Chapter 4

If only he'd paid attention in science class.

If only he'd ever been in science class. He'd learned his own things, from books and the occasional google search, but he had a job to do and augur training. No time for school, that's what they told him. Never had he learned about lightning. Why would he want to? When he'd come to camp he'd been afraid of Lightning. Of course, when he came to Camp Jupiter he'd been four, never mind then. As he began to work in a lightning filled temple he had no desire to learn about lightning, he just wanted to escape it. All he learned about lightning is that it came with thunder and thunder gave him a headache. And aspirin worked great for headaches but if you ask Reyna for one before 2 PM she will snap you in half. That's all he knew about lightning storms.

Not how glass reacted to storms. Nothing about that. Now he was back afraid of storms and he hated that. He had so many fears he hadn't conquered that it was unfair to be afraid of storms again. His new form was unkillable but he could still suffer and fear was just a part of that. How, he couldn't help wondering how glass reacted to anything. Was he supposed to act as glass would act, fragile and weak, or was he to break through as Octavian? Was there a difference?

Rain seeped in and out of cracks as he did the only thing he thought to do. He ran. He ran as a blur, not really seeing anything. Only hearing, the sound of walking on broken glass. Every step, over and over and over again. He no longer feared the sound, or hurt with each step. He had gotten used to breaking a little more each second. Besides, he was driven by the fear of the thunder and lightning. It was instinctive.

He should have feared man, always had before. Wasn't paying attention enough now. Wasn't on autopilot, where he assessed each threat and acted accordingly. He just didn't see. People had hurt him before. Had broken him before, but never like this.

Most monsters have to be hit with special weapons to be defeated. All it took for Octavian was the repeated smashing of a baseball bat over every shard of his body. The mist apparently didn't hide glass monstrosities, and even mortals could swing a Louisville slugger bat like they were beating back their own demons. He was dust, returned to sand, and lightning raged across the sky, the godly Zeus mocking his fragile state.


It was instinctive, her fear of lightning, of thunder. Her desire to stay under the covers until the storm passed. That was her plan, until the visions started. She saw the beast crying, could nearly hear him. Her heart went out for him. She hated to see broken things. He cried and screamed and she reached out to him, cutting her hand on broken glass. She pulled back but the line of blood was just an illusion. However the pain she felt was his and it was very real.

"I have to help him..." She muttered. She flinched when the thunder boomed again. But her resolve was strong. She shed her blanket reluctantly and began to search for a umbrella. The visions were clear. She needed to help him somehow.


He rebuilt and replaced. The feeling was misery. He wanted to screamed. Perhaps he screaming, and just couldn't hear it over his anger and the sound of glass sliding into place. The finished mosaic was angry and menacing, and all he wanted to do was put others in such misery. He realized, as a makeshift fist clenched, that lashing out had gotten him to this form in the first place, and that it was always the others who saw him as a freak that broke him down.

Except this time he could do a lot more damage.

And this time the broken pieces came together much faster than ever before.


What's Octavian capable of? Will Rachel find him before anyone else gets hurt? And what do you think? Are other people to blame for the monster he became, or did he have a choice long neglected.