Jason stood at the back of one of the lifeboats. He faced backwards to blow a wind that pushed both boats onward. As they gained speed, he glanced at the others to see how they were faring in this incessant storm.

Shoon sat in the middle, shivering. Will wrapped a thick blanket around her. Leona's flame guided the boats in the dark, the orange light making her and Piper, who was next to her, seem divine. Meanwhile, Lilian was covered in carrot mush.

Annabeth led them in rowing so that one boat was directly behind another, streamlining them to go faster without their oars hitting each other. Marcus fawned over the tusk he'd ripped out of the narwhal's bulbous head. The creature had destroyed their magnificent Glorious but was dead now, thanks to Nico, who had gone missing after shadow travelling away to avoid getting crushed by the giant corpse.

Why couldn't he have shadow travelled into one of the lifeboats? Jason thought grouchily. He could be all the way in Greece by now. He imagined Nico di Angelo summoning an army of skeletons to defend the Parthenon single-handedly. But in Rachel's prophecy, the Heir to Tartarus was only one part of the quest—and it didn't take nine demigods to escort someone who could shadow travel himself. Besides, he'd promised to help Jason and Marcus. He was probably in Italy, or maybe Tartarus already.

"I see him!" Percy called out. While Jason was at the back of their formation, Percy stood at the front, directing the waters to accelerate them. They leaped from the lifeboats onto the pier of Lagos, Shoon's blanket fluttering away.

A group of locals clustered around an unconscious boy, sodden from the pelting rain. Jason's breath caught; he'd forgotten Nico was only a year older than Shoon. Lying there, surrounded by gawking, concerned strangers, he looked small—almost fragile.

Will marched into the crowd. "He's with us!"

The locals blocked him and spoke in rapidfire Portuguese. Jason caught their word for 'police', which was practically universal in almost all European languages. They probably thought they were protecting the unconscious boy in their midst by shielding him from these sodden, crazy-looking teenagers.

Will spoke to them in Italian. Leona helped by speaking in Spanish, which was closer to Portuguese than Italian was. Piper soothed them in French, though his charmspeak was less effective with a crowd who could barely understand them. Shoon joined in the chaos with unhelpful Chinese and snapping gestures.

Percy nudged Annabeth. "Go speak Greek with them and get us out of this mess, Wise Girl."

Annabeth nudged Percy back, harder. "That's almost as far from Portuguese as Mandarin, Seaweed Brain."

Lilian tipped xyr head to the side. "I've always wanted to learn Mandarin."

Annabeth nodded. "Same. It seems like it'd be intellectually stimulating."

Jason exchanged an exasperated look with Marcus. This was going nowhere. Marcus muttered, "For gods' sake..."

The brawny boy shoved through the crowd, not caring when the locals yelled at him in Portuguese. He picked up Nico and slung him over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Will hissed, "Don't touch him."

Marcus startled. Piper placed a hand on Will's shoulder to try to calm him. Jason took Nico from Marcus to keep their group civil and started sprinting. Leona called over her shoulder, "Hasta la pasta, my fellow Iberians!"

Jason set Nico down on a park bench; the dark-haired boy was beginning to wake up. Annabeth examined a map put on display in the park to help tourists. "At this point, travelling by land will be more ideal, at least until we reach Alicante. Streetcars will get us around most efficiently since none of us can drive in Europe, but no sane streetcar operator would let us board like this."

Shoon rubbed her hands with glee. "Makeover time! With European fashion!"

Leona bumped her shoulder, though she was smiling. "This isn't Paris, Wu. That's all the way in the northern region of France."

Jason was impressed. "You know your geography."

Piper rolled his eyes.

With limited funds, they kept their wardrobe simple. Most of their splurging was on a giant umbrella that rivalled Marcus's narwhal tusk spear in size. Jason wondered what mortals saw the spear as from the Mist.

There was something calming about riding a streetcar, even under the time constraint of their quest. Jason enjoyed the lull of the car on the electric rails, and he didn't mind switching cars with lines and municipalities. Crossing the border in Europe was also a peaceful affair. Jason couldn't tell the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, but he knew they were in Spain when Leona started translating people's gossip.

They reached Alicante in a few days, stopping by motels and renting rooms in twos and threes. Jason couldn't get a night alone with Piper. Somehow, Leona always wormed her way in between them. Jason wanted to apologize to his boyfriend, knowing he'd upset him, but it was never the right time.

Though it was April – both chilly and rainy – Leona wore a dark red bikini top and long golden skirt. She kicked off her sneakers and ran onto the beach with a cheer. "El Castillo de Santa Bárbara!"

The Santa Bárbara Castle was a subtle structure that almost blended in with the beachside cliffs. There was something off about the turret, though.

Leona ran back to them. "Acalica!"

Percy blinked. "Aca-what?"

Jason reached for Yulius. "The Acalica. They're monsters from Bolivia who usually live in underground caves. Nasty beings, really. They can control the weather, so they're sometimes referred to as weather-fairies."

"I thought you forgot demigod-related stuff."

"This is monster-related stuff, not demigod-related stuff."

"You think they're the ones behind this wretched storm?"

Marcus fumbled to pull out his spiral spear, his giant umbrella popping open in the process. "Don't think—just fight."

Percy gave him an exasperated look. "This is why no one likes you, man." Still, he drew his pen, ready to battle the wizened monsters on the top of the tower.

Nico blocked him with his sword. "Will's got this."

While they had been bickering, Will Solace charged up the cliff. His demigod training allowed him to scale the rocks faster and more easily than even the most athletic tourists, who watched in amazement. Although Will was unarmed, he held his ground against the skeletal grey fairies. He threw them down the cliff one at a time; soon, there were only three left.

Jason tensed. Will looked like he was getting tired. But Nico had absolute faith in his boyfriend, and vice versa. Will turned to him and nodded.

Nico raised up a shadow that covered everyone except Will and the remaining Acalica monsters. Jason squinted to see past the shadows. Will seemed to glow, brighter and brighter, until Jason had to turn away or it would be like looking directly at the sun.

The Sun's Own Kind. This was Will's power—beyond healing, archery, and music, he was like the sun itself.

The light faded, the shadow receded, and when Jason looked up, the weather fairies lay around Will, their skin shrivelled and blotted. Annabeth gasped. "Stage four cancer symptoms. My gods, Nico, your boyfriend causes cancer!"

Nico glared at her. "Don't say that again."

Jason joined Will on the tower, the others remaining on the beach. He had to admit, the deceased corpses were frightening. Since they'd died from sickness and not a beheading or some other more common way of dying, their bodies didn't disintegrate right away. It was a macabre sight. Once again, Jason wondered what the mortals would see.

"Sorry you had to see that," Will said.

"Don't be. It's... this isn't like you. Are you okay?"

Will looked at Jason in distress, his pale blue eyes matching Jason's own. "This whole time, I've been so angry. I know it's wrong, but I hated Marcus. That guy is his own brand of crazy."

Jason remembered with dread that Will didn't know Marcus's real story, only rumours of what he'd done. He was right to be afraid.

"But then when I fought all these monsters, I... I think I'm a bit closer to understanding him." Will turned toward the ocean. The sun was setting, dyeing the water red. "I won't presume what he's going through, but I can empathize with him. That's important for a future doctor, right? It's important for anyone." He wrung his hands. "Nico and I don't always see eye-to-eye, especially when he uses his demigod powers, but I think I'm closer to understanding him, too." Glancing down, he muttered, "Gods, I don't know why I'm telling you this. Before your accident, we'd never have spoken like this."

The monsters were finally disintegrating. The storm had cleared, too. Jason hadn't noticed when the raindrops stopped hitting him, but as he joined Will at the edge of the tower, he could admire the view. For the first time in months, the sun was out.