Our steps echoed against the marble of the hotel as we followed one of the monsters, one of the Telekhines that served as an attendant in the hotel we were in.

 

Even though I was following them, I didn't feel present in my own body, as if my body was moving by itself without my input.

 

I was feeling so many different things that in the end, it made me feel nothing.

 

I had wanted to be part of this quest for the glory I knew would have come if we succeeded. I knew that retrieving the master bolt would gain me my mother's attention.

 

I had hoped that she would see my accomplishment and would feel proud of me. I had hoped that by doing such a thing, even though she was an immortal and me mortal, things could be different, better.

 

I had hoped that by going into this quest, Luke and Thalia wherever her soul was would see that I wasn’t a defenceless child anymore, that the kid that they had protected and loved was now strong enough to do the same with them in case a situation presented itself.

 

I had been unable to do anything, too weak to fight when I needed to and because of that, Thalia died alone.

 

Luke who I had always seen as the strongest, as strong as Thalia almost died in a quest, scarred forever by it. I had almost been alone again.

 

I had wished all my life for things to be different. Maybe if Zeus or even Hermes or even Athena had cared more, my family would still be complete.

 

With all my heart I hated the indifference of the gods but I had told myself that it was the way things were for all demigods, for all of us, that the only thing our lives amounted to was a search for glory that would without any doubt sign at a moment our death so that for a moment, we could feel the illusion of care, of love we wished our godly parents had towards us.

 

 

I had accepted the way it was normal for us demigods to die because of the whims of the god or against a monster in a painfully abominable way without our parents caring.

 

We walked toward a wall. The Telekhine that we were following touched it before the wall opened as if it were a flower made of gold and emerald.

 

I could see that on the other side, there was a room too big for it to possibly exist normally.

 

I wondered how such a miracle could possibly have been made. I had always wanted to build grandiose things, monuments that would indicate when I'm gone that I existed, that I Annabeth Chase and all my story deserved to be remembered.

 

This place showed me something. It had shown me that everything I thought I knew, all the knowledge I had been proud of was just the tip of a giant iceberg.

 

I realized that I knew almost nothing. It both infuriated me and made me joyous. I wondered how it was possible to construct such a place in a non-Euclidean way. I wished that I knew how it was possible to build with my own feeble hands something that could only be called divine, something that thwarted all the constructions made by clever mortals and demigods that still stood to this day like beacons in the mundane world.

 

I crossed with the others to the other side behind us. With a loud clang, the wall closed behind us.

 

“Why did you bring us here,” Chrysaor the oldest son of Poseidon said. To be honest, I hated him and I knew that behind his smiles and his carefree attitude, he felt the same.

 

He was the son of Medusa, an ancient priestess of my mother who had been foolish enough to get infatuated with Poseidon, the greatest rival of my mother in her temple while she was her priestess.

 

In my mind, Medusa could be called lucky. She had been foolish enough to forget that, unlike Poseidon, she wasn’t an Olympian and thus was susceptible to the wrath of my mother. If the gorgon had truly foolishly thought that Poseidon would have protected her, she truly deserved her punishment.

 

My mother could have even been said to be merciful. Gods could be particularly cruel. Prometheus and Tantalus were such examples.

 

I was brought back to reality by the words of the monster “I brought your graces and their companions here because of the task that His Majesty, your sire, Godking Poseidon had asked me to accomplish.”

 

The Telekhine turned away from us and grabbed what looked like a remote from his suit. He pushed one of the buttons and the ground before them opened.

 

From the floor rose three giant platforms. On one of the platforms, I could see, held what seemed to be an electric guitar enclosed in a giant transparent box made of white diamonds.

 

On the second platform, in another giant box was what seemed to be a dark blob. A blob that I could see moving, twisting like a snake in its enclosure, as if it was alive as if it had sapience.

 

On the third platform stood something that seemed ordinary, that I  would have not expected to see. Even though it seemed to be mundane, I could not deny that what was on the platform could probably have bought my father’s house several times over.

 

“Is this a Saleen S7?!” Grover exclaimed.

 

The last item was in fact a green sports car. “I didn't know you were knowledgeable about sports cars Grover,” Percy said with surprise in his voice.

 

With the way I have heard Grover rant in the past about sports cars and how like almost everything humans created, destroyed nature, it was normal to be surprised that Grover could on sight recognize and perfectly identify a sports car.

 

Grover realized the inquisitive and surprised looks directed at him and embarrassed put his hand on the back of his neck. “It's just that you know, it is important to know your enemy if you want to vanquish him.”

 

The satyr turned towards the Telekhine “I hope you don't expect us to use such a nature-destroying machine?” Grover told him.

 

He looked at them in support. “Totally,” Percy said. “Of course,” I said. Chrysaor stayed silent but a look from Percy made him sigh “Like they said,” the older son of Poseidon spoke.

 

The sea monster looked dejected “Yes, it is a Saleen S7 young satyr. Fret not because this one is a modified upgraded version.“ He began whispering “I wanted to begin with the others.”

 

“Anyway,” he uttered. “Let's begin with what attracted your attention first.”

 

He began toward the car and we followed after him. Grover was sending him suspicious glares. With a push of another button of his remote, the diamond box opened in the front to allow us to come close to what was inside.

 

“In ancient times,” the Telekhine began “When you wanted to make a sacrifice to a god, you just needed a herd animal but times changed and with them, the gods. Rare are the gods that care about such things as in the past. To obtain the attention of my lord, the great Poseidon, I sacrificed this car that I had modified for him.”

 

“Then what about the sacrifices we make each night in camp half-blood? About the food, we burn each night in their honour? Are you saying that the gods dislike them? See them as poor ways to honour them?” I found myself asking.

 

He answered me with another question “Did any of those sacrifices bring their attention, their blessings?”

 

“What the gods want are things out of the ordinary. What they want are precious, rare things. They are beings capable of uprooting the world itself from its axis just with the strength of their will.” A sneer bloomed on his face as if I had insulted him “Why would they care about burnt food?”

 

How could I have not seen it earlier? It meant that everything prayer we had been making at camps had all been worthless.

 

Was it the reason why gods only claimed demigods after they accomplished acts of glory in quests, when winning against a monster, or another demigod, or when doing something exceptional?

 

All this time, the answer had been before our eyes and none of us had found it. I was a daughter of Athena. I had inherited from her an intellect I knew was greater than most mortals yet I never felt so dumb before.

 

“When I bought this car made by mortal's hands,” the Telekhine continued, “it was so full of deficiencies that I didn't need to be a Cyclops to see it. I changed almost everything. It just looks superficially like the car that had originally been bought.”

 

“I changed the component that made the body of the car. I replaced the carbon Fibers with abyssal emeralds. The leather inside is made from the fur of a descendant of Atlanta herself. I replaced all the technology inside with better equipment commissioned from one of the greatest Cyclops smiths. I've hired Empusais to use their sorceries by inscribing invisible runes almost everywhere in this car that will allow it to ignore useless concepts like wind resistance or being dirtied or weighed! The engine was also totally changed. What gives energy to this vehicle is the fission of atoms of hydrogen!”

 

I felt my body go cold at those words “By the fission of Hydrogen atoms?!”

 

“Approximately How much energy is in this car?” I asked.

 

“Maybe twice or thrice as much as a tsar Bomba,” he answered.

 

I took a step back and I could see in the corner of my eye that Grover had done the same “Are you crazy,” I found myself shouting. “If something wrong happened with the car, millions of innocent lives could be lost!”

 

“Don't worry daughter of the War goddess, that won't happen. The only thing that could destabilize this core and make it would be the will of a powerful sea deity.” His gaze fixed itself on Percy and Chrysaor “I made sure of this and in case it happened,” he lifted his shoulders in a what-you-could-do stance “They're just mortals.”

 

I wanted to scream at him, to gut him, to make him swallow back his words. Demigods were mortals. Our families were mortals. My dad was a mortal.

 

“That's enough!” the voice of Percy snapped like a whip “My mother is mortal. Don’t forget this,” Percy warned him.

 

It felt suffocating to breathe. It was as if I was at the bottom of the ocean and my internal organs were slowly being crushed in an agonising way.

 

Something had changed in him or maybe it just had been me that had been unable to see it all along.

 

When Percy had first come to the camp and slayed the Minotaur with his own horn, I had thought and hoped that he had been a child of the Big Three, a son of Zeus just like Thalia.

 

In the days after, all the skills and power I thought he would be able to demonstrate weren't there. It's as if what had happened with the Minotaur had just been a fluke of luck. When he had disarmed Luke, I had thought the same but there was still that little speck of doubt in the back of my head that was wondering what if.

 

When it was the time to capture the flag, I put him where I knew members of the Ares Cabin would come. I knew that they hated him. I wanted to finally be sure if he was the one who could allow me to obtain the glory that I've always searched for or if he was just an average demigod who had momentarily attracted Tyche’s attention.

 

He has proven to me that he was what I was waiting for when he was able to beat numerous members of the Ares cabin.

 

Unfortunately, he wasn't Thalia’s brother and I felt disappointed. Thalia was gone and would never be back. I could never show or tell how grateful I was for everything she did, I could never tell how I loved her and thank her for the family she's given me with Luke.

 

I had thought that maybe if Percy had been Thalia's brother I could protect him, paying him a part of the debt I would always feel I had towards Thalia.

 

There was also the fact that if the special demigod that was supposed to help me obtain the glory I longed for wasn't a child of Zeus, it would have meant that I would have to force myself to either be in the presence of a spawn of Hades, the god that had sent an endless amount of monsters after Thalia and us or Poseidon, the god that was the oldest most bitter rival of my mother.

 

I honestly found Percy stupid and still did but less than before. It was easier to get along with him than it would have been with a child of Hades.

 

When we had fought against the Fury, I had never felt so scared and powerless. Here was an immortal being that was said to directly descend from a Primordial deity either by the Sky Father himself or by the Night.

 

She was playing with us and nothing that we did, that I did seemed to be working. On the bus, I had been the first one knocked out by her. I had been a weight to the other questers.

 

Percy had continued to fight while I was unconscious. I remember half waking up, still dazed to Percy fighting against Alecto.

 

The two of them had moved so fast that the only thing I could see was a blur of colours clashing against each other and the impact they had on their surrounding.

 

They had moved through Asphalt as if it didn't exist. They made the Earth shake each time they clashed. They moved at speeds that shouldn't have been reachable for beings made of flesh. They were giants and the world around them was their playground.

 

Percy was supposed to be new to the divine world. It hadn't even been a month since he had first picked a sword to train with and yet he was able to do something that I wasn't sure Luke or even Thalia if she was still there could do.

 

It had been as if I was watching two forces of nature collide against each other. When they had briefly stopped, I had been dismayed to see that the Fury had looked worse than Percy, Percy, who was supposed to be a demigod was winning against an immortal.

 

I had wanted to flee. I was scared. Nothing prepares you to face death. No plans prepare yourself for an encounter with the divine.

 

Grover had apologized before hiding my still form in a camouflaged place to go help Percy. The clever thing to do would have been to go back to the camp. I didn't. Instead, I had followed and thrown my knife into one of the eyes of the Fury. I had been unable to do anything when Thalia faced the servants of Hades. If I had died I had thought, I would have preferred to die standing, proud like she had instead of dying like a coward.

 

The last thing I remember was that Percy had brought the sky itself down on the Kindly One. It made me feel inadequate.

 

What was the point of wisdom before doom itself? It was probably blasphemous towards my mother but this quest had shown me that wisdom only served when there was a chance of you winning but there were some things like death and its certainty, the sky and its vastness and the ocean with its abyss that it was impossible to win against with wisdom.

 

Wisdom could be power but power wasn't wisdom. After all, My mother wasn't considered as strong as an elder Olympian.

 

 

The telekhine fell on his knees “It won't happen again your grace. If you deem it suitable, take my life to remove the stain of my sin against you.”

 

Percy looked weirded out as if he didn't how to respond “Don't kneel. Just don't say stuff like that again,” Percy finally told him.

 

The Telekhine raised from his knees to stand back. “I can see through the words that you had said that you had wanted something from my Father,” Chrysaor spoke. “What was so important for you to wish for the attention of our father?  Things could have gone in a way you could have found tortuous.”

 

“It was for my brother,” the Telekhine answered. A smile bloomed on his monstrous face making him look like the unholy spawn of a shark and a dog “I knew the risks, my prince. When I had summoned his majesty, he had almost said the same words. I had told him that my life didn't matter to me. The only thing that mattered was my brother who had been cursed and was slowly dying because of it. It was a curse that fed on the life force of its victims and the magic in the air.”

 

“If we had known earlier what kind of curse it was, I wouldn't have needed to call for lord Poseidon but we didn't and things got bad.” His voice took a reminiscing tone “his majesty is known by many to be cruel and mercurial. That is what I expected. Instead of this, I found a kind, empathetic god. He healed my brother and broke the curse. He asked me just one thing.”

 

“What did he ask you?” Grover spoke.

 

“He asked for me. He wanted me to be his. He asked for my loyalty and I gave it to him without hesitation. I don't regret my actions. I was assigned here by my lord as a supervisor when I had never done such a thing in the past. It was hard but my lord had chosen me to do this task, had faith in me so I learnt and I think I'm now doing pretty well. I'm also paid so well that I became a millionaire according to the mortal economy at the end of my first year.”

 

His gaze focused on the two sons of Poseidon “I'm not the only one with such a story my princes. It's also the case for almost all those working in this modern temple. We don't serve his majesty because he's our god or sired some of us or some of our ancestors. We worship him because we think he's the only god that deserves it. In the coming war, we will live, kill, fight and die in his honour, so that he and his loved ones could be safe. The Sky Lord put a bounty on your head, my prince. It is only natural for war to happen.”

 

Natural? How dare he? “Hundreds of millions could die!” I yelled.

 

“In our eyes,” he answered. “Their lives aren't worth the life of the young prince.”

 

“Anyway,” he continued after clapping in his hands. “One week ago, my lord had sent me back this car with two other items. He had told me that they would be useful in the future in times of crisis. I know now of what his majesty was talking about.”

 

Grover raised his hand as if he wanted to ask a question “Yes?” the Telekhine said.

 

“It's great and all,” the satyr said nervously “but none of us know to drive a car. Annabeth and Percy are too young and I don't know if lord Chysaor has ever been in one before.”

 

It was true that I didn't know how but I knew that if I wanted to, I could. I knew that it would just me less than an hour for me to understand how to drive a car better than any mortal. Learning in an accelerated way was one of the perks of being a child of Athena. I didn't say it though.

 

“That is a good question to ask young Satyr.” The back of the ear of Grover reddened indicating that he was blushing. “There was a note when the car was sent back by His Majesty.”

 

He began to rummage into his numerous pockets before he removed what seemed to be a folded sheet of paper with written words on it. The sea monster gave it to Grover. “Read it, young Satyr.”

 

Grover unfolded the Paper “It is also a boat,” the satyr read.

 

“I see,” Chrysaor murmured. The immortal touched the car with his right hand. The car roared as if it was an animal. I instinctively took a step back. Its lights turned on as if a key had been inserted.

 

“Woah,” Percy and Grover said in what seemed to be awe.  ‘Boys,’ I mentally scoffed. ‘They all share the same brain.’

 

“How did you do that?” Percy asked his older brother.

 

“Poseidon was seen as the god of those who travelled through the sea. It is not rare that some of his children inherit the skills and power to manipulate a boat.” He turned towards Percy “It's your turn to try.”

 

He removed his hand from the car and the vehicle became inert as if seconds ago, it hadn't been turned on, loud and flashy.

 

Percy looked into the eyes of his older brother. An unheard seemed to be exchanged by the two of them. Percy touched the car and the car lit up and became animated the same way it did with Chrysaor “I understand everything,” Percy said with awe in his voice. “I know how to make it work, how to make it do exactly what I wish without having to control it manually.”

 

As if to prove his words the doors of the car opened. I felt jealousy, an emotion that was becoming so familiar blur through my heart. ‘Another power that he had inherited. Another proof that he's different,” I thought bitterly.

 

The voice of the Telekhine cut through Percy’s excitement “The car wasn't the only rare gift from his majesty.”

 

He pushed another button on his remote. The box around the guitar sank into the ground “Woah,” Grover said.

 

We had all removed our attention from the car to focus on the guitar. “This electric guitar was built by Cyclops using the wood voluntarily given by a dryad,” the Telekhine spoke. “This guitar is an instrument allowing its wielder to control nature itself around them.”

 

The telekhine removed the guitar from its pedestal. With it in his hands, he walked towards Grover. “It is clear for whom this gift was meant,” he said before presenting it to Grover.

 

“Me?” Grover said surprised. He began to laugh nervously “There must be an error. Why would lord Poseidon explicitly prepare a gift for me? I’m also not the best even with a flute which is the instrument of predilection amongst Satyrs. I wouldn't know how to use it well. I would only anger and disappoint lord Poseidon.”

 

“Young satyr, his Majesty rarely makes mistakes.” Chrysaor scoffed at those words. The sea monster continued to speak as if he had not been interrupted “If he had wished for this guitar to be given to you, one of the companions of his son, then it must have been for a reason.”

 

“Don't talk like this Grover,” Percy said. “I believe in you. You've never let me down before. You distracted a fury even though you were scared for me. You've been my best friend. There are many things I don't know, that I'm probably wrong about but what I'm sure of is that you won't let me down.”

 

Grover seemed as if he was on the verge of tears. I envied Percy for the trust that he could still display towards Grover. Because of Grover, Percy had lost his mother and me, Thalia. I could never hate Grover. I still saw him as one of my best friends at Camp Half-blood but I would never be able to trust him completely again.

 

Grover took a deep breath before taking the guitar in the hands of the Telekhine. His left fingers put themselves at the beginning of the strings and his right hand toward the head of it.

 

Grover’s right hand descended on the strings and the electric guitar sang a song of violence and madness. Grover’s hand began to move from chords to chords.

 

Around us, the ground and the walls began to crack. From those cracks, plants with thorns that looked as sharp as swords made of celestial bronze grew and grew until they towered over us. They moved and danced to the melody of the guitar. They surrounded us and began unfolding.

 

Their petals fell on the ground on us, around us like a rain of blood. I felt something crawl up St my feet. All the marble had been covered I realized by plants more precisely sunflowers.

 

And with one last fret of the string, the melody stopped. “This was so cool Grover,” Percy yelled excitation painted on his face. “It's as if you were a rock star but cooler.”

 

“It was well done,” Chrysaor added.

 

“It was impressive,” I admitted. The display I had seen was one I could have only expected from members of the Demeter cabin like Katie Gardner or the twin sons of the Director, Castor and Pollux.

 

The compliments made him begin to blush. “Thanks,” he said. He looked Percy in the eyes “Percy, I want you to know that no matter what happens, you can count on me.”

 

“I already knew that Grover,” Percy answered with a smile. “But thank you for being there.”

 

The telekhine walked toward The last box that he opened using his remote. I found myself walking towards the moving thing that had been in the box. I felt steps behind me but I ignored them “What is it?” I asked the monster.

 

“That thing was known as the Caelum,” the Telekhine began. “It is something older than some gods. It was first created by the elder Cyclops who taught the secret of its creation to the children of Poseidon.”

 

“It was known as the Caelum,” he continued “because the intended goal of its creation was to make its wielder feel as vast and free as the sky. It was supposed to represent endless possibilities.”

 

“You said supposed. Did it fail?” I found myself asking him.

 

“It is something that had been originally crafted by the elder cyclops, children of the Sky and the Earth. It wasn't possible that anything they made could be a failure. The tales said that the Caelum worked the way it was intended to but the only ones that could afford one of them were the gods and those they favored. The gods didn't need it to bend the world to their will so after a while, the novelty wore off and the caelum was discarded for something new.”

 

He turned towards me “The Caelum is before all, a tool, one working in conjunction with the mind and the imagination of its wielder. One of the ancient Cyclops used to say that nothing was impossible with it.”

 

He didn't need to ask for me to know what he wished for me to do, that Percy’s father, Poseidon, the rival of my mother wished to give me a literal god-sent gift. Something that would allow me I know to breach the distance I knew existed between Percy and me, something that would allow me to grasp the greatness I longed for. It was more than anything my mother ever did for me.

 

“I'm not sure I want it,” I spoke.

 

“But you'll be the best with it,” Percy said. “With your brain, I'm sure that you'll be able to make miracles wise girl.”

 

I turned to face all of them. “I'm not sure I want to continue.”

 

Percy looked as if he had been stabbed and I felt a pang of guilt in my heart but I continued “Percy, your father declared war against all Olympus, against my mother. The smart thing, the thing that I should do would be to kill you or bring you captured to Olympus.”

 

I saw how Chrysaor's fingers began to twitch as if the god was waiting with impatience to summon a weapon. Outside this place, millions were probably dying! Millions of lives lost because of one! Millions that never did anything wrong. “I observed you since the announcement of your Father. You had looked happy, not sad that mortals and probably other innocent beings are suffering,” I told the youngest son of Poseidon.

 

“I know objectively that what my dad is doing is cruel Annabeth,” the green-eyed boy spoke “But for once, I feel good as the world that had always been pushing me, accusing me, striking me suffer Annabeth. I am tired of being hurt again and again and again. Even if not right, I'm glad that for once there is someone on my side, that there is someone ready to fight the world and all of its horrors just for me.”

 

“That’s selfish and cruel,” I told him.

 

“I know but for once, I want to stop being selfless,” Percy said back to me.

 

I took a deep breath and turned back in the direction of the Caelum. “I'm envious of you, you know,” I admitted to the boy.

 

“What? You envious of me?” he spoke sounding shocked.

 

“Of course. You've got parents who care. You lost your mother because she chose you over herself. The world is on the verge of ending because your father sees you as more important,” I spoke.

 

“You just came to camp and everything was given to you since when we have to fight and beg for every inch we have,” I spat.

 

“What makes you different?” I finally asked him the question that had been tormenting me. “What did you do so that your father would care when many of us died trying to have a sliver of their attention?”

 

“Annabeth, you shouldn't sa-” Grover tried to say but was cut by Percy. “It's okay Grover.”

 

My eyes turned to my side to gaze at his eyes“ I did not do anything special or know if I did something special what I did to deserve all of this,” he said.

 

He put one of his hands over his heart  “I don’t think I deserve it honestly. It still kinda shocks me to think and see the fact that someone other than my mom cares so much for me that they are ready to go to war.”

 

“I guess you were just lucky and we were not,” I told him.

 

“I don't think that any of us should be doing something to deserve the love of one of our parents,” he spoke.

 

“Maybe that could be the case in a fantasy world but that won’t be something that will be happening in our world. Even with mortals, the love parents give their children is rarely unconditional. There are always expectations and when you don't respect or meet those expectations, they stop caring,” I told him.

 

“You’re talking about your father,” he said in realization. Water erupted from nothing at his feet like a geyser and surrounded us before freezing.

 

I looked at the unnatural phenomenon. “You couldn't do that before,” I spoke.

 

“Yeah. I'm trying to get a handle on my powers. I didn't want the others to hear something you wouldn't like them to know,” he said rubbing his neck.

 

“This is surprisingly thoughtful coming from you,” I said surprise colouring my voice.

 

“My father, I thought he loved me. Maybe he did but I knew that he didn't love me more than the normality in his life,” I told him.

 

“I told him of the monsters I could see each time I looked out the windows, about how the spiders were targeting me specifically. He knew that my mother wasn't mortal but he didn't believe me. His wife complained and he listened to her, not me.”

 

“Do you know how most demigods are weakened enough so that even the weakest monsters could get rid of us?” I asked the black-haired boy.

 

“No, I don’t,” he answered.

 

“What makes a demigod special, capable of surviving in this world more than the traits inherited by our parents are our natural reflexes that mortals misdiagnose as ADHD. Without them, we are vulnerable and Most monsters understand this. My father believed my stepmother and I was sent to a monster masquerading himself as a psychologist. I could see his true nature but no one else could and he could smell me.”

 

“They drugged me, Percy,” I told him “over-medicating me to the point I didn't even know if I was still alive or just a mind trapped in a living husk.”

 

“That monster almost killed me. If it hadn’t for Tyche, I wouldn't have survived. I wouldn’t have escaped that day. I almost died because of my dad yet why do I still care about him? I hate him so much yet I want to believe, to think he's alright!” I could feel tears spilling from my eyes. I tried to rub the tears away “That’s pathetic isn’t it?” I spoke still trying to whisk my tears away.

 

“Welcome to the club. We have blue cookies,” he smiled at me. “Don't worry Annabeth. You know what? Let's go see if your dad is alright!”

 

“But the quest!” I reminded him.

 

“It doesn't matter. No matter what happens, we are supposed to find the bolt and even then, I don’t think that finding it would change the fact that Zeus wants me dead,” he spoke.

 

“Thank you Percy” I whispered.

 

“I don't think that I would be alive today if it weren't for what you did by throwing a knife in the eye of Alecto,” he spoke.

 

I tried to suppress a blush on my face but I knew that it was painfully obvious. I turned toward the glass hoping that he hadn’t seen it.

 

“Can you break the glass?” I asked him.

 

Percy touched it with one of his hands at my side and I observed how spider cracks began to form on the glass before it broke. I looked at the broken fragments. It seemed that he broke it by freezing it and making it brittle.

 

I would think about how he broke the rules of thermodynamics later. I focused on the moving form of the Caelum.

 

If I did this, I knew that I would not be able to go back. I took a deep breath and touched the Caelum with my right hand.

 

It surged like a snake enrolling itself like a black mamba around my arm and biting in my flesh.

 

I solderied on through the pain biting my tongue to not scream as I felt it travel in my veins, connecting itself to me on a level more than just symbiotic.

 

The pain faded away. I could feel something in my brain as if I had gained a new member and the information on how to use had been downloaded in it.

 

I willed it and the Caelum surged from my skin like a wave of silver to break the ice barrier made by Percy. I looked at the amazement in the eyes of Percy and Grover, at the lifted eyebrow of Chrysaor. Thalia, I don’t know if wherever your soul is, you would be proud of me, proud of my actions. I just wish you knew that I am not scared anymore for the first time since you are gone.