Chapter 26 - The Last Ring
published: Wednesday, 5 June 2019

Jason stared out into the setting sun. He knew he should be admiring how the orange streaks intertwined with the shades of pink and blue in the sky, but the sun simply reminded him that they were running out of time.

The Argo II had been sailing aimlessly for weeks in hopes that Hazel and Frank might be able to track down the last ring.

But it appeared that their luck had run out — though Jason wanted to protest that they'd barely had any in the first place.

July was coming to a close, and Piper was dangerously close to her 40 weeks of pregnancy.

As much as Jason didn't want to admit it, she was most likely going to have their baby on board.

His son, on a life-threatening quest.

Jason has never had any problem with sacrificing himself for others, but now he had a family, and it made him all the more stubborn about staying alive. He had something else to live for now.

And Jasper. Jason might be willing to lay down his life, but there was no way he was letting his son get in harm's way.

Jason sighed as he gripped the poles that ran along the side of the Argo II. He already loved his son so much, and he wasn't even born yet.

Was this how all fathers felt? Nervous, clammy, and perpetually worried?

Because Jason was terrified that he was going to mess this up. His nightmares had significantly decreased since telling Piper about it, but how could he be a father when he couldn't even control his own mind?

"Hey, you good?"

Jason didn't have to turn around to recognise Leo's voice.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Not really. We've got no leads, my son could be born in a few weeks' time, and the world is ending."

Leo shrugged. "Frankly, I should be feeling worse. But I've got you guys. That helps."

Jason slid him a small smile.

Back at camp, they'd talked, yes, but they had all been so distant, only in contact because the Massacre and the crisis forced them to.

Annabeth had never really been the same, and it had gotten worse over time. She would be stuck in the workshop with Leo, furiously working herself to death until Piper went down and dragged them out of there.

Frank was constantly pre-occupied with praetorial duties alongside Reyna, and Jason hardly ever saw them as he organised construction of temples.

Then there was Piper, whom Jason has always felt nervous around — afraid she would find out about his nightmares. And in the weeks leading up to the beginning of their quest, she hadn't been able to meet his eye. Which he now knew was because she was pregnant.

"Seems that life-threatening quests really bring us together," Jason mused.

Leo stared down at the railing. "Do you-do you think that it'll be better this time?"

Jason heard the unspoken question. Could they all still be friends if their lives went back to normal — if the quest ended and they weren't forging friendships while saving the world?

"Yeah," Jason said, surprising himself with the conviction in his voice. "I think it will."

And he really did. There had been a part of him that had been missing something the last few years — it was them; his friends. He missed the comfortable dynamic they had, and the stupid jokes they cracked when around one another.

Jason made a mental note to make sure that they stayed friends this time. That is, if they could win this war.

One more thing to live for.

"I've set course for the Diktaean Cave," Leo informed Jason, changing the subject. "We should be arriving in a few minutes. The Titan sisters are probably our best hope at finding the last ring."

When the arrived on the island, Piper stayed on the ship — for protection, and because she was reaching the pregnancy phase where everything irritated her, and Jason didn't really want her getting into a fight with almighty Titans — while everyone headed to the cave.

Hazel was the first to burst into the cave. She stalked down to the bottom furiously. "Where is the Remembrance ring?"

Jason gulped. He'd underestimated just how frustrated his friends had become.

"Giving you another clue would not fair," Themis insisted, not missing a beat.

They seemed to be in the same formation as before, which made Jason wonder exactly how much they had to talk about.

"I don't give a rat's ass about fair. You don't get it..." Leo trailed off into an argument, and Frank backed him up. 

Hazel stepped back to join Jason with an exasperated sigh.

"I can't believe we've gotten this far just to fail," Hazel muttered, gripping her long sword that was strapped to her back. She looked like she was ready to decapitate someone, and in the back of his mind, Jason wondered where anyone had gotten the idea that Hazel was a shy girl with a quiet demeanour.

She scared him almost as much as Annabeth did.

Jason glanced back at the rest of his friends. Themis had stood up to impatiently explain her reasoning, and Mnemosyne was eyeing the rings they already had almost hungrily.

"Hazel Levesque," a soft voice said.

Jason turned around, to see that Phoebe had approached Hazel.

"My lady," Hazel greeted, surprised.

"My sister would frown upon me for doing this," Phoebe said in a low tone. "But the last time we met, my grandson mentioned that we are now united with the line of Hades."

"Your grandson?" Hazel echoed.

"Apollo," Jason started with a grin. Thank the gods for Nico and Will.

Phoebe nodded. "My grandson has always been the one person I cou trust. I do not wish to let him down this time."

"So you can help us?" Jason urged.

"I cannot give you the outright location," Phoebe said slowly. Jason saw Hazel's hand twitch towards her sword and an ugly look of annoyance sweep over her face. He hastily sent her a pointed look.

"But I can offer some help," Phoebe continued. "The Remembrance ring has chosen a place of legend to settle — irony, I suppose. It remembers the old myths, and the formation of its hiding place is vital to its discovery."

"Formation?" Hazel repeated in confusion, but countless ideas were already flowing through Jason's mind.

"It has something to do with Poseidon," Phoebe confirmed.

Jason paused. "Poseidon?" He'd read many myths and legends while at Camp Jupiter, but he drew a blank at Poseidon.

"I hope that helped," Phoebe said hurriedly, glancing back at the heated argument between her sisters and the demigods. "I think you should get your friends out of here before one of my sisters decided to smite them — or worse."

Jason grabbed Leo by the wrist and dragged him to the exit, beckoning for Frank to follow. Hazel was scribbling Phoebe's clues onto her wrist with a ballpoint pen that reminded Jason of Riptide, and of Percy.

He wished Percy was here. Being the son of Poseidon, he would have some idea about islands relating to good ol' dad.

Actually, in hindsight, Annabeth would probably be a better option. 

As they reached the Argo II, Piper hurried up to meet them.

"Where are we headed?" she demanded.

Jason exchanged glances with Hazel.

"A library."

^^^^^

Skimming through the library's books were weird. As in, they gave Leo a strange feeling of normalcy.

Piper chatted with the Greek librarian in hopes of string some good recommendations, and the librarian was delighted for the company. No one knew they were trying to save the world, they just assumed they were students cramming for a test.

Which was weird, because if Leo was a student, he would have no doubt used the Internet for research instead.

Screw the monsters, he would've rather had three hellhounds knocking on his door than open another book.

His dyslexia made his eyes swim, so Leo stuck to the books in Greek, which was almost identical to Ancient Greek and required little deciphering.

"I miss Annabeth," Leo said miserably as he slammed another book shut. "She was our walking, talking library."

"Tell me about it," Jason mumbled, lazily turning the pages of his book, one of the few in English.

"I've got more," Hazel sing-songed in a time of absolute boredom. She dropped the pile of books on to Leo's table, and he groaned, covering his face with his hands.

"I hate this. I hate this. I hate this so much you can't even understand."

"I think I do," Jason muttered.

"The only good thing about being a demigod," Leo said accusatorially. "Was that I didn't have to go to school or study or read anything." He glared at the ceiling. "Why do you do this to me?"

Piper smacked him round the head and she returned to them. "C'mon, we need to keep going if we're going to find this mysterious hiding place."

The bells attached the the front doors jingled, and the demigods' heads snapped up in unison.

Leo let out a sigh of relief. It was just Frank.

"Hey," Frank said glumly as he set down take-out from a nearby Italian restaurant. "I've got take-out, coffee, and a leaflets for tourists about the Greek Islands." He shrugged. "Figured we should start ticking off the ones we've been to."

Leo downed the espresso in one gulp. ADHD and caffeine never went well together, but he'd need the energy if they were going to continue researching at the rate they were.

"Are you going to explode?" Hazel asked him, genuine worry in her tone as she eyed the empty cup in his hand. "You're already the most restless person I know."

Leo grinned. "I might start vibrating. Just ignore me."

The sun went down, and night took over. It was a full moon that night, but Leo didn't have time to admire it or the constellations.

It was currently 1.26am, and they were no closer to finding the last ring than they'd been before.

"Maybe Phoebe lied to us," Piper wondered aloud. "I bet they're all laughing their asses off in that cave." Her hand was absently entwined with Jason's on the table in a way that made Leo envious that Calypso wasn't there.

Jason had his head buried in a book — quite literally — and had fallen asleep an hour ago.

"Come on, we have to keep going," Hazel said tiredly. Her fingers sifted through pages of a book. "It's our only chance."

She was sitting on the couch, her eyelids dropping. Frank had his feet sprawled across her lap, his head dangling upside-down off the couch, the tourist guide book in his hands as he fiddled with a pen.

Leo pulled a face. "What are you doing?" Frank's face was turning awfully red.

"I'm thinking..." Frank paused thoughtfully. "Maybe if enough blood rushes to my brain, it'll work better and I can figure this out."

Leo stared at him.

He turned to Piper. "Am I sleep-deprived or did that all just make sense?"

"I can't understand words anymore," Hazel said in a monotone as she stared blankly at the book in front of her. "If I stand up I think I might pass out."

Leo returned to his book.

It was about Poseidon's relationships, and he hoped that skimming over it might give them clues as to any islands Poseidon might have helped create.

"Maybe we could just google it?" Leo suggested. He'd brought it up earlier in the evening, but he hoped that his friends were now desperate enough to do it.

Piper sighed. "We've discussed this. We don't need to be signalling every single one of Pontus' forces about our location. They've attacked us enough as it is — can you imagine what would happen if they knew exactly where we were?"

"What if it was just for two seconds?" Leo pleaded. "I'll invent some kind of signal-blocking device—"

He was interrupted by Frank letting out a shout.

"OH MY GODS!"

Leo felt his body jump as he let out a yelp, leaping onto Piper in terror. There was a resounding crash as Jason toppled backwards off his chair in sudden alarm, waking up with a groggy voice and confusion-glazed eyes.

"The-the island," Frank stammered unintelligibly, jabbing his finger at the tourist guide. He'd righted himself on the couch, giving Hazel a fright. "Poseidon! Poseidon helped create it! Oh my gods, I've found it!"

Leo was half-dragged by Piper and half-stumbled to Frank's side. Jason joined them soon, staggering and tripping over his own feet.

"What's going on?" Jason said blearily.

"Nisyros!" Frank declared hysterically. "'It was supposedly formed when Poseidon broke off a piece of the island Kos to bury Polybotes and keep him from running,'" he read aloud triumphantly. "This is it! It has to be it!"

"Why can't Percy pick up islands?" Hazel voiced, but a smile had spread across her face from ear to ear.

Leo felt a surge of peace overwhelm him as he sagged onto the arm of the couch. "Oh my gods, Frank, I can't believe your stupid guide did it."

"Nisyros," Jason repeated. "We need to go — now. We can find the last ring, bring them back to Mnemosyne, and start looking for Percy and Annabeth." He glanced around at them, re-enthused. "Guys, we might actually be able to do this."

Piper grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Let's go kick some all-powerful ass."