I opened my eyes to pure darkness.

"Leo?" I called out, my heart racing. I tried to step back, but there was no solid ground behind me. I wasn't standing on solid ground either. I was in a void.

"Hello?" I shouted, beginning to panic.

"Hello, Celeste."

"Who's there?" I tried to turn to see who had spoken, but I couldn't move. I looked down to see my body turned to mist.

I screamed. "What kind of nightmare is this?"

"Close. A dream, yes. But not a nightmare. I'm here to help."

"Then give me my body back! And show me who you are!"

The disembodied voice chuckled. "This is a dream. You can have your body if you wish."

"What?"

They sighed. "Very well. Perhaps I was wrong in choosing you." A blurred figure appeared in the darkness made from the same mist I was. It solidified into the form of a woman. "I am Hecate, goddess of magic. We have much to discuss."

"What do you want from me?" I asked as my body re-solidified. According to Piper, gods always wanted something.

"I am here to save your life. You sail to Camp Jupiter today, yes?"

I nodded, a feeling of dread forming in the pit of my stomach.

"Then you must hide your parentage. They will kill you if they know who your father is."

"Wait, what?"

"They will probably try to kill you and your friends no matter what, but you must survive."

"Uh, thanks. Survive. Great advice." I didn't care how rude it sounded. I didn't want any help from the gods.

The goddess frowned. "You have no idea how much I've done for you, do you?"

"Uh, I've never seen you before, so no."

"I helped the Fates to change your memories. I've covered up your secrets since the day you came here. I saved you from millions more questions."

"What? You expect me to thank you for stealing my memories? What are you talking about? What secrets?"

"You know which secrets I speak of."

"No, I don't!"

"They're in your memories."

"You took my memories!"

"You have the power to get them back."

"What?"

She shook her head. "Never mind. You must hide your parentage."

"Great. Can I wake up now?"

She groaned in frustration. "No! You must use the Mist to hide. I've been doing it for you, but soon enough Zeus will sense my disobedience."

"Look, I don't know how you've been using the morning mist to help me hide, but you don't need to do that anymore. I'm fine."

"The Mist. My Mist," she said through clenched teeth.

"What?"

"I'm trying to help you. I've been cloaking your presence from the gods. They will kill you if they discover you exist."

"But Hestia spoke with me. And Kronos."

Hecate's eyes widened. "Names have power child. Even in dreams. Do not speak of the Titan."

Ice cold fear ran through my veins. The void we stood in began to shake.

"Zeus knows. Hide, child. Hide from the Romans! Hide from the gods!"

The darkness shattered, and I was falling.

I bolted upright, my heart hammering in my chest. A cool breeze blew through the air, reminding me of my surroundings.

I was still on the roof of Bunker Nine. We had fallen asleep, which meant…I turned to my side to see a softly snoring Leo next to me.

"Leo!"

He woke with a start, his fists raised and smoking. "Huh? Wha happened?"

"We fell asleep! Oh my gods, the harpies are gonna kill us!" I kicked the blankets off my legs and stumbled to my feet.

"Nah, it's fine."

"What?"

He was still under the covers, rubbing his eyes. "We're going on a quest today. They won't kill us."

I sat back down, my heart still racing from my dream. "Sorry. Just…had a weird dream."

"What happened?"

"Hecate came and gave me a warning. So now the gods want me to believe and hide from the Romans."

"Hecate?"

"Goddess of magic or something? She said the Romans would kill me if they knew who my dad was."

"Eh, we've got lots of people trying to kill us. What's one more?"

I laughed at that. "Yeah. It'll be okay." I managed to convince myself. "We should get to breakfast though."

A smirk appeared on Leo's face as he stood. "What do you say we make an entrance?"

"What did you have in mind?"

He got a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Come on!" Then he was gone, his blanket in his hands as he flew down the stairs. I laughed but grabbed my blanket and followed him anyways.

The bunker doors were already wide open when I made it to the bottom of the staircase. Leo's blanket had been long forgotten on the ground as he raced up the gangplank to the ship.

"What are you waiting for?" he called over the railing. I dropped my quilt next to his and joined him on the deck.

"It's amazing," I breathed in awe at the ship.

"You just saw it yesterday."

"Are you turning down a compliment?"

"We already agreed I'm amazing."

"Then get on with it. Fly the ship, Captain."

"Captain?" he questioned, but he moved to the controls anyway.

"What would you call yourself?" I asked as his fingers flew over the maze of buttons and switches.

"Supreme Commander of the Argo II."

"Have you ever met a Supreme Commander who uses a Wii remote?"

His control console looked like something out of a video game, complete with Wii motion controls, a keyboard and monitor, a CD player, and piloting controls. And, despite his attempts at teaching the crew, he was still the only one who knew everything about it.

"I'm a creative thinker."

A snort came from the helm as a puff of steam rose into the air. "Festus disagrees."

The giant bronze dragon head turned to face us. Even with Leo's reassurances that Festus was perfectly safe, it still freaked me out.

The figurehead began to speak in his creaky voice, squeaking out something in morse code.

"He says we should hurry if we want to make it to breakfast on time."

"Well we should always listen to Festus."

He pushed a button on the console and the ship shook as the landing gear retracted into the hull. "Hold on to your hats!" Leo shouted over the roar of the engine.

I gripped the railing tightly as the ship slowly rose of the ground. It floated surprisingly gently into the air for such a large piece of machinery. We hovered over the ground, and I held my breath.

The seconds ticked by in my head. It was a full minute before Leo whooped, "Yeah! Flight trial 56 successful!"

"You didn't know if it would work?"

"You should have more faith in me. You have no reason to worry."

He pushed on the controls. We drifted forward above workbenches and passed through the open doorway of the cavern.

The wood of the hull barely rubbed against the walls of the cave. I winced at the scraping sound, but we made it into the clearing.

"See, Princess?"

"One, don't call me that. Two, every single invention of yours I've seen has exploded."

"Your ring hasn't!"

"My ring came from blueprints you found."

"Okay, but some of the things were meant to explode."

"Was this?"

The engine groaned from below-deck. "Fine, non-believer. We'll show you. Festus? Send us up, please."

Festus squeaked and the ship rose into the air. Branches of the trees surrounding us snapped as leaves tumbled onto the deck. We were hundreds of feet above the ground in an instant, the whole camp spread before us.

The dining pavilion looked like a dot from our height, but I could see ant-sized campers streaming from it, pointing and staring in awe. Leo pushed a button, and we started moving towards them. The ship moved impossibly fast, and we were floating above the pavilion in an instant.

The ship sailed to the ground, hovering inches above the grass. We were instantly surrounded by a sea of campers, all clamoring to get a look at the ship.

The crowd parted as Annabeth stormed through. "This wasn't the plan!" she shouted over the roar of the engine. Leo's eyes widened, terrified at the prospect of an angry Annabeth.

Luckily, Piper materialized out of the chaos, grasping Annabeth's shoulders, and trying to calm her down.

"I'll let you deal with this!" I called to Leo as I swung a leg over the railing. I kicked the rope ladder open and climbed down, the campers backing up as I dropped to the ground.

Even after nearly six months of me being at camp, they were still afraid of me. It didn't matter. Soon enough, I'd be long gone.

I pushed through the group of bodies, relieved once I escaped. The sound of the crowd behind me faded as I walked towards the Big House, and I basked in the silence.

The sun hid behind a cloud as I trudged up the stairs and onto the porch. The creaking of the door echoed throughout the house. Other than that, it was eerily quiet.

I rushed up the stairs to my room, taking the stairs two at a time in my anticipation. I pushed open the door, revealing the incredibly plain room.

There was nothing on the walls, or on the table to decorate it. Nothing to show it was mine. I suppose part of me had been hoping I wouldn't have to stay very long.

I headed to my bed, grabbing the backpack waiting on top of it. It was the very same bag I'd been wearing when I first came here. And now I'd be taking it on this quest.

I sighed as I turned to leave, pausing in the doorway with my pack half over my shoulder. It felt wrong somehow to leave the room empty, with no sign I'd ever stayed there. Or would return.

I had so much riding on this quest. The fate of the world, my life, and my reputation at camp. It seemed small in comparison to saving the world, but I wanted to be able to come back. I wanted to leave a mark.

But it wasn't like I had much to leave behind. Anything and everything I'd brought with me was on the ship. I reached for my neck to fidget with my necklace, but my hand came to rest on the string of leather tied around my neck.

Piper had gotten it for me, explaining the camps tradition of gifting beads at the end of each summer. It seemed pointless to wear an empty necklace around, but I just had to hope someday I'd fill it.

But would I ever get a bead? Would I even be here by the end of summer? Those were questions I didn't want the answers to.

Instead, I reached behind me to untie it. I gingerly placed it on the pillow. Something to come back to. Something to come home to.

Because whether I liked it or not, this was my home now. And I wanted so badly to return to it.

I took a deep breath and turned around, a smile on my face as left the room behind, its small but precious necklace inside. I quickened my pace as I jogged down the stairs, knowing Annabeth would be waiting for me.

By the time I made it outside, most of the campers had returned to breakfast, and Piper had managed to calm Annabeth down.

I climbed up the rope ladder, and after depositing my bag in my room, I stood at the helm next to Leo.

"You ready, Princess?"

For once I didn't mind the nickname. I was Kronos' daughter. I wouldn't hide that. I could only hope the other campers could see past that.

I glanced behind me at the Big House, at all my hopes I'd left inside. Something to come home to.

"Let's do this."