Chapter 3

Athanasios woke up, his heart pounding.

Realizing that he was actually in his cabin, he muttered a few unfriendly curses toward Morpheus. He stood up and stretched, watching the light of the day illuminate the cabin's dark walls. He grumbled unhappily. He wasn't a big fan of all the light. And no, it wasn't just because he was the son of Hades.

But being the son of Hades meant he had dreams a little worse than the average demigod.

He remembered watching that child of Zeus kill his uncle. As a child of Hades, he could sense when someone died—typically demigods and monsters but sometimes mortals. In the dream, he felt a tingling sensation, a unique response to that man's death. The funny thing was that just a couple days ago he'd felt a disturbance... a tingling.

They felt exactly the same.

As Alexandros, son of Ares, put so eloquently, "Dreams are real, dammit!"

He exited the cabin, following the first item on his schedule for the day.

With all the fighting that had been going on between Greeks and Romans, the number of people at camp had dwindled down quite significantly.

It wasn't that small, but it was still near impossible to get to know everyone personally. After all, he was just a twelve-year-old kid. But he'd seen his fair share of older youths leaving to join the fight in the mortal world. This was supposed to be the final battle... the battle that would determine who would remain on the face of Gaea (literally): Greek demigods or the Roman legions.

If the reports were correct, there were four legions left: the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th. The Twelfth was having trouble in Frankia following a defeat handed to them by Ostrogoth forces. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth had merged to create one large legion, and they were marching down to Syria to secure the strongholds there. That left the Eleventh to fight on the frontlines in the heart of enemy territory while waiting for reinforcements.

The scouts reported that the Eleventh Legion had roughly two hundred and fifty soldiers, plus a couple dozen scattered as informants. The Twelfth Legion had been reduced from its mighty eight hundred to four hundred. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth together created a large force of over one thousand. Together, the remaining legions totalled at almost 1700 troops.

That, compared to the scatter of Greek demigods, was enormous. With Chiron's estimate, Greek demigods numbered at roughly five hundred... max.

How could the Greeks win the war? How was that possible?

Well, first of all, the Romans weren't fighting with 1700 troops. Those 1700 were scattered across the Empire, and only 250 were even nearby. Second of all, the Romans couldn't fight with all their troops, just like the Greeks. Quite a few of the warriors were children. There was no way eight-year-olds were getting into the fight. The Greek plan was to permit anyone, at a minimum ten years of age, to fight if they so wished. Even then, kids would always be guarded by older demigods in battle. Third of all, the Greek demigods organized themselves in the best possible way to fend off Romans. That is, to say, without any organization whatsoever.

It was a plan concocted a few centuries ago. Some said it was a collection of Athena's children that made the plan. Some said there was a single mastermind behind the whole process. Chiron would never say, insisting his only job was to prepare the Greek demigods for survival. Regardless of who made the plan, it was based on historical Greek power in the Mediterranean. Greeks were never a true powerhouse in the world. All demigods knew that. Not even Alexander the Great could unite all Greeks. Following the tale of Odysseus, or as the Romans called him, Ulysses, everyone knew trickery was the only way they were going to win. It was the way they had been fighting for several hundred years, and it was working.

Ever since the strategy began, the Roman legions crumbled from over twenty-four down to the measly four that remained.

What was that strategy?

Well, Diocletian was the last true demigod emperor of Rome, a son of Jupiter who gave up and retired peacefully. He was coerced into letting Constantine, a mortal, rule the Empire. It was good for the Greeks. Why? Because Constantine enacted Christianity as the Empire's religion. How could that help? Because it turned the entire Eastern Roman Empire into a mortal-led region. Paganism was overturned, and the Roman pantheon would come to exist predominantly in the West, where true Roman power lay.

It was a hammer-and-anvil plan.

With Christianity rising in the East, Greek demigods would lay siege to Western Rome. With the Germanic tribes, they would crush what remained of the West before storming east to destroy the last legions.

The only problem was that many of the Ostrogoths turned on Greek demigods.

The barbarians saw them as a threat to their own power. While Greek demigods existed in the west, they were few and far between, and the only help they could provide was harassing the Twelfth Legion.

Chiron had told him that every civil war between Greek and Roman demigods had been started by a child of Athena, seeking an old Athenian relic out of revenge. Even as a son of Hades, Athanasios was scared by the unwavering strength and anger children of Athena had toward the Romans. He wasn't sure there were any demigods scarier than children of Athena.

"Yeah, sure," scoffed Ionna. Her grey eyes were stormier than usual. "And summoning skeletons from the dirt isn't scary."

"I never said it wasn't scary," he pointed out.

"Most people would find it scarier than a blonde-headed kid with grey eyes."

"Have you seen your brothers and sisters?" Athanasios asked incredulously. "I swear, if looks could kill, children of Athena would be murderers."

"Whatever, Thanas," Ionna grumbled.

They were on patrol duty first thing in the morning. Of course, there was a giant drakon helping patrol the camp's borders, but the entrance always needed a pair of demigod eyes, just in case something bad happened.

The camp consisted of a few adults, mainly to keep an eye on things. The majority of the camp was comprised of children and adolescents training for war. He and Ionna were twelve... on the younger side of the recruits. That was mainly true because few Greek demigods made it to camp in the first place. The ones who did usually ranged anywhere from eight to sixteen. And the younger ones only made it because they, typically, weren't children of the Olympians but rather of minor gods. They were 'the unclaimed.' They found out about their identity before the monsters came to kill them.

Athanasios arrived at camp when he was barely a toddler. He couldn't remember his mother. He didn't know whether she'd died or if she'd just given him up to leave the crazy world of monsters and gods. His whole life had been spent at the camp, and he knew he would do everything in his power to save it.

He'd been claimed almost as soon as he arrived. He'd grown up as 'the child of Hades'. Everyone knew who he was and what he was capable of. For ten years, he trained, striving to become more and more powerful.

Now, he could summon a small force of perhaps a hundred skeletal warriors to fight for him without feeling faint. It wasn't like he needed much more than that. Even if the Roman numbers were double that, the skeleton warriors were simply there as a distraction while the children of Apollo and Hephaestus bombarded the enemy forces with arrows and siege weaponry.

He'd even practised controlling old stones and gems, though he wasn't quite as proficient at that power. It came in handy whenever Roman golden eagles were spotted. Even if they were fairly far off, he had enough power to snap the animal's wings off and send it spiralling down. The children of Hephaestus would take the body, install a weird device into its head which essentially made the golden eagle dumb and let it fly back.

Ionna yawned. She looked bored.

Sentry duty was normally a boring position anyway. Even if it was for precaution, Iris-messages were constantly sent back and forth to detail the position of the Roman forces. Greek demigods were always darting around, engaging in unconventional tactics... provoking Roman scouts and leading them around in circles. Most of the time, sentry duty passed without a single thing happening.

Usually the only time when they were disturbed was when satyrs or other demigods brought new recruits into the fold.

Athanasios quietly summoned a skeleton soldier behind Ionna. He discreetly motioned toward Ionna, signalling the skeleton soldier to scare her. The skeleton understood. It faced Ionna's back and grabbed her shoulders with its bony hands.

Ionna whirled around and shrieked, slicing the skeleton's head off with her dagger.

Athanasios laughed.

"You think this is funny?!" Ionna's eyes blazed with anger. There was the patented death-glare from children of Athena. "We're at war with the Romans! If you had been the one sneaking up on me, you'd be dead!"

He continued to laugh, though her eyes were making him feel unnerved. He leaned in and poked her nose. "Gotcha."

Ionna pulled away from him, covering her nose. Blood rushed to her cheeks and she turned red. She muttered a few indecent curses at him in the old tongue.

Where Ionna was different from her siblings was that she was his age. Since she wasn't older than him, she didn't scare him that much. Maybe it was also because she was pretty. Sometimes it was hard to say, considering all children of Athena had blonde hair and grey eyes, but each of them had slightly different facial features. Some looked more like Athena. Some looked more like their fathers. To him, Ionna was cuter than any of her siblings, both older and younger.

"Should I kick you where it hurts?" she threatened.

"I'm good," he grinned.

She shook her head in disapproval and turned to face outward from the entrance.

It was a good thing she did because they might have looked super silly for not noticing a sudden guest.

"Oh..." Ionna looked surprised. "Hi, there."

Athanasios turned to face the newcomers.

It was a cloaked woman with a child. The child looked just a bit younger than him and Ionna. Maybe nine or ten. The woman was smiling at them as if she had been watching her two long-lost children. Her smile was distant, as if a part of her had been lost a long time ago. Her eyes glistened with worry. It seemed like she'd come from a place of death.

"I'll bring her to Chiron," Ionna said suddenly. She turned to him. "Guard her on her way out."

"That won't be necessary," the woman intervened. She stared at her so intensely, Athanasios thought her eyes were literally blazing with fire. "I've come to meet Chiron."

Athanasios and Ionna glanced at each other.

Neither of them knew who the woman was or what she possibly could be, but there was no doubt that the girl was a demigod... a Greek demigod. There was just something about her features that screamed 'GREEK'. He scanned her sea-green eyes, which seemed mysterious and powerful.

Until that day, he was certain he was the most powerful demigod at the camp. Even if he still was, he could sense danger from the girl. Parts of him screamed that she was an enemy... but not like a Roman enemy. When he looked back at Ionna, he knew immediately who the girl's godly parent was. Her eyes reflected the ocean. She was a child of Poseidon.

"Well... that's a surprise..."

Athanasios and Ionna whipped around to find Alexandros and Viviana watching them with interest. Alexandros opened his mouth to say something, but Viviana quickly stepped forward. The daughter of Hermes caught on quickly.

"You guys should go on to Chiron," she said. "We'll take over sentry duty."

"Great," muttered Alexandros. "Another girl."

"Don't underestimate girls," Viviana said through gritted teeth.

He gestured to his chest. "Normally girls have these things to hinder them from combat. I suppose you wouldn't know."

Athanasios could tell where this conversation was about to go. Granted, he was the only other guy there, but he wasn't exactly fond of the topic. He grabbed Ionna's and the girl's hands and began to drag them off to the headquarters.

"Let's go."

"Good idea," the woman muttered, a frown appearing on her face as she looked at the bickering son of Ares and daughter of Hermes.

She and Chiron greeted each other like lost friends. It was weird.

The woman turned out to be a former trainee under Circe, the sorceress. Circe and Medea were the two most renowned witches in the olden times. As impressive as it was, he couldn't imagine a mortal travelling all the way out into the sea to train with such a woman.

Chiron welcomed the girl, whose name was Xanthe, and ordered him and Ionna to show her around.

As he did, she was claimed. Above her head, a glowing green trident appeared. There was no doubt now. The girl was a spawn of the sea. Naturally, they were rivals. And the girl seemed rather calm about this whole business despite having very little clue of what was actually going on.

"This is the archery range," he pointed out as they passed by. A few children of Apollo were practising to split their arrows with each consecutive shot. It was a difficult task, but some of them were able to complete the task without breaking a sweat. "Usually it's just children of Apollo. Hermes' children can also shoot but they're nowhere near as accurate. Children of the other gods do fine as well. The unclaimed are pretty good... some of them, at least. Children of Ares don't like archery, though. They think it's cowardly. Children of Athena, like Ionna, vary a lot."

Xanthe wrinkled her nose. "I don't like archery."

Athanasios snorted. "Yeah, neither do I."

"So you're a son of Hades?" asked the daughter of Poseidon. "Wasn't Hades a bad guy in all the stories?"

"That's what everyone likes to think," he mumbled.

Hades was always misinterpreted and misrepresented. Hades was never really accepted anywhere except the Underworld. He used to have a place up on Olympus, but with the spread of mortals everywhere, the Underworld had been getting busier and busier. He had less time to deal with Olympian matters. Besides, he was never on the Council anyway. It made no sense for him to be there.

Hades may have kidnapped Persephone, but a large part of that was because he was lonely. He just wanted someone to accompany him. In truth, Hades was more impartial than evil. The real evil ones were beings like the Titans and the Giants. Nevertheless, that stigma against him would never disappear so long as Hades remained an outcast.

Fortunately for him, Ionna didn't seem to care about that. She wasn't as uptight as many of her siblings. She was also more willing to take risks... be unwise sometimes.

"Thanas isn't so bad," Ionna said with a smile. "He's misunderstood a lot. Lots of people hear fear him, respect him, stay wary of him... A mix of various things."

"Mother said Poseidon and Hades are brothers," Xanthe replied. "She said they have a rivalry."

"Add Zeus in and you've got them all," Athanasios said. "The three brothers, and their children, like to fight. A long time ago, over a thousand years ago, three children of the... Big Three, let's call them... had a major disagreement. They fought each other for power and ended up destroying much of the Greek population. Greek demigods almost went extinct. When all that remained were scattered legacies, descendants of the gods, the whole world shifted to a mortal-centered viewpoint. It's why you see mortals like your mother... the descendants of those born with the gift to see both worlds.

They stopped at the creek.

"Poseidon is the god of the sea, right?" Xanthe asked.

He nodded.

"Does that mean he can't control rivers?"

Athanasios looked at Ionna. She gave him a look that said 'How am I supposed to know everything?' But she stepped in anyway. Athanasios smiled. He could always count on her to cover for him.

"It's complicated," she told Xanthe. "Poseidon doesn't directly control naiads, the spirits of fresh water. But many are subservient to him. They help him as long as he returns the favour. He is essentially the guardian of all water sources in the world. But first and foremost, he is the god of the sea. His power is more prominent in the ocean."

"What does subservient mean?" Xanthe asked with a frown.

"Uh..." Ionna hesitated for a moment. "They... follow him. He's sort of like their master. But not really."

"Oh. Okay."

"Can you control that creek?" Athanasios asked. He'd never seen a child of Poseidon before. He wondered how powerful they were. After all, the ocean was a very dangerous place.

Xanthe's frown deepened. "Control? I don't know how to control water."

"When did you find out you were a demigod?" he asked.

"Three days ago."

That explained it. She really didn't know much about anything. He figured her mother told her a few things in a hurry as they travelled to the camp.

"My brother told me that I was a daughter of Neptune. Then we were attacked by a daemon so my brother defended us and Mother and I ran away."

Athanasios found himself looking at Ionna again.

Neptune? he mouthed.

She paused for a moment and pursed her lips, as if deciding what to say. After what seemed like a period of silence dragged on for a moment too long, she said, "Neptune is the Roman form of your father."

Xanthe gave her a confused look for a moment before realization hit her. "Oh, sorry. I still don't really understand this whole Greek-Roman thing. I know that there are two aspects of the gods, but I don't know why. Mother explained everything in a rush. I'm starting to get the hang of it, but until last week, I'm pretty sure I was Christian. Why do they say pagans are bad?"

"Well, it's complicated but..." Ionna tried to find the words to explain the history of Christianity and Rome. "I guess it really started with Nero. A little bit of Caligula too. Nero, you see, was a pretty ruthless emperor. He was a descendant of Apollo. Funny, because Julius Caesar was a descendant of Venus, but that's a whole other story. Anyway, Nero disliked pretty much anybody but himself. He arranged the murder of his own mother because he wanted to remarry again. He started the Great Fire of Rome and refused to help until it threatened his own palace and killed a lot of Christians during his reign, crucifying and burning some of them alive. Saint Peter was among them."

"I know about Saint Peter," Xanthe nodded. "And crucifixion. Emperor Nero did that? Why?"

"He was a lunatic," Athanasios said. "Among demigods and legacies alike, Nero is up there is one of the most evil people to ever have lived." He paused. "You know what legacies are, right?"

She nodded again.

"Okay, good."

"So because Roman emperors, who were pagans, killed Christians, they don't like pagans?"

Ionna nodded. "When Constantine became the first Christian emperor, paganism began to whittle away."

"Whittle?"

"It became less popular over time," she explained. "And that was the beginning of the end for Western Rome. Little did Constantine know, turning away from the gods of Olympus meant doom. He reunited the whole empire under his control and truly was a great commander. But it meant the empire would fall out of the gods' favour. And ultimately, this was what led to the war between Greeks and Romans.

"So... is Christianity bad?"

Ionna shook her head. "No. In fact, we work with Christians. We advise them on how to deal with the barbarians... how to adapt their strategies to keep the empire afloat. We need to keep the Eastern Empire alive for now... until more Germanic and Frankish demigods appear. Then we can migrate."

"Migrate..." Xanthe muttered.

"Move," Ionna explained, just in case the girl didn't understand. "In any case, Christians aren't bad... but a few of them are a little extreme. They only believe in their faith and refuse to believe in anything else. They force their wills on others... believing that they have to be Christian or their souls will be damned. Satyrs have reported several demigods who renounced their parentage and remained faithful to their religion. Unfortunately, that only ends up with one result: death."

"Luckily for them, their auras don't fully strengthen if they don't believe in it," Athanasios said.

Ionna sighed and nodded. "Yes, I suppose so. Death is better than being recruited by the Romans."

Xanthe frowned. "My brother wanted to take me. He said he was a descendant of Mars. He wanted to bring me to the legion."

Athanasios frowned. Why would he want to—?

"He doesn't know that you're a Greek demigod," Ionna said. She looked at the creek. "This water here follows the spirit of Olympus. Wherever the camp goes, this creek comes along. The water is from Olympus itself. A child of Rome wouldn't be able to touch this. They would cease to be Roman. Whatever legacy they carried on would wash away. They would become a regular mortal. The Romans were forbidden from Olympus. The gods were regarded as more divine by them than by our kind. The gods were beyond the Romans. We actively interacted with the gods, whether positively or negatively. Some of our kind ridiculed and boasted to the gods, and of course that earned them some well-deserved punishments. Lycaon was turned into a wolf... Arachne into a spider..." She shivered. "I hate spiders the most."

"Why?" Xanthe asked.

"Long story," Ionna grimaced. "In any case, if you really were Roman, you'd feel like this place is enemy territory, like you shouldn't be here. But I'm guessing you feel comfortable, right?"

Xanthe glanced behind her. Athanasios tried to track her eyes. He figured she was looking for her mother. "More comfortable than the horse. He kept saying bad words."

"Try controlling the creek, then," Ionna said. "Like we discussed earlier, naiads aren't directly in Poseidon's domain but..."

"How do I control it?" she frowned.

Ionna looked at Athanasios. Her expression said 'Tell her, you idiot. I don't have superpowers like you.'

"I'd say being freakishly perceptive and annoyingly intelligent is a superpower," he muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Ionna asked, shooting him a glare. Something about her tone told him that she knew what he said.

"Nothing," he said, waving her glare off. He turned to the creek. "Well... have you ever controlled water before, Xanthe?"

She put a finger to her chin in thought. "Mmm... just once. When the daemon attacked."

"Do you remember that feeling in your gut?" Athanasios pointed to his stomach. "When you used your power, did you feel something stir in here?"

She shook her head. "I... I don't remember."

Athanasios frowned. He scratched his head. "Well, whenever I use my powers, I feel something in my gut tug. It's like... whenever I use my powers, there's an overwhelming feeling as if I'm drawing power from my soul. It's as if I'm using my life energy to use my power."

It wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a complete lie.

The reality was that him using his powers was actually using his life energy to use his power. Each use of his power drained him. He could recover, but there was always a point where he felt like he was sucking a part of his soul out of him. He knew that if he went too far, his essence would disappear. He would dissolve into shadows. His spirit would never go to the Underworld.

He demonstrated. Turning to the shadow of the tree beside them, he summoned his sword. The shadows reached out and surrounded his hand, curling like misty fingers, and extending out and away from his body. His Stygian iron sword appeared, the dark energy radiating from the night-black blade.

Xanthe went wide-eyed.

"This is Stygian iron," Ionna explained. She was doing a lot of explaining. "It's much more dangerous than celestial bronze, which is what our weapons are made of, or imperial gold, which is what the Romans' weapons are made of. While those two metals can kill monsters and demigods, and hurt immortals, Stygian iron can also kill mortals. Celestial bronze and imperial gold are like magic to mortals. They cannot be hurt from them."

Xanthe frowned. "My mother is mortal. But she's a sorceress. She can see through the Mist. Can she be harmed?"

"A sorceress?" Ionna looked a little skittish. "I'm a little unsure about that one..."

Xanthe turned back to Athanasios and pointed at his sword. "Can I use that?"

He shook his head. "Only for use by children of the Underworld. You could use it, but it would rebel against you. Just like if I used a sword of the sea. I could probably still kill creatures, but the sword wouldn't feel balanced. It would fight against me because I'm not a child of the sea. There's this old forbidden story that's gone around about Heracles... that he once received a sword of the sea as a gift from one of his lovers but discarded it because it didn't work for him. The lover died, and it's suspected that the sword is cursed. The rumor says Chiron might have—"

"And you believe those rumors?" Ionna asked skeptically.

"Hey, you never know!"

"Just show her how to use her powers," she sighed.

"Say please."

"Don't even start this."

"I won't do it until you say please."

She sighed in resignation. "Please show her."

Without thinking, he reached out and petted her hair. He opened his mouth to tease her, but when he saw her wide eyes, he realized what he was doing and yanked his arm away as fast as he could. He saw Xanthe staring at them, her eyes narrowed and brain working to try and figure out what was going on. He hoped she was dumb and dense.

Athanasios concentrated again. He shook his head and blinked a few times to clear his thoughts. Taking a deep breath, he held out his black sword and called, "Serve me."

The earth in front of them trembled. A fissure opened and a dozen undead warriors crawled from the earth. Many of them were old Greek hoplites, but there were a few Roman legionaries with them. Athanasios felt the familiar tug in his gut, though it wasn't as intense as it had been before. A dozen was nothing compared to a hundred.

He held them in place while he summoned another creature on the opposite side of the creek. He pictured the grotesque animal: its razor-sharp fangs, laser-red eyes and enormous body.

Bounding out of the shadows was a hellhound, a creature few demigods could fight on their own. Only the best of the best could survive a fight, and even then, they might end up a little banged up.

"Attack!" he ordered the undead.

Chattering assent, they marched forward to the creek. The massive hellhound leaped over the water and knocked the skeleton warriors into disarray. The middle three were crushed instantly, and the two on each side of them were knocked to the ground. The undead warriors on the outside encircled the hellhound, closing in like a fist.

The hellhound seemed confused, unsure of which way to attack. It eventually decided on attacking the side that the three demigods stood at. It was the wrong choice.

The skeleton warriors responded to orders well. The two Roman legionaries remaining were on their side, and they locked the shields together to brace for impact. They stumbled back on impact, but the strength of their training kept them upright. Then the Greek hoplites clamped down from behind, stabbing the hellhound in three places at once.

The hellhound wailed in agony before crumbling to dust.

Xanthe stared wide-eyed at the wreckage. Athanasios turned to the undead warriors and said, "Thank you."

They saluted in unison before crumbling into separate piles of bones and sinking back into the earth.

"What... was that...?" Xanthe asked, mystified.

"That is the power of Hades," Ionna said. She gave him a smile. "It's scary but quite incredible. He's the strongest demigod at camp when it comes to stuff like that. He might not be the best swordsman, but he doesn't need to be when he can summon an army to fight for him."

Athanasios gestured to the creek. "It took me years to hone this power. I wouldn't be surprised if you could do nothing more than lift just a small part of the creek off the ground."

Xanthe pursed her lips and tried. She closed her eyes.

For a moment, nothing happened.

But both he and Ionna knew that she would be able to control the creek. They waited for the explosion to happen. They didn't say a word, hoping not to break Xanthe's concentration.

And then it happened.

The entire creek rose. It swirled up, a massive icy funnel cloud. He could feel the sudden whirlwind of cold air, as if a miniature sea storm had come.

Xanthe's eyes snapped open, and the creek water splashed back down into the waterbed.

Athanasios turned to the daughter of Poseidon. She stood there, conscious and awake. The only thing that didn't seem right was her eyes. She looked a little disoriented and her eye colour had changed. For a moment, Athanasios saw the true colour of the sea in her eyes—the deep, dark blue of the Mediterranean Sea—but it quickly reverted to her normal sea-green.

"Are you okay?" Ionna asked.

Xanthe nodded with a yawn. "I haven't done this at all before. I'm a little tired. Does this always happen?"

"Only a little tired?" Athanasios asked, a little skeptical.

She nodded. "Why?"

He stared at the young girl. She was clearly younger than him, yet her power... The ocean was a dangerous place, especially if Poseidon was angry or irritated. But a child of Poseidon who would wield power this great...? He looked at Ionna, who seemed to be thinking the same thing he was.

They could never let her brother find her. Because if she joined the legion and used her power against them, with proper training...

It would be the end of Greek demigods.

Alright, so that's it for introductory chapters. I think I made it obvious who was to come next.

Xanthe (Ξανθή), Leon (Λέων), and Athanasios (Αθανάσιος) are going to play a fairly large role in this story, hence why I've dedicated whole chapters to their introductions. Percy will make his return in the next chapter. Now, I haven't read the Trials of Apollo series. I've heard of things, like Jason's death, and know there's another book coming out soon (this year?). So anything knew that Riordan has introduced in the new series will not play a role in this story.

As a warning, though I don't want to give the plot away, don't expect all rationalizations and motivations to make complete sense. And don't expect Percy to be the great hero, or even anti-hero, that he may have been before. This is intentional. You'll understand a bit more next chapter.

Again, thanks to everyone who's reading this story! I hope I can continue to deliver!

Cheers!
Sharky