Chapter 24

Luke frowned as he quickly grabbed the just awakened Piper and Jason grabbed Leo as Festus decided to take a dive bomb out of the sky.

"W-Wha?!" Piper yelled as she woke from her nap to find herself falling from the sky and being held by Luke as they fell.

"Hold on Piper! It'll be a bit rough!" he yelled over the wind as he moved her onto his back to free his hands.

He quickly ran through the signs as he hoped this would work since he hadn't tried this before with someone else. "Land style: Dome of Earth!" he yelled as chunks of rocks few from the ground quickly and started to form a sphere around both him and Piper before he braced himself as the sphere crashed into the ground, absorbing all the shock before it safely broke apart.

"W-What was that?" Piper asked in shock as she was a bit shaken up from the fall itself and the fact she saw both Jason and Leo fall through a roof to a warehouse.

"My element and don't worry I think Jason just lost control of his powers for a bit if the look on his face is anything to go by," he said as he helped Piper onto her feet "they are fine since I doubt a small fall will hurt those two too much".

Piper grew a bit worried until Leo and Jason stumbled out of the warehouse as they dusted themselves off.

"Leo what happened there?" Jason asked as Leo groaned and threw his hands in the air.

"I don't know! But I know I can fix it, just give me some time" Leo said as he started walking down the crater that Festus had created in his crash.

"We should rest a bit so just relax. I'll see if there is anything useful in the warehouse" Luke said as Leo waved it off and started working on Festus while Jason and Piper walked off into forest to talk things over since he could see the worry in Piper's eyes about something.

Luke chuckled a bit as he quietly walked through the warehouse as he could clearly see the hole in the roof that Jason and Leo had made in their fall from the sky.

'At least they weren't hurt' he thought as he continued to walk through until he stopped dead in his tracks and slipped into the shadows before the three Cyclopes could see him.

"I swear Ma I heard a crash and voices from over here" one Cyclops said as the one he figured to be 'Ma' hit the other.

"Well if your right then you are going to give us away!" she yelled as she turned to the other one.

"Sump go and take a peak outside to see if they are around. Torque you look around to see if there are any in here" she said as the one that had been hit who he deduced to be Torque nodded.

"What about you Ma?" the other one, Sump, asked as she smirked.

"Well I have to catch the one that is eavesdroppin on us" she said as she ran towards where he was hiding.

'Of course they can smell me' he thought with a groan as he unsealed Kusanagi and dashed back to put some distance between him and the large Cyclops.

"No use runnin boy, I can smell Mercury's blood in you. It's been a while since I ate one of his kind, the last one just didn't have enough meat on his bones" Ma said as Luke narrowed his eyes and smirked as he did a one handed tiger seal before the paper tags he set up behind him exploded and caught the Cyclops off guard.

He quickly summoned a shadow clone before turning towards the exit. "Go warn the others about the Cyclopes and tell Leo to hurry up" he said as the clone nodded and dashed off out of the warehouse.

"It'll take more than that to hurt me boy, we Cyclopes are immune to fire and that explosion didn't even make a scratch on me" she said as Luke smirked.

"Who said it was suppose to?" he said as he quickly appeared behind her and slashed Kusanagi through her chest, cutting her in half.

His smile then grew into a frown as the golden dust of the Cyclops started to gather before she reappeared, fully healed in front of him.

"I don't die so easily boy!" she yelled as she punched him straight in the face, expecting him to be sent flying and be knocked out but instead he crumbled into a pile of dirt.

"W-What? Are you a descendent of Lady Gaea?" Ma asked in a worried tone as Luke frowned from where he had substituted the earth from.

"No but thanks for the info" Luke said as he dropped from above her with a large Rasengan in his hand.

"Odama Rasengan!" he yelled as the spiraling orb crashed down on the Cyclops and scattered the golden dust in every direction as he panted in exhaustion.

He still didn't have quite the large enough chakra reserves to use an Odama Rasengan without some exhaustion but he had to keep going to warn the others.

Picking up Kusanagi from the ground he quickly exited the warehouse to see Leo sneaking around as the two other Cyclopes were carrying a bound Jason and Piper who he figured that the two of them had been caught off guard.

'Going to need some help' he thought as he bit his thumb and ran through the signs before slamming his hand down "Summoning Jutsu!"

-Leo-

Leo didn't know what to do. The crash course in monsters that Annabeth had given to him at camp had told him that these were Cyclopes and that they were immune to fire.

'There goes my one advantage' he thought as he tried to think up a plan of how to kill the monsters and save his friends.

He didn't even know where Luke was but considering they had come out from the warehouse he had went into Leo wasn't too sure of Luke's safety.

That was until a massive ram burst from the forest and crashed into the Cyclopes with Luke riding on its back

-Luke-

Luke smiled as he patted Hitsuji on her back "Thanks Hitsuji, keep an eye out since they won't stay down easily" Luke said as the horse sized ewe (female sheep) with massive curved horns nodded and got off to get Jason and Piper out of their chains as the force of Hitsuji's tackle had knocked the two demigods off their shoulders.

"They can try and get back up but I will crush them with my horns" Hitsuji said as Luke chuckled and turned towards Leo

"Leo come help me" Luke said as a shell-shocked Leo nodded and helped melt the chains.

"W-What is that massive sheep and how is it talking?" Leo asked as he got finished with Piper's chains.

"Her name is Hitsuji, she is an animal summon of the Ram or Sheep summoning contract" he said as Hitsuji groaned as she crashed into the Cyclops that got up, sending to flying into the other one.

"Luke, you might want to help a bit, all I can do is send them back a bit. Their skin is too tough" she said as Luke nodded.

"You got this?" Luke asked as Leo nodded. "Get Festus ready to fly as soon as I can take out these two since they aren't staying dead"

"Fine, just hurry" Leo said as Luke nodded and started running through the signs before he slammed his hands down.

"Land style: Quicksand Binding" he yelled out as Hitsuji jumped back from the Cyclopes just as the ground below them turned to quicksand, which they sank through quickly due to their immense weight.

"Ma! Help us!" Torque yelled as they sank down deeper until they were to their shoulders.

"She can't as she is pretty dead and scattered around" Luke said as Hitsuji dispelled and he turned to Leo who was helping Jason up.

"Ma can't be dead!" Sump yelled as they continued to sink before the ground turned solid again once Luke took his hands off the ground.

"Of course she will reform due to the Lady G if you know what I mean" Luke said as he crouched next to the Cyclopes as only their head now stuck out of the ground

"H-How do you know about Lady Gae-" Torque started to say before both of them were swallowed up by the earth making Luke jump back to avoid being swallowed up by the earth as well.

"Whoa! Was that you Luke?" Leo asked as Luke frowned and shook his head.

"No but we need to take off for Chicago now" he said as Leo nodded as Luke helped Jason up as Piper was helped up by Leo

"Well Festus is able to go but it'll be a bit rough and we might have to let him rest and fix things up once we land" Leo said as Luke nodded.

"We can worry about it later but right now we have to get off the ground" Luke said as the three demigods looked at him confused.

"Why?" Jason asked as Luke frowned as he got onto Festus.

"Because the very earth is against us if my theory is correct" Luke said as the three looked at him confused.

"What theory?" Piper asked as she got on with Jason's help.

"Let's get in the air and I can explain the bits I figured out" he said as Leo took the 'driver's seat' and made Festus take off into the sky.

-Naruto-

Naruto sighed as he sat in front of Annabeth as she hounded him about what he knew about Thalia's brother Jason.

"Look from what I know is that Zeus, after having Thalia her mother started to go into a bad depression and Zeus grew afraid for his daughter so he made a deal with Hera. It was to let him go back to her to have one more child to ease her depression" he said as Annabeth nodded.

"But he couldn't go back to her as Zeus so he changed" he said as he activated the security seals inside the Big House.

"What do you mean he changed?" Annabeth questioned as he put his hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes.

"What I am about to tell you, you cannot tell anyone else without my permission" he said as Annabeth grew worried from the serious look in his eyes.

"O-Of course Naruto, I swear on Styx" Annabeth said as if this had anything to do with Thalia she wanted to know.

"Well as the heart of civilization moves the gods moved as well in one major aspect" he said as Annabeth's Athena mind quickly figured it out.

"The Romans!" she yelled as he chuckled and nodded.

"The Greek gods changed and became Roman. Their personalities changed and so did their names as well as some domains" he said as he snapped his fingers and a book of the Roman gods fell in his hand.

"So Jason is the son of Jupiter?" Annabeth asked as she quickly read through the book

"Yes which is why he calls the gods like Hephaestus and Zeus as their Roman names as that is what his mind is hardwired to do as well as what he was trained and raised to do" he said as Annabeth frowned at him before he saw her eyes turn darker grey as they always did when she was deep in thought

"If the Roman gods are just separate personalities and they are still having demigods then there must be a Roman demigod camp" she thought aloud before she looked up at him.

"And if a Roman demigod is here at a Greek camp then it would make sense for our missing demigods to be there!" she exclaimed as he nodded.

"Figured you'd piece it together" he said with a frown and he put both his hands on her shoulders.

"Well now that we know where she is we can go save her!" Annabeth said with a massive smile before he shook his head.

"We have to let this play out Annabeth. She is there for a reason" he said as she frowned. "It will all make sense once Hera is saved I promise you"

"Will she come back?" Annabeth asked worriedly as she hugged Naruto.

Naruto frowned as he pet her head "Of course she will, just give her time to finish what she must" he said as she nodded.

He sighed as he deactivated the privacy seal and let Annabeth borrow the Roman mythology book as long as she kept it hidden.

He didn't want it getting out just yet but he knew it would once the quest returned. He just hoped everyone would get back safe.

-Luke-

Luke let out a tired sigh as he finished telling the three others his theory.

From the fact of the Cyclopes calling him a child of Mercury and the Aquilon ordeal back in Canada he figured there was something to do with the Roman pantheon that he theorized was actually real but he chose to keep that to himself.

All he told the others was that he thought that Gaea, mother earth, was awakening from the sleep that the gods had put her in.

"So the living embodiment of the earth is trying to kill us?" Leo asked confused as Luke nodded

"But isn't Mother Earth supposed to be all friendly and nice?" Piper asked as Luke frowned and shook his head.

"Gaea isn't friendly at all. She is the mother of the Titans, Elder Cyclopes, and Hekatonkheires with Ouranos and then the Giants with Tartarus himself" Luke said with a frown.

"So she basically birthed all the evil people?" Leo groaned as Luke looked at Jason who was deep in thought.

"Something to share with the class Jason?" Luke asked with a smirk as Jason frowned and shook his head.

"Nothing just wondering why is she just now waking up" Jason asked as Luke shrugged his shoulders.

"Could be the fact that Naruto made her favorite son Kronos fade could have sparked her awakening. But don't worry, knowing Naruto he has a plan to fight her" Luke said as the continued towards Chicago.

"You have a lot of faith in Naruto it seems" Jason said as Luke smiled and nodded.

"He saved me from making the most terrible decision I could have made before I went through with it and for that I owe him a lot" Luke said as they nodded.

"Wake me up when we get to Chicago, I'm a bit exhausted from the fight with the Cyclops" he said as Jason nodded letting him close his eyes and subconsciously use his chakra to stick to the dragon.

-Hour Later-

Luke frowned as he stared at the entrance to the sewer. "Did the wind spirits really go in here?" he asked as Piper also shared his look of moderate disgust.

"That's where Jason saw them go into so we have to follow" Leo said as he started to go down the ladder as Jason shrugged his shoulders.

"Ugh this is going to be disgusting" Piper groaned as Luke nodded.

"Don't worry if there is any slime I'll help you over it since with my chakra I can walk on top of it without it actually getting on me" he said as he started down the ladder.

"Thanks" she said in a flat tone as she started down the ladder after him.

-Sewers-

Luke hadn't had to walk through a sewer in many years. Not since he had run away from home with Thalia, Annabeth and Grover when they were just kids.

He didn't like the nostalgic feel as it only reminded him of a very bad part of his life back when his mom was insane.

Thankfully Hades had cured her of the insanity caused by his curse of the Oracle.

"What in the world could possibly be down here for the damn wind spirits to go?" he thought aloud with a frown as Jason shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know but a lot of them went down here so there has to be a good reason" Jason said as Piper groaned in exhaustion.

"Maybe we should rest a bit since we didn't get to rest at all at the warehouse" Piper said as Leo nodded.

"I could start a fire and cook some food for us" Leo said as Jason nodded before Luke shook his head.

"You go ahead and cook for you three, I have food sealed away and one of us should probably stand guard. We should probably get some sleep as well since we have been traveling for a long while" he said as Jason nodded.

"We could take turns Luke, no need to do it all" Piper said as he chuckled.

"Relax, I also need the time to send a message to Naruto explaining what we found out. This way he could possibly help us or send us something" Luke said as Piper nodded as she sat next to Jason as Leo started his fire.

Luke frowned as he walked down the sewer corridor a bit before he unsealed two small scrolls before he unrolled one and wiped a bit of his blood on it and a puff of smoke came out of it.

"Luke! What do you need?" a voice rang out as the smoke cleared and a dark blonde hawk was perched on his arm.

"Soshin I need you to deliver this message to Naruto, tell him the earth is awakening" he said as he slipped the scroll in the small slot on Soshin's back.

"Got it Luke, stay safe something really dark is up ahead. Like it is unnatural and shouldn't be there" Soshin said as he ruffled his feathers in disgust before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

'Hmm I just hope whatever it is isn't that bad' he thought as he sat down on a clean portion of the ground and frowned as he unsealed a boxed lunch full of food that Hestia had made for him as she always wanted him, Annabeth, Thalia and Percy to always have some of her home cooked food with them at all times.

And since food that was sealed away stayed fresh he had several stockpiled in his wrist seal.

He smiled as he started eating his food 'Tastes like mom's food' he thought with a smile.

His attention was taken back to when he went to visit his mother with Naruto after the war and how his mother had doted on him and even Naruto, who found the whole thing very amusing.

He continued to eat until the others walked up to him.

"We are settling down for the night, if you want to change shifts just wake one of us up" Jason said as Luke nodded and waved them off.

"Sleep, you all need it more than me and with my training from Naruto I can run on less sleep than you all. Plus I have shadow clones" he said as the others nodded and went back to their makeshift camp.

"Sleep well Piper" he said as she nodded and smiled at him.

"You too, don't stay up too late" she joked as he chuckled and rolled his eyes as she left.

He smiled as he crossed his legs and summoned a shadow clone. "Keep an eye out for any monsters. I need some rest" he said as the clone saluted and let him lay down and drift off to sleep.

-Next Morning-

Luke rose an eyebrow in confusion as they came upon an odd sight.

After they had awoken from their rest and continued walking they had reached an elevator at the end of the wind spirit's trail.

"Is that really an elevator?" Leo asked as Luke shrugged his shoulders as he stared at the directory. It gave no name for where they were heading but the names for the levels were odd.

"Parking, Kennels, Main Entrance: Sewer Level

Furnishings and Café M: 1

Women's Fashion and Magical Appliances: 2

Men's Wear and Weaponry: 3

Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons & Sundries: 4"

Luke frowned as he pressed the up button and stared at the large 'M' on the cast iron doors.

"M for Macy's?" Leo asked as Piper shrugged her shoulders.

"I think they have one in downtown Chicago" she said unsure if she was right.

"Well whatever it is this is where we have to go" Luke said as the elevator opened up and he walked in. "Just be on guard since this feels weird here"

The others nodded as they entered the elevator as the Fourth floor button lit up.

"Whoa, definitely not Macy's" Leo said as the door opened up at the fourth floor as the smell of perfume wafted towards them

The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun.

The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered so brightly, they were hard to look at.

Aside from the stained glass ceiling and the elevator, Luke didn't see any other windows or doors, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colors, and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre.

There was too much to take it at once, but Luke saw normal stuff like shirt racks and shoe trees mixed in with armored manikins, beds of nails, and fur coats that seemed to be moving.

"Whoa, check it out" Leo said as he stepped to the railing and looked down.

In the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage, an oversize canary cage.

Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. Somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, and the cage shuddered as they tried to get out. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.

"Coach Hedge!? How'd he get here?" Piper asked confused as Luke frowned as he didn't like this underground mall.

"May I help you?" a voice spoke out behind them making them all jump and turn around. Or in Luke's case unseal Kusanagi.

Luke frowned as he looked at the woman that had just appeared behind them.

She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry, and looked like a retired fashion model, maybe fifty years old, though it was hard for Luke to accurately gauge.

Her long dark hair was swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal super-model way, thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. She had long red-painted nails on her fingers that oddly looked more like talons

She gave off a very odd feeling as Luke could swear he saw the mist shifting around her as her eyes sparkled.

He frowned as his head pulsed for a moment before Naruto's voice rang through his head

"Do not trust the woman, she is no ally. Be on guard around her and end her once she shows her true side"

Luke stared at her as he could feel the familiar charm of charmspeak as his time around Silena and Drew had made him fully immune to it.

He was a bit worried about her but if this was all she could do she wouldn't be difficult to end at all.