Oh my gods does Jason get some long-overdue character development in this opening. I've only been dropping pebbles for him this whole time, and then I just drop a boulder down here. Still connected to Nico and Thalia, but hey, progress! I honestly considered making this its own chapter it got so out of hand with all I'd planned, but frankly it's not to terribly long it can't be here either. Hope you all enjoy, and many thanks as ever for the constant love and support you give this fic!

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Will counted to sixty slowly in his head to give Nico time to get wherever he was going and take a breath before getting up to go after him.

He stopped and watched Percy for a moment, hand still in Annabeth's as he gestured awkwardly to the rooms and muttered something about showing her how the fridge worked. Will considered going over and telling Percy to get his butt in on this, but he was to worried that would make things worse. Whatever Nico was so worried about, there was a nine out of ten chance it involved him.

When a tap came on his shoulder, he wasn't that surprised, but he was a bit jealous and worried as Jason stopped him. "Can I come?"

Will sighed. What was he asking permission for? He didn't decide who Nico could be friends with...he realized he'd kind of been helping as he glanced over at Alex who was watching them intently and clearly in hearing range.

"What do you think he's blaming himself for this time?" Jason asked instead when Will didn't answer.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Will sighed. He'd felt intrigued by Nico the second he saw him in here. The child of the Big Three who clearly felt out of place among his peers. It had been fun getting to know him, and yeah, he'd developed a pretty heavy-duty crush along the way.

He was pretty sure he got nowhere Jason's interest in Nico was, but it still didn't tamper down his mild jealousy. They could have so much in common Will would never understand about the responsibilities of their father's names.

This could be good for Nico though, he tried to muse his green thoughts away. Will always wanted to make sure Nico was okay, and he truly hoped he'd made Nico believe that by now, but it would be all the better if he felt he had more of a support system than just him and Alex who was all over the place making best buds with Percy and Thalia, and being so weirdly intense around Magnus.

"Actually Jason, maybe it would do him good if you asked?" Will nodded.

He looked surprised, a little shy for a moment maybe, but then nodded and took off. Will sat down and leaned over his couch to tell Alex, "am I being overbearing?" Trusting he'd call him out on any bullshit.

"Nah," Alex shook his head, also watching the door. "Nico would slap you if you were. Don't underestimate the fireball. He's got problems, but having a backbone ain't one."

...

"I have a deal for you," Jason grinned as he leaned on Nico on the rooftop railing. Nico didn't seem as young as Jason had once mentally deemed him. He'd relaxed some, since that first time they'd been up here. He seemed more like he was walking around glancing over his shoulder all the time instead of being up here actively waiting for someone to push him off.

His mouth twitched, but he continued looking out over the dark landscape. "What's that?"

"You tell me what you think Percy's going to kill you for this time and I'll stop him."

Nico's little snort of mirth should have been more offensive. "You have no idea what you'd even be defending."

"My problem while I hold up my end of the deal," Jason shrugged.

Nico still didn't answer. He was fiddling with his ring absently and glancing at the door.

"Okay, let's start with something simpler," Jason sighed. "Did you actually do something wrong, or are you just worried people think you did something wrong, again."

Nico finally did look around at him with an annoyed frown. "It's not my fault the only person in there with a normal reaction is usually Magnus."

"Normal?" Jason cocked a brow. "What the heck is normal in our life? There are now four children of the big three in this place that weren't supposed to exist at all. I'm supposed to be dead. You and Percy just had a really poor lunch with a mortal who watches her son die every day. What is normal, Nico?" He sure was an evasive one, Will wasn't the only guy to notice how well Nico perfected even staying on one train of thought, let alone place. "Are you going to take my deal or not?"

"I thought you'd be talking to Thalia right now," Nico rolled his eyes as he looked back away, as if that were an actual answer. Now he wasn't even trying to be subtle. Will must have the patience of a saint.

Jason had the stubbornness of one. "I intend to, but if she comes up here I'll just ask her if she knows what's fixing to happen and hear her side, then Percy's. Don't you want yours out too?"

Will had said something similar to him too, and Nico still felt like the odd one out more than ever. Everybody else kept throwing advice at him like it was obvious when he seemed the only one to think it wouldn't matter. What was so different about him he couldn't even think like them?

His old jealousy at his sister flared up hard at how naturally she'd fit in with the hunters. She'd basically woken up with the worst lot in life having to take care of him and then instantly found her place only months later.

Then he glanced again at Jason, who like Will, had gone out of his way to want to learn how to play Mythomagic with him. He shook his head at himself, that he was really mad at himself he just hadn't fit in with the guy he wanted to. He'd probably be doing fine otherwise, with the assumption Percy didn't decapitate him coming up.

"I may have led Percy to the Underworld under not entirely honest pretenses," he finally sighed.

Jason studied him with interest. "To find out about your mom, right? Why would you think he wouldn't help?"

"My source wasn't reliable enough. I thought Percy would trust it. He would have been right. It went bad."

"Did you fulfill your end of the deal before it went bad?" Jason asked after only a few moments of consideration.

"No, though that part was true, I really was trying to help," Nico sighed.

"Then it seems like they're the one who caused the problem, not you," Jason shrugged as if it was as simple as that.

Nico chuckled darkly because it was a nice delusion. "Not so much how Percy saw it."

"Ah," Jason said in a little more understanding. This wasn't a baseless fear this time. By the tense set of his shoulders, Nico obviously remembered exactly what was coming where Percy didn't. "So, is this a done deal?" Jason hoped Nico didn't think he'd missed the obvious in that Nico's source and the cause of this wasn't revealed.

Nico slowly turned back to look at him. He looked drained. "We never even agreed on our last deal."

"I'm not sitting around being worried about you being cryptic and wanting to come to camp with me?" Jason shrugged. Nico, who should have felt like an enemy more than anybody, had still been so honest with him he probably trusted him most. Nico probably just wanted a summer camp away from his summer camp or something, after all that had gone on there with his sister. "So yeah, deal," he reached out his hand to shake.

No matter how much Nico studied him for it, he couldn't find the hint of a lie in him. He shook. "Deal. You're now in two very open-ended deals with a child of Hades." He couldn't help but say it out loud to make sure he hadn't been just getting really high and hallucinating on sea-bottom algae.

"Yeah, more than Zeus probably ever bothered with your dad, I feel so special and awesome," Jason chuckled.

Then Jason realized the missing link as Nico winced.

Oh. Well. That wasn't going to be fun.

....

Thalia was at the bottom of the stairs, saving Jason the trouble of awkwardly asking her aside and wondering if she'd continue to avoid him.

She had her head bowed though, one ankle cocked against the wall, twining the links of her bracelet so hard it must be twisting her skin and hurting. The silver circlet on her head glowed in the faint light like a warning.

Nico gave Jason a questioning look and was relieved when the blonde nodded him away. Nico had more than enough of his own sibling drama he was still processing, but he would have stood there and been whatever Jason needed him to be in this, whether witness or on his side. He probably knew how Jason felt better than anyone.

"Were you going to tell me?" Jason asked stiffly.

"Yes!" Thalia instantly assured, looking up at him and clearly hurt he'd think otherwise. "I, I just wanted to figure out how, what happened. Come to you with more answers than questions."

"And our mother!" Jason snapped then, challenging her to tell anything. He felt blindsided as he kept replaying that image of her ghostly form over in his head.

She flinched, and he felt instantly like the worst person. That drunken woman who had made Thalia feel so small.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, backing down at once, taking a step back right into the wall. He was taller than her, he hated the sudden dominance he'd felt demanding answers from her, the worst of a male hero.

Thalia studied him with eyes too old for her face, same as him. She hadn't been the least bit intimidated by him. He'd just hurt her. "I wasn't lying to Percy, she did get drunk and crashed a car, I found it in an old newspaper Annabeth helped me find. I'd run away long before that happened." She bit her lip for a moment before telling him what little more she could. "You were two, we were going out for a picnic. I went back to the car for something, I was only gone a second, but when I came back she was babbling about you being taken to justify, something. I, didn't realize, until, all this," she gestured at the mess of their life in that room.

That he'd probably been taken away to the other camp, somehow. Sacrificed for Zeus having two children when he shouldn't have even had one? Justified in Jupiter abducting his child without warning to raise him however he'd wanted?

"I searched everywhere, but I, I honestly believed you were dead until we wound up in here." Thalia finished, pleading to be understood. Jason never would have suspected she could sound so vulnerable with anyone.

You're like a ghost to me, she'd once told him. He studied her with such a sharp sense, one she recognized, and it wasn't because of the coloring. Jason had spent time sizing up others, sussing out the truth. "You were waiting until Percy's life was back on course," he finally surmised, "to tell me."

She winced with guilt, again, her heart plunging. "It's not like that Jason, he's..." she fumbled off with no good justification other than what he'd given himself.

Percy was familiar, someone she had no problems being comfortable around. Percy was her friend for years, he was reliable with whatever insanity came next. Percy was a real person to her, and he was the one who needed to be taken care of.

He'd never get all that with her too if he held onto this grudge. "Well," he sighed, but offered her a tentative smile. "At least it wasn't because I'm, Roman." The word sounded strange on his tongue, it was the first time he'd acknowledged it out loud. It felt good. "Right?"

"No, it was not because of that, not in the slightest," she nodded, matching his cautious confidence. "I didn't even know that, I was only seven and barely figuring out what was going on myself." She paused with a frown, trying to dredge up memories she'd long since tried to bury. "He was different the second time he came around, Zeus- Jupiter, whatever. More straight-laced, more formal, hard to believe, I know," she smiled at his confusion of all they'd heard of him in Percy's time. "He paid me no mind like I wasn't even there."

"So we're not even half-siblings through our dad, kind of," Jason actually chuckled. "Just our mom?"

"Sure, let's go with that, if it makes you feel better." She shrugged. He'd always be her little brother no matter what side of the family he wanted to call it.

He studied her for several tense minutes before he smiled like normal again, causing his scar to flutter. "I guess it doesn't really matter, in the long run. Jupiter, Zeus, either way, he was an absent, crappy dad." His face settled into that familiar mask of confusion as he started rubbing his tattoo in irritation.

She gently touched his face, smiling as her finger thumbed the scar on his lip before she dropped her hand away with a fond shake of her head. "I can tell you one thing, if you'd like. How you got that scar."

His eyes lit with interest instantly, so she said without further ado, "you bit a stapler."

"I what?" The involuntary laugh that burst out of him sounded a tad insulted.

"I swear," Thalia crossed her fingers over her heart. "I was there!"

"All this time, all these badass scenarios I had in my head," his grin was still confused, like he was half convinced she was teasing him. "I escaped with my life by a brush of death to the face, I jumped in the way to save a friend, I got into an epic battle with a killer monster. You're telling me it's because I was to blonde to function as a toddler?"

"Sorry Jase," she crossed her arms superiorly. "I got all the smart genes."

"Ha, as if," he mimicked her pose, annoyingly taller than her by a few inches. What a traitorous little brother. "You're a tesla coil with an attitude, you steal all your strategies from Percy."

She gasped and hand pressed to her heart. "How could you betray me like that? Stabbed in the back by my own baby brother?"

Then they both started laughing, and they didn't stop for a long time.

...

"So, Nico seems different," Annabeth said as she twined a bit of spaghetti expertly against a spoon. She'd watched every exchange between them with the kind of interest she had taking in a National Geographic episode.

"Feel bad for him," Percy nodded, looking anxiously at the door, still wanting to help but more than happy to admit he'd probably make things worse. "Clearly something bad happens in the Underworld; but yeah, he's been laughing a lot with Will," Percy shrugged as he shoveled his own pasta in, not caring how it hung from his lips and chewing fast to keep talking, mostly without food in his mouth. "Don't know why they didn't hang out at camp more, they get along fine."

"Right," Annabeth said with a look at him as if fearing he were about to be clubbed over the head. She was just a little sad, and a little relieved Percy really was that oblivious to say anything more to him. Especially because Nico seemed happy talking to Will all day, so it clearly wasn't a major concern.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw no one. Then he glanced at her again, then Nico's empty seat, and froze with a meatball lodged in his throat and started coughing violently.

Crap. He hadn't once thought about Nico's crush on him since she'd been here. Should he have been like, more considerate of how he acted around her because of that?!

It didn't seem to be bothering Nico any, as he'd kept smiling along with Will this whole time, mostly, until this recent appearance.

Annabeth was smacking between his shoulders and he finally swallowed and turned back to her. He decided saying nothing was the best policy here, like Thalia had said, let Nico blab that to whoever he wanted. Percy certainly wasn't going to tell Annabeth.

The idea felt like the right sign from the universe as Nico came in chit-chatting with Magnus. He couldn't tell what about, but they were both holding food for their usual seatmates who Percy had heard snippets of some strange back and forth over color theory or something. Percy really hadn't been following. Orange was cool, why did it need a meaning?

Jason came in with his hands in his pockets but a more comfortable smile they'd seen on him all day.

Thalia at least looked less likely to pitch someone off a roof too, which was always a great relief to Percy's personal safety.

She gestured like she was asking if he was going to move his seat. He hesitated, but then shook his head and gestured to Nico.

Doing a pretty good fake smile, Thalia nodded but did a melancholy plop into her beanbag. Percy offered her his garlic bread, such a gift even she couldn't deny as she began nibbling on the knot.

Alex was more than content to wait until everyone had their fill and the general mood in the room was calm, ish.

He picked up the book with one last worried look at Nico, who had only eaten under duress of Will's striping bits of ham and cheese and feeding them to him in smaller than bite-sized pieces as he devoured his own sandwich. Alex truly hoped whatever had Nico so newly glum, it was at least the last time. He'd been through enough.

The chorus of groans around the room for the new chapter title probably amused Annabeth more than it should have. It was just, funny. That they all knew without another word this was a fury, Mrs. Dodds leaping unpleasantly back into Percy's life and probably snatching him off the Underworld ground and threatening to drop him on sharp rocks before he decapitated her again.

Instead of anybody at Camp, who would have gasped in horror and fear at the idea of a Kindly One being anywhere near their thoughts. These guys really were great friends with Percy.

We emerged in Central Park just north of the Pond.

"There would be a freaking entrance in my backyard," Percy already looked plenty grumpy. "Grover's shoes couldn't have dragged him in there first, noooo, we had to deal with every stinking roadblock and pothole life could throw at us! Does my life look like it needs the worst sewer entrance possible there too!"

Annabeth was rubbing his shoulder in commiseration and considering suggesting a better way to vent right now might be stress eating, while Nico was watching with disappointed disdain. He wished Percy had kept that to himself like he had back then, did he have to be so blatant how much he hated where Nico called the closest thing he had to home?

... might mark her territory, but Nico said, "It's okay. She just smells the way home."

"I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if she could be doing both," Alex offered. "Maybe when she doesn't feel like traveling she's marked plenty of entrances."

"I really hope the dryads at Camp don't revolt against her," Thalia winced in agreement.

... there's a smaller path, harder to find. The Door of Orpheus."

"The door of, many holes?" Magnus asked in concern.

"Or-fee-us," Will clearly enunciated. "Not orifice."

"And that means?" Magnus demanded, wanting some kind of forewarning. Regular people had many holes too, so, maybe it was just a nice, normal door?

"The darkness of the night," Nico said with a sorry smile.

"Kay," Magnus sighed. "The tunnel will be dark and creepy, what else would I expect?"

"I am not," Will pouted, causing Nico and Alex to laugh while Magnus smirked at least he'd gotten a laugh before they had to descend and he'd just pretend being an idiot was going to be the worst of this.

"The dude with the harp." "Dude with the lyre," Nico corrected.

"Thank you Nico!" Annabeth groaned.

"It's one of my dad's signature items," Will agreed in exasperation. "Percy, you are not that bad at this, I believe in you to learn the difference."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Percy chuckled.

...sang his way into Hades's palace and almost got away with his wife's soul."

"That was, sweet," Magnus said in surprise. Nice to know some of these Greek stories used these fangled powers for more than blowing up cities anyways.

"Wait for the end of it," Thalia muttered.

... "and-so-they-died/the-end" stories that always made us feel warm and fuzzy.

"Oh, well then," Magnus sighed.

"Still one of the nicer ones I've heard," Jason offered, better than being betrayed or tripping along the way or just being trapped in an endless tunnel forever wondering for all time if it was going to work. This time it was just, human fear of the unknown.

..."We need music," Nico said. "How's your singing?"

Annabeth didn't even pretend to hide her horrific face. "Please, no, tell me you didn't!"

"Gods I hope I'm never that desperate, even one of my insane plans would never work if it came to that." Percy nodded fiercely.

"I'm suddenly so, so grateful this isn't an audiobook though," Thalia nodded as she rubbed at her ears at the mere idea. While it would be nice occasionally to crank up the volume over these blabbermouths, nothing was worth that.

Will coughed and didn't say anything, which was probably the nicest thing he'd ever done in his life while the others tried their best not to laugh at the idea of everybody making a run for it if Percy ever tried to belt along at the Camp sing-alongs.

...Can't you just, like, tell it to open? You're the son of Hades and all."

"And you're the son of an earthshaker," Alex looked at him, "just stamp your foot and use your stern, Sally voice."

"With my luck it would just create an earthquake in the city and the rocks would ignore me," Percy shook his head quickly.

...I was pretty sure if I tried to sing, all I would cause was an avalanche.

"An avalanche is what you need to happen though," Magnus said in confusion.

"An avalanche in the Rocky's too though, it just seems like to much collateral damage," Percy huffed. "Apollo's busy, I don't need him taking the time to come over and glue my mouth shut now of all times."

"I'd say you're overestimating your power, but man, after the volcano, I believe you," Alex cackled.

"I have a better idea." I turned and called, "GROVER!"

"Why didn't we ever think of that," Thalia smacked the side of her head. Even hearing the explanation in more detail wasn't going to make it feel that much better. "Just shout at him to get his butt over here. Alex was onto something with you using your Sally voice."

"Ha, ha, ha," Percy said with a smile.

...cops would love to find two kids hanging out in the park at one in the morning.

"That would just go, so not well, I can't begin to imagine all the bad of it," Magnus said in disgust. Trying to take Percy and Nico into custody, even the Mist might not get them out of what they'd do to resist. Having to call Sally down to the station, dear gods she'd just said goodbye to Percy and this was the phone call she'd get? Percy and Nico having to run, possibly shadow travel to LA, when Nico's already pretty worn out? There weren't enough warning labels for it all!

"I've been going through enough deja vu," Percy groaned, "please don't make me the star of another manhunt!"

Nico kept his mouth shut about what did happen, but he was personally pretty confident they'd have gotten out of it. He'd been avoiding people the better half of two years now.

"It's no good," Nico said at last. But I had a feeling.

"Oh, so now we know it's going to work," Jason said in excitement. He really hoped Grover was okay.

"If it does, then we finally have our proof that Oracle has been secretly feeding Percy her mist at night," Alex snorted.

"The best demigods have a sense of these things," Annabeth shrugged. "I think it's why Percy made friends with Grover, Tyson, and Rachel immediately. Even if he had no logical reason to do so, just a part of his gut feeling on what would help him survive. I theorize it's something we inherit from our parents."

Percy grinned at her and then patted his gut in thanks. Annabeth smacked his hand and called him a seaweed brain.

...either a lot of people had switched on the Nature Channel, or Grover was close.

"Does that Nature Channel thing happen a lot?" Thalia asked with interest.

"Often enough I finally figured it out the second time Paul tuned in," Percy agreed as he rubbed at the base of his skull. He was half convinced his whole apartment complex was secretly in on it, and he needed to drink some serious coffee to cool his brain down when it did.

...I knew he was somewhere in the park. Why couldn't I sense his emotions?

"You never have in the past," Jason frowned. "Grover's only been able to find yours."

"It's been coming in and out a bit since I've been really trying," Percy insisted. "Not much, but it's why I'm so positive he's alive, and not just because I should be dead. It's like, if I really try and think of him, I think I know what he's dreaming about. It's usually food, but sometimes I get little glimpses of his nightmares. It's easiest when I'm falling asleep, and man was it late enough my brain thought I should be."

...Hmm-hmmmm, something said.

Jason looked ready to rip Percy's head off and examine it under a microscope in excitement at this development. Percy tried to subtly shift his beanbag behind Annabeth.

...The roots seemed to be shaping around him, slowly pulling him into the earth.

"What was Grover attacked by, and why is it the most ironic thing ever?" Jason frowned.

"Was Grover actually cheating on Juniper?" Alex gasped at him being found in another tree's roots.

"Oh am I getting to the bottom of this," Percy reminded with a frown for whatever the answer.

...Dude, you're covered in dirt. Wake up!

"What did you think that would do?" Annabeth asked him in surprise. "I've seen Grover roll in dirt when he gets itchy and just shake it off."

"It was a pretty important detail to me, he was taking the right kind of dirt nap at least," Percy shrugged.

... The image shattered, and I almost fell over.

Percy frowned at the amount of times that must have happened to Grover. Being dragged to the Big House by him, waking up in Polyphemus's lair, countless others he did and didn't know about. The amount of times Grover woke up still fearing for his life probably rivaled Percy's.

"What happened?" Nico asked.

The number of times Nico had watched Percy stagger like that, clutching his head in pain and confusion had become an all to common sight. It was far more times than Nico had ever seen him grit his teeth through bleeding pain in his shoulder and scowl like a warrior at his old Vice Principal. He really wished first impressions weren't so strongly fixed in him, or at the very least, he didn't still want to gently guide him to the ground and offer him his ice-cold hands.

... Grover fell out of the branches, right on his head.

"Thank Athena for those horns," Annabeth smiled in sympathy. She wasn't nearly so lucky to have such shielding when it happened to her.

"Athena made the satyrs?" Percy asked blankly. He'd swear he heard once they'd been fathered by Hermes. But then wait, what was their connection to Dionysus again?

"We literally have Greek classes at camp, how are you like this?" Annabeth sighed.

"They've never tried to kill me, it's not been that important," Percy shrugged.

Annabeth opened her mouth with a very 'you-seaweed-brain' expression that probably meant she was going to launch into the exact history and detail of how the satyrs came into being with every cliff note known to man before Alex cut her off very loudly. Jason looked at him in betrayal while Percy mouthed, 'thank you!'

... probably wondering if we were going to play fetch with the satyr.

"You, you mean-" Magnus tried to correct in concern.

"She always brings them back," Percy shrugged. Magnus kept his mouth shut so he could ignorantly believe he was just having his leg pulled on that one.

... passing me through trees to get here. They don't understand height very well."

Jason's eyes glazed over with such interest, Nico was pretty sure he could have waved a donut around and he wouldn't have blinked. Nico smiled to himself at his endless well of curiosity, it really was great to see in someone who wouldn't go around with an 'I told you so attitude.'

... His goatee looked fuller, almost manly (or goatly?), and he was as tall as me now.

"Poor guy's finally showing his age," Thalia smiled fondly at how far removed that was from the shrimpy little thing that had promised to take them to safety. She still remembered exchanging unimpressed looks with Luke...but then Annabeth had run forward and shown him her knife and squealed with excitement that there was a whole camp of kids that both Thalia and Luke could come to.

The temptation to risk it on their own like they had been vanished. She probably did have Grover to thank for Annabeth surviving all these years and their pride not getting them all killed trying to do it alone.

...Grover nodded at Nico, then he gave me a big hug. He smelled like fresh-mown lawns.

Nico had never been more grateful to feel so dismissed. All Grover had probably seen was the child of Hades was back, but hey, at least he didn't get mauled by those hugs either.

"That's the thanks you get for finally finding Grover?" Alex looked so wounded on his part. "I hope Juniper at least gives you a fruit basket!"

"I'll take a gift card," Nico shrugged.

"It was a group effort," Percy frowned.

"Where is your apartment Percy?" Alex challenged. "How many times have you passed this place before Nico got you plopped there."

Percy didn't answer, and Alex nodded his point was made.

... "I missed you! I miss camp. They don't serve very good enchiladas in the wilderness."

"Make sure to bring that one up next time he goes on about us nature destroyers," Will chuckled.

"I did, it shut him down for like, three days, before he went on a farming rant," Percy looked so proud.

...Grover's smile faded. "The last two months? What are you talking about?"

Percy sighed in understanding of that horrible feeling. He'd been experiencing it in small patches over his many quests, and now too, he realized as he glanced around. "Annabeth, how long have we been down here?"

She frowned to herself. "It was the 20th when Artemis came for me, you'd been missing over a week."

"That happened on the fourteenth, and I was dumped in here about two days later," Thalia easily kept track. "We don't seem to be skipping time down here at least."

Those missing two days made Percy and Jason exchange concerned looks though. They'd already lost their memories in that span, what else could have been done to them without having a clue before Posideon seemed to have stepped in?

They let Alex keep reading without another word, because, what else were they supposed to do?

"We haven't heard from you," I said. "Juniper's worried.

"Worried," Annabeth echoed. That small, simple little word that really did nothing to encapsulate the kind of feeling you lived with when you didn't know where someone you loved was.

..."That's impossible. It's June. I just laid down to take a nap and . . ."

Jason shivered as he wondered what he'd been doing right before he vanished from the planet. He wished with all his might he could remember something, even just a hint of a voice, a feeling, but it was still as blank as ever. As awful as he felt for Grover, he almost envied the idea of having that much time sucked away from you if you still got to keep all your memories.

...It's like my senses are sharper when I'm in the Wild. Anyway,

"You need to share your brain cell with Grover right now," Alex groaned. "You shouldn't just anyways past such an awesome detail!"

"I know Pan said to spread his message, but did Grover become like, his successor? That sounds even more," Magnus stopped with a contemplative look, "more." He concluded it just summed that up to well. "I thought Grover summoning panic was, like a one-time thing, now that Pan was released and his, his essence was supposed to be in them all or something."

"I thought I saw a little more of that mist energy go into him than us," Percy reminded with pride in every word. "Makes sense to me if Grover's like, an actual lord of the wild who can do that awesome kind of stuff but isn't a lazy rump like those old goats on their thrones."

...I noticed he didn't cast a shadow. Middle of a sunny day, and nothing.

"Do monsters, cast shadows?" Magnus had never thought to question that.

"Oh trust me, they do," Annabeth sighed. She couldn't believe the kind of life her cousin must have led to only ask such a thing instead of growing up fearing every movement of the darkness.

... "And whenever he passed—" "The humans would pass out. Curl up and go to sleep."

"Nico, why do you know that?" Percy looked around now when he'd been riveted on Grover before.

"I'd been keeping tabs on the gods that had defected," Nico shrugged. "I was just confirming a theory."

... "You know this guy in black?" "Afraid so," Nico said.

"Know him personally, no," Nico chuckled awkwardly at so many people staring at him. "I know of him."

Annabeth smacked Percy's shoulder. "This kid doesn't have Greek classes and he still keeps up better than you."

"Yeah, yeah," Percy rubbed his shoulder as he grinned at her. "He's a genius. You'd get bored if you didn't have to explain everything to me all day."

"Not the point," she rolled her eyes.

...about to summon dryads to capture him when he turned and-" Grover swallowed.

"Grover's lucky he didn't get captured," Thalia said darkly.

"He can take care of himself," Percy said confidently. A little to much so, considering he'd found him passed out under a tree after two months.

...'This forest is under my protection. You won't start any battles here!'

Alex chuckled as he read that. Not because he underestimated Grover could back up that statement, but because he hoped this monster did.

... Pleasant dreams.' And that's the last thing I remember."

Annabeth ground her teeth up in frustration that she'd have had no way to counter this even if Grover had been able to pass along this information back then. They would have been just as blindsided by what was coming because how on earth could she imagine such a scale as what they'd lived through?

Knowledge was supposed to equal strength, but this answer wouldn't do her any good, and that rocked her so much she took Percy's hand for the stability he always was.

...the God of Dreams. You're lucky you ever woke up."

"I tried to find him," Nico said sporadically, "Morpheus," he clarified. "I didn't even know Grover was missing until I got to camp." Nobody was sure why he needed to tell them that. "I wanted to study his ways, and, you know, find out how he did that and if I could replicate it." He sounded just a touch of crazy by the end as he smiled awkwardly.

Annabeth thought she got it though. Studying the tactics of the enemy could draw you in and blur the lines of what you were and weren't capable of.

"Two months," Grover moaned. "He put me to sleep for two months!"

Annabeth shivered and held Percy's hand tighter than any support beam she'd ever build. The thought still sickened her where she couldn't push it away, how long he would have been missing if whatever all this was hadn't been interrupted?

...We told him our plan, and Grover started tugging at his leg fur.

Alex started muttering about mutiny, always having the answer dangled above his head and the constant glossing over and now even Percy was doing it.

Percy swallowed nervously who Alex planned on mutinying against, and wouldn't be surprised to find himself bound in a chair and being forcibly read to in the future too. As long as Alex put their chairs facing each other, he'd try to get through it.

..."I'm not asking you to come, man," I promised.

"I would," Annabeth and Thalia groaned.

"You should have three people, it's like a mini-quest," Jason nodded.

"Grover needs to get home and tell camp about this, we've got it," Percy shrugged without a trace of concern.

Nico smiled and tried to calm his painfully thudding heart like a monster was lurking about. Percy really didn't seem agitated at all at what was about to happen. He really hoped this time he was just being over dramatic and nothing bad was about to happen in this room.

..."I guess I could try. I know a few Nirvana tunes that can split rocks.

Magnus couldn't help but laugh in delight at the sudden idea of Grover going around and trying every song he ever heard on his pipes to see what would happen to nature when he did. It sounded like the best gift any kid could be given...even if they didn't all sound to great.

"I haven't heard that one," Thalia said in delight. "Remind me to ask him to play that when I see him. I'm surprised you recognize it Perce."

"I always liked their band name and know like, three songs," Percy nodded. "I have it on good authority that getting high and listening to Nirvana is roughly what I should imagine actual Nirvana to be like."

"And whose authority is that?" Annabeth asked with interest.

"I hung out with some kids on the basketball court," Percy shrugged. He'd been tempted to try a little himself, but...well, he was to afraid to let his guard down and be to lax if a monster came calling.

... "As I recall, in the old times we almost died a lot. But okay, here goes nothing."

Percy had meant the old times at Nancy. When he'd nearly been suspended that first day Grover came in hobbling so badly like he had two broken legs and the first thing some kid nearest him had done was trip him. Percy had shoved him out of his seat, and then raised the tray in his hand to crack it over this animal that even Rachel wouldn't start a protest for.

Grover had grabbed his wrist. He was standing on one leg and using Percy for support as he tried to quickly get his shoe on what looked like a misshapen foot, like every bone in his foot had been put in wrong. He didn't seem to care, only a terrified light in his eye as he looked all around the cafeteria and whispered at him it was okay, just step back.

He had. It hadn't felt good, but not moments later the principal came in and he and Grover had shuffled along like nothing had happened, and he hadn't even gotten in trouble that time for some reason. Percy had started to believe they'd be inseparable for life not long later.

His first best friend wasn't just some scared little kid anymore who would take that kind of abuse for the next several months, always telling Percy to stand down and it didn't matter as they swapped sandwich ingredients the other wouldn't eat and movie critics.

Hestia swam back to mind, which felt silly. As accepted as he'd always been around Grover, the goddess hadn't sent him to that tree when he needed to go home.

... A few stanzas, and they cracked open, revealing a triangular crevice.

"I think I need to look into this Nirvana stuff," Jason chuckled.

"Don't get me started with your taste in music," Thalia frowned at him. If her little brother listened to something like opera, she might have to brainwash him all over again.

... It led straight to the land of Hades, and that was almost always a one-way trip.

"Says the guy who's done it twice," Will rolled his eyes. He'd have thought Percy of all people would be slightly more comfortable going in there by now, especially with such a tour guide.

"Jumping off twenty-plus stories is also supposed to be a once in a lifetime experience, yet here I sit," Percy shook his head.

... how different he looked from fat old Leneus.

"They're not even the same species," Alex scoffed. "Leneus is closer to the rodentia rotund order."

Percy thought for a moment he was just being smart about his weight, but then Magnus couldn't help saying, "and Percy thought his rodent problem was bad."

Causing the laughter to double as they put together the rest.

...His eyes widened. "Juniper! Oh, she's going to kill me!"

"I understand the sentiment," Annabeth nodded while Percy studied her carefully. He should probably be more hopeful she stayed in the relieved part of him being alive longer.

...gave me another hug. "Be careful down there! Come back alive!"

Percy smiled and wished he could still hug him back, pull him under his arm and proclaim them inseparable.

But, they'd grown up. Grown apart. Grover had always had his own mission in life, and Percy was happy for him getting to live it. He'd love to have Grover come with him, but he didn't need it.

Once he was gone, Nico and I roused Mrs. O'Leary from her nap.

For a dog with hearing better than Grover's she'd sure tried to pretend she couldn't hear her name. There had been a lot of rump shaking and promises of treats for her to yawn with the force of a jet engine starting and her eyes to finally open and land on them without much enthusiasm for once. Guess she'd really needed that nap.

"We need to take her on more shadow travel walks Nico," Percy sighed. "Get her used to exerting that energy."

"Uh, sounds like a plan," Nico said, trying his hardest not to glance around like an idiot and ask every one of them individually if he'd really heard what Percy just said.

... how much we'd need to un-stick a hellhound wedged down a tunnel.

"Yeah, it's, probably not a good idea to call maintenance for that," Will nodded, imagining Chiron showing up to their cabin with tools and a sigh to see her tail wagging hard enough in their door to cause structural damage.

..."It'll be fine. Don't worry." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Will sighed as he glanced at Nico and Jason. Nobody had warned him what exactly Nico was so worried about, so he really hoped Jason had convinced Nico it wasn't going to be to bad.

I glanced up at the stars, wondering if I would ever see them again.

"Maybe not all of those specific stars," Thalia said oh so helpfully. "The constellations change all the time Perce."

"Child of a ball of gas, you would be the authority here," Percy smirked, leaving Annabeth once again wondering how these two hadn't killed each other locked up down here.

...narrow, steep, and slippery. It was completely dark except for the light of my sword.

Will couldn't stop a shiver he wished Nico didn't feel, but he wasn't moving away. The dungeon they were in already wasn't his favorite vacation spot, he was starting to feel more drained every day from being so far from the sun and never getting to feel the warmth of anything other than Nico. This place, so dark you couldn't see your own hand, with death on every breath. Gods he was glad Percy and Nico were doing this together to keep each other sane.

...we would not be catching anybody by surprise once we reached the bottom.

"Why would you want to?" Alex asked oh so innocently. "You're not down there to cause anybody trouble, for once. You're there to do some mysterious thing nobody seems to approve of to help you defeat Kronos, I can't see how Hades won't roll out the red carpet."

"What do you mean, for once?" Percy frowned at the completely wrong part of that sarcasm. "The last two times I was only down there for other people's trouble, not my own."

"Percy, stop talking," Annabeth said, pinching the bridge of her nose while Alex couldn't have held in his laughter in a life or death matter.

Nico lagged behind, which I thought was strange.

"The excitement must wear off after so many times down there?" Magnus couldn't help but phrase it as a question, hoping Nico would just casually agree he was bored, not...anything else.

... What was that expression on his face, doubt? "Just keep moving," he said.

'You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend,' Percy frowned at the nagging voice of his first prophecy. Must just be all the bad memories and deja vu, with Luke and May Castellan's eyes, and now back here.

I didn't have much choice.

He did have a choice though, Annabeth pursed up her lips. It wasn't a good choice, but one Percy was making by taking the next step. Percy could have jumped into the ocean to help his dad win this war or any number of things to get out of the responsibility he was walking towards. He was following through on the promise he'd made to Nico, all those years ago in the forest. That this was going to end on his terms.

She glanced at Nico in surprise that he would know that now. She wondered if Nico had felt like all that greatness had been ripped away, or if he was relieved and grateful to her boyfriend for this burden.

Judging by the way he was still watching Percy's every move anxiously, she'd guess he himself hadn't decided.

...only Annabeth and Grover's company had given me the courage to keep going.

Percy's hand in Annabeth had yet been more needed as he shivered and squeezed. He'd already owed Artemis the best offerings ever for what she'd done for them on top of Mt. Othrys, now he wasn't sure what he'd have to do to repay her for this gift, but gods he'd find a way. How many lion coats would it take before that crossed over into animal cruelty?

Nico wasn't going to be as helpful with the "courage" thing. He looked pale and worried.

"Nico," Percy tried to ask in concern, but Alex ignored him and read as if an interruption was suddenly the highest of concerns in this room.

Percy sighed but let it go, even if he was tired of still, forever, always feeling like he was missing something. Hadn't his life had enough of that?

Annabeth was studying Nico just as intensely too, and Percy decided it probably was for the best. His greatest fear had already been worrying he'd kill these guys any moment, now he had Annabeth down here to protect from that too. Best not to pressure himself over a detail that had already happened.

...dropped a bone and waited for me to throw it. "Um, maybe later, girl."

"You owe her and Cerberus so much playtime Percy," Alex groaned.

Percy half listened as Alex proclaimed he was going to confiscate the guardian of the underworld and Mrs. O'Leary and set them up on a playdate in the best dog park ever while trying to catch Nico's eyes. Nico was not obliging, and it was causing a pit the size of the underworld to form in his gut the longer he kept telling himself not to think about it.

..."I have to get something, it's the only way." He marched off without waiting.

"Are you hiding a secret recipe in your room?" Jason tried to ask like this was as casual as anything else they could get up to.

"Nico, I swear if you're stopping to pick up your deck of cards, I'm going to strangle you," Thalia didn't seem quite so indulgent as she looked at him in confusion. As far as she knew the myth didn't need the tear of Hades or anything else for Percy to go into the Styx, and he was already acting shifty. Something odd was going on.

Nico's throat convulsed with fright. He grabbed Will's hand and averted his eyes quickly away, trying not to look like the guilty party he was and use Will's available arm as a shield to cover up her target. Jason's deal had not applied to Thalia, and he wouldn't want it to anyways. They had enough going on between them, he'd never risk whatever friendship he might be having like that.

I frowned. Nico hadn't mentioned anything about going inside the gates.

Nico hadn't really mentioned anything at all about what was going on to Percy, Annabeth couldn't help but grumble to herself. Percy was so trusting, he barely knew the basics and was just following him blindly when he should have stopped him and demanded every step of this plan.

...he acted like he didn't care about us. He was too busy saying hello to Mrs. O'Leary.

Okay, so maybe meeting Mrs. O'Leary was the lesser of another option Magnus had never considered, as he sank as far down in his seat as he could with dread at the excitement in Alex's voice.

Right, he was sure that would help so much when he met her. Just remind himself she could be even bigger!

"Mrs. O'Leary, no!" I shouted at her. "Don't sniff- Oh, man."

"For all you know that's been her life goal, to say hello to him as all dogs do," Alex grinned in delight.

"Yeah, who am I to stop an accomplishable dream." Percy sighed.

Nico smiled. Then he looked at me and his expression turned all serious again, like he'd remembered something unpleasant.

"Did I have Underworld in my hair?" Percy asked, mock ruffling it out.

Nico was now looking so intensely at the door Percy looked over and checked there wasn't a monster hanging around waiting to pounce. He was starting to wish there was. The kind of tension Nico was causing wasn't even summoning stirring shadows or icy coldness in the room like the last time he'd been really upset. This quiet acceptance of just, something bad coming, was giving Percy a nervous tick.

"Come on. They won't give us any trouble in the line. You're with me."

"Percy gets VIP with fish, Nico gets that with ghosts," Jason looked a little pouty. "What do we get Thalia?"

"Jack all," Thalia snorted.

"VIP treatment with demigods?" Annabeth answered pleasantly, batting her eyes in over-the-top adoration of her. "Even Percy can't get enough of having you around."

"Hardy har, you're hilarious," she snorted.

"VIP treatment with monsters, they come for you first," Magnus answered much more clearly, which wasn't as funny but at least made Jason smirk for a moment he'd get first crack perhaps.

... had to whistle three times before she left Cerberus and ran after us.

"Percy's the only one with a dog too besides Cerberus," Alex was clearly over there more invested in his monster dog park idea than whatever he was supposed to be reading. "Hey, who's been looking after that dragon? I didn't hear about Reid, maybe they'd like to go! And Peleus!"

"Um," Will rubbed awkwardly at the back of his head as he realized he was expected to answer. "The, dragon, Reid, is um, currently ill-disposed and down for maintenance?" He really didn't want to say any more than that. Beckendorf had been doing the majority of the work on it in whatever spare time he had that wasn't helping Percy, or the camp. Which wasn't a lot. Nobody had been fool enough to keep trying in recent times with him gone.

Annabeth was distracted from adding what little more she could, in that she'd been scouring Deadelus's laptop for answers on rogue automatons also in-between said madness and the project had pretty much come to a halt with her Olympian designs taking precedence; as she watched Magnus. Just smiling at Alex like a complete dope, like seeing him be in his own little world over there was the best thing he'd ever do with his time.

Ah. Her poor cousin. She wondered how long they'd known each other.

... I might end up here forever, but I tried not to think about that.

"Oh, yeah, thanks man, just leave us to think about it," Jason frowned.

"It's not my fault you guys won't get out of my head," Percy shrugged.

... "we're inside the gates already. Where are we—" Mrs. O'Leary growled.

For the first time in this room, Alex gave something resembling a nervous laugh. "Well Percy, what else was inside the gates aside from the palace? I know you're not as dense as this pressure," he waved his hand around the room in a really poor showing because it was perfectly normal.

Magnus was now looking restlessly between Nico and Percy. Yeah, Alex knew full well something was about to happen and hadn't asked the more obvious question on purpose. What would Percy's dog growl at down there? She'd either think it a friend of the Underworld like her or...or? An enemy Nico had walked them right into?

Like his old math teacher.

... in her brass-clawed hands she held a flaming whip and a paisley handbag.

"Can you believe Sisyphus thought I looked like that?" Percy jabbed his own chest. "Come on, I don't plan on having wrinkles like that until I'm my mom's age, and don't get me started on how bad I'd be with a whip as a weapon."

Annabeth was once again looking at him with the unsettling feeling of a gag gone over her head, and nobody else could even crack a smile. They were to busy looking from Nico to Percy in true confusion what this was.

"Mrs. Dodds," I said.

"Who is she married to exactly?" Alex asked as he looked up from the book and Percy's title for her. "One of the other fury's? Secret affair with Ares too?"

"Gods we've got to find a way to sedate him one of these days or I'm going to have a panic attack," Jason groaned as he rubbed his forehead in pain.

Alex looked at him in delight for the mock threat. "Come on Jason, you know you want to get in on this! I'm sure there's some god out there only you're privy to who would love to be the Mr. Dodds Fury."

"Make it stop," Jason grinned back, pitching his voice to a whiny toddler poorly.

"I will when somebody gives me a good answer on who this knitting, whip lashing, math teacher is married to," he insisted, now hugging the book close to his chest.

"Secret drunken night with Chiron nobody's ever tried to fix," Nico happily jumped into the fun kind of trauma as the Campers looked at him in horror. "The grounds originally started as a monster retiring home and that's where they met."

Alex laughed in delight, the evil kind where lightning should have been flashing behind his head. Nico had rarely felt so proud of himself as getting Alex to laugh like that.

..."She was my math teacher." Nico nodded, like this didn't surprise him.

That his father had kept an eye on Percy. Not in the slightest. That his dad had sent his most trusted minion. Obviously. That Alecto had disguised herself as a math teacher, the worst of those infernal school subjects. Please.

... "I've done what my father asked. Take us to the palace."

"You're father-" Percy yelped.

"Oh gods, Nico, what did you do?" Thalia groaned, covering her eyes and really not wishing to see the rest.

Annabeth jumped out of her beanbag, her shriek nearly too loud for their ears to hear. "Nico!"

Jason opened, then closed his mouth as Nico gave off the embodiment of a hotdog on Mrs. O'Leary's radar. "I never said I'd protect you from her," he protested.

"Hey, chill princess," Alex leaned forward threateningly in his seat.

Annabeth had already taken a stalking step forward and was gesturing at Percy like a lost lamb. He was reaching for her hand she'd dropped with a very mingled look of anger and terror as he looked everywhere but at the son Hades-

A sharp, piercing noise ripped through the ocean, burning their eardrums and quite possibly stopping everybody on this half of the continent in their tracks.

Will was still sprawled out in place, looking grumpier than Annabeth had ever seen him as he lowered his fingers from his mouth to say, "jeez Annabeth-"

But her face had gone stark pale, and Percy had his arms wrapped around her as his worst fear was confirmed by the sudden storm of bubbles in the room that seemed to make the walls themselves throw out tendrils of power and shadows in his presence.

Seven yelps of fear accompanied Oceanus's sudden dominance of the room as he glowered down at Annabeth, like a spotlight of darkness overshadowing everything.

"Don't. You. Dare." Percy growled, his arms a vice like shield as he glowered up at him. If the Titan had thought he'd been a problem child before, he'd be in for a world of trouble if he dared to snap her out of here. Alex's hand twitched in place to grab his garrote and hold the Titan down if necessary.

Thalia was right beside him, her hands crackling with electricity like a killer night-light in the dark room, she was one finger away from bringing out Aegis.

Jason watched Oceanus rub his temples, studying every crinkly line they made into his dense, turquoise skin, like the world's oldest sea turtle. He looked near tears with exhaustion. He was in disturbing lionfish toga pajamas that had an uncomfortably un-done belt hanging on by a thread.

"What, in Gaea's name, is it going to take to shut you kids up?" He sounded truly drained. Magnus almost would have felt bad for him if they weren't being held prisoner.

Nico expected Percy and Annabeth to throw him under the bus any word. His eyes were out of focus, his lips pursed tight as he looked dead ahead, a bead of sweat coming down his brow as he could only imagine where he'd end up. It would almost be a relief to get away, even to worlds unknown.

Annabeth slowly lowered Percy's arms as if staring down, well, the ocean itself, as she knelt into a bow. Her voice was firm, but clearly apologetic as Percy remained standing over her, sword in hand to make sure Oceanus thought twice about moving his hands. "My apologies, I know we can get out of hand. I assure you I've gotten designs started in my head, and there will not," she threw a scowl at the darkness where Nico last was, "be another interruption."

He sized her up, then looked around at all of them, his filmy eyes sunken so far into his head they vaguely wondered if they were going to vanish altogether soon. It didn't stop him now from seeing each of their mouths was very firmly shut with fear.

He made a harumph noise, like every grumpy old person Percy had ever met when they were told they couldn't stack coupons at an early bird breakfast. He scowled, "one more chance, half-mortals, or my deal with Poseidon is off! You can all rot in whatever Hera has planned for you, and be damned what that puny god wants to say to me about it."

Swirling out of there with several loud mutters about, "lucky for Tethy's soft side-" there was painful silence for five seconds.

Then Nico released a massive breath and started coughing as Will popped back into existence through the bend of night, the dim lighting returning the room back to normal. He instantly started rubbing Nico's back with a look of concern, murmuring to him for deep breaths.

"That was so cool," Magnus couldn't stop blinking, it looked painful.

"Thanks," Nico rasped, his chest hurting with every breath. Gods he wished he could figure out how to breathe while doing that!

"What, did you just, when did you, how did you-" Jason was looking from Will, shaking himself but looking unharmed, to Nico who hadn't released his vice-like grip on him.

"I'll get some water," Alex promised, getting up, going slightly cross-eyed because they were surrounded by water.

"No, it's horrible for people who are choking to drink-" Will started.

"Don't change the subject!" Annabeth snarled through gritted teeth, her low voice the deep silence of a predator about to pounce. "You could have gotten him killed! What deal did you make with Hades!"

Nico's eyes were still a little off with pain as he tried to focus on her through his burning lungs. Her words stung worse, but it wasn't unexpected of everyone at camp always assuming every deal came with death when it came to him and his dad. He looked instead at Percy. "Never," gasp, "hurt you," gasp, "on purpose."

He looked spent, but still half considering leaping over the back of that couch and fleeing for his life while his eyelids drooped with exhaustion.

It instantly broke Percy out of his anger. He didn't want to be feared. He'd never wanted anyone to see him as a bully, throwing his weight around against someone smaller than him. Even if Nico hadn't brought up his own crush, Percy instantly couldn't hold on to his own temper no matter the sting of betrayal from someone he'd really hope could one day be his friend.

"Annabeth," Percy firmly took her hand again. "I know, okay, I'm sorry I keep getting kidnapped by gods and vanishing." His temple pulsed with a new pain he didn't understand why, he had a bad feeling about whatever Hades was going to do to him made this situation down here feel a little too familiar. He stood up and took her other hand, begging for her full attention while she kept glowering at the other dark-haired punk. "Hey," she finally looked at him, anger now wavering with desperation as her storms chased his. "I promise, I'll never leave you again."

She made a strangled noise, suppressing a mingled yell of too much as she threw her arms around him. She was shaking as badly as Nico as Percy supported most of her weight to his beanbag where she sagged down mostly into hers but still half on him very awkwardly with her weight sort of hanging in the worst possible non-space between the two cushions.

"You're my lifeline," he whispered into her ear as her hands tightened on his back, only one spot felt painful for some reason as her nails dug in like hooks, his whole body was tingling with her arms around him. "I'm always going to get out of whatever madness this is for you, I swear." He'd swear it on the styx if he didn't fear the rumbling thunder to vow his words in place. He would the second they got out of this.

She nodded and tried to catch her breath while Nico finally managed the same, rubbing his sternum with his knuckles and eyes still on the floor.

"Quick thinking Nico," Percy applauded over her shoulder, rubbing her back.

"Thanks," he nodded, his eyes still trying to fall closed without his permission, but snapping back to meet Percy's. "Please don't ask me to do that again in the next wee-" he yawned so hard it might draw Oceanus back. "Don't even think about it Will," he managed, rubbing stubbornly at his eyes so much he was seeing spots as Will opened his mouth. "I want to get this over with, we're barely into this one and we're not stopping for the day on my account."

"You should at least eat something," he insisted.

Nico wasn't going to argue that point and slumped against the armrest as Will squeezed his hand and went off.

By the time he came back with a tray of fruit parfaits for everyone, and the largest heaping helping for Nico, Annabeth had calmed down and was stirring her's moodily and tentavily eating it with everyone else.

"How's your shoulder?" She asked Will, her tone as apologetic to him as it had been the Titan's.

"Forgot all about it," Will chuckled, rotating it obviously. "Godly food is great like that."

Nico was looking in confusion between the two but decided he didn't want to know as he savored every bite. He somehow managed to finish his first to his surprise, and he wasn't fighting against every blink anymore.

Alex gently picked the book back up like an unfinished mold as she glanced moodily around at the walls as if daring Oceanus to interrupt her again. She fully believed the eight of them were incapable of finishing this book without another outburst, they were human!

Annabeth was clearly thinking the same thing as she set her empty cup down. She watched it whizz into the trash can with a still dark face, but spoke to the room at large in a modulated voice she'd perfected years ago, being the head of her cabin at twelve. "I know that last one was rough, but guys, the next time someone in here needs a yell, start with screaming into a pillow. We can't afford to anger him like that again until Percy and Jason get their life back."

"Sorry," Will said, probably not as much guilt as he should have felt at all of them nearly getting snapped away by a Titan for distracting Annabeth's death glare. "That was my bad guys."

"There was no way he wasn't going to show up with that one, not how pissed off somebody was," Percy said with a look at Annabeth.

There were nods of agreement and some mutters, but nobody really felt like that was going to fix this. It was certainly not Annabeth's most well-constructed plan, showing just how tired she must be.

Alex didn't keep reading though. Magnus was signing something to her. Who was using she/her pronouns. Magnus had just asked her something while signing at his chin, which he'd explained very early on was the female denotation...it caught her so off guard she didn't even register what he was actually trying to say.

"Alex?"

She heard her name and finally snapped away from looking at his sweet, concerned face with no clue what was going on. "It's she/ her pronouns," she said like someone had punched her in the ribs before she started reading, only vaguely hoping Annabeth had been done talking.

... My father promised me information, but he wants to see you. I'm sorry."

Annabeth's hands were still tense like she wanted to wring Nico's neck right along with him. Percy jiggled his fingers against hers until she slowly relaxed and let his hand back in. While he understood every thought racing through her head, he almost couldn't blame him now that he'd taken a moment. Wouldn't he do the same to learn anything about his past?

Not make a deal with Hades!

His dad had apparently made a deal with a Titan on his behalf to get him in here though, out of whatever scheme another god had planned for him. Nothing really felt like a good answer right now in all the meddling they lived through.

... I lunged at him... sword fell out of my hand...dangling sixty feet in the air.

Will winced at Percy actually making a move like that. Percy had never hurt another person though, Will really didn't want to believe he'd do more than shove Nico to the ground like he had Leneus.

There was an edge to his thoughts though, one that stemmed from too many of his siblings dying and being able to do nothing to stop it. If he had to step between Nico and Percy, or the entirety of Mount Olympus to make sure Nico felt safe, he would. Nico deserved to have someone in his corner who would never hurt him, which now he couldn't even claim in Percy. He didn't know how, hiding him under his bed probably wouldn't work, but he would. If Nico could make a wall of shadows to hide someone, maybe he could do the same with sunlight?

For now, he tapped Nico's arm so that he could mouth, 'gods' at him. He felt over his head at just the idea of what Nico must have been going through. The only friend he'd had at the time being dangled by his father to know about his own past.

Nico gave him a grateful smile. He had no clue how he'd gotten so lucky, but he was probably indebted to Poseidon apparently for all this.

...don't struggle, honey," my old math teacher cackled in my ear. "I'd hate to drop you."

"Would she though?" Thalia bravely offered the first comment as if nothing had happened. She looked pretty peeved at Nico too, but at least she had a fearless attitude in the face of death about it. That titan couldn't make them shut up, just quiet down.

"You know Thalia, I don't think she would," Alex was right there with her nodding.

Percy shook his head affectionately as he looked between them. "Glad you two are having fun."

"I'm on vacation," Thalia agreed, a really miserable one she couldn't book the first flight out of, but an enforced period of leisure all the same. She'd dealt with worse monsters than Oceanus.

"I'm always having fun," Alex chuckled.

Mrs. O'Leary barked angrily and jumped, trying to reach me, but we were too high.

"I was half convinced she was going to rip one of their wings off," Magnus admitted, the mental image making him piss a bit. It certainly scared him more than a pissy Titan Percy and Annabeth could stare down.

"I'll tie a cape on her later and play the theme for super-dog, just for you," Percy grinned.

... "I don't want her to get hurt, Percy. My father is waiting. He just wants to talk."

"If my dog gets hurt because of this shit you pulled-" Percy stopped himself by sheer stubbornness against himself, to close his mouth and turn his scowl away. He really couldn't guess what Nico cared about anymore besides himself. He was positive Mrs. O'Leary was one of them though with the way he smiled upon seeing her no matter how many times they'd approached her that day.

...my dog could get hurt if she tried to pick a fight with the Furies.

Jason was still looking sadly between Nico and Percy. He couldn't believe how fast Percy had turned on him, in what was clearly a complicated situation.

He was also extremely relieved Percy hadn't the chance to react to badly in here. He hadn't wanted to actually hold him back from attacking him, even if he would have.

He would have used Thalia as a human shield to deal with Annabeth in a pinch.

..."All right, traitor. You've got your prize. Take me to the stupid palace."

What would she have done to get Percy back? The dark thought kept circling Annabeth's mind at the blind vow she'd made to Artemis. What if the goddess asked for Chiron's head? What if she'd asked her to drag Thalia into the den of a monster but made her swear not to tell, for whatever reasons a god's will was.

She kept forcing herself not to shoot murderous looks at Nico. She probably owed him an apology too she didn't feel right now. It was only partially his fault he'd triggered every abandonment issue she had in this stupid, ill-timed stunt.

But it hadn't lasted, she kept reminding herself as she held her lifeline's hand tight, their fingers entwined in a pattern only they felt. He'd come back.

Alecto dropped me like a sack of turnips in the middle of the palace garden.

"Because if she'd dropped you gently, we'd know something unfortunate was fixing to happen," Alex rolled her eyes.

"Pretty sure something unfortunate did happen anyways," Magnus muttered. No way did Percy get in and out of this without more problems with the way it was already starting.

...a nice place except for the sulfurous smell and the cries of tortured souls in the distance.

"It's called decorative feng shui Percy," Alex helpfully informed him.

"It's called creepy," Percy told her flatly.

... resisted the urge to strangle Nico. They'd only stop me. I'd have to wait for my revenge.

Nico rubbed the side of his neck and winced. He kind of regretted not waiting, like, at least an hour before he'd come to rescue Percy.

For all he knew though, maybe those thoughts would have escalated to something more creative, so, it might have all worked out for the best.

Assuming Percy's inner demon didn't make a comeback in here.

He wasn't real convinced of that yet.

..."Mother!" Persephone replied. "We have visitors!" Hades barked. "Please!"

"Because this is really the scene I'd hoped to walk in on," Nico groaned like he was just as unhappy about all this as Percy was, which seemed unlikely judging by the fact he was supposedly about to get his answers, the little squit!

Hades, one of my least favorite gods,

"Why?" Magnus asked blankly like he hadn't been here for Percy's entire ordeal of a life up until now. "You've had far worse problems with, like, the rest of them!" Between Zeus, Aphrodite, and Ares actively causing problems and Heaphastus sending him off to his unwitting doom, not to mention Hermes now waving a red flag over Luke's life; Hades seemed like a minor inconvenience considering all he'd done to Percy was give back his mom.

Well, that taking her would rank higher than the rest, Magnus decided he'd answered his own question, which was a good thing, because Percy clearly wasn't going to oblige as he just looked at him with a raised brow.

smoothed his robes, which were covered with the terrified faces of the damned.

Alex cleared her throat as she looked around at Annabeth with a casual smile. Annabeth wasn't fooled, those heterochromatic eyes flashed too easily between mayhem and mischief to believe she'd settle on merry after what just happened. "One of Percy's first thoughts upon meeting him was to wonder what horrible thing someone would have to do to get woven into Hades's underwear?"

Percy didn't even bother to call Alex a traitor this time, mostly because he wasn't sure he wanted to sit around and hear theories on an answer as Annabeth gave Percy an affectionate, exasperated look. She'd long since accepted his train of thought had no tracks.

He had pale skin and the intense eyes of a madman.

"Which I am so glad Nico didn't inherit," Jason shrugged. "Apparently his kids get a bad enough rep."

Will kept to himself he hoped that wasn't Jason's subtle way of thinking Nico was much more of a looker assumedly taking after his mother, because he was now.

... I figured if somebody lit a match next to her, she'd be in serious trouble.

"Because that's the first thing you should think when seeing a god," Thalia still somehow managed to sound surprised and exasperated at him all this time later.

"The gods' perception of me hasn't changed, why should mine to them," Percy grumbled.

... wished I could cut his stupid head off...unfortunately still out in the fields somewhere.

Will was like, ninety percent sure Percy didn't mean it, not the same guy who hesitated to kill Ethan, repeatedly, and still couldn't unsee Luke in Kronos's new face; but he gave him a look of distaste anyways for the uncalled for violence. So far Nico hadn't gotten anybody hurt in the slightest and had given Percy a valid enough reason he should at least be pissed instead of murderous.

..."Took you long enough," Hades grumbled. "Your sister would've done a better job."

Alex choked like she'd just read that while someone punched her in the throat.

"You know what, I take it back," Will said venomously. "Someone in there does deserve a beheading, but at least it's the god who can grow his useless mouth hole back."

Nico still flinched under Will's arm. He wished he'd forgotten this was coming in the mess of everything else, but honestly that still hurt as bad as the second time, and fifth time, and every time he'd said it to him. His father obviously approved of Bianca abandoning him and growing stronger with the Huntresses. Maybe he had some grand idea about taking her away from Artemis and breaking her vow so that she could grow to be the greatest child of Olympus and fulfill the prophecy instead of Nico's useless butt.

Jason was rubbing his own heart like he felt that one personally, and Thalia winced as she guessed he would. Zeus, or Jupiter, whatever, had shown some pretty obvious favoritism from his perspective, or lack thereof.

...If I hadn't been so mad at the little creep, I might've felt sorry for him.

Magnus could barely give Percy a, well at least you tried, grimace. This really was just a sucky situation, period.

.. Nico was quite sincere about wanting to help you. The boy is as honest as he is dense.

"So, you're not very honest?" Alex looked around in mock confusion. "What a weird way to phrase that, I wouldn't even think Hades would consider that an insult."

"Ha, ha," Nico said with a smile tugging at his lips he couldn't help but feel.

... "Can we please not talk about that woman in my presence?"

"Then why did she come?" Thalia asked with blatant disgust. She still hadn't forgiven her for turning her bow into honeysuckle.

"So Hades couldn't escape hearing more of that riveting argument," Percy reminded distractedly, not that she'd needed the reminder. She obviously just wanted to complain about everything going on in the Underworld right now, a common theme.

"I'm sorry, my dove," Hades said. "I had to promise the boy something."

'Something,' Alex didn't like the sound of that. Like Hades might even lie about Nico's mother because he'd had to tell him something.

... could've married the god of doctors, but noooo. You had to eat the pomegranate."

"So, like, this entire immortal family is kind of garbage, huh?" Magnus frowned.

"Good of you to finally catch on," Thalia rolled her eyes. There were some major exceptions, but nobody was really crying out in distress anymore at now everybody just casually mouthing off to gods.

...Do you ever think about your poor lonely mother?"

Annabeth was still in a pretty bad temper and wanted to hurl some corn at her. Did she ever think of any children except her special extra favorite? While Katie Gardner busted her back every day looking after all of Demeter's other children!

... "You call this dump a house? Make my daughter live in this dark, damp—"

Nico couldn't help but watch Will, just to see if he agreed with any part of that. Even he knew some of the most common dating around camp came from kids of Apollo and Demter's offspring, they usually had so much in common.

Will still looked more like he was trying to add up how much a never-ending marching band would cost him to run through Hades's domain to get a good read. Grumbling all kinds of unpleasantries about disturbances and noise complaints. Well, Will obviously could be an expert on that if he put his mind to it.

... "there's a war in the world above. You and Persephone are better off here with me."

"Aww?" Magnus couldn't help the surprised, sweet noise. How did Hades go from a useless ass dirt sperm donor one moment to someone who clearly cared about his family the next? It was kind of sickening and hopeful all at once, to think he'd be capable of apologizing to Nico, to clearly not caring.

"Hades is getting more visitors to his life this day than he's ever had in, like, millennia. No wonder, he's a shit host apparently," Will said as if the world's biggest problem right now really was there weren't enough hors d'oeuvres around.

"Excuse me," I broke in. "But if you're going to kill me, could you just get on with it?"

Annabeth smacked him upside the head.

"I'm not sorry," Percy shrugged.

"Of course you're not," she sighed.

"You know I have a problem waiting around," he insisted.

"I know," she groaned.

... "You can't go around incinerating every hero. Besides, he's brave. I like that."

"I guess she's not mad about me threatening to throw her in the Lethe anymore?" Percy raised a brow in disbelief.

"Honestly Percy, I'm more surprised if she remembers you after you finished running her errand," Thalia scoffed.

..."You liked Orpheus too, look how that turned out. Let me kill him, just a little bit."

"As long as he promises to bring you back," Annabeth said dead pan.

Nico choked in surprise while Percy snorted with laughter. She managed a half-hearted smile while the boys full-blown grinned. It was nice she could turn around and laugh about this, even a little in mocking.

... "Forgive me, my dear. I mean for a mortal, of course.

Percy said a few foul mouthed things about how his mother could kick Persephone's ass with a cookie sheet, but Nico was too distracted to hear it. At least now he could recall with vivid clarity a memory taken away. How Hades had adored Maria and offered her a palace in the Underworld. It had seemed like more than just a fling he'd gotten over all these years later. What better outcome was there? His stepmother never would have let them live anymore than Zeus if it wasn't for time passing on and all of them losing interest in the matter, some to more degrees than others.

...She was from Venice, but her father was a diplomat in Washington, D.C.

Alex spluttered in a painful sounding laugh. "Why is that the most perfect thing I've ever heard for Hades? Attracted to a woman with a stereotypical temper in the middle of snake central, it's so perfect I swear I'm going to die."

"Don't," Nico advised. "My dad won't let you off for his good taste in women."

... it was a bad time to be children of Hades.

"Was it ever a good time?" Jason mock whispered.

"I seem to be fairing in the scraping by camp, as opposed to my other abundance of siblings," Nico said, dower sarcasm as far as the ear could hear.

...World War II was brewing, my, ah, other children were leading the losing side.

There was something really messed up in that Alex packed a wallop into reading. Hades knew he was losing a war his own children were in. Was he even referring to his half-blood children right there? It was kinder to assume not, but with the gods, it was hard to tell.

...Hades shrugged. "You didn't age. You didn't realize time was passing.

"He became master level at all video games I'm sure," Magnus offered.

"Eh," Nico waved his hand. "There was a Mythomagic tournament there while I was, I spent most of my time learning how to play that."

"Was that your dad's influence?" Annabeth asked in surprise.

"What?" Nico frowned, why would he care about that?

"So that when you'd come out, you'd be knowledgeable of our world, even if you didn't fully know it." She was even starting to smile again at this puzzle.

"Um, I don't think he has that kind of power, do they?" Percy shook his head.

"It's not clear," Annabeth seemed to be speaking to herself the longer she talked, like her eyes were glazing over before their eyes. "Odysseus rescued his own men from the original lotus-eaters without any interference. I can't imagine it would overpower a god, ergo they may even be able to influence what the current Hotel could make its occupants do to some degree."

"That's dangerous isn't it?" Magnus looked unsurprised, but still a little hurt. "Sally didn't tell Percy any of that stuff, because ignorance kept him safe. When Hades pulled them out, well, no wonder Grover found them so fast when they'd only been out for a few months along with how many monsters?"

"More preparation from my dad if so," Nico nodded as if this made perfect sense now.

Annabeth shook herself to here and now as Alex kept going, and Percy was back to smiling as if nothing had happened as he watched her go in and out of a nerd daze. Nico was almost smiling again too. He really might get out of this better than worse. It seemed to good an idea to let himself linger on for more than a second, to afraid he'd jinx it.

..."what happened to her? Why don't I remember?" "Not important," Hades snapped.

"To who?" Will's scowl was something else, he looked ready to hurl the sun.

"Himself, that's obviously the important part of this conversation," Jason said dully.

... you had other children? Why were we the only ones who were sent away?"

Nico still didn't really have an answer to that, and to his surprise, he found himself looking around hopefully as if they would. The idea lingered that it was because Hades had loved his mother, had done her wish, not that he'd done it for them.

"It's possible he started with the youngest set," Thalia offered half-heartedly. "If the rest of his kids were already over the age of sixteen by that point, you two would be his priority."

Nobody else hazarded a guess to Hades's plans. Most of them thought he was a psychotic maniac who couldn't rip a decent bone out of a dead body anyways.

... She—he—looked strange crouching at Hades's shoulder.

"Okay, that one actually sounds kind of obvious now that he said it out loud," Percy shrugged.

"What is the difference between a lawyer and a vampire?" Alex asked with a devilish smirk. "Law School."

Thalia grinned and said her favorite, "There is a new Barbie doll out for Christmas, she's called Divorce Barbie. She comes with all of Ken's stuff."

"How long have you been saving that for the Aphrodite cabin?" Percy laughed in delight.

"We are not going to sit around and tell lawyer jokes!" Jason spluttered. "Thalia, that's practically blasphemy!"

Thalia gave him a pitiful look he thought she cared. Honestly, it's like he hadn't gotten to know her at all.

"I'm on Jason's side," Annabeth said in exhaustion. "Guys, we might be able to get through another chapter, two at most before we all pass out. Let Alex finish."

"Alex was enjoying the show," Alex huffed, but obliged for the yawn Nico was still trying to muffle.

...The Fury cackled. "I do lawyers and teachers very well!"

"This surprises literally no one," Magnus rolled his eyes. Not even him!

... "This idiot son of Poseidon cannot be allowed to be the child of the prophecy."

"Even if I hadn't made up my mind before, now I definitely would be," Percy scowled while Annabeth patted his shoulder with a defeated look in place for knowing the same.

... threw a ruby at Hades. It sank harmlessly into his robe.

At least he didn't throw it at Nico, Will thought in relief. It would have been, well, a really crappy moment for Percy to force Hades to show his hand how much he cared about his kid. It would show how great of an insult that was to Hades by what he did next.

... are fighting Typhon, and you're just sitting here—" "Waiting things out," Hades finished.

"Not something I'd brag about," Nico muttered. Not voicing that at the time though was probably the actual reason he still had his head.

"Yes. When's the last time Olympus ever helped me, half-blood?

It didn't feel great that Jason could kind of see his point though. Hades was outcasted unless he was needed. If Hades had shown up to that fight, darkness slinging, he might have just gotten a nod of thanks and then ignored again until the next solstice. What reason did he have to join in?

... Why should I rush out and help them? I'll stay here with my forces intact."

It was sadly not the worst argument Annabeth had ever heard, that honor still belonged to Percy defending his claim of rock skipping champion, but it was pretty high up there.

... And my son here, Nico—" Hades looked at him with distaste.

Nico had kept his head bowed and carefully on the highly polished floor so he could only see the reflection and pretend it was just warped. Thanks Percy.

"Well, he's not much now, I'll grant you. It would've been better if Bianca had lived.

"If he talks shit to you one more time, I'm going to go malevolent on his ass," Alex said deep in the back of her throat.

Everybody decided they really didn't want to know what that meant, except for Nico it seemed as he opened his mouth curiously.

"Anyways!" Percy squeaked, but enough Alex heard him and gave a sigh.

... he will make the decision that will save the world, and I will be king of the gods."

"He'll be the only god left," Percy frowned.

"So technically, he's not wrong," Thalia shrugged.

"Demter's down there you single-minded-" Annabeth stopped and put her face in her hands in further exhaustion and groaned. Apparently she got crabby when she got no sleep for going on nine days.

"And a lot of the minor gods are running around too," Jason nodded. "Honestly Annabeth, I think Grover just ran off with their time-share brain cell."

Percy and Thalia exchanged a look. Those two were getting a little too comfortable.

... you'll get a chance to find out, half-blood. You'll be waiting in my dungeons."

Annabeth couldn't stop herself from flashing Nico another murderous look. Not just the 'if looks could kill kind' but genuinely her gray eyes seemed as if they could turn him to marble in a Medusa-worthy stare.

Then she sighed and turned back away and Nico kept breathing. The worst part? He was pretty sure that was her 'I'm less mad at you, but don't you ever do that again' face.

... "Father, that wasn't our agreement. And you haven't told me everything!"

"Thanks for trying man," Percy still couldn't say that like he meant it, but at least he nodded at him while managing not to roll his eyes.

"I don't take lightly to people not honoring their deals," Nico said it simply enough, but Percy got a gut sense. He remembered what The King of Ghosts had done to Minos. Percy had gotten out of there, and a sporadic rescue mission on Grover's part might not be the only hope for his future. Then he winced at a new stab of pain and quickly looked away.

...If you had wanted a better deal, you should've made me swear on the Styx.

Why did that feel like the obvious answer to most of these problems and yet nobody used it, Magnus rolled his eyes. He really didn't want to say that to Nico though.

Now, go to your room!" He waved his hand, and Nico vanished.

"Where, where's your room?" Magnus asked with dread, thinking Hades was the kind of disciplinarian to throw Nico into a volcano to see if he survived that as well as the idiot son of Poseidon could.

"With a great view of Elysium," Nico said sullenly. He would have preferred the volcano idea.

The worst part was, he must have created that room on the spot too, because he'd explored the place numerous times. He'd found this view, but it had just been one of a stretch of windows that showed each corner of his father's domain so he could stand and view them all from one tower without turning his head too much he'd guess.

Now the circular room was decked out with a bed of deepest black silk with a gold frame and more jewels adjourning the other decorations than existed in a billionaire's brain. Nico had landed on the bed, looked out the window and known. His dad wanted him to see what Bianca had missed out on. What he should want. He'd passed the other options without glancing as he went to the door that was locked. Shadow traveling hadn't worked.

Good thing his dad remembered to send up servants to feed him within a decent time frame, and he'd been practicing his invisibility in the shadows, even from creatures of the Underworld.

"That boy needs to eat more," Demeter grumbled. "He's too skinny. He needs more cereal."

Ah, that explained that, Nico scowled at his own thoughts. It hadn't even been his father. Possibly Demeter sending him up that bowl of cereal. Whatever. It had all worked out. He didn't care.

Gods, yes he did! If anyone in the pantheon shouldn't treat him this way, it should be the one god who knew how he'd feel! He'd definitely have to ask someone in here to confirm he wasn't nuts later when Hades came to help, because Nico had no clue what he'd done to manage that.

..."No, my dear. I've spared his life. That's enough."

"Under other conditions, I almost might agree," Thalia said with a torn expression this seemed generous to the point of absurdity.

"Thanks Thals," Percy rolled his eyes.

"You can't say it's not true Percy," Will nodded too. "This does sound like Hades in a good mood."

"Yes, fine, we're all besties now!" Percy crossed his arms and leaned back so hard in his seat he tipped it over. Annabeth watched his feat kick around to get himself back upright with a long overdue smile.

...She shrugged indifferently. "Fine. What's for breakfast? I'm starving."

"Does she not feed herself?" Alex frowned.

"I'm with Alex, she clearly has more than enough free time on her hands," Percy grumbled as he straightened out his beanbag.

Annabeth looked between the pair and decided against pointing out the actual problem of what had just been said there. It would fall on deaf ears.

..."Mother!" The two women disappeared in a swirl of flowers and wheat.

"Well at least she has a chance to avoid getting scurvy with that diet," Magnus frowned.

"Not you too Magnus," Annabeth looked at her cousin in betrayal.

Magnus shrugged without a drop of defense for himself. "Sorry cuz, I've learned it's just best to ride the crazy Alex train. Much more enjoyable."

"Choochoo," Percy said hopefully next to Annabeth's ear.

"You are all seriously lacking in something alright," but she couldn't stop herself from saying it with a chuckle.

... By tonight, it will be too late for Mount Olympus. The trap will be sprung."

Annabeth's breath still caught with more riveting attention than any building plans ever had captured her as Percy's attention switched from her goofy boyfriend to the child of the prophecy. How he went back to glowering at the book, to Hades, and what she knew would come out of his mouth. A demand he help his brethren, an accusation of how worthless Hades was. The kind of things only Percy would say to a god after he found out this kind of information wasn't being shared with those he cared about.

She didn't know how Alex kept reading as if nothing had changed except a slight rise of anger in her own voice.

...At least let me tell the other gods!"... "We'll check on you again in, oh, sixty years."

"I will not be middle-aged before I've gotten my license!" Was Percy's big protest to that.

"I will be," Thalia sighed.

"You don't count Thalia," Percy was instantly sidetracked, "you chose that problem."

The two fell off bickering like absolutely nothing new had happened in the span of an hour until Annaebth threatened to dump iced coffee on them to break it up.

It was such an engineer's dream really, Magnus chuckled as he watched Percy shrug and walk off to get the book while Thalia rolled her eyes and Annabeth gave her the 'stop instigating him look so I can go to bed.' The three really were their own cogs in each other's wheels that the other could always keep spinning.