[Third Person's PoV]
As they moved towards the basement, both Bianca and Nico noticed how oddly the door seemed to open.
As they entered and took in the sight of the sheets of magic circles hung on the walls, the monster spoils of war displayed on the shelf, and the bookshelves filled with various tomes, they heard Lucian announce, "I grant permission to Nico Di Angelo and Bianca Di Angelo to be allowed uninhibited entry from here on forth."
"What did you just do?" Nico asked, his expression fascinated.
"I was registering you two into the wards set up around this place," Lucian explained. "Now, even if I'm not here, you'll be able to enter without being considered intruders."
Annabeth, hearing this, placed a hand on her chin thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, my warding abilities have evolved. I could upgrade the wards around this place…"
"Do it another time. I want to do my thing first and get it over with," Thalia said, looking annoyed.
Annabeth suppressed a smirk, her lips twitching as she struggled to hold back laughter.
Lucian glanced between them in confusion. "Care to share what's so funny?"
Annabeth covered her mouth, looked aside, and held up a finger, her shoulders trembling as she took a calming breath. "Alright, so you know how Thalia wanted to gather the monster parts herself because we've been practically leeching off of you?"
Lucian nodded, while Bianca and Nico looked perplexed.
"Well, first we needed the heart of a griffin. On the way, we unexpectedly ran into another creature we needed—a Cloud Nymph. We needed a bit of it's cloud while it was rampaging. When we saw it, Thalia decided it was a perfect time to play cowgirl."
Annabeth's voice shook with restrained laughter. "She made a lasso out of lightning and threw it at the Nymph, which was in a hurry mind you. The Nymph looked surprised, then started thrashing around madly, trying to escape. Thalia was laughing in its face, trying to anger it—which worked better than she expected."
Annabeth puffed out her cheeks, mimicking the Cloud Nymph. "It got so mad it started absorbing the lightning from the lasso and freaking grew in size. Before it could escape, Thalia increased the lightning, keeping it tied up."
"But the lightning seemed to empower it, making it stronger. That's when Thalia decided it was a smart idea to taunted it again. It got so mad it flew forward and picked her up off her feet."
Annabeth raised her arms as if holding an invisible rope, sticking one leg out. "She screamed, totally caught off guard, 'Ahhhhhh! Annabeth, a little help please!'"
Annabeth crumbled to the floor, laughing so hard she could barely breathe. She shakily pulled out her phone and handed it to Lucian, still laughing as she turned bright red, "Hahahaha! I'm sorry my words aren't doing justice to her expression, here!!" She wheezed.
Lucian took the phone, his amusement growing as Bianca and Nico leaned in to see.
"Phttt!!" Lucian choked out, caught off guard by the image.
The picture showed a disheveled Thalia being spun in circles by a dark black cloud.
Bianca covered her mouth, trying to suppress her laughter, while Nico shamelessly laughed out loud, pointing directly at Thalia.
Thalia kept a straight expression as she looked at them, then smiled slightly. "You know, I haven't seen the picture. Can I see it?"
Lucian, knowing he'd lose his composure if he stared at it too long, quickly handed the phone to her.
As soon as Thalia had the phone in her hands, her smile vanished, replaced by a look of pure anger. She hurled the phone at the wall with such force that the wall cracked slightly, though the phone remained perfectly intact.
Annabeth crawled along the floor to retrieve her phone, wheezing as she swiped to reveal she had taken multiple pictures.
It took a while for everyone to calm down from their laughing fit. Once they did, Thalia, her teeth gritted in frustration, said, "Let's. Get. This. Over. With."
Annabeth, wiping tears from her eyes, held up a finger. "Hold on, I need to fix the ward you just damaged with my phone."
Shaking her head, Annabeth reached into her pouch and pulled out a phoenix feather. She approached the wall, drawing the ancient Greek symbol for 'Restore.'
Once she tapped it, the wall began to repair itself. Suddenly, a long line encircled the room as if it had gained stripes. Upon closer inspection, Nico and Bianca saw that the lines were actually sentences in ancient Greek, which, to their surprise, they could understand.
Bianca squinted, reading aloud slowly, "No one… is allowed… to enter without… permission."
"Anti-Detection… Obstruction of perception to wandering senses?" Nico read, puzzled. "What does that mean? How do they work?"
Annabeth sighed. "It's complicated. If I explained everything, we'd be here forever. Basically, the runes and sigils on the walls are wards designed to prevent anyone from peeking into what's happening here, including the gods. When runes are aligned properly, they empower each other, making the wards strong enough to work against divine beings. Anyone trying to look in wouldn't be able to find this place—they'd overlook it entirely. But if we mention a god's name, it's like shouting our location in a fog, making them aware of where we are. Like I said, it's complicated."
Seeing their mixed expressions of understanding and confusion, Annabeth waved them off. She could tell they had more questions but didn't feel the need to elaborate further, knowing the intricacies were difficult to grasp.
Once the warding was secured again, Thalia approached the cauldron, Annabeth following close behind as she carefully stored the phoenix quill back in its place.
"The 10 milliliters of pure water?" Thalia asked, extending her hand.
Annabeth reached into her pouch and proudly presented a vial containing the clearest water Nico and Bianca had ever seen. "Made using a ritual by yours truly~"
Thalia poured the water into the cauldron. "Heart of the Griffin?"
Annabeth pulled out a jar. "Ripped out of its chest by your very hands~"
Thalia carefully removed the heart from the jar and dropped it into the cauldron, stirring until it melted and blended with the water, turning the mixture a deep purple.
"1 liter of blood from a Hippogriff?"
"Extracted here carefully in camp~" Annabeth replied, holding up a container of blood.
Thalia added the blood and stirred again, watching as the mixture shifted from purple to a vibrant green.
Although Bianca and Nico had questions, they were too entranced by Thalia's actions to interrupt.
"Rampant Cloud of a Nymph?"
Annabeth produced another jar, inside of which a small, dark, thundering cloud was furiously raining, crackling with lightning, and gusting strong winds as it attempted to escape.
Thalia dumped the cloud into the cauldron. Like the previous ingredients, she stirred it, and the concoction turned a dark yellow, sparking faintly.
"And last, the essence of a tornado," Thalia said, holding out her hand.
Annabeth pulled out a final jar, this one containing a rapidly spinning miniature tornado clinking against the inside of the jar.
Thalia opened the jar and added the tornado. The mixture began to stir on its own, spinning faster and faster until it transformed into a light blue color. At its center was a distinct white swirl resembling a whirlpool.
Thalia wasn't sure if her ears were deceiving her, but she thought she could hear the faint sound of rushing wind.
Despite the odd sensation, she felt a surge of pride. She had successfully created the Sequence 6 potion of her Pathway… The Cyclone Rider.
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