Needless to say, Reyna was irritated. The day hadn't exactly been going the way she had originally planned. She scoffed to herself, rolling her eyes simultaneously. Nothing was going the way she wanted it to, not since New Rome had been sacked. Again. She'd done what any praetor before her would have done, such as Cato the Elder or Brutus and Cassius. But even she couldn't have prepared for the overwhelming forces of the Titans and in the end she had to pull as much of the Twelfth Legion out before she lost everyone. Jason had been on the front lines, coordinating their troops, and she'd had no other choice but to leave him in order to save New Rome's citizens, the Senate, and the remnants of the Legion. She'd watched Camp Jupiter go up in flames, and with it she'd lost Jason, Octavian, and both the 2nd and 3rd Cohorts. If Pluto's ambassador hadn't shadow-traveled to her and given her the option to go to the Midwest and stay there with his people, Reyna believed that the entire Legion would have been lost.

And for a long time she felt that a lot of them had been lost. She'd never thought she'd see or hear from Jason again, at least until Nico explicitly told her that Jason wasn't dead, because his soul never went to the Underworld. But even that good news wasn't enough because if Jason hadn't been killed, it very well could have been worse for him, and by extension, worse for her. In all her life, she'd never known a half-blood as strong as him.

And her problems didn't end there. Her Legionnaires and the Greeks they were holed up with weren't getting along, and keeping the infighting to a minimum was a conscious, daily effort. It didn't help that the counsel that "governed" the Greeks was splintered, with at least two of them being replaced as soon as they arrived in the ruins of Detroit, and half of those leaders being shipped off to command small skirmishes against Kronos's army throughout the country. The 4th Cohort had been sent out to fight as well, but in general things weren't going well. The Amazons (and her sister, by extension) were trapped on the West Coast, just barely hanging on.

Then there was Nico di Angelo. The kid was brilliant to clearly have not been in charge of the Greeks before the war, but he was irritating to say the least. And she'd never get used to the talking-to-the-dead thing. He scared her half to death with his shadow travel (not that she'd ever admit it to him), left her in the cold to talk to the dead, and was just creepy in general, what with his deathly pale skin and dark, piercing eyes. And he seemed more discerning than he let on: she knew he could sense that there was more to the equation that was Jason Grace.

And now she had to deal with more Greeks, according to the son of Hades. The lightning they had seen arcing over the plain had since ceased, but Reyna could still hear soft pads of movement through the grass towards them. She noticed Nico's shoulders slowly go slack, as if he'd been holding it together up until this moment and was finally letting go in relief.

While she studied the boy, a girl slipped out of the grass as smoothly as if she'd been walking down the street. Reyna wondered in disbelief how the girl could have ever been hidden with the clean white sleeveless shirt she wore, the silver camo sweatpants and the silver jacket tied around her waist, topped off with black combat boots. Her short, black hair was pulled back out of her face by a silver circlet, and metal skull earrings adorned her earlobes and framed her face.

"Reyna," Nico said, getting her attention. "Meet Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. Thalia, this is the praetor of Camp Jupiter, Reyna Ramirez-Arellano."

In response, Reyna began to glare at Nico, while Thalia stalked over to him and thumped him in the forehead. "What have I told you about using my last name, Ghost Boy?" She then wrapped her arms around him in a brief, friendly hug.

"Sorry," Nico replied, hugging the Huntress back. "Should I have introduced you as the almighty Pinecone Face, daughter of Sky-Lord Zeus?" he asked, a grin spreading on his face. Thalia thumped him a little harder, coursing a small electric shock through his arm.

Thalia's grin froze as she noticed Reyna staring at her in what looked like disbelief. "What's with your friend, Nico? She won't stop staring."

Reyna couldn't help but stare: she had been stunned by the name she had heard. "Grace, he said?" she asked. "Your name is Thalia Grace?"

"Yeah, it's my name," Thalia replied blandly, "but I don't use it. Just call me Thalia." The Huntress turned to her old ally and friend. "What's her deal?" Nico could do nothing but shrug. Thalia stared back at Reyna, while the praetor continued her personal mini freak out.

"Anyways," Nico started, eager to get off the subject of Reyna. "It's just you? Where are the rest of the Hunters?"

Thalia stared at the field, as is she were concentrating on the horizon. When she heard loud howls echo across the plain, she smiled and looked back to Nico. "I had Phoebe take half of the Hunters to the front lines to back up your campers. The rest went ahead to Detroit to wait for us and bolster the garrison."

"And Phoebe let you go without backup? No honor guard, nothing? Does she know you'll be here saving boys?" Nico asked, this typically grim face playing into another smile. "I think she'd have insisted on coming if you told her that there would be boys."

Thalia shook her head. "Even if I told her what I was doing, she'd understand. I'm still Artemis's lieutenant and even Phoebe can agree that we need all the warriors we can get." The Huntress stopped and nodded at the grass. "And at any rate, I brought my own honor guard." At the end of her sentence, two wolves bounded from the grass, immediately moving to flank Thalia. The daughter of Zeus knelt on one knee and said, "Heel!" Immediately the wolves, one pale white and the other tawny brown, sat on their hind legs, waiting for the next command.

Thalia rubbed each wolf's coat as she spoke. "I trust these two wolves as much as any of my Hunters." She looked at Reyna and Nico. "So what's our plan? How are we breaking them out?"

Nico looked Thalia in her electric blue eyes. "The prophecy Rachel gave me said that we need light, lightning and earth to shatter the cage. That's why I sent for you: we need you to be the lightning."

"What about Jason?" Reyna asked him. "Jason is a son of Jupiter; he should be more than capable to use the lightning."

While Thalia eyed Reyna strangely, Nico agreed with her. "You're right Reyna, but we can't reach him from this side and tell him that we need his help to shatter the cage. Besides, some of the spirits of the dead Arena captives have 'graciously' shared some vital information. Supposedly, special demigod abilities have been hampered by the Arena, and a lot of them were left without some of their best skills. If Percy and Jason are in there, it's likely that they aren't going to be of much help with their powers. So Thalia can take care of the lightning. As for the earth…" Nico flexed his fingers and slowly chunks of rock and dirt began to levitate under his powerful reach. "Well, I've got that under control."

Reyna looked puzzled. "Well, what about light? You said, 'light, lightning and earth will shatter the cage.' If you and Thalia can control earth and lightning, who can bring the light?"

Nico shrugged. "I've never heard of the Oracle stuttering or using the wrong words. We have to assume she actually meant light. But that could be anything. It could be sunlight for all we know."

"Annabeth could have figured it out in no time," Thalia interjected. "We need to get to work Nico, before we run out of time. It's our turn to save Seaweed Brain."

"Wait. What was the prophecy again?" Annabeth asked Percy as she limped alongside him, using him as a human crutch while the group made their way, following Percy's directions. Jason walked a bit ahead, enough to cut down any stray foliage that could make Annabeth stumble, while Lyca took the rear, bow in hand, ready to shoot down anything that didn't immediately identify itself as an ally, and even then, she was feeling just a little trigger-happy.

Percy sighed in frustration. "I don't know the whole prophecy. I only managed to get the last part. He said something about setting demigods free and shattering a cage. He rattled off some elements too, lightning and earth. I think he said light too, or maybe he was repeating himself."

"Why would Nico repeat himself?" Annabeth grimaced for a split second before her entire face dropped into a state of unbelievable calm, and Percy knew now more than ever that she was in a bad way. He shifted mid-step to bear more of her weight, ignoring the stony glare the daughter of Athena gave him in return.

"I'm not sure. I wish I could've heard more. Maybe we could figure it out with more of the prophecy."

Jason stopped suddenly, causing Percy to tense up under the weight of Annabeth and for Lyca to knock a regular arrow onto her bow. "You said Nico was the son of Hades, right?" Jason asked.

Using her head, Annabeth motioned to a fallen tree, indicating that she wanted Percy to set her down so she could rest. When he had done so, she breathed out in relief. "Nico was being trained by his father when the war was going on. We didn't even know that he'd survived the Battle of New York. What made you ask, Jason?"

Jason knelt across from Percy and Annabeth. "We might not need all of the prophecy." The son of Jupiter looked at Percy. "You said that he talked about earth and lightning, maybe even light." Percy nodded, waiting for Jason to continue. "Well, I'm the son of Jupiter, god of the skies. His preferred weapon is the thunderbolt. What if lightning is the power of Jupiter? When I had my full powers, I could call lightning down from the sky."

Annabeth's face brightened. "That makes sense! Thalia could call down lightning too! Maybe you're onto something, Jason." Percy made to speak, but Annabeth's mind went into overdrive, and she couldn't stop herself. "And Nico is the son of Hades! He can control the earth! And if we need someone on our side, Percy, you're the son of the Earthshaker! When we fought against Kronos in New York, you brought down an entire bridge by stabbing it with Riptide! Between the two of you, 'earth' is covered."

"What about light?" Percy asked her.

Annabeth tapped a finger on her chin for a moment before smiling wryly. "Well, Apollo isn't called 'the god of light' for nothing," she said, causing the daughter of Apollo to focus on her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lyca asked her, slinging her bow over her shoulder.

"Lyca, you said it yourself. You shoot arrows of light from that bow on your back. You could literally glow as a child. We've seen you use it not even a day ago. You have to be the missing part of the prophecy. That's why Jason found you, and why Calypso possessed you to stop us from fighting. Fate wants you to help us bust out."

"Well, maybe it's just the bow…I've never been able to shoot arrows of light before."

"None of us could even string that bow, much less fire it. Face it, Lyca, the prophecy is talking about you."

"No other child of Apollo has been blessed with these powers."

"No stories of Poseidon's children have them able to do things I can with water," Percy broke in. "He had giant sons who could walk on water, but the rest, like Theseus, had no powers over water at all. I'm the only one. And, so far, you're the only child of Apollo I know who can generate light."

"All it takes is a little practice," Annabeth said finally, using Percy's arm as a brace to stand. Percy immediately moved to support the daughter of Athena. "It took Percy years to begin to understand how he triggered his powers, and then how to use it effectively. You're halfway there Lyca, and we believe that you can help us out."

Lyca breathed deeply as she watched her allies continue to walk by. She stared at her hands before grabbing her bow from her shoulder. Well, Dad, I prayed for the ability to help them out, and maybe, just maybe, you've actually answered my prayers.

A/N: And it happens again. Honestly guys, I don't know what to say. Actually, I do. It's my fourth year of college, and I've been going through some things. Not much of an excuse, but between all this extra stuff and my job, I suffered a couple of deaths in the family. This chapter as you see it has been done for awhile: I've been trying to do all of the Jailbreak in this chapter, but that wasn't happening. They officially bust out next chapter. I can't make any promises about when the next chapter is coming, but I will say this: I will finish this story.

In addition, if there are particular viewpoints you'd like to see the story from, let me know in a review or a PM. Currently, I've done Lyca, Percy, Nico, Reyna, Kronos/Luke, and maybe Jason and Annabeth (I don't recall right now). If there's anybody in this story who hasn't been listed as dead or away as the story continues, let me know if you want to see "Playing the Games" from their eyes.

Also very excited for the Blood of Olympus coming in October and the next series, "Olympian Knights", slated for 2016 at this point. There will maybe (provided the workload allows) another chapter to celebrate. Thank you for all your support.