"Did Grover win the lottery?" Percy asked swiftly this time when Rachel read the new one, getting his guess in first. At least if this was a game he wasn't getting out of he might as well play, and for once it wasn't about him.

"And buy a gas guzzling vehicle that's destroying his precious environment?" Alex looked at him blankly. "You really are the worst at these Perce."

"The obvious answer is he gets a magic lamb and names it Genie," Magnus nodded sagely.

Thalia busted out laughing, not having trusted herself to offer up a solution this time since she vividly remembered what led them all into those cars. It was hard to even pretend be mad at Apollo when he flirted with the rest of the hunters when she remembered him in that grimy look.

..."We have to ditch the van."

"And walk the whole way?" Jason asked dubiously.

"I was going to stop and ask them for directions," Percy said with the pen in his hand. He still remembered from the last book something about Annabeth and a helicopter. That horrible premonition had come to pass, but it still lingered in his mind. If he had to get kidnapped to get to her faster-

Thalia socked him on the shoulder however to show how she felt about that plan, so he instead sighed and tried another answer. "I vote train again," he said wistfully, remembering Annabeth falling asleep on her bag, her fair hair falling into her face. Nothing bad had happened to him on one of those yet.

Then he grunted in pain and pressed a hand to his temple, glaring at his nose in betrayal. How did everything come back to smite him?!

Rachel started reading very fast to help alleviate that look away.

..."Don't those higherd guns notice all the monsters around them?"

"Exactly how do you think the Mist works?" Rachel asked in confusion, rather than trying to call Percy an idiot. She really didn't know, she'd never been fooled by it.

He had been called that enough times he insisted, "they'd see strange things they couldn't explain and ask questions!" He'd heard the implied part of her question too and couldn't figure out why he was the only one ever concerned with that when it could fool half-blood's as easily as mortals about what was going on. Tyson had been under the Mist for a whole school year, half his child hood was filled with unexplainable things the Mist had disguised, but he'd always seen just enough to make him scared of the monsters until his mother brushed his tears away with a too understanding smile.

"If you pay a man enough he'll walk barefoot into hell,"* Will quoted from one of his favorite shows with one of those sad smiles that never quite reached his eyes.

Nico watched him critically for a moment, and Will whispered at once, "show on an old VHS tape hidden in the break room behind the orientation film."

Nobody had ever shared a secret like that at camp with him before, and Nico found an easy smile come out erasing entirely his unease that wasn't a crack at him.

It was the only answer Percy was going to get, and he didn't think much of it.

... A lightning bolt would be nice about now. Please?"... No sign of a helpful thunderstorm.

"Did you expect anything else?" Percy asked harshly. His ire stemmed from a sudden certainty that lightning bolt was delivered, that Zeus favored his daughter when his dad couldn't bother to send him more than a stupid two word letter for communication.

Thalia gritted her teeth and forced herself not to say anything back. It would come out all wrong. That she still wasn't sure some days if it had been Zeus to try and strike her out of the sky and grant her prayer days later on Mount Tam. Percy had no idea how lucky he was his dad had ignored him instead.

...Trust me," Bianca said. Zoe shot across two lanes of traffic into a parking lot.

Jason puzzled over that critically for a moment. Zoe at least trusted her fellow Hunters to take blind orders from. If she was helping the other side she could be doing more to delay getting caught. He felt he had no choice but to scratch her off the list, it no longer seemed likely if the General had offered her Artemis in exchange for Bianca it would happen.

That left him no more answers how Luke and the General had just appeared in DC with them, and it left him feeling queasy like nothing of this strangely parallel world ever did who the real stranger in the midst could be. Nobody at Camp had known they'd be stopping at that museum, so it must be the simplest solution that they'd just been followed the moment they left the magical boundary and Luke with his cronies had met them there too fast, somehow. Luke had once used Backbiter to open a portal, it was the last rational conclusion he had.

...it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Nico's smile was darker than usual. The smirk was really only for him. They'd been to young and stupid to put the pieces together subways didn't pop up like that, but maybe coming back had forced Bianca to keep thinking about it, start questioning things that distracted her, causing...

...the subway system couldn't be less than twelve years old... they looked pretty confused.

Which matched, as usual, pretty well in here except the three Greek kids suddenly avoiding each others eyes. Percy and Jason were glaring at Nico more than ever, and he couldn't keep waving off how he got his memories restored while being a freak out of time forever if they started asking questions.

"One story at a time guys," Will swiftly said into the awkward silence. "I promise it is less confusing that way. You should never ask Connor and Travis for a story, they bounce around from end to middle to start and try throwing in three others, it's a mess."

"Right, yeah," Jason reluctantly agreed, but he again couldn't help but wonder how Nico knew of his home if his own past had so many questions splashed on it. He said the problem had already been resolved, but then what was he looking for in California while stumbling across another camp?

Percy nodded and turned back quickly though. Annabeth would have solved this puzzle by now if she'd been here while rattling off fun-facts about the subway again.

... an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks.

"I'm vaguely concerned they just let a bunch of kids get off that bus alone," Magnus muttered. It sounded like only the kind of place somebody would go to get away from the world and wouldn't be surprised if Percy came across a few people wrapped in ratty clothes and garbage bags out there. He didn't really want to know what new comments would be made about it.

... "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!"

Percy's smile as all sympathetic and sad though. He told them with the same catch in his voice as he always spoke about his mom, "he seemed familiar, I don't know why. Like someone my mom would have given an extra free sample too and he tipped her a secret twenty in a stack of ones." Like a memory he shouldn't have just from her describing it, but one he'd swear he knew.

"We all find hope in the strangest places," Thalia's tone was much more quiet, pulled back in time. This was not the first homeless person who had taken pity on a group of kids she'd known. The last time she'd huddle around a fire was with Luke smooth talking his way into being the center of attention while Annabeth had both of their coats on and had been clinging to his leg. Thalia has used the distraction for a few extra sparks to help feed the flames. None of the homeless people had batted an eye, they'd seen stranger things, like the monster that had chased them away only a few hours later.

...Grover complained his hooves were frozen, Percy corrected he meant feet for the mortal.

"Not the strangest thing a homeless person had heard," Alex assured. She was pretty sure even if she did go back and tell this story, some other guy at the soup kitchen would find a stranger one about the DMV he believed just as much.

...Camp cannot help us. We must finish this quest ourselves."

"I'm not even sure what else Chiron could do," Will agreed with all the miserable energy of wishing that would change. "By the time he found out where you were to send another bus, it would be to late to make the trip."

"You need to keep moving," Rachel agreed with her own restless energy. Percy had always been great at that, but she smiled to herself as she realized this was a problem she couldn't have thrown money at to fix and help. You couldn't offer to buy the homeless guys car to get out of this. Her kind of problem she wished she had been there to help solve.

... Annabeth in danger, Artemis in chains, and us sharing a homeless persons fire.

"Thank you for that summary," Nico said sullenly, biting back the rest of the words that was the last good one he'd probably get. He knew Bianca hadn't made it to California.

... "You kids need a train going west?"

"God," Alex muttered at once, not loud enough Percy could hear, but with her usual confidence. Now the question was which one, and what did they want for this ride he should know nothing about.

... The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

"Apollo!" Jason yelped in surprise. Percy groaned and fisted his hand in his hair, but he felt that pain in his gut telling him the right answer had just been shouted near his ear.

Thalia smacked Jason and scolded, "thanks, we got that," while Rachel read faster.

...The trash can in front of us was empty, as if he'd taken the flames with him.

Will had never been very good at suppressing his good mood, he'd never tried, but he did with all his might now as he turned his face away and buried his mouth into his shoulder to pretend muffle coughs so Percy wouldn't see him swallowing laughter. He knew his dads touch when he heard it, and he didn't want to give Percy more of a headache by lingering on this.

He'd unintentionally turned his face right towards Nico, the two were practically nose to nose for a second as Nico's dark brown eyes glimmered right along with his. He'd clearly caught onto the joke and it took Rachel reading after his false fit was done to remind himself to turn away.

An hour later we were rumbling west.

Jason was still looking blearily at the book like he was waiting for the trick though. Yet another god had interfered on this quest. No angle? Didn't even appear as himself? Not even an offering in that trash can fire to summon him?

... Grover was playing race car driver with a wheel of a Lamborghini.

There was at lest a friendly chuckle circling the room for such a mild use of the chapter title not apparently having bad consequences on anyone for once.

... she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C.

"Now there's a useful skill," Alex nodded along.

"The one thing I missed about school, access to good music," Thalia grinned. She even risked wearing headphones now to stay up to date on new tunes when they weren't actively hunting.

...She shrugged, so I climbed into the shotgun seat.

"What were you going to do if she said no?" Jason asked cautiously.

"Stand there awkwardly until she changed her mind," Percy shrugged with no real clue. Thankfully she wasn't that mad at him then or now as she rolled her eyes at the two.

... didn't seem likely I'd be home for Christmas.

Melancholy floated into the room like an extra wave for a moment as Rachel hesitated to long and swallowed that. Not one of them besides Percy could claim to have even had a good Christmas in recent times.

It didn't help it was the same time of year up there, and all Rachel could think was if her dad would bother to leave a meeting if he found out she was missing from school. He'd probably just think she reneged on their deal and was ditching.

Will had a smile as bright as any star though as he said, "well obviously you did live through it, but I can still say you haven't lived until you've had Christmas at Camp. Mr. D put's this massive tree in the center on Christmas Eve, he claims it's to annoy us and be in everybody's way, but then the kids that are there split off to decorate it all with anything we can get our hands on before midnight and Chiron lets us play songs on his radio, it's a lot of fun. Last year Selina somehow coaxed a reindeer into Camp and Connor tried to strap a rocket to it."

Talking about orphans having fun was still pretty depressing, but Will really made it seem like they'd forget that while being there.

...That's great. I love being used as bait."

"I can see you now wiggling on a hook like a good worm," Alex snorted Thalia was more likely to shove that hook in Luke's eyeball.

"Glad you know me so well," Thalia nodded along.

... Monsters are attracted to that area like you wouldn't believe."

Jason felt such a sharp electric tingle race down his spine he expected it to be Thalia shocking him for some reason. Glancing down he even saw his hair was standing on end, and that had nothing on the throbbing in his temple. He was convinced he could go slam his head against the wall to make it feel better if his legs wouldn't stagger him over to it.

Thalia did look over at him, all of them did which meant a sharp hiss of noise must have escaped, but there was nothing but concern on their face again for him. A stranger in every way. There was something about that making his mind fracture more, on a foggy peak where so many looked to him and his voice didn't croak, the speech he used to rally them came from Jupiter speaking through him-

"Jason?" Thalia had tried to shock him apparently, her choppy black hair was standing on end along with everybody else's as the static in his mind faded. He thought she'd just over done it like everyone else. He oddly didn't hurt though. Maybe he was in shock at such a vivid, specific memory he didn't know how to connect with anything.

Except she hadn't, Jason had been making such a painful noise in the back of his throat she'd merely touched his shoulder and felt the energy course through her and seep out like a conductor.

There was no doubt left in Thalia's mind as she flexed her hand and checked the souls of her boots while waving Rachel on.

She couldn't tell him now. Not when he was fighting the same memory glitches as Percy. She couldn't imagine guessing what right or wrong thing to say to him to help, she was barely making it with the friend she knew. She didn't know how he was even alive, let alone why such a place should have meant his death.

Jason was smoothing down his hair with troubled eyes on the book for more now that he'd stopped torturing himself, and she couldn't begin to find the words right now for her little brother in the flesh as her traitorous hand still longed to reach out and touch his face lest he vanish again. It wasn't possible.

But here he was.

"And Uncle Fredrick knew that!" Magnus sounded just as frustrated as Jason looked examining his own hands, if for an entirely different reason. "He wanted to just pack up and move her to a place she'd somehow be attacked even more often?!"

Thalia's grim expression only made it all worse as she silently wondered how Jason had survived there so long. Annabeth's fretting and worry in their dorm as she'd vented about her dad doing this to spite her, how Thalia had sat beside her on those beds and comforted her it was all for his work and Athena probably admired his dedication, but Annabeth didn't have to go with him.

She hadn't readily agreed with Annabeth's curiosity to join the Hunters to escape the constant disappointment of their life, but she hadn't been as vocal turning it down as she'd once been all those years ago when she'd first met Zoe. Annabeth was old enough to make that decision for herself where she wanted to spend the majority of her time.

Percy looked from Jason still looking as sick as he felt, to Thalia, to Magnus feeling as useless as usual as he wondered what other parts of Annabeth's life he had no idea about. She'd rather join the hunters because her own dad cared more about his work than her?

... I hated feeling like Thalia knew more than I did, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Argh!" Magnus flopped so hard into his seat in exasperation it moved back a few inches. "I'm going to bash both of your heads together and suffer the consequences!"

"Come give it a shot man," Percy raised a challenging brow and a playful smirk, even beckoning him over with his own sign he knew quite well with his four fingers. "See if that'll knock the memories in faster."

"What do I get out of this head trauma?" Thalia asked, her mind clearly else where and distant in the halfhearted tone.

"Peace of mind?" Magnus groaned, though he obviously wasn't moving anywhere.

Thalia gave a hollow laugh. Considering her first priority when getting out of here was confronting Zeus and Hera to find out what the hell had been done to her little brother, she didn't think she'd ever get that again.

"I don't think the best brain surgeons in the world have figured that out yet, but let me know if it works," Will chuckled.

... Thalia looked a lot like one of the Hunters.

"Literal foreshadowing going on there," Rachel busted out laughing and even applauded him.

"Maybe the homeless guy slipped something in that fire I was inhaling," Percy shrugged as he still glanced worriedly at her silver jacket. It caused a larger rock in his throat every time he pictured Annabeth in the same. The pensive, tight look on her face like she was studying a gravestone in the cracks in the ground only convinced him all the more she just wasn't telling him that part had come to pass.

..."I almost joined them," she admitted.

Nico gave a sardonic laugh. "It's almost easy to forget sometimes you weren't always a Hunter, it's how I've always known you."

Thalia's bow appeared in hand, and Nico's heart skipped a beat in shock for a moment before she merely began twisting the silver wood about in the faint light. She twanged the string and murmured to Rachel to keep going, clearly this wasn't a memory she wanted to share anymore than necessary.

... "I would've had to leave Luke."

She wasn't getting a choice though as the smell of that bog came back, the broken branches snapping loud in her ear, pain flaring sharp in her arm that could have been their doom.

The Hunters had shown up just as conveniently as they did years later, silver arrows heralding their arrival and disposing of Lamia conveniently after Luke had nearly fallen victim to her seduction.

He had tried to win them over with his charming wit, but Zoe had been immune and pushed Luke aside to heal Thalia's broken arm that had stopped her summoning Aegis. Annabeth had been fascinated with them and been gung-ho to join, until she found out what it meant too.

Then she'd brought her knife out on them, making the two smile like proud parents as the child of Athena told Zoe where she could shove her answer.

Zoe had tried to insist on reasons to at least take Annabeth somewhere safe, the fight had almost become physical until Phoebe had stepped in and promised it wouldn't come to that. Zoe's parting words hadn't phased Annabeth, but the lieutenant had looked right at Thalia when she promised, "he'll let you both down some day."

Percy's were the first words she'd heard upon waking up that day. Annabeth's broken answer of what Luke had done were the last before she moved into her own Cabin, Zoe's vow keeping her awake all night.

..."She wasn't right! Luke never let me down. Never."

Percy swallowed the harsh words Luke had done plenty to Annabeth, just because she wasn't around to see it didn't mean it hadn't happened.

"We'll have to fight him," I said. "There's no way around it."

"This boy!" Alex made a motion like she wanted to claw her own face off with frustration. Or his. "Can you not speak every thought!"

"I cannot not," Percy fibbed, apology clear in his tone for his friend.

Thalia just looked miserable. That day on Mount Tam had helped her to see there was no saving him. She'd spent that trip west convinced she'd be able to save her family, and Percy would finally take a hint he wasn't needed. Nothing had come back as planned.

Percy wished more than anything he could do something for her, but he had no idea what had ultimately come to pass. What he could say that would make it better or worse.

..."Even if that means killing him?"

The expression that flashed across her face made Percy brace himself to have an electric eel around his throat any second and still have time to wonder if he'd be immune to that before a shaky breath passed her lips and it faded back. Her bow was flickering in her hands, making a cracking noise threatening to break the blessed weapon.

She hadn't killed Luke, she hadn't been there when it happened.

But for one horrible moment, she'd thought she had, and that had never left her to this day.

That she didn't regret it.

That she'd do it again and hate herself for it every time.

... I couldn't tell if it was from anger or sadness.

'Both,' Jason knew from seeing that in here now. He didn't know who exactly Luke was to her, friend or more. He did know he'd personally stab him in the face right now just for making that look flash across Thalia's face again.

Finally, a fact about himself he was sure of.

... think about why." She raised the window and shut me out.

Rachel winced and said in a breathy voice, "I'll pause for your excellent use of props there." Her uneasy voice was all for fearing Thalia was about to storm out of here from all of this being shoved in her face, but it suited Rachel well to keep Percy just as on edge about the answer to that.

Thalia's point about his blunt words didn't concern Percy so much as the idea of being a guy. Was Annabeth unhappy? Felt unloved, without any true friend or family? He didn't know if he'd been enough for her.

Thalia remained in her seat though, swallowing it all down as her past fought to keep rearranging itself like a thread that wouldn't stop unwinding, one the fates kept tightening around her neck.

Luke brushing tears off her face as she cried on her brothers birthday.

Her brother beside her, alive and no idea who she was.

... played "Poison Ivy" causing the stuff to sprout from their air conditioner.

"Can he do Firework on command too?" Alex asked eagerly.

"I didn't have a spare car to ask," Percy shrugged.

... He looked like a teddy bear that had been run over by a truck.

"If he was going for a look Zeus finally wouldn't look twice at, I guess he found it," Nico said in quite a bit of admiration a god had lowered himself to such a state.

"Let's hope he never shows up to Camp like that," Will kept blinking in concern his dad was still going around in that getup and it was hurting his head more than if the sun were in his eyes.

...Dreams like a podcast, Downloading truth in my ears. They tell me cool stuff"

"The god of Prophecy gets his knowledge from dreams?" Magnus asked in concern.

"If they're anything like mine where I'm battling a tick in a forest of fur, he can keep his future to himself," Alex nodded, and those were her light dreams. Loki's made her dread sleeping every night.

... I figured nobody else could make a haiku that bad.

"Your stellar deduction skills are at it again," Jason snickered.

..."A god named Fred?"

"You know a cyclops named Tyson and you mom's dating a guy named Blowfish," Magnus said with a shrug.

"What are names but a choice of who we are," Alex agreed.

Will snorted and said, "say all the wise wisdom you like you two, I will not stop laughing at my dad, Fred the God."

... Zeus insists on certain rules...but nobody messes with my baby sister. Nobody."

Percy felt a bit chuffed at that news. He forgot sometimes that the gods, as unhelpful, useless, and even cruel as they felt to him, were a family. Maybe not a great one to their kids, but at minimum to each other. They argued and clearly didn't always like each other, but he found himself smiling all the same Apollo spoke of Artemis as he would of Thalia.

... I imagine you'll get across a good chunk of America, at least."

A cold sweat broke out on the back of Nico's neck, his stomach churning already. The last time a God had helped Percy across the country he'd wound up in Vegas. A sure enough land without rain, the very same? Was it coming already? No, he had to have more time, more words, more pages...

... I don't know that. She's, clouded from me. I don't like it."

The enormity of the situation gave them all a chill in place. If any of them would have hoped a god going missing would have kicked Zeus's butt into gear, pitching his own battle and stopping this war in its tracks, it was dashed. The Gods couldn't find her, the rest probably wouldn't even know to look for her until it was to late.

... you mean that girl you lost? I don't know."

Percy tried not to let his resentment spike to high. He wasn't like Luke. He knew the gods weren't like this on purpose. They cared just enough it would get him to the end of this quest and survive another day, a lesser of two evils than Kronos who had taken Annabeth away and was using her for a pillar in his weird cave, bait, and anything else he could want.

...We lived such short lives, compared to the gods.

"And dogs live such short lives compared to us," Rachel sighed, "but we still love them every day of theirs."

"I think this is him throwing you a bone," Jason muttered, but his eyes were closed and he was kneading his forehead. Apollo was the one name he hadn't flinched and done a double take over in this Greek pantheon, and yet to hear all this still made his brain feel on fire.

... the monster Artemis was seeking?" "No," Apollo said.

"Does he know anything to help you guys out?" Alex asked with plenty of frustration. Here was an actually helpful god, wallowing around with the best of them, and still not able to answer a single question. She could paint that annoyed pucker between Magnus's eyes all day onto herself.

...when you reach San Francisco, seek out Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea.

Jason shivered, the name nagged sharply in his mind, even more painfully than Hylla's had. Like someone he might actually know in person?! His attention was riveted, he couldn't wait for Percy to wind up there now!

Both Thalia and Nico watched him with great confusion why he'd know of some old sea God.

... He has the gift of knowledge sometimes kept obscure from my Oracle."

"I have so many questions about that entire info dump," Magnus said with a concerned look around. "Is he related to Poseidon? Is Percy going to start spouting prophecies? He's not going to show up down here is he?"

"No, no, and no," Percy said with whatever confidence he could, which admittedly wasn't a lot. He just hoped those were the answers.

... The meaning is only clear through the search."

"That's a really fancy way of saying get wrecked," Alex nodded, "might have to borrow that."

"He'll be glad to sign whatever you like as long as you credit him as saying it first," Rachel chuckled, they had a lot of pleasant conversations that ended this way.

... I expect a good haiku about your journey!"

"I would reread all of these books before I turn in homework given to me by Apollo," Percy said nauseously.

"I volunteer," Rachel offered with delight.

... a little too breezy downstairs, and laced leather sandals.

Alex gave him a catcall whistle while Percy was looking a little flush and mercifully running his hand down his actual pants.

The Nemean Lion's skin was wrapped around my back like a cape,

"Oh gods, you don't dream of all the trophies you get do you?" Magnus asked with whole new concern. "Is that why Annabeth gave up that scarf? Do you dream of the minotaur?"

Percy opened his mouth. He wanted to say it was just a coincidence, but the words wouldn't come out. These dreams always meant something to his quest.

... I could hear the fear in her voice. "He will find us!"

Rachel was really good at infusing dread into her voice like that. Percy wasn't even the one in danger for once and he still shivered and wondered if she'd ever done any acting.

... It was a beautiful garden, yet the girl was lead me through it as if we were about to die.

"The prettiest scenery in the world doesn't stop death," Nico agreed morbidly.

"I'm not afraid," I tried to tell her.

"Well we have confirmation this guy isn't you Percy, maybe just a reincarnation," Will snorted. "Same death defying stunts, you just admit to nearly pissing yourself when it happens."

"Thank you," Percy said, puzzled if that was a real compliment or not.

...I didn't know why the girl was scared. The garden seemed so peaceful.

"Have you ever read Alice in Wonderland?" Alex scoffed. "Hell, I bet you've seen Avatar, I can list a million more examples. The pretty worlds are the deadliest."

"Remind me to never go to the Demeter cabin again," Percy nodded.

...My voice sounded deeper, much more confident.

"No, no, there's our real proof," but Thalia's smile was as strained as it had been for hours now. She'd never wanted to hear of this in such detail. This was not a memory any other Hunter should have to hear if Zoe hadn't wished to share it. The cold girl who had sneered at Thalia for trusting Luke had never really seen Luke standing there.

"I have bested a thousand monsters with my bare hands."

"That's more terrifying than impressive," Jason shook his head. Hands were capable of both creating and destroying, but the tools were an extension. Someone bragging about doing that with just raw power felt unnatural.

...She was really concerned, almost like she cared about me.

Percy started shifting around uncomfortably in his seat, touching his ear and studying the book with a nauseous feeling. That voice, he knew that voice, but he'd never heard her speak in such a way, didn't think she was capable of it before now...

... until I held a familiar bronze sword.

Magnus shivered uncomfortably as Percy grew more pale. These dreams were never described for anything good, and there was a pit in Magnus's stomach this could be what Annabeth could be going through, some horrible mind game with intoxicating flowers where she was destined to keep getting hurt over and over to save a hero.

..."Anaklusmos," the girl said sadly.

The name of that sword had been mentioned to many times to be anything else, Percy's death grip on it now only drove the point home as he looked like he'd been punched in the face. Chiron had warned him this sword had a past, Mr. D had said much the same. It was an answer he still had no idea what to do with.

"The current that takes one by surprise...

Thalia swallowed the snide comment how a son of Zeus would dare use such a weapon associated with Poseidon. Whether Hercules had been loyal to anybody but himself was not an ancient question she cared to think on.

...I sat bolt upright. Grover was shaking my arm.

Percy gazed at nobody in here as he tried for a strained smile, his groggy thought that had come and gone to slow back then. Grover would wish for the dream he had, and it rivaled all of the horrors of that cyclops cave.

...The girl I had seen was Zoe Nightshade.

"Whoa," Alex said softly, pity in her voice for how that must have turned out.

"I guess she did have her own past with a guy before turning on all of them," Magnus agreed with an uneasy wince.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

I know, big revelation in the middle of the chapter, but Jason had to react to that the same way Thalia couldn't keep denying who this guy is, it just wouldn't make sense any other way. I cannot wait to keep going with these two, even if I have to keep putting them on pause.

*If you know what Will is quoting then you have the same love of an old TV show I do. I still rewatch it once a year.