My head swam and pounded as I tried to get back up, to continue fighting, to slaughter every monster that stood between me and Nico. The world blurred into view, just slightly, before it was gone again and I sank back into the dark, warm seas of oblivion.

"My lady, they've escaped. The prisoners in the bunker, they knocked out our guards and dispatched the soldiers." Octavian knelt before a heaving Hazel-Eris, jagged knife held in one hand, face suffused with malicious joy. At his words, her face contorted into something less human, and a growl of frustration tore free of her throat, primal and fearsome. I could see the sweat beading on the augur's forehead. For a moment, it looked like she was about to rip his throat out, but it passed and she leaned back, smiling.

"It doesn't matter though, dear Octavian. Do you know why?"

"N-no, my lady."

"Because I have these wonderful gentlemen." She stepped aside, and I choked in tandem with the Roman. Behind her stood Jack and Nico, stripped to the waist and chained to the wall by their wrists. Nico, thankfully, didn't seem that worse off, apart from the bloody slashes that alternated between his ribs, and the bruise that circled his eye. Jack, however, was glowing faintly and looked barely conscious, both eyes swollen shut and chest a mass of blood and dirt and barely scabbed wounds, left arm bent at an angle that made me wince; I could see a jagged edge of bone jutting out through the skin, leaking blood. It seemed Eris has discovered Jack's sort-of immunity to death.

"You see, dear Octavian," Eris smirked, lightly caressing his cheek with the jagged dagger in a mockery of sweetness, "I could sacrifice these two on the winter solstice and probably raise enough of myself to destroy this continent slowly, and then take over the world and burn it to the ground, etc. But I'd like Jackson to suffer for ruining my plans, and I know just how." She paused, obviously waiting for Octavian to ask.

"H-how, my lady?"

"I'm so glad you asked.' Eris raised her voice so that the two prisoners could hear her. "Jackson would never leave them here, you wouldn't need to be the embodiment of human nature to know that. Especially not the son of Hades. I have it on a... reliable source, that they care for one another. Deeply. So in he'll come, a knight in shining armour, and then he'll die. Sounds splendid, doesn't it?"

Octavian swallowed and nodded quickly. "Yes, my lady. You are so smart."

Hazel's lilting laugh made my heart hurt; it was as if someone had transposed it into a minor scale, all wrong notes and familiar yet unfamiliar. "You should know flattery doesn't work on me, but really, feel free to continue." She turned and looked straight at me, as if she knew I'd been there the whole time, and slowly, deliberately, winked.

-

I passed out another two times before I could stay conscious for good. When I did, however, it was to the sight of Will Solace bending over me, adjusting the bandage that bound my head. Letting out a quiet groan, I blinked as he grinned, looking me in the eyes.

"Hey, Percy. How're you feeling?" His voice was soothing and warm, and I relaxed into the sheets until-

"Wait, where's Nico?" Sitting up took a greater toll than expected, and he took the opportunity push me gently back down. "Calm down, Percy. Nico isn't here. He left camp, remember? After the war?"

Confused, I was about to contradict him when I realised that none of the Seven had had contact with us since my exile apart from Leo, who didn't even have the full story, and my heart sank. "I need to get everyone up to date. Can I stand, or...?" Normally I wouldn't have asked, but I still wasn't sure what the extent of my injuries were, and I didn't want to overreach my boundaries. If I passed out now, it would just waste more precious time, and that was the last thing we needed. Fortunately, Will nodded and offered a steadying hand as I sat up, swung my legs out of bed, and inched to my feet, before slinging my arm around his shoulder, both of which, I noticed belatedly, were healed. "How long have I been out?"

"About five days. The rest aren't up and about yet, if you're curious." He added, seeing where my gaze landed. "I just heal fast. Son of Apollo and all that. Annabeth and Frank, they're still laid up. I don't know what Hazel did to Annabeth, but she was nearly dead when they brought her in. I could only do so much, with my arm and all. As for Frank... Well, they had history. He tried to talk to Hazel. She wrecked him. Then Piper went to talk to her, and she tried to, well, cut her tongue out." I stepped back, eyes wide. I knew Eris was nasty, but I didn't think she'd go that far. I suppose I Will noticed my horror and nodded. "Nobody knows what happened to Hazel, she just flipped after you left. She had patrols of those dark soldiers just streaming in everyday, and I don't know exactly what they do, but they're like dementors, sucking the happiness out of camp. When I found out, I confronted her, and that landed me in the doghouse too." He grinned wryly and I felt a tiny sympathetic smile quirk the corners of my lips as he led me down the narrow corridor. I'd never been particularly close to Will, but children of Apollo were one of the relatively easy cabins to get along with, not to mention he'd fought bravely in both wars, which counted for a lot with me, and I had a feeling we'd get along fine.

"You can climb the stairs, right? I mean, your legs were pretty cut up and stuff." I nodded wordlessly, limping up the rough cut planks, ignoring the thousand twinges in my legs. The corridor had been enclosed and dark, the room warm and stuffy. If I didn't get out into the open air soon, I'd go insane. Not to mention, where there was open air, there was sea, and the sea would definitely help with my wounds.

Out on deck, the sun shone pale and weak, and a cold breeze blew off the water. Still, the majority of the crew were up top, a few at weapons practice or just lounging, still recovering from their imprisonment. Reyna and Jason were sparring, both seemingly perfectly at ease with the rolling motions of the sea as Piper stood by watching as she polished her knife, cornucopia slung low on her hip. Amy was likewise sparring with Idris, and I noticed the slight tension between the two groups, not quite dissipated despite the three days they'd spent together. Annabeth reclined on a deck chair nearer the sea, and Alexa sat by her, quietly wiping her forehead with water from a bucket next to them. Doing a mental headcount, I turned back to Will, puzzled. "Hey, where's Leo? And Levi?"

"Leo's in the engine room, he's been upgrading everything like crazy. Levi, he's the little guy, right? I think he's in the crows nest. Um." I followed his gaze, and couldn't help a small, shocked sound escaping. The boy was casually sitting on the railing of the crows nest, talking to a single albatross who to be honest didn't seem that interested in what he had to say. "Levi! Hey, come down from there! It's not safe!" He looked down and grinned impishly, curly mop bouncing as he giggled. "No, it's nice up here! I'm making friends!"

"Please? You can make friends tomorrow! It's getting late and I don't want you to fall." The boy pouted and muttered something that was snatched away by the wind, but he hopped over the railing and descended in a flash, small hands manipulating the ropes like he'd grown up on the seas and not in an alley in Canada. Jumping the last few feet, he bounced up to me and threw his arms around me. "You're awake!"

Hugging him back, I nodded, suddenly grateful for that fact. "You bet. Can you go down to the engine room and fetch Leo for me? I need everyone in the meeting room in ten." To my surprise, his face fell and he shrugged listlessly. "Leo doesn't like me."

"Don't be silly, of course he does!"

"But I'm small and alive!" I couldn't help but laugh, and hug him again. "You're also adorable. It'll be okay, all you need to do is tell him to get to the meeting room ASAP. Okay?" He nodded reluctantly, and I ruffled his hair as he ran off, before turning to greet the rest, who'd by now seen us and were making their way over. Reyna sheathed her sword and snagged a towel from the ropes and Jason followed suit, both loping over to where I stood. Piper and Idris walked at a more sedate pace, and Alexa waved from where she sat, obviously unwilling to move from her seat beside her patient. Shifting to a more comfortable position, I allowed the greetings to wash over me, hugging each of them in turn. I hadn't quite realised how much I missed them, but now that they were here, I was perilously close to tears. Quickly blinking the stray drops away, I coughed to clear the lump in my throat. "Everyone, can we meet at the meeting room in ten minutes? I have a lot of explaining to do, and then we need to take back the camp, so preferably make it snappy, yeah?" I waited for their affirmation before limping away, casting a regretful look at the choppy waves that beckoned. A swim in the sea would be glorious, and probably very restorative, but I just didn't have time.

-

Now that I was here, standing in front of what seemed like my past and present together, my tongue was tied, and my mind drew a blank even as I called on it desperately, and I couldn't help but wish that Nico was here next to me.

"Uh, hi." I mentally whacked myself in the face as Piper smirked at my stuttering introduction. "Do we need to do a round of intros, or..."

Reyna shook her head, and jerked a thumb at Jason. "He started us all off. We're just waiting on an explanation, Jackson." I nodded and thought back, unsure of where to start. "Okay, you all know there's a god called Eros, right? He's like Cupid, but way tougher and meaner." I watched them all carefully, but only Jason seemed to react, hands curling into fists and expression hardening to steel. Piper looked like she recognised the name, which made sense, given her parentage, but she didn't look like she'd ever run into the guy. "Well, he apparently has a sister. Sort of. In the godly way that doesn't actually mean anything. Her name's Eris, and she's a lot worse. She's all about the negative parts of human nature, the hate and anger and resentment, anything that makes us imperfect. The thing is, ever since Gaia set her sights on Hazel and her mom, so has Eris. She works slowly, and she's been in her head since, well, 70 years ago. She was just waiting for an opportunity to strike.

After I was kicked out of camp, Jason and Rachel brought me to this island where Nico was staying after the war so that I could recover, which I guess was when Eris made her move. After all, with Octavian stirring up things at camp, there was enough conflict and strife that she wouldn't discovered until it was too late and she was in power. She's planning to raise herself from Tartarus on the winter solstice and well, probably destroy the world, overthrow the gods, etc. etc." I barely refrained from adding, 'you know the drill'. "She's got minions of Nyx coming in all the time, those shadow soldiers, and I'm sure she has worse things up her sleeve. We need to take back the camp and send that damned nuisance back to Tartarus." There were mutters of agreement around the table, drowning out the sound of the choppy waves hurling themselves against the hull, but Jason sat back, looking at me with understanding eyes; he'd figured out what I hadn't told them. "They have Nico." It wasn't a question, but I nodded. "And Jack, another very powerful demigod." He frowned, and I knew he'd figured it out. "It's a trap. This Eris, she knows we'll be coming back, she'll be ready." I nodded again. The table had fallen silent, and I could hear the waves outside begin to slap louder and larger. Taking a deep breath in an effort to calm myself, I looked straight at Jason. "We're not leaving them in there. She will kill them."

"We know, we're not going to leave them there, I'm just saying-"

"Well, don't! It's not an option! We have to get them out and take the camp back."

"Yes, we'll do that! But we need a plan, we can't just go charging in-"

"Why, it's always worked for you before-"

"Hey now, there's no need for shouting, let's all just calm down, right-"

A shriek pierced through the cacophony of raised voices and I paused. "Annabeth's still on deck with Alexa."

Jason tensed. "There's a storm outside. There shouldn't be a storm where I am, unless I want there to be." Now that he mentioned it, I could feel the waves churning under the boat, slipping away from my control. "Eris. We have to get on deck, now!"

hey y'all

sorry again for the wait, here's a longish chapter to make up for it. hope y'all enjoy! also, has any of you seen the new gravity falls episode not what he seems bc hhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOLY SHIT BALLS FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

ok im out bye

-n