The only reason I left the strawberry fields was to attend Beckondorf's funeral. That afternoon we stood around the campfire to burn his burial shroud. The Ares and Apollos cabins called a temporary true to attend. I stood besides my brother who raised a questioning brow when he saw Percy glancing at me throughout the burial and I ignored him.

Beckondorf's shroud was made out of metal links, like chain mail. The metal melted in the fire and turned to golden smoke as it rose into the sky. The campfire flames always reflected the campers' moods, and today they burned black.

I said my condolences to Silena and went straight to my cabin. I was buried under my covers, hugging a pillow to my chest. Pollux entered and gave me a small smile.

"Why aren't you talking with Percy?" Pollux walked over and sat on the edge of my bed. "The poor guy looks like a lost puppy."

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare invited him to go on vacation with her family and he keeps bringing up his supposed death from that stupid prophecy." I grumbled, my heart aching.

"Well, from my observation it looks like Percy chose you instead of that vacation." Pollux told me, already knowing my insecurities. I frowned and hugged the pillow tighter. "Ives, the guy is your soulmate and he chose you, okay? The way that guy looks at you makes the Aphrodite cabin swoon. What did Ariadne tell you last summer?"

"To trust him." I sighed, raking a hand down my face. "This stupid prophecy of him maybe dying is making my head spin. I don't want to lose him. I can't lose him."

"Then stop being a jealous baby and apologize to him." Pollux playfully ruffled my hair. "Maybe in the morning though. You need your beauty sleep or else you'll be even more grouchy."

"Oh, shut up." I breathed out a chuckle, chucking the pillow at him.

"Night Ives." Pollux laughed, slapping hehe pillow away.

"Night, Poll."

🍇

I stood outside the Cabin Three's door.  I hesitantly knocked on the door. There wasn't a response, but that was no surprise. Percy was a deep sleeper. I knocked a little louder.

"Percy?" I called out. Still no response. I sighed, playing with the end of my French braid. "Look, I'm sorry for exploding on you like that yesterday. Can we talk? Please?"

Nothing. Heaving a sigh, I opened the door and peered in. His bed was still made, well messily made. There was no sign of Percy. My heart started to thump loudly in my chest.

"Percy?" I stepped in his cabin and looked around.

Still nothing. I ran toward the sword arena. Maybe he was with Mrs. O'Leary. He always walked her once he came back. Her chew toys were all over the room, but no sign of Percy or the hellhound. I cursed in Ancient Greek.

"Maybe he's walking her out this morning." I mumbled to myself, quickly heading to the forrest.

I looked all around the areas Percy and I usually take his pet hellhound for walks. Nothing. I checked the river, lake, and the shore. I checked the stables, making a pitstop for sugar cubes. Once I entered the stables, I saw Blackjack was still there.

"Do you have any idea where Percy is?" I asked him. The pegasi shook his mane. I sighed, giving him the sugar cubes. He quickly ate it out of my hand. "Thanks. I'll check with Annabeth."

Wiping my hand on my jeans, I headed towards the Athena cabin. Annabeth rushed out of her cabin with her cellphone in hand. Dread pooled in my stomach. She saw me and ran over.

"Percy's missing, I can't find him." I rushed out. "Mrs. O'Leary is also missing. Checked all of his usual spots-"

"He's not here." Ananbeth cut me off. She raised her cell phone. "He left a voicemail. He said something about meeting him at the Empire State Building and protecting Olympus from a future attack. It made no sense, but I was going to find you and go talk to Chiron."

"Then let's go."

We quickly filled Chiron in about Percy. About how he wanted us to meet him in New York ready to fight. Then suddenly, we were rounding up forty campers ready in battle armor and weapons. We rode in the Camp's van headed towards the Empire State Building. Annabeth's phone started to ring again. She quickly picked it up.

"Percy, where have you been? Your message said almost nothing! We've been worried sick!"

There was a pause as she listened to him. I anxiously tapped my foot. Some of the nearby campers leaned against the seats to listen in on the conversation.

"We're on our way like you asked, almost to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. But, Percy, what are you planning? We've left the camp virtually undefended, and there's no way the gods-"

Annabeth pulled the phone away from her ear with a scowl. She hung up and stuffed it into her jean pocket.

"Remind me to kill him when we see him." Annabeth told me. "He had the nerve to hang up on me."

"If he's alive after I chew him out." I grumbled.

A few minutes later, we arrived. Percy was standing there with Mrs. O'Leary. The door slid open as we started to climb out. Two other camp vans parked behind the one I was in. Demigods climbed out with Chiron being the last one in his magic wheelchair.

I walked up to him with Annabeth beside me. Percy was staring at me differently than before. It was strange. There was also something different about him. I studied him, trying to figure out what.

"What is it?" I frowned.

"What's what?" Percy asked.

"You're looking at me funny." I told him, hesitantly looking at Annabeth and silently asking her if there was anything on my face.

"It's, uh, nothing." Percy said. He turned to the rest of the group. "Thanks for coming everybody. Chiron, after you."

"I came to wish you luck, my boy." Chiron shook his head. "But I make it a point never to visit Olympus unless I am summoned."

"But you're our leader."

"I am your trainer, your teacher." Chiron smiled at Percy. "That is not the same as being your leader. I will go gather what allied I can. It may not be too late to convince my brother centaurs to help. Meanwhile, you called the campers here, Percy. You are the leader."

Percy looked like he wanted protest. All the campers looked at him expectantly. He took a deep breath.

"Okay, like I told Annabeth on the phone, something bad is going to happen by tonight." Percy stated. "Some kind of trap. We've got to get an audience with Zeus and convince him to defend the city. Remember, we can't take no for an answer."

He then turned to Argus and asked him to watch Mrs. O'Leary. Argus and Mrs. O'Leary didn't look happy about it.

"You'll do well, Percy." Chiron shook his hand. "Just remember your strengths and beware your weaknesses."

"Let's go." Percy told us.

We entered the building to see a security guard sitting behind the desk in the lobby. He was reading a big black book with a flower on the cover. He glanced up when we all filed in with our weapons and armor clanking.

"School group?" He asked. "We're about to close up."

"No." Percy said. "Six-hundredth floor."

He checked us out. His eyes were pale blue and his head was completely bald. I wasn't sure if he was a demigod, monster or a mortal with the sight. I do know was that he noticed our weapons.

"There is no six-hundredth floor, kid." He said it like it was a required line he didn't believe. "Move along."

"Forty demigods attract an awful lot of monsters." Percy said after he leaned across the desk. "You really want us hanging out in your lobby?"

He thought about that. Then he hit a buzzer and the security gate swung open.

"Make it quick."

"You don't want us going through the metal detectors." Percy added.

"Um, no." He agreed. "Elevator on the right. I guess you know the way."

Percy tossed him a golden drachma and we marched through. We decided it would take two trips to get everybody up in the elevator. I was with the first group. "Stayin' Alive" was playing and I was wondering if Apollo was messing with us. I kept glancing at Percy, trying to see what was different about him. He was holding this aura.

The elevator doors dinged open. In front of us, a path of floating stones led through the clouds up to Mount Olympus, hovering six thousand feet over Manhattan. The first group of demigods stepped out with Annabeth in the lead. Instead of focusing on the beautiful sight of Olympus, I continued to stare at Percy. Percy and I went back down to collect the second group.

"There's something different about you. You look...different." I told Percy. "Where exactly did you go?"

The elevator doors opened again, and the second group of demigods joined us.

"Tell you later." Percy said. "Come on."

We later made our way across the sky bridge into the streets of Olympus. The shops were closed. The parks were empty. A couple of Muses sat on a bench strumming flaming lyres, but their hearts didn't seem to be in it. A lone cyclops swept the street with an uprooted oak tree. A minor godling spotted us from a balcony and ducked inside, closing his shutters.

We passed under a marble archway with statues of Zeus and Hera on either side. Annabeth waited for us. She pulled a face when she saw the queen of the gods.

"Hate her." She muttered.

"Has she been cursing you or something?" Percy asked.

"Just little stuff so far." Annabeth responded. "Her sacred animal is the cows, right?"

"Right."

"So she sends cows after me."

"Cows?" Percy was fighting a smile. "In San Francisco?"

"Imagine seeing a herd of cows roaming the streets." I mused, causing him to break into a smile.

"Oh, yeah. Usually I don't see them, but the cows leave me little presents all over the place-in out backyard, on the sidewalk, in the school hallways. I have to be careful where I step."

"Even at school?" I repeated.

"Look!" Pollux cried, pointing toward the horizon. "What is that?"

We all froze. Blue lights were streaming across the evening sky toward Olympus like tiny comets. They seemed to be coming from all over the city, heading straight toward the mountain. As the got close, they fizzled out. We watched them for several minutes and they didn't seem to do any damage, but still it was strange.

"Like infrared scopes." Michael Yew commented. "We're being targeted."

"Let's get to the palace." Percy said.

No one was guarding the hall of the gods. The gold-and-silver doors stood wide open. Our footsteps echoed as we walked into the throne room.

The throne room was the size of Madison Square Garden. High above, the blue ceiling glittered with constellations. Twelve giant empty thrones stood in a U around a hearth. In one corner, a house size globe of water hovered in the air, and inside was the Ophiotaurus, half-cow, half-serpent.

"Moooo!" The Ophiotaurus happily turned in a circle when he saw Percy.

Percy smiled and walked closer to the sea beast.

"Hey, man." Percy said. "They treating you okay?"

"Mooo." Ophiotaurus answered.

I didn't speak marine animals, but it sounded like it was a yes. We walked toward the thrones.

"Hello again, Percy Jackson." A woman's voice said. "You and your friends are welcome."

I turned to see a lady standing by the hearth. She was poking the flames with a stick. She was wearing a brown simple dress.

"Lady Hestia." Percy bowed.

I followed his example, the other demigods following suit.

"I see you went through with your plan. You bear the curse of Achilles." Hestia regard him with red glowing eyes.

I quickly turned to look at him with wide eyes. That's what was different about him. I could hear the others starting to mutter.

"What did she say?"

"What about Achilles?"

"You must be careful." Hestia warned Percy. "You gained much in your journey. But you are still blind to the most important truth. Perhaps a glimpsed is in order."

"What?" I furrowed my brows at Percy.

"Um...what is she talking about?" Annabeth nudged him.

Percy looked at Hestia. Then a second later, his knees buckled. Annabeth and I were quick to grab him.

"Whoa!" I slipped one of his arms around my shoulder. "I got you."

"Percy! What happened?"

"Did... did you see that?" Percy asked us.

"See what?"

Percy glanced at Hestia while Annabeth and I exchanged questionable looks. Percy grasped my hand and brought it to his side instead of over his shoulder. He slipped his hand into mine. My heart warmed, glad he wasn't upset from yesterday. I gave his hand a small squeeze.

"How long was I out?" Percy muttered.

"How long?" I slowly repeated. "Not long at all."

"Percy, you weren't out at all." Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "You just looked at Hestia for like one second and collapsed."

"Um, Lady Hestia." Percy said. "We've come on urgent business. We need to see-"

"We know what you need." A man's voiced said.

Percy shivered. A god shimmered into existence next to Hestia. He looked twenty-five with curly salt-and-pepper hair and elvish features. He wore a military pilot's flight suit, with tiny bird's winds fluttering in his helmet and his black leather boots. In the crook of his arm was a long staff entwined with two living serpents.

"I will leave you now." Hestia said.

She bowed to the aviator and disappeared into smoke. I wanted to leave with her. Hermes did not look happy. I shifted closer to Percy.

"Hello, Percy." Hermes's brow furrowed as though he was annoyed with him.

"Lord Hermes." Percy bowed awkwardly.

Oh, sure, one of the snakes said in my mind. Don't say hi to us. We're just reptiles.

George, the other snake scolded. Be polite.

"Hello, George." Percy greeted. "Hello, Martha."

Did you bring us a rat? George asked.

George, stop it, Martha said. He's busy!

Too busy for rats? George said. That's just sad.

"Um, Hermes." Percy said. "We need to talk to Zeus. It's important."

"I am his messenger." Hermes's eyes were steely cold. I've never seen him angry like this before. Whenever I would go to Olympus for the solstices he was usually cheerful. "May I take a message?"

The demigods behind us shifted restlessly. I could tell Percy wanted the conversation to be more private.

"You guys." Percy told the other campers. "Why don't you do a sweep of the city? Check the defenses. See who's left in Olympus. Meet Annabeth, Ivy, and me back here in thirty minutes."

"But-"

"That's a good idea." Annabeth interrupted a frowning Silena. "Connor and Travis, you two lead."

The Stolls seemed to like that- getting handed an important responsibility right in front of their dad. They usually never led anything except toilet paper raids.

"We're on it!" Travis said.

They herded the others out of the throne room, leaving Annabeth, Percy and I with Hermes.

"My lord." Annabeth said. "Kronos is going to attack New York. You must suspect that. My mother must have foreseen it."

"Your mother." Hermes grumbled. He scratched his back with his caduceus, and George and Martha muttered Ow, ow, ow. "Don't get me started on your mother, young lady. She's the reason I'm here at all. Zeus didn't want any of us to leave the front line. But your mother kept pestering him nonstop, 'It's a real, it's a diversion, blah, blah, blah'. She wanted to come back herself, but Zeus was not going to let his number one strategist leave his side while we're battling Typhon. And so naturally he sent me to talk to you."

"But it is a trap!" Annabeth insisted. "Is Zeus blind?"

Thunder rolled through the sky.

"I'd watch the comments, girl." Hermes warned. "Zeus is not blind or deaf. He has not left Olympus completely undefeated."

"But there are these blue lights-"

"Yes, yes. I saw them. Some mischief by that insufferable goddess of magic, Hecate, I'd wager, but you may have noticed they aren't doing any damage. Olympus has strong magical wards. Besides, Aeolus, the King of the Winds, has sent his most powerful minions to guard the citadel. No one save the gods can approach Olympus from the air. They would be knocked out of the sky."

"That's cool." I muttered.

"Um..." Percy raised his hand. "What about that materializing/teleporting thing you guys do?"

"That's a form of air travel too, Jackson. Very fast, but the winds gods are faster. No, if Kronos wants Olympus, he'll have to march through the entire city with his army and take the elevators! Can you see him doing this?"

By the way Hermes was making it sound ridiculous. I imagined hordes of monsters going up the elevator twenty at a time, listening to "Stayin' Alive." Though it sounded ridiculous, I could see Kronos still doing it.

"Maybe just a few of you could come back." Percy suggested.

"Percy Jackson, you don't understand." Hermes shook his head impatiently. "Typhon is our greatest enemy."

"I thought that was Kronos."

"No, Percy." The god's eyes glowed. "In the old days, Olympus was almost overthrown by Typhon. He is husband of Echidna-"

"Met her at the Arch." Percy muttered. "Not nice."

"-and the father of all monsters. We can never forget how close he came to destroying us all; how he humiliated us! We were more powerful back in the old days. Now we can expect no help from Poseidon because he's fighting his own war. Hades sits in his realm and does nothing, and Demeter and Persephone follow his lead. It will take all our remaining power to oppose the storm giant. We can't divide our forces, nor wait until he gets to New York. We have to battle him now. And we're making progress."

"Progress?" Percy said. "But he destroyed St. Louis."

"Yes." Hermes admitted. "But he destroyed only half of Kentucky. He's slowing down. Losing power."

I bit on my tongue to hold back from  arguing with a god. It sounded like Hermes was trying to convince himself. In the corner, Ophiotaurus mooed sadly.

"Please, Hermes." Annabeth said. "You said my mother wanted to come. Did she give you any messages for us?"

"Messages." He muttered. "'It'll be a great job,' they told me. 'Not much work. Lots of worshippers.' Hmph. Nobody cares what I have to say. It's always about other people's messages."

Rodents, George mused. I'm in it for the rodents.

Shh, Martha scolded. We care about what Hermes has to say. Don't we, George?

Oh, absolutely. Can we go back to the battle now? I want to do laser mode again. That's fun.

"Quiet, both of you." Hermes grumbled.

The god looked at Annabeth, who was doing her big-pleading-gray-eyes thing.

"Bah." Hermes said. "Your mother said to warn you that you are on your own. You must hold Manhattan without the help of the gods. As if I didn't know that. Why they pay her to be the wisdom goddess, I'm not sure."

"Anything else?" Annabeth asked.

"She said you should try plan twenty-three. She said you would know what that meant."

Annabeth's face paled. Obviously she knew what it meant, and she didn't like it. I'm not sure if I will like it.

"Go on."

"I'm liking your girlfriend more and more by the second, Jackson. She knows not to demand things of me." Hermes muttered. Percy's and I's face reddened. I didn't bother correcting that we weren't dating. Hermes faced the both of us. "Last thing. She said to tell Percy: 'Remember the rivers.' And Ivy, something about vines and madness."

"Oh. Thanks." I told him, my cheeks still warm.

"Thank you, Hermes." Annabeth said. "And I... I wanted to say...I'm sorry about Luke."

"You should've left that subject alone." The god's expression hardened.

"Sorry?" Annabeth stepped back nervously.

"SORRY doesn't cut it!"

George and Martha curled around the caduceus, which shimmered and changed into something that looked like a high-voltage cattle prod. I placed a hand on Annabeth's shoulder, pulling her closer to me.

"You should save him when you had the chance." Hermes growled at her. "You're the only one who could have."

"What are you talking about?" Percy let go of my hand and tried to step between them. "Annabeth didn't-"

"Don't defend her, Jackson!" Hermes turned the cattle prod toward him. I quickly put Annabeth behind me while I reached for Percy. "She knows exactly what I'm talking about."

"Maybe you should blame yourself!" Percy shot back. My eyes widened and I placed my hand on Percy's arm. He was too defensive of his friend. "Maybe if you hadn't abandoned Luke and his mom!"

"Percy!" I pleaded him to stop.

Hermes raised his cattle prod. He began to grow until he was ten feet tall. I felt Percy slightly wince once realized he went too far. My hold on him tightened, bringing him closer to me. George and Martha leaned in close to Hermes and whispered something in his ear. Hermes clenched his teeth. He lowered the cattle prod, and it turned back to a staff.

"Percy Jackson," he said, "because you have take on the curse of Achilles, I must spare you. You are in the hands of the Fates now. But you will never speak to me like that again. You have no idea how much I have sacrificed, how much-"

His voice broke, and he shrank back down to human size. My heart tightened at the emotion the god was showing.

"My son, my greatest pride...my poor May..."

He sounded so devastated. He truly cares about his children. Just like how Dad truly cares about Pollux, Castor and I. My heart ached at the thought of my dead brother and how my dad cried over his death.

"Look, Lord Hermes." Percy said. "I'm sorry, but I need to know. What happened to May? She said something about Luke's date, and her eyes-"

Hermes glared at him, and Percy's voice faltered. The look in the god's eyes were full of deep pain.

"I will leave you now." Hermes said tightly. "I have a war to fight."

He began to shine. I turned away. Percy and I made sure Annabeth did the same because she was still frozen in shock.

Good luck, Percy, Martha whispered.

Hermes glowed with the light of a supernova. Then he was gone.

Annabeth moved to sit at the foot of her mother's throne and cried. I frowned and walked over to her. I sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Annabeth." Percy said. "It's not your fault. I've never seen Hermes act that way. I guess...I don't know...he probably feels guilty about Luke. He's looking for somebody to blame. I don't know why he lashed out at you. You didn't do anything to deserve that."

Annabeth wiped her eyes. She stared at the hearth like it was her own funeral pyre. Percy shifted uneasily and we exchanged nervous glances.

"Um, you didn't, right?"

She didn't answer him for a while.

"Percy," Annabeth said, " what did you mean about Luke's mother? Did you meet her?"

"Nico and I visited her." Percy nodded reluctantly. I looked at him with furrowed brows. "She was a little...different."

He then describe May Castellan, and the weird moment when her eyes had started to glow and she talked about her son's fate.

"That doesn't make sense. But why were you visiting-" Annabeth's eyes widened. "Hermes said you bear the curse of Achilles. Hestia said the same thing. Did you ...did you bathe in the River Styx?"

"Wait." I narrowed my eyes at him, standing to my feet. Percy shifted when he saw my narrowed eyes. "That explains why you look different-"

"Don't change the subject."

"Percy! Did you or not?"

"Um... maybe a little."

"You did..." I trailed off, not knowing if I should strangle him or hug him.

Percy must have seen my expression and quickly told us the story about Hades and Nico. That Percy had defeated an army of the dead. My hands shook as I realized that he could have died bathing in the River Styx.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Annabeth shook her head in disbelief.

"I had no choice." Percy said. "It's the only way I can stand up to Luke."

"Only way." I repeated, crossing my arms. "There must have been another safer way!"

"You mean...di inmortales, of course!"  Annabeth realized. "That's why Luke didn't die. He went to the Styx and ...oh no, Luke. What were you thinking."

"The point is he didn't die in the Styx." Percy brought up. "And neither did I. Now I have to face him. We have to defend Olympus."

I studied him. I was trying to see what exactly made him look different for bearing the curse of Achilles. He looked the same. Was the same height. His hair was still the same.

"I guess you're right. My mom mentioned-"

"Plan twenty-three."

Annabeth rummaged in her pack and pulled out Daedalus's laptop. The blue Delta symbol glowed on the top when she booted it up. She opened a few field and started to read.

"Here it is. Gods, we have a lot of work to do."

"The plan is originally Daedalus's?" I assumed.

"So, one of his inventions?" Percy added.

"Yes, and a lot of inventions...dangerous ones. If my mother wants me to use this plan, she must think things are very bad." She looked at us. "What about her message to the both of you? 'Remember the rivers'? And vines and madness? What does that mean?"

Percy shook his head while I thought over vines and madness. Was she suggesting I need to rely heavily on those during battle? I haven't used madness since last summer. The Stoll brothers ran into the throne room.

"You need to see this." Connor said. "Now."

Looong chapter

Also it's below freezing in Texas so why not update