𝟎𝟎𝟗.𝟒
They did their summons after dark, at a twenty-foot-long pit in front of the septic tank. The tank was bright yellow, with a smiley face and red words painted on the side: HAPPY FLUSH DISPOSAL CO. It didn't quite go with the mood of summoning the dead.
The moon was full. Silver clouds drifted across the sky.
"Minos should be here by now," Nico said, frowning. "It's full dark."
"Maybe he got lost," Augustus said hopefully.
"Hope that son of a bitch got lost." Percy mumbled, he wasn't really looking forward to meeting Minos considering that ghost had some hand in his separation from Patroclus.
Nico poured root beer and tossed barbecue into the pit, then began chanting in Ancient Greek. Immediately the bugs in the woods stopped chirping. In Percy's pocket, the Stygian ice dog whistle started to grow colder, freezing against the side of his leg.
"Make him stop," Tyson whispered to Juliet.
Part of her agreed. This was unnatural. The night air felt cold and menacing. But before she could say anything, the first spirits appeared. Sulfurous mist seeped out of the ground. Shadows thickened into human forms. One blue shade drifted to the edge of the pit and knelt to drink.
"Stop him!" Nico said, momentarily breaking his chant. "Only Bianca may drink!"
Percy drew Riptide. The ghosts retreated with a collective hiss at the sight of my celestial bronze blade. Juliet's body was frozen, was this how she was when she was roaming the underworld. She felt a heavy weight press on her abdomen, looking down she couldn't see anything but it felt as if the spear she'd walked around impaled with in her afterlife followed her wherever she was anywhere near the underworld.
Percy was busy slashing but it was too late to stop the first spirit. He had already solidified into the shape of a bearded man in white robes. A circlet of gold wreathed his head, and even in death his eyes were alive with malice.
"Minos!" Nico said. "What are you doing?"
"My apologies, master," the ghost said, though he didn't sound very sorry. "The sacrifice smelled so good, I couldn't resist." He examined his own hands and smiled. "It is good to see myself again. Almost in solid form—"
"You are disrupting the ritual!" Nico protested. "Get—"
The spirits of the dead began shimmering dangerously bright, and Nico had to take up the chant again to keep them at bay. Juliet clutched onto her stomach, it was aching like hell.
"Yes, quite right, master," Minos said with amusement. "You keep chanting. I've only come to protect you from these liars who would deceive you."
He turned to Percy as if he were some kind of cockroach. "Percy Jackson...my, my. The sons of Poseidon haven't improved over the centuries, have they? One of them now even carries the soul of Achilles? You must remember it was I who judged you into Elysium, pity you couldn't live without that disappointment and had to be reborn again."
Percy surged forward but Annabeth stopped him, there wasn't much you could do to a ghost, Minos turned his eyes to Juliet, who was leaning slightly on Grover while clutching her stomach, "Patroclus didn't quite make the cut after you didn't give him the ancient rites."
Percy growled raising Riptide up again to slash when Juliet held onto his hand and gasped, "Percy..."
Percy wanted to punch him, but his priorities were different, he hauled the bent over Juliet and held her in his arms while glaring at Minos. "We're looking for Bianca di Angelo," he said. "Get lost before I hand you over to Hades myself."
The ghost chuckled. "I understand you once killed my Minotaur with your bare hands. But worse things await you in the maze. Do you really believe Daedalus will help you?"
The other spirits stirred in agitation. Annabeth drew her knife, Augustus pulled out his spear and helped keep them away from the pit. Grover got so nervous he clung to Tyson's shoulder. Percy was busy checking Juliet over for any wounds, there weren't any but she looked as if she was in extreme pain.
"Daedalus cares nothing for you, half-bloods," Minos warned. "You can't trust him. He is old beyond counting, and crafty. He is bitter from the guilt of murder and is cursed by the gods."
"So like you?" Augustus snarked back, getting cut off by Annabeth.
"The guilt of murder?" she asked. "Who did he kill?"
"Do not changed the subject!" the ghost growled. "You lot are hindering Nico. You try to persuade him to give up on his goal. I would make him a lord!"
"Enough, Mions," Nico commanded.
The ghost sneered. "Master, these are your enemies. You must not listen to them! Let me protect you. i will turn their minds to madness, as I did the others."
"The others?" Juliet gasped. "You mean Chris Rodriguez? That was you?"
After Ethan and Chris's little betrayal back last winter, Luke had taken them off service put them on his list of lab rats. They were getting punished for doing the right thing meanwhile Luke was out there playing boss for being an asshole.
"The maze is my property," the ghost said, "not Daedalus's! Those who intrude deserve madness."
"Be gone, Minos!" Nico demanded. "I want to see my sister!"
The ghost bit back his rage. "As you wish, master. But I warn you. You cannot trust these heroes."
With that, he faded into mist. Juliet's ache eased a little making her standup straight again. She still felt the lingering presence of a spear quite literally inside her.
Other spirits rushed forward, but Annabeth and Augustus kept them back. "Bianca, appear!" Nico intoned. He started chanting faster, and the spirits shifted restlessly.
"Any time now," Grover muttered.
Then a silvery light flickered in the trees—a spirit that seemed brighter and stronger than the others. It came closer, and something told them to let it pass. It knelt to drink at the pit. When it arose, it was the ghostly form of Bianca di Angelo.
Nico's chanting faltered. The other spirits started to crowd forward, but Bianca raised her arms and they retreated into the woods.
"Hello, Percy," she said.
She looked the same as she had in life: a green cap set sideways on her thick black hair, dark eyes and olive skin like her brother. She wore jeans and a silvery jacket, the outfit of a Hunter of Artemis. A bow was slung over her shoulder. She smiled faintly, and her whole form flickered.
"Bianca," Percy said. His voice was thick. He'd felt guilty about her death for a long time, but seeing her in front of him was five times as bad, like her death was fresh and new. He remembered searching through the wreckage of the giant bronze warrior she'd sacrificed her life to defeat, and not finding any sign of her.
"I'm so sorry," Percy said.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Percy. I made my own choice. I don't regret it."
"Bianca!" Nico stumbled forward like he was just coming out of a daze.
She turned toward her brother. Her expression was sad, as if she'd been dreading this moment. "Hello, Nico. You've gotten so tall."
"Why didn't you answer me sooner?" he cried. "I've been trying for months!"
"I was hoping you would give up."
"Give up?" He sounded heartbroken. "How can you say that? I'm trying to save you!"
"You can't, Nico. Don't do this. Percy is right."
"No! He let you die! He's not your friend."
Bianca stretched out a hand as if to touch her brother's face, but she was made of mist. Her hand evaporated as it got close to living skin.
"You must listen to me," she said. "Holding a grudge is dangerous for a child of Hades. It is our fatal flaw. You have to forgive. You have to promise me this."
"I can't. Never."
"Percy has been worried about you, Nico. He can help. I let him see what you were up to, hoping he would find you."
"So it was you," Percy said. "You sent those Iris-messages."
Bianca nodded.
"Why are you helping him and not me?" Nico screamed. "It's not fair!"
"You are close to the truth now," Bianca told him. "It's not Percy you're mad at, Nico. It's me."
"No."
"You're mad because I left you to become a Hunter of Artemis. You're mad because I died and left you alone. I'm sorry for that, Nico. I truly am. But you must overcome the anger. And stop blaming Percy for my choices. It will be your doom."
"She's right," Annabeth broke in. "Kronos is rising, Nico. He'll twist anyone he can to his cause."
"I don't care about Kronos," Nico said. "I just want my sister back."
"You can't have that, Nico," Bianca told him gently.
"I'm the son of Hades! I can."
"Don't try," she said. "If you love me, don't..."
Her voice trailed off. Spirits had started to gather around us again, and they seemed agitated. Their shadows shifted. Their voices whispered, Danger!
Juliet felt that danger quite literally in her body.
"Tartarus stirs," Bianca said. "Your power draws the attention of Kronos. The dead must return to the Underworld. It is not safe for us to remain."
"Wait," Nico said. "Please—"
"Good-bye, Nico," Bianca said. "I love you. Remember what I said."
Her form shivered and the ghosts disappeared, leaving them alone with a pit, a Happy Flush septic tank, and a cold full moon.
***
None of them were anxious to travel that night, so they decided to wait until morning. Augustus and Tyson were sharing a room, Grover and Percy crashed on the leather couches in Geryon's living room, Juliet and Annabeth thankfully had separate rooms, Juliet had been preparing for bed, washing herself before slipping into the duvet when the door to her room opened.
She didn't have to turn around to know who it was, she was familiar with Percy's presence.
"I'm so angry these days," he began speaking making her turn to see him laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling, "Like I want to kill anybody who makes even a small mistake. It's...its so much sometime...it's suffocating."
She plopped down beside him, staring at him as he looked lost in his daze. She ran a hand through his hair touching the grey streak softly. "It's hard to adjust immediately, to the emotions of the soul. It's Achilles's characteristics coming into play now that you know about everything."
Percy hummed, his eyes drooping as he moved to lay his head on her lap, "I feel like...like I've known you for years, which I have but, everything is so familiar, it's not like anything is a first, it's as if coming back to a routine."
"Do you want space from me?" She questioned, understanding that he might need time to sort through all his memories and emotions.
Percy's eyes flickered with vulnerability as he looked up at her. "I never want any space from you, we've had too much space for a long time."
Juliet smiled, letting him lay there on her lap with drooping eyes. They stayed silent for some time before a bugging thought made her hesitantly speak up, "Do you..do you feel any pain whenever we come in contact with the underworld?"
Percy hummed sleepily, a frown taking over his face as he answered, "No. Why?"
"Nothing, just a theory, You should sleep." she tried to dismiss it, they didn't need more problems in their life right now, with the war and Labyrinth, they had enough on their plates.
Percy nodded, already drifting into a state of drowsiness. "Yeah, sleep sounds good."
Juliet let him sleep, staring at the ceiling for a while, before drifting off herself.
The next morning they walked down to the cattle guard and said their good- byes.
"Nico, you could come with us," Juliet blurted out. She had grown accustomed travelling the Labyrinth with him, besides the last thing she wanted to do was leave an 11 year old alone in a maddening Labyrinth. He shook his head. Juliet didn't think any of them had slept well in the demon ranch house, but Nico looked worse than anybody else. His eyes were red and his face chalky. He was wrapped in a black robe that must've belonged to Geryon, because it was three sizes too big even for a grown man.
"I need time to think." His eyes wouldn't meet hers, but Juliet could tell from his tone he was still angry. The fact that his sister had come out of the Underworld for Percy and not for him didn't seem to sit well with him.
"Nico," Annabeth said. "Bianca just wants you to be okay."
She put her hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away and trudged up the road toward the ranch house. Maybe it was her imagination, but the morning mist seemed to cling to him as he walked.
"I'm worried about him," Juliet told Percy. "If he starts talking to Minos's ghost again—"
"He'll be all right," Eurytion promised. The cowherd had cleaned up nicely. He was wearing new jeans and a clean Western shirt and he'd even trimmed his beard. He'd put on Geryon's boots. "The boy can stay here and gather his thoughts as long as he wants. He'll be safe, I promise."
"What about you?" Percy asked.
Eurytion scratched Orthus behind one chin, then the other. "Things are going to be run a little different on this ranch from now on. No more sacred cattle meat. I'm thinking about soybean patties. And I'm going to befriend those flesh-eating horses. Might just sign up for the next rodeo."
The idea made Percy shudder. "Well, good luck."
"Yep." Eurytion spit into the grass. "I reckon you'll be looking for Daedalus's workshop now?"
Annabeth's eyes lit up. "Can you help us?"
Eurytion studied the cattle guard, and Juliet got the feeling the subject of Daedalus's workshop made him uncomfortable. "Don't know where it is. But Hephaestus probably would."
"That's what Hera said," Annabeth agreed, Juliet did not know they'd had an encounter with queen anger issues,. "But how do we find Hephaestus?"
Eurytion pulled something from under the collar of his shirt. It was a necklace—a smooth silver disk on a silver chain. The disk had a depression on the middle, like a thumbprint. He handed it to Annabeth.
"Hephaestus comes here from time to time," Eurytion said. "Studies the animals and such so he can make bronze automaton copies. Last time, I— uh—did him a favor. A little trick he wanted to play on my dad, Ares, and Aphrodite. He gave me that chain in gratitude. Said if I ever needed to find him, the disk would lead me to his forges. But only once."
"And you're giving it to me?" Annabeth asked, Augustus did not look impressed, Percy snorted at his sour expression making Juliet jab him with her elbow to stop.
Eurytion blushed. "I don't need to see the forges, miss. Got enough to do here. Just press the button and you'll be on your way."
Annabeth pressed the button and the disk sprang to life. It grew eight metallic legs. Annabeth shrieked and dropped it, much to Eurytion's confusion.
"Spider!" she screamed.
"She's, um, a little scared of spiders," Grover explained. "That old grudge between Athena and Arachne."
"Oh." Eurytion looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, miss."
The spider scrambled to the cattle guard and disappeared between the bars. "Hurry," Augustus said, scowling and earning more suppressed chuckles from Percy. "That thing's not going to wait for us."
Annabeth wasn't anxious to follow, but they didn't have much choice. They said their good-byes to Eurytion, Tyson pulled the cattle guard off the hole, and they dropped back into the maze.