I stretched my arms into the air, grunting as my back cracked.

Today was a good day, one of the few where I hadn't been woken by the sound of horns, or if on the off chance I managed to sleep through that, the excited shouting of demigods running past my cabin after breakfast. Looking out of the window, a thin blanket of snow-covered almost everything in sight, the Hephaestus cabin, and most probably the forges too, were the only exceptions. Knowing them, they probably had some sort of machine specifically made for such a task, cleaning it away before the sun could even get a chance to rise.

As I started getting dressed, I looked at the calendar hanging above my table which had once been the resting place of my bow, now covered in books abandoned mid-read.

The twenty-first of December.

Fuck, could time fly... Half a year had already gone by.

Half a year at camp, and I hadn't regretted a single day of it thus far.

The population of the camp ever since the start of the mortal school year was at an incredible low, making the campgrounds feel almost abandoned. Those that had stayed for winter were either no longer feeling obligated to continue their mortal lives, too dangerous to leave the borders of the camp or too old for school in the first place.

I couldn't help but smile as I spotted Des and Nico, building a snowman on the hill leading to my cabin. Pandora suddenly chirped inside her cage, my head whipping towards the sound. I realised she was just dreaming, sitting in her cage calmly.

Swinging my cloak over my shoulder, and making sure to button it up as best as I could, I opened the door and took my first step outside, leaving a fresh footprint in the pristine snow before my door. Despite its thinness, the cloak was an incredibly powerful tool against the cold, and I couldn't help but feel thankful for the gift once again.

After the fireworks on the fourth, I had been quick to adopt a new routine. One day I hone my skills as an archer with John and Chiron's help, on another, I train with Sam or Bruce, sometimes Sophia, learning how to use my swords properly.

I had gained a new respect for Sam, who had spent most of his spare time for an entire week just to learn how my weapons worked, using one of Rob's copies to figure out the perfect technique before teaching it to me. He was a powerful opponent, there was no doubt about it, but after my first two dozen attempts failed, I had finally managed to disarm him with a pair of celestial bronze copies of my swords. It was, to this day, one of my greater achievements, but it had been a short-lived victory, the combat instructor quickly switching back to his Xiphos, and continuously beating me since then. The last few duels I had with him though were really close, and only a tiny slip-up on my part was what had given him the upper hand.

As for my days off, I spent that time sitting in front of my mirror, talking with my father, who was willing to answer any question I had, though some of the answers were equally vague and clearly worded in such a way that he'd not go into any more detail about the topic. Most importantly, I was being taught how to use my new powers, mainly how to control chaos. It was incredibly tiring work, but I had reached a point where I could fluidly use it in combat as an extension of my body, though after using it in battle, I'd definitely need a lie-down.

The strength of chaos was something he had been extremely careful to explain properly. Me getting a cut from any weapon made of chaos metal or chaos? No problem at all, one of the perks of being the son of the deity who ruled over the stuff, but anyone else? Even a small flesh wound could have life-threatening potential, only me being able to help them out by healing them.

Then there was Pandora, my most loyal companion. During my lonelier hours, she was the one that had kept me company, talking with her about whatever came to mind. As my skills slowly developed, so did hers, my father explaining that she was a being created from chaos itself, the very basis of creation, and therefore she could change her form at will. So far, she had done little in terms of incredible, normally keeping to different types of birds, like how she was currently sleeping in the form of a budgie. Once she'd turned into a mouse during a game of volleyball, causing the entire team of Aphrodite kids to scream with headache-inducing intensity.

Reaching the dining pavilion, I grabbed a cup of hot chocolate from one of the celestial bronze trays and wrapped my fingers around the warm cup. I was thankful for the lava underneath the tray, keeping the cups at an enjoyable temperature. Shuddering as the chill left my body, I stood closer to the brazier. Maybe I had been too kind to the cloak because now that the snow stuck to my legs was melting, I could feel just how cold it actually was.

Neither John nor Susan would be joining me, both of them studying at some mortal school, its name alluding me... Rob was gone too, currently in New Rome, studying at the college there like many others.

With a large coat wrapped around his great frame, Bruce stepped beside me, rubbing his hands together. Thankfully his sister had followed the others and had returned to the mortal world for the winter.

"I don't fucking understand how you're not cold in that thing." He muttered, breathing on his pale hands in an attempt to warm them up.

"This is the first time I've seen snow here."

"Was pretty late this year, but the point is it's here. Snow I can tolerate though, but rain? I hate it and wish I was born back when Mister D was camp director."

"Why? What was so different back then?"

"The god didn't really like rain, reminded him too much of his father, so he didn't allow the rain to fall at camp. Once he left, he took that with him too. Some of the Demeter kids say it's a good thing, cause without the god's presence the strawberries need the rain. I couldn't care less about the bloody strawberries when every time it rains, the day becomes a million times shittier."

I chuckled, sipping from the mug.

"It's the winter solstice today, and please correct me if I heard wrong, but there were talks about a field trip of some sort, no?"

"Yep, the field trip to Olympus." The son of Ares replied, "Sophia hasn't told you about it yet? I would've thought you at least talk while she squeezes that last bit of dignity you still have out of you during training."

I grunted, taking yet another sip of hot chocolate, "Yeah, you'd think that. I'm far too often under her blade, even without maintaining a conversation taking away my concentration... She likes using that damn hat way too much."

Bruce laughed, "Now you know why I hate it with a passion. Complete and utter bullshit, that's what it is! Don't get me wrong, it's perfect when it's a life and death situation, but when I'm on the receiving end of it, I just feel like I want to tear it apart. Especially during capture the flag... That reminds me, you surprised me last week."

"Really?"

"Didn't you see? Totally came out of the blue when you flicked that dirt into my face. A dirty move... and I liked it." I couldn't help but smirk, "Those swords still holding up for you?"

"I still haven't gotten a chance to test the real stuff on actual opponents, but I hope it doesn't come to that. Can't complain about the design, it's quite multifunctional really."

Bruce nodded and looked at the fire burning in front of him.

"Feels like I'm standing beside Sebastien, and the twins aren't even at camp." He snorted.

"Must be loving this weather, they can feel right at home."

I absentmindedly stared at my necklace, which carried one single bead. It was incredibly well-detailed, every small figure on it easy to make out. Most of the bead's design depicted events that probably happened before my arrival, however, there was a tiny black dot, roughly in the shape of a human, that represented me. It wasn't much, nonetheless, I was thankful for it.

A girl with her golden, freshly-washed hair poking out from under a knitted hat spotted us, and walked over, carrying a mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

"Ah, shit... I now know why you're standing here..." She sighed in satisfaction, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Just mindless banter. Did you know that there's going to be a trip to Olympus?" I asked.

She pouted for a bit, thinking, "I could've sworn I mentioned it to you, did I really forget?"

"Well, I just found out about it from Bruce, and from some smaller convos I overheard these past few days."

"I mean, seeing how everyone is going, I thought-" She saw I wasn't buying it, "Alright piss off, it wasn't exactly the highest priority!"

"Will you even be welcome there Dan? Not to be rude, but you're a bit-"

"Different? Sure I am, but I've not really given them any reason to fear me so far, plus they haven't struck me down yet... So I'm good, no?"

Bruce and Sophia looked at each other just a bit too fearfully for my liking, and I felt my confidence fall.

"I can't say anything for cer-"

"Eh, just leave the topic be, I'd rather not think about getting incinerated anymore than I have to. Who else is coming?"

"As far as I'm aware nobody's staying behind."

"You're kidding me! So I was the only one who you didn't tell?!"

"Drop it already!" She exclaimed, "I forgot, okay? Shit happens sometimes." She took an annoyed sip of her drink.

"You? Forgetfulness? You're choosing that over other excuses?"

Before she could reply, a snowman ran in between Bruce and I, making all three of us jump back in surprise.

It waved, ran a few circles around the brazier before its legs collapsed underneath itself from the heat melting it. On the floor, it started making snow angels as it turned into sludge, by the end looking more like its death throes than anything cute.

"Oh man, your faces!" Des laughed, walking up to us, with Nico wiping a tear away from his eye, a large smile still plastered on his face.

"A fucking traumatising experience if I've ever seen one," Bruce muttered, kicking one of the sticks that had once been the snowman's arm, taking a sip from his cup. I watched as he snatched his gloved hand away from the brazier, which had drifted too close to the flames during the chaotic turn of events.

Sophia was past her surprise and now laughing with Nico, and I couldn't help but join in, leaving the son of Ares as the only one not amused.

"Screw you..." He pointed at the daughter of Hecate, after finishing the remainder of his drink with two large gulps, "And on that note, I think I hear the warm embrace of my bed in cabin five calling me."

With a final smirk, he strode off, leaving the four of us alone, standing around the brazier. The conversation died down, everyone enjoying the heat coming from the brazier, yet I couldn't help but feel bored. Looking at the four of them, my eyes finally rested on the daughter of Athena.

"You guys wanna come back to my cabin?" I asked.

"Is it warm there?" Des shot back almost immediately.

"What sort of question is that? Of course, it is!"

"Good enough reason for me," Nico smiled, walking towards the black blot sitting atop one of the hills, the rest of us trailing after him.

Halfway there, something cold and round struck me in the back of my head, causing me to stumble forward and only the soft snow on the ground made the contact with it painless. Looking at the one who had assaulted me, a second snowball flew over me and I heard a surprised yelp come from the son of Poseidon.

Sophia was much more vigilant, dodging out of the way of the snowball sailing towards her, Desdemona unable to defend herself as the daughter of Athena launched into a counterattack. Grabbing a fistful of snow, I joined in, trying my best to move out of the way of enchanted snowballs flying around like homing missiles, turning mid-air and following me no matter how fast I could run.

It ended with a Hecate cabin victory, which was honestly no big surprise. With a cloud of snowballs orbiting the green-eyed girl after five or so minutes had passed, it was a surprise we weren't covered in more snow than we were.

I watched with anticipation as a chunk of snow fell out of Sophia's hair, dropping down her nape. The effect was instantaneous as a shudder ran through her body, only seconds before she started jumping around like she'd gone mad. We all shared a laugh as we entered my cabin, everyone more than happy to take off their snowy clothes and enjoy the warmth inside.

The Athena cabin counsellor grabbed a book from my shelf, before following Nico and Des' example and collapsing into one of the four beanbags I had gotten from the Hermes cabin as a peace offering. I had never felt at war with them in the first place, but I also wasn't dumb enough to reject such an offer.

"You pinned this up?" Des asked, looking at my mostly empty wall where I had hung a newspaper article, also courtesy of the Hermes cabin.

Woodfigh High School Destroyed!

Student Missing!

Underneath each of these titles was a picture, one of the destruction the drakon had caused as it had chased me through my old school, the damage so large it was still being repaired, as of one week ago. The other one was a portrait of me, a few years younger, but still very much looking like how I looked now. The FBI was looking for me out in the mortal world, yet here I was completely safe. Chiron had assured me that they'd never find me as long as I stayed within camp borders.

"Yeah. Funnily enough, it's as much of a memory as the tooth is." I bowed my head towards the drakon's tooth that Sophia had made into a trophy for me.

"It's always weird seeing that picture of you," Sophia muttered, "You looked cute as a kid, shame you didn't arrive sooner." Nico and Des look at her with raised eyebrows, and she looked up at them, confused, "What? You've got to admit that he's had a massive... a great impression on the camp even after such a short stay."

Her cheeks coloured slightly before she immersed herself in her book once more.

Hours had passed, small conversations starting and dying. Nico was quick to fall asleep and I was actively fighting the will to shut my eyes as well. Des was playing with Pandora, who had woken up in her cage, chirped in an annoyed tone at being left out of the party, before demanding to be let out. The moment her cage was open she darted outside, landing on the daughter of Hecate's lap as a mouse.

A knock at the door roused everyone from their state of relaxation, save Nico, who only grunted in response, turning in his sleep to face the other way.

"Yeah?" I called out.

The camp director opened the door and looked inside, letting in a chilling breeze. The centaur wore a thick winter jacket, knitted gloves and a woolly hat, a massive change from the pinstriped suit that I had gotten to know so well.

"Ah, so this is where you all are! Sophia, it's you I need right now."

"Yep?"

"You need to leave soon, so you can get to Olympus in time, best not anger the gods by being late as visitors. Argus, Celaeno and Aello have the vans parked on the far side of Half-Blood hill. They're waiting for you, and while Argus can't be called impatient, you know how the harpies can be sometimes."

"Ah crap, that much time has already passed? Sure. We'll be there in a few minutes." Chiron was about to turn and leave with a satisfied nod, "Umm..."

The camp director looked back, "Yes?"

"How much of a problem is it if Daniel comes?"

"Oh... I must say, it has crossed my mind." He glanced at me, "I'd assume if the gods had any major problems with him they'd have long ago struck him down." I gulped, "Oh, but don't worry, they might have some grievances about your existence, but you're as much of a camper as anyone else, and the invitation does go out to all campers."

"Cool, so you didn't exactly dismiss the fact that I might be struck down by one of them," I grunted.

"The Olympians are fickle even at the best of times, but I highly suspect that they do not wish to get on the bad side of a primordial deity that created the world they rule over."

And with those final, incredibly calming words, he left the cabin, letting in a second gust of cold air. It was only then that Nico woke up, looking at the door in confusion.

I was interested in what Olympus looked like, not to mention the gods themselves, but I also was interested in at least seeing my eighteenth birthday. My father hadn't explicitly told me not to go there, and hopefully, the Olympians shared in the nice thought of not striking me down due to me being a minor inconvenience.

Shouldering a small backpack that I had thrown together while we had waited inside, I met up with the others in front of Peleus' tree, hardly more than thirty of us.

The newest kid at camp, and the one responsible for making me the second newest guy, Steve Cousineau, was a fifteen-year-old son of Hephaestus and the only member of the Hephaestus cabin that was present. He had arrived two months ago, on his own and carrying a flower in his palms. His right leg was shorter than his left, giving him a limp, and one of his eyes was higher up his forehead than the other. His hair didn't have the distinct burnt patches that most of his fellow cabin members had, not yet anyway, and his skin was very pale.

I still only wore my cloak, over a simple Camp Half-Blood shirt and jeans combo, and while I could've been feeling much colder, I couldn't wait to sit down in the vans. Moving my leg through the snow out of boredom, kicking chunks of it down the hill, I felt the scabbard for my knife push against my calf. The leather holster, a gift from the son of Apollo who had taught me how to master the bow and my throwing knives, even if he was still a better shot and thrower than I was.

Maybe it was a stupid idea, going to Olympus with a weapon, but after my last time outside the camp's border, I wasn't going to go anywhere unarmed. A knife didn't seem like much help against another drakon, but I knew how to use it, and just the material of it alone made it a formidable weapon. That was a greater comfort than having no weapon.

I also would've loved Pandora to be next to me, but bringing my father's creation along on the trip felt like pushing it a bit over the unspecified line the Olympians had set me.

Getting into the very first van, the same one Sophia and Nico were in, the door closed behind us. As the engine of the converted strawberry delivery van came to life, I looked around at the others who were coming along with us.

"Where exactly are we going then?" I asked, "I don't know of any place near New York called Olympus."

"Empire State Building," Sophia answered, popping a piece of gum into her mouth before offering the rest around for the others.

"You've gotta be shitting me... That's Olympus?" I took a piece, "I've been there a few times already. You mean I've walked past gods during school trips?"

"Nah, doubt it. Did you ever go up to the six-hundredth?" Demeter cabin's counsellor popped the gum loudly.

"Six-hundredth... Floor? Last time I checked it only had a hundred floors, and even if they hid the rest behind a secret panel, it'd surely be visible from the outside that there's an extra five hundred floors."

"Hundred and two," Sophia corrected, "There are a hundred and two floors, but you're actually correct about the hiding it from mortals part."

I sighed, rubbing my temples.

"Mist?"

Everyone nodded. That seemed to be an explanation for way too many things.

"Still, Olympus... It's a mountain, no? A mountain in Ancient Greece no less."

"You're not wrong there, it's still very much a mountain that exists in modern-day Greece, but the home of the Gods, the Olympus we're talking about, moved with the heart of the west."

"And here I thought I was starting to get the hang of everything," I muttered.

"Wait a day or two and you'll get used to this info, like always." Of course, she was right. A few months ago it might've taken weeks to get my head around things like this, the difference between a mountain and the thing the Olympians lived on. At least, I had managed to bring that time down by a lot.

For the next two and a half hours, we drove down the expressway, passing by trees and other cars. With the first houses and larger buildings appearing beside us, came the view of the distant cityscape of Manhattan's skyscrapers. Closer and closer came the metal and glass giants, before the vans entered a tunnel and the view of the outside world was reduced to the glazed tiles of the tunnel's walls.

It felt like forever before we were once again above ground, amongst the smaller members of New York's skyscrapers. A spattering of people walked down the streets as fast as their frozen legs could carry them. Life was still the same here, even if mine had changed so drastically.

I had almost missed the atmosphere of the place.

Almost.

The constant sound of car horns, the engines, the sirens. Nine million people living in one place.

Compared to the serenity of the camp that I was used to at this point, this was utter chaos. I could never picture sleeping a night here, nor did I know how I could do so before.

Hell, if I had thought about bringing some cash with me, I could be back at Yorkton Orphanage, picking up my stuff and greeting the kids who I hadn't seen for half a year, in what... Half an hour, maybe not even that much. Walking there wouldn't even take an hour for crying out loud.

My old life was that far from me... And I wouldn't wish myself back even if they offered me a million dollars.

The vans stopped at a bus stop just a bit short of the tall building, quickly letting us pile out before driving off to find someplace to wait peacefully. Chiron had stayed behind, and Sam wasn't at camp to begin with, so it was Sophia who was going to lead our group upstairs.

Crossing over a pedestrian crosswalk, walking straight towards us, was a group that caught my eye. Only five of them, but all of them wore purple shirts under their coats that stuck out like a sore thumb in the crowd of much darker clothed citizens.

"Gloria?" Sophia asked from no one in particular, scrunching her eyes up to see better. A dark-skinned girl with frizzy brown hair and gold-framed glasses, walking at the forefront of the group, seemed to also notice us and waved, a smile on her face.

"Who are these guys?" I whispered to Bruce.

"Good friends from Camp Jupiter. Romans."

Our two groups met before the entrance to the tower, Sophia embracing the girl presumably called Gloria, while the rest of us Greeks and Romans took in one another.

Bruce stepped forward next and grasped the hand of one of the four guys, the tallest of the bunch and built just like the son of Ares.

"Harrison!" A brotherly slap landed on the Roman's shoulder, "Since when are you Praetor? You, of all people?!" Both of them chuckled.

"I've changed, Bruce." He replied in an equally deep voice, "Not that much, but... Well, I've definitely changed. We've also not met for quite a few years now."

"Yeah, there was always some bullshit that came up, wasn't there?" Bruce looked around at the other faces, "I still remember you... Julius is it?" He pointed at a man who was clearly in his late forties and looked bored out of his mind. He nodded towards Bruce, "But I don't know you two," He pointed at the two remaining Romans, chattering away with one another, oblivious of being mentioned. "You didn't bring Chris?"

"He got sick a few days prior, didn't feel too much better when we were going to leave so we just let him stay."

The son of Ares pouted mockingly.

"That sucks man, I like seeing the creepy fucking bastard. That way, I at least knew his knives were still only getting stuck into teddy bears, and not into my back... Y'know?!" I could see smirks spread across the faces of the Romans, a snort erupting from Julius.

Gloria seemed to finally take notice of me, and her dark eyes locked with mine.

"Is this who you wrote about?" Gloria asked, and I saw Sophia not-so-subtly kick the girl's foot. I raised an eyebrow.

"You wrote about me?" I asked.

"Umm..."

She was interrupted by the girl in purple.

"Don't worry about it, nothing important. Gloria Krinster, Praetor." I shook her hand, "This big lump of flesh beside me is my colleague, Harrison Trainor and these three behind me are as follows..." She took a deep breath, "The grumpy one is Julius Mrowski, Centurion of the First Cohort, and the two who can't shut up-" Both men perked up at the tone of her voice and stopped the conversation at once "-are Flavius Hunt, Centurion of the Third Cohort, and Horatius Mariner a legionary of the First Cohort that's tagged along with Mister Mrowski."

I shook each one's hand as they were introduced, though Julius didn't seem too happy about how he was described. His hair was greying and trimmed short, his face filled with small scars, each of which could probably tell a tale of its own. His eyes were sky blue, similar to Sam's.

In fact, they were almost too similar. If he wasn't a son of Zeus, I'd eat a cactus.

Both Flavius and Horatius were blonde, and like the other boys, their hair was cut short. Now that I looked at it, Gloria too seemed to wear her hair no longer than her cheek. Compared to the hairstyles behind me, and the others I had seen during my time at camp, they gave off a more hardy look, more militaristic.

On all five of their arms, they had a tattoo. A symbol that seemed to be different for everyone, underneath which were the letters SPQR, and a number of lines, like some weird barcode. Gloria had seven, with the symbol of a crossed sword and torch, Harrison had slightly more, putting the new record at nine. His symbol above the SPQR part of the tattoo was similar to Gloria's, except his were two crossed spears. Horatius and Flavius both had five, blue-eyed Flavius with the picture of some type of bird and Horatius with one of those medical symbols.

A caduceus, I think they were called.

It was Julius' tattoo, however, that took the cake. Dozens of lines were etched into his forearm, topping Harrison's record by a mile, and an eagle occupied the space above the four letters.

"Daniel Greenfield." I smiled back at them, "Nice to meet all of you."

"And these here are-" Sophia started, looking behind herself to introduce everyone.

"Ah, Soph, don't take this the wrong way, and I don't want to be rude or anything, but... Well, the council is starting shortly, and we don't want to miss the start." Gloria interrupted, and Sophia bowed her head, agreeing with her.

An older woman passing by us seemed to overhear something that piqued her interest and she looked up at the towering figure of Bruce with a smile.

"You dears on a field trip?" She asked looking at Bruce.

"Yes, Ma'am." The son of Ares replied, taken aback by the mortal.

"You know, I used to work there... Oh, the visiting children was always the best part of the job. So many smiling faces..." She seemed to get lost in nostalgia for a moment, "I'd hate to push my nose into the business of others, but maybe I can help with what floors to look at. Any plans?"

I could see Bruce's smirk widen, and he stooped down a bit lower.

"Oh, sure! We're going to be riding the elevator up to the six-hundredth floor to take part in the Olympian council's winter solstice meeting," I looked at him sharply, wondering why he'd just give out that information. The woman looked shocked as if she'd just realised that maybe she'd spoken with a lunatic.

"Oh..." Her eyes glazed over, "That's a nice program. Good day sir!"

From the corner of my eye, I saw Des put down her hand, sighing as she gave the son of Ares an annoyed glance, who only chuckled.

"Let's stop screwing around with the mortals," Sophia clapped a hand on Bruce's upper arm, "And go inside,"

As we entered the building and stepped into the mostly empty lobby, I looked over the people staring at the various displays lined on both sides. The bald security guard sitting at the desk opposite us had his feet on the table, reading, and uncaring that he was far from dignified.

Getting closer, I noticed it was a magazine, maybe a tabloid.

Then I saw the name.

Olympus Weekly.

I couldn't help but look around at the mortals, who couldn't seem to care less about the man. Reading some of the headlines printed on the front I felt my eyebrows rise.

How to look like a goddess in three easy steps!

No hair? Try this cure by Hippocrates himself!

"My Personal Workout Regime..." Heracles' Secret to a Healthy Body and Mind.

Will the drama never end? Hephaestus and Aphrodite still fighting, as told by Ares!

Many more bullshit titles were on the cover by the looks of it, but before I could read the rest, Sophia had walked up to the desk and had rung the bell. As the man put it down on the table, I saw the face of an old man in a toga and a large white beard, and I could've sworn he was familiar from somewhere.

"Yes?" The man asked in a bored voice, "I assume you're on a school field trip? Got some bad news then, the top floors are off-limit due to repairs."

"We want to go higher up than floor one-hundred and two though."

"Then I suggest getting on a plane or climbing some other building. Perhaps with a bit of studying you could become an engineer, extend this pile of bricks." He smirked.

Before Sophia could reply, a voice called over to us.

"For crying out loud, stop playing these games with them already, Ganymede, and let them in!"

A brief glance to the side, then he spread his hands in defeat, "Alright, alright! You know as well as I do that this is my job."

I looked over to the source of the voice and saw a man leaning against the wall, his face chubby, and his hair curly and black. An ugly, leopard-spotted shirt hung on him and even from a mile away I could tell he was an alcoholic.

I knew where I had seen him before. The orientation film.

This was Mister D.

"How are my campers doing?" He asked, smiling whilst folding the newspaper he had been reading into his pocket.

"We're-"

"Good to hear! You sure took your time outside..." He cleared his throat, "Now then, let's get going, shall we? Keeping Zeus or Jupiter waiting isn't something you'd like to do. Ganymede, if you could..."

"Oh yeah." He pressed a button and a security gate opened. As we walked through it, two elevators came into view. The right side one's doors slid open, dinging as it did so.

"Alright, so the first twenty can go... Romans plus-" Sophia started.

"Nonsense, I've waited long enough for you." Mister D said, snapping his fingers. The inside of the elevator expanded by multiple sizes, "Everyone inside."

We did just that, as fast as we could, and the drunkard pressed a button way above the rest, nearly touching the ceiling.

I heard little snippets of talk, like Desdemona angrily talking to Bruce about that old lady, or Sophia and Gloria discussing someone called Rebecca, who was probably the same Rebecca that I had seen snippets of for about one month before she disappeared just as quickly as she had arrived. We had exchanged no words, and she cared little about who I was. That was something that was a nice change for once, ever since I was claimed, most campers looked at me like some Hollywood star, even if I was far from one.

She was as pale as the Boreas twins, with dark hair, brownish-reddish eyes and short stature. As for her clothing options, I highly doubted she knew what the word colour even meant... Hell, even her orange camp shirt had been dyed black, the pegasus on it a dark grey.

Meanwhile, I realised that whenever the god turned around to look at the demigods behind him, his eyes would always linger on me.

For an uncomfortably long time.

I finally met his eyes after the third such occurrence and shuddered as I saw something underlying in that look. He was a god, but one look into his eyes, burning with purple flames, was enough of an incentive for me to get onto his good side.

It took more than a few minutes, listening to age-old music from a century or more ago and pressed against one another in some sweaty hell.

With a ding, the door slowly opened.

And before us was a mountain top. Thousands, no... Millions of tons of stone, floating above the city of New York.

Winding roads led to the very top, leading through beautiful gardens and palaces made of marble, inlaid with gold. At the tip of the mountain was what looked like the Acropolis in Athens, only the one before us put the one in Greece to shame. Talking with one another, or lazily walking around the place, were dozens of chiton-wearing folk, all of them seemingly glowing.

As I took my first step, I strode straight past Sophia, and my shoes were no longer standing on the metal floor of the elevator, but rather the stepping stones of a pathway.

A stone pathway floating in the middle of the sky.

Looking down, I couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Underneath me, an entire city was going about its day to day business, oblivious to what was hanging above them. Yet, I could still hear it here. The sound of New York, audible even from six hundred stories.

"Can you fall from here?" I asked, looking at Nico jumping from stepping stone to stepping stone, unafraid of the drop below.

"Only if the gods will it... Watch!" He belly-flopped off of the side, and I felt my heart rate jump at the sudden turn of events.

A second later he was back on the platform, grinning like a kid in a candy store as if he had just landed on a trampoline. He continued on his merry way, dashing before the group. As I followed, I realised the man who had once been the camp director of Camp Half-Blood was gone. As if he had turned into thin air.

Continuing down the path, no longer stepping from floating rock to floating rock, but rather on solid ground, we passed by many of the majestic place's inhabitants, all of whom greeted us with a smile and a wave. At one point, we walked past a garden, filled with all manner of plants, yet there was one that dominated the area. A massive bush, easily the size of one of the nearby villas.

"It's a laurel bush," Lizzy explained, seeing the awe painted on my face at the vastness of it, "According to an old legend, it's the reincarnated form of a satyr that died during the battle of Manhattan. Leneus was his name, a member of the council of the cloven elders."

"Old Legend? So you mean it could just be a really big bush with no special backstory?"

"That's my guess, I've never seen a satyr turn into a laurel bush when they die, only flowers."

"According to Tony, only the luckiest ones reincarnate as one." Sophia nodded towards the bush, "He also had some less-than-kind words about Leneus, so I'm not sure how much of the story should be believed either."

"Guess there might be some details in there that were changed as time passed. I mean the battle was like... A hundred and fifty-one years ago, no?"

"Yep, who knows what's been woven into the story by creative retellers."

We continued up the path, nearing the enormous palace sitting at the very top. I was about to get lost in the intricate details visible even from as far away as I was when something mooed. It surprised me so much that I stopped in my tracks, a second moo bringing my attention to an aquarium.

Well... Calling it that was doing it a massive injustice. Hell, I could barely see where the edges of the giant oval-shaped construct were. The bottom was filled with silt, seaweed and all manners of decoration, while some smaller fish swam around the space that was probably, to them, akin to the sea itself. What dominated the enclosure, however, was a creature that had the bottom half of a fish, just the tail at least five times as long as I, and the top half of a bull's upper torso and head, with horns and front legs and everything you'd associate with a bull. The strangest fusion of creatures that I had seen to date.

"The fuck?" I muttered.

"It's the Ophiotaurus," Nico told me.

I stared at the son of Poseidon with a small smirk.

"You've got to be kidding me that it's... It can't really be named the serpent bull, can it? That feels too easy."

"Ancient Greeks were very creative with naming things, as you can tell." He pointed at the Ophiotaurus, who lazily spun around, before spotting a tuna fish and chasing after it, playfully bumping its snout into it a few times, much to the fish's annoyance.

"Wouldn't it be better if it was in the... Well, the sea?"

"Zeus wouldn't allow that, it would be too great a bargaining chip for Poseidon. According to a prophecy or something like that, if you kill it and burn its entrails, the gods will be doomed to fall. Played a great part in the first titan war, where Zeus managed to grab the entrails before they were burned. He appeared again during the second war but was saved by Percy Jackson. Ever since then, he's been here."

"Feels like a lonely life." I stared at the aquarium.

"By the looks of it, he's got enough friends to play with." He said as the serpent bull slapped a blowfish to the side with his horn, passing it to a dolphin.

Once we reached the top, our group walked through a pair of double doors, larger than a New York apartment complex, both in width and height. Inside, with white marble columns propping up the roof, and a floor made of the same material, there was enough space to fit dozens of Grand Central Stations into the chamber, and you'd still have room to spare. Looking up, I saw that there wasn't actually any roof to speak of, instead, the columns just ever so slightly faded away the further up your eyes went, dissipating into the blue sky above.

Thirteen giant thrones stood around a massive hearth the size of an Olympic swimming pool, in the shape of an inverted U that reminded me of the placement of the twelve big cabins.

And sitting in each one was a deity.

Their sizes were fit for the thrones, though the doorway seemed way too big still. It didn't matter, since one wrong thought about me, and one small action, was all it would take for any one of them to crush me underfoot. Sitting at the hearth was a woman, the same size as us and poking at the flames with a metal poker, uncaring about the fact that flames licked up and down her arm each and every time, or that compared to the size of the hearth, she seemed insignificant, her poking probably doing nothing for the inferno.

Looking at the god sitting in the very middle of it all, wearing a dark-blue pinstriped suit, I realised he was staring right at me. Our eyes met, my brown with his sky blue, and I felt the raw power that the god radiated in my very bones, so I quickly averted them, yet no matter which god I looked at, they all seemed to be staring right at me. It was like small needles pricking my skin.

Surely they were just looking at us entering, and they were so big I couldn't decide who they were focusing on.

Nevertheless, I found it best to stare at the marble floor.

"Welcome, demigods!" Came the booming and commanding voice. That could only belong to the king of the gods, Zeus. The pinstriped suited one.

I nearly knocked over Bruce, who had knelt down without warning, before realising that everyone was doing it and awkwardly stumbling after them. As we stood back up, chairs rolled out of nowhere, their whirring filling the air for a brief moment as they settled into position.

The moment we had taken our places, and the final whispered words between Horatius and Flavius had been shushed by Gloria, the council started. The Roman demigods had been talking about something along the lines of how strange the Greek forms of the gods were. Were the Roman versions of them really that different?

This was already one of the many questions that I knew I'd be annoying Sophia with once the council was over.

"Let us start this council!" Zeus boomed once more, "First on our agenda today, as Demeter has proposed, is what we should do with the south in terms of weather. The last time had been especially problematic for Aeolus, so we should reach some sort of consensus. Who votes for a snowstorm?"

Five or so hands went up, including Zeus', and Demeter started explaining how they were all wrong. I was quick to zone out of the conversation, taking my time to instead look at the various gods sitting before me.

Zeus, the giant in the pinstriped suit, had dark hair reaching down to his shoulders along with a bushy beard, the two together forming a hairy halo around his head. For the king of the gods, his throne didn't look all that lavish. It was made out of some silverish metal, the sides decorated with bolts of lightning carved into the metal. Sitting on it was probably not all that comfortable.

Going by the cabins, I figured the goddess sitting beside him was Hera, a beautiful woman wearing robes fit for a queen, a single peacock feather holding her hair together in a bun. With large, brown eyes she really was a pretty face to look at, but I knew that under that guise was someone evil. Too many stories had been recorded where Hera had cursed Zeus' lovers or demigod children with insanity, making their lives a living hell, and I only knew about the ones that I had read, who knew how many of these stories were still hiding from me.

She was not someone who you wanted to mess with, though the same could've been said for any god really. Parts of her throne glittered like diamonds, outlining pictures of birds and trees. My guess was that the bird was a peacock, but I had no clue whatsoever what the tree was, only that it was definitely a tree. While I did not recognize what the glittering metal was either, the other white material that had been used to make it was all too familiar. The Athena Parthenos' so-called skin was made from the very same material after all. Ivory.

Compared to those two, Poseidon looked quite comical. I could see where Nico had inherited his eyes and hair colour from, though he was not nearly as tanned as his father.

Wearing a Hawaiian shirt, Bermuda shorts and large sandals, he was as informal as you could get. In his lap, I could see a fisherman's cap, though not what was written on it. As for his throne, it was just as weirdly informal as the god's attire was. A simple moulded black leather chair, on a swivel, with one of its armrests containing a hole at the end of it. Poking through it was a trident with green fizzles of energy sometimes running between its prongs.

Demeter's golden locks were adorned with a woven crown of leaves and poppies. She too, was pretty, exactly how you'd imagine a goddess. A long, flowing dress of gold and green covered her, though there were quite a few parts where it was silver. Her throne was woven from branches, grass and wheat, making it a nice golden colour. She didn't look too happy, no matter how many times my attention was back on her. Every few seconds, her brown eyes shot glances at the man sitting on throne thirteen, Hades.

Sophia had drilled it into my head that he wasn't the God of Death, rather the God of the Dead. Death itself, that was Hades' lieutenant, Thanatos. He wore long, black clothes, its fabric moving even though its wearer was not, and his skin was so pale he was nearly the same colour as the marble. His eyes were black, and they glinted in a way that made me feel uneasy... As if he was just slightly insane. The look wasn't helped by his shoulder-length black hair, some of which hung before his eyes, nor his unkempt beard.

His throne was made of a black metal, skulls shoved into the side and five snaking designs, four of them silver and one glowing orange, wrapped around it all. On his armrest hung a helmet.

Ares, the way he was dressed, reminded me of a child of Nemesis, though that characteristic sneer made it a dead giveaway who he was the father of. Even Bruce, who was the polar opposite of his sibling and actually pleasant to be around, carried that sneer when he was lost in thought or concentrating on some other task.

The war god's face was, unsurprisingly, heavily scarred, sunglasses covering his eyes. Tattoos decorated most of his skin that wasn't covered by leather biker's gear, from flaming skulls to scantily-clad women. His black hair was greased back and he sat slumped on his throne as if he couldn't care less about all of this. As for the throne itself, it reflected the personality of its owner. Made from leather and some silverish metal, I didn't want to know what, and hopefully not who, the leather had come from. The armrests ended in human skulls, which didn't exactly help with me believing that the leather was from a cow.

Compared to Ares, the other war god in the room, Athena, was surprisingly different. Wearing only a white dress and with her dark brown hair done in a tidy single plait, she looked the most human out of all the gods. Her grey eyes, inherited by all her children, showed just how powerful she was as if you could see the planning going on behind those eyes. She stared at me, her gaze conveying a warning, but what it was about was beyond me. Nevertheless, I could feel it in my bones, the power in just her gaze, and shivered. Sophia had given me that very same, albeit watered-down, look when I had messed up during the cabin tours.

Her throne was brilliant, the frame made from a silvery metal once again, but the backrest and the space between the base of the throne and the armrest were filled with gold, woven like others would weave a basket. A crown of violets sat above the throne.

The seat after that would've been Apollo's, yet it was empty, the throne completely covered by a rag. I'd heard the story of how he was punished by the gods after the second giant war, but nobody knew what had happened to him since, only that he was somewhere out there, since his children still arrived at camp, all of them children of single mothers and long-gone fathers who had golden hair and striking blue eyes, who could sing and play sports like no one else. Who could write the sweetest love poems for their mothers, and who suddenly disappeared soon after their child was born.

John and his siblings were rightfully angry at Apollo.

The god of Archery's sister, the goddess of Archery, however, was sitting on her silver throne, cross-legged and staring intently at the King of the Gods. Black hair hung down to her shoulders, and her silvery eyes were similar to the moon's glow during a clear night. She wore silvery robes which matched her eyes. Her throne was, like most other thrones, made from a silverish metal, the image of the moon above her.

Hephaestus came after, and I thought about how lucky the campers of cabin nine were that none of them had really inherited his looks. Robert kind of resembled him, with his potato-like nose and lazy eye, maybe Steve with his leg and eye, but compared to their father, both of them were supermodels.

Even though he was sitting in the centre of his throne, it looked like he was leaning to one side. One of his legs was encased in an iron brace that couldn't have been too comfortable to wear. As for the god's face, it was quite a bit disconcerting to look at. His head was shaped like a random rock you'd find on the floor, with multiple dents randomly dotted around the place. His nose was rotated at an angle that shouldn't have been possible nor healthy, red blots and welts covering those parts of his face that weren't under the protection of his large beard. Quite interestingly, that big bit of facial hair would start to smoke multiple times during the council, seemingly at random. He wasn't too talkative, but the one time he had said something, his voice had boomed around the chamber, deeper than even Zeus'. As for his clothes, they were exactly like what you'd see a blacksmith wear. A leather apron and a tool belt around his waist, which carried everything needed for his craft.

His only redeeming factors were the size of his biceps, which were easily the biggest of all the gods, though I doubted Ares would've liked hearing that. His throne was also pretty cool, going with a steampunk design, complete with celestial bronze machine parts sticking out here and there. Along with the cushions, piled in an uneven way so that he'd sit up fairly straight, it was probably pretty comfortable.

On throne ten sat the prettiest woman in the chamber. Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She reminded me of a number of people from camp, their best features mixed together to make the most stunningly beautiful being that I had ever seen. If I would've ignored the fact that she was a goddess, she'd still fall into the category that'd be utterly out of my league. Flowing blonde hair down to her shoulder, and her eyes were... grey. Little to no makeup was on her face, but her best features were enhanced thanks to the red lipstick and slight blush she had used. As for her clothes, she wore a flowing dress the colour of a peach. There were no furls, or really anything excessive. It was quite simple, yet perfect for her look.

It felt like an eternity before I could force myself to look away from her, the final push being when she looked at me, waved a bit and smiled a smile that sent my heart reeling up into my throat. I whipped my head over to the next throne, trying my best to control the redness of my cheeks.

Hermes looked like your typical middle-aged dad, his salt and pepper beard, simple jogging clothes and glasses selling the look completely. Save for lazily twirling a stick the size of his forearm in his hand, and his size, I would've believed him to be mortal. The stick was one I recognised from hospitals and medical symbols, not to mention it had also been on the forearm of one of the Romans, Horatius.

A caduceus.

His black hair curled slightly upwards, and his blue eyes reminded me of a watered-down version of Zeus'. Hewn from a grey rock, the two armrests of his throne ended in ram heads, and I could see a large cushion underneath the god.

Finally, my eyes rested on Dionysus. He looked just like he had when we met him on the ground floor, except much bigger, his throne made from grapevines. As for the tiny figure of the woman sitting beside the hearth, she most definitely was a god as well, but who it was was a question I couldn't answer.

"So there's been no activity whatsoever?" Zeus asked as I focused on the conversation once more.

All the gods murmured something along the lines of no.

"Maybe there'll be peace for once... It doesn't always have to be war, does it?" Demeter questioned.

"We'd know for certain if my brother would be sitting on his throne right now." Came the cold tone of Artemis.

"Both you and I know that I'd be more than happy to end his punishment, however, he has not yet completed a task that makes him worthy to regain his seat," Zeus said calmly, sighing a bit. I suspected that this was something that came up regularly.

"So we're just going to let whatever beast, and we all know what's causing this problem, continue to choke Delphi? Are we really going to go this long without any meaningful prophecies?"

"If you're so angry about it being there, why not kill it yourself?" Ares muttered, "Some goddess of the Hunt you are."

The goddess of the Hunt turned her steely gaze towards her half-brother, who shrank back a bit.

"Only Apollo can kill it, as we all know." The was a hint of annoyance in her voice, "Without the power of prophecy, we are completely and utterly defenceless. Athena? You're with me on this, right?"

"Yes, I agree with Artemis. Regaining the power of prophecy would be a safe move to make, and for that, we need Apollo."

"But we do have one source, no? The Harpy? Ella?" Hephaestus boomed.

"Yes, she's very useful. Except for the fact that her knowledge isn't complete. The next great prophecy is unknown to us all, save for the first word." Hermes said, scratching his forearm, "Silent."

Quiet settled on the council.

"We still have many enemies, Demeter... It is why I fear another attack, despite our precautions."

On the word enemies, almost all eyes looked at me. That was not a good sign.

"Daniel James Greenfield. Stand before the council."

I felt the blood drain from my face, and the skin on my arms was suddenly cold and clammy. Taking a deep breath, I stood up and strode before the thrones, each step ringing out in the silence, each step feeling like more and more of a struggle to take. Hephaestus' beard burned with orange flames, the God of the forge not caring about it. Tiny sparks were leaping off of Zeus' skin, and Athena had leaned forward in her seat, placing her chin into her hand.

"Umm..."

"Son of Chaos... of Lord Ragnos. You came here today, with full knowledge that your father had broken a sacred oath by siring you. It was an extremely foolhardy decision, but one that is seen by the council as a good sign that we may work together."

"There is little that I can do if you decided to strike me down, Lord Zeus, I know that much," I said, "So I just said... Fuck it, what's the worst that can happen." I giggled nervously at the end, the sound ringing out into complete silence.

Their eyes were all on me.

Staring.

The needles pricking my skin returned.