I sighed and sat on the beach, stuffing my feet into the warm sand. Rays of sun roved over my skin, and I gently laid on my back, staring at the sky.

It was a mosaic of blues, each shade shifting and blending. The deep cobalt of the horizon bled into a softer cerulean, the kind of blue that made me feel weightless—like I could jump in there and float forever.

Wisps of clouds, pale as seafoam, stretched lazily across the expanse, their edges so delicate they looked painted on with the lightest touch. I traced the gradient with my eyes and sighed.

What the hell was going on?

A week ago, I was storming Mt. St. Helens with Annabeth, fighting through a horde of demigods and preparing to risk my life against Kronos. Now, I was relaxing on a magical island for the foreseeable future. Invisible servants brought me food and drinks, and I had a brain-meltingly beautiful roommate. Literally. Whenever I looked at her, it felt like someone was putting jumper cables on my heart and turning up the voltage.

I closed my eyes.

The beach was quiet now; the only noise was the gentle sound of waves lapping against the shore. Calypso's seashell windchimes clattered behind me, the noise rumbling against my skull like a massage.

Now, I'll be honest.

When I saw Calypso disappear over the hill behind me, I fully intended to listen to her instructions.

I wasn't a big fan of not doing something just because someone told me not to do it. It ignited this feeling deep in my subconscious that just gave the green light to all my nasty thoughts. It was like a challenge. And I was a lot of things, but I wasn't someone who backed down from a challenge.

Percy, don't open your Christmas presents early. I mean it this time.

Mr. Jackson, stop drawing inappropriate images in the margins of your textbook.

Dude, there's no way you can eat all those hot dogs in under a minute.

I'd been doing things I wasn't supposed to do my whole life. But this? This felt like a special case.

Ogygia is weird. Really weird. They play by different rules over here.

I mean, two seconds ago, the whole sky was running through colors like a mood ring, and the island seemed like it was going to chew me up and spit me out.

And now? Picture perfect. Again.

Calypso was the only one I could trust about this kind of stuff, so when she looked at me with those wide eyes and told me to stay put, I knew I'd try my hardest.

So, I waited about five minutes before I walked back over to the spear.

The majority of my weapon expertise came from the Ares cabin—they had the most variety in weapons, and boy, did they like to show them off. Spears were a dime a dozen. I'd seen all kinds of them.

The most impressive one? Clarisse had a spear named Maimer that she swore by. It was long and reinforced with celestial bronze, and the tip was made of some conductive metal or something. It shot out sparks—sometimes, we used it to light the campfires when it was s'mores night.

I squatted next to the weapon. It was still floating in the air, rotating gently like it was on display.

This spear looked nothing like Clarisse's or even any of the other ones I'd seen. Spears tend to be lighter, yeah, but not this light. The one in front of me looked like the toothpick of weaponry—I felt like if I breathed on it hard enough, it would crumble like that box had.

My fingers inched toward the weapon, and it hummed loudly.

I was hoping it was just charging up, or that I'd lost my mind and was imagining things.

Instead, it stopped floating and rotated, pointing toward me. The tip glistened in the sunlight for a moment and began whistling through the air, heading straight for me like a bat out of hell.

I had about half a second to process the feeling rocketing up my spine. Instinct took over. My muscles tensed.

Before I could think of letting my legs buckle and collapse, a silver shimmer rippled across my chest, spreading like liquid water infused with swirling food coloring. It wasn't like any armor I'd ever seen. It moved like molten mercury, catching the light in dazzling flashes, before solidifying in an instant—a seamless, gleaming shell.

The spear hit the armor with a sickening crunch. I grunted—the force behind the impact knocked all the wind out of my chest. I staggered back, but the armor held firm. Surprisingly, nothing hurt.

The spear dropped to the sand, a shower of gold dust scattering with it. I exhaled, catching my breath, as the armor on my chest began to change.

The silver rippled, moving down my arm, pooling into my hand, and, in an instant, it formed a weapon—a shimmering, silver version of Riptide, solid and real in my grip. I tightened my hold, feeling a surge of power and an eerie sense of calm roll through me. "What?"

"Hey! Nice reflexes, kid!" A voice called from somewhere up the shore.

I looked up to see a tall figure striding down the beach.

He had chocolate-colored skin and hair bleached an otherworldly white, cropped close like he was fresh out of a military ad. His eyes glinted from behind a pair of tortoiseshell shades, and he was dressed in an all-white silk Italian suit.

The suit was charred near his left shoulder, burned a violent shade of red and black. Wisps of smoke were trailing off it, blowing behind him.

"Oh, the air here is just wonderful," He announced, inhaling dramatically. If the fact that he was skipping was any indication, he didn't seem concerned at all about the wound. "I was getting so sick of the stale temple air."

I blinked a few times, "Uh, hey?"

"Hi!" The man returned, waving. "Shit, it's so good to breathe. Dude, you can't let yourself ever get caught up with treaties."

"Treaties?"

"Treaties," The man sighed, stopping in front of me and placing both hands on his hips. "Nasty little shits."

"I'll look out for them," I promised. He nodded enthusiastically, "Is there anywhere in particular I should look out for them, or…"

"Just in general. Fine print is a bitch."

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yeah, man. You think you're signing up for one thing, and then next thing you know," He clapped his hands together and a crack echoed throughout the beach. I jumped. "Boom. trapped. Nowhere to go. No food, no caecuban, no women. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst—"

"Kaaji!" A bolt of light shot out from behind me, illuminating the beach in a strobing red.

"Ah, so you were the witch. Interesting," The man simply sighed as the spell careened toward him. He waved his hand as it reached his face and the bolt winked out of existence. "I'd probably recommend not doing that again—"

I turned and saw Calypso storming out of the house, her eyes ablaze. She threw another bolt of magic at the man, "Begone!"

"Oh, we're going retro? Okay. Silence, wench," he said, waving his hand almost gleefully. A mirror shimmered into existence, reflecting her bolt at the house, where it blasted the chimney into rubble. A flock of birds roosting on the roof squawked frantically and took off into the distance.

"Yikes!" He winced, grinning. "Might want to take it down a notch there. I think we're past the blasty-blasty phase. Comprende?"

I felt Riptide hum with a new energy, and I stepped forward, facing the stranger head-on. "Who are you?"

Riptide vibrated in my hands, and I felt a warm presence wrap around my brain. I turned to face the sword, and it was glowing and whizzing, screeching out noises like it was trying to talk.

The man turned to face me, amusement still gleaming on his face like a sheet of metal left out in the sun. "Ah. Now that is interesting. I see now why the fetials are so keen on freeing you from this prison."

"The who?"

"The fetials."

"What the hell is a fetial? Isn't that, like, a skincare thing?"

"Idiot. F-e-t-i-a-l. Not f-a-c-i-a-l. I fail to see the true merit of this, but alas, it's not my choice," The man sighed. He threw his hands up. "Besides, what kind of Roman is unaware of the fetials?"

"I'm not Roman," I returned. "I'm Greek."

The man stopped pacing. He slid his glasses down on his nose and I caught a hint of swirling blue eyes. "You?"

"Uh-huh."

"You're Greek? Greek?"

"Well, technically I'm from New York. I think my mom said some of our family—"

"No, no, not that. Back up. If I tell you to think about the big man in the sky, what do you call him?"

"God?"

"Oh, give me strength, sweet mother…not God. The ruler of Olympus."

My cheeks burned. "Oh. Zeus."

"Zeus?"

"I don't know, dude. Uncle Z?"

"Zeus!" The man began laughing so hard he doubled over. From his crouched position, he raised a hand and chortled. Calypso and I exchanged confused looks. "Zeus, Zeus, Zeus, oh boy. Wow. Zeus. Wow. I haven't laughed that hard in some time. Oh, what have I gotten myself into?"

"So—"

"Here's the rub, kid," The man straightened. His eyes glowed, and a portal rippled to life beside him, splattering through reality like a well-worn hole in a shirt. "I'm Janus. Someone wants to bust you out of here."

Calypso stiffened next to me. I just looked at Janus. His name sounded vaguely familiar, but I wasn't about to bow to some random guy. "Okay. Who?"

"Can't say," He shrugged.

"Why?"

"Can't say."

"What's the catch?"

"Can't say—actually, wait, that I can answer. Huh, and I was beginning to lose hope. There might be a Roman in there, after all," Janus snapped his fingers, and the portal disappeared. "So, my benefactor wants you to be freed from here and work for them. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Yeah. Like, in a weird roundabout way."

"Dude, you're like the worst person they could've chosen for this."

"You're telling me. But, coin is coin," Janus sighed. "The legion over in New Rome requires assistance—or, they will soon, anyway. They were willing to pay me a premium to bring you to New Rome and free you from here, provided you were willing to join the legion and fight."

My eyebrows scrunched together. "Wait, back up. New Rome? Is that an amusement park?"

"Basically. Well, no. Not even close. It's like a city. They have warriors and worship gods. They do chariot races, too, sometimes."

"Like Half-Blood Hill?"

"If Half-Blood Hill grew up and had a fully functioning economy and government, yeah," Janus laughed indulgently. He paused at my blank look, "Wait. Do you not know about the Romans?"

"What do you mean?"

"She definitely didn't mention the fact that I'd need to be a history teacher, too," Janus groaned. He snapped his fingers, "I know! I'll put it in terms your pea brain can understand."

"Hey!"

"So, you know how the Yankees and Red Sox have that crazy rivalry?" Janus asked. He flicked his wrist, and portals began appearing all over the island, showcasing moments in history like channels on a TV. "The bad blood, the screaming. Wear a Yankees hat in Boston and see what happens. Go to the Yankees stadium in red and you'll leave covered in red. Right?"

"Yeah," I begrudgingly answered. I looked at the portal closest to me, where a Yankees fan was getting chased around a cobblestone street by a horde of fans.

"Cool. So, basically, that little dingy camp you're used to? That's like the Yankees," Janus pointed at one of the screens. Someone in a white shirt went crashing into a car, with a drink tray spilling all over him. A man clad in red flipped him off and ran away. "And there's this other camp, Camp Jupiter, which is like the Red Sox. You guys hate each other."

"We do?"

"Yep. You've been fighting for years. You just don't know it; the last time you guys went at it, things went so bad, the gods bent and wove the Mist—you know what that is?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. So, yeah, they bent that shit as tightly as they could and basically went all Men-in-Black on your asses to make sure y'all never remembered each other. They even divided the country so you'd never meet on quests so that that bloodshed could be avoided and all that."

"And you now want me to join the Red Sox?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry," I said. "Maybe I'm misunderstanding this. You want me to join the people that hate me and want me dead?"

"Well…yes. Basically."

"You see the problem—"

"—Yes. I see it. But it's either go there or stay here forever. On this…this hellhole!" Janus said. One of the invisible servants bought him a brightly colored drink, and he smacked it off the tray. "Keep that shit away from me."

"Okay. Well, what if I want to go home?"

"Home," Janus repeated. "Like...to New York?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry, kid, no can do," Janus shrugged. "It's part of the contract. I can only send you to New Rome. Well, not send, per se. I'd come with you and make sure they take you. The Senate is wild over there. You can't just waltz in and ask that they take you. You need some recommendations. They're real sticklers for that stuff."

I mulled over his words. My brain felt like it was overheating. Glimmers of an idea sparked in my head. Before I could even open my mouth, Janus shook his head. "No. Just no. That's not really going to work out the way you think it is."

"What?"

"The look in your eyes, kid," Janus said, waving his arms. "No way. You're not going to pull an old switcheroo on me. The only way you get off this rock is if you come with me and go to the legion."

"Well, what if I come with you, help out the legion and your benefactor is all happy," I pointed out. "What then? Can I just get on a bus and go back?"

"I mean, maybe," Janus muttered. Another invisible servant began cleaning up the drink. "But I wouldn't, if I were you. Just how do you think you ended up here?"

"Freak accident?"

"Cute."

The tiny portals rolled together and smashed into one. The screen rippled, and it phased to Olympus, where Zeus was sitting on his throne, examining his bolt. Janus looked at it and frowned. "Let's just say if I was you, I'd avoid New York for a while."

"You're telling me Zeus sent me here?" I laughed. "Look, the guy doesn't like me. I know. I get it. But to, what, trap me on this island? That's crazy."

I remembered meeting Zeus for the first time when I returned his lightning bolt, kneeling in front of his throne. It was like sitting in front of a live generator; I spent half the time waiting for him to explode and turn me into a streak on the ground.

"Is it?" Janus returned. "Is it really?"

"Yeah, I mean, my uncle is a lot of things. Paranoid—"

"—understatement of the century—"

"—mean—"

"—tell that to Prometheus—"

"—and kind of a dick in general—"

"—nothing to comment there—"

"—but he wouldn't just, I don't know, plop me here," I ran a hand through my hair and paced on the beach. "He wouldn't."

Janus stared at me, which made me feel worse. He was giving me the same look I gave homeless people on the subway—the kind that balanced awkward pity with a desperate hope they wouldn't ask for anything.

I hated it. Not because it was cruel, but because it was true.

"I'm going to hold your hand when I say this, kid," Janus said, and for the first time since he got to the beach, I felt some sort of empathy from the eccentric god. "Actually, no I'm not. You look kind of dirty, and this suit is custom. From Prada, mind you. It's probably worth more than this island—but that's neither here nor there. Look at the facts, man, Zeus would easily justify sending you here. You're lucky that's all he did, really. I mean, the guy ate his pregnant wife once. Blinking a snot-nosed little demigod like you out of existence wouldn't be that far out of the realm of possibilities with that guy."

"But why? I thought they needed me to stop K—"

"Hold your horses, partner," Janus cut me off. "That's a can of worms we don't want to open right now."

"Okay, well, if I go to this New Rome place, what's stopping Zeus from just finishing the job once I'm there?"

"That's the fun part," Janus smiled. "All the gods you know would stop knowing you. Well, they'd know of you. But, for all intents and purposes, the Roman gods are completely separate from their Greek counterparts. Take it from me. They're almost like different people. It would be like a fresh slate entirely. So, what do you say?"

AN: Okay so someone challenged me to get another one out before December...ask and you shall receive. Spite is a great motivator! Real talk, I'm writing this as I continue reworking TFOAC, so my PJO fire is burning pretty bright right now. I also kind of want to get to New Rome so the story can start in earnest, so I'm trying to run there ASAP. So, maybe expect weekly updates for the foreseeable future.

I've updated both the picture and description for this story. It gives away a bit more, so hopefully that'll help you guys piece together a bit of what's going on here now.

Last but not least, if you have any questions or would like to be further in the loop with updates and my current priorities in terms of stories, please join the Discord server. They're made aware of updates before the site is. Just take the spaces out of this: Linktr . ee /maroooon

See you soon! And please review your comments/thoughts/theories. It helps me gauge how people perceived the chapter and the things they'd like to see going forward.

- Maroon