Speed Demons

Part 21

Percy

"Percy?" Nico seemed surprised to see me, but he looked so weak that he hadn't even registered it.

"That's me," I smiled. "Been a while, huh? You're what, 13 now?"

"14" he corrected weakly. His face was paler than usual, and it looked like the shadows were reaching out for him.

"Jackson," Reyna greeted cordially as she stood up. She had tried to ask me out after the titan war, and I had to very gently inform her that I had a girlfriend. We've had a (more or less) steady working relationship since. "Let me guess, Octavian seized power while I was gone?"

"Yeah," I said, "but the entire legion made a bit of a mistake in listening to him. He chose to give himself a rank with no military power." I shrugged.

Reyna rolled her eyes and grumbled under her breath as she walked towards the legion. I draped Nico's arm over my shoulder and started walking him to the Apollo cabin. When I got there I kicked the door a few times. "Open up!"

The door opened almost instantly, displaying Will Solace. I had never spoken to him directly before. He was 15 or 16, with curly blonde hair. The resemblance to his father was uncanny. "Oh my gods," he looked at Nico.

"You a doctor?" I asked, and he nodded. "Great, come with me."

After I had gotten the two of them situated, I returned and called everyone out of their cabins. "Gaia's army is approaching! Everyone of age to arms!" It wasn't much, but it was all that it took to snap Camp Half-Blood to attention. They got to work right away.

Line Break

It was the next morning when the Argo II appeared in the sky. The crew, known as 'The Seven', all slowly climbed down the rope ladder.

"Percy Jackson!" A familiar voice called. Annabeth. "You've got some nerve showing up here! Insulting Chiron to his face, refusing a quest when you knew we needed you, and now you show up saying you want to fight?"

"I didn't insult Chiron, I politely explained to him that I couldn't afford to give up that much time to a quest." I folder her with a sigh, "I can see the future so I know you didn't need me, and you're an idiot if you think I'm going to let this place be destroyed. The Greeks were losing, by the way."

Annabeth groaned, "I hate that I can never win an argument with you!"

I shrugged, "perks of prophecy." I smirked, "are you going to introduce me to your new friends? Hi Bianca."

"Percy," she nodded, a small smile on her face. "My brother?"

"The infirmary." I said, "He'll be fine." She nodded and walked off. "Bianca," I called she stopped and turned back to me. "The Apollo kid he's with, Will Solace? He'd be a good fit. Give it some thought." She rolled her eyes and kept walking.

"Hey man," a tall blond kid offered his hand, "Jason Grace, son of Jupiter. We've met, I think. A long time ago, maybe."

I smiled kindly, "Percy Jackson, it's a pleasure." I turned to the three I hadn't met yet. "Hi, Percy Jackson, Basket Case extraordinaire."

A small dark-skinned girl with frizzy hair was the first to step forward, "I'm Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto." She said confidently, "This is Frank Zhang, son of Mars, and Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite. Leo Valdez, the son of Hephaestus is here too, but he's staying on the ship because he's a fugitive of New Rome."

Before I could say anything, a loud horn sounded from the direction of the strawberry fields. "They're here..." I muttered, snapping into leader mode. "Everyone! To battle stations! We will not let them destroy our home!"