Son of the Moon

46

-Nico-

With eyes as Hard as Stone, the son of Hades examined the war table map of the Camp. It had been almost two weeks since Percy had blown up Mount St. Helens and the fallout was still being felt. The explosion had been something that was necessary, Telekhines using the forges of the gods at best meant more weapons for the enemy, at worst meant new symbols of power for their gods and Titans. With the warning they had sent Hephaestus the forge god had managed to minimize the damage to the surrounding area and prevent any casualties but people were still being evacuated. The worst part though was what Percy had stirred.

Typhon, the storm giant and father of all monsters had been trapped deep under the magma, slumbering away for what was meant to be an eternity. The raw power that destroyed the mountain caused a ripple of energy that stirred the ancient being. It wasn't awake yet but it wouldn't stay asleep for longer than a year and they weren't the only ones to realize this. Monsters all over the world were becoming bolder, excited at the prospect of their father being released.

"I want archers at these points." He moved a piece on the board map to some of the perimeter locations that weren't covered by the watch towers built by the Hephaestus cabin "All with horns to signal us if there's anything approaching the boundary. I don't want to push the limits of the Great Barrier."

"Got it." The representative from Apollo nodded before taking off to relay his orders as he sighed. It had only been two weeks since Hephaestus flashed them back to camp but already he was exhausted from having taken over for Percy in the war efforts.

"How does he do this every day?" he asked the girls as they sat with him, going over reports from the searchers and border patrols along with developing strategies.

"He's made of sterner stuff than we are." Clarisse admitted grudgingly, "Life knocks him down and he gets up, spits out the gravel, and asks if that was the best it could do."

"I miss him." Bianca spoke up weakly from his side as he sighed sadly and wrapped his arm around her. Ever since they got back she would switch between an almost frightening degree of focus as she trained herself to exhaustion and moments when she was overcome by it all and barely responded to anyone.

"Percy's too damn stubborn to die." He spoke up seriously "And Dad would have told us if he was down in the underworld now. That means one of three things. One is that Percy was knocked out by whatever he did resulting in the mortals finding him and taking him to a hospital. If that's what happened he should wake up soon and come back to us. The second is that he landed in some forgotten magical location and once he recovers enough he'll come back." He trailed off, building himself up to state the third but he didn't need to.

"The third is that he was captured by the enemy." Amanda answered for him, her fist clenching "And if that's what happened then as soon as the searchers get back with that mortal Percy met we're going into that pit and we'll carve a path to the heart of their forces to get him back, even if it takes every demigod we have." Before returning them, Hephaestus had gone through on his end of the deal and explained what, or more specifically who, they needed to Find Daedalus. Something Bianca was far from happy about.

"Sir!" one of the young sons of Hermes ran in with a letter "A Report from the hunt!" nodding he took the letter and dismissed the younger demigod. After the explosion and the effect it had on Monsters the gods had begun to prepare a defense against Typhon for when the storm giant got loose while the hunt went out to kill any and every monster they could, both to try and keep the agitated monster population under control and to get spoils to sacrifice to the gods to help their power for the upcoming war.

"They've killed a few hundred more monsters but there's no sign of Percy." He sighed, dropping the letter with the one he'd gotten from their Roman allies earlier who Zeus, or Jupiter in this case, had ordered to do much the same as the Hunt along with keeping an eye out for Percy. Hearing footsteps Nico looked up, expecting it to be Beckendorf with a report on how the traps were coming around the entrance to the Labyrinth but instead it was one of the border patrol.