The Alexander Chronicles
Book I: Greece
Part II: Summer Odyssey
Chapter I: Year of Tartarus
Camp was hell.
I know, you'd think that a camp where you learn to be a hero would be heaven on earth. But for me, Alexander Summers, only living son of Zeus (or as I prefer, Jupiter,) it was hell. Everyone had been staring at me since Father claimed me, obviously expecting me to be exceptional at everything. But when I went from the best duellist in the camp to being simply average, everyone started teasing me. I would often run to my sister, Thalia's tree for some privacy. Things got worse when I tried to start up group training sessions so we could learn to fight as a unit. Even when I and my seven automatons defeated twenty-one children of Mars/Ares, including Clarisse, they still wouldn't listen to me! To make matters worse, they started mocking me, claiming I shouldn't be there. This only enhanced the feeling that I'd had since I arrived, that I didn't belong there, that there was another place for me. My only relief came when Father contacted me and said I could come to Olympus for a while and meet the family. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.
For once, I actually had something to look forward to at camp. With Olympus waiting for me, I worked twice as hard to 'pass' my 'classes.' Unfortunately, that only made me worse at the rock wall; if it weren't for the winged shoes I got from Luke Castellan (that traitorous son of Mercury/Hermes,) I probably would have died at least six times a week. Fortunately, I was quickly regaining my old skill with my gladius. Finally, December 20th came, and we were allowed to leave camp for Olympus (Yes, Dad told me to come with the other campers, he thought it wouldn't draw as much attention as me leaving on my own.) When we arrived, we met many of the Big 14 Olympians, the only ones missing were Aphrodite/Venus and my step-mother, Hera/Juno (definitely not someone that I was looking forward to meeting.) I was quite glad to see my uncle, Hades/Pluto there, and I managed to gain his forgiveness for blasting him with Dad's Master Lightning Bolt (long story.)
The Winter Solstice Council was a very boring meeting, pretty much nothing more than a chance for my father and uncles to officially apologize to each other after the events of the past year. After that, Olympus became very interesting. I got to meet most of my 'divine' relatives, and for the most part they all liked me. I learned that Father had made many of his children give me a gift before he was born, thus the confusion over my heritage last year. From Ares/Mars, I'd had skill and knowledge of weapons (but he took that away after I shot him with the Lightning Bolt, same long story); Athena/Minerva, I got my skill in strategy; from Apollo, a love of and skill with music; from Artemis/Diana, skill with archery; from Dionysus/Bacchus, my satyr-like sense of smell; and from Hermes, mastery of flight. Over the next few weeks, I got to know most of them very well, except for Diana, as she left for her Hunters only a week after the meeting.
After a month on Olympus, I finally worked up the courage to ask Jupiter a question that had been bothering me. "Father, why am I so different from the others in Camp Half-Blood? I mean, I don't have dyslexia, I can't read Greek, yet Latin comes as easy to me as English. I prefer to call you by your Roman names, and everyone refers to me as a son of Jupiter."
Father sighed. "I had hoped this conversation would not happen for a few years yet, but as you have asked, I shall answer. The truth is that while you live with the Greeks, you are not Greek yourself. You are a Roman demigod." My confusion must have shown on my face as he continued his explanation. "Remember how Chiron explained how we move from place to place, wherever the flame of the West is brightest? Well, every time we move, we take on some of the traits of the cultures we live in, though less with each move. Naturally, the first time we moved-from Greece to Rome, we took on the most traits, so much so that we basically became different people."
"So, split personalities?"
"Similar, but not quite. When we moved to Rome, we eventually became the gods of an empire. We became more warlike, more united, had fewer power struggles, and we didn't mix with mortals quite as much. That's why the Romans changed our names, we weren't the same people we were in Greece. Percy and most of the rest at Camp Half-Blood are Greek demigods, born when our Greek personalities rule, but not you, you are truly the son of Jupiter, not Zeus. That is the answer to all your questions. The dyslexia only affects our Greek children, as English uses a modern Latin alphabet."
"If I'm Roman, than there must be others, why am I not with them?"
"You will go to Camp Jupiter when the time is right, my son, but not now. As it is, the Greeks and Romans have a rivalry dating back to the Trojan War, one that became so bad that in the 1860's, we had to weave the Mist to the point that neither camp knew of the other. I assumed that it would be permanent, though Juno and I both dreamed of a day when our children can reunite. Then thirteen years ago I saw a vision of a terrible war, one where both Greeks and Romans would need each other, so I came up with a plan and set it in motion.
"The best way to bring the camps together peaceably would be if they had some common ground and someone to act as a peacemaker, one who had the respect of both camps. I had already sired Thalia, so I returned to her mother and sired a son with her as Jupiter. Then I found your mother and she had you, and I had the Fates tie your string with Percy's for a few years, long enough for you to arrive at Camp Half-Blood and gain their respect. I had planned on you only discovering the truth when you met your brother, however the Fates apparently had other plans, but my plan will still work. You will return to Camp Half-Blood and continue to train and make friends there. And when you meet your brother, you will have ties to him and Camp Jupiter, a perfect balance."
"Thank you, father, for telling me the truth," I told him. "I just hope you have a back-up plan in case Juno has her own ideas." After that I moved to another place, needing a chance to let this plot sink in.
Naturally, I didn't get the chance as two more Olympians visited me. "I knew I sensed one of our children here, but I never expected it to be you."
I turned to look and was surprised by who I saw. "Lady Venus, it is an honour to meet you, though I can't say the same for you, Mars, but I'm not one of your children."
"Ah, but you are," Mars replied. "You might not be born from us, but you have our blood in your veins, son of Rome." I looked at him in shock before remembering that the two of them could rightfully say that Rome was their child. It was a son of Venus, Aeneas that had led the Trojan survivors to Italia, and Mars' twin children Romulus and Remus who had founded Rome. "Yet somehow I sense you are more than just a Roman."
"I agree, I sense our blood in him. Let me take a good look at you, my dear." I turned and looked at Venus straight in the eye, and she gasped in shock. "How could I have missed it? Mars, do you see it?"
"Yes, I see it, but I don't believe it! He's a Julian, or at least he looks like one. But how?"
"I don't know, but I can tell, he is a Julian! I can sense our blood in him, diluted by more than 2000 years, but it is there! More, there is the blood of our most beloved legacy in him!"
"Divius Julius? By Jove, you're right! But how? I thought Caesarion was killed? And how is it that the Julian blood is showing up so strong? Eh, who cares, I need to undo what I did as Ares. You now once again have the battle knowledge suitable for a Roman: skill with the gladius, scutum and pilum. With anything else, Ares' curse remains, for the insult you gave him. Farewell, Alexander of the Julii, we shall see each other again." And with that most strange and brief encounter, I was left alone.
Two months after my two revealing conversations, I realized that I was missing something. One evening, I was sitting at the peak of Olympus, looking down at New York when Father came to me in his 'mortal' form. "Something's troubling you, son. What is it?"
"I almost feel like I'm losing my humanity here, Father. Don't get me wrong, I love it up here. It's just that I feel if I stay up here 'till summer, I won't be able to look at my friends as equals."
"I know it's hard for you, Alex, but I don't know any mortal I'd trust to keep you safe. And I know that you don't want to go back to Camp yet."
"What about another demigod? I know that Doc Egan is a son of Apollo, and he's in Greece right now."
"The archaeologist who specializes in our history? It's dangerous: the lands around Mare Internum are forbidden for a good reason, it's nearly suicide for any demigod to go there, let alone you. The monsters range from something as simple as a few upset nymphs to ones as dangerous as Makhai. Even those you already know are far more dangerous in our ancient lands than those you have already faced."
"But Father, I need to train, and if Saturn is on the rise-"
"Fine, you can go, but please be careful, son."
When we arrived in Greece, Doc welcomed me with open arms, but he was upset when he heard about my mom's death. When I told him I was there to reconnect with my humanity, he told me that was easy enough to do, and he assigned me to one of the digging crews. That night he explained what he was doing there. "You know who Perseus is right? Well, I'm determined to find his grave."
"Why here, in Mycenae? I thought that he was from Argos, and we're a good distance from Argos."
"Yes, he was from Argos, but he was king of Mycenae. Besides, no one's ever found his tomb in Argos. I'm hoping that with the information from history, and what I've gleaned from Chiron, I'll find the bones of Perseus, and prove that he actually existed."
Over the next few weeks (during which the two of us were constantly attacked,) we all worked hard excavating Mycenae, and I learned a lot about archaeology. When work was done, Doc even helped me relearn the sword. And considering the fact that I was a Roman demigod, whenever I could hit the town, I bought everything I could find on Rome: copies or translations of Latin works like Livy's Ab Urbe Condita and my supposed ancestor Caesar's commentaries, HBO's series Rome, Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, anything I could get my hands on. Once I had read First Man in Rome, I quickly decided to overcome my handicap and truly master the Greek language, despite my preference for Latin. And though I had vowed off love, I kept my promise to Nico and started learning how to play Mythomagic by buying a few packs of cards and learning the rules.
On the archaeological front, although we learned a lot about Mycenae, we didn't find so much as one tomb for months. In mid-April we finally found a tomb, but it was not labeled Perseus, instead it was labeled: Αγαμέμνονα βασιλιάς των βασιλέων, κατακτητή της Τροίας, which Doc translated to Agamemnon, King of kings, conqueror of Troy. "Well, that's one mythological king of Mycenae found, just not the one we're looking for, so let's find Perseus!"
A few weeks (and several Makhai attacks) later, we found another tomb, but this one was different. Instead of a name, it was covered with pictographs that seemed to tell the story of Perseus and Heracles. When we sent some of the diggers down there, only one came back, and he was ranting about "snake-women that turned men to stone." Doc didn't believe him, so he grabbed me and we went down to look for ourselves. As we moved inside, we ran across human statues, growing more and more numerous the deeper we went in. Something about this seemed familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it until we entered a large room, and I caught a very familiar scent: sulfur. "Doc, I can smell sulfur down here."
"That's foolish. There's nothing down here that would smell like sulfur."
"What about monsters? I bet Stethno and Eurayle are here, waiting for anyone interested in Perseus, or related to him." He conceded that, and pulled out a bow, while I pulled out Ventus, my celestial steel sword/bow combo. We started walking backwards, using our shields to try and find the Gorgons. We heard them before we saw them, a rattle that sounded more like that of a rattlesnake than something human. When we finally saw their reflections, we understood why: they weren't human. If you've ever seen Clash of the Titans, then picture Medusa and you know what they look like.
Doc tried shooting them, but the arrows couldn't pierce their thick hides. When I thought about when I faced Medusa last year on Percy's quest, I remembered that Annabeth had mentioned that as long as she had been wearing sunglasses, that they were safe, so I decided that I would see if that worked both ways. I put on my sunglasses (they were required equipment at any dig) and activated my javelin. I turned, faced them, and threw the javelin at the Gorgon that was further away. It pierced the heart (naturally) and pinned the Gorgon to the wall. The other one screamed and wailed for "Eurayle," obviously the one I'd pinned. I flew to Eurayle and cut her head off, then turned to Stethno. Unfortunately, she'd caught Doc, and was trying to get him to open his eyes. "HEY, UGLY! Look over here! I killed Eurayle, and I was present at the death of Medusa by Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon!"
That got her attention. She turned to me and shot an arrow through my right shoulder, pinning me to the wall, and then she came to me, obviously intent on taking my sunglasses off and turning me to stone. She never got the chance, as I switched sword hands and took her head, and I decided to see if I could change it into an ordinary object. I focused my thoughts on a medallion with a Gorgon head on it, and voila, it worked! We then finished exploring the tomb, finding two coffins inside, one for Perseus, and the second for my long dead half-brother, Hercules.
When we came out of the tomb, I felt a tug in my stomach, one I immediately recognized from the two times I had felt it before. I rushed back to Corinth and took a taxi to our hotel. When I got there, I ran for the copy of Phoebe's prophecy that I'd brought, and searched through it until I'd found the two lines I was looking for: The third seal broken: The guardian tree poisoned. Just then, I got an Iris-message from Annabeth. "Alex, don't come back to the camp, we've got trouble."
"Yes, I already know. Thalia's tree has been poisoned." I cut the connection and got out a phone and called the airport. "Hello, I need to know the time for the first flight to New York."
