𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐗𝐈𝐑, 𝐏𝐉

𝟎𝟎𝟑.𝟓

𝟎𝟎𝟑.𝟓

"What are they fighting about anyway?" Augustus asked, now looking at a fuming Percy glare at one of the Ares kid, while Juliet completely unknown to the anger continued softly scolding the kids.

Annabeth ignored him while she scribbled on her inspection scroll, giving both cabins a one out of five.

Augustus then found himself staring at her, which was stupid since he'd seen her a billion times. She and him were about the same height this summer, which was a relief. Still, she seemed so much more mature. It was kind of intimidating. He had thought something had been there between them last summer, before Annabeth had told him he was somewhere down below and not even as worthwhile as Luke. Augustus was not a pushover, and despite Juliet trying to tell him to let it go because Annabeth's supposed fatal flaw was pride. 

But his entire life, Augustus had never been treated in any sense less than anyone, he'd been the number one kid in school, the number one kid in sports, the only child in his family, the sole heir to a multi billionaire business. He'd never been reduced to being something so worthless, that he got compared to a psychopathic murderer. He wasn't entitled, he was just merely confident in himself.

And worst of all, she hadn't even tried talking to him. She'd just got called him worthless, compared him to Luke and then up and left. And when he, the clear victim in the situation had gotten fed up and tried to move on, she'd gotten angry about it.

His entire life, Augustus had been big on communication, his family's fucking business was communication! He still remembered his mom coaxing him when he was young about how anything could be resolved with a good talk. But on the contrary Annabeth didn't communicate at all, she was one of those people who liked to pent stuff in before brashly exploding it out and hurting people around her, when he'd tried to help her communicate, she'd just lashed out. And he wasn't here to be her punching back. 

He wasn't Percy, he wasn't ready to give up everything and his own life like him for Juliet. He was a normal dude, who had a crush on a girl and the girl hurt him.

Finally Annabeth said, "That flying chariot."

"What?"

"You asked what they were fighting about."

"Oh. Oh, right."

"They captured it in a raid in Philadelphia last week. Some of Luke's demigods were there with that flying chariot. The Apollo cabin seized it during the battle, but the Ares cabin led the raid. So they've been fighting about who gets it ever since."

They ducked as Michael Yew's chariot dive-bombed an Ares camper. The Ares camper tried to stab him and cuss him out in rhyming couplets. He was pretty creative about rhyming those cuss words. Juliet stood in the middle of it shrieking and yelling while Percy tried to stop her from punching her siblings.

"We're fighting for our lives," Augustus said, "and they're bickering about some stupid chariot."

"They'll get over it," Annabeth said. "Clarisse will come to her senses."

He scanned the reports Percy had hastily handed him and they inspected a few more cabins. Demeter got a four. Hephaestus got a three and probably should've gotten lower, but with Beckendorf being gone and all, they cut them some slack. Hermes got a two, which was no surprise. All campers who didn't know their godly parentage were shoved into the Hermes cabin, and since the gods were kind of forgetful, that cabin was always overcrowded. Not to say Augustus had forgotten to clean up his History homework slathered all around the bunk.

Finally they got to Athena's cabin, which was orderly and clean as usual. Books were straightened on the shelves. The armor was polished. Battle maps and blueprints decorated the walls. Only Annabeth's bunk was messy. It was covered in papers, and her silver laptop was still running.

"Vlacas," Annabeth muttered, which was basically calling herself an idiot in Greek.

Her second-in-command, Malcolm, suppressed a smile. "Yeah, um . . . we cleaned everything else. Didn't know if it was safe to move your notes."

That was probably smart. Annabeth had a bronze knife that she reserved just for monsters and people who messed with her stuff.

Malcolm grinned at Augustus. "We'll wait outside while you finish inspection." The Athena campers filed out the door while Annabeth cleaned up her bunk.

He shuffled uneasily and pretended to go through some more reports. Technically, even on inspection, it was against camp rules for two campers to be . . . like, alone in a cabin. 

That rule had come up a lot when Silena and Beckendorf and Percy and Juliet started dating. While Silena and Beckendrof sneaked around and tried to do their best to not be caught, Percy and Juliet did it publicly with no care, they'd even got caught on the beach by a harpie at night and Percy had done nothing but argue with said Harpie, even when Juliet tried to tone it down, Percy was out there throwing the biggest fuck you to the rules by crashing in the Apollo cabin, he pretty much had a second home at this point in cabin 7. 

Percy Jackson was borderline crazy, Augustus was starting to see it in a less comedic way now. 

Augustus watched Annabeth straighten up. She closed her laptop, which had been given to her as a gift from the inventor Daedalus last summer.

He cleared his throat. "So . . . get any good info from that thing?"

"Too much," she said. "Daedalus had so many ideas, I could spend fifty years just trying to figure them all out."

"Yeah," he muttered. "That would be fun."

She shuffled her papers—mostly drawings of buildings and a bunch of handwritten notes.  He knew she wanted to be an architect someday, before everything had went to shit, he'd enjoyed asking her what she was working on. Physics was one of his favourite subjects and he'd loved when Annabeth gave him the craziest ideas about buildings that sometimes defied the basic laws of Physics.

"You know . . ." She brushed her hair behind her ear, like she does when she's nervous. "This whole thing with Beckendorf and Silena. It kind of makes you think. About . . . what's important. About losing people who are important."

He nodded. A scoff on the verge of lips, Silena and Beckendrof? Really? After she'd humiliated him last summer, "Accidents shouldn't really be something to make you realise who is important in your life," His words were sharp, "If you truly care, you would care from the start."

Annabeth shuffled on her feet, eyes glazing over. And maybe there was something really wrong with Augustus because despite the girl looking like she would sob, he couldn't find it in himself to care.

He remembered last school year, his classmate had argued with him for bad pass in football, the next day the same classmate had come to apologise, but Augustus had ignored him like he was air. That time Juliet had jokingly told him that his fatal flaw was probably callousness. Looking at it now, he probably was unforgiving his entire life, he couldn't remember the last time he'd forgiven someone. And Annabeth wasn't even seeking forgiveness.

"Gus I-"

"Augustus," His gaze met her, and Annabeth realised maybe she'd made an unforgivable mistake, "It's Augustus, if you don't mind."

The offended look on his face didn't hinder him at all, he simply averted his eyes, he'd learnt the trick from his father, his adopted father turned his gaze away whenever firing an employee, he told Augustus he could never look in the eyes of the employee and let guilt swallow him to the point he'd forgive the person, "Augustus, what I said last summer, look, I didn't mean it."

"Okay."

His response was so void of any emotion Annabeth stared at him confused, what did he mean okay? "What?"

he finally met her eyes, and Annabeth wished he hadn't, they were so cold, "You didn't mean it, what should I do about it? You still said it, I still heard it, It still hurt me, but you didn't mean it?"

"Please-" He cut off her teary plea, averting his eyes again and harshly swallowing, "Can we finish up here? I've got a class with the new campers for spear practice."

Annabeth stared at him for a moment before taking in a harsh breath and turning to her inspection scroll. "Three out five," she muttered, "for a sloppy head counselor."

They exited the cabin then, midway towards climbing wall, encountering the bickering pair, Juliet had her hands flailing around in frustration while Percy, Augustus was pretty sure, was just staring at Juliet with an infuriating smile.

"He was crying Perce! He's 12 year old, you made a 12 year old cry!"

"Babe, I didn't mean it," He gave her the puppy eyed look, before spotting them and giving a fist bump to Augustus and taking the files from him, "Oh, thanks for covering for me, Gus,"

"No problem," He shrugged, keenly aware of Annabeth standing by his side, "Now I've gotta go, teach my class." 

"Yeah pull your weight here dude, you gotta work at this camp to get food," Juliet drawled out, while trying to show off her non existent muscles, for someone as good at combat as her, she really had stick arms. 

"Okay, Bear Grylls, whatever you say," He sassed her back before shoving his hands in his pocket and giving an easy smile, "Gotta go, Later!"

Juliet fixed her gaze on Annabeth after Augustus walked away, she looked extremely downcast and even her eyes were read like she had been crying.

"You good?" Juliet questioned softly, Annabeth just nodded, turning around to leave, "Yeah, everything is fine."

Juliet stared worriedly at her friends, Annabeth was prideful and Augustus was crass. She would never admit her mistake and he would never forgive her. Match made in hell.

The distinct voice of sobbing broke her away, she watched the young Ares kid sob in his palms behind a tree. She turned towards Percy giving him an unimpressed look before pointing at the kid, "Fix it."

Percy sighed while trudging towards the crying 12 year old, "Yes ma'am,"

At least her relationship seemed normal right now.

That afternoon they had an assembly at the campfire to burn Beckendorf's burial shroud and say their good-byes. Even the Ares and Apollo cabins called a temporary truce to attend.

Beckendorf's shroud was made out of metal links, like chain mail. Augustus didn't see how it would burn, but the Fates must've been helping out. The metal melted in the fire and turned to golden smoke, which rose into the sky. The campfire flames always reflected the campers' moods, and today they burned black.

He hoped Beckendorf's spirit would end up in Elysium. Maybe he'd even choose to be reborn and try for Elysium in three different lifetimes so he could reach the Isles of the Blest, which was like the Underworld's ultimate party headquarters. If anyone deserved it, Beckendorf did. He was still freaked out about the concept that Percy was previously in Elysium and had been reborn. The whole Achilles and Patroclus stuff messed his brain up.

Annabeth left without a word to him, Good, it was better for both of them. Juliet and Percy stood by the sidelines, before he saw them heading over to Silena. He let the couple talk to the daughter of Aphrodite as he opting to go join his siblings.

While Juliet was negotiating with Clarisse, Percy took his leave to go check on Mrs. O' Leary.

Mrs. O'Leary saw him before he saw her, which was a pretty good trick considering she's the size of a garbage truck. He walked into the arena, and a wall of darkness slammed into him.

"WOOF!"

The next thing he knew he was flat on the ground with a huge paw on his chest and an oversize Brillo- pad tongue licking his face.

"Ow!" Percy said. "Hey, girl. Good to see you too. Ow!"

It took a few minutes for Mrs. O'Leary to calm down and get off him. By then he was pretty much drenched in dog drool, Juliet wasn't going to get anywhere near him now. She wanted to play fetch, so Percy picked up a bronze shield and tossed it across the arena.

Soon she started barking—a sound slightly louder than an artillery gun—like she needed to go for a walk. The other campers didn't think it was funny when she went to the bathroom in the arena. It had caused more than one unfortunate slip-and-slide accident. So Percy opened the gates of the arena, and she bounded straight toward the woods.

He jogged after her, not too concerned that she was getting ahead. Nothing in the woods could threaten Mrs. O'Leary. Even the dragons and giant scorpions ran away when she came close.

When he finally tracked her down, she wasn't using the facilities. She was in a familiar clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial. The place didn't look so good. The grass had turned yellow. The three topiary thrones had lost all their leaves. But that's not what surprised him. In the middle of the glade stood the weirdest trio he'd ever seen: Juniper the tree nymph, Nico di Angelo, and a very old, very fat satyr.

Nico was the only one who didn't seem freaked out by Mrs. O'Leary's appearance. His Stygian iron sword hung at his side. He was only twelve, but he looked much older and sadder.

He nodded when he saw Percy, and Percy already knew why he was here, the offer he'd made last time. Fuck the offer, that scared Percy shitless.

The old satyr didn't look nearly so happy. "Will someone—what is this underworld creature doing in my forest!" He waved his arms and trotted on his hooves as if the grass were hot. "You there, Percy Jackson! Is this your beast?"

"Sorry, Leneus," Percy said. "That's your name, right?"

The satyr rolled his eyes. His fur was dust-bunny gray, and a spiderweb grew between his horns. His belly would've made him an invincible bumper car. "Well, of course I'm Leneus. Don't tell me you've forgotten a member of the Council so quickly. Now, call off your beast!"

"WOOF!" Mrs. O'Leary said happily.

The old satyr gulped. "Make it go away! Juniper, I will not help you under these circumstances!"

Juniper turned toward Percy. She was pretty in a dryad-y way, with her purple gossamer dress and her elfish face, but her eyes were green-tinted with chlorophyll from crying.

"Percy," she sniffled. "I was just asking about Grover. I know something's happened. He wouldn't stay gone this long if he wasn't in trouble. I was hoping that Leneus—"

"I told you!" the satyr protested. "You are better off without that traitor."

Juniper stamped her foot. "He is not a traitor! He's the bravest satyr ever, and I want to know where he is!"

"WOOF!"

Leneus's knees started knocking. "I . . . I won't answer questions with this hellhound sniffing my tail!"

Nico looked like he was trying to not crack up. "I'll walk the dog," he volunteered.

He whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary bounded after him to the far end of the grove.

Leneus huffed indignantly and brushed the twigs off his shirt. "Now, as I was trying to explain, young lady, your boyfriend has not sent any reports since we voted him into exile."

"You tried to vote him into exile," Percy corrected. "Chiron and Dionysus stopped you."

"Bah! They are honorary Council members. It wasn't a proper vote."

"I'll tell Dionysus you said that."

Leneus paled. "I only meant . . . Now see here, Jackson. This is none of your business."

"Grover's my friend," he said. "He wasn't lying to you about Pan's death. I saw it myself. You were just too scared to accept the truth."

Leneus's lips quivered. "No! Grover's a liar and good riddance. We're better off without him."

Percy pointed at the withered thrones, trying to get his anger in check. He didn't have minor anger episodes now, he went completely ballistic. "If things are going so well, where are your friends? Looks like your Council hasn't been meeting lately."

"Maron and Silenus . . . I . . . I'm sure they'll be back," he said, but Percy could hear the panic in his voice. "They're just taking some time off to think. It's been a very unsettling year.

"It's going to get a lot more unsettling," he promised. "Leneus, we need Grover. There's got to be a way you can find him with your magic."

The old satyr's eye twitched. "I'm telling you, I've heard nothing. Perhaps he's dead." Juniper choked back a sob.

"He's not dead," Percy said. "I can feel that much."

"Empathy links," Leneus said disdainfully. "Very unreliable."

"So ask around," he insisted. "Find him. There's a war coming. Grover was preparing the nature spirits."

"Without my permission! And it's not our war."

Percy grabbed him by the shirt, which seriously wasn't like him, or wasn't like him till last year, but now he'd unlocked Achilles inside of himself, and apparently Achilles was a dude with major anger issues. "Listen, Leneus. When Kronos attacks, he's going to have packs of hellhounds. He's going to destroy everything in his path—mortals, gods, demigods. Do you think he'll let the satyrs go free? You're supposed to be a leader. So LEAD. Get out there and see what's happening. Find Grover and bring Juniper some news. Now, GO!"

Percy didn't push him very hard, but he was kind of top-heavy. He fell on his furry rump, then scrambled to his hooves and ran away with his belly jiggling. "Grover will never be accepted! He will die an outcast!"

When he'd disappeared into the bushes, Juniper wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to get you involved. Leneus is still a lord of the Wild. You don't want to make an enemy of him."

"No problem," he said, cracking his knuckles, another new habit he'd gotten cracking random body parts of his when trying to reign in the anger. "I've got worse enemies than overweight satyrs."

Nico walked back to them. "Good job, Percy. Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I'd say you shook him up pretty well."

He tried for a smile, but Nico's presence meant the offer he'd made, and Percy wasn't ready to accept the offer yet. "Welcome back. Did you come by just to see Juniper?"

He blushed. "Um, no. That was an accident. I kind of . . . dropped into the middle of their conversation."

"He scared us to death!" Juniper said. "Right out of the shadows. But, Nico, you are the son of Hades and all. Are you sure you haven't heard anything about Grover?"

Nico shifted his weight. "Juniper, like I tried to tell you . . . even if Grover died, he would reincarnate into something else in nature. I can't sense things like that, only mortal souls."

"But if you do hear anything?" she pleaded, putting her hand on his arm. "Anything at all?"

Nico's cheeks got even brighter red. "Uh, you bet. I'll keep my ears open."

"We'll find him, Juniper," Percy promised. "Grover's alive, I'm sure. There must be a simple reason why he hasn't contacted us."

She nodded glumly. "I hate not being able to leave the forest. He could be anywhere, and I'm stuck here waiting. Oh, if that silly goat has gotten himself hurt—"

Mrs. O'Leary bounded back over and took an interest in Juniper's dress.

Juniper yelped. "Oh, no you don't! I know about dogs and trees. I'm gone!"

She went poof into green mist. Mrs. O'Leary looked disappointed, but she lumbered off to find another target, leaving Nico and Percy alone.

Nico tapped his sword on the ground. A tiny mound of animal bones erupted from the dirt. They knit themselves together into a skeletal field mouse and scampered off. "I was sorry to hear about Beckendorf."

A lump formed in his throat. "How did you—"

"I talked to his ghost."

"Oh . . . right." Percy'd never get used to the fact that this twelve-year-old kid spent more time talking with the dead than the living. "Did he say anything?"

"He doesn't blame you. He figured you'd be beating yourself up, and he said you shouldn't."

"Is he going to try for rebirth?"

Nico shook his head. "He's staying in Elysium. Said he's waiting for someone. Not sure what he meant, but he seems okay with death."

A zap went through Percy when he heard the words, waiting for someone. Beckendrof was doing the same thing Achilles had done, waiting for Patroclus, who never came. 

Nico chewed his lip. "You know why I'm here."

A feeling of dread started to build in Percy's chest. Ever since Nico first proposed his plan for beating Kronos last summer, He'd had nightmares about it. He would show up occasionally and press Percy for an answer, but he kept putting him off. He couldn't imagine going through what he went through in Troy all over again. Maybe he should let Juliet go to Styx, it was better that way, as long she would stay safe, he could die peacefully.

"Nico, I don't know," Percy said. "It seems pretty extreme."

"You've got Typhon coming in, what . . . a week? Most of the other Titans are unleashed now and on Kronos's side. Maybe it's time to think extreme."

Percy looked back toward the camp. Even from this distance he could hear the Ares and Apollo campers fighting again, yelling curses and spouting bad poetry. He could hear Juliet yelling again, her voice seemed so tired, Percy wanted to put he back to bed.

"They're no match for the Titan army," Nico said. "You know that. This comes down to you and Luke. And there's only one way you can beat Luke."

"We can give you the same power," Nico urged. "You heard the Great Prophecy. Unless you want to have your soul reaped by a cursed blade . . ."

Percy wondered how Nico had heard the prophecy— probably from some ghost.

"You can't prevent a prophecy," he said.

"But you can fight it." Nico had a strange, hungry light in his eyes. "You can become invincible."

"Maybe we should wait. Try to fight without—"

"No!" Nico snarled. "It has to be now!"

Percy stared at him. He hadn't seen his temper flare like that in a long time, un lucky for him, Percy wasn't the same as when Nico had met him at Westover Hall, Percy's eyes narrowed as he replied back in a sharp voice. "You don't tell me what to do,"

He watched the momentarily fear in Nico's eyes and tried to reign himself, this was a 12 year old he was talking to, he sighed before continuing. "Look Nico, I get it, you are trying to help me, but I'm not Just Percy, My soul is Achilles's, I've went through what you are making me do again, so I'm sorry that I'm a little skeptical, because the last time I went into war with the power of styx, I ended up sacrificing the love of my life to the gods."

Nico took a deep breath. "Percy, all I mean . . . when the fighting starts, we won't be able to make the journey. This is our last chance. I'm sorry if I'm being too pushy, but two years ago my sister gave her life to protect you. I want you to honor that. Do whatever it takes to stay alive and defeat Kronos."

Percy didn't like the idea. Then he thought about Juliet crying in his bed and telling him she was scared. Immediately the decision was made for him.

Nico had a point. If Kronos attacked New York, the campers would be no match for his forces. He had to do something. Nico's way was dangerous—maybe even deadly. But it might give him a fighting edge.

"All right," He decided. "What do we do first?"

His cold creepy smile made Percy sorry he'd agreed. "First we'll need to retrace Luke's steps. We need to know more about his past, his childhood."

Percy shuddered, thinking about Luke. "Why do we need to know about that?"

He knew enough, He knew Luke was an egotistical bastard who'd traumatised his girlfriend by locking her in the basement of the big house. He knew a lot more shit than necessary and he didn't want to delve deeper into it.

"I'll explain when we get there," Nico said. "I've already tracked down his mother. She lives in Connecticut."

Percy stared at him, there was something wrong, this didn't seem right.

"Luke ran away when he was really young," Percy said. "I didn't think his mom was alive."

"Oh, she's alive." The way he said it made him wonder what was wrong with her. What kind of horrible person could she be?

"Okay . . ." He said. "Wait for me here, I need to talk to Jules first,"

"No!" Nico seemed almost manic as he clutched onto his hand, "We need to leave right now!"

Leaving without telling Jules anything seemed like the worst thing to ever do, he knew she'd panic, and he knew she would have a panic attack. He wasn't about to risk it. "I need to tell Juliet."

"Percy, we don't have time! There will be no Juliet if you don't hurry!" Percy's hand clenched by his side, he was about to grab Nico's throat for spewing shit out about Juliet not being there.

If Juliet wasn't in the land of living, Percy would make sure he'd kill anything that would've harmed her before killing himself. He took deep breaths in, trying to calm himself.

"So how do we get to Connecticut? I can call Blackjack—" HIs words were coming out of gritted teeth due to anger.

"No." Nico scowled. "Pegasi don't like me, and the feeling is mutual. But there's no need for flying." He whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary came loping out of the woods.

"Your friend here can help." Nico patted her head. "You haven't tried shadow travel yet?"

"Shadow travel?"

Nico whispered in Mrs. O'Leary's ear. She tilted her head, suddenly alert.

"Hop on board," Nico told him.

Percy climbed onto her back and held her collar.

"This will make her very tired," Nico warned, "so you can't do it often. And it works best at night. But all shadows are part of the same substance. There is only one darkness, and creatures of the Underworld can use it as a road, or a door."

"I don't understand," he said.

"No," Nico said. "It took me a long time to learn. But Mrs. O'Leary knows. Tell her where to go. Tell her Westport, the home of May Castellan."

"You're not coming?"

"Don't worry," he said. "I'll meet you there."

Percy was a little nervous, but he leaned down to Mrs. O'Leary's ear. "Okay, girl. Uh, can you take me to Westport, Connecticut? May Castellan's place?"

Mrs. O'Leary sniffed the air. She looked into the gloom of the forest. Then she bounded forward, straight into an oak tree. 

Just before they hit, they passed into shadows as cold as the dark side of the moon.