Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Percy stumbled over the camp border, dragging Grover behind him through the tall grass. He heard a few voices getting closer, which surprised him, considering it was the middle of the night. He collapsed to his knees, his grip on Grover loosening. The rain that had been beating down on him had slowed down to a soft drizzle, barely there at all, his wet hair causing water to run down his face, making it hard to see without his already darkening vision. The last thing he heard before his consciousness left him, was a young voice, similar to those of the girls his age at school, talking to a second voice that he knew he should recognize, yet couldn’t.

“He’s the one Chiron. He has to be.”

“Quiet Annabeth. He’s still conscious. Let’s take him to the infirmary.”

Chiron sat in his wheelchair by the bed of his newest camper, having sent Annabeth back to her cabin to try and get some more sleep; she had been talking to him about a nightmare before Percy arrived. Austin had been in the room, helping to heal Percy’s injuries – which thankfully weren’t anything worse than a concussion and a couple of scrapes, and Chiron was sure that Tyche had to have been involved for Percy to get that lucky considering the monster he had just faced – and he had just left to get a few things from another room.

Chiron wheeled out of the room as Austin came back, a glass of nectar in one hand and a monitor band in the other. He would leave the son of Apollo to make sure the newest camper was healing properly, knowing that Austin’s overnight shift would be over in an hour or two, when Kayla would take over until breakfast; plus, Argus would be arriving soon to stand guard over him. He pushed himself out of his wheelchair as he walked into his room, settling down to go back to sleep for the night, content to know that the demigods who came to camp during the summer were safe, everyone having arrived the day before, or would be arriving later that day, in the afternoon in the cases of those who lived across the country.

He didn’t know how long that safety would last, not with the threat of war on the horizon, but at least, for the moment, they were safe.

As he settled down to go back to sleep, a brush of magic swept over him, and he could tell it had swept over the rest of the camp as well. The magic was old, older than the gods and perhaps even the titans, and yet it had a calming, soothing presence to it. He didn’t know what it was and normally that threat would have him up and ready to defend camp in an instant. This time, however, he just felt more relaxed, as if something was telling him he could trust the magic, that it wasn’t going to hurt any of his charges. So, with the plan to investigate what the magic had done in the morning, as he couldn’t sense any danger or threat towards the campers, he allowed himself to be pulled into the realm of Morpheus.

Chris sat bolt upright, breathing heavily, his hands resting on the floor behind him as he tried to catch his breath. Demigods rarely has good dreams. Nightmares in general sucked. And demigod dreams mixed with nightmares with a side of memories never made for a good night sleep. Most of the campers didn’t sleep through the night without waking up from nightmares, night terrors, or memories, or a mix of all three if they were really unlucky; that is, if they even went to sleep at all – Percy and Clarisse especially had developed bad cases of insomnia and were often found sparing in the arena rather than sleeping.

The nightmares and night terrors were just part of the fun package that all the demigods had received after fighting in two wars in only a matter of years; PTSD was a bitch, and every camper experienced it to some degree, unless they had arrived within the last two months, meaning they had missed the fighting – the war with Gaia had only been won two months ago, and they were still rebuilding. Along with nightmares and night terrors, they all experienced different things from their PTSD, including insomnia – like Percy and Clarisse – flashbacks, hallucinations, muteness or selective mutism, panic attacks, episodes – which were what they called the times when something triggered one of them and made them think they were back in the war, back in the fight – being clingy with certain people such as partners and siblings, avoidance of specific areas in the camp – which were different for each of them – and a whole range of negative thoughts and feelings, as well as their irritable and aggressive nature being more prone to come out. Plus, all of them were always aware of their surroundings; before the Titan War, their ADHD made them aware of their surroundings, but now they were constantly scanning the area, looking for threats and dangers – most of them always had one hand on their weapon, and many of them had developed nervous twitches that involved fiddling with their weapon in some way.

As Chris started calming down, he looked around, trying to work out why things didn’t feel right. He knew he was in the Hermes cabin; the aura and feel of his dad’s cabin was unmistakable – plus he remembered going to sleep there. But things didn’t seem right. As he scanned the cabin, the first thing he realized was that there was too many people there. All the bunks were full – he was sleeping on the floor, which he hadn’t done since before he left to follow Luke – and there was barely any floor space. As he looked closer at the cabin, he realized it was much more rundown than it should be. He sat up straighter, bringing his hands to rub his eyes as he tried to work out what was going on, trying to work out why things were so different and yet so familiar at the same time.

And then he realized.

Not only did the cabin seem as crowded as it had been for years, and as run down as it had been during the time he lived there as one of the many unclaimed, but, looking closer at the sleeping faces around him allowed him to realize that he recognized most of them. Some that he couldn’t understand why there were there – they had been claimed by various Olympians over the years or were children of minor gods, so had their own cabins. Some he was surprised to see – he had seen their lifeless bodies, burned their shrouds, or watched them fall on the other side of the battlefield. And everyone looked too young.

Chris closed his eyes again, letting out a slow breath. Judging by the light outside, or lack thereof, it wasn’t even dawn. That meant that it was too early to deal with this; he was probably just imagining it anyway – he hadn’t slept much, and he had had one or two hallucinations on his really bad days during the past few months. Hopefully if he just went back to sleep then he would wake up and realize this was just a crazy dream that Clovis decided to give him while experimenting with some of his dream magic or realize that it had been a hallucination – this was one time he was hoping he was hallucinating, or something was messing with his mind.

Chris let out another slow breath before lying back down and rolling over so that he was facing the wall he was lying next to. He let his eyes drift shut again as he let his exhaustion take over again – after the battle, basically all of them had learnt how to fall asleep quickly and easily whenever the chance occurred when they were in a safe-ish environment; especially since most of them didn’t sleep fully through the night. His last thought before he slipped back into the lands of Morpheus was that he was going to kill Travis and Conner if they had thought this was a good idea for a prank.

Travis slowly woke up, a nice change from the usual of being startled out of his sleep due to a dream of some sort. He just lay there for a minute, eyes still closed, before realizing that his bed felt a lot smaller than it should. He went to roll over, only to find Conner sleeping right next to him. That wasn’t right. They rarely shared a bed since the Titan War, when Percy basically bullied and blackmailed the gods into paying attention to their children. Since then, the Hermes cabin had finally had enough beds for all the campers, with no one needing to sleep on the floor now that everyone was claimed and were having cabins built for them, so Travis and Conner had been able to have separate beds for the first time since they arrived; sharing a bed had saved space and allowed Riley, their sister who arrived at the same time as them, to have a bed.

He sighed but otherwise didn’t do anything; sometimes Connor would crawl into his bed during the night after a nightmare or if he couldn’t sleep, and he would do the same. He was debating whether he should just lay in bed with his eyes closed for a while or if he should get up, maybe set up a prank before the rest of his siblings woke up, when his decision was taken from him. The sound of harsh breathing echoed around the cabin, causing him to snap his eyes open and sit up in bed. He quickly climbed over Conner and out of bed, not even sparing a thought about the fact that he was instinctively dodging and weaving through campers sleeping on the floor, heading directly towards the source of the harsh breathing that he knew was the sound of someone hyperventilating, most likely from a panic attack.

Travis soon found himself squatting down in front of Chris, who was leaning against the wall. His knees were brought up to his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs, and his head resting on his legs, and he seemed to be shaking slightly. Travis stopped a short way away from Chris, about one or two paces; normally they would stay five paces back until the person having the panic attack was aware they were there and made some acknowledgment that they could come closer, but that wasn’t possible in the cramped cabin they were in.

“Chris. It’s Travis. You’re safe. We’re in the Cabin 11. Wherever you think you are, you are not there. We are in Camp Half-Blood, in Dad’s cabin. You’re safe here. Keep breathing, you’re ok. I’m safe and here for you, Conner is safe and is here for you, Clarisse is safe in her cabin and will be here in a moment if you want her to be. You are safe here,” he said, keeping his voice soft and calm.

“You’re safe here Chris, just focus on your breathing. It’s Conner. We’re not going to hurt you, no one here is going to hurt you. Can we come closer Chris?” Conner asked in the same tone, and Travis turned his head to look at his brother, who he hadn’t noticed was kneeling next him. Chris nodded slightly, and the two brothers slowly moved forward until they were right next to their brother.

“Can I touch you, Chris?” Travis asked, slowly wrapping his arm around Chris when his older brother nodded again.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Connor asked. Chris let out a shaky breath before gasping for air again, lifting his head from his knees, and it became apparent that he was crying, tears running down his face as well.

“They’re so young … they died … watched them die … so young … it’s not right … dead … too many … don’t understand … they died,” Chris said, his rambling words coming out between gasps for air. Connor and Travis glanced at each other, trying to work out what had set Chris off – if it was a dream or a trigger in the cabin.

“It’s going to be alright Chris. Just keep breathing. You’re safe,” Travis said, turning his attention back to his distressed brother.

“Do you want to go outside for a bit Chris? Get away from everyone?” Conner asked, and Travis shot him a quick look at the forcibly light tone that had a slight edge to it. “Clarisse is probably in the arena still, and I heard Will was going to force Percy to start learning to shoot if he’s not going to sleep at night.” Chris nodded again, his breathing quieting down; he was still gasping for breath, but it was more like he was choking on the air he was breathing, rather than not being able to get any air at all.

Travis and Conner slowly helped Chris stand up and helped him walk out of the cabin, dodging the people sleeping on the floor; Travis still had no idea why there was people sleeping on the floor, but he was more focused on helping Chris rather than working that out. The brothers guided Chris outside, stopping when Chris asked to just stay outside the cabin. They moved around to the side of the cabin and sat down, leaning against the side of the cabin. Travis and Conner just sat there with Chris as he came down from the panic attack, finally managed to calm his breathing.

“Do you want to talk?” Connor asked. Chris waved slightly, shaking his head.

“Not really. Can you stay and talk though?” he asked.

“‘Course,” Travis said. “Connor, what happened in there. Just before we left you were edgy and sounded like you were trying to keep your temper.”

“Yeah, about that. I might have been. Did you notice anything in the cabin?”

“Sure, I did. I thought it was a bit weird that I woke up sharing a bed with you, but figured you had a nightmare. And then there was the others sleeping on the floor which, strange, but alright. I mean, we’re demigods, weird and strange are what we do. I was more focused on helping Chris.”

“You’re kidding right? You didn’t notice that it’s more rundown than it should be? You didn’t notice all the people in there that shouldn’t be, for various reasons? You didn’t notice how young everyone looked? How young we look?” Connor asked. Travis blinked, his mind finally deciding to pay attention to everything around him, including himself, rather than just fully focusing on Chris and making sure he was ok.

He looked over at Chris and Conner, actually noticing, for the first time, that they seemed way too young. Conner still had acne across his forehead, some of the baby fat that he had lost at 14 sitting in his cheeks. Chris was missing the stubble around his chin, and his face was still scar free, rather than marked with scars from the backlash and debris of an explosion during the Battle of Manhattan.

“No, I didn’t. You know how we tend to hyper focus when we actually fully focus on something. Σκατά. Μα Αϊδες!" (Shit. By Hades!) he exclaimed. He looked around the camp, trying to find someone who looked like they had the day before roaming around. Instead, he found something else. “And where are all the other cabins?” 

“The cabins are what worry you?” Chris asked, a hint of amusement in his tone.

“Of course. They took us months to build. And they were proof that Percy actually managed to bully and blackmail the gods in to doing something.”

“That’s true. The gods were all ‘we can grant you any wish, but of course you want to be a god’ and Percy just went ‘I don’t want to be a god. If you can grant any wish then pay your gods be-damned child support and acknowledge that your kids actually exist’,” Connor agreed, laughing.

“No, seriously. The cabins are what worry you. Not the fact that we’re younger than we should be, or the fact that, currently, there are at least twenty demigods in our cabin, sleeping, who are meant to be dead,” Chris hissed, pulling their attention back to the conversation at hand.

“I did notice that. Then I pulled all my attention to you before I did something that I definitely wouldn’t regret, but might cause some questions,” Connor agreed.

“What did you want to do?”

“Beat up Luke. Or at least punch him a couple times.” Connor shrugged. Travis and Chris both nodded. That was fair.

“While I totally agree that I want to beat up Luke as well, even though I didn’t actually see him, I have to ask how the Hades is he in the cabin? And how are so many dead people in the cabin? And where in Tatar Sauce did the other cabins go?” Travis said.

“I’m hoping I’m wrong, but I think we went back in time.” Chris and Travis both turned to look at Conner, before stopping to think about it.

“As much as I hate that, it does make sense. Things are exactly the same as they were before the Titan war,” Chris agreed. Travis glanced down at the necklace around his neck, and the four accompanying beads; a centaur in a prom dress (which was the incident when everyone learned not to bet with the Stoll brothers), a Greek trireme (apparently, tripping over that when it’s found sticking out of the sand hurts – according to Chris at least), a golden apple with a knife going through it (for Luke’s quest, failed or not), and an owl next to a boar head (representing how the Athena and Ares cabins worked together for the first time in years for a raid of an abandoned cyclops lair).

“Well, if we really have travelled through time, we’re right when it all started. It’s the year Percy arrived. Σκατά!” (Shit!)

Chapter Text

“If it’s the year Percy arrived, is it before or after the Winter Solstice?” Chris asked. Conner knew he was asking a different question though. Could they save Luke, or had he already started doing Kronos’ bidding.

“And are we the only ones who came back?” Conner added.

“What do we do if we are the only ones? What do we do if we aren’t?” Travis asked.

The three of them sat there in silence for a while, thinking about the situation they had found themselves in, watching the hearth in the middle of the camp as it glowed; the red of the flames were a stark contrast from the pale yellow and deep black they had been during the wars. The silence of the camp was broken soon though as sobbing erupted from both cabin 12 and cabin 7 – Dionysus and Apollo. The three sons of Hermes were closer to cabin 12, since that was the cabin opposite theirs, and could make out some of the words amidst the sobbing: the sobbed calls for Castor.

“I think it’s safe to say that Pollux came back too,” Travis said.

“Hopefully Castor did in some way too, so he understands what Pollux is on about,” Chris said.

“He … he died though. Wouldn’t that prevent whatever happened to us happening to him?”

“We don’t exactly know what happened to us in the first place Conner.”

Conner opened his mouth to reply, but snapped it shut again when Silena emerged from her cabin, extremely pale and looking half out of it. Chris went to stand up, but before he could, Clarisse emerged from the Ares cabin, looking around before her eyes stopped on Silena. Clarisse paused for a moment, staring, before she ran at Silena. Conner, Travis, and Chris were too far away to hear what was actually said, but they could see Clarisse saying something before she engulfed her friend in a hug.

“I’d say Silena and Clarisse are back too,” Conner said.

“So, who else? It seems like I’m the only one who came back that wasn’t a councilor.”

“Guess we’ll find out. I mean, any others will probably have some reaction like we had,” Travis said.

“Come on. Let’s go talk to them. Before everyone else wakes up and thinks it’s weird for us all to be interacting civilly,” Chris said, standing up. Conner and Travis exchanged looks before they shrugged and stood up, following him over to the hearth in the middle of the cabins. The two Stolls hung back, staying next to the hearth, as Chris approached Clarisse and Silena, who were still standing outside the Aphrodite cabin; they were close enough to hear the conversation, but far enough away that they wouldn’t irritate Clarisse by accident – they had found they easily wound her up now, even if it was just by accident.

“Clarisse. Hey Silena.”

“Morning Chris,” Silena greeting, pulling away from the hug, looking at him warily, most likely trying to work out if he remembered or not.

“What do you want Chris?” Clarisse asked gruffly, quickly wiping tear tracks off her cheeks.

“Maybe move the reunion towards the hearth? Or somewhere more private? People will question it if they see you two acting like this when they wake up otherwise.”

“You remember? You’re from my time? Do you have any clue what’s happening apart from being in the past?” Clarisse asked, eyes flitting over him before scanning the rest of the camp behind him.

“Yeah. No clue what happened, or how, but Travis and Conner are too. All we worked out was that it’s the year everything started, the year Percy came to camp. I had a panic attack when I woke up and saw so many faces of people who died,” Chris said.

“You know?” Silena said blankly, before tears started falling down her face. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She continued to cry, and Clarisse put an arm around her shoulders.

“I forgive you Silena. We both made mistakes. Even if we don’t know what happened or how we’re here, we’ve at least got a chance to fix them.”

“Come on girlie,” Clarisse said, steering Silena away from the cabin and towards the fire that Travis and Conner were now sitting next to, Chris following behind them.

“Castor!”

Castor startled awake at the yell of his name. He paused for a second, glancing around the cabin he was in. It looked like the Dionysus cabin at camp, but he couldn’t be there – he had been in Elysium when he went to sleep. He shook that thought out of his head, deciding to deal with it later; right now, he had to help his brother.

“Pollux. Pollux, wake up. It’s alright. I’m here. It’s just a dream,” he said, kneeling down next to Pollux and shaking his twin’s shoulder. Pollux’s eyes snapped open, and he shot up, eyes darting all around the cabin before landing on him.

“Castor?” he asked weakly.

“It’s me Pollux. It’s Castor,” Castor said, reaching out slowly to lay a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“It’s really you? Are you really here?”

“It’s really me Pol. When we were 8, I broke my arm falling off my bike, and you were so scared you made vines grow all over my bike so I couldn’t use it again. Mum told us all about camp and who Dad was the next day, since she couldn’t pretend the vines hadn’t happened, but it was safe for us to stay home because we lived in such an isolated place where monsters never went. We got to camp when we were nine and a half, after mum died in an accident, and Dad spent the whole week after our arrival smiling because he was happy that he could finally see us and get to know us. By the end of the week, almost the whole camp was freaked out by how happy he was. The only reason the camp bead for that summer wasn’t a bunch of grapes with smiles was because the Stolls made a bet with Chiron, and he had to wear a dress for two weeks when he lost. That bet was what made us decide to be friends with them and we help them with some of their pranks and alibis. Dad told us during our first winter that he doesn’t call anyone by their real name so that he doesn’t get attached to them, since demigods rarely live happy lives, when you asked why we were the only ones he called the right names,” Castor rambled.

“Cas,” Pollux sobbed, launching forward, and wrapping his arms around Castor in a hug. Castor wrapped his arms around Pollux as well, returning the hug, letting his tears fall as Pollux continued to sob onto him, repeating his name over and over.

Eventually, Pollux calmed down and stopped crying, but he didn’t let go of Castor, afraid he would disappear if he did.

“How are you here Cas? You died. You died Cas,” Pollux said, tears slipping down his face as he buried his head in his twin’s chest.

“I don’t know Pol. I don’t know. The last thing I remember is going to sleep in Elysium, and then waking up here. But all that matters is that I’m here Pol. I’m here now. And I’m not planning on leaving any time soon; the Fates themselves would have to force me to leave, and I’d still put up a fight.”

“I missed you so much Cas,” Pollux said.  

“I missed you too Pol. How long has it been? Time is hard to track in Elysium.”

“Almost two and a half years. You were gone and I missed you so much and at first the only reason I kept going was revenge against Kronos and his army and then because I needed to help after the war.”

“Oh Pol. I’m so sorry. I’m not leaving you again. What happened over the years though? I know who died by who came to Elysium, and I know Luke died. Did you win?”

“Yeah, we won Cas. So many people died, but we won. And then we got a new Oracle, Rachel, and then there’s a new Great Prophecy, the Prophecy of Seven. Percy turned down Godhood and instead made the Gods vow to claim all their kids by 13, and we spent months building new cabins for Αγεσιλαος (Hades) and the minor gods. And then only four months later Percy was kidnapped and dumped somewhere near California with no memory, and three fifteen-year-olds show up. One of them had no memories and turned out to be the Roman son of Έριγδουπος (Zeus), and Olympus was in lockdown; even Dad was recalled from camp. And the Giants rose, and the Earth Mother woke up, and a group of seven made up of Greek and Roman demigods travelled to Rome and Greece before coming back here. And at the same time, we were almost at war with the Roman camp, and the gods were incapacitated and then the war was over, and the Earth Mother was put back to sleep,” Pollux said, rambling slightly through the explanation.

“There was another war, not even a year after the one with the Titans ended?” Pollux nodded.

“I missed the start of it, since it all started during Winter and I was at college, but I came back to camp for summer around the same time that everything came to head.” The two of them stayed as there were for a while, content in the embrace. Pollux eventually pulled away, wiping his eyes as he did so.

“Do you have any clue what’s going on?” Pollux asked.

“None at all. All I know is that we’re at camp, and we’re younger than we should be.”

“Huh. Guess I didn’t even notice that we’re, like, 14 now. Knowing the luck demigods have, and how much that Fates and gods meddle with our lives, we’re probably in the past,” Pollux said with a shaky laugh.

“It’s not funny that that’s true,” Castor said with a huff, standing up. “Come on, let’s head outside. Let’s try and work out what’s going on and see if anyone else has any idea; we still have a little while before breakfast.”

Will shot up in bed, his heart pounding. He had actually been having a good dream, which was a nice change – especially since he had been up late helping, or rather forcing, Percy to start to learn archery since he wasn’t going to sleep – but it had been interrupted by a voice that sounded both calm and soothing, and yet old and icy. Will squeezed his eyes shut, the words that he had heard right before waking up echoing in his head.

“You’re back at the start now. You have a chance; change things; save your friends. Make things better. Good luck, chosen 15.”

He was a son of Apollo and, while his main area was healing, he sometimes got dreams that were more prophetic than the average demigod dream; every Apollo camper got at least one at some point or another – although they were usually just simple predictions, like who was going to win capture the flag, or that the Hunters were coming to visit, or that a new demigod was going to arrive sometime that week. So, he could tell that, while it wasn’t a normal prophetic dream, he hadn’t just imagined the voice; he could tell that it had spoken to him directly, and for a reason. Now he just had to work out what it had actually meant; it seemed straight forward, but he knew that prophecies and messages from the gods could have multiple meanings and were rarely as straight forward as they seemed.

He slowly opened his eyes, looking around the cabin – the dream had left him feeling disorientated. He slowly looked around at the other occupied beds, wondering where Willow and Lily, their two newest siblings, were. He continued looking around the cabin, realizing that Willow and Lily weren’t the only ones missing. Billy, Daniel, and Riley, three campers who had turned up in the break between the Titan and the Giant wars, were missing as well. Will forced himself to stay calm, rationalizing that they had probably just woken up early, for one reason or another, and left the cabin.

Riley often had trouble sleeping and he would often find her in the infirmary during the night if she couldn’t sleep, even if it wasn’t her turn to do an overnight shift. Daniel and Billy were both amazing archers, and he would probably find them in the archery range having a competition or something, or maybe teaching Willow and Lily how to shoot; Lily seemed to have inherited a combination of their dad’s music and poetry aspect as her major ability, while Willow was a healer, so they both needed help learning how to shoot, rather than it being as instinctual and immediate as it was for those who inherited their dad’s archery aspect as their major ability.

He continued looking around the cabin, before his gaze landed on the bottom bed of the bunk under the biggest window in the cabin, and the person sleeping in that bed. Lee. Will stared at the sleeping form of Lee, trying to work out what he was seeing. It couldn’t be Lee. Lee was dead, had died in the Battle of the Labyrinth. He tore his eyes away from the sleeping form of his deceased brother and councilor. It couldn’t be Lee, his mind had to be playing tricks on him. The words from his dream floated through his head again.

“You’re back at the start. You have a chance; change things; save your friends. Make things better. Good luck, chosen 15.” The start. Change things. Save your friends. Back at the start.

He glanced down at himself, his hand going straight to his camp necklace. He glanced down at the beads on the leather, blinking as he looked at the two beads; one that was of a golden apple with a knife through it, and one that had an image of an owl with a boar head; his first two beads. He dropped the necklace, examining his arms, looking for the scars that he knew should be on his arms and hands. They weren’t there. His tentative idea was seeming more and more real. He was back at the start; he had, somehow, travelled through time; he was, somehow, back in his ten-year-old body with all his memories of being sixteen.

That meant that Lee wasn’t just his imagination. It was Lee.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Will was up and out of his bed, bolting across the cabin towards Lee’s bed. Lee’s death had been hard on the whole cabin, since he was their Head Councilor, as well as being the first loss of their siblings during the war. It had hit Will especially hard; he had been the one trying to heal Lee before ultimately realizing he was already dead – had died instantly from the club to the head.

“Lee,” Will sobbed, scrambling onto his older brother’s bed. He wrapped his arms around his older brother, sobbing onto his chest, not caring about the fact that Lee was sleeping. He continued sobbing onto Lee’s chest, only half noticing the way that arms wrapped around him, holding him close.

“Shhh, it’s alright Will. I’m here. Let it out,” Lee’s soothing voice whispered in his ear, one hand rubbing his back. Will hiccupped, gulping in air as he sobbed, Lee’s name occasionally being choked out of his mouth, his arms tightening around his brother. Lee was sitting up now and had maneuvered himself so he was leaning against the bedframe and had moved Will to his lap.

“Hey, it’s alright Will. It’s alright. I’m here.” Lee wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, feeling very disorientated, but he knew that he had to comfort his brother; Will clearly knew what was going on, or at least had grasped the situation quicker than he had. Lee lifted his head from where it was resting on top of Will’s head as he felt someone sit on the end of his bed; it was Michael, who had the top bed in the bunk they shared, which was probably why he was awake now, despite it still being early – their dad’s chariot was only just visible over the horizon.

“Lee, what’s going on?” Michael asked, and Lee could hear the anguish, pain, and confusion in his voice. Will paused for a second, his crying quieting after Michael spoke, before moving off Lee and hugging Michael tight, sobbing again. Michael looked at Lee in shock, glancing down at Will on his lap and gently wrapping his arms around the boy, before looking up again. Lee shrugged, seeing the question in his eyes. This time, Lee was able to hear words between Will’s sobs, and the words confused him as much as they made sense.

“Michael … idiot … left us alone … missed you … should have gotten off the bridge … you died … already lost Lee … you idiot … listened to Percy … died … needed you.”

“It’s alright Will. It’s ok,” Michael murmured, running one hand through the younger boy’s hair, before turning his attention to Lee. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“None at all,” Lee said. “Last thing I remember, I was in Elysium. I remember you arriving, Troy showing up around the same time. I know lots of others came; I assume from the war. But you know that time’s hard to follow down there. I have no clue how long I was there before you showed up, and I have no clue how long we were there since then.”

“The last thing I remember before now was Elysium as well. I died a year after you. It was the final battle. We were defending New York. A bridge I was on collapsed.”

“Do you know if we won?” Lee asked. Michael shook his head.

“I can hope that we did. But I can’t guarantee. There were forty campers, plus about thirty hunters, against thousands of enemies – monsters, demigods, titans. And the Cabin 5 weren’t fighting because of a stupid argument. I died three days before Percy’s birthday, and we had to keep holding out until he turned 16 to fulfil the prophecy,” Michael said with a sigh. Will let out a loud sob, gripping Michael’s shirt, as if Michael was going to disappear.

“It’s ok Will,” Michael said, his hand running through his brother’s hair again.

“Όχι. Όχι δεν είναι. You left. You died. We needed you,” Will said, slipping between Greek and English in his distress. (No. No it's not.)

“I’m here now. I don’t know how, but I’m here now.”

“You should have gotten off that stupid bridge when Percy told you too. You could have survived.”

“I made my choice Will. I can’t change that fact.”

“Ναι. Yes, you can,” Will said, pushing himself off Michael’s chest and wiping his eyes. (Yes.)

“What are you talking about?” Lee asked.

“How old do I look?” Will asked, wiping his eyes, before rubbing at the tear tracks on his cheeks.

“Ten.”

“Exactly. I’m ten right now. We’re in the past, and we have the chance to change things, to save our friends and make things better. The three of us, plus 12 others all have our memories from two months after the Giant War, which was just over a year after you died Michael, and two years after you died Lee,” Will explained, shifting so he was leaning against the wall the bed was against, wincing slightly as he heard a faint scream coming from one of the other cabins; if he had to guess, he’d say that was probably Annabeth – she was one of the ones who screamed, very loudly at that, during night terrors.

“How do you know?”

“I had a dream with a prophetic message. Or at least a message from whoever did this,” Will said with a shrug.

“Alright. So, it’s the summer Percy arrives at camp, since you’re already here and neither of you are year-rounders,” Lee said. Will nodded.

“What do we do now?” Michael asked.

“I’d say we should work out who else is sent back. Then we can plan with them and go from there,” Will suggested with a half shrug.

“We should head out now, see if anyone else is awake. You know the others will be awake soon enough; dad’s chariot is almost fully in sight.

“Most of camp has nightmares; none of us sleep through the night very often, and both Percy and Clarisse are extremely bad insomniacs. Anyone else who was sent back, who lived through both wars, will probably be up by now,” Will agreed. Lee frowned but nodded.

“That can’t be healthy,” he murmured.

“Δεν είναι; but anyone with PTSD isn’t at the peak of health to start with, and we all have PTSD. Every now and then, when we see they’re really getting run down, we either manhandle them into the infirmary and force them to sleep or get Clovis to knock them out; Clovis is a huge help with a lot of us having really bad nightmares.” (It's not)

“Clovis?” Michael asked – he hadn’t really paid much attention to the other cabins apart from the councilors, so didn’t recognize the name.

“A son of Sleep,” Will said easily. “Come on, I’m going to see who else is awake before Dad wakes up the rest of our siblings up.”

Chapter Text

Malcom shot awake as a scream pierced the silence of the cabin; he knew that scream. He struggled out of his bed, shoving off the sheets that had tangled around him from his thrashing around during the night. He scrambled over to Annabeth’s bed, stopping a few steps back – he knew better than to try and wake her up when she was having a night terror; the only one who could without risk of bodily harm was Percy. He was forced to watch as she thrashed around in her bed, screaming and crying, absently taking note of the fact that she looked twelve rather than seventeen. Her arms were flailing around, as if she was trying to fight off a monster that only she was aware of. She shot up, still screaming, arms flailing, her eyes still closed.

He turned as he felt someone approach, stopping next to him; he wasn’t surprised that someone else was up, Annabeth’s screaming would have woken the whole cabin, and possibly the lighter sleepers of the cabins around them. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of Emily, a younger sister who had died at 13 during the Battle of the Labyrinth. He quickly masked his shock, setting it aside to deal with later; judging by the fact that Emily was still alive, and that Annabeth looked twelve, he was going to go out on a limb and guess that he and Annabeth were in the past. He hoped Percy was as well, or Annabeth would not react well; whatever had happened during the time the Seven were gone, probably something to do with their fall into the pit, had made Percy and Annabeth extremely reliant on each other’s company.

“What’s wrong with Annabeth? Why aren’t you helping her?” Emily asked. Malcom sighed.

“She’s having a really bad dream. We won’t be able to wake her up, the dream has to end first,” he explained, watching as Annabeth started to calm down.

“Will she be alright?”

“She will be,” Malcom said, really hoping that he wasn’t lying and that she would be alright in time. Annabeth slowly opened her eyes, her eyes darting around the room, scanning for threats and escapes. Malcom continued watching, knowing it was safe to approach once her shoulders had slumped and she let out a sigh; experience had taught him that that was a sign that she was back in the present and aware of what was going on.

“Come on Annabeth. Let’s go for a walk and get some fresh air. Breakfast isn’t for another hour and a half at least,” Malcom said, stepping forward. Annabeth looked at him before nodding.

“Sorry about waking you all up. Feel free to go back to sleep or start getting ready for the day if you want. We’ll be back before breakfast.” Malcom offered her a hand, pulling her to her feet. He left his hand resting on her arm as the two of them left the cabin, subtlety providing support that he knew she would need but not ask for; he could feel that she was still shaking slightly, even if she was trying to hide it. The two of them slowly headed towards the hearth in the middle of the cabins, knowing that the peace from the fire and the hope that came from Hestia’s domain helped calm Annabeth down after a night terror if Percy wasn’t there.

“We’re in the past, aren’t we?” Annabeth asked.

“I think so. You look twelve. Em … Emily’s alive. We’re missing so many scars,” Malcom agreed.

“Not mental scars though. Just the physical ones,” Annabeth muttered, and he grimaced; it was obviously too much to hope that being sent back in time would heal the trauma. They walked the rest of the way to the fire in a comfortable silence, both of them lost in their thoughts. Finding Conner, Travis, Chris, Clarisse, and Silena already at the fire, Clarisse’s arm slung around Silena’s shoulders, didn’t surprise Annabeth, and neither did the sight of Lee, Michael, and Will heading towards the fire from their cabin.

Annabeth sat down next to the fire, before shifting so she was lying on her back. She allowed herself to focus solely on the warmth of the fire and the colors painting the sky above her as the sun rose. She let herself lie there for a few minutes, before sitting up again and looking at her friends who were all sitting around near the fire; close to her, but far enough away so she had space. While she was fully calming down, Pollux and Castor had appeared, as had Katie and Beckendorf.

“You good Princess?” Clarisse asked, seeing Annabeth sit up.

“Ναι. As good as I can be,” she replied with a small shrug. (Yes.)

“So, does anyone know what happened?” Katie asked.

“We’re in the past Katie-Kat,” Travis said.

“Obviously, idiot,” Katie said, rolling her eyes even though she was smiling.

“I think she meant does anyone know how in Tar… μα Δια we managed to time travel,” Chris said. Katie nodded. (by Zeus)

“Going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing some god decided to play with our lives,” Annabeth said, her comment making the rest of the group laugh.

“Oh no, it couldn’t be that. Imagine the gods messing with our lives,” Connor said.

“They would never do that,” Travis agreed, causing the laughter to increase.

“But seriously, does anyone know what’s going on?” Pollux asked. “I’m not complaining, because it means I got Cas back, but seriously, haven’t we done enough already?”

“Annabeth’s right. A god, or at least some divine being, sent us back to the start, back to the summer Percy got here,” Will said.

“How do you know? We could have guessed that, but you sound certain,” Clarisse said.

“I had a dream,” Will said with a shrug, not bothering to explain more; they all knew about demigod dreams and the few prophetic dreams the children of Apollo got.

“What was it?” Silena asked.

“Well, it was a nice, normal dream before a voice took over. It sounded soothing and calm, but also old and icy, if that makes any sense. It said ‘You’re back at the start. You have a chance; change things; save your friends. Make things better. Good luck, chosen 15’.”

“Well, obviously we’re 14, but who’s the 15^th?” Beckendorf said.

“I’d guess Percy. I mean, he was part of both prophecies, went on all the quests, and was part of the exchange program Παμβασίλεια (Hera) planned,” Chris said.

“Gods, I hope Percy’s back too,” Annabeth said. The others, who hadn’t died, shot her sympathetic looks, knowing how close the two of them were, and how reliant they were on each other’s presence.

“Wait, both prophecies? Exchange program?” Beckendorf asked.  

“Yeah. There was...” Annabeth was cut off when she glanced over at the three sons of Apollo, who were all covering their ears, looks of exasperation and annoyance on their faces.

“That’s something I haven’t missed,” Lee muttered.

“Tell me about it,” Michael agreed.

“What?” Clarisse asked.

“So, you know how campers from our cabin are always up before everyone else. How we rise with the sun?” Lee asked.

“Yeah,” Katie said. “There’s been a lot of debates about why over the years.”

“Well, every day, as soon as Dad’s chariot is fully visible in camp, he blasts really loud music at a frequency that only his children can hear,” Michael muttered.

“Seriously?” Conner asked.

“Yep,” Will said, popping the p. “And I really haven’t missed it.”

“Why would you have missed it?” Lee asked. “We didn’t have that anymore since we were in Elysium, but you were still alive.”

“Dad stopped doing it when the titans were acknowledged as a threat, after Δρυμονία (Artemis) was rescued. He said we needed rest whenever we could get it, which he wasn’t wrong about. He didn’t start doing it again after the war, since he wanted us to fully rebuild and have time to mourn and start getting back to normal, and then Olympus was on lockdown so only a miniscule part of his essence was driving the chariot, so he couldn’t start doing it again. And then Jason appeared, and Percy disappeared and then the whole schism thing, and, you know, the war. And then even with Olympus open again, he didn’t start again cause we were rebuilding, again,” Will explained.

“So your cabin’s awake now?” Malcom asked.

“They all should be, yeah. Except whoever had the first half of night duty in the infirmary; whoever has the first night shift gets to wear earplugs to sleep so they get enough sleep, but dad kind of insists that you don’t sleep with earplugs in otherwise,” Michael said. "Τυχερά καθάρματα." (Lucky bastards.)

“Because sleeping with earplugs in too much can cause infections or bad headaches,” Will added, looking exasperated, as if he had explained the same thing many times. Lee and Michael just waved him off.

“We should probably head back then, they’ll be expecting us to be there,” Lee said.

“Go ahead,” Annabeth said. “Malcom and I should probably head back too. Our siblings are all awake already, and I said we’d be back soon.”

“Screaming woke them up?”

“Yeah, night terror,” Annabeth confirmed, shivering slightly before giving a weary smile.

“Wait, so what did you mean about both prophecies and an exchange program?” Silena asked.

“We’ll explain later. We’ll have to meet up again tonight, to try and work out a few things. We don’t have time right now,” Will said, standing up along with Lee and Michael.

“Cabins 7 and 6 are both already up, and at least a few from 11 will be awake soon. We don’t want anyone realizing something changed,” Chris said.

“Not yet at least,” Annabeth agreed. “For the moment, just try to act normal,”

“What even is normal?” Clarisse muttered.

“Normal for us at least,” Malcom added. “Try and act like we haven’t fought in two wars or died.”

“Yeah, that’ll be easy,” Travis muttered.

“We’re at least allowed to attack Luke though, right?” Conner asked.

“Oh, I’m joining you in pranking him,” Chris agreed. Annabeth shrugged.

“As long as he doesn’t find out the reason, or you make him suspect you know what he’s already done, then knock yourselves out.”

“We’ll try and meet up again tonight,” Beckendorf agreed. They nodded, standing up and starting to go their separate ways back to their cabins. Annabeth smiled as she heard Clarisse muttering under her breath as she walked away.

“Scum bag … challenge him in the arena … traitor in the infirmary in no time.”

Chapter Text

Percy blinked awake, extremely disorientated. Memories kept floating through his mind before running away again, and he just couldn’t work out what had happened and where he was. He vaguely remembered fighting the Minotaur and his mum disappearing in a flash of light, but that was years ago, when he first came to camp; at the same time, the last thing he remembered was going to sleep in his cabin after a day of rebuilding camp and planning with Jason for the various shrines they were going to create for both camps.

“You’re awake.” Percy sat up slowly and looked over to where the familiar voice came from. He blinked slowly, trying to process what he was seeing; it was Grover, but it was a young Grover – he hadn’t even earnt his horns yet. Young-Grover moved forward, handing him a tall glass full of what looked like apple juice, but he knew was nectar. He shakily accepted the glass, still staring at Young-Grover.

“Careful,” Young-Grover warned. Percy took a sip, the taste of his mum’s cookies relaxing him a bit.

“Grover, what?” he asked, trailing off. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he also had an idea and, really, hadn’t the gods already messed with his life enough? To try and give himself time to think, he took another long sip of nectar.

“You saved my life, back on the hill,” Young-Grover said. “I thought … well … it was the least I could do. I ... after I woke up, I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this.” Percy stared at the box that Young-Grover placed reverently in his lap, and gingerly taking the glass from his hand and placing it back on the bedside table. He lifted the lid off the box in his lap and stared at the horn laying inside.

Apparently, no, the gods hadn’t messed with his life enough.

“The Minotaur,” he said, trying to remember how he had acted when this had happened the first time around. Grover winced.

“That’s not a good idea. Names are dangerous, Percy.”

“But that what the myths called him, isn’t it,” Percy demanded.

“You’ve been out for two days. How much do you remember?” Grover asked, ignoring the question.

“I’m … I’m not entirely sure. It’s kinda a blur. My mum … is she really?” Grover looked down and Percy blinked, the memory of losing his mum when he was twelve coming back to him. He did not want to go through that again. Dam whoever thought this would be a good idea.

“I’m sorry,” Grover said, and Percy cut him off before he could continue along that line.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I was meant to protect you. I’m the worst satyr ever,” Grover said, sniffing.

“It’s not your fault that the car was hit by lightning. Or that I ditched you,” Percy said stubbornly. Grover sighed, obviously realising he wasn’t going to win that argument. Percy nodded, before reaching out for the glass of nectar again. He had only had a small amount, and his head was still spinning – both from the onslaught of memories and the head injury he remembered getting while fighting the Minotaur; he vaguely remembered his head connecting, rather forcefully, with a large rock.

“How are you feeling?” Grover asked, taking the glass back again after he took another sip. Percy paused for a moment, letting the nectar wash through him and settle his pounding head a bit more – he’d have to go for a swim later to make sure his head was fully healed; he preferred water healing over nectar healing even though nectar and ambrosia healed him just fine as well, since it’s what his body was naturally more made for and it helped not deplete their small stores of the godly food that others would need access to.

“Good. Better now that I’ve had some of that drink.”

“That’s good. It’s nectar, and I don’t think you should risk any more. It has healing properties, but you have to be careful how much you drink. Too much and you’ll combust.” Percy nodded, pushing himself up a bit more and swinging his legs out of the bed; he was itching to move, to do something, rather than just lay in bed – and more than anything, he wished for Riptide and the familiar comfort of the sword turned pen spinning through his fingers or grasped in his hand. Somewhere in the back of his mind, though, he was glad that Grover was being a bit more straightforward this time around – last time he hadn’t answered any questions. He hadn’t even explained why nectar was dangerous, for Poseidon’s sake.

“Come on, I’ll help you up. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting for you,” Grover said, helping pull him to his feet. Percy wobbled a bit before steadying himself, pulling on his years of experience of fighting and pushing forward even at the brink of exhaustion to help him walk forward on legs that were still a bit shaky. Compared to everything he’d gone through – and he very deliberately pushed back the thought of having to do it all again – shaky legs was barely anything.

Grover helped support him to the door before Percy shrugged him off and followed him out of the infirmary. Percy paused for a moment as he passed one of the other private rooms in the infirmary, recognizing the voices coming from inside. Will, he understood – he was one of the best healers at camp. But why was Luke in the infirmary? He hadn’t been last time. Percy shook that thought off, as well of the thought of having to see Luke again – that was a problem for 5-minutes-in-the-future-Percy to deal with – and continued following Grover out of the infirmary and over to the porch in front of the big house.

He looked around camp, a hint of nostalgia flowing through him as he saw the original 12 cabins, and everything looking either fresh and neat, or rundown from use. It had looked so different after the two wars. There had been so much damage; whole cabins had to be rebuilt after the Giant War. Percy let a small smile appear on his face as he watched the campers running around, laughter and teasing able to be heard carried on the wind. It was nice, seeing everyone so carefree rather than worn from numerous battles, countless deaths of friends.

When they approached the porch, Percy finally turned his attention to the people at the table, half his attention on Grover, who was explaining who each of them were; Mr. D sitting by the table in his usual camp appearance of a cross between a hobo and cherub, Chiron standing next to the table in his centaur form rather than in his wheelchair, and Annabeth standing next to Chiron, leaning against the rail. Chiron and Mr. D seemed to be playing pinochle, like they used to always do, while Annabeth talked to Chiron.

“Ah, Percy. It’s good to see you awake. And now we have four for pinochle,” Chiron called when he noticed him. Percy nodded, smiling tightly, taking the seat that Chiron gestured to, Grover sitting down next to him. Mr. D sighed theatrically.

“Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you.” Percy bit his tongue, repressing the urge to make a sarcastic comment, repeating over and over in his head that this was a Dionysus who had never met him before and wouldn’t appreciate his sass or sarcasm, not the Dionysus from his time who was used to his attitude and who had a truce with him.

“Uh, thank you. Sir.” Chiron looked closely at him, as if he was examining him, before turning back to Annabeth. “This young lady was with me when we found you collapsed past just inside the border. She helped make sure you got the medical attention you needed. Annabeth, my dear, why don’t you go tell cabin 11 that they have a new camper and to prepare a spot. Someone will have to since Luke seems to have lived in the infirmary the past two days.”

“Sure Chiron,” Annabeth said, before turning to me and giving me a look that I was very used to. One that told me she was looking for any weakness and working out how to take me down in a fight.

“You drool when you sleep, Prissy.” Annabeth smirked before turning and running down the hill, her ponytail flying behind her. Percy fought the urge to either grimace and glare at Annabeth, or grin; on one hand, that proved that she was his Wise Girl and had her memories like he did; on the other hand, that was Clarisse’s nickname for him, and only Clarisse was allowed to use it – like how Annabeth was the only one who could call him Seaweed Brain (yes, he was picky with who got to use what nicknames for him, it was a whole thing that caused many arguments when someone tried to call him a nickname reserved specifically for one person).

Percy sat at the table and listened to Chiron explain about the Greek world, which he was ‘new’ to, explaining all about how the gods were real, as were the creatures, spirits, and monsters talked about in the myths. He made sure to nod in the right places and ask the appropriate questions, based on all the introductions he had given to new campers in his time as a councilor, while also marveling at how much better this introduction was than when he had actually arrived at camp the first time; that time, no one had explained anything, or answered any of his dam questions – he had run on instinct and gut feelings until at least halfway through the quest for his uncle’s bolt. Which, Percy realized, would be missing again; and he would be blamed and have to go get it. Again. Just great.

“Come Percy. Let’s go see the camp,” Chiron said, walking away from the table. Percy followed him through the camp, nodding along as the centaur pointed out different things around the camp; how many times had he been the one to show a new camper around? They moved on to the cabins in the middle of the camp, with Chiron stopping near cabins 1, 2, and 3. Percy faced the two large cabins that stood imposingly in front of him. He didn’t envy Thalia and Jason for having to stay in the Zeus cabin when they were at camp, especially since Thalia had once mentioned it didn’t have a bathroom, and Jason had spent a few minutes ranting about how creepy the statue in the middle of the cabin was; neither of them stayed there very much though – Thalia used the Artemis cabin, and Jason went back and forth between the two camps working on relations between the Greeks and Romans, and starting the shrines for the minor gods, and often slept over in the Poseidon cabin when he stayed overnight.

“Are those cabins for Zeus and Hera?” he asked. Chiron nodded. “They look empty.”

“Each cabin is for a specific Olympian, even if that Olympian doesn’t have any children, such as Hera, to make sure they are honored equally like the Olympians with children,” Chiron explained. “Although you would do well to learn the epithets and other names for the gods and goddesses. Names hold power, Perseus, and using their true name calls their attention to your conversation." Percy nodded slowly, still amazed how much different this introduction was from the original one; it might have been because this time he was actually understanding it and asking the right questions, rather than following blankly along in firm denial of everything he was learning.

Percy then turned to face the low, long, and solid cabin that had been his home at camp for years. It called to him, calling him to come inside. He resisted the urge to go in, simply stepping closer and looking in through the door, knowing he had to keep the charade that he didn’t know who his dad was. It was weird to see it completely empty and plain; he had gotten used to it being decorated with the bronze hippocampi and marine plants on the windows that Tyson had put there, and his minotaur horn over the bed he had claimed as his. Before he could look in for more than a few seconds, Chiron pulled him back.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Percy turned to look at him before nodding and stepping back; clearly Chiron didn’t understand the rules his dad had on his cabin, the first of which was that anyone could look or go in for a few minutes, as long as they were respectful to both him and any child living there, and they wouldn’t be punished if they were in there for too long, simply getting gently pushed out. He understood though, since the rules for Cabin 3 were some of the most relaxed rules – Cabin 11 had the most relaxed, especially since they hosted the unclaimed and those who didn’t have a cabin – and some of the cabins had very strict and punishing rules – especially Cabin 1, 2, and 8.

“Come on Percy, let’s continue.” Percy followed Chiron as he headed directly to cabin 11, where Annabeth was sitting outside, with a book open on her lap.

“Annabeth, can you take over Percy’s tour from here? I have a master’s archery class at noon.”

“Of course, Chiron,” Annabeth said, standing up and closing her book. “Luke just got back a few minutes ago, complaining that Will keeps keeping him in there longer than necessary.”

“It is good to hear that he’s out again, although I do have to wonder when he will end up in there again, based on the number of times he has been in and out in the last two days.” Annabeth just smiled and gave a small nod. The three of them entered the cabin, the campers in the cabin bowing to Chiron as he entered – Percy found it funny that the only times he had seen people bow to Chiron was when he entered their cabin (he figured it was because he only came into the cabin to either introduce a new camper – like him – or to tell them off for something big – which meant respect was needed to try and not increase your punishment).

“Cabin 11. Make yourself at home Percy. Good luck.” With that, Chiron turned and left, leaving him and Annabeth standing in the doorway.

“Cabin 11, meet Percy Jackson. Percy, meet cabin eleven.”

“Regular or undetermined?” called a voice from the back that Percy recognized, and when he looked over, he saw Chris shoot him a grin.

“Undetermined,” Annabeth said. Cue the groans.

“Now, now, campers. That’s what we’re here for. Welcome Percy. You can have … that spot … right over there,” Luke said, pausing as he searched the cabin for a spot that Percy could have and pointing it out to him. Percy nodded, his hand slipping into the pocket that Riptide usually returned to, as the other clenched behind his back.

“This is Luke. He’s your councilor for now.” Percy glanced at Annabeth, who was looking at a spot right over Luke’s shoulder, so she didn’t have to look straight at him. He gave a tight smile before letting Annabeth pull him out of the cabin again, still clutching his minotaur horn – he knew Travis and Conner, who had both been happy to raid and loot even during a war, along with Chris, would be eager to try and snatch it, let alone the rest of the Hermes kids; the Hermes cabin had spent a week in the month after the Titan war ended simply trying to steal something from him without either getting caught or having it taken back within two hours – he was more observant than the ordinary demigod, both due to the nature of the sea and the way he grew up, even if he was extremely oblivious when it came to people liking him.

“Come on Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth muttered as they left the cabin behind them. Percy smiled, his left-hand unclenching and his right leaving his pocket as he relaxed now that he was away from Luke.

“How do you deal with seeing him again? I know he did his best to make up for it in the end, but all the hurt he caused is still there. It was easier to remember him as a hero who gave his life when he wasn’t there to see and remind us of everything he caused,” Percy muttered.

“We pretend. We all learnt to put on a mask and pretend things were alright during the wars. You did it just like the rest of the councilors did. And you heard that he’s been in the infirmary a lot; he has been the target of a lot of pranks, including ones that are a bit nastier than normal. And he’s been challenged in the arena a lot, and we can beat him easily now since we kept our skills and abilities from the wars that he hasn’t gotten yet, even if we have to regain the muscle memory in our younger bodies again; Clarisse especially has been trying to kick his ass as often as possible without creating suspicion about her new skill level,” Annabeth said.

“I can’t wait until my first sword fighting lesson then,” Percy said. Annabeth opened her mouth to reply, but then they passed the hearth. They both paused, a quick look scanning over the fire before their gaze settled on the young form of Hestia tending the flames. As their attention landed on her, she seemed to sense their attention, glancing at them. They both inclined their heads towards her before giving her a smile, Percy waving slightly, and then walking off to continue the ‘tour’; since the Titan war, all the campers had given respect to Hestia when they passed the hearth, and it was something the two of them, at least, were determined to keep doing – an inclined head was as close to a bow as she would allow, just like she refused to allow them to call her Lady Hestia, telling them to either call her by one of her epithets, Hestia or some version of Aunt Hestia (even though they all had the invitation to, only the children of Demeter, plus the kids of the Big Three felt comfortable calling her Aunt or Auntie though, since she technically was their Aunt).

“I’d say don’t draw suspicion, but everyone in camp heard about how you disarmed Luke in your first lesson,” Annabeth said once they had moved away from the hearth, heading towards the lake.

“We had been training for a while and stopped for a break. Luke poured water over his head, and I thought it looked like a good idea, so I copied him,” Percy said with a shrug. Annabeth let out a loud laugh.

“Κλέφτης. Everyone was going on for ages about how it had to have been beginner’s luck, or that you were just that good.” (Cheater.)

“I know. How no one remembered it was because of the water after I was claimed I have no idea.” They stopped by the lake, sitting down on the pier, and letting their legs dangle over the side. Percy waved to the naiads who were swimming nearby before turning to Annabeth.

“What’s going on? Who else remembers? You mentioned Clarisse.”

“There’s fifteen of us in total. Me, you, Katie, Clarisse, Malcom, Lee, Michael, Will, Beckendorf, Silena, Travis, Connor, Chris, Pollux, and Castor. We don’t know much, except that some divine being sent us back ‘to the start’ so that we can ‘change things’ and ‘save our friends’ and ‘make things better’. According to the dream that Will had the morning we all woke up with our memories; they came the morning you arrived.”

“Do we have a plan? Any idea what we’re doing? Any clue where to go from here?”

“Not at the moment. All we have so far is to act as normal as possible, like we acted the first time around, and to not arouse suspicion if at all possible. Clarisse is passing off the challenges as getting back at him for a prank he pulled on her last week. Chris, Travis, and Conner are pranking him as much as they can without being caught. Will keeps him in the infirmary as long as possible so the rest of us don’t have to deal with him, while also keeping his other siblings as the ones watching him so he doesn’t have to deal with him. We haven’t really had a chance to meet up and plan anything other than that; all we worked out was in a short half hour when we were all awake after getting our memories back. There’s nowhere we can meet without being caught, and most of us aren’t known for being close or getting along at this age,” Annabeth explained before sighing. Percy frowned.

“Why haven’t you used my cabin?”

“We weren’t sure if we would be allowed to.”

“You know the rules about the cabin. Even if the others don’t, and I know most of them do, I know you at least do. There’s only, like, three rules, and they’re simple, you know that. One, anyone is allowed to look or come in for a few minutes if they’re respectful to dad and any of his children at camp. Two, if one of his children, or he himself, invites you in, then you can stay as long as you want and come in as often as you want unless the one who invited you in rescinds the invitation. Three, don’t come in with the sole intent to mess with things in the cabin or the cabin occupants.”

“I did suggest your cabin, but Malcom made a valid point. None of his children have given us permission, in this time, to enter the cabin. So we wouldn’t be able to stay for longer than a few minutes,” Annabeth said. Percy tilted his head, before nodding in agreement. That was true, and it sucked.

Especially because, unknown to most of the campers, he and Clarisse didn’t just spar in the arena if they couldn’t sleep; sometimes they would go down to the training pool you could only access from his cabin, and Clarisse would go through moves with water resistance while Percy practiced his powers at the same time as he kept an air bubble around Clarisse’s head so she could breathe. And sometimes, if the Apollo campers had knocked him out, he knew Clarisse would go down and train in there on her own – there was an adjustment switch near the hatch to go down that could adjust the water level, so it didn’t cover her head if he wasn’t there to allow her to breathe. It would have been a good place for her to escape to during the night, since he doubted a trip back in time would have helped her insomnia, or his for that matter, and Chiron of this time period hadn’t given them permission to be in the arena after curfew like Chiron of their time had.

“I’ll give you guys permission tonight, and we can meet up after curfew and once the rest of our cabins have gone to sleep. That way we can try and plan what we’re going to do from here.”

“Alright. I’ll let Malcom know, and we’ll try to spread the word without suspicion,” Annabeth agreed. “You can let Conner, Travis, and Chris know – you share a cabin with them, maybe try and sit near them at dinner.” Percy nodded, before smiling sheepishly as his stomach rumbled.

Chapter Text

Percy returned to cabin eleven after they finished the ‘tour’, Annabeth heading back to her cabin so she could start spreading the word about the meeting. Percy headed over to his small space on the floor and sat down, his minotaur horn going on the ground next to him as he leant against the wall. Luke came over and handed him a bag with a change of clothes and toiletries, which he accepted with a small nod, opening it to inspect the quality of what was in there. Once he was sure that his supplies were in good condition, Percy returned to watching the other members of the cabin.

“Hey. Guess you’re my sleeping neighbor.” Percy looked over at Chris who had sat down next to him.

“I guess so. I will apologize now.” Chris grimaced.

“Yeah, you flail, don’t you.”

“Yeah. Flail, thrash, anything else than means I will likely hit or kick you by accident when I sleep. And I do scream occasionally. Although I’ll probably end up not sleeping unless Will threatens to knock me out again.”

“What’ll you do instead? I know the arena’s out, since Chiron hasn’t given you guys permission like he did.”

“Probably end up in dad’s cabin. Oh, and we’re having a meeting there after curfew to try and work out what to do, where to go, stuff like that. Can you help spread the word?”

“Alright, as long as you tell the Stoll’s.”

“That’s fair,” Percy agreed. They sat next to each other in silence for a few minutes before the conch shell blew, calling them to dinner.

“Eleven, fall in,” Luke called, leading to the rest of the cabin lining up in order of seniority. Once they got to the dining pavilion, Percy managed to steal a seat next to Travis, squishing in between him and another camper who he didn’t recognize; although, if his memory was right, that camper wouldn’t come back to camp next summer.

“Percy, right? I’m Travis.” Travis said, reaching across the table for a dish he wanted. 

“Yeah,” Percy agreed, before lowering his voice – not that it was needed, considering the noise level of the dining pavilion. “We’re having a meeting in my cabin after curfew.”

“Alright. I’ll tell Katie and just drag Conner along.”

“Thanks,” Percy said, standing and following Travis to the brazier that burned in the middle of the tables. He heard Travis’ muttered words and smiled slightly, glad that he and Annabeth weren’t the only ones who were continuing with their acknowledgement of Hestia; she may get a portion of each sacrifice, as the goddess of hearth and home, but many of them had taken to sacrificing specific parts just for her. He stepped forward, scraping a buttery roll into the fire, followed by a slice of his brisket.

“For Ποφεινοτάτη (beloved) Auntie Hestia, as thanks for keeping the hearth strong, our family together, providing a home, and allowing hope to remain at the hearth. Dad, whoever you are, please claim me soon. I promise I’ll make you proud,” he murmured. His prayer to Hestia was one of the many thankful messages and murmurings the camp had developed, and one of his favorites; his message to his dad was a lot less personal than he normally would do, but he wasn’t meant to know who his dad actually was. He then stepped back, after catching a whiff of the smoke, moving back to the Hermes table, and allowing the next person to make their offering.

Hestia sat by the hearth in the throne room on Olympus, poking at the fire, a small smile on her face, even as many thoughts rushed through her head about the last two days. Things at Camp Half-Blood were changing, even though she had no idea why. She normally spent at least part of her day at the Greek camp, watching over the children, much like she spent a portion of the day at the Roman camp. So normally she was aware of things as they changed and was able to watch the changes as they slowly occurred. This time though, this time the changes seemed to have happened overnight.

She normally spent her time at the camp without being noticed, working in solitude. She didn’t mind, content to just tend the fire while watching the children run about, training and having fun. Every now and then, normally about once every few decades, a demigod would notice her, and possibly come talk to her. But during the past few days, she had gotten more notice than ever, even amongst her siblings on Olympus. There was a collection of demigods who would give a short bow or inclination of their head, a wave, a smile, every time they passed the hearth, every time they noticed her; they never stopped to talk, but they always made some sort of acknowledgment. A boy who had just arrived at the camp was included in that group, a young boy she could tell was Poseidon’s son; he looked so much like her brother, he could be a clone of him. And over the past two days, she had gotten offerings during mealtimes. Not just the small portion of every offering that she always received, but full offerings dedicated to her, along with small prayers of thanks.

She smiled as she peered through the fire in front of her to the hearth at Camp Half-Blood, watching as the children headed towards the dining pavilion. During the day, they often acted older than they were, training and fighting and planning. But when the sun started to set and Apollo’s chariot disappeared from the sky, as they headed to dinner and then the nightly sing along, they truly acted their age. They played around and actually acted like children, rather than soldiers and fighters they were being trained to be.

She pulled her attention back to Olympus as Apollo walked in; he always came in after finishing with his chariot to say hello to her before continuing on with his duties – he was one of the only who always acknowledged her and remembered she was there all the time; Poseidon and Hades did as well, but they were only rarely on Olympus, having their own kingdoms to run, plus Hades being banned from Olympus apart from the Winter Solstice.

“Hey Auntie,” Apollo said, dropping down to sit on the ground next to the hearth.

“Hello Apollo. How are you?”

“Same old, same old,” he said with a shrug and wave of his hand, a long inhale telling her that the offerings from his children were occurring. “How are you Aunt Hes?”

“I’m very well.” She paused, taking in a deep breath as the smell of the offerings given solely for her swarmed around her, and the words the accompanied them whispered in her head.

“Thank you, Ποφεινοτάτη   Hestia, for providing us a home.” (beloved)

“Hestia, I give you my thanks for the hope your ever-burning hearth brings.”

“Aunt Hestia, I thank you for a home-made meal and the hope your hearth brings our home.”

“Βασίλεια Hestia, I give thanks for the peace your burning hearth provides camp.” (queen)

“Thank you, Άΐδιος   Hestia, for the home your hearth provides.”  (eternal)

“For Hestia. Thank you for the hope you provide, and the home that the hearth creates.”

“My thanks go to Hestia, Πολύολβος, for doing her best to keep our messy family, both mortal and immortal, together, and for providing us a home when we have nowhere else to go.” (rich in blessings) 

“Thank you, Πολύμορφος , for watching over us and keeping the hearth and feel of home strong at camp.”  (Hestia)

“For Ποθεινοτάτη Auntie Hestia, as thanks for keeping the hearth strong, our family together, providing a home, and allowing hope to remain at the hearth.” (beloved)

“Aunt Hes? You alright?” Apollo asked. She smiled.

“I am well Apollo. I am just appreciating the words whispered with offerings.”

“You can hear the words that accompany the offerings our children give? I knew you receive part of the offering, but you can hear the words too?”

“Not at all, Apollo. Those words are private words between a child and their parent, or a demigod to a god. No, the words I am hearing are for me, just like the ones you hear for you.” Apollo blinked slowly, his mouth opening slightly in a mix of surprise and shock.

“The demigods are giving you offerings?” he asked hesitantly. “Barely anyone notices you anymore, even amongst the Olympians, let alone sacrificed to you.” Hestia’s smile widened.

“Things are changing Apollo. I don’t know how, or why. But things are changing.”

“What do you mean?” Apollo asked, staring at the fire that she was tending. She recognized the look in his eyes; he was paying attention to two places, two different time streams – the present, and either the past or the future.

“Things changed overnight two days ago. Yesterday and today, a small group of children, from all the cabins, have been sending me offerings and words of thanks. When they pass the hearth while I am tending it, they stop and give me a small bow of the head, a smile, or a wave – some type of acknowledgement – before continuing on like nothing happened. They even seem to know my preferences when talking to me or about me as well; none of them have called me Lady, and one of them – two now – call me Aunt or Auntie.” Hestia’s smile increased even more as she mentioned being called an aunt – it was her favorite form of address, especially because part of her domain was family.

“That certainly is differently. Do you know who the demigods are?” Apollo asked, slightly absently, his head tilted.

“I am unsure of their names; you know the others do not talk of their children by name often, and while they pass by, they are never close enough for me to hear their words from my place by the hearth. I can tell their parent, however.”

“That is fine. I’m just trying to work it out and how they play into everything,” Apollo replied with a hum.

“The group consists of 15. Dionysus’ two boys, twins I believe. Ares’ daughter. Aphrodite’s daughter, and Hephaestus’ son, both of whom I believe are councilors for their cabins. One is Demeter’s daughter, who seems to be the same age as Ares’ daughter – she is one of the ones who calls me Aunt. Two of Athena’s children, a daughter and son – the daughter arrived with Thalia, I think Athena mentioned her once, Annabeth, and the son seems to be something like Annabeth’s second in command. Three of your sons, including the councilor. Three of Hermes’ children, two which are full brothers and act like twins, and one who I don’t believe Hermes has claimed, but has all the traits of being Hermes’ son. At least, he was still unclaimed last week; he was acting as if he was claimed the past few days, more happiness and hope than bitterness and resent. And the final one I only noticed today, who is Poseidon’s son, and already called me Auntie, despite not being claimed yet and only finding out about our world today,” Hestia said. Apollo hummed and continued to stare into the fire for a few minutes before snapping fully back to the present.

“Hermes’ has a child he didn’t claim? He always claims them as they enter camp,” Apollo said in surprise.

“He arrived three and a half years ago, four or so months after the two brothers who I mentioned are part of the group.”

“Oh,” Apollo breathed. “Hermes must not realize he’s at camp. Father had him even more occupied than he normally is about that long ago; he barely stopped at all.”

“So, he wouldn’t have claimed the boy?”

“I doubt it. Not unless someone brought his attention to him. And if he’s unclaimed, he won’t be praying to Hermes, so Hermes won’t know.” Hestia sighed and she closed her eyes for a moment; she hated how not being claimed affected the campers.

“What about the others Auntie? You mentioned some of my sons? Lee’s the councilor, but what about the other two?” Apollo asked, conjuring up images of each of his sons – he kept an eye on all of his children and had updating pictures of them all in his temple in case he wasn’t able to watch them himself for a while. Hestia pointed two of his sons out and he nodded.

“Michael and Will. Michael’s 13 at the moment, and Will’s 10, turning 11 in July. Lee’s 14. Michael is next in line to be councilor. Will recently became the head medic during the summer and is in line to lead after Michael – he’s young, but he’ll have been there for three summers at the end of this summer, since he arrived a few days before he turned 9 because he needed help learning to control his empathy,” Apollo said. He paused for a second before looking back at her.

“You’re right. Things are changing. I can pinpoint most of those you’re talking about, but the future surrounding them and those associated with them is blurry and murky. It’s normally a bit murky because of Free Will, but it’s still normally clear enough to see Fate. Now I can barely see Fate; it’s still there, but I can’t tell how they’re going to get there. At all.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Moirai are the ones who weave the future and the destiny of every being in the world, as you know. What I do, as the God of Prophecy, is look at the tapestry they have woven and decipher it. They allow me the knowledge of who each thread represents, the knowledge of who is fated to die when, especially when those deaths cause large impacts, the knowledge of certain events that affect multiple people or will change someone in a huge way, and the knowledge of certain … landmarks, I guess you could call them, of time; and each landmark is at the start of a Fork of Fate. For example, I always knew that Troy was going to happen; I could see the battle, as it was a landmark of time, and I could see the two ways the battle could go; the outcome was a Fork of Fate, and not even the Fates knew which way it would go. Free Will had a large part in the outcome of Troy, as did the whims and whispers of Ananke, like they always do in the outcomes of most Forks of Fate.

“However, the Moirai hid the events that led to it – I could see glimpses of what was coming in the years leading up to it, but never a full picture. The Moirai choose how much they allow me to see and dictate how much of what I see I am allowed to share. The future that I can see now, well, it is so much more shrouded and murkier than they normally make it. The amount that is hidden is more than they have ever hidden from me. Either they are changing the weaving that will lead to a landmark, or someone else has intervened and changed the events that are leading to the landmark, forcing the Moirai to adapt. And from what I have been able to see, the next large landmark, that would cause this much mystery if the events leading up to it were changed, would be the result of the Great Prophecy.”

“Does that affect the Great Prophecy?” Hestia asked in concern. He slowly shook his head.

“It shouldn’t. When I look, it’s like I can see tunnel vision rather than a landscape, or a spotlight on one specific area of a tapestry. I can see that the Great Prophecy is still going to happen, that the Fate it tells of is still the end product; the landmark and Fork of Fate is still in place. But I can barely see anything else concerning those 15 demigods. I can barely make out any event concerning them in the next few days, let alone the next years that are going to lead up to the landmark,” Apollo said slowly, as if working out how much he could say and how to explain it in a way she would understand.

“At least it seems like things are changing for the better. They all seem to have full respect for me at least and I believe it extends to most of the other gods, not just the Olympians. And, from what I’ve seen, they want the best for Olympus and their camp,” Hestia said.

“There isn’t much we can do anyway. Things are going to change, no matter what. I can’t tell what happened, but something happened to change the original outline of what was going to happen. I’ll speak to Chiron tomorrow and see if he has any idea about what has happened to cause the change,” Apollo decided, before glancing at the sky; he could see Artemis’ chariot at the edge of the sky.

“I have to go, Auntie. I have stayed longer than usual. While I love visiting you, I have things I must attend to.”

“Of course, nephew. Thank you for visiting. You know that I always enjoy our evening chats.”

“Goodbye Aunt Hestia. I’ll tell you what Chiron says,” Apollo said, standing up before disappearing in a shower of gold light.

That night, after most of Cabin eleven had fallen asleep, Percy sat up and climbed to his feet. He quietly weaved his way through the sleeping campers, making sure to not wake anyone up; he had had a lot of practice sneaking around from recon missions during the wars, and from that place. He snuck out of the cabin and glanced around the camp, checking for harpies, before running across to his cabin. He stepped inside and headed straight for the back wall, placing his hand on it.

“I, Perseus Jackson, γιος του Ποσειδώνα (son of Poseidon), hereby and henceforth declare Katie Gardner – κόρη της Δήμητρα (daughter of Demeter), Clarisse La Rue – κόρη του Άρης (daughter of Ares), Annabeth Chase – κόρη της Αθηνάς (daughter of Athena), Malcom Pace – γιος της Αθηνάς (son of Athena), Lee Fletcher – γιος του Απόλλων (son of Apollo), Michael Yew – γιος του Απόλλων (son of Apollo), Will Solace – γιος του Απόλλων (son of Apollo), Charles Beckendorf – γιος του Ήφαιστος (son of Hephaestus), Silena Beauregard – κόρη της Αφροδίτη (daughter of Aphrodite), Chris Rodriguez – γιος του Ερμής (son of Hermes), Travis Stoll – γιος του Ερμής (son of Hermes), Conner Stoll – γιος του Ερμής (son of Hermes), Pollux Garcia – γιος του Διονύσους (son of Dionysus), and Castor Garcia – γιος του Διονύσους (son of Dionysus), as my friends. From now until it is withdrawn, they have an open invitation into my cabin and my home,” Percy pronounced. It was very formal, but it was what was needed to be said so that the declaration embedded itself into the cabin; the cabin included some of his dad’s magic and would alert him if anyone not a child of the sea and not embedded in the cabin was in there for longer than a few minutes, as well as pushing the person out of the cabin. He felt the cabin pulse slightly, a trickle of his dad’s sea magic leaking out of the cabin and splitting up in eight different directions, going to mark his friends with the approval of the son of the sea.

Over the next five minutes, his friends arrived at the cabin. They had all snuck across the camp from their cabins, some of them running while others simply kept to the dark and shadowed areas. They all took seats around the cabin, some of them sitting on the bunks, both top and bottom, while others sat on the stone floor, leaning against a bed or a wall.

“Alright, what’s the plan?” Clarisse asked after Silena slipped into the cabin and sat down on one of the beds – the bed that Tyson would claim next summer.

“Do we even have a plan? Other than act normal, of course,” Chris said, getting round of shrugs.

“We have to keep suspicion off us. We all know how the gods reacted the first time around and how they felt about us. Especially in terms of our power and abilities,” Annabeth said.  

“Agreed. I don’t want to see how Uncle Z will react if he finds out that we have knowledge of the future and the abilities well past our physical age,” Percy agreed. “He’s paranoid enough.”

“Plus, we know about our cousins across country, and they kept them secret and us separated for a reason. We saw that reason firsthand. If they find out we’re from the future, or have memories of the future, and realize we know about those who live in LA, they might try and get rid of us to prevent the risk of us mixing,” Katie added.

“Cousins across country? Those who live in LA?” Silena asked.

“We’ll explain later. It’s not really important right now; we don’t come in contact with them until after Percy turns 16,” Annabeth said.

“Alright. So, what do we do from here?” Beckendorf asked.

“We can’t just leave things the same as they are. Even if we can save just one of our siblings or friends, I will feel better knowing we made a change,” Michael said, glancing at Lee before glancing towards Castor, Beckendorf, and Silena. “Just us being here with memories of the future, changes things, so we have a chance to change things, like Will’s dream said. And if that change is only one more life saved, then I’m ok with that.”

“First thing should be training,” Clarisse said. “We trained, but not enough. We trained for battles and fighting monsters, not war against monsters, titans, and other demigods. So many died because they weren’t as trained as they could be, or because they made simple mistakes from lack of experience or error of judgement.”

“But we don’t want anyone to worry that something is wrong. Not yet. If the traitor realizes something has changed and that we’re preparing for war, he will change things. We have to keep the enemy on the same path as last time so we can anticipate their moves,” Malcom said. Annabeth nodded.

“Last time, we were caught unaware. The gods didn’t even acknowledge the threat until it was too late. If we can prepare the campers, while making the enemy think we are unaware of what they’re doing, they’ll act like they did last time, but we’ll be better prepared. I know we don't want to make everyone into child soldiers, but we all know that it's either that or they die.”

“Agreed. Child soldiers is better than all of us ending up in the Underworld. So, we step up training, but in ways that doesn’t make it obvious that we’re preparing for something. So that no one stresses out, and so the enemy doesn’t realize something’s wrong,” Katie said.

“But how do we do that. I know most of my siblings don’t enjoy combat training and participate only as much as they need to. They fight when they need to, but they prefer not to,” Silena said.

“Incentive,” Percy said. “We make training fun. Capture the flag is a fun game, but it teaches us strategy, how to work as a team, how to infiltrate somewhere without being noticed, and how to work against and fight against a group of enemies. Make training more fun, have rewards or incentive for beating certain people or completing the obstacle course or climbing wall in a certain amount of time.”

“We can easily sneak out and either buy or steal some things that can be prizes for beating people in sparring, or for achieving certain times. Chiron won’t approve though,” Chris said.

“So, we don’t let Chiron know about the incentives. Or about anything we’re doing and planning. We already decided on secrecy,” Castor said with a shrug.

“Before Manhattan, I heard your cabin talking about the perfume trick. I have no idea what that was, but it clearly worked. Train them in ways they can fight but will stick to their powers, abilities, and preferences, like utilizing their beauty products as weapons. And like how cabins 4 and 12 are pretty good with plants and could start practicing using them in fights,” Travis added, looking towards Silena and Katie, who nodded.

“Chiron gives councilors say in our training schedules, and he always leaves blank blocks so we can add in extra time in certain activities we think our cabin needs to work on. We could change it, so those blank blocks are different training activities, rather than more time in ones we already do,” Conner suggested. “Small capture the flag games either between just a few cabins, two or three depending on the size of the cabins, or between one cabin split in half. Partner and group battle scenarios with the whole cabin fighting, where the aim is to be the pair or group left standing at the end.”

“That should work. It would help make us more adaptable to different situations. The partner battles would be good for working in a small group to defeat a large group of enemies. Which is something we need; we know how badly we were outnumbered last time,” Pollux said.

“We can see if we can set anything up. The hardest to work with will be cabin 11 and cabin 4. We’re the councilors of the rest of the cabins, but the traitor is still in charge of 11, and your brother is in charge, isn’t he Katie?” Clarisse said. Katie nodded.

“Kristen is in charge, yeah. But last time he left sometime during the year and didn’t come back next summer, which is when I stepped up and became councilor and Miranda took over during the year. I didn’t see him specifically, but he was becoming pretty close with Luke after Annabeth, Percy, and Grover left on their quest.”

“He’s an enemy then,” Travis stated.

“Do we know who else is going to leave or spy?” Conner asked.

“I know who the spies were until the summer I was brought back here, but the main spy was Silena – most left to join in person between when Luke left, and when Thalia came back. And I can pick faces that joined around the same time as me. But a lot of the recruits were ones from the streets, or ones I assume he found heading towards our cousins,” Chris said.

“Our cousins would have been easy picking because no one would have known they defected, especially those without family in the city. They train with the pack and then have to make their own way to camp. If they die on the way there, they were simply not strong enough to survive at camp, and the leaders never get numbers about how many people train with the pack,” Percy said. "If you don't show up at camp, everyone assumes you just weren't strong enough to survive."

“That does make sense about how they got so many when our camp has so little, even though we know we lost a lot. And how they got to them so easily,” Annabeth said.

“So, do you have any names Chris?” Beckendorf asked. Chris nodded.

“I’ll write a list for you tomorrow. And see if I can match names to the faces I remember as well.”

“So, we’ve covered training. Weapons and supplies. We all had weapons, but if we lost our weapon in the fight, we were sitting ducks until we could get it back, which was often dangerous. Even Percy, who’s sword returns to him, leaves him defenseless until it returns,” Malcom said.

“Back up weapons,” Clarisse said. “We all carry at least two weapons on us and learn how to use more than just our preferred weapon. Knives and daggers are easy to conceal and help if you’re captured and tied up. The hunters work with both daggers and bows, and we’ve seen how affective that is if their enemy gets too close for a bow.”

“We can work some forge magic to make weapons easier to carry, like enchanting the holsters to be larger inside so they aren’t as hard to carry around. And I’ll step up our work in the forge a bit, start making more weapons and armor. And you’re all getting shields like the one Tyson gave Percy, or Thalia’s shield; a good protection and it retracts into a small watch or bracelet or the like,” Beckendorf said.

“I’ll have to wait to get a spare weapon or two,” Percy said with a wince. “Tyson explained why Riptide is the only weapon I’ve found that works for me. Children of the sea will only be able to fight properly with a weapon made in the sea or blessed by a sea deity.” Many of those in the cabin grimaced at that; that was a major down point, especially with the war they were coming in to, and if Percy’s sword broke, he would be in trouble.

“That’s why none of us could find you a balanced sword,” Travis said in realization.

“And why I couldn’t make one for you either,” Beckendorf added. Percy nodded.

“That sucks for you, Perce. But the rest of us are perfectly able to start carrying back up weapons with us, and we can encourage others to do it as well,” Conner said.

“We’ll need more healing supplies as well. As much as Dad provides for us, we just didn’t have enough bandages, nectar, or ambrosia to deal with all the injuries from all the missions and battles,” Will said. “And we don’t all have magic healing abilities like Percy does.” His healing abilities were very useful though, because it meant they didn’t have to use nectar and ambrosia on him a lot of the time; if he was injured, the first thing they did was throw him in the lake or dump sea water over him if they could, and if it didn’t fully heal him in a few minutes, then they moved on to the food of the gods.

“We could start asking for more, or stockpile some. Whenever we get deliveries of ambrosia and nectar, which you know is whenever we run out, we put some aside. That way we can have enough stockpiled so that in three years, when we the battles really pick up, we have enough to heal everyone,” Lee said.

“Stockpiling it would be good. We lost people that could have been saved purely because we didn’t have enough healing supplies, especially nectar and ambrosia,” Will agreed. “And stockpiling coffee. We were basically running on coffee and no sleep during both wars because there were so many injured, and we really didn’t have enough coffee for that.”

“And it would let us send those who went on the missions with some in case of bad injuries. A lot of them came back badly injured, or early because of injuries,” Michael added, ignoring the point about coffee, since he knew that was just how his siblings did things.

“We can steal first aid kits when we venture into the mortal world to get incentives,” Travis offered.

“And I’m sure my Mum would be happy to buy healing things for camp,” Percy added.

“That’s because Aunt Sally is the best,” Katie said.

“Ναι, she is. And that brings me to the next thing. Safe houses,” Malcom said. (Yes)

“Aunt Sally does her best when it comes to providing us with shelter, a food, and a shower when we’re coming back from missions, but she’s only in New York. We need safe houses throughout America, and some in Canada and Mexico; I know none of our missions for the war took us to Mexico or Canada, but some of the quests years ago did,” Will said.

“Those of us who aren’t year rounders live throughout America. We could see about trying to find or build some places or safe houses of some kind during the year when we’re at home,” Silena offered. “It would at least be a shelter, and maybe we could put in some ambrosia and bottles of water. I don’t know about actual safe houses with food and a shower though.”

“For the food we could put long lasting things in there, or non-perishables. Power bars, granola or protein bars, dried fruits and vegetables, jerky, canned foods like beans, small things of peanut butter, canned fish, nuts, or soup,” Katie suggested.

“I agree with Silena though. Other than making small safe houses, like you and Thalia did while on the streets Annabeth, and stocking them with stuff, there isn’t much we can do about that,” Percy said.

“So checking what we have at the moment: we’ll step up the training without making it obvious, including training in ways that work better with powers and preferences, start stockpiling nectar and ambrosia as well as other medical supplies like bandages, and start carrying back up weapons. Those who live in the mortal world during the year will try and set up safe houses and add non-perishable foods if possible. Beckendorf is going to start making more weapons and get us all retractable shields. Travis, Conner, and Chris are going to sneak out and get incentives to help encourage the other campers to take part in the increased training and as reward for achieving certain things. And Chris is going to make a list of those at camp who he knows will defect or spy,” Annabeth summed up. Everyone nodded.

“Alright. Then we should probably get back to our cabins and get some sleep, if possible,” Percy said, standing up. The others started leaving the cabin in ones and twos, disappearing into the shadows around the cabins or sprinting across the open field to their cabin.

“I am not afraid to knock you out if you try and go more than three days without sleep. Especially since you have a quest coming up,” Will said, stopping in the doorway.

“Clarisse is an insomniac too,” Percy whined.

“Yes, but she at least sleeps for an hour or two every night, and I know she naps sometimes. You flat out don’t sleep unless you’re forced too, or you just collapse.” Percy pouted before sighing.

“Alright, fine. I promise I will attempt to sleep every night. I make no promises though,” Percy said, before turning to Clarisse. “On that note, it should be the same access code as before; I never changed it when I first found it. You know how to use it.” Clarisse nodded.

“Will you be there tonight, Prissy?”

“Nah. I’m going to attempt to sleep for a bit tonight, and I don’t know when the others in the cabin wake up.” Clarisse nodded again, before following Will out of the cabin. Percy had one last look around his cabin before sighing and heading back to the crowded cabin eleven.

Chapter Text

Chiron sighed lightly as he observed the campers running around camp from the deck of the Big House. It was early morning, just after breakfast, and most of the campers had an hour of free time before their activities started – the only ones who didn’t were those who were taking activities and had to set up, or were teaching newbies extra things, such as Annabeth who was teaching Percy Greek. As he watched a group of campers, children from the Hermes, Apollo, and Demeter cabins, run past him, he thought back to the magic that had rushed through camp three days ago. He hadn’t noticed any affects from it, positive or negative, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that it had done something, that something had changed three days ago. He just didn’t know what.

He sighed again, turning around, and heading into the Big House to find Dionysus. Maybe the god would have an idea about the magic. He didn’t get very far into the building before a shower of gold sparks appeared in front of him.

“My lord Apollo,” Chiron said, inclining his head as the god fully formed in front of him.

“Good morning, Chiron,” Apollo replied.

“May I ask why you are here, my lord?”

“Unfortunately, nothing overly good. I wish to speak with you concerning some of your campers and some things that Aunt Hestia has noticed.” Chiron blinked at the god, trying to work out what the sun god and goddess of the hearth could want with his campers.

“Of course. We can speak in the living room. The campers know not to disturb either myself or Mr. D when we’re in there,” Chiron said, leading Apollo through the house and to the said room. Apollo sat down on one of the couches and Chiron stood across from him in the corner of the room.

“How may I help you, my Lord Apollo? What is it you wish to discuss with me about my campers?”

“Have you noticed any changes in the last three days? Anything different at all?” Chiron frowned but nodded.

“Yes. The night that Perseus arrived, a wave of magic flowed through camp. It did not seem harmful, although it felt old, but I have not noticed any changes that it caused.” Apollo nodded.

“Describe how the magic felt. I have a hunch about who the magic was from. Although I worry about what happened if I am right,” he said, adding the last part as a mutter under his breath. If it was truly who he thought it was who had interfered, then he was definitely concerned about how the future had played out the first time around if Ananke thought it was necessary to interfere and start over.

“It felt old, older than the gods. But it was peaceful – calm and soothing. And it seemed to tell me I could trust it, and that it would make things right.” Apollo frowned slightly but didn’t say anything. That description wasn’t enough for him to either confirm or deny his suspicions.

“May I ask what Ποθεινοτάτη (Hestia) has noticed about my campers and why you have gotten involved?” Chiron asked.

“Aunt Hestia said that over the past few days she’s noticed a group of about 15 campers start to act differently around her hearth, and in regard to her. We were talking yesterday, and she mentioned it. I came to talk to you from a mix of curiosity and concern; curiosity to meet the kids that Aunt Hestia seems very fond of, if the way she spoke of them was any indication, and concerned because of what I can see regarding them.”

“What can you see? If you do not mind me asking, my lord,” Chiron asked, worried. What was going to happen to his campers?

“Barely anything. A week ago, I could see what l can normally see concerning half-bloods. When I look now, however, that is no longer true. Especially where these 15 campers are concerned.”

Percy and Annabeth sat opposite each other in a small tent, a few books on the table between them. Officially, Percy was having a Greek lesson with Annabeth. It wasn’t really needed though, but they had to keep up the pretense that Percy had no idea about the Greek world, which included the fact that he couldn’t read or speak Greek very well. That couldn’t be further from the truth though; 6 years in the Greek world had practically forced him to be fluent, and he could even understand Latin reasonably well, considering how short of a time he spent at Camp Jupiter.

Unofficially, they were planning what to do on their quest that they knew was coming up. There had been things that they would definitely want to avoid this time around. But there were also things that they would need to do again, no matter how much they wanted to avoid it.

“The attack on the bus wasn’t fun,” Percy said.

“But we can’t really control the fact that they were sent after you. They’ll still try and find us no matter if we’re on the bus or not,” Annabeth pointed out.

“That sucks. It’s true, and it sucks. I’d say miss the Casino, since we wasted a lot of time there. But the shower and change of clothes was amazing, and we needed that credit card to get to LA,” Percy said. Annabeth bit her lip.

“We could go in and try not to get trapped. Write reminders on our arms about what we’re doing, and not go down to the games. Just shower and change and then go,” she suggested. “Aunty Em and the Arch I would definitely want to avoid.”

“I agree with the Arch, but it was because of the messenger from the river that I jumped into that we knew Dad had a gift for us. And without that gift, we wouldn’t have left the Underworld. And I think we’ll have to go to Aunty Em. Her head was extremely useful. But if we know she’s there, we can be prepared and not surprised like last time.”

“Maybe we can take a short detour to a different body of water so your father can send the message about Santa Monica. And when did her head come in useful? The only thing you did with it was send it to Olympus and start your pattern of pissing off the gods and yet somehow not dying.”

“Oh, I could have sworn I told you. Anyway, Dad sent it to Mum, and she used it to get rid of Gabe. She sold his statue and got enough money from it to put a deposit on a writing course at NYU, move us to a new apartment in a nicer neighborhood, and get me in to another school for next year,” Percy explained.

“Yeah, Sally needs to turn him to stone. So we’ll go there, and be aware of the trap before she springs it. Get in, get out quickly and without almost getting turned into statues,” Annabeth agreed. “But I am putting my foot down on Crusty’s Waterbed Palace.”

“Oh, I won’t argue there. We’ll definitely try to avoid that place. What about Denver?”

“Even if we avoid Denver, He will still find a way to make us go on a side quest, so He has reasons to reward us and give us the backpack,” Annabeth said. Percy nodded.

“And the Underworld is needed since that’s where the bolt actually appeared. The only real problem there was the flying shoes, seeing as we got out of there thanks to Dad.”

“Yeah, the shoes,” Annabeth said, and they both shuddered, remembering where Grover was almost dragged thanks to those cursed shoes. “Luke will give them to us, and they did come in handy. Both with Aunty Em and in Denver.”

“We won’t be able to refuse them either, that would be rude and suspicious,” Percy began, quickly shutting up and grabbing the book in front of him and opening it to make it look like he was reading, having heard footsteps approaching. He focused on the words of the book, half his attention listening to the approaching footsteps. He turned to face the entry of the tent as it flapped open, and Malcom stepped in.

“Sorry to interrupt, but Chiron wants to see us,” Malcom said.

“Us?”

“Yeah, us. The fifteen of us. I have no clue what about, or why specifically us fifteen. He just asked me to collect everyone and send them to the Big House. You’re the last people for me to get.” Percy and Annabeth exchanged looks before shrugging and standing up, Annabeth grabbing the books from the table as she did so.

“Guess we should find out what he wants,” Annabeth said. Malcom was first out of the tent, the two of them following close behind him.

“Like I was saying, we can’t refuse them, and we may as well appreciate them. They did come in handy, like you said. And as long as we make sure he takes them off before we enter Uncle’s realm, it should be fine,” Percy muttered. Annabeth nodded her agreement. Hopefully they would be better prepared for their quest this time – the first time, all three of them had basically been floundering, and Percy had solely relied on instincts for a while.

Percy and Annabeth followed Malcom into the Big House and through to the 2^nd living room, exchanging quick glances as they entered the room; the living room was where Chiron or Mr. D conducted private business, and everyone knew not to disturb them if they were in there, and they only used the 2^nd living room if there was private business that included demigods. Most of the others were already there, apart from Beckendorf and Clarisse, all sitting on the couches. Many of them were fidgeting or looking around the room, trying to work out why they were there. Beckendorf entered the room next and took a seat next to Silena, a half-constructed object in his hands – he had clearly come from the forge and was still working on his project. Clarisse was the last to arrive, still slightly sweaty and wiping her face with a cloth.

“What happened to you?” Chris asked as she took a seat near him.

“Training in the arena. I was halfway through a workout when Malcom came to get me,” she said with a shrug. Percy lifted a hand in her direction, an eyebrow raised. She glared at him before nodding; he waved his hand, pulling the sweat off her and collecting it into a ball before a twist of his wrist caused it to evaporate, drying her off more than her towel did. She nodded at him before turning away, her hand continuously running over the hilt of her sword – one of her habits she had developed during and after the wars.

Not even a minute later, Chiron entered the room, someone else following him. Apollo. The campers who had been at camp longest were the first to stand and kneel, the rest following them, many of them exchanging curious or worried looks; Percy forcibly kept his expression neutral as he knelt in front of the god.

“My Lord Apollo,” Annabeth said respectfully, the rest of them murmuring a similar greeting.

“Rise, demigods. Just Apollo is fine,” he said, waving his hand. They all stood and retook their seats, apart from the three sons of Apollo. Apollo smile at his sons.

“Dad,” Lee said. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi Lee, Michael, Will, it’s good to see you. I’m sorry I can’t stop by or talk to you more often, you know how busy and important us gods are. I have a few questions for you guys. Hestia and I were talking yesterday and some questions about some things concerning you.” The three boys exchanged looks before sitting down, the others exchanging worried glances.

“It’s alright. We get it. You have duties and there are laws,” Michael said with a small smile; Apollo had always been one of the best at showing he cared about his children.

“What do you want to ask us about Dad?” Will asked.

“This may seem like a strange question, but first I would like to know how many of you know who your godly parent is.” Everyone apart from Chris and Percy raised their hands. Chris hadn’t been claimed until after the war, even though Kronos had told him that his dad was Hermes when he joined him, when Percy made it mandatory for the gods to claim their kids, and Percy wouldn’t be claimed until after the capture the flag game. Apollo nodded, a slight frown on his face, although they didn’t know why; most wouldn’t notice it, but they were all warriors, soldiers – they would be dead if they couldn’t notice the tiniest details and react accordingly; some of them had already died because of it. Apollo knew that the two who hadn’t raised their hands – Hermes’ unclaimed son, and Poseidon’s boy – were lying, but didn’t call them on it; he wanted to see what they were playing at first.

“Alright. Now, there was a wave of magic that came through camp three days ago. Chiron hasn’t noticed any changes that it caused, but Hestia said that the group of you started behaving differently three days ago, and I believe those two things are related. Do any of you know what happened? And why did you change how you behave?” Apollo asked.

“I am unsure what you are talking about, sir. I don’t remember any magic coming through camp three days ago, and I was awake late into the night due to nightmares,” Annabeth said.

“We didn’t notice anything, my lord,” Chris said, gesturing to himself and his two brothers.

“If there was any magic a few days ago, then I don’t remember it sir. And I don’t believe that any of us have started acting differently,” Katie said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Lord. Neither of us have acted any differently from how we used to,” Castor said, tilting his head towards Pollux slightly, including him in his statement.

“I only came to camp three days ago, and I was unconscious for one and a half of them,” Percy muttered, and he saw a few of his friends hiding smiles at his disgruntlement; he was terrible at respect, no matter how much he tried – the sea didn’t like to be restrained, as his Dad had once said.

“I haven’t changed my behavior at all, my lord. And I don’t remember any magic,” Clarisse added.

Apollo raised an eyebrow at the demigods in front of him, crossing his arms across his chest. He could tell that none of them were telling the full truth. Some of them were blatantly lying while others were sticking to half-truths, but none of them were being entirely truthful. And he had no idea what they could have to hide. And he was a bit confused about how some of them were lying, especially Poseidon’s son – he had only arrived at camp three days ago, so what was untrue about that statement. Now he just had to find out what they knew, and why they were so desperate to keep it a secret.

“Try again. And the actual truth this time, please,” he said.

“What do you mean Dad?” Lee asked, a hint of worry and apprehension coloring his tone.

“I am the God of Truth, amongst other things Lee. I do actually know when people aren’t being truthful around me,” Apollo said, his tone amused. Lee flushed, a few of the others reacting in similar ways; why had none of them thought of that?

“You have so many different domains that it’s hard to keep track of. Especially since none of us inherit your Truth or Knowledge aspects as our major ability,” Will muttered, crossing his arms across his chest and looking the perfect image of a ten-year-old who had just been caught doing something wrong by a parent.

“The truth?” Apollo asked again. Everyone looked to Will to explain – he had been the one to get the prophetic dream, after all. Apollo noticed the attention on his son and focused fully on him.

“Will?” Will sighed and uncrossed his arms, leaning back in his seat slightly.

“We aren’t entirely sure what happened. Not fully. All we know is based off guesses and assumptions from the situation and a dream I had,” Will explained.

“And before we tell you anymore, we need you to swear not to tell anyone what we are going to tell you. We want to keep it secret because we know how paranoid your father can be,” Percy stated, interrupting Will before he could say much more, looking directly at Apollo.

“Perseus…” Chiron warned, even as the others all just looked at Percy in a mix of amusement and exasperation; he never changed.

“I will tell Hestia, as she was the one who brought this whole thing to my attention. But I will not say a word to any of the others, including my father and yours,” Apollo replied. He liked Poseidon’s kid, he had guts, and he could tell, even without glancing into the future, that he was going to make waves.

“We need you to swear it, swear not to tell anyone, other than Auntie Hestia, until one of us say otherwise. You and Chiron. This is not something that we can let get out, and we’ve learnt the hard way to always be suspicious,” Percy said; he knew he probably shouldn’t have slipped the Auntie in there, and probably should have used another name for the goddess, but Apollo apparently already knew who his dad was and Hestia was aware of the conversation and would be told about it later anyway – he wasn’t surprised that Apollo had worked out who his dad was though, since he looked almost exactly like Poseidon.

“You have guts kid. You’re definitely your father’s son. Alright, I’ll give you an oath, but I want the full truth about whatever’s going on,” Apollo said with a grin. “I, Απόλλων (Apollo), God of the Sun, Archery, Music, Prophecy, Healing, Poetry, Knowledge, and Medicine, swear not to speak of what I learn today to anyone apart from Εστία (Hestia) and those already in the know, unless the demigods involved give me permission to do so. This I so swear on the river Styx.” Thunder boomed, sealing his oath.

“Thank you, Dad,” Michael said. Apollo grinned again and held out an arm, beckoning his three sons forward and wrapping them in a hug.

“Course Michael. I can understand that some things are sensitive, but I want to be involved in your lives as much as I can,” the god murmured into Michael’s hair, hugging his sons tight.

“Chiron, please. We won’t tell you without an oath,” Annabeth said, looking pleadingly at the centaur. Chiron stared at her, before turning his gaze on to each of the demigods in the room searchingly.

“I, Κίρωνα (Chiron), Trainer of Heroes, swear not to speak of what I learn today to anyone apart from those already in the know, unless the demigods involved give me permission to do so. This I so swear on the river Styx,” Chiron said, repeating Apollo’s vow. Thunder boomed overhead, sealing Chiron to his oath, and letting the demigods to relax slightly; they now had the assurance that they wouldn’t get vaporised for something that wasn’t their fault.

“Now, what’s going on?” Apollo asked, stepping back from the hug with his sons.

“Like I said, we aren’t entirely sure how it happened, or who caused it. This is all based off assumptions and a dream I had. It wasn’t just a normal dream though; I recognized it as a prophetic one Dad.” Apollo nodded. “It was a nice, peaceful dream to start with, a rarity. It was a nice change from the nightmares and memories that often plagued me. Then the dream changed. The setting and everything were the same, but there was a presence there, and it spoke to me. ‘You’re back at the start now. You have a chance; change things; save your friends. Make things better. Good luck, chosen 15’.” Will explained.

“Back at the start?” Chiron asked. “What does that mean?” The group exchanged glances, as if working out who would drop the bombshell.

“We somehow travelled through time, in a sense,” Malcom said. “We have all our memories from the future, we kept basically all our abilities, reflexes, and habits from the future, but woke up in our bodies 5 years in the past.”

“You’re from the future? Or, at least have memories of the future?” Apollo asked. They all nodded. “That lends more weight towards my original theory of whose magic washed over camp a few days ago. And you all being from the future would explain why my sight into the future is murky and inconsistent, just you being here is different from what the Moirai originally had planned. Will, do you remember what the presence or the voice felt like?” Will nodded.

“The voice and the presence was old, older than the presence of the gods or titans. It was soothing and calm, but also icy, and I could feel the age behind whoever it was.” Apollo nodded – that sounded very much like Ananke like he thought – before pausing and actually processing what he had said.

“Titans? You’ve been in the presence of titans?” he asked, shocked. That only pointed to bad things occurring in the near future, like he feared. Will nodded.

“I’ve been near two, most of us have been near one or two. A few have been near three. Percy and Annabeth met, how many?” Will asked, turning to the pair.

“Seven, I think. 5 of the 6, since Dad was keeping the 6^th too busy to come to the surface, plus the General and the idiot in the suit who was under the banner of peace. Wait, I might have been near an eighth; was the one they were all fighting a titan? And does the woman on an island count? I mean, technically she’s a titaness.” Percy said, trying not to think where he met two of them – Krios and Koios he only saw when they were in the pit, at the Doors of Death.

“The one they were fighting was technically a titan, yes, although he is also classified as a monster. And Percy fought four of them,” Annabeth added. Apollo stared and Chiron sucked in a sharp breath. That was not good. Not good at all. And it really didn’t paint a good picture of what was to come.

“What happened that caused you to fight titans?” Chiron asked. The group exchanged heavy looks.

“A lot,” Beckendorf said heavily.

“War,” Clarisse added.

“The Great Prophecy came to pass,” Percy said, glaring at the floor. Apollo nodded.

“I figured as much. I could tell it was getting closer to the time it would be completed. What are you guys planning on doing? You’ve been sent back to change things, save your friends. So, what are you planning?”

“We’ve got a lot planned,” Annabeth said.

“We’re going to up our training. Make sure the campers are prepared, not just to fight monsters, but to fight enemy demigods. But we’re going to do it in discrete ways, without letting the others know that we’re preparing them to survive war,” Clarisse said.

“I’m upping our forge time, making more weapons and armor and shields for everyone. No one is going to die because they didn’t have protection or a weapon,” Beckendorf said.

“We’re going to train our cabins in fighting with their powers and abilities, in their preferred ways,” Silena added.

“We’re all going to starts carrying back up weapons, and encourage the others to do the same,” Lee said.

“We’re planning on using our free blocks for new activities to train different ways of fighting. Partner battles and group battles to work on fighting in teams or against an opponent that largely outnumbers you,” Castor said.

“We’ve already discussed medical supplies. We’re going to start slowly building up a stockpile of nectar and ambrosia, as well as other supplies like bandages. We lost too many people last time because we couldn’t heal them in time, because we didn’t have enough supplies,” Will said.

“Those of us who live in the mortal world are going to create safe houses for missions that will occur during the war, and for quests. Stock them with non-perishables and medical supplies,” Katie added.

“And I’m in the process of making a list of all those who deserted camp, who defected to the enemy, and who were spies in the camp. That way we can know who to watch and see if we can feed the enemy false information,” Chris said.

“Our aim is to prepare for war, without letting the enemy know that we’re preparing. Last time we weren’t prepared enough, and Έφάπτώρ (Zeus) stuck his head in the sand until it was basically too late. We want the enemy to think that that’s what’s happening this time, so that they don’t change their plans. If they use the same plans as last time, we can anticipate where they’re going to strike and what their next moves are,” Percy said.

“You seem to have it all planned out,” Apollo said.

“We aim to change as much as we can while still changing as little as we can. We want to save as many of our friends and siblings as possible, while still keeping the major events the same so we know what to expect and when to expect them,” Travis said.

“We experienced too many funerals in the first war alone,” Conner agreed, and the demigods all glanced towards those in the room who had died during the Titan war.

“The first war?” Chiron asked. They grimaced.

“Yeah. We fought in a war, completed the Great Prophecy, and saved Olympus. And as soon as we got back to camp and got a new Oracle, we got a new Great Prophecy, the Prophecy of Seven. Then not even four months later, Percy was kidnapped and put to sleep for months, and woke up without any memories and on the other side of America. Meanwhile, the gods shut Olympus down – which was the worst possible timing considering our next enemies – and we had a new demigod show up with no memories. Except he was from the wrong camp,” Annabeth said, explaining as much as she could without revealing too much of the future.

Chapter Text

“You know, you guys still haven’t explained that to us,” Lee said as Apollo and Chiron stared at them, seemingly unable to process what they’re just learnt.

“That’s right, we didn’t, did we,” Will said.

“We probably have enough time to explain it right now,” Malcom said.

“It would be appreciated,” Castor said.

“It does looks like they’ll take a while processing,” Travis said.

“And Άλεξιδικι (Apollo) is probably the best god to be around while we’re explaining if we have to have a god around,” Conner agreed. “He’s not as affected as the other Olympians, especially because his name is the same.”

“Εντάξει, so what do you mean by the wrong camp, our cousins, and those in LA?” Silena asked. (All right)

“Well, you know how the Roman Empire took over after invading Greece? And how the Greek gods became Roman, with different names and a more militaristic personality?” Annabeth asked.

“Ναι,” Lee said slowly, the others nodding. (Yeah)

“Well, their Greek personas didn’t disappear, obviously, since we see them as Greek. But once the Roman empire fell, their Roman personas didn’t disappear either. They can appear as both Greek and Roman gods, sort of like a split personality thing.”

“And as they retain their Roman forms, it stands to reason that they also have children in those Roman forms,” Percy added.

“There are Roman demigods. Alright. But why haven’t we ever met them?” Beckendorf asked.

“The gods separated us, forcing us to opposite ends of the country. There was always conflict between us and our cousins, as we call the Romans, but the last straw was the American civil war. That was a war between the Greeks and the Romans,” Malcom explained.

“The Romans have a camp in LA, which is why we’re always warned to stay away from the East Coast unless it’s unavoidable, and why we’re told we can’t live in LA. They’re similarly warned to stay away from the West Coast, and to avoid New York,” Percy said. “And their camp has a city as well. There are entire families there, and most of their army is made of legacies, rather than demigods.”

“Ok. I’m going to assume that legacies are children of demigods and the like. What does that have to do with anything? How do you guys know about them if we’ve been separated?” Michael asked.

“Yeah, legacies are anyone descended from a god but not a direct child of a god. We were forced together. There was a small civil war, the Romans tried to destroy our camp after someone sabotaged a visit to their city and they thought we had attacked them, the gods were in incapacitated by the schism caused by both camps fighting, and then we ended up fighting together against a bigger threat after a statue was returned and allow reconciliation,” Katie said.

“We mentioned that demigod showed up with no memories and that he was from the wrong camp. Well, Ίππιος (Hera), we don’t know if it was Greek or Roman her, but we know it was her, decided to kidnap one of the Praetors from Camp Jupiter, which is the Roman camp, and one of our camp leaders, remove their memories, and then switch them, forcing Greek and Roman demigods to work together,” Annabeth said.

“Being kidnapped, forced to sleep for four months, train with wolves for two months, and then spend a few weeks trying to find the camp, all with no memories was not fun. And when I mean no memories, I mean nothing apart from Annabeth’s face and name, and I’m assuming I only remembered that much because she was literally my anchor to mortality. I didn’t even remember my spot,” Percy grumbled.

“Wait, you didn’t remember your spot? How did you protect it if you didn’t remember it?” Will asked, concerned.

“I didn’t. I didn’t even know why I couldn’t be killed until the monsters that chased me for three days mentioned it. Then it was washed away when I entered Camp J and New Rome.”

“Your spot? Anchor to mortality?” Castor asked.

“Someone thought it would be a good idea to go for a swim in the Styx,” Annabeth said.

“It was Nico’s idea. I just agreed,” Percy said.

“Alright. Percy swimming in the Styx isn’t the weirdest thing we’ve heard this week,” Lee said, easily dismissing it.

“So, Percy was kidnapped and eventually sent to the Roman camp. Who came to our camp?” Silena asked, getting the conversation back on track.

“A son of the Roman King of the gods, who also happened to be the Queen’s champion; his life was given to her when he was two to appease her, since her husband had cheated on her with the same woman in both aspects, which she wasn’t happy about. His name is Jason Grace, and is Thalia’s younger brother, and is about a year younger than Percy and me,” Annabeth explained.

“Wait, Thalia has a brother? Do you mean just like, half-brother?” Silena asked. “I know we didn’t know her for very long, since she was only around for, like, 5 months, but she never mentioned a brother.”

“Full brother, actually. Same mum, basically the same dad, just different aspects. She thought he had died when he was 2 and she was 9. She ran away when she thought he died,” Annabeth said with a shrug. “She didn’t like talking about it.”

“Δίκαιο,” Pollux agreed, glancing at Castor; he hated talking about Castor after his twin had died, and thankfully the others camper understood and made an effort to not mention Castor around him. (Fair enough)

“Ok, demigods, time out,” Apollo declared, finally processing what they had said.

“Yes Dad?” Will asked, smiling innocently.

“How much do you know? And why was someone from the wrong camp here?” he demanded, arms crossed across his chest. “We kept you separate, and secret from each other, for a reason.”

“We know a lot. You kept us apart because of the fighting between us, like the civil war, right?” Malcom said. Apollo nodded his expression serious.

“Jason, son of Optimus Maximus (Jupiter), was planted with two Greek demigods. His memory had been removed and the other two had had their memories changed to believe he had been there for months. It was only when he started getting his memories back that they found out he was Roman,” Percy explained. “And I was dumped at the Wolf House, trained, and then sent to the Roman camp without memories. New Rome is stunning.”

“Who thought it would be a good idea to mix the two camps?” Apollo demanded. “And why?”

“Your stepmother. We’re not sure which aspect, but we know it was her,” Clarisse said.

“And she did it because a prophecy was issued, that spoke of foes battling together. And the prophecy was one the Romans had had for centuries, in the Sibylline books. We had to work together to defeat the new enemy,” Annabeth added.

“Who was the enemy?” Chiron asked. The demigods exchanged looks.

“Um, let’s just say it was a really bad time for Olympus to be closed,” Travis said.

“Υποτίμηση,” Conner muttered. (Understatement)

“History likes repeating itself,” Chris added.

“Alright. Let’s ignore that for now. What about the first war?” Apollo asked.

“What about it?” Silena asked.

“How long do we have? Who are we fighting? How long does it go for? Anything you can tell me that can help me help you change things,” Apollo said.

“It’s been building for years. But the first hint that something’s coming was the Winter Solstice just been,” Chris said.

“But the gods ignored the warnings and decided that nothing was wrong. They finally agreed to act after a goddess was kidnapped and then rescued about a year and a half in the future,” Annabeth said.

“Things really kicked off in about two years, the summer after the council acknowledged the threat. A huge battle was fought in camp,” Lee said. The demigods all looked towards Castor and Lee.

“After that, things really picked up. We were going on missions all year. Spying, recon, sabotage, anything we could do to slow the enemy down,” Beckendorf said.

“Five days before Percy’s birthday, we found out the prophecy, after his dad told him it was time to know,” Connor said.

“Three days before his birthday the battle started. The battle of Manhattan. The final stand of the war,” Travis said.

“There were about 40 of us, and 30 hunters, trying to hold Manhattan and defend Olympus against an army of thousands,” Michael said.

“We did win, but at a steep cost. We lost so many siblings, so many friends,” Pollux said.

“Plus, we didn’t have the help of the gods, apart from Αγησίλαος (Hades), Πραξιδίκη (Persephone), and Δρεπανηφόρος (Demeter), who only came because Nico, Uncle H’s son, convinced them to come. Dad was occupied for almost a year and a half before the final battle with a war on Atlantis. Plus, the enemy had released a huge adversary for the gods to fight, and they barely held him off until Dad managed to come and help,” Percy added. Apollo sighed.

“Who was the adversary. And who was the enemy?”

“Typhon,” Clarisse said grimly. Apollo grimaced. That was not good.

“And the enemy?”

“You already heard that we’ve been in the presence of titans. That Percy fought titans. It can’t be hard to guess,” Katie said. “Grandfather rose.”

“How? He’s in Tartarus, scattered in a million pieces,” Apollo said. Percy and Annabeth both flinched, Annabeth closing her eyes and clenching her fists, while Percy seemed to disconnect from reality, staring in to space.

“We don’t mention the name. Tartar Sauce, or the Pit,” Will said firmly, as those who had fought in the Giant war kept glancing at the two who had been through Tartarus, and were present, in concern – Nico had down there at one point too, even if it was only for a short while before being kidnapped by the Giants and brought back to the surface and kept in a jar.

“I will keep that in mind. The question still stands though,” Chiron said.

“He rose through pledges. Enough demigods sided with him and pledged themselves to him that he was able to rise through pledges alone, inhabiting a demigod’s body rather than having to wait to gain his own,” Chris explained. “One of the demigods who led his army gave everything to the Crooked One, including his body.”

“Why? Why did that many of our children join him, join those who want to destroy us?” Apollo asked, eyes closed.

“Many reasons. Recognition. Revenge or vengeance. Hate or anger. Acknowledgement. Respect. False promises,” Silena said; she had been lured in by false promises, and she knew Chris had been caught by a mix of recognition and anger.

“When is my father first told of the threat?” Apollo asked.

“This summer solstice, after Percy’s quest with Annabeth and Grover to find the bolt and return it,” Lee said. Apollo sighed and nodded.

“Alright. I will do my best to help you change things. I cannot do much, you know there are laws and there are other restrictions I am bound by when it comes to knowing and affecting the future. However, I will do my best to make father see sense and at least start allowing us to discretely prepare for a possible war, even if he doesn’t believe there will be a war.”

“You will have to be careful Dad. It wasn’t just demigods that betrayed Olympus and joined the titans,” Michael said.

“How many gods?” he asked, resigned.

“At least 5 that we know of. Magic, Revenge and Balance, Ghosts, Dreams, and Doorways,” Clarisse said, making sure to not say their names but still allude to who they meant; she would have used epithets for them like they did with the Olympians and other more well-known gods and goddesses, but they were minor gods, and most demigods didn’t know of their epithets, unless said minor god or goddess was their godly parent and had claimed them.

“So many,” Chiron breathed.

“That’s who we know for sure. We had suspicions about others, but we had no proof,” Katie sighed, glancing towards the two who had been part of the other side for a while. They both shrugged; neither of them had been high up enough to know about the gods on the side of the titans.

“I will be careful with what I say and do around the other gods. The Olympians are safe?”

“After this summer solstice they will be,” Annabeth said, re-joining the conversation; the demigods all glanced at her now that she had brought attention to herself, glad to see that her fists were unclenched, and she seemed relaxed again.

“What do you mean by that?” Apollo asked. “How can the Olympians not be safe until after the summer solstice. Wouldn’t it be the other way around? As time passes more join?”

“Άλλοπρόσαλλος (Ares) is being influenced by grandfather. He snaps out of it when we meet him on the quest and realizes that his idea wasn’t actually his idea,” Percy explained quietly, causing his friends to glance over at him. He was still staring blankly at the wall but was present enough to follow and join the conversation now.

“Alright,” Apollo said before sighing. “I thank you for answering my questions. It was good to see you, my sons.”

“It was good to see you too Dad,” Lee said, before Apollo disappeared in a shimmer of gold.

“Come, you all have activities to get to,” Chiron said, ushering them out of the room. “I am happy to discuss some of your ideas for new activities to help prepare the other campers while also letting them have fun and be kids after dinner tonight.”

Apollo basically collapsed next to Hestia’s hearth in the throne room on Olympus when he stopped in there after putting his chariot away that evening. He had had to try and focus on his duties all day, but everything that he had learnt that morning kept swirling around his head; many artists had found themselves without any inspiration and many writers were struck with writer’s block due to his whirling, unfocused mind. At least he hadn’t accidentally released any plagues or caused the sun to burn too hot like he had before when his thoughts were otherwise occupied.

“What’s wrong Apollo? I haven’t seen you this distracted and exhausted since 1949, when you were trying to work out why your Oracle wouldn’t change bodies,” Hestia said, turning to look at him in concern as soon as he collapsed next to her.

“They’ve been through so much and they have to do it again and I don’t know what to do because there’s so much I want to do to help but they already have a plan that they think will work and even if I could help I can’t because of all the Laws and then the restrictions I’m under concerning the future and prophecies and my sons have been through so much and their friends have been through so much and I don’t know how they did it, all I know is that it was bad and things are going to get bad in the next few years and they’re traumatized and I hate it because they’re just kids but they’re not but they are and either way there’s nothing I can do and…”

“Απόλλωνα, ανάσα,” Hestia ordered, cutting Apollo off from his longwinded rambling. “Can you try and explain what’s going on? And in a way that will make sense to me?” Apollo nodded, slumping down, and allowing himself to de-age, shrinking down to a boy of 12 rather than a man of about 24. (Apollo, breathe.)

Hestia watched as her nephew changed to appear younger, worried. He rarely changed forms, let alone age, and she knew he only experienced such a significant change in age when things got too overwhelming for him and he needed the comfort that he didn’t feel comfortable accepting in an adult form; from what she knew, only she and Artemis had seen him as anything other than an adult since he had grown up, and Artemis hadn’t seen it for millennia. As Apollo settled on an appearance of around 12, she allowed herself to age slightly so that she was older than him – 16 rather than 8 – and in a better form to provide the comfort he needed.

She shifted slightly away from her hearth so she could wrap him in a hug, before moving back to her place near the fire. Apollo relaxed into her hold before letting out a deep sigh.

“I found out what changed Auntie,” he whispered. “But I’m going to need an oath that you won’t speak about this with anyone who doesn’t already know unless the demigods involved say you can. Chiron and I both had to swear the same, with the exception of telling you, before they would tell us anything.” Hestia blinked before making the oath without any more hesitation – she didn’t doubt that it had to be sensitive information if demigods had demanded such an oath from a god, an Olympian at that.

“What happened nephew?” she asked.

“Those 15 demigods who you noticed changed? They time travelled.”

“What?”

“They woke up three days ago, after a wave of magic rushed through camp, with all their memories, instincts, and abilities of their present, but in their past bodies. They have memories from years in the future, I think they mentioned going back 5 years. They shouldn’t have to deal with this again. They already went through it all once Auntie; they shouldn’t have to do it again.” Apollo blinked, before turning his head to rest against Hestia’s chest, a few tears falling from his eyes; he had had to keep up a strong façade in front of the demigods, but after a day with everything they had said running through his mind, the façade had disappeared, and he finally acknowledged how unfair it was for them.

“What shouldn’t they have to do again Pollo?” Hestia asked gently, using a nickname she had given him millennia ago and hadn’t used in centuries.

“War Auntie. They went through two wars, and now they have to do it again. I could see it in their eyes, their expressions, their posture; as soon as they stopped pretending to be the children everyone thought they were, I could see it. They’ve seen so many friends die and killed so many monsters and demigods. And from the way some of them spoke and looked, some of them died in their future and have come back with all their memories up until dying, or even after dying and memories from the Underworld.”

“Oh Pollo. There’s not much you can do about them having to do it again. Whoever sent them back must have had a reason.”

“I know. And they already have plans on how they’re going to save at least one of their friends, at least one of their siblings. They already have plans about how they’re going to train without the campers realizing they’re preparing for war. They already have plans about how they’re going to stock up the infirmary with nectar and ambrosia and bandages and every other healing supply they might need and stockpile the supplies they don’t have much of, like nectar and ambrosia. They already have plans about preparation and stopping any spies getting valuable information. They already had so many plans on how to change things while still keeping the major things the same, so they know what’s coming. And all those plans they made while thinking they were going to keep everything a secret from Chiron and all the gods,” Apollo said.

“Who is the war against nephew? It can’t just be demigods that fight with monsters, not if the Great Prophecy is drawing nearer like you said, and not if they’re this worried.”

“The first war is against Grandfather. Apparently, he has been stirring for years, and made his first act against Olympus on the Winter Solstice; whoever stole the bolt must be working for him. Apparently, he is going to manage to rise through pledges to him from demigods who turn against Olympus, finding a temporary body in a demigod sworn to his cause. He must have released other titans as well, because almost all of them had been in the presence of two or three titans. The daughter of Γλαυκώπις (Athena), Annabeth, and Uncle’s son, Percy I think they called him, were in the presence of seven, eight for Percy, or nine if you include Calypso. And apparently, he’s fought four of them. He fought four titans by the time he was sixteen Auntie.

“And they said that after that war, there was a new Great Prophecy given, the Prophecy of Seven.”

“Isn’t the Prophecy of Seven one that the Romans have?” Hestia asked slowly. Apollo nodded, his head still against her chest.

“Yes. They know about each other in the future. They said Stepmother swapped the two camp leaders, leaving uncle’s son to make his way to the Roman camp, and leaving father’s Roman son to be taken to the Greek camp, both without any memories. They wouldn’t tell me who the next war was against, only that it happened within a year of the first war finishing. And they said that it was the worst time for Olympus to close and that history likes repeating itself. I tried to work out what they meant, but there was too much information and then I kept getting glimpses of the things they spoke of, possible futures that are extremely subject to change solely from the actions of those 15 demigods.” Hestia was quiet for a few minutes, processing everything Apollo had told her. As she thought, she continued holding her nephew close, rubbing small circles on his back.

“It’ll be ok Apollo. You’ll help as much as you can, provide them with extra nectar and ambrosia when you send down the refills. Those demigods are prepared this time, and they’ll make sure the other campers are prepared as well. We can make sure the gods start preparing. Forget about what will happen after the Titan war that we are approaching and focus on the present and the next few years first. It’ll be alright Pollo.”

“How do you know Auntie?” Apollo asked with a small sniff.

“I don’t. But I have hope Pollo.”

Chapter Text

The next few days flew by for Percy, getting back into the swing of camp. This time around, he was a bit more sociable, talking with Travis, Chris, and Conner during a lot of the camp activities they did as a cabin. It meant that he could hang out with them during free time without it being weird, since he was seen becoming friends with them – plus, it made it easier to pretend to be 12 again since he didn’t have to fully pretend around those three.

He spent part of each night in cabin 3, often with Clarisse, down in the water training room. He was annoyed that he hadn’t found it until after he was 16, since it helped so much, both with fighting training and training with his powers. It would be especially helpful in preparing for the war, since fighting with water resistance is harder than air resistance and they had to prepare to fight with time powers against them. The rest of the night, he spent in the Hermes cabin, trying to sleep. He averaged about two hours, maybe three, a night, which was much better than it had been before the whole time-travel experience; nightmares were still an occurrence, but the ones he had gotten recently were some of the tamer ones, and he managed not to thrash too much, meaning he had only woken Chris up once by hitting him during a nightmare – he never got back to sleep after a nightmare woke him up though.

Surprisingly, Apollo had clearly taken what they had been able to tell him to heart, as, rather than basically ignoring them like last time, the children of Apollo had all slowly started receiving personalized gifts from the god, finding them at the bottom of their bed when they woke up; Lee and Michael especially had gotten very personalized and magical gifts, and a few of them speculated that he had realized what had happened to them in the future they had come from. On top of that, the few Apollo campers who had still been in cabin 11 had all been claimed in the same night, allowing some of the older unclaimed to have real beds for once, and making those few demigods finally feel as if they really had a family, now they knew who their siblings and parent was, rather than just friends among camp.

Percy knew he shouldn’t be too surprised by the change in the god, seeing as he had clearly been shocked by the news, but he also knew the nature of gods; he may believe they could change, but from what he had seen, it would take huge efforts to get the smallest changes. It was a nice surprise though, and all those who had travelled through time could see the difference it made in the attitudes of those in cabin 7. They just wished the other gods would start doing the same, especially because seeing all of Apollo’s kids be claimed and receive gifts had made some of the other campers, especially the unclaimed, that little bit more bitter towards their parents.

Finally, he had been at camp a week, and it was time for his ‘first’ sword fighting lessons. He was looking forward to it, especially since it meant he would get to fight Luke, but he was also apprehensive; he didn’t have Riptide yet – Chiron hadn’t given it to him, and wouldn’t until he left for his quest, especially since he hadn’t actually asked about it – and he remembered how hard fighting with an unbalanced sword was.

After going through warmups, Luke pulled him to the center and started teaching the disarming maneuver that he remembered learning in his first lesson, just like they were learning now. As Luke demonstrated the move, he explained how it was a move that took most swordsmen years to master. Percy let Luke disarm him as he demonstrated the move, picking up his sword again as Luke explained that they were going to spar until one of them managed to use the new move to disarm the other. Percy nodded his understanding, easily falling into his fighting stance – it was second nature to him, even if his 12-year-old body wasn’t fully used to it or conditioned for it; he was looking forward to seeing how he would fare in this, since his body was unaccustomed to sword fighting and they hadn’t stopped for a water break this time meaning he had no energy boost, but he had instincts borne through two wars.

Luke lunged first, and Percy parried the blade, letting his instincts take over. They exchanged blows, and Percy could vaguely hear the sound of the other campers from Cabin 11 murmuring around them as they fought. As Luke got an advantage and started pushing the offensive, Percy readied himself before dodging the next blow, lunging, and attempting the disarming maneuver. Just as he’d hoped, he disarmed Luke, the older boy’s sword hitting the ground at the same time as Luke did, leaving Percy’s sword pointing at his chest.

Just like what had happened the first time around, the arena was silent. He grinned sheepishly, lowering his sword, and stepping back.

“Um, sorry?” he offered. Luke grinned, pushing himself to his feet.

“Don’t apologize Percy. Show me that again,” Luke said.

Luke and Percy both got into their fighting stances and, like before, Luke attacked first. This time though, Luke didn’t underestimate Percy, and attacked with full force, rather than holding back to test him. They continued fighting back and forth, switching between offensive and defensive, the rest of their cabin watching them in awe. Only Chris, Conner, and Travis had been expecting the fight to be this good, only the three of them expecting Percy to be that good.

As they fought, the environment around them started fading from Percy’s awareness. He was only aware of Luke; fully focused on fighting Luke. And then the Luke in front of him wasn’t the 19-year-old Luke he was sparring with. It was Luke with gold eyes.

It was 22-year-old Luke, his eyes flashing gold. He was in the Labyrinth, right after the coffin had opened. He was on the boat where Beckendorf died right before the ship blew up. He was on the bridge that Michael died on right before he collapsed it, monsters approaching as the Apollo campers retreated. He was on Olympus, trying to defend the thrones. He was fighting Kronos, the scythe swinging at his head.

Kronos was in front of him, trying to kill him. So Percy did what he was trained to do, what his instincts screamed at him to do. He attacked.

Conner watched the spar between Percy and Luke with a mix of excitement and indifference. He’d seen Percy fight enough to not be excited to see him fight or scared or in awe of him when he was fighting, but he was also excited to see Luke get his ass handed to him. Traitor deserved it.

As they were watching though, Conner started to think that something was wrong. Percy seemed to be starting to fight more frantically now, pressing harder and harder against Luke. And his expression had morphed into one that he had only seen the son of Poseidon wear during war.

“Something’s wrong,” Travis muttered, and Conner was glad that he wasn’t the only one who thought so.

“Maybe he’s just really getting into the fight and wants to hurt the traitor,” Conner murmured. Chris shook his head.

“It’s not that,” he said quickly. “Get Will and Annabeth.”

“What?”

“Why?”

“He’s either having a flashback or an episode. Go,” Chris said. As soon as they heard flashback or episode, the two Stolls were off, running out of the arena as quick as they could.

“I’ll get Will,” Travis said, running towards the infirmary. Conner headed towards the arts and crafts tent; he was pretty sure that 6 had arts and crafts when 11 had sword fighting. He reached the tent and pushed through the flap, thanking the gods that he was right.

“Conner?” Malcom asked, being the first to notice him, since he was the closest to the entry.

“I need Annabeth. Τώρα!” (Now!)

“She’s helping Abigayle with a weaving project,” Malcom said, pointing across the tent. “Why do you need her?”

“Percy’s having either a flashback or an episode. I’m leaning towards episode based on the trigger,” Conner said quickly and quietly, making sure none of the other Athena campers could hear him. Malcom nodded, his light expression turning serious as he stood up; episodes could be extremely dangerous to those around the person who was triggered, especially if they didn’t know what was going on or what to do.

“Πισε την και φύγε. I’ll let Chiron know, in case anyone is injured before you get back there,” Malcom said before leaving the tent. Conner quickly weaved through the tables in the tent towards Annabeth. (Grab her and go.)

“Hey Annabeth, I need to borrow you,” he said.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you on the way there,” he said; the longer he took, the longer the episode would go for, and the higher the chance of someone being hurt. Annabeth locked eyes with him before nodding.

“Sorry Abigayle. I’ll be back, but I bet you can finish this without me here.”

“Εντάξει. Thanks Annabeth.” (Ok.)

Conner led the way out of the tent, before falling into a jog, Annabeth quickly adjusting to match his pace.

“What’s going on?” Annabeth asked.

“Percy’s having an episode. He was sparring with Luke, which is what triggered it, I think.”

“Makes sense. He was the one to fight him the most, especially after He took form,” Annabeth agreed, before the two of them picked up their pace, running to the arena.

Travis ran towards the infirmary, leaving Conner to get Annabeth. He almost ran into the door of the infirmary, having forgotten to slow down as he approached, but managed to stop in time. Still, he barged in, eyes darting around and quickly finding Will.

“Will, we need you in the arena,” he said quickly, even as he breathed heavily from his run.

“Who’s injured?” Will asked, already grabbing a medical bag, his new personal one that his dad had gifted him, which had more pockets than a normal medical bag and had his initials embroidered on one pocket, and filling it with supplies.

“No one when I left, but high chances of multiple with injuries by the time we get back,” he said. Will slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to face him.

“Let’s go. You can explain what you mean on the way to the arena,” Will decided, the two of them heading out of the infirmary.

“What’s going on?” Will asked. “Cabin 11 have sword training right now, don’t they?”

“Κανουμε. You remember the rumors going around first time around about Percy beating Luke in his first sword fighting lesson?” Will nodded. (We do.)

“Same lesson. It was the same thing. Percy beat him again, and Luke called for them to repeat it so he could see what Percy could actually do. Unlike last time, Percy didn’t get easily beaten again and again, cause, you know, abilities and instincts and everything came back with us. But the last few times he fought Luke were life and death…” Travis said, trailing off as Will paled slightly. 

“And he’s either in a flashback or an episode,” Will finished.

“Yeah. We don’t know which though. Cause we all basically know what his triggers are for flashbacks and episodes, like we know basically everyone’s triggers, from the first war at least, but this is a totally new trigger.”

“Alright. So be prepared for him to either be out of it after coming out of the flashback, or for him to still be in an episode unless Annabeth is already there and for others to be injured.”

“Chris is still there and knows what’s going on, so he should be doing damage control. Βασικά, ναι.” (Basically, yeah.)

Chris watched as Travis and Conner ran off, before looking back at Percy. He had no idea what to do. If Percy was having a flashback, he could help him through it and out of it. But if it was an episode… well, he would either have to wait for it to run its course or wait for Annabeth to get there – she was the only one who could get Percy back to the present when he had an episode.

He brought his thoughts back to what he could do to help, rather than letting them follow the trail of helplessness that they were starting to go down. The first thing to do would be get the others in the arena away from the fight, away from Percy; if it was an episode, he would see everyone as an enemy and would attack anyone nearby.

“How about we go watch from the stands, rather than down here,” Chris suggested.

“What? Why?”

“They look like they’re really getting into it. I don’t think they’re going to stop before our lesson is up, so we may as well sit down while they fight. Or go get a head start at the showers.” The rest of the campers seemed to agree and slowly they filed out of the arena, heading up the stairs to the seats that encircled the arena, a few leaving to go shower before anyone’s shower slot came up and they had to rush; he was honestly extremely glad that they had listened, especially because he was just another unclaimed camper so didn’t really hold much authority in camp; they would have been more inclined to listen to Travis and Conner, who were claimed Hermes children and next in line for councilor, but it would have created more questions if he was the one to go get Will or Annabeth. Chris let out a small sigh of relief, glad that the rest of his cabin were out of danger. Now, he just had to deal with Percy.

He had two options now. Let it play out and hope that it would end soon. Or try and intervene and help Percy through it and out of it.

Option one meant that they could be fighting for a while before it ended and ran the risk of Percy collapsing during the fight – he always ended up tired after a flashback or episode. It also ran the risk of Percy and Luke getting injured, and Luke seeing more of Percy’s skill than they wanted him too before he left.

Option two, however, could be dangerous. If Percy was in an episode, he would attack Chris as well, only seeing another enemy on the battlefield. And, as good as Chris was with a sword, he knew he was no match for Percy. And if Percy was in a flashback, Chris intervening could be either good or bad, depending on what the flashback was about. If it was from after Chris came back to their side, then he would be able to help Percy back to the present. But if it was a flashback surrounding events that happened before Chris returned to camp and the side of the gods, then Percy could recognize him as an enemy, someone in the Titan’s army, and could attack him.

Chris watched the fight go on for another minute before deciding; he couldn’t let it go any longer. Both fighters were starting to get injured, but neither of them were slowing down, and he couldn’t see the fight ending anytime soon; Luke would want to continue pressing Percy until he won so he could fully see Percy’s ability, and Percy wouldn’t stop until Luke was on the ground and disarmed, and probably heavily injured, or he came out whatever he was experiencing. Chris grimaced, before drawing his sword and stepping towards the two fighters.

“Percy. It’s ok. Wherever you think you are right now Percy, I swear to you, you aren’t there,” Chris said. That caught Percy’s attention, causing the demigod to turn towards Chris. Chris grimaced as he raised his sword to block Percy’s attack.

“Percy, you’re at camp. You’re not in danger. You’re safe. It’s ok,” Chris said, staying on the defensive as Percy pushed the attack; acting like he was now, it was hard to remember that he was 12 – Chris could clearly see him as he had been at 17, despite him currently being almost a foot shorter.

“Chris, what are you doing?” Luke demanded, trying to intercept and take the fight back. Percy switched his attack, starting to attack both of them at once.

“Damn it, Luke, I’m trying to help and you’re making it worse,” Chris said, swearing in Ancient Greek under his breath as Percy cut his arm; he had thought the attack was going for Luke so wasn’t ready to defend against it.

“What are you talking about Chris? Do you know how he’s this good? And since when are you this good?” Luke asked, his sword clashing against Percy’s as he tried to attack. Chris swore again – attacking Percy would not help right now.

“Μα Άδές, μαλκας ρε, you are not helping right now,” Chris said. “Percy, it’s ok. You’re at camp. You’re safe. We’re all ok. You’re ok. You’re safe. Camp is safe.” (By Hades, asshole)

“Chris, I swear, if you don’t start explaining right now,” Luke said.

“Back off Luke. I can handle this. You’re just making it worse,” Chris said, twisting out of the way of Percy’s sword before running to the wall and grabbing a shield; absently, he wondered how Percy was fighting so well when he knew the sword that Percy was using had to be unbalanced for him – it wasn’t made from the sea. Chris dropped his sword as he approached Percy again, relying on the shield alone do defend himself, hoping that being unarmed would let Percy see him as not a threat and start to come back.

“What is going on Chris?” Luke demanded again, pressing Percy back to defensive. Chris ignored him, trying to get through to Percy even as he blocked a blow heading towards his chest with the shield.

“Percy, I swear to you that you are safe. I swear, you are at camp. No one here is going to hurt you right now. Wherever you think you are, you are not. You are safe. You are ok. We’re all safe. We’re all ok.”

“Percy, I need you to snap out of this. You’re safe here, you’re at camp. You’re ok. I’m ok. We’re together and we’re safe,” Annabeth called, and Chris let out a sigh of relief.

“Luke, back off. You’re only making it worse,” Connor said as the two of them approached. Annabeth pulled out her knife, stepping next to Chris and intercepting the sword before it could hit the shield. Chris glanced back at Luke and saw Conner pulling him away from the center of the arena. Chris stepped back from the fight and Percy, trusting Annabeth to be able to deal with it and help Percy. Instead, he turned his full attention to his two brothers and grabbed Luke’s other arm with his injured arm, holding his other hand over the large cut to stem the bleeding, helping Conner drag him out of the arena.

“Where are they?” Will asked as he and Travis appeared at the edge of the arena as the trio of brothers left the fighting space.

“Annabeth’s with Percy in the arena where we have lessons. Oh, and Malcom went to let Chiron know what happened,” Conner said, Chris letting go of Luke as Travis took his spot, making it easier to press his hand on his wound. Will looked Luke over before handing him a small square of ambrosia for the few small cuts on his arms and then waving them away.

“I’ve already sent most of the cabin to shower and get ready for dinner, and the others will probably start heading back now that the fight’s over,” Chris added as Conner tugged at Luke’s arm, the two Stolls dragging the older boy away from the arena.

“Alright, that’s good, since Chiron knows he should know, and it means the others in cabin 11 shouldn’t bother us. Percy, at least, will need to stay in the infirmary for a while, maybe overnight, especially since we can't just chuck him in the lake without others asking questions,” Will said as he started looked Chris over. Will sighed, before pulling out a roll of bandages and disinfectant, stepping closer to disinfect and then bandage his arm, pulling Chris’ hand away from the cut.

“Keep the bandage on overnight and come to the infirmary to get it checked in the morning. It’s a pretty decent cut,” Will said, handing Chris a square of ambrosia. Chris nodded.

“He was attacking both of us at once and I thought he was aiming for Luke and didn’t defend in time.”

“How is he?” Will asked, glancing at the entrance to the arena where he knew Annabeth and Percy were.

“He should be ok when he comes back to the present. I think it’s an episode, it was lasting too long to be a flashback, I think. And Luke wasn’t helping, he kept switching to the offensive.”

“He couldn’t know that would make it worse. He probably just thought it was a fight that you just suddenly stepped in to,” Will said. Chris shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess. But I mean, I was telling him to back off while also trying to get through to Percy. I guess it probably confused him, but that doesn’t make me feel better about it. Especially since he was the trigger.” Will nodded. They stayed there, just waiting, for a few more minutes before Percy and Annabeth appeared, Percy leaning heavily on Annabeth. Chris stepped to his other side, offering his arm, and wrapping it around Percy when the younger boy nodded.

Chris and Annabeth helped Percy out to the grass area near the arena before lowering him to the ground. He leant against the wall of the building they had just left, his head resting against the wall behind him, and closed his eyes as he let out a deep breath.

“Di immortales, that sucked,” Percy muttered. (By gods)

“I’m pretty sure it was an episode. And yeah, those generally suck,” Chris agreed, having experienced one or two himself.

“Started as a flashback of the various times I fought grandad dearest and then morphed into an episode,” Percy muttered, his eyes still closed.

“Percy, I have a small flask of nectar I need you to drink. It’ll heal the few injuries you have and give you a boost to get back to the infirmary before you pass out from exhaustion. And don’t deny that you’re exhausted. We both know that you haven’t slept much, and while I know it’s more than you have recently, we also both know that just a flashback or an episode tires you out greatly. And you said you just had both so you’d be exhausted even if you had been sleeping well,” Will said. Percy groaned.

“Can’t I just have water?”

“No, because I didn’t bring any with me and it will create questions if we just chuck you in the lake,” Will said, pressing the flask into Percy’s hand.

“Pretty sure the scene I just caused will create questions anyway,” he murmured, before raising the flask to his lips and downing the small amount in there – barely two mouthfuls.

“I’ll come up with an excuse Seaweed Brain. Now, let’s get you to the infirmary before you pass out,” Annabeth said. Percy grumbled but let himself be pulled to his feet before the four of them headed towards the infirmary.

Chapter Text

Fortunately, the scene that Percy had created in his first sword fighting lesson was excused away, passed off as a mix of him having fencing classes and actual sword-fighting lessons before camp, since his mum knew that his dad was a god, and him having been in a traumatic experience when he was younger and the effects of that having unexpectedly reared their head when he was fighting Luke. And thankfully, everyone at camp had accepted that answer and reasoning, and the attention from it had passed by the next day; Chiron had mentioned it at dinner, when he had heard the gossip around it at every table at the dining pavilion – they had especially been fueled by the fact that Percy wasn’t at dinner, due to the fact that he had passed out as soon as Will and Annabeth got him to the infirmary.

Unfortunately, the next day happened to be Friday, meaning they had Capture the Flag that night. Normally, that would be fine. However, Percy was slightly apprehensive about what Annabeth was planning – the first time this game had happened, he had been used as bait. However, he hadn’t aggravated the Ares cabin this time around, so they wouldn’t have a grudge or reason to go after him if he was used as bait. Plus, most of the councilors had their memories, so remembered the tactics used the first time around (although they had played so many games of it that the various games and tactics were probably meshed together), meaning the plans would have to change so it wasn’t expected. He’d just have to leave it to Annabeth to think of a plan and tell him what to do – he was still the ‘newbie’ after all.

Percy had been kept in the infirmary until lunch so Will could monitor him, since he hadn’t woken up until after breakfast, so it wasn’t until Friday afternoon that Percy and Grover could be found sitting by the lake after having a go on the climbing wall; Grover had practically flown up the wall, much like Percy remembered him doing, while Percy had managed to scramble up it before swearing to never do it again, or at least not before he got a bit more of a handle on his PTSD and panic attacks. It had been his first go at it since the whole ‘time travel thing’ and even before that – he hadn’t tried it since before he had been kidnapped – and one go had definitely been enough for him to decide to not do it again; the lava falling down, the color and heat, the rumbling, and the actual rock climbing had been much too similar to the cliff Down There for him to be comfortable doing it for a while – he should probably talk to Annabeth about it, and see what she thought; he knew it was an important skill, especially in the quest to the Sea of Monster, and would be needed if they ended up Down  There again, but at the moment he didn’t think he could make himself even attempt it again.

They were sitting on the pier by the lake, Grover leaning back and quietly talking about how his talk with Mr. D went, while Percy let his feet dangle in the water; the water, while also being cool and calming, was also helping him recover from his small panic attack on the climbing wall – Grover had just assumed the panic attack was because there was, you know, lava falling toward him, which, fair; he wouldn’t be the first one to have a panic attack over lava falling down at him if it had been because of that.

“If you had to choose, which god would you want as your parent? You know, out of the Olympians?” Grover asked after he had finished explaining about the empty cabins, fiddling with his pipes.

Percy paused, trying to think. There were only a few of the Olympians he actually liked and respected; his dad, obviously, Apollo and Hermes, since they did try their best with their children and didn’t exactly demand respect and subservience, Artemis, and Aunt Hestia. Zeus, Hades, Ares, Dionysus, Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena had all tried to kill him or messed with his life too much for him to like or respect. He hadn’t really met Demeter apart from that one Winter Council after rescuing Artemis and when he was in Hades’ palace before going to the Styx, so didn’t really have an opinion on her – she had voted against killing him at the Winter Council, so that was a small plus in her favor. And he had no real opinion on Hephaestus – he had done nothing to really earn his favor but had also done nothing to earn or deserve his ire.

“I don’t know. Διδυμαῖος (Apollo) would be cool, but you saw how terrible I was with archery, and I can’t do anything musical without causing a landslide. So, I doubt that he’s my dad. I wouldn’t mind Άγγελος (Hermes), I guess, but I don’t really see what traits I would have from him,” Percy said. “Ἀγλαοτρίαινα (Poseidon) would be pretty cool, especially since I always loved going to the beach with mum.”

“Yeah, but none of the Big Three have any kids,” Grover said quickly.

“Why though. I mean, in the myths, didn’t Ἐφάπτὡρ (Zeus) and Ἀγλαοτρίαινα (Poseidon) have, like, a bazillion kids?” Percy asked.

“You know about World War 2, about 60 years ago? Well, it was started by three children of the Big Three. It was basically just a big fight between them, Άκραῖος (Zeus) and Εὐτρίαινα (Poseidon) on one side, Κλύμενος (Hades) on the other. After that, the Big Three decided they wouldn’t have any more children, swore on the Styx to not have any more demigods, because they were interfering in the mortal world too much, causing too much carnage. They’re just too powerful,” Grover explained. Percy hid his grimace, remembering just how powerful he had become – how powerful he was, how powerful Nico, Jason, and Hazel had been – Thalia had been powerful, but her Hunter status kind of cancelled out her overpower from being a daughter of Zeus; she still had the abilities, but they hadn’t been extremely over the top like flight (although that could be simply because of her fear), or the type of things Jason had managed – Thalia could call down a few bolts of lightning and shock people, but that was about it, while Jason could fly, use lightning, create storms, and control storm spirits to an extent.

“That’s the most serious oath you can make,” Percy commented. Grover nodded. “What happens if they break it? I mean, I know what the myths say happen to mortals who break them when they die, but they’re gods.”

“The Styx can’t punish them, not really. But the consequences were seen a few years ago. About seventeen years ago, Άκραῖος (Zeus) broke the oath and had a daughter, Thalia. And he brought a terrible fate on her. The Styx pushed the consequences of the broken oath on to his daughter, ensuring that the punishments it dealt would follow her to her death,” Grover said.

“But it wasn’t the little girl’s fault,” Percy said, mentally grinning over the fact that he could call Thalia a little girl without her zapping him; she just didn’t accept the argument that, since she was forever 15, he could call her a little girl or something similar. Although, the way that Grover phrased that did cause some things to make sense; the Styx had punished her with being tormented by monsters after such trouble with her family, but all her bad luck and strife had stopped after she became a tree, after she died (she had once told him, after the Titan war, that she hadn’t just been injured, but had actually died, and had been in front of Charon when her spirit was pulled back and she was turned into the tree). She still experienced trouble before she became a hunter, yes, but it was just a bit more than the average demigod, the amount of a normal child of the Big Three, rather than the amount she had faced before dying; considering he had never insulted Nemesis or Tyche, that he knew of at least, he assumed that the consequences for his dad breaking the oath was his such unpredictable luck, especially seeing how many times he had come close to dying and really should have died and yet somehow didn’t.

Percy sighed quietly as Grover explained, just like he had the first time. How Hades had let out some of the worst monsters to torment Thalia. How a satyr had tried to get her and two other half-bloods to safety. How the monsters caught them on the hill. How she had been turned into a pine tree when her father took pity on her. How her spirit watched over the camp now, providing a barrier to help keep them safe. And how that was why the hill was known as Half-Blood Hill.

It wasn’t long until it was time for Capture the Flag. Percy strapped his armor on, resignedly letting Luke help him strap it on and tighten it since he ‘didn’t know how’. Luke handed him a sword and shield, both of which felt incredibly awkward in his hands – the sword just wasn’t balanced and was even worse than the one he had had during his sword-fighting lesson, and he much preferred either not having a shield, or using the shield Tyson had made him, which allowed him to not carry a bulky shield around until he needed it and it was a much better size than the one he had at the moment, which was almost as big as he was at twelve.

“You’re on border control,” Luke said, handing him a helmet with a blue plume.

“What’s that?”

“Basically, stand by the river and don’t let any of the red team across,” Luke said before grinning; in the torchlight, Luke’s expression made him look evil, and Percy forced himself to look away before he got sucked into memories.

Chiron announced the rules, same as he always did, before allowing the teams to scatter with a five-minute warning. Luke pointed out the stretch of river that Percy was meant to be guarding before running off into the forest. Percy stood by the river, absently letting his powers out to play for a little, creating shapes and images out of water he made float in the air.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he whirled around, eyes darting through the shadows; his instincts were telling him he was being watched, stalked, and he had learnt to trust his instincts years ago. A low growl reverberated from the shadows and Percy took a small step backwards as he felt the presence retreat further into the trees. Great, the hellhound was here again – he had completely forgotten about that. Normally, hellhounds wouldn’t bother him – one hellhound on its own wasn’t too hard to defeat after facing hordes of monsters at once – but his body was only 12, even if he had all the abilities of his 17-year-old self, he was weighed down by poorly fitting armor, and neither his sword nor shield were suited for him.

He resolved himself to staying alert and aware of the hellhound before turning back to the river as the conch horn blew. As long as the game was over quickly, and he could kill the hellhound without being badly injured, everything would be fine. And as long as he wasn’t used as bait again.

No sooner than that thought had crossed his mind, he heard a bunch of yelling before he saw 5 Ares campers emerge from the trees across the river, running straight at him, Clarisse at the front. Great, Annabeth had used him as bait, again; he just wondered why it had worked this time. The Ares campers surrounded him, Clarisse smirking before jabbing at him with her spear, electricity sparking as it hit his metal chest piece.

“Let’s see what the punk can do,” Clarisse said.

“Cabin eleven have to be joking about what he did. No way is he that good,” one of the burlier boys said. Percy had trouble placing him – he had made a point to learn the names of all the campers after the Battle of the Labyrinth when he had realized that he hadn’t even known the names of all of the fallen, but he could not place two of the Ares boys surrounding him.

“Κρέμασέ τον.” At that, the campers around him attacked. Percy raised his sword, parrying and clumsily countering the attacks coming at him. They continued fighting until Percy ended up being backed into the river, even with a numb arm and a gash from a sword. Clarisse growled when she noticed where he had ended up; she had clearly been trying to prevent that. (Cream him.)

Percy grinned as he felt the energy from the water rush through him; he may have still had all his abilities and reflexes from the future, but an unbalanced sword really made it that much more difficult without the water unless he was in the zone like he had been against Luke. He attacked with more vigor, pushing those attacking him back. The hilt of his sword slammed against one of their heads, making him collapse, while another got a face full of shield. He sliced through the plume of the third’s helmet before both two and three backed off. The fourth camper, which Percy was pretty sure was Mason, was watching him warily from the side of the creek, while Clarisse stepped forward.

The two of the traded blows until Percy managed to land a hit on her spear, causing it to crack slightly. She let out a yell, attacking with more force, but this time Percy managed to trap the spear between his shield and his sword, making the small crack grow and cause the spear to completely snap in half. Clarisse screamed, but before she could do anything – not that Percy thought she would, especially since she knew that the same thing had basically happened the first time around and still decided to attack him – there was a loud pounding of multiple people running, followed by cheering and the conch horn blowing as Luke, surrounded by Apollo and Hermes campers, crossed the river carrying the flag.

“It was a trick,” Mason said as the Ares campers stepped back slightly – the one who had collapsed had stood up again as he was fighting Clarisse, having only been rattled but not knocked out.

“Not bad Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, appearing from the shadows among the trees as she removed her invisibility cap.

“Bait Wise Girl? I was bait?” He asked, glancing down at the cut on his arm – which had just finished healing – before stepping out of the creek.

“You make such a good distraction.” She shrugged, stepping closer as well and lowering her voice slightly. “Besides, Clarisse and I agreed to use the same basic strategy just this once and see if anything changed.”

“You know I hate being bait,” Percy groaned, before tensing as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end again. Annabeth had clearly felt the same thing, as she stiffened and slowly turned, and Percy spotted Clarisse doing the same from the corner of his eyes.

“Πάλι?” Annabeth murmured. (Again?)

“We know who summoned it. It’s not like he wasn’t going to,” Percy muttered back, staring at the shadow that he could tell the hell hound was hiding in. They didn’t have much more of a chance to talk as the hell hound leapt from the shadows, heading straight at Percy. Percy swung his sword, creating a gash on the hound, but just missing a lethal shot, a wave of water instinctually following the swing to slam into the beast’s side, pushing it off course so it didn’t land on top of him. Annabeth threw her knife at the same time, anticipating the water’s action and causing it to become embedded in its head just moments after Percy’s swing. The hound growled again before collapsing into gold dust, Annabeth’s knife falling to the ground.

“Di immortales. That was a hell hound. Straight from the Fields of Punishment,” Luke said, staring at the spot the hell hound had disappeared from – most of the campers had appeared in the minutes after the game was won, heading to the clearing where Percy and Annabeth were since that was very close to where the game was won. The other campers were all staring at the spot as well, a mix of shock and horror on all their faces. Even Chiron, who had his bow up and ready to shoot, but not having time to release before the two of them dealt with it. (By gods)

“They cannot cross camp borders. Someone must have summoned it,” Chiron said grimly. The fifteen all glanced at each other, all of them wearing the same expression and thinking the same thing – the traitor had made his first really move against camp; stealing the Lightning Bolt was one thing – that was an attack against the gods – but inviting a monster, especially one as dangerous as a hell hound from the Fields, straight into camp, where it could hurt any of the innocent campers, was a direct attack against the camp, and his first real move as a traitor to demigods and not just the gods.

No one else had a chance to say anything though, as a brilliant sea green light appeared above Percy’s head. The campers all stared at Percy before kneeling down.

“It is determined. Poseidon. Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail Perseus Jackson, son of the sea god,” Chiron announced.

Later, the group was gathered in the Poseidon cabin again, talking about what was coming now that Percy was claimed. Especially since they knew the quest was coming. Just as they were wrapping up, plans made, Chris piped up.

“Just a thought I had at your claiming. How many of your dad’s titles do you have influence over?”

“Sea god, obviously. We’ve all seen what he can do with water,” Pollux said.

“And Stormbringer brings back one standout memory,” Malcom added, remembering the hurricane Percy had created.

“Um, all of them,” Percy muttered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What?” Katie asked.

“I can talk to any animal related to horses. Horses, zebra, pegasi.”

“That makes some of the things I heard in the stables make much more sense. I had no clue the pegasi were actually talking back to you,” Silena said. Percy shrugged.

“What about Earthshaker?” Beckendorf asked.

“Umm, you all remember Mount St Helens.”

“What did you have to do with that?” Chris asked, having still been insane when that happened.

“I used it once or twice after that, but Mount St Helens was the first. And I may have been the one who set off the first explosion by shaking the earth instead of summoning water like I was trying,” Percy muttered.

“And then proceeded to get blown out of the volcano, shoot through the air, and land in the ocean more than half dead from the lava, ending up on an island which you can only leave after the person on it falls in love with you, and then turned up two weeks later in the middle of your funeral,” Annabeth deadpanned.

“Details,” Percy muttered, before shooing the others out of his cabin. “We all know I’m ridiculously powerful, we don’t need to talk about it anymore. Now, I have a quest in a day or two, so I’m going to attempt to be as rested as possible for my encounters with all three Kindly Ones, Medusa, possibly Echidna and the Chimera, Πολεμόκλονος (Ares), Uncle H, Uncle Z, and dad.”

“Wait, did you say Kindly Ones, Medusa, Echidna, and the Chimera? We haven’t heard about this,” Castor said.

“It probably won’t happen anyway, my luck really can’t be that bad,” Percy said, even though he knew it was. “Goodnight.”

The others exchanged bemused looks as they stood outside Percy’s cabin, before exchanging their own goodnights and heading to their respective cabins to sleep, or at least attempt to sleep.

Chapter Text

Two days later, Percy was woken up by Grover kicking on the door of his cabin, rather than knocking. He groaned as he got up and dressed quickly, knowing what Grover had come to tell him. He left his cabin, half listening as Grover tried to explain why Mr. D wanted to talk to him; he already knew, and he was not looking forward to it. Doing the quest once had been bad enough, and now they had to do it again, knowing what they were going to encounter and pretending that they didn’t, since they wanted to keep basically everything the same. Especially because they wanted to keep everything basically the same so nothing too large changed, otherwise they would expose themselves to Kronos and would lose their advanced knowledge.

Mr. D gave him the same warning he gave him years ago, threatening to turn him into a dolphin if he was still at camp when the god got back – Percy had to force himself to keep a straight face, a memory from the time on the Argo II rising up in his mind (dolphin men holding them captive until Frank started turning into a dolphin, saying Dionysus was punishing them ‘oh no, I’m turning into a crazy dolphin’). Chiron then proceeds to tell Percy about the quest, telling him how Zeus’ Master Bolt had been stolen, and how he had to go and retrieve it, having ten days to complete the quest, ten days until the Summer Solstice.

“Καλώς, I’ll take the quest,” Percy said with a sigh. “How many on a quest?” (Alright)

“Quests are normally undertaken in trios, unless the prophecy from the oracle calls for a different number,” Chiron explained. Percy did his best to hide a grimace, remembering the quests he had been part of, or Annabeth had been part of, where the prophecy had specifically called for a number other than three – one had seen two of the members die, another had seen them separate and then for one of them to sacrifice himself to kill Gaea, and the third had led hundreds of Athena’s children to their deaths before Annabeth completed it, only for her to be dragged to the pit, him following behind.

“Hey G-man, you up to come?” Percy asked. Grover stared at him.

“You want me to come?”

“Of course, I do man,” Percy said. “And could you go ask Annabeth if she’d come. If I have to think of others, I’ll work it out after visiting the Oracle.”

“If you’re sure Percy,” Grover said. Percy nodded, and Grover stood up and left the porch to go find Annabeth.

“Are you sure you are up for this quest Percy?” Chiron asked. Percy groaned, running his hand through his hair and nodding.

“Ναι. I’ve already done it once, so I know what to expect. Not like it was the hardest quest I’ve done by a long shot,” Percy grumbled, adding the last part under his breath. “Μάλλον θα πάω να επισκεφτώ τη μούμια.” Percy stood and walked into the Big House before Chiron could say anything, heading directly to the attic. He stepped into the attic, trying not to breathe through his nose, and approached the mummy sitting by the window. He watched as the green smoke billowed out of her mouth, a trio of voices echoing around the small space. (Yeah. Guess I'll go visit the mummy.)

“I am the Oracle of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo. Approach seeker and ask.”

Percy really did miss Rachel.

“How do I prevent a war between the Big Three?” he asked. He knew that the first time he had visited the oracle, he had gone vague, asking about his destiny. This time, he wanted to be more specific, especially because he knew what lay in store for his future and didn’t want her to sprout some random prophecy about their time travel, or even worse one of the ones from the Year of Hell (aka, the year of the Second Giant War).

The green smoke formed into images, and Percy closed his eyes, not wanting to see Gabe and his poker friends formed from mist; he simply listened to the prophecy that was said.

“You shall go west and face the god who has turned,

“You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned,

“You shall be betrayed by a used to be friend,

“And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.

Percy stayed still as the mist disappeared, thinking over the prophecy. It was basically the same as the first one he had gotten, which meant their time travel hadn’t greatly disrupted the immediate future, yet. The only change being the wording of the third line. You shall be betrayed by a used to be friend, rather than by one who calls you a friend. It made sense though; he had deliberately kept his distance from Luke, meaning Luke didn’t call him a friend this time around. They were friendly, but not close enough to call each other friends. He was interested in how Luke would betray him this time. Last time, he was sure the betrayal referred to the incident in the forest with the Pit Scorpion where he had almost died. He knew he wouldn't be following Luke in to the forest this time around, and they weren't even close enough for it to make sense for Luke to try and convince him to go anywhere alone together.

Prophecies were so much easier to understand when you had hindsight. Or in this case knew what was going to happen in the future. Same difference really.

Eventually, Percy’s mind fully comprehended the prophecy and what it meant – at least hindsight was helpful, meaning it didn’t take all that long – and he left the attic, heading back to the porch, where Grover and Annabeth were waiting with Chiron.

“What did your prophecy say, Percy?” Chiron asked as he approached the centaur.

“Um, it said we would go west and face a god who has turned. That I’d find what was stolen and see it safely returned. Which is good.”

“That is the exact wording? Wording is very important.” Percy nodded.

“Anything else?” Chiron asked. Percy shook his head; he had kept the prophecy secret the first time around, and he was going to do the same this time – he wouldn’t be the only one who had kept the prophecy to himself, especially since he knew both Clarisse and Annabeth had led quests without revealing the whole prophecy to anyone until near the end of the quest.

“Then you, Grover, and Annabeth leave first thing tomorrow morning,” Chiron said.

“Wait, Chiron, you haven’t told us where you think we should go,” Grover said.

“I leave the final decision up to you, but the prophecy says to go West and mentions a god you shall face there. And there is only one god who makes his home in the West,” Chiron said. “And he is the only god who could send a Kindly One after Percy and would have the most to gain from a war between the gods.” Percy and Annabeth exchanged quick glances, knowing what Chiron was implying, and that they would have to go along with it, even though they knew it wasn’t true. Grover however, missed their look, busy staring at Chiron.

“Κλύμενος (Hades). The Lord of the Dead. You want us to go to the Underworld,” he squeaked. Chiron nodded grimly.

“Well, let’s go pack. Seems like we’ll have a busy couple of days ahead of us,” Percy said. Annabeth nodded and Grover groaned.

“Why couldn’t it be Maine?” he mumbled, even as Percy started to pull him away from the porch.

“Όχι, I’ve never liked the idea of Maine. LA should be nice,” Annabeth added, waving to Chiron as she followed the two boys away from the Big House. (Nah)

The day after the questers left, the other time travelers really got down into planning the extra activities and putting them into action. Travis, Conner, and Chris managed to sneak out multiple days in a row without being caught – Chiron knew their vague plans, but they were still wanting to keep most things a secret, so no asking permission to leave, which just made it more fun anyway – and raided various nearby stores for anything they could use as prizes; chocolates, candy, chips, cans of soft drink, make up items, new mirrors, bags of many different types, items to fidget with like Rubik’s cubes and slinkies and fidget spinners and fidget cubes and stress balls. They even managed to hijack the van one day so they could go to stores further away to gather a large stash of items, which they kept in the Poseidon cabin so no one else could find them; they would find another storage place when Percy came back, but for now, his cabin would work. Maybe they'd find secret areas in their cabins like Percy and cabin 9 had, that they could use before the three questors returned.

They set up signs near various activities, advertising the prizes without saying what they were. There were prizes for getting up the climbing wall in a certain time, prizes for being not far behind the nymphs and driads during races, and prizes for beating certain people during weapons training and wrestling.

They also managed to work out how to get training in without it seeming like training, especially power training. Pranks were pulled, the retaliation being done with powers, and the Hermes cabin often found themselves taking the brunt of the retaliation. They were tripping over roots and vines, and once or twice a few of them were fully wrapped in plants; they were finding their clothes not fitting properly; they could often be found running from the Apollo cabin and their trick arrows or the Ares cabin and their weapons.

Silena even managed to get her cabin involved in more training, often with the incentive of an improved slot in the cabin bathroom schedule, or with the promise of borrowing clothes or makeup from her.

Working together, the cabin councilors were also able to implement the new activities – the single cabin capture the flags, the group weapons training activities – among all the cabins, apart 4 and 11, where they didn’t have one from the time travel group as a councilor. And even then, among 4 and 11, Katie, Travis, Conner, and Chris, were able to get a few from their cabin involved in the activities with the other cabins, even though they couldn’t get their whole cabin involved.

During his free time, Chris also put together a list of all the people he knew who joined the Titans, with the help of the others, with each name coded by if they were at camp – a line before the name was if they were never at camp, and a dot was if they had been at camp – and with the dots colored depending on which cabin they were part of. It was already looking hopeful that there would be less people who left just due to Apollo’s previously unclaimed kids being claimed and all his demigods receiving gifts.

The quest went. That’s it. It went. It happened. The world didn’t explode or implode or get thrown into a war between the gods or get destroyed by death being stopped. It didn’t go well, but it didn’t go worse than the first time around, which Percy was thankful for; he had been sure that all his mental complaining about how things couldn't get worse would tempt the Fates to prove him wrong, which, thankfully, didn't happen. It just went. Everything happened the same as it had the first time, a few things even changing for the better although ultimately resulting in the same things.

Annabeth suggested that they kept their bags with them, so didn’t lose their supplies when the bus blew up after the Furies attacked – they still ran out of supplies somehow though. Annabeth and Percy were expecting Medusa, so they didn’t fall into her trance and were able to kill her without almost dying as much – her head was again sent to the gods, this time both Percy and Annabeth wanting to, even as Grover stressed like the good friend and protector he was, although only Percy signed it; they figured it would be best if at least one of them stayed out of the sight of furious gods, and seeing as Percy would inevitably end up there again by the end of the quest, Annabeth got to remain the one who seemingly respected all the gods and followed all the rules for demigods.

They got directions from a poodle, and somehow still ended up at the Arch with Percy getting attacked by Echidna and the Chimera which ended with Percy jumping off the Arch and into the river after getting poisoned again – he had convinced Annabeth and Grover to go down without him as soon as he saw the woman with her chihuahua; he might have forgotten to mention the Chimera chihuahua to Annabeth and Grover the first time and wasn’t keen for Annabeth to find out about it this time either. Ares caught up with them and sent them on a side quest and gave them the same reward with the backpack that both Percy and Annabeth knew would eventually hold the Master Bolt, even though neither of them could find it in there at the moment. That was expected though seeing as they knew it was charmed to only hold the bolt after they entered the Underworld.

They ended up trapped in the Lotus Hotel and Casino again, and still lost five days in there – writing warnings on their arms didn’t work, the magic simply compelled them to not look at their arms making the warnings useless, but on the bright side (if you could call it that) Percy ran into Nico and Bianca at one point and seeing them was what helped break him out of the trance a bit earlier than the last time, so they got a few extra hours to complete the quest. He got the three pearls from the Nereid again, along with the warning about the gifts – he still couldn’t figure out which gift she was referring to, considering every gift they had gotten during that quest brought trouble; and he knew she looked familiar now but could not remember why or where else he could have seen her other than this situation the first time around. They missed Crusty and his waterbed emporium (thankfully), but still had to bribe Charon to get into the Underworld with the remaining drachma they had managed to swipe from Medusa's place. They got past Cerberus when Annabeth pulled out a rubber ball to play with him and they once again set of the alarms when they went through security.

Unfortunately, in the rush to get to the Underworld, and then the panic of almost getting caught (Percy really didn’t want to end up in one of those cells again, the first time was unpleasant enough) made them forget to have Grover take off the shoes until it was too late, and he was already getting dragged across the ground and towards the pit. Grover managed to get the shoes off just in time, and Annabeth and Percy were quick to pull him away from the pit, neither of them wanting to think about what was down there or who they could hear down there, trying to suck them in; Percy tried to ignore the thankfulness that it had been Grover wearing the shoes and not Annabeth, as being dragged towards the pit again would have almost definitely triggered something for her. He hated himself for even feeling thankful that Grover had almost been pulled Down There; he knew how bad it was. The bag on Percy’s back felt heavy again and he knew the Master Bolt was there - both he and Annabeth had forgotten that it was the close call with the pit that had caused the bolt to appear rather than just entering the Underworld like Ares claimed, so maybe forgetting to take the shoes off wasn't so bad. No, scratch that, it was still horrible.

They confronted Hades. It went the same way it did the first time, with Percy and Annabeth saying almost the exact same things they remembered saying. Percy had to leave his mum behind again, and it hurt even more this time because he hadn’t seen her in almost in year by the time the war and subsequent clean-up was finished, and he hadn’t had a chance to go see her in person or talk to her through IM for more than a couple of minutes before getting pulled back in time, and he missed her so much; he would happily admit to being a momma’s boy, and all his friends knew it.

They confronted Ares. Percy fought him again and won, his blade cutting across the god’s ankle, drawing the golden blood of the gods. He gave the Furies Hades’ helm and convinced the news reporters that they had been victims of kidnapping. They managed to get enough money to fly back to New York to get to Olympus in time, and Percy still wasn’t comfortable flying even after spending months on a flying ship. It was a ship, neutral territory, something planes definitely weren’t. In his opinion, if he never had to go on a plane again, it would be too soon. He was pretty sure Zeus would agree.

When they reached New York, Percy convinced Annabeth and Grover to head back to camp while he went to Olympus alone – Annabeth wasn’t happy about it but relented when he actually told them his reasoning, something he hadn’t done the first time around (Zeus would likely still blame Grover for what happened to Thalia, and it would be better for Annabeth and Grover to stick together to get back to camp since Percy was already where he needed to be). So, Annabeth and Grover used the last of their funds from their ‘desperate plea to get home’ to catch a cab back to Long Island while Percy stood at the entrance of the Empire State Building.

Percy entered and asked the guard for the pass to the 600^th floor, going through the same motions he had the first time, showing off the bolt in the bag on his back to prove he had a reason to visit the land of the gods. The guard relented, passing over the security pass and explaining how to use it and the elevator to reach Olympus. Percy nodded his thanks, moving down the short corridor to the elevator. He paused at the elevator, staring at the design covering the doors. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and moving towards it, pressing the up button. He focused on his breathing as he waited, doing his best not to look at the elevator. There was a ding, and he heard the doors slide open.

He stepped in, standing against the wall of the elevator as the doors slid shut. He closed his eyes and leant against the wall as the elevator started to rise, trying to control his breathing as it started to get erratic. The music started playing and Percy slid down the wall, his knees hugged to his chest as he gasped for air; this song was not the one he remembered playing when he visited Olympus for the first time the first time around. The song reverberated through his head as he tried to control his breathing, trying to remember what Chiron and Mr. D from before the time travel had told them to try and do when they were experiencing a panic attack.

If you like pina coladas

In … and out … in … and out

And getting caught in the rain

In … and out … in … and out

Percy moved his head off his knees, resting it on the wall behind him. He continued breathing, in through his nose and out through his mouth, his arms wrapped around his knees as he stared at the top of the elevator. He startled as the elevator stopped moving, the doors opening with a ding. He pushed himself to his feet and stumbled out of the elevator and on to Olympus, steadying himself before he fell off one of the clouds that led to the solid stone floor of Olympus.

He makes it to the throne room, and the following interaction goes about the same way it had the first time around. Including down to the exact same words his dad said to him after Zeus left. He hid how much the words affected him – he may be seventeen in mind, but even after two wars he still subconsciously yearned to hear his father’s approval – and followed the same script he had said before. Just like before, Zeus refused to admit that Kronos could be rising, and his dad was forced to follow along and close all talk of the matter.

As Percy approached the elevator to return to the mortal world, he started preparing himself for seeing the inverse design of the Doors of Death and the elevator ride while hearing the same music that played while leaving the pit. However, as he reached the elevator, he found Apollo waiting for him.

“Lord Apollo,” Percy said, nodding to the god.

“Perseus. I will flash you to your apartment building if you wish. I saw your reaction to the elevator, and although I do not understand why it triggered a panic attack, I do not wish to subject you to that again; it isn’t healthy to continuously push yourself into situations that cause panic attacks, not without proper supervision and small exposures to the trigger first.” Percy relaxed slightly, not even realizing that he had started becoming more and more tense as he got further and further away from the throne room, and closer and closer to the elevator.

“Ευχαριστώ.” Apollo gripped his shoulder and Percy closed his eyes, opening them a moment later to the door of his mum’s apartment. Percy sent the god a smile and a nod before turning to the door, knowing that Apollo would be gone. It was time to see his mum. (Thank you)

Chapter Text

Clarisse glanced at the other year-rounders as yelling was heard through camp; from her quick scan, all the year-rounders were at dinner, so it was someone else in distress. She looked over at the Stolls, before looking at Beckendorf, then Malcom, quickly thinking back to her memories of this summer the first time around, trying to remember what had happened in their first life that had caused such a reaction. She quickly found the memory she was looking for and cursed. She stood up, grabbing her spear from beside her, since all of them had taken to carrying their weapons with them all the time regardless of what their weapon was - a new habit she had encouraged during the previous summer, especially after Luke left - telling her siblings to get their weapons and follow her.

“What’s going on?” Malcom asked, catching up to her and her cabin as she led them up to Thalia’s tree.

“Σκατά. The barrier. Border control,” she grunted; from her memories, a new camper arriving followed by monsters was what first alerted them to the failing barrier and Thalia’s tree being poisoned. Malcom cursed as well, before turning around and running back to the pavilion, where the other year-rounders were still waiting, leaving the Ares cabin to deal with the problem. She reached the hill, her siblings not far behind her, and reached the top to find a half-blood and their satyr companion both injured near Thalia’s tree, a group of dracaenas nearby, occasionally breaking through the barrier before getting pushed back again. Just like last time, the barrier was starting to fail. (Shit)

“Jacob, run and get some medics, none of us have basic healing stuff with us. Ashley, Kris, watch the newbie and the satyr, make sure they don’t die on us and try to calm them down. West, Peter, Darrin, Bailey, we’re dealing with the dracaena,” Clarisse ordered, and her siblings quickly and easily obeyed; she was just thankful that her cabin was the one with the most year-rounders. The five of them quickly killed the dracaena, with Bailey and Darrin both getting injured in the process, although nothing more than small cuts, while West somehow gained a bloody nose.

She dealt with her injured cabin mates as much as she could without any healing supplies while waiting for Jacob to get back with either Chiron or one of the few Apollo campers that hadn’t left for the year. As she did so, she also compared what she remembered happening the first time with what had just happened and wasn’t disappointed with the comparison she was able to make. The adjusted training program they had set up the previous summer had already started to make a difference, as the injuries her siblings had gotten this time were less numerous, and easier to deal with. Hopefully, if they continued like they were, they would have less injuries, and less causalities when the war finally broke out in earnest.

A medic appeared soon enough, one of Apollo’s children, Jordan, with Jacob right next to them, handing out small pieces of ambrosia and bandages to her and her cabin mates before moving to the injured newbie and the satyr.

“Clarisse, I need help carrying these two to the infirmary,” Jordan said, and Clarisse nodded, easily getting Jacob, Ashley, and Kris to help her gently pick up the two, who were now unconscious. They carried them to the infirmary, where Jordan’s siblings, Hailey and Mason, were already ready to help the injured. Leaving the newbie and the satyr in the hands of the Apollo campers, she left to go find Chiron and Mr. D, needing to talk to them about the failing border; those who knew, had known it was coming, but had no way to prevent it and had all agreed that it needed to happen so Thalia could come back – Thalia had played a big part in the war both before she became a Hunter and after becoming Artemis’ lieutenant – but had forgotten when exactly it would happen, and so had collectively decided not to mention to Chiron that it would happen.  

She headed straight to the Big House, where she knew Chiron and Dionysus would be waiting for a report.

“We have a new camper. Both the satyr and newbie are unconscious now but weren’t when we got there. Εχουμε ένα πρόβλημα. There’s something wrong with the barrier. The monsters chasing them were able to get across the border for a few moments before being ejected.” Chiron frowned, while the god seemed unaffected. (We have a problem)

“Αυτό δεν είνα καλό. Definitely bothersome. I shall investigate what is going on. For now, we shall hope whatever is causing this doesn’t get any worse. And we shall have to establish a border patrol to prevent any monster getting across.” Clarisse nodded and left, rounding up the counsellors as she moved around the cabins. (That is not good.)

“We have to establish border control, something’s wrong with the barrier. Chiron’s going to look into it, but for now we need to patrol the border.”

“I’ll work on something with you Clarisse, and we should be able to pass it around by the end of the day tomorrow,” Malcom said. The other counsellors nodded, those in the know exchanging looks, before separating, heading back to whatever they were meant to be doing – most likely either schoolwork, since Chiron insisted on having them enrolled as home-schooled, so they could still apply for college and other things when they were old enough, which meant they still got schoolwork even while spending all year at camp, or training.

That night, the fifteen who had all time travelled, of sorts, all received the same, cryptic dream. It was a night that they had all managed to sleep and without nightmares, the only thing they remembered from the night being the words that accompanied the dream.

‘Prepare, chosen 15. Your numbers shall begin to grow, to double the sacred 12. Προετοιμάζω.’ (Prepare)

Malcom and Clarisse were finishing the plans for the border control when Malcom brought up the dream that he had had the previous night.

“It was weird. I don’t remember any of it. I don’t even remember falling asleep. But I remember the message,” Malcom said.

“Prepare, chosen 15. Your numbers shall begin to grow, to double the sacred 12. Προετοιμάζω,” Clarisse said at the same time Malcom did. He stared at her and nodded. (Prepare)

“Yes, exactly that. Word for word.”

“I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet we all got the same dream.”

“Right, then we definitely need to bring it up at our next meeting and see what the others think about it. I think we’ve got the patrol schedule done,” Malcom said after a few moments of silence. “Let’s give it to Chiron before passing it around.” The two of them headed to the Big House, reaching the porch in time to see Chiron stand from his wheelchair, the new camper rising to his feet next to him.

“Chiron, we finished the patrol schedule,” Clarisse stated, handing the paper over to the centaur.

“I shall look it over before distributing it amongst the cabins. Would the two of you mind showing our newest camper around?”

“Of course, Chiron,” Malcom agreed while Clarisse grunted but nodded. The new camper stepped forward, one hand tapping against his leg.

“Jake Mason,” the new camper said, introducing himself, his eyes wide as he looked between the two of them.

Jake was panicking. He was not afraid to admit that. He had absolutely no clue what was going on. One moment, he’s lying down to go to sleep after another day working on rebuilding camp, the next he’s blinking awake to what seems like halfway through a conversation.

“Would you two mind showing our newest camper around?” Jake glanced to his side, where the voice came from, and found that it had indeed been Chiron who had spoken. His right hand found its way to his leg, tapping against it like he always did when he was nervous or anxious.

“Of course, Chiron,” someone else agreed, and he was sure it was Malcom, but it also sounded too young to be Malcom. He turned to look at the person who had spoken, finding it had actually been Malcom. A Malcom who looked too young to match the one he had seen just the day before, working on plans with Annabeth. He stepped forward awkwardly, his tapping increasing in speed.

“Jake Mason,” he introduced, eyes darting back and forth between Malcom’s younger body double, and a girl who he was sure had to be Clarisse if the girl was a bit older.

“Do you know what’s going on and where you are?” Malcom’s look-alike asked. He nodded.

“We’re at Camp Half-Blood, and I’m apparently as demigod,” he said, still trying to get his head around what was going on and how he seemed to be back in the past.

“That’s right. I’m Malcom, son of Athena. That’s Clarisse, daughter of Ares.” Jake nodded and followed the two of them as they started leading him around the camp. He had worked out that he had somehow time travelled, and that he was back at his first summer at camp, but he had no clue how, and he had no clue if anyone else knew.

Malcom and Clarisse showed him around the camp, before leading him to the cabins, explaining how the cabin system worked as they did, and pointing out which cabin belonged to which Olympian. As they passed the hearth in the center of the cabins, he nodded towards it out of habit, before realizing that both Malcom and Clarisse had acknowledged Hestia’s hearth as well. The two of them looked at him, before Clarisse grabbed his arm and dragged him to the forge.

Beckendorf was the only one in the forge when they got there, being the only Hephaestus camper who stayed year-round. Jake had to blink back tears as he saw his brother who had died just over a year ago based on his memories but was right there in front of him.

“Beck, I think we have another one,” Clarisse said, releasing Jake’s arm.

“What do you mean Clarisse?” Beckendorf asked, setting down the weapon he was working on and turning to face them. Jake blinked, before realizing that the three in the forge must have somehow time travelled as well, and to an earlier date than he had, because this was not how they acted around each other in his memories of before the war had really broken out.

“Jake acknowledges Ποθεινοτάτη (Hestia) and the Hearth, like we do,” Malcom explained.

“Do you reckon this has anything to do with that strange dream from last night? Something about our numbers growing.” Malcom shrugged.

“What’s going on? Did you guys somehow travel back in time as well? Does it have something to do with the Titan Lord?” Jake asked.

“Yep, definitely another one,” Beckendorf said, before looking towards Jake. “There are fifteen of us who somehow time travelled or had memories of a similar future inserted into our minds. We all ‘woke up’, as we call it, last summer, the night that Percy arrived at camp. It doesn’t have anything to do with the Crooked One, in the sense of he wasn’t the one to send us back. That was the work of Ananke, the mother of the Fates. We were sent back to try and change the future and make a better outcome, to try and save more lives of our friends.” Jake nodded slowly.

“Alright. So why did I ‘wake up’ later than you guys?”

“We don’t know. When, exactly, did you ‘wake up’?”

“When the two of you approached Chiron and looked at me, I think. One moment I was lying down to go to sleep after another day of helping Annabeth with plans for rebuilding camp, and the next moment I’m awake and hearing Chiron ask you two to show me around.”

“Alright. We’d need more evidence to work it out, but it might have something to do with seeing others who ‘woke up’,” Malcom said. “We’ll need to have a meeting tonight to try and work out what’s going on, and to plan what we’re doing, now that we have others joining us, and with the barrier starting to weaken again.”

“When should you get claimed?” Clarisse asked.

“Second or third day at camp, when I forge my first weapon during a free time block.”

“We’ll have Travis or Conner brief you on what we discuss tonight, and what we’re already doing then, since you won’t be able to join us until Prissy comes back to camp.”

“Who else has their memories?”

“Percy, Annabeth, Katie, Silena, Lee, Michael, Will, Travis and Conner obviously, Chris, Pollux, Castor, and the three of us,” Beckendorf said.

“So why would Conner or Travis brief me. What about Chris?”

“He’s our spy, to make sure our plans keep the future on track on the Titan’s side. He volunteered for the position,” Clarisse said. “Come on, you have to meet Cabin Eleven. Tour's over.”

Conner was lying on the bed he shared with Travis, looking over the patrol schedule Chiron had just dropped off. Travis was with half their cabin at the rock-climbing wall, while he was with the other half of the year rounders in their cabin. They were meant to be doing the schoolwork Chiron had given them for that day, and everyone else was.

There was a knock on the side of the cabin, and he sat up, looking over at the door, noting that everyone else in the cabin had turned to face the door as well.

“Stoll,” Clarisse said, entering the cabin, someone else behind her, probably a new camper.

“La Rue. Νέος κατασκηνωοτής;” he asked, gesturing to the boy, who he recognized as Jake Mason, the son of Hephaestus who had taken over after Beckendorf died. Clarisse grunted and nodded. (New camper?)

“Regular or unclaimed?”

“Unclaimed,” Clarisse said, making the hand signal for ‘meeting tonight’ as she stepped closer to Conner, while Jake looked around the cabin. “You have the schedule?” Conner nodded.

“I’ll let Trav know when he gets back from the climbing wall,” Conner said, tapping his leg with three fingers three times as he did so. Clarisse nodded, before leaving the cabin.

“Well, welcome to Cabin 11, the cabin for Πτηνοπέδιλος (Hermes). Unfortunately, all the beds are claimed by year-rounders or reserved for regular summer campers, but there are a few spare spots on the floor you can claim. We’ll get you a sleeping bag before dinner. I’m Conner Stoll, co-councilor of Cabin 11,” he said, jumping off his bed and approaching Jake.

That night, after curfew had hit, the time travelers at camp, excluding Jake, made their way to the Poseidon cabin. Clarisse, Malcom, Travis, Conner, Beckendorf, Pollux, and Castor sat around in the cabin, on the floor or on the spare beds. Clarisse grabbed the glass prisms that Percy had gotten on his way back to camp after his quest on Malcom’s suggestion that were kept under his bed – they were easier to make rainbows with than trying to use water and keep the mist going – and Conner pulled out the torches he and Travis had brought from their cabin.

“Chris called this morning, guessing we would be having a meeting, cause of the dream and he mentioned hearing about the poisoning through the gossip chain. He said he’d call us tonight when he’s alone,” Travis said as they set the prisms around the cabin so that each IM would be able to see the others, a torch sitting next to each one on the floor. As he spoke, an image of Chris flickered into view.

“Hey Chris. We’re just contacting the others now,” Conner said, waving to his older brother, pulling a handful of drachmas he had ‘borrowed’ from the stash in the Big House. Malcom and Clarisse finished setting the prisms up and turned the torches on one by one, creating a rainbow with each.

“Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Percy Jackson, New York,” Pollux said, and Conner tossed a drachma into the rainbow. Percy flickered into view as they repeated the same process with each of the rainbows until there was an IM connecting those at camp to the others who weren’t at camp.

“Is this about the barrier?” Annabeth asked.

“Partially. The barrier did start visibly faltering yesterday,” Clarisse said. “Basically, the same as last time. Our new training was visible though; the injuries that occurred this time weren’t as bad as the first time around.”

“Border patrol?” Michael asked.

“We have a schedule already set up and distributed around the cabins. One is waiting in cabin 3, 4, and 10 for when you guys get back,” Malcom said; cabins 4 and 10 never had any year-rounders, and 3 was only Percy, while the other cabins had at least one camper still there.

“What’s going on with Chiron now that the border is starting to fail?” Percy asked. “I really don’t want to have to deal with Tantalus again.” Everyone groaned, nodding and voicing their own agreement.

“Don’t know if they’ve worked out that Thalia’s tree is poisoned yet. He wasn’t dismissed until the day before summer season started last time though. That’s still four days away,” Clarisse said. “But last time Tantalus showed up the day before Chiron left.”

“Do you think they could be convinced that it wasn’t Chiron. You know, without us having to see Luke and have Percy trick him into confessing in front of an IM,” Annabeth said.

“That was funny though,” Conner said.

“I could maybe pray to dad,” Lee suggested. “He knows that we know what’s happening, and he did say he would help how he could on Olympus. Plus, he’s shown that he is trying with us after he found out.”

“He might be able to convince the King to at least not get rid of Chiron until there is direct evidence it was him, rather than just the assumption so they had someone to blame,” Castor agreed.

“Yeah, dad wasn’t too happy with Tantalus last time, but he chose him to show the others how bad things could be without Chiron,” Pollux added. “Well, that was his reasoning aside from the entertainment of watching him with his food.”

“Yeah, your dad could probably help,” Beckendorf agreed, looking at Lee, most of them not even reacting to Pollux’s comment.

“How are things going Chris?” Conner asked.

“Same as last time. They have no idea that camp is starting to prepare more than to consider looking for Luke since he betrayed camp. And it is still believed that the gods are ignorant,” Chris reported. “Things are falling exactly how they did last time.”

“How is their recruitment?”

“Definitely from our cousins in LA as well. I wasn’t looking for it last time, but now that I am, I saw a few deserters – a few had the brand.”

“People deserted the legion?” Percy asked. Chris nodded.

“But other than that, it’s mainly Demi’s from the streets, or people who left Camp, based on camp necklaces.”

“What else do we need to talk about? We all knew the poisoning would happen, and we’d already discussed basic plans,” Michael said.

“Did you all have that weird dream night before last? About the ‘chosen 15’ becoming ‘double the sacred 12’?” Malcom asked. Those in the cabin and meeting via IM all nodded or voiced their agreement.

“It was weird. But was it really anything big?” Annabeth asked.

“Yes. Clarisse and I met the first of the people joining us today,” Malcom said.

“What?” Silena asked.

“The dream was sort of like a warning, telling us we have more people going to ‘wake up’,” Clarisse said.

“What?” Katie asked, looking out from her IM blankly.

“Jake arrived yesterday, that’s how we realized the border was starting to fail. This morning, Clarisse and I took him on a tour after passing the patrol schedule over to Chiron. He acknowledged Ποθεινοτάτη (Hestia),” Malcom explained.

“And then they dragged him straight to me in the forge,” Beckendorf added. “He was confused, but he said that he seemed to ‘wake up’ when he saw Malcom and Clarisse.”

“Alright. So, more people are going to join our ‘time travel and try to fix the future’ club,” Percy said. “Any ideas who?”

“The dream said we’d eventually make up 24 of us with memories of the future,” Annabeth said. “We were fifteen, now sixteen with Jake, so there should be another eight.”

“Maybe the rest of the seven?” Conner suggested. “Leo, Piper, Jason, Frank, and Hazel.”

“We don’t even know if it will even include the Romans,” Clarisse disputed. “This could just be to fix the situation from the Titan War.”

“And Hazel isn’t even alive right now,” Percy added softly. “She came back after the Doors of Death were open and Death himself was captured.”

“Who are the seven?” Lee asked.

“The seven were the ones referenced in the Prophecy of Seven, 3 Greek, 2 Roman, and 2 who were switched between camps; Leo, Piper, and Annabeth for Greek; Frank, and Hazel for Roman; then Jason and Percy who were switched,” Will explained. “And it could refer to them. Or it could just Greeks who can influence the Titan war, like Clarisse said.”

“Who else? It would probably be others who were influential,” Silena said.

“Thalia and Nico maybe,” Annabeth suggested. “Both children of the Big Three.”

“That’s seven, if the Romans are included,” Malcom said.

“Maybe Rachel. Or if it’s only demigods and including Romans, that Praetor girl who brought the statue back,” Katie suggested.

“Maybe Kayla or Nyssa,” Chris suggested.

“Or if we think of the minor gods’ children, Butch, Clovis, and Lou Ellen could all be strong contenders to come back,” Pollux added.

“Do we have any idea of if there’s a trigger or something that would make them ‘wake up’, or if it will just be random?” Annabeth asked, looking up from a notebook she had been writing in; she was their designated scribe of their meetings, so they could remember their ideas and what they were planning for various things they knew were going to come up.

“Could be finding out they’re a demigod,” Castor suggested.

“Or maybe seeing someone else who is ‘awake’,” Silena added. “Jake said that was about when he ‘woke up’, right?”

“Yeah,” Malcom agreed.

“We’ll probably work out more when one or two more people ‘wake up’,” Chris said. “Out of the list we came up with, who do we reckon would be next?”

“Maybe Reyna? I vaguely remember meeting her during the quest this summer,” Annabeth said.

“Otherwise, Thalia. None of the others get to camp before she stops photosynthesizing,” Percy added.

“Big word, Prissy. Do you even know what it means?”

“Shut it La Rue. Και το κάνω, προς ενημέρωσή σας. Also, I worked out with my mom, and we have extra first aid supplies already packed in my bag to bring to camp, and she’s agreed to house any demigod if they need somewhere to crash for a night or two.” (And I do, for your information.)

“Anything else?” Chris asked.

“I think that covers everything. Summer session starts in a few days if there’s anything else,” Will said.

“Alright. See you all when you get here,” Castor said, before they started swiping through IMs.

They were lucky. Somehow, Apollo came through and managed to convince Zeus that Chiron was innocent, so Chiron got to stay; they were all stunned by how much Apollo was actually doing to try and help, even though he had sent a message to his children saying that he wasn’t sure how much he do to help without attracting suspicion from the other gods or pushing his allowances from the Fates. Argus wasn’t so lucky, and was still fired, but it was almost guaranteed that he would be back soon; Hera most likely would throw a tantrum that her creation was a suspect. And on the plus side, they didn’t have to deal with Tantalus.

They doubted he would be anywhere as accepting of their nightmares, insomnia, panic attacks, flashbacks, and other effects of PTSD. Chiron at least knew about why they had it, and gave them leeway, and they were pretty sure Mr. D didn’t know about it – he hadn’t mentioned anything about it if he had noticed; none of them, including Pollux and Castor, were entirely sure that he actually cared enough to find out why they had PTSD even if he did notice though. Even if they were starting to manage it, and everything was becoming less frequent as they learnt triggers and worked through memories and nightmares slowly faded, they very much appreciated the leeway from Chiron.

None of them mentioned to Chiron that Jake had his memories like the other time travelers did, despite Chiron being aware of their situation; they would mention it if Jake’s PTSD attracted any attention, but for now they were all able to help him manage it, which was easier since Beckendorf was in the same cabin as him. They simply didn’t see how it was necessary yet. And because Chiron was still at camp, it wasn’t hard to convince him to authorize a quest for the Golden Fleece, a quest that Clarisse volunteered for. Before she left, she organized with Chiron for Percy and Annabeth, and Tyson who had arrived with them, to leave after her, so they didn’t get in trouble for leaving camp without permission; they would meet up at the same place they met the first time around, after Percy got some supplies from Hermes – they expected the god to show up and ask Percy to leave camp to talk to Luke again, and they hadn't been wrong.

Once both groups had left, camp was left to deal with the failing barrier, training, and, in the case of the time travelers, more planning. Jake had pointed out that even if they had more healing supplies, they still had been running low on healers during the Battle of Manhattan. So, the Apollo cabin were trying to come up with ways to teach everyone first aid and basic healing skills – there were a few healing techniques that only children of Apollo could use, such as healing hymns, but there was a lot that every demigod could learn, such as basic first aid and emergency battlefield healing.

Clarisse arrived back at camp just in time to help defend the camp against a dragon that had taken to terrorizing the camp every few days. Their trip to the Sea of Monsters, while having only taken them about 3 days, had caused 10 days to pass for the rest of the world; time in magical places could really suck. As soon as she put the Golden Fleece on Thalia’s tree, the magic barrier was visibly improved.

It wasn’t until late the next day that Annabeth, Percy, Tyson, and Grover got back to camp. They had been caught by Luke again and had to escape on their own; last time, they had had help from the Party Ponies, but because Chiron was never banished, that option wasn’t really an option. They had managed to escape, when Percy caused a distraction during his fight with Luke that allowed the others to get away from the captors before the four of them ran. Unfortunately, they then had to travel across land to get back to camp; fortunately, Grover had his unlimited casino card from the Lotus Casino with him, since he though he might have needed it on his search for Pan, and they were able to get a taxi back to camp.

3 days after the quest was finished, Percy was woken up by Grover pounding on his cabin door during the night. He was saying something about Annabeth and someone lying on the hill; Percy knew that it meant Thalia was back.

Percy hurried out of his cabin and rushed up to the hill. A lot of campers were already gathered around the base of the hill, staring at the prone figure lying at the base of Thalia’s tree, while Annabeth was standing a bit back, appearing to be in shock. Percy pushed past the campers and Chiron, hurrying to the top of the hill, and kneeling next to Thalia.

“Come on, she needs help,” Percy yelled at the group. He then turned to Thalia as she opened her eyes, fear apparent.

“Hey, it’s ok. You’re safe now,” he said, knowing that being safe was the most important thing for a demigod. Especially if the last thing they remembered was being attacked by hordes of monsters. Thalia appeared to relax slightly.

“What’s your name?”

“Thalia. Daughter of Zeus,” Thalia replied, before her eyes flickered to next to him, where Lee had appeared, ambrosia in one hand and a first aid kit in another.

“Kelp Head? What’s going on?” Thalia muttered, eyes flickering back and forth between the two demigods next to her, even as she pushed herself into a sitting position.

“Pinecone Face,” Percy replied quietly, as Lee handed her a small square of ambrosia. “It’ll take a little while to explain. Right now, you just came back to life from your tree. You’re going to the infirmary.” Thalia groaned but nodded. Percy and Lee pulled her to her feet, Lee helping her to the infirmary. Percy headed over to Annabeth, who had moved to stand next to Chiron.

“We were right about Thalia waking up,” he murmured, and Annabeth nodded. They had agreed not to tell Chiron, just like they hadn’t mentioned Jake, so he made sure to word it in a way so Chiron would think he meant Thalia’s resurrection instead. They may trust Chiron to know that they had time travelled, and they trusted him to train them and in a fight, but experience had shown them that sometimes, the only people they could trust were each other, other demigods; Chiron first and foremost served the gods, and was restrained by the gods’ will, such as how he couldn’t speak of the Romans or explain anything to them, even after Jason had appeared in their camp – all he could do was say things that made things worse; it wasn’t his fault, but it meant that they didn’t want to trust him with everything.

“Come. It is late. You should all be in bed,” Chiron announced. “More will be explained in the morning.” With that, the campers started filing back towards their cabins, the councilors herding the stragglers back.

Chapter Text

That night, after Thalia had been released from the infirmary, the fifteen – now seventeen – snuck into the Poseidon cabin again for another meeting, although Chris wasn’t able to attend via IM. They mainly needed to explain things to Thalia and catch her up, but they also wanted to talk about what had happened during the quest, since they hadn’t had a chance to with Tyson there, and the plans for the rest of the summer; Tyson had left a few days ago for the underwater forges, with the promise to bring Percy a knife that could be sheathed in his shield when he visited next time, since Percy had mentioned wanting another weapon, meaning the cabin was available for meetings again now that he was gone.

“So you’re saying that Ananke, the primordial and basically personification of Fate and Necessity, sent us back in time to our bodies of the past, in order to change things and prevent lives from being lost during the war or possibly both wars,” Thalia summarized after being caught up on what had happened and everything they had done. “And so far, you are trying to keep things exactly the same, apart from camp being more prepared, so you know what to expect. And Chris is still with the Titans, spying on them, to make sure they’re doing the same things as last time.”

“Yes,” Annabeth said.

“Ok. And who else knows about this?”

“Chiron, Ίατρομάντις και Πολύμορφος (Apollo and Hestia),” Percy said. “Ίατρομάντις (Apollo) said he’d try and help convince his father to start preparations, but you know how stubborn your dad is.” Thalia nodded.

“Σαν μουλάρι (Like a mule). So, did any of you think about making changes that would, you know, help us in the long run? Like, for after the Titan War? You know, like starting to make plans for the new cabins already so they’re already designed when the gods give the go-ahead for building them? Starting to get the campers to create αντικείμενα άνεσης (comfort items) in arts and crafts that they can cling to in their πένθος (grief) and as they wind down from battle instead of having to make them when they’re already needed? Or learning Latin, for when the switch happens to make some things easier with the connections between the camps, and to give us an advantage over the εχθρός (enemy) during battles since most of them won’t know Latin?” Thalia asked. The others all exchanged looks before shaking their heads.

“That is a good idea though,” Malcolm said. “Especially the Latin, and we could probably add ASL as well, because I remember we had a αδελφη (sister) that arrived after the Titan War who's deaf, and it was a struggle having only one or two people in camp able to communicate with her without her needing to lipread while the rest of us were trying to learn; we already know it's easier to learn languages for us, verbally at least, since we're all at least bilingual, if not multilingual already. We could probably get just us to learn it, with the Latin at least, that way we won’t have anyone who γίνε προδότης (turn traitor) us later knowing it and we won’t affect Mr. D.”

“We’d have to make sure not to speak it in range of Mr. D, and even Chiron, just to be sure, and ALS would be a good idea. Not even just because of our αδελφή (sister), but because I know a few of us, and some of the other campers, had hearing damage from the wars, from explosions and being too close to sonic arrows going off and stuff, and it would make things easier for those who end up developing mutism or selective mutism due to their PTSD,” Annabeth said.

“Then we could organize the battle in Latin and change orders in it, and relay the orders to the others in English, so any spies don’t understand where the other cabins are going,” Clarisse said. "And ASL would work for that as well."

“Speaking of spies,” Silena said, “Luke will probably approach me sometime during the next year about spying for him. Last time I refused, but he gave me the bracelet and told me to think about it, and I agreed to it after the invasion because I thought it would stop others dying and keep Charlie safe. After I agreed the bracelet appeared on my wrist and wouldn’t leave, no matter how many times I tried to take it off after changing my mind again. Agreeing had been a snap decision and I regretted it almost immediately.”

“You started spying after Chris comes back to us then?” Travis asked. Silena nodded.

“I’d say παρ'το,” Beckendorf said. (take it)

“Τι?” Silena asked, many of the others turning to look at him in shock.

“We know they got a lot of their information about us and what we were doing from you, right? You’re a councilor, so they would trust any information you obtain for them over any other information, because you’re in the war councils,” Beckendorf explained. Silena nodded again.

“That’s how they knew about the drakon and Cabin 5 missing, and how they knew when the mission to blow up the Princess Andromeda was, and all the other missions they were that little bit too prepared for. And I was the only spy with a line directly to the Titan Lord, due to being a councilor. Any other spy had a way to send messages to other demigods to pass on,” Silena added quietly.

“Well, if you accept the spy position, and we know you’re the one passing information, we can decide what information they get.”

“We can feed them false information. Like telling them the missions are going to be on one day but actually have them done earlier, so they aren’t prepared. And feed them the information that Cabin 5 didn’t come, when they do, and have them spread out across the other cabins so we're prepared for wherever they send the drakon,” Annabeth said, picking up on what Beckendorf was saying, and the others started nodding as well, understanding what they were getting at.

“But if they keep getting false information, they’d stop trusting her to be a reliable spy and would pick up on the fact that we know she’s sending information to them,” Castor pointed out.

“Not if we also feed them correct information. Stuff that we know won’t make a difference on if anyone lives or dies. There were missions that they were expecting but that were still completed without campers dying,” Michael said.

“And we could give them information about missions we didn’t do last time, that would have no consequence on the war if they fail as long as no one dies,” Malcolm added slowly.

“It’s up to you though Silena,” Percy said, turning to look at the daughter of Aphrodite, who was twisting her hands in her lap. They all waited as she thought, before she nodded.

“As long as we can work it out and try and make my information not kill people, then I’ll do it. I don't want all those deaths on me again.” Clarisse stared at Silena for a few moments before nodding.

“Alright. Tell us once you accept the position. We’ll work it out from there. Even if that means you not being part of these meetings and us giving you notes to read instead, or us completing the important parts of the meeting through ASL since we’ll be learning it anyway, to avoid the verbal communication that would give him extra information.” Silena nodded.

“Ok, so, we have more targeted projects in arts and crafts targeted towards making comfort items, starting the designs for the new cabins for after the war, learning Latin and ASL, and working out how we will coordinate stuff once Silena starts spying,” Annabeth clarified, looking up from her notebook where she was writing everything down. “Percy would be the best to teach Latin, and I could probably help with that, to supplement learning from books, and Malcolm and I both know the basics of ASL because of our sister.”

“When will we have time for Latin and ASL though. Almost all of us are councilors, and our schedules are already packed. And if we want to stick with only us knowing Latin, how will we learn it without our siblings picking up on it?” Travis asked. “And would we want others knowing ASL as well, or just us?”

“It would probably benefit everyone to know ASL, but at the moment would probably be easier for just us to know, even if that’s just to make it easier scheduling wise,” Pollux said. 

“Especially since we manage the unclaimed as well,” Conner added. "Everyone else can learn later, after the Titan War."

“If we all wake up early, we could spend an hour or two working on it each morning, or every other morning, before breakfast,” Katie suggested.

“Our cabin already wakes with the sun,” Lee pointed out.

“An hour before sunrise maybe? And we finish our lesson and work on it when you all hear your dad’s music or whatever you call it,” Annabeth said.

“Η ενόχληση του μπαμπά,” Will muttered. (Dad's annoyance)

“That should work,” Lee agreed, even as he grinned at Will’s words, not disagreeing.

“Start tomorrow?” Malcolm asked.

“Do you think someone can wake us up? It may take a while to get into the routine,” Pollux asked.

“Εγώ μπορώ,” Thalia volunteered, almost immediately. (I can)

“That was fast,” Percy murmured.

“The hunters wake at 5, Kelp Head. The sun doesn’t rise until half six or later. I’ll be up.”

“That should work. If you can work out how to wake us all up without setting off the security and stuff in all the cabins,” Beckendorf said.

“I’ll work it out; I really don’t fancy setting off the defense mechanisms for cabin 5 or the ones in cabin 9,” Thalia agreed. “You were going to fill us in on the quest.” Annabeth, Percy, and Clarisse exchanged looks before nodding.

“There’s not much to say. It all went pretty much how it did last time, on my end. Well, this time I didn’t taunt him as we escaped, so things were easier as we left the island, but otherwise things went pretty much exactly the same,” Clarisse said. “What about you, Princess? Prissy?”

“Um, things were a bit easier. I mean, we still followed basically the same thing. We grabbed a ride on Luke’s ship before escaping and getting picked up by Clarisse. We got stranded at CC’s for a bit before escaping, although this time CC’s was easier, for me at least. Then we met Clarisse on the island, rescued Grover without Clarisse almost getting married, and then escaped with less fuss than the first time, like Clarisse said.”

“What you mean is that you knew to take the vitamins before we met Circe, so you didn’t get turned into a guinea pig this time,” Annabeth said.

“It’s a Big Three thing, or at least a Greek Big Three thing, to be μεταμορφώθηκε – I don’t think the other two have had it happen to them. At least I was a mammal rather than a plant like the other two were. And I figured I’ve already completed the initiation, so no need to do it again,” Percy retorted. Thalia shoved his shoulder lightly, causing a shock to go through him, but he didn’t even look at all remorseful for bringing up her time as a tree. (transformed)

“Σίγουρος, Seaweed Brain. Anyway, yeah, things went pretty much the same. I ran into Reyna, since she was living with Circe before we destroyed the island. We still did that, since we need Reyna and Hylla to leave that island and get to the Romans and Amazons, respectfully. Either Reyna won’t get her memories back like we thought she might, or the trigger isn’t just seeing one other person who is ‘awake’.” (Sure)

“Could the trigger be seeing two people? I mean, just seeing one person might not be enough to trigger it. I didn’t really get my memories back until Lee showed up, even though Percy was already there,” Thalia said.

“Μπορεί,” Malcom said. (Maybe)

“I really hope you’re right. We sort of need Reyna to get her memories back, to help prevent a civil war,” Percy said. “Things will be so much easier with her fully knowing what’s going on, rather than thinking we attacked Rome.”

“Even if she doesn’t, we can try and prevent that from happening. We had too many possessions before we got them to go away. There has to be way to prevent it without it happening in the first place,” Annabeth added with a sigh.

“That’s a problem for us to think about later. Nico would possibly know,” Will commented. “Now, we should all head to bed if we’re waking up earlier than we normally do to start out Latin and ASL work.” With that, Will started shepherding everyone out of the cabin, although Clarisse managed to get around him and stay in the cabin with Percy, wanting to spar for a while under the cabin, hence her bringing her spear with her to the meeting.

“You head down, I’ll meet you down there, I want to do something up here first,” Percy said after everyone had left. Clarisse nodded, twisting the conch shell next to the door twice to the right before spinning it half a twist to the left, so the tip of the shell was pointing to the floor. A small hatch in the floor opened and Clarisse climbed down, closing the hatch behind her, which caused the conch shell to rotate slowly so it was back in its original position.

Once Clarisse had disappeared down the hatch, Percy moved over to the far wall, to the left of the cabin bathroom. Tyson had mentioned to him that some of the waves carved in the wall were uneven, some much deeper than others; he didn’t remember Tyson mentioning it last time, or he had disregarded it if he had, but now he knew about the training room under the cabin he was curious to see if the carvings revealed anything else. He ran his fingers along each carving before he felt one of his fingers hit a hole about halfway along the wall. He put his hand in the carving and his fingers dug into the hole, almost like a handle. He tilted his head slightly, curious, before tugging. He was both surprised and not when the wall hinged and swung open from the wall.

The wall that was apparently actually a door revealed a small room, about the size of the bathroom, that was full of different weapons. Well, that would probably explain why the bathroom was smaller than it looked like it should be from outside the cabin.

Percy stepped into the room, scanning the various weapons of all types lining the walls. There were shields and bashing shields and swords – ξίφος (xiphos) and κόπης (kopis) – and dory spears and javelins and knives and axes and even tridents. It would make sense for their cabin to have a collection of weapons, especially such a large range of weapons, considering any child who lived there could only effectively wield ones made underwater or by one of Poseidon’s cyclopes, or blessed by an oceanic deity; it would have been nice to have found the first time around though; he assumed that when there was always at least one or two children of Poseidon in the cabin that the secrets of the training room and this weapons room had been common knowledge and were told to newly claimed siblings.

He drifted towards the back wall, which held the ξίφος (xiphos) and κόπης (kopis) and the tridents, his hand hovering over the various different tridents on display. He had always wanted to try fighting with a trident, especially since it was the weapon of choice in the sea, but he had never had the chance to try one. Percy tried the various tridents, holding each in his hands, shifting it between each hand and weighing it up, testing to see which balanced best for him, which was weighted in the best way for him; or at least what he thought was the best way, seeing as he had never used one before. He finally selected one, about 6 feet long and fully made of celestial bronze with a ring of what looked like imperial gold at the join between the handle and the prongs; there was leather wrapped around the base of the handle at about halfway; the prongs of the trident were angular came to a sharp point, the barb of each prong just as sharply pointed as the tips. It was powerful, with a sense of painful grace.

New trident in hand, that he'd have to name later, Percy exited the weapons room, pushing the door that pretended to be a wall closed again. He spun the conch shell twice to the right before spinning it half a turn to the left, before climbing down the hatch that opened for him. As he climbed down with his trident, the sounds of Clarisse going through her sequences stopped, and he saw her watching him descend.

“Where’d you get the trident?” Clarisse asked, one eyebrow raised. "No third spin for more water?”

“Secret weapons stash in the cabin,” Percy replied with a shrug. “Help me learn to use it? Figured it would be easier if our heads were in the air.”

“Sure. Ready to get pummeled?” Percy grinned.

“Για έλα.” (Bring it on.)

Chapter Text

Percy was roughly pulled out of his sleep by the loud bang of his cabin door being flung open. Thalia bounded over to his bed, pulling his covers off. He swore at her, applying some of the vocabulary he had learnt from Arion, as he sat up, rubbing his eyes; learning to use his new trident with Clarisse had exhausted him and he had been sleeping really well for the first time in a while; they may have gotten a handle on their PTSD and their triggers and were able to function as if they hadn't been through massive amounts of trauma for the most part, but he still had nightmares often when he slept, and insomnia still sucked.

“Come on, get up Kelp Head. It’s time for new languages,” Thalia said. Percy groaned, even as he climbed out of bed. 

“You’re way too awake for this hour,” he complained. “Βγες έξω, I’ll get dressed and be at the Hearth in 5 minutes.” (Get out)

“You better be. Then you can help me get the others up.” Thalia meandered out of the cabin, not bothering to shut the door behind her.

5 minutes later found Percy knocking on the wall of the Apollo cabin, right next to where Lee and Michael had said their bed was. He was knocking for ages, about thirty seconds, before he heard a loud knock in reply, telling him that at least one of them was awake. He moved to cabin 9 next, absently watching as Thalia navigated the traps and minefields out the front of the Ares cabin. He entered the Hephaestus cabin and pressed on the button next to the door that Leo had mentioned in passing once and said would wake up the person in the fancy bed, which was currently Beckendorf’s bed. He left the cabin again as a bed emerged from the wall.

After waking up Conner, who had his own bed now which was the closest to the door of the Hermes cabin, Percy headed back to the Hearth, where most of the others were already waiting, with only the two from Hephaestus, two from Hermes, and Clarisse not already there; Percy didn’t blame Thalia for leaving the Ares cabin for last.

“So, where are we doing this?” Clarisse asked as she reached them, arriving just after the four boys. “We can’t do it in any of the popular spots in case of early risers showing up.”

“We could do it in my cabin? Or out at Κεραύνιος (Zeus's) fist so it doesn’t look suspicious for so many of us to be leaving my cabin? I don’t really want to do any Latin here in case Auntie Ποθεινοτάτη (Hestia) shows up while we’re doing it,” Percy said.

“Fair enough. We don’t know how affected she is by the schism,” Annabeth agreed.

“Κεραύνιος (Zeus's) fist works. We can always change locations later if it’s not working or we find somewhere better,” Lee said. “And although we would be leaving the cabin before anyone, but our siblings, are up, I agree that Cabin 3 would be too suspicious.”

“Let’s go then,” Katie said, stifling a yawn.

Chiron stood beside table 12 at the dining pavilion, next to Dionysus, surveying the campers as they ate breakfast. There was only a week left of the summer season, and the campers’ actions reflected that, many of them trying to eat faster so they could get to their favorite activities.

His attention was pulled towards the fifteen campers he knew had memories of the future, who all seemed to be more tired than they normally were. Over the last few weeks, they seemed to have started sleeping less, with most of them seeming more tired than they normally would be during breakfast; the only ones who weren’t noticeably tired were the three sons of Apollo – who he knew normally woke up early – and both Clarisse and Percy – who had mentioned having insomnia in passing. Curiously, there was one other camper that seemed to be more tired over the last few weeks as well: Jake Mason, the son of Hephaestus who had arrived just before the start of that summer. It was strange.

His thoughts turned even more to his campers who were time travelers. They seemed to have slowly been making it so them being seen together wasn’t strange, slowly building their friendships in the view of the other campers, especially seeing as the bond they all seemed to have was considerably stronger than any bond between demigods that weren't siblings would normally be. War would do that, and he wasn't surprised to see it after being told they had fought in two wars within so many years. However, what confused him was the ease both Jake Mason and Thalia Grace had slotted into the group, seemingly just as at ease with them and the fifteen were with each other; they seemed more at ease and more comfortable with the fifteen than with the other campers. Thalia made sense, as she had arrived with Annabeth and seemed most comfortable around her and Percy, who was often seen with Annabeth, but her connection with the others seemed to have formed too fast to be natural; Jake’s connection with Charles made sense in a similar way, with the two being brothers, but he was new to camp that year, and it was odd for such strong bonds to have been formed between them in such a short amount of time.

It was almost as if Thalia and Jake had memories of the future as well.

A loud bang from the direction of the Hermes table pulled Chiron from his line of thought as he sighed before trotting over to sort out whatever chaos the children of Hermes and the unclaimed campers had concocted this time.

Thalia, Annabeth, and Percy were sitting in the backseat of Sally’s car, being driven to Westover High, where Grover had made a call for immediate extraction; he had found Nico and Bianca. They were discussing their plans quietly in Latin as they drove, after Sally had finished telling a bunch of baby stories about Percy first, not wanting Sally to overhear any of their plans, especially since it included mentions of what happened the first time. They could have discussed in Greek, but Sally had a passing knowledge of common Greek words. Plus, they wanted to practice their Latin, which was going pretty well seeing as they had only been learning for a handleful of months.

“Itane conamur omnia?” (Do we attempt things the same way?)

“Probabile esset optimum,” Percy replied slowly. “Nolumus res nimium ... uh ... mutare si Nico vel Bianca loco Annabeth rapiuntur.” (It would probably be the best. We don’t want things to change too much if Nico or Bianca are kidnapped instead of Annabeth)

“Potesne hoc tractare Seaweed Brain?” (Can you handle that Seaweed Brain?)

“Male ultimum tempus portasti ... et quod erat ante separationem tuam a corruption,” Thalia said. (You reacted badly last time, and that was before your separation anxiety from the Pit.)

“Sciam illam non esse mortuam hoc tempore, et tu vel Clarisse me sensui pulsare potes si lusus sim.” (I’ll know she won’t be dead this time and you or Clarisse can knock me to my senses if I freak.)

“Verum,” Thalia agreed, a small spark flicking between her fingers. (True.)

“Licuit, sic Percy Manticore caput cum Thalia adiuvante capiet, um, et in duobus aliis invisibilem oculum observabo,” Annabeth clarified before the two of them could get going. (Alright, so Percy will take the Manticore head on with Thalia assisting and I'll keep an eye on the other two while invisible.)

“Uh... Introeunt?” Percy asked after nodding to Annabeth. “Caligo ultimo tempore laboravit ... uh ... sed etiam monstrum praefixum est.” (Getting in? The mist worked last time but it also tipped the monster off.)

Thalia shrugged. “Non aliter existimare mortalium ... interrogationem vitare possum.” (I can’t think of a different way to avoid the questioning of the mortals.)

“Aarias igitur facere. Spem nullam habeo cum eo.” Thalia nodded her agreement. (You’ll have to do it then. I still have no hope with it.)

“Memini me visus eorum ultimo tempore amisimus.” (I remember we lost sight of them last time.)

“Modo oculos non ab illis accipimus, tum. Earum conspectum amisimus cum saltare coepimus.” (This time we don’t take our sights off them, then. We lost sight of them when we started dancing.)

“Saltare cum Grover iterum et tu duo oras tunc haerere possunt?” (I’ll dance with Grover again and you two can stick to the edges then?)

“Yeah, quod operari debet.” (Yeah, that should work.)

“Quid de Grover?” (What about Grover?)

“Verisimile faciet patronum suum. Illos vigilate et, uh, adiuvate cum sua musica." (He'll probably do his own protector thing. Watch them and help with his music.)

Neither Percy nor Thalia had a chance to reply to Annabeth’s last comment because they pulled up out the front of the school. Sally double-checked with Percy that he had everything before waving goodbye and driving away, leaving the three of them to walk down the driveway to the doors of the gym, where the dance was being held.

“Dibs not being the one to answer all of Nico’s questions,” Percy said right before they reached earshot of the two teachers at the front of the gym, meaning the other two had no chance to protest. 

They managed to get past the manticore posed as a Vice Principal via a mix of Thalia manipulating the mist and Grover’s lying skills, which had improved a lot due to his unfortunate time engaged to Polyphemus. They made it into the hall and Thalia bullied Grover into dancing, while Percy and Annabeth hung around the edges of the dance, which was a lot more natural for Percy than dancing had been, mingling with other students and keeping an eye on Nico and Bianca, just like they’d planned; unlike last time, they were determined not to lose sight of them for even a second.

That meant that Annabeth and Percy both noticed the moment that Dr Thorn, the Vice Principal manticore, started ushering both Bianca and Nico away.

“You follow them. I’ll tell Thalia and Grover,” Annabeth said quietly. “Θα προλάβουμε.”  (We'll catch up.)

“They’ll probably be taken to the same place again,” Percy said before darting off through the crowd of students to follow the two demigods and the monster.

He found them out the front of the hall, near the cliff, just like he had last time – they may have lost sight of them last time, but they must have noticed pretty fast. He followed them quietly, watching as Bianca and Nico tried to struggle and resist being taken away once they realized something was wrong. Knowing that his friends would be behind him soon, he stepped out and called the manticore’s attention to him, before drawing Riptide and charging. He managed to hold the manticore off for a short while with Riptide, long enough for Thalia and Grover to appear as backup. Thalia charged in, her shield out and spear pointed at the monster.

Percy grimaced as his sword was flung out of his hand, just managing to dodge the tail as it whipped around. He had been distracted by Nico for just a second, creating an opening for the manticore to disarm him; as Thalia had appeared in sight, Nico had stiffened slightly, rapidly looking between him and Thalia and Bianca, before reverting back to how he had been behaving before. He paid for his inattention and Riptide landed too far away for him to be able to safely retrieve; on the other side of the manticore and very close to the cliff. He knew Riptide would eventually reappear in his pocket so instead he spun the golden ring on his pointer finger, managing to grab his trident, which he still had to name, as it appeared in his hand; he was very glad he had managed to find that little trick during one of his training sessions because it made carrying such a large weapon so much easier. With a new weapon now in hand, he re-entered the fight.

Nico was internally freaking out. Percy looked too young, and Thalia didn’t seem to glow with a silver halo from her blessing from Artemis, and they were both fighting the manticore, and Bianca was alive and next to him, and this all seemed exactly like what happened when he found out about the gods and please don’t tell him this meant what he thought it meant, and he had a guess what was going on and did not like what that meant if he was right. If he had somehow time travelled, he was going to scream. He did not want to go through everything again. He refused.

Externally, he was also freaking out, but in a different way, much more like a 10-year-old would freak out when a monster suddenly appears, and people are fighting that monster with swords and spears and apparently tridents now; when did Percy get a trident? That was irrelevant though, because Annabeth was now in front of them, having appeared from nowhere, trying to herd him and Bianca away from the manticore and the cliff.

He did as he was told, following Annabeth over to the edge of the forest where Grover was playing his panpipes. He slowly stopped his babbling about Mythomagic as Annabeth slipped her invisibility cap on and went to help Thalia and Percy fight the manticore. He tried his best not to scowl when the Hunters of Artemis appeared; he may have moved on from Bianca’s death and not really blame anyone anymore, but he would always have a grudge against the hunters, apart from Thalia. He clutched Bianca’s hand tight, not wanting to let go and lose her again, to the hunters and then his father’s realm. He watched as the fight continued, and as Annabeth once again went over the edge of the cliff on the manticore’s back.

He froze at the same time as Percy did, watching as Percy stared down the cliff where Annabeth had disappeared. Oh gods, this was mimicking how they fell into the Pit, but this time Percy wasn’t fast enough to catch her. Nico’s grip on Bianca’s hand tightened even more, grounding himself in reality and in the present, reminding him that he wasn’t in the cave; he wasn’t watching Annabeth and Percy fall into the Pit with no way to save them; he was still 10 and Bianca was right next to him.

He managed to pull himself out of what could have potentially resulted in a panic attack before it could take hold. He could tell that Percy had to have his memories like he did, because Percy, unlike him, didn’t seem to have been as successful as preventing a reaction of Annabeth’s fall. Unlike the first time around, he wasn’t screaming or yelling or panicking; he was almost completely still, staring at the cliff where Annabeth had just disappeared from, the only movement from him being the slight shake in his arms that Nico could see.

“Hunters, make camp. Demigods, you may set up your own camp nearby,” said the young 12-year-old with auburn hair, who Nico knew was actually Artemis. Nico gripped Bianca’s hand tighter, if that was possible, as Grover approached them, leading them into the forest and promising to explain everything in a moment. Right before Bianca tugged him after her, her saw Thalia slowly approaching Percy and trying to get his attention.

“That’s so cool,” Nico exclaimed once Grover finished explaining about the divine Greek world, doing his best to continue portraying the excited 10-year-old he had once been.

“No Nico, it is not so cool. It’s not … they can’t … the gods can’t exist Nico,” Bianca said, still gripping his hand even as she shook her head adamantly.

“That was a manticore Bia. Our vice principal was a manticore. If the gods don’t exist then how did that?” Nico protested, gesturing with his free hand towards where the school was hidden by the trees.

“I’m telling the truth Bianca, I promise. I know it seems scary right now, but it’s all true. One of your parents is a Greek god, meaning you and Nico are both demigods. You need to learn to defend yourselves because that monster won’t be the last one that comes after you,” Grover said gently. “The other three who came to rescue you are demigods as well. Thalia, the girl with dark hair, is a daughter of Zeus, and Percy is a son of Poseidon. The girl who fell off the cliff is Annabeth, and she’s a daughter of Athena. I’m not human, I’m a satyr, half man, half goat.” Grover took his hat off, showing the two of them his horns that stuck clearly out of his hair.

A soft crunch of leaves had the group of three turning to see Thalia gently leading Percy through the forest. Percy seemed dazed, his attention not fully fixing on anything as Thalia steered him around trees and on the clearest path towards the clearing camp was set up in.

Artemis approached the group as Thalia pushed Percy to sit down on the same log Grover was perched on, and Nico did his best to control his expression to not grimace at the goddess. He knew why she was coming over, and he did not want to lose his sister again; he had already lost her three times, once to the hunt and then to his father’s realm, and then to her choice of rebirth without even saying goodbye to him, and he didn’t think he could cope losing her for a fourth time – not after being pulled back in time away from Hazel and Reyna who were both his sisters now. Artemis studied them for a moment before turning her attention away from Percy, obviously having wanted to interrogate him but clearly seeing he was not at all in the right mindset to speak to anyone.

“Which of you half-bloods was first to accost the beast?” Artemis asked.

“Ήμουν, κυρία μου,” Thalia said, before Grover could say anything. “He did not say much, other than that he was taking the Di Angelos to the General and that the Great Stirring was approaching.” (I was, my Lady)

“What of the boy? Will he be fit to travel to camp at dawn?” Nico looked towards Percy at the same time as Thalia did, but he remained watching the son of Poseidon even as Thalia turned back to the goddess she would be in service to soon.

“He should be, yes.”

“Bianca, I wish to speak with you in my tent.” Nico froze, his hand still in Bianca’s tightening even as he felt Bianca stand.

“Alright,” Bianca said slowly, pulling her hand away from Nico’s grip. He stared after her as she followed the goddess across camp.

“So, do you have any questions Nico?” Thalia said, pulling his attention away from his sister. He blinked as he looked at her, startled to realize that tears had formed in his eyes. He blinked rapidly, willing the tears to disappear; it didn’t work, not really, but he could tell that at least he wasn’t going to start crying.

“He’s the son of Poseidon, right? That’s what Grover said,” Nico said, gesturing towards Percy, who was still sitting staring into space, his arms shaking slightly.

“Yep, son of Κυμοθαλής (Poseidon). And my dad’s the Big Man himself, Lord Zeus, Έριβεμετης (Zeus),” Thalia confirmed. “We try to avoid the true names of the gods unless we want their attention, which we most often don’t.”

“Is he really good at surfing? And does it make him a Kelp Head?” Nico asked. Thalia blinked before grinning.

“That’s what I call him, ναι. Annabeth calls him Seaweed Brain though.” Thalia’s grin morphed into a smirk. (yeah)

“Do you like dandelions?” Nico scowled at her, making her laugh; he should have known she’d bring it up. And he couldn’t even retaliate with her time as a plant because he wasn’t meant to know about it. Well, maybe he could pass the time by seeing how many inside jokes he and Thalia could trade without confusing Grover.

Thalia followed Lady Artemis and her hunters out of the clearing they had been camped in, Grover and Nico behind her. Percy was next to her and she had one hand on his shoulder, gently directing him while he was still zoned out and probably disassociated; he had said he’d be ok, but he clearly hadn’t thought of the Tartarus trauma that would resurface just seeing Annabeth fall, most likely because both he and Annabeth had mostly gotten control of that trauma, processed it and avoided their triggers for it.

She had had fun talking with Nico, who had clearly ‘woken up’ if the amount of inside jokes that had passed between them was any indication, while he was still acting like his hyper ten-year-old self. She hadn’t appreciated it when she had first met him due to having just lost Annie, but now she could really appreciate it. It wasn’t that she disliked him and his more somber, serious personality that had come around after the quest to rescue Artemis, but seeing him act so carefree was nice. She honestly just hoped that losing Bianca again wouldn’t make him spiral even more than it had the first time. The daughter of Hades had already joined the hunt, and Thalia wasn’t sure she would be able to convince Zoë to take a more experienced hunter on the quest instead of Bianca, and she wasn’t sure if she could make herself try to convince Zoë to take another of the girls who had been her own sisters after she joined on a quest where she would be marked for death if the prophecy remained the same.

“He’s so lazy in the winter,” Artemis said with a huff, staring at the sky, clearly waiting for Apollo’s chariot to arrive to take the hunters and demigods to camp. They weren’t waiting much longer before Apollo and his sun chariot arrived in a bright flash of light.

“Sis, it’s been so long. You don’t write, you don’t call. I’ve been worried. Have you and your girls been training hard?” Apollo said cheerfully as he stepped out of the bright red sports car that was the sun chariot. Artemis scowled, but Thalia knew that she wasn’t truly annoyed; she loved her brother, no matter how annoying Apollo could be.

“Apollo. I have a hunt I need to go on and I need you to take my hunters and these demigods to camp. And yes, we have picked up our training as you suggested, even if you refuse to explain why.”

“Of course Arty. Besides, that’s my secret to keep. You know how tricky the future is. Το πεπρωμένο και τη μοίρα και όλα.” Apollo turned to face the demigods and Grover who were standing just behind Artemis, totally ignoring Artemis reprimand about calling her Arty. Thalia smiled slightly as Apollo studied her for a moment before speaking. (Destiny and fate and all.)

“Ah, my sister Thalia, I had heard you were back. I hate it when pretty girls get turned into trees.” He shifted his attention to Percy, studying him intently, before seeming to notice his state.

“Is the son of the seas alright?”

“He will be. He just needs to come back to the present on his own,” Thalia replied. “How are we getting to camp?”

“My sun chariot of course,” Apollo replied after a moment, clearly making sure she was speaking the truth. He frowned, before waving his hand and turning the sports car into a bus, big enough to seat the hunters and campers. As they filed on, Thalia could hear Nico asking about how the sun chariot worked, and the answer Apollo gave was no more useful than the one they got the first time around; like most half-bloods, Thalia preferred not trying to mix their mortal ideas with the ideas of the godly world, and simply accepted that the sun was Apollo’s chariot, and didn’t both thinking about how it worked.

“So, who wants to drive?” Apollo asked, turning to their small group that had sat up the front, the hunters having claimed all the seats at the back, as far away from them and Apollo as they could.

“How about it? You’re a daughter of Άκραίος (Zeus), He’s not about to blast you out of the sky,” Apollo said. Thalia grimaced. She really didn’t want to, and even just the prospect of being that high terrified her. And also, saying her father wouldn’t blast her out of the sky, while the sons of both Poseidon and Hades, despite Nico not being formally identified as Hades’ son yet, were sitting next to her probably wasn’t the best idea.

“I’ve never driven before,” she said, which was only partially a lie; she hadn’t driven before in this timeline. “I don’t even think I’m old enough for a license.”

“How old are you?” Apollo asked. She shrugged. She honestly had no clue what her age was, especially including the time travel and having been a hunter before everything happened. Apollo studied her, frowning.

“You’re right, your age is tricky. Biologically, you should turn 16 on December 22nd, although it seems like you already should have done that.” Apollo frowned again, clearly trying to work something out, before his expression cleared, and he lit up, as if he had just worked it out. And seeing as he had figured out about their time travel while the rest of Olympus, minus Hestia, remained oblivious to it, he probably had worked it out. After a few moments, he grinned again, handing her the keys and ignoring all the protests she tried to make.

All in all, the trip to camp went about as well as she was expecting, which is to say, exactly like the first time she had driven the sun chariot.

“Thalia,” Percy said as he helped Nico out of the lake, where the chariot had landed. “Being dumped in the lake is not a nice way to be shocked back to the present.”

“Yeah, Pinecone Face. Didn’t you learn from last time that you can’t drive?” Nico asked before pretending he had said nothing and looking around camp in awe, as if it was the first time he had seen it, completely ignoring the tongue she stuck out at him.

“Ω, σιωπήστε εσείς οι δύο. We need to talk to Chiron. Go watch the orientation film with Grover Nico,” she said, crossing her arms and stalking off towards the Big House. Based on the way Percy was stifling laughter as he caught up to her, Nico had definitely said something about her as she left them. Boys. (Oh, shut up you two)

Later that night another meeting was held in cabin 3; Chris had contacted them and asked for a meeting, so they had quickly organized one, which was made harder by the presence of the hunters at camp. Percy had managed to accept Nico into the cabin’s magic before the meeting, so he was able to attend as well, especially as everyone else who was awake all realized Nico had ‘woken up’ as soon as he arrived at camp. He acted too differently from the first time around and was too comfortable around Percy and Thalia to not have memories like they did.

After they had all gathered in the cabin, and everyone had greeted Nico in varying enthusiasm, they fell into quiet talk between them all, waiting for Chris to call. He was the one who had asked for a meeting, so they couldn’t start without him. Ten minutes after they had all arrived, Chris’ face appeared against the wall of the cabin, looking at everyone who was there.

“Hey. Sorry for calling for a meeting with no warning but I thought you’d appreciate knowing that Annabeth is safe,” Chris said. Everyone relaxed at that, most of them not even realizing how tense they had been until he had said that.

“Είναι καλά;” (She's ok?)

“Ναι. She’s locked in a room on her own and had her weapons taken, but other than that she is fine. Luke ordered for her to not be harmed. I’m one of the people he put in charge of guarding her door, so I can check on her to make sure she’s ok whenever I have guard duty. Because I’m one of her guards, I also know about their plan with the sky.” (Yes)

“Is she going to have to hold the sky again?” Percy asked, concerned. He knew she could do it, and he had been missing their grey streaks, but he also knew how painful it was; he dreaded possibly having to do it again and he knew Annabeth had been similarly scared; they would do it if they had to, but they both would prefer to just avoid the situation all together.

“Yes,” Chris confirmed. “As soon as we receive word that Έυδρομος (Artemis) has been located the plan was to have Luke take the sky to manipulate Annabeth to take the sky. We don’t know who is going to take the sky in Luke’s place, seeing as Annabeth made it clear last summer that she doesn’t care for him anymore, but we know that the plan is still to get her to hold the sky so Έυδρομος (Artemis) will take it from her to trap the goddess.”

“Any guesses on who will have to hold the sky before her?” Clarisse asked.

“Όχι. If Luke and the Crooked One have a plan, they haven’t shared it.” (No.)

“Alright. Annabeth can hold her own and the quest will be set in a day or two, so it won’t be long before we can rescue her. Does anyone have any other news?” Thalia asked.

“Other than me still having no idea how any of this happened?” Nico asked dryly. They all knew he had ‘woken up’, but none of them had actually explained what had happened other than that there were seventeen others who had memories of the future/had been sent back to the past, and that most of them had woken up years before he had.

“Nico?” Chris exclaimed.

“I have, apparently, joined the group of those the Fates despise.”

“Ananke, actually,” Will said. “Dad knows about it and said it was probably Ananke and she overruled the Fates.” Nico suppressed the urge to scream, and ended up releasing a muted scream through his lips that were tightly pressed together as he scowled at Will. That was not any more helpful. At all. If anything, it just gave him more questions.

“That doesn’t help.”

“Stick around after everyone leaves and a couple of us can try and catch you up,” Percy said. “I hadn’t realized Thalia hadn’t actually explained.” Nico nodded, easily agreeing to that plan.

“Anything else?”

“Who are we going to send on the quest?” Katie asked. “I know last time that Thalia and Grover went, and Percy snuck out. Are we keeping it like that? And what about the hunters?”

“I thought I only went for Annabeth, but I was also getting a pull to be the one to go on the quest,” Percy said. “I think the Fates and the prophecy wanted me on the quest.”

“I felt the same way. I had the same pull to go,” Thalia agreed.

“So we probably won’t be able to change who goes?” Pollux asked. He didn’t want to go, but he remembered how Nico had changed after his sister had left, and how he had disappeared once the quest members got back.

“It’s Zoë’s decision who goes on the quest. And if the prophecy is the same, then she is destined to be the one to lead the quest because only she could have been the one spoken about in the last line unless our parents interfered with the quest,” Thalia said.

“And if Zoë doesn’t go, then Thalia or I could be killed when we are taken to the Winter Solstice. I would be killed at the Winter Solstice and then everything would change,” Percy added. “They voted on whether to kill us or not last time. Thalia was only saved because she joined the Hunters. I was saved because dad vouched for me. If he doesn’t, and he agrees to kill me, then I would technically be killed by a parent’s hand.”

“So we can’t convince her to take someone other than Bianca? One of the more experienced hunters?” Nico asked.

“We could try. But ultimately it would be Zoë’s decision, and the decision of the hunters to agree to go,” Conner said.

“And if Zoë doesn’t take Bianca, would Thalia still be given the spot of Lieutenant?” Percy asked. 

“What do you mean?” Thalia asked. “And why is that important? I’m going to be joining my sisters either way, you know I already decided that, it doesn’t matter if I hold Lieutenant or not.”

“But it would be weird for you to not be Lieutenant after holding the position in all your memories of being a Hunter, the same way you decided it would be weird not to become a hunter after your time and memories leading them,” Malcom pointed out.

“It would matter about you being in charge or not. As Lieutenant, you have the power to influence the hunts you and the other Hunters go on, and can use your knowledge to protect them, and help us work towards the changes we want to make. If you’re not, we have no idea how the Hunters will work or operate and wouldn’t be able to rely on the backup you brought to Manhattan,” Clarisse said.

“I only mentioned it because Zoë took Bianca to test her because she thought Bianca would take the position of Lieutenant after Zoë had either passed or stepped down. And Zoë knew she was going to die on that quest,” Percy added.

“What about Grover’s place? What would happen if someone else took his place?” Travis asked.

“A camper could maybe do the same thing, since Grover was chosen for his tracking magic, especially with Percy and I both knowing where we’re going so we could, theoretically, do it without Grover and with a different camper. But that opens the new camper up to the possibility of being the ‘one lost in a land without rain’ even if Bianca does go. But if a hunter goes instead of Grover, to keep it at the three and two originally agreed upon, then a lot would change,” Thalia said. Percy was nodding his agreement as she spoke.

“Grover was the one to take Bessie back to camp after he was almost captured by the Titan army. Neither Thalia or I could go, as we were extremely vital in the fight at Mount Othrys; Thalia against Luke and I took the sky to free Ίοχέαιρα (Artemis). And no hunter would volunteer to go, especially since it would mean leaving the quest to save their Lady,” Percy explained. “Another camper would be able to go with Bessie though, so Grover could technically be replaced with another camper, although they would have to be female and the hunters would have to agree. And if that did happen, we would still have to account for the difference between Grover's abilities and fighting style and the abilities and fighting style of whichever camper is chosen, which would potentially change the outcome of some of the fights we had against monsters.”

“It would probably be easier for things to go the same way as last time. With three hunters and two campers decided on and then a switch between a hunter and Percy happening,” Malcom said.

“And if Percy left with the quest he wouldn’t find and free Bessie to start with, so they wouldn’t have the ‘bane of Olympus’ following them as they travelled across America,” Selina added. Chris sighed, getting everyone’s attention switching to him.

“I can hear someone coming and I don’t think I have anything to add, so I have to go.” Everyone waved their goodbyes and his image disappeared from the cabin as he waved his hand through the mist in front of him, breaking the rainbow. The discussion continued within the cabin for another ten or so minutes before the demigods started trickling out of cabin 3. Nico remained behind with Will, Selina, and Percy to be caught up on what was happening before they left the cabin as well. Percy collapsed on to his bed, his mind swirling with strategies and scenarios that could occur if even one part of the quest was changed or one quest member was substituted for someone else; time travel was a lot harder than most people would think it would be.

Chapter Text

Chris shifted from foot to foot, trying to relieve the ache in his feet from standing in one position for hours. He had been guarding Annabeth’s ‘room’ for hours, and hadn’t slept at all. The last time he had moved had been when he had dismissed the IM the night before, the person who he heard coming arriving to cover for him for a few minutes when he went to the bathroom before retaking his post. He yawned, rubbing his face to try and wake up a bit more; he wouldn’t be replaced until six o’clock, and he didn’t know how much longer he needed to stand here for. He really should invest in a watch.

He straightened and stilled, trying to make himself seem more awake than he actually was as footsteps echoed around the hall. The shadow of his visitor appeared first before the person came into view. Luke.

“Chris. Collect Annabeth and bring her out here. Our target has been located.” Chris nodded, stepping into the room behind him and hearing Luke’s footsteps follow him inside the room. He walked up to the bed that Annabeth was asleep on and roughly shook her awake, silently apologizing for the rough treatment.

“Wake up,” he said. Annabeth jerked awake, shuffling backwards on the bed.

“What do you want?” she demanded, her eyes flickering between him and somewhere behind him, which he assumed was Luke.

“We have a special job for you. Come on,” Luke said sharply. Chris pulled her up, wrapping rope around her wrists behind her back and pushing her forward to make her follow Luke, keeping a hold on her wrists and the rope binding her.

“Sky,” he whispered, just loud enough for Annabeth to hear. “Less than an hour.”

Annabeth followed Luke through the twisting halls and up the mountain, Chris right behind her. Her mind was working furiously to try and figure out what was going on. She had already guessed, and Chris had confirmed, that she was being taken to hold the sky. But she knew she could refuse to take it; only Atlas could be forced to take the sky unwillingly. Afterall, Luke was in front of her, rather than holding the sky. And even if he was, she wouldn’t take it from him. She didn’t care for him, or believe he could be redeemed like she had the first time around; she knew now that he was too far gone and that it would be better to save herself and others than to try and save someone already lost, someone who had repeatedly betrayed her and her true friends, no matter how much it hurt.

She stumbled as Chris pushed her the last few feet up the mountain, regaining her footing and standing up as Luke came to a stop halfway across the plateau, between the slowly rebuilding ruins and near where Atlas once held the sky. And she knew he wasn’t holding it any longer, because he was standing right next to Luke. So who was holding the sky?

She scanned the top of the mountain, finally finding the spot where the sky and the earth came closest, and was extremely surprised to see a demigod crouched beneath the staggering weight, sweating profusely, limbs trembling with fatigue. It wasn’t hard to see that the demigod was close to collapsing. She moved her attention away from the struggling demigod, who she could only tell was a demigod due to the fact that he gave off no echo of power like divinities did, as she didn’t recognize him at all. Her attention moved around for a few more seconds before she spotted another four demigods near the edge of the mountain, in the same area that Luke and Thalia had fought and probably would fight in again soon. Two of the demigods had weapons, the other two clearly hostages, based on the weapons being held to their throats and the position they were being held in. She could tell, by the cuts littering their arms and dried blood covering their clothes, that they had fought before being restrained, and had still struggled to escape even afterwards, and could make the deduction that they weren’t just making a show of being hostages. They truly were being held captive, just like she was. But she had expected her kidnapping; them being here, she had not. There had not been other captives the first time.

Annabeth was pulled out of her observations as Chris tugged her forward, suddenly in front of her rather than behind, pulling her closer to the two captive demigods. As she came to a stop almost next to the other demigods, she could see the beaded blood on one of their necks, suggesting that Luke or one of his army had been seriously threatening to kill him to get the demigod under the sky to willingly free Atlas. She scanned the other demigod, who was even more banged up than the one with the grazed throat, she felt her breath catch in her throat, her breath hitching.

She recognized him. She shouldn’t recognize him. Their camps weren’t meant to even be near each other for another few years. But the faint scar by his lip confirmed it for her, as did the branding that she could just see on his arms that were held behind his back, a branding she knew only he had.

It was Jason.

She struggled some more as Chris positioned her so she was held the same way as Jason and the other demigod, who she now assumed was another Roman; she could guess that Jason and the other two had been sent to check out the mountain and observe if anything was happening up there, and been caught, considering she knew that the Romans had fought at Mount Tam while the Greeks protected Olympus.

Luke approached her, one hand coming up to delicately brush against her cheek in a way that would seem caring if they had still been at camp, before he had defected, and before she, and others, had been sent through time. She growled at him, snapping her teeth sharply as his hand glided across the bottom of her cheek and around her chin. Luke withdrew his hand, smiling in what was meant to be an amused and caring smile, but his cold, hard eyes gave away his true feelings.

“Are you going to behave Annabeth?” Luke asked. “Are you going to help these other demigods? I know you care about others like us, half-bloods just trying to survive as the gods ignore us.”

“Why should I?” she spat, even as her eyes flickered over to Jason and then back to Luke. She would have spat the question out in Greek, especially since she knew Luke had stopped speaking it when he could, trying to distance himself from the gods and their roots. But she knew she couldn't, shouldn't. Not with the Romans here. Not if it could potentially cause a civil war as well as the war they were in now.

“The boy over there doesn’t look like he has much longer left in him. If you take the weight from him now, he might even survive. I’m even feeling generous enough to let them go peacefully, let all three of them leave without any more harm to return to their own camp.” Annabeth’s eyes flickered to the boy under the sky, his hair completely white and his skin a sickly grey. She glanced at Jason, and her attention must have stayed on him for a moment too long, because Luke noticed where she was looking. He made a gesture to the one holding Jason, who brought the sword at his throat even closer, pressing just hard enough to break the skin. Luke stepped closer, slowly walking around her and trailing his hand over her shoulder as he spoke quietly into her ear.

“All you have to do is take the burden from the boy. No one has to die if you just do as we ask. We’ll even let them go. I promise.” The sword at Jason’s neck pressed harder, and she could see him struggling to breath. She watched as his attention locked on her, their eyes meeting as he choked out a single word.

“An…na…beth.” His gaze was pleading, his eyes flickering back and forth between her and who she guessed was his friend under the sky.

“Swear that you’ll let them go unharmed,” she said tersely. “Swear it and I’ll take the sky.” Luke completed his circle of her, stopping in front of her and smiling.

“I swear it, on the River Styx, that all three will be released alive and well as soon as you take the boy’s place holding the sky.” Annabeth nodded, and Chris untied the rope from around her hands. Annabeth could feel Luke’s gaze on her as she walked over to where the boy was holding the sky. She knelt down next to him, murmuring quiet word of reassurance that she wasn’t sure he could hear as she slowly took the burden, easing the weight off of his shoulder and on to her own. The full weight of the sky came crashing down on her as the other boy collapsed, shivering. The last thing she heard before she was fully overwhelmed by the pain was Luke’s voice.

“See Annabeth, no one needs to get hurt when you just listen and behave. Knock them out and release them somewhere between here and their camp.”

Jason stood stiffly where he was being held, keeping his breathing shallow and controlled, trying to stay as calm as he could with a sword to his throat and a friend under the sky. The demigods working with the Titans, with Atlas, had surprised them as they scouted the base of the mountain; Octavian had received message from his ancestor, Lord Apollo, of Titan forces at Mount Othrys, but they hadn’t expected anywhere near the number of forces that were truly present and had been overwhelmed before they could sneak away undetected.

Jason let his eyes dart between Felix who was holding the sky, Dakota at his side with drops of blood on his neck, and their surroundings, trying to work out a way to escape. Dakota and Felix were two of his closest friends in the Legion, other than Gwen, and he wouldn’t be surprised if either of them took his place as Centurion if he died, was promoted, or retired before them. He couldn’t see any way of escaping however, not with Felix still stuck under the sky, and he could think of no way to trick or force the Titan Atlas to take the sky again. Not when the demigods working for the Titan had threatened Dakoda’s life to force Felix to willingly take it in to begin with. He was debating praying to his father and calling down a bolt of lightning in the hopes that it would knock out their captors or at least stun them long enough for him and Dakoda to break free. That would still leave Felix under the sky, and then they would have to try and fight their captors, and the original General of Saturn’s army to try and rescue Felix and escape however. And he could see that that plan would be suicide. Three demigods and legacies against at least twelve demigods and legacies, plus the Titan General, was suicide, especially without the knowledge of backup from the rest of their cohort or the legion.

His eyes continued flicking around the ruins of Mt Othrys, stopping as he heard footfalls echoing from one of the corridors, quickly getting louder as the people they belonged to got closer. Three demigods exited the tunnel, one of them, the girl, clearly being another captee being held here by the Titan’s forces. He scanned the girl for injuries, for any sign of a struggle or a fight that would have led to her capture, his subconscious recognizing her even as he had no clue why. He could make out healing wounds along her arms, and a scabbed gash on her face, and he guessed she had been captured at least a day ago; that, or she wasn’t truly being held hostage, the Titan’s forces trying to trick them, and the injuries were from training. His attention flicked up to the male holding her, taking in his distinct Hispanic features, his dark hair, his brown eyes that had a hint of mischief in them and his sharp facial features that Jason recognized from children and legacies of Mercury.

As he continued sizing up the three newcomers, watching as the girl did the same to him, Dakota, and their captors, he realized why he recognized the girl. The girl was Annabeth, younger than he remembered her being but still with the undeniable traits that made her Annabeth that he had come to know during their voyage on the Argo II across the Ancient Lands. He blinked, feeling the recognizable sting of memories returning that he had grown accustomed to after Juno had taken his memories. He blinked as memories bombarded him, trying not to react in any other, visible, way and simply let his mind organize things like it had taken to doing last time he had memories returned to him, albeit at a slower pace than he was currently experiencing.

He allowed his attention to follow Annabeth as the man holding her tugged her forward, moving her so she was closer to him and Dakota, and he noticed a flash of recognition in her eyes. How did she know him? He knew that they hadn’t met until Juno had swapped him and Percy, and he knew that it was years before that was meant to happen; he also knew that he had never been held captive by the Titans forces before, and he had two sets of memories warring about what was meant to happen around the Winter Solstice this year. Jason watched Annabeth struggled against being moved into the same position he and Dakota were being held in, arms behind her back and a sword to her throat.

Jason tried to remain calm and not react as the third newcomer, short dirty blond hair and blue eyes with the sharp facial features and mischievous look of a child of Mercury – or maybe Hermes? – and a scar cutting across one side of his face, approached Annabeth. It was clear to him that this third demigod was the one in charge, just as it was clear to him that he and Annabeth knew each other. Even if he hadn’t known that, the affectionate way that the man brushed against her cheek would have told him that they had once been close, even if they weren’t now judging on the way Annabeth snapped at him and the way they were captor and captee.

“Are you going to behave Annabeth?” the demigod, who Jason decided was a son of Hermes, asked. “Are you going to help these other demigods? I know you care about others like us, half-bloods just trying to survive as the gods ignore us.” Jason’s eyes flicked back and forth between Annabeth and the son of Hermes, occasionally glancing over at Felix, whose hair was completely drained of color, his skin drenched in sweat.

“Why should I?” Annabeth spat, and Jason’s attention snapped back to her in time to see her eyes flick between her and the son of Hermes standing in front of her.

“The boy over there doesn’t look like he has much longer left in him.” Jason glanced at Felix again and hated how right the son of Hermes was. He knew Felix was strong, but he was a legacy, not a demigod, so he didn’t have much godly strength to pull from while holding the sky, and definitely not like Hercules had, and he wasn’t immortal. He was only mortal, and Jason didn’t want to see him collapse under the weight of the sky like he knew he would soon.

“If you take the weight from him now, he might even survive. I’m even feeling generous enough to let them go peacefully, let all three of them leave without any more harm to return to their own camp.”

Jason turned his head slightly, not able to move his head much with the sword to his throat, but he managed to meet Annabeth’s eyes as her attention moved from Felix’s struggling body to him. He knew the moment that the son of Hermes noticed the recognition between the two of them, the sword at his throat pressing harder against the skin, and he felt small beads of blood begin to pool just under the sword. The man walked closer, whispering something in Annabeth’s ear that he couldn’t hear. The sword pressed harder against his throat, making it hard for him to breath against the pressure on his windpipe.

They locked eyes again and Jason allowed his emotionless mask drop just slightly, allowing Annabeth to see his desperation. He knew that Annabeth and Percy had both held the sky long before they had met, that the weight of the sky had been what caused the matching white streaks in their hair. He knew that she could survive holding it. Just as he knew Felix wouldn’t survive if he held it much longer. He was already at his breaking point. He pulled his eyes away from Annabeth, flicking his attention between her and Felix.

“An…na…beth,” he choked out, pushing as much of a pleading tone into his voice as he could even as he continued struggling to breathe against the pressure of the sword. He was begging her to save Felix. He hated how she was being forced to take the sky, hated that he had to ask this of her. But he knew she would survive. He knew she would understand. And he had to save Felix, had to save one of the legionnaires in his cohort, one of his best friends, even if it meant begging a friend that he shouldn’t know yet to take the sky.

“Swear that you’ll let them go unharmed,” Annabeth said tersely, and Jason let all of his attention move back to her, relief sweeping through him even as he refused to let it show, the pressure of the sword at his throat lessening at a single motion from the demigod in charge. “Swear it and I’ll take the sky.” The son of Hermes stopped his circling, standing in front of her and smiling; Jason could see the triumph in the smile, and he hated how he had played a part in letting the forces of the Titans win, even as small a victory as this was.

“I swear it, on the River Styx, that all three will be released alive and well as soon as you take the boy’s place holding the sky.” Annabeth nodded, and the man holding her untied the rope from around her hands that Jason hadn’t even realized was there. Jason’s eyes followed Annabeth as she walked over to Felix, kneeling down next to him and slowing taking the weight of the sky off his shoulders. Felix collapsed as Annabeth took the last of the weight, and even from the other side of the plateau Jason could see him shivering. His attention was pulled away from Annabeth as the son of Hermes spoke, and Jason silently admonished himself for forgetting that the lead demigod of Titan army was still in front of them.

“See Annabeth, no one needs to get hurt when you just listen and behave. Knock them out and release them somewhere between here and their camp.” Jason only had a moment to close his eyes as he thought of how the others of the seven would react to him being knocked out, yet again, as he heard Dakota slump next to him, before the blow to the back of his head came and he collapsed into darkness.

Jason blinked dark spots out of his vision, slowly sitting up and rubbing his head. It took him a moment to remember what had happened, especially now that he had a lot more memories of being knocked out through head injuries than he had had that morning. Once he got his bearings, he looked around, quickly spotting Dakota and Felix next to him. Dakota was starting to wake up, but Felix still looked to be out cold, shivering slightly, forehead beaded in sweat and hair completely white. Jason stood up, flipping his coin and catching his lance, ready to protect the other two if any monsters found them; they had been lucky to not have been found while they were all knocked out.

He stood on guard as he waited for Dakota to recover, which he would say only took a few minutes. Soon enough, Dakota was standing up on the other side of Felix, sword held out in front of him.

“How far are we from camp?” Dakota asked. Jason glanced around, finally taking stock of the area they were in. He could smell the sea, so they had to be close to the bay.

“No more than an hour. I’d go as far as saying half of that.”

“I’ll carry Felix,” Dakota offered. Jason hummed his agreement, knowing that out of the two of them he was the better fighter, especially with Dakota’s Kool-Aid and sugar addiction, continuing to stand guard as he waited for Dakota to sheath his sword and lift Felix into his arms. Once Dakota was standing next to him, the two of them started the journey back to Camp Jupiter, following the instinctual tug towards camp that all Roman demigods and legacies had.

It took them over an hour to get back to camp due to monster attacks and having to dodge suspicious mortals, and Felix’s dead weight slowed them down even more. As soon as they were spotted by the sentries, calls for medics were heard, as well as shouts for the praetors, Antonio and Haley. One of the sentries rushed forward, transferring Felix from Dakota’s arms to his, and then ran into the camp to meet the medics halfway. Jason and Dakota finally passed the borders of camp and were greeted by four legionnaires, two going to each of them and offering assistance.

Jason was only half aware of what transpired next. He knew they had gotten to the praetors, and had given them a report of what had happened. He knew that they had been taken to the medics and had their injuries healed. He could vaguely recall being told that Felix was in a coma, and that when he awoke – if he awoke – he would get an honorable discharge and be allowed to start the rest of his life in New Rome, despite not having served for the full ten years; Jason hoped that he would wake up, and hoped that the fate he had originally had, to die in the battle where they toppled Saturn’s throne, would change and that he wouldn’t die; he hoped that this change wouldn’t lead to him simply dying earlier. And he knew that they had been released and allowed to have personal time until evening muster rather than continue with their regular training schedule with the rest of the fifth cohort. He knew all of that, but he couldn’t recall any of the finer details. Too much had happened and he just needed time to process.

Jason lay on his bed, the bottom bunk of the bunk bed he shared with Reilly, one of the legionnaires who had been a probatio when he had first joined the legion; Reilly was 17 now, and he was with the rest of the cohort out on the training fields until evening muster which he and Dakota had also been excused from if they wanted to sleep through it. Dakota had chosen to spend some time in the baths, so he was alone in the room. He stared at the underside of Reilly’s bunk, doing his best to work through all the memories he had; the memories of his numerous years with the legion, two sets of conflicting memories of what had happened over the last year, and memories of years to come. He honestly had no idea what was going on; he had waring memories of what he had been doing before he saw Annabeth on Mt Tam; he had been working on plans for altars for the minor gods at both camps, but he had also been scouting Mt Tam with Felix and Dakota and been caught, something that hadn’t happened in his other memories of this year as they hadn’t gotten word from the gods of the Titan’s movements until the next summer.

A plan slowly formed in his mind, and he groaned quietly before rolling of his bed, hoping his plan would work.

Percy lay on his bed, staring at the bottom of the bunk above him, a bunk that would remain unoccupied for many years, probably until after he left camp. He knew he needed to sleep, and he had promised Will – and Lee and Michael – that he would at least attempt to sleep before either training to exhaustion or going to one of them for a sleeping pill. But he couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; he was tired, both from normal camp activities, and from confusion – it had already been a day since the hunters had arrived and they hadn’t had their hunters vs campers capture the flag, and he hadn’t had a dream about Annabeth holding the sky, and he hadn’t heard from Grover that Zoe had dreamed of Artemis, all of which had happened within a day of Annabeth’s kidnapping the first time around; he really hoped this didn’t mean they would have a day less to get across the country, but he knew his hope was not going to help. It was that his body refused to fall asleep, despite how tired he was.

“Percy?” Percy blinked, sitting up and looking around his cabin, trying to find the source of the voice; he recognized the voice, but he couldn’t place it, not with how tired he was. He finally found where the voice had come from, his attention landing on the space above the fountain his dad had gifted him again. He blinked, shook his head, and blinked again, staring at the IM at the back of the cabin.

“Jason?”

“Percy. Di immortales. Thank the gods. You remember, right? You know who I am? You know about everything? Please tell me you know what’s going on.” Percy blinked, rubbing his eyes before running his hand down his face. Jason sounded so frantic and confused and rambling in a way he had never heard him do before, and Percy was not ready to deal with this. He couldn’t even work out how Jason had had his memories. They weren’t meant to be aware of the Romans yet. The Romans weren’t meant to be aware of them yet. The first time around, they hadn’t even seen each other, let alone come in contact with each other. So how had he woken up?

“Percy?” Jason asked, when Percy didn’t reply, just starring.

“Give me a minute…” Percy muttered. “I’ll be right back.” He walked out of the cabin, heading straight to the cabin next to his, Cabin 1, Zeus. He didn’t go in, knowing that one of Zeus’ rules was no children of Poseidon or Hades in the cabin unless they wanted to be struck by lightning, and he didn’t really fancy playing with lightning tonight; the rule meant that whenever he was doing cabin inspection he just had to look in from the outside and hope he could see everything. Instead, he walked around to the side of the cabin, banging his palm against the wall that he knew Thalia slept in. He knew she was a light sleeper, which meant he didn’t have to wait long for Thalia to emerge.

“What?” Thalia asked, somehow wide awake, despite having gone to bed almost 45 minutes ago. He gestured with his head to his cabin, and Thalia followed him back inside, where Jason’s IM was still hovering in mid air at the back of the cabin. Thalia stopped at the front of the cabin as she got a good look at the person in the rainbow.

“Jason?” she asked, her tone the same amount of shocked and confused as Percy’s had been.

“Thalia? Aren’t you a hunter?” Thalia didn’t react for a moment, before shaking her head.

“I don’t become part of the Hunt until the Winter Solstice this year. How do you remember?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that one moment I was being held hostage on Mt Tam with Dakota and Felix, and the next thing I know I have memories of years that haven’t happened yet and two sets of conflicting memories about what happened in the last year.”

“You were on Mt Tam?” Percy asked. “Why?”

“Coelispex (Apollo) sent word through Octavian that there were Titan forces on Mt Othrys and I was part of the trio that were sent out to scout Mt Tam and see what was going on. Dakota, Felix, and I were overwhelmed and kidnapped by some of the demigods working for the Titans. And none of that happened last time!”

“Did you see anyone else? Annabeth or any other Greeks?” Thalia asked curiously.

“I saw Annabeth. She was being held hostage, and she took the sky to save Felix’s life. He took the sky because the Titan’s forces were threatening to kill Dakota if he didn’t, and he was really close to death. He’s in a coma now,” Jason replied. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I don’t think I met anyone named Felix during our exchange program. There’s a group of us that all have memories of the future, and we’ve worked out that if Lady Ananke desires for you to receive memories and join our super awesome time travel club, if you see two people who already have their memories, it will trigger you to regain yours. Annabeth was the obvious one since we know she’s being held their after being kidnapped, but if she was with Chris then that would explain how you ‘woke up’ as we’ve started calling getting your memoires back,” Percy explained.

“You wouldn’t have met him. He didn’t make it through our attack on Mt Othrys. I’m worried the Fates won’t even let him survive that long this time.” He paused for a second, before continuing. “Is Chris a son of Κῆρυξ (Hermes)? Hispanic, dark hair, tall and a bit larger? And who else is part of this ‘super awesome time travel club’?” Jason asked, smirking as he repeated Percy’s words.

“Ναι. That’s Chris. You didn’t meet him during our exchange program?” Thalia replied with a nod. Jason shook his head. (Yes)

“He and Clarisse were at college, so that’s probably why,” Percy said, remembering the hours Chris and Clarisse had spent looking over colleges and deciding which college they would go to together. “And our super awesome time travel club has eighteen of us, nineteen now I guess. It’s the three of us, and then there’s Katie, Clarisse, Annabeth obviously, Malcom, Will, Michael, Lee, Beckendorf, Silena, Conner, Travis, Chris as we mentioned, Pollux, Castor, Jake, and Nico.”

“You’re going to have to remind me who all of those people are. I only really interacted with Pipes, Leo, Annabeth, Nico, and a few other councilors,” Jason said. Percy yawned, his exhaustion finally catching up with him and making him and his body both agree that it was time to sleep.

“Katie is the councilor for cabin 4, and Clarisse is the councilor for cabin 5. Malcom έστιν (is) Annabeth’s δεύτερος (second), Conner is the councilor for cabin 11, αυτή τη στιγμή είναι (at the moment he is) co-councilor with Travis, who is his full brother. Will was the councilor for cabin 7 when the exchange happened, και (and) both Michael and Lee were the councilors before him, but neither of them made it through the Titan War η πρώτη φορά (the first time). Jake was the councilor for cabin 9 before Leo, και (and) Beckendorf was the councilor before him. Silena was the councilor for cabin 10 before Drew and Piper, and neither Silena nor Beckendorf survived the Titan War. Castor and Pollux are twins from cabin 12, but you non occurrit utrumque (wouldn't have met either of them) because Pollux was in college and Castor died when our camp was invaded,” Percy explained, slipping between English and Greek, and a bit of Latin, in his tiredness. “Can we continue this in the morning? Thalia is waking us up at 5 and my day has finally caught up to me.” Jason nodded.

“I forgot you guys are ahead of us. It’s about ten-thirty in New York, isn’t it? What time could we call tomorrow that works for all of us?”

“Yeah, three-hour difference. We have time free from sunrise to breakfast, so about six-thirty to seven-thirty, and then different activities of our choice until lunch at twelve-thirty to one-thirty. Free time from one-thirty to four, and then afternoon activities from four to five-thirty. Dinner from five-thirty to six-thirty. Tomorrow we’ll have capture the flag, so that will be from six-thirty to anyway from seven to eight, and then campfire from the end of capture the flag to nine. And then free-time until curfew at nine-thirty,” Thalia rattled off. “But we’ll probably be given the prophecy for our quest at the end of capture the flag tomorrow, so that will change the evening plans.”

“Fifth cohort has down time before lunch for an hour, about eleven to twelve, so we can clean up and stuff after three hours of cohort battle scenarios,” Jason said. “So during your free-time after lunch?”

“Sounds good,” Percy said, dragging a hand across his face. “Νύχτα Jason.” Percy then walked over to his bed and flopped down, face first onto his pillow. Thalia snorted at him, shaking her head, and turning back to her brother. (Night)

“We’ll talk more tomorrow, Jay. We’ll explain everything then. Καληνύχτα.” (Goodnight)

“Bonum noctis Thalia,” Jason replied, swiping his hand through the mist and cutting the connection. Thalia let out a sigh. (Good night)

“That was eventful,” she said. Percy groaned, rolling over and glaring at her through half open eyes.

“It was, yeah. Definitely wasn’t expecting that. Τώρα βγείτε έξω (now get out). You’re already going to wake me up at a gods awful time, so let me sleep now that my body actually wants to.” Thalia laughed, but did as he asked, slipping out of the cabin and back to cabin 1. He was right after all, she would be waking him up at 5, a time that half their group collectively agreed was too early.

Chapter Text

Percy groaned as Thalia burst into his cabin, waking him up at the designated time; he may have been waking up early for months now, but his body still hated him for it; they had continued with their language practices after the end of the summer season through IMs, even though it made things harder with them spread out across the country in different time zones. He waved his hand blearily, drawing a small amount of water from the new fountain and dumping it on Thalia, just as she sent a small shock at his foot, making him shoot up and glare at her in annoyance as she scowled at him.

“Where are we meeting?” he asked as he pulled himself out of bed. With the hunters here, they had to be extra careful to avoid detection, especially as they all woke up at 5, the same time as Thalia did, and this would be the first morning with them at camp. Thalia paused halfway out of his cabin.

“Dam, we didn’t even think of that.” Percy huffed out a laugh, ushering Thalia out of the cabin so he could get changed.

“In here it is. We can make something up if anyone, especially the hunters, ask why everyone was in here.” Thalia nodded, leaving the cabin and letting him get dressed in peace. No more than 10 minutes later, the others who were at camp started to trickle in, coming in one by one so as to not attract too much attention from the waking hunters. Malcom, Beckendorf, Conner, Travis, Nico, Pollux, Castor all appeared in the cabin, Thalia coming in last; Clarisse was out on the same mission she had been sent on last time around, and everyone else was at home. Soon enough, they were joined by Katie, Will, Lee, and Silena through IM, Michael living too far across the country to join them due to the time differences.  

They went through their lesson, working on their Latin, as it was easier to teach that when apart than ASL, especially without Annabeth. Thalia and Percy also found it ironic that they were practicing Latin, considering who they had talked to the night before. As the sun started to rise, the lesson in cabin 3 came to an end, those at camp knowing that the children of the Sun would be starting to rise even without the Lee, Michael, or Will there to tell them.

“Before we go, we need to talk about something really quickly,” Percy said.

“Τι; Is it about Annabeth?” Katie asked. (What?)

“Not really. Well, she held they sky yesterday, but we know that she won’t have had to hold it for more than an hour, most likely between half and an hour and forty-five minutes. I got an IM last night. From Jason.”

“Amnesia Jason? Of the seven?” Conner asked blankly.

“Ναι.” (Yep.)

“But we don’t even come in contact with them until the switch,” Malcom protested.

“Exactly. But we can’t expect the changes we’re making to not cause the other camp and the Titans to make changes as well,” Thalia said. “He contacted us as soon as he got back to camp after being held hostage on Mt Tam. According to him, he has two lots of memories from the past year that are conflicting, and the situation that led to him and two others from his cohort being on Mt Tam didn’t happen last time.”

“So what are we doing about it?” Lee asked.

“Jase said he’d IM us again during his hour of down time which coincides with our free time after lunch, and we can work things out from there. Especially how this could impact our relationship with their camp moving forward, and how we can use this to prevent more demigod deaths, on both fronts, rather than just our side,” Percy explained. “Anyone at camp is welcome to join us, and we’ll let you guys know what we work out after.”

“We should be getting our prophecy and heading off for the quest tonight and tomorrow morning too, if we stick to the original timeline,” Thalia added. Percy turned to her in confusion.

“Aren’t we a day out?” Thalia shook her head.

“We went to collect Nico and Bianca a day earlier than last time. For some reason the date of the dance was moved.”

“Alright, we have to start heading out. Cabin 7 is already starting to move about and leave their cabin,” Beckendorf said.

“We should be able to leave without grabbing attention from the hunters since they should be in the archery range. They have practice from ten past five to breakfast half an hour after daybreak.”

“So you’re telling me that Lady Ananke sent our souls back through time to change the path that was originally woven into the tapestry of Fate. And that most of you have had your memories for almost two and a half years and the rest of you have gotten your memories over the last six months. And as a group you’ve been making changes that are subtle enough to not affect too much, but enough to make things easier for you guys and hopefully prevent deaths. And that those changes are what caused my memories of the last year to be noticeably different when I got my memories back,” Jason said. Nico nodded.

“That’s what I was told two days ago.” Jason sighed, looking up at the sky and muttering something under his breath before looking back at them through the IM.

“Alright. Which immortals know?”

“Chiron, Ιάτρομαντης και Ποθεινοτάτη aunt,” Thalia said. (Apollo and Hestia)

“Would that be why Coelispex (Apollo) sent word of the army on Mt Tam to us? Because he is more aware of what is coming than the rest of them and wanted us to be more prepared?” Jason asked.

“I completely forgot you told us that. Probably,” Percy said. “Although Phoebus (Apollo) is unaware of our new club members.”

“Alexikakos (Apollo) is aware that we know about your camp. He might have been trying to get us working together without realizing even earlier,” Nico added.

“I’m glad that he’s trying to help, and it’s more than any of the others have done. But it just makes things more difficult. After we debriefed with the praetors, they started thinking of sending a cohort or two to Mt Tam to try and both subdue the forces that are there, and to rescue the ‘helpless demigod who saved Felix from the sky’,” Jason said. “And if they do get the mission approved, I have no idea how that will turn out, especially for Annabeth. And they wouldn’t try to prevent killing those on the other side, like Chris.”

“Ρε σκατά. Μα Απολλών,” Percy sighed, dropping his face into his hands. “Of course that would happen.” (Shit. By Apollo)

“When would they be considering sending out forces?” Nico asked; out of the three Greeks, he was the one who knew the most about the inner workings of Camp Jupiter and New Rome due to his work as Ambassador of Pluto, and both Thalia and Percy had agreed to let him handle any of the more technical things surrounding it.

“We have a senate meeting in two days, and it will be brought up then. If it gets approved, the cohort sent will leave the next day. Based on how long it took for the legion to travel to Mt Tam when we toppled the Mad Titan’s throne, it would take the cohort a day to travel and then another day to stake out the mountain before attacking.”

“So they would arrive at Mt Tam the day before the Winter Solstice and attack on the 21^st,” Thalia said. Jason nodded.

“Wonderful. Just wonderful,” Percy sighed. “Not like that’s the day we’d be arriving at Mt Othrys to rescue Annabeth and Έκάτη (Artemis) or anything.”

“What’s Reyna’s position in the legion right now?” Nico asked, frowning in a way that looked both foreign on his young face and yet familiar to his features, as if his old self was showing through his ten-year-old body.

“She’s currently a legionnaire of the fourth cohort; she’s too new to the legion to have advanced further than that, but if either of the current centurions of her cohort retired then she would be likely to be nominated for the position based on her work ethic, fast improvement, and who her mother is. Why?”

“I’m trying to work out if Reyna is in a position to help prevent or slow down the cohort or cohorts being sent out to delay it just enough that the questors would be gone before the attack. If she got her memories back?” Jason paused, clearly thinking, before replying slowly.

“We have a chance for legionnaires and centurions to step down and retire on the solstice, and the first of every month. From memories of the first time around, one of the centurions for the fourth cohort should step down on the first of January, and Reyna will be nominated for the position. Last time she got it, but it will depend on circumstances to if that happens again. If she gets her memories back, after January she would be in a position to help influence things, but not in time for the mission they are thinking of sending.”

“We don’t even know if she would get her memories back though. She didn’t get them when Annabeth and I landed on Circe’s island.”

“But she only saw Annabeth then. Haven’t we worked out that it takes two of us to awaken another?” Nico said. “If I took up the position of ambassador of Πλουτόν (Hades) earlier than I did the first time around, I would gain more trust within the legion by the time of the Earth Mother’s awakening, and would be able to help with organizing things between camps with more ease than having to arrange times to IM. If I went there instead of my father’s realm when I leave camp, I would be able to start gaining support and leverage, and would potentially lead to Reyna waking up, and we could start working on the two camps working together more peacefully. And if Reyna gets her memories back before the end of this war, then we will already have her in the know, so to speak, when Πότνια (Hera) does the switch, which will make it less likely for a civil war to start as well. And even if Reyna doesn’t get her memories back, having me already situated there for years would make Hazel more trusted if I am able to bring her back, and would gain me more trust and respect, and allow me to have a more trusted voice within the Senate when Percy arrives due to the switch.” Percy, Thalia, and Jason all stared at Nico, making him shift uncomfortably.

“Τι;” he demanded. (What?)

“Nothing. I just haven’t heard you say so much in one go unless you were rambling about Mythomagic,” Percy said.

“That is a great plan Nico,” Jason said. “I think it would definitely be worth considering. If you did show up, I would vouch for you, even if you don’t join a cohort like you did the first time around.”

“Still doesn’t solve the problem of a cohort attacking Mt Othrys while our quest is there. That alone could make the gods kill everyone involved if Annabeth, Percy, and I meet the cohort sent,” Thalia interjected. “My Lady’s hunters are already aware of both camps and both sides of the gods, as it is something that all new hunters are told about during their first hunt with our Lady, in case we come across a quest from either camp during a hunt, so it wouldn’t be an issue for the hunters on the quest, but for the campers it could pose a problem. My father is much more likely to kill us than risk a civil war.”

“And the other Olympians would be more likely to agree to killing everyone than risk the schism while the Crooked One rises,” Percy agreed. “My father may have vouched for me to prevent them killing both me and Bessie, but the others wouldn’t agree, and I doubt he would even do that, if it was at risk of our camps battling again and incapacitating the gods, especially after they finally start to acknowledge the threat.”

“We can make it work. I can probably convince the praetors and senators that the fifth cohort should go, which means I would be leading the expedition with Gwen. If I know when your quest has left the mountain, I could prevent us attacking until after that.”

“Κυνηυέτις (Artemis) made it to Olympus in time for the Winter Solstice, and we made it in time for the end of the meeting after flying there. The Hesperides in the Garden of Hesperides are only visible at dusk, and we encountered them when we entered, so the fight was during the night before the 21^st. If the cohort stakes out the mountain for a day before attacking on the Solstice, the main issue we would have, is not being seen by the cohort when we arrive at Mt Tam, and not seeing them,” Thalia said.

“If I manage to convince the Senate that the fifth cohort should go, I can ensure we camp in a spot that you won’t see us, and make sure I’m on watch when you would be entering the garden,” Jason said.

“Can you convince them? From what I remember, the fifth cohort isn’t held in very high regard, and they were very hesitant to even send three people from the fifth on a quest.”

“I’ve been working hard to get the fifth held in a higher regard, and closer to that of the fourth and even third cohorts. You wouldn’t have seen it, but it was working until I got kidnapped, and based on what I heard from you, Hazel, Frank, and Reyna, all that work just disappeared when I did. I should be able to get the Senate to agree, especially as I have more respect than most in the fifth cohort due to my father and my years of service, even if they want to send another cohort along with the fifth.” Percy glanced over his shoulder, hearing footsteps getting closer to the clearing in the forest that they had set up in.

“We have to go. We should get the prophecy tonight, and we’ll try and let you know when we’re getting closer to Mt Tam and we’ll let you know once we leave,” Percy said. Jason nodded, quickly saying goodbye before Percy waved the mist away, clearing away the IM.

“Please don’t almost start WWIII again,” Castor said as he headed off to his designated spot in the forest, one of the last people not defending the flag to leave.

“Maybe we will, just to spite you,” Thalia called to out to him as he left. She then turned to Percy.

“Same plan as last time? I’ll attack, you defend?”

“As long as I can take the opening when I see it,” Percy replied. Thalia stared at him for a few moments, assessing his plan in her head, trying to find any faults in it like she did with the plans for upcoming hunts before presenting them either to Lady Artemis or to the rest of her sisters, or any reasons to disagree.

“I’ll make it seem as if I am going for the flag. Once you get the flag, do something to the waters of the creek to let me know and I’ll switch to defense and slow down whichever hunter has our flag.” Percy nodded, before leaning back against the tree behind him as Thalia disappeared into the trees, the conch blowing in the distance to signal the start of the game.

“That plan is so much better than the two of you having a dominance battle,” Beckendorf said, shifting to lean against a tree, facing the rocks that made up Zeus’ fist, where their flag had been placed; none of them had said it, but all of them were on guard and aware of the entry to the labyrinth that sat below the rocks, and many of them were on edge, expecting something to emerge from it, knowing that the coming summer would probably see it being used as an invasion point. Percy didn’t reply, scanning the trees around them as the noises of battle echoed through the woods.

He found his opening and took his, taking off through the trees towards where the hunters kept the flag. He knocked into Bianca, calling out an apology as he grabbed the flag. He reached out to the water of the creek with his abilities, pulling on the water in the creek and shifting it around, the signal to Thalia that he had the flag. He ran, dodging trees and jumping over roots, flag held tightly in his hand. He reached the creek, and he could see Zoë running from between the trees on the other side of the creek. He could see Nico hiding in the shadows near her, using the shadows to slow her down as Thalia appeared from another direction to intercept her.

He made it to the edge of the creek, taking a running jump across the creek, just moments before Zoë and the hunters surrounding her jumped a small way down the creek. He thumped to the ground seconds before Zoë did, the silver flag in his hand changing to reflect the sea green trident of Poseidon. All around him, the year rounders erupted into cheers and celebration as the horn was blown, declaring the game over. Chiron trotted into view, a smile on his face.

“Congratulations campers for the first win against the hunters in many years, breaking a 55-game win streak. Now, let us…” Chiron was interrupted by crunching of leaves, everyone in the clearing turning to see who was approaching, staring in shock at the mummy that emerged from the trees. The Oracle approached Zoë, stopping in front of her, green smoke billowing out of her mouth.

“I am the Oracle of Delphi. Approach, seeker, and ask.” Zoë exchanged looks with a few hunters next to her and stepped forward.

“How do I help my goddess?”

"Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

"One shall be lost in the land without rain,

"The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

"Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

"The Titan’s curse must one withstand,

"And one shall perish by a parent’s hand."

The Oracle finished the prophecy, sitting down on the rock and going still. Percy felt a shiver run down his spine at the prophecy; they had planned for it, but he had hoped that it would change despite the other two prophecies remaining almost exactly the same. He had hoped that it wouldn’t speak of deaths like it had the first time, and yet it had. Now all that needed to be done was decide who would go on the quest; decide who would be put in position to have a 2 in 5 chance of dying.

Oh, and they also had to get the mummy back up to the attic. Great.

Chapter Text

Once again, Percy and Grover were chosen to carry the Oracle back up to the attic; Percy was not happy about it. He stood by the idea that if she could get down there on her own, then she could get back on her own. It was the least she could do after seeking Zoë out specifically to give her a prophecy speaking of deaths. But no, that was too much to expect of a mummy. Gross.

Once the Oracle was back on her chair in the attic, Percy headed down to the councilor’s meeting, knowing they would be discussing the prophecy and who would go on the quest without needing Thalia to come get him first. He was the last councilor to arrive, sitting down quietly so as to not interrupt the argument going on amongst the hunters, especially Zoë, who just wanted to pack up and go find her goddess.

“Three and two,” he finally interrupts, putting forward the same idea as he had done the first time. “Three hunters, two campers, which is more than fair. That satisfies the prophecy wanting hunters and campers, and still leaves the hunters with the majority and the campers with at least one familiar face.” Zoë studied him for a few seconds before nodding and turning back to Chiron to make her request of which hunters would accompany her. Percy glanced towards Travis and Conner, tapping the table gently to call their attention to him while the rest of the councilors debated which campers would go.

‘Phoebe shirt?’ he signed. Travis and Conner exchanged glances before Travis replied with a quick ‘yes’.

“Phoebe shall be coming. I will have to think about which other hunter I wish to bring with us to rescue our Goddess. Which campers volunteer?” Zoë said, her gaze travelling around the table, focusing on the few female campers that were both councilors and at camp during the winter.

“Grover and I,” Thalia said, letting her authority seep into her voice, created both by her years of leading the hunt and from being a daughter of Zeus.

“He is a male,” Zoë protested, a sneer tugging at her lips.

“He is a satyr. Without the God of the Wild, they look to your Goddess as a protector of nature through the Hunt. His nature magic would aid in tracking Έκάτη (Artemis), and he is qualified as a protector and has his searcher’s license. And I have the strength and fighting abilities to help combat any monsters we come across during the search, and I have experience in moving across the country while evading monsters.”

“I will concede. I wish for Bianca to be thy fifth companion,” Zoë said, turning to look at Bianca, who started.

“Really? But I’m so new.”

“This will be good experience for thou, and I believe thy has abilities that will support thy journey. We shall leave with the sun in the morrow.” Bianca nodded slowly, agreeing to the request of the older and more experienced hunter. The war council split after that, the hunters filing out to help their three sisters prepare for a quest, while the councilors trickled out. The time traveler councilors present exchanged quick looks, before Travis grinned and darted out, Conner close on his heels. Silena walked out chatting with Katie, and Percy followed out behind them, heading towards the beach. He wanted to sit and stare at the waves for a while.

Percy wasn’t sitting on the sand for very long before he got the itch to move, to do something, to help someone. He could go to the arena and get some practice in or try and brave the climbing wall again – he had gotten better with it through careful periods of exposure to it. But neither of those would be helping people, and he had the urge to help; he couldn’t help Annabeth right now, no matter that he knew she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and he needed to do something to help others. He stared out at the waves lapping at the shore before pulling his shoes and socks off and padding towards the ocean, not stopping as the water came higher and higher up his legs until he just dove under the water, swimming out across the bay. There would definitely be sea creatures that needed his help.

He untangled a few crabs from stray fishing line and freed some fish that had gotten trapped when a glass bottle that had been floating with the current landed on them, trapping them inside. He stopped and played with a pod of dolphins for a minute before swimming off to help more sea creatures. He wasn’t surprised, just resigned and disappointed in humans, when a few hippocampi came to him, frantic about a creature being trapped and needing help; he was almost certain that Bessie was stuck again. He followed the hippocampi and sighed softly when he saw the Ophiotaurus tangled in fishing nets that had been discarded into the ocean without care. Bessie was struggling, clearly in pain and distress, and it was causing the rope and plastic that made up the net to dig deeper into his soft body.

Percy approached slowly, humming under his breath in a way that sent gentle, calming vibrations echoing through the water. He sat down on the sand next to the Ophiotaurus and started gently patting at Bessie’s muzzle, starting to quietly sing the words to the tune he had been humming; it was a lullaby that his mom would always sing for him when he was sick or scared, and the soothing melody had helped him through many nightmares after the Titan War, and in the time after they had time travelled when his nightmares of the Giant War or Titan War plagued his sleep. The lullaby worked as he hoped it would, calming the Ophiotaurus enough to allow him to get close enough to touch him. Percy continued singing as he worked the knots that held the net together apart one by one, gently patting Bessie after each knot was untied, until Bessie was free.

The Ophiotaurus mooed, in what Percy thought was a happy way, swimming free of the rope and plastic that now lay around where he had been trapped, circling around the hippocampi that surrounding them. Percy smiled as he watched Bessie, gathering up the rope and plastic to take with him, so that it couldn’t hurt any other animals.

“You have a kind heart, demigod.” Percy jumped, spinning around to find a nereid behind him. Percy stared for a moment, wondering how someone had managed to sneak up on him; he had developed a sense of when someone was around but out of sight, out of necessity to stay alive in the mortal world and during the wars, and that ability was always heightened when he was in or near water. It only took him a moment to realize that the nereid seemed familiar, even if he couldn’t work out why.

“I am only doing what it right. No creature deserves to be trapped, or hurt, or killed due to the carelessness of humans,” he replied, inclining his head respectfully before looking away from the nereid, using one of the pieces of rope to tie the bundle in his arms together so he could carry it easily while swimming. He looked back up at the nereid as she started speaking, realizing as she spoke why she was familiar; she was the same nereid who had visited him on his first quest. But there was something else as well, he was sure he recognized her for another reason. His brain just refused to remember why.

“And yet most mortals disregard the creatures of nature who live peacefully on Mother Earth. Even demigods do not consider the harm being done to those of the sea.”

“I do my best to help wherever I can. It is the least that I can do to try and fix what other humans cause.”

“And that makes you different to the other demigods that I have met, even the other heroes who share your father.” She extended a closed hand towards him, opening it to reveal a singular pearl in her palm. “I know you know how to use these gifts. I gave you three, once, at the bidding of your father. Today I gift you one on my own behalf, as appreciation of your kind heart, as thanks from the sea for your kind actions, and as protection for what is to come.” Percy froze, her words taking a few moments to even reach his brain, and even longer to process. He blinked, before extending his hand out, swiftly closing it when she dropped the pearl into his palm.

“Thank you,” he said. “But why? I have never received a gift for no reason.” He would not protest a gift, especially one as precious as a pearl like he had just been given, and never from someone of the sea. But it didn’t change the fact that every gift he had ever been given, in the first time around or this time, had been with another motive or reason behind it.

“As I said, it is both as a show of thanks for your kindness towards the creatures of the sea and in hopes that you continue doing so, and also for protection. You will understand more when the time comes. Remember Perseus, that while it is not widely known, my husband held prophecy for a short time before the twins were born, and even now the traces of prophecy cling to the sea and his people.” Percy bowed, pearl clutched tight in his hand, unsure of what to say, remaining silent as he straightened only to find the nereid gone. He glanced around, the hippocampi still swimming gently around him, no longer frenzied, but Bessie had long disappeared.

“Thank you, lord,” one of the hippocampi, the one who was closest to him, said.

“Happy to help, you all know that. Let me know if you find any other trapped creatures, or tell Blackjack and he’ll come get me,” he said, getting a few happy noises and exclamations of thanks before he swum off, gently manipulating the water to propel him back to camp faster and more easily; he may have tied the fishing net so it would be easier to swim with, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hard.

He emerged from the sea at the beach, pearl still clutched tightly in one hand, and started the trek through camp towards the arts and craft tent. The first time around, he used to simply leave the nets and rubbish in the ocean once he had freed animals from it, not considering the harm such things caused to the ocean and its inhabitants even once it was made unable to trap the animals. This time around, however, he had started bringing it up to the surface and to the arts and crafts tent; any rope or metal could be used for construction, but most of the rubbish, the bits and bobs he found in the sea, would be used for various projects. It saved the camp money on not having to buy as much materials for crafts, provided a wider range of materials for the campers to use, and prevented it from ending up back in the sea or in landfill, which he considered an all around win.

He headed back from the arts and crafts tent to his cabin, wanting to shower before dinner, which he was sure was soon judging by how low in the sky Apollo’s chariot was. He slowed down as he passed cabin 8, listening – eavesdropping – on Zoë and a few other huntresses, plus Thalia, talking about the upcoming quest.

“No. I shall not tamper with the lives of thy sisters and risk their lives by bringing another on the quest. I feel that another hunter is not to join us. Phoebe has already been injured and we shall have to hope that it is what is meant by one of our party being lost in the land without rain.”

“The quest hasn’t even started yet,” Thalia said. “We haven’t left. Besides, camp has experienced rain, so it’s not even a ‘land without rain’. Barely two summers ago when my father’s lightning was stolen the camp experienced a fierce storm. You need to choose another questor. The prophecy says five.”

“Why should we barter with our lives when the prophecy already speaks of two deaths, and one of our own has already been injured after accepting a place on the quest,” one of the other huntresses said.

“Then take a camper, if you do not want to risk another hunter.” Percy was finally out of earshot, and didn’t hear what Thalia said next, but didn’t want to risk stopping and be caught eavesdropping on them, especially since he was a male. Even without hearing the rest of what Thalia was saying though, he could probably guess. And he wouldn’t complain about being made a part of the questing party without having to sneak away and risk getting hurt or stopped as he left (or killed depending on how annoyed he made Mr. D.). Besides, he’d already freed Bessie, so there was no real reason for him to be awake at the right time to hear them leaving with only four questors and follow them. He showered quickly, getting dressed again in time to hear the conch blow to signal dinner.

Thalia pulled him aside after dinner, on the way to the campfire.

“I’ve convinced Zoë to bring you along as part of the quest from the start. It’ll make things easier. We leave at dawn, so I’ll wake you up at the usual time.”

“Εντάξει.” (Alright). Percy very carefully didn’t mention how it would probably make some things harder, considering him following them was how he knew that Luke and the General were going to send monsters after him, and also how it was the only reason he stopped the spartoi getting the scent of the hunters. Actually, yeah, he should probably mention that.

“One question. How am I meant to stop the spartoi from getting the hunters’ scent if I’m with you guys the whole time? I mean, being part of the quest from that start is great and all, stop me from getting into more trouble than I’m usually in with Ἀκρατοπότης (Dionysus). But the spartoi were going to get the hunters’ scent before I stole the fabric they had and made them get my scent instead.” Thalia blinked.

“I did not know that happened.”

“The practically unkillable skeletons following us didn’t give it away?” Thalia punched him in the arm, scowling.

“Not that, Kelp Head. The part about you making them get your scent rather than the hunters’.”

“Oh. Yeah. Not like it changed much seeing as I was with you guys after that. And anyway, Nico banished them after the quest finished, whether he meant to or not.”

“Δεν άλλαξε και πολύ, λέει,” Thalia muttered. (Didn’t change much, he says). “That would have changed so much. They would have hunted down the hunters rather than you after the quest, and Nico wouldn’t have been able to banish them, Kelp Head.” Thalia sighed, running one hand through her hair before exhaling sharply out of her nose. “You’ll just have to go scouting or keep a look out for monsters when you think it’s about time for you to steal the piece of hunters’ clothes, or whatever it was that you did. And hopefully this time Zoë will just accept that you’re not lying and trying to invade the quest since you’ll have been part of it the whole time.” She didn’t give him time to reply, walking off towards the amphitheater and the campfire. Percy rubbed one hand down his face; Thalia was right, that would work. It would be annoying to work out, but it would work.

Percy woke up tangled in his sheets. He pushed the sheets off his legs, swinging them over so his feet were on the floor, resting his head in his hands and breathing slowly, trying to calm his pounding heart. He shouldn’t have been surprised, he should have expected that dream, but it still scared him; he had been on Mt Othrys, watching Annabeth struggle under the sky, being taunted by a voice he recognized as belonging to Atlas, until Artemis appeared and took it from her, watched as the chains around the goddess’ legs had been secured to the ground, preventing her from moving; he had watched as Luke tried to hide how much he still clearly cared for Annabeth, trying to keep her alive despite what Atlas said, had said she could be further bait even as he looked at her with eyes that still cared and it made Percy angry because how could he still care for her after everything he’s done and is going to do and yet he was the reason Annabeth was still alive.

Percy shook his head, trying to rid himself of the afterimages of the demigod dream that still sat behind his eyelids, before pushing himself out of bed. It was still dark outside the cabin, but if he had to guess, he would say that he had less than two hours before Thalia woke him up so they could leave on the quest, which meant that it was late enough in the morning for the harpies to no longer be patrolling; hopefully. Percy got dressed and packed a bag full of essentials for the quest; torch and glass prism, a bunch of food that could be eaten on the go – protein bars, beef jerky, a couple apples, and the like – two changes of clothes, and a few drachmas, and after a second thought he added Annabeth’s invisibility cap that she had lost when they went to get Bianca and Nico. Riptide was already in his pocket, and he slipped the golden ring that held Καταιγίδα, or Storm breaker, his trident, and after a moment he slipped the pearl that the nereid had given him into the opposite pocket from where Riptide sat. He left his bag on his bed and slipped out of his cabin. He was walking towards the arena to do some last-minute practice with Storm breaker when Blackjack appeared.

“We got another little sea friend needing your help boss.”

“Again?” Percy asked, staring at the pegasus that had landed in front of him. He wouldn’t say no to helping out any sea creature that needed help, even the occasional mermaid with hangnails, but he had spent hours in the sea that afternoon helping out.

“Yeah. I told the hippocampi I’d come get you.” Percy nodded, twisting Καταιγίδα around his index finger.

“Alright. I’m coming.” He climbed onto Blackjack’s back even as he was talking.

“You’re the best, boss.”

“Don’t call me boss!” Blackjack whinnied, in a way that Percy guessed was probably a laugh, lifting off the ground and heading towards the sea. They flew fast, straight out over the water, until Blackjack stopped, circling around one spot.

“Here,” Blackjack said. “Straight down.” Percy nodded, thanking Blackjack before slipping of the pegusi’s back and plunging into the ocean. He shifted the water until it was pushing him straight down into the darkness that made up the ocean below him, descending 8, 10, 12 meters at a speed that would make most mortals sick and dizzy from the pressure changes, yet didn’t affect him at the slightest. He had been planning on asking his dad if there was a limit for how deep he could dive before the pressure affected him, but then he had been kidnapped by Hera and life had only gone downhill from there; all he knew was that he could dive deeper than most humans, seeing as he had visited his dad’s palace which he was sure was more than 65 meters deep and he hadn’t been, you know, crumpled like a tin can. So yeah, testing his limits, or asking his dad about it, was on his to do list.

He easily spotted three hippocampi swimming in circles around an upside-down boat, and he could just make out a dark shape stuck under the boat; whatever creature was stuck seemed to be wedged half under the boat, and tangled in a fishing net, one of the big trawlers that he hated. As he swum closer, Percy was hit with a wave of déjà vu. He had gotten déjà vu a lot since he had unwillingly time travelled, but those occurrences were becoming less and less as they changed things, and even the things that occurred the same, had small differenced. But not this. This was exactly the same as when he had rescued Bessie the first time. But he had already freed the Ophiotaurus today.

Percy ignored his confusion, pushing it away to focus on some other time, and swam closer to the boat. The wrecked hull was resting against a big rock, and teetering dangerously, threatening to collapse and crush Bessie. The hippocampi were frantic, wanting to help but not sure how. It was obvious they’d tried, that they were trying, one of them chewing the net, trying to break it. Hippocampi teeth just weren’t made for cutting though, especially not through rope. And it didn’t matter how strong the hippocampi were, they didn’t have hands to lift the boat or untie the net. They were smart enough to ask for help, but that was about it.

“Free it, lord,” one of the hippocampi said when it saw him, and the others quickly joined in, all asking for the same thing.

“How did you get stuck here, little one?” he murmured, swimming closer to get a better look at everything that was trapping Bessie. The Ophiotaurus looked at him sadly.

“Mooooo!”

“We don’t know what it is lord,” one of the hippocampi said, swimming closer and Percy settled next to the Ophiotaurus. Just from looking at how Bessie was trapped, he could tell that it would take a while to free him, and that he would probably be unable to take the net with him, based on how it was trapped on, under, and around the boat that was on top of Bessie. 

“Many strange things are stirring,” another hippocampi added, and Percy did his best to not snort. That was one way to put it. But he couldn’t exactly say that, not without getting himself stuck with hundreds of questions from the hippocampi, who would then spread it around the rest of the ocean, because all sea creatures, mythical or not, were horrible gossips, and it would inevitably end up with his dad hearing and that would lead to too many questions that he really didn’t want to answer.

“Yeah,” he murmured instead. “So I’ve heard.” He already knew better than to try and use Riptide to cut through the rope, and he knew that that meant using Stormbreaker was out as well. Bessie was terrified of any weapon, and knowing what he did now, he wasn’t surprised; he would be terrified of any weapon or vaguely sharp object if he knew that any power hungry, or paranoid, being wanted to hunt him down and kill him to either gain enough power to overthrow Olympus, or to prevent the possibility of Olympus being overthrown. Instead, he started humming the same song he had sung earlier in the hope of calming Bessie down a bit more, trying to think of how to help, trying to remember what he had done the first time around to free Bessie.

He directed the hippocampi to push the boat off Bessie, shifting the wreckage just enough that it wasn’t threatening to crush the Ophiotaurus. He then set to work on the net, humming and singing under his breath the whole time to keep Bessie calm. He untangled knots, twisting and manipulating section by section, straightened lead weights and fishing hooks so they weren’t digging into Bessie’s side and were in the right positions to be moved without hurting Bessie any more than he already was. He yanked knots off and around Bessie’s hooves, and off her tail. It took forever, and he knew that he would have to hurry back to his cabin once Bessie was free to grab his stuff for the quest. But this was more important right now. Freeing Bessie was more important, no matter how long it took, or if it made the quest leave late; it wasn’t like they had to catch a bus like they had on his first quest.

“It’s okay Bessie,” he would say every now and then, in breaks of his humming before he started the song again. Don’t ask him why he had kept the name Bessie, even after his dad had pointed out that the Ophiotaurus was a boy. He was attached to the name, ok, and he stood by his assessment of it seeming like a good cow name, and Bessie was definitely a good cow. Half cow. Sea cow? Bessie was definitely a good Ophiotaurus, whatever type of cow or not-cow that fell under.

As soon as the net was completely off, Bessie zoomed out, zipping through the water and performing a happy somersault.

“Thank you, lord,” the hippocampi chorused, joyful whinnies floating through the water, joining Bessie’s happy moos. Bessie came close, nuzzling up against him with big, brown eyes.

“I’m glad you’re ok. Stay safe, alright. I don’t want to hear about you getting caught in any more fishing nets,” Percy said, patting Bessie’s white muzzle with a smile. “Not anytime this week, at least, alright. You have to stay out of trouble.” After double checking that Bessie was fine, Percy allowed the water to shoot him up, up, up, until he was back at the surface, ready to be picked up by Blackjack, who was still circling in the air above him.

The sun hadn’t risen yet, faint hints of deep pink and light orange starting to appear amongst the stars and deep blue sky. It was only just dawn, meaning he had less than half an hour before the quest was due to leave, but he always struggled remembering if others meant dawn as in civil dawn or dawn as in nautical dawn, or even if they meant astronomical dawn, so it was probably less than ten with his luck; he almost always meant nautical dawn, since that was the best time for sailors to use the stars to navigate due to the amount of light present and the amount of stars able to be seen just by the naked human eyes, and he automatically went with the option most associated with the sea. He assumed other demigods meant civil dawn like most humans did when they referred to dawn since that was the brightest dawn and the dawn closest to the brightest twilight which was the twilight most laws were set around. But then he was pretty sure Thalia normally woke them up in what would be classified as either nautical dawn or astronomical dawn or closer to nautical or astronomical twilight than dawn depending on the day and how much time she thought they needed that specific day for their languages, so he had no idea which dawn the hunters used when they said the quest would leave at dawn.

And no, he wasn’t going to explain how he knew so much about the different types of dawns and twilights and dusks; all you had to know was that when he was about 8, his hyper-fixation surrounding morse code and the way sailors communicated lead to months hyper-fixated on learning anything and everything he could about how sailors used the sky to navigate and travel and tell the time, which had led to a two-week long hyper-fixation about space. If anyone asked about it, he wouldn’t tell them how he knew so much, but he would happily infodump on them until they either regretted asking (any neurotypical friend he managed to have for a short amount of time always acted like that when he had rambled about hyper-fixations), or found a gap in his infodump to start rambling about one of their own hyper-fixations that was either related in one way or another or not related at all, it didn’t really matter – one of his favorite parts of camp was the fact that all of them had ADHD and all would all infodump on each other, either with or without prompting, and they all just got it, and listening happily without complaining like so many neurotypicals would.

But either way, whatever dawn the hunters had referred to, the quest would be leaving soon, and he would prefer not to be late. Thalia had already had to work to convince Zoë to let him come, and he did not want to start the quest off with her already angry with him.

“Success, boss?” Blackjack asked, pulling Percy out of his thoughts even as the boy pulled himself up onto the pegusi’s back.

“Yeah. Rescued a baby sea-cow-serpent creature. Named it Bessie. Was kind of cute when it wasn’t trapped under a boat and in fishing nets. Took forever thought. Almost got trampled by frantic hippocampi.”

“Good deeds are always dangerous, boss. You saved my sorry mane, didn’t you?” Percy huffed out a laugh but didn’t reply as Blackjack flew them back to camp. Blackjack dropped him off near the amphitheater, basically where he had picked him up almost an hour ago. He definitely wasn’t going to get any more practice in with Riptide or Storm breaker before the quest now. He moved quickly towards his cabin to grab his bag, not quite running but close enough, when he spotted a small figure hiding behind one of the Greek columns at the dining pavilion. What was Nico doing? Percy slowed down, moving over towards where Nico was hunched down, occasionally peeking out to watch someone, who Peter was going to assume was his sister and probably at least half of the hunters who were waiting to see the questors off on a mission to save their goddess.

“Hey Neeks,” Percy said, stopping behind the younger boy.

“Kelp Head,” Nico replied quietly, peaking out from behind the column again.

“What are you doing?” he asked gently.

“I just want to see her again. She hasn’t looked at me since we left Westover Hall. And I thought I’d gotten over her death. I thought I’d accepted that she left me, and that she died because the hunters took her on a quest, one she wasn’t ready for and already has a prophecy saying people are going to die. I’ve talked to her ghost, I’ve accepted it, I’ve moved on. But it still hurts, and seeing her again, having her here but ignoring me, when I know that she’s going to die on this quest. I don’t know if I can handle feeling her die again Percy,” Nico said softly, turning so he was leaning his back on he column rather than facing it so he could peak around it.

“I can’t say I understand the pain you’re feeling Nico, because I haven’t had a sibling to lose like you have. But what I can say is that we’re all here for you. While the quest is gone, the others are all here for you, and they would be happy to comfort you or distract you or help you however you want. Let us help you this time.” Nico nodded, closing his eyes and grimacing slightly before opening them again and staring at Percy.

“You should go. They’re going to be leaving soon. Πρόσεχε. Μείνε ασφαλής.” (Be careful. Stay safe). Percy stared at Nico for a moment before nodding, and stepping away.

“Αντίο σας. Να είσαι ασφαλής.” (Goodbye. Be safe)

With that, Percy slipped away, moving through the shadows to his cabin, hoping to avoid the sight of any of the already awake hunters. He found Thalia waiting at his cabin, leaning against the wall next to the door.

“Where’ve you been?” she asked. “Zoë wants to leave immediately.”

“Rescuing the Ophiotaurus,” he replied easily, stepping passed her and into his cabin, grabbing the bag lying on his bed, glad that he had already packed it. “Alright, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Travis glanced over at Nico, who was sitting at the other end of the Hermes table, scowling at his food. It didn’t look like he had touched his breakfast at all and had only poked at it and pushed it around his plate. It didn’t take a genius to work out why the kid was in a mood. Not when the questors had left that morning before anyone was up, which would have meant he didn’t get to say goodbye to his sister. His sister, who had abandoned him twice now to join the hunters, and who they all knew was going to die on this quest. Conner nudged him, and Travis pulled his eyes away from watching the kid to look at his brother. Conner tilted his head towards Nico, clearly noticing the same thing he had.

“You take the rest of the cabin and I’ll grab him to talk,” Travis suggested quietly. This wasn’t a new thing for them, it was a routine they’d played before. Their cabin always had the newbies, the unclaimed, the children of minor gods, which meant that they often had new campers who were quiet, or sullen, or feeling alone or abandoned. They’d gotten pretty good at working out when one of the campers in their cabin needed someone to talk to or distract them from their thoughts. It was the benefit of having both of them as co-councilors; one of them could take care of the cabin, while the other cared specifically for one camper who needed more attention. Conner nodded, finishing the last of his breakfast before standing up and addressing the rest of the cabin.

“Cabin 11, we’re heading back to the cabin in 10 minutes. Τελειώνεις.” (Finish up)

As Conner led the rest of the cabin back to their cabin to get ready for the morning activities (they had free time until lunch), Travis pulled Nico aside.

“Πος είσαι;” (How are you?)

“Sum bonus.” (I’m good) Travis frowned, crouching down slightly so he was closer to Nico’s ten-year-old height, and resisted the urge to put his hands on Nico’s shoulders; he knew Nico disliked physical contact, so it would probably makes things worse.

“Είναι προφανές ότι δεν είσαι καλά. What can we do to help Nico?” (It’s obvious you’re not fine)

“I don’t know,” Nico snapped, glowering at the ground. “I don’t know Travis. I’ve been back here for less than a week and I’ve already had to lose my sister again, and face her leaving without saying goodbye, with the knowledge that she’s not going to come back. When I ‘woke up’, as you call it, you all said that you’re trying to change things to prevent deaths. And yet I still have to face the knowledge that my sister is going to die, and that there’s nothing anyone of us can do to change that, no matter how many changes you’ve already made, because a prophecy has already said people are going to die.” Travis spotted the shadows around Nico’s feet starting to shift slightly, which really showed how much this was affecting him. Travis let out a long, soft breath, trying to work out what to say. He hadn’t interacted much with Nico, not compared to the amount he interacted with most of the other time travelers, but he knew enough to know that Nico had some serious abandonment and trust issues, and that a few kind words weren’t going to make much of a difference.

“I don’t know either dude,” Travis said. “You’re right, there’s nothing that we can do to change a prophecy. There’s nothing we can do to prevent deaths that are spoken of in a prophecy, which unfortunately includes your sister. You were there when we talked about what we could do to change the outcome of the quest, you know that it was ultimately down to Zoë to choose who went on the quest with her. I know that that probably doesn’t make it any better, but that’s all I can say.”

“I want to know that we’re making a difference. I need a way to know that this new way for the gods to play with our lives is actually going to do something, achieve something. And I can see that when I know my sister is still going to die.”

“Then let’s come up with something, or make something, that will do that. We have free time today until lunch, that gives us hours to brainstorm, and I’m sure the others would be happy to get involved as well,” Travis suggested. “If that means we need to get things we don’t have, Conner and I are happy to outsource things. If it means asking for help from those outside of camp, I’m sure none of them would care if we IMed them. Let’s make something that will remind us that we are changing things.” Nico clenched and unclenched his hands before nodding.

“Do you want to spar for a bit first?” Travis offered.

“Yeah,” Nico replied, before scowling again and muttering quietly. “I miss my sword. Maybe I can stop in the Underworld before heading to Camp Jupiter?” Travis laughed.

“You do that. Come on, we’ll grab you a sword from the armory, and I’ll get someone to let Conner know.”

Nico paced around the hearth in the middle of the cabins, trying to think of something to do that would help remind him, and all of them, that they were making a difference. Because where he was standing, they hadn’t done anything. He knew that he was being unfair, he knew he didn’t have the full picture of everything that had changed due to the year and a half that most of them had been awake for, but he was going to be the first person to lose a sibling this time around, and he hadn’t had a chance to even attempt to change anything.

Nico glanced towards the hearth, the flickering flames calming him slightly, reminding him of the peace and comfort that he found whenever he had sat with Lady Hestia and simply talked. A second glance told him that the goddess was there herself, tending to the flames of the hearth. He paused for a second, before slowly changing his path from around the hearth to towards it.

“May I sit with you, Κυρία Εστία?” Nico asked hesitantly. (Lady Hestia)

“Of course, παιδί (child),” Hestia replied with a smile. Nico eased himself to the ground, crossing his legs and resting his hands on his knees, palms facing down, in deference to his father’s roots as a chthonic god rather than an ouranic god or an einalic god. He let out a slow breath, letting the warmth of the flames and the solid earth beneath him ground him, and help him release the tension and stress that had built up.

“Do you wish to talk? Or do you simply wish to enjoy the presence of my hearth?” Hestia asked after a moment. Nico thought it over, wondering what he had hoped to gain from sitting with a goddess who could be called his aunt; he knew Percy already claimed him as an aunt, and he wanted to do the same, but he wasn’t sure if he should.

“I want to talk, but I don’t know how much I can say. I just, it feels like we’re not changing anything even with all the knowledge we have.”

“Is the knowledge you speak of knowledge of the future ανιψιός (nephew)? I am aware of a number of demigods within camp who hold knowledge of events from the future, if you wish to speak of it.” Nico paused for a second, processing her words. How could he have forgotten that the others said that both Apollo and Hestia knew.

“I had forgotten that you and Ἀλεξίκακος (Apollo) knew, θεία (aunt),” Nico said softly. “It’s just, I know the others have done a lot, made a lot of changes that are going to save lives in the long run, that are going to mean more of us survive the wars to come. But that doesn’t make it any easier to see my sister leave on a quest when I know we can’t save her, makes it seem like nothing they’re doing is going to change anything. Travis suggested that we make something to remind us that what we’re doing is actually making a different, and I know he said that all of us can brainstorm to work something out, but I want to come up with something on my own. Quindi so che stiamo salvando gli altri, anche se non stiamo salvando Bianca.” (So I know we're saving others, even if we're not saving Bianca)

“Feel free to sit and enjoy the warmth of my hearth for as long as you need,” Hestia offered with a smile, turning slightly to stoke the fire. Nico smiled slightly, although it probably looked more like a grimace than a smile, and let out another long, slow breath, letting his eyes close and allowing himself to relax in the warmth of the fire as Hestia had suggested, quietly murmuring a prayer to his father, asking for guidance.  

Hestia watched as the young boy, her nephew through her oldest brother, soaked in the warmth and peace from her hearth and allowed it to calm him. As she watched her nephew think she allowed her own thoughts to wander slightly, thinking about what the child had said. It seemed as if he had memories of the future as well, which she had already assumed, but assuming and knowing were two different things. Additionally, if he had memories of the future, that meant that there were other demigods who had gained memories, or time travelled, than just the fifteen that she and Απολλων (Apollo) knew about. Which lead to her having even more questions about the entire situation. Questions which she didn’t think she was going to have answered, if the secrecy that the original fifteen had held was any indication. She just hoped their secrecy didn’t lead them into trouble.

Nico opened his eyes, unsure of how long he had been sitting next to the hearth with his Θεία (Aunt), with an idea of what he could do. He pushed himself to his feet, inclining his head towards Hestia.

“Thank you for allowing me to rest at your hearth, Ποθεινοτάτη (Hestia).”

“I am glad for the company, ανιψιός (nephew). I hope that you gained the knowledge and peace you came for.” Nico didn’t respond, simply nodding before walking off, heading back to the Hermes cabin; he could not wait until he got his own cabin again. He stopped by the arts and crafts area, grabbing a bunch of different pens and a couple sheets of paper, and sat down out the front of cabin 11.

Conner found him later, coming to collect anyone still in the cabin to get ready for lunch, and stopped short in front of Nico.

“What are you doing?” Conner asked curiously. Nico looked up from the list he was currently working on.

“Making lists. It’s helping.”

“Oh, that thing Travis mentioned. About doing something that reminds us that what we’re doing is actually changing things?” Nico nodded, looking down at his list again before passing it to Conner to look at.

“I’ll probably have to explain it later to everyone, but it’s to keep track of who died last time, so that we, I, can see that we’re actually saving lives. I’ve sorted it into cabin lists, so they can be hung on each cabin door and just be a list of who’s in the cabin for most people, and your cabin gets two, one for your siblings and one for those your cabin sponsors. That’s the list for permanent cabin 11 campers.”

“What are the different colors?” Conner asked. “And you’re missing people.”

“I thought I would be. I’m going to hand these out to the others and get them to finish them, since I don’t know many people, and a lot of the campers are here yet. But the different colors are for if they died, and during which war they died in. The green names are the people who survived both wars. The red names are those who died before Percy turned 16, and the blue names are those who died during the second war. And the second list for your cabin is going to have colored dots before each name that indicate who their parent is, even if they aren’t claimed, if they survived to be claimed.”

“That’s a really good idea. And you’ve obviously got it all planned out,” Conner said, handing the list back. “We can explain it to the others tonight. Come on, let me grab anyone inside and we can head to lunch.”

The entire car ride was tense, most of them not talking when they didn’t have to. Thalia and Zoë alternated driving. When Thalia was driving, Zoë taught Bianca about being a hunter, the responsibilities they had to uphold, stories of past hunts, and about weapon care. The few times they had to stop for toilet breaks, or for Grover to check they were still heading in the correct direction using whatever nature tracking magic he was using, Zoë showed Bianca how to use the bow and the knives she had, building off the knowledge she had gained both from Artemis’ blessing when she joined the hunters and from the short time she had spent training while at camp.

They stopped at a spot Percy was pretty sure he recognized, and the fact that he had seen a black sedan following them for at least the last half hour made him sure that he was right. This was where he had originally met up with the four questors to become their fifth. Which meant that he needed to go.

“Hey, I’m going to secure a perimeter and stand guard,” he offered as Thalia made sure the car was locked. Between him and Thalia, they had always made the same offer, doing a quick sweep for monsters before they both stood guard away from the group in case any monsters came upon them while Grover worked his nature magic and the two hunters trained. Grover made a noise of agreement, not looking up from the leaves and branches he was organizing.

He slipped on Annabeth’s invisibility cap and snuck away, knowing Thalia would stand guard even while he didn’t, heading in the direction he was pretty sure lead to the group of Titan’s forces. He quietly entered the Museum of Natural History, walking through large hall full of dinosaur skeletons and towards the two large doors at the other end. He stopped next to the two doors, and the footsteps he had heard behind him were revealed to belong to Dr Thorn, the disguised monster appearing from the same Hall Percy had come from. Dr Thorn headed straight for the doors, not even seeming to notice Percy’s scent, which he was thankful for, and Percy slipped through the open doors before they could close.

The same forces were inside as last time, if he was remembering right; more than a dozen mortal guards, two dracaenae, Luke, and Atlas, along with Thorn. He watched in silence as the members of Kronos’ army talked and planned how to take down the members of the quest he was on; he had clearly disappeared fast enough to not be noticed by the manticore, as he only mentioned there being four members on the quest. He already knew all of this information, he just had to wait for the right moment to snatch the silver fabric that belonged to a huntress.

He watched as skeleton cats grew from the soil, and blinked back tears at the reminder of Small Bob, and Bob, and Damasan; he had to remind himself that Damasan was still alive, and that Bob was still his enemy, still Iapetus, still alive and fighting for Kronos. He wiped the tears out of his eyes, and watched as the General planted and watered and grew skeletons from the ground. As the lady holding the silver cloth let go of it, Percy darted forward, grabbing the cloth before it could hit the ground. He sprinted for the door, ignoring the calls and shouts to stop him, of how it must be Percy Jackson, and ignoring the ripping that came as one of the skeletons, uncaring of his invisibility, found him and ripped his clothes. He didn’t have to look back to know that the skeleton that had stolen some of his clothes would be scenting it and sharing it with the other skeletons to scent.

He ran, out of the museum and down the hill to where the other questors had set up, staying outside rather than heading into the Air and Space Museum like they had the first time around. He took Annabeth’s cap off his head as he ran, stuffing it in his pocket; it wouldn’t help him at all against the skeletons, and it would be better for the other questors to see him coming.

“We have to go,” he called as soon as he knew he was within both eye- and earshot of the group. “Luke’s here, with the one who was once under the sky. They’ve grown skeletons to hunt us down.”

“Spartoi,” Zoë said, her face hard and voice stony, and Percy wasn’t sure if it was because of the monsters now hunting them, or if it was the mention of her father.

“Is that from a hunter’s jacket?” Bianca asked, staring at the silver cloth still clenched in his hand.

“I’d assume so,” Percy replied. “They were going to get the skeletons to smell it, so I stole it. They ended up getting some of my jacket instead though.”

“Very well. We must move on, before they catch us,” Zoë said. Grover had already packed up his leaves, twigs and acorns and put them in his bag, and was pulling out his panpipes, his bag slung over his shoulder, ready to go. No one else had unpacked, all their stuff still in the car apart from their weapons. They hurried back to the car, all of them eager to get moving before the skeletons found them. They had almost reached the car when a low growl made them all pause. They turned to see the Nemean Lion stalking towards them, growling low in its throat.

“Dam it,” Thalia grumbled, pulling out her spear. Percy didn’t need to voice his agreement as he pulled out Riptide; they had both forgotten about the lion. At least they knew how to beat it this time.

Thalia paused as she saw the outline of the Junkyard of the Gods, easily noticing Percy’s hesitation at the sight as well. Neither of them hesitated enough to cause questions from Bianca, Grover, or Zoë, and she was sure the other three would brush it off as lingering aches from the long ride on the boar that Pan had sent. She was not looking forward to the fight that was to come, but she was almost certain that there was nothing she could do to prevent it.

Percy was pulled away by Ares, to talk to Aphrodite apparently, leaving her, Zoë, Bianca, and Grover to simply wait for him, in the shadow of one of Hephaestus’ junkyards.

“When we cross the junkyard, because we are going to have to cross through it, we can’t take anything. Don’t even think of touching it,” Thalia said. She knew, she knew, that Bianca would take something and would die because of it, but she had to try to stop it. Even if she knew it wouldn’t work, she could still try.

“Yes. The junkyard belongs to Χαλκεύς (Hephaestus) is not a place to be trifled with. We pass through and touch nothing if we wish to escape unscathed,” Zoë agreed. It wasn’t much longer before Percy got back, being dumped next to them before Ares and Aphrodite disappeared without a trace.

“Alright, πάμε,” Percy declared, hands in his pockets, acting as if he hadn’t just been talking to two gods at Aphrodite’s request. (let’s go)

The group headed into the junkyard, walking between piles of machinery and discarded projects. It was easy to see that all of them were attracted to one or two of the objects, wandering closer to them and reaching out slowly before another of the group yanked them back, preventing them from picking it up; both Zoë and Bianca stared longingly at a silver bow laying at the bottom of a pile, but Thalia grabbed both of them by the arm and steered them away, being the only other female there so the only one not risking getting stabbed or otherwise injured due to touching two hunters. They passed a large golden structure, that seemed like columns. It was only when Thalia saw Percy tense that she remembered they weren’t columns; they were toes. That was Talos, the automaton that killed Bianca.

They had almost reached the end of the junkyard when the was a loud, clunking sound behind them. The group of five spun around to see a giant metal automaton towering above them.

“Talos,” Thalia and Percy both breathed, just loud enough for the other three to pick up on.

“We agreed not to take anything, to not even touch anything,” Zoë said, glaring at Percy.

“I didn’t take anything,” Percy snapped back.

“It doesn’t matter who it was,” Grover interjected. “Talos is still going to attack us.”

“Run,” Thalia said. “Split up.” Grover ran to take cover behind a tall tower of junk, pulling his panpipes out and starting to play, trying to work his magic on the automaton or the earth around it. Percy and Bianca ran in another direction, while Thalia and Zoë ended up pairing up and moving in a third direction. Bianca and Zoë started trying to shoot the automaton, leaving Percy and Thalia to try and work out how to fight a big lump of metal without getting stood on when they only had close range weapons; Thalia really missed her bow right about now.

She risked a glance over to Percy and Bianca, just able to make out their silhouettes in the light of the waning crescent moon, who seemed to be talking as they avoided Talos. Bianca had lowered her bow and seemed to be showing Percy something in her hand. Percy shook his head, pushing her hand down, and she saw his lips move. His hand not holding Riptide went to his pocket, as if checking if something was there, but she had no idea what he was thinking. Thalia ducked as Talos threw a half-finished thing at her, what it was meant to be she had no clue. When she stood back up, Percy wasn’t standing with Bianca anymore. Instead, Percy was running at Talos, avoiding his large metal feet so he didn’t get stood on. She watched as Talos lifted his foot, and Percy somehow managed to get inside through an access hatch in his foot, disappearing into the body of the automaton.

She had no idea what he was doing. She didn’t know how Talos was defeated the first time around, she hadn’t seen it. All she knew was that at the end of it, Bianca was gone, dead, somehow inside the body of the automaton.

Talos paused, stopping mid-step, before falling to the ground with a loud clang. Thalia, Grover, and Bianca all screamed, and Zoë stared in shock at the fallen automaton. Thalia ran forward, reaching the access hatch and pulling it open, crawling through the hollow body of the machine, Grover right behind her, Bianca and Zoë following them. She didn’t know how long she, they searched. All she knew was that the sun was starting to rise, and they didn’t find Percy.

“The prophecy,” Bianca murmured as they gathered outside the body of the automaton. “One shall be lost in the land without rain.” Grover let out a sad bleat, tears welling in his eyes.

Because here they were in the desert. And Percy Jackson was gone.

Chapter Text

Zoë was the one who got them moving, pulling them along and out of the junkyard. She herded them along through the expanses of the desert around them until they found a rundown town, an abandoned van waiting for them. Bianca was in shock, not having been exposed to death in the same way the other questors had been. Grover was in shock too, not having expected Percy to be one of the ones to die mentioned by the prophecy. Thalia was just stunned, stuck between anger and fury at Percy for making such a decision when they had already decided as a group to not interfere with the prophecy and try to change the foretold deaths, and confusion over what would happen next. Without Percy, how was the prophecy meant to work? Especially as she was still planning on joining Artemis’ hunt. Would the prophecy apply to Jason instead, or would it pass over him due to him being Roman?

Would the prophecy wait for Nico? Would they have to wait and fight the war for even longer than they thought they would need to, just waiting for Nico to turn 16? Those questions kept turning over and over in Thalia head as Zoë drove them in the van that had been waiting for them; aid from Hephaestus in return for the loss of one of their quest members to his junkyard. Thalia’s thoughts soon passed to trying to contact some of the other time travelers, trying to work out when she could do so and have a full conversation with them, rather than having to speak in code due to other’s listening in.

Eventually Zoë swapped placed with Thalia, and Thalia directed the other questors to get some sleep, especially since they had spent the entire night in the junkyard. Once she was sure that the other three had fully gone to sleep, she pulled a prism out of her pocket, setting it up on the dash of the van so the sun would hit it to create a rainbow, while also making sure she could still see the road and wouldn’t be too distracted by the IM. She hesitated for a second, trying to decide who to call, before settling on calling Katie; she had never been all that close with the daughter of Demeter, but she knew that Katie was at camp, so would be able to easily talk to the others, but had no siblings who stayed through the year – she normally didn’t either but had come back for Winter because she knew the quest was coming and that the war was going to start picking up once the gods finally acknowledged the threat – and so had less chance of being overheard by other demigods. Plus, she knew that Katie was one of the calmer demigods who had been caught up in the time travelling.

“Lady Iris, please accept my offering. Show me Katie Gardner, at Camp Half-Blood.” The drachma disappeared as it passed through the rainbow, and an image of Katie soon appeared.

“Katie,” Thalia said, keeping her voice quiet enough to not wake up the other questors. Katie looked up from the strawberries she had been tending and blinked, staring at Thalia, clearly not having expected the IM.

“You’re on a quest? Why are you calling me?” Katie asked, sitting up on her heels rather staying bent over the strawberry patch.

“I’m hoping you have an idea on what to do. And if you don’t then you will be able to talk with the others and get their advice for me. I have to focus on this quest, but something’s happened and we really need to try and plan for it.”

“What happened?” Katie asked, straightening even more where she knelt, staring directly at Thalia.

“We just passed through the Junkyard of the Gods in the desert and lost our first quest member. But it was Percy.” Katie paused, her mouth being pulled into a frown and her eyes flicking back and forth as she thought.

“Percy died?” she asked. Thalia nodded, glancing over at Katie before turning her eyes back to the road.

“He went into the automaton and caused it to malfunction. When the automaton collapsed, he wasn’t in there. It was the same thing that happened with Bianca the first time, and she died that time.”

“Is Grover still alive?” Katie asked, biting her lip. Thalia glanced over at the other demigod quickly, confused why she had asked.

“Yeah. Grover’s shocked, but otherwise he’s fine,” Thalia said slowly. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Then Percy’s still alive.” Thalia paused, staring at the open road ahead of her.

“What?”

“Percy and Grover have an empathy link. If Percy had died, then Grover would have too. Or he would at least have ended up in a coma,” Katie explained.

“So we don’t have to work out how the prophecy is going to play out without Percy?”

“Nope.”

“Ω, ευχαριστώ τους θεούς,” (oh, thank the gods)

“Did you need anything else?” Katie asked, shifting so she was bending over the flower bed again.

“No. Thank you though.”

“Τα λέμε.” (See you)

“Αντίο.” (Bye). Thalia waved through the rainbow, dismissing the IM, turning the rest of her attention back to the road. Now she just had to work out how to remind Grover of the empathy link.

Percy tried not to scream as the bubble of the pearl surrounded him, pulling him through the air and ground towards the closest ocean; just because he had travelled in a similar way on his first quest didn’t mean he had expected or remembered how the travel would feel, especially since the last time he had used the pearls to escape somewhere, they had just had to go up, through solid rock, to reach the ocean they were below. He was sure that he was moving faster than any mortal eye could see, and maybe even faster than gods could track, and the world around him was a blur; he could only see vague colors as they zoomed past, and he just had to hope that he was moving closer to San Francisco, rather than away from it.

Eventually, the bubble popped, dropping him close enough to shore for a mortal to swim in. He was in the Pacific Ocean, off the southern end of California, right next to Mexico. Well, at least he was closer to the Mountain of Despair than the rest of the questors were. The downside? He had given Bianca his bag so he could move faster while evading Talos, so had no supplies to use while he travelled through California other than Riptide and Stormbreaker. He’d have to work out how to message Thalia or Grover, since he was pretty sure he didn’t have any drachma, and work out where he could meet up with them, but he’d give it a day or two, just to make sure that it would be long enough for him to really count as being ‘lost’. Unless one of them thought to contact him first anyway.

He considered his options for travel as he swum to shore, trying to work out how to get across the state without any supplies. Looks like he was going to start stealing things in California years before he had the first time around, and just hope it wouldn’t make the police more aware of him and on the lookout for him when he lost his memories – assuming that still happened anyway. Thinking of the switch that Hera had orchestrated brought Percy’s thoughts to the force that Jason had mentioned Camp Jupiter wanted to send to ‘save’ Annabeth from Mt Othrys.

Maybe he’d run into Jason and the cohorts sent to Mt Othrys as he travelled across the state. While that would be nice and let him talk with Jason and plan in person, and potentially help him create trust with him amongst the Romans, it could also be bad. Really bad. It could raise suspicion, and potentially cause a civil war to start when they really did not need it. If any of the gods noticed, it could lead to his death, and even the death of Jason and any Roman who met him or even saw him; they did not need a reduction of demigod and legacy forces this close to Kronos’ rise. Then again, they’d already planned how to start fostering trust between the camps, through Nico, and he didn’t want to ruin those plans. So he’d hope he wouldn’t run into the Romans, and keep an eye out for them. And for monsters.  

A faint growl made him turn pull Riptide out of his pocket, only to see a single spartoi approaching on the beach. He capped Riptide, putting it back in his pocket, and entered the water again, heading away from shore and the spartoi, which likely had friends; there was no point trying to fight an unkillable monster without a child of Hades who could fight them. Maybe he’d just swim to San Francisco.

Nico frowned as Travis tilted his head towards Percy’s cabin, the sign that he’d been told meant they had a meeting between time travelers after watching Katie sign something to both Travis and Conner; he really had to start learning ASL – maybe he could summon a ghost or one of the dead somehow to teach him once he left camp? But why would they be having a meeting? The questors had only been gone two days, and no one new had shown up to camp. His plan for cabins lists had been circulated around the cabin councilors, with the lists so the councilors could add the people he didn’t know, and to Chiron, although Chiron hadn’t been told what the different colors meant, so it couldn’t be for that.

Nico watched as first Travis and then Conner snuck out of Cabin 11 once the rest of the cabin had gone to sleep. He waited a few seconds before slipping into the shadows of the cabin, reappearing in the shadows of Cabin 3. He slipped inside and took a spot leaning against the far wall, smirking at Travis and Conner as they arrived.

“Why are we having a meeting? Nothing’s happened, and the quest only started two days ago,” Pollux said once everyone at camp had arrived, and a few IMs had been set up for those outside of camp.

“Thalia IMed me this morning,” Katie said, and everyone turned to look at her where she was sitting up on the top bunk opposite Percy’s bed.

“Why?” Beckendorf asked.

“To let me know they’d passed through the Junkyard.” Nico let out a breath, knowing the significance of that statement. He cast his mind inwards, searching both the Overworld and the Underworld for the souls of his friends. It was harder searching the Overworld, so he searched the Underworld first, wondering how he could have missed the feeling of one of the questors dying. He looked first for Bianca, and then for Thalia and Zoë and Percy; he knew he wouldn’t be able to find Grover as a satyr, seeing as satyrs didn’t have mortal souls. But he couldn’t find any of their souls in the Underworld, or in Charon’s domain waiting for passage. Somehow, all their souls were in the Overworld. Somehow, they were all still alive.

“Are you sure?” he asked, interrupting the confusion amongst the others who didn’t know or didn’t remember the significance of the Junkyard. Katie nodded, making him frown. It didn’t make sense. Why did he not feel Bianca die, pass into their father’s realm? Why could he not feel her soul in the Underworld, waiting to be judged?

“That can’t be right. None of them are in my father’s realm.”

“Wait, why would they be in the Underworld?” Travis asked.

“The junkyard is in the desert and, based off last time, was the ‘land without rain’ the prophecy mentioned. It’s where Bianca was meant to die,” Katie said. “But Percy somehow changed it, and Bianca’s not dead. Percy’s the one who was ‘lost in the land without rain’.”

The cabin was filled with noise, the others full of confusion. They had agreed to not change anything. They had agreed that the prophecies would need to play out how they already had. They had agreed that they had no idea how things could change if one prophesied death was changed for the death of another: especially amongst the five on the quest. And Percy knew how important it was that he survived; he had already claimed the prophecy once to prevent it falling on Nico’ shoulders, so he wouldn’t have even thought of changing things to such an extent that it meant Nico became the prophecy child.

Nico was confused for another reason though.

“But none of them are in my father’s realm. Not even Percy.”

“I don’t know what happened, but Thalia called me in shock about Percy sacrificing himself. Apparently he was the one who went into the automaton, where last time it was Bianca. Thalia said everything happened the same way, and that they couldn’t find Percy in the automaton, and they looked. She thought he was dead until I pointed out that Percy couldn’t be dead if Grover’s still alive and kicking,” Katie explained.

“So Percy’s still alive, and so’s Bianca?” Beckendorf asked. Katie nodded, and Nico nodded too, suddenly very overwhelmed by the fact that his sister wasn’t dead. She might have left him, abandoned him to become a huntress, but she was still alive.

“I just thought I should let you all know that Percy somehow managed to change the outcome of the prophecy,” Katie added.

“It makes sense that he was able to,” Will said, causing all attention to turn to him. “I don’t know how he did it, but the fact that he could isn’t surprising. No one knows how a prophecy is going to play out until it comes to pass. Even those with knowledge of the future, like us, or who can see the future, like our dad, aren’t able to predict the outcomes of prophecy accurately all the time.”

“Isabella, one of our sisters who was councilor when I first came to camp, once mentioned that Free Will can cause the outcomes of prophecies to change, as long as the wording fits. She said that the tapestry that is weaved from our life strings is often changed or manipulated by Free Will, and that while the major outcome of a prophecy is set in stone, the outcomes of minor parts of it can change as long as the result is the came,” Lee added. At the various blank looks he got, he shrugged. “Isabella was the last of our siblings to have Prophecy as her major area from dad, so that’s all I’ve got.”

“So, because the prophecy just said that ‘one would be lost in the land without rain’, it didn’t necessarily mean that one of them would die? And because it only said one of them, it was able to switch from Bianca to Percy?” Silena clarified.

“That makes sense, I guess. Like, lost could mean dead, like it did the first time around with Bianca, but it also means misplaced, unable to be found, out of reach, which sounds like what happened to Percy,” Malcom added.

“And the major outcome of the prophecy that was given will remain the same, even with that slight change,” Lee said. “They will still reach the Mountain of Despair and free the goddess, trapping the General back under the sky, and bringing the full scale of the impending war to the attention of the Council.”

The cabin fell into silence then, none of them really knowing what to say, all of them lost in their thoughts. Finally, Conner broke them out of their thoughts, clapping his hands together and causing many of them to startle and reach for their weapons.

“If that’s all, how about we head back to our cabins? Sleep is actually sounding good tonight, and we’re still waking up early for languages, aren’t we?”

The van eventually ran out of gas, and they came to the stop near a river where Thalia remembered borrowing (stealing) canoes last time. They took two canoes, Grover and Thalia in one, Bianca and Zoë in the other. Grover managed to convince the naiads to help speed up their journey along the river, letting them travel much faster than they would have been able to row. Not having to row gave them nothing to do, other than talk.

“What happened in the junkyard?” Thalia asked, looking towards Bianca. “With Percy? I saw you talking to him before he went into the automaton.”

“He said that he had an idea to stop the giant. There was a hatch at the bottom of its foot, and he thought he could get inside and get it to stop. I tried to get him to let me go, since I’m the one who took something. I just wanted to get Nico the one statue he didn’t have. But he insisted that he would go, and asked me to hold his bag so he would be faster. And now he’s dead. Because I wanted to get my brother a present.”

“Kelp Head’s not dead,” Thalia said. “And it’s not your fault. He’s so loyal that I’m not surprised he didn’t let you go since it was his plan.”

“What do you mean, he’s not dead?” Bianca asked, and Grover seemed to have the same question, based on his expression.

“Grover’s still alive. That means so’s Percy,” Thalia said. “I remember Kelp Head mentioning last summer that they have an empathy link.”

“How did I not remember that?” Grover exclaimed. Thalia patted him on the head, messing his hair up for good measure.

“Stress.”

The rest of the canoe ride was spent in quiet conversation, nothing as shocking as Percy not being dead coming up. Eventually, they reached the Hoover Dam, and Zoë decided that they should enter the tourist attraction to use the facilities and get more supplies. Their time at the dam was relatively uneventful until they were set to leave. They were leaving the dam when a food fight broke out in the cafeteria, and Thalia turned in time to duck under a speeding bread roll. Stuck in the middle of the fight, one of them with a tortilla between its ribcage, were a pack of spartoi. Not all twelve of them, but five was more than enough of a challenge.

“How did they find us?” Grover shouted as they ran the rest of the way out of the building, hoping to get away before the fast skeletons could catch them.

“They were tracking Perseus’ scent, were they not,” Zoë added, leaping down the stairs to come to a stop next to the statues of the angels, sacred to Zeus.

“I have Percy’s bag,” Bianca said, stopping next to the elder huntress. “I can’t just ditch it though. Not with the amount of supplies it has.” Thalia stared up at the angels, trying to remember how they had gotten away last time. Percy had told her to pray to her dad, and that’s what she did again, hoping that he would hear her, hoping that he would answer this one prayer even though he had never answered a prayer before, or since. But Bianca didn’t have enough knowledge or control over her Underworld abilities to be able to kill all the spartoi – they had been lucky last time that she had been able to kill even one of them – and they had no other way to escape. So she closed her eyes and prayed to her dad.

For a second, nothing happened. And then, the statues started to move, coming alive and stretching their wings. Then, they scooped the four of them up, one in each hand, and took to the skies. Thalia screwed her eyes tight and did her best not to think about how high they were. She really hated heights.

Chapter Text

Percy roamed the streets of San Francisco, trying to remember how to find the pier that Nereus frequented, where he was hoping to meet up with the questors. He had been separated from them a couple days ago, and none of them had contacted him, so he had to hope they hadn’t already found Nereus; he had started a discussion during the trip about how they would find out what Artemis had been hunting, and together they had planned to find Nereus to ask him, negating the need for Apollo to visit them and tell them to ask the god, and also meaning he had a good idea where he could find them. They only had a day to complete the quest now, the Winter Solstice being the very next day, and he knew – hoped – that the questors were still on track like they had been last time. He had no idea how him being ‘lost’ instead of Bianca would have impacted the questors’ journey or the speed they travelled. He just hoped they had remained on track because they had already been pushing it for time the first time around. Then again, when had they had a quest where they weren’t pushed for time?

Percy passed a field that he remembered using during his training with Lupa and turned around. That was the wrong direction. He really didn’t want to run into any Romans. But he really did wish that they had gotten around to setting up some safe houses in this half of the country, because he really could use some supplies; just because he had managed on multiple quests without supplies didn’t make it any easier. He’d already had to resort to stealing a few times for food and water, which he knew he had to do to survive in the present, but knew would make things a lot harder in the future if the exchange program happened again. Maybe now that they had connections to the Romans, through Jason and possibly Nico in the next few months, they could get some safe houses set up with supplies. It would definitely be something to consider. After the quest though, because it was definitely nearing mid-morning and he really had to get to the pier.

“So, how do you guys plan to get the Old Man of the Sea to tell us what monster Έκάτη (Artemis) was chasing?” Thalia spun around at the question, glaring at Percy who had appeared behind them like nothing at all had happened. She punched him in the shoulder, hard, scowling.

“You’re an idiot, Kelp Head. Do you know how worried we were? I thought you were dead! You’re lucky we need you alive. Good luck escaping Annabeth when she finds out what you did!”

“I had a way out. I knew what I was doing. If I had let Bianca go, she would have been dead. Non potui dimittere sororem Niconis adhuc (I couldn’t let Nico lose his sister yet again). So, did you come up with any plans while I was gone? Or should we just wing it and hope for the best?” He accepted the hug from Grover as he stared at Thalia.

“Είσαι ηλίθιος,” Thalia muttered instead of answering him, knocking shoulders with him and zapping him at the same time. (You’re an idiot)

“Lord Ἀλεξίκακος visited us while we were travelling and helped us cross the country faster,” Bianca said instead. “Thalia said that he talked to her a bit while we slept, and that he already told us what monster η κυρία μας (our lady) was tracking. Here.”

“We stopped here to find you,” Thalia added as Bianca handed Percy his bag. “Figured we’d need your Kelp Head to help with an aquatic creature.”

“What creature?”

“The Ophiotaurus,” Zoë said. “A creature of innocence, whose death would allow thy one whom killed it the power to overthrow the world. The creature in the water down below us.” Zoë pointed, and the five questors all turned to look. And there indeed, floating and splashing in the waves, was Bessie.

“Bessie?” Percy said sceptically.

“We should probably get him away from here. That type of power near the stronghold of the Titans is dangerous,” Thalia said, eyeing Bessie warily. It had been this very same point in the quest that she had almost been manipulated and tempted into killing the Ophiotaurus, tempted into joining the Titans, because of her fatal flaw. She was not eager for that to happen again.

“If he’s in that much danger we probably should, yeah. But, he’s kinda been following me since I appeared in the ocean from the Junkyard, so it might be a bit hard to get him to leave me alone,” Percy said. “He seems to like me, maybe because I rescued him twice in 24 hours before we left camp, or maybe because I’m of the sea? I don’t know. But yeah, good luck getting him back to camp.”

“I can probably get him back to camp,” Grover offered hesitantly. “I should be able to speak with him and explain why he needs to come with me back to camp. I doubt I’d be much help from here anyway.”

“How do you plan to accompany the creature to your camp without being found by the General or his monsters?” Zoë asked.

“I could probably pray to my dad and ask him to offer Grover safe passage through the seas,” Percy offered. Grover accepted the offer before any of the others could protest or suggest other ideas, and Percy stepped closer to the water, pulling the lion skin cape off as he did so. He murmured a prayer to Poseidon, asking for safe passage for Grover and the Ophiotaurus, asking for assistance getting them both safely to camp and away from the dangers of the Titan’s forces, dropping the lion skin into the ocean as he did so. He exhaled in relief as the golden cape shimmered before dissolving into sparkles and disappearing into the sea, the sacrifice accepted.

“Μείνε ασφαλής κατσικάκι,” Thalia said as Grover jumped into the water next to Bessie. (Stay safe goat boy). Grover waved goodbye before both he and Bessie ducked under the water, heading back to New York.

“Where are we going now?” Bianca asked.

“I must return home,” Zoë said. “The Mountain of Despair.”

“Where’s that?”

“Mount Tamalpais.”

“How are we going to get there? I mean, it’s the day before the Solstice, and Mount Tam is not extremely close. I mean, we’re in the right state but that’s about it,” Percy said. A growling behind them prevented Pervy from getting an answer. The four of them turned to find eleven Spartoi blocking their exit.

“Ω σκατά.” (Oh shit) They drew their weapons as the skeletons got closer.

“I could probably wash them into the sea but they’ll just catch up to us again later,” Percy offered.

“No,” Thalia said. “Bianca managed to kill one before. Maybe she can again.”

“That is true. How did thy kill it?”

“I don’t know. I stabbed it.”

“Can you stab them all then? If we make it so you only face one at a time?” Bianca shrugged, but put her bow away and drew her knives.

Percy, Thalia, and Zoë kept the skeletons occupied with their longer range weapons – spear, bow, and trident – so they were at less risk of getting hurt, while Bianca darted around the fight, stabbing the Spartoi before they could notice her. Neither Bianca nor Zoë questioned why Bianca could kill the Spartoi, simply accepting that she could, while Percy and Thalia exchanged relieved looks as the last Spartoi burst into flames and crumbles to ash; neither of them had been sure if Bianca’s abilities as the daughter of Hades would be enough to overpower her hunter status to kill all the Spartoi or if the one she had killed earlier in the quest had been a fluke.

“So, transport plans?”

They manage to make it to Mount Tam before the sun begins to set, allowing them minutes to rest and recuperate before they went into battle to save Artemis and Annabeth. They settled down at the base of the mountain, Zoë and Bianca going over some more hunter things that Bianca needed to know for the battle they were about to be in, while Percy and Thalia sat a little way away. It was nice to have just a moments peace before what was to come, and yet Percy couldn’t enjoy it fully. He felt like they had forgotten something, felt as if there was something they had done the time before that they hadn’t done this time but would have needed to.

“Alright Kelp Head, we’re going for a walk,” Thalia decided as Percy continually tapped his feet on the ground as he tried to remember what they had forgotten. “That tapping is annoying.” Thalia pulled Percy up, calling across to the other two that they were going for a short walk before leading Percy away.

As they walked, they talked about what they had been up to while separated. Thalia mentioned how she had had a few talks with Zoë, clearing the air and making it easier to get along. Percy told her his thoughts about getting Jason and others from his camp to help make hideouts and safe houses on their side of the country rather than risking those not awake running into them on the West coast. They both made sure to keep an eye on the sky as they walked, watching the Apollo’s chariot get closer to the horizon, getting closer to dusk. The sky started to get darker and they turned around, heading back to where the entrance to the garden would appear.

“Thalia.” Percy and Thalia both turned at the quiet call of Thalia’s name, trying to work out who had called her. It only took a few seconds to find the head of blond hair up a tree, clearly keeping watch for a group they couldn’t see.

“Jason,” Thalia replied.

“How long until you enter?”

“Dusk. So only a few minutes before the entrance becomes visible, but there is about a ten, maybe fifteen minute window. Who ended up coming?”

“Second and fifth. The other three centurions are planning how the rescue is going to occur, our battle strategy basically, while I keep watch and scout. Our records indicate the garden appears at both dawn and dusk, not just dusk, so we plan to enter at dawn. The theory is that it will be before most of their forces are awake, and allow us the surprise advantage.”

“We should be gone by then, so that’s fine. Just hope no one sees us leaving,” Percy said.

“Our luck is never that good. Not when it’s so many of the Big Three involved,” Thalia said.

“Good luck. Don’t die. I’ll IM you guys in a few days,” Jason said. Percy and Thalia waved goodbye before heading back to where Bianca and Zoë were. The garden had become visible before they got back, and the two hunters were ready to go.

Percy glanced back at Zoë as she caught up with the group right before they reached the top of the mountain. She was clutching her side, and he could see the outline of a bite mark under her hand. Ladon had bitten her again. And just because he knew she was fated to die, fated to be killed in this battle by her father’s hand, didn’t make her impending death any easier. He glanced over at Thalia and caught her eye, grimacing slightly and she winced, clearly feeling the same way about Zoë death as he was. He shook those thoughts out of his head, refocussing on the battle that was about to come. He was sure that Thalia was going to fight Luke again, try and kill him again before he could become their grandfather’s host. Which meant he was going to do the stupid thing again and fight Atlas.

At least he had more experience fighting Titans this time.

Percy ignored the conversation between Atlas, Luke, Thalia, and Zoë, focussing instead on scanning the surroundings, noticing what could be both helpful or harmful during the fight. When his eyes found Annabeth he scanned her, making sure she was ok and as unharmed as possible, absently noting that she was restrained, but not held at sword point; the only enemy demigod present was Luke. As he scanned Annabeth he easily saw her grey streak back, and knew he was going to get his matching one soon. He tuned back into the conversation in time to see Thalia charge at Luke. Well, time to do one of the stupidest things in his life – although that was a bigger list now. He charged Atlas.

He relied on Riptide for the fight, knowing he wasn’t experienced enough with Stormbreaker to battle a Titan with it. He hoped that he would stand more of a chance against Atlas with the years of experience he had, but his body was still not experienced enough, and Atlas easily pushed back against him. Percy was forced to remain largely on the defensive, taking note of what was going on around him and ignoring it to focus only on the fight. Focussing on surviving. He needed to win, needed to succeed.

And then he felt his sword grow heavy, weighed down by an invisible force. And Ares’ words echoed through his head. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. When you need it most, your sword will fail you.

Percy grimaced as Riptide seemed to grow even heavier to the point he could barely hold it, and the only thing keeping him from being skewered by Atlas was the arrows coming his way from Zoë. He had forgotten about the curse, had forgotten that that was why he had taken the sky the first time. Instead of raising Riptide again he turned to Artemis, knowing it was pointless trying to keep fighting Atlas.

“Give me the sky,” he said, already slashing through the chains keeping Artemis under the sky. He glanced back at Atlas, who had changed course, ignoring him in favour of focussing on Zoë, who had put her bow away and drawn her knives.

“You can’t hold it boy. You’ll die.”

“Maybe. But you’ll be free to help, and the others will survive,” he said, kneeling down next to the goddess and taking some of the weight of the sky. He braced himself before taking the rest of the weight from her, rising slightly before slamming down on to his knees as the full weight of the sky pressed down on him. He wanted to scream at the pain but had no energy to scream. The only thing he could do was watch his friends fight, watch Artemis join the battle, as his spine was slowly crushed, his back and shoulders burning as if his spine was being fused together. He refused to acknowledge the rest of the pain, the feeling of every muscle on fire, the sweat rolling down his face, the way his bones felt as if they were melting. He refused to acknowledge it. He had held the sky once, and he could do it again. If Thalia could face Luke again, knowing what he would become, if Zoë could fight her father knowing she would die, then he could hold the sky.

Near the ledge, Thalia was fighting Luke, her spear and his sword clanging together as they fought. He couldn’t hear, didn’t know what they were saying, but Luke seemed to be pleading with Thalia, even as her face only showed hatred towards him. She managed to get passed his defences and stab him in the shoulder of his sword arm before kicking him in the chest, kicking him off the mountain. She stared down at the ground, down to where Luke had fallen, before moving, running to help Bianca fight against the monsters that were appearing, drawn by the sounds of battle.

In the middle of the flat area of the mountain, the middle of the battleground, Atlas had knocked Artemis to the ground. His sword was aiming at Artemis’ chest, baring down on her until Zoë hit his sword with an arrow, changing its trajectory so it landed in the ground next to the goddess. Percy barely heard Artemis’ voice in his head, telling him to be ready before Atlas was slamming into him, landing under the sky and giving him the chance to drop the sky and roll out from under the immense burden, trapping the Titan back under his curse.

Percy struggled to his feet, his whole body shaking from the exertion of holding the sky. The monsters had been dealt with by Bianca and Thalia, and with Atlas back under the sky, there was no one left to fight. Which was good, because Percy didn’t think he could hold his sword, let alone use Riptide or Stormbreaker. Thalia was freeing Annabeth from her bonds as Artemis and Bianca crouched near Zoë, lying on the ground. Percy dropped to his knees as he watched the dying huntress stare up at her goddess that she had run with for millennia. He didn’t bother asking if there was anything Artemis could do to help her. He knew that if there was, then Artemis would already be doing it.

“Have I served thee well?” Artemis nodded.

“The best,” she whispered.

“Perseus,” Zoë said, and Percy looked over to her. “You wield my sword with honour. I am honoured you carry it.” Percy bowed his head, having no reply for her.

“I am sorry that we could not be sisters,” Zoë said, moving her hand to grip Thalia’s. Thalia knelt down next to her, next to Bianca. “You would have been a good sister. And I am sorry we had such little time together Bianca.”

“I am glad we had time together at all, sister,” Bianca replied softly. “You taught me much.”

“The stars. I can see the stars again, my lady.”

“Rest easy now, my Zoë,” Artemis murmured, waving her hand over the still huntress. Zoë’s body slowly dissolved into silver, travelling into the sky and becoming a new constellation in the lightening sky. “Let the world honour you, my Huntress. Live forever in the stars.”

The group stayed quiet for a few moments, mourning for Zoë. The sky started lightening even more until Zoë’s constellation was no longer visible. Artemis stood then, when they could no longer see the Huntress constellation, summoning her chariot.

“The Winter Solstice meeting is upon us. Find your way back, heroes, and join us in our council, to tell us of your quest.” Artemis turned to face Percy specifically before speaking again. “You have done well, for a man.” Percy nodded with a small smile, knowing that it was a compliment to be called a man rather than a boy. He bowed his head ever so slightly in respect before lifting it again just in time to watch the goddess disappear into the sky on her chariot.

Percy whistled loudly as Artemis disappeared from view, calling for Blackjack and any other Pegasi in the area. Before any Pegasi appeared though, a noise from behind them made the four of them turn. Behind them, were more enemy forces, monsters and humans.

“Kill them all,” one of the demigods ordered before the forces charged forward. They raised their weapons, Bianca already firing arrows into their midst. Suddenly, the sky grew cloudy above them before a bolt of lightning blasted down, striking in the middle of the enemy forces. Thalia shook her head slightly before raising her spear to the sky, using the already summoned storm clouds to summon her own bolt of lightning, hitting the enemies at the front of the group, the lightning hitting the ground at the same time as four pegasi landed in behind them.

“Φύγω, curro,” Jason voice called out from slightly below them (Go, hurry). The three time travellers exchanges quick glances before running for the Pegasi, knowing that the Romans were almost there, Bianca following their lead. A third lightning bolt cracked down to the earth, bright enough that it stunned the enemy forces, giving them cover to mount the Pegasi.

“Go,” Percy urged, and the four pegasi took to the sky, shooting away from the mountain as fast as they could as Thalia called a fourth bolt of lightning to cover their escape. Now they just had to hope that the two cohorts that the Romans had sent would be able to deal with the monsters and traitors, hopefully without any casualties. Percy directed the Pegasi to take them to Olympus, which Blackjack agreed to after complaining about the lightning they had had to dodge to make it to the mountain.

I’m just saying Boss, that it was hella freaky. Imma need some good donuts to recover from that scare.

“If we survive the council meeting, I’ll see about getting you guys some donuts.”

Can I have your stuff if you die? Percy laughed at that question, but didn’t reply, instead looking over at the others flying nearby. Thalia had fallen asleep despite being so high, clearly exhausted from the fight with Luke and having to summon lightning. Bianca was holding on to her Pegasus for dear life, clearly as uncomfortable in the air as he had been whenever he was flying on anything other than a Pegasus. Annabeth had come closer to him, so they could speak without having to yell too much.

“Thanks for rescuing me,” Annabeth said.

“I’ve said it before. You’re not getting away from me. Not again. And it’s not like you wouldn’t do the same.”

“I guess. But you didn’t have to hold the sky again.”

“I did though. Titan’s curse one must withstand. The prophecy called for it. And now we have matching grey streaks again.” Annabeth shook her head at his optimism, laughing quietly, before becoming serious again.

“You know Luke’s not dead yet, don’t you.” He nodded.

“I don’t know how he survived the fall last time, but he would have managed it again this time. I just hope Thalia managed to injure him enough to make it harder for him to fight.”

“I thought he had the curse already.”

“Well, Thalia managed to fight him, and hurt him, so he doesn’t have it yet. And last time she was able to kick him hard enough to throw him off the cliff. When I fought him after he’d taken the curse, none of my hits were able to move him.” Annabeth sighed.

“Either way, the Crooked One’s forces aren’t going to let him die. Not when he is vital to the Titan Lord’s plans the way he is.” Percy didn’t say anything, knowing that she was right and not having anything to add. Instead, he relaxed into Blackjack, not falling asleep but allowing himself to rest before they joined the council of the gods, knowing that Annabeth was likely doing the same. Hopefully they could get at least a little bit of peace before they had to listen to the gods vote how to kill them again.

Chapter Text

“There is it,” Thalia said, startling Percy out of his half-asleep state. Blackjack easily adjusted, stopping him from falling off from hundreds of feet in the sky. He could see it now; Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, died after falling from a Pegasus in the sky, after holding the sky.

“It’s started,” Annabeth said from next to him.

“What’s started?” Bianca asked, sounding just as confused as Percy was; sue him, he was still half-asleep and his brain hadn’t turned back on yet.

“The Winter Solstice,” Thalia said, glancing back at the younger girl. “The Council of the Gods.”

“It had to have started at least an hour ago,” Annabeth added. “Δρυμονία (Artemis) left quickly so she could make it in time, and we’ve had to fly across the country to get here.”

How’s that for speedy boss? Blackjack asked as the four pegasi landed on Olympus, dodging the lightning that was jumping from cloud to cloud around Zeus’ palace. We get extra hay for breakfast or what?

“I’ll see what I can do. You guys are the best,” Percy replied out loud. They group landed in a courtyard in front of silver gates, bypassing all the minor gods and nature spirits and demigods wandering through Olympus. Percy was sure that, somewhere on Olympus was Chiron and the time travelers that had been at camp when the quest left, trying to keep the other demigods in line; it was the Winter Solstice Olympus field trip for year rounders, after all. The streets were bustling with activity, more than Percy would have expected at the early hour, Eos’ rosy colours still decorating the sky. The again, he didn’t know if Olympus was ever quiet, if the gods needed to sleep or cared about conforming to mortal routines. The gates opened by themselves before Percy could even think of knocking.

Good luck boss, Blackjack said as he and his friends rose into the air. Any answers about getting your cabin if you die? Percy snorted and shook his head. Blackjack made a noise that Percy assumed was laughter as he flew away after the other three pegasi, heading back to camp. As a group, the four of them walked passed the silver gates and up the stairs, heading towards the greatest palace on Olympus, the hall of the gods.

The twelve enormous thrones made a U round a central hearth, just like the placement of the cabins at camp. The ceiling above glitter with constellations, even Zoë was there, running across the heavens with her bow drawn. All the thrones were occupied, and Percy had forgotten how terrifying it was to be surrounded by a dozen all-powerful super-huge beings; it was the first time he had been in the room with all the thrones occupied since Kronos has wrecked the throne room. And if you’ve never been the sole focus of the attention of 12 five-meter-tall gods and goddess, well. Percy would tell you that he was not keen to experience it again; at least the last few times he had seen them all in attendance somewhere, both after the Titan War and the battle at the acropolis, none of them had been super-huge.

He did notice, however, that Hades was missing, something that confused him; it was the Winter Solstice, the only meeting Hades was invited to, the only time he was allowed on Olympus each year. So where was he? Had the theft of his helm truly caused him to feel so isolated and distrusted by the Olympians that he refused to return to Olympus? Was it the same reasons why he had originally refused to help fight in the war? Percy wasn’t able to dwell on it for much longer, however, as Artemis had stepped off her throne and shrunk down to human size to approach them.

“Welcome, heroes,” Artemis said.

“Moooo.” Percy looked around, trying to find Bessie, spotting him frolicking in a water sphere above the throne, while Grover was kneeling in front of Zeus. Huh, how had he missed that? Oh, right. The twelve gods staring at him and making him wish he was facing a bunch of monsters instead. Grover had turned, just slightly so he wasn’t turning his back on Zeus, and grinned when he saw the demigods.

“You made it,” he exclaimed, starting to move before hesitating and glancing up at Zeus. The King of the gods waved him off, staring directly at Thalia, watching her intently. Grover took the dismissal and hurried over to the questors, hugging Annabeth, Percy, and Thalia, before greeting Bianca without touching her, respecting her huntress status. Percy looked away from Grover after accepting the hug from his best friend, scanning the gods in the hall, which was silent other than the crackling of Hestia’s hearth; Percy had the urge to go over to it, to kneel and show Hestia the respect she deserved, but knew he couldn’t, not without angering Zeus. Percy looked nervously towards his dad instead, finding Poseidon watching him almost as intently as Zeus was watching Thalia. The Sea God was dressed similarly to the last time he had seen him, in a floral Hawaiian shirt, beach shorts and sandals. Percy wondered how his dad felt about seeing him again, relaxing slightly when Poseidon nodded to him, acknowledging him before moving his attention to the demigod group as a whole.

“Percy, we made it to camp and then we were brought here, but you have to convince them. You can’t let them do it,” Grover cried, and Percy turned to look at Grover, who was pointing up at Bessie, who seemed unaware of the danger he was in, happily swimming away, content as could be. “They want to kill Bessie.”

“Heroes,” Artemis called, pulling the attention of the demigods and satyr back to the gods. She stepped forward as they turned to her, her face emotionless even as her silver robes shimmered in the dawn light.

“The Council has been informed of your deeds. They know that Mount Othrys is rising in the West. They know of Atlas’ attempt at freedom, and the gathering armies of Kronos.” Annabeth, Percy, and Thalia all shivered slightly at the name of the Titan Lord, the room growing marginally darker and colder as the name of the Crooked One was spoken aloud. “We have voted to act.”

Percy’s attention was pulled to the gods by the murmuring and shuffling that broke through the otherwise silent room. Clearly they weren’t all happy with the plan, but none of them protested; he was pretty sure that less of the Olympians were unhappy with the decision than last time though, which was promising. The lack of protests was good, because Percy wasn’t sure what he would have done if they still didn’t believe Kronos was rising, or had decided to leave it for the demigods to solve; it probably would have caused him to be killed though. His eyes landed on Apollo who winked at him before leaning back in his throne. So Apollo had had a hand in convincing the other gods of the necessity of them acting. It was nice to know that Apollo was still holding true to his word to try and help however he could.

“At my Lord Father Zeus’ command,” Artemis said, drawing Percy’s attention back to her, “my brother and I shall hunt the most powerful monsters, seeking to strike them down before they can join the Titan’s cause. The Lady Athena shall personally check on the other Titans to ensure they do not escape their prisons to aid the Mad Titan’s efforts. My Lord Uncle Poseidon had been given permission to reign his fury down on all sea monsters and the cruise ship Princess Andromeda, to send it to the bottom of the ocean. As for you, my heroes…” Artemis trailed off, turning to face the other Olympians. She still held a commanding presence over the other immortals, even at the size of a human twelve-year-old.

“These heroes have done a great service to Olympus. Would any here deny that?” She met their faces individually as she spoke. First she looked at Zeus, in his pinstriped suit and neatly-trimmed black beard. Then to Hera with her silver braided hair resting over one shoulder and a dress shimmering like a peacock’s feathers, and then Poseidon. Demeter, in green robes sitting amongst interwoven apple branches, staring at the questors without true care. Then to Ares, in his leathers, leaning forward intently, eagerly, as if he was anticipating a bloodbath, almost absently sharpening a knife. Athena, in an elegant white dress, head tilted ever-so-slightly, watching the demigods with a calculating stare. Apollo, in his golden robes, reclining in his throne, seemingly without a care in the world, his headphones resting around his neck the only sign that he was paying attention. Hephaestus, with his leg brace and fire flickering through his beard, like Leo often had fire flickering through his hair, a piece of metal being worked on in his hands. Aphrodite, smiling knowingly at the demigods, at Percy and Annabeth. Hermes, in a business suit today, working on his caduceus cell phone with a frown, looking up to survey the room every now and then before looking back down. And finally Dionysus, seemingly bored, twirling a grapevine between his fingers, but his eyes were trained on the demigods.

“I gotta say,” Apollo said, sitting up in his chair and breaking the silence. “These heroes did well.” He cleared his throat then, and Aphrodite broke in before Apollo could start with his poetry, clearly not wanting to hear more intentionally bad haikus.

“They did do well, didn’t they. Even those who swore off love. All in favor of not disintegrating them?” Percy swallowed as the few hands that he remembered being tentatively raised the last time this question was asked, remained down, the gods exchanging worried glances. It concerned him, and even the god who raised the vote concerned him; last time, it had been Hermes, and he had no idea why the god seemed to be less inclined to let them live this time. Apollo was frowning, as was Artemis, but other than that none of the gods seemed too keen on not turning them to ash.

“Wait a minute,” Ares said, waving his hand at the group. “These heroes could cause war. We were all watching their quest, we all know who they saw. These two especially. It’d be much safer to kill them while we have them here.”

“I agree with Ares, as thick-headed as he is. While my daughter may not know what happened, even she would work it out if she is told what happened. And there is a security risk with the other two, and the boy, not even concerning the Great Prophecy. We can not risk it,” Athena agreed. Ares didn’t even seem to care about the insult, nodding along with Athena’s words. Percy and Thalia looked at each other, both of them realizing what they were talking about. The gods had seen them talking with Jason, had seen Jason help them with the fight. The gods had seen them, Greek demigods, interacting with a Roman demigod. This discussion wasn’t just because they could both be part of the Great Prophecy. This was because the gods couldn’t afford a civil war while Kronos rose. This was a discussion to kill them and kill Jason because they knew of each other. And it was bad news that neither of their fathers had spoken up against killing them yet, when they had both protested it immediately the first time around. And too many of the gods seemed to be in agreement with the war gods.

“I will not have them punished,” Artemis said, growing to her godly size and glaring at the other immortals. “I would see them rewarded. If we punish heroes who do us a great service, then we are no better than the Titans. If this is Olympian justice, then I will have none of it.”

“You do not see the threat they could become,” Athena said. “You were under the sky when they crossed paths with the boy, and were both healing and mourning when the boy aided these demigods.”

“It is not Olympian justice that we debate,” Hermes added. “It is risk management. I do not wish to see these heroes dead, but we have acknowledged the Titan Lord’s rise. We have a war coming, we can not afford to be fighting on two fronts.”

“You believe we could be pulled in two directions?” Artemis asked, looking between Athena and Hermes. “That the risk is so high?”

“Your hunter is the only one safe from this judgement for a reason, sister,” Athena said. “She does not pose the same threat with the knowledge of the boy as the demigod heroes do.”

“I will not see these heroes killed,” Apollo said as Artemis stared at Athena, considering her words, his expression demonstrating his seriousness, for once not joking about at all. “I know the future, and I speak the truth. There is no threat to us on the horizon other than Grandfather. The Great Prophecy is the only way father and uncle’s children are a threat.”

“If Apollo deems it not a threat, then I shall not let you blast my son to pieces. They are worthy heroes,” Poseidon said, finally speaking. “I would have them tell how they know the boy, to know of what the boy’s fate shall be, but I will not have these heroes killed.”

“What boy?” Percy asked, causing the attention of the twelve gods to turn onto him. “What boy could we have met that would mean you have to kill us and him?”

“Do you mean Jason?” Thalia asked. “My brother? My full brother? Who I’ve known since he was born, who I helped raise until he disappeared? Because he knows as much as I do about why we were separated. We managed to get in touch not long after I came back from being a tree, and have kept in touch, and managed to finally see each other in person during the quest. He said he’s surviving with friends and is happy but wouldn’t tell me anything else.”

“She speaks the truth.”

“There is no lie within her words.” Apollo and Hermes spoke at the same time.

“Then I do not see why we should kill my daughter,” Zeus said. “She has done well. The monster at least must be destroyed. We have an agreement on that?” Throughout the room the gods nodded.

“You can’t destroy Bessie,” Percy said.

“You have named the Ophiotaurus. You call him Bessie?” Poseidon asked, frowning down at Percy.

“Dad, he’s a sea creature. Just a gentle sea creature. I didn’t rescue him twice just to let you destroy him. You can’t.”

“Percy, the monster’s power in incredible. We can not let such power fall into the Titan’s hands,” Poseidon said, shifting uncomfortably. “If the Titan’s steal it, or manipulate a demigod to kill it… It is not something we can allow.”

“It’s not right. Your wife rewarded me for saving Bessie a week ago, and now you will have him killed. It’s wrong!” Poseidon frowned, even as he watched Percy, clearly thinking about what he had said. Percy would guess that his dad hadn’t known he’d met Amphitrite though. Percy looked straight at Zeus then, knowing he should be scared but also not caring; he had faced down gods and titans and primordials, so he didn’t really fear for his life when facing gods like most sane demigods did. He managed to not let them kill Bessie the first time around, and he refused to let it happen this time.

“The Ophiotaurus is innocent. Killing the Ophiotaurus because the Titans might try to use the power of sacrificing his entrails to overthrow Olympus is as bad as the Titan Lord swallowing his kids because he thought they might overthrow him. Trying to control prophecies doesn’t work. And killing innocents is wrong.” Zeus seemed to consider his words, his eyes drifting to Thalia.

“And what of the risks? My daughter turns sixteen tomorrow, the age of the prophecy. We can no allow the Ophiotaurus to tempt her. Ο πατέρας μας (our father) knows the power you would get from sacrificing the beast’s entrails. Do you believe we could let that possibility remain, on the very cusp of the Great Prophecy?”

“You don’t need to worry about my birthday,” Thalia said, stepping forward, before turning towards Artemis. “I wish to join my Lady Artemis and her hunters.” Artemis seemed to consider Thalia for a moment before nodding.

“My faithful companion Zoë Nightshade now runs in the stars, and I am in need of a new Lieutenant. I intended to speak to you first, Father Zeus, but now the request to join has been made, I make the offer freely. Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, will you join the hunt as my Lieutenant?”

“I will,” Thalia said, gently squeezing Annabeth’s hand before stepping forward.

“Daughter, consider carefully,” Zeus began, before Thalia cut him off.

“Δεν θα κλείσω τα δεκαέξι μου αύριο, πατέρας (I will not turn sixteen tomorrow, father). I will never turn sixteen. I won’t let this prophecy be mine. I stand with my sister Artemis. The Crooked One will not tempt me.” Then, she knelt before the goddess, saying the pledge that she had said before, that Bianca must have said not long ago. Once the pledge was finished, and Artemis accepted her amongst her hunters, Thalia glowed silver, a brighter silver than he remembered her glowing the first time she had joined the hunt. The silver circlet appeared on her head, and she let out a breath, a sigh of relief. Artemis seemed to study her for a moment, curiosity flashing across her face, before waving Thalia away, allowing her to rejoin their group.

Thalia greeted Bianca first, pulling her new sister into a quick hug, before hugging Annabeth tight, gently wiping away some of the tears streaming down Annabeth’s face. Percy grinned at her when she moved to pull him into a big hug, but let her, knowing that Artemis wouldn’t mind.

“Aren’t you not meant to hug boys anymore?” he joked. Thalia rested a hand on his shoulder, a small spark of electricity flinging through him from her hand, jolting him slightly, before she smiled.

“I’m home again,” she said quietly. “But you and the others will always be my family too. And you’re a hero. You hold the prophecy well.” Percy grinned, even as a blush heated his cheeks. He shrugged her hand off, discretely gesturing back at the gods, who were watching their interaction. Then, after quickly hugging Grover, Thalia gently grabbed Bianca’s hand, and the two hunters moved to stand by Artemis’ side.

“And now for the Ophiotaurus,” Artemis said. Dionysus stared down at Percy, and he waited for the god to say something. Instead, Dionysus simply moved his gaze back to the vine swirling between his fingers.

“I will not have a sea creature destroy if I can help it. Especially one my wife favors. And I can help it.” Poseidon stood, holding out his hand out. His bronze trident appeared, six meters long, the three spear tips shimmering with a blue, watery light. Percy was reminded of Stormbreaker, his own trident paling in comparison to the godly weapon his dad was holding.

“I will vouch for my son, and for the Ophiotaurus.”

“You will not take the creature under the sea. I will not allow it. For you to have such a power within your domain? Such a bargaining chip in your grasp? No, I forbid it,” Zeus said, standing as well, his lightning bolt appearing in his hand as the two brothers glared at each other. The room filled with bristling power, the scent of ozone hanging heavy even as the smell of brine drifted through the air. The two gods stared at each other, neither seemingly wanting to relent. The power hanging in the air continued to grow with each moment, and soon the air was heavy enough that Percy, Annabeth, and Grover had to take deeper breaths to remain standing, rather than falling over from the weight of the power pressing down on them and their lungs; Thalia and Bianca shifted where they stood next to Artemis, the pressure eased around them slightly only due to the blessing they received when they pledged themselves to their goddess.

“Fine,” Poseidon finally said, relenting. “I will build him an aquarium here with Hephaestus’ help. He shall remain on Olympus, outside of any of our domains, and in a place he can be protected by the power of all the Olympians. My son will not betray us. I vouch for this on my honor.” Zeus thought about it, his hand holding his lightning bolt lowering so it was no longer being directed at Poseidon.

“All in favor?” Zeus finally asked, his lightning bolt disappearing. In the same moment, Poseidon’s trident disappeared as the council considered the proposal. Percy was surprised, not by the number of hands that were raised, but by the fact that Dionysus didn’t abstain. Instead, he raised his hand as well, supporting the vote, only Ares and Athena abstaining. The rest of the throne room was filled with raised hands.

“We have a majority,” Zeus declared. “And so, as we will not be destroying these heroes, we shall honor them. Let the celebrations begin.”

Just like Percy remembered, a party on Olympus was more extravagant than any other party he had attended. The Nine Muses were in charge of music, and Dionysus was creating refreshment stands everywhere, Ariadne walking by his side, the two arm in arm. The minor gods had gotten involved, the year-rounders were invited and Chiron was watching the demigods from the side, and the Olympians had shrunk down to mortal size. Percy was sipping from a goblet of coke, trying hard to not blush as god after god came to congratulate him. Apollo was interacting with his children that had been visiting Olympus, seemingly delighting in the chance to talk to the children he was otherwise forbidden from interacting with, and a few of the other gods had started following his lead. The grins that some of the demigods were wearing as they spoke with their godly parent made Percy smile. Such a small interaction, and yet it made such a huge difference for each demigod. Percy glanced around, trying to find Annabeth, wanting to ask her for a dance. He was sure she had been around here somewhere.

“You won’t let me down, I hope.” Percy turned around at his dad’s voice, finding Poseidon standing behind him, smiling.

“Dad. Hi,” Percy said before the words his dad had said even registered.

“Hello Percy. You have done well.” Percy smiled, looking down to study his shoes and trying to will away the red that had bloomed across his face. The knowledge that his dad trusted him enough to vouch on his honor, twice, made him feel both good, cared for, and uneasy, as if his dad expected more out of him than he could give. His dad trusting him enough to vouch for him even after knowing he knew of at least one Roman, made him squirm. It really would have been easier to let the council disintegrate him both times around. Especially this time.

“Thank you. I’ll do my best to not let you down.” Poseidon nodded, studying Percy before reaching forward and laying one hand on the demigod’s shoulder.

“Come. I wish to speak with you in private.” Percy following his father, wondering what the god wanted to talk about. Something like this had never happened before, and after having spent a year and a half with knowledge of what was to come, something new that they hadn’t planned for or anticipated made him uneasy. They stopped in a small garden surrounded by pine trees, a fountain sitting in the middle. Poseidon led him to the fountain, gesturing for Percy to sit down. Percy sat on the edge of the fountain, letting one hand rest in the water, pleasantly surprised to find the fountain full of salt water, rather than fresh. Poseidon sat next to Percy, and watched him for a few moments before beginning to speak.

“You are different than I expected. Something about you changed as you reached camp.” Percy stared at his father for a moment, before looking down at the water in the fountain, watching the patterns the ripples made as the falling water hit the surface of the pool.

“You know too much. Even if Sally had told you all she knew, you know more than anyone your age should know. And you are a warrior. You hold yourself in a way that expects battle, expects to have to fight for your life at every turn. And your eyes show more than you know, they show the fights you have lived through, the horrors you have witnessed.”

“I’ve been on three quests now. And I am your son. I’m always having to fight to survive,” Percy said quietly.

“You had only one monster attack last year because of Tyson, and only rarely because of that disgusting mortal before that. No. The way you hold yourself speaks of true battle, not skirmishes with monsters. And that says nothing of the knowledge you hold, of people and names and actions that you have no way of knowing or reason to have learnt. Do not think I did not notice how you knew the way to allow others into your cabin before you had even been claimed, my son. Do not think I believe that your knowledge of the boy you encountered during the quest to be as simple as my brother’s daughter suggested it was.” Percy didn’t reply, not knowing what he could possibly say. It almost seemed like his father had figured out that they had time-travelled, and he had no idea what to do. They had all been there when Apollo had confronted them, and they had been back for less than a week when he noticed, had had basically no time to prepare or work out what was happening. But now they had been back long enough to influence three quests, to influence a year and a half of war preparation.

“Tell me about your meeting with Amphitrite,” Poseidon requested. Percy looked up to stare at his dad.

“What?” Where had that come from? How were the two topics even related?

“You said that my wife rewarded you for saving the Ophiotaurus. Tell me about the encounter.”

“Alright,” Percy said slowly, raising an eyebrow. When Poseidon didn’t say anything, Percy shrugged, and started to explain.

“I’d been feeling restless, like I needed to do something. Annabeth was gone and we’d just had a councilors meeting about the prophecy to save Κυνηγέτις (Artemis). So I went into the sea, and started helping some of the animals. Freeing some fish, untangling crabs, that kind of thing. Some hippocampi came to me about a creature trapped, so I went to help. Bessie was trapped in fishing nets. It took a while to get him free, because I couldn’t use anything sharp to cut the nets. I talked to him and hummed one of mum’s lullabies to keep him calm, and eventually got him out. And then a nereid was behind me. It took me a while to recognize who she was, but I worked it out eventually. We talked for a bit, about how most people don’t care about the creatures of the sea being harmed by rubbish. And then she gave me a pearl.” Percy paused for a moment, trying to remember what Amphitrite had said as she gave it to him.

“She said it was as appreciation of my kind heart, and as protection for what was to come. I used it in the quest, to escape a situation where I would have died, and it let me fulfill one of the lines of the prophecy. I don’t know how she knew to give it to me though, or how she knew I would need a way to return to the ocean to escape danger.”

“The sea holds traces of prophecy from when I held the domain for a time, long ago before the twins were born. The sea can reach out, sometimes, and give hints towards the future,” Poseidon said. Percy frowned. Those words sounded familiar.

“I think she said something like that.”

“And so you understand how prophecy is connected to me and the sea, and how we still see links to the future or past. So why does it surprise you that I have noticed something changed?” Poseidon asked. Percy froze, staring at his father, not sure how to react to that. Poseidon laughed softly. “The sea was restless before you arrived at camp, and not just because of the coming war, as if it the ocean itself knew something was going to happen. It nudged me towards you after you arrived, pressing me to watch you, and keeps trying to hint towards your future, and yet not, or isn’t able to. So tell me Perseus. What happened?”

“I don’t know if I can,” Percy said slowly. “I’m not the only one involved. And some of the things we know, the stuff that caused this. It’s dangerous if it gets out, especially if the King finds out. It’s not just my life on the line if Κεραύνιος (Zeus) finds out.”

“This garden is sacred to me. It is surrounded by my sacred tree, the pine, and I created this fountain in the same way I created the one I gifted to Athens. None can hear what happens in here unless I permit them to. I did not vote to save you just to condemn you. You and your friends are safe.”

“My soul, our souls, kind of travelled through time,” Percy said. “Well, more like were involuntarily yanked through time. It had the same outcome either way.” He shrugged. “It was a few years from now, I was almost 17, we’d made it through the prophecies and hadn’t been given any new ones, and then suddenly we were all back at the day I arrived at camp for the first time. We think, and Ἰατρομάντις (Apollo) helped us come to this theory, that Ananke didn’t like the outcome of the wars we fought in, lived through, or died in. Or maybe something bigger was coming and she wanted us to fix things from the start to prevent worse things from happening, I don’t know. But the others all had a dream the night we came back, telling us that we’re back at the start, and that we have a chance, to change things, to save our friends, to make things better.”

“Who else knows of this? You said my nephew helped?”

“Ἰατρομάντις (Apollo) and Πολύολβος (Hestia) noticed that something had changed within a few days. We all have habits and friendships that we didn’t change, refused to change, when we came back, and they noticed. And Chiron knows, he was there when Ἰατρομάντις (Apollo) asked us what had happened. But they all swore on the Styx to not speak of it to anyone who didn’t know.” Poseidon was silent for a while, and Percy turned back to the fountain, playing with the water as he let his dad think.

“You have already changed things?” Percy looked back up at his dad, before nodding.

“Yeah. We’ve upped our training, to reduce the number of deaths from the wars. We’ve started preparing for later events, for spies we know of and things that happen after the first war. And we’re going to start working with the other camp, even if most of us don’t realize it, to lower the risk of a civil war later. We’re going to stop people from dying, like I stopped Bianca from dying on the quest. The pearl that your wife gave me allowed me to be the one ‘lost in a land without rain’, while Bianca died there last time.”

Poseidon didn’t respond to that, allowing them to sit in silence. Percy started fidgeting, tapping his fingers on his leg and spinning Riptide around in his fingers.

“Dad,” he said, and Poseidon turned to look at him. “Why did you approach me about this now? You’ve clearly known something happened years ago. So why wait?”

“When it first happened, when the change occurred, I did not believe it would be significant. I did not see how changes that occurred to mortals, even demigods, even you as my favored son, would impact the world and our pantheon to the extent it has. I see now, that the changes you, and your friends by extension have made, are impacting more than just your individual lives. And I see how it places you, and your friends, in both more and less danger than you should be in. I need to know how I can aid you, what I can do to prevent my brother from wanting to kill you.”

“Oh. I don’t think there’s much you can do, other than what you’ve already done.” Percy paused, unsure what to say before deciding, what the Hades, none of his ideas had killed him yet. “Would now be a good time to tell you to start preparing your forces for war?”

“We have already decided to act against the Mad Titan and his forces, Percy,” Poseidon said, raising an eyebrow as he watched his son.

“Yeah, I know. But no, I meant your forces. The forces in Atlantis. The Titan of the Sea isn’t going to remain neutral this time like he did when you overthrew your father. In about six months, he is going to start causing havoc, old sea monsters will start stirring. By the time war breaks out in full, so much so that the Olympians are fighting away from Olympus, you and your forces will be waging war against the Titan of the Sea, unable to aid on the surface.”

“I see,” Poseidon said. “I accept your warning and will see what I can do. Now, I should let you get back to your friends.”

Percy stood and followed his dad out of the clearing. They reached the edge of the party in silence. Percy’s eyes found Annabeth, where she seemed to be talking with Mr. D, and went to join her but was stopped by his dad’s hand on his shoulder.

“One more thing, Perseus. I do not believe I need to tell you that the boy leading the Mad Titan’ army still lives, do I?”

“No,” Percy said. “I know the fate that awaits him in the coming months. I know they wouldn’t have let him die so easily.” Poseidon studied him for a moment before lifting his hand and wandering away, leaving Percy to head towards Annabeth, who was no longer standing with their camp director. He wanted to know what Mr. D had wanted.

“Bianca, you may join the celebration. Explore Olympus some. I will send Thalia to find you when we are due to leave. Thalia, I wish to speak with you before you join in the festivities. Come,” Artemis said as the gods left the throne room to start the party. Bianca inclined her head towards her goddess before leaving. Thalia waited for Artemis to shrink back to human size, taking her preferred form as a twelve-year-old again, before following her goddess to a balcony just off the throne room.

“How may I help you, m’lady?” Thalia asked when they stopped. Artemis turned to face her, studying her for a few moments before speaking.

“Your soul has been one of my huntresses before.” Thalia froze for a moment.

“What?”

“When you received my blessing, you shone brighter than most. Your soul knew the blessing, and reacted to it. You have held my blessing before.”

“Do you believe I was a huntress in a past life? That my soul is one of your old hunters reborn?” Thalia asked. Artemis was silent for a minute before shaking her head.

“No. My Uncle tends to inform me when one of my hunters who is lost to me asks to be reborn. He knows how dear to me my hunters are, and it allows me to watch for any maiden whose soul reaches for the hunt, even ones who are not demigods. A hunter’s soul is a part of our sisterhood for so long that any reincarnation born female will subconsciously yearn to rejoin the sisterhood. None of my hunters was reborn in the years around when my father had his affair that led to your birth. No. Your soul recognizes my blessing in this lifetime. You were too relieved to receive my blessing, too familiar with the feeling of being turned immortal. You have been one of my huntresses before in this lifetime of yours and lost my blessing somehow, and yet I do not remember you being one of mine. How?”

“I do hold memories of being a huntress, of being Lieutenant and leading my sisters in battles and hunts and wars. And I know that none of my sisters hold the same memories. This is my home, milady, it is where I belong and while camp may have been a family, this is where I truly belong. I was going to inform you tomorrow, once we had set up camp somewhere other than the demigod camp. May I tell you a story, milady? One that I hope will explain why my soul and I have been a huntress before? And one that I must ask is kept private, for the safety of me and my friends.” Artemis nodded. Thalia closed her eyes for a second, centering herself before opening her eyes again and looking at the goddess she would serve for however long the Fates allowed.

“A year or so ago, when father’s bolt was still missing, fifteen demigods woke up with memories from the future. Demigods from the various cabins, of both genders and of various ages, woke up with memories and souls from years in the future. The Lady Ananke had decided that the outcome that the Three Fates had weaved from the actions and decisions and fate of the demigods and gods wasn’t good enough, and sent the souls of those fifteen demigods back in time to where things began. These fifteen demigods started planning and taking actions to change thing, to save lives and make things better for the demigods and pantheon as a whole from the instruction and with the blessing of the Lady who sent them backwards.

“A few months ago, at the start of summer, those fifteen demigods received a dream, telling them that more people were going to be joining them in the past, what was now the present for them. They were told that their numbers would rise from fifteen to double the sacred twelve, meaning that eventually, there would be twenty-four people, likely all demigods or possibly legacies, whose souls had been yanked back in time, all from the same point of time to various points where they would essentially wake up. Around the Summer Solstice, when I emerged from the tree father turned me into, I also woke up, my soul settling in my body from where it had been yanked from the future.

“I have been working with my friends, who changed from friends to become a family of sorts for me, to make things easier for the demigods in the aftermaths of the wars, to ensure that as many of us as possible survive the coming battles. But I always knew that I was going to join you and my sisters. The first time around I had not realized how lost I was until I found a home in the hunt, and I yearned to find it again, even though I had my friends around me. Some of the changes we have been making have finally become evident, and one life has already been saved from our actions and our foreknowledge. That is how my soul knew the blessing that you gave me. I will do my best to answer any questions you have, my lady.”

“How far into the future are you and your friends from?” Thalia frowned, trying to count the years.

“Two and a half years from now we will reach the point we were pulled from. Percy was almost seventeen.”

“Whose life have you saved?” Thalia lowered her head slightly in mourning for the sister who had not died again.

“The first time around, Bianca died during our quest to save you. We couldn’t save Zoë, not when her death was so concretely stated in the prophecy, but we could save Bianca.”

“You mentioned wars. Plural. We have a war against our grandfather approaching. Is that the war you speak of?”

“Partly,” Thalia said, lifting her head to look at the stars above them. “The fight against the Mad Titan should come to an end when Percy turns sixteen, in just over a year and a half. Within a year of the Second Titanomachy ending, the Second Gigantomachy will be fought and either won or lost. Last time we won, but none of us know how our changes to this war will impact the next one.”

“The Gigantes will rise again and wage war against Olympus?” Artemis asked.

“No,” Thalia said, lowering her gaze from Zoë’s constellation to look directly at her goddess. “The Earth Mother is going to awaken, and with the help of her children she wants to destroy the gods from their roots, at the original Mount Olympus.”

“We will deal with that as it comes. Now, how much do you know about your brother and where he resides?” Artemis pinned her with an intense gaze.

“A lot, my lady. I was not lying when I said that Jason knows as much as I do about why we were separated, but that is because he was also pulled back in time, and woke up less than a month ago; as soon as he could after waking up, he got in contact with Percy and I, and we have been working to coordinate what the camps are doing to prevent their paths from crossing. I know about the camp he is at, I know about the way he was raised by wolves and given away by my mother to appease our stepmother. I know that he is my full brother and yet also my half-brother because his father is not the same as mine. I know about the second side to the Greek gods, about the Romans. And not just because you or one of the other hunters informs every new recruit about the Romans in case we cross paths with them. In the future, both camps came to be aware of each other, and demigods from both camps were pulled together for a quest, to travel to the Ancient Lands to combat the Earth Mother.”

“How did father react to the camps finding out about each other?” Artemis asked. “I can not believe he approved.”

“He closed Olympus. It was the Queen who orchestrated the switch that led to the camps discovering each other, but it had only been a week since the war ended when I was pulled back so I don’t know of any consequences that were given, only the immediate action that was taken of closing Olympus.” Artemis swore, reverting back to a tongue of Greek so old that Thalia could only understand the gist of the goddess’ sentiment, rather than the true meaning of the words.

“I will not allow that to happen this time around. Not if the threat requires gods and demigods to work together to defeat the Gigantes. Does my brother know of this?” Thalia nodded.

“He, along with our Aunt who resides at the hearth, noticed that something had changed within days of the first fifteen waking up in the past. He came to camp and confronted them about it, wanting to know what had changed so much that it had caused him to be unable to see more than a day or two into the future surrounding them. The fifteen gave him a run down, of sorts, after he swore not to tell anyone but Πολύολβος (Hestia) and anyone else who already knew, but they mainly focused on what was going to happen in this war. He said he wanted to help, and he has done some things that have reduced the number of demigods who would turn traitor, and we assume he has been trying to help behind the scenes.”

“That is why he wanted me to step up the training of the hunters. He came to me after father’s bolt was returned and told me that he couldn’t tell me why, but that we needed to up our training. And he has been quite persistent about some of us claiming children, although he has been saying it is because of health reasons. How many hunters did we lose Thalia? In both wars?” Thalia moved over on the balcony so she was leaning on the edge, overlooking the rest of Olympus where the celebration was in full swing.

“Too many. I helped burn the shrouds of too many of my sisters.”

“How many?”

“Twenty-two.” Artemis was silent at the number, a single, silver tear sliding down her face.

“I will not allow that many of our sisters to die this time. You and your friends have given us a chance to prevent their deaths. We will not have to burn that many shrouds,” Artemis said fiercely. Thalia nodded her agreement.

“I shall allow you to check in with your fellow time travelers once every month unless we have a pressing quest or hunt. Now go, spend time with your friends before we leave.” Thalia nodded, bowing to her lady before going to join the party.

“Annie Bell.” Annabeth turned from her conversation with Bianca, where she had been pointing out who various gods were, to find Dionysus standing behind her. Bianca made a noise, most likely from confusion, but Annabeth didn’t even blink at the wrong name; Mr. D never used their names and instead had one or two he would use instead, so they had all gotten use to responding to various names over the years. The time travelers especially, and where they had once hated, or at least begrudged not having their true name used, they now enjoyed it; many of them hadn’t been called the wrong name since before the Battle of the Labyrinth due to the various times Dionysus had been recalled from camp due to the wars, and the use of the wrong names now reminded them that they still had a chance to change things before the wars picked up in earnest.

“Yes Mr. D?”

“Hurry away, huntress. Enjoy the party elsewhere. This does not concern you.” Bianca squeaked before bowing and moving away. Annabeth allowed her eyes to follow the girl she had never truly met before as she made her way through the crowds enjoying the celebration, managing to never even touch anyone as she weaved across the courtyard. Her gaze quickly swept across the rest of Olympus that she could see, unable to spot Percy. She was prevented from panicking though as Dionysus started talking again, pulling her attention back to him.

“Tell me what is going on with the campers. You, Peter, and Thelma seemed unsurprised with the council and our decision. Not in the arrogant way of heroes believing they know how the gods will think and act. In a way that speaks of foreknowledge. I may have voted to have Perry spared, and allowed the rest of you to live, but do not think that I will hesitate to turn you and Johnson into dolphins, or smite you where you stand, if you hint at working for or being involved with the Titan Lord.” Annabeth hesitated for a moment, rapidly cycling through the various options she had.

She could deny it, but that likely wouldn’t work, and would very likely cause her to be sent to the Underworld. She could ask questions and try and get him to explain what he meant and believed, and tell the truth based off what he already knew, giving him breadcrumbs so he didn’t look any deeper. And yet she knew it wasn’t wise to try and deceive a god, especially one that lived in the same place she resided for large portions of the year. She could give him the basics, tell him that she and Percy and Thalia had travelled through time through the workings of Ananke to prevent Kronos’ attempt at war, and convince him that they would not side with the Titans. That could work, but again, he would likely notice that there were things missing from the story. Especially as he had implied that he knew others were involved, knew other campers were part of whatever had happened to them. If she went with that option, he may believe it for a while and then find the holes in the story and smite her for lying, even if it was simply by omission. Or she could tell him the truth, the whole truth, and hope that he didn’t tell Zeus in hope of it reducing the length of his punishment, and hope that he didn’t try to interfere or stop the plans they were already working on and were in action at camp. It would be risky, telling him, especially as there was a large risk of him telling Zeus, which was the very last thing that any of them wanted to happen. But she also knew that he didn’t like his father, not really, not with the harshness of the punishment he had been given. And she knew that he cared for the demigods under his care, however small that care was. She knew he at least cared for his sons, and both Castor and Pollux were involved; hopefully he wouldn’t tell Zeus purely because his sons were involved; almost all the time travelers remembered how he mourned Castor when he fell.

“Well, Annie Bell? I’m waiting. And do not think of trying to lie to me. I may not be the god of lies or truths and be able to tell when you lie. But I am not blind like many of you seem to believe, nor am I simply the god of wine. I am the god of madness, and I can tell when campers under my supervision suddenly become a lot closer to insanity, closer to madness and further from holding a healthy mind. I can always ask someone else whose mind was healthy one day and burdened by madness the next if I think you are lying to me.”

“I was not thinking of lying to you,” Annabeth said, and she wasn’t really lying. Most of her plans included telling him some aspects of the truth. “I am simply trying to work out how to explain everything without putting any of us in danger.”

“The only danger to you or your little friends is if you do not tell me what I ask, or if you are with the Titan Lord. Tell me now.”

“I believe you when you say we will not be in any danger from you. But we are all aware of how your father reacts and how he overreacts. That has been in the front of our minds every time we consider telling people what has happened. I swear, none of us want the Crooked One to rise, or overthrow the gods, and he had no hand in what happened to us. But if your father hears the smallest amount of what happened to us, we would be dead before we could explain.” Dionysus simply stared at her.

“Our souls were pulled through time by Lady Ananke. The Titan Lord had no hand in our souls moving backwards through time, and it was Ἀλεξίκακος (Apollo) who told us who it was, when he realized that something had changed with us. We came from what is now two and a half years in the future, barely even a week after the end of a second war, and most of us were returned to the summer of the stolen lightning bolt, while a few of us returned to other points since then. Lady Ananke charged us with changing things, saving our friends and making things better. We were expecting what happened in the council because we lived through a similar vote the first time around. We are making changes, but they would seem small right now because they all aim for more people living through the wars in the long run, rather than trying to prevent the war that will occur no matter what. We don’t want to lose the benefit of foreknowledge and cause the enemy to change their plans too drastically to the point where we become unprepared again.”

“And the madness? I would say it was caused by war, or wars as you say. But some of you are closer to insanity than others.” Annabeth let out a slow breath, calming herself down even as the god’s words caused her heart to beat faster. She refused to think of why her and Percy, and Nico but she didn’t know if Dionysus had noticed him, teetered at the edge of insanity.

“We all deal with trauma, with PTSD, differently. Some of us went on more quest and missions during the wars than others. Some of us were directly involved in the Great Prophecies that spoke of the wars. Some of us were healers rather than fighters on the frontline, and so have different trauma. And some of us were pulled through time from the Underworld after falling in the wars.”

“What of you and Perry? You both were on the brink of falling into madness during Perry’s first summer, more than any of the others who rocketed away from sanity.”

“Percy and I were both heavily involved in quests and prophecies. I refuse to say any more. We may not have moved on from the trauma, we may still be plagued by it, but we know how to handle it.”

“And what of those who you say died? Have they recovered from that trauma?” Annabeth hesitated.

“I don’t know. Many of us don’t like talking about how we are coping. We know each other’s triggers and how we each deal with things. But none of us talk about it if we can help it.” Dionysus stared at her, studying her, before taking a large gulp from his can of diet coke.

“Bah. Demigods.” Without saying anything else, the god walked off, leaving Annabeth standing alone, wondering what had happened. Well, she knew what had happened. She was just working on understanding. But maybe the god of madness knowing about their time travel wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe.

“Hey Wise Girl.” She shook her head, blinking rapidly as she focused back on the present, rather than getting lost in her thoughts. Percy was standing near her, not close enough to touch her, but not too far away. He had clearly noticed she hadn’t noticed his approach and didn’t want to get judo flipped. Smart boy.

“Seaweed Brain. Where did you vanish too?”

“Dad wanted to talk,” Percy replied, stepping closer and wrapping and arm around her shoulders.

“Oh? About what? Jason? I was wondering about that too. Do we even know why he was there when I was?”

“Not about Jason specifically. He wanted to know how I knew things that I shouldn’t, why I held myself like a warrior anticipating having to fight for my life at any moment, and what had changed with my when I first arrived at camp. So I explained what happened and our journey and stuff, because he was not going to let it go. And apparently Coelispex (Apollo) told the augur that there were Titan forces at Mt Tam, and Jason was part of the trio sent to investigate, which didn’t happen last time apparently. And then seeing you and Chris woke him up. Jason was really confused when he IM’ed me. I mean, I was confused too, but I was also half asleep, so that didn’t help. But then because you freed one of the legionnaires, the Legion couldn’t just leave you there, so they sent two cohorts to rescue you, because they couldn’t just leave a ‘helpless demigod’. And Jason managed to get his cohort to go, so we could coordinate both quests without seeing each other. Well, without anyone not awake seeing each other, which did work. We kinda forgot that we aren’t meant to know each other either, but Thals was able to come up with something, which was good. I don’t really fancy being disintegrated.”

“How did your father even know something had changed?” Annabeth asked even as she nodded her thanks for Percy’s explanation about Jason.

“So, apparently the shielding around the cabins that prevents gods from listening in doesn’t prevent the god whose cabin it is from listening in if they really want to. And the sea used to hold prophecy, before the twins were born, and still has traces of it. So dad was watching during my first few days of camp because the sea was telling him that something was up. Which, yeah, me knowing how to accept campers into the cabin’s sea magic before I even was supposed to know who my dad is, is kinda of sketchy. But he didn’t really care what had happened, until he realized that what had happened to me could impact the whole pantheon because of my knowledge, like knowing Jason.”

“Obviously your dad would notice. You literally have to use Ancient Greek, your title as his son, and our titles as children of the gods, to accept us into the cabin’s magic. That’s just a slight give away when you aren’t meant to know anything about camp, Kelp Head,” Thalia said, stopped beside them and punching Percy in the shoulder. He rolled his eyes at her, rocking slightly so he could nudge her shoulder with his, making sure he added some extra force into the nudge.

“That does make sense. And having more gods in the know now that we’re more established in this timeline isn’t really a bad thing,” Annabeth said, ignoring Thalia as she stuck her tongue out at Percy. Those two would act like they were five sometimes, especially around each other.

“What did Mr. D want?”

“Oh, basically the same thing as your dad.”

“What.”

“He’s the god of madness Seaweed Brain. We should have realized that he would notice when a group of us are suddenly no longer mentally healthy. So I told him, because he wouldn’t kill us, not when that would mean also killing Castor and Pollux. We all know that he does actually care about his sons.”

“Oh, so three more Olympians know what’s going on then,” Thalia said.

“You told Ίοχέαιρα (Artemis)?” Percy asked. “Already? I thought you were going to wait until after the hunters leave camp.”

“Obviously I told her. But she asked me how my soul had held her blessing before in my lifetime, as she knew I don’t hold the soul of a reincarnated hunter. Don’t ask. So yeah, I told her. She’s given me permission to get in contact with you guys once a month, given we don’t have a pressing hunt or ques or anything, so we can keep on top of our planning and stuff. My Lady was not impressed with the number of shrouds we had to burn because of the wars, and she has agreed that we will not let that number be the same this time.”

“We’ll let the others know. Having a third of the council, plus Ποθεινοτάτη (Hestia) in the know isn’t a bad thing. There are things we can’t help with that they will be able to,” Annabeth said.

“Alright, I’ve been threatened with death, fought a Titan, held the sky, and had to explain about our journey through time in 24 hours. I need to relax. Fancy a dance, Wise Girl?” Annabeth laughed, but accepted the hand Percy held out towards her. She waved to Thalia as Percy pulled her on to the dance floor. She was glad that they could keep these peaceful moments. These made living through the wars again worth it.

Chapter Text

Apollo sat down next to Hestia’s hearth as the demigods left the celebration. It was getting late, and a part of him was driving his chariot towards the horizon, almost ready for Artemis to take over. The celebration as still in full blast even as the demigods, and the heroes the celebration was to supposedly honor and celebrate, left. It had been a long few days, and he had done everything he could to help the questors; they were trying to rescue his baby sister, after all. And if he couldn’t go find her, he was going to do everything he could to help those trying to find her, especially when two of them had done it once before already. Hestia appeared from the fire, sitting down next to him and prodding at the flames, which were burning bright thanks to the celebration going on around them; it seemed as if there were no worries and as if all the gods had forgotten the rise of the Titan Lord, despite the decisions the council had made hours prior and the agreement that a war was coming.

“Apollo.” Apollo looked up, grinning at his sister.

“Arty,” he exclaimed, jumping to his feet with his arms spread. “Aren’t you meant to be with your hunters?”

“I instructed Thalia and Bianca to travel with the demigods back to Camp Half-Blood, and that I would collect them tonight. And don’t call me Arty.”

“Aw, but sis, what else am I meant to call you?”

“How about my name, Apollo?” Apollo pouted exaggeratedly, crossing his arms.

“But that’s no fun.” Artemis started plucking at her bow, and Apollo changed the subject before she decided to start shooting; an arrow to his sensitive parts would always hurt, no matter how many times it had happened, and that was where Artemis always aimed.

“So, what did you want, my dearest sister? Did you seek me out because you enjoy my awesome company so much? Or did you want to hear my newest haiku that Aphrodite interrupted earlier?”

“No, I do not want to hear another one of your infernal haikus. I wish to talk about the heroes. The ones whose futures you can not see.” Apollo straightened up, his slight joking manner slipping away as he stared at his twin. Hestia’s gentle prodding at the hearth also slowed, indicating that the elder goddess’ attention was fixed on the coming conversation.

“What do you know?” Apollo asked, arms dropping to his side as he stared intently at her.

“More than I did before the council began,” Artemis said. “Thalia’s soul had been a hunter once before and I asked her about it. She told me much.” Apollo nodded.

“I believed she had travelled back. She was not one of the original group.”

“What can you tell me about them? You said the only threat approaching currently is grandfather. They are not a threat?”

“They are not. I do not pretend to understand the actions of Lady Ananke, but I believe she would not have sent them back if they would make this future worse. Do you know how many there are? I was aware of the first fifteen, and became aware of Thalia when I met her, but do not know how many others there are. I only found out I could not see into their futures when Aunt Hestia mentioned their changed actions to me,” Apollo said, nodding towards Hestia, who was watching them intently now, not even pretending to stoke the fire.

“Thalia said double the sacred twelve but did not mention how many are already back. Our father’s Roman son is one of them. She told me how many of my hunters fell the first time around, and we will not let that many fall again. They have already changed, prevented, the death of one of my hunters.” Apollo nodded, gaze going far away before snapping back.

“Bianca,” he said. Artemis nodded. “What are you going to do now that you know?”

“Nothing you would not expect. Train my girls harder. Allow my lieutenant to contact her fellow travelers as often as once a month. Follow her advice to prevent deaths. Trust that she will provide knowledge that I need to know and that she does not keep important information to herself.”

“Who’s keeping information to herself?” Apollo and Artemis turned to see Dionysus approaching, his form that of an androgenous adult closer to his original Greek appearance rather than the one he wore most of the year around the demigods.

“D. Did you want something?” Apollo asked, ignoring Dionysus’ question.

“I desired to talk with you about something Annie Bell told me that answered questions I’ve had since Perry arrived at camp.”

“Ah,” Apollo said. “Their mental health?” Dionysus inclined his head. “That does make sense. I am surprised you did not mention it sooner.”

“There was no need. There was no indication that anything had truly happened other than fifteen campers suddenly developing PTSD. Not until today when it appeared they had foreknowledge that could be dangerous. I needed to be sure that they were not working with the Titan Lord.”

“Are you going to do anything with the knowledge?” Artemis asked. Dionysus raised an eyebrow.

“Are you?” Artemis didn’t reply, and Dionysus sighed. “There is not much I can do. I already have been overlooking their unique reactions to many things, which I suspect are their triggers, and they have a handle on it now. I am sure Chiron is aware, and most of them are councilors. They care about the campers, and camp, even if they do not care for the gods. They will do what they will to protect the camp and their friends, with or without my interference. I assume they already have been.”

“They have been.”

“Uncle P?” Apollo asked, turning to stare at the god who had appeared on the other side of Hestia’s hearth.

“What do you mean, brother?” Hestia asked.

“Percy told me. I knew something had changed and realized today that the change was bigger than I realized. I asked Percy, and he told me. About their souls being yanked backwards, in his words, and the changes they’ve already made.”

“What have the brats done?”

“They’ve increased their training to reduce the number of deaths from wars they’ve known are coming since before they even started. They’ve made plans for spies and plans for after this war and have already started discretely working with the Romans to prevent a civil war later. And they have already changed, prevented a death,” Poseidon said. Artemis nodded.

“Thalia said her brother is a part of their group. I assume that is how they are coordinating with the Romans.”

“Percy did not say how, just that they are.”

“What are you going to do now that you know, Uncle?” Apollo asked.

“Trust that my son and his friends know what they’re doing and will provide the information we need to know. Percy has already informed me that Atlantis is going to be under attack by this summer, and I am going to use that information to make changes, like these demigods have been making changes already. I have vouched on my honor for my son, and I will continue trusting in him.”

“Atlantis is going to be attacked?” Hestia asked in alarm, standing up from next to her hearth to look her brother in the eyes. Poseidon inclined his head.

“Percy suggested that I start preparing my forces for war. He told me that the Titan of the Sea is not going to stay neutral this time. He said that in six months old sea monsters will be stirring, and the Sea Titan will be causing havoc. So much so that neither I nor my forces will be able to aid the surface when the war breaks out fully up here.”

“Is there anything we can do to aid you?” Apollo asked.

“No. The warning that Percy has given me will suffice. I will not remove any more of Olympus’ power when the Titan Lord is rising.”

“Is there anything else we can do now that we know about this?” Dionysus asked. “I wasn’t planning on doing anything, but I will if I must.” Hestia sighs, sitting back down next to her hearth.

“They will tell us if there is anything else we need to know, or anything we need to do. For now, we simply make sure our brother doesn’t find out.”

Nico starred after the hunters as they filed out of camp. He had seen Bianca again, had seen her alive. And she had barely acknowledged him. Yes, she had given him the little Hades figurine, the only one he didn’t have. But she hadn’t said anything. She had just pressed the figurine into his hand with a small smile before turning around and leaving again. As if he barely mattered. And yes, fine, he had gotten over her death. Sort of. Technically. He had accepted her death and decision to be reborn at least. But she was alive again, and leaving him, again, and acting like it didn’t even matter. 

He was startled out of his thoughts by a hand landing on his shoulder. He whirled around, teeth bared and shadows flickering around his feet, to find Percy standing behind him. He glared at the older, boy, who should have known better than to sneak up on him.

“Schist man, I’m sorry,” Percy said. “I thought you heard me calling you. Anyway, I’m heading back to mom’s tonight, she’s coming to pick me up, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me.”

“Why?” Nico raised an eyebrow, relaxing slightly as he stared at Percy.

“Well, firstly, because I know you like her cooking and her blue cookies make a great comfort food, which it seems like you would appreciate. Plus, it gives you a reason for you to leave camp to head over to Jason, since you don’t have the excuse of anger and grief this time to let you run away.” Nico shrugged, hands in his pockets and looking away from Percy. He hated that the son of Poseidon was right in that he could use some comfort food.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll come for dinner but then I’m leaving.”

“If that’s what you want dude. But you always have a room at mine if you want it.” Nico shrugged again. Percy let out a breath, the air making a soft whistling between is teeth.

“Our group is having a catch up around ten tonight, if you want to message in from the West Coast. Or we’ll work out some other way to keep you and Jason in the loop. My mom should be here in about ten minutes, if you want to grab your stuff? We can wait for her by Thalia’s tree.”

“Alright,” Nico said, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. He moved towards the Hermes cabin, absently hearing Grover approach Percy. He glanced backwards, wondering what the satyr wanted, and was so excited about seeing as he was practically vibrating. He vaguely heard something about Pan as he kept walking, getting out of earshot before he could hear anything else. He had forgotten about the god he watched fade. Would he still be there to experience that? Or would the changes they were making mean he wasn’t present for it? Would the god even be found? Would he even fade this time? Would he fade with Grover there, to pass on his blessing? Or would he fade alone, with no one left to carry on his name and purpose of saving the wild, leaving the satyrs to continue searching forever?

Nico was still thinking about the various things that their changes could impact as he made sure all his stuff was in his bag. He slung his bag over his shoulder, wandering back out of the cabin. He glanced back at the front of the currently empty cabin, and the two lists stuck next to the door. He was glad that his idea had been accepted, and even Chiron, who didn’t know the meaning behind them or the reasoning behind the different colours for the names, had agreed that it was a good idea, even just to keep track of which cabin each camper was in. He was glad that they had a way to keep track of the campers, of the lives they’d saved, even now that Bianca hadn’t died and he had living proof of the changes, it was nice to know they would have something in the future. He knew that they would lose people, it was a war, it was inevitable, but it would be comforting to know that they had saved some lives, that less campers had died. Even if it was just one life, the lists would help them know, would help prove to them that they were going through their trauma again for a reason. The deaths they couldn’t stop, couldn’t prevent, would still hurt, some more than others. But knowing that some lives had been saved would hopefully help. That was the hope, at least.

“You are leaving,” Chiron said, as Nico joined Percy and the centaur at Thalia’s tree. Nico nodded, not truly knowing what to say to the centaur. He didn’t know how to act around Chiron, had never known what the immortal trainer of heroes thought of him, or when he realized who his father was.

“I offered a room at my place for him,” Percy added, not really lying. “I can’t just leave my cousin alone here when he doesn’t even have a cabin, can I? And mom already said she’d love to meet him. I’m pretty sure she’s already emotionally adopted him without actually having met him.” Nico held back a snort, knowing that yes, that was most likely true. After all, Sally had taken one look at him when he had come out of Percy’s room at his fifteenth party and immediately started acting like he vaguely remembered his mamma acting. He never actually said it, but he had appreciated her warm acceptance and easy love. Even after he’d convinced her son to swim in the Styx and nearly got him killed by being imprisoned in the Underworld. He could definitely see her having emotionally adopted him after only hearing a few stories about him.

“And I can not convince either of you to stay within the safety of camp? Even knowing that the Titan Lord will do anything to get either of you to his side? Even knowing the strength of both of your scents?”

“I told mom I’d be coming home after the quest. We have plans for Christmas at the end of the week,” Percy said, shrugging one shoulder. “I have Riptide if any trouble comes our way.”

“I don’t want to stay,” Nico muttered. Chiron let out a sigh, lifting his eyes to the sky for a moment before looking back at the two demigods.

“Πολύ καλά. Ασφαλή ταξίδια παιδιά. I will see you for the summer then.” (Very well. Safe travels, children)

“I’ll do my best to drag this one back,” Percy promised, jerking his head at Nico. Nico grumbled, but didn’t say anything. He had already agreed that he would think about coming back for the summer. It would depend on what happened with the Romans. Chiron nodded, standing with them in silence until Percy’s mom appeared. Percy gave a quick goodbye, and Nico nodded, before the two of them left the safety of the camp’s barriers to join Sally in the car.

Nico sat quietly in the car as Percy and his mom talked on the drive back to New York. They got back to the apartment and Percy led Nico to his room while Sally cooked dinner. Nico stood in the middle of the room as Percy dropped onto his bed with a grunt, lying face down with a soft “oomph” and going still. Nico let out a quiet laugh before dropping his bag on the chair by Percy’s desk and leaning against said desk.

“How are you planning on getting to California?” Percy asked when he finally reemerged from trying to become one with his bed.

“Shadow travel.” Percy shot up from his bed, flipping around so he was sitting up and staring at Nico.

“Dude. No.”

“Why not? I am perfectly capable of shadow travelling. I transported that stupid statue halfway around the world, if you remember,” Nico said.

“Yeah, when you were, like, twelve or thirteen, or something around that, and had years of practice. You’re ten right now. You told me that the first time you tried shadow travelling, you passed out for a week.”

“So? I still remember how to do it. I shouldn’t have an issue this time.”

“Death Breath, you may know how to do it now, but your body and powers don’t. I don’t want you passed out for a week in the middle of California, which is as much or more of a monster trap than New York is. We’re trying not to get killed here.”

“My soul is the thing that travelled, or was pulled backwards to a younger version of my body, and that carries the traces of my powers with the memories and personality it holds. You all said that your powers were stronger than they were the first time around when you first woke up, closer to your abilities from when we left than when you woke up. Katie mentioned that it was a matter of retraining muscle memory that our body and powers remembers but don’t have. Mine should be the same.” Percy stared at Nico for a while before sighing.

“Fine. But you’re doing a practice shadow across the apartment first to make sure you do remember how to do it and don’t pass out first. And you IM me when you get to camp over there and are safe.” Nico glared at Percy but nodded tightly in agreement. He wasn’t overly happy about it, but he would agree because he understood Percy’s fear. He knew how dangerous it had been every time he passed out from shadow travelling with transporting the Parthenos, and he had only survived that because of Reyna and Coach Hedge keeping him safe between jumps.

Sally called them for dinner not long after and Nico fixed Percy with a look before disappearing into shadows, reappearing in the living room. Percy wandered out of his room, eyes roaming the room before spotting him in the shadows. Nico stepped out of the shadow he had appeared in and moved towards the table. He sat down in a chair with a soft sigh, resisting the urge to rub his eyes. He had forgotten how tiring shadow travelling could be, but at the same time it was a familiar tiredness that swept through him. It wasn’t the overwhelming fatigue he had experienced while transporting the Parthenos, nor the sudden exhaustion he had experienced while learning to shadow travel. It was just tiredness, similar to how he felt when he overused his powers, or got close to overusing them.

“Ολα καλά?” Percy asked quietly as he sat down next to Nico. (all good?)

“Ναι,” Nico replied. (Yes) “Slightly tired, but otherwise I’m fine.” Percy smirked.

“With great power, comes great need to take a nap.” Nico snorted as Sally set a plate down in front of him.

“I still stand by it. Thank you for the food and the hospitality, Ms. Jackson,” he added, looking towards Percy’s mom sitting on the other side of the table.

“Of course, Nico. And please, call my Sally. Percy’s family are my family. You can come over whenever you want, just for a meal or to stay as long as you need.”

“Thank you, but I’ll be leaving after the meal.” Percy spoke up then, starting to tell his mom stories from the week or so they had been apart, pulling Sally’s attention off of him, which Nico was thankful for. He did not appreciate being the center of attention for too long.

After the meal, Nico followed Percy to his room to grab his bag. Percy forced him to take a few other things, such as some of Percy’s old clothes that were still in good condition but didn’t fit anymore and an airtight bag with a small amount of ambrosia in case of emergencies. Nico grumbled as Percy gave him the things, but didn’t truly complain, thankful for the extra supplies that he would likely need. Once Percy was sure that Nico had everything he could possibly need and not need, they left Percy’s room, so that Nico could thank Sally for the xenia she had displayed for him before he left, as a good guest should. He then stepped into the shadows near the apartment door, stepping out from the shadows of the Caldecott Tunnel in California.

Nico was cautious as he made his way down the Caldecott Tunnel, looking for the service door that truly led into New Rome, the most common entrance for demigods entering New Rome, especially those sent by Lupa without a legacy before them. He was unsurprised to find the door being guarded by two legionnaires and stopped a short way away so as to appear as not a threat. They had both drawn their weapons upon seeing him, and he had no desire to provoke them into using them; he did not want to have to use any of the ambrosia or nectar that Percy had given him not even ten minutes after leaving the Jackson residence.

“I wish to speak with the praetors. I come with a message from my father, Agesilaus (Pluto),” Nico said, one hand resting on his sword – which he had snuck into the Underworld a few days ago to get – and the other hand on his chest, displaying his skull ring.

“Do you have any proof?” one of the legionnaires asked.

“I do not have any letters of confirmation. However, a message has been sent to my cousin, Centurion Grace, of my impending arrival. He will be able to vouch for me.” The two legionnaires exchanged looks before on left, likely to go find Jason. The other stayed, their sword still raised defensively. Neither spoke while waiting for the legionnaire to return. It didn’t take long for the legionnaire to appear again, followed by Jason and another that Nico didn’t recognize other than the purple cape indicating their position as praetor. A pair of automaton dogs, one gold and one silver, followed at the Praetor's heels.

“Nico,” Jason said when they three approaching Romans reached them. “I was expecting you in the morning.”

“My previous duties came to completion earlier than expected, and I believed it better to move on to the task my father gave me rather than continue lingering where I was unneeded,” Nico replied, making sure to stick to truths, or half-truths, knowing the dogs would sense if he was lying. He made sure to keep his eyes directed at Jason and the praetor as he spoke, rather than letting them drift to the dogs or show his unease.

“You know this demigod, Centurion Grace?”

“Yes Praetor. Our paths have crossed once before while I was on a quest, and he mentioned his role as an ambassador for his father in the Overworld. I was told a few days ago that he would be arriving at Camp Jupiter to represent his father and allow his father a stronger link to the legion during the times that are approaching. I will vouch for him to the rest of the legion if required,” Jason said. Nico didn’t let his expressions show, but he was internally smirking at Jason’s words. Because none of it was a lie. And yet no one would be able to work out the truth unless they had also been yanked through time and knew what they were up to.

“Who is your father, Ambassador?” the praetor asked.

“Agesilaus (Pluto), Praetor. Primarily, I have been sent to ensure the legion is strong and deserving of the interest my father has developed. That begins with me overseeing the funerals for those lost in the quest to Mt Othrys, ensuring that the dead and those my father overseas are still being provided the correct rites and due respect.” The praetor studied him for a moment, before looking down at the gold and silver dogs, who were standing still, not reacting to Nico’s words.

“Very well. Argentum and Aurum have detected no lies in your words. Will you be joining the legion?” At the praetor’s acceptance of his words, the legionnaire in front of Nico finally lowered his sword, relaxing from his guarded position.

“I will not. I am a wanderer, and go where I please or where I am needed by my father.”

“Very well. Centurion Grace will show you around while I have someone prepare lodgings for you. The funerals are due to be held tomorrow afternoon. The appropriate letters and notifications of the deaths of the seven legionnaires have been sent today, and preparations will begin in the morning to ensure proper respect is given and the full rites are received by the departed.” Nico nodded, stepped forward past the legionnaire guards and past the camp borders, into the camp of Roman demigods and legacies.

“I am sure that my cousin will be able to explain everything that I need to know as he gives me a tour,” Nico agreed. “I give you my thanks for allowing me to continue my duties given by my father as his ambassador.”

“Do not let me regret it,” the praetor replied. “We will always respect the Rich One, even if he is feared by many. And I trust that Centurion Grace would not put the legion in danger by vouching for someone untrustworthy.” The praetor said nothing else, walking away before he could even reply. Jason waved him forward, turning to start the tour as Nico ended up a step behind him. Nico made sure to pay attention as Jason explained things, just in case anything had changed between now and when he had first arrived with the Romans. He’d message Percy later.

“Alright, let’s do this. How much have we changed?” Travis said, rubbing his hands together as he looked around at the other time travelers, either there in person or by IM against one wall.

“And how much has changed already because of things we’ve changed?” Malcom added.

“Well, we all know that Bianca didn’t die. Percy?” Katie said. Percy shrugged.

“I rescued Bessie twice this time, when I only had to once last time. The second rescue was the same as the first time around, but I think someone else freed him before I could last time around for the first rescue. My stepmother saw me free him, and gave me a pearl as a reward for my kind heart as a protection for the future. Also, side note, do you know how long it took me to realize that it was my stepmother and technically a queen that has been visiting me? I mean, she visited me twice on our first quest with a message from my father both times, and then I saw her again after we blew up the Andromeda, and now  she gave me a gift. I didn’t even realize who she was until I was wandering the streets in California trying to remember how to get to the pier we were meeting up at.

“Anyway, yeah, I got a pearl, which when crushed transports you to the ocean. So I used that to go into Talos, and when I disabled Talos I crushed the pearl and ended up in the ocean, rather than staying there to die like what happened to Bianca last time. But that means I didn’t see Rachel at the Dam, since I wasn’t at the Dam, so I don’t know how they got away from the Spartoi there. And I didn’t meet Rachel, which means I may have to improvise next summer to get her involved. I mean, last time she dragged me off during orientation because she recognized me from the Dam, so I’ll just wing it and hope for the best this time.”

“Ninety percent of your plans are winging it and hoping for the best, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, shaking her head as Percy stuck his tongue out at her – it was made funnier by the fact that Percy was only there through IM, so his image occasionally swirled or distorted, causing his face and tongue to elongate slightly before righting itself.

“Well, Thalia is with the hunt, so we can’t really find out what happened with the rest of the quest that you missed, but is there anything else we need to know about the quest before we start planning for the summer?”

“The gods tried to kill us,” Percy said casually with a shrug.

“We knew that was going to happen. They voted to kill you and Thalia last time, and then threw a party when they decided not to kill you. Same party this time. We were there, remember,” Conner said dismissively, completely matching Percy’s casual tone. Annabeth shook her head.

“No. They voted to kill me as well. And Jason. They saw Percy and Thalia interact with Jason, and knew that I had seen Jason. It wasn’t really unexpected, but it was not fun.”

“How’d you get out of that?” Will asked. “We know how the schism affected them. Why’d they let you all live when it risks that happening while the Titan Lord rises. Not that I want you guys dead, but that doesn’t make sense.”

“Thalia convinced them that we didn’t know that they’re Romans. Said that she already knew Jason, because he’s her brother, and implied that Percy had just met him when they crossed paths. Said that Jason knows as much as she does about why they were separated, which to the gods means nothing, but to Ἰατρομάντις (Apollo) meant that he had time travelled too,” Annabeth explained.

“And it was enough of the truth that Φοῖβος (Apollo) and Πτηνοπέδιλος (Hermes) couldn’t call her out for lying,” Percy added.

“So there’s no risk of them killing you guys because you know?” Castor asked.

“Don’t think so,” Percy said.

“Percy, please have more self-preservation,” Lee said with a sigh. He knew it probably wouldn’t help, but he could at least try.

“Fighting a lost battle there,” Will said with a sigh. “We’ve been trying for years and it never sticks.”

“Any other changes we need to be aware of?” Malcom asked.

“Chris hasn’t shown up,” Clarisse said gruffly. “I’d found him by now last time.”

“I didn’t think about it earlier, but I don’t think he was at Mt Tam last time,” Annabeth said slowly.

“Maybe they sent someone else into the labyrinth?” Silena suggested.

“That’s possible.”

“Or maybe they thought that the differences they’d noticed in Annabeth and Percy would make it more likely that Thalia would join them,” Malcom added. “So didn’t send anyone into the labyrinth yet.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for Chris or any other mad demigod,” Clarisse said after a moment. “They’ll send someone in soon enough if they haven’t already.”

“Going from there. The invasion,” Lee said.

“We can start setting up traps throughout the forest,” Conner suggested.

“And what about our weekly Capture the Flag and smaller training exercises in the forest?” Pollux asked, eyebrows drawn in.

“We can keep them disarmed, so they won’t be set off easily. And then arm them quickly when we get word that the invasion is coming,” Conner explained. Travis nodded.

“That way we can set more up than we were able to last time, as it doesn’t take long to arm already set up traps. And we can make it a training exercise, practicing our traps with the rest of the cabin.”

“What else?” Annabeth asked, noting down Conner and Travis’ idea.

“I can get our cabin working more on our nature abilities, so we can use the environment of the forest to further slow down the invaders,” Katie suggested. “And we can work with Castor, Pollux, and the nature spirits to start thickening the brush and bramble around where the entrance is.”

“More defensive practices,” Clarisse said. “Last time, we were good on the offensive, but the way they came at us meant that we were stuck on defense until we managed to break through the ranks, which wasn’t until we already had casualties.”

“Practice with our main medics to be field medics,” Will said.

“We could get our more medically inclined siblings to be field medics during our big Capture the Flag games for the next few weeks, and use the gods finally acknowledging the threat of war as a reason,” Lee agreed.

“Talk to the dryads about our meals. Get them a bit more protein and carb heavy, to start stocking up on energy stores while we increase our training so we can keep fighting throughout the battle. We don’t know how long it’s going to last, and last time some of the injuries came because of fatigue causing people to make mistakes or react too slow,” Malcom said.

“What about Thalia and the hunters? I know we couldn’t get backup last time, but maybe we could this time, since Thalia knows what’s coming.”

“We can ask when she has her monthly check in,” Annabeth said.

“What monthly check in?”

“I thought we’d all agreed that she wouldn’t be able to contact us, especially not regularly.”

“Δρυμονία (Artemis) said she could check in with us monthly to make sure our plans coordinate,” Annabeth explained.

“Why does Δρυμονία (Artemis) know?” Michael asked. “Since when.”

“Did we not tell you?” Percy asked. “She realized something was different when Thalia swore into her service, and asked Thalia about it. We all knew that Thalia was going to tell her eventually, and so when asked, Thalia explained.”

“No, you didn’t tell us that,” Malcom said. “Any other gods in the know now?”

“My dad, and Mr. D,” Percy said. “Dad realized something had changed with me, and asked me about it at the Solstice when he realized that what had happened was going to impact the pantheon as a whole, not just one or two demigods.”

“And Mr. D realized something had changed when a bunch of campers had a much looser grip on sanity, or became a lot closer to madness overnight. He only approached me about it because he needed to ensure we were not involved with the Titan Lord,” Annabeth added.

“Is that going to change anything, do we think?” Jake asked.

“I told dad about the war in Atlantis, so hopefully that will help down there. Otherwise, I don’t think so.” Percy looked at Annabeth, and she nodded her agreement.

“Mr. D didn’t seem to care too much about what we’re doing as long as we’re not with the Titan Lord, so he won’t interfere. Maybe he’ll even help, but we’ll have to see.”

“Anything else you might have forgotten to mention?” Beckendorf asked dryly.

“Not about the quest, I don’t think,” Percy said. “But Nico’s already left for the legion.”

“How is he getting there?” Lee asked.

“He shadow travelled from my place after mum forced him to stay for dinner.”

“Why did you let him do shadow travel?” Will demanded, staring Percy directly in the eyes. Sensing a confrontation, the others trickled out, IMs disappearing as people swiped through them, all going unnoticed by Will and Percy.

“You think I could have stopped him? He managed to shadow travel across the room without passing out and he said that that was as much as he needed to know before going across the country.”

“He just got out of the infirmary after three days mandatory bed rest after the war. Because he had shadow travelled so much, and overused his powers so much, that he was turning into literal shadows!”

“While that is very concerning, the fact that you managed to keep him in the infirmary for three days is impressive. Good for you. I, however, am a mere mortal and have no ability to stop that kid from doing whatever he pleases. If the threat of passing out for a week in the middle of California, extremely exposed to monsters and Titan forces alike didn’t stop him, I doubt the threat of turning into shadows would have. Do you know how stubborn he is? He doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do,” Percy exclaimed.

“That’s just a little big three trait,” Will muttered, continuing to mutter – probably unflattering things – under his breath as he stalked out of the cabin. Percy sighed, glancing around his now empty cabin before swiping a hand through the air, cutting through the IM and leaving the Poseidon cabin completely empty once again.

Chapter Text

“Centurion Grace, a word?” Jason paused, glancing over at Nico for a second, who shrugged and took a step back. Jason turned slightly, so that Nico was still in his line of sight – as was protocol for any probatio, new recruit or visitor who didn’t have the trust of both Praetors and the Senate – while also make it so he was fully facing the person approaching him.

“How can I help you, Centurion Ramírez-Arellano?” Jason asked as Reyna reached him.

“I have a question or two for someone who has held the position of centurion for some time, and in a similar position to what I am in now.” Jason blinked before nodding.

“I will help how I can. Is it not something your co-centurion can help with? We normally try to keep cohort issues within the cohort.”

“It is not necessarily a cohort issue, and Centurian Rende does not have insight into my questions. Leila may be experienced, but not with situations surrounding these circumstances,” Reyna said. “May I ask now, or should I wait for present company to be elsewhere?”

“He is an ambassador for his father, and is going to be overseeing the funerals tomorrow afternoon. I am in charge of his tour and directing him to his lodgings as the one who vouched for him,” Jason explained, glancing over at Nico, who was doing a remarkable job of staring around and pretending to not be paying attention to the conversation.

“So I can assume you both know what’s going on then?” Reyna hissed, moving half a step closer. “Considering, last I checked, qui ambulat in tenebris (he who walks in shadows) wasn’t meant to arrive, or even know about us, until he brings qui ambulat cum divitiis (she who walks with wealth) with him.”

Jason froze for a moment, before blinking at Reyna, a small smile appearing on his lips. In his periphery he could see Nico similarly pause, before moving to stand closer to them, no longer pretending to ignore them.

“Scimus, etiam (We do know, yes). Non è qualcosa di conversazione che possa essere ascoltato (It is not something for conversation that can be overheard),” Nico said, before Jason could say anything. Reyna barely blinked at the change in languages, only hesitating as she translated the words, before inclining her head.

“Quam delicata?” (How delicate?) Nico stepped closer, lowering his voice before replying, the language he used telling her more than the word she didn’t understand.

“Επακρώς.” (Extremely) Reyna blinked, before nodding again.

“May I accompany you on the tour and ask my questions as we walk then? There are some places that I remember having difficulty finding when I first arrived that seasoned centurions do not think to show probatios.”

“I would appreciate the insight you can provide that I would overlook,” Jason agreed. “I just finished showing Nico the temples.” Reyna fell into step next to Jason, with Nico on his other side. Reyna asked a few questions about funerals and protocols that centurions needed to follow as they walked, with Jason answering even as the two centurions pointed out places around the camp to Nico. This continued until they reached a place far enough away from the temples and other sacred areas to not accidentally call the attention of the gods, and away from the most occupied areas of camp.

“What’s going on?” Reyna asked. “Why do I suddenly have conflicting memories of the last year, and memories of years that haven’t happened yet?”

“Lady Ananke, Lady Necessitas to you, pulled us backwards from just after the Giant war. She wants us to change things, to save lives and make the outcomes better,” Nico explained.

“How long have you had the memories of the future?” Reyna asked.

“Not long,” Jason replied. “I ‘woke up’ as the others call it at Mt Tam when Annabeth took the sky from Felix.”

“Only a few days longer than Jason,” Nico added. “But there have been others here for longer. It started with the Greeks, with the main players on the Greek side for the Titan war landing at the start of summer two and a half years ago, when Percy first learned of his parentage.”

“So why am I here? Why now? I appreciate the knowledge of the future, but if it has only been Greeks, why are Romans only now being pulled into this?”

“We don’t know exactly. A year after they first fifteen travelled back, they all got a dream message saying that more people were going to be arriving, to make a total of twenty-four. Best guess is that the major players of the next war are arriving now to decrease the risks of a civil war, and to decrease the number of deaths in the final battles of the Titan war,” Nico said.

“I think it also has to do with encounters. From what I understand, when someone who is going to be part of the group encounters two who are already ‘awake’ at the same time,” Jason added.

“Which would be why nothing happened when I encountered Annabeth last summer,” Reyna added thoughtfully. Jason and Nico looked at her, clearly confused, but neither asked.

“How does this help us?” Reyna asked after a few seconds of silence. “I can see how it would help at the other camp, but here two or three people aren’t able to change much other than Praetors, even Centurions.”

“I’m here to start strengthening the bonds between the camps, and to gain more trust than I had last time. And to make sure that the changes aren’t going to mean the camps come in contact too early, like we almost did at Mt Tam,” Nico said, shrugging slightly. Reyna nodded, staring across the field around them, lost in thought.

“Where there any impacts of the close contact I had with Thalia and Percy?” Jason asked, turning to face Nico more.

“Yeah. They were almost killed, with even their fathers not speaking out until they suggested they didn’t know that you’re Roman. And you were almost struck down with no warning.” Jason blinked, looking up at the sky for a moment before lowering his gaze again. That was not a nice thought, but it did make sense. A horrible amount of sense. They remained in silence for a few more minutes after that, until bells ringing throughout the camp broke the quiet.

“Come on, evening muster starts soon. Centurions can’t be late, and neither can our new ambassador.”

“Hey Clarisse,” Silena said, approaching the other girl in the arena. Clarisse was alone in the arena, practicing with a wooden rod, rather than a spear or a sword. Clarisse spun, hitting the dummy once more before lowering the rod and turning to face her friend.

“What’s going on girlie?”

“I think we have a problem. About spies.”

“What about them?”

“Luke hasn’t approached me. At all. He should have by now. Summer starts in less than a month and nothing. He knows where I live with dad, he knows that even if I spend the year at camp, that I visit dad on weekends. And he hasn’t tried to ask. Last time he approached me by now.” Clarisse scowled, gripping the wood in her hands tighter, knuckles turning white. That was a problem, a big one. They either had a different spy in camp, or there was no spy at all, and they wouldn’t know until important information got out.

“Bring it up at our next meeting. We work under the assumption that we have at least one spy with a charm like yours and use the same methods until we know otherwise. Only the councilors will know what every cabin is doing and the full preparations and defenses, both in camp and around Manhattan. Each cabin will only know what their roles are. We know in advance to anticipate a spy and can manage it. Last time we didn’t know there was a spy until it was too late to prevent the whole camp knowing what was going on with all the cabins. This just means we can’t manage what information gets leaked.” Silena nodded, chewing on her lip as Clarisse turned back to the dummy, wooden rod rising again into an offensive position. She watched Clarisse train, staying far enough away to not get in the way, thinking.

She had wanted the role of spy again, to try and redeem herself for everything she had done as a spy the first time. She wanted to help in that way, so work to manage what information the Titans and their forces received, so that she could make up for the lives that were lost last time and the lives that would be lost this time because of the information she had passed on. The others may have forgiven her, may have agreed that she was a hero and just done what she thought she had to do. But she hadn’t forgiven herself.

It was her fault that Charlie had died, that he had been waiting for her in the Underworld when she gained Elysium that she didn’t think she deserved – she had only decided to be judged because she had wanted, needed to know if her actions as a spy had earnt her punishment like she thought she deserved. It was her fault that so many had died in the invasion of Manhattan, because she was the one who made sure the enemy knew where all their forces were going to be. It was her fault that the Ares cabin had been arguing with the Apollo cabin and so didn’t come to defend Olympus; if she hadn’t given the enemy information about the raid, then backup wouldn’t have been needed and then there wouldn’t have been a dispute about who had claim over the flying chariot. And sure, she had been the one to get them to fight in the end, but it was because of her that they had refused to fight in the first place. It was her fault that some of the raids and missions some of the campers had been sent on resulted in more injuries than necessary, resulted in shrouds needing to be burned.

And now she didn’t have the chance to be a planted spy, to earn forgiveness that the others who knew she had been a spy had already given her. Now she had to live with the fact that there was probably another spy, someone else who would be passing on the same information she had once passed. Now she had to accept that people would still die even though she wasn’t the one to pass over the information that directly led to their deaths. And she still wouldn’t have a way to redeem herself from being an enemy spy, no matter if she had defected at the last moment, no matter if she had been working for years now to make up for her actions that would never happen this time around. She had still been the enemy, and she couldn’t make up for it now.

She wouldn’t tell anyone, but she was jealous of Chris. Yes, he had spent more than a year with the enemy, passing information back to them. Yes, he was in constant danger due to being in the middle of enemy territory. Yes, he had been separated from them, from his friends and family who knew what he was going through due to the time travel they had experiences, while the rest of them constantly had each other there as support. Yes, he was likely to go insane after being sent into the labyrinth – but he would be healed by Dionysus eventually, he had last time. And yes, he was meant to have been found now, and yet was still assumedly with the enemy and yet hadn’t contacted them since the Winter Solstice. But she was still jealous, because he had gotten his chance to redeem his actions of turning to the enemy.

Eventually, Clarisse finished her workout, putting the wooden rod back with the other weapons and replacing her other weapons on her body. The sound of Clarisse rearming herself broke Silena from her thoughts, drawing her out of the negative turn her thoughts had taken.

“Come on girlie. Dinner and then we have our meeting.”

Percy stifled a groan as his mom reminded him to be on his best behavior, to try and not blow anything up or cause any other issue that would get him expelled before he even started the school year. Especially because it was Paul’s school and he had pulled strings to even get him accepted in the first place. And alright, yeah, his mom wasn’t wrong. The chance of him messing something up, or a monster attacking and making it seem like he had done something wrong, was high. Hades, he hadn’t even managed this the first time around without blowing up half of the school. And so far, he had followed the same trend as the first time around and managed to be expelled from every single school he attended.

“And have fun with Annabeth later,” his mom added, like she hadn’t been teasing him about it the whole drive to the school in between reminding him to relax and be good, and making him flush.

Yes, Annabeth was coming to pick him up before they both went to camp for the summer. Yes, they were going to a movie before heading to camp – or at least hoping to. Yes, they had been dating before the whole time-travel thing. Yes, they both still considered their relationship as them being together. But did make it any less embarrassing when his mom, or anyone who didn’t know about the time travel, teased him about Annabeth? No. No it did not. At least they had fun confusing people about what their relationship was. They were fully aware of the betting pool surrounding when they were going to make their relationship ‘official’ and over who would actually ask who out. They were just keeping quiet about it. Even the other time travelers weren’t entirely sure what was going on.

“Mom,” he said, rolling his eyes, even as he willed his face to cool down. His mom laughed before waving him away. He stuck his tongue out at her playfully before spinning around and heading towards Goode, joining the other freshmen-to-be moving towards the school that he had managed to last a year without getting expelled at last time. Hopefully he’d manage the same this time as well.

He paused for a second as he reached the main entrance of Goode, catching a glimpse of bright red, curly hair. Rachel. He shook himself and continued on. She didn’t know him. She would have no reason to approach him. They hadn’t run into each other and made her think he was slightly crazy but also made her desperate to see him again so she could get answers. He would have a year at school with her to become friends with her and slowly introduce her to the Greek world. He had time to explain to her how she wasn’t crazy. There was no reason that he had to meet her today.

He followed the crowd to the gym, one hand in his pocket, fiddling with Riptide as he walked. He knew there were monsters here. He couldn’t forget about Kelli and her friends. Which meant he couldn’t let his guard down. Just because he hadn’t run into them yet didn’t mean they weren’t here. He tensed slightly as he entered the gym, the out-of-tune fight song being played by the marching band setting his hair on end, the crashes and bangs from the drums echoing around the room. He clenched his fist, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before opening them and slowly opening his fist and releasing the tension in his hand, wiggling his fingers at his side. He focused on his breathing, focusing on keeping his breathing steady, trying to relax again. it worked, slightly, and he managed to get into the gym and to the bleachers without turning and sprinting out of the room; he still flinched whenever a loud clang echoed from the cymbals, but he could deal with that. It wasn’t nice, but he could deal.

He finally managed to relax as the marching band stopped playing. He let his eyes drift over to the stage, where a guy – the principle maybe, based on what he could remember – began speaking into a microphone. Or gaggling rocks, he wasn’t quite sure. The back of his neck tingled, the hair there standing up slightly and he turned his head, trying to work out who was watching him or trying to approach him from behind. He knew it wasn’t Kelli or her friends, he had seen them at the front of the gym, posing as cheerleaders again.

His hand shot out on instinct as soon as he saw someone behind him moving to grab his shoulder. He gripped their wrist tightly before looking higher to see who had tried to grab him. Rachel. Of course it was Rachel.

“What are you doing here? And could you let go?” Rachel asked, tugging her arm that was in his grip. He relaxed slightly, letting go of her arm, knowing he wasn’t currently in danger and that it was Rachel he had sensed approaching him.

“I’m trying to attend my high school orientation. What else would I be doing here? Do I know you?”

“I think you do know me,” Rachel said quietly, studying his face intently, as if he was her newest subject for her art. “I don’t know you, I know we’ve never met. But I also do know you, somehow. And I think, no I know, that you know me.” Percy paused, staring at her as his brain buffered. He normally had about ten different lines of thought happening in his head at the same time, at least, but now there was nothing. No thoughts, head empty. Please try again in 3 to 5 business days.

“Hey, shut up,” a boy next to Rachel said, glaring over at them before looking back at the stage. “The cheerleaders are talking.” Percy didn’t even bother looking towards the stage, the sound of Kelli’s friend, who introduced herself as Tammi, filling the gym. Rachel, however, had looked up at the stage, a look of horror appearing on her face. If Percy had to guess, he’d say she was seeing the true form of the empousai. And he couldn’t say he could blame her horror; he’d seen it once or twice and it was not a pretty sight, and that was when he knew about the mythological world.

“Come on,” he said, standing up and moving into the walkway, glad that he had chosen an end seat this time rather than a middle one. “I think I have an idea of what’s going on. I’ll explain somewhere more private.” Rachel’s attention darted back to him before flicking back to the front of the gym, to where the empousai were talking about something to do with the orientation and ways to get involved with the school. She nodded, standing up and squeezing in front of the person on the end of her row, before following him out of the gym.

Percy led Rachel outside, to the courtyard at the side of the school. This way if – let’s be honest, it’s when – the empousai caught up to him the school wouldn’t be blown up. Percy stopped a short way away from the main building of the school, Rachel stopped next to him and turning to face him, one eyebrow raised.

“So? You going to explain what’s going on? Tell me why those cheerleaders look like demented girls crossed with donkeys? Or even introduce yourself maybe?” Percy grimaced, before nodding. He tried to think back to the many times he had been the one to introduce a newbie to camp, trying to remember how he had explained it. It had happened a lot in the few months after the Titan war before he was kidnapped, but some of those memories were still spotty, thanks to the way Hera messed with his memories.

“I’m Percy. Percy Jackson,” he said quickly. “I’m a demigod. My mom’s mortal, a normal human. My dad’s a Greek god. The demented girls crossed with donkeys, as you put it, are monsters. Most people can’t see their true forms, since a magical barrier called the Mist hides anything related to the mythological world from regular mortals. Demigods like me can see monsters most of the time, but sometimes they manage to hide themselves even from us. If you can see those monsters, and all monsters I’d guess, then you’re clear sighted, able to see through the mist and comprehend what’s hidden behind it, even if you don’t know what it is you’re seeing.”

“You’re telling me that, what, Greek mythology is real? Ad so are all the monsters? The Minotaur, the Furies, Medusa,” Percy winced with every name that she listed. He may have not truly cared about naming the monsters that were going to try and kill him either way, but that didn’t mean that names didn’t have power. He’d learnt that the hard way.

“Please stop saying their names. Names have power. Normally, mortals naming those who are part of the mythological world doesn’t do anything, but I think that they might notice you calling them.” What he didn’t say was that, as their future Oracle, he was connected to the mythological world in a way that mortals normally weren’t, even clear-sighted ones, and he didn’t want to test if monsters could tell that too. Rachel frowned at him but stopped talking.

“So, what? What are those monsters doing here?”

“Trying to find demigods, I’d guess. Monsters attack us, try to kill us, eat us. And they definitely…” Percy spun around, his instincts screaming at him, ducking as he did so.

“…know I’m here,” he finished as he pulled Riptide out of his pocket, dodging Tammi as she lunged at him again. He slashed at Tammi, managing to hit her arm, before another swipe caused her to turn into golden sand. At least they hadn’t tried seducing him this time. Rachel let out a yelp at the monster-turn-dust.

“Yeah, they tend to do that,” Percy muttered, wiping away the dust that had landed on his face, too close to his mouth for his comfort, looking back at Kelli, who was shrieking something about how he had killed her apprentice.

Kelli’s disguise had melted away, revealing her in her true form, metal leg shining beneath her cheerleader skirt. Percy held Riptide in front of him defensively, trying to remember the best way to defeat Kelli. She was an old empousa, with more magic and experience than Tammi had. He couldn’t even say that he had ever killed her. Seen her killed, yes. But he had never killed her. Annabeth had, in the labyrinth, by stabbing her in the back while she was distracted by him. And then in the Pit she had been killed by Bob. So, he had to take her by surprise.

He lashed forward, ducking around and behind Kelli as she slashed at his sword, one of her clawed hands managed to make contact with the sword, yanking it to the side. Percy let Riptide drop from his hand, watching as it flew to the side, landing far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to retrieve it without getting Kelli to face Rachel again, making his effort of turning her around pointless. It was a good thing that he didn’t need to retrieve Riptide. Instead, he backed up slightly, watching Kelli stalk towards him, moving them further away from both Riptide and Rachel, ignoring whatever she was saying; he had heard it all once before and didn’t really care to hear it again. He was waiting for the right moment to pull out storm breaker, hoping that the appearance of a second weapon, a trident at that, would startle Kelli enough for him to get a hit in, hopefully a fatal one.

“Hey ugly.” Kelli spun around at Rachel’s shout, shrieking slightly as a rock hit her in the face. Percy took the chance that the distraction gave him, pulling storm breaker off his finger, trident appearing in his hand. He lunged, trident hitting Kelli in the side, the empousa managing to dodge at the last moment to prevent a killing blow. Before Percy could pull his trident back and try again, she burst into flames and disappeared. Percy swore under his breath. He hated it when monsters got to take the easy way to escape.

“Percy?” Percy spun around at Annabeth’s voice, finding her jogging closer from the direction of the street. Percy waved, before turning back to Rachel.

“I have to go. Thanks for the help.”

“Oh no, you don’t. I want more explanation about all of this. About everything. You still haven’t told me how you know me,” Rachel interjected, glaring at him, arms crossed against her chest. Percy glanced back at Annabeth, scanning her posture and expression before turning back to Rachel.

“I really have to go. Right now. I’ll call you later, we can meet up and I’ll explain more, alright.” He didn’t give Rachel a chance to reply before he left, running up to meet Annabeth as she turned around, gesturing towards an alley, where the camp vamp was probably parked, as they jogged back down the street. He didn’t even realize until after he had followed Annabeth back into the van that he hadn’t let Rachel give him her number. It was a good thing he already had it memorized.

Chapter Text

Chiron watched, concerned, as Annabeth and Percy appeared over the hill. They were not meant to be at camp yet, Percy especially wasn’t meant to arrive until tomorrow. He had specifically given Annabeth permission to leave so she could go to the movies with Percy before they both came back to camp. Tomorrow.

Then again, he had noticed that the time travelers who were year-rounders had all been getting tenser, more antsy. As if they were waiting for something.

Anticipating something bad. He wanted to ask them what was coming, what they were waiting for. But he believed they would tell him if it was something terrible, or something that would hurt the campers – their friends and siblings.

Maybe Annabeth and Percy had returned early because of whatever it was that was worrying the others.

He watched the two of them head into the forest, hand in hand, Clarisse a step ahead of them. That was right. Grover’s hearing was today. He hoped everything went well for the poor satyr. He had big dreams and yet none of the council even believed in him since his first assignment with Thalia. He had gained some respect and belief after his quest with Percy and his time in the Sea of Monsters, but that hadn’t lasted long. He dearly hoped the young satyr would be allowed to continue with his dream of searching.

“Really, again?” Percy groaned, staring at the three scorpions that had surrounded him and Annabeth. Wasn’t it bad enough that Daedalus, sorry Quintus, was their new activities master, since Dionysus had been recalled, meaning they had to deal with someone who had betrayed them? Because despite his final actions, he had still given Luke and his army a way to navigate the labyrinth. Wasn’t it bad enough that he had once again decided to make them play death tag with scorpions in the forest? The forest that they had already boobytrapped in preparation for the invasion. Did he and Annabeth seriously have to deal with being surrounded by three of the four scorpions again when there was a whole forest and plenty of other demigods to go after?

“At least we’ve already blocked the entrance as much as possible,” Annabeth offered as she moved to stand back-to-back with him. That was true at least, since it meant they wouldn’t lose hours by accidently falling into the labyrinth entrance. None of them had any hope that it would truly make a difference or stop the invasion entirely, but it would at least slow them down and make it harder for others to accidently find the entrance.

“I guess. But seriously, this is such bad luck. What are the odds of this exact same thing happening twice?”

“Based on how often things have repeated themselves already when we thought they wouldn’t just based on odds, very high apparently.” Percy didn’t reply, just grumbled under his breath as he uncapped Riptide.

The noise of the fight attracted a few other pairs of demigods, and soon enough there was six demigods against three scorpions, making the odds much nicer. It didn’t take long after the others showed up to beat the scorpions, reducing them back to dust to reform in the Pit.

“Who gets the laurels?” Michael asked, leaning against a tree as he checked his arrow stock.

“Us, obviously,” Clarisse said. “You shot one of them and I stabbed a second.”

“Only because I was distracting it,” Hailey protested, shoving her brother and making him stumble away from the tree, getting a middle finger in return.

“Pretty sure it was a team effort,” Miranda offered. Clarisse opened her mouth, clearly going to argue, only to be cut off by a conch horn sounding, ending the training exercise and calling them for dinner. Annabeth pulled Percy’s wrist, keeping him back as Miranda and Hailey left first.

“No labyrinth for you to make out in this time?” Michael asked, snorting when Annabeth and Percy both flushed, Percy spluttering out protests that that was not what had happened last time.

“We covered the entrance as much as we could in the last six months,” Annabeth said, explaining the same thing she had explained to Percy on the way to camp.

“Katie, Pollux, and Castor worked to cover it with vines and plants, and we blocked it with rocks as much as we could. We had the idea after our last meeting and forgot to update those not at camp.”

“Won’t stop the invasion, but will slow them down to start with, give us more time to prepare,” Clarisse added.

“And means we probably won’t have a quest into it,” Annabeth added. “We only had a quest into it the first time because we accidently found the entrance to it. I will not miss having to lead a quest down there. It was creepy.”

“Plus, we already know basically all the important things we learnt from the quest,” Percy added. “I think.”

Unfortunately, someone didn’t tell the Oracle that they didn’t think the quest was necessary. Unfortunately, the fact that they didn’t decide to have a quest meant that the Oracle decided for them. And came to find them. In the middle of dinner.

The dining pavilion was full of noise, of siblings catching up at the beginning of a new summer session. The noise slowly quieted, until the pavilion was silent, all of them staring at the Oracle as she staggered into view. The summer campers stared, none of them having seen the Oracle before. Many of the time travelers exchanged glances, trying to work out what was going on. This hadn’t happened last time. Was the quest into the labyrinth really that important? It had been to try and find Daedalus to get his help, and to block the passage into camp. They had already done that, already blocked it off as much as they could, and they knew where Daedalus was, since he was sitting at the head table currently. And the rest of camp didn’t know about the labyrinth entrance, so there wasn’t a panic about there being an entrance into camp this time.

The Oracle came to a stop in front of Annabeth, sitting at the end of the Artemis table so she was directly opposite Annabeth, who was sitting at the end of the Athena table, right next to the Artemis one. Annabeth frowned at the Oracle, not speaking.

“I am the Oracle of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of Python. Approach seeker and ask.” The Oracle stared at Annabeth once she finished speaking. Annabeth swallowed before standing and taking a small step forward.

“How do I keep my camp safe from the Titan Lord?” Green smoke billowed out of the Oracle’s mouth, forming images of the Seven, sitting around the kitchen table on the Argus II, all of them facing Annabeth and positioned to put her at the head of the table; the spot she had taken during their strategy meetings.

“You shall delve into a maze far underground,” Percy began, seated ‘next to’ her.

“A friend, the traitor, the lost one found,” Frank continued.

“You shall rise or fall by the Ghost King’s hand,” Hazel added, seated at the far end of the table.

“Child of Athena’s final stand,” Piper said, looking up from her knife, Katoptris, to stare at Annabeth as she spoke. Quiet mutterings broke out amongst Annabeth’s siblings behind her back, but she ignored them, knowing there was more to the prophecy.

“Destroy with a hero’s final breath,” Leo said, and didn’t that hit where it hurt, when the last time she had seen him had been before he died, before he died for a prophecy that spoke of someone taking a final breath.

“And lose many to the hands of death,” Jason finished softly, staring at Annabeth, a frown tugging at his lips before the image dissolved, the cloud of green smoke disappearing as if it had never been there. Annabeth swallowed, shifting her gaze to find Percy, sitting next to Tyson, staring at where Leo’s smoke figure had been. She looked over at Chiron next, who seemed troubled. Chiron met her gaze and nodded grimly, before stepping away from the head table.

“Councilors, emergency meeting. Campers, I trust that you can finish your dinner and make your way to the campfire under Quinton’s watch. And Cabin 5, you had the lowest score on cabin inspection, so you are responsible for making sure the Oracle is safely returned to the attic in one piece.” The 11 councilors for 9 cabins stood and followed Chiron out of the pavilion as the rest of the campers broke out into noise, discussing the newest prophecy. 

“So, guess we are having a quest into the labyrinth again,” Conner said once the councilors were settled around the ping pong table.

“The labyrinth?” Chiron asked, his concern clear.

“The ‘maze far underground’,” Lee quoted.

“Last time around, I led a quest into the labyrinth to search for Daedalus, or his workshop at least, to work out how to shut down labyrinth entrances or at least prevent the Crooked One’s forces from navigating through it,” Annabeth said. “We did not believe such a quest would be required this time, as we have blocked the entrance of concern to the best of our abilities, already know where Daedalus is, and that it is pointless trying to make the labyrinth work for us as it will only make it work against us more.”

“And where is the entrance of concern?” Chiron asked, raising an eyebrow.

“In the forest within camp borders,” Clarisse said.

“We’ve blocked it as much as we can, but the Crooked One likely has had people navigating through the labyrinth for months now. An invasion through that entrance is inevitable, but we’ve prepared as best as we can to stop it,” Katie added.

“We’ve weaved as many vines over the entrance as we can,” Castor added, gesturing to himself and Pollux, who was clutching his arm tightly. Chiron frowned, eyebrows pinching in the middle of his head.

“That is concerning. However, we should discuss the prophecy and quest that Annabeth shall be leading. Once the questors have left, the rest of us can go over the preparations for this invasion and further prepare the camp.”

“It’s annoying,” Annabeth said. “The prophecy changed from what it was last time I got a prophecy for this quest. Somehow, it’s worse, and we don’t have the experience of having the same prophecy already to use our foreknowledge effectively.”

“That is the issue with us having changed things,” Lee said. “Our actions mean that the actions of the enemy have changed to counter our different actions, even if they don’t have the foreknowledge we have. And those changes mean that the future has changed slightly, so prophecies change.”

“It at least means that the changes we are making are impacting the future, that we are making a difference,” Silena offered.

“It didn’t change totally,” Percy added, nudging Annabeth with his shoulder. “We can at least make guesses based on what we know and what hasn’t changed.”

“Alright, let's go line by line then,” Annabeth said. “Delve into a maze far underground means we have a quest into the labyrinth. Similar wording, but changed slightly to fit the rest of the prophecy's rhyming scheme.”

“A friend, the traitor, the lost one found,” Travis said. “It was the dead last time, not a friend, right?”

“Last time was the dead, yeah. And it was raise, not found,” Annabeth agreed.

“Well, last time the dead was Bianca, right? At the stables. The traitor was Luke, obviously, and the lost one was…” Percy trailed off, blinking. “Oh, that’s right. I don’t know how I forgot that.”

“Right,” Annabeth said, easily working out what Percy meant. “So Grover is definitely coming again.”

“That’s how Grover managed to do that scream, right? And how he managed to get so many nature spirits to help us next year,” Katie said.

“Yeah,” Percy agreed, nodding to both Annabeth and Katie. Chiron raised an eyebrow, clearly confused, but not asking.

“So the next line was about rising or falling at the Ghost King’s hand,” Percy said. “That’s Nico.”

“He’s meant to be coming back this summer to help with the invasion,” Clarisse said. “Maybe you’ll run into him while he’s travelling back.”
“Child of Athena’s final stand was the next line,” Silena said.

“That is one of the lines that worry me. Half of the prophecy speaks of deaths occurring,” Chiron said, interrupting the brainstorming. “It was bad enough that I permitted a quest during the Winter that spoke of two deaths, when the quest was to rescue a goddess. Now we have a prophecy speaking of many deaths in a single line following two other lines about death.”

“Two of the lines are connected,” Annabeth said. “Or they were last time. The Child of Athena who has a final stand is the same one who has a final breath. Both of them meant Daedalus. Last time, he allowed Nico to kill him and send him to the Underworld, and his death caused the labyrinth to collapse and be destroyed.”

“And lose many to the hands of death,” Castor said. “Is that the same as last time? You said last time that you didn’t remember the wording, but something about death.” Annabeth shook her head.

“Last time I thought it was about Percy, especially after he made a volcano erupt whilst still inside it,” she said, casting a glare over at Percy, who raised his hands in surrender.

“Not like I meant to make you think I was dead for two weeks only to come back and crash my own funeral,” he muttered.

“It was about Luke last time. Lose a love to worse than death. I loved him like a brother, and back then I still thought he could be redeemed. But that talked about us finding him as a host rather than himself,” Annabeth finished, ignoring Percy’s contribution.

“This time it likely means the invasion,” Lee said, and Pollux’s grip on Castor tightened further. Clarisse nodded.

“It’s the first big strike of the war,” Clarisse agreed. “No matter how prepared we are, there will be deaths.”

“Very well,” Chiron said, clasping his hands in front of him. “We will work to further enforce the camp’s defenses to prevent as many deaths as we can while the questors are away. Annabeth, who are you taking with you? I believe you already decided on Grover?” Annabeth nodded.

“I’m taking the same group as last time, if they all want to come. Percy, Grover, and Tyson.”

“Four Annabeth?” Chiron asked. “The tradition is three, for good reason.”

“We’ll be travelling in the labyrinth. It’s not like we can make it more dangerous by having more of us. And two of them don’t attract monsters, but Percy does that enough for two demigods at least,” Annabeth paused, before nodding decisively. “I need all four of us.”

“Very well,” Chiron said after a moment. “Go ask if they will accompany you and gather supplies. You shall leave in the morning.”

Annabeth sighed as she stood in front of the entrance to the labyrinth, Percy, Grover, and Tyson next to her. Clarisse, Malcom, Katie and Castor were all there, helping move just enough of the blockage to let them enter, before they would cover it again.

“Goodbye sky,” Percy muttered, before taking the first step and letting himself drop into the labyrinth. Tyson followed him with the same words. Grover was wringing his hands, muttering about being underground, before steeling himself and following the two sons of Poseidon into the tunnel. Annabeth gripped her backpack tightly and followed.

Immediately, she had to control her breathing. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing and nothing else. slowly, she allowed herself to expand her attention, starting with what she could hear – the quiet murmurs of her quest companions, more voices than just Percy – then what she could smell – the damp underground, not toxic gasses. Finally, she let her eyes open, finding herself in the enclosing dimness of the labyrinth, and not the glowing darkness and rocky, open planes of the Pit. She let out a slow breath, before nodding to Percy, letting him know she was fine. He would have been able to tell she was handling a flashback, one she hadn’t been expecting; the labyrinth was very different from the Pit after all, and she hadn’t had any lingering trauma from the labyrinth specifically the first time around. Plus, she hadn’t had any Pit flashbacks or episodes for almost a year and a half now – nightmares, occasionally yes, but not flashbacks or episodes.

“Alright, let get started. Any requests for which way to go or not go?” Her three companions shook their heads. She took a deep breath, calming her heartrate slightly, looking in either direction before deciding on going right. Her previous memories of the labyrinth wouldn’t be any help here, even if she did remember the exact turns they had taken the first time around; as soon as she felt confident or secure in her choices, the labyrinth would change or make things harder.

She didn’t know how, but they somehow made it to Alcatraz again, after encountering Janus and Hera. And encountering Kampê was just as terrifying the third time around. At least this time she wasn’t surprised when Percy beat a hundred-handed-one at rock-paper-scissors by using gun. Small mercies. Briares disappeared once they entered the labyrinth again, and Annabeth really hoped he would turn up to help with the invasion again; she had completely forgotten about him and how much he had helped in the battle until she had seen him again. Judging by Percy’s expression the moment they had seen him in the cell, he had forgotten too.

That night, an expression she used hesitantly since the labyrinth didn’t follow the rules of time, she offered to take first watch. Grover and Tyson both dropped to sleep almost instantly, like they were both prone to doing. It was a skill she was envious of. Percy stayed up longer, giving them a chance to talk. A chance she had been hoping for when she offered first watch.

“I forgot about Briares,” Percy murmured. “I can’t believe I thought this quest wasn’t necessary. Without Panic that Grover had from the lost god, and without Briares to help, everything would have been so much worse. The whole camp could die without those two factors.”

“I forgot about Briares until we saw him too. But he’s free now, and we just have to hope he’ll come again. We can’t expect to remember everything. We’re doing our best. How are you doing down here? I know I had a flashback when we entered, but other than that I’ve been fine.”

“I noticed. I’m fine thought. Enclosed spaces have never been great for me, but that’s more of the sea’s spirit than trauma.” Percy paused for a moment. “There’s definitely a spy at camp. I had a dream about Luke that confirmed it. And Silena hasn’t said anything, has she?” Annabeth sighed.

“No, she hasn’t. We suspected as much. But we have Latin and ASL, and we know it’s none of the councilors. Wars always have spies, but we can work around it. Now get some rest. I’m still first watch, and I know you’ll end up with the middle watch because it’s hell trying to wake Tyson up.” Percy grumbled, but did indeed lay down, leaving Annabeth awake alone in the darkness of the labyrinth. Day one of the quest was done – with a day being in the looses sense of the word. She just hoped Percy wouldn’t blow up a volcano tomorrow. 

Percy followed Annabeth through the labyrinth, Tyson right next to him, while Grover walked next to Annabeth. They all felt safer in pairs. He blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sunlight that was suddenly streaming down on them. He shielded his eyes as he continued blinking, letting his eyes adjust to the sun so he could see where they had emerged. Great. It was Geryon’s farm again. Wonderful.

They followed Eurytion across the farm, Orthus bounding around them. Percy made sure to scratch the two-headed dog when he ran past him, because all dogs deserved pats.

“Nico?” Grover exclaimed. Percy’s head snapped around to, indeed, find Nico stumbling out of the farmhouse. Just like last time, he was wrapped in a robe that was too big for him. But what was he doing here? Especially since he was meant to be at Camp Jupiter for at least another week or two. Nico stopped, reaching up to rub his eyes, before nodding.

“Uh, hi? I wasn’t expecting to see you guys here.”

“We’re on a quest. Why are you here?” Percy asked.

“I ran into some trouble on the way back to camp and ended up in the maze. And I kind of found someone that I didn’t want to leave alone, and I have no clue what happened to him. I think he’s a demigod. We stumbled across this place last night, and they let us stay the night.” Nico shrugged. His hands twitching down at his side as he spoke: fingerspelling. C-H-R-I-S.

Well, they had been wondering what had happened to Chris.

And Nico didn’t know that he had been sent insane the first time around. So he would have no clue what was going on with him.

Somehow Percy got goaded into offering to clean the stables again. And no, don’t ask him how that happened, because he was there and even he had no clue how it had happened. But it had. And so he had to deal with horses wanting to eat seafood and the horrible smell of the stables again. Wonderful.

The only good thing was that he already knew how to find seashells and use them to summon water to clean the stables without using the naiad’s river. And he had more control over his powers this time, so he didn’t just have to rely on luck to make the water and manure sink into the earth rather than trail back to the river. And he didn’t almost lose control this time either.

It’s really the small wins.

By the time he got back to where the others were, it was lunchtime. Well, he would assume that that was the meal the barbeque was for. Annabeth, Nico, Tyson, Grover, and Chris were all seated at the table, all of them but Chris tied to their chairs. Nico could get out of it easily, simply by shadowing away – he was pretty sure at least – and he knew Annabeth had at least one small knife in her shoe that she could use to get free if she could get the right angle. Either way, he still grabbed a bow and prayed to both Apollo and Artemis that he would manage one good shot. He didn’t know if it really was one of the gods of archery that guided his arrow, or if it was Hera again, but it didn’t really matter because Geryon crumpled to dust. He freed Annabeth first, and then they worked in tandem to free the others. He dropped some of the barbeque into the fire sending a prayer of thanks to both Artemis and Apollo, regardless of if they had helped or not, he would rather thank them than Hera.

Eurytion thanked them for removing his boss, promising to turn the farm around, and not provide for the Titan army. He offered them to stay as long as they wanted, handed Percy a mechanical spider that would lead them to Hephaestus, and left.

“I don’t know what to do with him. I wasn’t planning on staying another night,” Nico said. “Annabeth said his name is Chris and that he used to be a camper. Do I bring him with me to camp?”

“Can you take passengers?” Percy asked. Nico nodded.

“Take him. Hoc ultimo tempore factum est, sed antea. Clarisse was close to him before he left, and he’s from cabin 11, so he’ll get help,” Annabeth said. (this happened last time, but earlier) 

Nico frowned at Annabeth’s words, but nodded. Without another word, he moved to grasp Chris’ arm, before stepping into the shadows and disappearing. 

“Back into the maze?” Grover asked. Annabeth nodded.

“Hopefully Χαλκεύς (Hephaestus) can help us.”

“Goodbye again sky,” Tyson murmured, walking back into the labyrinth. Percy laughed, before following his brother into the labyrinth, the spider automaton still gripped tightly in his hand. Annabeth and Grover followed right behind them, before Percy dropped the spider. It scuttled through the halls quickly, the four questors following as fast as they could. Percy could almost sense the unease from Annabeth that always accompanied spiders, and wasn’t surprised that she was at the back of the group, furthest away from the fake spider.

Percy was incredibly proud of Annabeth when they were unlucky enough to encounter the sphinx again. She was able to swallow her pride and answer the questions without taking it as an insult to her intelligence, allowing them to pass without having to fight. He knew how hard it was to overcome a fatal flaw, and he was proud that she had managed to do so in a situation where she hadn’t managed such a thing the last time around.

They found Hephaestus, and were once again charged with investigating what was going on at his forge in return for information on finding Daedalus’ workshop; it was the only real goal they had for the quest, with the small hope that they would be able to get the thread before Luke this time. So they set off again, following the spider as it scuttled towards the volcano. Grover and Tyson split off again, disappearing into a pathway that reeked of nature magic, leaving Annabeth and Percy alone once more. Percy was glad that Grover was gone, that he would get the chance to find Pan again and not be in danger of the volcano possibly erupting, because Percy would do his best to not erupt a volcano and wake Typhon but it was still a possibility as a last resort.

However, he was very surprised that everything seemed to be playing out in the same way. The timeline may be slightly different, but the order of things they were encountering, and the people they encountered, was the same as far as he could remember. Other than Chris. But the labyrinth was meant to thrive on chaos, so to have events occurring in almost exactly the same order and way was slightly unnerving. But he wasn’t going to question it too much.

They reached the forge, and Annabeth slipped her cap on, disappearing from sight. Percy crept through the corridors carved into the volcano as quietly as he could. He could sense that Annabeth was at his back, rather than going off on her own this time. He paused as he heard the distinctive slapping sound of telekhines, the sound getting closer. He spotted a small alcove and sucked into it, hoping it would prevent the telekhines from seeing him.

“It requires two more rounds of blood soaking before it will be ready to present to the Lord.”

“He gave us until the end of the week before he expects it to be ready in full.”

“Yes, and it will be close, but it shall be done in time.” Percy slowly let out his breath as the two telekhines disappeared from sight, having passed without noticing him. He waited another minute before leaving his hiding spot, continuing on through the corridors. He would bet they were talking about the scythe that Backbiter was turned into, and if he could prevent it from being created, or even just slow down the creation of it, it would be a blow to the Titan Lord.

He made it to the centre of the forge, and found a weapon resting on a pedestal in the middle of a pool of lava. And completely surrounded by telekhines. He froze in the opening to the main chamber of the forge. There was no way he was going to get to that weapon with that many telekhines around. Not without blowing up the volcano, something he was desperately hoping to avoid. He slowly turned around, intending to retreat back and report back to Hephaestus. He didn’t get more than three steps before freezing again, hearing the slapping of approaching telekhines from the tunnel he was trying to leave through.

“Annabeth, get out,” he hissed, hoping she was still close enough to hear him. “I don’t know if I can get out without causing an eruption again.” He felt Annabeth grab his hands and kiss him quickly, all while still invisible.

“If it does erupt, you better not make me wait two weeks again, Seaweed Brain,” she hissed. He nodded. He would do his best.

“Go,” he repeated. “I need you safe.” Annabeth let go of his hands and he heard her footsteps disappear, as she moved as silently and quickly as she could. Percy pulled Riptide out of his pocket, twirling the pen around his fingers nervously as he did his best to find another alcove to hide in. There wasn’t one.

“Demigod.” He cursed under his breath as a seven telekhines appeared from the corridor behind him. He uncapped Riptide, taking a swing at the closest telekhine before moving backwards, trying to get more room.

Theoretically, he should do better fighting in small spaces, since it would prevent how many monsters he could face at once. But in reality, fighting in small spaces was worse for him, his hatred of enclosed spaces making it harder to focus on just his enemy and not how much room he had to manoeuvre in. So he backed into the main chamber, knowing that it would give him more monsters to face, and from all sides, but also that it would give him more room to work with.

He wasn’t surprised that he was surrounded almost immediately upon making it into the main chamber. He spun, attacking any telekhine that got close to him. He spun the ring on his finger, bringing Stormbreaker into his other hand. Double-wielding with a sword and trident, he was able to prevent any telekhine from getting close enough to attack him with their claws. But it didn’t help him manage to make enough room to run or escape in any way. It was all he could do to keep them at bay, especially in an area totally devoid of water or liquid, other than lava, meaning he had no powers to help him get a leg up. The heat from the lava made it so that there wasn’t any moisture in the air to draw from.

He stifled a scream as a handful of lava landed on his back. He spun again, attacking the telekhine that had thrown the lava at him, only to be hit from another direction, and another and another. The heat didn’t affect him too much at first, but as more and more lava was thrown at him it started to burn. His skin was screaming, and he could smell his burning skin and muscles. So he did the only thing he could think of doing, and latched on to the tugging in his gut that called upon his powers. He dropped to his knees, letting out a scream as he latched on to whatever he could, to the sea inside him and whatever moisture he could find around him, and pulled.

And everything around him exploded.

Chapter Text

“Nico?” Will asked as the younger boy appeared from the shadows in the infirmary. “I thought you weren’t going to be back until next week. Is that Chris?” He finally noticed the older boy that Nico had dragged with him through the shadows, seemingly unaware of what was going on around them.

“Yeah. I have no clue what’s going on with him, but I ran into him when I stumbled into the maze. Percy said this happened last time and to bring him with me.” Will nodded, pointing towards one of the beds before moving towards the door and sticking his head out of the door.

“Someone get Clarisse and Chiron. And one of the Stolls,” he called, before pulling his head back into the infirmary. “Get him on a bed, I’ll have a quick look at his physical health. And yours.” Nico sighed, holding his wrist out for Will to grab, so he could get a quick overview of his health.

“Eat more and get some 8 hours of sleep within the next 24. Otherwise, you’re fine. For once.”

Nico grinned, stepping out of the infirmary and around Conner and Chiron as they appeared. He nodded to Conner and blinked at Chiron, before continuing out of the infirmary and making his way towards the hearth. He’d find cabin 11 later, since he was technically unclaimed, but he’d just sit with his aunt for a while first.

Clarisse found him before any from cabin 11 did, sitting down next to him next to the fire.

“You brought Chris back.” Nico nodded.

“I wasn’t going to leave him when I found him in the maze.” He glanced over at Clarisse who nodded, not looking at him.

“You’ve been with our cousins. Anything you learnt over there to help defend our camp?” Nico hummed, twisting his skull ring around his finger.

“A few things. They raided Mt Tam on the Solstice, took down a significant amount of monsters, so less to invade us. They had a few losses earlier than last time, but all people who fell against the Titans originally. Some threads are destined to be cut in this war, even if their timing is not fully set. Reyna mentioned making a choke point, digging trenches around the entrance. Jason suggested protecting the medics while getting them on the field for quicker access, that medics are usually targeted first when they’re on the field. He also mentioned that Leo managed to get his hands on some of his dad’s netting. Could be layered over the existing protections blocking the entrance or shot from a cannon to take down invaders during the initial wave.”

“The net could work well if we figure out where he found it or how he made it. Can’t cut it like plants, so a sturdier blockage. Could create a bunch of trenches, disguise some by covering them with plants while others are obvious. Add spikes or something at the bottom for extra damage. I’ll ask Pace and Beckendorf.”

“They do a lot of teamwork. Their whole thing is fighting as part of a unit, being a whole rather than individuals. I don’t know if that would work for us, but they had less losses last time,” Nico added as Clarisse stood. She paused.

“Wouldn’t work exactly the same. We instinctually fight as individuals backed up with powers. We work with others, but mainly those with similar abilities, cabin members. There’s more of them, if Prissy’s count was right. But partner battle partners could work. Close to individuals but someone to watch their backs…” Clarisse trailed off as she nodded to Nico before marching off.

Percy shuddered, his body burning and trembling, hit gut aching from the pull of his powers. But the burning wasn’t getting worse. It wasn’t fading, not exactly, but it was getting more bearable as he adjusted to the pain. His skin and muscles and fat were still burning where the lava had touched him, screaming at him to get in the water, to find cool water and the sea and stop burning. But it was not sinking deeper.

The tugging and pulling and aching of his gut stopped, his powers waning off. His vision slowly faded back in, having whited out when he called on his powers, pulled on the sea and the moisture around him in a way he hadn’t for a while, hadn’t since he woke up.

He was still in the volcano. He didn’t understand how he was still in the volcano. Last time, when he had pulled on the ocean here, desperately trying to call the sea to him, he had caused the volcano to erupt. But here he was, still burning, body screaming, inside the volcano. Alone.

He blinked, trying to focus past the pain. This was not the worst pain he had ever been in. He had been able to focus on the fight around him both times he took the sky. He had been able to focus on Annabeth despite the indescribable pain of swimming in the Styx. He would focus now, despite the pain from the lava.

There was dust.

Why was there golden dust surrounding him as far as he could see?

There were no telekhines. But there was golden dust.

Golden monster dust.

There was golden monster dust where the telekhines were. The telekhines were dead.

How had he killed them? Especially the ones at the edge of the cavern, well out of his reach with his weapons.

He shouldn’t have been able to kill them all. Not without realising it.

He had called on the sea. Had pulled on any moisture around him, to try and survive. To get the burning to stop.

The moisture.

Oh gods. Oh gods oh gods oh gods.

ὁχι. ὁχι. Οὐ αὖτε, οὐ βούλεται καταῦθι τοῦτο δρᾶν (No. No. Not again, he doesn’t to do want that again)

The moisture was the telekhines’ blood. They were partially aquatic monsters, they had more moisture in them than most. He had controlled their blood and used it to kill them.

Oh gods, he might throw up.

He was pretty sure he would actually throw up if his gut wasn’t aching so bad from his power usage.

Oh, he shouldn’t have thought about his aching gut. Now he could feel all the pain again. Everything hurt.

Ok, breathe. Breathe. Focus only on breathing, not the the pain over his whole body. Just breathe.

Percy pushed himself to his feet, having fallen to his knees at some point between the lava starting to get thrown at him and realising what he had done. He was shaky, but managed to force his limbs to cooperate. Just for a bit longer. Just one more thing, and then he’d use the ice whistle Quintus – Daedalus – had given him to call Mrs. O’Leary. They’d work out something else when it came to the first time they’d called her. Right now, he was pretty sure the only way he was getting out of the volcano within the next hour was some type of teleportation.

He forced himself to stand tall, slowly spinning until he could see the pedestal with what was to be the scythe. It took him longer than he liked, but he managed to make his way over to the pedestal, using Storm breaker as support, to grab the scythe. Without the scythe, Kronos wouldn’t have a weapon, and neither would Luke, considering Backbiter had been made into the scythe; at least, they were pretty sure that’s what happened. He shuddered as he gripped the scythe, an almost slimy feeling radiating from it. He made his way away from the pedestal, away from the lava, and towards one of the walls of the cavern.

He leaned his back against the wall, gripping the slimy scythe tightly. He double tapped where the prongs met the handle of his trident, watching Stormbreaker shrink back into a ring that he shakily put on. Ring now on, he shoved his hand into his pocket, opposite the one where Riptide always returned to. He pulled out the ice whistle and blew it hard. It only took moments for Mrs O’Leary to appear. He let out a gasping sigh, almost collapsing onto her. He had missed his dog; she was probably the only good things about Daedalus coming to camp. Rather than collapsing on her, he carefully manouvered himself until he was half-sitting, half-lying on her, carefully keeping the scythe gripped tightly but away from her.

“Hi girl. Good girl. Can you take me back to camp?”  Mrs O’Leary let out a loud bark, before lunging for the shadows she had just appeared out from.

“Di immortales,” Will yelled as Percy emerged from the shadows of the infirmary on the back of a hellhound. Then he got a good look at the demigod. “μα Απόλλων, Lee, Jordan, I need more hands. Austin, start filling the tub for Percy, make sure you add salt. Audrey, go get Chiron, tell him we have an item for isolation.” He grabbed Percy’s wrist, getting a better understanding of what needed healing, while also allowing him to removing the scythe from his grip. He grimaced, both as he got a better understanding of how badly hurt Percy was, and from the aura of the scythe. He was pretty sure he knew whose scythe it was, but it still felt disgusting.

Lee and Jordan both appeared in the room as he called for them, taking in the situation quickly and moving to disinfect themselves; they would preferably sterilise themselves and the environment, but that wasn’t really an option for them with the supplies they had, and never had been.

“Mrs O’Leary, out,” Lee said, pointing towards the door as he moved around the large hellhound. Probably a good idea, considering how much space the dog took up. Mrs O’Leary whined, before listening, loping out the door.

Will turned, snapping out instructions as he placed the scythe on a high shelf away from any medical equipment, before moving to disinfect himself. He was thankful that they both listened, despite both being older and more experienced in healing; well, more experienced if he hadn’t time travelled. Lee and Jordan moved him to a bed, allowing Will to grab some bandages, cotton swabs, and saline, along with a bottle of nectar-infused antibiotic cream.

“We’re going to clean it all out and wrap it first. He’s got second and third-degree burns covering half his torse and a third of his limbs,” Will instructed, passing out the supplies. “Saline wash, nectar-infused wipe over, then wrap. We’ll get him in a tub as soon as everything is properly wrapped to stop anything getting in.”

“No ambrosia or nectar?” Jordan asked, while working on Percy’s right arm.

“Percy refuses nectar or ambrosia unless water hasn’t healed him after 24 hours. The nectar-infused antibiotic cream is all he’ll consent to until them,” Will said, cutting through what remained of Percy’s shirt to get to his chest and stomach.

“He’s unconscious. Implied consent,” Jordan said. Lee shook his head while working at Percy’s right leg.

“Percy’s signed multiple things about what he consents to due to his water healing. That overrides implied consent, because he was in his right mind when he consented to it, and we have multiple written copies as proof.”

“And it’s a trust thing. If he can’t trust us to heal him without crossing his boundaries, he’s just going to hide his injuries more. This way, he comes to be treated even when the treatment is just us sending him to the lake for ten minutes and then having him come back to assess how it healed,” Will added. He glanced up as he heard movement, seeing Chiron enter the infirmary, before focussing back on Percy.

“Item’s on the high shelf. I don’t want it near medical equipment. Best that word doesn’t spread that we have it.”

“I shall make arrangements. Do we know what happened to Perseus?” Chiron asked, the sound of his wheelchair moving around behind them.

“I have a guess,” Lee said, “but we’ll need Annabeth to confirm it.”

“Dear gods,” Chiron said. Will huffed, guessing that Chiron had just seen the scythe.

“Yeah. Like I said, best we keep it secret.” Chiron hummed, and Will tuned him out, trusting the centaur to know what to do, instead focussing on finishing cleaning Percy’s chest. Once he had done so, he looked up at Jordan and Lee on the other side of Percy.

“Ready to flip him?” Jordan nodded and Lee jerked his head once in assent. Together, they carefully rotated Percy so he was lying on his stomach, allowing them to access his back.

It took them longer to finish his back, more of his skin and muscle burnt and blistering. And a section of his shirt half fused with his skin, which was not easy to remove. But finally, they were done, all of the burns cleaned and covered. They had worked in relative silence while finishing his back, one of them occasionally breaking out a hymn when they got to a more sever section.

“Ready to get him in the tub?” Lee asked. Will nodded. Austin had told them the tub was full, water straight from the Long Island Sound, so sea water to allow for more complete, and hopefully faster, healing. If it was anyone other than Percy he wouldn’t even think of using salt water, since the salt was likely to just aggravate the open wounds more.

Jordan grabbed the stretcher, sliding it under Percy as Lee and Will rotated him onto his side and then onto his back on the stretched. Lee grabbed the front and Jordan the back, being closer in height to each other than Will. Will walked behind the two of them as they headed towards the room with the tub, which they used for Percy’s more severe injuries, but mainly for all burn injuries, both from the forge or lava wall. They slowly lowered Percy into the tub, sliding the stretcher out from under him once he was settled. Normally, they’d have to secure him with straps and leave one of them in the room, to make sure his head didn’t slip under the water. But this was Percy, a son of Poseidon. He couldn’t drown, not like literally every other camper. Honestly, it would probably even help if he ended up fully submerged.

Jordan was the first to leave the room, having been in the middle of inventory when Percy arrived. Alone in the room, Will turned to Lee, one eyebrow raised.

“You remember his funeral?” Lee asked. Will blinked.

“The one he interrupted?”

“That’s the one. I’m pretty sure the eruptions at Mt St Helens were related to his disappearance.”

“Percy did say he discovered his earth shaker abilities at Mt S Helens,” Will mused. Lee hummed.

“Yeah, no clue what happened last time or this time, but I’m going to bet a volcano had something to do with all those burns.”

Annabeth blinked as she reappeared back at camp. Hephaestus had said he’d get her back to camp as well as telling her about Daedalus, in return for the information of what was going on at his forge when he saw she came back alone. She just hadn’t expected him to teleport her there. It was disorientating.

“Annabeth,” Emily called, jogging up to her. The rest of her siblings were close behind, but Emily had seen her first. “Where are the others?”

“Grover found a lead to Pan, the strongest one yet. Tyson went with him. Percy and I went to investigate a forge belonging to Χαλκεύς (Hephaestus) in return for information about Daedalus. The forge was in a volcano, Mt St Helens, and there was a bunch of telekhines there, creating weapons for the Titan Lord and his army. They found us, and Percy told me to leave and make sure Χαλκεύς knows what’s going on with his forge while he distracted them. He didn’t come back out. Χαλκεύς sent me back to camp.”

“Well, we haven’t heard anything on the mortal news about a volcano eruption in the states,” Malcom said with a shrug. “We’ve kept the radio on, in case they do anything that impacts the mortal world.” Annabeth blinked. That would suggest that Percy hadn’t caused the volcano to erupt. She was curious how he had escaped then, considering just how many telekhines there were. He was a good fighter, but that didn’t really matter in the face of such bad odds.

“I should go check in with Chiron, let him know what’s going on. I’m pretty sure we missed something that we need before we go back down.”

“Rachel?” Malcom asked as she started to head towards the Big House. She stopped. Yes. Yes, Rachel would be what they forgot. She had no idea how they had forgotten that a clear sighted mortal was needed to navigate the Labyrinth. In their defence though, a lot had happened in the original timeline straight after the Labyrinth, and since they returned, most of which had caused them to not remember much of the actual quest in the Labyrinth. Plus, most of them thought of Rachel as the Oracle, not a clear-sighted mortal, so that probably didn’t help. Annabeth didn’t reply to Malcom, just continuing to walk.

She found Chiron on the porch of the Big House, overseeing what she was pretty sure was the camp-wide free-time block.

“Hi Chiron,” she said, moving to stand next to him, leaning against the railing of the porch.

“Ah, Annabeth. I was wondering when you would return. Young Percy has already arrived back. What of Grover and Tyson?”

“Grover found the strongest lead to Pan yet, and Tyson went with him to follow it. Hat do you mean Percy’s back already?”

“He appeared badly injured in the infirmary, covered in burns. He is resting in the tub the sea water, I believe. And he managed to bring back quite a souvenir, which I have already hidden in the attic.” Annabeth sighed, relieved. She was glad that he hadn’t ended up on Calypso’s island this time. Hopefully he would be healed soon. And the souvenir… she was pretty sure Chiron meant the scythe, but it was probably better to not ask. It would be a need-to-know basis, and nobody really needed to know. les chance of the Titan Army finding out they had it if none of the campers knew, even the time travellers.

“Well, at least he didn’t blow up a volcano while in the middle of it and end up on Ogygia this time.”