Cressida had flipped out when they'd read a satyr report from a protector named Gleeson Hedge. While the name wasn't familiar to either of them, Cressida seemed to know who it was before she snatched the note from Percy and disappeared somewhere to make an Iris message.
And when she came back, it was to find Annabeth gone and Percy very confused and slightly guilty. Annabeth had called Percy a liar and a coward because despite what he said to Cressida before, that prophecy did have him running scared. And if Cressida found out, she'd hurt him, badly. She was already having trouble dealing with everything, including the fact that she was semi-filling in for her father as camp director, that she didn't need to know that Percy wasn't planning on fighting the prophecy at all - he wasn't even going to try.
All three of them stood separately that night as they burned Beckendorf's shroud, the Ares and Apollo cabin calling a temporary truce to attend. Beckendorf's shroud was made out of metal links like chainmail, yet it still turned to golden smoke that billowed up into the sky.
Both girls also disappeared to do their own things after that, but Cressida didn't do so without talking to Silena first, wrapping the girl in a hug and promising that if it got too much, she could ease her pain, no one could ease Cressida's but the least she could do was help Silena. The daughter of the love goddess appreciated the offer, but she didn't want it, she didn't want to forget anything about the man she loved even if it was pain. Cressida respected that. So did Clarisse, who also hugged Cressida to thank her for the offer and for everything else she'd done. Chris did as well as Cressida wished him luck dealing with Clarisse in the whole Apollo situation. He would need it.
It was only when dinner rolled around that Cressida realised that Percy wasn't there. She'd wanted to talk to him to find out what happened between him and Annabeth because Annabeth was being tight-lipped about it. Pollux was headed back to the sword arena to train again so with a kiss on his sister's cheek, he left and Cressida went off to track down Percy, except he wasn't in his cabin either. She had no idea where he went.
At least until Nico appeared inside her cabin.
"Cressida! Cressida!" he called as she woke up, trying to get some sleep that hopefully didn't end in nightmares.
"Nico? What's wrong? What are you doing here?" she asked as she sat up, dressed in an orange tank top and sweat shorts.
"I-I messed up. And I need your help. Please."
"What did you do?" she asked as she began to tug on some sneakers, not having time to slip socks on.
"My father tricked me. The plan - it's all messed up and now Percy's in trouble."
She sighed. "What kind of trouble?"
"The only way Luke was able to hold Kronos' spirit inside him was by bathing in the River Styx," Nico began.
"By the gods."
"And the only way Percy survives a battle with him is if he's as invincible as Luke is."
"Nico, please don't tell me that he-"
"Not yet," Nico interrupted. "My father said that if I brought Percy to him first, he'd tell me about my mother. He tricked me and now Percy is in his dungeon."
"Percy is sitting in a dungeon in the Underworld where he's about to bathe in the River Styx. Papa, help me, I think I'm going to have a panic attack," Cressida exhaled.
"I can get him out and to the Styx, but I need your help to fend off my father's minions," Nico explained.
"Let's go."
"I can't shadow travel into my father's kingdom with you, but I can get you to the entrance. It's fairly simple. Just meet us by the Styx, we'll probably get there before you."
Cressida ran to her bedside table where she grabbed two vials full of gold liquid and stuffed them into her sneakers. "Let's go."
And Nico took her hand as they melted into the shadows.
******************************************************************
True to his word, Nico had busted Percy out of his father's dungeon and with the help of Mrs O'Leary, they made it to the river, where he crumpled into a heap on the black sand. Percy fed him some of the ambrosia that he always kept on him, especially when he was around Cressida.
"Your powers drain you too much," Percy noted.
He nodded sleepily. "With great power ... comes great need to take a nap. Wake me up later."
"Whoa, zombie dude." Percy caught him before he could pass out again. "We're at the river. You need to tell me what to do."
"My father will be coming soon," he said. "Hopefully, backup will be here sooner, but we should hurry."
"Back up?" Percy questioned but Nico didn't answer as he stared at the black river.
The River Styx's current swirled with strange objects – broken toys, ripped-up college diplomas, wilted homecoming corsages – all the dreams people had thrown away as they'd passed from life into death.
"So...I just jump in?" Percy asked after a time.
"You have to prepare yourself first," Nico said, "or the river will destroy you. It will burn away your body and soul."
"Sounds fun," he muttered.
"This is no joke," Nico warned. "There is only one way to stay anchored to your mortal life. You have to ..."
Nico trailed off as a Greek warrior appeared behind Percy. Achilles.
The hero had warned Luke away from this and Luke had disregarded the warning. And now here he was giving Percy the same warning. And just like Luke, Percy couldn't turn back either. If he had any hope of saving everything and everyone he loved - at defeating Kronos, he had to do this.
He'd also warned him that if Percy lost sight of what kept him mortal, the Styx would burn him to ashes and he could cease to exist, for no man could be completely invulnerable.
But, like the idiot he was, after the ominous warning, Percy said, "I don't suppose you could tell me Luke's mortal point?"
Achilles scowled. "'Prepare yourself, foolish boy. Whether you survive this or not, you have sealed your doom!"
With that happy thought, he vanished.
"Percy," Nico said, "maybe he's right."
"This was your idea!"
"I know, but now that we're here –"
"Just wait on the shore. If anything happens to me ... Well, maybe Hades will get his wish, and you'll be the child of the prophecy after all."
Nico didn't look happy about that, but he didn't say anything. And Percy took a deep breath as he concentrated on the small of his back - a tiny point just opposite his belly button. As he pictured a bungee cord connecting him to the world from the small of his back, and he stepped into the river.
******************************************************************
Imagine jumping into a pit of boiling acid. Now multiply that pain times fifty. You still won't be close to understanding what it felt like to swim in the Styx. Percy had planned to be all dramatic and walk in slow and courageous like a real hero but as soon as the water touched his legs, his muscles turned to jelly and he fell face-first into the current.
And for the first time in his life, he couldn't breathe underwater. But as his body burned, he saw faces in the water - Rachel, Grover, Tyson, his mother, Annabeth - but they faded as soon as they appeared.
"Percy," his mom said. "I give you my blessing."
"Be safe, brother!" Tyson pleaded.
"He was the bravest friend I had," Annabeth said, the moment from his funeral last summer.
"Enchiladas!" Grover said.
But he was losing the fight. The pain was too much. His hands and feet were melting into water, his soul was being torn from his body, and he could barely remember who he was.
"Can you remember nothing, Barnacle Brain?" a familiar voice said. "The cord! Your lifeline!"
Suddenly there was a tug in his lower back. The current was pulling him, but he wasn't drifting away anymore.
"Hey, Fish Face." Even without the nicknames, Percy would recognise Cressida's voice anywhere. "I thought you said you'd wait for me?"
The cord strengthened.
He could see her now, her bright indigo eyes lighting up the dark water. They were at Coney Island - the place he wanted to take her when he was finally allowed to take her on an actual date. She was dressed in a band tee - ABBA, this time - leggings, and purple Doc Martins that matched her eyes. Her hair was out and floating behind her in the wind, a backwards baseball cap on her head, as she smiled at him - he was fairly certain that had been his New York Mets cap that had gone missing from his room. That was it. He'd been so excited to take her on their first date, to show her the park, that he'd almost lost her in the crowd. She was biting her lips as she tried not to laugh at how excited he was like a little kid in a candy store.
"You're such an idiot sometimes, but at least you're cute," she smiled before she reached out her hand. "Come on. Take my hand. That way you won't lose me again, because the gods know what you'd do without me."
Memories came flooding back - sharper and more colourful as Percy stopped dissolving. His name was Percy Jackson.
He reached up and took Cressida's hand.
And Percy burst out of the river as he collapsed onto the sand, Nico scrambling back.
"Are you okay?" he stammered. "Your skin. Oh, gods. You're hurt!"
Percy's hands were bright red, and it felt like every inch of his body had been broiled over a slow flame. And while Nico stumbled back, his backup didn't.
She fell to her knees as she yanked a cork out of a vile with her teeth and tipped his mouth open and his tongue exploded with the taste of his mother's cookies before a hand cupped his cheek.
"Come on, Captain Nemo. Eyes on me," said the same melodious voice that pulled him out of the river in the first place. "Cold."
And he almost started shivering as his body temperature suddenly dropped and the colour of his skin returned to normal. And when his eyes finally fluttered open, they were met with the same startling purple that he saw in the river.
"Cress," he breathed, not quite believing that she was right in front of him as she smiled.
"Hi, Fish Face."
"Are you - Are you real?" he asked and as nervous as she was about what the hell happened to him inside that river, she dropped her lips to his forehead.
"I'm as real as you are stupid," she answered as she sat up. "I see what you meant when you said that this was the biggest and dumbest plan you've ever come up with. How are you feeling?" she asked as she helped him sit up, Percy's hand instantly going for hers as she then helped him to his feet.
"I'm fine....I think," he said as Cressida dusted some of the sand off him.
"Do you feel stronger?" Nico asked, but before Percy could answer, a voice boomed,
"THERE!"
An army of the dead marched towards them. A hundred skeletal Roman legionnaires led the way with shields and spears. Behind them came an equal number of British redcoats with bayonets fixed. In the middle of the host, Hades himself rode a black-and-gold chariot pulled by nightmare horses, their eyes and manes smouldering with fire. "You will not escape me this time, Percy Jackson!" Hades bellowed. "Destroy him!"
"Father, no!" Nico shouted, but it was too late. The front line of Roman zombies lowered their spears and advanced.
"You said spirits are corporal in the Underworld, right?" Cressida asked and Nico furrowed a brow.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because that means my powers will work on them down here," she answered as her eyes sparked and her hands burst into flames, as she walked up to where Mrs O'Leary was already growling at the army, ready to pounce.
And that set Percy off.
She was always sacrificing herself and her own well-being for him and now here he was about to face an army and she was doing it again, despite anything and everything that happened between them.
Percy let out a yell and the River Styx exploded. A black tidal wave smashed into the legionnaires. Spears and shields flew everywhere. Roman zombies began to dissolve, smoke coming off their bronze helmets.
Cressida's fire went out in surprise as the water swirled around her, not touching her or Nico or their hellhound friend.
The redcoats lowered their bayonets, but Percy didn't wait for them. Instead, like the idiot he was, he charged.
It was the stupidest thing he'd ever done and that was saying a lot. A hundred muskets fired at him - point blank. All of them missed.
Percy crashed into their line and started hacking at them with his sword. Bayonets jabbed. Swords slashed. Guns reloaded and fired. Nothing touched him.
He whirled through the ranks, slashing redcoats to dust one after the other. His ADHD fighting for him: stab, dodge, cut, deflect, roll. Riptide was no longer a sword. It was an arc of pure destruction.
As he fought, over his shoulder he saw a flash of bronze as Cressida fought as well. And of course, she was skilled enough to not need the Curse of Achilles to avoid the gunfire. At least until Percy's eyes landed on the black chariot and its rider. His staff was aimed in Cressida's direction as he waited for a clear shot, and she was completely unaware of it.
And Percy felt a rage like no other as he raced for her, the legionaries in his way not even standing a chance. And he got in front of her, just in time to take the blast.
They were both knocked backward onto the black sand. And when Percy sat up to see the blood trickle down Cressida's face from where she'd hit a rock, he saw red.
He turned to Hades who fired another block of dark energy that Percy was able to deflect before he leapt into the dark chariot and slammed into him, both of them tumbling out of the chariot.
The next thing he knew, his knee was planted on Hades' chest as he held the collar of his royal robes in one fist, and the tip of his sword was poised right over the god's face.
Silence.
The army did nothing to defend their master. And when Percy glanced back, he realised why. There was nothing left of them but weapons in the sand and piles of smoking, empty uniforms. He had destroyed them all. With help, of course. Help that was leaning on Mrs O'Leary as she drank the other vial of Solace Solution. She was ok. But she almost wasn't because of the god beneath him.
Hades swallowed. "Now, Jackson, listen here ..."
"No, you listen," Percy spat. "You already took Castor away from Cress, you're not touching her or Pollux because we will end up right back here. And I can't kill you," he snarled through gritted teeth. "But I can hurt you, just ask Ares. But, because I'm a nice person, I'll let you go. But first, tell me about that trap!"
Hades melted into nothing, leaving him holding empty black robes.
Percy cursed as he got to his feet. Now that the danger was over, he realised how tired he was, even with the Solace Solution running through his system. Every muscle ached and his clothes were slashed to pieces and full of bullet olds but there wasn't a mark on him.
Nico's mouth hung open. "You just ... with a sword ... you just –"
"I think the river thing worked," Percy said.
"Oh, gee," he said sarcastically. "You think?"
Mrs O'Leary barked happily and wagged her tail. She bounded around, sniffing empty uniforms and hunting for bones.
Percy then walked to the edge of the river as he lifted Hade's robe, faces of tormented souls shimmering in the fabric. "Be free," he said as he dropped the robe in the water and watched as it swirled away, dissolving in the current.
Percy then turned to Cressida as he walked over to her.
"I guess positive thinking worked this time," she grinned but he was more concerned with the blood still on her face.
"Are you ok?' he asked as he pushed some of her hair back to see the unmarked skin that had healed.
"I'm fine," she promised, and he just melted into her as he hugged her.
"How did you get here?" he marvelled as he inhaled the smell of grapes, all the tension leaving his body as he revelled in the fact that she was ok.
"Nico. He woke me up and told me what you were doing and then brought me to the entrance."
Percy still had his arm around her, hugging her to his side as he turned to Nico. Though before he could speak, an involuntary shiver ran through his body as Cressida's hand unknowingly hovered over his Achille's spot as if she was protecting it but there was no way she could've known about it.
"Go back to your father," he told Nico. "Tell him he owes me for letting him go. Find out what's going to happen to Mount Olympus and convince him to help."
Nico stared at him. "I – I can't. He'll hate me now. I mean ... even more."
"You have to," Percy said. "You owe me, too."
His ears turned red. "Percy, I told you I was sorry. Please ... let me come with you. I want to fight."
"You'll be more help down here."
"You mean you don't trust me anymore," he said miserably.
"Nico," Cressida said, her voice incredibly calm and soothing. "You know that we're outnumbered, but if you convince your father to help us, even an army the size of what we just destroyed could mean the difference between winning and losing. And you are the only person who can convince Hades to help us," she reasoned, and she had a good point that seemed to make Nico feel a bit better. "And I'm sure Percy will forgive you if you make it happen. Right, Fish Face?" she said with a pointed look that he both couldn't argue with and couldn't say no to.
"Right," he sighed before looking back to Nico. "She's right."
"As usual," she bragged. She wasn't exactly sure what had gotten into Percy after his little bath, but she wasn't against it.
"Give it a rest, Drama Queen," Percy said as he playfully squeezed her tighter and her smile grew a bit bigger.
"Never."
"But yeah, you are the only person who might be able to get him to listen," Percy said and Nico sighed.
"That's a depressing thought. All right. I'll do my best. Besides, he's still hiding something from me about my mom. Maybe I can find out what."
"If you can make it through the Labyrinth on your own, changing your father's mind should be cake," Cressida said with a nonchalant wave.
"Good luck," Percy said. "Now we have to go."
"Where?" Nico said.
"To get this war started. It's time I found Luke."
******************************************************************
Once they got up to the land of the living, Percy had his mom's cell phone as he tried calling Annabeth again, the girl picking up this time and not leaving him to voicemail.
"Hey. You get my message?" he asked, the phone on speaker so Cressida could hear too.
"Percy, where have you been? Your message said almost nothing! We've been worried sick! And Pollux is ready to kill you for taking Cress without telling him again."
"I'm fine, Books. Tell my brother not to worry, so long as he brought me a change of clothes and my armour. "
"Yeah, he's got your stuff. What the hell happened?"
"We'll fill you in later," Percy said. "Where are you?"
"We're on our way like you asked, almost to the Queens Midtown Tunnel. But what are you guys planning? We've left the camp virtually undefended and there's no way the gods –"
"Books, trust us. Kronos doesn't give a damn about camp," Cressida assured her.
"We'll see you there," Percy farewelled before he hung up, his hands trembling as he put the phone away and turned to Cressida. "Are you ready?"
She only reached out to lace their fingers together, his skin growing warm like he was back in the Styx again as she met his green eyes.
"Let's end this."