The first time he was accused as a thief, Percy was offended.

  He understood it better now, with his memories of the situation. But he was still very much so offended.

  It had been a week since Percy and Annabeth had ‘woken up’, and things were getting a little overwhelming. Percy had been claimed again, and they both knew what that meant. They would be leaving Camp soon.

  Fortunately, it wasn’t hard to distract himself from the upcoming quest. Things were very strange. Camp Half-Blood was bright and lively, and Percy couldn’t help but stare at everything and everyone, trying to process that they were here, alive and well.

  And don’t even get him started on Luke fricking Castellan. Seeing him again was like being doused in Phelgthon water. Luke had smiled like nothing was wrong as he led Percy into the Hermes cabin. Like he wasn’t getting dreams of Kronos telling him to betray the gods. Like he didn’t steal the Master Bolt just months ago.

  He had looked healthy. His scar wasn’t as brooding. His face wasn’t plagued with guilt or hatred. Percy had forgotten what that actually looked like. It was surprisingly refreshing, but also very unnerving.

  “It’s weird, isn’t it?” As if reading his mind, Annabeth leaned her head on his shoulder as they stared at the canoes floating across the lake. Percy dipped his feet into the water, swinging them back and forth.

  “It really is.” Percy sighed wistfully. “Our first quest.”

  “Yep.” Annabeth nodded, playing with her bronze knife. It had been lost in Tartarus, but now the cursed blade was back in her hands. Percy wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  “You, me, and Grover. Just like old times.” Percy paused, and shrugged. “Well, I guess this is the old times.”

  “It’ll be easier now.” Annabeth reassured. “We know who stole the Master Bolt this time…and where it is.”

  “We still have to go to the Underworld though. My mom’s still down there…” Percy quietly reminded, and she placed her hand over his gently.

  “We’ll save her. We’ll save as many as we can this time.” Annabeth said with a glint in her eyes.

  Percy looked at her steely gaze, knowing what she was thinking. He took a deep breath. He still didn’t know how to feel about Luke and Annabeth…but if Percy could save him, he had to at least try. He owed it to Luke for…for being the hero of the prophecy. “If we can stop Luke from going to Kronos, we could avoid the Titan War altogether.”

  Annabeth nodded, evidently grateful Percy had come to this decision. For a moment, they silently sat together above the water, a moment of tranquil peace for two heroes who lived through death and war.

  “Percy!” Unfortunately, it didn’t last as long as he hoped it would. Grover ran over to them, looking worried and excited at the same time. His hooves clip-clopped across the deck as he reached them. “Chiron’s asking for you.”

  Percy reluctantly stood, the moment broken. This was the first quest, the first big chance the change things for the better.

  It was prophecy time.

  After a quick discussion with Chiron and Dionysus (Zeus was still crazy for just assuming Percy was the thief, in his very non-biased opinion), Percy trudged up to the attic of the Big House, and found himself standing in front of the mummified corpse of the Oracle.

  He definitely preferred Rachel to this husk.

  A hiss came from the corpse, and green smoke poured out of her mouth as the Oracle croaked out, “You shall go west and face the god who has turned. You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned.”

  Percy nodded. Percy knew this. He remembered it. And he wasn’t going to let it trouble him so much this time. He could do this.

  “...Haunted by failure and a broken dream,

  Fail to save the one you wish to redeem.”

  He could just hear the Fates cackling at him. Percy was going to find them and throw the stupid tripod chair at them.

  Percy gaped at the stupid mummy as the smoke receded and the husk fell silent and limp. He kept staring, hoping that it would say something, anything.

  Nothing.

  Plan A, out the window.

  Frank wondered if this was the right choice. Coming to Camp Jupiter was a decision he made after a lot of tough thinking and discussion with the rest of the Seven. In the end, they had agreed it might be good in the long run. The Romans didn’t have as much turbulence in the Titan War as the Greeks. If Frank showed up early, there wouldn’t be as many unknowns they had to deal with.

  “Hey, Frank.” Jason walked into the barracks with a bounce in his step, surprising Frank with his chipperness. “We have war games after dinner today. Ready for your first impression?”

  He shrugged half-heartedly. “If it’s anything like my last War Game, it might be the wrong type of impression.”

  Jason raised an eyebrow. “Your last war game? You never told me about that.”

  Frank explained to him how he, Hazel, and Percy had routed the base of the First and Second on a siege game. He nostalgically recounted Hazel charging in on Hannibal and grinned as he remembered Percy blowing up the water cannons. They shared a laugh as Frank detailed the priceless looks of shock from the First and Second cohorts. It wasn’t that long ago, but it felt like the good ol’ days to Frank.

  “That was all your idea?” Jason seemed pleasantly surprised as Frank finished. “That’s a great strategy.”

  “It only worked because of Hazel and Percy.” Frank deflected.

  “Don’t sell yourself short,” Jason shook his head with a smile. “A good leader knows his allies' strengths and how to use them in a team. You’re a great praetor.”

  Frank dipped his head slightly, hiding his smile. “I’m not praetor anymore, though.”

  “It’ll happen eventually.” Jason pointed out. “I think you’ll be Centurion again soon, honestly.”

  Frank couldn’t help but frown at that, remembering how he became a centurion last time. Did he really deserve that first promotion? If anything, it only happened because Mars showed up and intimidated everyone into making him an officer. To this day, he was a little bitter about all that happening on his birthday . Honestly, Frank didn’t think he achieved the rank of Centurion legitimately.

  “-nk. Frank, you there?” Jason waved a hand in his face, surprising him out of his stupor. “You okay? You zoned out for a bit.”

  Frank blinked a few times, before nodding quickly. “Yeah, just…had a thought.”

  It had taken a long time for Frank to find confidence in himself and step up to leadership, and he knew he had to do it again. Frank still remembered commanding the legion in its final moments, doing everything they could to slow down Gaia’s army of monsters pouring into New Rome.

  Almost the entire legion had died that day when Gaia invaded Camp Jupiter. If Frank had been a better strategist, a better commander, maybe he could have prevented it. Frank had spent a lot of time feeling inadequate and deferring to other people instead of putting forth his own ideas. If he had accepted his role as a leader earlier, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out so badly.

  “Is it about Hazel?” Jason asked after a moment, dropping his volume.

  Frank jumped slightly, feeling incredibly guilty, even though there was no accusation in Jason’s tone. “Um…yeah.”

  Frank sighed, upset at himself for forgetting about Hazel, even momentarily. He pictured her sitting alone in the Fields of Asphodel and felt his chest ache.

  He had spent most of the journey to Camp thinking of ways to get her out but came up blank. Frank missed her dearly, but he was having no luck coming up with an idea, and it was killing him. “I want to bring her back as soon as possible, but…”

  Jason nodded sympathetically. “We all do. Even if we don’t know how yet, we will bring her back.”

  Frank clenched his fists tightly. Despite his inability to help Hazel, he didn’t want to feel hopeless in his power. He had doubted himself so often during the Giant War, and that hesitation had almost killed him and his friends time and time again.

  He wouldn’t doubt himself anymore; he couldn’t afford to. For a chance to save the world, Frank had to give it his all and do everything he could this time around, starting with actually becoming the Centurion of the Fifth.

  And eventually, as Jason said, they would bring Hazel back no matter what. They needed her. He needed her.

  Jason glanced at Frank’s clenched fists, watching them tremble slightly. He hesitated in saying something, knowing what must be going through Frank’s mind at the moment. He missed Hazel too and was determined to bring her back, but Frank most definitely had a reason to feel more intense about it.

  Jason just hoped he wouldn’t become desperate. He had seen and heard from experience how that could affect someone (cough, Nico, cough). “W-we could Iris Message her, if you want.”

  Frank looked like he wanted to say yes, but he hesitated. “Will that work for us? Don’t you need a drachma or something?”

  “We can use denarii.” Jason pointed out, fishing out one from his pocket. Unlike Camp Half-Blood, New Rome needed a form of currency, and the gold-and-silver Roman coins had sufficed for centuries.

  Frank still seemed apprehensive and conflicted, and Jason wasn’t sure why. But he still nodded, and Jason decided not to press.

  One quick trip to the Little Tiber later, Jason sent a spray of water into the air with the wind, and Frank tossed a denarius in the rainbow that formed. Jason focused on keeping the mist going, as Frank quietly said, “Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Hazel Levesque in the Underworld.”

  One shimmer. Two shimmers. Jason was about to wonder if it had failed when the rainbow morphed into an image. Suddenly, he saw a dark (or as dark as it could be in a rainbow) field with poplar trees. Sitting alone under the one right ahead was a cinnamon-brown-haired girl staring blankly ahead with sad golden eyes.

  Frank immediately spoke first, voice filled with…Jason wasn’t sure, actually. Relief? Regret? Maybe longing? “Hazel!”

  She jumped slightly with a startled yelp. “Who’s—Frank?! Jason!”

  “You doing okay, Hazel?” Jason asked, not even trying to keep his concern out of his voice.

  “I’m okay.” Hazel nodded, though she looked dismayed. “Percy and Annabeth called me…a while ago.”

  “I’m sorry for not calling earlier…I wish we could help you get out, Hazel.” Frank said sadly, and Jason nodded his assent.

  “It’s alright.” Hazel smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m…I’m pretty used to waiting at this point.”

  Frank frowned, and Jason was reminded that this wasn’t Hazel’s first time having to go through something like this. “You shouldn’t have to, though. I don’t want you to have to wait at all.”

  If anything, Hazel only seemed more dismayed when he said that. She mumbled something under her breath, looking away.

  Jason exchanged a worried look with Frank. Hazel usually wasn’t like this. She was kind and brave, and tried hard to comfort others when they felt down. Throughout their entire quest, Hazel was the most hopeful of the Seven, even when all seemed lost. When it came to their past, she easily had the worst. Jason had seen many people lose themselves and become cold due to past suffering. But Hazel never let her past bring her down, and it seemed she only became more determined and brave because of it.

  It was weird to see Hazel in despair. Frank was deep in thought as well, and if anyone knew what Hazel was thinking, it would be him.

  “Hazel, it’s not your fault.” Frank slowly said.

  Oh. Oh. Frank was worried Hazel was still blaming herself for Gaia. Maybe even blaming herself for raising Alcyoneus so long ago. How could she not, when they saw the world end before their eyes, by her hands?

  Hazel seemed to understand too, wiping at her eyes discreetly. “I–I know. I’m just…tired of being alone again. I–I wish I could be with you guys right now.”

  “We do too.” Jason assured. Hazel got the short straw out of them. Even when she got sent back, she was still dead, and worse, alone.

  Why did the kindest people always suffer the most?

  Frank put on a brave face. “I want you with us as soon as possible, Hazel. But until then, I’m going to give it my all here. The Fifth will be in good hands for you.”

  To their relief, this drew a small smile from her. “I’m not the centurion anymore though.”

  “You’ll be the Fifth’s centurion again.” Jason wasn’t surprised at how sure he was. He knew just what his friends were capable of. He grinned at Frank. “Though by the time you get back, Frank might have already taken that spot.”

  The boy in question looked awkward at the expectation, his moment of bravado quickly replaced by embarrassment. “Um…well, that’s the plan, anyway.”

  Hazel giggled slightly, her bright smile chasing away the gloom. There it is. “That would be nice to see.”

  “Then I’ll make it happen.” Frank promised, smiling as well.

  “We’ll keep calling you, Hazel.” Jason added. “Update you on Frank’s progress.”

  “Don’t wait long.” Hazel smiled half-heartedly. “Time feels slower here. Or maybe it’s just all the waiting. I have nothing to do.”

  Frank nodded so fast that Jason thought his head would fall off. “We’ll tell the others. We’re going to be calling you so much you’ll be sick of it.”

  Hazel’s smile was now real, full of joy. “I’ll look forward to it!”

  The sun was going down when they ended their conversation, and Jason and Frank hurried back to the barracks to get ready for dinner. They had missed some drills, and they definitely were going to suffer for it tomorrow. But that was a problem for another time.

  Since not five minutes went by after their conversation with Hazel ended, Annabeth called them. Frank noticed it first. “Annabeth? Is something wrong?”

  “Can’t we just call you because we feel like it?” After a moment of seeing their expressions, she sighed. “It’s all over my face, huh?”

  Jason carefully considered his words. “You have a very distinct anxious face, Annabeth.”

  “Shut up, Grace.” She rolled her eyes. “You remember Plan A of stopping the Titan War?”

  He nodded. It centered around Annabeth and Percy’s friend who betrayed them, hosted Kronos, and eventually killed Kronos. His name was Luke, if he remembered correctly. The plan was simple: convince him not to betray them for Kronos in the first place.

  What could go wrong? “What happened?”

  “The prophecy for our quest—you know, the one to get the Master Bolt back—changed.”

  Frank stepped back, wide-eyed. “I didn’t know they could do that.”

  “We are trying to change fate.” Annabeth pointed out, but she seemed frustrated as well. “But I don’t like the idea of our prophecies changing. That could cause a lot of trouble for us.”

  Jason thought about the quests he’d have to go through in the future. From what he knew, Camp Jupiter didn’t get as many prophecies as Camp Half-Blood. But the possibility of what he knew of the past not being true was definitely worrying.

  “What changed?”

  Annabeth sighed, reciting the words like she had been repeating them over and over again. Which knowing her, she might have been. “The last two lines were changed to: ‘Haunted by failure and a broken dream, fail to save the one you wish to redeem.’ According to Percy.”

  Jason was silent for a second. “Can’t get much clearer than that.”

  “Percy’s not taking it very well. Neither am I, actually.” She looked away, distraught. Jason didn’t know how much this Luke meant to them, but it was obvious they really wanted to save him, and now their hope was shaken. “We’re still going to try, but Kronos, or Saturn, he’s got a good chance of rising again.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “We’ve beat him before.” Jason pointed out. “And now we got Leo, Piper, and Frank. We can do this, with or without prophecies.”

  “Y-yeah. You’re right.” Annabeth nodded, looking conflicted. “I just…I just thought maybe we could...”

  “We can’t solve everything, Annabeth.” Frank reminded her gently.

  “I know. But I…I really wanted to.” She said wistfully. “It’s fine. We’re not going to worry about the prophecy right now. We have other issues to deal with, after all.”

  Frank nodded affirmatively, but Jason thought of everyone he lost during the Titan War. He remembered many of their deaths vividly, and tried not to imagine them dying again, Jason failing to save them once more.

  If fate told him he couldn’t save them this time either, then was there a point in sending him back at all?

  When the bus blew up again, Percy had to wonder if this quest was cursed to be unnecessarily difficult for him. Despite knowing that the Furies would intercept their bus ride, and trying their best to get off quickly, they couldn’t get past the three ugly hags. So, things very quickly devolved into chaos, which was unfortunately quite typical for them.

  He may have started it this time. But that wasn’t important.

  Their fight didn’t last long, since of course, Zeus couldn’t keep his trigger-happy hands off his lightning bolts (Or maybe it was Kronos. Who knows).

  “Out out out!” Percy screamed, jumping away from the bus as he felt all the hairs on his body stand up.

  “Our bags! We left them in–”

  KABOOOOOM!

  A crack of thunder cut Grover off, and a white-hot lightning bolt blinded them and shredded the bus, sending glass and metal debris everywhere. People were screaming, the bus was burning, and Percy was pretty sure his old math teacher survived the explosion when an angry demonic wail joined the harmonic sounds of destruction and terror.

  Annabeth just sighed, blowing the hair out of her face. “Well, that didn’t change.”

  “All three kindly ones.” Grover murmured, in slight disbelief.

  “All going after me, of course.” Percy grumbled.

  “I’m sure they’re big fans,” Annabeth turned away from the bus, ignoring the screaming bystanders. “We should go. With this kind of show, we’ve just alerted every monster in a five-mile radius.”

  They dove into the dark woods without further hesitation, leaving the flaming chaos behind them. They trudged past the trees as the rain turned the dirt to mud, splattering their shoes. if he remembered correctly, it would be miles of walking through this mush.

  “Why’d you jump ahead and start the fight like that?” Annabeth suddenly said, looking at him disapprovingly. “You could have gotten yourself killed.”

  Percy raised his hands defensively. “They were going to attack us anyway. Besides, I was fine.”

  “Almost sliced like sandwich bread.” Grover added. “But fine.”

  “You have to be careful, Percy.” Annabeth shook her head at him. “Don’t you dare get yourself killed already.”

  There was an underlying tone to her voice, and Percy softened. “Yeah, okay. Sorry.”

  Annabeth shook her head. “Seaweed brain. Always so reckless.”

  She turned away and kept walking, but Percy didn’t miss the fondness in her voice. He couldn’t help but grin, ignoring Grover’s questioning gaze. “Anyway, Grover. You said you were looking for Pan, right? Could you tell me more about that?”

  They kept walking straight ahead as Grover explained (‘Why would Pan be underground, Percy?’), letting Annabeth lead them through the woods. Percy wondered if Annabeth remembered the path to that place, or if fate would bring them to their next spot no matter what.

  Either way, it seemed pretty clear Percy was going to have to kill his dad’s ex-girlfriend. Again.

  Annabeth couldn’t help but give a half-laugh, half-scoff. “Are you actually sending them that?!”

  The again part went unsaid, but one glance at his cheeky grin told her that he knew what she meant. Percy wrapped the box one last time with duct tape, giving it an approving pat like he was petting a dog. “Yep. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  Grover snorted in amusement, until he realized he was supposed to be disapproving and went back to frowning. “I mean, they could send you to Tartarus.”

  It took everything she had not to flinch. Percy didn’t have the same control, and noticeably winced, though he hid it quickly with a smile. “Come on, G-man. For sending them a gift? I’m giving them my best wishes. Besides, we can’t just leave her head lying around.”

  “They’ll think you’re impertinent.” Annabeth pointed out, pushing away the memories of hellfire and darkness. They didn't need to dwell on that. Not now.

  “I am impertinent.” Percy just smiled at her, as if he knew how she would react, which he did. “It’s one of my most attractive qualities.”

  Annabeth melted a little there, but you would never know from the way she scoffed at him. “Right up there with drooling in your sleep, I’m sure.”

  “Paying attention, aren’t we?”

  Grover’s head turned back and forth as if he was watching a competitive tennis match. He broke their pseudo-flirting banter with a cough. “Um, Percy, at best they’ll think you’re impertinent. Zeus thinks you stole the bolt, and that you shouldn’t exist. Sending him Medusa’s head could make him zap you on the spot, even if we do get the bolt.”

  “Terrifying.” Percy didn’t seem all that concerned as he dropped a few drachmas into the pouch, signing off the delivery slip with a sharpie. “Voila!”

  They looked at the box together, Percy marveling as his work floated up into the air and disappeared with a pop, off to Mount Olympus. Grover just sighed, defeated, while Annabeth met Percy’s unironically joyful gaze.

  This was it. These were the moments they were sent back to save. Moments between friends, moments of happiness. Moments of ticking the gods off.

  All great things, really.

  Jason stretched as he walked toward his barracks. He was getting off later than everyone else, finishing up the last bits of cleanup from War Games. The other cohorts always left the Fifth to do the worst parts, after all.

  Everyone was gone by now, but Jason had gotten an earful from his centurion because of missing drills. Somehow, Frank had gotten away unscathed, but Jason had no such luxury.

  Right now, he had just finished showering and was ready to hit the hay. But he paused at the door when he heard voices coming from the other side of the building.

  “—I just can’t stop thinking about it.” That was Frank. What was he doing?

  “Hey, I get it man. It sucks. Being a hero means a lot of the time things are going to suck.” Oh, Jason knew that voice. He knew it very well. “I mean, my girlfriend’s trapped alone on an island that no one even knows where it is, AND she doesn’t even remember me.”

  “Is this a competition now?” Frank sounded annoyed but also amused. Only a few people had that constant kind of effect.

  Jason rounded the corner to see Frank talking to a shining image of the one and only Super-sized McShizzle—er, Leo Valdez.

  “Pshaw! I would never!” Leo denied, and and a grin broke out across his face when he spotted Jason behind Frank (coupled with overly dramatic wide eyes). “I’m the humblest, least competitive demigod out there. Jason can vouch for me, right dude?”

  Jason just smiled back at his best friend. “Good to see you, Leo. Should I be jealous that you called Frank before me?”

  “I was going to!” Leo smirked. “But I had an idea on how to bring Hazel back, so I decided to run it by Frank first.”

  “What?” Jason’s attention was drawn away from the conversation he just heard very quickly. “You’re serious? What did you find?”

  “You want to tell him?” Leo gestured at Frank, who looked uncomfortable.

  “Leo thinks that we can use the Keys of Pluto–or, Hades in this case–to bring Hazel back.” Frank hesitated. “I’ve never heard of them though.”

  “Trust me, they exist.” Leo assured, tinkering with something in his hands. “Hades uses them to open and close life and death itself. If anything can bring Hazel back, they can.”

  Jason frowned, and Frank looked unsure as well. It wasn’t like they didn’t trust Leo, but the whole idea didn’t feel sound. Especially considering they’d have to somehow get those items from the God of the Underworld himself. Weren’t Percy and Annabeth on a quest right now because some demigod did exactly such a thing?

  “If you don’t like the idea, that’s fine.” Leo shrugged. “We could always do what Gaia did. Anyone want to go find and capture Thanatos?”

  Frank and Jason looked at each other for a second, before Frank shrugged in acceptance. “Sounds like our best lead right now. What’s your plan?”

  “I don’t think we can use the Keys themselves.” Leo tapped his chin with a screwdriver. “Too much magic and stuff for me to figure out. But if we could take one key and implement it into a catalyst, we could exert the key’s power through basic usage. We’d just need a way to wire it in, so to say.”

  He looked at the two of them expectantly. They looked back, also expectantly. Eventually, Frank broke the silence with a deadpan tone, “Try again.”

  Leo rolled his eyes. “Fine. We gotta put the key into something easier to use. That way we can actually use the key’s power without, I dunno, burning up or something.”

  “You can’t burn though.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Jason thought for a second. “So, if you were to make a machine and put the key in it, we could revive people.”

  Frank now had a growing hopeful look on his face, connecting the dots of such a possibility. “Is that possible?”

  “Isn’t that what we’ve been discussing this whole time?” Leo asked in exasperation. “I thought we understood this five minutes ago.”

  “Well, you thought wrong.” Frank dryly responded. “You should probably run this by Annabeth. She and Percy are heading to the Underworld right now.”

  Jason agreed. “They’ll know what to do with this information.”

  “I will do that.” Leo nodded to both of them. “I know I’m not the best with people, but I can’t wait to see all of you in the flesh. Even you, Frank.”

  “Huh?”

  “He’s kidding. Right, Leo?” Jason raised an eyebrow at his friend, who just laughed it off.

  “All jokes, all jokes.” A more devious grin spread across his face as the little mechanic turned to Jason. “Gotta give Beauty Queen a call, man.”

  “Um, I was going to.” Jason frowned, a little confused at the sudden change of subject. “But it’s not like she’s called either.”

  Leo looked at him like he was an idiot. “That’s because she’s waiting for you to call her first, dude!”

  “Huh? Why would she do that?” Jason was starting to feel a little uneasy. Why did he feel like he had just messed up horribly?

  “Jason, he’s right.” Frank’s look told more than his words. Even the Canadian was looking at him like he had completely lost his mind. And now Jason was beginning to panic.

  “Okay! I will call her as soon as I can tomorrow, when there’s sunlight.” Jason quickly responded. What would Piper say when he finally called her? Would she be disappointed or angry because he took so long? Leo and Frank sure thought so…was Jason supposed to be this nervous about this?

  He thought about it for way too long as he lay in his bed that night, trying to calm himself down. It was just Piper. Even if she wasn’t his girlfriend, she was one of his closest friends. It would be fine.

  Camp Half-Blood was supposed to be Piper’s happy place. Where she could relax, remember the good times, and not worry about being attacked by monsters all the time.

  Call it nostalgia blinding her, but Piper may have forgotten some other problems that came with this arrangement.

  Piper stared at the mirror, annoyed even though she knew exactly what happened. First thing in the morning, Piper found herself with perfect makeup, braided hair, and even lipstick applied so much that it made her lips shine red.

  “What the hell, mom?” She grumbled, washing off the lipstick immediately in the sink. “I’m eleven years old right now!”

  Actually, with the makeup, she looked a lot older than she really was, which Piper did not fail to see the irony in. She glared at her annoying beautiful eyes in the mirror. Was it just her, or was she glowing a little bit?

  She dared the lipstick to come back. Fortunately, it didn’t reapply itself, but Piper still groaned and flopped face-down back on her bed, deciding to wash the rest off later. She ignored Drew’s annoyed look as the other girl took her place in the bathroom.

  “Mom’s blessing is already wearing off? Usually, it takes at least a few days.”

  Piper lifted her head from the blankets to look at Silena Beauregard, thankfully. Most others in the Aphrodite Cabin would have said that with hidden jealousy or mocking, but not her head counselor. She was effortlessly pretty, but unlike Drew, didn’t hold it above others or boast about it. She was welcoming and friendly, which in Piper’s opinion, only brought her beauty out more.

  Piper ran a hand through her hair, then felt it pop back into place. “Not wearing off quick enough.”

  Silena just laughed at her grumbling, ruffling her hair as well (only for it to return to place immediately). “Not many others would complain about Mom’s blessing like you do.”

  “Can’t she find another way to claim her children?” Piper took a pillow and buried her face in it, muffling her complaining.

  “You know what will cheer you up?” Silena smiled, lifting Piper’s pillow off her face. “Breakfast!”

  Silena was correct, of course, but Piper left quickly after someone started throwing food. Someone she wasn’t going to name–actually, Piper didn’t care, it was Drew–made a comment about how stupid Annabeth was to go on a quest when they already knew Percy had stolen the Master Bolt. Piper was about to throw something at her (preferably something to mess up her hair) when the Athena cabin overheard her and took major offense for her insult.

  If it was just them, maybe things wouldn’t have gone so wrong. But then Luke got involved, which meant the Hermes cabin got involved, and then suddenly food was flying everywhere. The last thing Piper saw was Annabeth’s brother Malcolm shoving a waffle in Drew’s face while Silena tried helplessly to control the situation.

  She couldn’t help but laugh at the image, but also didn’t want to get hit by a stray pancake, so Piper hightailed it out of the pavilion, walking toward the canoe lake. When the sounds of yelling and splattering food died down, then she would go back.

  Until then, the lakeside was nice and peaceful. Piper breathed in deeply, watching the wind sweep leaves onto the surface of the lake, sending ripples left and right. She understood why Percy and Annabeth often were here. It was very relaxing, and great to get away from all the chaos.

  Piper thought about Gaia, how she would destroy all this and not even lose her calm smile. How she would destroy nature and let lives fall by the thousands. She thought about how hard they fought, and what they needed to do to fight harder and win.

  But mostly, Piper thought about what she did. How her voice was completely useless in the end, barely even fazing Gaia. She screamed and yelled at the Earth Mother, each charmspoken word usually doing no more than catching her attention. That was all she could do, and it wasn’t enough.

  When Piper was thrown by Gaia into the mast of the Argo II, her first thought was realizing that she was going to die. Her second thought was remembering Khione’s words that felt so long ago, on that very deck they were fighting and dying on.

  What will you do to stop us, Piper? A hero? Ha! You are a joke!”

  It had hurt then, and as Piper felt her life leaving her broken bones, it had hurt as well. What a sad last thought to have, honestly.

  Piper clenched her hands. She wasn’t a joke. She wasn’t useless.

  But she wasn’t sure if she was strong enough either.

  “I know that look, Pipes.” A voice from behind her said, and she whirled around.

  “My I’m-not-good-enough face? My I’m-useless-by-myself face?” Piper didn’t mean to sound so bitter, but Jason didn’t seem bothered.

  His Iris-Message rainbow flickered in front of him, and he just smiled at her. “We all know that you are anything but useless, Pipes.”

  “Hmph.” Piper just shrugged. Maybe she wasn’t useless. But she sure wasn’t enough to stop Gaia. “Anyway, so what are you calling for?”

  Jason looked a little embarrassed, and a little confused. “Um…to apologize? For not calling earlier?”

  Piper looked at him blankly, before laughing in realization. “Wait, were you worried that I wasn’t happy with you because you didn’t call me earlier?”

  “That’s what Leo and Frank implied!” Jason flushed, looking like a child caught stealing in the cookie jar. “I mean, did you not want me to call you?”

  “Oh, you have no idea how much I’ve missed your face, stapler scar and all.” Piper teased, but she scooted closer to the image, tucking a braid behind her ear, her day instantly better. Jason looked at her face with an odd expression, but didn’t comment on her magic makeup.

  “You made it to Camp Half-Blood already?”

  “Yep. Just a few days ago.” Piper nodded. “How’s Camp Jupiter been?”

  Oddly enough, Jason seemed hesitant to talk about that. “Not…not as well as I thought it would be. Frank just arrived, so it’s been better, but…I feel like I've forgotten some of the parts I didn’t like about Camp Jupiter, and now they’re all coming back.”

  Piper pondered on that point a little bit. Jason had talked to her about this at length, but she didn’t know how far that extended. And she definitely didn’t realize it would trouble him this much. “How so?”

  So Jason explained to her how he was uncomfortable being the ‘golden boy’, the perfect soldier, especially when they were so many power plays and infighting within the legion. He didn’t like how he was placed on a pedestal, and how others would look down on him because of the people Jason befriended, and the cohort he was in. Camp Jupiter was traditional, and they had always been. But that also meant the factionism and nepotism within Camp ran deep. Many new recruits had their careers based on what kind of recommendations they got, and that could determine their entire life in New Rome.

  Piper listened intently as he went on, feeling a sinking feeling in her chest. How had she not picked up on any of this earlier? The more Jason spoke, the more she understood why he was uncomfortable. It only made sense, from what she knew of Jason, who always wanted everyone to be equals and to be fair to each other. How could she have never known how he was feeling about Camp Jupiter?

  Because you never asked . A little voice told her, and Piper furrowed her brow. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to ask. Camp Jupiter had made her uncomfortable at first, when Jason referred to it as his home , and how much he wanted to return. She worried, irrationally, that he might leave her for it.

  Of course, that was ridiculous. But maybe she never asked because she never stopped worrying, even a just a little bit, that Jason might prefer Camp Jupiter over Piper McLean.

  Why would he? Their relationship had been first started with fake memories. He had history with Camp Jupiter, and if she wanted to get personal, with Reyna. Hera’s shenanigans and Aphrodite’s manipulations had pushed them together, but after months of time spent together at Camp Half-Blood before the quest, Piper felt like it didn’t matter.

  But maybe that was naive of her.

  “I think legion itself is strong and ready.” Jason noted, moving on from his feelings to what he and Frank have been doing at Camp. “Frank’s been really promising, of course. I think we’ll be much better prepared for the Titan War.”

  Piper bit her lip, wondering if she should ask. It might completely throw her relationship with Jason off the rails, but in the end she couldn’t help herself. “Jason, do you ever think about our relationship? About…about what it means for us. I–I think we need to talk about it.”

  Jason stiffened, his eyes flashing briefly before it smoothed over, a practiced Roman neutral look. She winced. Piper hated that look, but it meant Jason had a suspicion of what was going on.

  Of course he would. Even though she was trying to distract by letting him talk on and asking questions, he would never miss her looking so down, so stiff and tense when she normally would be much more receptive to her boyfriend and best friend.

  “I–I mean, we never had a history. Hera brought us together, and it’s–it’s confusing me.” She hated how she was stammering. The least Piper could do was to tell him this straight. “I had no idea about any of the stuff you were struggling through, even though I should have. I feel like–like I don’t know you as much as I think I do.”

  “It’s not your fault you didn’t know.” Jason quietly responded, a careful look in his eyes. “But I understand being confused. At times, it was hard distinguishing what I wanted, from what Hera wanted, or what Aphrodite wanted.”

  He looked at her, and Piper felt a jolt run through her body even though he was actually thousands of miles away. “For me, Piper…I’ve realized what they want and what I want both overlap on one part: you. And if it’s you in the center, then I can work with everything else they throw at me.”

  Piper sniffed, feeling tears slip out of her eyes. She angrily wiped them away. “Why are you being so nice right now? I should have asked you about your problems! I was too focused on my own problems to worry about yours! I still confused our real memories together with the fake ones!”

  “I don’t want to continue like this, Jason.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I feel like if I keep going down this road, I’m just going to get more and more confused, and not even know if I still love you anymore. I don’t want to force our relationship, and I definitely don’t want to go through some awkward break-up where we stayed together for way too long.”

  Jason was silent for a moment, holding his feelings together, remaining calm. Piper suspected he was doing that for her, letting her spill her feelings out onto him, letting himself be the punching bag. “If that’s how you feel, Pipes, then you should do what you need to do. I just want you to be happy.”

  “I think what we need to do…is start over. That first night at the Wilderness School under the stars…that never happened. But we can make new memories. We can have a fresh start, and write our own story.” Piper said forcefully, though Jason didn’t seem to need any incentive to pay more attention from how intently he was staring. “Not just for us, but for our friends too. Our lives before…that’s in the past. We need to make our story now, in the present. Make a real history this time.”

  She didn’t know where the idea had come from, but the more she spoke the more she felt sure about it. Not just for her and Jason, but for all her friends. Because as much as she could say about her and Jason’s relationship starting off suddenly, it was nothing compared to the Seven as a whole.

  She wanted things to be different, to be better for all of them. And they couldn’t be better if they didn’t have a strong foundation. Hera had thrown the Seven together abruptly, and while they had become a team, there was never true history that bonded them all together. Their friendship was made over shared struggle, loss, and despair. While it did eventually make them as close as a family, it wasn’t what Piper wanted for them. It hurt too much, for all of them. Too often it resulted in nightmares that stole their sleep and their hope.

  Piper wanted her friends to be close in their happiness, as well as their sorrow. If they weren’t, then Leo would still continue to hide his emotions with humor. Percy and Annabeth would still avoid talking about Tartarus and the nightmares from it. And Piper…Piper would still fail to see Jason for who he really was, and feel terrible about it.

  “A fresh start.” Jason echoed, a look of wonder dawning across his face. “I…I like it. You didn’t use any charmspeak on me, did you?”

  “Nope. Just faith and confidence.”

  He smiled, and Piper couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief at the Roman neutral mask fading. She realized she just dumped all her emotional baggage onto him, and Jason had taken it in stride despite how it must have felt for him. Why did he have to be so perfect?

  Jason chuckled, a laugh filled with hope and longing, as he shook his head. Piper’s eyes traced every movement back and forth, from his hair glinting gold from the sun’s rays, to his blue eyes seemingly shining even brighter than ever, and…what was she supposed to be talking about again?

  “Then from this point on, we’ll make our own history, Pipes.” He looked at her with electrifying eyes, bright with confidence, and Piper felt her face heating up. “Jason Grace, pleased to meet you.”

  “Piper McLean.” Her voice was like a whisper. She was definitely red. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

  ‘So they have decided on a fresh start. A new story to write, a new history to make.

  And eventually, a new future to fulfill. One where the heroes will win and live happily ever after.

  After all, that is the goal of every story.

  What will they write anew? What new events shall they fill their stories with?’