There's a moment in this chapter where Nico remembers talking to Alex when he was using she pronouns, and I'm not sure if you're supposed to use old pronouns or current pronouns when speaking past tense. Again, please correct me if I did it wrong.

PJOPJOPJO

Will had been standing around dithering for way to long before he cautiously knocked on Nico's closed door and asked, "um, it's Will. Did you, want to be alone?"

The door opened promptly, as if he'd been expecting company. His dark skin was flushed, his smile fake, he looked on the verge of doing something insane as his voice hiccupped, "nope."

"Great," Will stood awkwardly in the doorway.

They stood there uncomfortably before Nico pressed his hand to his mouth to stifle another sob. Gods, he was so sick of crying over this. It had happened years ago! He was just too emotionally exhausted to stop it happening.

Will quickly stepped inside and closed the door. As he pivoted, Nico hadn't moved back, so they now stood face to face. The proximity only made the heat flush higher on both of them.

"Can, can I hug you?" Will finally fumbled through asking, his whole body quivering desperately to do something.

Nico made another muffled noise behind his hand, one Will couldn't guess at until he'd nodded and leaned forward. His face pressed into Will's shoulder, his full weight aligning against Will's arm that snapped up more in surprise to hold him there.

It lasted exactly seven seconds longer than last night when Nico had 'fallen asleep' on him. Long enough for the warmth to rush through Will and it went from a casual, gentle gesture to something more, so he was almost as relieved as Nico when he leaned back.

"I hate this," Nico murmured as he kept rubbing at his hot, itchy face from the dried tears. "I hate reliving this, I hate everybody watching me, I hate that Percy's here and I hate he still sees me as a dumb kid and I hate what I blurted out to him!" His voice had steadily grown in volume with each hate until the fire was back in his eyes.

"Then tell him that," Will gently reminded. "It's not fair to you, or Percy. I don't know why the gods are doing this to you Nico, and I'm sorry it's hurting you." He bit back the rest, his faith it was for some greater meaning, his secret pleasure it was forcing Nico to spend time around someone so that he wasn't roaming the world alone. If they got out of here and Nico decided to go hang out with Alex forever, Will would consider it all worth it.

Nico slumped against the closed door, resting there with his eyes shut, sallow with exhaustion. Will twisted his hands together rather than lunging for the blanket and wrapping it around him.

"The worst part is, I feel like I had this coming, it's some kind of godly punishment from my dad," Nico admitted. "This is probably at least partly my fault."

"How on Earth could that be?" Will asked, failing to stop a laugh at that.

"My dad warned me about poking into my past, said it should stay buried," his eyes fluttered open, a sad brown again, but the slightest grim smile on his face as he talked to him. "I think this is his way of teaching me a lesson. I certainly didn't want to relive this!"

Will chewed on that for a moment before he said, "it wouldn't surprise me if a few gods were mixed into this mess. I don't know how this is happening or why, but I don't think this will end as a bad thing. We're already learning more than we ever thought we had known just from hanging around the kids that aren't Greek."

"I knew there was a Roman camp," Nico confessed. "I suspected that's where Jason was from before Rachel said as much too. This is probably how my dad decided to ground me instead of throwing me in the dungeon again for poking around. I, I was looking through the fields of asphodel for a Roman soldier so I could make contact when I was pulled in here."

"That's, really cool Nico," Will smiled.

"What?" Nico was starting to wonder if Will was actually crazy. Who wouldn't be mad to having just heard this was probably all his fault?

"You found a whole other generation of half-blood's and wanted to get to know them," Will's smile kept growing wider. "I'm guessing this is what you and Jason were talking about, you were going to take him back?"

"Did you, miss the part where my dad told me not to do exactly what I was doing?" Nico asked.

"Pshh," Will waved his hand around like disobeying the lord of the underworld was a minor detail. "Hades would never want anything to bad to happen to you- wait did you say dungeon earlier?" Some of his enthusiasm clearly dipped as he struggled to keep the smile for a moment before pushing on. "Look, regardless of how this happened, I'm just happy to hear you weren't spending your entire time at the edge of the Styx talking to ghosts. I worry a lot about that when you're not at camp."

"Oh," was all Nico could think to say to that, but he found himself smiling at Will's smile as usual now.

"What did Minos tell you exactly Geryon could help with?" Will asked cautiously, hating to continue dragging this out, but Nico seemed calmer and he wanted to be able to field any questions if somebody else started interrogating Nico about this. At least he'd shut his mouth and let it go quickly if Nico didn't want to talk about this.

His hands were still shaking slightly as he adjusted his jacket, but cautiously met his eyes again without hesitation. "I don't know. I didn't ask. I was just trying to get Geryon to agree to help still when Percy showed up. I, I already felt awful if I thought about what I was doing to long, but I was," he fluttered his hands at nothing, trying to form words and feelings that he despised had been a part of him.

"Okay," Will said, tucking his hands in his pocket to let it go. "I just hope you keep in mind you've never done anything unforgivable, Percy's never let anyone say a word against you in camp! And um, maybe when we get back to camp it would be nice if-"

They heard voices in the hallway and Nico instantly jumped off the door, practically onto Will's feet. They both flushed and Will forced himself to be the one to step away lest he do something stupid, like let his fingers stroke that dark hair.

Lunch was obviously over, and Will regretted not having the chance to make sure Nico ate a tad more, but not that much when he reached past behind Nico for the door, who didn't move out of the way at all. His eyes fluttered, a smile appearing on his lips as the door clicked open behind them and Will cautiously pulled it open so it didn't smack into Nico, his knuckles brushing across the dark jacket and pressing into his hip for several moments until it was wide open again.

"I'm glad you're so comfortable on that couch by the way," Nico told him with a strange tone to his voice that left Will feeling caught out. "Somebody should be comfortable in that room."

"I can sprawl out more and you can sit on my lap," he said before he could let himself think better of it.

Nico laughed, and turned quickly to leave to hide his blush, which left Will feeling even more warm than anyone at the bottom of the ocean should feel.

...

Percy was pacing in a restless mood, eating kale chips on the go with an extra stuffed under his arm as he wandered around the narrow corridors. He was worried about Nico and yet could tell he was not wanted in that conversation, he'd probably only make things worse, but he loathed doing nothing to help the kid.

On his third passing of the stairwell, he saw Magnus trudging down from the roof looking as haunted as a ghost.

Percy tossed his extra bag of chips to him and smiled when he caught them in his left hand on reflex before looking around.

"I know all that stuff about ghosts and the dead really bothers you," Percy offered unprompted. He wasn't going to share his suspicion of why until Magnus said it. He was pretty sure that's what Thalia had meant about Nico too, now that he thought about it. "You're not exactly getting a great deal down here with Annabeth still being a no show. I could try and kick up a fuss enough to get Oceanus back in here, get you sent home?"

He tore open the bag and began eating as well. He talked with his hands, even when he wasn't signing, though he still sporadically did that too like it was an ingrained part of him. To many days of practicing with Blitz even when Hearth wasn't around. "Nah, thanks for the offer of pissing off another god for little old me though. I've got some stuff to work out before I get back." He sunk down onto the steps and placed the bag down before he spilled them all.

Magnus still considered Blitz and Hearth his closest friends, they'd been with him so long and for so much already. The whole elf and dwarf thing really seemed like a minor detail after everything else he was still getting used to. He didn't even know how to go back and ask them about this though.

The Underworld, his mom, Nico's crazy abilities...it all got into a jagged, jumbled mess that left him in pieces if he tried to think of any one thing to long.

Percy crumbled up his empty bag and shoved it in his pocket, then brushed off the crumbs on his lip in thought as he stared at him. "I'd do anything for Annabeth, you know that," he needlessly reminded with a casual smile, and then surprised Magnus like he'd reached out and smacked him. "That extends to her family. If you need help with anything, I'd try my best."

Then he did offer his hand out to pull him back up, they could both hear Alex down the hall shouting where everybody was at because he wanted to get going again. His Happy Meal must not have worked out like he wanted.

The four stragglers entered to see Jason sitting calmly watching the deadly game of Thalia chasing Alex around the room.

She didn't have her bow drawn, yet, but there was a challenging gleam in her eye and her fingers were twitching above Aegis as Alex laughed his way around every bit of furniture while running. They could only guess his attempt to hear that backstory on her shield must not have been timed as well as he thought.

"And you guys go nuts when when I try to maim someone?" Percy smirked, snatching at the back of Thalia's silver hood as she darted past. He missed by a mile, his fingers only flitting through bubbles.

Percy was honestly tempted to join in, though neither needed his help. Just to exert some energy. This place was driving them all a little stir crazy.

"You just need more practice Perce!" Alex called, nimbly jumping over Jason who tried to trip him on his next pass through. "Watch and learn!"

"He'll learn in person what happens to a boy who messes with a Huntress!" Thalia called as she launched herself neatly over her brothers head and managed to tackle Alex to the ground, who merely laughed in defeat and slapped the bracelet.

The silver metal whirled to life in all its heart stopping glory, and Alex felt a thrill of pure terror at that being right over his head, much stronger than even he'd anticipated. He couldn't get his hands under it in time to flip back on Thalia like he'd planned before she disengaged it and got to her feet, hauling Alex up with her.

"You're nuts," she laughed.

"A man with a plan," Alex happily corrected. He'd just have to come up with another one. Nico gulped and clutched his sword tighter to him in case Alex got any ideas.

Percy grabbed up the book for the first time in his life with relief to actually disassociate with the world around him. Who ever knew his insane life in the labyrinth would seem less deadly than whatever his friends might want to get up to next as he read the chapter title.

"You guys sure play a lot of games for constantly nearly dying," Magnus rolled his eyes at the deceptively fun idea of this world.

"Which game show?" Alex flipped his hair with interest and fell back into his seat like nothing had happened. "If it's Survivor then you'll win no problem."

"Hopefully you don't take Family Feud to the next level," Will grimaced.

"I vote Jeopardy," Jason raised his hand. "How do you make trivia deadly?"

Thalia laughed without humor he was about to find out, while Percy licked his lips nervously against starting, busy watching Nico. If they had to play rock, paper, scissors to get a chance at talking to Bianca, at least he had a secret weapon.

Nico was watching him again with the same look on his face that had been there most of the day yesterday. A kind of intense staring that made Percy definitely think he was in trouble.

The son of Hades didn't say anything though, and so Percy started reading about his dead sister. He was pretty confident if Nico had something to get off his chest, he'd blurt it out eventually.

...HAPPY FLUSH DISPOSAL CO. It didn't quite go with the mood of summoning the dead.

"What is the proper mood for that exactly?" Thalia rolled her eyes. "I think satanic symbols and roses are just cliché."

"A giant barrel of shit feels pretty in mood for the dead in my opinion," Alex agreed.

The moon was full, clouds drifted across the sky.

"Have you tried summoning Bianca on a full moon yet?" Thalia sounded legitimately curious and helpful. "Child of Hades who joined the Hunters, maybe she needed special circumstances."

"She wasn't a werewolf," Nico said sullenly, then muttered for a moment and admitted, "no I hadn't, star charts don't play a part in this summoning ritual. It shouldn't have mattered. Not with my abilities."

"Which she's fighting with her own," Percy reminded thoughtfully. "That's how she was getting those messages to me, isn't it? No regular ghost can do that."

Nico didn't really think so, it sure felt more like she'd been ignoring him, but he wasn't one hundred percent confident either. It was quite galling to have his powers explained to him by these two, but it wasn't as if his dad had ever tried to help him understand them either. Minos had been the best advice he'd had, and at least he was confident Percy and Thalia wouldn't try to get him killed while they did it.

..."Maybe he got lost," I said hopefully.

"Or he knows he'll get called out for the creep factor he is around other people," Magnus shivered.

"I know, I know, I'm an idiot," Nico cautiously took Will's advice on a person who didn't scare him as much as Percy did. "I'm an idiot for not noticing what an evil guy he was, I get it!"

"It's not like it's your fault Nico," Magnus shrugged, not phased at all by his defensive tone. "Do you know how many drug trafficker's have tried to get me to start working for them before Hearth and Blitz threatened to beat them to a pulp? You haven't lived in the stupidity lane until your deaf friend has to explain to you what that guy was really talking about had nothing to do with horses."

"Um, no, I couldn't guess that number," Nico said, not sure if he was supposed to be smiling or offering sorrow for whatever the heck this guy had been up to, but it felt nice for once to realize nobody had literally been mocking his stupidity for not seeing what was seemingly obvious.

..."Make him stop," Tyson whispered. Part of me agreed. This was unnatural.

"Because you throwing calcified seashells around to bathe flesh-eating horses is totally natural," Will looked at him strangely.

"Actually what Percy did was kind of combine his and Nico's things," Jason agreed with interest.

Percy wanted to protest, that his abilities weren't freakishly out of place because he could just go down to the ocean. Nobody could just pop down to see a bunch of dead people whenever they wanted.

He stopped himself though as he glanced at Nico, who looked exhausted and still very withdrawn in his seat. What was the point of arguing this? He looked as miserable in person as he had in memory, and Percy still wanted to help him, not make it worse, so it would do no good.

..."Stop him! Only Bianca may drink!"..."Minos! What are you doing?"

"Showing some pretty blatant disregard for what you want," Magnus scowled.

...I couldn't resist."

Percy gave a grudging laugh he didn't feel. "I take it back, maybe you could learn a thing or two from this prick Nico. You need to cave every once in a while and do something fun because it seemed like a good idea. Food is a great place to start."

"Ha, ha," Nico said with a kind of dry laugh that would be right at home in a desert.

... come to protect you from these liars who would deceive you."

"I didn't know Luke was in attendance!" Alex said, mock fanning his face. "It's like a whole party!"

Percy gave a nervous chuckle, a tad grateful Annabeth never heard that or she might have burst into tears, or punched Alex.

He turned to me as if I were some kind of cockroach.

"I would have pegged you as a water beetle," Jason tapped his chin as if this were a very important distinction.

"Hey Nico, do you have locust abilities?" Percy asked cheerfully as he stared Jason down. "I might want to borrow you!"

"No," but Percy could hear the smile in Nico's voice so he decided to let it go.

... I figured my fist would go right through his face.

"And that stopped you from trying?" Thalia asked with supreme disappointment.

"We were kind of having a moment," Percy waved at the sulky kid. "I don't think falling into the vat of root beer in the shit tank would have helped it."

"I don't know, might have made it more entertaining," Alex shrugged. "Is that the gameshow? Is this going to be filmed and if you don't make the audience laugh you lose?"

"I wish I could rage quit this so bad," Percy sighed with a fond smile at these lunatics.

"We're looking for Bianca di Angelo," I said. "Get lost."

"You were so hopeful he'd get lost you were willing to help the situation," Magnus gave him such a kindhearted smile the sarcasm barely showed, which only made Percy laugh all the harder.

...you once killed my Minotaur with your bare hands.

"I bet he's never done a single thing with his bare hands," Percy looked disgusted this malevolent ghost almost gave him a compliment.

"I bet he waves hands around to give orders," Magnus grinned. "Technically it was with a bare horn anyways," he added thoughtfully. "I don't know why he wouldn't consider that a weapon, otherwise you've killed every monster with your bare hands that had a sword in them."

"Don't be compared to Hercules, also on my list," Percy nodded absently like Magnus had still just agreed with him.

... Grover got so nervous he clung to Tyson's shoulder.

"He could reach?" Alex mock whispered.

Percy shushed him poorly, to busy snickering like he hadn't back then at how well Grover could jump.

...bitter from the guilt of murder and is cursed by the gods."

"Minos would know all about that wouldn't he," Jason said in disgust. "Seriously, how bad does a beef have to be to go beyond death?"

Thalia swallowed several bitter comments of her own death hadn't stopped her from waking up with a vengeance. A thousand gods could curse her and it wouldn't stop her from finding out what had happened to her brother. Daedalus wasn't so much a monster as just a very relatable tale of what a man would do when pushed to far.

..."Who did he kill?" "Do not change the subject!"

"Minos brought it up?" Magnus protested.

"Minos clearly hasn't spent enough time with ADHD kids," Will scoffed. "We can't stay on subject for one sentence."

"True, I'm still back wanting to know which gods cursed him too, that's just what came out first," Percy agreed.

... I would make him a lord!"

Nico bit back an acrid taste on his tongue of betrayal. Bianca and Minos might as well have been working together to make him feel like he'd known nothing of this world he'd been abandoned in.

...  I will turn their minds to madness, as I did the others."

Will made a weirdly good impression of a strangled swan. "I have never hated a ghost more than this moment!"

"Am I really to understand what I just heard?" Jason yelped.

"Nico, please tell me you didn't know about that?" Percy groaned, looking at the kid like he was about to start throwing curses around, the magical kind to turn them mad, not the foul language kind.

"He said he was protecting me," Nico whispered with nothing but shame. "He said they worked for Kronos and would have..." he fumbled off, sick of himself for justifying it. He'd been trying to meet Percy's eyes, but was addressing Percy's worn sneakers by the end.

Percy let his head fall into his hands like he couldn't listen anymore anyways. This guy. This was the kid Bianca had died to protect, running around with a lunatic ghost who drove other people mad?! He'd run away from camp for this?

"It's not his fault!" Will began hotly, scowling at Percy's judgmental silence. Percy had never run away from his home when he didn't feel safe, he'd never felt the absence of friends at breakfast the next day that nobody wanted to discuss because it was just another summer to him.

"And nobody's blaming him," Thalia agreed peacefully.

"Chris might," Percy muttered. Thalia elbowed him hard.

"What's done is done," Thalia reminded forcefully. "If you want to find out what happened to Minos, the ghost who caused it and manipulated the kid, how about you keep your mouth shut and your mind open?"

Percy wasn't sure if she was scolding him or Will, but he sighed and looked around at her. He'd never understand Nico, not if someone explained it to him seventeen more times why he'd run off and hadn't come back to be causing ghost circles at camp where he'd be safe from this, but he reluctantly admitted to himself that wasn't the point. Just because he was getting his memory back didn't mean he'd understand everything from his past, every choice somebody had made. "Yeah, okay," Percy agreed in the lingering silence.

Nico kept his mouth shut too as Percy kept reading. They weren't friends, and he had never fooled himself into thinking they were. He didn't care what Percy thought of him, he kept telling himself stubbornly.

... Those who intrude deserve madness."

"I'll tell you who deserves madness," Alex said with all the pleasantness of a rampaging bull. Hey they were on a farm, it might still happen.

...I warn you. You cannot trust these heroes."

"And I learned the first hour of this madness not to trust anybody who didn't trust Percy," Magnus rolled his eyes. "It's a really easy indicator."

"Aw, Maggie, you made him blush," Alex snickered.

Magnus shrugged without remorse.

... the ghostly form of Bianca di Angelo.

Nico still felt like a ghostly shroud was wrapped around him if he thought about her to long, like he'd yet left this moment. Over a year later and he still didn't know how to take her advice, how to move on from his grudge against his sister for leaving him. He'd spent the entire time trying to figure out how to do it on his own.

He felt somebody staring at him, he expected it to be Will, but he was still watching Percy intently. It was Alex, who had that same sympathetic smile before as she'd said Bianca had cared about him.

He tried to remind himself it didn't have to be all or nothing. He could still care about his sister too and be mad at her and move on with his life. There just had to be a balance he'd learn to strike.

..."Hello, Percy," she said.

She's said hello to Percy first, another slap to his ever bruising heart. It was probably all shriveled up now beyond recognition.

Percy had the same stunned stupid look on his face now as he had then. It wasn't as endearing or hurtful all at once though.

...a green cap on her thick black hair,* ...smiled, and her whole form flickered.

Maybe that's how she'd looked in Percy's life, but Nico had barely recognized her after all that time apart. His most vivid memory was still of being escorted down the streets of Las Vegas, the air too hot, while she held her hat in place and kept trying to pull her hand free to hold his instead. She'd been wearing what she must have been when they'd entered; a dark blouse with billowing sleeves, a purple lace-up bodice, and a floor length dark skirt. He'd been crying it was to bright, to loud, it had been so jarring from the quaint hotel they'd been in.

Then again, nothing about him had been the same either. He should count himself lucky she'd recognized him, let alone talked to him at all, instead of spending the time with Percy laughing about their great adventure.

... sacrificed her life... not finding any sign of her. "I'm so sorry," I said.

Thalia rubbed his shoulder in commiseration, and Percy caught her hand and held it for a moment before she could pull back in solidarity. Grover hadn't looked any better than they felt seeing her again, like a tiny version of Talos could be doing the robot right in front of them and the dread was as fresh as ever for the end of that dance.

...I don't regret it." "Bianca!" Nico stumbled forward like he was just coming out of a daze.

Not even a little regret? Nico's throat had been to thick to demand. Her name had been all that had come out. She didn't hesitate leaving him, not once, but twice?!

... as if she'd been dreading this moment.

It was the only moment he'd had to live for up until that second, when he'd seen that look on her face. When he knew what Percy had told him was true. She hadn't wanted him.

"Hello, Nico. You've gotten so tall."

Thalia made a pained, grimaced face. How she would have loved to laugh with Bianca about bratty little brothers that dared outgrow them in size. They could have exchanged any number of jokes only they would have gotten about smacking the knees out from under their brothers to keep them in line and remind them who's older no matter how tall they got.

..."You can't, Nico. Don't do this. Percy is right."

Magnus still felt like he was hearing of this with someone's elbow dug up under his lungs, keeping his breaths to short, his body straining to work. His mom had sacrificed herself for him too, he should expect the exact same kind of exchange if he ever got the miracle of seeing her. The desolate look on Nico's face proved this last conversation had been of no comfort to him...but the worst part of him still wanted to try. Needed to know if this was possible, if she was out there somewhere...

... Her hand evaporated as it got close to living skin.

Nico shivered, the little gasp that passed his lips to quiet for anybody else to hear. This was the last time anybody he cared to try to touch him, and look where it got her.

Will couldn't stand it, a burn passing through him to do something. He cautiously let his arm slip off the back of the couch, down the few measly inches to the back of his tense shoulders, waiting for Nico to shrug him off or move away to stop.

He didn't. When the weight fell naturally into place Nico exhaled in relief, the feeling had been there so long now. Nico still remained huddled up tight in place, but Will was a grounded feeling beside him he'd been convinced for a second he'd never have again.

..."Holding a grudge is dangerous... You have to promise me."

"You and Nico have the craziest luck," Jason huffed. "Somebody telling you what your fatal flaw is."

"Yeah, really the highlight of Annabeth's mom threatening me and Nico's dead sister finding wisdom in the afterlife," Percy rolled his eyes.

Jason still couldn't help a little envy despite the sarcasm. He'd love to know something like that about himself.

..."Why are you helping him and not me?" Nico screamed. "It's not fair!"

Percy found that remarkably relatable. It wasn't fair he'd had to spend the formative years of his life with Smelly Gabe, it wasn't fair he'd had to be there when Bianca died, and it wasn't fair he was constantly being used by everybody around him to get what he wanted.

Nico still remembered this moment, feeling cold enough he might as well have joined his sister. There was nothing left to lose.

Here in this room, Nico finally had the smallest hint that wasn't entirely true. Percy winced as those words passed his lips, the troubled look on his face that had been there through every crappy memory he'd relearned dominant as he glanced at Nico. Will beside him. Alex making threatening gestures at nobody in particular as he studied his hands. It didn't feel as bad the second time as he thought it would.

... "Kronos is rising. He'll twist anyone he can to his cause."

Jason wondered if he was the only one who heard what a strange thing that was to say at a time like this. She'd always taken everything regarding Luke personally, and to bring him up herself right now felt like a bit of context he was missing.

..."I'm the son of Hades! I can."

Nico closed his eyes tight in pain as Hades had once said the very same thing about his mother. He'd been so childishly stupid, thinking he could break the rules and get away with it. If it were possible, his father would have brought back his favorite child already.

..."Tartarus stirs," Bianca said.

Nico laughed, a dull, eerie noise that gave everybody goosebumps. He wondered if this little nugget had been in his head until now, that he'd gone looking for answers there next when he found out his sister had chosen to be reborn rather than giving him another chance to try and bring her back. Bianca probably wouldn't like that, but she wasn't around to care.

He hadn't been planning to go there just to spite his sister though. Whispers of something worse than the Titans was on the rise. He didn't know what kind of answers he'd find down there, but it had to be better than the questions he was looking for up here that got him nowhere.

... leaving us alone with a pit, a Happy Flush septic tank, and a cold full moon.

"Starting to be surprised it wasn't pouring down rain on a Friday the 13th or something," Magnus muttered just for Alex. This was as cold, depressing, and vaguely terrifying as it could get.

"Halloween, much more cliché," he corrected as if this were his usual weekend.

... weren't anxious to travel, so we decided to wait until morning.

Alex still fidgeted anxiously that abrupt end didn't give much of an answer to Nico. He knew Nico loathed being the center of attention and didn't know a single word in sign language yet, but he still wanted to ask after him.

He watched as Will whispered something to him and Nico nodded, trying to settle into his seat just a tad more comfortably now that all that was out of the way. Will cautiously took his arm away and Nico smiled and muttered something back, smacking his leg.

It still hurt, to watch someone go through this again and know there was nothing Alex could do to help. Nico wasn't Adrian though, and as much as Alex had been learning about him over the past few days, as involuntary as it was, that didn't mean he knew what to do any better in this situation than the last time.

... crashed on leather couches...didn't make my nightmares any better.

"I've yet heard of an environment besides this place that does make the nightmares better," Jason agreed with sympathy.

"And guess what, I'd still rather have the nightmares than be kidnapped," Percy groused. He hoped his dad heard that!

...with Luke, walking through the dark palace on top of Mount Tam.

The way Percy, Thalia, and Jason all shivered at that was a sad thing to watch. Nico, Will, and Magnus weren't looking much better. The way a singular person had done so much harm to so many others they couldn't begin to guess at left a bad taste in Alex's mouth, and he didn't even have any personal stakes against this guy until now when he decided he did.

... the sky swirled with gray storm clouds.

Jason watched his hands intently for a moment, convinced if he just didn't think about it and moved in slow motion he'd know exactly what he'd done while there, how it felt. Everything would come back to him with perfect clarity. It didn't happen, of course.

... camouflage pants, a white T-shirt, and a bronze breastplate,

Percy was glad Annabeth wasn't here for a moment, so that he could pretend to himself she wouldn't be blushing and denying he'd looked so handsome. His straps were never crooked.

and an empty scabbard.

"That moment where he's so dang confident he deserves to be stabbed in the back," Magnus scowled, still more than peeved at all the horrible things this guy had done to his cousin and more.

Percy couldn't help an awkward laugh though. He'd probably lose his sword if it wasn't attached to him.

... She wore a blue dress tonight, and looked wickedly beautiful.

Now Percy was blushing and writing out six death threats in his head if anybody ever told Annabeth about this moment too.

...anxious to turn back into pure flame.

Will ran his fingers curiously through his hair at that vivid mental image. He felt guilty for a moment he really wanted to see that in person as he had to remind himself she was a vicious monster who would kill him first.

... this time she didn't seem to notice me.

"Is it because you didn't call her awesome Percy?" Jason asked seriously. "Your thoughts can be hurtful you know."

"Great, I found a way to do more damage to her than I did in person," Percy sighed. "You think if I told her that looked so last season she'd run away and never come back?"

"A theory you should absolutely test," Jason grinned.

... even Luke seemed stunned by what he saw.

Alex looked like he'd been waiting all his life for this moment to guess, "the secret traitor is Chiron all along? Oh, no, Polyphemus is there to propose to him? Or, or, wait, that poodle who once gave you directions has been secretly following you all along!"

Percy was tempted to just sit and watch to see how long Alex could go on like that in ever increasing insanity, but Thalia gave him a forceful nudge to get him going again. He felt like a carrot and a stick being dangled on either side of him but relented. He knew she wanted to hear about Luke about as much as Nico wanted to hear of his sister.

The monster Kampê towered above him.

"Oooh, so close Alex," Magnus shook his head with a grin. "Got to stay on your toes more."

"Well I'm pleased as punch," Alex beamed. "It's so cool to have her back!"

"At least somebody's excited," Will muttered, pressing his hand against his stomach to convince himself not to hurl.

...Kampê's eyelids blinked sideways like a reptile's.

"Is that secretly cool yet?" Alex grinned.

"No Alex," several people told him at once.

He pouted and wished he could do that to his eyes for revenge right now. Curse whichever god had taken away his shapeshifting!

...You may carry Ariadne's string. It is a position of great honor."

"I get the feeling that whoever held that position before isn't going to argue the point," Jason frowned.

..."She is too chaotic and powerful."

"Good to know he drew a line somewhere," Will fought off a whimper.

"Didn't do anybody any good," Nico scowled. He was starting to believe Will about being welcomed at Camp. At least he'd never done anything as awful as hang out with that creature.

...unpleasant to destroy your old camp?" "I didn't say that."

"He didn't deny it either," Thalia said, and she hated herself for how wistful she sounded. Even knowing without a doubt there had been no going back for him at this point, it hurt a lot to hear there had been doubts. Small tidbits she wished she could have been there to help foster, rather than this she-demon feeding the worst ones.

...Luke's face turned stony. "I know my duty."

"Is he going to share with the class?" Jason asked in a tone of one who really didn't want to know but knew there was going to be a pop quiz over this.

"Sadly," Thalia answered in an echo of her voice.

... will I need to call Mother Hecate for help?"

"Has that name been mentioned already?" Magnus asked, not particularly wanting to know what could be the mother of these monsters.

"She's the goddess of magic," Will helpfully reminded, but the sadness in his voice reminded them all she was a goddess not on their side. They didn't know how many kids had come and gone out of the Hermes cabin when they had actually been claimed, and still had nowhere to go for themselves.

... All I need is to negotiate safe passage through the arena."

"Do we want blackmail and bribery to factor into this?" Alex said as if this were very familiar territory.

"Well I wouldn't imagine Luke doing anything decently, so it probably will whether we want it or not," Magnus scowled.

... hate to see your handsome head on a spike if you fail."

"I don't believe her," Thalia stage whispered, though it annoyed her greatly she'd imagined doing that to him more than once herself.

...turned her eyes on me, exposed her talons, and ripped through my dream.

Percy startled again, rubbing at his chest. He'd been plenty in despair seeing Luke's army before that thank you!

Suddenly I was in a different place.

Not that the monster was going to think one terror a nightmare was enough.

...He looked years older than when I'd last seen him.

"Which is saying something, he hadn't sounded spry before," Jason said, one part anxious how he was going to die, one part fascinated if they were going to get to hear of his ghost popping out of his body or something.

... squinted as if he couldn't see, though it was a sunny day.

"Disability win?" Alex said with a hopeful thumbs up.

"I don't think he's actually blind yet," Thalia said, "probably just to smart to admit he needs glasses at that age."

"Agh," Alex made that sound like a cuss as he turned his thumb down instead.

...A boy about Nico's age came bounding up the steps.

Nico looked vaguely offended, like Percy had earmarked the kid for his death just for using his name. Then Percy got an annoying pain in his temple that made him feel like that's exactly what had happened and he decided not to say anything else the book didn't, for now.

...The problem of moving water uphill without a pump was easy?"

"When was the pump invented?" Will asked in fascination.

"The Greeks did have their own version of one," Jason nodded, "I think the name Ctesibius was famed with it, though Perdix might have come up with some similar method."

"Why do you-" but Percy stopped himself in exasperation. He might as well have asked Annabeth why she'd know that, it would do no good.

... didn't make any sense to me, but Daedalus nodded grudgingly.

"What a rip off!" Magnus huffed. "You get traumatized left and right by these nightmares, you get a translation when a monster speaks gobbledygook, but you don't get to understand the cool thing the mechanic genius kid is doing?"

"If I could pick and choose, there would be no stopping me," Percy agreed.

..."The king loved it! He said I might be even smarter than you!"

"Well that's one way to give a kid an ego," Thalia sighed.

"If you give a kid an ego, he runs wild with it," Alex said in a weird singsong voice. "If he runs wild with it, he's sure to attract danger. If he attracts danger-"

"Thank you," Nico patiently cut in with a laugh. "Nursery rhymes start at three though."

"Ah, my bad," Alex nodded seriously and mock checked his naked wrist.

... "So when I die, you can take my place, eh?"

Will wanted to point out at least Daedalus wasn't displacing his missing son onto his nephew, that would just be another level of depressing, but frankly unhealthy coping was better than what he knew was about to happen next.

... I've been thinking, why does a man have to die, anyway?"

"Because it would be boring to live forever," Magnus frowned.

"I think some of the possibilities could be fun," Alex grinned. "Getting to learn something new and master it every few years. After a couple hundred you'd forget and get rusty and circle back to old things to practice and keep learning forever."

"Thank you Alex, I will never want to be immortal now," Percy yelped that the first thing to come to his mind would be endless studying!

"I think it mostly comes down to the company and methods," Will said with a bright smile as if this were a casual lunch topic to him. Then they realized, it might be among his siblings, considering their parentage. "Vampirism would be horrible, having to kill others would not be my choice ever, and god hood would just get boring, you'd never learn, never change, always in one cycle. A way to keep the mind and body forever in motion of unrest though, now that might have its perks, as Alex said."

"It has its ups and downs," Thalia said with a sad smile. She hadn't been immortal long enough to feel the full brunt of what was being described though, and she was already considering giving it up. There was no danger in her turning sixteen anymore now that the prophecy was said and done, and she'd already spent enough time away from her brother. Another year more of him aging past her sounded abhorrent all of a sudden.

"Hard pass," Nico shivered. He was already supposed to be like, ninety or something. He would not take any more out of time experiences for anything.

Jason didn't declare his feelings on the matter, but he had a thoughtful expression about it. He was very sure he had some previous feelings about this, but he couldn't for the life of him imagine what they were tied to, as usual.

... Everything dies but the gods."

"Without death, there is no meaning to life," Jason muttered, perking up a little. He didn't know why that thought had flitted through his mind, but it helped ground his confusion from moments ago.

.... you've told me of your automatons. Why not a bronze form for a man?"

"Because the automatons aren't alive?!" Magnus would normally be embarrassed that came out in such a high pitched concerned tone. He wouldn't normally be this freaked out over a kid asking silly questions, but in this world, who knew if that was really a thing!?

"In general yeah," Thalia agreed, her tone clearly meant to soothe. The fact that she couldn't just flat say yes though didn't make him feel much better.

... "You are naïve. Such a thing is impossible."

Magnus did try to fully relax though as his cousin's favorite inventor called the idea preposterous. Thalia probably just meant someone like Hephaestus or Hecate could do it with godly power, but that didn't make it a common thing.

..."Yes, Uncle! Magic and mechanics together

"That sounds terrifying," Will said with chipper. "Each by itself causes us more than enough problems thank you!"

"It's unnatural," Nico agreed. How Daedalus had even gotten away with it for so long without Thanatos coming after him was still a great mystery.

"There's a supernatural occurrence we can agree on," Percy grinned at him. Nico even grinned back for a moment.

... make a human body, only better. I've made some notes."

"Fingers crossed this doesn't turn into some weird AI takeover," Alex frowned, "that would be jumping the shark."

"Annabeth was secretly a robot all along," Percy chuckled, waving his fingers around like magic. "No, Chiron! That wheelchair was hiding secret cyborg parts!"

"I bet Grover's eyes have glowed red," Jason snickered, "better watch out for him first."

Thalia was laughing hardest of all, mostly because they had no clue how close to right they were of who was secretly a robot.

..."It would never work. When you're older, you'll see."

No, he wouldn't, Percy suddenly shivered with a knowledge he didn't want to have. The longer this dream dragged on, the more he wanted to go back to watching Luke's horrible army. That was something he could face, something he could do. This, this was ancient history he was helpless to witness.

...Perdix didn't seem to notice the old man's anger.

"Lucky him," Alex muttered, though he had his suspicions Percy wouldn't be dreaming about this if that lasted.

... spread its wings and hummed away. Perdix laughed with delight.

"Sounds like the kid invented a golden snitch," Magnus said, but his chuckle was sad and forced. He had a feeling it wasn't going to let him win the game of life. There was just something in the air, a somberness to this story. Daedalus had murdered someone, and it might not have meant his own son by accident, but another boy.

"I doubt there's a flying broom involved in this one," Alex agreed in the same tone.

... "I'd make my own wings that wouldn't fail."

There was something so sickening about what they all knew was about to happen, Will sighed. Because this was a Greek tragedy, as Percy once promised, and nobody was going to get a happy ending where the old, wounded man would walk away and mourn his child and come back later to talk to Perdix about how what he said was hurting him. The young boy instead was just another cautionary tale used for gruesome life lessons.

...Janus shimmered in the air next to Daedalus... Choose.

Jason tapped his fingers against his knee in frustration. That Daedalus had probably skipped a ceremonial step or something small and provoked this god into putting this idea in his head, or worse, that Janus couldn't have just chosen to appear and tell him both choices, to make the old man hear what he was really about to do. Even the brightest minds weren't above impulsive decisions.

Daedalus picked up another... reached a little too far. The wind caught him.

Thalia's hand fluttered uselessly beside her. She wanted to snatch him up, same as she would for Icarus. Daedalus had caused this and she'd probably pitch him off in the same fit of rage, not at all considering how he'd once been a vital part to the quest her little sister was currently on.

... "Make your own wings. Be quick about it."

"That just went from horrible to cold blooded," Magnus said with white lips. "Holy hell, you guys are going to find this guy?! Are we sure he didn't throw Percy into the ocean next?"

"No, we are not," Percy answered with his own troubled scowl.

...the boy cried as he lost his grip. He tumbled toward the sea.

"Do you think it annoys Poseidon this guy got two kids killed almost exactly the same way using his ocean?" Alex asked thoughtfully. "Or is that more Zeus and his gravity hoarding?" There was a kind of detachment to the way Alex asked. He knew this was a tragedy, but it didn't stop him from seeing it in his own light.

"I'll be sure to ask my dad if it comes up," Percy shivered.

...You will pay the price for that, Daedalus.

Percy stumbled and stuttered over that like he hadn't in the dire silence of the boy dying, though nobody understood why until he read the next line.

... It was Annabeth's mother: Athena.

This was all a dream to him, something happening he could only watch and had no influence over. The goddess of wisdom showing up somehow grounded it all again, made his stomach pitch with horror like he too was falling right along with Perdix.

Daedalus scowled up at the heavens. "I have always honored you, Mother.

"Mother?" Was echoed around the room in various states of shock. "You're telling me this is Annabeth's long lost half-brother or something?" Magnus demanded, but he wasn't really that surprised. They had frequently commented how much of a genius this guy was.

"In a manner of speaking," Thalia said, a bit rushed to wave Percy on as he shivered at that wording. They were getting a little to close to the prophecy for her liking to linger on this.

... the boy had my blessing, and you have killed him. For that, you must pay.

"For killing a child with your blessing, or just killing a child in general?" Will sighed.

"I like to think both?" Nico offered. "One would just be instant death, the other is a punishment worse than death."

"Mph," Percy grunted, not sure how much he believed that.

...I felt what he felt. A searing pain closed around my neck like a molten hot collar.

"What did she do to him?" Magnus wasn't pleased he sounded so concerned about the child killer's torture, but he also now suspected he'd just been left in that stone tower to dangle in pain for all eternity until Annabeth and Percy showed up to get him down and that might be why he helped them.

"A story for another time," Thalia sighed. She'd love to just give the highlight details and gloss over the miserable in-between, but Percy tended to lose his mind one way or the other. At least the book kept it fair by making everybody equally miserable.

..."Percy?" Grover called from the other sofa. "Are you okay?"

"Because when I see someone strangling themselves in their sleep, I always ask first if they want me to stop it," Alex said in that eerie way of his where nobody was sure how much he was kidding.

...I was watching the Nature Channel." He sniffled. "I miss Juniper."

"Is..." Magnus fumbled off with a vibrant flush. "Was that code for..." he couldn't seem to finish.

"Was that Grover's approximation of porn?" Alex asked casually.

"Gods, why would I know that?" Percy yelped in disgust.

"Well, Annabeth didn't appear in your dreams dancing through a forest, so even if it was, I guess the empathy link wouldn't tell you," Alex shrugged like that was all the answer he needed while Percy looked ready to combust from embarrassment.

"Alex!" Magnus yelped in disgust. "That's my cousin!"

"Seconded," Thalia groaned.

"Sorry," he said, actually meaning it a little.

... It's June thirteenth.

"National sowing machine day," Alex nodded without surprise. "Something to always stop and commemorate."

"I'm sure Grover would mark it on his calendar if he'd stop eating it," Percy chuckled, though nobody was sure if he meant the calendar or the sowing machine.

Seven days since we left camp." "That can't be right."

"Did you really think you walked across the country in twenty four hours?" Thalia asked in exasperation.

"Just once on a quest I'd like time not to go loopy on me," Percy scowled. Even when it was in his favor like Apollo's magic train, it still gave him the creeps to feel out of place like he was now with no clue how long they'd been stuck down here.

...Grover put the TV remote in his mouth and crunched off the end of it.

"Mmm, I bet the electricity in that gives it a good spicy flavor," Jason snickered.

"He saves the batteries for dessert," Will agreed like this was a casual thing, before they realized it probably was and nobody ever handed the satyr the precious remote.

... they'll take away my license. I'll never be allowed out again."

"Can't he just eat through whatever ball and chain they put on him?" Magnus scowled at the idea of being pinned down.

"I get the feeling Grover breaks the rules as often as Annabeth does," Nico reminded.

"And here I thought Percy would have been a better influence on him by now just like her after all this time," Magnus huffed while Percy blushed faintly.

...I wish I could be more like you."

"Power washing monsters, sassing off gods, and being a general nincompoop," Thalia ticked off on her fingers. "He is a hero to be admired for sure."

"And those are just my best three qualities," Percy grinned. "Just you wait until I can figure out how to do math and manage that ollie, I'll be unstoppable."

"I'll be waiting with baited breath," she chuckled.

... I keep trying, but," he sighed.

"He's got to stop being so down on himself," Will sighed. "He's found every big three kid of this generation, he clearly has a nose of where to go!" And that wasn't even spoiling for Percy he did find Pan, so it was very dispiriting to hear him talking down on himself.

Thalia, Percy, and Nico all laughed in surprise. They weren't unaware of that, but it was a nice feeling for a moment as they all grinned to have some kind of connection with each other that they didn't dread for a moment.

... "You're the champion goat boy!"..."Champion goat boy," he muttered dejectedly.

Percy groaned a miserable noise. He wished Grover had thrown that remote at him and managed to give him a black eye, it would have given more impact to this conversation than he had. Grover felt useless? Percy couldn't remember a time he'd actually helped his best friend feel better except for stupid motivational quotes.

"Don't be so hard on yourself Percy," Nico stunned him by saying, but he well recognized that look of miserable self loathing. "He wouldn't follow you on every insane quest if he didn't think you were worth it."

Nico had never had a friend like that. Grover might have had his own reasons each time too, but a basic one grounding him in each was to follow Percy's example without gawking over him, something he was still trying to learn himself.

"Yeah?" Percy agreed with a hopeful smile. At least he was always there for his best friend in person, if not the gushy wordy feeling part his mom might have been able to give.

"You could come with us," I blurted out...how much Perdix reminded me of Nico.

Nico still didn't appreciate that comparison very much, it felt like everything wrong with how Percy viewed him. A stupid, useless kid destined to be tied into death. He took an uneasy breath and told Percy's nose, "I'm not though. I'm, my own person." It sounded as stupid, useless, and childish to his ears as he hadn't wanted it to, but at least he'd finally told him.

"Yeah, I know Nico," Percy had a sad smile on his face he couldn't guess at. "Sorry, still getting used to that, but I'm getting there." He had to stop tying this guy into Bianca. He hated being treated like a hero around camp because of his dad, and it must be worse having Hades for a dad.

...I don't think any of us had slept well in the demon ranch house,

"Because none of you have an exorcist on speed dial," Alex sighed tragically.

...Like he did?...

...Nico looked worse. His eyes were red and his face chalky.

"Nico, if you're secretly an Italian vampire, you really should tell us now," Jason frowned.

"Can't I take one secret to the grave?" Nico's smile was fading in and out like bad reception. He really looked no better in here, but there was a part of him that was relieved that was finally over with. He still loathed the idea of the next time he showed up, and how Pan's utter rejection of his existence was going to reinvigorate the idea to Will or Alex or someone he was sure he wasn't worthy to be in the same room with all of these hero's, but for now at least a pit had settled in him to be digested instead of lodged in place.

... Bianca came out for me and not him didn't seem to sit well.

"Don't let anybody ever tell you you can't take a hint Percy," Nico's smile was not amused.

Percy still gave him a hesitant smile back Nico didn't bite his face off for.

...She put her hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away and trudged up the road.

It really hadn't just been because it was Annabeth to do that either. He'd felt more miserable and alone than ever, as lifeless as the ghost of his sister he'd summoned. He had nothing left to do, no sense of himself anymore now that his one goal in life to get Bianca back had been so violently squashed by the one person he'd always secretly hoped would help him.

Percy hadn't come after him, of course.

... the morning mist seemed to cling to him as he walked.

"And we all know you have a really crappy imagination actually," Alex scoffed.

"The world around me is bizarre enough I don't really need one anyways," Percy shrugged, though he wasn't really convinced he was wrong. Nico had still flinched at another odd thing about him, so Percy was more than willing to play it off.

..."If he starts talking to Minos's ghost again,"

"He starts playing hangman with him?" Magnus asked hopefully.

"Is it cheating if I use Italian?" Nico grinned.

"I'll give it a pass since we want the goal of that game for him to die more permanently," Magnus shrugged.

"He'll be all right," Eurytion promised.

"Making promises you can't keep," Nico scowled and muttered for himself, "who knew Ares kids were so guilty of that." Thinking how Clarisse had probably promised Chris a million times it was okay now just because he was out of that maze.

"Mm, their heart's usually in the right place though," Will agreed sadly. It was a nice instinct to have anyways, just to promise you wanted it for them.

... trimmed his beard and put on Geryon's boots.

"You think he cleaned out the monster dust, or left it in there like a trophy kind of thing?" Percy chuckled.

"An excellent question I wish you'd asked," Alex snickered.

... stay here long as he wants. He'll be safe, I promise."

Nico didn't think it as offensive the second time. He'd had enough empty promises he still didn't appreciate it, but Will wasn't wrong. Better than nobody at all caring, like it had been before.

... Might just sign up for the next rodeo."

"Barrell racing on the chicken ponies," Jason chuckled. "Are the clowns going to be satyrs? They sound like they would love to hang around this place and make sure the animals continue to be treated right if they get black bean burgers."

"I'll keep Grover posted on that," Percy grinned.

...the subject of Daedalus's workshop made him uncomfortable.

"Daedalus makes everybody uncomfortable eventually," Magnus shuddered.

"Hopefully he's invented a new personality after all these years," Percy agreed, the idea of Perdix still lingering in his mind as he kept watching Nico. There was a connection there he just knew he was missing.

... how do we find Hephaestus?"

"Freaking side quests man," Jason sighed, "you can't go on one quest without them."

"Did you expect anything less in a maze with a million paths?" Percy sighed.

... silver disk on a chain... He handed it to Annabeth.

Magnus worried it couldn't be that easy. A trip to see another god didn't even sound like it was going to go smoothly at this rate, and he had a bad feeling Hephaestus wasn't going to tell them where Daedalus was out of the kindness of his heart.

... A little trick he wanted to play on my dad, Ares, and Aphrodite.

"Holy crap," Jason burst out laughing. "I did not expect to hear details on that Thrill Ride of Love concept."

"I'm pretty confident there's more than one trap set up for them out there," Thalia disagreed. "There's no animal component I can imagine Hephaestus tying into that particular one since we didn't hear Annabeth screaming across the planet about monster spiders."

"I'm just over here laughing Eurytion clearly had no problems helping," Alex snorted. Someone wasn't a fan of his dad. Then he wondered if Clarisse would like to help with the next one. How loyal was she to her dad after his crappy treatment?

...the disk would lead me to his forges. But only once."

"Wow," Nico muttered at Percy reading that with mostly disinterest. Percy clearly didn't understand what a valuable gift that was to have, something to lead him right into one of the greatest forges.

Not that Nico would know, nobody had ever gifted him something like that, and he really wouldn't want one. Luckily, he had a doctors note to keep him out of all of those, he smiled to himself.

...Annabeth shrieked and dropped it, much to Eurytion's confusion.

"I didn't think to much about it last time," Magnus admitted, "but what's with the spiders? Is that a weird signature Hephaestus uses, or just coincidence?"

"Like Eurytion said, I think he just uses lots of animals." Thalia shrugged. "Probably a coincidence."

..."That thing's not going to wait for us."

"You've already had some bad experiences with his stuff," Jason frowned uneasily. "I don't like this thing isn't voice activated, or that it could decide to turn around and kill you whenever it wants."

"Well it was normal sized and not blowing fire, so sorry to Annabeth, but it was my favorite so far," Percy shrugged.

Annabeth wasn't anxious to follow, but we didn't have much choice.

"It really is like this whole quest is just kicking her," Thalia sighed for her.

... Tyson pulled the guard off, and we dropped back into the maze.

"Bye-bye cows," Alex pouted.

"Hello more nonsense," Magnus sighed.

I wish I could've put the mechanical spider on a leash.

"Annabeth would have broken your wrist," Jason said with confidence.

"Only if I tried to name it," Percy defended. "She knows we needed to be practical."

"Fine, fair," Jason shrugged.

... If not for Tyson's and Grover's excellent hearing, we would've lost it.

"I'm a little offended the god of making stuff didn't make this a universally compatible kind of help," Magnus admitted.

"It was made for just one person," Will reminded. "I'm sure Eurytion wouldn't have had a problem keeping up with that pace."

... then dashed to the left and almost fell into an abyss.

Percy jolted in his seat like his heart had just tried to jump out of his chest without him, his foot still twitching unpleasantly like it had betrayed him. He'd really like to stop almost falling into endless pits one of these days!

Tyson grabbed me and hauled me back before I could fall.

"Seriously, where's the petition to sign he be on every quest," Alex grinned. "I bet he would have hauled Grover right out of those devil magic shoes too before you even got close."

"I'll make one myself if there isn't one out there," Percy grinned.

...about halfway across, swinging from bar to bar by shooting out metal web fiber.

"Well now it's just showing off," Thalia snorted.

"I'm just jealous you weren't there to give us a zipline across," Percy pouted.

"Like I would do that for a boy," she put on a weirdly good impression of Zoe doing that. "Get across those bars like everybody else Perce!"

"Then she would have zip lined herself across," Jason snickered.

"Exactly," she chuckled along.

Percy sighed at the two tag teaming him now, he really couldn't catch a break.

"Monkey bars," Annabeth said. "I'm great at these."

"Of course she is," Nico muttered. Was there anything she wasn't great at?

... scared of spiders, but not plummeting to her death from monkey bars. Go figure.

Percy sounded so chipper reading that. Happy to have this train of thought on display, so affectionately exasperated by her like he would share this piece of his mind with anybody who asked, and obviously several who wouldn't. It made the others all laugh, while Nico rolled his eyes. He didn't even dislike her for being the object of Percy's affection, something he'd never be. He disliked her because she always felt perfect, and hearing Percy talk about her that way only made it worse.

...as he landed, the last iron bar ripped free under his weight.

"You were never going to figure out how to get back the way you came anyways," Nico frowned, he still didn't like the idea of this maze being even a broken iron bar more deadly now than ever because one path was now definitely a death sentence.

We kept moving and passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel.

"If any of you start playing bingo I will shove the chips up your nose," Percy sighed as Jason and Alex both opened their mouths, obviously to comment on another of these popping up.

"Only because you're jealous we'd use more of Annabeth's tricks than yours," Thalia smirked.

"At least Tyson and Grover would share the free space," Magnus offered.

"Nope, no deal," Percy was fighting off a smile anyways.

It wore the remains of a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie.

"What a horrible outfit to die in," Alex frowned. Though nobody would be surprised if Alex had a death outfit all picked out.

... they were pencils. Hundreds of them, all broken in half.

Milkman skeletons and awful uniforms were bad enough. A deep chill circled the room at the singular idea that followed.

It was usually only kids who had pencils on them.

Between Icarus and Perdix, hadn't there already been enough dead kids in this book?

... didn't smell quite as bad as Geryon's stables, but almost.

Percy didn't need anybody to laugh at him about it this time, he was already wishing he'd brought some of those calcified seashells too for whatever they were about to face next. He could feel the acid in his stomach already trying to climb back up in horror, and it wasn't for the skeletons. This feeling only arose when something bad was about to happen to his friends.

... she kind of reminded me of my third-grade choir teacher.

"You've had a weirdly recurring pattern of teachers trying to kill you," Jason frowned, even if the sphinx was going to be a loose definition of a teacher in this odd setup. "It really does make your problems with the education system more understandable."

"I'm still not showing this to my mom as proof," Percy decided.

...THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!

"Um, I'm going to want to see the credentials of who's grading these monsters?" Alex sniffed, clearly practicing for an art gallery voice and mastering it.

"Exemplary by what standards exactly?" Magnus couldn't help but agree. "I wouldn't rate any monster to high if they tried to kill me."

"I bet Luke hands those out without checking their value," Alex huffed.

Tyson whimpered. "Sphinx."

Nobody had any snappy jokes for that. No matter how wise beyond his age he acted, he would always be an innocent kid to all of them, so hearing him get so scared about this set every one of them on edge in a dire sight of the rooms structure. Percy forced himself to take a deep breath and keep reading like this book wasn't one word away from getting this room blasted to bits. He had to know his friends were okay first before he'd let that happen.

... Bars came down on both tunnel exits, behind us and in front.

Hopefully blocking their spider guide inside, Jason bit at his lip with worry. If they lost that thing then they'd somehow be in even more trouble, and that already felt at its limit right now.

... "Get ready to play, ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!"

"I love riddles," Magnus offered awkwardly like he was still trying to delude himself this wasn't going to turn into a game show of death. Darn those stupid chapter titles being right, again.

"What is exemplary and needs to die?" Percy was already scowling and wanting to draw his sword without waiting around for the answer.

Canned applause blasted from the ceiling.

"Ugh," Will rolled his eyes. "Fake noise is the worst, it doesn't make it funnier. If you need a cue when to applaud then the joke wasn't that good!"

Nico smothered a laugh poorly as he told him, "never knew you were so passionate about this Will."

"Don't think you know everything about me already Nico," he grinned.

... throwing disco glitter over the skeletons on the floor.

"If somebody has to start shaking their groove, then I'm out," Jason gagged.

"I bet Grover would rock one of those aphro's though, he's already got the shag carpet legs," Percy hurt his own head a little bit though as he offered up the image.

"Boys, focus," Thalia sighed, though their mocking had lessened the pressure in the room enough it didn't feel likely to explode any second anymore.

..."Pass the test, and you advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?"

"Not even a car?" Alex looked so disappointed. "A million dollars? Nobody's going to tune into this show if the stakes aren't high enough."

"You don't think the characters would drive the plot?" Percy asked innocently.

"Nobody cares about the people on reality TV show's Percy," Alex rolled his eyes. "It's all about the crazy shit they're willing to do."

Annabeth was the best one of us to try...She stepped forward to the contestant's podium,

"You didn't argue at all," Magnus snorted in surprise.

"I said what I said," Percy shrugged.

"I'm getting kind of worried your relationship is drying up," Magnus insisted on teasing though as Percy gave in weirdly fast again. "You two haven't had a good argument in whole chapters!"

"We're not in a-" but Percy stopped like a deer in the headlights and swiftly went back to the book to ignore everybody around him snickering their heads off, again.

... She pushed the skeleton away and it clattered to the floor. "Sorry," Annabeth told it.

Nico smiled in surprise at the silly gesture of doing that instead of her squealing or just ignoring the essence of somebody left behind. It was a small thing, but one he still noticed as he wondered if Minos would still chid her for apologizing to a shovel.

..."Twenty riddles, actually!" the Sphinx said gleefully.

Percy winced at the internal yelp that had gone off in his head, he wouldn't have even cared if he'd made that noise out loud. Annabeth was the smartest person he knew, but was she going to be able to do that many?!

...Applause switched on and off like somebody turning a faucet.

"This place sounds like it needs a serious downgrade," Jason frowned. "A little rewiring, you could probably raise those bars and skip this all together."

"I'm not sure even I could manage that," Thalia admitted. Just because she caused a power surge didn't mean a guaranteed outcome of that tech.

..."What, is the capital of Bulgaria?"

Percy looked dumbstruck as if somebody had asked him to describe the concept of time. There was no snicker about the room though, only accompanying blank faces.

..."Sofia," she said, "but—" "Correct!" More canned applause.

"That's, not a riddle," Magnus finally, oh so helpfully pointed out.

"A pretty name," Jason agreed, "but huh?" He sounded almost disappointed, like he would have loved to been challenged with twenty riddles to the death too.

"Maybe it got lost in translation of Greek?" Nico said blankly.

"Don't look at me," Percy reminded, "I couldn't figure out what the capital of Louisiana was if you paid me."

... a test booklet appeared along with a sharpened pencil.

"Gah!" Percy looked ready to throw his own book away from fighting off the compulsion to make the warding against evil gesture. "Not the booklets, anything but those!"

"It's okay Percy," Thalia rubbed his shoulder in commiseration, and she wasn't even mocking him. All they were missing was the straightjackets, and ironically that was much like a previous nightmare. "This monster won't know what hit her."

It was as comforting as her usual advice where he had no clue how any of this worked out, but at least kept him confident enough it would as he tried to finish.

..."The riddle about the man... as an old man with a cane.

"That sounds more like a Pokémon," Alex frowned. "Someone got way to loose with the wording and amount of legs we have."

"Reason number one I will never get riddles," Percy agreed. The answer never felt satisfying even when explained, usually it just made less sense.

..."Exactly why we changed the test!" the Sphinx exclaimed. "You already knew the answer.

"That's fair though," Will nodded.

"For who?" Magnus spluttered. "I sure didn't know! Nobody should expect universal knowledge!"

"For the, monster," but Will knew a losing battle when he started, he wasn't going to get anyone else to agree he didn't blame the sphinx for wanting to shake things up and adapt.

... what is the square root of sixteen?"

"That one wasn't even hard," Jason huffed.

"Speak for yourself," Thalia said cross-eyed. She did good to remember which number went in the funny box, let alone what to do next.

...the Emancipation Proclamation?" "Abraham Lincoln, but—"

"I hope she doesn't get points off for talking about butts the whole class," Alex snickered.

"As long as she doesn't doodle on her paperwork, the teacher seems likely to let it slide," Will shrugged.

... "Riddles are supposed to make you think."

"How to sum up the education system in one sentence," Nico rolled his eyes. "Thank you Annabeth." He knew he'd always hated school for a reason, yet never been able to word why he got more invested in his strategy games until this moment.

"You should hear her flow chart on how to actually restructure that," Percy chuckled.

..."How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That's ridiculous!

Alex and Magnus exchanged vaguely amused looks as the same pink toad came to mind. Who knew Percy would have to deal with a real live monster in the education system when he wasn't even in school.

...this is an insult to my intelligence. I won't answer these."

"Is she insane?" Jason demanded with a nervous laugh. "She really won't take the easy way and answer questions she knows, because, she already knows them?"

"No," Magnus frowned reproachfully. "She thinks she should actually be tested, she wants to earn her answers, not deal with trivial nonsense."

"This isn't school and we're not debating her placement in advanced classes," Jason was starting to look actually annoyed. "This is life and death, and she should bite her tongue and answer the questions to get them out without having to fight for their life."

Thalia cleared her throat hard to get their attention before Magnus could rebut back. Percy was watching with growing dread for what the outcome was, and unlike Annabeth, they both shelved their pride away instantly to hear the answer rather than debate it.

...impressed with her for standing up... thought her pride was going to get us all killed.

"Percy, summing up the situation in two sentences," Thalia applauded, helping to break the rest of the tension.

... since we can't allow children to be held back, you'll be EATEN!"

"That's a bit extreme," Magnus said with a nervous chuckle. Jason still looked remarkably hacked off this one was Annabeth's own fault, she'd volunteered for this and then didn't even ask the others. Leading the quest meant she should know the difference between making the hard choices and keeping everyone involved, and she was showing a great lack of that right now.

... She pounced at the podium. "No!" Tyson charged.

There was nothing but a collective exhale of relief around the room though. Nobody actually wanted her to die because of her pride, even if it would have been her fatal flaw's full comeuppance. Jason was smiling though, whatever odd feelings he still had about Tyson, he had a bad feeling they were rooted in a prejudice he couldn't remember. He definitely considered it a good thing right now all he heard was friends looking out for each other even when they were making dumb choices.

...couldn't believe he was being so brave...had a bad experience with a Sphinx before.

"Revenge," Alex agreed wisely. "No finer motivation to do anything."

"Helps that it's in their favor," Nico agreed, he'd been on the receiving end a few times of campers who wanted revenge against death and taken it out on him.

...got up, his shirt clawed to shreds.

Percy's heart stuttered in his chest at the remembered sight. He'd never thought what would happen to his brother if he were hurt, or injured to badly. Would he turn to dust, should he have been seeing blood trickling out of his wounds to know how bad it was? Would nectar and ambrosia work on him? They had to get Annabeth out of there, but he would be personally checking the moment he could.

..."Turn invisible," I told her. "I can fight!"

"Nobody's questioning that," Thalia assured in the same strained tone as Percy. She would have hoped the strategist in her would over come her pride here soon though!

...Grover poked her in the eye with somebody's leg bone.

"He's getting a little too good using bones as weapons," Magnus said with dread.

"Bones are natural, maybe he can grow them," Alex said with relish, imagining the right tune on those pipes making somebody's femur explode out of them.

Magnus at least tried to keep his internal screaming at the idea off his face.

..."No fair!" the Sphinx wailed. "Cheater!"

"I still consider her a cheater with that random trivia," Percy sniffed, "so all's fair."

"You shouldn't assume she didn't know the answer to her own questions Percy," Thalia sighed.

"Well I will until she gives me the answers without the key in front of her," Percy huffed.

..."My grading machine!" she cried. "I can't be exemplary without my test scores!"

"If she can't be exemplary without the machine then she shouldn't have it," Magnus said saintly.

"I always said there's a limit to what we should let technology do for us," Alex agreed with nothing but a laugh.

...I could only hope Annabeth was keeping up.

"And here I thought she'd want to stop and take a picture of the moment," Jason rolled his eyes.

"Nah, Tyson's got that covered. You just know this is going on the next shield," Will grinned.

...the pencils remembered they used to be trees... it brought us time.

Which only made Magnus shiver harder at the idea Alex had put in his head. Could Grover make a whole skeleton from scratch? Could he encase someone in bone?!

..."Annabeth!" I yelled. "Here!" she said, right next to me. "Keep moving!"

"The story of your life in those two sentences," Thalia shook her head sadly. Those two never got a chance to catch their breath, but they always stood by each other.

... as she complained about all the tests she would have to grade by hand.

"It's always a sad, sad day when you hear teachers complaining, they're supposed to be a rock to their students," Will sighed tragically.

"How Percy leaves every class he's ever been in, with chaos and cursing," Thalia shrugged as she plucked the book away from him.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

What's your favorite riddle?

Mine is;

What talks but never speaks, what runs but never sleeps?

A Babbling Brook

It's the first one I ever heard though, so I'm a little biased.

That last section sums up pretty dang well why my least favorite character is inevitably always going to be the 'smart one.' You name the series, and the one that has the complex of hubris is most likely my least favorite of the 'good' characters. There are some instances where this is done well, but it's rare and far between.

Just because you know the right answer doesn't mean you have to say it. Just because you know better doesn't mean everyone should have to listen to you. Just because you are smarter does not make you above anyone else.

Annabeth is certainly not the worst of this trope, there are many more I've seen over the years who all have a perfect moment of this specific thing that I will never like them for.

It's not even pride, I love Annabeth's moment at the end where she stands up for herself against Hera. It's hubris. It's the excessiveness of it in that their intelligence has to be front and center instead of focusing on other parts of a personality and just making them smart.

*In the last book, Percy mentions Bianca ditched the hat when she joined the hunters, where as here she's said to have it on like it had been on her when she died. A strange, small detail in the grand scheme of things I crossed out in my mind because I like the idea better of how much it hurts Nico she left that hat behind like him.