Hello, readers!

Yes, I am alive, I swear. I know it's been ages, but things have been crazy. Moving into college, and then back out before the semester was even halfway over, and then solid online classes, and then my own personal bout with COVID-19. Time has not been on my side.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! (I only own the characters of Ben and Jayme, the rest belong to Riordon)

Jayme's POV

The next afternoon was June 14, exactly one week before the summer solstice, and it was the same day the train rolled into Denver. My stomach rumbled, despite my efforts to silence it. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, when we were somewhere in Kansas. None of us had showered since we left Half-Blood Hill, and I was growing increasingly aware that it was obvious.

"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said as soon as the opportunity arose. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."

"We can't use phones, right?" Percy asked, brow furrowing slightly in confusion.

Ben scoffed, grinning. "Who needs a phone?"

I narrowed my eyes slightly at him, puzzled and studying him. "Well… most people."

Ben grinned at me again. "Oh, this is gonna be so cool for you guys to see."

Percy and I traded wary looks before we moved on with Annabeth and Ben leading the way. We wandered through downtown for half an hour, and I still had no idea what they were looking for. The air was sweltering, dry and hot, the opposite of the suffocating humidity in St. Louis, and everywhere we looked, the Rocky Mountains were bearing down on us, like the heavy gaze of a stern parent.

"There!" Ben called cheerfully, pointing and leading the large group toward an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We moved toward the stall farthest away from the street, keeping ourselves alert just in case any patrol cars made their way toward us. Five adolescents hanging out at a car wash with no car? There was no decent cop in the world that wouldn't think we were up to no good. At least not if he or she were worth their donuts.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked as Grover took the spray gun off of its hook.

"Please tell me you're not going to spray us with that," I said miserably. "I mean, I know we stink 'cause no showers and all that, but this seems excessive."

Ben chuckled at the thought. "That's actually not a bad idea, actually, but no, that's not what we're doing."

"It's seventy-five cents," Grover complained. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth? Ben?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Don't look at me. The dining car wiped me out."

Ben shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, Grover. It wiped me out too. Probably shouldn't have had that extra slice of pizza, but I was hungry."

Percy fished in his pockets and handed Grover his last quarter. I knew he didn't have much else past that. Maybe a couple smaller coins and that drachma he stole from Aunty Em's.

I fought not to shudder at the thought of that place. I still hated myself for freezing up there.

"Excellent," Grover said happily, which pulled me from my thoughts about what had happened with Medusa. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."

That didn't clarify anything for me.

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked, looking as confused as I felt as we watched Grover feed the quarters into the machine and set the knob to fine mist.

"He's I-M'ing," Ben said with a grin.

"Instant messaging?" Percy asked in disbelief.

Ben chuckled and shook his head, auburn hair moving across his forehead. "I forgot how little time you guys actually spent at camp. Not instant messaging—iris messaging."

I raised both eyebrows. "Yeah, I'm still confused."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

Percy and I traded glances. "You summon the rainbow goddess with a spray gun?" He asked as he crossed his arms.

Grover lifted the nose of the nozzle and pulled the trigger, water exiting in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."

We had no time to suggest or protest before the late afternoon sun filtered through the water vapor that gently misted us, forming a small rainbow.

Annabeth held her palm out toward Percy. "Drachma, please."

Percy fished it out of his pocket and handed her the coin.

She raised the coin over her head, said, "O goddess, accept out offering," and threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer. "Half-Blood Hill," the daughter of Athena requested from the rainbow.

Nothing happened.

I had to bite my tongue to keep from commenting about how much easier a payphone would've been, but before I had the chance to form the words on my lips, we were staring through the mist at the strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound moving in the distance. The view seemed like it was from the porch of the Big House, and standing on the porch with his back to us was a sandy haired teenage boy in cutoff shorts and an orange Camp Half-Blood tank top. He was holding a bronze sword in his hand, and his gaze was focused out toward something in the meadow.

"Luke!" Ben called brightly, practically jumping in front of Percy and I, seeming to recognize his cabinmate faster than the rest of us.

He turned toward the sound, eyes wide.

I couldn't help but blink in surprise. It looked like he was standing three feet in front of us, outside of the fact that we could only see the parts of him that showed through the rainbow.

"Benny!" He said happily, his scarred face splitting into a wide smile. "And the twins! Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

"We're… uh… fine," Annabeth bumbled out as she madly tried to straighten her dirty t-shirt, and brushed her loose curls out of her face. "We thought—Chiron—I mean…"

I had a very hard time not rolling my eyes. Ben didn't even make an attempt to hide his expression, rolling his silver eyes.

Luke looked like he wished he could reach through the rainbow image and ruffle Ben's messy auburn hair, but he couldn't, and his smile began to fade as he answered Annabeth's sort-of question. "Chiron's down at the cabins. We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover alright?"

"I'm right here," Grover called, maneuvering the nozzle so he could keep the spray going and still step into Luke's line of sight. "What kind of issues?"

Before Luke could answer, a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with the radio blasting stomach-jumping hip-hop. As it pulled into the next stall over, the bass from the subwoofers made it feel like the pavement trembled.

"Chiron had to—What's that noise?" Luke asked, calling over the sound of the thumping stereo.

"I'll take care of it!" Annabeth yelled back, looking almost relieved for a chance to get out of sight. "Grover, come on!"

I fought not to roll my eyes. I completely understood that Luke was cute, but Annabeth's reaction was just ridiculous.

"What?" Grover complained. "But—"

"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" Annabeth ordered.

Grover grumbled something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, and then he handed Percy the spray gun, following Annabeth.

Percy shifted the hose in his hands so he, Ben, and I could still all see Luke.

"Chiron had to break up a fight," Luke shouted over the pounding music. "Things are pretty tense here, guys. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how—probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now campers are starting to take sides. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."

I couldn't believe that Clarisse would back anything that was on the same side as Percy and I.

"What about the Hermes cabin?" Ben asked curiously.

Luke just shrugged. "I'm trying to keep us from taking sides, kid."

Ben looked as relieved as I felt when the sound of Annabeth arguing in the next stall over, and the music finally got turned down so we didn't all have to scream.

"So what's your status?" Luke asked, looking between the three of us. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."

Percy and I traded glances, and I knew what Percy wanted to know. How much should we say? Especially in front of Ben. I nodded slightly, drawing a circle on the back of his hand with my index finger before roughly filling in the shape. Everything.

Percy and I began to explain pretty much everything that had happened, including the strange dreams that we'd had. Ben and Luke both seemed to be listening intently, and it was such a weight lifted off of my chest that he and Ben knew, and were people we could talk to about all this that it startled me when the spray machine started beeping its one-minute warning.

"I wish I could be there," Luke admitted softly. "We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen… it had to be Hades who took the master bolt. He was there on Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning the field trip and we saw him."

"It's true," Ben said simply. "I was on the field trip."

I frowned deeply. This was all just getting more and more confusing. "But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."

"That's true." Luke looked troubled, handsome face creased with a frown. "Still… Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt? You'd have to be invincible…"

All four of us fell silent, and the silence was heavy, troubling, until Luke seemed to realize what his statement implied.

"Oh, hey," the blonde son of Hermes began to protest quickly. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never… I mean, she's like a little sister to me."

I couldn't wipe the troubled look off my face. She had a hat that could turn her invisible, and a serious grudge against all things Poseidon for no other reason than she was supposed to. It made sense that she'd want to frame Poseidon for a crime that could and would cause a full-blown war between gods.

"It wasn't Annabeth," Ben said with conviction. "She'd never do anything like that."

Before I could say anything, the music from the Lincoln in the stall next door stopped completely, a man screamed in terror—which made Ben start laughing—before car doors slammed and the Lincoln sped out of the car wash.

"You guys better see what that was," Luke suggested. "But, Percy, real quick. Are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."

Percy smiled and nodded. "Oh… uh, yeah! Yeah, they've come in handy."

Luke grinned again. "Really? They fit and everything?"

The water reached its limit, and the machine shut off. The mist began to evaporate completely.

"Well, take care of yourself in Denver," Luke said as his voice grew fainter. "Ben, be careful! And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just—!"

The mist disappeared, and the three of us were left standing in a wet, empty car wash stall.

Annabeth and Grover were laughing as they came back around the corner, pausing when they saw mine and Percy's faces. Ben was still wearing his always present smile.

The daughter of Athena's smiled faded when she looked at us. "What happened? What did Luke say?"

"Not much," I lied simply, shaking my head a little. I didn't want to force Percy to lie again after he'd just lied to Luke about the flying shoes. "Just telling us what we already know."

"Come on," Percy said soon after I finished talking. "Let's find some dinner."

We were sitting in a booth inside a chrome-plated diner, surrounded by families eating hamburgers and drinking malts and sodas. A waitress strolled over to us with a raised eyebrow, her tone skeptical when she said, "Well?"

"We, umm, want to order dinner," Percy told her.

"You kids have money to pay for it?"

I glanced at the group I stood with. Ben's silver eyes were starting to dim with exhaustion, and I was sure hunger was a largely contributing factor; Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger; Grover's lower lip was trembling, and I had a horrible image in my head of his more goat-like habits coming out and him terrifying the entire diner. If he got us kicked out before we could get any food, I was going to petition for us to eat goat for dinner. And I wasn't sure anyone would disagree.

Percy opened his mouth to spill some sob story for the waitress, but was cut off by the sound of a heavy rumble that had the whole building quaking. I turned to look and see what kind of machine was outside that had the ability to make my limbs tremble, and felt my sea green eyes blow wide at the sight of a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant, with eerie red headlights and flames painted on every side of the gas tank. There were shotgun holsters attached to each side of the tank, shotguns included, but by far the scariest part was the leather seat. A seat that looked like it was made of human skin.

I felt Ben place a hand on my arm and tighten his grip, as we both looked over the man that had ridden in on that bike. He was massively muscular, the most intimidating thing I could've imagined—seriously, if I had been told to describe exactly what I thought the scariest, most intimidating man ever looked like, I would describe exactly how this dude looked. He had on a red muscle shirt, underneath a black leather duster, and black jeans, which made the hunting knife strapped to his thigh almost blend and glaringly obvious all at once. His eyes were covered by red-lensed sunglasses, but the rest of his face was easy to see. His skin was tan, almost leathery like his bike seat, with broad, strong features that were marred by scars from more fights than I could even imagine. The part that made me the most uncomfortable, though, was the fact that I felt like I'd seen this man before.

Ben's grip on my arm tightened as the man got closer. "Do not look him in the eye," Ben warned in a whisper. "You won't like what it does to you."

"What?" I replied in the same quiet tone. "What are you talking about, Ben? Who is he?"

Ben gave her an apologetic look, but hushed her quickly as the brutish man walked into the diner behind us, and an uncomfortable wind followed him inside. It was hot and dry, exactly what you'd expect from the desert in the middle of summer, and as it touched the crowd of people eating inside the diner, they rose to their feet like they were under some kind of spell, and he waved his hand dismissively at them. They all sat down again, continuing their conversations like nothing had happened.

I glanced down, feeling my heart pick up speed as the man moved closer to our booth, where I was pressed between Percy and Ben. I glanced up after a moment of trying to steady myself, only to see the waitress blinking at us almost blankly. "You kids have money to pay for it?" She asked us again, as casually as if she didn't remember she'd already asked that question, and we weren't sitting in front of her, fumbling for an answer.

"It's on me," the biker said simply, sliding into the much-too-small booth in a way that crammed Annabeth into the window, and Grover into her. He looked up at the waitress, who was still standing at the table, and said, "Are you still here?"

He pointed a finger at her, and she stiffened, like every muscle in her body contracted, and turned like he'd manually spun her around before she marched her way back into the kitchen.

My stomach rumbled. We hadn't gotten to order, and that in itself was making me cranky, but I was careful to follow Ben's instructions. Don't look him in the eye… I could just stare at his forehead when I needed to instead, right? That would look close enough, wouldn't it?

The huge man looked between Percy and I with a growing, wicked grin. "So you two are old Seaweed's kids, huh?"

I nodded slowly as I looked up at him, careful to avoid looking into the red sunglasses. I just wish I could place why he looked so familiar.

Percy, on the other hand, didn't have Ben's warning to abide by, and neither of us had ever been great at controlling our tempers. "What's it to you?" He said in a vicious tone that I'd only every heard him use in reference to our stepdad, Gabe.

I looked at Percy, a little startled.

Annabeth's gray eyes flashed a warning toward Percy, and Ben swallowed hard behind me, adjusting his grip on my arm like he was ready to pull me out of the way if something worse happened here.

I curled my index finger and thumb into a circle and began tapping it against Percy's forearm three times in quick succession, pausing for a moment, and then repeating it to try calming him down. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.

I couldn't tell if it was working.

"Percy, this is—" Annabeth started, but she was cut off when the large biker lifted a hand.

"S'okay," he assured, wicked grin still pulling at his lips as his gazed settled on Percy. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss." His gaze flicked between the two of us again, and I was still forcing myself to look at his forehead instead of his eyes. "You know who I am, little cousins?"

"You're Clarisse's dad," Percy said simply, still tense against my side. "Ares, god of war."

I blinked in slow realization, and I understood quickly why he looked so familiar. That expression, it was the same cruel sneer that the kids from Cabin Five wore.

Ares grinned and slid his sunglasses off. Where I expected to see glowing red eyes, there were no eyes at all. The sockets were full of fire, tiny, sweltering explosions. I forced myself to look down, hiding my avoidance of his eyes by scratching at my forehead. "That's right, punk," the war god confirmed. "I heard you two broke Clarisse's spear."

"She was asking for it," Percy shot back.

I reached for his hand under the table and squeezed it tight, trying to snap him out of whatever spell of rage Ares had placed him under.

Percy jerked his hand from mine and shoved me into Ben's side, growling, "Cut it out, JJ."

Ben let out a strained oof! when I hit his side.

I blinked in shock for a moment, too startled by Percy's reaction to apologize to Ben until I processed for another moment, but Ben seemed more bothered by the startled, hurt expression on my face than he was that he'd been pancaked into a wall.

Ares grinned at the sight. It made me want to punch Percy in the face for doing that to me, and march out of the diner so I never had to look at the god of war again. Instead, I clenched my jaw and looked back down at the table as Ares spoke again. "Probably," he agreed almost nonchalantly. "That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for—I heard you two were in town. I got a little proposition for you."

Before he could say more, or we could ask him what kind of proposition, the waitress returned with nearly overflowing trays of food—cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate milkshakes.

My stomach growled defiantly. Ben licked his lips, silver eyes longing for the food placed in front of us.

Ares handed the waitress a few gold drachmas.

The waitress looked down at the coins, her expression nervous. "But these aren't…"

I blinked in shock as Ares pulled a massive knife, and started cleaning his fingernails with the sharp point of the blade. "Problem, sweetheart?"

The waitress swallowed hard and scampered off with the gold coins.

"You can't do that," Percy snapped at the war god. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."

Ares actually had the audacity to laugh. But I guess being the god of war, what could a group of runts like us do to stop him? Yeah, Percy and I were the kids of one of the most powerful gods, but we didn't know what we were doing when it came to any of this stuff. We'd had hardly any training outside of Mr. Brunner's Latin class.

"Are you kidding?" The god asked, though I could see Percy's urge to slap the grin off of his face. At this point, I wasn't about to stop him. After my… violently declined attempts to help him, I wasn't looking forward to another shove or something worse. "I love this country! Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. If nothing else, carry one to protect your little sis—"

"I don't need his protection," I snapped quickly, still carefully avoiding Ares' gaze as the table almost trembled in front of us. I didn't think too much about it, figured it was Ben or Grover trying to get me to shut up.

Ares grinned. "I'm sure you don't, kid. You've got fire in you. I like it. But, back to my proposition." His explosive gaze flicked between Percy and I. "I need you to do me a favor."

"What favor could I do for a god?" Percy asked, his tone just as sharp as it had been since Ares sat down. I wasn't going to lie, he was starting to scare me—the more this went on, the more I felt like Smelly Gabe had rubbed off on him more than any of us had thought, especially after his attempt to shove me across the crowded booth. Gabe had done much worse than that, but Percy hadn't, not a single time. Percy had never touched me in a way meant to hurt me until that night.

I had to force myself to stop thinking about it. Suddenly I wasn't hungry anymore.

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself," Ares answered. "It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little… date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you two to fetch it for me."

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Percy snapped again.

The literal fire in Ares' eyes flared, glowing a little hotter. "Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned a little closer to us, smirking fiendishly. "Or maybe you two only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."

I looked away from Ares again as I felt anger flare up in my stomach, hot and bubbly. Ares is doing this, I reminded myself firmly. This isn't your anger. He's making you feel this way.

After another moment, I managed to calm down completely, and Ben reached over and squeezed my hand gently, reassuringly. I glanced at him, sea green eyes meeting silver ones, and gave him a soft, thankful smile. The unclaimed demigod returned it and slowly let go of my hand.

"We're not interested," Percy said, seeming to have stayed his anger just a little as he spoke this time. "We've already got a quest."

"I know all about your quest, punk," Ares said, nearly through gritted teeth. "When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally."

"That is a lot of A names," I mumbled under my breathe, and Ben snickered quietly.

Ares either didn't notice, or didn't care, since I hadn't interrupted him loudly, and continued on. "If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful…" He licked his lips, like the thought of a weapon as strong as the Master Bolt was too enticing to resist. "Well… If I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you pipsqueaks the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. After all, I'm the one who told him of my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Percy asked, frowning a little.

Something about that seemed fishy to me… I decided I needed to file that information somewhere in my brain for safe keeping.

"Sure," Ares said, tone almost nonchalant. "Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you two got me to thank for your little quest."

"Thanks," Percy and I grumbled at the same time.

"Hey, I'm a generous guy," Ares assured. "Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own," Percy objected quickly.

"Yeah, right," Ares almost laughed. "No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. You two help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

I froze, swallowing hard. "Our mom?"

Ares grinned, and I knew that he knew he'd finally gotten to me. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"What interrupted your date?" Percy blurted. "Something scare you off?"

Ares bared his teeth, but I'd seen Clarisse wear a similar expression before. It was a false intimidation tactic—he almost looked nervous underneath it. "You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians," he snarled at Percy. "They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am. I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."

Ares stood to leave, and I watched in helpless horror as my twin brother blacked out before my eyes.

"Percy," I said urgently, starting to try and shake him awake by the shoulders. A voice in the back of my head was warning me that it was a bad idea, that if he woke up still angry because of Ares he could seriously hurt me, but it was a chance I had to take. "Percy, c'mon. Wake up."

Ben gently stilled my urgency, silver eyes calm and reassuring. "He'll be okay," Ben reassured with a soft smile. "Just give him a minute. Eat something while we wait, okay?"

I swallowed hard, closing my trembling hands into fists for a moment before I nodded slightly and pulled a plate close, only able to nibble on French fries until Percy woke up.

A wave of relief crashed over me so hard it made me nauseous. Or was that the hunger? I had no idea. All I knew was Percy was scanning the expressions of the kids around the table with him, and he didn't seem reassured. But I wouldn't have either, even without knowing what was written all over my own face.

"Not good," Grover said quickly. "Ares sought you two out, Percy. This is not good."

I shivered at the thought. If he actually knew something about our mom, we had no choice but to play his little game. I glanced at Percy, and say that the angry fire that had been blazing in his eyes had fizzled out with Ares' exit. I wondered if he even remembered what he did, or if he knew to compare it to how Smelly Gabe used to push me around the house when Mom wasn't home. Jerking me around by the wrist to throw me into the kitchen so I could grab him another beer; shoving me into walls when I got "in his way"; or pinning me against them when Percy wasn't looking either, making sure I knew just how lucky we were that our mom had married him and we had all the nice things we had because of him, like the clothes he'd throw beer on, and the bathroom that smelled like his cheap cologne and other, even less pleasant things unless he forced me or Mom to clean it.

I felt a lump start growing in my throat at the thought, my heart hammering against my ribcage. "Percy, let me out of the booth," I said quickly, swallowing hard again.

"What?" He asked in surprise, blinking slowly as he studied my expression to try and make sure I was alright.

"Percy," I almost begged, and he slid out of the booth that instant, green eyes following me in worriedly as I rushed to the girl's bathroom in the restaurant, knowing Percy couldn't and wouldn't follow, and that Ben wouldn't either.

I shut myself in a stall and tried to calm myself down, playing with the ends of my black hair and trying to control my breathing as I tried to force myself to stop thinking about Percy's Gabe-like reaction. What was happening to me? I'd felt like a nervous wreck since Aunty Em's, and nothing seemed to be helping. Not my extra training with Ben, not the news that we'd finally be hearing from our father in Santa Monica. What was I supposed to do? All this had done was make one thing glaringly obvious—I was no hero.

I looked up slowly from where I'd sunk to a crouch on the bathroom floor, still locked in the stall, when I heard the main door slowly creak open.

"Jayme?" Annabeth called softly, and I hated to admit how surprised I was to hear her voice. I thought she would've just told Percy to leave me behind since they had to come back to meet Ares here anyway, and it would've given her one less Poseidon kid to deal with. "Jayme, are you okay? When you came in here, you looked like you'd seen a ghost."

"Did Percy send you?" I called back, hoping my voice wasn't trembling as hard as I felt like it was. "Go tell him I'm fine."

"Percy didn't send me," Annabeth replied softly, sighing. "And he's not going to believe that. C'mon, Jayme, just talk to me. I want to help."

"Why?" I blurted before I could stop myself. "You've made it pretty clear that you're not supposed to be friends with us."

Annabeth was quiet for a moment. "Maybe I'm not supposed to be," she agreed softly. "But maybe I want to be. You're a fighter, Jayme, and I admire that. The way you want to be here and protect all of us, how much you care about Percy and Grover, and even Ben and me, even though you haven't known us that long. You're a great hero."

"I'm no hero," I replied quickly. "I couldn't help at Aunty Em's, Percy almost died against the Chimera and there was nothing I could do. Ben had to save me from the Kindly Ones, and his arm's still burned."

"Being a hero doesn't mean you're fearless," Annabeth said as she settled on the other side of the stall door. "It means you fight to do what's right despite your fear. And needing help doesn't mean you're any less of a hero either. All the old heroes needed help at some point. Jason needed his Argonauts for lots of stuff; Hercules had help defeating the Hydra; Theseus had help escaping the Labyrinth. They're all still heroes."

I was quiet for a long moment, processing her words. All of those heroes were after glory, and I wasn't. All I wanted was to save my mom. Slowly, I reached up to unlock the stall door, and as it drifted part of the way open, Annabeth crawled inside with me, gray eyes still calculating, but not quite as cold as they usually were when she looked at me. "What's bothering you now, Jayme?" She asked softly.

"Percy," I said quietly. "I… I know it wasn't his fault, but when Ares was making him so angry, and he shoved me off of him… He's never done anything like that to me before, for a very specific reason. Our stepdad, Gabe… He likes to push me around. I'm small, and there was never much I could do about it. And then in the booth, just like Gabe always does, Percy shoved me off of him like that… It seems stupid to get this upset over something that wasn't even his fault, but it reminded me too much of that other stuff. I think I'm just being dramatic because I'm tired."

Annabeth leaned forward and put a gentle hand on my shoulder. "That's not stupid, and you know Percy will understand. Dramatic or not, it bothered you. So, I'll stay here with you until you feel better, and then we can go back out there. When you finish eating, we'll head to that old water park and get Ares' shield. Okay?"

I nodded slightly, smiling gratefully at her. "Okay. Thanks, Annabeth."

Annabeth smiled off of one corner of her mouth and nodded in return. "You're welcome, Jayme."

After I felt calm enough, Annabeth and I walked back toward the booth so I could finish eating. Percy immediately slid out of the way so I could settle back in the middle in front of my cooling food and melting milkshake, eyes following me with intense concern.

As I sat down, I felt Percy touch me. He had made a circle with his index finger and thumb, the three other fingers sticking straight out, and tapped it twice against my forearm. Are you okay?

I tapped twice on the back of his hand with my index finger. Yes.

As I picked up a French fry, Percy pressed his pinky finger into the meaty part of my palm, beneath my thumb. What happened?

I moved my hand toward his, and gently pinched the outside of his palm, on the pinky side, between my thumb and index finger. Later.

Percy didn't say anything else, seeming to accept that as he let me finish my meal in peace.

Ben was glancing at me with soft, studying eyes too, but he didn't say anything. He wasn't going to push.

Once that was done, we packed ourselves up and slid out the door of the diner to start our trek toward the water park.

Percy and I fell back behind the others as Ben led the way to the park with his uncanny sense of direction.

"JJ," he said softly, his voice nearly a whisper. "What upset you so bad?"

"Percy," I said in the same tone, trying to keep my gaze calm and soft so he knew I didn't hold anything I was about to say against him. "When Ares had you under his… spell, I guess, and I was trying to help you calm down…" I sighed heavily. "I know I didn't go about it the best way, but the angrier you got, the more desperate I was to snap you out of it, and when you shoved me off like that… all I could see was Smelly Gabe."

Percy paled, his expression falling. He looked like I'd just punched him in the gut. "I… oh, God, JJ, I'm so sorry."

"I know," Jayme said quickly. "I didn't tell you that to make you feel guilty. I just wanted to explain why I needed to calm down."

He glanced at our moving three companions in front of us before he took my hand, stopping me, and pulled me close to his chest, hugging me like it was the only thing keeping us from being pulled off the ground. "I'm so sorry," he whispered into my hair. "JJ, you know I'd never hurt you."

"I know," I assured softly, talking into his shoulder. "I know, Percy, and I'm not mad at you. I just needed you to know."

He nodded slightly, and I could feel his breathing moving stray pieces of my dark hair, his nose prodding gently at my scalp as it moved with his nod. "It won't happen again," he swore, "ever. I will never do anything like that again. I promise."

I pulled away from his hug slowly and held up my hand, closed into a fist except for my pinky finger stuck up in the air.

Percy smiled slightly at me, and hooked his pinky with mine in a genuine pinky swear.

"Now you definitely can't break it," I said teasingly, smiling at him again before letting go before we turned to catch up with the others again.

The sun had almost set behind the mountains when we reached the water park. I studied the old, haggard sign that once probably read Waterland, seeing that the only letters left were Wat R A D, and humming to myself. I couldn't tell if they'd been smashed out, or if time had just taken its wicked toll.

Ben strolled up to the gate and lifted the padlock, glancing up to see it topped with barbed wire. I had a stinking suspicion that he, given the chance, could climb the gate with relative ease, and even manage not to tear his pants on the barbed wire. Behind the gate, my eyes traveled alongside his silver ones to see huge, dry waterslides, with tubes and pipes curling across the whole vicinity and leading to drained pools. Faded tickets and ads fluttered around the asphalt, which surprised me—I would've suspected they'd all blown away.

"Kinda creepy in the dark," I heard Ben mumble as he stepped away from the padlock.

"Says the guy with really good night vision," I replied with a small smile, my tone as quiet as his.

He grinned at me, the expression pushing out the freckles on his cheeks.

"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date, I'd hate to see what she looks like," Percy said, shaking his head a little as he looked up at the barbed wire.

"Percy," Annabeth warned, "be respectful."

"Why?" Percy asked with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you hated Ares."

"He's still a god," Annabeth reminded almost sharply. "And his girlfriend is very temperamental."

"You don't want to insult her looks," Ben warned, wearing as close to a fully serious expression as I'd ever seen. "Or basically her anything else."

"Who is she?" I asked, raising an eyebrow of my own.

"Echidna?" Percy guessed.

"No, Aphrodite." Grover's tone had turned almost dreamy. "Goddess of love."

"I thought she was married," I said slowly, frowning. "To… Hephaestus?"

"What's your point?" Grover asked simply.

Percy and I traded uncomfortable glances, and decided now was a good time to change the subject.

"So how do we get inside?" Percy asked.

"Maia!" Grover shouted, and his shoes sprouted wings.

"That's cheating," I grumbled, frowning and crossing my arms as the four demigods watched Grover fly over the fence, turn an unintentional somersault, and stumble into a clumsy landing on the other side, then brush himself off like he'd meant to do that. "You guys coming?"

Ben looked like he was biting back a laugh as he started forward and leapt a third of the way up the fence before climbing over like a squirrel, never getting any of his clothes or the sharp, bronze tipped ends of his bow caught on the barbed wire.

"Show off," I grumbled as I followed Percy and Annabeth toward the fence. We were much less graceful about it than Ben, but we managed to get over without tearing our clothes to pieces.

I couldn't make myself pay attention to the attractions, too busy watching the shadows grow across the park as we trudged through. I had a sick feeling something was going to jump out after us, but I was starting to think it was just my own anxiety creeping up on me. Nevertheless, I was practically glued to Ben and Percy as we made our way through.

Annabeth stopped us when we found a souvenir shop inside the park still full of old clothes and backpacks and other items of merchandise.

Percy protested against it, but that didn't stop the daughter of Athena from snatching fresh clothes and going to change her entire outfit. Grover soon followed her example, and soon the five of us were dressed as walking billboards for an abandoned amusement park. Not creepy at all.

Once we were finished with out stent of thieving, we continued searching through the park for the Tunnel of Love. When Percy started awkwardly asking about Aphrodite and Ares, I found myself drifting closer to Ben's side, not feeling too keen on hearing about godly affairs of the worst kind.

Ben smiled at me when I did, silver eyes shining like stars and swirling like mercury in the dim light of the night. "Hey," he said simply, still smiling like always. "Didn't want to listen to the story of Ares' love life?"

"No, not really," I agreed simply. "And it's not like we were all needed for this little adventure anyway."

Ben sighed and shrugged, nodding slowly in agreement. "Yeah, I don't think we were all needed for this either. We could leave them to deal with it while we go explore?"

I hummed in consideration. Part of me thought it was long to leave Percy, but so far, I hadn't been much help in fighting anything we'd come across, so I didn't think they'd be hurting without my presence. But they might be in trouble without Ben's perfect aim and fighting skill. "Are you sure they won't need you?"

Ben nodded again; expression caught in his near-constant smile. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Annabeth can handle it."

I felt myself smile at him in return. I didn't know why I found his smile so contagious, but something about it just made me feel like things weren't going to be as bad as I thought. "Then let's go," I agreed with a nod.

His silver eyes brightened at the thought of adventure, and he took my hand, the grip of his calloused fingers on my hand firm enough that he wouldn't lose his grip, but nowhere near stern enough to cause me pain.

We looked through all of the faded, closed down rides until I paused, feeling the pull of flowing water somewhere on the other side of the park, away from Percy, Grover, and Annabeth, and away from us.

Ben stopped when I did, looking at me curiously, silver eyes glowing in the darkness. "What is it?"

"There's… running water that way." I pointed slowly in the direction that every instinct was screaming for me to go. "I though the park was supposed to be closed."

"It is…" Ben's expression turned thoughtful. "Are you sure it's in the park?"

I shook my head, black hair waving by my shoulders at the action. "No. But it's not far away."

Ben hummed, the sound considering, before he turned them in that direction. "Let's see what's going on."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked, but my own curiosity was swelling to a breaking point, and I realized I wanted to know as badly as he did.

We reached the edge of the water park's fencing, and I could still feel the water moving, and we'd grown close enough to hear it. My gut told me it was sort of swampy, something that made no sense being in Denver unless it was at least partially man-made.

Ben let go of my hand and leapt over the fence just as gracefully as he did the first time, when we came in, and I rolled my eye at him. "Show off," I accused again.

He grinned at me. "I've had a little practice over the years."

"I don't think I'll ever be able to do that," I told him simply as I started to carefully climb the rusty gate, lifting myself as high over the rusty barbed wire as I could before dropping back to the ground with a grunt as I landed in a half-kneel.

Ben grinned again. "What, with how graceful that was? You'll get it in no time."

I punched him in the shoulder, and he laughed, turning and jogging toward the sound of the water. I shook my head, watching his darkening figure disappear in front of me as the darkness became too great for me to see through, and I had to trust my instinct would lead me in the right direction.

It did, but the new bruises from tripping over tree roots or walking into low hanging branches had me grumbling in frustration as I finally caught up with Ben, and a very unpleasant smell.

"Ugh," I groaned, quickly covering my nose. The swampy area with running water I'd sensed was an overflow for sewer pipes, and they smelled well-worked. "Let's go before the smell sticks to us."

"Wait," Ben said quickly, grabbing my wrist and stopping me from backing away. "There's something in there."

"And we care why?" I asked, forcing down gags at the smell surrounding us.

Ben flashed me another grin, though I could really only see the bright silver of his eyes, and shrugged. "Curiosity. I wanna know what it is."

"That sounds like a terrible idea," I told him quickly, but he had already let me go, and was moving closer.

"Ben!" I protested, but my voice carried a little too well. In that moment, the sludge swamp began to rumble and shift, bubbling like something was breathing inside it, and every popping bubble released a sickening smell similar to that of a New York City public bathroom. It was almost too dark for me to see what moving, but as it rose from the muck and shook off the slime clinging to it, I saw the silhouette of a huge crab.

"Holy sh—" I started, but was cut off as I was sent flying by a very smelly, large crab claw that looked almost as long as I was tall.

I hit the ground with a grunt, all of the wind pushed from my body on both collisions as I shakily tried to push myself back to my feet.

"Jay!" Ben called urgently, rushing to my side to help me to my feet. "You okay?"

"I… I think so," I managed breathlessly, trying to take deep breaths in and out to refill my body with some air. "What is that thing?"

"Carcinus," Ben replied quickly, watching warily as the creature removed itself from the sludge it had been living in and turned to face us again. "It's the crab Heracles fought while fighting the Hydra."

The huge crab made a hissing sound, and I yelped in surprise as I understood it. A snack? It wondered as it stepped toward us.

"We should find a way to kill it before it decides we look any tastier," I said quickly, "because it's hungry."

Ben blinked at me in shock. "You can understand that thing?"

"Saying it out loud just makes me feel crazier," I informed Ben quickly, yelping as we both dove in opposite directions to avoid a claw crushing us like it was the hammer and we were the whack-a-moles.

"It's a crab," Ben said with a delighted laugh, "and your dad is the ruler of all sea creatures. Of course, you can understand it! Why didn't I realize that?"

"Is now really the best time for you to test my weird powers?" I demanded, scrambling for the daggers in my pockets like they were going to do any good against a huge crab with a solid exoskeleton (Hey, I remembered a big word from school! I should get a better grade in science for that).

"Sorry," Ben said sheepishly as he pulled his bow off of his shoulders and nocked an arrow. "Just… get distracted easy." He aimed and let the arrow sail through one of the joints in its leg.

Carcinus let out an angry sound. OUCH! I'm going to eat you first.

"Target the joints," Ben called as he tumbled away from the crab's claw again. "The armor isn't as thick there."

"But it makes it angry," I called back in a panicked, almost sing-song tone, but what other choice did we have?

Ben loosed another arrow, and I jammed Hurricane into the joint just above its massive claw as it tried to smash into me again.

It lifted its claw with my dagger still jammed into it, and I gasped as it lifted me off the ground, trying to shake me loose in a series of motions that made me feel like I was on a broken, jerky roller coaster. I barely had time to process as my dagger came loose, and I soared back to the ground, rolling until I reached a rocky cliff that towered over me, and would even tower over the crab.

"Ben, this isn't working!" I called desperately, pushing myself up just in time to see Ben thrown into a tree. I picked up my dropped daggers and rushed to help him back up quickly. "How do we kill it?"

"Heracles crushed it," Ben said with a groan, trying to shake away dizziness as he touched the back of his head, and found blood seeping through his auburn hair.

"Well, that doesn't help us much," I mumbled, panic seizing my chest so tightly it made my ribs throb, and I tightened my grip on EarthShaker. I froze as realization struck, and I helped Ben sit carefully. "Wait here," I said quickly. "I have an idea."

"Jay, wait—!" Ben called after me, but I had already turned away, praying to Poseidon and begging my dad to help me before I got myself, and probably Ben killed.

"Hey, stink brains!" I called out to the crab. "Remember me? I'm the one that stabbed you in the claw!"

Carcinus made an angry hissing sound and turned to run after me on all eight legs, claws swinging as I turned and ran as fast as I could toward the cliff wall, EarthShaker tight in my grip.

When I reached the rocky surface, I slammed my bronze dagger into it with all my might, and the whole world around us seemed to shake, trembling with enough force to send the crab down on its weak side, the side with the most wounds in its joints, while Ben fell back down, landing squarely on his butt from his attempt to come help me. Cracks spread up the cliff wall, until massive chunks of rock and earth began to tumble free.

I rushed out of the way as fast as I could, ribs throbbing as I wheezed to try and draw in a decent breath, stopping and falling to the ground—dropping EarthShaker and Hurricane in the process—to sit and watch as rock crushed the huge crab until it exploded into gold dust.

I let out a breath of relief and fell backward, laying flat in the grass and never being gladder to smell something as bad as an emptying sewer line.

I pushed myself back up with a groan, remembering Ben's head wound as I turned to look back at him, his silver eyes blown large and amazed as he looked between her and the fallen rock. I looked around quickly for Ben's backpack, but I couldn't find it in the darkness. I needed to get him the ambrosia inside.

"Ben, your backpack," I called quickly, trying to snap him out of his daze.

"Oh! Yeah…" He scanned the darkness until he spotted it. "Uh… take six big steps to the right and two steps toward the sludge pool."

I followed his directions carefully, and kicked his backpack just where he said I would. This kid and directions astounded me sometimes. I rushed toward him as quickly as my aching ribs would allow, and pulled out an ambrosia square for him.

He took it gratefully, eating as much as he needed before handing the rest to me. When I opened my mouth to protest, Ben looked at me knowingly. "Your ribs are definitely not okay. Eat. You know it'll help."

I sighed softly and took a bite, sighing softly as it melted in my mouth like my mom's blue chocolate chip cookies. Once I'd eaten enough, Ben and I both pushed back to our feet.

He grinned at me. "Hopefully the others aren't waiting on us."

"Let them wait," I said with a smile. "If they complain, I'll drop some rocks on their heads."

Ben laughed and tossed an arm over her shoulders. "That was awesome. Jayme Jackson, daughter of Poseidon, and commander of earthquakes."

I smiled back at him, laughing. I liked that title. I liked it a lot.

Maybe I wasn't so useless after all.