The demigods looked at each other for comfort. They looked to their siblings, to their friends, to their allies.
Percy looked at Thalia as they shared a long look. Thalia squeezed his hand and gave him a smile and immediately Percy felt better.
"Alright," Percy said stepping up, "we need to move now. We need to get all the humans and get them to safety. Anyone who can fight stand by, Argo's gone but I don't want to risk anything."
"Wait Argo's back?" Nina asked in surprise, "didn't you bury him alive?"
Percy nodded, "I did, it seems he somehow managed to survive and came back for revenge. I managed to scare him off, but I think it's safe to say he's going to be a problem from now on."
Edward nodded and spoke up, "I'll call Hermes, he needs to look into this. You basically caused an earthquake during your fight with Argo. No way nobody didn't report that in already. This place will be swarming with cops is a few minutes tops."
Percy nodded, "okay, then we leave here as fast as we can. Ed, do you know where the manager's office is?" The son of Hermes nodded, "great, go in there and erase any physical record we were ever here."
Ed nodded and ran away with Nico in tow. Percy then turned to the rest of the demigods, "everyone else get ready to leave. We are going back to the changing rooms and getting our stuff. I'll then carry you all in my inventory back into camp."
Everyone nodded as they moved to help put where they could. Most went to help the injured move while Percy took off to gather the unconscious humans.
As Percy went around the park he found Cerberus sitting down on three Gergosas at once. The dog wagged his tail happy at Percy who quickly turned the monsters back into humans and sent Cerberus back into the underworld.
In the next ten minutes the whole camp was ready to move. Percy had put all the humans in the picnic grove underneath a huge cloth banner for the park. It wasn't much, but at least they won't be naked when the cops show up.
Percy then dismissed his other servants, fortunately he wouldn't need them any more.
Edward had arrived just as everyone was getting ready and with him came Hermes who was dressed in a very big business suit.
"I had Nico Iris call my dad while I took care of the records," Edward told Percy who nodded.
"Hey Hermes, think you can help us out with this one?" Percy asked the god who gave him a hand shake.
"I'll try my best. I'm thinking, 'water park closes down for a day for employees only orgy.' What do you think?"
Percy was surprised while Thalia just looked horrified.
"Ah maybe a little less scandalous," Annabeth told the God, "they already have been turned into monsters, the poor guys deserve a break."
"Plus this is a family park dad," Edward told his father, "they would be ruined."
Hermis rolled his eyes, "obviously I was joking you guys. Of course I wouldn't do that, what type of God do you think I am?"
Lie detected!
The demigods chuckled nervously. Quickly Percy opened his inventory and started tossing all of the demigods into it. There were 147 demigods, not including Edward. Him plus his mother changed that number to 149.
The bus drivers who Ed hired had already had their minds wiped. As far as they knew they were hired by someone who never showed up. That along with Ed erasing the parks records made it so that the camp had never visited the park.
Soon Percy was done as he stood next to Hermes who was overlooking the entire park and taking down notes on his tablet.
"Think you can do something about the fissure in the center of the park?" Percy asked looking at the place where he and Argo fought one on one.
"No, maybe an illusion or something, but for now, no. We can get it fixed in a few days, maybe charm a couple of mortals into closing this place down until we can fix it all."
Percy nodded, "great."
"By the way next time you want to go all out try not to destroy the fucking Earth," Hermes cursed, "this is going to be expensive as hell to fix."
Percy chuckled, "sorry. I couldn't hold back. Argo was......he somehow knew everything about my powers and how to counter them. And that scared the shit out of me. Plus he had this new power.....I couldn't afford to take him lightly."
Hermes nodded, "do you think you both are equal now?"
Percy shook his head, "no, I'm a bit stronger. After all I did manage to make him run away."
The God nodded, "good. Maybe next time you can kill him."
Percy nodded when suddenly he got a thought. "Hermes....there was something Argo said...something that really got to me."
Hermes closed his pad and looked at Percy. The God had never seen Percy so nervous before, it made the god of messengers nervous also. "Okay, what was it?"
"He first mentioned it before, back on Nassau. I thought it was nothing, the rambling of a soon to be dead guy. But when he came back he was still talking about it, and the way he was talking about.....it was like he was obsessed."
Hermes hummed, "well people like him usually are. Their obsession justifies their actions. But Percy, what exactly did he say? I have never seen you so....shaken."
"It was a question," Percy gulped, "he asked me to ask a God, 'what happened 2000 years ago that caused man to stop believing in the Gods.'"
Percy looked at Hermes who looked like he had just been shot by Zeus's lightning bolt. The Gods eyes widened to near impossible lengths, "w-what?"
"He said-"
"Percy no!" Hermes shut the boy's mouth and looked around as if to see if someone was spying on them.
He looked at Percy dead in the eyes and in a serious tone like Edward's the Gods spoke, "never repeat that question to anyone, got it? Don't ask me, your dad, Artemis, Hades, hell don't even ask anybody who had anything to do with the Olympians that. Don't try to find out the answer, don't even think about looking. This is a secret Percy, one of the most closely guarded secrets in the whole of Olympus. If you even mention it to the wrong God, like Ares, he would have the right to kill you.
"In fact anyone who ever asked that question has been put to death, it is something we never talk about. Since you asked me I am supposed to kill you right now. But I don't want to do that Percy, you are far too valuable and far too much of a nice person. You are important to winning this war, but if Zeus ever finds out you even know the question he will kill you. Do. You. Understand?"
Percy looked at the God and slowly nodded. Hermes sighed in relief and removed his hand from Percy's mouth.
Percy looked at the God, "is it really that bad?"
Hermes nodded, "I'll tell you one thing Percy, it is. It is a secret that should never be exposed, and if Argo knows....oh shit. If he knows then we are all in danger." Hermes looked scared, genuinely scared. He turned to Percy again, "tell me, did Argo seemed like he knew the answer? Did he say anything that gave you that impression?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, he knows the answer alright. He basically rubbed it in my face. I didn't understand why before.....but if it is as important as you say t is..."
"Then Zeus needs to know about it," Hermes told Percy.
"How are you going to explain to him how you found out? Are you going to tell him I know?"
"What?! And be the reason we lose this war?! Hell no! I'll just tell him I was spying on you all when I heard Argo mutter it under his breath or something while you kicked his ass. Don't worry Percy, I'll make sure you stay out of this. This is beyond a demigod's pay grade."
Percy nodded, "okay, if you say so....you will finish up here right?"
Hermes nodded, "I will. Get to camp and get them safe. That's your job right now."
Percy nodded as he pressed his left temple closing his helmet, "see you later lord Hermes."
"Take care Percy Jackson," Hermes nodded to him as Percy vanished in a blur of speed.
A few minutes later;
Percy arrived in camp and stopped in front of the Big House. He opened his inventory and took out the Apollo kids first.
"Alright, half of you get inside and ready the med bay, the rest stay here and carry the injured up," Percy ordered. The Apollo kids nodded and moved without argument. Lee went to the medbay while Michael stayed and helped Percy unload the injured demigods.
After that was done Percy took out everyone else and soon the entire camp was back inside their borders.
Edward had left in his car that he had drove here in while Percy went back to New York to drop his mom back home. After a promise to her to see her again as soon as everything settled down Percy quickly returned back to camp half-blood.
Ping!
Quest completed!
Save the demigods in the park!
Rewards,
+1 point for every life saved
Level 10 skill disk (2)
Map to forge of Hephaestus— Dragon
Ping!
You have saved a total of 188 lives!
148 demigods and 40 humans!
You have gained 188 points in total!
Percy smiled, maybe he should give himself an upgrade later on and maybe even finally clear out all those forges of Hephaestus. But for now he put the two skill disks he received and the map inside his inventory.
He needed to get to the war room, they were all probably in a meeting right now.
War Room;
Percy entered the war room and slid his face plate back sighing in relief. Sure enough all the head counselors along with Chiron were gathered already. Mr. D was missing, but if what Hermes said was right he was probably on Olympus right now talking about Argo.
"Is Sally safe?" Thalia, who along with everyone else had changed out of her swim wear.
"Yeah," Percy told her as he sat down in the Poseidon's cabin seat, "Lowtide."
The moment he said the deactivation phrase Percy's armour finally realised itself as it flowed back into Percy's gauntlet relieving him of the familiar load he had carried for half the afternoon.
"That is so cool," Travis said as he and his brother looked at Percy's gauntlet with stars in their eyes.
"A birthday gift from dad," Percy said removing the gauntlet and putting it in his inventory, "saved my life against Argo."
"Dude put on a shirt," Michael said looking at Percy's bare chest. Percy looked down, he was still in his swimming trunks.
"Or don't," Silena commented as she eyed Percy's abs. Charles glared at his girlfriend behaviour while Percy blushed. He did not want to come between those two.
Percy took out a shirt from his inventory and put it on, "sorry about that." Thalia huffed in disappointment while Silena did nothing at all, not with Charles glaring at her like he did.
"Anyway, not that the free show is done, let's get back to Argo," Annabeth spoke up turning the mood serious, "he's back, and judging by how long you took to deal with him I guessing he's stronger than ever?"
Percy nodded, "yeah. He got this....this speed boost or something. And he had this sort of aura made out of blue lighting, I think the two were related somehow."
"Was he faster than you?" Silena asked.
Percy nodded, "yeah, he was." The campers looked horrified at the implication that Percy just made. If he was faster than Percy there was no telling what the madman could do.
"I have never heard of blue lighting speed based powers," Chiron said with a frown, "I'll check with the Gods but I can make no promises."
"Were you able to take him?" Lee asked.
"Barely," Percy muttered, "he had a way to block all mana based attacks."
"Haki," Thalia supplied, "he was the one you were talking about when we were on the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska."
Percy nodded, "yeah. Anyway I managed to counter him, but his new speed based powers allowed to escape. I almost killed him but he teleported away, probably some kind of spell or something."
"Did it flash a bright light?" Annabeth suddenly asked as she started to flip through several pages of Argo's personal journal.
Percy blinked but nodded, "yeah it did."
"It's called a Space rope," Annabeth said taking out a page and passing the notebook to Percy who picked it up, "it's like a space key accept you can only use it once. On the plus side you don't need a door or anything to use it."
Percy looked at the book and recognized Annabeth's handwriting in the corner of the text. She had translated the paragraph. "Did you finish translating all of it?"
Annabeth shook her head, "no. I barely finished 25%, of the things I can translate, not to mention one's I can't."
"The one's you can't?"
"There are some notes written in a language none of us can identify. We have logged it in and tried to crack it again and again, but so far no luck."
Percy nodded as he looked through the book looking at Annabeth's notes. Suddenly he spotted a chapter labeled '2000 years ago.' She had only translated the heading and nothing else. Percy closed the book and passed it to Annabeth, "meet me after the meeting Annabeth, we need to talk."
The daughter of Athena looked confused but nodded.
"So what now?" Clarisse asked them all.
"Now?" Chiron repeated, "I believe it is time for you all to get some well deserved rest. We don't have anything to go on right now and compared to Kronos Argo is a secondary issue. And as mad as the man is.....we need to focus on what's important."
Everyone nodded in agreement and soon the dispersed. Thalia told Percy she would see him later as Percy meet up with Annabeth in the empty Amphitheater.
"The last time we were here you were going to confront me about keeping the great prophecy away from you," Annabeth noted with a chuckle, "hard to believe that was just three months ago."
Percy smiled, "yeah. So much has changed since them."
Annabeth nodded, "yeah......so why did you call me here?"
"Show me the book," Percy motioned for Argo's journal which Annabeth gave to him. He turned to the page in question and gave it back to her, "what do you know about this?"
"Why?" Annabeth asked looking at the chapter Percy was talking about, "did Argo say something about it?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, he did."
Annabeth sighed, "of course he mentioned the one topic that is the most complicated to decipher."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "that hard?"
Annabeth nodded, "yeah. He basically wrote it in three languages. Ancient Greek, Egyptian and one I can't even make heads and tails off. And on top of that he wrote the words as an anagram. The Greek stuff was itself difficult to unscramble, never mind the Egyptian and the one I can't even identify."
"I see," Percy groaned, "what did you manage to find out?"
"Three words," Annabeth told him, "Will. War. Destroy."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "war will destroy?"
Annabeth shook her head, "no, will, war, destroy. In that order."
