I walked toward the infirmary, which reminded me a decent bit of the one back at camp. Well, as you'd probably expect, it was much fancier, in all of the most over-the-top and unnecessary ways possible.

Still, it made me draw comparisons between a lot of the stuff between Olympus and Camp Half-Blood. The architect who designed the camp must've taken all kinds of inspiration from Olympus- which made sense, honestly. Why wouldn't you? Olympus was designed by the best architects alive. It was like taking an open-note test!

Let's start out front. Looking on in, the infirmary gave off the appearance of an open tent, burned with the insignia of Asclepius, which was close enough to the design at camp, but the differences began popping up on the inside, kind of like those annoying hot singles in your area ads that came up when I'd watch stuff online illegally.

I actually had an incident with that once- damn monster came right through my screen. All I'd wanted to do was watch some Stranger Things and relax! I decided it was probably in my best interest to invest in Netflix and a VPN after that.

Back to the tent, though. It opened to a magically enhanced interior the size of a football field, with rows of beds that had fresh linen sheets. Lyres were playing somewhere in the background, the soft plucking giving a relaxing vibe to the area.

Beautiful, marble columns rose from the ground, framing an Acropolis-like ceiling that was so tall, it could've probably housed a few gods, even in their big boy forms. Much like the rest of the city, it looked exactly like what a Greek temple would've looked like way back in the day.

Unlike the medical areas back at camp, these ones had nothing except the beds themselves. No medical equipment, no tools, no ambrosia- hell, they were even missing the motivational posters with the cat hanging on the powerline going: you can do this!

Instead, there were vines hanging around, holding medical equipment. I say that very generously because the only medical thing I could find around was nectar, which made sense. Demigods would burn up if they had too much of the stuff, but gods could slam nectar like I could slam Jello shots and be completely fine.

I shuffled my way to the only occupied bed, where Apollo and Hera were sitting at the foot of Jason's prone form. I noted his shallow breaths. Told you I did a number on him. I'll take no small amount of pride in whooping his butt.

When I stepped closer to Apollo, a golden light shot out from around me, cleaning some of the grime and soot off my body, and healing some of my cuts and bruises. I felt invigorated, too- like I'd splashed my face with some cold water.

Apollo didn't even look up, though. His eyes were trained on Jason, and his forehead was beading with sweat as his fingertips glowed golden on Jason's temple. Deciding it was best to give him space and let him focus, I looked around the room some more.

There was a naked statue of Apollo, privates, and all, in the middle of the room, with a fountain bubbling around him. Somehow, a large gallery was out back, followed by terraced gardens, even more fountains, and temples, with winding cobblestone streets and gleaming white villas.

Wait a minute- was this looking over Olympus?

I stopped by the terrace, intoxicated by the smell of the city.

Imagine your favorite memory. Try to capture the way it made you feel- that giddiness, the bright warmth. Now multiply that happiness by a million, and you might begin to get an idea of what this place smells like.

Grapevine trellises made a canopy overhead. Bees buzzed through honeysuckle and jasmine, which filled the air with a dizzying mix of perfumes. In the middle of the terrace stood a statue of a cherub in a sort of ballet position, wearing nothing but a loincloth, his cheeks puffed out and lips pursed, spouting water into a fountain.

Annabeth would love this place. I wasn't much of an architecture guy, myself, and even I thought this was the coolest place around.

I closed my eyes, letting the warm and soothing air of the city ease my soul. I stood like that for a few minutes until I was brought out of my relaxation by the sound of someone walking behind me.

It was Hera. She beamed at me, her eyes glittering with happiness. As she walked out to the terrace, the sunlight seemed to intensify. "Perseus."

I went to bow, but she gave me a stern look. "None of that—I told you. Congratulations on your quest, hero. You've accomplished much."

"It's only because of you that I could finish it so easily," I remarked, and she smiled regally. We both shared a knowing smile, "I couldn't have done it without you."

"So noble," Hera commented, staring out at Olympus. She sighed, leaning forward on the railing of the terrace. "I believe it is I who should be thanking you- again. Us Olympians keep finding ourselves in your debt, don't we?"

"Thank me?" I repeated, the words sounding weird in my mouth. "Thank me for what? I agreed to this quest."

"For keeping Jason alive," Hera elaborated, giving me a knowing look. With her business-casual outfit, I felt like I was back at Yancy, getting chewed out by the guidance counselor for something I didn't do in the first place. "We both know you could've killed him."

"That's…" I trailed off, realizing there was truth in her statement. Sure, I'd been drained from the spell on Prometheus, but I hadn't even used half of my powers against Jason. No ring, no [Thousand Hand Technique] because I was scared of blasting off his head. "Huh."

I closed my eyes, the image of a little me and a little Jason playing in the camp volleyball pit coming to mind.

I had spared him. Just like he'd spared me in that final blast- if he pointed his bolt at the staff, we both would've exploded like a powder keg over Greek fire.

"I'd told you once before that I didn't approve of heroes," Hera remembered, moving closer to me as I opened my eyes. "That was before I met you. Never before have I met a demigod capable of doing what you just did. You saved Jason's life at the risk of losing your own. Why?"

"He didn't deserve it," I said honestly, noticing her lack of surprise at my response. "At all. He's a good kid, he was just led to believe something that isn't true and made out to be something he's not. But you knew that, didn't you? You knew he'd see the light."

"I did know," Hera said, almost miserably. For a moment, I saw a flash of pain on her face. "I've always known about Jason and his destiny. Even when Prometheus took him."

"You understood what he would do in the end," I tried to comfort her. Well, at least I hope she did. It would be kind of awkward if she was just guessing and it happened to work out this time. "You knew he'd be fine eventually."

Hera stared at the fountain. "I….suppose. No one can tamper with fate, Perseus, not even a god. If I had warned Zeus of what was to come, or tried to influence his choices, I would've made things even worse. Staying silent, staying away from Jason . . . that was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"But…why?" I voiced my concern. "Why would you care so much about any demigod, let alone a child of Zeus?"

"Zeus gave his life to me," Hera whispered. "And I wanted to help him fulfill his destiny. Good and bad."

"It isn't too late," I pointed out. "You can help him now. He'll need it more than ever."

"Aren't you already planning on that?" Hera asked coyly.

I grinned, not even ashamed at being caught. "Yep. Triton doesn't suffer from the split personalities the Olympians do, and if there's anyone in this world that can make a kid feel loved, it's my mom. Plus, we have the space. All that aside, just because you weren't in his life earlier doesn't mean you can't enter his life now- look at me and Poseidon."

It was true. While we certainly weren't at a full-on father-son relationship level just yet, I could appreciate the fact that he still made the time to come visit me once or twice a week, especially after seeing how much the man has to do in Atlantis.

We were actually planning a family outing to Cheesecake Factory sometime this weekend. I'm sure he'll let Jason come. Hopefully.

"Perhaps. I fear I haven't had the chance to truly be a mother," Hera sighed again. "Godly children…don't stay children too long. When I was younger, more spiteful…I would lash out."

"You're afraid," I summarized, to which she nodded. I felt a smile form on my face. "Aunt, nobody has all the right answers in relationships- especially me. I can tell you, straight up, that staying away from Jason like that in an effort to help him fulfill his destiny won't be the last mistake you make. Neither is hiding his whereabouts from Zeus. People, especially people who care about each other make mistakes all the time! I guess what I'm getting at is, anyone who's this worried about making the right choice cares a lot. That's all that matters."

Hera's grin was threatening to split her face in half. "Do you truly think so?"

Maybe I'd been too hasty in Atlantis, when I said I'd make all the gods pay for the things they'd done.

Sure, they could still be manipulative. Aphrodite's a prime example of that- even though she supposedly loved me, she still used me in the most basic sense of the word.

But some of them were trying to change, to atone for their pasts.

Think about your own life, for example. How willing are you to change something that's routine to you, just because someone random said so?

Scale that up to the point of view of an Olympian. You've been doing the same thing for thousands of years, and now some upstart who can't even drive is coming around, telling you what to do.

Despite that, some of them are listening. Maybe that's all I can really ask for. Maybe not. I'd have to wait and see.

"I know so," I said, turning back to the bed, where Apollo was waving us over. Jason was waking up. "I know so."

The rest of the school year passed pretty uneventfully, and before I knew it, summer was here again.

Jason and I walked out of our last-period class, Gwen behind us.

A little Mist manipulation from Chiron had allowed Jason to enroll at Midtown, too, but it was honestly still kind of funny to me.

Despite getting his memories back, he still struggled a bit to mesh with your average teenager, after, well, everything. If you think I'm dense, wait till you see a girl flirt with Jason.

Liz loves flirting with Jason- it's fun with me, because I'll flirt back, but apparently, it's the best with Jason because he gets all cute and shy. Her words, folks, not mine.

I mean, aside from all of that, it's still been good for him. Jason's been integrating well into living with my family, but having this forced interaction is good for him. It's making him come out of his shell a bit.

"What do you guys have planned for the summer?" Gwen asked curiously as we stopped by her locker. Last day of school, sure, but it's our routine! Liz would be here, too, if she wasn't already on a plane to the Bahamas.

"Oh, probably just going to summer camp," I answered for Jason, who was shifting uncomfortably, and picking at his graphic tee like it was the most uncomfortable thing he'd ever worn.

Give the man a sword and thick metal armor, and he's right at home. A tee-shirt and jeans, though? Forget about it.

If Gwen noticed, she didn't give any indication, "For the whole summer?"

"Nah, MJ would kill me if I went the whole summer without seeing her," I answered earnestly, causing Gwen to giggle. Even Jason cracked a grin at that. "I'll come to visit you guys all the time. Now since Peter and Piper are dating, you'll probably be seeing a lot more of her, too."

"Oh, I love Piper!" Gwen said, genuinely excited at the prospect of seeing more of Peter's girlfriend. "She's the sweetest."

I went to reply, but a chill settled on the back of my neck. My battle senses were going crazy, and the game was pinging. I looked to Jason, whose grim expression told me he felt it too.

The normal world faded to gray as I peeked into the Duat, looking around for any foreign substance.

To my surprise, there was a brief, blue outline of a baseball cap in front of us.

"Annabeth?" I wondered aloud, and she appeared a moment later, a grim look on her face. I gave her a hug, wondering, "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see my favorite demigod," She said sarcastically. Oh, that wasn't good. Annabeth was only sarcastic when she was stressed, annoyed, or both. The fact that she completely skipped even pretending to be serious was a bad sign. "Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams…about what?" I repeated, shooting Jason a confused look. "Come to think of it, I haven't had dreams since the bolt fiasco."

Her face turned pale. "This…okay, yeah, this is bad."

Gwen was listening to the conversation with rapt attention. I'd forgotten she was there for a second, and I didn't even want to imagine with the Mist must've made her see when Annabeth came out of nowhere.

Unlike MJ, she wasn't clear-sighted. Well, and she didn't know about the big bad world of Greek gods.

"Oh, uh, Gwen, this is my cousin," I gestured to Annabeth, who was still beside herself. "She's, um, stressed about school."

Gwen clearly didn't believe me, but she nodded anyway, stepping away a bit. "I'll, uh, give you guys a second."

"Thanks."

I turned back to her. "You said something about dreams, though? What were you dreaming about?"

Her eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour.

"Grover and Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp. You really haven't had a single dream in that much time?"

"What kind of trouble?" Jason repeated, joining the conversation at last.

Annabeth turned to him, her eyebrows raised. "Um, who are you?"

"Jason Grace," Jason replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I felt like face-palming. Oh, Jason. "Percy's cousin."

"Grace?" Annabeth said incredulously. "L-like…"

"We can talk about that later," I tried to get her back on track. To her credit, she took the discovery in stride. "What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?"

Virginia? Oh, right, she was working on mending her relationship with her mortal family. Good for her.

I shook my head. "None all year."

"That makes sense," Annabeth frowned. "Most monsters would be crazy to attack two children of the elder gods."

"Hey, Jace! Hey, babe," MJ chose this time to enter the fray. She was wearing a nice white blouse, and her fiery red hair was pulled into a ponytail. She greeted me with a smile and a sweet kiss. "Still coming over after school?"

"Er," I said awkwardly, stroking her cheek. "Have I told you recently how cute you look?"

"Oh, boy," MJ said, smiling brightly. "Flattery, Mr. Jackson?"

"We don't have time for this," Annabeth said, her face souring. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi," I repeated. "All the way to camp? You know how much money—"

"Trust me."

I turned back to MJ. "Apparently, there's some big trouble at camp. You mind if I take a rain check on that date?"

"I just got some new lip gloss, too," MJ frowned, and I was really tempted to stay and let Jason go. Gah! I had a bone to pick with Luke. Well, another bone. There is that whole he wants to destroy Olympus thing, first. "The pitfalls of having a superhero boyfriend. Go, tiger. You better text me when you can, though!"

"You got it, cutie," I said, kissing her one more time and following Annabeth out of the school, Jason on our flank.

"Here," Annabeth stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."

She looked even worse than I'd realized at first. Her chin was cut. Twigs and grass were tangled in her ponytail, as if she'd slept several nights in the open. The slashes on the hems of her jeans looked suspiciously like claw marks.

"What are you looking for?" I asked at last.

All around us, kids poured out of the school, excited about the prospect of summer. I waved at some of my basketball buddies, who were marching toward the courts.

"Found one. Thank the gods." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

A drachma? Had she found a way to convert gold coins into dollars?

"Annabeth," I said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"

As usual, the moment she spoke in the language of Olympus, I somehow understood it. She'd said: Stop, Chariot of Damnation!

That didn't exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was. I was really beginning to wish I didn't give Piper all my teleportation orbs to go back and forth from Camp.

It wasn't like I could take both Annabeth and Jason with me into the Duat. Jason, maybe, just because he could keep a secret, but Annabeth?

She'd freak. The girl was running on fumes basically 24/7 already. Finding out Egyptian gods are real might break the last bit of sanity she has left, and that wouldn't be pretty at all.

She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.

It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it.

The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"

"Three to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at me to get in, like this was all completely normal.

Reluctantly I got in the cab. Jason squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last.

The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy—no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving…Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.

The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!

I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I wasn't that desperate…yet.

The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.

Wait a minute. Give her the eye?

I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.

"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left my stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.

The rest of the trip passed pretty uneventfully, aside from this random moment where one of the sisters started screaming numbers at Annabeth, but as we got out of the cab, I soon realized my problems were about to get so much worse.

At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.

I'd been itching for a real fight since Jason and I fought.

We sparred, sure, but I wasn't going to pull out all of my destructive moves on Jason, of all people. The man was my cousin!

Plus, I'd grown much stronger in the past few months.

I'd finally gotten around to putting in my skill points and getting some new perks: my new breakdown looked something like this:

PERSEUS JACKSON

[SON OF POSEIDON]

[HESTIA'S FAVORED]

[ECHIDNA'S BANE]

[GODSLAYER]

[BLESSING OF HERA]

[DIVINE CONSULTANT]

Level- 52 (20,000/40,000)

HP- 60,000/60,000 (BOOSTED 2X)

SP- 40,000/40,000

MP- 90,000/90,000 (BOOSTED 2X)

Allegiance- N/A

STR- 88 (+5)

VIT- 25

DEX- 76 (+5)

INT- 64

CHA- 51 (+5)

WIS- 48

LUC- 37

Points- 0

Perk Points- 6

The perks I'd gotten were pretty metal, too.

I'd picked up the [Immolater] perk Jason had for four perk points, just on the account of its name alone. It sounded awesome.

[BATTLE][WIS] Immolater, LV- 20 (30%)

The proof of an achieved self-esteem is your soul's shudder of contempt and rebellion against the role of a sacrificial animal, against the vile impertinence of any creed that proposes to immolate the irreplaceable value which is your consciousness and the incomparable glory which is your existence.

+ [ELECTROKINESIS] perk!

+ [BOLT] skill tree!

This perk was legit. For a while there, I'd been looking to branch out in terms of my offensive moves, and this perk was a wonderful investment for that.

You'll see.

Next up, we had [Lunar Lullaby].

I know, I know, I've declined this perk, like, five different times, but it's gotten to the point where I just can't deny its usefulness. Plus, it was only two perk points, and I'm currently rolling in that dough.

My strength was already reaching a point where I was benching insane weights with relative ease, and I knew if I wanted to keep getting the most out of my workouts, I'd need to find a way to step it up.

[TRAINING][WIS] Lunar Lullaby, LV- MAX

The gravitational attraction of the original gaseous matter present in the Universe caused it to begin coalescing, forming stars — and the stars to group together into galaxies — so gravity is responsible for many of the large scale structures in the Universe.

+ [GRAVITY CONTROL]

Yeah, yeah, it only works on me, but as you'd expect, it bumps up my training to a whole other level.

Next!

Another four points down the drain, and I'd picked up [Angelic Trigger].

[ACTIVE][VIT] Angelic Trigger, LV- MAX

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

Angelic Trigger lets its user enter a heightened state of awareness, granting super speed and heightened damage; just like yoga.

MP COST: 40 MANA PER SECOND!

Basically, it's a direct combination with [Pyrokinetic]. I'd like to think of it like Kaioken, if you will, but eh. It's fun stuff.

I still had the other six saved up for a rainy day.

Anyway, back to the present.

There were two bulls stomping around Thalia's tree. And not just regular bulls—bronze ones the size of elephants. And even that wasn't bad enough. Naturally, they had to breathe fire, too.

I felt a frown form on my face- the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the backside of the pine tree. That shouldn't have been possible.

The camp's magic boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree. But the metal bulls were doing it anyway.

Clarisse, one of the demigods trying to fight the bulls, was in trouble. Her fellow warriors were scattered, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horsehair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk.

Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.

"Jason," I said, pulling out my sword. "It's go time."

I pulled up [Immolater], a wheel full of different lightning bolts appearing in front of me. Some were small, circular. Others were long and pointy. I settled on [Magnum Bolt] and rushed the bull charging Clarisse.

CRACK!

My fingertips glowed bright blue, and a thick arc of lightning exploded forward, smashing into the bull with the force of a small locomotive.

I followed up with a super-powered slice, cutting a huge gash in its flank and blasting a column of verdant fire in there.

The monster just creaked and groaned and kept on going. It hadn't touched me, but I could feel the heat of its metal skin. Its body temperature could've microwaved a frozen burrito.

I continued my attack, annihilating the bull with cuts and jabs before it could even react. Riptide was a blur in my hands, an arc of pure destruction.

With my new strength and speed, I was cutting through the bull like it was made of butter- I was about to put the metal beast on a charcuterie board, when I noticed Jason circling overhead.

"Now!" I yelled, stabbing Riptide through the bull's snout.

Jason swooped overhead, dropping down before I could even blink. His coin had turned into a long javelin, and he'd run it through the bull's back before it could even react.

It creaked and groaned, wheeling back on its hind legs. I followed up with a heavy punch to the chest.

It exploded in a ball of lightning and dust.

"I think I'd like an explanation," I said, pulling my sword out of the ground and walking toward Clarisse, who had just finished dispatching the other bull with the help of her, er, helpers, we'll call them. "How the hell did so many monsters get in?"

Clarisse looked behind us with a bitter expression. She jabbed a finger toward Thalia's tree, "Go take a look, Prissy. While you were out playing basketball, the Titans were making moves."

Low blow, Clarisse, low blow. I'll let it slide- I'm sure she's a bit stressed right now.

I frowned, crouching next to the tree. My jeans smushed into the dirt- the ground around her tree had grown weak. I gently touched the trunk.

Thalia Grace, [TREE]

Level- N/A

HP- 1,000,000/2,000,000

SP- N/A

MP- N/A

Poisoned! (-100,000 HP every day!)

Six years ago, Grover, Annabeth, and two other demigods named Thalia and Luke had come to Camp Half-Blood chased by an army of monsters.

When they got cornered on top of this hill, Thalia, a daughter of Zeus, had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety. As she was dying, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree. Her spirit has since reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters.

[POISONED] using Elder Python Venom, from [Tartarus].

I, of course, had known about her legend. How could I not? Annabeth's been one of my best friends since I got here. Even if I hadn't, Thalia's legend is something like a fairy tale for little kids. Everyone knows it.

This…was troubling, though. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy. But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree.

In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

Luke had lost his mind. Poisoning Thalia's tree? How could he ever stoop low enough to actually kill one of his friends, just to make a point?

Jason crouched next to me, his eyes widened. "Is this…"

"It is."

"And…"

"Yes."

Jason looked away, and I could see his hand twitching. Emotional intelligence, well, was something we were working on with him. Prometheus had, much like I'd predicted, conditioned Jason's life around fighting.

Not a terrible thing, but it meant that any time he got mad or annoyed, his first thought was to fry something. My mom made pretty good progress with keeping him calm and helping him discover other passions to vent out those bad feelings, but I got the sense that seeing what's left of his sister in this state might be a little bit different than spilling some mac and cheese.

"What if you take five?" I suggested to him, standing up slightly and dusting my hands off on my jeans. If he lost grip of his powers right now, it could be bad. "Let me handle it for now. We can spar when you get back."

Jason nodded, shooting into the sky not even a moment later, angry desperation in his jump. The gust of wind was so powerful, it blasted all my hair upward, making me look like an evil scientist whose concoction had just blown up on him.

I groaned to myself, patting my hair back down.

"Take everyone back behind the border," I told Clarisse, clipping off every word. I capped Riptide. "I'll handle it."

"Handle what?" Clarisse snarked. Her arm was bending at a weird angle. "There's nothing to handle, Percy."

"Clarisse," I said, a few moments later. I wasn't really in the mood for arguing. "Trust me. Go. Take everyone."

She grumbled out a few curses under her breath, but she rounded up everyone- including Annabeth- and took them behind borders. Once they cleared the first hill, I turned my attention back to Thalia.

"They did you dirty, huh, cousin?" I mumbled, crouching again. I ignored the chipping bark as I pushed some of my own power to the forefront, collecting the glittering dew on the trunk and pulling it off. "Much better."

"Let's take a look here," I mumbled to myself, moving closer to the poison. It bubbled and hissed, almost like it could detect my presence.

I felt a small tugging in my gut. I raised my hand at the poison, and it moved a little. I had to be careful- it was bubbling into other parts of the tree, netting some more of Thalia's health.

Okay, still, it was doable. I could at least take the poison out of the tree- that way, even if things didn't get better, they definitely wouldn't get worse.

Where to put it, though? If this venom stuff really was potent enough to bring down the protections around camp, putting it on the ground wouldn't be much better than leaving it inside of Thalia.

Man, that sounded wrong.

A crazy idea formed in my mind. I opened my [Inventory] a moment later, choosing a random box to pop up.

I focused instantly, pulling the venom out of the tree and into the box. It was a bit tough, of course, but not much harder than threading a needle, honestly. Just a few annoying minutes of me painstakingly dragging out the poison.

[Elder Pit Venom] acquired!

I wiped some sweat off my forehead, grumbling. The borders around camp were still weak enough for monsters to blast through, and it looked like Thalia wasn't gaining any health back.

Well, at least it won't get worse.

I sat down next to the tree, running through other ways to boost security around camp. I could probably create some sort of a wall of ice around camp. The only tough part would be keeping it from melting, and that might honestly be more trouble than it's worth. Cool idea, though.

Maybe I could hit my dad up for some temporary soldiers? Ah, dumb idea. They've been trained to fight underwater, and to protect Atlantis. They'd be helpful, but overall ineffective on land.

Shabti? Maybe. Do you remember those white doll guys I was fighting a while back? I could probably whip up a batch of those and then tie them together with some water. They wouldn't be anywhere near indestructible, but they'd be expendable enough that the campers wouldn't end up risking their lives too much.

My eyes widened- forget my dumb ideas, I know someone who specializes in this stuff! She even helped out Uncle Hades with stuff around his palace, remember?

The only problem being, well, do I really want to talk to her? Like…her of all people? Right now?

Mm…for the sake of camp, yeah, I guess I would.

I exhaled slowly, leaning back onto Thalia's tree, and dredging up old feelings from the past.

I wasn't sure how well this would work without the bond, but, I tried to remember what Aphrodite smelt like, what she made me feel like…before. That cute light in her eyes. How happy her-

"Percy."

That was quick.

I opened my eyes, and Aphrodite was standing right in front of me. She looked better than she had the last time I'd seen her, in terms of like, self-care, and stuff, but she was still as beautiful as ever.

Don't tell MJ I said that. Or, well, thought it. Aphrodite smiled brightly at me, pulling her hands out of her jean pockets as if she could tell what I was thinking.

"Aphrodite," I returned hesitantly. "You look…well."

"Thank you," Aphrodite returned, a small smile still visible on her face. There was a hopeful glow about her. "Did you…you wanted me? To see me?"

"Uh…yeah," I said lamely. I wanted to ask her about boosting security around camp, but I quickly realized how much of a dick move that would be. Well, if I led with it, anyway.

Imagine your ex breaking up with you, dodging you for months, getting a new girlfriend, and then calling you up to help out with some security stuff at his summer house, just because he vaguely remembered you know a thing or two about it.

Yeah, not fun.

The least I could do was give her some small talk, engage with her. See how she's doing. I am a bit curious.

It was tough, though. Aphrodite was looking at me intently, and already too close for comfort. Eventually, I settled on, "How was your, er, year?"

"Oh, it was delightful!" Aphrodite said, plopping herself down next to me. I inched away a bit as she launched into her story about traveling the world, seeing the sights, and trying all kinds of food. "I thought about you in Naples. There was this absolutely delightful establishment with pizza- Pizzeria Gino Sorbillo, I think."

"That sounds wonderful," I said honestly. "I'm really happy to see that you're doing so well, Aphrodite."

She beamed at me, moistening her lips a little. "I…am glad you want to talk. I never got the chance to, um, really explain myself."

I ignored the feeling of ice that coated my insides. I could remember her tear-stricken face in perfect detail. This was the kind of stuff I wanted to avoid talking about, but go figure, "Oh, um, go for it."

"I didn't…I never wanted to lie to you," Aphrodite said sadly, wringing her hands. The sadness in her tone was so overbearing, I found myself wanting to hold her. "It's just that I needed…well, those emotions from you. You've met all kinds of gods by now, I trust, with varying degrees of humanity."

"I have."

"I didn't get the luxury of interacting with my children," Aphrodite continued, the shadows of the tree looking like claw marks on her face. "I didn't get to observe and interact with humans- not since the old days. I wanted…to be with you. I thought I'd need to be more human to do that."

"That's all well and good, but you still lied to me," I said, calmly. Feelings I'd dug up from before, emotions I'd never fully processed were beginning to come to the forefront, popping up in my mind like the world's loudest bag of popcorn. "All that time, I was trying to do my best to be so much more than a boyfriend, or husband, or whatever to you- I'm a kid. A kid. Instead of focusing on like, just living life, I was considering the best way to somehow become a moral compass for you. I was already spreading myself that thin, just to find out you were taking all of my feel-good receptors? Do you know how that made me feel, Aphrodite? In those four months, my entire world was turned upside down, and I'd lost what felt like everything, and then when I got it back, I'd lost the ability to feel good. I just kept chugging right along, pushing away everyone and everything because I thought my destiny was to become strong, or something, I don't even know! I don't think you understand- in that relationship with you, I didn't just lose myself- I lost damn near everybody else!"

I didn't mean to go off on her that bad, but maybe it was something she needed to hear. Maybe it was something I felt like I needed to say.

She cast her gaze downward, her eyes pooling with tears. I heard a muffled, "I'm sorry."

"You don't…it…" I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Don't ask me how, but she's just insanely talented at bringing out the bad parts of me. "It's okay. What you need to understand is that, well, it's better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie. If you told me that you needed those emotions, maybe we could've worked something out, and there was a solution there for the both of us. You didn't."

"And I just can't be with someone I can't trust," I reached a hand out and awkwardly placed it on Aphrodite's shoulder. "But…uh, yeah."

Aphrodite sat quietly for a moment. Miserably, she continued, "I just wanted to keep you from feeling bad things. I didn't want what we had to be bad for you. I wanted you to like it, too."

"That isn't how any relationship works, though," I pointed out. "It's natural to want to protect someone you love from bad things, yeah, but it's also a part of life. Bad things exist everywhere, Aphrodite, and the point of having people you love around you is to help support you in those times, because it's impossible to go your whole life without feeling them."

"And now it's too late," Aphrodite continued miserably. I looked at her questioningly, and she gave me a watery smile, "Mary-Jane Watson. A real catch. Everyone seems to think so."

My face started burning up. "How did you…never mind. Um, yeah, I am kind of seeing someone at the moment."

"Great," Aphrodite said nastily for a moment, before exhaling and leaning back on the tree. "Sorry, sorry. I'm, um, super happy for you. It's great. She's beautiful."

"Er, thanks."

We both sat in silence as some cars passed by on the street. I looked back at Thalia's tree, the pine needles shaking in the summer breeze. I could imagine Thalia inside, laughing at my current predicament.

"So…" I said, as awkwardly as ever. "I remember you mentioning that you helped Uncle Hades with some security stuff a while back?"

"Yes, I did," Aphrodite said, turning to me and tilting her head. "Why?"

"Long story, but Thalia's tree was poisoned and now it's weaker than ever," I replied. "If I wanted to, say, put up a protection around this camp, how would I go about doing it?"

Aphrodite's expression was unreadable. I could tell she knew there was something going on, but she relented, "Well, there's a couple of different ways to go about it. Number one, you could find the Golden Fleece."

"Like, the one that Jason went after?"

"Yes. That one," Aphrodite said, waving her hand as a replica of it appeared in front of us. It didn't hold any of the real one's magic, but I was still drawn to it somehow. "The camp's borders, contrary to what you might think, aren't entirely contingent on her sacrifice alone. There were borders before as well, it's just that her sacrifice strengthened them. Theoretically, acquiring the fleece and placing it on her tree would exponentially boost the power of these borders. The fleece itself can cure any living thing, so it should reverse the damage done by any sort of poison. It makes the grass, flowers, and all the plants healthier, too."

"I'm sensing a but somewhere in there."

"A few," Aphrodite smiled at me, "No one knows where it is. Besides, even getting the Fleece back and putting it on her might not return the borders to what they were. It'll heal her spirit, sure, but think of it like a thermos of water. Right now, some of the thermos has been broken off, and the water inside was displaced. So, even if you put the pieces back…"

"The water won't come back." I clicked my tongue, "Another option, then?"

"Sacrifice," Aphrodite said almost instantly. "Love and sacrifice play a huge role in power. Clearly, Thalia's sacrifice has powered the wards for this long. You'd need to make a sacrifice of greater importance, if you wanted to make the borders any stronger than they are now, without the fleece."

"You're not suggesting I kill myself, right?" I asked.

"No, silly," Aphrodite gave off a light, tinkling laugh. "The only thing more meaningful than giving up a short life is giving up an eternal one. You'd need to either bind yourself to camp forever, or find a way to gift immortality to a series of runes. Think of it like a battery- Thalia's like a nine-volt, with her life as the charge. Who knows? Maybe in a few more years, the protections would've started to deteriorate naturally. What you need to do is find something capable of powering them forever."

"I don't know the first thing about runes, though..."

"Well, I do. Consider it a repayment," Aphrodite said softly. She touched my arm tenderly. "I'm really sorry. I am."

"Aphrodite, really, it's okay. I just want you to learn from it. I know being am immortal can be tough. Never-ending, never- wait! Immortality! that's it! What about an apple of immortality?" I thought aloud. "Couldn't that work? Would it be enough to power a defense?"

"Hm, yes, I suppose so," Aphrodite said, a moment later. Her eyes widened. "No- you can't seriously be considering…"

"No, of course not," I said hastily. "Me, fight Ladon? I'm out of practice, here. I've been playing basketball all year."

"Okay, good," Aphrodite said, with a bit of uncertainty. "Is that all you wanted, or…"

"Um, yeah, for now," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "It was nice seeing you, though."

"Nice seeing you too," Aphrodite said pleasantly, standing up. She looked back at me. "I know you're dating MJ, but can we maybe be friends? I…just—"

"Yeah, of course," I replied. "I'd love to be friends."

"Great." And with that, she transformed into a white dove that flew off into the sky.

I stood, pausing at Thalia's tree. "Don't you worry, Thals. I'm going to beat the hell out of that dragon and get that apple. The camp will be just fine."

AN: Hello! Not much to say here, just some introductory stuff. This SoM will be very different! Brand new, never-before-seen characters, revamped fights- the whole nine yards. Stay tuned, and review!

-Maroon