I 07. I

𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔

❝ chrysler building ❞

     ARIADNE SPRUNG AWAKE. She was coated in sweat and her hand were gripping the lilac sheets tightly. The girl gasped for breath as she stared straight ahead, trying to shake off what she just saw.

Nothing pertaining to Annabeth, but it was as if she was a bird and watched the quest where her friends and her went search for Zeus's lightning bolt. But instead of her making her way into D.O.A Recording Studios, she grew fearful and bolted, leaving her three friends to complete the quest alone.

At some point, her older self was apart of Kronos's side. How they got her to join, she didn't want to know. But the worst part was that she was killing her fellow campers, even killing Chiron in battle before facing off against her own father.

And she killed him in five seconds. Kronos won the war and he killed every child of the Big Three who was against him. Luke reigned victorious and the two of them ruled over the demigod's who bowed down.

The world became dark and destructive, monsters reeking havoc on the world and the Mist gave up, causing mortals to be taken captive. They were abused and used for sport, forced to bear more monster children who killed them.

It was terrifying dream which forced her to not sleep, and her heart was racing in her chest. She threw off her purple covers and stood up quickly, her shorts and t-shirt soaked with sweat and tears.

She quickly threw on a pair of black leggings and a purple shirt and grey sweatshirt, which had three small butterflies in the corner. Her converses were tied onto her feet and she made a grab for her purple mug, grasping the dish before filling it with hot chocolate.

As she took a sip, the girl noticed it tasted odd. She eyed the drink before gasping, inside the chocolate mess were two gold eyes staring back at her.

Her hands let the mug fall and crabs against the ground, splitting it into fragments as hot chocolate coated the ground. The girl realized it was all her imagination, no one was staring  at her.

Ariadne watched as the hot chocolate dried and left behind a broken purple mug, which was her favorite and the only one she ever used. The girl blinked away the tears and knew it was pathetic that she was about to cry over a broken mug.

She ignored it and pulled the hair tie from her hair before leaving. The girl didn't care that she left behind a mess of glass.

Her feet rushed towards the dining pavilion and noticed it wasn't even daybreak yet. A sigh escaped her lips before she noticed a head of black tufts sticking out from behind a white column.

Nico di Angelo was crouched behind a pillar watched someone, and before she could open her mouth to say something, the girl was pulled back.

A hand grabbed hers which caused her instincts to kick in. The girl took whatever has grappled her hand and twisted its arms son forced it to the ground.

A soft groan sounded, "Aidan, it's me."

She let go and Percy appeared before her, Annabeth's Yankees cap in hand. The girl boosted him up, and as she was about to speak, he slapped a hand over her mouth.

The boy took her hand once more and dragged her behind a column next to Nico's, both of them eavesdropping.

Two girls—Bianca and Zoe, were arguing.

"It cannot be cured," Zoe said. "Not quickly, at any rate."

"But how did it happen?" Bianca asked.

"A foolish prank," Zoe growled. "Those Stoll boys from the Hermes cabin. Centaur blood is like acid. Everyone knows that. They sprayed the is dead of those Artemis Hunting Tour t-shirts with it."

"That's terrible!"

"They will live," Zoe said. "That daughter of Aphrodite 'accidentally' got Hailey stung by a bee and she's allergic. They'll be bedridden for weeks with horrible hives. There is no way they can go. It's up to me... and thee."

"But the prophecy," Bianca said. "If Phoebe and Hailey can't go? We only have four. We'll have to pick two more."

"There is no time," Zoe told her. "We must leave at first light. That's immediately. Besides, the prophecy said we would lose one."

"In the land without rain," Bianca said, "but that's cant be here."

"It might be," Zoe said. Although, she didn't sound convinced. "The camp has magic borders. Nothing, not even weather, is allowed in without permission. It could be a land without rain."

"But—"

"Bianca, hear me. I...I can't explain, but I have the sense that we shouldn't pick anyone else. It would be too dangerous. They would meet an end worse than Phoebe and Hailey's. I don't want Chiron choosing campers as our sixth companions. And... I don't want to risk another Hunter."

Bianca was silent. "You should tell Thalia the rest of your dream."

"No. It would not help."

"But if your suspicions are correct, about the General—"

"I have thy word not to talk about it," Zoe said, as if in anguish. "We will find out soon enough.  Now come. Dawn is breaking."

Nico was faster than Percy and moved out of the way, Zoe almost running into the boy. She reached for her now but stopped as Bianca said, "The lights of the Big House are on. Hurry!"

Zoe follower he rout of the pavilion.

Percy took a deep breath and removed the cap, picking up on what Nico was thinking. He held tighter onto Ariadne's hand. "Wait."

Nico almost slipped on the icy steps. "Where did you come from?"

"I've been here the whole time. Invisible."

Ariadne ducked her head out from the column, sending the boy a smile. "And I've also been here the whole time. Expert stealth style."

"How did you know Zoe and your sister were here?" Percy asked.

Nico blushed. "I heard them walk by the Hermes cabin. I don't... I don't sleep too well at camp. So I heard footsteps, and them whispering. And so I kind of followed."

"And now you're thinking about following them on the quest," Percy guessed.

"How did you know that?"

"Because if it was my sister, I'd probably be thinking the same thing. But you can't," Ariadne said.

He looked defiant. "Because I'm too young."

"Because they won't let you," Percy said. "They'll catch you and send you back here. And... yeah, because you're too young. You remember the manticore? There will be lots more like that. More dangerous. Some of the heroes will die."

His shoulder sagged. He shifted from foot to foot. "Maybe you're right. But, but you can go for me."

"Say what?"

"You can turn invisible. You can go!" he said to Percy.

"The Hunters don't like boys," Ariadne reminded him. She squeezed Percy's hand. "If they find out—"

"Don't let them find out. Follow them invisibly. Take Ariadne with you. Keep an eye on mud sister! You have to. Please?"

"Nico—"

"You're planning to go anyway, aren't you?" the kid interrupted.

Percy nodded. "Yeah. We have to find Annabeth, even if they don't want us to."

"I won't tell on you," Nico said. "But you have to promise to keep my sister safe."

Ariadne felt her heart sink and knew she couldn't make a Styx promise this time. When it comes to a quest, that's a big thing to ask of someone.

"I... that's a big thing to promise, Nico, on a trip like this. Besides, she's hot Zoe, Grover, and Thalia—"

"Promise," Nico insisted,

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

Nico looked at Ariadne, she gulped. "I'll do my best. Scouts honor."

"Get going then!" he said. "Good luck!"

"Tell Chiron—"

"I'll make something up." Nico have them a crooked smile. "I'm good at that. Go on!"

Percy put Annabeth's cap on and took off with Ariadne in tow. As they hit sunlight, he went invisible. Once they stopped at the top of Half-Blood Hill, the camp's van disappeared over the farm road. Argus was most likely taking the quest group to the city where they would be alone.

They felt guilty and stupid, they couldn't keep up by running with them.

Beating wings were heard. Blackjack landed next to them. He casually began nuzzling a few gifts of grass gay stuck out of the ice.

Percy was focused on the horse before saying, "Yeah. Let's fly."

Ariadne was surprised for a few seconds before he jumped into the pegasus's back and held it his hand for her to take. She sighed, "Dight. You can talk with the horse. Weirdo." She mumbled that last part.

Her eyes noticed the hand and narrowed before smirking slightly, deciding that she liked when he grew flustered an annoyed at times—he was cuter when he was.

She has a few vines help her up and ignored his hand, landing behind Percy as he sent her narrowed eyes. "Really?"

The girl shrugged. "Let's go, Kelp Head. We're losing them."

Percy's sea-green eyes flashed with annoyance and his jaw twitched, sending her stomach in flurries as butterflies soared around. She knew Aphrodite was having a field day with them.

Her arms wrapped securely around his waist, she expected him to stiffen, but to her surprise, he seemed more relaxed when she did.

Percy kept them balanced as Blackjack took off into the sky and followed the van. Ariadne wasn't a big fan of flying on a horse thousands of feet in the sky, and she was sure if she even bothered looking down she would throw up.

Ariadne kept her face nuzzled in the crook of Percy's neck and kept taking deep breaths of the salty smell which seemed to always linger around him. She gripped tighter around her waist, and at one point, he had to calm her down as she started hyperventilating ( "It's okay, Aidan, I won't let you fall." ).

He ended up placing a hand on hers for a few minutes which helped her calm down. She stuck with closing her eyes and pretending they were just on a tall hill and the wind was wild. But at times, Blackjack would purposefully take deep dives and turns to scare her. She would scream when he did.

Blackjack would make what she thought was a laugh whenever she panicked, and she made a note to self for her to yell at him later. Percy would scold him and threaten him until he stopped, but he always had to do it again.

Percy would glance back at Ariadne and smile at her every now and then, admiring how beautiful she looked in the wind despite her face full of panic and burrowed in his neck to shield herself from the view below.

Flying a pegasus during the day time was tricky. If you weren't careful, you could cause a serious traffic accident on the Long Island Expressway. Percy had to keep Blackjack in the clouds, which were, fortunately, pretty low during winter time. As they darted around, trying to keep up with the white van, they shivered heavily. If it was cold on the ground, it was freezing in the air.

They lost the van twice, but Percy has a good sense that they would head towards Manhattan first, so they could pick up the trail easily.

And as they shivered, they seemed to heat one another up a bit more thanks to Ariadne practically attaching herself to him.

Traffic was bad during the holidays and extremely bad during holidays in New York City. It was mid morning before they got into the city. Percy has landed Blackjack near the top of the Chrysler Building and watched as the white camp van drove past the bus station.

Ariadne was finally able to look away from Percy's shoulder and open her eyes, and thankfully, they weren't flying. She watched as the van kept going past the Greyhound buses.

"Where's Argus taking the?" Percy muttered.

"Which girl?" he asked.

Ariadne realized he was talking to Blackjack, deciding she wouldn't ask.

"Zoe?"

The brunette waited until Percy sighed, "Blackjack, taking a flying horse to a donut shop is not such a good idea."

There were a few huffs and whinnies from the Pegasus before Percy groaned, "That's not a good idea."

She tapped his shoulder, "Perc, we need to go, we're losing them." He nodded before she leaned her head on his shoulder. "If you talk to horses, does that make you a horse girl."

Percy gave her an appalled look. He was trying to hide his intense blush because he could feel her breath fan his ear and cheek. "What?! No!"

"Right," she nodded. "Horse boy. Got it."

He shook his head and just as they were about to leap off the Chrysler Building, Blackjack whinnied in alarm and almost threw both of the demigods off. Something was curling around Blackjack and Percy's legs.

Percy reaches for his sword only to realize they weren't snakes, but vines—grape vines. They had grown from between the cracks of the stone of the building, tying Percy and Blackjack down so they couldn't move their ankles.

Ariadne groaned, "Dad."

"Going somewhere?" her father asked.

He was leaning against building with his feet levitating in the air, leopard-skin warm-up suit and black hair whipping around in the wind.

He sighed in exasperation. "The next person, or horse, who calls me the 'wine dude' will end up in a bottle of Merlot!"

She rolled his eyes at the threat, wanting nothing more for him to go back to camp and let them leave. But her father was a difficult man, and he was dramatic as well.

"Mr. D." Percy addressed as calmly as he could while the vines crawled up his leg. "What do you want?"

"Oh, what do I want?" Once again: dramatic. "You thought, perhaps, that the immortal, all-powerful director of camp would not notice you leaving without permission with my daughter?"

"Well... maybe?"

Vines were attempting to sprout towards her, wanting her affection. The girl glare eat them before focusing in on the vines around Blackjack and Percy, attempting to free them. But she was no god, and her father had a firm grip on the two.

"I should throw you off this building, minus the flying horse, and see how heroic you sound on the down in front of my daughter."

Ariadne gave her father a bored look. As much as he wished he could, he couldn't hurt Percy or else he would have Zeus on his ass and an angry Aphrodite. Zeus would only be angry with him because he would have been messing with a Great Prophecy that was over a hundred years old.

Percy balled his fists. "Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?"

Wrong question.

Purple flames flickered in her father's eyes. "You're a hero, boy. I need no other reason."

"So is Ariadne, and you don't seem to hate her like you hate me!"

The brunette took a deep breath and moved her arms from his waist, placing her hands on the vines to keep them at bay for the moment. But her father willed them to coil tighter, and she groaned in frustration.

The camp van was growing smaller and smaller as it kept driving. And soon, it would be out of sight.

"Did I ever tell you about Ariadne?" Me. D asked. Percy sent a glance towards the girl who seemed to have stopped breathing. "Beautiful young princess of Crete. She liked helping her friends, too. In fact, she helped a young hero named Theseus, also a son of Poseidon. She gave him a ball of magical yarn that let him find his way out of the Labyrinth. And do you know how Theseus rewarded her?"

"They got married, happily ever after. The end," Percy said impatiently.

Ariadne's mouth went dry and she moved her hands from the vines, crossing them while she looked anywhere but her father and Percy.

Her father sneered. "Not quite. Theseus said he would marry her. He took her aboard his ship and sailed for Athens. Halfway back, on a little island called Naxos, he... what's the word you mortals use today? ... he dumped her. I found her there, you know. Alone. Heartbroken, crying her eyes out. She had given up everything, left everything she knew behind, to help a dashing young hero who tossed her away like a broken sandal."

Suddenly, Percy remembered what Ariadne had told him their first quest after the Greyhound incident. Compared him to Theseus and how he was exactly like the old hero. At the time, it didn't hurt as much as it did in that moment. Not only was Ariadne hateful towards the old son of Poseidon, but the fact that Dionysus thought he posed a threat for his daughter was enough for him to have the urge to actually jump from the building.

The brunette took a shaky breath at the mention of her stepmom's story. She had always felt terrible for what the women had gone through. And in that moment, she missed the women who wore black leather jackets and floral dress with combat boots.

"That's wrong," Percy said. "But that was thousands of years ago. What's that got to do with me?"

Everything, he thought once glancing towards his best friend.

Her father regarded him coldly. "I fell in love with Ariadne, boy. I healed her broken heart. And when she died, I made her my immortal wife on Olympus. She waits for me even now. I shall go back to her when I am done with this infernal century of punishment at your ridiculous camp."

Percy stares at him. "If you're married, why did you get in trouble for chasing a wood nymph—"

"My point is you heroes never change. You accuse us gods of being vain. You should look at yourselves. You take what you want, use whoever you have to, and then you betray everyone around you. So you'll excuse me if I have no heroes. They are a selfish, ungrateful lot. Ask Ariadne. Or Medea. For that matter, as Zoe Nightshade."

"What do you mean, ask Zoe?"

Her father didn't answer his question, standing properly as he striding forward and closer to them. "Here this, Perseus Jackson. If I hear you have done my daughter the way Theseus or other heroes have done: you will be thrown into Tartarus bu my hands. I don't care if Aphrodite and Poseidon hate me for the millennia to come, I will gladly do it."

Percy's eyebrows furrowed. "What—"

"Go. Follow your silly friends."

The vines uncurled from their legs.

"You're... you're letting us go? Just like that?" Percy asked.

"The prophecy says at least two of you will die. Perhaps I'll get lucky and you'll be one of them. But mark my words, Son if Poseidon, live or die, you will prove no better than the other heroes."

With a snap of his fingers, his image folded in on itself before a pop sounded and he was gone, leaving behind the scent of grapes.

Ariadne wrapped her arms loosely around Percy this time. It felt odd for him, and he would rather have her arms wrapped tightly than loosely. It made him believe that she didn't want to be near him after hearing about Theseus.

"Come on, Blackjack," Percy said in his attempt to sound upbeat. "I'll buy you some donuts in New Jersey."

Blackjack took off into the sky and away from the Chrysler Building, icy wind and rain pelting them like bullets.

She didn't place her head in his neck this time. She didn't hold on tight, as if she wanted to fall off and hit the ground like a blazing comet of ice and sadness.

Percy's heart was in his stomach, itching to crawl through the layers and layers of guilt and anger for himself. Guilt and anger that made him believe he wasn't good enough for her, and that he would hurt her eventually.

And maybe that was true. Maybe he would hurt her at some point and end up deep in Tartarus. If he did, he at least know he hurt the only person who he ever felt truly understood him.

Maybe Ariadne Phoenix and Perseus Jackson weren't living as easy of a love story as Aphrodite had planned.