A BLACK HEART

TRIPLE G-RANCH GETS FREED FROM THE G!

A BLACK HEART Chapter 10
A/N:- So, this is the tenth chapter! Hope you like it!

As Percy got closer to the fence, he held his shirt over his nose to block the smell, revealing his bandaged abdomen to the horses. One stallion waded through the muck and whinnied angrily at the son of Hades. He bared his teeth, which were pointed like a bear's.

'Neiigghhh! Dirty death boy!" The horse neighed but Percy understood.

'Hi,' Percy told him. 'I'm going to clean your stables. Won't that be great?'

'Yes!' The horse said. 'Come inside! Eat you! Tasty half-blood!'

'Yes!' A horse came over and agreed enthusiastically. 'Seafood!'

'Seafood!' The other horses chimed in as they waded through the field. Flies were buzzing everywhere, and the heat of the day didn't make the smell any better.

Percy picked up a rusted shovel and experimentally scooped some poop away from the fence line. The sun was already sinking.

Percy silently prayed to Apollo, 'Please don't set now, man.'

After that he waded through all the horse dung to reach the river. When he got to the water, he found that a girl was waiting for him. She was wearing jeans and a green T-shirt and her long brown hair was braided with river grass. She had a stern look on her face. Her arms were crossed.

"Oh no you don't," she said.

"Are you a naiad?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course!"

"But you speak English. And you're out of the water."

"What, you don't think we can act human if we want to?"

"Look," Percy said. "I just came to ask-"

"I know who you are," she said. "And I know what you want. And the answer is no! I'm not going to have my river used again to clean that filthy stable."

"But-"

"Oh, save it, sea boy. You ocean-god types always think you're soooo much more important than some little river, don't you? Well, let me tell you, this naiad is not going to be pushed around just because your daddy is Poseidon. This is freshwater territory, mister. The last guy who asked me this favor-oh, he was way better-looking than you, by the way, he convinced me, and that was the worst mistake I've ever made! Do you have any idea what all that horse manure does to my ecosystem? Do I look like a sewage treatment plant to you? My fish will die. I'll never get the much out of my plants. I'll be sick for years. NO THANK YOU!"

"My friends are in danger," Percy told her.

"Well, that's too bad! But it's not my problem. And you're not going to ruin my river." She looked like she was ready for a fight. Her fists were balled, but there was a little quiver in her voice.

Percy sat down on a tree stump. "Okay, you win."

The naiad looked surprised. "Really?"

"I'm not going to fight you. It's your river."

She relaxed her shoulders. "Oh. Oh, good. I mean-good thing for you!"

"But my friends and I are going to get sold to the Titans if I don't clean those stables by sunset. And I don't know how."

The river gurgled along cheerfully. Finally, the naiad sighed.
"I'll tell you a secret, son of the sea god. Scoop up some dirt."

"What?"

"You heard me."

Percy crouched down and scooped up a handful of Texas dirt. It was dry and black and spotted with tiny clumps of white things.

"Those are shells," the naiad said. "Petrified seashells. Millions of years ago, even before the time of the gods, when only Gaea and Ouranos reigned, this land was under the water. It was part of the sea."

"Okay," Percy said. "What good does that do me?"

"You're not so different from me, demigod. Even when I'm out of the water, the water is within me. It is my life source." She stepped back, put her feet in the river, and smiled. "I hope you find a way to rescue your friends."

And with that, she turned to liquid and melted into the river.

The sun was touching the hills when Percy got back to the stables. The horses were tearing into huge animal carcasses.
'Seafood!' one thought. 'Come in! We're still hungry!'

Percy just did what came instinctively to him and threw the shell into the piles of poop, and suddenly, in the place where there was a shell, a tiny spout of water was shooting out of the muck.

"No way," He stepped toward the fence. "Get bigger," Percy told the waterspout.

SPOOOOOOOSH!

Water shot three feet into the air and kept bubbling. A couple of horses came over to check it out. One put his mouth to the spring and recoiled.
'Yuck!' he said. 'Salty!'

Percy scooped up another handful of dirt and picked out the shell fossils. He threw the shells into the dung piles. Everywhere a shell hit, a saltwater spring erupted.

Stop! The horses cried. Meat is good! Baths are bad!

Then the water sank into the ground, taking the dung with it. The horse poop dissolved in the saltwater, leaving regular old wet dirt.

Water was sloshing everywhere now. The horses were drenched, and some were panicking and slipping in the mud. The poop was completely gone, tons of it just dissolved into the earth, and the water was now starting to pool, trickling out of the stable, making a hundred little streams down toward the river.

"Stop," Percy told the water.

Suddenly the geysers shut down. Percy collapsed to his knees, exhausted, in front of a shiny clean horse stable, a field of wet salty mud, and fifty horses that had been scoured so thoroughly their coats gleamed. Even the meat scraps between their teeth had been washed out.

'We won't eat you!' The horses wailed. 'Please, Lord! No more salty baths!'

"On one condition," Percy said. "You only eat the food your handlers give you from now on. Not people. Or I'll be back with more seashells!"

The horses whinnied. The sun was going down and Percy turned and ran full speed toward the ranch house.

Geryon was flipping burgers on a huge barbecue cooker made from an oil drum. Eurytion lounged at a picnic table, picking his fingernails with a knife. The two-headed dog sniffed the ribs and burgers that were frying on the grill. Tyson, Hector, Grover, Annabeth, and Nico were all tossed in a corner, tied up like rodeo animals, with their ankles and wrists roped together and their mouths gagged.

"Let them go!" Percy yelled. "I cleaned the stables!"

Geryon turned. He wore an apron on each chest, with one word on each, so together they spelled out: KISS-THE-CHEF. "Did you, now? How'd you manage it?"

"With these!" Percy smirked and then threw eight seashells on the floor, and they exploded into waterspouts, dousing the barbecue fire.


"Aargh!" Geryon screamed as the water made contact with him, searing his skin. "What?" He said, examining his burn wound.

"I can control the temperature of the water," Percy said as if that was supposed to explain everything.

Geryon sneered, as his wound healed and picked up two carving knives and threw them at Percy.

Both of them stopped inches before the demigod, shattering as he lunged at the three-chested monster.

Geryon parried the first punch with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at his face with a barbecue fork. Percy grabbed the fork twirled it around and then threw it back at Geryon, impaling the middle chest.

"Aghhh!" He crumpled to his knees. He grimaced, took out the fork, and started to stand up. The wound in his chef's apron started to heal.

"Nice try, sonny," he said. "Thing is, I have three hearts. The perfect backup system."

Geryon threw the barbecue fork again, and it thudded into the wall right next to Percy's head. He drew two swords from the wall display. "Your head's gonna go right there, Jackson! Next to the grizzly bear!"

Percy smiled and replied with a "No thanks," and then raised his arms.

The water around them immediately turned into pointed projectiles and stopped in front of Geryon's panicked face.

"Last try, G-man. You wanna live?"

The monster didn't reply and just roared as he lunged for the other defenseless demigods but Percy thought fast and attacked Geryon with his icicles, weaving through each of his chests at once, piercing his hearts.

Geryon's face turned a sickly shade of green as he gasped. He collapsed to his knees and began crumbling into sand until all that was left were three cooking aprons and an oversized pair of cowboy boots.

The demigod glanced at the pile of dust and turned around.

"Now, for you guys."

Soon, Percy had gotten his friends untied and ready for battle.

"Yay for Percy!" Tyson said.

"How did you do that? Stopping the knives?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, just some trick I learned, it's nothing."

Percy looked at Eurytion, who was sitting on the picnic table, with no care of the world. "I trust you will take care of whatever happened here, right?"

"Yeah, sure." The cowherd said, nonchalantly.

Percy smiled and dropped a few drachmas in the hand of the demigod as the group went on their way.

"So, I am going to be on my way then," Nico said when they had gotten far away from the ranch.

"What? Where?" Percy asked.

"To find the truth," Nico said.

"Nico, no, don't... I already told you the truth. Please, he'll ruin you."

"You told me nothing but lies, Minos is going to help me find out what really happened," Nico ran off, and Percy ran behind him, but his brother had already shadow-traveled to God knows where.

"What was that about?" Hector asked.

"Nothing, let's keep moving," Percy said as he got up.

Hector shrugged and they kept walking.

"All I know is that Nico was summoning the spirit of someone named Maria Di Angelo," Hector said after a pause.

"Maria?" Percy started but then blacked out and slipped into a flashback.

Percy was in the underworld, talking with Nico, Bianca, and Hades. Bianca had met up with her father, while Nico was talking with Percy. Nico had already pulled Percy to the side to ask him something.

"Percy, I wanted to ask you something, do you know anything about our mother, like what is her name, how does she look?"

"Well, all I know is that she was called Maria Di Angelo. According to dad, she was a good-natured woman who used to crave candies with mustard on it." Percy said.

Nico laughed at the last part but then turned serious. "Ok, tell me, how'd she die?"

"Uh... the roof of a building fell on her and died?" Percy said.

"Ok, what are you hiding from me, Percy?" Nico asked.

"Uh... nothing," Percy gulped.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I don't know what else happened... Hades told me that she died when a roof fell on her, I am telling you the truth,"

"Ok, but why did that roof fall?"

"Don't know,"

"Fine, if you won't tell me then I will ask her myself," Nico said, turning around.

"Wait! What do you mean 'ask her yourself'?"

"A friend told me that I can summon ghosts, so that's what I am going to do,"

"But why do you want to know about your mother so desperately?"

"She died, leaving us, Bianca and I alone. We had to look out for each other. I know many gods leave their children with the mortal parent, but at least they have a parent to take care of them. We didn't have anyone to take care of us, to feed us, to clothe us! Even you! Your mother was also taken away from you! Yet still, here you are, telling me not to take revenge on the one who killed my mother and destroyed my life! I want to know who did it and make them pay!"

"Nico, don't you think this is going a little too far? I mean you are just thirteen, I still remember the young twelve-year-old Nico who asked me to protect his big sister, what happened to you? Why are you suddenly so hellbent on getting revenge?"

"I've changed Percy, I am not the Nico you used to know, Bye," Nico said and ran away.

Percy tried to follow, but tripped over a branch and fell.

Percy woke up with a gasp.

"What, what, where am I?" Percy asked frantically as he got up, shaking.

"Whoa there Percy, calm down. You blacked out and fell unconscious, so we placed you on the ground and let you rest. All the time you were muttering things, What happened?" Hector asked.

"Nothing, let's go, we shouldn't waste more valuable time,"

"Uh, are you sure you are feeling fine?" Annabeth asked. "You're still shaking,"

"Uh, nothing... it's cold here... let's go,"

"Also, one more thing... Eurytion gave us this, said it will take to Hephaestus's forges," Grover said, showing him a black metal disk.

"Why do we need to go there?"

"Don't know, but we should check it out," Hector replied, crunching on a sandwich.

"Alright then, let's go," Percy said, getting up and adjusting his clothes.

Grover pressed a button on the disk and it fell on the ground, transforming into a spider with eight legs. The mechanical spider took off speedily.

The spider scrambled to the cattle guard and disappeared between the bars.

"Hurry," Annabeth said, though she didn't seem anxious to follow. "That thing's not going to wait for us."

Tyson pulled the cattle guard off the hole, and they dropped back into the maze.

They ran down a marble tunnel, then dashed to the left and almost fell into an abyss. Tyson grabbed Percy and hauled him back before he could fall. The tunnel continued in front but there was no floor for about a hundred feet, just gaping darkness and a series of iron rungs in the ceiling.

The mechanical spider was about halfway across, swinging from bar to bar by shooting out metal web fiber.

"Monkey bars," Annabeth said. "I'm great at these."

She leaped onto the first rung and started swinging her way across.

Percy followed, along with Hector and Grover, and Tyson.

Annabeth got to the opposite side and ran after the spider.

They kept moving and passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel. The remains of a dress shirt, slacks, a rifle, and a tie were visible. The spider didn't slow down.

The tunnel soon opened up onto a large room. A blazing light hit them.

Dozens of skeletons littered the floor around them. Some were old and bleached white. Others were more recent and a lot grosser.

There was a monster. She stood on a glittery dais on the opposite side of the room. She had the body of a huge lion and the head of a woman. She would've been pretty, but her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore too much makeup. She had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest that read:- THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!

Tyson whimpered. "Sphinx."

Annabeth started forward, but the Sphinx roared, showing fangs in her otherwise human face. Bars came down on both tunnel exits, behind and in front.
Immediately the monster's snarl turned into a brilliant smile.

"Welcome, lucky contestants!" she announced. "Get ready to play...ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!"

Canned applause blasted from the ceiling as if there were invisible loudspeakers. Spotlights swept across the room and reflected off the dais, throwing disco glitter over the skeletons on the floor.

"Fabulous prizes!" the Sphinx said. "Pass the test, and you get to advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?"

Annabeth moved forward "I've got this," she whispered. "I know what she's going to ask."

She stepped forward to the contestant's podium, which had a skeleton in a school uniform hunched over it. She pushed the skeleton out of the way, and it clattered to the floor.

"Sorry," Annabeth told it.

"Welcome, Annabeth Chase!" the monster cried, though Annabeth hadn't said her name. "Are you ready for your test?"

"Yes," she said. "Ask your riddle."

"Twenty riddles, actually!" the Sphinx said gleefully.

"What? But back in the old days-"

"Oh, we've raised our standards! To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty. Isn't that great?"

Applause switched on and off like somebody turning a faucet.

Annabeth turned back to see Percy, Hector, Tyson, and Grover all of them raising two thumbs-ups.

"Okay," she told the Sphinx. "I'm ready."

A drumroll sounded from above. The Sphinx's eyes glittered with excitement. "What...is the capital of Bulgaria?"

Annabeth frowned. "Sofia," she said, "but-"

"Correct!" More canned applause. The Sphinx smiled so widely her fangs showed. "Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil."

"What?" Annabeth looked mystified. Then a test booklet appeared on the podium in front of her, along with a sharpened pencil.

"Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle," the Sphinx said. "If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers."

"What machine?" Annabeth asked.

The Sphinx pointed with her paw. Over by the spotlight was a bronze box with a bunch of gears and levers and a big Greek letter Ȇta on the side, the mark of Hephaestus.

"Now," said the Sphinx, "next question-"

"Wait for a second," Annabeth protested. "What about 'What walks on four legs in the morning'?"

"I beg your pardon?" the Sphinx said, clearly annoyed now.

"The riddle about the man. He walks on four legs in the morning, like a baby, two legs in the afternoon, like an adult, and three legs in the evening, like an old man with a cane. That's the riddle you used to ask."

"Exactly why we changed the test!" the Sphinx exclaimed. "You already knew the answer. Now the second question, what is the square root of sixteen?"

"Four," Annabeth said, "but-"

"Correct! Which U.S. president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?"

"Abraham Lincoln, but-"

"Correct! Riddle number four. How much-"

"Hold up!" Annabeth shouted.

"These aren't riddles," Annabeth said.

"What do you mean?" the sphinx snapped. "Of course they are. This test material is specially designed-"

"It's just a bunch of dumb, random facts," Annabeth insisted. "Riddles are supposed to make you think."

"Think?" The Sphinx frowned. "How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That's ridiculous! Now, how much force is required-"

"Stop!" Annabeth insisted. "This is a stupid test."

"Um, Annabeth," Grover cut in nervously. "Maybe you should just, you know, finish first and complain later?"

"I'm a child of Athena," she insisted. "And this is an insult to my intelligence. I won't answer these questions."

The spotlights glared. The Sphinx's eyes glittered pure black.
"Why then, my dear," the monster said calmly. "If you won't pass, you fail. And since we can't allow any children to be held back, you'll be EATEN!"

The Sphinx bared her claws, which gleamed like stainless steel. She pounced at the podium.

"No!" Tyson charged.

He tackled the Sphinx in midair and they crashed sideways into a pile of bones. This gave Annabeth just enough time to gather her wits and draw her knife. Tyson got up, his shirt clawed to shreds. The Sphinx growled, looking for an opening.

Hector drew Riptide and stepped in front of Annabeth.

"Turn invisible," Hector told her.

"I can fight!"

"No! The Sphinx is after you! Let us get it."

The Sphinx knocked Tyson aside and tried to charge past Hector, but Percy punched her back where Grover poked her in the eye with somebody's leg bone. She screeched in pain. Annabeth put on her cap and vanished. The Sphinx pounced right where she'd been standing, but came up with empty paws.

"No fair!" the Sphinx wailed. "Cheater!"

With Annabeth no longer in sight, the Sphinx turned on Hector. He raised his sword, but before he could strike, Tyson ripped the monster's grading machine out of the floor and threw it at the Sphinx's head, ruining her hair bun. It landed in pieces all around her.

"My grading machine!" she cried. "I can't be exemplary without my test scores!"

The bars lifted from the exits. They all dashed for the far tunnel. The Sphinx started to follow, but Grover raised his reed pipes and began to play. Vines started to grow and collect around the Sphinx's paws, grew roots and branches, and began wrapping around the monster's legs. The Sphinx ripped through them, but it brought them just enough time.
Tyson pulled Grover into the tunnel, and the bars slammed shut.

"Annabeth!" Hector yelled.

"Here!" she said. "Keep moving!"

They ran through the dark tunnels, listening to the roar of the Sphinx behind as she complained about all the tests she would have to grade by hand.

Tyson and Grover had heard a faint pinging sound and they followed it to eventually find the mechanical spider banging its tiny head on a metal door.

The door looked like one of those old-fashioned submarine hatches-oval, with metal rivets around the edges and a wheel for a doorknob. Where the portal should've been was a big brass plaque, green with age, with a Greek Ȇta inscribed in the middle.

They all looked at each other. "Ready to meet Hephaestus?" Grover said nervously.

"No," Percy admitted.

"Yes!" Tyson said gleefully, and he turned the wheel.

As soon as the door opened, the spider scuttled inside with Tyson right behind it. The rest followed.

The room was enormous. It looked like a mechanic's garage, with several hydraulic lifts. Some had cars on them, but others had stranger things: a bronze hippalektryon with its horse head off and a bunch of wires hanging out its rooster tail, a metal lion that seemed to be hooked up to a battery charger, and a Greek war chariot made entirely of flames.
Smaller projects cluttered a dozen worktables. Tools hung along the walls. Each had its outline on a Peg-Board, but nothing seemed to be in the right place. The hammer was over the screwdriver's place. The staple gun was where the hacksaw was supposed to go.

Under the nearest hydraulic lift, which was holding a '98 Toyota Corolla, a pair of legs sticking out the lower half of a huge man in grubby gray pants and shoes even bigger than Tyson's. One leg was in a metal brace.

The spider scuttled straight under the car, and the sounds of banging stopped.

"Well, well," a deep voice boomed from under the Corolla. "What have we here?"

The mechanic pushed out on a back trolley and sat up. He wore a jumpsuit smeared with oil and grime. Hephaestus was embroidered over the chest pocket. His leg creaked and clicked in its metal brace as he stood, and his left shoulder was lower than his right, so he seemed to be leaning even when he was standing up straight. His head was misshapen and bulging. He wore a permanent scowl. His black beard smoked and hissed. Every once in a while, a small wildfire would erupt in his whiskers then die out. His hands were the size of the catcher's mitts, but he handled the spider with amazing skill. He disassembled it in two seconds, then put it back together.

"There," he muttered to himself. "Much better."

The spider did a happy flip in his palm, shot a metallic web at the ceiling, and went swinging away.

Hephaestus glowered up at the demigods. "I didn't make you, did I?"

"Uh," Annabeth said, "No, sir."

"Good," the god grumbled. "Shoddy workmanship."

He studied Annabeth and the rest. "Half-bloods," he grunted. "Could be automatons, of course, but probably not."

"We've met, sir," Percy told him.

"Have we?" the god asked absently. "Well then, if I didn't smash you to a pulp the first time we met, I suppose I won't have to do it now."

He looked at Grover and frowned. "Satyr." Then he looked at Tyson, and his eyes twinkled. "Well, a Cyclops. Good, good. What are you doing traveling with this lot?"

"Uh..." said Tyson, staring in wonder at the god.

"Yes, well said," Hephaestus agreed. "So, there'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me. The suspension on this Corolla is no small matter, you know."

"Sir," Annabeth said hesitantly, "we're looking for Daedalus. We thought-"

"Daedalus?" the god roared. "You want that old scoundrel? You dare to seek him out!"

His beard burst into flames and his black eyes glowed.

"Uh, yes, sir, please," Annabeth said.

"Humph. You're wasting your time." He frowned at something on his worktable and limped over to it. He picked up a lump of springs and metal plates and tinkered with them. In a few seconds, he was holding a bronze and silver falcon. It spread its metal wings, blinked its obsidian eyes, and flew around the room.

Tyson laughed and clapped his hands. The bird landed on Tyson's shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately.

Hephaestus regarded him. "I sense you have something to tell me, Cyclops."

Tyson's smile faded. "Y-yes, lord. We met a Hundred-Handed One."

Hephaestus nodded, looking unsurprised. "Briares?"

"Yes. He-he was scared. He would not help us."

"And that bothered you."

"Yes!" Tyson's voice wavered. "Briares should be strong! He is older and greater than Cyclopes. But he ran away."

Hephaestus grunted. "There was a time I admired the Hundred-Handed Ones. Back in the days of the first war. But people, monsters, even gods change, young Cyclops. You can't trust 'em. Look at my loving mother, Hera. You met her, didn't you? She'll smile to your face and talk about how important family is, eh? Didn't stop her from pitching me off Mount Olympus when she saw my ugly face."

"But I thought Zeus did that to you," Hector said.

Hephaestus cleared his throat and spat into a bronze spittoon. He snapped his fingers, and the robotic falcon flew back to the worktable.

"Mother likes telling that version of the story," he grumbled. "Makes her seem more likable, doesn't it? Blaming it all on my dad. The truth is, my mother, likes families, but she likes a certain kind of family. Perfect families. She took one look at me and...well, I don't fit the image, do I? Plus... Zeus isn't the father,"

He pulled a feather from the falcon's back, and the whole automaton fell apart.

"Believe me, young Cyclops," Hephaestus said, "you can't trust others. All you can trust is the work of your own hands."

He focused on Hector and narrowed his eyes. "Oh, this one doesn't like me," he mused. "No worries, I'm used to that. What would you ask of me, little demigod?"

"We told you," Hector said. "We need to find Daedalus. There's this guy, Luke, and he's working for Kronos. He's trying to find a way to navigate the Labyrinth so he can invade our camp. If we don't get to Daedalus first-"

"And I told you, boy. Looking for Daedalus is a waste of time. He won't help you."

"Why not?"

Hephaestus shrugged. "Some of us get thrown off mountainsides. Some of us...the way we learn not to trust people is more painful. Ask me for gold. Or a flaming sword. Or a magical steed. These I can grant you easily. But a way to Daedalus? That's an expensive favor."

"You know where he is, then," Annabeth pressed.

"It isn't wise to go looking, girl."

"My mother says looking is the nature of wisdom."

Hephaestus narrowed his eyes. "Who's your mother, then?"

"Athena."

"Figures." He sighed. "Fine goddess, Athena. It's a shame she pledged never to marry. All right, half-blood. I can tell you what you want to know. But there is a price. I need a favor done.

"Name it," Annabeth said.

Hephaestus laughed-a booming sound like a huge bellow stoking a fire. "You heroes," he said, "always making rash promises. How refreshing!"

He pressed a button on his workbench, and metal shutters opened along the wall to reveal the view of a gray mountain-ringed in forests.

"One of my forges," Hephaestus said. "I have many, but that used to be my favorite."

"That's Mount St. Helens," Grover said. "Great forests around there."

"You've been there?" Hector asked.

"Looking for...you know, Pan."

"Wait," Annabeth said, looking at Hephaestus. "You said it used to be your favorite. What happened?"

Hephaestus scratched his smoldering beard. "Well, that's where the monster Typhon is trapped, you know. Used to be under Mount Etna, but when we moved to America, his force got pinned under Mount St. Helens instead. Great source of fire, but a bit dangerous. There's always a chance he will escape. Lots of eruptions these days, smoldering all the time. He's restless with the Titan rebellion."

"What do you want us to do?" Percy said, "Fight him?"

Hephaestus snorted. "That would be suicide. The gods themselves ran from Typhon when he was free. No, pray you never have to see him, much less fight him. But lately, I have sensed intruders in my mountain. Someone or something is using my forges. It is empty when I go there, but I can tell it is being used. They sense me coming, and they disappear. I send my automatons to investigate, but they do not return. Something...ancient is there. Evil. I want to know who dates invade my territory, and if they mean to lose Typhon."

"You want us to find out who it is," Percy said.

"Aye," Hephaestus said. "Go there. They may not sense you coming. You are not gods. Go and find out what you can," Hephaestus said. "Report back to me, and I will tell you what you need to know about Daedalus."

"All right," Annabeth said. "How do we get there?"

Hephaestus clapped his hands. The spider came swinging down from the rafters. Annabeth flinched when it landed at her feet.

"My creation will show you the way," Hephaestus said. "It is not far through the Labyrinth. And try to stay alive, will you? Humans are much more fragile than automatons,"

The spider raced along and the demigods were keeping up, but then they spotted a tunnel off to the side that was dug from raw earth and wrapped in thick roots. Grover stopped dead in his tracks.

"What is it?" Hector asked.

He didn't move. He stared open-mouthed into the dark tunnel. His curly hair rustled in the breeze.

"Come on!" Annabeth said. "We have to keep moving."

"This is the way," Grover muttered in awe. "This is it."

"What way?" Percy asked. "You mean...to Pan?"

Grover looked at Tyson. "Don't you smell it?"

"Dirt," Tyson said. "And plants."

"Yes! This is the way. I'm sure of it!"

Up ahead, the spider was getting farther down the stone corridor.

"We'll come back," Annabeth promised. "On our way back to Hephaestus."

"The tunnel will be gone by then," Grover said. "I have to follow it. A door like this won't stay open!"

"But we can't," Annabeth said. "The forges!"

Grover looked at her sadly. "I have to, Annabeth. Don't you understand?"

She looked desperate like she didn't understand at all. The spider was almost out of sight.

"We'll split up," Percy said.

"No!" Annabeth said. "That's way too dangerous. How will we ever find each other again? And Grover can't go alone."
Tyson put his hand on Grover's shoulder. "I-I will go with him."

"Tyson, are you sure?"

The big guy nodded. "Goat boy needs help. We will find the god person. I am not like Hephaestus. I trust friends."

Grover took a deep breath. "Hector we'll find each other again. We've still got the empathy link. I just...have to."

"I hope you're right," Hector said.

"I know I am."

"Be careful," Percy told them.

Tyson gulped back a sob and gave both Percy and Hector a big hug.

"Hey, big guy, don't cry, we will come back, and here, if you ever need me, take this, pull on it and I will appear right next to you, wherever I am, whatever I am doing," Percy said, giving Grover and Tyson a skull necklace.

"Thank you, Percy. We will meet again." Grover said and then he and Tyson disappeared through the tunnel of tree roots and were lost in the darkness.

"This is bad," Annabeth said. "Splitting up is a really, really bad idea."

"We'll see them again," Percy said, trying to sound confident. "Now come on. The spider is getting away!"

It wasn't long before the tunnel started to get hot.
The stone walls glowed. The tunnel sloped down and they could hear a roar, like a river of metal. The spider skittered along, with Annabeth right behind.

"Hey, wait up," Hector called to her.

She glanced back at. "Yeah?"

"Something Hephaestus said back there...about Athena."

"She swore never to marry," Annabeth said. "Like Artemis and Hestia. She's one of the maiden goddesses."

"But then-"

"How come she has demigod children?" She turned to the son of Hades, hoping he would answer his brother's question.

"Percy, you know how Athena was born?"

"She sprung from the head of Zeus in full battle armor or something."

"Exactly. She wasn't born in the normal way. She was born from thoughts. Her children are born the same way. When Athena falls in love with a mortal man, it's purely intellectual, the way she loved Odysseus in the old stories. It's a meeting of minds. She would tell you that's the purest kind of love."

"So your dad and Athena...so you weren't..." Hector said, putting two and two together.

"I was a brain-child," Annabeth said. "Literally. Children of Athena are sprung from the divine thoughts of our mother and the mortal ingenuity of our father. We are supposed to be a gift, a blessing from Athena on the men she favors."

"But-"

"Hector, the spider's getting away. Do you want me to explain the exact details of how I was born?"

"Um...no. That's okay."

She smirked. "I thought not." And she ran ahead.

The roaring got louder. After another half mile or so, they emerged in a cavern the size of a Super Bowl stadium. The Spider stopped and curled into a ball. They had arrived at the forge of Hephaestus.

There was no floor, just bubbling lava hundreds of feet below. They all stood on a rock ridge that circled the cavern. A network of metal bridges spanned across it. At the center was a huge platform with all sorts of machines, cauldrons, forges. Creatures moved around the platform-several strange, dark shapes, but they were too far away to make out details.

Annabeth picked up the metal spider and slipped it into her pocket. "I'm going in. Wait here," She said, and put on her Yankees cap and disappeared.

"So, I guess that means we need to wait here?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Hector said, and they both fell in comfortable silence.

After a while, Percy's ears perked up, and he asked, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Hector asked, then he heard it too.

"Bring it in?" a voice asked.

"Yeah," another said. "Movie's just about done."

"What do we do now?" Percy whispered.

"Hide," Hector whispered back, but the only thing was that there was nowhere to hide.

"Hector, let's get in the cart," Percy said and slipped inside it. Hector followed and then pulled the tarp over them

The cart lurched forward.

"Oi," a gruff voice said. "Thing weighs a ton."

"It's celestial bronze," the other said. "What did you expect?"
They turned a corner.

The voices of the people or the monsters that were pushing the cart were not at all human, somewhere between a seal's bark and a dog's growl. There were other sounds too-like an old-fashioned film projector and a tinny voice narrating.

"Just set it in the back," a new voice ordered from across the room. "Now, younglings, please attend to the film. There will be time for questions afterward."

'As a young sea demon matures, the narrator said, changes happen in the monster's body. You may notice your fangs getting longer and you may have a sudden desire to devour human beings. These changes are perfectly normal and happen to all young monsters.'

Excited snarling filled the room and the teacher told the younglings to be quiet, and the film continued.

Finally, it ended and the instructor started. "Now, younglings, what is the proper name of our kind?"

"Sea demons!" one of them barked.

"No. Anyone else?"

"Telekhines!" another monster growled.

"Very good," the instructor said. "And why are we here?"

"Revenge!" several shouted.

"Yes, yes, but why?"

"Zeus is evil!" one monster said. "He cast us into Tartarus just because we used magic!"

"Indeed," the instructor said. "After we made so many of the gods' finest weapons. The trident of Poseidon, for one. And of course, we made the greatest weapon of the Titans! Nevertheless, Zeus cast us away and relied on those fumbling Cyclopes. That is why we are taking over the forges of the usurper Hephaestus. And soon we will control the undersea furnaces, our ancestral home!"

"And so, younglings," the instructor continued, "who do we serve?"

"Kronos!" they shouted.

"And when you grow to be big telekhines, will you make weapons for the army?"

"Yes!"

"Excellent. Now, we've brought in some scraps for you to practice with. Let's see how ingenious you are."

There was a rush of movement and exciting voices coming toward the cart.

Percy looked at Hector and Hector looked at Percy and they both nodded and jumped out of the cart.

The monsters' faces were dogs with black snouts, brown eyes, and pointy ears. Their bodies were sleek and black like sea mammals, with stubby legs that were half flipper, half foot, and humanlike hands with sharp claws.

"Demigods!" one snarled.

"Eat them!" yelled another.

"These don't look like scraps," Another said, confused.

They started moving forward, but Hector slashed a wide arc with Riptide and vaporized the entire front row of monsters.

"Back off!" He yelled at the rest, trying to sound fierce. Behind them stood their instructor-a six-foot-tall telekhine with Doberman fangs snarling at the two. Hector did his best to stare him down.

"New lesson, class," Percy announced. "Most monsters will vaporize when sliced with my brother's celestial bronze sword. This change is perfectly normal, and will happen to you right now if you don't BACK OFF!"

Hector jumped out of the cart, yelled, "CLASS DISMISSED!", grabbed Percy's hand, and ran for the exit.

The monsters charged after them, barking and growling.

"Annabeth!" Hector yelled.

"Shhh!" an invisible hand clamped over his mouth and wrestled both Percy and Hector down behind a big bronze cauldron. "You want to get us killed?"

The son of Poseidon took off her Yankees cap and she shimmered into existence scowling, her face streaked with ash and grime. "Hector, what is your problem?"

"We're going to have company!" They explained quickly about the monster orientation class. Her eyes widened.

"So that's what they are," she said. "Telekhines. I should've known. And they're making...Well, look."

They peeked over the cauldron. In the center of the platform stood four sea demons, but these were fully grown, at least eight feet tall. Their black skin glistened in the firelight as they worked, sparks flying as they took turns hammering on a long piece of glowing hot metal.

"The blade is almost complete," one said. "It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals."

"Aye," a second said. "It shall be even sharper than before."

"What is that?" Percy whispered.

Annabeth shook her head. "They keep talking about fusing metals. I wonder-"

"They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon," Hector said. "And they...they said they made my father's trident."

"The telekhines betrayed the gods," Annabeth said. "They were practicing dark magic. I don't know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus."

"With Kronos."

She nodded. "We have to get out-"

No sooner had she said that than the door to the classroom exploded and young telekhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge.

"Put your cap back on," Percy said. "Get out!"

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you guys."

"We've got a plan, we created it while we were running here. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider-maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on." Hector said and Percy nodded.

"But you'll be killed!"

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice."

Annabeth glared at Hector but then she quickly pressed her lips to his. Then she went and hugged Percy.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brains." She put on her hat and vanished.

Percy smiled. "So, finally huh?"

"Yeah..." Hector said, feeling his lips.

He was broken out of his stupor when the sea-dog monsters started screaming.

"There!" one telekhine yelled. The entire class of telekhines charged across the bridge toward them.

"Run!" Percy yelled and they ran for the middle of the platform, surprising the four elder sea demons so much they dropped the red-hot blade. It was about six feet long and curved like a crescent moon. The elder demons got over their surprise quickly. Four ramps were leading off the platform and before they could dash in any direction, each of them had covered an exit.

The tallest one snarled. "What do we have here? Children of Poseidon?"

"Yes," another growled. "I can smell the sea in his blood."

Hector raised Riptide and Percy raised his fists.

"Strike down one of us, demigod," the third demon said, "and the rest of us shall tear you to shreds. Your father betrayed us. He took our gift and said nothing as we were cast into the pit. We will see him sliced to pieces. He and all the other Olympians."

"Hector, you have to go, follow Annabeth back and get back to camp with Grover and Tyson safely." Percy said, covering his brother.

"What! No! I won't leave you. I left you once, I won't do it again."

"Listen, you have many people to live for, your mom, Grover, Tyson, Annabeth, and... me. I don't have to live, if anyone needs to die, it has to be me," Percy said as shadows started to engulf Hector and then pulled him back. "Go!"

The tallest monster said.

"Let us see how strong he is. Let us see how long it takes him to burn!" He scooped some lava out of the nearest furnace. It set his fingers ablaze, but this didn't seem to bother him at all. The other elder telekhines did the same. "Soon, there won't even be ashes left of you demigod!"

All of them raised their hands at once. The ground broke and lava mixed with the earth came at Percy simultaneously.

But, Percy was ready. He raised his hands and the molten wave stopped at once.

"Don't worry, this is going to be over soon," Percy said and then swept his hands up and down. He reached inside himself, bringing out all of the powers that he got from the Earthshaker.

The ground cracked again, but this time the hot water geysers spouted out, drizzling over them and flooding the entire space.

Percy pulled his arms up and then towards himself, as he felt himself getting filled with only one thing, raw power.

The water came near him, swirling around like a whirlwind, slowly and slowly until he looked like he was encased in a water ball, as the monsters looked at him, shocked as he let it all out with a guttural scream.

After that, the ground cracked, and everything broke down. An explosion, a tidal wave of power, sent Percy straight inside the lava. The volcano erupted as the fire and water collided and with a deep rumbling sound, he was shot upward, hurtling towards the sky and the only thing that Percy remembered was the frantic screaming of the Telekhines.

******

In the dark corridor, only two sounds were audible, one the tinking of the spider's legs and second the thumping of legs running.

"Annabeth!" Hector screamed coming out of the shadows.

"Hector! What happened? Where's Percy?" Annabeth stopped in her tracks.

Hector tried to explain but they were knocked off their feet and thrown to the ground from what could be the most powerful earthquake or explosion ever.

Annabeth and Hector gasped as they started running as cracks started appearing in the cavern and a loud rumbling sound came from that side.

The daughter of Athena grabbed Hector's hand and they jumped to the side into a different alleyway as the entire tunnel from which they came filled up with hot molten lava and fire, searing the ends of their clothes and hair.

Hector's cheeks felt hot as they could only just sit there in front of the river of molten rock, frozen as the flow started to slow down.

They just gasped as the lava started to reach their feet and they got up and started running again.

"Is he ok?" Annabeth asked as the tunnels started to widen again.

"I hope so."

TIME-SKIP-

When Percy woke up, he felt like he was on fire. His skin stung and his throat felt dry.

The only things he could see were blue skies and trees above him. He heard a fountain gurgling and smelled juniper and cedar and a bunch of other sweet-scented plants.

He tried to sit up, but he couldn't.

"Stay still," a girl's voice said. "You're too weak to rise."

She laid a cool cloth across his forehead. Taking a bronze spoon, she dribbled some type of liquid into Percy's mouth. The drink soothed his throat and left a warm chocolaty aftertaste.

Nectar of the gods.

Percy turned to look at her and audibly gasped. She had almond eyes and caramel-color hair braided over one shoulder. She looked 15, but it was hard to tell.

The mystery girl began singing, and Percy's pain dissolved. She was working magic, healing and repairing his brain.

"Who, where?" Percy croaked.

"Shhh, brave one," she said. "Rest and heal. No harm will come to you here. I am Calypso."

Percy just smiled at the girl, as if thanking her, who looked at him sadly and the son of Hades drifted back into unconsciousness.

The next time Percy woke up, he was in a cave, and it was nighttime. The ceiling glittered with different-color crystal formations- white and purple and green.

He was lying on a comfortable bed with feather pillows and cotton sheets. The cave was divided into sections by white silk curtains. Against one wall stood a large loom and a harp. Against the other wall were shelves neatly stacked with jars of fruit preserves.

There was a fireplace built into the cave wall, and a pot bubbling over the flames. It smelled like beef stew.

Percy sat up groaning and looked at his arms. His skin was a little pinker than usual, but not bad. He was wearing a white cotton T-shirt and cotton drawstring pants.

With difficulty, Percy stood. The stone floor was freezing under his feet as he turned and looked into a polished bronze mirror.

"Holy Poseidon," He muttered. He looked like he had lost 20 pounds. His hairs looked like a bird's nest. There were a few scars and cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing that couldn't be treated. His rib that had been poking out of his stomach had been cured as well.

Percy sighed and turned away from the mirror and headed toward the exit.

The cave opened onto a green meadow. On the left was a grove of cedar trees and on the right was a huge flower garden. Four fountains gurgled in the meadow, each shooting water from the pipes of stone satyrs. Straight ahead, the grass sloped down to a rocky beach. The waves of a lake lapped against the stones. The moonlight sparkled on the water, and the sky was dark blue, leaning towards the black side.

The girl with the braided caramel hair, the one who'd called herself Calypso, was standing at the beach, talking to someone. They seemed to be arguing.

Percy squinted as he walked toward her slowly, his legs still stiff. When the grass changed to gravel, he looked down to keep himself balanced, and when he looked up again, the girl was alone. She wore a white sleeveless Greek dress with a low circular neckline trimmed in gold. She brushed at her eyes like she'd been crying.

"Well," she said, trying for a smile, "the sleeper finally wakes."

"Who were you talking to?" Percy said.

"Oh...just a messenger," she said. "How do you feel?"

"How long have I been out?"

"Time," Calypso mused. "Time is always difficult here. I honestly don't know, Percy."

"You know my name?"

"You talk in your sleep."

"Yeah. I've been...uh, told that before."

"Yes. Who are Annabeth and Hector?"

"Oh, uh. They're friends. We were together when-wait, how did I get here? Where am I?"

Calypso reached up and ran her fingers through Percy's mangled hair, setting them down.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I've just grown used to caring for you. As to how you got here, you fell from the sky. You landed in the water, just there." She pointed across the beach. "I do not know how you survived. The water seemed to cushion your fall. As to where you are, you are in Ogygia."

"Is that near Mount St. Helens?" Percy asked.

Calypso laughed. It was a small restrained laugh.

"It isn't near anything, brave one," she said. "Ogygia is my phantom island. It exists by itself, anywhere and nowhere. You can heal here in safety. Never fear."

"But my friends-"

"Annabeth, Hector," she said. "And Grover and Tyson?"

"Yes!" Percy said. "I have to get back to them. They're in danger."

She touched his face. "Rest first. You are no good to your friends until you heal. As for going out from here, you can't shadow travel away..."

Percy sighed as he looked up in the sky.

The stars were brilliant-thousands of them. There were various constellations, Capricorn, Pegasus, Sagittarius, and the Huntress.

"Percy, what do you see?"

Calypso, with her braided hair and white dress, seemed to glow in the moonlight. She was holding a tiny plant in her hands. Its flowers were silver and delicate.

"I was just looking at... Uh...I forgot."

She laughed gently, looking down. "Well, as long as you're up, you can help me plant these."

She handed Percy a plant, which had a clump of dirt and roots at the base. The flowers glowed as he held them. Calypso picked up her gardening spade and directed him to the edge of the garden, where she began to dig.

"That's moonlace," Calypso explained. "It can only be planted at night."

"What does it do?"

"Do?" Calypso mused. "It doesn't really do anything, I suppose. It lives, it gives light, it provides beauty. Does it have to do anything else?"

"I suppose not," Percy said.

She took the plant and their hands met. Her fingers were warm. She planted the moonlace and stepped back, surveying her work. "I love my garden."

"It's awesome," He agreed.

Calypso's garden consisted of six different colors of roses, lattices filled with honeysuckle, rows of grapevines bursting with red and purple grapes.

"Back home, my mom used to want a garden,"

"Then why didn't she plant one?"

"Well, one thing is that we used to live in an apartment in Manhattan with not much gardening space. Plus, she... she died when I was young, so yeah... nothing could be done about it."

Calypso frowned. "That is sad. Hermes visits from time to time. He tells me the world outside has changed greatly. I did not realize it had changed so much you cannot have gardens. Also, sorry about your mother."

"Don't worry, why haven't you left your island?"

She looked down. "It is my punishment."

"Why? What did you do?"

"I? Nothing. But I'm afraid my father did a great deal. His name is Atlas."

"Oh," Percy said hesitantly, "Still, it's not fair to punish you for what your father's done. I knew another daughter of Atlas. Her name was Zoe. She was one of the bravest people I've ever met."

"Don't worry... When you are facing people, they tell you that you are the greatest, but when you turn around, they hate you. I was like that. I used to play with the Hesperides, they were really happy with me and all that. But then when my father fought the gods and got imprisoned, the Hesperides denied to take me in their garden as the fifth Hesperide, just because my mother was someone else. The majority won and the gods thus banished me to Ogygia, where I have to live forever and spend my immortal life here until I fade away." Calypso's tone was sad and the look in her eyes was forlorn.

"Oh, I'm sorry for that, I will... I'll free you from this place."

"What? You can't do that, it's impossible, it's permanent," Calypso said.

"But, I can always try, right? If I can't then please forgive me, but if I can, then you can come with me on a tour of Manhattan?"

"... that would be nice..." Calypso said, staring at Percy sadly.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"Are-are you healed yet, my brave one? Do you think you'll be ready to leave soon?"

"What?" Percy said, checking himself. "Yeah, I think so... You want me to go?"

"I..." Her voice broke. "Come on, let's have dinner." Calypso clapped her hands and invisible servants quickly set up a table with beef stew and apple cider.

Soon, Calypso and Percy were sitting at dinner. He was telling her about New York and Camp Half-Blood.

After Percy was finished, Calypso asked, "Tell me, Percy, do you support the gods because they are good, or because they are your family?"

Percy was silent for a few moments before he answered. "I am bound by my blood."

Calypso sighed as she looked at the horizon before Percy spoke again.

"I don't support anyone. And I would happily destroy the gods, happily reduce them to ashes if given the choice. But till then, until the time I can't find a better replacement for the gods, I can't."

"You don't have any friends?" Percy asked after a pause, taking a sip of his Coke. "I mean...wouldn't anyone else live here with you? it's a nice place."

A tear trickled down her cheek. "I...I promised myself I wouldn't speak of this. But-"

She was interrupted by a rumbling sound somewhere out on the lake. A glow appeared on the horizon. It got brighter and brighter until there was a column of fire moving across the surface of the water, coming toward them.

Percy asked. "What is that?"

Calypso sighed. "A visitor."

As the column of fire reached the beach. Calypso stood and bowed to it formally. The flames dissipated, and standing before them was a tall man in gray overalls and a metal leg brace, his beard and hair smoldering with fire.

"Lord Hephaestus," Calypso said. "This is a rare honor."

The fire god grunted. "Calypso. Beautiful as always. Would you excuse us, please, my dear? I need to have a word with our young Perseus."

Hephaestus sat down clumsily at the dinner table and ordered a Pepsi. The invisible servant brought him one, opened it too suddenly, and sprayed soda all over the gods work clothes. Hephaestus roared and spat a few curses and swatted the can away.

"Stupid servants," he muttered. "Good automatons are what she needs. They never act up!"

"Hephaestus," Percy said, "what's going on? Are Annabeth and Hector-"

"They're fine," he said. "Found them way back, she told me the whole story. They're worried sick, you know."

"You haven't told them I'm okay?"

"That's not for me to say," Hephaestus said. "Everyone thinks you're dead. I had to be sure you were coming back before I started telling everyone where you were."

"What do you mean?" Percy said. "Of course, I'm coming back!"

Hephaestus studied him skeptically. He fished something out of his pocket-a metal disk the size of an iPod. He clicked a button and it expanded into a miniature bronze TV. On the screen was news footage of Mount St. Helens, a huge plume of fire and ash trailing into the sky.

"Still uncertain about further eruptions," the newscaster was saying. "Authorities have ordered the evacuation of almost half a million people as a precaution. Meanwhile, ash has fallen as far away as Lake Tahoe and Vancouver, and the entire Mount St. Helens area is closed to traffic within a hundred-mile radius. While no deaths have been reported, minor injuries and illnesses include-"

Hephaestus switched it off. "You caused quite an explosion."

"Oh god."

"The telekhines were scattered," the god said. "Some vaporized. Some got away, no doubt. I don't think they'll be using my forge any time soon. On the other hand, neither will I. the explosion caused Typon to stir in his sleep. We'll have to wait and see-"

"I couldn't release him, could I? I mean, I'm not that powerful!"

The god grunted. "Not that powerful, eh? Could have fooled me. You're the son of the Earthshaker and Death, lad. You don't know your own strength."

"What about Grover and Tyson?" Percy asked.

Hephaestus shook his head. "No word, I'm afraid. I suppose the labyrinth has them."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"If you decide to leave this place, I promised you an answer to your quest. I promised you the way to Daedalus. Well now, here's the thing. It has nothing to do with Ariadne's string. Not really. Sure, the string works. That's what the Titan's army will be after. But the best way through the maze...Theseus had the princess's help. And the princess was a regular mortal. Not a drop of god blood in her. But she was clever, and she could see, lad. She could see very clearly. So what I'm saying is I think you know how to navigate the maze. But on the other hand, if you don't, then you could stay here, immortal, living forever with Calypso. Poor girl she is... I had voted against her banishment but of course, nothing worked. So anyway lad, you could stay here, with no worry of the titans and all that... and your brother Hector will become the child of the prophecy." Hephaestus said.

"Oh..."

"You know, lad you have a great history..."

"Yeah, I know that... Apollo told me..."

"No, more than that... do you know your grandfather on your mother's side was a son of mine?"

"What?" Percy choked on his diet Pepsi.

"He was rare, one in a kind. He could use fire and was a great inventor. He created several machines that helped the people in the factories. I myself use them. He was Carl Einar. Then he married Martha Jonner, a daughter of Athena. They had a child, Gabriella Einar, your mother. She could see through the mist, and then ofcourse you know what happened... Poseidon came, then you came, then came Hades, and here you are right now, talking to me,"

"So what does that have to do with me?" Percy asked.

"I'm saying that you have a family gift, lad. You can use fire. The power to do that runs deep in your veins, your blood. It's faint, and you can't do that right now... but with my blessing... you will be able to unlock that potential to a greater extent." Saying that Hephaestus placed his hand on Percy's head, chanted a few words in ancient Greek and a bright orange glow covered Percy and then died out. "There, now, I am doing this only because I want us to win the war, don't ask for more favors from me,"

Percy was astounded, not knowing what to say, he just bowed down and muttered thanks.

"Oh, I have a few more things for you, I almost forgot..." Hephaestus said and brought out a golden bag and zipped it open.

From inside, he brought out two medieval-style gauntlets made out of celestial bronze and gave it to Percy.

"Here, I saw that you like using your fists more than using swords, so I thought these were fitting for you,"

"Thank you... these are nice." Percy said, wearing them on and testing it out to see if it fits well or not.

"And then this," Hephaestus said, holding a black stygian iron sword. "I noticed that you broke your previous sword, so I made you another. It's similar to the other sword, but it contains stygian iron on one side and celestial bronze on the other..."

"Thank you Hephaestus," Percy said taking the sword and it immediately collapsed to a skull ring.

"Ay... anyway, you must make your decision soon, Perseus, till then farewell."

"I'll-I'll try."

Hephaestus stood. "Goodbye, lad. You did well, destroying the telekhines. I'll always remember you for that."

Then he erupted into a column of flame, and the fire moved over the water, heading back to the world outside.

Percy walked along the beach for several hours. When he finally came back to the meadow, it was very late, maybe four or five in the morning, but Calypso was still in her garden, tending the flowers by starlight. Her moonlace glowed silver, and the other plants responded to the magic, glowing red, yellow, and blue.

"He has ordered you to return," Calypso guessed.

"Well, not ordered. He gave me a choice."

"So you will stay?"

"I would, but...my friends,"

Calypso rose and took Percy's hand.

"You asked about my curse, Percy. I did not want to tell you. the truth is the gods send me companionship from time to time. Every thousand years or so, they allow a hero to wash up on my shores, someone who needs my help. I tend to him and befriend him, but it is never random. The Fates make sure that the sort of hero they send..."

Her voice trembled, and she had to stop.

"What? What have I done to make you sad?"

"They send a person who can never stay," she whispered. "Who can never accept my offer of companionship for more than a little while. They send me a hero I can't help...just the sort of person I can't help falling in love with."

The night was quiet except for the gurgle of the fountains and waves lapping on the shore.

"Me?" I asked.

"If you could see your face." She suppressed a smile, though her eyes were still teary. "Of course, you."

"That's why you've been pulling away all this time?"

"I tried very hard. But I can't help it. The Fates are cruel. They sent you to me, my brave one, knowing that you would break my heart."

"But...I'm just...I mean, I'm just me."

"That is enough," Calypso promised. "I told myself I would not even speak of this. I would let you go without even offering. But I can't. I suppose the Fates knew that, too. You could stay with me, Percy. I'm afraid that is the only way you could help me."

The first red streaks of dawn were lightening the sky on the horizon.

"I can't," Percy told her.

She looked down sadly.

"I would never do anything to hurt you," He said, "but my friends need me. I know how to help them now. I have to get back. But listen, I will try my best to free you... If I am successful, then you will come with me on a tour of New York... If not... then I will try to visit you..."

She shook her head. "No man ever finds Ogygia twice, Percy. When you leave, I will never see you again."

She picked a flower from her garden-a sprig of silver moonlace. Its glow faded as the sunrise came up. Calypso tucked the flower into Percy's T-shirt pocket.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Percy on the forehead, like a blessing. "Now, come to the beach, my hero. And we will send you on your way."

Percy saw that a raft was waiting for him when they reached the beach.

The raft was a ten-foot square of logs lashed together with a pole for a mast and a simple white linen sail.

"This will take you wherever you desire," Calypso promised. "It is quite safe."

"Thank you Calypso, for everything, you took care of me and healed me, but I can't even do something for you..."

"Go, please." Her voice broke. "The Fates are cruel, Percy. Just remember me." Then a little trace of her smile returned. "Plant a garden in Manhattan for me, will you?"

"I promise," Percy said, then he suddenly crashed Calypso in a big hug, something he had picked up from Tyson.

She hugged him back just as tightly. Tears soaked Percy's t-shirt.

"Now, now... Why don't come with me?"

"I can't Percy... I can't, believe me, I have tried it, it doesn't work, as I said, this is my punishment."

Percy sighed. "Alright, listen, a hero only comes to you if they are severely injured, right?"

"Oh, don't tell me you are thinking what I think you are thinking..."

"If I severely injure myself again, then I will be able to come back, right?"

"Yes, but don't put yourself through dangers because of me. I will live forever, but you won't, now go, save the world for me." Calypso said, and Percy stepped onto the raft. Immediately it began to sail from the shore.

"Goodbye Calypso," Percy said waving his hands.

"Bye Percy. Tell the raft where you want to go and set sail!" Calypso reminded him.

Percy nodded. "Manhattan," he said. "I need to visit someone first."

Hours later, the raft washed up at the shore of long island, from where Percy picked up a cab, manipulated the mist, and didn't pay for the ride.

He just sighed as he looked at the nameplate.

'The Jackson's Residence.'

"Uh, home sweet home?" Percy said as he opened the rusty door.

A/N:- So, the new chapter is done! And, uh... the Jackson residence thing? Its his actual home! I hope you like it! I'll be including a lot of it in the next chapter! So now I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave reviews down below for me! Have a nice day, bye!