An Undertow of Sand (Percy Jackson and the Cthulhu Mythos)

[Shujin]

I mean, it was really obvious for three reasons. First, the eye thingy. Second, she's delaying them. Third, there's the canonical thing that she helped Gaia in The Lost Hero. Honestly, it's possible that loads of people across those platforms did notice, but they thought it was so obvious they didn't comment on it.

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I mean you say that, but in this thread alone there are like 3 replies of people that hadn't caught on until someone else mentioned it.

 

[QTesseract]

Yup, across QQ, SB, Ao3 and FF, rejoice SV! You are the only ones who have caught on. Reason why I'm stating this is that I am fully expecting either complaints that it came out of nowhere or WTFDOOD comments on the next update. Problem is I can't see a way to make it more obvious without making her dialog sound unnatural. Which doesn't feel great :/

Guess my plans for the next chapter are going to have to change a bit.

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I mean you say that, but in this thread alone there are like 3 replies of people that hadn't caught on until someone else mentioned it.

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There's enough information there to figure it out; more than enough, honestly, I figured it out and then noticed more clues after. The issue, I assume, is that people aren't asking the question that would give them an answer. There are plenty of fair play whodunnit detectives that make the answer more subtle than this, for instance, but in a detective novel you know the question early on and are aware that "this is a place to engage your brain." Most of the mysteries in Undertow so far, however, are answered by percy and not deduction, so the mindset isn't as automatic. If you can find another way to get people critically thinking about the situation, you can probably get away without changing the subtlety at all. Alternatively, perhaps a different angle could be to make Artemis act steadily more worried, since she's both unlikely to be fooled and also incapable of communicating that to Percy to derail the plot.

 

[DoubleThought]

Percy has already noticed something is wrong. He's also looked for a way to evacuate (the obelisk). Those are some pretty obvious flags that something is going on. My first instinct, when seeing Khione's name, was "alright, is she betraying Olympus yet?" Her reactions to Percy's "hail Olympus" seemed off. There's so many clues that, to me, it's blatantly obvious.

If I hadn't noticed, I think it'd be obvious in retrospect, too. I think going ahead with the original plan might be fine.

 

[Iridium Flare]

I personally did not notice, but that's because I'm a blind fool who skims over details to get to the meat of the plot, only to be whacked by the sledgehammer I completely ignored later on.

 

[PulsarObserver]

Bolded for emphasis.

I felt this warm feeling spread in my chest. I felt less numb. Mom really was looking out for me. She knew about my choice and she didn't leave me alone.

Mom...

I needed to stop doubting her. Maybe I don't know the reason for everything, but that doesn't mean there isn't a reason. I knew she loved me. She said I would be going back to my school next year and she doesn't lie.

I needed…

I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. I chose my own fate.

I don't want to die.

So I won't.

"Hey," Corey called softly. "Are you sure you're feeling okay, little man?"

I took in a deep breath as I unbuckled and stood. Luke hip checked the door closed behind me and Corey awkwardly handed me the raspberry iced tea bottle he had stuffed under his armpit.

Mom sure knew how to pick 'em.

A breeze blew past us, picking its way through our clothes and hair as we headed for one of the outdoor dining tables in the shadow of an eighteen wheeler. I tried not to look into it. Even if it felt like someone pressed a kiss into my hair. Sometimes the wind is just the wind.

I rubbed at my eyes a little. "I'm fine. Really."

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Percy was thinking about his mom, and when I first read this passage, I thought the wind was his mom comforting him.

In light of the earlier discussion, was Khione just searching for Percy or was she specifically trying to influence him here?

 

[BurnNote]

I mean you say that, but in this thread alone there are like 3 replies of people that hadn't caught on until someone else mentioned it.

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There's always going to be people who don't notice a clue, or misinterpret something. The important part is that they could've noticed something (obviously possible). For them, it's a chance to go back and see where it came from. I think there's enough clues that it won't feel out-of-nowhere.

Hell, just the fact that so far everyone has tried to get their kicks in while Artemis is down would already be a sufficient basis for to not feel compltely out of nowhere.

 

[Shujin]

There's always going to be people who don't notice a clue, or misinterpret something. The important part is that they could've noticed something (obviously possible). For them, it's a chance to go back and see where it came from. I think there's enough clues that it won't feel out-of-nowhere.

Hell, just the fact that so far everyone has tried to get their kicks in while Artemis is down would already be a sufficient basis for to not feel compltely out of nowhere.

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Well, yeah it's less 'some people missed it' so much as the potential of 'everyone missed it.' The first is just always going to happen, can't fix that. The second is out of 120+ replies, not a single mention of it. One person even thought Khione was pledging allegiance to Percy instead and got some fifteen likes on their speculation. We will see how it goes! Thank you whoever recommended this story on TVTropes btw. It means a lot to me

 

[Fencer]

Well, yeah it's less 'some people missed it' so much as the potential of 'everyone missed it.' The first is just always going to happen, can't fix that. The second is out of 120+ replies, not a single mention of it. One person even thought Khione was pledging allegiance to Percy instead and got some fifteen likes on their speculation. We will see how it goes! Thank you whoever recommended this story on TVTropes btw. It means a lot to me

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Nah you are looking at this the wrong way. The correct mindset is something like… "holy shit I just blindsided a few hundred people minimum! I totally deserve some icecream or something for this!)

 

[CedeTheBees]

I'm just glad nobody is going over to those other sites and giving away the game. Good job, all!

 

[Shujin]

Nah you are looking at this the wrong way. The correct mindset is something like… "holy shit I just blindsided a few hundred people minimum! I totally deserve some icecream or something for this!)

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LMAO. That's one way to look at it!

I'm just glad nobody is going over to those other sites and giving away the game. Good job, all!

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True. That is actually kind of remarkable, haha.

 

[Shujin]

Calling on the thread for opinions on the story summary. Did it work for you, is it meh, did you just not notice it but clicked because PJO or the author? Thinking that it may need to be changed, perhaps to ease people into the shock of chapter 1.

 

[tulsa360]

I found the story from the Tv Tropes rec. The summary as-is seems serviceable to me.

 

[RandomOTP]

Calling on the thread for opinions on the story summary. Did it work for you, is it meh, did you just not notice it but clicked because PJO or the author? Thinking that it may need to be changed, perhaps to ease people into the shock of chapter 1.

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I actually rather enjoyed the summary, and it was what drew me into reading this fic. The shock of chapter 1 drew me in farther.

 

[kaosisreality]

I went back to re-read the summary because I didn't actually recall it. It's serviceable. The first chapter is the in media res chapter with human(ish) Artemis, which doesn't scream "Elder Gods here" so I don't really know what issue you want to solve, exactly?

 

[Shujin]

I went back to re-read the summary because I didn't actually recall it. It's serviceable. The first chapter is the in media res chapter with human(ish) Artemis, which doesn't scream "Elder Gods here" so I don't really know what issue you want to solve, exactly?

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Mainly the fact that the story fits into 3 genres. It's a Different Parent. It's an AU and the nature of that AU is the Cthulhu Mythos cross. I have gotten a lot of comments on other platforms of people being hard confused at the start of the story not clicking that Percy isn't actually still Poseidon's kid and then the premise being confusing until chapter 2/3 and then everything coming together by the time Percy is educating people on Athena's kingship. Basically 'confused, but story is good and getting clearer.' As an author, I'm trying to cut down on 'quit moments.' The times when the reader is confused or overwhelmed or lost that would lose people. The in media res start was a gamble in that sense, but I feel like if the summary was less generic somehow that I could ease into it better.

That make sense?

 

[kaosisreality]

I mean... You use the phrase "Elder God" like three or four times. Not sure how that's unclear, but maybe I'm more sensitive to Cthulhu mythos.

 

[Shujin]

I mean... You use the phrase "Elder God" like three or four times. Not sure how that's unclear, but maybe I'm more sensitive to Cthulhu mythos.

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Maybe, since even in the mythos they are just called Old Ones. The Elder tag is from the expanded mythos by different authors and is an affiliation, not a species name. *shrug*

 

[Gideon020]

Maybe, since even in the mythos they are just called Old Ones. The Elder tag is from the expanded mythos by different authors and is an affiliation, not a species name. *shrug*

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Just leave it for now. You'll drive yourself insane otherwise.

 

[BurnNote]

Mainly the fact that the story fits into 3 genres. It's a Different Parent. It's an AU and the nature of that AU is the Cthulhu Mythos cross. I have gotten a lot of comments on other platforms of people being hard confused at the start of the story not clicking that Percy isn't actually still Poseidon's kid and then the premise being confusing until chapter 2/3 and then everything coming together by the time Percy is educating people on Athena's kingship. Basically 'confused, but story is good and getting clearer.' As an author, I'm trying to cut down on 'quit moments.' The times when the reader is confused or overwhelmed or lost that would lose people. The in media res start was a gamble in that sense, but I feel like if the summary was less generic somehow that I could ease into it better.

That make sense?

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Confusion can also go the other way, and draw people in through curiosity, so long as things are getting clearer. There is a case for making the description clearer, but I'd say it's not a priority.

 

[Raivon]

Mainly the fact that the story fits into 3 genres. It's a Different Parent. It's an AU and the nature of that AU is the Cthulhu Mythos cross. I have gotten a lot of comments on other platforms of people being hard confused at the start of the story not clicking that Percy isn't actually still Poseidon's kid and then the premise being confusing until chapter 2/3 and then everything coming together by the time Percy is educating people on Athena's kingship. Basically 'confused, but story is good and getting clearer.' As an author, I'm trying to cut down on 'quit moments.' The times when the reader is confused or overwhelmed or lost that would lose people. The in media res start was a gamble in that sense, but I feel like if the summary was less generic somehow that I could ease into it better.

That make sense?

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I think the main reason for confusion is that people go into the story assuming that it's just an AU Parent fic, where it's still the Percy we all know and love but with a different Godly parent. The confusion then arises when people see Percy acting in distinctively not Percy-like ways, and the traits that we all associate with Canon Percy have basically been tweaked, changed or entirely removed. The end result isn't actually Percy but an OC who only shares the same name as him, and some people thus end up thinking that they just got clickbaited. Then there's the addition of Cthulhu Mythos which basically complicates the story even more and throws Canon to the dogs.

Not to say that your story is bad, because it certainly isn't. But your summary gave the impression that Percy as a character would still remain true to his canon self, so throwing such a high number of metaphorical spanners into the works (God Parent is now the mother, different father, different upbringing, etc) would stand reasonable chance at giving readers mental whiplash.

 

[Shujin]

I think the main reason for confusion is that people go into the story assuming that it's just an AU Parent fic, where it's still the Percy we all know and love but with a different Godly parent. The confusion then arises when people see Percy acting in distinctively not Percy-like ways, and the traits that we all associate with Canon Percy have basically been tweaked, changed or entirely removed. The end result isn't actually Percy but an OC who only shares the same name as him, and some people thus end up thinking that they just got clickbaited. Then there's the addition of Cthulhu Mythos which basically complicates the story even more and throws Canon to the dogs.

Not to say that your story is bad, because it certainly isn't. But your summary gave the impression that Percy as a character would still remain true to his canon self, so throwing such a high number of metaphorical spanners into the works (God Parent is now the mother, different father, different upbringing, etc) would stand reasonable chance at giving readers mental whiplash.

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So apparently I failed harder than I thought with Ch 1 Percy. Yay. That being said, behold! New summary as I think you hit the nail on the head what was wrong with the last one.

 

[Thegoldenboy]

Is there a Percy Jackson discussion thread on this site? I can't find it.

 

[Shujin]

Is there a Percy Jackson discussion thread on this site? I can't find it.

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There is a fanfic discussion thread and a discussion thread but they are both old, short and very, very abandoned. Not sure on SV policy of necroing, tbh.

 

[LoserThree]

There is a fanfic discussion thread and a discussion thread but they are both old, short and very, very abandoned. Not sure on SV policy of necroing, tbh.

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The policy appears to be that attacking people for posting in an old thread violates the rules against disruptive behavior.

The first new post in an old thread itself, though, violates no rules just for being the first new post in an old thread.

I am not and do not represent staff. But, yeah.

 

[Shujin]

So once again, I apologize for the delay. I didn't want to end on a cliffhanger. So I wrote more. Unfortunately my beta had to go, so let me know if there are issues. You guys are pretty good at that

An Undertow of Sand
A PJO Fanfiction​

Alright.

I will admit it.

I didn't think much of the icky, wet, cold and boring winter unless we're ice skating, but the crash of ice flows on top of a rushing river and crunching underneath the bow of the ship was nothing short of,

"Absolutely awesome!" I yelled, pumping both of my fists and ignored the chuckling from an older couple nearby.

"Of course it is." Khione gave me a small, satisfied smile before looking back out over the water herself and absently snapping a picture on a white camera. "I would expect nothing less from my city. It is my home."

The St. Lawrence was a beautiful river. I insisted on buying our tickets for the ferry legitimately and in no time we were bobbing along with what felt like the whole city on display on the banks. Maybe I was too used to Manhattan, but there was something about the brick walls with the splashes of color and old fashioned roofs that just looked more real to me. Manhattan from the water looked like a toy city, like you could reach out and flick a shining glass and chrome skyscraper over with a finger.

Khione had traded out the ball gown for this loose pale blue turtleneck shirt with white pants and dress shoes. Silver snowflake earrings hung from her ears. Our ferry was one of those huge triple story half boats where one side looked like a cruise liner and the other like a parking lot with cars and everything. It was packed with people enjoying the summer breeze while also being completely fucking dumbfounded at the ice clogging the river in the middle of June. I was pretty sure people were just taking pictures to make sure the ice wasn't going to disappear on them.

The captain of the ship had a little mental breakdown over the radio, but, uh, he'll get over it.

Global warming, amirite?

"There is nothing better than - ow!" Khione yelped and pitched forward, bringing up her right leg reflexively before turning on the culprit. "Why, you little - "

A small auburn rabbit in a red sweater darted back across the deck of the ship, running through legs and around bags right back to Luke, who looked like he was either going to laugh, or throw himself over the railing to drown in the river.

He snatched her up.

"What is wrong with you - " He cuffed the rabbit upside the head. "Can't you understand English?" He hissed at the offended bunny now looking like he had decided on throwing Artemis over the railing. "What part of - " Luke bit down on the rest of his words, gave us an awkward smile and turned back to the river, grumbling.

Khione clucked her tongue as she inspected her right ankle. There was a tiny welt flushed a tarnished gold color. Yikes. Greek gods were durable. Artemis must have chomped super hard. "Miserable creature."

"Um, yeah," I said lamely. "She does that."

I was beginning to think Artemis had some kind of legitimate brain issue. Could that happen to gods? Was that a thing? Did she just spend way too much time as an animal over the years? Was the bunny thing getting to her? This was the third time in two days. I finally learned not to bite people in second grade.

Thousands-year-old goddess everyone.

"She does," Khione said sourly, straightening. "Everyone knew the moment your mother acted," she continued and I winced.

The entire pantheon would know when a goddess died.

She was just a rabbit now.

"We could feel it," she murmured. "Just what was done...well."

She glanced back to where Luke had grumpily stuffed the rabbit back into his red vest and then Artemis just as grumpily poked her head out again. With their matching colors and his backpack, he looked like a high school graduate on a summer tour before college who just couldn't leave his pet bunny behind.

Either that, or a wannabe Pokemon trainer.

"There are few better it could have happened to."

I winced again.

Khione turned back to me with a small, brittle smile. "You don't know the story, do you?"

"I, uh," I cleared my throat. "I'm still learning," I mumbled. "Covered major events in world history and identifying gods of the pantheons."

The smaller details, like who had built the infamous walls of Troy and why were extracurriculars I learned from my Bardson. It was a scale thing, I think. Mom thought I should know that Athena had been King for a while and that there was a crack in Ouranos' prison.

It was Apollo who quietly told me that Athena's pride wouldn't let her admit defeat in fixing that crack until her 'solution' had already consumed a few ten million mortals, give or take.

At least Atlas got to stretch his legs!

Fucking ungrateful bastard.

"World history," Khione repeated. The snow in her eyes was really pretty and it took all I had not to stare. "The true history." She looked out over the water. "You know about the prisons."

I nodded.

Khione smiled wryly. "Demigods had always struck me as so...blissfully ignorant. Too weak, too fragile, too stupid. Most couldn't even see the truth if it was shown to them." Her accent thickened as she tilted her head to the side. "Imagine the unpleasant surprise, when it is I who have been so blissfully ignorant. Too weak. Too fragile. Too stupid."

I shuffled uncomfortably.

"A few months ago, I would have envied you."

It wasn't just Hermes who didn't know anything.

"Now I…" Her lips pursed as her swirling eyes dropped to where a large block of ice bobbed on the water, bumping into the hull of our ship. "The story is short and simple," she said abruptly. "Under Olympic Law, only deities are full citizens." She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. "And a deity is not a state of birth or being. It must be recognized and ratified."

Uh, wait.

"You had to apply?"

I wish I could say I was surprised. Mom told me the word 'god' didn't really mean anything. I thought she meant that it was overused. Not that it was fucking political.

"My mother applied for me. She did everything she could, even sacrificing her Name for me." Khione inclined her head. "It was rejected."

Of course it was.

"My mother was only a nymph, after all," the goddess of Ice and Snow said calmly. "The facts of my lineage were against me. My grandfather Erekhtheus, son of Athena was unrecognized. He married a nymph. His children narrowly avoided being labeled demigods of Praxithea instead. I was powerful, for a nymph, and that was all I was allowed to be." She frowned slightly. "It is only now, after thousands of years, that I finally know why it was my mother and not my father that applied." There was ice slowly creeping across the railing under her fingers. "It would not have mattered. I never stood a chance."

A harsh, cold wind blew across the deck of the ship like it was the middle of January, not June.

"And as a nymph the only mercy I could rely on was my father's."

Her brittle little smile came back.

"But I am beautiful."

Shit.

We stood together in silence as the wind slowly faded. The ferry boat crunched and groaned as it broke through the ice on top of the rushing St. Lawrence.

"You don't have to - " I started, but Khione shook her head once.

"I will make no excuses for my sins. I was young and very stupid." Her eyes flickered to me, then away. There was a long quiet moment before she whispered, "And afraid." The ice on the river cracked loudly and our boat lurched into the opening. "It was easier if I just accepted it. Poseidon was kind in his own way, by making it public. Few would dare to cross him by treating me poorly. Everything was almost as it should have been."

Yeah.

Almost.

"Father despised him." Her brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Even if I had known why, I don't think I would have chosen differently. Father could not protect me. I had what I wanted." She leaned over the railing and stared down into the icy water. "I didn't want the boy," she said distantly. "The sea was receding from me and I didn't know what else to do. I thought - " she caught herself with a sudden intake of breath. "It does not matter. I learned a harsh lesson. I knew what I had to do. It was easier to just accept it. I could even take a certain kind of...pride in it. I was beautiful."

And I felt sick.

"I made the mistake of comparing myself to the King's unobtainable daughter. The goddess of the Hunt. And for my hubris, I was gifted with an arrow."

It had left a dark ugly, puckered scar under her right collarbone where it had punched right between her second and third rib and then cauterized the puncture wound.

You would think that Artemis, goddess of Maidens, who had pushy suitors and at one point defended her own mother Leto from an asshole would -

I wasn't even angry.

I was just tired.

"Can you imagine what that looked like for the King of Olympus?" She murmured. "His favorite daughter, a goddess of a throne, an Olympian struck at a mere nymph in a public fit of rage and the nymph failed to die."

I could imagine.

I could see Zeus thinking that would reflect poorly on him. Worse, I could see how everyone else would see it. If the thrones of the Olympians weren't for the most powerful of the gods, then what were they for?

"Let me guess," I said softly. "Olympus mysteriously discovered that it had rejected your application by mistake?"

Khione smiled coldly and bowed her head.

"Khione, goddess of Ice and Snow," she introduced herself again. "That Artemis was chosen for this Quest is well known, just as it is known that it is her second chance. If I were there in her place before the thrones of Olympus…" She shrugged a little. "It is petty," she admitted easily. "Perhaps there will even be consequences for me."

Oh, right. "The Fates…"

"I have complete control over decreasing temperatures, cold winds, ice, snow, hail, sleet and blizzards," she rattled off. "I can induce any and all symptoms of hypothermia at will, including confusion and hallucinations. I am sensitive to heat signatures and can see infrared light. I do not have any ongoing feuds against me and I know how to navigate the mortal world. I even have a mortal doctorate in physics with a focus in thermodynamics."

I blinked. The rest was cool and all, but the important bit was that this goddess actually went to a normal college. "You did homework?"

Her lips twitched. "I did."

Alright.

New second favorite goddess.

I stared at her in awe. "It sucked, didn't it?"

"Yes."

We shared small smiles.

"While there is much I cannot do, there are loopholes. I won't be a burden. And if your sisters object?" That song in her eyes spun as her voice turned so cold, you could hear the water in the air around us freeze. "They owe me."

There was definitely a story there.

Not a happy one.

"Her name was Sais," Khione whispered so quietly to the river, I almost thought I imagined it. "Do not be concerned about my ability to contribute," she continued with her voice back to normal. Dry, cold and French. "I am prepared to make the commitment."

"Welcome aboard," I said awkwardly. I don't know why I opened my mouth again. "Sorry things were shit for a while."

Really.

Really?

Olympus was a shithole and her life was fucked up and I said sorry?

"It - it shouldn't have happened," I tried again.

No fucking duh!

"I mean, of course it shouldn't have happened, but Olympus sucks and I - "

What is it about my brain that just can't when it comes to girls?

"You can stop me at any time." I gave up.

Khione let out a short, tinkling laugh. "I love heroes," she said fondly. "You're very sweet." She leaned against the railing, absently brushing the coating of ice off it. "Will you tell me about yourself, Perseus?"

"Percy," I corrected her.

"Percy." She flashed a smile. "Which god taught you? And how did you come to be here, on a Quest for Olympus?"

"Mom and Mom," I summed it up.

"Fate herself?" Khione asked in surprise. "Really?" When I nodded, I found myself studied by eyes full of dancing snowflakes like I was an interesting science experiment - a specimen she was both excited about and dreading having to dissect. "What is she like?"

I sighed and leaned against the railing myself. "Well, she thinks she's hilarious…she's not."

Judging from the look on Khione's face, she wasn't expecting me to start with that. No one expects to be told that about the cosmic serpent.

Too bad.

It's fucking true.

"And is probably the biggest troll this side of the Milky Way...."

The ferry ride just flew by. I think I heard it was supposed to take an hour and the ice probably added some time, but it didn't matter. Between the ice flows, the sights of the city, rescuing Artemis from Luke and Khione's dry sense of humor, I had fun.

I actually forgot we were on a time limit.

"So... you and the Boreide…" Luke ventured as we washed our hands in the public bathroom on the other side of the river after getting off the ferry. "Getting a little chummy, are we?"

I shrugged. "She's cool."

Pun intended.

Luke's eyebrows scrunched together.

"You don't think it's weird? You're twelve," he pointed out as he dried his hands.

I'm not sure what that had to do with anything?

"My mom?" I reminded him right back. "I'm kind of used to it?" If there was a totem pole of god power levels or something somewhere, Mom was pretty much at the top of it. Gods like Khione would be at the very bottom. "It would be weird if she knew who I was and wasn't nice to me for some reason."

Luke's mouth opened and then he closed it. He palmed his face. "I'm overthinking this," he muttered. "I am overthinking this. I'm overthinking this and I...am pathetic."

Uh.

Little harsh there.

Luke sighed. He grabbed a few extra sheets of paper towels from the dispenser, casually folding them to put into his pocket. I've seen him do that a few times. At Camp, it was usually just swiping some fruit right before it was cleared away to stash for later. Even though meals were three times a day, every day like clockwork. We stopped at Wendy's yesterday and I saw him tuck away some napkins and packs of ketchup into his backpack. Seemed like a good idea this time though, so I grabbed some too.

Luke flushed, self-consciously straightening his red vest in the mirror. "You never know," he mumbled. "When you might need some."

Luke grew up on the street.

"Right," was all I said, deliberately taking one more and stuffing it into my pocket.

He nodded stiffly.

We left the bathroom and returned to where our godly Quest member was having a staring contest with the rabbit perched on the table in front of her.

"Who's winning?" I asked.

"Me," Khione said immediately and the rabbit growled. Then she blinked and frowned at us. "Winning what?"

Luke snorted as he scooped Artemis up from the table. "Never you mind, princess."

"Very well." The shapes of the snowflakes in her eyes turned thin and sharp looking for a moment, but she glanced at me, before shrugging it off. "I hope you don't mind a bit of a walk?" She asked as she stood. "I could transport us to the top, but I promise you, the view is worth the hike."

"Sure," I said.

And I got a bright, triumphant smile with the sun shining down on her, sparkling off her earrings and the twirling symphony in her eyes. I didn't realize I was staring after her - why were her eyes so gorgeous? What was happening? - until Luke bumped me with a snicker.

"Get a move on, Romeo."

"What - no. I - no."

"Uh huh."

"It's not like that. "

"I'm sure."

"It's just - if you could see her eyes - "

"Need to write some poetry about 'em?."

I'm sure I said it before, but Luke was a bit of a bastard.

And Khione was one hundred percent right.

The view was worth the hike.

The Montmorency Falls was a gorgeous looking waterfall crashing over some steep rocky cliffs covered in evergreens with a suspension bridge above it. It was like the falls had been carved right out of the rock, leaving a perfect sheet of water tumbling down. A permanent rainbow hovered, rippling in the clouds at the bottom of the drop. It almost didn't look real. Like someone had painted it into existence, complete with a wide, burbling river winding through flat, open plain. Our hike took us along the banks of the river along a wooden walkway with some other tourists, but the best part?

You could climb the cliffs! And there was a zipline!

"The Climbing Wall has justified its existence," I told Luke as I strapped my helmet on. Chiron had said something about the value of finding stable footholds, unconventional approaches and balance adjustments, but whatever. "I'll try harder to stop breaking it."

Zipline.

Luke rapped his knuckles on my helmet.

"Because this is what it was made for," he drawled sarcastically as he checked his knee pads. "I'm sure Chiron'll be thrilled."

That centaur better be.

Because we went twice.

"Had fun?" Khione asked, soaking up the sun on the terrace as we got back from our second trip. Luke had set out a few blades of hay on the ground for Artemis before the second go and she was still nibbling under the table as the goddess of Ice and Snow sat at the round table overlooking the cliffs and waterfall.

"I am definitely coming back here," I said.

I could see Dad in Luke's place, eyes bright and grinning as he ruffled my hair and Mom in Khione's, waiting for us to get back with that soft, indulgent smile.

My chest tightened a little, but it wasn't a bad feeling.

I would come back.

"Good," the Boreide said as she absently stretched, squinting at the sun. "We will make our way to Old Quebec for lunch then, as it is time for - " She did a double take at the sky. Then she closed her eyes and a muscle jumped in her jaw as she ground her teeth. "For my brothers to ruin everything."

There in the sky were two figures I thought were birds, but as they got closer, I realized one bird was a three hundred pound quarterback and the other belonged in an 80s hair metal band.

With a loud sigh, Khione snapped her fingers as the two winged men with dusky wings shimmering with golden scales landed on the terrace and all of the other confused tourists suddenly had other things to do and other places to be. Artemis huddled further into the shadow of the table.

"What," the goddess gritted out. "Are you doing here?"

"Saving you," the Canadian Quarterback said simply and apparently Canadian Quarterbacks were hockey jocks. He had on a red hockey jersey with sweatpants and black cleats.

"From making a mistake!" French Hair Metal said hotly, with ice-white hair feathered into a mullet, tight designer jeans, leather boots with a million buckles and this eye-searing pastel green silk shirt with the top three buttons undone. "You did not think Father would not know you planned to go with him?"

He marched up to Luke with frozen eyes. He would have been more menacing if Luke didn't have fifty pounds, four inches, no acne and a better fashion sense on him.

Yellow fanny pack and all.

"Sorry," Luke said dryly. "Who are you again?"

"Do not play dumb, son of Fate!" Hair Metal snarled in Luke's face. His quarterback brother grunted, doing a better job of looking like a threat as he tapped a hockey stick he pulled out from nowhere in his hands. "You think you can come here and - "

"As always, you are an idiot, Zethes." Khione cut her brother off with a voice hitting sub-zero temperatures. "This one is Hermes' demigod."

Both of her brothers paused, then as one they turned to me.

"So…" Zethes began. "That one?"

"Yes," his sister said.

"...and he is…"

"Also a demigod," Khione said patiently. "Yes."

There was this awkward moment where we kind of just stared at each other. I didn't know what their problem with me was and they looked like their script just up and set itself on fire right in front of them.

"Tiny," Quarterback finally said.

"What the fuck?" Zethes mumbled. "Is he not supposed to be some kind of - why is he so small?"

Luke's cheeks puffed.

"Late bloomer," I offered sourly. Dad said it was normal and it happened to him too and right now even Annabeth was taller than me and I wasn't bitter about it at all.

Nope.

"He is small, because he is a child." Khione stressed. That stung a bit. I wasn't that little.

Right?

"You would know that if you paid any attention to the wind and weren't a moron."

Zethes squinted at me, then at Luke like he was waiting for someone to shout Psych! His sister rolled her eyes.

"If I may, Percy, these are my brothers, Calais and Zethes. They come in a pair," she explained. "Otherwise the singular braincell they each possess will get lonely."

Zethes let out an indignant squawk."You take that back - "

"Didn't Heracles kill you?" Luke asked curiously. "On the Golden Fleece trip?"

Wait, really?

They used to be mortal? I guess that explained why they felt so weird. Khione felt as solid as an icicle. Her brothers felt like echoes.

Like puppets.

Poor man's immortality.

Hair Metal turned on Luke. "As if that stupid, unfashionable brute could ever - "

"Yes," Khione said dryly and her brothers winced.

"We got better," Zethes changed his tune.

"Ouch," Calais agreed.

"He cheated anyway," Zethes continued, sticking his pointed nose up in the air. "No one told us he was a god already - what was he doing running around doing grunt work with mortals, who even does that?"

Heracles, apparently.

Golden Fleece though...wasn't that - I know him. His name is on the tip of my tongue. That one dude Hera liked. If this was after Athena's rule, and Heracles was doing 'grunt work' with mortals like Hera's favored hero, then I...don't think he was there willingly.

He might have temporarily not even been a god at all.

"Now that we have established that you are embarrassments," Khione said loudly. "Why are you still here?"

Her brothers looked at each other.

"He is just a kid…" Zethes said slowly.

"Tiny," Calais nodded.

"But…" The Boread's voice turned dark. "Kids grow up, do they not? He might get ideas about our sister."

"Pound him?" The other one perked up like a dog spotting a ball about to be thrown.

"Not yet," Zethes soothed his brother. "But should he overstep…"

Was this…

Dad warned me about this a month ago.

If I saw a shotgun or a shovel, I was supposed to leg it.

"I... promise not to?" I volunteered quickly. I thought about throwing in a line about how she wasn't that pretty, but I was only stupid sometimes. "Pinky swear."

Zethes gave me a serious nod, like I had just offered to swear an oath on the Styx. "Consider this your only warning, demigod."

"One warning." Calais glared. With two black eyes and a freshly broken nose in a red hockey jersey.

Zethes conjured a sword of ice, jagged and gleaming wickedly in the sunlight.

That was not a shovel.

He pointed it at me. He might look like a disco era reject, but that thing looked like it would hurt.

"I do not care whose spawn you are, Ananke or no - "

He shouldn't have said that.

Mom was there for a split second. Overwhelming power, restrained and fleeting, but caustic with annoyance.

I felt myself smile, even as the wooden terrace underneath our feet rotted into dust. It felt like she had been paying attention on some level, and she knew better and didn't like that she couldn't help responding to her Name around me.

It's okay, Mom, I thought in her general direction. I know.

"- t holy shit."

The three children of Boreas, the North Wind had different responses to Mom's appearance. Calais lost any and all control over his appearance, leaving behind a bulky ice sculpture with wide, frozen eyes and gaping mouth. Zethes still looked like he was going to audition for Journey or Hall & Oates or something, but his sword had melted into a drooping popsicle and I think he pissed himself.

Khione laughed.

"Oh, that was…" she searched for the words with a giant grin on her face. "Bracing." With a wet crack and a thunk, her brother's sword fell apart as he stared dumbly at her. She ignored him, her swirling eyes pinning me to the terrace. "You are just perfect."

Mom's called me that before.

Felt different coming from someone else.

It was a good kind of different though.

I eyed her brothers. "So about that warning..."

"C'est tiguidou!" Zethes blurted out as he tossed the hilt of his sword over his shoulder, narrowly missing beaning his brother in the face. "Father knows what he's doing, we're done here." He turned on his heel, took a step and then spun back around. "Fuck you," he said to me. He turned to his sister. "Good luck."

Then he threw himself over the railing and flew away.

"Scary," Calais whimpered.

Khione cleared her throat, prompting her brother to look at her. She made a shooing motion with both hands. It still took a moment for him to realize the other one had left, but when he did, a flying leap over the cliff edge saw him frantically flapping away too.

Luke coughed. He was pale, with sweat beading his forehead, but otherwise seemed unaffected.

"So your brothers seem…" He trailed off.

"They are imbeciles," Khione said simply. She turned away from us and with a slim index finger, directed a small breeze at the ground. She examined the sawdust it kicked up thoughtfully. "Glorified gatekeepers with no real responsibilities for good reason. They aren't worth your time." She glanced back over her shoulder at me. "Forget them and everything they said," she said strongly. "We have a Quest to discuss."

My heart sunk in my chest.

Yeah.

I guess we did.

I watched Luke coax a trembling Artemis out from under the newly rusted table. He accidentally knocked over one of the potted plants on the terrace, and it shattered into fine grains of sand that mixed with the dark soil and the ash that had once been the plant.

The fun was over.

Khione caught me glancing back out the rear window of the limo, watching the Montmorency Falls fall further and further back into the distance. I could still see it. Dad would be laughing in the sun as he took the helmet off, gushing about the zipline as the panoramic view of the cliffs and river stretched infinitely behind him. It would be one of his good days, where he stopped worrying and work wasn't stressing him out and he slept well the night before...and Mom would look at him like she was a second away from reaching out and trapping the moment in time forever.

"You will come back," Khione said and it sounded like a promise.

I will.

Maybe spending a few hours accomplishing nothing was dumb. We could have insisted on seeing Boreas, or getting on with the Quest. Maybe we should have. We weren't on vacation. We were demigods with something we had to do and only twelve days to do it in.

But...

It was nice while it lasted.

Our limo sped down the highway and turned onto smaller, cozier streets between traditional buildings, museums, studios and galleries. Old Quebec was just what it sounded like. Everything tried to keep up that traditional feel and if anything was renovated, it was just to replace construction hazards, not to modernize anything. The side streets were packed with people on a summer afternoon shopping trip, flitting in and out of the stores. Eventually we reached the Old Port.

Don't let the word 'old' fool you. There were boats everywhere. Luke craned his neck to peer over my head.

"I want a boat," I muttered. "Eventually."

Luke hummed as he eyed the sailing yachts moored at the long piers, but didn't say anything.

The Old Port seemed to be the main tourist trap. Flashy hotels, brightly lit signs, taxi cabs and more modern high rises with concrete and steel designs seemed to broadcast that this was where all the tasteless yuppies were supposed to go.

With a 'please don't stink up the rest of our city' thrown in somewhere.

Our destination was one of those tall buildings by the water. It had a wide sloping pyramid base with a half moon shape leading up to a gold capped pillar. It was still way flashier than brown brick with Victorian towers like the rest of the city, but it wasn't nearly as gaudy as the Hilton hotel across the street.

We were led by our driver, the wind spirit in a tux, to the top floor where a really fancy looking dine-in restaurant greeted us.

Greeted Khione, I guess.

Because I didn't understand a word the waiter said. Luke didn't look as lost? More like a deer in headlights. It was like he was listening and barely understood what the words meant, but it was a spelling bee and it was his turn and he was just fucked.

After a brief exchange, we were led through a soft beige, dark wood and gold parlor to a private section by the large windows overlooking the Old Port. The whole place bordered that line between classy and too much. There were golden vine trellis on top of polished mirrors that functioned as the southern walls. The carpet was plush with soft earthy brown colors in rippling wave-like patterns. The tables were all dark wood with a brighter wood streak at the ends with soft velvet covered beige chairs. The lighting was hanging light bulbs in blown glass orbs with twisting patterns, but there were a lot of them, making the gold gleam.

We sat down. Luke plopped Artemis onto the table and stared down at the cutlery.

"There are four forks," he hissed.

Khione made a sound that was too polite to be a snort as she talked with the waiter who made a valiant effort at just ignoring the random rabbit on the table. I pointed at my own set up. "These are for dessert. Bread plate and knife. This and this is for fish. Soup spoon."

He listened as I told him what was for what with a slightly pained expression. "Lawyer dad, right."

I shrugged uncomfortably. "It's really the grandparents."

"...it's weird." His blue eyes flickered to me, then back to the decorated napkin. "This is the second time we're eating on a god's tab. In two days."

"Yes?" I asked, confused.

There was a reason I told him to let me talk when we met Nemesis.

"It is not surprising," Khione said with a small smile as she sent our waiter away with a flick of her wrist. "For anyone else, but one such as you, Castellan." Luke glanced up at her, lips thinning. "This is ξενία, the laws of hospitality that we have carried through the ages and holds even now."

"Never heard of it," Luke grunted and I just kind of…

My brain stalled.

"You never heard of it," I repeated dumbly and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Artemis flinch away from us.

"Why would he?" Khione said evenly. "The laws hold for citizens, the gods of Olympus." The snow in her eyes glinted. "And demigods are stateless vagrants."

Luke's fingers on his napkin spasmed and I bit my lip.

Of course.

They didn't know because it didn't matter anyway.

No one would bother.

This black, ugly feeling began to crawl around in my stomach.

I had never been worried about myself. I thought it was weird when gods weren't nice to me.

Luke thought it was weird to be treated like he was a person.

How fucking much was I taking for granted?

"All demigods?" He asked softly.

"The Claimed are afforded exactly one basic right: to no longer be a vagrant," Khione said smoothly. "Instead, they are considered to be temporarily attached to a divine household instead of Olympus, much like a seasonal laborer and the worth of that status depends entirely on the head of the house."

Luke breathed in through his nose, then let it out his mouth. The scar on his bottom lip was flushed a livid red. "Seasonal laborer?" He asked bitterly. "Are you sure it isn't ktêma empsuchon?"

That was Greek for 'property that breathes.'

Slave.

Khione wrinkled her nose in distaste. "You have divine blood. That would be...gauche."

"I see," he said.

So did I.

Camp was fucked because Olympus was fucked.

The goddess studied Luke like it was the first time she was seeing him.

"So you do," she said eventually, before her eyes shifted to me. "Fate Claimed you, Percy. As a demigod, usually this would mean little but - "

"Mom's too big a deal," I said hollowly.

"She is above Olympus and its Laws." Khione confirmed. "You have...diplomatic immunity." She leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and tossing her long black hair back over her shoulder. "As a visiting prince."

I didn't really feel like any kind of royalty right now.

I felt like a spoiled shit.

The waiter came back with a bread basket and Luke and I scrambled to figure out what to order. I am not going to lie. I was hankering for a chili dog and some fries, but I don't think I was getting one in a place where the menu didn't have any prices listed, there were four forks and everything was in French.

Steak was good. Steak was fine.

Can't go wrong ordering one of those.

Service was decently quick and it got even faster when our waiter realized we were barbarians relying on Khione as the only cultured one and switched to an accented English.

I stewed all the way through my meal.

I was - I was going to have to talk to Dad. He would know what to do, what I could do after the Quest. Make a lesson plan, instead of just answering random questions. Something organized. Make Chiron give me a block with all of the Cabins. I could get Athena's Cabin to help. I could -

I could do something.

"Why are you helping us?" Luke asked tightly as he put down his fork with a clink.. "Why go through all this trouble?"

"This city is my home. I act with my father's authority. Have I not been a good host?" she asked around a sip of wine, sounding genuinely curious and a little concerned.

"It was fun," I admitted quietly.

She broke into a relieved smile. "Non-material gifts." She gestured at our surroundings in the golden restaurant. "Food. Lodging. Safety." I don't think I was imagining the emphasis on that word. "And information, as promised."

Her cold gaze slid over to Luke, who stiffened as her smile turned secretive.

I could feel a pulse of cold divine energy emanate from her.

A ward?

"The Master Bolt is held by the God of War."

Oh.

Fuck.

There was a second where we just absorbed the kind of shit we were in when Artemis lunged at Khione, furiously screeching. Luke caught her mid-leap, earning a few nasty scratches on his forearms.

"Calm down!" he growled at her. "Unless you want to die?"

She struggled until Khione clucked her tongue, disappointed. "I am willing to swear that I tell the truth. But, your manners, girl." You could tell she relished saying that. "Have you forgotten? You are no longer a goddess of a throne, Artemis Prôtothroniê."

Artemis froze in place. The use of her Name, of the First Throne, got through. Her eyes went wide. I could see her pupils dilate as she seemed to realize something. She twisted around in Luke's hands again, but not to attack anyone. She looked down at our plates and then began to chitter, muttering at Luke and I in an endless stream of noise.

"I - we don't speak rabbit," I had to tell her.

Artemis got louder, more desperate. Khione reached across the table with delicate fingers and gently placed an index finger on the rabbit's nose.

"Shhh," she hushed the bunny with a smile. "I have been a good host. I am helping on the Quest for the prestige and for the opportunity."

"Opportunity for what?" I snapped. My stomach roiled. "The favored son wants a war!"

Athena. Apollo. Artemis. All went searching for their father's Master Bolt. All failed. All former revolutionaries.

There was no way Zeus was going to believe us over Ares. Luke's word didn't mean much and he couldn't really prove it on his own anyway. No one would believe a demigod of Hermes could tell Ares had the Master Bolt when Zeus himself couldn't.

Zeus probably wouldn't spit on me if I was on fire (feeling was mutual). Boreas was still on house arrest forever, we couldn't use his word as evidence. Even if by some miracle, Athena talked the Dodekatheon into believing he wasn't a rebel anymore, the fact that it's been months and he didn't volunteer to rat Ares out would count against him.

We couldn't use the word of his daughter as evidence either.

Ares Domain was War.

We couldn't fight him, not unless he wanted to fight us.

He wouldn't.

I was still the son of Fate. I had nothing he wanted to beat out of me.

Artemis was a rabbit.

All he had to do was wait twelve days.

"He does," Khione said calmly. "And he is no fool. He doesn't physically hold the item. The winds bore witness to a mention of hiding the weapon, but we did not hear where nor how." She shrugged her shoulders. "Best guess? A place sacred to the patron of Sparta, where he can easily detect intruders and would be able to kill without restriction or question." She gave us a thin smile. "Father thinks it is still within the States. To make it easier to produce the weapon after the war has begun with a suitable scapegoat. Intercontinental demigods have not been particularly popular with anyone but the goddess of Love since World War Two."

"Elegant," Luke said in a low tone.

"Uncharacteristically so," Khione agreed. Her eyes found mine. "I have told you what I can do. Consider the ability to completely map out a structure using heat and air flow without stepping a foot inside and putting the god on alert." Her voice turned pleading. "You need me."

Artemis was shaking her head like she was trying to bob it right off.

"This doesn't revolve around you," I pointed out and watched her ears fall. "...you mentioned an opportunity?"

"Once the Bolt is retrieved, we can return it." That haunting melody was in her eyes again. "...but not for free," Khione whispered.

I felt a jolt go down my spine.

...not for free.

Luke caught on right away. "If he attacks you, he loses everything anyway. If he refuses to pay, he doesn't get his weapon back, but everyone will know the sea god doesn't have it."

"You are mortal," Khione said gently. "You can keep it."

"And I can hold him to a bargain," I said slowly.

By making him swear on the Voice of Heaven, the Bones of the Earth and the River Styx.

This time the shiver went up from my toes to the back of my neck.

I liked this idea.

"I can make Camp better." I whispered. "I can make everything better."

Without a war.

I liked this idea.

"A meticulously worded contract. Witnesses. An oath," Khione said leadingly. "The wording of the King's ultimatum was only that his Symbol of Power must be presented to him by the Summer Solstice."

Guess I should be happy it's Zeus.

Athena would never leave a loophole like that lying around.

"You want a bloodless revolution," Luke said.

"I want change," Khione snarled.

It wasn't perfect.

If Hermes didn't know about true oaths, then it's been at least four thousand years since anyone has sworn one.

Since anyone has broken one.

It didn't matter what the consequences of a broken oath would be, if I still died. That would still be terrible. For one, I would be dead. That's always a bummer. Two, I knew Mom would go to war with Olympus if I got murdered, because unlike Hades, she could.

The back of my neck shivered.

Fuck.

Hades.

He was missing a Symbol of Power too, wasn't he? And an oath would only bind Zeus' actions. It wouldn't do anything to Ares. Or Hera.

Or Athena.

Kronos.

The Great Prophecy still had some years left on it.

But what if I just did this? What if I blackmailed Zeus?

…

What if I did and it all came crashing down in four years anyway?

"We're getting ahead of ourselves," Luke warned, but there was a light in his eyes. I remembered my own oath and his boon. "This all means nothing if we can't steal the Bolt back."

"Yes, of course." Khione breathed out. "The only sacred place belonging to the god of War that I know of is the Metropolis Temple. It used to be in what is now Turkey and unfortunately, since the Migration, it has never stayed in one place."

"...where is it now?" Luke asked.

"In the most violent American city."

Figures.

"...Detroit?" I guessed.

Khione gave me a strange look.

"Baltimore?"

"Compton," she said dryly. "Compton, California."

Huh.

The more you know.

"I can't teleport directly to the city," Khione said regretfully. "Leaving my territory in such a way would send up a flare on Olympus and my ability to travel through godly Domains is restricted. I still can," she rushed to assure me. "If a cold wind can go there, so can I. But."

"It's the middle of June," I finished for her.

"We will have to travel somewhat traditionally south of the border."

"Somewhat?" Luke quirked an eyebrow.

Khione shrugged. "My Father has a stable full of Thracian horses. I am sure he would not mind if I borrowed a few." I think this was really happening. We knew who took the Bolt. How was a question for later, but for now, we just had to find it. We had a lead.

And...an idea of what to do once we had it.

Artemis, agitated, pulled on the sleeve of my shirt.

I sighed. "What do you want?"

"How are you with killing monsters?" Luke was asking the goddess.

"In the event they ever manage to even break through my ice?" she replied evenly. "As long as we do not run into any fire based creatures, such as the son of the Mother of Monsters - "

Artemis stared up at me with soulful silver eyes and the fur on her back bristled.

And I was suddenly aware that the hairs on the back of my neck had been standing up.

" - all that's left is getting rid of the dead weight."

I jumped to my feet, hand flying to my necklace where my fingers clumsily crashed against my chest.

Damocles.

I didn't Dream it back.

Luke pushed back from the table. His chair screeched on the grey tile lining the floor by the windows as one hand dug into his pocket.

Khione was watching me with a wintery smile and beautiful snow filled eyes. "Not you," she murmured. "Did I not offer my assistance in place of your mascot?" She asked innocently. "Have I not been a good host?"

Yeah.

To me.

Now that I thought back, she ignored Luke's acceptance of her offer. She paid him the bare minimum of attention to not break the rules, as if he was my servant. We did what I wanted to do. We -

I wasted time.

Even Nemesis fed Artemis as part of hospitality.

Khione didn't.

"Do not deny me this," Khione hissed, slowly rising from her seat. "Don't you dare."

I was tempted.

But I wasn't that far gone.

"It's been fun," I said instead. "Really, but uh, we gotta go. Now."

Luke grabbed his bag and grabbed the rabbit. "It's here?"

"Yeah, it's - "

In the mirror finish of the southern walls of the restaurant, I saw the dark shape close in.

My Spidey Sense screamed.

The restaurant windows exploded.

"Fuck!"

We dove onto the floor as alarms rang out, blaring and I could barely hear the screams of everyone else in the restaurant over the blood rushing in my ears and the tinkling of glass shards. Artemis squirmed out from under Luke's arm and bolted, a red blur under the tables and I had a moment of thinking -

Where is she going?

We were on the top floor of a thirty story building.

Where was there to go?

And I felt dizzy and breathless and my limbs felt like lead, like I was trying to move underwater or through a blizzard as I watched the black fractured blur break across the room - and then it was there.

The ropy scar tissue wasn't scar tissue. They were eyelids. Hundreds of bloodshot eyes glared out from between each flayed muscle fiber and large rotting gangrenous wings flared out from its back, pocketed with weeping sores and exposed black bone.

The bulldozer had just made it uglier.

And mad.

It screamed and my head exploded into stars. I saw Luke reach out with his hands and the tables and chairs moved, crashing into each other in its way as a small red blur ducked and weaved through the dining room.

It slammed through the furniture, letting out barks of black void sound like sonar that pulsed down my throat and squeezed.

I tried to reach into my stomach, but I felt sick and I think I farted. I didn't know how my powers worked. I didn't know how to control them. I just knew they were there.

I did it once. I can do it again.

There was nothing.

Not this time.

I couldn't breathe -

A cold shock slapped my face.

I was hauled to my feet by the front of my shirt.

"I can save you. I can teleport you out of here." My vision swam as I tried to lock on to Khione's icy expression. "Last chance, Perseus Stele."

Luke was on the other side of the room, jumping over a table with Reclaim flashing in his hands and the table silently shattered behind him as the creature swiped through it. Blood was already starting to drip from his nose. A scratch from a shard of glass had carved up his temple.

Another pulse of sound.

Luke stumbled, but he brought up his Celestial Bronze and Adamantine blade just in time to take the hit.

He went flying.

The creature glitched, a single arm appearing almost ten feet away, spearing down and my heart leapt into my throat as I saw the little auburn furball frantically throw herself to the side.

It almost wasn't enough.

There was a wet snap. Artemis screamed, sounding just like a terrified child as the black claw scraped, skidded down her flank covered by the little red sweater.

I can't leave them.

I didn't have to say anything.

"How could I forget?" Khione gave me a small, sad smile, already dissolving into a flurry of sleet and snow. She let me go.

"Heroes."

Knife, I thought and the weight of Erebus' Stygian Iron dagger fell into my hands. It was Nemesis' creature. It came through the shadows in the darkness of night. This might work.

This was crazy.

I was crazy.

I ran right at the living nightmare. I thought I was ready for the sound.

I wasn't.

It ripped through my head again, like it had shoved barbed wire into the inside of my skull and was pulling. I saw it turn, casually shattering a table as it raised a claw to swipe at me. I didn't duck so much as I fell under it, getting what was probably a really bad rug burn.

Small head covered in eyes, probably weak point.

I stabbed it.

The pitch black blade bounced off.

Okay.

Didn't work, was all I had the time to think before that feeling at the back of my neck blared.

I twisted blindly, just trying to get out of the way.

Fire seared up my side, racing to my back as the claw grazed me. Loosening my body was a practiced reflex, even as I bit back the scream. Don't freeze. Don't freeze. Never freeze. I reversed my grip on my brother's gift as I threw myself away from the creature. I hit the corner of a knocked over chair hard, rolling over it as the floor right where I just was crumpled under the blow. A large table with some art piece bronze tree in the middle of it wobbled in place, and then shot across the room, beaning the monster upside the head.

It whipped around.

Another pulse. My eyes felt like they were going to explode.

The monster glitched its torso after Luke, leaving its legs behind and I don't know what I was thinking -

I don't know why I thought it -

I raised my dagger and stabbed at the empty air in between.

It screeched.

The world itself shook and bent, like a black hole had just opened in the middle of the dining room floor.

And it was halfway between us, shuddering on the floor as if its two halves had snapped together and met somewhere in the middle. My knife was burning my hand and then it was getting up and I tried to move, but everything in my side wailed as my leg gave out and then Luke was there -

"Percy, move!"

Blood splashed onto my face.

Don't freeze, was the dim thought as my world shrunk down to Luke's red vest and the rapidly spreading dark stain. It had got him right between his shoulder and neck. He was bleeding in spurts.

Don't freeze.

My stomach yawned open. The fire on my back burned cold. I felt weightless. There was a flash of black, lashing out from behind me to in front of me and it simply…

Batted the nightmare away.

The remarkably pristine mirror finish of the southern walls silently shattered under its weight.

I can fight it.

But it won't die.

Luke grasped at the air with a weak hand, and a small unconscious bundle of fur was shoved into my chest. Realty snapped back to normal.

"Luke!"

He pulled at me, face set with a mulish jaw and tears streaming from his eyes as we stumbled towards the windows leading to a thirty story drop onto the pavement.

No where else to go.

Luke tightened his grip on me as the nightmare dug itself out of the wall, screaming, stabbing at my mind with dark, flaying knives.

Then he threw us out the window.

My world tilted.

Quebec City disappeared. In its place was a rugged mountain top. It was night time, a gorgeous avalanche of stars were strewn about the sky. There was a girl in front of me rocking the punk look with black hair and electric blue eyes, looking shocked. Behind her there was a girl that looked a lot like Annabeth's older sister with blonde curls and Athena's grey eyes, screaming. And beside her was a boy.

His sea green eyes widened in shock and disbelief when our eyes met, like he could see me from the other side of reality. He had windswept black hair and was wearing what looked a lot like my face.

Then I was falling down…

Down…

Down...

I could hear the crash of the sea against the cliff face. The wind was rushing by and I was so tired. I felt like a furnace that had burned hot and bright and hard for so long and now there were only embers left.

I had a thought. I don't know if it was even mine.

I'm so scared…

"Lady Rhea..." Luke's voice gurgled wetly.

My vision broke apart, scattering like flower petals on the wind. I felt it break. My stomach throbbed painfully, everything hurt and I felt like I was drifting. Like if I just stopped thinking for long enough, gravity would turn itself off and we could just float away.

It was as if...what I just saw had already happened.

Was happening.

Would always happen.

And now, would never be.

Luke sighed into my ear. "Now would be good."

The water of Quebec City's Old Port rose up with a roar and right before we hit the ground, it swept us away.

There was nothing like going from falling to death to drowning in the span of two seconds. I have no idea how my sunglasses stayed on.

I kicked and struggled, clutching my Quest members to me, but I was only twelve. The water had shocked Artemis awake, so I pushed her up towards the surface as best I could with one hand. The other was firmly wrapped around Luke's wrist. My lungs burned as I tried to drag his dead weight up from the depths.

Bad -

Bad choice of words.

Please, I sent out to anyone who was listening. Mom!

The water surged.

We were spat out on some cold beach somewhere. I hacked up half a lung as I crawled over to Luke. He wasn't moving.

"No, no, no, please." I turned him over onto his back, some half forgotten CPR lessons moving my hands. I think he was still bleeding, but sluggishly. I hoped he was still bleeding. That meant a heartbeat. He was too pale. I gently tapped his face. "Don't do this to me Luke. Come on."

I slapped him a little harder when he didn't respond. "Come on!"

My throat was beginning to close up. I tried to swallow and it hurt and I was panting as I shook him. "Luke, please. Don't do this to me. Luke!"

We were in the middle of nowhere.

I blindly reached out for my backpack. Just two squares, I thought dimly. I would just eat until I felt better but there was - hadn't Grover said something once, I think? Just two or he'll burn up and that won't help anyone at all.

I crushed the small cubes in my fingers and pushed the pulp into his mouth.

He didn't swallow.

I heard a slight whimper somewhere to my left and I just -

I saw red.

"Shut up!" I roared at Artemis. I didn't care that there was a bone sticking out of her back leg. "This is your fucking fault! If he fucking dies - "

My voice broke.

Something else broke too.

"If he dies," I said slowly. "You die."

I turned back to Luke.

"Come on, Luke. Show me those baby blues." I didn't - I didn't want to take off my glasses. Not even to check. I pressed my hands against the gash in his chest and shoulder and neck. It was - it was a bit too late for pressure but I didn't know what else to do. "Come on, you can't give up just like that. We have a plan for Olympus. For the Camp." There was snot coming out of my nose. "Well, maybe a quarter of a plan. You have to make it through this. You'll get to dunk on all your haters - not that you have any because you're awesome - and you even - " I was crying. "I can't believe you - Rhea actually answered you, you son of a bitch?"

Then from above me a woman's voice said, "I did."

My head snapped up.

Standing there like we had washed up at some music festival in the Bahamas was a dark haired woman with flowers braided into her hair, a brass Peace sign hung around her neck with a brightly colored shirt and short pants with a gossamer train.

There was also a fucking lion sitting by her.

Because why not.

"Uh. Hi." I said dumbly.

She raised a hand and slipped her round iridescent sunglasses down her nose. Behind them were the green compound eyes of the Matriarch of the Swarm.

"Looks nasty," she said casually as she lifted her glasses back into place. "Mind if I give you a hand?"

I nearly jumped away from Luke.

"Yes! I mean - no, no I don't mind. Please help me."

She knelt down on Luke's other side. She gently closed his mouth and then trailed fingers down to his chest. This energy welled up, flickering off her skin in streams of smokeless fire. It sunk into Luke and lit him up from within. I swallowed as I saw what looked a lot like his lungs behind dim bands of his ribs and a brighter spot that looked like a very slowly beating heart.

With a twist of her fingers, the tiny shuddering strengthened. Beneath him, the water of the sea or lake surged.

I snuck glances at the former Queen of the Gods.

This was kind of awkward.

"Not what you expected?" Rhea asked as she worked.

I shrugged and felt my back and side burn. "I...kind of expected you to have a bad luck penny glued to your ass or something."

"Ha!" She barked. She glanced up at me with an amused quirk to her lips. "Ain't that the fucking truth."

Glowing, writhing energy slowly filled up Luke's wound.

"He'll be okay?" I said and it came out very small.

"In time."

I could have fallen over in relief.

"Thank you," I said. "If there is anything I can do to repay you - "

"What do you see?" She asked me.

Oh.

The sea water crashed onto the beach in a small wave. Seagulls cried out in the distance. My hand flew to my sunglasses.

I paused. "...how things die."

Rhea looked at me thoughtfully. "Tell me?"

I took my glasses off.

I choked on a sob.

"Peaceful," I croaked. I have never seen a death like hers. Content. Ready to go. It was like she was just going to sleep after a long, hard day and she could finally - finally rest.

"Thank you." Rhea smiled, even as she studied me from behind her own glasses. "You do have your mother's eyes. I can even see her in the perfected look of your face, but the rest…" She rose and Luke floated up with her. She gently set him on the back of her lion and then turned to gather the pathetic fur ball that was her granddaughter up in her arms. "The rest reminds me so very much of my son, Poseidon."

The boy on the mountaintop. Black hair. Sea green eyes.

Rhea paused, looking over her shoulder at me.

"Coming?"

I followed her.