Through the treeline, Percy could make out a small clearing and the limestone cliff-face that made up the entrance to Bunker 9.
He could also make out the pair of idiots who were setting things on fire.
"Tell me you've learned how to extinguish a forest fire in the time I've been gone?" Percy strode through the trees and into sight, causing Leo to yelp and nearly drop the flaming sword that was in his hand. "I am not having any of the nymphs chase me through the forest again because of a fire you accidentally set, Leo."
He remembered the not so fond memory with ease, trying to stop himself from laughing at it now. Juniper had chased him through the trees when he'd been wandering in search of Grover, yelling at him and alleging that Leo was his responsibility when meddling with fire because Percy was literally a human fire-extinguisher when there was water to hand. It wasn't until later in the day, when he'd finally located the literal Human Torch, that Leo had sheepishly explained that he may have accidentally widened the clearing around Bunker Nine's entrance and pissed off a lot of nymphs in the process. Percy had narrowly escaped having to escort Leo out to the Bunker each time he wanted to make the trip by persuading the son of Hephaestus to replant some of the damaged foliage.
"Oh neat, nice sword." Clarisse was no aid to Percy's attempt to appear disapproving, barging past so she could get a better look at the weapon.
Leo extinguished the blade when Percy didn't shift his glare and looked slightly sheepish.
"If you're going to set things on fire, at least invite me along so I can put out any accidental fires you start so the nymphs don't come baying for your blood, again." Percy sighed. "Or Grover, you know that Grover would eat you like a tin can if he found out Juniper was pissed off with you."
Grover had threatened to eat Leo like a tin can when he'd found out what had happened.
"We were bored waiting for Festus to come back." Leo shrugged, hastily moving on. "He always goes to steal a sheep or two in the afternoon, he usually arrives back at this time."
"He lives off motor oil and tabasco sauce?" Percy frowned, remembering the piece of trivia easily. It was hard not to remember what a giant bronze dragon ate; they weren't exactly a commodity.
"I think he's trying to make friends with Peleus, he offers them to him." Leo shrugged. "If Peleus doesn't want them, he takes them back. He's either trying to make friends with him or trying to court him and I don't think I'm ready to have the gaskets and the gears talk with my dragon child yet, so I'm really hoping it's the former."
"That dragon is as weird as you are." Piper snorted, shaking her head.
Leo looked at her with uncertainty. "Are you talking to me now or are you still pissed off I'm also friends with Jason? Because that's not been cool, Beauty Queen."
"I know, I'm sorry." Piper winced.
"She was possessed." Percy informed him. "Also, can you bring Ignis back to meet Festus later? The Big Three have rocked up and they want to discuss the Quest. We think it's just going to be a basic blessing and a chat about who's going, but we still need you there."
"Sorry, did you just say she was possessed?" Leo spluttered. "You can't just spring something like that on a guy and then continue as if you only told him what you had for breakfast!"
"Keep up with the facts, Leo." Percy managed to keep a straight face before Clarisse's muffled laughs got to him too.
"It was an eidolon. Obviously not one of the ones that chased us across Europe, but it was still an eidolon." Piper took pity on Leo's helpless repeated use of 'What?' and answered him. "It didn't get me to do much other than break up with Jason and refuse to speak to you, but it wanted to murder Blue. Thankfully he clocked there was something up and Silena used charmspeak to banish it."
"Well shit, Beauty Queen, that explains a lot." Leo whistled.
"And it wasn't even the weirdest thing I found out today." Percy shuddered, thinking of everything that had happened since they'd heard people start to emerge from their Cabins that morning.
"Sorry Pipes, you should have waited a day or two before the eidolon in possession of your body screwed up and made itself known." Leo cackled. "I don't know what outshines it more, the fact Octavian is alive, the fact that Octavian and Nathan ran away together, or the fact that Octavian and Nathan are together."
"Or the reveal that this punk brought Silena, Beckendorf, Castor, probably a bunch of others, and Luke back from the dead." Clarisse lightly punched Percy's arm.
"Errr.." Beckendorf did a double take, reaching up to check his mask was still in place.
"You're holding Silena's hand." Clarisse deadpanned. "And of course Percy would have brought you back together, he's a sentimental little punk, aren't you Jackson?"
It was punctuated with another punch to the arm, this one a little harder. Then it registered that Clarisse had just called him by name, and not by the one that Camp knew the masked version of him as.
"How long have you had me figured out, La Rue?" Percy sighed, somehow not even surprised once it had sunken in enough. She'd always been frighteningly observant.
"Since that first Counsellors meeting when we realised that di Angelo knew who you were." Clarisse shrugged. "I had prior suspicions, mainly because you rocked up calling yourself 'Blue' of all things and then you got claimed in that creek."
"We all know how I ended up in that creek the first time." Percy pointed out with a laugh. It was easy to laugh now, despite the fact he'd pretty much feared for his life during his first ever game of Capture the Flag. "How many electric spears have you gone through since then?"
"Can we just circle back to the fact that apparently you're Percy?" Piper asked, eyes lighting up. It was abundantly clear that she was holding herself back, awaiting confirmation before she did anything rash. "Leo, where's your outrage?"
"I knew." Leo shrugged, refusing to meet her eyes as he made the admission. "The idiot was wandering around without his mask having clandestine meetings with Jason after dark."
"Leo!" Percy groaned. "Can you make that sound any more like you caught me and Jason kissing?"
"Yes." Leo said solemnly, turning to Piper. "Sorry Beauty Queen, I found Percy and Jason kissing on the bench outside Zeus' Cabin."
"I don't know why we're friends." Percy groaned.
"You don't need to worry about other people knowing." Clarisse punched his arm again. "And by people, I mean Annabeth. Not just Annabeth, I floated the idea with a bunch of people and the majority were pissed off with me for suggesting it. Others vehemently denied the possibility, insisting you were dead. Some people just looked at me, shook their heads and walked off. Honestly, I think if we stuck a pair of glasses on you, slicked your hair back, and called you Clark Kent, people would believe it. I never understood how the basic disguises like domino masks, sunglasses, and baseball caps actually worked to hide identities, but our campmates seem thicker than originally imagined."
"Do you have to keep punching me?" Percy asked, not really caring about much else as he rubbed the spot on his arm that she kept punching. "I'm going to bruise!"
"Stop your whining and just dip your arm in the sea if you do." Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Also, I think you should hug Piper before she starts crying or something, because I think she's about to."
"Sorry Pipes, Clarisse was punching me." Percy huffed, opening his arms to offer her a hug. He promptly had the wind knocked out of him as she ran into him, squeezing out the last breath he had in him. "I do need to breathe," he choked out.
"You can breathe when I've finished hugging you." Piper informed him, but did loosen her grip slightly. "Oh gods, it seems so obvious now my head is clear and Clarisse has pointed out the facts."
"Emotional reunions aside, I thought you wanted to get back to that meeting?" Clarisse asked, punching his other arm as Piper released him.
"Again with the punching!" Percy yelped.
"Come on, you have to let me have some outlet for being pissed you left us with Nathan." Clarisse teased. "And I know from your little display with Kronos and his Legion, I won't be able to whoop your ass in a swordfight like I used to. Little shit, who gave you the right to get so good?"
"You don't have to punch me every time you think there's something that needs my attention drawn to it. Yeah, we'll head back now, if everyone is happy with that?" He aimed first at Clarisse and then the group.
"Lead the way, Glorious Leader." Clarisse grinned toothily.
Percy rolled his eyes but did exactly that.
"Everyone here?" Percy asked once they had all filed into the room to see more people than when he had left, thankfully.
"Everyone is here." Luke confirmed. "We miss anything interesting?"
"Other than dispelling the eidolon that was possessing Piper, nothing much happened." Percy shrugged. "We found Leo and Ignis pretty easily. We just listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that. Leo was lighting weapons on fire too close to the treeline, something which he promised never to do without a human fire hydrant present."
"I swear you and I need to have a proper discussion about the definition of the word interesting." Luke shook his head. "You're a menace."
"Pipes was possessed?" Jason had shot to his feet.
"Jason!" Piper yelped. She looked apologetic, unsure what to do.
"You were possessed?" Jason repeated, directing the question at her.
She nodded, running across the room into arms that were opened the minute the son of Jupiter realised she was moving. "I'm sorry," She uttered, words muffled by his shoulder. "I wouldn't have broken up with you if it wasn't for the eidolon."
"Are you alright, Miss McLean?" Zeus asked, awkward concern for the girl his son loved in his tone.
"All fine now, thanks to Blue." Piper nodded as she turned to answer him directly.
"I suppose the boy has some uses," Zeus sniffed, looking slightly pained to admit that Percy's presence was a good thing. Percy couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him.
"Should we perhaps get this over with before you come to blows with a demigod?" Hades suggested with a quirk of a smile. "Or, my apologies for forgetting, brother, a demigod and his father who would no doubt step in to protect him."
Poseidon grinned.
"Yes, please can we get this over with?" Percy asked. "Some of us haven't slept in over twenty-four hours and it has been a very stressful twenty-four hours at that."
"There's still plenty that must be done before you depart as well." Poseidon pointed out.
Percy groaned. "Please don't remind me."
"Naturally we'll make one thing easier by informing you that we are blessing your quest." Poseidon continued as if he hadn't spoken. "And we will try and help where we can, but we mustn't interfere too much, otherwise Zeus will start to get antsy."
"I will not." Zeus scowled.
"Brother dearest, you have commonly expressed fear that if you help demigods too much, you will come out in hives. Or worse..." Poseidon stopped for dramatic effect. "...grow a heart."
"Mother Rhea, why did you curse me with these siblings?" Zeus groaned.
Percy could hear Apollo snickering beside Nico, obviously taking pleasure in watching his father bicker with his uncles like they were a bunch of teenage demigods.
"Stop complaining about us and tell the children what we came here to tell them." Hades rolled his eyes. "Some of us don't spend their days lounging on their thrones doing little more than gossip with the other gods, some of us have kingdoms to run."
"Yeah Zeus, some of us have kingdoms to run." Poseidon took the opportunity to help Hades gang up on Zeus.
"I do a lot more than sit and gossip all day." Zeus scowled.
There was a barely audible snort of 'yeah right' from Apollo that caught the attention of the three brothers, Zeus rolling his eyes when he identified the culprit while the other two grinned in solidarity.
"Zeus, just get on with it." Hades sighed.
"I have agreed to not strike you from the air if your Quest calls for the need of air travel." Zeus sniffed, looking down his nose at the room of demigods.
"Gee, thanks dad." Thalia snorted. "Blue gets cuddles from Poseidon and me and Jason get 'I suppose I won't kill you in a plane crash because I was pissed off Poseidon's kid and Hades' kid got on the flight too', really feeling the love."
"Why do you think I agreed to it?" Zeus raised an eyebrow.
"I was hoping out of the goodness of your heart and the desire to keep the peace with the parents of all the other demigods that would hypothetically be on the plane as well?" Thalia raised her eyebrow and folded her arms pointedly.
"Like I said earlier, Zeus doesn't want to help too much out of fear he'd grow a heart as a consequence." Poseidon relished the opportunity that had re-arisen.
"We'll be trying to retrace Nathan's steps as best we can and I doubt he'll be rushing to get on a plane anytime soon." Percy tried to placate.
"You'll risk venturing into the Labyrinth then?" Hades looked surprised.
"Not if we can help it." Percy assured him. "I wouldn't want to risk a group of twelve down in the Labyrinth. Nathan may be able to traverse a short distance down there but I don't know if he'd want to risk Octavian's life with whatever might be down there with the lengths he went to when bringing him back."
"What do you mean by that?" Thalia raised an eyebrow.
"Mean by what?" Percy countered, realising that he'd slipped up.
"What lengths did Nathan go to?" Jason frowned. "I thought we didn't know how he'd brought him back?"
Percy glanced at Nico and Apollo for guidance, not wanting to say something that they weren't comfortable with.
"Maybe we should all sit down." Nico suggested, voice quiet.
Everyone could tell from his tone that it wasn't something to argue over, all dropping into chairs and arranging themselves around the room so they could all see Percy and Nico, who had grabbed him and dragged him over to the same chairs that they'd occupied during the meeting earlier, and the meeting wherein Nico had revealed his temporary change in allegiance after Jason had questioned his absence. Percy half wanted to ask Leo to take the chairs out back and use them as firewood, wanting to blame the inanimate objects for the sticky situations he always seemed he had to talk himself out of while sitting there, instead of wanting to just straight up admit that trouble followed him wherever he went.
Zeus, Poseidon and Hades lingered near the doorway, the latter looking worried about his son.
"We really did just pop in to say we were blessing your Quest." Poseidon informed them before anyone could prompt Percy or Nico to start answering questions. "And to tell you that we'll aid you in whatever ways we can – we want to see Nathan and Octavian in custody just as much as you do."
"Some of us more than others." Hades stated darkly. "When you catch them, Octavian is being returned to the Underworld by my hand."
"Brother, you know that the legalities around returned souls are shady." Poseidon winced.
"You'll let me have him when I tell you exactly how Mr Burns acquired Octavian's soul." Hades looked downright dangerous and he herded his brothers from the room. "Let's go to dinner, we need to chat and I want something to stab at with a knife. May I suggest Italy?"
"Good luck!" Poseidon waved over Hades' shoulder before the door closed after them and the flash of gold that snuck through the gaps between door and doorframe signalled their departure.
"So what do you two and Hades know about Octavian's resurrection that the rest of us don't?" Luke asked from where he was sitting between Thalia and Annabeth.
In a less delicate scenario, Percy would have jokingly mouthed 'traitor' at him for abandoning him, but there was no atmosphere for jokes in the room.
"Blue?" Nico's voice broke slightly. "I don't think I can explain it."
Percy took a deep breath and nodded, knowing that this would be very difficult to explain to a room where nearly everyone in its walls knew Will Solace. The only exceptions were Bellerophon and Patroclus, but even they knew him by reputation from stories that Lee and Michael had told of their siblings. Zoë had met him from visits to camp and Percy could only assume Reyna knew him due to the fact she and Nico were friends, so no doubt she would have met him once or twice. And now he was faced with having to tell them all that Will's death was not accidental.
"I want to start by making it clear that I only learnt this earlier today, a short time before Hades and I appeared in the Amphitheatre asking where Octavian was." Percy began, not quite knowing how to explain it. There was bound to be interruptions and requests for clarification from such a large group, but it was information that deserved to be known. He looked at Lee and Michael who were sat close to a completely oblivious Kayla and knew that the three of them needed to know. "And it's shocking, to the point I was physically sick afterwards."
"You don't have to tell us if you don't think we need to hear it." Kayla was the one who spoke, sympathy flashing in her eyes.
"You all deserve to know." Percy stated firmly, Nico nodding beside him. He could see Apollo holding Nico's hand comfortingly beneath the table out of the corner of his eye and he reached out to do the same. Nico gave him a weak smile in thanks, gripping at his hand as if it was a lifeline. "I just beg you to be careful with who you share the information with and please show some restraint with how you treat Nathan's friends, we don't yet know which ones were involved and which ones actually know the circumstances of Octavian's resurrection."
"Can you give us a little context about Octavian?" Travis asked.
"A lot of us only know him as the Roman whacko who accidentally turned himself into a fireball." Connor nodded along with his brother. "And something to do with gutting Percy's panda pillow pet?"
"He was the Augur." Reyna stepped in to explain.
"What's an Ogre?" Travis asked.
Reyna quirked a smile before answering. "He was a Legacy of Apollo, his family had been attending Camp Jupiter for a century. Certain gifts can pop up in Legacies and Octavian claimed to have the gift of Prophecy, so he held the position of Augur. The Augur is charged with studying and interpreting omens to predict future events, which Octavian did by performing haruspication."
"What in the name of Apollo's sweaty quiver is haruspication?" Travis asked, completely mangling the pronunciation and insulting the god in the room without being aware of his presence.
"Basically he looked at the entrails of animals and tried to divine answers from them." Reyna gave the short answer.
"You let him kill things to read their entrails?" Katie looked disgusted.
"And you wonder why he went psycho?" Travis whistled. "Perfect fit for Nathan it sounds like."
"We didn't let him slaughter Thumper and Bambi, don't worry." Reyna shook her head. "He studied the 'entrails' of stuffed animals. Like Percy's pillow pet."
"To me, that sounds like a murderer in the making," Connor whistled. "None of you found it a little weird?"
"Oh it was plenty weird," Nico intoned darkly. "And he was a murderer in the making."
"He would have succeeded too, if Thanatos wasn't bound and chained." Frank piped up.
"What?" Kayla's eyes went wide.
"We play War Games," Reyna started to explain. "One of which is in the same vein as Capture the Flag-"
"Percy compared them when we played, referring to Capture the Flag as one of his favourite games. He didn't have a clue what he was going on about, the thought was a random one, but he helped us win that night," Hazel cut in, her voice fond at the memory.
"After the game, after Percy had beat him, we think Octavian was the one who stabbed one of the Fifth Cohort in the back," Reyna continued.
"Think?" Frank snorted. "He was standing behind Gwen. Next thing we knew, there was a pilum in Gwen's back and he was the only one who didn't have one."
"We couldn't prove it though," Reyna sighed and shook her head. It was a debate that had gone on for years.
"When Reyna came to meet us, Octavian's position as Augur meant he became the defacto leader of Camp Jupiter because both Praetors were absent; murder suspect or not." Jason jumped in to assist. "So he gave the orders to invade Camp Half-Blood."
"Oh gods." Nico said suddenly, his grip on Percy's hand going slack. He turned to him instantly, panicking when he realised that Nico had turned ashen.
"Neeks?" Percy didn't know what was wrong; endless possibilities running through his mind as he tried to figure out what could have been said in the last few minutes that had disturbed him so much.
"Blue, it's my fault." Nico looked at him with wide eyes.
"What?" Percy frowned, all thoughts crashing to a halt.
"Octavian died because Will and I didn't stop him from firing that onager, we saw his cloak was caught in it and we didn't tell him." Nico rushed out. His hand was shaking in Percy's hold and Percy realised exactly where his line of thought was headed.
"Nico, no." Percy shook his head, trying to soothe him. "I know where you're going with this and no. It wasn't your fault, you had no idea."
"No idea about what?" Jason asked softly.
"Solis, take Nico upstairs?" Percy suggested softly.
"I'm not going anywhere." Nico's grip tightened again.
"You're okay hearing this?" Percy asked.
"No." Nico shook his head. "Just get it over with."
Percy winced but knew he'd been delaying it for too long. "Nathan..." He paused for a moment to collect himself and continue. "Nathan knew Octavian before Octavian died. They were pen pals, according to the diary I found in the Poseidon Cabin and read part of earlier today. He wanted to bring Octavian back and found a ritual to do it."
"Surely if all it took was a ritual, people would be bringing back loved ones all the time?" Annabeth frowned.
"What did the ritual require?" Luke asked softly. He had an expression of dread on his face and Percy had to wonder for a moment if Luke had seen the ritual before, from when he was Kronos.
"To bring Octavian back, Nathan had to offer a soul of a blood relation in exchange." Percy admitted. He continued quickly, before anyone could interrupt. "Nathan brought Octavian back the night of the full moon in July, nearly four years ago, using the soul of the son of Apollo that he and his friends had intentionally caused the death of as a trade."
Silent tears were running down Nico's face again as a horrified silence settled in the room. It seemed as though somebody had pressed the slow-motion button, everyone's reactions suspended until the information had sunk in.
"Nathan is truly responsible for Will's death?" Kayla choked out as her eyes filled with tears, frantically flicking between Percy for confirmation and Nico out of concern.
"He is." Percy confirmed grimly.
"Zeus above." Travis whispered.
"If you don't let Nico cut him to pieces, I call dibs." Clarisse was seething, face flushed and angry.
"There's more." Percy held up his free hand.
"How can it get worse?" Silena asked, hand covering her mouth to hold back a sob.
"Not worse." Percy assured them. "Nathan also wrote that the Fates are in possession of Will's soul and that if we can take Octavian to them, they'll release Will back to the land of the living. Hopefully."
"What in the name of Neptune's barnacles are we waiting for then?" Jason asked, darting to his feet. Percy was relieved that he didn't pick up on the last word he'd tacked on, not sure whether or not he could explain that they didn't know if Nathan's information was correct.
"We can't be hasty." Percy stated with regret, ignoring the stunned looks that the words garnered. "We can't just run after them."
"Jay, sit down." Nico grimaced, speaking with extreme reluctance. "Blue's right. We need a prophecy, we need to have dinner and by the gods we need to sleep."
Suddenly, a familiar voice that did not belong to anyone seated rang out, "I believe I can help with the Prophecy part."