AN: Changed chapter title.

Chapter 17: I try to drown a goddess

POV: Percy

I realized something was wrong the moment Annabeth moved abruptly.

I realized what was wrong when she broke open the trunk of the car.

A moment later I was already at her side looking into it. What I saw should have been surprising or maybe confusing, but strangely it made so much sense to me.

In front of me laid a girl that looked so much like Thalia, but I knew couldn't be, because Thalia was a tree right now. And even if she weren't, Thalia would still be thirteen, or even older depending on how one wanted to look at it. This girl couldn't be older than nine, or maybe ten.

"I found out my mother died in a car crash," Thalia had once told me.

And in the end, only hours before she sacrificed herself, she had also shared that somebody immortal had messed with her memories, but that Apollo had been unwilling to restore it for her, trying to protect her from something painful in it.

And right now, I was sure that I was looking at his reason.

This was … bad, to say the least.

"Quick, we have to leave befo-" I started to hiss to Annabeth, but interrupted myself when I could feel the air around us prickle.

"Too late," Annabeth ground out between clenched teeth, clear anger showing on her face.

She was as aware as I was about which goddess had just appeared behind us. If Zeus was renowned for sleeping with anything that hadn't hidden fast enough from him, then his wife was renowned for bringing misfortune to the ones he did.

I schooled my face and turned around to find the Queen goddess smiling sweetly at us, but all I could see was the gruel smile she had worn in my latest dream.

"Ah, young heroes," she said, her simpering smile and overly sweet voice making me want to hurl, "those were truly commendable actions you have shown just now."

"But of course, she is family after all," I couldn't help but mock her in the same overly sweet voice she was using.

She didn't show any outward reaction but a small twitch of her eye. "Yes, as I said, truly commendable," she answered pretending as if nothing happened, but there was now a slight strain in her voice. "Now, I have a request of the utmost importance, and I would be ever so grateful for your aid if you could just hand the poor child over to my loving care."

I didn't know if Zeus had tried to kill her or had had another purpose, but what Hera wanted was perfectly clear. She couldn't just take the girl, so she wanted us to hand her over. To destroy it like she had made sure the other one had been.

"And do tell me, why exactly I should hand her over to your loving care?" I could hear myself ask in a calm voice that belied the depth of my true feelings. "If I wanted her to be thrown off Olympus, I would do it myself."

The effect was immediate.

"How dare you," she bristled, looking mighty offended by what I had just implied, before turning her nose up at us. "I have you know, that was my husband. I am a goddess of family. I desire only what is best for this family."

I suppressed a snort. As if I would believe that what she considered "best" would be anywhere near the best thing for us. Just killing you instead of making you lose your mind and murder your loved ones was already considered being nice by her standards.

"And I really would like to know how exactly that came to be," I wondered loudly, "but I guess that is just because they needed somebody to stand for abusive families and you were a perfect fit."

With content, I saw Hera finally drop her façade. The anger she showed was leaving me completely cold, however.

"I will not be talked to like that," she warned. "You will better show me the respect I deserve, or else…"

"The only thing you deserve is contempt," I told her earnestly. "So, unless you want to directly break the rules by attacking us… No? Then how about you get lost, for I do not care for your presence."

Following my words, there was a stunned silence for a moment.

"You will regret this, Perseus Jackson," Hera said seething after she had collected herself again. "None of you should have been born. And I will make sure that by the time I'm through with you, you will wish the same."

I knew that she meant it too. She would do her best to have her revenge. Or to be more precise she would do her worst. But it didn't matter to me. Ares was an ass and bully, and I disliked him for this. I didn't dislike Hera. No, dislike would be too weak a word for what I was feeling. Even with the little interaction I had with her and only knowing maybe half her myths I could say one thing for sure.

I absolutely loathed her.

The only reason she was even here, was so that she could kill an innocent little girl, and there was no way I would ever stand for this. I had no problem facing Kronos, so why should I be afraid of somebody like her?

Sure, insulting the gods always carried the risk of getting spontaneously evaporated, but it was not like I ever cared about such minor problems. And I figured I had enough powerful gods on my sight to make them think twice about actually doing it.

Probably…

So anyway, I figured I should just speak my mind. And there was still the fact that I wasn't a pushover either.

I allowed to let my true feelings show in my gaze; my cold fury, the promise of a slow and painful death if she didn't remove herself from my sight.

And this time, I couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction as Hera flinched and took a step away from me.

"Then you better prepare for the consequences, because I do not fear death," I told her, and it was true, I had already seen the Underworld and it wasn't scary at all. Not that I particularly wanted to go there in any form. "But let me warn you, there are far worse things than that."

She didn't answer, only giving me a hateful look disappearing quickly, but not before I had not also seen her uneasiness and a hint of fear.

I turned looking at the unsurprisingly – she did hate Hera with a passion after all even if she was usually more restrained than me – silently laughing form of Annabeth.

"You could have said something too, you know," I told her in jest.

"Why? You didn't seem to need any help and I liked what you had to say to her," she answered lightly.

Hearing the sounds of approaching sirens sobered us up immediately though.

"I'll carry her, while you watch out for enemies," Annabeth said in a serious tone. "No detours."

Meaning Crusty would get to live for a while longer. Lucky him.

I turned setting my eyes on the others for the first time since Hera's appearance. The way Grover looked, was… within expectation really, and I will leave it at that. The others were staring at me with wide eyes, though I think only Bianca had an inkling of how severe the situation really was.

"You know, I hadn't been serious when I said we were missing children of Zeus," Grover groaned.

"Yeah, the joke's on you though," I said, giving him a cheery smile, "Let's go, and stay together. And try not to die guys."

"I hate my life."

PJ&AC

Traveling by bus would pose too easy a target, so for the second time today, we found ourselves racing through the streets of Los Angeles. All my senses were working overtime, and surprisingly this time it wasn't the shadows I was wary of.

I knew this was a race against time, one I reckoned we were losing. I doubted we would be able to reach the Underworld without havening to fight anything - not with Hera out for blood and not with having six demigods, five children of the big three here - so I wasn't surprised when I ended up being right. To say we met a few monsters along the way would be a major understatement.

It wasn't as if it was anything that I couldn't take care of within moments, but every single one forced us to slow down, and by the time we came close to our destination it was already dark.

When the DOA Recording Studios finally came into view, the monsters ceased to appear, and Grover's nose told us there wouldn't be any more ahead. Being so close to safety would make less experienced fighters relax, but I knew better than drop my guard.

The situation practically screamed the word trap to me, so I had no problem deflecting the two arrows flying at us the moment we stepped into the street of our destination. Not that I would have had any problems hadn't I been wary in the first place. I mean who in Hera's cursed name uses glowing arrows in an ambush? We had to be facing either a complete idiot or somebody extremely full of themselves.

Three human-looking shapes dressed in armor blocked our path to safety. It wasn't any kind of Greek armor though, no, it was something I remembered seeing in Chiron's Latin classes: Full sets of Roman armor, including swords, javelins, and heavy rectangular shields.

I decided to try a diplomatic approach, figuring that there was a chance – a tiny one I admit, but still – that our meeting was pure coincidence and they simply had fired on accident mistaken us for monsters.

"Would you kindly move to the side?" I asked in the most innocent-sounding voice I could manage. "We have an important delivery to make here?"

"Yes, we know. We already expected you, thieves," the one on the left – a skinny youth, probably only slightly older than me, with blond hair, pale skin, and crazed blue eyes – said. "Had Lady Juno not warned us, you might even have been successful in your treasonous actions, but now that we're here you no longer stand any chance whatsoever."

Everything from the way he talked to how he looked reminded me of Luke, and I immediately disliked him. He had to be the one to shoot at us because he was the only one to have a bow, but what confused me was that there had been two arrows. I mean I figured that he was most likely a son of Apollo, and shooting multiple came naturally to them, but what child of Apollo could only shoot two at once in an ambush situation? The children in camp would be embarrassed to even be related to him.

Listening to him talk, I decided the guy was probably too full of himself, but also a moron. My favorite combination of enemies really.

"You seem sure of yourself, is that the reason why you shoot glowing arrows in an ambush?" I taunted, causing him to splutter and his cheeks to color visibly even in the low light.

"No matter," the one on the right said – a tall teen with a mop of brown hair over his cruel green eyes, in a color reminding me of pond scum, "this way is more exciting anyway. Where would the fun be if you die without experiencing the pain and fear of being killed? I always wanted to show my father's powers superiority over other children of the Underworld."

I liked this one even less, he sounded like a little psychopath. His broken nose made the twisted smile he showed even more sinister. He would be right at home with the titans and monsters we usually faced. By the sound of his words, he seemed to be a child of an Underworld deity too, not that I would know which one that could be. The one thing I did know, was that I wouldn't want to meet that one.

"Stand down, Octavian, Bryce. There is no need to unnecessarily spill any blood," the last one said, and I decided I at least liked this one.

Even I had to admit that he looked handsome, with the regal features of a Roman statue, sky blue eyes, and close-cropped blond hair. He reminded me of a blonde superman. The only thing not fitting the picture was a small scar in the corner of his lips. And while he was taller than me with a very athletic build and certainly more muscular too, his face still showed the innocence of a child, so I guessed him to be actually younger than I was right now.

Unlike the ones he called Octavian and Bryce, his face was kind and gentle and going by the tone he used and the way he had reacted, he didn't seem to be particularly fond of the two of them either, which raised my opinion of him another notch.

"But Jason-" the one on the left began but was interrupted, causing him to scowl.

"No Octavian," the newly named Jason said calmly. "As long as they return my father's master bolt to me, we will allow them to go in peace."

I startled. I figured they were after the bolt after they had called us thieves. But his father's bolt? Then that would mean…

No, even if that information raised a lot of questions, now was not the time to think about this, not until we had reached a safe place at least.

This Jason seemed rational enough, so maybe we could talk this out and end this peacefully?

"We are not thieves," I began, trying not to sound too annoyed, because I figured it wasn't his fault he had been lied to, and I actually started to like the guy.

"Oh please," Octavian scoffed. "You can keep your lies to yourself. Lady Juno has told us all about you. Neptune, Pluto, and their children working together against Lord Jupiter in stealing the most powerful weapon in existence. We will not be tricked."

Right, of course, she did. While I had no idea how respected she was by the Romans, most people probably wouldn't ignore when a goddess gave you a quest, so there was no way they would just let us go. They seemed to call us by our parents' Roman names, so I figured Hera didn't want to reveal the secret of the split, even sending them here was probably quite the risk on her part. Better not put attention to it either, I decided, only hoping I didn't get any of their names wrong.

"That is not true-" Annabeth tried to explain.

"Blasphemy! Are you insinuating Queen Juno has lied!" Octavian interrupted again in his shrill voice, causing Annabeth to roll her eyes at him - because yes Hera did in fact lie - then going on as if nothing happened.

"-but as we won't be able to prove it, how about we allow you to accompany us to make sure we deliver it to him. I see no problem with this arrangement."

Well, there were probably a lot of problems with this arrangement.

For one, having Greek and Roman demigods travel together to Olympus sounded like a terrible idea. Yet it was a good opportunity to prove our innocence and possibly give us some good reputation among the Romans as well. I could see that Jason was considering our offer. Ever since we met, he had been attentively studying our group and I could tell that he at least didn't consider us outright evil and was now at a loss at what to do.

"I-" Jason begun, his brows knit in thought, but he was interrupted by Octavian again.

"You can not honestly think to believe them, Jason," he exclaimed, and I really started to want to punch him in his annoying face. "It is clearly a trap. They will betray us the moment we step foot in the Underworld. Have you forgotten Lady Juno's warning? We have been told to kill them and hand their possessions over to her. Are you honestly considering going against a direct order of the Queen, Centurion?"

Even before Jason answered I knew that we would end up having to fight our way through. And I was right because even though he obviously didn't like it, he seemed to have resolved himself to do it.

I did too. There were only three of them and - even knowing Jason seemed to be a son of Zeus - I was confident I could take them if I went all out. And there was still Annabeth who was as experienced as I was.

It seemed easy enough, which was exactly the reason I hesitated to do so. There was no way this was all Hera had to offer, her warning had been clear in that. No, there had to be something else hidden here too.

My eyes fell at the doors behind them. They had been open the last time, giving us no problems to enter, but could Hera block them? Yeah, she probably could. Trying to break through the demigods' formation would make us vulnerable and if the doors wouldn't open, we would really be trapped. We had to bring this fight to our own turf instead.

Well, seemed like he was out of luck after all.

"Crusty's place," I whispered under my breath to Annabeth, before concentrating my powers.

A three-meter-high water wave erupted out of me rolling at the Roman demigods before they had a chance to attack again.

"Run!" Annabeth shouted, taking the lead at chasing through the city…

Again. This was getting old really fast.

All my senses were heightened, I could tell all details around me, my ADHD making time seem to flow slower around me. And what I saw would have been more shocking, hadn't I seen Thalia do that once. Because above us flying in the sky, was Jason, but unlike Thalia who had barely flown a foot above the ground, he didn't seem to suffer from a fear of heights.

I was feeling the attack even before I saw it, a javelin flying straight at us, the air around us changing foretelling another attack.

I was faster.

Deflecting the javelin with my sword, I immediately changed Riptide to my left hand, catching the deflected javelin in my right before it even reached the ground and had it thrown back at its owner forcing him to dodge.

The air around us settled again, the attack interrupted, and I dashed after my friends, keeping an eye on Jason. He was following us in the air but seemed reluctant to attack again. If we could see him, then so could his comrades, so most likely he was leading his reinforcements after us. By my estimation, we would have reached our destination before they could have caught up though.

I pulled ahead next to Annabeth. "How did she get somebody here so fast? And is she stupid using Romans? " I asked quietly.

"They were probably already close-by, to hunt the Caucasian Eagle," Annabeth answered. "And it was probably the only way she could have stopped us in time."

That made sense. Annabeth's dream had been last night for us, but that was before we entered the Lotus Casino, so it meant it had been multiple days outside already. If their camp was anything like ours, they would have sent somebody if such a powerful monster stayed that close to them.

Crusty's Waterbed Palace finally came into sight, and after one last look to make sure Jason wouldn't attack us again, I went through the door first, getting greeted by Crusty standing to the side of the room.

"Hi, I'm Crusty," he said, with his tartar-yellow smile.

I had him explode into golden dust before he could say anything else.

"Yeah, I so do not have time for your stupid antics right now," I grumbled, then pointed at Crusty's sales desk. "Take cover behind there. We need to lure them deeper in the store, we have the advantage in here."

Everybody followed my orders without complained, even though most of them were probably afraid and confused. The only one left standing alone in the middle of the shop was me.

It was better like this, as Annabeth and I were the only ones with a weapon right now. Grover had his pipes, but he wasn't particularly good with them yet, and while there was Crusty's double-bladed brass ax, that one was so huge that maybe somebody like Clarisse could have used it but it would be of no use to any of us.

No, weapons wise we were at the disadvantage, so we had to use our surroundings in our favor. And it was a huge advantage because I highly doubted, they knew what Crusty stood for if they could even read the sign at all.

PJ&AC

The door opened and the three demigods entered the shop, spotting me immediately.

"Tired of running away, little coward?" Octavian asked, sneering at me, his bow strapped over his shoulder.

"From you?" I asked, smirking at him. "Hardly. For a son of Apollo, you are a lousy shot."

His face turned dark. "I am a legacy of Apollo, and just wait, I don't need a bow to kill you."

I didn't really know what a legacy was but didn't have the time thinking about it right now either.

"Be careful," Jason warned, his eyes searching his surroundings, "it's likely a trap."

"Whatever," Bryce answered him, showing us a twisted smile, and now that he was in the light, I could tell his front teeth were different shades of yellow, "as long as I can finally kill them. I alone am enough to handle this."

He showed off his sword, completely made of gold. It was the same one the other two were carrying as well. It reminded me of the one the demigod leader of Kronos' army had used. Could that be the roman version of celestial bronze?

"You see, I am a legacy of Orcus, the god of punishment in the Underworld," he elaborated, and I figured based on the word and the way both he and Octavian had talked, a legacy probably had to be a god's grandchild or something. "Why don't you come out daughter of Pluto? Come witness my father's might. I would love to make you acquainted with my sword, pathetic little girl."

"Don't talk to my sister that way," Nico said, his head suddenly appearing behind the desk. His voice quivered, but he again showed how much guts he had. "And you can take your sword and put it up your-"

"Nico! Stay where you are. That goes for all of you," I warned, turning to Bryce. "And I will not allow you to get past me."

That guy gave me the creeps, and I really didn't want any of the others even close to him. I was sure Annabeth was already somewhere around, wearing her cap. All I had to do was attract their attention and wait until an opportunity arose that gave her a chance to surprise them.

"Ah, I forgot to mention. I won't actually fight alone," Bryce said, stepping forward, the other two reacting and making a step back instead.

Where his foot touched the stones rumbled like they were coming to the boil. A dozen skeletal warriors in the tattered remains of British redcoat uniforms erupted. I inwardly cursed. They reminded me of the ones Atlas had sicked on us and if they were anything like them, they would have no problem seeing through Annabeth's invisibility.

"A graveyard would be better, but so close to the entrance of the Underworld is good enough as well. As you can see, I have backup. These redcoats promised quarter to the colonials. Then they butchered them. Personally, I like a good massacre, but, because they broke their oaths, their spirits were damned, and they are perpetually under the power of Orcus. Which means they are also under my control-"

Before he could say anything else, I surged forward. I decided that trying to put him out of the fight as soon as possible was the best choice of action, but the skeletons interfered. I tried slashing at the first skeletons instead, but my sword harmlessly passed through them, and so I was forced to jump to the side and away from their attacks to not get skewered. Which was really bad, because now I was separated from the others.

"That won't work, Son of Neptune," Bryce answered laughing, safely behind the skeletons. "Not even a child of Pluto can do that. They have such power, and still, they are nothing in front of me. I will have fun making you suffer."

"Bryce!" Jason's said, for the first time his voice wasn't gentle anymore but had a dangerous edge to it. "You will do no such thing. This is not appropriate behavior for a legionnaire. Do not think this will not be reported."

He drew his sword and approached me. "Octavian help him. You are to disarm but not injure them if they surrender. Only kill them if there is no other way. I will not allow any disobedience."

Bryce's face turned dark. "Tsk," he grumbled.

I crossed swords with Jason, immediately realizing that he was the least dangerous of the lot, but not because he was weak. No, even during this short duel, I could tell his swordsmanship was flawless and he would likely have been better than me, had I still been my body's real age. He might be young, but he certainly had trained hard for a long time, yet that was where his big flaw laid as well.

He was dueling me, rigidly keeping to a learned sword form. There was no flexibility in his moves, no blood lust. I was certain he had never experienced a life-or-death fight yet. Not that I was trying to kill him, but he was simply missing real-life experience. Of having somebody using every dirty trick to win and kill you. Something I had tons of experience in. And while he might have been better than twelve-year-old me, he wasn't even close to my strength right now.

It didn't even take me ten seconds to disarm him. After crossing swords a few times, I simply let one of the waterbeds explode into his face, distracting him and a moment later his sword was slithering over the floor, my sword pointed at his neck.

Multiple other things happened at the same moment.

There was a snap followed by a shrill scream. I could see how Octavian's leg bent in the wrong direction and he started to fall, only for him to suddenly jerk midair and end up being thrown by an invisible force onto one of the beds.

At the same moment, Bryce's shadow suddenly quivered. As if the fates were throwing back his earlier taunts, he was caught completely off guard when Bianca jumped out of it, slicing him across the face, Annabeth's dagger in hand.

"Argh!" he cried out, his hands pressing against his face. He staggered backward, his foot getting caught in one of the bedposts and he too fell onto one of the beds.

"Ergo!" Grover yelled, snipping his fingers and ropes lashed around the two, flattening them against the mattresses, causing Octavian to pitifully wail upon having his broken leg forcibly moved.

Bryce reacted opposite to him. "Kill them, rip the girl apart!" he bellowed, red blood flowing down his face, and the skeletons reacted instantly, swarming around Bianca.

Bianca was trying to hide behind Bryce's dropped shield, after her dagger, same as my sword, had harmlessly passed through them. But I could see it wouldn't protect her for long, because the wood already started cracking.

"No! Stop this! Leave her alone!" Nico screamed, his hand crumbling his shirt above his heart, his voice filled with terror.

I almost expected the ground to start rumbling beneath me, to rip open and swallow them like it had happened the time we were surprised by the skeletons hunting me when I had told him about Bianca's death.

But it didn't.

What happened was that the shield splintered and one of the skeletons' attack found flesh. Bianca screamed and all Hades broke loose.

The air around us dropped to freezing, the water in the beds turned to ice. The ground blackened. With a horrible cry, Nico unleashed a flood of pain and anger on everyone in the room. We experienced scenes he shouldn't remember; him learning about his sister's death, his lonely travel through the Underworld, and the labyrinth. We could feel his anguish from the day Zeus had killed his mother.

I didn't know what else would have happened, but the moment the skeletons turned to dust, Nico collapsed, his face deathly pale.

Bianca disappeared, reappearing at his side from his shadow again. "Nico! No, no, no! Please wake up!" she cried out, tears flowing down her face, her voice breaking. She wasn't the only one. Allapsar was crying too, and Grover had a self-loathing look on his face, most likely remembering Thalia's death.

I stood frozen, my sword still at Jason's neck, whose hair was covered in frost now. Luckily, he was too shocked to move. I didn't know what I should do when the air beside them rippled and Annabeth appeared, a worried look on her face, a canteen of nectar immediately in her hand.

For a long moment, there was a crushing atmosphere, the silence only interrupted by crying.

Then Annabeth spoke up again, "It's ok. He's just used too much of his powers." She gave Bianca a gentle smile. "Everything is going to be fine with him, so how about you let me look at your own injury."

With this, the spell broke and I started moving again. After I made sure that Jason wouldn't try anything, I let my eyes wander over the other two.

Bryce Lawrence lay unmoving, his chest barely rising and falling. Whatever it was Nico had done, it had almost killed both of them.

Octavian was still awake, whimpering quietly, though I wasn't sure if it was in pain or in fear. There was some fluid dripping down his bed that I didn't want to know the origin of.

"Jason," I said, startling him. "Do legacies survive taking nectar and ambrosia?"

He nodded jerkily. "Not much," he croaked.

"Grover," I said lowly, "Give those two a small amount of nectar from my canteen as well, please."

I didn't really want to after they tried to kill us, but I didn't want them to die either. And not only because it would only worsen our chances with the Roman camp if we let them die.

PJ&AC

I was silently watching the others work with the wounded. Now that everything was peaceful, for a moment I had the hope that it was finally over. I was mistaken of course.

The air in front of me suddenly hardened, slamming into me, and throwing me back. I was able to twist in the air and land on my feet, glaring at the newly arrived form, because while it had been air that had thrown me back, I just knew it hadn't been by Jason's doing.

Standing towering behind him with a stern and stately face stood Hera. Or rather what I figured was her Roman counterpart Juno. She was wearing a blue dress while a cloak made of goatskin hung over her shoulder, and in her hands, she was carrying a staff with a white lotus flower on top.

"You know, I am pretty sure I already told you once today to get lost. So, care to explain why you are here?" I asked angrily ignoring Jason's sharp intake of breath. Yeah, I would no longer even pretend to barely tolerate her. She seriously was on my bad side right now.

"Maybe her Bovine Majesty might want to explain why she interfered, instead?" Annabeth offered darkly, a golden blade resting against her shoulder, relaxed but immediately ready to strike. She chose her position in such a way that she would be able to protect our vulnerable group members, especially the unnamed daughter of Zeus, but could come to my aid if needed as well.

Juno just gave us a snobbish look, wrinkling her nose. "Believe me, if doing so would not have offended my sister, you can be sure that I would not have a need to be here. And neither would your mind, so you better hold your tongue, girl, before I forget myself," she warned, before giving us a cruel smirk. "And there is nothing wrong with coming to the aid of my Champion."

Her champion? Wait, but that would mean Jason was also…

"Jason, my dear, you hold no fault in your loss. It was simply that your weapon was of inferior quality," she said in an understanding voice, pulling out a golden coin that transformed into a sword she handed over to him. "This is IVLIVS, take it and let us claim victory in my name."

Jason hesitated. I could tell he didn't think it fair to have her support him after he essentially already lost the fight. He knew that we could have easily killed all of them had we wished to do so.

"My champion," Juno said, her voice now a dangerous edge to it, "you wouldn't want me to lose now, would you? And after receiving my generous gift."

"Of course not, Lady Juno," he murmured, giving me an apologetic look, and I returned a small nod, telling him I wouldn't hold it against him. He certainly had honor, even if that might end up getting him killed one day.

But what Juno had said had given me an idea. I searched and found my father's gifts in my pocket.

"They might come in handy," the Nereid had said earlier that day a little rueful – and hadn't that been an awkward but funny discussion. "Even if you most likely will no longer need them for their intended purpose."

I looked at Jason again. They didn't look anything alike, and since they seemed to be from different aspects, I hadn't put it together earlier. But after hearing what Juno had said, and after what I saw in my dream…

If he was really who I thought he was, I rather not be in a fight to the death with him. It would also make what Hera had tried to have him do only the more cruel.

I made a step forward. "So, let me get this straight," I said carefully. "You will have us fight your champion while you're going to legally interfere, and we can't even attack you or you would be allowed to fully join?"

"Not quite," she said, giving me a triumphant smile, waving her hand, creating a transparent barrier between me and the others. "I will have only you fight my champion. Just the two of you. It must be a fair fight, after all, right? If he proves more powerful, then the only one you could blame would be your father."

Or in other words, she would give him enough power to defeat me and then pretend I was just weaker. Good thing I had other plans.

I put my right hand above my heart and gave her a short but exaggerated bow.

"Then let me offer a last gift for the great Lady Juno. To show how appreciated her help in having her champion send me the easy way to the Underworld is," I simpered and straightened up again, throwing one of the pearls at her. She caught it easily in her fist. "As well as give her a message."

"And what, do you wish to be your last words?" she asked sneering, crushing the pearl in her hand without even looking what it was, letting the fragments drop to the floor.

"Goodbye!" I told her happily, giving a lopsided grin, waving with my hand.

For a short moment, nothing happened, then the pearl fragments at her feet exploded with a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wind. But unlike the time we used them, there wasn't a milky white sphere, but sea-green chains coiling around her, binding her limps to her body.

"How da-" she tried, but her screaming was muffled when the chains gagged her.

"I hope you drown," I called after her when the chains started to pull her in direction of the ocean, straight through the wall.

I knew we wouldn't see her anytime soon again when her barrier disappeared with her. I hoped my father dealt with her.

I focused on Jason again.

"Let's make this short and painless," I said, regretting how that sounded when Jason flinched. "The children of Ha- Pluto were imprisoned in the Lotus Eaters lair in Las Vegas until today. My sister was a statue until a week ago, and I didn't steal the bolt either. What I do need to do is return it until the solstice though, or your father is going to throw a hissy fit… again."

"And now that her most annoying and lying majesty is finally gone, we will do just that," Annabeth added, grumbling curses upon Hera under her breath. "After we return the Helm of Darkness to Pluto that is, as it had been stolen as well, not that she would care."

"And what about us?" Jason asked guardedly, trying to ignore the respectless way we were talking about the gods.

I approached him, pulling out the other two pearls from my pocket, handing him one.

"If you are ever in danger, break this at your feet," I said. "Its effects depend on what you need, but remember that what belongs to the sea, will always return to the sea."

"Why give me this?" Jason asked utterly confused.

"Ah, take it as an apology for what I'm about to do," I answered him, breaking the last one smirking at his feet. "And Thalia would probably kill me if she were to find out that I hadn't tried to help you when we met, Jason Grace."

That last one was a gamble, but it seemed to have paid off when his eyes widened in shock.

"How do you know my sis-" he began, but at that moment the pearl did its job, engulfing him in the same milky white sphere I already knew, and he disappeared as well.

AN: Hope you like the chapter.

And yes, I quite agree, this is the perfect place, and the one I wanted to introduce Jason. And Octavian and Bryce, because who doesn't like seeing those two get what they deserve. I hope I got them right. Especially Jason. I wanted to show that he is strong but nowhere close to be able to face the experienced Percy. That was it for characters of HOO though, for the next while at least. The next to get introduced is probably going to be Reyna.

As for Updates, the next one (and everyone from now on unless something has come up like yesterday) is going to be Friday. I want to have always at least four chapters in reserver so that in the worst case I have enough for a month, but should I end up ahead more than that secondary update day is going to be Monday, but I would announce that during the Friday chapter (definitely not this week though).

Next time: We make a delivery to the Underworld