Percy Jackson, the embodiment of hope.

Chapter 18: Shooting Erebus down. (Nice.)

Percy POV:

I stalk into the palace, trident in hand. I hold out my other arm, and Perses's scepter appears in it. I shove it into my cloak and continue walking.

I've been here before and I'll be here again. Thank you, Chaos, for making sure Hemera isn't here today. That run-in would suck.

Why? Because she's insane.

Anyway, I walk through the entry hallway, wiping my shoes on the mat. I might be mad, but I have manners. Besides, I plan to be civil for at least a while. Until I have to bring out the big guns. (Or small ones, in this case.)

I walk through hallways, kitchens, and bedrooms, remembering my good experiences here.

That was where I got in a food fight with Hemera. That's where I did disco with Aether. That's where I swam with Pontus. That where I built Legos with Order, and where I tore them down with Chaos. That's where I built a mountain train set with Ourea. That's where I helped Ouranus sell his first couple - Ooh, that one still hurts. That's where I played matchmaker with Eros.

That's where I baked for Gaea in memory of my mother. That's where I helped Nyx through her decision for a divorce. That's where I watched Ouranus start down his path of greed. That's where I learned about Gaea's only demigod child.

That's where Bianca was blessed by Nyx. That's where Bellerophon was adopted by Gaea. That's where H was blessed and adopted by Aether. That's where I met Order for the first time.

So many good memories were made here, and now... it's a ghost home. Because of Tartarus, Aether is gone, and Hemera is... off the walls.

I continue to walk and eventually reach a staircase. I walk two spaces away from it, do a twirl, and then walk through the door that appeared in front of me.

Don't ask.

I enter the living room and see Nyx crying, sitting on a chair. She sees me and beckons me forward.

I walk up to her, and she tearfully hands me a black spike. I roll it around in my hands and look up.

"What's this?" I ask.

"Something that goes on your trident. It will be important later. Percy I know this is fast, but Erebus knows you're here. Please, leave with me."

I nod. "The only reason I came back here was to get you out. What does the spike do?"

She opens her mouth to answer but is interrupted by a door opening. I whirl around and see one of my least favorite siblings, Erebus.

"Sh1t," I curse under my breath.

"Hello, Percy," Erebus says darkly. [Get it?]

I stand tall and point my trident at him.

"I'm taking Nyx, and we are leaving. I'm not here currently to fight."

His eyes sparkle. "You don't want to know who you'll be fighting in this war? It sure seems like you did when you sent spies."

My eyes widen under my mask as he grins and snaps.

Bianca and Icarus appear in the air and fall at my feet. I quickly put my trident away and help them up before turning back around to look at Erebus.

"I know you, Erebus. You're a deal maker. What do you want?"

He smiles. "It's quite simple. One of your spies goes for free. The price for taking my wife and the other is-"

"Nyx isn't your wife anymore," I growl, interrupting him.

He huffs in annoyance. "Fine. Whatever. But the price for the two of them is that star in your cloak."

I knit my eyes. "What could you possibly want with that? Only I can break the containment sphere open. You wouldn't be able to use it."

He shrugs. "It's a pretty paperweight?"

I stare at him before turning to Icarus.

"Get your boyfriend and Red to Camp, got it?"

He nods, and I put my hand on his shoulder, teleporting him away. I turn to Nyx, who is sending distress in her eyes.

She doesn't want me to give Erebus the star. Cool, but why? Why does he want it in the- oh. That's right. The prophecy.

An exploding star.

I see. He doesn't want to use the star. He just wants to keep me from it. Yeah, that ain't happening.

Seems like the time for civility to be thrown out the window, considering he just tried to trick me into losing a war.

I turn back and look at Erebus. I walk up to him and reach into my cloak, pulling out the glass sphere, the one containing an exploding star.

I shift it to my left hand and hold it out. He reaches to grab it, only to get punched across the face by my right arm.

He snaps his head back up and glares at me before he starts to yell something. Only to be cut off by the sound of gunshots.

I stand there, one arm holding a glass sphere, one arm empty, and about six arms holding smoking pistols.

Erebus lays on the ground, trying to heal his legs, arms, and lungs. I suck my arms back into my body and quickly rush to Nyx and Bianca.

"I forget how cool you are when you do stuff like that," Bianca says.

I chuckle. "You ready for Camp?"

Her face lights up, and I grab her hand before offering my other to Nyx. She takes it gratefully and takes one last look and Erebus, twitching on the ground, before nodding to me.

We teleport to Camp Half-Blood, and I decide to look mad because... why not. Besides, I am mad. At Erebus.

I teleport to Luke's location and quickly let go of Bianca, knowing she'll be on the ground in a couple seconds.

I was completely right.