[A/N]: Guys, I am so sorry for taking so incredibly long with this chapter. Things have been insanely busy for me, and I lost my momentum for a little while, which didn't help. BUT I am back on track and while I admit the story probably won't be updated quite as frequently as it was last year, I am still writing and I will definitely finish it! Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me so far - you guys are the reason I'm still writing it!

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The Ties That Bind

Chapter 16: Waiting For The World To Fall

I'm waiting for the world to fall
I'm waiting for the scene to change
I'm waiting when the colors come
I'm waiting to let my world come undone

- Waiting For The World To Fall (Jars of Clay)

Okay, for the record? Being chained to the top of the Empire State Building and getting your insides pecked out by an enormous eagle the size of a Volkswagon hurts like fucking hell.

Oh, and the worst part? If you're immortal, everything puts itself back together again (that part hurts like hell too, by the way) and that means the eagle can show up the next morning and start pecking all over again. And if you thought the first time was bad? Just wait. The second time is worse.

So you can imagine what it feels like when you start getting into double digits.

But who's counting, anyway? I was – because counting was about the only thing I could do. I could count, and I could think – but only sometimes, during the quiet hours of the morning between when my body put itself back together again and when the sun rose and the eagle appeared to have its breakfast of Percy's Liver, Extra Fresh.

I guess I should backtrack a bit, but there's not really much to tell. I mean, I lost to Kronos. I lost it all – Nico, the war, everything. New York was still standing, sure, but there had been thick, soupy clouds swirling over the city for weeks now. I was chained to the plain old top of the Empire State Building – the broadcast tower on top of the mortal part of the skyscraper, 1454 feet straight up. I could make out the Upper Bay, and Governers and Ellis Island in between breaks in the clouds, and see the Holland and Brooklyn Battery Tunnels snaking across the water into Brooklyn. I guess you could say it was a pretty amazing view even with the clouds, but I can't say I was really in the right mindset to enjoy it.

It's not that I hate heights. In fact, I love flying with Blackjack. But waking up and seeing all of the Lower East Side spread out below your feet is pretty terrifying. And realizing five seconds later that the chains on your wrists and ankles are all that's keeping you from plummeting to a bloody death really doesn't make things a whole lot better. And even when I'd realized that I couldn't die even if I did plummet to the ground… well, honestly, that didn't make me feel any better.

I could see pretty clearly down to the observation deck on the 86th floor, but there must have been some kind of Mist shrouding my position because no one ever seemed to notice me or the giant eagle snacking on my insides. Or, at least, I was pretty sure no one noticed – honestly, most of my days were spent in what you might call agonizing pain, except that I don't think that even begins to describe it properly. Basically, take the worst kind of pain you can imagine. Then multiply it by about a million. Then square it. After that my math skills get kind of fuzzy, but I'm pretty sure that even then you aren't even getting close to what I felt.

I guess you might wonder how I became immortal – funny story, actually. I don't really know. I don't know if it was a magic spell or if Kronos just tapped me on the forehead or what. After I'd lost to him – lost everything, along with Hades' sword from my hands – Kronos had smacked me in the head with the staff end of his scythe. Sad to say, that was all it had taken to knock me out. And when I woke up, I was chained up here and confused as to why I wasn't in the Underworld instead.

So you can imagine what it felt like (okay, well, you can't, but just go with me here) when a giant eagle showed up and started ripping my stomach open looking for lunch. It's one thing to know you're going to lose a sword fight, to look up and see the blade coming at you and know that you at least had a hand in trying not to die. It's another thing entirely to be bound hand and foot to the top of a tower a thousand feet above New York City and watch helplessly as a mythological creature tears you open while you scream and howl and wish you could black out or die or anything, really, to make the nightmare be over and done.

And I thought it would be over, after that. I mean, no one expects to wake up after they've had their liver torn out and realize they're still breathing. But that's exactly what I did that first night – I woke up and realized that I still wasn't in the Underworld. I was still on top of the Empire State Building, and I was still alive. I can't say I wasn't relieved – at first. Sure, waking up alive after you thought you were a goner is always a relief. But that only lasts so long, when every time I thought it would be the last, it wasn't. And seeing that eagle come at me every day with no end in sight really opened my eyes to what I hadn't realized before.

Sometimes waking up after you thought you were a goner wasn't a relief. Sometimes it was the worst punishment in the world, when you just kept waking up and things were exactly the same – bad, really bad – and the terrible monster that had tried to kill you only hours before was sure to be back when the sun rose again.

I wanted to die. I mean, I might have felt like I wanted to die before in my life, when I was tired of fighting or even that day not so long ago when I'd known that I had lost everything to Kronos and he had me on the floor, helpless. But that had been different. I knew now that all of those times, I'd really just wanted things to stop being bad so they could get better again. Now I knew that wasn't the same. Now I knew what it was like when things really wouldn't get better, not ever again.

And now I could see that I really had let Nico down in the worst way possible – not because I hadn't been able to save him, but because I hadn't been able to kill him. Now I knew what it was like to be trapped, helpless while you own body betrayed you, while it refused to fucking die every time it should have given out. Now I truly knew what it was like to want to die. And I knew that Nico must feel this way, too, trapped inside his own body while Kronos had destroyed the gods with Nico's hands. And I couldn't help but realize that I had been too much of a coward to see that sometimes the only thing left you could do to prove your love for someone was to truly let them go.

Now I understood what Hades had meant, when he'd asked if I really loved Nico. And now I knew that I had been wrong from the start. Not that I hadn't loved Nico – because I did, and I still did, so much that it hurt even when I thought I couldn't feel any more pain. I just hadn't known what loving him had really meant until I'd been denied the one thing that I'd always taken for granted. I might have been running from it ever since I'd won Nico back from the hands of his father months ago, but I'd known it was going to happen. I have to say, I'd always taken my death for granted.

But now I didn't even have that. Now I couldn't do anything to stop Kronos from using Nico to kill my friends, or my mom, or everyone else on the planet. And I couldn't even die so that I could stop feeling guilty about it every second of every day.

When I slept I dreamed about Camp Half-Blood, but even my dreams weren't comforting. They were dreams of the camp in flames, overrun by Kronos' forces, the campers killed or scattered. In my dreams I saw flames licking out of the windows of the big house, and the walls of my cabin – of all the cabins – had been tumbled to the ground. I dreamed about Kronos' army, cyclopes and empousai and dracaenae and even the minotaur, monsters and half-bloods who'd sworn loyalty to the Titan marching across New York and leaving destruction in their wake. Sometimes I saw the windows of my mom's apartment, shattered and broken, but I could never see inside to see if she was okay.

What's more, not all of my dreams happened while I was asleep. Sometimes I had dreams while I was awake, while the eagle ate out my liver. I would see or hear things that couldn't be there, and I would black out and wake up over and over again and never be sure if it was still the same day or if the eagle was simply back again, 24 hours later.

Percy

I jerked, groaning as I lifted my head from where it had fallen, my chin on my chest as my body slowly – and very painfully – knit itself back together after providing another afternoon meal for the eagle. It had left for the day, flying away until it disappeared into the clouds. But it would be back tomorrow, I knew.

I squinted into the sunset, trying to clear the spots from my vision. The setting sun was still bright even through the clouds, reflecting off a hundred different buildings and right into my eyes. It felt like someone was trying to drive a hot needle right into my brain.

Still, I could have sworn I'd heard something. But of course there was nothing – no one – there. I felt my chin hit my chest again, closing my eyes against the sun.

Percy

It was like when you're just about to fall asleep, half-dreaming and someone says something in your dream and you jerk awake because you're not sure if you really heard a voice or not. I opened my eyes again. The sky looked like it was on fire, orange and red reflecting off the clouds around me. There were still spots in my eyes, no matter how many times I tried to blink them away. But there was still no one there – there couldn't be, not up here. Not talking to me.

Not long after I fell asleep for good, drowning in dreams of camp or the streets of New York burning and ruined and it was all my fault and I knew it. And then the real nightmare started up again the next morning, and it went on and on and on like that for weeks. Sometimes I'd hear voices just as I was falling asleep, sometimes I'd think I saw something in the flash of the sunlight off the buildings. I was really starting to think that being immortal didn't mean you couldn't go absolutely batshit crazy, but getting my liver eaten out daily might have had something do with that, too.

So you can understand how I thought I was dreaming on that day when the eagle, having just finished its lunch and perched on the antenna over my head cleaning the blood off its feathers, suddenly jerked and screamed. It was a horrible sound, like nails against a chalkboard, and I guess that must've been what got my attention because I was still lightheaded and in a whole lot of pain.

By the time I managed to turn my head toward the sound, it was just in time to see the eagle jerk again, and again, and then I heard something else – something familiar.

Boss! Blackjack said inside my head, just as wingbeats became audible above the rushing in my ears. Boss, hang on! We're coming!

I'd never heard Blackjack's voice in any of my dreams, but that didn't mean I was convinced I wasn't dreaming. I'd thought I'd heard things before, and they'd ended up being nothing. But the whispers in the back of my head were always almost voiceless – I couldn't tell you anything about them – if they were male or female, or what they had really sounded like at all. But this voice – I'd heard it before. And I knew who it was.

While I tried to figure out whether I was hearing things or not, the eagle spread its wings and leaped off the spire. As it passed over me, I could see that there were arrows – three of them – sticking out from between the feathers of its chest. Their silver fletching flashed in the dull sunlight that broke occasionally through the clouds.

It opened its huge beak and screamed again, that horrible otherworldly sound that I honestly never want to hear again. But just as the sound cut off I heard a voice – a human voice – say "Now! Straight ahead!" and an instant later a fourth arrow flashed through the air and lodged itself in the eagle's open beak, piercing the roof of its mouth.

A second later, the eagle exploded into dust, blowing away on the wind.

"Okay, are we done now? I'd really like to get off this thing. I don't like riding horses when they're on the ground."

I knew that voice. It was Rachel. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. I'd never dreamed Rachel's voice before, either – or anything happening to the eagle. Maybe I really was going crazy. But as the dust from the eagle cleared and I could make out two large, dark shapes – pegasi – one carrying two riders and the other carrying one – I realized that out of all the things I'd dreamed, I'd never dreamed a rescue before.

"Percy!" Another voice cried – Annabeth. "Oh gods – we need to get him down, now!"

The two pegasi neared me, and I could see now that one of the riders was actually Rachel, her face pale and her red hair whipping in the wind, half of it having come loose from her ponytail. Sitting behind her was Thalia, who was slinging her bow across her back one-handed, the other hand fisted in the pegasus' mane so she wouldn't fall off. The second pegasus – Blackjack – was carrying Annabeth, her long blonde hair messily pulled up into a bun with what looked like one of those cheap wooden chopsticks you got from Chinese take-out places stuck through it. Both Annabeth and Thalia's clothes were streaked with dirt and what could have been blood. It was hard to tell.

The two flying horses got as close to the antenna as they dared and, as I watched (honestly still trying to figure out if I was actually seeing this or not), Annabeth and then Thalia bravely leaped off their mounts to grab the antenna as Rachel clung to the mane of her pegasus. Both horses circled around to land on the circular service platform at the bottom of the antenna as Annabeth and Thalia began working their way over to me, their faces grim. I don't know how they did it, but together they loosened the chains at my ankles and wrists, slowly climbing down with me slung between them until they finally lowered me to my back on the platform where the pegasi were waiting with Rachel. There was barely enough room for the two pegasi and the four of us. Rachel had slid off her mount and was standing there, watching with one hand buried in its mane. She looked horrified.

"Oh my god, Percy – " Rachel just stared at me for a second, her face going pale as ghost, before she turned and disappeared from my field of view.

Honestly, I could barely stay conscious. My stomach was open and raw and bleeding and I realized that I must look absolutely horrifying, even though I really couldn't bring myself to care. I heard retching, and turned my head to realize that Rachel was at the edge of the platform, leaning over it and losing her lunch over the edge. For a second I wondered if any of it would make it down to the 86th floor observation deck, and I couldn't help the deranged giggle that bubbled past my lips.

"Percy!" I heard Annabeth's voice, which got my attention as my head swiveled up again to see her leaning over me. "Percy, can you hear me?" She was wiping bloody hands on her jeans – my blood, I realized – before she dug a plastic baggie out of her pocket. "You need to eat this," she said, pulling out a square of ambrosia and trying to push it into my mouth.

But I turned my head away, nauseous and every nerve screaming with pain and not really wanting to feel better. I felt like I deserved to die – and that it wouldn't even happen, no matter whether I got help or not. "Don't – need it," I croaked, my voice raw and dry from screaming for days and days.

"Yes you do," she said desperately, pushing it against my lips again. Her voice was high-pitched and tight, and when I blinked up at her I could see that her eyes were bright. She was blinking rapidly like she was trying not to cry. "You're going to die otherwise, Percy, and we need – "

"No," I insisted, shaking my head as best I could while it felt like I was spinning in circles like a top. "Can't die," I told her.

"Can't… What?" Annabeth began, before she suddenly dropped the square of ambrosia and put her hand to her mouth. She didn't make a sound, just stared at me for a minute until she took her hand away. When she spoke, her voice was barely loud enough for me to make out. "Percy, you mean – how many times has this happened?"

"Thirty-three," I croaked. "I think." I'd been trying to keep count – it had been pretty much the only thing keeping me sane. Normally I might follow that up with a "What took you so long?" and a grin, but not anymore. Nothing was funny anymore. Nothing would ever be funny again.

"Why is he still bleeding?" I suddenly heard Thalia's voice, her tone commanding but tight. "We can't stay here and – what's wrong with his blood?"

A shadow fell over my face and Annabeth turned to look as Thalia stepped into my line of sight. Her bow was drawn and a silver-fletched arrow still nocked. She looked alert, like she was on patrol and keeping an eye out for any other monsters that might appear. I supposed she wanted to make sure that there were no other monsters guarding me, but it also occurred to me that maybe Kronos had thought that there wouldn't be anyone crazy enough – or anyone left – to rescue me. I certainly hadn't been about to escape on my own. And he'd known it.

Thalia crouched down beside me. The front of her silver hoodie was smeared with my blood, but there was more of it – lots more of it, and fresh – all over me and the metal grating we were on. She peered at it, then looked down at her own hands, rust-colored with more of it.

I couldn't help but wonder what she was talking about. I squinted at the splotch on the front of her hoodie. My vision was still swimming a bit, but once I managed to focus I realized why she was confused. The blood on the front of her hoodie was mostly dark red like you'd expect, but it was also… shimmery, almost, laced through with gold – like someone had taken gold paint and squeezed it into a larger vat of red and then stirred, liberally.

"It's true," Annabeth whispered, and I saw Thalia look at her before my own eyes tracked to Annabeth's face. "That explains it," she went on, but she didn't sound proud to have figured something out, like she usually did. "Percy's – he said he couldn't die. He's immortal, and this is the proof."

"Immortal?" Thalia hissed, like she was almost afraid to say it any louder. Her eyes fixed on my face, like she was expecting me to look different, somehow.

"His blood is turning to gold ichor – like the blood of the gods. Kronos must have done this. Percy said he's been up here for over a month. He's been going through this every single day, just like Prometheus."

Thalia swallowed thickly. Her bright blue eyes kept searching my face, but I don't know what she was looking for. There was a long moment of silence and then she got to her feet and said, "I don't care. Eat the ambrosia, Percy. We have to get out of here now."

She wasn't giving me an option. It was an order. And maybe there was no way she could make me follow it but somehow, even though I still wanted to die and if I couldn't do that then suffering through the pain I was feeling right now was the next best thing, when Annabeth pressed the ambrosia to my lips this time I opened them and let it melt on my tongue.

She pressed nine more squares into my mouth – everything she had in the baggie, enough to kill a mortal. The smooth, golden fire spread throughout my body, feeling warm at first and then burning like hot oil all over my skin, like I was filling up with a fire that just kept growing hotter and hotter. It was agonizing, like burning up from the inside out, and knew that if I was mortal I would have been dead. But now it just hurt like hell. Annabeth had to hold down my arms as I started writhing on the deck, and as she leaned over me I could feel warm tears falling onto my cheeks. I started to feel really awful, about then – that she was crying over me, over someone who was so worthless that he'd let Kronos slip right through his fingers. I'd had the chance to end it all, and I had failed. I didn't think I was someone worth crying over, not after that.

When I finally collapsed against the deck, gasping for air, I looked down and saw that the torn skin of my stomach had healed completely, though I still felt weak and tired. Annabeth called Thalia over again, and while Blackjack knelt carefully on the metal plating of the platform, together the two of them managed to hoist me onto his back. Annabeth climbed up behind me, sliding her arms under mine and to grasp Blackjacke's mane, careful to avoid the newly-closed wound across my stomach. The warmth of her body against my back felt strange and foreign, like I'd forgotten what it was like to be this close to another human being in just thirty-three days.

Thalia climbed onto the second pegasus, reaching down and giving Rachel a hand up. She was still pale, her freckles standing out in stark contrast with her skin, as she looped her arms around Thalia's waist and their mount leapt into the sky. Then Blackjack tensed beneath us, and seconds later he launched himself up after them, his strong wings beating the air as we gained height and distance away from the Empire State Building and the broadcast antenna where I'd spent the last month of my life – the first month of the rest of eternity.

Normally I like flying, but right then looking anywhere except the back of Blackjack's neck made me want to lose the nonexistent contents of my stomach, so I kept my eyes straight ahead the whole time. Even so, I realized that the streets and buildings were starting to look familiar, even from the air.

We were heading to my mom's apartment. Suddenly all of my nightmares popped up vividly in the front of my mind and my newly-healed stomach churned unhappily. "Mom – ?" I couldn't help but ask, turning to try and face Annabeth – which turned out to be a bad idea. I had to turn my head back to the front as I started feeling nauseous.

"She's not there," Annabeth said, her voice right in my ear. "Don't worry – she's safe, Percy. I saw her last week. We told her and Paul to get out of here – to go out to the country for a while, or anywhere, really. She didn't want to leave, not with you gone, but… we promised her we'd rescue you."

I tried to imagine a showdown between Annabeth and my mom – I'd never been sure who would win, but now I guessed I had my answer.

We landed on the street right outside the building – there was no one around, but even if there had been, they wouldn't have noticed. "There's perks to being good with the Mist," Thalia said tightly, as she and Rachel slipped from their mount. As soon as Annabeth had helped me off Blackjack, the two pegasi launched themselves from the street and circled in the air once before coming back down on the roof of the building. I wondered what the tenants of the top floor would think, before I decided I didn't really care.

We'll be here when you need us, Boss, Blackjack said. I could hear the tension in his voice, even hearing it just inside my head.

I was feeling a little stronger, but Annabeth still stayed close by my side as we climbed the stairs and I leaned on the railing like it was a lifeline. She pulled my mom's spare key out of her pocket and unlocked the door, leading me straight into the living room so I could sit on the couch. Everything looked just like normal – in fact, it seemed wrong to be sitting in my mom's nice normal, clean apartment like it was a regular day after I'd just spent a month chained to the top of the Empire State Building. I wondered for a second how mad Mom would be if we got blood on the couch, but my legs were tired just from climbing the stairs and I couldn't help but collapse onto it a minute later without really caring.

Annabeth sat beside me, close but not touching. Rachel disappeared into the kitchen as Thalia gave the entire apartment a once-over, knife in hand, before she came back into the living room. Rachel appeared a minute later with an armful of sodas, passing them around. I opened mine with still slightly-shaking hands. The taste was almost foreign, like I'd forgotten what Coke tasted like in only a month. I let the bubbles dissolve on my tongue, swallowing thickly as Rachel sat down in one of the armchairs.

"Okay," Thalia said, taking charge of the conversation as she put away her knife and stripped out of her blood-spattered hoodie before settling into the other chair. "Percy, you need to tell us what happened up there. I mean, the part about how you… ended up like that."

I could feel my face fall as I slumped a bit – I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't know what they would think of me once they found out I had let all of this happen. I felt like the world's biggest loser – because I was, of course; but worst of all, it affected not just me, but everyone I cared about. I had let everyone down.

But just like before, Thalia wasn't giving me an option. Her bright blue eyes were staring me down like she was daring me to keep my mouth shut, and even though I couldn't think of much good that would come from me explaining what had happened, I thought that at least I could clear Nico's name. They should know the truth about that – I owed him at least that much. And a whole lot more.

"It was Kronos all along," I started. "He was controlling Nico. When he tried to let Luke's soul go, back in Boston – Kronos has been in him ever since. None of this was Nico's fault. Kronos used him to kill Luke, so he could put all of his soul in one body – Nico's."

I watched both Annabeth and Thalia's faces go pale at that – of course, I thought, looking between the two of them. They both cared a lot about Luke, and I realized that no matter how bad things had gotten they had still believed there was a way to save him. And now I had to be the one to tell them there wasn't – not anymore.

"I'm sorry," I said quietly, looking down at my soda for a long minute. "I saw his body myself. He's dead."

Silence fell, filling up the room like a thick, cold fog. I shifted uncomfortably on the couch. Rachel bit her lip, looking like she wanted to leave but like she didn't dare get up. I couldn't blame her. Even I felt like I was intruding on something that I shouldn't be present for.

"But it also means he's free," I finally went on, looking back up at them, still feeling uncomfortable at the raw feelings on both their faces but forcing myself to look first in Thalia's eyes, then Annabeth's. "Kronos can't hurt him anymore." And I knew, personally, how much of a relief that would be.

Thalia just stared straight ahead; Annabeth swallowed thickly, biting her lip like she was going to cry again but didn't want to, anymore. In the other armchair, Rachel still looked uncomfortable, fiddling with the soda can between her hands.

The only thing I could do was keep taking – I didn't really want to, but it was better than more of that strange, awkward silence. Feeling like I was on autopilot, I explained the rest of it. I told them everything that had happened after Nico had shadow traveled me out of the hotel room that day and showed me Luke's body on Mount Tam. I told them how Nico had taken me to Olympus, how he'd somehow defeated the gods and I had been powerless to stop him. I told them how Hades had given me the sword, how I'd thought I knew what I needed to do and how I had been wrong. I told them how I'd failed, looking at the wall across the room while I talked so that I wouldn't have to look at any of their faces.

"Percy…" Annabeth said quietly when I was done, reaching over to take my hand. I glanced at her, wondering how she could even want to comfort me, but her grey eyes didn't waver as she said, "You did what you thought was right. It's not your fault – it's not. I don't – I don't know that I would have done any differently."

"Thanks, Annabeth," I said, but the words felt hollow. All the same, she just kept looking at me, her grey eyes trained on mine. Her face still clearly showed her pain – but it also held something else: sincerity. She honestly believed what she was saying. She honestly believed that it wasn't my fault.

I still wasn't sure about that, though. But somehow, despite everything, I felt just a little better. Better enough to ask – and actually care about the answer – "What happened while I was – I mean, why didn't you take me back to Camp?" It wasn't much farther by Pegasus, and I knew I could've made the trip. There had to be a reason they'd brought me here, instead.

"Kronos' army overran Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth explained, her voice quiet but steady. "We don't know how they got in – it must have been the half-bloods who joined Kronos, they must have snuck in and found a way to disable our defenses, to let the monsters in. We fought as best we could, but…"

I realized my dreams had been true – that somehow I'd been seeing exactly what happened. Camp Half-Blood really had been overrun and left in ruins. "We knew a losing battle when we saw one," Annabeth went on, clasping her hands together on her knees. "So we scattered into as many groups as we could. We use the internet and phones to keep in touch when we can – Iris messages don't work anymore – and we've been fighting back as best we can. Guerilla warfare. But we knew we had to find you." She swallowed. "We couldn't believe that you were dead. Grover said he'd know if you were."

I started at the mention of Grover's name. I hadn't seen him since he'd left to round up any half-bloods before Luke – Kronos – could get to them. "He's okay?" I asked, suddenly feeling horrible for not worrying about him until now.

Annabeth nodded. "He made it back to camp just before we were overrun. He even brought a few reinforcements, but they didn't do much good in the end. One of the half-bloods he'd found knew aikido, but the other three were just regular kids, no training. He took them and a couple of the nymphs – and Juniper – and fled, too. But he told us you weren't dead. And that was all we needed to know."

"The Hunters have been scouting the city, taking out small groups of monsters where they can, but there are more of them every day," Thalia took over, her voice still tight. "Kronos is planning something, and soon."

Annabeth continued where Thalia left off. "We think he's going to take the city – to fortify the area around Olympus. From there he can… well, we don't know exactly what he wants, but once he's got his full army amassed, he can hunt down the campers and then there won't be anyone left to stand in his way."

I swallowed – she was right. Kronos hadn't told me much of what he was planning, but I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't settle just for watching the world from Olympus. He'd wanted revenge on the gods and he'd gotten it, sure. But I knew he wouldn't just stop with that. He wasn't that sort of guy.

"And Rachel?" I asked, wanting to know how she had gotten mixed up in all of this.

She'd been silent so far; now she shrugged, looking more uncomfortable than I'd ever seen her before. Normally she was confident, sure of herself even when there were things that would scare a normal mortal going on. But Rachel could see through the Mist – like my mom, she knew what was really going on. And nothing much surprised her. But she sure didn't look like that now.

"I started seeing the monsters," she said quietly. "When Kronos – when he defeated the gods, he started bringing his army into New York, a little bit at a time. I saw the monsters creeping around in the shadows. And then…" She paused, swallowing. "Then I started having these… I don't know, you could call them visions, I guess. Like dreams, but when I was awake. Of – of you, up there. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, so I tried calling Annabeth. Her cell was almost never on – "

"But the one time it was, she got through," Annabeth continued. "When she told me she knew where you were, we decided to rescue you."

"That was the second try, actually," Thalia put in wryly. "The first time it was just the two of us – and we couldn't see a thing out of the ordinary. I've never had a problem seeing through the Mist before, but… whatever was hiding you up there, it was strong. So the second time we brought her with, and… well, you know the rest."

Now I understood – why Rachel had been along, why she'd been telling Thalia where to shoot. "Thanks," I said, finally – to Rachel, but then I turned to Thalia, then Annabeth. "All of you – thanks." I knew that a part of me hadn't wanted to be rescued, really, but I also knew that I didn't have a choice. I could have stayed up there forever – and I would have – and let my guilt eat me alive until there was nothing left, or I could use this second chance to do something about my mistake. One of those paths was a lot harder than the other, but being a half-blood teaches you that the easy way is usually not the right one. Nothing matters unless you've fought for it, no matter how much you want to just lie down and give up.

Nico hadn't given up. He'd fought until the very end. And so I couldn't give up on him now – even if the only thing I could do was end it all before he had to watch the end of the world go down at his own hands.

"So what we need to do now," Thalia said after a minute, taking a deep breath as she looked at all of us, "is figure out what to do. We need some kind of plan, and we need it soon."

But she was wrong about that – we didn't need to think up a plan. I already had one. I'd had an entire month to think about what I would do if I ever got free. I didn't need any more time. "I know what to do," I said, as all eyes turned to me. "I have to go back. I have get Hades' sword back and end this, once and for all."