I apologize to those who look forward to this series continuing that I haven't been able to work with the end of school and numerous tests to study for getting in the way. I really do love working with this series and I have so many plans for it and others in the future, but so many words, so little time. (Ah, when summer finally comes…)

First Person: Zytaveon

For a minute, the two of them just stared at each other. The two looked nothing alike, only their eyes matching the same color, but clearly Thalia revealed she did indeed know about a brother based on her face. Then she rushed forward and hugged him.

"My gods! She told me you were dead!" She gripped his face and examined every detail in disbelief. "Thank Artemis. It is you! That little scar on your lip - you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!" Leo laughed.

"Seriously?" Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste.

"Staplers. Excellent source of iron."

"W-Wait," Jason stuttered. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?" One of the white wolves barked.

"We must go, mistress," I translated in my head. I could understand animals too?! Awe-some! Thalia looked back at the wolf and nodded, keeping her hands on Jason's face like he might vanish into thin air at any moment.

"My wolf is telling me I don't have much time, and though she's right, we have to talk. Let's sit." Audrey sat with a sigh, and clearly she hadn't fully recovered her strength from the typhoon she had to create before, considering she wasn't able to rest until recently with Jason deciding it was a good idea to drag us across the country with the venti. The rest of us sat down as well, but there was a good deal of awkward silence, and clearly Thalia intended to have this conversation alone with her brother.

"Piper, Emily, Hedge, Audrey, Veon, Leo, I suggest we leave this to the two siblings," Zy said, sensing the tension as well.

"Perhaps you can get any injuries healed by Phoebe," Thalia suggested. "She's an excellent healer." Emily helped Audrey to her feet and headed to the entrance with Phoebe, while Hedge and Piper went with reluctance (one because they were worried, the other because they didn't wanna go out in the snow and didn't get to bash anyone), while Leo and I followed obediently.

"Actually, man, could you stick around?" Leo turned and after a moment grinned.

"Sure. Sticking around is my specialty."

"Veon, uh, you could stay as well," Zy said. "I need assistance packing these magazine cartridges." Happy that I could be in on the conversation (as I really didn't appreciate being left out), I nodded and joined her. Zy and I stayed in the back, and she actually had me packing some cartridges for her guns, but we were still in on the conversation. It didn't start for a while, but thanks to Leo the conversation, err, kinda began.

"So…the Hunters of Artemis. The whole "not dating" thing? Is that like always or more of a seasonal thing?" Thalia stared at him as if he'd just evolved from pond scum, yet Leo seemed unfazed. I guess we could officially say that Leo's type of girl were all those that hated him and were totally out of his league. Not that I'm one to talk…I thought to myself, glancing at Zy who was busy packing cartridges and putting them in a small bag, but the thing never seemed to get any fuller as she put more and more in. Infinite bags. Noted. Jason kicked Leo's shin.

"Don't mind Leo. He's just trying to break the ice. But, Thalia…what happened to our family? Who told you I was dead?" Thalia tugged at a silver bracelet on her wrist, and I could tell that she must've played with it like I always did my ring.

"Do you remember anything?" She asked, and Jason shook his head.

"No. I woke up three days ago on a bus with Leo and Piper."

"Which wasn't our fault," Leo added quickly. "Hera went and stole his memories."

"Hera?" Thalia asked, tensing. "How do you know that?" They went into detail explaining everything - the prophecy at the camp, Hera getting imprisoned, the giant taking Piper's dad, and the winter solstice deadline. Zyanya explained how we were working to help fulfill the prophecy by protecting Jason, Piper, Leo and the other seven of the prophecy once they appeared, while also working to stop this stirring of dangerous beings. I guess that was as close as I was gonna get for the quest Zy had planned for the four of us. Leo tended to break in, explaining how he fixed the bronze dragon, could throw fireballs and made excellent tacos.

Thalia was a good listener, and nothing really seemed to surprise her, from the monsters to the prophecies and the dead rising. I guess it wasn't really a surprise, as she seems to have been at this a lot longer than the rest of us, and this was probably another day for her in the life of a demigod, not to mention the life of a Hunter of Artemis. When we mentioned King Midas, she said a few strong curse words in Ancient Greek that I was a bit unhappy I translated.

"I knew we should've burned down his mansion," She said. "That man's a menace, but we were so intent on following Lycaon…Well, I'm glad you got away. Thank you for protecting my brother, Zyanya. So Hera's been…what? Hiding you all these years?"

"I don't know," Jason said. He pulled out a photo of her from his pocket. "She left me just enough memory to recognize your face. I think Hera wanted us to meet. When we landed here at this cave…I had a feeling it was important, like I knew you were close by. Does that sound crazy?"

"Nah, we were destined to meet your hot sister," Leo said, and we all ignored him.

"Jason," Thalia said. "When you're dealing with the gods, you have to know that nothing is too crazy. But you can't trust Hera, especially since were children of Zeus. She hates children of Zeus."

"But she said something about Zeus giving her my life as a peace offering. Does that make any sense?" The color drained from Thalia's face.

"Oh gods…Mother wouldn't have…You don't remember - no, of course you wouldn't."

"What?" Her features seemed to grow older as her expression darkened, like her immortality wasn't working too well.

"Jason…I'm not sure how to say this. Our mom wasn't exactly stable. She caught Zeus's eye because she was a television actress, and she was beautiful, but she didn't handle the fame very well. She drank, pulled stupid stunts, was always in the tabloids, and could never get enough attention. Even before you were born, she and I argued all the time. She…she knew Dad was Zeus, and I think that was too much for her to take. It was like the ultimate achievement for her to attract the lord of the sky, and she couldn't accept it when he left. The thing about the gods is…well…they don't stick around."

No, they didn't. Not for any of us. But my dad…well, he had tried to stay for as long as he could. I had never thought the lord of the dead could be so caring and kind compared to the other gods. He wasn't too perky like some, but he also wasn't stuck up as a king of the underworld and such. He could be serious, but as a father-son relationship went, I couldn't have asked for much better. If he had stuck around, or had introduced me to his god life long before he had, maybe things would've been worse than they are now. I began to twist my rings, both mine and my mother's, switching between the two every few seconds to a rhythm. Zyanya was right. If my mother and father had remained with me all my life, I may have ended up having a family who I hated, argued with all the time because I didn't have to worry about losing them or missing them. No matter how tragic, I wouldn't ask for anything to be different in my life.

"I-I-I…L-L-L-O-O-O-V-V-V-E-E-E…Y-Y-Y-O-O-O-U-U-U," Someone said. It sounded like a man on a radio with an extremely bad connection, talking at about two miles per hour. It kinda sounded like it belonged in a horror movie, and I wondered if anyone else could hear it too. But no one else seemed to acknowledge it, and I began to tense inside. Then, I realized it was coming from Leo. He was tapping something on his knee in Morse code, and my brain was straining to translate it. Leo must've had some kind of Morse thing within his family, and was remembering it just like I was remembering mine when Thalia began talking about her messed up past. I guess Leo, Emily, even Audrey and I all had it good when we could think about something in our past, from family and friends to objects and traditions we could cherish.

Just the thought that Zeus could possibly fall in love with a mortal was surprising, but a woman like who Thalia was describing seemed impossible. It blew my mind in a weird way. How could Zeus possibly fall for a mortal who was obsessed with popularity to the point of insanity? I mean, I guess he was Hera's husband, so…nevermind. I hadn't formally met Hera or Zeus, even if I was the son of Hades and had met Poseidon, Hestia, and basically every other god if even for only a short moment at a time. I had seen them, but never talked to them and only had speculation to go off of. Jason didn't have any memories of his family, and apparently he couldn't say anything good about it, not just because his memories were gone, but also because no one had told him many good things to go off of either.

"So…" Jason began, but didn't seem to be able to finish.

"Jason, you have friends," I said. "Leo, Piper, and the rest of us. And now you've got a sister. You're far from alone." Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it.

"When I was about seven, Zeus started visiting Mom again," She explained. "I think he felt bad about wrecking her life, and he seemed…different somehow. A little older and sterner, more fatherly toward me. For a while, Mom improved. She loved having Zeus around, bringing her presents, causing the sky to rumble. She always wanted more attention. That's the year you were born. Mom…well, I never got along with her, but you gave me a reason to hang around. You were so cute. And I didn't trust Mom to look after you on her own.

"Of course, Zeus eventually stopped coming by again. He probably couldn't stand Mom's demands anymore, always pestering him to let her visit Olympus, or to make her immortal or eternally beautiful. When he left for good, Mom got more and more unstable. That was about the time the monsters started attacking me. Mom blamed Hera. She claimed the goddess was coming after you too, that Hera had barely tolerated my birth, but two demigod children from the same family was too big an insult. Mom even said she hadn't wanted to name you Jason, but Zeus insisted, as a way to appease Hera because the goddess liked that name. I didn't know what to believe."

Zeus sure could pick 'em. That woman sounded selfish, obnoxious, and was the girl in the movies that the guy chose to leave for the protagonist. She even sounded worse than Drew. I guess I'll never understand the gods, especially that guy. I felt like an intruder to this private conversation, and as Leo was fiddling with copper wires, I could tell he felt the same.

"How did you guys get separated?" Leo asked. Thalia squeezed her brother's hand.

"If I'd known you were alive…gods, things would've been so different. But when you were two, Mom packed us in the car for a family vacation. We drove up north toward the wine country to this park she wanted to show us. I remember thinking it was strange because Mom never too us anywhere, and she was acting super nervous about something. I was holding your hand, walking you towards this big building in the middle of the park, and…" She took a shaky breath. "…Mom told me to go back to the car and get the picnic basket. I didn't want to leave you alone with her, but it would only be a few minutes. When I came back…Mom was kneeling on the stone steps, hugging herself and crying. She said…she said you were gone, that Hera had claimed you and you were as good as dead. I didn't know what she'd done. I was afraid she'd completely lost her mind. I ran all over the place looking for you, but you'd just vanished. She had to drag me away, kicking and screaming.

"For the next few days, I was hysterical. I don't remember everything, but I called the police on Mom and they questioned her for a long time. Afterward, we'd fought. She told me I'd betrayed her; that I should support her, like she was the only one who mattered. Finally, I couldn't stand it; your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you, not even Annabeth or Luke, my two best friends. It was…just too painful."

"Chiron knew," Jason said, his voice sounding far away. "When I got to camp, he took one look and me and said, "You should be dead."

"That doesn't make sense. I never told him."

"Hey, the important thing is you've got each other now, right?" Leo said. "You two are lucky." Thalia nodded.

"Leo's right. Look at you. You're my age. You've grown up."

"But where have I been?" Jason asked. "How could I be missing all that time? And all the Roman stuff…"

"Roman stuff?"

"He speaks Latin," I said. "Calls the gods by their Roman names, and he's got tattoos." I pointed out the marks on Jason's arm. I explained all the other weird stuff, Boreas turning to Aquilon, Lycaon calling Jason a son of Rome, and the wolves backing off when Jason spoke to them in Latin. Thalia plucked her bow string.

"Latin…Zeus sometimes spoke in Latin, the second time he stayed with Mom. Like I said, he seemed different, more formal."

"That could've been his Roman form," I suggested. "That would be why Jason's considered a child of Jupiter and Rome."

"Possibly. I've never heard of something like this happening, but it might explain why you think in Roman terms, why you can speak Latin rather than Ancient Greek. That would make you unique. Still, it doesn't explain how you've survived without Camp Half-Blood. A child of Zeus, or Jupiter, or whatever you want to call him - you wouldn't been hounded by monsters. If you were on your own, you should've died years ago. I know I wouldn't have been able to survive without friends. You would've needed training, a safe haven-"

"I may not be a son of Zeus, but my friend Audrey and I are still children of the Great Three and we've survived fine on our own, without Camp Half-Blood," I said, getting slightly irritated. "Audrey has had monsters coming after her from age 8 and learned to use a dagger before she even knew there was such thing as Camp Half-Blood. I've had the monsters since 12, but I've handled them fine even when I had to face waves of monsters per day, some disguising themselves, some being undead, fast and agile, capable of flight, transformations, cloning themselves to form armies (don't ask) but the point is, we've handled ourselves. Let me be the first to admit that I basically have one day's worth of experience with a sword and no martial arts training whatsoever, but it's entirely possible that Jason could handle himself, even if you couldn't."

"Did you make it because you had your friends?"

"No, at least not for the beginning of our lives. I didn't even know about Audrey, Em, and least of all Zy until a few days ago, but I do admit that the waves of monsters decreased when we came to high school together, even if we never worked together in fighting them. But for middle school and before we were on our own. Don't even get us started on how hard it was to keep our demigod lives a secret from our families. Let's just say when I when out and met the gods for a field trip with my dad, I was grounded with excuse that I'd snuck out to a party out to a party, even though I loathe parties in reality. The point is, Jason could've been hunted for ages, but all it takes is a little knowledge and you can survive on your own. Even Piper and Leo, who had no idea about all of this demigod stuff, made it on their own, even if it was a bit rough. They may not be children of the big three, but the point still stands." Trying to keep calm and not blow my lid, I tried to come off less harsh and against Thalia's suggestion.

"That being said, I'm not ruling out the fact that he could've found some kind of sanctuary, or at the least had someone knowledgeable about the demigod life assisting him, if even for a short amount of time," I continued. "Audrey had her neighbor, a former demigod, get her started, and I had Hades show me a little about my abilities to get me started. He could've survived on his own, no matter how unlikely it seems, but I've been assessing the situation. Jason has trained skills with a sword, not just improvisation over the years. He's a son of Zeus, or Jupiter, but that doesn't give him the ability to fight so skillfully, like he did back at Midas's place. He mentioned talking about it being Roman as well."

"There were others!" Leo remembered. "Jason may not have been alone, remember?" He explained the slashed-up purple T-shirt at Medea's department store, and the story the Cyclops told about the child of Mercury who spoke Latin. "Isn't there anywhere else for demigods? I mean, besides Camp Half-Blood? Maybe some crazy Latin teacher has been abducting children of the gods or something, making them think like Romans." As crazy as Leo was putting it, he could have some kind of point. Maybe it wasn't some crazy Latin teacher, but there had to be some kind of other camp or sanctuary that trained demigods in the Roman way instead of the Greek. I wasn't exactly considering myself Greek-biased, so it wouldn't really be too much of a surprise to me if that was the case.

"I've been all over the country, but I've never seen evidence of a crazy Latin teacher," Thalia said. "Or demigods in purple shirts for that matter. Still…" Her voice trailed off like she'd just had a troubling thought."

"What?" Jason asked. Thalia shook her head.

"I'll have to talk to the goddess. Maybe Artemis will guide us."

"She's still talking to you? Most of the gods have gone silent."

"They just have to keep quiet enough and they can contact people here and there," I said, referring to Hephaestus and Hades.

"Indeed," Thalia said. "Artemis follows her own rules. She has to be careful not to let Zeus know, but she thinks Zeus is being ridiculous closing Olympus. She's the one who sent us on the trail of Lycaon. She said we'd find a lead to a missing friend of ours."

"Percy Jackson," Leo guessed. The guy Annabeth is looking for." Thalia nodded, a look of concern on her face. "So what would Lycaon have to do with it? And how does it connect to us?"

"We need to find that out soon. If your deadline is tomorrow, we're wasting time. Aeolus could tell you-" The white wolf appeared at the doorway and yipped insistently. "I have to get moving, otherwise I'll lose the other Hunter's trail. First, though, I'll take you to Aeolus's palace."

"If you can't, it's okay," Jason said, though he sounded kind of distressed.

"Oh please. I haven't had a brother in years. I think I can stand a few minutes with you before you get annoying. Now, let's go!"