Second part of another double update!

The only reason for these is because my chapters are getting too long. So much info to get through! (Also I have chapters that average 10-20 thousand words in another story and it's hard to shorten down). Oh how far we've come from the first story in this whole debacle with a measly 150,000 words, eh? We passed that milestone already in this story…

First Person: Kaze

I felt Azrael's presence depart suddenly. He hadn't even given a word or a tingle of emotion before he left.

Azrael had the ability to push feelings and emotions through me, and sometimes it was just the calming, forgetful aura that I liked. It was that feeling that he got when he let the world pass by, not worrying about what was happening or what events were passing. I had never experienced that before - I always needed to know everything that was happening at any given moment and feared when events passed by without my knowledge, but Azrael always managed to push that peacefulness through me as a comforting presence.

He probably didn't realize how much I valued even the unconscious feelings that he pushed through me, how he made my soul return and stabilize and remind me that I was still human somewhere within this artificial body.

But before me, I had to stay focused. Jason was on the verge of getting Kym on our side - and with her help, we could deal with Polybotes. But we couldn't let the giant get any final hits on us in retaliation while we sealed the deal.

"Help us," Jason urged the sea goddess. "Together, a goddess and a demigod can kill a giant."

"No!" Polybotes suddenly looked very nervous. "No, that's a terrible idea. Gaea will be most displeased!"

"If Gaea wakes," I pointed out. "The mighty Kymopoleia can help us make sure that never happens. Then all demigods will no doubt honor you big-time."

"Will they cower?" Kym asked.

"Tons of cowering!" Jason promised. "Plus your name in the summer program. A custom-designed banner. A cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Two shrines. I'll even throw in a Kymopoleia action figure."

"No!" Polybotes wailed. "Not merchandising rights!"

Kymopoleia turned on the giant. "I'm afraid that deal beats what Gaea offered."

"Unacceptable!" the giant bellowed. "You cannot trust this vile Roman!"

"If I don't honor the bargain," Jason pointed out, "Kym can always kill me. With Gaea, she has no guarantee at all."

"That," Kym said, "is difficult to argue with."

As Polybotes struggled to answer, Jason charged forward and stabbed his javelin in the giant's gut. I sent a wind blade to slice the giant's leg, keeping him off balance so that he couldn't retaliate or make any final moves to hurt Percy or Audrey.

Kym lifted her bronze disk from its pedestal. "Say goodbye, Polybotes."

She spun the disk at the giant's neck. Turned out, the rim was sharp.

Polybotes found it difficult to say goodbye, since he no longer had a head.

First Person: Der Meister von Allem

Following Tsuchi wasn't really a challenge, but she was seriously booking it.

Hunting down and finding our charges was never the issue - it was always overpowering their determination and will to stay in this world and dragging them to the Underworld by force that was the hard part. But, I mean, that was our job.

I was happy to have at least been with Azrael for a few more minutes. Every little interaction with him was risky while he was still alive, but it was still comforting to know that my son was doing okay.

I had been tearing myself to pieces when I learned he'd been taken into the Ward system and was so alone. He unconsciously sometimes slipped into the Veil, but nothing ever came of it, and he could never hear or see me or Ithuriel when we tried to visit him. We'd tried dropping him off in a safe location, back home with my old circus crew in Germany. Ithuriel hadn't trusted it, but he didn't exactly have a family or friends that he trusted Azrael with.

His only friend had been Kandai, and Kandai had befriended me before introducing us. We'd been a trio, and yes, we had nice people we knew, but it wasn't easy to make friends when you were a demigod - especially back in the day.

My circus crew had been made up of demigods, constantly on the move but with main branches in the cities to always have a place to go. We'd left Azrael with them, and for a short while, it was safe. Then, their group had been raided by the Wards and most of them were taken prisoner - including Azrael.

But now wasn't the time to think about that. Azrael had started getting a handle on his powers, and one day he had finally gained the courage to escape. He'd run for a long time, and he'd been picked up by some good friends that would look after him.

I dropped into the ruins where Tsuchi and Kandai were stationed as a base. Athens. Where the forces of Gaea had their little base - the giants, a great deal of monsters like Earthborn who were waiting for the chance to start the war once Gaea woke, and of course the Reanimations.

"Who goes there?!"

I jumped and then sighed. A figure wrapped in a large black robe with the hood pulled up to cloak their face in shadow was standing beside me in the Veil. He was carrying an overly cheesy scythe.

"Urie, what's with the stupid get up?"

My husband shed the robe with a shrug, the fabric disappearing into the Veil's energies. His scythe transformed back into his normal lance. "Ugh, you can never let me have my fun. We're Grim Reapers. We should at least look the part to scare people."

"Working all the extra jobs as psychopomps with most of the gods out of commission isn't an excuse to scare the dickens out of people. We're normally on special cases, but with regular people who die and need to be escorted to the Underworld, you can't just pretend that you're Death and continue to circulate those ridiculous stereotypes about us."

"You're no fun, Han. It's not like it's doing any real harm. I don't scare them. I just look the part for their convenience. Some of them don't believe me when I say I'm here to take them to the Underworld. People are so skeptical these days - even demigods!"

I sighed. "Where's Kandai?"

"Still here, waiting for something. Not sure what, though. He's been fluctuating recently, so I've just been observing. Where'd Tsuchi go?"

"To try and capture or kill Kaze, as far as I'm aware, but she got interrupted. She had a confrontation with…I think a Primordial. He did something to her…" I explained the whole encounter.

Ithuriel summoned a couch to plop down onto with his lance. I swear, he loved that thing more than me - and I'm the one who made it for him! "So…what? Did he try to purify her? You sense something wrong with her soul?"

"She's definitely been disturbed somehow. I can't say if it's better or worse. I'm worried that he tried to either destroy her soul or consume it."

"If her soul's impossible or difficult to retrieve, that's something to report into the boss."

"Only time will tell. Than is so busy right now that I don't wanna bother him. He's taking over most of Hades' duties as well while the god is incapacitated."

"Thanatos put the capture of Tsuchi and Kandai as a high priority; Tsuchi coming into contact with a Primordial - with Tartarus? That definitely sounds like something to report."

"Well, can we at least figure out what he did to her before we bother Than? I don't want to have to give him multiple reports and bother him over and over."

Ithuriel shrugged. "Well, while we're waiting, I guess we would get to work with more collecting. We can set the Veil to warn us when they've moved again. No point wasting time until they're on the move again."

I sighed. "There must be some way to get past Gaea's protection on them when they're here."

"We can only wait for those guys to defeat Gaea or at least for her presence to leave the area."

"Well then, back to work."

I glanced down at Tsuchi, who was on her hands and knees with Kandai looking her over for damage. There wasn't anything on the surface, but I could tell her life force and soul were in turmoil after whatever that Primordial did.

I pursed my lips and turned to go help Ithuriel collect more souls. Hopefully we'd know what happened to Tsuchi soon enough.

First Person: Kaze

"Poison is a nasty habit." Kymopoleia waved her hand and the murky clouds dissipated. "Secondhand poison can kill a person, you know."

Jason wasn't too fond of firsthand poison either, but he decided not to mention that.

We grabbed Percy and Audrey, moving to prop them up against the temple wall, enveloping them in the airy shell of our venti. The oxygen was getting thin for Jason and the air itself was thin for my ventus after the fighting, but hopefully the air might help expel the poison from their lungs.

It seemed to work. Percy doubled over and began to retch, while Audrey hacked and sucked in gasping, ragged breaths.

"Ugh. Thanks," Percy muttered.

Jason exhaled with relief. "You had me worried there, bro."

"What happened…?" Audrey muttered. "I feel…blech."

Percy blinked, cross-eyed. "I'm still a little fuzzy. But did you…promise Kym an action figure?"

The goddess loomed over us. "Indeed he did. And I expect him to deliver."

I looked up at her, hand on my chin. "Hm…I can see it. We can design one or more depending on how you wish it to look. A pose, perhaps using your disk…"

"We'll definitely deliver," Jason said. "When we win this war, I'm going to make sure all the gods get recognized." He put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Our friend here started that process last summer. He made the Olympians promise to pay you guys more attention."

Kym sniffed. "We know what an Olympian promise is worth."

"Which is why I'm going to finish the job." Jason didn't know where these words were coming from, but the idea felt absolutely right. "I'll make sure none of the gods are forgotten at either camp. Maybe they'll get temples, or cabins, or at least shrines-"

"Or collectible trading cards," Kym suggested.

"Ooo, that's good!" Audrey exclaimed. "Mythomagic is already a game with mythology. We could look into new cards, design the specific stats and special abilities…"

Jason smiled. "I'll go back and forth between the camps until the job is done."

Percy whistled. "You're talking about dozens of gods."

"Hundreds," Kym corrected.

"Well then," Jason said, "it might take a while. But you'll be first on the list, Kymopoleia…the storm goddess who beheaded a giant and saved our quest."

Kym stroked her jellyfish hair. "That will do nicely." She regarded Percy. "Though I am still sorry I won't see you die."

"I get that comment a lot," Percy said. "Now about our ship-?"

"Still in one piece," said the goddess. "Not in very good shape, but you should be able to make it to Delos."

"Thank you," I said, bowing my head.

"We appreciate that," Jason nodded.

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "And, really, your husband Briares is a good dude. You should give him a chance."

The goddess picked up her bronze disk. "Don't push your luck, brother. Briares has fifty faces; all of them are ugly. He's got a hundred hands, and he's still all thumbs around the house."

"Okay," Percy relented. "Not pushing my luck."

Kym turned over the disk, revealing straps on the bottom side like a shield. She slipped it over her shoulders, Captain America style. "I will be watching your progress. Polybotes was not boasting when he warned that your blood would awaken the Earth Mother. The giants are very confident of this."

"My blood, personally?"

Kym's smile was even creepier than usual. "I am not an Oracle. But I heard what the seer Phineas told you in the city of Portland. You will face a sacrifice that you may not be able to mke, and it will cost you the world. You have yet to face your fatal flaw, my brother. Look around. All works of the gods and men eventually turn to ruins. Would it not be easier to flee into the depths with that girlfriend of yours?"

Percy put a hand on Jason's shoulder and struggled to his feet. I helped Audrey rise as well, her muscles weak and trembling. "Juno offered me a choice like that, back when I found Camp Jupiter. I'll give you the same answer. I don't run when my friends need me."

Kym turned up her palms. "And there is your flaw, being unable to step away. I will retreat to the depths and watch this battle unfold. You should know that the forces of the ocean are also at war. Your friend Hazel Levesque made quite an impression on the merpeople, and on their mentors, Aphros and Bythos."

"The fish pony dudes," Percy muttered. "They didn't want to meet me."

"The Ichthyocentaurs were nice," Audrey recalled. "The mermaids were so nice to sing with."

"Even now they are waging war for your sake," Kym said, "trying to keep Gaea's allies away from Long Island. Whether or not they will survive…that remains to be seen. As for you, Jason Grace, your path will be no easier than your friend's. You will be tricked. You will face unbearable sorrow."

Jason tried to keep from sparking. He wasn't sure Percy or Audrey's hearts could take the shock.

"Kaze Grigora, I know of what Gaea has done to you, your mother, and that other man. Your fate will be tragic no matter how you choose to face it, and one day Death will lay claim to your soul; all you can hope for is a fulfilling end to your life. And for you, dear sister, I thought I recognized Father's handiwork on that jacket of yours." Audrey looked down at her jacket, laced with the power of Poseidon. "For him to have given you that, even in his current state…he must be very afraid. You are wise and resourceful, Audrey Mavepo, but what happened to you back there…your fate, I believe, is set in stone. Whether or not you are a force for good or evil, that may be beyond your control. I admit, you still demonstrated a mild amount of awareness today - that's more than I expected; though it was your first lapse into that state, so it may only get worse."

Audrey frowned. "You know what happened today?"

"I may not be well known - yet - but I am an old goddess, and I heard stories from Polybotes and Gaea's forces when I agreed to work with them. The web of fate they believe in and that the Fates are weaving is tangled beyond recognition, but there are consistencies that even I can make out. I can see much death in both your past and your future."

"Kym, you said you're not an Oracle?" Jason repeated. "They should give you the job. You're definitely depressing enough."

The goddess let loose her dolphin laugh. "You amuse me, son of Jupiter. I hope you live to defeat Gaea."

"Thanks. Any pointers on defeating a goddess who can't be defeated?"

Kymopoleia tilted her head. "Oh, but you know the answer. You are a child of the sky, with storms in your blood. A primordial god has been defeated once before. You know of whom I speak."

"Ouranos," Audrey recalled, "the first god of the sky. But that means-"

"Yes." Kym's alien features took on an expression that almost resembled sympathy. "Let us hope it does not come to that. If Gaea does wake…well, your task will not be easy. But if you win, remember your promise, Pontifex."

Jason took a moment to process her words. "I'm not a priest."

"No?" Kym's white eyes gleamed. "By the way, your venti servants say they wished to be freed. Since they have helped you, they hope you will let them go when you reach the surface. Yours, Jason Grace, promises he will not bother you a third time."

"A third time?" Jason repeated.

Kym paused, as if listening. "He says he joined the storm above to take revenge on you, but had he known how strong you've become since the Grand Canyon, he never would've approached your ship."

"The Grand Canyon…" Jason recalled the day on the Skywalk, when he'd first woken without his memories but before he'd come to Camp Half-Blood, when one of his jerk classmates turned out to be a wind spirit. "Dylan? Are you kidding me? I'm breathing Dylan?"

"Okay, I'm just gonna go back to breathing water now," Audrey announced, stepping back out of the wind bubbles and into the ocean.

"Yes," Kym said. "That seems to be his name."

Jason shuddered. "I'll let him go as soon as I reach the surface. No worries."

"Farewell, then," said the goddess. "And may the Fates smile upon you…assuming the Fates survive."

We headed out of the ruins. Though we needed to get back to the ship - Jason was running out of air (Dylan air - gross) and everyone on the Argo II would be worried about us - Percy and Audrey were still woozy and weak. The water would be the fastest way for them to recover, so we sat on the edge of the ruined golden dome for a few minutes to let the siblings catch their breath…or catch their water, whatever children of Poseidon catch when they're at the bottom of the ocean.

"Thanks, Jason," Percy said. "You definitely saved our lives."

"Hey, that's what we do for our friends."

"Right up there with giving Birthday gifts and friendship bracelets," Audrey mused. "But really. Even with whatever happened to me, I conked out before I could beat Polybotes. I'm not sure I would've survived holding onto that power for much longer." She rubbed her wrists. "And if Kaze hadn't managed to hold off Tsuchi, we all might've been taken down by those restraints of hers."

"Whatever power you possessed, you clearly did not have full control," I agreed. "There were multiple personalities."

"Kym said that you had more control than she had expected," Jason remembered. "Whoever and whatever possessed you, maybe you can learn to get a handle on it - no matter what grim stuff Kym foreshadowed."

She pursed her lips. "Maybe. I'll ask Rei and Veon; maybe their Primordial-ness gives them experience with this sort of possession."

"Anyway, the Jupiter guy saving the Poseidon kids at the bottom of the ocean…maybe we can keep the details to ourselves?" Percy suggested. "Otherwise, I know I'll certainly never hear the end of it."

Audrey smiled playfully. "Agreed. Let's definitely not tell our parents, all right? Zeus has a big enough head as it is."

Jason grinned. "You got it. How you two feeling?"

"Better. Really hungry and exhausted after whatever possessed me sucked up my energies, but I'll live."

"Better," Percy agreed. "I…I have to admit, when I was choking on that poison, I kept thinking about Akhlys, the misery goddess in Tartarus. I almost destroyed her with poison." He shivered. "It felt good, but in a bad way. If Annabeth hadn't stopped me-"

"But she did," Jason said. "That's another thing friends have to do for each other."

"Yeah… Thing is, as I was choking just now, I kept thinking: this is payback for Akhlys. The Fates are letting me die the same way I tried to kill that goddess. And…honestly, a part of me felt I deserved it. That's why I didn't try to control the giant's poison like Audrey did and try to move it away from me. That probably sounds crazy."

"Hey, if poison reminds you of Akhlys, then it's totally valid for you to have not wanted to control it again," Audrey insisted. "You went through hell, Percy. It's okay to…not be okay with some things that happened down there."

Jason thought back to Ithaca, when he was despairing over the visit from his mom's spirit. "I think I get it, Percy. Don't beat yourself up over it. We made it out, that's what matters."

Percy studied Jason's face. When Jason didn't say anymore, he changed the subject. "What did Kym mean about defeating Gaea? Audrey, you mentioned Ouranos…"

Jason stared at the silt swirling between the columns of the old palace. "The sky god…the Titans defeated him by calling him down to the earth. They got him away from his home territory, ambushed him, held him down, and cut him up."

"Bob and his brothers," Audrey said gently. "Koios, Krios, Hyperion, and Iapetus - north, south, east, and west."

Jason frowned. "I remember Krios, yeah."

"And I fought Hyperion," Percy nodded. "Good times," he said weakly.

He looked like his nausea was coming back. The mention of Bob was clearly a sore point, but Audrey didn't look regretful for bringing it up. Mourning Bob wouldn't help him - remembering who he was, who Bob had chosen to be despite his past, could help make sure he could regenerate one day. Not as Iapetus, the Titan Lord of the West, but as Bob, hero and friend of the demigods, the best of the Titans.

"But how are we supposed to do what they did to Ouranos to Gaea?"

I recalled a line from the prophecy: 'To storm or fire the world must fall.' Now we had an idea what that meant, but if we were right, Percy wouldn't be able to help. In fact, he might unintentionally make things harder.

'I don't run when my friends need me,' Percy had said.

'And there is your flaw,' Kym had warned, 'being unable to step away.'

Today was July 27. In five days, we'd know if our theories were right.

"Let's get to Delos first," Jason said. "Apollo and Artemis might have some advice."

Percy nodded, though he didn't seem satisfied with that answer. "Why did Kymopoleia call you a Pontiac?"

Jason's laugh literally cleared the air. "Pontifex. It means priest."

"Oh." Percy frowned. "Still sounds like a kind of car. 'The new Pontifex XLS.' Will you have to wear a collar and bless people?"

"You're thinking of a Christian priest," Audrey guessed. "Back in Rome, they used to have a pontifex maximus, who oversaw all the proper sacrifices and whatnot, to make sure none of the gods got mad."

"Which I offered to do…" Jason mused. "I guess it does sound like a pontifex's job."

"So you meant it?" Percy asked. "You're really going to try building shrines for all the minor gods?"

"Yeah. I never really thought about it before, but I like the idea of going back and forth between the two camps - assuming, you know, we make it through next week and the two camps still exist. What you did last year on Olympus, turning down immortality and asking the gods to play nice instead - that was noble, man."

Percy grunted. "Believe me, some days I regret the choice. 'Oh, you wanna turn down our offer? Okay, fine! ZAP! Lose your memory! Go to Tartarus!'"

"You did what a hero should do. I admire you for that. The least I can do, if we survive, is continue that work - make sure all the gods get some recognition. Who knows? If the gods get along better, maybe we can stop more of these wars from breaking out."

"That would most definitely be good," Audrey agreed. "You know, you look different…better different. Does your wound still hurt?"

"My wound…" Jason had been so busy with the giant and the goddess, he'd forgotten about the sword wound in his gut, even though he'd been dying from it in sickbay only an hour ago.

He lifted his shirt and pulled away the bandages. No smoke. No bleeding. No scar. No pain.

"It's…gone," he said, stunned. "I feel completely normal. What the heck?"

"You beat it, man!" Percy laughed. "You found your own cure."

Jason paused to consider that. "I guess so." Maybe putting aside his pain to help his friends had done the trick.

"Jason you've been torn between Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood, haven't you?" Audrey pointed out. "You were born a Roman and became a Praetor of New Rome. But during your time at Camp Half-Blood, you were having such a good time."

Jason nodded. "I…honestly, I wasn't sure where I would go if we made it out of this war. I kept putting off thinking about where I'd return to. I already gave my Praetor position to Frank, but I am a Roman. I was thinking about staying at Camp Half-Blood if we managed to make peace, but maybe I can still go to Camp Jupiter - back and forth between both."

"So what everyone kept saying about the wound affecting your soul," Audrey reasoned, "it probably related to the fact that you were torn on who you wanted to be - Roman or Greek, Camp Jupiter or Camp Half-Blood. And now that you've decided that you don't have to choose - that you can be both - you cured the wound on your soul and your body by extension."

He smiled. "Yeah."

Roman or Greek…the difference didn't matter. Like he'd told the ghosts at Ithaca, his family had just gotten bigger. Now he saw his place in it. He would keep his promise to the storm goddess. And because of that, Michael Varus's sword meant nothing.

'Die a Roman.'

No. If he had to die, he would die a son of Jupiter, a child of the gods - the blood of Olympus. But he wasn't about to let himself get sacrificed - at least not without a fight.

"Come on." Jason clapped his friends on the back. "Let's go check on our ship."

Third Person: Ane

Given a choice between death and the Buford Zippy Mart, Nico would've had a tough time deciding. At least he knew his way around the Land of the Dead. Plus the food was fresher.

"I still don't get it," Coach Hedge muttered as they roamed the center aisle. "They named a whole town after Leo's table?"

"I think the town was here first, Coach," Nico said.

"Do," the stuffed poodle on his shoulder agreed. Oodles, Ane's poodle familiar, was attached to Nico now that Ane wasn't around, and Nico didn't protest. Despite the stuffed animal's childish look, it could still kill you with a single touch, so he resonated with its dark Underworld energies.

"Huh." The coach picked up a box of powdered donuts. "Maybe you're right. These look at least a hundred years old. I miss those Portuguese farturas."

Nico couldn't think about Portugal without his arms hurting. Across his biceps, the werewolf claw marks were still swollen and red. The store clerk had asked Nico if he'd picked a fight with a bobcat.

They bought a first-aid kit, a pad of paper (so Coach Hedge could write more paper airplane messages to his wife), some junk food and soda (since the banquet table in Reyna's new magic tent only provided healthy food and fresh water), and some miscellaneous camping supplies for Coach Hedge's useless but impressively complicated monster traps. Ane's familiar jumped down and dashed away, hiding in the aisles and grabbing things for Ane. She was gravitating towards some things in the toy aisle.

Nico had been hoping to find some fresh clothes. Two days since they'd fled San Juan, he was tired of walking around in his tropical 'ISLA DEL ENCANTORICO' shirt, especially since Coach Hedge had a matching one. Unfortunately, the Zippy Mart only carried T-shirts with Confederate flags and corny sayings like 'KEEP CALM AND FOLLOW THE REDNECK.' Nico decided he'd stick with parrots and palm trees.

They walked back to the campsite down a two-lane road under the blazing sun. This part of South Carolina seemed to consist mostly of overgrown fields, punctuated by telephone poles and trees covered in kudzu vines. The town of Buford itself was a collection of portable metal sheds - six or seven, which was probably also the town's population.

Nico wasn't exactly a sunshine person, but for once he welcomed the warmth. It made him feel more substantial - anchored to the mortal world. With every shadow-jump, coming back got harder and harder. Even in broad daylight his hand passed through solid objects; his belt and sword kept falling around his ankles for no apparent reason; once, when he wasn't looking where he was going, he walked straight through a tree.

Ane kept feeding him energy to solidify him whenever she noticed him slipping, and while she did manage to do so, he also felt colder and even more disconnected from reality than he had before. A part of him feared that he was becoming a ghost. Nico's skin was solid but cold as though his heart wasn't beating; Nico sometimes had mini panic attacks thinking that he wasn't breathing anymore. Whenever he saw Ane working with one of her Remnants, Nico got phantom pains when he saw their wounds and their overall dead states.

Nico remembered something Jason Grace had told him in the palace of Notus: 'Maybe it's time you come out of the shadows.'

'If only I could,' Nico thought. For the first time in his life, he had begun to fear the dark, because he might melt into it permanently.

Nico and Hedge had no trouble finding their way back to camp. The Athena Parthenos was the tallest landmark for miles around. In its new camouflage netting, it glittered silver like an extremely flashy forty-foot-tall ghost.

Apparently, the Athena Parthenos had wanted them to visit a place with educational value, because she'd landed right next to a historical marker that read 'MASSACRE OF BUFORD' on a gravel turnout at the intersection of Nowhere and Nothing.

Reyna's tent sat in a grove of trees about thirty yards back from the road. Nearby lay a rectangular cairn - hundreds of stones piled in the shape of an oversized grave with a granite obelisk for a headstone. Scattered around it were faded wreaths and crushed bouquets of plastic flowers, which made the place seem even sadder.

Aurum and Argentum were playing keep-away in the woods with one of the coach's handballs. Ane threw the ball as far as she could (which was surprisingly far for her small size) and the metal hounds went sprinting after it. Ever since getting repaired by the Amazons, the metal dogs had been frisky and full of energy - unlike their owner.

Reyna sat crossed-legged at the entrance of the tent, staring at the memorial obelisk. She hadn't said much since they fled San Juan two days ago. They'd also encountered no monsters, which made Nico uneasy. They'd had no further word from the Hunters or the Amazons. They didn't know what happened to Hylla, or Thalia, or the giant Orion.

Nico didn't like the Hunters of Artemis. Tragedy followed them as surely as their gods and birds of prey. His sister Bianca had died after joining the Hunters. Then Thalia Grace had become their leader and started recruiting even more young women to their cause, which grated on Nico - as if Bianca's death could be forgotten. As if she could be replaced. When Nico woke up at Barrachina and found Ane's familiar with the Hunters' note about kidnapping Reyna, he'd torn apart the courtyard in rage. He didn't want the Hunters stealing another important person from him.

Fortunately, he'd gotten Reyna back, but he didn't like how brooding she had become. Every time he tried to ask her about the incident on the Calle San Jose - those ghosts on the balcony, all staring at her, whispering accusations - Reyna shut him down.

"They were familiar with her," Ane said. "Unfortunately, I don't know much more than that. We didn't exactly have time to interview them."

Nico had frowned. "She won't tell you anything either?"

Ane shrugged. "You know how ghosts are, Nico. It's not that easy. Hylla seemed intent on reclaiming her past, but Reyna did not seem so eager."

Yes, Nico knew something about ghosts. Letting them get inside your head was dangerous. He wanted to help Reyna, but since his own strategy was to deal with his problems alone, spurning anyone who tried to get close, he couldn't exactly criticize Reyna for doing the same thing.

She glanced up as they approached. "I figured it out."

"What historical site this is?" Hedge asked. "Good, 'cause it's been driving me crazy."

"The Battle of Waxhaws."

"Ah, right…" Hedge nodded sagely. "That was a vicious little smackdown."

Ane glanced around, trying to sense any restless spirits in the area, but she felt nothing. Unusual for a battleground. She glanced at Nico, and he had a similarly unnerved look.

"Are you sure?" Nico asked.

"In 1780," Reyna explained. "The American Revolution. Most of the Colonial leaders were Greek demigods. The British generals were Roman demigods."

"Because England was like Rome back then," Ane guessed. "A rising empire."

Reyna picked up a crushed bouquet. "I think I know why we landed here. It's my fault."

"Ah, come on," Hedge scoffed. "The Buford Zippy Mark isn't anybody's fault. Those things just happen."

Reyna picked at the faded plastic flowers. "During the Revolution, four hundred Americans got overtaken here by British cavalry. The Colonial troops tried to surrender, but the British were out for blood. They massacred the Americans even after they threw down their weapons. Only a few survived."

Nico supposed he should have been shocked. But after traveling through the Underworld, hearing so many stories of evil and death, a wartime massacre hardly seemed newsworthy.

Ane had been down in Tartarus, and more than that she had been killed many times thanks to the Wards, so she hardly batted an eye at the sound of the cruelty of humans. "Reyna, how is that your fault?"

"The British commander was Banastre Tarleton."

Hedge snorted. "I've heard of him. Crazy dude. They called him Benny the Butcher."

"Yes…" Reyna took a shaky breath. "He was a son of Bellona."

"Oh." Nico stared at the oversized grave.

It still bothered both Nico and Ane that they couldn't sense any spirits. Hundreds of soldiers massacred at this spot…that should've sent out some kind of death vibe. Not only that, they were killed unjustly - they had surrendered. There would be angry spirits, those who wanted revenge on Reyna at least for being a daughter of Bellona.

Nico sat next to Reyna, and decided to take a risk. "So you think we were drawn here because you have some sort of connection to the ghosts. Like what happened in San Juan?"

For a ten count she said nothing, turning the plastic bouquet in her hand. "I don't want to talk about San Juan."

"You should." Nico felt like a stranger in his own body. Why was he encouraging Reyna to share? It wasn't his style or his business. Nevertheless, he kept talking. "The main thing about ghosts - most of them have lost their voices. In Asphodel, millions of them wander around aimlessly, trying to remember who they were. You know why they end up like that? Because in life they never took a stand one way or another. They never spoke out, so they were never heard. Your voice is your identity. If you don't use it," he said with a shrug, "you're halfway to Asphodel already."

Reyna scowled. "Is that your idea of a pep talk?"

"Well if there's one thing I've learned from my existence, it's that I have little time to be myself," Ane said. "I am a monster, Reyna. I will one day be killed and returned to Tartarus - spending years in agony as I am reformed, molecule by molecule, and then traversing the dank Pit for millennia on end with no company other than monsters who want to kill me or who cower from me. This is my first time in the Overworld for some 200 years, and believe me, I'm not wasting a moment of it. This trip with you, while dangerous and trying, has been wonderful compared to the fate I am facing." She reached down and grabbed one of the faded wreaths. "One day, might I become a mindless monster, my humanity fading away during the long years in a pit of insanity and madness? I will not hold my tongue when I know I might one day lose myself, lose my reason to ever use it again."

Coach Hedge cleared his throat. "This is getting too psychological for me. I'm going to write some letters."

He took his notepad and headed into the woods. The last day or so, he'd been writing a lot - apparently not just to Mellie. The coach wouldn't share details, but he hinted that he was calling in some favors to help with the quest. For all they knew, he was writing to Jackie Chan.

Nico opened his shopping bag. He pulled out a box of Little Debbie Oatmeal creme pies and offered one to Reyna.

She wrinkled her nose. "Those look like they went stale in dinosaur times."

"Maybe. But I've got a big appetite these days. Any kind of food tastes good…except maybe pomegranate seeds. I'm done with those."

Ane's familiar dug into the bag and dragged out a bag of Swedish Fish, struggling to get the slick plastic bag in its fingerless grip before heading over to Ane. The small girl sat down and took the bag from her familiar, ripping it open and finding stale but otherwise delicious red fish gummies. "Any food in the Overworld is precious to me," she explained. I always loved sweets as a child, but I had so little of them in Tartarus."

Reyna picked out a creme pie and took a bite. "Those ghosts in San Juan…they were my ancestors."

Nico and Ane waited. The breeze ruffled the camouflage netting over the Athena Parthenos.

"The Ramírez-Arellano family goes back a long way," Reyna continued. "I don't know the whole story. My ancestors lived in Spain when it was a Roman province. My great-great-something-grandfather was a conquistador. He came over to Puerto Rico with Ponce de León."

"One of the ghosts on the balcony was wearing conquistador armor," Nico recalled.

"That's him."

"So…is your whole family descended from Bellona? I thought you and Hylla were her daughters, not legacies."

Too late, Nico realized he shouldn't have brought up Hylla. A look of despair passed over Reyna's face, though she managed to hide it quickly.

"We are her daughters," Reyna said. "We're the first actual children of Bellona in the Ramírez-Arellano family. And Bellona has always favored our clan. Millennia ago, she decreed that we would play pivotal roles in many battles."

"Like you're doing now," Ane pointed out.

Reyna brushed crumbs from her chin. "Perhaps. Some of my ancestors have been heroes. Some have been villains. You saw the ghost with the gunshot wounds in the chest?"

Nico nodded. "A pirate?"

"The most famous in Puerto Rican history. He was known as the Pirate Cofresí, but his family name was Ramírez de Arellano. Our house, the family villa, was built with money from treasure that he buried."

"Roberto Cofresí y Ramírez de Arellano," Ane muttered.

For a moment, Nico felt like a little kid again. He was tempted to blurt out: 'That's so cool!' Even before he got into Mythomagic, he'd been obsessed with pirates. Probably that was one reason he'd been so smitten with Percy, a son of the sea god.

"And the other ghosts?" Ane asked.

Reyna took another bite of creme pie. "The guy in the U.S. Navy uniform…he's my great-great-uncle from World War II, the first Latino submarine commander. You get the idea. A lot of warriors. Bellona was our patron goddess for generations."

"But she never had demigod children in your family - until you."

"The goddess…she fell in love with my father, Julian. He was a soldier in Iraq. He was-" Reyna's voice broke. She tossed aside the plastic bouquet of flowers. "I can't do this. I can't talk about him."

A cloud passed overhead, blanketing the woods in shadows.

Nico and Ane didn't want to push Reyna. What right did they really have?

Nico set down his oatmeal creme pie…and noticed that his fingers were turning to smoke. The sunlight returned. Ane reached over and grabbed his wrist. His hands became solid again, but Nico's nerves jangled. He felt as if he'd been pulled back from the edge of a high balcony.

'Your voice is your identity,' he'd told Reyna. 'If you don't use it, you're halfway to Asphodel already.'

He hated when his own advice applied to himself.

"My dad gave me a present once," Nico said. "It was a zombie."

Reyna stared at him. "What?"

"His name is Jules-Albert. He's French."

"A…French zombie?"

"Hades isn't the greatest dad, but occasionally he has these 'want-to-know-my-son' moments. I guess he thought the zombie was a peace offering. He said Jules-Albert could be my chauffeur."

The corner of Reyna's mouth twitched. "A French zombie chauffeur."

Nico realized how ridiculous it sounded. He'd never told anyone about Jules-Albert - not even Hazel. But he kept talking.

"Hades had this idea that I should, you know, try to act like a modern teenager. Make friends. Get to know the twenty-first century. He vaguely understood that mortal parents drive their kids around a lot. He couldn't do that. So his solution was a zombie."

"To take you to the mall," Ane mused.

"Or the drive-through at In-N-Out Burger," Reyna added.

"I suppose." Nico's nerves began to settle. "Because nothing helps you make friends faster than a rotting corpse with a French accent."

Reyna laughed. "I'm sorry…I shouldn't make fun."

"It's okay. Point is…I don't like talking about my dad either. But sometimes," he said, looking her in the eyes, "you have to."

Ane shrugged. "I don't have that problem, much. My Papa was great. While I had him with me, at least. We went to a pet store once and I played with a stuffed toy sitting on one of the shelves, and then the next day he bought it for me."

"Do!" Her stuffed poodle climbed onto her head.

"Lemme guess," Reyna said with a small smirk.

"I hated it at first, at least according to my Papa. I threw away the toy in a fit, he said. Though I couldn't possibly tell you why. I was probably upset at something else. But somehow she became my new best friend. He wanted to name it Noodles, because I liked noodles. We started naming things that ended in 'Ooodles,' like 'poodles' - he was teaching me English at the time, so we were also practicing - and…then we just decided on Oodles somehow. I kept calling it 'Pūdoru' most of the time anyway. Oodles was her English name."

"Do!" the poodle agreed. "Do…"

"Your English is pretty good," Nico said.

"As is yours," she countered. "Though I didn't like English. We moved to Britain from Japan not long after I was born, and my Papa insisted I learned his mother tongue. But in return, I didn't like being forced to use English to speak with other English people. Japanese was between me and my Papa alone, and using it got us treated like second-class citizens. The Brits…weren't fond of immigrants. You had to be all posh and rich to get any respect, a high-class citizen. Luckily I didn't grow old enough to be stuffed into a corset."

"Why'd you go to Britain then?" Reyna asked.

Ane smiled. "My Papa had promised my mother they would travel there one day - travel the world, really. But my mother was never supposed to come to the mortal world. Her visit to my father was a chance encounter when she was sneaking into the real world; she always wanted to experience humanity, but she was always forbidden because of how dangerous it was. She…ended up getting people killed when they shouldn't have been so that she could stay with my Papa, but then she realized how dangerous she really was on this plane of existence. I was…her gift to my Papa - something to remember her by, to apologize for not being able to stay."

"Ane…"

She shook her head. "My Papa loved me. He told me how much I looked like my mother - or at least the woman my godly mother possessed during most of their time together. He took me to Britain, saying that he promised it to my mother. He became a doctor with his Apollo heritage, which got him a good income and plenty of respect from his colleagues and those who knew his talents. Sometimes we had people who still didn't like us since we were from out of the country, but he was careful. He was careful to avoid monsters so that we didn't have to move around a lot, and he was quick to dispatch any that found us. It was just normal to have to be on the lookout for threats. I went to school, we bought an apartment building and fixed it up so that we could rent out to other immigrants. He often had long and weird hours, but he always made time for me."

Over in the woods, Coach Hedge muttered to himself as he wrote. Three paper airplanes were already spiraling upwards in the breeze, heading to gods knew where.

She held up her hand. A small orb of light formed in her hand, but quickly flickered out.

"He could catch sunlight with ease, then toss the little ball of captured sun into the ceiling and make it rain down stars…" She shook her head. "I can't say anything about how bad my father was. He was good. He was human. My great-grandmother didn't like me much. Her daughter fell in love with a god and my dad was the result. My grandmother died because of monster attacks, so my dad was raised by his grandmother - but he was basically disowned once I was born. She couldn't stand both her daughter and her grandson falling in love with gods only to have their lives ruined. My point is…family is tough when you're related to the gods in any way. I was lucky, I'm sorry that you weren't."

Reyna's face relaxed. "You don't need to apologize." Her expression turned serious. "I never knew my father in his better days, but Hylla said he used to be gentler when she was very small, before I was born. He was a good soldier - fearless, disciplined, cool under fire. He was handsome. He could be very charming. Bellona blessed him, as she had with so many of my ancestors, but that wasn't enough for my dad. He wanted her for his wife."

Ane tilted her head. "So…slightly arrogant too?"

"Do," Ane's poodle agreed.

Nico shrugged. "Great warriors tend to think they can have whatever they want so long as they can crush any opposition in war."

"My father dedicated himself completely to Bellona," Reyna continued. "It's one thing to respect the power of war. It's another thing to fall in love with it. I don't know how he did it, but he managed to win Bellona's heart. My sister was born just before he went to Iraq for his last tour of duty. He was honorably discharged, came home a hero. If…if he'd been able to adjust to a civilian life, everything might have been all right."

"But he couldn't," Nico guessed.

"PTSD?" Ane asked.

Reyna shook her head. "It's more complicated than that. Shortly after he got back, he had one last encounter with the goddess…that's the, um, reason I was born. Bellona gave him a glimpse of the future. She explained why our family was so important to her. She said the legacy of Rome would never fail as long as one of our bloodline remained, fighting to defend our homeland. Those words…I think she meant them to be reassuring, but my father became fixated on them."

"War can be hard to get over," Nico said, remember Pietro, one of his neighbors from his childhood in Italy. Pietro had come back from Mussolini's African campaign in one piece, but after shelling Ethiopian civilians with mustard gas, his mind was never the same.

"People react to it in all different ways," Ane agreed. Her father had dealt with people brought in from war who were deemed unfit for combat because of their wounds.

One time, Ane was sitting in the waiting room - as she often had to do when her father was at work - playing with the toys and her poodle. Her father had returned from some job, but a man saw him and started yelling about how her Papa needed to fix him better so that he could return to the front lines. Her father had tried to calmly explain that he physically couldn't do anything more (and his Apollo healing skills failing meant he was being serious) but things escalated and Ane was nearly hurt in the process when the man realized she was his daughter and attempted a hostage situation.

Despite the heat, Reyna drew her cloak around her. "Part of the problem was post-traumatic stress, you're right. He couldn't stop thinking about the war. And then there was the constant pain - a roadside bomb left shrapnel in his shoulder and chest. But it was more than that. Over the years, as I was growing up, he…he changed."

Ane frowned, but neither her nor Nico responded. He'd never had anyone talk to him this openly before, except maybe for Hazel. He felt like he was watching a flock of birds settle on a field. One loud sound might startle them away.

"He became paranoid," Reyna said. "He thought Bellona's words were a warning that our bloodline would be exterminated and the legacy of Rome would fail. He saw enemies everywhere. He collected weapons. He turned our house into a fortress. At night, he would lock Hylla and me in our rooms. If we sneaked out, he would yell at us and throw furniture and…well, he terrified us. At times, he even thought we were the enemies. He became convinced we were spying on him, trying to undermine him. Then the ghosts started appearing. I guess they'd always been there, but they picked up on my father's agitation and began to manifest. They whispered to him, feeding his suspicions. Finally one day…I can't tell you for sure when, I realized he had ceased to be my father. He had become one of the ghosts."

A cold tide rose in Nico's chest. "A mania," he speculated. "I've seen it before. A human withers away until he's not human anymore. Only his worst qualities remain. His insanity…"

It was clear from Reyna's expression that his explanation wasn't helping.

"Whatever he was," Reyna said, "he became impossible to live with. Hylla and I escaped the house as often as we could, but eventually we'd come…back…and face his rage. We didn't know what else to do. He was our only family. The last time we returned, h-he was so angry he was literally glowing. He couldn't physically touch things anymore, but he could move them…like a poltergeist, I guess. He tore up the floor tiles. He ripped open the sofa. Finally he tossed a chair and it hit Hylla. She collapsed. She was only knocked unconscious, but I thought she was dead. She'd spent so many years protecting me…I just lost it. I grabbed the nearest weapon I could find - a family heirloom, the Pirate Cofresí's saber (AN: Sad moment but also there was a typo where this was spelled Confresí in the actual text). I-I didn't know it was Imperial gold. I ran at my father's spirit and…"

"You vaporized him," Ane guessed.

Reyna's eyes brimmed with tears. "I killed my own father."

"No," Nico insisted. "Reyna, no. That wasn't him. That was a ghost. Even worse: a mania. You were protecting your sister."

She twisted the silver ring on her finger. "You don't understand. Patricide is the worst crime a Roman can commit. It's unforgivable."

"You didn't kill your father," Ane insisted. "The man was already dead - you dispelled a ghost! It was killing a monster, Reyna, no matter if he gave birth to you-"

"It doesn't matter!" Reyna sobbed. "If word of this got out at Camp Jupiter-"

"You'd be executed," said a new voice.

At the edge of the woods stood a Roman legionnaire in full armor, holding a pilum. A mop of brown hair hung in his eyes. His nose had obviously been broken at least once, which made his smile look even more sinister.

"Thank you for your confession, former praetor. You've made my job much easier."

I shouldn't leave it on that cliffhanger, I know! I'm working on the next chapter, I swear, but there are a couple plot arcs happening at the same time so it takes a bit more concentration than normal to keep it all organized. Hopefully I'll post the next chapter the moment it's done.