one flanked by two telkhines.

"You must think we're stupid," a telkhine laughed. "You're not getting them back, but we'd be happy to take you to them."

"Really?!" She perked up, twirling her hair. "Oh, that would be lovely. I'm not much of a fighter, so if you could take me to them without a fight, that would be lovely."

The amount of charmspeak in her voice started to make me sway. I could almost believe we wouldn't have to fight.

Once more, the telkhine barked with laughter, but both cyclopes frowned.

"Why you not fight us?" one said, his voice filled with more bass than a rock concert.

"I told you, hon. I'm not really a fighter. More of a lover, really."

"Good," another telkhine growled. "We can always do with more lovers. And I'm sure a demigod would sell for a lot more than a nymph."

"Really?" Drew shifted her waist flirtatiously, still playing with her hair. "I never thought about that. Though I suppose the work would be easy."

"Oh yes." A telkhine took another step forward, and took a deep whiff. "Mmm. Daughter of Aphrodite. Yes, you would be perfect for our operation. But we need to be sure you're worth training."

Drew pouted, placing her hands behind her back, batting her eyes innocently. "You don't think I can do it?"

"On the contrary," he said. "Why don't we test you? A good little slut should have no issue pleasing several men, regardless of their size."

"Oh, well," she hesitated for a moment before setting her jaw. "If that's what it takes. Why don't you all gather around? I'll take good care of you."

As she knelt to the ground, I resisted the urge to walk forward and stop what was quite possibly the most disturbing sight I'd ever encountered. Each of them removed their various waist pieces, whether it was armor or regular clothing, giving me way too much insight regarding monster anatomy.

"That's right, you little slut. Show us what a goo— agh!"

Before my eyes, all six monsters exploded into gold powder one after another in quick succession. By the time the final cyclops could even register what was happening, he already was missing a vital part of his anatomy.

"Uh oh," was all he could manage before he dissolved away.

Drew stood, flicking some monster blood from her dagger before sheathing it. She dusted off her knees and returned to us as we all stared back slack-jawed.

"What? You think I never had to defend myself outside of camp?"

I couldn't even bring myself to answer, half disgusted with what they were about to do to her, half mortified with what she just did to them.

"Uhh…"

She huffed. "Just because I don't enjoy training doesn't mean I won't do it."

"I'm pretty sure they aren't thinking about that right now," Calypso said.

Sure enough, Hazel was fanning her face, her complexion paling.

"I'll need to bleach my eyes to unsee that," I finally said.

Drew frowned. "What are you… Oh, that." She glanced back at the ring of monster dust. "Well, I may as well use what I have, and as I'm sure you can testify—" she slinked forward, pressing her lips by my ear "—I have a lot to offer."

She pulled away and sashayed back to the intersection before glancing back. "You coming or what?"

Our next encounter didn't go over quite so peacefully. After Hazel led us through another half dozen corridors, we found ourselves on the wrong side of a dracaena phalanx.

"Ssso, the sssix fools failed to bring you in," one of them said.

"To be fair, you put six mediocre monsters against a handful of demigods who defeated Gaia."

The dracaena in question gritted her teeth. "Well, we won't make that mistake a sssecond time."

The remaining dozen or so dracaena hissed in response before shuffling forward, their shields interlocked.

I glanced at Drew. "You want to try seducing them again?"

She pursed her lips. "Thanks hon, but I don't do snakes."

"You didn't seem to mind five minutes ago," Hazel muttered.

"No luck with the earth?"

She shook her head. "Like I said, there's something off about this place."

"Is it sturdy?" Calypso asked.

Hazel nodded. "A lot more than it should be. Why? You want Cinder to take them out?"

Cinder chirped excitedly.

"Ahm, no," I said, frowning down at my chest. "This place is way too cramped for that."

"Not what I had in mind anyways," Calypso said, stepping forward, twenty feet from the encroaching phalanx. "Cover your ears and prepare yourselves."

We all did as she said, drawing our weapons before taking a step back with our ears covered. I half contemplated covering Cinder with my body, but he got the message and flew back the way we came.

I sealed my eyes shut as Calypso cupped her hands together and took a deep breath.

THOOM!

Even with my ears covered, the shockwave rattled my brain and left me wondering where I was. Fortunately, my blurry vision didn't take too long to refocus. The same was true of Hazel and Drew, who were already starting to shake off their dizziness.

The dracaena took the worst of the blast. Almost half of them were evidently vaporized by the shockwave itself, or perhaps from their celestial bronze spears flying back into their faces. Of those who were left, they laid, sprawled out along the corridor, groaning and hissing in pain.

We decided to put them out of their misery. Like some weird battlefield executioners, we each took our share of either decapitating or stabbing the snake ladies. With their last dying screams, we all but clapped ourselves on the back for a job well done.

"Good job, Calypso. Remind me not to piss you off."

She smiled bashfully, wringing her hands in the folds of her dress.

"Cinder!"

SQUAWK! WHOOSH!

The corridor he flew down flashed alight with an wide array of oranges, reds, and yellows. A chorus of roars and wails followed the flash.

"Uh oh."

We all dashed back down the corridor, only to find we couldn't make it very far without our shoes melting. And though I'm sure Calypso and Drew wouldn't mind, I wasn't in the mood to lose my pants along with my shirt.

"Cinder!"

Squawk!

Our flaming feathered friend flew from within the inferno, his white eyes flashing with glee.

"Uh, what was that about?" Drew asked.

Hazel pressed her hand to the floor for a few seconds before standing up with gritted teeth. "I have good news and bad news."

"Oh no."

"The good news is he just took out about fifty monsters that were hiding out in the rooms from before."

"And the bad news?" Calypso asked.

"This was our only way back to the surface, and even when the flames burn out, the floor will be hot enough to melt our feet down to the bone."

"Lovely. Well, let's hope there's plenty of water where we're going." I began making my way back to the dracaena corridor. "By the way," I paused, "are there any other surprises we should look out for?"

Hazel took a breath before repeating her earlier actions, placing her palms to the floor.

"It doesn't look like anything is nearby. But I've been leading us to the largest chamber down here. I figured it would be large enough to hold the nymphs. Much more than large enough."

"How much further?"

"Not much. Maybe another five minute walk."

"Great. Let's go."

"Wait!"

My shoulders sagged. "What now?"

She stood, her eyes wide with panic. "That room. The big one. That glimpse I got before. That super powerful being. Whatever it is, it's in there."

I let out a sigh. "Alright. I may not get the chance to say this later, so…" I turned to face the girls. "Thank you. Seriously. I don't know how close you are to the nymphs, but I care about them. They don't deserve the torment they've faced. You don't deserve what's happened these past few weeks. And even though none of this shouldn't have happened, you stuck with me. This may not be the most difficult quest we've undergone, but it's no less important. If we get out of this, I'll owe you all." I glanced towards Cinder. "Even you, I'll forgive what you did to my shirt."

Squawk!

I grinned. "Now what do you say we cause a little mayhem?"

Each of them reacted differently. Drew curled her lip, her eyes shining with mirth. Hazel beamed at me, apparently no longer caring that I've done this mission half naked. Cinder hopped off Hazel's shoulder before doing a few excited loops in the air. Calypso, who smiled at me with teary eyes, took a few steps forward before pulling me in for a kiss.

Thankfully, she didn't make a show of it, and pulled away a few seconds later before wiping her eyes. "Let's go set them free."

When we arrived at the chamber, I knew without question exactly where we were. The room was about the size of a football stadium. A row of columns trailed down the middle to either side of us, each on opposites of a glass covered channel filled with semi luminescent water. I struggled to bring my gaze between the columns. As in my dream, the gaps were filled with petrified statues of nymphs. I couldn't even begin to count how many there were.

"Hazel, go ahead and wait here. Hopefully, we won't need to fall back, but if we do, we'll need you to cover us."

She grimaced, but gave us a nod. "Don't die."

I grinned. "Wouldn't plan on it."

That left Drew, Calypso, and myself to march down the line of columns, with Cinder having now taken to Calypso. I felt drawn to the water channel that ran alongside us, but decided not to step on the glass. No point in risking another injury before the fight started.

With each and every column that passed, I found my anger rising to a boil. The amount of statues was both unsettling and infuriating, especially when each one bore an expression of sheer terror and agony.

"Who would make statues like this?" Calypso whispered.

"They aren't just statues," I said. "They were all nymphs, petrified from the severed head of Medusa." By the time I finished, my throat felt like I swallowed a gallon of gravel.

"Percy?" Calypso's eyes shone with worry.

"Medusa was one of the first monsters I killed. I'm the one who chopped her head off and sent it to Olympus. So, in a way, I'm responsible for—"

"Don't you dare say that!" she snapped. "This has nothing to do with you!"

"For once, I have to agree," Drew said. "Hon, you couldn't have seen this coming. Sometimes, good deeds just come back to punish people. But this isn't your fault."

"Indeed," a new voice called out. "That responsibility would fall to him."

Our gazes all snapped to one of the centermost columns. There stood a pale woman. Frizzy hair tumbled down her back. Her eyes were now free of glasses, and her teeth, though now sharper than I remembered, were free of braces. She looked far less like a schoolgirl from months earlier and now much more like a personified version of a shark.

"Keto," I spat. "You here to geek out about the benefits of slavery?"

She scowled. "I didn't know about any of this until recently. This place is much harder to find than you would think. And despite what my so-called husband claims, this was all done for his benefit. He's as good as dead to me."

"Then what are you doing here?" Drew said. "And no offense, but you need some serious moisturizer for your hair."

She crossed her arms with a pout before lifting her foot. Wrapped around her ankle was a heavy shackle.

"Funny thing about telkhine slavers," she said. "They are quite proficient with neutralizing powers, if given enough time and preparation."

Drew rattled her head, perplexed. "And why are you… Wait, what? Your husband did this? Why?"

"Because I wasn't going to risk the security of this operation," a familiar voice echoed across the chamber.

"Phorcys," I growled.

"Yes," he replied, his voice seeming to emanate from everywhere at once. "Why don't you come closer?"

The world around us seemed to warp, just like when Frank and I were trapped in the aquarium. By the time my stomach could settle, I realized all of us were brought to the far end of the room.

"I hate when he does that," Keto groaned, apparently now attached to another pillar.

Calypso shook her dizziness away, but Drew seemed to turn green within a few seconds.

Upon a dais was built a throne, one that no sane person would ever find themselves in. For better or worse, the one who sat on it wasn't really a person, nor was he really sane.

"Welcome," he said, his wide smile grotesquely stretching across his entire face. "It seems like fate has brought us together once more."

A/N - Man, I've been on a roll lately. That said, I'm pretty sure this is not what you were expecting out of this chapter. Well, before the big boss fight, you need to reach him first. Plus, I think we all deserved a little time with some of our more underutilized characters.

Now, this author's note is going to be a bit different. My beta reader, Ignis Cogitare, has requested to have some words with you all this time around. I'm more than happy to grant him that request. So without further ado, I present to you Ignis Cogitate:

"Hey all, Ignis here. I've been working with Ronin for a long time now, and it's been a wonderful experience. He's been a great guy to talk to, a good ear, and his characters even inspired me to write my own pieces about them. While my writing may be, in my mind, highly flawed, he inspired me to do something I never thought I'd try again. And it gave me even more respect for the amazing work he's done with this story, and his perseverance, through thick and thin and foot muscles done in. Hell, even the discord community he's brought together is one of the best I know. If you ever want a question answered, that's the place. So I hope you know that while he does this for himself, he's trying his best. To those who acknowledge that, thank you. To those who don't, think on it. And as a final word, for the first time in the entire time I've beta read for him, he used the wrong "you're". In any case, Tschau!"

And my thanks go to you Ignis, for sticking with me through thick and thin these past couple of years. And likewise, I want to give a special shout out of appreciation to anyone who's been here since the beginning. I know it's been a long ride, and we still have longer to go, but we're getting there, slowly but surely.

As always, leave your thoughts. Give me some insights. Point out some highlights. Stop by the server to check out the latest works. Of course, you'll totally have to be above eighteen to see them, but I wouldn't dare think that any of you are underage. Nah. What are the possibilities of that?

Joking aside, I do hope you all enjoyed the chapter. This is Ronin signing off.