#but Percy and Piper are both like no babe keep doing the scary eyes thing ���

[hermemescabin]

Jason and Leo: do not find Annabeth attractive because she’s too scary.

Percy and Piper: find Annabeths scariness attractive.

[percyjacksonfan3]

Finding Home (Part Two)

Part One: http://percyjacksonfan3.tumblr.com/post/164310003982/finding-home

Leo did not feel good.

His head felt like his dad was stuck inside of it, trying to break out with a hammer. He missed Calypso, his sleep had been plagued with nightmares and a creepy voice telling him to go back to Camp as soon as he woke up and on top of that he had been woken by a huge, metal, fire-breathing dragon stomping and flying around acting like a crazy automaton.

Oh and of course, Percy was missing. So there was that.

Gods, the guy needed one of those tracking bracelets or something, Leo thought to himself. Seriously, going missing once when an angry Queen of the Gods kidnaps you is understandable. Twice is practically a hobby.

Did that stop Leo from looking for the guy? Heck no! If it wasn’t for the fact that Leo actually liked Percy (when the guy wasn’t staring at him with a weird, uncomfortable look on his face) it would have been because Annabeth was back to being the scary version of herself, one willing to kill to get her boyfriend back; (and Leo was not in the mentality to handle that, he was too young and good looking to die. Besides, Calypso would miss him).

Of course the risk of death obviously wasn’t a strong enough motivator for Leo to close his big mouth around the scary blonde.

“Alright, that’s Festus ready.” He said tiredly, wiping his eyes. It was dawn and while he’d been loading their things up the others had been standing around coming up with a plan. “Let’s go.”

Annabeth’s bag, one Leo had wisely let her keep, was hoisted onto her shoulder. “Be careful guys.”

“Wait, what?” Jason placed a hand on her arm. “Annabeth, you heard Chiron-”

“Chiron’s wrong.” Annabeth interrupted. “I’m not leaving Percy stranded out here.”

“Babes, he could be anywhere by now,�� Piper said softly, watching with worried eyes. “We should go back, try and track him-”

“No.” Annabeth’s voice was final. “Look, I told you two about what Percy and I discussed,” her eyes flicker quickly to Leo and he opens his mouth to ask but a look from Piper quickly has him snapping it shut. His head hurts enough without being yelled at by her too. “I have my pack. I have drachma for Iris-messaging. As soon as I get him I’ll let someone know.”

“Annabeth, we need to go.” Leo said. “Chiron doesn’t want you left behind and-”

“Leo, I’m not-”

“And something weird happened.” Leo said. “Look, my head’s killing me and I can barely remember anything from last night, okay, but I know I dreamt some weird voice telling me we had to leave. Now.” His tone and look softened at the slightly desperate look in her grey eyes. “I know you’re worried, we all are. But it’s not safe out here, Annabeth.”

She swallowed visibly. “I’m not going with you, Leo.” Her voice was soft.

“We’re not leaving you here alone.” Leo says, forging on. “Annabeth, we can come back as soon as we’re done talking to Chiron. We can get help from the others and have everyone out searching. But we won’t let you go alone, not when there’s something out here hurting people and kidnapping them.”

“Whatever it is could be hurting Percy right now-”

“I know.” Leo said gently. This was becoming familiar territory, talking to Annabeth when she was stressed out from her missing boyfriend, and Leo couldn’t say he liked that. Gods knew he’d spent enough time with her working on the Argo II that he was well versed with this side of her. “And how do you think he’d feel if you were kidnapped with him? If he had to watch you be hurt. Do you think that would help him?”

She pauses, the logic getting through to her, making her hesitate. “At least we’d be together.” She says weakly.

“Annabeth,” Piper breaks in. “Come with us. We’ll come back right away, I promise. We’ll break out of Camp if we have to. But we need help, we need to regroup, none of us can do this alone. None of us know what we’re up against.”

Again she hesitates and Leo tries to pout the way he’s seen Percy do when he wants something. “None of us want you to go missing too. We packed for a scouting mission, not a retrieval. We need help”

Annabeth stares at him for almost a minute before sighing, her pack falling from her shoulder to land on the ground. “Fine,” she mutters, adjusting her sword on her back and then grabbing the pack to climb on Festus. “But tomorrow I’m coming back here.”

Nobody argued with her.

It was a quiet journey back to Camp. Leo could practically hear Annabeth making plans where she was sitting behind him, and he couldn’t see or hear Piper and Jason.

When they landed Chiron, Mr. D and Grover were all waiting for them. Leo left Festus to curl up in the sun in front of the Big House and followed the others to Chiron’s office.

After Jason had explained in detail what had happened in the past day Chiron nodded. Leo glanced around and noticed Mr. D watching the centaur carefully, a shrewd look in his eye and Leo wondered what that was all about.

Grover was nervously chewing on his shirt and Annabeth was holding his hand, both of them watching Chiron closely.

The sight made Leo sad. He wondered what it was like for them, having lived this way for over 10 years. Having friends and loved ones disappear, never to come back. Unravelling strange prophecies that didn’t make sense, fighting war after war, saving the world again and again, never getting any rest or time to be with their family. Losing Percy, not once now, but twice.

He saw the fear in Annabeth’s eyes, and he hoped with everything he had that she wouldn’t be without her boyfriend for six months again. He hoped that they’d find him tomorrow, maybe a little scratched up but smiling and waiting for them all, like Percy always seemed to be doing. He’d have the monster killed, the threat would be gone and he’d have escaped and saved everybody once more.

Before Leo had met Percy he’d heard countless stories about him. He’s heard about the quest for the Lightning Bolt, the one through the Sea of Monsters, of going after Annabeth and fighting the Titan Atlas to get her back, making his way through the Labyrinth (something Grover had done twice now, Leo couldn’t even imagine) and finally helping defeat the King of Titans. The absolute love and respect the camp and it’s occupants had for Percy was something Leo hadn’t seen the equivalent of anywhere else, and having him ripped away from them not once, but twice was too heartbreaking to really seem possible if they’d been anything other than demigods.

He’d seen what it was like last time. The slow loss of hope, the way every big announcement had people perking up only to fall harder than their hopes had risen when they found out the news wasn’t involving Percy’s recovery. They way people had looked to Annabeth to guide them but Annabeth had been too lost to take that on her shoulders, so they’d started to look to Clarisse, Katie, the Stolls, (before most of them went back to school), Drew and the other older campers instead.

Leo had never seen anything like that before. He’d been to so many schools that he thought he knew what to expect from a group of teenagers. The popular ones, the geeks, the different cliques that all of the adults liked to think got along but really couldn’t stand one another. The was what Leo was ready for when he arrived at Camp Half-Blood. More snotty, stuck up girls who would be mean to Piper because of her ethnicity. Big, bulky tough guys who would look down on the demigods who couldn’t fight as well and make fun of Leo for being scrawny. A teacher who would turn a blind eye to bullying, or encourage it to make demigods harder, tougher, stronger and used to the hard things in life. A part of Leo had assumed, wrongly, that if so many people missed Percy it must have been because he was top dog here, The Popular Guy™. A part of Leo had been prepared to dislike the guy on sight.

Now that Leo knew him, now that they’d saved each other’s lives and been through a war with one of the oldest entities of the world, Leo could say he’d been totally wrong.

Percy was a super powerful guy. One who had tons of friends and loved ones, and he was popular. But he wasn’t the jerk Leo had been expecting.

Which is why, sitting in Chiron’s office, Leo knew they had to get him back, no matter what. Percy was his friend, but more than that, he mattered to the people here, he made the Camp better. Leo couldn’t just sit back and do nothing, no matter what voices in his dreams said.

The only thing that surprised Leo was that Chiron didn’t seem to agree.

“Percy is capable of taking care of himself.” Chiron said once Jason was done explaining and the rest of them had butt in with any details the son of Jupiter had missed. The centaur had gotten up and was staring into a fountain in the corner of his office, lost in thought. “I will think on what to do tonight, but right now I see no reason to rush back into danger. You will all stay here until I learn more.”

Annabeth stood up. “What is wrong with you?” She demanded, eyes sparking, and Leo shrunk back in his seat at the disbelief and anger on her face. “You would never- last time you were frantic when he disappeared-”

“He disappeared from the protected borders of our Camp.” Chiron said, not turning to look at her, the falling fountain water a steady background noise to their voices. Chiron continued in what was almost a monotone. “We had no idea what it could have been and that meant the other campers were in danger. Yesterday Percy disappeared in the middle of nowhere on a dangerous mission. Sometimes we just have to accept losses.”

Every jaw in the room dropped.

Except Mr. D’s.

“There you go demigods, you have your orders.” He stood up and walked to Chiron, dragging a hand through the water of the fountain, making it ripple and causing Chiron to blink and look up at the sudden proximity as Mr. D clapped him on the shoulder. “Luckily it’s early enough we can have one last game of Pinnacle before lunch, my dear centaur. Why don’t you start setting it up for us?” The god turned his eyes on them as Chiron gave them all a last smile before making his way to the porch.  Dionysus sneered. “The rest of you may go.”

“If you think-” Annabeth started, but Mr. D stopped her.

“Except you, Annabeth.” All eyes shot towards him when the wine god used her correct name and Mr. D glanced around in obvious dismissal. “I have a couple of things to discuss with you, girl.”

Grover stood up. “I’m not leaving Percy out there.” He said. “I can’t-”

“Underwood, I am ordering you to go back to your activities in the strawberry fields.” Dionysus turned on the satyr and Grover cowered. “Annabeth will go to check on you directly after I finish speaking with her, is that understood?”

“Mr. D-”

“Is that understood?” The god repeated in the same tone of voice.

Grover’s mouth closed. He stared at Mr. D, glanced to Annabeth who met his gaze and something unspoken passed between them before he nodded. “Understood. Sir.”

Dionysus nodded. “Show these three out.”

Piper and Jason had been silent throughout the entire confrontation, and Leo looked at them both, seeing the mutiny in their eyes that he was sure showed in his as well. He wanted to say something, but Jason looked from Annabeth to Grover before shaking his head.

They all got up and went towards the door. “Close it on your way out, please,” Dionysus called, and Grover didn’t turn back but he did pull the door of the office so that it gently hit the frame, leaving only the tiniest sliver of light to come from the office into the Big House hallway.

“You go on,” Leo told them all quietly, stopping just a few feet away from it. “I’ll tie my shoe and catch up.”

They all glanced at his feet, seeing him pull the lace untied on one shoe. Grover glanced towards the almost shut door, chewed his lip for a second and then nodded. “Hurry,” he told Leo, before going out with the rest of them.

Leo backed up quietly, crouching down to grip the loose laces, ear to the crack between the door and it’s frame. Dionysus was speaking quietly but Leo heard him anyway.

“I don’t have much time, so you must listen to what I tell you the first time. Chiron is not himself.”

Leo heard one of the move and then Annabeth said, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” the god’s voice lowered, only barely audible over the sound of the fountain. “He is not himself. Those are not his words, this uncaring frontier is not his. I first noticed it when he ordered you all to return here- I have been with this centaur teaching you miserable rats at this camp for decades. Not once has Chiron abandoned one of you in a time of need or left someone in danger. He is not himself, child, do you understand my meaning?”

There was a beat of silence. “You think he’s possessed.”

“Not quite.” Another shuffle. “I think something is taking control of him at intervals and releasing him at others. There is no way of telling when it happens, but I am quite sure. Which means someone must look over him.”

“The same thing happened with Leo, on the mission.” Annabeth said, surprising Leo so much he rocked back and sat down. He listened as Annabeth described his sudden desire to leave the area, the way he said his head hurt and he dreamed that horrible voice… The pieces clicked and Leo was horrified.

He’d been possessed before by the eidolons. He never wanted it to happen again. Not controlling his own actions, watching from afar as somebody else wreaked havoc through his body… it was the most powerless he’d ever remembered being.

“Something is wrong here,” Dionysus said. “And somehow the responsible party has gotten to Chiron. I must stay and watch over him, but we cannot leave Perseus alone to face whatever it is. Which is why I give my permission for you and other demigods of your choosing to leave Camp and get him.”

A gasp. “You what?”

“You escaped the Harpies at 12 years old, I am sure you can do it again.”

“That’s not what I- you would give me permission to go and get Percy back?”

Seconds ticked by and Leo pressed his ear closer, wondering if he’d missed Mr. D’s response.

A throat cleared. “Poseidon would be absolutely insufferable if I allowed the brat to die.”

Another moment of silence. “Thank you, Mr. D.”

“Go.” Is all he said. “Get whoever you need, as a child of Athena you’ll have a good idea of what will be best to take and who. Recover the missing barnacle boy and make sure he is brought back safely. I will watch over Chiron and do my best to stop any interference here in the Camp.”

Leo heard a chair scrape and got up from where he was sitting, ready to get out before Annabeth opened the door, but he didn’t hear footsteps yet. “You’ve never taken an interest in our lives.” Annabeth said. “Even when Tantalus was here, you never seemed to care, and you definitely wouldn’t have let us leave. Not once have you helped us unless the gods were in danger. Why are you doing this now?”

Leo wished he could see Mr. D’s expression when he replied. “I suggest you make haste, Annabel, your boyfriend may be strong but he’s no longer invincible.”

A clear dismissal, one that Leo was able to interpret without even being in the room, and, realizing no more was going to be said, he turned and hurried from the Big House, intending on telling Grover, Jason and Piper everything he’d overheard.

By the time his foot touched the step his mind was blank and he couldn’t remember what he’d been doing in the Big House at all.

oooOOOooo

When Percy got over his surprise at the giant’s words a pit of fear pooled in his stomach.

Instead of showing it though he cracked a smile as best he could. “You might have to write that name down for me.”

Aristaeus grinned back at him, amused at the joke. “It is quite a mouthful compared to your modern way of saying things. Strange names you have now. I heard someone say they were named Diamond the other day.  What an odd thing, to be named after an allotrope of carbon. But no matter, Aristaeus is the name my mother gave me and I must honor it, just as you honor your mother by answering to Perseus.”

“Actually it’s Percy,” he told the giant, still not completely back to his senses. Was he really introducing himself to this guy? “I go by Percy.”

“Ah, Percy.” The giant tried it out and nodded. “If that is the form you prefer I will do my best to follow it. It rolls of the tongue strangely, but I am sure I will grow accustomed.” He clapped his hands together again, changing the subject suddenly. “Now! I have many questions for you, demigod, if you would be so kind to answer them, but first, let me tell you a story.”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “A story?”

“The best way to gain understanding is through a story, you should know this better than anyone. Has it not been you telling the camp scribe your tales? You know better than most that history must be recorded.”

“How do you-”

“I wish for you to understand what I am doing here.” Aristaeus cut him off, eyes searching. “Then any questions we have for one another will be answered.”

Percy had no choice but to listen as Aristaeus shifted, getting into a comfortable seated position. The giant hunched forward, putting his face directly in front of Percy’s, meeting his eyes steadily and ensuring Percy was paying full attention.

“I was young when my brothers and sisters first amassed together to overthrow the Olympians thousands of years ago. My mother was angry you see, so desolately angry, and my family was born from that rage. I was not the youngest, nor the oldest. Never the wisest or strongest. It was not me who was dear to all of my siblings, I was not the leader and I was not the scribe. There were few my mother doted on out of us all, and I was never one of them. I was not special out of my siblings. There were better archer's, axe-wielders and sword fighters amongst us. Many of them were better with words, most were smarter and almost all of them were more passionate for our cause. We were created for one reason and one only; to end the gods.”

Annabeth would know all of this, Percy thought. She would know exactly who Aristaeus was, what god he had been created to overthrow and what would kill him.

Annabeth’s not here, he reminded himself, and relief swept through him once more at the thought that she would be spared all of this. He refused to acknowledge the small part of him that wished she was with him, the selfish and scared part that wished he wasn’t doing all of this alone.

“My siblings, the Titans, were the reason for this.” The giant continued. “Kronos has always been Mother’s favourite child. Out of us all it was him who shone in her eyes. He was much like her, but easily malleable to whatever whim she had. When his father, Ouranos, my father’s old rival, grew greedy and paranoid and fell to preying on his children it was Mother who formed the scythe and molded Kronos into what he became. Powerful, to be sure, but short-sighted. He fell prey to his fear as his father did and eventually his wife and sister, Rhea, who was truly lovely, did what she could to save her children and stashed Zeus away to overpower his father. Just as Kronos did to his father, Zeus did to his own, scattering the Titan to the wind and securing his own throne. The God King built a palace in the sky and the mortals worshipped him and his siblings.”

“You must realize,” the giant turned grey eyes on Percy and blinked. Percy jolted back as he saw the third eyelid, sliding closed from one side of the eye to the other, before being covered by the two outside lids. Like an alligator, Percy remembered. Annabeth had told him once that they had three eyelids and showed him a video of an alligator blinking. It was almost exactly the same. “Not to worry, demigod, the story only gets worse,” the giant said, misinterpreting the movement. “No matter. You must realize,” he repeated, “that the Titans were horrible to the mortals and all beneath them. Kronos led the Titans to believe they were masters of not only the world but the universe, more powerful than Chaos itself. They were more powerful than any other beings alive, their parents encouraged them in all of their doings, revelling in the torture of the mortals. Animals lived in fear, the mortals lived in more than that, suffering constant terror. When Zeus defeated his father and the gods defeated the other Titans who rose against them it was hailed as the Golden Age. The mortals were saved, and the gods, well. They didn’t treat them as equals, but they treated them well. Fairly, in many’s eyes. And mortals accepted it, anything was better than the subjugation the Titans had enforced. They didn’t know any better.”

“Of course Zeus was terrified and grew paranoid as well. He never feared his children would overthrow him, but he did fear the mortals would. He split them in two. Instead of having two heads and hearts, four legs and four arms, you were half of what you once were. Instead of having two minds and being twice as strong and intelligent as you are now, you were left weakened. Instead of having room in your heads and hearts to think of other things, your biggest goal in life was now to find your other half, your split half, a journey, I have heard from my siblings, that mortals now call looking for your soulmate, as your reincarnations still wander the world, searching for one another.” For a second the giant sounded almost wistful, looking past Percy to the back of the cave before suddenly turning his eyes back on the haggard demigod before him.

“Do you see what I am saying, Percy?” Aristaeus asked him. “Every ruler of our world has fallen prey to their emotions. They have not played things smart at all, but given in to fear and allowed it to corrupt their minds and make foolish decisions. If Ouranos had not begun consuming his children, he would still be the most powerful being in the universe. Now he is left alone, still powerful, but never able to reign over others again. His son is the same. Kronos could have had the world for eons and instead he got a meager few millennia before his children overpowered him. Zeus is not quite so foolish, but still victim to his feelings. How strong could his army of demigods be if he had kept humans in their original forms? Mortals could have fought for him, defended him, and their offspring could have been a gateway between themselves and the gods, keeping the two groups faithful to one another, cementing them as allies. Instead Zeus cuts himself off from the mortals and treats them as disposable and useless. Demigods like you are nothing but pawns in allowing the gods to survive for a few more millennia. Who cares for your death when there are countless more to take your place?”

Percy doesn’t mean to flinch, doesn’t want to give any sign that the words are affecting him, but he does. Aristaeus notices, his eyes rake over Percy, but he chooses not to say anything.

“I am saying, demigod, that all rulers must fall. All dynasties deserve to fall, eventually. My siblings and I were made to be a part of the gods disgrace from the heavens- never the force behind their loss, only the tool used by all to follow the rules of nature. We were created by Gaea to destroy Olympus and everybody on it. To avenge our brother and sister Titans and right the balance of power. Mother gave us the tools we needed and sent us on our way.”

“Twice now, my family has been overthrown. The first time we were overpowered because we did not know just how strong the gods and their allies were. The second time… we should not have lost at all.”

The giant’s eyes narrowed. “My brother Kronos should never have been defeated. He was the closest any has come to making Olympus crumble, yet he was stopped. Stopped, even though the gods were too busy fighting Typhon to even spare Kronos a glance. Stopped, despite the fact that the Triumvirate was supplying enough money, demigods and materials for the army to win without ever needing to ask for more. Stopped, Perseus, by you. Because you were born.”

Percy looked at him helplessly as the fear came back.

“It’s not all your fault.” Aristaeus assured him, seeing the look. “I do realize that, believe me. I understand your point of view. It was your father on the line, and even if the gods have never treated you well, you heard terrible things of the Titans and believed them to be worse. I cannot fault you, as I am sure in your situation my siblings and I would have done the same as you and your family.”

“But I ask that you look at it from my perspective. You continually thwart our champion, Kronos. You are the sole reason for his demise.” Percy started shaking his head but the giant tut tutted at him and waggled a finger his way. “You are, I assure you. Without your birth the Fates would have woven my brother’s victory. After that you antagonise my mother while she brings us all back to make another attempt on Olympus, once again ensuring our downfall. Without you, Percy, the two camps never would have gotten along. You helped form a bridge between them, one Jason Grace could not have accomplished himself, and that means it is on your shoulders the blame must rest. From there you fall into Tartarus, a place I have been forced to call my home for eons, fought and escaped my father and come back to lay rest to my mother and siblings. It may have been your blood that awakened her, but it was because of you that she was scattered as well.”

The giant looked away. “I was the sole survivor of the first giant war,” he confided. “I escaped the gods and heroes and went to Sicily, where I lived the rest of my life out in peace. It may have been cowardly of me, my siblings certainly thought so when we reunited in Tartarus, but our joy at being together soon overpowered their resentment. In Sicily I was at first alone for a long time. However, eventually I made friends who helped me realize there is more to life than fighting and revenge, than power and ensuring a throne. There is more worth living for. Those friends, who I later thought of as family, came to teach me many things.”

“If you realize that then why am I here?” Percy croaked. “Why are you doing all of this?”

The grey eyes turned back to him. “Perhaps I would have allowed you to leave with the others,” he said. “But you are the root of too much, you are the cause of every strife my kind and I have faced in the past 5 years. You are a plague to us and our allies, Perseus, and I could not allow you to escape when you were so nearby.”

Percy’s thoughts stuck. “The others?” He asked. “They left?”

Aristaeus considered him. “They did. The morning after, almost as soon as they realized you were gone. I was quite surprised in fact. Do demigods usually abandon their own so carelessly like that?”

Percy’s mind reeled, trying to figure out what that meant. Did they try and look for him and give up? What did they think happened to him? Was his disappearance enough to spook them off? Were they looking for him now?

Had they even tried to find him at all?

He jerked his head to the side. No, Annabeth was with them. If anything she would have tried to find him. She would have done everything she could, and if she left it was only to come back and try again. She hadn’t given up on him after six months, there was no way she would after two days.

Which meant Percy had to do all he could to help her.

“You know they left?” He asked again. “How?”

The giant smiled and it almost looked bashful. Percy was disgusted. “During my exile in Sicily my friends taught me many things,” he said again. “Among them was the use of magic. A very powerful, very useful and varied branch of magic.”

“Magic.” Percy said. He remembered Thalia and Hazel manipulating the mist, Hazel’s description of her encounters with Hecate. “To fight?”

The giant grinned. “Among other things. I can scry and look upon your friends from the safety of this cave. I can reach into their minds and twist their thoughts and actions to my will. I could do it to you right now, though there’s no point. I can cloak this cave from all eyes, I can cloak you from anybody trying to find you. That rainbow goddess is nowhere near as powerful as me, and empathy links are a snap of a finger to dissolve. If you’d still had the Achilles Curse it may have been a little trickier but I’m sure I could have managed to remove even that. I’m smothering your powers right now, the very things that make up your soul, with only a little strain.”

Then Percy’s heart stopped. He gasped and tried to breathe air in, but the action was empty. His lungs expanded, full of fresh air, but his body screamed in protest.

“That’s me,” Aristaeus said, a glint in his eye and pure joy and excitement on his face. “That burning in your lungs, the slow, treacle feeling of your brain, that’s all because I can stop your heart with a single thought.” He smiled and Percy felt his heart pump forcefully again, blood flooding through his veins and he gasped from the sudden pain of it, breathing in air greedily.

“I could end you with a thought, I can look through your mind and control you just as easily. I am like no foe you have ever faced demigod, believe that.”

Percy kept gasping but he managed to raise his watering eyes to meet the giants. “Then why am I alive?” He croaked. “Why aren’t I dead by now?”

The glint left the giants eye and for a second he looked almost nervous. “I am the last trick the Triumvirate had. They may be gone, but I am all that’s left of the final uprising. Without them the Titans couldn’t have risen, the giants couldn’t have almost won the second giant war, Apollo would not have been weakened as he was and the gods could never have been so divided over their children, their morals, actions and history, as they are now. They would not have closed Olympus to you all and betrayed you. They would not have put you in danger and made you so resentful of them, you demigods never would have lost the numbers you have and been forced to such helpless anger.” Aristaeus looked at him curiously. “I saw the darkness rise up in you Percy, when you were in Tartarus. That anger, that rage, I know what you feel. It’s inside of you now, I can tell without even going in your mind.”

Percy flinched, ignoring the words. “You still haven’t told me why I’m alive.”

“Because I will not destroy this for everybody. I am the last hope my family has, and if I have learned anything from history, it is that recklessness causes destruction. I will think out every move I make, use every shred of knowledge I can to win and bring my family back. The gods will fall, as they inevitably must, by my hand. Whether you call it chaos, Ragnarok, the end of the world or doomsday, every being knows the end will come, one way or another. I am going to be the cause of the god’s end. I may hate what you mean for my family, what you have done to us and what you represent, but I don’t think I hate you. I hate what you allow, what you have achieved and everything you lead others to accomplish in your wake, but I honestly see good in you. It’s a dilemma. I have not killed you because I don’t have all of the information yet, nor am I at my full strength. My beastie has yet to bring back another mortal and I have to make plans and backup plans. I have to see whether or not I can convince you to join my side, to see things the way I do and become an ally. You would be a valuable asset if I can make you see reason. Then, Perseus,” Aristaeus stood up and moved to the back of the cave leaving Percy to watch him go, “and only then, will I decide what to do with you.”