All of a sudden, the tension broke.

The combined laughter of Ares, Poseidon and Hades, soon to be picked up by most of the other members of the council, rang through the chamber. Zeus and Athena were the two who hadn't joined in, both of them, instead, staring at me impassively, as if they were trying to figure out what my real goal was.

Not like I had any, other than surviving today.

Hera and Aphrodite were smiling politely behind their hands, but the rest were having the time of their lives.

"I LIKE HIM!" Roared the god of war. I couldn't help but smirk along, even if I was balancing on the tip of a needle. Getting too cocky was sure to make me fall off, and only certain and instant death awaited me at my end of that drop.

"I understand where you're coming from, child," Zeus started, and the laughter slowly quietened down, the King of the gods waiting patiently, "And while it is true that breaking such an oath entails a lot of repercussions, I am willing to overlook this broken oath as well... For some it might sound like cowardice, however, I believe your father is trying to help us rather than go against us. There is a purpose to everything he does and therefore I trust his judgement. If you do not step out of line, or work against us, there will be no bad blood between Olympus and you."

"Just remember, Daniel, with great power, comes great responsibility," Hermes told me, and I raised an eyebrow, surprised that the messenger of the gods was quoting Spider-man, of all things, to me.

"Thank you?" I said, not knowing how else to respond.

"Now, campers of Camp Half-Blood and legionaries of Camp Jupiter!" The king of the gods addressed the other visitors, "You may come join us for the feast... Food and drink will be here shortly for all of you to enjoy."

I let out a sigh of relief, letting go of that breath I had been holding in ever since I had become the centre of attention for the entire council of Olympus. The moment those words had slipped out of my mouth, I was certain I was counting down my final seconds.

Thank fuck that hadn't been the case.

Soon, but not soon enough, I was joining back up with my fellow campers, hoping that the shaky steps I was taking towards them weren't as visible as I felt them to be. The gods, meanwhile, had shrunk down to our size, in the blink of an eye and were walking amongst us, greeting their children as they did so.

"It was so weird seeing the gods in their greek form," I heard Flavius say, continuing the conversation that had been cut off by the start of the council.

"Excuse us for that." Hermes said, patting the guy on the shoulder, "Since there were more Greeks here than Romans, we thought it best to show ourselves as Greek."

"Lord Mercury... I mean Hermes- I mean-"

Hermes laughed, "Don't worry, I listen to both, though please try to keep it to Hermes, it gives me quite a headache after a while."

I chuckled along with them before I noticed Zeus standing outside of the circle, staring right into my eyes. Slowly, he lifted a finger and beckoned.

My laugh died in my throat.

"I'll be right back guys," I muttered, walking after the Lord of the Sky. The moment I was free of the crowd, wind whistled past me and I closed my eyes. Not a second later, I was behind one of the many large columns decorating the chamber, staring into the sky-blue eyes of Lord Zeus, "Where... What?"

"Quiet!" His order silenced me at once, "I will say this once, and only once. Your father has done many things that have caused the connection between him and us to weaken, but this is a step too far. Leaving you alive may yet prove to be the biggest mistake I've ever made, and do not for a second think that I am over contemplating whether I should strike you down where you stand just to set an example."

I blanched, feeling my knees start to buckle underneath me, but he slammed a palm into my shoulder and pinned me against the column.

"Lord-" I started

He held up a hand, which I felt he did more to calm himself than to silence me.

"Right now I couldn't care less about your father, and the peace between us if he so openly breaks his own word, however, I sense that this period of peace we've been living in, despite all the precautions we took after the war with the giants, is coming to an end. When it comes, and knowing the ways your father works in, it'll be here soon... You will fight for us, understand? That is the only way you will keep your life. Me especially, but the rest of the Olympians too, will be watching you closely. If you so much as kneel down to tie the shoelaces of our enemies, we will be there to take you out of this world, and you will get no say in the matter. Do you understand?" I nodded as fast as I could, not daring to speak again.

I blinked once, and no longer was I looking at Zeus, rather he stood beside me, a hand lightly placed on my back. We were back beside the hearth, to my right, the woman that had been tending the hearth. Now that I was closer I could see that her hair was covered by a brown scarf, the same colour also dominating her dress which reached down all the way to her ankles.

She bowed her head low, "Lord Zeus."

Zeus gave her a smile, "Hestia, join the feast! You're just as much invited as anyone else."

"You know me, I'm not much for parties."

"Ah, that's a shame." He looked me in the eyes once more, "Now go. This conversation never happened."

I strode away as fast as I dared, feeling his gaze on the back of my neck, my legs still shaking after the encounter. Sophia was talking with her mother, the blonde-haired girl greeting me as I walked over and tried joining in on the conversation.

"What happened Daniel?" Sophia asked, noticing instantly that something was wrong.

"Oh... Umm, nothing. What would the problem be?" I swear I could still feel Zeus' gaze on me, "Just the nerves from standing before thirteen gods, I guess." My hand scratched my cheek out of nervousness, and I quickly stopped it, letting it fall back down beside me.

Meanwhile, Athena was looking me up and down, not exactly helping with my nerves, "I've been following you with interest ever since you were claimed, Daniel James Greenfield, and all I can say is that I await your acts of heroism, and I hope you do not squander our gift."

"Than- Thank you, Ma'am," I said, bowing slightly while Sophia raised an eyebrow towards her mother.

An awkward silence grew between us, finally broken by the Athena cabin counsellor.

"Mother, Malcolm is probably looking for you as we speak. I saw him talking with Gloria only a moment ago."

"Ah yes, I wanted to speak with him too, thank you, Sophia." She gave her a small smile, "Daniel." I muttered a farewell, after which she grabbed a cup of nectar from a passing automatic table and disappeared into the crowd.

With only the two of us now, Sophia shuffled her feet, "Look, sorry about her. She's not normally that cold... Well, sometimes, but-"

"No, don't worry about it, Soph. I'm just happy I'm still alive, truth be told, and that's all I care about right now. She'll warm up to me in due time, I'm sure of it."

Sophia snorted, taking a quick sip from her cup, "Let's join someone else, you can always learn something new from the gods."

And just like that we were gone, searching for a god to join. Sophia lead the way, though I was always on the lookout for the distinct head of Zeus in the crowd, making sure to subtly steer her away from that area. Most gods were roughly the same size as us now, but the king of Olympus wasn't willing to go below 8 feet by the looks of it.

Of course, Sophia had been right.

Aphrodite had been more than willing, despite my protests, on giving me tips and tricks on dating, while Ares had described, in gruesome detail, five different ways to gut people. As we had passed by the messenger god, I heard snippets of a dirty joke about a Satyr, a Nymph and a potted plant, the punchline lost in the noise.

Overall, the day was turning out to be better than I had expected, and definitely an upgrade over my narrowly-escaped fate of death by godly intervention.

Mister D had introduced us to a special type of wine, that he himself had called a kid-friendly alcoholic beverage. At first, I couldn't even picture how the two terms could possibly co-exist, but it worked especially well. I could feel the buzz of alcohol, and socialising was certainly a tad bit easier, but even after my seventh cup of the stuff, that was all there was.

The day went on, hours passing by in what felt like minutes.

Hephaestus was sleeping on his throne, in an even more untidy mess than how he normally sat, having drunk too much of the non-kid friendly version of wine, while Dionysus and Hermes were drawing things onto the unconscious god's face. Aphrodite was dancing with Malcolm, Gloria with Ares, and Sophia had disappeared somewhere.

"-and that's why you don't deliver packages without feeding your two pet snakes beforehand." Hermes finished his story while adding some unnecessary details to the dick on the god of fire's misshapen forehead.

"George definitely learned from this experience," Martha said, one of the two snakes on his staff, both of whom were actually living beings, "Didn't he?"

"Don't believe what she says, I'd do the same thing today!" George replied, "It was almost like a rat, just bigger, so I said what the hell? Why not?"

"Ah now, don't contradict my story there. You didn't exactly eat that dog now, did you?"

"Depends on which angle you looked at it from... The woman who it belonged to sure thought I did!"

"You spat it out after a few seconds, complaining about how hairy it was! That is far from eating it, no matter what your perspective is."

"Sure... Nitpick the details."

The snakes reminded me of Pandora, how they didn't speak with their mouths, but rather you heard them in your head. While they were over here enjoying the party however, my pet was stuck in her birdcage, back at camp... Well, maybe she was flying about the cabin by now, it wouldn't exactly be the first time she opened the door by herself.

Hopefully, though, she had used the lock bar rather than brute-forcing it open. Robert had spent half a day fixing the damn thing after she had gotten bored inside. With the son of Hephaestus in New Rome, I'd have to ask some other Hephaestus kid, like Steve.

I was just thankful that the door handle was still an enigma for her, or maybe she was just hiding the fact from me.

As I focused back in on the party, I noticed Athena dancing with three of her children at once and I couldn't help but think about how similar the Olympians were to us. Save for the part where saying one wrong word was enough to live the rest of your life as something unpleasant, like say... A pineapple.

Hades was the only god that had mostly kept to himself all day, standing off to the side and sipping something from his goblet. Still smiling at the story about George and the dog, I watched Hades slowly sway from side to side.

Was he really drunk from that one goblet? I hadn't even seen him top it up yet.

All of a sudden, his eyes slipped up into his head, and he collapsed where he stood, slumping onto his throne. That had looked less like someone collapsing drunkenly and more like someone getting an elephant dropped onto them.

Conversations died down almost instantly, the Muses, who were supplying us with background music, came to an ugly stop.

"Brother?" Zeus asked in greek, appearing by the side of Hades in the blink of an eye and shaking his shoulder. Something was wrong.

"What did he say?" Horatius asked from beside me.

I waved my hand at him to keep quiet. Poseidon, who had jumped up from his chair the moment Hades had collapsed and had taken a few slow steps towards him, suddenly clutched his head. First one, then two unstable steps were taken, his beard and hair turning grey before he stopped himself from tumbling forward by leaning onto the covered throne of Apollo.

"What in the great bloody corn kernels is going on?" Demeter exclaimed, looking around the room.

"And now what did she say?" The roman asked again.

"Something along the lines of what the hell is happening?"

"I agree with Lady Ceres."

I did too.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the hearth glow brighter and brighter, everyone taking half a dozen or so steps back from it. Starting out from the middle, the flames were painted a violent shade of dark red.

Deep, ancient cackling emerged from the flames.

"Hestia, what on earth is going on?" Dionysus asked.

"I don't know!"

"Gods of Olympus... weak fools." The voice growled, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING-" Ares started, but a pillar of flames shot out of the hearth, crashing into his chest and sending him crashing against a marble column, unconscious.

"Your world... will burn."

Images appeared in the fire.

Seamonsters, some the size of mountains, were shown, tens of thousands of them charging towards a small underwater outpost. Coming out to intercept them were all manners of sea creatures. I could see dolphins, sharks and whales, along with half-men, half-fish creatures.

Merpeople.

A crab the size of a two-storey house crashed into the silt, slowly turning to dust with a trident lodged in its eye. Some, smaller beasts shared a similar fate, but those casualties were quickly made up for as the mermen and women were torn to shreds.

Then came a palace, a copy of Olympus, bar the material it was made from. The base was sea stone, the surface dotted with seashells and pearls. Multiple buildings before it, as well as the palace itself, were alight, illuminated by green flames.

Greek fire.

Thousands of merpeople battled in the distance, against beasts similar to what we had previously seen, many of their large bodies already heading towards the ocean floor. Through the gloom of the ocean, I could see a giant of a man with dozens of hands poking out from his body in the process of ripping apart a monstrous-sized lobster, and above all of this, as if overlooking the battlefield, was a giant merman that rode a chariot pulled by equally massive crawfish, while holding a snake in his hand just like a sword.

And beside him was a cloud of green goop, inside which I could swear there was something swimming, similar to the size of the merman in the chariot.

Just like that it was gone, no longer did it show the battle under the water, instead, we were now looking at the inside of the biggest cave I had ever seen. No blue sky above, only a ceiling filled with stalactites, and the edges of it were lost in the gloom.

I had never seen it before, yet I knew what I was looking at.

The Underworld, the realm of Hades.

On an infinite field filled with white flowers and black trees, horrid creatures that I remembered reading about, were fighting against ghostly figures and skeletons. Millions of them, tens of millions even, on both sides. Patches many times larger than entire football fields were burning to ash under the assault of hungry green flames.

The dead were sorely outnumbered. Soldiers from all periods of time were turning into piles of bones as monstrous talons and swords struck past their defences. Puffs of dust were not an uncommon sight either, as monsters were sent back to the depths of Tartarus.

As we watched silently, the image zoomed onto one figure in particular. Black hair and sea-green eyes, it was the same face that hung in Chiron's office, that was associated with so many stories of the camp.

Lifting his arms high above himself, a geyser of water erupted among dozens of monsters, all monsters touched by even a droplet turning to dust. His blade glinted green as he brought it down on monster after monster, reflecting the light of the greek fire.

Percy Jackson, a hero who should have been spending the rest of eternity living on the Elysium Isles... Instead, he was here, fighting monsters once again.

The legendary demigod moved like an acrobat between targets, but no matter how many he defeated, more arrived to replace the fallen. I could see tears streaming from the eyes of many of my fellow campers, those who looked up to him... Who saw him as their hero, who they aspired to be.

Ever so slowly, I could see that the sheer amount of numbers the enemy was throwing at him was wearing him down. He overstretched once, his sword getting knocked from his grip, and chains wrapped around him.

The dead couldn't be killed, but he was now subdued, the monsters dragging him far beyond their frontlines.

Another copy of Olympus flashed up next, this one made of black stone. Multiple sections of it were burning, including a massive garden within the palace grounds. A sizeable figure, skin glinting with gemstones and its legs akin to a dragon's, stood before it all, carrying on his shoulder the form of a woman wrapped in chains. Her screams of abuse rang out, even with the clash of blades filling the air with noise, but she seemed powerless against her restraints.

Flying above the battlefield was a black-winged human-like figure, a large ball of flames crashing into it not a moment later and engulfing it in fire. Falling from the cloud of dissipating hellfire, it sped towards the ground.

Dozens more of these deadly balls arced through the air, over the battlefield, and into the regal buildings of the Elysium Isles.

Once more, the images changed. It now showed a city, the blue sky filled with smoke and the screams of fear. A hundred or so soldiers, dressed like Roman legionaries, marched down the path leading to the city, emerging from a nearby fortress. On the borders of a city, a dozen or so people were assaulting a statue of a man, modelled from above the middle of his chest and with no arms. It slowly toppled onto its side and broke into tens of smaller fragments.

At the sight of the approaching soldiers, they ran back into the city, clearly carrying weapons of their own.

Past a river, and on the far side of the city-facing part of the fort, hundreds, if not thousands of armed men and women, most of them dressed in gear that would've been peak fashion for barbarians back during the Roman Empire, marched straight towards a wall of shields standing guard on the river's two bridges.

"No..." Gloria muttered, her voice thick with emotion.

Finally, the image of a vast army moving across an empty plain was shown, speartips pointing up into the air by the tens of thousands. In the midst of this army, on a large litter carried by hundreds of people that could only be slaves, and surrounded by thousands of golden-armour clad warriors, was a throne, upon which sat a young man, hardly older than thirty. More slaves stood around him, fanning the young man while ceremoniously dressed soldiers knelt before him.

The moving pictures of death and destruction had come and gone in less than a minute.

So much to take in in so little time.

"The time of the gods comes to an end... During your rule, you have made too many enemies, and now all of them seek revenge against you. You. Will. Not. Escape. Your. Fate."

Each word reverberated in my chest.

Jets of flame leapt from the hearth, crashing into columns and sending cracks running along their length, some of them trying to hit gods instead.

That shook us all from our stupor.

"BEGONE FROM MY HEARTH!" Hestia roared, but before she could do anything, she was blasted aside.

Like it had a mind of its own, one of these jets looked at us, like some malevolent snake... Targeting us, poised and ready to strike.

More so, it was looking at me.

As it rushed forward, I put my hands up and cried out as the power of chaos erupted from my fingertips. It formed a shield before me and some of the nearby demigods, deflecting the flames away from us. A tiny bead of sweat rolled down my forehead as I held the construct before me, and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold it for much longer.

With a roar, I pushed the barrier forward with all the strength I could muster. Enveloping multiple tendrils and quenching their flames as they were deprived of oxygen.

"How did you do that?" Bruce asked, looking at me in awe.

"I'll explain later!" I turned around, looking for the next source of trouble when all of a sudden, someone yelled my name.

I only realised the voice had belonged to Sophia when I was dangling in the air from one hand, a tendril of fire wrapped around it. Agonising pain travelled up my arm as my skin burned, yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't free myself.

"So... This is who Father has chosen as his champion. A mortal... He insults me..." The voice mused, "Goodbye, Brother." The flames spat with an unbelievable amount of malice.

"THIS ENDS NOW!" Zeus roared so loudly that my ears curled up on themselves and asked for the sweet release of death.

The god of the sky took a bronze cylinder into his hand, which promptly turned into a bolt of lightning. In one swift move, it arced towards the hearth, thunder booming throughout the room as chunks of celestial bronze and burning coals were launched in all directions.

The flames dissipated, and I found myself flailing my arms uselessly as gravity took control of my body once more.

Thankfully, the others were quick to act, and before I met my grisly end on the cold, hard, marble floor, five of them had stretched a cloak between them, in which the landing was far from comfortable, but at least it was better than colliding with the hard ground.

"Thanks." I gasped, patting the shoulder of the old centurion, Julius, whose cloak had saved me. I regretted the gesture instantly as a wave of pain travelled up my hand.

Poseidon slowly got to his feet, looking much more like an old man, a crazed look in his eyes.

"I must go at once!" He said.

"Brother, wait!" Zeus started, but Poseidon was gone already, leaving behind the distinct smell of the ocean.

Hades was even slower to rise, holding his head and having to use Zeus as a crutch. He too, looked like an old man now, his beard and hair snow-white, his hands shaking and his eyes gaunt... Sickly even.

"I- I need to go too."

"Hades! You must listen to reason!" He shook the god of the Underworld's shoulder, "The Underworld is lost, we all saw what was happening down there"

"I can turn the tide." He muttered, before melting into the shadows of his throne.

The King of the Gods was staring at the place where his brother had been only moments ago, the room filled with the grunts of the wounded. Des had tried stopping the flames, which she was successful at, though she was clutching her arm in pain. Similar burn marks to mine were visible on many of the other campers, Ares was slowly stirring, but Hestia was still very much knocked out cold.

"What should we do?" Demeter asked, looking around the room, "My daughter was in one of those pictures, they have Persephone for crying out loud! We can't let them get away with this!" Hephaestus crawled through the hole he had made, a column of fire having sent him through the wall, throne and all, his seat probably somewhere at the bottom of the mountain right about now.

"We cannot help her, let us hope Hades can take control of this situation! Demeter, you have to contact every nature spirit you can and get them to confirm the validity of what we just saw in the flames. Whatever this being is, there is little question about its power. Act cautiously!"

"You're kidding me, right?! We all saw what this thing was doing. It could only be the work of-"

"I DO NOT WISH TO DISCUSS IT, DIONYSUS!" Zeus shouted, his eyes spitting sparks. The wine god looked at the floor, realising it was best to stay silent, "Artemis, find Apollo. It's time he finally rejoined us."

"My Hunters are at your service, Father." Artemis bowed, following Demeter's lead and disappearing, though with a smirk on her face rather than Demeter's look of annoyance.

"Hermes, inform everyone that is allied to us of what is to come and take these demigods home at once. We will be contacting you shortly."

"But-" Sophia started, however, it was too late.

My vision blurred into milky whiteness, and I felt like my stomach was doing frontflips over and over again.

In the blink of an eye, the council chambers of Olympus were gone, and we stood before the Big House. The smell of smoke and sweat was still very much tangible in the air, and I could now also smell the sharp stink of urine.

Chiron dropped his mug of tea in surprise, staring between us incredulously.

"What- How- Where did you just come from?"

None of us could reply.

Malcolm was the first to go, doubling over and heaving up the contents of the feast onto the grass.

Like a chain reaction, everyone followed his lead, the taste of party sandwiches less appealing coming back up as they were going down.

By the Gods, did I hate travelling via Hermes.

"... and now we're here." Sophia finished explaining, and Chiron finally let his head hit the back of his chair. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for a reaction... Any reaction, about what we should do. His pale face wasn't exactly reassuring.

"So... Let me get this straight?" Sam asked, his hands clenched together in his lap and his voice shaky. The combat instructor had only recently returned back to camp, roughly an hour before we had arrived via Hermes' Taxi Service, "We- How should I put it... Is this the start of another war? Another Titanomachy or Gigantomachy?"

I stared down at my bandaged hand, flexing it slightly only to feel nothing. Ambrosia was one hell of a drug.

"I'm quite certain," Sophia answered, "It might be grander than even that, Hades' Realm was never under siege in either war."

"It's clear, isn't it? They're attacking us on all fronts at once, whoever or whatever this thing is." Bruce slammed his fist into the ping-pong table before him, "We can't do anything for Poseidon or Hades, but we're sure as hell capable of saving Camp Jupiter, especially with the Legion, or whatever's left of it, on our side. This calls for a quest, if for no other reason than to save our very own campers studying there..."

The camp director stared at Julia's empty seat, the Oracle absent since the start of the new semester.

"I'd love nothing more than to help out our allies, Lupa and the Praetors would surely do the same..." He trailed off after having spoken for the first time in many minutes, "But I fear things are more complicated than at first it would seem... You mentioned seeing pictures of New Rome alight?"

A few of us nodded.

"I see where you're going with that... Where was Terminus?" Sophia rolled a ping-pong ball between her two hands.

"Exactly. Terminus is a god, who, as far as I know from various descriptions, doesn't even let a needle inside without extensive reasoning and paperwork. Someone must've incapacitated him, and to do that... Well, that'd need someone who Terminus trusted enough to not suspect a trap. Either that, or it's something beyond all of us."

"Are you saying that this was an inside job? That someone betrayed New Rome?" Bruce narrowed his eyes, nodding slowly as he too made similar connections.

"It's nothing more than a theory, one that we can't prove without knowing everything. However, even if our Oracle was sitting where she normally would, we'd still get no prophecy, and as you all know, one is needed for any of us to go on a quest."

"We don't need no bloody quest, we should gather everyone and march our entire force there. One look at Festus is all most monsters need to change their mind." James Morris from Ares cabin growled. He had been a part of Liz's gang when they had nearly drowned me in a toilet, an action which now caused him to avoid me like the plague.

Chiron was about to reply when two footsteps clacked on the stone floor of the kitchen, one room over, and suddenly the door swung upon.

"I see that some things never change..." Mused a voice, striding into the room with a large goblet held in his hand.

The portly drunkard stopped beside the centaur and smiled at him.

"Mister D! I haven't seen you since- Well since you left." Chiron stuttered, bowing.

"Yes, good thing I did. My nerves were frayed after so many years, I'm not sure how you've managed to remain sane for this long. I never thought I'd miss this place... And I was right. Brings back bad memories! But I guess I can say that I miss playing pinochle with you."

"I can say the same, Mister D."

"Lord Dionysus? If you'll excuse me for asking, but isn't the biggest task right now securing Olympus?" Lizzy asked.

"Where are you going with this?" There was a dangerous edge to his voice.

"Well... Well- It's just that-"

"Why are you here?" I finished for her, the wine god's focus now on me.

He studied me for a good while, finally taking a long gulp of wine.

"Well, since you asked David-"

"Daniel."

"Whatever." He waved my comment away like an annoying fly, "Since you asked... Hermes is off doing what he does best, and that's delivering messages. He's so weighed down with jobs that Lord Zeus, in his grand wisdom decided I should bring news here since I know this camp best. I don't know if his goal was to insult me or reward me, but he was most successful with the former."

"What news comes from Olympus?" Chiron asked, trying to guide the god towards the actually important parts.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there! As many of you may or may not have seen, the Romans are in quite a tough spot, their city is in shambles. Did anyone mention a civil war a moment ago?" His finger ran across the room, before shrugging and taking another sip, "Well, whoever guessed that earns a cookie. Terminus has disappeared off to somewhere, most probably kidnapped by someone who had had enough of his constant annoying tone. Do you know how many times he stopped me from entering New Rome with a Thyrsus? It's a powerful weapon, yes, but what about a glass of wine? Only way you can hurt someone with that is if it's gone rancid-"

"Mister-" Chiron started.

"Yes, yes, I'm getting off-topic!" He tutted, "As this tough brick over there said, a quest is required." The god said, jabbing a finger at Bruce, "We can't exactly wait for Artemis to find her dear old brother, so as a god, I grant you permission to leave on such a quest, adhering to all rules and whatever else you need to adhere to."

"What about a prophecy?" Sam asked.

"That, little brother, is not important, my word should be enough. But if you so desire one..." He thought for a few seconds, "Bippity boppity boo, save Rome, or I'll make a porpoise out of you... That good enough?"

It was shit, and I could see why he was the god of wine and not poetry.

"The questers would be going into this blind... True, knowing a prophecy is far from knowing everything from start to finish. Alright, do you have any preferences, Mister D?"

"Funny that you ask because there is actually... Well, not specifically mine, but Zeus'." He shoved his goblet towards me while bleching, "Chaos boy over there should lead the quest. Everything else is up to him."

"Why?" I questioned, "Why me?" I could feel my heart start beating faster.

"Does the king of the gods need any reason at all for doing what he does?" Dionysus asked, sipping from his goblet whilst the tiniest smirk played across his lips. He knew the answer just as well as everyone else.

And that answer was a clear no.

If that wasn't enough, me denying to help would probably be enough of a reason for Zeus to deem me as an enemy, and I'd be one with the floorboards in no time.

Chiron noticed that I was going to argue no more, and looked me straight in the eyes, drawing my gaze from the now uninterested Dionysus.

"Daniel James Greenfield, son of Ragnos, the Lord of Chaos, Creation and the Universe, do you accept this quest, and take a vow to lead it to completion?"

I licked my lips and stopped my fingers from nervously tapping on my belt.

"I do."

"Choose whomever you wish, they shall join you if they accept. Bear in mind, that the sacred number is three, and stepping over that line can have dire consequences on those involved in the quest."

I looked around the room. My eyes locking with a pair of grey ones. The perfect companion.

"Sophia."

The daughter of Athena couldn't stop herself from smiling, her eyes glinting from excitement despite the dire situation we were in. Thinking back to the way she had always talked about the questers of the past, I was certain this was a dream of hers come true.

Now there was just one thing left... Who should I choose next?

Bruce was an amazing fighter, and Desdemona was a wiz with magic. Nico was outright impossible to fight against if given a pool of water to fight in... There wasn't a camper standing inside the Big House who didn't have some skill that could come in handy during a quest.

"So here's the thing." I cleared my throat, hoping that voicing my thoughts would clear things up when it came to choosing, "I take someone else, and they might be just that one person who you'd need if the camp comes under siege while we're gone."

"We've got the Athena Parthenos and the barrier, I highly doubt that's something you've got to factor in." Desdemona crossed her arms.

"Rome had a god and a legion defending it, and let's not even start on the realms of the gods," Bruce argued, "It very much does matter, I think. If you're thinking about taking me, I'll make it easier and outright say it. I'm not going. If it's a civil war, that means there are humans on both sides. You'll be fighting against, and killing your fellow human beings..." He uttered those final words into silence, and suddenly a lot of eyes were staring at the ground rather than expectantly at me, "Take it from me, dwell on the deeds you're going to do, and they'll eat you up inside. If it's between killing or getting killed, the former is what you always strive for in such a situation, and your opponent will think no differently. If it's not him who'll wake up staring at Charon's crossing, it'll be you."

I nodded slowly, sensing a story behind that. Glancing at Sophia, I could see most of her excitement had disappeared thanks to Bruce's words.

"Any volunteers?"

A single person stepped forward, sea-green eyes looking determinedly through strands of black hair.

"Nico?" Sophia asked, "Are you certain?"

"There'll be enough people here to defend the camp, and if it's just the three of us going, we need to pack as big of a punch as we can. Who knows what we'll encounter there?"

Chiron nodded along with that, "Sophia Whitefield and Nicholas Jackson... Do you wish to join this quest led by Daniel James Greenfield, the Son of Ragnos?" Chiron asked. They both agreed, after which the centaur turned towards me, "And you, Daniel James Greenfield, do you accept your role as quest leader, accept Nicholas Jackson and Sophia Whitefield as your two fellow questers?"

"Yes."

Thunder boomed overhead.

"That's a yes from dad too," Dionysus murmured.

Chiron puffed some air out, "Okay... Thank you. I will look into the best possible route for you to take to San Francisco." He met the eyes of the daughter of Hecate, "Desdemona, I might need your skills with the mist, so if you can join me in my office as soon as you're ready..." Des nodded, and Chiron smiled, turning to the combat instructor next, "Sam, please gather everything they might need for this quest. Dollars and drachmae, some denarii if you can find any. Give them Robert's shields, and extra packs of medical supplies, weapons and food... Whatever you deem necessary for the Romans." Sam quickly stepped away, after which the camp director addressed the entire room, "The rest of you can return to your cabins, I'll find you later, Bruce, to discuss defensive solutions."

Bit by bit, everyone trickled outside, Chiron retreating to his office with Des following him. Meanwhile, Dionysus was still leaning against the table, sipping from his seemingly never-ending goblet.

"If you don't mind me asking, Mister D... What happened to the other Olympians?" Elizabeth asked.

"I do mind actually, you're awfully nosy. As camp director, I might've threatened you with the punishment of turning you into some sort of animal or fruit, but those times are far behind me, thank heavens! I like to think of myself as much more patient now that I am once again allowed to drink..." The god sighed, taking another sip while staring into thin air, "Very well, I'll answer your question. They were all given tasks, I'm sure you heard some of them before Hermes brought you here. To be fair you might even remember more than I do, I could care little for the tasks of the others. Hephaestus was given something along the lines of reinforcing the Ophiotaurus' aquarium. I don't see why that is the number one priority but-"

He took a big sip from his goblet but frowned. His sentence left unfinished, he got up and walked back inside the kitchen, muttering something about how he needed more nectar in his wine.

As the final camper left, leaving the three of us alone in the room, I wondered just how many of those glances our way had been picturing us in coffins. New Rome was a war zone, and we were going in there blind. The three of us, against what had looked like an entire army.

"So..." Nico started.

"So," I muttered, sighing.

"What should we do?" The son of Poseidon continued.

"For starters, let's settle down somewhere comfortable. My cabin?" I offered. With no counter-offers, we were sitting in the beanbags ten minutes later, the trip over having been spent in silence.

"Alright, so how do you think we'll even get there. I know Chiron said he'll try to find something, but that'll take a while. What options do we have?" Nico said.

"A plane would be the fastest choice."

Nico blanched, and shook his head vigorously, "Zeus wouldn't take kindly to that, I'm the son of the sea god, me travelling in his territory would piss him off."

"Well, surely he'd understand-"

"Are you two talking about the same god?" Sophia looked up from the book she had left half-finished on my table this morning, "I'd rather not test his patience when we're thousands of meters above the ground in an enclosed metal space." She aimed that at me.

"Good point." I frowned, "Then what? Train? Bus?"

"I don't think there are any trains that go directly to San Fran, and we'd also run into more monsters than what we'd want to meet if we decide to transfer through every large city with the son of a primordial and a child of the big three."

"Well, then I don't know... I'll leave this detail to Chiron." I took a deep breath, "I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to sit here until the official start of the quest. What should we do?"

"Train?"

"Umm... Soph, you just said how that's not a good idea- We're past that-"

She looked at me and sighed, "Not that type of train!" She strung together a particularly colourful bunch of greek curse words, some of them aimed at me, "The type where you go to the sandpits and spar with a dummy."

"Ah," I smiled at my own stupidity, "Sure, never hurts to train a bit. Nico, you coming?"

"Yep!"

"And, if you don't mind, I'll be taking some of these books over to the pits. Roman culture, architecture, legionary work... Basically, anything Roman."

Picking up both my celestial bronze and original set of swords, I strode towards the door, Nico opening it for me.

We were there at the sword pit in no time at all, yet we weren't the first.

As I watched, Bruce's kopis bit deep into the side of the dummy, before he quickly pivoted backwards on the damp sand. Surrounding his tiny patch of ground was a layer of snow that was so prevalent everywhere, yet there was no sign of him shovelling it away.

"Hey, dude." I called out, "Didn't expect you to already be out here." I slapped my swords onto a nearby table, beside an odd-looking contraption.

"You know me. I come out here whenever I've got something on my mind."

"What did you use to clear the snow?"

He pointed at the machine I had sat beside. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a canister on it, along with a tube, the opening of which was pointed right at me.

"Is that-" Nico asked, stroking the metal and looking at the soot on his hand, "A flamethrower?" He seemed to be correct, and I ever so slightly pushed the nozzle away from my direction, "Where did you get it from?"

"Took it from the forge. Don't think Rob's going to care if I use it, seeing how he's currently in New Rome."

"And how does it work?" A new question from the son of Poseidon, quickly skipping past the topic of the Romans.

He threw his sword blade-first into the sand and walked over.

"You see this thing here?" He held up a small metal object, made of a long u-shaped hilt and with a bowl at the end, "This is a flame ignitor. Press the handle together with a sudden move and you make a spark. First, you turn on the wick," He flipped a switch, and a small, burnt wick appeared from its metal casing, "It's drenched in something that makes it burn nicely, I'm no chemist so beats me what it is. Once you light it-" The ignitor clicked, and there was a small flame now dancing on the wick, "-you take it into your hands, and pull this trigger." He pressed it a bit too hard for my liking, the nozzle still very much pointed my way, "It doesn't shoot out fuel, like what you'd want in a war, probably because it's what cabin nine uses for the exact same purpose I used it for," He patted my back, "And with that, it's all yours."

"Didn't think I'd get to use a flamethrower today," I smirked, jumping up.

"Honestly, how much of today could you have actually expected?" Sophia asked, looking up from the pages of her book.

"Right you are," I shouldered the piece of heavy equipment, draping the harness it came with over my shoulder, "Oh fuck yes... I need one of these for myself."

Pressing the trigger, a blast of flames erupted before me, and a patch of snow visibly shrank under the heat. I couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped from my lips, and in what felt like no time at all, I was standing in the middle of a dry patch of sand, probably grinning like a madman. Handing Nico the device, he too played with it a bit, before I signalled for him to come duel me.

Sophia gave us both a look that I could easily translate.

Boys.

It didn't stop her from snuggling closer to its heat, however.

As we exchanged our first dozen blows, I recognized the same fighting style I had sometimes come up against during Capture the Flag or training. He was skilled, if he'd had been allowed to use his skills I probably wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Can you use the snow like you normally use water?" I asked after deflecting one of his slices towards my leg.

"I've tried it a few times- Definitely-" He paused as he side-stepped my thrust, "Definitely harder, and I'd rather stay with water."

"But it is possible?"

"Theoretically, yes, but I'd very quickly tire myself out. Not exactly what I want while in a fight."

I nodded, before quickly pressing towards an opening he had left in his guard. I was soon pointing the tip of my blade at his chest, and he smirked, realising he had been defeated.

"Good fight." I patted his shoulder.

"Let's just hope I don't meet anyone who fights like you." He took a gulp of water.

"Oh come on, if you would've used your powers, I wouldn't have won."

"Are you sure? You didn't use your knives or your real blades... I wonder what you could do with your own powers, you've not really shown off too much of those during fights. It sounds like you're selling yourself short by quite a long mile."

"Ah, those? They're too dangerous to be used against friends. I'd rather not risk it."

"Well, if you two are quite done with talking," Bruce smiled, appearing behind us, "I'm ready to fight the winner."

"Crap."

Tightening my belt and shoelaces, I walked back into the middle of the circle, swirling my blades in a circle a few times, trying to get the feel of them. They were heavy, nothing like the ones my father had given me. Maybe I wasn't giving myself enough credit after all.

Bruce charged forward, officially starting the duel. Unlike the son of Poseidon, he left little space for me to break through his guard, and his feints were indistinguishable from regular strikes.

It was no wonder that I was disarmed twice before I finally managed to slip through his defences and get my first, and final victory over him. Taking great gulps of air, Nico quickly jumped up from the bench and switched places with me.

While all of this was going on, Sophia was fighting a whole different battle. Reading.

She was dyslexic, as was almost everyone else at camp, but that didn't seem to stop her as she skimmed through page after page.

"Anything interesting?" I asked once I wasn't shoving air down my throat.

"Hm?" She raised an eyebrow, but her gaze remained on the words inside.

"Nevermind." I leaned backwards, my eyes settling on a figure struggling towards us. As he got closer, I realised it was Sam, carrying three backpacks and a duffle bag.

"Ah good, you're here. Thought as much." He stopped before the bench and sighed deeply.

"What's with the duffle bag? Is it full?"

"You tell me." He slammed it onto the table, making the entire thing wobble uncertainly, "I filled it with as much equipment and medical supplies as I could, so it weighs a fucking ton." He patted my shoulder a few times, "Good luck with it."

"What?! Why me?"

"Comes with the job. You're the quest leader, you're the oldest... Yadda, yadda, choose whichever explanation you fancy. Apart from that, you're all taking a backpack for yourselves. A dozen cubes of ambrosia, three thousand dollars in cash, a canteen of nectar, eight drachmae and a bag of random silver coins that are probably denarii. You'll have enough space for about three days worth of clothes, and some stuff you might buy along the way."

He had me lost at the money part.

"You're telling me, that between the three of us, we'll have nine thousand dollars?"

"Don't get any ideas about buying something fancy, most of it's there just in case you run into trouble, and I can only warn you against using it all up. You never know when you might need more."

I tried lifting the duffle bag and sighed as I realised just how heavy it was. I'd be walking around like an old man with back pains by the time we reached New Rome.

"Anything else we should know?" I looked at the combat instructor.

"Hmm." He scratched his nose, "Ah, yes. All of your bags are proofed with celestial bronze foil, that way you can shove a phone or laptop inside without getting bothered by monsters because of it."

"And what about our own weapons? Just on our hips, right?"

"Nope, bad idea. Mist might help you, but you never know when it'll suddenly decide to fuck with you instead. Remember, you're wanted by the FBI out there, but most people won't recognize you at first sight, especially after half a year. If your sword decides to appear in the form of a gun for the mortals, well, let's just say they might start wondering who you are. Soon enough you'll not only have to worry about monsters but about the Feds as well... And before I forget, one last thing."

He dug his hand into the pockets of the duffle bag and pulled out three rings.

"Jewellery?"

He nodded, "Not your everyday type though. Here, put one onto your ring finger."

It glinted celestial bronze, but other than some weird bumps here and there, it looked like an average ring.

Sam was looking at it silently.

"Care to explain what it is then?"

"It was Robert's idea to make them, and they've been sitting in the armoury for a few years now." He slipped a ring onto his own finger, and held it out before himself, "Watch carefully... SHAZAM!"

Bruce and Nico stopped sparring and Sophia whipped her head up at the shout of the son of Zeus, who was smirking like an idiot.

Nothing had happened.

"Umm..."

"I'm just pulling your leg!" He chuckled, looking over our stone-faced expressions, "Ah piss off, it was funny for me. All you've got to do is twist the ring counter-clockwise with your thumb-" He did just that, and in a whirl of celestial bronze strips and machinery, a shield sprang out from the ring. Once the process was finished it was the size of his chest, smaller than a hoplon but still perfect for defence, "-and tadaa!"

I tried it with my own and felt a sharp tug on my arm as the mechanism activated, a shield strapped to my arm in the blink of an eye and my ring finger stuck against its surface, causing my hand to be welded with its surface. It was definitely lighter than a hoplon.

"Okay, now that's sick!" I laughed.

"Right? To close it, just twist your ring clockwise and it'll snap shut." I did as told, and the shield collapsed back inside the ring.

"Holy shit. Sophia, remind me to thank Robert for how sick this is once we're in New Rome."

I saw a smile spread over her face, though she didn't move her eyes away from the book.

Sam quickly said his goodbyes, heading towards the Big House, and leaving us alone. Nico and Bruce soon got bored of duelling and soaked in sweat they were starting to shake from the cold. Some quick tinkering from Bruce, and the flamethrower was letting off a small flame, heating everyone around the table.

After that, they too looked at the shields, both of them marvelling at their design.

With nothing better to do, first me, then the others, started helping Sophia with reading through her stack of books. Their titles were completely new to me, so I guess it couldn't hurt to start reading them now rather than never.

Plus, I could always do with some extra knowledge about the Romans.

In no time at all, a horn was blown in the distance, and just like that, our focus was broken. As if on cue, the flamethrower sputtered out.

"Ah gods be damned, now I'll have to explain to cabin nine why it's empty... Shit." Bruce muttered.

Sophia picked up her books, while Nico looped the backpacks over his shoulder and Bruce shouldered the flamethrower. That just left...

The duffle bag.

Grunting as I lifted it off of the table, we slowly made our way back to my cabin, the son of Ares continuing to his own quarters.

I was more than happy to dump the bag onto the ground once inside, taking a few seconds to regain my wits and to call the bag a bunch of unflattering names, much to the amusement of my companions. Pandora was perched on one of my shelves, looking at the scene with mild interest, I was right to believe that she had managed to escape her confinement without trouble. Leaving my pet behind, I joined my two fellow questers on their walk to the dining pavilion.

Once there, I noticed Chiron stand up and beckon for us. Striding towards him, I saw Dionysus sitting at the table, lazily chewing on some barbecue ribs.

"I've found a tourist company that already had a bus trip planned to San Francisco, though their original plan was to get there after seven days and a series of other stops." He started the moment we were close enough to hear him, "However, with quite a hefty bribe, and some help from Desdemona-" We all looked at the daughter of Hecate, playing with a snowball dancing on the top of her table, "-I've managed to get them to agree to ditch most of these stops and make a beeline towards San Francisco."

"How long are we talking about?" Sophia spoke up.

"Three days, give or take half a day. The bus is leaving at three in the morning, tomorrow, meaning you'll be waking up at midnight to reach it in time. Argus will drive you to the Empire State Building, that's where they'll pick you up, but once he drops you off, you'll be on your own."

I thanked my lucky stars, realising that I'd barely have to carry that obscenely-heavy bag.

"How frequently should we send Iris messages?" The daughter of Athena absentmindedly twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

"Whenever you feel like you should. Nico is more than capable of creating a rainbow if the need for one arises. Just remember to-"

"-to do it away from mortals... Yeah, yeah, I know. Better to not play with the roulette wheel of the Mist."

"Right." The camp director nodded, "Food will be another problem. Tomorrow, you'll get some supplies to take along with you, but they'll only last for a day at the very most. I'm not sure what the food situation is like in New Rome, but let us prepare for the worst. I highly doubt you'll use up the money you're taking with yourselves, but if you suddenly have to feed an entire city's worth of mouths, you'll drain your funds fairly quickly, which is why I'm sending this to the Romans."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a silver card and handed it to Sophia. Her eyes widened as she recognized it.

"Is this-"

"It's a lotus hotel cash card. Warn the Romans to only use it carefully, the last thing we want is to crash the mortal economy because we're introducing them to infinite money."

"Thank you, Chiron." I smiled.

"We'll do all we can do to help you three, but once you leave you must understand that all you can rely on is each other, your training and your skills."

"One question," I awkwardly held up my hand, "Can I take Pandora with me?"

"Your pet?" He thought for a bit, "I don't see why not." I nodded my head in thanks, "Now eat some dinner, and don't wait to be dismissed. Get as much sleep as you can, gods know when you'll get the chance to do that again."

After having a nice dinner of ribs with a light salad, we said our goodbyes to those who were sitting at the various tables, making our way towards the cabin commons afterwards.

"So... Tomorrow?" I smiled.

"Yep. I don't think I'll be able to sleep." The daughter of Athena replied.

"Same, it seems so surreal... Is it just me?" Nico agreed.

I chuckled at that, and both of them looked at me, "Oh, nothing, it's just that I'm finally not alone with feeling out of place."

They joined in with smiles, before we said goodnight to one another, and walked away to our individual cabins.

Closing my cabin door behind myself, I rubbed my already-aching shoulder as I got undressed to take the last shower I was probably going to have in a very long time.

I passed my mirror, before stopping, something having caught my eye.

Sitting in one of its corners was a slip of black paper, the writing on it white.

Upon closer inspection, I realised it was a short message.

Take care, and be strong. You are not alone.

With a smile, I made a beeline toward the bathroom.