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One thing that Perseus disliked about winter was how long the nights got. It had made his and Reyna’s current task more difficult, because they had only had so many hours of daylight.
“It’s just a scouting trip. We won’t need too much time,” Reyna assured him.
They left at dawn the day after they’d been summoned to the Principia and assigned the mission. The distance between Berkeley and Mount Tamalpais wasn’t too long, since they were taking a pegasus to get there.
As they rode on Scipio toward Mount Tam, the anxious young pegasus chattered in Perseus’s ear about how this was his first mission and how he was very excited to be helping out. Perseus felt slightly less confident about the mission, knowing that their pegasus might be inexperienced in a fight in a worst-case-scenario situation such as if one or both of them was seen by the enemy. He didn’t say anything about it to or around Scipio, though. That would be rude, since he knew Perseus could understand him.
Mount Tam was covered in enough vegetation that they would have a place to hide once they landed, but they were forced to land at the bottom of the mountain so they wouldn’t risk drawing their enemies’ attention.
He dismounted from Scipio first and went to look at the trail map.
“What does it say?” Reyna asked. He glanced over at her. She looked like she was still having a little bit of trouble getting down from Scipio’s back.
“All of the trails that go to the peak take a few hours round-trip,” he said, offering a hand out. She took it and steadied herself. “We might be better off taking Scipio a little further up.”
She nodded and looked to Scipio. “Can you fly low enough that we’re hidden by the tree cover?”
You’ve got it! Scipio neighed.
Reyna looked to Perseus for a translation. “He says he can do it.”
“Awesome. Help me back up.”
So they flew up the mountain, sticking to the trails as best as they could. Soon enough, they got close enough to the peak that the trees were becoming less dense, and dismounted from Scipio to walk. Scipio assured that he’d stay there until they returned unless one of them whistled for him.
Perseus wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting their enemies’ base to look like. Every once in a while for the past few months, someone had been killing the guards on border patrol. Then some of the legionnaires had disappeared in the middle of the night and hadn’t returned. It wasn’t until a few months ago that a man named Luke Castellan had somehow gotten into New Rome and strung up one of the older senators by their own entrails. He’d used the senator’s blood to write on the outside of the senate house ‘Rome will burn.’
At first nobody knew how he’d done it. Some assumed that he must have had accomplices--how else would he have gotten past the Pomerian Line without alerting Terminus? But regardless of how he’d done it, it had spooked everyone. Even if he’d somehow gotten into the city itself, Terminus had also never been alerted to the presence of a weapon.
Which meant that Luke Castellan had ripped out the senator’s entrails with his bare hands.
As he and Reyna made their way toward the peak, they caught sight of a palace made of black marble. It had to have been shrouded from the mortal world by the Mist, or else it would’ve been on the news.
The closer they got to the palace, the more anxious they both got. They walked slower and looked over their shoulders more, worried about being seen. Although Reyna was a year younger than him, had only been at camp for a few months, and had only recently been promoted from probatio, she made no suggestions to turn back. She was either eager to prove herself or just somehow less daunted by the oversized mausoleum in front of them. Perseus had the feeling it was the latter.
He, on the other hand, wanted to go back to Scipio, return to Camp Jupiter, and tell them that there didn’t seem to be anyone outside guarding the base.
“Percy,” Reyna whispered, getting his attention. “You zoned out. All good?”
He swallowed past a lump in his throat. “Yeah. Should we see if we can get inside?”
She nodded and began to creep toward the palace, but Perseus quickly reached out and pulled her back behind the bushes.
“What are you--”
He held a finger to his lips and pointed to the side of the palace, where a single teenager with a spear in hand and a dagger sheathed at his belt had just come around. Reyna met his eyes and mouthed, “sorry.”
He just gave her a tight smile. They waited until a few seconds after the guard had passed back out of sight, just to make sure he wasn’t coming back, then both stood up.
“Let’s go,” he whispered. They both got out of the bushes and started toward the palace, doing their best to be as silent as possible. Reyna caught him right before he was about to trip on a rock, and he helped her when her shirt caught on a branch.
The darkness that seemed to radiate from the palace was even more noticeable as they leaned against one of the black marble pillars. Reyna peeked around the corner and then quickly hid behind the column again. She looked over at Perseus and gave a thumbs up.
They made their way in.
Perseus couldn’t help but think that this was too easy. He didn’t know Luke Castellan, but he had a feeling that something was wrong. Shouldn’t there be more people guarding the base than just the one guy outside?
It was then that Perseus felt a sword against his throat and an arm across his chest.
Well. Shit. He tried to get the hand off him, but he couldn’t even see anyone.
“Who the hell are you?” a boy’s voice snarled. Suddenly the hand on Percy’s shoulder became visible. Had he been using the Mist?
“Let him go!” Reyna looked panicked, which was…understandable, but probably not going to help.
“Not a chance. Who are you and what are you doing here?”
Reyna flinched back at the boy’s tone. “We’re, uh…”
“We’re here to join Luke’s army,” Perseus said, trying to instill as much confidence as he could into his voice when he had a knife at his throat.
“Is that so?” the boy asked, seeming almost amused.
“Yeah. We’ve got some information on Camp Jupiter--”
“We already have all the information we need about that stupid camp.” Perseus felt the blade press against his throat. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t slit your throat and his, right here, right now.”
“Because we want to be in Luke’s army.”
“Hmm.” The boy’s grip on Perseus’s shoulder tightened. “Alright. And why should I let you see Luke? What makes you so special compared to all the other kids who have come through here?”
“He’s a son of Neptune,” Reyna said quickly.
The boy’s grip suddenly loosened in surprise. Perseus took that opportunity to knock both the sword and the boy’s hand away, and as he turned he punched the boy in the stomach. The boy recoiled.
Now that he was facing him, Perseus could finally size the boy up. He looked a little older and a lot taller than Perseus, but for all he knew, the kid could’ve been younger than him. Puberty and all that.
The boy wasn’t buff. If not for the fact that his shoulders were slightly wider than his own, he might’ve called the kid scrawny. He was pale, with dark eyes and brown hair, and as he looked back up at Perseus and Reyna he looked angry.
“You’re gonna pay for that.”
Before Perseus had time to respond, Reyna ran forward and jumped, ramming her elbow into the boy’s nose. He cried out, but she didn’t waste any time. He was still keeled over, holding his stomach with one hand and covering his nose with the back of the hand holding his sword. Reyna took her own weapon out and knocked him in the head hard with the butt of her sword.
The boy fell to the ground. Perseus, feeling slightly useless after seeing how fast Reyna had dealt with the kid, walked over and bent down to check his pulse.
“He’s still breathing,” Reyna said, already walking further down the hall.
“Seemed like a bit of a near thing to me.”
“It wasn’t. Besides, I wouldn’t have killed him unless he’d killed you first.”
Well, that was… somewhat comforting.
Perseus got up and followed Reyna down the hall, walking slightly faster to catch up with her. When he did, he gently tugged on the sleeve of her shirt and gestured toward the wall. She nodded and they proceeded, this time inching along the wall.
As they approached the end of the hall, Perseus, who stood in front this time, looked around the corner. It was quiet, and he didn’t see anyone. He didn’t see anything, for that matter, aside from a towering throne that looked to be made entirely of obsidian glass in the center of the open space.
Then he heard something. It was quiet, the way someone might pant or strain while doing a physically laborious task. Whoever it was sounded like they were in pain. Perseus went to seek out the source of the noise, but Reyna tugged on his sleeve.
“There’s someone in there,” he said as quietly as he could. “I think they might need help.”
“What if it’s a trap?”
“They didn’t know we were coming.”
“Unless it’s a trap for someone else.”
“Then we’ll be fine,” Perseus reasoned. Even as Reyna began to protest, he stepped into the throne room.
The closer he got, the easier it was to see someone—a girl with long blonde hair and a streak of greyin a ponytail that looked to be falling out—in the corner. She looked up as he got closer.
“Who are you?”
“I’m here to help. Are you in pain?”
“Yeah,” she said. It looked like even trying to speak hurt. “Turns out holding up the sky is hell on your back.”
Holding up the sky? Wasn’t that the job of the titan Atlas, one of the brothers of Saturn?
“Can’t you just drop it?”
She stared at him. “No, because then the sky would fall. Someone else needs to take it.”
Perseus’s first, most immediate thought was to take the sky from her. But he still needed to get her to safety. Then he had a better thought.
“Give me a few minutes. I’ll be right back, okay?”
She nodded and he ran back to where Reyna still stood at the end of the hallway. She tried to ask him something but he ran past her. As he reached the boy she’d knocked unconscious, he began to try to pick him up by the shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Reyna hissed. She was looking around like she was afraid someone else might come out of the shadows.
“Grab his feet, I’ll explain in a minute.”
It took a few minutes to pick the boy up by the arms and legs and half-carry, half-drag him over to where the girl had been. When they dropped him a few feet from her, the girl stared at the boy’s unconscious body.
Was it just him, or had the grey streak in the girl’s hair gotten slightly bigger?
He told Reyna, “Wake him up.” She didn’t hesitate to slap the boy in the face.
Then he turned to the blonde girl and said, “hey, what’s your name?”
“Annabeth.”
“I’m Perseus, but my friends call me Percy.” He moved so he was next to her and mimicked her position, putting his arms above his head like he was carrying something on his back. “Give me the sky, Annabeth.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. She hesitated, then slowly began to drop her arms. With every inch she moved, the more weight he felt press into his hands, straining his wrists and back muscles. He didn’t know how long Annabeth had been holding up the sky. All he knew was that even a few seconds was pure agony.
He almost felt bad for passing this onto the other dude. On the other hand, he’d threatened Reyna, so… he didn’t feel as bad as he might have otherwise.
Trying to hold up the sky was a lot of effort, though. Perseus felt the rest of his senses dull slightly as his body responded to the intense pain he was in. It took a few seconds for him to adjust, and when he did he heard Reyna’s voice.
“Percy, drop it!” He stared at her. She’d already woken the kid up?
He blinked and, in his peripheral vision, noticed that the boy was flat on his stomach, trying to get up, but Reyna’s arms were holding down the boy’s shoulders and Annabeth was sitting on the dude’s legs.
“Drop it, now!”
He let the weight fall gradually, the same way Annabeth had done for him, more as a favor to his own muscles than to the kid. The boy groaned as the weight came down on his back. It was only as Perseus began to shake out his wrists that Reyna and Annabeth got off him.
Then, almost immediately after, the boy started screaming. “HELP! HELP! I NEED BACKUP!”
Perseus balled up the corner of his shirt, cut a large chunk of it off, and stuffed it into the boy’s mouth. When he looked up, Reyna was at his side.
“Normally, I’d ask if you’re okay, but we need to go. Now. There’s no way someone else didn’t hear that.”
He nodded. “You go first—whistle for Scipio as soon as you get outside. Annabeth and I will be right behind you.”
Reyna nodded and ran out of the room. Perseus made his way over to Annabeth, who was still sat on the ground.
“Can you stand?”
She nodded and slowly got to her feet, but as soon as she tried to straighten her back she fell down again.
Perseus put an arm under her back. He heard a whistle outside and hoped it was Reyna. “Lean on me, okay?”
She nodded. Together they began to make their way out of the throne room and back down the hall. When they got outside, Reyna was fighting with the guard they’d seen earlier. Perseus was about to step in to help, but then Scipio flew in and kicked the guard in the face.
Well. That was convenient timing.
Reyna got on the pegasus first. Then she and Perseus helped Annabeth up, and finally Perseus got on and took the reins.
“Both of you hold on tight, okay?”
Annabeth wrapped her arms around Perseus’s waist, and when he looked behind him he could see Reyna’s arms were around Annabeth’s waist. Figuring that was secure enough, he told Scipio, “alright, Skippy, let’s get out of here.”
As they took off, Perseus felt Annabeth’s arms wrap tighter around his waist. It was good she couldn’t see his face, because he was pretty sure he was blushing.
Once they’d gotten far enough away from Mount Tam, Reyna said, “I think we’re safe.”
Perseus sighed in relief. “Good. Scipio, can you land at the next body of water you see?”
You’ve got it, buddy. Scipio neighed back.
“Thanks.”
“Why are we landing at a body of water?”
“I don’t know how long you were holding up the sky, but even a minute of that made me feel like I was carrying the world’s most overweight elephant on my back. So—wait, Reyna, did you—”
“I already gave her ambrosia.”
Perseus nodded. He felt his face flush and wondered why he hadn’t thought to ask sooner. “Anyway, we’re gonna try to heal whatever pain you might be in and patch up any bruises you’ve got.”
“How?”
“He’s a son of Neptune.” Reyna stated it factually, but she giggled right after.
“Right, that reminds me: thank you so much, Reyna, for advertising that fact to an enemy earlier! Really, that was just—”
“You try to think of something to say when someone’s got a sword to your friend’s throat!”
“I have, and I did better than that, because I know not to—”
“You’re a son of Poseidon?” Annabeth’s voice broke in, so quietly he was surprised he heard it over the wind in his ears.
“Uh, Neptune, but yeah.”
“How is that possible?” she asked, though it seemed more to herself than to either of them.
“Well, when a god and a mortal have sex—”
“Percy!” Reyna shrieked. “Not the time!”
Perseus rolled his eyes.
It took a few minutes before they arrived at a lake near Mount Tam. Perseus’ first instinct was to jump off Scipio and straight into the water, but that wouldn’t have been a smart move since he was at the reins and Annabeth and Reyna were right behind him.
Maybe next time, he thought wistfully.
At Perseus’s command, Scipio did his best to give them a gentle landing. As the pegasi’s hooves made impact with the ground, Annabeth’s arms tightened around his waist again. She didn’t let go until they slowed to a complete stop.
They got off Scipio in the same order they’d hopped on. Whatever adrenaline all of them, especially Annabeth, may have been running on was beginning to wear off. Even after taking ambrosia, Perseus was still worried she might collapse if she didn’t rest soon.
The three of them waded into the water, Perseus and Reyna on either side of Annabeth with their arms around her shoulders. They walked in deep enough that the water was up to their waists and then stopped.
Reyna stepped away from Annabeth slightly, but without Reyna’s arm around her shoulder for support she started leaning towards Perseus until her head was on his shoulder.
He rested a hand on the small of her back with one hand and rubbed her shoulder with the other. “Where does it hurt?”
“Everywhere,” she said. She sounded like she was still in a lot of pain.
“Where does it hurt most?”
She breathed deeply in and out, seeming like she was stretching out her muscles slightly. Perseus watched her as she wriggled her limbs, though it seemed like she was trying to move as little as possible. Was she really in that much pain?
Well, his arms and shoulders had hurt after holding the sky for just a few minutes. He had no idea how long she’d been holding it before he and Reyna had arrived.
“How long were you doing that?” She made a questioning ‘hmm’ sound. He cleared his throat and clarified, “holding the sky?”
She made a motion like she was about to shrug, then halfway through the motion she froze and winced. “Shoulders. My shoulders definitely hurt the most.”
Perseus nodded. Even though he had one hand on her shoulder and one on her lower back, he still asked, “is it okay if I touch your shoulder? I might be able to help.”
As she moved so she could look him in the eyes, his hands dropped from her back into the water. She put one hand on his shoulder to support herself.
“How?”
“Water can heal me and ease my pain. A few years ago I figured out I could use the water to do the same thing for other people.”
She frowned, furrowing her eyebrows together like she was considering him. He didn’t know how to feel about it—it felt like she was looking right through him.
“Okay,” she said finally. Her voice came out soft, like she was unsure and she was trusting him, a guy she’d just met, to help her.
Usually if he was doing this he would just submerge himself completely in the water and run his hands over his wounds as if he were washing off dirt from his skin. But she was in pain and it would probably be best not to ask her to move any more than she strictly needed to.
He brought his hands out of the water, letting a large sphere of water encase each of his hands. Annabeth stared at his hands in wonder as he slowly moved one hand to the area between her shoulder blades. She shivered as the water soaked through her shirt.
“Tell me where it hurts,” Perseus said, “and I’ll do what I can to help.”
“To the left—your right.” Then, after he followed that instruction, she added, “up a little bit?”
She told him where to put his hands. He focused on easing her pain the same way he did with his own. His fingers splayed out against the skin on her back, and he felt her muscles loosen under his hands.
“How?” she said quietly. Once again, it sounded more like she was talking to herself than to him. “There aren’t supposed to be any other children of the Big Three.”
“The Big Three?”
“Children of Zeus—” she cut herself off, then corrected, “of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto.”
“Oh.”
“How are you alive? How—how old are you?”
“Fourteen.”
She furrowed her eyebrows. “How?”
Perseus just shrugged.
“Percy.” He looked up at her. “Are there any others?”
“Other children of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto?” She nodded. “Yeah, there’s a son of Jupiter at camp. He and Reyna are best friends, actually.”
She pursed her lips. “Camp?”
“Camp Jupiter. It’s—”
“Percy,” Reyna interrupted suddenly. “Can we talk?”
“Kinda busy,” he reminded, but when he looked over he was met with an intense glare. He sighed and turned to Annabeth. “Can you give me a minute?”
She nodded, though she seemed like she was still in pain. He pulled his hands away from his skin, but he left the spheres of water in place to try to help.
When he made it to where Reyna was sitting at the edge of the lake, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“You can’t just tell her about camp!” Her voice came out a hissed whisper. “We don’t know why she was holding the sky in the first place! We don’t know anything about her.”
“Reyna, she’s our age. No matter what you think she might’ve done, nothing could’ve been bad enough to warrant that kind of cruelty.”
“I’m not saying she deserved to be under there, I’m just saying—I don’t know if we can trust her.”
He gave Reyna a look, then sighed. Maybe she was right about maybe needing to know more about Annabeth before giving her information about camp.
“Yeah, maybe.”
He wondered if Reyna was suspicious of the timing. While it was odd that Annabeth had been under the sky just when they were going to Mount Othrys, he didn’t think that she had been there as bait. Not for them, at least. So few had known that they were leaving camp—the praetors had passed the order through their current centurion to keep the mission as secret as possible. He and Reyna had even been instructed to leave through a secret exit and wait until they were a certain distance from camp before actually flying on Scipio.
If there were a mole in the legion—if, in the short span of time between the assignment and the time they left, someone had passed along information about their mission to the enemy—then they were in trouble. Either it was one of Perseus’s higher ups or someone had managed to listen in, despite all their attempts at secrecy.
It was worrying. If you couldn’t trust your fellow soldiers, who could you trust?
“What are we going to do with her?”
Perseus’s head snapped back to look at Reyna. “What do you mean?”
“We can’t take her back to camp for the same reason we can’t tell her about it.”
He wanted to point out that if Annabeth were a spy for Luke Castellan, which he was almost sure she wasn’t, then she would already know about Camp Jupiter and where it was.
Instead of pointing that out, he said, “well, we can’t just leave her here.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Reyna frowned. “What if we… what if she trains with Lupa?”
“What?”
“Lupa would probably eat her if she were a traitor. She’ll be the best judge of what to do with her, don’t you think?”
Perseus shook his head. “She’s already in pain. She needs time to rest and recover, not grueling training. I’m not throwing her to the wolves—literally—like that.”
“Do you have any other suggestions, then? Because I hear you rejecting my ideas but I don’t hear you coming up with any brilliant plans.”
“We bring her with us.”
“Percy, we can’t just—”
“Reyna.” Her mouth clamped shut at his stern tone. “I’m not leaving her.”
Reyna frowned and looked over at Annabeth, who was still wading in the water.
“What is it about her?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “For some reason, I trust her.”