#Bianca's fighting with Nico. Nico's annoying Percy. Percy's fighting with Thalia. Thalia's fighting with Zoe.

[aroaceleovaldez]

variety in my canon-divergence aus:

Percy is successfully pulled into Tartarus during his quest to the Underworld in TLT (kronos!Percy)

Sally drives everyone home in her car after the beginning of TTC instead of Thalia driving the sun (8 hour roadtrip)

[wisegirlandseaweedbraininsta]

Rating Riordanverse Books I’ve Read

The Lightning Thief: 10/10. Wholesome, love the original trio especially Grover. Baby Percabeth is adorable. Ultimate nostalgia.

The Sea of Monsters: 8/10. Grover was missing for a lot but the wedding dress scene was iconic. Percy and Annabeth whining about Tyson kinda annoys me, so it gets a point off there. Also amazing plot twist ending

The Titan’s Curse: 9/10. Annabeth is missing throughout most of it, that’s why it loses a point. But Percy and Thalia throughout the book? Iconic. Also Bianca, Zoe, Grover, etc. were all so iconic I love them.

The Battle of The Labyrinth: 10/10. Percy crashing his own funeral? Hilarious. The Percabeth kiss? Iconic.

The Last Olympian: 9/10. Percabeth 😩 one point off for the deaths and emotional damage 10 year old me got from reading it for the first time

Also a little warning here, I do not remember the majority of the heroes of Olympus books bc I don’t reread them that often so excuse that and take these ratings with a grain of salt

The Lost Hero: 6/10. I miss Percy and Annabeth (she’s not in it enough). I didn’t really know who any of the characters were, so I was confused at first. But it didn’t suck I guess?? Good plot twist at the end.

The Son of Neptune: also 6/10 for similar reasons. I missed Annabeth and was also very confused bc I didn’t know any of the characters. But I love the fact Percy didn’t forget about Annabeth, that was iconic. Also Frank and Hazel were cute.

The Mark of Athena: 5/10. Athena is an annoying little bitch in this one. The Percy and Jason fight was unnecessary. Same with Annabeth’s solo quest along with Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus at the end. But their little date before Annabeth went on her quest was cute, so I’ll give it that.

The House of Hades: 5/10. This book gave me emotional damage. I was so invested in Percabeth that I was tempted to skip other character’s pov’s. But I also love the fact they were in Tartarus bc I thrive on chaos. Also bob and his cat was cute, but bob’s death emotionally wrecked preteen me.

The Blood of Olympus: 5/10. This gets an extra point simply bc Percy’s nosebleed was iconic. But it could not live up to the last Olympian, and the whole camp Jupiter attacking camp half blood plot was stupid. But I liked the Nico, reyna, and coach hedge traveling that was fun.

Anyways sorry that this was so long. Maybe I’ll do the other series in another post.

Also someone pls take the word iconic away from me

[iammyownqueen]

I finished the Titans Curse

Ok so i finished the Titans Curse. Its been a week but here are a few things I thought were interesting when I reread it. (Long post under the cut)

-Percy and Thalia are Very similar to each other. In the Sea of Monsters, Annabeth claims that they would either be best friends, or worst enemies. Its a little bit of both. They are friends, but they clash a LOT, and they can clash HARD, like in capture the flag.

-Percy is more than a little jealous of Thalia for being looked to as an example, because he was used to being in that position for two years now.

-BABY NICO AND BIANCA DIANGELO

-Nico is super baby and still plays Mythomagic. He’s described as being very annoying a few times by Percy. He even asks Percy if he can surf really well.

-Thalia really doesn’t like the hunters until later in the book

-Thalia is afraid of heights.

-I think this book has more Godly Intervention then any of the others? Correct me if I’m wrong, but we get Artemis, Apollo, Dionysus (Who is actually useful twice), Ares, Aphrodite, and Athena, all playing some part in the quest (Not counting all others we meet at Olympus) Like, thats a lot guys

-Annabeth is only in the book for like, 2 chapters until the very end

-Percy just. Goes on side quests to help the Hippocampi a lot. I’m imagining him just sneaking off whenever they need help, or just using it as an excuse whenever he’s not where he’s supposed to be.

-”Where have you been Percy? You were supposed to be on kitchen duty!”

“I- uh the Hippocampi needed my help, there was a dolphin stuck in a net that they needed me to free. Poseidon stuff.”

-No one is able to call him out on it because no one knows when he’s being truthful or not.

 -Bessy the Ophiotaurus my Beloved

-Speaking of quests, Percy just straight up leaves camp and follows the quest group until they're too far from camp to deny his help.

-Riptide originally belonged to Zoe Nightshade, who gave it Hercules.

-Percy has the Nemean lion pelt for half the book, until he sacrifices it to Poseidon so Grover and Bessy can get to camp safely

-Poseidon gives Percy the saltwater fountain in his cabin as a means to contact his family.

-Did I mention the fight between Thalia and Percy after capture the flag? Because it is awesome. Page 87-88 if you want to reread it. Percy literally levitates the entire creek to throw at Thalia, but gets distracted before he can. Chiron just yells at them to stop but nether of them are in the mood to listen to him

-Have I mentioned Blackjack? Becuse Blackjack

-Also Rachel Elizabeth Dare

-Paul Blofis is a thing, and I love him

-Percy is thrown off by Paul at first, but is 100% chill with his mom dating because it makes her happy.

-Bessie just like... appears in the Hoover Dam and Percy doesn’t mention it to anyone? Like I feel like thats something important to mention. Seaweed Brain indeed.

-Nico had nightmares about Bianca dying before Percy told him. Not only that, but he could sense exactly where she was in the underworld.

-Nico made the ground eat three of the skeletal warriors pursuing Percy. We don’t really know what happened to the others. Did they give up? Were they destroyed? we don’t know.

-Nico left camp via the Labyrinth, but we don’t get confirmation of this until the next book

tbh, this isnt my favorite pjo book, but I love and appreciate it anyway <3 <3 <3

[summerkyn]

My thoughts on The Titan's Curse

Have I been promising this for like two weeks? Yeah :/. Sorry guys, things have been busy xd. This took me a while because this book was really awesome for me and I wanted to get everything I though in this one post so here we go guys.

1). Okay. But. The beginning was amazing. A good start to a book that hooked me right away. I'm really happy Grover was there too, I missed him for a lot of the second book TwT

2). Bianca. If you all saw my other posts about her, you know I have very mixed feelings towards her. And while I still feel she was selfish to join the hunters, I also saw sooome of her reasoning, and at least later in the book she does say she considered Nico in her desicion. I still don't like her but I also don't hate her.

3). Babey Nico Babey Nico Babey Nico

4). Percy loves Annabeth no I don't accept criticism on this.

5). Thalia and Percy's dynamic is really well written as sort of a frenemy relationship. I like the way Rick wrote them.

6). Zoe was annoying but I also was kind of sad she died because I wish there could have been more about her past. Maybe a mini book in the future? Until then, I guess I have to just read fanfiction TwT

7). Percy and Annabeth with matching grey streaks??? They're soulmates. Pls don't spoil because I don't remeber if they ever get together but if they don't I will feel lots of negative emotions -_-

8). Rachel Elizabeth Dare is wonderful, and I want to see more of her. I love just how she's just so unabashedly herself and I have no choice but to stan

9). Thalia joining the hunters at the end..... that caught me by surprise, but I think it is a good choice for her because imo the hunters seem like a good desicion because they just seem like a group where she will be understood and make new friends

10). Percy getting close to losing his shit when he thinks Annabeth is going to join the hunters too further solidifies my Percabeth theory fight me

11). Athena better back tf off 'i dOn'T apProVe of yOur friEndsHip wiTh mY daUghTer'

12). Percy calls the Ophiotaurus "Bessie" and that lives rent-free in my mind

So overall I did love this book, it was gripping and I remeber why this was my favorite when I first read it as a kid. Good characters, well-paced plot, and twists that I enjoyed. 13/10 I reccomend.

[the-fan-blog-nobody-asked-for]

Dumb stuff I find funny in A Titan's Curse:

-Percy like "who should i ask to dance" and she punchs him. Annabeth is 100% not having it lol

-percy being like this close to killing Nico

-"Apollo is hot" "he's the sun god" "that's not what I meant"

-"I hate it when pretty girls get turned into trees"

-Apollo winks at Percy

-"orientation film? Is it g or PG?"

-"and you procured a small annoying boy to replace her"

-this:

-"I'd like to say I took the news well" when he finds out annabeth with thinking about joining the Hunters.

-percy saying "what's up" to the oracle

-the pile of rocks

-percy and Thalia fighting (I also like this scene because a lot of campers I'm sure haven't seen Percy use his powers much I think)

-the oracle just walking into the woods to find her lols

-"bonk! I whacked her mummified face against the trapdoor frame"

-"whoa boss, I don't want to be a horse-ka-bob!"

-"going somewhere?" -mr d

-"the prophecy says at least two of you will die perhaps I'll get lucky and you'll be one of them"

-kittens ^_^ <3

-thalia, Zoe, and Bianca like this close to killing percy

-Apollo lolol Fred the mysterious homeless guy

(I'm like half way through but I should sleep since it's like 4am here)

[unlikely-allies]

****SPOILERS****

4/5

Now 14 years old, Percy has been aware of his demigod status for two years and is finally starting to get the hang of it. Unfortunately, it is a bad time to be a hero in training. Kronos is growing more powerful and half-blood have joined his cause or have simply gone missing. Chiron has put the satyrs on red alert, sending them all out to scout for new half-bloods. When Grover believes that he has found two new demigods at a boarding school in Maine, Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth head up to assist him. The half-bloods, a brother and sister named Nico and Biance di Angelo, are being hunted by a manticore disguised as the school’s vice principal. During the battle against the monster, Artemis and her Hunters appear to assist, but Annabeth is stolen away by Luke and his minions. The Hunters had been tracking a great monster when they came across Percy and his friends. Artemis decides to continue on in the pursuit and sends her Hunters with the half-bloods to stay at Camp Half-Blood until her return.

Bianca and Nico are orphans. When Zoe, Artemis’ lieutenant, offers Bianca a place among the Hunters, Bianca is quick to join and get away from her big sister duties. In honor of the Hunters’ arrival at camp, Chiron announces that there will be a special game of capture the flag held. Thalia and Percy agree to be co-captains, but Thalia does her best to take charge. That night, Percy has a nightmare involving Annabeth being in danger. Zoe has a similar dream about Artemis. Chiron decides that a quest will be taken and chooses Zoe to meet with the Oracle. The prophecy given to Zoe is as follows:

“Five shall go west to the goddess in chains, One shall be lost in the land without rain, The bane of Olympus shows the trail, Campers and Hunters combined prevail, The Titan’s curse must one withstand, And one shall perish by a parent’s hand.”

Zoe chooses two additional Hunters, Phoebe and Bianca, and then two campers, Thalia and Grover to makeup the quest team. Zoe will not permit Percy to go because he is a boy. Phoebe falls victim to a prank by the Stoll brothers, but Zoe doesn’t want to choose another person to replace her and the team sets off without a fifth member. Percy decides to follow the team using Annabeth’s invisibility hat, and Nico makes him promise that he will try to protect Bianca.

In Washington D.C., Percy discovers that Luke and the General know that the quest team is near and have sent a monster after them. Luke is trying to have Thalia separated from the others so that he can bring her over to his side. Percy reveals his presence to the quest team to warn them, but Percy and the team still end up having to battle the Nemean Lion. In speaking with Bianca, it is revealed that she and Nico should be older than they appear. Roughly 70 years ago, Bianca and Nico were told that their parents had died and were brought to stay at the Lotus Hotel and Casino. The children believed that they stayed for only a short period of time. In reality, 70 years passed, thought the children had not aged. Someone picked up the children and brought them to the boarding school in Maine, and that’s where Grover found them. Oddly, no one asks for more information about this.

The team arrives in New Mexico, where Aphrodite comes to meet with Percy. She claims to be very invested in the Percy-and-Annabeth love story that has yet to unfold. She claims that she is responsible for the Stoll brother’s prank on Phoebe, which allowed for Percy to be the fifth member of the quest. She also warns the half-bloods to be careful in Hephaestus’ land and not to take anything from his junkyard. In passing through the junkyard the quest team admires the objects that the gods have thrown away. Unfortunately, Bianca tries to take a figure to give to Nico and the team is attacked by the giant figure Talos. Bianca makes up for her mistake by climbing inside the figure and destroying it, but she is lost in the process.

Even with the loss of Bianca, the team knows that they must push ahead. It is revealed that Luke and the General are searching for the Ophiotaurus, a cow-serpent sea creature that when sacrificed bestows the power to destroy the gods. Ironically, Percy had saved the Ophiotaurus when it was caught in a net at camp, and the creature followed him across the country. Grover agrees to take the Ophiotaurus back to camp while the others continue on the quest. The team tracks Artemis and Annabeth to the Mountain of Despair, which is currently located in San Francisco. Thalia suggests that they borrow Annabeth’s father’s car to travel to the mountain, so Percy and Thalia get to meet the man with which Annabeth has such a complicated relationship. Mr. Chase agrees to help them, and it is clear that he misses Annabeth.

Zoe reveals that the Mountain of Despair was her home before she became a Hunter. Zoe was once one of the Hesperides, daughters of Atlas and guardians of a sacred tree. Zoe was exiled for helping Hercules, and since then she has been wary of heroes. When they arrive at the Mountain, Artemis is struggling under the weight of the sky, having taken the burden from Annabeth who had been tricked into taking it from Luke. The General is revealed to be Atlas, and Percy and Zoe face off against Zoe’s father. When it is clear that he and Zoe won’t be able to beat Atlas, Percy takes the weight of the sky from Artemis so that the goddess may fight him instead. During the battle, Artemis forces Atlas back under the weight of the sky. Unfortunately, Zoe succumbs to her wounds. Artemis rushes to Mount Olympus to attend the Winter Solstice Council where the gods will vote about taking action against Kronos. Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth also attend the council to argue against killing the Ophiotaurus, which while alive continues to pose a threat to the gods. To ensure that she will not be the child of the prophecy, Thalia agrees to join Artemis’ Hunters, and Poseidon prevents the other gods from killing the Ophiotaurus and Percy.  

Back at camp, Percy tells Nico about what happened to Bianca. Nico is furious and blames Percy for his sister’s death. When some of Luke’s soldiers appear, Nico causes the ground to split open and the soldiers fall into the chasm before Nico turns and sprints away from camp. Grover, Annabeth, and Percy discuss what to do about Nico and that fact that he is obviously a child of Hades. Given that Nico and Bianca were born more than 70 years ago, their existence doesn’t technically break the oath between the Big Three, but it does provide another contender for the prophecy.

The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan contains the first really sad moments in the series. This adds additional layers to the story and makes it more compelling for older readers. As Kronos continues to rise to power and the epic battle draws closer, each book is packed with more action and higher stakes. Thalia taking herself out of contention for the prophecy would’ve reduced some of the drama because we can more or less count on Percy to do the right thing. However, introducing Nico di Angelo and giving him a great deal of rage at a young age may up the stakes even higher than before.

Annabeth and Percy’s relationship has been strictly platonic up until this point Aphrodite’s conversation with mercy hints that it will become something more, but it has been endearing to watch the relationship grow as the two of them get older. The fact that Annabeth is/was considering joining the Hunters casts the future of their relationship in uncertainty, and makes the reader more emotionally invested in the one of them finally realizing their feelings for the other and acting on them. As much as I am suppose to be upset that Thalia joins the Hunters, I really can’t be. I found Thalia to be annoying and conceited. She treats everyone as though they are below her and can’t stop and consider the opinions of others when making a plan or taking action. Her last stand on Half-Blood Hill ends up looking less like a selfless act and more like typical Thalia refusing to let others share her spotlight.

The addition of characters like Thalia and Zoe that aren’t immediately likable but aren’t villains also added more depth to the story. The Titan’s Curse may not have been my favorite adventure, but in terms of reading quality I believe that it was the best book in the series so far. For this reason I am looking forward to seeing how the remaining books in the series continue to evolve.

[takaraphoenix]

Can I just say something, Hazel is not v. realistic. Like I'm 13 and i can't say the same for all 13yolds but neither me nor my friends dream of growing old w/ a husband and like rick makes her and sammy to be soulmates and that's not how a 13yo's mind functions. Also, she shouldn't be completely dependant on her. And as someone who has experienced racism its v wierd that she only experiences in her schooling rather than also w/ her mum and even in new rome. 1/2

2/2 : And Rick just randomly makes the chracters diverse but then he forgets that race is a part of character. I mean Hazel was living in the 40s as an African American and now when she’s resurrected we hardly hear anything about her experiences w/ racism. It’s not realistic. I’d expect her to maybe have some centering as a character on that. I just think that Rick cannot display characters out of his perspecitve at all and im just very annoyed. idk what do u think on this all

When I was thirteen, we all didn’t quite think past the point of high school graduation - our life was in the now. We definitely did not think about growing old and picket fences.

But yeah, I said it in a post before - many posts by now - but Riordan writes only what he himself experiences. And that is the life of a fifty year old white CIS het man. And while I can’t attest for the CIS part because I’m not reading that one series that features the genderfluid character, you can feel every other aspect of that list very strongly.

You can feel the “fifty year old” when you read about literally every single teenager dreaming about the white picket fence.

You fan feel the “white” when you read Hazel, Reyna, Piper and Leo.

You can feel the “hetero” when you read the clumsy coming out of Nico at the end of Heroes of Olympus. And actually also in Will’s flippant attitude when talking to Nico about it, because in my experience as a fledgling lesbian, older and more experienced gays and lesbians were being very gentle and welcoming and not like “LOL that’s why I was trying to talk to you for so long because I’m gay too!”. That was just to retcon in that Will was also gay; had Riordan actually cared about the gay sub-plot before, then we would have had interactions between Will and Nico in PJatO.

You can feel the “man” at every female POV in the Heroes of Olympus series. Every. Single. One.

Gotta admit, as a white girl from Germany, I do not know how things are for black people in the US (you know, beyond the generic news coverage online and the police propaganda in cop shows), but nowadays with things like Black Panther, Black Lightning, Dear White People, Timeless (seriously, the part that I adore most about that show is how it dives into the female and black history, the kind that’s brushed under the rug), also gotta mention One Day at a Time here for the Latinx representation, I realized just how very… white-author the Heroes of Olympus characters feel.

Especially with Hazel it infuriates me because she comes from a different time and to include how her experience is, how things have changed - and worse yet, how things haven’t changed - would be so incredibly interesting. How she experiences everything.

I mean, seriously, Percy got shunned for being a son of Neptune because Neptune was feared - but so was Pluto. Just how awful must it have been for the black daughter of Pluto in New Rome…?

But oh no, worry not, the black girl from the 40s with no knowledge of the modern world perfectly integrated into New Rome in 2010. No issues here at all.

We live in a time and age where not everyone can be straight and white.

We live in a time and age where representation isn’t just asked for, we demand it, because the world isn’t straight and white.

So the author of the book series where every single major character was white started sweating. (Beckendorf and Ethan were the only non-white characters and oh look, both got killed off.)

So he… he literally just looked around what there is to represent and just slapped a label on each of his characters, like a check-list.

We need A Black Character - Hazel, check.

We need An Asian Character - Frank, check.

We need A Gay Character - Nico, check.

We need A Native American Character - Piper, check.

We need A Latinx Character - oh, let’s be generous on that one; Leo and Reyna, double check.

I didn’t notice that back then, when I first read the books. But by now…?

I’m not saying I could do better - heck, unlike Riordan I also have the disadvantage of living in Europe and thus not even second-hand witnessing what the American Experience might be like for people of color - but if you decide to write a major book series and represent something you are not familiar with - may it be being gay, or from a different cultural background, or being a woman - then you should at the very least put the research into it to back it up.

Or, the easier cop-out, stick to what you did before.

And I don’t mean that as “just write whites”.

It really would be less of an issue if Heroes of Olympus had still been only from Percy’s perspective. Because we would have only gotten to meet the characters through Percy’s eyes - and not their own.

Because then we wouldn’t have had those flashbacks to Hazel’s past, we wouldn’t have to question how it came that those characters didn’t think about certain things or complain how they all seemed to think about other things collectively. And literally no one would have complained about a lack of POV changes, because PJatO didn’t have those - it was all Percy, so no one would have questioned if the sequel had also all been Percy.

It’s one thing writing about characters, but it’s different writing as characters. And in my personal opinion, Riordan shot himself in the foot by making HoO a POV split between this very diverse cast of characters, without having the actual background knowledge to flesh them fully out.

Not to mention the part where I generally think that going from one POV up to three and then to seven and nine different POVs had already been too much of a jump, but if you do that with so many different characters, who should also all have a different feeling to them, that only makes a difficult task that much more difficult.

Now, obviously, having the Seven all be white males would have been a disaster and also the wrong choice.

There are different things that could have been done though.

Like I mentioned, keeping it Percy’s POV, which we all would have been used to and no one would have questioned (heck, even if he had just done it a Jason and Percy POV due to Lost Hero).

Doing actual research for the things you write about. Also an option.

Or dialing down on the unknown. Let’s not forget, he wasn’t just juggling seven characters who represented something he wasn’t personally familiar with (also including Annabeth, because girl), out of the total of nine main characters all but three were completely new and had to be introduced.

In my personal opinion, he should have carried more characters than just Percy and Annabeth (and then later on also Nico, but not important enough to be one of the Seven) over into this book-series.

Clarisse, for example - she is over twenty, she is an experienced fighter and hero. That’d be a female character to be fully explored, but who has already been introduced (and would have made more sense than Frank, Hazel, Leo and Piper on terms of them literally having been introduced to the demigod world barely months prior with a total of one quest of experience before going to war).

Chris Rodriguez, who while never explicitely stated to be Latino as far as I remember, the name does imply and Riordan could have doubled down on that and included him. Hermes is a very diverse god, considering how much Riordan played with the powers of not overly powerful gods like Bellona or Aphrodite or Hephaestus, he could have done the same with Chris. It’d also have been fascinating to see the former traitor work hard to earn back his place at camp and to explore the mental strain put on him in the Labyrinth.

You would not have to start from scratch if you take characters you already have established. It makes everything easier, both for you as the writer and also for the readers, who don’t have to familiarize themselves with half a dozen completely new main characters.

And it takes away that edge of it being utterly ridiculous that, despite both camps having veteran heroes who fought in the Titan War and are around 20 years of age, they decided to send four kids who are essentially total newbies and of whom one is 13 and two are 15.

But yeah, those are just… personal picks on how he could have handled it better. Me, I simply wouldn’t have written about a prophecy of seven because this is a damn war. Seriously, the quest for Atlas, a minor stepping-stone on the way to the Titan War, already featured five main players with Percy, Thalia, Grover, Bianca and Zoe, only two less than this entire freaking war needed according to the prophecy.

Have it be the Giant War. Feature all of those new characters, but also your already established ones. Keep it first person Percy POV and show them fighting together, instead of singling only seven demigods out in something that is supposed to be an all out war against Mother Earth.

Neither of those are be all end all kind of answers to the problem, but suggestions on how it could have been handled differently.

The important thing would be growth and as someone for whom HoO was just too much, I can not judge that. Because everyone makes mistakes and everyone grows as a writer. So if Riordan saw what he did and learned from it - I know one of the Magnus Chase mains is a Muslima, another is mute, I think, and one is genderfluid, so if all of those are handled with more respect, research and dedication and it shows that he learned from the past, then that’s good and okay, because nobody is perfect and it’s all a learning curve, but if those are also just cardboard cut-outs put in place to be Representation, then that’d be… sad, I guess. And disappointing.

But, well, due to not having read that - and not planning on reading that - I can’t attest to it. I can just hope for the best for the readers who seek representation and got giddy about the prospect. I hope they didn’t get disappointed in that.

And I hope he will continue to learn from mistakes and grow as a writer, because yeah I generally don’t wish anyone anything bad and I truly, truly loved Percy Jackson and the Olympians. He hurt himself by trying too many new things in the sequels and if he learns to handle that and return the writing to the quality of PJatO, that’d be pretty amazing.

[magic713m]

Between the Sky and a Hard Place Ch. 3

Nico ran as fast as he could through the door of the Air and Space Museum, and kept running until he collided with someone, knocking the cap off.

"What the-" Thalia said, with widen eyes looking down at Nico as he was getting up, "You! What are you doing here?"

"Nico!" He turned to see his sister looking at him with mix of shock and anger. Nico was inhaling and exhaling rapidly. His jacket was torn open from his struggle with the demigod kid, and he felt disappointment as he felt his pockets and noticed he dropped some of his Mythomagic cards during his escape. But he couldn't worry about that right now.

"Your brother followed us," Zoe asked.

"I swear, I didn't know," Bianca answered.

"Guys, we've got bigger problems," Nico said.

"More important than someone hijacking our quest?" Zoe said.

"Try 'walking skeletons' important."

"What? Explain, now!" Zoe commanded.

Nico explained everything he saw. He told them how he followed them; how he discovered they were being tracked by the titans; and that he eavesdropped on their meeting where he saw the boy who saved him and Bianca.

"Percy," Grover cried in mix of melancholy and hope, "You saw him?"

"Yeah," Nico answered, "But he was talking to Thorn, like they were working together."

As Grover's face went from hopeful to saddened, Thalia grabbed Nico's shoulders, so his eyes were locked on her own, "Was Annabeth with him? The blond-haired girl whose hat you took."

"No, I didn't see her," Nico said, "But I did see some big guy that they called the General. I never had his card before."

"It could not be the General," Zoe said, seeming unsettled, "You must be seeing things. An iris message perhaps."

"It was real," Nico said, "I saw him jump from a balcony, onto a marble floor and I could tell the floor was more damaged than he was. Right before he summoned those skeleton things."

"We do not have time for this," Zoe declared. "Skeletons are the worst. We must go."

"After you," Nico said.

"I was not talking to thee," Zoe said.

"Nico, you don't know what you've gotten yourself into," Thalia said, annoyed and a little concerned.

"We can't just leave him," Bianca said, "We have to take him back to camp."

"There's no time. The solstice is approaching," Grover said.

"Then was call Chiron to send someone-"

A roar echoed through the museum and the group looked to see a huge four-legged giant feline with golden fur. Nico recognized this monster from Mythomagic. It had plenty of health, very high defense, very rare card and very valuable: the Nemean Lion.

"Don't move," Zoe commanded, as the lion slowly approached them "On my mark, separate. And try to keep it distracted."

"Nico, you stay back," Bianca said.

"No way!" Nico responded.

"We will need all the help we can get. Get ready, kid," Thalia said. Nico nodded. At Zoe's signal, they all jumped in different directions, with Thalia, the closest to Nico, pulling him away with her.

"Do you have a weapon?" Thalia asked, looking at Nico. Nico pulled out the dagger he took from camp, and Thalia looked down in disappointment, "Alright, fighting is second nature to us, so follow your instincts, and stay out of the way of those claws."

"'Don't get hit by claws.' Good tip," Nico said, with sarcasm.

Thalia ran towards the lion as it was fighting off the vines Grover was summoning. Nico reached into his pocket, only to find the magic baseball cap missing. He looked around and saw the hat lying in the middle of the battlefield. He looked up to see his sister and her commander on top of one of the rocket models above, firing arrows at the lion, but none were penetrating the fur. Nico saw to lion back up as Thalia raised her shield. The two circled each other.

"We need its mouth to open," Zoe shouted to Thalia. The lion stopped, with Nico standing behind it as the lion prepared to pounce its prey.

"Hey!" Nico shouted to it, and took his dagger, trying to stab its heels.

"Nico, stay back," Bianca shouted.

"Kid, don't-" Thalia screamed, but it was too late.

The lion suddenly turned and swiped its paw, missing Nico as he fell backwards, dropping his blade.

Nico found himself pinned to the ground as the lion leered down at him, opening its jaws as it lowered its head. Thalia tried to stab the lion, but it seemed to completely ignore her as it was focused on its prey. Nico could hear Bianca scream, and he felt to hot breath from the lion's maw. Nico tried to feel around for a weapon, and he felt his hand land on something. He felt the object was sharp and grabbed it and quickly jammed it into the roof of the lion's mouth, and it was pinned to the bottom jaw, jamming the mouth open. The feline backed off him, roaring in pain, as it struggled to remove the splinter holding open its jaw. An arrow flew right into its mouth and it dissolved, leaving behind a pelt.

"Nico, are you okay," Bianca ran to him.

"I'm fine," he answered, shaking her hand off him. He looked down and saw the object that was in the lion's mouth. It was a perfectly sharp marble rock, shaped like a broken tip of stalagmite. He picked it up and looked as it but the shard suddenly dissolved in his hands and disappeared as it hit the ground.

"What was that?" Grover asked.

"I don't know," Nico answered.

"I guess you can pack a punch," Thalia said, as she handed Nico the magic cap.

Zoe picked up the lion pelt and it transformed into a jacket, just his size.

"It didn't disappear," Nico stated.

"It's a spoil of war," Zoe said, holding out to Nico, "It's yours."

"But why?" he asked, as he hesitantly accepted it.

"You saved us," she simply said.

"But you killed it?"

"And you warned us about an impending attack and kept its mouth open long enough to kill it. You earned it. And you will need it for the quest."

"He can't come," Bianca interjected, "He's only ten and he doesn't know what he's doing."

"He helped us slay the lion. He's earned his place among us," Zoe stated.

"He's just a kid," Bianca whispered.

"We're demigods," Thalia stated, "We all grow up fast."

"But-" Bianca began.

"Bianca, I'm coming," Nico said, firmly.

"Nico, please go back-"

"You don't get to tell me what to do," Nico said, defiantly, "Not anymore."

"Guys, please-" Grover began to plead, but he lost the words and his eyes widened as he looked to the door.

The others turned to see a bunch of transparent men in army uniforms walking through the doors, approaching them.

"We have to go," Zoe said, before looking at Nico "And he's coming with us. He's our fifth member and no one is getting left behind. Now let's move!"

Percy looked through the window across the street, down at the skeletons who began moving into the museum. He saw the questers escape from a different exit and run off.

"They got away," Thorn was telling the General.

"No matter," the General said, "My warriors will track down the demigods to the ends of the Earth. Besides, we know where they are going. Even if they evade the skeletons, they're doomed the second they reach their destination."

The mercenaries were packing up their equipment, getting ready to travel.

"Jackson," the General said, "We are to return to base. Hurry up."

"I'll be there in a minute," Percy said, and went to talk to his fellow demigods.

"James," he said to the one demigod. James was an unclaimed demigod, and one of the first demigods recruited after Percy joined Luke. He was almost an inch taller than Percy and had short cut brown hair.

"What do you need," he said casually, as he was nursing the wound on his cheek, where Nico punched him during the escape.

"I have an important mission for you. I need you to follow the campers and tell me what they are doing."

"That's it? You want us to do simple reconnaissance?" James asked, slightly offended.

"Well, if you have an opportunity to capture them safely, then sure. But don't hurt them," Percy said.

"With all due respect," James said, "The General told you that the demigod, Thalia, is the only one he needs. Shouldn't we try to capture her?"

"You won't be able to capture her without needing to fight the others," Percy explained

"So?" James said, with some annoyance. Percy looked down and took a deep breath. He knew James was eager, and that he had a fragile pride, which was wounded when the intruder gave him a good strike to the face before escaping.

"Samson," Percy said to the other demigod.

"Sir," Samson answered. He had blond hair, and brown eyes, a typical feature of Demeter's children. He stood up straight, waiting for Percy's command. Samson and many other younger demigods who joined him had grown a respect to him. Despite Percy insisting they be less formal, he soon gave up on correcting them. Trying to stop them from calling him 'sir' was about as successful as trying to stop Blackjack from calling him 'boss'.

"You should go pick up some supplies. I'm probably going to send two more recruits, so be sure to pack for four," Percy asked.

"Yes, sir," Samson said and hurried out, leaving James and Percy to talk.

"We can take them," James insisted, "You said yourself. We're ready to fight. Let us fight the enemy-"

"They are not the enemy," Percy said, "They are being misled by the Olympians and are innocent, like many of us were. You will not hurt them. Understand?"

James grumbled a little, "Understood, sir."

"OK," Percy said, "The General said that the skeletons won't stop tracking them, so you should follow those things. Just keep your distance and tell me if you have any news. And if you can't follow the monsters, Samson can use a tracking spell to find the campers. I need you in command. The others respect you and I trust you to get the job done."

"Jackson! Move!" the General shouted.

"I'll send some reinforcements," Percy said, as he was grabbing his stuff.

"Sure," James said, in a subtle flippant tone as Percy left.

Annabeth searched around the room for some sort of weapon, or something she could use to escape. After some time after Percy left, she had gained enough strength to explore her surroundings. She was given a mattress for rest and a chair and a desk with some paper and charcoal. The room was lit with two torches elevated too high for her to reach, and she was given a small window high up as well, which was completely barred. She only saw sunlight at dawn, but it didn't stay out for long before hiding behind the overcast around the area.

She heard voices outside and quickly got back onto the bed, and prepared her meek appearance before the door was opened by the guard and Percy walked in with a plate of food and some water.

"Hey Wise Girl," Percy said lightly.

"You're back," Annabeth stated, bluntly.

"Yeah, I had to see how the quest was going," he explained, as he set the plate on the desk, and pulling the chair up, handing her water, "So Thalia, Grover, some Hunter that the General hates, and those two kids from Maine are on the quest to save Artemis."

Annabeth took a sip, but remained silent, looking away.

"Look, I'm sorry for this-"

"What's your plan," she suddenly asked.

"Well, for now, the titans sent skeletons to chase down the heroes and I sent some demigods to track them," Percy explained.

"No, Seaweed Brain," she said, annoyed, "I mean, what is your plan. You said you want to bring down Olympus, but you want to 'help' us demigods. And I can clearly see that you don't agree with the titans. So, what's your plan? Because from what I see, it won't work," she said.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Well, firstly, you can't play both sides. You and I both know the titans are far worse than the gods. Yes, you said the gods use us, but the titans and their monsters want to killus. There's no way that you'd stand by as camp gets attacked by these monsters."

"That won't happen," Percy exclaimed.

"Yes, it will, Percy. It's stupid to think you can keep this war away from camp. And I doubt you could live with that."

"Well, maybe if it was just Clarisse," he said, jokingly, rubbing the back of his head, "I owe her for the bump on my head she gave me last summer."

"Actually, that was me," Annabeth said softly.

Percy's eyes widened.

"You?"

"Yeah. I figure if we made land with the Fleece, either Clarisse would try to kill you, or you would try and betray us. So, I knocked you out and saved us all from doing something we might regret," she explained.

"Wow, that's low, Wise Girl," he said.

"Well, we got the Fleece, you didn't betray us and we're all alive, so…"

"Glad to know you care."

"Percy, I am serious. I might not be an oracle, but in this war, you will have to choose a side."

"I'm glad you're feeling better," he said, as he began to leave.

"Luke has made his choice. You will have to as well."

Percy said nothing as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

Annabeth got out of the bed, and took the plate, spilling out the food and moved to the prison door, this bars on it. She raised the plate, using the reflection to see if there were guards watching outside the cell, and once she saw the coast clear, she put the plate out further through the bars to see down the hallways for anything to help her find an exit. She saw a hallway door open, letting in some natural light and quickly pulled her plate back and moved to the chair at the desk before anyone could see.

She now had an idea of the immediate layout, beyond her cell. It was the best she was going to get. Now she had to wait for the right opportunity to present itself.