JASON
Jason didn't know how to feel.
On one hand, he felt more relieved than ever to have gotten the ghost of his mother - literally - out of his mind, and to have overcome this very confusing chapter of his life.
On the other hand, he was completely shocked after witnessing two primordials fighting. The skies were the most important of Jupiter's domains, and Jason being the son of the king of the gods, made him uncomfortable to see his father's realm so unstable. So much so that neither he nor any of the other six demigods at the Argo II could say anything while it was happening, that is, until a nuclear bomb-sized explosion wiped the top of the island of Ithaca off the map.
And now, in front of them, the one responsible for the explosion seemed calm, as if she hadn't fought her own daughter almost to the death. A daughter who was now in the form of a child, in her mother's arms.
"That was a little embarrassing." Nyx forced a smile, but her features were sad. She pulled Hemera closer. "But it was a necessary evil."
Jason could not agree completely with that. The two primordials looked extremely tired, but the exhaustion seemed to be more psychological than physical. Nyx again had her dark wings, which at that moment were retracted. The fatigue was evident on Nyx's face, but her eyes emanated relief.
Hemera, on the other hand, had a frightened look characteristic of children. If Jason didn't know that she was actually the personification of day that could vaporize him in a glance, Jason would think that she was just an ordinary little girl who wasn't allowed to eat candy. And if before it was hard to look at her for how much light she radiated, now it was as if she was an extinguished light bulb.
"Me and Hemera..." Nyx spoke. "I was to blame for starting this so called rivalry after Erebos..." she couldn't finish, but they all understood. Jason knew that Erebos was Nyx's husband, and recently he was made of aware that he had disappeared and was never seen again. "I had become bitter and prideful. I must say that our differences were settled today. Hera will not be happy that that bed was destroyed, she loved what the bed represented." Nyx smiled, and thunder rumbled in the distance.
Jason still couldn't believe how those two goddesses now actually stood as mother and daughter. It hadn't been long since the two had looked at each other with absolute disgust and hatred in the palace, and now Day was snuggled in Night's arms as if it was something they always did.
"Guys?" Piper called out, and everyone turned to her. "What time is it?"
Hemera conjured a clock in her hands, and checked the time.
"5:00 PM." her voice was much more docile than before.
The daughter of Aphrodite frowned.
"Why is the sky dark?"
Jason only realized now that even though it was still late afternoon the sky was "dark". Yes, it felt like night, but the stars and moon were brighter than ever. He wondered if Night reflected her mood in the sky.
"Probably because of Night enforcing her will over Day." said Annabeth carefully, so as not to attract the ire of Day, who glared at the daughter of Athena with an annoyed look.
"Indeed, Annie." everyone seemed surprised at Nyx calling the daughter of wisdom using a nickname, including Annabeth, but she said nothing. "Now, we need to focus on the next part of our mission. Olympia!" She said, enthusiastically. "You guys should have seen the Olympics at its peak. It was crazy!"
Hemera nodded.
"She always appreciated the violence," and Night grinned mischievously.
"I can't disagree. For now, it's best if we rest after such an intense day."
No one disagreed, but Jason remembered Juno's words.
"Leo, we will have to go around the Peloponnese. All the other routes are infested with monsters, and even if," he nodded in the direction Nyx and Hemera. "we have divine support, Juno said about Victory being rampant in Olympia. Victory being... Nike. And some other stuff too."
"I promise I won't make jokes about her name. But your request is an order!" Leo stood up and ran to the controls of the Argo II.
...
Two days later, Jason was the first of the seven to arrive at the Argo II's main table at morning, as they were getting close to Olympia. Nyx and Hemera were already awake. Did they actually sleep? Probably not. Day was no longer in child form, and like her mother, her form was strangely human. Jason noticed how she now from afar reminded him very much of Annabeth, and he was glad that he could actually look at her without being blinded.
"Good morning, Jason!" greeted Nyx, with a warm smile for Night's standards. Jason smiled in response, and Nyx without warning slapped Hemera's wrist, who was startled by that.
"Where are your manners?!" scolded Nyx, and Hemera looked down as if she was ashamed, but her eyes had a glint of amusement in them.
"Good morning, Jason." Hemera greeted as well. Jason sat down, and it wasn't long before the rest of the seven arrived. All except Leo.
"I'll go get him. For some reason he's been inside the hull doing something for days." Piper said, and left the dining hall, only to return in a few minutes, sitting down again at the table.
"He will be coming shortly." she announced.
Percy was eating a huge stack of blue pancakes, which Hemera looked over with desire, while Annabeth chided him for pouring on too much syrup.
"You're drowning them!" she complained.
"Hey, I'm a Poseidon kid," he said. "I can't drown. And neither can my pancakes."
To their left, Frank and Hazel used their cereal bowls to flatten out a map of Greece. They looked over it, their heads close together.
At the head of the table, Jason was stationed, and he found funny that the the two beings that could vaporize him in a second were just fine with him being there. Leo finallly appeared, smilling at them.
"What's up, guys?" He strolled into the mess hall. "Aw, yes to brownies!" He grabbed the last one, but suddenly the intercom crackled. That stupid table's Mini-Hedge yelled over the speakers, "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"
Everyone jumped. Hazel ended up five feet away from Frank. Percy spilled syrup in his orange juice. Jason awkwardly wriggled back into his T-shirt, and Frank turned into a bulldog. Nyx expelled darkness from her, which made the mess hall incredibly dark, and impossible for Jason or anyone to see anything at all. The seven panicked even more.
"I can't see anything!" yelled Hazel.
"My shirt is covered in orange juice!" cried Annabeth.
"WOOF!" barked bulldog Frank.
"Hold up."
Hemera was the one who said that, and in a matter of seconds she made the mess hall bright again.
"Was that so difficult?" Day pondered, and Nyx looked a bit embarrassed. Piper though, looked absolutely livid at someone.
"I thought you were getting rid of that stupid hologram!" she yelled at Leo.
"Hey, Buford's just saying good morning. He loves his hologram! Besides, we all miss the coach. And Frank makes a cute bulldog."
Jason couldn't hold up a laugh, and Piper glared at him, deadly. He immediatly shut up. Frank morphed back into his human form. "Just sit down, Leo. We've got stuff to talk about."
Leo squeezed in between Jason and Hazel. After the look that Piper gave him, Jason could understand why Leo would sit on the opposite side of the daughter of Aphrodite. He decided to speak.
"So…" Jason leaned forward. "We're going to stay airborne and drop anchor as close as we can to Olympia. It's further inland than I'd like - about five miles - but we don't have much choice. According to Juno, we have to find the goddess of victory and, um… subdue her?"
"That's correct." Hemera stated.
Nyx frowned.
"Were you stalking us talking with Juno?" Night asked, and Hemera blushed a little bit. Everyone laughed at that interaction, except, of course, Day herself.
Percy sipped his syrup-flavoured orange juice. He seemed to find it okay. "I'm cool with fighting the occasional goddess, but isn't Nike one of the good ones? I mean, personally, I like victory. I can't get enough of it."
Annabeth drummed her fingers on the table. "It does seem strange. I understand why Nike would be in Olympia - home of the Olympics and all that. The contestants sacrificed to her. Greeks and Romans worshipped her there for, like, twelve hundred years, right?"
"Almost to the end of the Roman Empire," Frank agreed. "Romans called her Victoria, but same difference. Everybody loved her. Who doesn't like to win? Not sure why we would have to subdue her."
Jason frowned. "All I know... is that the ghoul Antinous said Victory runs rampant in Olympia. Juno warned us that we could never heal the rift between the Greeks and Romans unless we defeated victory."
"How do we defeat victory?' Piper wondered. "Sounds like one of those impossible riddles."
"Like making stones fly," Leo said, "or eating only one Fonzie." He popped a handful into his mouth. and Hazel wrinkled her nose.
"That stuff is going to kill you."
"You kidding? So many preservatives in these things, I'll live forever. But, hey, about this victory goddess being popular and great – Don't you guys remember what her kids are like at Camp Half-Blood?"
Hazel and Frank had never been to Camp Half-Blood, along of course with the two primordials, but the others nodded gravely.
"He's got a point," Percy said. "Those kids in Cabin Seventeen - they're super-competitive. When it comes to capture the flag, they're almost worse than the Ares kids. Uh, no offence, Frank."
Frank shrugged. "You're saying Nike has a dark side?"
"Her kids sure do," Annabeth said. "They never turn down a challenge. They have to be number one at everything. If their mom is that intense…'
Hemera looked thoughtful.
"You said there is a rift between Romans and Greeks. For a few months I've been feeling headaches. Have you had a similar thing, mother?"
Nyx nodded.
"In fact, daughter, I had. And an urge to speak in Latin."
"So wait" Piper put her hands on the table like the ship was rocking. "Guys, all the gods are split between their Greek and Roman aspects, right? If Nike's that way and she's the goddess of victory -"
"She'd be really conflicted," Annabeth said. "She'd want one side or the other to win so she could declare a victor. She'd literally be fighting with herself."
Hazel nudged her cereal bowl across the map of Greece. "But we don't want one side or the other to win. We've got to get the Greeks and Romans on the same team."
"Maybe that's the problem," Jason said. "If the goddess of victory is running rampant, torn between Greek and Roman, she might make it impossible to bring the two camps together."
"How?" Leo asked. "Start a flame war on Twitter?"
Now was the time for Hemera to frown. "What's Twitter?", and Leo looked excited to explain.
"Well, it's a-"
"NO!" Every other demigod yelled, and Leo quickly stopped talking. Day and Night looked confused but didn't say anything about that.
Percy stabbed at his pancakes. "Maybe she's like Ares. That guy can spark a fight just by walking into a crowded room. If Nike radiates competitive vibes or something, she could aggravate the whole Greek–Roman rivalry big-time."
Frank pointed at Percy. "You remember that old sea god in Atlanta - Phorcys? He said that Gaea's plans always have lots of layers. This could be part of the giants' strategy - keep the two camps divided; keep the gods divided. If that's the case, we can't let Nike play us against each other. We should send a landing party of four – two Greeks, two Romans. The balance might help keep her balanced." he explained with conviction. "But also... we could throw one goddess in the mix, maybe to balance even of more. Neither of them are from Greek or Roman pantheons, so they could be a mediator."
"I think Frank is right," Annabeth said. "A party of four, plus one overpowered manifestation of nature." Nyx smiled at that. "Because sending the two of them, even with their agreement made yesterday, could spark problems, we don't want that crazy sky thing again, do we?"
Nobody disagreed with that.
"We'll have to be careful who goes." Annabeth continued. "We don't want to do anything that might make the goddess, um, more unstable."
"I'll go," Piper voluntereed. "I can try charmspeaking."
Worry lines deepened around Annabeth's eyes. "Not this time, Piper. Nike is all about competition. Aphrodite... well, she is too, in her own way. I think Nike might see you as a threat."
Jason thought Piper could be upset by that, but she seemed to understand Annabeth's point and scanned the group. "Who should go, then?"
"Jason and Percy shouldn't go together," Annabeth said. "Jupiter and Poseidon – bad combination. Nike could start you two fighting easily." Percy gave her a sideways smile.
"Yeah, we can't have another incident like in Kansas. I might kill my bro Jason."
"Or I might kill my bro Percy," Jason said amiably. Secretely, he shuddered when he remembered their fight in Kansas. He really did not want a rematch.
"Which proves my point," Annabeth said. "We also shouldn't send Frank and me together. Mars and Athena - that would be just as bad."
"Okay," Leo broke in. "So Percy and me for the Greeks. Frank and Hazel for the Romans. Is that the ultimate non-competitive dream team or what?"
Annabeth and Frank exchanged what seemed to be war-godly looks.
"It could work,' Frank decided. "I mean, no combination is going to be perfect, but Poseidon, Hephaestus, Pluto, Mars … I don't see any huge antagonism there."
"What about the goddess that should go with you?" asked Jason, and he looked at the two primordials.
"I'll do it." Hemera said, which surprised the son of Jupiter, along with Annabeth and Piper. "My mother could be... just as competitive if she wants to."
"You are still salty about that deal in Astypalaia." Nyx teased, and Hemera looked very angry.
"I do not want to talk about it. But yes, I'll be making company to these wonderful demigods."
Hazel traced her finger along the map of Greece. "I still wish we could've gone through the Gulf of Corinth. I was hoping we could visit Delphi, maybe get some advice. Plus it's such a long way around the Peloponnese."
"Yeah." Jason looked with distress when he saw how much coastline they still had to navigate.
"It's July twenty-second already. Counting today, only ten days until-" Hazel did not finish her thought.
"I know," Jason said. "But Juno was clear. The shorter way would have been suicide, although with them," he nodded at the direction of the goddesses. "it would not have been that bad. We haven't had any monster attacks at all recently. However that's not the only reason. He have a lot to do before we get to Athens."
"And as for Delphi..." Piper leaned towards the map. "What's going on there? If Apollo doesn't have his Oracle any more..." Percy grunted. "Probably something to do with that creep Octavian. Maybe he was so bad at telling the future that he broke Apollo's powers."
Jason smiled at that. "Hopefully we can find Apollo and Artemis at Delos. Then you can ask him yourself. Juno said the twins might be willing to help us."
Nyx looked worried.
"I can feel a dark presence at Delphi. Something that was there before. I can't confirm my suspicions for now, but I hope I'm not correct."
"A lot of unanswered questions," Frank muttered. "A lot of miles to cover before we get to Athens.'
"First things first," Annabeth said. "You guys have to find Nike and figure out how to subdue her - whatever Juno meant by that. I still don't understand how you defeat a goddess who controls victory. Seems impossible."
"We'll see about that." Leo rose to his feet. "Let me get my collection of grenades and I'll meet you guys on deck!"
Jason saw Nyx grinning at the mention of explosives.