CHAPTER ONE:
GIRLS AGAINST GOD

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THE SHIP WAS DEAD quiet as Annais watched Melanie sleep. The moon-drenched night sky seemed to shine brighter now that Ezra was gone. Annais couldn't help but think it cruel; the world continued to turn without her at the centre of everything. Annais' whole life revolved around her sisters. If they were the Earth, she was the sun. It was her duty to keep them warm, to protect them from harm. As anyone should do for the ones they loved. How hadn't anyone else felt the deep, agonising sorrow of knowing she was losing them one-by-one? Why was everything so normal when Annais had let go one time too many?

Annais watched Melanie sleep and let the shadows of darkness smother her tears.

In the days that followed Ezra, Annabeth and Percy's fatal tumble into Tartarus, Melanie had barely kept it together. She didn't attend the meetings the remaining demigods held in the Mess Hall (though Leo tried his hardest to drag her there at first.) Sometimes, she didn't even get out of bed. She merely laid there in a swarm of blankets that seemed to swallow her whole.

I used to always be able to sense Ezra, she explained one night when sleep couldn't take her either. Together, she and Annais had sat with their heads bent towards each other, whispering just for the other and the moon to hear. I was always looking out for her, waiting for when she'd need me. But I can't feel her anymore, Annie. What if I go to sleep and she visits me? How am I supposed to live in a world that doesn't have her in it?

Melanie Min, in one way or another, was cursed. From the looks of it, that would never change. Annais wasn't sure what she would do if Ezra came to her as a ghost. If she'd be able to survive the onslaught of grief.

Will you stay with me? Melanie had asked her then. Just while I sleep.

So she did. Annais Min, the new protector, the one who now had to fight away the nightmares and the demons in Ezra's place. Glassy-eyed, she smoothed Melanie's hair back from her face and sighed at the prominent furrow of her brows. She relaxed the slightest bit at Annais' touch but remained fitful for a while.

It was then that the monsters attacked.

Again.

CRASH!

The ship shook and swayed in the midnight fog, creaking and groaning as it splintered and frayed. A moment later, as the dust settled, another CRASH! seemed to tremble right into Annais' bones. Exhausted, Melanie barely stirred. Annais spared her one last look, just to make sure she was safe, before she made for the door and took the stairs up to the deck three at a time. Sword in hand, she wasn't sure what to expect when the darkness parted and, in the dimness of starlight, she found Leo struggling to bring the ship level while Hazel and Hea scrambled through folds of canvas to find Nico.

"Ourae again?" Annais sighed.

Leo grunted and wrestled the controls just in time to avoid a boulder the size of a truck. The initial impact must've been the foremast collapsing, sails and all, for the mess of canvas on the deck meant a lack of wind to push them forward. Part of Annais, the rational section of her brain, suggested waking Jason (again) so that he could summon the wind to push them past their latest attack. Instead, the irrational part won.

Picking her way through the mess, she joined the Hades children at the bow. Nico was breathless, face flushed but unharmed from the fall he must've taken when the foremast came down (Annais vaguely recalled that it was his and Hea's time to take watch.) He had his arm around Hazel, who was glancing at him every other second with concern shining in her eyes. Like the rest of them, she looked tired, a walking talking corpse (no pun intended.) She and Hea, in the days after, had somehow reached a mutual understanding that quickly flourished into unlikely companionship. Annais barely saw one without the other now, and so both of them had taken to crowding Nico like mother hens, Hea holding a spear stained with old blood.

Down below them, the Ourae bellowed into the cavernous sky, his wild eyes like comets threatening to crash and implode the earth he tore at with bare fingers. As Leo finally managed to regain control of the Argo II, flying them even further out of reach, he wailed again; this time, his call was answered by another Ourae, then another, the sound echoing over and over until it rang like an alarm in Annais' head.

As morbid a thought as it was, her brain could somehow manage sleep, she was sure the sound would've found a home with her mother and Ezra's limp, dead body in her dreams.

"Stupid rock Gods!" Leo grumbled. His hair was frazzled, giving him the appearance of a mad scientist about to reach his wits end. "That's the third time I've had to replace that mast! You think they grow on trees?"

Nico frowned, blinking at Leo in confusion. "Masts are from trees."

Annais shook her head at him, as if to say are you trying to send him over the edge? to which Nico shrugged, merely blinking again when Leo shouted, spit flying, "That's not the point!"

With a few pressed buttons on one of his controls, a trapdoor Annais hadn't even realised was there slid open to release a giant Celestial bronze cannon. Annais' eyes widened. She didn't think as she dove out of the way, sword scattering somewhere as she desperately covered her ears. She spied the others doing the same as half a dozen metal spheres encased in green fire disappeared into the night.

Swallowed by the fog, Annais only heard the aftermath of their impact. The Ourae roared a promise of returned vengeance.

"Ha!" Leo cackled in premature victory.

"Leo, you idiot," Hea screamed.

Not a second later, another boulder hurtled through the air and collided to their starboard side. Leo went flying, crashing into Hea, who only swatted at him like an annoying fly as she moved to help Nico and Hazel to his feet. "Just get us out of here," she demanded. "Before I fly this ship myself."

Annais wasn't sure what spurred Leo into motion -- the Ourae or the thought of Hea going anywhere near his beloved controls -- but in seconds, the Argo II had picked up speed towards the Northwest, as they'd been doing for the past two days. Turning tail and running. She couldn't find it in her to feel frustrated. She could barely feel anything at all.

"Well, that was sucktastic," Leo sighed, only letting the relief settle in once the fog had parted to reveal the rolling green hills of the Italian countryside. It was turning out to be a warm morning; sweat-slick brows and sun-kissed skin. If this was any other day at Camp Half-Blood, Annais would've been down by the water, stretched out on the golden sand, a normal teen dozing in the nice weather. She merely felt uncomfortable now, huffing as she tied her hair away from her neck. "Should I wake the others?"

It took a moment for his question to register. Annais quickly shook her head. "Mel only just went down," she said, and the shift of emotion was obvious in Leo's eyes. It was an understatement to say he was worried. When he wasn't wrangling the ship away from Ourae, he was sitting at her bedside, trying and failing to coax a smile out of her. If he was going to wake the others before, he certainly wouldn't now.

"They need rest," added Hazel, who was helping Nico pick wooden splinters out of his hands. "We'll have to figure out another way on our own."

"Another way," Leo scoffed, staring down at his monitor with his jaw clenched. "Do you see one, Hazel?"

It should've been simple. In theory. They had to reach Epirus in Greece, where the House of Hades was rumoured to reside. A straight shot East and -- bam! They'd have found Ezra, Percy and Annabeth in a matter of hours. Melanie would flourish to life again, like a sleeping flower in Winter waiting for the first blooms of Spring.

Of course, it was anything but. For everywhere they turned, there just had to be a Mountain God waiting in the shadows. The Apennine Mountains were the home of Gaea's latest lot of children. As per their luck, this made them some very determined enemies. If Annabeth was there, she would've found a solution. She always did.

"It's our fault," Hazel muttered, catching Annais' eyes from where she paced the quarterdeck, head bowed to avoid the glare of the sun. "The numina can sense us. Hades' children, I mean."

Hea shrugged, furiously unphased. She was used to shouldering blame. It didn't bother her anymore. "There's nothing we can do about that, Hazel."

"Hea's right," Nico agreed. In the bright morning, he was a sullen raincloud dressed head-to-toe in black. Even his expression was melancholic, eyes as sharp and serrated as the blade of his stygian iron sword hanging at his side. "Earth spirits don't like children of the Underworld, that's true. But I think the numina could sense this ship anyway. We're carrying the Athena Parthenos. That thing is like a magical beacon."

"So what are our options then?" Annais prompted. The mention of the statue seemed to only remind everyone of who they were missing. Hea scowled and turned to stare out at the houses and streets dotted below. Leo sighed and tugged at his hair. Annais felt her heart throb and pushed on in spite of it. "Leo?"

"Well, crossing the mountains is out," he stated. "Thing is, they go a long way in either direction..."

"We could go by sea," Hazel suggested. "Sail around the Southern tip of Italy."

"Do you know how long that would take?" scoffed Hea, muscled arms taunt across her stomach.

"Plus we don't have..." Nico trailed off as his voice cracked. "You know... our sea expert. Percy."

The shadow of sorrow formed again. Annais clenched her hands into fists, stomaching the pinpricks of pain as she pushed her nails into her palms, irritated half-moon crescents staring back at her. "What about continuing North then?" she asked in Leo's direction. "Surely the mountains don't go on forever."

"I dunno," Leo sighed, messing with the bronze sphere they'd found in the secret tunnels beneath the Parthenon. Annais glowered at it, her heart remembering the phantom echoes of anger as she recalled the truth of Ezra's secrets. The day of Penelope's death seemed like such a distant memory. Annais, like most things now, could not find it in her to hold onto her grudge. The things she'd said... that she couldn't take back... "I don't see any good passes to the North. But I do like that idea better than backtracking South. I'm so done with Rome."

"No," Hea agreed grimly. "The day we return to Rome again will be far too soon."

"Well, whatever we do, we have to hurry," Nico insisted. "Each day that Ezra, Annabeth and Percy are in Tartarus..."

"If they're not dead already," Annais couldn't help but mumble.

Ezra's face surrounded by a grey shadow flickered in her head. Annais swallowed thickly, feeling her chest closing in with panic at just the thought. "I'd know if they were dead, Annais," Hea said for what felt like the thousandth time. "You've just got to trust me on that."

But that was the thing. She didn't know. Annais hadn't told anybody what she saw that day. Sure, nothing had come up for Annabeth and Percy, but what if the shadow appeared while they were down there and she couldn't be there to witness it, to give the warning? Hea could track down their souls if she had to, but there was nothing certain in her promises. Annais wasn't foolish enough to believe there was.

"Maybe we should wake the others," Nico sighed. Hazel immediately shook her head, even as he insisted, "This decision affects us all."

"No, we can find a solution," she exclaimed. "We just need some creative thinking. Okay? Another way to cross those mountains, or a way to hide ourselves from the numina."

"And the giant statue?" Hea raised a challenging eyebrow at her. "What do you suggest we do about that?"

Hazel didn't respond.

"If I was on my own, I could shadow-travel," Nico said, voicing the idea Annais had briefly considered before quickly shelving. It was too complicated, requiring more strength than she could ever hope for. "But that won't work for an entire ship. And honestly, I'm not sure I have the strength to even transport myself anymore. Even with Hea and Annais, we could only do so much."

"I could maybe rig some kind of camouflage," Leo suggested when it was his turn. "Like a smoke screen to hide us in the clouds."

"If we can get that high up," Hea countered stubbornly. "One stray boulder and we'd be done for."

"So optimistic," Leo frowned.

"I'm just being realistic, Valdez."

Their voices alone were enough to give Annais a permanent, debilitating headache. She wondered if this would be the day, if she'd finally feel exhausted enough to sleep with no dreams waiting for her. In the beginning, she would've just gone to Jason. She wasn't sure what it was about him; Jason always made Annais feel safe, even when it was her subconscious guiding her, not herself.

But Jason wasn't an option anymore.

She made herself sit up straighter, pushing the thought out of her mind.

"Arion?" At the sound of Hazel's disbelieving voice, she tore her eyes away from where Leo and Hea were still arguing.

"What?" Nico frowned, confused.

"It's Arion," Hazel repeated as a hopeful smile stretched across her face. At the edge of the horizon, where the sun breached the earth, a vapour trail followed behind the form of a horse. It reminded Annais of Tempest, Jason's own horse, only beige and faster than the speed of light itself.

"Who's Arion?" Hea asked.

"It's her horse," Leo answered in a duh! tone. Hea waved her spear at him like she was contemplating the logistics of running him through with it. Momentarily, Annais' lips twitched in an amused smirk. The expression felt forced, as if the muscles in her face had forgotten what it was like to move. "You missed that whole part, I guess. We haven't seen him since Kansas!"

"We have to meet him," Hazel insisted, no doubt delighted at what she saw as a breakthrough. "He's here to help."

"Yeah, okay," Leo nodded, though he seemed uncertain. Eyeing Hea's spear and Hazel both, he pointed out, "But, uh, we talked about not landing the ship on the ground anymore, remember? You know, with Gaea wanting to destroy us and all..."

"And all," Annais echoed dryly.

"Look, just get me close and I'll use the rope ladder," Hazel said. She was itching to reunite with Arion again, practically bouncing off the walls as the horse came closer, almost right beneath the ship. "I think Arion wants to tell me something."

"You heard her, Valdez," Hea huffed when Leo hesitated.

Pale-faced, Leo scampered back over to the control panel where he pressed a series of buttons that bought the ship down lower. Soon, they were hovering just metres above the ground, Annais watching the dirt closely like Gaea would pop up at any second. She wondered what she'd say, if she'd know if Ezra was right where she wanted her. . .

"Hazel," Annais gently latched onto her sister's wrist as Hazel reached for the rope ladder. "Be careful, please? Don't stay down there longer than you have to."

Covering Annais' hand with her own, Hazel smiled. She reminded Annais of Mel sometimes; baby-faced, innocent almost, with eyes well beyond her years. "I'll be fine, Annie. You don't have to worry about me."

With that, she tugged her wrist free and began to climb down. Annais watched her anxiously with Hea and Nico on either side of her. Nothing momentous happened when Hazel's feet hit the floor, but the paranoid part of her brain immediately searched for a sign, even the most miniscule of things. Nothing, nothing, but then -- there! Storm clouds slowly gathered on the horizon... distant and most likely the least of their worries; still, the world seemed to go abnormally quiet with one of their own just out of reach. Time seemed to stretch on forever as Hazel threw her arms around Arion's neck, unconcerned for this fact as she listened to Arion's impatient nickering.

"Hazel, keep it quick," Hea called out calmly.

When Hazel didn't look back, Nico added, "Hazel, what's going on?"

"It's fine," she spoke at last, moving to kneel down at Arion's feet. A moment later, she stood back up with a clump of gold in her hands. She fed it to the electrified horse, smiling when she turned her face up to look at them, eyes squinting in the sunlight. "Arion wants to take me somewhere."

The storm clouds had gotten closer in the mere minutes Annais did not watch them. When she turned back, they seemed to have gathered around a fortress of some kind, the old stone ruins distinct in their Roman nature. She could not pretend her heart didn't sink. There was no way she could let Hazel go there alone...

"Hazel, don't you dare!"

"I'll be okay," Hazel's smile was sheepish now. "Just stay put and wait for me."

"Wait for how long?" Nico asked before Annais could protest. He reached out and gripped her hand when she scowled at him. Hazel was climbing onto Arion's back, a small dot waiting to be swallowed by the sea. Just one star in a galaxy of millions. Insignificant, but Annais would feel her blow and feared she would not come back from it. "What if you don't come back?"

"Don't worry," Hazel merely waved them off, then spurred Arion into motion. In the blink of an eye, she'd shot across the countryside and was long gone, disappearing into the darkness of the storm, a star swallowed by a black hole...

Annais and Hea shared a grim look.

"She has one hour," Hea declared. "Then we're going after her."

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THAT ONE HOUR WAS the slowest of Annais' life. She paced the deck of the Argo II until her feet hurt, then sat down and wearily watched Leo tap away at some buttons that made no sense to her. He did not ask about Mel, though several times, he turned to look at her and seemed to startle at the familiarity of the face staring back at him. He was tired, but he didn't show it as he prattled on about everything but the fear in Annais' chest. She almost forgot what they were waiting around for.

Almost.

And then--

"She's back," Hea declared from her spot at the helm. She hadn't moved since Hazel left, not even to sit with Annais. Her whole face brightened, then dropped when Hazel climbed aboard the Argo II, in one piece but so obviously shaken. Hea got to her first, then Nico, then Annais and Leo. "Hazel? What's wrong?"

Hazel's knees buckled then. Leo and Hea caught her arms and guided her to the steps of the foredeck. She sat down beside Annais and put her head in her hands. Her hands were shaking. Annais reached out and gripped her shoulder, stomach twisting with dread.

"I met Hecate," she said simply.

Hecate. A titaness born to Asteria and Perses, Hecate was made of both good and evil. Annais couldn't blame Hazel for being so startled. Hecate was known in part for her necromancy. A daughter of Hades alone would've been affected. But a daughter of Hades bought back from the dead? Annais squeezed her shoulder tighter as the smallest bit of colour returned to Hazel's cheeks. She managed to explain bits and pieces of her journey, but all that became clear to Annais was that Hazel had met Hecate at a crossroads. She was lucky she wasn't dead and rotting alone somewhere.

"Hazel, you met Hecate at a crossroads," Nico frowned, voicing Annais' exact thoughts. "That's something many demigods don't survive. And the ones who do are never the same... Are you sure you're--?"

"I'm fine," she insisted desperately, though she struggled to believe it herself.

"Look, if Hazel says she's fine, then she's fine," Hea shrugged, as if it could be that simple. "Hecate has given us options here. If we take this detour--"

"But what if Hecate is tricking us?" Leo cut her off. "This route could be a trap."

Hazel shook her head. "If it was a trap, I think Hecate would've made the Northern route sound tempting. Believe me, she didn't."

"How much time are we looking at, Leo?" Annais asked then.

It was quiet as the son of Hephaestus located a calculator and punched in a couple numbers. He frowned and muttered to himself as he worked, then shook his head at whatever answer he came to. "That's... something like three hundred miles out of our way to get to Venice. Then we'd have to backtrack down the Adriatic. And you said something about baloney dwarfs?"

"Dwarfs in Bologna," Hazel corrected him tiredly. "I guess Bologna is some kind of city. But why we have to find dwarfs there, I have no idea. Some sort of treasure to help us with the quest."

"Huh," Leo blinked. "I mean, I'm all about treasure, but--"

"What other choice do we have?" Annais sighed.

"It is our best option," Nico said as he helped Hazel to her feet.

"Then we'll just have to make up for lost time," said Hea. "Travel as fast as we can. Think this puny ship can manage that, Valdez?"

"Fast?" Leo smirked. "Oh, I can do fast."

Hea scrunched her nose up at him. "Didn't need to know that."

Cue their arguing once again. Annais rubbed her temples and let her eyes slip shut for a moment. If she let her mind wander too far, she could feel the phantom tugs of Ezra's tether on her waist, then the abrupt loss of her sister's body. Annais was left hanging, weightless in time, alone.

She opened her eyes again.

Nico, Hazel and Hea were on the opposite side of the deck, Hea momentarily distracted from bothering Leo as she put an arm around Hazel's shoulders. They were just out of earshot, but Annais made no effort to join them. She wasn't sure what she'd say, what would make any of this better.

Annais Min was once again helpless.

She was getting used to it.

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A/N: surprise? this fic hasn't been abandoned after all, my girl is just suffering lol. hope you enjoyed, next chapter coming out really soon ;)