Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, Magnus Chase, any other future mythology series Rick Riordan writes about, or the Rich Riordan Presents series. I am simply a humble fan, writing this for the enjoyment of other fans. Please support the official release.

The Crown of Dionysus

When I stepped pasted Bianca's tree, I took a deep breath. It smelled like pine trees and barbecue and old, stone buildings. Paris was a beautiful city and I loved living there, until I'm at least eighteen, but it was still a city. This was nature, far enough away from New York that she couldn't smell the city.

A warm breeze blew through her hair. The sky was a brilliant navy blue, cloudless, and the golden light of the sun shined across the sky. It was the kind of day she lived for. Paris had been covered under a storm for two weeks, one that wasn't predicted to let up anytime soon, so this was a nice change of pace.

A boy came running up the hill, his head full of black hair flapping. Unlike the last time I had seen him, he wore a set of Greek armor that seemed to fit him. Behind him came a blond boy, dressed as a kid should be; jeans, an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, and a pair of sneakers.

Both of them stopped. The black-haired boy grinned. "Is that you, Thalia."

I laughed. It might have taken a while, but the name was growing on me. I even stopped reacting to Ryan or Johnson, my old names. Thalia and Grace were becoming more real to me. "Hey, Nico. Finally found some armor that fit."

He grinned and pulled on his strap. "Issac and Beckendorf made it for me! It looks good, right?"

I smirked. "Sure it does." I ruffled his hair. In true child fashion, he slapped my hand away.

"Jeez... Since when do you wear a skirt?" he asked.

I looked down at my uniform: a grey skirt, a blue dress shirt, a red tie, and a black blazer. My shirt and the blazer had a gold shield over my heart, with two black cursive letters, F and C, intertwining.

I laughed the question off. It was a fair question. Ever since I was reborn, I hadn't dressed very feminine. I was starting to come to terms with the fact that it looked like I was going to spend the rest of my life as a girl, but I still rather would avoid feminine clothing. "I'm a tomboy at heart, but my school doesn't get that. All the girls have to wear this uniform. I got on the plane as soon as school was out, so I'm going to change."

The blond boy behind him shyly approached. "Who is this."

"Will Solace, Son of Apollo. I'm new." He looked down at his feet. "Who are you?"

"Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus. The one and only."

Nico smirked. "Pine cone face."

Wasn't that what Percy called Thalia in the books? "Where did that come from?"

Nico shrugged. "Come on, Will! If we don't hurry up, your mom is going to leave!"

"Where are you going?" I called as they ran past me.

"To see Will's mom!"

They were gone before I could ask why. As I walked through the camp, a said hello to a few of my friends, Victoria, Butch, Katie, and Selena Beauregard. I stopped the daughter of Aphrodite. "You speak French right?"

"Well, it is the language of love."

"Do you mind practicing with me? I don't want to let my French dull." Desjardins had been clear: the spell helped me learn it, but it didn't magically seer the language into my brain. I would lose it if I didn't use it.

She smiled. "Oui."

"Merci beaucoup."

She spoke with a Quebecois accent. Before I had gone to school, I never would have picked up on that, but she didn't speak the Parisian French I was used to. That was going to be interesting. Most people in Paris spoke with a Parisian accent.

I found my way to the Zeus cabin, the biggest box in the row. Slightly bigger than the Hera and Hades cabins, which themselves were boxes. As soon as I opened the door, it was thundering. Yellow veins of lightning streaked across the mosaic on the roof, and as if it was mirroring the sky outside, the mosaic was blue. Hardly any clouds.

My bed was perfectly made, not even a crease in the silk sheets and pillow cases. At the Fourteenth Nome, I had a canopy bed and I missed it. Of course, I shared a room with the other pre-teen girl magician in Paris, so the canopy offered more privacy. Here in the Zeus cabin, I was all alone.

Beside the bed was a desk with a single lamp. I still couldn't figure out how the lamp was powered since it wasn't connected to anything, but it worked just fine. The only thing I left was still in the drawer; my first wallet. It had five hundred dollars in twenty-dollar bills and the Lotus Hotel and Casino card. Which should still be good. I took it out and decided to try it at the camp store.

I had left all my clothes but one outfit at the Fourteenth Nome. Not on purpose, but I was rushing out and forgot my suitcase. I had one change of clothes in my duffle bag.

Stripping, I no longer avoided not looking at my body. Thalia's body. It was hers, but now it belonged to me. I had nothing to feel guilty over and I had gotten over my phobia of seeing myself naked. I was a girl, I couldn't change that, and I had to live with it.

Black skinny jeans, a black tank top with a Batman logo on the front, and a few silver chains running through my belt loop. I examined myself in the only mirror in the cabin and nodded. I looked pretty good.

I found out the casino card still worked: ten pairs of orange Camp Half-Blood shirts, five pairs of blue jeans, five pairs of black jeans, a black hoodie, and a few packets of sugar-free come from the camp store confirmed it.

"Hey, Thalia." I turned. It was Castor Gatewood, one of Dionysus' sons. I didn't understand how he could be Dionysus' son. The god looked like a drunk, black-haired, overweight cupid, who looked like he spent his life in a casino. Castor was blond, muscled like a Greek hero despite his age, and looked like he should be competing in the Junior Olympics. "What are you doing?"

"Buying clothes." I gestured to the ones hanging over my arm.

"Why?"

"I don't have any camp shirts," I lied. I didn't want to tell him that I had left most of mine at home. "Where is your brother?"

"He's talking with dad."

Oh. In the books, Riordan never mentioned if Pollux or Castor speaking with their father. I guess it made sense, he was stuck at camp, why not take advantage of it? If Zeus was the one stuck running camp, I would do the same. I had been Thalia for how many years and how many times had I spoken to Zeus? A total of zero.

"What about?"

Castor blushed. "Our mom."

If I remembered right, Dionysus was pretty loyal to his wife. He had gone off on Percy in one of the books about why he hated heroes. Yet he was checking on the mortal woman he knocked up? That didn't seem very loyal, but I wasn't going to say anything. Castor looked embarrassed enough.

"That's cool." He pulled two suitcases behind him and had two duffle bags over his should. He might be muscled to high heaven, but the kid was only thirteen, and he looked like he was getting tired. "Let's walk and talk. I need to go put my things in my cabin."

Castor told me about his summer. He would be starting high school next year, something he seemed happy about. His last year of middle school hadn't gone smoothly, with three separate monster attacks, and a blown-up science room. His principal was an inch away from expelling him and his brother, and the only reason he didn't was that they were getting ready to graduate.

I was pretty glad I lived in a Nome. Its magic protected it from Greek monsters and the magicians that called the city home had a habit of exterminating those same monsters. Compared to places that lacked an Egyptian Nome, Paris was practically monster free.

As far as I was concerned, every city and small town should have Nome to demigods didn't have to fight for their lives, but the House of Life didn't have enough magicians, and they certainly weren't interested in involving themselves with a different set of gods.

We stopped at Cabin 12. The cabin itself was made from handsome wood and looked like a master carpenter had just finished creating it. Despite how old it must be, the wood looked fresh. The cabin's roof and walls were lined with grape vines, various kinds of grapes, full and plumb. Castor even picked on the grabs on the way in. He left his shoes outside the cabin/

The inside of the cabin matched the outside, everything was made of wood. Two beds a little smaller than mine were spaced on either side of the room. The floor was covered with a purple carpet so thick, that it didn't look like Castor's bare feet touched the bottom.

I was a little jealous. His cabin was smaller than my bank and it looked cozy. Compare that to my thundering bank.

It was still thundering in my bank when I got back. On the other side of the bed, where there had been nothing but open space before I left, was a large cabinet. A giant lightning bolt dominated the front of the cabinet. I guess he was watching me. "Thanks, dad."

I put all the clothes I bought inside, making a space for my uniform to hang up when I washed it. That still left me with plenty of room. I exchanged my shirt for an orange CHB one and threw my dirty clothes into my duffle bag, before putting it at the bottom of the cabinet.

There was a knock on my door. Sure enough, when I opened it, Luke Castellan was standing there. Somehow he even looked better than I remembered him. Even better than Castor or those Apollo boys I had seen...

No. Nope. We're not going there. I was going to have to go see Aphrodite's daughters and remind myself I did not find boys or men attractive.

"What's up?"

Luke frowned. "What's up? That's all I get?"

"What do you mean?"

"We haven't seen each other since last summer, and you don't come to say hi?"

"I was going to get around to it."

"Get around to it? You saw Castor," he accused. At least it sounded like an accusation.

"I saw him at the camp store. I didn't go looking for him."

Luke's face went red. "You still could have come to say hello."

"Who are you, my mother?"

"No!"

"Then stop acting as if I owe you a hello." Seriously, was this kid crushing on me? Sorry pal, I didn't swing that way. He would have to get over it and start drooling over the Aphrodite kids like everyone else.

"You don't owe me anything, I just-"

"Good, you agree."

Now he was glaring. "How was school?"

I shrugged. French private school was a lot different than what I was used to. "It was good. Not even one monster attack."

"That's good," he said a little stiffly.

"Yep."

I waited. Things were getting more awkward as he stood there and he looked away after what felt like hours. "So... Made any new friends?"

"At school?" He nodded. "Yeah. Of course, I have."

What, did he think I was going to be a loner? Been there, done that. My first time around in school was a loner, and I wasn't eager to repeat that.

"Any guy friends?"

There were five of us in my group of friends. Three guys and one other girl. "Yeah."

"Oh."

I waited for him to get to the point, but Luke was staring off into space. I sighed. "Do you need anything else?"

"Uh... No. No, not really."

"Then excuse me."

He moved and I scooted by.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the camp store."

"Why?"

I had forgotten to buy a swimsuit, that was why. How was I going to take a dip in the lake without a swimsuit, but I wasn't going to tell Luke that.

"I'm afraid that is on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know." He looked like he was ready to follow me, so I said: "I'll see you around" and I sprinted off.

Luckily he didn't follow me and I was able to buy two swimsuits with ease. It was my first day back and after asking one of the Hera kids (not Hera's children, but the cabin was where all the children of the minor gods and the unclaimed went. They were referred to as the Hera kids), I learned we wouldn't be getting our schedules until tomorrow morning. Which meant until dinner I had nothing to do.

So I went to the lake. Some of the older, well-developed Aphrodite kids were swimming. I didn't dare to join them, but I watched from close to the shore.

"If it isn't Miss Not Who She Looks Like."

I turned. "Hey, James Dean."

He glared. "I told you, I was born Trent McCord. Use that name."

"Uh-huh. Well, Mr. Not Who, He Looks Like, what are you doing here?"

Trent smiled. It was a trouble makers, devil-might-care kind of smile and it took my breath away. Trent or James or whatever he wanted to call himself was easily the most handsome guy at camp. I blame Thalia's body, but I couldn't control my heart beating. He was also topless and he had a freaking six-pack. Now HE looked like a Greek hero. Which I guess he was.

"Hey, you better remember that name. I'll have you know, I'm eighteen. After the summer, I'm going out into the world."

"You're a year-rounder?"

"I used to be a year-rounder. My dad was a small-time Australian actor before he OD'd, and I've been here ever since."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

Trent shrugged. "I didn't have a lot of time with the man before he died. By the time all my memories came back to me, I was five and he was a few weeks away from death."

"So you're Australian?"

Trent smirked. "James Dean will always be American, but Trent McCord was born Australian. Chiron helped me get my American citizenship, so I'm staying here. I was an actor in my last life and I wasn't finished when that cursed car killed me. I'm going to take the world by storm again and get back into movie fame."

"Good luck with that." As far as I knew, it was hard to get into the movie business. Maybe that was why Percy never mentioned a Trent. Percy wouldn't come to camp until next year. If this guy went off chasing dreams, he wouldn't be here to meet the son of Poseidon.

Trent smirked. "I have a role lined up for the end of August. I'll be co-starring with Tristan McLean in a romantic comedy."

Tristan McLean? Piper's dad? Huh. Ironic. He would be working with the kid of the goddess he fell for.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you can contact me if you need to. You're the only person in the world like me. Someone gave me a second chance at life. I'll leave you my number and if you ever need me, just ring. Or if you want to talk."

"Couldn't monsters track you down that way?"

"... I'll leave you a way to contact me."

"Sure. Sure."

When he was gone, I relaxed in the lake. The cool water felt good. I stayed in my spot by the shore until my skin started to prune. Or whatever it was called.

I dried myself off and washed my dirty clothes and my swimsuit. I had just dropped off my now clean close when I heard the commotion. Chiron, Mr. D, and the rest of the campers were crowded around in a circle.

"The oracle has issued a prophecy," Chiron said as I pushed my way into the crowd. The campers were all standing him. "Isaac Schuster, Son of Hephaestus, has been issued a quest!"

"What's the prophecy?" a kid from the crowd shouted.

Isaac paled and shook his head. Chiron looked at the girl reproachfully. "Isaac, you are allowed to take two quest members with you-"

"I'll go!" a blond-haired girl from the crowd yelled.

"Silence, Annabeth. This is not your choice."

Oh yeah. When Percy Jackson started, Annabeth had been desperate to go on a quest.

"There are only two people I want at my side on this quest," Isaac said, pointedly ignoring Annabeth. "Victoria, Trent, we've always made a good team. Will the two of you come with me?"

And like that, Isaac, Victoria, and Trent left before dinner that night. I was the only camper at the Zeus table, but I could hear everyone talking at the other tables. It had been the first quest issued in ten years, and it was all everyone seemed to be able to talk about. Even the campers that hadn't been in the crowd were caught up in the excitement.

Even I was caught up in the excitement. I didn't feel the need to go out and risk my life traveling across the country, but someone else? I could get behind the hype. At the campfire that night, kids from the Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and the Apollo cabins were in the spotlight and they were all talking about their counselors.

Before the campfire ended, Chiron made one last announcement: "As you know, this is the beginning of our summer session. As such, we will be starting Capture the Flag off on a fresh start. Our director, Mr. D, has chosen two cabins to have the honor of competing first."

I just assumed whoever had the flags from the last game would keep them. Capture the Flag was played in the winter, wasn't it? Then again, maybe not. If I remembered right, there were hardly any champers in the winter. So little all of the campers had to form one team to face the hunters.

"Cabin 1 will face off against Cabin 13," Mr. D declared, lackluster. For the first time that night, the campers started whispering about something else other than the quest. Two Big Three cabins were going head to head. Honestly, I wasn't too worried. Nico was getting a hang of his powers, but one year couldn't have made too much of a difference. He was only eight years old, to top it all off.

I was more concerned about the other cabins he'd pick.

Castor found me as the camp was headed back to the cabins. "I'm so jealous!"

I looked at him. "For the chance to get killed?"

"What? No! For the chance to prove myself!"

"To get killed," I corrected.

"This is what we're here for," Castor said, giving me a look. "We're heroes. Accepting quests, going on adventures, fighting ancient, Greek monsters? That's what it's all about."

"I had to run across the country being chased by monsters. I don't need to go through that again."

Castor shook his head. "I wish we could be that lucky."

I wouldn't call it luck. But better Isaac, Trent, and Victoria than me.

I saw Luke by the edge of the lake, talking with Chiron and Dionysus. He looked like he was getting heated, his face turning red. Dionysus looked bored and Chiron looked apologetic.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Thalia!" Castor said, running over to Cabin 12. I imagined most of the cabins wouldn't be going to sleep just yet. That was the nice thing about having the table to myself. I didn't have to put up with any siblings.

I stripped, kicked my clothes to the bottom of my nightstand, and flopped down on the bed. It wasn't long before the constant thundering put me to sleep.

I dreamed I was standing on a hill. Below me was a valley, with a majestic eagle circling the most beautiful cat I had ever seen. I was dreaming I realized. I had seen these two animals in my dreams so much, that I knew I couldn't be awake.

What I didn't understand was the meaning behind my dream. The eagle represented Zeus, as it was his sacred animal. It was divinely beautiful, in the same vein as the cat. It could only be Zeus' eagle.

The cat was the part that puzzled me. As far as I knew, I didn't own a cat. I didn't have anything to do with a cat. My mom and Desjardins would never let me keep a pet at the Fourteenth Nome.

Then the dream took a different turn; another animal joined them. A ram so black it looked like the night sky appeared. The two other animals stared at it and the ram kept its distance.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" a voice asked.

I turned and I was face to face with Bianca di Angelo, Daughter of Hades. She looked the same age she saved me as. She wore a green Greek tunic, and her hands and legs were bound with a chain connecting her to the hill.

"Bianca."

She smiled. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm not waiting for anything."

She cocked her head to the right. "One of us has to make this right. As you can see, I'm not the girl for it." She lifted her hands, and the chains rattled.

I woke up to a crack of thunder. I know what you're going to say, it's always thundering in Cabin 1, but this blast was the loudest I've ever heard. The only light in the darkness was the golden veins streaking across the mosaic. I turned on my lap, but the cabin didn't have any windows. For all I knew, it could be the middle of the night.

I laid back down and get ready to sleep, but there was pounding on the door before I could. "Thalia?"

That was Luke's voice. He said something else, but it was drained in by the thunder. I grabbed a robe from my new closest (thank you dad) and tied it so it covered all the important bits. When I opened the door, it was dark outside. The sky was pitch black. Luke was standing there in jeans. He had nothing else on.

Seriously? Why were so many guys walking around bare-chested? Sure, most of them looked like and were Greek heroes, but that didn't mean they couldn't put on a freaking shirt. "What time is it?"

"Three o'clock in the morning. Mind if I talk to you?"

A particularly loud blast of thunder roared into the world. While the Zeus cabin door was closed, the sound of thunder didn't escape. With the door wide open, the sound echoed into the night.

I shut it behind me. I didn't realize how cold it was until I was standing in the open. How was the Zeus cabin kept so warn? There was no heater or anything in there.

Questions for later.

"What's up, Luke."

"If I left camp, would you come with me?"

The question was so out of left field, I answered without thinking: "I don't want to spend my life running from monsters, Luke."

He quickly shook his head. "I don't mean run away from camp... Well, okay, I do, but not forever."

"So... What? A weekend getaway?"

"A quest."

"Like Isaac, Trent, and Victoria."

"Exactly."

"Then you need to talk to the oracle first, don't you?"

His face soured and he looked away. "Chiron won't let me."

"Why not?"

"He doesn't think-... That's not important."

"I'd say it's pretty important. If you're asking me to run away."

Luke balled his fists. "He doesn't think I can find it."

"Find... What?"

Luke sighed. "The Crown of Dionysus."

I hadn't ever heard about that in the Percy Jackson books. Or any books Riordan wrote. "Mr. D has a crown?"

"It was the crown he wore when he ascended to godhood," Luke explained.

"So why do you want it? What, will it turn you into a god?"

"No. It's... It has the power to cure any madness if someone wears it," Luke said at last.

I was still half asleep, so it took me a moment to connect the dots: his mother, May, was mad.

"I don't think I've ever told you about my mother, have I?"

He hadn't, but I knew the story. "What about your mother?"

He told me. Luke either didn't know how it happened, or he didn't want to tell me about the oracle, but he never mentioned it.

"Why don't you ask Mr. D?" I said when he was finished.

"Mr. D? Why would he help us find his crown? If he did, he would take it back. He's a god, it's in their nature to be selfish."

That sounded like the Luke I know. Bitter, angry, and resentful at the gods.

"No, you idiot, why don't you ask him to cure your mom?"

Luke had an ugly face then. "I have asked."

"What did he say?"

"That he wouldn't."

"Why not?"

Luke took a breath like he was trying to compose himself. "He said... Well, first he called me Larry Car."

I nodded. Yeah, that sounded like him. Luckily I hadn't had to speak to him yet.

"He told me it wasn't her fate to be cured by him."

"What does that mean?"

"Dionysus said it wasn't my mom's fate. Or his. I think that means the fates said it. If the fates declared Dionysus couldn't cure my mother, I don't think there was anything the God of Wine could do about it. It was out of anyone's hands, but a crown isn't a person."

He sounded like he blamed Dionysus. Or the fates. Like it was their fault. I think Luke knew it wasn't. He knew it wasn't Dionysus' fault, he was just looking for someone to blame. I knew from experience it was easier to blame someone or something else. How many times in my last life I had blamed everyone and everything else for my circumstance?

It was my failure. I was to blame for the way my life turned out. My circumstances and Luke's were different, but I could understand wanting to push that on someone else.

"So you think this crown is different?"

"It's a powerful magical item. If anything other than Dionysus can cure her, then it has to be her crown."

I didn't want to burst his bubble... "Dionysus is a god. If he can't help you mom, what makes you think his crown will be strong enough?"

"Because the gods are bound by fate, just as much as we are. The fates say he couldn't so he can't. They didn't say anything about his crown."

I suppose... There was some logic to that. "Chiron isn't giving you the quest, though?"

"No."

"You can't ask Dionysus."

"No."

"And you have no idea where the crown is."

"... No."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find it."

"You're going to find Dionysus' lost crown?"

"Yeah."

"Luke, do you even know where to start?"

"... No."

"Okay, stop me if I'm missing something, but what's your plan? You have no idea where it is. Where it conceivable could be. Do you know where Dionysus lost it?"

Luke looked away. "Somewhere in Greece... Shortly after he became a god."

"So four thousand years ago, Dionysus lost his crown. At that time, anyone could have picked it up. It could be anywhere in the world? For all we know, it could be in some rich guys' private collection on in the remains of some ancient Greek ship. I'm not a daughter of Poseidon or anything. I can't take you to the bottom of the sea."

"I know that."

"Then what's your plan?"

"I don't know," he snapped. "I don't have one. I'll figure it out!"

I jabbed my finger in his face. "Oh? You'll figure it out, huh? You sound so confident."

"Will you come are not?"

My gut reaction was to say no, I wasn't. Leave camp without the protection of the Fourteenth Nome? We'd be hounded every step of the way...

But this wasn't for Luke. This was for his mother. I remember how Percy described her. How she had lost it. What if I could help May Castellan? Help a poor, crazy woman get better...

I thought about what Castor said. Fighting monsters was what it was all about. Helping people. Being a hero. That's what we were born for.

"Listen... Luke. If. If you out where to go... I'll help you."

Author's Note:

From what I could find, Black Rams are one of Hades' sacred animals. So... Yeah. Black Rams in the dream.

I've always wondered why Dionysus didn't cure May Castellan. He's the God of Madness, so it should be easy for him, right? He helped Chris. I figure it probably has something to do with failing to bond to the Oracle because of Hades' curse, so I went with that angle. A reason why Dionysus couldn't just fix her.

I just wanted to give a huge thanks to my last few reviewers. I got some constructive criticism that I've taken to hear. Any review is very much appreciated! I love it when you guys review!