A single horn sounded in the distance.

It was unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Notes, as crystal clear as day. It sounded like a million voices all rallying under a single battlecry. Somehow, I felt stronger after listening to it. Braver. Like I could run a hundred miles and not get tired.

The creature sensed it too, and for the first time since we came here, it slowly began to retreat, trying to get back into the fog.

It bellowed, before whipping out its limbs one more time, like a final death throe.

I dodged, and the creature quickly began to trot back towards the fog, trying to escape whatever was headed our way.

While I was glad it was retreating, I was also scared. What was so powerful that this creature was trying to be quick enough to escape from it?

Either way, it wasn't quick enough.

Dozens of silver arrows flew out from through the fog, and just as I thought I'd be turned into a demigod shish-kebab, they flew right past me and implanted themselves right onto the creature, like it'd suddenly turned into a silver porcupine.

The creature screamed, and I shut my ears and closed my eyes in pain. It was like a dozen nails scratching a chalkboard at once, and didn't end until it finally died.

Then instead of turning into dust, it became a black goo that seeped into the earth, leaving behind two grossly-misshapen antlers. The spoils of war.

Then a couple of archers came from the woods. They were girls, about a dozen of them. The youngest was maybe ten. The oldest, about fourteen, like me.

Their outfits were a mix of ancient warrior and modern fashion. It was like they raided a museum's armor collection and then decided to add a touch of punk rock rebellion.

"Whoa,"I heard Haniel mutter. "They're like the Avengers but with more bows and less spandex."

The girls fanned out, their bows at the ready. One of them in the middle raised her hand, and the fog parted in front of her, before disappearing just as quickly as it had arrived.

"Demigods," one next to her with a silver circlet around her head announced, her voice carrying through the mist. "You stand in the presence of Lady Diana, goddess of the hunt, and her Hunters."

"An Olympian goddess," Anahita whispered, her eyes wide.

Diana gave a regal nod. "Yes, child. I am Diana, and these are my Hunters. Zoë?"

"Yes, my lady?" the girl next to her turned to address her.

"Bring out some nectar and ambrosia. We will help these demigods— Jupiter requires them alive."

She looked like a teenage superstar model, if that made sense. Her silver dress shimmered like a moonlit lake. Her piercing gaze caught my eye, and for a moment I felt like she was assessing me. I swallowed, as her eyes gazed deep into me, searching my soul. I could feel raw power emanating through her entire being— similar to what I'd felt from when I met my dad, only this was younger and more…tranquil. It reminded me of the night, the moon and the winter.

Nearby, Zoë cracked her knuckles, making it clear that she was ready to drop a lesson in respect on my sorry head. She wasn't looking at me though— it was Reyna that had caught her attention.

They were eyeing each other like two alpha wolves sizing up the competition. Sparks of tension flew between them, and I was pretty sure they were thinking about a dozen ways to creatively take down each other, mostly involving knives and other small sharp objects. One was a powerful daughter of the goddess of war herself, and the other was an immortal warrior of the Hunt.

I guess that was what they did for fun.

"You must be Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano," Diana said,walking in between them, a half-smile playing on her lips. "I've heard much about you."

Reyna flushed. "My lady, the Huntress has heard about me?"

Zoë scoffed. "Huntress? That's like calling the ocean a pond."

Reyna rolled her eyes. "Sure, let's see how well you swim, then."

That was probably the lamest verbal fight I've ever heard. And that's coming from me.

No one said anything, of course. Not even Diana. Reyna's hand was slowly sliding down to her waist, where I knew she had a pair of imperial gold knives.

While I was sure Reyna and Zoë could make for a very entertaining shouting match (I wasn't sure why they were fighting in the first place), I wanted to know something first. And if I could help defuse whatever awkward tension was between the two of them, I might as well try.

"Uh, Lady Diana?"

The goddess turned to me. Five hunters raised their bows to shoot me down, because I had the audacity to speak to her without being spoken to, but she waved her hand and they lowered their bows.

"What is it, boy?"

I overlooked the boy comment. "The creature that chased us….it wasn't anything I've heard of or seen before. What was it?"

Diana's eyes were cold and calculating, like she was deciding how much she could tell me without having to kill me.

"You are correct. It is rare, in the sense that, it is not from our pantheon."

Pantheon. That meant all the gods of the Rome— everyone from the god of lightning to the god of door hinges (I'm not kidding. I knew one of her kids at Camp)

I frowned. "I don't understand."

"Child, do you think the Roman gods are the only pantheon to exist?"

I was going to say yes, but why did I feel I would be wrong? I frowned.

"Yes?"

Diana sighed.

"We usually do not let demigods know about this. Especially those who are not immortal," she glared at us like that was our fault, "unlike my hunters. Are you sure you wish to turn down my generous offer, daughter of Bellona?"

Reyna was fiddling with her knife. "Yes," she said stiffly. "Maybe later, but I thank you for the offer."

Diana waved her hand. "That is a pity. Back to the matter— no, the Roman pantheon is not the only one that exists. There are others."

I gasped. Anahita screamed. Haniel and Akua frowned and Reyna snorted.

"I—What?"

I looked at the hunters, but none of them were laughing. So it wasn't a joke.

"Then—" I felt an uncomfortable sensation in my gut, "so, like…the Greek god exist as well?"

"That is not for you to know," Diana snapped. "IF they do exist, I am sure they mind their own business. Pantheons work hard to never intervene with each other— usually when that happens, you mortals tend to mess up things."

I would have to think about that later.

She hadn't said they didn't exist. Just that I didn't get to know.

What if there was another son of Poseidon somewhere? Or even a child of—what was the Greek-equivalent of Jupiter? Zesty or something—?

Zeus. Yeah, what if there was a child of Zeus? Would he be more powerful than a child of Jupiter?

I had so many questions. The first one being, "But how?"

Diana sighed, like she was tired of my questions. But to be fair, this was literally blowing my mind. "Every being with followers has some degree of power. There are other pantheons outside of Olympus, sea spawn."

I frowned.

"Every being with followers can become a god? So you mean there's like a LeBron James god? Cause he's got like a million—"

"Again, that is not your concern. It is the other pantheons that are the more central forces which can influence one another."

My eyes widened as I just realized what she had said.

"So there are, like, Egyptian and Norse gods and all? Like mummies and Loki?"

Diana nodded. "Yes. But as I mentioned before, there are strict laws governing the same. No pantheon can interfere with the happenings of another pantheon."

That made sense. It would really suck if Thor ended up on the Titan's side, for example. I was sure he would give Jupiter a run for his money. And that wasn't even counting Norse gods— didn't they have a god that literally embodied the entirety of hell?

"Then why—"

"Interrupt me again and I will turn you into a stag and let my hunters chase you down."

Diana glared at me, and the air around me dropped by a few degrees. I shut up.

"As I was saying, there is a law of Non-Interference, as stated under Section 42 of the GRIDDY Act. This was a clear violation. I was made aware of it as soon as it occurred and arrived to rectify it."

"How did you know it was happening?" Reyna spoke up.

Lady Diana motioned to her hunters, who reached into a bag and brought up a very beat-up silver iPad. It glowed, even in the early morning sun.

"Now where did I put it—Ah!"

"That's the App store, my Lady," one of the hunters spoke up.

"Must be this then—"

"That is the…well, that is not the right app, my Lady," the hunter spoke again, her face red. I heard a shutter go off and several hunters grumbled about how they weren't prepared for a selfie just then. "I could, er, open it for you."

Diana sighed and rubbed her nose.

"Whatever. I tire of this— always the newer gods with this nonsense of integrating technology and pantheons. Do you know how hard it is to find the Anomaly Tracker app on the store?" she turned to me. "Getting past the fake pay-to-win games is hard enough!"

I nodded and agreed. It seemed like the right thing to do here. I honestly had no idea what was going on seeing that I wasn't a god and I'd never used an iPad in my entire life (electronic devices attract a LOT of monsters, long story).

I waited for two minutes after Diana had spoken, before I asked her another question. I didn't want to accidentally interrupt her.

"What's the GRIDDY Act?"

"GRIDDY stands for the Gods Regarding Inter-pantheonal Direct Disturbances of Yearly basis. As the representative from the Olympian Council and head of this section for this milliena, I am in-charge of presiding over all such meetings for the same. And eliminating such cases of interference."

"Such as this?"

Diana nodded. "Such as this. Do not fret— I will take this matter up in our next meeting."

"Which is when?"

"It depends," the Huntress replied, shrugging. She stared at me. "It may be tomorrow, or a thousand years from now."

I swallowed. "Right."

Just then, thunder lit up the sky, and the entire forest began to shake as a powerful wind swept through the trees.

Diana rolled her eyes. "Father. Ever so dramatic. I must send you off then."

I frowned. Send us off where?

"Demigods," Diana said, turning back to face the others, her voice echoing through the mist. "Your quest does not end here. You are needed elsewhere."

Reyna frowned. "What does that mean?"

"I assume you all know of Koios?"

When she said his name, the temperature around us dropped. The shadows around the trees grew longer, like they were trying to reach out and choke us. The air grew cold, and the wind became bitingly cold.

"The Lord of the North. Titan of Foresight."

Reyna nodded, her face pale.

"Wh—what about him?"

Diana sighed. "It is believed that he has a powerful monster camp set up at the location you mortals refer to as Half Moon Bay. It is a veritable army, heading towards Camp Jupiter. And worst of all— he probably has the weapon of Ceres in his grasp."

That was horrible news.

I mean, I was expecting something like that. Especially after what I'd heard from Marcus and Cassie. But hearing that it was actually true and not a rumor made our quest seem all the more impossible. Retrieving a stolen weapon was hard enough, but now that weapon was stuck next to a Titan in the middle of a Monster Camp?

"Do you think we have any chance of retrieving this weapon?" I heard Akua ask, in a small voice.

Diana gave her a smile. "Be of courage, demigod. You are all stronger than you look. It is through the unyielding spirit of the warriors of the past that the present stands. And it will be through your sacrifice that the Titans will be stopped."

Sacrifice?

What did she mean by that?

"It will be hard, of course," Diana continued. "Some of you may die. I do not know— the future is more my brother's realm of expertise," she curled her lips in disgust, "however, maybe you may be stupidly lucky and the entirety of you will survive. Who can tell?"

I frowned. That wasn't a real motivational speech.

Before I could say anything though, she clapped her hands, and then I felt the world spinning as everything faded to black.

I opened my eyes and found myself smack in the middle of a cornfield, the stalks towering over me like skyscrapers made of green. But this wasn't your run-of-the-mill cornfield. There was something off about it, and I could tell there was more to this than met the eye. But what it was, I couldn't point out.

"What the hell?" I muttered, taking in the sight. "Did we just get transported to a farming simulator?"

Reyna looked around, her nose scrunching up. "This doesn't feel right."

"Do you think this corn tastes good?"

I turned around to see Haniel had picked a corn cob and took a big, crunchy bite. Before we could ask if it was GMO-free or whatever, he began to shrink. His eyes grew smaller and moved to the sides of his head. Fur and claws began to grow out of him. He grew smaller and smaller and something like a tail sprouted up from behind him.

He squeaked in surprise. Literally.

He'd turned into a mouse.

Good news: his clothes shrank with him.

Bad news: he was a mouse.

"What in Hades' name just happened?" I gawked.

Anahita's eyes widened, and she nearly screamed. "Oh gods, what did you eat?"

Haniel squeaked—or, well, I assumed it was him—giving a tiny, offended glare. He probably needed a moment to process his new mouse identity.

Reyna crossed her arms. "Don't touch or eat anything. We don't know the effects of this corn. Haniel— well, let's see what we can do."

Akua was hyperventilating. Anahita shook her head, her eyes tearing up. "This isn't good. Haniel, can you understand me?"

Haniel squeaked again, and I swear I saw him roll his mouse eyes.

"Let's keep walking," I suggested. "We might find some place where we can get help."

Honestly, I was surprised my brain wasn't fried. I'd literally just been chased by a mutant deer, gotten lectured to by an immortal goddess and then been teleported into a magical cornfield.

But when you're in the middle of a quest, it's like a marathon. You might be crying, weeping, hysterical, bleeding, dying or all of the above. But you keep pushing forward. You keep going. Because you know that the end is near— and that you either succeed or you don't. Staying in the place you are at only worsens your pain.

That was what kept me going.

With Haniel tucked safely in Anahita's pocket, we wandered through the enchanted cornfield. The air buzzed with an otherworldly energy, and each cornstalk seemed to whisper secrets. Or maybe it was just the wind. Hard to tell in a cornfield with identity issues.

After some meandering, we spotted a farmhouse in the distance. Several dogs surrounded it, barking up a storm.

The farmhouse itself looked straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, with a red barn and a porch swing that probably hosted more stories than a library. The demigods of yore would've had a field day writing epic poems about this place. It looked like one of the old 90s houses you saw in cornfields. White walls, with red sloping roofs and multiple windows. A single chimney shot plumes of smoke from somewhere at the back of the house. There was a birch porch in front, with a few chairs and a table on it. The table had an abandoned game of chess on it, with two empty soda cans on each side. An elaborate railing bordered the porch, and a cat slept on it.

In front of the house, there was a small clearing. No corn grew here, but there were bundles and bundles of hay, a bright red tractor, and two cows eating from a trough. A chicken clucked in front of the cows.

It looked like an old farm that an elderly couple would be running, honestly. In fact, it looked really normal, like any mortal house, except for the sign.

It was in neon green,hung on the porch. It said, This way, demigods! with an arrow pointing towards the door- a green half glass door, which blinked every second.

Now I wasn't an expert in questing, but the general rule is, when something says WELCOME! COME THIS WAY!, if you're a demigod and don't want to end up eaten/dead/incapacitated/boiled/fried, your best bet is to go the opposite direction. Immediately. And as quietly as possible.

But Haniel was turned into a mouse, so we had to risk it. There was a 50% chance we would actually get help, right?

As we approached, I couldn't shake off what Diana said about the Wendigo not being from Roman mythology. A part of me wondered if this had anything to do with my memories being taken away. Maybe it was another pantheon that had interfered? Would I ever get them back?

I took a deep breath.

I needed to focus, right now. I could worry about that later.

I spotted Reyna staring at me.

She gave me glance that read : You alright?

I grinned and gave her a thumbs up. She nodded and looked away, her face thoughtful.

I glanced at the farmhouse, half-expecting it to morph into a teepee. Maybe it was time to brush up on my knowledge of farm deities. There could be a Norse god of scarecrows out there, right?

The dogs ran up to meet us, barking. They looked weird up close.

Each of the them had black eyes and yellow teeth. But instead of fur, they all had ears of corn growing out of them, so that whenever they moved, the corn rustled and popped.

Every few minutes, an entire ear of corn would grow and fall out of the dogs and onto the ground, where it would grow into a new ear of corn.

I frowned. "What are those—"

"Corn dogs, my boy. How else do you think we get new corn?"

I glanced up.

Three people stepped out. One of them was a man. He had a curly brown beard, brown eyes, and brown curly hair. He was tanned, and wore a faded checked yellow checked shirt, which he had tucked into a pair of jeans. He had a leather belt around his waist, with two pistols holstered to it. The top of his shirt was unbuttoned, revealing a lot of chest hair and a single corn pendant, made of silver. He had a lot of wrinkles, and looked like he was always looking to tell someone off. I knew that look- I'd seen it on a lot of tutors, especially when they happened to see me.

To his right, was a woman in a Greek chiton. How I knew what that was, I don't know. She also had a circlet of flowers around her dull blonde hair. She had a really beautiful face, in a plain way. While nothing stood out about her, you could still tell she was really pretty somehow. Her eyes were puffy though, like she had been crying a lot. Maybe she lost the game of chess.

On the other side of the man, was an older woman. She looked like the fun great-aunt you saw at a family gathering (the one aunt that's actually cool and not talking about how small you look or how she used to save the world back in her day). She wore an orange dress, with patterns of apples and pears and pomegranates and some other fruits that I couldn't recognize.

"Who are you?" I asked. Reyna drew her sword.

"You are demigods, correct?"

I said yes, we were.

Then it seemed like an invisible force shoved us towards them.

"Oh good!" the pretty woman clapped her hands together. "The last person to come was a lost amazon delivery boy. I don't know who ordered the LEGO UCS VENATOR CLASS or whatever, but how he got lost was beyond me. Mortals can be so silly sometimes!"

She said mortals like…she wasn't one. I frowned.

"A- are you a demigod?" Akua hesitantly asked the lady.

I could tell why she was confused. I was too. These people looked like they were mortal- they didn't really have an aura of power that surrounded a god, but at the same time, you could detect hints of power that sometimes randomly spilled out in overflow, as if they were a nuclear bomb covered in mud (basically their power was cloaked. I know that's a bad analogy but a nuclear bomb is good for comparison in power to a god).

The lady farmer chuckled, before bursting into tears.

"Now look at what you did!" the surly man scolded, and I didn't know what to say to that. The other woman- the one who wasn't crying- turned to Akua and smiled tiredly.

"Sorry about Rob and Mel . It's their first time. It is always a pleasure to meet the heroes who will assist us. I'm Pompona- you can call me Aunt P. A pleasure, I'm sure. She told me to seek your help!"

Akua's eyes widened. "My mother told me about you!"

I jerked my head up. I could faintly remember Akua telling me something like that in the barracks. Something about the names felt familiar.

Aunt P's eyes narrowed. "So you are the child of Ceres then?"

Akua nodded, though she hesitated a bit, surprised by the hostility from Aunt P.

The lady took a deep breath, before forcing a smile. "Like I said, I apologize. It is their first time, of course," she said, gesturing to Rob and Mel with a jerk of her head.

I wasn't sure what she meant by that, so I asked. "Their first what?"

First marriage? First corn harvest? First time meeting angsty teenagers?

"Oh, child, don't you know?" she asked, before chuckling as I shook my head. "I forgot mortals have such short lifespans. While it's my third- long story- for them it's the first time they were kicked out of Olympus, of course!"

I blinked.

The lady in front of me said, 'kicked out of Olympus' with the same tone I'd use to say 'kicked out of school'. Which meant:

A. It had happened before

B. It was annoying, but nothing serious

C. It would probably happen again

D. I actually didn't do anything wrong this time!

None of these should have applied to being kicked out of Olympus, but the lady spoke like they did.

"Whaaa-" Akua trailed off, and I had to cover up my laugh with a cough. She glared at me, before continuing.

"What the hell is-"

"What she means is," Reyna cut in before Akua could speak further. I could tell she knew something we didn't, because she looked a little scared. "Could you please clarify what you mean, Lady P."

I frowned. That didn't exactly make sense. The woman in front of me looked like one of the early American pilgrims. She had green eyes, fiery orange hair and wore an orange dress with frills at at the top. A light spray of freckles crossed her face, and she had a pleasant smile. She looked more like an ancient history cosplayer than a lady. Not that I knew a lot of ladies, but didn't they have to, like, wear a crown or expensive clothes or something?

Either way, Aunt P smiled. "You are discerning, child. That will take you far, as long as you make the right choices," she added, her voice growing darker. Reyna paled, but didn't say anything.

I frowned. That didn't make sense.

Why was she calling them gods? Why did Diana send us here?

Suddenly, I remembered a part of the prophecy—

and lead the lost gods to Olympus' behest

Wait.

My throat turned dry as I realized what was going on.

It was the only explanation that made logical sense.

Lupa had told me about it, and there were definitely times it had happened in the past, usually as punishment. It had even happened to my dad—Neptune— once. It was never a good thing, and certainly an extraordinary one. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Mel, Rob and Aunt P weren't mortals. That's why Eleanor called her a lady.

That's why they emanated power like a god. That's why they seemed to old and wise even though they weren't really that old.

That was why Ceres had told Akua about them.

They weren't a group of rustic corn-growing cattle-herders.

They were banished gods.

Rob sniggered, and I turned to look towards him. "Look at your face, son. You look like you've just swallowed a fish whole!"

He slapped his thigh and burst out laughing, cupping his cowboy hat in one hand. "But by the looks of it, you've come might close to figuring out what's going on."

"I…urm…you're….gods?" I mumbled.

"Ding ding ding!" Aunt P announced, chuckling. Mel burst into tears again.

"Wait, what?" Anahita interjected. "What do you mean you're gods? You don't look like gods."

"Well, child, let me explain," she said, sighing. "Some time back, the Titans stole Ceres symbol of power, the everlasting sickle-"

"I thought it was a cereal box" Akua interjected, and Aunt P glared at her. Even though she was a mortal, Aunt P still had a patented death stare, and Akua paled. "Not that I meant to interrupt-"

"As I was saying," she stressed, "the sickle was stolen. Ceres blew a fuse, and because she couldn't unleash her anger on anyone around her, she decided to let it out on the first three gods of her domain that she came across, which was us," she added, with a humorless chuckle. "That's how you get banished gods. It's either a pissed off Olympian, a form of punishment by the elder gods, a practical joke, or in some cases, a god under Jupiter's domain that accidentally chased a wood nymph."

"But how is it a sickle?" Reyna asked. "And if they could steal any of the weapons, why steal the sickle? Why not go for, I don't know, Jupiter's Master Bolt or something?"

Mel paled at that, while Aunt P suddenly stopped talking. She muttered something along the lines of 'this is above my paygrade', and I wasn't sure what she meant.

Reyna and I glanced at each other. Her expression said: Can you believe these wackos?

"IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION," Rob spoke up suddenly, "Ceres sickle has multiple forms. And yes, most commonly it is a cereal box because she loves to, erm, encourage everyone around her to eat their cereal. And don't mistake it for being less powerful," he added with a chuckle. "It too was fashioned by the Telekhines, the makers of godly weapons. If a demigod wielded it, they would be able to create winter storms, cause plant life to go haywire, and wreck havoc all around them. And also make a mean zucchini."

I suddenly was surrounded by vision of powerful winter storms sweeping across the continent. Freezing cold blizzards. Death to all plants and any form of plant life. Dry, barren lands, with skeletal remains of humans, scattered between thorny bushes. Only the Titans remained, the last of their kind. They could survive the cold- the winter was their friend. But no mortal- demigod or otherwise- could.

That was if a demigod had the sickle.

"And…what if a Titan wielded it?" Anahita asked, her voice shaking.

"It would be disaster," Rob lowered his voice menacingly. "Imagine a winter storm so powerful it covered half the continent. More and more of the United States would grow colder and colder, trapping demigods and weakening the gods. The reach of Alaska- the land beyond the gods- would increase, and Alcyoneus, the Immortal Giant would rise in power. More than that, the monsters would be fine- most of them, since they're cold blooded. So picture that- nearly all demigods dead. The gods incredibly weakened. Monsters and Titans more powerful than ever. The few demigods and gods surviving would be in hiding, how do you think that would be?"

"Bad. Very bad," Reyna muttered as she looked over Mel, who was working on not crying every five minutes.

Aunt P nodded. "Which is why we are in charge of regaining the weapon. As soon as the weapon lands in one of our hands, we will return to our godly form and this crisis will be averted."

"Are you sure?" Anahita asked, and I nodded. I'd suffered too much under gods who lied to blindly believe them.

Aunt P nodded. "I swear it- on my godhood. Lady Ceres herself told us that the moment one of us touched the sickle, our godhood would return."

I frowned. A half-baked plan came to mind.

"You just have a touch the weapon? And you all become gods?"

Rob nodded.

"Good to know. Also—" I tried not to sound rude, "Who are you all? I mean, we know you're gods, but, like, gods of what?"

I knew it was something to do with farming. Or agriculture of some sort. Because they were under Ceres domain, after all.

Mel sighed. "I am Mellona. Goddess of honey. Pomona is the goddess of fruit trees and orchards, while Robigo is the god of rust."

"Rust? Like the iron nails thing?" I asked, confused. "How does Ceres control that?"

Rob swore. He seemed to like swearing a lot. "Ceres does not control me- but either way, no, you fool! Not that rust. Rust is a disease that affects corn. Primarily by Puccinia Sorghi."

"The hell is a pucks in a sore guy?"

"Puccina Sorghi," Pomona corrected. "It's a fungus that causes rust."

"Wait," Anahita frowned. "Why is there a god for rust then? Shouldn't you be the god that prevents rust?"

"Obviously."

"Ah."

I sighed, and looked around. I really didn't have the energy to continue another step.

We were a bunch of tired teens, out of supplies, who'd gotten one of our members to turn into a mouse and that to some gods that weren't even powerful. I mean, what could they do? Shoot honey and apples and that puck sore fungus? Koios was the Titan of the North, the Titan of Farsight and Intellect. He was surrounded by a Camp of monsters that were eager to taste our blood. We were not match for them- if we reached the camp in the first place.

In other words, we were doomed.

"Do we even have to take these gods with us?" I grumbled. "We would do just the same without them. I mean, they're mortals right now-"

"I'll have you know I resent that," Rob snapped. "Just wait till we turn immortal."

Aunt P scoffed, while Mel rolled her eyes. "So dramatic. You do have a point though, boy. It would be better if we stayed here and waited for you to return the weapon. Then, once we assumed our godly forms, we would be able to help you battle Koios."

Anahita shook her head. "Nope. Can't risk that. Either you come with us or we don't go at all."

"'Ita-" I began to argue, but she shook her head. "Nope. No compromises. I'm tired of gods not taking responsibility for their actions- so they damn might as well start now!"

Mel blinked. Rob scowled. Aunt P snorted. They were silent for a few minutes, as if arguing with each other mentally (I'm not sure if they could still do that) before they seemed to reach an agreement.

"Fine. Follow me." Aunt P waved us over, and we followed her into the house.

The inside of the house smelt like burnt Levis.

It was pretty evident that grown ups lived in the house, given by, well, how clean it was. No house with kids in it would ever be this clean- trust me, I know. The living room had granite flooring, with three white leather couches around a white rug. And not a single stain- not even one smear of ketchup or drop of tea or anything. It was so clean I got anxiety just by looking at it.

They all faced a flat-screen TV which was playing an episode from Hephaestus daily. A box at the bottom told me it was Season 3, Episode 21, and it was called Unicorn Feet! The good, the bad, and the smelly!

The living room lead into a tall white arch, which led to a larger area. Two gargoyle figures made in marble held up the arch, and I couldn't help the shiver that went past me as I walked between them. A small dining table was right inside the arch, which was surrounded by four chairs. There was no food on the table, but there was a set of Jenga. Beyond the dining space was a long wooden table, with several plates and a single sink on top of it. Past that, there was a long, black staircase that led upstairs. I didn't really see much past the stairs, but it looked like it led to a few bedrooms.

To the right of the dining table was a large window. Several small potted plants lined the window sill. When I looked into the window, I could see a few hang gliders leaning against a silo, surrounded on all sides by fields of corn. I wasn't sure why they were there, because I doubted Rob, Aunt P or Mel were into hang gliding. Baking maybe. Or even skiing. But not hang gliding.

I thought a saw the shadow of a large, hulking figure in the far side of the silo. It was huge, taller than any man I'd ever seen, and the head was curiously misshapen. Like a large egg. But when I blinked and looked again, it had disappeared.

"Ahem!" Lady P clapped her hands once to get our attention, before she made us sit around the dining table. Or at least, the three gods and Reyna sat. The rest of us stood in between them.

"As you know, we must retrieve Ceres' sickle, and these demigods are here to help us. It is a critical mission,"Rob began, "especially because we must regain our godhood."

"And save Olympus from potential destruction," I added.

Rob waved it off. "Yes, sure, whatever. As I was saying, the best bet is to have these demigods sneak into the Camp and steal the sickle, and give it to us gods, so that we can return it."

Akua frowned at that. I wasn't a child of Mars, but even I knew that was a dumb plan.

"What do you mean? Sneak in? And just get you the sickle? No thanks. We need to take down Koios, for one, and besides, we can't take him down without your help, he's a titan!"

Mel sighed. "That is true, but I don't know how much we can help either way. Koios is an elder Titan, and we are but minor gods."

"Still," Reyna argued. "We would need all the help we could get. Anything."

"And that doesn't even cover how we're going to reach the encampment!"

That was Anahita. "We can't go there by sea or land, because it's well guarded. That only leaves air, and none of us knows how to fly a plane, even if we stole one. And besides, our only team member that could help is—is a mouse!"

She had tears in her eyes as she showed Haniel up in her hands, but Rob just sighed and snapped his fingers.

POOF

And just like that, Haniel came back, swearing and cussing and fortunately wearing his clothes still.

"How did you—"

"I'm still a god, child," Rob rolled his eyes. "I'm just…not in my entire power right now. There are a few things I can still do, but they mostly include stacking jenga or turning people into mice or mice to people. Who do you think enchanted to corn fields and got rid of all the pesky tourists?"

I felt my mouth go dry as I imagined hundreds of hungry tourists that were now mice in that field. I mean, I was hungry too. Who knew what would've happened if all of us had decided to eat the corn? That just wasn't fair—especially on the tourists, even though I knew how annoying tourists could get.

But Haniel got everyone's attention before I could say anything.

"What the bloody—""Language!"

"I'll cuss if I want to you—"

"Do you want to go back to a mouse?"

That made him shut up.

We filled him on what was going on. The more we told him, the longer his face grew.

Finally he looked at me.

"This is going to be hard. If we even survive this."

I nodded.

"It is. But we've got no option left."

Haniel nodded, his face grim. "Like Lady Diana said then. For Rome, to the death."

A/N: Reviews and feedback (especially on writing) appreciated