Nothing is mine.

Percy continues his ongoing battle against any and all cow-related monsters, and there's a small surprise thrown in for him as well...

Sunny Vale

The truck's engine rumbled along as Clarisse held the wheel steady with one hand, trailing the fingers of her other out the window in the sun.

'You alright back there, Flower-girl?' she called. 'Not too dark and enclosed and lonely?'

'Shut up and stick to trying to follow the road signs,' Katie retorted. 'Don't waste the limited brain power; you need it all for trying to read.'

Clarisse cackled. 'She's mad that my dad gave us a truck that's not a two-seater; she was planning to snuggle up on you again all the way to Phoenix.'

'I was not!' Katie denied. 'Percy, tell her to be quiet and drive.'

Percy's stomach gurgled. 'Damn,' he said. 'Do we have any money for food? I'm actually starving.'

'There's some place up here,' Clarisse said. 'Paydon, or something like that.'

'Payson,' Katie chimed in. 'I knew you couldn't read.'

A snort of laughter burst from Clarisse. 'Never change, Plant-princess. I like you better with a bit of vegetable psycho in you.'

'You just like violence. You're the psycho.'

'Runs in the family,' she replied, a broad grin beneath her sharp nose. 'Let's stop up here and get some food. We're getting close now. Only a short drive to Phoenix from here.'

'Assuming we're going all the way into Phoenix itself,' Katie said. 'It could be before. It doesn't say anything about a city.'

'Just… And one to fall in sunny vale,' Percy said, watching Katie in the rearview mirror.

To disappoint, fight, and fail.

Katie's lip trembled. 'Let's stop for a bit. No need to rush there while everyone's hungry. I've got a bit of money, I can buy us a nice lunch somewhere.'

'I'll get it,' Clarisse said. 'I've got plenty of money from my mom. Or I assume it's from my mom; it's in her name, but sometimes…'

'Can't imagine your dad paying child support, really,' Percy quipped. 'Actually, I can't imagine him paying for anything that isn't sharp, or pointy, or very dangerous somehow.'

She cackled. 'Yeah, you heard what he said. People love war briefly. He's there and then he's gone. Was like that for mom. She loved it the first time. Had me. And then she went out on tour again and never came back…' Clarisse shrugged. 'That's what happens. You die bravely.'

'How far is Payson?' Katie asked.

'A few miles.' Clarisse glanced over her shoulder. 'You need to stop again?'

'No.' Katie shook her head. 'I can last until we get to Payson and find a place to eat with a bathroom.'

'Alright.'

The truck lurched forward with a dull roar, accelerating up the hill.

'I thought we were running low on gas?' Katie asked.

'Yeah.' Clarisse nodded. 'Dad gave us just enough gas to get about another sixty-five miles from here, which means we might as well stop and have lunch at Payson, drive the next sixty-ish miles, and then continue on foot.'

Katie groaned. 'Or we could fill it up at Payson?'

Clarisse snorted. 'Dad gave it to us; it's probably stolen. Honestly surprised we've not been pulled over already.'

'Oh.'

Percy laughed. 'Chances are Ares gave us the exact right amount of gas for us to reach the last point at which us having a truck isn't direct interference. I don't think Zeus was kidding around with his decree, you heard what Artemis said.'

Katie sighed. 'But I hate running. I get all sweaty and everything… rubs.'

'I've got tape,' Clarisse said, swerving between lanes as she overtook lorries and slower cars with a grin. 'You can borrow some.'

'Thanks.' A sigh of relief escaped Katie. 'I so do not want chafing there.'

'Sea-boy? Tape?'

'For?' Percy asked.

'Your nipples.'

'Oh, no thanks, I think I'm extremely chafe-proof as well as extremely arrow-proof,' he said. 'Blessing of the Styx and all that; it's one of the lesser known benefits, you don't have to vaseline anything.'

'You can just watch then,' Clarisse said.

'He's not watching you tape your nipples,' Katie growled.

'But it's fine if he watches you?' Clarisse sniggered. 'Shameless, Strawberry-girl. He made you your promise, you don't have to throw yourself at him anymore.'

Katie huffed, the tips of her ears turning bright pink, and kicked the back of Clarisse's seat with both feet. 'I wasn't throwing myself at him—'

'You put yourself in his lap. If you'd jumped into it, you would have done it literally.'

'I just don't want him to change his mind,' she mumbled.

'I gave my word,' Percy said. 'Clarisse…'

'Sorry.' Clarisse held her hands up. 'Dropping it.'

Katie tugged at one lock of her blonde hair, nibbling at the end as they sped down the highway, weaving through the traffic as Clarisse ignored every horn and raised middle finger with a huge grin on her face.

She's going to be fine. Percy smoothed out the clamouring waves of guilt and dragged his eyes away from the rearview mirror; he stared out the front, watching the buildings of the small town in the distance grow closer. If it's her, she goes to Elysium without regret. If it's me, Artemis will offer her a choice and she promised me to choose well.

'Welcome to Payson,' Clarisse announced, waving at the sign. 'Let's find some food.' She ran them through the amber lights and down the main street, peering at the signs. 'That place looks alright. And it has parking.'

'Buffalo Bar and Girl?' Percy read.

'Grill,' Katie said. 'The buffalo girl is driving.'

Clarisse snorted and yanked them off the road, bringing the pick up to a stop in the first empty space. 'I really fancy a steak.'

'I don't,' Katie replied.

'Let me guess. You want a salad.'

She turned a little pink. 'What of it? It's good for you.'

'Doesn't exactly help you grow muscles,' Clarisse said with a shrug.

'You've got enough muscles, try growing a brain,' Katie retorted.

A cackle of laughter escaped Clarisse. 'I'm sure they'll have some salad, Flower-girl. Maybe there will even be a cucu—'

'Shut up.'

Percy sighed. 'There's a significant chance I'm going to die soon and you still aren't telling me what the joke is. That's really unfair.'

Katie's face fell.

Clarisse threw the door open. 'Maybe your Strawberry-princess will explain it to you over lunch if we can blag the barman into giving us a few drinks.'

'You're driving,' Percy reminded her. 'I will never be able to face Annabeth if I die because you drunk-drove us off a cliff or something.'

She shot him a sharp grin. 'You'd be fine.'

'Yeah, I can't die unless I forsake my bond to the mortal world,' he murmured. 'Which I haven't, so…' Percy mustered a smile and opened the door. 'But it's best not to worry about any of that. Just choose well as you go and you'll either make it through or end up waiting in Elysium. I am sort of looking forward to crossing the Styx and un-aligning Annabeth's green fields. I'll get to see Zoë again too, I think.'

Katie hovered at Percy's elbow as they headed in and grabbed a table in the corner away from the handful of people nearer the bar, grabbing the chair next to him out from under Clarisse's nose.

'Fine.' Clarisse shook her head. 'Have it; it's all the same to me.'

'Sorry.' Pink blossomed across Katie's cheeks. 'It's just…'

'Yeah, yeah, you do your sappy soft girl stuff,' Clarisse said, flapping the menu at her. 'I'm going to get this New York steak so rare it's not just still bleeding but still mooing.'

'Urgh.' Katie wrinkled her nose. 'I'd rather have chicken. I'll have this honey and pecan chicken salad thing.'

'Is it Saturday or Sunday?' Percy read the other side. 'Because I might get an elk burger; I've never eaten elk before. It sounds like something you should try if you get the chance.'

'It's Saturday,' Katie said.

'Awesome.' Clarisse pointed the menu at Percy. 'Elk burger.' She levelled it at Katie. 'Honey and pecan chicken salad thing. I'll get us some coke.'

'Iced tea,' Katie said.

'How about a fried zucchini starter?' Clarisse cackled and leant back to avoid Katie's swipe at the menu. 'I'll order for us at the bar.' She tucked the menu back into the stand and strode off.

'Percy…?' Katie whispered.

'What, Cheerio-leader?'

Her green eyes swam with worry. 'The last line…'

'And one to fall in sunny vale, to disappoint, fight, and fail,' Percy murmured. 'What about it?'

'Does it have to be you?'

'No.' He offered her a rueful grin. 'They're not always what we expect, but… what we choose is what we were always going to choose, you know. So I'll go and choose as well as I can. And so will Clarisse. And so will you. I don't think, given the part about spear-daughter, that it's going to be her, though.'

With how it's worded, it's most likely to be me. Better that way. I don't want Katie following me to die like Bianca and Malcolm and Annabeth.

'One of us,' Katie mumbled. 'But that's not fair. I'll never get a chance if it's like that.'

'It could be someone completely different,' Percy said. 'It could be the Gigantes. When you saved the camp, Daedalus was the brother mentioned, but Annabeth and I thought it meant her and Luke.'

'You don't seem afraid.'

'I'm not.' He paused as the waitress brought over their drinks, watching Clarisse linger at the bar, making a conspicuous show of reading some leaflet. 'I'm not afraid for me. I… If it's me, I'd just wish I could choose well for a bit longer. Zoë did it for thousands of years; I've only done it for two. But… I'm nearly sixteen, Luke and Kronos, and Annabeth, and Zoë, and Bianca, and Malclom, and Ethan, and even Calypso. They were just great woe. The rest is still to come.'

'What's the rest?' Katie swallowed. 'Is it… bad?'

'A child born of the greatest three, sworn to stars but ever free; shall reach sixteen despite great woe, and stand alone against their foe. A final choice will seal their fate, to stand or fall, beneath world's weight,' Percy recited. 'Weird how they always stick in your head, isn't it?'

'Sworn to stars but ever free?'

'Zoë,' Percy replied. 'Artemis put Zoë in the stars; and Zoë showed me everything I didn't know when I was lost, stumbling my way through quests by blind luck.'

'You're nearly sixteen,' Katie mumbled. 'But you stood alone against Hyperion. And Kronos.'

'I wasn't alone.' A little ripple of unease swept through him. 'I fought with the river god against Hyperion, and Annabeth and Luke and Hestia were there when I faced Kronos.'

That's still to come. My foe is still to come. And so is my final choice.

'Maybe it's a Gigantes,' he said. 'Maybe I'll find out soon.'

'But the last line doesn't make sense, you already held up the sky.'

Percy held her green eyes, offering her his kindest smile to ease the anxiety hovering there. 'I can still feel it. Artemis told me that if I held it, I would be changed forever. All the weight of the world on my shoulders…' He took a sip of his coke. 'I chose to stand. I try and choose to stand every time.'

'But you can't die, not unless you stop loving her.' Katie's lips twisted. 'Is it Zoë?'

Not unless I disappoint her. Percy's heart sank at the thought of Artemis's molten silver eyes full of dismay. If I do that, I die, either at her hand or because of my own hubris.

'I've chosen not to tell anyone,' he replied. 'So Aphrodite can't use it against me. I'm sure she's watching, or listening; honestly I'm surprised she hasn't popped up again to mess with me. Or us.'

Clarisse wandered back over. 'Okay, you had long enough to have your sappy chat. I'm really thirsty.'

'I'm going to find the toilets.' Katie pushed back her chair. 'I'll be back in a couple of minutes.'

Percy watched her go, small, cold waves of guilt tugging at the pit of his stomach.

'She's tough,' Clarisse pulled the straw out of her coke and dropped it on the serviette, swigging half the glass. 'She'll be fine, Sea-boy.'

'I know,' he murmured. 'She promised.'

'So that's why you let her sit in your lap.' She snorted. 'I thought you gave in a bit easy.'

'If it does turn out to be me, Artemis will offer Katie a place with her companions; I think if I'm gone, she'd want to. She's not like her siblings who are happy just gardening together.'

'And you pretty much got her to promise to say yes, didn't you?'

Percy offered her a small smile. 'It's her choice; I can't make it for her. I just made her promise not to choose anything because of me.'

Clarisse snorted. 'Same difference.'

The waitress meandered through the tables, placing a huge steak and a towering mountain of a burger down in front of Percy. 'Enjoy! Salad's just coming.'

'Thanks.' Percy flashed her a grin.

'It's all simple for me, strategos.' Clarisse picked up her steak knife and fork and dug in with a sharp grin. 'I follow where you lead and I don't take a single step back; and we might end up back at camp this time, but eventually we'll find ourselves upon the banks of the Styx, carried to immortality in Elysium with honour.'

'They might send you to Tartarus for crimes against cows,' Percy quipped, tucking into his burger with both hands; the taste flooded his mouth and he groaned. 'That's really good. Man, it's been ages since I had a burger like this. Mom never let me.'

Clarisse laughed, wolfing down her steak a piece at time and licking the blood and blue cheese sauce from her lips.

Katie returned as the waitress set down her salad. 'Clarisse, that's like an entire cow.'

'I know.' A broad grin spread beneath her sharp nose. 'It's great.'

Percy devoured his burger in the quiet of the small bar and grill, enjoying every bite; he sat back, sipping his drink through his straw as Katie picked at her salad, chewing at her lip.

Clarisse set down her steak knife with a long sigh of appreciation. 'That was great. You can't get proper steak like that at camp; it's good food, but it's all, you know, proper home food stuff.'

'Yeah, the minotaur keeps turning into dust,' Percy remarked. 'Very unreasonable of it.'

'Who does cook the food at camp?' Katie wondered.

'Chiron?' He laughed. 'It's definitely not Dionysius.'

'I think Hestia blessed it,' Clarisse said. 'I asked once about the steak thing and Chiron told me that the food at camp is eaten before the family hearth.'

'Makes sense.'

A broad man in a rough leather jacket and a black cowboy hat stumbled into the bar, blinking and glancing around. 'Whose is the pick-up out front?'

'Ours,' Clarisse called. 'Why?'

'Got some bad news sweetheart—'

'Call me sweetheart again and I'll give you some bad news,' she retorted.

'Alright, little lady—' the man held up his hands '—no offence meant.' He pointed outside as he approached their table. 'So, bit of a long story, but short version is, my prize bull escaped this morning and ran in a dead straight line right this way to Payson. Got here about five minutes ago and picked a fight with your pick-up…'

'Did the bull win?' Percy asked. 'I bet it won.' He pointed his straw at Clarisse. 'This is all your fault, you offended the cow gods by eating that steak and they sent the bull as revenge.'

'Yeah, you're not driving anywhere today in that,' the man said. 'Or ever again. If you give me your details, I'll get my insurance on it.'

Clarisse shook her head. 'Forget it, that truck was on the verge of death already.'

Katie groaned and started shovelling her salad down. 'We're going to have to run like seventy miles to Phoenix now.'

Percy sighed. 'Damn it.'

'Well.' The man scratched at his short, dark beard, his deep brown eyes sweeping over them. 'Tell you what, son, you help me wrangle that bull, and I'll give you a lift to my ranch at Goldfield. That's basically all the way to Phoenix, should be able to get a bus or something from there the rest of the way pretty cheap.'

Percy eyed him up. 'What's your name.'

The man smiled back. 'Minos.'

'Oh.' Clarisse stood up. 'In that case, this gets nice and simple. We help with that bull. You give us a lift. Anything else and things are going to get broken.' She cracked her knuckles and grinned. 'And those things are going to be you.'

'Bull's outside,' Minos said. 'After it finished pounding your pick up into the pavement, it wandered toward that green park just across the way. We should spot it there; hard to miss the big bastard.'

'Does it have any un-cow-like abilities?' Percy asked. 'You know, man-eating, breathes fire, can fly, impenetrable hide. I assume it's not just a normal bull.'

Minos tipped his hat. 'Right you are, son, right you are. This bull is the father of Minotaur; a mightier creature has never roamed the land. There's a reason I can't wrangle it back into the trailer by myself…'

'At last!' Percy cheered. 'The final bout of our best of three; it counts, right?'

'Let's go with yes,' Clarisse said. 'Come on, Plant-princess, you can tie it up.'

Katie rushed the last few forkfuls of salad and leapt to her feet. 'Ready.'

'Captain Crunch, ready for duty,' Percy quipped. 'Let's go tangle with a huge cow. It can't be that hard.'

Minos led them outside, past the crumpled, crushed chassis of the truck and the scatter of bits of broken metal and glass, and over the street into the park.

'Zeus sent it,' Clarisse reckoned, picking their bags out of the wreckage and checking them over 'The bull.'

'You think?'

'It went right for the car dad gave us,' she said. 'Might be he gave us a little bit too much gas or something and Zeus decided to make a point of it. And after trampling an entire car into the ground, somehow all of our other stuff is completely okay.'

Percy nodded. 'You're probably right.'

Minos paused at the sign for Green Valley Park and pointed down across the grass. 'There.'

A hulking mountain of a bull roamed the slope before the small lake, snorting and champing, tossing its horned head back and forth; its white skin shone in the sun like snow.

'Wow,' Percy said. 'That's one big cow.'

'Things stronger than your truck and mine combined,' Minos said. 'I'll fetch my trailer, but it won't go in until you exhaust it.' He strolled back off down the street.

'So…?' Percy glanced between Clarisse and Katie. 'Do we have a plan? I can't remember anything about this particular cow.'

Clarisse shrugged. 'Flower-girl can tie it up in roots until it gets tired; it's just a cow.'

'It's the Cretan Bull,' Katie murmured. 'Poseidon cursed Minos's wife to fall in love with it when Minos reneged on his promise to sacrifice it, and she gave birth to the Minotaur. The Cretan Bull was possessed by Poseidon's fury and laid waste to everything around it.'

'Great. Thanks, dad.' Percy sighed. 'Can you maybe just… take it back?'

I am bound to Zeus's decree, Percy; I can offer no aid unless you face an opponent of mine. His dad's voice rolled in like the gentle wash of the tide across the sand. But you have faced far greater labours than this one.

'Dad says no,' Percy informed them. 'So, I guess tie it up, Katie.'

'It's good at escaping things,' she warned.

'Well, we might as well get started, or we'll be here all day,' Clarisse declared. 'If only I had my red cloak…' She turned to Percy, twisting the bangle about her wrist into her hoplon. 'Strategos?'

Percy strode down the slope. 'Let's get it over with.'

The Cretan Bull twisted to face them as they approached, pawing at the ground with one hoof, tearing great chunks out of the grass.

'Don't play with your food,' Percy chided. 'Look at all that grass you're wasting, don't you want to grow up big and… I guess you already did that part, actually. Maybe you should have eaten less grass?'

It bellowed and lowered its head, charging forward in a thunder of hooves.

Percy dived right, rolling to his feet, but the bull curved around, smacking Clarisse and Katie from its path with a toss of its head, and came at him again. He leapt down the hill, bouncing back to his feet.

The Cretan Bull prowled back and forth above him on the hill, glaring at him with fury-filled brown eyes.

'Why are you mad at me?' Percy asked. 'I had an elk burger. Clarisse had the steak. Get mad at her.'

It charged.

Percy dodged left, glancing over his shoulder at the small lake. 'You know what, fine. You want to follow me, then we're going swimming together.'

He sprinted down the hill, the bull thundering on his heels and leapt out onto the surface of the water. The Cretan Bull ploughed into the water with a great splash, flipping head over heels and rolling forward to sink at Percy's feet.

'Ha.' Percy took a hold of the lake and closed his fist about the Cretan Bull. 'That's Percy three, assorted cow-related monsters nil.'

The bull thrashed in his grip, churning the small lake into white foam, but Percy held it tight.

'My lord.' A soft whisper came at his elbow. 'What can Dimitra do for you?'

'Sorry,' Percy said, turning around. 'I just need to borrow your waters for a moment. I'd tell you to call me Percy, but honestly I'm starting to lose hope that any of you will ever actually do it.'

A slim, dark-haired girl stared at him with wide brown eyes, clutching at the sides of her gown of dark-green pondweed. 'It's an honour to be of use to you—' Dimitra bowed her head '—my lord.'

The Cretan Bull's struggles slowed and it flopped, ribs heaving and legs trembling, into the shallows.

Percy loosened his grip a little, but it lay there panting. 'I think we're done here.' He offered Dimitra a grin. 'We'll fish him out in a moment. Thank you for letting me borrow your waters.'

'A little drop of water like me is yours to command, my lord,' she whispered, colour climbing her cheeks. 'You need not ask or thank me.'

Katie stomped over with a growl. 'Stop flirting with him.'

Dimitra turned her deep brown eyes on her. 'Who is this, my lord?'

'My friend.' Percy watched Minos back his trailer down to the edge of the lake. 'You might want to stand back a little bit Katie, I don't fancy trying to push that monster of a cow on with my hands, so…'

She backed away, still scowling at the naiad.

Minos leapt out of his truck. 'Good work, son!' he called. 'No other has captured the Cretan Bull but Heracles and Theseus.'

'Oh great, another labour ticked off,' Percy declared. 'Only a few left to go now. The girdle and a couple of other ones.'

'To equal Heracles, you would only have to do ten,' Minos said, throwing open the doors of the trailer. 'Not all twelve.'

'That's good; that means I can skip the one with the impossible to get golden apples.' Percy seized hold of the bull with the waters of the lake and swept it up into the trailer with a loud thud. 'One Cretan Bull in a trailer. Now… about this lift?'

'A deal's a deal, son.' Minos closed the trailer door and trudged around to the driver's side. 'I'll take you as far as my ranch. It's just down Route Eighty-Seven, about an hour's drive. Hop in.'

Clarisse gathered their bags up and tossed them into the backseat. 'You go up front, Sea-boy. We'll take the back.'

Katie shot the naiad one last glare as she got in.

'Sorry,' Percy murmured to Dimitra. 'She's a bit protective.' He released the waters, letting them settle back beneath his feet. 'Thanks again, and bye.'

Dimitra offered him a shy smile. 'Farewell, my lord. My waters will always welcome you should you find yourself nearby here in the future.'

Naiads are so weird.

Percy swung himself into the front passenger seat beside Minos. 'Good to go.'

Minos put his foot down and the truck roared to life, struggling up the slope bit by bit. 'We'll be fine when we're on the road,' he promised. 'Just tough on the hill and the grass with all the weight.'

'Want us to get out?' Percy suggested.

'No need.' Minos changed down a gear and the truck climbed the slope, pulling out through the narrow gate onto the main road. 'Right, Goldfield isn't far from Phoenix, so after I drop you, just keep walking along Route Eighty-Seven until you hit a bus stop.'

And then Sunny Vale. Somewhere in Percy's stomach, everything twisted into a small whirlpool, sucking his heart down into its cold maelstrom. I hope I don't fall. Not too far. I want her to stay proud of me forever, like Zoë.

He stared out the window, watching the countryside flash by in a blur of green as they left Payson behind and counting down the time as the little red numbers of the dash clock crept toward the hour.

'This is it,' Minos said, slowing down and pulling into a small side-road. 'You guys hop out here and good luck with wherever you're headed.'

'Thanks.' Percy swiped his rucksack off the floor and leapt out, stretching his arms and legs as he closed the door behind him. 'Hopefully there's a bus stop not far from here.'

Clarisse ticked off her fingers one by one as she jumped down onto the dusty verge. 'This is about where dad's car would have run out of gas.' She shut the door with a light kick. 'So we might not even have to find a bus stop.'

Katie's door slammed and Minos drove off, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

'So it could be anywhere here?' Katie asked as the first cleared. 'Right now?' Her lip trembled. 'This could be it?'

Percy glanced around. 'Probably not right now. I don't see anyone and I think there needs to be one of us involved on the Gigantes side as well.'

Katie shuffled her feet.

He rested a hand on her shoulder. 'Don't worry. It's going to go as it was always going to go, and either I'll be waiting for you, or you'll be waiting for me. The place we might be waiting in is very green and sunny, so you'll be happy there. You can grow strawberries and nobody will be able to steal them.' Percy chuckled. 'Although, fair warning, if someone does, you won't be able to beat them to death with a marrow for it, because they'll already be dead.'

A choked little laugh escaped Katie and she swiped her sleeve across her eyes. 'I'm not worried, I'm just… I don't want you to go.'

'We all have to go at some point, Katie,' Clarisse said. 'Better to go to honour and immortality than to get a bit of extra time in disgrace.'

Percy took a deep breath. 'Let's go. I don't want to tarry here on the brink.'

It's time for things to end, right, Zoë?

He led them along the verge in the shade of the trees, squinting ahead over a short bridge at the distant sprawl of Phoenix. 'That's the city.'

'Yeah…' Katie glanced over her shoulder. 'Weird there's no traffic. This is a big road…'

'Probably doesn't bode well,' Percy replied. 'But I can't see anyone.'

'I can.' Clarisse shaded her eyes with her forearm. 'There's someone waiting on the bridge.'

'Are they… gigantic?' Percy asked.

A hysterical little giggle escaped Katie.

'No.'

'Well, I guess we'll find out who it is,' he said, striding on. 'I can't see anything from here.'

'I've got good eyesight,' Clarisse said. 'Daughter of Ares thing.'

'Right, for throwing spears at people.' Percy nodded, resisting the urge to strain his eyes at the small dark silhouette waiting upon the bridge and staring into the trees instead. 'Or some other kind of violence, I guess.'

She grinned. 'Got it in one, Sea-boy.'

Another lost demi-god. He watched his feet along the verge and onto the concrete run-off channel at the side of the bridge. One so lost they want to change all the world, but don't understand it.

'Wait…' Clarisse frowned. 'I know her. But that's…'

Katie stopped dead in her tracks. 'Impossible.'

Percy dragged his gaze up from his feet.

Familiar obsidian eyes met his from beneath a veil of sleek, shining ebony hair.

Zoë.

All the breath left his lungs, snatched away by the sight of her standing there at the middle of the bridge. 'But… the stars…'

A faint smile crooked Zoë's red lips. 'Impossible is a word for those who have given up.' Her gaze dipped to the glowing orange glyph upon his ring. 'Do not give up hope, right, Percy?'

AN: More to read of this and loads of other things via the Discord, so just follow the linktree!

linktr . ee / mjbradley