Annabeth peered suspiciously at the figure walking towards them. "Are you sure about this?"

"It's the perfect test," Percy replied.

"Yes, I know, I planned this … but what if he actually gets away?"

"He won't. Not this time. And I trust the H—"

He fell silent as the boy came closer, almost within earshot.

"Hey Alex," Percy called out, trying his best to seem excited. "We need to tell you about initiation."

The blonde had an expression of interest. "Initiation?" He asked, pausing a few feet away from them.

"Yeah, all the newbies go through it. You go out into the world of humans and face an enemy to unlock your godly powers." It took all of Percy's willpower not to sound sarcastic.

Alex's face didn't flicker. "When is this?"

Percy grinned. "Now. Come on, follow us."


Alex was absolutely, incredulously stunned. They were leading him out. Letting him outside of their security, turning their backs to him. Still, he had to admit that it fell into the pattern of the place. For a camp that claimed to hold descendants of the goddess of wisdom, none of their protocol seemed very smart.

They passed through a gate, where two young soldiers stood at attention. Words were exchanged, and they exited the camp, walking along a forested path.

Alex was relatively sure that no one was following. This just seemed too…for a moment he doubted the entire situation, but then he saw the perfect opportunity, the perfect opening, and he just couldn't let it pass.

He lashed out at the dark-haired boy, but the moment before he would have struck Alex was seized by a powerful, stinging spasm that sent him onto his knees, with the all-too-familiar tendrils of darkness creeping in on his vision.


"Well," Annabeth said, looking down at the stunned and unconscious figure lying on the ground. "Now we know two things. Alex is not to be trusted, and the Hephaestus cabin should make more of these defense charges."

"Yeah…" Percy sighed. "I guess we take him back now?"

"Chiron won't be pleased."


Although Alex was by now used to sitting in a cell while people went off and decided his fate, the unusual circumstances made it more wearying this time. He fingered the small linear tattoo on the inside of his upper arm, feeling the unfortunately familiar sensation of the pattern swirling before it vibrated and stopped cycling. Apparently, this wasn't a life-threatening situation.

He closed his eyes and sighed, organizing his thoughts and pieces of known information. Less than a month ago…

He was laughing with Fred Gumms, saying goodbye. Espionage was the last thing on his mind; he had not been contacted by an intelligence agency for the entire year since he had moved to the United States with the Pleasures. The last assassin had come and gone for about the same time. So he was surprised when a gang of tall men appeared out of a back alley, cornering him.

Suddenly, the inside of his upper arm began to tingle. Subconsciously gripping it, his hand came away with a single bronze dart. He had no time to wonder as the men underwent a horrific metamorphosis and fused into a single terrifying creature. Its multiple snakelike heads lunged at Alex, who was completely occupied for a moment with dodging the surreal attacks. The mouths of the creature were lined with gigantic teeth, and no doubt a single bite would kill Alex.

He should have been frozen with fear. Instead, he took it all in stride, adroitly dodging the creature's attacks and looking for openings. Finally he noticed that one of the heads was predominately charged with protecting the creature's core. If he could lure it away…

Alex made his way over to the head, which gazed at him suspiciously.Now or never. Hejumpedupoverthehead,giving it the perfect opportunity to snatch him up. If not, he would land on it. Whether to kill him or protect itself,theheadshouldmoveawayfromitsbody.

His plan went awry when another head came down and caught the collar of his shirt. Alex knew, then, that he was going to die. The head below him reared and laughed.

For a fraction of a second, it left an opening for the approximate location of its heart.

Alex felt the dart leave his hand with a flick of his wrist, flying almost of its own accord as it plunged into the monster's core. At first the heads around him looked amused, and the head that had caught him tossed him up, opening its jaws in anticipation of the falling morsel.

It never got the pleasure. Something must have happened in the dart, probably a released poison. A thick bed of sand cushioned the very confused Alex's fall.

Alex remembered the tingling on his arm. He looked at it. He had always had a faint birthmark on this rather inconspicuous spot, but now it resembled a tattoo, a swirling figure-8 of snakes and chains. It slowed to a stop, and when Alex put his hand on it did not stir.

Oddly enough, he remained composed even as the reality of the situation slammed into him. It was as if the tingling in his arm – which had provided a life-saving piece of equipment – had also released a calming substance that held his natural hysteria at bay and granted him a cool rationality.

Over the next month Alex had many of these encounters – too many. Even when he fought in plain sight of a witness, she or he never reacted beyond what was expected by someone who saw a mugging. Almost every time, the tattoo would swirl and tingle, and Alex would be provided with a weapon of some sort.

He slowly began to see a pattern. All of his attackers were dressed as monsters from Greek mythology. Also, he was forced to defeat some of the weaker ones with nothing from the tattoo. If he could handle something on his own, apparently, the tattoo let him handle it on his own.

Alex began to outfit himself with an assortment of weapons which never left his person.

So when the bird woman – the harpy – flew at him, and he put his hand to his arm expecting help and there was none, he knew there was something else. The monster seemed no weaker, and it could fly, but Alex managed to knock it out and bizarrely enough there was a boy with a dagger in his belt sneaking towards him. Alex' throwing knife did little to the harpy, so he used it instead to pin the boy to the wall and steal his weapon. Surely enough, it was the odd bright bronze that had been characteristic of everything that materialized from the tattoo. He made quick work of the harpy and turned to the boy, knowing that this may be his one chance of getting answers about what the hell was happening. But for some inexplicable reason, the fire hydrant exploded and he crashed against a wall. And here he was now.

Jackson was a "son of Poseidon", apparently. Perhaps he did have a certain degree of hydrokinesis, or carried a gadget that allowed him to attract water. Either way, Alex thought as he rubbed his arm, Jackson had brought Alex here and now there were people offering an explanation for everything.

Still…a demigod? That was too far "out there" even for somewhere who had faced off thugs and maniacs intent on world domination, Alex's death, or both.

How else would you explain the monsters, the tattoo?

Umm…rival cult? Weird gadget I was a tester for that only activated now?

Alex groaned. He was arguing with himself in his head. Sounded like a textbook sign of insanity.

The door above the stairway leading aboveground opened with a creak. Alex was in a dungeon, a far less pleasant one this time. Still, the temperature was fine and the amenities decent, even if the fire-reliant lighting was a bit dim. Alex had been in far, far worse. These people were either soft or were still trying to convert him.

A girl that Alex had not seen before tentatively made her way over to his cell. She carried a tray of food which she slid through a slot into his cell quickly as if she was afraid of being hurt. Alex smiled bitterly at inspiring such fear. "Nectar and ambrosia?" he questioned a bit mockingly.

"What? No. you're not injured anymore. This is bread and roast lamb. And water. The nectar and ambrosia are not given to people in the dungeons. Not while we have such a demand for it in the infirmary." A glint of resentment broke through her timid shell. So even the shy ones hate me. Maybe they'll throw me out voluntarily.

The girl slipped away even more quietly than she had entered, as if making up for her uncharacteristic speech. Alex inspected the food and found the meat to possess a half ounce or so of useable grease. Not bad. He removed the simple lockpick from its almost permanent residence in his hair and oiled the hinges of the cell door. These people didn't seem to have any cameras or sensors, but you never know…


Some things were not spoken of in Olympus.

No, they were not taboo. They were simply…forgotten. Taken for granted.

And thus, no one noticed – or, really, was able to notice — primordial Ananke when she floated down invisible onto the earth sixteen years ago, assessing its males.

The chosen male himself had no idea what he was doing, and with whom. It was all too ethereal for a mortal to accept as anything but a dream. In fact, the married man would feel guilty for such a dream for days afterward.

But it was no dream. Perhaps Ananke had been attracted to him because of the strong divine heritage in his dwelling. A female was there too, and she contributed to the aura.

The male, she sensed, was a son of a son of Hermes and Athena herself. This son of Hermes was descended from a daughter of Zeus by a daughter of a son of Ares. There was a trace of Hades in there somewhere, from long ago.

For the female, hmmm … Aphrodite was one of her distant ancestors, as were Athena and Hermes, but directly she had been conceived of a daughter of Hestia and Apollo.

Both of them had a smattering of various minor gods as well. It would seem that this bloodline was very striking, enough to attract even the attention of a primordial who had not chosen a male in eons.

Ananke enjoyed the male's flavors of inheritance and blessed to female with a special gift. She was not maternal, but Ananke did not want to eliminate the child she had created with such a unique birthright. So the female received the son she had longed for and Ananke floated off again, musing and unnoticed.


"I've finally found the symbol Will noticed on his arm when he was checking him over." Charon announced to the assembled leaders, grim-faced. "Ananke, the mother of the Fates."

There was a stunned silence. The Fates were the oldest powers that existed, weren't they? How could anyone be kin of them? How powerful would he be?

Then one comment that summed up the thoughts of everyone present:

"Well, this explains a lot."


A/N: Again, not too much action, more of an info-chapter. But things get interesting soon ... in like, a couple of chapters or so.

Mara jade chase: Hey, I'm glad you think carefully enough to "nit-pick"! So in original Greek mythology, Hestia, Athena, and Artemis were all virgin goddesses. But Riordan obviously disregarded Athena's maidenhood, and so I did the same with Hestia. After all, she's the goddess of home, which generally includes family ... besides, it's not like there are any virigin gods.