{LANDON}

Landon was considering kidnapping Coach Hedge in his sleep and selling him.

The goat had been getting on his nerves. With Evangeline and Percy gone, all he had was Annabeth. But he wasn't allowed to be in the same room as the blonde without a third person to keep an eye on their 'troublemaking' as the satyr had called it. Ever since the stables, he would follow the son of Hermes around everywhere, making him do useless chores which mostly involved doing the satyr's personal errands.

Hedge even told him to clean his cabin once, which looked like a college dorm that a hurricane had swept up. Landon had thought the Hermes Cabin was dirty, but Coach Hedge's cabin seemed to surpass it.

All of them—except Piper and Coach Hedge, who were on the deck—sat around the table of the Mess Hall, their eyes on the son of Hades as they waited for him to speak.

"I communed with the dead last night," Nico said.

His fingers were fiddling with something around his neck—Evangeline's necklace. "I was able to learn more about what we'll face," he continued. "In ancient times, the House of Hades was a major site for Greek pilgrims. They would come to speak with the dead and honor their ancestors."

Leo frowned. "Sounds like Día de los Muertos. My Aunt Rosa took that stuff seriously."

Frank grunted. "Chinese have that too—ancestor worship, sweeping the graves in the springtime." He glanced at Leo. "Your Aunt Rosa wouldn't have gotten along with my grandmother."

"Yeah," Leo said. "I'm sure they would be best buds."

Nico cleared his throat. "A lot of cultures have seasonal traditions to honor the dead, but the House of Hades was open year-round. Pilgrims could actually speak to ghosts. In Greek, the place was called the Necromateion, the Oracle of Death. You'd work your way through different levels of tunnels, leaving offerings and drinking special potions—"

"Special potions," The son of Hephaestus muttered. "Yum."

Annabeth cleared her throat, she sat at the head of the table, her grey eyes stormier than usual. "Nico, go on."

"The pilgrims believed that each level of the temple brought you closer to the Underworld until the dead would appear before you. If they were pleased with your offerings, they would answer your questions."

The son of Mars tapped his mug of hot chocolate. "And if the spirits weren't pleased?"

"Some pilgrims found nothing," Nico said. "Some went insane or died after leaving the temple. Others lost their way in the tunnels and were never seen again."

"That sounds like a great place to go on a picnic," Landon muttered.

"The point is," Jason said. "Nico found some information that might help us."

"Yeah," The younger boy didn't sound very enthusiastic, his hand spun the pendant of his sister's necklace. "The ghost I spoke to last night...he was a former priest of Hecate. He confirmed what the goddess told Hazel yesterday at the crossroads. In the first war with the giants, Hecate fought for the gods. She slew one of the giants—the one who'd been designed as the anti-Hecate. A guy named Clytius."

"Dark dude," Leo guessed. "Wrapped in shadows."

Hazel's eyes narrowed. "How did you know that?"

"Kind of had a dream,"

No one looked surprised. They all listened as the son of Hephaestus explained about his dream, he described seeing Camp Half-Blood in ruins. He told them about a dark giant, and the strange woman on Half-Blood Hill, offering him a multiple choice death.

Landon had never heard of the giant, but he knew someone who would know something.

When he glanced at Annabeth, he found her already looking at him, although she quickly looked away once she met his gaze. "I've heard of him," she straightened in her seat. "He guards the Doors of Death, he'll be waiting for us."

Lorelai pulled her cat away from her waffles. "What about the lady in Leo's dream?" She asked.

"She's my problem." Hazel passed a diamond between her fingers in a sleight of hand. "Hecate mentioned a formidable enemy in the House of Hades—a witch who couldn't be defeated except by me, using magic."

"Do you know magic?" Leo questioned.

"Not yet."

"Ah," Leo drummed his fingers against the table. "Any idea who she is?"

Hazel shook her head. "Only that..." She glanced at Nico, and some sort of silent agreement happened between them. "Only that she won't be easy to defeat."

"But there is some good news," Nico said. "The ghost I talked to explained how Hecate defeated Clytius in the first war. She used her torches to set his hair on fire. He burned to death. In other words, fire is his weakness."

Everybody looked at Leo.

"Oh," he said. "Okay,"

"It's a good lead," Jason insisted. "At least we know how to kill the giant. And this sorceress...well, if Hecate believes Hazel can defeat her, then so do I."

Lorelai nodded, offering the daughter of Pluto a smile. "Yeah, we all believe in you."

Hazel dropped her eyes. "Now we just have to reach the House of Hades, battle our way through Gaea's forces—"

"Plus a bunch of ghosts," Nico added grimly. "The spirits in that temple may not be friendly."

"—and find the Doors of Death," Hazel continued. "Assuming we can somehow arrive at the same time as Evangeline and Percy and rescue them."

Landon glanced at the two empty seats, the two of them had disappeared into Tartarus five days ago. It felt weird without them, there was a chance he would never see them again and the thought of that made him feel like an eight-year-old boy. The same eight-year-old boy who had watched his sister leave, not knowing it would be the last time he would see her alive.

Frank swallowed a bite of pancake. "We can do it. We have to do it."

"So, with this detour," Leo said, "I'm estimating four or five days to arrive at Epirus, assuming no delays for, you know, monster attacks and stuff."

Jason smiled sourly. "Yeah. Those never happen."

Leo glanced at the daughter of Pluto. "Hecate told you that Gaea was planning her big wake-up party on August First, right? The Feast of Whatever?"

"Spes," Hazel said. "The goddess of hope."

Jason turned his fork. "Theoretically, that leaves us enough time. It's only July Fifth. We should be able to close the Doors of Death, then find the giants' HQ and stop them from waking Gaea before August First."

"Theoretically," Hazel agreed. "But I'd still like to know how we make our way through the House of Hades without going insane or dying."

Nobody said anything.

Frank set down his pancake roll like it suddenly didn't taste good. "It's July Fifth. Oh, jeez, I hadn't even thought of that..."

"Hey, man, it's cool," Leo said. "You're Canadian, right? I didn't expect you to get me an Independence Day present or anything...unless you wanted to."

"It's not that. My grandmother...she always told me that seven was an unlucky number. It was a ghost number. And July is the seventh month."

"Yeah, but.." Leo tapped his fingers nervously on the table. "But that's just a coincidence, right?"

"Back in China," Frank said. "in the old days, people called the seventh month the ghost month. That's when the spirit world and the human world were closest. The living and the dead could go back and forth. Tell me it's a coincidence we're searching for the Doors of Death during the ghost month."

"It's a coincidence," Landon said.

Jason looked at Landon. "What?" The brown-haired boy asked. "He said tell him, so I did."

Annabeth rubbed her forehead. "Let's just focus on one thing at a time," she sighed. "We're getting closer to Bologna, we might be able to get more answers once we—"

The ship lurched as if it had hit an iceberg. Landon's bowl of cereal slid across the table. Nico fell backward out of his chair and banged his head against the sideboard. He collapsed on the floor, with a dozen magic goblets and platters crashing down on top of him.

"Nico!" Hazel ran to help her brother.

"What—?" Frank tried to stand, but the ship pitched in the other direction. He stumbled into the table and went face-first into Leo's plate of scrambled eggs.

"Look!" Jason pointed at the walls. The images of Camp Half-Blood were flickering and changing.

"Not possible," Leo shook his head.

Suddenly, a huge, distorted face filled the entire port side wall making Landon fall out of his seat with a startled yelp. The face had crooked yellow teeth, a scraggly red beard, a warty nose, and two mismatched eyes—one much larger than the other. The face seemed to be trying to eat its way into the room.

The other walls flickered, showing scenes from above deck. Piper stood at the helm, but something was wrong. From shoulders down, she was wrapped in duct tape, her mouth gagged and her legs bound to the control console.

At the mainmast, Coach Hedge was similarly bound and gagged, while a bizarre-looking creature—some sort of a mix between a gnome and a chimpanzee with poor fashion sense—danced around him, doing the satyr's hair in tiny pigtails with pink rubber bands.

Landon would've taken a picture of it if they weren't being attacked. On the port-side wall, the huge ugly face receded and he could see it properly—another gnome chimp, in even more horrendous clothes.

This one began leaping around the decks, stuffing things in a burlap bag—Piper's dagger, Leo's Wii controllers, some sort of a sphere out of the command console.

"No!" Leo yelled.

"Uhh," Nico groaned from the floor.

"Piper!" Lorelai yelled.

"Monkey!" Frank yelled.

"They're not monkeys," Annabeth said. "They're Kerkopes."

"Stealing my stuff!" Leo yelled, and he ran for the stairs.

The three boys and Lorelai made their way up the decks, while Annabeth and Hazel stayed back with Nico.

By the time they arrived, the scene was much worse than he had originally imagined.

Coach Hedge and Piper were struggling against their duct tape bonds while one of the monkey dwarfs danced around the deck, picking up whatever wasn't tied down and sticking it in his bag. He was about four feet tall, even shorter than the satyr, with bowed legs and chimp-like feet.

He wore green-plaid pants that were pinned at the cuffs and held up by red suspenders over a striped pink-and-black woman's blouse. He wore half a dozen gold watches on each arm and a zebra-patterned cowboy hat with a price tag dangling from the brim. His skin was covered with patches of scraggly red fur.

Landon heard a click behind him and Leo yelled, "Duck!"

The son of Hermes hit the deck as the explosion almost made him lose his hearing. Landon wasn't sure what he was supposed to hear when something exploded next to you, but Apollo's music was not it. He could hear a faint ringing in his ears and when his vision focused, he saw Kerkopes staring down at him.

Landon tried to grab the monkey but it leaped over him and onto Frank who had turned into a silverback gorilla, but had passed out from the explosion.

As he stumbled to his feet, Landon saw the red Kerkopes prance around Coach Hedge, before it gave the satyr a big smack on the cheek, then skipped to the rail.

Jason was already on his feet, stumbling and running into things. Leo was swaying as he stood. Lorelai got punched in the face by the Brown Furred Kerkopes before it jumped off the ship along with his friend.

The son of Hermes made his way to the helm, starting to remove the tape around Piper.

"Don't waste your time on me!" The daughter of Aphrodite said. "Go after them!"

At the mast, Coach Hedge mumbled, "HHHmmmmmm—hmmm!"

Landon figured that meant 'kill them' considering half of the satyr's vocabulary involved the word kill.

"You okay?" Jason asked the daughter of Iris.

"Sort of," she rubbed her cheek which was red. "Those monkeys can really punch."

"You feeling good enough to control the winds?" Leo asked the son of Jupiter. "I need a lift."

Jason frowned. "Sure, but—"

"Good," The Valdez boy said, turning to Landon. "Pack your stuff, rude boy. We've got some monkey dudes to catch."

"Kerkopes," Landon corrected, roughly tugging the tape off the satyr's mouth, making him yelp in pain.

The three of them arrived in a big piazza lined with white marble government buildings and outdoor cafés. Bikes and Vespas clogged the surrounding streets, but the square itself was empty except for pigeons and a few old men drinking espresso.

None of the locals seemed to notice the huge Greek warship hovering over the piazza, or the fact that three boys had just flown down, Jason wielding a gold sword, and Leo and Landon were pretty much empty-handed.

"Where to?" Jason asked.

Leo stared at him. "Well, I dunno. Let me pull my dwarf-tracking GPS out of my tool belt...Oh, wait! I don't have a dwarf-tracking GPS—or my tool belt!"

"Alright," Landon said, glancing across the piazza. "They probably wanted to swipe as many things as they could, so they probably went in that direction."

"And how are you so sure about this?" Leo raised a brow.

"Crowded places are the best spots to steal," he shrugged. "There are so many people, you just blend in, go unnoticed."

They waded through a lake of pigeons, then maneuvered down a side street of clothing stores and gelato shops. The sidewalks were lined with white columns covered in graffiti.

They arrived in a smaller piazza. Looming over them was a huge bronze statue of a buck-naked Neptune.

"Ah, jeez." Leo looked away.

Landon's brow creased, "Is it supposed to be that big? I always thought it'd be way smaller."

"Landon," Jason scolded.

The sea god stood on a big marble column in the middle of the fountain that wasn't working. Little winged angels were sitting on either side of the god as if to say 'What's up?' Neptune himself was throwing his hip to one side, gripping his trident in his right hand and stretching out the other like he was blessing them.

"Some kind of clue?" Leo wondered out loud.

"Yeah, and when you figure it out it says ding dong." Landon said.

"Focus," Jason frowned. "This is a big thing,"

"Bigger than that?" He pointed to the statue.

"Stop it," The son of Jupiter shot him a look.

Leo climbed into the dry fountain. He put his hand on the statue's pedestal. "It's mechanical," He stated. "Maybe a doorway to the dwarf's secret lair?"

"Oooo!" Shrieked a nearby voice. "Secret lair?"

"I want a secret lair!" yelled another voice from above.

Jason stepped back, his sword ready. Landon stepped behind the blond. The red-furred dwarf in the cowboy hat was sitting about thirty feet away at the nearest café table, sipping an espresso held by his monkey-like foot. The brown-furred dwarf in the green bowler was perched on the marble pedestal at Neptune's foot, just above Leo's head.

"If we had a secret lair," said Red Fur, "I would want a firehouse pole."

"And a waterslide!" said Brown Fur, who was pulling random tools out of Leo's toolbelt, tossing aside wrenches, hammers, and staple guns.

"Stop that!" Leo tried to grab the dwarf's feet, but he couldn't reach the top of the pedestal.

"Too short?" Brown Fur sympathized.

"You're calling me short?" Leo looked around.

"He's not wrong," Landon mumbled, stuffing his hands in his jacket's pockets.

"Whose side are you on?" Leo yelped, glaring at him. The son of Hephaestus turned back to the monkey. "Give me my belt, you stupid—"

"Now, now!" said Brown Fur. "We haven't even introduced ourselves. I'm Akmon. And my brother over there—"

"—is the handsome one!" The red-furred dwarf lifted his espresso. "Passalos! Singer of songs! Drinker of coffee! Stealer of shiny stuff!"

"Please!" shrieked the other. "I steal much better than you."

Passalos snorted. "Stealing naps, maybe!" He took out Piper's knife and started picking his teeth with it.

"Hey!" Jason yelled. "That's our friend's knife!"

He lunged at Passalos, but the kerkopes were too quick. He sprang from his chair, bounced off Jason's head, did a flip, and landed next to Leo, his hairy arms wrapping around the boy's waist.

"Save me?" The dwarf pleaded.

"Get off!" Leo tried to shove him away, but the monkey did a backward somersault and landed in front of Landon. Leo's pants promptly fell around his knees.

Landon glanced at the monkey, who was holding a small zigzaggy strip of metal. The son of Hermes lunged for the Kerkopes but he rolled out of the way.

The kerkopes landed a few steps away, grinning wildly, he reached to bow his cowboy hat at Landon until he realized it was gone. Landon held up the hat with a grin, he saw the Archimedes sphere inside and before he knew it, the monkey flew at him.

Possalos stomped on his face, grabbing the hat before he launched himself straight up and was suddenly sitting on the statue's pedestal next to his brother.

"Tell me I don't have moves," Passalos boasted.

"Okay," Akmon said. "You don't have moves."

"Bah!" Possalos said. "Give me the tool belt. I want to see."

"No!" Akmon elbowed him away. "You got the knife and the shiny ball."

"Yes, the shiny ball is nice." Passolas pulled out the sphere and began tinkering with the dials.

"Stop!" Leo yelled. "That's a delicate machine."

Jason landed next to Landon, glaring up at the dwarfs. "Who are you two, anyway?"

"The Kerkopes!" Akmon narrowed his eyes at Jason. "I bet you're a son of Jupiter, eh? I can always tell."

"Just like Black Bottom," Passolas agreed.

"Black Bottom?" Leo asked.

"Hercules," Landon said.

"Yes, the boy is right," Akmon grinned. "We called him Black Bottom because he used to go around without clothes. He got so tan that his backside, well—"

"At least he had a sense of humor!" Passalos said. "He was going to kill us when we stole from him, but he let us go because he liked our jokes. Not like you three. Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy!"

"We'll laugh when you say something funny," Landon said. "Right now, the only funny thing here is Leo's pants that keep falling off." He nodded to Leo's legs, the son of Hephaestus let out a curse before tugging his pants back up.

"Give me back our stuff," Leo said. "And I'll tell you a joke with a good punch line."

"Nice try!" Akmon pulled a wrench from the tool belt and spun it. "Oh, very nice! I'm definitely keeping this! Thanks, Blue Bottom."

"That's it!" Leo shouted. "My stuff. Now. Or I'll show you how funny a flaming dwarf is." His hands caught fire.

"Now we're talking." Jason thrust his sword into the sky. Dark clouds began to gather over the piazza. Thunder boomed.

Landon shifted on his feet. "Yeah,"

"Oh, scary!" Akmon shrieked.

"Yes," Passalos agreed. "If only we had a secret lair to hide in."

"Alas, this statue isn't the doorway to a secret lair," Akmon said. "It has a different purpose."

The fire in Leo's hand disappeared as his face turned pale. Landon felt like a cold cloth had been draped across his neck. "Trap!" Leo yelled suddenly.

Landon and Leo dove out of the way in time, unfortunately, Jason was too busy summoning his storm. Five golden cords shot from the Neptune statue's fingers. Two barely missed Landon's arm. The rest homed in on Jason, wrapping him like a rodeo calf and yanking him upside down.

A bolt of lightning blasted the tines of Neptune's trident, sending arcs of electricity up and down the statue, but the Kerkopes had already disappeared.

"Bravo!" Akmon applauded from a nearby cafè table. "You make a wonderful piñata, son of Jupiter!"

"Yes!" Passalos agreed. "Hercules hung us upside down once, you know. Oh, revenge is sweet!"

Leo shot a fireball at Passalos, who was trying to juggle two pigeons and the Archimedes sphere.

"Eek!" The dwarf jumped free of the explosion, dropping the sphere and letting the pigeons fly.

"Time to leave!" Akmon decided, somersaulting out of the way as Landon tried to grab him.

He tipped his bowler and sprang away, jumping from table to table. Passolas glanced at the Archimedes sphere, which had rolled between the son of Hephaestus' feet.

Leo summoned another fireball. "Try me," he snarled.

"Bye!" Passolas did a backflip and ran after his brother.

Landon glared at the monkeys as they left, his hand clenching into a fist. "Stupid Kerkopes," he muttered, turning back to Jason, who was still hanging upside down.

"Hold on," Leo said. "If I can find a release switch—"

"Just go!" Jason said. "I'll follow when I get out of this, you two go ahead."

"But—"

"Don't lose them!"

"You sure?" Landon asked.

"Yes, I'm sure!" said the blond. "Now, go!"

Landon spared a glance at the son of Hephaestus before he spun, "Let's go, they're disappearing."

Without sparing another second, the two of them made their way after the Kerkopes.

The creatures didn't try very hard to lose them, which meant they had a plan. They stayed in sight, scampering over red-tiled rooftops, knocking over window boxes, whooping and hollering, and leaving a trail of screws and nails—a trail for the boys to follow.

Landon would've caught up with them, had it not been for Leo's pants which kept falling off, and slowing them down.

They turned a corner and Landon saw two ancient stone towers jutting into the sky, side by side, they were much taller than anything else in the neighborhood. The Kerkopes scaled the tower on the right when they reached the top, they climbed around the back and disappeared.

"We gotta go up there," Landon squinted up at the tiny windows, waiting for the dwarfs to reappear, but of course, they didn't.

Leo's lips pressed into a thin line, his eyes scanning over the neighborhood, and then they stopped on something. Half a block down, a set of double glass doors opened and an old lady hobbled out, carrying plastic shopping bags.

"You're good at stealing right?" Leo asked.

"Amazing at it," Landon said.

"Then let's go rob a grocery store," The son of Hephaestus bolted for the store. With a grumble, Landon followed after the boy.

"And what do you plan on making?" Landon asked, walking into the store.

"Arsenal," Leo whispered.

"Cool," He muttered.

The two boys roamed the aisles, Leo scoured for the things he needed with Landon translating labels for the younger boy. He wasn't sure whether Leo was making a bomb or a weird potion, because the things he needed consisted of; toothpaste, sugar, baking soda, matches, bug spray, aluminum foil, and a laundry cord.

Landon didn't question it. He just managed to swipe things off the shelves and into a bag without the checkout lady noticing. When they had everything they needed, they discreetly made their way out.

The sons of Hermes and Hephaestus ducked into the nearest doorway where they had a clear view of the towers. Leo started to work, he summoned fire and started to dry out the materials while Landon kept an eye on the towers but there was still no sign of the Kerkopes.

After a few minutes, Leo exclaimed. "Ta-da!"

"What is it?" Landon asked.

"Our secret weapon." The son of Hephaestus grinned.

"A secret weapon made from fucking toothpaste?" He shot him a look.

"Don't question it," Leo hissed, walking past Landon. "Come on,"

They found the entrance and started winding up the stairs inside, only to be stopped at a ticket booth by a caretaker who yelled at them in Italian.

"Seriously?" Leo scoffed. "Look, man, you've got dwarfs in your belfry. We're the exterminator." He held up the can of bug spray. "See? Exterminator Molto Buono. Squirt, squirt. Ahh!" He pantomimed a dwarf melting in terror, which the caretaker didn't understand.

Landon pushed Leo aside and put on his best smile. He patted the caretaker's shoulder as he weaved a story about how Leo was a sick kid and only had a few days left before he died, he told the caretaker that Leo had one last wish to visit the top of the towers because it was his lifelong dream.

The caretaker seemed to buy it, he looked at Leo with sympathy, muttered an apology, and let them go.

They continued climbing the stairs, which seemed to go on and on. The whole tower seemed to be nothing but an excuse to build a staircase.

They finally stopped on a landing, Leo slumped against a narrow barred window, trying to catch his breath. "You think you can make it to the top?" Landon placed his hands on his hips.

"Of course, I can," Leo panted. "Just give me a sec,"

"Alright," Landon waited for a moment. "Time's up, let's go."

The son of Hephaestus rolled his eyes, as he got to his feet. "You know, it'd be helpful if you carried something."

"No, I'm good,"

They started climbing again a few seconds later Finally, by the time they reached the summit, Landon felt like his legs would shatter.

The room was about the size of a broom closet, with barred windows on all four walls. Shoved in the corners were sacks of treasure, shiny goodies spilling all over the floor. He saw Piper's knife, an old leather-bound book, some mechanical devices, and enough gold to give Arion a stomachache.

Akmon and Passalos were hanging upside down on the rafters by their chimp feet, playing antigravity poker. When they saw the boys, they threw their cards like confetti and broke out in applause.

"I told you they'd do it!" Akmon shrieked in delight.

Passalos shrugged and took off one of his gold watches and handed it to his brother. "You win. I didn't think they were that dumb."

They both dropped to the floor. Passolas straightened his cowboy hat and kicked open the grate on the nearest window. "What should we make them climb next, brother? The dome of San Luca?"

"How about we make you climb back to whatever hole you crawled out of?" Landon glared.

"We'll be out of here before you can even try." Passolas said.

"Bet,"

"Before you guys go," Leo interrupted. "You forgot something shiny."

"Impossible!" Akmon scowled. "We were very thorough."

"You sure?" Leo held up the grocery bag with the homemade weapons.

The dwarfs inched closer. "Look." Leo brought out the first weapon—a lump of dried chemicals wrapped in aluminum foil—and lit it up with his hand.

The sons of Hephaestus and Hermes turned away when it popped, but the dwarfs were staring right at it. Somehow, toothpaste, sugar, and bug spray made a pretty decent flash bang.

The Kerkopes wailed, clawing at their eyes. They stumbled toward the window, and Landon set off the homemade firecrackers—snapping them around the dwarfs' bare feet to keep them off balance. And then, for good measure, Leo turned the dial on his Archimedes sphere, which unleashed a plume of foul white fog that filled the room.

Landon covered his mouth with his shirt while the dwarfs were hacking and wheezing, Leo grabbed his tool belt from Akmon, calmly summoned some bungee cord, then he and Landon tied up the dwarfs.

"My eyes!" Akmon coughed. "My tool belt!"

"My feet are on fire!" Passalos wailed. "Not shiny! Not shiny at all!"

After tightly securing them, Landon rolled the Kerkopes into one corner before he began to look around their treasures while Leo retrieved their personal items.

"Please!" Akmon wailed. "Don't take our shinies!"

"We'll make you deal!" Passalos suggested. "We'll cut you in for ten percent if you let us go!"

"Make it ninety percent and I'll consider it," Landon said.

"Twenty percent!"

He sighed exasperated. "Seventy,"

"Fifty!"

"I'm not settling for anything less than seventy," Landon shook his head.

Just then, thunder boomed overhead. Lightning flashed, and the bars on the nearest windows burst into sizzling, melted stubs of iron.

Jason flew in, electricity sparking around him and his gold sword steaming.

Leo whistled appreciatively. "Man, you just wasted an awesome entrance."

"You know, for the all-powerful son of Jupiter," Landon started. "You really miss out on all the fights."

Jason frowned. He noticed the hog-tied Kerkopes. "What the—"

"Don't mind them," Leo said. "They're just relaxing. How did you find us?"

"Uh, the smoke," Jason managed. "And I heard popping noises. Were you having a gunfight in here?"

"Do you see any guns?" Landon raised a brow.

"No," Jason said.

"Then we weren't having a gunfight," The son of Hermes started to browse through the gold.

There were coins, gold nuggets, jewelry, paper clips, foil wrappers, cuff links, it was all extremely tempting but what threw him off was an old bronze navigation device that was badly device. Leo seemed to be interested in the broken junk.

"Take it!" Passalos offered. "Odysseus made it, you know! Take it and let us go."

"Odysseus?" Jason asked. "Like, the Odysseus?"

"Yes!" Passalos squeaked. "Made it when he was an old man in Ithaca. One of his last inventions, and we stole it!"

"How does it work?" Leo asked.

"Oh, it doesn't," Akmon said. "Something about a missing crystal?" He glanced at his brother for help.

"'My biggest what-if,'" Passolas said. "'Should've taken a crystal.' That's what he kept muttering in his sleep, the night we stole it." shrugged the Red-Furred Kerkopes. "No idea what he meant. But the shiny is yours! Can we go now?"

"Got any golden statues lying around here?" Landon asked.

"Uh, no," Passalos said.

"Then you're staying,"

"Wait—"

"What's this?" Leo cut in, holding up the leather-bound book, its title was in gold leaf, in a language even Landon couldn't read.

"Nothing!" Akmon said. "Just a book. It had a pretty gold cover, so we took it from him."

"Him who?" Landon asked.

The two dwarfs exchanged a nervous look.

"Minor god," Passalos said. "In Venice. Really, it's nothing."

"Venice." Jason frowned at the boys. "Isn't that where we're supposed to go next?"

"Yeah," Leo looked over the book in his hand. "Where exactly can we find this minor god?"

"No!" Akmon shrieked. "You can't take it back to him. If he finds out we stole it—"

"He'll destroy you," Jason guessed. "Which is what we'll do if you don't tell us, and we're a lot closer." He pressed the point of his sword against Akmon's furry throat.

"Okay, okay!" The dwarf shrieked. "La Casa Nera! Calle Frezzeria! That's where you'll find him!"

"You sure?" Leo asked.

The dwarfs nodded vigorously.

"Please don't tell him we stole it," Passalos begged. "He isn't nice at all!"

"Who is?" Jason demanded. "What god?"

"I—I can't say it," Passalos stammered.

"You'd better," Leo warned.

"Time's running out," Landon cracked his knuckles.

"No," Passalos said miserably. "I mean, I really can't say it. I can't pronounce it! Tr—tri—It's too hard!"

"Truh," Akmon said. "Tru-toh—Too many syllables!"

They both burst into tears. Landon glanced at the pile of gold and then at the Kerkopes. They weirdly reminded him of Travis and Conner.

Jason lowered his sword. "What do you want to do with them? Send them to Tartarus?"

"Please, no!" Akmon wailed. "It might take us weeks to come back."

"Assuming Gaea even lets us!" Passalos sniffled. "She controls the Doors of Death now. She'll be very cross with us. She'll send that guy after us."

"What guy?" Jason asked.

"Oliver," Landon muttered.

The dwarfs nodded. "You don't know what he does to people like us, to people who cross her," Akmon's eyes were so wide, they looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.

"I have a pretty good idea, don't worry." The son of Hermes narrowed his eyes.

Next to him, Leo spoke up, snapping out of his own daze. "Nothing can slow them down," the boy mused. "I wonder..."

"What?" Jason asked.

Leo glanced over at the dwarfs. "I'll make you a deal."

Akmon's eyes lit up. "Thirty percent?"

"We'll leave all your treasure—" Leo said.

"Wait, what—?" Landon turned to look at him.

"—except the stuff that belongs to us, and the astrolabe, and this book, which we'll take back to the dude in Venice."

"But he'll destroy us!" Passalos wailed.

"We won't say where we got it," Leo promised. "And we won't kill you. We'll let you go free."

"Uh, Leo...?" Jason asked nervously.

"Why can't we just take some of the gold?" Landon frowned.

Akmon squealed with delight. "I knew you were as smart as Hercules! I will call you Black Bottom, the Sequel!"

"Yeah, no thanks," The son of Hephaestus said. "But in return for us sparing your lives, you have to do something for us. I'm going to send you somewhere to steal from some people, harass them, and make life hard for them in any way you can. You have to follow my directions exactly. You have to swear on the River Styx."

"We swear!" Passaslos said. "Stealing from people is our specialty!"

"I love harassment!" Akmon agreed. "Where are we going?"

Leo grinned. "Ever heard of New York?"

They arrived back onto the ship an hour later when the sun had begun to set. Landon stared at the statue of Nike in the palm of the Athena Partheons, which was taking up the corridor and the stables, and the sick bay.

Oliver had always said you don't deserve victory if you aren't willing to cross any length for it. Landon had thought he was just being intense like always, but the son of Victoria never said anything without meaning it.

Landon had figured out the reason why Oliver had come to kill him from a message he'd in his sister's diary while he was trying to translate it. She'd seen the Astor's boy's demise, she had seen how his blood would be shed by Landon. And from what happened, he figured that had set him off.

Oliver couldn't stand the thought of losing so he'd tried to get rid of the reason for his loss. That was why he had followed them to the Lakes that day, that was the reason he was set on trying to kill Landon, even after he'd murdered his sister.

Landon wondered how everything would've gone if he had been the one who died that day, if Cassie hadn't been there, if she hadn't tried to convince Oliver not to hurt him, maybe she would've gotten the chance to live the rest of her life.

But that was it, wasn't it? He would've never known how her life would go because he wouldn't have been there to see it.

That was exactly what the Fates had decided. Either Cassie or Landon could live at the end, but not both.

One sibling's sacrifice for the other one's life.

"You're not planning on drawing on my mother's statue with a marker, are you?" Annabeth's voice brought him back.

He hadn't even noticed her slide into the seat next to him, let alone realize she was there. The daughter of Athena's grey eyes roamed across his face, from the look on her face he could see that she was trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"No, not in the mood for vandalism today." He looked at the entrance of the stables, waiting for the satyr chaperone to pop out of nowhere and yell at them. "You do remember we can't be in a room alone? Hedge will give us more meaningless chores if he finds us,"

"Don't worry about him," She waved a hand. "He's sleeping while his cage matches play on the TV. Besides, he can't stop me."

"You're breaking the rules...?" He raised a brow. "I would've never thought I'd get to see that day,"

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Guess your bad influence rubbed off on me."

"Oh no," Landon said, sarcastically. "The horror."

He couldn't help but notice the way the light fell on her making her skin glow more than usual. There was just something about her, he couldn't put a finger on what it was that even in the most strangest situations she always looked like the most gorgeous person in the entire universe.

"Wanna watch the sunset with me?" he offered.

"Oh, well—" she said, resisting a smile. "—how can I pass on such a generous offer?"

"Exactly," he nodded. "You can't, because I'm so generous."

She scoffed playfully and focused her attention on the glass doors beneath them. "You are never going to change, are you?"

"Of course not, it's part of my charm."

"Since when do you have charm?" She asked.

"Since always," Landon shrugged.

They settled into a comfortable silence, watching as the clouds floated by and the orange hue began to change into a darker one. Her shoulder pressed against his, her hand an inch away from his, Annabeth stared at the sky through the glass. "It's a pretty view." She said.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye, ignoring the feeling in his chest. "It definitely is," he muttered.

------✧------

A/N: don't got much to say today.

Slowburn will be slow burning even more.

To give you guys a peace of mind I'll tell you when lannabeth will get together: it's at the very end of the next book.