Act I: Hope

Epilogue

"Wow," Percy breathed as he stared down at the remains of Camp Half-Blood. Before, there had been skeletons of dead demigods, rubble from the buildings, and loads of dead grass. Now, the ground was completely cleared of rubble and other debris. The grass looked like it had been replanted.

The forest around the camp still looked scarred, but Percy guessed that would take more time to heal. He glanced to his side and saw Grover staring down at the field. He slowly spoke, "What happened here?"

"The Romans," Annabeth answered. Reyna glanced at her but remained silent.

"It looked a lot worse when we first got here," Percy replied. He started to walk down the hill. Grover followed behind him. In the middle of the field was a circle of tents with a campfire in the middle. Clarisse was stoking the flames, and upon looking up at them, she stood up.

Luke made it to the front of the pack and held onto the bust of Terminus. As they made it closer to the fire, he placed the bust down. Percy motioned to Grover as he made eye contact with Clarisse, "This is Grover. He's-"

"Don't care," Clarisse interrupted. She looked at the bust. "This stupid thing is what we were waiting for?"

"It is," Annabeth confirmed. "It was guarded by-"

"Again. Don't care," Clarisse cut off again. She looked at Reyna. "You fit to keep watch?"

"I'll keep watch for you," Luke volunteered. "Have there been many monster attacks?"

"A few. They haven't gotten too brave yet, but we needed that barrier up yesterday," Clarisse debriefed. She motioned with her head towards Will, who was walking towards them with Drew. Chiron took up the rear and held onto Terminus' head. "Kid's a crackshot with the bow. Drew didn't completely suck."

"We missed you too," Reyna commented. Clarisse looked her over and raised an eyebrow. "Took a bust to the face and chest."

"Nice," Clarisse nodded appreciatively. "Get a scar from it?"

Reyna shook her head. Clarisse grunted in disappointment, "Shame."

As Chiron made it towards them, Percy studied Terminus' head. The statue's eyes were now free of the marble that had been covering it, and it was pretty freaky when he blinked. The only time that statues blinked was in horror movies, and Percy's life was a little too similar to a horror movie lately.

Terminus studied each of them individually for a long moment. He spent the most time on Reyna. Then, he stared at his body. Chiron looked relieved that they were all there, and he walked towards the bust.

"It's nice to see you again, Grover," Chiron greeted.

"You too," Grover returned with a smile. "I was hoping to stay and help out."

"You're always welcome," Chiron replied gladly, and Grover grinned. "How do you want me to do this, Terminus?"

"Just plop me on," Terminus answered. Chiron carefully lined up the head with the rest of the bust. Then, he placed it down. There was a bright light that caused Percy to shield his eyes. When he looked back, Terminus was whole again. Well, besides missing his legs and arms.

Terminus disappeared and reappeared an inch from Percy's face. He jumped and stared at the bust. Terminus was just floating on air. Did he actually have legs that were invisible? The bust looked around the place they would soon call home.

"It is going to take a few hours for me to be back to full strength, but after that, I will fulfill my end of the bargain," Terminus promised, turning to look at Chiron. "The barrier can't be too large if I want to keep it as strong as possible, and enough hits to it will break it. But, this will work."

"Then, we can remake the camp," Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief. Percy saw Lupa appear out of the forest and walk towards them. Her head tilted as she focused on Reyna before looking at the rest of them.

"What's next then?" Will slowly asked. Annabeth grabbed her notebook from her bag and turned it toward them. She had a list of things along with a bunch of notes.

"The first thing we need is buildings to house the demigods that will come to the camp," Annabeth stated.

"It will be best to have the assistance of mortals," Lupa commented. "I believe with the proper manipulation of the Mist, Chiron and I can start on it. Construction may take a few weeks, but it will be worth it in the end."

"Will monsters try to attack them?" Percy asked.

"They'll probably think that mortals are finally moving in on empty land," Luke answered.

"We also need food and supplies," Annabeth added.

"I can handle that with the help of nature spirits," Chiron offered.

"And," Lupa began. She blinked and seemed to have a debate with herself. "There was a vault where Camp Jupiter kept their supplies. We can begin to forge weapons with it, and I believe Chiron still has raw celestial bronze available. With a few children of Hephaestus, we can make weapons and armor."

"There is another thing we will need," Chiron chimed in as he looked at Annabeth. "A director. Before, it was the god of wine. I believe I may know where he is, and if he isn't too far gone, we can bring him back here. Convincing him will be the hard part."

"You're not leaving me out of this adventure," Clarisse ordered.

"I want to help too," Will piped up.

"Then, we can look for Dionysus," Annabeth decided. "The rest of us need to find a way to contact the demigods that we trained before."

"Back in the day, we used Iris messages to communicate. Ever since the goddess disappeared, we have not been able to send any. If we can find her, we will be able to send messages to any demigod as long as we find a rainbow and have a golden drachmae. She had a shop, and that may be a starting point," Chiron explained.

"I...I think I know where Iris may be," Reyna suggested in a soft voice. She looked down at the ground. "With that golden belt and the coin, I think they're connected."

"Are you sure?" Lupa questioned. Reyna nodded.

"Where?" Chiron asked. He frowned as Reyna seemed to pale. "Iris is a dear friend of mine, and I did try to find her. Is she in danger?"

"I don't know if she's in danger," Reyna admitted. "But, I think she may be in Seattle. With the Amazons."

"Wait. Jeff Bezos stole a goddess?! Is he that rich?" Percy asked.

"No, the Amazons. The same group from the Greek myths," Reyna explained. "My sister went to them when we split up, and I think they may have Iris."

"And your sister hates your guts," Clarisse remembered.

"Yeah," Reyna confirmed. "And, they keep men as slaves."

"What!?" Percy demanded.

"Slaves?" Luke repeated, and Reyna just nodded. "And you're not just talking about the working conditions."

"No. The Amazon company is a front for the Amazons. Look, it's a long story," Reyna tried to dismiss as irritation crossed her face.

"So, the girls should go looking for Iris," Clarisse suggested, though she didn't make it sound much like one. "And the guys go for Dionysus. You in, Drew?"

"No," Drew declined. "All of you may be wishing to run into trouble, but I'll pass. I'll stay here and help Lupa with the building materials. I have a few contacts."

"Alright, I'll go with Princess and Reyna to find the Amazons and get Iris back," Clarisse stated.

"Percy and Will, you two coming with me?" Luke asked.

"Yup," Percy replied in a heartbeat.

"Looking forward to it," Will promised. Percy moved his gaze back to Chiron, who studied them with a look of pride on his face. Lupa still watched them with that wolfish face. Percy always found it hard to read her expression.

"All of you be safe," Lupa began. "This is only the beginning of a very long journey, and I fear none of us know what the road ahead holds. For today and tomorrow, get some rest. Then, you'll embark on the next stage of your quest."

A big thanks to everyone who has read this story. Act I is finished, but we have a lot more to go. As a reminder, I'll be taking a small break from writing this story to get the outline and notes together for the next act. Act II should come out sometime around December.