The Underground

It made sense in a way, didn't it? How does an underground resistance survive in a place where literally all life has been burned away?

They go literally underground.

I descended the ladder as fast as I could. When I hopped off, turning around, I didn't get the warmest welcome.

The smell rushed up my nose first. This place smelled bad even by sewer standards. It wasn't just human waste, but something else. Something nastier. I had an awful suspicion as to where the bodies of New York's enormous population ended up, at least some of them.

Not that there was anything in sight. It was just a cement walkway at the base of the ladder, murky slow-moving water oozing beside it, and a notched arrow pointed straight at my noggin.

I held my hands up. "I have thought about getting my ears pierced, but I'd rather go to a professional, so can you put that down?"

The boy carrying Reyna laughed, only to earn a glare from the girl with the bow.

She wasn't really a girl, though. She didn't even look like one. She had auburn hair and gorgeous features, as pretty as Calypso's. Standing at her full height, the top of her head only came up to my neck. Her coat was silver and punctured all over, stained in at least nine places, and way too hot to be comfortable in a humid sewer, but she wore it anyway. Her eyes were fierce as they stared at me.

"Who are you?" she growled.

"Percy Jackson," I said. "Don't you remember?"

"He is dead."

"People have thought that before. Myself included. So far, we've always been wrong."

"He was in the throne room!" shouted Artemis, goddess of the hunt. "My grandfather would have torn him to shreds!"

"Oh, he did," I said. "Trust me, it wasn't fun. But I survived. I recovered… It just took me years. And now I'm here, and I find this mess is all that's left." The way I scowled didn't take any acting. "What have they done up there, Artemis?"

It wasn't the goddess who answered. The boy — who had a dark-skinned, wild-haired, mad scientist look going on — spoke first.

"They burned it all away man," he said. "I wasn't here for that part, but the others all talk about it. The sun came up one morning… and then it descended on the city. Glass melted out of the windows. Buildings got charred black. Some people died then, and they were the lucky ones."

"How did you live?" Artemis asked. She hadn't lowered her bow. "No mortal could have survived that!"

Her question grabbed my attention, although it was mostly the second part. I looked at her— and I mean really looked. Couldn't she sense my power? I was undercover, but up this close, there should have been no way she couldn't tell I was a god. Then I focused on her, and that was where I found the real surprise.

I couldn't feel any power coming from her. I'd seen her archery first-hand. She had the skills of a goddess, but her actual divine power…

"What did losing your throne do to you?" I asked.

Artemis flinched. Leo looked curious. Reyna looked apathetic, but hey, she pretty much always looked that way. 

"Are you about to fade?" I asked.

"Ares did," Artemis said. "Dionysus too. They are cowards. I will never fade! Not for as long as the Titans remain, when I could turn my bow on them!"

"But your power…"

"Do not look at me with pity," she snapped. "I am still the greatest hunter in this world!"

Soft footsteps caught my attention, pattering against the cement. When I turned, I watched a brown-haired girl turn a corner into sight.

"Coast is clear!" she reported as she caught close. "No Hydras. We can— Percy?"

"Katie?" I asked.

Katie Gardener had grown up since I saw her last. She was taller than she had been, and although it was difficult to see beneath her loose clothes, she seemed to have grown into her new frame. There were calluses on her hands that weren't the kind you got from a spade. She had a bow over her shoulder, a quiver on her back, and was wearing a silver jacket that looked a little like the parkas the Hunters used to wear.

"Katie is my current Lieutenant," Artemis declared.

I forced myself to smile, rather than frown, because I didn't want to hurt Katie's feelings.

If Artemis was convinced that I was dead, she would've assumed the same about Thalia. It wasn't the fact that Katie had replaced our friend in the position that bothered me. It was that she clearly wasn't a Hunter.

Her footsteps made noise. She was older than the last time I saw her, as in physically older, not just mentally. Both of those should've been impossible.

I glanced back at Artemis, trying to make it subtle. Thalia lost her connection to the goddess when the thrones fell. Her new Lieutenant didn't seem to have a connection with Artemis at all. Did she not even have enough power left for something that simple?

Finally, Artemis lowered her bow, returning the arrow she had aimed at me to its quiver.

"Let's go," she said. "We will decide if you are an imposter yet, Perseus."

Glad that she hadn't chosen to let loose, I followed her and Katie, who kept sneaking looks back at me as if worried I was an illusion. I offered to carry Reyna, because Leo's arms were starting to shake, but he shook his head.

"Can't you see these big strong muscles, man?" he asked, flexing the wiry arm resting against Reyna's back. "Do they look like they could get tired?"

"They look like they're tired now," I said.

"Oh no. We've found another critic."

He smiled a lot for a guy living through the apocalypse. Certainly more than the other two. I didn't judge him for it, though. I'd seen plenty of people that used a smile to cover up everything else.

We walked for fifteen minutes through the sewers, no one talking except for the occasional joke from Leo. I made sure to laugh, because no one else was going to. He looked at me like I just saved the life of his firstborn child.

Eventually we hung a right, cutting through a tunnel that didn't look natural, but didn't look manmade, either. In fact, I had doubts whether it was intentionally created at all. It seemed like the earth had simply shifted, and this path opened up. The deeper we walked the more the foul scent of the sewers faded.

We emerged onto cracked subway tracks, appearing right in the middle of a tunnel. We could only see where we were going because of glowing plants growing in patches of dirt along the walls.

"Hold on a second…" I said.

"You like 'em?" Leo asked with a grin. "Organics aren't my specialty, but I recognize a quality design when I see one. Permanent light, no fuel, and I don't trip when going on missions anymore. I love these plants to death."

"Moonlace," I said, still feeling dazed from the sight of it.

I reached out, grabbing Katie Gardener by the wrist. She spun, too surprised to be annoyed about the sudden move.

"Did you plant those?" I asked.

"She sure did," Leo answered when Katie hesitated. "Her thumb isn't just green, it's bioluminescent!"

My face was urgent. "Where did you get them?"

"They were a gift," Katie stammered.

"From who?"

"She isn't here anymore."

I shifted toward Artemis. The goddess had one hand on her bow, but she hadn't drawn it, even when I grabbed her lieutenant. She tilted her head.

"Your mother was here, but she left," Artemis said.

"And you let her?"

"I do not keep anyone here. If they wish to leave, they're welcome to do so at any time."

A thousand awful scenarios ran through my head, each one a different nasty fate my mom could've met. I hated it, and I hated myself for thinking it, but I was helpless to stop until I forced my head to clear, taking a deep breath.

"Was she healthy?" I asked.

"Yes," Artemis said. "Her husband was with her. It has been years since then, but she is a strong woman."

The goddess turned and continued down the tunnel. I let go of Katie, who followed her goddess. Leo gave me his manliest nod as he followed them. It wasn't very manly, but I appreciated the attempt. With one more deep breath, I made my legs move again.

"Why did she leave?" I asked.

Artemis only looked back once.

"To find you," she said. "Why else?"

O-O-O

We walked through that subway tunnel for at least a half mile. Artemis was carrying Reyna by the end. Leo tried his best, considering I could see sweat on his skin in the Moonlace's light, but there was a limit to what even pride can make you do. Eventually we reached a fork in the tunnel, and to my surprise, Leo went one way while the girls went the other.

"You're with me, big guy," Leo said. "Try not to be disappointed. I know I'm not a lot to look at, but I've got a great personality."

"Men and women stay separated," Katie said when she saw I looked confused. "Artemis's rules."

The goddess looked at me as if daring me to challenge her. I just shrugged, following Leo.

"I will speak to you later, Perseus Jackson."

Artemis said my name like she was still convinced that I was lying about it.

"I'll look forward to it," I said.

She swept away, carrying Reyna, and Katie followed her after offering a final wave. 

"Isn't our leader so warm and cuddly?" Leo said. "She's such a teddy bear. I think it's her bubbly demeanor that does it."

"I've got to be honest, I'm surprised she hasn't shot you with her bow yet," I admitted. "It's like your personality was designed in a lab to piss her off."

"Who says she hasn't?" Leo asked. "She knows vital spots very well."

I wasn't sure if that was a joke, but considering everything else that came out of his mouth seemed to be, I chose to assume it was. 

He started walking, got two steps, and turned back to me again.

"It was a workshop," he said.

"Huh?"

"My personality was designed in a workshop, not a lab. Lab's are full of chemicals and test vials. They're for nerds. All the good stuff comes from workshops."

"Then wouldn't a lab be right for you?"

"Hah hah," he said. But he was smiling.

He led the way up a set of maintenance stairs, onto the tile floor of an old subway station. Canvases had been strung up between the square pillars to form something like tents. I didn't see many people, maybe fifteen, max, but all of them were doing something.

Men were sitting at grindstones, sharpening weapons that were clearly makeshift. I saw a golf club with a dagger affixed at the end, and an umbrella handle that had its point replaced with a spearhead. On each of them, the blade was bronze, while the handle looked ordinary. They were monster-killing weapons designed for mortal use.

Behind the encampment were stairs up to the surface. These had been barricaded with all sorts of heavy things, from old bookshelves to a piano with frayed strings and missing keys. It was a pretty hefty blockage, but it also looked like it could be moved in an emergency. That was probably intentional.

"What do you do if a Hydra makes it inside?" I asked.

Leo looked at the barricade — which was way too light to stop a supersized monster — with a grin. "Then we hold a barbecue."

I wasn't sure what that meant, and he didn't elaborate. I took it as a colorful way of saying that they would be screwed.

I followed Leo past the men working on their weapons. They looked up as we came by, but most looked down immediately after. They hardly cared about seeing a stranger. The most interest I got was a few of them sizing up my build, as if judging whether I would be any good in a fight.

It was so different from the people in Calypso's camp. All of these people were firmly alive. Which made sense, because if you weren't willing to fight for your life here…

Then you were already dead.

"At first, Artemis only took women," Leo said. "The other camp is bigger than this. That's where she and Katie took your friend, by the way. It's a few stations thattaway." He waved his hand at one of the walls. "When more people started dying, Artemis couldn't force herself to be picky anymore. She still won't let the men stay in the same camp as the women, but she protects us at least."

"Whose in charge here then?" I asked. "You?"

Most of these men were mortal. I could tell after one glance. I wasn't sure what Leo was, but he carried himself like he meant business, if you knew what to look for.

"Do I look like leader material?" Leo asked with his usual grin. "The only thing I lead is the 'Can't Read the Room Club,' and that's not even a position I wanted. They just elected me at their annual convention, and I haven't been able to ditch the title ever since. Hey, come this way! I'll show you where we sleep— if there's no room, you can cuddle in with me. Now that would get the imagination of the girls at the other camp going."

He showed me around the rest of the station. There wasn't all that much to see, to be honest. The place they slept was nothing but a collection of sleeping bags and blankets, all a bit dirtier than was strictly sanitary, and contrary to Leo's joke, there was plenty of space for me to find my own corner. Leo also showed me the bathroom (it wasn't a room, and you definitely didn't want to take any baths there), before showing him the place they did get cleaned up. It was an old water pipe that, when Leo bent it at the right angle, spewed out water.

"We don't exactly live well, but that makes you appreciate the small things," Leo insisted, patting the pipe's side. "Some of my dunks under this thing have felt better than any hot shower."

When the tour was finished, we ended up sitting together on the steps, next to the wooden barricade. Leo leaned back, resting his shoulders against the corner of an old desk.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

I expected him to say Staten Island or the Bronx or something. Instead, he said, "Texas."

I blinked, but he was still talking.

"Started out in Houston. Bounced around for a while— foster system. I kept moving. I was in New Mexico for the longest time, going to this Wilderness School. Not by choice, I mean. It was just impossible to run away, because they ran us for ten miles every day. Let me tell you, I am not built for that, man."

"How'd you end up here?"

He tapped his head rhythmically against the desk's wood. "The world ended, that's how. Everything went crazy so fast. Monsters and minor gods were rounding people up, putting them in chains and dragging them off as slaves. I knew that if I got captured, I'd be dead or worse. Have you heard the way I talk? I'm about as demure as a firework. Nah, I had to get out of there. I should've run west. But I didn't know anything, so I came east."

"You got this far alone?"

"I met people. But they were weird. Some were kind, but they were always jumpy. It made me anxious, watching out for them, so I just kept going. I've been good at running away since before the Titans ever came back. Eventually, I got to here. Artemis grabbed me a lot like we grabbed you. The rest is history."

There were a lot of blanks in that story. But I wasn't going to push him. I was surprised he told me as much as he had.

"What about you?" he asked. "And who was that girl with you? She was—"

The desk he was leaning against flew forward, slamming him into the ground.

Leo landed at the base of the stairs, groaning. I spun around in time to see the rest of the barricade get pounded aside. Wood flew across the station. Mortals shouted and rose, lifting their makeshift weapons, but I wasn't sure what good those were going to be. A Hydra just small enough to fit through the double doors was in front of us, exhaling hot sticky air.

I know my luck is bad, but even for me getting attacked so soon after arriving was crazy. This place had been established. They'd been here for months, maybe even years. And this happens an hour after I get here?

It wasn't the time to feel sorry for myself. The Hydra prowled down the steps one at a time, growling. They had bad eyesight, but great hearing. I had roughly five seconds before it attacked.

I could blast it into nothing in a flash if I chose to. It would be so easy, and after traveling away from Hyperion's compound, I'd probably get away with it. I might not even have to transform, if I tried to fight it normally. With a weapon from the mortals and my enhanced strength, I could—

"Owwww! Can't you knock? Or was that you knocking? I guess it could've been. I'm sorry for assuming, you snake-lizard-dragon thing!"

I looked to the side in time to see Leo stand back up. His head was bleeding, red drops dripping off his right eyebrow onto the floor. If anything his grin had grown, although it gave off a different impression now.

The Hydra reacted to his voice, charging. I stepped forward. Leo's arms combusted.

I felt the raw heat across my face, like I was back in the volcano with Alastor's Telekhine pack. Flames danced around Leo's bare skin. He raised his arms, spewing them all over the Hydra, and I learned what snakeskin smells like when it melts.

The Hydra released a screech of pain. After sustaining visceral, gory injuries, its legs gave out, and it collapsed into a pile of singed dust.

The mortals were already sitting back down. Leo turned to me, acting like nothing happened. The room felt unnaturally quiet until the boy did what he did best and spoke.

"See what I mean?" he said. "Barbecue."