II. AMNESIA LANE

Piper didn't know that she was vegetarian until dinner time. She had an all vegetable meal while everyone else had meat. But her stomach complained and sulked, she didn't want to be a vegetarian just for a while. Just for one day. Just for this meal.

Leo sat beside her, slowly digging through his food. He was quiet, just concentrating on eating. Piper saw something red on the side of Leo's head, a letter "A". She wasn't sure if she could comment on it, and even when she wanted to talk, her voice kept leaving her, only to come back when it wanted to. Maybe the tattoo was just all in her head.

Everyone else in the table talked about camps, weapon choices, and things that made half-sense to Piper. She wanted to call someone's attention and tell them she was hungry for the steak they were enjoying. But she wasn't ready to denounce her vegetarianism. At some point in her life, something must have happened that made her refuse meat. If she ate anything she was willing not to, she might regret it later.

But just this once. Please, just one bite.

Piper caught Leo's eyes, who had noticed how she treated her plate all this time. She couldn't keep her eyes away from his food. The guilt and pain on her face was probably visible because he scanned the table before placing a serviette on his lap. He cut his steak in half and when no one was looking, put the piece on the serviette, wrapped it, and passed it to Piper under the table.

She took the towel, smiling shyly to him. Thank you, she mouthed. He gave her a small smile in response.

"Leo's pretty quiet," Percy said after sipping his drink, his knife and fork arranged to indicate that he was finished with his meal. He wiped his mouth with his own serviette. "Did you lose your memories when you died the first time?"

Leo's eyes boggled. "I died before?" He stared at everyone in the table, then looked at Piper questioningly. "Did I die?"

Piper wordlessly shrugged. Leo looked at his plate, his eyes darting for answers in his leftovers. "I don't know. I'll get back to you when I remember everything."

"Fair enough," Percy said, leaning back to his seat.

When the dining table was cleared and the dishes washed, they went to the living room together. Annabeth and Percy laid out weapons and tactical vests of all kinds on the coffee table. Bows, swords, shields, helmets, both ancient and modern.

Piper and Leo sat down on a couch. Annabeth picked up two things from the table. "These are your toys."

Piper was handed a dagger, while Leo got a tool belt. It let out a soft shing as the sides scraped the scabbard when she unsheathed the blade. It was smooth, bronze, and she saw her reflection as clear as a mirror. The longer she held it, the lighter it became. Its power traveled from the handle of her weapon, through her arm, and to her brain, and in a single second she knew how to fight with it. "Katoptris," she muttered. "Helen of Troy's dagger."

Annabeth grinned widely. Leo stared at the weapon marveling, his tool belt forgotten on his hand for a moment. "She has a cool knife while I have...this?"

"It's a magical tool belt, remember?" Annabeth said.

Leo lifted the belt, turning it around. "It...it is?" He stood up and buckled it around his waist. Something about his expression said he was remembering, but he was still confused. He rummaged inside the small pockets and pulled out another dagger, which wasn't as shiny or ornate as Piper's, but a dagger nonetheless. "Sweet."

Piper's face lit. "How did you do that? What did you do?"

He examined the weapon on his hand, smiling to himself. "I...I don't know, I just kept thinking that I want something like your Katop-thing, and I got a poor imitation of it."

They both shared a small laugh. Hazel stepped out of their circle of friends. "Hey, what if I showed you pictures of all of us? Maybe it'll help refresh your memories."

Hazel was about to fetch photo albums for Leo and Piper when a loud explosion boomed in the distance. The lights of the mansion went out and through the large windows the city succumbed to darkness. Sirens blared, and smaller explosions flashed throughout Los Angeles. The emergency lights of the living room turned on, washing the walls with faint orange hue.

They ran to the balcony and stared down at the city. "There they are," Nico whispered. "We got to go."

Percy, Frank, Nico and Will strapped on the tactical vests and put on thick jackets over them, and grabbed their weapons from the table. Frank ran out ahead, while the others inspected each other's equipment.

Piper and Leo followed their friends outside. Frank was nowhere to be seen, but a large red dragon stood in the mansion gardens. A chill ran down through Piper's spine. "Why is there a—"

"It's okay." Hazel took her hand. She was the only who wasn't dressed for battle. "It's just Frank."

Piper's eyes widened. "Frank?" When she looked at the dragon again, it nodded to her.

Percy climbed up to the dragon's back, while Nico took over a motorbike that was parked near them. Will Solace sat behind him, wrapping his arms around Nico's waist. "Are you coming with us, Hazel?" Will called out.

Hazel waved her hand. "Sorry, I've got two people to watch for the night, remember?"

"You sure? I know you hate being left out."

"I'll be fine, but tomorrow it's my turn. Be careful!"

Annabeth was last to come out of the mansion, tying her hair into a high ponytail. When she passed them, Piper grabbed her arm. "Is there any way we can help?" she asked her.

Annabeth looked pained. "I'm sorry, Piper. When both of you are better, okay?" She hugged her tightly. "Rest well for me."

"We got to go, sweetheart!" Percy shouted. Frank stretched his wings, each one twice the length of his body. Nico revved his bike alive and drove out down the hills towards the city, while Annabeth let go of Piper with a smile and ran to the dragon. She was hoisted up by Percy, and together they followed Nico and Will from the air.

Piper loved the felt of the album's soft leather cover, even though the old Piper in her mind was shaking her head in disappointment. Go away, she thought to her other self. I don't want to be a vegetarian tonight. Leo sat beside her left, and they opened the album together. Each photo was a returning memory, and Piper didn't realize how closely they were peering until they knocked their heads together. Leo rubbed the right side of his forehead. "Ow."

They took time absorbing the photos. Hazel was at the balcony, watching over the city. Piper glanced over her once in a while. She wanted to talk to her about their friends. The album helped find the missing pieces of Piper's memories, but they were nothing significant. She knew by now that the memories returned to her gradually, so she wasn't too worried. The pictures reminded of good times she had with the friends, but she wanted to spend more time with their living counterparts.

But Leo looked like he was having trouble recollecting his own memories. He stared at the pages with such anger that Piper worried he was going to rip a page off. She touched his arm and shook him lightly. "Hey, are you okay?"

He snapped from his trance and turned to her wide-eyed. Static electricity traveled from the hairs of his arm to Piper's fingertips, stinging her, and making them both jump away from each other. Something dark dripped from Leo's nostrils.

Hazel came back from the balcony and noticed the same thing about him, too. "Leo, you're bleeding."

Leo looked on confusedly, and touched above his lips. His fingers came back with fresh blood. "I am bleeding," he said calmly.

Hazel rushed to get some tissues for him. "Don't tilt your head up, you're just making it worse. Just wipe it off and let it all flow down."

"Okay." He clogged some of the tissues to his nostrils and continued staring at the photo album with his head down. After a while, he saw Piper's worry brows were still intact. "I'm okay, Piper. This is sort of a side effect from getting a sword through my brain."

"From the sound of it, you're not okay at all."

He grinned shyly, cleared his throat, and turned back to the photos. "Aww, look at me." He pointed at the picture of himself around his late teenage years, sitting down on a chair near a worktable, grinning widely at the camera. "I'm such a cute kid."

"Oh, there's a fun fact behind that," Hazel said, who sat across them. "Piper took that photo."

Piper and Leo looked up to her, not suppressing their smiles. "Really?" Leo said. They beamed at each other for a second before putting their attention back to the photo album. Piper felt a new connection with him, something that wasn't reinforced to them just because they knew each other from the past. A different connection, like meeting someone new. Like building a relationship from the bottom. From scratch. The newness was nice and refreshing, even though it was unnerving to lose her memories from the start.

But Leo wasn't an exception; Piper felt the same with Hazel, Percy, Annabeth, and anyone who interacted with her since she woke up. It was just weirdly comforting how she and Leo could relate with the only thing they had in common at the moment: amnesia, and the fact they died together.

Piper flipped to another page, and her eyes caught the image of Leo and herself with another boy, who was in the middle of the picture. His blue eyes saw through Piper. Her heart thumped fast in her chest. "This...person." She tapped at the blond boy.

"Jason Grace, right?" Leo said. "What about him?"

"He's...my boyfriend." He is. He was. He is. Piper didn't know which tense she was supposed to use. Was this person still her boyfriend? Or was she mistaking a faraway memory as a recent one. "Me and him...we...we..."

"Whoa there, sister." Leo puts his hands up. "I know what you're going to say. Keep the naughty details to yourself for the sake of my innocent ears."

Piper punched his shoulder. "That's not what I'm going to say. Now I lost it because of you." She turned away from him. "But...he's missing. And we were looking for him, before we lost our memories. Hazel, when did we last talk to him?"

Hazel thought for a while. "You were the last person to see him, Piper, almost two weeks ago. Here, in the mansion. We've been investigating for his whereabouts for three days before you were attacked. We found you right there." She pointed at the city, the center flashing lights like the biggest rave party was happening down there.

"Wait a minute, you said these people were after us." Leo shifted on his seat and leaned towards Hazel. "So technically, we're supposed to hide so they won't find us, right? So why are we so near them?"

"Good question," Hazel said. "This is one of the reasons why Percy and the others are out there fighting. They haven't appeared in Los Angeles until the night they attacked you, and they haven't moved from that spot ever since. The weird thing is, the city hasn't caught up with the battles that happen every night. The disaster, the causalities, the collateral damage... Either the Mist is working hard to hide everything that's happening, or the people we are against are powerful themselves to manipulate the minds of mortals."

Hazel placed her hands together. "But it won't be long until the mortals notice, though, because every day it turns worse. Our friends are fighting to keep them contained, and divert their attention from you guys, until you're better and can move to a safer place. It's impossible to bring them somewhere else, and I don't know if they're here because you guys are here."

"What does Jason going missing have anything to do with these people?" Piper inquired. "What's the connection?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find out soon. Hopefully." Hazel smiled sadly. "When both of you are better, we'll talk about what we're going to do at this point."

Piper and Leo finished the album and placed it on the coffee table. Piper's eyelids drooped. She wanted to sleep than try to watch all her memories like a television at the back of her eyeballs. "When will Annabeth and the others come back?"

"Morning," Hazel said simply. "So let's not wait for them. Let's get you both to bed."

Memories didn't come to them chronologically. They were like a puzzle game; at the start, you piece together what matched and piece the matched pieces with the other matched pieces until a huge, complete picture formed.

And even the memories were in pieces. Often at the start, it was just Piper and darkness, a black page. Then her weapon would appear on her hand. Next, the sky spilled out above her head like watercolor paint, the moon making a humble entrance, and the ground and the general setting faded in. Now she stood on a warship, bronze and bathing under the moonlight.

Young Hazel Levesque appeared in front of her with a spatha. Piper looked down to see that she was wielding Zethes's sword, something she earned after fighting off Khione and the Boreads. Hazel charged towards her, swinging her sword downwards for the first blow. Piper parried it away, although barely. She staggered a bit before she found her footing again.

Hazel said, "Great, but not fast enough."

At some point, the images were wrapped with her five senses, and they became full-fledged memories. Piper remembered the temperature of the night, how chilly it was when they sailed through the sea. And the sweat trickling down the sides of her forehead. Her lightly parched throat. Hazel was teaching her the basics of sword-fighting, with the tips, tricks and cheats. She was learning from the best, no doubt. She had a purpose, a new found sense of importance that invigorated her with energy every time she made Hazel move for defense. No more standing around, no more feeling useless. She was going to fight alongside Annabeth and Hazel and the guys.

But that wasn't the case in her next memory.

Wind rushed past her ear, and someone's arms were wrapped around her waist. They were falling from the clouds, her lungs sore as she screamed a name. She looked up at the gray sky, and felt her heart filling with molten lead as she watched a fiery explosion spread out, gold erupting all around them with undeniable beauty. Someone was up there, someone she knew and cared and they just died right in front of her. But who? Jason, her boyfriend, was holding tightly. Who was up there? She couldn't hear her piercing cry at all even though her throat burned with acid, heat and pure misery.

The next images were too overwhelming for her. A mixture of pain and the anger overlapping her memories when she learned that she didn't have the physician's cure with her all this time. All these heavy emotions were directed to Hazel and Frank, but most of it—she wouldn't admit—was really towards her dead friend. It didn't matter if he hadplanned it from the start, everyone was supposed to be all in this together. All of them. She felt disconnected with this friend of hers.

She was calmer after that. But as days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, she felt a slow heartbreak that wasn't tied into any romantic relationship. Sometimes she'd think that her friend was there as normal, working on something that would amaze people like he always did, tucked somewhere far because she knew he didn't come out often. But sometimes pain would strike her chest, and the tears would roll down her cheeks when it came to her that he wasn't there with their friends at all. It was a tough period for her, for all of them.

When the last piece of memory fell into place, the identity of their dead friend, she woke up from her dream in tears. Someone was rapping their knuckles at her door. A muffled voice said, "Hey, are you awake?"

She got up from the bed and opened it. Leo appeared behind it, the sides of his face beading with sweat. He was clutching his chest, breathing heavily. "Hi. Sorry, it's just...the goddamn stairs."

"What's wrong?" Piper said, quickly brushing away her tears with her sleeve.

Leo gulped down his saliva. He leaned on the doorway. "Jason." He gasped his words. "We need to talk about Jason."

It was three in the morning, and Los Angeles was still under attack. Their friends were still fighting, and Piper wondered if they would come home soon. Hazel was asleep on the living room with her sword next to her, waiting for their friends or enemies. Piper and Leo tiptoed past her and sat on the bench at the balcony, watching the battle from afar.

"When I died, I remembered meeting Aphrodite briefly," Leo started. He brought his tool belt with him, which hanged on his left shoulder. "She told me I wasn't dead, which is...really confusing and cryptic. But she said more than that. She wanted to tell everything she needed to tell to us. But she had to send Cupid to kill us first."

"I thought you said we didn't die?" Piper pointed out.

Leo growled in frustration. "I don't know, don't ask me, I'm just reporting. She really didn't talk to me in real-time, but she gave me a...memory message? I don't know what to call it." He pressed his lips together, thinking. "Let's call it a pseudo-memory. Things you remember and thought that happened, but in reality it didn't happen."

He placed his hands on his lap. His face fell. "I can't...I can't grasp the scope of what she told me. It's just too huge for my brain and worse with my amnesia." His arms were steady, but his right leg shook restlessly. She knew that he was thinking many things, but he wasn't nervous. It was the need to move all the time, just like Percy and Annabeth, and anyone who had ADHD. But Piper noted that Leo was the most fidgety of them all.

He kept glancing at her, opening his mouth but closing again. "Have you...Have you remembered anything about before? About Jason?"

"No," she whispered. Jason was the reason he woke her up in the first place. "Nothing has come to me yet."

His face only grew dark. He rubbed his mouth, took a deep breath, and sighed. Their eyes met. "Jason's missing. But Aphrodite said he isn't just missing, Piper. He's...gone."

Piper twitched. Something was digging in her mind. "Gone. What do you mean, gone? You mean he's dead?"

"No, not dead. Gone as in gone-gone." Leo's voice was pained and frantic. "He just disappeared. We can't...we can't find him, Piper."

"That's not true." She stood up from her seat and faced him. "Jason just can't disappear. It's not like he went into a different dimension. We can find him. What are you talking about, Leo?"

Leo gritted his teeth and looked away from her. His eyes were watery even in the dark. Whatever he wanted to say, he didn't want to say it.

Two sides were fighting inside her consciousness. She knew and at the same time she didn't know. The old Piper McLean had buried it deeply in her mind. But all it took was for Leo to say the words clearly to bring it out again.

And she didn't want to hear those words. She wasn't ready.

"Piper," Leo said slowly. Each word cracked. "Jason doesn't exist anymore."

The city breathed with sounds of war. The battle was at its climax. Whether or not this would be the last night of fighting or there was tomorrow to continue, it was to be decided tonight.

He was kidding, she thought. He always did that to scare her, and it wasn't always funny. But in a flash, Piper remembered talking to a gruff looking man, between her apparent death and resurrection. This man shook his fist, then pointed at her accusingly.

That fragment was a small piece of a large photo. An incomplete pseudo-memory.

Piper covered her mouth and nose with her hands. She walked backwards to the edge of the balcony, her lower back hitting the stone balusters. She tried to quell her tears with deep breaths, but it didn't work much. The earlier memories of loss was refreshed by Leo's confirmation. Everything was a stab to the chest. "Where is Jason? What happened? What do you mean he doesn't exist anymore? How? "

"I don't know," Leo said quietly. And that was his answer in all four questions.

She tried to gather herself together, and sat down besides him sniffing. Leo summoned a handkerchief from his tool belt and handed it to her. He was just as mentally exhausted as she was. She took it from him silently and blew her nose on it. Did their friends know about this? Or was it just her and Leo? If they didn't know, should they tell them? "Hephaestus. He said the same thing to me."

"Hephaestus?" Leo leaned forward, eyes wide. "He...he talked to you?" A two second pause. "So wait, I get your mother, while you get my dad? I don't understand. It makes a bit of sense if we get to talk to our parents about this, but why the other way?"

Piper wiped the dripping snot out of her nose. She was just as clueless as he was. "Maybe we should talk to them..."

"Yeah, let's ask them." Leo looked up to the skies. "Hey Dad! Can you hear me? Oh right, you were chucked out of the sky when you were a baby, my bad."

He didn't have to shout when talking to a god. But Piper left Leo to himself and closed her eyes. She prayed to her mother, Aphrodite, and asked her all the questions that nagged her right now. Hi, Mom. Why did you talk to Leo, not me? Why did you kill us? What is this on me and what does it have to do with me?

They allowed time for their parents to respond. In the distance, the last shots of the battle down the city were fired quietly. It was over now. Would Percy, Frank, and the rest of them come home soon? Piper and Leo let the silence rift between them for a good twenty minutes. It was comfortable and natural until they realized they weren't speaking a single word. They were deliberately avoiding each other's gazes.

Somehow, it was frustrating talking to Leo. Piper was supposed to know him, and she had a bank of memories she freshly received to support that, but at the same time he was a completely new person to her. There was no problem remembering her other friends. Why was she struggling with him?

Leo glanced her way. "Any luck?"

"Sorry," Piper said.

He pinched the spot between his eyes. Back to his thoughts again, Piper mused to herself. "There's...there's something else. I forgot to tell you," he said.

"What is it?"

Leo placed his tool belt on his lap and squeezed it tightly, twisting it like wet laundry. "She gave me...something. Something to help us through this." He turned his head and Piper saw it clearly. The searing red letter "A" on his right temple that she kept seeing on him. It was like a tattoo buried under a translucent layer of skin. He traced the letter with the tip of his finger. "It's right here, if you can't see it."

Piper scooted closer to him. "I can see it."

Something shined in Leo's eyes. "You do? Really? Please, please tell me you're not kidding."

She reached out to trace it. He leaned his head to her hand. When she touched his skin with her fingers, the mark glowed brightly and dangerously. She quickly pulled her hand away, with Leo moving back to his side of the bench. "What was that?" Piper exhaled.

"I've no fucking clue." Leo rubbed the side of his head hard with his knuckles. "I feel like a machine. She said this is going to protect you."

"And...how is it going to help me when it's on you?"

"Really don't know."

They kept asking each other questions, and they kept getting the same answer. I don't know. It was annoying. A break in the cycle would be great, Piper thought. She rubbed the left side of her collar bone. Her more recent memories weren't coming to her yet. She didn't know what she did before all of this. Where did they go when they learned Jason went missing, and what did she do before she was ambushed and getting killed by Cupid?

Her pseudo-memories were still memories. They needed to be triggered by something, like the photo album. And while she was happy she got them again, the memories from the book were not important now. But she wasn't going to wait until she remembered everything.

It sucked. They were in the middle of something big, and they didn't know the most crucial details. "We have to find out everything, Leo. Again, if we knew anything about this before."

Leo snapped his fingers, in an I-know-what-to-do-sort-of way. "We need to talk to Hera."

"Hera, not Aphrodite? Not Hephaestus?"

"She's always the card-carrying jack, she has to know something. Especially with something big as Jason gone." Leo stood up and moved to the baluster, looking over the city. "Besides, our parents aren't answering."

He closed his eyes. This time there was no shouting to the heavens. He prayed, with pink lips moving silently. This was the side Leo Valdez didn't show often. He was quiet. Peaceful.

Piper closed her eyes again. She prayed with him, remaining on her seat. Please hear us out. We lost our memories. We want everything to make sense to us again.

Wind danced around her ankles. She didn't pay much attention at first, but it grew stronger by the moment, almost pulling her legs. Her eyes shot open. Between Piper and Leo was a mini tornado pulling air from every direction. The mist solidified from the bottom to the top, forming feet, then legs, until a woman stood tall. She wore elegant apricot robes adorned with jewels, and held a long staff in her right hand. The head of the staff was a spherical astrolabe the size of a volleyball, with the blades turning slowly.

In front of Piper was the Queen of the Gods, but at the same time she wasn't exactly there. Her form shimmered, making her translucent. Like a hologram or a ghost. "It's about time you summoned me," she said coolly.

Behind the goddess, Leo approached Hera cautiously. He looked like he wanted to try to put his hand through her for a moment, but fought the thought back and trekked around her instead. "Were you waiting for us to call you? Instead of, you know, knock on the front door yourself for us?" He didn't sit down but stood besides Piper. She was surprised that Leo talked that way to the Queen of Olympus. Everyone was afraid of offending gods, even slightly. They knew more than enough mortals who were turned into animals or otherwise punished, and the gods never denied it themselves.

Hera glitched. One second, her eyes were besides her left ear, floating. The next second, they were back in place. She looked like she was fading away. "I'm sorry for not coming sooner. I don't have much power in me now. But there isn't much time, children. I have something I must give you, but you called me for a different reason. I know why you want to talk to me. You have questions, and it is necessary for me to answer them."

Something about her apology of being tardy took Leo back for some reason. Piper picked up on the other things she said. "Yes, we do have questions," she started. And there was so many she didn't know where to start. She didn't know if Hera could answer them all. "But what do you mean you don't have much power? What's going on?"

"I believe that's not the question you should be asking, Piper McLean." Hera sounded tired, her voice wavering for a moment.

Piper thought hard. How was she going to cram a hundred questions in one? She looked at Leo, silently asking him if he had come up with a better question to summarize all the things they wanted to know. Her brain was breaking in half.

She gave up. Piper wanted to think she was smart. And she wanted to sound clever, to Leo and to Hera. But not this time. Not right now. "Where's Jason?" she asked. That was the most sensible question at this moment. All of this started because he went missing.

A deep sigh from Hera. "You are still recovering, I see. I suppose that's to be expected. As for Jason Grace, I'm afraid I have to confirm what you already know." Wrinkles seemed to appear on Hera's beautiful face. "He is lost since September 7, two weeks ago. He is not here on Earth, but he is not dead, since he cannot be found even in the Underworld. Only way that we can explain this without further proof is that he's been wiped out of existence. As if he is not born from the first place. Plucked out. But what I can tell you for sure is that this is just the start of something bigger, children."

Something bigger. The meat Piper ate a few hours ago was climbing up to her throat. How big? As big as Gaea or bigger than that? She dreaded the latter. She was so tired; she wasn't ready to save the world yet. Her collar bone ached, almost as if pulsing, when she thought of this; her tattoo was telling her otherwise. Whether she liked it or not, she was already part of the bigger picture. But was there hope left to find Jason? To bring him back? That was what she wanted to know the most.

"But plucking Jason Grace isn't simple as picking flowers," Hera continued. "And this didn't happen just because. He is both a symptom and a start of something else. Another world, another universe is trying to merge with us."

In her mind she saw another world tipping towards them from the sky, like the universe's bowl of cereal, spilling people, animals and buildings down to them – a cargo of errant galaxies ramming to the universe she was in.

"Another...universe?" Leo shut his eyes tightly, confused. "Are you saying there are alternate universes out there? Not just one? Not just this?"

Hera took her time to think and choose the words she was going to say. "The universe is like a tree, Leo Valdez. It has thousands of trunks, branches, and leaves. And the leaves themselves have branched anatomies of their own. When a decision or action is made, a branch sprouts. When another action is done from the results of the previous one, another one grows and secedes from the mother branch's linear path. But there are scenarios where you make a different choice. One way road that splits into dozens, and it continues to split. They are never ending, because we always make decisions in our entire lives."

"Something tells me this isn't about what happens if I pick an orange or an apple," Leo said. "So... you mean everything isn't exactly pre-planned or destined. One way or another, a friend who was supposed to be dead in this universe, is alive in another universe somewhere. Is that what you're telling us?"

Hera cast her eyes down for a second before looking back at him. "Yes."

Leo's tensed shoulders fell. His eyes turned sad. Piper wondered where he retreated in his mind. The endless possibilities that would have happened depending on the decisions they made wrecked her mind, too. But right now, no more inquiries from him.

Piper took the torch from him. "All this time, we thought that everything has been decided by the Fates and the Prophecies. But now we can deviate from them?"

"That is not entirely true. The Prophecies are like guides, Ms. McLean. To keep the world spinning. To keep you alive."

Piper crossed her arms. The last Prophecy she was involved in had double meanings and triple meanings it took the entire time of the quest to understand what it meant. But she wondered what would have happened if everything didn't go the way they did. What if they interpreted a line of a prophecy wrong? Or what if they went into a different direction? Would there be more causalities? Would any more of her friends die? "So what happens when we don't follow the prophecies?"

"The Prophecies fulfill themselves whether or not we 'deviate' from them. They are there to warn and prepare us for anything that will come our way," Hera said. "And it is not always about the prophecies. Alternate dimensions are born based on crucial actions made by billions of people. Not just us. "

"So it seems like the overall universe is one giant mess of cables molded together." Leo had returned to earth, and placed his hands on his hips. "Okay, well, why is it crashing to us? How did that happen?"

A shrill buzzing pierced through the air. Piper covered her ears and Leo scrunched his face in pain. It was coming from Hera, not from her mouth, but from her glitching projection. Despite the noise and commotion, Hazel wasn't waking up behind them.

"I don't have much time," Hera stated. "I cannot answer every question about the universe you give to me right now, you might get your answers in the future. Now, there is something I want both of you to do." She held the staff that she was carrying on both hands, offering it to them. It was the only thing solid about her. "Despite the impossibility, there is a way to bring Jason Grace back."

It was the best news and the worst news that she heard in the night. Piper was happy and afraid at the same time.

"Taking away Grace had cause the flow of time to be severely disrupted. It tipped the balance that made this universe stable. But bringing him back could fix many of our problems." Hera looked at the sky. Behind her was a splash of orange rising from the horizon, and Piper saw white clouds stretching like paintbrush strokes. "Grace is one of the few causalities so far, but everything is just beginning. We don't know who we are up against, but it is best not to wait to know our enemies. If they merged with us completely, our world will cease to exist. Our minds will be wiped blank. Mortals will die with no afterlife waiting for them. They will take over, and we don't know what are the consequences if they do.

"When I learned that my champion was gone, I compiled memories of Jason Grace from all individuals who knew him or at least encountered him, memories even from monsters, mortal strangers, and the titans he fought and defeated. Especially from you two." She looked at the staff. "This is what's left of Grace, and it has everything you need to bring him back. Take it, and perform a ritual in the right place at the right time. But you must commit a universal taboo in order to go where you need to go. I have already asked Hecate for her help, and she sent people to assist you in your incoming quest."

Too many demands. There were too many demands for them to handle. Piper just took in the words without chewing them right away. It was too complicated. She left them on her tongue, and she was scared to bite and take it all in. She must have spaced out because she didn't notice Leo stepping up reaching to take the staff from Hera's hands.

But Hera moved back. "Before I give it to you, there is a price to pay. An exchange."

Leo staggered on his feet. He closed his hands into fists. "What? It's not free?"

The corner of Hera's mouth twitched. "The staff is an extremely powerful weapon. It is possibly the only thing that will reverse everything to stability."

"Yeah, I get that. But since the end of the world might happen, and that we're going to do a lot of work to make everything normal, why not just give it to us for free?"

"Economical reasons."

"Of course," Leo grumbled. "And what about money?"

"Mortal currency doesn't mean anything to me."

"Okay, okay." He looked around him, searching for something to give her. He stared at the magical tool belt hanging on his shoulder. He held it in front of him. "Is this enough?"

Piper blinked. That tool belt was a part of him, a handy friend that saved his life more times than they could count. He was giving away a piece of his identity. But he didn't look like he was hesitating at the fact he was about to let go of it. Maybeshe was just being oversensitive about this.

Hera only looked at the tool belt once and said, "No, that's not enough."

"That's either the most expensive magical item in the world, or you're scamming us."

The goddess sighed deeply. "I can let you pay in installments until the price has been fully paid, although there is a deadline, so come prepared. But I warn you that whatever you pay will never be enough unless..."

He waited in anticipation. "Well?"

Hera pressed her lips into a thin smile. "You will have to find out yourself."

They exchanged the items, Hera taking the tool belt, and Leo the staff. He seemed a bit unnerved at the queen's last words. He weighed it down with his hands, and touched the blades of the astrolabe. "Huh, it's not heavy at all."

The buzzing was back again, louder than before. Hera's form swirled and faded in and out like a dying light. "I must go now children."

"Wait!" Piper stood and ran to Leo's side. "How do we use the staff? What ritual and what taboo are we supposed to do? Why aren't our parents answering us? What about the tattoos they gave us?"

"While your memories may return, you will feel incomplete until your marks are, for want of another word, activated," Hera echoed. She was glowing now. "They are gifts to you, their last resort. They will help you throughout your quest. But there are severe side-effects, since your resurrections are imperfect. Good luck, demigods."

"No, wait!" That wasn't enough. Piper wanted to know more, to know everything they needed. There was more to this quest than Hera let on.

Leo blocked Piper's view, and they looked at each other instead. "Don't look."

Piper shut her eyes tightly and pressed her face on Leo's shoulder. The back of her eyelids turned bright red, and heat and power radiated intensely behind Leo. When it was gone, they broke away and stared at the spot where Hera stood.

The sun was rising. The sounds of traffic and early commuters hummed below them.

Leo held the staff awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say next. Piper took a moment to take in everything that was just discussed. Jason, the staff, their quests, their tattoos, alternate universes. It crashed down to her mind like concrete bricks.

She looked at Leo in the eyes one more time before collapsing.

The first thing she saw when she woke up was a small electric fan on top of the coffee table. It turned and whirled quietly, and the cool air brushed her skin, along with sunlight shining on her face. She lay on a sofa, with a cool wet towel on her forehead. Her throat was horribly dry.

Annabeth came to her view, smiling. Her face and clothes were covered in dried mud. "Hey, good morning," she whispered. Her lips were dry and chipped.

Piper rubbed her eyes. "You're back," she said quietly.

"Yeah. Everyone's here except Percy." Annabeth gestured to the living room. Piper sat up and saw Frank, Nico, and Will snoring soundly on mattresses placed on the ground like an arc, surrounding the sofas. They had their vests discarded in one corner, but hadn't bothered to change their damaged clothes. Leo was on the other couch, with a towel covering his face, one arm under his head, and the other on his chest.

Piper recalled fainting just a few hours ago. He must have carried her here even though he was tired himself. "I'm sorry for inconveniencing you," Piper mumbled. "I promised you I'd rest well."

Annabeth shook her head, still smiling. "It's nothing. It's Leo's fault for waking you up so early."

The silence was so soothing but so fragile. Here was a room of hyperactive demigods sleeping, and Piper didn't want someone to break the peace with a raised tone. Not even herself in an urgent situation.

She wiped her face with the towel. "Where's Percy?"

"Oh, his family is in town. They want to see him, and they're going to stay here overnight. He went ahead to pick them up."

"They're here? But it's not safe here in the city."

"That's why they're staying here, in Nico's place. Just a quick visit."

"And..." Piper gave the hall another one over to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. "What about Hazel?"

"She's at the back, sending messages to the camps. She'll be here any minute." Annabeth sat on the couch, and Piper scooted to give her room to sit. "Leo told us everything," she started, still speaking in a low tone. Her face was serious. Worried. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It must have been overwhelming for both of you."

"It's ridiculous." The towel was dry now. Piper dipped it inside the bucket of water. She noticed the astrolabe staff on the table. Talking to Hera felt like a dream, but here was proof it was real. They were really going to do it; go on a quest to find and bring Jason back, along with every other complication they had to jump over. "I'm scared of the universe now."

Annabeth chuckled silently before the sides of her lips turned down again. "I guess there's something worse than Tartarus now." Her eyes were drooping and half-closed. "What are you going to do now?"

Piper searched her mind. The jumble of information Hera gave them was still disorganized in her head, but one thing stood out. She tried to make sense of it. "I don't think we can just go and find him yet. Hera said someone's coming to help us. I don't know who they are though."

"They're coming when? Now?"

"I don't know."

Annabeth frowned and rubbed her neck. "Leave it to the queen to keep all the important details to herself."

Leo stirred and yawned. He sat up slowly and blinked rapidly. The towel fell on the carpet. His eyes were red. He scanned the room before he glanced towards Piper and Annabeth, sniffing. "Hello, ladies."

"Hello, Leo," Annabeth answered. "Nice sleep?"

"I guess so." He picked up the towel from the floor, stood up, and stretched. "Here, Annabeth, take the couch. It's your turn to get some Z's."

She hesitated. She turned to Piper. "Do you mind if I..."

Piper grinned. "Why do you need my permission? Go and rest."

She looked relieved. "Thank you."

"No, thank you for taking care of me."

Annabeth transferred couches. She squeezed Leo's arm and thanked him first before lying down, and in a few seconds, she was already in deep sleep.

Leo slugged around the coffee table. He pushed the bucket away and sat down besides the electric fan, facing Piper. He tied his towel around his arm—maybe out of pure impulse—and placed his elbows on his knees. When he blinked, his eyelids didn't go down together at the same time. He sniffed again. "Hera said we both have gifts from our parents." That wasn't a question. "You have a tattoo just like mine."

"It's not the same. But did you see mine?" Piper asked.

"No, I didn't. It's not anywhere on your head."

She pulled the collar of her shirt down. She knew that there, at the left side of her collar bone, was a blue "Ω". An Omega. Nobody could see it. Not even Annabeth and Percy when she first showed them. She hoped Leo could.

He stared at the mark. "Did my dad give you that?"

"If Mom gave yours, I think so."

He touched the right side of his temple, rubbed his own tattoo. "My dad marks his creations with an H. Eta. But these just aren't random letters. They're...Alpha and Omega. What does that mean?"

"It doesn't matter what it means." It was clear to Piper that they were branded. They were chosen. "But I want to know one thing. Why us, Leo?"

The doorbell rang, breaking the serenity of the room. It echoed throughout the mansion, causing the boys on the floor to stir. Hazel emerged from the back of the house. "Is that Percy?"

Annabeth broke away from her minute-long sleep. She didn't look happy about it. "I don't think so. He should be here in ten minutes or later." The doorbell rang again. Frank groaned and covered his face with his pillow. But he was awake now.

"Maybe he's early." Hazel moved to the intercom and took a peek. She looked confused. "There's two people out there. I'll be right back guys."

She went out. Piper exchanged a glance with Annabeth. Leo looked worried, too. He tightened his towel and stood up, helping Piper out of the couch. All the boys roseup from the mattresses, blinking away the sleep and mumbling about their dreams.

Two minutes later, Hazel was back. "Leo, there are people looking for you. Piper, too."

"I think it's them," Annabeth said. "The people Hera talked about. Bring them in?"

Frank and Nico kicked away their beds. Everyone waited for the visitors.

The first to step in was a man in his late thirties or early forties, wearing a blue long-sleeved collar shirt and white tie. He carried a briefcase with him. The second person was a younger man around Percy's age, freckles splashed across the bridge of his nose and cheeks, long brown hair tied into a neat ponytail. Camouflage jacket. A sword and its scabbard hooked on the side of his belt.

The first one to speak was Will, who glared at the younger man. "You!"

Ponytail snapped around as , he reached for his sword. Everyone reacted at the quick motion, but the older man stopped him before he unsheathed his weapon. "Wait, Alabaster, don't do anything stupid yet. Do you know these people?"

Alabaster nudged his chin towards Will. "I know him, Dr. Claymore," he said with a scowl, then found Annabeth. "And she's a familiar face, but I don't know her name."

"We're here for business. Let's set whatever it is between each other at the back of our minds." Dr. Claymore cleared his throat and forced a smile. "We're looking for a Leo Valdez and a Piper McLean? Are they here in the room?"

Piper tensed. She sensed that something good and bad was going to go down. They both stepped up, the back of their necks sweating. Leo's jaw was stiff.

Alabaster blinked and squinted at the two of them. He seemed to be loss at words for the first few seconds. "Them? But...but it's them, Doctor. They were in my dream. It was their fault that the world is ending in the first place."

Edit 6/6/15: revised due to factual inconsistencies