Book 1: The four tainted minds

But the worst was yet to come.

Fun fact! In Greek feminine words end with 'α, η', masculine words with 'ς', and neutral words with 'ο, ε, τα', this is why both Percy and Leo's full names end with an s sound, because they're boy names! So "Περσέους" and "Λεόνιδας".

Λεο

The memory that assaults him as he's trying to land the helicopter is nothing short of groundbreaking, and almost bone-breaking too considering it causes him to crash. Thankfully, a drop of ambrosia dealt with most of the damage they took, though the helicopter was rendered useless.

He'd be a lot more mournful about it, if the memory had been anything else, he thinks, because it was truly a beautiful piece of machinery. It matters little, though, in the face of this discovery.

In the moment, it'd been no more than a flash, the image so clear and precise it had blinded Leo, but it had been a floodgate.

He sees a circular room, filled with countless projects, blueprints lining the walls, a large table always ready for use, and a small desk holding what looks like a steampunk laptop. But sitting at that desk was a figure.

Familiar, yet impossible to describe, similar to how Nico had first appeared to him. And that meant there was someone else, someone besides Nico who knew about him.

No, by the feeling of the memory, this person was important in a different way, familiar in a different way

If Nico had explained his tendency to stay close to the shadows, this one explained why he'd looked at underground entrances twice even with Gaia on their heels.

"Delta" he whispers to himself.

There's a hand at his shoulder, and there's Piper, giving him an understanding look.

"We found it" she tells him.

Leo nods and follows her inside the house.

Νικο

He feels every bone in his body, aching and weighting him down. Beneath him, Tartarus breathes, it pulses.

It turns his stomach, acid burning inside him, skin prickling. But he refuses to turn.

He knows who follows him, even as he dares not say her name, could hear the wailing miles before she made her approach. And the uncertainty of her still keeping the distance is torture.

Hoping for mercy from her would be foolish, so Nico tries to ignore her instead, the way he always has.

Walking gets harder, the closer he gets to the mansion, and her presence feels closer even as she keeps her step. This is how she's always operated; Nico knows it better than most.

He forces his step, widens the distance, and leaps once the mansion is in his direct path, and hears her cackle, a distorted sort of sound that resembles screaming in agony. He pushes past the door of the mansion and lets it slam behind him.

What welcomes him is both worse and much better than her touch, but Nico's always had an easier time facing fear, than facing pain.

He gathers his energy, and runs.

Runs, and runs without stop.

And he's forced to witness horrors, and hear terrors. Things that will dig their claws into him and follow him to the surface.

But he keeps running.

It's all he knows how to do.

He doesn't know how long he's trapped there.

Τζέισον

It felt, weirdly, like being buried in sand, even though he's not sure how he knows the feeling. He opens his eyes to Leo and Piper hovering above him, wearing matching faces of worry, and finds it a little funny.

His laugh turns to coughing a second after, throat dry, lungs aching; and his body feels as though made of lead. Piper helps him sit down, and Leo pulls out a water bottle out of his toolbelt, and Jason thinks, once again, that yes, he can actually believe these are people he would befriend.

The goddess, who's Jason's step mother, he thinks? Has the decency of facilitating their trip back to camp Half-Blood, but only after getting in an argument with Jason's sister. He gets the feeling he might be the only of his father's illegitimate children she tolerates.

Back in camp, Piper challenges Drew for the title of Cabin head, and Leo tries to convince his siblings to help him build some sort of warship he'd drawn when he was eight. Jason is ushered to the infirmary by some Apollo campers, so he doesn't get to see how that turns out for them.

He has no doubt they're both successful.

It's sitting on the cot he's helped on, that his memory returns, and he's glad for it because it does so all at once. He might've scared the Apollo camper when he fainted though, but, again, it could've been worse.

Before that, he wonders, in between flashes of places, and names, and information, if maybe what they need for Piper and Leo to recover theirs, is force them into having a night of proper rest. And then he's out for the count.