Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hit the deck!” Poseidon shouted as soon as he was back from getting the wind bag in storage, for whatever reason. My body seemed to move on its own immediately, my face pressed against the hard wood floor of the deck. Wind whistled past my ears when I assumed Poseidon allowed Notus to be free from the bag, and then… what.

Percy cursed as I started getting up...no longer on the Argo III. “Where…” Suddenly I recognized our surroundings, Olympus, but it was eerily quiet. Both Percy and his father looked shocked when faces I knew all too well began to enter the room.

“Where.. How?!” “Olympus?..” “Percy?! How are we here?!”

Voices called out into the large throne room, each more confused as the last. Suddenly, a large voice boomed in the room “Why am I in Olympus?!” I flinched when thunder shook the room.

“Husband, calm yourself.” Hera crossed her arms and looked down her nose at the mortals in the room. “Humans, explain yourselves.” She said, in a perfectly condescending tone I only hear on my step-mother.

“How are we supposed to know how we are here.” Percy scoffed and raised an eyebrow.

“Percy... His mother grabbed his shoulder. “Be respectful.” Immediately I felt bad about not noticing Sally Jackson. The kind woman was dressed in a sea green sundress that matched her son’s eyes.

Hera squinted and looked between Percy and Sally, then her eyes drifted to Annabeth, who was looking around at her own architectural creation for any hints of why we are here.

Someone cleared their throat and began to speak, “I believe the only power strong enough to bring every Olympian, mortals, and demigods into Olympus would be the Moirai or...” Wisdom faltered for a moment. “A primordial.” Wow. More primordials. Great.

Hestia dropped down to her hearth and placed a hand over her mouth. Zeus scoffed with a hint of fear in his eyes, and Dionysus looked around the room. “We need to get back to our quest.” My twin glanced at the hearth for a second, before blinking quickly and looking at everyone in the room. She looked scared, no, not scared, confused.

“She’s righ-“ Leo gasped and began to shake, eyes wide.

“Are you oka-“ Lityerses gaped at a spot behind me and I turned to look, immediately tears clouded my vision.

Jason looked around, before opening his mouth to speak. “Huh.” I must’ve been hallucinating.

“Jason?!” His sister rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him.

My view flashed black momentarily and I was sitting on a couch infront of my throne, pressed next to Lityerses and Meg. Jason was alive? How. What. Was I going crazy?

“Jason..” Leo muttered as Percy stood up quickly, next to his father’s throne. I couldn’t take my eyes off of Jason, who was sat with a crying Hera.

Thalia was running from my sister’s side to hold him, as was Percy and Piper. When did Piper get here. I tried to recall but my brain kept repeating Jason’s name. I barely noticed when Lityerses grabbed my hand.

Suddenly, my brain cleared of all confusion as the hearth flashed a mix of colors and two teen girls...or one teen girl and one who looked a bit more androgynous appeared from out of the flames. The feminine one was tall, at least for a teen mortal, with curly blonde hair and eyes that looked like a mix between grey and blue. She was standing closer to a shocked Hestia.

“Pleasure!” She said, bowing down slightly and crossing her scarred hand over an orange camp half blood shirt. If I recognized her, I’d say she was a child of mine.

The other one, wearing a dark hoodie with a hint of orange under it, looked a bit more mischievous, with dark hair and bright purple eyes that reminded me of the color the hearth was mostly colored when the teens came.

“Who. Are. You” Zeus said in a tone that made me remember something ‘Your fault. Your punishment’

A few people stood up, the majority being demigods, and reached for weapons that weren’t there. When we lost our weapons, I didn’t know. I remembered dropping my bow before falling down to hit the deck, pre-being brought into Olympus.

Multiple voices overlapped, basically asking the same thing ‘who are you’ and ‘why are we here’ and ‘how did you bring us here’.

The blonde one looked over at Hestia and muttered a quiet apology, before turning to look at Zeus with a smile. “Lord Zeus, I am Zemora, please refer to me as Zem. The Moirai have brought me and my acquaintance Flame,” she gestured to the black haired one who was holding a device that looked like a phone and typing. “To have the pantheon and a collection of mortals read a certain quest”.

“Zem is correct, the Fates have requested we bring the news.” Flame placed the phone lazily in their pocket and bowed quickly.

“The fates?” Athena asked, flaring her nostrils at the teenagers, because the only thing that gets teenagers to listen to you is treating them rudely.

“The fates have not alerted us of this, we have no reason to believe you.” Zeus scoffed and stood up, growing a few feet and walking over towards them. I felt bad for them, if the Moirai truly had sent them, they were at no fault.

Zemora bobbed her head, her curls bouncing as she looked up at Zeus with wide blue eyes “Eep! Lord Zeus, I assure you-“

Lightning flashed quickly and my father looked shocked. “What have you done to my powers.”

Before she or Flame could respond, Hestia grabbed her brother’s hand with both of hers and used it to help herself up. “Brother, I cannot control the hearth either, but we must be diplomatic and hear them out. The Moirai will show themself if these children are indeed telling the truth.”

My father looked down at his sister and sighed. Hera spoke up, “Our sister is correct.” I winced internally; I never liked reminders to them being siblings. “We should hear them out.”

“With all due respect,” Flame started (and seeing as Zeus attempted to blast them, none), “the Fates did send us. I don’t believe they would be all too happy to have to come themselves.” They smiled unhappily, but respectfully enough that punishing them for it would be unnecessary.

Zem smiled an upside-down smile and glanced at Flame for a moment. “Flame is right, they wouldn’t be.”

I saw my messenger brother raise an eyebrow “How exactly do two teen girls--” I rolled my eyes. Dionysus scoffed and shot Hermes a dirty look, the god of gender fluidity recognizing the mistake.

“Or...two teens?” Zem nodded quickly, looking between the two gods and her acquaintance, at least I assumed it was an acquaintance situation, the two hadn’t spoken to each other directly yet, but they showed no hostility towards each other.

“Well, we work for the Moirai.” Flame crossed their arms and looked up at Zeus, who has taken a step towards his thrown being led by Hera.

Zem raised her hand and tilted it in a so-so motion “Kinda.”

“Kinda?” Annabeth and Leo asked at the same time, holding eye contact for a second in shock and amusement. Percy smiled and laughed under his breath, I wished he would smile more. The poor boy has been through too much, three wars in college, and he might not even survive this next one, No, don’t say that Apollo, he’ll be fine.

Flame and Zem glanced at each other momentarily. “Well..” Zem folded her hands over her stomach neatly. “The Fates did ask us to come, but, Flame and I work for ourselves. We are.. sorta.. not from here.”

That got me interested, I clutched Lityerses hand tighter and leaned forward, preparing to speak when someone else spoke instead. “Not from here? Like a different pantheon.” Jason. I choked back a sob and someone leaned on me in an act of comfort.

Flame looked at Jason and tilted their head “Not quite, explaining would take too long. We have a few more people to bring and then we can get started.” Flame grabbed the device again and hit a button, the hearth flashed, and they were gone.

“So. . . we still don’t know what quest it is.” Ares crossed his arms and frowned.

Aphrodite fanned herself “Oh dear, I hope it’s interesting!” She giggled in that way that usually meant ‘mortals are falling in love and it will have the worst possible outcome’.

A gruff voice that I hadn’t heard in a while spoke up “There’s a book.” I looked at Hephaestus for a second, confused, before I remember we had to read.

“Flame said something about more people.” Athena was eyeing the book with stormy grey eyes, unblinking. I heard someone mutter under their breath about all of Greece being brought into one room.

“Most likely the questers.” Annabeth stood up to grab the book next to Hestia, but was waved off kindly by the goddess of the hearth as Hestia picked it up.

Hestia smiled warmly. “Well, I suppose sitting and waiting will do no good. I will read.” She held up the book, which had a wine-red cover with no title. Super. We don’t even get to know what ‘quest’ we are reading.

“Some of us have things to do.” My father muttered, sitting with his wife at the couch in front of his throne.

Poseidon raised an eyebrow at his brother “Yeah, like us, who are actually on a quest? What are you doing, zapping mortals with lightning?” Him and his son were so similar sometimes, essentially when my uncle brought on his salty side. Haha! Get it? Salt? Ocean? Ah, why do I try.

They glared at each other menacingly when Hestia cleared her throat and opened the book. “I think.. the quest is the one currently going on.”

A few people asked at the same time ‘Why’. Why indeed, I suddenly missed the metal birds. Well, at least they wouldn’t see my thoughts, right?

Zeus is mad again/I never liked prophecies/Lightning, don’t blast me

Tyche must have some grudge.

“A haiku? It must be from Apollo’s point of view.” Artemis squinted at the book.

“Eugh. .” Ares groaned and placed his face in his hands.

“See, I’d ask how they got this information, but I think it would do more harm then good.” Dionysus sighed and crossed his arms, sitting with one leg on the couch.

“Ouch! I thought you liked me Ares!” I pouted, looking at the war god, meanwhile trying to ignore the Hannibal in the room sitting with Piper and Thalia.

Lit raised an eyebrow “Must we like you and your horrid haikus?” I gasped

“How dare you!” I placed a hand over my heart and looked away from him, over to an amused Meg.

I know what you’re thinking. But Apollo, you’re the god of prophecy! How could you hate your own domain? Well, dear reader. Truth be told, I’ve always disliked prophecies. I loved my Pythias over the years, and my Oracles are very dear to me, but prophecies themselves? HAH! No thanks. I think I’ll pass.

“Agreed.” Percy nodded solemnly, I knew he too had many bad experiences with my prophecies.

“Hm, I didn’t even think of the meaning of the title. Why would lord Zeus be mad?” Annabeth started bouncing her leg, thinking hard. Athena scoffed when her daughter said ‘I didn’t even think’ she always was such a controlling mother. Warrior of the mind and all.

Ares rolled his eyes “Please. Apollo loves his prophecies.”

“Now don’t be too sure!” Aphrodite smiled and flashed her baby blues- wait, no, they were green now. “I’m sure his time as a mortal” Meg kicked my shin “has changed his opinions.”

Dionysus shrugged “Whatever, this whole reading thing is a waste of time if you ask me.”

“Good thing no one asked you!” Hermes said innocently, smiling at Dionysus.

“Boys. Now please continue Hestia.” Hera was showing crows feet and staring at Jason, I remembered the tears when he died. from both of us. Hestia nodded and began to read more

Prophetic power was one I could have gone without just fine. Even before I was born, snapshots of the future constantly plagued my mind. Paris shooting down Achilles. Alexander the Great’s reign. Joan of Arc’s death. Vincent Van Gogh.

“Really? Since birth?” Lityerses asked, looking at me with his dark eyes, frowning slightly, his eyes half lidded. He looked- Wait. No. I got off track, being poetry and all, I sometimes loose myself in descriptions.

“Mhm. Well, since I was gifted with prophecy. So about four days old.” I closed my eyes and leaned back onto the soft cushion. I no longer had bird bites or ichor on my skin, but I was tired.

I opened my eyes to see Ares chuckle “Mhm, ‘gifted’” he used air quotes around ‘gifted’.

Boy, was it confusing when I saw Sombr for the first time.

“Who?” Meg asked, kicking my shin again.

Dear Meg had taught me getting to the point was best “Music artist” She kicked my shin again, which I took as an ‘Okay’

Anyways, most of those snapshots had been tragedies—which isn’t all that surprising. The Greeks invented tragedy.

“Technically, it was Zeus and Mnemosyne, not just the entirety of Greece,” pointed out Athena, referencing the birth of one of my Muses, Tragedy. The Muses that would never betray Olympus, no matter what anyone thinks.

But it’s safe to say that I had no love for prophecy. Especially not after the whole Python ordeal.

Aphrodite sighed like she had been there. “Waste of time.” I held onto Lityerses with both hands. Like she tried to get me out. Miss ‘Eleven is enough’. It had been three years since my trials as Lester Papadopoulos. Meg’s fifteenth birthday was coming up soon, and Lityerses had turned “twenty” last week. Georgina had hit the double-digits last month (No, I did not tear up—shut up, Meg).

Hermes snickered but still glared at Meg. The drama between the two was so unnecessary, but Hermes was never good at playing peacekeeper.

Percy and Annabeth would be finishing their final year of college soon, and Will and Nico would be starting their first. Everything was peaceful.

Percy nodded solemnly, sighing and leaning backwards. “Good things don’t last.” Poseidon looked so regretful in that moment, I’d almost believe he was realizing how much his son went through.

So imagine my surprise when my beloved Oracle of Delphi possessed me in front of the entire council.

“Oof. That’s rough man.” Leo said, still looking at Jason.

“So this was like. .” Ares counted his fingers “A year ago?”

“No you idiot. It was days ago. What is your time sense..” Athena scoffed at him.

“Can we stop arguing?!” Demeter snapped, standing up and flailing her arms around. “I’m here instead of being with my daughter. A waste of my time! And hers! She is in the Underworld during my time for Olympus’s sake!” She stomped, the smell of freshly cut grass wafting through the room.

“Ahem.” Zeus narrowed his eyes in a way that made me want to cower behind anyone else. “Can we please continue.” Some apologies were muttered and Hestia began to read again.

Mind you, I was minding my business, completely disregarding anything happening in this year’s summer solstice meeting.

“Is that so?..” My father looked at me. I was about to make up some excuse when Artemis spoke for me.

“Father, He is obviously still getting back to managing his duties. Perhaps he just needed a break.” She glanced and me and I nodded thankfully

Why Zeus demanded a meeting every solstice, I had no idea. Maybe it was just to annoy us all, or maybe it was just an excuse to bring up some petty argument. The latter seemed more likely, especially considering the amount of times my father had gotten into fights with Uncle Poseidon about things like flying fish being an intrusion of his domain, or who Rhea loved more.

Poseidon smiled “Me, by the way.” Here we go again…

“Goodness, obviously not. She actually raised me. . . you got eaten!” My father scoffed and crossed his arms. “And flying fish are an intrusion.”

“They are not! Fish and also, how was I supposed to control that?! Imbecile!” Poseidon snapped back, standing up and pointing at his younger brother.

For a second I thought Rhea spoke, but it was my aunt Hestia “My brothers. . can we be calm? Please?” She smiled in a way that was filled with the kindness it normally had, but the grin on Hermes gave me the idea she knew she was the favorite.

It was exhausting, and I wasn’t even the one arguing! Anyways, I was zoning out, when suddenly a piece of their argument caught my attention. “—son is not a threat to Olympus!”

Poseidon scowled and plopped himself back down next to his son, who was sitting confused. “What does that mean?” Percy looked at everyone for answers, my mortal siblings were looking at our father in shock meanwhile the godly side was looking anywhere but.

“Err. Percy. .” Annabeth walked over to his side and held him before speaking again “I think. . .Lord Zeus was uhm. . attempting to make a point of why you would be a threat to the Pantheon and therefore . . . have a reason to execute you” He blinked in a mix of shock and disgust towards my father.

“Oh gods!” Sally covered her mouth with two hands and shook silently.

“Percy. . Sally . . I was able to convince him against it.” Poseidon glanced at me “With help.” Meg leaned into my arm and my twin shot me one of her signature looks ‘Stop angering our father’.

I turned my focus to Poseidon. What? “He’s growing too powerful!” Zeus shot back. “He needs to be contained.”

“Debatable…” Jason muttered. I suppose if you were dead then you wouldn’t be scared of dying. Oh gods. Dead. Jason. My vision clouded and my throat constricted. Jason. Dead. Jason. Alive. Jason. Jason.

Spears flashed in my vision. Blood. A girl screaming. Jason. Dead.

“Apollo…” Lit was standing and looking at me now, holding both my shaking hands.

“Fine. .” I mumbled, looking anywhere but Jason. Hestia and Artemis were looking at me. I felt other eyes on me but I couldn’t look in that direction, I couldn’t. I pleaded with Hestia to keep reading using my eyes, the awkward silence was the worst.

“No, he doesn’t!” Poseidon snapped. “ You’re just trying to get rid of him because you’re still mad about him rejecting your offer of immortality.” The King’s eyes flashed furiously.

Percy blinked slowly. “Really? That’s why? Cmon. . . I didn’t wanna peak in my teen years.” Annabeth elbowed him “And I wanted justice for the demigods that passed in the war.” We all took a moment of silence for them. Even Zeus let it be.

What in Tartarus? Was he seriously so paranoid that he would kill Percy? I felt something splinter inside my chest at the concept of it. Absolutely not.

Percy looked at me in shock and amusement “Thanks man.” I felt no pain in my chest at being called ‘man’. Progress. Sally nodded at me thankfully and I smiled the best I could in the moment.

“Of course, now aunt Hestia?” I wished she would get on with it. The longer we sit and talk the more excruciating this will be. My aunt smiled at me sweetly and looked back down at the page.

“My lord,” I intervened before I could think better of it, “if I may?” The King’s jaw clenched, but he gestured for me to continue. Poseidon’s head snapped towards me, surprise and wariness knitted together in his expression. Artemis regarded me much in the same way, as if she didn’t trust me to make a smart decision.

“I wonder why, dummy.” Meg rocked her legs back and forth, elbowing me. I rolled my eyes and kicked her leg.

“I am qualified enough to speak up in council!” I grumbled.

Hermes laughed that forced laugh he used on Odysseus and his children commonly “Sure you are.” I shot him a glare.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Sis.

“You are welcome.” She smiled at me and blinked innocently. “Must be one lucky sun god to have a sister like me caring for you.” And people thought I was all the sarcasm.

I rolled my eyes at her “Yeah yeah. . . ”

“Percy Jackson has done nothing but fight for Olympus, for the gods, for you. He has more than proven his loyalty—it is quite literally his fatal flaw. To kill him now would be…” I almost said stupid, but I caught myself (take that, Artemis!). “Unwise.”

The collection of demigods that mainly fought against the earth mother flinched. I guessed that where ever I heard it originally, although I wasn’t sure who said it.

Percy locked eye contact with me “Thanks Apollo.” Annabeth nodded at me as well, holding her boyfriend’s hands but not looking at me for more than a second. I followed her eye line and saw Jason, looking at me slightly guilty for whatever reason, with Piper and Thalia holding onto him from either side.

I smiled my best sun god smile and replied as cheery as I could “It’s not big deal, but you’re welcome Percy.”

Hera visibly flinched, and multiple members of the council stared at me with a mix of pity and sadness. I frowned. I got the impression that they’d somehow heard those words before, though I couldn’t possibly imagine where or when.

“Oh Apollo..” Hera wiped a tear.

Poseidon had one hand on his temple, massaging it. “You heard it after the fight with the giants. One of your father’s demigod children said it.” Demigod children. Hera didn’t even reply to that. I looked at my father, who looked a bit guilty, then to Jason. Jason had said it. About me. Because he cared. But I let him die.

I was about to speak up, when aunt Hestia spoke again. I leaned over onto Lit’s shoulder and muffled myself into it. He wrapped an arm around me as a few tears slipped out of my eyes.

The King’s scowl deepened. “You would call me unwise? In front of the council of the gods, no less?” I shifted on my feet, trying to swallow down the bile rising in the back of my throat as the smell of ozone kicked in, the distant rumble of thunder rolling somewhere off in Olympus.

A few people looked shocked. Those who had been there for my little outburst looked scared for me. I felt a hand squeeze my waist and a head lean onto me.

Aphrodite hmphed. “Oh darling.” The King shot her a dirty look, but she ignored him.

“I only meant—Percy is a good kid. He wouldn’t try anything stupid, especially not against you, my lord. He’s almost finished college with his girlfriend; please just let him be.”

A few sounds were made at once. Leo said something about overworking, Percy grumbled, Sally let out a sob like sound which made me want to hug her, Annabeth let out a controlled but upset sigh, Poseidon cursed softly, and Meg just said something about stupidity.

“Brothe-“ Poseidon looked extremely upset for someone who was there when I said it. He was quickly cut off. “Continue reading, sister,” the king ordered Hestia, who obliged immediately.

”You would call me unwise,” the King repeated. “My lord—“ I was shocked into cutting myself off mid-sentence when the King’s hand went to his Bolt, followed by a very noticeable flinch.

Leo and Thalia winced, Jason looking extremely uncomfortable. Meg glared daggers at the King, then looked at me softly. “He acts like Nero. The King and the Beast.” I froze up. Looking at her in shock.

“Apollo?” Lit touched my jaw with his fingertips, turning my head to face him. “Are you alright?” A majority of the people in the room looked concerned and confused.

No one else heard her. Good. It wasn’t right. “I-“ It wasn’t! Was it?. . . Nero was a manipulator, the King, no, Zeus, was a ruler. He has to. It’s wrong.

The Master Bolt. The star of all my worst nightmares, barring Python.

Aphrodite, Hera, and Hestia gasped, with my father looking mildly shocked. I started shaking softly.

“I’ve never!” Aphrodite stood up, her hair going from an updo of blonde curls to floor length brown hair. Her beautiful features constricted in rage. I wished she would sit down and stop angering him.

The King sighed uncomfortably “I am the King, Aphrodite. I must keep everyone in line, including my children.” Meg scoffed.

Aphrodite swooped her short hair over her shoulder. ”Yet with Athen-“ Athena stood up, waving at Hestia to continue reading.

Zeus’s brow furrowed. “My son. I have tried so hard to show you how merciful I am. You know I never want to hurt you.”

Jason rolled his eyes and “Sure. . .” Piper flinched and shushed him. Zeus looked uncomfortable and shifted in his seat.

My brain faltered, my tongue going numb in my mouth. My father’s expression only grew sadder, making my gut twist uncomfortably.

Lit rested his head on mine “You shouldn’t feel responsible, Princess. All you did was share your opinion. It’s a council hmm?” He grabbed both of my hands and held them, his stillness helped me stop shaking. My only response was a shaky gasp.

“I still feel horrible about having to turn you mortal last time. But you know you deserved it, right? It was only to help you see. See that I was trying to help you.” “I-I know,” I choked out.

I pulled my legs up to my chest and started rocking softly, Lityerses pulled back a bit but held my hands on my knees. Meg glared daggers at the King. Artemis and Athena stared at the floor like it was the most interesting thing they had seen since the Trojan war.

“And yet you still…” he shook his head. “Why must you antagonize me?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hades rear his head back as if he’d just been slapped. Poseidon made a strangled noise.

Jason made a sound of exasperation “I fear antagonizing and explaining an opinion that wasn’t only morally correct, but also a better move as a king,” Jason scoffed “are different things.” My vision blurred and I tried to focus onto the King’s face, to see if he was going to hurt Jason. But could he?

Flame and Zem took the Bolt, and powers barely work, but also, Jason couldn’t be affected while dead. I supposed dying had its benefits. The King not only couldn’t. . . but, would he?. . . His reaction to his son’s death was nonexistent, but he looked uncomfortable. That meant he cared.

My stomach continued to feel like a dumpster fire. It was only when I felt my mouth open against my will and green smoke started pouring out from between my lips that I realized it wasn’t only because I’d managed to diappoint my father yet again.

“You didn’t disappoint me, I was just upset you weren’t acting like an Olympian.” My father shook his head sadly “I suppose being mortal does that for you.” I emitted a soft light involuntarily and smiled at him like a little kid. He was such a kind ruler when it really came to it.

I put my legs back down and bounced up and down excitedly. I was about to thank my papa for being so lenient, when Hestia huffed softly and opened began to read again. I didn’t know why she was upset.

A prophecy. No. No no no no nonononononononono— My vision turned a murky, swamp green. I sat up straight in my throne, my posture turning unnaturally stiff. A quest made like none before,
the rules of Fate twisted for four.
Half god, half mortal—
the heroes descend
to reach the prophecy’s end.
Together only may they prevail;
the Sun, the Sea, the Moon, the Thief,
with Flame, Imperial, Cursed, and Legacy;
by dawn of post-solstice must set sail.

Sally nodded solemnly “Yes, Annabeth” she ruffled Annabeth’s hair “told me about this.”

“I can’t believe there is another prophecy.” Piper choked out a sob and buried her face in her hands.

Thalia patted her shoulder “It’ll be fine, they have 4 gods with them.”

“That means they need four gods. Which means strong foes.” Annabeth glanced at her boyfriend, who was leaning into his mother “I just hope it gets finished quickly.”

Athena scanned the room “As do we child. I would like a break from this book” Her bright gray eyes locked onto Hestia “Lady Hestia, If you could continue? I believe this chapter will be complete soon, about when they leave the throne room.”

Hestia smiled warmly, and Hera spoke up before Hestia could continue reading. “I am of the same opinion. Although we gods do not need rest, the mortals do. And we have a lot going on.” Her eyes snapped to Jason for just a second, before turning back to Hestia. “Sister, go on.”

“I think only us gods should read this book, as we do not need to take breaths.” Hestia got a few nods then opened the book to the marked page.

I tilted forward and probably would have hit the floor if Hermes hadn’t caught me.

Hermes blew me a kiss, which made me smile and laugh genuinely. He smiled wide when he saw my little giggle.

My breath smelt like snakeskin. I felt sick—which shouldn’t be possible because gods didn’t get sick, unless we inflicted sickness on each other. Which nobody had done as of then.

“I would hope not.” My father said in the tone of the King but I was sure the intent of that was care.

Mostly, my mind was reeling from that prophecy. It held the weight of major importance, but it made no sense—poetically or otherwise. To reach the prophecy’s end, but there was no “end”. Well, there was, but the final line described the beginning of a quest, not the finishing of one. Which had no logic whatsoever, unless… Unless it was like my trials, where there were multiple prophecies that needed to be found and fulfilled. And that meant this was just the introduction. Wonderful.

“Boooooo.” Thalia thumbs-downed at that.

Leo snickered “Loud incorrect buzzer.” Percy and Jason laughed loudly. Hestia smiled at them but looked back down to keep reading while they laughed on.

I risked a glance up at my father, half expecting the Bolt to strike me right then and there.

The laughing stopped.

Athena held her arms around herself in a way that looked just a bit more like self-comfort than a stern pose. Hera looked anywhere but her husband, and my father looked almost guilty, which was progress.

Instead, I was met with blue eyes widened with just a flicker of fear before the expression schooled.

“Humph. Says a lot about the king of Olympus.” Percy scoffed and raised an eyebrow. The King looked down his nose at Percy and his eyes flashed with rage. His mom hurriedly whispered into Percy’s ear and his expression turned into a more apologetic one.

Demeter muttered something about blasphemy but spent most of her time staring at Lit and Meg, trying to get them to sit with her.

”A prophecy.” Demeter looked dumbfounded. “When was the last time a prophecy was spoken by Apollo himself?” “It doesn’t matter,” Zeus dismissed. “This probably won’t be of importance until another century has passed.” Hades dragged a hand across his face. “Brother,” he said, his tone cold and condescending, “I don’t believe this prophecy is meant for the future. The last line said ‘by dawn of post-solstice’ the questers must set sail. Wouldn’t that mean the quest is to begin by dawn tomorrow?” I felt the ichor drain from my face when my powers rang my uncle’s words as True.

“You can sense truth?” Annabeth looked so much like her mother when she got serious. I nodded, saying something about being a human lie detector. Human.

I’d been hoping dawn of post-solstice might be referring to a far-off future solstice, or at the very least the winter one. “It’s true,” I mumbled miserably. Athena seemed way too unbothered by this revelation. “Then we should discuss the rest of the prophecy, don’t you think? Perhaps then we might come up with a name for it. I would rather not go around calling it ‘the prophecy’ the entire time.”

Athena locked her gaze onto mine, her tilted helmet messing up her hair “I was unbothered because I must keep my composure.” She reached up to fix her helmet.

All eyes turned to Zeus. He blew out an exhausted breath, as if somehow he would be the one on the quest. “Fine. As you were.” Hermes bit his lip as he helped me back into my throne, looking paler than usual. “Okay…so. The first line—does that mean four questers?” Dionysus rolled her eyes. “No, idiot. There are eight questers: The Sun, the Sea, the Moon, and the Thief, and then there’s the Flame, Imperial, the Cursed, and Legacy. The rules of Fate are twisted for half of them.” “Apollo?” Zeus asked me.

“Does Damien have a knowledge domain?” Percy asked, looking at his girlfriend. Dionysus glared at him.

“I’ll have you know Peeta, that I can observe things.” He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. Their two sided name calling was amusing.

I smiled at them “I am actually the god of knowledge.” I felt a sharp gaze “Athena is wisdom and strategy.”

I nodded slowly, feeling my domain of Truth. “That’s correct.” “Alright,” Poseidon said, scratching his beard. He also looked pale. “So these eight half-bloods—“

Some people sighed, others muttered unhappily. I, personally, just slumped back onto Lit. Meg now had her legs over mine and Lit’s.

“No,” I said suddenly, the weight of the lie blaring in my head. He blinked. “Pardon?” I chewed my lip. “That’s not…correct. It’s not eight half-bloods.” Ares laughed, but it sounded weak even to me. “What are you talking about? Who else would be on a quest if not demigods?” Athena’s eyes brightened. Well shit.

She narrowed her eyes at me “I am strategy, Phobeus. Do you expect me to ignore the opportunity to create a strategy and break down information?” My older sister was quite terrifying. I shook my head quickly.

“I just meant that if it is worth Wisdom’s time then it can’t be good!” I looked at her with my guilty wolf pup look, it always worked. Her gaze softened and she closed her eyes for a moment.

A booming and commanding voice echoed through the throne room “Can we please continue.” The king looked at Hestia expectantly.

“The third line of the prophecy,” she began, getting worked up. “‘Half god, half mortal—“ I don’t think Delphi would waste her time specifying that. I mean, it’s always demigods on a quest, why would she need to rephrase it? That’s why I don’t think she meant demigods at all. I think she meant half of the questers are gods, and the other four are demigods.” Silence.

Hestia gave a moment for anyone to talk, but everyone was either invested or was there and couldn’t care less.

“Athena,” Zeus started, but my half-sister beat him to it. “This has never happened before, I know. But that’s where the first two lines of the prophecy would come in. ‘A quest made like none before, the rules of Fate twisted for four.’ The four that the rules would be bent for would be the gods, since gods aren’t supposed to go on quests at all.” She looked at me for confirmation of her words. I was horrified to find that her theory was, in fact, correct. I swallowed but nodded, causing multiple gods to pale significantly. She nodded. “That’s what I thought. Only together may they prevail, so that probably means you have to work with the demigods to finish the quest. And I think it’s pretty obvious who the gods are.” Ares suddenly seemed very amused. “Really? I would’ve never guessed.”

Thalia and Piper let out a quick bust of laughter.

Athena snorted. “The Sun,” I said numbly, my fingers clutching at the denim of my jeans. “That’s me. The Sea…” I cringed as I looked up at Poseidon. The Sea God looked uncomfortable, but not surprised. “And I’m the Moon,” Artemis stated, the most unbothered out of all of them. “The Thief is obviously Hermes.” Hermes winced as my twin said his name, but he, too, seemed unsurprised. Demeter huffed. “It’s kind of obvious when Apollo stared at each of them in turn when he said the prophecy. Speaking of which—what are we calling it?” I had done what? Before I could voice my thoughts aloud, Hera cut me off.

I winced, I forgot about that part. My prophecies seemed to be giving subtle hints using tone of voice or where I was looking recently.

“Maybe we should figure out the rest of the questers before we give it a name.” They thought for a moment, and for the first time in the entirety of Olympus’s existence, the throne room was completely and utterly quiet. Then it came to me. I immediately felt my stomach sink at the thought of bringing him into this, but I had no choice. “I know who the Flame is.” Everyone turned their faces to me, and I shifted, feeling like ants were crawling all over me. I looked Hephaestus dead in the eye. “We need to find Leo Valdez.”

My aunt smiled warmly and closed the book “End of chapter one.”

“Well that was quite an experience,” Hera said, rubbing her temples.

I let go of Lit’s hands, kicked Meg’s legs off me, stood up, and walked over to Jason.

Chapter Text

It’s not everyday you come back from the dead, so when it happened to me, I knew something was up. I’d been happily dead for three years in Elysium. Although I missed my friends and sister, death was peaceful.

Leo was there. That was interesting. I asked Piper while the others talked mid-reading. I wanted to go over and speak with him after the chapter ended, but then my eyes caught onto a shaking Apollo. Every time I spoke he would shake so I made an effort to keep quiet.

When lady Hestia closed the book, Apollo walked over to me. Lityerses walked behind him. That was new. He looked a bit disgruntled.

“Piper, Thalia,” Apollo greeted, faltering slightly when he looked at me. “Jason.” He didn’t even try to hide the look of pure grief on his face. ‘Remember’ I had said, but I didn’t want the memories to be of grief completely. I wanted him to remember for happiness.

Piper smiled at him “Hey Apollo.” At that moment, Lityerses caught up to us, hand in hand with Meg. I looked quizzically at the group around us, waiting for an explanation. Meg kicked Apollo and looked at me. “We like him now.”

“Always one with the words, huh.” Percy, who just joined us, smiled and sat down next to us on the otherwise empty couch of Hera. “So...I suppose we should talk.”

Apollo was staring at me in a way that looked just a bit uncanny. He looked so sad, it didn’t feel right for the god of the sun. I smiled sheepishly and looked around at my friends “So...Any news?”

Percy whistled slowly. “Well. . . We have time to talk so...”

~~~~~

They explained everything going on, and it seemed like a handful. Apollo whispered into the ear of Lityerses and dragged him and Meg off. Piper, Percy, and Thalia walked off too, leaving me and Leo.

He looked like he was having some sort of internal crisis, and he was sitting perfectly still for the first time since ever. I sighed and grabbed his hands “Leo. . . You of all people understand why I did it.” He didn’t look at me, but something in my stomach fluttered.

“I just. . .” He trembled slightly, and I realized he was crying. I leaned over and held him.

We both jumped when the room filled with heat, Flame and Zem standing at the hearth. Flame was holding a phone and typing vigorously, before looking up at us and saying, “We made a dining room. Leave the throne room and go on the right path, you’ll see it. When at least half the people in this room go there, the new people will be brought.”

We stood up and walked with a pretty large group out of the throne room, heading right under white arches that vaguely reminded me of New Rome. Apollo and Lityerses were walking extremely close, it reminded me of how Annabeth and Percy looked post-Tartarus.

I whispered a question to Piper about it, and she said she didn’t know and to ask Leo. As much as I wanted to, it didn’t seem like a good time. He was wiping his eyes and pretending he was okay.

We saw a large brown pavilion with wooden benches scattered inside it and walked over. Sitting down in the back right were Zem and Flame, the table covered with pencils, papers, and. . . wooden stacking blocks? A large red box said ‘Jenga’.

Annabeth, Percy, Leo, Piper, Apollo, Meg, Lityerses, and I sat down around a table near the back. I was at the end of the table, next to Leo, looking across at Piper. “So. . . When will we see the new people?” Lityerses turned around to ask the only two people with information.

Crash! The tower of blocks fell down and Zem cried out. “Aweee man!! I thought I had that!” She frowned and turned around to look at us. “You totally ruined my focus!” She sighed. “Flame will teleport them now.”

Flame stood up, holding the phone again, and cleared their throat. “Alright everyone, take a seat.” Then they held out the phone and pointed a finger, about to press something.

“You expect me , The King of the Gods, to sit on. . .” Jupiter--ever entitled--said, “wooden benches?” He scoffed and crossed his large, veiny arms. “I refuse.”

Flame sighed and clicked a few things on their phone, and one of the benches closer to the front turned white metal, with dark blue cushions and gold eagle engraving. They raised an eyebrow at Zeus. “Better?”

He scoffed and walked over to the special bench. I didn’t see why he thought he was oh so special. Poseidon was sitting at a normal bench, as well as literally every god except Jupiter. . . er. . . Zeus, Hera, and Miner-Athena.

Only those three gods sat at the metal table, then Flame cleared their throat and clapped a few times, getting everyone’s attention. “Okay, Okay, look here.” Zem pointed at a spot in the middle of the room. “That’s where the new people will be. No attacking!” A few people shifted in their seats at that.

Flame smiled with a hint of wickedness “And on that cheerful note, here we go!” Finally, they pressed the button, and the middle of the room began to glow a bright purple.

Three people stood in the middle of the room, looking shocked. I remembered feeling blood fill my throat, Piper scream, a spear impale me. Caligula’s spear. The same Caligula that was now. . . Zem hopped to her feet and ran over “Ack!! No attacking!! Get off him please, Miss McLean!”

Apollo was staring at them in disbelief, repeating a mantra. “I killed him, I killed him, I killed him-“ Lityerses was shushing him and holding him with an arm. Commodus had sharp nails at his throat, connected to the hands of Diana/Artemis, Caligula was being punched by Piper. and Nero was scowling at Apollo.

The god king stood up and, I assumed, had enough, because he yelled: “ENOUGH!”

Everyone flinched, but Apollo had a full body flinch and he choked back a sob. I guessed that would happen if your dad was a horrible, narcissistic, selfish, egotistical- sorry. . . I got carried away.

Flame looked a bit relieved, but didn’t seem like they cared all that much about the emperors getting pummeled. “Thank you, Lord Zeus. We have more to bring. Emperors, please find your way to an unoccupied table and stay there ”

They did just that, sitting at the only empty table near the front. Someone threw a pickle at them, where did they find pickles. . .We didn’t even have food yet. Then I looked at the person who most likely threw it, Mercury/Hermes. Well, that explained it.

“More people incoming” Zem smiled and crossed her legs, fidgeting with a ‘Keep Austin Weird’ pin. The purple glow returned, this time showing people I didn’t recognize.

Apollo lost all the light in his eyes, and they turned a dark black, filling with tears. I heard some cries throughout the room. There stood a man with dark, wavy hair, purple flowers adorning his clothes and a scar across his forehead, a man with slightly lighter hair and more defined curls, with vines across his legs and lighter flowers in his hair, and a nymph with a laurel wreath and branches in her hair.

The black haired man bowed down and asked in Greece politely, “που είμαι?” The same voice, but in English, seemed to echo it. ‘Where are we’.

The lighter purple flower guy looked a bit more shocked, and the nymph. . .well. .

“Τῶν θεῶν γε! που είμαι?!” ‘By the gods, where am I?’ She pulled a branch-looking thing out of her hair and held it in front of her like a weapon, turning until she saw a shocked Artemis.

The voice no longer echoed, just came out of her mouth not exactly matching the way her lips moved. “Lady Artemis?”

She turned into a much taller, adult woman and walked over to the nymph, holding her hands. “Daphne. .” Oh. Daphne. Laurel. Apollo. I turned to look at him, and he was shaking.

Lityerses looked a bit confused and disgruntled, and he didn’t seem to know what was going on with Apollo. I realized he probably remembered her pretty well. “Apollo? You alright?”

Daphne gasped and spun around, staring at him in pure hatred. I momentarily wondered if the arrow still affected her, when she stomped over and slapped Apollo across the face. I took a wild guess and assumed the arrow still affected her.

The dark brown hair guy looked absolutely stunned, and the dark haired one ran over. “What is wrong with you! Blasphemy!” He pulled her away and touched Apollo’s face lightly. “Are you okay, Phoebus?”

Apollo sat there looking gagged when a gorgeous woman, who I’d wager my life. . . well. . . you get the point . . . on being Venus/Aphrodite, squealed. I thought her appearance changed a lot, but she only kept one. Short, ruffled brown hair, dark eyes, tan skin, and tiny. She reminded me of someone I couldn’t name.

“Ooooooh!! This is going to be oh so fun!” She placed her hands on her cheeks and slapped lightly, bouncing up and down on her toes.

Mars grumbled, “Can someone tell me who all these people are?”

The one holding Apollo’s cheek turned around and bowed down “I apologize Lord Ares; I am Hyacinthus of Sparta.” Oh gods. Lityerses’s eyebrows shot up, and Annabeth grabbed her mouth in shock.

The other male bowed too, and smiled “And I, Crocus.”

Goodness gracious.

Hyacinthus turned back to Apollo, smiling fondly, when he looked up at Lityerses. “Pleasure. . .” He pulled his hand back and looked a bit disappointed.

“I refuse to be in the same room as that wretched sun god!” Daphne scoffed and stomped over near the front of the room, sitting next to Artemis and across from a stunned Hermes.

When Crocus spotted Hermes, he smiled bright and ran over, leaning into a hug and sitting next to him. Whispering into his ear and kissing his cheek.

Apollo scooched down to give Hyacinthus space to sit at the end, now their row had five people. Lityerses grabbed Apollo’s left hand as Hyacinthus did so with the right, both of them eyeing each other. I found it funny he was stuck in a love triangle, except his triangle was in the form of a bench.

Flame held up that phone again “Okay then. Four more people for now, then you all get to eat.” Food sounded good. I missed bacon. The room glowed the familiar purple hue and there stood a girl I didn’t know, Pluto , Will, and. . . Nico.

They all let out gasps and Nico turned to see me. His eyes went wide and filled with tears as he took a few steps back into Will. I figured they were much closer now than when Will called him over mid-our talk, because Will held him tight.

The girl, who had black hair and a nose piercing, looked more shocked than the others (minus Nico) “What in the world. . . Where am I.” I didn’t think she was a demigod.

“Shel!” Piper ran over and hugged ‘Shel’. I wondered how she knew her and was about to ask when Leo leaned into my side and I just sat there comfortably.

Food of all varieties covered the tables, and the smell almost made me explode in joy. I grabbed plates of it and just started eating, and the flavor was otherworldly. I missed food. I probably had curry and rice all over my face, but I mean. . . hey. I was raised by wolves.

Chapter Text

I normally liked being around young mortals (especially women), but those two that brought them here had something wrong with them. I didn’t know how, but a better question is why would they bring Hyacinthus here--no--why would they bring Daphne here. Sadism was never my cup of tea, or perhaps they just enjoyed secondhand embarrassment.

Daphne had been such a sweet girl, pretty and kind with a lethal energy she hid well enough to go about her every day. Then that sicko Eros shot her with his godsforsaken arrow, making her this paranoid creature.

My eyes kept drifting towards my twin; Apollo was sitting between Lityerses and Hyacinthus, looking sick. Lityerses and Hyacinthus made me realize my brother has a type, no matter how much I despise thinking about his love life: dark hair and tan skin.

Boreas (that wretched wind god, I was not excited for those chapters) and Commodus also fell into that category. Oh. Commodus.

. . .

I turned to look at the dead emperor, only to realize he was staring at Apollo and had a weird expression on his face. He looked almost. . . jealous.

I let out a sigh and went back to eating my steak. Daphne was laying on the table and staring at me softly.

“Lady Artemis,” She called out to me, quietly but fondly.

I placed my fork down and met her eyes, feeling slightly uncanny. “Hm?” She looked wrong. . . like someone possessed.

She spoke up after a few seconds of staring at me “I-“

My father’s voice boomed throughout the room, interrupting Daphne. “You two”--he gestured at Flame and Zem--“Bring the Muses here. I want entertainment”

Ah. The Muses. I wasn’t sure if they were rebelling or not, but either way I didn’t think they could bring the Muses into Olympus without spoiling our quest. “I’m afraid we cannot!” Zem smiled at him apologetically, leaning back like she was scared he’d explode. Her hair was straighter now, with all brown clothes instead of the more colorful ones she wore previously.

Flame nodded halfheartedly, screenshotting on a device often. “Yep,” they said simply. How helpful. Flame reminded me of Meg in a way, but looking more mature than her.

Lightning flashed far off in the horizon. “And why is that?” He looked down at them intimidatingly, flaring his nostrils.

Just when I was about to interfere, he spoke again. “Never mind that.” He waved them off “Apollo.”

Everyone that had been looking at Apollo--which was a good percentage of people--looked up at that. My twin looked like he was dazed, trying to focus on our father.

Even Hermes, who was previously crying into Crocus’s shoulder, looked up at that. I didn’t like thinking of any of my siblings in that way, but as a god it was ‘natural’ I supposed. Still, a small part of me wished Crocus would move down the bench, farther from Hermes, a bit.

A melodic voice that belonged to Apollo spoke up. "Yes, my Lord?" His voice was sickly sweet, more than usual, in the way that told me he was hiding something. It didn’t take Athena to figure it out, he had everyone (minus Mother) he had ever cared about in the room with him.

Our Father leaned back onto the table, getting comfortable. “Sing something.” Ah. He wanted a performance.

I saw Meg open her mouth defiantly, which made me want to interrupt, but Apollo stood up and somehow summoned his lyre. Lityerses looked disgruntled at the loss.

Everyone had their eyes on him now, even the fidgeting Valdez and the busy Flame. Apollo shone a bit, although voluntarily or not I wasn’t sure, and strummed his lyre a few times. He seemed to be getting the hang of it again.

A shine in the room reminded me of the purple when new people arrived, but instead it was gold. Apollo closed his eyes and looked as ethereal as the day he met Athena, except he wasn’t wearing his white and gold getup now.

There's blood on the side of the mountain

His singing was something I didn’t know I missed, it was like being bathed in gold and honey, it felt like utmost pleasure. I didn’t see how any immortal would want intimacy with their partner (or, oftener, with anyone but their partner) when they could listen to Apollo’s intoxicating voice.

There's writing all over the wall Shadows of us are still dancin' In every room and every hall There's snow fallin' over the city You thought that it would wash away

Someone at the emperors table flinched. I realized this song was most likely about his lovers. As much as I wanted to hyper analyze the song, I was being transcended through song alone, and focusing felt impossible.

The bitter taste of my fury And all of the messes you made Yeah, you think that you got away

Perhaps about Commodus’s death?

… But I'm in the trees,

Daphne.

I'm in the breeze

Hyacinthus? Boreas?

My footsteps on the ground You'll see my face in every place But you can't catch me now Through wading grass, the months will pass You'll feel it all around I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere But you can't catch me now No, you can't catch me now

Catch, Catch. . . what did he try to catch that evaded him? Ah, nonetheless, I’d rather listen to him.

… Bet you thought I'd never do it

Drowning.

Thought it'd go over my head I bet you figured I'd pass with the winter

I faintly remembered an annual visit to the land of the Hyperboreans.

Be somethin' easy to forget Oh, you think I'm gone 'cause I left … But I'm in the trees, I'm in the breeze My footsteps on the ground You'll see my face in every place But you can't catch me now Through wading grass, the months will pass You'll feel it all around I'm here, I'm there, I'm everywhere But you can't catch me now No, you can't catch me now … Ooh, ooh Ooh, ooh

… You can't, you can't catch me now I'm comin' like a storm into your town You can't, you can't catch me now I'm higher than the hopes that you brought down You can't, you can't catch me now I'm comin' like a storm into your town You can't, you can't catch me now I'm higher than the hopes that you brought down You can't, you can't catch me now I'm comin' like a storm into your town You can't, you can't catch me now You can't, you can't, you can't … There's blood on the side of the mountain It's turning a new shade of red Yeah, sometimes the fire you founded Don't burn the way you'd expect

Perhaps a reference to Helios? Or maybe our Father. . .

Yeah, you thought that this was the end

He strummed a few final times, before sighing and opening his eyes, revealing a gold that quickly turned to his preferred sky blue.

The other Olympians in the room looked slightly dazed, but the mortals all looked almost shocked. This was common, of course. When Apollo loses himself in his songs, it can make even the coldest of gods cry.

Suddenly, the food covering the tables disappeared and the book appeared next to me. Poseidon reached for it, opening it and collecting everyone's attention.

“Here we go. . .”

Chapter 2; “Not all men—“ Correct. Leo Valdez Would Never.

A few people snickered and said ‘man’ snapped his fingers into a gun shape.

After much persuading (read: arguing), Zeus finally agreed to let Percy live in favor of Poseidon actually going on the quest and not letting the world end.

Sally said her thanks towards Poseidon, her eyes slightly red.

Because of course that’s what it took for Zeus to spare the life of a child. Whatever. I did not care for such matters. It was better not to invoke Zeus’s wrath anyway. If only I could knock that into my brother’s stubbornly thick skull.

He scoffed at me. “Artemis!” I rolled my eyes, thinking about how his voice shook.

What was Apollo thinking? Never mind, he probably wasn’t at all.

“Why are you bullying me?” He drawled out his voice on the last word, sounding like a child again.

“Hmm. . . I wonder.” Ares raised an eyebrow sarcastically. Hermes laughed and Apollo sighed dramatically.

After Zeus declared the summer solstice meeting over and everyone teleported away, I immediately went to seek out Apollo, dragging the rest of my fellow questers with me. Hermes found him sitting in his famous “Garden of Lovers”, just staring into space. “Nephew?” Poseidon tried cautiously. I was less gentle. “Phoebus Apollon,” I snapped.

Aphrodite scoffed, now donning a summer dress and black hair. “Can’t be gentle, can you ,Virgo Intacta?” I stood up to yell at her, but Daphne tugged me back down.

“Don’t mess with Love, Lady Artemis,” she warned softly.

My brother blinked, stunned out of whatever trance he’d been in. “Arty? Hermes, what—oh. Hi, Uncle P.” I smacked his arm. “What in Chaos possessed you to do”—I gestured frantically at nothing—“whatever the hell that was?” Apollo had the audacity to act confused. “I was just standing up for Percy—“

Dionysus shrugged. “Not the best way of doing it.”

“Shush Dion!” Apollo shot him a glare and Percy stuck out his tongue at his camp director.

“By calling Father unwise in front of every Olympian?” I scoffed, not able to comprehend the level of stupidity my brother had displayed during that meeting. “It hasn’t even been half a decade since you got thrown in a dumpster with blood in your veins, are you trying to get killed this time!?” Apollo folded his arms defensively. “For your information, I was actually going to call him stupid. I caught myself. You should be proud of me.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “For doing the bare minimum?”

”For doing the bare minimum!?” My twin’s son gasped dramatically. “Neeks, I always knew you were magical!”

Nico hit him on the arm. “Oh yeah, because summoning the dead isn’t enough proof I’m ‘magical’.” Percy and Leo snickered, with Aphrodite cooing at them.

“No! For—“ he sighed. “You know what? It’s over. I don’t care anymore.” He turned to the other two gods, who had been watching our heated exchange like a tennis match. “We should get going. Maybe Leo will have some ideas about who the other heroes might be.”

A girl with a nose piercing sitting with Piper exhaled. “I can’t believe this is all real.”

“I’m more concerned over explaining the whole situation,” Hermes said. “I mean—the kid just got back from being dead, and then he had to help you with your trials in Indianapolis. How do you think he’ll react if he finds out he’s part of another prophecy?”

Leo grinned mischievously. “Glad to know you care, Cartero.”

“Don’t call me-“ Hermes stuttered, Poseidon interrupting him to avoid confrontation.

Apollo winced. “I know. I don’t want him to be part of this quest at all, but we don’t have a choice.” We stood in silence, wondering what we should even do. Only Apollo had ever been on a quest before. The rest of us…well, gods simply weren’t meant to be on quests. But here we were.

“ You’ll be fine ,” Percy said, sounding upset.

Annabeth smacked him.

Nero smiled. “What a stuck up group of gods!”

Father’s eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to speak, along with an angered Athena.

Poseidon cleared his throat and interrupted them.

“Does anyone know why we’re even doing this quest?” asked Poseidon. “It doesn’t feel like the world’s ending or anything.” I shrugged. Apollo bit his lip. “I think…I have a theory. It might be like my trials, where I had to fulfill multiple prophecies. In which case the one I just got possessed for would only be the introduction.” The air of discomfort only grew thicker.

Di Angelo rolled his eyes. “Great, because we need more of those.”

Hermes piped up again “Wouldn’t this be easy? Four Olympians gods on a quest together, along with four demigods?” Apollo laughed bitterly. “That just means whatever obstacles this quest has for us absolutely require godly intervention and demigods to be successful. It’s right there in the sixth line: together only may they prevail.” “So in summary, whoever’s trying to destroy the world this time is one hell of an enemy.” I blew out a heavy breath. “Great. Wonderful! Because breaks are just nonexistent.”

Some of the gods in the room looked sad for us, but the majority of the demigods looked extremely upset.

”Imagine how demigods feel on a daily basis now.” That shut everybody up.

A male voice I couldn’t make out muttered angrily, “As it should. . .”

”Well,” Poseidon said dryly, “at least getting to Valdez won’t be hard. We can just teleport wherever we need to go.” “He’ll be at the Waystation,” my brother stated, his voice taking on a tone of wistfulness at the last word. A pang of longing hit my chest. Emmie and Jo. Georgina. How I’d missed them. “Gods, I haven’t been there in ages. But I can get us there.” “Well, sis, lead the way.” I rolled my eyes, smacking him on the arm for good measure,-“

Hermes, ever dramatic, sighed and leaned against his all-too-close partner. “Abuse!” I threw a few insults his way, before staring at my uncle expectantly.

“-and then transported the rest of us to Indianapolis. I have to say, I’d been expecting for my reunion with the building to be like fitting on an old glove, but it was really just as awkward for me as it was for Hermes and Poseidon. Apollo, on the other hand, seemed to flourish in the presence of the Waystation’s inhabitants. Georgina had been the first to greet us when we’d teleported into the living room, and by “greet”, I mean stare at us with wide eyes until they landed on my brother. Something close to a smile found her face when she saw Apollo, and she immediately jumped up from the couch to go crush him in a hug.

Perseus’s mother smiled. “Oh, she sounds like a sweet girl!”

A deep voice sitting next to Apollo sighed. “I miss Georgie”

My brother laughed fondly, the stress seeming to drain out of his body and making him look at least four years younger. “Hey, Georgie. I missed you, too.” He ruffled her hair affectionately, then lowered his gaze to her neckline, where a shiny gold necklace with a sun charm rested. He gasped. “You wore my present!” Georgina flushed slightly, pink blotches appearing on her cheeks in a way I simply found adorable. I had a major soft spot for children, and little Georgie certainly was no exception. “It’s pretty,” said the girl. “Thank you. I, uhm. Got you something too. Well, I made you something.”

“She never wants to take it off,” remarked Leo with a smile.

She darted into her bedroom and came out with a doll made out of multi-colored pipe cleaners. I blinked. It was the same as the one she’d given my brother when he’d left the Waystation during his trials as Lester. Apollo’s gaze softened in a way I had never deemed possible for him. “Georgie, that was your birthday gift! You didn’t have to give me anything in return.” “I know,” she said simply. “I wanted to, though. You lost the old one, so I made you another.” Were those tears in his eyes that I saw?

Hades kept a straight face, but his tone was teasing in a way I didn’t think was possible with my darker Uncle. “Probably.” Poseidon snickered and kept reading.

”That’s so sweet of you, G. Thank you.” She gave him a little kiss on the cheek. “I can go tell Màma that you’re here. Mom’s still out shopping for welding supplies.” “That would be ideal,” Apollo said, smiling at the girl as if she were his own daughter. She nodded, turning to do just that, before pausing. “Brother’s in his room, if you want him. Lit’s sparring with Sssssarah in the arena Mom built for him. It’s upstairs.” Then she ran off to fetch Emmie. Hermes made a face. “Sssssarah?” “She’s half serpentine,” my brother explained.

“Well, those are just my favorite people,” said Will sarcastically. Normally I wouldn’t be keeping track of every demigod’s name, but my brother loved talking about his children.

Poseidon coughed into his fist. “You seem well-acquainted with the people here.” Apollo smiled. “They’re family.”

Hera scoffed and almost invisibly nudged her husband, causing him to speak. “Is that so?”

I couldn’t see my twin brother well, but I assumed he wasn’t doing great.

“Anyone can have two families, Dad,” said Hermes protectively. Before anyone could get yelled at, I stared down my uncle holding the book.

“That,” I agreed, “they are. I just wish I’d been able to visit more.” I regarded my brother. “You were there for her tenth birthday?” Apollo nodded, his eyes brightening. “Yeah. I was there for Lit’s birthday last month, too.” He snickered. “It was hilarious watching him protest against putting a birthday hat on him.” Lityerses muttered something to Apollo, which led to a chain reaction of Hyacinthus looking jealous and Commodus looking away. Meg, Percy, Leo, and a few other demigods laughed.

Didn’t he try to kill you?” Hermes asked dubiously. He stared at him, raising an eyebrow. I breathed out a laugh, and Poseidon chuckled. “Fair enough,” Hermes said, shaking his head. The greater part of the room laughed at that. Daphne gripped my arm with surprising strength and whispered an incomprehensible mantra.

”Apollo?” Emmie poked her head out from the doorframe. She looked older, her hair littered with gray strands, and I couldn’t help but mourn the loss of her amongst my Hunters. But she was happy with Jo and her daughter Georgie. As long as they were happy, I could live with the loss. She glanced around at the four of us, her eyes lighting up when she saw me. “Lady Artemis. Georgie told me Apollo was here and that he had…guests.” “Oh, my apologies! This is Hermes and my uncle, Poseidon.” Apollo rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to bring people in uninvited. It’s just—we kinda need to see Leo. It’s important.”

Athena looked offended. “Uninvited?” She crossed her arms. “Gods, especially Olympians do not need ‘invitations’.”

Percy said something that I wouldn’t have been able to hear without my better than average hearing, even for gods. “And you wonder why no one likes you. . .”

Once again, he was promptly smacked on the arm by Annabeth. She would make a good hunter.

Emmie pursed her lips. “What level of important are we at?” “Prophecy-spoken-by-Apollo-himself important.” Poseidon said bluntly. Hemietha blinked. “I see. We’ll talk more about this during lunch. I don’t know where Leo is—“ “Georgina told us he’s in his room,” I cut in. “We’ll find him.” Emmie nodded, glancing at Apollo wearily. “Do try not to break anything. And Apollo?”

”Hmm?” He paused walking, one foot already in the hall leading to the staircase. “Leo’s…going through some things right now. Just try and be gentle, okay?” My brother’s expression grew worried. “Alright. Thanks again, Em.”

Leo choked out a breath, realizing what was going to happen. I remembered a confession of love, and that he was in love with someone in the room. Second hand embarrassment always made me squirmy, but thanks to a certain Nymph’s hand, moving seemed out of the question.

“What was that about?” Hermes asked when Emmie had gone back to whatever it was she had been doing before we barged into her home unannounced. Apollo shook his head. “I don’t know either.” “Well?” I prompted, growing impatient. “Lead the way, Brother.” Halfway up the staircase, Apollo tilted his head to the side to do a once-over the three of us behind him. “Whatever you do, don’t go in the room on the left of the stairs. If Lit’s sparring in there, you will be decapitated.”

Lityerses made a sound that was half exasperation and half laughter. “So he did tell you, hm?”

Hades scoffed. “Quite bold to believe he can decapitate immortals, no?” Percy shot him a look that, somehow, shut him up.

And with that pleasant warning, we trudged up the rest of the staircase and stopped in front of a door that smelt suspiciously like smoke and gasoline—which, in my personal experience, was never a good combination. Please do not ask. Hermes and Apollo had been on a pranking spree. That should be more than enough context.

While certain demigods (all of which shared a trait of sarcasm and trickery) laughed, Demeter shuddered. “I don’t think the garden has recovered yet.”

Apollo knocked softly. “Leo? Can I come in?” I tried not to scoff at that. Three and a half years ago, my brother would have never had the decency to do so much as knock, much less verbally ask for permission to enter a room.

Will smiled at that, saying something about progress.

“I’m a god, Arty,” he would say. “I don’t need to ask to go anywhere.” Poseidon’s eyebrows arched, and even Hermes seemed shocked at the show of respect to the concept of boundaries. Then again, three and a half years ago, my brother was not tossed into a dumpster and forced into traumatizing situations.

Hyacinthus seemed to move, although I couldn’t see over there very well. “Latreia mou. . .” He said it in Greek that quickly translated in a sound not unlike an echo to ‘My beloved one’ but a softer whisper of ‘My worship’ was also present.

Once again, a certain two mortals had a jealous look on their face, and although I couldn’t see Lityerses I could assume. My uncle must have noticed someone was about to speak, because he kept reading.

I could still hear phantoms of his screams while he almost got flayed alive. See the shell-shocked lifelessness in his eyes as he stared at Jason Grace’s dead body.

I shuddered, barely noticing the sounds coming through the room. I realized the reason my uncle stopped reading was because he closed the book, he looked terrified.

I wanted to scratch my skin off, but I shook my head and powered through it. Looking around the room, everyone was murmuring. Nero had a smile on his face that I wanted to rip off. Commodus was leaning back with a grin, and. . . Daphne was giggling under her breath.

Suddenly, my uncle began to read again, so I assumed someone asked him to when I wasn’t paying attention. Instead of listening to the book, I turned to Daphne.

“ Daphne,” I shot at her, grabbing her arm. She stopped laughing and looked from me to Poseidon.

I tried to shake off the sudden urge to crawl out of my skin, but it was kind of hard to forget about what Apollo had been put through when, no matter how many forms he took, all of them had the scars he’d gotten from his time as Lester.

I got a feeling that my brother was probably quite uncomfortable, as everyone was looking in his direction (with the obvious few exceptions.) in an attempt to see the scars.

Someone cleared their throat through the murmurs, speaking up over other people, “I think we should just continue, sitting and talking doesn’t do anything for us.” Hestia smiled warmly as she got nods of agreement.

Leo shifted in his seat uncomfortably, ignoring his friends talking.

Not to mention the amount of times he would wake up screaming from nightmares for months on end until I had to permanently regulate his dreams myself. I saw my brother’s face over the shoulders of others, he was looking at me thankfully. I gave him a look he knew as one of my kinder ones.

Percy sighed and patted Apollo’s shoulder. “Nightmares suck.”

“They sure do, me and Will ran into the ‘demon’ of nightmare or whatever it was, super annoying. Kept us trapped in a loop type thing,” said Nico. I just knew Athena wanted to correct him and say ‘Will and I’, but she miraculously decided not to.

Chit chat continued, and after about half a minute, my uncle continued reading. The talking went to a lower volume, not stopping but I was able to tune into the reading instead of the pointless conversation.

A muffled “Come in” came in response. He opened the door a little, hesitating. He glanced at us questioningly. Poseidon shook his head at the same time that Hermes shrugged. “I’m coming with you,” I stated matter-of-factly. “I can’t trust you with yourself these days.” It was half true, but I mostly didn’t trust Leo. Not that I expected the demigod to actually harm Apollo, but Emmie had told us that he was, quote, “going through something.” Upset demigods were unpredictable, at best, and male one’s even more so.

I sighed, not particularly excited for the chatter that was about to come. I heard overlapping arguing and just hung my head. Hera was screaming for her life about male rights, Aphrodite was throwing slurs my way, and Hestia was shaking her head sadly. A few mortals were staring at me with a strange look on their face.

“Lady Artemis, do not fret, you are correct in the way males are horrible. Quite wicked,” said a smiling Daphne.


 Athena cleared her throat “She is allowed to be cauti-“

“Please, we all saw the trials, Leo and Apollo are quite obviously acquaintances, she has no reason to be.” Hera folded her arms, ever the protecter of men, even ones she doesn’t particularly like.

My elder half brother of war scoffed at his mother “They are going to give him bad news when he is already-“

“Enough.” lightning boomed as their king slammed his fist into the metal table. Although my uncle doesn’t have the closest relationship with his younger brother, he kept reading.

The two had seemed like pretty good friends, but if Apollo walked in there and told him he was part of another prophecy, I wasn’t sure Leo would be too happy.

“I wonder why. . .” said Valdez.

Apollo rolled his eyes and turned back to the door, letting Leo know that, “Artemis is coming in, too, if that’s okay.” No response. He sighed and opened the door fully. Leo’s room was a mechanical mess to rival Hephaestus himself. Bolts and scrapped wires and metal rings and rigging were spilt over the floor, blueprints and several tools cramped up on the tables. The walls were just shelves filled with textbooks and…homework. The one even remotely normal thing in this room.



Annabeth and her mother nodded approvingly at ‘Homework’. Hephaestus looked up from his contraption (Chaos knows where he got the parts for that.) and gave a nod as well, making Leo smile a bit.

Leo himself was sprawled over his bed, clad in grease-smeared clothes. When he saw that we’d come in, he offered a weak smile but made no move to get up. “Leo…” Apollo started, glancing at the mess that was the boy’s room. “Are you okay?” “Would you believe me if I said yes?” “No,” he admitted. Leo sighed. “Then no.”

“Do all demigods”--Hades also gave Apollo a look--"and certain others, always lie about their wellbeing?”

Apollo pursed his lips. “You wanna talk about it?” I really hoped he didn’t. It’s not that I didn’t care, it’s just that we had more important things to get to, and…okay, yes, I will admit I wasn’t comfortable with the topic of emotions. Especially when it came to men’s emotions. I would rather not have to talk about whatever it was that Leo was “going through”.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes “Please, you have no emotional intelligence. Just because you are-“

Hera cut her off abruptly. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Artemis is right to not care about unnecessary emotions. All of this eternal conflict is giving me a headache,” said a scowling Athena.

I do care for mortal’s emotions, my hunters have emotions. They needed to be corrected. “I don’t-“

The book was closed and reopened with a loud Slam! as Poseidon got all of our attention.

Leo finally sat up. He glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. “You sure you want your sister here for it? I thought you said she didn’t go well with emotions.”

I sighed, although I wanted to be mad, he wasn’t exactly wrong. Hermes ‘oohed’ and Dionysus whistled slowly. “Risky move.”

I side-eyed my brother. “Did he, now?” Apollo blinked slowly, having the audacity to not appear even slightly ashamed. “Yes, and it’s true. But—“ he said, turning back to Leo, “she’s a good listener. She won’t say anything. I trust her…and uh. Actually, we’ll get to that part later. This is about you.” “Oh.” Leo rubbed at his eyes, and it was then that I realized they were puffy and slightly pink. He’d been crying. “Okay. I don’t really know how to say this though…” “Be straightforward with it, then,” I suggested. Leo winced. “Okay, uhhh. Calypso and I may or not have…broken up?”

Silence.

“Oh gods Leo I’m so sorry.” Piper looked regretful, I assume for not being there for Leo. He muttered about it being okay.

Jason’s breath hitched, he looked almost. . . relieved, then guilty for looking that way. “What happened?”

Aphrodite giggled and bounced on the ball of her heels (when did she not have shoes on?) “Ooh!! This is so fun, keep going!” As my uncle’s eyes darted back to the book, I realized Leo and Jason were staring at Aphrodite.

I wondered if they saw each other, or a gender bent version of it, or perhaps Aphrodite’s preferred form (an always changing preference) that I, Athena, and Hestia saw.

Oh. It was a romance issue. I tried not to show my disgust at the topic. It would only be taken as criticism of his actions, and Leo didn’t need that right now. Unfortunately, I actually had knowledge of what to do in these circumstances, seeing as my dear brother often found himself in many of them.

“I can’t believe we are supposed to believe you go around with your little girl gang of mortals. I’d say it’s maddening but I truly couldn’t care less,” scoffed Caligula, which made me remember the emperors were there.

I crossed my arms, not caring much, when Daphne stood. “You think the Lady of the Hunt would care if you are upset with her choices? Thou dare-“ I dragged her back down and told her to calm down, which she listened to reluctantly.

Apollo’s jaw dropped. “Gods, Leo—I’m so sorry. What happened?” Leo bit his lip, worry etched in his features. “I actually broke up with her. I couldn’t—it wouldn’t be fair to her if I just kept dating her. It wouldn’t be fair to me.” My brother slowly lowered himself next to Leo on the mattress. “Why wouldn’t it be fair?”

Leo buried his face in his hands, letting out a whimper sound. I remembered what came next and almost wanted to pat him on the shoulder.

A certain goddess giggled, and her daughter hugged Leo. “Leo. . . are you doing okay?”

“Fine,” said Leo, doing his best to ignore Jason.

Jason tried to hold Leo’s hands, pulling them away from his face. “You don’t need to hide what’s wrong." Jason spoke in a way that made it seem like they thought Leo was fragile.

Leo stood up suddenly. “Can we continue.” He walked over to Nico and Will, sitting down next to the concerned couple.

It came to me, then, that Leo might have come to a certain revelation about himself. That, or he’d realized he either didn’t love Calypso anymore, or that he was in love with someone else entirely. There was a beat of quiet before Leo answered in a small voice, “I was in love with Jason.”

One. . .

Two. . .

And everything exploded. Piper looked stunned, Jason was blushing with wide eyes, gasps exploded around the room as Will patted Leo’s shoulder.

Aphrodite screamed , Hephaestus and Dionysus had rare looks of shock on their face. I looked towards Percy, only to see his eyes closed, almost in understanding. Annabeth had her eyebrows slightly raised, but she looked otherwise calm.

Everyone was talking over each other, some yelling, some quiet. “Leo. . .” Jason walked over to Leo. “I don’t. . .”

Leo flinched and pulled away. “I know. It was stupid.” He smiled with so little warmth Akhyls would applaud him.

“That’s not what I meant.” Grimaced Jason “Leo let me-“ He reached again, Nico grabbing Jason’s arm and whispering something I couldn’t hear over everyone else’s talking.

Jason took a few steps back, shaking his head dejectedly. “Jason, sit on my other side.” Said Nico, pulling Jason down to sit on his right, far from Leo.

I moved my gaze towards Piper, just to be disappointed. She was smiling with the Shel girl, making no attempt to comfort her friends. Shel looked towards Jason and Leo mournfully, “Piper, maybe you should-“

“This is between them. . .” sighed Piper.

Daphne looked half confused, half nonchalant. Hermes was practically draped over Crocus, he looked bemused but he also had a look in his eyes that told me he could’ve guessed that.

This might make me a bad half-sister, or fellow quester, or whatever title the demigods use for me, but I was much more interested in the fact my younger brother was sitting so close to Crocus. Only five inches between them. I had half a mind to pull him between me and Daphne.

‘Oh but he had children!’ or perhaps ‘There is something more important going on!’ you might be thinking. Well, yes. But, I was quite aware Leo and Jason loved eachother, the shock had passed by now, and I had no intention of listening to the mindless gossip.

Thinking about Crocus and Hermes, made me look towards Apollo. Romance never interested me in the slightest, but a small part of me wished I could see Apollo, Lityerses, and Hyacinthus’s faces.

Lityerses had his arm wrapped around my twin brother, meanwhile Hyacinthus was holding onto both of Apollo’s hands. Aphrodite was still squealing, doves flew around the room. Her powers were almost present, surprisingly. I guessed Zemora and Flame felt no need to get rid of them.

Oh. Those two. I turned my head their way, just to see their table covered in random things. Zem had chocolate in her hands, and Flame had a sketchbook out.

Hera rubbed her temple and sighed, scowling in an all-too-familiar way, her mascara was running and her eyes had a golden tint to them. I wondered if she was crying again. She had wrapped a black scarp around her head sometime during lunch.

“Can we please continue?” Surprisingly, her please felt genuine. Poseidon blinked at her kind tone, before composing himself and opening the, now bigger, book.

Apollo’s eyes widened, pain written over all of his face at the mention of our half-brother. “Oh, Leo…I’m so sorry.” His tone was barely above a whisper, each syllable laced with incredible amounts of emotion. “Calypso and I…our relationship formed under a lot of stress. I was desperate for—for someone to care about me the way I cared about them. To have me as their first choice, not just use me whenever it was convenient. She was just desperate to leave her island. It was never going to work out between us, anyway, I don’t know why it hurts so much…” his voice cracked.

“Love hurts. It’s best you get used to it,” said Daphne, with a lot less malice in her voice. Her eyes didn’t look as much like a broken mirror anymore, she just looked like a broken girl.

Aphrodite smiled. “Love should hurt, or else what fun comes with it?”

Hephaestus scoffed at his wife (if you could even call her that) and Ares shifted in his seat. I knew he found the way she messed with love lives slightly scary, but he watched blood and carnage to soothe himself. so I feared he wasn’t exactly one to talk.

“Love is fine enough left alone, I personally prefer my love completely drama free,” said Percy indignantly. He shot Aphrodite and Hera looks, but he flinched when he looked at Aphrodite, his eyes glazing over in the way found in every single mortal who looked at her. Even Annabeth’s jaw went slack at the sight of Beauty.

Apollo chuckled like a songbird, reminding me why our mother calls him that. “As do I, we are just cursed by Tyche and blessed by Ate,” teased my twin.

Apollo’s luck in the love factor wasn’t bad, it was keeping his lovers. Cliffs, plants, bathtubs, lies, and many more. I wished the best for him, but a part of me wished he would swear a vow. I knew he never would, but every time he cried over a lover or a child, a piece of my heart broke.

Poseidon looked uncomfortable, and I realized that was most likely because a certain scarred demigod son of Demeter was glaring at him. I didn’t need to see his face to be able to tell, his head was turned towards Poseidon and his shoulders tensed.

My uncle cleared his throat and began reading again.

“It’s a good thing,” my brother said. “The pain means you care. It hurts because you still love her, and always will, just maybe not in the romantic way. And that’s fine. It’s not your fault you realized you didn’t love her in that way—that’s nobody’s fault.” Leo shrugged. “Now I’m left dealing with the fact that I liked—loved another guy.” He ran a hand through his curls, looking strangely deflated. “I broke up with her because I didn’t want to hurt her even more if I—if I turned out to be…” he trailed off.

Dionysus was feigning indifference, barely showing emotion, but I could tell he was touched. “Liam, you made a good choice.” Leo looked shocked at the almost kind tone.

“Uhm. . .” he mumbled.

Aphrodite threw her ginger braid over her shoulder, smiling at Leo “Dearest boy, you must know that this is quite normal in relationships. Otherwise, how would one realize their preferences?” she smiled at him, giving some actual good advice for once (at least I think, I’m not good at relationship advice).

Leo muttered his thanks and slumped against the couch next to Will, who wrapped his arm around Leo. “She’s right you know, both of them. Hey.” He poked Leo in a brotherly way. “I’m Bi, you might’ve just not had. . . a spark with Calypso.”

“Yeah, it’s okay Leo. We are there for you.” Piper smiled, half glaring at Jason to keep him quiet. I realized Piper and Jason were much better as friends. I saw Jason fidgeting like he wanted to speak. Piper was trying to let him wait until Leo was feeling a bit better, a good move.

Apollo struggled his way out of the two boys' next to him grasps. He made his way over to them, plopping down between Will and Leo. “Leo.” Apollo reached for Leo’s shoulder, turning him to look. “Leo, listen. You need to understand that this is completely normal. More than 1,500 species have been proven to have same sex attracti-“ He stuttered to stop, realizing he was info dumping.

“Well, that’s not important, but 70% of couples start as friends. I promise you, it’s normal.” He rubbed Leo’s back. “I swear, you will find someone.”

Leo murmured something I couldn’t hear, and my twin hugged him.

Jason opened his mouth to speak, but Nico shoved him over “Trust me Leo, you made an extremely mature choice. That’s really good of you.”

“Leo can we-“ said Jason.

Piper coughed into her fist. “Okay, we can continue reading now.” No one in the room wanted to hear their conversation, I’d much rather them wait until we could finish reading.

That was surprisingly self-aware. I had a newfound respect for the demigod in front of me. You would not believe how hard it was to find a man with any selflessness whatsoever. Half of the ones I had met had been so bad, I turned them into jackals and then told my wolves to hunt them down. Normally I wouldn’t praise a man for doing the bare minimum, but Leo was just a kid, and was being really mature for his age, especially considering his usual devil-may-care personality.

“Thanks, Artemis,” Leo said half sadly, half sarcastically. He seemed to be using humor to try and hide his pain.

”I think,” I said softly, “that Jason loved you, too.”

Piper’s jaw dropped slightly, but she quickly changed it to a smile. Jason was blushing profusely, and I noticed Aphrodite was smiling in a knowing way. I was definitely right then.

Hera tilted her head, staring at Jason, then turning her head towards her husband, who had raised eyebrows and a slacked jaw. His eyes roamed the room, landing on Jason’s face. He promptly made a snide comment about leaving emotions behind when you pass on.

“Lady Artemis, how did you know about that?” asked Thalia uncomfortably.

I looked at her. “When you avoid love, and have a brother that has many stories about it. . .”--Apollo coughed--“You get good at being able to tell.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” said Will, looking deep in thought.

Nico raised an eyebrow “Oh gee, the goddess of hunting is smart. I thought she wandered into a forest blindly.” He said it completely emotionless, but clearly teasing.

“Er. . .” Thalia coughed into her fist. “That’s half of what we do.”

They continued speaking, and I tuned into the God’s conversation. My father was speaking about leaving relationships before moving on to the afterlife, and Hades spoke about how basically no one did that.

After a few minutes of arguing, chattering, and an overall gloomy room that everyone was trying to ignore, my uncle continued his reading.

Leo startled, as if he forgot I had been there, listening. “Sorry?” “When my brother told him that you were alive, he blew out every electrical circuit in his dorm wing.” Apollo snorted. “That was a sight,” he admitted. Leo stared at the two of us, lips parted and eyes wide. For a moment, I thought we’d broke him, but then his pupils dilated so much they almost consumed his entire iris. He cleared his throat. “Thank you, Lady Artemis.” “Hmmm,” I hummed. “Yes, well, my idiot of a brother gets into enough situations that I now have way too much knowledge about the subject of romance. You wouldn’t believe the amount of people have had a sexuality crisis when they laid eyes on him.”

Apollo chirped a little laugh, while a collection of people flushed. Lityerses looked at his feet and I could see his ears reddening. Hyacinthus giggled and wrapped his arms around my twin brother, kissing his cheek.

Daphne tilted her head and smiled. Her eyes were green again, not black, or red. Green. She didn’t snarl towards Apollo anymore, she treated males less harshly, and she laughed now.

Commodus was doing his best to keep a straight face, but he was blushing profusely and muttering about stupid sun gods. I remembered a comment my brother made a few centuries ago, something about a good-looking Norse god who brought sunshine and had a talking sword.

Leo did a once-over on my brother. “I don’t see the appeal,” he said dryly. Apollo gasped dramatically, clutching at his chest like he’d been mortally injured. “Leo Valdez! I thought we were friends!”

Hyacinthus tilted his head towards Leo “Poor boy” he shook his head “You must pray to Lord Dionysus more to attempt to save your sanity.” If it was anyone else saying it, I’d think it was a joke, but he looked dead serious.

Said God of madness burst out laughing, while Leo sat there looking stunned.

Ares blinked slowly, as if his brain’s gears were still turning from lunch. “So. . . when do you zap him?”

“Zap? That’s seriously the best you could come up with?” Scowled Athena.

He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t need to take this!”

“Whatever suits you. . .” Pallas rolled her eyes “Apollo, do not allow disrespect from mortals. I do hope he realizes this is blasphemy?”

Annabeth cringed. “Mom-“

“Athena, he’s allowed,” interrupted Apollo, for Annabeth’s sake.

Hera looked like she wanted to speak, but with all the other gods murmuring about blasphemy (the majority of which were gods she despised), she stayed quiet.

Leo smiled sadly. “Thanks Sunny D.”

Apollo rolled his eyes. “Sigh.” He said sigh. Ever dramatic, that one, he’s lucky I love him to chaos and back.

“Sigh all you want, you’re still Sunny,” chirped Meg.

Leo rolled his eyes. “We are, Sunny. That’s why I have permission to bully you.” My brother wrinkled his nose. “I thought I told you to not call me that.” “I’m calling you Sunny from now on,” I teased. Apollo groaned and flopped down on the bed. Leo grinned his elfish grin, some of the stress seeming to leave him. “Didn’t you have something to tell me?” “Yes,” I said immediately, glad to finally get back on topic. “Emmie said we’ll discuss over lunch.” The demigod’s eyes brightened at the word “lunch”. Mmm. It had been a while since I’d eaten Emmie’s cooking. I wondered if it tasted as good as Leo was making it seem.

“It does.” Said Apollo, Lityerses, Meg, and Leo in sync. I smiled and a collection of others laughed.

Leo jumped off his bed, hand on his hips. “Well? What are we waiting for? It’s time for lunch!” Just as he turned to open the door, a loud crash and a high-pitched yelp came from across the hallway. Apollo sat bolt-right in the bed. His gaze met mine. “That sound like Hermes?” “Yeah.” I facepalmed. “What are the chances that he opened the door to the training room, would you wager?” Leo blinked. “Hermes is here? The wing-footed messenger guy?” Then he winced. “We should probably go deal with that before Lit severs his head.” “Yep,” we said at the same time, and immediately ran out the room, Leo hot (pun not intended) on our heels.

“End of chapter two.” Said Poseidon. closing the book and placing it on the table near Hermes.

Someone whistled slowly “What a journey.” I turned towards Percy.

“Indeed.” I agreed, standing up to sit with Apollo. I began walking to him, and halfway through telling him to make room, I realized someone was behind me.

I half turned towards said person and saw Daphne, fidgeting with her hands.

I sat down between Lityerses and Apollo, only having room because Percy and Annabeth got up. Daphne stood awkwardly, looking at her feet.

“Daphne?. . .” Apollo tapped his bouncing knee, sounding concerned. I remembered they were friends. Friends, before Eros, before the arrow, before the tree. Friends.

She looked up at him. “Can we talk?” she said it quickly, it took me a moment to decipher her rapid speaking.

My brother smiled and stood up, walking towards her and offering a hand. She grabbed it almost immediately, I wondered why. Searching through my memories, I had a faint one of Daphne holding onto Apollo when she couldn’t stop hyper fixating on small details.

The good old times.

Chapter Text

I saw more dead people than alive ones.

I sat next to Artemis as Apollo walked off with Daphne. When she came in, she acted like a cornered stray. Crazy. That’s the word I’d use. I’m not sure why Flame and Zem didn’t get rid of the spell Eros used on her, or if perhaps they couldn’t.

I didn’t feel the twinge of jealo- no. I didn’t feel the way I did when Hyacinthus came, Daphne and Apollo acted like siblings.

Hyacinthus.

Apollo’s lover. Ex lover. Whichever you pick. Commodus too; every time he spoke Artemis looked like she was going to bite his head off, I would give Zoe’s drachma to see it happen.

My hand was rested on my waist, where my sword would be. Memories of him flashed through my mind, none good.

A sweet laugh drew my attention, and I turned to Apollo, chattering off with Daphne with his hands folded over his lap like a princess.

I had to physically stop myself from trying to focus into their conversation. Their voices were audible, but not loud enough to justify hearing it.

A hand hit my shoulder and I flinched, turning towards… Artemis?

Only her fingers touched my shoulder now, she looked reluctantly up, meeting my eyes.

“Are you alright.” she said, less of a question than a statement.

I blinked at her teen form, immediately closing my mouth when I realized it was open. “Yeah, fine. Thanks.”

Sharp eyes stared up into mine, calculating and yellow like a harvest moon. Artemis turned away from me to greet her brother, who was walking our way with an arm around Daphne, who was smiling.

“Lady Artemis and I shall move back to our table,” Daphne said, bowing her head and gesturing to Hermes.

I glanced at Hermes, laughing when I saw him scattering kisses over his ‘friends’ face.

Apollo sat down next to me, taking Artemis’ spot. His cheeks were gold, and my eyes trailed towards Hyacinthus, who had an eyebrow raised at Apollo.

Suddenly, I smelt something sweet and wrinkled my nose. Scattered over all the tables were a plethora of drinks I’d never seen before. Apollo ooh’d and grabbed a pale yellow drink with a slice of something also yellow with a hard green outer shell on it placed on the rim next to a bright pink umbrella.

Everyone was grabbing drinks, and I noticed Flame and Zem holding drinks as well. Zem was holding a brown liquid with black spheres and a wide straw. It looked like something I would not drink. Flame had a bottle filled with reddish-brown liquid that fizzed and bubbled and smelt slightly like medicine or perhaps bitter cherries when the smell first hit my nostrils. They turned the bottle slightly, and I narrowed my eyes to read the words Dr Pepper printed in white on the red label.

Then I realized I was being watched. A taller blonde with paler and curlier hair than Zem’s was staring at me and Apollo excitedly.

She was sitting on the right of Flame, a cup in her hands that said ‘cider’ and I wondered if she was older than she looked, then realizing non-alcoholic cider exists. Flame was holding up a thin rectangular box that said ‘Monopoly’ on it, placing it on the table and taking off the cardboard lid.

Her, Flame, and Zemora each wore a matching bracelet with the kid to the left of Zemora. Oh. There was another one. Where were these children coming from.

The bracelets each were a different color with… different oracles on them?

Flame’s was a bright purple matching their eyes ‘Dodona’, Zem’s was a bright green I often saw as flecks in Apollo’s eyes ‘Delphi’, the one watching me had a pinkish red one that said ‘Trophonius’, and the other one’s was a dark blue that instead of having an oracle, had the word ‘Camper’ on it.

I looked over the four of them. The last one was tan with brown hair, relatively long, and was the exact same height as Zem, who spoke up to the other unnamed one.

“Freddie, we are starting, don’t stare!” She teased the girl, nudging her with an unopened straw. Freddie, turned away from me and replied to Zem quietly.

Flame reached for their pocket underneath their baggy jacket, pulling their hand back and frowning. “My phone is gone,” they said sadly.

The fourth one murmured sympathies while sipping on an iced drink, perhaps tea? “Does your mom have it?”.

A teenager that looked like a demigod with alive parents . Interesting. Flame responded with a shrug I’d seen all too many times on Meg, and held out a circular piece of bread that smelled strong but made my mouth water. “Want naan, Luna?” offered Flame.

“Gluten free,” sighed ‘Luna’, holding up her hands to push the bread back glumly. At least I had a name for them now.

Zem kicked her legs beneath her impatiently and Freddie snickered “I’ll be the banker” She said, like that made sense to anyone. Except it seemed to make sense to them, because they shuffled around so a black container containing stacks of paper was in front of her.

They all reached forwards for tiny metal figures, grabbing a different one each and a dice. “Where’s the other dice?” asked Luna, looking around, still holding her ship shaped token.

“Dunno.” Flame blinked, holding a cat figure in one hand and their Dr. Pepper in the other.

Freddie looked under the table and pulled out another dice. “Found it!” she chirped, pulling herself back up and placing her token on the starting spot on the board.

I decided I was bored of watching them, and looked around the room at other people. The gods (-the obvious ones) were speaking to each other, all drinking wine or nectar. The emperors were doing the same, and notably Commodus had his foot pressed down hard on something black and circular.

Zem pulled out an obnoxiously large red clock, hitting a button on top that made it tick and.. taking away the benches everyone was sitting and making us all fall to the floor, except the fancier bench the king god was on. That one stayed right where it was, smart girl.

“What the-“

The room was filled with curses, sounds of pain, and confusion. Zamora seemed to notice this and replied to the questions being half screamed at her. “Take your drinks and go interact with each other, talk for five minutes then I’ll give the benches back and you will all start reading.”

Groaning, I grabbed the hand Artemis had out for me. It didn’t hurt much, but I definitely wasn’t expecting that. She told me she was going to talk to Athena with Apollo and wandered off in Athena’s direction like wolf pups.

A hand tapped my shoulder and I spun around, facing gold.

Gold filled my vision as my breath stilled and my heart raced.

Golden, everything was gold.

Gold.

Until it wasn’t?

Suddenly her golden tanned skin turned pale, her golden blonde hair turned curlier and brown, and her golden eyes turned into a pretty blue. “Didn’t mean to frighten you, muscles,” she cooed, looking me up and down.

Lady Aphrodite, the second most beautiful immortal. “‘S fine” I grumbled softly, eyes locked in her jaw to avoid the eyes she stole from Apollo and her chest which was… over the top. Kind of literally.

She licked her plump lips and reached over to touch a scar on my bicep “Dearest me, I see why he likes you. Say, when we find a private area-“ I jerked my arm back, ready to interrupt her sternly when a tall woman tugged her backwards.

“Leave, enchantress.” She said with a taut frown, her wheat blonde hair braided into a tight bun. Aphrodite huffed and left to go over to the large man near Apollo and Athena.

Apollo was watching me with narrowed grayish blue eyes, murmuring something snarky to Aphrodite. Seeing him pout made me swallow and want to walk over there, but I moved my focus onto the woman in front of me.

We both stared for a few moments and when I blinked, she flared her nostrils and stomped off in a fury, leaving behind the smell of wheat.

Mom of the year.

Speaking of which, Sally Jackson was eyeing me with a look of concern I’ve only ever seen on very few women before, a motherly caring look. I smiled the best I could and waved at her, Percy and Annabeth smiling as Sally looked me up and down with the same look on.

What a day. . . so far I’ve watched chaos between a group of children, had a goddess flirt with me, my mother switch up her opinions on me before going back to hating me (which was heavily reciprocated) and we hadn’t even started reading.

Beep! Beep Bee- a loud beeping cut off abruptly as Zemora threw the red timer onto the floor, shattering it and cleaning it up with a snap.

“Why would you do that?!” asked the tallest one, Freddie. Luna elbowed her and said something about it being easier.

Our benches were back and I plopped down on my spot quickly, sighing. Apollo sat on my right with Hyacinthus on his right, sitting on the end of the bench. 


Artemis sat on my left, handing me a glass of red wine and leaving to sit with Hermes and Daphne again. The glass of wine was full to the brim for approximately 5 seconds before I drank half of it, I owed Artemis a big. . . well she doesn’t drink often, never mind.

Chatter started again before a loud, condescending voice cleared their throat. I turned to the source, only to see Zeus. Ah, that makes sense.

He held up the book, brows furrowed as he looked around. “Who will read next.” He said it in the most unquestioning-question way ever.

The daughter of Athena raised her hand, the braid Sally just gave her tied up into a messy bun, loose strands from Percy draping himself over her dangling over her neck like spider legs. “I can.”

Zeus narrowed his eyes. “A mortal?” he asked, not handing her the book. I wondered if it was because he wanted someone who didn’t need air between sentences to read, or if it was because he just sucked.

He immediately got a look from his favorite daughter, her grey eyes pleading and he reluctantly tossed Annabeth the book.

Percy, who was sitting closer to the aisle between benches, caught the book and handed it to his girlfriend. He then placed his head back into the crook of her neck, promptly passing out with his mother petting his head.

Annabeth opened the book and cleared her throat, taking a sip of the steaming, milky brown drink next to her with marshmallows in it.

I Save My Nephew From Certain Death By Stupidity I laughed, remembering pining said nephew to the floor in the Waystation. “This one is mine then,” Poseidon snorted out. Hermes had his head in his hands with Crocus giggling at him. Everyone very quickly knew which nephew Poseidon was speaking about.

I swore that one day I would fade simply from the stress my brother’s children seemed to give me. At least Apollo had the decency to be responsible. He’d very clearly told us not to open the door to the left of the staircase, and what does Hermes do?

“Open the door to the left of the staircase,” echoed me and multiple others at the same time, all monotone. Apollo laughed as we spoke and leaned his head against me.

“My middle name is responsible!” he chirped happily

“Responsible for chaos?” asked his twin with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile I realized I’d been seeing more often than not.

Apollo gasped like she just killed his pet crow. I briefly wondered if he had a crow, then I remembered it was Apollo, so I quickly started wondering what the crow’s name was.

Athena huffed, “Accurate,” while other gods (and Meg) said similar things, a few speaking about his dramatics.

Open the door to the left of the staircase. (It was technically on the right now, but that’s not the point.)

I smiled, not even fazed at the fact we had said exactly what he said. Wouldn’t be the first time that had happened in this room.

Because that was just our lives, wasn’t it. Exactly three seconds passed after Apollo and Artemis had went into Leo’s room before Hermes got bored.

“Can gods have ADHD?” wondered Leo aloud.

Athena cleared her throat “Although-“ Hermes ate the olive on a toothpick in her drink and put a pickle in it instead, immediately sauntering back to his seat. “Hermes!”

Hera buried her head in her hands and glared at Hermes and Athena, mascara running. “This is unimportant.”

”You’re not opening that door,” I said dryly. Hermes pouted. “Oh, come on! I’m like, the fastest god in the universe, other than Apollo. It’s not like Lity-whatever-his-name-is would actually be able to touch me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That so?”

Hermes just blinked innocently at me.

Hermes was fast. And it wasn’t like he could actually die. I shook my head. “Your brother knows that, too. If he still warned us, don’t you think we should—“ “Nope,” said the messenger god, popping the ‘p’. He sauntered over to the first door on the right of the railing and swung it open, peeking inside. For a moment, nothing happened, and I wondered if Apollo had just been exaggerating. That was when an impossibly speedy blur of red, brown, and gold darted out from the room, pinning Hermes to the ground. Even with my godly vision, it took a second to actually register what I was looking at. A lean, muscular young man with more scars than Ares himself held Hermes at sword-point, one hand pulling the god’s head back by his hair, the other holding a golden sword, the tip of it digging into the skin where jaw met neck. His dark eyes held a murderous glare, the scars on his face making his scowl all the more menacing.

I felt eyes on me and many gasps, most of them from gods. Ares nodded solemnly at Hermes while Hades sighed like he had this happen to him before. Hyacinthus was looking at me too, eyes trailing up my body, and I wanted to glare, but he just had slightly raised eyebrows.

“Told you so!” interjected Apollo, who now held a bag of ‘Ghiradelli’.

“You have three seconds to tell me who you are before I run you through,” he growled. I snapped out of stupor and brandished a trident out of thin air, swinging it at full length and holding the points of it against the side of the man’s face. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” Scarface studied me. “You’re a god.”

Scarface?. . . “Was it the fact he pulled a trident out of nothing, or the fact he’s like.. 7 feet tall and looks exactly like an older Percy? Without the better parts of his mom, though,” said Nico, making Sally blush and Jason look at Nico for a second, before deciding he could mind his business.

“Hmm. . . I’d say the trident. Not very goddy without Ms. Jackson’s genes.” I shrugged, not knowing Percy’s mom very well, but from what I knew, she was the sweetest women alive.

Poseidon laughed, clearly confusing the few gods who thought he was going to smite me for saying that, “I agree”.

We are.” He raised an eyebrow. “This one, too?” He gestured at my idiot nephew. I sighed. “As unlikely as it may appear right now, yes.” His gaze hardened. “Then I guess I’ll just have to skewer you both until you can’t stand.” I blinked. When he’d realized I was a god, I been expecting him to grovel at our feet, apologize, something. Threatening to skewer us was not one of those expectations.

I shrugged again “Wasn’t a big fan of most gods at the time, even now I don’t grovel at anyone’s feet”

“I’d grovel at yours if it meant you’d let me-“ Aphrodite stopped halfway through her sentence as Apollo snarled at her, a weirdly symmetrical pouting.

Scarface knocked Hermes to the side, causing him to yelp as he crashed into the railing, and lunged at me. I blocked him with my trident, of course, though I do have to admit the force of his strike surprised me, especially with his speed. “You attack all your guests like this?” I asked as I went in with my own swipe. Scarface dodged and huffed a humorless laugh. “You’re intruders. No gods are allowed here except for Lady Artemis, Britomartis, and Apollo. You two are not any of those three.” The shock bordered on impressed when he proved he could hold his own against me rather well. At one point, though, his movements became sluggish and less precise. Unfortunately for him, that was how it worked: I was a god, and I did not need to rest to perform perfectly. He, on the other hand, was a mortal, who would inevitably run out of energy. I made the mistake of averting my gaze for a moment to check on Hermes. It seemed Scarface had been waiting for that. With impossible agility considering two seconds ago he’d been panting like he’e never breathed oxygen, he dropped to the floor and swiped my feet out from underneath me. I let out a pained grunt as I hit the floor with a loud thud, my trident clattering out of my grasp. Shit. Fuck. Scarface stood above me, sword in hand, and probably would’ve gone through with his promise if something behind me hadn’t caught his attention. His eyed widened in recognition. “Apollo?”

“You’re welcome!” chirped Apollo happily, breaking the. . .not silence. However, the only sound filling the room was Annabeth's voice, which wasn't bad but I much preferred Apollo's.

I risked a glance over my shoulder and found the Twins and Leo jogging to a stop as they neared us.
Apollo grinned, albeit a little pained. “Lit. Do me a favor and spare these two?”
Lit narrowed his eyes. “You know these idiots?”

Zeus scowled. “You fly too close to the sun, mortal.”

Hermes shrugged. “I mean... he’s not wrong.”

I scowled. “You’ve got some nerve—“
“Yes,” Apollo interrupted. “My uncle Poseidon is currently the one on the floor, and Hermes is the idiot who went inside the training room even when I specifically told him not to.” He glared at said god, who was grinning back sheepishly.
He rolled his eyes. “Sorry about that,” he apologized.
Lit sheathed his sword. “It’s fine. Not like I would’ve lost that fight, at any rate.”

”Being humble is imperative,” Grey-Eyed Athena said condescendingly, I would rather not argue with wisdom, but I smiled at Percy rolling his eyes and making a talking mouth with his hands in a mocking way.

Apollo actually smiled at that. “I never doubted you.”
Leo Valdez let out a low whistle as Artemis helped me up. “You took down two Olympian gods all on your own?”

”Happens to the best of us man!” laughed Percy. Now I was curious, which Olympian’s did he get? Rather quickly, I realized Ares and Hades were squirming uncomfortably. Nico shot his dad a glance, but the sympathy in it seemed pretty fake when he burst into laughter. His giggles seemed to be a chain reaction, because multiple others started laughing as well.

“He just caught me off-guard,” I muttered, dusting myself off.
Lit cocked an eyebrow. “It was your fault for letting it down in the first place.”
“Whatever.”
“S’ides,” he said, “it’s not like the messenger guy really did anything.”
Hermes narrowed his eyes. “‘Messenger guy’?”
Apollo snorted. “Yes, well, we’ve got everyone we need, now. Let’s go discuss what needs to be discussed.”

”Uh oh!” teased Hermes. “Responsible Apollo? Is the world ending?”

Apollo rolled his eyes and made an obscene hand gesture to Hermes, one Meg used often, while Dionysus snorted into his wine. Wine he definitely wasn’t supposed to be drinking, according to something Apollo told me during one of his rant sessions, but whatever spell/curse was placed on him seemed to be gone, as he definitely was drinking it.

Artemis sighed wistfully. “I haven’t tasted Emmie’s cooking in forever.”
Lit frowned. “It’s already lunchtime?”
“Yes, hermano,” Leo deadpanned. “You would know that if you didn’t spend your whole life in that one room.”
“You’re in no place to be talking.”

“All right, all right,” Apollo placated as he dragged his brother up from the floor. “Let’s go. I’d like to get this over with quickly. We have to get sailing by dawn.”
Leo frowned. “Hold on, sailing? Where are you going?”
“That’s what we need to talk about,” Artemis said grimly.
“And we need four different gods to talk about this?” Lit asked, side-eyeing me and Hermes.
I wrinkled my nose. “Yes. It’s actually important.”

”Unspoken beef. . .” deadpanned Meg. I decided she wasn’t talking about the muscle of a cow, instead most likely a new meaning.

“Wait a second,” Leo said, making a ‘time-out’ gesture with his hands. “It’s not another prophecy, is it?”
Apollo deflated. The rest of us just stared at the two mortals.
The son of Hephaestus seemed oddly resigned. He didn’t even groan or complain. Just a defeated sigh. “Alright then, let’s get to lunch.”

”Finally getting entertainment!” exclaimed Ares.

 
“So let me get this straight,” our hostess, Hemietha said. “For the first time in multiple centuries, the Oracle of Delphi spoke directly through Apollo, and the prophecy it gave required four gods and four demigods, which has literally never happened in the history of history?”
“…Yes,” I admitted.
She sat back in her chair. “And Leo is part of this prophecy? You’re sure?”
“There’s not really anyone else who qualifies for ‘Flame’,” Artemis told her, swirling her fork in a plate of alfredo pasta, except the cheese was red, for reasons I didn’t understand. It tasted good, though, so I wasn’t going to complain.
“I would have preferred to keep him out of this, as well, but…” Apollo looked hopeless.
“Hey, man.” Leo patted the sun god on his shoulder. “You can’t control prophecies. S’ not your fault.”

”He is responsible for all prophecies,” declared Zeus, thunder rumbling in the distance. It seemed whenever emotions ran high, some of their power came back.

Apollo curled into himself, and I expected Artemis to say something, but at the sound of lightning she flinches and did the same as Apollo. Quickly, however, Hera spoke. “All prophecies must be spoken eventually. He has no control over that.”

Zeus grumbled something, then cleared his throat and regained his voice. “Even so, he brings them at the worst time possible,” he blustered.

“I thought the Parcae- er. . . the Fates decided that?” Jason countered. It wasn’t truly a question, more of a rebuttal. Thalia looked extremely proud of her brother.

Zeus seemed to falter at that, blinking a few times before deciding on a response. “He still could’ve kept it from happening, he had the mortal become the next oracle of Delphi, that was his fault.”

“The oracle was begging for a new host, either way it would’ve happened, and the prophecy of seven came on centuries before it happened for the Romans, he didn’t cause this to happen, he helped the Greek demigods to prepare,” shot down ox-eyed Hera, arms crossed and chin raised. “Your anger is wrongly placed, Husband.”

Thunder boomed, making Apollo tense up and Artemis flinch. “Wife, do you wish for me to move my anger to someone else?” roared Zeus threateningly, causing Hera to back down. Jason still seemed less than happy about this, but Leo whispered something, maybe asking him to calm down, and he did so.

Josephine pursed her lips. “Do you know the rest of the questers yet?”
“No,” Hermes said through a mouthful of pasta.
Artemis wrinkled her nose. “Swallow before you speak, you little gremlin.”
Georgie snickered.
Hermes made a face.
They were mature like that.

”Always been sarcastic,” said Hades with an unnerving smile on his face. Well. . . I would say just the corner of his mouths up slightly, not even a smile.

Poseidon rolled his eyes fondly. “Oh, brother, you love it!”

They chattered back and forth with input from their siblings. Hestia ended the conversation by wringing her hands, Zeus noticing and telling them to stop talking. For someone so. . . interesting for a king, he did seem to care about Hestia.

Athena sat down with a cocktail glass, clear liquid in it, and 3 olives replacing the pickle Hermes gave her. While getting comfortable, she looked up to her daughter who was patiently waiting to read again. “Continue.”

I took a deep breath. “We were hoping you might be able to help figure that out,” I said to our hostesses. “Apollo, can you repeat the prophecy?”
Apollo opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly his breath hitched, the air around him growing hazy and unfocused. His eyes glowed green.
Everyone turned their attention to him.
Georgina gasped. “Prophecy?”
“Prophecy,” Artemis confirmed.
In the raspy voice of Delphi, Apollo repeated the same words we’d heard back in the throne room during the solstice meeting. When he’d said the last verse, I instinctively caught him as he slipped out of his chair. He’d actually passed out this time.

Will shuddered “I remember all top well having to catch Rachel.”

Nico elbowed him from where he was sitting, ankle over Will’s shin. “You should remember more the repetitive prophecies, seeing as your dad is going through the same thing,” he said it with a soft, although teasing smile on his face. His boyfriend rolled his eyes while laughing.

Percy looked uncomfortable. No, not uncomfortable. . . he looked intently at the places Nico and Will’s body came into contact protectively. He reminded me of the way Artemis looked watching Hermes and Crocus like a hawk, a protective older sibling. Annabeth noticed his narrowed eyes and went back to reading.

“Woah, there, Sunny.” Jo got up and easily lifted the god into her arms. “I’ll go put this one in a bed. You guys carry on.” And with that she walked out with an unconscious Apollo, way too undisturbed for my comfort.
Just what kind of things had these people seen if they weren’t even the slightest bit concerned about what just happened..? Never mind. I decided that I did not want the answer to that question.

”If you ever change your mind. . .” Leo winked, sending two finger guns to Poseidon, making Percy double over laughing on Annabeth’s back, which then made Annabeth put the book down to kiss her boyfriend’s cheek. I felt bad for her, having to watch her boyfriend go on quest after quest unable to guarantee his safety.

“So…we’re left with Imperial, Cursed, and Legacy?” Lit looked at us for confirmation.
“Imperial’s Meg,” Georgie said suddenly.
“Georgina,” Artemis said hesitantly. “How do you know that?”
“Meg told me when she visited with ‘Pollo last time.” She took a bite of red-cheese pasta. “They were ‘trauma bonding’, or something, and I walked in on them. ‘Imperial’ was what Nero called his ‘household’.” She made a disgusted face when she mentioned Nero.
I had to agree with the girl. Honestly, that whole ‘using burning Christians as torches for parties’ had traumatized me. Even Zeus had found discomfort in that…event, and he was usually the one doling out disturbing punishments.

Nero laughed coldly. “Glad to know my actions got the response i wanted!” The other emperors made similar sounds of amusement, making the majority of the room’s noses crinkle in disgust.

“That’s not exactly normal,” said a new member of the deranged teenagers table (AKA the ones who were currently playing ‘Monopoly’), a boy with light brown hair that got darker as it passed his shoulders. He wore an orange shirt the same shade as the Camp Half-blood shirts, and seeing as I could only see the back of said shirt, I assumed it was one of the camp shirts. He wore jeans, a belt, and black combat boots, blending in well with the other teenagers at the table.

Caligula and Nero looked at him, quickly turning away when Poseidon spoke. “I heavily agree. . .” he looked at Dionysus, now speaking, amused.

“Mentally ill T. M” chuckled Dionysus, twirling shoulder length curly black hair on his pointer finger. I wasn’t sure what ‘T.M’ was, but it made most people laugh.

Artemis was practically seething at the emperor’s name.
“Ookay,” Leo said with a nervous laugh, trying to deter the tension. “So we need Meg. Who’s Cursed?”
Lityerses was suddenly very quiet.
Emmie raised an eyebrow. “Lit? Do you have something to say?”
“My f—Midas had the golden touch. He never saw it as a curse, though. It was always more of a curse for me.” His nails dug into his skin. “It was more often than not that I spent my time as a golden statue until he finally decided he wanted someone dead and put me under running water to bring me back.”
“Sorry about last time,” Leo said, wincing.
Lit rolled his eyes. “Don’t mention it. I don’t care anymore…that much, at least.” He sighed. “But yeah. I’m a demigod. I’m cursed. I fit the description.”
“What happened last time?” I asked, curious.

"What did happen last time?” asked Annabeth curiously, not taking a breath from reading which made me think she was rereading for some reason, but the tone of her voice changed.

Percy laughed at her and nudged her playfully. “Piper, Leo and. . .” he faltered for the blink of an eye “and Jason told us when you guys first came on the Argo II to Rome, remember?”

She blinked in confusion, before letting out a little gasp. “Oh yeah! I wasn’t focused,” she said sheepishly, but lucky me it seemed the ones that weren’t there were curious.

“Wait wait, what happened?” chirped Hermes with a tilted head. He looked like a baby bird for a moment, I chuckled under my breath at the mental image.

Piper, arms wrapped around a mortal whose name I forgot, maybe Samantha? Sally? Well, whatever. Piper leaned forward and began to speak. “So basically, we were on Festus, and suddenly he started malfunctioning, so Leo had Jason fly me to the ground while he tried to fix him-“

Leo suddenly looked sick, knuckles pale and shaking in a tight fist. Jason looked at him worried and with gentle hands, grabbed his shoulders to calm him down. Will cleared his throat “Right, skip that part.” he said with a clear undertone of ‘let’s not go there’

“I don’t think it’s that important. . .” I muttered, Apollo looked at me worried, but before he could say anything, Jason spoke.

“It’s not. But just to clear up any confusion, we ended up at Midas’ palace and met Lit.” He jerked his chin at me “Midas had a. . . collection of gold, similar to Khione’s ice sculptures, and he turned Leo and Piper into gold after we figured out about his patron” He made finger quotes at the last word, then when Leo calmed down back to normal, he went back to sipping his drink.

“I fought with Lit here, and when I knocked him back, Midas turned him into gold. Sorry about that, also.” He said with an apologetic smile and I shrugged in response, not wanting to talk about it “Well anyways, gold is a good lightning conductor, so I brought down the roof and it was raining. Everyone turned back to normal,” He cleared his throat through a laugh “let’s just say they didn’t take kindly to being turned into gold, so me and Hedge helped Leo and Piper to the river back to normal.”

Yeah. Everyone back to normal. I totally didn’t get a rug thrown over me to stop the running water from turning me back to normal. No, Lityerses, you were attacking him, he did what he had to. Being salty over this would fix nothing, he’s not the one at fault.

Artemis made a sound, clearing her throat. “Let’s continue, this is unimportant.” Her comment seemed directed at Thalia, even though Annabeth was the one reading, but she got the idea.

“Doesn’t matter,” Artemis snapped. “Who’s Legacy, then.”
“Well, that depends,” Jo said, returning from wherever she’d gone to put Apollo. “Are we talking about someone with a large legacy, or are we talking about a legacy of godly inheritance?”
Hermes tilted his head, considering. “The former sounds more likely. The latter would narrow it down to at least two thirds of New Rome, so that wouldn’t really work out.”
The son of Hephaestus snapped his fingers. “Well, I think that answers our question.”
“It does?” Georgie asked.
“Think about it,” he said. “Which demigod has the largest legacy? A child of the big three, fought two wars and starred in the center of two Great Prophecies, challenged gods and won? Which demigod is the strongest swordsman in the last three hundred years, became the first Greek Praetor of Rome—in a month, no less—and walked through Tartarus and survived with his sanity in tact?”
I felt my stomach drop, but my heart soared. Valdez was right. There really was only one option here.
“My son,” I answered. “Percy Jackson.”

Percy blushed at that, chuckling into Annabeth’s hair with his arms wrapped under her shoulders around her, “You guys praise me too much.” He said it bashfully, almost embarrassedly, although with a smile on his face.

“Praise is to express favorable judgement.” Jason smiled, holding a cup of the same steaming brown drink Annabeth was holding, little marshmallows floating in it.

“And you deserve it, Perce,” Apollo finished, raising his now bright, icy pink drink up in respect to Percy. A collection of others did it too, me included, although I wasn’t sure what I was drinking.

Hermes’s eyes widened. “Percy? But he’s already been in two wars—“
“I know that,” I snapped. I had mixed feelings about Percy being thrown into another prophecy. Half of me was glad I got to spend time with my son, but the other half just felt guilty. Percy deserved a break, preferably a permanent one, but here were the Fates, forcing him into yet another quest.
I blew out a heavy breath. At least I’d be able to protect him this time. That consoled me a little.

Percy, cheeks still slightly pink from being idolized, blinked in confusion. “I don’t need protecting. I’ve protected myself my entire life,” he murmured, but his mom grabbed his cheeks with both hands.

“My brave boy, we know,” she said, blue eyes holding a sadness only a mother could have, and she kissed him on the forehead while Poseidon stared at the floor.

Sally smile hardened as she shot a glance at Poseidon who coughed and fixed his posture. “Percy. . . I know but I’m trying to make up for that. . .” He squirmed at bit while looking at Percy, who’s green eyes looked tear filled meanwhile his girlfriend held his hand tight.

The rest of us sat there awkwardly, but no one said anything, the normal chatter that happened while everyone talked was gone, except the three assholes at the emperor table. Annabeth bundled up her jacket onto the table and laid Percy’s head down on it gently, running her fingers through his hair while opening the book with her other hand.

“So, we find Meg and Percy. Then what?”
“The Oracle seems rather intent on possessing my brother,” said Artemis. “Maybe we’ll get more lines when we ‘set sail’.”
“It won’t be too hard to find them,” Leo piped up. “They’re both in California.”
Lityerses nodded. “So we go to California, find Meg and Percy, somehow explain this mess, and set sail…where?”
Hemietha sighed. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out when you get there. You’ve figured out as much as you can for now. Eat your lunches and rest.”
“You can leave in the evening,” said Jo, then turned to the demigods. “Take some time to pack, prepare. Then we’ll see about sailing.”
I wanted to protest that we should leave as soon as possible, but the Waystation had this homey sort of feeling that made you want to stay. “I suppose a little rest couldn’t hurt.”

"Even Apollo is more responsible than you, unkie!” chuckled Hermes.

“Unkie?” Hades said slowly, as if trying to understand the mind of someone with ADHD. He could definitely try!

“That’s a choice. . .” Poseidon replied teasingly.

I zoned them out, instead focusing on my drink in front of me, I decided to try the drink Flame had finished about 4 of so far (the cans were rolling around on the table as they talked loudly about ‘Monopoly’) and they were looking at me intently as I opened the can of ‘Dr. Pepper’, purple eyes shimmering with an excitement of sorts.

I brought it to my lips and shuddered. It’s bubbly? Not bad, but definitely not what I expected. I took another sip and got used to it, tastes nice, weirdly sweet.

Flame grinned and turned back to the table, whisper-screaming something about He liked it! before resuming the game they were playing.

Artemis frowned. “We don’t need rest—“
“Apollo does,” Hermes pointed out, clearly wanting to stay as much as I did. “And we can’t just think about ourselves this time. There are mortals going with us, and we have to meet their needs.”
Artemis scowled but relented. “Alright,” she said. “But we leave in the evening.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Leo said, saluting.
Hermes snorted.
I tried to hide a snicker.
Artemis glared at me.
I batted my eyes at her innocently.
What? You didn’t think Percy got all his attitude from Sally, did you?

“And we are done!” announced Annabeth, only slightly out of breath. Sally looked slightly concerned, but Percy gave his mom reassurance that attitude wasn’t bad.

“That was a lot,” I sighed out, energy depleted.

Many people nodded. “Yup,” agreed Apollo, who now had a ‘Sprite’ in his hands.

A loud clatter caught my, and everyone else’s attention. The clatter came from the table playing Monopoly, more accurately that was playing Monopoly, because the board and tiny slips of paper were now on the floor.

They, minus Freddie, were all whining “Why would you do that Freddie?”.

She shrugged with a sheepish look on her face. “Sorry?”.

Luna sighed and stood up, swiping everything off the table with two hands so their tiny metal figurines hit the floor too. A snap from Flame cleaned it all up and she sat back down. “Whelp. They are done reading so I guess we should give them a break.”

“Yeah maybe,” shrugged Freddie. Then she paused. “Did it not compute with them that Lityerses said his dad was Midas?” she asked quietly, making me freeze.

Demeter looked upset, extremely upset, her teeth were grinding and fists clenched. “ What did you say? ”

Zemora coughed into her fist and nudged Flame, who looked at Demeter then back to Freddie. “I think Poseidon’s brain was overloaded, plus Lityerses only said ‘My F-‘ before switching to Midas,” they explained.

I only realized I was breathing heavily when Apollo grabbed my hands and unclenched them slowly, pulling my fingernails out of my skin and flicking the blood off my palm. “It’s okay,” he assured me softly.

The new person moved their gaze from me to Poseidon, although not speaking to him. “Did Poseidon get flashbacks to Odysseus when he dropped his trident?” he said in a terrible whisper making Poseidon freeze.

Flame nodded. “Good eye Jason.” Okay then, his name is Jason. That’s not confusing at all. The other Jason looked surprised at that for a second, then realized he was not the one being addressed and gave Jason 2.0 a wave and smile that was returned tenfold enthusiastically.

“That’s not. . .” Poseidon whispered, sea green eyes blown wide. Hermes had laughed at the comment earlier, but now seemed concerned.

“Uncle?” called out Apollo, a soft tone in his voice as he stood up and walked over to Poseidon slowly. He put his hands on Poseidon's while Percy asked urgent questions to Hermes.

I was worried about Poseidon, but Apollo knew what he was doing, so I turned to Hermes and urged him to answer.

He tensed up, but Crocus squeezed his hands and he straightened “Well. . . I’d rather not get into it but. . . let’s just say that Odysseus really wanted to get back home and Poseidon was,” he coughed “interfering. It’s not often a god gets injured by a mortal, but the run during and right after the Trojan war spilled a lot of Ichor.”

Percy wasn’t satisfied with that answer, his eyes gleamed with something that brought terror deep into my gut. Annabeth squeezed his arm and he calmed a bit, but he still glared. “Hermes. What happened.”

Hermes looked uncomfortable, still slightly shocked from how Percy looked for a moment there, but he spoke again “Odysseus stabbed him with his trident. Over and over. It was. . . tough to watch. Not tough, terrifying. Odysseus then went and killed one-hundred and eight men, he was definitely something.”

Percy was fuming , but his mom and girlfriend calmed him down and told him to go sit with his dad.

Annabeth turned back to me and Hermes sympathetically. “He is protective.”

“Loyal,” I replied, a polite correction, because I hadn’t known Percy well, but his fatal flaw was definitely loyalty. “But yeah, he’s definitely a keeper.”

She blushed and Sally chuckled. “He’s a sweet boy, you’re good for him Annabeth.”

“He was raised well.” agreed Crocus, who spoke for the first time in a while, but his compliment still made Sally’s eyes shine as she thanked him.

“Oookay then!” declared Flame, clapping their hands to gain everyone’s attention. “Bathrooms and bedrooms down there-” they pointed past a gorgeous archway and garden at a newer looking building, although whoever made it (probably Flame or Zemora) definitely tried to match the aesthetic of the rest of the buildings, respect to the architect I suppose.

I grabbed a few more cans of Dr. Pepper, tossing my empty one out into a trash can, and followed the crowd to the building. Someone made a happy sound when I grabbed the cans, but I assumed it was just a weirdly timed coincidence.

At least I would get to shower. And sleep, I prayed to whichever god would listen that there was a spell that would make me sleep at least 4 hours. As soon as I thought it, Zemora whispered to Flame quickly, “Do that!!” maybe I should be concerned they were listening to my thoughts, but I was brought to this place extremely tired and needed sleep more this I cared, I quickly thanked Apollo, just because, and went to find the showers.