Hi. This is a work I've been dedicating myself to over the last few weeks, so I hope you like it.

Discord: discord . gg / A9jcMppeJ4

When the demigods of the current generation found themselves facing the Olympians in the middle of the Hall of Gods, nervousness was what took hold of everyone. Realizing that the gods were as surprised as they were didn't help ease that nervousness.

"What are you doing here?" Athena, the Goddess of Knowledge, War and Weaving asked.

"We don't know," Annabeth replied, distraught. "We just showed up here. Didn't you summon us?"

The gods whispered among themselves, questioning who had called the heroes. Hermes and Zeus were not yet present, so they could not obtain information or confirmation of any order. The demigods became even more nervous.

Thunder roared, announcing the arrival of Zeus in a light show. He was wearing his standard dark blue suit, with his hair down and no tie. His eyes scanned the divine thrones before noticing the demigods, which made his brow furrow.

"Why are the heroes here?" he asked, getting angry within seconds.

"We thought you had summoned them" Athena replied, turning her eyes to her father.

"I didn't call them" the King of the Gods earned a frown. "Before I deal with this, where is Hermes?"

"He left before the heroes appeared" Apollo informed. "He, um, said he had some package to pick up. It usually comes back before we know it."

"And you let him leave?" Zeus roared, and lightning and thunder flashed and screamed behind him, his face turning stormy.

"He was the one who decided to take it himself" Apolo moved his ears, driving away the buzzing. When Zeus wanted to, he would be noisy.

Zeus banged his fist on the throne's arm, sounding the echo of a clang of iron and ricochet of static. It was at that moment that Hermes decided to appear, a slight flash that revealed his figure in the brown robes of a postal worker. He was one step behind the figures that appeared with him, three very old ladies dressed like simple Carolina grandmothers.

The Moirai were among the Olympians.

"Olympians" the three ladies said at the same time, their faces expressionless and their eyes not focused on anyone, but each looking in a different direction. The gods stood still, tense in their seats, and among the silent demigods Percy Jackson stiffened in his seat, remembering the first time he saw the fates in their yard spinning and Atropo cut a blue thread, which only later was discovered to be Luke's.

"You were brought together to glimpse the occurrences of a world far from other dimensions. The story of a demigod who was one of the heroes of recent wars."

"Are there other dimensions?" Annabeth asked, intrigued. Athena nodded.

"It's mostly theoretical, but there are temporal variations. Some even interact with each other. The Moiras' domain is primarily to ensure that these interactions are kept to a minimum." The Goddess of Wisdom explained.

Leo Valdez, sitting on a couch that Hestia had kindly manifested for the demigods along with food she served to the gods, mulled over "what ifs" in his head alongside Percy and Jason. Clotho held up a rectangular package wrapped in black cloth and shiny with glitter. She gave it into the hands of Hermes, and was reunited with her sisters.

"We leave them now. Learn from history."

In a purplish glow, the Three Fates disappeared in the blink of an eye. Everyone turned to Hermes, who returned to his throne still with the package in his hands. He opened it by unwinding their mouth*, which was tied with string, and revealed a black-covered book, with a silver-embossed symbol of a triangle with a circle inside it and a line inside the circle.

"What's the title?" Apollo asked curiously.

"The Most Powerful Sorcerer" replied Hermes, reading the title in letters stitched with white lines. Hades frowned a bit.

"A child of Hecate?"

"Well, it had to happen one day" Apollo shrugged, pouring himself some nectar that Hestia had poured into his cup.

"It's a story with images, apparently" Hermes commented, passing the pages over and seeing images appearing repeatedly.

"Who will read it?" Demeter asked curiously. Hecate was a good girl, so she was curious to know what her son would have done.

"Poseidon's son will read" Zeus decreed. Percy let out a groan, knowing his uncle was picking on him.

Annabeth patted him on the back. "It's going to be okay, Percy."

"Okay" Percy sighed. Hermes teleported the book to his lap and the boy stood on the edge of his seat, opening the book for everyone around him to see.

Even before he was electrocuted, Jason was having a bad day.

Leo whistled. "Tough luck, dude."

He woke up in the back seat of a school bus, not really knowing where he was, holding hands with a girl he didn't know. That wasn't necessarily the bad part. The girl was pretty, but Jason didn't know who she was or what he was doing there. He stood up and rubbed his eyes, trying to think.

A few young people were scattered across the seats in front, listening to their iPods, talking or sleeping. They all seemed to be around his age… fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. He didn't know how old he was.

The noisy bus was traveling along a potholed road. Outside the windows, under the clear blue sky, was the desert. Jason was pretty sure he didn't live in the desert. He tried to draw on his memory… the last thing he remembered…

The girl shook his hand.

"Jason, are you okay?"

"Little Piper" Leo commented, eating a fry. Aphrodite's daughter pushed him slightly, smiling.

"Hmm," Aphrodite hummed, placing a hand on her chin.

She was dressed in faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut in a choppy, asymmetrical cut, with a thin braid on each side. She wore no makeup, as if she was trying not to attract attention—which didn't work. She was really beautiful. Her eyes seemed to change color, like a kaleidoscope… brown, blue and green.

"Could do a little better, dear" Aphrodite spoke critically but with a smile at the image of her daughter in a school uniform.

"Mom" Piper complained.

Jason let go of her hand.

"Eh, I dont…"

At the front of the bus, a teacher shouted:

"Okay, cupcakes, attention!"

He was obviously a physical education coach. He wore a cap pulled over his head and the only thing visible were his small, shiny, bead-like eyes. He had a thin goatee and a sour face, as if he had eaten something spoiled. His tanned chest and arms were marked beneath his bright orange polo shirt. The nylon pants and Nike sneakers were incredibly white. He had a whistle around his neck and a megaphone on his waist. He would be quite a frightening figure if he weren't just five feet tall. As he stood in the hallway, one of the students shouted:

"Get up, Coach Hedge!"

"I heard this!" he replied, searching the bus for the offender.

"It never loses its fun" Leo laughed loudly, drinking some soda. Piper laughed, while Jason smiled.

"We'll be there in five minutes! Stay with your peers. Don't lose your exercise sheets. If any of you, my cupcakes, cause any trouble on this excursion, I will personally send you back to campus in the most painful way."

He picked up a baseball bat and pretended to hit a home run.

"See if he's not polite" Ares said fondly.

Jason looked at the girl next to him.

"Can he talk to us like that?"

She shrugged.

"He always talks like that. We are at the Wilderness School. 'Where the children are the animals'."

"A very true truth, I say" Dionysus nodded to himself, taking a sip from his can of Diet Coke.

She said it as if it was an old joke between them.

"Something is wrong," said Jason. "I shouldn't be here."

The boy in front of him turned and smiled.

"Okay, Jason. We are all innocent! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."

The girl blushed.

"I didn't steal that car, Leo!" Piper declared, blushing.

"I didn't steal that car, Leo!"

"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was the story again? Did you convince the seller to lend it to you?"

"So?"

"Shut up, Leo!"

Leo raised his eyebrows at Jason as if to say, Can you believe her?

Leo looked like Santa Claus's elf, only Latin, with curly brown hair, pointy ears, a happy baby face and a wicked little smile that made it clear that it wasn't safe to leave him near matches or sharp objects. His long, nimble fingers didn't sit still — they drummed on the seat, tucked his hair behind his ears, fiddled with the buttons on his camouflage coat. Either he was naturally hyperactive or he had consumed enough sugar and caffeine to kill a buffalo with a heart attack.

"A little of both" Leo admitted, finally remembering the day was being told about.

"Anyway," said Leo. "I hope you have your worksheet, because I used mine as a straw in the spit fight the other day. Why are you looking at me like that? Did someone scribble my face again?"

"I don't know you" Jason answered.

Everyone turned to look at Hera, who ignored the looks.

"I did what I had to do."

Zeus grunted, while Jason, Percy, Leo, and Piper grumbled about messing with the others' heads.

Leo smiled yellow.

"Of course. And I'm not your best friend. I'm an evil clone."

"Kill the impostor!"

"Silence, Ares" Hera ordered, while Leo looked nervously at his warmongering uncle.

"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge shouted from the front. "Any problems there?"

Leo winked at Jason and said:

"Watch it."

Then he turned around:

"I'm sorry, coach! I can't hear you well. Could you use the megaphone, please?"

Coach Hedge let out a grunt, as if he was pleased to have an excuse to do that. He pulled the megaphone from his waist and continued giving instructions, but his voice sounded like Darth Vader. The boys laughed. He tried again, but the megaphone blurted out: "The cow goes muh!"

The demigods burst into laughter, and Leo wiped away a tear.

Hera frowned.

Everyone laughed, and the coach angrily lowered the device.

"Valdez!"

"Here!"

Piper held back her laughter.

"My God, Leo. How did you do it?"

Leo took a small Phillips screwdriver out of his sleeve.

"I'm a special guy."

"It's the ears." Leo sighed, tucking his hair behind his ear to show the ends.

"Guys, seriously," Jason pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"

Piper frowned.

"Jason, are you kidding?"

"No! I have no idea…"

"Ah, of course he's joking," said Leo. "You're trying to hit back that shaving cream in Jell-O thing, right?"

Jason stared at him, not understanding.

"I still don't know what you were talking about." Jason admitted to Leo.

"No, I think he's serious" said Piper, trying to take Jason's hand once again, who pushed her away.

"Ouch."

"Sorry." Jason apologized, shaking his girlfriend's hand.

"I'm sorry," Jason said. "I don't… I can't…"

"OK!" shouted the coach from the front. "The back row just offered to wash the lunch dishes!"

"Mean" Leo grumbled.

The other teenagers celebrated.

"Sensational" Leo muttered.

But Piper's eyes stayed on Jason, as if she couldn't decide if she was hurt or worried.

"Sorry," Jason repeated, and Piper gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Did you hit your head or something? Don't you really know who we are?"

Jason shrugged, not knowing what to do.

"It's worse than that. I don't know who I am."

"Duramramram" Leo made a sound effect, which was echoed throughout the chamber.

"Apollo" Zeus frowned, staring at the Sun God.

"I thought it was appropriate." Apollo shrugged.

The bus left them at the door of a large building with a red plastered exterior, which looked like a museum, in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that was it: the National Nowhere Museum, Jason thought. A cold wind was blowing in the desert. Jason hadn't paid attention to what he was wearing, but it wasn't even close to protecting him from the cold: jeans, sneakers, a purple t-shirt and a thin, black sweatshirt.

"So, let's go to an intensive course for amnesia sufferers," Leo said in a helpful tone, which gave Jason the impression that it wasn't going to help at all. "We went to the 'Wilderness School'." The hispanic made quotation marks with his fingers. "That means we are 'bad boys'. Your family, the courts or whoever decided that you were creating too many problems. So you've been sent to this lovely prison... I mean, 'boarding school'... in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn things valuable to the outdoor life, like running ten miles through cactus fields or weaving hats out of daisies! And as a reward, we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order using a baseball bat. Are you remembering everything now?"

"No," replied Jason,

"Use the bat to fix his head" Ares suggested, experienced.

"And does it work?" Hermes asked.

"It works on mine when they forget their place." The God of War shrugged. Jason shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

looking apprehensively at the other teenagers: maybe twenty. Almost half were girls.

"Did you like the view?" Aphrodite asked curiously.

"Mom!" Piper scowled at her mother.

"You have to know what he sees in the market, honey" The Goddess of Love gave Piper a smile.

"Disgusting." Artemis spoke dryly.

They didn't look like ruthless criminals, but Jason wondered what they had done to be sent to a school for delinquents, and why he himself was there.

"He ate beef," Thalia commented. Hermes and Apollo laughed, while Artemis smiled at her lieutenant's jokes.

Hera looked very frowning.

Leo rolled his eyes.

"You really want to play this game, right? Right. The three of us came here together this year. We are very united. You do everything I say, give me your dessert, do my chores…"

"Leo!" Piper said.

"OK, ignore the last part. But we are friends. Well… Piper is a little more than your friend, in the last few weeks…"

"Very well, Piper" Aphrodite praised her daughter, and Hera nodded. Piper and Jason blushed.

"Leo, stop!" Piper said, red in the face.

Jason could also notice her face burning. He thought he would remember if she was dating a girl like that.

Piper blushed furiously, her and Jason receiving whistles from the other demigods.

"He has amnesia or something," Piper said. "We need to tell someone."

Leo mocked.

"To whom? To the coach? He will try to solve the problem by hitting Jason on the head."

"A good doctor in my books" Ares smiled. Apollo looked offended by this.

The coach was at the front of the group, shouting orders and blowing a whistle in an attempt to keep them in line; but he couldn't stop looking at Jason and frowning.

"I know what you did in the back of the room, cupcake" Leo said angrily, imitating Coach Hedge's voice. Jason pushed his friend lightly.

"Leo, Jason needs help," Piper insisted. "He must have had a concussion or…"

"What's up, Piper?" One of the boys approached as they entered the museum, wedged himself between Jason and Piper and knocked Leo to the ground. "Don't talk to these idiots. You're my date, remember?"

"Suitant?" Aphrodite asked, interested. Piper looked sour.

"No."

The new guy had black hair cut like Superman's, was tanned, and had teeth so white they should have a warning sign: DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THESE TEETH. DANGER OF PERMANENT BLINDNESS. He was wearing a Dallas Cowboys sweatshirt, jeans and boots, and he was smiling as if he were a gift from God to all the delinquent girls in this world. At first, Jason didn't like him.

"Dylan." Jason growled, remembering the "first" monster he faced.

"The asshole really tried to be a good game." Leo scoffed, just as sour as Jason.

"Get out of here, Dylan," said Piper. "I didn't ask to be your date."

"Oh, no really. But today is your lucky day!" Dylan said, linking his arm with Piper and leading her to the museum entrance.

She took one last look over her shoulder, as if asking for help.

Leo got up from the floor and straightened himself up.

"I hate this guy." He offered Jason his arm, as if they were going in together. "'I'm Dylan, I'm cool, I wanted to date myself, but I don't know how! So why don't you date me? How lucky!'"

"Great, another Narcissus" Artemis grunted. She really hated the boy, who distracted the Utah nymphs to watch him admire himself.

"Hmm" Aphrodite had ambiguous feelings about the most beautiful boy in the world.

"Leo," said Jason. "you're weird."

"Thanks."

"Yeah, you always say that," Leo smiled. "But if you don't remember me, it means I can repeat all my old jokes. Let's go!"

Jason came to the conclusion that if this was really his best friend, the life he had was really crazy; but followed Leo into the museum.

They walked through the building, stopping a few times for the trainer to explain with the megaphone, which every now and then made his voice sound like that of a Sith Lord or uttered random phrases, like "The pig goes oinc".

"I really congratulate myself." Leo said amidst laughter, having been accompanied by the demigods.

Jason was too distracted to pay attention to the exhibits, which were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe that ran the museum.

Some girls looked at Piper and Dylan and giggled. Jason deduced that this was the most popular group. They matched their jeans and pink t-shirts and wore enough makeup for a Halloween party.

One of them said:

"Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in for free if you do the rain dance?"

Piper clenched her fists. Aphrodite frowned at the girls, whose images appeared in the book.

The others laughed. Even Piper's supposed partner, Dylan, suppressed a smile.

"Asshole" Piper growled.

The sleeves of the coat hid Piper's hands, but Jason could have sworn her hands were clenched into fists.

"My father is Cherokee," she said, "not Hualapai. But of course you would need a few more neurons to understand the difference, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth's eyes widened in surprise, and she looked like a heavily made-up owl.

"I resent that comparison." Athena declared, her lips pursed. Her sacred animal was very noble.

"Sorry, Lady Athena."

"Ah, I'm sorry… Was your mother from this tribe?Oops, geez… You didn't know your mother."

Aphrodite's frown was pretty, but it heralded nothing other than future revenge. Piper had a very similar expression of her own, but less malicious.

Piper went towards the girl, but before they started fighting, the coach shouted:

"Stop, you guys! Set a good example or I'll get the baseball bat!"

"Boo! No leniency with the punks!" Ares shouted.

The group moved on to the next exhibit, but the girls continued making comments about Piper.

"Is it good to be back on the reservation?" one of them asked, in a sweet tone.

"Dad must have been too drunk to work," said another, with mock concern. "That's why she became a kleptomaniac."

Jason squeezed Piper's fist, who was shaking with anger. She really wanted to choke those girls.

Piper ignored that, but Jason was ready to hit them. He might not remember Piper or who he himself was, but he hated bad people.

Everyone gave smiles to Jason, who blushed slightly but kept a serious expression.

Leo grabbed his arm.

"Stay calm. Piper doesn't like us getting into her fights."

Jason backed away, grudgingly, but said nothing. Arriving at the end of the exhibition hall, where large glass doors led to a balcony.

"OK, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to ruin everything. The glass walkway is called Skywalk and can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights will be safe. If possible, try not to push your colleague down there, otherwise I will have more work."

"Bureaucracy" Ares grimaced. "I have to read a lot of paperwork because of just a few broken necks."

Percy looked up from his book, staring at Ares in shock. "You know how to read?"

"Fuck you, Jackson!" Ares growled under the laughter of the other gods, while the demigods hiding smiles.

The coach opened the doors and everyone went outside. The Grand Canyon stretched out before them, alive and colorful. Advancing over the precipice, a horseshoe-shaped walkway, made of glass, allowed to look down.

"Wow" said Leo. "This is amazing."

Jason agreed. Even with the amnesia and the feeling that he shouldn't be there, it was impossible not to be impressed.

The canyon was much deeper and more extensive than it appeared in any photo. They were so high that birds were flying under their feet. More than 1,200 meters below, at the base of the stone wall, a river meandered. Storm clouds had rolled in while they were inside the museum, casting shadows that looked like angry faces across the cliffs. In every direction, as far as the eye could see, Jason saw red and gray canyons cutting through the desert, as if some mad god had carved them out with a knife.

He felt a twinge of pain in his eyes. Mad gods… What idea was that? It felt like he had come close to something important… Something he should have known. He also had the unmistakable feeling that he was in danger.

"You 'kay?" Leo asked. "You're not going to lean over and vomit, right? I should have brought my camera."

Jason grabbed the walkway guardrail. He was shaking, sweating, but it had nothing to do with the height. He blinked, and the pain in his eyes eased.

"Okay," he said finally. "I just have a little headache."

Thunder rumbled in the sky. The cold wind almost threw him to the side.

"I said move the middle table." Poseidon shook his head. He had caused an earthquake in Japan the last time he hit it.

"The one with the motor coordination of a fish is you." Athena commented, receiving a scathing look from Poseidon.

"Continue, nephew" Zeus grunted.

"This can't be safe," Leo added, and looked up at the clouds, frowning. "There is a storm right above us, but the sky is clear all around us. How strange, right?"

Jason looked up and saw that Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds hung just above them, and the rest of the sky, in all directions, was perfectly clear. Jason had a bad feeling.

"Very well, cupcakes!" shouted Coach Hedge. He frowned as he looked at the storm, as if it worried him too. "I think we should cut our visit short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!"

Thunder rumbled once more, and Jason's head began to hurt again. Without knowing why, he reached into his pants pocket and took out a coin—a golden circle the size of a fifty-cent coin, but thicker and more irregular. On one side was printed the figure of an axe, on the other, the face of a man, with a laurel wreath. The inscription said something like IVLIVS.

"Wow, is this gold?" Leo asked. "And you hiding it from me?"

Jason kept the coin, wondering how he would feel about it and why he felt like he would soon need to use it.

"That demigod sense" Percy commented.

"It's nothing, just a coin."

Leo shrugged. Perhaps his mind was as agitated as his hands.

"Go, I doubt you have the courage to spit down there."

Demeter frowned, and Leo looked nervous at the normally motherly goddess's eyes.

Only the students were in that place. Perhaps it was too early for tourists, or perhaps the bad weather had scared them away. The inmates of the Wilderness School were distributed in pairs along the walkway. Most were joking or talking. Some threw coins down there. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out the worksheet, but Dylan, her idiot partner, kept coming at her, putting his arm around her shoulders and giving her a smile so white it could blind her. She was trying to push him away, and when she saw Jason, she looked at him as if to say: Please strangle this guy.

"You heard your girl, brat" Ares nodded, enjoying the initiative of his girlfriend's daughter.

With a gesture, Jason asked her to wait a little. He walked over to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds.

"Did you do that?" asked the coach.

"Disappointed, Jason." Thalia shook her head. "Five minutes and it's already discovered?"

"Shut up" Jason grumbled.

Jason took a step back.

"What did I do?"

The coach looked at him, his beady eyes twinkling beneath the brim of his cap.

"Don't kidding with me, boy. What are you doing here and why are you interfering with my work?"

"You mean… you don't know me?" Jason asked. "Am I not one of your students?"

"I've never seen you before," replied Hedge.

Jason was so relieved he wanted to cry. Finally, he wasn't going crazy. He was really in the wrong place.

"I know what it's like" Dionysus nodded, drinking more Coke Diet.

"Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is that I shouldn't be in this place."

"That's right." And Hedge's deep voice dropped to a whisper, as if he were telling a secret. "You have a lot of power over the Mist, boy, because everyone here thinks they know you, but you can't fool me. I've been sniffing out monsters for days. I knew someone was infiltrated, but you don't smell like a monster. It smells like half-blood. So… who are you and where did you come from?"

Most of what the coach said didn't make sense, but Jason decided to answer honestly.

"I don't know who I am. I do not remember anything. You need to help me."

"Because that's so much better, isn't it, Jason?"

The blonde grumbled, receiving laughs from the other demigods and a smile from his father.

The trainer studied his face, as if trying to read his thoughts.

"Okay," he muttered. "You're being sincere."

"Of course I am! And what is this about monsters and half-bloods? Is it codes or what?"

Coach Hedge frowned. Part of Jason wondered if this guy was just crazy.

"Oh, he is" Leo nodded. Hedge was completely crazy.

But the other part knew it wasn't quite like that.

"Look, kid, I don't know who you are. All I know is what you are, and that means trouble. Now I have to protect three of you, not two. Are you the special order?"

"What you mean?"

Hedge looked at the storm. The clouds were thicker and darker, hovering right above the walkway.

"This morning I received a message from the camp. They said a detachment was on the way. They were coming to pick up a special order, but they didn't give me any more details. I thought to myself: Okay. The two I'm looking after are quite powerful, older than most. I know they are being persecuted. I smell a monster in the group. I imagine that's why the camp is in such a rush to rescue them. But then you appear out of nowhere. So… are you the special order?"

The pain in Jason's eyes grew more intense. Half Blood. Camping. Monsters. He still didn't know what Coach Hedge was talking about, but the words made his head hurt,

"I understand him so much" Percy groaned. The headache of discovering he was a demigod was greater than that of being a demigod itself.

as if his mind was trying to find information that should have been there but wasn't.

Jason lost his balance, and the coach caught him. Even though he was short, Hedge had iron hands.

"Careful, cupcake . You said you don't remember anything, right? OK. I'll have to watch one more until the people arrive. We'll let the director sort it out."

"What director? What camp?" Jason asked.

"Just sit still. Reinforcements will arrive at any moment. I hope nothing happens before…"

Lightning took over the sky. The wind was beating furiously. Exercise sheets flew into the Grand Canyon and the walkway shook. The young men screamed, stumbling and clinging to the guardrail.

"I should say something," Hedge grumbled, then shouted into the bullhorn, "Everyone inside! The cow goes muh! Get off the walkway!"

"I think I heard you say that thing was safe!" shouted Jason, trying to speak louder than the wind.

"Under normal circumstances," he stated. "and that is not the case. Come!"

"The chapter is over" Percy said, having just read the last paragraph on the page. He drank some water and looked at the image of Jason and Hedge at the edge of the railing. "Who wants to continue?"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

* - In Portuguese, the phrase is written "sua boca", referring to the part of the cloth on which the bow was tied, which forms something we call "boca" or "mouth" in English. I don't know how to translate this correctly into English, but I hope you understand the expression now.