Nico read the new chapter title telling himself he was happy to be reading now. These books weren't that long, maybe he'd even get out of reading the rest of this one getting his out of the way now.

"Wouldn't monsters still be summoned to you under there?" Alex asked.

"I didn't think waterproof phones had gotten that advanced," Magnus said.

"I want to know who he's calling," Jason frowned, "was your mom supposed to be waiting for you, or did you all assume you'd find another ride to camp?"

"I wish I could make one now to 911," Percy sighed, "you guys are insane constantly questioning these."

.... the snow surprised me.

Nico tried to hide a grimace behind the book how ominous that should have been. He brought cold and the dead everywhere with him from the beginning.

"I keep telling Chiron we need some kind of winter break holiday special!" Will nearly shouted Nico's ear off as he waved at Percy. "To many campers miss how awesome this place is to experience with snow whenever we want, and we need some new traditions to shake up some of ours! I already promised Nico fireworks in December."

Nico was now blushing just a bit and muttering nobody else would want to sit around for that, but over ruled instantly as Percy nodded along seriously. "Even just for a week, that sounds awesome!"

... if the spirit of Delphi was roasting marshmallows up there.

"Better than the sacrificial alter fire I was imagining," Magnus made an 'uck' face.

"We only sacrifice kids during the eclipse thank you," Will gave a dramatic sniff.

..."Why is there lava down it?" "Little extra challenge.

"Extra challenge," Magnus repeated, "because the normal kind you can fall off of and die from isn't fun enough."

"You said it, not me," Alex smirked.

"Saved our butts in the past, the lava-less climb made Polyphemus's cliff seem tame," Percy shrugged it came in handy.

..."I know Chiron," Zoe said stiffly.

"Does she hate him too?" Jason asked. "They're both immortal, but not gods, you'd think she'd get along with the horse guy for having something in common."

"She's still unhappy about being sent away from Artemis," Thalia sadly interpreted. It was the first time she'd spoken up after finally getting her breath back, and she still sounded so exhausted and weary, now for a different reason. "She's going to be unhappy with everyone for a while." A sentiment she'd never have understood before joining herself, and she winced with guilt how harshly she'd treated Zoe just like Percy back during these times.

...he and came up still talking—" my old daddy goat used to say!"

"Why do I have a feeling that advice didn't help him escape Polyphemus?" Alex asked.

"I sort of want to hear that sage satyr advice," Jason admitted. "I didn't think they could give advice."

"I'll be sure to ask him when we get back," Percy rolled his eyes.

...Bianca whispered something in Nico's ear. He scowled and turned away.

"She asked if the place looked like fun," Nico answered before Alex or anyone could ask. "Like I was at my first day of preschool," he finished, his voice colder than any frost.

"I mean, wasn't the answer yes?" Percy gave him a smile and as always tried to laugh that off.

He just turned his face away from him back to the book. He was trying so hard to let go of his bitter thoughts about his sister he didn't even realize for the first time he hadn't admired Percy's talent for doing that, it was just a casual response from him by now.

"Take care, sweethearts!" Apollo called after the Hunters.

"He clearly takes Artemis's dire warnings to heart," Rachel chuckled.

"What's she going to do, ground him?" Thalia sighed.

...Instead of answering, he hopped back in the bus.

"Cryptic, unhelpful, leaves an impression," Jason sighed. "These gods are almost getting predictable."

"Gods, don't tell him that," Will's eyes went wide in fright what his dad might do to be called anything other than predictable.

"I thought you meant bus drivers in general for a second, so who are we to judge?" Alex shrugged.

...He gave her a wicked smile, as if he knew something she didn't.

"Like how to be good?" Magnus asked without hope.

"There's a lost cause before it started," Thalia scoffed, "least of all from Apollo."

...Nico was still looking grumpy.

"I'm beginning to think that's his perpetual state of being," Rachel said cheerfully.

"He's had his moments in here," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Leave him be," Will almost sounded like he was snapping at them. "Nobody's telling you to take all of this with a smile."

Nico was biting his lip, not quite hiding a smile Jason noticed as Nico watched Will, so he didn't really think he was that bothered at all when he tacked in, "still, since we're marking milestones, first time Nico was mentioned like that."

"We are not marking those!" Thalia reminded in exasperation. "You keep doing it despite our continued protests!"

Rachel now had her hand pressed to her mouth to poorly stifle how Thalia sounded like an exhausted babysitter with to many charges as Nico kept going.

..."Who's Chiron? I don't have his figurine."

"I'm sure he's heartbroken," Alex sighed, though immediately perked up and said, "maybe I could make one."

"You can't, ah, just make up your own," but Nico wasn't going to be the one to tell Alex no when she was clearly going to try.

"Our activities director. He's, well, you'll see.

"That's all you gave him?" Magnus protested. "A little sympathy for the guy you could warn is part horse."

"I thought you wanted to hear Nico having more of a reaction to you than something?" Percy asked innocently. "Maybe I'm trying to surprise the kid."

"By giving him a heart attack?" Magnus demanded.

"Be honest, do you want Nico to ask how many hit points a centaur has?" Thalia was clearly on Percy's side.

Nico was shaking his head in long accepted exasperation that's all he'd clearly ever be to them, a kid. It really wasn't bothering him as much as it used to though, maybe Bianca had meant for him to let go and even enjoy his age a bit more rather than focusing on revenge.

... Beckendorf was stoking the forge outside the armory.

Percy smiled with a somber look for Tyson. He remembered back during their school year he'd loved wintertime and splashed through every puddle on the way to school, always stopping to make incredible snowmen during recess. Even when Matt Sloan had broken them apart he'd just smile and rebuild a better one.

He hoped he was okay down under the ocean, that he and Annabeth could send him a Christmas card.

The Stoll brothers were picking the lock on the camp store.

"Argus was having a mysterious emergency on the bus," Will said innocently. "Connor told me he was positive he heard some poor soul trapped in the engine."

"I'm so sure there was someone trapped in the store they had to get out right away, it couldn't wait," Percy nodded while the others chuckled that no matter the time of year, at least business as usual seemed to be going on there.

... Clarisse didn't seem to be around.

"I'm sure she's somewhere around there," Thalia muttered, wishing she'd asked more at the time why she'd always been locked up by herself.

...he had a blanket on his lap that almost hid his wheelchair completely.

"It's almost full on deja vu to the first time I did meet him," Percy smiled at Magnus now. Except Annabeth wasn't down at her cabin to tell him drooled this time, he couldn't help a forlorn sigh.

...."Nico di Angelo. He and his sister are half-bloods."

"As opposed to finding a couple of what?" Alex asked.

"You never know, I might have to rescue a baby satyr one day," Percy shrugged.

Chiron breathed a sigh of relief. "You succeeded, then."

Percy and Thalia made an eerily similar face, they could never call that mission a success, and Nico still winced against his own intentions. He'd brought them nothing but chaos from the beginning.

"Hey," Will said quietly beside him. He couldn't be disrespectful to the hurt in the pair of them, but he still told Nico sternly, "one success doesn't mean someone else's failure. We will always want more kids around camp however they get there."

Nico studied him for a moment, wrestling with himself if he believed that. Will probably saw him as just a kid too, an obligation of someone to take care of down here. They all weren't that much older than him, hell, technically he was older than them!

It wouldn't matter when he came back from Tartarus with proof, they couldn't just see him as some pipsqueak then.

... Mr. D said in a bored voice, "Not another one lost."

There was a tense, crackling noise filling the room. Jason and Rachel were glancing uneasily at their nearest seatmates with trepidation nobody needed translating. If Dionysus started pretending like Annabeth's loss was no big deal, no way were they going to survive both of these two having a fit over it down here.

... a black eye and red lines that looked like a slap mark.

"I'm guessing his offer to show them to the showers didn't go over well," Alex wrinkled her nose Grover was that bad at taking a hint.

"Must be strange for him chasing someone who can't turn into a tree to get away," Jason said blankly, but an idiotic fawn acting like a pest was the most normal thing he'd yet heard of this camp, so it phased him the least.

... our young friend and show him our orientation film."

"Poor Grover getting more sidelined in this one than the last one where he was literally kidnapped out of the way," Magnus smiled faintly.

"G-Man's always had his own agenda," Percy said without concern. He'd catch his best friend up on any important details he'd miss.

..."It's PG-13." "Cool!" Nico happily followed him out of the room.

"Speaking of being sidelined," Nico huffed as he flipped the page. It was no wonder really, he'd been duped out of the room as easily as any toddler.

"Oh come on, the graphics aren't that bad," Will insisted. "I'd skip on a dire conversation about the end of the world again just to watch that part about Odysseus sailing around and slaying a few monsters."

"You only say that because your dad directed it," Nico smirked.

"You didn't deny it though," Will smirked back.

... "We should launch a search for Annabeth immediately."

"The proper response when a camper goes missing," Will sounded as petulant as he ever could, maybe even a tad bitter himself. As many campers that had gone missing over the past two years alone, Chiron had cautioned patients and keeping an eye on each other more.

Because they knew the truth, they were defecting to Luke's side. There was no saving them.

Annabeth goes missing and Chiron wants to launch an immediate rescue to go find Luke and bring her back. Because she'd want to come back.

He knew the difference when he spelled it out, but it didn't make the hurt any less so many other kids had been passed over. He'd had a new little brother for about three weeks when he went missing one night, and Chiron had mournfully announced the same old speech at breakfast. What if Luke had taken him against his will? Indoctrinated him into hating the gods? He might have wanted to come back!

Will didn't say any of that though, didn't let the others see it. He couldn't hate Chiron for making the hard choices any more than he hated his dad for not casting divine intervention to rescue all his kids. It just hurt.

Nico looked at him in surprise though for the unfamiliar tone, and for the first time wondered if anybody had actually looked for him when he fell into the Labyrinth.

..."Certainly not!"

Thalia took a deep breath to reign in her temper, but Percy was already glowering at the book in Nico's hands, his green eyes churning the water around him without him even seeming to notice.

... something bad and godly was going to happen if we didn't shut up.

"Why does it always have to be bad and godly?" Magnus sighed. "For once I want to see something good and godly happen with all that massive power."

"I wouldn't hold your breath," Alex was leaning forward curiously in her seat what he was going to do, her hair swinging over her shoulder. Magnus caught a hint of skin on the back of her neck that seemed oddly miscolored, and quickly averted his eyes lest he get caught peaking.

... "we have broken even on this escapade.

The water was getting increasingly hot in here, and Nico vaguely wondered what they were doing to the ecosystem as he read faster.

... lost Annie Bell—" "Annabeth," I snapped.

Percy had restrained himself from doing that in here by forcing his eyes to the ceiling and copying Thalia, taking a deep breath. He knew it wasn't Nico, he didn't want to kill anyone in here, he was being calm because she was okay...

Jason was still looking wearily from him to the center of the room like he expected Oceanus to pop back up any second and save them. It's not like they could do anything else if Percy exploded.

..."And you procured a small annoying boy to replace her.

Nico had to pause there and clench his teeth together hard enough to crack a tooth to stifle a self-deprecating laugh. As if he could replace Annabeth in any sense, yet somehow one of his favorite gods was indulging his forbidden wish. There was always a reason he liked the wine dude, all the fun, good ideas.

... The possibility is great this Annie girl is dead."

...She's alive, she's alive, she's alive...

It shouldn't be possible for them to hear howling wind down here or sense the danger in the very air they should be fleeing for their lives, but they all could.

"Percy-" Thalia began, but he didn't want to hear from her right now, a proven fact when she felt an icy splash of water to her face as he snapped, "I know, I'm listening!"

Thalia spat the water out and only commented, "I was just going to say if you didn't say something to him I would have."

Nico was pretty sure Percy hadn't been a pile of ashes when he burst in, so he tried to keep going before that happened to all of them. Thalia was scrunching up her tongue in disgust without trying again anyways.

... I was so angry I didn't care.

"Whoever says that's not a fatal flaw has clearly never met you," Jason muttered as Percy's feet kept shifting his weight around, he had his hand clamped tight in his pocket but still hadn't drawn his pen. He really was trying to keep in mind not to kill all of them and have another meltdown.

...when Nico burst into the room, followed by Grover.

"Jason, mark this one for your diary," Will gave him an air poke. "Nico just saved Percy's life!"

"It's not a diary," he huffed before muttering there was nothing wrong with taking notes.

"Yeah, thanks Nico," Percy sighed, rubbing hard at his temple where a hurricane-sized headache had lodged. "Annabeth probably would have resurrected me herself just to smite me for getting killed before she got saved."

"Anytime," Nico said with an odd feeling of lightness. He'd never thought Percy would actually thank him for anything before.

... I totally think your powers are sweet!"

"I second that vote," Rachel raised her hand.

"The Mr. D is actually cool part, or the Nico saved Percy's bacon part?" Jason asked, even mock clicking a pen.

"Both," she grinned.

"Duly noted," he laughed.

Percy, however, exchanged an exasperated look with Magnus. "He's now got us both beat out on first reaction to seeing a god, three times, in one day!"

"Nico's actually got you beat out on less gods who want to kill him too," Alex added.

"Can we not!" Nico planted his face in the pages in protest.

"Now you know my pain," Percy victoriously reminded.

Nico spared a look around and grinned back. It was nice, to just look at Percy and not feel his own oceans' worth of tangled, rushing emotions. Percy swept his black hair aside and watched him expectantly to move on, and surprisingly the first thing that came to mind wasn't to feel longing, then shame for wanting to brush at it himself, but instead to feel a little happy the guy clearly didn't blame all this on him like some of the other campers inherently seemed to do when any bad thing happened.

He still didn't find it as endearing as usual Percy just laughed it off too. Odd.

... Inform the campers we'll be playing capture the flag tomorrow evening."

Percy winced though and sat back in his seat with frustration. He'd never played a game of capture the flag without her, and he wasn't looking forward to it now.

... "A friendly match, whenever the Hunters visit."

"Friendly? That's the word he used?" Alex drawled.

"Yeah," Thalia muttered. "I bet it's real friendly."

"Touché Alex," Thalia grinned.

... "Come on, Percy."

"And I would have gotten the popcorn," Alex sighed.

"Nah, I'd get bored without him constantly causing distress," Thalia shrugged.

She hauled me out before Dionysus remembered he wanted to kill me.

Percy was still working his jaw and didn't seem upset at the trade off if he could have finished telling that pompous sot off.

... "You need another immortal enemy?"

"It's not an important number until I hit three, right?" Percy said innocently to Jason. "Hades actually doesn't hate me for giving back his helmet, I'm just keeping it real."

"Mock me all you like, you'll thank me for remembering the details you keep forgetting about your own story," Jason grinned.

"What would his curse even do to you?" Alex snorted. "Make all of your cokes flat?"

Percy got a horror-struck look on his face though, and Thalia sighed that's what it had taken for him to rethink mouthing off to a god!

...it no longer used Thalia's spirit for power.

Magnus smiled he at least got one of his many questions answered about that. Her spirit wasn't attached anymore, but the tree still seemed to be blessed by Zeus at the very least to be so powerful.

It wasn't exactly a happy reminder to Thalia though, as she sat still as a pine in her seat. Her father could have easily made that thing vanish when she'd come out of it. Instead, it stood sentinel in place as a constant reminder to her.

... she looked like a raven, out of place in the white landscape.

She'd felt out of place there. It was why she'd gone to private school with Annabeth, who didn't need her anymore, while being so socially out of the loop and behind in all the remedial classes with monsters showing up every other weekend to challenge her. She could barely stomach sleeping in her own cabin and rather dragged her sleeping bag up to the roof above Zeus's statue most nights. Chiron had tried to respect her wish, teaching her how to manipulate the mist as soon as possible, always letting her come over at a moment's notice for extra practice, but she'd felt no more at home in the real world than at Camp. She'd never felt at peace until she joined the hunt, or was traveling with Luke and Annabeth, or those first years where it was just her and her little brother.

Maybe she had an older sibling complex. She'd never felt comfortable unless she was looking after someone. At least it had all worked out for her in the end.

... "We'll find a way."

The two exchanged a solemn look. Percy was still angry and frustrated with his situation and the world at large for constantly putting Thalia in his face down here, mocking him for everything he wasn't; but she was his friend. He'd felt it the moment he met her and wanted to get back to that more than dwell on this argument.

Thalia felt the exact same sense of replacement when she looked at him. To her it had seemed like Percy had slipped so easily into the role of Luke and her for Annabeth, her little sister didn't need either of them anymore when she'd come out of that tree and Annabeth had spoken of nothing but him.

They'd both failed to save her though, and blaming each other wasn't getting her back.

... exchange her basketball for a bow and arrow any second.

"What could they have even found to argue about on such sacred ground in so short a time?" Alex asked with interest.

"Basketball to the death, yeah, sounds on par with this place," Magnus shrugged without surprise.

...She looked as comfortable with that as I felt, but she nodded.

"Look at you two working together," Jason approved, "those Hunters won't stand a chance. Um, no offense Thalia," he went a little cross-eyed as he eyed her silver jacket.

Thalia laughed without humor the game had been a disaster and her current status wasn't the concern about it when she said, "wait to place your bets on that one."

... I would've done the same thing."...like she was deciding on saying more.

Thalia swallowed a lump in her throat and looked quickly away from Jason. She wished she had kept her mouth shut now instead of opening up a bit to Percy, making temporary peace with him then felt like a slap in the face looking at the kid brother she'd lost in here.

Jason felt an inexplicable surge of guilt when she clearly looked away from them. He didn't know if it was regret for sharing that with Percy, or something to do with him, his clear otherness. She seemed to like Alex plenty and treated Magnus fondly, so fingers crossed it was the Percy thing.

...camper and Hunter were trying to kill each other with a sword and a basketball.

"You can tell me to skip stuff like that," Nico offered as he looked around at her with his own sorrow. "I, I'm not looking forward to some things, well, I'm sorry too Thalia."

She shrugged, but gave a concerningly wet sniff as she spoke to the wall above him. "It's whatever, I'm not ashamed to share that." Which was true enough, Percy had guessed wrong.

"He's right though Thals, I need to learn to keep my mouth shut," Percy sat forward in his seat with clear apology he'd upset her.

She forced herself to look back and shrug again, but she fooled no one.

... they all made a U around the central green hearth.

As Percy even slightly relaxed at the true feeling of being home again seemed to settle on him when this was described, Jason still twitched uneasily. From the very beginning, this setup was still weird.

I made the rounds telling everybody about capture the flag.

Will smiled for the slipped moment nobody would know but him and Percy, that the book and clearly the guy hadn't thought about long enough to care. He'd been the one to answer the door, he and Kayla had been the only year-round campers at the time. Right behind Percy had been Grover, escorting Nico to the Hermes cabin Percy had already passed. Nico hadn't looked over his shoulder to even realize that was the first time he'd seen him, but Will had already been thinking about going over after dinner as an excuse to check on the new kid and maybe say high to Connor. He was always so mopey whenever Katie wasn't around the rest of the year.

... I asked where Clarisse was. He said, "On a quest for Chiron. Top secret!"

"What's this now?" Jason sat up straight once more.

"Which word did you not get?" Percy asked politely. "The quest, or the secret?" His sarcasm didn't hold up very well, he was just as curious what all this was about.

..."Haven't heard from her. She's missing in action. Like your gonna be if you don't get!"

"Such caring for their siblings, really brings the comradery of this place into focus," Nico muttered, the speech he'd probably been given in that exact moment running in his head about how he couldn't even have a bed because they were all claimed from Travis, while Connor had been eyeing his bag with a familiar look of what could be stolen from him his first impression of the campers.

"The only thing we like to use the Ares cabin for is a bad example," Will shrugged.

I decided to let him go back to sleep.

Percy and Jason groaned in unison and flopped back into their seat, sending the couch back a few inches.

"You sure you don't want to switch books?" Percy insisted, knowing he'd decapitate anyone else who suggested it. "This is the worst one yet!" Most annoyingly of all because he had a sixth sense of what the answer was. Clarisse came back from this mission, but he wasn't going to like the answer.

"What makes you think I'd have any better luck than you?" Jason reminded as he tapped his temple.

... A Minotaur horn hung on the wall next to my pillow.

"Because that'll chase the monsters under your bed away," Alex smirked.

"It's not even a good, commemorable piece from the first monster you killed," Magnus said with a confused frown. "The fury didn't leave behind a trophy, did she? Why'd you keep that thing instead of throwing it in the attack?" He didn't exactly want a daily reminder of when he'd lost his mom, he carried it around in his head enough.

"A reminder to write her all summer," Percy said quietly. He fell asleep every night looking at that thing knowing what he had to lose. If he could mount that manticores head up next he would.

...I'd give it back when I found her. And I would find her.

Percy made such a deep, frustrated noise of longing it must have disrupted the sonar of every underwater creature in the ocean. He didn't blame Rachel or Magnus for being here instead of her, but he still felt more lost during this one than any coordinates pinning his location could ever describe.

... it looked like a meteor had made a crater in my head.

"Hopefully not foreshadowing," Percy muttered.

I hung the shield on its hook, but it was painful to look at now.

"Tyson will just be relieved it did its purpose and saved your life," Thalia promised. "He's out there practicing how to make even better stuff."

"Right," Percy agreed with that, but it didn't negate how he'd miss that one.

...It made the room feel warm, fresh with the smell of the sea.

"That sounds like a thing of beauty," Alex's eyes glimmered with want to see such a piece in person.

"I've spent an embarrassing amount of hours in there sketching it," Rachel laughed for the amount of times Percy and Annabeth had chased her out of there. "The design is so elegant!"

"Cool," Magnus was blinking like he had a bright light in his eyes, "but what? That's insanely creepy somebody just came into your cabin and set that up."

"It's not just my cabin," Percy reminded with a genuine smile once more. "It's in honor of my family."

...I looked into the water and said, "Thanks, Dad."

Percy chuckled, just a small little one, but the first semblance of a happy noise he'd made sense Annabeth's vanishing. "Maybe he heard my tirades last summer about those two words and upped his game."

"That's one hell of a gift Percy, you're lucky," Will said sincerely, but Nico noticed how the smile didn't quite reach his eyes and instantly knew why. His dad had certainly never given his cabin such a custom gift, and he'd think Hades would shower the place after finally getting one after all this time. Had Apollo ever added any kind of personal touch?

... She was used to me disappearing for days or weeks at a time.

"I disagree with that track," Magnus almost sounded like he was scolding him. "Your mom was probably worried the moment she dropped you off, you still could have called her to tell her about Annabeth and the two new kids, she would have wanted to hear."

Percy looked quickly away though to hide the lump in his throat as Magnus had said the very reason he was reluctant to talk to her. His mom thought the world of Annabeth, and he'd just got done telling Chiron how he'd lost her. He couldn't bare to say it all again yet.

My father? It had been almost two years since I'd talked to him.

"I really wouldn't call it much of a conversation either," Magnus agreed with a mystified expression. No god had exactly expressed thanks for Percy saving the world, and he still couldn't get over Poseidon saying he regretted Percy's birth even if he'd shown in the time since he did care about him.

Could you even send an Iris-message to a god? 

"I don't see why not?" Jason still seemed particularly intrigued over these things as he analyzed that silly question. "Since it's a goddess herself doing it, but you've yet had one so I'm wondering if there's just this mist hovering before you, you have to accept it or something, and I don't know if it comes with caller ID."

"Also, the chapter title is a lie because whoever gets this phone call, you are not underwater," Alex added.

"Your minds must be some strangely coded places," Percy told them both, and he was the ADHD one.

"I'm with Percy, since you all missed the obvious," Rachel gave them a pointed look. "Percy did send an Iris message to Dionysius!" It was a story every kid loved to tell about Tantalus's great departure.

They sat staring at her for a moment before Percy muttered, "oops. Yeah, I try to actively forget about him."

"Uhhu," she rolled her eyes at all of them.

..."Show me Tyson," I requested. 

Percy grinned as everyone in here smiled for his choice. Alex even raised her hand and said, "I take it back! You need to be making more underwater phone calls!"

He couldn't wait until he could actually see his little brother again and introduce him to even more friends.

...the bottom of the ocean.

"I don't know why, but a window underwater is really hurting my brain right now," Magnus rubbed the heel of his hand into his forehead to prove his point.

"Yes, that's the weird part, not the literal fire underwater," Alex said in almost sympathy.

"I'm trying to learn to roll with some of the punches," he sighed since, again, nobody else had blinked at that part. Maybe because they were underwater too, which still boggled his mind if he thought about it to long.

...The vision blurred and I instinctively lurched back.

"Keeping those battle reflexes alive in all situations," Jason chuckled.

... Listen, do you talk to Dad much?"

"You could have just called your dad if you wanted to know about him!" Alex protested. "I want to know what else he's been making! You didn't even ask if he was having fun!"

Percy had no words of defense for himself, other than the contrite, "I know, I was going to ask if he had a clue where Thorn could have vanished with Annabeth. It was a long shot, since they just vanished into thin air, but," he spread his hands miserably he couldn't be asking Tyson that, and his dad had been his last hope for help with this.

..."Old sea spirits making trouble. Aigaios. Oceanus. Those guys."

The eight of them exchanged uneasy glances.

It should have been comforting, Oceanus himself had admitted to causing these problems and their being here was apparently part of his redemption.

It was just, nobody thought he was doing a very stellar job.

Percy kept telling himself he was being paranoid, the Ocean Titan hadn't abducted him to push him into Kronos's side, or if he was he was blundering it like the people who were apparently supposed to be here in the first place.

Still, the nagging question had yet left since it occurred to him. Where were Annabeth and Grover? Was the war still going on and this was a really weird prisoner-of-war scenario?

His father had given him a reassurance though, only one brief moment of warmth, but he was positive it had been Poseidon assuring him. Nobody in the know had contradicted a single line of this story to manipulate him to any side, they were just his thoughts. If nobody else, he had faith Annabeth would be with him again soon enough to straighten all this out, he just had to get back to her by any means necessary.

... "We are arming the mermaids.

"I'm assuming he doesn't mean Ariel?" Magnus asked, and he considered it progress his voice hadn't cracked at this new revelation existing too.

"I am really salty we haven't seen a mermaid down here," Alex huffed.

... Protect it from Daddy's storms. Otherwise he would smash it."

"I am extremely worried what old spirits could block Neptune?" Jason frowned.

"I think we're living in the answer," Percy reminded.

..."Annabeth! Is she there?"

Percy would swear his heart withered into nothing at such an innocent question that had no good answer. If all had just gone according to plan she would have been right there beside him catching up with Tyson too...in his cabin...

The strange expression of dread on his face fluctuating between a faint blush would have been fascinating to watch on a better day, but Nico found he didn't have the urge to gawk at him. It wasn't even for fear of getting caught, he was just striving in that moment to treat Percy like he was treated. As a casual friend.

...He'd start crying so bad he'd probably put out his fires.

"Underwater," Magnus repeated, but he was so worried about her too he might drown in his own bubble of protection if he didn't get some kind of answer about her soon.

... I fought back a lump in my throat. "I'll do that."

"Along with nonstop hugging, giving her back her hat, and maybe a headlock for going off that cliff," Will chuckled. "She's got a lot of catching up to do."

"When she comes back," Percy nearly growled at the end there would be no other alternatives.

... recruiting halfbloods and training his monstrous army.

"International monsters and kids. Gods, how is that more chaotic and terrifying than five seconds ago?" Rachel muttered. She'd visited meetings with her dad that sounded like less trouble.

... I was alone again in my cabin, feeling even lonelier than before.

Percy sighed and glanced around at his friends in here. He didn't really feel alone, but despite he felt a kinship with every one of them now for sharing this with them, none of them felt like the family he would have wanted in that cabin with him right then.

... Thalia sat alone at the Zeus table, but we couldn't sit together. Camp rules.

Nico let out a cold, blistering sigh. He hated that rule, he hated most of the rules at camp that felt they were designed to leave him alone feeling like a singled-out freak. Every time he looked around now-a-days, Percy had still been smiling and laughing with kids nearby like this was no concern at all.

"We should really change that rule, we've been breaking so many lately," Will said non to quietly with a commiserating look at Percy and Thalia, but his blue eyes glanced at Nico only out of the corner of his eye. They'd been building cabins and adding all sorts of accommodations to fill in for all the extra kids they'd been getting lately, why not allow a few more to go with the past?

"Good luck getting Chiron to agree with that," but Percy sounded just as hopeful he could sit at a table with Annabeth someday.

...I hoped Nico didn't have any money to lose.

"Negative," Nico assured with a mock smile. There had been a trust set up for him and Bianca, but it's not like money had ever been his concern between being passed around from foster family to caretaker on their way from Vegas to Westover Hall, learning to pickpocket and only relying on each other in those weeks.

Will's heart skipped a beat though as he remembered watching that fondly from a table away, and the memory was oddly flipped. He could still see Connor slipping a card up his sleeve and thinking how he wouldn't warn Nico so as not to spoil Connor's fun.

Now he definitely knew he'd step in and warn those two not to pull such a stunt on Nico right now, he'd been through enough.

Connor would probably have laughed, maybe even called him fickle. He'd never been subtle about his crush, but as he glanced at Nico now, he wondered what was a crush but deciding you wanted to get to know someone and liked what you learned?

... The bigger girl was beating her every time, but Bianca didn't seem to mind.

Nico struggled hard to swallow for a moment, but it was no good, he'd choked over that entire paragraph with a bitter resentment once more. He'd never heard her laugh like that, so carefree. She hadn't once looked over to check on him. She'd always wanted to be brave enough to make friends, and she'd finally gotten her wish.

He wanted to be happy for her, he really tried to push and search for that. She'd deserved this freedom from him, he'd spent that lone conversation with Travis and Connor chatting about card tricks, even over completely different games than she'd ever wanted to hear. He hoped laughing along with her new family had been her last thought.

... I was exhausted, which meant I fell asleep easily.

Being emotionally drained could do that to a person, Percy knew, as he was constantly living that experience. He was half tempted to ask to take a nap from this book, and they were only five chapters in.

... even by my standards it was a whopper.

"You dream about hamburgers too?" Alex asked almost innocently enough.

Magnus tried to laugh along for her like usual, but even he couldn't muster it. He didn't know which would be worse, to hear about Annabeth, or something else going wrong.

Annabeth was on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog.

There was Magnus's answer anyways. He winced and leaned forward in his seat for whatever this hurt was, he had to know she was okay. Percy got to see her in dreams, all he had was a few sparse memories of their childhood days always imagining her in these horrible places.

... as though something had blasted a huge building to ruins.

Jason twitched, a faintly familiar frown on his face. Not quite as pronounced as back on Circe's island, but one all the same Thalia noticed. She really didn't like the way he might know about this place too.

... "Annabeth!" he called. "Help me! Please!"

"It's a trap," Alex spat at once.

"Maybe not," Magnus pleaded with the universe she wasn't going to be hurt by him again. "Maybe Luke did something to piss off Kronos, and this is his punishment. Thorn was meant to bring random half-bloods there," he reminded as he gestured at Nico, "maybe this is a warning?"

Alex didn't seem very convinced, and Percy was watching between the two with deep longing. If it was a ruse, Annabeth would see it coming before him, right?

... my voice didn't work in the dream.

All the terror, none of the protection, Magnus shivered. That's often how Hearth had told him he felt when they were confronted by cops on the street. To not have a voice in any situation was its own nightmare.

...I couldn't see what was wrong with him...  the fog was squeezing him to death.

Jason was starting to perspire, little tendrils of adrenaline trying to race along him with nowhere to go but whisper in his mind. He knew this place.

... if you don't help me, I'll die."

Will winced. He still remembered the tears in Annabeth's eyes when she'd sat in the infirmary and tried to explain to him why she'd done it. He'd promised he would have helped him too, and she'd cried herself into a much needed sleep. It hadn't been a lie.

...He didn't deserve anything from Annabeth.

"Except maybe a swift kick off a cliff," Thalia hissed. He'd promised Annabeth they'd protect her, be her new family. This was his promise!

Rachel gave her a concerned look, she'd said that with a little too much confidence. She really hoped Thalia didn't try to resurrect Luke just to act on it.

...She shouldn't have been able to do that.

"You guys continue to do things that shouldn't be possible," Magnus reminded with a proud, if forlorn smile.

Luke rolled free, gasping. "Thanks," he managed.

Then his heart shattered, all eight of them winced.

Alex and Percy had been right, they'd known it was a trick from the start. And she'd fallen for it.

Magnus had never thought to call his cousin faint of heart, but he wished he could shake her right now and ask how many times Luke had to betray her before she'd stop caring about him? He was almost scared breathless if she would forgive her dad if she met him now, and he didn't even know how badly Fredrick had hurt her. He watched Thalia with wide, desperate gray eyes nobody needed to imagine had been in Annabeth's yearning face.

"She's alive, she's alive," Percy was chanting it like a mantra now, palms splayed flat on his knees to stop himself clenching up and destroying anything that would stop them getting to that. She was alive, and being tortured because of Luke!

Thalia kept up a brave face, just like always. It was true, but they had a long path to get there, and Percy wouldn't want to hear from her for quite some time as things progressed.

...In the meantime, try not to die."

Nico studied those last, awful, spiteful words he'd said to her before casually strolling away with a kind of loathing he rarely indulged. What if that had been Bianca as intended? How had Luke just walked away knowing she well could die and leave her like that? Annabeth had never been his favorite person, but he couldn't imagine a more soulless person than this guy right now. And he'd always thought he was the freak of nature.

... Annabeth was in terrible danger. And Luke was responsible.

The earth was rumbling and shaking beneath them, cracks and splinters threatening to topple the titan of the ocean's kingdom down around them all as they traveled up the walls to the domed ceiling while Percy yelled in frustration and slashed his sword at nothing. He was going to kill him!