Starhunter18: Thank you so much! So glad to hear you're doing better! Start off the year with some more good news!

Sally hadn't told anyone about what happened to Kimberly. Probably because she'd never truly known how it had happened.

Night terrors had plagued her for weeks after that day. She'd work for hours on end, fuss over baby Percy who would cry bitterly for Tía Kimberly, and fall dead asleep late at night only to be awoken by Percy in the middle of her nightmares.

The monsters pushed her over the edge. Proposing to Gabe had been her WTF-slash-Hail Mary moment, only second to Poseidon telling her he was a god.

Life had barely even seemed normal or stable. Things constantly happened. Even now after the Second Titanomachy, Sally ought to have been assuaged that the demigods would be safer and Percy and Nico would have calmer lives and go back to school…

So when Percy sat her down to tell her what exactly happened that day in March of 1997, Sally was beginning to see no end to the upheavals.

Cassandra and Iphigenia kidnapped Kimberly and Percy; and took them to Egypt to get away from the Greek Pantheon. Sciron had been a twenty-something-year-old man who nearly died saving Percy's life.

Lily and James Potter had gotten the wrong end of a broken promise that left them cursed.

Kimberly had been murdered by Ajax.

More than a decade later, Cassandra and Iphigenia kidnapped Harry and took him to Rome but were forestalled when Ajax managed to kill him too.

Sirius was now in a coma after pushing her out of the line of fire; a fiery purple beam of light.

DJ was dead after defending Percy from the worst curse.

Sally locked herself in her room and wept.

"Step-siblings!" Leo crowed, offering an open palm to Piper. She high-fived him without enthusiasm.

"Oh, come on, Pipes!" he groaned. "Your mom and my dad are friggin' married! This is the coolest thing ever!"

"I think my mom's cheating on your dad," she muttered.

Leo stared. "Whaaaaat?"

Adam popped up over her right shoulder. "She's right. Mom's not subtle about it."

Drew appeared on the other side. "I guess Ares is more fun in some aspects. Still, it's not like he and Hephaestus ever got along. They have nothing in common."

"Same parents, though," Mitchell added, his grin practically blinding everyone.

"Hi," Piper told them, overwhelmed. Leo slapped her back and she stumbled into the table with two left feet. Yeah, sure. She was a daughter of Aphrodite!

"Drew Tanaka, head of Cabin Eight," Drew introduced herself imperiously. With her perfectly curled lashes and smoky eyeliner, Piper thought she looked like a real kid of the goddess of beauty.

Mitchell and Adam made room for Piper to sit between them. There were two others at the table and they greeted her enthusiastically. Piper had five half-siblings.

"There's nine of us in total if you count the Romans," Drew informed importantly. "Two in their cohorts and one who's in university."

Piper nodded, stuffing fried broccoli into her mouth. She simply didn't know how to respond to that. Mitchell stared at her in awe. "You like greens? I have more if you want them."

"Um, I'm not a huge fan of them actually," Piper chuckled nervously. "I'm a vegetarian."

Adam blinked. "Vegan?"

"I tried going vegan, but it's really hard," she answered, feeling less unease. She'd had this conversation enough times with people that she had a script.

Drew nodded. "Alright, hon. Word from the wise—diet and exercise never go hand-in-hand. If you're dieting, don't work out."

Adam made a face. "It's word to the wise, Drew."

"If she's wise, I wouldn't need to advise her, would I?" Drew shot back.

"Way to be welcoming," Lacy muttered.

Piper stayed as mum as she could during dinner. After they'd all eaten, everyone gathered in the amphitheater and sang old songs from the myths and new songs about the war they'd had a few months ago. Adam explained how they fought against the Titans to defend Olympus. Piper had heard bits and pieces of the story, but the songs were lonely and haunting. She didn't know the words, but the rhythm was easy to catch and she hummed along, committing the lyrics to memory.

And I've lost my will
Yet my heart stands alone
To stir all that's still
Yet find my way home.

It wasn't heroic at all. Piper caught Leo's eyes across the firepit and saw him holding a little boy's hand, probably one of his half-siblings. Piper smiled. She knew Leo had grown up even lonelier than her. Maybe this camp had a lot of sadness, but it was just what they both needed.

She got the top bunk above Adam in their cabin. Piper hung her new outfit in the closet space Drew assigned her ("Ooh, faux-leather Couture paired with an Aegean chiton! Mom got fancy!") Piper placed her snake brooch on the shelf above, admiring the jewelled body. Its eyes shone in multicolours as the light hit its gems. Piper wondered if they were diamonds.

Grandpa Tom would have gotten a kick out of it. He always said she had the old voice of snakes.

"I'll give you a tour of the cabin tomorrow," Drew told her. "I gotta write up a new package for the gift shop, so I'm busy right now."

"That's alright," Piper nodded, exhausted. She hadn't done much during the day, just tried archery and boating. But it had been cold and she'd shivered in the boat until Ethan from cabin 17 took pity on her and rowed them to shore. And then she'd seen Annabeth and Grover huddled in the trees whispering about Chiron and telepathic bonds before she'd gotten claimed. Her brain had the full workout.

"Lacy, get her some pyjamas," Drew ordered, shooing the young girl towards the large closet.

Piper leaned by Adam's bedpost while he plugged in earphones to watch a BTS video. Lacy came back with a silk gown that made Piper blanch.

"Uh, what's this for?"

"Your sleepwear, duh!"

"Do you have, like, a t-shirt and shorts?"

Mitchell chuckled. "Closet 3E, Lacy. Comfort wear."

Lacy tossed the gown at him. "You get it, then!"

Piper barely remembered changing into the sleepwear before falling asleep.

.

She was surrounded by cotton candy. Yum! Piper loved it and would binge eat it for days if Jane would let her.

The delicious cotton candy turned into cold sleet of rain. Heavy clouds hung in the air around her and Piper peered at the enormous ice palace in the sky.

Lightning flashed and the scene changed.

Piper spied a regal lady in the sleep gown Lacy had shown her. The lady had a sparkling crown of jewels and peacock feathers nestled in her lovely brown curls. She was a cold beauty.

Her eyes glinted at Piper. "Well, hero? Will you do your part and prove yourself to the gods?"

"Wh… what?" Piper whispered.

The goddess rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're as slow as the boy! Look after my Jason, would you? He's the only thing of my husband's worth anything anymore. I'm in a spot of bother, as you can see."

Heart thudding in Piper's chest, she backed away. The lady was behind bars with heavy mud rising above her waist.

"Do your part, child," she warned Piper. "Nobody can replace you."

"My part?"

"Yes. And if you succeed, you can bring your father home. He knows too much."

The earth laughed all around them.

.

Piper's entire body flinched. She woke herself up, covered in sweat and panting like she'd run a marathon.

The cabin was dark. Drew's bunk was right by the door, below the first window. The counsellor was sound asleep as was everyone else. Piper settled back, heart still racing.

The sheets in the lower bunk rustled and Adam peered out.

"Hey," he whispered. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," she nodded, wiping the sweat away.

"Nightmares?"

She didn't want to sound like a child. She was about to blow it off when Adam continued, "It's alright. We all get them. Do you wanna talk about it?"

Her eyes burned. Other than Leo, nobody had ever asked after her for a couple of years now. Her dad had been so busy…

Wait, wasn't there something about her father in her dream?

"I can't remember it clearly," she whispered.

Adam nodded. "It might come to you if you fall asleep now."

"Oh. Why're you still awake?"

He shrugged. "I kinda sleep late. It's only midnight."

She eyed him. Adam grinned. "Tea?"

"Huh?"

"I've got ginger, English Breakfast, Earl Grey, and jasmine," he explained.

Piper settled back on her pillow. "No, thanks. It was just a nightmare. I'm good."

Adam gave her a funny look. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but instead just nodded and climbed back into his bunk. She didn't think it was odd, but maybe Adam was avoiding nightmares too.

"We have to tell them about May and Mark Rohan," Percy groaned, head falling onto the kitchen table with a thump.

"And Janet Kassidy dying in the Lethe," Harry added, poking Kimmy's squishy cheeks gently. "Maybe Nico's new sister might know something about her."

"I don't know where to even begin with the Romans," Percy mumbled. "Reyna and Annabeth are getting along, and Jason's not too bad. Dakota is chill. Not too sure about Gwen, but she seems fine. I'm not banking on Octavian, though."

"Also," Harry recalled. "You have to ask them about the Feast of Spes."

"Special… specs?"

"Spesss!" Harry hissed. "The spirit of Delphi said that's the day the world's gonna end or something."

Percy nodded. "The world's ending every few years. The novelty kinda wears off, you know."

"Don't blame me," Harry said before adding. "Spes is the Roman name for Elpis. Hope."

"Nice."

"She's the thing trapped in Pandora's pithos."

"Even better."

"It's no coincidence that Rachel's vision of the pithos breaking has a connection with the Day of Hope. It's on the first of August."

Percy sat up. "Rachel's birthday."

"The Day of Hope," Harry said pointedly.

"It's also Rachel's birthday," Percy repeated.

Harry exhaled, exasperated. "What's it with the birthdays? You defeated the Titans on your sweet sixteenth—"

"That was Luke."

"And now Hope is set to die on Rachel's day?"

Percy shrugged, extremely desensitised. "Happy Eighteenth, Rach. Here's your present, a lifeless planet. Want it gift-wrapped?"

Baby Kimmy blew a raspberry, perfectly encapsulating their feelings. Harry pursed his lips. "Think she'd like some tea?"

"She's a newborn!"

"Nearly four months old."

"No," Percy said firmly. "We're inviting the Romans to Camp Half-Blood on Saturday."

The topic may have bounced, but Harry had long since grown used to the demigods' ways of conversation, especially Percy's. He sipped his tea, nodding slowly. "They'll know exactly what the Feast of Spes entails."

"Let's just hope they accept."

"Ha! Hope."

"Maybe if we show them the pithos, they'll feel better?" Percy wondered mostly to himself.

Piper found Leo inhaling his oatmeal in the morning.

"Hey," Piper greeted him. "How'd you sleep?"

"Barely. I dreamed about drowning in chocolate fudge. Or it might have been quicksand," Leo amended. "Maybe I can get the same dream tonight. I'll taste the mud. It was laughing at me."

Most conversations with Leo went like this. Piper sighed and leaned down. "I think I dreamed about my dad."

Leo's eyebrows flew up faster than the spoon slipping out of his grasp. It splashed into the bowl spilling the food on the table.

One of the wind spirits stopped by the table to glare at Leo. He yelped as the spirit swiped the table clean and disappeared in a puff of wind.

Piper shook the nerves off. Camp was normal like that.

"Your dad?" Leo asked as though they weren't interrupted. "For real?"

"I think so," she moaned. "I can't remember it clearly. There were other people too. This peacock lady told me about how our time's running out. And the thing is…"

Piper leaned down to whisper, "Adam told me that demigod dreams are dangerous. They could be true."

Leo swallowed. "So, it wasn't chocolate fudge that I was drowning in?"

"Be serious for once!" she pleaded. "My dad's not picking up the phone. I called him twice today, it went straight to voicemail!"

"Okay, okay!" Leo set his bowl down. "One of the kids said that there's a phone in the big blue house."

"The Big House," Piper nodded.

"Let's try that. Or maybe we can reach Jane and—"

"Jane's useless!" she argued. "I need to hear him!"

They left the mess hall and made their way through the cabin sector. Twenty tall buildings stood proudly in the shape of an Omega. Two more cabins were currently under construction, and Leo began to point out why the load-bearing pillars were a thing of beauty.

"—like the ones you'll find for bridges, but this one's partly in the water. It's the same with cabin three!" he yelped. "I bet all the cabins have secret sections to them, like in mine. You won't believe what I found under my bed!"

Piper was only partly listening. One of the cabins they passed by had a stone peacock carved into the wall above the large door. She slowed down to stare at it.

Could it be? Was it the peacock lady from her dream?

Piper changed tracks heading right for the short pathway towards the cold silver-blue cabin when a voice called out, "Piper, wait!"

That wasn't Leo. In fact, Leo was speechless, staring at the boy who'd jogged up to them. Piper took a second to place him. Oh! The boy from Olympus, the one who had a gaping hole in his arm and who threw Ajax with an invisible spell like a wizard…

The boy who was hit by a bolt of lightning from Zeus's throne and survived.

"Harry?" she asked tentatively.

"That's me," he nodded, his black hair far too wayward to simply blame the wind. "Be careful with that cabin. She doesn't like heroes going near it. Or anyone, really."

Piper looked at the door. "It's a peacock."

Harry squinted. "Right. That's one of Hera's. She's the queen. Of Olympus. Goddess of Home and Marriage. Wife to Zeus. The cloud to many parades."

Hera?

The queen. The lady with the mud rising all around her because she was stuck in a cage. Because the Earth Goddess was trying to kill her.

Piper blinked. Why was she dreaming of the queen of Olympus?

Harry was frowning at Leo. "You okay, mate?"

Leo coughed. "Um, yeah! What about you? How ya doing? I mean! Are you fine? I mean! I'm Harry. No! You're Harry! I'm… uh…"

"This is Leo," Piper sighed. "He's weird with new people."

"Heylo," Leo grinned, before squawking, "Shit! I mean, hi—no! Hello! I meant, hello!"

Harry nodded warily. Giving Leo a break, Piper pointed at the sandy path leading up to the queen's cabin. "You said no one goes in? I see footprints here."

They found no discarded shoes, but it was clear someone had wandered into the cabin barefoot. Leo and Harry were stumped and Piper used the distraction to walk up to the door and knock.

What? She can be brash and polite.

The door wasn't locked. It moved a few inches from the force of her knuckles. Piper pushed it open and found a mane of dark red frizzy hair at the base of an immense statue of Lady Hera.

The stone queen was seated on a stone throne. The cabin didn't have much—no beds, no furniture, no bathroom; nothing that anyone could actually use to live. For a goddess of home and marriage, Hera's place reminded Piper of a tomb.

She swallowed thickly. Even inanimate, the statue was imposing, her carved eyes stayed sharp, aimed right at Piper.

"Rachel?" Harry blurted, peering into the cabin.

The owner of the halo of hair turned around, eyes glowing green. Piper and Leo backed away, unable to look directly at the eyes. It was like staring at the moon, their retinas felt strained to the max.

"Not yet," the girl answered. Her face was unsettling. It was as though she didn't know what a smile was and was trying to pull her lips up to pass off as a human.

"You're that girl," Piper realised. "You—you were dead! On Olympus, but then you stood up."

She stopped talking when the glowing eyes were directed at her.

The air went fuzzy. Rachel—or rather the thing with glowing eyes—twitched. An ugly look came over her face and Piper retreated. The eyes went dead for a second and the body nearly tipped back, except Piper was the one falling.

As the ground whistled up to meet her, the statue of the queen stood up like a mirage, heat waves emanating from the ground.

FREE ME, PIPER MCLEAN, OR THE EARTH SHALL SWALLOW US ALL. IT MUST BE BY THE SOLSTICE.

Flames erupted all around them. Piper was alone in the inky void of chaos. She glanced down to find her dad tied to a post surrounded by the same fire.

Dad!she tried to scream but her voice was trapped and her body was petrified. Piper watched from afar as her father panted, sweat and blood dripping down his face. It could have been a scene from one of his movies but she knew that it was real blood and real fire.

Something paced in front of him. Piper couldn't see them through the haze of purple fire and silver smoke. It bellowed, "WHERE IS SHE?"

"I don't know!" Tristan yelled. "I swear to you! I saw her enter the river, nothing more! Nothing more!"

"LIES!"

The ground cracked and the post tilted. Her father was dangling over a terrifying chasm thousands of miles below his feet. Piper's heart seized. She saw tears trickle down his cheeks.

"WHAT ELSE DID YOU SEE?" the voice roared, shaking the ground.

Tristan flinched. "Just the river! Nothing else! No one alive knows!"

The giant came into view. It was terrible. He towered over everything in the vicinity, a vicious flaming whip hanging from his enormous grip.

Terror crept up her throat. Piper opened her mouth and screamed, "DON'T HURT HIM!"

The fumes blasted away from her and the giant stumbled back. Her dad raised his head and found her through the flames.

Smoke raced back and covered the scene separating them. She didn't even feel her body hitting the floor of Hera's cabin.

Percy had just entered the counsellors' room in the Big House when the IM from the Romans was done. Clarisse brushed the rainbow window away and Percy pouted.

"Aw, I missed it."

"How'd Sally handle the news?" Annabeth asked, taking his hand.

He grimaced. "She's still processing. But she confirmed that Tía Kimberly was a dreamer. And the last thing Mom remembered about that was the dream of a princess or a lady walking into a river to drown."

Will clicked his tongue. "But it wasn't just to drown. That was Pandora turning to mist or something."

"Right." Percy fell into his chair. He jerked his chin towards Chiron. "So what's the deal about dreamers?"

The centaur was packed in his wheelchair, rather quiet through the whole thing. "Janet had an idea about that."

Drew sat up. "Janet Kassidy was a daughter of Aphrodite. I can check my cabin for any notes she might have left behind."

Chiron nodded, "That ought to help. Her closest friends were May and Mark Rohan, twin siblings of Hephaestus. The three of them went to Alexandria based on the dreams she'd been having. They made it back, but it was rough. The plane they were in was struck down by lightning."

Percy flinched. Annabeth frowned. "That can't be random. Why would the gods not want them back?"

"I can't be sure," Chiron sighed. "They survived the crash. May and Mark commandeered the plane and landed what was left of it on a New Jersey tarmac. 327 casualties, engine failure, tail broken, wire faulty shortage—"

"Six survivors," Percy whispered.

Everyone turned to him, but Percy couldn't concentrate. Why were those statistics so familiar? He'd heard about that a lot from somewhere, someone… 327 dead, one of the engines had caught fire, in fact the wings…

Chiron sat up, alarmed. Annabeth frowned, "Did you dream about this?"

"The right wing broke," Percy said, wide-eyed. "The winds pushed it back into the plane and it skewered the second half…"

Chiron nodded. "That's right. Have I mentioned this before?"

"My mom and aunt were on that plane with their parents."

Nico's jaw dropped. Thalia rubbed her face in disbelief. Percy felt dizzy and hot, the inhumane blue light threatening to bubble up.

"Dude!" Travis choked. "Zeus had it out for your fam."

Percy glared at him, "Yes. Thanks, Trav."

"No, like he also lightning-bolted your mom when you first came to camp—"

"I KNOW!"

Nico swiped out his phone and began tapping urgently.

"Percy," Chiron asked, deadly serious. "Are you sure your parents were on the red eye from Puerto Rico in the summer of 1984?"

"Yes! I can literally call up my mom now and she'll tell you the same thing. She was four and my aunt was two at the time."

"He's right," Nico whispered, growing pale. He was reading something on his phone. "Six survivors on Flight 029. Patrick Dare aged five; Sally Jackson, four; Kimberly Jackson, two; May Rohan, 16; Mark Rohan, 16; and Janet Kassidy, 17."

Percy was close to a faint. Annabeth caught his shoulder as he dropped his head into the crook of her neck, breathing heavily.

"Patrick Jane Dare is Rachel's dad," Nico added to his stunned audience. Chiron closed his eyes, tapping into his older memories. Thalia swore creatively, Lou-Ellen eyed the ceiling, Clovis snored, and Clarisse covered her mouth, probably to stop following Thalia's lead.

Travis massaged his temples. "Dude's middle name is Jane?"

Katie grabbed his ear and twisted it. "Stop it! This is serious! Chiron, it's not a coincidence that both Rachel and Percy's parents were on that flight! We're literally searching for May and Mark right now!"

Chiron nodded, faintly. "They're in New Rome, disguised as per their father's instructions. After Janet Kassidy disappeared, May and Mark approached me, saying their father had given them a new permanent quest—"

"Quest?" Nyssa asked sharply, clearly worried about her older half-siblings. "They're in the Roman camp on a two-decade-long quest?"

"Nearly three decades," Will choked. "Chiron, the Romans aren't going to like that! Hell, we'd be PO'd if there was a Roman living in our camp pretending to be Greek!"

Everyone shifted uncomfortably. Chiron winced, "I agree. Which is why Lord Hephaestus spoke to Lupa before shifting his children there."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Lupa was fine with two Greeks joining her beloved boot camp?"

"Oh, they had to prove themselves," Chiron said with a warning tone. Lupa doesn't allow anyone into Camp Jupiter without passing her trials. But May and Mark performed admirably. She agreed to accept them with the promise they never speak Ancient Greek on her lands. They had to follow all Roman customs while staying there. Aside from a couple of older Senate members, no one else knows about them."

Percy couldn't imagine pretending to be someone else just to gain sanctuary. How scared were May and Mark? This couldn't just be about evading Zeus, right? The Roman camp was literally named after him.

Someone else must have been after them. Someone terrifying enough to scare demigods in their prime, sneaky enough to stay under the Olympians' radar, and ruthless enough to rank higher than literal monsters.

"They were running from Ajax," Annabeth nodded.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Percy murmured.

Drew winced, "Ajax killed Janet, then?"

"We're not sure," Nico said. "She drowned in the Lethe and she didn't leave behind a ghost or anything."

"I wouldn't dismiss that theory," Thalia growled. "Janet was a dreamer, just like Kimberly. Dreamers must have similar powers to seers, but these people also seem to know more about Pandora than anyone else. If May and Mark ran from CHB, I think Janet told them things about Pandora, or they also dream about her."

Will was curious. "Are you saying all dreamers are in danger then?"

"Perhaps just some of the more perceptive ones," Chiron figured. "I'm sure there are more out there, most of them are probably mortal. But for now, find a way to let the praetors know about May and Mark as nicely as possible. I think Jason will be willing to accept it, he's ready to go on a quest with two of you to search for the king and queen."

Percy blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You missed that," Annabeth said sourly. "Octavian ordered a quest."

"... again?!"

"He's fond of doing that."

Nyssa grumbled. "Jason's asked for Leo. I gotta check if he's okay with it."

"And who's the third?" Percy asked, just as the doors to the war room burst open.

Everyone jumped, weapons sliding out in an instant. All manners of swords, knives, daggers, arrows, spears, and pillows were pointed at Leo, Harry, and an unconscious Piper.

Leo yelped.

"The spirit did something to her!" Harry gasped, hiking up Piper in his arms. "She was mumbling a lot. I think she had a vision about Hera and her father!"

Annabeth snarled, "Hera's father? We just dealt with him!"

"No, Piper's dad!" Leo blurted. "The Giants took him because he's been having dreams about Pandora!"

Plot's roaring back! Stay tuned, readers!