It had been four years since Percy and Annabeth had dropped by Ogunquit and checked in, emissaries for the Olympians. I'd first moved in the summer of 2019, and now I was nearing the end of winter in 2023. It hadn't been four years, closer to three and a half.

A lot has changed in the last three and a half years.

I took down most of the movie posters in my loft and replaced them with posters of movies I had seen in the last three years that I enjoyed. Highest above all of them, hanging directly above where I usually laid my head to sleep, was Titanic. I like the part where that guy falls off the ship near the end and makes that 'BONK' sound off the propeller. That was cinema.

But also, yes, I like the gut-wrenching part of when Leonardo DiCaprio drowns.

There were two other acquisitions in my room, a poster of Everything Everywhere All At Once near the door and The Truman Show directly across from my doorway. Despite my love for it, I try not to watch The Truman Show too often. I'm already paranoid enough, with the king of the cosmos being out to get me.

I didn't work for Wyatt anymore. He mainly uses Skeeter as his assistant now. I've been working as a construction worker for the last two years, refurbishing the Ogunquit Playhouse and currently working on expanding the 95 on-ramps up off Littlefield Road.

Skeeter and Krishna periodically talked about escaping Ogunquit and escaping to New York City or Boston. Still, it didn't sound like they believed in themselves anymore. Three and half years ago, they were nineteen and twenty, children fresh out of high school, excited to see what the world had in store for them.

But Skeeter and Krishna weren't children anymore; they were almost twenty-four, and the reality of the world was hitting them like a pile of bricks. The pandemic helped them live in denial for longer than they would've otherwise. Now, I see the same gloomy look on their face on almost every Ogunquitite. The look of having a dream you'll never let go of but never realized either.

Ed met a woman named Cheyenne and moved to be with her in Little Rock, Arkansas. According to Johnny, Ed and Cheyenne now have a pair of twins, Michael and Brandon. Ed's first choice for the twins' names was Stars and Stripes. I've never met Cheyenne and probably never will, but I respect her for shutting down those names.

Lucy had made progress with mourning Grimsley. She had gone on a few dates in the last few years and saw a guy named Ian last summer, but nothing long-term. Recovery wasn't linear, something that we both learned. One night she and Ian are playing charades at Kirshna's place, and the next, she's calling me at 4:15 in the morning, sobbing uncontrollably about how she's denigrating Grimsley's memory. All of it was grieving.

Johnny's life had remained untouched. He reconnected with his estranged daughter, Heather. I was surprised when he mentioned his daughter. He hadn't said anything about his daughter to me or anyone else until after they repaired everything.

Johnny and Heather made me think of Peroiba. After Percy and Annabeth told the Olympians, I wasn't a threat. Once Iris's Messages were free from Python's control, I heard from a few old friends, namely Atalanta and Epimetheus, in that part of the universe. I hadn't said anything to either of them yet.

What was I supposed to say? 'Sorry for siding with Gaea and trying to destroy the world a few years ago. Want a burger at the place I'm currently living?'

Also, while I was slumming it here in Ogunquit, Apollo was demoted to being human and killed a bunch of Roman emperors that had ascended to godhood.

My Caesar salad went bad on the Ides of March a few days ago, so we're both having fabulous adventures. That's not even a joke, either; that actually happened.

I ate it yesterday anyway.

Agnes had passed on. She was seventy-seven, a little younger than I thought she was. Her antique bookshelf buckled under its own weight and crushed her instantly one night. I took comfort in two facts. One, she was closely linked to Triton; two, she didn't suffer when she died. What likely happened is that she went to sleep on Earth and woke up in Elysium. Simple as that.

Ophelia was alone now, though. I think that's the most significant event between then and now. I had always wanted to check with Camp Jupiter to look into Laertes, but I always stopped myself. Firstly, because of Zeus or any other major god that saw me do that and not like it, I would be back in Tartarus before I could say, 'Terminus doesn't have arms.'

Well, that's not true.

I didn't want to look into Laertes's death because I knew he wasn't the only one who died that day. There were others. Laertes was closing in on thirty when he died, maybe three or four years older than Skeeter and Krishna.

I tried to acquit myself, saying that Polybotes was responsible for the attack on Camp Jupiter. But he was following my orders. My request, really, but it still came from me.

I tried to minimize the damage I did. I was trying to tell myself that almost everyone that had died in that battle made it to Elysium, which was true. A little trade secret of the Underworld is that everyone under eighteen automatically makes it to Elysium, no questions asked. At least, according to Alcyoneus.

Every Grimsley had a Lucy. But everyone who died had left people behind. Every Laertes had an Ophelia. Just because there was paradise waiting didn't make death less of a source of pain.

There was no guarantee of where Grimsley ended up, honestly. There's a genuine chance that he was condemned to the Fields of Aphsodel, wondering for eternity, getting glimpses and pieces of his life on Earth from other unremarkable souls.

Alcyoneus once told me a secret of the Underworld that not even Hades knew. Or if he did not, he wasn't telling anyone. If a human soul met one of their soulmates from Earth in Asphodel, they would remember who they were and could go to Elysium together. Soulmates could mean anyone. A relative, a close friend, a lover, even someone you met on the street once and thought was cool. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that no one would eventually be left in Asphodel after billions of years. Almost everyone, except for the worst of humanity, would wind up in Elysium.

That thought consoled me, although it would never apply to my life.

I sigh deeply and look out across the Josias river. My body aches slightly from a long day of hard work. I am Porhyrion, king of giants, and my body hurts from building an on-ramp. Granted, the hardest part of the job was getting a heavy vehicle license so I could drive the steamrollers around.

I stared out across the glittering Josias River. I hadn't seen Josias since she and Ophelia had tried to kill me three and a half years ago. A few other freshwater spirits lived in rivers and spirits nearby. I had seen glimpses of them.

The spirit of Ogunquit River, named Ogunquit himself (no way would get confusing later), resembled a cherry red shrimp but was the size of the tractor I drove today.

There was also a diminutive river north of town named Bragdon Brook. Bragdon was long, albino white, and eel-like, with a head identical to a Tyrannosaurus, just a little smaller.

I've thought about reaching out to Bragdon or Ogunquit, but I also second-guess myself. I need to stop second-guessing myself.

I fish into my pocket and chuck a quarter into the Josias River, "Epimetheus."

Deliverance has to start somewhere. Usually, IMs require drachmas, but since I don't have any and Iris usually makes exceptions for deities.

Immediately, I see him. He looks much younger than his twin, probably around Skeeter's age. He has a patchy beard, a prominent forehead, a pronounced widow's peak, and olive skin. He wore a dark blue hoodie with the Mandalorian on it, a pair of forest green jeans, and a pair of muddy black cowboy boots. Fashion was never Epimetheus's strong suit.

"What's up big man?" asked Epimetheus, as if the last fourteen years had never happened. As if his brother wasn't back on a rock with a vulture eating his liver again. As if I hadn't been only a few seconds away from killing every mortal animal on this planet.

"Good morning, Epi. How have you been?" My voice sounds robotic to me. The truth is, despite Epimetheus being the kindest of the Titans, he still terrifies me.

"Oh, you know. Can't complain. Trying to come up with new species of plankton is hard, you know?"

"I can only imagine."

"Oh, I have a kid now!" said Epimetheus excitedly. "A demi-titan, first of her kind in a generation."

I vaguely remember hearing about Oceanus fathering a human daughter about hundred and seventy years ago. Long story short, Krakatoa exploded.

Epimetheus's deference had to be fake. There was no way he had heard what I had done and was talking to me casually as if nothing had happened.

"You know, Atalanta and I missed you." continued the Titan, "We were so excited when we heard you came back."

Oh, boy, here it comes.

"So, tell me big guy. Why did you want to destroy humanity?"