They didn't stop running. Not when the rain faded to a drizzle, not when the New York skyline disappeared behind them. Only when the darkness became too thick to navigate without smacking into tree branches did they finally stop to make camp.

"Your bag," Grover realized as Percy finally managed to spark a small campfire from a stack of dried out leaves and twigs, "You don't have it."

Thunder rolled through the sky, almost mocking, and Percy shuddered. "The lightning got it."

Annabeth leaned forward in anticipation. She had that look, the same one she had when she was trying to figure out why the gods were fighting back at camp. "The lightning got you. How did you survive that?"

Percy wished he had an answer. Part of him wanted to boil it down to his fire immunity, but he liked to think he knew better than that. He felt the lightning, unlike when he touched fire. The lightning hurt him.

His quest should have ended back there.

All he could say was, "I don't know."

Her eyes stayed glued to him as he gingerly reached into the fire and waited for it to burn away the residual stinging left from the lightning strike. His other wounds had only taken a bit of focus to heal, but it seemed the power of Zeus was too much for his abilities to overcome.

"Your mother is the goddess of the home," Annabeth offered, "she's responsible for keeping the hearth burning while everyone is away. Keeping the home protected. Maybe she protected you."

Percy shrugged miserably. Thankfully the fire was working to soothe his pain, but it was getting harder and harder to appreciate the small things like that. They had barely made it out of the city and he had already almost been murdered by two of the strongest gods around. If she was really protecting him, if she really cared, then why couldn't she stop those things from happening in the first place? Why couldn't she take them to Hades herself?

"I know what you're thinking," Annabeth said quietly.

Percy didn't look at her.

"The gods are forbidden from directly interfering in the lives of their children," she continued. "No matter how much they might want to. And the others? They're allowed to make it as difficult as they please. They think it makes us stronger."

Percy grumbled under his breath, "Dumb rule," and Annabeth agreed just as silently.

Percy watched as she gingerly unwrapped a piece of red-stained cloth from her hand, revealing the gash on her palm from the glass shards. She hissed through her teeth as she took a water bottle from her bag and poured the tiniest amount on the cut to try to clean it out.

"Hey, hold on a second," Percy shuffled over to her side, "Oh, man. That's a nasty one."

She rolled her eyes and continued to dab at it with her shirt. "Yeah, well most of us don't get to heal like you do."

Percy winced as she hit a particularly raw spot and had to bunch up her jeans in her fists to keep from yelping. "Just- wait a second. Let me try something. Hestia is also the goddess of hospitality, right?"

Annabeth paused cleaning the wound, watching warily as Percy took her injured hand in both of his. "I don't see how that-"

Percy closed his eyes and blocked her out. He needed something warm and steady. Nothing wild or explosive, like on the bus. Annabeth squirmed as his hands began to rise in temperature but didn't try to rip her hand away.

"It's okay," he said as calmly as he could while trying so hard to focus on not creating another explosion like back on the bus. Somehow, that seemed to soothe her. "Almost done."

He removed his top hand and watched as the countless scrapes and bruises on her hand began to knit themselves together and fade away. The largest gash went last, smoothing over and leaving no more than a scar.

Percy grinned. "Sweet-"

A sudden sting zipped through his palm. He jerked back with a gasp, shaking his hand out. He and Annabeth stared as a fresh cut split open on his palm, identical to the one she had just had, before beginning to close itself.

"Because Hestia takes on the burden of protecting the home-" Annabeth began.

"I can take on the burdens of others, too," Percy finished.

"Percy," Annabeth said in a tone that he, for a moment, thought might be a soft thanks or a congratulations for learning something new, but all that he got next was, "never do that again."

"What?!" Percy lit up in protest, "But it's so useful! What if one of you gets, I don't know, a broken leg or something? It's way easier for me to heal myself than someone else!"

Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose. "Percy, we need to be able to take care of ourselves, and that makes me worry that if you start doing that every time one of us gets hurt then you'll forget that you need to look out for yourself, too."

She was right. She was a daughter of Athena. Of course she was right.

"Okay," he sighed, "Well, the smaller cuts, they healed, didn't they?" she nodded. "Then I'll get stronger. That way I can heal the bigger stuff without taking it."

"Mhm. Better."

It wasn't a promise. He knew that she knew too, but it was easier to pretend.

Annabeth pulled her knees to her chest, staring into the campfire. "You should get some rest."

"I can stay up-"

"Percy, you got struck by lightning an hour ago. Go to sleep."

In his dreams he watched a young girl with choppy black hair sprinting through the forest. She couldn't have been any older than himself, but her hardened expression looked years beyond him. The world had been trying to beat her down for a long time, but she wouldn't stop running.

Monsters cried out in the distance. The Furies, cyclopes, and a legion of enormous black hounds. Hades wanted this girl dead.

"Keep going!" she shouted to three other figures far ahead of her, "Don't you dare stop until you're safe!"

She tried to push on, but a seeping wound in her stomach held her back. Slowed her down. She wasn't going to make it, and she knew it.

She slowed to a stop and turned to face the monsters. Her eyes lit up like an angry thunderhead as the hounds closed in on her.

Electricity filled her veins, and she screamed. Lightning shot out in every direction, vaporizing the hounds as the world went blindingly bright

Percy jolted awake, the sound of thunder still ringing in his ears.

No…

No, that wasn't thunder at all. Something massive was walking by,

"What-" was all he got out before Grover tackled him to the ground and covered his mouth.

"Shh!" He held a finger up and pointed to the trees. A silhouette was lumbering nearby. He could hear it sniffing, but something was weird. It sounded like more than one nose was trying to sniff them out.

"Where's Annabeth?" he asked. The firepit was still steaming, recently doused by what was left in her water bottle, but the daughter of Athena was nowhere to be seen.

"Stay quiet until she gives the signal," he whispered, though his voice still shook with trepidation. "We can't give our position away before she's ready."

Percy fought to keep his breathing steady as a huge scaly head on a long neck stretched into their campsite and sniffed the spot where he had been sleeping. His breath hitched in his throat as it snorted. It had his scent.

"Not yet, Perce."

A second head emerged from the woods, then a third, then a fourth, and a fifth, all identical except that their breath got progressively worse, so bad that Percy thought he might die from the stench alone. Only then did its body emerge, a white dragon the size of a pickup truck with five identical heads.

It was… smaller than he expected.

"The Hydra," Percy gasped, "do most demigods fight this many legendary monsters in their first two days?!"

Finally conscious enough to carry his own weight, he backed away from Grover and drew Riptide from his pocket but didn't click it. The glowing of the Celestial Bronze would most certainly draw its attention.

Where is Annabeth? He mouthed to the Grover who simply pointed to the Hydra as he drew his own weapons from his backpack; a set of reed pipes and a tin can.

Something landed on the Hydra's back with a clattering thud as it slid across the scales, but nothing was visible. The monster's heads all snapped around in tandem to search its back for the offender, but it found nothing. It was almost comical how each head snapped around like a curious chicken, searching itself for something it could feel but couldn't see.

I feel you, dude, Percy thought, When it's windy and you think there's a spider on your leg? No thank you.

Of all the things that he expected next, it certainly wasn't one of the Hydra heads to look at him, and in his head hear in a surprisingly young voice, You. Help?

What the fuck?

"Grover, did you hear that?"

Grover looked at him like he was insane, which Percy didn't appreciate very much. He shook his arms out in an attempt to steady himself before taking to the skies with a Maia! And lifting his reed pipes to his mouth and beginning a song. It was awful, but it seemed to do its job. Vines exploded from the dirt and wrapped themselves around the Hydra's legs to lock it down.

The leftmost head tried to bite at Percy. He was certain that his quest would come to an end right then and there when a flying goat boy came zooming in from the size and kicked it right in the nose so hard that it almost ran away. Unfortunately it had four more heads telling it otherwise.

"Now, Annabeth!" he yelled, and two of the reptilian heads fell to the ground with a nasty squelch.

Percy took a step back as the Hydra roared and managed to rip free of one of the vines, though a replacement quickly took its place.

"Percy!" Annabeth's voice rang out from… somewhere. He still couldn't see much in the dark. "You have to cauterize the necks! Burn them or more heads will grow back!"

NO! That young voice came through again, pained and desperate. Was the Hydra talking to him? You, we help! We help!

Percy opened his mouth and tried to respond. To either, maybe to both, but he couldn't summon the words. He raised a hand and tried to summon the strength to blast it with fire when the middle head began hurling globs of spit in every direction. He barely managed to roll out of the way of one that came dangerously close and watched as all the grass and weeds in the spot he had been standing burned away.

"Ohh, that's not good. That's the opposite of good."

"Any time now, Percy!" came Annabeth's voice again, noticeably more wobbly. Was she on its back? No, that wouldn't make any sense… unless, of course, she was using that same trick she had used during capture the flag. But how was he supposed to attack it when he couldn't see her?

"Before it grows back!"

"What if I hit you?!"

"JUST DO IT!"

No choice. Percy bit his tongue and tried his best to focus. All of a sudden the world exploded into inputs from every direction. He could feel the heat emanating from the Hydra's body, and from above it he could make out a smaller signal. Annabeth.

"I see you," he warned, "Get ready!"

"You can see her?!" Grover gasped, but it went unheard as Percy charged up a flame and aimed it the best he could, burning them shut and praying Annabeth could dodge. No more heads grew back.

NOO! There was that voice again. Percy shook his head to try to silence it, but it kept screaming. A terrible sound. My lord, please, do not kill us! We can help you!

The remaining three heads fell to the ground and the voice went silent for a moment. Percy burned out two of the spots, but the central one…

"Took you long enough," Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief as she dropped down next to him and removed her yankees cap, shimmering back into existence. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and gestured to the final stump with her dagger. "You've still got one more, genius."

Percy raised a hand to her and she looked like she was about to slit his throat, so he tried to explain. "Hold on a second. While you were up there, I kept hearing this voice. It was saying it wanted to help."

Annabeth frowned. "And you think it was the Hydra?"

"What else could it be?"

"Percy, no offense, but that sounds completely insane. The Hydra is a monster. Why else would it wander into our camp other than for a meal?"

"Why don't we ask it?"

Annabeth let out a frustrated groan, threw down her dagger, and stormed off into the woods. "Fine! Don't come crying to me when it melts your face off!" she yelled.

Percy couldn't blame her. She had ridden a Hydra like a bull in a rodeo, and he thought he sounded insane too, but after everything else that had happened what could even be considered crazy anymore?

"I don't like it, but I believe you," Grover muttered, stuffing his panpipes into his pocket. As he did, the vines holding the Hydra's legs slithered back into the ground. "I can talk to animals too. A lot of demigods have a knack for it in one way or another. Zeus's kids can talk to just about anything that flies. The fact that it's a Hydra is… really weird, but I'm with you, man."

Percy took cautious steps toward the fallen body of the monster as its one remaining neck twitched and split, sprouting two fresh, disoriented heads.

"Okay, this was a bad idea," Percy squeaked.

Grover's courage dissipated as quickly as it had arrived. He stepped back and half hid behind a tree. Percy wanted to join him, but it was a little late to back out now. It was a lot easier to say you wanted to talk to a monster when it had no heads with which to spit acid or crush him.

"Alright," he said as confidently as he could manage, "What is it that you want?"

The heads couldn't seem to focus. They kept on glancing around, searching for something.

Where is the annoying one? The left head asked.

The invisible pest, the right one clarified.

Percy stiffened. "It's talking about Annabeth."

Grover peeked out. "What are they saying?"

Percy waved him off. "She's not interested in talking right now. Tell me, why have you come here?"

The scent, Righty said, We had never smelled a godspawn with a scent quite like yours.

Ashen, Lefty continued, Similar to Hephaestus, but different.

Like roasted marshmallows…

Yes, like roasted marshmallows… very tasty.

Percy's hand clenched around Riptide. Every word out of their heads was making him regret sparing them. "Get to the point, before I take both of you off too."

We followed the scent to your campfire. Observed you as you slept so restless.

We tried to approach, but as soon as we entered your campsite… we have never felt so calm. So relaxed… Your campsite… Lady Hestia, she has cleared the fog from our heads...

Percy felt his eyebrows raise. Grover peeked out from behind a tree. When had he run to hide?

"What's going on?" he asked, fully prepared to sprint away, "What are they saying?"

Percy waved for him to be silent, which he did not fight even for a moment. "Why can I understand you?"

Of that, we do not know.

We have only recently reformed. We were slain not so long ago by a child of your camp.

At Woodstock.

Mhm. Jimi Hendrix. An excellent rendition of the National Anthem.

Percy shook his head yes along with them, because at this point he had no clue what to make of anything anymore. "Okay. Sure. Cool. Would you mind waiting here for a minute? I need to go talk to… the invisible pest."

Both heads simultaneously nodded, which was almost weirder than everything else put together because Why does it know what nodding is? So Percy took his leave.

"Grover?" he asked as he passed the tree he had hidden behind, "Come with me? Please?"

Grover nodded urgently and trotted after him faster than he'd ever trot before. "Don't need to ask me twice. I'm not about to play guard dog for a Hydra."

They retreated in the direction Annabeth had run, looking back every few seconds to make sure that the Hydra stayed put. Only when it was finally out of sight did Percy and Grover both slump against trees and groan in relief.

Percy wiped the sweat off his forehead. "What the fuck just happened? Agh, who cares anymore! What even is a Hydra?!"

Grover, still pale, patted Percy's knee in what might have been a comforting gesture if he hadn't looked like he was about to pass out.

Percy took a deep breath. "Did you see where Annabeth went?"

Grover shook his head. "She put on her cap." He hesitated, then whispered, "Don't be too mad at her, man. She gets upset when people don't listen sometimes."

"I'm right here, you know."

Annabeth reappeared only a few feet away, pocketing her cap, and Grover went red as one of the strawberries from back at camp. She ignored him and turned to Percy. "So? What did it say?"

Percy stared at her for a moment. "Y-you're not mad?"

"Oh, I am," she said in a sickeningly sweet tone, which was somehow worse than if she had been angry, "but that's not important right now. I watched you. To make sure nothing happened, of course, and I think I've got an idea of what's going on."

Annabeth explained that under Hestia's domains, namely the Home, she encompassed the larger, more vague term of Domesticity, which Percy thought for a moment meant that she was about to tell him he was destined to be a trophy husband rather than a quester.

"The Hydra is clearly young. I would wager that when it stepped into the range of your campfire it was… domesticated, for lack of a better word. Now, I have my doubts that this would work on any adult monsters, and certainly none that have human levels of intelligence, but Percy… You tamed a Hydra."

Percy's jaw fell open. He wanted to ask if she was joking, but it made too much sense, and Annabeth sounded far too serious. "So… what now?"

"I don't care how convenient it is, I'm not riding a Hydra to Los Angeles. We can take it to the train station, but that's it."

"Oh, no arguments here. Grover?"

"Mhm. Satyrs are basically the number one prey for a Hydra. No thank you."

Percy decided to return to the Hydra alone to negotiate. Sure enough, it hadn't moved a claw. Not even a shift in the leaves under its feet. "Could you give us a lift to the train station?"

It wasn't much of a negotiation. The Hydra agreed so readily that Percy thought it was reading his mind for a moment. The trio climbed aboard their scaled pickup truck and held on for dear life as it sped down the road.

"Do you think speed limits apply to Hydras?!" he tried to shout over the roaring winds. If either of his companions could hear him, they didn't respond. Annabeth simply tied her arms around his waist as tight as she could, and Grover around hers.

He decided not to mention that he saw the both of them crack a smile.