This Dark Night ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase¹

―x. the greatest heroes of this millenium

ANNABETH SAT AT THE FOOT OF HER MOTHER'S THRONE and cried. Naomi could only sit beside her, hoping her presence was enough of a comfort.

"Annabeth," Percy said, "it's not your fault. I've never seen Hermes act that way. I guess... I don't know...he probably feels guilty about Luke. He's looking for somebody to blame. I don't know why he lashed out at you. You didn't do anything to deserve that."

Annabeth wiped her eyes. She stared at the hearth like it was her own funeral pyre.

Percy shifted uneasily. "Um, you didn't, right?"

She didn't answer for a while.

"Percy," she finally said. "What did you mean about Luke's mother? Did you meet her?"

Percy nodded slowly. "Nico, Naomi, and I visited her. She was a little... different." He described May Castellan, and the weird moment when her eyes had started to glow and she talked about her son's fate.

Annabeth frowned. "That doesn't make sense. But why were you visiting—" Her eyes widened. "Hermes said you bear the curse of Achilles. Hestia said the same thing. Did you . . . did you bathe in the River Styx?"

"Don't change the subject."

"Percy! Did you or not?"

"Um... maybe a little."

He told her the story—most of it, anyway. He left out the kiss, though if Annabeth hadn't been as distraught as she was, Naomi figured she could've guessed something happened by how red their faces got.

Annabeth shook her head in disbelief. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"

"I had no choice," Percy said. "It's the only way I can stand up to Luke."

"You mean... di immortales, of course! That's why Luke didn't die. He went to the Styx and—Oh no, Luke. What were you thinking?"

"So now you're worried about Luke again," Percy grumbled.

Annabeth stared at him like he'd just dropped out of space. "What?"

"Forget it," he muttered.  "The point is—he didn't die in the Styx. Neither did I. Now I have to face him. We have to defend Olympus."

Annabeth was still studying his face. Maybe she was trying to see differences since his swim in the Styx. "I guess you're right. My mom mentioned—"

"Plan twenty-three."

Annabeth rummaged in her pack and pulled out Daedalus's laptop. The blue Delta symbol glowed on the top when she booted it up. She opened a few files and started to read.

"Here it is," she said. "Gods, we have a lot of work to do."

"One of Daedalus's inventions?" Naomi asked.

"A lot of inventions... dangerous ones. If my mom wants me to use this plan, she must think things are very bad." She looked at Naomi. "What about her message to you: 'The future's as much preordained as it is manufactured by our own choices...' Any idea what she meant by that?"

Naomi chewed on her lip. Athena was far from the first goddess to say something about her choice. Hestia had mentioned it the day before; Naomi's own mother had warned her she'd have to make a choice the first time they met.

Since hearing the Great Prophecy, Naomi had thought that choice would be which side she would fight for, which side she would be on when she claimed victory. It would have made sense with how determined Kronos and his allies had been in trying to recruit or abduct her. But now, she wondered if there was another choice to be made.