Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I know, I know, please don't be mad."

Currently, Zachariah Roosevelt was inside the stables with his friend, Grover and his pet, Fantasy. Apologizing to his favorite Pegasus for not bringing her along on the quest that he received from Hermes.

Fantasy made a sound and Zach waited for translation. "She said, "You better take me when you go meet your mother afterwards."" Grover repeated her exact words.

"Hah!" Zach was amused. "Tá brincando comigo?" The plain looking boy said in portuguese. "The first thing that I'm gonna do when I get her location, is mount you and fly as quickly as possible to encounter her." Zachariah announced, which Fantasy seemed happy to hear.

"Speaking of which, what exactly are the details of this quest you're going?" Grover asked him.

"I literally have no idea." Zach revealed to Grover, and he seemed deeply confused by that.

"What do you mean you have no idea?" Grover asked in confusion. "Wasn't the quest given to you specifically?"

Zachariah sighed in deep annoyance before answering Grover's question. "Thalia and Annabeth dragged me out of the room before Hermes could give me the details." He tried to protest, but Thalia just shocked him and dragged him out of the office.

"Why?" Grover asked. But then Fantasy said something to Grover. "Yes, that actually makes sense." He agreed with her.

Zach was confused. "What makes sense?" Grover grinded his teeth as he seemed reluctant to answer him. In response, Zach folded his arms and looked at him with an angry face. "Say it..." He demanded.

Grover sighed before speaking. "They probably predicted that you would sneak out of the camp in the middle of the night to go on the quest by yourself." His Satyr friend explained. "Which is why they didn't give you the details of the quest."

Zach just stared at Grover with a completely blank expression. "Aaaahhhhh..." He grunted in annoyance. "Yeah... I probably would have done that." He admitted in shame. "But it's still annoying, the quest is mine, yet they're the ones handling everything."

"Maybe it's for the best," Grover pointed out. "You're not exactly someone that plans things Zach, and I definitely wouldn't want you to be disappointed over not receiving your mother's location due to failing the quest because of a lack of planning."

Zach looked down for a bit. "Yeah..." He still can't believe that he finally has a clue about his parents. All he had to do was complete this quest and finally meet his mother. But, there was a part of him that is still a bit insecure about actually meeting her. Suddenly, Zach felt Fantasy placing her head on his shoulder and rubbing the she of her head on his cheek.

She said something. "She said, don't be afraid of meeting your mother."

Zach just chuckled in response. "Why would I be afraid?" He asked.

His pet Pegasus's only response was to stare deeply into Zachariah's unnatural blue eyes with her very dark eyes. Because he knows perfectly well why. He then patted Fantasy's head tenderly.

Preparing his things for the Quest, Zachariah filled his backpack with the essentials for the trip. Extra underwear, his CD player, some extra Celestial Bronze bullets for his revolver, loads of snacks that he stole from vending machine before his fight with the Manticore and a Game Gear that he got as a birthday gift from his friend Charles Beckendorf, who Zach usually spends time playing video games with the children of Hephaestus inside Cabin 9.

"Alright," Zach said as he put his usual outfit on, his vintage blue jeans, his gray skateboard shoes and his black and white long sleeved striped T-shirt, sadly, his outfit was incomplete without his hoodie. "All I have to do is complete this Quest." He spoke to himself as he put his fake glasses on to conceal his unnatural blue eyes. "Como eu odeio essa porcaria de óculos." He whined in Portuguese as he checked himself in the mirror, because he looks like a dork with glasses.

The son of... Someone then checked his digital wristwatch. Which was the time that Luke told him to be at the entrance of the camp for them to go on their Quest. So Zach jumped out of the window of the room and made his way there.

His lack of information about the Quest was certainly still a problem, but Zach had another doubt on his mind. Who the hell is going to accompany Luke and I? It was Zach's question. Thalia couldn't go with them because there might be a risk of an attack from Hades, although the coast could be clear, they would rather not risk it. Annabeth couldn't go either because her training wasn't yet complete, even though Zach knew that her brains were her greatest weapon and it would come in handy, he had to agree that she wasn't really ready for a Quest. But that left a big question of who would join them. Mostly because, Zachariah wasn't exactly popular on the Camp, and the vast majority wouldn't want to join on a Quest given to him.

Arriving at the entrance of Camp Half-Blood. Zach could see Annabeth standing there, but no sign of Luke or Thalia.

"One of my favorite girls in the world," Zach spoke as he approached them. "Here to see us off?"

"Maybe," Annabeth folded her arms. "Where's Luke and Thalia?"

"I'm the one that should be asking that," Zachariah replied. "Luke told me to come here at this hour."

"He's probably getting things ready," Annabeth told him. "They'll be here at any minute."

Zachariah adjusted his fake glasses as he looked at the Demi-Goddess. As he observed her with his blue eyes, something came to mind. Something exceptionally important that he needed to tell her before it was time for him to go, because it wouldn't have the same impact once he came back. Taking a very deep breath, the plain looking boy spoke. "I have an announcement to make." Once he spoke, his unnatural blue was met by the gaze of her stormy gray eyes "Once this Quest is done..." He made a dramatic pause that caused Annabeth to look at him apprehensively because she probably thinks that he's going to do something stupid afterwords. "I'm never sneaking out to Monster Hunt again."

That announcement however, caused Annabeth to widen her eyes in surprise. "Seriously?!" She was clearly shocked by what she heard.

"Well, there's no reason for me to keep doing that once I found my mother." Zach started to explain. "You heard Hermes, my dad probably doesn't even remember that he had me." That part still disappointed Zachariah considerably, not that he was delusional to think he'll treat Zach better than the other gods treat their children but he really wanted to know and maybe uncover some special agility.

Without any type of warning, he was hugged by Annabeth. "You're still upset about the fact that your father forgot about you, aren't you?" It wasn't really a question.

"A little." Zach returned the hug immediately. "But, the prospect of finding my mother is good enough for me."

"No offense, but keep your expectations low." She advised her friend.

"They're already as low as they can get to be honest." Zach admitted before they separated from the hug.

"Well, here's something to cheer you up." Annaneth moved towards a tree and grabbed something that was on the ground. "It's a little baggy but..."

"Woah!" It was Zach's instant reaction towards Annabeth's gift. It was a white PU Leather jacket with viscose lining, zipper buffs, a deep-seated zipper closure, two chest zipper flap pockets and two waist zipper flap pockets. But what called the most attention on it, was the image on the back, which was basically an extremely detailed portrait of Fantasy. "Where did you this?!" Zach asked as he put it on, it was indeed a little baggy on him, but it was okay.

"Don't ask." Annabeth was quick to reply with a smile.

Zach wanted to ask, but he was too busy admiring his new awesome jacket. Once he admired for a minute, he moved his head to look at his blond friend. Before he opened his arms widely.

"No..." Annabeth tried to stop it. But it was no use. "Zach! Hahahaha!" Zachariah Roosevelt grabbed Annabeth Chase by the thighs and lifted her off the ground and started to spin around. "No! Stop it! Hahahaha!" Annabeyh yelled and laughed as he did. The boy with light brown hair then stopped the blond girl, wrapping his arms around her torso as he did, and with her wrapping her arms around his neck as her feet reached the ground. "I hate it when you do that." She was trying to sound angry but she was actually smiling as she said that.

"No, you don't." Zach knows that she actually adores when he does that, but she lies in order to not give him the satisfaction. "But seriously though, I really appreciate the gift." He told her with a big smile.

"You're welcome." Annabeth replied with a smile as well.

The two friends stayed like this for a few seconds, until they heard something. "Umm... Hey." Both of them heard a voice coming from their right, only to see Luke and Thalia standing there with amused looks on their faces. Zach and Annabeth looked at each other once again and immediately separated from their embrace awkwardly.

"Hey... What took you so long?" Zach asked Luke as he scratched his head awkwardly.

"I was gathering some things that we might need to use on our quest." Luke explained while approaching them. He was wearing brown jeans, a yellow T-shirt that matched his hair, white running shoes and a brown denim jacket that matched his jeans.

"Where did you get that jacket?" Thalia asked as she approached them as well.

Zach smiled before wrapping his arm around Annabeth's shoulder. "This was an awesome gift from my awesome friend." He announced.

Annabeth just smiled in response.

"I like it, it suits you." Thalia told him before she approached him and stood on the collar of the jacket and closed the zipper halfway. "There, now you look awesome."

"Yup!" Zach then made a heroic pose, which actually made him look really goofy. "So, who's coming with us?" He quickly asked Luke.

"Well..." Luke adjusted his hiking backpack before responding.

"Hey! Wait up!" Suddenly, they heard a really sweet voice calling out for them, it turned out to be Silena Beauregard. She was wearing blue jeans,black low-top shoes, a gray sweater and red cardigan.

"Wait... You're the one coming with us?" Zachariah asked in complete surprise. Not that he minds her coming with them, but he was still surprised.

The beautiful daughter of Aphrodite approached them before speaking. "Are you kidding, I've been waiting for an opportunity to go on a Quest."

"And she was literally the only one we could find that was willing to go on a Quest with you." Annabeth bluntly added.

"Oh," Zachariah was kind of expecting that answer. "Okay." But he honestly didn't care, Silena was the perfect company already. But he had a question. "Who's gonna look after the stables without you around?" He mostly asked because Fantasy was a little fussy with people she doesn't know.

"One of my sisters and Glover will take care of that, don't worry." Silena told him before touching his shoulder, but it seemed that she was actually checking his jacket out. "Nice jacket."

"It's his reward for promising that he would stop smoking." Thalia spoke while folding her arms. "And thanks again for telling me about it."

Zach sighed as he remembered that it was Silena that snitched on him. "Hey, smoking is bad for you and I happen to worry about your well being." Silena told him with a smile as she patted his head.

"Hmm..." Zachariah looked down embarrassed due to Silena's smile. "So... Shall we get going?" He asked Luke.

"Yes, we should." Luke agreed with him before he turned his gaze towards Thalia.

"Be careful, and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Thalia requested him before giving him a big hug that Luke gladly returned.

"I don't think even the gods can keep Zachariah Roosevelt from doing something stupid, but I'll do my best." Luke joked to Thalia.

"Hey..." Zach was a little insulted by that.

The two then separated from the hug and Thalia immediately moved towards Zachariah. "I don't need to tell you to be careful do I?" Thalia immediately looked at him apprehensively, already expecting him to not be careful as it wasn't exactly a word in Zach's vocabulary. Zachariah just rolled his eyes and opened his arms widely. Which caused Thalia's apprehensive face to turn into a warm smile. Proceeded by a very, very tight hug between the two. "Please be careful, okay?" She warmly requested him.

"Okay..." It was his reply.

Both the daughter of Zeus and the son of... Someone kept on embracing one another for a whole minute until they finally separated.

"So, are we ready?" The boy with light brown hair asked his blond friend.

"Yes, we should get going." Luke spoke before he gave Annabeth a quick hug.

"Lead the way budd-..." Zach was about to say buddy, but he decided to say something else. "Lead the way big bro."

Saying that caused Luke to smile at him, with the girls joining soon after.

With that, the trio composed of the son of Hermes, the daughter of Aphrodite and the son of... Someone made their way out of the camp, waving goodbye at the daughter of Athena and the daughter of Zeus.

"We should give this a paint job or something." Zachariah commented. "Maybe yellow or red."

"Yellow would work better, and it would actually fit together with Luke's blond hair." Silena agreed with Zachariah on that. "But we could add some details in red."

The trio were currently sitting inside of a pickup truck that belonged to Luke. Luke actually found the car abandoned a year ago and decided to take it, letting it park in a hidden spot away from the camp in case. It had a red color but it clearly needed a paint job. Luke was driving the car, Silena was sitting on the passenger seat with the wind blowing on her beautiful hair and Zachariah was laying on the backseat twirling his unloaded revolver.

"Maybe on our way back, you two can decide the color." Luke spoke as he drove down the road.

"Awesome, so bright or dark yellow?" Zach asked Silena enthusiastically.

"Definitely bright." She immediately responded with the same enthusiasm. "Maybe we could add some details on dark red to highlight it, we could also add a symbol or something."

"No symbols on my car." Luke immediately protested.

"How about drawing or an image then, like the one on my jacket?" Zach suggested.

"Maybe..." Luke seemed to be okay with that suggestion.

Zach then stopped twirling his revolver and rolled over to grab something from the backpack that he was using as an improvised pillow to grab some snacks.

"I meant to ask you two things, Zach." Silena spoke as Zach pulled out a bag of potato chips.

"Go on." Zach replied as he put a chip on his mouth.

"Question number one, how old are you anyway?" She asked him.

"We... not exactly certain to be honest, we kind of assume that he's at least the same age as Annabeth." Luke responded to him. It was true, they never really figured out how old Zach was or his actual birthday, they usually celebrate the day that Luke and Thalia found him as his birthday. Annabeth is the one that theorized that Zach is the same age as hers, though she firmly believes that he's at least a few months older than her.

"Really?" Silena seemed a little upset with the information. Probably assuming that it's a little sad not knowing how old you actually are. But, Zach never really cared about that.

"What was the other question?" Zach decided to ask in order to change the subject.

"Oh, umm... Where did you get your scythe and your revolver?" She asked how Zach got his iconic weapons.

"Hmm... Charles Beckendorf made the revolver for me after I complained about needing a long-range weapon ." After one of his monster hunts, one where he had an epic battle alongside Fantasy against a Drakon. Zach ended up whining that to Charles while they were playing a first-person shooter with some of his half-brothers that he needed a long-range weapon but he hated bows. So Charles had the idea of making him a revolver like the one he used in the game, which Zachariah thanked him a thousand times already for it, especially since he's the one that makes the bullets for Zach. That's the origin of his bronze colored Revolver. Making Zachariah, the only person inside Camp Half-Blood that actually uses a gun. "The Scythe... Ummm... I don't really know, it just appeared inside my backpack the day after we met Annabeth." Zachariah was still recovering from a black eye after getting hit on the face by a hammer that Annabeth was carrying, so the scythe was a pleasant surprise.

"Just appeared?" She asked Luke in confusion about that.

"Yes, honestly, we actually wanted to get rid of it because we thought it could be cursed or something." Luke explained to her. "But Zach refused to part ways with it, and even used to kill a monster later that day, so we just let him keep it."

"A great decision as it is the perfect weapon for me." Zach commented.

"Why is that?" She asked in curiosity.

"To put it bluntly," Luke decided to answer for him. "Zach is possibly the most unskilled warrior in Camp Half-Blood."

"What?!" It was Zach's reaction to that. "I literally wiped the floor with everyone I fought in Camp." He was quick to point out defensively at what Luke just said. "Including you." Which is something important as Luke is regarded as the best swordsman in Camp in the last three-hundred years.

"Yes, you did." Luke admitted gracefully. "But that was because you're way stronger and faster than everyone else in Camp, not because you were more skilled." He also pointed out. "Your attacks are exceptionally sloppy, imprecise and you never take the fight seriously, constantly trying to show off and doing things just because they look cool." Zach looked away embarrassed at what Luke said, because the last part was indeed true. "The only positive thing I can say about your fighting skills is that you're exceptionally unpredictable in a fight, which definitely gives you an advantage." It was also true. "I'm saying that because I care about you and really wish you would improve the other aspects of it because you can't just rely on your superior superhuman abilities forever." Then he looked at Silena for a bit. "To answer your question, the scythe complements his unorthodox fighting style perfectly."

Zach sighed before giving a thumbs up in confirmation of what Luke said. Before he basically devoured all the chips on the bag by basically shoving them on his mouth at once. Once he finished swallowing them, Zachariah finally decided to ask the question that has been bothering him since yesterday. "So," He sat up on the backseat. "What is the Quest about?" The fact that they were already on their way to it and Zach doesn't know anything about it really annoys him, especially since he doesn't know where the hell are they going.

Luke just looked at him for a second before moving his head back towards the road and responding to it. "Basically, we're searching for Pandora's Pithos."

Both Zachariah and Silena, who apparently was unaware of what the quest was about, look at one another in shock. "What do you mean searching?" Zach asked. "Someone stole Pandora's Box?" Though most mortals refer to it as a box or jar of some sort, it was actually a pithos, a storage jar. But Zach prefers box.

"According to my father, the box disappeared from the location where it was being kept." Luke explained to his little brother in all but blood.

"But, who could have possibly stolen it?" Silena asked their driver.

"The main suspects are Pandora herself and her husband Epimetheus." Luke revealed to them, but he genuinely doesn't seem to share this suspicion. "I don't really think it was them, but they are our only clue at the moment."

"Alright, but..." Silena seemed a little curious. "Where exactly are they?"

Luke then pointed at the glove compartment, which Silena opened and pulled something out of it. Both Zach and Silena then stared at it and saw what it was. "A postcard?" Zach asked, with Luke nodding in response.

"Apparently, Pandora has a tendency of sending postcards to Hephaestus." Luke explained.

Silena raised a brow in response to that. "Well, technically, Hephaestus is Pandora's father." She pointed out that Pandora was a creation of both Zeus and Hephaestus. Making the two technically her fathers.

"And your step-father." Zach pointed out, with Silena rolling her eyes in response. "Where is this from anyone?" He asked as he watched the image on the postcard.

"From the information I gathered, it's located in Venice." The son of Hermes pointed out.

"We're going to Venice?" Silena immediately seemed excited with the prospect.

"Yes," Luke told her, causing her to cheer in excitement. "But remember, this isn't a vacation."

"No, but we can have some fun while we're there." Zach thought in amusement. "Especialmente se isso vai me dar a oportunidade de passar um tempo com você." Zach told Silena something in Portuguese.

"That language you speak is very interesting, it sounds like Spanish but different." Silena commented.

"Spanish is an interesting language." He commented. "It's a little more... Caliente."

"Do you even know what caliente means?" Silena asked with a giggle that Zachariah noted.

"No, is it something weird or offensive?" He asked the girl he has a crush on.

"No..." Silena replied while looking away with a funny face.

"Oh come on, tell me what it means." Zachariah pleaded as he touched her shoulders from the backseat.

She giggled a bit. "It means hot in Spanish, you just say that Spanish is hot."

That caused both Zachariah and Luke to burst into laughter as a result of that. "You really need to figure out the meaning of certain words before speaking them, Zach." Luke immediately told Zach while trying to control his laughter.

Zach laughed a bit before he said something. "Okay, now that I do..." He wrapped his arms around Silena's neck. "You're a very caliente lady, Silena Beauregard." He told the daughter of Aphrodite in an exceptionally comical sounding Spanish accent.

Both Silena and Luke laughed out loud after he said that, probably because of the horrendous accent that he tried to do. "Thank you very much, Zachariah Roosevelt." She did sound flattered by what the bland looking boy said.

They all laughed together a little more, before Zach asked a question. "But seriously, what exactly are we supposed to do if you're suspicion is correct?" He asked Luke while still hugging Silena from the backseat, which she clearly didn't mind.

"Then I'll have to ask my father for the location where the box was being kept to investigate further, but let's focus on this lead first." Luke answered Zach while he accelerates the car due to the road being empty.

"Hmmm..." Zach then let go of Silena and laid down on the backseat once again. Then he reached inside to pull out his CD player to listen to some music.

But before he could, he was interrupted by Silena. "Put on the car player instead." She asked him.

"You sure?" His taste in music may not be the same as hers.

"It's probably going to be a long ride, so we could use the distraction." Silena pointed out.

"Alright," Zach then opened the CD player and picked up his personal CD which had ZR's favorites on it. "Here we go." He handed the CD to her and she placed it on the car player.

Then one of his favorite songs started to play. "Oh, I like this one." Silena commented as she leaned back on her seat to appreciate the song.

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
I don't care 'cause I'm not there
And I don't care if I'm here tomorrow
Again and again I've taken too much
Of the things that cost you too much
I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun...

As the three of them listened to the song , a few thoughts invaded Zachariah's mind. Thoughts in the form of images of how his mother could look and be like. He imagines a beautiful woman, because for some reason, he assumes that his completely unremarkable appearance comes from his father. He doesn't know why though.

When I was a very small boy,
Very small boys talked to me
Now that we've grown up together
They're afraid of what they see
That's the price that we all pay
Our valued destiny comes to nothing
I can't tell you where we're going
I guess there was just no way of knowing
I used to think that the day would never come
I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun...

He also imagines her being cool and having an interesting lifestyle, because he can't really imagine her being some type of uptight woman. If she was, he's perfectly okay with that too. Though, he would be a certain disappointment to her if that was the case.

I feel so extraordinary
Something's got a hold on me
I get this feeling I'm in motion
A sudden sense of liberty
The chances are we've gone too far
You took my time and you took my money
Now I fear you've left me standing
In a world that's so demanding
I used to think that the day would never come

But the scenario that scared him the most to even think about was her reaction when he shows up. Zach was actually deeply afraid that she's just going to shoo him away or not even remember having a son. Which was a insecurity caused by the fact that his father doesn't even remember having him.

I'd see delight in the shade of the morning sun
My morning sun is the drug that brings me near
To the childhood I lost, replaced by fear
I used to think that the day would never come
That my life would depend on the morning sun...

Whatever it was, he'll accept the outcome independent of whether it's good or bad. That was a promise.

But then a problem emerged. "I have to pee." The brown haired boy announced.

"This bed sucks..."

Zachariah, Silena and Luke had to make a stop to get some rest. Although Zach had no problem with sleeping in the car. Silena and Luke decided to stay at a cheap motel for the night.

The motel had two floors and the room that they rented for the night was on the second floor. The room was pretty standard, one bed, a small fridge, a table,a chair, a Tv and it had a bathroom.

Zach was currently laying on the uncomfortable bed watching the news on the TV. His jacket was on top of the table and his shoes were next to the door.

Silena was taking a shower in the bathroom. Zach contemplated peeking on her, but decided against it as he was afraid that she'll be disgusted with him if she caught him.

Luke went out to get some dinner.

The news report spoke of a car crash that occurred a hundred miles away from their current location where five people died. Zach found that pretty depressing and changed the channel. Into a cartoon, an old episode of Ducktales. Oh, I love this show.

Eventually, the Daughter of Aphrodite came out of the bathroom wearing a white bathrobe, drying her hair with a towel. The son of... Someone simply smiled at her, with his lips closed, of course.

"So..., What exactly are we going to do with the bed problem?" Silena asked Zachariah as she approached the bed.

She was referring to the fact that there's only one bed there. "One sleeps on the bed, one sleeps on the floor and one can sleep on the bathtub." He suggested.

"Why would anyone sleep in a bathtub?" She asked while she finished drying her hair.

Zach looked away a little embarrassed as he actually slept on a bathtub on a few occasions.

"Really?" She probably noticed his embarrassment.

"Really." He confirmed.

He heard her sighting before she said. "Are you comfortable sharing?" Hearing that, caused the unclaimed Demi-God to widen his unnatural blue eyes in response.

"You mean...?" He asked while staring at Silena's face. Sadly, he didn't notice that he had a pretty perverted looking smile on his face.

"Don't get any funny ideas, Zachariah Roosevelt." She stated in an amused tone.

"I have a lot of funny ideas, like when I filled Ares's Cabin with crickets." After he said that, Silena burst into laughter.

"HAHAHA! Wait?! You did that!?" She asked him while laughing, since every single one of Ares's children started to throw tantrums over the noise that the crickets made.

Zach only gave a thumbs up as a response. Which caused her to laugh even more.

As she laughed, Luke opened the door with two bags on his hands that probably had takeouts inside. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"Ummm, Ares's Cabin plus crickets. " Zach informed him.

"You did that?" Luke asked with an apprehensive look.

Silena only laughed harder as Zach immediately looked away embarrassed.

The blond boy only sighed before he handed one of the bags to Zach. "A Chilli Burger with Pepper Relish and a large portion of chili fries with that Brazilian soda that you like."

"It's called Guaraná Antarctica , and thanks." Zach corrected him before grabbing the bed with his dinner.

"And...Spinach, sweet potato & lentil dhal with a bottle of water." Luke said as he handed to Silena.

"Are you on a diet?" Zach asked her as he ate a frie.

"No, I just like eating healthy." Silena said in response. Considering her lovely figure, Zach could see why.

"And... chicken and fried rice with Coca-Cola for me." Luke spoke as he opened his bag.

As the three of them opened, they ate their dinners. Zachariah had to ask something important. "So, how exactly are we getting to Venice?" He asked his brother for everything but blood.

"We're taking a plane." Luke informed him.

"Ummm... Can we take planes?" He asked because the air is Zeus's territory.

"Zeus doesn't really hate me or Silena and I don't think he dislikes you enough to actually do something, especially since the quest is definitely more important." Luke answered him.

"Wait, Zeus dislikes Zachariah?" Silena asked as she drank some water.

"Yes..." Zachariah answered. "Don't ask why..." Thalia forced him to swear that he would never tell anyone what he did to make Zeus dislike him. "The feeling is mutual if you want to know, Zeus is definitely my second least favorite Greek god." He told her before he opened his cheeseburger and placed some chilly fries inside of it.

"Who's the first?" Silena asked him as she drank some water.

"Whoever my father is..." Zach admitted, but he was open to changing his opinion if he ever meets him. "I'm keeping my expectations low, but I'm gonna admit to you two right now, I'm really hoping that I actually find my mother and Hermes simply doesn't give me the address of a tombstone."

Saying that, however, caused Luke to look angry. To the point where he actually placed the plate on the table before rubbing his eyes. Zach immediately regretted saying that as Luke probably didn't think that it was possible and If it was, he would probably attack Hermes on the spot in fury as a result of it.

"Wait, you actually think that they would do such a thing?" Silena asked, as she was aware that the Gods were insensible jerks most of the time but this crosses all limits.

"Yes." Zach told her. "But, if that is the case, I'll just visit her and leave flowers on her grave every week."

"Zach... That is both adorable and depressing." Silena told him as he ate a bit of her food.

"I know..." The boy with light brown hair replied as he took a bite of his cheeseburger. "Need some ketchup..."

AWESOME!

Zach thought as he was more than pleased with the current situation. Currently, Luke was sleeping on the floor with a sleeping bag that he brought. While Zachariah was enjoying himself besides Silena as they shared the cheap motel's bed. She smells so nice... Silena was wearing some adorable orange pajamas, while Zach was wearing a baggy T-shirt that Luke landed on him and his white briefs. Both were under the blankets with Silena laying on her stomach and Zach was laying on his back. Just a little closer... Truth was, the bland looking boy was trying to move her arm to wrap around his torso.

It was pathetic, but this the closest he would ever get to being intimate with Silena. Honestly, Zach highly doubts any girl will ever be interested in being more than friends with him.

There we go... Now her arm was on top of his chest. I can sleep satisfied now. He thought as he closed his eyes to get some sleep.

Or not, as there was someone knocking on the door. I bet my revolver that it's a monster. Zach purposely used electronics on the way there, which probably attracted some creatures. Luke tried to order him to stop but he knew that it was pointless and Silena didn't really pay attention to him.

The knocking on the door continued, and it eventually woke his friends up. With Luke actually sitting up and looking at Zach. Silena also looked at Zach, probably assuming the same as them. After a few more knocks, Zach had enough of it and simply moved to answer with Silena and Luke looking as he did.

You ruined my chance of cuddling with a Daughter of Aphrodite, so prepare yourself for a world of pain. Wasting no time, Zach abruptly opened the door. Only to see a guy wearing painfully obvious burglar clothes that even included a mask. Just a random robber? Zach was disappointed. "You know, if you wanted to be any more obvious, just write a sign saying "I'm a burglar" or something like that." Zach said sarcastically.

"Look kid, hand over everything you have before I-" The guy pulled out a small revolver from his pocket and tried threatening the bland looking boy.

"WATAAA!" But before the guy could finish his threat, Zach kicked the revolver off his hand with a kung-fu kick that he saw in a movie. "Woooh! AAATTTA!" Before he delivered a jump kick into the guy's face that sent him flying off the balcony.

"What the hell!?" He heard someone asking from his left, only to see another burglar. Before the guy could have any sort of reaction. Zach charged towards him and delivered a drop kick on his chest, which sent him flying into the wall at the end of the balcony.

"Hey, wake up!" Hearing a third voice on his right. Zach looked down from the balcony and saw a third burglar trying to awake the first one that Zach knocked up. An evil smile appeared on his face, and he climbed on top of the balcony's ledge and prepared himself for a manoeuvre. "The hell happened to you?!"

"This!" Zach yelled to call his attention, before he jumped down from the high place and performed a flying knee drop, landing perfectly on the third burglar. "This was almost fun." Zach spoke as he stood up from the top of the guy that he just knocked over.

"Having fun?" Luke, who just came down to check on him, asked.

"Not much..." He was still a little upset that his semi-cuddling with Silena got interrupted. "You got any rope?".

After tying the burglars up. Zachariah, Luke and Silena went back to sleep and once morning came around, they called the police using the phone of the motel but left the place before they arrived. The rest of the ride was as quiet as it could possibly be, with Zach simply sitting there playing his Game Gear while Silena read a magazine and Luke simply paid attention to the road. The boy with light brown hair was still annoyed over his missed opportunity to cuddle with Silena. But he needed to get the hell over it, and prepare himself for whatever they would have to do in Venice.

Ironically, the ride ended quicker than Zach predicted, probably because he was distracted with his game. It took long for them to arrive at an airport, and even less for them to board a plane to Venice.

"If we manage to solve this quickly enough, can we wander around Venice?" Zach, who was sitting right in the middle of the economy class right in between Luke and Silena, asked.

"I doubt we will solve this quickly, but yes." Luke spoke as he read a book about something that Zach didn't understand to pass the time.

"Ohhh, there are so many places I want to visit." Silena spoke enthusiastically.

"Can I go with you?" Zach asked.

"Sure, I just wish we had a camera." Silena spoke sadly as she probably wanted to show her sisters when she got back.

Zach then reached inside his jacket and pulled something out. "Like this one?" It was a digital camera, an Olympus C-2.

"Where did you get that?" Luke asked as Zach didn't have a digital camera.

"From the pocket of one of those burglars." Zach admitted to him and Luke only looked at him apprehensively."What? They ain't going to need it in jail."

"Did you take any photos?" She grabbed the camera from his hand in order to check. Indeed, Zachariah took a very lovely photo of Silena when she wasn't looking. She then looked at him with Zach looking away embarrassed. Suddenly, Silena wrapped her arm around Zach. "Say cheese!" Out of nowhere, she took a photo of the two of them with the digital, while kissing Zach on the cheek. "Just because the photo was great." She said to Zach as he blushed from the kiss.

Luke simply rolled his eyes and went back to his book, and Zach prayed that he won't tell Thalia or Annabeth when they get back to the camp.

"So, how long until we land again?" Zach asked.

"Six hours and forty five minutes." Luke answered his question without taking his eyes off the book. "So sit tight until then."

"Ahmmm..." He grunted before he closed his eyes and tried to take a nap.

A few hours must have passes by, as Zachariah Roosevelt opens his eyes and noticed that everyone around him was sleeping. Oh great, what am I supposed to do now? The boy with unnatural blue eyes thought as he doesn't know what he is supposed to do for the rest of the flight. I need to pee... He decided to stand up from his seat in order to make his way to the bathroom. Passing by the sleeping beauty that was Silena and a sleeping beast that was a bald and hairy guy that was sitting next to her. Once he passed by all of the sits, he walked towards the plane's bathroom and entered. After doing what he needed to do, he took a look in the mirror, removing his glasses to look at his bland face.

The reason to why he was doing that, was because he was trying to imagine his mother by using his unremarkable features as reference. I'm a five out ten in looks, though I may pass as six without the dork glasses due to my eyes. Sadly, he was unable to picture anything and honestly, more often than not, the Demi-Gods usually take more after their Olympian parent. So Zach assumes that he got his average looks from his father.

Having enough of his face, he decided to go back to his seat and maybe try to snuggle with Silena. Once he stepped outside of the bathroom however, Zach felt a little strange. His whole body felt really heavy, like he was about to pass out and there was no way that was normal. What the hell? Zach thought as he moved back to his seat, but before he could pass by the seats until he arrived at his own. A weird noise was heard by him, coming from the direction that he just came from.

Moving his unnatural blue eyes to the direction that he came from, he was able to see someone from afar. He barely reacted to that, but he did stood in plain sight to whatever that was to see him and started down with a smirk. He couldn't see what it was properly, but he could tell that it was a monster.

The boy simply stood there in complete silence, awaiting for anything. "Well?" Until he has enough. "I'm waiting." Not enough space to use my scythe and firing a revolver doesn't sound like a good idea. It was his line of thought at the moment.

His response, was whatever was staring at him from a distance moving out of his line of sight. Usually, I would just run after it and would kick it's ass in a spectacular way. He thought. But, there a huge chance that this plane would crash down as a result. So he decided to awake his friends up for help.

Immediately moving past the seats, Zach awoke Silena first. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty..." He had an nearly uncontrollable urge to kiss her like the Prince did in the story. But Zach was no Prince and he definitely doesn't want his first kiss to come from a unwilling partner. "Silena, wake up." But no matter how much he tried, she wouldn't wake up. "What the...?" He tried to shake but there was still no response.

"Luke?" He decided to move to Luke, but the was no response from him either. "Hey!" He slapped Luke's face, but there was still nothing.

Zach then looked around him. "CAN ANYONE WAKE UP PLEASE!" The boy with light brown hair yelled as loud as he could, but there was still nothing. "And, no response." He spoke to himself. "So... Either all of you are pretending to be asleep to piss me off or that thing put you all in some sleeping spell or some nonsense like that." And he has a feeling that is the latter. "Okay... So... I'm gonna go kick the monster's ass while all of you enjoy your naps." Zach then moved pass all of the seats a third time before he reached for Luke's backpack to pull out Luke's sword which was disguised as a small dice. Luke really needs to get a new sword. "I'm borrowing this for a bit." He told the sleeping Luke before he moved towards the direction where he saw the creature.

Zachariah walked in a very casual manner while twirling Luke's sword on his hand. He whistling the theme song of his favorite game, Sonic The Hedgehog. Going more and more deep into the plane, he simply awaited for the monster to appear so he could identify it. Eventually, Zach arrived at the spot where he saw it but it wasn't there. But then he turned around and saw it, standing right in the spot where Zach was not ago. "Really?" The bland looking boy asked. "Okay..."

Without any type of warning Zach charged at the thing he saw in a very high speed and once he closed the distance, he delivered a drop kick on it. Only for him to actually pass through and slide on the floor after he fell. "AAAHH!" He grunted as he fell on the floor. "What the hell!" Moving his head to check, he noticed that it wasn't there anymore. "Oh, you wanna play hide and seek with me?" He asked as he stood up.

With Luke's blade at hand, Zach searched around for any sign of the creature. Walking slowly pass the sleeping passengers, not understand what exactly was the thing that he was facing getting at. "Come on, it's not a surprise attack if I know you are there." Zach commented.

In his search, Zachariah ended up moving towards the first class. Where he saw the passengers there also sleeping peacefully. "Thank you," Zach ended up stealing a cup of orange juice from one of the sleeping passengers that was next to the entrance of it. "I prefer grape juice to be honest." He commented as he placed the cup back where it was.

After saying that, he moved foward again. Looking around at each step, prepared to attack at the first sign of danger. But so far, so nothing.

Until...

As soon as Zach took the eight step. He heard a noise coming from behind him, but as soon as he turned around, he was greeted by an attack that he almost didn't manage to block. "What the hell!?" It was Zach's reaction to the thing that just attacked him.

It wasn't a monster, or at least not one that he has ever face. The thing in front of Zach was a humanoid creature, but it had no features whatsoever on it's body, it also had a color that Zach had never saw before. "?,,,?" The thing said something that Zach couldn't understand.

"What!?" Zach asked before the thing pushed him with enough strength to sent Zach sliding on the floor. Once he regained his balance, Zach saw that the thing had a sword, a strange sword that looked like it was made of whatever was that thing made of.

"What the hell are you?!" Zach asked as he never saw anything like that before.

"?,?" Once again, Zach didn't understood a word that the thing told him. But once it was done talking, it charged towards Zach.

"Being it on sucker." Zach returned the favor and also attacked.

The moment the two closed the distance, their blades started to clash with one another. But there was an considerable difference as Zach wasn't really a swordsman, so it was clear that he was simply swinging the sword with aggressiveness, applying constant pressure. The thing however was using flawless technique and skillfully countering his attack. But Zach's reflexes allow him to avoid his counter-attacks.

This thing is good and it seems to have strength and speed that actually match mine. Zach could tell simply by how he was able to counter it's attacks. I need to get creative. The boy with light brown hair thought as he exchanged attacks with that thing, doing his absolute best to not to hit any of the passengers that were unconscious around them. Which was the main reason to why this fight was particularly difficult for him.

Until he decided to try his luck during an skillful feint, Zach actually tried to tackle the thing into the economy class. But that was proving be difficult as the thing must weight more than a ton, and that's for someone that actually wrestle with a Minotaur and won. Luckily, through sheer perseverance, Zach was able to push the thing pass the gap that separate the first class and the economic class. Unfortunately, as they passed it through, the thing grabbed Zachariah by the hips and lifted him off the floor and slammed him into the floor, hard. Once he hit the floor, the whole plan shaked with the impact.

"AAAHH!" Zach grunted. "Did you powerbomb me!?" He yelled as he stood up and immediately delivered a drop kick into the thing's torso which sent it sliding into the middle of the economic class. Immediately afterwards, Zach charged towards it and stepped into the arms of one of the chairs and used the impulse to jump and preformed a stab attack towards the thing. Only for it to grab the blade with it's left hand. However, before it could retaliate, Zach stepped back and delivered a push kick into the bottom of the blade, which pushed the sword into the thing's chest.

The thing at least reacted to the stab, by stepping back while it looks at it. Or at least he assumes that it's looking, since the thing didn't really had eyes. Zachariah decided to waste no time and he took four steps back and jumped to reach his backpack in order to pull out his revolver, which was disguised as an bronze lighter. Once it morphed into the Revolver, Zach pointed towards the thing. Only to notice that the thing was gone and the sword was in the floor.

"Show yourself!" Zach yelled while he pointed his revolver with his right hand. Looking around the place that was crowded by sleeping passengers, Zach moved and grabbed the sword, holding it with his left hand. "Just what the hell are you!?"

"?..." The thing spoke to him and once again, he couldn't understand what the hell was it saying. "?!"

Although be couldn't understand what that thing was saying. He could however, hear the sound of it's voice. The voice sounded like an complete amalgamation of several different voices that didn't really matched in any particular way. But the most important part of it, was the he could follow the sound of the voice and it lead him towards the bathroom that he went into not long ago.

Hidden in bathroom? Really? He thought in amusement. "É melhor você não tá fazendo o que eu tô pensando quê você tá fazendo ai dentro." Zach spoke in Portuguese before he opened the door with his revolver ready to fire. "Mas que porr-" The son of... Someone, almost cursed in Portuguese as he opened the door. Mostly because the bathroom was empty and he could swear that the voice was coming from there.

"?!" Unfortunately, Zach heard the thing's voice from behind him and he turned around immediately, only for the thing to grab his right wrist when he tried to shoot it and then his left wrist when he tried to hit it with the sword. "?'? ? ?..." It kept speaking in an nonsensical way as it held Zach's arms.

"Shut the hell up!" Zach yelled at it before he dropped his weapons. "And take this!" He then also grabbed the thing's wrists and pulled into the floor, placing both of his feet the thing's stomach before he use them to pushed the thing into the bathroom. Once the thing hit the floor, Zach was able to break free from it's grip and reached for his revolver.

"? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?." The thing spoke again as it stood up from the floor.

"Faz sentido ou cala a boca!" The boy yelled in Portuguese before he shot the thing in the face.

"?!" The thing said something as the bullet made a whole on it's featureless head.

"Headshot!" Zach yelled as sees the thing stumble a bit, indicating the the bullet did damage.

But then, the thing simply opened it's right arm widely and Zach saw it's hand morphing into a giant claw. "Holy-" He immediately jumped through back into the economic class to evade the giant claw. Standing up as soon as he landed on the floor, Zach created some distance between himself and the thing, with his revolver pointing at it. It didn't took long for the thing to enter the economic class as well. The thing's head which Zach just shot was convulsing in an exceptionally unsettling matter.

"Zach!" Hearing his name, Zach moved his head to the left and saw Luke and Silena with their eyes open.

"Hey, I hope you two had a good nap." He joked as he signaled them to look at the thing.

Luke and Silena moved their head to look, only to widen their eyes at the sight of the thing that Zach was fighting.

"What is that!?" Silena asked in shock.

"No idea, but it's putting my skills to the test." Zach commented as the two of them got up from their seats.

"? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?." The thing spoke as it's head morphed into a different shape, now the thing's head resembled some type of helmet.

"What the hell is it saying?" Silena asked as she got behind Zach.

"It's nothing I ever heard before." Luke replied as he tried to reach for his backpack.

"Ummm..." Zach pointed at the thing, precisely the spot where Luke's sword was lying on the floor behind it.

"Great..." Luke said sarcastically.

Before any of the three could do anything else, the thing started to convulse again, only that it's whole body started to shake this time. Zachariah, Luke and Silena justifiably took a few steps back as they don't know what was about to happen. Zach stood in front of them, pointing his revolver at the thing while also shielding his friends as he was the one that could endure the most damage.

Once the thing stopped convulsing, it simply stood still. "F?h?r ?a?s ?u ba??," The thing spoke again, bit this time, it made some sense but he still couldn't understand it properly. "Zachariah." Then it spoke the first sound word that he understood. Which turned out to be Zach's name.

That only made Zach even more ready to shot it.

"Enjoy the life you stole while you can, because when he comes to collect you, there will be no escape for you." The thing spoke in a nearly incomprehensible voice, but they were able to understand what it was saying.

With that, the thing simply disappeared front their sight without leaving any trace.

The trio justifiably stood there, confused about what just happened as they stared at each other. Only for Luke to grab the Revolver out of Zachariah's hand and turn it back into a lighter. Before Zach could ask what he was doing, he noticed that the other passengers were waking up from their sleep. Which indicated that the thing wasn't around anymore.

"W-what the hell just happened?" Silena asked the question that the three of them wanted an answer for.

"Go back to your seats, we'll talk about this when we land." Luke instructed them as he handed the lighter to Zachariah. Then he ran to retrieve his sword before anyone notices.

Zach on the other hand , only had one question at the moment. "How the hell that thing knew my name?" That was the part that he couldn't understand.

"That thing wasn't a normal monster, I'm sure of it."

"But what could have possibly have been, I never seem like that before.

"I have no idea what language he spoke, I don't think it was any known language."

"Enjoy the life you stole while you can, because when he comes to collect you, there will be no escape for you."

"It was definitely talking to you, Zach."

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea, but I really don't like the implication of it."

"We should focus on the task for now, but once we get back to camp, we gotta talk to Chiron about this."

"Do you think it's that bad?"

"Silena, that thing was stronger than any monster that I faced."

"Was it that difficult for you?"

"I once fought the three Gorgon sisters while blindfolded, butt ass naked and with a hand temporarily turned into stone... That was ten times easier than fighting that thing on the plane."

After arriving at the Terminal. Zachariah Roosevelt, Silena Beauregard and Luke Castellan immediately left the plane and rented a car to travel to their location. Currently they were sitting on top of a boat that Zach found and were goin through some spots of Venice. The trio has been discussing what exactly happened inside the plane since they arrived.

"E-excuse me?" Silena asked while giving him a weirded out look. "Why were you fighting the Gorgon sisters naked?"

"I was kind of swimming naked when they showed up and didn't have time to put my clothes back on." Zach explained while looking away embarrassed.

"Wait a minute, what exactly do you mean with a hand temporarily turned into stone?" Luke asked as he looked around the place, where there were several other boats around them, with people admiring the architecture around them.

"You see, I accidentally looked at Medusa and she turned me into stone-" The conversation seemed to have changed from talking about that blue thing that attacked him to a conversation about his confrontation with the Gorgon sisters.

"What the hell do you mean?!" Luke immediately did not like what he heard. "How did Medusa turn you into stone and you're sitting there right now?!"

"After she turned me into stone, I realized that I wasn't dead, I was simply stuck inside a tight fit statue of myself." Zachariah remembered how weirded out he was and how hilarious was the face that Medusa made when he actually destroyed the statue from inside and emerged from it intact. "But for some reason, my hand didn't come out alright, so I had to fight the three of them with a stone hand and had to put on a blindfold to not look at Medusa again." Eventually, he got his hand free by breaking it on Euryale's face. "Please don't tell Thalia." He pleaded with Luke, because he would get a scolding for it.

"No deal," Luke denied his plea. "Honestly, if we didn't have a task at hand, I would take all of your stuff for a whole month."

"Oh come on!" Zach whined in annoyance. "That happened a year ago!" He told him in deep annoyance.

"Zach, you got turned into stone by Medusa and somehow broke free, but you need to understand that you were unbelievably lucky because no one has ever done that before." Luke pointed out, obviously being a little disturbed by the information.

"Thalia is going to shock me!" That was pretty obvious. "And I really don't see the point of telling her now, I already promised that I wouldn't sneak out anymore."

After Zach said that, Luke made a very confused face. "Come again?"

Then Zach remembered that he only told Annabeth about it. "É mesmo, eu esqueci." He spoke in Portuguese. "Truth is, after this quest, independently of the end result in regards to my mother, I will stop sneaking out to on monster hunts" He really doesn't have a reason to it anymore, he already hunted most of the existent monsters and he already knows that his father simply doesn't remember him, so his attempts of getting his attention were futile. And after that, he will know what happened to his mother, so he will be satisfied after that.

Without any type of warning, Luke grabbed him into a hug, which surprised both Zach and Silena. "Do you mean it?" He asked Zach, who simply returned the hug, realizing how much that information actually meant for him.

"Yes, but come on, don't be so dramatic." Zach spoke in response as he hugged him tightly.

"You're not the one that constantly has to wonder whether you're gonna be back in one piece or not, Zach." That was Luke's response.

"I always come back in one piece." Zach replied, which is the reason why he can't understand why they worry so much. "But, it means a lot that you guys worry about me that much."

"Someone has to, we're all each other got." Luke pointed out to Zach, and it was true. Of all of them, only Annabeth still has her parents but she thinks that she is a burden for them, so she keeps her distance. "At least until we find your mother that is."

"If we find her, and I'm cool with whatever the outcome, you guys will always be my family no matter what." He assured Luke, but he would prefer that his mother is alive and well.

"I am really sorry for interrupting this but," Silena called their attention as the two moved their heads to look at the pretty girl. "We arrived."

The place that they had just arrived was the Ca' d'Oro or Palazzo Santa Sofia, a palace on the Grand Canal in Venice, northern Italy. One of the older palaces in the city, its name means "golden house" due to the gilt and polychrome external decorations which once adorned its walls. Since 1927, it has been used as a museum, as the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti.

"It's beautiful, but why are we here?" Zach asked Luke after the two separated from their hug.

"In the postcard that we used as a reference, Pandora actually mentioned that she and Epimetheus were staying at Ca' d'Oro, but I have no idea if they are still there." Luke explained and Zachariah actually remembered that the image on the postcard was the place that they were in right now.

"But... This is a museum." Silena pointed out. " How were they staying here?" That was an excellent question and Zach would really like to know the answer to that.

"Only one way to find out." Luke grabbed the paddle and started to approach the location.

"Ummm... Zach..." Moving his unnatural blue eyes that were behind his dorky glasses in order to look at Silena. "I was a little distracted with everything to ask but..." The daughter of Aphrodite seemed to be wondering something. "Where did you get this boat?"

Zach was instantaneously nervous with that question. "I borrowed it from a guy in exchange for something that I had on my backpack." The truth was, he actually set the guy's pants on fire and took the boat while he was trying to put it off. "Don't ask what it was." It was flammable fluid that Zach had stolen from the plane.

"Okay..." She clearly didn't buy what he said.

"It doesn't matter, get ready to get off the boat." Luke spoke as he paddle towards the Palazzo Santa Sofia.

"Wait!" Zachariah yelled at Luke, calling his attention. Before he actually reached inside of his backpack and pulled out the digital camera. "Let's take one before going in."

"Yes." Silena clearly agreed with him.

"Fine, but just one." Luke spoke before grabbing the camera and placing it on a spot of the boat that would take all three of them. "And pose."

Luke lifted the paddle in the air.

Silena smiled at the camera and gave a peace sign.

Zach just made a goofy face at the camera.

Then the photo was taken.

Once they got close enough, the trio got off the boat and entered the Ca' d'Oro. On the ground floor, a recessed colonnaded loggia gives access to the entrance hall directly from the canal. Above this colonnade is the enclosed balcony of the principal salon on the piano nobile. The columns and arches of this balcony have capitals which in turn support a row of quatrefoil windows; above the balcony is another enclosed balcony or loggia of a similar yet lighter palace has a small inner courtyard, which was where Zach and Silena were enjoying the architecture while Luke investigated the area to see if he could find any clue. Not that Zachariah minded since it gave him some alone time with Silena.

"Say cheese." Zach spoke as Silena posed in front of a well that was on display.

"Cheese." She said as Zach took a photo of her. How are you so photogenic? Every single photo he took of her so far looked fantastic. "Oh, I can't wait to show this to my sisters." She commented after seeing the photo.

Despite having a wonderful time with the daughter of Aphrodite, there was something bothering him. "Don't you think that there should be... Someone in here?" Zachariah, who moved to stand in front of a staircase, asked in deep confusion, since the place was completely empty, not even a security guard or someone to greet them and he knows that it's not right since that place was one of the older palaces in the city, regarded as the best surviving palazzo in Venetian Gothic architecture.

"Yes, I was about to bring that up myself." Silena, who moved to stand right next to him, agreed with him. "I was thinking that we would find someone inside but we were here for almost twenty minutes and saw no one."

"HELLO?!" Zach decided to check. "IS ANYONE HERE?!" He yelled as loud as he could. "YOU GOT TOURISTS!" Technically. "THIS IS A TERRIBLE SERVICE!" Silena giggled a bit after he said that.

"Why are you yelling?" Luke, who was on the top of the staircase that Zach was standing in front of, asked.

"Find anything?" Silena asked him.

"Nothing." Luke answered in annoyance.

"Well, Silena and I just noticed that there's no one here either." Zach explained to him. "Shouldn't be like, security guards or some stuff like that?"

"Yes, it should." Luke agreed with him as he searched around. "There is something off about this place, so you guys stay alert." Now that Luke mentioned, Zach couldn't help but notice a strange smell in the air.

The bland looking boy ended up sniffing the air in an attempt to figure out what the smell was. It smells like... coffee? "Is someone making coffee?" He asked, but he could tell that there was something else.

Silena and Luke also noticed the smell after Zachariah pointed out. "The security guard must be making it or something." Silena suggested.

"If it is, we should ask for information." Luke told them before he moved past them to follow the smell of coffee.

"What information exactly?" Silena asked as she followed behind Luke.

"If he saw a couple that matched the description of Pandora and Epimetheus." Luke replied.

Unknowingly for them, Zach wasn't really following them. He simply kept on observing his surroundings, but this time, he wasn't paying attention to the architecture. Instead, he was searching for the person that was watching him at the moment. Something or someone is nearby, watching me from afar. Zach was very good in identifying when he was being and right now, he was certain that he was being watched. Moving his unnatural blue eyes around, Zach kept his eyes open as he took several small steps towards the middle of the courtyard. Could it be Pandora or Epimetheus? Zach was hoping for that to be the case. Once Luke and Silena were out of sight, Zach decided to just confront it.

"I know you're there, come out." Zach called whoever was watching him out.

Funnily enough, it worked, because Zach started to hear someone clapping. Slow and composite clapping that was coming from the same direction that Luke and Silena went. Moving his head slowly, he caught the sight of someone approaching him. The individual moved slowly while clapping, and Zach simply stood there motionless as he tried to get a good look at the person.

"Strangely, it has been a while since I saw one of your kind." The individual was a man. He was around six feet tall and had extremely messy curly black hair that was matched by an equally messy looking beard, though with bright gray eyes that were very easy to notice. He was wearing a strange looking bathrobe that had a strange and somewhat flamboyant design in the color purple, but he was nothing but orange midway briefs underneath. The robe was open and Zach could see that he had a pot belly that made him look like he was pregnant. "Who sired you, child?" He looks like a hobo version of Prometheus, which is understandable since they are actually twins.

"No idea, according to Hermes, my father forgot that he sired me." Zach decided to answer honestly.

"Then it was probably some unimportant god..." The man, who Zachariah assumes to be Epimetheus, replied in a condescending and particularly deep voice. "But, the Gods have a reputation for being less than stellar parents, so you're probably not missing out on anything." He told Zach as he approached and towered over him.

"My friend Luke probably thinks the same." Zach had to point out. "Are you Epimetheus?"

"Yes." The man confirmed. "But may you call me Epime, if you fancy." Honestly, Zach has a bad feeling about this guy and was already preparing himself for trouble.

"Okay, my name is Zach" He decided to introduce himself as well. "I'm going to be blunt with you since I'm pretty sure that me and my friends are bothering you with this sudden visit." Zach spoke in as he stood in front of the Titan.

"You have no idea." Epimetheus made it clear that they were indeed bothering him with their presence.

"So, I need to ask, did you or Pandora take Pandora's Box?" He bluntly asked.

"Why would I take that cursed thing?" He asked sarcastically. "It's literally nothing but trouble." That was his honest opinion. "And Pandora has an aversion towards that thing since the day she opened." Then he touched his face and asked. "Was that thing stolen once again?

"Once again?" Zach asked him in confusion. "Was it stolen before?"

"More times than you can imagine." Epimetheus explained to the bland looking boy. "And I assume that once again, we are the primary suspects?" By his tone of voice, he can already tell that this isn't the first time that they were considered the primary suspects of the disappearance.

Zach immediately sighed and touched his head in frustration. "You know, for beings that are supposed to be all powerful, the Gods are kind of dumbasses." He spoke out loud before taking a deep breath. "YOU WIN THE PRIZE FOR BIGGEST DUMBASS OF THEM ALL, ZEUS!" Then he yelled into the sky because he wanted him to hear it.

Epimetheus bursted into laughter in response to what he just heard. "You know, it's not everyday that I hear a half-blood insult the King of Olympus so casually." The Titan of Afterthought clearly found Zach amusing.

"He hates my guts and I hate his guts." Zach explained his relationship with Zeus. "It's kind of ironic if you think about it, because his daughter absolutely adores me and I adore her." That was the best way to describe his relationship with Thalia, though, he would adore her even more if she didn't shock him so much. "But, going back to the topic, you wouldn't have any clue of who might have taken the box, would you?" There was no harm in asking since they already wasted their time going all the way there.

"No, but Pandora may have." Epimetheus suggested as he signalled Zachariah to follow him.

Zach did it without question. "So... How exactly are you staying here?" He decided to ask because he doesn't understand how they can live in a museum.

"I manipulated the Mist, to everyone else, there has been some type of hazard going on here that prohibits the entrance of any mortal." The Titan explained to the Demi-god. Mist Control, also known as Mist Manipulation, is the ability to control and manipulate the Mist. Those with the power to control the Mist can create Mistforms, illusions, and influence the minds and memories of mortals. In order to successfully control the Mist, the user has to focus on what the target wants to see, not the user.

"I see." Zach knows a bit about it, because Thalia can do it. "But why are you staying here specifically?" The place happened to be one of the older palaces in the city.

"Ask Pandora, she is the one that chose this place." Epimetheus replied.

With that Zachariah and Epimetheus walked through most of the palace, where Zach appreciated the art and architecture of the place. The smell of coffee returned and got stronger as they walked, until they actually arrived at an exhibition hall on the second floor of the building. The hall had a lot of paintings, statues, tapestry but what called the most attention was the wooden table that was in the middle of it. Mostly because his friends were sitting in front of that table.

"Where have you been?" Silena asked Zach.

"Having a conversation," Zach answered before pointing at Epimetheus. "Luke, Silena, this is Epimetheus, the Titan of Afterthought." He introduced the two to him. "Epime, this is my friends," He then introduced them to him. "Luke Castellan, Son of Hermes." Mentioning his father's name visibly annoyed Luke."And Silena Beauregard, Daughter of Aphrodite." She waved at him after being introduced.

"Where is Pandora?" He didn't even bother to greet them, he just asked where Pandora was.

"She's making us some coffee." Silena answered while making a face that indicated that she didn't like how rude he was.

"Cool." Zach moved to join Luke and Silena, sitting right in between the two. "It turns out, they didn't take the box, but Pandora may have an idea of where it is." He told Luke.

"I know," Luke informed him. "We already asked her, but she said that she will only tell us after we had coffee with her and her husband."

Zach made a confused face, before she approached Luke's ear to ask. "Do you think she's gonna put something on the coffee?" That was his suspicion.

"I don't think so." Luke replied, despite not sounding so sure himself. "I think she just really wants us to try her coffee."

"Yes, you are correct and here's a warning." Epimetheus heard the two talking. "No matter how bad it tastes, you're gonna say that you love it, if you don't, we're gonna have some serious problems." There was no doubt about it that he was actually threatening them, which made Zachariah wonder how bad her coffee was going to be.

"Ummm... Does that mean it's going to be bad or..." Silena was confused, despite the clear implication that it would be bad.

"Pandora is very enthusiastic about things, but that doesn't necessarily mean she's going to be good at it, and that's all I'm going to say." Epimetheus explained to her as he sat on the opposite side of the table.

"Is it going to be dangerously bad or just bad?" Zach asked because they would be the ones dealing with the consequences of it.

"Probably, just bad, probably." The Titan didn't sound so sure of that.

Zach was about to open his mouth to continue to speak. The person that they were speaking about entered the room. "Welcome back, Darling." Which was Pandora herself.

"Mas que diabos é isso?" Zach accidentally spoke in Portuguese after seeing Pandora for the first time.

Pandora was drop-dead gorgeous, with dazzlingly long flowing wavy dark hair, blue eyes that were brighter than sapphire, and red lips that were as red as a ruby. She had a body that would put most supermodels to shame. She was wearing a simplistic but gorgeous white greek dress that had small details in gold. But the thing that actually stood out the most about the fabled individual, was the fact that she barely looked any older than Silena. If Zach had to guess her age without knowing who she was, he would say that she was sixteen or seventeen at most. But he knows that she's actually centuries old. "You must be Zach, we were all waiting for you." She spoke to him with a gorgeous smile as she approached the table while carrying a tray with several cups on top of it.

"Oh," Zach got over his surprise and decided to greet her back. "Sorry to keep you all waiting, I was having a conversation with your husband."

"Sorry if he was rude to you, Epimetheus was never someone to have manners." She spoke while giving the Titan an apprehensive look that clearly made him uncomfortable.

"Don't worry," Zach decided to deny. "He wasn't rude or anything, I even got a good laugh out of him."

Pandora widened her blue eyes in surprise. "Really?" She asked him in disbelief while looking at her husband, who just blushed in response. "How?"

Zach stood up and did it again, but this time, he said. "HEY! HERA! WHY DON'T PUT A PAIR OF HORNS ON ZEUS'S HEAD FOR ONCE?! HELL, I'M SURE THAT IT WOULD SUIT HIM, HE ALREADY LOOKS LIKE A HAIRY BISON BECAUSE OF THAT UGLY HAIRCUT AND BEARD OF HIS ANYWAY, ALL HE NEEDS IT'S THE HORNS!" After yelling that from the top of his lung towards the ceiling in hopes that the gods would hear it. Epimetheus bursted into laughter once again as he simply couldn't believe that Zach just yelled that. Pandora made a shocked expression, but Zach could tell that she was holding herself to not laugh at the joke that Zach just made about one of her fathers. Silena let out a soft giggle probably because she agreed with Zach on that one. Luke just made an apprehensive face because he knew that saying that could get Zach into trouble. "Got another laugh." Zach announced proudly before sitting down once again.

"I can't believe you actually said that." Silena commented while giggling.

"That's the light stuff." Zachariah admitted as he placed his head on her shoulder. "So can we have a taste of that coffee?" He decided to get it over with.

Pandora seemed to have composed herself, while her husband kept on laughing out loud in front of them. "Of course." She brought the stray that had the cups of coffee on top of it toward the trio. It looked like normal black coffee, but the appearance can be deceiving. "Would you like to add something to it?" She asked them.

"No, it's fine like this." Luke clearly just wanted to get it over with, since Epimetheus early warning was quite worrisome.

"Actually, I would like some honey." But Zach had other ideas.

"Oh, I have some, hold on." She spoke before she left the room to grab it.

"You put honey on coffee?" Silena asked the bland looking boy.

"Actually, I used to drink coffee every morning when I used to live with Captain Gotts and he used to put on his morning coffee and I would like to try it." Zach remembers that his coffee smelled awful, which was particularly similar to the smell of Pandora's coffee. Soon enough, she came back into the room with a spoon full of honey and she placed it inside of Zach's cup and mixed it up for him. "Obrigado." He thanked her in portuguese. Before he grabbed the cup of coffee and took a sip. After having a taste of it, he came to the conclusion. It's just as bad as the Captain's Coffee. That was his honest opinion. "It tastes weird, but it's not bad" But he can't bring himself to tell her that.

"Really?" Pandora seemed to love his answer.

"Yeah," He swallowed the terrible hot coffee. "I'll just have a little more." Zach grabbed both Luke and Silena's cups and gulped each cup down in front of everyone. "Obrigado."

Despite basically drinking everyone else's drink, both Luke and Silena apparently noticed that Zach did that because they would have probably not handled the taste. Because Luke made an analytical face as he looked at the cup and Silena just held Zach's hand in response, squeezing it as a sign of gratitude. And without Pandora noticing, Epimetheus gave Zach a thumbs up of approval.

"See, I told you I could make some coffee " Pandora told her husband with an amused face.

"I shouldn't have doubted you, honey." Epimetheus replied with a smile.

"Yes, you shouldn't have, you beautiful fool." Pandora then got to her knees and kissed her husband on the lips in front of them.

Although there was nothing wrong with what was happening in front of them. It was kind of disgusting due to the fact that Pandora looked like a teenage girl and watching the two make out seemed like some disgusting case of statutory rape. With Luke, Zach and Silena being justifiably disgusted by the sight. Though, Zach has to admit that he was jealous of Epimetheus, because Pandora was gorgeous. The fact that Epimetheus basically looked like a middle aged hobo with a potbelly didn't really help with his jealousy, because watching a guy that was uglier than him with such a gorgeous wife, really makes him a little upset..

Eventually, Pandora and Epimetheus separated from their passionate kiss. "But, what should we do?" Pandora asked as she sat on his lap. "Only the ugly boy drank coffee." Then she suddenly had a strange shift of tone. "How are we going to take the other two out?" She spoke in the same sweet voice but now there was something malicious in the way she spoke.

Hearing that surprised the trio. Who looked at each other with confused faces.

"What did you say?" Zach asked to see if he heard right.

"Be quiet, ugly boy, we are having a conversation." She spoke in the exact same condescending tone as her husband was earlier but her sweet voice just made it sound a little disturbing.

"What?!" Luke clearly didn't like what he just heard.

"Hey, that's rude!" Silena immediately jumped to Zach's defense. "And you should really take a good look at who you are kissing before calling anyone ugly." Considering that her husband isn't exactly pleasing on the eye. "AH!" Out of nowhere, however, Pandora responded to what Silena just said about her husband, by grabbing one of the empty and tossing on Silena's head, landing on her forehead.

"Hey!" Zach yelled as Silena fell backwards into the floor after being hit by the cup.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Luke immediately stood up and demanded to know what was happening. But instead of an answer, Epimetheus actually stood up and flipped the table to the side. Causing Zach to stand up and Luke to step back

"You wanna fight, fat bastard?" Zach asked as he prepared to charge. "Bring i-" Before he could invite Epimetheus to bring it on, his head started to hurt and he started to feel dizzy.

"Zach?!" Luke immediately approached him and held him. "She put something in that coffee!" He pointed out the obvious.

"Ah... dammit..." His vision was blurring and his body felt really heavy. Oh no, we're in a room with a Titan and I can't fight.

Silena, who was still on the floor, tried to stand up. But Pandora jumped and mounted her and started to bash her head on the floor several times.

"Piss off!" Despite being under the effect of something, Zach wasted no time in charging towards Pandora and kicking her off Silena with a Soccer kick. The kick sent Pandora flying into the nearby wall and she collided with it, but not as hard as she would if Zach was in top condition.

Luke immediately ran to check on Silena, who was completely knocked out. "Watch out!" He then moved his head to look at him and yelled that. Zach turned around to see, but it was too late, because Epimetheus was right behind Zach, towering over him with a face of pure fury.

Zach knew that he had no chance of winning against a Titan like that, so he decided to go out the right way. "ZEUS AND HEPHAESTUS, I HAVE TO SAY, YOU TWO DID AN EXCELLENT JOB IN MAKING PANDORA!" He yelled out loud for them to hear. "Unfortunately, I don't think her beauty makes it up for her awful personality, which is why I think you two are soulmates, Epime." That was directly towards him.

It literally took less than a second for Epimetheus to respond to what Zach just said. He responded by slapping Zach's face incredibly hard, breaking his dorky glasses upon impact and sending him flying into one of the statues in the room, destroying the statue upon impact, which ended up knocking him out cold due to his already poor state. When... I...Wake...Up... You two are dead meat... That was the last thought that Zachariah had, before he lost consciousness completely.

"Aaahhh..." A grunt escaped the lips of the plain looking boy. Opening his unnatural blue eyes and seeing the dark sky above him. "What the hell...?" He spoke as he fought through the headache that he was feeling. Until he widened his eyes in realization. That fat bastard knocked me out! He thought angrily as he remembered that he and his friends were attacked by Pandora and Epimetheus , grinding his yellowish teeth in anger, he attempted to stand up.

Only to realize that he wasn't on solid ground. "Huh?" Looking down, he realized that he was floating on water.

Moving his head around for a bit, the Son of... Someone searched around in order to see where he was. I remember, we actually passed through here after- Sadly, he remembered something. "Oh no... Luke! Silena !" He desperately called out for his friends as he had no idea what happened to them after he lost consciousness.

"Don't worry, they will be joining you soon enough." Suddenly, Zach heard a voice coming from above him. Moving his head up, he realized that it was Pandora, who was sitting on the roof of a building with her legs crossed.

"You're lucky that I drank your awful coffee, otherwise you and that fat bastard husband of yours would be dead meat!" Zach yelled at the beautiful woman as he attempted to find a way to get up there to hit her.

The woman bursted into laughter in response, a laughter that sounded incredibly childish. "You are a funny ugly boy." Before she insulted him.

"Ugly?! Have you seen that fat hobo that you're married to!?" Zach was quick to rebuff.

"I happen to like a big and strong man, maybe a pipsqueak like you just can't understand." Pandora continued to mock Zach.

"PIPSQUEAK!?" Zach was furious. "That's it!" He declared. "I'm gonna kick your cute little ass!'"

Hearing that caused Pandora to burst into laughter once again. "You are welcome to try." She then stood up, which allowed Zachariah to notice that she was wearing something familiar. That's my jacket! He thought angrily as she began to walk away.

"HEY!" Zach yelled angrily. "Dammit!" He began to swim towards the direction of the building where Pandora was on. Where the hell am I anyway? By the looks of it, he was in the Grand Canal. Why the hell did they toss me here?! He asked himself in confusion.

Unfortunately for Zachariah, his answer came in the form of something awful. As he moved his head and widened his unnatural blue eyes as he saw something in the water, approaching him at a rapid speed. Oh great... Despite Zachariah Roosevelt being always eager for a fight, he detested ending up on one without his weapons.

It only took a few seconds for whatever was coming after him to close the distance, and emerge from the water. Revealing itself to be a giant sea creature, having a dump-truck-sized head, a face covered in blue-green scales, a mouth lined with needle-sharp teeth, and a pair of yellow reptilian eyes.

"Era só o que me faltava..." Zachariah spoke in Portuguese as he recognized the creature. It was the Cetus Aethiopius, a sea-monster sent by Poseidon to ravage the land of Aethiopia as punishment for Queen Cassiopeia's hubristic boast that her daughter Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids. To assuage the wrath of the sea-gods, the girl was chained to a rock as a sacrificial feast for the monster. It was at this time that Perseus was winging his way back to Greece with the head of Medusa. He spied the girl, flew down, Perseus petrifying Ketos with Medusa's Head to save Andromeda defeated the monster and carried her off as his bride. What the hell is it doing here?! Zach asked himself in deep confusion since this creature was destroyed thousands of years ago.

The boy with unnatural blue eyes could only search around the water for something, until he actually saw a canoe. Wasting no time, he swims towards it and climbs it.

Great, I'm soaked. He thought in deep frustration as he stood on the canoe.

The Cetus stood tall in front of Zachariah, locking its yellow reptilian eyes at the young demi-god while spewing drool and flames as it hissed.

Zach simply gave it a playful smirk as the monster stood in front of him. "Bring it on, sucker." He spoke confidently as he signalled the Cetus to come at him.

The monster then hissed violently before charging towards Zachariah with the intent of devouring him.

"Too slow!" Zach yelled as he jumped off the canoe as soon as the creature closed the distance, with Zach landing on top of it's head. With the Cetus immediately trying to shake him off, Zach simply held on to it. Until Zach decided to hang on it's scales, and delivered several hard punches into the monster's left eye.

"RAHHHHH!" With the Cetus reacting accordingly, letting a loud sound while simultaneously spilling flames off it's mouth, with the flames causing Zach to lose his grip. Allowing the Cetus to shake Zach off, launching the boy into a nearby building.

"Woah!" Zach made that sound as he flew into one of the buildings, with him landing on a roof and rolling on it for a bit before standing up.

Taking a good look at the Cetus, Zach noticed that the he punched was now close, indicating that he did enough damage on it. But the damage clearly wasn't enough to stop it from going after Zach, so it charged at him once again, with Zach running to the right, making his way to the edge of the building and jumping into another building as soon as the Cetus collided with the roof.

Before it could pull back and attack again, Zach continued to run forward in order to evade the creature. Dammit! I need my scythe. Despite always being eager for a fight, Zach detested fighting monsters unarmed. Since there was only so much damage that he could cause using his fists.

The Cetus followed Zach as he ran and jumped from building to building. Despite the fact that Zach had no idea where he was going. Wait... Until he remembered where he was before he was knocked out. I got to get back to the Ca' d'Oro.

Now that he had a plan, Zachariah quickly looked around in search of his destination.

"RAHHHHH!" Unfortunately, the second that he spent searching, was enough for the Cetus to get the drop on him.

"Droga!" Zach yelled "damn" in Portuguese, before he jumped back into the water to evade the Cetus attack. Upon re-entering the Great Canal, Zach began to swim as quickly as possible to get out of the water.

However, the Cetus realized that the Demi-god was back into the water and immediately sunk deep into it. It's going to attack me from below. He easily predicted it's next attack. So he held his breath and submerged himself deep into the water. Wait a minute... Is the Great Canal supposed to be this deep? Zach thought as he saw underwater, and he has a pretty good guess that the answer was no. Is this what they're doing? He was referring to Epimetheus and Pandora.

Before he could grasp the reasoning behind that sight, the Cetus reappeared and swimed towards Zach at full speed. Come on... The Cetus opened it's mouth, with the intent of eating him.

As it was about to reach him though, Zachariah swimmed upwards reemerging himself, just as the Cetus closed the distance and attempted to eat him. With the monster emerging itself alongside the plain looking boy, allowing him to use the impulse caused by the creature burst from the water to launch himself up.

Zach flew into the air with the Cetus following behind him, still trying to reach Zach to eat him. But Zach performed several front flips in the air and descended right into the Cestus body, with him running down it's disgusting and scale body as it fell down from the air. Only for himself to use the momentum to dive forward in order to reach the roof of one of the buildings once again.

With the Cestus falling back down, but not into the water as Zach was able to trick it into leaping far enough from the Great Canal, so instead, it fell right on top of one of the buildings that Zach was on top of just a minute ago.

Zach simply performed another front flip in the air and reached the roof of the building on the other side of the Great Canal, damaging it after landing on his feet, though it was nothing compared to the damage that the Cestus caused.

"Sorry, but Zachariah Roosevelt is not on the menu, and you wouldn't be able to afford it even if I was." Zach joked as he watched the Cetus struggle to get back into the water. That should keep it occupied until I get my scythe back.

Moving his head around, Zach tried to find the way back to the Ca' d'Oro. I think it was... This way. The Son of... Someone then moved away, leaving the struggling monster behind .

Running as quickly as he possibly could, Zach jumped off a building and landed perfectly on a canoe that was in the water. The whole place is completely empty. Zach thought as he really didn't see a single person around Venice since he woke up. Probably their doing as well...

Then he jumped on the water and began to swim towards the entrance of Ca' d'Oro. It took him less than two minutes to swim all the way there.

"HEY!" Since stealth was not Zach's style. "EPIMETHEUS!" He called out for the person that he was looking for as he entered the building. "IF YOU'RE HERE, COME OUT AND FACE ME!" He challenged the Titan as he ran all the way to the spot where he met Ephmetheus.

The plain looking boy searched around for Pandora's husband.

"Zach!" Instead of the Titan of Afterthought's voice, Zach heard a much more pleasant one.

"Silena?!" Zach recognized the voice of the daughter of Aphrodite. "Where are you?!" He asked.

"Down here!" The plain looking boy searched around for her. Until he realized that the only place that she could possibly be, was right in front of him.

What? First, the Great Canal and now this? He asked himself as he approached the Well Head that was on display in the Courtyard. Looking down, he realized that Selena was down there, but to his shock, that well was considerably deep and he doubts that it was natural.

"Oh Zach, I'm so glad you're here." She spoke in a deep state of relief.

If you only know how much I fantasized about hearing those words. Zach thought, despite the circumstances being less than ideal. "Are you okay?" He immediately asked. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I woke up down here." Silena answered, clearly being just as confused as Zach.

"Droga..." Zach complained in portuguese. "Look, we have a problem." He proceeded to warn her. "The Ethiopian Sea Monster is not far from here." It probably managed to jump back into the water by now, which meant that he didn't have much time.

"What?!" Silena reacted accordingly to that information.

"I think Pandora wanted to feed us to it or something like that." That was Zach's only theory, despite having no idea to what end. "I'm gonna see if I can find a rope or something to pull you out of there." He told the pretty girl.

"Please hurry," She pleaded with him. "I think Ephmetheus has Luke."

If Luke is hurt, I'm literally going to kill that fat hobo! Zach thought angrily. "Sit tight, I'll be back."

With that, the Son of... Someone made his way towards the second floor. My backpack may still be in that room. Zach thought as he ran. And if Epimetheus is there, it's a win-win situation. He wasn't afraid to face the Titan of Afterthought, quite the opposite, he was looking forward to.

Running through the dark corridors of Ca' d'Oro, Zach's wet clothes were making him a little uncomfortable, but he will have to face the Cetus in the water again, so there was no point in drying them yet. I got to get my jacket back. Since it was a gift from Annabeth, Zach really treasured that jacket, despite only having it for less than a week.

It didn't take long for him to reach the second floor and the room where he got knocked out. Unfortunately, no sign of his backpack.

"Mas que droga!" Zach yelled in Portuguese. Despite searching around the room he saw no sign of his backpack or Luke. "ALRIGHT, IF YOU'RE HERE, COME OUT RIGHT NOW!" He yelled at the top of his lungs in order to draw Ephmetheus out as he already lost his patience with the entire situation.

"As you wish." Suddenly, Zach heard someone speak calmly behind him. Causing the Demi-god to turn around and be greeted by the Titan, who grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the floor. "I'm impressed, I certainly wasn't expecting you to be able to accomplish the feat of surviving my beloved wife's pet." Hearing that basically confirmed that Pandora was behind the Cetus. "But n-" Before Ephmetheus could finish what he was saying, Zach bit the thumb of the hand that was grabbing his throat. "Ahhh!" Then he grabbed Epimetheus arm and threw him into the table that was in the middle of the room, smashing it completely.

"I'm done talking!" Zach yelled in anger. "Shut up and fight , you fat bastard!" He signalled him to stand up and come at him.

Ephmetheus grinded his teeth in deep anger before standing up.

With that, both the Demi-god and the Titan charged towards each other and attempted to tackle each other. However, despite the size difference, Zach was the one that managed to tackle Ephmetheus into a nearby wall, destroying it upon impact with the two ending up in a different room.

Unfortunately, Ephmetheus was able to regain his footing, placing his heavy feet on the floor to stop Zach from pushing him, simultaneously wrapping his arms around the boy and lifting him off the floor, clearly looking to bodyslam into the floor. "Oh no, you don't!" Zach yelled as soon as he lifted him above his head, and striked the top of his head with both of his elbows before wrapping his arm around his head in a headlock and slamming his head on the floor with a Diving Bulldog. With Zach standing up right away and performing a moonsault on Epimetheus.

Sadly, the impact was too much for the floor, causing it to collapse with the two of them falling down into the floor below.

"Mmm!" With Zach grunting as he almost fell on his head. Standing up right away, there was a lot of dust around, keeping him from taking a good look at his surroundings. Which turned out to be a bad thing, because Ephmetheus emerged from the dust and delivered a powerful uppercut at Zachariah, sending the Demi-god crashing into the ceiling, passing through it back to the room above, and even beyond, as he crashed into the ceiling of that room as well and ended up on the third floor.

"AHH!" Zach yelled as he held his jaw tightly, because that was a pretty good punch. My turn... He thought spitefully as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt.

With Ephmetheus jumping through the hole on the ground that Zach came from.

With Zach wasting no time and charging towards him once again. Ephmetheus prepared himself to grab Zach as he charged towards the Titan at full speed. Only for the boy to perform a front roll on the floor for some reason, but before Ephmetheus could react properly, Zach delivered a jumping uppercut into the Titan's jaw. And just like before, it sent the receiver flying upwards.

With Ephmetheus crashing into the ceiling, however, it led to Ephmetheus flying into a considerable altitude, causing Zachariah to smirk and immediately jump through the hole he just made and observe as Epimetheus fell from the air. Come on, you fat bastard... Zach thought as he prepared himself.

Eventually, Epimetheus fell low enough, and Zachariah jumped as high as he could, grabbed the Titan in midair, spun rapidly, and slammed him headfirst into the roof of Ca' d'Oro. Basically performing a Spinning Piledriver on him. The two passed through the roof and descended all the way into the first floor, with Epimetheus crashing headfirst into each floor.

And they say Pro-Wrestling moves would never work in a real fight. Zach thought humorously as he let go of Epimetheus and performed a back somersault to create some distance between them too. With Epimetheus falling into the floor but taking less than a few seconds to stand up again. Only for Zach to actually charge towards him and deliver a Leaping clothesline, sending him back into the floor.

"Is that all you got, Epime?" Zach asked the Titan of Afterthought as he stood up from the floor.

"No really..." Epimetheus replied as he clicked his fingers.

The plain looking boy made a confused face for a bit, before he realized what just happened. Dammit! Out of nowhere, an absurd amount of birds came from the hole that Zach made when he slammed him on the roof. "Ahhh!" With the birds attacking Zach with their claws.

As the creator of animals, Epimetheus had command over them.

Zach felt the birds scratching his skin and he attempted to wave his arms around to keep them away, but it was useless because there were too many of them.

"Now." Epimetheus spoke, but Zach was too busy trying to get the birds away. "Be a good little boy and just get eaten already." Before Zachariah could react though, Epimetheus closed the distance and swung a very powerful haymaker into Zach's torso. Once the punch landed, Zach was sent flying into the nearby wall, passing through it like it was made of Lego figures.

Falling back into the water as soon as he collided through the wall. "Que droga!" He yelled as soon as he got wet again. "Mais água!" He complained in portuguese.

Unfortunately, before he could proceed to get out of the water. He felt it moving, forcing him to move his head to look back and realize that the Cetus was charging towards him. "Tava demorando." He commented as he proceeded to swim away as quickly as he could.

It turned into a race to see who would swim faster, as Zach rapidly attempted to reach the entrance of the Ca' d'Oro once again. While the Cetus attempted to reach Zach to eat him.

I have been swimming for as long as I could walk, you're not going to catch me! Zach thought as he continued to utilize the trudgen swim stroke.

Eventually, their race came to an end, as Zach managed to reach the entrance of the Ca' d'Oro. However, only by a few inches , as the Cetus burst through the entrance as soon as Zach passed through it. The collision sent Zach flying away into the nearby wall , but he simply rolled in the air and landed in the wall with both of his feet, using the momentum to create an impulse to launch himself into the opposite direction. Performing several front flips in the air, before delivering a very powerful dropkick into Cetus's face.

The attack caused the creature to fall backwards into the water, with the impact causing a massive burst to occur, creating a considerably sized wave to form.

Zach, who utilized the impulse of the kick to perform a back somersault, landed perfectly on the floor. "Eita!" Only to be greeted by the giant wave that he accidentally created, which engulfed him and pushed him all the way into Ca' d'Oro.

The Son of... Someone was overwhelmed by the impulse and could only attempt to grab on to something as he was being pushed away. Opening his eyes underwater, Zach realized that he was back at the area where he met Ephmetheus. Only to widened his eyes as he saw Silena, who was out of the well, being dragged away by the wave.

Having no choice, Zach attempted to swim against the wave, but it was no use. However, it wasn't necessary as Silena was being pushed towards him. In a split second, Zach was able to grab Silena and hold her tightly.

It turned out to be the right idea as the water practically dragged the two all the way into the back of Ca' d'Oro. Causing the two to collide with the Rear doorway and end up in the street behind the palace. Thankfully, the wave dispersed right after that.

"Ahhh..." Zach grunted in response to what just happened. It's official, this Quest completely sucks... Zach thought in deep annoyance as he opened his unnatural blue eyes. Only to widen them right away once he realized that his face was dangerously close to Silena's chest. Maybe not completely... He immediately changed his mind, especially since the Daughter of Aphrodite was hugging him tightly.

Silena was regaining her breath from what just happened. "What the hell was that?!" She asked the boy that she was hugging tightly.

"A miscalculated attack." Zach spoke embarrassedly, because he really didn't expect that to happen.

"Ahhhh..." Suddenly, the two heard a strange sounding front coming from the door that they just passed through. "What are you?!" Moving their heads, they realized that it was Epimetheus once again. "You are not a mere Demi-god."

Both Silena and Zachariah looked at each other in confusion. But Zach, reluctantly, let go of Silena and stood up. "What is that supposed to mean?" He asked as he shaked his head in order to get the excess water off his light brown hair. Something that was pretty pointless considering that Zach had a Caesar haircut.

"Boy, I am not really a fighter, but no Demi-god could take a Titan with such ease." The Titan of afterthought claimed.

"Wow..." Zach helped Silena stand up. "And here I thought that the father of excuses was just an exaggeration." And then he decided to just mock the fat bastard. "Just admit that you are a pathetic wimp and that you don't want to look bad in front of your nutjob of a wife." The son of... Someone mocked the Creator of Animals with a smirk.

Epimetheus grinded his teeth angrily in response to what Zach just said. So the boy gently pulled Silena's arm to stand behind him. Before he made a goofy Kung-Fu pose and said. "Bring it on, sucker." He signalled him to come at him.

The Titan was about to charge at him.

However, before he could. "Stop!" Followed by a familiar voice that came from above.

Moving their heads up, they realized that there were two people on the roof of Ca' d'Oro. "Luke!" It turned out that it was Luke, holding Pandora hostage.

"Enough of this nonsense, stand down!" Luke ordered Epimetheus while he held his sword against Pandora's throat. "Zach!" Before he tossed his backpack to him.

"Beleza!" Zach spoke happily as he grabbed his backpack and immediately pulled out the snow globe, before transforming into his scythe.

"Are you okay?" Silena asked Luke. With Zach noticing several bruises on his face.

"I'm alright." He replied, but Zach knew that he was lying since he seemed to be having difficulty to even stand.

"Okay, what is this about?" Zach performed several fancy spins with the scythe before moving the blade dangerously close to Epimetheus. "How the hell did the Cetus get here and why were you trying to feed me to it?" He asked calmly, but he was just waiting for an excuse to hack the fat bastard into pieces.

Epimetheus simply stood there, unfazed by the sharp weapon.

Causing Zachariah to frown in response. "You know what..." He realized something. "I don't care." So he pulled the scythe back and prepared to chop Epimetheus's head off with it.

"He is my pet!" But before Zach could attack, he was interrupted by Pandora yelling at him.

"Excuse me?" Luke, who was holding his sword against her throat, asked in confusion.

"She took that thing as a pet a century after Perseus killed it." Epimetheus decided to add to that response. "I don't know what she sees in it, but she really loves that thing." He clearly didn't understand the appeal of having that monster as a pet.

"Wait, you actually feed people to it?" Silena realized that it was probably the case.

"Yes." The Titan didn't even try to hide it.

"And by the looks of it, you've been doing that for a while." Zach decided to point out.

"Yes." He confirmed once again.

"And the gods are aware of it and just turn a blind eye." Luke suggested spitefully.

"What can I say?" Pandora spoke with an innocent smile. "Zeus loves me."

"The Gods of Olympus only love themselves, you blind bloody fool ." Luke was quick to rebuff.

"Can I kill the Cetus already?" Zach was quick to ask. With his scythe back, killing the monster should be easy.

"You will do no such a thing." Pandora quickly shut down the idea.

"Just watch me." Zach replied with a frown. Then he remembered something. "And handover my jacket."

"Zach, focus!" Luke yelled at him. "We have to get rid of the Cetus, before-" He seemed to be giving permission for Zach to kill it.

But.

"I told you," Pandora interrupted him. "You will do no such a thing."

Before Luke could reply, Zach noticed that Pandora had something in her hand. The plain looking boy noticed what it was right away. "Watch out!" Zachariah yelled to his brother.

Unfortunately, it was too late. It turned out that Pandora had a bronze lighter on her hand, which morphed into Zach's bronze revolver. With Luke widening his eyes in response as Pandora pointed the weapon at the Son of Hermes.

"No!" Zach yelled as Pandora pulled the trigger and shot Luke in the stomach.

"Ahhhhh!" With the blond boy immediately screaming in pain as the bullet passed through him.

"Luke!" Silena yelled in shock as he watched him stumble back.

Pandora wasted no time and actually grabbed the sword and pulled it off of Luke's hand. Before she sliced Luke's face with it. "AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

"STOP!" Zach angrily ordered her.

But it was no use, as she prepared to shoot Luke again.

However , Zachariah was quicker and in a split second, he turned his scythe into a spear and before he could pull the trigger again, he launched at her at full force.

"Pandora!" Epimetheus yelled at his wife.

The moment she pulled the trigger, the spear pierced through her stomach, causing her to miss the shot by a few inches. With Luke losing his balance and collapsing, resulting in him rolling down and falling from the roof.

"NOOO!" Epimetheus yelled in response and immediately turned around to attack Zachariah. Only for him to be greeted by Zachariah charging towards jumping above his head and stepping on the top of Epimetheus's head in order to create an impulse to increase his altitude in order for him to grab Luke before he fell on the ground. Fortunately, he was able to grab a hold of him and land on his feet. "Luke!" Zach called him as he gently placed him on the ground.

"AAAHHH!" But all he did was scream in pain as the bullet wound in his stomach and the cut that Pandora just made bleed deeply. The revolver was chambered in .454 Casull, which was relatively powerful and by the looks of it, the bullet passed through. The cut on his face was deep, running from the bottom of his eye down to his chin.

"Ahh!" Suddenly, he heard an angry shout coming from his left. Moving it, he realized that Epimetheus was charging towards him. Causing Zach to grind his teeth in anger and immediately stand up.

"PISS OFF!" Zachariah Roosevelt yelled in deep rage as he delivered a Jumping Punch into the Titan of Afterthought's face as soon as he closed the distance, causing him to fall and slide backwards right at the spot he was before.

Silena, who was paralyzed by everything that just happened, finally snapped out of it and made her way towards the two boys. With Zach immediately kneeling down and grabbing Luke's hand as he winced in pain.

"Luke, hold on..." Zach spoke sadly as he had no idea what the hell was he supposed to do.

"Dammit." Silena joined and kneeled down.

Epimetheus also stood up from the ground. But instead of trying to attack Zach again, he actually jumped towards the roof of. "Let's get out here, my love." He heard the Titan speak, before suddenly, his scythe fell from the roof. Clearly indicating that Epimetheus removed from Pandora's stomach. But Zach was too focused on Luke to actually notice.

"RRRRRRRRRRR!" Suddenly, Silena got startled by the sound of the Cetus.

"Mmmm..." But Zachariah's focus was completely on Luke.

"Zach." So much so that he actually ignored Silena's voice. "Zach!" Until she actually grabbed his face and made him look at her. "Listen, you need to deal with the Cetus." She told him.

"B-But.." The truth is, Zach was hyperventilating, nearly bursting into tears because of Luke's condition.

"Listen, I can help him, but you need to get rid of the Cetus!" Silena informed him. "Please!"

Zach heard what she said, not really knowing how she could help him, but he decided to believe. "Okay..." So he managed to control himself, then he kissed Luke in the forehead. "Okay..." Then he stood up.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" They could hear the Cetus from afar.

"Z-Zach..." Luke said his name with a lot of difficulty.

Silena pulled out her backpack and reached for something inside. "I'm going to do everything I can to help him, but you have to hurr-" Before Silena could continue, they realized that there was something approaching them.

It was pretty obvious what it was. It caused Zach to give Silena a serious look before he moved to recover his scythe. "Please, help my brother." He pleaded with the beautiful girl. Who simply nodded in response as she pulled something out of her backpack.

But Zach didn't pay attention to what it was, as his focus was purely on what was coming their way. How the hell are you even fitting through it is a mystery, but considering everything that has happened so far. Zach thought in deep amusement. In the end, it doesn't even matter.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Zachariah Roosevelt released a battle cry as he charged towards the Ethiopian Sea Monster.