Hazel liked to think of herself as an open-minded person. Guilt and self-doubt were something she had dealt with for a long time, so she avoided judging people at face value and tried to look on the bright side of each person.

  Oh, what a struggle that was now.

  Bryce watched with glee as the cat he set on fire ran back and forth in the cage, screeching and hissing in agony as its fur and flesh charred bit by bit. He would laugh, but that might draw too much attention from his neighbors. Eventually, the cat collapsed, literally burnt to a crisp. Bryce pondered on the scene in his mind with a cruel smirk, as if he was rewatching the memory and taking notes.

  Being able to read each soul’s memories meant seeing the good things, and the many, many bad things. Those felt heavier, somehow. She saw that people didn’t go out of their way to do good things frequently. Going through the trouble to do what was wrong was far more common.

  He stabbed the horse in the flank, eager to see how it would react. The blade sunk in exactly as planned, not deep enough to kill, but just the right angle to cause maximum pain. Bryce’s manic green eyes glinted, waiting for the entertainment.

  But if she made an effort to look, really tried to understand them, Hazel could find redeeming qualities. Sometimes they didn’t do it the right way or were too scared to make the first move, but Hazel could see the good intentions and desire to help, at least.

  After the horse rampaged across the streets of New Rome and was finally put down, Bryce was disappointed. It wasn’t as thrilling as he thought. The reaction was too similar to all the others. Maybe animals were just too boring to get a good scene. He’d bet humans would be way more expressive…oh. Now there was an idea, Bryce thought hysterically.

  Hazel stared hard at Bryce’s memories, watching it play across her mind like a movie she was forced to watch.

  She couldn’t find any of those qualities.

  Hazel thought she had seen evil. Gaia was a perfect example; the dispassionate way she would wipe out life without even blinking was horrifying.

  But she was also the Earth Mother, who had lived for longer than Hazel could imagine. What was a few years of human life to the primordial? Titans, giants, and even gods to an extent were like that. They simply didn’t care, because they didn’t have the same degree of understanding that mortals did.

  They were more apathetic than they were malicious. But Bryce was different.

  He lived for the malice. He knew how precious each life was, which only delighted him further to be able to play with it and take it away. To see such relish in violence and obsession with live suffering…if Hazel still had a working stomach, she would’ve thrown up.

  She shut herself off from his memories. Hazel didn’t need to reference them; the images had burned themselves into her mind. What Bryce did, and–even more ghastly–what Bryce wanted to do. His imagination of torture made her nauseous.

  To stave off her horror, Hazel focused on being angry instead. She thought of how Bryce ambushed Frank and held a knife to his throat, planning to use him as some science experiment for his pleasure. Her hands trembled as she remembered how Bryce could feel Frank’s fear, and how the legacy absolutely loved it.

  “Fought for the Twelfth Legion and the gods,” the judge to her right, King, said. “Served for four years before dying on the quest.”

  Hazel turned her head sharply towards the judge. Were they not seeing the same memories?

  “Sadistic practices on animals,” Founder, the judge to her right, muttered. “Ruthless, unnecessarily violent, and remorseless.”

  “He planned to do it to humans, too,” Hazel snapped. “Guilty of premeditating torture, murder, and violence.”

  Founder nodded in agreement, whereas King just tilted his head thoughtfully. “What do you propose, Jewel?”

  “Is it not obvious?” Hazel scoffed, almost incredulous they had to ask her. “Intervened on his quest, nearly killed his own teammates. That’s grounds for treachery against the gods.”

  King’s shoulders trembled, his ghostly voice making a weird noise. It took a moment for Hazel to realize he was laughing.

  “Well!” The judge finally said, hissing in laughter. “It is a rare sight for you, Jewel, to push for one’s guilt so strongly. You’re not going to try and defend his actions? Find excuses for his situation?”

  Hazel clenched her teeth. Apparently, she had a reputation for being lenient with souls. The nice one. Those waiting for a trial probably hoped she would be on the panel, one of the few judges who might cut them some slack. But that didn’t mean Hazel couldn’t differentiate between right and wrong!

  She glared at King, and Founder cleared his throat. “Any more arguments?”

  By all the gods, Bryce had the audacity to speak up. “Hey, I didn’t do none of that stuff!”

  The sheer boldness of that statement caused all three judges to pause. They turned to the soul in front of them, gold masks glaring down on Bryce.

  Founder spoke coldly. “So you didn’t torture animals for your own pleasure, cause chaos for the public, or betray your allies?”

  “I didn’t kill anyone,” Bryce argued. “I was killed, remember? Aren’t we supposed to be judged based on our actions?”

  King sounded annoyed. “Your…tendencies border on sadistic and psychopathic. On that alone–”

  “I can’t help that! I’m a descendant of Orcus, the god of broken vows and eternal punishment.”

  King thought for a moment, before begrudgingly saying, “Hmm. Yes, that god was always quite the maniac.”

  “I shouldn’t be held accountable for that,” Bryce declared. “And I didn’t betray anyone. Didn’t get the chance. So I–”

  Hazel’s blood boiled. She slammed her palm on the judge’s desk, and Bryce’s voice cut off. The spirit started choking on nothing, painfully silenced.

  “You took an oath in the legion. And you broke it,” Hazel said darkly. “You planned to kill your own centurion, and was going to torture and murder another person.”

  Bryce Lawrence gagged out, “But I didn’t–”

  “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t have the chance to do it!” Hazel exploded, standing up. “We know you planned it and would have gone through with it. Lying is pointless! By seriously thinking of killing another person, you’ve already committed murder in your mind, so what difference does it make?”

  Bryce cowed. “T–that’s not fair! A normal court–”

  “A normal court can’t read your intentions and thoughts,” Hazel hissed. “In all your years, you made no attempt to restrain yourself. Did you really think you could get away from all-seeing judgment?”

  King huffed at that. “Aptly put. The decision is clear.”

  Founder nodded solemnly. “Unprovoked, premeditated brutality and treachery. Worthy of the Fields of Punishment.”

  Bryce collapsed. “Wait! Please!”

  Hazel ignored him. The Underworld was not the place to look for mercy. It was meant for justice. A demon hag, one of the Dirae, flew out of nowhere and grabbed Bryce, dragging him toward the exit as he screamed in vain. Just like the animals he tortured, he would get no release.

  She turned away. No matter how much the person deserved punishment, Hazel didn’t want to take pleasure in this. She was doing this for justice, not for satisfaction.

  “I thought you liked their screams of pain,” King responded to Bryce tauntingly. He addressed the Dirae, “Make his punishment a good one. The only screams he should be hearing are his own.”

  The Battery was very picturesque for a park. The promenade wasn’t very crowded, making it pleasant to stroll through. They started at the seaside and made their way through, as the ocean breeze swept away the heat of the afternoon.

  Fort Sumter shone at the Harbor far away, the waterfront giving Jason a perfect view of the landmark. Jason watched a cruise ship pull into the harbor to join the lounging yachts, thankful that his nearsightedness hadn’t set in just yet.

  He took it all in, letting himself enjoy the lush gardens and seawall. It wasn’t often he had the chance to admire nature…though the novelty had kind of died away ever since fighting the literal Mother Nature equivalent. But still, the scenery was nice. Peaceful.

  Jason had suggested this excursion, so they could stretch their legs and relax a little before heading into the inevitable fight. Reyna had seemed uncomfortable when he pitched the idea to her, but she agreed, all while Jason hid his own nervousness.

  The Battery potentially had important information, if Venus would appear again. But if he was being honest, Jason was so glad Frank was here. It would have felt so awkward if he had to tour this scenic area alone with Reyna.

  Jason tried not to think too hard about Reyna’s feelings for him. Or if she even had them at all at this moment. He really didn’t want to lead her on again, but Jason had no idea when she began to develop romantic feelings for him.

  And there was no way he was asking.

  He noticed Reyna’s eyes scanning their surroundings back and forth as if she was expecting an ambush. Come to think of it, Jason couldn’t remember the last time Reyna wasn’t on guard. She always seemed prepared for a fight.

  They turned away from the seawall and explored the inland side of the gardens. Colonial mansions lined the street at the end of the park. The white facade and columns reminded Jason of the buildings in New Rome.

  When he pointed it out, Frank said, “You’re right. Those arches look especially Roman. Grand and posh, just like the villas of old.”

  “That makes sense. The Southern states compared itself to Rome a lot before the Civil War,” Reyna said. “In…ways more than one.”

  “Well, the Legion did fight for the South during the war,” Frank pointed out.

  (“So the Romans fought on the Confederate side? As a girl whose grandmother was a slave, can I just say…not cool?”

  “I personally was not alive then, but yes. Not cool. Sometimes demigods make bad decisions.”)

  Reyna blinked in surprise. “That’s…somewhat disturbing.”

  “The Legion had thrived at that time because their society had matched with the South’s codes of honor and chivalry,” Jason grimaced. “As well as its views on slavery.”

  Frank looked around the park. “It feels weird. The houses and gardens are beautiful and regal. But it’s wrapped up with a lot of ugly history.”

  “Guess that fits Rome well too, huh?” Reyna muttered.

  Jason shrugged, but she had a good point. A lot of things that looked good on the outside had dark undercurrents, and Frank’s description applied to their legacy spot on. From its time as a kingdom to an empire, to say that Rome had many controversial practices was an understatement.

  “Isn’t it heretical for us to say stuff like that?” Frank smiled lopsidedly at Reyna. “I mean, you’re not wrong though. The Twelfth served a lot of emperors, but a lot of them were like, A-grade villains.”

  Jason interjected, “They weren’t all bad. There were a lot of good leaders, like Vespasian. Or Aurelian.”

  “Or Diocletian,” Reyna added, and Jason stared at her.

  (“Reyna and I used to talk about Diocletian. We both kind of idolized the guy as a leader. We talked about how we’d like to visit Diocletian’s Palace. Of course we knew that was impossible, no one could travel to the ancient lands. But still, we made this pact that if we ever did , that’s where we’d go.”)

  After a moment, he grinned. For better or for worse, some things didn’t change. This time at least, Jason was grateful.

  After Reyna had brought up the topic, the awkwardness soon began to slowly ebb away. He, Reyna, and Frank talked about the emperor as they walked. With a shared interest up in the air, the conversation flowed much more easily, and for a moment, Jason almost felt like they were a normal group of friends, chatting over the simple things they liked.

  They were in the middle of discussing how Diocletian and Jason were both sons of Jupiter when Reyna tensed dangerously. She pointed to the left, where a hundred feet out a shining figure hovered, surrounded by flowers that he was fairly sure weren’t there before.

  As he expected, the apparition blazed too brightly to make out details. It floated invitingly, almost as if beckoning them to approach.

  “What is it?” Reyna asked warily.

  “I can feel the strength,” Frank said, sounding like he was in a daze. “It’s powerful.”

  That was a correct description, if not a little ambiguous and unhelpful. Jason wasn’t sure why Frank could sense that and he couldn’t, but it didn’t really matter. Jason already knew who it was.

  “A god sounds like a safe bet,” Jason surmised.

  Reyna’s fingertips danced on the hilt of her dagger. “They do that? Just…show up in random places?”

  “Occasionally,” Jason answered. “They’ll either give some important information or some errand they can’t be bothered with doing themself.”

  Frank snorted quietly. “How irreverent of you, Centurion.”

  “It was a joke.”

  It really wasn’t.

  Reyna’s stare darted between him, Frank, and Venus. “Should we go over there then?”

  Jason hesitated, frowning at the waiting figure. Olympians very rarely appeared to the legion. Besides Juno, Jason had never, ever, met one outside his dreams before the Giant War. That didn’t mean he had been lying earlier; meeting minor gods wasn’t unheard of. But one of the Twelve?

  He had known this would happen, but it didn’t make things any less strange.

  “Let’s go check it out.”

  They approached the glowing figure, but like Jason assumed would happen but hoped against, Venus vanished whenever they got close. She would appear off to the side, far off but always still within eyesight.

  “What now?” Frank asked.

  Jason looked at Reyna, who was staring at Venus with a strange expression. It put him on edge. There were a lot of things Venus might say to her. No disrespect to the goddess, but Jason doubted they would be worthwhile.

  “Maybe whoever it is doesn’t want to be bothered,” Jason said.

  “No, that’s not right,” Reyna abruptly said, startling him. She looked as surprised as Jason felt. “I mean…I have this feeling. Like they’re calling me.”

  Jason made sure Reyna couldn’t see his scowl. “Are you sure?”

  She nodded.

  Frank rubbed his chin. “You mean, calling just you?”

  Jason quickly shot a glare at him, but it was too late.

  “Yeah. I should try to talk to it alone.”

  “That sounds risky,” Jason slowly said. “We have no idea who that is.”

  Reyna shook her head. “I don’t think it wants to fight. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be avoiding us.”

  Jason sighed under his breath. He had no real reason to stop her. By now, Frank was looking at him curiously, no doubt wondering why he was so tense.

  “It’s your call, centurion,” Frank said.

  There wasn’t any guarantee that Venus would even say the same thing. Whichever way Jason looked at it, he couldn’t deny that whatever the goddess said could be very important, whether now or farther down the line. Olympians didn’t just pop in for no reason.

  But that didn’t mean the reason would be particularly helpful to them. He knew that from experience.

  Even so, the logical thing would simply be to let it happen. Things had turned out…well, not amazing, but okay enough last time. The risk was well within the bounds of what they could deal with. Reyna would be fine, and Jason could deal with whatever consequences later.

  But then he remembered her shaken expression and Reyna’s adamant refusal to tell him what ‘the ghost’ had said. And the thought of letting her go through that again, whatever it was, gnawed at him.

  Jason felt his fingertips spark with static electricity from agitation. Ah…he had done it again. He was hesitating too much, deliberating back and forth with no real conclusion in mind.

  What would his friends do? What would Piper say?

  “If you think it’ll answer you,” Jason finally decided. “Then alright. I’ll trust your judgment.”

  Reyna nodded and walked toward the floating spirit by herself. Jason grimaced and turned away, finding that he didn’t want to watch. He still felt really on edge, and it was probably best if he tried to walk it off.

  He headed for the seawall. “It’ll be a while before they’re done talking.”

  He and Frank ended up at the small empty beach. It was high noon, but with how trashed it was, it was no wonder the beach was deserted. Bits and pieces of litter were scattered across the sand, pitifully sliding back and forth as the waves came and left. Percy would throw a fit if he was here.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “So, what’s with you and Reyna?” Frank asked.

  “What? Nothing. There’s no problem,” He deflected instinctively.

  Frank just looked at him skeptically.

  “There won’t be a problem.” Jason amended.

  His friend shrugged, kicking an empty soda can across the sand. “Are you telling that to me or yourself?”

  “It’s not–” Jason cut himself off. He counted to five under his breath and got his emotions under control. “It’ll be fine. I was just being cautious earlier. Don’t worry about it.”

  Frank waited a moment, then shook his head. “Really, dude? I didn’t call it out earlier since Reyna was with us, but you’re nervous. Skittish, even. What’s got into you? You’re never this…agitated.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Don’t make me call Piper.”

  “Okay, fine!”

  Jason sighed, letting his mask fall. He ran a hand through his hair, resisting the urge to pull at it. “Last time we were here, Reyna talked to Venus alone. And whatever Venus told her, it was bad. Reyna was really shaken up. And she never looked at me the same way after it.”

  “I think I remember that,” Frank nodded. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

  “She refused to tell me what happened, or what she heard,” Jason said. “So, yeah. I’m worried about it. It could really mess up our re–our quest.”

  The son of Mars didn’t miss the hitch. “You’re scared it’ll go worse this time. Does this have anything to do with the fact that she liked you in our last life?”

  Frank was a perceptive guy, Jason knew that. In most situations, the quality was very helpful. In this one, it was a little more annoying.

  “I really hurt her last time, Frank. I mean, she never said anything. But I feel guilty about leading her on anyway,” Jason clenched his jaw. “And then before I knew it, we were on a quest and then everyone was dying. I never got to fix things. And I…I can’t lose her again.”

  Frank clapped a hand on his shoulder encouragingly. Jason glanced at him, finding kindness and understanding in the son of Mars’ eyes.

  “I get what you mean,” Then like a switch had been flicked, the warmth was suddenly replaced by cold bluntness. “But that’s completely paranoid. You didn’t know before. You do now. Whatever Venus tells her, you can work around it.”

  “I know that,” Jason agreed. “And I wasn’t lying. It won’t be a problem. I can deal with it, I just needed some time to calm down.”

  “Alright. If you say so.”

  Jason steeled himself. He was being irrational and getting distracted, and he couldn’t be doing that with so much responsibility. Lives were counting on him, so Jason couldn’t let his emotions affect his choices.

  He mentally sighed. And this was why people called him too cold and aloof.

  Throughout his entire time in Camp Jupiter, Jason simply couldn’t afford to let his emotions run. If he ever overreacted or acted rashly, the consequences wouldn’t just be for him, but for all those he was leading. It was just too risky…now more than ever, with what Jason knew of the future.

  He had to remain in check. Jason let his baseless anxiety about Reyna and Venus ebb away, calling up the calm and decisive facade that Lupa had drilled into him as a child. It wasn’t a fake mask by any means; just pushing the rebellious side of him–the one that gave Kymopoleia merchandising rights and called his father ‘unwise’ in front of all the Olympians–to the side for the time being.

  It chafed at him a little, but times like these called for appropriate measures.

  It was simpler this way, at least.

  Frank noticed that Jason was back to normal. That is, he wasn’t shooting worried glances at Reyna and fidgeting with his fingers (for Jason this was the equivalent of freaking out).

  The two had found a bench overlooking the trash-ridden beach. Frank briefly wondered if they should try to clean it up, but quickly realized there was no way the two of them could make a dent.

  Besides the sand, it was a good view. The sun shone off the waves, and they could see the harbor from their seats. They hadn’t been attacked by monsters at all, which Frank found hard to believe.

  Then again, they weren’t in the Mediterranean anymore. Maybe this wasn’t too strange.

  Jason eventually got restless and went for a fly, saying he would scout out the surroundings. Probably unnecessary, but Frank didn’t blame him for getting a little antsy.

  Frank was starting to zone out, watching the boats at the distant harbor go in and out. There was even a cruise ship. Frank had never been on a cruise ship before, but he remembered his mom had once compared them to small cities on water. The thought of so many people being able to fit on one vehicle baffled him, as did the idea of something that large floating .

  A shadow cast over him, and Frank lazily turned to see who it was. Too late, he realized he probably should have been more alert. It totally could have been a monster trying to ambush him.

  Fortunately, it was just Reyna.

  Jason’s description had been short, but clearly apt. Reyna was indeed shaken. Frank scooted slightly over to give her a space on the bench.

  She didn’t sit.

  Reyna stood behind him stiffly, rigidly staring at the waves with an obviously forced impassivity. However, her glaring eyes betrayed her emotion.

  “What–” Frank quickly cleared his throat. He wasn’t scared of her, nope, not at all. “What did you hear?”

  Somehow, Reyna became even more tense. “Nothing important. Nothing…nothing useful. It was a waste of time.”

  Frank decided not to point out how her lip trembled after she said that.

  “Well…whatever she said,” Frank hesitated. What was he supposed to say here? He stuttered, trying to think of something proper. “D–don’t worry about it. We’re friends, so I’m here for you–only if you need anything, of course. I–I mean, I got your back, y’know?”

  Reyna's gaze didn’t leave the waves, but her lips twitched. “Right.”

  “Jason too. We’re in this together…” He faltered as Reyna’s face turned sour. It was only for a moment before her guarded expression popped back into place, but it definitely didn’t bode well.

  She looked around. “Where is he, by the way?”

  Jason picked that moment to appear, flying out of the sky like a blonde Superman. He touched down on the shore, blowing sand and trash everywhere. Frank couldn’t help but snort. He could be as dramatic as his father, but he probably didn’t realize it.

  Jason noticed Reyna, and his jaw tightened as he read her face. Frank glanced at Reyna. She was staring at Jason with a complicated and disturbed expression.

  The son of Zeus’ voice was stony. “You finished up just in time. We have to go now. There’s a new problem.”

  Of course, there was.

  “What happened?” Reyna asked.

  “When I was scouting the harbor just now, I saw something…that wasn’t quite right,” Jason pointed to the faraway boats. “Turns out, the Titans are mobilizing. Their forces are here.”

  Reyna’s eyes widened and she scowled, confused. “How?”

  Jason shrugged, but he looked at Frank significantly. Unfortunately, Frank was as confused as Reyna was. What about the harbor was important? All that was there was some yachts and boats. And that one cruise ship–

  Wait a second.

  Frank peered at the distant harbor. The cruise ship was still there. It was hard to tell, but he thought he could make out a masthead shaped like a giant woman.

  The Princess Andromeda, according to Annabeth’s descriptions.

  Hmm.

  That was indeed a problem. Jason didn’t seem to expect it. If he didn’t know about it, why was it here? What changed?

  Frank had a feeling their ‘easy’ mission wasn’t about to be so simple now.

  Jason’s head snapped up, his eyes wide. “There he is. Up there.”

  Frank looked up to see a figure soaring through the air. For a second he thought it was just a huge bird, probably because the reality looked kind of ridiculous. A winged horse with a black mane and feathers was galloping across the sky above them, a person sitting on its back.

  “A pegasus.” Reyna realized, sounding slightly awed.

  Frank hesitated, but he couldn’t help it, “Is that…”

  Blackjack? The pegasus that Percy would sometimes ride into battle?

  Was the son of Poseidon seriously here? That was impossible.

  Jason shook his head at Frank. “I…wasn’t familiar with who the rider was.”

  So, not Percy then. But something about the way Jason said that made Frank uneasy. Besides, that still didn’t explain why in the world Blackjack was here. Or at least, it was probably Blackjack. How many pure black pegasi were there in the world?

  “An ally of the Titans,” Reyna frowned. “A rogue demigod? There aren’t many of those out there.”

  She couldn’t know how wrong she was. Frank grabbed the strap of his backpack, which was his bow in disguise. “Guess we’re following him?”

  Jason nodded. “On foot. We can’t let them get suspicious.”

  “What about the cache at the museum?” Reyna asked.

  “We’ll go there after. The recovery shouldn’t take too long. We have time.” Jason replied.

  They ran after Blackjack, crossing through the Battery and into the city. Occasionally, they would lose the pegasus and Frank would have to fly up as a raven to track him down again. It was difficult to keep up with a flying horse on foot, but they couldn’t afford to be caught. He had no idea why Princess Andromeda was here, but it was definitely bad news.

  Eventually, they saw Blackjack bank down and fly into an alleyway. No one seemed to realize that a giant flying stallion just waltzed into the block, so Frank supposed the Mist was working overtime.

  They crept by the wall and peeked around the corner. It was empty besides the pegasus and its rider. The person dismounted and yanked the reins, pulling the pegasus. It started to buck and whinny loudly, kicking at the man.

  The rider ducked back to avoid a hoof, letting Frank see his face. Pale blond hair and angry blue eyes, a scar running down the right side of his face.

  Frank spun to Jason. “That’s–!”

  “Quiet, they’ll hear us,” Reyna hissed.

  Behind her, Jason just nodded, his blue eyes wide.

  Luke Castellan.

  It was the first time Frank had ever seen his face, of course, but there weren’t exactly many people who fit the description.

  Luke began muttering angrily, but the distance made it difficult to make out what he was saying. But then Jason flicked his wrist, and suddenly Frank felt the breeze blowing past him. The wind changed directions and carried the sound of Luke’s voice to the trio’s ears, clear as day.

  “ Di immortals , hold still!” Luke was growling, trying to get the pegasus under control.

  He wrestled the reins and tightened the bridle, pulling the horse’s snout downward. The pegasus snorted angrily and resisted wildly, but Luke was surprisingly strong. “I swear, if you keep drawing attention…”

  “Don’t worry,” A disembodied voice came out of nowhere. “I’ve wrapped the Mist around us. There won’t be any interruptions.”

  Luke straightened. “Alabaster. You’re here.”

  A teenage boy stepped out of thin air, bowing slightly to Luke. “I’ve been here. Had some time to kill. So...I heard the news.”

  Reyna inhaled sharply as Alabaster appeared. “He’s a magician.”

  Frank supposed studying under a witch would give you the ability to tell.

  “Tch. The brats made a complete mess of the Lord’s plans,” Luke sighed. “We could have revived him by now with the Fleece, but not anymore.”

  Alabaster’s face was shrouded in mist, but Frank thought his voice sounded disgruntled. “What about the second play?”

  “According to our spies, a success. They never saw it coming, so of course it was. None of them would have ever expected her to still be alive, let alone come back,” Luke scowled deeply. “They all gave up on her already.”

  Alabaster simply hummed thoughtfully. “So I assume we’re recruiting her?”

  Frank decided not to look at Jason's reaction.

  “Of course. Is there a problem?”

  “If it’s part of his plan, then no. I’m simply wondering how likely it is that she’ll actually want to join us.”

  Luke narrowed his eyes dangerously.

  The magician didn’t notice, or if he did, he didn’t seem to care. “I know you’re confident she will, but you sounded confident you could convince that other friend of yours. And I heard she fought to kill you on that ship.”

  Luke’s hand went to his sword. “Watch yourself, Alabaster.”

  Alabaster paused, then sighed. “Whatever. I guess that’s not my business. Do you have it?”

  Luke nodded and pulled out a cube-like object. He tossed it on the ground before him, and it suddenly began expanding with metallic and mechanic whirs. In seconds, a huge golden coffin was in between the two rogue demigods.

  Frank felt his mouth dry as he stared at it. The whole area started to grow colder, and he felt himself shiver involuntarily. The casket was engraved with scenes of burning cities and heroes dying horribly. Frank looked to his friends, who looked just as pale as he felt.

  Whatever was in that sarcophagus (and Frank had a pretty good guess what), it was evil. Pure evil.

  “Woah. What was that?” The magician sounded impressed.

  Luke grunted. “A gift from an old friend at camp.”

  “Hephaestus kids are no joke,” Alabaster whistled. “So this is the real deal, huh.”

  Frank’s blood ran colder if that was even possible. Hephaestus kids…Leo’s siblings. Camp Half-Blood really did have a big spy problem, didn’t they? They needed to tell Annabeth about this as soon as possible.

  “His remains are here, reforming. Of course, who knows how long it would naturally take, if ever,” Luke patted the sarcophagus, and the flare of the dark pressure almost made Frank choke. But somehow, despite the temperature seemingly below freezing, neither Luke nor Alabaster seemed affected. “So you have to do your job.”

  Reyna’s hand gripped tighter around Frank’s shoulder to the point he winced. Her eyes were wide with…no, not panic, Reyna never showed panic. But it was pretty close. And he wasn’t doing any better; with how suffocating the coffin’s aura was, Frank didn’t know if he could reply even if he wanted to.

  Alabaster waved airily. “Yes, yes, I know. I’ll summon my mother and get her to help. We’ve made preparations at a very strong spot for magic. She’ll have a solution.”

  “And if she doesn’t?”

  “Then I guess we’ll go take back the Fleece,” Alabaster smirked. “By your order, of course.”

  Luke hesitated. “We shouldn’t invade camp. Not yet, at least. This will work.”

  The magician shrugged. “Whatever you say.”

  He flicked his hand behind him, and more figures crawled out of the mist. Frank recognized them as the donkey-legged hags he and Reyna had fought just hours before on the plane. Empousa.

  Luke wrinkled his nose. His grip on Blackjack’s reins tightened anxiously. “Interesting company you got there.”

  “Can’t be too picky with what we’re trying to do. Besides, they’re perfect for the job, as servants of the Dark Lady.”

  The Dark Lady. There it was again. He faintly recognized the term. What was the meaning? Frank felt as if he knew the answer right on the tip of his tongue, but it was just out of reach.

  Luke took a healthy step back anyway. “Fine. Go on, then. There’s no time to waste.”

  Alabaster said something to the monsters in a language Frank didn’t understand, but he guessed it was magic of some sort. The vampires, four of them, walked over and picked up the sarcophagus with difficulty. One of them began sniffing the air suspiciously. She began turning toward the alleyway entrance, where Reyna, Jason, and Frank were still crouched behind.

  Frank held his breath.

  Alabaster snapped at the empousa in that weird language, and the empousa growled back and began to move. They walked into the mist and vanished with the golden coffin. The temperature instantly warmed up again, and the cold suffocating grip loosened.

  Frank exhaled slowly.

  And so did Luke.

  The future host of Kronos turned his head up and stared up at the sky, blankly gazing at nothing. He reached up his hand to his brow, then sighed, sounding almost content.

  “I’d almost forgotten…what it was without his voice in my head all the time…” Luke sounded forlorn, sad, and almost pitiful.

  But before Frank could ponder on that, Blackjack neighed and reared up suddenly, yanking the reins out of Luke’s distracted hands. Luke cried out in surprise and lunged for the ropes, trying to get his ride under control.

  And suddenly, Jason was right next to Frank, so close he could feel the ozone radiating off his skin. The son of Jupiter had one hand on Frank’s shoulder, the other on Reyna’s. His blue eyes sparked with energy.

  He squeezed Frank’s shoulder, and a jolt of electricity ran through his spine. “Now.”

  And the three of them lunged forward.

  It was late autumn in Camp Half-Blood. Most campers were home for the school year, risking their lives to be out there with their families. They were living like normal people, doing homework and hanging out with friends, trying to get away from the harrowing life of a demigod.

  Though of course, the operative word was most demigods.

  Leo twisted the controls on his newly constructed Archimedes sphere and winced as it sparked unnaturally. “Heads up!”

  An explosion went off behind him in the bunker, followed by Percy’s shout of surprise and pain.

  Annabeth ran past him. “Leo! What did you do!?”

  “Just a normal malfunction, don’t worry about it!”

  “Don’t worry about it?! ”

  Percy was crumpled in a heap on the other side of the room. He groaned, “Dude, why do you keep explosives lying around on the ground?”

  Percy was helped up by his girlfriend, which Leo found a little dramatic. Sure, the son of Poseidon had some singed hair and burns, but he’d be fine. They were the ones who volunteered to help him run some experiments, so they should have expected at least this much. If Leo wasn’t blowing stuff up, he wasn’t living up to his full potential.

  “They don’t explode normally,” Leo rolled his eyes. He showed Percy his Archimedes sphere. “That’s all this.”

  Annabeth stared at him, unamused. “That sphere…makes things explode.”

  “I wired it to Bunker 9, which includes the inventions connected to it,” Leo shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  Percy made a face while Ananbeth struggled not to look incredulous. She failed. “Why would that be a good idea?! To save yourself a few seconds of opening the doors manually?”

  “Exactly!” Leo proudly agreed. “With this bad boy, I’m all-powerful in here! Check this out.”

  Leo flicked a few more switches and poked some buttons, trying to get one of the mechanical tables to bring some tools over.

  Instead, a panel underneath him opened like a trapdoor.

  “Holy Hephae–!”

  Right into the furnace below.

  Five minutes later, Leo was back, just with new clothes since the furnace had burned the ones he had. “Personally, I see this as an absolute win.”

  “You burned off all your clothes.”

  “Details, details,” Leo dismissed. “The point is, I’ve confirmed that I can control the entire Bunker with this sphere. That is huge.”

  Percy shrugged. “If it’s anything like your Wii remotes for the Argo II, I don’t know if I’m convinced.”

  “This is better than the Wii remotes,” Leo retorted. “I got the spheres working to their full potential now. That literally means limitless possibilities!”

  Like making a homing beacon for a certain island. Or a new circuit-brain for a metal dragon. Just to name a few examples.

  “I’m glad you needed us for this,” Annabeth sighed. “So, we’re done here?”

  “Hmm? Um, oh yeah. You guys can go.” Leo nodded.

  He turned back toward one of the tables, picking up the tools. Leo still had a lot of work to do, and a lot of inventions and innovations to plan. Now that his Archimedes sphere was finally perfected, the amount of breakthroughs he could make on old projects would keep him up for nights on end, he realized. Since Annabeth and Percy were leaving, he’d avoid inventions that were more focused on human application, like his prototypes for flaming swords and cloaking devices. For those he needed people to help him test out, so they could wait for later…

  Percy and Annabeth hadn’t moved. Leo realized they were staring at him. He stopped and stared back.

  Percy frowned. “Dude.”

  “What?”

  “You forgot?”

  Leo blinked, mentally scrambling. The past few days he’d been working on the sphere nearly nonstop, confident he’d been near finish. Did he miss something?

  At that moment, the door to Bunker 9 swung open. Piper walked in, grinning. She was dressed in a stylish jacket over a cocktail dress, a far cry from Leo’s greasy Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

  She skipped over to them. “Ya’ll ready?”

  Something ticked in the back of Leo’s head, but he still couldn’t get it.

  “What?”

  Piper’s face immediately fell, which made him feel like a tool.

  Annabeth sighed in a very long-suffering way. “We’re going to see the new Tristan McLean movie today. You know, the one Piper got her dad to send premier tickets for?”

  Leo concentrated hard. He thought he could recall that conversation, but it was hazy and felt like a fever dream, blurred in the past few days of metalworking.

  “Oh. Is that today?”

  Piper crossed her arms, her good mood long gone. Leo sheepishly put down his tools. He supposed he should have realized something was up when Annabeth and Percy arrived at Bunker 9 with a change of clothes.

  “Yes. I can’t believe you forgot. You really need to get out more,” Piper said. She narrowed her eyes at him, exasperated. “And you haven't even prepared, have you? This is a movie premiere, Leo! You can’t even buy invites to these things.”

  “It’s okay Piper, relax. I mean, you know how hard he’s been working,” Percy came to his defense. He tried to placate Piper with a smile, his normally assured grin a little uneasy. “The movie doesn’t start until the afternoon, so we have some time. With you here, we can get Leo ready to go pretty quickly.”

  Leo winced. “Uh…actually…”

  Piper raised an eyebrow at him. She was frustrated right now, but Leo knew that real anger wouldn’t be far off. And when Piper got angry, her charmspeak would slip out whether she wanted to or not, which could get very problematic, mostly for him. Leo gulped.

  “Well, it’s just bad timing, Pipes,” Leo tried to sound apologetic. “I just finished the sphere, so there’s a lot of work I need to get started on.”

  Piper stared at him a moment as if wondering if he was serious. When she spoke, her voice was a cutting mix of irritation and disappointment. “Leo, we talked about this.”

  “I know, but I’m just too busy,” Leo said. “I don’t have a lot of time right now–”

  “You’re always busy!” Piper complained. “You’re always working on something new. You can’t keep using that excuse.”

  He frowned. “It’s not an excuse. I know you guys don’t understand my inventions and stuff, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important.”

  Leo must have sounded more hurt than he expected, because Piper paused and looked taken aback at his tone. She began backtracking.

  “I didn’t say it was, I just meant…” Piper sighed. “Leo, you haven’t left camp in months. And you don’t really hang out with others even while you’re at camp. You just spend most of your time here or in the Hephaestus Cabin.”

  “I mean, yeah. So?” Leo shrugged. “I’ve had a lot to work on the whole time.”

  Piper threw up her hands. “But it’s like you keep dodging it. Would it kill you to spend some time with your friends?”

  Leo frowned, taken aback. “I mean—”

  Annabeth cut in, looking concerned. “Leo, do you even want to go with us?”

  “What? Of course!”

  “Doesn’t really look like it,” Percy pointed out.

  Leo wrung his hands nervously. His skin was getting uncomfortably warm. “I do want to. But I just…”

  It wasn’t like he didn’t want to hang out with his best friends. That was ridiculous! But Leo wasn’t exactly a chummy-chummy guy either.

  “I’m just not as excited about these things as you guys, okay? There’s so much to do.”

  His dad often said machines were easier and more comfortable than people, and many times Leo had agreed. But this wasn’t about that right now. Leo would gladly watch a movie with his friends on any normal day of the week. Unfortunately, with the constant stakes of, y’know, the end of the world, Leo simply didn’t feel like normal days were all that common.

  “What, so we’re not as exciting as…working on all this?” Piper doubtfully gestured to the Bunker.

  He grimaced immediately. “No, that’s not…”

  Leo was getting a little frustrated. Couldn’t they see how important this was? The sooner he was able to make his inventions, the more he could do. The more people he might save, the more disasters they could stop, and the closer he would get to finding that island.

  “Dude, this has been in the plans,” Percy said. “If you didn’t want to, you could have at least told us—”

  Looking back on it, Leo wasn’t sure what part set him off. But he had been bottling up his emotions without even realizing it. And like glass, the wall didn’t break slowly. It shattered all at once.

  “That’s not what I meant, okay?!” Leo exploded. Literally, a wave of heat burst out from him, and embers formed on his ragged clothes. “But I can’t just drop this. Have we forgotten that there’s a war coming? Huh?!”

  “Of course not!” Annabeth denied. “But worrying over it isn’t going to help. It’s okay to take time to relax and spend time with the people close to you.”

  “Yeah, I get it, it must be easy for all of you,” Leo shook his head slowly. He felt like his eyes were melting. “You all have your ‘significant others’, and you don’t have to worry about being alone or being unwanted. It’s never a problem for you!”

  Piper looked scandalized. “Leo, you’re our friend too! We’re not–we would never try to exclude you.”

  Leo swiped at his nose. “I know, but that’s not the point. But at some point, I’m not trying to intrude on Annabeth and Percy when they’re making goo-goo eyes at each other. I don’t want to bother you, Pipes, when you’re on a call with Jason. You guys deserve that time with each other, but I don’t have that luxury. My destiny’s on an island that no man finds twice, with a girl that doesn’t even remember I exist!”

  Percy flinched, but Leo barely noticed. He rounded back toward Annabeth, out of breath but still ranting. “So how am I supposed to ‘relax’, Annabeth? When I couldn’t get back to her last time, when I left her behind while Gaia destroyed the world?”

  “That’s not your fault, Leo,” Percy’s voice was still level, calm. Somehow, it didn’t comfort Leo. “But I understand that you want to change it…I feel the same about a lot of things. But these things take time. Burning yourself out isn’t going to help anyone, so why—”

  “Because if I don’t find her I’ve failed, Percy! You don’t get it! I have to! I promised!” Leo howled.

  Flames began pouring from Leo, but he couldn’t stop them. Neither could he stop the torrent of words from his mouth, pent-up thoughts spilling out hot and angry.

  “And if I don’t do everything I can right now to make progress toward getting her off Ogygia, I’m wasting my stupid, worthless time!”

  His voice echoed through the hall. For a moment, the only noise was the fading reverb. Then, the Bunker rumbled dangerously.

  And the fiery furnace below their feet burst to the surface.