After Casey's vision, the Jacksons' trip home had been postponed. But after a few days, Annabeth decided it was time. School was about to start and she didn't want her kids to miss out on their education.

"Mom, we have to stay here and protect the camp. We got a warning, why aren't we taking it seriously?" Casey asked in anger. She didn't want to leave Camp yet, there was so much she still needed to do.

"We are. Chiron has raised security. There's nothing else we can do. For now, it's important for us to get our family back to normal," Annabeth said.

"There is no back to normal! Jase is gone, Mom! Did you forget what happened"

Annabeth grabbed Casey wrist tightly. "Casey, I have not forgotten. I will never forget what happened. But that does not mean that I will let the rest of my family fall apart."

Casey crossed her arms and sunk back into her seat. Percy got Oscar into his carseat while Annabeth buckled in Adora. Adora didn't look very excited to go home either. Nobody in the car was happy about it. Percy hadn't said a word since they'd packed everything up. He didn't speak the entire ride home either unless he was asked a direct question.

"Are we going home?" Adora asked. She still hadn't cheered up since being told about Jase's death a few weeks earlier. She didn't want to believe that Jase was dead, but a belief like that was difficult when the entire world disagreed. Even Casey had began to grow doubtful.

"Yeah, we're going home. You've got school starting this week," Annabeth answered simply. Casey groaned again and dramatically smashed her head into the back of the seat.

There were two police officers waiting for them at the house. After Jase had disappeared, Percy and Annabeth had to call the police and tell them he was missing so the mortals wouldn't get suspicious. Now the authorities were constantly on their tails trying to figure out what happened. Annabeth said Jase went missing with another boy in Greece on a family trip. The police suspected they'd been kidnapped and wanted to interview the family further. Casey wanted to punch them in the face.

As they unloaded the car, Annabeth went to talk to the police. "I don't think it would be best for you to interview them now," she said.

"It has been six months, has it not? We thought we'd wait, but if we want to continue our investigation we need to talk to your children, the ones that were with him when he actually went missing," one of the officers told her.

"We had his funeral a few days ago. The memories are still fresh. Is there any chance you could come back another day?" Annabeth asked mournfully.

The cops exchanged a glance. "I'm afraid not."

Annabeth sighed and nodded for them to come inside. Casey ran past them into her room and slammed the door. She wondered what would happen if she just told the cops the truth. Would they send her to a mental asylum, or maybe just brush her off as a traumatized child? Casey had a few minutes to throw her suitcase onto the bed and stare out the window before Annabeth called her down.

"What?" Casey replied curtly.

Annabeth took her hand and gently pulled her onto the couch. "Honey, these officers need to ask you a few questions about Jase."

Casey sighed and leaned into the cushions, wishing she could disappear into the plush. "Fine. But make it quick. I still need to do my summer homework." The officers glanced at each other again and pulled out notepads. They sat on the loveseat across from Annabeth and Casey.

"I'm sorry we have to do this. Can you tell us what happened when your brother first went missing? When did you first notice he was gone?"

Percy and Annabeth made a cover story and the entire family had had to memorize it. Casey hated the story. "We were all hiking around the canyons in Greece. Oscar and Adora stayed at the hotel with our uncle, so it was just Jase and I, our cousins, and some friends. We decided to explore one of the caves that was there. We all went off to explore different parts of the caves and when we all met back up an hour latr, Jase and Charlie were gone. We looked for hours and called the police. We didn't find either of them," Casey said quietly.

The cops paused before asking another question. "And would you say Jason was experienced when it came to things like exploring the caves?"

Casey shrugged, causing her to sink further away. "More than the rest of us. Jase takes survival training classes at Camp, but Charlie isn't good with that sort of thing."

The cops took quick note of this as if it gave them an idea. "Was there anybody else in the area when this happened?"

"A couple other hikers that called the police. Lots of wild animals, but we had bear spray and us talking kept them away. " Casey didn't think this would make her emotional but her face was turning a bright red.

"Did you hear one of the boys talking to anybody else while you were in or outside of the cave, somebody besides the kids in you group?"

"Why?" Casey snapped.

The officer shuffled awkwardly. "We're just covering all of our bases. We need to make sure there was nobody else in the area that could have taken the boys."

Casey tried not to think about how many monsters were in Tartarus as Charlie and Jase fell. The beasts could probably smell the demigods before they even hit the bottom. "There was nobody there."

The cop flipped a page over in his notepad. He didn't get a chance to speak because Annabeth sharply butted in, "is this really necessary? That's all we know. Now, please, leave and let my family to recover."

The officers nodded quickly and left the home. "If there's anything you remember or if you have any questions, feel free to ask," they said before the door closed behind them. Annabeth let the police department's card fall to the wastebasket.

"I'm going to my room," Casey said. She ran upstairs, leaving her parents behind to wonder what was going to happen next.

"Perc, what are we going to do?" Annabeth asked. Percy pulled her close and let her bury her face in his chest.

"We move on. The best we can. Demigods pass away all the time, it's just a part of life. We're lucky we've lived this long. We've still got three amazing kids and they need us right now. I know it hurts, gods knows I do. But in the end, Jase knew the consequences, and he chose that it would be worth it. I did the same for you, we just were luckier than he was," Percy said.

"But why? Jason survived for six months, why did he die now?" Annabeth cried. "It shouldn't be luck! Jase was raised better than us, he was more trained and more loved; he should have survived!"

Percy shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered. "I don't know."