Chapter Text
Bianca di Angelo woke with a start.
She could faintly hear screams.
She quickly hurried out of the Hades cabin and found the camp in chaos.
The Aphrodite cabin was on fire and multiple campers had bloody wounds and were being taken to the sickbay (Lee directing the effort).
Oh, gods. What happened?
“Bianca!” Silena yelled, running up to her. “Oh, thank Athena you’re safe.”
Silena was coated in ash, a bloody cut on her cheek.
Bianca winced when she saw some nasty burns along Silena’s hands. Ouch.
“What happened?”
Silena crumpled.
Bianca pulled the older demigod into a tight hug as she sobbed.
She had an eerie feeling she knew part of what had happened.
She remembered Nico’s best friend back home in Italy, Alessio, finding out his brother Dario wouldn’t be coming home (he died on the front lines) from the war.
It was so eerily similar to this.
She lost a sibling.
Oh, dio mio.
“She took Alcyone,” Silena mumbled. “And she destroyed the entire cabin before she did so.”
“Who?”
**
Lee had rarely seen this amount of blood and injuries in his time as head counsellor of Apollo’s cabin.
Several dozen beds in the infirmary were filled, injuries ranging from mild to critical.
Lee looked away from the bodies under the white sheets.
Several had died- three of Aphrodite’s kids, one of Hermes’.
More would probably go in the following days, fighting septic shock and third-degree burns.
And maybe some of the ARDS patients, as well.
Gods f*cking damnit.
Lee couldn’t even look at Michael, his brother, who was in one of the beds with an arrow wound in his gut.
How could he face anyone?
He had let them die.
If he’d been faster, or smarter, maybe the other cabins wouldn’t be making shrouds right now.
Lee collapsed just outside of the infirmary, absolutely exhausted.
His head ached and his vision blurred, but he couldn’t tell if he was just dehydrated or if he’d actually inhaled too much smoke.
Gods, he was tired.
Being a healer is more of an emotional pain than being a fighter is.
You lose people.
You screw up and people die.
One wrong mistake can be fatal, not for you, but for the patient.
And all that death is hard to carry.
But you carry it with you forever, the list of the dead attached to your name always growing…
Lee was nineteen.
He glanced at his wristwatch. Three o’clock in the morning.
Yep, he was nineteen.
It was his birthday.
He was nineteen, and he was supposed to make sure no one died.
And he’d failed at that.
f*ck.
He stared up at the dark sky, and more than ever wished that Luke was here.
**
Thalia gasped.
She opened her eyes.
The sky above her was as dark and clouded as the death mist, the occasional star glimmering through.
She could feel soft grass beneath her back.
She wasn’t dead.
Holy sh*t. I’m alive.
She sat up and looked behind her.
Camp was still there, though there was an awful lot of smoke drifting from it.
I’m alive. I’m alive.
She laughed quietly, surprised.
I’m alive.
She knew some time had passed.
Hopefully just a few days, though she supposed she was just grateful to be alive.
The last thing she remembered was facing the hellhounds, Annabeth’s sobs in her ears and Grover’s panicked bleats, and then a bright flash of light.
She winced.
Oh, ‘Beth…
No child should have to see that.
No oneshould ever have to see that.
Damn the gods.
She got to her feet (nearly falling over as she did so).
She had to find Luke and Annabeth. Make sure they were alright after her ‘death’.
**
“The daughter of Zeus is awakened, my lord. Shall we send forces to Camp Half Blood to retrieve her?”
“No. They are already on high alert from Tragikos and Alcyone’s flight. In the end, she will come to us.”
“Very well, brother. And what of the son of Hermes?”
“He is of little importance. He will not survive long in the wilds of this frostbitten state.”
“And what of the demigods three?” said a new voice. Hyperion.
“The di Angelo boy is of no use to us. Neither is his sister or Jackson. Kill them. But spare Athena’s child. We can use her when we convert Grace to our side.”
“Yes, lord.”
**
Luke gasped.
He opened his eyes and found himself floating underwater.
The water was warm, but pitch-black.
Faint spots glowed above the water.
Luke shot towards the surface, breaching it and gasping for air.
He coughed, water dripping from his nose and mouth.
Above him was a constellation of glowing rocks in every colour of the rainbow, and more besides.
He was in a much larger cave, this time.
He saw shore and swam towards it, his broken arm hissing at him, and he collapsed on the bank.
His heart thumped heavily against his ribcage rapidly as he took deep breaths.
He was alive. That was a good start.
He sat up and scanned his surroundings.
Apart from the size and the glowing rocks, not much else distinguished this cave from his first one, and he sighed.
Of course. It would be too much to ask to be aboveground, wouldn’t it?
At least it was warm.
No one likes a cold tomb.
He wondered if anyone would find his body in this mausoleum.
Would anyone visit him? Give him flowers as a sign of their regret?
Would anyone even know he was dead?
“I don’t know what we’re doing down here. The base was a bust.”
Wait. He knew that voice.
He shot upwards, nearly impaling himself on a stalagmite, excitement and hope soaring through his veins for the first time in days.
“I told you. My father told me we’d find something here.”
Oh, Percy.
Everything seemed so much better hearing their voices. He felt lighter, warmer, more alive.
He knew all too well it could be a Cyclopes.
Or a Titan screwing with him.
But he had to believe that was them.
He had to.
“This place smells of death.”
“Gee, thanks Nico.”
“I was just saying.”
“No one’s going to die. Calm down.”
“You mean, clam down?”
“Oh, someone kelpme please.”
“Good reef.”
“I am surrounded by idiots,” Nico sighed.
That was so themthat Luke decided ‘f*ck it’ and headed towards the voices.
Either he was going to die again, or he would find his friends.
**
Annabeth followed Percy through the cave.
It was eerily quiet, down here, but the gleaming stones in the ceiling were beautiful.
They vaguely reminded her of lava lamps.
Percy suddenly stopped and nodded at a nearby rock that looked like Blackjack, made from obsidian.
“My dad said we’d find what we were looking for near a rock that looks like a flying horse,” Percy said.
Annabeth tensed and drew her dagger as footsteps approached them.
They started off as a walk, then shifted to a run.
Out of the darkness appeared a familiar face, who slammed into Annabeth in a tight hug.
Annabeth couldn’t help but let out a shocked gasp as Luke let go of her and grinned at Percy.
“Heard you were looking for me,” he said.
His shirt was stained with blood, he was soaking wet, and one of his arms looked broken.
But it was Luke.
Percy blinked. “WHAT? HOW?”
“Your dad,” Luke replied, which made Nico snort. “Why were you guys down here in this lovely pit of death?”
“Looking for you, dummy,” Annabeth said, punching him in his non-broken arm.
“You found me.”
