Ch 2: Return of the Fallen - Percy's POV

When I got to her cabin she was in the arms of someone I never expected to see, especially not here. It didn’t make sense but at the same time the pieces of this mysterious puzzle were falling into place.

“Percy? What are you doing here?” Aero asked, startled by my sudden appearance in her cabin 

“What’s he doing here?!” I pointed to the tall skinny, blonde-haired son of Hermes that had his arms wrapped around her. He should have been dead, I saw him die. Yet here he was standing in front of me like the Second Olympian War had never happened.

“Hades owed me a favor; I thought it was time to cash in.” she told me as if this were the most obvious piece of information in the world. 

“But that’s Luke Castellan!” I argued, still processing the fact that he absolutely should have been dead.  

“Um, who is this guy?” It was the first thing Luke had said since I entered the cabin, and it struck me as odd, since he knew exactly who I was.

“Luke, this is Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. You've already met him though; remember what I told you about the amnesia? You hit your head and lost several memories.." she smiled reassuringly at him. 

“Right, you did say that.” I heard the soft giggling of Lukas as he entered the cabin and Luke scooped him up. “There’s my little man. I could never forget you”

“So Luke is Lukas’s father?” I asked, numb to the toes.

“It shouldn’t have taken that long to figure it out, Percy. I named him Lukas for a reason." her tone again sounded as if I was honestly supposed to know this. 

“How is this possible??” she took my hand and led me to the door of the cabin.

“Luke, I’ll be back in a few minutes, I have to discuss something with Percy.” I saw Luke nod to her as she led me out. “I already told you Hades owed me a favor.” She whispered sharply.

“Hades owed you a favor, and you decided of all things to bring Luke Castellan back from the dead?” I gawked at her. 

“I love him, Percy.” Aero had that look Annabeth had often used when she looked at me with her stormy grey eyes. A look that told me there was no point in arguing with her a 'She was right and I was wrong' kind of look.  

“But he tried to bring Kronos to power and overthrow the gods!” I frowned, but she really didn't seem to care about what I was saying.

“What Hades brought back was the Luke from before, before he was a part of Kronos’ plans.” she glanced back toward the cabin, as if she was worried what she was saying might not be true, that he would storm out leading an army of monsters behind him. 

“Can Hades even do that?” I questioned, probably with a stupid look on my face.

“Percy, Luke wouldn’t be here if the Lord of the Underworld couldn’t do that.” her silvery blue eyes stared at me as if daring me to say that it wasn't possible. 

“That’s why he didn’t know who I was, eh?” I kicked the dirt under my feet awkwardly.  

“The Luke from before didn't, Percy, so this Luke doesn't know you. He doesn’t know about anything that’s happened in the past couple of years. He doesn’t know about the war, or his part in it.” she glanced back at the cabin again, worriedly. 

“You can’t hide it forever though; so many people he knew have died he’s bound to notice.” I pointed out wondering if she had a plan or not. 

“Don’t you think I know that Percy?!” The next thing she said I don’t really think I was meant to hear she also said it in Greek. “If Octavian hadn’t been here to help me heal him, he might not have even made it back.” 

“Octavian? Is that the blonde boy I saw you with at dinner? The one you were speaking with in that weird language?” Again I figured I must have had the stupidest look on my face, she gave me a look of pure sympathy. 

She sighed. “Yes, Percy, that was Octavian, and we were speaking Latin.”

“You know Latin?” This girl was getting more and more mysterious every time she said something. 

“Percy, when you live as long as I have, you learn a few things.” She stared at the moon rising over the ocean and reflecting in the waves. I wondered just how old she was. She looked 17 or 18 physically maybe older since she was dating Luke, but mentally she had to be so much older. 

I blinked trying to clear my head of those thoughts “So who is he?” 

“He is my cousin.” she spoke very flatly 

“Your cousin?” I honestly didn't believe that. 

“Yes he’s my cousin. Well sort of, he’s not really like a direct cousin, but he’s family anyway, I just call him a cousin so it’s not all complicated and junk.” she sighed, like she was confused by her own words. 

“Well that makes sense, as Greek families tend to get complicated.” I chuckled. By the time we walked back to her cabin Lukas and Luke had fallen asleep on the bed I hadn’t noticed before. “Aero, I have something I want to ask you about. The other night, before I even met you, I had a dream about you. How is that possible?”

She shrugged. “Hmm. Well you have a psychic connection with Grover. Maybe it’s the same thing?” 

“So you don’t know what it means either?” I frowned, I really had been trying to get to the bottom of things.

“No, but if it’s there it’s there for a reason. You and I are connected, like a tide pool.” 

“Er, a tide pool?” I knew I had that dumb look on my face when I don’t know something.

“Yes. The gravitational pull on the sea caused by the moon. That’s actually just a tide but tide pool sounded better.” She laughed.

“I still don’t get how that relates to us.”

“The moon and the sea. I am a daughter of the Moon, and you are a son of the Sea.” 

“Well now that makes sense, I guess.” Although I was still very confused by this strange girl. 

“We’re unique. One of a kind.”

“Well there are other sons of Poseidon, I’m not that unique.” I made a face. 

“Well, I guess that’s true, but how many of those children are mortal Percy, how many of them are human.” She smiled. 

“I don’t know.” And I honestly didn't. Most of my 'siblings' I had met were monsters, I don't even think I've met another human child of Poseidon. Maybe that was her point. 

“You’re his favorite.” she continued. 

“What?” Another dumbfounded look on my part.  

“Poseidon wanted to become mortal, and stay with you and your mother. It was the big gossipy news when you were born.” She smiled. “Get back to your cabin Percy. It’s late.”

I nodded and walked back to my cabin. I laid there listening to the ocean waves hit the beach. I also heard the soft sound of a flute playing. I felt I had heard the music before, but didn’t have time to think about it because the music had lulled me to sleep.

The next day things got even weirder. I went to breakfast and found Aero there, with Luke. No one seemed to be bothered by the fact that he was here. Except for Annabeth, she seemed overly bothered by it

“She’s messing with the Fates, Percy. How can Hades just bring him back?” her brow wrinkled like it does when she's upset or can't solve a puzzle. 

“I don’t know, maybe they owed her a favor too?” I shrugged and laughed a bit. 

“Owed her a favor? That’s how she did this? Hades brought Luke back because he owed that stupid moon girl a favor.” I backed away from her. I knew not to mess with her when she was angry. 

“Annabeth maybe you should just calm down.”

“Why do you keep siding with her? Maybe she should be your girlfriend and not me!”  She stormed away to the training arena. I looked over at Aero; Luke had taken Lukas somewhere, which gave me the opportunity to ask more questions.

I slid in next to her at the Artemis table, despite the fact we were only allowed to sit at our own tables. “What did you do for Hades?”

“What?” she looked at me confused 

“What favor did you do for Hades so that he owed you?”

She shrugged. “I looked after his kids.” 

“His kids?” Now I was confused again. 

“Nico and Bianca di Angelo.” She said it as if this was the most obvious answer. 

That took a second to register in my brain. She couldn't possibly know the di Angleos. Could she?  “You know Nico and his sister?”

“Didn’t I tell you I spent time in the Lotus Casino Percy? How else could I still look this young after all these years?” she gestured to her self. 

I stared at her. “You are very mysterious.”

“Really Percy? No one else seems to think so.” And with that statement she left the table.

Why did she intrigue me so much? I couldn't get her out of my head after what she said about the tide pools and our connection, and this morning had just made it worse. She was so mysterious, but what she had said about no one else thinking so made since. I haven't seen anyone else question why she’s here or who she is. After careful consideration, which was really hard to even get considering I’m ADHD and got distracted while thinking about it, I decided to ask Chiron, so I walked to the Big House. Much to my displeasure Aero was also there. How was I supposed to ask questions about her if she decided to show up there too? It looked as if they had been arguing about something, and I think I might have heard her say something about Hera. As she left the Big House, I noticed a thin silver flute attached to her belt. ‘So that’s what the music had been last night.’ I thought as she walked by me. Her personality had changed, she seemed more hostile than she had this morning, and she had this look of pure terror on her face. The kind of look you only get after seeing the Oracle. When she noticed me noticing her, she looked scared, but scared for me, like maybe the Oracle said something would happen to me or something. I went to bed that night thinking about how much pain she seemed to be in.

I woke up surrounded by wolves. I had no idea where I was, or even who I was. I could only remember two girls. One of them had a name, Annabeth, but the other only a face. Her silvery blue eyes, gave her a very pained expression.