Happy Mother's Day! This chapter is up for all of you, may you be loved as much as Percy loves Sally!

I knew a problem I might have starting this series when RR was still actively writing was retroactive canon I could contradict, in this particular case Will actually having a semi good relationship with his mother in what little we got of her in TSatS.

Going forward I'll try to compromise this by not making Will's mom out to be as much of an uncaring celebrity chaser as I intended, but also seeing as it was just a hand full of memories and mentions and that one tattoo bit I'm still attesting that Percy's the only one in here with an actual good mother.

PJOPJOPJOPJO
"Define dangerous?" Alex tapped critically upon her chin, not noticing Nico's uneasy wince as she studied Magnus reading the new chapter title. "A swear upon the river stakes? A dare? You don't have to bathe a cat do you?"

"Her mind went from life or death, truth or dare, to cats." Percy gestured like they'd missed this. "Why are my thoughts being analyzed here?"

"If we could switch points of view we would," Thalia sighed.

"I've always been more partial to charades as far as games," Rachel grinned back.

"Oh, I own that game!" Alex beamed and was clearly only a breath away from challenging her now.

As much fun as that would be for all of them to see, Magnus reluctantly turned to the book when Jason pressed his palms together and begged him to keep reading.

Will didn't disagree, but he was getting worried about Nico again as he had his eyes trained on the ever-growing cracks on the ground. They could easily fit a shoe in one now, any larger and they were all in danger of falling into the unknown surface below anytime they got up to get a snack or use the bathroom.

If Percy lost it one more time, Nico might risk shadow traveling down one of those. This was probably the longest he'd been anywhere, since those first days at camp.

This would be the day he'd said goodbye to his sister, if he had at all.

And there was nothing in the world Will could do about it to make that better. Especially if Nico didn't want anybody to be there for him.

...Being on a flying horse, skimming the waves ...beats waterskiing any day.

"You get to do the coolest things!" Jason was wiggling in his seat like a kid about to ride his first roller coaster. Thalia looked a little green, he looked so like that toddler... but they imagined it was because she didn't go near the ocean much, considering her dad.

"I'll be happy to race you when we get back," Percy proudly agreed, "but be warned, Blackjack's pretty unbeatable."

Jason's face lit with challenge, there was the smallest moment where the ocean breeze ruffled up his straight blonde hair that made Percy look at his own hands in confusion if he'd done that before Magnus cut in, "I call winner!" Then grandly kept reading so they didn't have to wait a whole year to get to that.

... I could move however I wanted to underwater,

Percy glowered at the water surrounding him now in betrayal. Whatever Oceanus had done to take that way, he clearly took it personally.

The others sort of did too, because it would have been nice if he'd taken all, or nothing.

...As I got closer to the bottom, I saw three hippocampi—

"Is Rainbow and the gang back?" Magnus asked brightly, looking all around the room as if still hoping one would pop up now.

"Did they bring Tyson?" Alex asked just as eagerly, though she well knew he probably wouldn't sneak out of the forges. Man she needed to meet that guy and instill a little fun in him as they swapped design techniques.

"I don't think it's the exact same ones as before, and no," Percy seemed just as disappointed as them. As miserable as he was around camp, it would have been nice to see a familiar face like his brother around if he just dipped into Long Island sound.

... they were galloping through the water the way nervous horses do in a thunderstorm.

Magnus's voice was pure longing as he read that. It was something that no matter how many times it was described, he knew he'd still have his breath taken away when he saw them in person.

... lazy fishermen would just cut nets loose and let the trapped animals die.

"Where's Artemis when you need her," Percy scowled, "I bet these fishermen wouldn't pull any more stunts like these if they were jackalopes."

"Poseidon doesn't take kindly to them either, they never give proper sacrifices before being so awful to his creatures," Thalia agreed.

...  threatening to collapse on top of the tangled animal.

"I've never heard a better reason to get up at 5 am, not even donuts," Percy said without regret now.

"Baby animals, water skiing at sunrise, you sound like you're living a millionaires life," Will grinned.

...One was trying to chew the net, but hippocampi teeth aren't meant for cutting rope.

"Is there a specific set of animal teeth for that?" Jason grinned.

"My money wouldn't be on a herbivore," Alex shrugged.

Hippocampi are really strong, but they're not (shhh) all that smart.

"We'll take your secret to the grave Percy," Rachel chuckled.

..."Mooooooo!"

"Like a cow?" Alex did a double take, once again leaning closer than ever over Magnus's shoulder, obscuring the book with her green hair to get a look.

"Well I didn't say mew, did I?" Magnus agreed as he spat a bit out and nudged her playfully back away. She just leaned right back in and he kept going with a smile for this strange habit of hers.

I got next to the thing and saw that it was a cow.

"Ten points, to Alex learning her animal noises," Jason agreed with the same strange look on his face.

Even those in the know Percy had just stumbled across the ophiotaurus like this were slightly taken aback at the randomness of it all and looked appropriately confused.

... its back half was like an enormous eel.

"Naww," Will couldn't help but coo. So long as the snake half didn't wiggle about to much, he liked to think he'd give Bessie a little scratch on the ears.

"Was Poseidon having fun with his doodles and one came to life?" Rachel grinned at the little baby she'd never seen. It was a great description to start her own outline.

"The first cow Percy's met who hasn't tried to kill him," Alex helpfully reminded as she mentally sculpted the cutie.

...I couldn't understand its thoughts. I only speak horse.

"I'm sure there's an app for that," Thalia chuckled, "maybe your dad can download the rest of the sea life if you ask nicely."

"I'll hold off on that until I get a sample of what dolphins are actually saying about me," Percy grinned. "My mom would kill me if I came home learning new cuss words from them, she'd take back her custody agreement."

...We don't know what it is, many strange things are stirring.

"And this one's taking it literally," Jason agreed, imagining the muck it was swilling around in, plus stirring two different animals into one.

... The hippocampi whinnied in a panic and thrashed in the water, which didn't help.

"I think I'll take the free trial of that app though," Percy said uneasily as he tried to figure out how to be everywhere at once. Soothing the hippocampi, freeing the calf quickly, and stopping the boat from coming down on them. Some great hero he was, couldn't even save a baby animal from a net without making it all worse.

... No sword. Calm thoughts. Sea grass. Mama cows. Vegetarianism."

"Where is Grover when you need him," Percy chuckled along with them, it was just too precious an image not to.

... how could I free the cow serpent when she (I decided it was probably a "she")

Percy gave Alex a winning smile, and she graciously nodded a potentially wrong guess was far better than calling the little one an it the entire time he was rescuing her.

... It was like she'd seen swords and knew how dangerous they were.

"I'm guessing people in ancient times didn't greet her with sea grass and vegetarianism," Magnus said in sympathy.

"Why is everything either a bad omen or food back then?" Thalia pouted.

... Don't ask me why I started calling her Bessie. It just seemed like a good cow name.

"Duddett, that is the most cliché cow name in existence!" Alex laughed. "Are you going to name Cerberus Max too!"

"So says Alex," Percy shot right back. "The first common, gender-neutral name that comes to mind."

"I make unoriginal look new," she swept a hand through her green hair with a very proud smirk.

"Hey, curious," Magnus said quickly before anyone could ask him to keep reading, "if your name wasn't gender neutral, would you change it every time you switched? Or, like, would you just want to be a guy called Sally?"

"It depends per person," she forcefully reminded again, before smiling at him and answering, "I would be okay with being called Sal, but I've met some who would still go by whatever name they pick no matter what gender. I've met those who identify as male go by Alice and females named Tobias, they all have stories. It, it's hard to explain in a short amount of time..." Her mind hovered over Adrian and she quickly waved for Magnus to go on now.

...The cow serpent gave me the big brown eyes.

"Round three of pretending to be vegetarian for a week?" Thalia asked mildly.

"I'll get back to you on that," Percy didn't bother to hide the sarcasm in his smile.

..."Yeah. We rescued a baby, something or other.

"Who wants to bet Percy is not going to actually go home and look it up," Jason almost made a longing moan at the deprivation.

"Not on your coin," Magnus agreed with the same disappointed frown.

...Here I was rescuing baby monsters, but I couldn't save my friend.

"No good deed goes unpunished," Nico repeated grimly. Annabeth had saved Percy and Thalia's life with that stunt and suffered greatly for it. His sister had died on this quest. The domino effect of that one action had rippled all over everybody's life.

...a boy hunkered down behind a Greek column, like he was hiding from someone.

Nico felt a rattling breath pass his lips before he could smash them back shut and lock his jaw tight. Here it comes, he knew. This conversation he'd memorized by heart without the aid of the book. 'I'm not holding a grudge Bianca, I'm trying, I promise...'

It was Nico... What was he doing up there?

"Studying the architecture?" Alex asked innocently.

Nico didn't react, even to the joking comment about Annabeth that made Percy wince with longing.

...The last thing I wanted was Nico to tell me about his game.

Even now, in the midst of his stupid, childish pedestal he'd held Percy on for so long having its greatest weakness revealed in the aftermath of knowledge in this quest, some part of Nico still felt the rejection of that. He'd never been more than a nuisance to his hero.

..."set me down over there, will you?"

Percy did care though, Nico knew. It wasn't the love, admiration, and attention he wanted from Percy, but many other campers wouldn't have stopped to ask the dumb kid what he was doing. The Stoll's had only rolled over in their sleep when he left the cabin and grumbled at him not to get lost in the forest.

... he was spying on the Hunters.

"I hope Grover's not somewhere around there gawking too, or Artemis might have to start filing restraining orders," but Rachel's light quip fell on deaf ears. Nico's eyes were vacant to all around him.

...unless you're the goddess of dawn, I guess.

"Another reason I couldn't make it there," Alex made a face, "I will not be contracted into a morning person."

"A minor fault of the gig," Thalia grinned with an exaggerated yawn, but no levity was stopping the darkness from seeming to grow around them, like the cracks Percy had made in the ground had awakened something. They'd swear the dim light that came from nowhere was fading.

... the inside of that Artemis Hunting Tour T-shirt with it."

Magnus spluttered in concern and double-checked the print that looked like someone was flicking black paint on the letters, making them bolder by the word and impossible to miss. "That's terrible! They tried to kill her over a game."

"It would only maim or seriously injure," Alex batted her eyes as she said innocently.

Magnus snorted in surprise while Thalia winced and did actually answer, "err, yeah, mostly that. She wouldn't have died so long as she got treatment." Phoebe had sworn revenge on the Hermes cabin though and was no longer allowed back at camp after the last time she'd stolen all of their clothes and spread them in the forest.

... we only have four. We'll have to pick another."

Percy glowered at this disastrous group already having its first hiccup and they hadn't even left camp, but he refused to turn his scowl on Thalia again. She hadn't been part of this conversation, of course Zoe wouldn't offer a hand to him next, and he had to stop blaming Thalia. It was unfair of him to even hope now Thalia would refuse to go without him along too just to fill in numbers.

..."In the land without rain," Bianca said, "but that can't be here."

Magnus was practically having to read with the book pressed against his nose now, the light in here wavering like someone was flicking with the switch. Will made a gentle, humming noise in the back of his throat as everyone glanced at Percy for being the cause, and Nico forced himself to keep breathing. It hurt, and was growing sharper like the oxygen was fighting him.

... I don't want to risk another Hunter." Bianca was silent.

Nobody would have let him go, Nico kept reminding himself over and over. Not any of them, he was too young, a useless child back then, she didn't want him to go. He could have done nothing to change this, and it wasn't Zoe's fault, it was Bianca's choice.

No matter what he kept telling himself, the hurt she hadn't even mentioned him didn't seem to be fading very well. 'Hard to not hold a grudge when you make it so easy sis,' he pressed his lips together painfully tight to stop himself snapping.

... if you're correct about the General—"  "-not to talk about that," Zoe sounded anguished.

Zoe was right, Thalia kept her own bitter thought to herself. It wouldn't have helped to tell. Thalia couldn't honestly tell herself what she would have done with the knowledge. Had a moment of empathy with Zoe as her dad wasn't the best either? Kept her mouth shut and kept it all to herself as she went out to save Annabeth and leaving Zoe's fate to herself? Been even more horrible to the frost princess of a girl for possibly leading them into a trap? It was an unknowable path, and one she didn't wish to dwell on.

...about to run after his sister when I took off the cap and said, "Wait."

Like an angel and a devil over his shoulder at once, Nico morbidly thought to himself. His knight in shining armor appearing out of the gloom, making his heart leap at the sight of him before Nico had enveloped himself in shadows to escape the sight of him.

...He mouthed the word invisible. "Wow. Cool."

Will tried to give him an encouraging smile and wanted to ask him anything to keep his attention right now, but Nico's dark eyes were glowing an almost concerning purple, backlit in the iris's as the shadows on the wall twisted and shaped into pavilions and tables.

All Nico could see was that cold winter morning, smell the salt and feel the warmth coming off of Percy. How was it possible he could do any wrong when he could be everywhere at once in this world?

... I don't sleep too well at camp.

Will gave up trying to distract him, he had a really bad feeling where this conversation was going coupled with the chapter title, but he did file that question away for later. Was it still true? The dark bags under Nico's eyes proved it was, and yet he hadn't slept at camp in months.

The others were watching Nico with their own concern, especially Percy as he kept nervously looking from him and away like a bad tick. Nobody else ever seemed to want to, or were able to gaze at him long enough to see such things for themselves.

...about following them on the quest," I guessed. "How did you know that?"

The first of many times Nico had thought Percy knew the answer to everything. He knew better now, that Percy was fumbling along on these adventures as much as anybody in the god's world. Still brave, still a hero, still a good person who would likely stop and ask some dumb kid what was going on, but Percy couldn't do everything.

...but you can go for me." "Say what?"

"As if you needed him to tell you that," Thalia muttered, half surprised Percy hadn't already packed his bag to do it himself and sneak onto the bus.

"I really was going to go see my mom first," Percy tried to say that like he meant it, but even to his own ears it felt like a lie. Once he'd heard Phoebe was out, he would have kept the impulse to follow them until they all met in that dark cavern with Annabeth and Artemis.

...I wanted to say no. But he looked me in the eyes, and I somehow couldn't lie to him.

...those sea-green eyes that had lied to him.

"That famous actor parent must be awesome," Alex muttered as she tried to grin at Nico, but it was like looking at a shape in a dark room, the kind of thing that made your heart skip a beat even as you scolded your brain it was just some clothes on a chair. He looked like he was being shrouded in darkness.

..."I'll do my best. I promise that."

A black energy crackled in the room that sent everyone's hair standing on end, a sizzling, dangerous power that blasted an icy chill down each of their spines, except Nico.

He didn't seem to realize anything had happened, still sitting stoically, eyes vacant and pushing so hard at nonchalance as the others shivered while blaming it on Percy's continued sense of foreboding on this quest, even himself.

The lights had gone back to their normal vision like nothing had happened. Jason swallowed uneasily as he glanced at Percy and back to the book that didn't have any new dents on it. Percy was rubbing at his temple, his eyes closed.

Will was watching Nico with sad blue eyes, as the Son of Hades stirred and looked around as if just remembering where he was.

...How was I supposed to keep up with them. Run?

"Hijack another bus?" Jason managed an uneasy laugh, almost wishing for the nearly inky black space around them now. There was a comfort in the dark, not having to see the pain this was causing everyone. Nobody laughed to light the room a little more.

...A lump of gratitude stuck in my throat as I managed to say, "Yeah. Let's fly."

Magnus uneasily lowered the book and passed it to Alex as he looked at Percy. If messing with the lights down here was his new resolution to all of this, he couldn't complain, but the way he was studying Nico left a sense of forbidding in them all it might not be Annabeth he'd been so worried about this time. Hopefully the kid hadn't snuck out with Percy anyways and gotten hurt.