━━ chapter eighteen
the land beyond the gods

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    ━━Aeroplanes or cannibals? Come on, no contest, at all. The answer is obviously the cannibals.

    Percy, in all honestly, would much rather be driving Grandma Zhang's Cadillac all the way to Alaska with fireball-throwing ogres on his tail rather than sitting in a luxury Gulfstream. But Fiona sat next to him, so he could guess it was okay. He had flown before, he knew that much. The details were hazy, but he remembered flying a pegasus called Blackjack━and that he really liked doughnuts. He had even been in a plane once or twice. But a son of Neptune (Poseidon, whatever) didn't belong in the air. Every time the plane hit a spot of turbulence, Percy's heart raced, and he was sure Jupiter (Zeus, whatever) was slapping them around. In the end, he found himself reaching out and gripping Fiona's hand. She arched a brow at him but didn't let go. Instead, she gave it a squeeze as if to tell him, it's okay.

    He tried his best to focus as Frank and Hazel talked. Hazel was reassuring Frank that he had done everything he could for his grandmother. Frank had saved them from the Laistrygonians and got them out of Vancouver. He had been incredibly brave. Frank kept his head down like he was ashamed to have been crying, but Percy didn't blame him. The poor guy had just lost his grandmother and seen his house go up in flames, he had every right to cry over that. As far as Percy was concerned, shedding a few tears didn't make you any less of a man, especially when you had just fended off an army of ogres that wanted to eat you for breakfast.

    (Though, Percy still couldn't get over the fact that Frank was like a distant relative. What would that make him? Frank would be his ... what? Great-times-a-thousand nephew? Yeah, far too weird for words).

    Frank refused to explain exactly what his family gift was, but as they flew north, he did tell them about his conversation with Mars the night before. He explained the prophecy Juno had issued when he was a baby━about his life being tied to a piece of firewood, and how he had asked Hazel to keep it for him. Beside Percy, Fiona tensed, and she gripped his hand tighter. But she managed to tell Frank that she was going through something similar with her necklace, explaining the story of how her brother Nico had passed it over the day she found out she was a daughter of Pluto.

    Some of Frank's story, Percy had already figured out. Hazel and Frank had obviously shared some crazy experience when they blacked out together, and that they had made some sort of deal. It also explained why even now, out of habit, Frank kept checking his coat pocket, and why he was so nervous around fire. Still, Percy felt a strong sense of admiration. For both him and Fiona. Both of them had their lives dangling like faint string, ready to be cut off at any moment, and yet here they still were, embarking on a quest knowing that it could very well end in their deaths. And for Fiona, it most probably will. He didn't like that. Percy was determined to make sure Thanatos won't steal her away back down to the Underworld. He won't let that happen. He'll fight the god if he had to.

    "Frank," he said, "I'm proud to be related to you."

    Frank's ears turned red. With his head lowered, his military haircut made a sharp black arrow pointing down. "Juno has some sort of plan for us, about the Prophecy of Eight."

    "Yeah," Percy grumled. "I didn't like her as Hera. I don't like her any better as Juno."

    He glanced at Fiona next to him, remembering their conversation last night. She had told him that it didn't matter whether he was Roman or Greek, she trusted him all the same. He doesn't know why that had meant so much to him, but it had. He wanted to tell her everything he could remember about his old life, but was also scared━afraid of what, he wasn't particularly sure.

    Hazel studied Percy with her luminescent golden eyes, and he wondered how she could be so calm. As the youngest on this quest, she was still the one that held them together and comforted them. She was also possibly flying straight to her death, and yet she didn't show any fear. It made Percy feel silly for being scared of aeroplane turbulence.

    "You're a son of Poseidon, aren't you?" she asked. "You are a Greek demigod."

    With his free hand, Percy gripped his leather necklace, not wanting to let go of Fiona's hand. It was warm. It made him feel less afraid. "I started to remember in Portland, after the gorgon's blood. It's been coming back to me slowly since then. There's another camp━Camp Half-Blood."

    Just saying the name made Percy feel warm inside, like the campfire at night. Good memories washed over him: the smell of strawberry fields in the warm summer sun, fireworks lighting up the beach on the Fourth of July, satyrs playing panpipes at the nightly campfire, and terrible blue cupcakes made by his half-brother and Annabeth on his sixteenth birthday. He suddenly wondered whether Fiona would like it━the campfires, the strawberries, the lagoon ... he glanced to check her expression but saw that she wasn't looking at him. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on the floor.

    "Another camp," Hazel echoed. "A Greek camp? Gods, if Octavian found out━"

    "He'd declar war," Frank said. "He's always sure the Greeks were out there, plotting against us. He thought Percy was a spy."

    "That's why Juno sent me," said Percy, then quickly fixed his mistake, "Uh━I mean━not to spy. I think it was some kind of exchange, well ..." he glanced at the girl beside him. "Actually, Fiona suggested it, which was really smart." She gave him no sign that she liked the compliment. He frowned to himself. Okay ... "She thinks that your friend Jason━she thinks he was sent to my camp. In my dreams, I saw a demigod that might have been him. He was working with some other demigods on this flying warship. I think they're coming to Camp Jupiter to help."

    Frank tapped nervously on the back of his seat. "Mars said Juno wants to unite the Greeks and Romans to fight Gaea. But, jeez━Greeks and Romans have a long history of bad blood."

    Hazel took a deep breath. "That's probably why the gods have kept us apart this long. If a Greek warship appeared in the sky above Camp Jupiter, and Reyna didn't know it was friendly━"

    "Yeah," Percy agreed. "We've got to be careful how we explain this when we get back."

    "If we get back," muttered Frank.

    Percy nodded reluctantly. "I mean, I trust you guys. I hope you trust me. I feel ... well, I feel as close to you as to any of my old friends at Camp Half-Blood. But with the other demigods, at both camps━there's going to be a lot of suspicions."

    Hazel did something he wasn't expecting. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. It was totally a sisterly kiss, but Fiona frowned at it━the first reaction Percy had gotten since he talked about Camp Half-Blood. He wasn't sure why it made him want to grin. She's jealous, he saw. She's jealous and she looks cute with her face scrunched up like that and━

    "Of course we trust you," said Hazel. "We're a family now. Aren't we, Frank, Fiona?"

    "Sure," said Frank. "Do I get a kiss?"

    Hazel laughed, but there was nervous tension in it.

    (Percy refrained from asking Fiona the same thing. See, he remembers, now. Annabeth is a very good friend, and he doesn't have a girlfriend back home. Which meant, he doesn't need to feel bad about his feelings for Fiona, but he was sure if he asked that, she would punch him right across the face. Percy needs more confidence for that. Right now, the thought that Fiona was still holding his hand was making his stomach go: wow, oh my gods, she's cute, she's pretty, she has nice hair━)

    "Anyway," Fiona then said, clearing her throat. She still hadn't let go of his hand. Percy thinks that's a good thing. "What do we do now?"

    Percy took a deep breath. Time was slipping away. They were almost halfway through June twenty-third, and tomorrow was the Feast of Fortuna. "I've got to contact a friend━to keep my promise to Ella."

    "How?" Frank said. "One of those Iris-messages?"

    "Still not working," Percy murmured sadly. "I tried it last night at your grandmother's house. No luck. Maybe it's because my memories are still jumbled. Or the gods aren't allowing a connection. I'm hoping I can contact my friend in my dreams."

    Another bump of turbulence made him grab his seat. Fiona squeezed his hand again, but wouldn't look at him. Wow, thanks ...? Below, snowcapped mountains broke through a blanket of clouds.

    "I'm not sure I can sleep," Percy said. "But I need to try. We can't leave Ella by herself with those ogres around."

    "Yeah," said Frank. "We've still got hours to fly. Take the couch, man."

    Percy nodded. He felt lucky to have Hazel and Frank, and Fiona watching out for him. What he said to them was true━he trusted them; very much. In the weird, terrifying, horrible experience of losing his memory and getting ripped out of his old life━Fiona, Hazel and Frank were the bright spots.

    He looked at the girl beside him, and thought she looked seriously beautiful in the light of the plane. Percy took his remaining courage and stretched out, setting his head on her lap and closing his eyes. Fiona tensed up, but didn't push him off, which was another good sign amongst all the other weird ones.

    Percy let out a sigh, and dreamed he was falling from a mountain of ice towards a cold sea.

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    ━━Percy was woken up by Fiona and Hazel as they reached Alaska; the Land Beyond the Gods, (or whatever). He was proud of himself, happy, content ... while he should be sad, being stuck in Alaska, the giant's home territory, out of contact with his old friends just as his memories were coming back, he had seen Polybote's army about to invade Camp Jupiter and that the giants planned to use him and Fiona has some kind of blood sacrifice to awaken Gaea (not only that, but tomorrow evening was the Feast of Fortuna) ... he felt stranegly invigorated. His dream of Tyson had lifted his spirits. He remembered Tyson, his brother. They had fought together, celebrated victories, shared good times at Camp Half-Blood. He remembered his home, and that gave him a new determination to succeed. He was fighting for two camps now━two families.

    Juno had stolen his memory and sent him to Camp Jupiter for a reason. He understood that now. He still wanted to punch her in her godly face, but at least he got her reasoning. If the two camps could work together, they stood a chance of stopping their mutual enemies. Separately, both camps were doomed.

    There were other reasons Percy wanted to save Camp Jupiter. Reasons he didn't dare put into words━not yet, anyway. But ... his eyes flickered over to Fiona sitting beside him, her hair still looking a mess, but beautiful in it's dark waves, her lips parted in a silent breath as she thought of perhaps their next game plan ... Percy thought that there could be a future for himself and hopefully━maybe━Fiona there. College, cafe's, suburbs, houses, kids ... (Yeah, that's thinking far too far Jackson, stop it).

    A taxi took them into downtown Anchorage, and Percy told Fiona, Frank and Hazel about his dreams. They looked anxious, but not surprised when he told them about the giant's army closing in on camp.

    Frank choked when he heard about Tyson. "You have a half-brother who's a Cyclops?"

    "Sure," grinned Percy. "Which makes him your great-great-great━"

    "Please," he covered his ears. "Enough."

    "As long as he can get Ella to camp," murmured Hazel. "I'm worried about her."

    "Yeah," added Fiona. Percy nodded. He was still thinking about the lines of the prophecy the harpy had recited━about the son of Neptune drowning, and the mark of Athena burning through Rome. He wasn't sure what the first part meant, but he was starting to have an idea about the second. He tried to set the question aside. He had to survive this quest first.

     The taxi turned on Highway One, which looked more like a small street, really, and then took them north towards downtown. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still high in the sky.

    Fiona settled her head on Percy's shoulder, and he stopped himself from grinning. Trying to act nochalant, he just relaxed, letting her watch the scenery outside with a furrowed brow. According to Hazel, almost none of the buildings were the same, but she pointed out features of the landscape━the vast forest ringing the city, the cold, grey waters of Cook Inlet tracing the north edge of town, and the Chugach Mountains rising greyish-blue in the distance, capped with snow even in June.

    The air smelt clean━very clean. The town itself had a weather-beaten look about it, with closed stores, rusted-out cars and worn apartment complexes lining the road, but it was still beautiful. Lakes and huge stretches of woods cut through the middle, and the Arctic sky was an amazing combination of turquoise and gold.

    Percy felt Fiona stiffen, and she grabbed his arm to point out of the window, "Is that━?"

    "Hyperboreans," Percy nodded. He was amazed he remembered that name. "Northern giants. I fought some when Kronos invaded Manhatatn."

    "Wait," Frank frowned. "When who did what?"

    The giants weren't noticible to the mortals, but Percy could see them━dozens of bright-blue men, each thirty feet tall with grey frosty hair, were wading through the forests, fishing in the bay and striding across the mountains. "Long story. But these guys look ... I don't know, peaceful."

    "They usually are," said Hazel. "I remember them. They're everywhere in Alaska, like bears."

    "Bears?" Fiona stiffened once again, her eyes going wide. Percy arched a brow at her and she went a shade darker━it was cute. It made her look like a beetroot. "I ... I'm not a fan of bears."

     Percy was eager to start up some flirty banter. "The mighty Fiona Midgrass? Scared of bears?"

    Fiona narrowed her eyes at him, and gave him a light shove. "Shut up."

    "The giants are invisible to mortals," continued Hazel. "They never bothered me, though one almost stepped on me by accident once."

     They stopped at Fourth Street, paying the driver and stepping out. Compared to Vancouver, downtown Anchorage was tiny━more like a college campus than a city, but Hazel looked amazed.

    "It's huge," she breathed. "That━that's where the Gitchell Hotel used to be. My mom and I stayed there our first week in Alaska. And they've moved to City Hall. It used to be there."

    She led them in a daze for a few blocks. They didn't really have a plan beyond finding the fastest way to the Hubbard Glacier, but Percy smelled something cooking nearby━sausage, maybe? He realised he hadn't eaten since that morning at Grandma Zhang's.

    "Food," he said. "Come on."

    They found a café right by the beech. It was bustling to the brim with people, but they managed to score a table at the window and persued the menues. After a quick read, Frank let out a whoop! of delight. "Twenty-four-hour breakfast!"

    Percy frowned at him, "Dude, it's━like━dinnertime," (Though, to be honest, Percy couldn't tell from looking outside. The sun was so high it could've been noon).

    "I love breakfast," said Frank. "I'd eat breakfast, breakfast and breakfast if I could. Though━um━I'm sure the good here isn't as good as Hazel's."

    Hazel elbowed him, but her smile was playful.

    Seeing them like that made Percy happy. Those two definitely needed to get together. But it also made him a little said, because when he looked beside him at Fiona, he kind of wished that was them. Instead, she just glowered at the menue. Percy wanted time alone with her, because that seemed to be the only time he could ever get her to open up, and make him think that maybe there was some sort of chance.

     "You know," he said, "breakfast sounds great."

    They ordered massive plates of eggs, pancakes and reindeer sausage, though Frank looked a little worried about the reindeer. "You think it's okay that we're eating Rudolph?" almost immediately, Fiona stopped chewing and looked down at her plate in dismay.

    "Dude," said Percy, "I could eat Prancer and Blitzen, too. I'm hungry."

    Fiona stared at him, and just gave him the rest of her reindeer sausage, which he downed like he was Kronos eating his children.

    (Gods, that was a weird analogy).

   Between bites of blueberry pancake, Hazel drew a squiggly curve and an 'X' on her napkin. "So this is what I'm thinking. We're here," she tapped 'X'. "Anchorage."

    "It looks like a seagull's face," said Percy. "And we're the eye."

    Hazel glared at him. "It's a map, Percy. Anchorage is at the top of this sliver of ocean, Cook Inlet. THere's a big peninusla of land below us, and my old home town, Seward, is at the bottom of the peninsula, here━" she drew another 'X' at the base of the seagull's throat. "That's the closest town to the Hubbard Galcier. We could go around by sea, I guess, but it would take forever. We don't have that kind of time."

    Frank polished off the last of his Rudolph, "But land is dangerous," he said. "Land means Gaea."

    Hazel nodded. "I don't see that we've got much choice, though. We could have asked our pilot to fly us down, but I don't know ... his plane might be too big for the little Seward airport. And if we chartered another plane━"

    "No more planes," Percy said. "Please."

   Hazel held up her hand in a pacating gesture, "It's okay. There's a train that goes from here to Seward. We might be able to catch one tonight. It only takes a couple of hours." She drew a dotted line between the two 'X's.

    "You just cut off the seagull's head," Percy noted, and Fiona gave him a look that said, you're a dumbass.

    Hazel agreed with her, sighing. "It's the train line. Look, from Seward, the Hubbard Glacier is down here somewhere," she tapped the lower right corner of her napkin. "That's where Alcyoneus is."

    "But you're not sure how far?" Fiona asked, and her sister frowned and shook her head.

    "I'm pretty sure it's only accessible by boat or plane."

    "Boat," Percy said immediately.

    "Fine," said Hazel. "It shouldn't be too far from Seward. If we can get to Seward safely."

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     ━━The station wasn't far. They were just in time to buy tickets for the last train south. As his friends climbed on board, Percy said, "Be with you in a sec," and ran back into the station. He got changed from the giftshop and stood in front of the pay phone. He had never used on of these people. They were strange antiques to him━like his mom's turntable or Chiron's Frank Sinatra cassette tapes (Gods, don't even get him started on what he remembers about those). He wasn't sure how many coins it would take, or if he could even make the call go through, assuming he remembering the number correctly.

    Sally Jackson, he thought.

    That was his mom's name. And━and he had a stepdad, too ... not the bad one, a good one, one called Paul Blowfish━no, Blofis, that's right. What did they think happened to Percy? Maybe they had already held a memorial service. As near as he could figure, he had lost seven months of his life. Sure, most of it had been during the school year, but still ... not cool.

    He picked up the receiver and punched in a New York number━his mom's apartment.

    Voice mail. Percy should have figured. It would be━like━midnight in New York. They wouldn't recognise this number. Hearing Paul's voice on the recording hit Percy in the gut so hard he could barely speak at the tone.

    "Mom," he managed. "Hey, I'm alive. Hera put me to sleep for a while, and then she took my memory, and..." his voice faltered. How could he possibly explain all this? "Anyway, I'm okay. I'm sorry. I'm on a quest━" he winced. He shouldn't have said that. His mom knew all about quests, and now she would be worried. "I'll make it home. I promise. Love you."

    He put down the reciever, staring at the phone and hoping that it would ring back. The train whistle sounded. The conductor shouted, "All aboard!"

    Percy ran. He made it just as they were pulling up the steps and found Fiona waiting for him. She watched him, concerned. "You okay?" she asked.

    "Yeah," he croaked. "Just ... made a call."

   She pursed her lips, seeming to understand. She didn't ask for details. Instead, Fiona just gently reached up onto her toes and pulled Percy down into a hug. Percy didn't feel stupid for shedding some tears, but he felt exposed, wary of all the other people on the train. But with Fiona there, hands running softly through his hair as he hid his face in her shoulder (hunched over because she was so short, she may as well just fit in his pocket), they didn't matter. All that mattered was her words that were soft, not violent, meant just for him.

    "We're going to get back," promised Fiona. "We'll make it back, and you'll find your way back to them. I promise you, I'll help."

    Percy breathed in the faint smell of pomegranates and found himself believing her. If he could, he would stay like this forever, just in her hold, relaxing without no dangerous quest, no missing memories, no giants army, just him and her; her and him, together. He remembered some god telling him his fatal flaw was loyalty, and in this moment, he definitely believed that, because already, Percy felt like he would fall into Tartarus for Fiona if he had to.

    After that, they met up with the others, climbing to the top of the double decker and sliding into their seats. Frank and Hazel knew Percy was upset, but they didn't question it, either, which he was glad about. Soon, they were heading south along the coast, watching the landscape go by. Percy tried to think about the quest, but for an ADHD kid like him, being on a train was a terrible place to concentrate.

    Meanwhile, Frank studied a map of Alaska that he had found in the seat pocket. He located Hubbard Glacier, which looked discouragngly far away from Seward. He kept running his finger along the coastline, frowning.

   "What are you thinking?" asked Percy.

    "Just ... possibilities," murmured Frank.

    Percy didn't know what he meant by that, but let it go. After about an hour, Percy started to relax. They bought hot chocolate from the dining car (and yes, got lactose-free milk for Frank), the seats were warm and comfortable, Fiona was sitting next to him (which was an added plus), and he thought about taking a nap.

    But he spoke too soon. A shadow passed overhead, and tourists murmured in excitement as they started to take pictures.

    "Eagle!"

    "Eagle?"

    "Huge eagle!"

    "That's no eagle," breathed Fiona, her eyes wide.

    Percy looked up just in time to see the creature make a second pass. It was definitely larger than an eagle, with a sleek black body the size of a Labrador retriever. Its wingspan was at least ten feet across.

    "There's another one!" Frank pointed. "Strike that. Three, four━Okay, we're in trouble."

    The creatures circled the train like vultures, delighting the tourists. Percy wasn't delighted. The monsters had glowing red eyes, sharp beaks and vicious talons. He felt for his pen in his pocket. "Those thigs look familiar..."

    "Seattle," Hazel said. "The Amazons had one in a cage. They're━"

    Several things happened at once. The emergency brakes screeched, and they all went flying forwards. Tourists screamed and tumbled through the aisles, Percy was very, very brave and tried to do his best to make sure Fiona wouldn't get hurt━but in being too focused on covering her with his body, he didn't see the monsters swoop down, shattering the glass roof of the car, and the entire train toppled off the rails.

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     a/n: they are both so whipped but in different ways. but it's hard to get in scenes because while i'm sure percy is more for pda than fiona is (like remember that scene where he literally just snogs annabeth in front of piper?), i don't think he's that forward with it, and is more of a hints here and there guy because he's also a big dork, and fiona is very conserved in the fact that whenever percy does show affection she goes bright red and is like, nope, nothing to see here kids, keep moving along. That's why alot of the 'big' stuff between them tends to happen when they're alone, because that's when fiona makes her moves, but she is also holding back cos she's like: i dOn't wAnt tO stEAl sOmeOne'S bOyfrIEND, and percy is like, i shOuld tELl hEr, bUt lIke fRAnk and HAzEl aRE hERe, and gODs whAT iF shE hATEs mE? they're both dorks, but flirty dorks underneath it all and i love it.

    cos like if fiona was sure she wasn't stealing someone who was taken, she would be subtly flirting all the time when no one is looking, because she doesn't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but also at the same time she's like I LIKE YOU MAKE A MOVE OR I WILL DUMBASS.

     i don't know if any of that made sense ahaha