Warnings: Canon-typical violence

Sirius didn't take it well.

Hearing the truth of the coma, of DJ, of the house—

"WHO CARES ABOUT THE HOUSE! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO DJ?!"

It wasn't easy for anyone. Harry realised there were some things that weren't so easily fixed no matter how powerful you could be.

They called Moony who nearly fainted at the sight of his best friend teetering around on two not-so-steady feet. Sirius grabbed Remus, kissed him on the lips and continued yelling about everything.

Sally wasn't the least bit surprised, but she handed the baby over to Harry, eyeing him sternly, and leading Sirius and Remus into her room for a long explanation.

Harry, Percy, Annabeth, Rachel, and Nico waited in the kitchen for several minutes.

Kimmy drifted off to sleep his arms as Rachel spoke about her meeting with Mrs. Dare.

"Athena and Ajax too?" Annabeth whispered. "Your mom can't be serious about nominating them."

Rachel stared at the pot of spaghetti waiting for everyone to devour it. It had gone cold.

"Ajax was already on the list," she said. "I guess Cassandra and Iphigenia were also on there, till the Earth Goddess found out they were double-crossing her."

Nico was tapping his fingers uncontrollably on the table. Percy stood up without a word and got out the tea box. He filled the kettle with water.

"And companions?" Nico asked, frowning deeply. "What's that about?"

Rachel hesitated. "It's what my mom said. Two companions. Athena chose Triton and Annabeth."

Percy looked away from the boiling kettle wide-eyed. Annabeth was just as shocked.

"Me?" she asked.

"Triton?" Percy blurted.

Harry patted Kimmy's back as she stirred. She drifted back to sleep and he asked quietly, "Who did Ajax choose?"

Rachel knew he wouldn't like it sugar coated. "You and his daughter, Sun Furor."

The kettle whistled. Percy slowly set it aside and poured it into a few cups.

Annabeth frowned. "Daughter-Son?"

"Uh? Oh, no. She's Korean, remember? S-U-N, Sun."

The smell of bubbling rose tea filled the room. Nico accepted his cup as Percy set down the tray for others.

Nico sipped his tea and exhaled, already relaxed.

Harry adjusted Kimmy on his shoulder. "Yeah, no. I don't get it. Ajax is Greek. The god or goddess is Greek or even Roman. How would the child be Korean?"

"Gods can change their forms," Annabeth said, staring at the wall, half-dazed. "Aphrodite changes the way she looks all the time. Apollo shifts constantly. Zeus turns into animals. Ajax hates gods. He'd never willing be with one. But one of them changed to look human, to be different and tricked him."

"Why?" Percy muttered. "Why him?"

Rachel cupped her hands around the hot tea. "Because they knew he'd choose the kid to be an immortal companion."

Her friends stared at her.

"Ajax already told Gaia ages ago who he'd choose," she said. "The gods must have known that once Cassandra and Iphigenia were out of the running someone else would have the chance to become immortal. After the fiasco with Sky in 1997… in Alexandria… Triton would have guessed. He could have told Athena, and may be Poseidon. And rumours spread."

Annabeth nodded. "It's more than that. Whoever this god is, they knew that Zeus's time is coming to an end. They made plans to safeguard their bloodline with the only immortal who was being supported by Gaia."

Harry whistled. "That's dirty. No tears wasted on him though"

"Huh," Nico mumbled. "This Sun Furor, if she's a demigod who looks Korean but is actually Greek or Roman, how sure are we that she's at one of the camps?"

"Ajax is searching for her," Rachel insisted. "The only place he can't get in will be the camps, right?"

"He got in Olympus," Percy reminded them. "He coulda broken into CJ or New Rome. Even our place. We've been making a list of places that he could have snuck into, disguised."

"He could send one of his cronies," Nico pointed out. "His Locrians."

Annabeth shook her head. "This is his demigod daughter we're talking about. The only child of a deity and a warrior immortal. Ajax will want to find her personally."

Harry nodded.

They slowly finished their tea. Sirius, Sally, and Remus's voices were more hushed.

"You know what our moms spoke about in the car?" Annabeth whispered.

Rachel shook her head. "Athena confirmed the limo was soundproof. It must have been magically locked or something."

It was some time later when the door to the bedroom finally opened. Everyone set their cups down and turned as Sirius approached the kitchen entrance.

He was haggard, much thinner than when Rachel had last seen him. He perhaps resembled the way he'd been when he'd broken out of Azkaban. She barely recalled having a proper conversation with him. All she knew about the guy was what others had told her.

Sirius's blue-silver eyes roamed their faces. He held onto the wall, looking like he'd just finished a long and hard cry, but ready to start again.

Then he breathed out. "You grew up."

Rachel clenched her fist under the table, holding back tears.

Sirius finally looked at his daughter. Little Kimmy Orion Jackson slumbered in Harry's arms, utterly unaware that she was in the most beloved and protected room in the world.

New Year's had just passed. Harry still refused to get in contact with Dudley.

The three of them had stayed back in Frost. Nico was down in the Underworld talking to his father about more clues regarding Pandora. Percy was due to meet up with Thalia and Jason at camp. Rachel and Harry were babysitting Kimmy.

Percy sighed. "Look, we're already in the new year. Times a'tickin'. We need Petunia's help in finding the necklace. How about me and Rachel track him down later today?"

"And what do I do?" Harry asked.

"Accompany Sirius, Remus, and Sally to the hospital for Sirius's weekly check up?" Rachel suggested, tickling Kimmy's belly. The baby squealed, a robust, high-pitched noise. Her lungs were getting stronger by the day.

Harry winced. "I don't think Sierra will want to see me again for the rest of the year."

Percy sniggered, "Alright, Doctor. How about you finally reply to Camp Jupiter's invitation today?"

"Good point."

Rachel bounced a happy Kimmy in her arms. "Kimmy is gwonna hwave a fun dway with her fwavowite sister, isn't she?!"

"Agabah!" the baby blurbed.

"She's so sweet!" Rachel hugged the baby close. "This is gonna be a cinch! She'll be in her crib in a minute and I can get back to my dream. I was Michaelangelo!"

Percy grinned. "Nice. When I'm different people in my dream I just get the boring truth of the past. What were you doing?"

"Painting the ceiling of my temple, duh!"

Harry paused. "Your temple?"

"Yeah."

"Not Apollo's?"

"Nope."

"... that's not terrifying at all."

Rachel sighed. "I was just painting myself. It's nothing bad."

"I don't think that's what Harry meant," Percy said quietly. "Your Mom nominated you to replace Zeus. And now you're getting dreams about a temple dedicated to you?"

She brushed her fingers through Kimmy's soft hair, trying to not snap at him. "It's nothing, okay? It was a normal, mortal dream. The weirdest part of it was Harry turning himself into a giant snake to solve the spider problem."

Harry looked curious. "What kind of snake?"

"Dunno. Just a giant one."

"Huh."

"You ate all the spiders," Rachel said, straight-faced.

"I hate you."

"This is my cue to leave," Percy muttered to himself.

Rachel giggled and bounced Kimmy happily in her arms. "Aww, did I scware you?"

"I just fed her," Harry warned Rachel as Kimmy laughed aloud. "You have to wind her down and set her for a nap."

"She burped," Rachel said, still beaming. "I'll get her to sleep in no time!"

No time turned out to be forty minutes.

Percy had dipped out the moment it looked like the baby was winning. Harry excused himself to go search for the camp invitation. If three immortals couldn't defeat a four-and-a-half-month-old human infant, Rachel had no chance.

She grumbled and bounced the now tired, weepy baby slowly to exhaustion. She had no idea how Sally did this multiple times a day.

Just as it looked like Kimmy's eyes were slowly closing, Harry burst out of his room waving a gold envelope in the air.

Rachel glowered at him. If he woke her up, she'd end him.

Hedwig flew in from the open door and settled proudly on his shoulder.

"Hedwig found it," Harry whispered, stroking her belly feathers. "Clever girl."

"Just keep it down," Rachel mouthed, carefully checking the baby's face in the reflection of a window. Kimmy was almost out.

Harry was already tearing open the envelope. It was the official invite to Camp Jupiter. Annabeth had finally handed it over the day Sirius had woken up, but Harry had stuffed it into his pocket and had left it alone until now.

Rachel slowly walked over and peered over his shoulder to quickly glance through the gleaming card.

BY RECOMMENDATION OF ICHOR I,
LUPA, GODLY PATRON OF WOLVES AND PROTECTOR OF THE SENATE AND PEOPLE OF ROME,
GRANT MR. HARRY JAMES POTTER, IMMORTAL (WIZARD)
PERMISSION TO CROSS THE BORDER SHIELDS OF CAMP JUPITER AND NEW ROME
AND BE INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD OF ROMAN GODS, DEMIGODS, AND LEGACIES
AS AN OBSERVER AND ASSOCIATE TO OUR REGIME.

Entry to be favored on 02-01-2013

"Looks good," Rachel whispered and made her way to Sally's room where Kimmy's crib awaited her.

But Harry wasn't so sure.

"Rach!" he said, alarmed and Kimmy shuddered.

"No, no, it's okay," Rachel soothed the baby who began to whine.

Harry barely paid attention, "What's today?"

"Great, you woke her up!"

"What's the date?" Harry said, looking up from the letter.

The baby wailed and Rachel snapped, "It's finally the day I sit on you!"

"I'm serious, Rach!"

"Wednesday."

"I mean the date!" he argued.

"The second!" Rachel said, exasperated. "We literally had New Year's yesterday!"

Kimmy bawled out loud now, thoroughly unhappy that nobody was paying any attention to her. Rachel growled, patting her back, and searching around the couch for the coveted pacifier. No such luck.

"It's already nine in the morning at CJ!" Harry said, horror dawning on him.

"What are you talking ab—"

"I need to go!" Harry said, sending Hedwig flapping away as he summoned a fresh shirt from his room.

"Dude!" she shrieked and the baby howled with her. "I've never changed a diaper before!"

"Check your my-tube or whatever!" Harry snapped as he changed shirts, grabbed the card and disapparated on the spot.

She was alone in Frost now with a crying baby who was rubbing snot all over the front of her blouse. What the hell?

Percy was having his own learning curve.

He'd water-travelled to Camp Half-Blood and caught up with Thalia and Jason who were just exiting the Big House. Then the ground opened and swallowed all three of them, leaving no witnesses.

As you do.

They weren't the only ones though.

Bianca had been with her Hunter sisters, tracking monsters up north when she disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Sky had been on their way to the training grounds in Camp Jupiter, but never made it there.

Hazel had been suiting up for her turn at guarding Camp Jupiter's entrance with Frank. But she never met up with him.

In Hades's Underworld palace, Nico was in the throne room, imploring his father and stepmother with the details of Pandora and any possible clues.

"Your uncle has forbidden us from speaking about it," Hades warned his son. "We are not at liberty to divulge the meagre details."

"Even if you can't say anything about Sun Furor or Pandora, what about the rest?" Nico groaned. "Beatrice Dare nominated Rachel, Athena, and Ajax to take over Olympus! She made them pick companions! She's the host of the Earth Goddess. If she's sure that my uncle will remain missing, then we need to do something about it, right?"

Persephone hummed. "The boy speaks the truth."

"My dear—"

"We needn't be the ones giving him his answers," Persephone hinted to her husband.

A light gleamed in the god's eyes. Nico shifted. He didn't like where this was going.

"Not alone, though," Hades said.

"What are you both talking about?" Nico asked.

Hades leaned back in his throne placing his hands on his armrests. "We cannot talk about this. But someone else can. Lady Mnemosyne."

"Great!" Nico blurted. "Who's that?"

"The black pool," Hades said sternly. "You are supposed to be brushing up on your knowledge of this realm, boy."

Nico racked his brains. Mnemosyne… the word was familiar. For some reason, all he could think off was Cabin 15 and the kids of Hypnos.

"Is she connected to the Lethe?" Nico asked, recalling the cabin's poplar tree branch dripping droplets of the white river.

Hades now looked a little proud. "Yes. Mnemosyne is the Lethe's counterpart. She's just as powerful as her partner, in the sense that she holds all the memories of every soul that has been near or in the Lethe."

Nico inhaled sharply. "So she might know who Pandora is?!"

Persephone shared a look with Hades. "No. But she will know who Pandora was. You can also find out about that demigod Janet Kassidy who died in the Lethe. It might be the best place for you to start."

Nico's heart thumped heavily. "What's the catch?"

Hades smiled sardonically. "Good question. Mnemosyne will give you answers only if you help her. And right now, she's in a spot of trouble. There's a Titan encampment near her shores. I haven't been able to find out who. Every time I venture there, the army hides. But I can sense a single powerful energy."

Nico gawked up at him. "You want me to what? Fight a Titan and an army?"

"Of course not!" Persephone gasped, placing her hand on her chest. "Why must you assume the worst out of everything, child? We're not sending you to fight them all alone!"

"We're sending you and your cousins," Hades capped off his wife's speech and snapped his fingers.

The walls of the palace shook. The chandeliers high above him shuddered, chiming as its crystal pieces pinged against each other. Nico clamped his feet down hard, steadying himself. He went for his sword but it wasn't necessary.

The ceiling cracked open and six teenagers fell from the dark void into a screaming, swearing heap in front of him.

Harry apparated five thousand miles to Caldecott Tunnel in Berkley Hills. No biggie.

He brushed his shirt down and mumbled a quick little spell to iron out the crinkles and the lint. He folded down his collar, ran a hand through his hair and exhaled.

He wasn't one to get nervous or stagefright, but this was a big deal. He was supposed to be meeting the Roman Senate. And unlike CHB, these were old people with standardised morals like the Ministry of Magic. Maybe even worse. Harry couldn't afford to make all of wizarding kind look bad just because he was tardy.

There was no time written on the invite. Harry checked the letter again, his eyes going over the last line.

Entry to be favored on 02-01-2013

Well it was the second of January and Harry Potter was about to meet the Roman demigods on this crisp morning.

Except the gates were locked.

Okay, not exactly the warm reception he was expecting. There was no doorbell, so he just knocked on the iron doors.

A metal panel slid open at eye-level and a bright-eyed but worried face peered through the gap. "Yes?"

"Harry Potter reporting for a meeting with the Senate," Harry said, lifting up the letter. "I have an official letter."

The boy stared in confusion. "Um… you're like a guest?"

"Yes."

"You're not a demigod? Or a legacy?"

"No."

"Lupa didn't send you?"

Harry frowned. "No. Praetor Ramirez sealed this envelope. Can you talk to her?"

The boy gawked. "Hold please!"

He shut the opening and Harry stood in silence, now wondering if there was a mistake. Perhaps it was a test? Well, that wouldn't be an issue. He could wait all day.

"Yoo hoo!" someone called from the other side of the road.

Harry paused and found himself staring at a food truck. An older woman was leaning outside the driver window, waving at him in excitement.

"Are you searching for them too?" she called out happily.

Harry didn't know what to say.

"I've been here since sunrise!" she clamoured before gripping the steering wheel and starting the truck. She drove in a large loop, making a u-turn and stopping right beside Harry who stood on the curb.

She leaned out again and this time, he saw her strangely moulting features.

Her skin was greyish-pink with peeling layers of foundation. Her lips were dabbed in bright red lipstick. She had two spots of blush high on her cheeks which matched her eyeshadow.

Also she had red glowing eyes, bronze boar tusks sticking out of the corners of her mouth, and snakes for hair.

Harry probably should have started with that.

He touched his face and then his own hair. Nope. Not stone.

The old woman leaned out of the window and sniffed at him. "Not a demigod. But you do smell strange, dear. Ooh, do you want a Cheese 'n' Wiener! They're on sale this week."

Harry watched dumbfounded as the woman (monster?) climbed out of the truck with a tray of snacks. Cheese 'n' Wieners she called them. They smelled about as bad as her.

Then it struck Harry. This Medusa-monster had been waiting all morning to find an opening into Camp Jupiter.

And Harry had just arrived with a signed invitation.

Thalia was the first to speak.

"Whose butt am I sitting on?" she grumbled, shoving her foot into Jason's shoulder and bearing the brunt of Bianca's weight.

"Mine!" somebody shouted from underneath the demigod pile.

Suddenly, Thalia, Jason, Sky, Bianca, and Hazel went tumbling to the floor as Percy shoved them all in one move and hopped up to his feet. He squinted at Nico and then up at Hades and Persephone.

"Is this a surprise adoption?" Percy asked scowling at the gods. "What's with the quicksand act?"

"It was the fastest way to bring all of you here," Hades said, nose twitching at Percy's rude tone. "I worried that Nico would try to embark on the journey on his own."

Nico helped Hazel up. "I wouldn't have gone alone! Probably."

"Nico!" Bianca scolded. "I said we have to figure this out together!"

"Well, I didn't go, did I?" Nico argued.

"We're all here now," Hazel said, looking over to where Jason and Sky were getting to their feet, utterly bewildered by the sight of the Underworld and Hades's palace.

"A quest of seven," Persephone mused. "Has that been done before?"

Percy scowled over at Sky before sighing, "In canon, sure."

"Better get going," Hades signalled. "You can check up on Sisy. He'll know the way."

Nico's cousins followed him out. He explained on the way to the Mnemosyne.

They trekked away from the palace, taking the scenic route to avoid Cerebrus, the EZ line, and the pretty rivers of lava that ate up its own shores.

"A Titan and his little army encampment are still kicking around and your dad expects us to take care of it?" Thalia grumbled, kicking a loose pebble off their gravel path.

"Trust me, I didn't know this was happening till he said it five minutes before you all dropped in," Nico said.

Jason looked around the place. He hid his nervousness well, but Nico could tell he just wasn't used to being plucked from random places and set off on prophecy-less quests.

Sky was even more on edge. His hands kept dripping the invisible swords on his back before he shook his shoulders and dropped his arms to walk along with the group.

Bianca kept her distance from Thalia. The feeling was mutual. Both girls pretended the other didn't exist.

Percy and Hazel were chatting like they were strolling through a garden.

"The Lethe sometimes divides Elysium from the rest of the Underworld," she was explaining happily. Dressed in full Roman armour, she was the only one who seemed ready for a fight.

Percy, of course, needed no armour. He pointed across at the horizon of white line, "That's the Lethe?"

"That's where she stretches out," Hazel nodded. "We need to find the meeting point between Mnemosyne and the Lethe."

"Where this Sisy guy is?" Thalia muttered.

"Sisyphus," Bianca corrected her. "And no. His hill's one of the tallest points down here. He'll have seen the encampment and the rivers everytime he gets up there."

Their group veered into the edge of the Fields of Punishment. They walked by some pretty horrific things. Sky didn't look at any of the screaming souls.

Percy wondered if Gaia had plucked Sky out from Tartarus or Fields of Punishment. He didn't ask. It seemed pretty obvious by the way their eyes stayed trained on the track with fingers in their ears. Harry'd kill Percy if he taunted them at such a low point.

He looked away and spotted the hill in question.

"Up there," Percy said.

They were all covered with soot from trudging through the punishment fields. A loud grinding noise came from the other side of the hill like somebody was dragging a washing machine. Then the hill shook with a BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ground shuddered beneath their feet like Rachel playing hop skotch. A man yelled curses in the distance.

Nico announced, "The number one expert on cheating death."

The dude on the other side was not pretty and he was not happy. He looked like one of those troll dolls with orange skin, a pot-belly, scrawny legs and arms, and a big loin cloth diaper thing around his waist. His ruddy hair stuck up like a torch. He was hopping around, cursing and kicking a boulder that was twice as big as he was.

"I won't," he screamed, "No, no, no!"

Then he started to walk away from the boulder, but after ten feet he lurched backward like some invisible force has pulled him. He staggered back to the boulder and started banging his head against it.

"Alright," he screamed, "alright, curse you! But this is the last time, do you hear me?"

They ran to him before he could start his task again.

"Sisyphus," Nico called.

The troll guy looked up in surprise. Then he scrambled behind his rock. "Oh no. You're not fooling me with those disguises. I know you're the Furies!"

"There's seven of us," Bianca said, frowning. "We're not the Furies. We just want a talk."

"We're looking for Lady Mnemosyne," Hazel chirped.

Sisyphus leaned forward and sniffed at them. "Some funny scents on y'all. No river can wash that away."

Hazel backed away. "It's just a demigod scent."

"Hah! You're all demigods?" Sisyphus laughed. "I shoulda known!"

The boulder rumbled ominously beside him. Thalia offered to push it up the hil so Nico and Bianca could work him. The others stood aside. Percy didn't like the look of the guy. He was one of those people who knew things and would only help if there was something in it for him.

"The landscape down here shifts a lot," Sisyphus hummed evilly. "But I did get a glimpse of the Black Pool. Did you know that's the closest you'd ever get to seeing what the primordial soup looks like?"

Sky inhaled sharply. Percy asked, "We're not here for appetizers. No soup for us now."

"Ah, you're the Greek champion," Sisyphus said, eyes widening as he scoured Percy from head to toe. "An immortal demigod. Interesting."

Thalia was half-way up the hill now. She gritted her teeth, pushing the boulder with her back. Her expression said, Hurry up!

"Yeah, I'm all kinds of riveting," Percy snarked. "You gonna help or what?"

Sisyphus glanced at Sky, now grinning. "You're here too! We have the full compliment of Big Three kids here."

Nico drew his sword. The Stygian iron was so cold; it steamed in the hot dry air of punishment. "Answer my question."

The old man winced. "What kind of person carries a sword like that?"

"The Ghost King," Nico warned. "How do we find Lady Mnemosyne?"

The color drained from Sisyphus' face. He glanced up at Thalia, who was almost up to the top hill. Her face was bright red and drenched in sweat.

"There's no use," he finally said. "The telekhines guard every way in and out of that place!"

Percy flinched. Telekhines. He remembered those half-dog monsters. He remembered what he did after running into those half-dog monsters.

"And the Titan?" Bianca asked quietly.

"The Titan of the West," Sisyphus said, going cross eyed as he stared down Nico's sword.

"Iapetus," Bianca whispered.

"Which one is he?" Percy said, racking his brains. "Did we fight him?"

"I don't think either camp fought him," Sky figured. "That's why he's still alive."

Nico nodded. "Then we better rectify that situation."

Sisyphus burst into maniacal laughter. "Really? Everyone down here will smell the six of you from miles away!"

Hazel frowned. "Did you forget that one of us is helping you with the boulder? There's seven of us."

"Sure. But only six stink."

Percy touched his pocket to feel Riptide sitting innocently. He didn't like the dead kind's implication.

But Sisyphus did more than imply it now. He faced Percy and said. "So how's that immortality faring for you? Stopped eating and sleeping?"

He knows? Percy desperately hoped Lupa didn't advertise her training with the world at large.

Percy shook off the nerves. "Just tell us which direction to go."

Nico lowered his sword and Sisyphus admitted. "Yeah, alright. The Mnemosyne's over there."

He pointed behind them. They fell for it. As they turned their heads, Sisyphus took off down the hill.

"Idiots!" Thalia roared from up the hill.

"I'm free! I'm free! I'm... OW!" Ten feet from the hill, he hit the end of his invisible leash and fell on his back. Nico and Bianca marched after him, grabbed his arms and hauled him up the hill.

"Curse you!" He let loose with bad words in Ancient Greek, Latin, English, French and several other languages they didn't recognise. Sky made a face meaning they understood it all.

"I'll never help you!" Sisyphus complained. "Go to Hades!"

"Where does he think we are?" Sky muttered and Jason hid a smile.

"Incoming!" Thalia shouted.

They looked up and everyone except for Jason cussed. The boulder was bouncing straight towards us. Nico, Bianca, and Hazel jumped one way. Jason, Sky, and Percy leaped in the other direction.

Sisyphus yelled, "Nooo!" as the thing plowed into him. Somehow, he braced himself and stopped it before it could run him over.

"Take it again!" He wailed. "Please, I can't hold it."

"Not again," Thalia gasped, "you are on your own."

He treated them to a lot more colourful language.

"Hey, watch it!" Percy scolded, clapping his hands over Hazel's ears. "There are children down here!"

It was clear he wasn't going to help them so the group left him into his punishment. As they walked away, Sisyphus was yelling, "All right! But this is the last time! Do you hear me? The last time!"

Thalia shuddered.

"You okay?" Percy asked her.

"I guess," she hesitated, "the scary thing is when I got to the top, I thought I had it. I thought, This isn't so hard. I can get the rock to stay and as it rolled down, I was almost tempted to try it again. I figured I could get it the second time."

"Eternal punishment," Sky murmured. "Jupiter designed it himself."

They reached the border of the punishment fields and climbed out. The Fields of Asphodel stretched out in front of them. But they didn't enter the grounds, rather standing on the rim between the fields.

"He was barely any help," Thalia panted.

"He did tell us about the Titan," Jason mused. "If it's just him and the telekhines, we have a shot at this."

"I can take him," Percy nodded. Jason looked doubtful. Sky looked suprised.

Bianca nodded thoughtfully. "You could. But we'd be better off coming up with an actual plan. Iapetus isn't to be messed with."

Thalia nodded uneasily. "The brother of Kronos, father of Atlas. He was known as the Titan of the West. His name means The Piercer because that's what he likes to do to his enemies. He was cast into Tartarus along with his brothers. He was supposed to be down there."

"But he didn't join them in the battle," Sky said slowly. "Maybe he knew he wouldn't win."

"What are you saying?" Nico asked.

"I'm saying, we can distract him," Sky explained. "Sisyphus said Jackson doesn't smell much like one of us. He might actually be able to sneak around the army."

Nico appraised Percy carefully. "Okay. So Percy could attack from behind, take out the telekhines. Bianca, can you lay traps to divide them?"

"Good thinking," Bianca said. She slipped her compact backpack from her shoulders and checked the contents.

Hazel pointed at Jason and Sky. "You guys are powerhouses. Sky, can you control the water?"

Sky hesitated. "Technically, yeah. But it's not a good idea to combine the Lethe and the Mnemosyne. They're antithesis of each other."

"They'll go boom?" Thalia asked.

"Yes, I believe that's the scientific term."

"But the Lethe leads into the Mnemosyne," Nico said.

"There's a bridge between them," Hazel explained. "It acts as a protective barrier to make sure there's no backflow."

Bianca brought out her traps. They rifled through all tripwires, nets, pocket fart grenades, and more.

"Okay, I think I have an idea," Nico said. "Percy, Sky, can you track where the Lethe ends?"

Neither teen was happy to work with each other. But they managed.

The phone rang in Octavian's office.

Reyna ignored it, despite sitting right beside it. Octavian huffed and leaned over the desk to grab it. "You've reached Octavian, Augur of Camp Jupiter and New Rome."

"Um…" a timid voice said.

"Whoever this is, you're wasting valuable time!" Octavian warned.

"It's Frank!" the person on the other end blurted. "Frank Zhang."

"Cohort?"

"Five."

Octavian sighed. "You should be consulting with your Centurion for any grievances, Probatio!"

"I… I'm a legionnaire. But this isn't a cohort issue."

"You're right, the fighters from other cohorts would know the proper channels."

"Wait, wait! I'm stationed at the tunnel entrance today and we have a visitor!"

"Do you not know how to do your job?" Octavian barked. "Rule one of guarding the entrance. Don't let anyone through!"

"But he says he has an invita—"

"It's not rocket science, Zhang," Octavian snapped and dropped the call.

Reyna watched him sharply. "Who was that?"

"Eh," Octavian shrugged. "Tunnel sentry. Always yapping, you know."

"No!" Stheno gasped.

"Yes!" Harry nodded vigorously. "The Romans shifted to Antarctica."

"No one told me this!" the gorgon wailed.

"I just found out recently," Harry commiserated.

"This is terrible," Stheno sniffled. "We were told to come here to Caldecott Tunnel."

We? Harry glanced around, suddenly imagining a mob of gorgons spilling out of the food truck like it was a clown car.

"Who told you that?" he said, soothingly.

Stheno sobbed. "The Locrians! I should have known they were up to no good!"

Harry's blood chilled. Ajax was behind this?

"Locrians rarely are," Harry said.

Stheno wiped tears from her glowing red eyes. "My snakes tell me I can trust you."

"Really?"

"Yes. You're no demigod."

"I am not," he agreed.

"And you smell neither human nor animal. More like flowers."

Harry prayed the Romans wouldn't open the doors. He had to figure a way to get her far away enough and kill her. But she'd mentioned more monsters.

"Like roses?" Harry ventured.

"A little," Stheno said. She leaned in a sniffed at him. Harry tried hard to not cringe. The sulphur around her was growing pungent.

"I've always smelled like roses," Harry said. "It's normal."

"Huh," Sthen said, curiously. "Say… you wouldn't happen to know Percy Jackson?"

His heart beat fast. "Jackson? Pretty common name. Didn't he direct fantasy movies?"

"Did he?" she asked, intrigued.

"I think he did," Harry hedged. "I don't know him."

"Oh," Stheno nodded. "Okay. For a moment there, I though you were his friend, Harry Potter."

Harry nodded slowly. "That's a very innocuous name."

"Maybe, but I heard that Harry Potter smells like roses and oranges. No human smells like flowers and fruits, you know?"

"How peculiar."

"Indeed," Stheno said, shrugging. "I'm so sorry for pointing fingers, but you never know. Percy Jackson killed my sister, Medusa."

"That's terrible," Harry said, blandly.

"It was," Stheno said. "It was bad enough that he didn't tell us he killed her, but then he sent her head to Olympus! I mean, who does that?!"

"Well…"

"And then, Kronos took over Em's garden emporium! It should have gone to Euryale and me!"

Harry tried to recall if there were only three gorgon sisters. There was, he was now certain of it.

"That sounds like a documentation issue," Harry told her. "Have you checked on the place now? I don't think the Titans are hording it."

"No, I guess we can head there," Stheno guessed. "But Ajax was so particular about Euryale and me coming here. We made this plan to trick the Romans into eating our Cheese N' Wieners."

She gestured to her plate that Harry had deftly avoided several times thanks to his "allergic reaction to diary".

"Trick the Romans?" Harry said slowly.

"Oh, yes. I fried them with my blood," Stheno said happily.

Harry thanks his iron stomach that he didn't gag at those words. "That's… inventive."

"Thank you," Stheno chirped. "See, blood from the left side of my body will kill you horribly and painfully. Blood from my right side will heal all your injuries and restore even memories! It's like Russian Roulette with just two options."

"Remarkable," Harry nodded, angling his body to the side and draw out his dagger quietly.

Then the legionnaire opened the doors.

"Okay, so I tried calling headquarters, no luck—"

Stheno zipped by so fast that the wind blew Harry backwards. He tried to bring his dagger out, slicing at her. The blad slashed her arm, cutting it off above the elbow. The snack tray clattered on the ground along with her severed arm.

Stheno grabbed the tall petrified legionnaire with her other arm.

Stupefy!

He barely thought the spell when the red light shot at her. The Roman fell down and Stheno was thrown ten feet away, crumbling into the ground.

That's when the food truck blared in his face and slammed into Harry at 40 miles an hour. He crashed through the half-open gates and rolled and tumbled into Camp Jupiter, all the bones in his left arm broken.

Harry groaned in pain and tried to sit up on the wet ground with a raging river behind him. A second gorgon was in the driver's seat of the food truck. She leaped out of the vehicle and landed with both feet on camp grounds.

"I knew you were Harry Potter!" Euryale crowed.

Stay tuned!
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