anti hero - percy jackson ²

x. sewer

"she's trying to divide us."

Silence was Cassandra's worst enemy. Well, besides Hypnos and Morpheus.

Silence left no room for a distraction. And not having any distractions left Cassandra time with her thoughts. And her thoughts... let's just say they weren't exactly made of sunshine and rainbows.

She sat behind Leo on Festus's back, with Jason behind her, and Piper behind him.

Her curse was back—not to its full extent, but it was still there—leaving her nauseous, and exhausted. But she was trying to seem as normal as possible.

She didn't feel like having to explain her life story to the trio.

"Cyclops!" She glanced behind her to find Jason, awake and alert.

"Whoa, sleepyhead" Piper said, holding his waist to keep him balanced.

"D-Detroit" Jason stammered. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought—"

"It's okay" Leo said. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?"

"How did you—the Cyclops—"

"Leo ripped them apart" Piper said. "He was amazing. He can summon fire—"

"It was nothing" Leo said quickly.

Piper laughed. "Shut up, Valdez. I'm going to tell him. Get over it."

And she did—how Leo had single-handedly defeated the Cyclops family; how they'd freed Jason, then noticed the Cyclopes beginning to re-form; how Leo had replaced the dragon's wiring and gotten them back into the air just as they'd started to hear the Cyclopes roaring for vengeance.

Sure, Cassandra was grateful. Leo had done them a huge favor and taking down three Cyclopes by yourself is no easy feat.

But any of those good emotions, were over-powered by her anxiety.

Then, Piper told Jason about what the demigod the Cyclopes had claimed to have eaten.

"I'm not alone, then" Jason said. "There are others like me."

"Jason" Piper said gently, "you were never alone. You've got us."

"I—I know" He said. "But something Hera said. I was having a dream..."

He told them what he'd seen, and what the goddess had said inside her cage—something about a sleeping enemy who would destroy the world if she wasn't stopped, and something about an exchange.

These words weren't anything new to Cassandra, but they confirmed her suspicions.

"An exchange?" Piper asked. "What does that mean?"

Jason shook his head. "But Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—"

"Or save us" Piper said hopefully. "That bit about the sleeping enemy—that sounds like the lady Leo told us about."

Leo cleared his throat. "About that... she kind of appeared to me back in Detroit, in a pool of Porta-Potty sludge."

"I'm already this close to throwing up, and this is not helping" Cassandra muttered, leaning her head over the side of the dragon.

Leo told them about a large face he'd seen in the factory yard. "I don't know if she's completely unkillable" He said, "but she cannot be defeated by toilet seats. I can vouch for that. She wanted me to betray you guys, and I was like, 'Pfft, right, I'm gonna listen to a face in the potty sludge.'"