***Hi all, here's Chapter 35. Thanks again for all the awesome reviews! Chapter 36, from Leo's POV, will be up by Thursday, July 3.***

XXXV. JASON

They decided to fly the Argo II into Manhattan rather than try to fight the morning rush hour traffic in the camp van. Jason was a little concerned they would cause a panic when they entered the city's airspace, but he shouldn't have worried. Even if the mortals saw the ship for what it was through the Mist, it would take more than a giant flying bronze trireme to shock morning commuters in New York.

The ship set down in Central Park. As the crew disembarked, Percy took a deep breath. "It's good to be home." He grinned at Annabeth. "We had our one-month anniversary picnic on that hill over there, remember?"

"The one Hermes interrupted by sending us to fight a fire-breathing giant? Yeah, Seaweed Brain, I remember."

"Uh, yeah," Percy said. "But Paris afterwards was nice, right?"

Annabeth smiled as she slipped her hand into his. "Paris was very nice," she agreed and Percy looked satisfied.

Jason was still a little in awe over what the guy had done. Percy had no way of knowing Reyna was going to give him a reprieve. He'd been willing to die to keep his word and protect his friends. Jason was pretty sure that type of loyalty wasn't a Roman or a Greek quality. That was just a Percy Jackson quality and Jason seriously respected him for it.

Frank cleared his throat. He looked a little overwhelmed, which Jason could appreciate. They'd all been to some big cities recently, like Rome, but being in New York for the first time was like having all five of your senses assaulted at once—it took some getting used to. Talk about respect though—Jason had been impressed by the way Frank handled the situation with Octavian. He knew it couldn't have been an easy decision, but Frank made the right call. Jason was confident the big guy would make an excellent praetor. But right now, Frank seemed a little lost as he said, "So, um, how do we get to Olympus from here?"

Percy clapped him on the shoulder. "You're in New York, man. We'll take the subway."

Half an hour later, they were standing in front of the Empire State Building. Jason's mouth was dry and his stomach seemed to be trying to square dance. This was it. He was about to visit Olympus. He was going to meet his father.

Piper took his hand. She must have been nervous, too, but she looked calm and beautiful as she gave him a reassuring smile. "The hard part's over," she reminded him.

"Or so we hope," Leo muttered as he gazed up at the skyscraper. His brow was furrowed, but before Jason could ask him what was up, Annabeth pushed open the doors and they all followed her into the lobby.

A guard was sitting behind the desk, sniffling as he read a book with a blue cover and black and white speech bubbles on the front. The guard barely glanced up as they approached him.

"We've been summoned to Olympus," Annabeth said.

"Don't know what you're talking about," the guard muttered. He blew his nose with a loud honk.

"Look, we've already defeated a primordial goddess and stopped a war this morning," Annabeth told him. "Don't make us break out the swords again. Can we just, please, have the key?"

The guard glared at her with red eyes. "Fine," he snapped, handing over a plastic keycard. "Just make sure there's no one else on the elevator with you. Now leave me alone." And he turned back to his book.

As they approached the elevator doors, Hazel gasped. "They're just like the Doors."

Frank frowned. "Which doors?"

"The Doors of Death," Percy said grimly. "And yeah, they're the same, except the colors are reversed."

That didn't exactly reassure Jason as they all piled into the elevator. He was glad Piper was still holding his hand; knowing she was close made him feel better.

Before the doors could close, an older couple got on. They were in their fifties and clearly tourists—cameras hung around their necks over black and white "I Love NYC" t-shirts. The guy was even wearing socks under sandals, never a good look. The woman smiled. "Observation deck, please."

Leo, who was nearest to the controls, pressed the button for the observation deck. Jason noticed Annabeth casually hide the Olympus keycard behind her back. The guard had said to make sure no one else got on the elevator with them. Jason assumed they would have to lose the mortals before they could take the elevator all the way up. The doors closed and the elevator began to ascend. The easy listening music grated on Jason's nerves.

"Field trip?" the lady asked. Her husband was immersed in a guidebook titled, "Top Twenty Things to do in the Big Apple." They seemed like such clichéd tourists, Jason was afraid they were monsters in disguise.

"Actually," Piper said with a sweet smile, "we're here to meet our parents."

Leo choked. The lady didn't seem to notice. "Oh how nice. We're just in from Milwaukee," she said, gesturing to herself and her husband. "We've been enjoying the sights. There's so much history in this city, isn't there?"

More than you know, Jason thought. Out loud he said, "Definitely."

Awkward silence filled the elevator. Jason avoided meeting any of his friends' eyes, particularly Leo's, because if he did, he would bust out laughing. Thankfully, it wasn't long until the elevator arrived at the right floor.

"After you," the lady said, smiling at Hazel, who was nearest the doors.

"Um..." Hazel looked frantically at the others.

Percy blurted out, "Oh wait, weren't we supposed to meet them in the lobby?"

Annabeth smacked his arm. She did a good job of looking exasperated; Jason figured she'd had a lot of practice. "You couldn't have mentioned that before we got on the elevator?"

"Uh, sorry?" Percy ventured.

"To the ground floor!" Leo announced, pressing the button to close the elevator doors. He waved to the tourists, who looked slightly bemused as they exited the elevator. "Enjoy New York!"

The moment the doors closed, they all looked at each other, and burst out laughing. The whole thing was just so ridiculous.

Annabeth squeezed past Leo to insert the keycard. A button that said "600" popped up and she pressed it. The elevator began to ascend again. Annabeth shook her head. "Mortals. That has literally never happened to me before."

"First time for everything," Percy said with a grin.

The incident with the mortals had somewhat steadied Jason's nerves, but as the elevator passed the four hundredth and five hundredth floors, his stomach began to churn again. He gripped Piper's hand as they reached the six hundredth floor. The elevator gave a pleasant ding and the doors opened, revealing Olympus.

Jason's first thought was, "Wow."

A mountaintop was hovering in the sky above them. It was covered in beautiful villas, temples, and gardens. The scents of thousands of flowers perfumed the air. He could hear soft music playing over the trickling of fountains. At the very top of the mountain rose a temple more massive than all the others.

"The palace of the gods," Hazel murmured, her eyes also fixed on the biggest temple.

"You designed all this?" Piper asked Annabeth incredulously.

Annabeth blushed and tried to look modest. "Yeah. Olympus got pretty beat up during the Titan War, so they named me the official architect in charge of redesigning and rebuilding everything."

"And she did an amazing job," Percy said. "You should see the salad bar, it's—"

"Anyway," Annabeth said, "let's get to the throne room before they decide to incinerate us just for being late."

"Yeah, I prefer to stay un-incinerated when possible," Leo said.

They made their way across the floating bridge, then up through Olympus until they reached the bronze doors that led into the throne room of the gods. Jason guessed the doors were big enough for an airplane to pass through. Next to this building, he felt as small and insignificant as an ant.

"Jason, you should go first," Annabeth said. "You're the son of Jupiter."

Jason didn't like it, but he knew she was right. Piper squeezed his hand. Jason shot her a grateful look before reaching out and pushing the doors open.

Jason had thought the rest of Olympus was intimidating, but that was nothing compared to walking into a room the size of a football stadium and having thirteen twenty-foot tall gods and goddesses stare down at you from their thrones. Jason's heart thudded against his ribs as his eyes zeroed in on one god in particular—the king, the lord of the skies.

His dad.

Jupiter (or Zeus? Jason wasn't sure what form he was in at the moment) was dressed in a dark blue pinstriped suit. He had long dark hair and a beard to match, plus piercing blue eyes. His hands were resting on the arms of his throne, but his right hand wasn't far from the master bolt, which sizzled with electricity. Even from this distance, Jason could feel its power.

Jason wasn't sure what to say as he looked around at the assembled Olympians. "We're here" seemed a little obvious. Before he could decide, someone called, "Jason!" and the next second, Thalia ran up and flung her arms around him. Jason hugged her back, trying to swallow the sudden lump in his throat.

Thalia pulled back to look at his face, as if she were checking for injuries. "It's good to see you, little brother." She kissed his cheek, then released him to hug Annabeth.

"Do I get a hug, too?" Percy asked.

Thalia punched him in the arm.

"Ow!"
"Six months, Kelp Head! Do you know how worried we were about you? What were you thinking?"

"Uh, it wasn't my fault?"

"Yeah, well, don't let it happen again." Thalia gave him a hug. "Because if Annabeth doesn't kill you, I will."

"Point taken," Percy said, rubbing his arm.

Thalia took Jason's hand and led him farther into the throne room. "Come on, heroes. Your parents want to talk to you."

None of the Olympians had moved during Thalia's display, but as they walked closer to the thrones, Hera, or maybe she was Juno since she had a goatskin cloak over her shoulders, smiled. She held out her hands in welcome. "My heroes. You have done well."

Jason could see many of the gods and goddesses, including his own father, nodding in approval.

"So, that's it?" Percy asked. "You guys aren't schizophrenic anymore?"

Juno frowned. "I don't appreciate that word. But yes, we are no longer divided between our forms. We can stay in whichever form feels most comfortable in any given moment, but without the side-effects of being torn between both."

"So the Romans returning the statue to the Greeks worked?" Annabeth asked.

"It did," Juno said. "But it's more than that. The seven of you, Greeks and Romans alike, were able to come together as a team. And by also getting the two demigod camps to unite, or at least not kill each other, you have allowed us to become whole again. And we must thank you for that."

A smattering of polite applause broke out around the throne room. Jason was glad the gods were back in their right minds, but he noticed that his father didn't clap.

Juno turned to her husband. "See? My plan worked. Admit it."

"It worked," Jupiter grumbled. "Though you're lucky it didn't end in warfare. It's unfortunate, though, that we again had to rely on mortals to fight our battles."

Oh yeah, Jason was so glad this dude was his dad.

Anger flared up in him. Before he could think too much about it, he said, "Well, you're welcome. Next time, why don't you fight your battles yourself? Then you won't have to rely on us mortals."

Jason's friends gaped at him. Jupiter stared down at him incredulously. Jason fully expected to take a hit from the master bolt, which he doubted he would survive, despite his electricity tolerance. But he didn't care. Everything they'd gone through and this was the reaction they got from the king of the gods? Not cool.

There was a long, terrible silence. Then the god seated to the right of Jupiter began to chuckle.

All eyes snapped onto the god. He was wearing Bermuda shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt. His throne looked like a deep-sea fisherman's seat. He had black hair and sea-green eyes. Poseidon.

Another god, with a metal leg brace and a smoldering beard, also began to laugh, though it sounded more like wheezing. Across the room, a stunningly gorgeous goddess, who could only be Aphrodite, smiled indulgently at Jason.

A goddess with dark hair and gray eyes smiled coolly. "I told you after the last war, Father. It is a mistake to both ignore and underestimate our children."

"Jason Grace is correct," said the goddess beside her, who was dressed in silver and had eyes as cold as moonlight. "We should be grateful to these heroes. They have done us a great service."

"Thank you, my lady," Thalia murmured.

Apollo sat up straight on his golden throne. "Well said, sis. I think we need to compose a poem to celebrate their deeds. 'To save our bacon/Heroes go across the sea—"

"That's enough of that," Bacchus said. He was lounging on his grapevine throne, legs crossed, with his thyrsus across his lap. "But I agree, they should probably be rewarded. They put on a pretty impressive display in Rome."

"Thanks," Percy muttered.

The war god thumped his fist on the arm of his throne. Jason assumed he was Mars, not Ares, because he looked at Frank with fierce pride. "Laurels all around for these kids. And maybe a couple explosions, for emphasis."

Frank gulped. "That's, um, really not necessary."

Jupiter was still glaring down at Jason. Jason met his eyes defiantly. He didn't think his dad would blast him, now that the other gods were on Jason's side. Finally, the sky god leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "Fine. We'll reward the heroes for stopping Gaea and the war between the camps, blah blah blah."

Juno gave her husband a dirty look. "Try it again."

Jupiter grunted, then sat up straight. "Fine. The council recognizes the sacrifices the seven of you made to stop Gaea and the giants. You have done a great service to Olympus."

"And we are grateful," Juno added.

"Yes, yes. And in honor of your accomplishments, you should probably get some type of reward." Jupiter looked grumpily at Percy. "I assume you'll turn me down again if I offer you immortality?"

Percy glanced at Annabeth, then looked back at the sky god. "Probably. Anyone else, immortality?"

The others all shook their heads. It was a tempting offer, Jason thought, but after meeting demigods-turned-gods like Hercules and Dionysus, Jason was perfectly happy staying human. Or half-human. Whatever.

"Well, is there something else you would like for a reward?" Jupiter asked.

Jason had no ideas. He glanced around at his friends, but no one seemed to have any suggestions. Then, Jason noticed something odd. While the other gods' attention was focused on the demigods, Pluto, in his black throne at the end of the room, was studiously avoiding looking at them.

No, Jason realized with a jolt, the god of the Underworld was studiously avoiding looking at Hazel. And Jason realized why. If Pluto acknowledged her presence, he'd probably have to take her back to the Underworld. Jason's stomach clenched.

"Hazel," he blurted out.

She, and everyone else, turned to look at him. "What?" she asked.

"For a reward," Jason said hurriedly, "Hazel gets a reprieve. Pluto doesn't have to take her back to the Underworld. She can live a regular, mortal life."

Hazel's golden eyes widened. "That's not—you guys don't have to—I can't—"

"I agree with Jason," Frank said, reaching out to grasp Hazel's hand. "That's what I want for a reward."

"Yep," Percy said. "Same here."

Annabeth nodded. "I agree."

"Definitely," Leo said, grinning.

"That's perfect," Piper said.

Jupiter raised his eyebrows. "That's all you want? Well, that's easy. Hazel Levesque, by the power given to me by the council, I decree that you may have a normal, mortal life. You don't have to return to the Underworld until you, well, die. Pluto, you may acknowledge your daughter."

"Thank you, brother." The god of the Underworld turned to smile at Hazel. "Well done, child."

"Thank you," Hazel whispered. She seemed overwhelmed, but she also looked like a thousand pound weight had disappeared from her shoulders. Jason figured they'd chosen a pretty good reward.

"So, if that's all," Jupiter started to say.

"Hold up," Percy interrupted. "While we're talking about rewards, there's one thing you guys forgot to do last time." He turned to Leo. "You want to take it from here?"

"Absolutely," Leo said. He stepped forward, eyes narrowed.

***And, naturally, the next chapter is from Leo's point-of-view. It'll be up by Thursday, July 3. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Also, in case you were wondering, the book the security guard was reading was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green-which should explain why he was crying. Anyway, have a great week!***