Chapter 115: So can I join your suicide mission?

==============

Next book, yay.

===============

♥︎◆♣︎♠︎ || Book 7: Monsters Rising || ♥︎◆♣︎♠︎

...

Chapter 115: So can I join your suicide mission?

...

(Percy POV)

I stared at the long list I held in my hands, taking another sip from my Cola I had bought from the vending machine.

The wooden bench I was sitting on was not comfortable, and the wind that blew through Boston Common park was also not desirable. Especially if you knew what the list was about.

It looked like a standard list for everyone else, but I knew it wasn't. In fact, this list contained the data that could potentially destroy the world.

I called it "The List", but you had to pronounce it the cool way, not like you would say it regularly, you had to look mysterious while saying it.

The List was enchanted, it couldn't be memorized, photographed by anyone except me, or whoever I gave permission. You could not look at it without my permission. If you did, you would think it was empty.

The List contained the names of all divine threats, allies and monsters. I had started making the List right after I got Athena's blessing, I realized that world was getting stranger every day.

Deities that could and want to destroy the earth were all over the place.

I had just finished the first version of it. The list was not complete, there were a lot of monsters, gods and other powerful beings I didn't know about.

But it was a start, right now it had around 140 names on them. Names of gods, monsters and demigods. But it wasn't restricted to just the Greeks and Romans. It contained names from all the three major Pantheons. Greeco, Norse and Egyptian. I knew there were other pantheons out in the world but I hadn't bothered checking them out yet.

"Percy?" Someone said in front of me, I looked up from the list and for a brief moment I was flabbergasted.

"Katie?" I muttered, blinking heavily.

In front of me stood Katie, alive and breathing.

Though she was shivering from the cold Boston weather, she seemed to be looking okay. She wore a silver winter jacket (Nike Of course), white scarf, jeans and snow boots.

Her blond hair had snowflakes on it, and her lips were a bit blue, in her hands she held a mug hot chocolate.

Katie smiled, "I thought you would be here, Katie said, glancing around at the park, "You being blessed by Demeter I figured you would be either at a park or at an aquarium."

"Hey!" I protested while Chaos was chuckling.

Katie grinned and sat down on the bench, not saying anything. Instead she was just enjoying her warm drink.

"Okay, I bite," I chuckled."What are you doing here?"

Katie raised an eyebrow,"You ask me? You were the one who died and came back."

"Fair," I admitted, then I frowned, "But you don't seem to be surprised that I'm alive."

Katie shrugged and turned to me, "You are Percy Jackson. You always have some kind of crazy, stupid, nonsensical back-up plan."

I blinked, "My plan was not stupid." I protested feeling a bit hurt.

Katie shot me a glare, "Seriously? You died and counted on the small chance a valkyrie would pick up your soul and judge you worthy?"

I blinked, "Yeah, if you say it like that it sounds a bit risky."

"Risky?" Katie scowled.

I giggled, "You could even call the plan. Suicidal."

Katie sighed, "Dammit, I missed you at camp."

Then the question rose, how did Katie know about my plans and my afterlife? "Katie?" I asked, "How did you know about the Norse Gods and my plans?"

Katie pointed up, at the sky. "My mom." she said, "She told me about what you did and what you were going through. The crazy quest to stop Ragnarok."

Katie saw my confusion and explained. "Mom felt incredibly guilty about what had happened to Despina and how she cursed you."

I groaned, punching Demeter was a big mistake that not only could've ended the world. But could also...well, the only thing that it could've done was ending the world. Which didn't make it any better. On the flipside, I was still using Demeter's powers, and they were actually really helpful.

"So she feels sorry?" I mused.

Katie shrugged, "She's a goddess after all. Who knows what goes around in her head. Anyway, so she told me about how she was monitoring you and how she felt sorry about what she did."

"Uh," I smartly responded and stared up at the sky, "Well, apology accepted, I guess. Sorry for punching you."

'You are so funny,' Lyssa said laughing out loud, I glanced at Katie who was also grinning.

"So," I said, feeling a bit uncomfortable, "Why did your mom send you? Besides telling me she's sorry."

Katie send me a smile, and I accidently read her emotions.

She was happy to see I was still alive.

She was also excited, about what? I still had to find out.

As if reading my thoughts, Katie said "So my mom didn't only send me to tell you that. She also wanted me to help you."

I raised an eyebrow, "Help me?"

Katie's grin spread even wider, "Of course. Demeter said you were going on a crazy quest again. I'm going with you."

I blinked a few times, smiled and then frowned, "Wait,.what are you talking about?"

"You're going on a quest. I'm going with you, to help."

"But I can't. It's a soloquest."

Katie gave me a skeptical look, "Sounds dangerous. Are you sure you don't need help?"

I sighed, "Dammit. How do you even know?"

"You're always doing or planning something dangerous." Katie said without laughing.

'True.' Chaos said.

When Katie noticed I wasn't going to say something, she laughed, "Come on. You can tell me what you are up too."

I groaned, "Fine. I suppose I could use your help. But it will be more difficult to take you with me."

"What do you mean?" Katie asked.

"Well, for starters. I was going to travel using the maze. But I guess if I have to take you with me I should find us a guide."

"A guide?" Katie asked, "You were going inside the maze without preparations!?"

I shrugged, "Sort off. I need to find the most dangerous places. The maze always tries to kill people. So I figured it would automatically bring me to my destination. But if two or more people go, it will most likely try to split up. So we need to find a way to navigate through the maze together."

Katie raised an eyebrow, "So I was right about you having suicidal plans."

'Totally,' Lyssa said.

"It's not that dangerous." I tried to argue.

"You just said you were trying to find the most dangerous places." Katie deadpanned.

I chuckled, "Fine. What I have in mind is dangerous. That's why I wanted to do it alone."

"And that's exactly why I need to come," Katie said with a smile, "It's like Nyx said. You need someone to babysit you."

I groaned, "Tell her that we both know I am old enough-"

"Anyway," Katie interrupted me, "What's the plan boss?"

I glared at her, "First, Don't call me boss. Second, we are going to track down the most dangerous monsters in Greek mythology."

Katie raised an eyebrow, "And you wanted to that alone!"

I interrupted her, "Exactly. That's the entire point of this quest. I know I'm not strong enough. That's why I am trying to…"

"Trying to what?"

I sighed and showed her the list, or at least a modified version that suited her and didn't reveal secrets about the future and other pantheons.

"What's this list?" Katie asked as she studied it, "And why is there a B+ written after my name."

"It's a list that contains everyone of significance from the Greek pantheon. You see my name?"

Katie nodded, "Yes. But why is it so low on the ranking? I thought it would be higher on the list."

"Because there are a lot of strange things out in the world." I said, "Things that are extremely dangerous and beyond the powers of a single demigod."

"Then you have to play it smart," Katie noticed and I smirked.

"Exactly, if you can't be stronger, you have to be smarter. Or faster." I said.

"So what's the big plan, boss." Katie asked.

I shot her another glare. "I want to build a team. A team of monsters."

Katie waited for a moment, to see if I was joking, sadly I was not.

"Monsters?" Katie asked skeptically, "You want a team of monsters."

I sighed, this was going to take a while to explain.

"Okay, look. I'm not going crazy. The plan is actually very reasonable."

"How can a team of monsters be reasonable?" Katie asked.

"Medusa," I cried out, silencing Katie and gaining a lot of confused looks from the other mortals at the park. "I met Medusa."

Katie blinked a few times, "You met Medusa?"

I grinned, "Yes. We are friends. I kind of helped her with Athena's curse. Now she can kind of control her powers."

Katie was still scowling at me, "Where are you going with this?"

"The point is, Monsters aren't pure evil. In fact, I'm friends with a nemean lion and Cerberus."

"Where's Rebel anyway?" Katie wondered, ignoring my previous statement.

"I left him with a friend at Valhalla," I said quickly, "But as I was saying; monsters aren't pure evil."

Katie slowly nodded, "Okay. I think you're friendship with Rebel kind of proving that point. So you are going to recruit random monsters?"

I pointed at the list and commanded a few names to lit up, "No, not just random monsters. Smart and powerful monsters. Monsters who are smart enough to negotiate and strong enough to keep up."

"Why not demigods?" Katie asked as she studied the names on the List.

"There are a various of reasons. First off," I pointed at the list, "It's dangerous. Last quest I lost someone. I never intend to let that happen again."

Katie's eyes widened when she heard that, "Oh, gods."

"Don't be," I said, "I could've prevented it if I had played it smarter. It was a valuable lesson."

Katie gave me a concerned look but didn't say anything, though I could see she was worried about me but decided not to say anything about it.

"Look," I said, trying to sound reassuring, "I know what I'm doing. I think we could negotiate with a few monsters to join our cause. Besides, the monsters already know about the Romans. I need help me with Triumvirate holdings."

"So you're making a team that can do stupid secret impossible missions? Like some kind of suicide squad? How'd you even got this crazy plan?" Katie wondered, not agreeing nor rejecting the plan.

I chuckled, "I had a dream, a certain Oracle toll me that I should use fire against fire."

This really caught Katie's attention. "You visited the oracle?"

I shook my head, "Not exactly. The Oracle we are speaking about is not the Camp Half-Blood. It's another Oracle. Herophile."

"Who?"

"Herophile," I said, "She was one of Apollo's Oracle. But her gift came with a curse. Her voice was so enchanting it was impossible for listeners to catch every detail. She couldn't control what she sang or when. She never repeated herself. You just had to be there. She saw horrible things in the future but couldn't repeat what she saw. If you weren't paying attention a prophecy was lost. Eventually she became discouraged and moved into a cave. Triumvirate Holdings had captured her and chained her somewhere in the maze."

"So that's why you were going to use the maze." Katie stated.

I nodded, "Yes. I hope to find her. When I died, I dreamed about her. She told me it was time to dethrone the emperors and free her. Use fire against fire. Eight, stars with M and ends with S."

"Monsters…" Katie finished.

I grinned, "Exactly. So are you in for this suicide quest?"

Katie returned the grin, "When do we start."

I pointed at one name on the list, "Tomorrow, we first need to pick up a Roman friend of mine."

=================

Please join my p atreon to read ahead of the public release :

p atreon/Moonhorse