𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐜𝐡𝟔|A warning, a hard goodbye, a plan, and a frosty intruder

Disclaimers: These are not my characters or original ideas; they belong to Rick Riordan

Percy

Dream

Thanatos was in his icy chains. The God was covered in shadows, a black robe hanging loosely from his broad shoulders. His handsome face was one of annoyance, yet grief.

"Percy Jackson," he said to me. "I don't have much time. Gaia is no longer weak, she has released all giants from the underworld. You can find me where you did before - the Hubbard Glacier. You need to free me in order to shut the doors of Death. But they have reinforcements - it's a trap. You need to be careful, this time-" he was cut off and my vision went dark.

I told Annabeth of my dream, she nodded gravely and said "We better get going then."

____________

When Grover tripped in the sand, I laughed. The golden flecks got caught in his goat fur and he made a bad attempt to dust it off. He scowled and sat down next to me and Annabeth.

We sat there and watched the sea, the three of us.

"So you're going on another quest without me? They grow up so fast," Grover joked sadly.
"Look at the three of us, just like old times," Annabeth said, smiling.
"Remember when we went to the underworld and said we'd all drowned in the bath together, on our first quest?" I laughed.
"And remember when I forced you to say hello to the DAM poodle Percy?" Grover laughed even harder.
"And remember when we went to Medusa and you both didn't think twice, just because you wanted food!" Annabeth reminded us. By now we were in hysterics.

We stayed there for a bit. My bags were packed, ready for departure, which was in an hour.
We were using the Argo II.

"Man, you guys are my best friends in the whole world," Grover said.
"You too," Annabeth and I said simultaneously, which caused us to burst into laughter again.
"I promise I'll do whatever it takes to protect the camp. I can get an army of satyrs, nymphs... you name it. Somewhere you can come back to," Grover said, smiling.

"When did you get so mature?" Annabeth laughed before we stood up. Grover gave us a smile and turned into the direction of the woods. Then he stopped.

"One more thing - if either of you don't come back alive, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you."

"Yes sir!" I mock saluted, before The Lord Of The Wild smiled and disappeared into the woods.

____________

We stood at the boundary line, by the dying tree. The Fleece Group would have to travel across land, until Rachel could sense an exit, as Zeus' fist collapsed when Daedalus died. Nico, Will, Clarisse and Rachel exchanged hugs and waves. "Be careful," I said.
Clarisse snorted, "You do not get to lecture us about being careful, Jackson."
Then they trudged down the path, away from camp.

___________

Leo came out of bunker nine, coated in soot. "Done!" he said, grinning.
"You have got to take a shower, Leo," Piper said, pinching her nose.
"I will when we get on board," Leo said, rolling his eyes, "We're kind of in a hurry, end of the world 2.0 and all that," he said.

We all climbed on board the deck of the Argo II and I prayed to all the Gods (except for Hera and Ares - I hate those two) that we would see camp again.

The Argo II took to the skies. I saw monsters swarm through the boarders and Grover lead an army of nymphs and satyrs into battle. I held Annabeth's hand until all we could see was clouds.

______________

We all sat in the dining room. "I'm getting serious deja-vu in here," I muttered.
Leo laughed, "Mmm, I wonder why."
"Okay, first things first. We need to free Thanatos. We go to Alaska, as you three did last time. We find him, we free him. First problem done," Annabeth said, "And then we have to close the Doors Of Death," the mood in the room visibly darkened. The question of shutting the doors from the inside lingered. "Finally, we wait until Gaia makes her move on Camp, trusting that the fleece gets back and it's not destroyed first."
"Not much to do then!" Frank yawned.
"How do we know that he definitely is in Alaska though? I know that's where we're going now, but is it really the same as before?" Jason asked.
I told them about my dream.
"Again? But what about his chains! Can't they only be destroyed by the fire of life?" Hazel yelped, looking at Frank.
"I'm technically fire of life though, right?" Leo said, wiggling his eyebrows. Hazel sighed in relief.
"You better be," Hazel replied tightly, still looking at Frank who gave her a reassuring smile.

____________

I found Annabeth in her room, studying. "Seriously? You're studying on a quest! Unbelievable. I bet you were the one that told the teacher when they forgot about the homework!" I said, exasperated.
"Got to take my mind of things," she mumbled.
"What are we going to do, Percy?"
she asked.
"Oh - I think Piper and Jason are going to get burgers when we land."
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. You aren't always as dumb as you look, Percy. We all know that. What are we going to do?"
I knew she was talking about the doors. About Tartarus. In order to close them, we'd need people on both sides.
"I don't know," I replied quietly.

____________

We sat down to eat, talking.
"... And that's when the hamster jumped out of my backpack and landed straight onto Ms. Dodd's tray of food," I finished, laughing with the group.
"So how long until we get there?" Piper asked Leo.
"We should be there in about 7 hours. That's without disruption from any monsters et cetera," Leo replied.

It was suddenly very cold in the room. Ice froze over the pictures of camp half blood and I could see frost spread across my burger and blue soda. Are you kidding me? I'm hungry. And thirsty. Whoever this is... they owe me food.

"What's the bet that's not a friend of ours?" Annabeth said quietly. I could see her breath in the air.
"Khione," Piper and Leo said simultaneously.
We quietly walked along the corridor, to the deck. We brought out our weapons we walked. I went to the front, Annabeth bringing up the rear.

When we made it to the deck, there was no one there. It felt way below 0 in temperature. I whirled around when I heard a gasp behind me.

Khione stood there. Her dark hair hung loosely by her sides. It was tangled with blonde. Curly blonde. Annabeth.

Khione held an icy dagger to her neck.