the great wave | percy jackson

𝑥𝑣𝑖𝑖𝑖 - perseus

Percy was sick of water. You wouldn't catch him saying that aloud, because he'd probably get kicked out of Poseidon's Junior Sea Scouts, of which he was an honorary member and occasional counselor, but right now, he wouldn't even hold a bottle of Dasani if you paid him. In all honesty, that nymphaeum freaked him out. He wanted to go back to the surface and be dry and sit in the warm sunshine for a long time–preferably with Asphodel by his side.

Unfortunately, the other half of their group was missing in action-- Frank, Leo, and Hazel off who knows where in Rome and Annabeth who knows where underneath it. And they still had to save Nico, assuming he wasn't dead already. Then there was that little matter of the giants destroying Rome, waking Gaea, and taking over the world.

Seriously, these gods and monsters were thousands of years old. What were they still doing all squabbling and fighting and shit like this? Couldn't they take a few decades off and let Percy live his life, maybe go to college, settle down, have some kids? Apparently not.

He took the lead as they crawled down the drainage pipe, trying to keep from turning back to check on Ash too much. Thankfully her continuous little squeals about her skirt or shoes kept him fairly well updated on her health. After about thirty feet, their pipe opened into a wider tunnel. Off in the distance to the left, Percy heard rumbling and creaking, like a huge machine that needed oiling. He had absolutely no desire to find out what was making that sound, so he figured that must be the way they needed to go.

Several hundred feet later, they reached a turn in the tunnel. Percy held up a hand, signaling the others to wait, but of course there Ash was peeking around the side of his torso. Together they poked their heads out from behind the corner to scan the area beyond.

The corridor opened up into a vast room with twenty-foot ceilings held up by rows of support columns. He'd seen the same parking-garage-type place in his dreams, but now it was much more crowded with stuff.

The ominous creaking and rumbling came from huge gears and pulley systems that raised and lowered sections of the floor for no apparent reason. Water flowed through open trenches (oh great, more water), powering mills that turned some of the machines. Others were connected to huge hamster wheels with hellhounds inside. Percy couldn't help thinking of the dog he had joint custody over, Mrs. O'Leary, and how much she would hate being trapped inside one of those.

Suspended from the ceiling were cages of live animals–a lion, a whole pack of hyenas, even an eight-headed hydra that Ash did not look happy to see. Ancient-looking bronze and leather conveyor belts trundled along with stacks of weapons and armor; in effect, the entire room was suspended in a state of constant animation. Leo would love this, Percy thought–one massive, scary, super unreliable machine, like Mildred.

"What is it?" Piper whispered.

Ash opened her mouth and then closed it, looking up at him as if she wasn't supposed to be the smart one in their relationship. Too bad, because Percy didn't know how to answer either, but he didn't see any giants, so he gestured for their friends to come forward and take a look.

"What the heck?" Jason murmured as they stepped inside. What the heck indeed. Percy scanned the room, taking in all the thousands of different constructions and moving aspects all at once, perks of being incredibly ADHD. About a hundred yards away, he spotted a raised dais with two empty oversized praetor chairs. Standing between them was a bronze jar, the bronze jar.

"Look." He pointed it out, and Ash gasped lightly.

Piper frowned. "That's too easy."

"Way too easy," Percy agreed.

But his girlfriend didn't seem to care in the slightest. She was already moving forward, picking her way around conveyor belts and moving platforms towards the closest thing she had to family on this earth. Piper had taken a few steps after her but appeared to be faltering, whisper-shouting at the other girl to stop and shooting nervous looks at her companions over her shoulder. Percy and Jason made eye contact and the blonde let out a sigh. "We have no choice. We've got to save Nico."