I picked up Piper and we both started running to the big house. We both ran as fast as we could and managed to get there in about 2 minutes of non stop running. I burst in through the door and saw Jason and Chiron talking but they quickly stopped when they saw us. "What happened?" Jason rushed over. "What's wrong with her?". "Hera's cabin," I gasped,"Vision. Bad." Rachel came through the door. "I think ..." Rachel gulped. "I think I may have killed her." I placed her down on the couch and ran to find a first aid kit. I rummaged through a closet eventually finding a leather pouch I knew was a first aid kit. I ran back to the couch and knelt next to Piper. "Chiron something happened back there I've never seen anything like it,Rachel sounded like an old woman and she said..." I was about to say when Jason finished my sentence. "To free her from a prison?" Jason guessed. I was surprised and looked at him. "How'd you know that?" I asked. Chiron made a ward against evil and then said. "Jason, tell them. Louis , the medicine bag, please". I handed him the medicine bag. Jason then explained when the room froze — the dark misty
woman who had claimed to be Jason's patron. When he was done I didn't respond and you could hear a pin drop. "So does this happen often?" Jason asked. "Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding you bust them out of jail?". "Um your patron, not your godly parent?" I asked. "No, she said patron. She also said my dad had given her my life" Jason said. "I've never heard of anything like that before,Annabeth told me about the storm spirit claiming to be working for some mistress?" Could this be the same person?" I asked. "I don't think so," Jason said. "If she were my enemy, why would she be asking for my help? She's imprisoned. She's worried about some enemy
getting more powerful. Something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice " I froze in place turned to Chiron. "It's not that Kronos guy is it?" I asked. The centaur looked miserable. He held Piper's wrist, checking her pulse. At last he said, "It is not Kronos. That threat is ended. But … "but what?" I asked. Chiron closed the medicine bag. "Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later." Or now," Jason said. "Sir, Mr. Chiron, you told me the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. but can't possibly mean something worse than
an army of Titans, right?". "Oh," Rachel said in a small voice. "Oh, dear. The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason at the same
moment." "Hera did this?" I said angrily. I think Rachel's right," Jason said. "The woman did seem like a goddess. And she wore this — this goatskin cloak. That's a symbol of Juno, isn't it?" "Hey maybe I've never heard of it though," I said. Chiron nodded reluctantly. "Of Juno, Hera's Roman aspect, in her most warlike state. The goatskin cloak was a symbol of the Roman soldier." "So Hera is imprisoned?" Rachel asked. "Who could do that to the queen of the gods?". "Yeah and why her specifically and not someone more important?" I asked. "Louis ," Chiron warned, "she is still one of the Olympians. In many ways, she is the glue that holds the gods' family together. If she truly has been
imprisoned and is in danger of destruction, this could shake the foundations of the world. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great
even in the best of times. And if Hera has asked Jason for help" "Hera said she'd
been trying to break through her prison bonds for a month." Jason said. "Which is as long as olympus has been closed,so the gods must be worried" I said. "But why use her energy to send me here?" Jason asked. "She wiped my memory, plopped me into the Wilderness School field trip, and sent you a
dream vision to come pick me up. Why am I so important? Why not just send up an emergency flare to the other gods let them know where she is so
they bust her out?". "The gods need heroes to do their will down here on earth," Rachel said. That's right, isn't it? Their fates are always intertwined with demigods." "Yeah they need us but yeah why specifically Jason?" I asked. "And Piper's involved somehow," Rachel said. "Hera sent her the same message — Free me. And, Annabeth, this must have something to do with
Percy's disappearing." "Why so quiet Chiron? What's happening?" I asked him. Chiron looked like he had aged a thousand years in only a couple minutes. "I'm sorry my son I cannot help you in this" he said looking devastated. "What do you mean you need to help!" I said angrily. I will be in my office." His voice was heavy. "I need some time to think before dinner. Rachel, will you watch the girl? Call Argus to bring her to the
infirmary, if you'd like. And Louis , you should speak with Jason. Tell him about the Greek and Roman gods." "But…?" I started to say but Chiron ignored me and went into his office. "bourik chwal danmed!" I muttered. "I'm sorry," Jason said. "I think my being here — I don't know. I've messed things up coming to the camp, somehow. Chiron said he'd sworn an oath
and couldn't talk about it". "Hey don't worry about it, it's not your fault" I said. I looked at the table and saw what must've been Jason's sword. "Huh, that's odd," I said. Walking over to the sword I inspected it and saw that it was made of gold. "Huh that's interesting, do you remember where you got this?" I asked. "No," Jason said. "Like I said, I don't remember anything." I nodded and thought up an idea. "Well if Chiron isn't going to help us we'll need to do this ourselves" I said. "Which means we're going to make a trip to cabin 15"I turned to Rachel and asked "can you watch Piper?". "Sure," Rachel promised. "Good luck, you two." "Wait what's in cabin 15?
And who are you?" Jason asked. I turned to him and said "my name is Louis jr but you can call me Louis ". "And as for your other question, cabin 15 may have a way to get your memory back," I said. We both started walking to cabin 15 with Jason following me. We were in the newer wing of cabins when I finally saw cabin 15. "You think this is my parent's cabin?" he asked. "Nah, according to Annabeth, your parent is a lot more powerful," I replied. "Then why?" Jason started to ask when I interjected. "Because when you've forgotten something the best way to figure out memory loss is with the help of Hypnos" I said. We walked inside the cabin and as I thought at least three kids were still sound asleep even though dinner was starting soon. I looked over to Jason and saw that he was about to fall asleep. "Hey no nap time" I said, snapping my fingers in his face. "Cabin 15 does that,it's pretty annoying when you're coming in here to get someone for a class and they're fast asleep" I said. I walked up to Clovis and shook him to wake him up but that didn't work so I tapped on his head hardly six times and that woke him up. "Wh-wh-what?" Clovis complained, sitting up and squinting. He yawned hugely causing both me and Jason to yawn. "Hey don't yawn! We need your help" I said. "I was sleeping," Clovis said. "Yeah, what else is new?" I replied. "Good night," Clovis said. But I took his pillow off his bed before he could get his head on it. "That's not fair," Clovis complained meekly. "Give it back." "I'll give it back when you help," I said. Clovis sighed then he said "fine.what". I explained to him what Jason's problem was,occasionally snapping my fingers to keep him awake. Clovis must have been really excited, because when I was done, he didn't pass out. He actually stood and stretched, then blinked at Jason.
"So you don't remember anything, huh?". "Just impressions," Jason said. "Feelings, like ..." "like?…" Clovis implored. "Like I know I shouldn't be here. At this camp. I'm in danger." Jason said. "Hmm. Close your eyes." Clovis said. Jason glanced at me and I nodded reassurance. Jason closed his eyes and looked like he was in a deep sleep but he wasn't asleep. We put him on a chair near a fireplace and waited. "Is it supposed to be this long?" I asked. "It kinda depends,but this one is serious all right" Clovis said. "What happened?" Jason said now awake. "How long?". I turned to Jason and said "not that long but it was intense". "Usually," Clovis said, "memories are lost for a good reason. They sink under the surface like dreams, and with a good sleep, I can bring them back.
But this …" "could it be Lethe?" I asked. "No," Clovis said. "Not even Lethe." Lethe?" Jason asked. Clovis pointed to the tree branch dripping milky drops above the fireplace. "The River Lethe in the Underworld. It dissolves your memories, wipes
your mind clean permanently. That's the branch of a poplar tree from the Underworld, dipped into the Lethe. It's the symbol of my father , Hypnos. Lethe is
not a place you want to go swimming". "But . . . that's not my problem?" Jason asked. "No," Clovis agreed. "Your mind wasn't wiped, and your memories weren't buried. They've been stolen." "Stolen," Jason said. "How?"
"A god," Clovis said. "Only a god would have that kind of power."
"We know that," said Jason. "It was Juno. But how did she do it, and why?"
Clovis scratched his neck. "Juno?" "He means Hera for some reason he uses the Roman names for the gods" I said. Hmm," Clovis said.
"What?" Jason asked. "Does that mean something?"
"Hmm," Clovis said again and this time I saw that he was snoring. "Clovis!" Jason yelled. What? What?" His eyes fluttered open. "We were talking about pillows, right? No, gods. I remember. Greek and Roman. Sure, it could be important."
"But they're pretty much the same aren't they?," I said. "Just different names."
"Not exactly," Clovis said.
Jason sat forward, now very much awake. "What do you mean, not exactly?". Well ..." Clovis yawned. "Some gods are only Roman. Like Janus, or Pompona. But even the major Greek gods — it's not just their names that
changed when they moved to Rome. Their appearances changed. Their attributes changed. They even had slightly different personalities." "Okay but just because people saw them differently throughout the ages doesn't change who they are" I said. "Sure it does." Clovis began to nod off, and Jason snapped his fingers under his nose. "Coming, Mother!" he yelped. "I mean ... Nfeah, I'm awake. So, urn, personalities. The gods change to reflect their host cultures. You know that,
Annabeth. I mean, these days, Zeus likes tailored suits, reality television, and that Chinese food place on East Twenty-eighth Street, right? It was the
same in Roman times, and the gods were Roman almost as long as they were Greek. It was a big empire, lasted for centuries. So of course their Roman
aspects are still a big part of their character."
"Makes sense," Jason said. I was mystified that Clovis of all people knew all of this. "How do you know about all this?" I asked him. "Oh, I spend a lot of time dreaming. I see the gods there all the time — always shifting forms. Dreams are fluid, you know. You can be in different
places at once, always changing identities. It's a lot like being a god, actually. Like recently, I dreamed I was watching a Michael Jackson concert, and
Then I was onstage w'th Michael Jackson, and we were singing this duet, and I could not remember the words for The Girl Is Mine.' Oh, man, it was so
embarrassing, I…" Clovis said. "Clovis, please try to stay on track" I said. "Right, Rome," Clovis said. "So we call the gods by their Greek names because that's their original form. But saying their Roman aspects are exactly
the same — that's not true. In Rome, they became more warlike. They didn't mingle with mortals as much. They were harsher, more powerful — the gods of
an empire." "Like the evil doppelgängers?" I asked. "Not exactly," Clovis said. "They stood for discipline, honor, strength — "
"Good things, then," Jason said. "I
mean, discipline is important, right? That's what made Rome last so long."
Clovis gave him a curious look. "That's true. But the Roman gods weren't very friendly. For instance, my dad, Hypnos ... he didn't do much except
sleep in Greek times. In Roman times, they called him Somnus. He liked killing people who didn't stay alert at their jobs. If they nodded off at the wrong
time, boom — they never woke up. He killed the helmsman of Aeneas when they were sailing from Troy." "Sounds like a swell guy," I said. "But what does this have to do with Jason?" I asked. "I don't know," Clovis said. "But if Hera took your memory, only she can give it back. And if I had to meet the queen of the gods, I'd hope she was more
in a Hera mood than a Juno mood. Can I go back to sleep now?". "Sure" I said, handing him his pillow. He plopped down on the bed with his butt in the air and his face in the pillow. "Won't he suffocate?" Jason asked. "He will be fine but you on the other hand, I'm not so sure" I said. "Gee thanks for the reassurance" Jason said. "Don't mention it" I said chuckling. "Now come on, you don't want to be late for your first dinner," I said.
