Shockwave (Percy Jackson/Michael Vey Crossover)

Chapter Twenty

Percy's POV

I heard the Romans before I saw them. I heard the galloping of horses and the wingbeats overhead from pegasi and the marching of feet. It was almost impossible to miss. And before you ask, no, they did not march here all the way from California. That would be crazy. After the Giant War, Hephaestus had installed an underground system that kind of worked like the Labyrinth. Now, I know what you're thinking. Isn't that dangerous considering the Labyrinth was out of control? Hephaestus made sure that it did not expand. It shortened the length between distances. It takes a day's worth of walking to make it from Camp Jupiter to Camp Halfblood through the tunnels and it only feels like a three-mile jog. It leads to the woods outside of Camp Halfblood so that we don't have to worry about a sneak attack like the one from the Labyrinth.

"Guys," I yelled, "The Legion is here!" Jason, Hazel, and Frank were the first ones to greet them. It was as expected considering that they're Roman as well. I started forward, hugging Reyna and grinning. "Did you make it here alright?" I asked, "We need all the help we can get." Reyna matched my smile with her own and replied, "The Legion's ready to help. We'll do whatever we can." She turned away to greet the rest of Camp Halfblood so I wandered away, hoping that the Hunters would get here soon. Well, hoping that Thalia would get here soon. The rest of the hunters hated my guts. As I passed the Zeus cabin, I realized that I still needed to tell the Electroclan about their powers. I mentally slapped myself. But could you really blame me? The morning has been hectic.

As I ran around camp, I found the Stolls. I grabbed Travis by the arm. "Hey, Travis? Do you think you could get the Electroclan to meet me in the Poseidon cabin?" He exchanged a look with Connor, who smirked. "Hey, Percy?" they said together, "Do you think we could get ten drachmas each?" I glared at the brothers, turning my back on them. I shrugged, "Okay. But I'll just have to tell Katie that you stole twenty drachmas. Is that okay with you guys?" I snuck a glance over my shoulder to see that Travis had paled considerably. He darted off without another word, dragging his protesting brother with him. I brushed off my hands. "And that," I muttered to myself, "Is how you control the Stolls." Remind me to thank Katie later.

I sat on my bed, absently moving water around the room. Then, the door opened and Michael, leading the rest of the Glows, entered. He grinned, "What's up, Percy? The Stolls sent us here." Taylor's eyes lit up and she took Michael's hand, "Oh, are you going to tell us about the secret?" Michael put his free hand on his chest, "Perce, you've been keeping a secret from us? I'm offended." I smiled weakly, motioning for them to sit down on the rest of the empty beds in the cabin. They complied, and Tara grimaced, "Uh, Percy, you do know that your shirt is..." She trailed off, not finishing that embarrassing secret. I nodded. "Yeah, but that's not important right now. What's important is that you know," I took a deep breath and looked them all in the eye, "That you'repowersarefadingaswespeak." I exhaled and smiled, "Well, that wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be." Nichelle rolled her eyes, "We still don't know what the secret is, Jackson." I raised an eyebrow, "What? But I just told you." Ostin laughed, "Well, I for one know what he said. Your powers are fading." It was funny how Torstyn's mouth fell farther than everyone else's. I grinned weakly, "Surprise." Michael stared at me, "What do you mean, 'our powers are fading'?" I tilted my head, "You're powers are fading." Michael's head went up and down frantically, "Yeah, yeah, but how?" I looked at my hands, now folded and in my lap.

"Well, I guess I should start with the fact that your powers aren't actually because of the MEI," I said, my eyes glaring at them, daring them to interrupt, "They actually exist because Hatch found a way to stuff a lightning bolt prototype into your bodies. See, when Zeus's master bolt was being built, the Elder Cyclops left a lot of the old models lying around. Hatch, being, you know, hell incarnate, decided, 'Hey, wouldn't it be a great idea to take these lightning bolts and insert them into the bodies of clear-sighted mortals thousands of years from now'?" Ostin couldn't keep it in anymore and he blurted, "But what about our whole Jade Dragon adventure? She found an algorithm that made sense. Were those really just random numbers?" I shook my head, "I'm not really sure. But they probably had something to do with the fact that you guys survived and the rest of them didn't. You know I'm not great at math." Ostin rolled his eyes, muttering, "Understatement." McKenna slapped him upside the head. I quietly nodded my thanks to her.