Magnus knew what a rare treat it was to be meeting this fourth god already. That kids at Camp were going to ask him how awesome it was to be in their presence and what awesome things they did and what awesome thing they smelled like.

He was personally hopeful this would be the final time as Apollo stood trembling in front of them. Something was deeply wrong.

His face looked melted together as if two toddlers arguing over what pieces went where. One part easily recognizable in Will's features as Percy had once described, the blonde hair, bright eyes, and sunny smile. The other had harsh cheekbones and a grim set, the skin darkened by the sun and time, his hair ashen. The only time the crinkles in those eyes moved was to shout orders. His eyes were lopsided, one a whole inch above the other, his nose was half missing on the Greek side, one ear was sliding down like melting butter even as they watched.

Apollo, both in Greek and Roman, one of the few entities who retained such an honor, snapped his fingers with his eyes on the door. They all fought off a wince of terror who was coming next.

It swung open, and beyond was nothing but painfully harsh light, a world of the brightest snow or a waiting sterile room or any combination of nothing in a void.

"Dad?" Will asked again, his voice more afraid than they'd ever heard it.

"The Solstice ends in one hour," his voice sounded as if it were coming from a long ways off, echoing back a stranger. His mismatched eyes settled on Will though, and for just a moment, his form flickered. He was whole, and smiling with pride at him. Apollo licked his lips and spoke, his voice laced with more tension than Thalia ever would have believed possible, clearly concentrating on every word. "The dove and the forge- my Oracle- to much has been tampered with-"

His voice spluttered off in a rasp of pain. Then they blinked, and the god changed again. He put on weight, his hair darkened to honey blond and thickened down to his waist, he was buff with round cheeks and a cheery smile, but his skin was slogging off and dripping to the floor more rapidly as his voice croaked more urgently. His gray eyes landed on Magnus. He raised a finger to point right at him, but it fell off to reveal the bone in the same movement. "Ragnarok cannot begin without my-"

And then he was gone.

Magnus pinched his cheek hard to make sure that wasn't happening to him next, as the puddle on the floor vanished with him, one last gray eyeball winking out of sight.

"Nope," Magnus said at once, going over to Will and taking the book away, headless of whether it was his turn or not.

"We can't just ignore that. Can we?" Percy frowned, half-hearted hope in his voice, but getting cautiously up and waving his fingers in front of the glow.

"Sure we can," Magnus said, staring blankly down at the book without taking in a word as he sat back down on the couch. It seemed happy he was back, it was still warm and shaped to his butt. "We've been doing a great job ignoring everything but this!"

"I believe that's the problem," Annabeth stood and went beside Percy, staring intently at the portal before turning back as well. "Hera just told Piper she had to rescue her by today, the Winter Solstice. If the Earth really will consume her within the hour..." The temptation was almost there in her tone, to let exactly that happen and finish reading these in here with everyone she cared about safe.

...she was the one who took Percy.

She had no proof of this, even Hera couldn't have done something so crazy from inside a cage, but it was possible she'd been taken after the deed was done. When another god had swooped in to get Percy and Jason in here, so too had the giant's born down on her.

She took him!

"We can't let an Olympian be consumed like that, even Hera," Thalia sighed, no traces of joking in her tone. She couldn't get revenge if she was dead. The power imbalance it would create...

"But we don't have a prophecy!" Annabeth gestured a little to close to the light, her finger almost slid past into the barrier. It felt like nothing. Neither hot nor cold. Just, empty space. "We don't have any way of knowing what we're jumping into, this could be a trap!" Anger was blackened into her tone. No part of her wanted to come up with a solution to this problem, it made concentrating on anything but Percy feel impossible. Her very own nature rebelling against her, and as usual these days, it was Hera's fault.

"No, it isn't," Nico and Will said at the same time, the same confidence.

"That was my dad!" Will jumped up and began piling the books back into the bag without hesitation. "He's, hurt, or, dying!"

"All of Olympus is, perishing, because of this. Maybe all of the gods." Nico agreed with a foul taste in his mouth as he wondered how much his dad would be going through the same. It probably wouldn't improve his mood at any rate.

Alex, Jason, and Thalia all stood up without another word. A fight was coming, one way or the other, and even more, the freedom to get out of this room was too tempting to pass up.

Will was shaking his saddle bag full of books and throwing it over his shoulder as he went over to Magnus and held his hand out for the last one.

Magnus swallowed, and put it in his hand, but couldn't make his shaking knees work.

"You don't have to come." Annabeth promised, no shame in her voice. "I'm pretty sure Oceanus won't even know we're gone. We should be there and back before you know it."

He didn't believe that though. He had a feeling when that door closed, it wasn't opening again until another god made an appearance.

And he wasn't leaving his cousin to do this alone. Not when he had a choice in it this time.

He had to use the spongy green couch that probably had a butt impression from him that would never come out for support to get to his feet, but he managed it and then tucked his hands into his pockets but looked her in the eyes. "I can think of nowhere better to be than wherever you are cuz," he promised.

Alex grinning and pulling his garrot taught in anticipation was really just a bonus and had nothing to do with his knees continuing to shake.

"All right," Annabeth took a breath, then Percy's hand. Her empty hand clenched over her empty scabred where her knife should have been, she didn't even have her hat to wring through her hands. She just exhaled and looked around at them. "There's no plan, no strategy. We have no idea what we're walking into. Just try to stay together as much as possible, watch each other's backs. If we can, we'll sneak up for the highest vantage point to take in the situation, but if not, break straight for Hera and cause as much mayhem as you can. Surprise is the only element we have on our side going in."

"Sounds like as good a plan as any. Maybe even one that can't go wrong for once," Percy grinned. He pulled her chin to him and kissed her, gently at first, but then she threw her arms around him and the two clearly forced themselves to part as soon as they could, which still wasn't enough not to leave the others pretty embarrassed. Percy shrugged without remorse and Annabeth pulled her hair into a ponytail before taking his hand.

Then, they finally walked out together.

Magnus made to follow at once, but it wasn't a big door, and only two could go out at the same time. Alex caught his arm before he could go behind Nico and Will, and he blushed to realize they were the last two in here.

"For all my shit, I haven't fought as many monsters as I'd like to say. I've had to run more than I'd ever care to admit." Alex said bluntly, he let go of his arm and tried to sign the rest, he was getting really good. "Will's not a fighter, and I'm staying close to Nico trying not to be a hindrance, but you stay close to your cousin. Percy can't be everywhere at once. Don't die on me Bean Town."

"Don't call me-" Alex kissed him, a light plant on his lips that left the seeds of longing when he leaned back just as fast to walk out.

Bean Town was better than Maggie at least, he sighed as he followed.

PJOHOOPJOHOOPJOHOO

Next chapter will be posted on Christmas, then Monday's as usual! Thank you all so much for joining me on this crazy adventure!