Percy's POV

"Was this Hel as well?" I think out loud, steadily watching my step as we tread through a mushed pile of plants and rotten corpses.

"I would believe so" Athena's face cringes with disgust. Practically slapping her hand to her face to stop the scent from invading her nose.

"I went through here" Jackson calls out with hesitation as if fully unsure. "It was dark...but the smell and the way my feet just sink into it like hands pulling me down. I'm pretty sure of it." Nimue helps him every now and then to make sure he doesn't fall over.

"Arthur are you good over there?" Adam briefly lets go of my hand to gain his attention with a wave.

"Uh-yeah? I think" He responds half-heartedly, more focused on guiding Gabriela. "She's insisting we head over there" He comments on her eager pointing towards some mountains in the distance.

"Away from the pack house? I thought we'd at least get a chance to return even if it was brief" Adam's voice making it clear he's understandably annoyed, practically throwing me onto his shoulder like a bag and taking leaps through the remains.

Each sudden thud essentially winding me and taking my breath from me, "A-little-warning next time-please" 

"Oh right, sorry" He places me back down, genuinely forgetting he was even carrying me.

"Good idea" Athena smirks, extending her new blacked out hair towards the others. Ignoring their complaints and instead tossing them over her head and towards us. 

"WAI-" I try to yell out but they're already screaming towards us as they hold each other for dear life. Barely dodging the human ammunition, having my leg swept from under me by Nimue and causing me fall onto her. 

"Hi" She awkwardly greets me as our eyes lock with fear, "Adam tame that beast". She tilts her head up to him.

"Which, Athena or Percy?" He laughs out, picking us both up as we all stare at Athena's grinning expression. Essentially building a throne out of hair like when I first met her in the library, extending her body off the ground and making her way towards us.

"What's wrong? You all look upset" She walks past us with a flick of her hair.

"You tossed us like stones!" Arthur complains

"I'm an Alpha first and foremost, seeing you all cry and complain just triggered my instincts to dominate you all. Get in line." She jokingly calls out before making her way ahead of us. 

"I-"

"She makes a point, and if she didn't do it so violently I'd of sided with her honestly. But could you not have just lifted them towards us!?" Adam snaps a bit.

Making her pause in her stride, kneeling down and looking at a stain that's made its way onto her newly changed clothes. "Great, another outfit down the drain. Now what were you saying?" 

"Athena!" He charges for her in a playful manner...I think. Lifting her finger she flicks his forehead to pause him.

"Alright alright, I heard you the first time. Was it not more fun to be catapulted?" She tries to reason with the others. Looking back to see their faint smiles forming on their face, nobody was hurt so thy can't really complain I guess. "See" She throws her hand out to gesture towards us.

"Next time a little warning would help...from both of you" I call to them, making them stare at each other with a childish gaze before encouraging us to join them. 

-

"Has this always been here?" Arthur points out a small cracked line separating the land, leading all around what seems to be the entire area, even to where the village is.

"It could just be where the land hasn't healed from Fenrir's appearance" Athena lines her finger across it, pinching it together with a curious look. Dramatically extending her leg over it and waiting for the rest of us to do the same. 

Stepping over beside Jackson as the rest follow us, all but Arthur. "You just gonna stand there?" I reach my hand from him, seeing his strained expression as he locks hands with me. 

"I'm...trying" He gradually places his leg over, visibly shaking over the line. 

"Stop playing around Arthur, we need to make decent ground before it starts getting dark" Nimue places her hand to join me and his. Tugging and struggling herself to move him, "Why are you resisting it?" 

"I'm not" He keeps inching forward, finally coming over with an audible breath releasing just behind him. His frame partially landing on me, stopping himself with the help of Gabriela.

He accidentally shoves her a bit in the process, turning his strained look into one filled with guilt. "I'm sorry, are you okay?" He comforts her as she erratically nods to confirm to him. 

"Again not to rush anyone but as Nimue said, it's getting darker and there's not much for us to safely rest in." Athena gestures towards the giant open field of grass, the areas reaching the crack in the ground turning browner and dried out. 

"Isn't that a house though?" Jackson points

"I...suppose it is, odd. Someone living so far out here?" She raises her arms with doubt, "I guess that's our destination for tonight? It shouldn't take us long from there right Gabriela?" She turns her head towards her for confirmation but Gabriela keep staring at the house with a fixated gaze.

Arthur's small shakes grabbing her attention before he repeats Athena's question. "The mountains, the ones a decent way from the house? Is that where we're going?" He asks her, receiving an enthusiastic nod as a response. 

"It's still going to take a bit to reach the house though, we're going to be walking in the dark for a bit. Are you okay with that?" She looks towards the non-wolves of the group.

"No problem with me" Nimue confirms, followed by Arthur. Jackson being the only one to be hesitant. 

"Jackson?" 

"I'll be fine, don't worry" He reassures us but I go to each for his hand anyway, startling him but he doesn't reject it. Pausing a bit from a sharp pain crossing my torso, quickly letting go of his hand I lift up my shirt to show my stomach. The momentary pain gone but remnants of a haze still lingering, I place my hand over the engraved sensation, trying to hold onto the feeling of the odd event. 

"Percy is there something wrong?" Adam asks me as I look towards Jackson.

"I'm fine, but can one of you guide Jackson when it starts to turn dark? I suddenly don't feel like a confident supervisor" I half-heartedly laugh it off. His face's expression unlike mine isn't confused, instead looking back at me with understanding.

"I'll do it, no problem!" Nimue holds him with a cheer, "Looks like it's us two again huh?" She greets him.

"Yeah I guess it is" He greets back.

"C'mon people!" Athena calls to us, already impatiently making distance between us.

"I see which of the siblings got the energy" I mock

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adam's sternly looks towards me as I giggle off towards Athena, encouraging the grumpy to chase. "Percy what's that supposed to mean!" He growls out but I continue laughing with my head to the sky. 

-

Jackson's POV

As we walk alongside the others I notice Athena slowing down a bit to walk beside me, "Jackson, back at what happened in the underworld..." Her once joyful tone turned to one full of seriousness.

"Yeah?" I respond back as Nimue listens in.

"What exactly did you see?" 

"What do you mean?"

"I felt you, inside of me. The markings on my back shifted like physical chains to my limbs. The heavy tension of eyes watching me turned to something more realistic, holding whatever that was in place." She runs her hands over her wrists in remembrance. 

"You were being protected by something, I'm sorry I can't really explain much myself. But unlike with Percy's marking, yours was done out of fondness, love even. I can tell that much." I say what I can. Watching as she holds a hand to her chest, looking up to the darkened sky and smiling.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me. I've been having something lingering just behind me all these years but now I can confirm it's nothing to worry about." 

"Gabriela's next I guess, then Percy...then me" 

"For what?" She confusingly asks

"Receiving help?"

Nimue cuts in between us, "Jackson there isn't a priority list, I'm sorry if we ever made you feel like just a second worry. We're doing all of this for you all, don't feel left out. You're one of us now." She smiles

"See those two idiots over there?" Athena leans down to me, pointing at Adam and Percy tackling each other through the grass over and over. "We quite literally went through hell and back for them to be like this now, we aren't gonna stop till everyone can feel like that." Athena explains, waiting for my affirmed look before making her way towards the front of the group again. 

"Thanks" I sound out with a whisper. For once feeling a the pit inside me shrink a bit.