Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or High School DxD.

Preface: This fic begins at the end of Crown of Ptolemy, Rick's own crossover between PJO/Kane Chronicles. If you haven't read it, I explain a few things about the situation and how Percy ended up hosting a god, but since the book is only fifty pages and a fun read, you can just check it out yourselves if you haven't already and want a bit more background info. I do jump into the DxD side of things pretty fast, though, so I think my barebones summary is more or less enough.

1. Goodbye, Hello, This Isn't Exactly my Ideal Vacation

Part I

Stop me if you've heard this one: Percy Jackson and company fight a madman intent on ruining the status-quo, and after a hard struggle, Percy (that lovable idiot) is now seconds away from dying.

Oh, I'm Percy Jackson by the way, the above mentioned lovable idiot. Okay, I'm not actually an idiot, even if some people would beg to disagree.

I'm sure if you know my life, then you'd have cut me off pretty early on there in my catchy opening statement.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's not like I enjoy the world-ending disasters that seem to interrupt my normal life every other month. But being a half-blood is dangerous stuff. Being a half-blood son of Poseidon, along the same lines, typically meant I was involved in some seriously crazy schist.

And let me just say, falling from a thousand feet above Governors Island while holding a wannabe god dressed like Prince and hosting a goddess with a really gross habit of eating dead things was pretty high up on my list of crazy schist.

It all started when I met a kid named Carter Kane two months ago. He and I were chasing the same monster through Long Island when we'd bumped into each other. Once we'd dealt with the problem, we went our separate ways, but not before he inscribed some kind of symbol on my palm with magic. Back then, I hadn't known about the Egyptian side of mythology, and how it was real, much like the Greek side.

After Annabeth, my awesome girlfriend, ran into Sadie Kane, Carter's younger sister, I knew things were about to get complicated.

I was right. So there I was, dealing with another major issue. On the bright side, I was actually getting used to this kind of stuff. Hooray for small miracles.

"You're crazy, kid!" Setne, the resident wannabe-god, screamed at me. He was a greasy guy, and I wasn't just talking about his pompadour. "We'll both die if you don't let me go!"

Tighten your grip, Nekhbet, the Egyptian vulture goddess and protector of Egypt, said in my mind.

I wasn't planning on letting go, but hey, it was the thought that counts. Far be it from me to tell a vulture goddess what to say. It was only my body she was inside of. No big deal, right? I'd given her temporary access to Hotel d'Percy just to fight against Setne.

Let me quickly say, I would not recommend hosting her to anybody else. She hates weak people, since she's a scavenger, and it's really annoying to have her second guess every action her host takes. So if you were ever planning on hosting a god, my advice is: choose someone a bit less zealous.

Now, Setne was an ancient sorcerer, so he could do some wild stuff, like creating a new hand for himself after my friend, Carter, cut it off. He was also responsible for opening up an absolutely wild rift in the Duat. So why he didn't just teleport us away or something was beyond me. Maybe he was busy panicking. Or maybe he'd used up too much energy splintering the Duat.

Speaking of which, before today, I'd known nothing about the Duat. But with some helpful info from Nekhbet, I now understood the Duat was the reality beneath the lie. It was a vast ocean. It was a giant mass of land. It was a world in-and-of itself, where the gods were banished to after being destroyed. It was a place of nearly endless magic. A shadow realm.

Why did you wish to know? The goddess asked me, apparently not in the mood to help as we kept falling through the sky.

I turned my attention inward to address her. No reason. I mean, other than the fact we're about to hit the rift Setne opened.

And sure enough, we hit the rift, fast as a bullet. All the talking and my own thoughts had taken more time than I realized. So I didn't have time to brace myself when we passed into a trippy swirl of color.

Now, I'm not sure exactly what kind of magic Setne used, but this all started because he wanted to become a god and open up a bunch of garish McPalaces. In order to do that, he'd used the Book of Cloth or something in order to absorb Wadjet, the Egyptian snake goddess, right after he'd taken a selfie with her. With the snake goddess out of the way and her crown on his head, Setne was half-way done on his quest for immortality and godhood. Very scary.

Thankfully, Carter, Sadie, Annabeth, and I had all gathered the courage to face him before he could absorb Nekhbet. We'd saved her life, and after we told her the dilemma, she agreed to merge with me in order to fight Setne while the others prepared a counter-spell.

The plan had . . . kind of worked. Carter and I distracted him, and I'd managed to get him into the air for a face-to-face confrontation. Unfortunately, Setne was as slippery as villains come, and had managed to break my union with Nekhbet for just a second; it was all the time he needed to drag us down into the Duat.

"This is so not kosher, Percy!" Setne struggled to get out of my hold. "We'll be torn apart to our very essence of spirituality if we enter the Sea of Chaos, you dolt!"

I tried not to worry about that.

Hey, at least falling into the Duat didn't feel much different from falling into Tartarus, which I have personal experience with. Lights swirled around us in a dizzying array of twisting rainbows. I didn't feel as cold as when we'd been above Governors Island.

At least, that was true until we passed through a wall of dark water.

We sank further without slowing down. Even though it felt like liquid, our momentum kept up. My ears popped as we exited the water on the other side, as if it were just a layer floating through empty space.

The River of Night, Nekhbet supplied. We are well and truly falling through the Duat. The locations are all wrong, though.

I wouldn't know, so I took her word for it. The lights from before were gone. It was almost pitch black. But below us, I saw a single spot of orange-yellow. As we got closer, it started to look more like pictures I'd seen of the sun's surface.

Nekhbet made a noise similar to a squawk. The Lake of Fire. If we hit that, you'll burn, and I'll be stuck in the Duat for a very long time.

"Percy! Dude, bro, buddy, pal," Setne was really starting to writhe now. His squirming started to make me more than a little uncomfortable with how much we were getting to know each other. "Let's compromise! If you let me go, I'll make sure both of us make it out of here alive and well, okay? We have a deal?"

"Not a chance!" I yelled back at him. There was no way I'd trust someone like him to honor any sort of deal. As soon as I let go, he'd leave me in the Duat and go back above to finish my friends off. As if I'd ever let that happen.

A mixture of scents rose up to meet my nose. Gasoline, rotting meat, and sugar. Not the most pleasant combination. I gagged, and when my arms went slack, Setne took the chance to elbow me in the face. He was good at taking advantage of people like that.

We separated.

I cursed under my breath and grabbed his ankle before he could get too far away in our free-fall. Pulling him back, I tried to punch him, but he caught my fist and crunched his forehead into my nose.

Our struggle continued through the Duat.

When I felt the heat start to really pick up, I took a chance glance down. My blood ran cold.

The Lake of Fire ate us whole before I could even scream.

Odd as it was, I didn't feel hot anymore. All I could see was red, dark brown, yellow, and white, which meant I was inside the molten lake, but it didn't hurt at all. I'd have to thank the gods for small miracles at some point. Today, though, wasn't that day.

Setne has caused irreparable damage to the Duat! Nekhbet raged inside my brain. I will tear him to shreds! I will feast on his cooling corpse and . . .

When she trailed off, I got a distinct impression that she was hyperventilating. Honestly, I couldn't blame her. I was about to have a panic attack myself. Even if hers was out of anger and mine was out of fear, we were on similar wavelengths at least.

Falling through the lukewarm, unresistant Lake of Fire was making me anxious. I wondered if the damage to the Duat was what kept me alive while I dropped.

With a pop, Setne and I passed through the lake, exiting into a bowl of terror.

Shards of light pierced the darkness of the Sea of Chaos. Grayish-red matter roiled all around us. The smell was indescribable but impossibly intense. My organs felt like they were going to melt if I breathed too much.

No . . . no . . . Nekhbet moaned as vortexes of rainbows spiraled across the Sea of Chaos and the Abyss. It's over. We're doomed!

A chill hit my spine when I heard her defeated tone. True enough, some of her feelings passed to me, but I'd mostly mistaken them for my own. It was easy to do that in my position. So when Nekhbet sounded so down, I realized it wasn't just me. She was scared too.

Setne screamed incoherently. Well, most of it was incoherent. Some of the words were colorful enough to make a nun blush. He directed a lot of that anger toward me—which was totally fair since I was the one to drag him down with me.

Hey, I wasn't going to go out alone. If I was about to die, I might as well spite the person who ends up killing me. Setne could get bent for all I cared.

We wrestled.

He kicked me away, and I spun through the air.

When I caught sight of him again, my fist shot out like a rocket, nailing him right in the throat.

He choked, but even that wasn't enough. His hands rose. A wave of fire streamed out of his fingertips. The flame curled around itself, racing toward me like a bat out of hell.

Around me, a shell of protective purple light flickered to life just as the wave washed over my body. I flipped around and slammed my foot into his chest. Before he could recover, I dive-bombed him, giving him a solid roundhouse kick to the face. The talons on the vulture avatar should have shredded his skin, and they did, but as fast as he bled, the tissue reconnected itself, and soon he was back to looking decent.

What an unfair ability. Regeneration, I meant. It was like using console commands in a video game to give yourself "god-mode", which in Setne's case, was ironically unfortunate.

"Just die already!" he cried out, clapping his hands.

The vulture-shaped avatar popped like a balloon. I'd forgotten he could do stuff like that. The guy was like a Swiss Army magician. He knew all sorts of fun, terrifying spells.

Chunks of purple power faded into the Sea of Chaos. My arms and legs throbbed, but at least they were attached. The worst pain came from my chest. Not the outside, though. A deep ache punctured the deepest part of me. Blood escaped my mouth, having come up from my lungs. Wind whipped at my hair and screeched in my ears.

We were only a few feet away from each other. The Sea of Chaos churned all around us, spitting up its gray-red water, barely held together as more whirlpools of glowing light cut the gloom. The Duat shifted between hot and cold randomly. My clothing stuck to my skin. I was soaked. But even as beads of sweat appeared on my skin, they started to freeze while we fell.

The air hissed venomously around us. Shadows warbled.

A sudden noise nearly deafened me. The sound of shattering glass filled the bowl of terror. I tried to look behind me, back to the place I'd come from—back to the ordinary world, where my mom, Paul, my friends, and Annabeth still lived. If the Duat collapsed, and the Sea of Chaos was unleashed, everything would be gone.

Nekhbet wailed. It's too late. The Sea of Chaos has already been spilled into the mortal world through those glowing portals. We failed. We've lost. Even with his defeat, the spirit of Isfet won the war.

"But my family—" I choked on more blood.

Gone! The world is ending! Nekhbet spat. We were too weak! Weak, weak, weak! We were weak!

My breath hitched. "The gods wouldn't let that happen."

Nekhbet groaned. The gods were afraid! We need mortals to fight our battles, as much as it pains me to admit.

I remember Dionysus had said that to me once, when he'd invited me to Bobby Earl's birthday party in lovely rural America while Typhon rampaged, telling me that gods needed heroes. At the time, I'd been a bit too caught up in worrying about the prophecy and fighting Kronos to fully grasp the fact. Now, even though I was terrified about the end of the world, I understood better.

They're . . . gone? I asked Nekhbet. My mouth was too dry to form words. My throat felt like I'd tried to swallow a baseball.

The goddess didn't answer.

I almost puked right there. The bile definitely sprang up to force its way out. Thankfully, I managed to hold it down. Tears moistened my eyes. Ice coated my veins. My heart wrenched painfully.

Strangely enough, I didn't start sobbing. The ice in my body melted. I felt my blood begin to boil. The unease in my stomach went from bitterness to knotted fire. My face heated up, and the tears were brushed away as the wind kept rushing over my face.

"SETNE!"

I roared at him, one of my hands taking hold of his stupid shirt. Cocking my arm back, I punched him so hard some of his teeth came loose.

He tried to block my next punch. His hand came up to catch my fist again.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Instead of falling for that again, I pushed him away, grabbed his wrist, and rammed my knee into his elbow, breaking his arm with a stomach-churning CRUNCH!

My ears picked up on the noise even over the sloshing sea around us. Setne shrieked. He pulled back and launched a bolt of lightning at me. My nerves caught fire when the shock hit me dead center. Despite that, I took hold of him again. We flailed and twisted, throwing punches, kicks, and occasionally biting each other, clawing for any type of advantage we could get.

Now, Setne was a really good sorcerer—one of the best, Nekhbet claimed. Let me just clarify that he was doing fine given the circumstances.

Unfortunately for him, I was in a bad mood. All I saw was red.

My arms and legs broke his bones with each attack.

I felt the shifting under his skin as I pulverized the defenses he threw up to shield his Elvis Presley-looking mug.

All I saw was Setne. My vision was tinted red and black. I felt my teeth grind against each other.

The thunderous sound of a waterfall drowned out everything else apart from my own shouts.

Strength I didn't even know I had filled my body, making my assault impossible to stop. Even though the vulture avatar was gone, something lingered, like a river of power flowing inside me, waiting to be tapped and used.

Probably a side-effect of hosting a god, I thought.

But I didn't care what it was. As long as it let me pummel the greasy sorcerer, I didn't care at all.

I've been protecting you from the tribulations of falling through the Duat, Nekhbet informed me. It has left me drained, but Setne has been doing the same for himself. He is considerably weakened. Strike while you can! End him! Destroy him completely and utterly!

For the first time, I agreed with her. Setne was the one who'd started this whole apocalyptic scenario. He was the one who'd sheared the layers off the Duat, causing the Sea of Chaos to spill into the mortal world. He was the reason I was about to be "torn apart to my very essence of spirituality".

So there was nothing for it anymore. I figured I might as well go out with a bang.

Taking hold of that river inside me, I dredged up all of my remaining strength. Setne was bruised and bloody, his face slowly piecing itself back together after I'd wailed on him.

Giving him a final glare filled with all of my anger toward him, I roared and whipped my fist around, connecting with his gut.

Setne was blasted into the Sea of Chaos, shot down so fast I barely saw him as he streaked into the waters. His body impacted the sea, and a plume of red-gray matter exploded out from the force.

He didn't surface.

"Good riddance," I muttered.

It took me another minute to reach the precipice of the absolutely colossal waves.

I turned over so that I could look back from where I'd come from. I didn't see the Lake of Fire, only a place that looked like someone had broken a window, like glass tinged with a rainbow speckle around the shattered edges.

"Sorry guys," I smiled even though my heart ached. "Guess I wasn't good enough this time around."

And before I could say more, the Sea of Chaos swallowed me whole.

Part II

My memory of the events immediately following taking a swim in the Sea of Chaos are pretty jumbled.

For the most part, I can't say what actually happened and what I imagined. I mean, I'll be honest, the whole ordeal with Setne was pretty exhausting—mentally and physically.

But for the sake of posterity, I'll give it my best shot.

I'll say this much: I remember opening my eyes, then immediately slamming them shut because of the wild colors that bombarded me. Pink, blue, green, purple, yellow, gold; basically everything I could ever imagine. It was like a clown had puked all over a Tilt-A-Whirl.

A few seconds later, after I recovered from the retinal damage, I cracked my eyes open just a bit, enough to start adjusting. Slowly, I opened them wider, until I could look around.

How unpleasant.

My heart skipped a beat at hearing Nekhbet's voice inside my head. Not in a good way, though. More that she scared the living crap out of me since I'd forgotten she was around.

I heard that, you dolt, she huffed. Stop being stupid and figure out what's going on.

"You don't know?" I asked, a bit miffed at her calling me a dolt. That made twice in one day, which was just a bit excessive in my opinion. What, was it "National Pick on Percy Day" or something? Did I miss the memo? I'd need a secretary to keep all those kinds of things in order. "You're the goddess here, Neckbutt."

She squawked indignantly. Don't call me that!

"Neckbutt?"

Stop!

I rolled my eyes. "What happened, anyway, Neckbutt? Last thing I remember was punching Setne until he looked like Play-Doh."

The goddess took a second. Her anger transferred to me from my teasing, but I could tell she was thinking of something else. Almost hesitantly, she said, I need you, before anything, to promise me you will remain calm.

I shrugged. Since I was floating in some crazy kaleidoscope world I figured there wasn't a reason to freak out any more than strictly necessary. Still, my brain-buddy's tone of voice really didn't do anything to keep me calm.

She must have taken my shrug as a sign of acceptance. After another moment, memories started trickling into my brain. I saw things through her point of view. Falling through the Duat. Breaking through the layers unevenly. Thoroughly destroying Setne as we dropped. Finally plunging into the Sea of Chaos, exhausted.

It came back to me.

Our world was gone.

My friends and family were gone.

I stared at the expanse of color around me.

Jackson? Nekhbet prodded.

I focused on breathing. I counted each inhale. Then I subtracted each exhale.

For some reason, the number always ended up at zero.

Math sucks.

Jackson? The voice called to me again.

My eyes wandered the colorful world. I hadn't even noticed the way all those colors tended to move, nice and slow, not nearly enough to make someone motion sick, but just enough to give a sense of progression. That was nice. At least I didn't feel like we were just sitting in one place. A bit of forward momentum was good. It wouldn't be fun to laze around in one spot forever. That would be boring. Very boring. Too boring, actually. And as I thought more about it, I realized how terrible it must have been for people before cars and stuff. I mean, unless they had a death wish, they could only travel on good roads by foot or by horse. That was dangerous, what with robbers and disease and wild animals all a common thing. Plus the weather was hard to predict.

Jackson!

I blinked. "What?"

Keep calm. Breathe. Don't lose focus, Nekhbet instructed me. We need to find a way out of . . . wherever we are.

"Oh. Right."

But the thing is, I didn't see any kind of exit. Colors, colors, and more colors. I wondered if there was even a point in trying to find a way out. What good would that do us?

"Is this the Sea of Chaos? Are we . . . dead?" I asked. Oddly enough, right then, I felt Riptide reappear in my pocket. Strange, considering Setne had eaten it on Governors Island. The outline of my pen in my jeans did help to calm me down, if only a little.

I may not know how it looks like inside, but I can guarantee that this place isn't the Sea of Chaos.

"Okay." I kept slowly moving my eyes and head. In truth, I supposed that if this was the place I'd have to spend eternity inside, it wasn't all that bad. At least there was free entertainment, even if it was at basic cable level. "If Annabeth were here she would know what to do."

I felt tears burn my eyes. Just thinking about the people I'd left behind made my stomach tighten.

Jackson. Listen well. Nekhbet's voice came softly, but I could also hear she was serious. We must come to terms with the fact that our world is nothing but an ocean of never-ending chaos. I don't like it either, but there's nothing we can do at this point.

Given that I was hosting her, the goddess' own feelings weren't lost on me. She had a husband, the god Babi, but she was pretty indifferent about not being able to see him again. What really ground on her gears was the sense of failure. Since she was a protector of Egypt, Nekhbet had a certain amount of pride in her abilities. Losing her crown had been the first blow. The second had come when she'd been convinced to work with me to stop Setne. And the final was, of course, not just failing to get the crown of Upper Egypt back, but also failing to stop the apocalypse. Egypt was forever lost. As a goddess, her pride had been shattered, and as a protector, she'd watched everything being swept away by chaos.

Unfortunately, her own disappointment definitely transferred to me, what with me being her host and all. I didn't feel any better knowing she'd lost things too. It honestly just made me feel worse.

We are sharing each other's burden in this way, Nekhbet huffed.

I frowned, wiping the tears with my arm. "What're you talking about?"

She scoffed. If not for me, you would be insufferably melancholic. I am running myself ragged in trying to influence your emotions. Knowing you lost your mother, your friends, and your lover . . . the kind of person you are would lead to you experiencing a much more visceral, raw reaction than what you are. I am shielding you from all that. Just as you feel my own frustration, as I can only do so much. Be grateful.

My frown faltered, then came back as a scowl. "I never asked you to do that. Why would you even bother? You hate weak people."

True, she muttered, but since you are my host, I feel a bit obligated to assist you.

Though she sounded like she wanted to say more, our attention shifted when a presence made itself known in the loudest possible way: tearing a hole right through a section of the kaleidoscope we were in.

"Holy Hera." I gaped as a massive dragon escaped the rip it had made. Scales a deep scarlet, eyes a piercing gold, four wings, and easily a hundred yards long, the dragon was a sight to behold. Even though it had entered a reasonable distance away, I felt a pull inside my body, like with the Giants, as if this thing had its own gravitational field.

By the pharaohs.

"What . . . is that?"

I don't know. Nor do I believe I wish to make its acquaintance.

"Should we play dead? Don't mice play dead? Let's be mice for a second."

The dragon opened its mouth and roared. Waves of sound sent vibrations through my body. I was thrown back. My hair ruffled and my ears popped. Memories of Kronos' invasion of Manhattan came to mind, and how he'd unleashed a Lydian drakon on us. I'd been terrified then, even with the Curse of Achilles. Now, still dangerously low on energy, I was just about ready to resign myself to my ultimate fate: becoming helpless dragon food.

Real heroic.

But the dragon didn't seem to notice me. Instead, it roared again, which sounded a lot like a motorcycle revving up.

It did a barrel roll.

I stared. What?

It revved again and did a backflip.

I blinked but kept staring. Wait . . . what?

Nekhbet shook her head. I . . . don't have the slightest inkling.

Another engine rev and the dragon did some diagonal cyclone, spinning like a drill cutting through the air.

As it got closer, our eyes locked, and I froze, feeling an immense pressure build in my skull.

«If you don't stop staring, I'll eat you.»

The words weren't spoken as much as they were blasted into my brain. Myriads of color shot across my vision. For a few seconds, I was separated from my body.

«Never mind. You smell too much like chaos. Disgusting.»

When I came back to my senses, I could only ask, "You can talk?"

See, now that may have been a stupid question, but where I'm from, dragons and drakons don't talk. Some monsters can, like dracaenae, but most can only snarl or gnash their teeth together, going on to slobber and roar after a few seconds. So hearing this huge, football-field-sized dragon tell me to stop staring at it was a little shocking.

I make no excuses, even if there are plenty to argue, for why I decided to keep staring at the dragon after it told me not to do so. In the end, I suppose I'm not the most well-mannered guy out there. Many of the gods can testify to that, I think.

«I don't have time to answer your questions, godling.»

It swiped one of its claws through the air. The claw tore through space as if it were fabric.

And without another word, the dragon snorted, its breath blowing me into the portal at terminal velocity. The last thing I saw was its wings folding so it could do another sick flip in the kaleidoscopic world.

Part III

Falling.

Man, I'd spent way too much time falling already. I'll be honest, it was getting pretty old, especially because unlike my good pal Jason Grace, I can't fly.

Well, I can't fly without Nekhbet's help. The vulture avatar does have wings, and I'd used it to pull Setne up above Governors Island before.

But the goddess was pretty burned out by this point. We'd spent all day doing crazy, draining things, so I wouldn't blame her for taking some time to recover.

I wouldn't have complained if she cut back on the Holier-Than-Thou attitude, though.

Do something! She shouted at me.

I plummeted. My face and eyes stung from the wind, which pummeled me relentlessly. When I hit a big group of dark gray clouds, the pain and cold both intensified. All of the moisture that was gathered didn't make for a pleasant experience, the water droplets striking my skin like little BB pellets.

Once I passed through the lowermost layer of clouds, relief flushed my system.

The ocean was below me.

I was going to fall into the ocean.

Most people would still be freaking out, since hitting water while traveling over a hundred miles-per-hour usually meant death. But I'm a man of many talents.

Just to my north was a coastal city.

Wait, a city? How was I looking at a city? The Sea of Chaos should have destroyed everything.

I turned the question to Nekhbet, but she was even more confused than I was.

Now, I wasn't sure what to think about skydiving, but I'd always had the idea that it didn't take very long to reach the ground. I didn't realize just how fast I could fall, though. It only took thirty seconds from exiting the clouds until I was just a hundred feet from the ocean's surface.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a blur of blue light.

Then, I hit the water.

My aches vanished. I felt my muscles loosen up. Saline water always did wonders in patching me back up, like some special doctor just for a son of Poseidon. A lot of my strength came back to me. Usually, it took a little longer, but having Nekhbet with me must have amped up my healing.

Before I could relax, though, the blue blur from above splashed into the water. A hand latched to my bicep and hauled me up through a swirl of bubbles.

The abrupt action left me confused, so I didn't fight, even as I got pulled up to the surface. But we didn't stop moving there. Whoever had hold of me kept going until we were airborne again, moving so fast my eyes hurt.

Stop pussyfooting and defend yourself! Nekhbet shouted at me.

I mentally thanked her for snapping me out of my daze and reached for Riptide with my free hand. Flicking the cap off my pen with a thumb, I swiped at the person holding me, clipping his forearm and causing him to drop me with a grunt.

We had gotten closer to a beach during the flight, and I fell into some shallow waters. Taking the opportunity, I created a current and shot through the foreshore, bursting out onto the swash zone, my shoes digging trenches in the wet sand when I slid ashore.

Across from me, a man flew down, two glowing wings on his back. Except, looking closer, I noted that the wings didn't have feathers, but rather four sections of translucent blue energy.

If it hadn't been for the menacing feeling, I might have run over and given him a big hug. After all, this meant the Sea of Chaos hadn't been released. My friends and family were still alive. I hadn't completely lost.

The guy pushed a wet fringe of dense silver hair out of his eyes. He shook the sleeves of his black leather jacket and squeezed water from his green V-neck shirt. His gaze soon locked on me; predatory, powerful, and intimidating, I put both hands on Riptide's leather hilt in response to the challenge I saw in his eyes.

"Is that any way to thank the guy who saved your life?" His tone was fairly light, but I knew better than to let my guard down.

"Appreciate the sentiment," I responded with a nod. "But I was actually better off in the water."

The guy smirked, his fingers prodding at the small cut in his jacket's sleeve. "Do you have a death wish?"

Good question. "No. Honest. But I've been having a bad day."

"That so? Well, from the looks of it, you're ready to let out some of that aggression on me." He flicked some blood off his fingers; vivid red. "Name's Vali, by the way."

I planted my feet into a better position. "I'm Percy. So what's with the wings? Can you go full-on giant chicken mode like Carter? Or are you some kind of monster?"

Vali's eyebrow went up. For a second, it looked like a grimace crossed his face, but when I checked again he was still smirking. "These wings are my Sacred Gear. You may have heard of it: Divine Dividing."

His confidence in being recognized almost made me feel bad for the guy when I shrugged, shaking my head. "Not ringing any bells. Are you a magician? Is a Sacred Gear another one of your whacko toys?"

"You've never heard of—?" He stared at me strangely. Narrowing his eyes, he glanced at my sword. "I'm no magician. And Sacred Gears aren't toys. They're artifacts, imprinted upon a human's soul at birth, given to humanity as the God of the Bible's method of enacting certain miracles. Although, I suppose some people might use a Sacred Gear as a toy."

I scrunched my face. God of the Bible? As in the Christian God—capital G, God—that Chiron mentioned as a metaphysical matter? That God?

It didn't make sense to me. Not his talk of "God" or whatever those Sacred Gears were. I'd never heard of them. If they were from the Egyptian side, then Carter and Sadie hadn't mentioned them, which sounded like it would be a pretty big oversight if those things were as powerful as Vali made them sound.

Vali took a step forward. In itself, it should have been a pretty mundane thing. But I was already nervous, so the single stride felt damning.

"You're clearly struggling," he said curiously. "Who . . . what are you."

I gripped Riptide harder. "Hey, I asked you first, pal."

"I am the current wielder of the mid-tier Longinus, Divine Dividing. I am this generation's White Dragon Emperor." He put his hands in his pockets. "And since I was born with this Sacred Gear, then it stands to reason I'm human. To some extent, that is."

"Are you a half-blood?" I couldn't help but ask. It was my go-to question when meeting these kinds of people, apparently. I mean, it wasn't exactly a stretch to imagine he was, in fact, a half-blood. He seemed strong.

Vali's eyes lost focus for a bit. He rolled his shoulders, the wings still extended behind him. "Yes. I am."

I didn't relax my posture. Nekhbet was helping keep me alert. The beach we were on was practically empty, even though there was a ton of space. Maybe people thought the cloudy sky meant heavy rain. To our right were rows of buildings that could either be hotels or apartments. The air between us practically crackled with tension.

"What a coincidence. So am I." My smile was forced. I remembered my misunderstanding with Carter and corrected, "Demigod, that is."

An incoming swash drowned my ankles in foamy seawater.

A smile crossed his face. "Demigod, you say? Interesting. Tell me, is it true your kind loves to fight?"

"My kind? I thought you were a half-blood too?"

Thunder rumbled in the distance. When I looked over, I saw flashes of lightning in the distance.

"I'm not part god," Vali shook his head. "I'm a half-devil. My name is Vali Lucifer, a descendant of the original Lucifer."

Okay, I'd fought demons before, but it sounded like he was talking about the Lucifer.

Satan.

The Morning Star.

I mean, almost everybody knew about that guy in one way or another. He was, like, the biggest baddie. Not to mention he was a popular option for people to dress up as during Halloween.

But he wasn't real, right? I'd been to the Underworld before. I'd met Hades. Was that who Vali meant: Hades? Some people might equate Hades to Lucifer. But in my line of work, assumptions like those made me a target for misunderstandings.

"So, yes or no?" Vali Lucifer took another step, hands coming out of his pockets. "Do you love fighting? Are you strong?"

Prepare yourself, Nekhbet warned. He's ready to pounce. We can't assume my avatar, either. Be that as it may, I am allowing you to tap into the last reserves of my power.

I exhaled slowly. "It's more that I'm hard-wired toward it. All demigods have battle instincts. As for being strong . . . I think that depends on who you ask."

Vali hummed. He gave me a final once-over, then cracked his knuckles. "Let's fight then."

Negotiations broke down. He charged me before I could even say otherwise.

His shoes skimmed the sand as he flew, using his wings to keep him afloat. Just as he reached me, he spun and tried to kick my head off.

I dodged, bringing my sword up, drawing another shallow gash on his thigh. Riptide arced, droplets of red blood speckling the celestial bronze. With a twist of my wrist, the sword reversed course to slice into Vali's side.

Vali launched himself back. He smirked and came at me again.

This time, his attack included a few feints. I tried to avoid everything, which meant ducking and weaving like an absolute madman, but eventually, he tagged me with a solid haymaker to my jaw. Pain pounded in my skull as his ridiculous strength lifted me off my feet. I flew further into the surf, thankful, at least, that he had no idea I was packing some serious firepower myself.

As soon as he stepped into an oncoming rush of water, I reached out to the ocean. A breaker cut through the nearshore, built from a massive wave, roaring until it was towering over us. The wall of water surged forward, a speeding swell which could sweep away cars and trees, crashing full force into both Vali and me.

We were completely submerged. In the moment before the wave receded, I exploded through the water, slamming into Vali like a torpedo. My knee hit his chest, and we both went flying out of the water from the momentum I'd carried over. He shot into the stairs leading off the beach, some hundred feet away, shattering the stone and sending sand into the sky.

Again, I was a bit surprised by the power of my attack. Nekhbet's strength combined with my own was nothing to sneeze at, apparently.

Somehow, Vali stood, dusting his clothes off. He rolled his neck, smirking at the very audible pops that came from his spine. A wad of blood fell from his mouth.

"Nice. You're pretty good."

Hold on, what was this guy? I walloped him hard enough to make a Titan think twice before messing with me. I bet even Hyperion would have started blubbering after that. How in the world had this N'Sync-looking son-of-a-hellhound shaken off that hit so easily?

Frowning, I grabbed hold of the river inside me, funneled the flow, and took off. The hundred feet that once separated us disappeared in a second; all it had taken was a few steps. Vali managed to throw himself aside just enough to avoid from being gouged too deeply by Riptide's glowing edge.

But he hadn't been able to escape entirely.

My sword ran along his lower ribs, adding another cut to his body. I planted my foot on the stairs behind him, stopping myself from carrying too far, and pushed hard to redirect my trajectory, Riptide poised to connect with his turned back. He must have seen that coming, though, since he leaped over my swing, flipping in the air to land on the top of the stairs. His wings glowed ominously while he sucked in a breath.

"Let's take things up a notch, shall we? You're making this way too fun." Vali spread the wings wide. "Balance break."

[Vanishing Dragon Balance Breaker!]

A rumbling, powerful voice had shouted from somewhere near Vali. The term honestly meant nothing to me, but when a flash of white light covered his body, I knew things were about to get worse for me.

I would have to thank Lupa, if I ever met her again, since my instinct to raise Riptide defensively saved me from taking one hell of a right hook. As it was, a white gauntlet collided with the flat of my blade. Sparks zipped to life from the point of contact, spraying out between us is a shower of orange.

My muscles hadn't quite been prepared enough for the sudden punch, and so I soared. This time, though, I was thrown well and truly clear of the beach, landing in deep water far offshore.

Any energy I'd just spent came back to me. The sting in my hands from Vali's attack faded. I willed the water to push me up, poking my head above the ocean's calm lapping. A streak of blue was approaching me from the beach.

Vali.

He was fast. Very fast, if the splashing water he kicked up from his flight was anything to go by.

Too bad for him, Nekhbet cawed.

I agreed with her for the second time today. We'd have to mark it down on the calendar so we could celebrate. This was a historic moment. Two people coming together after a long mental struggle. The Cold War of our minds was thawing. Mr. Gorbachev, bring down this wall.

When Vali was only twenty feet away, I threw a half-hearted punch at the air in front of me. A watery fist shot from right beneath him, hitting his gut and sending him tumbling. He righted himself in the air, but by then I was already on top of him. I practically skated over the ocean's surface, faster than a sailfish.

Vali had just barely recovered, adjusting his course of flight by a few inches when my sword cut through one of his wings, both of us traveling so fast that Riptide's edge didn't catch much. To my surprise, he managed to graze me with a haphazard kick to my knee, somehow able to retaliate as he spiraled into the sea.

Then, from below the waves, I heard it: [Divide!]

I gasped as fatigue spread across my body. I almost sank back into the ocean, but managed to keep my shoes planted on the water's surface.

"Wha—?"

The water exploded upward a few feet away from me.

For the first time since the beach, I got a good look at Vali as he floated to the sky. White armor covered him from head to toe, sharp and angular, a full helmet obscuring his face. He had both wings again, though the one I'd cut off before looked like it was glowing a bit brighter than the other.

"How did you like that?" he asked, his voice a bit warbled, but still very much audible, even behind that mask. "The ability of my Sacred Gear, Divine Dividing, is to halve the power of whatever I last touched, adding it to my own stores, allowing me to recuperate that way."

My eyes narrowed. "Did you seriously just tell me what your powers are? Who even does that? Especially in the middle of a fight."

No, but really, who did that? Was this a cartoon? Had falling into the Sea of Chaos brought me to some kind of Bizzaro World? Was this something like the Truman Show?

"Is it so wrong to do so when your opponent has no hope of winning?" Vali reared back, then burst forward. Like a blue line of light, he snapped through the air, zigzagging to throw me for a loop. When he finally came at me, I was ready. He assumed I was only operating at half my full power.

But we were still out at sea.

The ocean's briny flavor stretched for miles in almost every direction.

Not to mention the speed of my recovery had been pumped up ever since I became Nekhbet's host. Having a goddess like her lounging around wasn't all bad. So when he tried to hit me with a frontal attack, it probably came as a shock when I took the punch head on, using the flat of my sword to stop him cold.

Around us, the ocean erupted in a spray.

Hundreds of gallons of water were displaced, my willpower the only thing keeping a small platform stable right beneath my feet. The shockwave screamed outward. His attack had been tremendous. His strength was unreal. He was comparable to Hyperion or Atlas in that regard. If it hadn't been for Nekhbet and the seawater, I'd have been flattened.

An unpleasant shiver crept down my neck.

Pushing him away, I slammed Riptide's pommel into his gut, cracking his dragon-motif suit. He grunted, and I crashed my other fist into his helmet. Vali floated back, staggered, chips of his metal armor flaking away.

My knuckles bled.

"You're strong," he said approvingly. "I'm surprised that you can keep up with me right now."

We charged each other. The next exchange was heated. I slashed, blocked, sidestepped, riposted; basically recalling everything I'd learned from Chiron and my past battles, Riptide blurring through the air as it did what it needed to do. When our blows struck true, after they came together with unyielding strength, water would fly and the ocean rippled.

I apologized to all the fish below us that had to swim for shelter.

Vali was good. No, he was better than good. He was probably the best hand-to-hand fighter I'd ever seen. I mean, that wasn't saying much since I hadn't seen many, but he kept pace with my swings, subtle changes in his posture being added each time I came close to inflicting severe damage. Most of my strikes glanced off his armor, though when we next separated, I could see dents and cuts running along is gauntlets and arms.

He obviously had experience fighting unarmed against sword-wielders. Typically, a bladed weapon would keep someone away if they only used their fists. Not Vali. He was relentless in his attack. All-in-all, the dude was scary, managing to hit me a few more times with his immense strength, the same [Divide] being called out each time his blows connected. My strength was sapped, but then returned thanks to the water after every hit.

That said, given our speed, I couldn't keep up my recovery to match his divisions. I really had to end the fight, otherwise, he would win.

Panting, I slashed my sword through the ocean, sending a fifty-foot wave at Vali. He braced himself, ripping past the wave, both wings wrapped around him.

He flew at me.

I made the water beneath me rise, flipping myself above Vali just enough so I could bring my foot down in an axe kick to his helmet.

The metal armor cracked further, and he was forced to pull away before the strength of my kick sent him careening into the sea. His swaying body told me I'd knocked a few marbles loose.

I got ready to attack him again, but someone chose that time to interfere.

"Now, now, Vali, I told you to investigate the irregularity, not make new friends."

Above us, a man drifted, kept aloft by twelve pitch black feathery wings. A playful smirk twisted the goatee on his chin. He must have dyed his hair, since most of it was black except for his bangs, which were an eye-catching gold.

I guess punk really isn't dead. This man could singlehandedly keep it alive.

"Azazel. I didn't think you'd come all this way," Vali huffed. His armor glowed white, then vanished, leaving him with only those blue robot wings.

"Honestly, I'd only realized my mistake in sending you for something like this a few minutes after you left. Jeez, seriously kid, why'd you have to prove me right?" Azazel crossed his arms. "I'm not sure if you know this, but not everything has to turn into a fight."

"Where's the fun in that?" Vali hooked his thumbs in his pockets. "I've been sitting at home all day. Everyone else was busy. I figured getting a quick fight would keep me level for a while longer."

Azazel chuckled. "You junkie." He turned to me and called, "Hey, you! What's your name, kid?"

I looked between Azazel and Vali. This wasn't an ideal situation. But I'd been in worse. Tartarus, for example, had been bad times. In fact, I'd written a review of the pit on TripAdvisor.

Needless to say, I gave it one star.

I couldn't rightfully give it zero stars since the atmosphere was just to die for. And now that I think about it, I wasn't fully recovered from the physical trauma of constantly drinking from the Phlegethon, breathing the acidic air, that little piece of something breaking inside me when I tried to control Akhlys' poison surge . . .

Wow, Tartarus actually really sucked. Never mind. I'm changing the review. Zero stars it is.

"Aw, c'mon, no need to be shy," Azazel cajoled, gesturing with his hand. "I'm this punk's keeper. He won't try anything funny with me around."

That didn't make me feel better. "He attacked me for no reason," I pointed out.

"Vali is prone to random acts of violence," the man nodded. "But if he attacked you, that's because he thought you could handle it. He wasn't trying to kill you."

I guess he was right. For the most part, Vali hadn't thrown anything at me I couldn't take. "That still doesn't give me a reason to trust you."

Azazel shook his head, smirking. "Well, I can't say I'm not interested in hearing your story if you'd be willing to share. I mean, it's one thing to fly, but walking on water? I knew a guy who did that a long time ago. Are you some kind of poser?"

I wish it were as extraordinary as he made it sound. I mean, Hyperion had been able to do the same thing, so it stood to reason most other gods and Titans could do it. I couldn't speak for the Giants. Maybe Polybotes. Maybe not.

"He's a demigod," Vali said.

Vali went ahead and sank to a low-point by revealing my secret. I mean, it didn't matter all that much to me, since I'd probably have ended up telling this Azazel guy myself. Still, I thought it was rude of Vali, to speak for me. We could never be friends, I decided, especially if he was a tattletale.

Your sarcastic inner monologue is ruining the flow of their conversation, Nekhbet snidely informed me.

Azazel's eyebrow quirked. "A demigod? A nameless demigod, at that."

"Percy Jackson. Nice to meet you," I said, lowering Riptide.

"Oh? Was that so hard?"

This man was a master of biting sarcasm. I blew out a breath. "What are you?"

Azazel looked at Vali curiously. "Is he kidding?"

Vali smirked. He definitely had a bit of Azazel's attitude, now that I saw them side-by-side. "I don't think so. He didn't know what a Sacred Gear was. Had no reaction when I mentioned Divine Dividing."

"Now I'm very interested. A demigod with incredible fighting skills and above-average power, able to hold his own against one of, if not the strongest White Dragon Emperor to date, who doesn't know anything about anything, and who was at the center of that irregular dimensional rift?" Azazel scratched his goatee. "That's too good to pass up right there."

"But, I'd rather pass, if you don't mind." I shrugged.

Searching my posture, he descended until we were eye level. "I'd like to talk with you a bit. So . . . are you hungry by any chance?"

Part IV

Why did I agree to go with Azazel and Vali? A good question with an equally good answer: if they wanted to kill me, they were welcome to try. I wasn't too worried about it. Though Azazel did set me a bit on edge, I didn't get a feeling that he was the kind who would up and attack me without reason.

And in the end, following them worked out for me, since I was in a foreign land.

One of the first things I learned after we got back to the beach was that we weren't in America. When I asked Azazel about it, he told me I'd ended up falling just off the coast of Shirahama, Japan.

That had been more than a little surprising.

The next thing I learned was that Azazel was an angel. Or rather, he had once been an angel. But he fell from grace by having—in his exact words, not mine—hot, steamy, lustfully rough doggy-style sex with a human woman thousands of years ago. I didn't want to think about that too hard.

Anyway, now he was a fallen angel. God (yes, that's God with a capital G, Azazel kept assuring) had exiled him from Heaven for the sin.

Right, he'd gone ahead and explained some things to me, like how Christianity had supernatural factions, split between the main three of Devils, Fallen Angels, and just regular, boring Angels. Something about a Great War having wiped out a ton of the population on all sides.

God existed as the leader of Heaven. Four Devils, known as the Four Great Satans, ruled over their own species in the Underworld. And Azazel was one of the leaders of the fallen angels, heading the organization called "Gregory" or "Grigery" or something like that.

Truthfully, by the time we'd gotten to a restaurant, the adrenaline from fighting was flushed from my system. I felt hollow without that rush. Memories of my mom and Paul and Rachel and Thalia and Grover and Tyson and Annabeth kept popping up as I listened to Azazel go on. I nodded when it was appropriate, but a lot of his words just washed over me without registering. My eyes wandered to the other customers, enjoying their meals in relative silence.

Azazel had ordered for me after learning I couldn't speak a lick of Japanese. Once we'd gotten our food, I ate slowly.

It was probably good. I don't really remember.

"So now that you know a bit more about this place, be honest with me," Azazel said, putting his chopsticks over his bowl of noodles. "You're from an entirely different dimension, aren't you?"

Vali was staring at me intensely. He didn't look the type, but his appetite was ravenous. He'd demolished his plate in under five minutes. Not even a grain of rice remained. Meanwhile, I gently pushed some of my octopus to the side, struggling to use chopsticks. I'd never been good at using them.

"Yeah, I guess that must be the case," I said blandly.

After listening to him talk about all of these other factions and the Christian religion, I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

Was I really in my world? Were my friends and family still alive? The questions burned hot in my mind.

There was a lot of media that said other dimensions existed, and at this point, it wasn't a stretch for me to think that the collapse of the Duat or falling into the Sea of Chaos had transported me elsewhere. Nekhbet also agreed with me on that.

"Will you tell me your story?" Azazel asked. He sounded polite, even if I caught a hint of buried hunger. I could tell he was eager to learn more. "Maybe start with who you are, since both Vali and I have introduced ourselves entirely."

Nekhbet didn't like the idea, and neither did I, but I decided to play along since he was paying for the food. Plus, I didn't get the feeling he was out to kill me.

So, I gave them the barebones summary of what had happened before I arrived. Setne, the Kanes, Annabeth, myself, Nekhbet, the Duat. From there, Azazel wanted to know more about my world in general. Again, I went through a truncated version of what I knew. Finally, both Vali and Azazel seemed interested in hearing about me. I briefly explained my side of the story regarding Kronos' and Gaea's resurrections.

Eventually, with a throat full of cotton, I wrapped it up: "I think I made the dragon angry. It told me to stop staring, then ripped open a portal and launched me through. And I ended up falling from the sky into the ocean."

Azazel whistled. "You met the Apocalypse Dragon. The Dragon of Dragons. The True Red Dragon God Emperor."

Vali's eyes were far away. "Great Red."

"You know him?" I asked, drinking some of my water.

"Kid, I don't think anybody really 'knows' Great Red, except for maybe Ophis," Azazel dabbed a napkin to his lips. "He doesn't involve himself with us plebeians. From what I understand, he keeps to himself, there in the Dimensional Gap where you met him."

"So that's what it's called? The Dimensional Gap?"

"Yeah. And speaking of which, it would seem the only reason you survived was because of that goddess you merged with." Azazel was staring at me unnervingly. "Mortals aren't able to stay there without powerful magic to guard them. The flux of energies tear them apart. Consider yourself blessed."

Nekhbet only hummed doubtfully at that.

I clenched the chopsticks. "Oh, sure, I'm the luckiest guy."

The angel laughed at me. "Don't be like that, kid. Just because everything you know and love is gone—your friends, girlfriend, family, collection of fetishistic porn—that doesn't mean you have to sulk so much."

I stared at Azazel with stinging eyes. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Not at all," he leaned over the table. "But everyone has dead people. We've all got baggage. Those connections you once had? Make new ones. Find a new group of friends. Get another girlfriend. Start a family, however big you want. Create another collection of porn; bigger, better, and more socially unacceptable than the last." Azazel jabbed a finger at me. "You're still alive, aren't you? Get over yourself, Percy Jackson. Do you think the world wants to listen to a whiny, brooding, self-absorbed child? Take it from the guy who once felt like he'd lost everything after one stupid mistake: the pity you have for yourself . . . it's worthless, pathetic, and the greatest form of vanity."

He's right, you know, Nekhbet said coolly. Move on. I will feel much better once I can finally stop corralling all of these emotions.

"It isn't that easy," I muttered, running a finger over the rim of my glass of water.

Nekhbet was a goddess. Immortal. Emotionally, she and I were a far cry from each other. Maybe that's why we worked as a pair. She was so devoid of human emotion that I could put more of my trouble on her. But that was just my theory. I had no evidence, and if Nekhbet knew, she wasn't sharing.

Azazel straightened a few of his bangs. "It'll get easier. Once you find other fulfilling things, it'll get easier. Trust me on that."

I lost whatever appetite I had and set the chopsticks aside. My plate was still full of food. "I guess . . ."

"Good, good. Anyway, since we're on the subject, what are your plans for the future?"

I gave him a faint shrug.

"You're a gloomy fellow, you know that? But here's an offer: come work for me."

I looked at him. "Work? Work for you?"

"Sure! I mean," Azazel shoved Vali, who sat on his side of the table, "I've taken in strays before. Why not add another so we can all sing Kumbaya?"

Vali glared at his boss.

"And," Azazel continued, "it's not like you have anything going on. You have no money, can't speak Japanese, and have no other venue of support. Besides, I've never had such an interesting person drop into my lap before. A demigod merged with a god? I'd like to vivise—no, wrong word. I'd like to run a few non-invasive and completely painless examinations on you."

Now I was glaring at him too. Seriously, this guy was a magnet for other people's negative looks.

"Okay, okay, it was just a joke," he held his hands up. "Except for the first part. That, I was serious about."

"The Greek gods," I said. The idea had come to me suddenly, and I couldn't help but blurt it out. "Are they still around?"

Azazel nodded. "Yup. They're still out and about. Well, that's actually not quite the right term. Most of the major Greek gods stay in Olympus. The minor ones like to wander. But the twelve major gods play their cards close to their chest. Those damn jingoists."

"Maybe I should go visit them," I muttered. Even if I was in a new dimension, as Azazel believed, surely my father wouldn't be a total stranger, right? What were the odds of him having a completely different personality? And knowing him . . .

No, that was wrong. The thing is, I didn't know my dad all that well to begin. He may have favored me back in my world, but not enough to break those old laws. I'd probably only talked to him for less than two hours in my whole life. Above all, he was a god. I was a mortal. I would die eventually, and he could always have another kid in the future.

"You could do that," Azazel agreed. "But to what end? Do you want to bring yourself more pain? Because let's face it, kid, that's all you'd be doing. Those gods aren't the ones you described to me in your story."

"I want to go anyway." My fist clenched. "I have to be sure."

I wouldn't stop until I knew the truth. I'd go back to New York. I'd see for myself, with my own two eyes, that the people I cared for were gone. Only then would I ever accept the possibility of moving on.

He sighed. "Fine, I'll see if I can't arrange something."

I stared at him. "I'm not asking for your help."

"I know. I'm offering."

Did this guy have a secret soft side or something? I started to worry about his motivations again. "Why would I need you to arrange something?"

"How else are you planning on getting into Olympus? Kid, remember, these aren't the gods you know. Like I said, the Greeks prefer keeping a low profile these days, and from what I recall, they still live in Greece, on the actual mountain of Olympus. Were you gonna march up to the gates of Olympus and demand an audience? Were you just gonna kick the doors open and tell them you're their long-lost relative from another dimension, sent here after fighting an Egyptian sorcerer and falling into the Sea of Chaos?"

Vali snorted. "If you want to do that second thing, invite me. The ensuing fight would be a fun one. Just be sure to give me some time to plan. I know a few people who'd be interested as well."

My shoulders sagged a little. I hadn't thought about how I would meet the Greeks of this world.

Yeah, if they were anything like the ones I knew, this world's Zeus would probably blast me to bits if I annoyed him enough. Or Ares would try to gut me. And if I got really unlucky, Athena would send an owl to gouge my eyes out or something.

The gods were a bunch of jerks.

"Well, what'll it be, kid? I can set you up with cash and a place to stay while I pull some strings and get you your meeting." Azazel leaned back in his seat. "Of course, I'll make you earn your keep."

I played with the water in my glass. "You aren't trying to make me sell my soul, are you?"

"Not at all! That isn't my kind of schtick."

"Then what do you get out of this?"

The man shrugged. "Honestly? An errand boy who won't start fights with everybody even remotely interesting. Not to mention a sparring buddy for Vali here, who sends too many of my soldiers to the infirmary every month."

Scoffing, Vali crossed his arms and looked away. "Your men are just weak."

Was that a blush I saw? Did I miss something? He was supposed to be a descendant of Lucifer. Where was the maniacal laughter and evil smiling?

I was still skeptical about Azazel's intentions. If he were a regular angel, I might take his word at face value. But he wasn't. "Just so we're clear, if I do accept, you aren't going to cut me open like a frog and harvest my organs or something, right?"

"Nothing so gruesome," Azazel waved my concern off. "Although, if you ever want to donate in the name of science . . ."

"No."

"Fair enough! Then I won't do anything like that. Deal?"

I thought about it. "Swear on the Styx."

Azazel quirked his eyebrow. I explained, "Where I'm from, an oath sworn on the River Styx is binding. Terrible punishment falls on someone who breaks their oath. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. Never actually seen that happen."

He hummed. "If you insist. I swear, upon the River Styx, not to go through with any vivisections or organ harvests on Percy Jackson. Unless he's okay with it."

"Fat chance," I mumbled.

I waited for thunder to rumble, but it never came.

Maybe, then, I shouldn't have accepted, since there weren't any solid guarantees on my safety. But after the day I'd had, my level of caring was low. He was offering to pay me and give me a place to stay for whatever services I'd provide. That was a hard bargain, considering I'd only ever been offered payment once by the gods in my old world, and that was after I'd helped save their thrones.

Of course, their method of payment had been trying to gift me godhood. So maybe they decided to overcompensate.

How could you turn that down? Nekhbet screeched in my mind, starting her rant all over again, basically picking up where she'd left off when we'd been fighting Setne. To be a god is the pinnacle of power.

I tuned her out and looked at Azazel. His offer could have been a trap, a way for me to lower my guard so they could strike when I least expected it. But if that was their game, then fine. If they wanted to kill me, I'd let them try. They weren't the first, and I seriously doubted they would be the last. Maybe if I met my monthly quota of near-death experiences, this place could feel more like home.

Mind made up, I held my hand out. "Okay, I'm in. For now. When do I start, boss?"

Azazel seemed satisfied, taking my hand with his. "Immediately. I'll talk to my secretary to see about meeting the Greeks. That might take a few months, though. In the meantime, I have some simple jobs to help ease you into our arrangement."

I hadn't known it then, but with that handshake, I was set on a path that would eventually lead to me meeting an entirely new group of heroes, brought together by a kid with the ridiculous dream of becoming Harem King.

A dream, I might add, he actually managed to fulfill.

End Chapter